Pakistan responds as India launches attack on sites
The worst fighting in more than two decades has erupted between the two nuclear-armed enemies as Pakistan vows a "crushing response" to an Indian missile strike in Kashmir.
Pakistan says 26 of its civilians have been killed with 46 wounded, while India says 10 civilians have been killed and 48 injured on their side of the border.
Follow our liveblog for updates above.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
World's highest railway bridge opens in conflict-hit Kashmir
By Rhea Mogul , CNN This photograph taken on July 6, 2024, shows a general view of Chenab bridge, the world's highest rail arch bridge in Reasi, Jammu and Kashmir. Photo: AFP / TAUSEEF MUSTAFA The world's highest railway bridge, an ambitious piece of engineering across a mountain valley in Kashmir, opened Friday (local time) by Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi, just weeks after a deadly tourist massacre in the Himalayan region sparked a brief conflict with neighboring Pakistan. Modi's visit to India-administered Kashmir was his first since a brief but deadly conflict between India and Pakistan in April. The nuclear-armed neighbors traded missiles, drones, and artillery shelling for four days after New Delhi blamed the massacre on its neighbor, which Pakistan denies. Decades in the making, the arched Chenab Bridge sits 359 meters above the river of the same name - that's 29 meters higher than the top of the Eiffel Tower. Costing more than US$160 million (NZ$265 million) with a length of 1315 meters, the bridge is part of the first railway link between Kashmir and the rest of India. Modi's Hindu-nationalist government has moved to integrate the Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country, including revoking a constitutional provision that allowed it to set its own laws in 2019. The Himalayan region of Kashmir is claimed by India, Pakistan and China. All three administer a part of the region, one of the most militarized zones in the world. A decorated Vande Bharat passenger train is pictured at the Srinagar railway station in Srinagar on 6 June 2025, ahead of the inauguration of the Kashmir rail link by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: AFP / TAUSEEF MUSTAFA In addition to the Chenab Bridge, Modi also inaugurated the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link project, which connects key cities in India-administered Kashmir to the rest of India. For Modi, who swept to power more than a decade ago on a ticket of nationalism and a promise of future greatness, investments in infrastructure like the Chenab Bridge and the broader rail link project can be seen as a powerful tool for social integration and political influence. Since he was first elected in 2014, the prime minister has rapidly expanded the region's road and rail connectivity, building networks that connect disparate towns with major cities. In 2019, New Delhi revoked a constitutional provision giving India-administered Kashmir the autonomy to set its own laws. The southern and eastern portions of the region known previously as the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir became two separate union territories, bringing them under direct control of New Delhi - a move Modi claimed would promote stability, reduce corruption and boost the economy. In this photograph taken on March 4, 2015, an Indian engineer gives instructions to a cable crane operator through a wireless set at the site of the under-construction world's highest railway bridge over the Chenab river in Kauri, in northern Jammu and Kashmir state. Photo: AFP / RAKESH BAKSHI The Chenab Bridge is being hailed as a major win for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party government. His administration has poured billions into upgrading India's old and outdated transport network, part of its vision to transform the country into a developed nation by 2047. Among these ambitious projects is the construction of several tunnels and highways in the mountainous Himalayan region which has been criticized by some environmentalists who say the heavy construction could damage fragile topography already feeling the effects from the climate crisis. Modi's Char Dham Highway project, a multimillion-dollar infrastructure plan to improve connectivity in the state of Uttarakhand, came under fire in November 2023 when an under-construction mountain tunnel collapsed, trapping dozens of workers inside for several days with little water and oxygen. In August that year, more than a dozen workers were killed after a bridge under construction collapsed in the northeastern state of Mizoram. In June, a four-lane concrete bridge that was being built across the River Ganges in the eastern state of Bihar collapsed for the second time in just over a year, raising questions about the quality of its construction. - CNN
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Parliament's contrary responses to Kashmir attacks spur debate
In February 2019, a vehicle-borne suicide bomber targeted a convoy of Indian security personnel in Pulwama in India-administered Kashmir, killing 40. At the time, Foreign Minister Winston Peters introduced a motion in Parliament condemning the attack. "That this House condemn the 14 February act of terrorism against Indian Central Reserve Police Force personnel in the Pulwama district, leading to a very large loss of life; offer its condolences to the people and Government of India; and express its support and solidarity for the Government of India at this difficult time, as well as offer our deep sympathy for all those who are grievously affected," Peters said. The motion was agreed to and passed. In the wake of another attack in India-administered Kashmir more than six years later, New Zealand's response appears to be starkly different. In April, at least two dozen people died after gunmen opened fire on tourists near the picturesque town of Pahalgam in the Himalayas. Parmjeet Parmar Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom In May, Indian-origin ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar introduced a motion in Parliament that condemned the attack. "My motion was: I move that the House condemns the terrorist attack that occurred in the town of Pahalgam, Kashmir, on 22 April 2025," Parmar told attendees at a community event on Saturday organised by Kiwi Indian Global Connect. "We express our deepest condolences to those who lost friends and family in this tragic event, and we stand in solidarity with the people of Kashmir during this difficult time. "We also acknowledge the impact on the Indian diaspora and communities in New Zealand and India, extending our heartfelt sympathies to those affected. We recognise the shared grief and commit to supporting those impacted." Parmar told the meeting the Green Party had blocked the motion. "The Green Party said they would not support the use of [the phrase] 'terrorist attack' in my motion. And I decided not to take it out," Parmar said. "I felt removing these words would mean minimising the evil motivations behind the action." Failing to get consensus, Parmar's motion failed to pass. Mahesh Bindra Photo: RNZ / Jane Patterson "My question is, 'What changed this time as our Parliament failed to condemn the 22 April terrorist attack in India which took 26 innocent lives?'," said former New Zealand First MP Mahesh Bindra, referring to the 2019 motion. "That's my main problem with it," said Veer Khar, president of New Zealand Indian Central Association, who also addressed the gathering of about 100 people at Bruce Pullman Park in the Auckland suburb of Takanini. "Because of what happened [between ACT and the Greens], the message has gone - New Zealand Parliament failed to condemn the killings of civilians in Kashmir," Khar said. "I would have agreed to the wording as proposed by the Greens and ensured the motion is passed. "Moving forward, the Indian community would try engaging with the Green Party and exchange each other's perspectives on issues." Ricardo Menéndez March Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Responding to the allegations, Green Party MP Ricardo Menéndez March said the Greens wanted to put forward a motion that centred on victims, remained consistent with standing orders and avoided enflaming tensions surrounding the conflict. "We proposed alternative wording, as we understood [that] what the ACT Party had proposed was not consistent with standing orders - in particular SO 102(1), quote '… include only such material as may be necessary to identify the facts or matter to which the motion relates'," Menéndez March said. "The effect of SO 102 is that motions without notice of this kind are succinct statements of the House's recognition of tragedies and significant events," he said. "We would have been entirely supportive of a statement of that kind on the tragic Kashmir attack, consistent with the types of motions without notice that are regularly used in the House," he said. "We proposed an alternative that acknowledged the tragedy in Kashmir but fit within the standing orders. "We would have been open to negotiating this further with Parmjeet, however, we only heard back from them 20 minutes before Question Time." Prithi Pal Singh Basra Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom Prithi Pal Singh Basra, chairperson of the New Zealand Central Sikh Association, said the issue was important to the Indian community. "My family has been in New Zealand for over 100 years," Basra said. "Still, we are culturally and socially linked to India. All of us have strong family ties even now. What happens there affects us here." Former National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi called on Indian New Zealanders to be ambassadors for their homeland. "Talk to as many as locals as possible and explain what is happening in India [in terms of terrorism]," he said. Siva Kilari, a former National Party candidate for Manurewa, called on mainstream media to reach out to members of the Indian community when reporting on South Asia issues. "I urge the New Zealand media to make use of the almost 300,000 [people of Indian origin] we have here to understand a complicated place like the Indian subcontinent," Kilari said. Sunny Kaushal, chair of the ministerial advisory group on retail crime, termed terrorism a global issue. "Terrorism has no religion, no race, no nationality and no place in the world," he said. "New Zealand should always send a united message against any act of terrorism in the world." Dinesh Pahuja Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom Dinesh Pahuja, a spokesperson for the event, acknowledged the condemnation of the April terrorist attack by the government. Both Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have repeatedly issued statements condemning the attack. "On 22 April, India suffered a devastating terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir," Luxon said early May at a business event welcoming Pabritra Margherita , India's minister of state for external affairs, to New Zealand. "New Zealand condemns terrorism, and we sent our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of the attack." "[But] the government is not the voice of the nation, Parliament is," Pahuja said. "It was our expectation all lawmakers condemned the act of terrorism in Kashmir in one united voice, which unfortunately didn't happen."
RNZ News
5 days ago
- RNZ News
New Zealand's invisible children
Photo: janfaukner/123RF When Helen Clark's Labour government brought in a law that would create waves of undocumented children, even the immigration experts had no idea of the impact it would have on thousands of lives. The 2006 Citizenship Amendment Act ended automatic citizenship for children born here to overstayers or parents with temporary visas. It was also supported by the National party. Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont has been working in the sector for more than 25 years, but only recently discovered the fallout from the law. "It never really occurred to me that this would actually be a problem," he says. "It was only really when these children started coming forward that I thought 'this is really unusual, I wonder how many other children are in this sort of situation'. "It is only recent because these children are now finishing high school and realising that their life has now come to an end, they don't have any options as to what to do." They are called 'the invisible children', says RNZ immigration reporter Gill Bonnett. They are mainly children of overstayers or temporary visa holders from Pacific countries, India or China. She's known about them for many years, but they have been hidden or protected by their parents and communities. "These people don't want to come forward because they are scared about the consequences of doing so and they don't want to speak up either in the media or necessarily don't want to put their case in front of immigration officials in case it means that they or their parents get deported." The case of Daman Kumar brought the issue to light, she says, when he bravely spoke to RNZ Asia reporter Blessen Tom two years ago . At the time, the teenager's voice was disguised and he went unnamed for fear that he would be deported to India, along with his parents. This year he hit the headlines and his identity was revealed when he was on the verge of deportation. "He'd been able to go to school okay but when it came to thinking about university or work he realised that he had nowhere to go," says Bonnett. To further complicate the matter, Kumar's sister was unaffected because she was born before the 2006 law, meaning she is legally a New Zealand citizen. And it is not unique to the Kumar family, Bonnett says. She explains to The Detail what was happening in New Zealand when the law was brought in, including the sense of moral panic. At the time Helen Clark said she was concerned about incidents of people flying to New Zealand for a short time and having babies here to ensure they gained passports, known as "birth tourism". Clark said the government would be silly not to look at this, given what other countries were doing. "They call it the 'anchor babies'," says Bonnett. "The idea that if your child had citizenship that later on in life you might be able to get citizenship yourself or that you would just be bestowing good privileges on them for later on." She says there were concerns on both sides of the ledger at the time, concerns on one side about birth tourism, where a child born on New Zealand soil would automatically get citizenship, and on the other side concerns about children who had lived here all their lives but didn't have citizenship. It is not clear how many children are undocumented, but McClymont says it could be thousands and the number will keep growing. "Every year now more and more children are going to be coming out of high school and realising that they can't study, they can't go and get jobs because it would be a breach of the law for employers to employ someone who's here unlawfully. So they can't work, they can't study, they can't travel, they just simply cannot do anything." McClymont says he has not had a satisfactory response from the government to his suggestion that New Zealand follow Australia and Britain by giving children birthright citizenship after 10 years of habitual residence. "Really, it's hard to see what the justification is for punishing these children. Nobody is making the argument that these children have done something wrong and that they deserve to be punished. "The only potential argument is that these children are being punished as a deterrent for others against having children here in New Zealand," he says. "It's just unfathomable as a society that we can actually do this to children and use them for this purpose. There doesn't seem to be any moral justification whatsoever for treating them so badly." Check out how to listen to and fol low The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
