PRIME minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday (14) that India had called Pakistan's nuclear bluff in recent cross-border air strikes that almost triggered a new war between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have made national security the focus of their campaign for a national election now being held.
The prime minister told an election rally that an air strike inside Pakistan in February had shown that warnings hostilities could escalate into nuclear conflict were false.
"Pakistan has threatened us with nuclear, nuclear, nuclear," Modi told an election rally in Jammu and Kashmir near the border with Pakistan.
"Did we deflate their nuclear threat or not?" he asked the crowd that chanted "Modi, Modi, Modi" in response.
India says its fighter jets bombed a suspected militant installation in Pakistan on February 26 to avenge the killing of 40 paramilitaries by a suicide bomber in Indian Kashmir 12 days earlier.
Pakistan responded by sending its warplanes toward Indian airspace, leading to a dogfight and the downing of an Indian jet.
Military experts have long warned that a conventional armed conflict between the two countries could result in nuclear war and that this was holding them back from a serious showdown.
Pakistan has never made a public nuclear threat. But its prime minister Imran Khan did call on both sides to pull back from the brink in February because of the "weapons we have".
Modi renewed his warning to Pakistan that "his new India" is capable of "eliminating terrorists in their homes".
India has long accused Pakistan of supporting militants in Kashmir, a charge its neighbour denies. The suicide bombing was claimed by a Pakistan-based group however.
The BJP has sought to use security to lead its election campaign amid a surge of nationalist sentiment since the air strikes.
Opposition groups who have questioned the success of the raids have been slammed as "anti-national" by the party.
Modi also vowed that India would never give up its claim to Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries, and has been the cause of two wars between the neighbours since their independence in 1947.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in an insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir since 1989.
Modi attacked opposition parties who he said were working to "separate" Kashmir, the country's only Muslim majority state, from India.
The government currently faces widespread opposition in Kashmir to a plan to scrap a constitutional article that gives the Himalayan region a special autonomous status within India.
Opposition parties accuse Modi of exploiting turbulence in Kashmir to woo Hindu voters in the election.
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)