Pakistan, India agree to end firing along disputed Kashmir border

“Both sides agreed for strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the Line of Control and all other sectors with effect from midnight,” a joint statement said on Thursday, according to AFP.

India and Pakistan have accused each other of being responsible for ceasefire violations. The two sides regularly exchange fire along the ceasefire line known as the Line of Control (LoC) that has separated the two countries for decades.

The joint statement said the armies of the two nations held talks “in a free, frank and cordial atmosphere.”

An Indian official voiced optimism that violence levels along the LoC will come down, Reuters reported.

The cessation was partly aimed at easing the fraught situation for civilians along the border, the official added.

Pakistan’s military says some 1.7 million civilians live along the LoC and increasingly depend on bunkers during ongoing clashes.

A disputed territory, Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since their acrimonious partition in 1947. The countries have fought two wars over the region since then.

Pakistan’s foreign office says the Indian forces killed at least 28 civilians and wounded 257 more in Kashmir last year.

Back in August 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the limited autonomy of the Muslim-majority region, followed by the imposition of harsh movement restrictions and mass arrests by Indian authorities in the area.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist government promised the move would bring peace and prosperity to Kashmir. Pakistan, however, maintains that the move is a violation of the rights of Kashmiri people.