Mohammad Iqbal was working the nightshift at a power plant when he got a frantic call from his family saying artillery shells were exploding around their home.

India scaled down its diplomatic relations with Pakistan as part of its retaliatory measures. It expelled all Pakistani defence attachés, declaring them "persona non grata" (unwelcome) and announced it would withdraw its own defence advisers from its high commission in Islamabad.

Following Saturday’s understanding between India and Pakistan to stop military action on land, in the air and at sea, Trump told reporters on Monday that he had offered to help both nations with trade if they agreed to de-escalate.

India and Pakistan engaged in the most intense fighting in decades with four days of escalating conflict that included fighter jets, missiles and drones packed with explosives. It ended almost as abruptly as it began.

After days of intense firefights, Indian and Pakistani authorities say there were no reported incidents of firing overnight along the heavily militarized region between their countries.

India also has a long-standing policy of refusing to allow foreign mediation when it comes to the status of Muslim-majority Kashmir - a disputed region claimed by both India and Pakistan in its entirety - which has been at the center of the latest conflict with Pakistan and which India regards as a strictly internal matter.

New developments in the nuclear powers’ harrowing four-day conflict, along with entrenched religious nationalism on each side, could signal more frequent battles ahead.

A low-quality image of an Indian fighter jet engulfed in flames after crashing in September 2024 has been falsely claimed online to show an Indian jet downed amid escalated tensions between India and Pakistan in May 2025.