Category Archives: Pakistan

Pakistan authorities arrest 13 suspects over ‘honour’ killing video

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Arrests made in Balochistan after video showing man and woman being fatally shot went viral

Thirteen suspects have been arrested in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province after a video emerged of a woman and a man being shot dead for marrying against the wishes of their families in an “honour” killing.

The footage caused uproar in the country, with activists demanding swift justice and a stop to the crime, which targets women who do not follow local traditions and culture or decide to marry someone of their choosing.

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Accelerated glacial melt and monsoon rains trigger deadly floods in Pakistan

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Record temperatures and seasonal downpours raise fears of a repeat of the devastating flooding in 2022

Glaciers across northern Pakistan have been melting at an accelerated pace as a result of record-breaking summer temperatures, leading to deadly flash flooding and landslides.

The floods and heavy monsoon rains have caused devastation across the country this summer, killing at least 72 people and injuring more than 130 since the rains began in late June.

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Lion’s owners arrested after woman and children injured in attack in Pakistan

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Footage shows animal leaping over wall in Lahore before attack that left victims with face and arm injuries

The owners of a pet lion that escaped from a farmhouse and injured a woman and her two children in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore have been arrested, authorities said on Sunday.

The arrest came after dramatic video footage emerged showing the lion leaping over a wall and attacking the victims in a residential area.

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At least 32 people killed as flash floods hit northern Pakistan

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Family dies in Swat River, with witnesses saying they waited to be rescued for more than an hour

At least 32 people have been killed in Pakistan in recent flash flooding caused by heavy rains, including a family of tourists who died after being swept away by flood waters while apparently awaiting rescue.

Videos of the family stranded on a small piece of land as the raging Swat River in northern Pakistan swept them away were shared widely on social media, prompting anger towards the provincial government as witnesses said the family waited helplessly for more than an hour.

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Pakistan debates Trump Nobel peace prize nomination after US strikes on Iran

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Pakistani government had credited US president with ‘pivotal leadership’ in its ceasefire negotiations with India

Donald Trump’s intervention into the Iran-Israel war, and brokering then announcing a ceasefire, has drawn a heated debate in Pakistan – where the government had formally nominated the US president for the Nobel peace prize as the US military was making its final preparations for a strike that threatened all-out war in the Middle East.

A statement in the early hours of Saturday local time – shortly before US B-2 bombers left the Whiteman air force base in Missouri and headed to Iran – had credited Trump for a “legacy of pragmatic diplomacy” and “pivotal leadership” for ensuring Pakistan’s ceasefire with India in a conflict that had begun with the killing of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in April.

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Global alarm at US strikes on Iran amid fears conflict could spiral out of control

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Politicians express ‘grave concern’ and urge all parties to de-escalate and return to talks on Iran’s nuclear programme

Nations in the Middle East and beyond responded with alarm after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites as the EU and the UN called for immediate diplomacy, with fears mounting that the war could trigger a wider escalation that could spiral out of control.

Gulf states, who historically have been regional rivals with nearby Iran and critical of its nuclear ambitions, expressed serious concern at the US strikes, amid concerns of retaliation against US military bases hosted in their countries.

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Pakistan to nominate Donald Trump for Nobel peace prize

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Islamabad says US president helped resolve India conflict but critic says ‘Israel’s sugar daddy in Gaza’ not candidate for any prize

Pakistan has said it will recommend Donald Trump for the Nobel peace prize for his work in helping to resolve the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.

The move, announced on Saturday, came as the US president mulls joining Israel in striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

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Indian troops shoot dead Pakistani man crossing frontier, officials say

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Incident next to Gujarat border occurs weeks after four-day conflict between countries

Indian border troops have shot dead a Pakistani man they say crossed the international frontier and did not stop when challenged.

The shooting occurred two weeks after conflict erupted between the two nuclear-armed countries that led to four days of violence and more than 70 people being killed before a ceasefire was agreed.

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Indian troops shoot dead Pakistani man crossing frontier, officials say

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Incident next to Gujarat border occurs weeks after four-day conflict between countries

Indian border troops have shot dead a Pakistani man they say crossed the international frontier and did not stop when challenged.

The shooting occurred two weeks after conflict erupted between the two nuclear-armed countries that led to four days of violence and more than 70 people being killed before a ceasefire was agreed.

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Pakistan blames India for suspected suicide attack on school bus

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Three children and two adults killed in attack on bus en route to army public school in Balochistan province

Pakistan has blamed India for a suspected suicide attack on a school bus in its south-western province of Balochistan on Wednesday morning that killed three children.

The bus was en route to the army public school in the city of Khuzdar. According to local officials, an attacker drove a vehicle into the bus and then detonated explosives.

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Uneasy India-Pakistan ceasefire holds but is a return to war inevitable?

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Trump’s interventions have infuriated India, which has emerged from conflict not as triumphant as it had hoped

Against the odds, the ceasefire that followed Indian and Pakistan’s almost-war has held; fragile, uneasy but still unbroken. Yet in the aftermath of four days of cross-border drones and missile strikes – the most technologically advanced conflict either side has ever engaged in – the question remains: what now?

While both India and Pakistan have claimed victory, some experts fear that a return to hostilities is almost inevitable.

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India has only ‘paused’ military action against Pakistan, Modi says

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Indian PM says he is ‘monitoring every step of Pakistan’ as ceasefire holds

Narendra Modi has said India has only “paused” its military action against Pakistan and would “retaliate on its own terms” to any attacks, after a ceasefire brought escalating hostilities between the two countries to a standstill at the weekend.

In his first address since attacks began between India and Pakistan – culminating in both sides launching missiles at each other’s key military bases and airfields on Saturday – the Indian prime minister said he was “monitoring every step of Pakistan”.

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Amid fragile ceasefire, Trump promises to boost trade with India and Pakistan

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Truce agreement was reached after diplomacy and pressure from US but within hours there was cross-border shelling

A fragile ceasefire was holding between India and Pakistan on Sunday, after hours of overnight fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, as US president Donald Trump said he would work to provide a solution regarding Kashmir.

The arch-rivals were involved in intense firing for four days, the worst in nearly three decades, with missiles and drones being fired at each other’s military installations and dozens of people killed.

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‘We share a history and the future’: diaspora communities in UK decry Kashmir conflict

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At a demonstration in Westminster, people from both sides of India-Pakistan divide call for more than mere ceasefire

People around the world held their breath this week as India and Pakistan appeared to edge closer and closer towards war.

For diaspora communities with family in the region, especially in Kashmir and along the border between the two countries, recent days in particular have been filled with fear and anxiety.

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Rubio offers US help to secure peace in escalating India-Pakistan conflict

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US secretary of state urged both sides to de-escalate as he leads efforts to secure a solution to the deepening crisis

US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has offered US assistance in starting “constructive talks” to end the conflict between India and Pakistan, as the two states traded heavy missile fire on Saturday, prompting concerns over wider military escalation.

Rubio has been engaged in back-and-forth diplomacy between the two countries in recent days, calling for de-escalation as India and Pakistan have been engaged in daily clashes since Wednesday.

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India and Pakistan accuse each other of cross-border attacks on military bases

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Claims of missile attacks on targets deep inside both countries marks the steepest escalation in confrontation yet

India and Pakistan have accused each other of cross-border missile strikes against major military targets, the most significant escalation so far in the brewing conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

On Saturday, India accused Pakistan of launching strikes on dozens of airbases and military headquarters across north India, using long-range weapons, drones and fighter aircraft. The accusations came a few hours after Pakistan said India had fired six surface-to-air missiles targeting three of Pakistan’s most important military bases early on Saturday morning.

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Are we heading for another world war – or has it already started?

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The rules-based world order is in retreat and violence is on the rise, forcing countries to rethink their relationships

In a week in which former allies in a redividing globe separately commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, the sense of a runaway descent towards a third world war draws ever closer.

The implosion of Pax Americana, the interconnectedness of conflicts, the new willingness to resort to unbridled state-sponsored violence and the irrelevance of the institutions of the rules-based order have all been on brutal display this week. From Kashmir to Khan Younis, Hodeidah, Port Sudan and Kursk, the only sound is of explosions, and the only lesson is that the old rules no longer apply.

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IPL cricket suspended amid growing India-Pakistan tensions

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  • ‘It does not look nice playing cricket while country at war’
  • Thursday’s IPL match was abandoned in Dharamsala

The Indian Premier League has been suspended, initially for a week, because of concerns about the security situation in the country amid rising tensions along its border with Pakistan. The news came hours after the decision was taken to relocate the final fixtures in the Pakistan Super League to United Arab Emirates because of safety concerns. Foreign-based players in India and all teams in Pakistan are expected to leave the countries over the next 24 hours.

“Further updates regarding the new schedule and venues of the tournament will be announced in due course after a comprehensive assessment of the situation in consultation with relevant authorities and stakeholders,” Devajit Saikia, the secretary of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), said in a statement. “The decision was taken by the IPL governing council after due consultation with all key stakeholders following the representations from most of the franchisees, who conveyed the concern and sentiments of their players, and also the views of the broadcaster, sponsors and fans; while the BCCI reposes full faith in the strength and preparedness of our armed forces, the board considered it prudent to act in the collective interest of all stakeholders.”

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Vance says US won’t intervene in India-Pakistan conflict: ‘None of our business’

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Vice-president says US will seek to de-escalate but cannot force either nuclear power to ‘lay down their arms’

JD Vance has said that the US will not intervene in the conflict between Pakistan and India, calling fighting between the two nuclear powers “fundamentally none of our business”.

The remarks came during an interview with Fox News, where the US vice-president said that the US would seek to de-escalate the conflict but could force neither side to “lay down their arms”.

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Meta blocks major Muslim Instagram page in India amid rising conflict

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Company referred to policy for restricting content when governments say material goes ‘against local law’

Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government’s request, the account’s founder said on Wednesday, denouncing the move as “censorship” as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan.

Instagram users in India trying to access posts from the handle @Muslim – a page with 6.7 million followers – were met with a message stating: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”

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