Britain is working with the US to ensure a ceasefire between India and Pakistan endures and that “confidence-building measures” and dialogue take place, foreign minister David Lammy said on Saturday.
“We will continue to work with the United States to ensure that we get an enduring ceasefire, to ensure that dialogue is happening and to work through with Pakistan and India how we can get to confidence and confidence-building measures between the two sides,” Lammy told Reuters in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad at the end of a two-day visit.
The nuclear-armed South Asian arch-rivals agreed on May 10 to a ceasefire in their worst fighting in nearly three decades, which followed a deadly attack on tourists that New Delhi blames on Islamabad.
He also says the United States is ready to help India and Pakistan with trade, adding that trade is a major reason they stopped fighting.
Pakistan denies involvement. Asked about India’s suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, potentially squeezing Pakistan’s water supply, Lammy said: “We would urge all sides to meet their treaty obligations.”
Pakistan has said Britain and other countries, in addition to the United States, played a major role in de-escalating the fighting. Diplomats and analysts say the ceasefire remains fragile.
Delhi said last month it had "put in abeyance" its participation in the 1960 pact, which governs use of the Indus river system, a move Pakistan says it would consider an act of war if it disrupted access to water in the agriculturally dependent nation.
Obfuscation
Lammy said Britain would also continue to work with Pakistan on countering "terrorism", saying that it is "a terrible blight on this country and its people, and of course on the region."
Lammy accused Moscow of obfuscating after talks between Ukraine and Russia on a possible ceasefire ended in less than two hours and Trump said "nothing could happen" until he had met directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Yet again we are seeing obfuscation on the Russian side and unwillingness to get serious about the enduring peace that is now required in Ukraine," Lammy said. "Once again Russia is not serious."
"At what point do we say to Putin enough is enough?" he said.
Donald Trump's Kashmir mediation remark thrusts disputed region back onto the global stage — a move welcomed by Pakistan but met with discomfort in New Delhi.
