Ceasefire holds between Pakistan, India as Trump offers to help resolve Kashmir issue
Pakistan
"I will work with you both to see if... a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir," Trump said
AMRITSAR/MUZAFFARABAD (Reuters/Web Desk) – A ceasefire was held between Pakistan and India on Sunday after hours of overnight fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, as US President Donald Trump expressed his willingness to help find a solution to the Kashmir issue.
The arch rivals were involved in intense firing for four days, the worst in nearly three decades, with missiles and drones being fired at each other's military installations and dozens of people killed.
Trump 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," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
In the border city of Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple revered by Sikhs, a siren sounded in the morning to resume normal activities brought a sense of relief and people were seen out on the roads.
The fighting started on Wednesday, two weeks after 26 men were killed in an attack targeting Hindus in Pahalgam in Indian Kashmir.
"Ever since the day terrorists attacked people in Pahalgam, we have been shutting our shops very early and there was an uncertainty. I am happy that at least there will be no bloodshed on both sides," Satvir Singh Alhuwalia, 48, a shopkeeper in Amritsar told Reuters.
The two countries, born out of British colonial rule in 1947, have gone to war three times – twice over the region of Kashmir.
Kashmiri men react after the ceasefire announcement between Pakistan and India, in Indian-occupied Kashmir's capital Srinagar.
Pakistan says it provides only moral, political, and diplomatic support to Kashmiris who are fighting for freedom from India.
The combined death toll in the recent skirmishes has reached nearly 70, officials have said.
"More than me, my family is happy because my children and wife have been calling me every hour to check on me. Thank God the ceasefire happened," Guruman Singh, a security guard in Amritsar told Reuters.
