Latest news with #TariqMaqbool
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fragile ceasefire holds between India, Pakistan as Trump offers more help
By Saurabh Sharma, Tariq Maqbool and Aftab Ahmed AMRITSAR, India/ MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - A fragile ceasefire was holding between India and Pakistan on Sunday, after hours of overnight fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, as U.S. President Donald Trump said he will work to provide a solution regarding Kashmir. The arch rivals were involved in intense firing for four days, the worst in nearly three decades, with missiles and drones being fired at each other's military installations and dozens of people killed. A ceasefire agreement was reached after diplomacy and pressure from the United States, but within hours, artillery fire was witnessed in Indian Kashmir, the centre of much of the fighting. Blasts from air-defence systems boomed in cities near the border under blackout, similar to the previous two evenings, according to authorities, residents and Reuters witnesses. Late on Saturday, India said Pakistan had violated the understanding arrived to stop firing and that the Indian armed forces had been instructed to "deal strongly" with any repetition. In response, Pakistan said it was committed to the ceasefire and blamed India for the violations. By dawn, the fighting and explosions reported overnight had died down on both sides of the border, according to Reuters witnesses. Power was restored in most areas along India's border towns after a blackout the previous night. Trump praised leaders of both countries for agreeing to halt the aggression. "While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great nations. Additionally, I will work with you both to see if... a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. In the border city of Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple revered by Sikhs, a siren sounded in the morning to resume normal activities brought a sense of relief and people were seen out on the roads. The fighting started on Wednesday, two weeks after 26 men were killed in an attack targeting Hindus in Pahalgam in Indian Kashmir. "Ever since the day terrorists attacked people in Pahalgam we have been shutting our shops very early and there was an uncertainty. I am happy that at least there will be no bloodshed on both sides," Satvir Singh Alhuwalia, 48, a shopkeeper in Amritsar told Reuters. Officials in Pakistan said there was some firing in Bhimber in Pakistani Kashmir overnight but nowhere else, and there were no casualties. The two countries, born out of British colonial rule in 1947, have gone to war three times - twice over the region of Kashmir. Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan both rule part of Kashmir but claim it in full. India blames Pakistan for an insurgency in its part of Kashmir that began in 1989 and has killed tens of thousands. It also blames Pakistani Islamist militant groups for attacks elsewhere in India. Pakistan says it provides only moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists. The combined death toll in the recent skirmishes has reached nearly 70, officials have said. "More than me, my family is happy because my children and wife have been calling me every hour to check on me. Thank God the ceasefire happened," Guruman Singh, a security guard in Amritsar told Reuters.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Residents stockpile food, rush to bunkers as conflict rattles India and Pakistan
By Mubahsher Bukhari, Tariq Maqbool and Saurabh Sharma LAHORE/MUZAFARRABAD, Pakistan/AMRITSAR, India (Reuters) - Residents across Pakistan and India rushed to stockpile foods and other essential supplies, while families living near the border fled to safer areas, as armed clashes between the nuclear-armed nations escalated on Friday. India and Pakistan accused each other of launching new military attacks, using drones and artillery for the third day, in the worst fighting between the two countries in nearly three decades. The conflict erupted after India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were "terrorist camps", in retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month. In the Indian state of Punjab, Amanpreet Dhillon, 26, said many families in his village — just 13 km (8.08 miles) from the border with Pakistan — have already sent women and children to safer areas. "I am also contemplating it... I'm afraid my village could be next," he said. In Indian-administered Kashmir's Uri district, residents said many fled overnight after several houses were struck by shelling, some taking shelter behind rocks or in bunkers. "We have never seen such intense shelling in our life. The majority of the people fled the town and other villages as soon as shelling started last night with some taking shelter in underground bunkers," said Bashir Ahmad, 45, in the town of Baramulla in Uri. "It was a nightmare for us." In the Pakistani city of Lahore, which lies near the border, residents were shaken on Thursday by drones that Pakistan said were launched by India and were shot down in the city, setting off sirens and leading the U.S. consulate to tell its staff to shelter in place. Schools were closed on Friday and residents and shopkeepers said Lahoris were stocking up on food, gas cylinders for cooking and medicine, prompting authorities to issue a notice warning businesses not to artificially increase prices. "I have stocked grocery for a month: we got meat, flour, tea, oil lentils etc and also drew extra cash from bank," said Aroosha Rameez, 34, a Lahore resident. Muhammad Asif, 35, said his pharmacy had seen an influx of customers. "People in Lahore have started stocking medicines as well, which may lead to shortages of paracetamol, anti-allergies, antibiotics, blood pressure and diabetes medicines," he said. Food delivery app FoodPanda, popular in Pakistan, said it had seen a surge in grocery orders nationwide. Across the border, India's Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution minister warned against panic buying of food grains. "We currently have stocks many times higher than the normal requirement—whether it is rice, wheat, or is absolutely no shortage," he said. Pankaj Seth, a resident of Amritsar in India's Punjab state, said people felt they had no choice: "We do not know if the markets will open tomorrow or not...I have children and grandchildren at home so I have to stock up." Some residents of border regions were also requesting relatives to bring them supplies as prices rose. "My aunt lives in Attari and has asked me to get some flour for her as supplies are getting expensive there," said Navneet Kaur, a nurse in Amritsar, 30 kilometres (19 miles)away, who was travelling to the town with a sack of flour. FLEEING AT NIGHT Residents of Kashmir near the line of control that divides the region faced a more stark and immediate threat. Residents said they were starting to leave their villages and spend the nights, when shelling and firing roars through the valleys, in bunkers. The prime minister's office in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said over 400 people had been evacuated by authorities in two areas near the line of control. 'Ever since the attack (Indian strike) in Muzaffarabad, we have been living in our bunker, which we carved into a nearby rocky mountain," said Manzoor Ahmed, 43, a resident of Jura Bandi village in the Neelum Valley, where local police confirmed most people were spending the night in bunkers.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Residents of Pakistani Kashmir say they fled into hills during Indian strikes
By Tariq Maqbool MUZAFFARABAD (Reuters) - Residents of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said they fled their homes and ran into surrounding hills as India launched airstrikes early on Wednesday in a part of the city. Mosque loudspeakers told people to seek shelter as the ground shook repeatedly and the sounds of explosions reverberated, they said. "We came outside," said Muhammad Shair Mir, 46, describing the events of the night. "Then another blast happened. The whole house moved. Everyone got scared, we all evacuated, took our kids and went up (the hill)." Many people gathered after sunrise near a mosque that had been hit in the strikes, its roof smashed and minaret toppled. Security forces had cordoned off the area. The district commissioner, a senior local official, said three people were killed near the collapsed mosque. In total, Pakistan's military said 26 people were killed and 46 wounded in Indian attacks across Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir. India launched the strikes early on Wednesday, saying it was targeting "terrorist camps" that served as recruitment centres, launchpads, and indoctrination centres, and housed weapons and training facilities. Pakistan called it a "blatant act of war" as tensions spiralled between the nuclear-armed rivals after a deadly attack by Islamist gunmen on tourists in Indian Kashmir. It said none of the targeted areas were militant camps. District officials said that at the Line of Control that divides Pakistani and Indian Kashmir, mortar and light arms fire between the two armies continued into the morning and had killed at least six civilians on the Pakistani side. Police in Indian Kashmir said at least 10 people were killed and nearly 50 injured there. In Muzaffarbad, hospitals were operational and some small businesses opened in the morning but schools were closed and examinations cancelled, according to local authorities. Shair Mir said he and his family spent four hours in the open. Some of his neighbours had gone to hospital with injuries and the rest were shaken, he said. "This is wrong ... poor innocent people, our poor mothers are sick, our sisters are sick .. our houses were rattled, our walls have cracked," he said. (Reporting by Tariq Maqbool, Akhtar Soomro and Reuters TV in Muzafarrabad; writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pakistani Kashmir closes seminaries fearing Indian military strikes
By Tariq Maqbool MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - The government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir has closed all religious seminaries in the region for 10 days, officials said on Thursday, citing fears they would be targeted by Indian strikes following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir. Islamabad says it has credible intelligence that India intends to launch military action soon, with New Delhi alleging that the attack on tourists was carried out by Pakistani nationals with ties to Islamist organisations based there. The director of Pakistani Kashmir's Department of Religious Affairs, Hafiz Nazir Ahmad, told Reuters that security officials feared Indian forces may target seminaries and label them as militant training centres. The notification seen by Reuters, dated April 30, only cited a heatwave as the reason for the closure. "Right now, we are facing two kinds of heat — one from the weather and the other from (Indian Prime Minister) Modi," Ahmad said of the notification, saying they did not mention the risk of attacks in a bid to avoid panic. India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. India has previously targeted sites in Pakistan alleging they were bases of Islamist militants close to the Kashmir border. "We held a meeting yesterday in which it was unanimously decided not to put innocent children at risk," Ahmad said. The President's Office of Pakistani Kashmir also said the closure was due to "precautionary reasons." There are 445 registered seminaries with over 26,000 students enrolled in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, according to the religious affairs department. The seminaries - locally known as madrasas - are Islamic educational institutions run by religious organisations, providing cheap, often free, alternatives to regular schools. Pakistan has said it will respond "assuredly and decisively" to any military action from India, raising the spectre of war between the two nuclear-armed countries. Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is claimed in full, but ruled in parts by both India and Pakistan, and has been the site of two wars and multiple skirmishes. Many Muslims in Indian Kashmir have long resented what they see as heavy-handed rule by India. In 1989, an insurgency by Muslim separatists began. India poured troops into the region and tens of thousands of people have been killed. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants, which Islamabad denies, saying it offers only moral and diplomatic support. Seminaries have been criticised for radicalising youth towards Islamist extremism. (Reporting Tariq Maqbool in Muzaffarabad; Additional reporting by Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad and Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Ros Russell)
