India | Pakistan

India’s government said on Tuesday social media companies would have to take down unlawful content within three hours of being notified about it, tightening an earlier 36-hour timeline in what could be a compliance challenge for Meta, YouTube and X. The changes amend India’s 2021 IT rules, which have already been a flashpoint between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and global technology companies. The amended rules also relaxed an earlier proposal that would have required platforms to visibly label AI-generated content across 10 per cent of its surface area or duration, instead mandating that such content be “prominently labelled”. The new regulations will take effect from February 20. The tighter timeline marks the latest escalation in India’s efforts to control online speech, with a takedown regime that has drawn criticism from digital rights advocates and prompted clashes with companies including Elon Musks X. Facebook-owner Meta declined to comment on the changes, while X and Alphabet’s Google, ...

The government announced on Monday that Pakistan would play the T20 World Cup match against India, scheduled for February 15. The decision to play the match comes after a delegation from the ICC arrived in the country over the weekend and held meetings with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on the team’s participation in the match against India. It also came hours after Sri Lanka urged Pakistan to play India. In a post on X, the government said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was formally briefed by PCB Chairman Naqvi regarding the outcomes of high-level deliberations held between the PCB, representatives of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). “The government of Pakistan has reviewed the formal requests extended to the PCB by the BCB, as well as the supporting communications from Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, and other member nations. These correspondences sought Pakistan’s leadership in securing a viable solution to recent challenges,” i...

Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Monday told the National Assembly that Pakistan is facing a proxy conflict allegedly orchestrated by India, claiming that Afghan territory is being used to facilitate terrorist activities inside the country.

India plans to maintain multiple sources of energy supply and diversify them when needed as New Delhi looks to ensure consumers receive “adequate energy at the right price through reliable and secure supplies”, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Monday. Misri was responding to a question at a media briefing seeking clarity on India’s position on the purchase of Russian oil after US President Donald Trump said last week that New Delhi had “committed to stop directly or indirectly” importing it. “India’s priority is to safeguard the interests of its consumers through an energy policy driven by adequate availability, fair pricing, and reliability of supply,” Misri said. He added that India was neither dependent on any single source for crude oil nor did it “intend to be”, importing from a “mix of sources” depending on “objective market conditions”, adding that “national interests” guide both the government and Indian energy companies. Last week, Trump signed an executive order lifting the punitive 25%...

A meeting between the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Pakistan and Bangladesh cricket boards was held at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday to discuss Pakistan’s decision to boycott the T20 World Cup match with India on February 15. The meeting was still in progress until late Sunday night, while the ICC, as well as the two cricket boards, decided not to speak to the media regarding the discussion. After a four-hour meeting, no joint declaration was issued. Per sources, there was a break for a late-night dinner, and a second round of talks was scheduled after that. Sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) earlier told Dawn that the two sides will most likely announce the outcome of the meeting after receiving an endorsement from the Government of Pakistan. They added that the main concern of the PCB expressed during the meeting was related to the “politics rampant at a large-scale level across the ICC affairs and India’s excessive involvement in it.” The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s ...

The US and India announced Friday that they have reached terms on an interim framework deal to end a bilateral trade dispute, with President Donald Trump taking action to advance the agreement.

The United States and India moved closer to a trade pact on Friday, releasing an interim framework that would lower tariffs, reshape energy ties and deepen economic cooperation as both countries seek to realign global supply chains. The framework reaffirms a commitment to negotiations toward a broader bilateral trade agreement, the two governments said in a joint statement, while noting that further negotiations were needed to complete the pact. US President Donald Trump announced a deal with India on Monday to cut US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50pc in exchange for India halting purchases of Russian oil and lowering trade barriers. Half of the 50pc rate had been imposed separately by Trump as punishment for India’s purchases of Russian oil, which he said were fuelling Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine. Trump signed an executive order on Friday rescinding that 25pc portion after India agreed this week to shift its oil buying to the US and Venezuela. However, the statement indicated that New Delhi...

Sri Lanka’s cricket board on Thursday asked Pakistan to reconsider its decision to boycott their first-round encounter with arch-rival India in the T20 World Cup co-hosted by the island. Pakistan decided not to play India on February 15 in Colombo to express solidarity with Bangladesh, who were excluded from the tournament after refusing to play their matches in India. Pakistan and India have not played bilateral cricket for more than a decade and meet only at global or regional tournament events. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) told the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that a boycott would result in a financial hit and also hurt the island’s tourism industry, which is still recovering from the 2022 economic meltdown. “Any non-participation will have wide-ranging implications, including substantial financial exposure for SLC and the potential loss of anticipated tourism inflows,” the board said. It recalled that Sri Lanka had toured Pakistan to express solidarity and revive international matches there when other nations ...

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari on Wednesday condemned India’s actions in Kashmir, saying New Delhi forcibly revoked the region’s constitutional status and subjected its people to decades of oppression.

Commenting on the decision to boycott the match against India in the T20 World Cup, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said that there “should be no politics in sports”. He made the remarks while addressing the federal cabinet in Islamabad. The remarks were televised. “We have taken a clear stand regarding the T20 World Cup that we will not play the match against India,” he said. “There should be no politics in sports,” he said. “We have taken this stand after deliberating on it carefully,” he said, calling it an “appropriate decision”. It should be noted that the government on Sunday gave the cricket team the nod to participate in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026, but said the Green Shirts would not play their match with arch-rivals India, scheduled to be held on Feb 15 in Colombo. The development came after Bangladesh’s withdrawal from the tournament amid tensions with India, which is one of the co-hosts of the T20 World Cup. At the start of his address, PM Shehbaz began by talking about the attacks ...

Russia faces a steep drop in oil income if United States President Donald Trump successfully pressures India to stop importing Russian crude, because losing its top purchaser of seaborne exports would force Moscow to slash prices to find other buyers, analysts and traders said. Trump on Monday cut US tariffs on Indian goods in a trade deal he said also included provisions for India to halt oil imports from Russia, the world’s second-biggest oil exporter. The US is also putting pressure on Russia to agree to a peace deal in Ukraine. Trump has over the past year already claimed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil. India never halted imports, however, citing its need for energy security and for cheap oil. The Kremlin says energy cooperation with India, its second-largest oil buyer after China, is strong after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the country in December 2025. But Indian refiners are taking a cautious approach to Russian oil purchases, which is already hu...

The United States and India have held high-level talks in Washington focused on critical minerals cooperation, trade and strategic ties. The talks were held late on Tuesday against the backdrop of a recently finalised bilateral trade deal that has drawn attention across the region. Diplomatic observers in Washington, however, maintain that the agreement is unlikely to affect recently improved bilateral ties between Pakistan and the US, as those are not linked to India. The observers note that recent developments in the greater Middle East, as well as in South and Central Asia, have further enhanced Pakistan’s relevance as a key regional player in Washington’s strategic calculus. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during the latter’s three-day official visit to the United States, as both sides moved to deepen economic and strategic coordination in the Indo-Pacific. According to the US State Department readout, Secretary Rubio and Minister Jaishankar d...

Pakistan’s spin-heavy squad are in winning form ahead of the T20 World Cup, but a controversial decision to forfeit their marquee clash against India could still trigger another early exit. Pakistan came close to withdrawing from the tournament in solidarity with Bangladesh, who pulled out after refusing to play in India, citing security concerns. The Pakistan government eventually cleared the team’s participation but it barred them from facing India in Colombo in a blockbuster clash on February 15. With two points for a win, a forfeit of the match will leave Pakistan with no margin for error if they are to progress as one of the top two from a five-team Group A. It means they must win their opening game against the Netherlands in Colombo on Saturday and beat the United States three days later to stay in contention. Their final group game will be against Namibia on February 18. Captain Salman Agha said the move to boycott the India game was out of the team’s hands. “That is not our decision. We have to follow...

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it had not received any indication from India that it would stop buying Russian oil following the announcement of a trade deal with US President Donald Trump. Trump said he had struck a deal to reduce tariffs on India and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to stop buying Russian oil over the war in Ukraine. India’s purchases of Russian oil — discounted due to Western sanctions complicating logistics and cutting off markets — have surged since Russia launched its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine and its Western allies have been seeking to cut off the billions of dollars in revenue, a vital source of income for Russia’s stretched economy and its military. “So far, we haven’t heard any statements from New Delhi on this matter,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including AFP. Trump said he was cutting levies on Indian goods to 18 per cent. He had previously imposed 25pc “reciprocal” tariffs on many products, plus an additiona...

United States President Donald Trump announced a “trade deal” with India on Monday after speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying New Delhi agreed to stop buying Russian oil and may purchase it instead from Venezuela. In a post on social media platform Truth Social, the US president said that he and the Indian premier spoke about “many things”, including trade and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump added that “out of friendship and respect” for Modi, the US would lower its reciprocal tariff rate from 25 per cent to 18pc, while India would reduce tariffs on US goods to zero. “He (Modi) agreed to stop buying Russian oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela,” Trump wrote, adding that this would “end the war” between Russia and Ukraine. The US president, calling Modi “one of my greatest friends, and a powerful and respected leader of his country”, said that he agreed to “buy American” at a much higher level. Trump added that India would buy, “over $500 bi...

Deal sealed as Trump cuts India tariffs to 18%

NEW DELHI: India will spend a record amount on infrastructure and defence, the finance minister said in her national budget speech on Sunday, with plans for high-speed rail, submarines and fighter jets. New Delhi plans to spend $133 billion on infrastructure and $85 billion on defence, a respective rise of around nine and 15 percent compared to last year’s budget. Data centres, artificial intelligence, and the mining and processing of rare earths will also receive government support, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told parliament. She said public spending on infrastructure had increased dramatically from around $21 billion (2 trillion rupees) in 2014-15 and that it was now at an “all-time high”. Rajnath says armed forces would be equipped with fighter jets, drones, ships, submarines and critical hardware The defence spending hike comes after a four-day conflict with Pakistan last May that killed at least 70 people, and saw both sides make extensive use of drones as well as intense missile and artillery b...

After around a week of uncertainty, the government gave the nod on Sunday to the Pakistan cricket team for participation in the T20 World Cup but barred it from playing against India on February 15, when the Green Shirts are scheduled to play their only group-stage match against the arch-rivals. “The government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan cricket team to participate in the ICC World T20 2026, however, the Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15th February 2026 against India,” a post of the government’s X account said. On Monday, Pakistan Cricket Board chief and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as the possibility of a boycott of the T20 World Cup loomed over Bangladesh’s withdrawal from the tournament. After the meeting, Naqvi had said he had briefed the PM on the “International Cricket Council (ICC) matter” and a “final decision would be taken either on Friday or next Monday”. The meeting took place...

United States President Donald Trump on Saturday said India will buy Venezuelan oil, as opposed to purchasing oil from Iran. “We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” Trump told reporters while on Air Force One, en route to Florida from Washington, DC. Trump also said on Saturday that China was also welcome to make a deal with the US to buy Venezuelan oil. Trump’s comment came a day after the US told Delhi it could soon resume purchases of Venezuelan oil to help replace imports of Russian oil, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. India pledged to slash Russian crude oil purchases after Washington also hiked tariffs related to that activity, and India is on track to lower its Russian oil imports by several hundred thousand barrels per day in the coming months, according to the sources, who declined to be identified. Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on countries buying Venezuelan oil, including India, in March 2025, and his administration ramped up a campaign against Venezuelan Pr...

• Interior minister, Balochistan CM reaffirm resolve against terrorism • Akhtar Mengal says he has ‘never seen such a dangerous situation’ QUETTA: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday held India responsible for a spate of attacks in Balochistan, stressing that authorities would go after every single one of those involved, while an opposition leader warned that the situation in the region had spiralled “completely out of control”. Speaking to the media alongside Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti on Saturday night, he said: “These were not normal terrorists. India is behind these attacks. I can tell you for sure that India planned these attacks along with these terrorists. “We will expose them in the world — the face with which they meet the world and the face with which they support terrorists.” Mr Naqvi said India was the “main country” behind terrorism, saying that it was not only providing financial support to the terrorists but was also aiding them in planning and devising strategies. CM Bugti...