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NDTV
07-07-2025
- NDTV
Dum Ke Roat Recipe: What Goes Into Making Hyderabad's Beloved Cookie
Hyderabad's food story is not all about biryani and haleem. The city's identity is also steeped in its bustling bakery culture. Trays of Osmania biscuits, cream buns, and airy sponge cakes beckon from glass counters and street-side stalls. From the Irani cafés of Abids and the suburban bakeries of Toli Chowki to the hip cafés in Hitech City, these spots have become everyday sanctuaries for tea drinkers and snack hunters. Each bite reflects a blend of Mughlai, Turkish, and Deccani influences that are stitched into the city's culinary fabric. At the heart of this legacy sits dum ke roat - a dense, saffron-kissed cookie that is baked low and slow. Once a sacred offering, it has now become an all-season favourite. Packed with khoya, ghee, semolina, and crushed dry fruits, the cookie is chewy, rich, and deeply nostalgic. Today, dum ke roat is more than just a sweet treat. It is a bakery-born icon, loved across homes, communities, and airport snack counters alike. Also Read: 7 Iconic Eateries In Hyderabad To Experience Old-World Charm History Of Dum Ke Roat: How Hyderabad's Traditional Cookie Became An Icon The origin of dum ke roat dates back to the early 1900s, when Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, is believed to have introduced the sweet as part of a religious gesture. During a city-wide procession, he distributed roats while praying for the well-being of his grandson. That moment sparked a tradition. Every year, households would prepare dough at home and take it to communal ovens for the slow-baking process. Though rooted in prayer, the cookie eventually made its way into homes and bakery counters. Its rich flavour and comforting texture slowly cemented its place as a permanent fixture in the Hyderabadi sweet scene. Where To Eat Dum Ke Roat In Hyderabad: Best Places To Try Dum Ke Roat In Hyderabad If one place defines dum ke roat, it is Subhan Bakery in Nampally. Opened in 1971 and now run by Syed Irfan, Subhan sticks to traditional methods. The cookie is still baked with pure ghee, freshly made khoya, saffron, and a generous mix of cashews and almonds. While demand surges during Muharram and Ramzan, Subhan keeps the ovens going year-round to serve loyal regulars. Also Read: 5 Iconic Bakeries You Must Try In Hyderabad Other legendary spots for dum ke roat include: 1. Pista House: Known for their haleem, their roat version is slightly firmer - perfect for shipping across cities and even abroad. 2. Karachi Bakery: Famous for their fruit biscuits, Karachi Bakery's roat holds its own, widely enjoyed across Hyderabad and beyond. 3. Niloufer Café and Nimrah Bakery: These popular chai stops offer roat that pairs perfectly with Irani chai. Think quiet comfort in every bite. 4. Bakewell Cake House: Located in Mehdipatnam, this bakery is known for its Gur Roat - a jaggery-based version laced with dry ginger that adds an earthy depth. Dum Ke Roat Recipe: Step-By-Step Guide To Hyderabad's Traditional Cookie Do not be fooled by its simplicity - baking dum ke roat is a test of patience and balance. The right technique and ingredients make all the difference. Ingredients: Sooji and maida or atta Khoya Pure ghee Sugar or jaggery powder Crushed almonds, cashews, pistachios Aromatics like cardamom, saffron, nutmeg Milk and a dash of rose or kewra water Method: Soak and grind dry fruits to a coarse paste Warm the khoya and mix with sooji and flour Gradually add ghee, sugar, and aromatics Gently knead the dough, let it rest, and shape into thick discs Bake the discs on dum for a caramelised top and soft centre This slow-baking technique gives dum ke roat its iconic texture - crisp at the edges and chewy inside. The richness of the ingredients ensures that every bite is layered and memorable. Also Read: You Must Not Leave Hyderabad Without Trying These 9 Street Foods! Why Dum Ke Roat Is A Must-Try Hyderabadi Cookie For Every Season Whether picked up from a bakery in Toli Chowki or packed into a flight snack box at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, dum ke roat is a flavour capsule of Hyderabad. It carries memories, rituals, and a certain emotional weight that only food rooted in tradition can. Next time you sip tea in the lanes of Abids or browse biscuit tins at Subhan, do not leave without tasting this quietly iconic cookie. Advertisement About Somdatta Saha Explorer- this is what Somdatta likes to call herself. Be it in terms of food, people or places, all she craves for is to know the unknown. A simple aglio olio pasta or daal-chawal and a good movie can make her day. For the latest food news, health tips and recipes, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and YouTube. Tags: Dum Ke Roat Recipe Hyderabadi Cookie Hyderabad Biscuit Culture Show full article Comments
Straits Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
How India and Pakistan pulled back from the brink with US-brokered ceasefire
An Indian paramilitary soldier carrying an explosives detector, as he patrols near the banks of the Jhelum river in Srinagar on May 13. PHOTO: AFP How India and Pakistan pulled back from the brink with US-brokered ceasefire ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI - At 2.09am on May 10, Ahmad Subhan, who lives near an air base in the Pakistan military garrison city of Rawalpindi, heard the first explosion that rattled the windows of his house - and took South Asia to the brink of war. As dawn broke, the heaviest fighting in decades between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan reached a crescendo, after nearly three weeks of escalating tensions. Fighter jets and missiles crisscrossed the skies of one of the world's most populated regions. Pakistani officials said they would convene an emergency meeting of their top nuclear decision-making body. The critical eight-hour window also saw Indian missile barrages on three major Pakistan air bases and other facilities, including Nur Khan, which is ringed by civilian homes like Mr Subhan's, and just a 20-minute drive to the capital, Islamabad. After the initial blast, Mr Subhan and his wife grabbed their three children and ran out of their home. "We were just figuring out what had happened when there was another explosion," said the retired government employee, who remembered the precise time of the strike because he was just about to make a call. This account of the May 10 events - which began with the looming spectre of a full-blown war and ended with an evening cease-fire announcement by US President Donald Trump - is based on interviews with 14 people, including US, Indian and Pakistani officials, as well as Reuters' review of public statements from the three capitals. They described the rapid escalation of hostilities as well as behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving the US, India and Pakistan, and underscore the key role played by Washington in brokering peace. The attack on Nur Khan air base saw at least two missile strikes as well as drone attacks, according to Mr Subhan and two Pakistani security officials, who like some of the people interviewed by Reuters, spoke on condition of anonymity. The barrage took out two roofs and hit the hangar of a refuelling plane, which was airborne at the time, according to one of the officials, who visited the base the next day. A senior Indian military officer, however, told reporters on May 11 that an operation command centre at Nur Khan had been hit. "The attack on Nur Khan... close to our capital, that left us with no option but to retaliate," Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told Reuters. Nur Khan is located just over a mile from the military-run body responsible for Pakistan's nuclear planning. So, an attack on the facility may have been perceived as more dangerous than India intended - and the two sides shouldn't conclude that it is possible to have a conflict without it going nuclear, said Associate Professor Christopher Clary, of the University at Albany in New York. "If you are playing Russian roulette and pull the trigger, the lesson isn't that you should pull the trigger again," said Prof Clary. India's defence and foreign ministries, as well as Pakistan's military and its foreign ministry, did not immediately answer written questions submitted by Reuters. A US State Department spokesperson did not directly respond to questions from Reuters about the American role, but said that further military escalation posed a serious threat to regional stability. Vance calls Modi India and Pakistan have fought three major wars and been at loggerheads since their independence. The spark for the latest chaos was an April 22 attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. New Delhi blamed the incident on "terrorists" backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad. It was the latest of many disputes involving Kashmir, a Himalayan territory ravaged by an anti-India insurgency since the late 1980s. Both New Delhi and Islamabad claim the region in full but only control parts of it. Hindu-majority India has accused its Muslim-majority neighbour of arming and backing militant groups operating in Kashmir, but Pakistan maintains it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists. After a go-ahead from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian military on May 7 carried out air strikes on what it called "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan, in response to the April attack in Kashmir. In air battles that followed, Pakistan said it shot down five Indian aircraft, including prized Rafale planes New Delhi recently acquired from France. India has indicated that it suffered losses and inflicted some of its own. Senior US officials became seriously concerned by May 9 that the conflict was at risk of spiralling out of control, according to two sources familiar with the matter. That evening, Mr Modi took a call from Vice-President J.D. Vance, who presented a potential off-ramp to the Indian prime minister that he described as a path the Pakistanis would also be amenable to, the people said. Mr Vance's intervention came despite him saying publicly on May 8 that the US was "not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business." The sources did not provide specifics but said that Mr Modi was non-committal. One of the people also said that Mr Modi told Mr Vance, who had been visiting India during the Kashmir attack, that any Pakistani escalation would be met by an even more forceful response. Hours later, according to Indian officials, that escalation came: Pakistan launched attacks on at least 26 locations in India in the early hours of May 10. Pakistan said their strikes occurred only after the pre-dawn Indian attack on its air bases, including Nur Khan. A satellite image showing Nur Khan air base in Islamabad, Pakistan, on May 11, after it was targeted by an Indian missile attack. PHOTO: REUTERS Nuclear signals A little over an hour after that Indian attack began, Pakistan military spokesman Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed Indian strikes on three air bases. Some Indian strikes on May 10 also utilised the supersonic BrahMos missile, according to a Pakistani official and an Indian source. Pakistan believes the BrahMos is nuclear-capable, though India says it carries a conventional warhead. By 5am local time on May 10, Pakistan's military announced it had launched operations against Indian air bases and other facilities. About two hours later, Pakistani officials told journalists that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called a meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA), which oversees the nuclear arsenal. Pakistan Foreign Minister Mr Dar told Reuters on May 13 that any international alarm was overblown: "There was no such concern. There should not be. We are a responsible nation." But signalling an intention to convene NCA reflected how much the crisis had escalated and "may also have been an indirect call for external mediation," said Mr Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia expert. About an hour after the NCA announcement, the US said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir - widely regarded as the most powerful man in that country - and was pushing both sides to de-escalate. Mr Rubio also soon got on the phone with Mr Dar and Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar. "Rubio said that Indians were ready to stop," Mr Dar told Reuters. "I said if they are ready to stop, ask them to stop, we will stop." An Indian official with knowledge of Mr Rubio's call with Mr Jaishankar said that Mr Rubio passed on a message that the Pakistanis were willing to stop firing if India would also cease. 'Great intelligence' Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who only days earlier warned of conflict, dialled into a local TV news channel at around 10.30am on May 10. Two-and-a-half hours after Pakistani officials shared news of the NCA meeting, Mr Asif declared that no such event had been scheduled, putting a lid on the matter. The international intervention anchored by Mr Rubio paved the way to a cessation of hostilities formalised in a mid-afternoon phone call between the directors-general of military operations (DGMO) of India and Pakistan. The two spoke again on May 12. Pakistan's Lt-Gen Chaudhry said in a briefing that New Delhi had initially requested a call between the DGMOs after the Indian military's May 7 strikes across the border. Islamabad only responded to the request on May 10, following its retaliation and requests from international interlocutors, according to Lt-Gen Chaudhry, who did not name the countries. Almost exactly 12 hours after Pakistan said it had launched retaliatory strikes against India for hitting three key air bases, Mr Trump declared on social media there would be a cessation of hostilities. "Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence," he said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Sun
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
India-Pakistan near war averted after U.S. mediation
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: At 2.09 am on Saturday, Ahmad Subhan, who lives near an air base in the Pakistan military garrison city of Rawalpindi, heard the first explosion that rattled the windows of his house - and took South Asia to the brink of war. As dawn broke, the heaviest fighting in decades between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan reached a crescendo, after nearly three weeks of escalating tensions. Fighter jets and missiles crisscrossed the skies of one of the world's most populated regions. Pakistani officials said they would convene an emergency meeting of their top nuclear decision-making body. The critical eight-hour window also saw Indian missile barrages on three major Pakistan air bases and other facilities, including Nur Khan, which is ringed by civilian homes like Subhan's, and just a 20-minute drive to the capital, Islamabad. After the initial blast, Subhan and his wife grabbed their three children and ran out of their home. 'We were just figuring out what had happened when there was another explosion,' said the retired government employee, who remembered the precise time of the strike because he was just about to make a call. This account of Saturday's events - which began with the looming specter of a full-blown war and ended with an evening cease-fire announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump - is based on interviews with 14 people, including U.S., Indian and Pakistani officials, as well as Reuters' review of public statements from the three capitals. They described the rapid escalation of hostilities as well as behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving the U.S., India and Pakistan, and underscore the key role played by Washington in brokering peace. The attack on Nur Khan air base saw at least two missile strikes as well as drone attacks, according to Subhan and two Pakistani security officials, who like some of the people interviewed by Reuters, spoke on condition of anonymity. The barrage took out two roofs and hit the hangar of a refuelling plane, which was airborne at the time, according to one of the officials, who visited the base the next day. A senior Indian military officer, however, told reporters on Sunday that an operation command center at Nur Khan had been hit. 'The attack on Nur Khan... close to our capital, that left us with no option but to retaliate,' Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told Reuters. Nur Khan is located just over a mile from the military-run body responsible for Pakistan's nuclear planning. So, an attack on the facility may have been perceived as more dangerous than India intended - and the two sides shouldn't conclude that it is possible to have a conflict without it going nuclear, said Christopher Clary, an associate professor at the University at Albany in New York. 'If you are playing Russian roulette and pull the trigger, the lesson isn't that you should pull the trigger again,' said Clary. India's defense and foreign ministries, as well as Pakistan's military and its foreign ministry, did not immediately answer written questions submitted by Reuters. A U.S. State Department spokesperson did not directly respond to questions from Reuters about the American role, but said that further military escalation posed a serious threat to regional stability. VANCE CALLS MODI India and Pakistan have fought three major wars and been at loggerheads since their independence. The spark for the latest chaos was an April 22 attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. New Delhi blamed the incident on 'terrorists' backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad. It was the latest of many disputes involving Kashmir, a Himalayan territory ravaged by an anti-India insurgency since the late 1980s. Both New Delhi and Islamabad claim the region in full but only control parts of it. Hindu-majority India has accused its Muslim-majority neighbor of arming and backing militant groups operating in Kashmir, but Pakistan maintains it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists. After a go-ahead from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian military on May 7 carried out air strikes on what it called 'terrorist infrastructure' in Pakistan, in response to the April attack in Kashmir. In air battles that followed, Pakistan said it shot down five Indian aircraft, including prized Rafale planes New Delhi recently acquired from France. India has indicated that it suffered losses and inflicted some of its own. Senior U.S. officials became seriously concerned by Friday, May 9 that the conflict was at risk of spiralling out of control, according to two sources familiar with the matter. That evening, Modi took a call from Vice President J.D. Vance, who presented a potential off-ramp to the Indian prime minister that he described as a path the Pakistanis would also be amenable to, the people said. Vance's intervention came despite him saying publicly on Thursday that the U.S. was 'not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business.' The sources didn't provide specifics but said that Modi was non-committal. One of the people also said that Modi told Vance, who had been visiting India during the Kashmir attack, that any Pakistani escalation would be met by an even more forceful response. Hours later, according to Indian officials, that escalation came: Pakistan launched attacks on at least 26 locations in India in the early hours of May 10. Pakistan said their strikes occurred only after the pre-dawn Indian attack on its air bases, including Nur Khan. NUCLEAR SIGNALS A little over an hour after that Indian attack began, Pakistan military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed Indian strikes on three air bases. Some Indian strikes on Saturday, May 10 also utilized the supersonic BrahMos missile, according to a Pakistani official and an Indian source. Pakistan believes the BrahMos is nuclear-capable, though India says it carries a conventional warhead. By 5 a.m. local time on Saturday, Pakistan's military announced it had launched operations against Indian air bases and other facilities. About two hours later, Pakistani officials told journalists that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called a meeting of the National Command Authority, which oversees the nuclear arsenal. Dar told Reuters on Tuesday that any international alarm was overblown: 'There was no such concern. There should not be. We are a responsible nation.' But signalling an intention to convene NCA reflected how much the crisis had escalated and 'may also have been an indirect call for external mediation,' said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia expert. About an hour after the NCA announcement, the U.S. said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir - widely regarded as the most powerful man in that country - and was pushing both sides to de-escalate. Rubio also soon got on the phone with Dar and Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar. 'Rubio said that Indians were ready to stop,' Dar told Reuters. 'I said if they are ready to stop, ask them to stop, we will stop.' An Indian official with knowledge of Rubio's call with Jaishankar said that Rubio passed on a message that the Pakistanis were willing to stop firing if India would also cease. 'GREAT INTELLIGENCE' Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who only days earlier warned of conflict, dialled into a local TV news channel at around 10:30 am on Saturday. Two-and-a-half hours after Pakistani officials shared news of the NCA meeting, Asif declared that no such event had been scheduled, putting a lid on the matter. The international intervention anchored by Rubio paved the way to a cessation of hostilities formalized in a mid-afternoon phone call between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO) of India and Pakistan. The two spoke again on Monday. Pakistan Lt. Gen. Chaudhry said in a briefing that New Delhi had initially requested a call between the DGMOs after the Indian military's May 7 strikes across the border. Islamabad only responded to the request on Saturday, following its retaliation and requests from international interlocutors, according to Chaudhry, who did not name the countries. Almost exactly 12 hours after Pakistan said it had launched retaliatory strikes against India for hitting three key air bases, Trump declared on social media there would be a cessation of hostilities. 'Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence,' he said.
The Sun
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
How India and Pakistan pulled back from the brink with U.S.-brokered ceasefire
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: At 2.09 am on Saturday, Ahmad Subhan, who lives near an air base in the Pakistan military garrison city of Rawalpindi, heard the first explosion that rattled the windows of his house - and took South Asia to the brink of war. As dawn broke, the heaviest fighting in decades between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan reached a crescendo, after nearly three weeks of escalating tensions. Fighter jets and missiles crisscrossed the skies of one of the world's most populated regions. Pakistani officials said they would convene an emergency meeting of their top nuclear decision-making body. The critical eight-hour window also saw Indian missile barrages on three major Pakistan air bases and other facilities, including Nur Khan, which is ringed by civilian homes like Subhan's, and just a 20-minute drive to the capital, Islamabad. After the initial blast, Subhan and his wife grabbed their three children and ran out of their home. 'We were just figuring out what had happened when there was another explosion,' said the retired government employee, who remembered the precise time of the strike because he was just about to make a call. This account of Saturday's events - which began with the looming specter of a full-blown war and ended with an evening cease-fire announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump - is based on interviews with 14 people, including U.S., Indian and Pakistani officials, as well as Reuters' review of public statements from the three capitals. They described the rapid escalation of hostilities as well as behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving the U.S., India and Pakistan, and underscore the key role played by Washington in brokering peace. The attack on Nur Khan air base saw at least two missile strikes as well as drone attacks, according to Subhan and two Pakistani security officials, who like some of the people interviewed by Reuters, spoke on condition of anonymity. The barrage took out two roofs and hit the hangar of a refuelling plane, which was airborne at the time, according to one of the officials, who visited the base the next day. A senior Indian military officer, however, told reporters on Sunday that an operation command center at Nur Khan had been hit. 'The attack on Nur Khan... close to our capital, that left us with no option but to retaliate,' Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told Reuters. Nur Khan is located just over a mile from the military-run body responsible for Pakistan's nuclear planning. So, an attack on the facility may have been perceived as more dangerous than India intended - and the two sides shouldn't conclude that it is possible to have a conflict without it going nuclear, said Christopher Clary, an associate professor at the University at Albany in New York. 'If you are playing Russian roulette and pull the trigger, the lesson isn't that you should pull the trigger again,' said Clary. India's defense and foreign ministries, as well as Pakistan's military and its foreign ministry, did not immediately answer written questions submitted by Reuters. A U.S. State Department spokesperson did not directly respond to questions from Reuters about the American role, but said that further military escalation posed a serious threat to regional stability. VANCE CALLS MODI India and Pakistan have fought three major wars and been at loggerheads since their independence. The spark for the latest chaos was an April 22 attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. New Delhi blamed the incident on 'terrorists' backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad. It was the latest of many disputes involving Kashmir, a Himalayan territory ravaged by an anti-India insurgency since the late 1980s. Both New Delhi and Islamabad claim the region in full but only control parts of it. Hindu-majority India has accused its Muslim-majority neighbor of arming and backing militant groups operating in Kashmir, but Pakistan maintains it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists. After a go-ahead from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian military on May 7 carried out air strikes on what it called 'terrorist infrastructure' in Pakistan, in response to the April attack in Kashmir. In air battles that followed, Pakistan said it shot down five Indian aircraft, including prized Rafale planes New Delhi recently acquired from France. India has indicated that it suffered losses and inflicted some of its own. Senior U.S. officials became seriously concerned by Friday, May 9 that the conflict was at risk of spiralling out of control, according to two sources familiar with the matter. That evening, Modi took a call from Vice President J.D. Vance, who presented a potential off-ramp to the Indian prime minister that he described as a path the Pakistanis would also be amenable to, the people said. Vance's intervention came despite him saying publicly on Thursday that the U.S. was 'not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business.' The sources didn't provide specifics but said that Modi was non-committal. One of the people also said that Modi told Vance, who had been visiting India during the Kashmir attack, that any Pakistani escalation would be met by an even more forceful response. Hours later, according to Indian officials, that escalation came: Pakistan launched attacks on at least 26 locations in India in the early hours of May 10. Pakistan said their strikes occurred only after the pre-dawn Indian attack on its air bases, including Nur Khan. NUCLEAR SIGNALS A little over an hour after that Indian attack began, Pakistan military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed Indian strikes on three air bases. Some Indian strikes on Saturday, May 10 also utilized the supersonic BrahMos missile, according to a Pakistani official and an Indian source. Pakistan believes the BrahMos is nuclear-capable, though India says it carries a conventional warhead. By 5 a.m. local time on Saturday, Pakistan's military announced it had launched operations against Indian air bases and other facilities. About two hours later, Pakistani officials told journalists that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called a meeting of the National Command Authority, which oversees the nuclear arsenal. Dar told Reuters on Tuesday that any international alarm was overblown: 'There was no such concern. There should not be. We are a responsible nation.' But signalling an intention to convene NCA reflected how much the crisis had escalated and 'may also have been an indirect call for external mediation,' said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia expert. About an hour after the NCA announcement, the U.S. said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir - widely regarded as the most powerful man in that country - and was pushing both sides to de-escalate. Rubio also soon got on the phone with Dar and Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar. 'Rubio said that Indians were ready to stop,' Dar told Reuters. 'I said if they are ready to stop, ask them to stop, we will stop.' An Indian official with knowledge of Rubio's call with Jaishankar said that Rubio passed on a message that the Pakistanis were willing to stop firing if India would also cease. 'GREAT INTELLIGENCE' Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who only days earlier warned of conflict, dialled into a local TV news channel at around 10:30 am on Saturday. Two-and-a-half hours after Pakistani officials shared news of the NCA meeting, Asif declared that no such event had been scheduled, putting a lid on the matter. The international intervention anchored by Rubio paved the way to a cessation of hostilities formalized in a mid-afternoon phone call between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO) of India and Pakistan. The two spoke again on Monday. Pakistan Lt. Gen. Chaudhry said in a briefing that New Delhi had initially requested a call between the DGMOs after the Indian military's May 7 strikes across the border. Islamabad only responded to the request on Saturday, following its retaliation and requests from international interlocutors, according to Chaudhry, who did not name the countries. Almost exactly 12 hours after Pakistan said it had launched retaliatory strikes against India for hitting three key air bases, Trump declared on social media there would be a cessation of hostilities. 'Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence,' he said.
The Star
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
How India and Pakistan pulled back from the brink with U.S.-brokered ceasefire
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - At 2.09 am on Saturday, Ahmad Subhan, who lives near an air base in the Pakistan military garrison city of Rawalpindi, heard the first explosion that rattled the windows of his house - and took South Asia to the brink of war. As dawn broke, the heaviest fighting in decades between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan reached a crescendo, after nearly three weeks of escalating tensions. Fighter jets and missiles crisscrossed the skies of one of the world's most populated regions. Pakistani officials said they would convene an emergency meeting of their top nuclear decision-making body. The critical eight-hour window also saw Indian missile barrages on three major Pakistan air bases and other facilities, including Nur Khan, which is ringed by civilian homes like Subhan's, and just a 20-minute drive to the capital, Islamabad. After the initial blast, Subhan and his wife grabbed their three children and ran out of their home. "We were just figuring out what had happened when there was another explosion," said the retired government employee, who remembered the precise time of the strike because he was just about to make a call. This account of Saturday's events - which began with the looming specter of a full-blown war and ended with an evening cease-fire announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump - is based on interviews with 14 people, including U.S., Indian and Pakistani officials, as well as Reuters' review of public statements from the three capitals. They described the rapid escalation of hostilities as well as behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving the U.S., India and Pakistan, and underscore the key role played by Washington in brokering peace. The attack on Nur Khan air base saw at least two missile strikes as well as drone attacks, according to Subhan and two Pakistani security officials, who like some of the people interviewed by Reuters, spoke on condition of anonymity. The barrage took out two roofs and hit the hangar of a refuelling plane, which was airborne at the time, according to one of the officials, who visited the base the next day. A senior Indian military officer, however, told reporters on Sunday that an operation command center at Nur Khan had been hit. "The attack on Nur Khan... close to our capital, that left us with no option but to retaliate," Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told Reuters. Nur Khan is located just over a mile from the military-run body responsible for Pakistan's nuclear planning. So, an attack on the facility may have been perceived as more dangerous than India intended - and the two sides shouldn't conclude that it is possible to have a conflict without it going nuclear, said Christopher Clary, an associate professor at the University at Albany in New York. "If you are playing Russian roulette and pull the trigger, the lesson isn't that you should pull the trigger again," said Clary. India's defense and foreign ministries, as well as Pakistan's military and its foreign ministry, did not immediately answer written questions submitted by Reuters. A U.S. State Department spokesperson did not directly respond to questions from Reuters about the American role, but said that further military escalation posed a serious threat to regional stability. VANCE CALLS MODI India and Pakistan have fought three major wars and been at loggerheads since their independence. The spark for the latest chaos was an April 22 attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. New Delhi blamed the incident on "terrorists" backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad. It was the latest of many disputes involving Kashmir, a Himalayan territory ravaged by an anti-India insurgency since the late 1980s. Both New Delhi and Islamabad claim the region in full but only control parts of it. Hindu-majority India has accused its Muslim-majority neighbor of arming and backing militant groups operating in Kashmir, but Pakistan maintains it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists. After a go-ahead from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian military on May 7 carried out air strikes on what it called "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan, in response to the April attack in Kashmir. In air battles that followed, Pakistan said it shot down five Indian aircraft, including prized Rafale planes New Delhi recently acquired from France. India has indicated that it suffered losses and inflicted some of its own. Senior U.S. officials became seriously concerned by Friday, May 9 that the conflict was at risk of spiralling out of control, according to two sources familiar with the matter. That evening, Modi took a call from Vice President J.D. Vance, who presented a potential off-ramp to the Indian prime minister that he described as a path the Pakistanis would also be amenable to, the people said. Vance's intervention came despite him saying publicly on Thursday that the U.S. was "not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business." The sources didn't provide specifics but said that Modi was non-committal. One of the people also said that Modi told Vance, who had been visiting India during the Kashmir attack, that any Pakistani escalation would be met by an even more forceful response. Hours later, according to Indian officials, that escalation came: Pakistan launched attacks on at least 26 locations in India in the early hours of May 10. Pakistan said their strikes occurred only after the pre-dawn Indian attack on its air bases, including Nur Khan. NUCLEAR SIGNALS A little over an hour after that Indian attack began, Pakistan military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed Indian strikes on three air bases. Some Indian strikes on Saturday, May 10 also utilized the supersonic BrahMos missile, according to a Pakistani official and an Indian source. Pakistan believes the BrahMos is nuclear-capable, though India says it carries a conventional warhead. By 5 a.m. local time on Saturday, Pakistan's military announced it had launched operations against Indian air bases and other facilities. About two hours later, Pakistani officials told journalists that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called a meeting of the National Command Authority, which oversees the nuclear arsenal. Dar told Reuters on Tuesday that any international alarm was overblown: "There was no such concern. There should not be. We are a responsible nation." But signalling an intention to convene NCA reflected how much the crisis had escalated and "may also have been an indirect call for external mediation," said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia expert. About an hour after the NCA announcement, the U.S. said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir - widely regarded as the most powerful man in that country - and was pushing both sides to de-escalate. Rubio also soon got on the phone with Dar and Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar. "Rubio said that Indians were ready to stop," Dar told Reuters. "I said if they are ready to stop, ask them to stop, we will stop." An Indian official with knowledge of Rubio's call with Jaishankar said that Rubio passed on a message that the Pakistanis were willing to stop firing if India would also cease. 'GREAT INTELLIGENCE' Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who only days earlier warned of conflict, dialled into a local TV news channel at around 10:30 am on Saturday. Two-and-a-half hours after Pakistani officials shared news of the NCA meeting, Asif declared that no such event had been scheduled, putting a lid on the matter. The international intervention anchored by Rubio paved the way to a cessation of hostilities formalized in a mid-afternoon phone call between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO) of India and Pakistan. The two spoke again on Monday. Pakistan Lt. Gen. Chaudhry said in a briefing that New Delhi had initially requested a call between the DGMOs after the Indian military's May 7 strikes across the border. Islamabad only responded to the request on Saturday, following its retaliation and requests from international interlocutors, according to Chaudhry, who did not name the countries. Almost exactly 12 hours after Pakistan said it had launched retaliatory strikes against India for hitting three key air bases, Trump declared on social media there would be a cessation of hostilities. "Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence," he said. (Reporting by Saeed Shah, Asif Shahzad and Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam in Islamabad, Shivam Patel in New Delhi and Jeff Mason in Washington; Additional reporting by Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad and Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Katerina Ang)
