India and Pakistan agree to US-mediated ceasefire after four days of fighting

Crescent International

Dhu al-Qa'dah 12, 1446 2025-05-10

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

After four days of targeting each other’s countries from the air and with missiles and drones, both India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire.

It came rather suddenly and was announced by US President Donald Trump in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

“After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire,” he wrote.

Prior to the ceasefire announcement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Indian minister for external affairs, Jaishankar as well as Pakistan army chief, General Asim Munir.

It is revealing that Rubio spoke to the army chief and not Pakistan’s foreign minister, reflecting the reality of decision-making authority in the country.

For four days, Indian planes and drones had struck various cities in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir.

Sialkot, Muridke and Bahawalpur in Pakistan and Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir were hit.

Pakistan said that 31 civilians were killed in these attacks and dozens more injured.

There was also intense artillery shelling along the Line of Control in Kashmir (LoC).

India used air-to-surface missiles from their own air space to attack Pakistani cities.

Several mosques were hit that resulted in the killing of civilians, including women and a three-year-old girl.

The Indians boasted that they had state of the art French plane, Rafale, that Pakistan could not match.

Pakistani pilots were able to shoot down three Rafale planes as well as one SU-31 and one MiG-29 (both Russian made), refuting Indian claims.

No Pakistani planes were lost.

When the Indians sent 25 Israeli made Harop drones over Pakistan, the latter did not retaliate, saying they were “showing patience”.

This did not sit well with the people of Pakistan.

They demanded action and were not placated by wild claims on television by paid anchors that tried to outdo each other in how many Indian planes had been shot down.

According to their claims, half of India’s air force was wiped out.

Indian anchors were equally gung-ho.

According to their acounts, half of Pakistan had been occupied by India and the rest would also soon fall to them!

It was the Pakistan air force that performed exceptionally well thwarting Indian designs.

Pakistan used Chinese-built J-17 Thunder planes whose performance has drawn worldwide attention.

Similarly, Pakistan used Chinese supplied PL-15 missiles.

After losing three Rafales, India grounded the rest of the fleet.

On May 10, India struck the Nur Khan Air base in Rawalpindi after which Pakistan announced Operation Bunyan-um Marsoos (an expression borrowed from Surah As-Saff of the noble Qur’an).

This was after the Pakistan Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Baber Sidhu insisted on stern action against India's continued aggression and attacks.

Several Indian air fields were hit and taken out of commission.

These included Pathankot, Udhampur and Adampur.

Several Indian ammunition depots were also hit and destroyed.

These included Artillery gun position at Drangyari and field supply depot, both in Indian occupied Kashmir, as well as Brahmos battery site at Nagrota and Brahmos missile storage site at Beas.

Credit, however, was being hogged by the army chief Asim Munir although few, if any, ground troops were involved in the recent escalation in tension that erupted after the April 22 attack on tourists in Indian occupied Kashmir.

Without any investigation, India accused Pakistan of being responsible, an allegation the latter vehemently denied.

In the larger context, Indian design to impose regional hegemony has been defeated.

India tried to follow the zionist model in Gaza, but failed miserably.

This explains why it agreed to the hurriedly arranged ceasefire.

One other point is in order.

Those in Pakistan calling for recognizing the zionist entity should now reflect on what the war criminals are doing.

India is Israel’s biggest arms importer.

The drones used against Pakistan—although all shot down—were supplied by Israel.

Israel can never be a friend of Pakistan.

Let that sink in.