SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Tuesday, April 29, 2025 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
Afghans Deported From Pakistan Struggle To Find Schools, Jobs, And Shelter (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/29/2025 12:00 AM, Firuza Azizi and Ray Furlong, 235K]
Dildar Khan says he’s spent his entire life in Pakistan but has now been sent "home" to Afghanistan under a scheme that has seen some 100,000 people deported in recent weeks.
Khan has five children between the ages of 2 and 13. "There are two girls and three boys. They were going to school," he told RFE/RL in a phone interview.
But Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have canceled secondary education for girls since they retook power in 2021.
"It is difficult, very difficult. Because it is important that they are educated," added Khan.
The Pakistani authorities announced a mass deportation campaign in March, accusing Afghans of links to drug smuggling and terrorism.
Other deported Afghans who spoke to RFE/RL also voiced concern about the impact it would have on their children.
"Our children are sad they cannot go to school," said Khan Zaman after being forcibly returned to Kabul from Peshawar in northwest Pakistan.
The Save the Children organization said some 50,000 minors were among those deported in the first two weeks of April alone. The charity’s country director, Arshad Malik, said "many of these children were born in Pakistan -- Afghanistan is not the country they call home."
Scarce Jobs In Afghanistan
In a report on April 18, the group noted that many deported families also faced problems finding food, shelter, and work.
Dildar Khan worked as a taxi driver in Pakistan but is now unemployed. He and his family are sheltering in a single room in his brother’s house in a mountainous area of the Achin district of Nangarhar Province.
"There is no space. We are living like this. There are no jobs," said Khan.
The family was deported on April 20. At the border, they received some $140 from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) but Khan said they had now run out of money.
Their possessions are stacked outside his brother’s house, exposed to the sun and rain. "Our request is that [someone] can find us work so we can make a life," he said.
Imran, a resident of Nangarhar who has six children, told RFE/RL a similar story of a life destroyed by deportation from Pakistan.
"We used to work there, our lives were going well, our children went to schools, madrasahs. Our expenses were covered," he said.
"But when we came here, there are no jobs, we cannot meet our expenses, we are facing a difficult life."
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated on April 28 that it was "working around the clock to provide emergency assistance."
But, it added, "the needs are rapidly increasing and more resources are urgently needed."
The exodus from Pakistan has mostly passed through the Torkham border crossing, which has seen long lines of trucks heading northwest along the highway to Jalalabad.
"We have no place to stay in Afghanistan," truck driver Ahmad Nabi told RFE/RL. "I wonder how this situation could impact me…. I don’t know."
The Pakistani authorities have set varying deadlines for people to leave, depending on their residency status. More than 800,000 Afghans were estimated to be living in Pakistan without papers after fleeing the Taliban takeover in 2021.
But another 1.4 million have papers issued by the UNHCR, and many have been living in Pakistan for decades.
According to UN figures, some 800,000 Afghans were forcibly expelled prior to this new deportation drive, starting in 2023.
The Taliban authorities have criticized the deportations while also saying they are preparing sites to house deportees. But one site near Torkham visited by AFP recently "consisted of nothing more than cleared roads on a rocky plain."
RFE/RL has been unable to operate freely in Afghanistan since the Taliban regained power in the country. Atlanta man held captive by Taliban talks of being beaten for not renouncing Catholic faith (WSB-TV 2 Atlanta)
WSB-TV 2 Atlanta [4/28/2025 7:43 PM, Staff, 52868K]
An Atlanta man freed from Taliban captivity in March is talking about what it was like to be held hostage in Afghanistan.
George Glezmann said that for more than two years, he was regularly beaten by his captors for refusing to renounce his Roman Catholic faith.
"They would come as often as they could, you know, very often, they would come in and kick me or slap me," Glezmann told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne.
Glezmann said he frequently refused to trade his faith for his freedom during the roughly two years and four months the Taliban wrongfully detained him in Kabul, Afghanistan.
"I’m a Catholic, Roman Catholic. And the first thing that we human beings do when we feel in trouble is to pray to God," Glezmann said.
Glezmann said he faced near constant pressure by his captors to convert to Islam, not only in the form of physical abuse -- ranging from beatings to buckets of cold water in the icy Afghan winter -- But also with the promise of freedom.
"They would come in and try to get me to convert. If you convert to Islam, we’re going to release you in two days," Glezmann said he was told.
Glezmann said he doesn’t know if the Taliban would truly have released him if he converted.
He said those were likely false promises, except at the very end of his captivity when the Trump administration gained his release.
"Sometimes the guards would hear noise in the room because I’m walking. And they would come in and open the door and see me praying, and they would be like, ‘No, no, no, no. Pray like this. Don’t pray like this,’" Glezmann said.
Glezmann said he wants to be very clear to his Muslim friends.
"I respect their faith, and they respect mine," Glezmann said.
He does not believe that most who follow Islam agree with the approach taken towards him by the Taliban.
"They believe they’re the true Muslims," Glezmann said.
Glezmann said he was a Delta Air Lines mechanic with an Anthropology degree who had visited 133 other countries to explore their cultures when he traveled by ground into Afghanistan from Pakistan and had begun to explore the streets of Kabul when he was taken by the Taliban.
"They beat me, they dragged me to the side of the street, they cuffed me," Glezmann said.
Glezmann said he detested the beard he wore in a video shot near the second of his three Christmases in captivity, and his captors told him it would be a sin if they allowed him to cut it off. Though he did so months before his release.
At his low points, with his physical and emotional health deteriorating, Glezmann said he wondered why God had not delivered him like his cellmate, American Ryan Corbett, who was released near the very end of the Biden administration.
But in the end, his prayers and those of his wife Aleksandra, were answered when special presidential envoy Adam Boehler and a case officer embraced him.
"I felt like a kid when he gets lost in a crowd in a shopping center or something. And suddenly your father finds you and takes you up and hugs you and you feel safe, you feel home again," Glezmann said.
"Your father above never lost you?" Winne asked Glezmann.
"That’s correct. My Father above in heaven," Glezmann said.
Glezman said he has forgiven his captors and, in the process, helped himself heal.
He said his captors eventually allowed phone calls to his wife, which were critical to his survival, and medical visits.
Glezman said he will continue to travel because it’s such an important part of his life, but he won’t be going to any more dangerous places like Afghanistan. Spokane’s Afghan community faces fear, uncertainty after DHS ends protected status for their country (Spokane Public Radio)
Spokane Public Radio [4/28/2025 5:00 PM, Monica Carrillo-Casas, 7K]
Local leaders report a growing wave of anxiety among Afghan families in Spokane after the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to strip protections for those with Temporary Protected Status.
Kazim Abdullahi, a resident of Spokane, said he knows more than 20 families in the county who will be affected — all of whom are too afraid to speak out.
"They don’t want to raise their voice, because they know that if they do that, they will get deported, and they don’t want to put their life at risk," Abdullahi said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has decided to end Temporary Protected Status, also known as TPS, for Afghans in the United States after determining that Afghanistan no longer meets the requirements for its TPS designation. This came after review from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to a statement from Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. TPS holders from Afghanistan are set for potential deportations starting May 20.
TPS is a temporary immigration status granted by the federal government to nationals of certain countries that face unsafe conditions in their own countries, according to the Citizenship and Immigration Services website. It provides eligibility for employment authorization, prohibits detainment on the basis of their immigration status and is not subject to removal while they retain TPS, it states.
Julia Gelatt, an immigration expert at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said the end of TPS is likely to largely affect Afghans who entered the country through the U.S.-Mexico border, either by entering lawfully for an appointment scheduled using an app created by the Biden administration or by crossing illegally and later requesting asylum.
It also could affect Afghans who entered the country with the help of the U.S. government through Operation Allies Welcome, which conveyed up to four years of a legal status called humanitarian parole. TPS has functioned as a safety net, allowing Afghan immigrants to live and work in the United States legally after another status expires, so its termination could leave those with humanitarian parole out of options when that protection ends.
Gelatt pointed out that unlike when the Trump administration ended TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians, the Department of Homeland Security had not posted official notice of its intent to end TPS for Afghans on the Federal Register as of April 24.
But according to Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the department, will publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing that decision. The department said that Noem was required to review the TPS designation for Afghanistan at least 60 days before its May 20 end date.
McLaughlin said in her statement that Noem decided to end TPS for Afghanistan "because the country’s improved security situation and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country.".
She also said TPS is intended to be temporary and said terminating it "furthers the national interest" of the United States. She added that "DHS records indicate that there are Afghan nationals who are TPS recipients who have been the subject of administrative investigations for fraud, public safety, and national security.".
Mark Finney, executive director for Thrive International, questions why Afghans would be targeted particularly when it’s clear their country is not safe to return to.
"This country says that we are ‘by the people of the people, for the people,’ right? And what we’re seeing is that your average, hard -working, everyday American citizen is dealing with just tons and tons of stress and confusion because the government is not representing the work that we do," Finney said.‘We are in a divided state of America’
When Abdullahi heard that the Department of Homeland Security decided to end TPS protections from Afghans, he tried to put together a rally last week, hoping that community members would be willing to speak out.
Instead, Abdullahi — who is originally from Afghanistan and now a U.S. citizen — was met with fear from the local Afghan community, including some who are citizens.
The rally ultimately fell through.
"We have people in my country, the Taliban, that if you raise your voice over there, if you say anything against them, they will kidnap you. They will arrest you," Abdullahi said. "It’s starting to be the exact same thing in the United States. If you raise your voice, you’re gonna get arrested and they’re going to deport you.".
According to data from the DSHS Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance, nearly 15,000 Afghans have resettled in Washington between 2020 and 2025. Kimmy Curry, community engagement manager for the International Rescue Committee, said from fiscal years 2022 to 2025, between 800 and 1,000 have arrived to Spokane through IRC and World Relief.
Sarah Peterson, refugee coordinator for the government agency, and Curry said they don’t have specific data on how many Afghans have TPS, although NPR reported that over 9,000 people from Afghanistan were covered by TPS in the United States as of September 2024.
Curry said revoking TPS for citizens of countries enduring humanitarian crises would send those individuals back into harm.
Christi Armstrong, executive director for World Relief, echoed Curry.
"It’s just heartbreaking to us at World Relief, especially because they were invited by our government to come here, and so for us now to turn our backs on them, to me, is just reprehensible," Armstrong said.
Abdul Wahid, a case manager for World Relief, said he believes the decision to end TPS for Afghans may have been influenced by a surge of YouTube videos posted over the past year, many of which claim that Afghanistan is now "safe.".
And with titles like "My First Trip To Afghanistan Under Taliban Rule: A Surprising Welcome For A British Traveler!" and "Kabul Afghanistan 2025 | A Vibrant City Tour in 4K Ultra HDR," Wahid said these videos are feeding people a narrative that isn’t true.
"I’m 37 years old and I was a witness of at least four different types of governments in Afghanistan. What I learned from these changes and revolutions is that reality is different from the news and what YouTubers see," Wahid said. "The reality is different. There are still people from the previous government – officers, officials, employees – that are being tortured by the Taliban every day in different parts of the country.".
He confirms he also knows several people in Spokane who would be affected and are fearful of being deported to Afghanistan.
According to the Associated Press, in 2021, 691 foreign tourists visited in Afghanistan. In 2022, that figure rose to 2,300. In 2023, there were 7,000.
They also reported that Mohammad Saeed, the head of the Taliban government’s Tourism Directorate in Kabul, said he dreamed of the country becoming a tourist hot spot.
But Wahid said these stories are covering up what’s actually happening in Afghanistan and what could happen if Afghans are sent back to face the Taliban.
"They cannot go back," Wahid said. "If they go back, they will be punished and they will be killed.".
Ryan Crocker, a Spokane Valley native who served as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan until 2012, also said it is "ludicrous" for the government to say Afghanistan is safe.
"The notion that Afghanistan is a safe place for anyone is absurd," he said. "There are conditions of virtual famine there. For any female in Afghanistan, it is a life of oppression or worse. And for anyone with any connection to the United States – and obviously being here under TPS is such a connection – they would be in real jeopardy.".
Crocker is a member of the Afghanistan War Commission, an independent group of experts created by Congress to examine U.S. government decisions throughout the war, but he emphasized that he was expressing his personal views and not those of the commission.
"We fought a war with the Taliban and they are still an adversary, and we can expect them to take it out on any Afghan who is connected to the United States," Crocker said. "So, I absolutely do not understand the rationale for the statement by the Department of Homeland Security that they no longer face a threat in Afghanistan. I mean, that defies all logic.".
Crocker said he is also concerned about the signal the termination of TPS sends to third-country governments, like Qatar, that have accepted Afghans at the request of the United States. They may take this as a signal that they should do the same.
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who also served as the CIA director, said he believes the United States owes the Afghans "not just a debt of gratitude, but also give them a chance to be able to find life and be able to come to this country as immigrants.".
"The Afghans fought right alongside U.S. soldiers. The Afghans were there when I was CIA director," Panetta said at a news conference before he was honored Thursday in Spokane with the Washington State University Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service.
"I don’t think we can just turn our backs on them. I think we owe them the opportunity to try to save their lives because they did everything they could to save our lives," he said.Abdullahi noted that he understands TPS is a temporary status, but given the ongoing dangers in Afghanistan, he wishes the administration would find a better solution than sending families back to a place they fear.
"There is no humanity anymore. There is no right or wrong," Abdullahi said. "We’re not in the United States of America anymore. We are in a divided state of America.". Des Moines Afghan military refugees fear for lives after apparent deportation notices (WHO NBC 13 Des Moines)
WHO NBC 13 Des Moines [4/28/2025 5:55 PM, Katie Kaplan, 52868K]
Afghan refugees living in the Des Moines metro have recently begun receiving apparent deportation notices. For many who were American allies in the War Against Terrorism, they believe the clock is ticking down to a life-or-death decision.
"Since I heard that, and I seen those notices, trust me, I cannot eat well and I cannot sleep," Shir A. Safi told WHO-13’s Katie Kaplan.
For Safi, he said his relationship with American troops began as a boy when he would walk three-and-a-half miles along an Interstate to get to school in Afghanistan.
"Their tanks would come there, and Taliban would fire on them from (the) mountains, and I had to hide behind their tanks," he said. "They give me shelter while there was fighting going on, and they would talk to me and ask me questions. And they became my friend because it was (an) everyday thing for me.".
Safi said that on the day he took his final exam, he headed to an Afghan military recruitment office and signed up to join American forces in the war against terrorism.
"I fought for 12 and a half years alongside (sic) my American friends," he said.
In 2021, when American troops withdrew from the area and the Taliban took control, he was evacuated by the U.S. Government to Iowa and settled in Des Moines. After a fellow Afghan refugee was hit by a car and killed in the metro while crossing the street, he felt compelled to help.
In 2022, he founded the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization ‘Afghan Partners in Iowa’ that now helps 1,250 Afghan refugee families who are living in Iowa under a federal Temporary Protected Status (TPS) assimilate to American life.
"I said, ‘They just survived the horrible war in Afghanistan, and now they are dying in the street,’" he recalled. "So, I (sic) decided that moment that I need to save them, I need to help them.".
He now helps to coordinate English language classes and lessons in how to use modern technology, something he said many Afghan people, especially women, are not familiar with. The organization also helps the refugees build a resume and find employment in an area where they might already have skills, and are taught basic lessons in how to cross the street, how to find the bus routes and where to shop for groceries.
But since April 6, Safi said roughly 200 of his clients have received deportation letters via email purportedly from Homeland Security stating, "It is time for you to leave the United States." He believes the U.S. Government sent the letters to the emails provided by the refugees in their registration paperwork.
He said the letters have left him and other Afghan-American allies living in fear.
"My big concern is they will all be tortured and they will be killed, and that- in Afghanistan, in the hands of (the) Taliban- will not be easy," he said.
The letters have come weeks after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was terminating the TPS status for Afghan refugees. The department provided a copy of a statement it first issued to the New York Times.
"Secretary Noem made the decision to terminate TPS for individuals from Afghanistan because the country’s improved security situation and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country. Additionally, the termination furthers the national interest and the statutory provision that TPS is in fact designed to be temporary.
Additionally, DHS records indicate that there are Afghan nationals who are TPS recipients who have been the subject of administrative investigations for fraud, public safety, and national security.". - Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin:
However, the U.S. Department of State, which is responsible for the country’s foreign policy and relations, still has Afghanistan listed as a ‘Level Four: Do Not Travel’ advisory, citing, in part, due to civil unrest, crime, and terrorism. While the advisory is for American citizens, the details are at odds with some of Secretary Noem’s findings.
The statement, attributed to Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, did not differentiate between Afghan refugees and Afghan military soldiers who aided American troops during combat. WHO-13 followed up with the DHS and asked if the Secretary was going to "make any considerations for Afghan military soldiers who aided American soldiers," and requested a statement on the matter, but did not receive a response.
Safi said he was promised protection by American forces when he helped them during combat and that he is still hoping the letters to Afghan military allies are a mistake, and that the U.S Government will step in to protect its brothers in arms.
WHO-13 reached out to Congressman Zach Nunn, who is an American military Veteran who served in the Middle East. He issued a statement that said he was aware of the situation and is working to see what the "next steps will look like.".
"Upon learning of DHS actions, our team took immediate action including contacting both DHS and refugee advocate groups to get clarity and ensure transparency for people affected. As a combat veteran who led efforts saving hundreds of Americans and allies left behind by Biden’s disastrous abandonment of Afghanistan, this is personal to me. We are working to confirm how many individuals in our communities received these notices, and to see what next steps will look like.". - Rep. Zach Nunn
WHO-13 also reached out to Governor Kim Reynolds’ office for comment, but did not hear back.
If you are interested in helping Afghan refugees in Iowa, you can donate your time and/or skills, or make a financial contribution through their website. If you would like to voice an opnion about Afghan military refugees who fear they may be deported, you are encouraged to write to your local Congressional representative. Pakistan
Pakistan’s Detention of Indian Border Guard Adds to Tensions (New York Times)
New York Times [4/28/2025 4:14 PM, Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar, 831K]
The detention of an Indian border guard by Pakistani forces has injected another element of tension into the already volatile confrontation between the two countries after last week’s deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir.
The family of the Indian border guard, Purnam Kumar Shaw, who is part of the paramilitary Border Security Force, has expressed concern about his fate.
He was accompanying farmers looking after their crops along the border in the Indian state of Punjab when he strayed across the line demarcating Indian and Pakistani territory and was detained, according to the Indian news media.
He was detained on Wednesday, a day after the terrorist attack in the Indian part of Kashmir, which killed 26 civilians and has pushed the nuclear-armed neighbors to the verge of military confrontation.
India has accused Pakistan of having a hand in the attack and has indicated it is preparing a military strike, in addition to other punishing measures it has already laid out. Pakistan has denied the accusations and reciprocated with its own retaliatory measures.
Mr. Shaw’s detention could give the Pakistani government a bargaining chip and affect India’s options for striking Pakistan.
Indian security officials have remained tight-lipped about the case. A senior Pakistani military official confirmed that the Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary force, had detained the Indian guard. An Indian official said the government was seeking Mr. Shaw’s return according to established protocols.“We are worried about his safety,” Rahul Shaw, his nephew, said. “The B.S.F. has told us that they will bring him back safely,” he added, referring to the Border Security Force.
The guard has an 8-year-old son, and his wife is pregnant with their second child, his nephew said.Kalyan Banerjee, a member of the Indian Parliament for the state of West Bengal, said senior Indian security officials had assured him that Mr. Shaw was in good health and that the government was making “every possible effort” to get him back to India.
The exact details of how Mr. Shaw, a guard with nearly two decades of service, ended up detained are not clear.
The security arrangements along some parts of the border can be complicated. Farms on the Indian side often abut a middle ground between Indian and Pakistani territory known as the zero point.
In many villages, India’s Border Security Force oversees villagers’ access to their farms, issuing them identification cards and keeping a close watch on their activities, including when they tend their fields during designated hours. Accidental border crossings occasionally take place.
Mr. Shaw’s detention in some ways recalls the last major face-off between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, which came in 2019 after a deadly terrorist attack on Indian security forces.
After India conducted airstrikes, the Pakistani side shot down an Indian jet and arrested its pilot. His fate became part of the process that led to de-escalation between the two adversaries.
K.J. Singh, a retired Indian general who led the country’s Western Command, said the fact that border soldiers often accidentally stray across the demarcation line makes it less of an equivalent with the detention of the pilot.
Mr. Singh said he was hopeful that the bargaining over the border guard might rise little higher than the usual levels in such cases. Pakistan Says It Shot Down an Indian Spy Drone in Kashmir (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/29/2025 3:31 AM, Kamran Haider and Sudhi Ranjan Sen, 5.5M]
Pakistan’s army said it shot down an Indian spy drone along their disputed border in the Kashmir region, as tensions rise over last week’s militant attacks that killed 26 people.
The unmanned drone breached the so-called Line of Control in Kashmir, a northern region claimed by both countries, Pakistan’s state-run television channel said on Tuesday, citing unidentified security personnel. Both sides have shot down small drones in the past as they are often used for surveillance around the border.
The report comes at a time when relations are deteriorating rapidly between the two nuclear-armed nations. Just hours earlier, a top Pakistan defense official warned of the possibility of war with India but said it can be averted, with the next few days being crucial.“If something has to happen, it will happen in two or three days,” Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Pakistani media outlet Geo News. “There is an immediate threat.” China, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are working to prevent conflict from breaking out, he added.
India’s army didn’t immediately respond to requests Tuesday for information about the drone incident.
Earlier Tuesday, India’s army accused Pakistan of firing across the Line of Control for a fifth consecutive day, saying its forces responded in a “measured” but “effective” manner to what it described as “unprovoked small arms fire.”
The ceasefire agreement signed by the two countries in 2003 had been frequently violated until 2021, when both nations renewed their commitment to uphold the truce. Cross-border firing had largely ceased over the past three years.
India stocks were flat on Tuesday and the rupee held minor losses, while Pakistan’s currency was little changed at 281 a dollar.
Rising Tensions
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India will punish those responsible for the killing dozens of tourists in Kashmir, which his government has called an act of terrorism. India has accused Pakistan of involvement and imposed punitive measures, including downgrading diplomatic ties and suspending a crucial water-sharing treaty.
Pakistan has denied any links to the attacks and retaliated by expelling Indian diplomats from Islamabad, closing its airspace to Indian-owned and Indian-operated airlines, and suspending the limited trade between the nations.
Since achieving independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought several major wars over the disputed Himalayan region. The most recent prolonged fighting occurred in 1999, when Pakistani troops infiltrated Kargil, an Indian-controlled district in Kashmir. That lasted for several months until Pakistani forces withdrew from locations on the Line of Control, the de facto border.
The last time the two sides came close to an all-out war was in 2019, when a suicide bomber killed 40 members of India’s security forces. Jaish-e-Mohammed (Soldiers of Mohammed), a Pakistan-based jihadi group, claimed responsibility at the time, prompting India to respond about two weeks later with its first air strikes on Pakistani soil since 1971.
India said its fighter jets attacked an alleged militant training camp in northern Pakistan, with an official saying about 300 militants were killed. Pakistan denied any camp was hit and the next day downed an Indian fighter plane in a dogfight, the first between the two nations in almost 50 years. Pakistan defence minister says military incursion by India is imminent (Reuters)
Reuters [4/28/2025 9:28 PM, Asif Shahzad, 126906K]
Pakistan’s defence minister said on Monday a military incursion by neighbouring India was imminent in the aftermath of a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir last week, as tensions rise between the two nuclear-armed nations.The attack killed 26 people and triggered outrage in Hindu-majority India, along with calls for action against Muslim-majority Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of backing militancy in Kashmir, a region both claim and have fought two wars over."We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken," Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters in an interview at his office in Islamabad.Asif said India’s rhetoric was ramping up and that Pakistan’s military had briefed the government on the possibility of an Indian attack. He did not go into further details on his reasons for thinking an incursion was imminent.India’s foreign and defence ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.After the Kashmir attack, India said two suspected militants were Pakistani. Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue and punish the attackers.Pakistan was on high alert but would only use its nuclear weapons if "there is a direct threat to our existence," said Asif, a veteran politician and outspoken member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, which has historically pursued peace talks with India.‘ACT OF WAR’The minister added that Islamabad had approached friendly countries, including Gulf states and China, and also briefed Britain, the United States and others on the situation."Some of our friends in the Arabian Gulf have talked to both sides," Asif said, without naming the countries.China said on Monday it hoped for restraint and welcomed all measures to cool down the situation. Asif said the United States was thus far "staying away" from intervening in the matter.U.S. President Donald Trump said last week India and Pakistan would figure out relations between themselves, but the State Department later said Washington was in touch with both sides, urging them to work towards a "responsible solution".Washington has previously helped calm tensions between the two countries, which both gained independence in 1947 when a retreating British colonial administration partitioned the subcontinent into two states.Delhi and Islamabad have taken a raft of measures against each other since the Kashmir attack. India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty - an important river-sharing pact. Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines.Asif said it was an "act of war" to deprive vulnerable areas of water, and that the treaty, which has weathered past conflicts, was backed by international guarantors."We have already gone to relevant quarters as far this treaty is concerned," he said, calling on the international community and the World Bank to protect the pact.New Delhi has also accused Islamabad of backing the Islamist militants who had carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 166 people, including foreigners. Pakistan denies the accusations. Pakistan fears India incursion ‘imminent’ amid heightened tensions following terror attack (FOX News)
FOX News [4/28/2025 4:50 PM, Caitlin McFall, 52868K]
Pakistan’s defense minister on Monday said he believes an incursion by India is "imminent" as tensions remain heightened following a militant attack in India’s Kashmir region last week, which saw the killing of 26 people, first reported Reuters.
India, which has not named any group it suspects of leading the attack but said it believes Pakistan to have backed the militants involved in the assault, has reportedly engaged in an aggressive hunt to find those involved in the deadliest attack in two decades.
According to a BBC report, Indian authorities have used explosives to demolish properties allegedly linked to the suspects, more than 1,500 people have been detained for questioning and troops from both India and Pakistan have exchanged cross-border small arms fire.
Indian security forces personnel escort an ambulance carrying the bodies of tourists who were killed in a suspected militant attack near Pahalgam, outside the police control room in Srinagar April 23, 2025.
"We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation, some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken," Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters on Monday from the capital city of Islamabad.
Asif did not say why he thought a possible incursion from India was imminent, but noted that allies in the Gulf had been informed, who in turn had apparently communicated the situation on the ground with officials in China and the U.S.
The New York Times on Monday similarly reported that India appeared to be building its case for possible military intervention as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been engaging in mass diplomatic outreach by speaking with more than a dozen world leaders about the situation.
This is a locator map for Pakistan with its capital, Islamabad, and the Kashmir region.
The feud between India and Pakistan predates last week’s attack by nearly 80 years, following Britain’s decision to end its direct rule in the region following World War II and enact the 1947 Partition of British India, which essentially divided modern-day India and Pakistan based on Hindu and Muslim populations — though it caused massive unrest and displacement along religious lines.
The partition also gave the diverse Jammu and Kashmir region the ability to choose if it wanted to join either newly established nation.Ultimately, the conflict ongoing today stems from the previous monarch of the region’s initial attempt to seek independence, followed by its decision to join India in exchange for security against invading Pakistani militias.
Indian security forces stand guard at the site of an attack on tourists in Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Tuesday, April 24.
India and Pakistan have engaged in several wars and cross-border skirmishes in the decades since.
While President Donald Trump said last week that resolving the decades-old conflict was down to New Delhi and Islamabad to sort out, the State Department said it was working with both sides to encourage a "responsible solution.". As India-Pakistan Tensions Soar, Dozens Of Afghan Insurgents Killed Crossing Border (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/28/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 235K]
Pakistani security forces said they killed dozens of militants attempting to cross into the country from Afghanistan, even as its troops separately continued to exchange gunfire with the India military near Kashmir amid skyrocketing tensions in the region.Islamabad did not directly blame India for the incursion of militants from Afghanistan, but it said the fighters had been sent to carry out terrorist attacks by their "foreign masters."Some Pakistani officials suggested, without providing evidence, that nuclear-rival India encouraged the insurgents’ actions to divert the attention of Pakistan’s military from the brewing crisis in Kashmir."Such actions by [the insurgents], at a time when India is leveling baseless accusations against Pakistan, clearly implies on whose cues [the fighters are] operating," the Pakistani Army said in a statement.The military said it killed 71insurgents entering from Afghanistan on April 27 and claimed that intelligence reports indicated the militants were "Khwarij" -- a phrase the government uses for Tehrik-e Taliban, otherwise known as the Pakistani Taliban."On the nights of April 25-26 and 26-27, movement of a large group of Khwarij, who were trying to infiltrate through Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was detected by the security forces in general area Hassan Khel, North Waziristan district," the military said."Own troops effectively engaged and thwarted their attempt to infiltrate…; A large cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives was also recovered."Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters the incident represented the largest number of "terrorists" killed in a single day."We had information that the foreign masters of these terrorists are asking them to enter Pakistan as soon as possible" to undertake attacks.Reuters quoted local police officials on April 28 as saying security forces had detained around 500 people for questioning after a search of some 1,000 houses and forests in a hunt for militants in Indian Kashmir.What’s Behind The New India-Pakistan Escalation?Tensions have soared in the region between Pakistan and its bitter rival and neighbor India, both nuclear-armed nations.The latest flareup occurred on April 22 when an attack killed mostly Indian nationals in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, but the Pakistani government denies it was behind the attack that killed 26 civilians.New Delhi and Islamabad have since carried out tit-for-tat punishments following the incident, including downgrading diplomatic and trade ties, closing the main border crossing, and revoking visas for each other’s nationals.On April 27, Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire near Kashmir’s Line of Control for a third night in a row.The Pakistani government has said it would consider it "an act of war" if India followed through on a threat to block the flow of crucial rivers as punishment for the deadly incident.The United States on April 27 said it was in touch with India and Pakistan and urged them to seek a "responsible solution" to the crisis."This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels," a State Department spokesperson told Reuters.In comments to foreign media, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tatar claimed that India blamed Islamabad for the tourist attack to distract Pakistan’s security forces from their focus on the tensions on its western borders.He added that Pakistan had "undeniable evidence" of India’s support for the Pakistani Taliban and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which is behind multiple attacks in Balochistan. India has denied the charges.Balochistan has been the site of an insurgency, with separatists seeking independence from Pakistan. Bombing in a former stronghold of Pakistani Taliban kills 7 people and wounds 16 (AP)
AP [4/28/2025 6:26 AM, Ishtiaq Mahsud, 456K]
At least seven people were killed and 16 wounded on Monday after a powerful bomb went off outside the office of a pro-government peace committee in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the restive northwest, police said.The attack happened in Wana, a main city in the district of South Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a local police chief, Usman Wazir, told The Associated Press.
He said the bomb targeted the office of the peace committee, which publicly opposes the Pakistani Taliban. The committee also helps solve disputes among residents.
Wazir said some of the wounded were listed in critical condition at a local hospital.
The bombing happened a day after the military said troops in a major operation killed 54 militants in the nearby North Waziristan district following their attempt to cross into the country from Afghanistan.
On Monday, the military said troops killed 17 more militants in an overnight operation in North Waziristan, bringing the total number of insurgents killed in the region in the past three days to 71.
In a statement, the military said troops also seized a cache of weapons in the operation against militants who were “operating on behest of their foreign masters.”
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in separate statements denounced the bombing. They also praised the country’s security forces for killing militants in coordinated operations in North Waziristan.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack, but blame is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and often target security forces and civilians.
TTP is a separate group but also a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.
Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuaries and have even been living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, which also emboldened the Pakistani Taliban. A leaking oil tanker explodes in Pakistan, killing 2 and injuring 56 (AP)
AP [4/29/2025 2:29 AM, Staff, 456K]
A leaking oil tanker caught fire and exploded along a dusty road in southwestern Pakistan, killing two people and injuring 56 others, officials said Tuesday.
The explosion happened as firefighters were trying to put out the fire Monday in the Naushki district of Balochistan province, local police officer Atta Ullah said.
Firefighters and people in a crowd that had gathered at the scene were among the injured. The tanker driver and a bystander were killed.
Nearly a dozen of the injured were in critical condition and some were being airlifted to the southern city of Karachi, where better medical care is available, said Waseem Baig, a spokesman for Civil Hospital in Quetta.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti visited the Civil Hospital in Quetta, the capital of the province, and directed doctors to provide the best possible care to the victims.
Deadly incidents involving oil tankers are not uncommon in Pakistan.
In 2017, more than 200 people were killed in Ahmadpur East in Punjab province when a fuel tanker caught fire as residents attempted to collect leaking fuel. India
India Accuses Pakistan of Supporting Terrorism. Here’s What We Know. (New York Times)
New York Times [4/29/2025 1:18 AM, Zia ur-Rehman, 831K]
After 26 people, most of them tourists, were killed last week in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, India’s government called the massacre a terrorist attack and cited “cross-border linkages” to Pakistan.
A group calling itself the Resistance Front emerged on social media to say it was behind the slaughter. Indian officials privately say the group is a proxy for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist organization based in Pakistan.
But India, citing national security concerns, has publicly provided little evidence linking the attack to Pakistan, which denies involvement and says that Lashkar-e-Taiba is largely inoperative. Pakistan has also called for an international investigation into the episode.
As India has appeared to make a case for conducting a military strike on Pakistan in retaliation for the Kashmir attack, it has pointed to what it calls Pakistan’s past pattern of support for militant groups targeting India.
What are the origins of the dispute?
The roots of the Kashmir conflict trace back to the 1947 partition of British India, which led to the creation of a predominantly Hindu India and a predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
In October of that year, the Hindu monarch of the Muslim-majority princely state of Kashmir acceded to India, but Pakistan laid claim to the territory and sought to take it by military force. A U.N.-brokered agreement in 1949 established a cease-fire line, dividing Kashmir.
After wars in 1965 and 1971, the cease-fire line became the Line of Control, with India possessing about two-thirds of Kashmir and Pakistan the rest. But the dispute remains unresolved.
How has Pakistan supported militancy?
An insurgency in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir began in the 1980s, primarily driven by local grievances, with Pakistan eventually supporting some groups, experts say.Local elections in 1987 were widely perceived as rigged, disadvantaging a coalition of Muslim parties. “That led Kashmiri political activists to conclude they could never achieve their political demands at the ballot box,” said Christopher Clary, associate professor of political science at the University at Albany.“A mostly indigenous insurgency emerged,” he said, “but over the next few years it was co-opted by Pakistan-based groups.”
Among the Kashmir-focused insurgent groups that emerged, some supported independence for the region, while others wanted the Indian side of Kashmir to be taken over by Pakistan.
In the 1990s, Pakistan provided training and other support to several militant groups operating in Kashmir and within Pakistan. This involvement was later acknowledged by several senior Pakistani officials, including the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
The insurgency began to ease around 2002, as Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, another major militant group, although Lashkar-e-Taiba continued to operate under aliases. A cease-fire was declared and a peace process with India was initiated, a shift that some observers linked to pressure by the United States after its post-9/11 intervention in Afghanistan.
The peace process collapsed after attacks in Mumbai, India, in 2008, which killed 166 people and were attributed to Lashkar-e-Taiba.
What evidence has India presented?
After the Mumbai attacks, India provided detailed dossiers that included intercepted communications between the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan.
Tariq Khosa, who led Pakistan’s investigation in the case, publicly confirmed that the inquiry had revealed the Pakistani nationality of the sole surviving attacker and that militants from Lashkar-e-Taiba had been trained in Pakistan.
After a deadly 2016 attack on the Pathankot air base in India, the country accused Jaish-e-Muhammad of orchestrating the assault, citing intercepted phone calls and statements from captured individuals.
Pakistan formed an investigative team that visited the air base, and it detained several Jaish-e-Muhammad members.
However, Pakistan did not grant India’s request to interrogate the militant group’s chief. The investigation produced inconclusive results, and no major convictions were achieved.
So far, India has not provided similar evidence to support its claims of Pakistani involvement in last week’s attack in Kashmir.
What is happening today?
Pakistan denies that it provides state support for militancy in Kashmir, though its leaders often express solidarity with Kashmiris who want independence from India. And Pakistan acknowledges that it provided funding and training for militant groups in the 1990s.
After last week’s attack in Kashmir, Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, asserted that groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba were defunct.
Majid Nizami, an expert on jihadist groups who is based in Lahore, Pakistan, said that heightened scrutiny from the Financial Action Task Force, a Paris-based global financial watchdog, had pressured Pakistan to impose restrictions on Lashkar-e-Taiba’s leaders and confiscate the group’s financial assets.
Tightened border controls by India have also made infiltration across the Line of Control “almost impossible,” Mr. Nizami said.
The grievance that fuels militancy deepened after India’s decision in 2019 to revoke the special autonomy long granted to its part of Kashmir.
Despite Pakistan’s denials, Western observers say that it continues to provide some support to anti-India militants, including safe havens.“There are homegrown Kashmiri militants,” Mr. Clary, the Albany professor, said. “But most observers assess that Pakistani-supported groups are more important than any homegrown militants.” Grief turns to fear in Kashmir as Indian forces crack down after attack (Washington Post)
Washington Post [4/29/2025 1:00 AM, Shams Irfan and Karisha Mehrotra, 6.9M]
The armored vehicles came at dusk as families were preparing dinner. Two days earlier, gunmen had killed 26 people, most of them tourists, in a remote Himalayan meadow. Now hundreds of Indian soldiers descended on this tiny village, hunting for suspects.
They encircled the home of Adil Hussain Thoker, one of the militants accused of carrying out the attack, forcing villagers into the surrounding rice fields as darkness fell. At midnight, a thunderous blast ruptured the silence — “the earth shook beneath our feet,” recalled one local, speaking like others in this story on the condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety. The two-story brick and wood house was reduced to rubble.
Indian officials say they are carrying out controlled demolitions of homes where explosives have been found. Thoker’s family members vehemently deny the charge and say they haven’t seen or heard from Adil since 2018.“What happened in Pahalgam is gruesome, and no sane person would endorse such an act,” said a young boy in Guree, referring to the deadly militant attack on April 22. “But why punish civilians?”
That question encapsulates a familiar dread in Kashmir, where people have long felt trapped between India and Pakistan — which each administer different parts of the Muslim-majority territory but claim full ownership — and between militancy and militarization.
Kashmiris say they are cornered by a cruel paradox: forced to publicly condemn the violence even as they are made to bear the cost. In the face of an intensifying Indian security crackdown, grief for the dead is hardening into fear.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Pahalgam. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters Wednesday that militants had “cross-border linkages,” a reference to archrival Pakistan. Islamabad has condemned the killings and rejected claims of involvement.“Kashmiris now and then have always realized that they are the biggest victim — both of the terrorism and the militarization,” said Anuradha Bhasin, managing editor of the Kashmir Times. “Yet they are always put on the dock and asked to prove their innocence.”
A ‘people’s peace movement’
As news broke of the attack, the deadliest on Indian civilians in more than a decade, political leaders here issued swift condemnations. Mosques held prayers for the victims. Local associations organized peace marches and candlelight vigils.
Storefronts shuttered, traffic fell silent and schools were closed. Kashmir’s leading newspapers printed black front pages. Unlike during past strikes and shutdowns that targeted the Indian government, the outcry this time was directed at the attackers.“It’s not for our daily bread that we cry, it is for our humanity,” one protester told journalists. “They must be caught and given the strictest punishment,” another said to the cameras.“There seems to be an emergence of a spontaneous, genuine people’s peace movement,” said Haseeb Drabu, a former Kashmiri finance minister.
There has been little room for open dissent since 2019, when the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked Kashmir’s semiautonomous status, jailed scores of activists and journalists, and imposed a months-long communications blackout — sealing the valley off from the world.
In the years since, rights groups have documented widespread abuses by Indian security forces, including arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings. The Indian government denies the allegations.
Many Kashmiris saw the attack in Pahalgam as a calculated assault on the region’s identity. An editorial in the Greater Kashmir newspaper said it threatened to “unravel years of progress,” especially when it came to the resurgent tourism industry, touted by the Indian government as symbolic of a new, more peaceful era.“Tourism has been pushed as a political solution in the absence of adequate security arrangements,” said Nitasha Kaul, a professor of politics and international relations at the University of Westminster. “Those in charge have displayed a callous complacency that suggests they bought into their own superficial rhetoric of ‘normalcy.’”
Abdul Wahid Wani, leader of an association of pony handlers that helps tourists explore the local scenery on horseback, was among the first on the scene after last week’s attack. The carnage he saw is still with him, he said, recalling a newlywed forced to mourn her husband on their honeymoon.
He called for “severe punishment so that generations to come will learn from it.” But, he added, “those who are not at fault should not be entangled in the oppressive punishment.”
Yet there are already signs of “collective punishment,” Bhasin said. Thoker’s former residence was among nine homes destroyed by Indian security forces, and at least 2,000 people have been detained, according to local reports. At least 60 house raids have been carried out — some trailed by television cameras — and new military checkpoints have been set up across the region. The gunmen accused of carrying out the attack have so far eluded capture.
A statement from police in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-administered Kashmir, said officers were working to “dismantle terror-supporting infrastructure” by seizing weapons, documents and digital evidence.“Punish the guilty, show them no mercy but don’t let innocent people become collateral damage,” Jammu and Kashmir’s chief minister, Omar Abdullah, posted Sunday on X.
Kashmiris “felt the need to convey a message to the entire world that Kashmir does not endorse civilian killings, but now they can’t protest their own pain,” said Gowhar Geelani, the author of “Kashmir: Rage and Reason.”
Calls for revenge
The Pahalgam attack has set off a wave of anger on Indian news channels and social media — sometimes directed not just at Kashmiris, but at Muslims more broadly.“Kashmir should be flattened like Gaza,” the Stop Hindu Hate Advocacy Network posted on X. On the night of the attack, Arnab Goswami, an influential right-wing anchor, headlined his segment with the hashtag #WeWantRevenge, declaring that April 22 was for Indians what Oct. 7, 2023, was for Israelis.
Activists have reported attacks on Kashmiri students in Nagpur and Chandigarh; in Uttarakhand, a Hindu nationalist group posted a video last week warning that “if we see any Kashmiri Muslim in the state after 10 a.m. tomorrow, we will give them the right treatment.”
On the outskirts of New Delhi, a Kashmiri college student quickly created a WhatsApp group for more than 100 classmates so they could share updates on revenge attacks and discuss whether it was safe to remain in the country.“Most of us would have left right after the attack had our end-of-year exams not been this week,” said Sameer, a member of the group, speaking on the condition that he be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisals. “We are scared, but we also can’t afford to ruin our careers.”
The region is now bracing for India’s next move, fearing a military response against Pakistan could bring the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war.Officials in New Delhi have reported multiple violations along the Line of Control, the heavily militarized border that separates Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and that has been largely calm since a tenuous ceasefire was struck in 2021.
Both countries have shut land crossings, slashed embassy staff and ordered hundreds of their citizens to return home. India has suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, a key water-sharing arrangement with Pakistan, while Islamabad has withdrawn from the Simla Agreement — a 1972 framework for resolving disputes bilaterally.
It was yet another chapter in an “endless cycle” of “India versus Pakistan and Hindu versus Muslim narratives,” said Kaul. “But in order to find any long-term solution, the focus of attention should be Kashmiri lives affected by the unresolved conflict.” India shuts over half of Kashmir tourist spots in security review (Reuters)
Reuters [4/29/2025 2:29 AM, Fayaz Bukhari, 5.2M]
More than half of the tourist destinations in India’s insurgency-torn Kashmir region have been closed to the public from Tuesday, according to a government order reviewed by Reuters, in a bid to tighten security after last week’s attack on holiday-makers.
The assailants segregated men, asked their names and targeted Hindus before shooting them at close range in the Pahalgam area, killing 26 people, officials and survivors said.
India has identified two of the three attackers as "terrorists" from Pakistan waging a violent revolt in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Pakistan has denied any role and called for a neutral probe.
Hindu-majority India accuses Islamic Pakistan of funding and encouraging militancy in Kashmir, the Himalayan region both nations claim in full but rule in part. Islamabad says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to a Kashmiri demand for self-determination.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours have increased since the attack, along with calls in India for action against Pakistan.
Delhi and Islamabad have taken a raft of measures against each other since the Kashmir attack. India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty - an important river-sharing pact. Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines.
The government of India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory has decided to shut 48 of the 87 tourist destinations in Kashmir and enhanced security at the remaining ones, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters.
No time period was given. Government officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Nestled in the Himalayas with lofty peaks, picturesque valleys and grand Mughal-era gardens, Kashmir has been emerging as India’s tourism hotspot as violence there has waned in recent years.
But the Pahalgam attack has left panic-stricken tourists seeking an early exit at the start of the busy summer season.
Firing has also increased along the 740-km (460-mile) de facto border separating the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir.
On Tuesday, for the fifth consecutive day, the Indian army said it had responded to "unprovoked" small arms fire from multiple Pakistan army posts around midnight.
It gave no further details and reported no casualties. The Pakistani military did not respond to a request for comment.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters on Monday that a military incursion by India was imminent and it had reinforced its forces in preparation. Hope and fear as tourists trickle back to Kashmir town after attack (BBC)
BBC [4/28/2025 5:10 PM, Raghvendra Rao and Nikhil Inamdar, 52868K]
One week after a devastating militant attack near the mountain resort of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 people, the town wears a look of quiet desolation, although tourists have begun trickling back in small numbers.
The main high street, abandoned by visitors last week - with shops shuttered and hotels completely emptied out - is seeing fleeting signs of life again.
Last Tuesday, militants opened fire on people, mostly tourists, who were visiting Baisaran, a mountain-top meadow three miles (5 km) from Pahalgam, often described as the "Switzerland of India".
The attack was one of the deadliest in recent years, devastating the lives of many families and sparking widespread anger in India.
In the days since, tensions between India and Pakistan, which both claim Kashmir in full but administer it only in part, have significantly risen, with each side announcing retaliatory measures against the other.
There is now growing speculation about whether there will be a military response from Delhi.
While violence has often broken out in the region, with militants targeting security forces and civilians since an insurgency broke out in 1989, the brazen killing of tourists has been rare and has shocked local businesses and tourists alike.
Tourism is a mainstay of the economy in places like Pahalgam and there’s now fear that many livelihoods might be irrevocably hit.
At a "selfie point" outside town, overlooking lush meadows and a rushing river, Akshay Solanki, a tourist from Mumbai, said there was "panic" among his group of travellers on the day of the attack. But they had decided to continue with their journey because flights back home had become unaffordable.
Other tourists said constant reassurances from the locals and security forces had given them a sense of comfort. A driver who had brought visitors from the capital, Srinagar, told BBC Hindi that he was pleading with those visiting not to "distance" themselves from Kashmir.
After a washout three days, shawl-seller Rafi Ahmed said he’d managed to sell just a few pieces and feared for his livelihood in the long run if tourists stopped coming.
Among those exhorting tourists to come to Pahalgam was Bollywood actor Atul Kulkarni, who visited the town days after the attack. He told BBC Hindi, if the message from the militants was "don’t come here, we should respond by coming in even larger numbers".
"Don’t cancel bookings, cancel your other plans and come here," Kulkarni said.
But uncertainty and apprehension loom large in Pahalgam and it could take several years before a sense of normalcy is restored, local business owners and residents told the BBC.
Indian authorities have launched combing operations in the region, detaining hundreds of people and destroying homes belonging to alleged militants.
India and Pakistan have also reportedly exchanged small arms fire across the border.
The escalation in tensions is keeping tourists and business owners on tenterhooks.
Indian authorities have often claimed Kashmir witnessed a period of relative peace after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked its autonomous status in 2019. Ahead of India’s general elections in 2024, Modi hailed the "freedom" that had come to the region, saying Kashmir was touching new heights of development because it was breathing freely.
Top leaders pointed to high tourism numbers - some 23 million last year and millions more in the years before - as proof of a big boom after years of unquiet. But last week’s attacks have, yet again, shattered any idea of lasting peace in the restive valley.
"This [attack] is a blot on us…How we wipe it off is a long-term concern," Rafi Ahmed Meer, a politician from Pahalgam told BBC Hindi, urging tourists to remember that it was local Kashmiris who rushed to help after the attacks, even picking up bodies.
The cancellation rate for trips planned from cities like Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru are very high, Abhishek Sansare, a Mumbai-based tour operator told the BBC. A group of prominent tour operators said in a press conference that some 80-90% of all bookings had been cancelled.
"After the attack, there’s a sense that a war is looming. So tourists are confused about what to do," said Sansare. "Some of those who’ve already made advance bookings are going ahead with their plans. I’m also going there on the 2nd of next month.".
The attack on tourists is also likely to weigh on Kashmir in other ways. The inauguration of the world’s highest single-arch rail bridge, set to connect the Kashmir valley with the rest of India was slated to happen this month after several delays.
The timeline for the opening of this showpiece project now "looks uncertain", a source told the BBC.
The region was just beginning to attract fledgling business investments, but those too could dry up if hostilities go up.
"People who were investing in logistics and other sectors will now think twice because of the security environment. Until they regain some confidence, I don’t foresee investments coming to Kashmir immediately," said Ubair Shah, who owns one of Kashmir’s largest cold storage facilities for fruits in Pulwama district in south Kashmir.
As the region continues to boil over, local leaders have expressed deep anguish to the families who lost their loved ones.
In an impassioned speech in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Monday, the state’s chief minister and tourism minister Omar Abdullah paid tributes to the victims by reading out names of all the 26 people.
He said people from every part of the country had come under attack, and while they’d come to Kashmir at his invitation he could not ensure their safe return.
"I had no words to apologise to them. What could I say to the children who saw their father drenched in blood? To the widow of the navy officer who was married barely a few days ago?
"Some people told me they’d come to Kashmir for the first time, but will have to pay for their holiday life long," he said, adding that the attack had "hollowed out" Kashmir. ‘Pakistan is the root of the problem’: Kashmir attack stokes anger in India (The Guardian)
The Guardian [4/28/2025 12:23 PM, Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Aakash Hassan, 78938K]
For Sunil Singh, there is only one way for India to respond to last week’s attack by militants in Kashmir.
"Those terrorists and their supporters should be shot dead, and their houses should be blown up," the shopkeeper said. "We should even use the air force and drop bombs on the residential areas where these terrorists find shelter. There should be a bloodbath in Pakistan to teach them a lesson.".
Since 25 tourists and one local guide were killed by militants last Tuesday afternoon, as they strolled peacefully through Kashmir’s verdant Baisaran valley, much of the Indian public has been baying for vengeance. It was the deadliest attack on civilians in more than two decades in India’s restive region of Kashmir. The gruesome details of the attack from survivors – that the gunmen singled out the Hindu men and ruthlessly shot them – sent shock waves of horror across the Hindu-majority country.
Pressure on Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist government to mount a military response has continued to grow. The prime minister promised to "identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer".
For many in India, that means only one thing: direct military action against their neighbour Pakistan, which for decades has been accused of backing and bankrolling the violent separatist insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir as it claims the territory fully as its own. The Modi government has said Pakistan has "linkages" to last week’s attack and two of the militants allegedly responsible are Pakistani.
The attack was initially claimed by a little-known insurgent group, the Kashmir Resistance Front – which India believes to be a proxy for the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group – though it later issued a denial. In an attempt to ward off military retaliation Pakistan can ill afford as it struggles with an economic and security crisis, the country’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, promised a "neutral, transparent probe" into the incident.
So far, actions taken by the Modi government have included suspending the Indus waters treaty, which for six decades had been a critical water-sharing agreement for Pakistan and provides 80% of water for its agriculture. Pakistani diplomats have been summoned and expelled and visas for Pakistanis suspended. Even several Pakistani YouTube channels have been banned, including those run by former cricketers.
But for many on the streets of Delhi’s busy Lajpat Nagar market, this was simply not strong enough, as the attack stoked decades-old, deep-rooted anti-Pakistan sentiment. Singh said: "Pakistan is the root of the problem, and our military should go all out to teach them a lesson. Unless we break their back, these heinous acts will continue to occur. Our prime minister has our full support; our military has our full support.".
India and Pakistan have gone to war four times since independence in 1947. The last time India took military action against Pakistan was in 2019, though that had disputed results, leading to the downing of an Indian jet.
Among diplomats in Delhi, the widespread feeling was that India was preparing imminently for some form of contained military action in retaliation, which would nonetheless try to avoid escalating into a fully fledged war between the two nuclear-armed countries.
Sanjiv Mehra, a retail businessman, echoed the call for a military assault on Pakistan. He said: "There must be a military strike, not only on the people who carried out this attack, but also those who are training them in Pakistan. Our government must show confidence. Death should be avenged by death.".
Across India, the attack has stoked and emboldened anti-Muslim sentiment, already rife in a country that has become increasingly polarised down religious lines under the last decade of the Hindu nationalist Modi government. Over the past week, calls for boycotts of Muslims and Kashmiris have become commonplace, particularly by hardline rightwing groups accused of persecuting Muslims, which have largely been given a free rein by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).
Vishnu Gupta, the president of prominent hardline group Hindu Sena, said: "The attack in Kashmir was an attack on Hindus, and we will respond in kind – not only against Kashmiris but against every Muslim in India if the government does not take action. There should be a complete boycott of Kashmir by tourists to teach them a lesson."This is not merely a terrorist act but an Islamic terrorist act. If the government does not take action against the militants and their sympathisers, there will come a day when Hindus will react just as brutally against Muslims across India.".
This has manifested in direct attacks and violence towards Kashmiri Muslims. Students and security guards have been attacked and run out of their hostels and their jobs, and Kashmiris across the country have returned home, fearing for their safety.
A Kashmiri engineering student in Punjab college, who spoke anonymously for his protection, described how he had stayed hidden in his apartment for two days after the attack, hearing that Kashmiris were being targeted, but eventually had to leave to buy groceries.
He said: "First I was abused by the shopkeeper, who refused to sell to me and threatened me that I will be killed if I do not leave immediately. Later a group of men confronted me and thrashed me with sticks, punched and kicked me. They were abusing Kashmiris and threatened that I will be killed if I do not go back to Kashmir. Then my landlord asked me to vacate the apartment.".
Kashmir, in the foothills of the Himalayas, has been disputed since Pakistan came into being in 1947. Both India and Pakistan claim it in full, but each controls a section of the territory, separated by one of the world’s most heavily militarised borders: the "line of control" based on a ceasefire border established after the 1947-48 war. China controls another part in the east.
India and Pakistan have gone to war two times over Kashmir, most recently in 1999.
As a search for the four gunmen responsible has continued, Kashmir – which has a long history of human rights abuses inflicted at the hands of the state – has faced a draconian crackdown, with more than 1,500 people rounded up by police over the past week. Government forces have been using explosives to unilaterally demolish houses in Kashmir of those alleged to be linked to militants, an increasingly common tactic under the BJP nicknamed "bulldozer justice".
Many surrounding houses in these densely populated areas have been partially destroyed in the blasts. Fareeda Banu, whose home was damaged by the demolitions, said: "The soldiers arrived late at night and ordered everyone in the neighbourhood to gather in two houses on the outskirts.
"Then they told us to cover our ears. Seconds later, a huge blast shook everything violently. Our children screamed in horror. Why are we being punished for something we had no role in?".
In the aftermath of the attack, local people in Kashmir held a candlelit vigil calling for peace and condemning the attack. The region’s top elected official, Omar Abdullah, said: "The people of Kashmir have come out openly against terrorism and the murder of innocent people." He called on the central government not to take actions that would "alienate people".
Abdullah said: "Punish the guilty, show them no mercy but don’t let innocent people become collateral damage.". India Plans to Highlight Boeing Order Pipeline in US Trade Talks (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/29/2025 2:11 AM, Mihir Mishra and Shruti Srivastava, 5.5M]
Indian trade negotiators are planning to showcase the country’s large pipeline of Boeing Co. plane orders and the potential for more to come as they seek a favorable deal with the US, people familiar with the matter said.
The plan is to get Indian carriers’ existing orders and under-negotiation deals with the American planemaker counted in discussions for a bilateral trade pact that could potentially shield the country from higher US tariffs, the people said, asking not to be named as the talks are private.
Along with Air India Ltd., Akasa Air-operator SNV Aviation Pvt. and SpiceJet Ltd. have placed a combined order for 590 aircraft worth $67 billion with Boeing in recent years. With deliveries and payments for 506 of those planes staggered over several years, India wants to highlight how these private purchases would serve to narrow the more than $47 billion trade surplus New Delhi runs with Washington — a key gripe of President Donald Trump.
Air India, the erstwhile state-owned carrier acquired by the Tata Group in 2022, is already looking to take deliveries of some Boeing planes that were rejected by Chinese carriers in a tit-for-tat move over Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. The airline is also discussing fresh orders with the American plane maker.
India is not alone in wanting to use aircraft orders as a leverage for trade negotiations. Vietnam is also employing a similar tactic to win favor with the White House.
Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to buying more US goods, including crude oil, liquefied natural gas and defense items in a meeting with Trump in Washington in February, officials feel adding private commercial aircraft deals to the list could bolster New Delhi’s case for a trade deal with the US.
In the absence of a pact, Indian goods exports to the US face up to 26% levies after Trump’s 90-day pause on implementation of reciprocal tariffs ends in July.
India’s Commerce Ministry didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Indian carriers growing orders with Boeing is also boosting the American plane manufacturer’s share in the South Asian market. Of the nearly 900 commercial passenger aircraft registered in India, a majority 538 belong to the Airbus SE 320 family, according to data consultancy KnowIndia.net. Only 140 are Boeing 737s, with the rest made up of widebody, turboprops and other types of aircraft.
While India’s largest carrier IndiGo operates an Airbus fleet, it last year decided to lease some Boeing 787 aircraft for a few international routes.
The Indian proposal on including aircraft purchases in trade discussions is likely to be over and above the terms of reference agreed upon by New Delhi and Washington last week, the people said. The initial framework — announced after US Vice President JD Vance’s meeting with Modi in New Delhi on April 21 — seeks to broaden market access for US goods and reduce India’s tariff and non-tariff barriers, among other commitments.
The Modi administration has already offered several concessions to the US, including overhauling its tariff regime to bring down levies on some 8,500 industrial goods including key American exports such as Bourbon whiskey and high-end motorcycles such as those made by Harley Davidson Inc. One of first US trade deals will be with India, Treasury’s Bessent says (Reuters)
Reuters [4/28/2025 12:19 PM, Andrea Shalal, David Lawder, and Doina Chiacu, 126906K]
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said many top trading partners of the United States had made ‘very good’ proposals to avert U.S. tariffs, and one of the first deals to be signed would likely be with India.Speaking to reporters after two early morning television interviews, Bessent said the first such trade agreement might come this week or next, but gave no further details.Bessent told Fox News’ "FOX and Friends" that President Donald Trump will be "intimately involved" in each of the bespoke trade deals with each of 15 to 18 important trading partners, but it will be important to reach agreements in principle soon."I would guess that India would be one of the first trade deals we would sign," Bessent told CNBC, adding that the U.S. had also held very substantial negotiations with Japan and discussions with other Asian trading partners were going well.Trump has upended the global trading system with a spate of tariffs since taking office. These include a blanket 10% tariff on most countries except Canada and Mexico, and new tariffs totalling 145% on goods from China, which has responded with its own counter-measures. Higher U.S. tariffs on dozens of countries are due to take effect on July 8 unless deals are reached before a 90-day pause ends.A Treasury spokesperson declined to provide any further details on the ongoing negotiations.Bessent, who held dozens of talks with visiting officials during last week’s meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, will likely face more questions on the trade talks when he joins a regular White House briefing on Tuesday to tout Trump’s record over the first 100 days of his second term."Vice President Vance was in India last week, talked about substantial progress. I have mentioned that the negotiations with the Republic of Korea have gone very well, and I think we’ve had some very substantial negotiations with our Japanese allies," he told CNBC.Talks have been ongoing, but no deals have been announced, underscoring the complexities of reaching agreements during the short 90-day period.India is also working a bilateral trade deal with Britain, with their top trade officials starting two days of talks aimed at concluding more than three years of negotiations.A government official in South Korea on Monday ruled out that Seoul would agree to a comprehensive trade agreement with Washington before a presidential election on June 3, and raised questions whether a deal could be reached before early July.Elections in Japan in July could also complicate those talks, although some analysts expect Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump to announce an agreement when they meet at the G7 summit in Canada in June.Bessent told CNBC that China’s recent moves to exempt certain U.S. goods from its retaliatory tariffs showed that it wanted to de-escalate trade tensions with the United States, and noted that the U.S. had refrained from escalating by embargoing those goods.Asked whether he planned to call his Chinese counterpart to jump-start negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, Bessent told Fox News: "We’ll see what happens with China. It’s important. I think it’s unsustainable from the Chinese side. So maybe they’ll call me one day."He earlier told CNBC that "all aspects of government are in contact with China," and underscored that it was up to China to reduce tensions since they sold five times more goods to the U.S. than vice versa. American tourist who trespassed on killer uncontacted tribe’s island freed on bail... but there’s a big catch (Daily Mail)
Daily Mail [4/28/2025 1:00 PM, Will Potter and Tahir Ibn Manzoor, 62527K]
An American tourist who was jailed for trespassing on an uncontacted tribe’s island has been freed on bail but has been ordered to remain in India.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, was released under strict conditions in court Friday, a month after he was arrested on March 31 for contacting the Sentinelese people on Sentinel Island.
The Sentinelese are among the last isolated tribes in the world, with roughly 200 people inhabiting the islands around 700 miles off the coast of India.
Polyakov was arrested on the Andaman Island, a territory of India, after he returned from offering the Sentinelese people a can of coke as a ‘peace offering’.
In court on Friday Polyakov was ordered to remain in Andaman Island’s capital Port Blair until his case is decided, with the 24-year-old facing up to five years in prison for his stunt.
His bail was also granted on the condition of providing two sureties, which must include a resident of Port Blair, and must meet with the officer overseeing his case twice a week.
Polyakov had his passport and visa seized following his arrest, and officials said in a statement he will ‘remain in Port Blair until further hearings’.
While Polyakov made it off the island alive, his trip came almost seven years after American missionary John Allen Chau, 27, was killed by the Sentinelese when he attempted to ‘convert’ them to Christianity.
It comes as authorities say they believe the Sentinelese may still have the can of coke, with sources previously telling The Sun they have no way of recovering it from the forbidden island.
When Polyakov was collared by police last month, cops said they found Go-Pro footage of him illegally landing at Sentinel Island.
He was believed to have been filming for his YouTube channel, with also featured footage of a visit to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan earlier this year.
The Sentinelese are known for their hostility toward any intruders, with Indian authorities strictly preserving their way of life by barring any attempts to contact them.
Authorities say contacting the tribe also risks wiping them out as they have no immunity to common diseases from the outside world.
Indian investigators have prosecuted any locals who have aided attempts to enter the island and are trying to identify anyone who may have helped Polyakov.
Police say Polyakov’s journey to the prohibited territory was meticulously planned, alleging that the tourist had studied sea conditions, tides and access points before he set sail.
When cops found Polyakov’s footage of his arrival on the island, he reportedly dictated his first steps on the forbidden area, but did not come face-to-face with the tribesmen.‘That is it. The last uncontacted tribe. The last mystery. If they see me, will they attack? Or will they accept me?’ he said in the recording, according to The Telegraph.
Under interrogation, Polyakov reportedly told officers that he was a ‘thrill seeker’ who films his stunts for YouTube.
Polyakov - who last year spent time with gun toting Taliban in Afghanistan - regularly posts his exploits on YouTube under the username Neo-Orientalist, a direct reference to the concept of how Western countries often portray the Islamic world in a stereotypical and negative way.
Police say he first arrived at Port Blair on March 26 before venturing to Sentinel Island on March 28, using a grey Gemini inflatable boat to sail across a 25-mile straight from Kurma Dera Beach to the forbidden island.
He set sail for restricted territory around 1am, ‘carrying a coconut and a Diet Coke as offerings for the Sentinelese.’ He reached the northeastern shore of North Sentinel Island around 10am, according to a report from Andaman and Nicobar police.
Polyakov surveyed the area with binoculars and kept blowing a whistle off the shore for about an hour to attract the tribe’s attention before he went ashore.‘He landed briefly for about five minutes, left the offerings on the shore, collected sand samples, and recorded a video before returning to his boat,’ the report said.‘A review of his GoPro camera footage showed his entry and landing into the restricted North Sentinel Island.’.‘At 1pm he started his return journey and reached Kurma Dera Beach by 7pm, where he was spotted by local fisherman.’.
Police say Polyakov had visited the region twice in October last year with plans to sail to North Sentinel Island using an ‘inflatable kayak’, but was stopped by staff at a hotel he was staying at.
He visited again in January this year, where he visited the Baratang Islands and ‘illegally videographed the Jarawa tribe’.
Polyakov seemingly teased his visit to North Sentinel Island five months ago when he posted a cartoon image of a Tintin style adventurer, accompanied with a small brown dog, sailing a small boat towards a desert island.
He captioned it: ‘A little Columbus Day teaser for the fans.’.
Caroline Pearce, the director of indigenous rights group Survival International, branded Polyakov’s attempt to visit the island as ‘reckless and idiotic’.‘This person’s actions not only endangered his own life, they put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk,’ she said in a statement provided to MailOnline.‘It’s very well known by now that uncontacted peoples have no immunity to common outside diseases like flu or measles, which could completely wipe them out.’.‘It’s good news that the man in this latest incident has been arrested, but deeply disturbing that he was reportedly able to get onto the island in the first place.’.‘The Indian authorities have a legal responsibility to ensure that the Sentinelese are safe from missionaries, social media influencers, people fishing illegally in their waters and anyone else who may try to make contact with them.’. Indian, UK trade ministers meet to push for deal under added pressure from Trump (Reuters)
Reuters [4/28/2025 9:51 AM, Alistair Smout, 41523K]
The British and Indian trade ministers began two days of talks on Monday to conclude more than three years of negotiations on a trade pact, under additional pressure to reach a deal because of Donald Trump’s tariffs on exports to the United States.
Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal described his first day of talks in with British trade minister Jonathan Reynolds as "productive" in a post on X, without giving further details.
India and Britain are both seeking bilateral deals with the United States to remove some of Trump’s tariffs, which have upended the global trade system. The turmoil has also sharpened focus in both London and New Delhi on the need to clinch a UK/India trade deal.
"The government’s committed to doing the right deal with India, which will improve access for UK businesses, cut tariffs and make trade cheaper and easier," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said.Talks are seen as nearing completion, with the latest negotiating round having been extended in a bid to reach a final conclusion. Any deal must reach agreement over tariffs on goods such as whiskey, agriculture and cars, as well as on regulations around pharmaceutical products and investments.
One person familiar with the talks said before Monday’s meeting that the issues of whiskey and autos, long sensitive areas in India, had already been resolved.
Another area of contention has been around any exemptions Indian workers could secure from British social security contributions, which Goyal has said will be covered in a separate treaty.
Britain and India launched the trade talks in January 2022, with then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson promising a deal by Diwali ten months later to show the advantages of Britain’s new authority to conduct its own trade policy after leaving the EU.
But progress has proven uneven, with Starmer now the fourth British prime minister leading the negotiations. His Labour government has pledged progress towards a deal, and Reynolds, who visited India in February to restart the trade talks, said securing one was a "top priority".
Both sides said that immigration, a politically sensitive topic in Britain, would not form part of trade talks, although provisions to make it easier for professionals to stay temporarily for work trips could be part of any deal. India signs $7.4 billion deal to buy 26 Rafale fighter jets (Reuters)
Reuters [4/28/2025 7:02 AM, Shivam Patel and Surbhi Misra, 126906K]
India signed a deal with France on Monday to buy 26 Rafale fighter aircraft worth 630 billion rupees ($7.4 billion) for its navy, the Indian defence ministry said in a statement.India will buy 22 single-seater and four twin-seater fighters, made by France’s Dassault Aviation (AM.PA) the ministry said, in a deal that would boost the Asian country’s defence ties with its second-largest arms supplier."The delivery of these aircraft would be completed by 2030, with the crew undergoing training in France and India," the ministry said, adding that the deal is expected to generate thousands of jobs and revenue for a large number of businesses.The purchase was approved earlier this month by India’s security cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Reuters reported.The Indian Air Force currently operates 36 Rafale fighters, while the navy’s aircraft fleet mainly comprises Russian MiG-29 jets.India is seeking to modernise its military, reduce dependence on Russian-origin equipment, and boost domestic weapons production to supply forces deployed along two contentious borders with Pakistan and China.The Indian navy has flagged China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean over the past decade, with Beijing operating dual-purpose vessels in the region and maintaining a military base in Djibouti since 2017.It also marks another step in India’s long-standing reliance on French military hardware, including Mirage 2000 jets bought in the 1980s and Scorpene-class submarines ordered in 2005. India’s Adani Green says independent review on US indictment found no irregularities (Reuters)
Reuters [4/28/2025 3:25 PM, Sethuraman NR, 126906K]
India’s Adani Green on Monday said that its independent review of the U.S. indictment of founder Gautam Adani and top Adani Green executives, who were accused of paying $265 million in bribes for power contracts, did not identify any non-compliance or irregularities.
In November, U.S. authorities indicted Gautam Adani, his nephew and Executive Director Sagar Adani and Managing Director Vneet S. Jaain, alleging that they paid bribes to secure Indian power supply contracts and misled U.S. investors during fund raises.
The Adani Group has denied the charges, calling them "baseless.".
The company appointed independent law firms in January to review the U.S. indictment.
Based on this review, the management of the holding company concluded that it, along with its subsidiaries, complied with applicable laws and regulations, Adani Green said in an exchange filing.
The company added it does not expect the U.S. proceedings to have material consequences for the group.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked Indian authorities for assistance in February with its investigation.
Meanwhile, the company reappointed Vneet Jaain as its managing director for another five years, effective July 10, despite the U.S. indictment.
Throughout his 15-year tenure, Jaain has been "spearheaded on group’s strategy for its energy and infrastructure business and has been instrumental in growing various businesses from conceptualisation to operation," Adani Green said in a statement. Undermining the Indus Waters Treaty imperils Indian security (Financial Times – opinion)
Financial Times [4/28/2025 9:49 AM, Sunil Amrith, 14.6M]
The Indus Waters Treaty has withstood three wars between its nuclear-armed signatories, India and Pakistan. But last week, in the wake of a brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam, a town in India-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, India suspended its participation in the treaty for the first time since it was signed in 1960. This decision to undermine the water-sharing agreement (India blames Pakistan for the attack, Islamabad denies any involvement) will imperil rather than promote India’s pursuit of lasting security.
When India was partitioned in 1947, the Indus basin was one of the most heavily engineered environments in the world. Partition severed an intricate irrigation system laid down over half a century. So abrupt was this division that perhaps only fiction could capture the shock. In a short story written at the time, celebrated Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto depicts a village midwife sharing rumours that India was going to “close” the river. Her audience is incredulous. “You talk like a mad woman,” they say: “who can close a river; it’s a river, not a drain.”
Manto’s midwife proved prescient. As conflict erupted in the disputed territory of Kashmir, India — the upstream power — terminated an improvised water-sharing agreement and closed off a key canal in 1948. Pakistan’s water supply ran dry. It took 12 years to reach a formal agreement, brokered by the World Bank. Then, as now, Kashmiri voices had no seat at the table.
The Indus Waters Treaty awarded use of the three eastern rivers — the Ravi, the Sutlej, and the Beas — to India, and of the three western rivers — the Indus itself, the Chenab, and the Jhelum — to Pakistan downstream. Remarkably, the agreement survived the India-Pakistan wars of 1965, 1971, and 1999. India threatened to terminate it in 2016, and again in 2019, following militant attacks in Kashmir.
Many of the treaty’s assumptions have been superseded. Water demand has intensified since 1960. India’s population has more than trebled, and Pakistan’s has grown more than fivefold. The treaty was signed before the water-intensive modernisation of Indian agriculture. Above all, it assumed a long-term stability in river flow that could not have anticipated climate change.
Calls to update the agreement predate the current crisis. The rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers is altering the hydrological cycle. A recent assessment shows that snow persistence in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region is the lowest in 23 years. Scientists project a short-term increase in water flow, with heightened flood risk, followed by a drying of the rivers as annual snowmelt diminishes. This poses a substantial risk to lives on both sides of the border.
In recent years there has been a striking convergence in how India and Pakistan have addressed water-related threats. India’s supreme court ruled last year that the unequal impact of climate change “violates the right to life as well as the right to equality”. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, currently Pakistan’s chief justice, stated in 2022 that “climate change is perhaps the most serious threat to the fundamental rights of the people in Pakistan”. Equitable access to water is of overriding importance to both countries in ensuring that their citizens live safely and securely.
Pakistan has much to fear from a suspension of the treaty. Agriculture accounts for almost a quarter of GDP, and the country already faces water stress. India does not yet have the infrastructure to divert a substantial volume of water, but construction is under way on projects that could do so. India’s threat to withhold water data would endanger Pakistani farmers’ ability to plan for an increasingly erratic monsoon. The unannounced release of impounded water and silt from Indian dams also comes with hazards — Pakistan is still scarred by the devastating floods of 2022.
Yet unilateral action is not likely to strengthen India’s water security overall. India itself lies downstream from the source of some of its most important eastern rivers, where China, an ally of Pakistan, as well as Nepal and Bhutan, control the upper reaches of waters that hundreds of millions of India’s citizens depend on.
Although India and Pakistan have few reasons to trust each other, with military tensions rapidly escalating at the border, their ecological bonds are more difficult to disavow than their historical ties. It is naive to think that the existential need for water could transcend political conflict. Rather than weaponising water, a renewed focus on jointly managing a vital shared resource might yet broaden how both India and Pakistan think about security in the difficult days ahead. NSB
Nepal plans to restrict Everest permits to experienced climbers (Reuters)
Reuters [4/28/2025 5:10 PM, Gopal Sharma, 5.2M]
Nepal will issue Everest permits only to climbers with experience of scaling at least one of the Himalayan nation’s 7,000-metre (22,965 ft) peaks, according to the draft of a new law aimed at reducing overcrowding and improving safety.
Nepal, which is heavily reliant on climbing, trekking and tourism for foreign exchange, has faced criticism for permitting too many climbers, including inexperienced ones, to try to ascend the 8,849-metre (29,032 ft) peak.
This often results in long queues of climbers in the ‘death Zone’, an area below the summit with insufficient natural oxygen for survival.
Overcrowding has been blamed for the high number of deaths on the mountain. At least 12 climbers died, and another five went missing on Everest’s slopes in 2023 when Nepal issued 478 permits. Eight climbers died last year.
Under the proposed law, an Everest permit would be issued only after a climber provides evidence of having climbed at least one 7,000-metre mountain in Nepal.
The sardar, or the head of local staff, and the mountain guide accompanying climbers must also be Nepali citizens.
The draft law has been registered at the National Assembly, the upper house of parliament, where the ruling alliance holds a majority required to pass the bill.
International expedition operators have urged Nepal to allow any 7,000-metre peak, not just those in the Himalayan nation, for the Everest permit.
"That wouldn’t make any sense. And I would also add mountains that are close to 7,000 metres to that list and that are widely used as preparation, like Ama Dablam, Aconcagua, Denali and others," said Lukas Furtenbach of Austria-based expedition organiser, Furtenbach Adventures.
Furtenbach, currently leading an expedition on Everest, said mountain guides from other countries must also be allowed to work on Everest, as there are not enough qualified Nepali mountain guides.
"It is important that mountain guides have a qualification like IFMGA (International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations), no matter what nationality they are. We do also welcome Nepali IFMGA guides to work in the Alps in Europe," he told Reuters.
Garrett Madison of the U.S.-based Madison Mountaineering also said a 6,500-metre peak anywhere in the world would be a better idea.
"It’s too difficult to find a reasonable 7,000-metre plus peak in Nepal," Madison said.
There are over 400 mountain peaks in Nepal which are open to expeditions - of them, 74 are higher than 7,000 metres, according to tourism department data.
However, not many of those peaks are popular among climbers, hiking officials said.
"Only a few of the 7,000 metre mountains attract climbers," said Tashi Lhakpa Sherpa of the 14 Peaks Expedition, a major expedition organising company in Nepal. Tashi has climbed Everest eight times. How integrity drives Sri Lanka’s reforms (Christian Science Monitor – opinion)
Christian Science Monitor [4/28/2025 1:41 PM, Editorial Board, 464K]
Many nations have seen mass protests against corruption, a change of government, and then .. . very little lasting transformation. Not so in Sri Lanka. Since 2022, when protests in the island nation ousted a corrupt ruling clique, public demands for integrity in government have led to the election of a reformist president – and much more.
Last week, the International Monetary Fund gave high approval to the reforms in Sri Lanka by releasing $334 million in aid, just one part of a nearly $3 billion package negotiated in 2023. The IMF move didn’t just reward Sri Lanka for reaching economic and fiscal benchmarks. It also affirmed progress toward norms of democratic accountability and transparency.
Since 2022, citizen activists have pushed to include such requirements in IMF economic bailout packages. As a result of this pressure from civil society, Sri Lanka is the first country in Asia for which the IMF has required governance reforms as an explicit condition of debt restructuring. In early April, the country met one more requirement by passing a law allowing the government to seize property linked to a crime, a key tactic in deterring corruption.
The new president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, or AKD, as he is called, has had to work hard to win the trust of people disenchanted with government. He ran on the promise of a corruption-free "clean Sri Lanka," a country where citizens could live "a fulfilling ... honorable ... dignified life.".
However, while hailing Sri Lanka’s "macroeconomic turnaround [as] remarkable," even IMF officials acknowledge that "Many households are yet to feel the impact." Mr. Dissanayake agrees. "We cannot allow the lives of our citizens to stagnate until economic stability is fully achieved," he said.
For now, AKD is well positioned to continue advancing good governance and systemic change: A February poll put satisfaction with government performance at 62%, a quantum leap from the 5% rating for his predecessor.
His calls to uproot political opacity and patterns of patronage resonated widely, especially with youth. (Feeling their futures had been squandered by previous regimes, young people led many of the 2022 protests.) His administration has already reduced multiple ministerial perks and plans more cuts. With a listening attitude, it permitted lengthy parliamentary debate on the recent national budget, paying heed to opponents’ concerns.
The 23 million people of Sri Lanka are not so much following their president as leading him. They are acting on their faith in democratic transformation. The IMF could not help but listen. Central Asia
Why Europe Can’t Avoid Central Asia (The National Interest)
The National Interest [4/28/2025 2:50 PM, Michael Rossi, 132K]Europe is stepping in not as a replacement but as an additional partner to the region—one that offers access to markets, investments, sustainable technologies, and geopolitical balance.For much of the post-Soviet era, Central Asia has not figured prominently in the strategic calculus of the European Union (EU). Hemmed in by powerful neighbors and long seen as a distant periphery, the region’s role in EU foreign policy was limited to developmental assistance, energy cooperation, and human rights advocacy. That perception is changing rapidly.On April 4, the inaugural EU-Central Asia Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, signaled the arrival of a new chapter. The meeting brought together top EU leaders—European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen—with the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. For the first time, leaders met in a formal summit format to chart a course for long-term strategic partnership.Given the geopolitical challenges and changes across the world, the stakes are high, and the EU’s interest is serious.Speaking about this event, von der Leyen captured the tone of the new engagement: “In these uncertain times, Europe stands for openness and engagement. For Europe, Central Asia is a partner of choice.”A Strategic RegionThe European Union increasingly views Central Asia as a strategically important region. The EU’s primary objective is to deepen its trade and investment links with the five Central Asian states. Beyond economics, the EU sees Central Asia as a key security partner, particularly due to its proximity to Afghanistan and its role in containing extremism across its mostly Muslim-majority populations. For example, Kazakhstan’s humanitarian aid and efforts to maintain trade routes with Afghanistan have won Brussels’ recognition. In a joint declaration released after the summit, the sides “expressed common concern over the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and recognized the need to continue supporting the people of Afghanistan.”Among the five Central Asian nations, Kazakhstan stands out as the EU’s foremost partner. In 2024, bilateral trade between the EU and Kazakhstan hit a record $50 billion, with EU investments exceeding $200 billion. Kazakhstan accounts for 80 percent of the EU’s trade with Central Asia and more than 40 percent of total European FDI into the region.Speaking at the summit, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated Kazakhstan’s readiness to increase exports to the EU across 175 commodity categories worth over $2 billion. He also highlighted Kazakhstan’s ambition to become a key transit hub linking East and West, a key pillar of EU-Central Asia engagement.Connectivity and the Middle CorridorNowhere is the EU-Central Asia alignment more evident than in connectivity. This area has taken on outsized importance in the wake of the war in Ukraine and the breakdown of EU-Russia transit routes. With trade routes through Russia now politically and logistically fraught, the EU has turned toward the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor.This corridor runs through Central Asia, across the Caspian Sea, and into the South Caucasus and Europe. The EU has designated it the most optimal, fastest, and competitive route for integrating continental supply chains—and Kazakhstan is its linchpin. Container traffic on the TITR increased by 63 percent in 2024, reaching 4.1 million tons. The goal is to reach 10 million tons by 2027.As part of its €300-billion Global Gateway initiative, the EU is prioritizing the modernization of this corridor, which could eventually increase the number of containers arriving in Europe from Central Asia from under 100,000 to over 800,000 annually. The Middle Corridor can cut transport time between China and Europe to just ten to fifteen days.A Critical Minerals PivotCentral Asia’s vast deposits of critical raw materials are also drawing EU attention. With China currently dominating global supply chains—controlling a wide share of the production and processing of critical minerals—the EU is urgently looking for alternative sources.Central Asia holds significant deposits of critical minerals, including 38.6 percent of the world’s manganese ore, 30 percent of chromium, 20 percent of lead, 12.6 percent of zinc, and 8.7 percent of titanium. In particular, Kazakhstan already produces nineteen of the EU’s thirty-four critical raw materials, and plans are in place to expand that to twenty-one.At the summit, the sides agreed that enhanced cooperation on critical raw materials is of strategic importance, with von der Leyen stating that “these raw materials are the lifeblood of the future global economy.” Meanwhile, President Tokayev proposed establishing a “Regional Research Centre for Rare Earth Metals” in Astana to serve as a hub for investors and enterprises seeking data on deposits and technologies. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan is also rich in silver, molybdenum, titanium, and gold. These resources are vital for Europe’s green transition and digital economy.On the eve of the summit, Kazakhstan announced the discovery of 20 million metric tons of rare earth metals, including neodymium, cerium, lanthanum, and yttrium. If confirmed, this would position Kazakhstan as the world’s third-largest holder of rare earth reserves—behind only China and Brazil. These minerals are key to the production of car batteries, wind turbines, and medical devices.Essentially, the EU aims to reduce its reliance on China and diversify the supply of critical minerals. Establishing supply chains through the Middle Corridor would create a win-win situation for all parties involved. In this area, further progress and discussions are expected at the Astana International Forum in May.Sustainable Development and Green GoalsBeyond raw materials and logistics, sustainability is an increasingly central theme in EU-Central Asia cooperation. The region is one of the most climate-vulnerable in the world. Over the past sixty years, Central Asia’s average temperature has risen by 1.5°C, more than twice the global average.The effects are already being felt. Water scarcity is on the rise, and with the population expected to reach 100 million by 2050, pressure on irrigation and resource management will intensify.In response, Uzbekistan’s 2030 development strategy has prioritized climate resilience. The country is rolling out green hydrogen clusters, solar and wind hubs, and electric vehicle production. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, is pushing toward carbon neutrality by 2060, with 148 renewable energy facilities generating nearly 3,000 MW of clean power. The country’s targets include 10 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050.Earlier this year, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on the establishment of the UN Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Central Asia and Afghanistan in Almaty, which the EU supported. Kazakhstan is also spearheading plans for a UN-backed Regional Climate Conference in 2026.As Europe moves to decarbonize its economy, stable access to clean energy sources becomes paramount. Investing in Central Asia’s sustainability helps the EU mitigate the global impacts of climate change, reduce environmental migration pressures, and ensure that its future energy and industrial partners are aligned with EU green standards. Supporting the region’s green transition also reinforces the EU’s broader ambition to position itself as a global leader in sustainable development and climate diplomacy.A Multipolar OpeningGiven the geopolitical realities and rivalries, the EU would welcome the opportunity to push aside Russia’s and China’s influence in Central Asia. However, despite all the progress in EU-Central Asia relations, the EU is unlikely to displace either China or Russia in the region anytime soon. Both powers remain deeply entrenched—China as a dominant investor and trade partner, Russia as a security actor and cultural force. Still, the Samarkand Summit illustrates that the EU is serious about long-term engagement.For Central Asia, this means choice. The region is no longer merely caught between two major powers. Europe is stepping in not as a replacement but as an additional partner—one that offers access to markets, investments, sustainable technologies, and geopolitical balance.For the EU, beyond raw materials and trade routes, Central Asia represents a strategic region that, in a world of growing fragmentation, will only grow in importance. Twitter
Afghanistan
Tom Fletcher@UNReliefChief
[4/28/2025 1:52 PM, 196K followers, 17 retweets, 55 likes]
Inspiring discussion with our brave and brilliant female colleagues in Afghanistan who continue their work to save lives under immense pressure. Our movement needs their expertise and knowledge. Most importantly, the people of Afghanistan need them.
Jahanzeb Wesa@Jahanzeb_Wesa
[4/28/2025 11:06 AM, 5.7K followers, 52 retweets, 102 likes]
For 1,318 days, Afghan girls have been locked out of their classrooms. For 858 days, Afghan women have been banned from universities. An entire generation is being erased from education under Taliban rule. This injustice must end. #LetAfghanGirlsLearn #WomenFreedom #UN
Jahanzeb Wesa@Jahanzeb_Wesa
[4/28/2025 11:40 AM, 5.7K followers, 5 retweets, 9 likes]
May the memory of Afghanistan’s proud hero, Martyr Sohrab Azimi, and his loyal comrades who fell alongside him for freedom, remain alive and honored forever. Today, I am proudly commemorate his birthday and reaffirm our commitment to their sacred cause. #Afghanistan
Jahanzeb Wesa@Jahanzeb_Wesa
[4/28/2025 11:13 AM, 5.7K followers, 6 retweets, 11 likes]
Sophia Wilcox, a former U.S. organization employee who supported women farmers in Afghanistan, says she always faced challenges in relocating her team to the U.S. We awakened them to believe they could be anything & now they face danger because of us,” she told Maryland Matters. Pakistan
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/28/2025 2:22 PM, 3.1M followers, 17 retweets, 107 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chaired 52nd meeting of Council of Common Interests in Islamabad today.
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/28/2025 10:23 AM, 3.1M followers, 260 retweets, 745 likes]
Pahalgam false flag operation aimed to distract world from Pakistan’s counter terrorism efforts Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar firmly rejected India’s propaganda over the Pahalgam incident which is being used to divert global attention from the counter-terrorism efforts of Pakistan.
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/28/2025 9:52 AM, 3.1M followers, 6 retweets, 15 likes]
Project Director of HEC, Ms. Saima Naurin called on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad today. The Prime Minister presented a certificate of appreciation to Ms. Saima Naurin in recognition of her outstanding performance in sending agriculture trainees to China.
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/28/2025 8:33 AM, 3.1M followers, 7 retweets, 25 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif addressed a ceremony held to acknowledge the success of the Prime Minister’s Ramzan Relief Package.
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/28/2025 8:46 AM, 3.1M followers, 4 retweets, 9 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif awarded shields to the officers of public and private sector organizations in acknowledgement of their services for Prime Minister’s Ramzan Relief Package.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan@ForeignOfficePk
[4/28/2025 10:41 AM, 483K followers, 26 retweets, 58 likes]
Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50, chaired a high-level meeting on the Indus Waters Treaty in the light of India’s move to hold the Treaty in abeyance. The meeting was attended by the Ministers for Law & Justice and Water Resources, Attorney General, senior officials and technical experts. DPM/ FM emphasized that Pakistan will take all appropriate steps to safeguard its due share of water, guaranteed by the Indus Waters Treaty. He underscored that India’s unilateral and illegal move to hold the Treaty in abeyance contravened the established norms of inter-state relations, international law, and the Treaty’s own provisions. He stressed that the Treaty is critical to regional stability and its sanctity must be preserved. Noting that the waters of the Indus River System remain a lifeline for Pakistan’s 240 million people, he deplored the Indian attempts to weaponize water. He reiterated that Pakistan will continue to advocate for the full implementation of the Treaty to ensure the protection of its water rights and the well-being of its people.
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[4/28/2025 2:21 PM, 621.7K followers, 14 retweets, 56 likes]
Pakistan army chief Asim Munir’s pet six canal project had led to a bitter dispute between Pakistan’s Punjab & Sindh provinces, & had threatened the survival army-backed Sharif govt. Modi, by suspending the Indus Water Treaty, helped Munir to easily wiggle out of that crisis.
Anas Mallick@AnasMallick
[4/28/2025 3:21 AM, 77..5K followers, 174 retweets, 1K likes]
At least 3 countries have openly supported Pakistan in ‘its legitimate concern on safeguarding its security and sovereignty’, during their Foreign Ministers’ conversations with Pak FM @MIshaqDar50 — These include China, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Dipanjan R Chaudhury@DipanjanET
[4/29/2025 2:28 AM, 6.1K followers, 1 like]
Pakistan Defence Minister seeks deeper ties with Bangladesh amid tensions with India. While Pak FM postponed his Dhaka trip, Pak envoy meets BD FS to further ties. Trade delegates participate in Pak-Bangla business forum — My report @ETPolitics — https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/pakistan-defence-minister-seeks-deeper-ties-with-bangladesh-amid-tensions-with-india/articleshow/120718462.cms
Brahma Chellaney@Chellaney
[4/29/2025 2:00 AM, 272.9K followers, 29 retweets, 131 likes]
My column: Treaties are created not on paper alone but on trust. And trust is precisely what Pakistan has shattered through its unwavering commitment to transborder terrorism. Pakistan is repaying India’s water generosity not with gratitude but with blood. https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Tourist-killings-test-the-limits-of-India-s-water-diplomacy
Brahma Chellaney@Chellaney
[4/28/2025 7:27 AM, 272.9K followers, 291 retweets, 928 likes]
Amid reports of China and Turkey rushing weapons to Pakistan to defend against possible Indian reprisal strikes, Wang Yi says, "As Pakistan’s ironclad friend and all-weather strategic cooperative partner, China fully understands Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns and supports Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty and security interests." He also lent support to Islamabad’s demand for an "impartial" probe into the April 22 slaughter of Hindu tourists by Pakistan-backed Islamist terrorists.
Brahma Chellaney@Chellaney
[4/28/2025 4:39 AM, 272.9K followers, 175 retweets, 641 likes]
A nation that keeps enabling attacks on innocent civilians should forfeit the benefits of a legal arrangement designed for peaceful cooperation. The IWT is not just a water-sharing pact; it is a mechanism of trust that Pakistan has methodically dismantled. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-that-matters/blood-for-water-india-within-its-rights-to-withdraw-from-treaty/articleshow/120651280.cms
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[4/28/2025 10:39 AM, 219.8K followers, 211 retweets, 1.4K likes]
In discussions on the key external actors in the India-Pakistan crisis, there’s much talk about the US, China, and the Gulf states. But we need to talk more about Turkey—a close, no-drama partner of Pakistan. It backs Pakistan’s position on Kashmir and defense ties are growing.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[4/28/2025 10:48 PM, 219.8K followers, 40 retweets, 267 likes]
FWIW Trump’s comments on the India-Pakistan crisis give both sides a reason to claim victory. India can conclude he won’t try to stand in its way. And Pakistan can conclude he’s not all in with India.
Hamid Mir@HamidMirPAK
[4/28/2025 8:38 AM, 8.6M followers, 332 retweets, 1K likes]
Robin Raphael, Ex Assisstant Secretary of State for US on #Pahalgam attack: It is absolutely absurd to say after 5 minutes of an incident “we know who did it”.I hope that US Govt will support a proposal from Pakistani PM @CMShehbaz that neutral experts should investigate.
Lynne O’Donnell@lynnekodonnell
[4/27/2025 6:33 PM, 27.5K followers, 2 likes]
What could possibly go wrong? "#Pakistan’s Full Spectrum Deterrence doctrine focuses on using tactical nuclear weapons to deter conventional threats, while #India’s Cold Start is designed to deliver swift conventional strikes before escalation" https://theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/27/india-test-fires-missiles-tensions-rise-pakistan-kashmir-attack @penmacrae India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/29/2025 2:10 AM, 107.9K followers, 777 retweets, 3.3K likes]
Addressing the YUGM Conclave. Our endeavour is to empower the youth with skills that make them self-reliant and position India as a global innovation hub. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1eaKbWlVjYRGX
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/28/2025 11:57 AM, 107.9K followers, 10K retweets, 80K likes]
Attended the Civil Investiture Ceremony-I where the Padma Awards were presented. Outstanding individuals from all walks of life were honoured for their service and achievements.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[4/28/2025 1:45 PM, 3.4M followers, 640 retweets, 8.4K likes]
Congratulate all the recipients of India’s highest civilian honours, the Padma Awards. Your exceptional contributions to India’s traditions, culture and in serving the society are praiseworthy.
Rahul Gandhi@RahulGandhi
[4/28/2025 11:52 PM, 27.8M followers, 3.9K retweets, 17K likes]My letter to PM Modi requesting a special session of both houses of Parliament to be convened at the earliest. At this critical time, India must show that we always stand together against terrorism. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GprIAqGWEAAd-Kg?format=jpg&name=large
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[4/28/2025 6:25 PM, 621.7K followers, 38 retweets, 229 likes]
China calls on both India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" - LoC is witnessing firing from both sides for the last 4 days. Good sense should prevail, war is nothing but a mass suicide.
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[4/28/2025 2:43 PM, 621.7K followers, 371 retweets, 811 likes]
Nearly two thousand Muslims have been arrested in Gujarat, India in the last two days, branding the as Bangladeshis! BJP is ruling Gujarat since 1998, why the police waited till Pahalgam terror attack to find these ‘Bangladeshis’? NSB
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[4/28/2025 6:13 PM, 621.7K followers, 12 retweets, 37 likes]
To escape the brutality of the Arakan Army (AA) in Myanmar, more than 100,000 Rohingya have escaped to Bangladesh. Now, 1.3 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, a country that itself suffers from huge economic and political crisis.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[4/29/2025 3:02 AM, 113K followers, 74 retweets, 76 likes]
Founder and Chairman of Sunway Group, Tan Seri Sir Dr. Jeffrey Cheah, pays a courtesy call on H.E. President Dr @MMuizzu. They discussed extensively on the Maldives development, investment opportunities, and potential avenues for collaboration.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[4/29/2025 2:32 AM, 113K followers, 38 retweets, 36 likes]
First Lady Madam @sajidhaamohamed graces the opening ceremony of “Anhenveringe Sallaa" which was held at Isravvehinge Naadhee.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[4/29/2025 2:02 AM, 113K followers, 49 retweets, 49 likes]
The Founder and Advisor at Berjaya Corporation Berhad pays a courtesy call on the President https://presidency.gov.mv/Press/Article/33593
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maldives@MoFAmv
[4/28/2025 9:41 AM, 55.7K followers, 8 retweets, 12 likes]Maldives to Participate in the 49th Session of the UPR Working Group Press Release | https://t.ly/IpVbk Central Asia
UNODC in Central Asia@UNODC_ROCA
[4/28/2025 7:54 AM, 2.5K followers, 2 retweets, 1 like]
16 prosecutors from #Turkmenistan enhanced their skills on countering trafficking in persons for labour exploitation. The training was supported by the US Government and focused on international best practices, victim-centered investigations, and AI-assisted evidence collection.
UNODC in Central Asia@UNODC_ROCA
[4/28/2025 7:02 AM, 2.5K followers, 3 retweets, 5 likes]
UNODC Regional Representative @oliverstolpe shared his insights on evolving drug trends in Central Asia during an interview with Kyrgyzstan’s Ala-Too state media. Watch the interview here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Cp4XzHAjXu4
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[4/28/2025 9:16 AM, 216.3K followers, 4 retweets, 11 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev attended the 5th International Industrial Exhibition "Innoprom. Central Asia" in Tashkent, which drew over 10,000 delegates from various countries. On the sidelines of the event, the President met with Russia’s first Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, Tatarstan’s Rais Rustam Minnikhanov and “Rosatom” Director General Alexey Likhachev.{End of Report} To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.