India and Pakistan abruptly declared a cease-fire on Saturday after four days of rapidly escalating drone volleys, shelling and airstrikes that appeared to bring the old enemies to the brink of outright war. Hours later, each country accused the other of violating the deal.
The agreement and subsequent reports of cross-border firing came after four dizzying days of strikes by the nuclear-armed rivals that went deep into each other’s territories, and intense shelling on either side of India and Pakistan’s disputed Kashmir border that left many civilians dead, wounded or displaced. Adding to the bewilderment many people felt at the breakneck pace of events, the truce was initially announced not by India or Pakistan but by President Trump on social media.
And it was not clear, as night fell on Saturday, that the cease-fire would take hold in Kashmir, where a terrorist attack last month on the Indian-controlled side killed 26 people and set off the crisis. Cross-border firing was reported in both the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of the region, and India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, told a news conference that there had been “repeated violations” of the agreement.
He accused Pakistan of breaching the agreement and said India would “deal strongly” with the violations and respond.
A spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry later said the country was “committed” to implementing the cease-fire and that its troops were acting responsibly, “notwithstanding the violations being committed by India in some areas.”
He added that issues on the ground should be resolved “through communication at appropriate levels.”
Mr. Trump said earlier on Saturday that the agreement had been mediated by the United States, and Indian and Pakistani leaders soon confirmed a cease-fire, though only Pakistan quickly acknowledged an American role.
That the United States helped mediate talks itself appeared to be a remarkable turnaround for the Trump administration. This week, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that while the United States could encourage the two sides to de-escalate, “we’re not going to get involved in the middle of a war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it.”
But on Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that he and Mr. Vance had engaged with senior officials from both Pakistan and India, including their prime ministers, over 48 hours. In addition to the cease-fire, India and Pakistan also agreed to “start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site,” Mr. Rubio said.
Indian officials, in contrast, said that the agreement had been worked out directly between India and Pakistan, without mentioning the United States. They also said there had been no decision to hold talks on any other issue at any location.
Those issues could include anything from diplomatic relations to airspace to a water-sharing treaty that is critical to Pakistan’s agriculture — all of which were upended after the terrorist attack last month.
In a sign of easing tensions, Pakistan on Saturday afternoon reopened its airspace for all flights, but there was no indication on Saturday night that Pakistan or India might repair diplomatic relations or ease visa restrictions to each other’s citizens, or that India might restore compliance in the water treaty.
The relief that many people felt in Kashmir after the truce announcement was short-lived, as reports of shelling and drones began for yet another night.
Rivals for decades, India and Pakistan have fought repeated wars and long accused each other of wrongdoing abroad and fomenting problems at home. But this conflict has stunned many in both countries in the ways it ratcheted up so quickly.
After the terrorist attack in Kashmir, India accused Pakistan of harboring the terrorist groups responsible, which Pakistan denied. Then, on Wednesday, India struck sites in Pakistan that it labeled “terrorist infrastructure” — leading Pakistan to promise a response against a violation of its sovereignty.
What followed was a series of attacks using missiles, drones and artillery that both countries described as retaliation. Each day, officials would maintain that they did not want war and were satisfied with their forces’ results. Each night, volleys would strike farther into India and Pakistan and Kashmir residents would describe blackouts, heavy shelling and drones and missiles flying overhead.
In India’s Wednesday attack, Pakistan claimed it had downed five Indian fighter jets, losses that India would not confirm.
On Thursday, India said it had thwarted a Pakistani drone and missile attack on more than a dozen Indian cities, and said it had hit Pakistani air-defense systems. Pakistan said it had shot down 25 Indian drones that entered its airspace.
On Friday, Indian officials said Pakistan’s military had sent 300 to 400 drones to test India’s air defenses in dozens of places.
By Saturday morning, before the cease-fire announcement, things looked even more dire.
Pakistan said India had targeted three of its air bases with missiles, including a key air force installation near the capital. Witnesses reported hearing at least three loud explosions, with one describing a “large fireball” visible from miles away.
Within hours, the Pakistani military said it had retaliated against several Indian military sites, calling its response “an eye for an eye.”
Vyomika Singh, an Indian Air Force officer, said at a news conference on Saturday said there was little damage to the country’s bases, and that India’s attack was itself a response to a Pakistani barrage of drones and fighter planes.
Seth Krummrich, a military analyst and former U.S. Army colonel, said this fighting had been the “most violent and concerning escalation” he could recall in the longstanding conflict between the two nations.
But Mr. Krummrich, now a senior executive at the private security firm Global Guardian, also said that the focus mostly on military targets and “parity in the types, levels and locations of attacks reflects that both sides are deliberately calibrating their responses,” made him cautiously optimistic. Neither side, he said, was “going for a strategic escalatory ‘kill shot.’”
Heightening the sense that the enemies have entered a new, more unpredictable era, drones have entered the fray en masse and disinformation has swirled online, in group chats and on television.
The mix of rumors, conflicting claims, falsehoods and obfuscation has made it difficult to determine the exact nature of the fighting and its toll.
Intense nationalism, too, has played a role in the current conflict, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India has pursued an aggressive stance on Pakistan, trying to isolate it.
His supporters have largely seemed satisfied with the military action so far. “We had voted for a strongman, and he has proved himself,” Manoj Misra, a Modi supporter in the city of Lucknow, said on Saturday.
Several countries with close ties to both India and Pakistan, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, had been working for days to try to cool the conflict.
Mr. Rubio spoke with the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan on Saturday morning, urging both sides to find a way out of the crisis and “avoid miscalculation,” according to the State Department. Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, described his call with Mr. Rubio as “very reassuring.”
Hari Kumar, Suhasini Raj, Alex Travelli and Pragati K.B. contributed reporting.
Anupreeta Das covers India and South Asia for The Times. She is based in New Delhi.
Mujib Mashal is the South Asia bureau chief for The Times, helping to lead coverage of India and the diverse region around it, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.
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