John Kerry calls Nawaz Sharif; voices US concern over India-Pakistan tensions

Washington: US Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed "enormous concern" to Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the recent increase in tensions with India, asserting that there should not be any "misinterpretation or miscalculation" between the two neighbours.

"I talked today with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan regarding a recent increase in the tensions publicly between India and Pakistan. It's of enormous concern to all of us for all the obvious reasons," Kerry told reporters.

Kerry made the call to Sharif soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Pakistani counterpart and greeted him on the eve of holy month of Ramadan.

"These are two very, very important countries playing a critical role with respect to regional interests, and it's very, very important that there be no misinterpretation or miscalculation with respect to any of the back-and-forth and the empowerment some entities might feel as a result of that," Kerry told reporters in a conference call from his home town of Boston where he is recovering from a leg injury.

According to Kerry, Sharif was extremely forthcoming and said he had just spoken with his Indian counterpart. "He could not have been more direct. He had actually just finished a conversation himself with the Prime Minister of India," the Secretary of State said.

"We welcomed some thinking together about how we can work, all of us, to try to reduce those tensions over the course of the next days and weeks," he said. Pakistan and India have been involved in a war of words recently with leaders from both sides exchanging sharp comments.

Prime Minister Sharif last week attacked the "irresponsible and imprudent" statements from the Indian political leadership and had vowed to protect his country's "vital interests at all costs".

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore had said in the wake of India's military action in Myanmar that it was a message to other countries which was interpreted as a warning to Pakistan.