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ISLAMABAD: A soothing ambiance heralded the implementation of a truce accord along LoC n' elsewhere — the first of its nature over the past several decades — between India n’ Pakistan as no violation of the treaty was evident anywhere, except an episode of Indian blitz on a set of people in occupied Kashmir which claimed at least five lives — Wednesday.

Both the nuclear-armed neighbours observed complete armistice with effect from Zero Hundred Hours [PST] — which is 1900 in GMT, as was reported by ‘Pakistan Times’ — country's first independent web daily — in its Wednesday edition.

'No Violations'

Credible sources said that ‘so far no reports of violations have been reported from any side’. The ceasefire offer was announced unilaterally by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali from Eid-ul-Fitr.

Both Pakistan and India agreed to implement the ceasefire along the Line of Control [LoC], the Working Boundary and the Line of Actual Contact in Siachen sector from midnight Tuesday night.

Earlier the Director General Military Operations (DGMOs) of Pakistan and India made a hotline contact on Tuesday and worked out the modalities on enforcing the ceasefire.

Sigh of Relief

The Director General ISPR, Major General Shaukat Sultan on Wednesday said that no reports of violation has been reported so far and both sides are observing the ceasefire.

He said that the civilians living along the Line of Control in AJK on Pakistani side after a very long time had sigh of relief for the first time on the auspicious day of Eid ul Fitr.

Major General Shaukat Sultan said that the people living across the LoC had to offer their Eid prayers under the fear of shelling and being killed due to indiscriminate firing.

He said this time they spent and celebrated Eid without such fear and there has been a sigh of relief.

He was sure that the ceasefire would have positive impact on the people. He hoped that the ceasefire offer, initiated by Pakistan, would certainly improve the situation and hoped that the ceasefire would last for indefinite period and there would be positive development hereafter.

Spokesman of Foreign Office Masood Khan appreciating and welcoming the ceasefire hoped it would bring respite to the civilians living along the LoC.

India claims to kill five Mujahideen in Held Kashmir

A report from occupied Srinagar, quoting police sources says that five Mujahideen were shot dead in Held Kashmir Wednesday, just hours after India and Pakistan began a ceasefire on the Line of Control in the Himalayan region.

Police and paramilitary troops, acting on 'a tip-off', surrounded a home at Palnar in the northern Kupwara district, setting off a gunbattle in which three activists were killed, a spokesman for police said.

The slain people belonged to Hizbul Mujahedin, he claimed by adding that 'the dead included the group's divisional commander Manzoor Ahmed.' Security forces killed another militant in a separate incident in the same district early Wednesday, he said.

Hezb-ul Mujahideen Reject Ceasefire

One of the main Islamic Mujahideen groups fighting in Kashmir has dismissed a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, saying 'it'll continue its struggle against India in the held part of the Himalayan State', which, he remarked 'is disputed territory'.

A spokesman for the Hezb-ul Mujahideen says the truce applies only to India and Pakistan. And he says 'such agreements in the past have not helped resolve the long-running Kashmir dispute.'

Villagers along LoC

A report from New Delhi says that villagers on both sides of the India-Pakistan border celebrated Wednesday the first full truce in 14 years, visiting relatives and places of worship.

The ceasefire, which began at midnight Tuesday, does not cover Indian forces and militants in Kashmir, and there was no indication how long it would last.

But there was no firing Wednesday along any part of the 1,126-kilometre frontier, said Indian army headquarters.

The start of the ceasefire coincided with the Eid-al-Fitr festival that ended the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, and there was not even any celebratory gunfire to mark the holiday, said an Indian army spokesman, Lt. Col. Mukhtiar Singh.

During past Eid holidays, "people would even be afraid of going to visit friends and relatives or to pray because firing and shelling would seldom stop," said journalist Karamat Qayoom in the frontier town of Baramulla. "It is a lovely Eid gift from India and Pakistan," said hotel owner Asan Ullah Lone, in Baramulla, 55 kilometres north of Srinagar.

Armies of the two countries - which in the past traded machine-gun and mortar fire almost daily - agreed to observe the ceasefire along their entire frontier.

That includes the working boundary, the Line of Control in the Himalayan region of Jammu n' Kashmir, and the line of actual contact in the Siachen sector.

India has been accusing Pakistan of supporting freedom fighters, who have been fighting against the Indian rule in IHK, a vastly Muslim-dominated area, since 1989. Pakistan denies giving anything more than moral support to Kashmiris' cause for their right of self-determination, in line with the United Nations' resoluitions.

Fernandes Rhetoric

Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes said Pakistan had been told that any 'infiltrating militants would be shot, but fire would not be aimed at Pakistani soldiers'.

'If there is any infiltration, it will be dealt with in the same manner it has been dealt with so far,' the India's state-run news agency quoted Fernandes as saying. He was optimistic about improving relations with Pakistan, however.

'There is reason to believe that this could take us to a point where we may be able to find solutions to problems that have been plaguing us for a long time,' news agency quoted Fernandes as saying.