China called on Monday India and Pakistan to “exercise restraint” as the two countries reportedly exchanged fire on the control line (LOC) for a fourth night in a row in the wake of a deadly attack in the occupied Kashmir’s Pahagam.

The April 22 attack killed 26 people, mostly tourists, and was one of the deadliest armed attacks in the disputed Himalaya region since 2000. Kashmir resistance, also known as the resistance, said “unequivocally” refused involvement in the attack after a first message claiming responsibility.

India has, without presenting evidence, suggested cross -border relations of attackers, while Pakistan has refused any involvement. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for a neutral probe for the incident.

“China hopes that the two sides will exercise restraint, meet halfway, properly deal with relevant differences through dialogue and consultation and jointly maintain regional peace and stability,” spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Guo Jiakun said.

“China welcomes all measures that will help cool the situation,” Jiakun told a regular press briefing.

The statement came after Pakistan and India allegedly exchanged firearms for a fourth night in a row across LOC, after four years of relative tranquility.

“During the night of April 27 to April 28 … Pakistani army positions began unprovoked handgun fire across the control line,” the Indian army claimed in a statement.

There were no reported losses and Islamabad did not immediately confirm the shot.

India’s defense forces have performed several military exercises across the country since the attack. Some of these are routine emergency exercises, the Reuters quoted a defense employee.

Since the incident, the nuclear armed nations have detached a number of measures against each other.

India On April 23, one-sided Critical Indus Water’s Treaty (IWT)-a water sharing agreement, suspended by the World Bank and has endured through wars and decades of hostility.

The next day, Pakistan reciprocated by threatening the Simla Agreement in Abeyance and closing its airspace for Indian flights. The National Security Committee (NSC) in Islamabad also called on India to “refrain from his reflexive guilt game and cynical, staged administered exploitation of events such as Pahagam to promote his narrow political agenda”.

On Thursday, the Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to pursue attackers to the “ends of the earth” and said that those who planned and performed the attack “will be punished beyond their imagination.”

Calls have also grown from Indian politicians and others to military action against Pakistan.

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday said Pakistan was “ready to cooperate” in an international probe for the Pahagam attack, but also warned of a “whole war” if India conducted an attack on Pakistan.

The United Nations has called on the Arch Rivals to show “maximum restraint”, so that questions can be “resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual commitment”.

US in contact with India and Pakistan calls on working against ‘responsible solution’

China’s call for restraint added to the United States’ statement from Sunday and called on India and Pakistan to work towards what it called a “responsible solution” when Washington said it was in contact with both countries.

“This is a developing situation and we are monitoring the development closely. We have been in contact with the governments of India and Pakistan on several levels,” a spokesman for the US Department of State told Reuters in an E -mail statement.

“The United States encourages all parties to work together against a responsible decision,” the spokesman added.

The State Deputy spokesman also said Washington “stands with India and condemns the terrorist attack in Pahaldam” and repeats comments similar to the recent made by US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

In public, the US government has expressed support to India after the attack, but has not criticized Pakistan. While Saudi Arabia and Iran have offered to convey, Trump said last week he was convinced that India and Pakistan would “get it out of it.”

India is an increasingly important American partner as Washington aims to address China’s increasing influence in Asia, while Pakistan remains an American ally, even as its importance to Washington has diminished after the US withdrawal of 2021 from nearby Afghanistan.

Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst and author of the foreign policy magazine, said that India is now a much closer American partner than Pakistan.

“This may worry about Islamabad that if India retaliates militarily, the United States can sympathize with its fight against combating combat and not trying to stand in the way,” Kugelman told Reuters.

Kugelman also said that given Washington’s commitment and the ongoing diplomatic efforts in Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israeli’s military offensive in Gaza, the Trump administration handles greatly on its global record “and can leave India and Pakistan on their own, at least in the early days of the excitement.

Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistan ambassador to the United States and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute Think Tank, also said there was no American appetite to reassure the situation at this moment.

“India has a prolonged complaint of terrorism that supports or is supported everywhere [the] limit. Pakistan has a long -standing belief that India wants to break it down. Both work themselves in a madness every few years. This time there is no American interest in reassuring things, ”Haqqani said.

Ned Price, a former US state department’s official under the administration of former President Joe Biden, said that although the Trump administration gave this question the sensitivity it deserved, a perception that it would support India at all costs to escalate tension further.

“The Trump administration has made it clear that it wants to elaborate on the US-India partnership a commendable goal, but that it is willing to do so at almost any cost.

“If India feels that the Trump administration will support it to Bakken, no matter what, we could be waiting for more escalation and more violence between these nuclear armed neighbors,” Price added.

2,000 withheld as Indian forces continue crashing

Meanwhile, Indian soldiers have blasted nine homes with pro-freedom kashmiris and detained nearly 2,000 people since the Pahagam attack, which triggered public anger and allegations of “collective punishment”.

Police have launched a large manhunt and withheld a long list of suspects to question, including nearly 2,000 inhabitants across the territory, a senior police officer told AFP.

“It’s a rotating door at police stations as part of the ongoing investigation,” the officer said, talking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

“Some have already been released and several are called to police stations,” the officer added. “These are not arrests, just to seek information that could lead to the terrorists,” the official insisted.

Security forces have sought almost 1,000 houses and forests in search of attackers in India-Held Kashmir, a local police officer told Reuters Monday.

Political leaders in the state have called for caution to ensure that the innocents are not injured in government actions against terrorism.

“It’s time to … Avoid any wrong -placed action that alienates people. Punishing the guilty shows them no grace, but don’t let innocent people become security injuries,” said Omar Abdullah, the territorial minister of the territory at X Saturday.

Another former minister of chief appealed to the Indian government “about taking care that innocent people do not feel brown as alienation helps the terrorists’ goals of division and fear”.

Aga Ruhullah, a federal legislator from the occupied Kashmir, said: “Kashmir and Kashmiris receive a collective punishment.”