Pakistan tried to hit Indian-administered Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan, according to India, which reported ‘no losses’
India claimed to have thwarted retaliatory missile and drone strikes launched by Pakistan on Thursday evening, which attempted to hit sites in Indian-administered Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan.
Residents in Jammu, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, reported missiles and drones over the city and the noise of explosions, amid a city-wide blackout.
Continue reading...All-out war is unlikely but shifting of goalposts amid Gaza and Ukraine conflicts suggests Kashmir crisis could escalate
India’s string of attacks on Pakistan overnight – a response, Delhi says, to the killing of 26 in a terror attack in Kashmir last month – comes at a time when warfare has become increasingly normalised internationally and the restraints of the global diplomatic system weakened.
Though flare-ups between the two south Asian powers are nothing new, India’s Operation Sindoor is already notably more aggressive than recent military actions launched by Delhi against its neighbour in 2016 and 2019, raising the stakes for Pakistan’s promised response to what it says was “an act of war”.
Continue reading...India claims to have attacked camps associated with a militant group in Pakistan – but what is its relationship with Islamabad?
As India launches missile strikes on what it says are camps associated with militant groups inside Pakistan in retaliation for last month’s massacre in Kashmir, attention has once again focused on India’s claimed relationship between Islamabad and armed groups involved in attacks in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, most prominently Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Continue reading...The US has brought the two sides back from the brink before, but the mood is very different with Trump
The uneasy calm that had settled over India and Pakistan in the past two weeks was swiftly shattered in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
In the days that followed the deadly attack that killed 25 Indian tourists and a guide in Kashmir in late March, the Indian government made it clear it held Pakistan responsible – and it intended to avenge the deaths.
Continue reading...Applicants will be targeted by Home Office due to suspicions they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum
Nigerians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans applying to work or study in the UK face Home Office restrictions over suspicions that they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum, Whitehall officials have claimed.
The government is working with the National Crime Agency to build models to profile applicants from these countries who are likely to go on to claim asylum.
Continue reading...Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, to stand trial for plotting multiday slaughter carried out by 10 Islamist gunmen
A Pakistan-born Canadian citizen wanted for his alleged role in the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege has landed in New Delhi after his extradition from the United States.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, arrived at a military airbase outside the Indian capital under heavily armed guard late on Thursday, and will be held in detention to face trial.
Continue reading...Police go door-to-door arresting Afghans as government pledges to send millions back home to Taliban rule
More than 50 prominent female Afghan women’s rights activists sheltering in Pakistan are facing deportation home, where they fear they will be imprisoned or killed under Taliban rule.
Under a draconian policy, the Pakistan government has pledged to deport millions of Afghan nationals, after relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan severely deteriorated and attacks by militants in the border areas surged.
Continue reading...Senior officials warn nations including China, Pakistan and Iran could attempt to subvert vote with sophisticated tools
The spectre of interference by India has already rocked the early days of Canada’s federal election, with officials warning that sophisticated efforts from other hostile nations are expected in the coming weeks.
As Canadians prepare to cast ballots on 28 April, senior officials say that India, China, Pakistan and Iran are all expected to make efforts to subvert the national vote through increasingly sophisticated disinformation campaigns.
Continue reading...A spokesperson offered no evidence for the claim after 26 people were killed on a train that was hijacked in Balochistan province on Tuesday
Pakistan’s military has accused neighbouring India of sponsoring militant groups in the south-west of the country as survivors recounted their ordeal from an unprecedented attack that killed 26 passengers on a hijacked train.
The scope of the attack in Balochistan province underscores the struggles that Pakistan faces to rein in militant groups.
Continue reading...Security services claim to have rescued about 190 people being held by Baloch Liberation Army in remote area
An operation to rescue hundreds of people taken hostage when a train was hijacked by a separatist militant group in remote south-west Pakistan has ended with dozens killed in the onslaught, a spokesperson for the army has said.
Pakistan’s security services claimed late on Wednesday to have rescued about 190 people who were being held captive after militants from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up a railway line and launched an attack on the Jaffar Express train.
Continue reading...Baloch Liberation Army claims to have killed 30 military personnel after blowing up tracks in Balochistan region
A separatist militant group in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province says it has taken 214 hostages including military personnel after hijacking a train, as the country’s security situation continues to decline sharply.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up the tracks and fired on the Jaffar Express train as it travelled through a tunnel in a remote and mountainous area, bringing the train to a halt.
Continue reading...Nasreen and Hasan Askari open Karachi museum with her 1,000-piece centuries-old collection from trade crossroads
As a young medical student in 1970s Pakistan, Nasreen Askari had an encounter that would shape her for ever.
After asking the mother of a sick boy routine questions about his family history, the woman looked outraged. Marching Askari outside, she took off her colourful shawl and laid it on her lap. “Most of the answers to your pointless questions are here,” she said, pointing to intricate embroidery that symbolised everything, from the woman’s community, to her marriage status and her number of children.
Continue reading...Former leader and wife found guilty of illegally obtaining lucrative plots of land in deal with property tycoon
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption, another setback for the beleaguered leader who has already spent over 18 months in jail and is facing more than 100 cases.
Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were found guilty of illegally obtaining lucrative plots of land, worth billions of rupees, through a corrupt deal with a Pakistani property tycoon. Khan was given a 14-year sentence while his wife was given seven years, and Khan was fined 1m Pakistan rupees (£2,900).
Continue reading...Online advertisement by PIA is called ‘stupidity’ by finance minister, who said PM Shehbaz Sharif had ordered an investigation
Pakistan’s prime minister has ordered an investigation after the country’s national airline released an advert that drew accusations that it evoked imagery of the 9/11 attacks.
The advert was released by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) last week to celebrate the resumption of flights to Paris, which had been suspended for four years over safety concerns about its pilots.
Continue reading...Prime minister told Commons any new inquiry into child abuse would delay progress however spokesperson says he has not ruled one out
Reform UK has also tabled a reasoned amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill motion tonight. It says:
That this house declines to give a second reading to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill because the secretary of state for the Home Department has not launched a UK-wide public inquiry into grooming gangs and has not committed to updating Members of this House every quarter on the progress of the inquiry.
The Conservatives are using the victims of this scandal as a political football.
The Conservatives alongside Reform, goaded along by Elon Musk will be voting for a motion which will not secure a national inquiry for victims of child sexual abuse, but instead it would kill these crucial child protection measures completely.
Continue reading...Multiple protesters said to have been killed and hundreds injured in Islamabad amid calls for Khan’s release from jail
Pakistan’s army and police have been accused of firing on civilians, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries to hundreds of protesters who had stormed Islamabad on Tuesday to demand the release of the former prime minister Imran Khan from prison.
As tens of thousands of Khan’s supporters stormed the capital on Tuesday in defiance of government orders, the army and paramilitary forces were deployed in huge numbers and issued with shoot-to-kill orders to try to stop the crowds reaching the heart of Islamabad’s sensitive Red Zone, which houses the parliament, supreme court and prime minister’s residence.
Continue reading...More than 50,000 people had earlier forced their way into capital to demand former prime minister’s release
Pakistani security forces have launched a sweeping midnight raid on supporters of the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan who had earlier forced their way through security barriers and entered Islamabad.
Thousands of protesters had gathered in the centre of the capital after a convoy, led by Khan’s wife, broke through several lines of security all the way to the edge of the city’s highly fortified red zone.
Continue reading...Government shuts down internet, blocks highways and brings in troops to stop protest by former PM’s supporters
Pakistan’s capital was put under lockdown as the government shut down the internet, blocked highways and brought in thousands of police and paramilitaries in an attempt to prevent supporters of the former prime minister Imran Khan protesting in Islamabad.
Khan, who has been in jail for more than a year facing hundreds of charges, had issued a “final call” for his supporters to descend on Islamabad to demand his release and protest against recent changes to the judiciary and constitution.
Continue reading...About 300 families relocate after fresh violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims kills 32 people
About 300 families have fled sectarian violence in north-west Pakistan as fresh clashes killed 32 people.
Sporadic fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan has killed about 150 over the past months.
Continue reading...Violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follows killing of dozens of people in clashes between Sunnis and minority Shias
At least 42 people have been killed and 20 wounded after gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying Shia Muslims in Pakistan’s restive north-west, in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years, police said.
The attack happened in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where sectarian clashes between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shias have killed dozens of people in recent months.
Continue reading...