By RFE/RL May 12, 2025
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12 warned Pakistan against launching any “terrorist attack on India,” saying that New Delhi would respond with a “fitting reply” if it did.
Modi’s comments — his first since the Indian military launched strikes on what New Delhi said were “terrorist camps” across the border — came after the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to a cease-fire announced over the weekend by US President Donald Trump following.
“If there is a terrorist attack on India, a fitting reply will be given…on our terms,” Modi said in a televised address. “In the coming days, we will measure every step of Pakistan…what kind of attitude Pakistan will adopt.”
He also sad India has only “paused” its military action and will retaliate if there is any more attacks on his country.
Modi spoke after Indian and Pakistani authorities said there was no gunfire reported overnight along the heavily militarized region between their countries.
Pakistan denies Indian accusations that it supports militants and says the locations hit by India last week were civilian sites. There was no immediate response from Islamabad to Modi’s comments.
Pakistan and India both declared victory on May 11 as the US-mediated cease-fire appeared to largely hold and the two sides stepped back from a potential full-scale war over the disputed Kashmir region.
The truce was reached after the two sides used missiles and drones over four days of violent exchanges that killed dozens of civilians.
The military confrontation began on May 7 when India said it launched strikes on nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir following an attack on Hindu tourists by Islamist militants in Indian Kashmir last month that killed 26 men.
Islamabad denied any links to the attack and called for a neutral investigation.
Trump said Islamabad and New Delhi agreed to an immediate cessation of hostilities after a “long night of talks mediated by the United States.” He announced on May 10 that India and Pakistan had agreed to a full and immediate cease-fire.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country agreed to the cease-fire “in the spirit of peace” but will never tolerate violations of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. He spoke during a meeting with the Turkish ambassador, according to a government statement on May 12.
India and Pakistan regularly come close to igniting a catastrophic full-scale war in the tense South Asian region, usually related to the disputed Kashmir region, which is split into Indian- and Pakistani-controlled areas but claimed in full by both.
In apparent efforts to reassure their domestic populations, both sides claimed victory in the latest outbreak of violence.
On May 11, New Delhi offered a tally of its claimed success during the flare-up in violence, saying its military strikes into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and Pakistan earlier in the week killed more than 100 militants.
Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, director general of Indian military operations, claimed that among those killed were prominent militant leaders.
“We achieved total surprise,” Ghai told a New Delhi news conference, describing Pakistan’s response as “erratic and rattled.”
Meanwhile, Pakistani Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif told a news briefing that Islamabad’s forces on May 10 hit 26 Indian military installations in response to missile strikes launched by New Delhi.
Earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the nation for its “victory” over India, while at the same time expressing desires for meaningful dialogue with India and for resolution of all issues dividing the bitter rivals.
“This is a victory not just for the armed forces, but for the whole nation,” Sharif said.
International leaders welcomed the cease-fire breakthrough.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the governments of India and Pakistan had agreed “to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site.”
In a post on X on May 10, Rubio said he and Vice President JD Vance had been in contact with senior Indian and Pakistani officials over the previous 48 hours.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the cease-fire agreement a “positive step” and “hopes the agreement will contribute to lasting peace and foster an environment conducive to addressing broader, longstanding issues between the two countries,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
Trump has said he is ready to work to resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan and to help boost the economies of both nations.
“While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great Nations,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“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 cease-fire follows weeks of escalating violence that began after a deadly April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 civilians, most of them Hindu tourists. India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the assault — a claim Islamabad denies. The incident triggered a series of strikes, including reported missile and drone attacks, cross-border shelling, and cyberattacks.
India and Pakistan, which gained independence from Britain in 1947, fought full-scale wars in 1948, 1965, and 1971, and a limited conflict in 1999. The central issue remains the Kashmir Valley, which India regards as its Atoot Ang — integral part — while Pakistan sees it as the “unfinished agenda of partition” of the subcontinent.
Kashmir is divided between three nuclear-armed neighbors, with India controlling about 45 percent, Pakistan about 35 percent, and China — following a brief war with India in 1962 — the remaining 20 percent.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, AP, Reuters, and the BBC
Source: trump-sharif/33410773.html
Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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