Pakistan defence minister says “ready to cooperate”, urges international probe in Pahalgam attack: Report

Pakistan believes an international probe is necessary into the killing of 26 people in Pahalgam, Kashmir earlier this week, and is open to cooperating with international investigators, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif.In an interview with the newspaper, Asif said Pakistan was “ready to cooperate” with “any investigation which is conducted by international inspectors.”

Tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours have escalated since the incident, with India suspending the Indus Waters Treaty and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian carriers.

Asif told the NYT that India was using the attack’s aftermath as a pretext to freeze the water-sharing agreement and for domestic political gains.

India, he said, was taking retaliatory steps against Pakistan “without any proof, without any investigation.”

“We do not want this war to flare up, because flaring up of this war can cause disaster for this region,” Asif added.Responding to allegations linking the attack to The Resistance Front—a group India says is a front for Pakistan-based terrorist outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen—Asif rejected the claims.He told the newspaper that Lashkar-e-Taiba was “defunct” and incapable of planning or executing attacks from Pakistani soil.

“They don’t have any setup in Pakistan,” he said, according to the NYT.

“Those people, whatever is left of them, they are contained. Some of them are under house arrest, some of them are in custody. They are not at all active,” the minister said.