A fragile ceasefire was holding between India and Pakistan on Sunday after hours of overnight fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
The arch rivals were involved in intense firing for four days, the worst in nearly three decades, with missiles and drones being fired at each other’s military installations and dozens of people killed.
A ceasefire agreement was reached after diplomacy and pressure from the United States, but within hours, artillery fire was witnessed in Indian Kashmir, the centre of much of the fighting.
Blasts from air-defence systems boomed in cities near the border under blackout, similar to the previous two evenings, according to authorities, residents and Reuters witnesses.
Late on Saturday, India said Pakistan had violated the understanding arrived to stop firing and that the Indian armed forces had been instructed to “deal strongly” with any repetition.
In response, Pakistan said it was committed to the ceasefire and blamed India for the violations.
By dawn, the fighting and explosions reported overnight had died down on both sides of the border, according to Reuters witnesses.
Power was restored in most areas along India’s border towns after a blackout the previous night.
In the border city of Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple revered by Sikhs, a siren sounded in the morning to resume normal activities brought a sense of relief and people were seen out on the roads.
The fighting started on Wednesday, two weeks after 26 men were killed in an attack targeting Hindus in Pahalgam in Indian Kashmir.
“Ever since the day terrorists attacked people in Pahalgam we have been shutting our shops very early and there was an uncertainty. I am happy that at least there will be no bloodshed on both sides,” Satvir Singh Alhuwalia, 48, a shopkeeper in Amritsar told Reuters.
Officials in Pakistan said there was some firing in Bhimber in Pakistani Kashmir overnight but nowhere else, and there were no casualties.
The two countries, born out of British colonial rule in 1947, have gone to war three times – twice over the region of Kashmir.
Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan both rule part of Kashmir but claim it in full.
India blames Pakistan for an insurgency in its part of Kashmir that began in 1989 and has killed tens of thousands. It also blames Pakistani Islamist militant groups for attacks elsewhere in India.
Pakistan says it provides only moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists.
The combined death toll in the recent skirmishes has reached nearly 70, officials have said.
“More than me, my family is happy because my children and wife have been calling me every hour to check on me. Thank God the ceasefire happened,” Guruman Singh, a security guard in Amritsar told Reuters.
Trump praised leaders of both countries for agreeing to halt the aggression.
“While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great nations. Additionally, I will work with you both to see if… a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. – France24.
