Russia calls for settlements of disagreement between India, Pakistan

The Foreign Affairs Ministry on Saturday said in a statement that Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation S V Lavrov in a telephonic conversation with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar discussed the terrorist attack near Pahalgam.

Lavrov in his call with Jaishankar called for the settlement of disagreements between Delhi and Islamabad.

"On May 2, a telephone conversation took place between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation S V Lavrov and the Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India S Jaishankar," the statement read.

Lavrov called for settlements by political and diplomatic means on a bilateral basis.

"The heads of the foreign policy departments discussed current issues of Russian-Indian cooperation, as well as the aggravation of Indian-Pakistani relations after the terrorist attack near Pahalgam. S.V.Lavrov called for the settlement of disagreements between New Delhi and Islamabad by political and diplomatic means on a bilateral basis in accordance with the provisions of the Simla Agreement of 1972 and the Lahore Declaration of 1999," the statement read.

"The ministers discussed the schedule of upcoming contacts at the highest and high levels," the statement added.

As the world leaders continued their condemnation of the attack, MEA Secretary (Economic Relations) Dammu Ravi, while speaking on the state visit of President of Angola Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenzo to India said on Saturday that he condemned the terror attack.

Ravi said that Lourenco affirmed support to India in tackling terrorism.

"During the press briefing, there was a very strong message and also during the delegation level talks, President Lorenzo condemned the heinous cowardly act, terrorist act in in Jammu and Kashmir and there was condemnation of it," he said.

In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, India on Saturday decided to suspend exchange of all categories of all inbound mails and parcels from Pakistan through air and surface routes, a statement by Union Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region, Jyotiradita Scindia said.

The statement by the Ministry of Communications, Department of Posts was also tweeted by India Post.

The suspension follows another ban by the Centre earlier in the day on Pakistani imports. India has imposed an immediate ban on the direct or indirect import and transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan, regardless of their import status, effectively halting bilateral trade flows.