Pak Violated Understanding On Stopping Military Actions: India

New Delhi: Hours after US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that India and Pakistan had agreed to a ceasefire, later affirmed by India, Pakistan restarted shelling and firing drones over Kashmir and Bhuj and other areas, leading a furious New Delhi to state that there had “repeated violations and a breach of the understanding” reached with Islamabad.

“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 note of these violations” foreign secretary Vikram Misri said in a late night briefing.

The guns had fallen silent after three relentless days of escalating cross-border fire, heavy shelling, missile strikes and drone warfare, effective from 5 pm. The ceasefire was reportedly brokered through the direct intervention of President Trump. Shortly thereafter, US secretary of state in an official statement said that the two neighbours had “agreed to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site”.

Indian government sources swiftly contradicted this and said that “there is no decision to hold talks (with Pakistan) on any other issue at any other place.”

The first steps to the breakthrough had started after the Pakistani Director General of Military Operations had dialled his Indian counterpart, Foreign secretary Vikram Misri said. He added that the armed forces were giving an “adequate and appropriate response” to the Pakistani violations, and urged Islamabad to address these violations.

The understanding reached between the two nations was to “stop all firing and military action on land and in the air and sea” from 5 pm onwards and the DGMOs were scheduled to speak again at noon on Monday. Government sources had said in the evening that “the stoppage of firing and military action between India and Pakistan was worked out directly between the two countries”.

Later at night, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah gave the first indications of things going wrong when he reported shelling and drones from across the border. A Gujarat minister also tweeted about drones over Kutch district. A blackout was immediately imposed in towns close to the border.

In a late-night statement to the media, Misri said, “For the last few hours, there have been repeated violations of the understanding arrived at earlier this evening between the DGMOs of India and Pakistan. 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 note of these violations.”

He added, “We call upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address these violations and deal with the situation with seriousness and responsibility. The armed forces are maintaining a strong vigil on the situation. They have been given instructions to deal strongly with any instances of repetition of the violations of the border along the International Border as well as the Line of Control (LoC).”

Massive explosions rocked Srinagar again on Saturday evening amid several drones hovering in the skies, creating a terrifying atmosphere there. Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mr. Omar Abdullah, took to ‘X’ to say, “What the hell just happened to the ceasefire? Explosions heard across Srinagar!!!” In another post, he said, “This is no ceasefire. The air defence units in the middle of Srinagar just opened up.”

The explosions which were followed by warning sirens and a blackout caused panic among the residents, many of whom were seen running towards perceived safer locations. Soon, officials informed that the blast booms were caused primarily due to the air defence guns and other weapons by the security forces in their attempt to engage the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) sent for Pakistan. Reports of similar activity and interventions by the security forces are pouring in from some other parts of the Kashmir Valley and Jammu areas.

Around the same time, fresh ceasefire violations were reported from multiple locations along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) with the Pakistani troops firing small arms towards the Indian forward positions and towards unmanned hills and open fields. The Indian Army and the Border Security Force (BSF) are responding proportionately, the officials said. The cross-border firing took place in Akhnoor and Rajouri sectors of the LoC and RS Pura and Palanwalla sectors of the IB, according to reports.

Before India’s announcement earlier in the evening on the understanding reached with Pakistan, it was President Trump who first declared on social media that the two nations have agreed to a “full and immediate ceasefire” and further congratulated them for showing “common sense and great intelligence”. President Trump also took credit by declaring that this happened “after a long night of talks mediated by the United States”.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio in an official statement said that the two neighbours had “agreed to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site”. This was contradicted by government sources who said there was no decision to hold talks (with Pakistan) on any other issue at any other place”.

The US secretary of state also spoke to Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “Over the past 48 hours, Vice President Vance and I have engaged with senior Indian and Pakistani officials, including Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, (Pakistan) Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir, and National Security Advisers Ajit Doval and Asim Malik.” He added, "We commend Prime Ministers Modi and Shehbaz Sharif on their wisdom, prudence, and statesmanship in choosing the path of peace.”

The United States had intensified its diplomatic efforts to get India and Pakistan to talk to each other directly to de-escalate tensions and offered American assistance, even as New Delhi had conveyed to Washington that the Indian approach “has always been measured and responsible and remains so”. This development came even as the G7 nations had condemned the Pahalgam terror attacks of last month and urged maximum restraint on the part of both India and Pakistan.