Opposition leaders on Saturday said that in the wake of the agreement between India and Pakistan to stop military operations, the government should now call for a special session of Parliament.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said it was “crucial for the people and their representatives to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor and today’s ceasefire, first announced by US President [Donald] Trump”.

The session would also be an opportunity to demonstrate “our collective resolve to meet the challenges ahead”, he added.

Gandhi’s party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh demanded that apart from a special session of Parliament, the government should also call for an all-party meeting headed by Modi, during which he could “take the country’s political parties into confidence, so that national interests can be protected in this moment of crisis”.

Ramesh said that during a special parliamentary session, extensive discussions could be held on the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, and the events in the 18 days since then, so that “the country could come together to show a united resolve”.

Congress leader Manish Tewari noted that United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while announcing the ceasefire, had said that both countries would hold discussions about a broad set of topics at a neutral site, The Indian Express reported.

“This clearly constitutes third party mediation and it demonstrates that the bilateralism, which was intrinsic to the Simla agreement of 1972, now seems to be a template of the past,” Tewari said.

Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi posted a photo on X of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi inspecting armed forces, and said: “It is not easy to be Indira Gandhi.”

Later in the day, Singhvi said it was necessary to drive home the full advantage of any initiative, instead of leaving it half done.

“Never half hang or half kill a person if he has harmed you,” the Rajya Sabha MP said. “Either punish him fully or let him be. Wonder what gains were made by a three day skirmish and, more importantly, hope we have not frittered away those gains by any premature ceasefire.”

Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Sachin Pilot called for the reiteration of a resolution passed unanimously in Parliament in 1994 asking Pakistan to vacate Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

In the resolution on February 22, 1994, passed after terror attacks, Parliament had “firmly declared” that Jammu and Kashmir would remain an integral part of the country.

The resolution added that any attempts to separate it from the rest of the country would be resisted by all means.

Pakistan “must vacate” areas of Jammu and Kashmir that had been “occupied through aggression”, the resolution had said, adding that all attempts to interfere in the internal affairs would be met “resolutely”.

“It is time to reiterate this resolution,” Pilot said on Saturday. “If there is a change of stand, it should be first discussed. This resolution was passed when Congress was in power. We have not changed our stand.

Pilot noted that the entire situation “changed very rapidly in the last 24 hours”.

“We were all surprised that the ceasefire between India and Pakistan was announced by the President of America [Donald Trump],” said Pilot, adding that this was probably the first time that a US president had announced a ceasefire via social media.

“We should also pay attention to what he has written on his social media post,” the Congress leader said. “It is surprising that an issue which is between India and Pakistan is being internationalised.”

Pilot added: “It should be clearly stated before the nation that: No third-party involvement will be accepted. It is a bilateral issue and it is India's and Pakistan’s issue, and no country, including America, should have a space to intervene in a bilateral issue.”

Earlier in the day, Trump had said on social media that India and Pakistan agreed to a “full and immediate ceasefire”, claiming that the talks were mediated by his administration.

“After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE,” Trump said on social media. “Congratulations to both Countries on using common sense and great intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Pilot also said that an all-party meeting should be called by the Union government to discuss the terms of the ceasefire, whether Pakistan was firing even after the agreement and for how long its credibility could be trusted, and what was the guarantee that such type of an incident would not happen in future.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav also called for a special Parliament session, during which the government could provide “give date-wise and point-wise information from the terrorist incident of Pahalgam to the ceasefire declaration”.

Yadav said that at such a session, the citizens of the country, through Parliament, could “express gratitude for the valour of the armed forces”, and send a united message to Pakistan, which he said was running a “laboratory of terror”.

The agreement sought to put an end to four days of military tensions that escalated on May 7 when the Indian military on Wednesday carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The strikes were in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 persons on April 22.

The Pakistan Army retaliated by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

On Thursday, the Indian armed forces said they had neutralised attempts by Pakistan to use drones and missiles to target military installations in 15 towns and cities on Wednesday night. That evening, India said it had repulsed several attacks using drones and other munitions along the western border.