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Indian opposition parties on Tuesday assailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failures in the Pakistan-India four-day conflict earlier this year.

As New Delhi launched deadly air strikes on Pakistan in early May over allegations about the Pahalgam attack, which Islamabad denied, PAF downed six Indian jets in its response. After tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally reach a ceasefire.

Speaking in the monsoon session of the Indian lower house of parliament, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi said Modi’s government “lacked the political will to fight Pakistan and, because of that, asked the armed forces to attack with their hands tied behind their backs,” according to NDTV.

“If Modi ji has even 50 per cent of the courage that Indira Gandhi had, then clearly say in parliament — Donald Trump is lying,” Gandhi, who is a member of the opposition Congress party, said.

He added that the Indian prime minister should state that neither did Trump broker a ceasefire, nor have any of India’s planes had been shot down.

“Don’t make the army a means to save your image, Modi ji,” Gandhi said.

“The defence minister said the most shocking thing. He said that, at 1:35 am, we called Pakistan and told them we had hit non-military targets and didn’t want an escalation,” he added.

The Indian leader of the opposition said the Indian defence minister did not understand what he revealed, adding, “The Director General of Military Operations was told by the government to ask for a ceasefire at 1:35am that very night.”

“You told the Pakistanis exactly what you would do, that you would not hit military targets. You told them directly that you don’t have the political will to fight. It’s like you are telling them, ‘We have slapped you, but we won’t slap you further’,” Gandhi said.

Referring to the Indian Chief of Defence Staff’s admission that Indian jets had been shot down by Pakistan, he said, “CDS Gen Chauhan should have the guts to say that my hands were tied behind my back by my own government.”

He added that not a single country has condemned Pakistan.

Deputy Leader of the Congress party in the lower house, Gaurav Gogoi, said, “You think 35 Rafale jets are enough — we don’t think so. Even losing one would be a big loss,” according to Indian news outlet the Economic Times.

“The media, which gets its information from you, made it seem like we would wake up in Karachi the next day — but you stopped short,” Gogoi added.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said, “ Agencies failed. This falls under the home minister — did he resign? Did he even take responsibility?“

She also questioned why PM Modi agreed to stop the war.

Leader of the Opposition of the Upper House Mallikarjun Kharge questioned if the Indian government had prior notice of the Pahalgam attack, saying, “PM [Modi] cancelled his schedule three days before the Pahalgam attack — was the govt aware in advance?”

“Trump says five jets were shot down. If he’s your friend and you campaign for him, why are you silent on this?” Kharge asked PM Modi.

Pakistani security sources said on Monday that India has once again begun “fake encounters” under the guise of countering terrorism, with an alleged plan to “use” detained Pakistanis in them, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh denied bowing to pressure to end fighting while speaking at the opening of a discussion in parliament on the Pahalgam attack.

“India halted its operation because all the political and military objectives studied before and during the conflict had been fully achieved,” Singh said. “To suggest that the operation was called off under pressure is baseless and entirely incorrect.”

Amit Shah claims three ‘Pakistanis’ involved in Pahalgam attack killed

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that security forces have killed three “Pakistanis” involved in the Pahalgam attack, Reuters reported.

“I want to tell … the entire nation that these were the three terrorists who killed our citizens … and now all three have been killed,” Shah told parliament during a discussion on the Pakistan-India conflict.

The three were killed in an intense gun battle in a Kashmir forest on Monday, the Indian army said.

Shah said that India had a “lot of proof” that the dead “terrorists” were Pakistanis, as security forces had recovered “Pakistani voter identity cards of two of them and chocolates made in Pakistan”.

Forensic tests showed that the rifles they had with them were used in the April attack, he added.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Shah’s remarks.

KARACHI/PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s crackdown on black market dollar trading has strengthened the rupee, but traders say under-the-counter deals have swiftly shifted to smartphones and home deliveries instead.

Many unlicensed exchange shops have been shut since July 22, when the military spy agency summoned representatives of the sector to explain the US dollar’s rising cost in the open market. Soon after, raids were carried out by the Federal Investigation Agency, which tackles financial crime and smuggling.

Since the crackdown began, the rupee has rebounded from a sharp fall against the dollar earlier in July. In the open market, it firmed from 288.6 per dollar on July 19 to about 286 in recent sessions.

But traders and bankers say the trade continues, suggesting the crackdown’s effects could be short-lived.

The black market operates outside official channels and includes unlicensed dealers, personal networks, and digital peer-to-peer exchanges, with customers seeking to skip tax declarations, avoid burdensome paperwork and bypass limits on official currency purchases.

In Peshawar, a city near the Afghan border long known for black market currency deals, many shops in the historic Chowk Yadgar district remain shuttered, though some traders were still operating discreetly in back-alley booths.

“The trade didn’t stop. It just moved,” said Ahmad, a dealer whose family has been in the business for generations. “Now it’s on WhatsApp. If you know someone, the dollars come to your house.”

“The big players have shifted to safer locations and kept going,” said another trader, Gul. Both traders asked not to give their full names.

Even retail buyers are bypassing the formal foreign exchange market. Hassan, a manager at a multinational firm in Karachi, said stricter documentation drove him to an informal forex chat.

“Everyone there is a buyer or seller. No middleman, no commission. Sometimes it’s physical cash, sometimes bank transfers, sometimes crypto,” he said.

STRICTER FX DISCIPLINE

On Monday, Pakistan’s central bank called in bank treasury heads to address pressure on the rupee. Two bankers said they were told to stop buying dollars from exchange companies at above-official rates on the grounds it was skewing the market.

Banks were asked to rely on their own inflows from exports and remittances, but both sources have slowed. Exporters are delaying bringing money home, betting the rupee will weaken. Remittances are also tapering off as banks reduce incentives once offered to attract overseas inflows.

Authorities also pressed banks to keep the gap between the interbank rate and the open market rate narrow, a condition of Pakistan’s $7 billion IMF deal meant to discourage speculation.

“These meetings have been happening for years, but this one was more pointed,” one banker said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The central bank is expected to cut rates on Wednesday, easing inflation but risking pressure on the rupee.​