Calm returns to India-Pakistan border after clashes

New Delhi, May 13: Indian and Pakistani authorities said Monday there was no firing reported overnight along the heavily militarized region between their countries, the first time in recent days the two nations were not shooting at each other.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all military actions on land, in the air and at the sea Saturday in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire to stop the escalating hostilities between the two nuclear-armed rivals that threatened regional peace.

"The night remained largely peaceful across Jammu and Kashmir, and other areas along the international border," the Indian army said in a statement, adding that no incidents had been reported.

Senior military officials from India and Pakistan are scheduled to speak later Monday to assess if ceasefire was holding. There were fears it would not hold after they accused each other of violations just hours after it was announced.

Local government officials in Pakistan-administered Kashmir reported no incidents of cross-border firing along the Line of Control and said that civilians displaced by recent skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian forces were returning to their homes.

Pakistan's military spokesperson, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, said late Sunday that Pakistan remains committed to upholding the ceasefire and will not be the first to violate it.

He also confirmed that senior military officials from both nations would speak on by phone on Monday.

Soon after the ceasefire announcement on Saturday, Pakistan reopened all of its airports and restored flight operations. India followed up Monday with reopening of all the 32 airports that were shut temporarily across northern and western regions due to the flare up in tensions.

"It's informed that these airports are now available for civil aircraft operations with immediate effect," the Airports Authority of India said in a statement.

The militaries of the two countries have been engaged in one of their most serious confrontations in decades since last Wednesday, when India struck targets inside Pakistan it said were affiliated with militants responsible for the massacre of 26 tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir.  (AP)