India | Pakistan

Flash floods and landslides after torrential rain over the last two weeks killed at least 69 people and injured 110 others in India’s northern Himalayan regions, officials said on Friday. Scores of people die each year during the rainy season due to flash floods and landslides across India, a country of 1.4 billion people. Rivers swollen by lashing rain, including the mighty Beas, which starts from the region’s glacial peaks, disrupted several routes in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The “cumulative damage” includes 69 people dead, and 110 others injured in different incidents over the past two weeks, the state’s revenue department said in a statement. India’s meteorological department on Thursday issued a fresh alert for “heavy to very heavy rainfall” in Himachal Pradesh and neighbouring Uttarakhand, another picturesque Himalayan state popular with Indian tourists. India’s annual monsoon season from June to September offers respite from the intense summer heat and is crucial for replenishing water supplies, ...

India will launch a $234 million incentive programme for civil and military drone makers to reduce their reliance on imported components and counter rival Pakistan’s programme built on support from China and Turkiye, three sources told Reuters. The military confrontation between India and Pakistan came as the former blamed Islamabad for the Pahalgam attack. On the night of May 6-7, New Delhi launched a series of air strikes on Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Both sides then exchanged missiles, which stretched over the week. It took American intervention for both sides to finally drop their guns. The nuclear-armed neighbours are now locked in a drones arms race. New Delhi will launch a 20 billion Indian rupees ($234m) programme for three years that will cover the manufacture of drones, components, software, counter-drone systems, and services, two government and one industry source, who did not want to be named, told Reuters. Details of the programme have not been previously reported and its planne...

The Pakistan Sports Board said on Thursday that the hockey team’s participation in the 2025 Men’s Hockey Asia Cup and the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) Junior Men’s Cup — both hosted by India — remained unconfirmed. Earlier today, Indian media outlets reported that Pakistan had been cleared to take part in both events, scheduled from August 27 to September 7, and from November 28 to December 10, respectively. In exclusive comments to Dawn.com, Pakistan Sports Board spokesperson Khurram Shahzad said that the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) issued a request about whether or not the national hockey team can travel to India to play in the Asia Cup, amid spiking tensions between the two nations. “On June 19, the Pakistan Sports Board sent this request to the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, which forwarded it to the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a final decision,” Shahzad said. “However, no decision has been taken on this yet.” Shahzad noted in his comments that...

Indian skipper surpasses Gavaskar's 221, India reach 564-7 at tea

Posts from multiple users on the social media platform X on Sunday claimed that Russia had officially signed the joint statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in favour of Pakistan over India. However, no such development occurred. The SCO is a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping comprising members such as China, Russia, Pakistan, India, and Iran. Their defence ministers’ meeting was held on June 26 as a precursor to the annual summit of their leaders set for the autumn. The defence ministers attending the SCO meeting failed to reach a consensus on a joint statement due to India’s refusal because of what it said was “a lack of consensus on referring to ‘terrorism’”. Russia and India are close allies with significant military and defence interests, while the former’s relationship with Pakistan has seen significant growth in recent years. On Sunday, digital news outlet The Daily CPEC shared a post on X that read: “Breaking: Russia has officially signed the joint SCO statement, su...

Hindus began a vast month-long pilgrimage in India-occupied Kashmir (IoK) on Thursday, with many of the faithful starting from near the site where a deadly April attack triggered conflict with Pakistan. Last year, half a million devotees took part in the Amarnath pilgrimage to a sacred ice pillar located in a cave in the forested Himalayan hills above the town of Pahalgam. India has ramped up security for the event, deploying 45,000 troops with high-tech surveillance tools overseeing the gruelling trek to reach the high-altitude cave, dedicated to the Hindu deity of destruction Shiva. “We have multi-layered and in-depth security arrangements so that we can make the pilgrimage safe and smooth for the devotees,” said VK Birdi, police chief for the Muslim-majority territory. Pahalgam is the site where gunmen on April 22 killed 26 mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which strongly denied the allegations while calling for a neutral investigation, triggering a series of tit-for-tat diplo...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday urged India to engage in dialogue with Pakistan and work towards lasting peace.

A recently developed railway overbridge in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, has been the centre of a national controversy because of a 90-degree bridge turn that has highlighted possible hazards and caused widespread public criticism. The project, located near Aishbagh Stadium, is worth ₹18 crore (approx. $2.1 million), was made to have a connection between Mahamai Ka […]

Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday again extended an olive branch to India, asking the neighbouring country forge a partnership to pursue peace and jointly combat terrorism. “Pakistan is ready to forge a historic, phenomenal partnership with India to jointly combat terror,” he said while addressing an international conference on ‘Pakistan Fighting War for the World against Terrorism’ at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. “Not as adversaries playing a zero sum game but as neighbours who share a moral and civilisational obligation to save a billion souls from the plague of extremism. “All it requires is from India’s leadership is to step down from the high horse heading in the abyss and pursue peace with Pakistan.” Bilawal also called on the Indian leadership to resolve all outstanding dispute including the Kashmir and the water crisis. “Let us resolve Kashmir in accordance with the aspirations of the people. Let us end the weaponisation of water. And instead, build peace as might...

Pakistan and India are expected to play against each other “likely” on September 7 in the Asia Cup 2025 — set to begin on September 4 or 5 in the UAE, according to a report by The Times of India on Wednesday. The T-20 tournament will mark the 17th edition of the Asia Cup, beginning with a group stage and then a super-four round. The participating teams include India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and the UAE. According to Asia Cup’s website, recent political tensions between India and Pakistan have made UAE the frontrunner to host the tournament or serve as part of a hybrid hosting model. The multi-nation tournament was initially going to be hosted solely by India. According to the Indian media report, a 17-day window has been almost finalised by the Asian Cricket Council, where India and Pakistan are to clash on September 7. The two teams could also see a second match on September 14, depending on how the teams progress. The report said that all the participating teams are currently in the pr...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to enhancing its water storage capacity in response to India’s efforts to exploit water resources as a strategic tool.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and India on Tuesday in pursuance of the Agreement on Consular Access, 2008 exchanged the lists of 246 Indian and 463 Pakistani prisoners in each other’s custody through diplomatic channels.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that the government has decided to enhance the country’s water storage capacity, given India’s designs to weaponise water. India in April held the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. The treaty allocates the Indus Basin’s six rivers between the two countries: India gets the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej), while Pakistan receives nearly 80 per cent of the water from the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab). Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war”, noting the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. It later said it was considering court action, citing a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in Hague also ruled India cannot unilaterally suspend or hold the IWT in abeyance. During a visit to the National Emergencies Operations C...

Pakistan and India have exchanged updated lists of prisoners held in each other’s custody, in accordance with the 2008 Agreement on Consular Access, which mandates the exchange of such information twice a year—on January 1 and July 1.

At least 39 people died in a factory fire in India’s southern state of Telangana, a senior fire department official said on Tuesday, after an explosion at Sigachi Industries, a day earlier. The explosion also injured 34, according to officials. The government of Telangana, where the facility is located, has formed a five-member committee to probe the incident, the cause of which is yet to be disclosed by the company. “We are still clearing the debris […] The building has collapsed and fabricated completely,” GV Narayana Rao, director of Telangana fire disaster response emergency, told Reuters. “Once we are all done with the clearing, only then we will be able to assess if any other body is still remaining under the debris or if it is all clear,” he said. On Monday, an explosion occurred at a chemical facility of Sigachi Industries leading to a fire, the police said. Police officials said more than 140 people were working in the plant when the incident occurred. Twenty-five of the deceased were yet to be ident...

ISLAMABAD - Defence Minister Khawaja Mu­hammad Asif on Monday said that Pakistan’s stance was rec­ognized and upheld during the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, where India was unable to as­sert its position.

India asked to resume IWT compliance

The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday welcomed the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague to issue a “supplemental award” in the Indus Waters case, urging India to resume the functioning of the Treaty, which it has held in abeyance since May. According to the PCA’s rules, a supplemental award is an additional ruling issued by a court or tribunal after its initial decision, usually to address a specific issue that wasn’t fully resolved or to clarify certain points, such as jurisdiction, competence, or interpretation of a treaty or agreement. India in April held the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance following the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war”, noting the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. It later said it was considering court action, citing a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. “In a supplemental...

Pakistan on Monday called on India to immediately restore the normal functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty and fulfill its obligations under the agreement.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that India’s misleading position on the Indus Waters Treaty has not found support in the international community, reiterating that the treaty cannot be suspended unilaterally.