INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
reducing tension between Pakistan and India, the foreign ministry said, after the nuclear-armed rivals almost came to blows last month
following an attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy in disputed Kashmir.The sparring threatened to spiral out of control and only
officials, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, headed off a bigger conflict, five sources familiar with the events have told
Reuters.At one stage, India threatened to fire at least six missiles at Pakistan, and Islamabad said it would respond with its own missile
strikes "three times over", said Western diplomats and government sources in New Delhi, Islamabad and Washington.A Pakistani minister said
China and the United Arab Emirates also intervened to lessen tension between the south Asian neighbours.In a faxed statement to Reuters late
on Monday, responding to a question on China's role in reining in the crisis, its foreign ministry said peaceful coexistence between
Pakistan and India was in everyone's interest."As a friendly neighbour of both India and Pakistan, China pro-actively promoted peace talks
and played a constructive role in easing the tense situation," it said."Some other countries also made positive efforts in this regard," the
ministry added.China is willing to work with the international community to continue to encourage the neighbours to meet each other half way
and use dialogue and peaceful means to resolve differences, it said, without elaborating.The Chinese government's top diplomat, State
Councillor Wang Yi, is set to meet Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Beijing later on Tuesday.The Feb
14 attack that killed at least 40 paramilitary police was the deadliest in Kashmir's 30-year-long insurgency, escalating tension between the
neighbours, who said they shot down each other's fighter jets late last month.China and Pakistan call each other "all-weather" friends, but
China has also been trying to improve ties with New Delhi.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held an
informal summit in China last year agreeing to reset relations, and Xi is expected to visit India sometime this year, diplomatic sources
say.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)Get the
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