Opposition parties on Friday alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders displayed insensitivity in handing over a compensation cheque to the inconsolable mother of Captain Shubham Gupta, who was killed fighting terrorists in J-K, and lashed out at them for using the occasion as a 'photo-op'.
Here's a recap of moments captured in India in the past 24 hours.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Eid prayers passed off peacefully and there was no report of any untoward incident, the police said.
Army Chief General M M Naravane carried out an aerial reconnaissance of forward areas on Wednesday and was briefed about the prevailing security situation along the Line of Control (LOC) in the Jammu region, officials said.
An army jawan was killed and three others injured in a blast triggered by an Improvised Explosive Device attack along LoC in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.
Shelling and firing by Pakistani troops was "very heavy" in 2018, virtually making the 2003 India-Pakistan border truce "redundant", said officials.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
Around 300 terrorists are present in Jammu and Kashmir, while 160 others are waiting on the launchpads for an opportunity to sneak into this side from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan, a top army commander said on Tuesday.
A total of 146 militancy-related incidents took place between January 15, 2015 to January 15, 2016, leaving 169 people -- 108 militants, 39 security personnel and 22 civilians -- dead. A total of 181 incidents of border firing were reported during the same period in the state which left 22 persons including eight security personnel dead and 75 others, including 13 security men injured
'By killing innocent people, they are using Sun Tzu's tactics of 'kill one, terrify thousands.'
Assistant Sub-Inspector Babu Ram and Constable Altaf Hussain Bhat of Jammu and Kashmir Police were on Saturday posthumously conferred with the Ashoka Chakra and the Kirti Chakra awards respectively on the eve of the 75th Independence Day. While the Ashoka Chakra is India's highest peacetime gallantry honour, Kirti Chakra is the second in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards.
Five Army personnel and a terrorist, who is said to be part of the group that carried out an attack on civilians in Dhangri village of Rajouri early this year, were killed, while a major-rank officer was injured in the operation so far.
The 27-second video was released a day after it claimed to have killed five Indian soldiers while retaliating to India's "unprovoked ceasefire violation" in Tatta Pani sector along the LoC.
Admitting the presence of about three splinter terror groups in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, a senior police officer said security forces are making efforts to neutralise them.
He said such an act cannot be carried out without the "protection, participation or the actual indulgence" of the army.
A large quantity of weapons, including AK-47 rifles and mines with Pakistan-marking were recovered from the slain terrorist.
Slogans of 'Shaheed Amar Rahe' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' rent the air as military vehicles carrying the mortal remains of the three soldiers reached their respective villages. Anti-Pakistan slogans were also raised.
In yet another provocation just days ahead of the Indo-Pak foreign secretary level talks, the Pakistan High Commissioner on Thursday said his country extends "full diplomatic and moral support" for what he described as "legitimate struggle" of Kashmiris.
M I Khan speaks to the bereaved families of soldiers killed along the Line of Control. They demand India though action against the neighbours and NOT compensation.
Blood splattered compounds, smashed window panes and demolished roofs are all that are left of houses in border hamlets which have been battered in Pakistani shelling in the last four days. A smell of gunpowder lingers in these villages whose residents are living in increasing fear. In all, 12 people, including five security personnel, have been killed and over 60 others injured in Pakistani firing from across the border in Jammu since Thursday.
However, there has been an appreciable decline in the casualties of civilians and security forces in the terror attacks in the past nearly four years. Against 11 civilian killings from October 27, 2015 to August 4, 2019, there was a 63 per cent decrease with seven civilian killings reported post the abrogation of Article 370.
Officials said gunshots were heard as the joint search parties of the Army and the police resumed the operation in Poonch's Mendhar area. However, it was not immediately clear whether it was speculative firing by the search parties or fresh contact was established with the terrorists, they said.
Yeh Hai India: Capturing the events and moods across our incredible country.
"Border Security Force detects a tunnel along the international border in Hiranagar sector of Kathua. "More details awaited," officials said.
The killings of two civilians and injuries to another on Friday lead to massive protests with people demanding a fair probe into the incident.
Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was suspended due to lurking threat of floods in the Valley, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded, officials said.
Twenty Indian soldiers posted in border areas of the country, most of them in Jammu and Kashmir, have gone missing from 1996 to 2010, according to an RTI reply.
Lashing out at Pakistan over its repeated ceasefire violations across the border in Jammu and Kashmir, Shiv Sena on Wednesday said it would not be wrong for India as well to breach the truce to teach the neighbouring country a lesson.
Months after the devastating flood ruined their life, the people of Poonch are today totally isolated. They feel they have been left unheard, once again.
Naik Kundalik Mane, one of the five soldiers killed in Pakistan army's attack along the Line of Control on Monday night, was cremated with full state honours in his native village Pimpalgaon Khurd in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district on Thursday. However, a political controversy erupted soon after as Nationalist Congress Party condemned the statement of Bharatiya Janata Party's leader Gopinath Munde.
'They keep issuing statements to win a few rounds of applause.'
"They (those who celebrated the win) don't have anything to do with them (Pakistanis)... It was done to provoke the BJP. They were children and young boys and this should serve as an eye-opener for the BJP," Abdullah said at a public meeting in Surankote in Poonch district.
The ceasefire violation comes after nearly seven months as last such incident took place on September 18, 2015 in the Balakote sector of Poonch district.
To understand Modi, listen to what he does not say -- vide NRC, suggests Prem Panicker.
Army chief General M M Naravane visited forward areas along the Line of Control in Jammu region on Tuesday and was briefed on the ground situation in the region and ongoing counter-infiltration operations, officials said.
These fresh violations came after a gap of one month and four days along Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir.
The incident took place in Tuksan Dhok village and the captured terrorists included the most wanted LeT commander Talib Hussain, a resident of Rajouri district and the mastermind of the recent IED blasts in the district, the officials said.
Pakistan Rangers violated ceasefire again by targeting Border Outs Posts with small arms and automatic weapons along International Border in Jammu district, prompting Border Security Force troops to retaliate.
Amid continuing ceasefire violations by Pakistan Army, top military officials of India and Pakistan on Tuesday discussed over the hotline the situation along the Line of Control and International Border.
Security forces killed five heavily armed foreign terrorists along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday and said it was the "biggest" infiltration bid to have been foiled since 2021, when India and Pakistan effected a ceasefire understanding.
