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
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 ...
The exchange of the list took place under the provisions of an agreement on the prohibition of attack against nuclear installations and facilities
The drones were recovered from Rajatal village in Amritsar, Punjab, and were effectively neutralised using advanced technical countermeasures
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
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
: 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 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 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
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
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
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 .
India's next war could be fought on two fronts, with a collusion between Pakistan and China, warns Major General Ian Cardozo, drawing on logic, past experience, and evolving geopolitical reality
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday urged SCO member states to strengthen the organisation's framework for tackling multiple regional challenges and forging close cooperation. Sharif's remarks came as he addressed the opening session of the 23rd meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government (CHG) of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). "From the esteemed platform of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a beacon of multilateralism, I stand in the belief that we possess not only the potential but the will to forge a future that is more prosperous and secure for our people a future inclusive and reflective of shared aspirations of all member states, he said. Prime Minister Shehbaz highlighted: We are at a historic moment of transition where sweeping transformations are reshaping the global, social, political, economic, and security landscape. He reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to regional peace, stability and enhanced connectivity a
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif exchanged pleasantries during an informal dinner hosted by the latter on Tuesday
India remains actively engaged in various mechanisms of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), New Delhi said on Tuesday, hours before External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar lands in Pakistan to attend a conclave of the influential regional grouping. It will be the first visit by an Indian foreign minister in nearly a decade that comes amid continuing chill in India-Pakistan relations. Pakistan is hosting the two-day SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit meeting on October 15 and 16. The SCO CHG meeting is held annually and focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the Organisation," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. "External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the meeting. India remains actively engaged in the SCO format, including various mechanisms and initiatives within the SCO framework," it said in a brief statement in New Delhi. Shortly after he arrives in Islamabad, Jaishankar is likely to attend a banquet reception to be hos
While Canada denies harbouring extremists or terrorists Michael Kugelman pointed out that India remains firm in its disagreement
The treaty grants India unrestricted access to 33 MAF from the eastern rivers (Sutlej, Beas, Ravi) annually, while Pakistan receives about 135 MAF from the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab)
Pakistan is set to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation heads of government meeting on October 15 and 16