India | Pakistan

India’s government has decided not to go ahead with a proposal to require Apple, Samsung and others to pre-install the country’s biometric identification app Aadhaar on phones, a move that had been opposed by the smartphone giants, a state body said on Friday. It was reported last month that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the state body that operates Aadhaar, had asked the IT ministry in January to engage with Apple, Google and other leading smartphone makers to consider mandatory pre-installation of the Aadhaar app. A unique 12-digit identity number tied to an individual’s fingerprints and iris scans, Aadhaar is held by nearly 1.34 billion residents and is widely used for verification purposes in banking and telecom services, as well as for faster airport entry. India’s IT ministry reviewed the proposal and “is not in favour of mandating the pre-installation of the Aadhaar App on smartphones,” UIDAI said in a statement to Reuters on Friday, giving no reason for the decision. India’s IT...

India’s government was seeking to expand the size of parliament by two-fifths to increase the representation of women lawmakers, but opposition parties have cried foul, saying it would benefit the ruling party. “We’re set to take historic steps to empower women,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, ahead of the special sitting of parliament on Thursday, to debate constitutional amendments to both expand seats for women and the overall size of parliament to over 800. The bill proposes fast-tracking implementation of a 2023 law in the world’s largest democracy of 1.4 billion people, reserving 33 per cent of seats for women. Increasing the number of women in parliament has, in principle, broad cross-party support. “We are all united to give rightful positions to women in India,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Thursday. Women currently account for just 14pc of India’s 543 members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. To achieve the expansion, the government said it plans to redraw p...

Wisden has criticised Indian political interference in global cricket administration, labelling the current situation “increasingly Orwellian”. The UK-based Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, which dates back to 1864, is an annual record of all major cricket worldwide and is regarded as the sport’s “Bible”. In its 163rd annual edition, to be published on Thursday, editor Lawrence Booth highlighted what he sees as an unhealthy and politicised Indian dominance of the global game. The International Cricket Council has an Indian chief executive, Sanjog Gupta, and an Indian chairman, Jay Shah, who is the son of Amit Shah, India’s minister of home affairs and a longstanding ally of the prime minister, Narendra Modi. Wisden describes the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which Shah led before taking over at the International Cricket Council (ICC), as “the sporting adjunct of India’s ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)”. Booth also highlighted how politics intruded upon the 2025 Asia Cup, which took place against a ba...

The first batch of Sikh pilgrims arrived in Pakistan from India via the Wagah border on Friday to celebrate the Baisakhi festival. Pakistan has issued visas to 2,800 Sikh pilgrims from India for the festival, which begins on Friday and will continue till April 19. The main ceremony of the festival is scheduled for April 14 at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasan Abdal. The festival of Baisakhi is an ancient tradition of the Punjab region, a harvest festival which marks the beginning of a new year. It was once celebrated in Punjabi villages, on both sides of the border, with village fairs or melas. Baisakhi is especially important in Sikhism, as on this day in 1699, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs laid the foundation of the Panth Khalsa, the body of initiated Sikhs. Sikh pilgrims fulfil legal formalities as they arrive in Pakistan from India via Wagah border on April 10, 2026. — White Star/ Arif Ali A shuttle transports Sikh pilgrims as they arrive in Pakistan from India via Wagah border on April 10, 2026. — White Star/Ar...

SINGAPORE: India has withdrawn its offer to host the United Nations annual climate Conference of the Parties (COP33) in 2028, two government officials familiar with the matter said. India communicated its decision to not host the conference this month, the officials said, but it was not immediately clear why the government had pulled out. The officials declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed hosting the summit in 2023. The federal ministry for environment and climate change did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Climate Home News, which first reported the news, said India withdrew after a “review of its commitments” in 2028, citing a letter written by an Indian official to the chair of the Asia-Pacific Group. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. France emissions cuts slow France’s cuts to greenhouse gas emissions slowed for a second ...

Bangladesh’s foreign minister met his Indian counterpart in New Delhi on Wednesday, the most senior visit by a Dhaka envoy since the 2024 revolution toppled India’s old ally, Sheikh Hasina. Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman is taking part in a “goodwill visit”, Bangladesh’s state news agency BSS said, but added that issues of “extradition, trade, water sharing and border security” would be discussed. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Dhaka in December to attend the funeral of former leader Khaleda Zia, the mother of the prime minister elected in February, Tarique Rahman. Jaishankar said he had been “pleased to host” Khalilur Rahman, saying in a statement that they had discussed “strengthening our bilateral relationship”, without giving further details. Relations have improved since Tarique Rahman, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, won a landslide election victory, taking over from the interim administration that had led the country of 170 million people since Hasina was ousted. ...

India has moved closer to producing its own nuclear fuel after a domestic-designed reactor began a controlled nuclear reaction, an important step before it can start generating power. Energy-hungry India, the world’s most populous country and third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has ambitious plans to expand nuclear power capacity from its current eight to 100 gigawatts by 2047. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam attained “criticality”, the stage at which a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction starts. “Today, India takes a defining step in its civil nuclear journey, advancing the second stage of its nuclear programme,” Modi said in a statement late Monday. “This advanced reactor, capable of producing more fuel than it consumes, reflects the depth of our scientific capability and the strength of our engineering enterprise.” Modi called it a “decisive step towards harnessing our vast thorium reserves”, a potential fuel for nuclear reactors. The react...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday said India was planning a “false-flag operation” to blame Pakistan, warning New Delhi of a strong reaction if it conducted such a “drama”. Speaking to the media in Sialkot, Asif said: “They [plan] some kind of false-flag operation through their own men or through the Pakistanis in their detention by laying down some bodies somewhere and saying they were terrorists and had done so and so. “The kind of insult they faced around a year ago […] the entire world, in fact, their own public, taunts them that they are five times larger than Pakistan in every aspect — population, resources, military, airforce,” he added. The minister asserted that the Indian leadership would keep facing such backlash “till the end of the world”, recalling the Pakistan Air Force’s performance during the conflict with India last year. “If they try to enact such a drama this time, then God-willingly, we will take them to Kolkata,” he added, referring to the eastern Indian city near the border with...

Indian police this week seized 414 cooking‑gas canisters hidden in a graveyard in Hyderabad city and arrested those involved in trying to ​sell them on the black market amid shortages due to the ‌US-Israeli war on Iran, a government official said on Thursday. Authorities have stepped up raids to curb hoarding of liquefied petroleum gas canisters after the US-Israeli war against Iran disrupted shipping, causing supply ​shortages. India, the world’s number two Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) importer, meets about 60 per cent ​of its demand through overseas purchases, mostly from the Middle East. “Just ⁠yesterday, around 2,600 raids were carried out and about 700 cylinders were ​seized,” Sujata Sharma, a senior official in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural ​Gas, told a regular briefing on the Middle East crisis. “In addition, around 400 cylinders were recently found at one location inside a graveyard in Hyderabad. Ten people have been ​detained there, and the distributor involved has been suspended,” she said....

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan has issued a warning over a surge of false information originating from India, aimed at undermining Pakistan’s diplomatic initiatives amid ongoing US-Iran tensions.

Security sources warned on Monday that India was preparing for a false flag operation against Pakistan, which reportedly entails exploiting Pakistani citizens captured after inadvertently crossing the border. Dozens of Pakistanis, including Kashmiris, are currently imprisoned in Indian jails. It is believed that these prisoners are now being shifted to execute a false flag operation, according to security sources. The sources said that the move appeared to be aimed at covering up India’s diplomatic humiliation and to divert attention away from Pakistan. Last year in May, an attack on tourists in India-occupied Kashmir, which New Delhi, without evidence, had linked to Pakistan led to a brief military escalation between the two countries. Islamabad had strongly denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation. New Delhi then launched deadly air strikes in Punjab and Azad Kashmir. After tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases during the four-day escalation, it took American intervention on Ma...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Saturday rejected India’s remarks regarding its Shia community as cynical and diversionary calling it an exercise in deflection masquerading as concern.

Pakistan on Saturday rejected India’s remarks regarding its Shia community as cynical and diversionary, calling it an exercise in deflection masquerading as concern.

India has approved defence purchases worth about $25 billion, the defence ministry said, including additional Russian-made S-400 long-range missile systems. The approvals were given by the Defence Acquisition Council, led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to a statement issued late on Friday. The ministry said it has cleared 55 proposals worth 6.73 trillion Indian rupees ($71bn) in the 2025-26 financial year so far. It has also signed capital procurement contracts worth 2.28tr Indian rupees ($25bn), the highest in a single fiscal year. For the air force, the approved items include new medium transport aircraft to replace old AN-32 and IL-76 planes, additional S-400 air defence systems, drones and upgrades to Su-30 fighter jet engines. Although India has expanded defence purchases from the United States, France and Israel in recent years, the new S-400 orders and Su-30 upgrades indicate that Russia remains an important defence supplier. The S-400 system will “counter enemy long-range air” threats, w...

Pakistan on Thursday urged India to immediately release Kashmiri women leaders Asiya Andrabi, Fehmeeda Sofi, and Nahida Nasreen, terming their sentences “politically motivated” and an act of “revenge.

Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated on Thursday that India appears increasingly uneasy over Pakistan’s active diplomatic role in efforts to ease tensions in the Middle East.

President Asif Ali Zardari on World Water Day called on India to restore full implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty, urging compliance with international obligations.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday called on India to immediately restore full implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in accordance with international obligations. In a message on World Water Day, President Zardari reiterated Pakistan’s strong condemnation of the unilateral suspension of the treaty by India. “This deliberate weaponisation of shared water resources is a matter of deep concern. India’s decision to place the treaty in abeyance, disrupt hydrological data-sharing, impede agreed mechanisms and undermines both the letter and spirit of a long-standing international agreement that has governed equitable sharing of the Indus river system for over six decades,” he said. “Such conduct threatens food and economic security, jeopardises the livelihoods of millions who depend on these waters and sets a dangerous precedent for the management of transboundary resources under international law,” he said. The IWT, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, allocates the three western rivers — Indus, Jhelum a...

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has lashed out at India at the UN for weaponising water by unilaterally suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) over “baseless” terrorism allegations, calling New Delhi’s actions a direct threat to its agriculture, livelihoods and regional stability. The exchange between the two neighbours took place at a high-level UN event held ahead of World Water Day on March 22, according to a statement issued by Pakistan’s UN mission on Thursday. The spat followed a video message by Minister of Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik, who said India’s decision to place the treaty “in abeyance” undermined decades of cooperation and violates international law. Indian Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, told the world body that New Delhi would continue to hold the treaty “in abeyance until Pakistan … credibly and irrevocably ends its support for all forms of terrorism” — an allegation that Islamabad has already repeatedly rejected as baseless. The Indian envoy also cla...

Musadik Malik calls India’s move unilateral and unjustified, saying it threatens agreements and regional stability