Two 'very smart' leaders of India and Pakistan decided to end last month's conflict that could have turned into a nuclear war, United States President Donald Trump said after holding a rare luncheon meeting with Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House.
'...it should not delude itself into thinking that India's security or its great-power ambitions will be advanced by those partnerships.'
'Instead, what India should focus on is on riding out the next three-and-a-half years of Trump's presidency with minimal damage to itself.'
Trump said he had a series of phone calls on trade with both India and Pakistan.
'Pakistan's army has got a streak of democracy. It is more democratic than the country.'
'Pakistan's only concern has been while they were on the FATF watch list was to distance their State institutions and organs from any direct connection with the actual execution of militancy inside Kashmir.'
Pakistan's Air Force Chief Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu visited the US to enhance bilateral defence cooperation, following a similar visit by the Army Chief. The visit included meetings with US military and political leaders to discuss regional security, counter-terrorism efforts, and future cooperation.
India has to fill in all the critical gaps in missiles, ammunition, sensors and stockpile in the fastest possible manner, focusing on the critical instruments that worked this time, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
India needs to be technologically and militarily prepared to defend itself from both Pakistan and China, alerts Ramesh Menon.
'Trump's sons, and the son of Trump's Mideast envoy Steven Witkoff, are in the crypto business and recently signed deals with Pakistan's crypto council.' 'It may not be coincidental that not long before the Trump-Munir meeting, the head of Pakistan's crypto council met with Trump's White House crypto policy czar.'
Shehbaz made the comments during a visit to the Kamra air base in the country's Punjab province where he interacted with officers and soldiers involved in the recent military confrontation with India.
Rahul Gandhi accuses PM Modi of prioritizing his image over national security after the Pahalgam attack, challenging him to refute Trump's claims of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
Trump's new rules for how countries should treat him have led to the current breakdown in India-US relations, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Pakistan's record on terrorism is "very clear" and the Pahalgam attack is only the recent example of cross-border terrorism, the ministry of external affairs said on Thursday.
'Pakistan is economically very weak and will not be able to sustain a war for long.'
India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is expected to attend a major security meeting in Moscow next week, organized by Russia's Security Council. Doval is invited for the 13th international meeting of high representatives for security issues, taking place from May 27-29. The meeting, chaired by Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, will see participation from over 150 countries and international organizations. Pakistan's NSA, Lt Gen Asim Malik, is also expected to attend the meeting, leading to speculation of a possible face-to-face meeting between the two NSAs amidst heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack and subsequent retaliatory actions.
These transfers can be seen as part of a continuing process on General Asim Munir's part to keep his senior generals happy, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Pakistan's decision to talk to India on May 10 stemmed from realisation that it will suffer more if its operation continues, Gen Chauhan said.
General Asim Munir becomes Pakistan's 17th Chief of the Army Staff.
A senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Wednesday claimed that the military operation against India was designed under the supervision of the party president Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to review bilateral relations and reaffirm their commitment to strengthening their strategic partnership. The two leaders discussed joint ventures and enhanced bilateral investment in key sectors, aiming to achieve a $5 billion annual bilateral trade target. They also expressed gratitude for mutual support during recent tensions with India. The meeting was described as "warm and most cordial," highlighting the deep-rooted historical ties between Pakistan and Turkey.
He went on to say that even though this has not been discussed, he is going to 'increase trade substantially with both of these great Nations.'
Trump's method are more destabilising than his policy. So, a good idea these couple of years is to sip Kool-Aid, and savour the joys of Trumplomacy, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke separately with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement early Saturday.
Pakistan has expressed condolences over the deaths of tourists in a terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, that killed 26 people. The Foreign Office spokesperson said Pakistan is concerned at the loss of tourists' lives and wished the injured a speedy recovery. The attack, claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), is the deadliest in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019.
'With the US having entered the war, raising the risks of a wider conflict, those impacts could be even more damaging.'
Last week, Information Minister Atta Tarar had said that 24-36 hours were important, fearing a possible strike by India. However, the time passed and there was no action by India.
Posters with the message "Free Gaza, Free Palestine" and calls to boycott Israeli goods were found in the Narauli town of Sambhal district in Uttar Pradesh, India. Police are investigating the incident based on CCTV footage and information gathered from shop owners. The posters emerged following Israel's offensive in Gaza, launched after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel in October 2023.
Former Indian Army chief General Shankar Roychowdhury (Retd) has blamed "intelligence failure" for the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians. He demanded accountability at the highest levels, stating that there must be someone responsible for the negligence and they must be held accountable for the consequences.
BJP's Satara MP Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendant of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, had sought the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the spokesperson for the Pakistan Army, is the son of a nuclear scientist who was sanctioned by the United Nations and the US for providing information and expertise to al-Qaeda, according to Indian officials. Chaudhry's father, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, allegedly provided insights into nuclear weapons infrastructure and raised funds for a fundamentalist organization linked to the Taliban. Mahmood was arrested in 2001 after admitting to meeting Osama bin Laden but was later released.
The Karnataka high court has granted an interim stay on criminal proceedings initiated against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Malviya and Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, in connection with allegations of spreading false claims that the Indian National Congress (INC) operates an office in Istanbul, Turkiye.
The closed-door luncheon meeting came amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran with Trump exploring Washington's possible involvement.
China and Pakistan are in a tight strategic alliance. India must deal with them one at a time, but be prepared in case they decide to collude, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Asim Malik's shift to the important DG, ISI post comes as something of a surprise now, but it indicates the army chief's confidence in him, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Addressing a special 'Youm-e-Tashakur' event at the Pakistan Monument in Islamabad, Shehbaz said that India and Pakistan fought three wars and got nothing.
If the only superpower, which calls India an ally, sees the region through an India-Pakistan prism, it is unacceptable. Rather than endorse India's sphere of influence, this undermines it, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
He then went on to say that, however, he won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for any of his efforts.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif admitted that India's ballistic missiles hit Nur Khan Airbase and other sites on May 10, a rare acknowledgement that contradicts Pakistan's usual stance of denial when it comes to Indian military action.
A former Pentagon official, Michael Rubin has said that India targeted terror infrastructure with precision, and it was able to blunt Pakistan's response following the recent strikes.
The UN Security Council will hold closed consultations on Monday on the situation between India and Pakistan after Islamabad sought an emergency meeting on the issue. Pakistan, which currently sits as a non-permanent member of the council, requested the meeting in light of rising tensions between the two countries following a terror attack in India. The meeting comes after India's foreign minister spoke with all council members except China and Pakistan, emphasizing the need to bring perpetrators of the attack to justice. The Pakistani envoy has argued that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir poses a threat to regional and international peace and security, justifying the need for a council discussion.
