Hostilities between India and Pakistan look set to resume after a US-brokered truce was apparently violated within hours.
On Saturday, a truce was announced between the two nations, who have come close to all-out war after a devastating terrorist attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which India has blamed on Pakistan. The truce was hailed by President Trump on social media, who credited his administration with bringing the fighting to a halt.
Hours later, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Pakistani forces were violating the terms of the ceasefire. There were reports of blasts and gunfire in the disputed region.
“For the last few hours, there have been repeated violations of the understanding arrived at earlier this evening between the directors general of military operations of India and Pakistan,” India’s Foreign Secretary said in an update shared after 11 pm New Delhi time.
“This is a breach of the understanding arrived at earlier today.”
“The armed forces are giving an adequate and appropriate response to these violations, and we take very, very serious notice of these violations,” he continued.
“We call upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address these violations and deal with the situation with seriousness and responsibility.”
After the ceasefire was initially concluded, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared “victory” over India, which he claimed had been the aggressor.
“India, because they are so proud, they just tried their best to attack our borders through drone attacks, through missiles, and they have also taken innocent lives. They have destroyed mosques,” he said.
“They wanted to target all those places that were very precious to us, and we then decided we were going to retaliate in the same way.”
Fighting began on May 7, with India launching air strikes in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and Pakistan against infrastructure New Delhi claimed had been used in the terrorist attack.
At present, the death toll from the fighting stands at around 60.
India and Pakistan have clashed a number of times since their creation in 1947 as a result of the partition of British India. Both nations have nuclear weapons.