A spokesman for the Indian army, Jagdeep Dahiya, announced Thursday a cease-fire in the disputed region of Kashmir was reached following a telephone conversation between the two CEOs of military operations, the Indian and Pakistani Vinod Bhatia Ashfaq Nadeem.
"An agreement has been reached between the two CEOs of military operations to de-escalate the situation along the Line of Control" (LoC), explained Mr. Dahiya. Five soldiers of the two countries have been killed since January 6 along the LoC.
"No new incident involving gunfire or a violation of the cease-fire was reported from the Line of Control," the dividing line in Kashmir, said the spokesman.
Earlier this week, the head of the Indian army had publicly said he had ordered his troops to respond "aggressively" if new shots Pakistan, while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said that India could not be "business as usual" with its neighboring rival.
"We continue to believe that the dialogue should be the way to solve any problem," said for his part the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar,
before the thinktank New York Council on Foreign Relations, noting that "Pakistan is committed to respect the cease-fire of 2003."
The willingness of the Indian army to avenge the beheading of one of them had posed a threat to the peace talks, which resumed recently after the freezing of relations following the Mumbai attacks in 2008, awarded by the India to Islamists based in Pakistan.
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