PM Modi dials Ghulam Nabi Azad after he falls ill in Kuwait amid all-party delegation visit, wishes him speedy recovery
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called Jammu and Kashmir's former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to enquire about his health, wishing the DPAP chief 'a speedy recovery.' Azad, a former Union Minister and member of an all-party delegation touring the Gulf region, was admitted to hospital and is currently under medical supervision, BJP MP Baijayant Panda confirmed on Tuesday.
'Halfway through our delegation's tour, Shri @ghulamnazad had to be hospitalised. He is stable, under medical supervision, and will undergo several tests and procedures,' Panda, who is leading the delegation, stated in a post on X.
The exact location and hospital where the 76-year-old former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister is receiving treatment have not been disclosed.
In a message on X, Azad expressed gratitude for the support he has received, saying, 'Blessed to share that despite the extreme heat in Kuwait affecting my health, by God's grace I'm doing fine and recovering well. All test results are normal. Thank you all for your concern and prayers — it truly means a lot!'
Panda and Azad form part of one of seven multi-party delegations dispatched by India to visit 33 global capitals. The mission aims to engage the international community on Pakistan's hostile designs and India's counter-terrorism response, particularly following the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April, which claimed 26 lives.
The delegation has already visited Bahrain (from 23 May) and Kuwait (from 25 May), with Azad actively participating in high-level meetings in both countries. Panda noted that Azad's contributions were highly impactful and expressed disappointment at his current inability to attend further engagements.
'We will deeply miss his presence in Saudi Arabia and Algeria,' Panda remarked, having arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday with the delegation.
Alongside Azad and Panda, the group includes BJP members Nishikant Dubey, Phangnon Konyak, Rekha Sharma, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi, nominated member Satnam Sandhu, and former Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla.
During their visit to Saudi Arabia, the delegation is scheduled to meet a diverse range of political dignitaries, government officials, thought leaders, and members of the Indian diaspora.
This diplomatic outreach follows India's precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on 7 May under Operation Sindoor. In retaliation, Pakistan launched attacks on Indian military bases on 8, 9, and 10 May, which India responded to decisively.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
16 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Cultural bonds between India, Uzbekistan strong: Ambassador
Sardor Mirzayusupovich Rustambaev, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to India, has said that his country shares a strong diplomatic partnership as well as deep cultural and historical ties with India. In an interaction with the media in Kozhikode on Saturday (May 31, 2025), he described India as a 'strategic partner in many aspects. We were even under one empire once,' he remarked, emphasising the long-standing cultural ties and historical bond between India and Uzbekistan. Mr. Rustambaev was in the city to inaugurate Mediklick Expo, organised by KlickEdu, which offered students an opportunity to directly interact with delegates and graduates from various foreign medical universities. He said Uzbekistan offered Indian students high-quality and affordable medical education. 'Thousands of Indians are studying in Uzbekistan. They do not struggle and feel completely at home there,' he added. 'The people of Uzbekistan are very hospitable, and the weather is quite similar to that of Kerala,' Mr. Rustambaev said, adding that there was a threefold increase in the number of Indian students enrolled in Uzbekistan within just one year, rising from 3,500 to 10,000. Delegates from several countries, including Poland, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Tajikistan, took part in the expo.
Economic Times
17 minutes ago
- Economic Times
ET Graphics: Rajnath Singh draws new redlines with Pakistan post-Operation Sindoor
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has articulated India's revised approach towards Pakistan following Operation Sindoor, emphasizing clear redlines. He underscored the Indian Navy's potential impact, referencing the 1971 war, and limited dialogue to terrorism and PoK. Singh asserted India's restraint during strikes, highlighting the operation's ongoing nature and warning of stronger future actions if provoked. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Over the past week, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has outlined India's evolving stance on Pakistan, setting clear redlines across multiple fronts in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor , writes Manu highlighted the Indian Navy 's potential role, referencing its impact in 1971. 'If the Navy had joined Op Sindoor, Pakistan might have been divided into four parts. 1971 proved what happens when our Navy acts.'Singh ruled out any broad engagement, saying talks will be limited to terrorism and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). 'If Pakistan is serious about dialogue, it should hand over Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar to India so justice can be served.'The minister reiterated that PoK residents aspire to reunite with India. 'Most people there feel a strong connection with India — only a few have been said India exercised restraint despite the capability to inflict greater damage during the strikes. 'We took out terror camps and military bases. We could have done more, but showed a rare balance of strength and restraint.'The operation, he said, is not over — only on pause. 'It's more than just a military mission — it's a direct assault on terrorism.'Singh warned that if provoked again, India could strike harder and faster. 'We ended our actions on our own terms. Our forces haven't even begun to show their full strength. Next time, the Navy may strike first.'
Time of India
19 minutes ago
- Time of India
India draws new red line against terror, hope operation brought lesson for adversary: CDS Gen Chauhan
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Singapore: Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan on Saturday said India's Operation Sindoor has drawn a "new red line" of intolerance against terror, and expressed hope that the military action has brought "some lessons for our adversary also".In response to queries related to the recent operation and the idea of "strategic stability" in India-Pakistan ties, during an event held here under the Shangri-La Dialogue , the CDS further said, it takes two hands to join to clap together, "hopefully they understand this".Operation Sindoor was launched early on May 7 to destroy nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people subsequent retaliations to Pakistani offensives were carried out under this four-day military conflict between India and Pakistan had brought the two nuclear-armed neighbours to the edge of a wider conflict that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May a query on the lesson learned from the conflict, Gen Chauhan said India used indigenous systems and platforms from other countries as well during the operation."We were able to penetrate air defence as long as 300 km with pinpoint accuracy and targets, airfields and infrastructure, deep inside Pakistan. That indicates the functionality of the equipment," he Chauhan and several other defence chiefs or representatives from different countries delivered addresses during the seminar - 'Defence Innovation Solutions for Future Challenges' held as part of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a key summit of Asia."Instability in the world is on the rise courtesy non-state actors and terrorists. They play a major role in providing the spark for conflicts," Gen Chauhan said in his address."The emergence of new domains of warfare, information, cyber, electromagnetic spectrum and the cognitive domain are fast blurring traditional lines of conflict and increasing the potential for unconventional attacks and hybrid warfare," he also underlined that to survive in the future, military organisations will have to be inventive, innovative and CDS also said that "India remains committed to contributing to global peace and security, through responsible behaviour, a unique geographical position, historical experience and development approach to security challenges".Later, he fielded a range of questions during the seminar, including on Operation Sindoor and its implications."What India has done, politically, they have drawn a new red line of intolerance against terror, and this I hope, this particular operation, that should bring about some lessons for our adversary also, and hopefully they learn that this is a limit of India's tolerance," Gen Chauhan said."We have been subjected to this proxy war of terror for almost about two decades and more, and we lost lot of want to put an end to it," he whether India feels there is a strategic stability after the operation, the CDS said "to bring about strategic stability.. it takes two hands together to clap, join together, hopefully they understand this and we can then look at things".On a query on the planned integrated theatre commands, Gen Chauhan said, "We cannot give any timeline for these integrated theatre commands".The CDS said "we have achieved some modicum amount of success in this particular endeavour of ours, some of it was exhibited during the recently-concluded operation, in which at least we had joint planning, joint intelligence, joint working together, logistics, etc"."We will have a look at how did it play out, create something that is more India- centric...," the CDS added without in his address, Gen Chauhan spoke of the factors that are changing the character and nature of warfare."Predicting the future is perilous to say the least, all what we can do is to talk about trends, actually. I believe, the future challenges that we may face, arise out of the complexity of the emerging geopolitical dynamics and the unprecedented... in the march of technology," he the rise of unmanned systems and do-it-yourself kind of kits for warfare is reducing the economic and human cost of warfare, leading to "increasing propensity to use of force", the CDS is happening "without formal declaration of wars", he democratisation of cutting-edge technologies and the resultant proliferation of weapon systems, is "empowering non-state players, including netizens, citizens", in today's deeply connected world, and the capacity to shape thoughts, perceptions, and hence the environment, he his address, he emphasised that technology is reshaping warfare, wars and his address, he emphasised that today, non-linear simultaneous operations are impacting the core principles of transition of weapon systems from subsonic to supersonic, hypersonic, long-range precision weapons and maturing of stealth technologies, fractional orbital bombardment systems and drones with swarm technologies are "giving celerity, speed and velocity a new meaning, enabling engagment of targets anywhere and anytime", he and autonomous system along with a concept of man-unmanned teaming and the advancement in robotics will soon introduce the concept of combat between man and machines, or even between machines and machines, the CDS technologies are enabling secure communications, and advancing computing which will add to the complexity of warfare, and hence challenges for preparing for it, he said."We are simplifying the procurement procedures so that we are able to fight today's war with tomorrow's technology rather than yesterday's systems," the CDS added.
