INDIA AND PAKISTAN MARK ONE YEAR SINCE CEASEFIRE AS BOTH NATIONS MAINTAIN MILITARY POSTURE

One year has passed since India and Pakistan agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire ending four days of the most intense military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed nations in nearly three decades. The truce has held, but analysts and officials on both sides describe the peace as fragile, with leaders exchanging sharp rhetoric and both countries conducting ballistic missile tests and military exercises in the months since, according to the Washington Post.

The conflict began on May 7, 2025, when India launched missile strikes into Pakistan in a military operation it named Operation Sindoor, citing a terrorist attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, 2025, that killed 26 civilians. Pakistan responded with strikes on Indian military installations. The fighting halted after four days through U.S.-mediated diplomacy, averting what international observers feared could escalate toward nuclear exchange.

Diplomatic contacts between the two governments have remained limited in the year since. A brief encounter between officials at a multilateral gathering in Dhaka in January 2026 raised hopes of gradual rapprochement, but substantive talks have not resumed, according to Al Jazeera. Travel restrictions, trade barriers, and military deployments along the Line of Control in Kashmir remain in place on both sides.

The anniversary comes as both nations watch each other's external alliances closely. India has deepened defense ties with the United States and France, while Pakistan has strengthened military and economic cooperation with China. Analysts note that both governments have a shared interest in avoiding renewed conflict but face domestic political pressures that complicate any formal reconciliation process, with neither side having yet offered a framework for resuming bilateral dialogue.