Pakistan has lived up to its reputation as a rogue state by violating a ceasefire with India in less than five hours after the announcement on Saturday.
The ceasefire was initiated by Pakistan itself and India agreed. The pause in military action was declared on Truth Social by US President Donald Trump.
However, just a few hours after that — in violation of the bilateral understanding to end military action — Pakistani drones were observed flying in multiple locations across Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday night, prompting swift action by the Indian armed forces, which shot down the drones with the air defence mechanism.
A series of blasts took place in Srinagar city as the security agencies brought down a drone that was seen hovering over Batwara area of the city, close to an army installation, officials said.
Pakistan had violated the bilateral understanding reached on Saturday afternoon to immediately stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, said central government sources on Saturday night.
In a media briefing close to midnight on Saturday, Foreign Secretary of India Vikram Misri called upon Pakistan to take “appropriate steps” to address these violations and deal with the situation with “seriousness and responsibility”.
As a series of blasts rocked Srinagar after sundown, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah questioned the “ceasefire” announcement.
Blasts could be heard after an interval of 15 minutes as the flares lit up the night sky in the city.
A drone was detected flying over Baramulla town in north Kashmir around 8.20pm, the officials said. They said the drone was destroyed by the anti-drone system.
A drone was brought down at Anantnag high ground, near an army installation.
Drone sightings were also reported from Verinag in Anantnag district and Bandipora and Safapora, the officials said, adding further details were awaited.
The chief minister took to social media, saying there was no ceasefire in place. “This is no ceasefire. The air defence units in the middle of Srinagar just opened up,” he posted on X. “What the hell just happened to the ceasefire? Explosions heard across Srinagar!!” he added.
Earlier on Saturday, around 6pm, Indian Foreign Secretary Misri had told the media that the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries had agreed on the ceasefire understanding during an afternoon call.
The decision by India and Pakistan on stopping military actions was first made public by US President Donald Trump in a social media post, while claiming that the talks between the two sides were mediated by America.
Top government sources, however, clearly said that the outcome was the result of direct engagement between Indian and Pakistani sides and that Islamabad agreed to it with “no pre-conditions, no post-conditions and no links to other issues”.
In the late-night press conference, the foreign secretary said that the Indian Armed Forces had been given instructions to deal strongly with violations along the International Border as well as the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
“For the last few hours, there have been repeated violations of the understanding arrived at earlier this evening between the Directors General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan,” he said at the midnight briefing. “This is a breach of the understanding arrived at earlier today. The [Indian] armed forces are giving an adequate and appropriate response to these violations and we take very, very serious note of these violations.”
