After three tense days, with fears that a full-fledged war might break out between two nuclear-armed neighbors, India and Pakistan, a ceasefire was announced on Saturday, May 9. Despite initial apprehensions and reports of violations in Indian media, the ceasefire remains in force, and the return of normalcy was reported from the border areas.
The news of the ceasefire deal was first announced by the US President Donald Trump through a post on social media. In his post, Trump thanked the leaders of both the countries for showing “strength, wisdom and fortitude to fully know and understand that it was time to stop the current aggression.”
Trump also took credit for his country playing a role in India and Pakistan arriving “at this historic and heroic decision.”
Pakistan’s foreign office acknowledged the “constructive role played by the US, alongside other friendly states, in supporting the recent ceasefire and understanding between India and Pakistan,” Dawn reported.
However, Trump’s claims of mediation created a political storm in India where opposition parties, though welcoming the ceasefire, sought clarification from the government over the issue.
Indian National Congress (INC), India’s main opposition party said in a press conference on Monday that they are surprised that it was Trump who made the announcement of the ceasefire, in complete violation of India’s long standing principle of not allowing any third party to interfere in its affairs.
The opposition parties also sought clarification on the conditions in which the ceasefire deal was agreed upon as no details have surfaced so far about the nature of the understanding between both the countries.
The opposition in India demanded a special session of the parliament to discuss the ceasefire and related matters.
While not providing details, the Indian government has claimed it was not a “ceasefire deal” with Pakistan but an “understanding” to stop the military actions. It also maintained silence on the role played by the US or any third party and claimed that the understanding was arrived at after Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) called his Indian counterpart on Saturday evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to make a televised statement on the issue soon.
Offers of mediation over Kashmir
The hostilities between India and Pakistan date back to the partition of India, and the creation of both states, in 1947-1948. The status of Kashmir has always been a major factor in their disputes.
This latest bout of tensions began when India launched strikes on nine locations inside Pakistan on Wednesday in what it claimed were “precision strikes” against the terror groups responsible for the killing of 26 people in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, on April 22. India blamed Pakistan for the attack at Pahalgam.
The so-called “Operation Sindoor” carried out by the Indian armed forces led to the destruction of infrastructure in Pakistan and the killing of dozens of people.
Pakistan retaliated to the Indian attacks with cross border firing and threatened, hours before the ceasefire was announced on Saturday, to escalate with drones and missile warfare, calling it Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos (Iron Wall) on early Saturday May 10. Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar claimed Pakistan would be targeting India’s military infrastructure.
Around 60 people, mostly civilians, were killed and over a hundred others were injured on both sides of the border between India and Pakistan in the three days of hostilities.
After the ceasefire announcement, on Sunday, Trump offered to serve as a mediator between India and Pakistan for the resolution of the Kashmir issue which he incorrectly described as over 1,000 years old.
Pakistan’s foreign office welcomed Trump’s offer claiming “any just and lasting settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and must ensure the realization of the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people, including their inalienable right to self-determination.”
India meanwhile has made no official comments on Trump’s offers yet.
India has long maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and no other country has any role to play in it. It has rejected similar offers made by several US presidents in the past.
Indian government continues to crackdown on media
In its attempt to silence critical and anti-war voices, the Indian government launched a vicious attack on free speech in the country following its launch of Operation Sindoor. It banned various media portals including The Wire, Maktoob Media, and several others for reporting facts contrary to its official versions and issued advisories preventing media from quoting or using sources other than the official ones. It also ordered X to block thousands of accounts.
The government of India also shut down several YouTube channels claiming their reporting compromised national security, leading to strong protests from press unions in the country.
“In a clear violation of the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press, the government of India has blocked access to thewire.in across India. We protest this blatant censorship at a critical time for India when sane, truthful, fair, and rational voices and sources of news and information are among the biggest assets that India has,” The Wire said in a statement on its social media page on Friday, threatening legal action against the ban.
On Thursday, the Indian government also blocked the social media accounts of several independent media organizations such as Maktoob Media, the Kashmiriyat, and the Free Press Kashmir.
According to X, the Indian government ordered the shutting down of over 8,000 X accounts. X claimed the government threatened heavy fines and even imprisonment of its local staff if it failed to implement its demand for blocking “accounts belonging to international news organizations and prominent X users.”
The silencing of independent media organizations took place while the mainstream media in India continued to spread large-scale misinformation and fake news related to the escalation of tensions with Pakistan. On Thursday, several of them declared a full fledged war had broken out between both the countries with some even reporting that the Indian army was taking over major cities in Pakistan. This created widespread panic and war frenzy on social media in India.
