SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
After days where India and Pakistan appeared locked into widening conflict, President Trump announced that the two countries had agreed to a ceasefire. And with that, it appeared that the worst conflict in more than 50 years between these nuclear powers had come to a halt.
Has it, though? Late Saturday, both sides have been accusing each other of violations of the agreement. NPR's Diaa Hadid has been covering this conflict with all of its whiplash. She covers South Asia and joins us from Mumbai.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: So there's a ceasefire for now between Pakistan and India?
HADID: Well, just hours after it was announced by President Trump, it seems the ceasefire is being violated in Kashmir. That's the Himalayan territory that's divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both. Residents tell NPR there that they've been hearing the sounds of blasts over two major cities, Jammu and Srinagar. NPR producer Bilal Kuchay is in Srinagar, and he told us at first that people thought these were fireworks to celebrate the ceasefire. But pretty quickly, people began rushing home to shelter in place. He sent us videos of the city entirely blacked out. Plumes of smoke were streaming down, and people could hear sounds like these.
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HADID: And then the chief minister of Indian-held Kashmir, who's in Srinagar, posted on X, what the hell just happened to the ceasefire?
DETROW: I mean, so as we try and report out that key question, let's back up and talk about what the American role was in brokering this agreement.
HADID: Yeah. For days, analysts were saying that the Americans were not being serious. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is just making phone calls. He hasn't come. But experts tell me, as the situation escalated, America did intervene directly, as well as through Arab allies, to convince both parties.
DETROW: But again, let's get back to where we started this conversation. It seems like this ceasefire is looking incredibly rocky right now.
HADID: Yeah. Yeah. And it's not clear whether this is a small violation or a great unraveling.
DETROW: This is a decadeslong tense relationship, of course, but catch us up to speed on how these two countries got to this dangerous moment right now.
HADID: Yeah, these renewed tensions - they really flooded late April when gunmen opened fire on tourists in Indian-held Kashmir and killed 26 people. India said the group that claimed responsibility was a proxy for Pakistan's army, something Pakistan denies. Overnight Wednesday, India began military strikes, and the two countries have been exchanging fire every night since. On Saturday, this morning, India had actually struck some Pakistani air bases, including one near the capital Islamabad, and that prompted Pakistan to announce an intensified military operation. The fighting was ongoing until about 3 p.m. India time, and then the ceasefire was announced a little bit later.
And Scott, just to give you a sense of this, more than 70 people have been killed on both sides, most of them in Kashmir. And these hostilities were the most serious between the two countries since 1971, when India and Pakistan were last officially at war. And this matters because both countries are nuclear powers, and between them, they hold about a fifth of the world's population.
DETROW: What happens next, as far as we can tell?
HADID: We know the two sides are meant to speak to each other again on Monday. And so far, it appears that a series of punitive measures that both sides had announced following that militant attack in late April are not going to be reversed. Most importantly, that includes India's suspension of a decadesold water treaty with Pakistan that divides six rivers between them, and Pakistan describes that suspension as an existential threat. So even if the ceasefire holds, there's still a lot to tackle.
DETROW: That is NPR's Diaa Hadid joining us from Mumbai. Thank you so much for your reporting.
HADID: You're welcome, Scott.
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