'We're in better place with India, Pakistan ceasefire': UN

United Nations, May 13 (IANS) With the ceasefire between India and Pakistan holding, "we're in a better place," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.

"We hope the ceasefire will continue to hold, and we hope that the parties will use this to deal with a lot of the outstanding issues between them," he said at his briefing.

"The ceasefire is holding," Dujarric said while responding to a Palestinian journalist's statement critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that his speech on Monday indicated the ceasefire is "very fragile".

To back his assertion, the journalist also quoted what he said was a Pakistani statement "to check this kind of tone by Indian Prime Minister".

Dujarric added, "We're in a better place than we were before."

The ceasefire to end four days of conflict was reached on Saturday following a call from Pakistan's Directorate General of Military Operations (DGMO) to the counterpart in India.

India launched targeted strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and the Kashmir territory it occupies last Wednesday in retaliation for last month's massacre of 26 people in Pahalgam by The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Islamabad launched attacks on India, leading to an escalation of the situation.

Soon after the ceasefire was announced, Guterres welcomed it "as a positive step toward ending current hostilities and easing tensions".

Earlier while the confrontation was building up, he called for restraint saying, "The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan."

--IANS

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