Latest news with #PakistanIndiaConflict
Arab News
a day ago
- Business
- Arab News
Pakistani PM meets Azerbaijan's Aliyev, thanks him for support during India standoff
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday met the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and thanked his country for its 'steadfast support' during a recent military standoff with India, the worst conflict in decades between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades. Sharif is in Azerbaijan on the third stopover of a five-day regional diplomacy tour that also saw him visit Iran and Turkiye. Turkiye and Azerbaijan had openly pledged support for Pakistan during the standoff with India while Iran had urged restraint multiple times and also offered to mediate. The four-day military escalation saw Pakistan and India launch missiles and drones deep into each other's territories and exchange gunfire on their de facto border, the Line of Control, until a ceasefire was announced on May 10. Nearly 70 people combined were killed on both sides of the border. 'The prime minister thanked Azerbaijan for its steadfast support during the recent Pakistan-India confrontation, in the face of Indian provocation and acknowledged the public expressions of solidarity from both the leadership and the people of brotherly Azerbaijan,' Sharif's office said in a statement. 'He said that people of Azerbaijan celebrated the success of Pakistan.' During the meeting, which took place on the eve of a trilateral summit between Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Türkiye, Sharif and Aliyev reviewed bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction on the trajectory of political, economic, defense, and cultural cooperation. 'They reaffirmed their shared commitment to diversifying the strategic partnership through investment in mutually beneficial avenues,' the prime minister's office said. 'Azerbaijan side agreed to exchange of delegations with regard to progress in investment of Azerbaijan in Pakistan. In this regard delegation level talks will be organized very soon.' Pakistan and Azerbaijan have strengthened ties in recent years through defense and energy cooperation and Baku has supported Islamabad's position on the Kashmir dispute at international forums. Islamabad has also offered Azerbaijan access to its seaports to facilitate trade with global markets and promoted regional connectivity initiatives linking Central Asia to South Asia. At the start of his regional visit, Sharif met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Türkiye and thanked him for Ankara's strong backing during the conflict with India. The two leaders also discussed expanding cooperation in defense production, energy, IT, agriculture and infrastructure and agreed to pursue a bilateral trade target of $5 billion, building on commitments made during the 7th High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council held in Islamabad earlier this year. Sharif also visited Tehran, where he held meetings with President Masoud Pezeshkian and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. At a joint press stakeout with the Iranian president, Sharif made a peace offer to India, saying Pakistan was ready for talks on contentious issues including Kashmir, water-sharing and countering terrorism.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
After Turkiye, Pakistan PM in Iran as part of regional diplomacy tour
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is visiting Iran today, Monday, after a visit to Turkiye as part of a regional diplomacy tour following Pakistan's worst military standoff with nuclear-armed neighbor India. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi called for restraint between India and Pakistan and visited both nations following India's first strikes on Pakistan on May 7, when New Delhi said it had hit 'terrorist infrastructure.' Pakistan retaliated, saying it had downed six Indian fighter jets. The conflict went on for nearly four days, with the two nations launching missiles and drones deep into each other's territories and exchanging gunfire on their de facto border, the Line of Control, until a ceasefire was announced on May 10. India said its assault was in response to a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that it accused Islamabad of being behind — a charge it denies. On Sunday, Sharif reached Turkiye as the first stop in a diplomacy tour to nations that were either supportive of Islamabad during the latest crisis with India, or that helped mediate the conflict. 'The purpose of the Prime Minister's visit was to thank the people of Turkiye, and especially President Tayyip Erdogan, for their full cooperation and support in the recent Pakistan-India crisis,' Sharif's office said in a statement. 'Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has now left for Tehran, Iran, where he will hold meetings with the Iranian top leadership.' Sharif will also be visiting Azerbaijan and Tajikistan as part of the five-day tour. Erdogan spoke by phone with Sharif on May 7 to convey his solidarity after India first hit Pakistan and Azad Kashmir with missiles. Leaders from the two nations had several contacts subsequently and it is widely believed that Turkiye played an important role, besides the US, UAE and Saudi Arabia, in convincing India and Pakistan to back off and agree to a ceasefire. The two nations have strong ties, both being largely Muslim countries and sharing historical links. Iran's leadership also offered to mediate the conflict and there were several contacts between its foreign minister and the Pakistani PM and other leaders. The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan and has been the focus of several wars and diplomatic stand-offs.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Old plane crash video falsely linked to India-Pakistan conflict
"Pakistanis rescuing a pilot from an Indian aircraft shot down by a Pakistani military attack," reads part of a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared May 7, 2025. The post includes a reel whose caption says in Urdu: "Take this, Your father Pakistan has destroyed seven Indian planes. A video of shooting down of one plane has surfaced". The video shows a plane engulfed in flames and people tending to someone dressed in military fatigues. An AFP reporter confirmed the people in the video are speaking in Hindi with a rural accent. India launched air strikes on what it called "terrorist camps" in Pakistan on May 7, triggering an immediate response from Islamabad (archived link). The fighting was touched off by an attack last month in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Pakistan denies any involvement in the attack. Pakistan claimed it downed five Indian warplanes, including three French-made Rafale fighter jets, although New Delhi has not confirmed any losses (archived link). The clashes, the worst between the neighbours in decades, were brought to a halt by a ceasefire announced May 10. Similar claims spread elsewhere on Facebook alongside the same video. But the footage predates the violence. A reverse image search and subsequent keyword searches on Google found a Facebook reel published February 7 on the verified Facebook account of Indian media outlet Aaj Tak (archived link). "Another video has emerged related to the crash of an Indian Air Force fighter aircraft (Mirage-2000) near Bahreta Sani village in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh," part of the Hindi-language caption reads. The footage bears the red logo of Aaj Tak, visible in the top right-hand part of the clip shared on Facebook. Business Today published the same video on February 7 (archived link). Other Indian media organisations, including The Times of India and NDTV, reported that a twin-seater Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft from the country's air force crashed in the state of Madhya Pradesh on February 6 (archived links here and here). The Indian Air Force said on X that the pilots ejected before the plane crashed due to a system malfunction (archived link). A police officer from Karera -- a municipality in the Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh -- also confirmed the plane crash to Bhaskar English and said two pilots were on board the jet when it crashed. The Indian news outlet quoted one of the pilots (archived link). AFP has debunked other misinformation stemming from the conflict between India and Pakistan here.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Pakistan to hike defense spending in FY26 budget to counter India's ‘hegemonistic designs' — minister
Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Sunday Pakistan's defense spending would be hiked in the budget for the next fiscal year as the military would 'certainly require' more financial resources to defend the country against India. Pakistan and India attacked each other with missiles, drones and artillery earlier this month in the worst military confrontation in decades between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. The conflict erupted after an attack in April on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad has denied the charge. The tensions erupted into a military confrontation on May 7 after India first hit what it said was 'terrorism infrastructure' in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir with missiles, and Pakistan retaliated, saying it had downed six Indian fighter jets. Fighting between the two nations continued for four days until a ceasefire was reached on May 10. 'Obviously, Pakistan will do anything within its reach to make its defense impregnable,' Ahsan told Arab News in a telephone interview when asked if there were plans to increase defense spending in the budget for fiscal year 2025-26, which will be unveiled on June 10. 'Our military would certainly require more financial resources to defend the country against the hegemonistic designs of Modi.' Ahsan declined to disclose the new figures for the defense allocation. Beijing is Pakistan's primary supplier of military equipment. This includes more than half its 400-odd fighters, primarily the JF-17 but also the J-10C. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China has sold Pakistan $8.2 billion in arms since 2015. China was the world's fourth-largest arms exporter from 2020-24, and Pakistan was China's top customer. Islamabad consumed 63 percent – nearly two thirds – of Chinese weapon sales in that period. In response to a question about media reports China was fast-tracking delivery of its advanced J-35A fifth-generation stealth fighters to Pakistan, with the first batch expected by early 2026, planning minister Ahsan said: 'Pakistan's fighter jets have already done well against India and the country will do anything it can to make it's defenses stronger.' The finance ministry declined to comment on a planned hike in defense spending but an official privy to budget talks within the government and with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said: 'We are discussing all the issues including Pakistan's revenues and defense with the IMF but nothing has been finalized yet.' An IMF official said the lender did not comment on any country's defense budget. An IMF mission led by Nathan Porter visited Pakistan last week to discuss the country's new fiscal plan but returned without reaching an agreement. 'We will continue discussions toward agreeing over the authorities' FY26 budget over the coming days,' the Washington-based lender said in a statement on May 24. The media wing of the Pakistan army declined to comment on the issue immediately. 'WAR-LIKE SITUATION' 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. Ashfaq Tola, the chairman of Karachi-based tax and corporate advisory firm Tola Associates and an adviser to past Pakistani governments on the budget-making process, said an over 40 percent hike in the current defense budget of Rs2.122 trillion ($7.53 billion) could be expected in the new financial plan. 'Considering the ongoing situation, the country's defense budget should stand at as much as Rs3,000 billion ($10.6 billion),' Tola said. 'In such a big conflict, you need a lot of ammunition, surveillance, border movement, border troops management. To finance all these requirements, they will have to allocate more money this time.' In a report published on Saturday, Tola Associates 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.' After debt servicing, defense is the second biggest drain on Pakistan's revenue, which the IMF, since approving a $7 billion bailout program for Islamabad last September, wants the government to increase through taxing incomes from agriculture, real estate and retail sectors in the new budget. 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. In the last five years, Pakistan has increased its defense expenditures more than 60 percent to Rs 2.12 trillion ($7.53 billion), or two percent of GDP, according to data compiled by Karachi-based research firm Arif Habib Ltd. 'An increase [in defense spending] is certainly a possibility. The recent clash with India emboldened Pakistan's military, as it has regained public goodwill and popularity that will give it the confidence to take potentially politically risky steps,' Michael Kugelman, a South Asia specialist based in Washington, told Arab News. 'That includes ramping up an already-sizable defense budget at a moment when the economy, despite some recent stabilization on the macro level, remains fragile.'
Arab News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistani PM to meet Erdogan today in first leg of regional diplomacy tour
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday started a five-day regional diplomacy tour with a trip to Turkiye where he will hold talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, Erdogan's office said. Sharif will go onwards from Turkiye to Iran, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, four nations that openly supported Pakistan in a military standoff with India earlier this month when the two nuclear-armed neighbors traded missile, drone and artillery strikes for days, killing around 70 people on both sides. A ceasefire was reached on May 10. The conflict, the worst between the neighbors in decades, was triggered by a militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denies involvement. 'During the meeting, bilateral relations, regional and international issues, including the fight against terrorism, will be discussed,' Erdogan's head of communications, Fahrettin Altun, said on X. The PM's office in Islamabad released footage of Sharif departing on the tour and said he would hold wide-ranging discussions with the leaders of Turkiye, Iran, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan on 'an entire range of issues covering bilateral relations and matters of regional and international importance.' 'He will thank friendly countries for the support they have given to Pakistan during the recent crisis with India,' the PMO statement added. Erdogan spoke by phone with Sharif on May 7 to convey his solidarity after India first hit Pakistan and Azad Kashmir with missiles. Leaders from the two nations had several contacts subsequently and Turkiye publicly took Islamabad's side. It is widely believed that Turkiye played an important role, besides the US, UAE and Saudi Arabia, in convincing India and Pakistan to back off and agree to a ceasefire. The two nations have historically strong ties. 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. They both acquired nuclear weapons in 1998.
