Latest news with #Indian-IllegallyOccupied
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Modi opens Chenab bridge
This photograph taken and released by the Indian Press Information Bureau (PIB) on 6 June 2025 shows India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding national flag during the inauguration of the Chenab Rail Bridge in Reasi, Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Photo AFP Listen to article Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first visit to the Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Friday since a conflict with arch-rival Pakistan, opening a strategic railway line to the contested region he called "the crown jewel of India". "Pakistan will never forget... its shameful loss," the Hindu nationalist premier told crowds a month since India launched strikes on its neighbour after an attack on tourists in Kashmir. "Friends, today's event is a grand festival of India's unity and firm resolve," Modi said after striding across the soaring bridge to formally launch it for rail traffic. "This is a symbol and celebration of rising India," he said of the Chenab Bridge which connects two mountains. New Delhi calls the Chenab span the "world's highest railway arch bridge", sitting 359 metres (1,117 feet) above a river. While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China. The new route will facilitate the movement of people and goods, as well as troops, that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and by air. Around 150 people protested against the project on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad in Azad jammu and Kashmir. "We want to tell India that building bridges and laying roads in the name of development will not make the people of Kashmir give up their demand for freedom," said Azir Ahmad Ghazali, who organised the rally attended by Kashmiris who fled unrest on the Indian side in the 1990s. "In clear and unequivocal terms, we want to say to the Indian government that the people of Kashmir have never accepted India's forced rule." Modi also announced further government financial support for families whose relatives were killed, or whose homes were damaged, during the brief conflict --- mainly in shelling along the Line of Control. "Their troubles are our troubles," Modi said.
Express Tribune
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Indian soldier killed in IIOJK battle
Listen to article An Indian soldier was killed on Thursday during heavy clashes with freedom fighters in Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the army said, reporting that a "fierce gunfight" was ongoing. The soldier had "sustained grievous injuries in the exchange of fire" and had died "despite best medical efforts", the Indian army's White Knight Corps said. The army said earlier on Thursday it was carrying out operations with police to "neutralize the terrorists" and that reinforcements had been called in. The clashes in Kishtwar, around 125 kilometres southeast of Srinagar, come a month after the deadly April 22 attack on Indian tourists in Kashmir, which sent relations between India and Pakistan spiralling towards a war.
Express Tribune
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Three people martyred in IIOJK
Mehbooba Mufti has been advised to snap the internet, after videos of violence by the Indian forces on Kashmiris went viral. PHOTO: AFP/FILE Indian security forces martyred three people in the Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday in a gun battle, according to media reports. The clash happened in Keller forest in the southern Kashmir valley, the army said. The site is around 65 kilometres from Pahalgam, where gunmen in April killed 26 people, mostly male Hindu tourists, sparking the worst fighting between India and Pakistan since 1999. A "search and destroy Operation" was launched leading to a clash, the Indian army said on X. Schools have reopened their doors in Chakothi, a village along the Line of Contron in Azad Jammu and Kashif, as well as in Srinagar, a key city in IIOJK. Syeda Zohra Kazmi, a 13-year-old student in AJK, returned to school after it was "closed due to shelling". "Shells also landed near our house, and splinters hit it. But I told my family that I would go to school today because it is reopening," she told AFP. "I am not afraid of the shelling". A post from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's X account on Tuesday said he had met with service members involved in the conflict.
Express Tribune
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
UNSC briefed on Pak-India standoff
Pakistan on Monday apprised the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) of the prevailing tensions in South Asia after the killing of 26 people in the Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) tourist resort of Pahalgam. The UNSC went into an emergency in-camera session on Pakistan's request and received a briefing from Pakistan's Permanent Representative Ambassador Asim Iftikhar. The meeting was attended by all 15 members, including the five-permanent veto-wielding powers. "Pakistan is grateful to the members of the UNSC for their attention and engagement," Ambassador Iftikhar told reporters, while briefing the media. He described the Kashmir issue as a longstanding dispute between Pakistan and India, saying that it has been lingering since the last 70 years. He expressed strong reservations over India's recent unilateral actions and said that Pakistan had raised an effective voice against Indian actions in the Security Council. "Pakistan is always ready to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said. Ambassador Iftikhar expressed reservations over India's unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), calling it a violation of the international law. He condemned atrocities of Indian forces in IIOJK and said that the oppression and persecution of unarmed and innocent Kashmiris continued unabated. About the Pahalgam attack, the Pakistani delegate condemned the incident and made it clear that Pakistan had nothing to do with it. "Pakistan is ready to fully cooperate in a transparent, independent and international investigation into the incident," he added. He stressed that sustainable peace in South Asia was not possible without the resolution of the Kashmir issue and urged the solution to this issue should be in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. "The Kashmir dispute cannot be resolved without the participation of the Kashmiri people." The Pakistani delegate said that India's actions posed serious threats to peace and security of the region, and stressed that talks were the only way to peace. "Pakistan is always ready for talks based on the principles of mutual respect, dignity and sovereignty.
Business Recorder
05-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Sustained Pakistan-India tensions could derail Islamabad's economic recovery, warns Moody's
Moody's Ratings, previously known as Moody's Investors Service, has warned that a 'sustained escalation in tensions with India would likely weigh on Pakistan's growth' and hamper Islamabad's ongoing fiscal consolidation, 'setting back Pakistan's progress in achieving macroeconomic stability'. The global credit rating agency, in its report on Monday, noted that Pakistan's macroeconomic conditions have been improving, with growth gradually rising, inflation declining, and foreign-exchange reserves increasing amid continued progress in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. However, it cautioned that 'a persistent increase in tensions could also impair Pakistan's access to external financing and pressure its foreign-exchange reserves, which remain well below what is required to meet its external debt payment needs for the next few years.' The statement comes amid a sharp escalation of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours following the 22 April deadly attack by suspected militants on tourists in the Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) Pahalgam area. 'Following the attack, India and Pakistan's diplomatic relations have deteriorated,' said Moody's. India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which could severely reduce Pakistan's water supply. In response, Pakistan suspended the 1972 Simla peace treaty with India, halted bilateral trade and closed its airspace to Indian airlines, it added. On the other hand, macroeconomic conditions in India 'would be stable, bolstered by moderating but still high levels of growth amid strong public investment and healthy private consumption'. 'In a scenario of sustained escalation in localised tensions, we do not expect major disruptions to India's economic activity because it has minimal economic relations with Pakistan (less than 0.5% of India's total exports in 2024). 'However, higher defence spending would potentially weigh on India's fiscal strength and slow its fiscal consolidation,' it stated. India-Pakistan tensions hit tourism in Kashmiri valley Moody's assumed that 'flare-ups will occur periodically, as they have throughout the two sovereigns' post-independence history, but that they will not lead to an outright, broad-based military conflict'.
