Ceasefire

India And Pakistan Step Back From The Brink

Hours after Pakistan launched “Operation Bunyan ul Marsoos” in response to India’s missile strikes in Pakistan earlier in the week, both countries have agreed to a ceasefire, and have accepted US mediation.

7:45AM CDT 10 May 2025

About 45 minutes ago, President Trump posted on Truth Social announcing that India and Pakistan were stepping back from the brink.

The announcement follows a night of what are reported as “US mediated” talks. While the two countries are agreeing to pause hostilities, both continue to point a finger of blame at the other.

India said it targeted Pakistani air bases after Islamabad fired several high-speed missiles at military and civilian infrastructure in the country’s Punjab state early Saturday.

Pakistan earlier said it intercepted most missiles and responded with retaliatory strikes on India.

Per a tweet from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, India and Pakistan have agreed to talks at a neutral site after he and Vice President JD Vance spoke repeatedly with the leaders of both countries looking for a path to de-escalation.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed the “full ceasefire” also on X.

India Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri also released a statement confirming a ceasefire was in effect.

“It was agreed between them that both sides would stop all fighting and military action on land, air and sea with effect from 17:00 Indian Standard Time today (11:30 GMT),” he said in a short statement.

“Instructions have been given on both sides to give effect to this understanding. The directors general of military operations will talk again on May 12 at 12:00.”

For the moment at least, cooler heads have prevailed. Hopefully it stays that way.

Certainly folks living in both countries are happy there will be no more shelling.

“Thank God sense prevails,” resident Abdul Shahid said at a tea stall, glued to a TV screen. “I think both sides achieved what they wanted – show of strength and a warning to its rival over national security as well as Kashmir.

“I’d say Pakistan came out of this stronger but end of the day, war would serve no purpose to either side.”

Based on the initial reporting Secretary of State Rubio and Vice President Vance played a significant role in persuading India and Pakistan to step back from all out war and give peace a chance. Kudos to them for their efforts. So far, those efforts are working.

11:20PM CDT 9 May 2025

Posting on X, the Indian Army has provided images of Pakistani munitions and wreckage of downed drones from what it claims to have been an attack on Amristar.

Separately, it has been reported that Raj Kumar Thappa, a local official in Rajouri, within Indian-controlled Kashmir, was killed when Pakistani artillery fire hit his house.

There have been similar reports of explosions in multiple locations along the Line of Control (LOC) separating the Indian and Pakistani portions of Kashmir.

India and Pakistan have closed down multiple airports in and around the disputed Kashmir region.

Appearing on Pakistani cable news, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar insisted his country had “no choice” but to retaliate.

“There was no other option because India showed no sincerity in response to the diplomatic efforts made by friendly countries,” Dar told Geo News.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly urged both sides to de-escalate, and has offered for the US to help mediate and assist in talks to resolve both nations’ issues peacefully. Just as with the Saudis and others, efforts of other countries to broker a peaceful end to this latest conflict have been unsuccessful.

The governments in both Islamabad and New Delhi have chosen war. And war is what they are giving as well as getting.

7:20PM CDT 9 May 2025

Pakistan is claiming it is launching retaliatory strikes against Indian missile storage depots and air bases in Pathankot and Udhampur, medium-range Fateh missiles.

Indian media is confirming the attacks on the Pakistani air bases:

Multiple blasts were reported at Pakistani airbases on the intervening night of May 9 and May 10. Explosions were heard at the Nur Khan, Murid, and Shorkot airbases after India launched surface-to-air missiles targeting Pakistan’s military establishments. According to reports, Pakistan’s DGISPR has confirmed that their airbases were targeted.

X is carrying multiple tweets reporting Pakistan is commencing “Operation Bunyan Al Marsoos”, with potentially up to 12 sites begin targeted inside India.

There is also unconfirmed footage reporting damage at the airbase in Udhampur

6:55PM CDT 9 May 2025

Pakistan is reporting that India launched another missile strike, this time against three Pakistani air bases.

The missiles targeted Nur Khan air base in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, Murid air base in Chakwal city and Rafiqui air base in the Jhang district of eastern Punjab province, according to the spokesman. There was no immediate comment from India.

Per Pakistan, all the missiles were shot down, except for the ones which went off course.

According to Pakistani army spokesman, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, several of the missiles went wildly off course, with some winding up in Afghanistan, and others managing to hit Amristar, in Indian Punjab.

Sharif said some of the Indian missiles also went into Afghanistan.

“I want to give you the shocking news that India fired six ballistic missiles from its city of Adampur,” said Sharif. One of the ballistic missiles hit Adampur, the remaining five missiles hit the Indian Punjab area of Amritsar.”

These reports are unconfirmed at this time.

If this latest development is accurate, India’s Operation Sindoor may have multiple phases yet to run.

This war is definitely heating up.