Residents stockpile food, rush to bunkers as conflict rattles India and Pakistan
LAHORE/MUZAFARRABAD, Pakistan/AMRITSAR, India (Reuters) - Residents across Pakistan and India rushed to stockpile foods and other essential supplies, while families living near the border fled to safer areas, as armed clashes between the nuclear-armed nations escalated on Friday.
India and Pakistan accused each other of launching new military attacks, using drones and artillery for the third day, in the worst fighting between the two countries in nearly three decades.
The conflict erupted after India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were "terrorist camps", in retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month.
In the Indian state of Punjab, Amanpreet Dhillon, 26, said many families in his village — just 13 km (8.08 miles) from the border with Pakistan — have already sent women and children to safer areas.
"I am also contemplating it... I'm afraid my village could be next," he said.
In Indian-administered Kashmir's Uri district, residents said many fled overnight after several houses were struck by shelling, some taking shelter behind rocks or in bunkers.
"We have never seen such intense shelling in our life. The majority of the people fled the town and other villages as soon as shelling started last night with some taking shelter in underground bunkers," said Bashir Ahmad, 45, in the town of Baramulla in Uri. "It was a nightmare for us."
In the Pakistani city of Lahore, which lies near the border, residents were shaken on Thursday by drones that Pakistan said were launched by India and were shot down in the city, setting off sirens and leading the U.S. consulate to tell its staff to shelter in place.
Schools were closed on Friday and residents and shopkeepers said Lahoris were stocking up on food, gas cylinders for cooking and medicine, prompting authorities to issue a notice warning businesses not to artificially increase prices.
"I have stocked grocery for a month: we got meat, flour, tea, oil lentils etc and also drew extra cash from bank," said Aroosha Rameez, 34, a Lahore resident.
Muhammad Asif, 35, said his pharmacy had seen an influx of customers.
"People in Lahore have started stocking medicines as well, which may lead to shortages of paracetamol, anti-allergies, antibiotics, blood pressure and diabetes medicines," he said.
Food delivery app FoodPanda, popular in Pakistan, said it had seen a surge in grocery orders nationwide.
Across the border, India's Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution minister warned against panic buying of food grains.
"We currently have stocks many times higher than the normal requirement—whether it is rice, wheat, or pulses...There is absolutely no shortage," he said.
Pankaj Seth, a resident of Amritsar in India's Punjab state, said people felt they had no choice: "We do not know if the markets will open tomorrow or not...I have children and grandchildren at home so I have to stock up."
Some residents of border regions were also requesting relatives to bring them supplies as prices rose.
"My aunt lives in Attari and has asked me to get some flour for her as supplies are getting expensive there," said Navneet Kaur, a nurse in Amritsar, 30 kilometres (19 miles)away, who was travelling to the town with a sack of flour.
FLEEING AT NIGHT
Residents of Kashmir near the line of control that divides the region faced a more stark and immediate threat.
Residents said they were starting to leave their villages and spend the nights, when shelling and firing roars through the valleys, in bunkers.
The prime minister's office in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said over 400 people had been evacuated by authorities in two areas near the line of control.
'Ever since the attack (Indian strike) in Muzaffarabad, we have been living in our bunker, which we carved into a nearby rocky mountain," said Manzoor Ahmed, 43, a resident of Jura Bandi village in the Neelum Valley, where local police confirmed most people were spending the night in bunkers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Trump urges Thailand, Cambodia ceasefire with trade talk
The aim of Trump and other world leaders is to halt the fiercest border clash between Thailand and Cambodia in 13 years WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump urged the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand to end three days of fighting along their border, and they agreed to meet to negotiate a ceasefire. Trump, who is in Scotland to play golf and talk trade, said on social media July 26 he had spoken to Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thailand's acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai. He warned them that he would not make trade deals with either government if the border conflict continued. "Both Parties are looking for an immediate Ceasefire and Peace," Trump said. More than 30 people have been killed and 130,000 people displaced in the worst fighting between the countries in 13 years. Both sides said they acted in self defense in the border dispute. Thailand and Cambodia have bickered for decades over jurisdiction of various points along the land border. Ownership of the ancient Hindu temples Ta Moan Thom and the 11th century Preah Vihear are central to the disputes. The two countries have faced off since the killing of a Cambodian soldier late in May during a brief skirmish. Troops on both sides of the border were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand's fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse. Trump has threatened both countries with 36% tariffs but said trade talks will stall without a ceasefire. "When all is done, and Peace is at hand, I look forward to concluding our Trading Agreements with both!" Trump said. Contributing: Reuters
USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
US diplomats asked if non-Whites qualify for Trump refugee program for South Africans
WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - In early July, the top official at the U.S. embassy in South Africa reached out to Washington asking for clarification on a contentious U.S. policy: could non-Whites apply for a refugee program geared toward white South Africans if they met other requirements? President Donald Trump's February executive order establishing the program specified that it was for "Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination," referring to an ethnic group descended mostly from Dutch settlers. In a diplomatic cable sent July 8, embassy Charge d'Affairs David Greene asked whether the embassy could process claims from other minority groups claiming race-based discrimination such as "coloured" South Africans who speak Afrikaans. In South Africa the term coloured refers to mixed-raced people, a classification created by the apartheid regime still in use today. The answer came back days later in an email from Spencer Chretien, the highest-ranking official in the State Department's refugee and migration bureau, saying the program is intended for White people. Reuters was unable to independently verify the precise language in the email which was described to the news agency by three sources familiar with its contents. The State Department, responding to a request for comment on July 18, did not specifically comment on the email or the cable but described the scope of the policy as wider than the guidance in Chretien's email. The department said U.S. policy is to consider both Afrikaners and other racial minorities for resettlement, echoing guidance posted on its website in May saying that applicants "must be of Afrikaner ethnicity or be a member of a racial minority in South Africa." Chretien declined to comment through a State Department spokesperson. Greene did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The internal back-and-forth between the embassy and the State Department - which hasn't been previously reported - illustrates the confusion in how to implement a policy designed to help White Afrikaners in a racially diverse country that includes mixed-race people who speak Afrikaans, as well as Whites who speak English. So far the State Department has resettled 88 South Africans under the program, including the initial group of 59 who arrived in May. Another 15 are expected to arrive by the end of August, one of the sources said. Trump, a Republican who recaptured the White House pledging a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, placed an indefinite freeze on refugee admissions from around the world after taking office, saying the U.S. would only admit refugees who "can fully and appropriately assimilate." Weeks later, he issued an executive order that called for the U.S. to resettle Afrikaners, describing them as victims of "violence against racially disfavored landowners," allegations that echoed far-right claims but which have been contested by South Africa's government. Since the executive order, U.S. diplomats working to implement the program have been deliberating internally about which racial groups could be considered eligible, one of the sources said. In the July 8 cable, Greene laid out a summary of the different ethnic and racial groups in the country before seeking guidance on eligibility. In addition to Afrikaners and mixed-race South Africans, Greene mentioned indigenous South Africans known as the Khoisan people. He said that members of the Jewish community had also expressed interest, but that in South Africa they are considered a religious minority and not a racial group. "In the absence of other guidance, [the U.S. embassy] intends to give consideration to well-founded claims of persecution based on race for other racial minorities," Greene wrote. At least one family identified as "coloured" has already traveled to the U.S. as refugees, two people familiar with the matter said. The cable forced the administration to clarify its position on whether the policy is for Whites only, and if it does include other aggrieved minorities, who would qualify, two of the people familiar with the matter said. Chretien, a conservative who wrote op-eds promoting the Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025" plan to overhaul the federal government, is the senior official at the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. During the apartheid era, which ended with the first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa maintained a racially segregated society with separate schools, neighborhoods and public facilities for people classified as Black, coloured, White or Asian. Blacks make up 81% of South Africa's population, according to 2022 census data. Coloured South Africans make up 8%, and Indians 3%. Afrikaners and other White South Africans constitute 7% of the population but own three-quarters of the privately held land in the country. When asked about the program in May, Trump said he was not giving Afrikaners preferential treatment because they are White. "They happen to be White, but whether they are White or Black makes no difference to me," he said. In response to a request for comment, a White House official said the administration's policy reflected Trump's executive order. 'We will prioritize refugee admissions for South African citizens, including Afrikaners and other racial minorities in South Africa, who have been targeted by the discriminatory laws of the South African government," the official said. The assertion that minority White South Africans face discrimination from the Black majority has spread in far-right circles for years and been echoed by White South African-born Elon Musk, a U.S. citizen who served as a top White House aide during the first four months of Trump's administration. The South African government has rejected the allegations of persecution and a "White genocide." There is no evidence to back up claims of widespread, race-based attacks in the country. During a combative Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May, Trump showed a printed image of a Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented as evidence of mass killings of White South Africans. The South African Chamber of Commerce said earlier this year that 67,000 people were interested in the program. (Reporting by Ted Hesson and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Don Durfee and Michael Learmonth)
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Ten civilians killed in Ukraine, while Zelensky says troops fend off major Russian advance on frontline regions
Russia pummeled Ukraine overnight, killing 10 and injuring as many as 61 civilians, in part of a ramped up aerial campaign to advance strongman Vladimir Putin's war into the Eastern European country. The Kremlin targeted Ukraine's frontline regions with 208 drones and 27 missiles Saturday. In the southern Dnipro region, at least three Ukrainians were killed and six others wounded in the barrage, local officials on the ground reported. 7 At least three people died in the attack on Dnipro overnight. REUTERS The strikes shattered windows in a residential building, torched cars — and on the outskirts of the city flames engulfed an obliterated shopping center obliterated by a Russian missile, causing an apocalyptic-like scene on the streets of the war-torn country. The Kremlin targeted Ukraine's frontline regions with 208 drones and 27 missiles, according to officials. 'A scary night. A massive attack on the region,' Serhiy Lysak, Dnipro's regional governor, said on Telegram. 7 A shopping mall was hit by a Russian missile strike in Dnipro. REUTERS In the northeastern Sumy region, another person was killed and three others injured, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said troops blocked Russian troops from gaining ground deeper into the battleground region. Russia opened a new front in Sumy in early June, deploying 50,000 troops — three times the size of Kyiv's forces in the key battleground — and capturing around a dozen border villages. The region, a priority for the Kremlin, continues to face near-daily strikes. But, up until this point, Ukrainian forces have managed to maintain control over a bulk of the region. 7 A building in Sumy hit by a Russian drone overnight. REUTERS Meanwhile, Kharkiv faced a sustained aerial bombardment on Saturday. Ukraine's second-largest city was pounded by four guided aerial bombs, two ballistic missiles and 15 drones over a three-hour period. As many as 29 people were injured, including a child, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. 7 Ukrainians clear debris and replace broken windows at a residential building hit in Kharkiv. Getty Images The offensive inflicted damage on high-rise apartment buildings, roadways and communication networks in the area. Four of the injured were first responders — hit in a second strike targeting emergency crews helping help people wounded in the initial attack, Ukraine's State Emergency Situations Service said. 7 Rescuers tried to protect residents as they take shelter inside a basement of a residential building during the Russian drone strike on Kharkiv. via REUTERS Zelensky vowed swift retaliation. 'Russian military enterprises, Russian logistics, and Russian airports should feel that Russia's own war is now hitting them back with real consequences,' he posted on X. 'There can be absolutely no silence in response to such strikes, and Ukrainian long-range drones ensure this.' 7 In all, at least ten people died overnight in Ukraine, as the Kremlin continued to pound on the country. X/ZelenskyyUa Zelensky also said Saturday he received a report from the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service claiming sanctions have significantly slowed Russia's economic potential. He also said Kyiv's drone production this year will exceed projections from January. Some of those drones targeted multiple regions in Russia, as Ukraine's attacks on Moscow have heated up in recent months along the more than 620-mile frontline of the war. 7 At least 61 Ukrainians were wounded overnight in the Russian attacks. X/ZelenskyyUa A drone attack on the Rostov region, near the Ukrainian border, killed two people, officials reported. Another strike hit an unspecified industrial facility in the neighboring Stavropol region. Drones also targeted Moscow but were shot down, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported. Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down or intercepted 54 of Kyiv's drones in total overnight. The more than three-year-old war continued to rage on this week as both sides ended a failed third round of cease-fire talks in less than an hour Wednesday — but agreed to another planned prisoner swap. With wires
