India and Pakistan begin Kashmir ceasefire

India and Pakistan began a cease-fire along their shared border today – the first such accord in 14 years.

There was no firing from midnight last night at any part of the Line of Control that divides disputed Jammu-Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed nations, officials said.

The cease-fire went into effect on Eid-al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Traditionally there is firing into the air on Eid, and on other festival days in India.

The agreement did not cover Indian security forces’ battles with the Islamic militants in Kashmir, and there was no indication how long it would last or how effective it would be.

The two nations’ armies – which trade machine-gun and mortar fire almost daily - were to observe the cease-fire along their entire frontier, the governments said.

“We hope that the cease-fire remains and that it leads to further normalisation of relations and then to dialogue between the two countries,” Pakistan’s top military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan said.

Neither side specified how long the truce would last. India said an enduring cease-fire would depend on Pakistan ending the infiltration of Islamic militants into India’s portion of Kashmir.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan to welcome the cease-fire as “an opportunity for India and Pakistan to further de-escalate tensions and remove impediments to more normal relations,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.