logo
Trump's renewed interest in Pakistan has India recalibrating China ties

Trump's renewed interest in Pakistan has India recalibrating China ties

NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump's lunch meeting with Pakistan's military chief prompted a private diplomatic protest from India in a warning to Washington about risks to their bilateral ties while New Delhi is recalibrating relations with China as a hedge, officials and analysts said.
The meeting and other tensions in the US-India relationship, after decades of flourishing ties, have cast a shadow in trade negotiations, they said, as Trump's administration weighs tariffs against one of its major partners in the Indo-Pacific.
India blames Pakistan, especially its military establishment, for supporting what it calls cross-border terrorism and has told the US it is sending the wrong signals by wooing Field Marshal Asim Munir, three senior Indian government officials directly aware of the matter told Reuters.
It has created a sore spot that will hamper relations going forward, they said.
Pakistan denies accusations that it supports militants who attack Indian targets and that New Delhi has provided no evidence that it is involved.
US-India ties have strengthened in the past two decades despite minor hiccups, at least partly because both countries seek to counter China.
The current problems are different, said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation think tank.
'The frequency and intensity with which the US is engaging with Pakistan, and seemingly not taking Indian concerns into account, especially after India's recent conflict with Pakistan, has contributed to a bit of a bilateral malaise.'
'The concern this time around is that one of the triggers for broader tensions, that being Trump's unpredictability, is extending into the trade realm with his approach to tariffs,' he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office and India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The foreign ministry has previously said that it had 'taken note' of the Trump-Munir meeting.
A US official said they do not comment on private diplomatic communications and that the United States enjoys strong relationships with both India and Pakistan.
'These relationships stand on their own merits, and we do not compare our bilateral relationships with one another,' the US official said.
The US seems to have taken a different tack on Pakistan after a brief conflict broke out between the nuclear-armed rivals in May when India launched strikes on what it called terrorist targets across the border in response to a deadly attack on tourists from the majority Hindu community in Indian Kashmir the previous month. After four days of aerial dogfights, missile and drone attacks, the two sides agreed to a cease-fire. Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan have skirmished regularly and fought three full-scale wars since independence in 1947, two of them over the disputed Kashmir region.
A few weeks after the May fighting, Trump hosted Munir for lunch at the White House, a major boost in ties with the country, which had largely languished under Trump's first term and Joe Biden. It was the first time a US president had hosted the head of Pakistan's army, considered the most powerful man in the country, at the White House unaccompanied by senior Pakistani civilian officials.
Indian leaders have said Munir's view of India and Pakistan is steeped in religion. 'Tourists were murdered in front of their families after ascertaining their faith,' Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in May, referring to the Kashmir attack.
'To understand that, you've got to also see...you have a Pakistani leadership, especially their army chief, who is driven by an extreme religious outlook'. Pakistan says it is Modi who is driven by religious extremism, and that his brand of Hindu nationalism has trampled on the rights of India's large Muslim minority. Modi and the Indian government say they do not discriminate against minorities.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Pakistan officials to meet Trump administration, Bloomberg reports
Pakistan officials to meet Trump administration, Bloomberg reports

Business Recorder

time3 minutes ago

  • Business Recorder

Pakistan officials to meet Trump administration, Bloomberg reports

A Pakistani delegation will soon meet the administration of US President Donald Trump in a bid to reach an agreement on a trade deal, Bloomberg quoted US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce as saying. In a US Department of State press briefing a day ago, Bruce said she will attend the meeting between the Pakistani delegation and US officials. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar is currently visiting the United States to attend high-level signature events of Pakistan's UN Security Council (UNSC) presidency in New York, as well as for important bilateral engagements in Washington, as per the Foreign Office (FO). Islamabad is looking forward to the 29% reciprocal tariffs to be lifted that the Trump administration levied initially, Bloomberg said. The South Asian country has proposed to increase imports of soybeans and cotton, while it already is the second-largest buyer of US cotton by value, after China. Whereas, Pakistan's biggest export destination is the United States. Bilateral ties between Pakistan and US have improved in recent times, with Trump's holding a rare meeting with Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House. The FO stated on July 19 that FM Dar's visit is an indication of Pakistan's increasing importance in both its relations with the US and the global landscape. Aurangzeb meets US Secy Commerce Moreover, in order to complete a trade agreement, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has also visited the United States and met with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington recently to advance economic cooperation, as per the Ministry of Finance. Reuters last week reported that the negotiations, focused on reciprocal tariffs, are part of a broader push to reset economic ties at a time of shifting geopolitical alignments and Pakistan's efforts to avoid steep US duties on exports.

Pakistani officials going to ‘meet' Trump administration
Pakistani officials going to ‘meet' Trump administration

Business Recorder

time34 minutes ago

  • Business Recorder

Pakistani officials going to ‘meet' Trump administration

A Pakistani delegation will soon meet the administration of US President Donald Trump in a bid to reach an agreement on a trade deal, Bloomberg quoted US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce as saying. In a US Department of State press briefing a day ago, Bruce said she will attend the meeting between the Pakistani delegation and US officials. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar is currently visiting the United States to attend high-level signature events of Pakistan's UN Security Council (UNSC) presidency in New York, as well as for important bilateral engagements in Washington, as per the Foreign Office (FO). Islamabad is looking forward to the 29% reciprocal tariffs to be lifted that the Trump administration levied initially, Bloomberg said. The South Asian country has proposed to increase imports of soybeans and cotton, while it already is the second-largest buyer of US cotton by value, after China. Whereas, Pakistan's biggest export destination is the United States. Bilateral ties between Pakistan and US have improved in recent times, with Trump's holding a rare meeting with Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House. The FO stated on July 19 that FM Dar's visit is an indication of Pakistan's increasing importance in both its relations with the US and the global landscape. Aurangzeb meets US Secy Commerce Moreover, in order to complete a trade agreement, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has also visited the United States and met with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington recently to advance economic cooperation, as per the Ministry of Finance. Reuters last week reported that the negotiations, focused on reciprocal tariffs, are part of a broader push to reset economic ties at a time of shifting geopolitical alignments and Pakistan's efforts to avoid steep US duties on exports.

India's financial crime agency probes Anil Ambani's Reliance Group, source says
India's financial crime agency probes Anil Ambani's Reliance Group, source says

Business Recorder

time34 minutes ago

  • Business Recorder

India's financial crime agency probes Anil Ambani's Reliance Group, source says

India's financial crime-fighting agency searched 35 locations linked to Reliance Anil Ambani Group as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering and siphoning of public funds, a government source said on Thursday. The Enforcement Directorate alleges the group orchestrated a 'well-planned' scheme to siphon off bank loans from YES Bank worth 30 billion rupees ($350 million) between 2017 and 2019 to many shell companies, the source said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media. Anil Ambani's Reliance group entities are accused of paying bribes to YES Bank officials before loans were disbursed, the source said, adding that loan approvals violated the bank's processes. Reliance and YES Bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Several group firms of Anil Ambani, the younger brother of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, have gone into bankruptcy since 2017. YES Bank, from which Anil Ambani group firms had borrowed heavily, was declared insolvent in 2020 and rescued by a group of Indian lenders in a plan approved by the central bank. Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is seeking a 20% stake in a deal that has yet to get regulatory approval. The probe also found gross violations in YES Bank's loan approval process, such as lending to companies with weak financials, backdating credit memos, 'evergreening' loans - issuing fresh loans to avoid labelling assets as nonperforming - and misrepresenting financials. YES Bank's former promoter, Rana Kapoor, was charged with bank fraud by the financial crime agency in 2020 and later arrested. He pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in 2024 by a special court in India's financial capital of Mumbai, according to local media reports. India's Reliance quarterly profit surges 78%, tops view Anil Ambani's group entities have been subject to several regulatory actions in recent years. In August 2024, the markets regulator SEBI barred Anil Ambani and 24 others from securities markets for five years, citing fund diversion from Reliance Home Finance. Shares of Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power fell as much as 5% on Thursday after the news of the latest probe circulated.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store