Pakistan-india

Oppn alleges energy projects along Indo-Pak border compromise security

Opposition members, mainly from the Congress and DMK, on Wednesday held a noisy protest in the Lok Sabha over clearance granted to a renewable energy project near the India-Pakistan border. Asking a supplementary during Question Hour, Manish Tewari of the Congress said national security and energy security have to go hand in hand. He claimed the mixed renewable energy project will run up to one kilometer of the International Border (IB) and noted that as per security protocol, any big infrastructure project should be at least 10 km away from the IB. He asked whether any relaxation was granted to the proposed project. The government asserted that nods and licences to any proposal are granted after obtaining clearances from the Centre, the state and relevant agencies. New and Renewable Energy Minister Pralhad Joshi said the government is keen to produce renewable energy in the country. He said clearances are sought from the central, state government and relevant agencies before lic

IMF's Pak loan review: India to question Pakistan's Brics Bank stake plan

India has generally abstained from voting on loans sought by Pakistan in the IMF's executive board meetings

India, Pak hold flag meeting along LoC in J&K's Poonch to ease tensions

India and Pakistan on Friday held a flag meeting along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district in an effort to ease tension after several recent incidents of cross-border firing and an IED attack, official sources said. The sources said the brigade-commander level flag meeting took place in the Chakkan-Da-Bagh crossing point area with both sides highlighting the need to maintain peace along the borders. The 75-minute long meeting started around 11 am, they said. The meeting took place in a congenial atmosphere and both sides agreed to honour the ceasefire agreement in the larger interest of peace on the borders, the sources said. The ceasefire violations along the borders of Jammu and Kashmir have been rare since the two countries renewed an agreement on February 25, 2021. Two Indian Army personnel, including a captain, were killed and another injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack carried out by suspected terrorists in the Akhnoor sector o

NIA arrests 3 men for leaking sensitive defence information to Pakistan

The NIA has arrested three men for leaking sensitive information to Pakistan-based intelligence operatives, the anti-terror federal agency said on Wednesday. They were sharing sensitive information about Indian defence establishments at Karwar Naval Base and Kochi Naval Base, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said in a statement. While Vethan Laxman Tandel and Akshay Ravi Naik were picked up from Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, Abhilash P A was arrested from Kochi in Kerala, the agency said. All three accused persons arrested on Tuesday with the assistance of local police were found to have been in contact with Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIOs) through social media, it said. As per NIA investigations, they were sharing sensitive information about Indian defence establishments at Karwar Naval Base and Kochi Naval Base and were receiving money from PIOs in exchange for the information. A total of eight people have been arrested so far in the case, including these .

India has been victim of terror acts perpetrated by Pakistan: UN envoy

He also emphasised the democratic choice made by the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the legislative Assembly elections

Pak troops violate J-K ceasefire, suffer losses as Indian Army retaliates

Pakistani troops on Wednesday violated ceasefire by resorting to unprovoked firing on Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting a befitting response by the Indian Army, security officials said. The extent of damage on the Pakistan side was not known immediately but the officials said the enemy forces suffered heavy casualties. The Indian Army neither confirmed nor denied the information. The ceasefire violation by Pakistan in the Krishna Ghati sector came a day after two Indian Army personnel including a captain were killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion triggered by suspected terrorists near the LoC in the Akhnoor sector of Jammu district. The ceasefire violation along the LoC is very rare ever since India and Pakistan renewed the ceasefire agreement on February 25, 2021. The officials said Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing on a forward post in the Tarkundi area along the LoC, prompting a strong

Keeping a close watch on neighbours: India as ISI officials visit B'desh

Against the backdrop of an increase in engagement between Bangladeshi and Pakistani military officials, India on Friday said it keeps a close watch on developments in the neighbourhood having a bearing on national security and takes "appropriate" action if required. Pakistani spy agency ISI's Director General of Analysis Maj Gen Shahid Amir Afsar and certain other officials are currently visiting Bangladesh, according to reports. The visit to Dhaka by the Pakistani military officials came after a delegation of Bangladeshi military officials toured Pakistan and held meetings with the three service chiefs. "We keep an eye on all activities around the country and in the region, as well as all activities affecting national security, and the government will take appropriate steps," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to a question at his weekly media briefing. He said India's approach towards Bangladesh has been to maintain friendly ties. "We support

We didn't stop trading, concerned about MFN status: EAM on Pakistan ties

He also reiterated India's longstanding concern regarding the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, which India had extended to Pakistan but which Pakistan didn't reciprocate

Over 80 Indian Hindu pilgrims return home after visiting Pakistan temples

Over 80 Indian Hindu pilgrims left Pakistan for their homeland on Wednesday after participating in the 316 birth anniversary celebrations of Shiv Avtari Stguru Sant Shadaram Sahib at Shadani Darbar Hayat Pitafi in Sindh province. The pilgrims were seen off at the Wagah Border by the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) officials - Saifullah Khokhar and Umar Javed Awan. Talking to reporters at the Wagah Border, the Indian delegation leader Yudhishter Lal expressed his gratitude and said: "The love and hospitality we received in Pakistan will always be cherished. He praised the arrangements regarding security, accommodation and medical facilities. Lal urged the governments of both countries to ease visa restrictions so that the people of both sides could easily visit their holy places. The Additional Secretary Shrines, Saifullah Khokhar, said the pilgrims had completed their 10-day visit and were returning after performing religious rituals at Shadani Darbar Mirpur Mathelo and Sadh B

Govt asks Pakistan to expedite release of Indian prisoners in its custody

India on Wednesday urged Pakistan to expedite the release and repatriation of 183 Indian fishermen and civilian prisoners in view of completion of their jail terms. In addition, Pakistan has been asked to provide immediate consular access to the 18 civilian prisoners and fishermen in Pakistan's custody, who are believed to be Indian, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. India made the request in the context of the exchange of lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen by both the countries as part of a practice to do so on January 1 and July 1 every calendar year under the framework of a 2008 pact. India has shared names of 381 civilian prisoners and 81 fishermen in its custody, who are Pakistani or are believed-to-be-Pakistani. Similarly, Pakistan has shared names of 49 civilian prisoners and 217 fishermen in its custody, who are Indian or are believed-to-be-Indian, according to the MEA. "The government of India has called for early release and repatriation of civilian ...

Continuing 30 yrs practice, India, Pak exchange nuclear installations list

The exchange of the list took place under the provisions of an agreement on the prohibition of attack against nuclear installations and facilities

BSF recovers 3 Pakistani drones from border areas in Punjab's Amritsar

The drones were recovered from Rajatal village in Amritsar, Punjab, and were effectively neutralised using advanced technical countermeasures

Pakistan 2024: Troubled ties with neighbours, economic woes and Imran Khan

Pakistan was haunted by political uncertainty, economic instability, a deteriorating security situation and troubled relations with neighbours in 2024. But what defined the year were not just these perennial ills but the country's inability to tackle incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan. Amid political turbulence, Pakistan hosted a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conclave, which was also attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar -- the first high-ranking Indian minister in nearly a decade to visit Islamabad amid frosty ties between the two neighbours. The last Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She had travelled to Islamabad to attend the 'Heart of Asia' conference on Afghanistan in December 2015. In his address at the SCO event, Jaishankar said, "If friendship has fallen short and good neighbourliness is missing somewhere, there are surely reasons to introspect and causes to address." He also said if activities across borders are

Pak accuses India of 25 LoC violations, several false flag ops in 2024

The Pakistan Army on Friday accused India of 25 violations of the Line of Control (LoC) during the past year and threatened a quick response if Indian forces attack. Army spokesman Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry levelled these accusations at an year-end press conference, while not offering details to substantiate the charges. The spokesman said security forces killed at least 925 terrorists in 2024 and lost 383 of its own men in nearly 60,000 operations. The Pakistan military is battling insurgency mostly in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. The general claimed that India committed 25 LoC violations and also carried out several false flag operations'. The term usually refers to fake military action so that the blame falls on the other side. The spokesman claimed that such operations were always announced through fake social media accounts linked with RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), India's foreign intelligence agency. "The Pakistan Army possesses the capability to de

Pak village mourns Manmohan Singh's death, says 'like loss in the family'

: The entire village is in mourning. We feel that someone from our family has died today, Altaf Hussain told PTI as a group of local residents held a meeting to condole the death of village boy Manmohan who became prime minister next door. Hussain is a teacher at the same school in Gah village where Manmohan Singh studied up to class 4. His father Gurmukh Singh was a cloth merchant and his mother Amrat Kaur a homemaker. His friends called him Mohna'. The village lies about 100 km southwest of capital Islamabad and was part of Jhelum district when Singh was born. But it was included in Chakwal when it was made a district in 1986. Surrounded by lush green fields, the place can be reached from M-2 motorway linking Islamabad to Lahore, as well as from Chakwal city. The former prime minister died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi on Thursday night. He was 92. Raja Ashiq Ali, nephew of Raja Muhammad Ali, a schoolmate who travelled to Delhi in 2008 to me

Vijay Diwas: The story of courage, sacrifice and what it means for India

Vijay Diwas is a day to mark India's victory over Pakistan in the 1971 Indo-Pak War, which resulted in the division of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (now Pakistan)

India wants to have good ties with Pakistan, free of terror: Jaishankar

India wants to have good relations with Pakistan that are free of terror but if it does not show it is changing its past behaviour, then there will be implications on bilateral ties, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The minister also said that trade relations had been disrupted due to certain decisions taken by Pakistan in 2019. "I would like to inform the honourable member that in terms of improving ties with Pakistan, like any other neighbour, we would like to have good relations with Pakistan. But, like any other neighbour, we would also like to have relations free of terrorists," he said during Question Hour. This has been the position of the government of India, Jaishankar said. "We have made it very clear that it is for the Pakistani side to show that they are changing their behaviour of the past and if they don't, of course, there are implications on relations. So the ball is very much in Pakistan's court in this regard," he said. Trad

Coast Guard rescues 12 Indian crew members of sunken ship with Pak's help

The Indian Coast Guard has rescued 12 crew members of a merchant vessel from the country which sank in the north Arabian Sea during its voyage from Porbandar in Gujarat to Bandar Abbas port in Iran, officials said on Thursday. The vessel 'MSV Al Piranpir' sank on Wednesday outside Indian waters, within Pakistan's search and rescue region. Hence, the Indian Coast Guard carried out the rescue operation in collaboration with the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA), the ICG said in a release. "This humanitarian search and rescue mission saw a close collaboration between the Indian Coast Guard and PMSA, with both nations' maritime rescue coordination centres (MRCC) maintaining continuous communication throughout the operation," it said. The merchant vessel left for the Iranian port from Porbandar on December 2 with general cargo. On its way, it reportedly sank in the morning hours of Wednesday due to rough seas and flooding, said the release. A distress call was received by the In

BSF deploys 2 more battalions in Jammu to check Pakistani infiltration

The Border Security Force (BSF) has completed the deployment of two fresh battalions, comprising more than 2,000 personnel, in the Jammu region to better plug infiltration from across the Pakistan front and check the recent spurt of terrorist activities in the area. Officials in the security establishment told PTI that the new troops of these units have been deployed "in depth areas" as the "second line of defence" just behind the BSF border deployment along the international border (IB) with Pakistan. These two BSF battalions were recently withdrawn from the anti-Naxal operations theatre of Odisha and have now been deployed fully in the Jammu region. This was a task to be accomplished before the onset of winters when securing the IB against infiltration from Pakistan becomes challenging, the sources said. The personnel of the new units have been deployed around the Samba area, some other vulnerable patches in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir and along the Punjab boundary that

Nawaz Sharif reaches out to Delhi after Jaishankar's trip to Islamabad

India and Pakistan should "bury" the past and look at the future to live like good neighbours, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday, in remarks seen as an attempt to reach out to New Delhi following Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar's trip to Islamabad this week. In an interaction with a group of Indian journalists, the three-time prime minister and president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N) described Jaishankar's visit as a "good opening" and said both sides should now engage and move forward. Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise trip to Lahore in December 2015, Sharif said he was not happy with the "long-pause" in the ties between the two countries and hoped that both sides should look ahead with a positive approach. "We can't change our neighbours, neither can Pakistan nor can India. We should live like good neighbours," the 74 year-old leader said. When asked whether a bridge builder between the two countries was required, he said .