ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s Defence Minister said on May 10 that no meeting of the top military and civil body overseeing the country’s nuclear arsenal had been scheduled following a military operation against India earlier in the day.

Pakistan’s military said earlier that the Prime Minister had called on the authority to meet.

The Information Minister did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The worst fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals since 1999 has killed dozens of people on both sides and led to repeated calls for de-escalation from the United States and the Group of Seven rich countries.

“This thing that you have spoken about (nuclear option) is present, but let’s not talk about it – we should treat it as a very distant possibility, we shouldn’t even discuss it in the immediate context,” Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told ARY TV.

“Before we get to that point, I think temperatures will come down. No meeting has happened of the National Command Authority, nor is any such meeting scheduled.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir and India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, urging both sides to de-escalate and “re-establish direct communication to avoid miscalculation”.