UN: Ambassadors at a secret meeting of the UN Security Council on the rising tension between India and Pakistan urged de-escalation. Sources said that Security Council officials have asked Pakistan tough questions during the meeting.

Greece, which holds the UN Security Council presidency for May, had scheduled the meeting for Monday at the request of Pakistan, which is currently a non-permanent member.

The meeting came days after terrorists killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. The 15-member UN Security Council did not issue any statement after the meeting,

Khalid Mohamed Khiari of Tunisia, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Department of Political Affairs and Peace Operations, briefed the council on behalf of both departments (DPPA and DPO).

Khiari, who left the meeting, said there was a call for dialogue and peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris, Greece's permanent representative to the United Nations and current UNSC president, described it as a fruitful meeting. A Russian diplomat said, "We hope to de-escalate the tensions between India and Pakistan."

The 15-nation Security Council members raised tough questions with Pakistan, sources here told PTI. They said they were asked to resolve the issues bilaterally with India.

The sources said there was widespread condemnation of the terror attack and the need for accountability.

The closed-door meeting, which lasted about an hour and a half, was not held in the UN Security Council chamber, but in an adjacent consultation room.

Many members expressed concern that Pakistan's missile tests and nuclear rhetoric were escalating tensions. Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed told reporters that the country's objectives were largely put forward in the meeting.

What were the issues raised in the meeting?

Pakistan raised the issue of India's suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. Water is life, not a weapon. These rivers feed more than 240 million Pakistanis. Ahmed said that Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to peaceful, cooperative relations with all our neighbours, including India, in the meeting.

He said that we are open to dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and sovereign equality.