Pakistan PM calls for talks with India following soaring tensions

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan called for talks with India on Wednesday and warned of a catastrophe should the conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals continue to escalate.

"Can we afford any miscalculation with the kind of weapons that we have and you have?" he said in a televised statement after both sides said they had shot down each other's warplanes.

"I once again invite India to come to the negotiating table," said Khan, who has called for dialogue with New Delhi in the past.

"Better sense should prevail," he added, "if escalation begins from here, where will it go?"

Khan also repeated the military's earlier statement that it had shot down two Indian Air Force planes, which sent tensions spiralling on Wednesday, fuelling fears of a fresh conflict between India and Pakistan.

"Today we shot down two Indian MiGs which crossed our border," he said, adding: "Pilots are with us".

India has said that just one of its planes was shot down, but that it also shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in air battles over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

The Pakistani military has denied that any of its planes were downed. 

Indian on Tuesday launched multiple airstrikes on what it said were militant camps in Pakistan's territory, said to be the first since 1971.

It followed a suicide attack, which India blamed on the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, which killed 40 Indian soldiers in Kashmir earlier this month.

Both India and Pakistan claim the Kashmir region in full but only control parts.

Cross border fire around the "Line of Control", which separates the two sides, has killed and wounded dozens of soldiers and civilians on both sides in recent years.

The EU and other countries have urged both sides to show restraint and prevent tensions escalating.

The two countries have fought several major conflicts since their independence from the UK in 1947.

Agencies contributed to this report.

Follow us on Twitter: @The_NewArab