SRINAGAR: Mohammad Yousuf Dar and his wife, Shameema, sit cross-legged before their loom, deftly tying consecutive knots to create the floral patterns of the famed Kashmiri carpets that are now threatened by the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs.
Genuine hand-knotted Kashmiri carpets are typically made from pure silk, and sometimes pure wool, which is more challenging. Generations of artisans have for centuries handed down the craft to ensure its survival, and while the carpets are sold for quite a sum, most craftspeople can barely make ends meet.
“I just help my husband so that we have a modicum of decent income to run our household,” Shameema, 43, said as she and Mohamad rhythmically plucked at the colorful silk threads in their dimly lit workshop in Indian-controlled Kashmir’s main city, Srinagar. They periodically glance at a yellowed scrap of paper, known as Taleem, or instructions, showcasing the pattern they are working on in an ancient shorthand of symbols and numbers and a cryptic color map.
Both learned the craft at the ages of 9 and 10, respectively.
The industry has survived decades of conflict over the disputed region between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan and withstood the fickleness of fashion to stay in demand, adorning mansions and museums alike.
However, Kashmiri traders say that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on American imports can deal a hard blow to an already threatened business that is vying to survive amid mass-produced carpets, which are less costly, and artisans abandoning the industry.
Although the tariffs were primarily aimed at major exporters like China, they’ve inadvertently ensnared traditional handicraft industries from regions like Kashmir, which depend on US and European markets for survival.
Carpet exports from India to the US alone are valued at approximately $1.2 billion, out of a total global export value of $2 billion, according to official data.
Mohamad, 50, said he is the only weaver left out of over 100 who shifted to other jobs some two decades back in his neighborhood in Srinagar city’s old downtown.
“I spend months knotting a single rug,” he said, “but if there is no demand, our skills feel worthless,” he added.
Still, thousands of families in Kashmir rely on this craft for their livelihood and the steep 28 percent tariff imposed means the imported carpets will become significantly more expensive for American consumers and retailers.
“If these carpets are going to be more expensive in America, does that mean our wages will rise too?” Mohamad asked.
Not likely.
The increased cost to consumers in the US doesn’t translate into higher wages for weavers, experts say, but rather often leads to reduced orders, lower incomes, and growing uncertainty for the artisans.
This price hike could also push buyers toward cheaper, machine-made alternatives, leaving Kashmiri artisans in the lurch.
Insiders say that unless international trade policies shift to protect traditional industries, Kashmir’s hand-knotted legacy may continue to fray until it disappears.
Wilayat Ali, a Kashmiri carpet supplier, said his trading partner, who exports the carpets to the US, Germany and France, has already canceled at least a dozen orders already in the making.
“The exporter also returned some dozen carpets,” he said.
“It boils down to the hard arithmetic of profit and loss,” Ali explained. “They don’t see thousands of knots in a carpet that takes months to make.”
Trump tariffs threaten the survival of the centuries-old Kashmiri carpet industry
https://arab.news/4gaxu
Trump tariffs threaten the survival of the centuries-old Kashmiri carpet industry
- Carpet exports from India to the United States are valued at approximately $1.2 billion
- The steep 28 percent tariff means these carpets will become more expensive in the US market
Families hold funerals for Air India crash victims
- Funerals were held in India for some of the at least 279 people killed in one of the world’s worst plane crashes in decades
- Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them to grieving relatives in the western city of Ahmedabad
AHMEDABAD: Mourners covered white coffins with flowers in India on Sunday as funerals were held for some of the at least 279 people killed in one of the world’s worst plane crashes in decades.
Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them to grieving relatives in the western city of Ahmedabad, but the wait went on for most families.
“They said it would take 48 hours. But it’s been four days and we haven’t received any response,” said Rinal Christian, 23, whose elder brother was a passenger on the jetliner.
There was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound Air India jet when it crashed Thursday into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground as well.
“My brother was the sole breadwinner of the family,” Christian told AFP. “So what happens next?“
At a crematorium in the city, around 20 to 30 mourners chanted prayers in a funeral ceremony for Megha Mehta, a passenger who had been working in London.
As of Sunday evening, 47 crash victims have been identified, according to Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad’s civil hospital.
“This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only,” Patel said.
One victim’s relative who did not want to be named told AFP they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it.
Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains.
Workers went on clearing debris from the site on Sunday, while police inspected the area.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff.
The majority of those injured on the ground have been discharged, Patel said, with one or two remaining in critical care.
Cause of the disaster
Indian authorities have yet to identify the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India’s Dreamliners.
Authorities announced Sunday that the second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, had been recovered. This may offer investigators more clues about what went wrong.
Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the first black box, the flight data recorder, would “give an in-depth insight” into the circumstances of the crash.
Imtiyaz Ali, who was still waiting for a DNA match to find his brother, said the airline should have supported families faster.
“I’m disappointed in them. It is their duty,” said Ali, who was contacted by the airline on Saturday.
“Next step is to find out the reason for this accident. We need to know,” he told AFP.
One person escaped alive from the wreckage, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
Among the passengers was a father of two young girls, Arjun Patoliya, who had traveled to India to scatter his wife’s ashes following her death weeks earlier.
“I really hope that those girls will be looked after by all of us,” said Anjana Patel, the mayor of London’s Harrow borough where some of the victims lived.
“We don’t have any words to describe how the families and friends must be feeling,” she added.
While communities were in mourning, one woman recounted how she survived by arriving late at the airport.
“The airline staff had already closed the check-in,” said 28-year-old Bhoomi Chauhan.
“At that moment, I kept thinking that if only we had left a little earlier, we wouldn’t have missed our flight,” she told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Russia pulls citizens from Iran, halts Tehran consulate
- Russia’s civil aviation authority ordered airlines to suspend flights to Iran and Israel and avoid their airspace — along with that of Jordan and Iraq — until at least June 26
MOSCOW: Russia said Sunday it had evacuated several of its citizens from Iran and halted activity at its Tehran consulate after Israeli attacks on the country sparked retaliatory missile fire toward Israel.
“Due to the current situation, the consular service of the embassy is temporarily suspending its activities. The resumption of consular services will be announced later,” the Russian embassy in Tehran said on Telegram.
Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova said musicians from the Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra were evacuated from Iran.
“The musicians crossed the Azerbaijani border. Yesterday (Saturday), Fyodor Bondarchuk’s film crew left Iran via the same route,” she said on Telegram, referring to the Russian director and actor.
Russia’s civil aviation authority ordered airlines to suspend flights to Iran and Israel and avoid their airspace — along with that of Jordan and Iraq — until at least June 26, following official travel warnings issued Friday.
Israel launched unprecedented strikes on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities early Friday, saying it aimed to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Iran has responded with multiple missile salvos targeting Israel.
President Vladimir Putin, who maintains ties with both Iran and Israel, condemned Israel’s strikes and warned of a “dangerous escalation” in the Middle East.
Trump says can broker Iran‑Israel peace using trade as he did with India‑Pakistan
- Trump’s reference to India and Pakistan pertains to military confrontation which ended with US-facilitated ceasefire on May 10
- Iranian officials report at least 138 people have been killed in Israel’s military onslaught since Friday, including 60 on Saturday
ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he could use American trade leverage to broker a peace deal between Iran and Israel, drawing a parallel to his administration’s role in facilitating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan last month.
The renewed conflict saw Iran and Israel exchanging missile and drone strikes over the past three days.
Iranian officials report at least 138 people have been killed in Israel’s onslaught since Friday, including 60 on Saturday, half of them children, when a missile brought down a 14-story apartment block in Tehran. Israel has reported at least 13 deaths.
“Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal, just like I got India and Pakistan to make,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “In that case by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!”
Trump’s reference to India and Pakistan pertains to a brief military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in May, which ended with a US-facilitated ceasefire on May 10. Washington said trade and security assurances were key to the de-escalation.
He also cited other conflicts, between Serbia and Kosovo, and disputes over the Nile dam involving Egypt and Ethiopia, saying his interventions helped maintain peace “at least for now.”
“Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran!” Trump added. “Many calls and meetings now taking place.”
Since Friday, Pakistan’s government has repeatedly pledged solidarity with Iran but urged its citizens to postpone travel to Iran and Iraq until the security situation improves.
On Saturday, Islamabad issued a formal travel advisory asking Pakistanis to avoid travel to Iran “for a limited period” due to the Israeli attacks.
Pakistan has also condemned the Israeli strikes, calling them an unjustified violation of Iranian sovereignty, and has urged the international community to help de-escalate tensions through dialogue.
Air India crash death toll climbs to 270 as victim identification continues
- Only one of 242 people on London-bound flight survived
- Doctors have identified 32 individuals through DNA matching
NEW DELHI: The death toll from the crash of an Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London has risen to 270, as bodies, including those of people killed on the ground, continue to be identified.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed less than a minute after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Gujarat state on Thursday.
It was carrying 242 people — 230 passengers, two pilots and 10 crew members. Only one person, a British national sitting in an emergency exit seat, survived the crash.
It remains unclear how many people were killed on the ground as the aircraft fell on B.J. Medical College and a hostel for students and resident doctors of the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
Dr. Dhaval Gameti, president of the Junior Doctors’ Association at the college, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the hospital had received the bodies of 270 victims.
The process of matching DNA samples to confirm their identities is underway.
Dr. Rajnish Patel, additional superintendent at the hospital, told the media on Sunday that only 14 bodies had been handed over to their next of kin.
“In the Ahmedabad plane tragedy, the DNA samples of 32 deceased individuals have been matched,” the hospital said in a statement.
“The mortal remains of the deceased whose DNA samples have been matched are being respectfully handed over to their families.”
Dr. Sarbari Dutta, secretary general of the Indian Medical Association, told Arab News that at least four medical students were confirmed to have been killed when the plane crashed into the college compound.
“More than 20 students are admitted in the hospital, some of them with very severe injuries,” she said, adding that the actual number of casualties would “definitely” be higher.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Saturday, after the aircraft’s digital flight data recorder, or black box, had been found at the site of the crash, that an investigation report would be issued within three months.
“The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has also given an order to do extended surveillance for the (Boeing) 787 planes,” he said.
“There are 34 in our Indian aircraft fleet today. I believe that eight have already been inspected and with immediate urgency. All of them are going to be done.”
Two killed, 32 injured after bridge collapses at tourist destination in India’s Maharashtra
- Incident occurred in Kundamala area in Pune district, which has witnessed heavy rains over the past few days
- It was not raining when the bridge collapsed in an area frequented by picnickers, PTI news agency reported
NEW DELHI: At least two people died and 32 others were injured after an iron bridge over a river collapsed at a popular tourist destination in India’s western Maharashtra state, the state’s top elected official said Sunday.
At least six people were rescued and hospitalized in critical condition, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote on social media platform X.
The incident occurred in Kundamala area in Pune district, which has witnessed heavy rains over the past few days, giving the river a steady flow, Press Trust of India reported.
It was not raining when the bridge collapsed in an area frequented by picnickers, the news agency reported.
Police said teams of the National Disaster Response Force and other search and recovery units have undertaken rescue operations, Press Trust reported.
Rescue work at the scene has been accelerated, Fadnavis said.
