Trump ended wars: White House repeats India-Pak ceasefire claim
India and Pakistan were engaged in the worst military conflict in decades after New Delhi's Operation Sindoor precision strikes against Pakistani terror infrastructure on May 7 in retaliation against the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 civilian lives on April 22.New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility. Washington strongly condemned the attack but stopped short of directly accusing Islamabad.The two countries reached a ceasefire understanding on May 10, which Trump announced and said that he brokered it with US diplomatic intervention. India, on the other hand, refuted the claim, saying the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of Pakistan called on his Indian counterpart and requested a stop to the hostilities.TRUMP CLAIMS 4–5 JETS DOWN IN CONFLICTUS President Donald Trump has also said that around 4–5 jets were shot down during the India-Pakistan hostilities in May. However, Trump, who made the remarks at a dinner with some Republican lawmakers at the White House, did not specify whether the jets belonged to India or Pakistan.Pakistan had claimed that it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat after India launched Operation Sindoor. However, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has dismissed Pakistan's claim even though he admitted that an unspecified number of fighter jets were downed during the hostilities.- EndsWith inputs from ANITune InMust Watch
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Mint
9 minutes ago
- Mint
Did Hamas steal Gaza aid? USAID finds no evidence of massive theft
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An internal U.S. government analysis found no evidence of systematic theft by the Palestinian militant group Hamas of U.S.-funded humanitarian supplies, challenging the main rationale that Israel and the U.S. give for backing a new armed private aid operation. The analysis, which has not been previously reported, was conducted by a bureau within the U.S. Agency for International Development and completed in late June. It examined 156 incidents of theft or loss of U.S.-funded supplies reported by U.S. aid partner organizations between October 2023 and this May. It found 'no reports alleging Hamas' benefited from U.S.-funded supplies, according to a slide presentation of the findings seen by Reuters. A State Department spokesperson disputed the findings, saying there is video evidence of Hamas looting aid, but provided no such videos. The spokesperson also accused traditional humanitarian groups of covering up "aid corruption." The findings were shared with the USAID's inspector general's office and State Department officials involved in Middle East policy, said two sources familiar with the matter, and come as dire food shortages deepen in the devastated enclave. Israel says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being stolen by Hamas, which it blames for the crisis. The U.N. World Food Program says nearly a quarter of Gaza's 2.1 million Palestinians face famine-like conditions, thousands are suffering acute malnutrition, and the World Health Organization and doctors in the enclave report starvation deaths of children and others. The U.N. also estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food supplies, the majority near the militarized distribution sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the new private aid group that uses a for-profit U.S. logistics firm run by a former CIA officer and armed U.S. military veterans. The study was conducted by the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) of USAID, which was the largest funder of assistance to Gaza before the Trump administration froze all U.S. foreign aid in January, terminating thousands of programs. It has also begun dismantling USAID, whose functions have been folded into the State Department. The analysis found that at least 44 of the 156 incidents where aid supplies were reported stolen or lost were 'either directly or indirectly' due to Israeli military actions, according to the briefing slides. Israel's military did not respond to questions about those findings. The study noted a limitation: because Palestinians who receive aid cannot be vetted, it was possible that U.S.-funded supplies went to administrative officials of Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza. One source familiar with the study also cautioned that the absence of reports of widespread aid diversion by Hamas 'does not mean that diversion has not occurred.' The war in Gaza began after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Nearly 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli assault began, according to Palestinian health officials. ISRAEL SAYS HAMAS DIVERTS HUMANITARIAN AID Israel, which controls access to Gaza, has said that Hamas steals food supplies from U.N. and other organizations to use to control the civilian population and boost its finances, including by jacking up the prices of the goods and reselling them to civilians. Asked about the USAID report, the Israeli military told Reuters that its allegations are based on intelligence reports that Hamas militants seized cargoes by "both covertly and overtly" embedding themselves on aid trucks. Those reports also show that Hamas has diverted up to 25% of aid supplies to its fighters or sold them to civilians, the Israeli military said, adding that GHF has ended the militants' control of aid by distributing it directly to civilians. Hamas denies the allegations. A Hamas security official said that Israel has killed more than 800 Hamas-affiliated police and security guards trying to protect aid vehicles and convoy routes. Their missions were coordinated with the U.N. Reuters could not independently verify the claims by Hamas and Israel, which has not made public proof that the militants have systematically stolen aid. GHF also accuses Hamas of massive aid theft in defending its distribution model. The U.N. and other groups have rejected calls by GHF, Israel and the U.S. to cooperate with the foundation, saying it violates international humanitarian principles of neutrality. In response to a request for comment, GHF referred Reuters to a July 2 Washington Post article that quoted an unidentified Gazan and anonymous Israeli officials as saying Hamas profited from the sales and taxing of pilfered humanitarian aid. AID GROUPS REQUIRED TO REPORT LOSSES The 156 reports of theft or losses of supplies reviewed by BHA were filed by U.N. agencies and other humanitarian groups working in Gaza as a condition of receiving U.S. aid funds. The second source familiar with the matter said that after receiving reports of U.S.-funded aid thefts or losses, USAID staff followed up with partner organizations to try to determine if there was Hamas involvement. Those organizations also would "redirect or pause" aid distributions if they learned that Hamas was in the vicinity, the source said. Aid organizations working in Gaza also are required to vet their personnel, sub-contractors and suppliers for ties to extremist groups before receiving U.S. funds, a condition that the State Department waived in approving $30 million for GHF last month. The slide presentation noted that USAID partners tended to over-report aid diversion and theft by groups sanctioned or designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations - such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad - because they want to avoid losing U.S. funding. Of the 156 incidents of loss or theft reported, 63 were attributed to unknown perpetrators, 35 to armed actors, 25 to unarmed people, 11 directly to Israeli military action, 11 to corrupt subcontractors, five to aid group personnel 'engaging in corrupt activities,' and six to 'others," a category that accounted for 'commodities stolen in unknown circumstances,' according to the slide presentation. The armed actors 'included gangs and other miscellaneous individuals who may have had weapons,' said a slide. Another slide said "a review of all 156 incidents found no affiliations with" U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations, of which Hamas is one. 'The majority of incidents could not be definitively attributed to a specific actor,' said another slide. 'Partners often largely discovered the commodities had been stolen in transit without identifying the perpetrator.' It is possible there were classified intelligence reports on Hamas aid thefts, but BHA staff lost access to classified systems in the dismantlement of USAID, said a slide. However, a source familiar with U.S. intelligence assessments told Reuters that they knew of no U.S. intelligence reports detailing Hamas aid diversions and that Washington was relying on Israeli reports. The BHA analysis found that the Israeli military 'directly or indirectly caused' a total of 44 incidents in which U.S.-funded aid was lost or stolen. Those included the 11 attributed to direct Israeli military actions, such as airstrikes or orders to Palestinians to evacuate areas of the war-torn enclave. Losses indirectly attributed to Israeli military included cases where they compelled aid groups to use delivery routes with high risks of theft or looting, ignoring requests for alternative routes, the analysis said. (Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Editing by Don Durfee and Claudia Parsons)
New Indian Express
12 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
RBI Governor says FTA with UK will help India, bats for more such pacts with other nations
MUMBAI: Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Friday welcomed the signing of the free trade agreement with the UK, saying it will help multiple sectors of the Indian economy. Speaking at the FE Modern BFSI Summit here, Malhotra said multilateralism has "unfortunately" taken a back seat, and the country needs more such pacts (like the UK FTA) with countries and added that negotiations with the US are in advanced stages. "Hopefully, it (UK FTA) should help is the way going forward now, because unfortunately multilateralism seems to have taken a back seat," Malhotra said in the central bank's first comments on the trade deal with the UK signed in London. "It should help various sectors in our manufacturing as well as on the services side," Malhotra added. Malhotra said that given the current realities, where multilateralism has taken a back seat, it is necessary for India to have more such pacts with other countries. He also acknowledged that there are many more such pacts in the negotiation stage. India and the UK signed the FTA during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to the UK. The agreement has been in the making for many years now and will open up markets for both countries across goods and services. Meanwhile, Malhotra backed his US counterpart Jerome Powell for his work on upholding the Federal Reserve's independence, at a time when US President Donald Trump has gone public with his disagreement with its policies. "He (Powell) is doing a very good job. Maintaining the independence of the central bank is very important. I think he has done a commendable job," Malhotra said. On cryptocurrency regulations, Malhotra said the government-appointed panel to look into the issue in India will take into account the RBI's concerns. There is no work for a separate currency for the BRICS grouping, the RBI governor said, maintaining that like any other country, India is working on popularising its own currency, and the US dollar is here to stay. India has an agreement with the UAE and is also looking at some arrangement with Maldives on the rupee trade, he said. "The dollar is here, as you're all aware, it's going to be here, you know, for some time, for a longish time. It's because you need some universal cross-border currency," the RBI governor said. Meanwhile, he also appreciated the work done by the Ministry of Petroleum in managing the oil procurement despite the sanctions on Russia.
Scroll.in
12 minutes ago
- Scroll.in
India should stop deporting people to Bangladesh without due process, says human rights group
India should stop unlawfully deporting people to Bangladesh without due process, international non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Wednesday. The organisation said that the government should instead 'ensure everyone's access to procedural safeguards to protect against arbitrary detention and expulsion'. Since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, the police in several states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party have been detaining Bengali-speaking persons – mostly Muslims – and asking them to prove that they are Indian citizens. Several persons have been forced into Bangladesh after they allegedly could not prove their Indian citizenship. In some cases, individuals who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after state authorities in India proved that they were Indians. Indian authorities have not provided official data on the total number of expulsions till now. However, the Border Guards Bangladesh has alleged that over 1,500 persons have been forced into Bangladesh from May 7 to June 15. Elaine Person, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch, alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India was 'fueling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens'. She added: 'The authorities' claims that they are managing irregular immigration are unconvincing given their disregard for due process rights, domestic guarantees, and international human rights standards.' Human Rights Watch said that India is bound by international treaties to protect human rights and 'to prevent deprivation of citizenship on the basis of race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin'. Detaining and expelling people without due process violates these obligations, the NGO said. The group also urged authorities to prevent the use of excessive force, investigate abuses by security forces, and provide proper food, shelter and medical care for those detained. In May, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs directed the states and Union Territories to verify the credentials of persons suspected to be undocumented migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar. On July 19, the police in Gurugram detained at least 74 migrant workers on the suspicion that they were from Bangladesh, The Wire reported. Of these, 11 were from West Bengal and 63 from Assam.
