INDIA and Pakistan have exchanged a series of diplomatic measures after prime minister Narendra Modi blamed Pakistan for a deadly shooting in Pahalgam, Kashmir, in which 26 civilians were killed.
Modi said India would identify and punish those behind the attack and accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism.
"I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer," Modi said in his first speech since the incident. "We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth."
Indian police have identified two of the three suspected gunmen as Pakistani nationals.
The attack in Pahalgam, a tourist area in the Muslim-majority Kashmir region, was the deadliest against civilians in 25 years. Previous attacks had mostly targeted Indian security forces.
Following the attack, New Delhi suspended a water-sharing treaty, shut down the main land border crossing with Pakistan, downgraded diplomatic ties, and withdrew visas for Pakistani citizens.
In response, Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the National Security Committee on Thursday in Islamabad, attended by top military officials including Army Chief Asim Munir.
"Any threat to Pakistan's sovereignty and to the security of its people will be met with firm reciprocal measures in all domains," said a statement from Sharif’s office.
The statement added: "In the absence of any credible investigation and verifiable evidence, attempts to link the Pahalgam attack with Pakistan are frivolous, devoid of rationality and defeat logic."
Tit-for-tat measures
Pakistan responded by expelling Indian diplomats, cancelling visas for Indian nationals except Sikh pilgrims, and ordering Indian military advisers to leave the country.
Islamabad also said the Wagah border crossing in Punjab would be shut from both sides. It warned that any Indian move to stop water supply from the Indus River would be considered an "act of war".
Indian police said the three gunmen belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based group listed by the United Nations as a terrorist organisation.
Police have announced a reward of two million rupees (around $23,500) for information leading to each gunman’s arrest.
While most of the actions by both sides are symbolic, there are concerns in India and Pakistan that the tensions could escalate further. In 2019, a suicide bombing in Kashmir that killed 41 Indian troops led to Indian airstrikes in Pakistan.
At the Wagah-Attari border, some Pakistani nationals had already begun leaving.
"We just want to go home," said Mehnaz Begum, a businessman from Karachi.
Modi: ‘Will break their backbone’
Modi led two minutes of silence in memory of the victims. All but one of those killed were Indian nationals.
"I say this unequivocally: whoever has carried out this attack, and the ones who devised it, will be made to pay beyond their imagination," he said during a visit to Bihar.
"Whatever little land these terrorists have, it's time to reduce it to dust. The willpower of 1.4 billion Indians will break the backbone of these terrorists."
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since 1947. Both countries claim the territory in full but control different parts.
An insurgency has continued in Indian-administered Kashmir since 1989, with rebel groups calling for either independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Indian forces have launched a search operation in the region, and several people have been detained. The army said a soldier was killed on Thursday during a clash with gunmen in Basantgarh, Kashmir.
Shock and fear in Kashmir
Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, remained calm on Thursday, but residents expressed concern about the impact of the attack.
"Everyone I have spoken to is heartbroken and shocked," said Siddhi Wahid, a Kashmiri historian and political commentator.
The attack occurred on Tuesday as tourists visited Pahalgam. According to survivors interviewed by Indian media, the gunmen emerged from nearby forests and fired into crowds.
Some said those who recited the Islamic declaration of faith were spared.
In Pakistan, activists and religious groups held anti-India protests.
The attack has led to increased tension for Kashmiri students in India, who say they are facing harassment.
"It is a deliberate and targeted campaign of hate and vilification against students from a particular region and identity," said Nasir Khuehami, convenor of the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association.
He was jailed in October after admitting to breaching an injunction that barred him from repeating false claims about a Syrian refugee who had successfully sued him for libel. (Photo: Getty Images)
STEPHEN YAXLEY-LENNON, also known as Tommy Robinson, is set to be released from prison within a week after the High Court reduced his 18-month sentence for contempt of court.
The far-right anti-Islam activist was jailed in October after admitting to breaching an injunction that barred him from repeating false claims about a Syrian refugee who had successfully sued him for libel.
The Solicitor General had taken legal action against Yaxley-Lennon for comments made in online interviews and a documentary titled Silenced, which was viewed millions of times and shown in Trafalgar Square in July.
The sentence was made up of a 14-month punitive element and a four-month coercive element. Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson had said the four-month part could be lifted if Yaxley-Lennon complied with the court order to remove Silenced and related content from social media and other platforms.
On Tuesday, Yaxley-Lennon appeared via video link from HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes. His lawyer, Alex Di Francesco, told the court that Silenced had been removed from accounts under his control and that requests were made to remove other interviews where the false allegations were repeated.
Judge Johnson ruled that Yaxley-Lennon had “purged” his contempt. “The practical effect is that the defendant will be released once he has completed the punitive element, which I understand will be within the next week,” he said. The original release date had been set for 26 July, but it has now been moved up to 26 May.
The judge noted that while there was “an absence of contrition or remorse”, Yaxley-Lennon had given assurances that he would comply with the injunction in the future and understood the consequences of breaching it again. The court accepted that he had shown a “change in attitude” and had taken steps to comply with the order.
Yaxley-Lennon, 42, was jailed for 10 admitted breaches of the injunction after two contempt of court claims were brought against him by the Solicitor General. The injunction was first issued in 2021 after he falsely accused a Syrian teenager in a viral video of being violent. The teenager later won a libel case against him.
He was accused by some media and politicians of inflaming tensions that led to riots across Britain in July and August last year, following the murder of three girls at a dance workshop in Southport.
In January, a post from his social media account claimed that US billionaire Elon Musk was paying some of his legal fees. Musk has not confirmed this.
INDIAN authorities have arrested 11 people for allegedly spying for Pakistan, according to local media reports citing police officials.
The arrests follow recent fighting earlier this month in which at least 60 people were killed, reported AFP. The clashes were triggered by an April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing the attackers, a charge Pakistan has denied.
NDTV reported on Monday that nine of the arrests took place in the northern states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Punjab director general of police Gaurav Yadav said two people were arrested for "leaking sensitive military information".
Police received "credible intelligence inputs" that the two were "involved in sharing classified details" linked to Indian strikes inside Pakistani territory on the night of May 6-7.
A preliminary investigation revealed they were in "direct contact" with handlers from Pakistan’s intelligence agency Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) and "had transmitted critical information concerning the Indian Armed Forces," Yadav said.
In Haryana, police arrested a travel blogger last week on similar charges.
Local media reported that the woman had travelled to Pakistan at least twice and had been in contact with an official from the Pakistani embassy.
Others arrested include a student, a security guard and a businessman.
India Today reported that the 11 accused were "lured into the spy network through social media, monetary incentives, false promises, messaging apps and personal visits to Pakistan".
The arrests come after the most serious flare-up between the two countries since their last open conflict in 1999.
A ceasefire was reached after four days of missile, drone and artillery attacks.
(With inputs from AFP)
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Starmer polarised opinion within his own party by using language that is not his own
So who was prime minister Sir Keir Starmer trying to sound like on immigration? Not Enoch Powell, surely, though independent former Labour MP Zarah Sultana alleged the ‘rivers of blood’ speech was quoted with intent. Downing Street scrambled to declare any faint echo unintentional. Briefing that Starmer was really summoning the spirit of Roy Jenkins instead - since Labour's most liberal multiculturalist home secretary did not want unlimited immigration - did not reflect his tone.
The prime minister’s language was deliberately tough - much tougher than the white paper he was recommending. Its principles - controlling migration, to bring the record numbers down, while welcoming contributors, managing impacts and promoting cohesion - could resonate across a Labour electoral coalition which includes migration sceptics, liberals and many ‘balancers’ in between.
Yet, Starmer polarised opinion within his own party by using language that is not his own to parrot arguments he cannot fully believe. Starmer began by co-opting Vote Leave’s slogan “take back control”. “Everyone knows what that slogan meant for immigration”, he said.
Yet on Brexit Day in 2020, Starmer was telling his party members he could respect the referendum result, while bringing back free movement (though he later made the opposite pledge to the general public). Starmer’s foreword citing the ‘incalculable damage’ of high immigration felt like clunky plagiarism of former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman’s warnings about societal collapse. If Starmer believes that too, his white paper should go further towards eliminating net migration, not merely reducing it.
Starmer knows that he did not inherit an ‘open borders’ policy - since the chaotic asylum backlog he inherits was the product of ceasing to process claims. The prime minister could have spoken for this white paper using social democratic arguments that he does believe. At Labour’s last conference, Starmer defended ‘legitimate concerns’ on migration and the need to bring numbers down. Nobody called that Powellite, as it was fused with a repudiation of racism and a clear statement it was ‘toxic’ to blame the migrants who had come to Britain for policy failures of the government.
A measured critique this week from 25 leaders across faith, asking Starmer to lower the temperature noted that the language of ‘incalculable damage’ risks failing this test. A calmer Starmer narrative could still be scathing about the last government saying one thing and doing the opposite. He could be more specific about the promises he can keep to reduce immigration. He was well placed to commit to halving net migration within his first two years in office. A public bruised by broken promises might only believe it when they see it. 460,000 fewer visas in 2024 means the Office of National Statistics will this week report the significant start in cutting net migration within the first six months.
Labour previously opposed a net migration target, so Starmer should offer a Labour argument about why the rate of inflow matters. His most coherent point would be that he wants housing supply to outpace population change comfortably. That is impossible when annual net migration soars above one per cent of the population - but possible if this government committed to keeping that rate below 0.5 per cent - half of the level inherited - while managing it down further where consistent with its growth, training, NHS, climate and education missions. That two-thirds of the public support a new UK-EU youth mobility deal shows the pragmatic permission for managed migration too.
This calmer Starmer should reject the failed tactic of plucking numbers from the air for immigration in five years’ time - and promise instead to report back every year to parliament on numbers, impacts and future policy. That could challenge rivals with slogans about lower levels to make their numbers add up, too. That is how the real-world pragmatists might take back control of the politics of immigration.
Instead, we are debating Powell. Starmer’s contentious “island of strangers” soundbite worried out loud about wanting integration, which Powell declared impossible. But his white paper lacks a coherent agenda on integration. It proposes more migrants - outside graduate jobs - should be guest-workers. More temporary migration sounds like a recipe for more ‘strangers’ as neighbours.
The government proposes that some people who will settle permanently should wait twice as long before becoming British - but offers no evidence about why that would promote integration, not impede it. The distracting guessing game about immigration echoes from past speeches was the symptom of a vacuum in this government’s voice and thinking.
After five years as a party leader, Starmer has yet to offer a substantial public argument about diversity or integration. The conversation about his government’s future is dominated by political tactics - slicing and dicing which voter segments to engage in four years time. Yet the core challenge for the prime minister of this modern Britain is to find his own voice to speak to us all, together, at the same time.
Sunder Katwala is the director of thinktank British Future and the author of the book How to Be a Patriot: The must-read book on British national identity and immigration.
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Nandy became culture secretary after Labour’s election win, following the loss of shadow culture secretary Baroness Debbonaire’s seat.. (Photo: Getty Images)
LISA NANDY’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) may be scrapped under plans being considered by Downing Street as part of a broader civil service efficiency drive. The move would end 33 years of a standalone department for arts and cultural matters and place Nandy’s Cabinet future in doubt.
The government is exploring reallocating DCMS policy briefs to other departments, which could result in job cuts. Cultural and arts issues may be transferred to the Communities Department, and media matters to the Business Department, The Telegraph has reported. Responsibility for the BBC licence fee remains undecided.
No final decision has been made, but formal advice on the department’s closure had been prepared for prime minister Keir Starmer’s March 13 speech, where he announced plans to abolish NHS England and reduce bureaucracy. The announcement was not made then but The Telegraph understands that there remains interest in taking the move in Number 10. Starmer has pledged to streamline the Civil Service, cut running costs by 15 per cent, and move roles outside London.
DCMS was created by prime minister John Major’s government in 1992 as the Department of National Heritage and helped oversee the launch of the National Lottery. In 2023, the department lost oversight of online safety rules to the newly formed Science, Innovation and Technology Department.
Nandy became culture secretary after Labour’s election win, following the loss of shadow culture secretary Baroness Debbonaire’s seat. Her future, along with ministers Sir Chris Bryant, Stephanie Peacock, and Baroness Twycross, is uncertain if the department is closed.
A Downing Street source told The Telegraph, “It is about a lean and agile state. It is not about individuals or reshuffles.”
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Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission and Keir Starmer stand together, ahead of their bilateral meeting at the 6th European Political Community summit on May 16 in Tirana, Albania.
PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer was expected to sign a new agreement with the European Union at a summit in London on Monday, marking the first major step towards closer UK-EU ties since Brexit.
EU and UK negotiators reached agreement on a deal to "reset" their relations post-Brexit, diplomats said, after talks ran into Sunday night to resolve squabbling over key sticking points — with the sensitive matter of fishing rights top of the list.
EU diplomats said member states greenlit a trio of texts to be signed at the summit: a Security and Defence Partnership, a statement of EU-UK solidarity, and a Common Understanding on topics including trade, fishing and youth mobility.
The deal comes after Starmer pushed for a reset in UK-EU relations, arguing that the previous deal negotiated by the Conservative government "isn't working for anyone".
Starmer, who came to power in the July general elections, has stated he will not cross several red lines despite seeking closer cooperation with Europe. Some EU demands had remained unresolved, and the move to reset relations has been criticised by the Conservatives, who have called it a "surrender".
A source close to the talks told AFP there was a "late breakthrough last night (and) still steps to take".
The highlight of the summit between Starmer and EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen, Antonio Costa and Kaja Kallas will be the signing of a "Security and Defence Partnership".
Two other documents are also expected: a joint statement of European solidarity from the EU-UK leaders' summit and a Common Understanding on areas including trade, fishing and youth mobility.
Under the final agreement, Britain will keep its waters open for European fishermen for 12 years after the current deal expires in 2026. In return, the EU will indefinitely ease red tape on food imports from the UK, according to diplomats.
Negotiators also agreed on broad language around youth mobility, leaving detailed discussions for a later stage. The topic remains sensitive, with concerns in London that a youth mobility scheme could be seen as a step back toward freedom of movement between the UK and EU.
Shadow of Russia, Trump
The summit comes amid growing concerns about security in Europe, the threat from Russia, and uncertainty over US support if Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The new defence partnership is expected to enable more regular security discussions, UK participation in EU military missions, and potential access to a 150-billion-euro ($167-billion) EU defence fund.
However, many of the specific terms are still to be negotiated.
Granting the UK’s defence sector full access to EU programmes will require further discussions.
Britain already shares defence ties with 23 EU countries through NATO, making the defence pact one of the easier parts of the agreement to finalise.
"I think we should keep our sense of the importance of this relatively tempered," said Olivia O'Sullivan, director of the UK in the World programme at Chatham House.
"It's the next step in closer cooperation... but not a resolution of many of the outstanding questions," she told AFP.
Starmer has ruled out rejoining the EU customs union and single market, but he appears willing to align with the EU on food and agriculture standards.
Red tape, mobility
"Red tape, all the certifications that are required, we absolutely want to reduce that," said Europe Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK’s chief negotiator, in an interview with the BBC on Sunday. He said delays at borders were causing food to rot in lorries.
While Starmer has ruled out a return to freedom of movement, he is open to a youth mobility scheme allowing 18- to 30-year-olds from the UK and EU to study and work across both regions.
He is approaching the matter cautiously amid increasing support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which is opposed to immigration and the EU.
Thomas-Symonds said any such scheme would be "smart and controlled".
He added that the UK is seeking a faster customs lane for British nationals at EU borders.
"We want British people who are going on holiday to be able to go and enjoy their holiday, not be stuck in queues," he said.