India and Pakistan have confirmed on Monday that no cross-border firing occurred overnight, the first time in days that there was no shooting between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
The pause in violence follows a ceasefire agreement reached on Saturday, brokered by the US, in which both sides pledged to halt all military operations by land, air and sea.
The deal came after days of escalating exchanges pushed the region to the brink of a broader conflict.
“The night remained largely peaceful across Jammu and Kashmir, and other areas along the international border,” the Indian Army said in a statement.
Senior military officials from both countries are expected to hold a conversation on Monday to assess whether the truce is holding. Both sides accused the other of violations just hours after the agreement was announced.
Officials in Pakistan-administered Kashmir also reported no firing incidents and noted that civilians who had fled earlier hostilities were beginning to return to their homes.
Pakistan’s military spokesperson, Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif, stated late Sunday that Islamabad remains committed to the agreement.
Following the ceasefire, Pakistan reopened all its airports on Saturday, while India followed suit on Monday, restoring operations at 32 airports in the country’s northern and western regions that had been temporarily shut due to the conflict.
“These airports are now available for civil aircraft operations with immediate effect,” the Airports Authority of India announced.
The latest crisis erupted last Wednesday after India conducted airstrikes inside Pakistani territory, following the massacre of 26 Indian tourists in India-controlled Kashmir last month.
India accused Pakistan of backing the perpetrators, a charge Islamabad firmly denies. The fallout saw both countries expel diplomats, close airspace and land crossings and suspend a key water-sharing treaty — sending bilateral ties to one of their lowest points in recent memory.
Following the airstrikes, both militaries engaged in intense shelling across the Line of Control — the de-facto border in the disputed Kashmir region — alongside drone and missile strikes targeting installations and airbases.
Dozens of civilians were reportedly killed in the exchanges, according to both sides.
On Sunday, India’s military claimed its operations had eliminated over 100 militants in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and across the border, including senior figures linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.
Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, Director General of Military Operations, said nine militant training and infrastructure sites were destroyed.
Ghai also claimed that 35 to 40 Pakistani soldiers were killed in clashes along the Line of Control, while five Indian troops also lost their lives.
Pakistan’s Information Minister, Attaullah Tarar, on Thursday asserted that Pakistan’s forces had killed 40 to 50 Indian soldiers and shot down five fighter jets. He added that 26 Indian military sites had been targeted in retaliatory strikes.
