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Arab News
16 hours ago
- General
- Arab News
‘Nothing left': Indian artillery strike wipes out three generations of women at Azad Kashmir home
Abbaspur, POONCH: Blackened from the explosion, shards of a tin roof loosely hang from the branches of a wild apricot tree in the border village of Chaffar in Azad Kashmir's Poonch district. What once used to be a modest kitchen is now littered with shattered stone, twisted metal and rubble. It was here that a mortar shell struck hours before a ceasefire was announced between Pakistan and India. The Indian mortar shell instantly killed three generations of women, a mother, her daughter-in-law and two-year-old granddaughter, on the morning of May 10. India and Pakistan engaged in a four-day military conflict that killed around 70 people on both sides last month, with the two nations attacking each other with fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery until the United States (US) brokered a ceasefire. Wajid Kayani, a Pakistani army soldier posted in Lahore at the time of the strikes, took heavy, reluctant steps as he led Arab News to a heap of rubble where his wife, mother and infant daughter had breathed their last in the wake of the cross-border skirmishes. '[Just a night before], I had spoken to my mother and wife over the phone. They were both worried about the shelling,' he said. 'My mother told me and my younger brother [also a soldier], 'May God protect you both. If someone has to go [die], let it be me.' That's what she said… and I can't forget it. It's unbearable,' Kayani said as he broke down. The deceased women were identified as Qaisra Bibi, Kayani's mother, his wife Areesha Qayyum and their daughter Hadiya Wajid, who would have turned two on May 27. All three of them were inside the kitchen for morning tea when the first shell struck the house, according to the family. Another shell landed just meters away, striking a tree and punching holes into the surrounding walls. The kitchen, once used to prepare meals for a large joint family, now wears the look of a charred, cratered space. Broken plates, half-melted pots and a ruined gas cylinder are scattered around. Faiz Muhammad Kayani, the 70-year-old head of the family, struggled to speak as he entered the drawing room of the house with the help of a walking stick. Dozens of mourners have been visiting the family since the attack, but the elderly man, father to three sons and four daughters, is unable to come to terms with the horror he witnessed. That morning, Faiz was at his younger son's adjacent house and was coming to feed the livestock when he heard the shell strike his elder son's house. 'I ran… I ran fast. But what was left to see? There was nothing left… just mud and stones,' he said in a shallow voice. 'They were buried underneath.' The 70-year-old fell silent before excusing himself from further conversation. Bitter rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars, including two over the disputed region of Kashmir, since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety but rule it in part. The latest conflict was sparked by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir's Pahalgam town that killed 26 tourists on April 22. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which Islamabad denied and called for a credible, international probe. 'SCATTERED ACROSS BUSHES' Kayani's younger brother, Muhammad Sajid Kayani, also a soldier posted in Azad Kashmir's Kotli sector, reached the house around 2 p.m. on the day of the tragedy. 'Despite the shock, [our] father pulled out the first body. Her [sister-in-law Qayyum] legs had been blown off,' Sajid said. Their neighbors were unable to help as the shelling continued for hours. Sajid's sister, who lived nearby, arrived shortly afterward and began searching for their mother. 'She found only our mother's face. The rest of her body was scattered across the bushes. We had to collect the limbs piece by piece,' Sajid said. 'She found my little niece Hadiya under the rubble. Her left arm was missing. Her stomach was ripped open, and her intestines were outside.' But Hadiya was not the only child hit by the artillery fire. 'One of our nieces was just stepping inside through the kitchen door into the main house when the shell hit,' Sajid said. 'She was badly injured, shrapnel tore through her legs. She's still recovering.' The family held the funeral by 2:30 p.m. on May 10, hours before their eldest son, Kayani, could return home from Lahore. 'I couldn't even attend the burial of my wife, daughter, and mother,' Kayani said, citing heavy shelling and road closures as the reasons. The two brothers returned to the wreckage the following day to search for anything left. 'We started clearing mud and lifting stones. That's when we found more of our mother's remains, her abdomen, and other parts. It must've weighed around 20 kgs. We buried them in a separate grave,' Wajid said. 'On the third day, we found even more, collected in a [huge metal] plate, and buried again in the same cemetery.' Kayani's daughter, Hadiya, was laid to rest in the same grave as her mother, Areesha. Her small body was torn apart by the attack and the family had no choice but to bury them together, given the intense shelling and chaos at the time. His older daughter, just four years old, survived the attack. Her trauma, however, continues to run deep. 'She flinches at every little thing,' Kayani said. 'She barely speaks anymore… just sits there, quiet. Too quiet.'
Arab News
6 days ago
- General
- Arab News
Two police officers, four Pakistani Taliban killed in rare raid in Azad Kashmir
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan: Security forces acting on intelligence raided a militant hideout in Azad Kashmir, triggering a shootout that left two police officers and four Pakistani Taliban fighters dead, police said Thursday. The rare overnight raid was carried out in the Rawalakot district, according to Abdul Jabbar, the police chief in Kashmir, which is split between Pakistan and India and claimed in full by both countries in its entirety. Jabbar said the killed militants were members of the Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP and are allies of the Afghan Taliban. He alleged the TTP is acting as a proxy for India and said police thwarted an attempt by the insurgents to create a base for future attacks. There was no immediate response from New Delhi. While Pakistani security forces frequently target TTP hideouts in the restive northwest and elsewhere, such operations in Kashmir are rare. TTP is a separate group and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Many TTP leaders and fighters have since found sanctuary in Afghanistan.
Arab News
25-05-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Pakistani top minister hints at increasing defense budget weeks after military standoff with India
KARACHI: Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal hinted this week there could be an increase in Pakistan's defense allocation in the budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, due to be announced next month, weeks after a military standoff with India that alarmed the world. Pakistan and India attacked each other with missiles, drones and artillery earlier this month after tensions surged over an attack in April on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad has denied the charge. 'We want to try and put the least burden on the common man but right now I believe it is our national duty that in this budget we give our armed forces the resources they need to strengthen our defense capabilities so that our defense can be safe even in the future,' Iqbal said in remarks to reporters when asked about reports of an increase in the defense allocation for the new fiscal year. The conflict with New Delhi escalated on May 7 after India first hit Pakistan and Azad Kashmir with missiles, and Pakistan retaliated, saying it had downed six Indian fighter jets. Fighting between the two nations continuing for four days, with missile and drone strikes on each other's military facilities and airfields as well as increased gunfire exchanges on the de facto LoC border. A ceasefire was reached on May 10. 'This has been established that our neighbor is a dangerous enemy, who once again attempted to attack us in the dark of night, but we punished them by fully responding to this offense and it [India] will definitely think a hundred times before committing such an aggression next time,' Iqbal added. 'However, our duty is to stay alert and prepared all the time so that if someone commits such a mistake in future, then it could be responded to more effectively.' Two days after the ceasefire, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan New Delhi would target 'terrorist hideouts' across the border again if there were new attacks on India and would not be deterred by what he called Islamabad's 'nuclear blackmail.' 'In the coming days, we will measure every step of Pakistan... what kind of attitude Pakistan will adopt,' Modi said, adding that India had only 'paused' strikes. In a report published on Saturday, Tola Associates, a major tax advisory and consultancy firm, proposed raising the defense budget to Rs2.8 trillion, a 32 percent increase compared to the last fiscal year, owing to a 'war-like situation' with India. 'The budgeted defense expenditure stood at Rs2,122 billion for FY25 while the actual expenditure till March 2025 was Rs1,424 billion. [However], due to the ongoing war situation with the neighboring country, defense spending may increase by up to 50 percent in the Q4FY25,' the report said. 'Given the current regional tensions and the need to ensure Pakistan's defense preparedness, we estimate total defense spending to reach Rs2.4 trillion by June 2025.' Pakistan's historically large defense budget is attributed to a complex interplay of factors, primarily driven by regional security concerns and internal challenges. These include the perceived security threat from India as well as internal instability and security threats like terrorism. Additionally, debt servicing and the allocation of resources toward military interests have also played a role in shaping the budget.
Arab News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Sifting through the rubble of latest Pakistan-India conflict
NEELUM VALLEY, Pakistan: Two weeks after Pakistan and India's most intense military clashes in decades, clearance teams along the border comb through fields for unexploded shells so residents can safely build back from the rubble of their homes. Around 70 people, mostly Pakistanis, were killed in the four-day conflict that spread beyond divided Kashmir, over which the neighbors have fought three major wars. The military confrontation — involving intense tit-for-tat drone, missile, aerial combat and artillery exchanges — came to an abrupt end after US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire, which is still holding. On the Pakistan side of Kashmir, called Azad Kashmir, 500 buildings were damaged or destroyed, including nearly 50 in the picturesque Neelum Valley, where two people were killed. 'There is a possibility that there are unexploded shells still embedded in the ground,' said local official Muhammad Kamran, who has been helping clear educational institutions near the border. Unexploded ordnance dating from conflicts past killed several children in 2021 and 2022 in Azad Kashmir. Headmaster Muhammad Zubair follows a mine detector into a classroom of his high school in the valley where a writing on a whiteboard standing in the debris reads 'we are brave' in English. 'Although the fighting has stopped, people still hold so much fear and anxiety,' he told AFP. 'Despite calling them back to school, children are not showing up.' Abdul Rasheed, a power department official, said he worked 'day and night' to repair power lines damaged by Indian firing. Over the years, investment in roads has helped to create a modest tourism sector in the Neelum Valley, attracting Pakistanis who come to marvel at the Himalayan mountains. Hotels reopened on Monday, but they remain deserted in the middle of peak season. Alif Jan, 76, who has lived through multiple clashes between the two sides, is yet to call her grandchildren back to her border village after sending them away during the latest hostilities. 'It was a very difficult time. It was like doomsday had arrived,' she said. The children were sent to Azad Kashmir's main city of Muzaffarabad, usually safe but this time targeted with an Indian air strike. Jan wants to be certain the fighting doesn't resume and that she has enough to feed them before they eventually return. In a schoolyard, she collects a 20-kilogram (45-pound) bag of flour, a can of oil, and some medicine from a local NGO. Thousands of other families are still waiting to be relocated or compensated for damage. 'We have identified 5,000 families,' said Fawad Aslam, the program manager of local aid group. 'Our first priority is families who suffered direct damage, while the second priority is those who were forced to migrate — people who had to leave their homes and are now living in camps or temporary shelters.' For 25-year-old Numan Butt whose brother was killed by shrapnel, the aid is little consolation. 'This conflict keeps coming upon us; this oppression is ongoing,' he told AFP. 'It is a good thing that they have agreed to peace, but the brother I have lost will never come back.'
Arab News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
‘Can't believe he's gone': Azad Kashmir family mourns newlywed killed by cross-border shelling
BAGH, AZAD KASHMIR: The walls of late Usama Ishrat's modest two-room house in Azad Kashmir are pocked with gaping mortar holes, impossible to miss for anyone visiting the family. Shards of glass still cling to a nearby window, a stark reminder of the devastation unleashed by Indian shelling last week. Residents living near the border in the disputed Kashmir region — administered in parts by bitter rivals India and Pakistan — have long borne the brunt of cross-border fire whenever tensions escalate. The latest flare-up, from Wednesday to Saturday, saw both sides trade drones, missiles, fighter jets and artillery fire. In just four days, May 8 to 11, at least 31 people were killed and 123 injured across various districts of Azad Kashmir, according to official figures. Among the dead was 22-year-old Usama Ishrat, a cashier at a local store in Bagh district. The eldest of six siblings, Ishrat had been married only days earlier, on April 26 — less than two weeks before his life was cut short by shelling on Friday. 'I married him off with great joy,' a grief-stricken Shakeela Khanum, Ishrat's mother, told Arab News. 'He was married for just 13 days. With henna still on, the bride and groom got separated like this.' Ishrat Mehmood, the father, recalled that the attack took place at dawn on Friday, while he was standing outside his house. As mortar shells rained down, he fell and blacked out. He regained consciousness when his daughter collapsed beside him, and rushed her inside, only to find that his other two daughters had also been wounded. That's when he heard his daughter-in-law's screams. 'I thought, 'Maybe she got hit too.' When I went there, I saw my son was drenched in blood,' he added. Mehmood said his wounded son, bleeding from a large head injury, appeared to look at them once before passing away. 'A little bit of his brain had come out from here,' Mehmood said, gesturing toward his head. 'He was martyred right there on the spot.' Ehsam, Ishrat's 12-year-old brother, picked up the pillow where Usama drew his final breath. His hand was immediately stained with dried blood. The pillow and its cover had already been separated. When the cover was unfolded, parts of what still appeared to carry the remnants of Ishrat's brain matter could be seen. 'My brother's brain…parts of it are still on this,' Ehsam said. From the next room, Ishrat's wife could be heard sobbing. Her family had arrived to take her back as she prepared for 'iddah,' the mourning period women in Islam are required to observe following the husband's death or in the event of a divorce. The attack had also wounded Khanum, who said a splinter had injured her leg. 'Don't know, a fragment or something is still inside,' she said. 'Today, I am feeling it is still inside. I didn't even try to get it out.' Two of her daughters are being treated at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad. The world breathed a sigh of relief when US President Donald Trump announced Washington had brokered a ceasefire between the two hostile neighbors on Saturday. After initial accusations of violations by both sides, the ceasefire continues to hold. But for Ishrat's family, the damage has been done. 'I want to say this to the whole world that they agreed to a ceasefire between themselves,' Ajmal Zulfiqar, his cousin, told Arab News. 'But our beloved is gone. He is not going to come back.'
