Washington:
US President Donald Trump has said the United States would increase trade “substantially” with both India and Pakistan, after the two nuclear power neighbours reached a fragile ceasefire agreement following days of deadly jet fighter, missile, drone and artillery attacks along the border areas as well as in Kashmir. The US President also offered to work to provide a solution regarding Kashmir.
A ceasefire agreement was reached between New Delhi and Islamabad on Saturday evening, but within hours, artillery fire was witnessed in Kashmir, while blasts from air-defence systems boomed in cities near the Line of Control (LoC) under blackout after Pakistan violated the truce deal. The Indian armed forces dealt “strongly” with “repeated violations” of the truce by Pakistan, and by dawn, the fighting and explosions had died down.
Meanwhile, Trump posted on Truth Social, praising the leaders of India and Pakistan for understanding that “it was time to stop the current aggression”, and also pledging to increase trade “substantially” with both nations.
“While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great nations,” Trump said.
The US president also said he would work with New Delhi and Islamabad to “see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir”.
India-Pakistan Tensions
Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared after a deadly terror attack last month in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 people, mostly male Hindu tourists. New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the April 22 attack after probe found cross-border links.
In response to the attack, India this week launched an “Operation Sindoor” and struck terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir. New Delhi stressed that it did not target any civilian or military installations and that its sole objective was to strike terror outfits.
Pakistan, however, responded with heavy shelling that led to civilian deaths and a barrage of drones and missiles targeted at civilian areas. India’s air defence managed to intercept most of the projectiles. In response, India targeted Pakistan’s military installations, including its key airbases, inflicting heavy damage.
Later, representatives of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force addressed a briefing and said that while they will adhere to the ceasefire, they remain “fully prepared and ever-vigilant and committed to defending the sovereignty and integrity of the motherland”.
By the afternoon of May 10, India had repelled several of Pakistan’s more aggressive tactical postures, following which Major General Kashif Abdullah, Pakistan’s DGMO, placed a direct call to his Indian counterpart, Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai and agreed to a ceasefire agreement.