On India's Independence Day, Modi vows to punish Pakistan for future attacks

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan that India will punish its neighbor if there are future attacks on India as he marked 78 years of independence from British colonial rule.

Modi’s remarks Friday come three months after nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan engaged in four days of intense fighting, their worst clash in decades.

Modi addressed the country from New Delhi’s 17th-century, Mughal-era Red Fort, saying India has established a “new normal” that does not differentiate between “terrorists” and those who support terrorism. He said he would not tolerate what he called Islamabad’s “nuclear blackmail."

“India has decided that it will not tolerate nuclear threats. For a long time, nuclear blackmail had been going on but this blackmail will not be tolerated now,” Modi said.

There was no immediate response from Pakistan to Modi’s remarks. Pakistan previously has rejected India’s statements about nuclear blackmail as provocative and inflammatory.

However, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday announced the creation of a new “Army Rocket Force Command” to bolster the country’s defense capabilities. Sharif made this announcement during a speech marking Independence Day celebrations, but gave no further details.

India celebrates its Independence Day one day after Pakistan. The two states came into existence as a result of the bloody partition of British India in 1947. The process sparked some of the worst communal violence the world has seen and left hundreds of thousands dead. It triggered one of the largest human migrations in history and some 12 million people fled their homes.

India and Pakistan exchanged tit-for-tat military strikes in May that brought them to the brink of a war. The fighting between the two countries was sparked by an April massacre by gunmen in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. India blamed the attack on Pakistan-backed militants. Islamabad denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation.

Days after the massacre, India launched strikes on Pakistan and said it had hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites.

“Terror infrastructure was turned to rubble,” Modi said in his speech Friday.

Pakistan responded by sending waves of drones into India, as well as missile and artillery bombardments. Dozens of people were killed on both sides until a ceasefire was reached May 10 after U.S. mediation.

Pakistan immediately claimed it shot down six Indian aircraft during the clashes, including a French-made Rafale fighter. India acknowledged some losses but did not provide details.

Last week, India’s air force chief said India shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one other military aircraft during clashes in the first such public claim by India. Pakistan rejected it, saying both sides should open their aircraft inventories to independent verification.

During his Friday speech, Modi also hinted India would continue its unilateral suspension of the Indus Water Treaty. The treaty, which India suspended after the April massacre, allows sharing of the Indus River that runs about 2,897 kilometers (1,800 miles) through South Asia and is a lifeline for both countries.

“Rivers from India were irrigating the lands of enemies while my country’s farmers and land faced a deficiency of water," Modi said. “India has now decided that blood and water will not flow together."

Pakistan has said any effort by India to stop or divert the water from flowing into Pakistan would be considered an “act of war.”

Modi did not directly mention U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on India in his Independence Day speech but said he would not compromise on the agriculture sector, one of the main sticking points in trade negotiations with the U.S.

Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 25% penalty on India in addition to 25% tariffs for buying oil and weapons from Russia.

India has resisted U.S. pressure to open its markets to some farm products as Modi's government is unwilling to risk angering farmers, who are a powerful voting bloc.

“India will not compromise on interest of farmers," he said.

Modi claimed India’s demography was being changed as part of a “conspiracy” through illegal migration and announced what he called a “high-powered demographic mission” to tackle the problem. He did not provide further details.

“No nation in the world can hand over itself to infiltrators,” he said.

Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has repeatedly described influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh as a “national security crisis” and claimed that unchecked Muslim infiltration from the country is leading to a demographic shift in India.

In recent months, Indian officials have conducted what they call a verification drive, which they say is intended to identify immigrants lacking legal status. Many people, most of them Muslim, have been detained or expelled to neighboring Bangladesh.

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi geswtures to children after addressing the nation from the rampart of the 17th century Mughal-era Red Fort monument during the country's Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, arrives to address the nation from the rampart of the 17th century Mughal-era Red Fort monument during the country's Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in orange turban, inspects a joint military guard of honor as he arrives to address the nation from the rampart of the 17th century Mughal-era Red Fort monument during the country's Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives to address the nation from the rampart of the 17th century Mughal-era Red Fort monument during the country's Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation from the rampart of the 17th century Mughal-era Red Fort monument during the country's Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets the invitees after addressing the nation from the rampart of the 17th century Mughal-era Red Fort monument during the country's Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation from the rampart of the 17th century Mughal-era Red Fort monument during the country's Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Mohamad Al-Assi ran beneath the concrete wall as the sun rose over Bethlehem. His Nikes pounded the gravel, his breath fogging the air as graffiti and paint splatter blurred past with each stride.

The road along the barrier separating Israel from the occupied West Bank makes up a stretch of a marathon route that Al-Assi and thousands of others ran on Friday. The event is open to people in other parts of the world running in solidarity with the Palestinians and another, shorter race was happening in Gaza.

The race, known as the Palestine Marathon, was held for the first time in three years and was among the first big international events in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Festivals, conferences and holiday festivities that once drew thousands have been scaled back or canceled because of the war in Gaza and heightened Israeli restrictions.

It marked a turning point for Al-Assi, 27, who was released from Israeli detention six months ago. Video from that day shows him gaunt-faced and hollow-eyed, his once muscular legs weakened after more than two and a half years of prison.

He began training in December, gradually upping his mileage every month since. He ran 62 miles (100 kilometers) that first month, and in April reached 135 miles (217 kilometers), according to his account on the tracking app Strava.

He jogs in the morning after his mother wakes him up in their home in Dheisheh, a Palestinian refugee camp made up of graffiti-covered cinderblock homes in tangled alleyways.

“The main difficulties we face are the cars on the roads and the presence of Israeli security forces along the route where I train,” Al-Assi said.

He had to suspend his training several times because of military operations in the camp.

“I would return home feeling hopeless because I couldn't do what I had intended to do,” Al-Assi said.

In the West Bank, runners cannot complete a 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) course without hitting a checkpoint or military gate, which is why Friday's marathon route looped around the same circuit twice.

They ran up through the narrow streets of two Palestinian refugee camps and down to a farming town next to Bethlehem where fields are divided by the concrete wall, barbed wire and cameras. The course hooked back to finish at Bethlehem’s Manger Square.

Organizers say the race highlights restrictions facing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where checkpoints can disrupt even routine commutes and where open land for hiking, biking and running is increasingly taken by Israeli settlements and outposts.

“Marathon runners anywhere may ‘hit a wall’ under the physical and emotional strain of completing the 42-kilometer race course," they said on the marathon's website.

But in the West Bank, they added, "runners literally hit the Wall.”

At a time when the West Bank’s economy is struggling and in the shadow of Gaza's fragile ceasefire and stalled rebuilding efforts, the atmosphere in Bethlehem was celebratory. Crowds gathered near the Church of the Nativity to cheer runners at the race's early morning start and finish. Bagpipes blared and drummers pounded out traditional rhythms through streets along the route.

On a beachside road in Nuseirat in central Gaza — which is roughly the length of a marathon — 15 disabled people, including amputees, ran a 2K, and a couple thousand of people ran a 5K. Thirteen years after the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, canceled a 2013 marathon because Hamas forbade women from participating, the women were back.

Haya Alnaji, a 22-year-old woman who ran in the 5K, said the number of people taking part reflected that Palestinians in Gaza were determined to live and persevere despite the devastation wrought by more than two years of war.

“All of Gaza loves sports,” she said.

Al-Assi was arrested in April 2023, and imprisoned under administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold detainees for months without charge. Between 3,000 and 4,000 Palestinians are being held under that system, according to Israeli rights groups and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

In October 2023, Al-Assi was sentenced for transferring money to suspicious entities, a charge he denies. Israel closely monitors money transfers — particularly to Gaza — for fear that funds could end up in the hands of militants. Palestinians, however, say donations and charitable contributions are often swept up in the dragnet. Israel’s military, Shin Bet and Prison Service did not answer questions about Al-Assi's charges.

In Israeli prisons — where detainees routinely complain of inadequate diets — Al-Assi said nearly everyone goes hungry. The weight he lost eroded the endurance built through 10 years of training.

“I have more muscle mass than fat, so when I lost weight, the loss came from my muscles rather than fat,” he said. “This had a major impact on my physical fitness.”

He also had to regain the mental fortitude to run a marathon.

“I was emotionally shattered after spending such a long period in prison,” he said.

On Friday, he collapsed to his knees, bowing and thanking God after finishing second overall, as supporters and journalists encircled him. He dedicated his run to Palestinians still in Israeli detention.

“After 32 months in prison, Mohamad Al-Assi is first in his class!” he shouted through tears, raising his hands and looking up to the sky.

__ Imad Isseid contributed from Bethlehem, West Bank and Abdel Kareem Hana from Nuseirat, Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian amputee runner takes part in the 2-kilometer Palestine Marathon along the coastal road near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian runners take part in the 5-kilometer Palestine Marathon along the coastal road near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Runners participate in the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Runners pass by Israel's separation wall as they compete in the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian Mohamad Al-Assi, who was released from Israeli detention six months ago, runs past Israel's separation wall as he trains ahead of the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sam Metz)