Several Indian states bordering Pakistan have implemented stringent security measures, including school closures, blackouts, and cancellation of leave for police and administrative personnel, in response to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. These measures were taken after India conducted airstrikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam massacre. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and West Bengal have all implemented these precautionary measures.
When 22-year-old Vinita decided to take a bus from Udaipur instead of boarding a train to reach Jaipur, little did she know that her change in plans to reach the destination early would cost her life.
Mumbai Police on Saturday received a message threatening to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official said.
The Muslim community in Sujanpur Tira town in Himachal Pradesh has withdrawn its objection to a proposed Maharana Pratap statue outside a mosque. The decision comes after a delegation of the community submitted a memorandum to the Hamirpur administration, asking it not to install the statue in the park being built outside the mosque. The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) had called on the administration not to go back on its decision to install the statue at the approved spot.
The move came against the backdrop of Turkiye backing Pakistan and its condemnation of India's strikes on terror camps in the neighbouring country and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under Operation Sindoor.
"The Special Operations Group on Friday nabbed one Saeed Mota in an encounter near the Armapur canal. Saeed is a suspect in the Ajmer blasts of 2006. Based on some newspaper reports, which mentioned his alleged involvement in the blasts, we grilled him only to learn that he was in Ajmer during that period. We have also informed the Ajmer police about this." Senior Superintendent of Police, Kanpur, A K Singh said on Friday.
Can ordinary citizens counter this backward march? Can peace activists ensure that the two communities retain their bonds? Do they have a choice, asks Jyoti Punwani.
Arvind Singh Mewar, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Mewar and the chairman of the HRH group of hotels, died early Sunday in Udaipur after a prolonged illness. Mewar, 81, was a descendant of Rajput king Maharana Pratap and was ill for a long time. He is survived by his wife, son, and two daughters. The funeral will take place on Monday. Mewar was known for his career in the hospitality industry and for his involvement in sports, including cricket and polo. He was also an avid pilot and a philanthropist. He was the younger son of Bhagwant Singh Mewar and Sushila Kumari. His elder brother Mahendra Singh Mewar died in November last year. There have been conflicts and issues between his descendants regarding the leadership of the house of Mewar and a property dispute.
The minority front of the Uttar Pradesh BJP will distribute 'Saugat-e-Modi' kit to 32 lakh poor Muslims on the occasion of Eid this year.
An LPG tanker collided with multiple vehicles on Friday, leading to a massive fireball that turned a stretch of the Jaipur-Ajmer highway into an inferno, killing at least eight people and engulfing more than 30 vehicles in flames.
The superstar had last visited the shrine 40 years ago.
Hina Rabbani Khar, who is in India on her maiden visit as Pakistan foreign minister, will pay a visit to the revered Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer on Thursday before going back home.
A Bengaluru blast suspect, hiding in Ajmer for the past two months, was arrested by the Karnataka Intelligence Bureau with the help of Government Railway Police, a senior GRP official said on Saturday.
There is a link among the blasts carried out at Ajmer Dargah, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon with self-styled right-wing group Abhinav Bharat believed to be behind them, Central Bureau of Investigation said on Monday.
A deadly collision involving a gas tanker and multiple vehicles turned a stretch of the Jaipur-Ajmer highway here into an inferno on Friday morning, killing seven people, injuring more than 35 and engulfing over 30 vehicles in flames as thick black smoke filled the sky.
No loss of life was reported in the incident that occurred at around 1 am, they said, adding that the express train was on its way to Agra.
Three months after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari announced $1million donation for Ajmer dargah during his visit to the country, the shrine authorities are still waiting for the release of the money.
The actress sought blessings at the famed religious shrine.
The Rajasthan police is interrogating some suspects, including pilgrims of Bangladeshi origin, in connection with the blast at the revered Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer where Friday prayers will go ahead as scheduled. Some suspects are being interrogated since Thursday night but no arrests have been made in connection with the blast which claimed two lives and left 17 injured, a senior official said.
Members of the RSS, VHP and BJP were also part of the crowd welcoming Bhavesh Patel.
Bhumi holidays in Paris... Huma prays at Ajmer... Janhvi visits her mother's Chennai home...
Badiul Hassan, 80, was brought from Ajmer on Saturday and was undergoing treatment at Swai Mansingh Hospital in Jaipur. He died late Sunday night, police said on Monday.
At just 12 and a half years old, Manjari won gold in diving at the 1968 national championship in Kanpur, competing against older athletes.
More members of the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak may have been involved in planning the Ajmer blast in October 2007, according to sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation.Devender Gupta, who was arrested in connection with the Ajmer blast and the Mecca Masjid blast, has reportedly revealed that RSS members Varshney and Ashok Berry were also involved in planning the blast.The duo had allegedly provided refuge in Lucknow to the suspects who carried out the Ajmer blast.
Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf's trip to Ajmer on Saturday has hit a sour note with the Ajmer Sharif spritiual head saying he will boycott the visit in protest against the recent brutal killing and beheading of Indian soldiers by the Pakistani Army.
A team of the National Investigation Agency is probing whether Pakistani born American citizen and Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley visited Ajmer after the terror attack on Mumbai last year. Headley was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in early October from Chicago on charges of plotting terror attacks in India and Denmark. The NIA team has already searched a number of hotels in Pushkar, 15 kms from Ajmer, and taken possession of the records
Congress boss breaks with tradition to send two chadars to the Ajmer dargah.
Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf on Saturday offered prayers at the historic dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti during his private visit to Ajmer that was marked by protests.
The investigation process went on the lines of the Hyderabad blasts. Finally, the cops came to the conclusion that the blasts at Hyderabad and Ajmer were carried out by the same outfit-HuJI.
The government on Wednesday indicated that there will be no official talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Prevez Ashraf during his upcoming visit as he will travel directly to Ajmer.
Senior police officers preferred to remain silent on Wednesday saying investigations were still on.
Hindu right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand, an accused in several terror cases, has moved a court seeking to withdraw his application to turn a witness in the Ajmer Dargah blast case even as the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad on Friday said it is planning to file a chargesheet against him on April 8.
'It was a disaster on his part to give an oral remark which allowed ascertainment of the religious character of places of worship.' 'This disrupted the social harmony of the country.'
The proposed visit of a Pakistani delegation to Ajmer for the 801st Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti has become mired in controversy with local activists raising strong objection to it in the wake of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's death.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti drew comparisons between the treatment of Hindus in Bangladesh and minorities in India, sparking criticism from the BJP. Mufti expressed concerns about the alleged oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh and criticized recent surveys of mosques in India. She called for a united front against forces dividing people on religious lines and warned of a potential repeat of 1947-like riots.
The police said the incident happened on Thursday when a jagran programme was underway at the temple in Jaipur's Karni Vihar, and local residents objected to the noise and crowd in their neighbourhood at late hours.
"Chandrashekhar, who is suspected to be a key member of the terror module involved in the blast in which three persons were killed, was arrested on Friday from Shajapur," ATS sources said in Jaipur on Saturday.
The upcoming Delhi Assembly elections are set to be a thrilling contest between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Congress. The BJP is focusing on its "Parivartan" (change) slogan and a targeted campaign against AAP over corruption allegations, while AAP is highlighting the credibility of its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, and his promises to deliver on his promises. The Congress, seeking to reclaim its lost footing in the national capital, is also campaigning with a renewed vigor.
Rediff.com's Tahir Ali reads behind the lines on Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's private pilgrimage to Ajmer Sharif and analyses the decline of Sufism in Pakistan
