TALKS TO FOLLOW AT NEUTRAL VENUE
In a post on X, Rubio commended Modi and Sharif on the agreement, which he said included not only an immediate ceasefire but also the start of talks on “a broad set of issues at a neutral site”.
In a subsequent address to the nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif said Trump “played a sincere” role in promoting the ceasefire.
He also said on X that Pakistan – which has long sought international mediation in Kashmir – “appreciates” the US intervention.
India has consistently opposed mediation, however, and observers were sceptical of the truce.
“The ceasefire was cobbled together hastily, and at a moment when tensions were at their highest,” US-based South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman wrote on X after the claims of violations.
“India appears to have interpreted the deal differently than did the US and Pakistan, and it’s likely not keen on the broader talks it calls for. Upholding it will pose challenges,” he warned.
News of the ceasefire was greeted with relief on both sides of the border and Pakistan’s airport authority said its airspace had been fully reopened.
India and Pakistan have been locked in a dispute over Kashmir ever since they were born at the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan both rule part of Kashmir but claim it in full.
They have gone to war three times, including twice over Kashmir, alongside numerous smaller outbreaks of fighting.
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 rejects both charges. It says it provides only moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists.
Source: CNA
