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BBC News
11-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Brookwood Military Cemetery is UK's largest war graves site
"I think it's really important that all of these graves are visited and that people know their stories."That's what Megan Maltby of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission told Radio Surrey about the largest war cemetery in Military Cemetery, which covers a 37-acre site near Woking, is home to 1,601 burials for people who died in World War One and 3,476 for people who died in World War nationalities of people laid to rest at the Surrey site include Commonwealth countries, wartime allies, as well as Germans and Italians. The land began as a civilian cemetery in the 19th Century but expanded into a military cemetery after WW1 broke of the youngest people known to be buried at the site is South African soldier Thomas Knowles, who Ms Maltby said is believed to be "part of a musical band that was travelling with the South African army".The 15-year-old died of influenza "like so many others in 1918", she Military Cemetery is also the resting place of 27 Indian soldiers, whose graves were moved from a different cemetery nearby in 1968 after vandalism incidents. George Cross recipient memorialised Among the names commemorated on the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial is Anglo-French spy Violette Szabo, who worked on behalf of the UK's Special Operations Executive in Allies trained Szabo as a field agent and sent her to France during its occupation to feed back useful Maltby said: "She was with some resistance fighters at the time they were stopped by a German patrol."She was captured by the Germans, she was interrogated, she was tortured, she was sadly put to death at a concentration camp."Szabo is one of only four women to be awarded the George Cross after she was posthumously given the gallantry McKenna portrayed the spy, who married a member of the French Resistance, in 1958 film Carve Her Name with Pride.
New York Times
10-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Live Updates: Trump Announces Truce Between India and Pakistan
A shikara, or water taxi, on Dal Lake in Kashmir in 1950. India and Pakistan have vied for control of the scenic Himalayan valley for decades. The military conflict between India and Pakistan expanded in the days after the first airstrikes that followed a deadly terrorist attack last month on the Indian-controlled side of the disputed Kashmir region. The confrontation was the latest escalation of a decades-long conflict over Kashmir, a scenic valley in the Himalayas that is wedged between the two nations. Kashmiris have rarely had a say in their own fate. Here is a history of the dispute. 1947 Fraught Beginnings Image Indian soldiers arriving in Srinagar, Kashmir, in November 1947 to fight Pakistani militias for control of the region. Credit... Bettmann Contention over Kashmir began nearly as soon as India and Pakistan were formed. In 1947, Britain divided India, its former colony, into two countries. One was Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. The other, made up mostly of Hindus, kept the name India. But Kashmir's fate was left undecided. Within months, both India and Pakistan had laid claim to the territory. A military confrontation ensued. The Hindu ruler of Kashmir, who had at first refused to abdicate his sovereignty, agreed to make the region part of India in exchange for a security guarantee, after militias from Pakistan moved into parts of his territory. What followed was the first war that India and Pakistan would fight over Kashmir. Years later, in 1961, the former ruler of Kashmir passed away in Bombay. In an obituary, The New York Times summarized his decision to cede the territory to India in words that would prove true for decades to come. His actions, the article said, had contributed to 'a continuing bitter dispute between India and Pakistan.' 1949 A Tenuous Cease-Fire afghanistan china Controlled by Pakistan boundary undefined line of control Pahalgam Controlled by India Militants killed 26 tourists on April 22 pakistan Disputed area PAK. INDIA India china Controlled by Pakistan boundary undefined pakistan line of control Controlled by India Pahalgam Disputed area Militant attack on April 22 PAK. INDIA India afghan. china Controlled by Pakistan boundary undefined pakistan line of control Controlled by India Pahalgam Militant attack on April 22 Disputed area PAK. INDIA India china Controlled by Pakistan boundary undefined line of control pakistan Pahalgam Controlled by India Militants killed 26 tourists on April 22 Disputed area PAK. India INDIA In January 1949, the first war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir concluded after the United Nations intervened to broker a cease-fire. Under the terms of the cease-fire, a line was drawn dividing the territory. India would occupy about two-thirds of the area, and Pakistan the other third. The dividing line was supposed to be temporary, pending a more permanent political settlement. 1965 War Breaks Out Again Image A picture dated Aug. 12, 1965, shows an Indian artillery team during the second war that India and Pakistan fought over Kashmir. Credit... Panasia-Files, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Tensions were already high between India and Pakistan in the summer of 1965. There had been a skirmish between their forces along the border earlier in the year, in an area south of Kashmir. When Pakistan conducted a covert offensive across Kashmir's cease-fire line in August, the fighting quickly escalated into a full-scale war. The clash was short-lived — only about three weeks long — but bloody. In January 1966, India and Pakistan signed an agreement to settle future disputes through peaceful means. But the peace would not last. 1972 An Official Division Image President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan, center, shaking hands with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India in June 1972 after they agreed to establish the 'line of control' in Kashmir. To Mr. Bhutto's left is his daughter Benazir Bhutto, who would become Pakistan's prime minister years later. Credit... Punjab Press, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images After a regional war in 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India decided to revisit the unsolved issue of Kashmir. In December 1972, the countries announced that they had resolved the deadlock over Kashmir's cease-fire line. But little changed besides the designation. The temporary cease-fire line from 1949 became an official 'line of control.' Each country retained the section of Kashmir that it had already held for more than 20 years. While the agreement did little to change the status quo in Kashmir, it came with an aspiration to improve the volatile relationship between India and Pakistan. Reporting on the deal from New Delhi, a Times correspondent wrote of the two countries: 'Official sources here indicated that they were satisfied with the settlement, which they said had been reached 'in an atmosphere of goodwill and mutual understanding.'' 1987 The Rise of Insurgency Image Indian police officers taking position after Kashmiri militants opened fire on government forces in Srinagar in 1989. Credit... Habib Naqash/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images During a period of particular political turmoil — aggravated in 1987 by disputes over local elections that many thought were rigged — some Kashmiris turned to militancy, which Pakistan would eventually stoke and support. Over the next decade or so, state police in Kashmir recorded tens of thousands of bombings, shootouts, abductions and rocket attacks. That violence began to moderate around the 2000s, but the years of intense insurgency had further eroded the fragile relationship between Pakistan and India. 1999 Peace Talks Come Up Short Image War raged over Kashmir between India and Pakistan in 1999, just months after the countries agreed to pursue a more lasting peace. Credit... Aijaz Rahi/Associated Press As a new millennium neared, India and Pakistan seemed poised to establish a more permanent peace. In a gesture of goodwill, Pakistan's prime minister hosted his Indian counterpart for a weekend of jocular diplomacy in February 1999. No Indian prime minister had visited Pakistan in a decade. The summit — between the leaders of adversaries that each now had nuclear arms — produced signed documents affirming their mutual commitment to normalizing relations. 'We must bring peace to our people,' Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, said at a news conference, as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India smiled at his side. 'We must bring prosperity to our people. We owe this to ourselves and to future generations.' Three months later, their countries were at war. Again, Kashmir was the point of discord. Fighting broke out after infiltrators from Pakistan seized positions within the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. India claimed that the infiltrators were Pakistani soldiers, which Western analysts would also come to believe. Pakistan denied that its forces were involved, insisting that independent freedom fighters were behind the operation. The war ended when Mr. Sharif called for the infiltrators to withdraw (he maintained all along that they were not Pakistani forces and that Pakistan did not control them). A few months later, Mr. Sharif was deposed in a military coup led by a Pakistani general who, it was later determined, had directed the military incursion that started the war. 2019 India Cracks Down Image Protesters throwing stones in Srinagar in August 2019, days after India stripped Kashmir of its partial autonomy. Credit... Atul Loke for The New York Times After the war in 1999, Kashmir remained one of the world's most militarized zones. Near-constant unrest in the territory brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war several times in the years that followed. The last major flare-up was in 2019, when a bombing in Kashmir killed at least 40 Indian soldiers. Indian warplanes conducted airstrikes in Pakistan in retaliation, but the conflict de-escalated before becoming an all-out war. A more lasting move came later that year, when the Indian government stripped Kashmir of a cherished status. For all of Kashmir's modern history — since its Hindu ruler acceded to India — the territory had enjoyed a degree of autonomy. Its relative independence was enshrined in India's Constitution. But in August 2019, India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, rolled back Kashmir's privileged status. The crackdown came with a quick succession of draconian measures: Thousands of Indian troops surged into the territory. Internet connections were severed. Phone lines were cut. Mr. Modi's government began directly administering the territory from New Delhi, and it imprisoned thousands of Kashmiris, including political leaders who had long sided with India in the face of separatist militancy. The government's heavy-handed approach stunned observers around the world. But the results, as far as India was concerned, justified the means. A new era of peace seemed to ensue. Acts of terrorism declined. Tourism flourished. It was an illusion. 2025 A Terrorist Attack Image Indian security officers near Pahalgam, in southern Kashmir, after gunmen attacked Indian tourists there on April 22. Credit... Dar Yasin/Associated Press On April 22, militants shot and killed 26 people, mostly tourists from different parts of India, near Pahalgam, Kashmir. Seventeen others were wounded. It was one of the worst terror attacks on Indian civilians in decades. Almost immediately afterward, Indian officials suggested that Pakistan had been involved. Mr. Modi, the prime minister, vowed severe punishment for the attackers and those giving them safe haven, though he did not explicitly mention Pakistan. Pakistan swiftly denied involvement and said it was 'ready to cooperate' with any international inquiry into the terrorist attack. But India was not placated. Its retaliatory move came on Wednesday. India said it struck sites in Pakistan and on Pakistan's side of Kashmir, after it accused Pakistan of being involved in the April attack. Pakistan denied those claims and vowed to retaliate, and witnesses and Indian officials said that at least two Indian jets had crashed. The clashes on Friday escalated into the two archrivals' most expansive military conflict in decades. India said that Pakistan had launched attacks using drones and other weapons along its entire western border, while Pakistan rejected those claims. Shelling and gunfire was exchanged on both sides of the disputed border, blacking out towns and killing civilians. Mujib Mashal , Salman Masood and John Yoon contributed reporting.
New York Times
10-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Live Updates: Trump Says U.S. Brokered Truce Between India and Pakistan
A shikara, or water taxi, on Dal Lake in Kashmir in 1950. India and Pakistan have vied for control of the scenic Himalayan valley for decades. The military conflict between India and Pakistan expanded in the days after the first airstrikes that followed a deadly terrorist attack last month on the Indian-controlled side of the disputed Kashmir region. The confrontation was the latest escalation of a decades-long conflict over Kashmir, a scenic valley in the Himalayas that is wedged between the two nations. Kashmiris have rarely had a say in their own fate. Here is a history of the dispute. 1947 Fraught Beginnings Image Indian soldiers arriving in Srinagar, Kashmir, in November 1947 to fight Pakistani militias for control of the region. Credit... Bettmann Contention over Kashmir began nearly as soon as India and Pakistan were formed. In 1947, Britain divided India, its former colony, into two countries. One was Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. The other, made up mostly of Hindus, kept the name India. But Kashmir's fate was left undecided. Within months, both India and Pakistan had laid claim to the territory. A military confrontation ensued. The Hindu ruler of Kashmir, who had at first refused to abdicate his sovereignty, agreed to make the region part of India in exchange for a security guarantee, after militias from Pakistan moved into parts of his territory. What followed was the first war that India and Pakistan would fight over Kashmir. Years later, in 1961, the former ruler of Kashmir passed away in Bombay. In an obituary, The New York Times summarized his decision to cede the territory to India in words that would prove true for decades to come. His actions, the article said, had contributed to 'a continuing bitter dispute between India and Pakistan.' 1949 A Tenuous Cease-Fire afghanistan china Controlled by Pakistan boundary undefined line of control Pahalgam Controlled by India Militants killed 26 tourists on April 22 pakistan Disputed area PAK. INDIA India china Controlled by Pakistan boundary undefined pakistan line of control Controlled by India Pahalgam Disputed area Militant attack on April 22 PAK. INDIA India afghan. china Controlled by Pakistan boundary undefined pakistan line of control Controlled by India Pahalgam Militant attack on April 22 Disputed area PAK. INDIA India china Controlled by Pakistan boundary undefined line of control pakistan Pahalgam Controlled by India Militants killed 26 tourists on April 22 Disputed area PAK. India INDIA In January 1949, the first war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir concluded after the United Nations intervened to broker a cease-fire. Under the terms of the cease-fire, a line was drawn dividing the territory. India would occupy about two-thirds of the area, and Pakistan the other third. The dividing line was supposed to be temporary, pending a more permanent political settlement. 1965 War Breaks Out Again Image A picture dated Aug. 12, 1965, shows an Indian artillery team during the second war that India and Pakistan fought over Kashmir. Credit... Panasia-Files, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Tensions were already high between India and Pakistan in the summer of 1965. There had been a skirmish between their forces along the border earlier in the year, in an area south of Kashmir. When Pakistan conducted a covert offensive across Kashmir's cease-fire line in August, the fighting quickly escalated into a full-scale war. The clash was short-lived — only about three weeks long — but bloody. In January 1966, India and Pakistan signed an agreement to settle future disputes through peaceful means. But the peace would not last. 1972 An Official Division Image President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan, center, shaking hands with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India in June 1972 after they agreed to establish the 'line of control' in Kashmir. To Mr. Bhutto's left is his daughter Benazir Bhutto, who would become Pakistan's prime minister years later. Credit... Punjab Press, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images After a regional war in 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India decided to revisit the unsolved issue of Kashmir. In December 1972, the countries announced that they had resolved the deadlock over Kashmir's cease-fire line. But little changed besides the designation. The temporary cease-fire line from 1949 became an official 'line of control.' Each country retained the section of Kashmir that it had already held for more than 20 years. While the agreement did little to change the status quo in Kashmir, it came with an aspiration to improve the volatile relationship between India and Pakistan. Reporting on the deal from New Delhi, a Times correspondent wrote of the two countries: 'Official sources here indicated that they were satisfied with the settlement, which they said had been reached 'in an atmosphere of goodwill and mutual understanding.'' 1987 The Rise of Insurgency Image Indian police officers taking position after Kashmiri militants opened fire on government forces in Srinagar in 1989. Credit... Habib Naqash/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images During a period of particular political turmoil — aggravated in 1987 by disputes over local elections that many thought were rigged — some Kashmiris turned to militancy, which Pakistan would eventually stoke and support. Over the next decade or so, state police in Kashmir recorded tens of thousands of bombings, shootouts, abductions and rocket attacks. That violence began to moderate around the 2000s, but the years of intense insurgency had further eroded the fragile relationship between Pakistan and India. 1999 Peace Talks Come Up Short Image War raged over Kashmir between India and Pakistan in 1999, just months after the countries agreed to pursue a more lasting peace. Credit... Aijaz Rahi/Associated Press As a new millennium neared, India and Pakistan seemed poised to establish a more permanent peace. In a gesture of goodwill, Pakistan's prime minister hosted his Indian counterpart for a weekend of jocular diplomacy in February 1999. No Indian prime minister had visited Pakistan in a decade. The summit — between the leaders of adversaries that each now had nuclear arms — produced signed documents affirming their mutual commitment to normalizing relations. 'We must bring peace to our people,' Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, said at a news conference, as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India smiled at his side. 'We must bring prosperity to our people. We owe this to ourselves and to future generations.' Three months later, their countries were at war. Again, Kashmir was the point of discord. Fighting broke out after infiltrators from Pakistan seized positions within the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. India claimed that the infiltrators were Pakistani soldiers, which Western analysts would also come to believe. Pakistan denied that its forces were involved, insisting that independent freedom fighters were behind the operation. The war ended when Mr. Sharif called for the infiltrators to withdraw (he maintained all along that they were not Pakistani forces and that Pakistan did not control them). A few months later, Mr. Sharif was deposed in a military coup led by a Pakistani general who, it was later determined, had directed the military incursion that started the war. 2019 India Cracks Down Image Protesters throwing stones in Srinagar in August 2019, days after India stripped Kashmir of its partial autonomy. Credit... Atul Loke for The New York Times After the war in 1999, Kashmir remained one of the world's most militarized zones. Near-constant unrest in the territory brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war several times in the years that followed. The last major flare-up was in 2019, when a bombing in Kashmir killed at least 40 Indian soldiers. Indian warplanes conducted airstrikes in Pakistan in retaliation, but the conflict de-escalated before becoming an all-out war. A more lasting move came later that year, when the Indian government stripped Kashmir of a cherished status. For all of Kashmir's modern history — since its Hindu ruler acceded to India — the territory had enjoyed a degree of autonomy. Its relative independence was enshrined in India's Constitution. But in August 2019, India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, rolled back Kashmir's privileged status. The crackdown came with a quick succession of draconian measures: Thousands of Indian troops surged into the territory. Internet connections were severed. Phone lines were cut. Mr. Modi's government began directly administering the territory from New Delhi, and it imprisoned thousands of Kashmiris, including political leaders who had long sided with India in the face of separatist militancy. The government's heavy-handed approach stunned observers around the world. But the results, as far as India was concerned, justified the means. A new era of peace seemed to ensue. Acts of terrorism declined. Tourism flourished. It was an illusion. 2025 A Terrorist Attack Image Indian security officers near Pahalgam, in southern Kashmir, after gunmen attacked Indian tourists there on April 22. Credit... Dar Yasin/Associated Press On April 22, militants shot and killed 26 people, mostly tourists from different parts of India, near Pahalgam, Kashmir. Seventeen others were wounded. It was one of the worst terror attacks on Indian civilians in decades. Almost immediately afterward, Indian officials suggested that Pakistan had been involved. Mr. Modi, the prime minister, vowed severe punishment for the attackers and those giving them safe haven, though he did not explicitly mention Pakistan. Pakistan swiftly denied involvement and said it was 'ready to cooperate' with any international inquiry into the terrorist attack. But India was not placated. Its retaliatory move came on Wednesday. India said it struck sites in Pakistan and on Pakistan's side of Kashmir, after it accused Pakistan of being involved in the April attack. Pakistan denied those claims and vowed to retaliate, and witnesses and Indian officials said that at least two Indian jets had crashed. The clashes on Friday escalated into the two archrivals' most expansive military conflict in decades. India said that Pakistan had launched attacks using drones and other weapons along its entire western border, while Pakistan rejected those claims. Shelling and gunfire was exchanged on both sides of the disputed border, blacking out towns and killing civilians. Mujib Mashal , Salman Masood and John Yoon contributed reporting.
Sky News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
India-Pakistan live: Pakistan says it has killed dozens of Indian soldiers - but questions about claims still unanswered
Pakistan says it has killed dozens of Indian soldiers in Kashmir, as it responds to Indian airstrikes. India targeted what it called "terrorist infrastructure" yesterday after an attack in its area of Kashmir last month. Listen to The World podcast below as you scroll.
Sky News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
India-Pakistan live: Pakistan says it has killed dozens of Indian soldiers; India responds with 'misinformation' accusation
Pakistan says it has killed dozens of Indian soldiers in Kashmir, as it responds to Indian airstrikes. India targeted what it called "terrorist infrastructure" yesterday after an attack in its area of Kashmir last month. Listen to The World podcast below as you scroll.
