Latest news with #nuclearblackmail
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
On India's Independence Day, Modi vows to punish Pakistan for future attacks
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan that India will punish its neighbor if there are future attacks on India as he marked 78 years of independence from British colonial rule. Modi's remarks Friday come three months after nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan engaged in four days of intense fighting, their worst clash in decades. Modi addressed the country from New Delhi's 17th-century, Mughal-era Red Fort, saying India has established a 'new normal' that does not differentiate between 'terrorists' and those who support terrorism. He said he would not tolerate what he called Islamabad's 'nuclear blackmail." 'India has decided that it will not tolerate nuclear threats. For a long time, nuclear blackmail had been going on but this blackmail will not be tolerated now,' Modi said. Pakistan previously has rejected India's statements about nuclear blackmail as provocative and inflammatory. India celebrates its Independence Day one day after Pakistan. The two states came into existence as a result of the bloody partition of British India in 1947. The process sparked some of the worst communal violence the world has seen and left hundreds of thousands dead. It triggered one of the largest human migrations in history and some 12 million people fled their homes. India and Pakistan exchanged tit-for-tat military strikes in May that brought them to the brink of a war. The fighting between the two countries was sparked by an April massacre by gunmen in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. India blamed the attack on Pakistan-backed militants. Islamabad denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. Days after the massacre, India launched strikes on Pakistan and said it had hit nine 'terrorist infrastructure' sites. 'Terror infrastructure was turned to rubble,' Modi said in his speech Friday. Pakistan responded by sending waves of drones into India, as well as missile and artillery bombardments. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached May 10 after U.S. mediation. Pakistan immediately claimed it shot down six Indian aircraft during the clashes, including a French-made Rafale fighter. India acknowledged some losses but did not provide details. Last week, India's air force chief said India shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one other military aircraft during clashes in the first such public claim by India. Pakistan rejected it, saying both sides should open their aircraft inventories to independent verification. During his Friday speech, Modi also hinted India would continue its unilateral suspension of the Indus Water Treaty. The treaty, which India suspended after the April massacre, allows sharing of the Indus River that runs about 2,897 kilometers (1,800 miles) through South Asia and is a lifeline for both countries. 'Rivers from India were irrigating the lands of enemies while my country's farmers and land faced a deficiency of water," Modi said. 'India has now decided that blood and water will not flow together." Pakistan has said any effort by India to stop or divert the water from flowing into Pakistan would be considered an 'act of war.' Modi did not directly mention U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on India in his Independence Day speech but said he would not compromise on the agriculture sector, one of the main sticking points in trade negotiations with the U.S. Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 25% penalty on India in addition to 25% tariffs for buying oil and weapons from Russia. India has resisted U.S. pressure to open its markets to some farm products as Modi's government is unwilling to risk angering farmers, who are a powerful voting bloc. 'India will not compromise on interest of farmers," Modi said.
Times of Oman
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Times of Oman
"No yielding to nuclear blackmail, no impunity to terrorists...": Jaishankar reiterates India's stance on terrorism
Washington, DC: Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that India is not going to yield to nuclear blackmail, stating that New Delhi will no longer accept that terrorists are proxies and spare the government that supports and finances them. He said terrorists will be treated with "no impunity" and India will do what needs to be done to defend its people. "We are not going to yield to nuclear blackmail that you know there could be escalation, and therefore we should not do anything," Jaishankar said in an interview to Newsweek in Manhattan. The External Affairs minister's remarks come nearly two months after the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in which 26 people were killed. Jaishankar called it an "act of warfare" aimed at destroying tourism in Kashmir, which he said was the mainstay of the economy. He stated that India, after the Pahalgam attack, decided that it could not allow terrorists to function with impunity. In his Newsweek interview, Jaishankar stated that India's message to the world is that there should be zero tolerance for terrorism and there should be no circumstances under which terrorists' acts should be allowed, supported or financed. He said that India has been a victim of terrorism for the past four decades, and recalled various terrorist attacks, like the 26/11 Mumbai attack and the Parliament attack. Asked about India's message to global powers and international institutions on cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, he said, "This morning, I was at an exhibition on terrorism at the United Nations, and this was something which our embassy, our mission to the UN, had organised and the reason we did that, we had a number of ambassadors from other countries who were there as well is because we believe that terrorism is actually a threat to everybody, that no country should use it as an instrument to further its policies because at the end of the day it comes back to bite everyone." "If we take the view that one terrorist act or one terrorist organization or one sponsor of terrorism is justified here or you give them a free pass or you underplay it, it can easily happen, in fact, it does happen in other situations. The message to the world has to be that there should be zero tolerance for terrorism, that there should be no circumstances, no excuse, no justification, under which you would allow, support, finance, sponsor terrorist acts." "Now in our particular case, we've unfortunately had an experience of this. The experience has been very very intense for the last four decades but actually started from the time of our independence. If you see within a few months of our independence, terrorists were sent into Kashmir again with this idea that they are proxies and they are tribal invaders and then soon enough the Pakistani army followed," Jaishankar said. "We have battled terrorism really intensively for the last four decades and and we've had some horrific cases. Everybody would remember the Mumbai attack and where really a major global metropolis was for a few days really sort of brought to a standstill with attacks on a scale which could not be contemplated and with particularly targeted foreigners especially of this country. And we've had an attack on our parliament, our parliament meeting in session, with the intent of taking lawmakers and the people governing India hostage at that time. That it was foiled was a different matter but do look at the dangerous intent and the risks inherent in this," the External Affairs Minister said. He said, "We have had a string of these attacks and we've now reached a point, and I think in many ways the Pahalgam terrorist attack on April 22nd, this sentiment in India that look enough is enough that we are because you know the Pahalgam was meant, I mean it was an act of economic warfare. It was meant to destroy tourism in Kashmir which was the mainstay of the economy. It was also meant to provoke religious violence because people were asked to identify their faith before they were killed. We decided that we cannot let terrorists function with impunity, the idea that they're on that side of the border and that therefore sort of prevents retribution, I think is a proposition that needs to be challenged and that is what we did." "So, now bear in mind these are not people you know who operate in secret, I mean these are terrorist organizations who have the equivalent of the corporate headquarters in the populated towns of Pakistan everybody knows what what is the headquarters of organization A and organization B and those are actually the buildings, the headquarters that we destroyed," he told Newsweek. Emphasising India's stance on dealing with terrorism, Jaishankar said, "We are very clear, there will be no impunity for terrorists that we will not deal with them any longer as proxies and spare the government which supports and finances and in many ways motivates them." Jaishankar emphasized that India will not be deterred by the threat of nuclear weapons when it comes to responding to cross-border attacks. "We will not allow nuclear blackmail to prevent us from responding because we've also heard this for too long that you know you are both nuclear countries therefore the other guy will come and do horrible things but you mustn't do anything because it gets the world worried. Now we're not going to fall for that you know if he's going to come and do things we are going to go there and also you know hit the people who did this. So, no yielding to nuclear blackmail, no impunity to terrorists, no more free pass that they are proxies and we will do what we have to do to defend our people," Jaishankar said. On April 22, terrorists attacked tourists at the Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam and killed 25 Indian nationals and one from Nepal, leaving several others injured. In response to the Pahalgam attack, the Indian Armed Forces carried out targeted strikes against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the deaths of over 100 terrorists linked to groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen. On April 24, India also announced a series of measures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, the shutdown of the only operational land border crossing at Attari and the downgrading of diplomatic ties. Meanwhile, before arriving in Washington, DC on Tuesday (local time), Jaishankar was in New York, where he inaugurated an exhibition at the United Nations on 'The Human Cost of Terrorism,' highlighting the need to expose state sponsorship of terrorism.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia plans overnight intercontinental missile launch to intimidate NATO and Ukraine
Russia plans to conduct a demonstrative training and combat launch of an RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile on the night of 18-19 May. Source: Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Details: Ukrainian intelligence noted that the purpose of the launch is to intimidate Ukraine and exert pressure on EU and NATO member states, a tactic seen as part of nuclear blackmail. Quote: "A missile equipped with a training munition has been ordered to be launched from a mobile ground-based system by the 433rd Regiment of the 42nd Division of the 31st Army of the Strategic Missile Forces of the aggressor state." Details: The launch site is near the village of Svobodny in Russia's Sverdlovsk Oblast, with training ammunition planned for use. The three-stage solid-fuel missile has a range exceeding 10,000 km. Background: On the evening of 9 May, the US Embassy in Ukraine warned American citizens to exercise caution due to the risk of a large-scale airstrike in the following days. Subsequently, Russia announced that it will close its airspace over the Kapustin Yar missile testing range for two days on 12 and 13 May to allow for the potential launch of ballistic missiles. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Free Malaysia Today
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Modi warns Pakistan of more strikes if there is a ‘terrorist attack'
A live telecast of Prime Minister Modi's Narendra comments on last week's cross-border strikes draws viewers in Mumbai. (AP pic) NEW DELHI : Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan on Monday that 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'. Modi's first public comments since Indian armed forces launched strikes on what New Delhi said were 'terrorist camps' across the border last week indicated a hardening of India's position on ties with its neighbour, which were icy even before the latest fighting. Pakistan denies Indian accusations that it supports militants who attack it and says the locations hit by India last week were civilian sites. Modi was speaking two days after the nuclear-armed neighbours agreed to a ceasefire, announced by US President Donald Trump. The truce was reached after four days of intense exchanges of fire as the old enemies targeted each other's military installations with missiles and drones, killing dozens of civilians. The military confrontation began on Wednesday, when India said it launched strikes on nine 'terrorist infrastructure' sites in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir following an attack on Hindu tourists by Islamist militants in Indian Kashmir last month that killed 26 men. Islamabad denied any links to the attack and called for a neutral investigation. 'If there is a terrorist attack on India, a fitting reply will be given… on our terms,' Modi said, speaking in Hindi in a televised address. 'In the coming days, we will measure every step of Pakistan… what kind of attitude Pakistan will adopt.' 'India will strike precisely and decisively at the terrorist hideouts developing under the cover of nuclear blackmail,' he said, and listed New Delhi's conditions for holding talks with Islamabad and lifting curbs imposed after the Kashmir attack. 'India's position is clear: terror and talks cannot go together; terror and trade cannot go together. And water and blood cannot flow together,' he said, referring to a water sharing pact between the two countries New Delhi suspended. There was no immediate response to his comments from Islamabad. Military talks Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan both rule part of the Himalayan region of Kashmir, but claim it in full. They have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over the region and there have been several other more limited flare-ups, including in 2016 and 2019. The latest military conflict between the South Asian neighbours spiralled alarmingly on Saturday and there were briefly fears that nuclear arsenals might come into play as Pakistan's military said a top body overseeing its nuclear weapons would meet. But the Pakistani defence minister said no such meeting was scheduled. Military analysts said this may have been Pakistan's way of hinting at its nuclear option as Islamabad has a 'first-use' policy if its existence is under threat in a conflict. Modi's address came hours after the military operations chiefs of India and Pakistan spoke by phone, two days after they agreed to the ceasefire. 'Issues related to continuing the commitment that both sides must not fire a single shot or initiate any aggressive and inimical action against each other were discussed,' the Indian army said. 'It was also agreed that both sides consider immediate measures to ensure troop reduction from the borders and forward areas,' it added. There was no immediate Pakistani readout of the military operations chiefs' talks. In Washington, Trump said the leaders of India and Pakistan were 'unwavering', and the US 'helped a lot' to secure the ceasefire, adding that trade was a 'big reason' why the countries stopped fighting. 'We are going to do a lot of trade with Pakistan… and India. We are negotiating with India right now. We are soon going to negotiate with Pakistan,' he said, just ahead of Modi's speech. Pakistan has thanked the US for brokering the ceasefire while India, which opposes third-party involvement in its disputes with Pakistan, has not commented on Washington's role. Markets soar Pakistan's international bonds rallied sharply on Monday, adding as much as 5.7 cents in the dollar, Tradeweb data showed. Late on Friday, the International Monetary Fund approved a fresh US$1.4-billion loan and also the first review of its US$7-billion programme. Pakistan's benchmark share index closed up 9.4% on Monday, while India's blue-chip Nifty 50 index closed 3.8% higher in its best session since February 2021. In Beijing the foreign ministry said China, which also controls a small slice of Kashmir, was willing to maintain communication with both its neighbours, and play a 'constructive role in achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire' and maintaining peace. India blames Pakistan for an insurgency in its part of Kashmir that began in 1989, but Pakistan says it provides only moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri separatists.
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Modi says India has only ‘suspended' military action against Pakistan
India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has said that his country wouldn't tolerate nuclear blackmail from Pakistan and 'will strike precisely and decisively at the terrorist hideouts'. Addressing his country for the first time, Modi said India had only suspended military action against its nuclear-armed neighbour adding that New Delhi 'will measure every step of Pakistan' and respond in kind. Modi was speaking days after the nuclear-armed neighbours initiated armed action against one another, exchanging missiles and airstrikes. A ceasefire was agreed following US mediation
