Pak summons India's Deputy HC over Assemanand's acquittal

March 11, 2017

Islamabad, Mar 11: Pakistan has summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner to express its concern over the acquittal of right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand - an accused in the Samjhauta train blasts case - in a case of terrorism. In a late night statement, the Foreign Office said Indian Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh was called in by the Director General (South Asia & SAARC) on Friday "to express concern over acquittal of Swami Aseemanand in Ajmer Sharif blast case."

"Swami Aseemanand had publicly confessed that he was the 'mastermind' of Samjhauta Express terrorist attack of February 2007 and had also identified a serving Indian army officer Col Purohit, who was head of terrorist organisation Abhinav Bharat, as his accomplice in the Samjhauta Express terrorist attack," it said.

A total of 68 people were killed in the blasts in two coaches of Samjhauta Express in Panipat on February 18, 2007. The statement said that 42 Pakistani citizens had lost their lives in the Samjhauta train blasts.

"The Government of Pakistan expects India to take steps to bring to justice all those involved in the heinous act of Samjhauta Express terrorist attack," it said. On Thursday, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria had asked India to bring the perpetrators of the Samjhauta train blasts to justice and termed the acquittal of Aseemanand in the 2007 Ajmer blast case as "regrettable".

Aseemanand is an accused in the Samjhauta blast case. "What we have noted is that over the last few years they had been exonerating people involved in the Samjhauta Express terrorist attack," Zakaria had said. "We have been pursuing the case of Samjhauta Express with the Indian government and we hope that they will share the findings/investigations collected so far in the case with us and perpetrators will be brought to justice," he had said.

A member of right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, Assemanand has been in jail since December 2010. He was also named as an accused in Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast case.

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In meeting with Zohran Mamdani, Trump repeats claim he stopped India-Pak war

Agencies

November 22,2025

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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