Latest news with #Pakistan-administeredKashmir
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Branded a terrorist: Media adds agony to Kashmiri family's grief
Farooq Ahmed still bristles with anger when he talks about his brother's death. Mohammad Iqbal, a resident of Poonch city in Indian-administered Kashmir, died in cross-border shelling on 7 May, the morning after India launched a series of air strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in retaliation to a militant attack in the town of Pahalgam that killed 26 people. Pakistan has denied having any role in the attack. Mr Ahmed says that Iqbal died where he had worked for more than two decades - Zia-ul-Uloom, a madrassa, or a religious centre focused on Islamic teachings, in Poonch. But his death, it turned out, was just the beginning of the family's troubles. As the news spread, several media channels falsely accused Iqbal of being a terrorist, following which the police put out a statement refuting the claim. "My brother was a teacher but they saw his beard and skullcap and branded him a terrorist," Mr Ahmed says. "It was like having salt rubbed into our wounds. We had lost Iqbal and then the media defamed him. The dead can't defend themselves." Indian officials say that a total of 16 people, including Iqbal, were killed in the cross-border shelling during the four-day military conflict that broke out between India and Pakistan following the airstrikes. Pakistan has claimed 40 civilian deaths, though, it remains unclear how many of these were directly caused by the shelling. The two nuclear-armed countries have shared a tense relationship for decades, as both administer the Himalayan region of Kashmir in part, but claim it in full. They have fought three wars over Kashmir since independence from Britain in 1947 and came back from the brink of another one earlier this month. But as the military conflict escalated, another battle played out on social media - a disinformation war of claims and counterclaims that circulated online and on TV. Just like rumours about Iqbal's identity, other misleading and inaccurate information also found its way into some mainstream news channels and websites. This included claims such as India having destroyed Pakistan's Karachi port, which was later debunked by the Indian government. Some of the other fabrications were harder to spot, like an AI-generated video of a Pakistan army general claiming that his country had lost two aircraft in combat. "The scale of misinformation and fact-free assertions being broadcast by the media was shocking," says Manisha Pande, managing editor at Newslaundry, an independent news platform. She notes that while a degree of sensationalism is expected as channels compete for viewership, "the jingoistic and irresponsible coverage" of the conflict was unprecedented in its intensity — and unlike anything she had witnessed before. No one knows this better than Mr Ahmed. "I don't know where news channels got the information about my brother from," Mr Ahmed says. "Who did they speak to? What kind of evidence did they have that my brother was a terrorist?" he asks. Weeks later, the family is still reeling from the tragedy. Mr Ahmed says that on 7 May, his brother left home for the madrassa in the morning as usual, but it was his body that returned home. By noon, they had buried him in a nearby cemetery. For some time, the family had no idea about the misinformation that was being shared by some news outlets. They were busy performing Iqbal's last rites. It was only hours later that a relative received a WhatsApp forward - a video clip of a prominent news channel claiming that the Indian army had killed a terrorist, with Iqbal's photo flashing on the screen. "We were shocked. Soon, we began getting more calls from people asking us what was going on and why was the media calling Iqbal a terrorist," Mr Ahmed says. The claim was shared by some prominent channels, including Zee News, ABP and News18. The BBC has reached out to the channels for comment. One channel claimed that Iqbal was killed in an "Indian strike on a terrorist camp" in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and that he was a terrorist with Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. "Our family members have been staying in Poonch for generations. How can they say my brother was living in Pakistan? They [the media] should be ashamed," Mr Ahmed says. The accusation against Iqbal was circulated so widely and swiftly that on 8 May, the Poonch police put out a statement, clarifying that Iqbal had died in cross-border shelling in the madrasa. "Poonch Police strongly refutes such false narratives. The deceased, Maulana Mohd Iqbal, was a respected religious figure in the local community and had no affiliation with any terror outfit," the statement said, adding that legal action would be taken against any media outlet or individual who circulated the fake news. But for Mr Ahmed, the statement was too little too late. "By then, the false claim would've already reached millions of people in India," he says. He adds that except for one channel, News18, no one else had publicly apologised to him or their viewers for the mistake. Mr Ahmed says he wants to take legal action against the channels, but the process would have to wait as the family is struggling to make ends meet. Iqbal is survived by his two wives and eight children. He was the only earning member in his family. Mr Ahmed says that the compensation given by the government, which amounts to a few million rupees, will last only for a year or two and they must start planning for the future now. "The whole family depended on my brother. He was a quiet and gentle man who loved teaching children," Mr Ahmed says. "But who's going to tell this to the world? For many people, my brother is still a terrorist whose killing is justified. How will they understand our pain?" Additional reporting by Auqib Javeed in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Miami Herald
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Pakistan, India agree to pull back troops to peacetime positions
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and India have agreed to withdraw troops deployed during their recent clash to peacetime positions, in a step towards de-escalation following a ceasefire deal, Pakistani intelligence sources told dpa on Tuesday. The withdrawal was agreed during the latest round of "hotline" communication between senior military officials from both sides. According to sources, the two countries will return to peacetime deployment positions along their border and the Line of Control - the de facto frontier dividing Kashmir - by the end of May. On May 10, nuclear-armed rivals agreed to the ceasefire after days of tit-for-tat drone, missile and airstrikes, targeting each other's military installations and airbases. The trigger for the latest tensions was the militant attack on April 22 in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists. New Delhi pointed the finger at Islamabad, accusing it of supporting militants, and then launched attacks on both Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the early hours of May 7, killing dozens of people and igniting fears the region was on the brink of an all-out war. Pakistan denied having any role in the attack on the holidaymakers and asked for independent investigations. ----------- Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pakistan, India agree to pull back troops to peacetime positions
Pakistan and India have agreed to withdraw troops deployed during their recent clash to peacetime positions, in a step towards de-escalation following a ceasefire deal, Pakistani intelligence sources told dpa on Tuesday. The withdrawal was agreed during the latest round of "hotline" communication between senior military officials from both sides. According to sources, the two countries will return to peacetime deployment positions along their border and the Line of Control — the de facto frontier dividing Kashmir — by the end of May. On May 10, nuclear-armed rivals agreed to the ceasefire after days of tit-for-tat drone, missile and airstrikes, targeting each other's military installations and airbases. The trigger for the latest tensions was the militant attack on April 22 in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists. New Delhi pointed the finger at Islamabad, accusing it of supporting militants, and then launched attacks on both Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the early hours of May 7, killing dozens of people and igniting fears the region was on the brink of an all-out war. Pakistan denied having any role in the attack on the holidaymakers and asked for independent investigations.
Straits Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
‘Boycott Turkey'campaign emerges in India over Turkey's support for Pakistan
Indians have cancelled their holidays in Turkey and traders have decided not to buy Turkish goods. PHOTO: REUTERS – A groundswell of public anger has been rising in India against Turkey over Ankara's strong political and military support for Pakistan in the recent conflict between the two South Asian neighbours, which erupted following a terror attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22. New Delhi blamed Pakistan for the attack that left 26 civilians dead in Pahalgam – a charge Islamabad denies. India launched airstrikes on alleged terror camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir as well as Pakistan on May 7. Islamabad retaliated by deploying swarms of Turkish-made drones that crossed over into India, bringing into relief its close military relationship with Ankara. Turkey, which has a Muslim-majority population and has in the past aligned more with Pakistan's position on the Kashmir dispute, also offered its unambiguous political support for Pakistan this time. While it condemned the terrorist attack in Kashmir, Ankara said India's retaliatory airstrikes had raised 'the risk of an all-out war'. 'We condemn such provocative steps as well as attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure,' it added, endorsing Pakistan's call for an investigation into the April 22 incident. India, however, has rebuffed any such calls, bringing up Pakistan's past lack of cooperation in similar anti-terror investigations and describing its latest call as 'stonewalling tactics'. Angered by this recent Turkish support for Pakistan, a 'Boycott Turkey' campaign has gained traction in India, where patriotic sentiments are running high in the wake of the conflict with Pakistan. Indians have cancelled their holidays in Turkey and traders have decided not to buy Turkish goods. On May 19, the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation, whose members supply goods to around 13 million grocery stores across the country, announced an 'indefinite and total boycott' of all Turkish-origin goods, including chocolates, biscuits and skincare products. Even other countries such as Azerbaijan and Malaysia have found themselves caught in the crosshairs of Indians with similar calls for a travel boycott because of their support for Pakistan during the conflict. Baku condemned India's attacks against Pakistan, which it said had 'killed and injured several civilians'. India has denied any civilian deaths from the attacks, maintaining that over 100 terrorists were killed in the airstrikes. Malaysia too supported Islamabad after the attack in Pahalgam, with its Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on May 5 expressing his 'full understanding of the difficult circumstances Pakistan is facing'. He also affirmed Malaysia's support for an 'independent and transparent investigation' to identify those responsible for the April 22 incident. China has also faced similar boycott calls in India in recent days, but at a much lower intensity than that directed against the Muslim majority countries of Turkey and Azerbaijan. This is despite Beijing being Pakistan's top defence partner and its jets and missiles having been deployed against India in the recent conflict. Following the 2020 border clash with China, anti-Chinese boycott calls had also surged in India. However, bilateral trade between India and China has increased, given India's dependence on key Chinese imports that drive its economic growth such as electronic and telecommunication items, organic chemicals and plastics. In FY24, bilateral trade with China was valued at US$118.40 billion, against US$113.83 billion in FY23. Backlash against Turkey Mr Rikant Pittie, the chief executive and co-founder of EaseMyTrip, an Indian travel portal, told The Straits Times that cancellations of flight bookings to Turkey had surged by 22 per cent between May 10 and 13 on their platform. Cancellations for Azerbaijan also increased by 30 per cent. These cancellations followed a 'travel advisory' from the firm on May 8 that urged its customers against non-essential travel to Turkey and Azerbaijan, a move it took fearing potential tension between India and these two countries. Ixigo, another online travel portal, has even suspended flight and hotel bookings for Turkey and Azerbaijan amid a patriotic'Nation First, Business Later' sentiment. Traders across India have said they will give up Turkish products such as apples and marble, and Indian ecommerce platforms such as Flipkart, Myntra and Ajio have halted sales of Turkish apparel brands. Among the other casualties are educational ties. At least five prominent universities in India have suspended their agreements for academic and research collaboration with Turkish educational institutions. The Indian government has also made its displeasure known. At a press conference on May 12, India's military officials presented visual evidence of what it said was the wreckage of a Turkish-origin kamikaze drone shot down in an unnamed area by Indian forces, following which a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said India had 'taken note' of such support for Pakistan. The government also indefinitely deferred a May 15 ceremony at which the Turkish Ambassador-designate Ali Murat Ersoy was to present his Letter of Credence to the President of India. The Turkish embassy will continue to function. India's Bureau of Civil Aviation Security on May 15 also revoked the security clearance for Celebi Airport Services India, which is owned by Turkey-headquartered airport ground handling major Celebi Aviation Holding, because of concerns related to 'national security'. The firm offered its services at nine airports and employed several thousand Indian workers. Celebi, whose stock price has since crashed by nearly 20 per cent, has challenged the decision in court, saying the move to revoke its clearance by merely citing national security, without specific justification, was 'vague' and 'unsustainable in law'. Mr Prakash Singh, a former chief of India's Border Security Force, said Turkey's political and defence support during the recent conflict for Pakistan clearly indicates that Ankara considers Pakistan its friend. 'Now that being so, I think we need to redefine our relationship with Turkey... It can't be one-way traffic,' he told ST, referring to the support India had extended Turkey following the devastating earthquake there in 2023. One possible intervention he suggested is terminating business partnerships between Indian and Turkish airlines, a call that has been raised by many others. IndiGo, India's largest airline, has an extensive code-sharing agreement with state-backed Turkish Airlines, which allows Indian passengers to travel to over 30 destinations across Europe from Istanbul. IndiGo has stood by its agreement. Turkey rising as a major arms exporter Turkey has emerged as a major arms exporter in recent years, developing a strategic relationship with Pakistan, a key destination for its military exports. According to a March 2025 report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Pakistan was the second-largest recipient of Turkish arms exports from 2020 to 2024, accounting for 10 per cent of the country's total defence exports. The United Arab Emirates was the top buyer with an 18 per cent share. In this five-year period, Turkey's arms exports also increased by 103 per cent compared to the period between 2015 and 2019. Its defence exports increased year-on-year to reach US$7.1 billion (S$9.19 billion) in 2024, up from US$1.9 billion a decade ago. Ankara has also cultivated close political ties with Pakistan, which has the world's second-biggest Muslim population after Indonesia, to further expand its influence in the Muslim world. It is a strategy that also ties in with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's desire to position himself as a 'neo-Ottoman' caliph. In this light, it is unlikely that Indian calls for a Turkish boycott would be effective in shifting Turkey's policy towards Pakistan. Professor Arshi Khan, an expert on Turkey at Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh, said the widespread public calls for Turkey's boycott were an 'immature and emotional reaction compared with India's past track record of handling differences with Turkey diplomatically'. Turkey's close relationship with Pakistan does not mean it is against India, he told ST, underlining widespread appreciation for India among ordinary Turkish people. 'It is a different matter that Pakistan uses Turkish drones against India. That has to be dealt with by India diplomatically and by its technical teams, but certainly not this way,' added Professor Khan. Debarshi Dasgupta is The Straits Times' India correspondent covering the country and other parts of South Asia. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What did India and Pakistan gain – and lose – in their military standoff?
Islamabad, Pakistan – Four days after a May 10 ceasefire pulled India and Pakistan back from the brink of a full-fledged war following days of rapidly escalating military tensions, a battle of narratives has broken out, with each country claiming 'victory' over the other. The conflict erupted after gunmen killed 26 civilians in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, on April 22. A little-known armed group, The Resistance Front (TRF), initially claimed responsibility, with India accusing Pakistan of backing it. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised retaliation, even though Pakistan denied any role in the attack. After a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures between the neighbours, tensions exploded militarily. Early on the morning of May 7, India fired missiles at what it described as 'terrorist' bases not just in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, but also four sites in Pakistan's Punjab province. In the following days, both sides launched killer drone strikes at each other's territory and blamed one another for initiating the attacks. Tensions peaked on Saturday when India and Pakistan fired missiles at each other's military bases. India initially targeted three Pakistani airbases, including one in Rawalpindi, the garrison city which is home to the headquarters of the Pakistan Army, before then launching projectiles at other Pakistani bases. Pakistan's missiles targeted military installations across the country's frontier with India and Indian-administered Kashmir, striking at least four facilities. Then, as the world braced for total war between the nuclear-armed neighbours, US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, which he claimed had been mediated by the United States. Pakistan express gratitude to the US, even as India insisted the decision to halt fighting was made solely by the two neighbours without any third-party intervention. Since the announcement, both countries have held news conferences, presenting 'evidence' of their 'achievements'. On Monday, senior military officials in India and Pakistan spoke by phone, pledging to uphold the ceasefire in the coming days. However, analysts say neither side can truly claim to have emerged from the post-April 22 crisis with a definite upper hand. Instead, they say, both India and Pakistan can claim strategic gains even as they each also suffered losses. The military standoff last week – like three of the four wars between India and Pakistan – had roots in the two countries' dispute over the Kashmir region. Pakistan and India administer different parts of Kashmir, along with China, which governs two narrow strips. India claims all of Kashmir, while Pakistan claims the part India – but not Islamabad's ally China – administers. After the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, which led to the creation of Bangladesh, New Delhi and Islamabad inked the Simla Agreement, which, among other things, committed them to settling 'their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations'. Since then, India has argued that the Kashmir dispute – and other tensions between the neighbours – can only be settled bilaterally, without third-party intervention. Pakistan, however, has cited United Nations resolutions to call for the global community to play a role in pushing for a solution. On Sunday, Trump said that the US was ready to help mediate a resolution to the Kashmir dispute. 'I will work with you both to see if, after a thousand years, a solution can be arrived at, concerning Kashmir,' the US president posted on his Truth Social platform. Walter Ladwig, a senior lecturer at King's College London, said the latest conflict gave Pakistan a chance to internationalise the Kashmir issue, which had been its longstanding strategic goal. 'Islamabad welcomed mediation from a range of countries, including the US, framing the resulting ceasefire as evidence of the need for external involvement,' Ladwig told Al Jazeera. By contrast, he said, India had to accept a ceasefire brokered externally, rather than ending the conflict on its own terms. Sudha Ramachandran, the South Asia editor for The Diplomat magazine, said that Modi's government in India may have strengthened its nationalist support base through its military operation, though it may have also lost some domestic political points with the ceasefire. 'It was able to score points among its nationalist hawkish support base. But the ceasefire has not gone down well among hardliners,' Ramachandran said. Highlighting 'terrorism': India's gain, Pakistan's loss However, analysts also say the spiral in tensions last week, and its trigger in the form of the Pahalgam attack, helped India too. 'Diplomatically, India succeeded in refocusing international attention on Pakistan-based militant groups, renewing calls for Islamabad to take meaningful action,' Ladwig said. He referred to 'the reputational cost [for Pakistan] of once again being associated with militant groups operating from its soil'. 'While Islamabad denied involvement and called for neutral investigations, the burden of proof in international forums increasingly rests on Pakistan to demonstrate proactive counterterrorism efforts,' Ladwig added. India has long accused Pakistan of financing, training and sheltering armed groups that support the secession of Kashmir from India. Pakistan insists it only provides diplomatic and moral support to Kashmir's separatist movement. Planes down may be Pakistan's gain India claimed that its strikes on May 7 killed more than 100 'terrorists'. Pakistan said the Indian missiles had hit mosques and residential areas, killing only civilians – in total, including children. Islamabad also claimed that it scrambled its fighter planes to respond and had brought down multiple Indian jets. India has neither confirmed nor denied those claims, but Pakistan's military has publicly shared details that it says identify the planes that were shot down. French and US officials have confirmed that at least one Rafale and one Russian-made jet were lost by India. Indian officials have also confirmed to Al Jazeera that at least two planes crashed in Indian-administered territory, but did not clarify which country they belonged to. With both India and Pakistan agreeing that neither side's jets had crossed their frontier, the presence of debris from a crashed plane in Indian-administered territory suggests they were likely Indian, say analysts. The ceasefire coming after that suggests a gain for Pakistan, Asfandyar Mir, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera. 'Especially, the downing of the aircraft confirmed by various independent sources. So, it [Pakistan] may see the ceasefire as being better for consolidating that dividend.' Muhammad Shoaib, an academic and security analyst at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, called India's strikes against Pakistan a strategic miscalculation. 'Their reading of Pakistan's ability to hit back was flawed,' he said. Ludwig, however, said it would be a mistake to overstate the significance of any Pakistani successes, such as the possible downing of Indian jets. 'These are, at best, symbolic victories. They do not represent a clear or unambiguous military gain,' he said. In many ways, analysts say that the more meaty military accomplishment was India's. In addition to Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Indian missiles on May 7 also targeted four sites in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous state and the country's economic nerve-centre. Over the next two days, India also fired drones that reached deep inside Pakistani territory, including major Pakistani population centres such as Lahore and Karachi. And on May 10, Indian missiles hit three Pakistani airbases that were deeper in Pakistan's Punjab than the Indian bases Pakistan hit that day were in Indian territory. Simply put, India demonstrated greater reach than Pakistan did. It was the first time since the 1971 war between them that India had managed to hit Punjab. Launching a military response not just across the Line of Control, the two countries' de-facto border in Kashmir, but deep into Pakistan had been India's primary goal, said Ramchandran. And India achieved it. Ludwig, too, said that India's success in targeting Punjab represented a serious breach of Pakistan's defensive posture. Military officials from both countries who spoke on Monday and agreed to hold the ceasefire also agreed to take immediate steps to reduce their troops' presence along the borders. A second round of talks is expected within 48 hours. However, later that day, Indian Prime Minister Modi said that the fighting had merely 'paused'. Still, the Stimson Center's Mir believes the ceasefire could hold. 'Both sides face constraints and opportunities that have emerged during the course of the last week, which, on balance, make a ceasefire a better outcome for them,' he said. Ladwig echoed that view, saying the truce reflects mutual interest in de-escalation, even if it does not resolve the tensions that led to the crisis. 'India has significantly changed the rules of the game in this episode. The Indian government seems to have completely dispensed with the game that allows Islamabad and Rawalpindi to claim plausible deniability regarding anti-Indian terrorist groups,' he said. 'What the Pakistani government and military do with groups on its soil would seem to be the key factor in determining how robust the ceasefire will be.' Quaid-i-Azam University's Shoaib, who is also a research fellow at George Mason University in the US, emphasised the importance of continued dialogue. He warned that maintaining peace will depend on security dynamics in both Indian-administered Kashmir and Pakistan's Balochistan province. Just as India accuses Pakistan of supporting cross-border separatism, Islamabad alleges that New Delhi backs a separatist insurgency in Balochistan, a claim India denies. 'Any subsequent bout of violence has the potential to get bloodier and more widespread,' Shoaib said. 'Both sides, going for a war of attrition, could inflict significant damage on urban populations, without gaining anything from the conflict.'
