Category: pakistan


  • Pakistan’s COAS Field Marshal General Asim Munir (second from right) and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (far right) offering prayers at Kaaba in Saudi Arabia during their reent visit IMAGE/Dawn

    In 1909, the renowned poet Muhammad Iqbal wrote Shikwa or Complaint to Allah.1

    The poem is a lament that Allah has neglected his followers, Muslims, the very people who spread Islam and gave Him global exposure.

    A couplet refers to Mahmud Ghazni,2 an eleventh century ruler, and his “slave” Ayaz:

    ek hee saf meiN khaDe ho gaye mahmud o ayAz
    na koi bandA rahA aur na koi bandA-nawAz

    — Muhmmad Iqbal, Shikwa or The Complaint to Allah in Bang-e-Dara, Rekhta

    they stood in the same row: Mahmud (the lord) and Ayaz (the slave)
    (praying to Allah), no more was there distinction of master and slave

    Malik Ayaz, according to Majid Sheikh, was not a slave but was a white European from Gerogia who was Mahmud’s “‘lakhtay’, a Pushtun polite word for ‘boy partner’.” According to S. Jabir Raza, there have been many other nobles with the name Ayaz. Many poets and authors, including Jalaluddin Rumi, have written about Ayaz.

    Anyways, proceeding forward to this 21st century, Asim Munir and Shehbaz Sharif also rule the area which was once under Mahmud’s rule. Sharif is neither “lakhtay” nor a “slave” of Munir. But nonetheless, the reltionship between COAS (Chief of Army Staff) General Munir and Prime Minister Sharif is not even that of equals.

    The parliamentary system of government in Pakistan officially endows the most power in the prime minister’s office and all others, including Chief of the Army Staff, work under the premier. However, since the 1950s, military has usurped the power and so the civilian governments rule at the mercy of the army — which gets a significant portion of the country’s budget, but also runs several businesse, and has overthrown and installed governments.

    Between May 7 and 10, 2025, India and Pakistan went to war. Both claimed victory. Munir and Sharif thanked Allah for the “victory,” by going to Saudi Arabia in the first week of June to perform Umrah, and to pay homage to the Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman or MbS.

    Like in Iqbal’s couplet, Munir and Sharif in the picture above, are standing as equal in front of their Allah. But a quick analysis clearly shows the contentment and happiness on them is not equal — more correctly, it is totally missing on Sharif’s face, who seems worried and frustrated. On the other hand, Munir seems very satisfied and delighted.

    What was Munir praying to Allah:

    “Ya Allah, I am going to thank you but first let me thank my enemy Narendra Damodardas Modi. I am here in Saudi Arabia, at this time, because of him. It’s due to him that my reputation, that was on a downward trajectory, suddenly picked up and went so high that I have now become a hero in Pakistan. Allah, you won’t believe but I feel like a superman, I have so much power. Please Allah, don’t be scared of me — I am not like Ayub Khan.3.

    “Allah, one more thing I have to tell you. Recently, I was made field marshal and was granted the baton of field marshal by President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. I am the second field marshal, Ayub Khan was the first one. Allah, isn’t it strange that both Sharif’s and Zardari’s parties [Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan People’s Party] have suffered at the hands of the army and yet they’re givng me more prestige. I tell you, now any if these two guys try to be clever with me, I’m going to use this very baton to spank their rears. By the way, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader, Imran Khan, is already rotting in prison.

    “Now Allah, before I part, I should thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

    President Asif Ali Zardari (centre) and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (right) jointly confer baton of field marshal upon Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir on May 22, 2025. IMAGE/Radio Pakistan/The News International

    (Munir received an invitation to attend the US army’s 250th anniversary on June 14, 2025. He is going to attend King Trump’s extravaganza. He must be feeling very happy but will also be very worried because commercial-animal that Trump is, will push him to be on the US side instead on China’s side.)

    What was Shehbaz praying to Allah:

    “Ya Allah, what is happening in your world? Why is it that I can’t exercise my due power as a prime minister? You can see the worry on my face, I can’t even close my eyes or at least pretend to close while offering prayers. Allah, look at this guy standing next to me — he seems to be in a post orgasmic state — calm, relaxed, and satiated.

    In 1959, Ayub Khan became Pakistan’s first field marshal and now Munir has become one. Everyone knows, the minute my government will try to carve our own policy, he’ll shove the baton we awarded him, up my you know what.

    Allah, please guide me as to how can we get rid of him. Should we put a case of mangoes in his plane or find some other way?” Please!

    ENDNOTES:

    1 Several poems of Iqbal in Urdu with English translation are at Dr. Allama Muhmaad Iqbal. Khushwant Singh, journalist and author, translated both “Complaint” and “Answer” in a book form with introduction and can be found here. See also Frances W. Pritchett critiquing Singh’s couple of stanzas.

    2 Extremist Hindus use many excuses to disriminate against Muslims. One of those excuses is Muslim invader Mehmud Ghazni’s raid of temple of Somnatha and destrution of an idol in 1026 CE But that lacks historical truth. See eminent historian Romila Thapar’s “Somanatha and Mahmud,” in Frontline magazine.

    3 In the 1960s, during military dictator Field Marshal General Ayub Khan’s rule, a joke circulated about Ayub’s love for power. On the Day of Judgement, Pakistan’s leaders lined up to see Allah. Allah would rise from his throne and pat Pakistani leaders but would not arise when Ayub Khan came. A question was raised as to why? Allah’s reply: “He would have grabbed my throne.”

    The post Asim and Shehbaz in the Same Row but … first appeared on Dissident Voice.

  • A “confidential” hospital document dated April 27, 2025, with the emblem of the Pakistan prime minister’s office saying that the PM has been hospitalised in Rawalpindi, made it to several news reports and was widely shared on social media. According to this ‘letter’, the Pakistan PM was admitted to the Combined Military Hospital for medical evaluation of haemorrhoids (piles). 

    On May 1, Times Now World published a report titled, “Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif hospitalized with piles? ‘Confidential’ hospital note surfaces.” In the report, they claim that the alleged was “leaked” but, later, also mention that there was no official confirmation from PM Sharif’s office. However, despite this, the outlet went on to speculate whether “rising stress levels” were to blame in the aftermath of diplomatic unrest between India and Pakistan after the terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, 2025.

    Republic also published a detailed article on the purported letter, even though they refer to it as a “rumour”. While the report mentions that the rumour has not received official confirmation, ut gives reactions of social media users.

    Several other news outlets, such as NewsX, News24 Hindi, and News18 Bangla, also published reportson Sharif’s health citing this letter.

     

    On April 28, 2025, social media users Shuvankar Biswas (@manamuntu), Jamin (@JaminrpP), (@SinghPramod2784) and @Amolk1985 also shared the alleged letter.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Similar claims were made by users across social media platforms.

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Fact Check

    First, we tried several keyword searches but found no credible reportage from Pakistan-based news outlets that reported on PM Shehbaz Sharif being hospitalised in April 2025. 

    Instead, we found several updates that indicate he was fairly active and meeting delegations throughout the last week of April. For instance, on April 26, Sharif presented awards at a ceremony in PMA, Kakul, Abbottabad.

    On April 27, Sharif along with other Pakistani government officials, met a delegation of the American World Liberty Financial in Islamabad.

    On April 28, he attended a ceremony acknowledging the success of the PM Ramzan relief package.

    On April 29, the Pakistan leader addressed an investment forum in Islamabad and the following day, he chaired a meeting with investors in Islamabad.

    On May 1, Chinese ambassador Jiang Zaidong met Sharif and exchanged views on the current India-Pakistan situation. This was also reported on CNN News18 bulletin. 

    Thus it was clear that he was not in the hospital.

    We then found that Asad Rehman Gilani, the alleged principal secretary to the prime minister (PSPM), whose signature is visible on the letter, was removed from his position on March 17, 2025, and transferred to the National Heritage and culture divison as secretary, according to a report by Pakistan-based outlet, Dawn

    Dawn’s report also said that the position of PSPM has been abolished and a Dr Tauqir Shah would serve the PM as an adviser in place of PSPM.

    An official at the Pakistan PMO also told Dawn that the viral “confidential” letter and claims that Sharif was getting medical treatment were fake. 

    To sum up, the Pakistan Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, was not hospitalised during the last week of April 2025. The alleged “confidential” letter bearing the stamp of the Pakistan PMO is fake. Despite disclaimers, news outlets reported on this based on social media posts and reactions, resulting in unverified information being amplified

    The post Times Now, Republic, others published reports based on fake ‘confidential’ letter that Pakistan PM was hospitalised appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • A video, seemingly taken by someone in the audience during a public performance, in which event attendees are showing the middle finger to someone on stage has gone viral. Those sharing the video on social media claim that these gestures were made at Bollywood actor and filmmaker Kangana Ranaut during a concert. Ranaut is affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party and represents Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district in the lower house of the Parliament.

    On June 3, X user Amit Yadav (@Amityad6389) shared the viral video and claimed that members affiliated with Hindu organisations, upset with her over something, showed her the middle finger in public. (Archive)

    On June 4, media outlet LocalTak (@localtak) also shared the purported video alleging that members of a Hindu organisation protested against Ranaut during a show by showing her the middle finger. (Archive)

    Another X user, Amock (@amock2029), also shared the clip, claiming that the actor-turned-politician was disrespected. (Archive)

    Several other social media users have shared the same video with similar claims. 

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Fact Check

    We watched the video closely several times and noticed the words ‘Q High Street’ displayed on the stage in the video. Q High Street is a commercial property in Lahore, Pakistan.

    During our investigation, we also found that Q High Street had organised an automotive event, Pak Wheels Auto Show, on May 25. The event featured a performance by Young Stunners, a popular hip-hop duo in Pakistan. 

    We found several posts on Q High Street’s Instagram page, featuring Young Stunner’s performance. Noticeably, the backdrop of the videos here was identical to the one that went viral.

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Taking cue from this, we looked for full videos of the performance and found one on YouTube uploaded on May 29, 2025. At the 3:15-minute mark of the video, the same woman who is seen in the viral clip appears as the event’s emcee. It’s fairly clear that she is not Kangana Ranaut.

    Here’s the video:

    To sum up, the viral video is from an event in Lahore, Pakistan. It does not depict members of a Hindu organisation showing the middle finger to Kangana Ranaut. The woman appearing in the video is not the Bollywood actor. 

    (With inputs from Diti Pujara)

    The post Kangana Ranaut was not shown the middle finger at a performance; viral video is from an event in Pakistan appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • A video, seemingly taken by someone in the audience during a public performance, in which event attendees are showing the middle finger to someone on stage has gone viral. Those sharing the video on social media claim that these gestures were made at Bollywood actor and filmmaker Kangana Ranaut during a concert. Ranaut is affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party and represents Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district in the lower house of the Parliament.

    On June 3, X user Amit Yadav (@Amityad6389) shared the viral video and claimed that members affiliated with Hindu organisations, upset with her over something, showed her the middle finger in public. (Archive)

    On June 4, media outlet LocalTak (@localtak) also shared the purported video alleging that members of a Hindu organisation protested against Ranaut during a show by showing her the middle finger. (Archive)

    Another X user, Amock (@amock2029), also shared the clip, claiming that the actor-turned-politician was disrespected. (Archive)

    Several other social media users have shared the same video with similar claims. 

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Fact Check

    We watched the video closely several times and noticed the words ‘Q High Street’ displayed on the stage in the video. Q High Street is a commercial property in Lahore, Pakistan.

    During our investigation, we also found that Q High Street had organised an automotive event, Pak Wheels Auto Show, on May 25. The event featured a performance by Young Stunners, a popular hip-hop duo in Pakistan. 

    We found several posts on Q High Street’s Instagram page, featuring Young Stunner’s performance. Noticeably, the backdrop of the videos here was identical to the one that went viral.

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Taking cue from this, we looked for full videos of the performance and found one on YouTube uploaded on May 29, 2025. At the 3:15-minute mark of the video, the same woman who is seen in the viral clip appears as the event’s emcee. It’s fairly clear that she is not Kangana Ranaut.

    Here’s the video:

    To sum up, the viral video is from an event in Lahore, Pakistan. It does not depict members of a Hindu organisation showing the middle finger to Kangana Ranaut. The woman appearing in the video is not the Bollywood actor. 

    (With inputs from Diti Pujara)

    The post Kangana Ranaut was not shown the middle finger at a performance; viral video is from an event in Pakistan appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • A video, seemingly taken by someone in the audience during a public performance, in which event attendees are showing the middle finger to someone on stage has gone viral. Those sharing the video on social media claim that these gestures were made at Bollywood actor and filmmaker Kangana Ranaut during a concert. Ranaut is affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party and represents Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district in the lower house of the Parliament.

    On June 3, X user Amit Yadav (@Amityad6389) shared the viral video and claimed that members affiliated with Hindu organisations, upset with her over something, showed her the middle finger in public. (Archive)

    On June 4, media outlet LocalTak (@localtak) also shared the purported video alleging that members of a Hindu organisation protested against Ranaut during a show by showing her the middle finger. (Archive)

    Another X user, Amock (@amock2029), also shared the clip, claiming that the actor-turned-politician was disrespected. (Archive)

    Several other social media users have shared the same video with similar claims. 

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Fact Check

    We watched the video closely several times and noticed the words ‘Q High Street’ displayed on the stage in the video. Q High Street is a commercial property in Lahore, Pakistan.

    During our investigation, we also found that Q High Street had organised an automotive event, Pak Wheels Auto Show, on May 25. The event featured a performance by Young Stunners, a popular hip-hop duo in Pakistan. 

    We found several posts on Q High Street’s Instagram page, featuring Young Stunner’s performance. Noticeably, the backdrop of the videos here was identical to the one that went viral.

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Taking cue from this, we looked for full videos of the performance and found one on YouTube uploaded on May 29, 2025. At the 3:15-minute mark of the video, the same woman who is seen in the viral clip appears as the event’s emcee. It’s fairly clear that she is not Kangana Ranaut.

    Here’s the video:

    To sum up, the viral video is from an event in Lahore, Pakistan. It does not depict members of a Hindu organisation showing the middle finger to Kangana Ranaut. The woman appearing in the video is not the Bollywood actor. 

    (With inputs from Diti Pujara)

    The post Kangana Ranaut was not shown the middle finger at a performance; viral video is from an event in Pakistan appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • On 29 May the Committee to Protect Journalists and fourteen other organisations have urged Pakistan to immediately halt deportation of Afghan journalists and other vulnerable Afghan migrants. The fifteen advocacy groups expressed deep concern over Pakistan’s ongoing deportation plan, first announced on 3 October 2023, which targets undocumented Afghan nationals. The joint statement highlights the heightened risks faced by Afghan journalists, writers, artists, human rights defenders, and others who fled Taliban persecution and are now at risk of being forcibly returned.

    Among the signatories are prominent international organisations such as PEN Germany, CPJ, Unlimited Free Press, Front Line Defenders, International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN), Nai – Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

    The organisations also called on the international community to provide safe resettlement opportunities for these individuals, recognising the dangers they face if returned to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Pakistan’s deportation policy has faced sharp criticism from local and international bodies, including the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). These entities have urged Pakistan to uphold its international obligations and provide protection to those fleeing conflict and persecution.

    Despite repeated calls for restraint, the Pakistani government has accelerated forced returns in recent months. In April alone, more than 300,000 Afghans were deported, drawing further condemnation from human rights organisations.

    ——

    On 28 May Amnesty International along with four other human rights organizations wrote to the Pakistani prime minister, calling for an end to the “harassment and arbitrary detention” of Baloch human rights defenders (HRDs) exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, particularly in Balochistan province. 

    The letter comes in the wake of Dr. Mahrang Baloch, one of the leading campaigners for the Baloch minority and the leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), and a number of other activists, being arrested in March on charges of terrorism, sedition and murder. ..

    The five organizations — Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Front Line Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights, World Organization Against Torture — appeal to Pakistan’s Prime Minister to release Baloch human rights defenders and end the crackdown on dissent in line with Pakistan’s international human rights obligations;

    A dozen UN experts called on Pakistan in March to immediately release Baloch rights defenders, including Dr. Baloch, and to end the repression of their peaceful protests. UN special rapporteur for human rights defenders Mary Lawlor said she was “disturbed by reports of further mistreatment in prison.”

    Balochistan is the site of a long-running separatist movement, with insurgent groups accusing the state of unfairly exploiting Balochistan’s rich gas and mineral resources. The federal and provincial governments deny this, saying they are spending billions of rupees on the uplift of the province’s people. 

    see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2024/10/22/prominent-baluch-human-rights-defender-stopped-from-attending-time-event-in-us-and-then-assaulted/

    https://www.afintl.com/en/202505291879

    https://www.arabnews.com/node/2602563/amp

  • On May 24, Pakistan’s chief of army staff, Syed Asim Munir, hosted a dinner party “to honour the political leadership, steadfast commitment of the Armed Forces” during Operation Bunyan Marsoos, the offensive launched by Pakistan to counter India’s Operation Sindoor. One of the images from that party shows Munir and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif holding a framed picture of artillery in action. A metal badge attached to the frame says, “OP BUNYAN-UM-MARSOOS; Geljed Maki Launch Rocket Regiment of Pakistan Artillery”.

    It wasn’t clear who was presenting the image to whom but it was certainly linked to the latest India-Pakistan conflict. Pakistan’s operation, launched on May 10, targeted at least six Indian military bases. Meanwhile, the Indian armed forces have maintained that their strikes, launched on May 7, targeted only terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

    News outlets such as the Times of KarachiDaily The SpokesmanKhabar KadaPakistan Todayand Daily Pakistan carried the image. The public relations wing of the armed forces, the Inter Services Public Relations Pakistan, also used the image in its press release

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Besides PM Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari was also present along with the Pakistan’s deputy PM and foreign minister. Others in attendance included the national assembly speaker, ministers, governors, chief ministers, chiefs of air force and navy, senior political leaders, high-ranking government officials, and senior officers from the armed forces.

    Images from the party were also shared by X handle Pakistan Armed Forces News (@PakistanFauj). (Archives 1, 2)

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Fact Check

    Several social media users pointed out on X that the framed image of artillery action was old and not related to Pakistan’s Operation Bunyan Marsoos. Some even pointed out that the image was of a Chinese military drill.

    Click to view slideshow.

    To verify this, we ran a reverse image search of the framed picture and found a report by Indian Aerospace Defence News (IADN) that featured an image very similar to the one Pakistan’s army chief and PM Sharif were holding. The four-year-old report was titled: “China deploys long-range rocket launcher as deterrent to India”. A watermark on the image said “China Military”.

    The report also mentioned that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had deployed an advanced long-range rocket launcher to the Himalayas to strengthen border defences and deter India.

    Taking a cue from the above, we ran a relevant keyword search, which led us to a 2019 blog post by China’s Ministry of Defence where the same image was used. The post made it clear that the image was from August 18, 2019.

    We then compared the framed image that Pakistan’s army chief Munir and PM Sharif were holding with the one issued by the Chinese milutart and noticed several similarities, such as the smoke pattern and the angle of the launcher. We highlighted the comparison below:

    Our findings indicate that the image on the left was most likely edited with two more launchers added to the original image. The angles of the three launchers on the left image and how they emit fire is identical and seem duplicated.

    Hence, the framed image that Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir and PM Sharif were holding was edited and had nothing to do with Operation Bunyan Marsoos. It is five years old and completely unrelated to the recent India-Pakistan conflict.

    The post Not Operation Bunyan Marsoos, image held by Pakistan PM, army chief Asim Munir shows old Chinese military drill appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Oishani Bhattacharya.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • On April 22, militants from The Resistance Front (TRF), a group accused by Indian authorities of being linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group, slaughtered 26 tourists in the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian administered portion of Kashmir. This came as a rude shock to the Indian military establishment, which decided that rebellious sentiments in the region had declined. (In March 2025, an assessment concluded that a mere 77 active militants were busying themselves on India’s side of the border.)

    The feeling of cooling tensions induced an air of complacency. Groups such as the TRF, along with a fruit salad of insurgent outfits – the Kashmir Tigers, the People’s Anti-Fascist Front, and the United Liberation Front of Kashmir – were all spawned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s August 2019 revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted Kashmir singular autonomy. TRF has been particularly and violently opposed to the resettlement of the Kashmiri pandits, which they see as an effort to alter the region’s demography.

    The murderous incident raised the obvious question: Would Modi pay lip service to the 1972 Shimla Agreement, one that divided Kashmir into two zones of administration separated by a Line of Control? (A vital feature of that agreement is an understanding that both powers resolve their disputes without the need for third parties.)

    The answers came promptly enough. First came India’s suspension of the vital Indus Water Treaty, a crucial agreement governing the distribution of water from India to Pakistan. Pakistan reciprocated firmly by suspending the Shimla Agreement, expelling Indian military diplomats, halting visa exemptions for Indian citizens, and closing the Wagah border for trade.

    Hindu nationalism proved particularly stirred, and Modi duly fed its cravings. On May 7, India commenced Operation Sindoor, involving what were purportedly precision missile attacks on nine militant camps in Pakistan and the Jammu and Kashmir area controlled by Islamabad. The operation itself had a scent of gendered manipulation, named after the vermillion used by married Hindu women to symbolise the durable existence of their husbands. Two female military officers – Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh – were tasked with managing the media pack.

    The Indian briefings celebrated the accuracy of the strikes on what were said to be the sites of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizbul Mujahideen. Thirty-one suspected terrorists were said to have perished, though Pakistan insisted that civilians had been killed in this apparent feast of forensic precision. India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would have none of it: Indian forces had only “struck only those who harmed our innocents”.

    The next day, it was operations against Pakistan’s air defence systems in Lahore that stole the show. The inevitable Pakistani retaliation followed on May 10, with the Indian return serve against 11 Pakistani air bases. What followed is one version: Pakistan’s military broke into a sweat. A cessation of hostilities was sought and achieved. Armchair pundits on the Indian side celebrated: India had successfully targeted the terrorist cells supported by Pakistan. If one is to read Anubhav Shankar Goswami seriously, Operation Sindoor was a stroke of genius, threatening “the Pakistan Army’s strategic shield against terrorists”.

    More accurately, this was a lovely little spilling of blood with weaponry between callow sibling throats, a pattern familiar since 1947. The two countries have fought four full-blown conflicts, two over Kashmir. Along the way, they have made the world a lot safer by acquiring nuclear weapons.

    There was something for everyone in this retaliatory and counter-retaliatory feast. India claimed strategic proficiency, keeping censorship on the matter tight. Pakistan could claim some prowess in shooting down five Indian jets, using Chinese weaponry, including the J-10.  With pride and pomp, they could even appoint Pakistani Army chief Asim Munir to the post of Field Marshal, an absurdly ceremonial gesture that gave the impression that the army had restored its tattered pride. It was to be expected that this was ample reward for his, in the words of the government, “strategic leadership and decisive role” in defeating India.

    The only ones to be notably ignored in this display of subcontinental machismo were the Kashmiris themselves, who face, in both the Pakistan and Indian administered zones, oppressive anti-terrorism laws, discriminatory practices, and suppression of dissent and free speech.

    Ultimately, the bickering children were convinced to end their playground antics. The fact that the overbearing headmaster, the unlikely US President Donald Trump, eventually brought himself to bear on proceedings must have irritated them. After four days of conflict, the US role in defusing matters between the powers became evident. Kashmir, which India has long hoped to keep in museum-like storage, away from the international stage, had been enlivened.  Trump even offered his services to enable New Delhi and Islamabad a chance to reach a more enduring peace. Praise for the president followed, notably from those wishing to see the Kashmir conflict resolved.

    In one sense, there seems to be little reason to worry. These are countries seemingly linked to sandpit grievances, scrapping, gouging, and complaining about their lot. Even amidst juvenile spats, they can bicker yet still sign enduring ceasefires. In February 2021, for instance, the militaries of both countries cobbled together a ceasefire which ended four months of cross-border skirmishes. A mere two violations of the agreement (how proud they must have been) was recorded for the rest of the year. In 2022, a solitary incident of violation was noted.

    A needlessly florid emphasis was made on the conflict by Indian political scientist Pratap Bhanu Meta.  This was an encounter lacking a “decisive victory and no clear political end”. It merely reinstated “the India-Pakistan hyphenation”. In one sense, this element of hyphenation – the international perception of two subcontinental powers in an eternal, immature squabble – was something India seemed to be marching away from. But Prime Minister Modi, despite his grander visions for India, is a sectarian fanatic. History shows that fanaticism tends to shrink, rather than enlarge, the mind. In that sense, he is in good company with those other uniformed fanatics in uniform.

    The post Squabbling Siblings: India, Pakistan and Operation Sindoor first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Since the partition from India in 1947, Pakistan has been engaged in around a dozen significant and minor conflicts with India. Wars and negotiations are carried out based on the interests and directives of the respective central governments. Both Indian and Pakistani citizens are worried about a full-scale conflict, and the wounds of numerous wars are deeply felt at the local level. Recently, the population has been traumatized by Operation Sindoor and its subsequent retaliation. This research aims to promote peace by placing the people at the forefront, educating them about peace, and exerting pressure from the grassroots level up to the provincial and national levels to restore peace, unity, coexistence, security, and prosperity. The objectives are to promote positive peace between the two nations by empowering local people, fostering connections between them, and sharing the findings with interested parties.

    The post India-Pakistan Escalation Of Conflict: Promoting Positive Peace appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • A video showing two choppers being struck down has been shared on social media with claims that the Indian Air Force downed two fighter helicopters in Bhuj, killing four Pakistani air force personnel.

    The video emerged as the conflict between India and Pakistan was on the brink. Pakistan retaliated with shelling and drones shortly after India carried out air strikes on nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on the intervening night of May 6 and 7, 2025. Since these strikes, named Operation Sindoor to honour the 26 victims of the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, the two nations continued with combat. Meanwhile, scores of unverified visuals have emerged on social media showing damage to infrastructure and claims of casualties on both sides.

    X user Aman Sah (@amnofc) shared the video and wrote, “Four Pakistani Air Force personnel were killed in the Bhuj area during an operation of the Indian Air Force, in which two Pakistani fighter helicopters were also destroyed.” (Archive)

    This video had garnered more than 1.7 million views at the time this article was written.

    X user Deepak Sharma (@SonOfBharat7), who has shared misinformation in the past, shared the video with a similar claim. (Archive) Another X user, @thevoicenm, also posted it. (Archive)

     

     

    Numerous X users have also been sharing such videos with similar claims. (Archive)

    Fact Check

    On taking a closer look, Alt News noticed that the combat scenes did not seem and guessed they might be from a warfare or combat game. We performed a reverse image search of a few frames taken from the video and landed on the same video uploaded on March 29, 2022, on SON STUDIO, a gaming channel on YouTube. The description of the video, titled “2 Military Ka-52 shot down by Air Defense System Milsim ARMA3 E11”, says that it is a dramatised, fictional gaming footage.

    We found many such videos on this channel that are footage of gaming or simulations. The channel’s ‘About’ section states that it makes military gaming simulation content for ‘Arma 3 (or EFBS)’.

    To sum up, the video being circulated with claims that four Pakistan soldiers were killed and two of their choppers struck down in Bhuj is a gaming simulation video. The footage is unrelated to the India-Pakistan conflict and was available online for three years before Operation Sindoor was launched. The claims are baseless.

    Also Read: ‘Operation Sindoor’: Video game clip shared with claim of shooting down Pakistani jet

    The post Video game footage of helicopters being struck shared with claims IAF downing Pakistan helicopters appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Pawan Kumar.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Note: We have only used screenshots in this story, considering the graphic nature of the video, which could be triggering for some readers.

    A video showing deceased soldiers near what appears to be a boundary wall with fires around is being circulated by many social media accounts. In the video, it seems as though the person recording it is saying that there was heavy shelling at the border, in which Pakistan killed many Indian soldiers. Those sharing the video also claimed that 52 soldiers of the 20 Raj Battalion of the Indian Army were martyred.

    This video has emerged amid a sea of unverified visuals and claims on social media that try to show damage caused by India or Pakistan in the recent conflict that was triggered by the killing of 26 civilians in Kashmir. A fortnight after this, India launched Operation Sindoor to target terror bases in Pakistan. Shortly after, the Pakistan armed forces retaliated with shelling across border areas, also targeting Indian military infrastructure.

    Pakistan-based account War Analyst, withheld in India, shared the video claiming it showed footage from Pakistan’s strike on the Sangar post of Chirikot, and the visual was being shared among army folks in India on WhatsApp. The user wrote that India was covering up the loss of 52 Indian soldiers along the Line of Control while their families were mounting pressure on the Indian government to reveal these deaths.

    The video was shared by Conflict Watch with the same claim as well as RTEUrdu, a Turkish media outlet. RTEUrdu wrote that the video was taken by an Indian soldier.

    Fact Check

    Several things in the video raise doubts.

    • Firstly, the claims alleged that an Indian Army post faced heavy shelling. But in the video, the so-called post seems safe. If there was heavy shelling that caused a fire, far more damage would clearly be visible, which is not the case here.
    • Secondly, the tone of the person recording the video is funny, as though it is being enacted or forcefully dramatised. In such a situation it is more likely that someone recording the footage would worried or distraught.
    • Thirdly, the viral post claims that 52 Indian soldiers have been killed and their families are pressuring the government. But had this been true and the government were hiding it, news outlets in India would have surely carried stories on it. The Indian Army has said that it lost five soldiers.

    Importantly, the uniform worn by the soldiers in the viral video is old. The Indian Army does not don this uniform anymore; it was changed in 2022. A comparison of the old and new uniforms can be seen below.

    A report by The Indian Express from January 2022 also explained the difference between the old and new uniforms of the army. Below is a screenshot of their graphic.

    The fact-checking unit of the Indian government, PIB Fact-Check, also dubbed the video fabricated and said there was no unit called “20 Raj Battalion” in the Indian Army. It added that this was part of a propaganda campaign to create panic and mislead people during the conflict.

     

    Based on these findings, Alt News established that the video does not depict martyred soldiers from the recent India-Pakistan conflict. Claims that 52 soldiers were martyred in firing by Pakistan are unsubstantiated.

    The post 52 Indian soldiers killed by Pakistan in shelling? No; viral video is staged, says PIB appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Abhishek Kumar.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • A video showing a row of corpses on the ground covered in green is being widely shared on social media with claims that Pakistan killed 12 Indian soldiers in the recent conflict between the two countries.

    These visuals come amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan after the Indian defence forces carried out strikes on nine terrorist bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under Operation Sindoor. In turn, shelling by the Pakistan Army on areas near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir resulted in the death of at least 16 people. The Indian Army said it lost five soldiers.

    In this context, the video of the corpses is being circulated by many Pakistan-based social media accounts to suggest that Pakistan managed to inflict major losses on the Indian side.  

    X user @PakistanFauj shared the video and wrote, “Pakistan Army carried out targeted action on Dharamshala 1 and 2 posts in Battal sector, killing at least 12 Indian soldiers. Both the posts were completely destroyed.” Verified X handles @KashmirUrdu and @A_MQQ_ also shared the video with similar claims. (Archived versions of these can be found here and here.)

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact Check

    Alt News performed a reverse image search of some key frames from the video, which led us to a similar image uploaded on Getty Images on August 20, 2011. According to the caption, the bodies were of “suspected militants” killed by the Indian Army in Kashmir. The army had foiled an infiltration attempt in the Gurez sector of North Kashmir near the Line of Control.

    It is worth noting that the army personnel and the helicopter seen in the background of the Getty photo are not visible in the viral clip.

    We then looked for news reports on the incident and found one by Al Jazeera from August 20, 2011. Indian Army spokesperson Lieutenant General JS Brar told the publication, “On August 20, 2011, 12 terrorists were trying to cross the border in a boat and the Kishanganga river is the Line of Actual Control in some areas. During the firing, six terrorists fell into the river and six others were killed on the banks.” The picture featured in the report shows the dead bodies lying on the ground behind the soldier, exactly as seen in the viral video.

    In other words, the visual shared by social media users to claim 12 Indian soldiers were killed is actually 14 years old. The incident it captures is from 2011, when the Indian Army killed 12 terrorists who were caught infiltrating Kashmir. It has been wrongly linked to India’s Operation Sindoor and the conflict with Pakistan.

    The post Image from 2011 shared with false claims that it shows corpses of 12 Indian soldiers killed by Pakistan appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Pawan Kumar.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Ever since India’s director general of air operations (DGAO), Awadhesh Kumar Bharti, revealed that the Indian Air Force hit several military targets in Pakistan on the intervening night of May 9 and 10, speculation on whether Kirana Hills, believed to be a major nuclear storage facility, was among the sites struck in the attack has been rife.

    Amid these speculations, a purported office memorandum issued by Pakistan’s ministry of climate change & environmental coordination, has gone viral on social media. This so-called memorandum ‘confirms’ a radiation leak at a facility in the ‘Northern Administrative Zone’. An image of the memo has been added below:

    Giving out specific details about India’s retaliatory strikes, DGAO Bharti said on May 11, “A decision was taken to strike where it would hurt and towards that in a swift, coordinated, calibrated attack, we stuck its air bases, command centers, military infrastructure, air defence systems across the entire Western Front. The bases we struck include Chaklala, Rafiq, Rahim Yar Khan, sending a clear message that aggression will not be tolerated. This was followed by strikes at Sargodha, Bhulari, and Jacobabad..”

    Kirana hills is approximately 8 km southeast of the Sargodha Air Base in Sargodha division in central Punjab, Pakistan.

    X user Abhi ™ (@Patelizm) shared the above document and wrote, “Govt of Pakistan confirms a radiation in Northern Pakistan.” (Archive)

    The memo was also shared on X with the same claim by verified users Amitabh Chaudhary, The Jaipur Dialogues, The Sphere Report and Nagrendra Pandey, among others.

    Pro-Right propaganda outlet OpIndia published an article titled, “Did India hit Pakistan’s nuclear site during Operation Sindoor? Viral ‘Radiological Safety Bulletin’ purportedly issued by Islamabad fuels speculations”. It said, “A document labeled “Radiological Safety Bulletin” … has surfaced on the internet, igniting a storm of speculation. It alleges a confirmed radiation leak at a facility located in Northern Pakistan… ”

    At the same time, the article also said, “The authenticity of the bulletin remains unverified and it could well be fake… ”

    Fact Check

    On a careful reading of the document, several spelling and formatting errors become apparent. The most glaring is the time of the alleged leak—‘24-55 hours’—which makes no sense. Other than that, the word ‘Confidential’ is spelt as ‘Confidental’; ‘Northern’ as ‘Norther’; ‘Following’ as ‘Pollowing’; ‘Safety’ as ‘Safet’ and so on.

    We have pointed out the discrepancies and errors below:

    Graphic by Atreyo Roy/ Alt News

    Readers should note that there is no available public record of any entity called the National Radiological Safety Division as mentioned in the letter. The agency that oversees matters related to nuclear energy, radioactive sources and radiation in Pakistan is the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority. PNRA is currently headed by Faizan Mansoor, who is the chairman. We could not find any mention of an ‘Engr. Malik Asad Rafiq’, who has issued the viral memo, on any credible source or government document.

    Also, at a press briefing on May 12, the Indian DGOA was asked by a journalist whether Indian strikes had hit Kirana Hills. “Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installation, we did not know about it. We have not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there,” he said.

    Alt News also spoke to Sourendra Kumar Bhattacharya, a visiting scientist at Academia Sinica, Taiwan, an expert on the subject. When we showed him the document, he said, “There is no Indium 192 radioisotope available in sealed source. There is IRIDIUM192, a radioactive isotope used in Oncological therapy and to detect structural damage. Indium 113 and Indium 115 are two STABLE isotopes of Indium available.”

    Thus, all our findings indicate that the viral document on a radiation leak in a nuclear facility in Pakistan is fake.

    The post Viral memo ‘confirming’ radiation leak in Pakistan is fake appeared first on Alt News.

    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Indradeep Bhattacharyya.

  • New Delhi, May 9, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the nationwide block on access to The Wire independent news site as the latest act of media censorship following a militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last month.    

    “Facts must not be the casualty in any conflict,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Blocking The Wire’s website and the social media accounts of other news outlets is an alarming attempt to stifle critical journalism at a time when independent reporting is more essential than ever. We call on the Indian government to immediately lift the blockade on The Wire and cease using national security concerns as an excuse to suppress media freedom.”

    The internet block coincides with a significant escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan, which have traded fire across their frontier in disputed Kashmir this week. India blames its neighbor for the April 22 killing of 26, mostly Hindu, tourists.

    The Wire criticized the blocking as “arbitrary and inexplicable” and a violation of the constitutional guarantee of press freedom. Internet Service Providers told The Wire that they had received orders to block the site under a government directive issued under the Information Technology Act, 2000.

    The social media platform X said it had received executive orders to block over 8,000 accounts in India, including the Kashmir-based news outlets Free Press Kashmir and The Kashmiriyat and Maktoob Media, which focuses on human rights and minorities.

    Separately, on May 7, The Hindu newspaper said it had deleted a post on X, which reported that three Indian jets had crashed in Jammu and Kashmir, because it did not have “on-record official information.”      

    Journalist Hilal Mir has been placed under preventive detention until May 13 for allegedly spreading anti-national content and promoting secessionist ideology online.

    In late April, the government blocked one Indian and 19 Pakistani YouTube channels, one journalist was assaulted and two political commentators and satirists face legal action over their coverage of the Kashmir attack. The information ministry has banned live coverage of anti-terrorist operations, citing security risks.

    CPJ’s emailed requests to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for comment did not receive an immediate response.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • As bombs rain down on Gaza and the world looks away, another settler colonial project is taking notes. From New Delhi to Tel Aviv, the ideological affinity between Israeli Zionism and India’s Hindutva movement has never been more pronounced as India strikes Pakistan.

    And with Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza facing little to no meaningful international accountability, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has every reason to believe that he, too, can escalate his ethno-nationalist project with impunity.

    When Israel bombs a hospital, the world debates whether Hamas was hiding beneath it. When India bombs a mosque, it shrugs – wasn’t it probably a ‘terror hideout’?

    The post India’s Attack On Pakistan Is Straight Out Of The Israeli Playbook appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • The growing tensions between India and Pakistan reached a boiling point in the early hours of May 7 when India launched several attacks inside Pakistani territory. Eight Pakistanis were killed and 35 were injured in the “tri-service” early morning attacks by India, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said in a press conference. Chaudhry added that one of the victims was a three-year-old girl.

    The Indian Army launched the attacks as part of “Operation Sindoor” and targeted nine locations in the cities of Kotli, Muzaffarabad, and Bagh located in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and Bahawalpur and Muridke in the Punjab province.

    The post Pakistan Calls India’s Attacks ‘Unprovoked And Blatant Act Of War’ appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Dozens of people have been killed in the worst fighting between India and Pakistan in more than two decades. India attacked nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir early Wednesday, killing at least 26 people, including a child. Pakistan described the attacks as an act of war and responded by shelling areas controlled by India. Tensions have been soaring between the two nuclear…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • India has launched military strikes in nine areas of both Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The BBC reported that:

    According to Pakistan, three different areas were hit: Muzaffarabad and Kotli in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and Bahawalpur in the Pakistani province of Punjab.

    Pakistani officials have said that 26 people have been killed, with 46 more injured. Al Jazeera reported that:

    A Pakistani military spokesman had earlier told the broadcaster Geo that at least five locations, including two mosques, had been hit. He also said that Pakistan’s response was under way, without providing details.

    In Punjab, missiles hit a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur, killing a child and wounding two civilians, the military said.

    India has claimed that the strikes were targeted in areas that are part of:

    terrorist infrastructure.

    Israel’s genocide against Palestine has followed a remarkably similar pattern of bombing civilians while they sleep, targeting mosques, killing children, and then claiming that the whole operation was to combat terrorism.

    India’s coloniality

    This similarity, however, is no coincidence. Academic Hafsa Kanjwal sets out how India’s relationship to Kashmir is firmly one of settler colonialism:

    When the British ruled the subcontinent, they sold Kashmir to the Dogras, Hindu chiefs from the nearby region of Jammu, in the aftermath of the first Anglo-Sikh War in 1846…Unlike most princely states, Jammu and Kashmir was one of the few where the religious identity of its ruler was different from those of the majority of its subjects. The Dogras were Hindu, while more than three-quarters of the people in the state were Muslim.

    Just as Israel’s domination over Palestine has roots in British colonialism via the Balfour Declaration, so too do the contemporary politics of Kashmir originate with British and Indian coloniality. Kanjwal argues:

    Kashmir is India’s colony. The exercise and expansion of Indian territorial sovereignty, especially in Kashmir, is a colonial exercise. The exercise of Indian power in Kashmir is coercive, lacks a democratic basis, denies a people self-determination, and is buttressed by an intermediary class of local elites or compradors.

    However, this domination can only be understood within the context of Global North colonialism:

    But it is also colonial because India’s rule in Kashmir relies on logics of more ‘classical’ forms of colonialism from Europe to the Global South: civilisational discourses, saviourism, mythologies, economic extraction and racialisation. As with all imperial or colonial forces, India has sought to rule over Kashmir through subjugating its people and trampling their rights.

    Kashmiris are subject to arbitrary detention, travel bans, and broad state censorship by Indian authorities. Meenakshi Ganguly from Human Rights Watch said:

    Kashmiris are unable to exercise their right to free expression, association, and peaceful assembly because they fear they will be arrested, thrown in prison without trial for months, even years.

    Settler colonialism

    A 2024 UN report found that a “staggering” number of Palestinians are held by Israeli authorities in Israeli detention. Just like Israel, India has also blamed a fight against terrorism as justification for structural violence against native populations.

    As well as a pattern of subjugating Muslim natives whilst claiming to be fighting terrorism, India and Israel also share fascist ideologies. Hindu nationalism, or Hindutva, is in step with Zionism in a perhaps unexpected manner. Academic Vikram Visana explains, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is founded on Hindutva:

    Devised in the early 20th century, the politics of Hindutva insist that the country’s national identity be built around those who consider only India’s geography sacred. Muslims and Christians, whose holy sites lay in the Middle East, were therefore considered second-class citizens.

    And:

    Hindutva doesn’t stop at India’s borders. Hindu nationalists have used the ongoing conflict in Gaza to vilify other Muslims globally. BJP troll farms have spread disinformation and anti-Palestinian hatred online, and Hindu nationalist groups in India have organised pro-Israel marches.

    In other words:

    To Hindu nationalists, some Zionists were engaged in a project to reclaim their holy land from a Muslim population whose religious roots in the region were not as ancient as their own.

    India: leveraging US power?

    Both Hindutva and Zionist ideologies are based on purging a holy land from Muslim savages. And, it is that figure of Muslim savages that has a powerful currency in Israeli and Indian culture of Muslims as an uncontrollable, animalistic, Other. Journalist Azad Essa explains how the connecting factor for contemporary iterations of Zionist and Hindutva ideologies is a tussle for US imperialist support:

    The Indian American lobby—or, more accurately, the Hindu nationalist lobby—literally modeled itself on organizations like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as they looked to replicate their methods in hustling for influence over the US government.

    Essa concludes that:

    Ultimately, Hindu nationalists have tried to align Indian interests with US power—and given the silence in the media and among US lawmakers about the rise of Hindutva, the occupation in Kashmir, and the attack on India’s minorities, including Muslims and Christians, I’d say they have been pretty successful.

    India’s latest attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir are yet another attempt to continue the persecution of Kashmiri Muslims. Any similarities to Israel’s mode of operation in Palestine are further evidence of Hindu nationalist ideology built on Islamophobia and colonial domination. And, as with Palestine, the US’ alignment with Indian interests will likely be the difference between life and death for Kashmiris.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Maryam Jameela

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • As news of Operation Sindoor broke on May 7, a 21-second video featuring several men and hijab-clad women running helter-skelter amid some debris was widely shared on social media claiming that the footage shows the aftermath of Indian air strikes.

    A fortnight after a terrorist attack in Pahalgam had killed 26 people, Indian Armed Forces in the early hours of May 7 hit nine sites containing terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK from where attacks against India had been planned and directed. The Union ministry of defence described the action as “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature”, with no Pakistani military facilities having been targeted.

    An X-user, Janardan Mishra (@janardanspeaks), shared the video clip with a caption, which can be roughly translated as, “He who has entered your house and dug your grave is Modiji, sitting on the throne in Delhi.” The caption is suggestive of the condition of the people seen in the video to be from Pakistan. (Archive)

    The post has garnered over 6,46,600 views.

    X user Deepak Sharma (@SonOfBharat7), who amplifies misinformation and propaganda on a regular basis, also shared the video praising Indian Army for their display of valour. In the tweet, Sharma quipped that India first suspended water supply to Pakistan and then “set it on fire.” He further claimed that Pakistanis was now praying to Allah to save them — especially from Prime Minister Modi.

    The tweet has been viewed over 4 Lakh times. 

    On Facebook, a user named Ayesha SDhar shared the same video and claimed that it showed the condition of Pakistan’s Bahawalpur in the morning after the air strike. (Archive)

    OPRETION SINDUR

    ‘অপারেশন সিন্দুর’ 🔥🔥
    এটা নতুন ভারত 🇮🇳🚩 সকালের চিত্র পাকিস্তানের ভাওয়ালপুর এর
    #highlightseveryone #Pakistan 😂

    Posted by Ayesha SDhar on Tuesday 6 May 2025

    The post has received around 10,000 views.

    Similarly, various YouTube channels, including RSS vlogs, ind vs pak, Baba Tv, and others have shared the video with similar claims.

    Fact Check

    Upon close examination of the video, we located a watermark reading “Nour Alzaharna”.

    Taking cue from this, we conducted a keyword search on Instagram and identified Nour Alzaharna’s account, where the same video was originally uploaded on April 4, 2025. 

    In the caption of the video, Nour wrote, “Please be with us, we are dying every second. We need your support.”

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Nour Alzaharna (@nouralzaharna)

    According to the profile bio, Nour is from Gaza, and the video footage featured the destruction caused by Israeli strikes in Gaza.

    To ascertain this further, we performed another keyword search and came across an Al Jazeera news report dated April 4 with the headline, “More than 30 people killed by Israel as Gaza supplies run out”. The report contained a video from the same location with people running in all direction in utter confusion.

    To sum up, the video in question depicts an unknown location Gaza following an Israeli strike on April 4. The video has no connection with India, Pakistan, or Operation Sindoor. The social media claims surrounding the clip are false.

    The post War-ravaged Gaza video from April shared as Operation Sindoor aftermath in Pakistan appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The current Kashmir crisis involves at least two nuclear powers – India and Pakistan. And it threatens to escalate quickly. But just as Israel’s oppression of people in occupied Palestine started long before 7 October 2023, India’s oppression of people in occupied Kashmir started long before 22 April this year. It’s a “forever war” with deep roots in noxious colonial rule, resource conflict, and the power games of global superpowers. And we need to understand these three points of context a lot better in order to avert nuclear disaster.

    1) British colonialism set the divisive ball rolling

    Much as the shameful and messy final days of British colonialism helped to bring death and destruction to Palestine, they also paved the way for a similar situation in Kashmir. Because Britain didn’t just hand Muslim-majority Kashmir to repressive Hindu rulers (without consulting the Kashmiri people) in the mid-1800s, as part of its ‘divide and rule’ policy to foster religious friction. It also allowed Kashmir’s regime, during the disastrous partition of ‘British India’, to pull the region into Indian control when it should have joined Pakistan (according to the logic of religious division). Anti-Muslim massacres and large-scale ethnic cleansing and displacement followed.

    Britain was quick to leave the newly independent nations to deal with the consequences of its colonial meddling. Its implementation of partition was catastrophic (much as it was in Palestine), either by design, incompetence, disinterest, or a toxic mixture of it all. This caused immense suffering for millions of people. And it left behind a strong legacy of conflict, division, and instability. The subsequent wars between India and Pakistan, often over Kashmir, were very much the spawn of this colonial shambles.

    The UN has consistently called for a plebiscite to allow Kashmiris to decide their own fate. India has rejected these calls. When resistance against Indian occupation in Kashmir increased from 1989, the occupiers responded by disappearing thousands of people and killing tens of thousands. There were also “mass permanent settlements of outsiders” in the region, and some have called the situation an “ongoing genocide“.

    2) A battle for Kashmir’s water amid climate breakdown

    Pakistan has an important border with China thanks to the part of Kashmir under its control. But India has something potentially even more precious within the part of Kashmir it occupies: the water that flows from the Himalayas down into (mostly) Pakistan, which is becoming less stable as a result of global warming. Back in 2016, the BBC was already talking about potential “water wars” between India and Pakistan as a result.

    Natural resource wealth in Kashmir, of wood and minerals in addition to water, makes it an important asset for any government. But India in particular, home to a growing population currently standing at 1.4 billion people, has a huge water crisis. And that threatens its economic future. As the International Centre for Sustainability has said, “water is the ultimate resource war of the 21st century“.

    Highly controversial Hindu-nationalist leader Narendra Modi made a big power play in this arena in 2019 when he stripped away the limited autonomy of Indian-occupied Kashmir. This was a provocative and pivotal change in the “world’s most militarized zone“, whose importance was underplayed in Western media. According to Kashmir scholars, it marked an intensification of an annexation plan that had been decades in the making.

    Serious abuses followed as Modi sought to consolidate the land grab. These included “unlawful killings“, gender-based violence, attempts at cultural erasure, the arming of Hindu militias, “Indian soldiers prominent on the streets 24/7“, and “house raids and arbitrary arrest” of dissenting voices. Despite being a warzone and site of intense repression, though, the Indian regime pushed tourism in the area too.

    3) The global neoliberal-nationalist alliance

    India initially remained independent (but left-leaning) during the Cold War and stood alongside anti-colonial movements around the world. Pakistan, on the other hand, fell quickly into the US anti-communist camp, with its autocratic regimes receiving significant military aid as a result. This lucrative alliance severely undermined secular progressives and empowered ultra-conservative elements in the country, helping Pakistan to build nuclear weapons. The reality the US had fostered eventually led to increasing tensions between Pakistan and Washington in the early 21st-century, pushing Pakistan closer to China as a result.

    India, meanwhile, became more attractive to the US as it moved towards neoliberalism in the 1990s. And under Narendra Modi, this has only intensified, alongside increasing inequality, “nutritional deprivation”, and authoritarianism to hold dissent at bay.

    With Donald Trump in particular intensifying a new cold war with China and India having its own issues with China, an increasing US-Indian strategic alliance is in the making (helped by a toxic neoliberal-nationalist affinity). And ignoring the crimes of India’s occupation forces in Kashmir is part and parcel of such an alliance, much as US support for Israeli occupation forces is in Palestine.

    In Britain, meanwhile, establishment tool Keir Starmer overturned his predecessor’s solidarity with Kashmir when he became leader of the Labour Party, quickly cosying up to Modi’s regime.

    Without justice, there will be no peace in Kashmir

    As tensions rise between the nuclear powers in South Asia, it’s clear that, even if India and Pakistan avoid war, a lasting peace will not come without: meaningfully addressing the decades of injustice in Kashmir; fostering respectful diplomacy that can help to deal with the challenges increasingly presented by climate destruction; and working to overcome the deeply engrained ethno-religious division nurtured by British colonialism. Western powers taking the side of another ultra-nationalist occupying power, out of cynical self-interest, will only make matters worse.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • A week after the attacks on tourists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in which 26 people were killed, the media frenzy and war mongering in the region continues in full force. The governments of India and Pakistan continue to announce new measures against each other, while internally seeking to repress anti-war and critical voices.

    In a latest move, Pakistan claimed on Tuesday, April 29 that its armed forces shot down an Indian surveillance drone (quadcopter) which was allegedly trying to violate the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir. Meanwhile, Pakistani officials claim that an attack from India is imminent.

    The post As Threat Of War Grows, Progressive Movements Urge Peace And Sanity appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • India’s Hindutva president, Narendra Modi, has used the Kashmir terrorism incident to abrogate the 1960s Indus Waters Treaty — a longstanding goal of Modi. The Indian version of the “terrorist attack,” most of whose victims were Muslim, has largely been accepted by Western governments without evidence.

    False flags abound nowadays. You may recall that we were told that the most deadly rocket ever fired by Hamas killed only Palestinians in a hospital compound, while the most deadly rocket ever fired by Hezbollah killed only Druze children. I have at present an open mind about what occurred in Kashmir.

    The post Kashmir And The Indus River appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • In a region already on the brink, the latest violence in Indian-occupied Kashmir has intensified a decades-old conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. The attack, which targeted Indian tourists in the Pahalgam valley, killing 26, has quickly escalated into a diplomatic and military standoff. 

    With India and Pakistan trading accusations and retaliatory measures, the potential for full-scale conflict is growing – especially as external players like the US and Israel loom over the situation, each with their own interests in fueling or containing the crisis.

    A web of conspiracy and suspicion has surrounded the incident in Kashmir, with missing links complicating the narrative.

    The post India–Pakistan Standoff: Who Is Fanning Nuclear Flames? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Former UNSCOM weapons inspector Scott Ritter usually provides excellent analysis of geopolitical events and places them in a morally centered framework. However, in a recent X post, Ritter defends a controversial stance blaming Iran for US and Israeli machinations against Iran.

    Ritter opened, “I have assiduously detailed the nature of the threat perceived by the US that, if unresolved, would necessitate military action, as exclusively revolving around Iran’s nuclear program and, more specifically, that capacity that is excess to its declared peaceful program and, as such, conducive to a nuclear weapons program Iran has admitted is on the threshold of being actualized.”

    Threats perceived by the US. These threats range from North Korea, Viet Nam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iran, China, and Russia. Question: Which of the aforementioned countries is about to — or ever was about to — attack the US? None. (Al Qaeda is not a country) So why does Ritter imply that military action would be necessitated? Is it a vestige of military indoctrination left over from his time as a marine? In this case, why is Ritter not focused on his own backyard and telling the US to butt out of the Middle East? The US, since it is situated on a continent far removed from Iran, should no more dictate to Iran what its defense posture should be in the region than Iran should dictate what the US’s defense posture should be in the northwestern hemisphere.

    Ritter: “In short, I have argued, the most realistic path forward regarding conflict avoidance would be for Iran to negotiate in good faith regarding the verifiable disposition of its excess nuclear enrichment capability.”

    Ritter places the onus for conflict avoidance on Iran. Why? Is Iran seeking conflict with the US? Is Iran making demands of the US? Is Iran sanctioning the US? Moreover, who gets to decide what is realistic or not? Is what is realistic for the US also realistic for Iran? When determining the path forward, one should be aware of who and what is stirring up conflict. Ritter addresses this when he writes, “Even when Trump alienated Iran with his ‘maximum pressure’ tactics, including an insulting letter to the Supreme Leader that all but eliminated the possibility of direct negotiations between the US and Iran…” But this did not alter Ritter’s stance. Iran must negotiate — again. According to Ritter negotiations are how to solve the crisis, a crisis of the US’s (and Israel’s) making.

    Iran had agreed to a deal — the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and Germany — collectively known as the P5+1 — with the participation of the European Union. The JCPOA came into effect in 2016. During the course of the JCPOA, Iran was in compliance with the deal. Nonetheless, Trump pulled the US out of the deal in 2018.

    Backing out of agreements/deals is nothing new for Trump (or for that matter, the US). For example, Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement on climate, the Trans-Pacific Partnership on trade, the United Nations cultural organization UNESCO, and the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was subsequently renegotiated under Trump to morph into the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, which is now imperilled by the Trump administration’s tariff threats, as is the World Trade Organization that regulates international trade.

    Should Iran, therefore, expect adherence to any future agreement signed with the US?

    Ritter insists that he is promoting a reality-based process providing the only viable path toward peace. Many of those who disagree with Ritter’s assertion are lampooned by him as “the digital mob, comprised of new age philosophers, self-styled ‘peace activists’, and a troll class that opposes anything and everything it doesn’t understand (which is most factually-grounded argument), as well as people I had viewed as fellow travelers on a larger journey of conflict avoidance—podcasters, experts and pundits who did more than simply disagree with me (which is, of course, their right and duty as independent thinkers), traversing into the realm of insults and attacks against my intelligence, integrity and character.”

    Ritter continued, “The US-Iran crisis is grounded in the complexities, niceties and formalities of international law as set forth in the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT), which Iran signed in 1970 as a non-nuclear weapons state. The NPT will be at the center of any negotiated settlement.”

    Is it accurate to characterize the crisis as a “US-Iran crisis”? It elides the fact that it is the US imposing a crisis on Iran. More accurately it should be stated as a “US crisis foisted on Iran.”

    Ritter argues, “… the fact remains that this crisis has been triggered by the very capabilities Iran admits to having—stocks of 60% enriched uranium with no link to Iran’s declared peaceful program, and excessive advanced centrifuge-based enrichment capability which leaves Iran days away from possessing sufficient weapons grade high enriched uranium to produce 3-5 nuclear weapons.”

    So, Ritter blames Iran for the crisis. This plays off Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has long accused Iran of seeking nukes. But it ignores the situation in India and Pakistan. Although the relations between the two countries are tense, logic dictates that open warring must be avoided lest it lead to mutual nuclear conflagration. And if Iran dismantles its nuclear program? What happened when Libya dismantled its nuclear program? Destruction by the US-led NATO. As A.B. Abrams wrote, Libya paid the price for

    … having ignored direct warnings from both Tehran and Pyongyang not to pursue such a course [of unilaterally disarming], Libya’s leadership would later admit that disarmament, neglected military modernisation, and trust in Western good will proved to be their greatest mistake–leaving their country near defenceless when Western powers launched their offensive in 2011. (Immovable Object: North Korea’s 70 Years at War with American Power, Clarity Press, 2020: p 296)

    And North Korea has existed with a credible deterrence against any attack on it since it acquired nuclear weapons.

    Relevant background to the current crisis imposed on Iran

    1. The year 1953 is a suitable starting point. It was in this year that the US-UK (CIA and MI6) combined to engineer a coup against the democratically elected Iranian government under prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh had committed the unpardonable sin of nationalizing the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
    1. What to replace the Iranian democracy with? A monarchy. In other words, a dictatorship because monarchs are not elected, they are usually born into power. Thus, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi would rule as the shah of Iran for 26 years protected by his secret police, the SAVAK. Eventually, the shah would be overthrown in the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
    1. In an attempt to force Iran to bend knee to US dictate, the US has imposed sanctions, issued threats, and fomented violence.
    1. Starting sometime after 2010, it is generally agreed among cybersecurity experts and intelligence leaks that the Iranian nuclear program was a target of cyberwarfare by the US and Israel — this in contravention of the United Nations Charter Article 2 (1-4):

    1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.

    2. All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.

    3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.

    4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

    1. The Stuxnet virus caused significant damage to Iran’s nuclear program, particularly at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
    1. Israel and the United States are also accused of being behind the assassinations of several Iranian nuclear scientists over the past decade.
    1. On 3 January 2020, Trump ordered a US drone strike at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq that assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani as well as Soleimani ally Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a top Iraqi militia leader.
    1. On 7 October 7 2023, Hamas launched a resistance attack against Israel’s occupation. Since then, Israel has reportedly conducted several covert and overt strikes targeting Iran and its proxies across the region.
    1. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of seeking nukes for nearly 30 years, long before Iran reached 60% enrichment in 2021. In Netanyahu’s book Fighting Terrorism (1995) he described Iran as a “rogue state” pursuing nukes to destroy Israel. Given that a fanatical, expansionist Zionist map for Israel, the Oded-Yinon plan, draws a Jewish territory that touches on the Iranian frontier, a debilitated Iran is sought by Israel.

     

    Oded Yinon Plan

    Says Ritter, “This crisis isn’t about Israel or Israel’s own undeclared nuclear weapons capability. It is about Iran’s self-declared status as a threshold nuclear weapons state, something prohibited by the NPT. This is what the negotiations will focus on. And hopefully these negotiations will permit the verifiable dismantling of those aspects of its nuclear program the US (and Israel) find to present an existential threat.”

    Why isn’t it about Israel’s nuclear weapons capability? Why does the US and Ritter get to decide which crisis is preeminent?

    It is important to note that US intelligence has long said that no active Iranian nuclear weapon project exists.

    It is also important to note that Arab states have long supported a Middle East Zone Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDFZ), particularly nuclear weapons, but Israel and the US oppose it.

    It is also important to note that, in 2021, the U.S. opposed a resolution demanding Israel join the NPT and that the US, in 2018, blocked an Arab-backed IAEA resolution on Israeli nukes. (UN Digital Library. Search: “Middle East WMDFZ”)

    As far as the NPT goes, it must be applied equally to all signatory states. The US as a nuclear-armed nation is bound by Article VI which demands:

    Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.

    Thus, hopefully negotiations will permit the verifiable dismantling of those aspects of the Iranian, US, and Israeli nuclear programs (as well as the nuclear programs of other nuclear-armed nations) that are found to present an existential threat.

    Ritter warns, “Peace is not guaranteed. But war is unless common sense and fact-based logic wins out over the self-important ignorance of the digital mob and their facilitators.”

    A peaceful solution is not achieved by assertions (i.e., not fact-based logic) or by ad hominem. That critics of Ritter’s stance resort to name-calling demeans them, but to respond likewise to one’s critics also taints the respondent.

    Logic dictates that peace is more-or-less guaranteed if UN member states adhere to the United Nations Charter. The US, Iran, and Israel are UN member states. A balanced and peaceful solution is found in the Purposes and Principles as stipulated in Article 1 (1-4) of the UN Charter:

    The Purposes of the United Nations are:

    1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;

    2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;

    3. To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and

    4. To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

    It seems that only by refusing to abide by one’s obligations laid out the UN Charter and NPT that war looms larger.

    In Ritter’s reality, the US rules the roost against smaller countries. Is such a reality acceptable?

    It stirs up patriotism, but acquiescence is an affront to national dignity. Ritter will likely respond by asking what god is dignity when you are dead. Fair enough. But in the present crisis, if the US were to attack Iran, then whatever last shred of dignity (is there any last shred of dignity left when a country is supporting the genocide of human beings in Palestine?) that American patriots can cling to will have vanished.

    By placing the blame on Iran for a crisis triggered by destabilizing actions of the US and Israel, Ritter asks for Iran to pay for the violent events set in motion by US Israel. If Iran were to cave to Trump’s threats, they would be sacrificing sovereignty, dignity, and self-defense.

    North Korea continues on. Libya is still reeling from the NATO offensive against it. Iran is faced with a choice.

    The Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata knew his choice well: “I’d rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.”

    The post Should Iran Bend Knee to Donald Trump? first appeared on Dissident Voice.


    This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Kim Petersen.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Dr. Sabiha Baloch is a woman human rights defender and member of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a network focused on advocating for the human rights and interests of the Baloch people in Pakistan. Dr. Sabiha Baloch has faced reprisals due to her work, including attacks against her family. Notably, her work as a woman human rights defender has led to the abduction of her brother and relative, who were subsequently released after several months in detention. Dr. Sabiha Baloch has been an integral part of peaceful campaigns against extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests in Balochistan. She was part of the Baloch Long March and the Baloch National Gathering in 2024, which faced severe State reprisals, including violence and arrests. Since March 2025, following the arrest of several leading human rights defenders and members of the BYC, Dr. Sabiha Baloch has continued to document and highlight violations, and demand the release of detained colleagues and protesters.

    On 5 April 2025, Pakistani authorities arrested the father of Baloch woman human rights defender Beebow Baloch. He is currently detained at the Hudda District Prison in Balochistan under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Act (MPO). The woman human rights defender Beebow Baloch has also been held at the same prison under the MPO since her arrest on 22 March 2025.

    On 7 April 2025, Pakistani authorities arrested woman human rights defender Gulzadi Baloch in Quetta, Balochistan, with disturbing reports of excessive violence being used during the arrest. For several hours following her arrest, there was no information about her fate or whereabouts, causing serious concerns for her physical and mental safety. She is presently held at the Hudda district prison under the regressive Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Act, which severely restricts access to bail.

    In March 2025 UN experts demanded the release: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/03/pakistan-un-experts-demand-release-baloch-human-rights-defenders-and-end

    The NGO Frontline demands that Baloch human rights defenders in Pakistan are protected from reprisals, and end their ongoing persecution and punishment in the State, including for exercising their right to free expression and peaceful dissent, under the guise of national security.

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/baloch-woman-human-rights-defender-sabiha-baloch-facing-risk-imminent-arrest-and-reprisals

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/father-baloch-woman-human-rights-defender-beebow-baloch-arrested

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/woman-human-rights-defender-gulzadi-baloch-arrested

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • New York, March 21, 2025—Pakistani authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Farhan Mallick, detained in Karachi Thursday by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and cease harassing journalists in retaliation for their journalistic work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

    Mallick, founder of the independent online media platform Raftar, was arrested on accusations of running “several programs against the security establishment.” The FIA had visited Raftar’s office a day earlier, harassed Mallick and his staff, and verbally summoned him to appear at their offices on Thursday, according to a post by Raftar on social platform X. Upon his appearance, he was detained without any official legal notice.

    “The alarming detention of prominent journalist Farhan Mallick, along with the disappearance of journalist Asif Karim Khehtran and the abduction of exiled journalist Ahmed Noorani’s brothers, shows how the Pakistani government has no regard for press freedom and independent journalism. This must stop, and the state of Pakistan should respect the law,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Officials must immediately and unconditionally release Mallick and allow him and his media outlet to independently carry out their work.”

    On Friday, Mallick appeared before the Judicial Magistrate (East) court in Karachi, where the magistrate ordered him placed in FIA custody for four days. The journalist’s lawyer told the court that he was detained despite previous orders from the Sindh High Court preventing any legal action against him.

    In late 2024, Mallick said that FIA agents briefly detained him at Karachi’s airport and stopped him from boarding a flight to Doha, telling him after the flight left that he was on a travel ban list. After being subjected to two FIA inquiries the month before, he had petitioned the Sindh High Court to stop the harassment, he said.

    Raftar, whose YouTube channel has about 750,000 followers, describes itself as “a dynamic platform dedicated to driving social change through the power of storytelling.” The outlet produces reports and documentaries on economic, political, and security issues in Pakistan. Mallick was previously news director of privately owned TV channel Samaa TV.

    CPJ’s messages for comment to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar have received no response.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


  • This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • They say only bad news from Balochistan makes the headlines–Pakistan’s largest and most impoverished province marred in a decades long insurgency. The local newspapers are flooded with the news of people being killed in bomb blasts, target killings and the loss of lives in incidents of terrorism. However, amid this backdrop of turmoil, a problem that is just as terrible is subtly developing: climate change. Its perennial consequences are changing the lives of women and children, particularly in the remote and underprivileged parts of Balochistan.

    Noora Ali, 14, was oblivious to the temperature shifts because she had grown up in Turbat, a city around 180 kilometres Southwest of Gwadar, the center of CPEC( China-Pakistan Economic Corridor)–a bilateral project to would facilitate trade between China and Pakistan valued at $46 billion. There was frequent flooding during the monsoon season and blazing heatwaves during the summer, with temperatures rising above 51 centigrade. Compared to other cities in Balochistan, Turbat experiences horrible summers and typical winters. As a result, the majority of wealthy families in the city travel to Gwadar, Quetta, or Karachi during the sweltering summers and return to Turbat during the winters. The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) moved Noora’s father, who works there, to the neighboring Coastal city of Gwadar in 2022.

    In February of 2022, the sea seemed calmed while boats of the fishermen busily dotted the waters of the Padi Zir (Gwadar’s West bay). It was a typical Thursday morning when rain started pouring down. The rain was so intense that the sea became wild. The roads were washed away, bridges collapsed, streets were inundated with flood water, and the port city became completely disconnected from the rest of the country. Back in Turbat, her ancestral hometown was also submerged under flood water.

    Noora had also heard from her schoolmates that Gwadar and Turbat had never experienced such heavy and intense rainfall before. She knew and felt that the temperature of her native city was rising and that Gwadar beneath flood water didn’t seem normal. “This is due to climate change,” her elder brother tells her. At the age of 14, most youth in Pakistan’s Balochistan have no idea what climate change and global warming are, but they are already feeling it impacts.

    Like Noora, thousands of children in South Asia, particularly Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, and Afghanistan are at the risk of climate related disasters, as per the UNICEF 2021 Children’s Climate Risk Index. The report further reiterates that children in these countries have vigorously been exposed to devastating air pollution and aggressive heatwaves, with 6 million children confronting implacable floods that lashed across these countries in the July of 2024.

    On November 11 and 22, 2024, over 20 youths urged the world leaders to come up with plans to mitigate the impacts of climate change on children at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 29) held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Among those 20 resolute children was 14-years-old Zunaira Qayyum Baloch, representing the 241.5 million children and women of Pakistan.

    Dressed in her traditional Balochi attire, with a radiant smile and resolute in her commitment, Zunaira Qayyum Baloch has startled everyone. Hailing from the far-flung district of Hub in the Southwest of the Pakistan’s Balochistan, Mrs. Baloch went to represent the children of a country whose carbon footprint is next to zero, yet suffering some of the worst climate-related disasters. Her message to world leaders was clear: step up and combat climate-induced inequalities, particularly those affecting women and children.

    She had always remained conscious about the changing climate in her city, observing the floods of 2022 that had wrecked havoc in Hub Chowki, initiating awareness programmes and youth advocacy guide training in her home city to advocate for girls right to education and climate change.

    “After my father passed away, my mother became the sole breadwinner. She helped us get an education and met all our requirements,” Zunaira explains. “During the catastrophic rains of 2022, an incident changed my perspective on climate change. Rain water had accumulated in the roof of our home and streets were flooded with water. The destruction was so overwhelming, and I realised that such events were no longer rare but increasing constantly.”

    Zunaira Baloch basically hails from the Zehri town of the Khuzdar district. With her journey starting from the Zehri town of Balochistan, she became completely determined to make a difference–initiating awareness drives in her community and educating the people particularly children about climate resilience.

    During the COP29, she expressed her concerns with the experts about how Pakistan, particularly Balochistan has been detrimentally affected by climate disasters like frequent floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, and droughts. Lamenting that climate change was a child-rights crisis, she told the world how changes in the climate had jeopardised the lives of millions of women and children throughout the world.

    Asking the world leaders to join determined children like her to combat climate change, she addressed them in the COP29: “Climate change matters to me, and it should matter to you too.”

    Both Noora and Zunaira are children’s of a backward region of the world, grappling with the harrowing reality of climate change. Given that Noora represents those children unaware of the technicalities of climate change, Zunaira is a resolute hope for Balochistan, leading children like Noora to recognize and combat the stark reality of climate crisis.

    Stark Reality of the Past

    Bibi Dureen, 80, is a witness of how climate is continuously transforming. With wrinkles on her face and a pointed nose, she hails from the outskirts of the Kech district in a town called Nasirabad.

    “The seasons are changing,” she says, her voice laced with sorrow. “The heatwaves have become more aggressive and floods are common. It all started in 1998 in Turbat. Then in 2007, a devastating flood destroyed our homes, date palm trees, livestock–and worst of all, it took lives.” She pauses, her wrinkled hands trembling.

    As she talks to me in front of her thatched cottage, through which sunlight streams in, tears well up in her eyes as she recalls a haunting childhood memory. “I was a small child at that time. It was a pitch-black night and the rain was pouring down mercilessly when a man came shouting that the flood water had reached the fields.” She exclaims, “My mother, desperate to save what little we had, sent her only son, Habib, 16–our family’s only breadwinner–to find the only cow we had in the fields. Neither the cow nor Habib came back. Later some men found his dead body in the jungle.”

    In June 2007, when the Cyclone Yemyin hit the coast of Balochistan, it wrought unprecedented damage to the province, particularly Turbat, Pasni and Ormara. It rendered 50,000 homeless within 24 hours, including children. According to reports 800,000 were affected and 24 went missing.

    The 2022 floods had a devastating impact across Pakistan, Balochistan being one of the hardest-hit. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) reported that 528 children had died nationwide, 336 from Balochistan.

    Tragedy struck again in 2024 when torrential rains engulfed 32 districts of Balochistan, particularly the port city of Gwadar and Kech district. The PDMA put the death toll at 170, 55 of which were children.

    These statistics highlight how urgently appropriate plans and proper strategies for disaster preparedness and loss mitigation in Balochistan must be developed. While extreme weather events such as floods become more common, the need to fight climate change has never been greater.

    The Double Crisis Facing Girls: Heatwaves, period poverty

    Regions in Balochistan have seen severe heatwaves in the past few decades. In May 2017, the mercury rose to a record breaking 53.5 centigrade in Turbat, making the district the second hottest locale in 2017 after Mitribah, Kuwait. During heatwaves, cases of fainting and health-related illness among residents, particularly among children are common. According to a 2023 report by the Pakistan Meteorological Department, Balochistan has seen a 1.8°C rise in average temperature over the past three decades, leading to longer and harsher heatwaves.

    Dr Sammi Parvaz, a gynaecologist at the teaching hospital in Turbat, relates that rising temperatures in the district not only contribute to higher dropout rates among school-age girls, but their menstrual cycle is also affected.

    “According to the recent research of the National Institute of Health (NIH), menstruation … is severely affected in countries which are vulnerable to climate change and Pakistan is one them,” she explains. “The menstruation in girl children living in extreme heat, such as in Turbat and Karachi, becomes very intense, painful and with cramps.”

    Dr Sammi further elaborates that this phenomenon is linked to the increased release of cortisol and estrogen, the hormones which regulate the female reproductive cycle. “Girl children exposed to harsher environments such as severe heat or cold, experience hormonal imbalances leading to irregular periods and severe menstrual cramps. The hospitals in Turbat are frequented by patients suffering from intense cramps or irregular periods.”

    Hygiene becomes another pressing issue during floods, especially for young girls. Research published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health states that floodwater contains lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other chemicals which are cited as causes of irregular periods.

    Overcoming the stigma around periods is a daunting task, particularly in small towns in Balochistan where cultural norms and practices have a strong hold on communities. During floods, thousands of girls struggle with menstruation amid the disasters and lack of menstruation products. For instance, after the 2022 floods, 650,000 pregnant women and girls in Pakistan were without essential maternal care, with a significant proportion from Balochistan.

    Amid all this chaos, climate activists like Zunaira Qayyum Baloch helped raise awareness while women like Maryam Jamali work directly on the ground to ensure that every women has rations in her household and had access to feminine hygiene products during catastrophes.

    Madat Balochistan–a non-profit organisation–has supported 31,000+ people across 34 districts in Sindh and Balochistan. With its major work concentrated in and around Quetta, Dera Bugti, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi, Sohbatpur, and Khuzdar, the proudly women-led NGO prioritizes women and girls in its work because even on the frontlines, they are bearing most of the cost of climate change, according to its co-founder, Maryam Jamali.

    “Our conversations on climate change vulnerability often treat everyone as ‘equal’ in terms of impact, when that is far from the truth. Vulnerability is a multi-dimensional concept and in a country like Pakistan where most of the women and girls are pushed to the margins of society in every way possible–we cannot just overlook their struggles,” says Jamali.

    Take the 2022 floods, for example–the most recent catastrophes etched in our memories. Women and girls were responsible for most of the labour when it came to evacuating to safer places. As soon as they did, their needs when it came to menstruation or pregnancy care were completely ignored by aid agencies as they sent out packages or set up medical camps. Most of our work at Madat was compensating for things like this. We worked with midwives to ensure that women who could not stand in lines for ration received it regardless or women who did not want to interact with male doctors didn’t have to. In our housing projects, we prioritize women especially those who don’t have a patriarch in the household because that severely limits their access to resources for rehabilitation.

    Floods, heatwaves, and other natural calamities are gender-neutral. However, girls are more likely to be negatively affected. According to the UN Assistant Secretary-General Asako Okai, when disaster strikes, women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men. In Pakistan, 80% of people displaced by climate disasters are women and children, and the province of Balochistan is a stark reflection of this statistic.

    In patriarchal societies, women and girls are the primary caregivers of the family, and they are the only ones growing crops, doing household chores, and fetching firewood and water. With little or no potable water nearby, girls have to travel far to help their parents, making them vulnerable.

    These household responsibilities create an educational gap, and girls are taken out of schools in Balochistan during floods. With Pakistan’s lowest girl literacy rate at just 27 per cent , the International Rescue Committee (IRC) reported that the province of Sindh and Balochistan have seen greater educational disruptions due to heatwaves and floods, with the 2022 flood causing more educational institutions closure than the combined two year COVID-19 pandemic.

    With 47 percent of it’s child population out of school, extreme heatwaves and recurrent flooding in Balochistan have further compounded this absenteeism. For instance, the 2022 flood damaged or destroyed 7,439 schools in the province, affecting the education of over 386,600 students, 17,660 teachers, and staff members. Reports also mention that most of the government schools were used as flood shelters in the province. In the 2024 floods, 464 schools were again damaged.

    The destruction of educational infrastructure has forced many children out of school, contributing to the province’s high out-of-school rate.

    Monsoon Brides during floods

    Though floodwater is no longer accumulating in the Mulla Band Ward of Gwadar district in Balochistan, the damage it has wrought will stay with the people for a long time for many years. For 16-year-old Gul Naz–a pseudonym–the loss has been devastating.

    She was only 16 years when flood water entered their home in 2022. Her father, being a fisherman, struggled to make ends meet, as the sea was completely closed for fishing, cutting off the family’s only source of income.

    “I was in the Jannat Market and when I returned home, I was told by my mother that my marriage has been fixed to a man twice my age in exchange for money.” She discloses that her parents were given Rs.50,000 ($178.50) which is a whooping sum for a poor family who survive on around one dollar a day.

    “I have two kids now, and I am a child raising a child.”

    The sadness in Gul Naz’s voice is palpable, and she isn’t alone in her predicament. During floods and emergency situations, families in Balochistan resort to desperate means for survival. The first and most obvious way is to give their daughters away in marriage for financial relief–a practice that usually surges during monsoon season, earning the name monsoon brides.

    In Pakistan’s Sindh province this trend is more prevalent, with a spike in the number of monsoon brides during the last flash floods of 2022. In the Khan Mohammad Mallah Village, Dadu district, approximately 45 were married off in that year, according to an NGO Sujag Sansar which works to reduce child marriages in the region.

    Pakistan stands sixth in the world in marriages below age 18. While there has been a reduction in child marriages in Pakistan in recent years, UNICEF warns that extreme weather patterns put the girl children at risk.

    Madat Balochistan has also been in the forefront in reducing child marriages in Balochistan. “It’s not intuitive to think of girls’ education or loan relief or housing provision as measures to build climate change resilience, but in our contexts these are the very things that drive vulnerability to climate change,” says Maryam Jamali. “We have been working on supporting farmers with loan relief so that young girls aren’t married off to compensate for the financial burden of loans after a lost harvest. We are also working on initiatives for sustainable livelihoods for women as well as ensuring that young girls in all the communities we work in have access to education despite geographic or financial limitations.”

    Maryam Jamali thinks that gender inequality is one of the biggest aspects here which makes it absolutely necessary for a region like Balochistan, where physical vulnerability and socio-economic vulnerability is high, to have young girls at the decision-making table.

    “Activists like Zunaira can ensure that when we come up with solutions for climate change, we contextualize them through a gender lens and make sure that this does not become another instance of taking away women’s agency, but becomes an opportunity to involve them in climate change policy decision-making,” Maryam discloses. “ It is rewarding to see the girls we support do great things. One of our girls from Musakhel is studying at Cadet College Quetta, the first in her family to be able to pursue education beyond 8th grade.”

    The Way forward

    “Extreme weather can fuel conflict and be a threat multiplier,” says Advocate Siraj Gul, a lawyer at the Balochistan High Court, Quetta, citing the recent research published in the journal Alternatives: Global, Local, Political.

    Hailing from the Makran division , he stresses that the decades long running insurgency in Balochistan stems from human rights violations, inequality and government negligence. “Climate related catastrophes further destabilise the region’s development. For instance, there was a surge in the number of protests during the 2022 floods in Gwadar, Lasbela and Turbat, reflecting the deep frustration and despair of the people.”

    According to Mr. Gul, if children like Zunaira are given a platform to speak and work for Balochistan, they are not merely advocating for the environment; they are working for a more peaceful and tranquil region.

    In the impoverished regions of the world where climate change fuels droughts, flood and heatwaves, children are the ones to bear. Some are taken out of school, pushed into labor or given away in marriage but if empowered, can become advocates for change like Zunaira Qayyum Baloch. The world needs to provide climate resilient infrastructure and child-oriented disaster relief programs while the global leaders at COP30 had better ensure that climate-torn regions like Balochistan receive the technical and financial support they desperately need.

    The post When the Earth Heats Up: Zunaira Baloch and the Human Cost of Climate Change in Balochistan first appeared on Dissident Voice.

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  • Pakistan is one of the largest countries in South Asia. Ever since its formation in 1947, it has been politically dominated by a coalition of landed and military elites who rule over millions of impoverished citizens mainly by force. Attempts to break this dominance and establish a truly popular government independent of the military establishment have mostly failed. Meanwhile, the ruling classes in Pakistan have been unable to industrialize and democratize the state. Their deep dependence on rent and the interests of the imperialists are in complete opposition to the popular aspirations and sentiments of the people.

    The post Will Pakistan Remain A US Proxy Or Become A Regional Partner? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

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  • The Media’s Role in Fueling Misinformation

    British society has been dealing with organised child exploitation through grooming gangs for an extended period. Official data contradicts media perceptions about who engages in these criminal activities by showing Pakistani men are not the main offenders. Official Home Office data indicates that defendants facing child sexual abuse prosecution in England and Wales are predominantly white since their number reaches 88 percent. News reports on offences by South Asian individuals receive unusually high attention from media outlets thus perpetuating racial misconceptions that deepen societal rifts.

    The Origins of a Racialized Narrative

    Forces of public discussion concerning grooming gangs grew stronger as three important cases occurred in Rotherham, Rochdale, and Telford during the early 2010s. Policing and child protection institutions revealed organisational breakdowns in their investigations while media discussion primarily focused on the racial backgrounds of the offenders. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) produces reports showing child exploitation happens throughout all racial and social backgrounds but Pakistani and South Asian men still face political accusations as chief perpetrators.

    The selective nature of this presentation has occurred previously. A series of investigative reports from The Times during 2011 identified Pakistani men as responsible for most grooming incidents. The overall issue of child sexual abuse transcends specific ethnic groups even though select cases linked South Asian offenders to the crime. Statistics from the National Crime Agency (NCA) confirm that white men carry out most cases of organised child exploitation but these crimes remain substantially underreported in the media.

    How the Stereotype Affects Pakistani Families

    The institutionalised stereotyping of Pakistani families in the United Kingdom has produced severe negative results. The students of Pakistani descent experience school discrimination through stereotype abuse which links them to sex exploitation gangs. A 2020 Runnymede Trust report documented Pakistani students who described teacher and peer bullying together with being labelled as “rapists” and experiencing suspicion. Community members and employers also share the same prejudice toward Pakistani families that starts in educational institutions.

    Research shows doses of bigotry against Muslim communities have grown because of recent media accounts. Statistics gathered by Tell MAMA demonstrate that reports about South Asian male grooming incidents led to an increase in Islamophobic incidents. Social isolation and vandalism attacks against Pakistani businesses and their families can be found in certain areas.

    Systemic Failures in Addressing Child Exploitation

    The genuine matter at hand concerns institutional missteps rather than the ongoing focus on ethnicity in political discussions. Vulnerable children received failed protection from both the police force and social services departments and government agencies because these institutions did not respond to abuse reports because of limited resources and poor management. The Jay Report (2014) uncovered that agency authorities neglected multiple reports of child exploitation in the Rotherham child abuse scandal for more than a decade.

    The collective resources should move away from ethnic considerations so they focus on enhancing child protection legislation while training police forces and improving victim assistance services. The Children’s Commissioner has reported significant issues in both the reporting and handling of child sexual abuse incidents regardless of the racial background of abusers.

    Why Pakistanis Are Targeted in This Narrative

    The way grooming gang discussion has turned racial shows how British society generally views Asians and Muslims. Right-wing media together with politicians exploit this topic to advance immigration control measures and strengthen Muslim community monitoring. The English Defence League (EDL) uses Pakistani and Muslim communities as a focal point to rally their members while they organise protests that lead to violent incidents.

    Throughout history the United Kingdom tends to blame minority communities for addressing broader social issues. The criminal investigation of Pakistani men for grooming gangs matches historical patterns of moral panics that previously targeted black muggers during the 1970s and Irish immigrants throughout the 20th century. Extending responsibility to an individual ethnicity creates diversion from institutional breakdowns that exist in police organisations and welfare agencies.

    A Call for Evidence-Based Solutions

    To combat child exploitation effectively, the UK must adopt a zero-tolerance policy that is not influenced by racial biases. Recommendations include:

    • Improved police training to handle child exploitation cases effectively.

    • Better data collection on grooming gangs that avoids racial profiling.

    • Stronger victim support services to ensure survivors receive adequate care.

    • Accountability for institutional failures, including oversight of law enforcement agencies.

    The UK is implementing key recommendations to combat child exploitation effectively. These include improved police training, better data collection, stronger victim support services, and accountability for institutional failures. Police training should focus on recognising signs of exploitation and understanding grooming complexities. Data collection methods should focus on behaviours and patterns, avoiding racial profiling. Stronger victim support services should ensure survivors receive adequate care and support. Independent oversight bodies should monitor law enforcement and other institutions. Additional strategies include community engagement and awareness campaigns, partnership and collaboration between law enforcement, social services, schools, and community organisations, and the development and enforcement of robust legal frameworks. These strategies aim to move towards a more equitable approach to combating child exploitation. For more insights, refer to the UK Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s report.

    National authorities in the UK execute essential recommendations to overcome child exploitation better. The UK is adopting four primary measures to enhance child exploitation combat through upgraded police teaching combined with better statistical data acquisition and enhanced victim care programs and institutional oversight systems. The training curriculum for police officers must teach them to detect exploitation indicators as well as complex grooming procedures. Data collection systems should analyse behavioural activities and detect patterns instead of adapting racially biased approaches. The delivery of victim support should achieve complete care and support for survivors through improved service approaches.

    External supervision institutions need to monitor both law enforcement departments along with other institutions. Effective child exploitation prevention strategies necessitate active collaboration between law enforcement, social services, schools, and community organisations, as well as community outreach and public education programs. Strict legal systems are also necessary. Such measures work toward building a more fair method of fighting child exploitation. The complete UK Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s report contains additional detailed information about this subject.

    Conclusion: Separating Fact from Fiction

    The obsessive focus on Pakistani males in grooming gang stories produces misleading information which proves detrimental to both social harmony and genuine investigation. Racial stereotyping exacerbates social tensions, obscures institutional shortcomings, and places an undue burden on communities that bear no responsibility. The UK needs to stop blaming racial groups for its child protection problems while establishing complete child safety measures that approach the fundamental causes of child exploitation. Society guarantees child protection for children of every background through such measures alone.

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