Trump tells India and Pakistan to ‘stop’ clashes
by AFP Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) May 7, 2025
US President Donald Trump called Wednesday for India and Pakistan to immediately halt their fighting, and offered to help end the worst violence between the nuclear-armed countries in two decades.
“It’s so terrible,” Trump said at the White House. “I get along with both, I know both very well, and I want to see them work it out. I want to see them stop.
“They’ve gone tit-for-tat, so hopefully they can stop now.”
Trump’s comments came as India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier, after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival.
At least 43 deaths were reported in the fighting, which came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied.
Pakistan has long been a key US military ally but Trump has been keen to build up relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he hosted at the White House in February.
“We get along with both countries very well, good relationships with both, and I want to see it stop,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
“And if I can do anything to help, I will be there.”
Trump initially played down the crisis as part of old tensions between India and Pakistan — even saying they had been at odds for 1,500 years, despite the two countries only forming after independence from Britain in 1947.
But his administration has scrambled into action in the last 24 hours since the Indian strikes.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to his counterparts from India and Pakistan on Friday, encouraging them to reopen dialogue to “defuse” the situation, the White House said.
Dozens killed as India, Pakistan clash in worst violence in decades
Muzaffarabad, Pakistan (AFP) May 7, 2025 –
India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier Wednesday after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival, in the worst violence between the nuclear-armed neighbours in two decades.
At least 43 deaths were reported, with Islamabad saying 31 civilians were killed by the Indian strikes and firing along the border, and New Delhi adding at least 12 dead from Pakistani shelling.
The fighting came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied.
The South Asian neighbours have fought multiple wars over the divided territory since they were carved out of the sub-continent after gaining independence from British rule in 1947.
The Indian army said “justice is served”, reporting nine “terrorist camps” had been destroyed, with New Delhi adding that its actions “have been focused, measured and non-escalatory”.
Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of launching the strikes to “shore up” his domestic popularity, adding that Islamabad “won’t take long to settle the score”.
Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said five Indian jets had been downed across the border overnight.
An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.
– Children among the dead –
The largest Indian strike was on an Islamic seminary near the Punjabi city of Bahawalpur, killing 13 people according to the Pakistan military.
A government health and education complex in Muridke, 30 kilometres from Lahore, was blown apart, along with a mosque in Muzaffarabad — the main city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir — killing its caretaker.
Four children were among those killed in Wednesday’s attacks, according to the Pakistan military.
Pakistan also said a hydropower plant in Kashmir was targeted by India, damaging a dam structure, after India threatened to stop the flow of water on its side of the border.
Pakistan had earlier warned that tampering with the rivers that flow into its territory would be an “act of war”.
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the overnight operation was New Delhi’s “right to respond” following the attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month.
Pakistan has denied any involvement in the Pahalgam assault.
Prime Minister Shehbaz
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