India, Pakistan Hold Fragile Ceasefire, U.S. Offers More Help

Aletihad

India and Pakistan flags.

A fragile ceasefire was holding between India and Pakistan on Sunday, 11 May 2025, after hours of overnight fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, as U.S. President Donald Trump said he will work to provide a solution regarding Kashmir.

The two rivals engaged in heavy fighting for four days, the worst in nearly three decades, with missiles and drones fired at one other's military installations and hundreds killed.

Following diplomacy and US pressure, a ceasefire was negotiated, but within hours, artillery fire was seen in Indian Kashmir, the epicentre of much of the conflict.

Blasts from air-defense systems rang out in cities along the border during the blackout, as they had 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.

U.S. President 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," he said in a post on Truth Social.

The fighting started on Wednesday, two weeks after an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir killed 26 people. India launched attacks on what it said was "terrorist infrastructure" in both Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday, sparking the start of the battle. 

India accused Pakistan of taking part in the tourist attack, while Pakistan refuted the allegations. The two nations have been exchanging cross-border shelling and fire, as well as launching drones and missiles into one another's airspace, which killed dozens.

Since the end of British colonial control in 1947, the countries have been embroiled in a conflict over Kashmir. Both Islamic Pakistan and Hindu-majority India fully claim Kashmir but only partially govern it. Since then, they have clashed multiple times and gone to war three times, including twice over Kashmir.

The combined death toll in the recent skirmishes has reached nearly 70, officials have said.



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