Pakistan's defence minister said on Thursday (May 8) that Gulf nations were involved in de-escalation efforts for the India-Pakistan confrontation, Reuters reports.
Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters India was "making it almost impossible" to stop the conflict.
World powers from the U.S. to Russia and China have called for calm in one of the world's most dangerous, and most populated, nuclear flashpoint regions.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged de-escalation and expressed support for direct dialogue in separate calls with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in readouts of the calls.
Pakistan and India accused each other of launching drone attacks on Thursday, and Asif said further retaliation was “increasingly certain”, on the second day of major clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Blasts rang out across the city of Jammu in Indian Kashmir late on Thursday during what India's military said was a Pakistani drone and missile attack across the disputed region on the second day of clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Pakistan said it shot down 25 drones from India, while India said its air defences had stopped Pakistani drone and missile attacks on military targets, dashing hopes they would soon bow to pressure to end their worst confrontation in more than two decades.
