On Saturday, just at the point when the conflict between India and Pakistan was threatening to escalate out of control, the United States brokered an immediate ceasefire between the two nuclear armed countries. The agreement was still holding as of midday Sunday, despite small-scale violations, and leaders from both sides have claimed victory.
The war between India and Pakistan had escalated significantly on Friday, with both sides conducting attacks deep across the border between them, focused primarily on air bases. Open warfare between the two nations followed Indian attacks on nine sites in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir early on May 7, which India said was a response to the terrorist attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22, in which 26 tourists were killed.
The conflict has been characterized by a particularly acute media war, with mainstream and social media on both sides putting out false stories, apparently not only in a bid to win favorable world opinion but also for the purposes of operational deception. Hence, media reporting coming from the region needed to be treated with extreme caution, with some open-source reporters steering clear for fear of spreading planted stories.
The first attacks were largely confined to exchanges across the Line of Control within disputed Kashmir and India claiming to be hitting only what it considered to be terrorist-associated targets. These attacks intensified, with both sides then attacking military targets well beyond Kashmir itself.
Overnight May 9, both sides were using airstrikes, missiles and drones. A number of Pakistani airfields were hit, including in Lahore and the Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi, which houses the Joint Services Headquarters, the Pakistani Armed Forces entity directing operational activity. Heat signatures from the attack on the headquarters in Rawalpindi were visible in NASA’s FIRMS satellite imagery.
All Pakistani airspace was closed to civilian flights. Indian spokesman Colonel Sofiya Qureshi acknowledged that Pakistan had attacked 26 targets in India overnight, including Indian airbases in Udhampur, Bhuj, Pathankot, and Bathinda.
Both sides had been moving ground forces forward into the Kashmir area, with India having mobilized reserve units from its Territorial Army.
Reference : Top Admiral Says India Was Prepared to Strike Port of Karachi