Tensions between India and Pakistan have once again flared, laying bare a hard truth: meaningful dialogue cannot coexist with cross-border terror. In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack and escalating ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), the illusion of peace talks appears increasingly hollow.
According to the Indian Army, Pakistan initiated unprovoked firing across the LoC for two consecutive nights.
“On the night of 25-26 April 2025, multiple Pakistan Army posts resorted to unprovoked small arms fire along the LoC in Kashmir. Indian troops responded appropriately. No casualties were reported,” said the Army in a statement.
The following night saw a continuation of hostilities, particularly in the Tutmari Gali and Rampur sectors. “On the night of 26-27 April 2025, Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control in the areas opposite Tutmari Gali and Rampur Sectors. Own troops responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire.”
These ceasefire violations come even as India grapples with the aftermath of the heinous Pahalgam attack. Investigation efforts, led by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), are in full swing, with senior officers personally overseeing the search for evidence, tracing infiltration routes, and recording eyewitness accounts in the otherwise serene Baisaran valley.
Ceasefire Agreement Under Siege
The events of recent days have placed enormous strain on the 2021 ceasefire agreement, which has largely held for over three years. Unlike isolated, swiftly contained incidents of the past, the current pattern points to coordinated, multi-sector firing designed to raise the stakes across the 740-km-long frontier — a clear shift from previous post-2021 restraint.
A senior Indian military official warned, “The Pakistan Army’s recent actions are deliberate and dangerous. We are prepared for any escalation.”
Despite the provocations, strategic voices within India advocate restraint — but not inaction. One expert emphasized the importance of calibrated responses: “We must not allow Pakistan to succeed in fuelling internal division or dragging us into a direct conflict. Instead, we must respond with covert precision, degrade terror infrastructure across the LoC, and above all, maintain communal harmony at home.”
As the tensions escalates, there is a strong possibility that India may seriously consider withdrawing from the February 2021 ceasefire agreement if violations continue.
India’s broader military readiness was underlined when the Navy successfully carried out a series of long-range precision strikes in recent exercises. This signalled that the forces remain fully prepared to safeguard the nation’s interests on land and at sea.
Diplomatic Firestorm Amid Ceasefire Breaches
Parallel to the border provocations, Islamabad has erupted in anger over India’s move to suspend water-sharing under the Indus Water Treaty — a move New Delhi asserts is in direct response to Pakistan’s persistent backing of terror proxies.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif issued a warning: “Any attempt to divert Pakistan’s water will be answered with full force,” while paradoxically calling for peace talks and offering participation in a “neutral investigation” into the Pahalgam attack.
However, such offers of dialogue ring hollow against a backdrop of inflammatory rhetoric. Former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto’s brazen statement — threatening that “whether it is water or blood, it will flow through the Indus” — has only deepened mistrust. Islamabad’s hints at walking away from the Simla Agreement, the very bedrock of bilateral stability since 1972, have further fuelled concerns about Pakistan’s true intentions.
Talks and Terror: An Impossible Coexistence
The past week’s events reinforce a stark reality: terror and talks cannot proceed side by side. New Delhi faces a critical juncture. The expectation that dialogue alone can bring peace has time and again been betrayed by Pakistan’s duplicity — offering olive branches with one hand while supporting terror with the other.
With ceasefire violations intensifying and the blood of innocents still fresh in Kashmir’s valleys, India’s strategic choices must be guided not by empty promises of peace but by the reality on the ground. Dialogue may have its place, but it cannot come at the cost of national security — nor can it coexist with bullets and bomb blasts.
As military postures harden and diplomatic avenues narrow, South Asia stands once more at the edge of an uncertain and potentially volatile future.
Ravi Shankar
Dr Ravi Shankar has over two decades of experience in communications, print journalism, electronic media, documentary film making and new media.
He makes regular appearances on national television news channels as a commentator and analyst on current and political affairs. Apart from being an acknowledged Journalist, he has been a passionate newsroom manager bringing a wide range of journalistic experience from past associations with India’s leading media conglomerates (Times of India group and India Today group) and had led global news-gathering operations at world’s biggest multimedia news agency- ANI-Reuters. He has covered Parliament extensively over the past several years. Widely traveled, he has covered several summits as part of media delegation accompanying the Indian President, Vice President, Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister and Finance Minister across Asia, Africa and Europe.
