Global News Podcast - Pakistan and India accuse each other of violating ceasefire

Episode Date: May 11, 2025

Pakistan and India have accused each other of violating the truce which ended four days of attacks. Also: Syrian Jews return home, and some confusion over the return to Earth of parts of an old Soviet spacecraft.

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard. And in the early hours of Sunday, the 11th of May, these are our main stories. Pakistan and India have accused each other of violating the ceasefire brokered to end four days of cross border attacks. Explosions have been heard in the disputed region of Kashmir. Russia says it will consider a European demand for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine but insists it has its own considerations. And multiple strikes by Sudanese paramilitaries

have claimed dozens of lives. Also in this podcast... It's a new government. They're the nicest people. I don't see anything extremist. They said, you could practice your religion now. We would love to have the Jewish people. I don't see anything extremist. They said, you could practice your religion now. We would love to have the Jewish people come back to Syria. The Syrian Jews who've been back to visit, apparently with the blessing of the country's new Islamist government. First, the ceasefire, then shortly afterwards, the accusations.

Just a few hours after a ceasefire was agreed between India and Pakistan, intended to bring to an end the worst fighting between the two nuclear armed neighbours in decades, the Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Mishri issued this warning to Pakistan. There have been repeated violations of the understanding arrived at earlier this evening between the directors general of military operations of India and Pakistan. This is a breach of the understanding arrived at earlier today. We call upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address these violations. Projectiles have been seen in the night sky over Srinagar

in Indian-administered Kashmir. The ceasefire was announced earlier on Saturday by President Donald Trump, who said it was the result of a long night of talks mediated by the United States. Before the ceasefire announcement, there had been days of cross-border exchanges, sparked by a deadly militant attack

in Indian-administered Kashmir last month, which India blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denies involvement. For our first report, here's the BBC's Divya Arya, who's in Indian-administered Kashmir. Well, I'm in the city of Jammu, which saw a lot of action in the morning, a lot of devastation in multiple houses, one person died and everybody was really looking forward to this night because the previous nights have been extremely, extremely hard to get through. There are still many reports of explosions from many areas within Jammu city, but also

outside in other areas of Jammu and Kashmir. In fact, the chief minister of the region, Omar Abdullah, has put it on X, he's made a video and put it on X and said that he can hear explosions in Srinagar. And I've got people calling me from various parts of the region telling me about either sightings of what they think are drones. So they see blinking lights in the sky and they feel that they're drones from Pakistan and then they hear explosions which they assume is the Indian Army or Indian Air Force striking those drones and eliminating that threat.

It's very hard to say what exactly is happening, but this is the information that is trickling down to us. And there's a blackout in Jammu, which basically means electricity has been cut here. And there's a blackout in multiple parts of Jammu and Kashmir, which is seen as precautionary step by the government to make sure people are indoors, they do not venture out and whatever protection the lack of any electricity can provide in terms of them becoming a target. And remind us what the government has said about the ceasefire itself.

Well, the government has said that the Director-General's of Military Operations, that's called the DGMO, on Pakistan and the Indian side spoke around half past three India time and agreed that after 5pm.m. local time there would be no exchange of any kind of fire via air or land or Navy across both sides of the border after which we saw a lot of tweets by officials from both sides the Foreign Secretary, the Defense Ministry on the Indian side and the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister on the Pakistani side and of course Donald Trump made the initial announcement that the countries have reached a ceasefire and an immediate cessation of

any kind of military action. That was Divya Arya and she was speaking to James Kumar Assami. Well Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has responded to the statement we heard earlier from India. A spokesperson said, Pakistan remains committed to faithful implementation of the ceasefire. The statement added that, notwithstanding the violations being committed by India in some areas, our forces are handling the situation with responsibility and restraint.

Our correspondent Azadeh Mushiri is in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. The explosions are being reported in Indian-administered Kashmir. We don't quite know what the nature of them are. But ceasefires are a very fragile thing. And it seems like from the very beginning, this one is already under pressure. And aside from the explosions themselves, there are already so many tensions still hovering over the region, issues that are still simmering. There's the future of the Indus Water Treaty, a landmark water treaty which governs water

sharing between the two countries. India had suspended that. Pakistan had called it an act of war and the future of that deal still remains uncertain. India also accuses Pakistan of harbouring militants on its soil, a charge which Islamabad denies. And of course, there is the long-running dispute over Kashmir, which still looms large. And all of those issues are likely to be part of the talks that India and Pakistan are set to have. And it isn't quite clear whether the two sides can overcome all of those differences.

They haven't been able to in decades past. But these reports of explosions, they just add to the strain of this ceasefire. The Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, in his first comments after the ceasefire had been agreed, made sure to thank President Donald Trump for his proactive role. He said that this had been a result of a long night of talks. We know that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said he'd called both India and Pakistan. Here in Pakistan, he'd called both the foreign minister, but also the chief of the army, General Asim Mune. It seems like as things were heating up, as world leaders were getting concerned about the fact that these are two nuclear states after all. Finally, India and Pakistan had been encouraged and

had agreed to start communicating. That was Azadeh Mushiri in Islamabad. The leaders of France, Germany, Poland and Britain, who met President Zelensky in Ukraine on Saturday, have urged Russia to accept a 30-day unconditional ceasefire starting on Monday. The United States has backed the proposal. In response, the Kremlin spokesman said that Moscow will think it through and that Russia was resistant to any kind of pressure. These people in Kiev gave their reaction to the talks. I don't believe Putin wants the ceasefire.

But if there is pressure on him and he'll be forced to agree, it will be very good. There is always hope the evil will be punished. We will wait and see. Putin is a person and a political leader that's unpredictable. But we'd still like to hope for some results. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner is in Ukraine and has been following developments. This is the first time that leaders of four major European allies of Ukraine have all come to this country at the same time. So that's the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Poland. And they arrived on what Ukraine,

rather amusingly called the bravery express. They arrived on a train and greeted by Ukrainian officials and they then met up with President Zelensky. They laid a wreath. But then very importantly, they held a virtual meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing. And this is the UK French-led collection of countries, 20 plus, who have pledged in one form or another to lend their support to trying to safeguard Ukraine's security after a peace deal is concluded. They are not peacekeeping troops, but the idea is to come up with some kind of mechanism for securing

Ukraine from any future Russian invasion. But they've got to get the peace deal first. And for that, very importantly, they then held a phone call with Donald Trump, President Trump, and it was then agreed that they would demand Russia agree to a 30-day unconditional comprehensive ceasefire. And so what do these coalition of the willing countries anticipate the response being if Russia does not comply? Well, what they've done is they've upped the ante. This is brinkmanship. They have said that it's very clear that Russia is the obstacle to peace here, not Ukraine. And they want this 30-day comprehensive ceasefire to begin on Monday. That's May the 12th.

And if Russia doesn't agree to that, there are going to be, in their words, new and massive sanctions on primarily banking and energy sectors of Russia's economy. I'm not sure how rattled Russia is going to be by this because there's already a lot of Western sanctions on Russia. What I think would make a huge difference is if President Trump decides that he has run out of patience with President Putin and makes good on his earlier threat that he hinted at of secondary sanctions. This is where America would sanction countries like China and India that buy Russian oil in huge volumes. And that would have a big effect. It would affect the global economy, but it would also really damage Russia, which has managed to survive

the effect of Western sanctions by selling oil at a discount to countries like India and China. And that has helped to fund its war effort. That was Frank Gardner in Kiev. Hamas has posted another video showing hostages it's holding in the Gaza Strip. It features 35-year-old Elhanan Buchbucht and Yosefheim O'Hanna, who's 25. They were abducted at gunpoint from the Nova music festival on October 7th 2023. From Jerusalem, here's Hugo Bachega. This is the latest video with hostages that has been posted by Hamas to put pressure on Israel to negotiate.

Israeli officials have previously described such videos where hostages appear to be speaking on the Jerez as psychological warfare. It was not clear when the latest message was filmed, but it comes days after Israel approved an expansion of the war in Gaza, despite domestic and international calls to reach a deal with Hamas for the release of the hostages and end the war. Less than half of the 59 people who remain in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive. Ugo Bashega.

On Saturday the first public monument was unveiled to the unmarried mothers and their babies who were the victims of forced adoptions in England. A parliamentary inquiry has found that nearly 200,000 babies were taken from their unmarried mothers in the decades after the Second World War, something which wasn't widely known. Lynn Roden was forced to give up her son for adoption at Rose Mundy House in St Agnes in the south-west of England. She told Amol Rajan how she found the treatment she experienced in the mother and baby home when her own mother had left the premises. Absolutely shocking. Everybody's sweetness and light when mother was present. But when mother disappeared, it was... The sheet of paper was brought out.

That's your duty for tomorrow. Just get on with them. Well, it was your son Mark that you were forced to be separated from. You found each other years and years later. And I'm thrilled to say we've got Mark, who's certainly Steenson, on the line now. Mark, good morning. Good morning to you. You were wonderful to speak to you, sir. You were in your forties, I understand it,

when you were reunited with your biological mum, Lynn, who we're speaking to this morning. What was it like to be told about the circumstances in which you were separated from her? Shocking. Once I'd found out the whole details, the regime that Rose Mundy were using, sending these women out to collect wood for boilers, scrubbing floors, they had to do that even after their waters had broke, they

had to complete the job. It was completely draconian. It sounds like you've got anger in your voice at the treatment of your biological mum. May I ask how you and Lynne found each other years on? I was given my adoption papers by my adoptive parents at a very young age, and it had addresses on there and details. And I ended up quite a few years later when I was in my 30s going to Portsmouth Central Library and going through

the births, deaths and marriages. It took me a couple of hours and eventually found Lynne's maiden name getting married 11 years after I was born. Wow, through that you were able to meet and it must have been an extraordinary moment for you both. Lynne, can I ask you what it means to you to have this plaque unveiled? Everything. We've been treated so badly that everybody thought it was just in Ireland. They wouldn't believe that it could happen in England. And when you told anybody about it, they could just call you a liar and said you're pretending

and all this sort of thing. It means now to show people that I was telling the truth. That was Lynne Roden. We also heard from Mark Steenson and they were talking to Amol Rajan. Still to come. This is quite a small object. It's only about a metre in size. That does mean it's difficult to track, it's difficult to see visually. So essentially what we're relying on is radar observations but there are gaps in the global coverage." Some confusion over the return to Earth of parts of an old Soviet spacecraft.

There's been an attack by the Sudanese paramilitary group the RSF on the Abu Shouq displacement camp near the city of El-Fasher. But for the first time in a week the RSF has not launched strikes on army positions in Port Sudan. Our Africa regional editor Will Ross told us more. Volunteer aid workers there say that there was intense bombardment on Friday evening. And this is a camp close to the city of El Fasher that the rapid support forces, the RSF, have been trying to capture from the army and its allies. 14 people from one family were killed, that's according to these volunteer aid workers there.

And this camp is close to another one called Zamzam and that's a camp that the RSF seized last month. They basically sent in mortars and ground troops. More than 100 people were killed and the entire population, hundreds of thousands of people, had to flee. And it looks like sort of similar tactics they're using now on Abu Shuk camp which has been bombarded several times in recent weeks by the RSF. I understand a prison was hit. Yes down in the south of the country in the city of El Obaid there are reports that at least 19

people were killed and dozens wounded when a drone again the RSF was blamed, hit this prison. This is an army-controlled area in the south of the country and there are some reports, although not confirmed, that there were some RSF people who were inside that prison, a prison that was home to several thousand people. And what can you tell us about the situation in Port Sudan right now? Well it's getting increasingly difficult because of this relentless attacks over the last six days and basically the people of Port Sudan thought that they were safe when they got there it had been largely unaffected by the war but then the the drone attacks have taken out some key infrastructure including fuel depots. That's

meant that the pumps cannot be fuelled in order to bring up the groundwater. So there are huge water shortages. There are also power outages and drones are the problem now for the population anywhere in Sudan. People cannot feel safe because of this use of long-range drones to carry out attacks. That was Will Ross. Syria used to have one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world but by the 1990s almost no Jews remained. Now though a handful of Syrian Jews have returned to visit they say with the blessing of the new government, the Islamist group HTS. Tim Franks joined three of them who had travelled from New York as they prayed at a synagogue in the old city of Damascus.

When I was 14 years old, it was my second time reading Sefer Torah. It was over here in the same very place. Is this your first time back or did you come back before? This is my first time. Wow. My brothers came twice, my mother came once. So when did you leave Damascus? 1992.

When Hafez al-Assad said the Jews can leave? Yeah. That's when you left. 1892. It's a ridiculous question, but what does it mean to dab in Shahrid, to dab in the morning prayers here? The place you grew up, the place you were born, it's a great feeling. It's home. O Lord, our God and the God of our fathers, take away wars and bloodshed from the world, and let there be a great and wonderful peace in the world. I am Bikhor Simanthov.

Bikhor Simanthov, the head of the Mosawik community. Are you saying you're the head of the Jewish community? Yes. Yes, that's right. How many Jews live in Damascus? Six. Six? Six Jews, so you're one of six Jews?

Four men, two women. Four men, two women. Six. Six. Six Jews. So you're one of six Jews. Four men, two women. Four men, two women. All very old people. So how come you didn't leave in 1992? I'm living here by myself. I'm single. I didn't have to leave. My financial situation is good. And with the current government, I'm in contact with with them so I can deal with all that different situations. Yeah My name is Henry Hamra

Son of Rabbi Yosef Hamra. We came here almost two months ago and We're back here. Thank God. So you just showed me inside the scroll that you held. This enormous heavy scroll. But to be back and seeing that again. It's a big thing. It was very emotional to come to this place. Look at it. It's a beautiful place. It's a stunning synagogue.

After the Spanish Inquisition, the Spanish people, when they came here, this is the first synagogue they did. When did you think it might be possible to return to this place? We asked the Assad regime to give us the permission to come in, and it didn't work out. We asked the new government, they're open, they helped us a lot. I know you probably don't want to get into politics, Henry, but you will know that a lot of people, I mean especially in Israel, they see HTS, the guys who are now in charge, as terrorists, as jihadists. They're people to be scared of.

Today, it's a new government. They gave everybody a chance. A lot of people came into government. We know a few of them. We spoke to them. They're the nicest people. I don't see anything extremist, Islamist. They're very nice people. They want to help, you know, the same thing as they want to practice their religion. They said, you could practice your religion now. This is your land. We would love to have the Jewish people come back to Syria. Can you see a thriving Jewish community here? If everything goes as planned and nothing stops, the situation goes good and good, I

think it's going to be the next Dubai. It's a beautiful place. We have a lot of history here. It's the oldest city in the world, right? Older than Jerusalem? Yeah. So I think you should come in and see the history of Damascus. Henry Hamra, a Syrian Jew from Brooklyn, New York, ending that report by Tim Franks in Damascus. The newly elected Pope Leo XIV has a busy schedule ahead of his formal inauguration in the coming week, meeting cardinals, the world media and leading prayers from the balcony

of St Peter's Basilica. But on Saturday he broke away from protocol for an unscheduled visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where his predecessor Pope Francis is buried. He laid a white flower on the tomb, knelt in prayer and spoke briefly with members of the public. of the public. We came from Turin to see the election because well it's an exciting moment for us as Catholics. We were eating pastries when we saw the cars and thought yes it must be Pope Leo and there he was a person dressed in white with the skull cap so he rushed here to the Basilica. I was already inside the church and it was a surprise. We found ourselves next to the Pope.

It was a huge, intense feeling. My heart is still racing because, well, when will I have the chance again to find myself face to face with the Pope? It's really beautiful. We came to visit Pope Francis and we had this surprise of Pope Leo. It was wonderful. We greeted him and he came so close. It was a beautiful thing. Well, Pope Leo, of course, was born in the United States, but he's also a citizen of Peru, where he spent years as a missionary. So how do Peruvians feel about their adoptive son?

Ioannis Wells has been finding out. Hello to all and especially to those of my diocese in Chiclayo in Peru, a loyal faithful people. In his first speech as Pope, Pope Leo XIV addressed in Spanish the city in northern Peru, where he was previously a bishop, appointed by Pope Francis, after spending years in the country as a missionary. The celebrations spread fast to Chiclayo. On Friday, newspapers here were splashed with headlines saying the Pope is Peruvian, a reference to him gaining citizenship in 2015.

The country's president, Dino Boloate, welcomed the news. DINA BOLOATE, President, President of Peru He chose to be one of us, to live among us, and carry in his heart the faith and culture of this nation. The Pope is Peruvian. God loves Peru. Long live Pope Leo XIV. Long live Pope Leo XIV. Long live Peru.

I'm in the town of Morope, which is near Chiclayo in the north of Peru, to speak to a priest who knew the new pope personally, Father José Zapata Carrasco, who runs the parish here. I remember him with great gratitude. He was very human. He seemed very close, like a father. He helped us a lot during the COVID pandemic. He led a huge campaign to build an oxygen plant, which was so scarce at the time. He cared a lot for migrants. He helped them through his soup kitchens and with housing." But not everyone here is celebrating his legacy. In 2022, three women went public with claims

that they were sexually abused by a local priest and later said the church, under his leadership, failed to properly investigate their allegations. The diocese here strongly denies allegations of a cover-up. It says the claims were investigated and referred to the Vatican, that the accused priest was initially suspended as a precautionary measure, but that the church's case was closed in 2023, after a local prosecutor here did not find enough evidence to substantiate the claims. Jesus Leon Ángeles supports the parish where the accused priest worked.

This was a campaign that began when he became a cardinal in Rome. These cases were archived because the justice system said there wasn't enough evidence. We defend women against anything that could mean abuse, but we are also in defense of the truth. We know the accused priest very closely. He never, never, never behaved in the way that is being alleged. The women's civil case was reopened

with a prosecutor after media reports. The BBC understands it's still ongoing. For now, celebrations over his appointment continue in Sheklyov. But this case is one of many challenges the new Pope has ahead of him, as the world now becomes his parish. Iony Wells reporting from Peru. Now finally, in our earlier podcast, we heard about the old Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482, which was due to come back down to Earth after being stuck in space for more than half a century. Well now, after 53 years in orbit, its last piece has returned to Earth, but there is disagreement over exactly how it

came down. European Union space scientists say it's unclear whether it survived re-entry. Russia's space agency says fragments of it crash-landed in the Indian Ocean on Saturday. Ella Bicknall reports. Most unmanned spacecraft burn up upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, but Cosmos 482 was a 500-kilogram probe encased in thick titanium shell, built to survive the scorching conditions of Venus, our solar system's hottest planet. But it never got there. Its 1972 launch was a failure. Some parts of it crashed down on Earth shortly afterwards, but its main lander has been stuck in orbit for more than half

a century. Scientists believe its size and structure meant there was a chance it would survive re-entry in crash land anywhere between the southern tip of South America and as far north as Denmark, although most likely a large body of water. The EU Space Surveillance and Tracking Centre says it's unclear whether any parts did make landfall on Saturday. Russia's space agency Roscosmos disagree. It says parts of it fell harmlessly into the Indian Ocean, 500 kilometres off middle Andaman Island in the Bay of Bengal. So why the confusion? Dr. Megan Argo is an astrophysicist at the University of Lancashire in northern England. This is quite a small object, it's only about a metre in size. That does mean it's difficult to track, it's difficult to see visually. So essentially what we're relying on is

radar observations but there are gaps in the global coverage. There were visual sightings by experienced observers and those can help narrow down the re-entry time and there is a small window in which it could have come down, but that small window of time, that hour and a half, is a very, very large track on the ground. So there's a lot of potential areas, most likely in the Indian Ocean, but there is some uncertainty there. It covers some of Western Australia as well and down into the ocean south of Australia. The return of Cosmos-482 has captured global attention especially online where thousands followed live streams of its descent. More than just space debris

it's a haunting relic of the Cold War and the fierce space race that defined a generation of technological and political rivalry. That was Ella Bicknell. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Just use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Chris Lovelock. The producer was Alison Davis. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jackie Leonard and until next time, goodbye.