Indo-Pak conflict LIVE: Pakistan govt vows to rebuild Muridke JuD HQ destroyed by India
India to extend Indus canals to reduce flow to Pakistan; Rahul questions EAM Jaishankar for publicly admitting that govt had informed Pakistan about Op Sindoor
The Pakistan government has assured to rebuild the mosques — the JuD headquarters — at Muridke destroyed in the Indian strike on May 7, the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) has said.
The PMML is a political wing of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Pakistan claims the destroyed structure at Muridke, located at about 40 kms from Lahore, was a mosque and an educational complex.
India extends canals to block Indus flow
As part of its efforts to maximise the use of water that India will get after putting the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, India is planning to increase the length of the Ranbir canal on the Chenab River.
Till now, India has been using limited water from Chenab, mostly for irrigation, but by putting the treaty in abeyance now there is scope of expanding its use, especially in power generation sector to meet the energy demands.
“One of the major plans are enhancing the length of the Ranbir canal to 120 km,” PTI quoted an official as saying, who added that as building of the infrastructure requires time, “all stakeholders have been urged to expedite the process”.
Moreover, the process of desilting has also started on Kathua, Ravi and Paragwal canals.
Rahul attacks EAM
In related news, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, questioned External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for publicly admitting that the Government of India had informed Pakistan about Operation Sindoor and asked how many aircraft the Indian Air Force (IAF) lost as a result.
He also shared an undated video of Jaishankar saying India had informed Pakistan of the action against terror infrastructure on its soil.
Admission from Pakistan PM
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has confirmed that India carried out precision missile strikes on the Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi and other locations, multiple media reports said.
The rare admission came as Sharif revealed that Army Chief General Asim Munir personally alerted him about the attack in a late-night call at 2:30 am between May 9 and 10, during Operation Sindoor.
The disclosure marks a rare acknowledgment from Pakistani leadership regarding the strikes. Further details on the extent of the damage or potential casualties remain undisclosed.
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Live Updates
- 17 May 2025 7:16 PM IST
Indo-Pak ceasefire must continue: UK Foreign Secretary
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who is on a two-day visit here, said on Saturday that the ceasefire between Pakistan and India must be “sustained”.
Lammy’s visit, the first by a British Foreign Secretary to Pakistan since 2021, follows India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ targeting terrorist camps in Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attacks that claimed 26 lives.
A brief statement and video clip appeared on Lammy’s X account at the conclusion of his trip during which he held talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.
“My message has been clear with India, Pakistan and international partners. The ceasefire must be sustained, further conflict is in nobody’s interest,” Lammy said in the video.
“And I am proud of the work that foreign office staff in both countries and back in the UK have done to ensure that British nationals in this part of the world have access to up-to-date, accurate advice and information to help keep them safe,” he said.
According to the statement, Lammy’s visit to Pakistan followed the “hugely welcome ceasefire with India”.
“Because of the deep links between our countries, the UK is determined to play our part with India, Pakistan and international partners to help counter terrorism and ensure this peace lasts,” it read.
Lammy’s visit comes days after he told the House of Commons that the UK “stands ready to work with both sides to make a lasting ceasefire a reality”.
- 17 May 2025 7:13 PM IST
Why Pahalgam attackers are not yet arrested: Ashok Gehlot
Former Rajasthan chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot on Saturday asked why even nearly a month after the Pahalgam attack the attackers remain at large and there is no official word on any arrests despite repeated assurances from the authorities.
According to Gehlot, public concern is growing as to whether the understanding with Pakistan to halt military action included any clause mandating the handover of terrorists to India.
Gehlot also claimed that while officials have acknowledged that the Pahalgam attack, which claimed 26 lives on April 22, was the result of a "security lapse", no information has been provided as to who all were held accountable or what action was taken against those responsible for the slip.
"Even after five years, the country still does not know what action was taken against those responsible for the security lapse that led to the Pulwama attack (in 2019), or how hundreds of kgs of RDX reached there," Gehlot said in a post on X.
- 17 May 2025 7:08 PM IST
Muridke’s JuD headquarters struck by India to be rebuilt by Pak govt
Pakistan government has assured to rebuild the mosques -- the JuD headquarters -- at Muridke destroyed in the Indian strike, the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League said on Saturday.
The Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) is a political wing of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that has carried out terror strikes in many parts of India, including the horrific 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008.
As part of the Operation Sindoor, Indian military carried out missile strikes on May 7 on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) stronghold of Bahawalpur and the LeT's base at Muridke in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
Pakistan claims it was a mosque and an educational complex that were hit in the strikes at Muridke, located at about 40 kms from Lahore.
Three JuD activists were killed and a controversy erupted when the Pakistan Army, police and civilian bureaucracy senior officers attended their funeral.
“The government has announced to rebuild the mosques destroyed in the Indian attack. It is a welcoming step,” PMML president Khalid Masood Sindhu said in a statement.
- 17 May 2025 5:05 PM IST
Informing Pakistan ahead of Operation Sindoor was a crime: Rahul on Jaishankar's 'admission'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at the government for "informing" Pakistan about targeting terror infrastructure as part of Operation Sindoor, saying it was a crime and asking who had authorised it.
In a post on X, Gandhi questioned External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar for publicly admitting that the government of India (GOI) had informed Pakistan of the action and asked how many aircraft the Indian Air Force lost as a result.
"Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result?" said Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.
He also shared an undated video of Jaishankar saying India had informed Pakistan of the action against terror infrastructure on its soil.
Jaishankar can be heard saying in the video, "At the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan, saying, 'We are striking at terrorist infrastructure and we are not striking at the military.'" "So the military has the option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice," the minister can be heard saying in the clip.
The Press Information Bureau (PIB), however, has debunked claims that Jaishankar had said India informed Pakistan ahead of Operation Sindoor. In a post on X, the PIB's Fact Check Unit said the minister had not made any such statement and that he was being misquoted.
Operation Sindoor was the Indian offensive against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam.
