Thursday, 08 May 2025
Thursday, 08 May 2025
The civilian death toll in Pakistani ceasefire violations along the Line of Control climbed to 13 in Poonch, the Centre briefed Opposition leaders on the success of the missile strikes on nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied country and a Saudi minister arrived in Delhi on an announced visit on Thursday.
The ministry of external affairs said 59 people were also injured in the Pakistani firing, including 44 in Poonch.
The Pakistan Army has been resorting to heavy shelling in several sectors along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir that was effectively responded to by the Indian Army, military officials said.
The intensity of Pakistani shelling has increased following India's military strikes on nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir early Wednesday.
"During the intervening night of May 7 and 8, Pakistan Army posts resorted to unprovoked fire using small arms and artillery guns across the LoC in areas opposite Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri and Akhnoor in Jammu and Kashmir," a military official told PTI.
"The Indian Army responded proportionately," the official added.
In view of the escalating tension, the authorities have ordered that all educational institutions in five border districts of Jammu region will remain closed for the second day on Thursday.
Punjab and Rajasthan have also gone into full alert mode. Punjab shares a 532km border with Pakistan; Rajasthan has around 1,070 km of border.
Both states have cancelled leaves of all administrative officials and police personnel deployed in the border areas, PTI reported.
All schools in six border districts of Punjab -- Ferozepur, Pathankot, Fazilka, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran -- have been shut until further orders. In Rajasthan, all government and private schools have been shut in four border districts -- Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer.
"All districts near the border have been placed on high alert. The government has also cancelled all public events in view of the prevailing situation," Punjab minister Aman Arora said on Wednesday
"Punjab police are also fully prepared as the second line of defence. They will join the army in every battle to deliver a crushing response to any Pakistani attack," he added.
Government briefs all political parties
The government briefed an all-party meeting on Thursday on the success of Operation Sindoor and its aftermath as top government functionaries and Opposition leaders met for a second time in a fortnight.
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S. Jaishankar, J.P. Nadda and Nirmala Sitharaman represented the government. Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge from the Congress, Sandip Bandyopadhyay of the Trinamool Congress and DMK's T.R. Baalu were among those present from the Opposition.
Singh chaired the meeting.
Other Opposition leaders included Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Sanjay Singh of the AAP, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Sanjay Raut, NCP (SP)'s Supriya Sule, BJD's Sasmit Patra and CPI(M)'s John Brittas.
JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha, Union minister and LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi were also part of the meeting.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met national security advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday morning, it was reported.
Saudi, Iranian ministers in Delhi
Saudi Arabia's minister of state for foreign affairs Adel Aljubeir arrived in India on an unannounced visit and held talks with external affairs minister Jaishankar on Thursday with a focus on de-escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.
"A good meeting with @AdelAljubeir, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia this morning," Jaishankar said in a social media post. "Shared India's perspectives on firmly countering terrorism," he said.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi also landed in New Delhi around midnight – on a scheduled visit. Araghchi will hold talks with Jaishankar. He is also meeting President Droupadi Murmu.
Indian armed forces early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets, including Bahawalpur, a stronghold of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit, and Muridke, the base of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. The strikes, codenamed Operation Sindoor, were in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.
Foreign secretary Vikram Misri said India decided to carry out the "proportionate" strikes to bring the perpetrators and planners of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack to justice as there was "no demonstrable step" from Pakistan to act against terrorist infrastructure on territories under its control.
