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.
Also read our articles on Operation Sindoor
Operation Sindoor: 'For first time India crossed a psychological threshold'
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Live Updates
- 17 May 2025 1:35 PM IST
BJP holds Tiranga Yatra in Amethi
BJP leaders and workers in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi district took out 'Tiranga Yatra' on Saturday, a party leader said.
The yatra was taken out from Gauriganj Tiraha to Loktantra Senani Smarak. It was led by BJP district president Sudhanshu Shukla.
UP Minister Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh, Zila Panchayat chairman Rajesh Agrahari, former MLA Chandra Prakash Mishra Matiyari, party leader Amarendra Singh Pintu and a large number of BJP workers and office bearers participated in it.
Agrahari told reporters, "I support the campaign started by former Amethi MP Smriti Irani of giving her pension to the Army." He also appealed to traders to stop selling Chinese items and start their own production. "We will oppose Turkiye and China at the business level. I am also appealing to traders to increase their productivity and drive out Chinese goods," he said.
- 17 May 2025 10:08 AM IST
A bigger success than I'll ever be given credit for: Trump
US President Donald Trump has said his talking to India and Pakistan and bringing them back from the brink is a “bigger success" than he’ll ever be given credit for, saying there was “great hatred” among the two nations and tensions got to a point where the next phase was probably “nuclear”.
“A bigger success than I'll ever be given credit for. Those are major nuclear powers. Those are not like a little bit, and they were angry,” Trump said in an interview to Fox News on Friday (May 16).
Trump was asked about the "couple of foreign policy successes” before his trip to the Middle East, when he picked up the phone and called India and Pakistan. Trump replied, “I did, ya”.
The interviewer said that was a success. “And the next phase was probably, did you see where it was getting? It was tit for tat. It was getting deeper and more, I mean, more missiles, everyone was ‘stronger, stronger’, so to a point where the next one's going to be, you know what? The N word. You know what the N word is, right?” Trump asked the interviewer, to which he replied “nuclear”.
“It's the N word. That’s a very nasty word, right? In a lot of ways. The N word used in a nuclear sense, that's the worst thing that can happen. And I think they were very close. The hatred was great. And I said, ‘We're going to talk about trade. We're going to do a lot of trade’,” Trump said.
Trump went on to say that “I'm using trade to settle scores and to make peace. “India… they're one of the highest tariff nations in the world, they make it almost impossible to do business. Do you know that they're willing to cut 100% of their tariffs for the United States?” Trump said.
There has been no announcement from India over the issue.
When asked if the deal with India is coming soon, Trump said, “Yeah, that'll come soon. I'm in no rush. Look, everybody wants to make a deal with us. South Korea wants to make a deal…but I'm not going to make deals with everybody. I'm just going to set the limit. I'll make some deals… because I can't, you can't meet with that many people. I've got 150 countries that want to make deals,” Trump said.
This was the seventh time in as many days that Trump repeated his claim that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.
