Shots rang out once again along the volatile Line of Control (LoC) as India accused Pakistan of breaching the ceasefire for the second time in just two days, further inflaming already high tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
On Saturday, Indian Army officials reported that Pakistani forces opened fire from multiple posts across the LoC in Kashmir. “During the night of April 25–26, we witnessed unprovoked small arms fire from several Pakistan Army positions,” a defense spokesman based in Srinagar told reporters. Thankfully, no casualties have been reported from the latest flare-up.
The renewed hostilities come hot on the heels of a deadly assault earlier this week that claimed 26 lives in Indian-administered Kashmir. The Resistance Front, a militant outfit thought to be backed by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, has reportedly taken responsibility for the attack. New Delhi wasted no time blaming Islamabad for harboring terrorist groups, a charge Pakistan vehemently denies. Instead, Islamabad accused India of crushing dissent in the Muslim-majority region.
Since the attack, the situation has gone from bad to worse. India retaliated swiftly, expelling Pakistani diplomats, sealing the land border, and freezing the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty—vowing the suspension would last “until Pakistan credibly and irreversibly renounces cross-border terrorism.”
Not to be outdone, Islamabad fired back on Thursday. Pakistan scrapped several bilateral agreements, shut down key cross-border routes, and barred Indian airlines from its airspace. It also expelled Indian defense and diplomatic officials, declaring them persona non grata.
Now, visitors caught in the diplomatic crossfire have been given a short window to pack up and return to their respective countries, officials said, as ties between India and Pakistan continue their freefall—a sharp reminder of the deep scars left since India’s controversial move in 2019 to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status.
