UPDATE – UK calls for restraint by India, Pakistan

UPDATES WITH REMARKS FROM BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY</p> <p>By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal</p> <p>LONDON (AA) – The U.K. is “deeply concerned” about rising tensions between Pakistan and India and is urging restraint, British Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday.</p> <p>Speaking at a weekly question session in the House of Commons, May said the British government is monitoring developments closely, and they hope tensions can be de-escalated.</p> <p>The U.K. “urgently calls for restraint on both sides to avoid further escalation,” May said.</p> <p>She said they are in contact with both sides and “urging dialogue and diplomatic solutions for regional stability.”</p> <p>Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said they “support urgent dialogue” between the two countries in order to “reduce the tensions and to deal with the root causes of it.”</p> <p>The politicians' remarks came amid reports that Pakistan and India claimed they had shot down each other’s fighter jets.</p> <p>Echoing May, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt also said the U.K. is “very concerned” about the latest developments.</p> <p>Hunt described India and Pakistan as “good friends of the U.K.,” adding that he has been in touch with the foreign ministers of both.</p> <p>“We are urging restraint on all sides,” Hunt said.</p> <p>“Neither side wants to see this escalate further but this is going to take a really critical restraint in the days ahead, and we are doing everything we can to support de-escalation of the tensions that are happening at the moment,” he added.</p> <p>The tension between the two nuclear neighbors rose after Indian jets intruded into Pakistan's airspace early Tuesday.</p> <p>India claimed its jets had killed “several terrorists” in “preemptive action” on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp, a group that Islamabad listed as a terrorist organization in 2002.</p> <p>Pakistani officials have rejected the claim.