Latest news with #Islamabad-backed
India Today
2 hours ago
- Politics
- India Today
Pak PM Sharif's olive branch to India: Ready for talks on outstanding issues
Despite New Delhi maintaining its long-standing stance of not engaging in dialogue with Islamabad as long as it continues to export cross-border terrorism, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday extended an olive branch, stating that his country is willing to engage in a "meaningful dialogue" with its neighbour to resolve all outstanding per an official statement, Sharif made the remarks during his conversation with British High Commissioner Jane Prime Minister expressed his appreciation for the UK's role in de-escalation of tensions during the Pakistan-India standoff and reiterated that Pakistan was ready for a meaningful dialogue with India on all outstanding issues,' according to the statement. Time and again, India has made it clear that it will only engage in a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan when it is also ready to hand over the illegally occupied territory in Kashmir to India, in addition to addressing the issue of response to Islamabad-backed terrorists carrying out the Pahalgam attack, India on May 7 launched Operation Sindoor, targeting terror camps deep inside Pakistan's territory. As part of a host of measures, India also put the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, making it clear that the suspension will only be lifted once Pakistan stops exporting cross-border revealed that Pakistan is actively working to re-establish terrorist launchpads and training camps that were destroyed by the Indian Army during Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the Pahalgam terrorist attack, according to intelligence Pakistani Army, its intelligence agency ISI, and the government are reportedly providing substantial funding and full support to rebuild these terrorist infrastructures, particularly in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and adjacent areas, sources added.- EndsTune InMust Watch
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First Post
09-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
‘Everyone will have an opinion': US state dept spox on Trump's India-Pakistan ceasefire claim
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said people can see events for themselves and make up their own minds, as she addressed questions about President Donald Trump's repeated claims that he helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after Operation Sindoor on Islamabad-backed terror hubs. read more US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that people can see the facts for themselves and make their own judgments, rather than relying on others' comments, while she was responding to questions about President Donald Trump's repeated claims that he helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after their four-day conflict in May. 'So many comments speak for themselves. That's one of the good aspects of our modern world—that people can see what's really occurring. You are not reliant on a comment to know what has really happened. The world is playing out in front of us in real time on big screens and small screens,' she said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD #WATCH | On President Trump's claims of brokering a ceasefire between India & Pakistan and the Indian govt's stand on it, US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce says, "...So many comments speak for themselves. That's one of the good news aspects of our modern world is that… — ANI (@ANI) July 9, 2025 India has repeatedly denied that the US played any role in brokering a ceasefire, while Pakistan has expressed gratitude to Trump for his efforts and even nominated the US President for the Nobel Peace Prize in order to please him. 'Everyone will have an opinion. That is an opinion. Some opinions are wrong; mine rarely are. But other people's opinions can be wrong,' she said. Bruce said that with modern technology and events unfolding publicly, it's easier for people to analyze information and gain clarity. Trump, as he is always eager to take credit for everything. When India retaliated against Pakistan with force, hitting their bases and causing heavy damage, New Delhi said that they would stop the attacks if the Pakistani side approached them. Thus, Pakistan's DGMO reached out to his Indian counterpart, and a ceasefire was reached the next day. 'The speed of technological change is incredible. Now, many of us watch television on phones we hold in our hands. It shows how fast things change and how much information we can access,' Bruce said. She emphasised that this also makes it important for people to think for themselves about what's happening in the world. 'Donald Trump wants to help people use technology to see things more clearly,' Bruce said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Bruce added that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance share the same vision as Trump, and that all these leaders want to leave the world in a better place. 'And they will be recognized for that,' she said. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he convinced India and Pakistan to end their recent conflict, which started after India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. India, however, has denied Trump's claims each time. During a 35-minute phone call with Trump in June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear that the US had no role in brokering a truce. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who met with Rubio in the US last week, also rejected Trump's statements.
NDTV
12-06-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
US Invites Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir For Army Day. What's On His Agenda
Washington: Pakistan's Army Chief, General Syed Asim Munir, has been invited to the United States to attend the US Army's 250th anniversary celebrations. Pakistan's Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), who was recently promoted to the rank of Field Marshal, is scheduled to visit Washington for the June 14 celebrations, which will coincide with President Donald Trump's 79th birthday. Pakistan's Agenda The agenda of Munir's visit is to seek Washington's security cooperation against Islamic State - Khorasan Province (ISKP)-- a branch of the terror group Islamic State (IS) active in Central and South Asia, including Pakistan, according to sources. Pakistan also wants the United States to push India to the dialogue table, especially on the issue of resumption of the Indus Waters Treaty, which was suspended by New Delhi in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam massacre in which Islamabad-backed terrorists gunned down 26 people, mostly tourists. Munir will also try to woo Trump in favour of its proposed zero-tariff bilateral trade agreement with the United States, and seek investment in minerals and agriculture through the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), sources added. PTI Plans Protests In Washington Munir's visit has provoked political reactions within Pakistan, with former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) planning protests against him. PTI, which has long opposed the current Pakistani establishment, called for a protest outside the Pakistani embassy in Washington on June 14. "Preparing for a massive protest in Washington DC at the arrival of the Islamabad assassin Asif Munir. PTI USA and over 12 cooperating organizations from the Pakistani diaspora are collaborating to protest in front of the Pakistan Embassy on Saturday, June 14. Spread the word and join the protest to restore democracy in Pakistan," PTI's Secretary for Overseas Affairs, Sajjad Burki, said in a post on X. Preparing for a massive protest in Washington DC at the arrival of the Islamabad assassin Asif Munir. PTI USA and over 12 cooperating organizations from the Pakistani diaspora are collaborating to protest in front of the Pakistan Embassy on Saturday June 14. Spread the word and… — Sajjad Burki (@SajjadBurki) June 10, 2025 "Let the White House know that any deal with this government is not acceptable to the people of Pakistan," he added in a message that is also being distributed as pamphlets in Washington's Pakistani-American neighbourhoods. Pak Delegation to Visit US For Trade Talks Munir's visit to the US is likely to coincide with the tour of a senior trade delegation from Pakistan to Washington this week for talks with US officials on the recently imposed American tariffs and related economic issues. The three-day visit will be the latest in a series of high-level exchanges between Islamabad and Washington amid a fragile regional security climate following last month's military conflict with India, according to a report by Dawn. The delegation will be led by Commerce Secretary Jawad Paul and includes senior Federal Board of Revenue officials and representatives of the energy and information technology sectors. They will hold meetings with their US counterparts at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, focusing on trade imbalances, tariff adjustments, and sectoral cooperation, the Dawn report said.
India Today
12-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Crops hit, dams at dead level: Pak water crisis deepens after India's Indus move
Pakistan is facing a severe water crisis, with the agricultural industry looking at deeper impacts, in the aftermath of India suspending the Indus Waters Treaty in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam massacre in which Islamabad-backed terrorists gunned down 26 people, mostly Indus River System Authority (IRSA) reported discharging 11,180 cusecs of additional water than it received on Wednesday, worsening the water crisis. Furthermore, the water levels at the two major reservoirs in Pakistan - Tarbela on the Indus and Mangla on the Jhelum - have dropped to dead storage, thereby indicating the crisis will reservoir water reaching its dead storage levels also means that it cannot be drained out by gravity, thus limiting its use for irrigation or drinking. The water crisis is even stronger in the Punjab province, where the kharif season has started. The kharif farming has witnessed a dip of more than 20 per cent owing to receiving 1.14 lakh cusecs of water as opposed to 1.43 lakh cusecs a day last year. The production of kharif crops - cotton and maize - has declined by over 30 per cent and 15 per cent in Pakistan, respectively. The production of wheat - a rabi crop - has also dropped by around 9 per cent owing to the water shortage in the the agricultural industry, especially the kharif outputs impacted, its overall share in Pakistan's GDP dipped to 23.54 per cent in fiscal 2025 from 24.03 per cent the previous financial situation is expected to deteriorate in the upcoming weeks, especially as India undertakes regular desilting and flushing its dams in Jammu and Kashmir to enhance its own storage capacity. Additionally, with the monsoon still weeks away, IRSA has warned of a 21 per cent water shortage in the early kharif season and 7 per cent towards the has been relentless in its efforts to convince India to reinstate the Indus treaty. Last week, India Today reported that Islamabad wrote as many as four letters to Delhi, urging the latter to reconsider its decision to stop the treaty before Operation Sindoor. Sources told India Today TV that Pakistan also requested the World Bank, which brokered the deal, to intervene in the matter. However, the global body refused to mediate in the Indus Waters Treaty allocates the eastern rivers - Ravi, Beas and Sutlej - to India and the western ones, such as Jhelum, Chenab and Indus, to Pakistan. Responding to the water move last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi firmly said that water and blood cannot flow is also strengthening its water infrastructure, aimed at bettering its domestic storage and strategic hold over the shared waters. This includes new canal projects connecting Beas to Ganga and Indus to Reel IN THIS STORY#Operation Sindoor#India-Pakistan
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First Post
20-05-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Trump administration can promote regional peace by staying off the Kashmir issue
It will be beneficial for the Trump administration to keep off the Kashmir issue and focus on terrorism in the subcontinent for the betterment of the India-US strategic partnership and regional peace read more The US has a habit of offering its role to discuss the so-called Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. Image: File photo of US President Donald Trump US President Donald Trump was too hasty to credit himself for the halt in military exchanges between India and Pakistan on May 10 and announced it even before India and Pakistan declared a ceasefire. This kicked off a controversy in India that is yet to die down. When Trump claimed credit and the Pakistani government paid enormous tribute to him for helping in fast ending the military exchanges, it appeared as if the US President pressurised India to discontinue with its punishing attacks on Pakistani military facilities, which was in response to the Islamabad-backed inhuman terrorist attack on unarmed tourists in Pahalgam. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It also made Indian people believe that the US did little to help India in responding to the brutal Pahalgam terror attacks except condemning the incident and calling for restraint even before India would seek to punish the culprits and their sponsors. The Trump administration maintained silence after the terror infrastructures were destroyed by India. Had President Trump made a statement soon after the nine terror camps in Pakistan were hit by Indian precision strikes with little or no collateral damage and called for a ceasefire, it would have shown him better light as a person who was against terrorist activities and who cared for peace between two nuclear neighbours in South Asia. The Trump White House also made no remarks on India's carefully executed strikes against terror camps. Nor did it say anything when Pakistan was relentlessly pounding civilian targets in India by using a large number of drones. The high officials of the Trump administration woke up only after Pakistan attacked Indian military installations, drawing appropriate retaliation by the Indian Armed Forces. There is little doubt that the ceasefire declaration between India and Pakistan preceded intense conversations by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with both Indian and Pakistani officials. But the final decision was taken only after Pakistan's DGMO called his Indian counterpart and discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire. And this call from Pakistan came only after India had given a befitting reply to Pakistani provocation by hitting hard their military bases that were responsible for attacks against Indian targets. Pakistan has traditionally approached Washington for help only after its miserable failure in military misadventures against India. And Washington has often been sympathetic towards Pakistan in view of their long-standing alliance relationship. When Pakistan started its first war in Kashmir in the 1940s, the Truman Administration equated the victim with the aggressor and called for a ceasefire by the warring parties. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD At that time, India was determined to stay away from the Cold War by adopting a non-aligned foreign policy, and Pakistan was courting the US to make it an alliance partner. By the time Pakistan invaded Kashmir in 1965, it was a member of US-backed regional security alliances, such as the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation and the Central Treaty Organisation. The anti-India policy of the US was so pronounced that the India-Pakistan ceasefire agreement was signed in Tashkent through Soviet mediation. During the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, Washington visibly tilted towards Pakistan, ignoring its brutal military suppression of the freedom movement in East Pakistan. During the Pakistani misadventure resulting in the Kargil War, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had begged President Bill Clinton to facilitate dialogue with India and reach a ceasefire agreement! However, a ceasefire agreement is fundamentally different from holding dialogue on the Kashmir issue. India has a consistent policy against third-party interference on the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan. As far as India's bilateral dialogue with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue is concerned, it is only about ending Pakistani occupation of a portion of Jammu and Kashmir, an area known as PoK. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But then the US has a habit of offering its role to discuss the so-called Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. During the 1962 Chinese invasion of India, Pakistan lobbied in Washington for US mediation in the Kashmir dispute, and President John F Kennedy had expressed his willingness to do so, but India firmly refused. In the 1990s, Pakistan yet again lobbied in Washington by proposing ending its nuclear weapon programme if only the US could help in resolving the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan appears to have succeeded in persuading Washington to interfere in its disputes with India by invoking its doctrine of nuclear danger in South Asia. Terrorism, nuclear weapons and the Kashmir issue are not interconnected, but Islamabad parades this narrative, and Washington sometimes plays by the Pakistani playbook. The Trump administration needs to take a closer look at Pakistani game plans. Islamabad used to take huge amounts of money from the US in the name of fighting terrorists in Afghanistan post 9/11 and then channel some funds to Haqqani outfits who were killing Western forces. It was the Pakistani military that had given shelter to 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in an area not very far from the military headquarters. The present Pakistani establishment has gagged opposition leaders, calling domestic opponents militants or terrorists, while supporting terrorist groups in Kashmir by calling them freedom fighters. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It is unfortunate the Trump Administration, instead of backing Indian efforts to counter terrorism backed by Pakistan, is hypnotised by the Pakistani narrative and is bragging that it has engineered a ceasefire to ward off a nuclear danger in South Asia. What is truly dangerous is when a nuclear-weapon power uses terrorism as an instrument of state power. The US did a big mistake by not even recognising Pakistan-backed cross-border terrorism in Kashmir after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 as 'international terrorism', until after the 9/11 terror attacks on its soil. And now, the Trump administration is ignoring Pakistan's hand in terrorism. In the backdrop of political instability, law and order problems, an economic crisis and the unpopularity of the army-backed government in Pakistan, the Pahalgam terror attacks took place. The way the Obama administration neutralised Osama bin Laden by using its military deep inside Pakistan is not ancient history. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD If India sought to destroy the terror camps inside Pakistan to avenge the merciless killings of innocent civilians by terrorists with support from across the border, President Trump should have stood by India, as per the statement issued in Washington, and not felt gratified by the current ceasefire. It will be beneficial for the Trump administration to keep off the Kashmir issue and focus on terrorism in the subcontinent for the betterment of the India-US strategic partnership and regional peace. The author is founding chairperson, Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies, and editor, India Quarterly. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
