Members of Indian and Pakistani community in Windsor-Essex want an end to escalating tensions at home

As dozens on both sides of the India-Pakistan border have died in an escalating conflict, members of both communities in Windsor-Essex are hoping for peace and urge Canada to help de-escalate tensions between the two countries.

"From the Pakistani community's point of view, it's very, very daunting. It's very scary," said Mohsin Naqvi, the secretary general of the Pakistan Canada Association Windsor.

Naqvi said the news has been shocking for many in the Pakistani diaspora in Windsor-Essex and worries innocent lives have been lost on both sides of the border. 

An attack in which gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, at a popular meadow in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir in late April spurred the escalating tensions between the neighbouring countries. India has blamed Pakistan for backing the attack, something Islamabad has denied.

'Worried about family safety': International students from India

Members of Windsor's Pakistani and Indian communities worry about the safety of loved ones abroad

1 day ago

Duration 2:20

Tensions are soaring between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan. CBC's Pratyush Dayal reports on how members of both communities in Windsor are reacting to the conflict.

India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations early Wednesday, killing dozens. India said it  was taking aim at what it called "terrorist infrastructure." 

Pakistan claimed it shot down several Indian aircraft in retaliation, including three fighter jets. Two planes fell onto villages in India-controlled Kashmir and one fell in the northern Punjab state. At least seven civilians were also killed in the region by Pakistani shelling, the Indian army said in a statement.

"As Pakistanis, we believe that the people of Pakistan and the people of India do not have any hard feelings for each other. It's the governments that are playing war games with each other and which is making everybody feel scared," Naqvi said.

Kanika Sharma, an international student from India at the University of Windsor, is worried.

Sharma said she woke up Wednesday morning to videos of rubble and devastation filmed by her maternal relatives living in a border village of Poonch, where Pakistan's retaliation was worst felt.

"I'm worried about my family. We actually reside near the Jammu and Kashmir border," she said, noting she is checking on her relatives and family members every few hours.

She urges the leaders to seek peace.

"This is actually between the two nations of men in power, their egos ... but the normal public has nothing to do with it. They just want to live their life peacefully," she said. "I believe in peace and so do [people of] Jammu and Kashmir."

'Canada should step in': Pakistan Canada Association Windsor

Naqvi says he wants Canada to help de-escalate the tensions, given how many in the Indian and Pakistani diaspora in Canada will feel the impact, and urges international agencies to step in.    

"We are expecting the new prime minister to put his weight in the international community, especially the UN, to force India and Pakistan to refrain and disengage from a full blown war with each other that can escalate to a nuclear war," he said.

"If there is a nuclear war, there would be no Canada, there would be no United States and there will be no India or Pakistan."