British foreign minister David Lammy has said that the UK is working with the US to ensure “an enduring ceasefire”, “dialogue” and “confidence-building measures” between India and Pakistan, and urged “all sides” to meet their obligations under the Indus Waters Treaty.
"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.
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."
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.
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."
"These are two neighbours with a long history but they are two neighbours that have barely been able to speak to one other over this past period, and we want to ensure that we do not see further escalation and that the ceasefire endures," Lammy said.
His comments come at a time when US President Donald Trump has claimed for the seventh time that he pulled Delhi and Islamabad back from the brink of a nuclear war by offering American trade.
India maintains that what is in place is a bilateral “understanding” – not a ceasefire – with Pakistan. Delhi has also vehemently rejected any suggestion of mediation.
The external affairs ministry on Tuesday said there was no change in India’s “longstanding national position” that issues relating to Jammu and Kashmir were a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan, seeking to contest US President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that Washington had mediated the cessation of hostilities.
Asked about Trump’s claim that the US had threatened to stop trade with both India and Pakistan if they continued to fire at each other, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said trade did not figure in the several conversations that New Delhi had with Washington from the time Operation Sindoor commenced.
“We have a longstanding national position that any issues pertaining to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have to be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally. That stated policy has not changed. As you are aware, the outstanding matter is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory by Pakistan,” Jaiswal said.
He had sidestepped questions on whether the ministry had formally registered New Delhi’s protest with Washington over Trump’s claims on mediation and trade threat.
Pakistan has said Britain and other countries, in addition to the US, played a major role in de-escalating the worst fighting in decades between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals, which erupted last week.
A rapid diplomatic effort to broker the ceasefire succeeded on May 10, but diplomats and analysts say it remains fragile.
Trump had said after the ceasefire was struck that talks should take place in a third-country venue but no dates or location for the talks have been announced.