The guns fell silent in Kashmir yesterday as the first-ever full ceasefire between India and Pakistan came into effect, raising hopes that talks to find a lasting peace could begin.
Officials on both sides said there had been no shelling or exchange of gunfire across either the disputed or the undisputed borders of the rugged territory since the ceasefire came into effect at midnight.
"So far it has been silent, there was no firing after midnight. It's holding since then," Pakistan's military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said in Islamabad.
"We do hope that it holds on and the Indians move a step further toward dialogue," he said.
Rajesh Gupta, a commander from India's Border Security Force (BSF), agreed that both sides had honored the ceasefire.
"Since last evening there has not been any gunfire from across the border," he said yesterday morning in Jammu, Indian Kashmir's winter capital.
An Indian army spokesman said BSF members were later yesterday to hand over sweets to their Pakistani counterparts at the international border in Kashmir to mark the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.
The Indian government, however, has warned Pakistan its security forces will continue to shoot at Islamic militants trying to cross from the Pakistani zone of the disputed state into the Indian side.
A 14-year-old insurgency in the Indian-ruled sector of the divided region of Kashmir has claimed some 40,000 lives according to Indian figures. Separatists and Pakistan put the figure at between 80,000 and 100,000.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have disputed sovereignty of Kashmir since the two countries were granted independence from Britain half a century ago. They have fought two of their three wars over the picturesque Himalayan region, which is divided between the two countries and claimed in full by both.
The agreement to halt fire came after Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali announced Sunday a unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir starting from the Eid holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
India welcomed Pakistan's move and on Tuesday said it would reciprocate along its borders.
Indian government sources quoted by the Indian media said the truce marks the first time ever India and Pakistan have agreed to a ceasefire that covers the 230km non-disputed section of the international border in Kashmir, the disputed 760km Line of Control and the northern Siachen Glacier, where the rival armies are ranged against each other.
In the past, both sides had agreed to lower the level of firing or exercise "maximum restraint" but never to call a complete halt.
Indian Kashmir's Chief Minister Mufti Mohamad Sayeed said the truce "will facilitate the peace process which has already been initiated."
Speaking to reporters, he called on militants in the state to "also silence their guns."
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