Pakistan and India have promised to end cease-fire violations in disputed Kashmir, their militaries said, following the highest levels of violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in the restive region in 15 years.
Pakistan's military said late Tuesday that local generals reached the understanding using a special hotline set up to defuse tensions in Kashmir, which is split between Indian and Pakistani zones of control. Both nuclear-armed powers claim Kashmir in its entirety, and the territorial dispute has ignited two wars between Pakistan and India since they gained independence in 1947.
Both sides "agreed to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation, ensuring peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders," the Pakistani military said in a statement. It said that if future violence occurs in the disputed region, "restraint will be exercised and the matter will be resolved through utilization of existing mechanisms of hotline contacts and border flag meetings at local commander's level."
The Indian army confirmed the agreement, saying both sides had pledged to "undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation to ensure peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders."
The two sides also agreed to fully implement a 2003 cease-fire that has been repeatedly violated.
Tensions have soared in recent weeks, as both sides have launched artillery assaults across the Line of Control dividing the region. Each side has accused the other of starting the hostilities in violation of the 2003 accord.
This month, shelling and gunfire along the frontier dividing Indian-held Kashmir from Pakistan's Punjab province -- known as the working boundary -- killed at least 16 people, while 80,000 people on the Indian side fled their homes to escape the violence.
Houses have been damaged, and dozens of schools in villages along the frontier have been closed, with authorities advising residents to stay indoors.
On Wednesday officials on the Indian side of the working boundary said the situation was returning to normal.
"Most of the villagers who had fled have returned to their homes. The situation is normal at present. There is no one in the relief camps now, but we have kept them open just in case something happens again," Hemant Kumar Sharma, a local commissioner, told AFP from Jammu.
The flare-up along the working boundary came after India suspended military operations against Kashmir rebels for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that began earlier this month. Militants have rejected the truce offer.
The shelling has cast a pall over the holy month of Ramadan in the mostly Muslim region. The shelling typically flares up in the pre-dawn hours, when families are having a meal known as "suhoor" ahead of the daytime fast.
India says 25 civilians and 18 soldiers have been killed this year in over 800 cease-fire violations initiated by Pakistan.
Pakistan accuses Indian forces of more than 1,050 cease-fire violations this year, resulting in the deaths of 28 civilians and injuries to 117 others.
Kashmir has been divided between the archrivals since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the former Himalayan kingdom in full.
India has about 500,000 soldiers in the part of Kashmir it controls, where scores of armed groups are fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.
