Washington:
Calling Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir a dictator, US Congressman Ro Khanna has called on Islamabad not to retaliate in the aftermath of India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ that destroyed multiple terror camps in nine locations across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) in the early hours of May 7. Khanna also called for de-escalation of tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbours that has been brewing since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.
“Both have nuclear weapons. Well, the most urgent thing is de-escalation. I mean, there was a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, and innocent people were killed. India took a response that helped take out some of the terrorist networks. The important thing now is for de-escalation,” the Congressman said in an interview with CNN.
The Democrat hoped that US President Donald Trump had people in his team who understood the region and its diplomatic politics to help in the resolution of tension between India and Pakistan.
My discussion on @TheSourceCNN about the tense situation between India and Pakistan and the way forward. pic.twitter.com/0g3wefRjvz
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) May 7, 2025
“The only reason I say is that they’ve (India and Pakistan) been fighting for centuries…It was British colonialism that fomented the partition, that fomented some of the divisions between Hindus and Muslims there. It’s important to really understand the region, and we need to be an honest broker for escalation,” he added.
Calling Munir a dictator, he said there is “no honest voice” left in Pakistan. He also called upon the Pakistani authorities to free former Prime Minister Imran Khan and stop any retaliation they might be planning against India’s strike.
“We also have to understand that Asim Munir is a dictator who didn’t have legitimate elections, who has put Imran Khan in jail. There is no honest voice right now in Pakistan, because it’s a dictatorship. We should be calling for elections, fair elections, after the de-escalation,” he said.
“There should be an end to it. We have a lot of leverage with Pakistan. We give the IMF loans to Pakistan. They’re dependent upon that. We should be saying to Asim Munir that he needs to free Imran Khan, stop any retaliation and then have a fair election, because there was a rigged election,” Khanna added.
At least 12 people, including four children, were killed and 57 others injured as the Pakistan Army carried out heavy artillery and mortar shelling on forward villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. The intense cross-border shelling began shortly after India launched missiles on nine terror targets in Pakistan and POK.
The worst-hit in the Pakistani shelling was Poonch district, which accounted for all the civilian deaths, the officials said. They said 42 people were injured and some of them are in a critical condition.
