Asia | Truce trouble

Why India is annoyed by its ceasefire with Pakistan

America’s intervention irked India’s leadership and many of its people

A boy looks out of his damaged house from Pakistani artillery shelling upon his return to Kotmaira village along the Line of Control in Akhnoor Sector, India
Photograph: AP
|Delhi

NARENDRA MODI, India’s prime minister, sounded as defiant as he did triumphant in speaking to the nation two days after a ceasefire with Pakistan. India’s four-day military operation, he said on May 12th, established a “new normal” for responding to terrorist attacks, such as last month’s one in Kashmir. India had only paused that operation and would carefully monitor Pakistan’s actions in the coming days. In future, India would not differentiate between terrorists and the government that supports them. Nor would it bow to nuclear blackmail.

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