India-Pakistan updates: Ceasefire holds a day after deadly fighting halted

What can be learned from the latest conflict between India and Pakistan? Find out here.

Guns are silent, but will the India-Pakistan truce hold? Dive deeper here.

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This live page will soon close. Here are some of the major developments:

• India’s Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai said Indian forces struck nine armed group training facilities and killed more than 100 fighters. None of these claims could be independently verified.
• Authorities in Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab said universities across the province will reopen on Monday.
• Some business owners in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, expressed hope that the key tourism sector will pick up again after the ceasefire that followed the cross-border fighting in the wake of last month’s attack in Pahalgam.
• About 26 military targets and facilities were hit in India in attacks carried out on Saturday, said Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Pakistan’s military spokesman. The claim could not be independently verified, and India has not yet commented.
• Congress Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a special session of Parliament after the ceasefire agreement with Pakistan.

New Delhi, India – Questions remain about whether the fragile agreement between the nuclear-powered neighbours will hold.

Abbas, a Srinagar resident who requested to be identified by his last name only, told Al Jazeera the current conflict feels different.

“It feels like a psychological war has been waged on us. The fear isn’t just from the blasts, it is from the uncertainty and a lack of transparency,” he said. “Kashmiris are once again stuck in the middle, with no refuge, no escape.”

Read the full story here.

Pakistani citizens are praising their military for the handling of the confrontation with India after it launched attacks last week.

“The way our Air Force taught them a proper lesson and targeted them they were forced to end their hostilities. As our military told them, ‘You can start it, but we will tell you how we end it’,” said Zafar Naqvi, a Lahore resident.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, hundreds of thousands of people who evacuated began to cautiously return home after heavy Pakistani shelling.

The five-day conflict struck deep into both countries, reaching major cities for the first time in decades – with the majority of deaths in Pakistan and almost all civilians.

Chakothi taxi driver Muhammad Akhlaq, 56, said the ceasefire was “no guarantee of lasting peace”.

“I have serious doubts about it because the core issue that fuels hostility between the two countries still remains unresolved – and that issue is Kashmir,” he said.

Nestled among the lush green landscape of the Neelum Valley lay dusty mounds of debris and rubble. The valley runs along the Neelum River and, in some places, the border posts of both Pakistan and India are visible.

On Friday night, as soon as warning sirens started wailing, Fatima Bibi rushed into a bunker with her family.

“It was a terrifying night,” said Bibi. “Both sides were firing at each other’s posts. We heard non-stop explosions, and there was a deafening blast as shells started landing in our village.” A small shell landed in the courtyard of her home, damaging the windows and walls.

Bibi was thankful for the ceasefire. “Given how tense things had become, many people could have died if a war had broken out,” she said.

Pakistan’s military spokesperson Chaudhry concluded the press conference by reiterating that any conflict between two nuclear-armed nations in South Asia would be catastrophic.

“I want to say this again: we are both nuclear-armed nations. A war between these two is sheer stupidity,” he said.

“If there is one party which, for whatever reasons or arrogance, or any political compulsions that they want to achieve, we don’t want to go there. But if he is trying to carve out space, they are playing with war.”

Chaudhary added: “We are the mature player here, and during this entire process, you must have seen that we were doing escalation to control – and the world knows we acted in a very deliberate, precise but in a restrained manner.”

During the lengthy press conference by Pakistan’s army, navy and air force, the director general of its media wing, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, emphasised that Kashmir remains the fundamental dispute between Pakistan and India.

“The problem that we’re seeing is that India continues to internalise this external problem. It’s an external problem with Pakistan, India and the people of Kashmir,” Chaudhry said.

He also said categorically: “Pakistan never requested any ceasefire.”

“On the request and intervention of international interlocutors, we responded to the already made request [for ceasefire] of the Indians.”

Pakistan’s army is not violating the ceasefire with India, its spokesperson says.

“I can say with 200 percent certainty that the Armed Forces are holding the LoC [Line of Control] ceasefire,” Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said at a press briefing.

“We are a professional army and we strongly abide by the commitments we make and follow by letter and spirit the orders of the government.”

Chaudhary added: “Does it make any sense for Pakistan to start violating this commitment we made? We’re a peace-loving nation; peace within and without. But if there is any aggression, we will respond.”

In Pakistan’s villages on the border with India, many residents still do not feel safe despite the ceasefire announcement.

When clashes broke out, Kashif Minhas, 25, a construction worker in Chakothi, desperately searched for a vehicle to move his wife and three children away from the fighting.

“I had to walk several kilometres before finally getting one and moving my family,” he said. “In my view, the current ceasefire between India and Pakistan is just a formality. There’s still a risk of renewed firing and if it happens again, I’ll move my family out once more.”

It’s the biggest military escalation between India and Pakistan in decades.

Missile strikes, drone attacks, and deadly shelling have struck on both sides of the border in the disputed region of Kashmir. With dozens of civilians dead and both countries trading blame, can the two nuclear powers contain the dispute?

A ceasefire between India and Pakistan appears to be holding after both sides accused each other of initial violations.

The uneasy calm has taken hold following days of the worst eruption of fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in decades.

Diplomacy and pressure from the United States helped secure the ceasefire deal when it seemed that the conflict was spiralling towards a full-scale war. Within hours of the ceasefire coming into force, there were explosions in Indian-administered Kashmir, the centre of much of last week’s fighting.

Read the full story here.

People from Pakistan-administered Kashmir began returning after the truce deal was announced, only to see their houses and businesses wrecked, uninhabitable or unsafe, and their belongings ruined.

People are unsure if the ceasefire will hold and who will help them rebuild their lives.

Abdul Shakoor, from Chinari in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, ran for his life on Wednesday. He and his family escaped through fields and walked almost 10km (6 miles) to take shelter at a relative’s house.

“Many people in other cities who support war don’t realise who suffers the most when conflict breaks out or when two armies exchange fire,” said Shakoor. “It’s the people living near the border who pay the highest price.”

Although the ceasefire has brought people “immense relief”, he wants both countries to talk to each other. “In the end, even after war, it all comes back to dialogue,” he said.

Feelings of relief and hope are sweeping India and Pakistan. The latest flare-up in hostilities that killed 60 people across the two countries has come to a dramatic halt after four days.

Nearly 30 countries, including the United States, are reported to have been involved in getting the ceasefire agreed.

The administration of US President Donald Trump, which announced the truce, has proposed a new round of talks at a neutral venue to try to end the bitter rivalry.

A dispute over divided Kashmir, India’s accusation that Pakistan is backing terrorist attacks inside its territory, and differences over the sharing of river water are issues that have all been festering for decades.

Watch Al Jazeera’s Inside Story below:

Tens of thousands fled the Indian-administered part of the disputed region last week during heavy shelling and drone attacks by Pakistan. Yet despite a ceasefire announced on Saturday, only a handful of families returned to their homes on Sunday.

“We will go back only after complete calm prevails,” said Basharat Ahmed, who lives in Poonch district. “It doesn’t take much time for the two countries to start fighting on the border.”

The ceasefire was intended to halt the hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbours and defuse their worst military confrontation for decades. But just hours later, each side accused the other of violating the deal.

Indian officials said Pakistani shelling since Wednesday killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens more. The attacks also damaged or destroyed hundreds of residential buildings.