A Catholic archbishop has urged Pakistan and India to pull back from armed conflict over the disputed Kashmir region after India this week carried out "surgical strikes" that killed two soldiers as retaliation against Pakistan forces attacking an Indian army base earlier this month.
Tensions between the two nuclear powers have been steadily escalating and the warning comes as India confirmed that they are negotiating for the release of one of its soldiers who is being held by Pakistan.
Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif has been reported to have said on national television channel SAMAA that he "will destroy India if it dares to impose war" on its neighbour.
"Pakistan's army is fully prepared to answer any misadventure of India. We have not made an atomic device to display in a showcase. If a such a situation arises we will use it and eliminate India.'
Syro Malabar archbishop of Faridabad, in India, Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, urged the two sides to sue for peace as fears that India's prime minister Narendra Modi will take a hardline approach to the conflict after 18 Indian soldiers were killed in the raid on a military base in Uri, in India.
Bharanikulangara said: "Suggestions have been made in various forums demanding instant retaliatory action against Pakistan ... Any thoughtless strike can lead to war with disastrous consequences for the country.
"Mahatma Gandhi had said that an eye for an eye will make everyone blind. Any instantaneous action against Pakistan is bound to exacerbate the situation. And that is exactly what terrorists want. Pakistan should lose its face in every international forum over its support to terrorists. In the long run, there is no weapon more powerful than this international isolation."
"Any big war primarily starts with an idea. With the rhetoric we are hearing, I fear this may grow into an explosive situation which will be tragic," he added in an interview with the Telegraph India. "We will surely make known our position to the government," he said.
Bharanikulangara is the spiritual leader of the Syro Malabar Catholics, a Kerala-based denomination within the Catholic church. He was a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See and had served as the first counsellor of the permanent observer mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
PICTURE - An Indian Border Security Force soldier scans the Pakistan side of the border after tensions increased in the disputed territory
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