The arch rivals had targeted each other’s military installations with missiles and drones, killing dozens of civilians as relations turned sour after India blamed Pakistan for an attack that killed 26 tourists.
Pakistan denies the accusations and has called for a neutral investigation.
India said it launched strikes on nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday, but Islamabad has said those were civilian sites.
MARKETS RECOVER
Pakistan’s international bonds rallied sharply, adding as much as 5.7 cents in the dollar, Tradeweb data showed.
Late on Friday, the International Monetary Fund approved a fresh US$1.4-billion loan to Pakistan under its climate resilience fund and approved the first review of its US$7-billion program.
Pakistan’s benchmark share index was up 8.5 per cent on Monday, after a brief trading halt earlier in the session. It has recovered most of its losses in the past three sessions after India’s strikes.
Indian benchmarks jumped about 3 per cent, after the Nifty index lost 1.5 per cent in the prior three sessions. Worries about the conflict also erased US$83 billion from equities in the two days until Friday.
While Islamabad has thanked Washington for facilitating the ceasefire and welcomed Trump’s offer to mediate on the Kashmir dispute with India, New Delhi has not commented on US involvement in the truce or talks at a neutral site.
India, which says disputes with Pakistan have to be resolved directly by the neighbours, has in the past rejected the involvement of any third party.
“Kashmir is a bilateral issue, not an international issue,” Shilpak Ambule, its high commissioner, or ambassador, in Singapore, told Bloomberg TV. “For us, the word mediation does not work with the Kashmir issue.”
The main opposition Congress party, which had backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Apr 22 attack, agreed, while calling for a special parliament session on the latest developments with Pakistan.
“The government should also give its stand on the statements made by America on the Kashmir issue, as this is a bilateral issue,” Congress leader Sachin Pilot said in a post on X on Sunday.
In Bejing, the foreign ministry said China was willing to maintain communication with both its neighbours, and play a “constructive role in achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire” and maintaining peace.
India blames Pakistan for an insurgency in its part of Kashmir that began in 1989, but Pakistan says it provides only moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists.
Some in the region remained concerned despite the ceasefire.
“It is still scary,” said Padam, a traveller in a train from Jammu to New Delhi.
“After blasts all over the city (Jammu), I am scared. I am going to stay in Delhi till I am sure the agreement is binding on Pakistan,” added Padam, who declined to give his second name.
