By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The national security advisers of Pakistan and India held talks following India’s missile strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan’s subsequent military response, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said Wednesday, marking a rare official communication between the nuclear-armed neighbors amid escalating tensions over disputed Kashmir.
India conducted the strikes on Tuesday, targeting what it described as “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan, a response to a deadly attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam area that New Delhi attributed to Pakistan despite Islamabad’s denials. The strikes killed at least 31 people.
The strikes were followed by a military clash in which Pakistan shot down five Indian fighter jets and destroyed several border posts. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned India’s actions as a “grave mistake” and warned that New Delhi “will have to face consequences.”
Speaking to Turkish TV TRT World, Dar confirmed the advisers’ contact but offered no specifics. “[Dar] confirmed that both a Pakistani national security adviser and Indian national security adviser spoke to each other after last night’s Indian missile strikes in Pakistan, as well as Pakistani-administered Kashmir and then Pakistan’s response, in which Pakistan said that five Indian fighter jets were shot down,” TRT reported.
“However, he did not provide further details, but some people interpret that given the fact that now both sides have established contacts at the level of national security advisers, this means that some form of effort is underway to de-escalate tensions.”
Pakistan recently appointed Lt. Gen. Muhammad Asim Malik, head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), as its national security adviser. India’s national security adviser is Ajit Doval, a seasoned intelligence official.
The contact between the two advisers is believed to have followed intensive diplomatic efforts by international and regional players. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser, spoke with both the Pakistani and Indian national security advisers soon after the missile strikes and Pakistan’s response.
The National Security Committee had earlier declared that the country would respond to India’s missile strikes “at a place, time and manner of its choosing.” However, in a subsequent speech to the National Assembly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hinted at restraint.
The Turkish TV quoted a Pakistani official as saying that such communication channels during crises are necessary.
Media reported that Pakistan had been tipped off by a third country about the imminent Indian missile strikes. Through similar channels, India conveyed that it did not seek further escalation of the conflict.
Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors have been strained for years, with high-level official contacts becoming rare. Tensions deepened in 2019 when India revoked the special constitutional status of the disputed Kashmir region, a move Pakistan denounced as illegal and that led Islamabad to downgrade diplomatic ties. The two countries, which have fought multiple wars over the Himalayan region they both claim in full but control only in parts, further escalated their rift by expelling each other’s diplomats after the recent Pahalgam attack.
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