In meeting with US lawmakers, Pakistani delegation says Delhi resisting dialogue with Islamabad
KARACHI: A Pakistani delegation led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met a group of American lawmakers on Thursday, telling them that India is consistently resisting dialogue to resolve bilateral issues.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif set up the delegation last month, tasking it to present Pakistan's point of view regarding the country's conflict with India last month. India and Pakistan last month engaged in four days of fighting, striking each other with missiles, drones, artillery and fighter jets before Washington brokered a ceasefire on May 10.
Bhutto Zardari's delegation has held a series of meetings with top international diplomats since arriving in New York on Monday, urging the global community to help India and Pakistan enter a comprehensive dialogue to peacefully resolve their differences.
On Thursday the delegation met members of the US Congressional Pakistan Caucus in Washington. These included Republican party leaders Jack Bergman and Ryan Zinke and Democratic leaders Tom Suozzi and Ilhan Omar, among others.
'Pakistan remains committed to peace, but sadly, India consistently resists dialogue,' Bhutto Zardari was quoted as saying by Bilawal House, his official residence.
The former foreign minister criticized India's decision to hold in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, a decades-old water-sharing agreement with Pakistan.
'India has weaponized water, endangering the future of not only Pakistan but the entire region,' he said.
He warned that if Indian hostility is not curbed in time, it could 'seriously jeopardize regional peace.' The Pakistani politician reaffirmed his country's desire for constructive engagement based on mutual respect and peaceful resolution of disputes, the statement said.
'The members of Congress welcomed the delegation, listened carefully to Pakistan's concerns, and expressed willingness to strengthen bilateral engagement and regional stability,' the statement concluded.
Tensions between the arch-rivals began on April 22 when militants attacked a resort in Indian-administered Kashmir's Pahalgam area, killing 26 tourists.
India blamed Pakistan for supporting militants involved in the attack, a charge Pakistan vehemently denied and called for a transparent, international probe into the incident.
Pakistan and India, bitter rivals, have fought two out of three wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir that they both claim in full but govern only parts of.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting militants in the part of Kashmir it administers. Islamabad denies the allegation and says it extends only diplomatic and moral support to the people of Kashmir.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
36 minutes ago
- Arab News
US federal authorities arrest dozens for immigration violations across Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES: Federal immigration authorities arrested 44 people Friday across Los Angeles, prompting clashes outside at least one location as law enforcement threw flash bangs to try to disperse a crowd that had gathered to protest the detentions. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents executed search warrants at three locations, said Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations. But immigration advocates said they were aware of arrests at seven locations, including two Home Depots, a warehouse in the fashion district and a doughnut shop, said Angelica Salas, executive director for the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA. In the fashion district, agents served a search warrant at a business after they and a judge found there was probable cause the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, US Attorney's Office spokesperson Ciaran McEvoy confirmed. In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass said the activity was meant to 'sow terror.' Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill President Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations. Todd Lyons, the head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended his tactics earlier this week against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed. He has said ICE is averaging about 1,600 arrests per day and that the agency has arrested 'dangerous criminals.' Protests recently broke out after an immigration action at a restaurant in San Diego and in Minneapolis, when federal officials in tactical gear showed up in a Latino neighborhood for an operation they said was about a criminal case, not immigration. Dozens of protesters gathered Friday evening outside a federal detention center in Los Angeles where they believed those arrested had been taken, chanting 'set them free, let them stay!' Other protesters held signs that said 'ICE out of LA!' while others led chants and shouted from megaphones. Some scrawled graffiti on the building facade. Officers holding protective shields stood shoulder to shoulder to block an entrance. Some tossed tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd. Officers wearing helmets and holding batons then forced the protesters away from the building by forming a line and walking slowly down the street. 'Our community is under attack and is being terrorized. These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers, and this has to stop. Immigration enforcement that is terrorizing our families throughout this country and picking up our people that we love must stop now,' Salas, of CHIRLA, said at an earlier press conference while surrounded by a crowd holding signs protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Yliana Johansen-Mendez, chief program officer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said her organization was aware of one man who was already deported back to Mexico after being picked up at a Home Depot on Friday morning. The man's family contacted her organization and one of their attorneys was waiting for hours to speak to him inside the detention center, she said. Authorities later said he had already been removed, and the man later contacted his family to say he was back in Mexico. Videos from bystanders and television news crews captured people being walked across a Home Depot parking lot by federal agents as well as clashes that broke out at other detention sites. KTLA showed aerial footage of agents outside a clothing warehouse store in the fashion district leading detainees out of a building and toward two large white vans waiting in a parking lot. The hands of the detained individuals were tied behind their backs. The agents patted them down before loading them into the vans. The agents wore vests with the agency acronyms FBI, ICE and HSI. Armed agents used yellow police tape to keep crowds on the street and sidewalk away from the operations. Officers throw smoke bombs to disperse crowd Aerial footage of the same location broadcast by KABC-TV showed officers throwing smoke bombs or flash bangs on the street to disperse the people so they could drive away in SUVs, vans and military-style vehicles. The station showed one person running backward with their hands on the hood of a moving white SUV in an apparent attempt to block the vehicle. The person fell backward, landing flat on the ground. The SUV backed up, drove around the individual and sped off as others on the street threw objects at it. Immigrant-rights advocates used megaphones to speak to the workers, reminding them of their constitutional rights and instructing them not to sign anything or say anything to federal agents, the Los Angeles Times reported. Katia Garcia, 18, left school when she learned her father, 37-year-old Marco Garcia, may have been targeted. Katia Garcia, a US citizen, said her father is undocumented and has been in the US for 20 years. 'We never thought this would happen to us,' she told the Los Angeles Times. Pitts O'Keefe said in a statement that one additional person was arrested for obstruction. The California branch of the Service Employees International Union said its president was arrested while exercising his right to observe and document law enforcement activity.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump signs orders to bolster US drone defenses, boost supersonic flight
President Donald Trump on Friday signed executive orders to bolster US defenses against threatening drones and to boost electric air taxis and supersonic commercial aircraft, the White House said. In the three executive orders, Trump sought to enable routine use of drones beyond the visual sight of operators — a key step to enabling commercial drone deliveries — and to take steps to reduce the US reliance on Chinese drone companies and begin testing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Trump is establishing a federal task force to ensure US control over American skies, expand restrictions over sensitive sites, broaden federal use of technology to detect drones in real time, and provide assistance to state and local law enforcement. Trump also aims to address the 'growing threat of criminal terrorists and foreign misuse of drones in US airspace,' said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. 'We are securing our borders from national security threats, including in the air, with large-scale public events such as the Olympics and the World Cup on the horizon.' Sebastian Gorka, senior director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council, cited the use of drones in Russia's war in Ukraine and threats to major US sporting events. 'We will be increasing counter-drone capabilities and capacities,' Gorka said. 'We will increase the enforcement of current laws to deter two types of individuals: evildoers and idiots.' The issue of suspicious drones also gained significant attention last year after a flurry of drone sightings in New Jersey. The FAA receives more than 100 drone-sighting reports near airports each month. Drone sightings have at times disrupted flights and sporting events. Trump also directed the Federal Aviation Administration to lift a ban imposed in 1973 on supersonic air transport over land. 'The reality is that Americans should be able to fly from New York to L.A. in under four hours,' Kratsios said. 'Advances in aerospace engineering, material science, and noise reduction now make overland supersonic flight not just possible, but safe, sustainable, and commercially viable.' The Trump orders do not ban any Chinese drone company, officials said. Last year, former President Joe Biden signed legislation that could ban China-based DJI and Autel Robotics from selling new drone models in the US. DJI, the world's largest drone manufacturer, sells more than half of all US commercial drones.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Man charged with hate crime in Boulder attack on ‘Zionist people' appears in US federal court
DENVER: A man who told investigators he was driven by a desire 'to kill all Zionist people' when he threw Molotov cocktails at demonstrators raising awareness of Israeli hostages appeared briefly in federal court for the first time Friday to face a hate crime charge. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, sat in the jury box in a Denver courtroom handcuffed and dressed in a green jail uniform, a US Marshal sitting in the row behind him. Listening to the proceedings in Arabic through an interpreter, he answered 'yes' and 'I understand' in Arabic as Magistrate Judge Timothy P. O'Hara explained his rights. Before the brief hearing started, Soliman mostly looked away from the crowded gallery, but after the proceedings he nodded and smiled as his lawyers spoke to him. A conviction on a hate crime charge typically carries a penalty of no more than 10 years in prison, but Assistant US Attorney Melissa Hindman said if the crime involves an attempted killing, the sentence can be as long as life in prison. Soliman is represented by public defenders who do not comment on their cases to the media. He is scheduled to appear in federal court again June 18 for a hearing in which federal prosecutors will be asked to show they have enough evidence to prosecute Soliman. He'll face a similar hearing in state court July 15. He is accused in Sunday's attack on the weekly demonstration in Boulder, which investigators say he planned for a year. The victims include 15 people and a dog. He has also been charged in state court in Boulder with attempted murder and assault counts as well as counts related to the 18 Molotov cocktails police say he carried to the demonstration. Investigators say Soliman told them he had intended to kill all of the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration on Boulder's popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, but he threw just two of his 18 Molotov cocktails while yelling 'Free Palestine.' Soliman told investigators he tried to buy a gun but was not able to because he was not a 'legal citizen.' Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, has been living in the US illegally. Soliman did not carry out his full plan 'because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,' police wrote in an arrest affidavit. Not all of the victims were physically injured. Some of them are considered victims because they were in the area and could potentially have been hurt in the attack, 20th Judicial District Michael Dougherty said Thursday. Three victims remained in the hospital Friday, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital spokesperson Dan Weaver said. The dog was among the injured, which resulted in an animal cruelty charge being filed against Soliman, Dougherty said. Soliman told investigators that he waited until after his daughter graduated from school before launching the attack, according to court documents. Federal authorities want to deport Soliman's wife and their five children, who range from 4 to 17 years old, but a judge issued an order Wednesday halting deportation proceedings until a lawsuit challenging their deportation can be considered. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has described their claims as 'absurd' and 'an attempt to delay justice.' US immigration officials took Soliman's wife and children into custody Tuesday. They are being held at a family immigration detention center in Texas. According to a court document filed Friday by the family's lawyers, law enforcement had arranged for Soliman's wife and children to stay in a hotel while their home was searched following the attack. After two nights, Homeland Security Investigations agents told the family they had to move to another hotel for their safety and were then met by between 10 and 20 plainclothes officers who took them into custody, the filing said. According to the document, one of them allegedly told Soliman's wife, 'You have to pay for the consequences of what you did.'
