ATTARI, India: Dozens of Pakistani nationals living in India headed to the main land crossing between India and Pakistan on Wednesday, following New Delhi’s decision to order almost all Pakistani citizens to leave the country after last week’s deadly attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
The deadline for Pakistani citizens to leave the country – with exceptions for those who are on medical visas in India – passed on Sunday, but many families were still scrambling to the Indian side of the border in Attari town in northern Punjab state to cross into Pakistan.
Some were arriving on their own and others were being deported by police.
“We have settled our families here. We request the government not to uproot our families,” said Sara Khan, a Pakistani national who was ordered back to Pakistan without her husband, Aurangzeb Khan, who holds an Indian passport.
Waiting on the Indian side of the border crossing, Khan carried her 14-day-old child in her arms. She said Indian authorities did not give her any time to recuperate from a caesarean section and that her long-term visa was valid until July 2026.
“They (authorities) told me you are illegal and you should go,” said Khan, who has been living in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 2017. “They gave us no time. I could not even change my shoes.”
Tensions between rivals India and Pakistan have escalated after gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, near the resort town of Pahalgam in disputed Kashmir.
At least three tourists who survived the massacre said that the gunmen singled out Hindu men and shot them from close range. The dead included a Nepalese citizen and a local Muslim pony ride operator.
India has described the massacre as a “terror attack” and accused Pakistan of backing it. Pakistan has denied any connection to the attack, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.
The massacre set off tit-for-tat diplomatic measures between India and Pakistan that included cancelation of visas and a recall of diplomats. New Delhi also suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad and ordered its border shut with Pakistan. In response, Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines.
As tensions escalate, cross-border firings between Indian and Pakistani soldiers have also increased along the Line of Control, the de facto frontier that separates Kashmiri territory between the two rivals.
Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. New Delhi describes all militancy in Indian-controlled Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.
Meanwhile, India’s cabinet committee on security, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met on Wednesday. It was their second such meeting since the attack.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in separate phone calls with India and Pakistan, stressed the need to “avoid a confrontation that could result in tragic consequences.” The US State Department also called for de-escalation and said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be speaking soon to the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.
The two nations have frequently come to blows over Kashmir in the past, but last week’s massacre has escalated tensions and Modi has repeatedly vowed to pursue and punish the attackers.
Early Wednesday, Pakistan said it had “credible intelligence” that India intends to carry out military action against it in the “next 24-36 hours on the pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement in the Pahalgam incident.”
There was no immediate comment from Indian officials.
Pakistani nationals leave India as tensions between the two nations escalate over Kashmir attack
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Pakistani nationals leave India as tensions between the two nations escalate over Kashmir attack
- Deadline for Pakistani citizens to leave the country – with exceptions for those who are on medical visas in India – passed on Sunday
- But many families still scrambling to the Indian side of the border in Attari town in northern Punjab state to cross into Pakistan
Review: Shawn Chidiac’s stand-up comedy shows London what ‘Laughing in Translation’ is
- Shawn Chidiac is one of the best up-and-coming Arab comedians with over 645,000 followers on Instagram
- His comedic qualities stem from his ability to perform personas and accents inspired by the people he interacts with in Dubai
LONDON: The stand-up comedian Shawn Chidiac’s first challenge upon arriving in London last week was getting used to looking right before crossing the road. However, when he finally did, he bumped into a cyclist who swore at him and sped off.
Chidiac, who is based in the UAE, swore back angrily at the cyclist, an act he would not do in Dubai but felt compelled to since he was on an island where 57 percent of people swear most days. He was in the UK to perform “Laughing in Translation,” his first solo stand-up comedy show since he became a full-time comedian and content creator in 2023.
With over 645,000 followers on his @myparents_are_divorced page on Instagram, he is one of the best up-and-coming Arab comedians. Chidiac’s parents are, indeed, divorced, and the audience at the nearly sold-out show at Shaw Theatre needed no reminder of this. Some of them were eager to share with him that their parents were also divorced.
In a previous conversation with Arab News, the comedian said he likes “connecting as many people as possible through (comedy stories about my) upbringing. Whoever has lived in the Gulf will have a similar story or narrative in their minds.”
Before delving into his childhood and adult life experiences in Dubai, he guided the audience through a brief inner journey, using the commanding, deep voice of an Indian yoga guru, asking them to close their eyes, take a deep breath, and exhale. The audience — mostly young people, some of whom were Arabs or had Arab roots — struggled to maintain a sense of calm.
One of Chidiac’s comedic qualities is his ability to perform personas and accents inspired by the people he interacts with or has witnessed throughout his life in the Gulf, which became a melting pot of nationalities, languages, religions, and cultures. He was born in Canada to a family originally from Lebanon, but they later moved to Dubai, where he was primarily raised by his mother.
He told the crowd that he went to the Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, expecting an English narrator dressed in a three-piece suit, similar to those he had seen in “Downton Abbey” and other historical TV dramas. Instead, he encountered a man from Punjab complaining about the increasing number of immigrants in the UK.
Thanks to the “Chinese DVD man” who roamed the neighborhoods of Dubai, Chidiac was able to keep up with the latest comedy shows and newly released films that his classmates were watching while he attended an expensive school where he was the poorest student. As he was known, the “Chinese DVD man” always had a secret compartment in his suitcase, which did not contain action, racing, or historical movies but another, unnamed genre that sold out quickly.
Chidiac told Arab News that such stories “(come from) the people I know and see, and the things I do, and my interaction with them. So, the more interaction I have, the better it is, which is hard because I’m a massive introvert.”
His interactions in Dubai span many nationalities and cultures. Whether in hospital, where he recently endured the ordeal of kidney stones and had to communicate with a Filipino nurse and an Egyptian doctor, or on a horse riding date with a British woman, which unexpectedly landed him in the sand. When the doctors presented him with options for removing the kidney stones, he chose the shockwave lithotripsy. “As an Arab, I chose the explosives,” he said.
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi marks 80th birthday in junta jail
- She was the figurehead of Myanmar’s decade-long democratic thaw, becoming its de facto leader
- But the generals snatched back power in a 2021 coup, and she was locked up various on charges
YANGON: Myanmar’s deposed democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 80th birthday in junta detention on Thursday, serving a raft of sentences set to last the rest of her life.
Suu Kyi was the figurehead of Myanmar’s decade-long democratic thaw, becoming de facto leader as it opened up from military rule.
But as the generals snatched back power in a 2021 coup, she was locked up on charges ranging from corruption to breaching Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and is serving a 27-year sentence.
“It will be hard to be celebrating at the moment,” said her 47-year-old son Kim Aris from the UK. “We’ve learned to endure when it’s been going on so long.”
He has run 80 kilometers (50 miles) over the eight days leading up to her birthday, and collected over 80,000 well-wishing video messages for his mother.
But Suu Kyi will not see them, sequestered in Myanmar’s sprawling capital Naypyidaw from where the military directs a civil war against guerilla fighters, many of whom took up arms in response to the toppling of her government.
Aris said he has heard from his mother only once via letter two years ago since she was imprisoned.
“We have no idea what condition she’s in,” he said, adding that he fears she is suffering from untreated medical problems with her heart, bones and gums.
Myanmar junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP late on Thursday Suu Kyi “is in good health,” without providing any further details.
No formal celebrations took place in junta-held parts of Myanmar, but a gaggle of followers in military-controlled Mandalay city staged a spontaneous protest ahead of her birthday, local media said.
A few masked protesters showered a street with pamphlets reading “freedom from fear” and “happy birthday” as one member held up a portrait of Suu Kyi in shaky camera footage shared on social media.
“Do you still remember this great person?” asked one of the protesters in the video, which AFP has not been able to independently verify.
Other small protests were also reported, including in a rebel-contested area of northern Sagaing region where women marched holding roses in tribute to the former leader, who famously wore garlands of flowers in her hair.
While Suu Kyi remains hugely popular in the majority Buddhist country, her status as a democracy icon abroad collapsed before the military takeover after she defended the generals in their crackdown against the Rohingya.
Hundreds of thousands of the Muslim minority were sent fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh under her rule, though some argued she was powerless against the lingering influence of Myanmar’s military.
Nonetheless institutions and figures that once showered Suu Kyi with awards rapidly distanced themselves, and her second round of imprisonment has received far less international attention.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, became a champion of democracy almost by accident.
After spending much of her youth abroad, she returned in 1988 to nurse her sick mother but began leading anti-military protests crushed by a crackdown.
She was locked up for 15 years, most of it in her family’s Yangon lakeside mansion where she still drew crowds for speeches over the boundary wall.
The military offered freedom if she went into exile but her poised refusal thrust her into the spotlight and won her the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
Suu Kyi was released in 2010 and led her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to electoral victory in 2015, never formally in charge as army-drafted rules kept her from the presidency.
The NLD said in a statement on Thursday she “must be recognized as an essential figure in any credible and inclusive solution to Myanmar’s ongoing crisis.”
But if the octogenarian were released from her current incarceration, Aris predicts she would likely step back from a “frontline position” in Myanmar politics.
The military has promised new elections at the end of this year, but they are set to be boycotted by many groups comprised of former followers of Suu Kyi’s non-violent vision who have now taken up arms.
Trump will make Iran war decision ‘within next two weeks:’ White House
- “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will decide whether to attack Iran within a fortnight, as Israel and its regional rival continued to trade fire for a seventh day.
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said in a statement read out by his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
Zelensky calls for more pressure on Russia after deadly Kyiv missile strike
He thanked Ukraine’s partners who he said are ready to pressure Russia to “feel the real cost of the war”
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said a Russian missile strike on a nine-story Kyiv apartment building was a sign that more pressure must be applied on Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, as Moscow intensifies attacks in the three-year war.
The drone and missile attack on Kyiv early on Tuesday, the deadliest assault on the capital this year, killed 28 people across the city and injured 142 more, Kyiv Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said on Thursday.
Zelensky, along with the head of the presidential office Andrii Yermak and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, visited the site of the apartment building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district Thursday morning, laying flowers and paying tribute to the 23 people who died there after a direct hit by a missile collapsed the structure.
“This attack is a reminder to the world that Russia rejects a ceasefire and chooses killing,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram, and thanked Ukraine’s partners who he said are ready to pressure Russia to “feel the real cost of the war.”
Intensifying attacks
Tuesday’s attack on Kyiv was part of a sweeping barrage as Russia once again sought to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. Russia fired more than 440 drones and 32 missiles in what Zelensky called one of the biggest bombardments of the war, now in its fourth year.
As Russia proceeds with a summer offensive on parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, US-led peace efforts have failed to gain traction. Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected an offer from US President Donald Trump for an immediate 30-day ceasefire, making it conditional on a halt on Ukraine’s mobilization effort and a freeze on Western arms supplies.
Meanwhile, Middle East tensions and US trade tariffs have drawn world attention away from Ukraine’s pleas for more diplomatic and economic pressure to be placed on Moscow.
Russia in recent weeks has intensified long-range attacks that have struck urban residential areas. Yet on Wednesday, Putin denied that his military had struck such targets, saying that attacks were “against military industries, not residential quarters.”
Speaking to senior news leaders of international news agencies in St. Petersburg, Putin said he was open to talks with Zelensky, but repeated his claim that the Ukrainian leader had lost his legitimacy after his term expired last year — allegations rejected by Kyiv and its allies.
“We are ready for substantive talks on the principles of a settlement,” Putin said, noting that a previous round of talks in Istanbul had led to an exchange of prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers.
Denmark to push for Ukraine’s EU membership during presidency
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has strongly opposed providing NATO military and EU aid to Ukraine
- Ukraine had already initiated the necessary reforms
COPENHAGEN: Denmark will continue preparing Ukraine for EU membership in the face of Hungary blocking negotiations, when the Nordic country takes over the presidency of the European Council from July 1, its European affairs minister said on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, Hungary is blocking and we are trying to put as much pressure there as we can and also do everything we can to make Ukraine continue with the necessary reform work,” European affairs minister Marie Bjerre told a press conference in Copenhagen.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has strongly opposed providing NATO military and EU aid to Ukraine, saying the country’s EU membership would destroy Hungarian farmers and the wider economy.
Ukraine had already initiated the necessary reforms and is ready to speed up the negotiations.
“When we get to the point where we can actually open the specific negotiation chapters, we can be ready to close them very quickly,” Bjerre said.
Denmark will also seek to reach agreement among EU nations on the bloc’s planned 2040 climate goals.
The European Commission plans to propose in July a legally binding target to cut EU countries’ emissions by 90 percent by 2040, from 1990 levels.
Faced with pushback from governments, however, Brussels is assessing options including setting a lower target for domestic industries, and using international carbon credits to make up the gap to 90 percent.
