India | Pakistan

India’s meteoric rise over the past decade has imbued its leadership with a confidence that, at times, borders on hubris. An average GDP growth rate of 6.7 per cent from 2014 to 2024 has propelled India’s nominal GDP to a projected $4.2 trillion by 2025, outpacing many global economies, including China’s 6pc growth over the same period. Strategic partnerships like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), a burgeoning tech sector, and a youthful population of 1.36 billion have fuelled ambitions of great-power status. Yet, this self-assurance has led to diplomatic bristling, notably India’s irritation with US mediation in its recent ceasefire with Pakistan, which The Economist reported as a perceived slight to New Delhi’s sovereignty. More sobering was a recent aerial skirmish, detailed by the Financial Times, where China’s J-10 ‘Dragon’ fighters outmatched India’s Western-supplied aircraft, exposing technological disparities. A realistic comparison of India and China reveals a stark truth: despite rapid pro...

PPP’s Senator Sherry Rehman said on Monday that India built a false narrative during the recent conflict with Pakistan, and now Islamabad will have stay active on the diplomatic front to expose the Indian propaganda. On the instructions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan will high-level diplomatic delegation to important world capitals to expose Indian propaganda in the aftermath of the recent military escalation with India. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been entrusted to lead the delegation comprising Senator Sherry Rehman, Dr Musadik Malik, Engineer Khurram Dastgir, Hina Rabbani Khar, Faisal Subzwari, Tehmina Janjua, and Jalil Abbas Jilani. The delegation will visit London, Washington, Paris, and Brussels to highlight India’s disinformation campaign and its attempts to destabilise regional peace. Speaking to Geo News today, Sherry said apart from the military front, diplomacy during conflict is an important front, as India built a false narrative using “fake news”. She said Bilawal has eme...

LAHORE - Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar credited the Pakistan armed forces for their bravery in a historic military victory over India and urged the nation to now focus on defeating the enemy on the economic front through collective efforts.

WASHINGTON: The recent battlefield standoff between India and Pakistan was “a clear setback for India”, underscoring the decades-long Kashmir conflict and exposing India’s inability to impose a resolution, according to The New York Times. “Strategically, the battlefield tossup was a clear setback for India. An aspiring diplomatic and economic power, it now finds itself equated with Pakistan, a smaller, weaker country,” the newspaper noted in a report on Sunday. “The four-day clash reminded the world of India’s powerlessness to resolve 78 years of conflict with the troubled nation next door. Any act of confrontation plays into the hands of Pakistan, where friction with India has long been a lifeblood. Outright military victory is nearly impossible, given the threat from both countries’ nuclear arsenals,” it added. Says Delhi now finds itself equated with Islamabad, claiming any act of confrontation plays into the hands of Pakistan Drawing on interviews with more than a dozen diplomats, analysts, and officials,...

Amid escalating tensions between Pakistan and India, the Pakistani military has issued a stern warning against any attempt by India to disrupt Pakistan’s share of Indus River waters.

Indian police have arrested multiple people in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi —including a travel vlogger and a university professor — over their alleged connections to Pakistan or comments related to the recent escalation between the two countries, Indian media reported on Sunday. The development follows a military confrontation between India and Pakistan over New Delhi’s allegations against Islamabad about a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes in Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Islamabad responded by downing five Indian jets. After intercepting drones sent by India and tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally drop their guns as a ceasefire was reached. Ali Khan Mahmudabad, an associate professor at Haryana’s Ashoka University, was picked up from his home in Delhi for his comments about the Indian army’s press briefings on its actions targeting Pakistan, ...

UK’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs David Lammy on Saturday urged “all sides” to abide by their treaty obligations, referring to India’s move last month to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan in abeyance unilaterally. Delhi’s suspension of its participation in the 1960 IWT was part of its series of measures against Pakistan, which it blamed, without any evidence, for a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Pakistan strongly denied any involvement and offered a neutral probe into it. “We would urge all sides to meet their treaty obligations,” Lammy told Reuters in Islamabad at the end of his two-day visit, when asked about India’s April 23 suspension of the (IWT), potentially squeezing Pakistan’s water supply. The 1960 pact governs the use of the Indus River system. Pakistan has said it would consider “any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan” to be an “act of war”. Islamabad plans to launch international legal action against India over its move. The Pa...

In a provocative move widely seen as a form of ‘hydrological warfare’, India has accelerated work on a controversial river-linking project aimed at diverting the flow of the River Chenab to the Beas and Ravi rivers, raising grave concerns in Pakistan about its future water security.

• FO says Islamabad’s restrained response reinforces deterrence, warns Pakistan will have no choice but to respond if India resumes hostilities • Insists govt remains committed to ceasefire • Indian defence minister signals aggressive stance, calls strikes a ‘trailer’ • Jaishankar reiterates any talks will be strictly bilateral ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday rejected India’s claim that recent military strikes had established a “new norm” in their tense bilateral relations, insisting that respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity remains the only acceptable standard in inter-state ties. The remarks by Foreign Office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan came amid a fragile ceasefire agreed upon on May 10, following India’s Operation Sindoor (vermilion, a traditional symbol of marriage worn by Hindu women) and Pakistani response codenamed Operation Bunyanum Marsoos (Iron Wall). Pakistan condemned the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty. “While India propagates the notion of establishing a ‘new normal’ in bila...

Turkiye-based Celebi, which provides airport ground handling in India, has launched a legal challenge to New Delhi’s decision to overturn its security clearance, arguing that “vague” national security concerns were cited without reasoning. Amid growing public anger in India about Turkiye’s stance on Pakistan in the India-Pakistan conflict, the Indian government on Thursday revoked Celebi’s security clearance in the “interest of national security”. Celebi Airport Services India, in a May 16 filing seen by Reuters, asked the Delhi High Court to set aside that decision, arguing it would impact 3,791 jobs and investor confidence, and was issued without any warning to the company. “Mere rhetoric of national security without elaborating upon in what manner is an entity a threat to national security is unsustainable in law,” the company said in the filing, which is not public. The order “fails to disclose any specific or substantive reason except for a vague and general reference to ‘national security’… [it] provide...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said Pakistan won the war but sought peace and invited India to live as a “peaceful neighbour”, as the country celebrated Operation Bunyanum Marsoos’s success with a ceremony. The military confrontation between India and Pakistan began after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the Pahalgam attack. On the night of May 6-7, India launched air strikes on Pakistan, causing civilian casualties. Both sides exchanged missiles over the following week, which stretched tensions. An American intervention led to a ceasefire. On Monday, the directors general of military operations held the first round of talks after the ceasefire. Today’s ceremony, marking the Youm-i-Tashakur (Thanksgiving Day), was held at the Pakistan Monument in Islamabad and attended by PM Shehbaz, armed forces chiefs, and other civil and military leaders. It began with the recitation of the Holy Quran, opening speeches, a flypast, and national songs. View this post on Instagram Beginning his speech, PM Shehbaz prais...

Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan on Friday urged India to maintain the ceasefire agreed with Pakistan, warning that the country would respond if the neighbour resumed aggression. The military confrontation between India and Pakistan came as the former blamed Islamabad for the Pahalgam attack. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes on Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Both sides then exchanged missiles, which stretched over the week. It took American intervention for both sides to finally drop their guns. The nation observed Youm-i-Tashakur across the country today to honour the armed forces and the people for the victory in Operation Bunyanum Marsoos — a part of Marka-i-Haq — against India. During his weekly press conference today, the spokesperson said: “The recent announcement of a Pakistan-India ceasefire is a positive development. We urge India to faithfully adhere to its implementation.” He said Pakistan appreciated the role of friendly countries in faci...

India is considering plans to dramatically increase the water it draws from a major river that feeds Pakistani farms downstream, as part of what it claims to be retaliatory action for a deadly April attack on tourists that New Delhi blames on Islamabad, according to four people familiar with the matter. Delhi suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960, which governs the usage of the Indus river system, shortly after 26 civilians in India-held Kashmir were killed in what India called an act of terror. Pakistan has denied involvement in the incident, but accord remains “in abeyance” by India despite the two nuclear-armed neighbours agreeing a ceasefire last week following the worst fighting between them in decades. After the April 22 attack, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered officials to expedite planning and execution of projects on the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus rivers, three bodies of water in the Indus system that are designated primarily for Pakistan’s use, six people told...

An Indian climber and another from the Philippines became the first mountaineers to die on Mount Everest in the current March-May climbing season of the world’s highest peak, hiking officials said on Friday. Subrata Ghosh, 45, from India, died on Thursday below the Hillary Step while returning after reaching the 8,849-metre (29,032 feet) peak. “He refused to descend from below the Hillary Step,” said Bodhraj Bhandari of Nepal’s Snowy Horizon Treks and Expedition organising company. No other details were available. The Hillary Step is located in the ‘death zone’, an area between 8,000-metre (26,250 ft) high South Col and the summit where the level of natural oxygen is inadequate for survival. “Efforts are underway to bring his body down to the base camp. The cause of his death will be known only after post mortem,” Bhandari said. Philipp II Santiago, 45, from the Philippines, died late on Wednesday at the South Col while he was on his way up, said Himal Gautam, a tourism department official. Santiago was tired...

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that Pakistan’s armed forces had shattered the ‘false hegemony’ of India and made the whole world realise that all states in the region are equal. The premier again asked India to sit at the table to resolve contentious issues, including Kashmir, through dialogue, without which there will be no guarantee of permanent peace. Meanwhile, according to a decision announced by the PM, the nation will be observing Youm-i-Tashakur on Friday (today) on the victory of Pakistan in the recent conflict with India. “You have not only changed the mindset of the world but also the equation in the region and in the world,” the prime minister said while addressing a gathering of Pakistan Air Force officers during a visit to PAF airbase Kamra. He paid the visit to meet the Pakistani pilots who had successfully defended the nation during one of the longest aerial engagements of the 21st century between May 6 and 10. Shehbaz showers praise on pilots during visit to PAF bas...

• Rejects New Delhi’s call for agency’s oversight of Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal • India says water treaty to remain suspended until end to ‘cross-border terrorism’ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to investigate the ‘nuclear black market’ in India and repeated incidents of theft and illicit trafficking of radioactive material, as it rejected a call by India’s defence minister for the nuclear watchdog to monitor Islamabad’s nuclear programme. Pointing to multiple incidents of radioactive material theft in India and other security lapses, the Foreign Office said, “Pakistan urges a thorough investigation of these incidents and calls upon India to ensure the safety and security of its nuclear facilities and arsenal.” “If anything, the IAEA and the international community should be worried about the repeated theft and illicit trafficking incidents involving nuclear and radioactive material in India,” the statement added. The Foreign Office was responding to comme...

• Military contacts lead to extension of ceasefire till 18th; US wants both nations to uphold truce • Dar says ultimately ‘political dialogue’ will take place to address all issues; reiterates opposition to Indian move to end Kashmir’s autonomy • Senate resolution condemns India for unprovoked strikes against Pakistan • Trump claims hostilities between nuclear neighbours ‘settled’, asks both to focus on trade ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan and India extended the nascent ceasefire till May 18, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday informed the Senate that Pakistan sought a “composite dialogue” with New Delhi to put all contentious matters to rest. According to the foreign minister, the ceasefire was extended through military-to-military communication, but a political dialogue will ultimately have to take place to resolve the problems between the two neighbours. “We have told the world that we will hold a composite dialogue,” he informed the Senate. The FM said Pakistan had never accepted the unilateral revocation of ...

Pakistan on Thursday called on the international community to investigate recurring incidents of nuclear material theft and security breaches at India’s nuclear facilities.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook and told him not to expand his production facilities in India, but to do so in America. “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said during his visit to Qatar. “I said to him, Tim, you’re my friend, I treated you very good. You’re coming here with $500 billion, but now you’re building all over India,” he said, referring to Apple’s plan announced in February to invest $500bn in the US over the next four years. View this post on Instagram Trump said he informed Cook that he does not want him to build production facilities in India, and that Apple will be “upping their production in the United States”. The US president claimed that selling American goods in the world’s most populous country is “very difficult” because India has one of the highest tariff barriers in the world. However, he noted that while the Asian country looks for a deal on import duties, India has offered them a “no-tariff” deal. Trump’s remarks ca...

Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Thursday warned in an interview with British broadcaster Sky News that any Indian ceasefire violation would be met with a “swift and assured response” by Pakistan, cautioning that serious escalation could result in mutual destruction. The military confrontation between India and Pakistan came as the former blamed Islamabad for the Pahalgam attack. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes on Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Both sides then exchanged missiles, which stretched over the week. It took American intervention for both sides to finally drop their guns. On May 10, when tensions between the two countries peaked, US President Donald Trump announced that a ceasefire had been reached between India and Pakistan. According to the government, forty civilians — including seven women and 15 children — lost their lives in the Indian aggression, and 121 others sustained injuries. Speaking...