Pakistan says in ‘daily contact’ with Gulf states, China as hostilities rise with India

ISLAMABAD: Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday Pakistan was in “daily contact” with Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, as well as longtime ally China, amid growing fears that the worst confrontation in two decades with India could escalate further.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors have been at fever-pitch since Wednesday when India struck multiple locations in Pakistan in response to a deadly Apr. 22 attack targeting tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26. New Delhi blames the attack on Islamabad.
Pakistan, denying any involvement in the Kashmir violence, said it shot down five Indian fighter jets in retaliation for the Indian strikes. Violence has escalated since, with both Pakistan and India accusing each other of carrying out waves of drone attacks.
World powers from the US to China have urged the two countries to calm tensions.
“On a daily basis we are in contact with our brothers in the Arab Gulf,” Asif said while addressing the National Assembly. “Similarly our foreign minister, who is also the deputy prime minister, is in daily contact with UAE, Saudi, Qatar and even China.”
He added that Türkiye, China and Azerbaijan had “declared open support” for Pakistan while the rest of the world was staying “neutral” in the conflict. 
Asif said the Iranian foreign minister had visited Pakistan this week and “discussed various options” to de-escalate tensions.
US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday also reiterated the call for de-escalation.
“We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We can’t control these countries, though,” he said in an interview on Fox News show “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”
The Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel Al-Jubeir is scheduled to visit Pakistan on Friday. 
Al-Jubeir was in India on Thursday and met Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who said he “shared India’s perspectives on firmly countering terrorism” with him.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947. The countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, and clashed many times since. 
The countries, which both claim Kashmir in full and rule over parts of it separately, acquired nuclear weapons in the 1990s.