The Group of Eight (G8) expressed "serious concern" today about the escalating standoff between India and Pakistan and urged restraint on both sides in a statement released by the Russian foreign ministry.
The grouping of the world's seven most industrialised nations and Russia called on India and Pakistan to resolve their differences through political dialogue.
"We hope that both countries will avoid escalation, will resume political dialogue (...) and join their efforts in the fight against the global terrorist threat," said the statement faxed to AFP.
The G8 foreign ministers, who signed the declaration, said they felt "serious concern about the rise in tension between India and Pakistan following the attack on the Indian parliament building on December 13."
India has accused Pakistani intelligence of backing the deadly assault on its parliament which it says was carried out by two Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant groups.
The G8 noted that Pakistan had denounced the parliament attack and called on it to take "further measures against terrorist groups operating from its territory and aimed in particular against India."
The leaders of these groups should be arrested, put on trial and severely punished and their financing frozen, the statement said.
The escalating tension has provoked worries that any conflict could spiral into the world's first nuclear war, following India and Pakistan's 1998 atomic weapons tests.
AFP