ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan and India reaffirmed on Thursday their commitment to a ceasefire along the troubled border between the two countries, after a year of bloody skirmishes, a welcome step in both countries to ease tensions between neighbors with nuclear weapons.
A joint statement issued by the military of the two countries said that senior officials on both sides agreed with strict compliance with the truce along the Line of Control, as the disputed stretch of the border is called, and continue to communicate through a hotline. to resolve possible misunderstandings.
“This is a victory for diplomacy and, God willing, more avenues will be opened in the future,” Moeed Yusuf, Pakistan’s de facto national security adviser, said in a brief statement to The New York Times.
An Indian official with knowledge of the events, who asked to remain anonymous for comment because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said channel meetings between the two sides in neutral locations had intensified last month and led to the renewed commitment.
Yusuf, without addressing the exact nature of the discussions, confirmed a long stretch of undisclosed conversations between the two governments. But he rejected Indian media reports of at least one face-to-face meeting between him and his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, as part of efforts to advance efforts to reduce tensions.
“These things happen behind the scenes – it takes a lot of effort,” he said.
The reaffirmation of a ceasefire comes during a broader slowdown in the region after a year in which India felt increasingly mired in a slow but deadly conflict on two fronts: with Pakistan along the Line of Control and with Pakistan’s ally China along another high border in the Himalayas, called the Royal Line of Control.
Pakistan is also looking for an opportunity to restart relations with President Biden’s new American government, after years of pressure from the Trump administration to crack down on the terrorist havens that remain in the country. Analysts said Pakistan’s work to reduce the risk of a major conflict in South Asia, if the commitment to a ceasefire is maintained, will be noted in Washington’s calculations.
Tensions have been particularly high between India and Pakistan since a suicide bombing killed dozens of Indian forces in the disputed territory of Kashmir in 2019. India accused Pakistan of feeding the terrorists who carried out the bombing and carried out air strikes in Pakistan. Pakistan responded with its own air strikes and then shot down an Indian jet fighter, briefly detaining the pilot and then releasing him in an effort to ease tensions.
Since then, minor skirmishes, although sometimes deadly, have frequently erupted along the border, despite a ceasefire agreement in 2003. Last year, it was the largest number of violations, with some 5,000 incidents recorded between countries, who have a long history of war and mutual antagonism.
“This is a major development in South Asia. India-Pakistan relations are oscillating on the brink of a major conflict, ”said Asfandyar Mir, a researcher at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, nothing that the year 2020 has been violent on the border. “Retreating from that point is important and a surprising turnaround.”
The news of a renewed commitment to the ceasefire was particularly welcomed by communities living along the border, who have endured the impact of skirmishes and mortar bombing on both sides.
Lal Din Khatana, a farmer who lives near the fence that divides the two countries in the village of Churnada, in northern Kashmir, said he ran out of the house to warn his neighbors and friends as soon as he heard the news.
He said that hundreds of thousands of people who lived along the Line of Control suffered a meaningless loss of life and repeated displacements that deprived them of their basic dignity. His own home has been destroyed three times in the past two decades by bombings on the Pakistani side, he said.
“The dead will not come back, but those who are still alive need to live a dignified life,” said Khatana, 48. “This news has given us a new lease of life.”
The growing problems along the border with Pakistan threatened to bog down India in a two-pronged conflict, as deadly clashes also broke out along the Himalayan border with China. Earlier this month, the Indian and Chinese military agreed to withdraw troops from a disputed valley where the two countries clashed violently.
Pakistan and China are allies in seeing India as a threat in their backyard, with China often coming to the aid of Pakistan in the face of international pressure to harbor terrorist groups.
Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, said it was no accident that the number of violations on the Indian border with Pakistan reached record levels for a year when Indian tensions increased on the Chinese front.
The reaffirmation of the ceasefire along the border with Pakistan only occurs after China has started to ease tensions with India.
“China and Pakistan have little in common besides their interest in containing India,” said Chellaney. “The prospect of a two-pronged war, should India come into conflict with any of the countries, certainly increases that interest.”
Salman Masood reported from Islamabad, and Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar from New Delhi. Iqbal Kirmani contributed reporting from Srinagar, Kashmir.