SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Thursday, May 1, 2025 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
Despite war’s end, Afghanistan remains deep in crisis: UN relief chief (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/30/2025 12:39 PM, Claire Gounon, 52868K]
Climate change, women’s rights, displacement, poverty: Afghanistan remains a priority as it faces overlapping crises, the UN’s relief chief Tom Fletcher told AFP on Wednesday, deploring "brutal" aid budget cuts.
"We’ve identified 17 crises across the world where our engagement is most urgent, most vital. Afghanistan is high on that list," said the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in an interview with AFP during a visit to northern Afghanistan’s Kunduz province.
Fletcher’s visit comes after US President Donald Trump’s decision to slash foreign aid sent shock waves across the globe.
Washington had been the top donor to Afghanistan, having spent $3.71 billion in humanitarian and development aid since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and imposed a severe interpretation of Islamic law.
"We’re in a period when we’re having to massively prioritise, take brutal choices... literally life and death choices, about where to operate and which lives to save," Fletcher said.
"You can look at Sudan for the scale of the crisis, you can look at Gaza for the intensity, the ferocity of the killing there," he added. "Afghanistan is a different kind of challenge but it’s a huge challenge nonetheless.".
Climate change is hitting the Central Asian country "particularly hard" and it "will drive the needs even more than conflict will in the period ahead", he said.
"You’ve got that combined with the existing levels of poverty and these decades of instability and conflict.".- ‘Dialogue’ on women’s rights -
The situation of women’s rights in the country adds to the layers of a "building up of crisis upon crisis", Fletcher added.
The Taliban authorities have imposed restrictions on women that the UN has denounced as "gender apartheid".
Women and girls have been banned from education beyond primary school as well as many sectors of work and public spaces.
"I think this particular dynamic around women and girls is something that can surely cut through to even the most hard-hearted and cynical transactional politician right now," Fletcher said.
After meetings with Taliban officials this week in the capital Kabul and the Taliban heartland of southern Kandahar, Fletcher noted the need for "dialogue in order to try and change the mindset" on women’s rights.
"It’s encouraging to me that people were willing to have the conversation and not have it in a purely defensive way," he said.
Afghan women are particularly affected by humanitarian aid cuts, especially in the health care sector, which has been heavily dependent on foreign support.
In Afghanistan, maternal mortality rates of 620 per 100,000 births and infant mortality rates of 55 children under five per 1,000 births are among the highest in the world, according to UNICEF.
"I challenge anyone who celebrates aid cuts to sit with a woman who has lost her child because she had to cycle for three hours while in labour to get the care that she needed," said Fletcher, after having met Afghan women at a mobile health centre.
When Amina, a 28-year-old housewife, fell ill, she walked for an hour and a half to reach the centre in the rural countryside.
"There are no clinics, no doctors who come here, nothing nearby. We don’t even have electricity," she told AFP.
The small facility, supported by the local non-governmental organisation JACK and UN agencies, is under strain.
Already overwhelmed, it now has to accommodate patients from US-funded clinics that had to close, as well as Afghans who have been expelled from neighbouring Pakistan since early April."The reality with the cuts was that we didn’t see the impact straight away," Fletcher said.
"It’s now that we’re really coming to understand how brutal these cuts are going to be.".
Under these conditions, he said, "we’re in the process now of a massive humanitarian reset".
"We’ve got to rediscover that sense of coexistence and care for the most vulnerable people on the planet. I don’t think that’s gone away just because of a few election results," he said.
"I don’t think you can put tariffs on humanitarian action," he added, referring to the trade war recently launched by Trump. Pakistan
Pakistan warns of an Indian attack, while quietly urging de-escalation (Washington Post)
Washington Post [4/30/2025 10:54 PM, Shaiq Hussain and Rick Noack, 31735K]
More than a week after a shocking militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir — prompting the worst crisis between India and Pakistan in at least half a decade — Islamabad is anxiously awaiting its archrival’s next move.Citing “credible intelligence,” the Pakistani government said Wednesday it is bracing for Indian military action before Thursday night and has warned that any attack will be “responded to assuredly and decisively.”The Indian government has accused Pakistan of “linkages” to the April 22 militant assault on tourists at a mountain resort in Pahalgam, which killed 26 people, the deadliest attack of its kind in Indian-administered Kashmir in recent memory. New Delhi has said two of the suspected gunmen are Pakistani nationals but has not identified the group behind the attack, and there has been no public claim of responsibility. Pakistan’s government has denied any involvement.Similar claims have repeatedly brought the two nuclear-armed nations to the brink of war — most recently in 2019, when a deadly militant attack in Kashmir prompted Indian airstrikes in Pakistan, followed by brief aerial combat along the Line of Control, which divides the contested territory. Both countries administer parts of Kashmir and claim the region in its entirety.Pakistani officials are quietly striking a different tone this time. Neither side would have much to gain from an escalation, they say. After years of surging inflation and suffocating government debt, Pakistan’s economy had just begun to recover in recent months.“Things are looking up, so we cannot afford a distraction,” Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, said in an interview with The Washington Post on Wednesday. “The only thing we need right now is a peaceful neighborhood.”In a move that surprised some observers, Pakistan called last week for a third-party investigation into the Kashmir attack, a potential signal that it is seeking de-escalation. “Pakistan is open to participating in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday.But in India, which has long blamed its neighbor for harboring and supporting Kashmiri separatists, there are loud calls for decisive action against Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to track down the perpetrators “to the ends of the earth.” His government suspended a key water treaty with Pakistan, downgraded already threadbare diplomatic relations and ordered Pakistanis to leave the country. Islamabad responded with reciprocal measures and closed its airspace to Indian airlines.Some analysts fear India may be tempted to go further than it has before, perceiving Pakistan as feeble and divided after years of turmoil following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan in 2023.“How could such a weak Pakistan take them on, how dare they?” said Asfandyar Mir, a South Asia analyst, summarizing the prevailing Indian sentiment.“But I don’t think Pakistan is as weak as some Indian analysts make it out to be,” he cautioned, citing the recent modernization of Pakistan’s air force and navy, which went ahead despite the economic challenges. For India, “this sort of flawed assessment, I worry, can be a source of miscalculation,” he said.Pakistani and Indian forces exchanged fire along the disputed Kashmir border overnight Wednesday, but it largely followed the usual playbook — characterized by a tense and unstable calm since a ceasefire was brokered in 2021. Both sides blamed each other, and there were no immediate reports of casualties.The countries have fought three wars since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 and the bloody partitioning of India. Even periods of relative calm have been marked by hostility, mistrust and regular allegations of interference in each other’s internal affairs. For decades, Pakistan actively supported militant groups in Indian-administered Kashmir, but it appeared to distance itself in recent years under Western pressure, analysts said.After the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, when gunmen killed 166 people and injured more than 300, “there were linkages to the Pakistani state apparatus, and then we saw some pullback,” said Mir. “In the 2010s, we saw a revival of this kind of support,” he added, but in the wake of a 2019 attack, “Pakistan pulled back considerably.”Islamabad has accused India of being linked to attacks on its side of the border, too, including a campaign of covert killings.India would hold a significant advantage over Pakistan in any conventional conflict. It has more than twice the number of active military personnel and a much larger defense budget. But so far there are no signs of a broad military mobilization in India, according to Ijaz Awan, a Pakistani security analyst and former major general.“We would know if they moved their tanks, strategic columns and heavy weapons,” he said. “A major war cannot be fought with the infantry alone.”Full-scale wars between Pakistan and India were fought before either country successfully tested nuclear weapons. Any new conflict has the potential to escalate quickly — and dangerously.“There is hardly any room for either any misadventure or miscalculation, so the only thing the two countries can best do is try to avoid an escalation,” said Sheikh, the Pakistani ambassador. “Otherwise, once it starts, where it ends up we don’t know.”Shamshad Ahmad, a former Pakistani foreign secretary, said he’s optimistic the situation can be resolved diplomatically. “India has a booming economy, and it knows that war would also damage it badly,” he said.But the region is nervously holding its breath. Muhammad Afzaal, a 37-year-old chicken farmer outside Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan, said a possible return to conflict is the only thing on people’s minds these days.“We’re so close to the Afghan border that we have seen the impact of war up close before,” said Afzaal. “Everyone is worried.” Pakistan says intelligence suggests Indian military action likely soon (Reuters)
Reuters [4/30/2025 5:03 PM, Asif Shahzad, 126906K]
Pakistan said on Wednesday it has "credible intelligence" that India intends to launch military action soon, as tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours escalate following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir.Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the U.S. to press India to "dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly."U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asked both nations to "de-escalate tensions," a State Department spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.In the April 22 attack, the Islamist 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 the three attackers, including two Pakistani nationals, as "terrorists" waging a violent revolt in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.Hindu-majority India accuses Islamic Pakistan of funding and encouraging militancy in Kashmir, a Himalayan territory claimed by both nations but ruled in part by them. Islamabad says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to a Kashmiri demand for self-determination.The old rivals, born out of the partition of British colonial India in 1947, have taken measures against each other since the attack, with India putting the critical Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.Pakistan’s government said it had "credible intelligence" that India intends to carry out military action against it in the "next 24-36 hours on the pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement in the Pahalgam incident."India’s foreign and defence ministries did not respond to requests for comment.Sharif received a telephone call from Rubio on Wednesday, and the Pakistani prime minister asked Washington to urge India to "dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly," a statement from Sharif’s office said.Rubio pressed Pakistani officials to cooperate in investigating the attack, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement after the call.In a separate phone call on Wednesday, the State Department spokesperson said that Rubio spoke with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, reaffirming "the United States’ commitment to cooperation with India against terrorism."The statement from Sharif’s office said the prime minister expressed regret that India had chosen to "weaponize water", and stressed that the Indus Waters Treaty did not permit unilateral withdrawal from its commitments.India shut its airspace to Pakistani airlines on Wednesday, New Delhi said, days after Pakistan banned Indian airlines from flying over its territory.In a statement early on Wednesday, Islamabad said it condemned terrorism in all forms and will respond "assuredly and decisively" to any military action from India.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue and punish the Pahalgam attackers.WEEKLY BORDER TALKS HELD DESPITE TENSIONSDespite the heightened tensions, India and Pakistan’s top military generals held their normal weekly phone call on Tuesday, two Indian military sources and a Pakistani official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters."The Indian side objected strongly to unprovoked firing happening from Pakistan," one Indian source said.A Pakistani official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters the talks had happened, but gave no details. The Pakistani military did not respond to a request for comment.Indian and Pakistani troops have exchanged small-arms fire over the past six nights, which New Delhi says was initiated by the Pakistani side across their 460-mile (740-km) de facto border running through Kashmir. No casualties were reported.India and Pakistan last reaffirmed their ceasefire understanding in 2021 and their military commanders have held weekly talks over the phone every Tuesday to review conditions along the de facto boundary, the Indian army has said.India’s cabinet committee on security (CCS), consisting of Modi and his interior, defence, foreign, home and finance ministers, also met on Wednesday, local media reported, its second session since the April 22 attack.Modi told his military chiefs earlier this week that they have the freedom to decide the country’s response to the Pahalgam attack, a government source said.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in separate phone calls with India and Pakistan, stressed the need to "avoid a confrontation that could result in tragic consequences."Britain has called for calm between its Indian and Pakistani communities, and advised against all travel to Jammu and Kashmir - India’s official name for the territory - with few exceptions. Pakistan Claims To Have ‘Credible Intelligence’ Of Imminent Indian Strike (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/30/2025 7:39 AM, Reid Standish, Daud Khattak, and Pamir Halimzai, 968K]
Tensions between India and Pakistan continue to mount after a top Pakistani official claimed to have "credible intelligence" that New Delhi is prepared to undertake military action against Islamabad following a militant attack in Kashmir.
"Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends carrying out military action against Pakistan in the next 24-36 hours," Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a video message posted on X in the middle of the night.
There was no immediate response from India to the claim. RFE/RL contacted India’s External Affairs Ministry and Defense Ministry for comment, but has yet to receive an answer.
Tarar did not elaborate on what evidence Pakistan had used to make the claim, but added that Islamabad would respond "assuredly and decisively" to any Indian action.
"The international community must remain alive to the reality that the onus of escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India," Tarar said.
The comments come just a week after militants massacred 26 people in the Himalayan mountain town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. The attack has sparked widespread outrage across India and brought nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan to the brink of conflict.
India quickly accused Pakistan of involvement in the attack and said two of the three suspected militants were Pakistani. Islamabad has flatly denied any responsibility and offered to carry out an investigation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has not issued public comments regarding any imminent plans for military action, but he met with his cabinet late on April 29. Indian media have reported, citing unnamed government sources, that Modi has given the country’s armed forces "complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets, and timing of our response to the terror attack.".
Why Are India And Pakistan On The Brink Of Conflict?The April 22 terrorist attack was claimed by a little known group that calls itself the Resistance Front, but there has been no way to corroborate the claim made on social media. Indian officials say it is a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a United Nations-designated terrorist organization.
In the aftermath of the attack, India took a number of nonmilitary measures against Pakistan, suspending a vital water-sharing treaty, downgrading diplomatic relations, and asking Pakistani nationals to leave the country.
Islamabad announced similar retaliatory measures a day later.
The attack took place in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan control the region in part, but each claims it in full.
The two countries have fought three wars over the territory, which is now divided by a de-facto border called the Line of Control (LoC). The region has been hit regularly by militant violence since an armed anti-Indian insurgency began in 1989. Hostilities have claimed tens of thousands of lives over more than three decades.
Praveen Swami, the national-security editor at the Indian daily newspaper The Print, told RFE/RL that the situation remains fluid and both India and Pakistan are currently "prisoners of their own rhetoric.".
He adds that there are discussions of potential targeted Indian missile strikes but there are concerns of the reaction it would illicit from Pakistan.
"India will be weighing its options and Modi may be looking to be a hawk, but they are weighing all the options before going for something," Swami said.
Amid the rising tensions and escalating rhetoric, Indian and Pakistani military forces in the region have exchanged gunfire across the LoC repeatedly over the past six days.
"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," Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters in an April 28 interview.
Pakistani state television also claimed Indian fighter jets conducted patrols near the border in Kashmir under its jurisdiction during the early hours of April 29.
How Are Countries Responding To India-Pakistan Tensions?
The UN warned of potentially "catastrophic" consequences on April 29 if the two countries escalated into war.
"The region and the world cannot afford a confrontation between India and Pakistan, which would be catastrophic for the two countries and for the world as a whole," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antontio Guterres, referring to the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
He said Guterres held separate phone calls with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked the two countries "not to escalate the situation," spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said during an April 29 press briefing.
She said Rubio would speak with both the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers "as early as today or tomorrow.".
China, which itself claims control of part of Kashmir and has grown closer to Pakistan in recent years, has also urged restraint.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister last week, saying any conflict between Pakistan and India would "not serve the fundamental interests of each side" and posed a risk to regional security. 3 Pakistani security personnel killed in raid on a militant hideout (AP)
AP [5/1/2025 3:47 AM, Staff, 456K]
Pakistani security forces overnight raided a militant hideout in northwest Pakistan, sparking a shootout in which three officers and one suspect were killed, police said Thursday.
The raid occurred in Bannu, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police Arshad Khan said. Other insurgents fled the scene.
Khan said the insurgents were “Khwarij” — a phrase the government uses for the Pakistani Taliban.
The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, are separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Last week, Pakistani security forces killed 71 militants when they attempted to cross into the country from Afghanistan, according to the military. India
India Renews Call for ‘Justice’ After Rubio Urges De-Escalation (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [5/1/2025 3:04 AM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Swati Gupta, and Kamran Haider, 5.5M]
Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar reiterated that “perpetrators, backers and planners” of an attack that killed dozens of people in Indian-controlled Kashmir must be brought to justice, hours after speaking with his US counterpart Marco Rubio who had sought to de-escalate tensions.
Secretary of State Rubio had spoken with top officials from India and Pakistan on Wednesday, asking them to “maintain peace and security in South Asia.” He told Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, of the need to condemn the attack and re-establish direct communications, according to a statement from the State Department.
Relations between the nuclear-armed nations and longtime adversaries have rapidly deteriorated in the wake of the attack last week, which India and the US have called an act of terrorism. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has accused Pakistan of involvement and vowed to punish those responsible. Pakistan has denied any links to the assault and warned of retaliation if India takes military action.
Jaishankar said in an X post Thursday that he discussed the attack in Kashmir with Rubio on April 30. “Its perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice,” he said.
Sharif’s advisor on political affairs, Rana Sana Ullah Khan, said on Thursday Pakistan is ready to join a probe by Indian officials into the attack during an interview with Geo News. “A war between two nuclear powers doesn’t end in victory or defeat for either side but on destruction of both nations,” he said.
Indian media previously reported that Modi has given his armed forces free rein to decide on the timing, targets and mode of response. Pakistani authorities pledged a “befitting and decisive” response to any military strike.
So far, both sides have restrained themselves to largely diplomatic measures and relatively minor ceasefire violations along their disputed border.
India’s army has accused Pakistan of small-arms firing across the Line of Control for a week, the first violation of a ceasefire since 2021. Military officials from both countries spoke over a direct telephone line on Tuesday to discuss the violations. This is a regular weekly call and doesn’t necessarily indicate tensions are easing, but it demonstrates that some official communication channels are still functioning.
The countries have also slashed the number of envoys, closed airspace for each others’ flights, and India suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty.
Pakistan’s stocks and dollar bonds took a hit in April. The escalating tensions come at a time when the nation’s economy is fragile and dependent on the International Monetary Fund for support.
Indian financial assets are proving relatively immune for now with stocks and local bonds up in April. Markets are closed Thursday for local holidays.
Global Intervention
Since achieving independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have clashed several times over the disputed territory.
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, prompting India to respond about two weeks later with its first airstrikes on Pakistani soil since 1971.Following the latest killings, leaders of over a dozen nations including US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Shigeru Ishiba of Japan, UK’s Keir Starmer, UAE President Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan have called Modi to express solidarity.
China, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states were trying to head off conflict, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said. In a statement Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia called for de-escalation and resolution through “diplomatic means.” India wants Kashmir attackers brought to justice, foreign minister tells Rubio (Reuters)
Reuters [5/1/2025 1:44 AM, Shivam Patel and Tanvi Mehta, 5.2M]
India’s foreign minister said he has told Secretary of State Marco Rubio that perpetrators of the deadly attack in Kashmir last week should be brought to justice, as the U.S. sought to calm tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
The U.S. said Rubio discussed the strained ties between the two neighbours in separate telephone calls on Wednesday, urging them to work with each other to "de-escalate tensions."
He expressed support to India in combating extremism and urged Pakistan to cooperate in probing the attack that killed 26 people, the State Department said.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a post on X that he told Rubio "perpetrators, backers and planners" of the April 22 attack "must be brought to justice".
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the U.S. to press India to "dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly," according to a statement from his office.
Islamist assailants attacked a meadow teeming with tourists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam area last week, segregated men, asked their names and shot Hindus at close range, officials and survivors said. At least 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.
India has identified the three attackers, including two Pakistani nationals, as "terrorists" waging a violent revolt in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, although each controls only a part of the Himalayan region. They have fought two wars over Kashmir and New Delhi accuses Pakistan of supporting and funding an anti-government uprising in Indian Kashmir that started in 1989 but has now waned.
Pakistan says it only offers diplomatic and moral support to a Kashmiri demand for self-determination.
The old rivals have taken measures against each other since the Pahalgam attack, with India putting a critical river water sharing treaty in abeyance. Both have closed their airspace to each others’ airlines.
Troops from the two sides have exchanged small arms fire across their frontier for the past seven nights, but no casualties have been reported so far, India has said.
Pakistan did not respond to a request for comment.
The United Nations has asked both countries to avoid confrontation. China, a key player in the region, had earlier this week urged them to exercise restraint.
The head of the Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir called for international mediation and said his administration was preparing a humanitarian response in case of further escalation.
India’s navy issued warnings for several firing drills in the Arabian Sea off the coasts of Maharashtra and Gujarat states. Gujarat shares a border with Pakistan.
The navy did not respond to a request for comment on the warnings.
Earlier this week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his military chiefs that they have the freedom to decide the country’s response to the Pahalgam attack, a government source said. Pakistan says military action by India was imminent. Indian Embassy: Terrorists Behind Attack Will Be Brought to Justice (Newsweek)
Newsweek [4/30/2025 3:44 PM, Jesus Mesa and Tom O’Connor, 3973K]
India has vowed to bring to justice those responsible for the Kashmir terror attack that killed 26 civilians, issuing a scathing response to Pakistani claims that blaming them was "far-fetched" while calling the killings a possible "false flag" operation. while saying he had no evidence of that.
Responding to earlier remarks by Pakistani Ambassador in the U.S. Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, the Indian Embassy in Washington told Newsweek in an exclusive statement that his comments about the Pahalgam massacre being staged were unfounded.
The embassy rejected the ambassador’s claims as "crude" and accused Pakistan of evading accountability by providing sanctuary to internationally designated terrorist groups.
Full Statement From the Indian Embassy:
"The terrorists behind the attack will be brought to justice," the Indian Embassy stated.
"Ambassador Saeed’s remarks are a crude attempt to re-write history and gloss over facts. The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir joined the Union of India through an instrument of accession signed on 26 October 1947.
"The Government of Pakistan has never been able to accept this fact and has since launched four failed conflicts in 1947, 1965, 1971 and in 1999 in an attempt to take over the territory, that they claim as theirs simply on the grounds of religion. This irrevocable fact has been accepted by their leaders time and again.
"Pakistan has also used terrorism as a part of its state policy. It continues to provide safe haven, like it did with Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, to the leaders of other UN-designated terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and many others, whose sole stated aim is to target India.
"It would behoove the government and the army of Pakistan to not make flimsy ‘false-flag’ claims and to arrest the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack in which 166 civilians including six American citizens lost their lives.
"The terrorists behind the Pahalgam attack will be brought to justice. India will identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers.".
Rising Tensions
The remarks directly confront statements made by Sheikh in an exclusive interview with Newsweek, where he speculated about the origins of the attack while explicitly saying he did not have any evidence.
"When I am saying that it can be a false flag operation, I have no evidence...but there is enough circumstantial evidence," Sheikh said. He also appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump to act as a peace broker, describing Kashmir as "a flash point, particularly in nuclear terms.".
Indian authorities have identified three suspects in the Pahalgam massacre, including two Pakistani nationals. In response, New Delhi has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, revoked visas, shut down land crossings and downgraded diplomatic relations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has also reportedly granted the armed forces "complete operational freedom" to retaliate.
Modi, speaking the day after the killings, promised a powerful response. "They have made the mistake of attacking the soul of India," Modi said. "Those who have planned and carried out this attack will be punished beyond their imagination.".
In the Newsweek interview, Sheikh maintained Pakistan had no role in the attack and questioned India’s narrative. "We would not want to [fight], but if it is imposed, then we would rather die with dignity than survive with indignity," he said.
India said that such rhetoric will not deflect attention from accountability. "India will identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers," its embassy said.
Clashes between rival powers in Kashmir date back for more than a millennium, but the modern conflict between India and Pakistan can be traced to the 1947 partition amid the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from its colonial holdings across a once-united Indian subcontinent. The two newly independent nations immediately went to war for control over Kashmir and have since fought three more large-scale conflicts, mostly recently in 1999.
While much of the fight for Kashmir has traditionally revolved around the land dispute, water has become an increasingly crucial aspect of the feud. Kashmir Is a Wonderland. An Attack Shows It Is Also a Cradle of Despair. (New York Times)
New York Times [5/1/2025 3:34 AM, Anupreeta Das and Showkat Nanda, 831K]
Kashmir is many things. It is a disputed borderland that India and Pakistan have fought over for more than three-quarters of a century, making it one of the world’s most strife-torn and militarized zones. It is a Bollywood cinematographer’s alpine dream, its fabled beauty and trauma providing grist for tales of love, longing and war.
Since 2019, when the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India tightened its grip on the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, promising security and economic development, it has become a tourist hot spot drawing millions of visitors a year. In the government’s narrative of progress, Kashmir is a shining success.
The region’s people have their own story to tell. It is one of festering alienation — magnified by last week’s horrific terrorist attack in Kashmir — after years of living under the watchful eyes of security forces while being deprived of many democratic rights.
Indian troops have launched an aggressive, widespread hunt for the killers that feels like collective punishment to many in the Muslim-majority region. The authorities have detained thousands of Kashmiris for questioning and demolished the homes of at least 10 people accused in the attack.“We are treated as suspects,” said Sheikh Aamir, a lawyer in northern Kashmir. “Whenever something happens, they punish us all.”
India has said that the terrorist attack, which killed 26 innocent people near the town of Pahalgam, has “cross-border linkages,” implying the involvement of its neighbor Pakistan. Officials in Pakistan, who deny any role in the attack, said on Wednesday that they had detected signs that India was preparing to take retaliatory military action.
India has not commented on its military planning, but Mr. Modi has condemned the attackers and promised to “raze” terrorist safe havens. Airstrikes by India along the border, or even an incursion into Pakistani territory, is possible, analysts said.
These developments have spread fear among Kashmiris, many of whom had already felt isolated from the rest of India as right-wing Hindus have vilified them and painted them as aggressors.
Since the terrorist attack — in which all but one of those killed were Hindu tourists — Hindu nationalists, including officials in Mr. Modi’s party, have used the assault to expand their demonization of Muslims. That has included attacking or harassing Kashmiri students studying in other parts of the country. Many said they had huddled in their rooms in panic.“The attack on Kashmir has quickly become a mass Islamophobia,” said Rohan Gunaratna, an expert on international terrorism.
Before the massacre, Kashmir had been in a period of relative calm since the Indian government brought the region under its direct control, removing the semi-autonomy guaranteed to Kashmir in India’s Constitution and moving in thousands of troops.
But as the Indian government claimed that it had brought normalcy to the region, some Kashmiris expressed anger at what they called false propaganda.
Normalcy in Kashmir has always been “superficial and deceptive,” said Sumantra Bose, a political scientist and author who has studied Kashmir. He described life in the region as a “real-life hybrid of Orwellian and Kafkaesque.”
Primarily driven by local grievances, an insurgency in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir began in the 1980s, with Pakistan eventually supporting and harboring some groups, experts say. Attacks by militant groups often targeted Hindus, forcing an exodus of the minority community from Kashmir.
The idea pushed by insurgent outfits — that Kashmir should be an independent state or join with Pakistan — has faded as Kashmiris have largely given up the idea of separatism.
Militancy has been “replaced by a deep alienation of the Kashmiri polity,” said Siddiq Wahid, a professor of humanities and social sciences at Shiv Nadar University near Delhi.
The disaffection, coupled with brutish armed forces who show little mercy for innocent Kashmiris in their search for violent ones, could make it easier for new militant groups to emerge, analysts said. It could also impel disgruntled Kashmiris to look away from militant activities, the analysts said.“Villagers just have to turn their heads away and not report at all,” said Mr. Gunaratna, the terrorism expert. “So they close their eyes.”
An outcry that followed Indian troops’ killing of the young leader of a banned Islamist outfit in 2016 offered clues that there could be “passive support” for militancy, Mr. Gunaratna said.
But the Indian government became complacent because “they bought into their own hubris,” he said. Less than three weeks before the attack near Pahalgam, Amit Shah, India’s minister for home affairs, said that the Modi government had “crippled” the “entire terror ecosystem nurtured by elements against our country” in Kashmir.
The attack was a monumental security lapse for a government that had heavily promoted Kashmir as a dream destination for tourists, thinking that “militants would not attack tourists because they are so integral to the local economy,” Mr. Gunaratna said.
About 10 million people live on the Indian side of Kashmir, roughly 90 percent of whom are Muslim, according to India’s 2011 census. It is the country’s only Muslim-majority region.
India and Pakistan lay claim to all of Kashmir, but each controls only part of it. They have fought multiple wars over the land.
India’s defensive stance has meant the continuous presence of military and paramilitary troops in Kashmir who have effectively turned the region into a police state.
Analysts say there could be as many as 500,000 Indian troops in Kashmir. The armed forces have often used excessive force to flush out Kashmiri militants. Thousands of innocent Kashmiris have died during demolitions and shootouts. Others have been abducted, disappeared or killed in “encounters,” or extrajudicial killings. Government estimates put the number of deaths at 45,000, but human rights groups say it is much higher.
No more than a few dozen terrorism-related deaths are reported every year, according to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal. Militant attacks in Kashmir and firing along the disputed border have gone from headlines to footnotes.
But the ingredients for the return of more pronounced terrorism in Kashmir have been building in the past few years, according to analysts. The Modi government’s tactics, including the revocation of the region’s limited autonomy, have caused resentment in the community.
New land laws enacted after 2019 allowed nonresidents to purchase property in Kashmir for the first time in decades. Although the government said the laws were intended to increase investment, many Kashmiris saw them as an attempt to change the region’s demography.
There has also been an increase in censorship, including the liberal use of laws to prevent public gatherings or other events in the name of public safety.
Kashmir has become a popular tourist destination for Indians because of its famous lakes and boat rides, and also because it has been such a core part of India’s political identity for so long.
But in outsiders’ portrayals and photographs of Kashmir, the local people have been pushed nearly out of the frame, said Ashiq Husain, a resident of Pahalgam. “People have been used as mere backdrops,” he added.
After last week’s terrorist attack, the real Kashmiris came into view, said Mr. Aamir, the lawyer in northern Kashmir. With security forces absent, they were the first to come to the aid of the injured, and people across the Kashmir Valley have expressed solidarity with the victims and their families.“There’s mourning in every home,” he said, “and yet we are still seen as enemies.” Indian survivors of Kashmir attack say gunmen asked if they were Hindus and opened fire (AP)
AP [4/30/2025 9:10 AM, Rajesh Roy, 34586K]
When Aishanya and Shubham Dwivedi married in February, they began planning a vacation to Indian-controlled Kashmir to celebrate.
As the couple paused for a snack in its lush Pahalgam meadow surrounded by snow-capped Himalayan peaks, a man approached them from behind. He didn’t look threatening at first, Aishanya told The Associated Press. She thought he might be a local guide.
She said the man looked at the couple with piercing eyes and asked one question: “Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?” If they were Muslim, he said, they should recite the Islamic declaration of faith.
The couple froze. Aishanya thought it was perhaps some local performance. “We are Hindus,” her husband said.
Without hesitation, the man pulled out a gun and shot him “point blank in the head,” Aishanya, 29, said, and sobbed. Her husband collapsed on her, soaking her in blood.
The man turned the gun on her, then changed his mind. She said the intent was clear: “He wanted to kill men and leave women behind to mourn, cry and narrate the dastardly ordeal.”
She heard the man, joined by other attackers, tell tourists: “Tell your government. Tell Modi what we did.” The tourists ran for their lives.
Authorities with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government have shared few details of last week’s attack in Kashmir in which gunmen killed 26 people, most of them local Hindu tourists. It was one of the deadliest assaults in years targeting civilians in the restive region claimed by both India and Pakistan.
The AP spoke with survivors for some of the first witness accounts of the killings that were claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance. India has blamed Pakistan for supporting the massacre. Pakistan denies it. Both warn of imminent military action.
Most of the dead were Indians drawn to Kashmir, its beauty often captured in Bollywood films. In 2019, India revoked the region’s semiautonomous status, a decision the government said would help spur development in Kashmir and integrate it more fully. Since then, violence had largely declined.
Survivors said the horror of the attack is unshakable. They also question how authorities allowed it to occur in one of the militarized places on earth, where Indian soldiers are nearly ubiquitous.“It was a big security lapse,” said Sunil Swami, whose son-in-law Vinay Narwal, a naval officer, was killed. He said the government should invite tourists to Kashmir only if “foolproof security” is provided: “Give it in writing and guarantee it.”
Swami recounted what his daughter, who was on honeymoon, told him. Men in camouflage uniforms shot people dead after confirming their religion, Swami said.“They shot down three bullets into my son-in-law’s neck, chest and thighs after realizing he was a Hindu,” he said.
Rajashree Akul, teacher in Mumbai, said three men from her elder sister Anushka Mone’s family were killed. Two gunmen in uniform asked tourists to identify themselves as Hindu or Muslims, she said, recalling her sister’s witness account.“My brother-in-law begged them to ‘Let us go,’ saying ‘We are innocent tourists.’ They didn’t listen to him and shot him dead,” Akul said.
Loved ones are now struggling with grief and regret.Tage Mali, who is posted in Kashmir for India’s army, rues that he couldn’t save his younger brother Tage Hailyang, an Air Force officer, who was shot dead in front of his wife, Charu Kamhua.
Tage Mali said his brother’s transfer orders had come, so he invited his wife to see Kashmir’s beauty before they left.
The wife told Tage Mali they heard gunshots, and gunmen came to Tage Hailyang and asked for his credentials. As soon as they established his identity, they shot him. India closes airspace to Pakistan airlines as tensions rise (Reuters)
Reuters [4/30/2025 3:30 PM, Mrinmay Dey, Abhijith Ganapavaram, and Surbhi Misra, 62527K]
India shut its airspace to Pakistani airlines on Wednesday, the government said, days after its nuclear-armed neighbour banned Indian airlines from flying over its territory following the killing of 26 men in an attack on tourists in Kashmir.
The ban will last from April 30 to May 23, the Indian government said in a notice.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call on Wednesday evening that he "categorically rejected Indian attempts to link Pakistan to the incident," Sharif’s office said in a statement.
He called for a transparent, credible and neutral investigation and urged the U.S. to impress upon India to "dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly," it added.
India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The impact of the ban on Pakistan’s airline industry is likely to be smaller than on India’s since only Pakistan International Airlines operates routes to Kuala Lumpur using Indian airspace.
Last week, Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian-owned or operated airlines, suspending all trade including through third countries and halting special South Asian visas issued to Indian nationals.
PIA, the national carrier, said on Tuesday it had decided to avoid Indian airspace in the wake of rising bilateral tensions.
Pakistan said on Wednesday it has "credible intelligence" that India intends to launch military action soon, as tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours escalate following the deadly attack on tourists.
India has identified the three attackers, including two Pakistani nationals, as "terrorists" waging a violent revolt in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.
Since the attack, the nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, including suspending the Indus Water Treaty. Trump Says He Has ‘Potential Deals’ With India, South Korea, Japan (Reuters)
Reuters [4/30/2025 8:57 PM, Steve Holland, 24727K]
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he has "potential" trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan as he seeks to convert his tariff policy into trade agreements.
At a town hall on the NewsNation television network, Trump was asked when he would be announcing agreements with those three countries. "We have potential deals" with them, he said.
Trump said he was in no rush to conclude the deals because the United States is reaping the benefits of the tariffs he has imposed.
"I’m in less of a hurry than you are. We are sitting on the catbird seat. They want us. We don’t need them," he said. White House moving ‘as fast as possible’ on India trade deal, Navarro says (CNBC)
CNBC [4/30/2025 2:29 PM, Erin Doherty, 890K]
President Donald Trump’s top trade advisor Peter Navarro said Wednesday that the White House is moving in "Trump time" as they negotiate a tariff deal with India, "which is to say, as fast as possible.".
"In Indian democracy, it’s got to go through the prime minister and the parliament, we can’t just do that, but we’re moving in Trump time, which is to say as fast as possible," Navarro told CNBC’s ‘Squawk on the Street.’.
Navarro said that the trade deal with India is "close.".
A day earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Washington was closing in on a trade deal with New Delhi.
The comments come as investors and consumers grow increasingly skeptical that Trump can execute a series of bilateral trade agreements, which he promised to do when he unveiled his aggressive tariff regime earlier this month.
Businesses had hoped the White House could strike deals with America’s biggest trading partners before Trump’s massive tariffs cut American importers and exporters off from global markets, and slashed U.S. economic growth.
U.S. gross domestic product fell 0.3% in the first quarter of the year, fueled by policy uncertainty around Trump’s trade wars.
On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed that one trade deal had already been hammered out. But he would not say which country it was with.
"I have a deal done, done, done, done, but I need to wait for their prime minister and their parliament to give its approval, which I expect shortly," Lutnick told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan.
The White House has not divulged any specifics of what a possible trade deal with India might look like.
But even Trump himself has hinted that a deal, or at least a memorandum of understanding-type framework, may be imminent.
Trump said Tuesday that tariff negotiations with India are "coming along great," and he thinks "we’ll have a deal with India.".
Vice President JD Vance traveled to India last week, where he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders "made some very good progress," Bessent said on Tuesday.
Navarro, who said that he’s not an "active part of the negotiation at the table," but is "very plugged in to what is being done," said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is "working very closely" with Lutnick.
"The president is the master strategist, the commander in chief. I’m just here to serve and help him do what he wants to do in what might be the best way possible, both tactically and strategically," Navarro said. Modi drops out of attending Victory Day celebration in Moscow (The Independent)
The Independent [4/30/2025 7:30 AM, Alisha Rahaman Sarkar, 44838K]
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will not visit Russia to attend the Victory Day celebrations next week, a Kremlin spokesperson said on Wednesday, as tension soared between New Delhi and Islamabad.
"The leader of India will not come, India will not be represented at the highest level," Dmitry Peskov said, without citing reasons.
India’s foreign ministry earlier in April confirmed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had invited Mr Modi to be part of the celebrations to mark Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany on 9 May. The ministry said an announcement regarding India’s participation will be made in "due course".
While there was no official confirmation from India, it appeared Mr Modi dropped out of the 80th anniversary celebrations of Victory Day in the wake of one of the deadliest terror attacks on tourists in India-administered Kashmir last Tuesday.
At least 26 people were killed as militants opened fire on them in the picturesque Baisaran Valley in the restive Himalayan region.
Mr Modi, who was in Saudi Arabia for a state visit, cut his tour short to return to India and has since been in the country. New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the terror attack and responded by cancelling visas of all Pakistanis living in India, while also suspending a crucial water sharing treaty with Islamabad.
Pakistan retaliated by closing its airspace to Indian airlines and halting trade.
As tensions escalate, cross-border firing between soldiers of India and Pakistan has also increased along the Line of Control, the de facto frontier that separates Kashmiri territory between the two neighbours.
Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, on Wednesday said Islamabad had credible intelligence that India intended to carry out military action against Pakistan in the next 24-36 hours over the "baseless and concocted allegations of involvement" in the attack.
China has supported Islamabad’s call for an impartial investigation into the attack in Kashmir. "As an ironclad friend and all-weather strategic cooperative partner, China fully understands Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns and supports its efforts to uphold its sovereignty and security interests," China’s top diplomat Wang Yi told his Pakistani counterpart.
Chinese president Xi Jinping is among at least 20 world leaders who are expected to attend the Victory Day celebrations. India is likely to send defence minister Rajnath Singh to mark its presence at the event at the Red Square, according to local reports.
Mr Singh had visited Russia last year for the commissioning of INS Tushil in Kaliningrad and paid tribute at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed in March that "president Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to visit from the Indian head of government".
"A visit by the Russian head of state to the Republic of India is currently being prepared," Mr Lavrov was quoted by TASS news agency as saying.
Meanwhile, Mr Putin announced a "humanitarian" truce in his war against Ukraine that will be in effect from midnight on 8 May until midnight on 11 May for the Victory Day celebrations.
"During this period, all military actions will cease. Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example," the Kremlin said in a statement. India Approves Caste Count Along With Long-Delayed Census (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/30/2025 8:50 AM, Ruchi Bhatia and Swati Gupta, 16228K]
India on Wednesday said it approved a plan to include caste data in the upcoming population census, indicating it is a step closer to an exercise that has been delayed for almost four years.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has decided that "caste enumeration should be included in the forthcoming census," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters in a briefing. "This demonstrates that our government is committed to the values and interests of the society and country," he said, without elaborating on when the census will be conducted.India has limited public data on the number of people belonging to a particular caste. In the absence of public data on the socio-economic status of individuals in every caste, multiple states governed by Modi’s opposition have conducted their own surveys in an attempt to illustrate the wide disparities that exist in Indian society. An enumeration could allow the government to tailor affirmative action policies as needed.The population census, last published in 2011, is usually conducted once every 10 years, but was initially delayed because of the pandemic.Analysts have concluded that caste identity played a big role in India’s national election, and possibly contributed to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party losing its majority in the parliament in 2024. Opposition groups campaigned on promises of conducting comprehensive caste surveys to better target affirmative action policies for socially- and economically-backward classes. NSB
Bangladesh Begins Three Days Of Mass Political Rallies (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [5/1/2025 1:11 AM, Staff, 931K]
Three days of political rallies began in Bangladesh on Thursday with rival groups set to stage mass demonstrations in Dhaka, drumming up support for eagerly anticipated elections following an uprising last year.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, who has led an interim government since autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled into exile as crowds stormed her palace in August, has said elections will be held as early as December, and at the latest by mid-2026.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), widely tipped to win the poll, will hold a May Day rally in Dhaka.
"We are confident this will be the most memorable grand rally in recent times," BNP media officer Shairul Kabir Khan said.
The largest Islamist political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, will also take to the streets of the capital on Thursday.
The Jatiya Party, formerly close to Hasina’s regime, will also hold a rally.
It will be its first outdoor political event since its offices were vandalised in October, allegedly for helping Hasina’s Awami League cling to power.
On Friday, the National Citizens Party (NCP), formed by students who spearheaded the youth-led protests that overthrew Hasina, will hold a rally.
NCP leader Nahid Islam initially joined the interim government led by Yunus, before resigning to form the party.
"Political programmes help us build public engagement," said senior NCP official Ariful Islam Adib.
"This rally isn’t about showing strength, but we expect 20,000 to 30,000 attendees."
Hefazat-e-Islam, a platform of Islamic seminaries, will hold a "grand rally" on Saturday.
"Our rally is a reminder to the government of the sacrifices we’ve made," said its leader Mamunul Haque, adding they will use the event to present their demands.
Key among them is scrapping recommendations by a government women’s commission for ending discriminatory provisions against women, a further indication of how hardline, religiously fuelled activism is strengthening after years of suppression.
"We will present four demands. Chief among them is scrapping the recommendations of the Women’s Rights Commission," Haque said.
"We don’t care if it’s Muhammad Yunus in charge or someone even more prominent, we’ll take to the streets,” he added.
Hasina, who remains in self-imposed exile in India, has defied an arrest warrant from Dhaka over charges of crimes against humanity. Bangladesh Grants Bail To Outspoken Hindu Monk (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/30/2025 8:24 AM, Staff, 931K]
A Bangladesh court on Wednesday granted bail to an outspoken monk leading a movement for the protection of Hindus in the Muslim-majority nation, but he remains in custody pending a possible appeal.
Chinmoy Krishna Das was granted bail by Dhaka’s High Court, his lawyer Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee said.
"We expect him to be released from jail in a week or so, if the government decides not to appeal to the Supreme Court," Bhattacharjee said.
Das, who was arrested in November 2024 for sedition for allegedly disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag during a rally, denies the charges.
Aneek R. Haque, an additional attorney general, said the government "haven’t yet decided whether we will file an appeal".
In November, when an earlier bail hearing was denied in Chattogram, violent protests erupted with devotees of Das going on the rampage, and lawyer Saiful Islam Alif was killed.
Alif’s family have filed cases against individuals they claim were linked to his death -- including 58 Hindu lawyers accused of vandalism and carrying explosives.
Religious relations have been turbulent in Bangladesh since a student-led revolution toppled autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August.
India’s Hindu-nationalist government had been a key supporter of Hasina, who fled to New Delhi as crowds stormed her palace.
Hasina has defied Dhaka’s extradition request for her to face charges of crimes against humanity. ‘We Have Not Heard From My Brother’: The Missing Bhutanese Deportees (New York Times)
New York Times [5/1/2025 5:02 AM, Kurt Streeter, 831K]
The news of deportations arrived as a trickle. A member of the Bhutanese community in Texas was taken away. Another picked up in Idaho. Then, one in Georgia.“People started calling us in a panic to let us know ICE arrests have started,” said Robin Gurung, a community leader in Harrisburg, Pa., a major center of life for Bhutanese refugees in America.Given the limited information from immigration officials and a cultural reluctance within the Bhutanese community to discuss the loss of loved ones, Mr. Gurung could only estimate the number of people detained and deported from his area and the rest of the state.“At least 12 from here,” he said during a recent interview at a dumpling house near the Pennsylvania State Capitol. He paused, emphasizing the uncertainty, before continuing. A dozen “that we know of.”As the Trump administration accelerated its controversial deportation program, primarily targeting undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America, confusion became a common theme. What is happening in the community from Bhutan, a sliver of a country near India and Nepal, has a similar opaque uncertainty, and its own set of vexing circumstances.The Bhutanese who have been caught in this dragnet since March are not undocumented, but they all reportedly have criminal records with offenses that range from driving under the influence to felony assault. They are refugees who arrived legally in the United States through a humanitarian program initiated under former President George W. Bush. Beginning around 2007, the United States offered shelter to tens of thousands of mostly Nepali-speaking, Bhutanese Hindus who had fled ethnic cleansing in the kingdom of Bhutan, which is predominantly Buddhist.Information from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the recent deportations has been sparse. The lack of transparency has left community leaders, politicians and grieving families in Harrisburg and the surrounding Central Pennsylvania region — which has taken in some 40,000 Bhutanese refugees over two decades — grappling for answers and consumed by fear.“The community was not prepared for this,” said Mr. Gurung, a co-executive director of the local nonprofit Asian Refugees United. “We came though the formal refugee resettlement program, which means the U.S. government, they agreed to bring us to this country. The understanding was the government, they’re not going to come after us.”Precise nationwide figures remain difficult to confirm because of the lack of information from the federal government. But it is believed that as many as 60 Bhutanese refugees have been detained in immigration facilities, and at least two dozen have been deported, initially to Bhutan.From there, the situation becomes even more opaque.Advocates argue that the deported men, many of whom had served probation or time in prison and had been permitted to remain in the United States on work permits, were denied a proper opportunity to appeal their deportation orders or argue against being sent back to a country they or their families fled in fear.These deportees are stateless. Although they resided legally in the United States, none had attained full citizenship. Bhutan does not recognize them as citizens, nor does Nepal, where many were born and raised in refugee camps. Upon arriving in Bhutan, they were quickly turned away. Advocates said they weren’t surprised that the men were then sent “ping-ponging” between India and Nepal.Many families in the United States report that their deported loved ones are either in hiding or in unknown locations.“We have not heard from my brother,” said Devi Gurung, whose brother, Ashok Gurung, was deported. “For all we know, he could be dead.”
“The United States is sending people to countries where they have no citizenship, no right to be,” said Craig Shagin, a lawyer in Harrisburg, who is representing a deportee named Indra. He asked that his client’s surname name be withheld out of concerns for his safety.Mr. Shagin’s client was convicted of driving while intoxicated on two occasions. The second conviction, in 2018, included a charge for evading the police. A judge deemed it a crime of moral turpitude, an offense that could make him subject to deportation.But Pennsylvania courts vacated and dismissed the evasion charge, Mr. Shagin said. He added that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, covering Pennsylvania, has since ruled that evading arrest during a D.W.I. stop is not a deportable offense. Despite Mr. Shagin’s efforts to meet his client in custody, immigration officials delayed the meeting a week, rejected an emergency stay and deported him.Most of the Bhutanese who immigrated to America are historically from the south of Bhutan, and have deeper ancestral ties to Nepal and India than to Bhutan’s Buddhist majority. In the early 1990s, the Bhutanese government began a campaign to forge a single national identity. Many residents from the south were reclassified as illegal immigrants. Dress codes were enforced, and teaching Nepali in schools was banned. Facing violent crackdowns, over 100,000 people fled to refugee camps in Nepal.The international community eventually intervened. Starting in 2007, a majority resettled in Europe and in countries including Canada, Australia, and the United States. Pennsylvania, particularly the Harrisburg area with its rolling hills reminiscent of Bhutan, became a primary destination.Today, the Bhutanese community in the Harrisburg area is spread across neighborhoods and townships. South Asian groceries and spices fill strip mall shops. Incense fills a former cinder-block school repurposed as a Hindu temple. The aroma of curry and steamed dumplings draws people to Mom’s Momo and Deli, a local favorite that features exhibits on life in refugee camps and Nepal.“People came to Harrisburg because the land reminds them of home and for the support system created here,” Mr. Gurung said, picking at noodles in the restaurant. This system includes access to jobs in nursing homes and the region’s numerous warehouses.“Many residents found their way here even after starting lives elsewhere in America,” Mr. Gurung noted. At 36, he is one such example, having lived most of his life in a refugee camp before passing his citizenship test in San Francisco and living in Oakland, Calif., for years. Drawn by the growing community, he moved to Harrisburg in 2020, during the pandemic.The deportations had triggered a pervading fear, Mr. Gurung said. Even naturalized citizens worry the crackdown could extend to them. People now carry documentation everywhere to prove their identity and legal status. Many elderly Bhutanese are re-traumatized as their family members disappear, he said, their memories jolted back to the repression and disappearances in Bhutan. “This is opening the old wounds again,” Mr. Gurung said. “It is a form of widespread PTSD.”In this community, mention of President Trump elicits shudders, frowns or blank stares. Shop owners, cooks and students are hesitant to speak to reporters or provide their names, fearing repercussions should they appear in print.“Anxiety is something you can feel everywhere now,” said one Bhutanese Uber driver, who asked for anonymity out of fear. Even though he’s a U.S. citizen, his wife is afraid for him to leave home without proof that he belongs in the country, and insists he carry documentation. He is not alone.“Will Trump come for people who have done nothing wrong, who are not green card holders but actual citizens?” the driver asked. “Nobody seems to know what is happening.”The initial group of deportees was flown from the United States to India, landing briefly in New Delhi, according to Gopal Siwakoti, a human-rights activist in Kathmandu who is tracking the situation. Indian authorities then sent them to Bhutan. Mr. Siwakoti said that Bhutanese officials interrogated the men, confiscated their identifications, provided them with roughly $300 and arranged taxis to drive them out of Bhutan to the Indian border with Nepal.From there, at least four men took a smuggler’s route into Nepal, where about 1,000 Bhutanese people still live in refugee camps. Mr. Siwakoti confirmed these four men were arrested in Nepal and remain there.Of the remaining deportees, most are in hiding, have limited contact with family or are unaccounted for.Mr. Shagin’s client is now somewhere in India, according to the client’s brother, who requested anonymity because of concerns for his safety. “My brother has no family in India, no connections there,” the brother said. “What will be his future? I worry about suicide.”The exact whereabouts of another deportee, Ashok Gurung, are also unknown, his sister, Devi Gurung, said in a recent interview. She has not heard from him since ICE agents arrested him one morning in March. “For all I know, he might be dead,” Ms. Gurung said through an interpreter.She spoke openly about her brother’s past, including his criminal history. Mr. Gurung was born and raised in Nepalese refugee camps before arriving in the United States. In 2013, while living in Georgia, he was involved in a fight where he cut a man with a knife. Georgia court records corroborate this account. A judge found him guilty of aggravated assault, and he served three years in prison. Since his release, Ms. Gurung said her brother had been living with her family in their small Harrisburg home, staying out of trouble and working at a local warehouse.Ms. Gurung and her husband are U.S. citizens and have a young daughter who was born in the United States. Yet, she said, their family now lives in fear.“Bhutan kicked us out,” she said, recounting her family’s journey. “We lived over 20 years in Nepal. We couldn’t belong there. We came to the United States with ultimate hope. Now there is fear again.”
“Where,” she wondered, “do we belong?” US funds supported Nepal’s growing LGBTQ+ community. Now that money is gone (AP)
AP [5/1/2025 12:14 AM, Binaj Gurubacharya, 456K]
The metal gates are padlocked now at the Parichaya Samaj center that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and supports the queer community in Nepal. A sign at the entry says they are unable to help anymore. The staff and volunteers are gone.
Ever since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration began dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was responsible for humanitarian aid, most of the help centers for Nepal’s LGBTQ+ community have been closed due to lack of funds. Thousands of people have been left without support.
It is an unprecedented setback to the Himalayan nation’s growing queer community, which has made significant progress in recent years.“It is a big crisis,″ said Sunil Babu Pant, an openly gay former parliamentarian and a leading LGBTQ+ campaigner. “When the community needs counselling or support, it is absent. People are going back to the closet again.”
In the past few years, Nepal’s LGBTQ+ community made rapid advancements in securing their rights. The nation became one of the first in Asia to allow same sex-sex marriage. The constitution adopted in 2015 explicitly stated there can be no discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The U.S. was among the biggest donors for the LGBTQ+ rights campaign.
Over the years, USAID and others stepped in and partnered with help centers to support initiatives like HIV prevention and care and safe-sex counselling. The U.S. funds were vital for running the centers and clinics that helped with distributing free condoms, screenings and follow-up treatment for people with HIV. Now the USAID office in Nepal is closed.
With most of that funding gone, those gains are at risk.
Babu Dumi Rai, who worked at a help center in Kathmandu that has closed, warned that the aid cuts could lead to more HIV infections.“In our community people are hesitant to buy condoms, and many of them are not even aware they need to use a condom or even how to properly use them,” Rai said. “With all these projects and services shuttered, there is now a very big risk of the HIV infections to be on the rise.”
It is estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 people with HIV in Nepal are from the LGBTQ+ community, said Dinesh Chaudhury, who has been working with the help centers.
Chaudhury said the centers also provided medical help to the community, and now people are struggling to find alternatives. Government hospitals and general medical facilities have some resources, but some in the LGBTQ+ community have said they feel uncomfortable with the way they are treated there.“It is uncertain where they can go to get help in the coming days,” Chaudhury said. “I have so many people come with questions on where they can go, but I have no answer.”
Sex workers feel more vulnerable
Simple Lama, a transgender sex worker, said access to medical help or items like condoms and lubricants is now far more challenging.“It was easier and safer to go to the centers and clinics to get medical help and consultations,” Lama said. “But now it is difficult to go to big hospitals, and when we go to the regular hospitals, people look at us differently, treat us differently.”
Sex work is illegal in Nepal, and sex workers are routinely harassed and chased by authorities. Transgender sex workers are generally more tolerated by the police because of the lobbying by LGBTQ+ rights groups pushing to stop harassment of their members.
Now the ranks of sex workers is growing as members of the LGBTQ+ community who had been working at the now-closed help centers look for new ways to survive.“Quite a few of them have started doing sex works,” said Pant, the former parliamentarian. “Because of the scarcity of jobs and opportunities, a lot of trans and third genders are surviving as sex workers.” Central Asia
Gold mine no cash cow for Kyrgyz government (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [4/30/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K]
The nationalization of the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan has not lived up to official billing, in terms of expanding the flow of revenue into state coffers and driving growth. Company figures show production has steadily fallen in recent years, and income for the state budget has declined.
President Sadyr Japarov’s administration took over management of the mine in 2021 from Centerra Gold, a Canadian firm, amid allegations of environmental hazards and mismanagement, as well as a dispute over profit-sharing arrangements. In 2022, after a settlement with Centerra cemented the Kyrgyz government’s control of the mine, Japarov declared it would serve as an engine for “steadfast growth and development.”
Since then, however, gold output has declined. In 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic struck, the mine produced just over 600,000 ounces of gold, according to a Kumtor statement. The total fell to 556,000 ounces in 2022, the first full year of Kyrgyz state-run operations. Last year, gold production was down nearly 33 percent off the total five years earlier, amounting to under 404,000 ounces, according to figures issued by the mining company.
Kumtor officials project that output will slightly increase in 2025. At the same time, they upped the volume of gold reserves at the site from 127 tons to 261 tons.
Taxes and other “mandatory payments” by Kumtor to the state totaled almost $388 million in 2022, falling to $196 million in 2023 and roughly $185 million last year, according to company figures. This decline in revenue occurred amid a rapid increase in the value of gold, the average price of which rose from $1,966 per ounce in December of 2022 to $2,606 at the end of last year.
According to some estimates, Kumtor is responsible for generating about 12 percent of GDP and about one-third of all revenue for the state budget each year. In 2022, Kumtor was embroiled in a scandal in which top state-appointed managers were prosecuted for misusing funds. Uzbekistan agrees to pay for and accept 131 Central Asian illegal immigrants in landmark agreement (FOX News)
FOX News [4/30/2025 2:39 PM, Morgan Phillips, 52868K]
A plane full of Central Asian illegal immigrants is on its way from the U.S. to Uzbekistan under a deal brokered between the two governments, Fox News Digital has learned.
More than 100 unlawful immigrants are flying back to Uzbekistan on Wednesday under an agreement with the U.S., with the Uzbek government footing the bill for the return of its own nationals – the first such deal by a foreign government since President Donald Trump took office. The flight, which took off this morning, had 131 migrants on board.
People from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan were on board the flight, and Kyrgyzstan and Kazahkstan nationals are expected to continue on to their home countries from Uzbekistan.
The deal, which the Trump administration says is a model framework for how it wants other nations to engage with the U.S. on immigration, is the result of months of diplomatic engagement between State Department officials, DHS officials, the White House and the National Security Council with their counterparts from Uzbekistan.
The deal "underscores the deep security cooperation between our nations and sets a standard for U.S. alliances," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement."We commend Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for his leadership in sending a flight to return 131 illegal aliens back to their home country," said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to work together with Uzbekistan on efforts to enhance our mutual security and uphold the rule of law.".
Uzbekistan, with its more than 37 million people, is a security partner of the U.S. in Central Asia, situated in the neighborhood of Iran, China and Afghanistan.
The arrangement follows a deal brokered by the Trump administration after a showdown with Colombia, by which the South American country agreed to accept its nationals, including those on military planes, after President Gustavo Petro originally rejected two Colombia-bound U.S. military aircraft carrying unlawful migrants.
It also follows an agreement with El Salvador, by which President Nayib Bukele agreed to receive not only his own nationals but those from Venezuela and potentially other countries that will not take their own citizens back from the U.S. Many of the immigrants are suspected of gang ties and are being held in El Salvador’s notoriously brutal CECOT prison.
People board a U.S. military aircraft after the White House announced "deportation flights have begun" in the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants and removed 65,682 of them.
Border encounters dropped to an average of 11,363 per day in February and March, Trump’s first two full months in office, compared to an average of nearly 160,000 during the Biden administration. US deports 131 Central Asian migrants to Uzbekistan, Fox News reports (Reuters)
Reuters [4/30/2025 12:36 PM, Ted Hesson and Jasper Ward, 126906K]
Some 131 Central Asian migrants who were in the U.S. illegally are being deported to Uzbekistan as part of a deal between the two countries, the Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday.The people deported are from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, the department said. They were flown out of the U.S. on Wednesday, it added."We look forward to continuing to work together with Uzbekistan on efforts to enhance our mutual security and uphold the rule of law," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.President Donald Trump has pledged to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally as part of a far-reaching crackdown. His administration has established new routes to deport migrants to third countries in the Western Hemisphere and recently removed an Iraqi man to Rwanda.Democrats and migrant advocates have said Trump’s aggressive deportation push has bypassed due process and split families, including a case of a deported Cuban mother who said she was told she could not bring her breastfeeding 1-year-old daughter with her.The Republican president’s initial deportations remain lower than last year under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, when high levels of illegal immigration led to more quick removals.The White House and Uzbekistan’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. US partners with Uzbekistan on paid deportation operation (Washington Examiner)
Washington Examiner [4/30/2025 5:20 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K]
The Trump administration has deported more than 100 illegal immigrants to Uzbekistan, with the Central Asian country picking up the tab for its citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that the United States and the government of Uzbekistan had partnered to remove 113 citizens of the three countries: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The Uzbekistan government "fully funded" the return of its citizens, according to DHS, which did not respond to a request for comment on the cost of the flight.
"We commend Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for his leadership in sending a flight to return 131 illegal aliens back to their home country," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. "We look forward to continuing to work together with Uzbekistan on efforts to enhance our mutual security and uphold the rule of law.".
Trump officials are said to be in talks with roughly 30 countries around the world about taking back their citizens from the United States, according to a recent report.
Noem took issue during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday with reporting that the Biden administration had deported more illegal immigrants than the current Trump administration.
"One thing I want to point out is fake news has been saying that Biden deported more people than you, it is an absolute lie," Noem told a reporter while in the White House. "They are letting the Biden administration get away with manipulating and cooking the books.".
Noem referred to how the Biden administration touted a very high number of people removed from the country, which includes immigrants arrested within the U.S. and those encountered at the border.
Due to a massive decline in the number of immigrants arriving at the southern border, removals of immigrants from that location are low, while the Trump administration has focused its immigration enforcement efforts on targeting illegal immigrants within the country and deporting that particular population.
Noem said on April 24 that "since President Trump has been in office, just a few short weeks, we have arrested and deported over 150,000 individuals.".
However, DHS data published by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that just 65,000 illegal immigrants have been deported by ICE since Trump took office, putting him on trend to come in below the years during the Obama administration. Indo-Pacific
US Urges India and Pakistan to De-Escalate Amid Fears of Clash (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/30/2025 11:11 PM, Shruti Srivastava, Sudhi Ranjan Sen, and Faseeh Mangi, 75K]
The US urged India and Pakistan to work together to de-escalate tensions and avoid an expected clash, after militants last week killed dozens of people in the Indian-controlled portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with top officials from both countries on Wednesday, asking them to “maintain peace and security in South Asia.” He told Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, of the need to condemn the attack and re-establish direct communications, according to a statement from the State Department. Rubio also spoke with India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.Relations between the nuclear-armed nations and longtime adversaries have rapidly deteriorated in the wake of the attack, which India and the US have called an act of terrorism. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has accused Pakistan of involvement and vowed to punish those responsible. Pakistan has denied any links to the assault and warned of retaliation if India takes military action. Jaishankar said in an X post Thursday that he discussed the attack in Kashmir with Rubio on April 30. “Its perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice,” he said.In a televised address shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said his country had “credible intelligence” that India would carry out military action in the next 24 to 36 hours. Hours later at a news conference, Pakistan’s military spokesman, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said the country’s response to any Indian aggression will be “befitting and decisive.”Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, speaking at a join briefing with Chaudhry, reiterated that Pakistan had “nothing” to do with the attack and demanded an “independent and transparent probe by the neutral investigators.”
“Pakistan will not be the first one to resort to any escalatory move,” Dar added. “In case of any escalatory move by the Indian side, we will respond very strongly,” he added.Modi gave India’s armed forces a free hand to decide on the timing, targets and mode of responding to the assault in a meeting that included Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the Economic Times reported Tuesday, citing people it didn’t identify. Modi’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email sent after normal business hours seeking details of the meeting.Pakistan’s assets have taken a hit this month, with stocks and dollar bonds set for their worst monthly performance in two years. Dollar bonds have handed investors a loss of nearly 4% this month, while stocks are down almost 3%. The escalating tensions come at a time when the nation’s economy is fragile and dependent on the International Monetary Fund’s funding for support.At the same time, Indian assets are proving relatively immune for now with stocks and local bonds up this month.Pakistan’s army on Tuesday shot down an Indian spy drone that breached the so-called Line of Control in Kashmir, a northern region claimed by both countries, according to Pakistan’s state-run television channel. Both sides have shot down small drones in the past as they are often used for surveillance around the border.On Wednesday, India’s army accused Pakistan of firing across the Line of Control for a sixth consecutive day, saying its forces responded “swiftly” and “proportionately” to what it described as “unprovoked small arms fire.”The ceasefire agreement signed by the two countries in 2003 was frequently violated until 2021, when they renewed their commitment to uphold the truce. Cross-border firing had largely ceased since then.India imposed punitive measures in the wake of the April 22 attack, including the downgrading of diplomatic ties and suspending a crucial water-sharing treaty. Pakistan 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.In a tit-for-tat measure, India closed its airspace for Pakistani airlines and Pakistan-registered aircraft starting Wednesday till May 23.Military officials from India and Pakistan spoke over a direct telephone line on Tuesday to discuss recent ceasefire violations. This is a regular weekly call and doesn’t necessarily indicate tensions are easing, but it demonstrates that some official communication channels are still functioning.Enduring ConflictPakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif this week warned of the threat of war but said it could be averted. He added that China, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states were trying to head off conflict.Pakistan’s military spokesman Chaudhry said earlier that India hadn’t provideda “shred of evidence” to support its “baseless allegations” linking Islamabad to the Kashmir assault. The two neighbors have long accused each other of sponsoring cross-border terrorism, a major obstacle in normalizing their relations and resolving the Kashmir dispute through dialog.Since achieving independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have clashed several times over the disputed territory. 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 the 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, prompting India to respond about two weeks later with its first airstrikes on Pakistani soil since 1971. Rubio calls India and Pakistan in effort to defuse crisis over Kashmir attack (AP)
AP [5/1/2025 2:09 AM, Sheikh Saaliq and Munir Ahmed, 456K]
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called senior officials in India and Pakistan in an effort to defuse the crisis that followed last week’s deadly attack in Kashmir, the State Department said.
Rubio urged Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to de-escalate tensions on Wednesday.
India has vowed to punish Pakistan after accusing it of backing the attack, which Islamabad denies. The nuclear-armed rivals have since expelled each other’s diplomats and citizens, ordered the border shut and closed their airspace to each other. New Delhi has suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad.
Soldiers on each side have also exchanged fire along their de facto border, driving tensions between India and Pakistan to their highest point in recent years.
The region of Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. The two countries have fought two wars and one limited conflict over the Himalayan territory.
U.S. State Department’s Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio in his call with Jaishankar expressed sorrow over last week’s massacre. He also reaffirmed the U.S.’s “commitment to cooperation with India against terrorism,” Bruce said.
Jaishankar on Thursday said he discussed the last week’s massacre in Indian-controlled Kashmir’s Pahalgam, in which 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, were killed, with Rubio, adding that “perpetrators, backers and planners” of the attack “must be brought to justice.”
Rubio also spoke to Sharif on Wednesday evening and “emphasized the need for both sides to continue working together for peace and stability in South Asia,” according to a Pakistani statement. It said Sharif rejected the Indian allegations and “urged the U.S. to impress upon India to dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly.”
Public anger has swelled in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the attackers “to the ends of the earth.” A Pakistani minister has said that Pakistan has “credible intelligence” that India is planning to attack it within days.
Indian and Pakistani troops have exchange fire over the past six nights, with each side blaming the other for firing first.
The Indian army in a statement on Thursday said it responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from Pakistan in the Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor sectors of Indian-controlled Kashmir. The previous day, Pakistan’s state-run media said Indian forces had violated the ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control by initiating fire with heavy weapons on troops in the Mandal sector of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. The incidents could not be independently verified.
In the past, each side has accused the other of starting border skirmishes in the Himalayan region. US urges India and Pakistan to work with each other to reduce tensions (Reuters)
Reuters [4/30/2025 5:22 PM, Kanishka Singh and Ismail Shakil, 41523K]
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged India and Pakistan to work with each other to de-escalate tensions after last week’s Islamist militant attack in India-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people, the State Department said.
Rubio spoke separately with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while expressing support to India in combating extremism and urging Pakistan to cooperate in probing the attack, the State Department said after Rubio’s calls.
Wednesday’s calls mark the highest levels of publicly known simultaneous diplomatic engagements from Washington aimed at reducing India-Pakistan tensions since the April 22 attack.
India is an important U.S. partner to counter China’s rising influence. Pakistan remains Washington’s ally even as its importance diminished after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.
State Department statements after the calls termed the Kashmir attack as "terror" and "unconscionable," and said Rubio spoke to Pakistan "of the need to condemn" it.
Rubio "urged Pakistani officials’ cooperation in investigating this unconscionable attack," the State Department said. Sharif’s office said he asked Rubio to urge India "to dial down the rhetoric.".
Rubio urged the Asian nuclear-armed neighbors to work with each other "to de-escalate tensions, re-establish direct communications, and maintain peace.".
Washington urged other countries to help reduce tensions while asking India and Pakistan to work on a "responsible solution.".
Washington has condemned the attack without criticizing Pakistan. India blamed Pakistan, which denied responsibility, calling for a neutral probe.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, which each controls only part of it and have fought wars over it.
After the attack, India suspended a treaty regulating water-sharing, and both countries closed airspace to each other’s airlines. They exchanged fire across their border.Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to punish those responsible. Pakistan says military action by India was imminent. US urges India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions (Financial Times)
Financial Times [4/30/2025 6:33 PM, James Politi, Andres Schipani, Krishn Kaushik, and Humza Jilani, 14.6M]
US secretary of state Marco Rubio urged India and Pakistan to “de-escalate tensions” after a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last week, highlighting Washington’s growing alarm about the frictions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Rubio’s appeal came in separate phone conversations with senior officials in India and Pakistan on Wednesday as the rising tension in South Asia threatens to reignite one of the region’s longest-running conflicts after New Delhi linked the killing of 26 civilians to Islamabad.
Speaking to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Rubio urged Pakistani officials to co-operate in “investigating this unconscionable attack”, the state department said. “Rubio also encouraged Pakistan to work with India to de-escalate tensions, re-establish direct communications, and maintain peace and security in South Asia,” it added.
Rubio delivered a similar message to Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, saying he “expressed his sorrow” over the attack on tourists in Pahalgam and committed to “co-operation with India against terrorism”. He similarly encouraged New Delhi to collaborate with Islamabad, the state department said.
Rubio’s peacemaking push comes a day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the army had “operational freedom” to respond to the attack. The Pakistani government claimed early on Wednesday that “credible intelligence” showed that its neighbour intended to militarily strike by Thursday.
Islamabad has denied any connection to the Pahalgam attack, called for a neutral investigation and suggested the massacre was a “false flag operation”. It also accused New Delhi of engineering terrorism in Pakistan’s restive provinces bordering Afghanistan.
The two sides have downgraded ties since the attack. Pakistan is already fighting a surge in violence it blames on militants allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which is seeking closer ties to India.“The international community must remain alive to the reality that the onus of an escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India,” Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan’s information minister, said in an English-language broadcast shortly after midnight.
The foreign ministers of China, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have also been attempting to ease tensions.
India has accused Pakistani forces of firing across the de facto border along Kashmir, called the Line of Control, for several consecutive days. Pakistan’s Armed Forces declined to comment on the allegation. A foreign diplomat in South Asia said neither side wanted there to be an escalation, but “the concern is around miscalculation”. Other foreign officials added that India was potentially pursuing other avenues before an armed strike, including opposing a $1.3bn IMF loan to Pakistan due to be discussed next week.
Indian officials did not reply to requests for comment. Pakistan’s dollar bonds and stocks are set for their worst month since 2023, when the country teetered on the brink of default. “Going public with warning of an impending attack might cause India to delay a strike while also giving Pakistan time to encourage international pressure on India to refrain from a strike,” said Christopher Clary, a professor of political science at the University at Albany in New York.
But he cautioned that India was too big and powerful for other nations to impose meaningful costs on New Delhi if it chooses to go forward with a strike. “Public statements and private expressions of concern may be all that Pakistan gets,” Clary added. Water or blood: tensions grow over India and Pakistan’s shared rivers (Financial Times)
Financial Times [4/30/2025 10:41 PM, Andres Schipani and Humza Jilani, 14.6M]
After last week’s bloody militant assault in Kashmir, India reached for a particularly potent weapon to demonstrate its outrage to Pakistan: water.
For nearly 65 years and through myriad tensions and three wars, the two nations had maintained the Indus Water Treaty that governs the sharing of water across their fractious frontier.
Even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warned in 2016 that “blood and water cannot flow together” following the killing of 19 soldiers in Indian-controlled Kashmir, New Delhi stood by the pact.
But now India, which is the upstream power and accuses Pakistan of backing terrorism in the contested region, has suspended participation in the cross-border water treaty.
The rising tension between the nuclear-armed nations over the rivers of the Indus basin — which traverse one of the world’s most volatile geopolitical faultlines and sustain some 300mn people — threatens to add dangerous fuel to one of Asia’s longest-running conflicts.
Islamabad, which denies any link to the April 22 killing of 26 tourists in Pahalgam in the India-controlled territory of Jammu and Kashmir, has warned it will consider any move by New Delhi to limit water flows governed by the treaty to be “an act of war”.“The largest risk is overreaction, on both sides” said Daanish Mustafa, professor in critical geography at King’s College London.
Indian water minister CR Patil hailed his government’s decision as “historic”, adding ominously that it would “ensure that not even a drop of water from the Indus River goes to Pakistan” at a time when India’s neighbour is grappling with an economic crisis.
Former Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is part of the ruling coalition, in turn warned that “either our water will flow through” the Indus or “their blood”.
The Indus treaty, which a World Bank spokesperson said this week had been “profoundly important and successful for more than 60 years”, was signed in 1960 by India’s prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan’s president Ayub Khan.
It awarded use of the three eastern rivers — the Ravi, the Sutlej and the Beas — to India, and of the three western ones — the Indus itself, the Chenab and the Jhelum — to Pakistan downstream.
Pakistan depends on the western rivers for about 80 per cent of its agricultural output and a third of its electricity generation.“The Indus Water Treaty has withstood wars and tensions. Water must not be weaponised,” said Sharmila Faruqui, a member of Pakistan’s national assembly.
Aqeel Malik, minister of state for law in Pakistan, told the Financial Times Islamabad was looking at “all possible legal avenues” to challenge India’s move, including seeking the intervention of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the World Bank, which initially brokered the treaty and mediates disputes under it.“This cannot be suspended unilaterally,” he said.
The immediate risk to Pakistan is unpredictability. The treaty requires India to share hydrological data that is crucial for flood, irrigation and hydropower planning, especially during the monsoon season. New Delhi was now “not under obligation to provide” such data, said Kushvinder Vohra, former chair of India’s Central Water Commission.
Still, many are sceptical that India could quickly block or divert much water.
Changing river courses would be a major infrastructural undertaking, while India currently lacked the storage capacity needed to hold back enough water to hurt Pakistani agriculture, according to Abid Suleri, executive director of the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute.“India is not currently in a position to store or divert the water from the three western rivers,” said Himanshu Thakkar, a New Delhi-based water expert with the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.
But Thakkar added that there were projects under construction on all three rivers that India could now speed up or modify.
Pakistan also fears that freed of treaty controls, Indian could use the sudden flushing of temporarily withheld water from dams to send devastating “water bombs” downstream.
India too faces potential threats. Pakistan could block drains on its side of the border, causing toxic wastewater to flood the Indian farmlands. And China, an ally of Pakistan, controls the upper reaches of rivers on which hundreds of millions of India’s citizens depend.
Following Modi’s 2016 comments, China blocked a tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo, which is Tibet’s longest river and known as the Brahmaputra in India, a move seen by some in New Delhi as showing Beijing’s backing for Islamabad.
In Pakistan’s south-east Sindh region, bordering India, the water tensions have left sugarcane and mango cultivator Mahmood Nawaz Shah in “existential fear” for his farm. “With India’s threats, I fear the Indus might soon not be viable,” he said. Twitter
Afghanistan
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[4/30/2025 8:37 AM, 247.9K followers, 118 retweets, 650 likes]
Afghans may disagree on everything, but they all share one thing, a deep hatred for Pakistan, each in their own way, born from decades of Pakistan’s sponsorship of Islamist radicals waging war in Afghanistan.
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[4/30/2025 8:22 AM, 247.9K followers, 38 retweets, 76 likes]
A girl in Afghanistan put herself on fire to escape a forced marriage to a Taliban fighter. Since their return to power, human rights groups have documented a rise in cases of women, including minors, being coerced into marriage with Taliban members.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[4/30/2025 9:16 AM, 33.3K followers, 7 likes]
His name is Shahzad. He worked for U.S.-based organizations. The Taliban imprisoned & brutalized him. Now ICE is sending him back—after years in detention—because he crossed the border irregularly. He did that because the Biden admin was moving too slow & he was in danger.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[4/30/2025 9:16 AM, 33.3K followers, 1 retweet, 7 likes]
This is the predictable outcome of a policy shift that treats Afghan allies like political liabilities instead of wartime partners.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[4/30/2025 9:16 AM, 33.3K followers, 8 likes]
It also speaks to the complete breakdown of U.S. immigration pathways for Afghans who don’t arrive via a U.S. military flight. The U.S. made promises—and is now punishing people for surviving.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver[4/30/2025 9:16 AM, 33.3K followers, 6 likes]
Deportation to Afghanistan isn’t just dangerous. It’s a death sentence. The Trump administration knows this. So does Congress. And yet, silence.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[4/30/2025 9:16 AM, 33.3K followers, 2 retweets, 10 likes]
I work with Afghan allies every day. They are trying to do everything right. But the system is rigged against them, there are poorly informed people “helping”, and the government is absolute shit at communicating—their lives are at risk because of it. We must fix this.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[4/30/2025 9:16 AM, 33.3K followers, 2 retweets, 12 likes]
Start here:- Halt deportations to Afghanistan.- Restore Enduring Welcome.- Provide clear, consistent pathways for Afghans fleeing persecution.
The current policy? It’s killing people.
Beth W. Bailey@BWBailey85
[4/30/2025 4:38 PM, 8.4K followers, 17 retweets, 56 likes]
Ending the Coordinator for Afghanistan Relocation Efforts (CARE) would be a disaster for our allies, per the veterans who spoke to me from @afghanevac and @n1leftbehind for Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/world/veterans-groups-urge-trump-admin-continue-afghan-ally-support-program-amid-budget-cut-concerns
Jahanzeb Wesa@Jahanzeb_Wesa
[4/30/2025 7:13 PM, 5.8K followers, 142 retweets, 248 likes]
Heartbroken news—Two girls took their own lives in one day due to forced marriages—one in Ghor, the other in Maidan Wardak. #Abeda in Ghor set herself on fire after being forced to marry a Talib. This is gender apartheid: pushing women to the edge of despair. #EndGenderApartheid Pakistan
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/30/2025 8:27 AM, 3.1M followers, 14 retweets, 58 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif had a telephone conversation with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, focusing on recent developments in South Asia. The Prime Minister affirmed that Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and categorically rejects any attempt to link Pakistan with the Pahalgam incident. He also underscored that Pakistan will defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force in case of any misadventure by India. The UN Secretary-General appreciated Pakistan’s efforts for peace in South Asia and stated that the world could not afford any escalation in the region at this crucial time.
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/30/2025 4:08 AM, 3.1M followers, 31 retweets, 191 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting with investors in Islamabad today to discuss investment opportunities in the digitisation of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan@ForeignOfficePk
[4/30/2025 9:19 AM, 483.3K followers, 29 retweets, 71 likes]
US Chargé d’Affaires, Natalie Baker, called on the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50. They exchanged views on recent regional developments. DPM/FM reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to regional peace and security while safeguarding national interests. The US Cd’A conveyed the U.S. desire for de-escalation and that it will stay engaged with both countries on the evolving situation.
Anas Mallick@AnasMallick
[4/30/2025 1:09 PM, 77.7K followers, 23 retweets, 121 likes]
PM @CMShehbaz speaks to US Sect of State @SecRubio — Shares Pakistan’s perspective on the recent developments in South Asia since Pahalgam incident
Anas Mallick@AnasMallick
[4/30/2025 3:00 PM, 77.7K followers, 32 retweets, 200 likes]
The government of Pakistan has appointed Lt Gen Asim Malik, the incumbent DG ISI, as the National Security Advisor — He will hold the charge as an additional portfolio.
Anas Mallick@AnasMallick
[4/30/2025 9:23 AM, 77.7K followers, 13 retweets, 72 likes]
US CdA calls on Pakistan’s Foreign Minister @MIshaqDar50 — Pakistan’s FM reaffirms Pakistan’s commitment to regional peace while safeguarding its national interests — US CdA conveys the US desire for deescalation
Zalmay Khalilzad@realZalmayMK
[4/30/2025 11:58 AM, 262.2K followers, 5.9K retweets, 12K likes]
As tensions and the possibility of conflict with India have increased, several Pakistani leaders are calling for national unity. That is indeed a good goal, but the biggest obstacle standing in its way is their continued imprisonment of the country’s most popular leader, Imran Khan. National unity requires that Imran Khan be freed immediately. #Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI #USA
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[4/30/2025 12:33 PM, 247.9K followers, 187 retweets, 752 likes]
Pakistani politicians, media, and military have been fantasizing about ‘Ghazva-e-Hind’ for decades. But now that Hind is knocking on their doors, they’re ditching the ‘Ghazva-e-Hind’ rhetoric for peace slogans, like they suddenly don’t want to be Shaheeds.
Hamid Mir@HamidMirPAK
[4/30/2025 7:37 AM, 8.6M followers, 28 retweets, 149 likes]
5 journalists were killed from May2024 to April2025. 3 were killed in Sindh 2 in KPK while 82 journalists and other media professionals had faced different types of threats during the same period.KPK emerged as the most dangerous province for journalists. India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/30/2025 11:03 PM, 107.9M followers, 3.5K retweets, 32K likes]
On the proud occasion of their Statehood Day, my best wishes to the people of Gujarat. The state has distinguished itself for its culture, spirit of enterprise and dynamism. The people of Gujarat have excelled in various fields. May the state keep attaining new heights of progress.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/30/2025 10:57 PM, 107.9M followers, 2.3K retweets, 18K likes]
Maharashtra Day greetings to the people of the state, which has always played a vital role in India’s development. When one thinks of Maharashtra, its glorious history and the courage of the people come to our mind. The state remains a strong pillar of progress and at the same time has remained connected to its roots. My best wishes for the state’s progress.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[4/30/2025 10:02 PM, 3.4M followers, 1.5K retweets, 10K likes]
Discussed the Pahalgam terrorist attack with US @SecRubio yesterday. Its perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[4/30/2025 1:20 PM, 3.4M followers, 235 retweets, 1.4K likes]
Significant decisions taken by the Union Cabinet today:- Approved Caste enumeration in the upcoming Census. A major step forward in ensuring social justice and inclusion.- The development of greenfield high-speed corridor of 166.80 km (NH-6) from Mawlyngkhung, Meghalaya to Panchgram, Assam will enhance logistics efficiency and spur economic development in 🇮🇳’s north-east.- Fair and Remunerative Price of sugarcane payable by Sugar Mills to sugarcane farmers approved for sugar season 2025-26. Five crore sugarcane farmers & dependents, and 5 lakh workers employed in sugar mills and related ancillary activities will benefit from this initiative. #Cabinetdecisions
Rahul Gandhi@RahulGandhi
[4/30/2025 10:32 PM, 27.8M followers, 1.2K retweets, 4.7K likes] Greetings and best wishes to the people of Maharashtra and Gujarat on their Foundation Day! The rich histories and vibrant cultures of these states are a true testament to India’s strength. Their invaluable contributions have always played a pivotal role in shaping our nation’s progress. May this special day strengthen our unity, harmony, and bring prosperity to all.
Rahul Gandhi@RahulGandhi
[4/30/2025 12:19 PM, 27.8M followers, 6.1K retweets, 21K likes]
It is clear that the pressure we put on the government for Caste Census has worked. But we don’t intend to stop here:- We will ensure they conduct a comprehensive and consultative census - a people’s census, not a bureaucratic census - We will continue to press for the removal of the arbitrary 50% cap on reservations- We will make sure they implement a central law for SC/ST Sub-plan and guarantee budget allocations - We will ensure Article 15(5) of the Constitution which promises reservation in private education is fully enacted
This is the will of the people of India and the Modi government has no option but to follow it.
Dhruva Jaishankar@d_jaishankar
[4/29/2025 5:09 PM, 109.3K followers, 7 retweets, 30 likes]
Interesting. India is the only major U.S. trade partner (of the 7 for whom information is available) that hasn’t seen a decline in positive sentiment for the United States. NSB
Abdulla Shahid@abdulla_shahid
[5/1/2025 1:31 AM, 119.7K followers, 26 retweets, 31 likes]
This Labour Day, we honour the workers who carry this nation forward, even as they face rising costs, falling security, and shrinking freedoms under President Muizzu. When the hands that build the nation can’t afford to feed their families, something is deeply broken. A government that fears its workers does not serve them. It controls them. And that must change. In every nation, justice starts with how we treat those who do the work. This is our test, and this government is failing it. The civil service, our largest workforce, still faces deep inequality in pay. It’s time to harmonise salaries, ensure fairness, and reform outdated structures. No more delays. Let’s build a workforce that reflects the future of this country, young, skilled, diverse, and fearless. This is not idealism. This is the only way forward. #MayDay
Abdulla Shahid@abdulla_shahid
[4/30/2025 10:32 AM, 119.7K followers, 53 retweets, 73 likes]
I am deeply concerned by the dismissal of two staff members from the Waste Management Corporation (WAMCO) a company owned solely by the government following last week’s MDP visit to Addu City. Moosa Mohamed, Manager, and Mohamed Afzal, a Senior Administrative Officer at WAMCO received termination letters today, reportedly due to them being present at the airport to receive the MDP delegation. These actions are not only unjust, they violate the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution, including the right to political participation, free from fear or reprisal. To punish employees for their beliefs undermines our democracy and sets a dangerous precedent. That it happens on the eve of May Day, a day meant to honour workers, only deepens the concern. To punish employees for their beliefs undermines our democracy and sets a dangerous precedent. That it happens on the eve of May Day, a day meant to honour workers, only deepens the concern. What’s even more troubling is how such actions are becoming normalised. Political discrimination in the workplace is now becoming routine. That is not the Maldives we should accept, nor the future we should build.
We must not allow fear to define our institutions. I call on President @MMuizzu to reverse these dismissals and urge all citizens to continue standing, peacefully, firmly for the rights and dignity of every worker. This is not about politics. It’s about the values we want to uphold as a nation. I strongly condemn the dismissal of two members affiliated with the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) from their jobs in connection with the trip to Addu City made by our party last week. Accordingly, Moosa Mohamed, who was working as a Manager at the Hithadhoo Branch of Waste Management Corporation (WAMCO), a company wholly owned by the government, and Mohamed Afzal, who was working as a Senior Administrative Officer, have been sent termination letters today.
While the Constitution guarantees the right of every Maldivian citizen to participate in political activities, dismissing employees for such participation is clear evidence of the extreme fear currently prevailing in the employment sector of this country. As we commemorate May Day tomorrow, which advocates for workers’ rights, I call upon all workers to protest throughout the Maldives against the government’s violations of workers’ rights and its actions that are pushing many families into hardship. @ilo @UNHumanRights @moosamohamed8 @stevemaldives
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[4/30/2025 9:32 PM, 150.5K followers, 19 retweets, 106 likes]
On May 1st, 1886, during a protest in Haymarket Square, Chicago, workers who demanded an eight-hour workday, was violently confronted with gunfire. To pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives in that fight, the Second International, convened in 1889, proclaimed May 1st as International Workers’ Day, which has been observed annually ever since. This year, the working people of Sri Lanka, together with the general public, commemorate International Workers’ Day at a time when our nation and society are undergoing a profound and progressive transformation under a people-oriented governance bringing an end to a corrupt and elitist political system that has existed for 76 years, upheld by a rotating power structure dominated by a select few influential families across generations. At the recent presidential and parliamentary elections, people from all corners of Sri Lanka, regardless of ethnicity or religion, united to bring about a turning point in our nation’s politics. Responding to the people’s aspirations, we of the National People’s Power currently focused on developing a nation that is experiencing extensive economic, social and political transformation.
We have already succeeded in initiating a stable recovery of an economy that was dragged to the depths by corrupt and elitist system. The evident signs of advancement are now apparent to everyone. In our very first national budget, we made historic moves significantly increasing the minimum basic salary of public servants and extensive benefits for various segments of society, including farmers, fishing community, youth, women, students, producers, small-scale entrepreneurs and professionals alike. We are diligently addressing the persistent issues encountered by plantation workers and striving to guarantee their civil rights.
We recognize the necessity for a new phase in the rights we possess, aligned with the continuously evolving productive forces. Contemporary society demands a new era in human rights that encompasses digital access, environmental rights and other emerging rights that were not anticipated in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These changes, along with evolving political frameworks and the worldwide call for peace, require a revised and comprehensive global declaration of human rights. As we commemorate this International Workers’ Day, we must remain sensitive to these needs and dedicated to addressing them.
In the face of global geopolitical shifts and growing challenges, it is the working people of Sri Lanka who continue to shoulder the burden of rebuilding our economy. As we restore and reform an economy devastated by decades of corrupt politics, I warmly invite our beloved working people to join hands in solidarity, to rise with determination and to strive towards building “a beautiful life and a thriving nation” for everyone. On this occasion, I offer my heartfelt best wishes for a meaningful International Workers’ Day one that reaffirms the rights and dignity of all working people.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake President Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 01.05.2025
Harsha de Silva@HarshadeSilvaMP
[4/30/2025 3:29 AM, 361K followers, 8 retweets, 43 likes]
Had good meeting with @EU_Commission delegation on GSP+ for #SriLanka. As mentioned the trade concession will end by 2027 and we have to reapply. I double checked… there is no quota to seek an increase. What we need to do is to deliver on the promises on PTA & OSA @MFA_SriLanka Central Asia
MFA Kazakhstan@MFA_KZ
[4/30/2025 12:24 PM, 56K followers, 48 retweets, 39 likes]
Kazakhstan Introduces New Investor Visa https://gov.kz/memleket/entities/mfa/press/news/details/987473?lang=en
Navbahor Imamova@Navbahor
[4/30/2025 10:20 PM, 24.3K followers, 2 retweets]
Central Asia @WorldBankECA: Growth is forecasted to ease to 5.0% in 2025 and 4.4% in 2026 … This slowdown reflects a weaker expansion of the oil sector in Kazakhstan as well as declining exports and the normalization of remittances inflows.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[4/30/2025 11:43 AM, 216.3K followers, 3 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev reviewed proposals to improve the sphere of non-state educational services, enhance the quality of higher and professional education. Plans include simplifying private educational institutions’ activities, enhancing the licensing system, implementing a new state accreditation process.{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.