ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office on Tuesday welcomed the Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire after days of fighting, hoping the two sides would resolve their outstanding issues through diplomacy and regional cooperation. 

The foreign office’s statement followed Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement of an “unconditional ceasefire” between Thailand and Cambodia on Monday. Talks between the two neighboring countries were held at Ibrahim’s official residence in Malaysia’s administrative capital, Putrajaya. Acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet both attended the meeting, along with the ambassadors of China and the United States. 

Fighting over a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia broke out last week, killing at least 35 people and displacing more than 270,000 from both sides of the border. Ibrahim said Cambodia and Thailand agreed to a ceasefire effective at midnight on Monday (17:00 GMT) while a meeting between the military commanders of both nations will follow on Tuesday.

“Pakistan welcomes the successful conclusion of the special meeting hosted by Malaysia on the Cambodia-Thailand situation,” the foreign office said in a statement. “We appreciate the spirit of dialogue and express hope for a peaceful resolution through diplomacy and regional cooperation.”

Thailand and Cambodia have wrangled for decades over border territory and been on a conflict footing since the killing of a Cambodian soldier in a skirmish late in May. The development led to a troop buildup on both sides and a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand’s fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse.

Both countries accused each other of starting the fighting last week, that within hours increased from small arms fire to heavy artillery and rockets, and Thailand’s unexpected scrambling of an F-16 fighter jet to carry out airstrikes.

Pakistan had also engaged in a military conflict with its nuclear-armed neighbor India in May. Both countries pounded each other with fighter jets, artillery fire, drones and missiles before that killed over 70 on both sides of the border before agreeing to a ceasefire brokered by Washington on May 10.