Israel has expressed strong support for India after the Army launched a series of terror strikes on civilian targets in Pakistan and Kashmir.

On Wednesday, Reuven Azar, Israel’s Ambassador to India, posted on X: “Israel supports India’s right for self-defense. Terrorists should know there’s no place to hide from their heinous crimes against the innocent.”

After being battered by heavy criticism on social media for parroting what is essentially Pakistani news media/propoganda line, and unable to find any corraborative evidence to defend it, The Hindu has done the honourable thing. | #OperationSindur #TheHindu

Union Home Secretary reviews preparations done by States to test civil defence preparedness in the wake of a ‘hostile’ situation...

States across the country prepared to conduct mock drills on Wednesday (May 7, 2025) following the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

https://web.archive.org/web/20250506202548/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/union-home-secretary-govind-mohan-civil-defence-mock-drills-may-6-2025/article69543883.ece

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/37406293

Hundreds of Indian tourists, families and honeymooners, drawn by the breathtaking Himalayan beauty, were enjoying a picture-perfect meadow in Kashmir. They didn’t know gunmen in army fatigues were lurking in the woods.

When the attackers got their chance, they shot mostly Indian Hindu men, many of them at close-range, leaving behind bodies strewn across the Baisaran meadow and survivors screaming for help.

The gunmen quickly vanished into thick forests. By the time Indian authorities arrived, 26 people were dead and 17 others were wounded.

India has described the April 22 massacre as a terror attack and blamed Pakistan for backing it, an accusation denied by Islamabad. India swiftly announced diplomatic actions against its archrival Pakistan, which responded with its own tit-for-tat measures.

India has demolished at least ten homes over the last week belonging to suspected rebels in the region after 26 people were killed in an attack in Pahalgam, Indian-controlled Kashmir, in April.

The ongoing demolitions have sparked anger with locals, who call the punishment an "Israeli tactic".

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a meeting with the military’s top brass in New Delhi, gave India's armed forces "complete operational freedom."

"It was dark when the Indian armed forces cordoned off the village in large numbers and directed us to leave our houses," Ashiq Ahmad, a villager, told MEE.

"After some time, the earth beneath our feet shook," Ashiq said, describing the explosion they heard from a mosque some distance away, where locals had been forcibly held for hours.

"When we came out after two hours, we found many houses destroyed and razed to the ground," he said. "We were mourning the whole night."

While the Indian government has banned 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for “provocative content” and “misinformation” following the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian television news has been doing what it does best: rolling out the red carpet for such content, in studio lighting, with a splash of nationalistic graphics.

For example, on Poochta Hai Bharat, hosted by Aishwarya Kapoor on Republic Bharat, Pakistan strategic affairs expert Hamid Khan said, “The NYT ne kaha ki yeh saara Pahalgam drama hai aur Modi ne apne nakamiyon ko chupane ke liye yeh kiya hai. Aapke MPs, press, aue log pooch rahe hai ki Modi ne yeh drama kyun kiya. Jo aap Kashmiryon ke saath kar rahe hai, puri duniya apko Kashmiriyon ke genocide pe mujrim karar de rahi hai? (The NYT has written that Pahalgam was orchestrated by PM Narendra Modi to hide his failures. Your MPs, press, and citizens are asking why Modi had to do this drama. The whole world is terming India a criminal due to the genocide of Kashmiris.) ” 

No piece by the New York Times has made such claims.

On Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court directed the Indian government to block Proton Mail, a popular email service known for its enhanced security, following a legal complaint filed by New Delhi-based M Moser Design Associates. The local firm alleged that its employees had received emails containing obscene and vulgar content sent via Proton Mail.

University of Lucknow assistant professor Madri Kakoti, known online as satirist Dr Medusa, has been booked under sedition and six other charges for her social media posts on the Pahalgam attack.

An FIR has been lodged at Hasanganj police station on the basis of a complaint from an ABVP member, who is enrolled in a postgraduate course at the university. The case has been filed under BNS sections 197(1), 152, 302, 352, 353(2) and 196(1)(a) apart from provisions of the IT Act.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/28826833

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/9e37a6d5-ad29-42f8-9c82-f32f83bc5fa7.png

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/168181

From Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera via this RSS feed

cross-posted from: https://lemy.lol/post/43264971

In the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir’s Pahalgam, hatred against Kashmiris and Kashmiri students in particular surged in at least four northern states and Jammu, fuelled by right-wing groups. We spoke with Kashmiri students who had exams to write but had no institutional support. Hiding in their rooms, hoping for the worst to pass without violence, they spoke of mental and emotional trauma.

The NIA on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the proceeds of the 2,988-kg heroin consignment that was intercepted in Mundra port by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in September 2021 were “used…for funding terrorist activities of” the banned Pakistan-based “Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)”.

The agency also said a protected witness in the case had deposed that Lateef Rather, a slain operative of LeT proxy The Resistance Front (TRF), had told him that one “Md. Iqbal Awan and Afghanistan/Pakistan based drug smugglers in December 2021… discussed… Kashmir issue, Article 370” with him… “Lateef directed representative code name Malik to Delhi/Haryana border for collection of (`) 10 and 15 lakh” from one Haryana man… “the money was used for procuring weapons and ammunition for new recruits of Lashkar-e-Taiba”, the agency told the court.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the NIA conveyed this to a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N K Singh while opposing the bail plea of a key accused, Harpreet Singh Talwar alias Kabir Talwar of Delhi, in the case. The law officer said the narcotics was trafficked to India “disguised as legal imports in the form of semi-processed talc stones and bituminous coal” and “the proceeds… were sent back to the consignors, who used these funds for funding terrorist activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)”.

She said “the legal export-import channel was used after finding loopholes and circumventing the system”. The ASG said a total of six consignments were imported to India, sent by the same consignors from Afghanistan. The sixth was intercepted at Mundra port. “The Narco-traffickers were located in Afghanistan and were sending heroin via Iran and Pakistan to India (with help of ISI and Iranian middle men),” Bhati said.

“…a large consignment of 2,988.21 kgs of Heroin was brought from Afghanistan via Bandar Abbas, Iran and was imported to India in the name of Aashi Trading Company and the same was intercepted… we have 12 wanted accused persons based in Dubai, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” she said.

The ASG said one of the key witnesses in the case, a retired customs official, was found dead under suspicious circumstances. “He is the customs official who cleared the consignment in Kolkata. There was money received in his account. When we examined him… he said he would… make a statement and in the night, he was found dead. That aspect we are still going to investigate because at that time he was not cooperating.”

The counsel appearing for Talwar, however, said the accused “was in jail at that time. They themselves had said it’s suicide… Sometimes witnesses do commit suicide when they are put under pressure”.

Investigations have already revealed the mastermind of the ‘narco-terror’ is Pakistan’s ISI and Pakistan-backed banned terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba. As such considering the totality of the matter in the respectful submission of the petitioner bail ought not be granted in the instant matter so as to prevent miscarriage of justice and obfuscation of the trial of instant international conspiracy of heinous nature, the NIA said.

Bhati also referred to Talwar receiving consignments of perfumes and dates, adding, “it’s the case of the prosecution that the perfumes and the dates are actually the consideration he is getting in kind for carrying out this business, for using this business channel”. The ASG urged the court to keep in mind the magnitude of the crime and said “is the biggest the country has ever seen… the international price of this is Rs 21,000 crore. That is the amount of money that is being funnelled into the terrorist organisations”.

Senior Advocate C A Sundaram who, too, represented Talwar said there was no evidence to link him to the charges of heroin smuggling.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/28149245

Apple Inc. assembled $22 billion worth of iPhones in India in the 12 months ended March, increasing production by nearly 60% over the previous year in a sign of continued diversification away from China.

In a groundbreaking move to tackle climate change, 63 countries, including India, have voted in favour of the world’s first global carbon tax for the shipping industry.