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The recent ceasefire brokered between India and Pakistan is still holding despite fears that tensions could once again erupt between the two nuclear-armed nations.
After four tense days that saw border skirmishes and the launching of missiles, a ceasefire deal to end the latest round of conflict has been agreed, but there is still a possibility that the conflict could be re-ignited.
Zaid Ahmed has family who live in the Morgah area in the city of Rawalpindi, which he states, “is a sensitive military zone in which oil refineries and the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army are located”. Zaid says that his family have reported “several buildings on fire” to him and have sent him many such videos, with those buildings having “shattered windows”. The missile strikes in the area had his “family worried and they didn’t sleep for two nights due to the worry”. One major building affected by the strikes was the military’s Noor Khan airbase.
“There’s always a worry that it could flare up again, I feel that it’s only a matter of time that the region is going to destabilise again. Think about the other countries that border it… Iran, Afghanistan and China. There’s always nerves that something bad could happen at any time, and despite the reduction in tensions with the ceasefire, there is always a possibility that something new could flare up”.
“Pakistan is a relatively young country, 80 odd, and the conflict between it and India has been going on basically since they were founded. You know, Pakistan has a weak economy, and it has problems with internal terrorism and cross-border terrorism, with separatist movements in Balochistan and problems in other areas.
The latest in a long line of disputes between the two countries regarding the disputed area of Kashmir began on April 22, when 26 people in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam were killed by gunmen who linked to the proscribed terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Survivors reported that the gunmen selectively targeted Hindus during the attack. The massacre led to tensions escalating between India and Pakistan, with Delhi rapidly downgrading diplomatic ties with Islamabad the first in a series of tit-for-tat moves.
Citizens of each country had visas cancelled and evacuations were ordered, diplomats were recalled and the Indus Waters Treaty, a water-sharing treaty between the nations, remains paused despite the recent ceasefire.