The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged Pakistan and India to show "maximum restraint" as both countries imposed tit-for-tat diplomatic measures over a deadly attack in India-held Kashmir, reports DAWN on Friday.
The attack took place in Pahalgam, a tourist hotspot in India-occupied Kashmir that draws thousands of visitors every summer. Gunmen opened fire on visitors, killing at least 26 people — all men from across India except one from Nepal — and injuring 17 others.
"The secretary general is obviously following the situation very closely and with very great concern," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York on Thursday.
"We very much appeal to both the governments… to exercise maximum restraint, and to ensure that the situation and the developments we've seen do not deteriorate any further."
Responding to a question, the spokesman said that the UN chief has not had any direct contact with the leadership of India and Pakistan.
Dujarric said: "We believe that any issues between Pakistan and India can be and should be resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement."
Specifically asked to comment on the suspension by India of the Indus Waters Treaty, Dujarric said, "I think this would go under the rubric of us appealing for maximum restraint and not taking any actions that would deteriorate the situation further or increase tensions in a tense area."
In a briefing on Thursday, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce also touched on the crisis brewing in South Asia.
"It's a rapidly changing situation, and we are monitoring it closely… We are not now taking a position on the status of Kashmir or Jammu," she said, adding that this was all she had to say on the subject.
Pakistan has announced the suspension of trade and the closure of airspaces with India, among other moves, as it retaliated to New Delhi's slew of aggressive measures against the country following the deadly attack.
Among India's actions was the unilateral move to suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, which was brokered by the World Bank and has endured through wars and decades of hostility.
Pakistan made the retaliatory decisions during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) in Islamabad on Thursday, convened to formulate a response to India. Chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the meeting was attended by top government and military officials, including the defence minister, foreign minister, interior minister, national security adviser, and the chiefs of armed forces, among others.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the participants of the meeting discussed the national security environment and the regional situation, particularly in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.
"Expressing concern over the loss of tourists' lives, the committee reviewed the Indian measures announced on 23rd April 2025 and termed them unilateral, unjust, politically motivated, extremely irresponsible and devoid of legal merit," the statement added.
The NSC announced a series of measures in retaliation for the "reckless and irresponsible behaviour of India, which disregards international conventions, UN Security Council Resolutions and international obligations at will".
Pakistan also announced the closure of the Wagah Border with India.
"Pakistan shall exercise the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including but not limited to the Simla Agreement, in abeyance, till India desists from its manifested behaviour of fomenting terrorism inside Pakistan; trans-national killings; and non-adherence to international law and UN Resolutions on Kashmir," the PMO statement said.
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