India-Pakistan Ceasefire Holds After Four Days of Clashes
A ceasefire between India and Pakistan appeared to be holding on Sunday after four days of clashes that brought the two nuclear-armed nations close to a full-blown war.
India achieved its objective of “decimating the terrorist camps,” Air Marshal A K Bharti said at a briefing Sunday, adding that dozens of suspected militants in Pakistan had been killed. Five Indian soldiers as well as civilians died in the fighting too, according to the army.
In a late night briefing Sunday, Pakistan’s military spokesman said there was no space for war between the two nations.
“Military conflict or war between two rival nuclear states is absurd, inconceivable and sheer stupidity,” Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said. The conflict is “a recipe for mutual annihilation.”
Tensions between the two neighbors escalated sharply on Saturday with drone and missile strikes on military sites, before both sides agreed to a ceasefire, which the US said it helped mediate. While there were reports of both sides violating the truce in the hours after it was called, the ceasefire appeared to be holding on Sunday.
The two nations, which have clashed several times over the decades over the disputed territory of Kashmir, conducted tit-for-tat military strikes since Wednesday, accusing each other of escalating the conflict. The US, China and other countries called for restraint as the situation deteriorated rapidly on Saturday morning.
Chaudhry said Sunday that at one point Pakistan had drones hovering above all key Indian cities, including the capital New Delhi.
Unlike previous clashes, which had been confined along the Line of Control that divides the disputed territory of Kashmir, this time military strikes occurred along the western border, which is not under dispute, and in densely populated cities.
Tensions first erupted on April 22, when gunmen killed 26 civilians — mainly tourists — in India’s Jammu and Kashmir region. India called the attack an act of terrorism and accused Pakistan of involvement, allegations Islamabad has denied.
Two weeks after the attacks, on May 7, India struck nine targets — what it described as terrorist camps — inside Pakistan, the deepest breach of that country’s territory by India since the 1971 war. Pakistan hit 26 key Indian military facilities and other targets, Chaudhry said on Sunday.
Pakistan’s army had said it shot down five Indian fighter jets, including French-made Rafales. India has so far deflected questions about the fighter jets, with Air Marshal A K Bharti saying in a briefing Sunday that “we are in a combat scenario and losses are a part of combat.” He added that “at this time I would not like to comment on that because we are still in a combat situation.”
India’s army had previously said it shot down Pakistani fighter jets, a claim which Pakistan hasn’t confirmed.
Source : Bloomberg
