Pakistani children ride a motorcycle on their way to class in Peshawar, northern Pakistan, on Monday morning after schools reopened a little more than 36 hours after a Pakistan-India truce ended three days of cross-border clashes that killed scores of people. Photo by Blilawal Arbab/EPA-EFE
May 12 (UPI) — Indian and Pakistani officials were scheduled to hold direct talks Monday to build on a U.S.-brokered cease-fire between the nuclear-armed Asian rivals that came into force over the weekend.
The phone call between the Directors General of Military Operations of both countries came as the cease-fire held into a second day after both sides accused each other of violations during the intial hours of the truce and authorites in India and Pakistan reopened airports and schools shuttered due to worries regards safety.
Celebrations were held in both countries with each claiming the other side had been forced to back down after India triggered three days of military clashes by launching strikes against Pakistan in what it said was retaliation for the massacre of 26 Indian tourists by militants in Indian-administered Kashmir in April.
Pakistan said it remained “committed to faithful implementation of cease-fire” while the Indian army told a news conference Sunday that it had warned Islamabad about breaches of the cease-fire via a hotline of “our firm and clear intent to respond to these fiercely.”
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday heaped praise on the administrations of India and Pakistan for showing the strength and wisdom to pull back from the brink and promised to reward both “great nations” with enhanced trading opportunities with the United States.
“Millions of good and innocent people could have died! Your legacy is greatly enhanced by your brave actions. I am proud that the USA was able to help you arrive at this historic and heroic decision,” he wrote on his Truth Social media platform.
“Additionally, I will work with you both to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir. God Bless the leadership of India and Pakistan on a job well done!!!”
Clashes in Kashmir along the Line of Control have killed 35-40 Pakistan Armed Forces troops, according to the Indian Army while Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said his country’s forces had killed 40-50 Indian troops on the de facto border dividing Kashmir.
Both sides claim their civilians have been killed and injured by shelling and aerial strikes.
Pakistan said strikes by Indian warplanes and drones resulted in the deaths of at least 31 civilians with another 46 injured. At least 13 have been killed in India amid widespread damage from shelling.