UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has pressed on his call to India and Pakistan to de-escalate amid rising tensions between the two South Asian neighbours, APP reports.

“Our comment is the same as what we’ve been saying and what the secretary general made clear to you at the start of this week — that the world cannot afford another conflict between India and Pakistan,” Farhan Aziz Haq, the UN deputy spokesperson, said in response to a question about the situation between India and Pakistan at the regular noon briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.

“He (the UN chief) has offered his good offices, but certainly, we encourage all efforts to de-escalate the situation and encourage both India and Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint,” Farhan Haq added.