Taken from a Pakistani army post, this photo shows a general view of Bandla Valley in Bhimber district near the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Issam Ahmed | AFP | Getty Images
India and Pakistan have issued a joint statement saying both sides have agreed to stop firing along their disputed Kashmir border from Thursday.
The Director Generals of the military operations for the two countries held talks in which they assessed the situation along the Line of Control – the de facto border between the Indian and Pakistani parts of Kashmir – in a “free, forthright and cordial atmosphere.” statement posted by India.
Frequent collisions and cross-border shelling along the Line of Control in recent months have reportedly killed several civilians.
“In the interest of achieving mutually beneficial and lasting peace along the borders, the two (Directors-General) agreed to address each other’s core issues and concerns that could disrupt peace and lead to violence,” the statement said. It added that both sides will use existing mechanisms, including a hotline to resolve tensions and misunderstandings.
Kashmir has always been a point of contention for the two nuclear-armed rivals. Pakistan and India both claim the entire territory, but control only part of it.
They have fought multiple wars over the mountainous area. In 2019, tensions escalated as both countries retaliated against each other, sparking concerns about the outbreak of war in South Asia.
Since then, India has deprived the state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special status allowing it to make its own laws and turned the state into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Pakistan criticized the move.
This week, Indian media reported that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said at a conference in Sri Lanka that Kashmir is the only dispute his country has with India and that it can only be resolved through dialogue.
India separately responded to the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday, saying that Pakistan “has one of the worst human rights sites in the world” and that it “needs to put its own house in order before pointing a finger at India. . “