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RNZ News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Blasts rock India-administered Kashmir, Amritsar as Pakistan conflict escalates
By Aftab Ahmed , Charlotte Greenfield and Shivam Patel , Reuters Men read local newspapers with frontpage articles on India-Pakistan conflict in Amritsar on 8 May, 2025 a day after India launched strikes on Pakistan. Photo: NARINDER NANU / AFP Blasts rang out across India-administered Kashmir and the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in neighbouring Punjab state late on Friday, with the Indian military saying they were shooting down drones in the worst fighting with Pakistan in nearly three decades. The explosions in Amritsar - the first heard in the three-day-old conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours - could mark a further expansion in the hostilities that have alarmed world powers Projectiles and flashes were seen in the night sky above the India-administered Kashmir city of Jammu that was plunged into a blackout in the second night of blasts in the region's winter capital, officials and a Reuters journalist said. "Drones have been sighted ... They are being engaged," said an Indian military official who asked not to be named. Ten blasts were heard near the airport in the India-administered Kashmir city of Srinagar and there were explosions in a dozen other locations in the contested region, other security officials added. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan which dismissed Indian accusations that it had launched attacks on the same area on Thursday night. The old foes have been clashing since India struck several areas that it described as "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan on Wednesday in retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in India-administered Kashmir last month. Pakistan dismissed Indian accusations that it was involved. Both countries have exchanged cross-border fire and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other's airspace. Around 48 people have been killed since Wednesday, according to casualty estimates on both sides of the border that have not been independently verified. Tourists and villagers fled border zones, residents rushed to stockpile food and people were told to stay indoors in cities in Kashmir and beyond. India's cricket board on Friday suspended the IPL - the sport's richest tournament - and the Pakistan Super League postponed its remaining eight matches. The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947. The countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, and clashed many times. India's airforce earlier said Pakistan used Turkish drones to attack 36 locations on India's west and northwest, in Kashmir and further afield in states bordering Pakistan all the way to the edge of the Arabian Sea on Thursday night into Friday morning. India responded with drones on targets in Pakistan and destroyed one air defence system, Indian Air Force officer Vyomika Singh told a media briefing. Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had dismissed earlier Indian accusations of Pakistani attacks as "baseless and misleading" and said Pakistan had not carried out any "offensive actions". In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, officials said heavy shelling from across the border killed five civilians, including an infant, and wounded 29 others in the early hours of Friday. The fighting is the deadliest since a limited conflict between the two countries in Kashmir's Kargil region in 1999. Sirens had blared for more than two hours earlier on Friday in Amritsar, which houses the Golden Temple revered by Sikhs. Tourists fled the city by road as the airport was closed. "We really wanted to stay but the loud sounds, sirens, and blackouts are giving us sleepless nights. Our families back home are worried for us so we have booked a cab and are leaving," said a British national who did not want to be named. Schools and coaching centres were closed in the Bikaner region of India's desert state of Rajasthan, and residents near the Pakistan border said they were asked to move further away and consider moving in with relatives or using accommodation arranged by the government. Further south in Bhuj in Gujarat, authorities said tourist buses had been kept on standby in case they needed to evacuate people near the Pakistan border. India's Directorate General of Shipping directed all ports, terminals and shipyards to increase security, amid "growing concerns regarding potential threats". Indian shares fell for a second straight session on Friday, losing about US$83 billion in market value, with both key stock indexes losing 1.1 percent. Pakistan's benchmark share index closed 3.52 percent higher with traders crediting a fall off in violence in Pakistani territory after Thursday's clashes. - Reuters
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pakistan tests missile amid India standoff, Moody's warns of economic cost
By Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Charlotte Greenfield ISLAMABAD/BELA NOOR SHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan carried out a second missile test in three days on Monday after saying it was preparing for an incursion by India, as Moody's warned that the standoff over violence in Kashmir could set back Islamabad's economic reforms. Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have nosedived since gunmen killed 26 people on April 22 in an attack targeting Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir, the worst such assault on civilians in India in nearly two decades. India has accused Pakistan of involvement. Islamabad has denied the allegations but said it has intelligence that New Delhi intends to launch military action against it soon. The diplomatic flare-up and exchanges of small arms fire across the border in Kashmir has alarmed world and regional powers. Moody's said the standoff could hurt Pakistan's $350 billion economy, which is on a path to recovery after securing a $7 billion bailout programme from the International Monetary Fund last year and staving off a default threat. "Sustained escalation in tensions with India would likely weigh on Pakistan's growth and hamper the government's ongoing fiscal consolidation, setting back Pakistan's progress in achieving macroeconomic stability," Moody's said. "A persistent increase in tensions could also impair Pakistan's access to external financing and pressure its foreign-exchange reserves," it added. The report comes two days after Reuters reported that India has asked the IMF to review its loans to Pakistan. India's economy is not expected to see major disruptions since it has "minimal economic relations" with Pakistan - although higher defence spending could weigh on New Delhi's fiscal strength and slow fiscal consolidation, Moody's added. MISSILE TEST The Himalayan region of Kashmir lies at the heart of decades of hostility between Hindu-majority India and Islamist Pakistan, both of which claim it in full but rule it in part. India has accused its neighbour of supporting Islamist separatists battling security forces in its part of the region. Pakistan says it only provides diplomatic and moral support for Kashmiris seeking self-determination. The Pakistani army said it had tested a Fatah series surface-to-surface missile with a range of 120 km (75 miles), two days after a successful launch of the Abdali surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of 450 km. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the successful test launch "made it clear that Pakistan's defence is in strong hands". In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told visiting journalists that there was no communication channel open with India at the moment. The missile test came as Iran's foreign minister, who earlier said his country was ready to help India and Pakistan "forge greater understanding" after the attack, was in Pakistan to meet leaders. He will visit India on Thursday. Russia said on Monday it was following the situation with great concern and that it valued its ties with both countries. President Vladimir Putin "strongly condemned" the Kashmir attack in a call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed full support to India in its "fight against terrorism", India's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on X. Pakistan said on Monday it will "formally apprise" the United Nations Security Council of the situation and call upon it "to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security by taking appropriate measures".
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Head of Pakistan-administered Kashmir calls for international mediation
By Charlotte Greenfield ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The head of the Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir called for international mediation and said on Wednesday that his administration was preparing a humanitarian response in case of any further escalation between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. Pakistan's government has said it has "credible intelligence" that India intends to launch military action soon after days of escalating tensions following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for the April 22 attack, which left 26 people dead, which Islamabad has denied. "There is a lot of activity going on and anything could happen so we have to prepare for it. These few days are very important," president of Pakistan-administered Kashmir Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry told Reuters in an interview, calling for rapid international diplomacy to de-escalate the situation. "We expect some mediation at this time from some friendly countries and we hope that that mediation must take place, otherwise India would do anything this time," he said. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates could be in a position to mediate, he added. Chaudhry also said he hoped major players like the United States and Britain might also get involved. He said activity along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the two portions of Kashmir was "hot" and that Pakistan had shot down two Indian drones in the last few days. There had been regular firing by Pakistani and Indian soldiers day and night, though so far there had been no casualties, he said. Pakistan had also detected Indian Rafale fighter jets flying near the LoC, though they had not crossed, he added. The Indian Air Force did not respond to a request for comment, though an Indian military official said Rafale jets were doing their usual training and drills along the LoC. Chaudhry said he had not received intelligence on when and where India was expected to strike, but his administration was working with groups such as the Red Crescent Society to prepare extra medical and food supplies in case of any conflict. "Red Crescent are working on it and we are working on displaced people in affected areas," he said. He said that the international community also needed to pay more attention to Kashmir's long-term future. "I think this is the right time for the international community as a whole and the U.N. to play some mediating role in Kashmir," he said. "It's been a very long time and the people of Kashmir have suffered a lot." Pakistan-administered Kashmir has its own elected government but Pakistan handles major issues like defence and its residents hold many of the rights of Pakistani citizens. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to Pakistan and India on Tuesday, stressing the need to avoid confrontation. The U.S. and Britain have also called for calm.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pakistan preparing to challenge India's suspension of water treaty, minister says
By Charlotte Greenfield ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan is preparing international legal action over India's suspension of a key river water-sharing treaty, a government minister told Reuters, as tensions intensify between the neighbours following an attack on tourists in India-administered Kashmir. Aqeel Malik, the Minister of State for Law and Justice, told Reuters late on Monday that Islamabad was working on plans for at least three different legal options, including raising the issue at the World Bank - the treaty's facilitator. It was also considering taking action at the Permanent Court of Arbitration or at the International Court of Justice in the Hague where it could allege that India has violated the 1960 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, he said. "Legal strategy consultations are almost complete," Malik said, adding the decision on which cases to pursue would be made "soon" and would likely include pursuing more than one avenue. India's water resources officials did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. India last week suspended the World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 after the attack in Kashmir, saying it would last until "Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism". Islamabad denies any involvement in the attack in which 26 people were killed. India says two of three assailants it has identified were from Pakistan. Islamabad has said "any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan ... will be considered as an act of war". Pakistan has also suspended all trade with India and closed its airspace to Indian airlines. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Kashmir, which they both rule in part but claim in full. The treaty is an agreement for the distribution and use of waters from the Indus River and its tributaries, which feed 80% of Pakistan's irrigated agriculture and its hydropower. It has been operational until now despite the wars and other periodic bouts of hostility between the two nations. Malik added that a fourth diplomatic option that Islamabad was considering was to raise the issue at the United Nations Security Council. "All the options are on the table and we are pursuing all appropriate and competent forums to approach," he said. "The treaty cannot be suspended unilaterally and cannot be held in abeyance, there is not (such a) provision within the treaty," said Malik. Kushvinder Vohra, a recently retired head of India's Central Water Commission said: "There are very limited options (for Pakistan) ... I can say that there are solid grounds for us to defend our (India's) action." Government officials and experts on both sides say India cannot stop water flows immediately, because the treaty has allowed it to only build hydropower plants without significant storage or dams on the three rivers allocated to Pakistan. But things could start changing in a few months and farmers, already hit by climate-change related water shortages, have raised concerns.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Taliban minister expresses concern to Pakistan over Afghan repatriation drive
By Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Charlotte Greenfield KABUL/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Taliban's acting foreign minister on Saturday expressed "concern and sadness" during a rare meeting with Pakistan's foreign minister over the deportation of tens of thousands of Afghans, according to a statement. Pakistan has expelled more than 80,000 Afghan nationals since the end of March, a senior official said on Friday, as part of a renewed surge in a repatriation drive that began in 2023. But Saturday's meeting marked a possible thaw in relations for the neighbouring countries, whose forces have also clashed violently in recent months. Islamabad says Islamist militants who have carried out attacks in Pakistan have safe havens in Afghanistan, a charge Kabul denies. Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar travelled to Kabul for the one-day visit to discuss security and commerce, the first such visit by Pakistan since 2022. The Taliban administration's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said in a statement he "expressed deep concern and sadness over the situation of Afghan migrants in Pakistan and their forced deportation." "He strongly urged Pakistani officials to prevent the violation of the rights of Afghans residing in or arriving in Pakistan," the statement said, adding that they also discussed a boost to bilateral trade and ensuring returning Afghans could take the proceeds of their property in Pakistan with them. Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement that Dar: "emphasised the paramount importance of addressing all pertinent issues, particularly those related to security and border management, in order to fully realise the potential for regional trade and connectivity." Tensions between the nations have run high, with Pakistan carrying out airstrikes on Afghan territory last year and a key border crossing between the two countries being closed for almost a month in February amid clashes between forces from both sides.
