People visited their kith and kin, exchanged festive greetings and sweets while social media, including the likes of WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, was flooded with Diwali messages as many took the virtual route to convey their wishes.
The 45-year old Pakistani national identified as Fasiullah Hussaini was released from the jail on Monday and escorted by the police to Delhi for being handed over to Pakistan Rangers at the Wagah border with the help of the Border Security Force, jail authorities told PTI on Tuesday.
'The BSF and other forces will undertake a counter-action at a suitable time'
"Border Security Force detects a tunnel along the international border in Hiranagar sector of Kathua. "More details awaited," officials said.
With no let up in ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC and the International Border, the Indian Director General of Military Operation on Tuesday spoke to his Pakistani counterpart and is understood to have conveyed India's strong concerns over it.
Scores of churches and homes belonging to Christians in Jaranwala tehsil of Faisalabad district, some 130 km from the provincial capital, were burnt down on Wednesday by a mob enraged over reports that two Christians had desecrated the Quran.
If the Pakistani foreign minister attends the meeting in person, it will be the first such visit from Islamabad to India since 2011.
'Therefore, these people want Imran Khan out of the elections whenever it is held.' 'For this, he will have to be disqualified from contesting on the basis of cases against him, declaring that he is not sadiq (honest) and ameen (righteous).'
Ceasefire violations by Pakistan Rangers continued on Thursday with 60 Indian border outposts and over 80 villages coming under mortar shelling and firing in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts along the International Border.
Pakistani troops targeted over 60 hamlets and scores of border posts in heavy overnight shelling in Kathua and Samba districts, with mortar bombs landing deep inside Indian territory.
Pakistani troops violated ceasefire on Saturday by targeting Indian posts along the Line of Control in Poonch district with rocket projectile grenades and heavy machine guns this morning leading to heavy firing exchanges.
Two Border Security Force jawans were on Friday injured when Pakistani troops opened fire at seven border out posts and civilian areas along the International Border in Jammu and Samba districts.
BSF chief K K Sharma said Pakistani forces are deliberately trying to "create a flash point" to facilitate infiltration of terrorists into India and asserted that these designs will be foiled.
People came out of homes in large numbers, offered namaz at mosques, greeted each other with hugs and exchanged food and gifts across the length and breadth of India to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha on Sunday.
Pakistani troops heavily shelled 15 border outposts and hamlets along the international border overnight, leaving three persons injured, one of them seriously in Jammu district.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said that former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested for causing loss to the national treasury in a corruption case.
Pakistan troops once again violated the bilateral ceasefire along the Line of Control in the Hamirpur sector of Poonch district in Jammu region late Tuesday night.
Pakistan's Punjab government has said that the involvement of a "foreign hand" could not be ruled out in the Wagah Border suicide bombing, even after three homegrown militant factions separately claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least 61 people.
Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire twice on Wednesday by opening heavy fire on several Indian posts along the Line of Control and the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir, leaving an Army jawan injured.
The latest ceasefire violations -- the tenth and eleventh in less than a week -- has come a day after an Army jawan was killed when Pakistani troops opened fire at forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.
When asked to stop, the intruders fired on BSF troops who retaliated in self-defence. Subsequently, five intruders were shot dead, a BSF officer said.
Pari is currently undergoing treatment for severe neck, spinal and abdominal injuries.
In a major security breach at the Wagah-Attari border crossing with Pakistan, an NRI crashed his SUV into the security gates at the Attari Joint Check Post in the wee hours of Monday and reached the Zero line at the International Border.
''I heard from the Pakistani brigadier that Flying Officer Pradeep Apte had been killed after he ejected safely and tried to escape. This news sent a chill up my spine. I had been lucky so far...'
In a major relief for Imran Khan, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday declared the former prime minister's arrest "illegal" and ordered his immediate release after he was produced before a bench on its orders.
Nine persons have been killed so far in ceasefire violations over three days, police officials said.
Violating the ceasefire for the 14th time in the past 12 days, Pakistani troops on Friday targeted two border out posts along the International Border in Jammu sector drawing retaliation from Indian troops.
Shiv Sena on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of ceasefire violations by Pakistan, saying he should focus on stopping the "atrocities" by the neighbouring country and not Maharashtra politics.
'Disappointed at the arrogant and negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue,' Prime Minister Khan said in a tweet.
Three persons were killed and 17 others injured when Pakistani Rangers violated the ceasefire twice and heavily shelled civilian areas and border posts along the International Border in R S Pura and Arnia sectors of Jammu district on Friday, drawing retaliation from the Border Security Force.
This is the first such incident in Jammu region when a drone carrying arms and explosives was shot down by the BSF, frustrating Pakistan's attempt to smuggle weapons into the Union Territory using the hexacopter.
Fireworks illuminated the evening sky, earthen lamps dotted houses and lights decked up buildings as people exchanged sweets and gifts on Diwali which also witnessed bonhomie between Indian and Pakistani guards at border posts.
Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh was on Monday suddenly called in by Defence Minister A K Antony to brief him about the ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the Line of Control, days after the prime minister voiced concern over the handling of Keran operations.
Heavy artillery firing also left a trooper dead across the border, it said.
Despite the national capital recording its best air quality on Diwali day in eight years, pollution levels may rise due to low night temperatures and sporadic burning of firecrackers though there is a ban on their manufacture, storage, sale and use within the city.
'The documentary was rigorously researched according to the highest editorial standards,' a BBC spokesperson said in a statement.
In escalating ceasefire violations that continued on the night of October 7, Pakistani troops targeted over 40 Border Out Posts and 25 border hamlets with heavy mortar shells in Jammu sector and LoC areas in Poonch district, leaving 12 people including a JCO injured. Military officials of India and Pakistan discussed on the hotline the cross-border firing in Jammu and Kashmir but there was no signs of a solution.
"The Pakistani Army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics, 82 mm and 120 mm mortars from 0715 hours along the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowshera sector", PRO, ministry of defence, Jammu, Lt Col Manish Mehta said. The Indian Army posts are retaliating strongly and effectively, he said, adding that the firing is currently going on.
'Despite the existence of a ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India, Pakistan Rangers did not stop their nefarious activities against India and carried on with their ill motives on IB in Jammu'
A Pakistani judge on Saturday cancelled former premier Imran Khan's arrest warrants in the Toshakhana corruption case and allowed him to go home without indicting him, amidst clashes between his supporters and police outside the court complex in Islamabad.
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