India in a 'war-like' situation, govt has steely resolve, says ex-diplomat Bambawale
Bambawale was speaking at a panel discussion on the topic, 'Operation Sindoor', organised by Pune International Centre (PIC) on Friday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
25 minutes ago
- India Today
Crops hit, dams at dead level: Pak water crisis deepens after India's Indus move
Pakistan is facing a severe water crisis, with the agricultural industry looking at deeper impacts, in the aftermath of India suspending the Indus Waters Treaty in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam massacre in which Islamabad-backed terrorists gunned down 26 people, mostly Indus River System Authority (IRSA) reported discharging 11,180 cusecs of additional water than it received on Wednesday, worsening the water crisis. Furthermore, the water levels at the two major reservoirs in Pakistan - Tarbela on the Indus and Mangla on the Jhelum - have dropped to dead storage, thereby indicating the crisis will reservoir water reaching its dead storage levels also means that it cannot be drained out by gravity, thus limiting its use for irrigation or drinking. The water crisis is even stronger in the Punjab province, where the kharif season has started. The kharif farming has witnessed a dip of more than 20 per cent owing to receiving 1.14 lakh cusecs of water as opposed to 1.43 lakh cusecs a day last year. The production of kharif crops - cotton and maize - has declined by over 30 per cent and 15 per cent in Pakistan, respectively. The production of wheat - a rabi crop - has also dropped by around 9 per cent owing to the water shortage in the the agricultural industry, especially the kharif outputs impacted, its overall share in Pakistan's GDP dipped to 23.54 per cent in fiscal 2025 from 24.03 per cent the previous financial situation is expected to deteriorate in the upcoming weeks, especially as India undertakes regular desilting and flushing its dams in Jammu and Kashmir to enhance its own storage capacity. Additionally, with the monsoon still weeks away, IRSA has warned of a 21 per cent water shortage in the early kharif season and 7 per cent towards the has been relentless in its efforts to convince India to reinstate the Indus treaty. Last week, India Today reported that Islamabad wrote as many as four letters to Delhi, urging the latter to reconsider its decision to stop the treaty before Operation Sindoor. Sources told India Today TV that Pakistan also requested the World Bank, which brokered the deal, to intervene in the matter. However, the global body refused to mediate in the Indus Waters Treaty allocates the eastern rivers - Ravi, Beas and Sutlej - to India and the western ones, such as Jhelum, Chenab and Indus, to Pakistan. Responding to the water move last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi firmly said that water and blood cannot flow is also strengthening its water infrastructure, aimed at bettering its domestic storage and strategic hold over the shared waters. This includes new canal projects connecting Beas to Ganga and Indus to Reel IN THIS STORY#Operation Sindoor#India-Pakistan
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
US invite to Pak Army chief Asim Munir a ‘diplomatic setback' for India: Congress, seeks special Parliament Session
The Congress said on 12 June that the United States is constantly making statements that can only be interpreted as hyphenating India and Pakistan. The opposition party stressed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should leave aside his 'stubbornness' and call an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament to discuss India-Pakistan matters, especially after Operation Sindoor Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, asserted in a post on X that decades of diplomatic progress cannot be allowed to be weakened so easily. "It is reported that Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir has been invited to the event organised in Washington DC on the occasion of US Army Day (14 June). This news is a big setback for India from a diplomatic and strategic point of view," Ramesh said in the post in Hindi. "This is the same person who used provocative and inciting language just before the Pahalgam terror attack - the question arises what is America's intention?" the Congress general secretary said. Recently, the head of the US Central Command also stated that Pakistan is a 'great partner' of America in the fight against terrorism, Ramesh said. "The Modi government is saying that Operation Sindoor is still going on. In such a situation, the Pakistani army chief's participation as a guest in the US Army Day is definitely a matter of serious concern," he said. Ramesh said the Trump administration is constantly making statements which can only be interpreted to mean that it is "hyphenating" India and Pakistan. "The prime minister should now leave aside his stubbornness and concern for prestige and call an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament, so that the nation can clearly express its collective will and a concrete roadmap can be presented to the country," he said. Decades of diplomatic progress cannot be allowed to be weakened so easily, he added. With US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), calling Pakistan a 'phenomenal partner' in the counterterrorism world, the Congress on Wednesday asked what PM Modi had to say about this and whether it was not a 'diplomatic setback'. The opposition party also referred to remarks by a Trump administration spokesperson highlighting President Donald Trump's diplomatic and negotiating skills as having the power to end "generational differences", wondering whether something is cooking in Washington DC. It asked Prime Minister Modi to issue a clarification on it. Ramesh also cited a media report claiming that Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir is scheduled to visit Washington, D.C., for the US Army Day celebrations and said this is "another huge diplomatic setback for India." US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), has said the United States has to have relationships with Pakistan and India and noted that it cannot be a "binary switch" where Washington cannot have ties with Islamabad if it has relations with New Delhi. Decades of diplomatic progress cannot be allowed to be weakened so easily. Kurilla made the comments during a testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. Pakistan is "in an active counterterrorism fight right now and they have been a phenomenal partner in the counterterrorism world", the general said. Kurilla's comments came days after an all-party Indian parliamentary delegation visited the US to convey India's strong resolve to combat terrorism emanating from Pakistan in the wake of the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack. As many as 26 people were killed and several others injured in the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on 22 April. Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor on 7 May, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
New Indian Express
an hour ago
- New Indian Express
US hyphenating India, Pakistan; PM must drop 'stubbornness' and call special session of Parliament: Congress
Recently, the head of the US Central Command also stated that Pakistan is a "great partner" of America in the fight against terrorism, Ramesh said. "The Modi government is saying that Operation Sindoor is still going on. In such a situation, the Pakistani army chief's participation as a guest in the US Army Day is definitely a matter of serious concern," he said. Ramesh said the Trump administration is constantly making statements which can only be interpreted to mean that it is "hyphenating" India and Pakistan. "The prime minister is welcoming the delegation that returned after informing the entire world, including the US, about Pakistan's role in supporting terrorism, and at the same time, such news is coming from Washington DC makes India's diplomatic position even more uncomfortable," Ramesh said. "The prime minister should now leave aside his stubbornness and concern for prestige and call an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament, so that the nation can clearly express its collective will and a concrete roadmap can be presented to the country," he said. Decades of diplomatic progress cannot be allowed to be weakened so easily, he added. With US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), calling Pakistan a "phenomenal partner" in the counterterrorism world, the Congress on Wednesday asked what PM Modi had to say about this and whether it was not a "diplomatic setback".
