UK played honest broker to avert recent India-Pakistan flash point: Minister

LONDON: The UK government on Tuesday expressed relief at the "defusing" of tensions between India and Pakistan since the terrorist attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, due to its role of an "honest broker" between the South Asian neighbours.
Mark Field, UK foreign office minister in-charge of Asia, told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) that there was a brief moment where the situation had reached the flash point of nearly 20 years ago during the Kargil War.
"After the appalling terrorist attack in Pulwama on February 14, tensions were high. One of the most important things we were able to do was be a sort of honest broker, to be able to try and bring both sides together for connections - not just politically but diplomatically and militarily," said Field, on being asked about the UK's role in the conflict during an evidence sessions before the ongoing "Global Britain and India" inquiry being conducted by the FAC.
The February 14 attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group left 14 CRPF personnel dead.
"One should not be complacent. There are ongoing tensions, going back many, many decades, but there was a brief moment when the comparison to what happened with the Kargil incident of 20 years ago and a major flash point, there were real concerns," he said.
The minister reiterated the UK government's stand on Kashmir as not for Britain to "intervene, interfere or mediate" as it was ultimately an issue between India and Pakistan, "with the people of Kashmir at the heart".
"It has been very heartening to see a defusing of the tensions, which would have perhaps quite easily have been raised not least because of the imminence of the Indian election," he said.
In the wake of the Pulwama attack, India had conducted airstrikes on alleged Jaish targets in Balakot.