“I am very proud of the strong and unwaveringly powerful leadership of India and Pakistan for having the strength, wisdom, and fortitude to fully know and understand that it was time to stop the current aggression that could have lead to to the death and destruction of so many, and so much,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“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!!!” the US president added.
He highlighted: “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.”
The US president further said he would “substantially” increase trade with both Pakistan and India, terming them “great nations”.
A ceasefire between India and Pakistan appears to be holding, hours after both sides accused each other of violations.
The United Nations and countries around the world, including Bangladesh, Qatar, Turkiye and the United Kingdom, have welcomed the ceasefire, which was brokered by more than 30 countries.
Earlier, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the Indian military has been instructed to “deal strongly” with any repeated breaches, while Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it “remains committed” to the ceasefire agreement.
More than 60 people have been killed in India and Pakistan over four days of cross-border fighting after New Delhi launched attacks on what it called “terrorist infrastructure” inside Pakistan, in retaliation for the deadly attack in Pahalgam.
India blames Pakistan-based armed groups for the attack that killed 26 Hindu tourists on April 22. Islamabad denies any involvement.
The ceasefire between Pakistan and India, which appears to be holding, has offered much-needed relief to civilians on both sides of the border.
“Ever since the day terrorists attacked people in Pahalgam, we have been shutting our shops very early, and there was an uncertainty. I am happy that at least there will be no bloodshed on both sides,” Satvir Singh Alhuwalia, 48, a shopkeeper in the Indian Punjab city of Amritsar, told the Reuters news agency.
Guruman Singh, a security guard in Amritsar, told Reuters that his family is calling him every hour to check on him. “Thank God the ceasefire happened,” he said.
A day after the ceasefire announcement, calm has returned to the streets of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Shops have started reopening, and people are resuming their routines, but many told Al Jazeera they are still wary.
“We are cautious. No one knows how long this ceasefire will hold,” said Muhammad Anas, a grocery shop owner in Hyderpora. “We have been through too much chaos in the past few days to trust it easily.”
Residents had been mostly confined to their homes due to air raids and escalating tensions in the past days.Early on Sunday morning, people waited outside baker shops as usual.
“I was so happy to hear about the ceasefire, but then we heard more explosions in the air last night. It made us all anxious again,” said Shakeela Jan, while waiting in line for bread. “We don’t trust either country. They can change their minds at any moment.”
She added, “All we want is peace and a normal life, with dignity. We have nothing to do with politics.”
The Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA) has announced that the country’s airspace is now open for all types of flights, according to the Dawn newspaper.
A spokesman for the PAA said that “all airports in the country are available for normal flight operations”.
But Dawn said it could still take some time for flight operations to return to normal, since some passenger aircraft and other equipment had been moved to safe locations as a precautionary measure during the earlier hostilities.
Tracking website Flightradar24 also said in a post on X that airspace in Pakistan has once again reopened.
