People along the Line of Control and International Border in the Jammu region continue to live under the shadow of death, with unexploded mortar shells fired by Pakistani troops still embedded in farmlands and residential areas even though hostilities have stopped for nearly a week. IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: / Rediff.com Despite the May 10 understanding between India and Pakistan, locals describe the border areas as a 'death trap'. Sixty-two-year-old Balvinder Singh, who returned to his home in Pargwal sector on May 14, recounted a narrow escape. "Two shells exploded in our compound, damaging our house. Three more landed on our farmland. We were terrified and told our family to stay away from the fields until the Army could help," Singh told PTI. Army engineers later came to the village and safely defused the unexploded shells, bringing a temporary sense of relief. "Fear is writ large on the faces of people to these death traps in border hamlets", he said. Scenes of destruction are evident rooftops torn apart, broken houses, windows punctured by shrapnel, and carcasses of cattle lying in pools of blood. The acrid smell of gunpowder still lingers in the air. Sardar Gurmeet Singh faced a similar ordeal. His family could not re-enter their home as a live mortar shell had sunk into the compound in a village close to the International Border. "The army's bomb disposal squad removed it after four days, allowing us to finally enter, back home," he said. Indian Army engineers have launched a sweeping clearance operation across border districts, defusing over 80 unexploded shells in the past five days -- including 6 in Pargwal, 19 in Rajouri, 42 in Poonch, and 12 along the IB. "These shells, mostly 120 mm calibre, have a range of 15 to 30 km and pose a serious threat to both civilian and military targets," an Army officer said. "Many of them were fired by Pakistan during recent hostilities." On May 7, the Indian Army launched Operation Sindoor, conducting precision strikes on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. The subsequent retaliation by Pakistan pushed the region to the brink of war. From 7 to 10 of May, 27 civilians were killed and over 70 injured in Pakistani shelling in the Jammu region. Farid Din Gujjar, a resident near the border, expressed fear about returning to his fields. "Several shells created deep craters in our paddy land. We cannot resume work until all unexploded ordnance is cleared. It's a death trap," he said. Army units, in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police, have evacuated high-risk zones and issued stern warnings to residents not to touch any suspicious objects or unexploded shells. In one major operation, 42 live shells were safely destroyed in the Poonch villages of Jhullas, Salotri, Dharati and Salani. "All safety protocols were followed. The shells posed a serious danger to local lives," an Army spokesperson said, calling the effort a 'continued commitment to protect civilians and restore normalcy'. Poonch saw the vast majority of deaths due to shelling. Security officials said that Pakistan used a mix of mortar shells, armed drones, and missiles during the shelling spree, specifically targeting civilian habitations and border towns in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Poonch. As clearance operations continue, the border residents are slowly returning to their homes, but with caution, fear, and lingering uncertainty about shelling that may yet happen in the future.
However, it said that the Delhi airport protocol required the aircraft to be inspected elsewhere before being cleared to land.
The White House accredited this feat to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk for their efforts
Paternal kin of Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams broke into spontaneous celebration as news of the safe touchdown of her spacecraft Atlantis trickled in the small hours on Saturday.
The sky outside was a perfect blue with fair winds on that hot day in July, but inside the Jaguar an emergency was unraveling with every passing second. Wing Commander Vernon Desmond Keane had two options: Eject and see his beloved aircraft crash -- which would come at a great cost to the nation and cause harm to civilian life and property on the ground. Or try the limits of his training; push the aircraft and his flying skills to the edge of technical and human endurance and save them both.
A naval Islander aircraft force-landed at a paddy field at Piravom near Kochi on Friday while on a routine sortie. However, all the five people on board are safe.
Rajasthan Sports Minister Ashok Chandna made the slip hours before the touchdown by Chandrayaan's lander on the lunar surface - an unmanned landing eagerly anticipated across the country.
Trump's remarks came a day after the US launched Operation Midnight Hammer, targeting three of Iran's key nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
'In 50 seconds, the pilots were fighting drag, trying relight, throttling up and avoiding obstacles.' 'They had neither height nor speed. There was no margin.'
The Supreme Court's order to remove stray dogs from Delhi-NCR localities has sparked mixed reactions, with RWAs welcoming the move and animal rights activists raising concerns about implementation and potential harm.
'What the Americans want is to destabilise Iran. For destabilising Iran, you need access. 'One access is through Iraq. The other access is through Pakistan.'
"I congratulate them on this. When it is time tomorrow for its safe arrival on earth, the whole country should welcome it," he said.
'Tom Curran went to the airport, but heard that the airport was closed.' 'Then he started crying like a little child. It took two or three people to handle him.'
After a perilous 500-km road journey out of conflict-torn Tehran, stranded Indian tourist Falguni Dey reached Iran's Astara border with Azerbaijan on Tuesday evening, but his ordeal is far from over.
Williams' father, originally from Jhulasan, migrated to the United States in 1957.
Another special flight carrying 296 Indian nationals and four Nepalese nationals stranded in conflict-hit Iran landed safely in New Delhi on Wednesday, taking the total number of people evacuated under Operation Sindhu to 3,154.
Amid current geopolitical challenges and a slowdown in global growth, veteran emerging market investor Mark Mobius called India a safe haven for investors, backed by a stable government. The renowned investor, who is excited about the opportunities available in India, said the country is now the second largest in the portfolio of Mobius Capital Partners after Taiwan. Calling India a "land of opportunities and innovation", he said that his optimism about India is driven by the stable government and young demographic, with an average age of 27 years.
The 53-second video, shot using a selfie stick, showed people running for their lives, with one of them falling, apparently after being gunned down by a terrorist.
Needing 7 to win, Siraj is given the ball and who better than Mr Lion Heart to script India's narrowest win in Test cricket. It takes Siraj a stinging yorker to send Atkinson's stumps flying -- the ball hitting low on the off stump.
Under Operation Sindoor, Indian armed forces not only struck Pakistani military bases near the border but their might was even felt in Rawalpindi where the headquarters of the Pakistani Army is located, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday.
Akshay Kumar has been personally funding medical insurance premiums worth Rs 6 crore to Rs 7 crore annually for over 650 stuntmen and their families for the past eight years.
A young Indian man was arrested in Pakistan after illegally crossing the border to meet a Facebook friend he wanted to marry. However, the woman told police she was not interested in marrying him. The man, Badal Babu, was arrested in the Mandi Bahauddin district of Pakistan's Punjab province on December 28. He had crossed the border to meet his Facebook friend, Sana Rani. Rani, in her statement to police, said she had been friends with Babu for the past two-and-a-half years but was not interested in marrying him. Babu's family has appealed to the Indian government to intervene for his release.
"Intermittent pauses in hostilities are not enough to address the scale of humanitarian challenges confronting the people, who grapple daily with acute shortages of food and fuel, inadequate medical services and lack of access to education," Harish said at the open debate on the 'Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question'.
The ministry of external affairs said in a statement that the Indian embassy remains in touch with the community with a view to extend all feasible assistance.
'I hear that there are some 10,000 Indians stuck in Iran, including nearly 4,000 students from Kashmir. But, I do not know any of them. Here I am all by myself and the embassy has asked me not to venture out far from my hotel. People here are going about their daily lives despite the bombings'
India's macroeconomic health is in a "relative goldilocks situation", and although the risk of higher landed oil prices, due to insurance cost surges and closure of choke points due to the brief Israel-Iran war, has receded, it is "too soon to sound the 'all clear' for the rest of the year", the Finance Ministry said on Friday.
'Arundhati Roy is like a ballerina performing on a high wire, cool, supremely at ease but conscious of all the adoring eyes on her,' notes P Vijaya Kumar.
Since the onset of monsoon on June 20 to date, rain-related incidents have claimed 23 lives in the state, according to the state emergency operation centre.
'The lakes up there were already at the brink due to accumulated rainwater, and then snowmelt occurred.' 'When one lake breached, it triggered a cascading effect -- other lakes breached subsequently.'
With the spacecraft's safe landing, NASA's mission came to a happy ending unlike the 2003 Columbia disaster in which India-born Kalpana Chawla was killed along with her six colleagues aboard the shuttle
'Loss of thrust in both engines would have left the crew with minimal options for recovery.'
Zahra said that while the university officials visited the students and advised them to remain calm, they did not offer clarity on which areas might be safer.
India created history on Wednesday when the lander module of Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.
"We saw missiles in the sky and heard bombs in our neighbourhood... We were petrified," said MBBS student Mir Khalif, his voice still trembling with fear, as he stepped out of the Delhi airport after being evacuated from war-hit Iran under Operation Sindhu.
Patel emphasised that one of the most important features of the bill is the establishment of a dedicated tribunal for resolving disputes, reducing the burden on the judiciary and ensuring quicker justice.
In the past few days, more than 40 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received bomb threats which later turned out to be hoaxes.
Two bodies were recovered from the Manuni Khad in Kangra district while around 15-20 workers stationed at a labour colony near the Indira Priyadarshini Hydroelectric project site were feared swept away following a surge in water level in the Khaniyara Manuni Khad.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday escaped unhurt when the helicopter carrying him made an emergency landing in Churu district after one of its rotor blades got damaged.
After chairing an emergency meeting with senior officials to discuss the situation, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that heli services on the Char Dham route will remain suspended for two days, as the weather is bad and the safety of the passengers is the government's top priority.
'If you align your ambition with India's rise, the peak of your careers will unfold alongside the peak of India's power.'
