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.

People in Kashmir say they are relieved but uneasy after India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire. The deal was intended to defuse the worst military confrontation between the two countries in decades.

Both India and Pakistan confirmed news of the ceasefire following US mediation after days of cross-border strikes. It was the most serious increase in hostilities so far in a conflict triggered by a gun massacre in Kashmir.