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Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged gunfire overnight in Kashmir, New Delhi said Thursday, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades.Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, with days of repeated gunfire along their border escalating into artillery shelling.”We will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs,” Sharif said, in an address to the nation.India said it had destroyed nine “terrorist camps” in Pakistan in “focused, measured and non-escalatory” strikes, two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on tourists in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir — a charge Pakistan denies.At least 45 deaths have been reported from both sides of the border following Wednesday’s violence, including children.Islamabad said 31 civilians were killed by Indian strikes and firing along the border.New Delhi said 13 civilians and a soldier had been killed by Pakistani fire.Pakistan’s military also said five Indian jets had been downed across the border, but New Delhi has not responded to the claims.An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.- ‘Screamed’ -The largest Indian strike was on an Islamic seminary near the Punjabi city of Bahawalpur, killing 13 people according to the Pakistan military. Madasar Choudhary, 29, described how his sister saw two children killed in Poonch, on the Indian side of the frontier on Wednesday.”She saw two children running out of her neighbour’s house and screamed for them to get back inside,” Choudhary said, narrating her account because she was too shocked to speak.”But shrapnel got to the children — and they eventually died.”Muhammad Riaz said he and his family had been made homeless after Indian strikes hit Muzaffarabad, the main city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.”There is no place to live,” he said. “There is no space at the house of our relatives. We are very upset, we have nowhere to go.”On Wednesday night, Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry reported firing across the Line of Control — the de facto border in Kashmir — and said that the armed forces had been authorised to “respond in self-defence” at a “time, place and manner of its choosing”.India’s army on Thursday morning reported firing “small arms and artillery guns” in multiple sites overnight, adding that its soldiers had “responded proportionately”, without giving further details.India and Pakistan have fought multiple times since the violent end of British rule in 1947, when colonial officers drew straight-line borders on maps to partition the nations, dividing communities.Muslim-majority Kashmir — claimed by both India and Pakistan — has been a repeated flashpoint.- ‘No pushover’ -India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the operation was New Delhi’s “right to respond” following an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men.New Delhi blamed the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organisation, and the nations traded days of threats and diplomatic measures.India on Thursday braced for Pakistan’s threatened retaliation.”Border districts on high alert,” The Hindu newspaper headline read, adding that “India must be prepared for escalatory action” by Pakistan.In an editorial, the Indian Express wrote “there is no reason to believe that the Pakistan Army has been chastened by the Indian airstrikes”, adding that Indian military experts were “aware that Pakistan’s armed forces are no pushover”.Diplomats and world leaders have pressured both countries to step back from the brink.”I want to see them stop,” US President Donald Trump said Wednesday.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is slated to meet his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday in New Delhi, days after visiting Pakistan, as Tehran seeks to mediate.Analysts said they were fully expecting Pakistani military action to “save face” in a response to India.”India’s limited objectives are met,” said Happymon Jacob, director of the New Delhi-based think tank Council for Strategic and Defence Research.”Pakistan has a limited objective of ensuring that it carries out a retaliatory strike to save face domestically and internationally. So, that is likely to happen.”Based on past conflicts, he believed it would “likely end in a few iterations of exchange of long-range gunfire or missiles into each other’s territory”. burs-pjm/lb

As cardinals gather in the Vatican to elect a new pope — with a Filipino among the favourites — the church in Asia’s most Catholic country is grappling with a decline in those with a vocation for the priesthood.”According to the statistics we have… one priest is catering to around 9,000 Catholics,” John Alfred Rabena, chancellor of UST Central Seminary, one the country’s oldest, said this week.It is a situation that was leading to “exhaustion” among an overworked clergy, he told AFP during a visit to the seminary’s art deco building on the sprawling University of Santo Tomas campus.Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is among the favourites to succeed Pope Francis, while another Filipino, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, has emerged as a late dark horse candidate.While officially cautioned not to campaign for their countrymen, clergymen in the Philippines told AFP they believe a Filipino pope could inspire a surge in recruits to the flagging ranks of the priesthood.Father Robert Reyes, a well-known activist priest, said he sounded the alarm during his 1987-98 tenure as national vocation director of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). “I was already warning the bishops that there were obvious signs of a decline in vocations, and how many years is that already?” he said.While the CBCP said it maintains no formal database tracking enrolment numbers, the Philippine Church marked its first-ever National Vocation Awareness Month in November in a bid to “address the critical need for more priests within the nation”.- ‘Broken trust’ -For Father Jerome Secillano, spokesperson for the CBCP, the reason for that need is no secret.”Because of the sexual misconduct that happened in the Church,” he said of the global abuse scandal that erupted in the early 2000s.”That was when people entering the seminary started to dwindle. The impact of that is still being felt.”And while he believes an outpouring of joy and pride would follow the ascendance of a Filipino pope, he questions if it would be enough.”I don’t know if a Filipino pope will immediately restore that broken trust,” he said.Others who spoke to AFP said the sex abuse scandal could not be solely blamed for dwindling seminary enrollments, pointing to cultural changes that had made the country’s youth harder to reach.”It’s also because young people are so exposed to the secular world, with travel, with the internet and with social media,” said Reyes.- ‘Plain Filipino’ -Seminarian Neil Pena, 27, told AFP he believed the potential for a Filipino pope to galvanise his countrymen’s faith was undeniable.”It’s different when the pope speaks your language,” Pena said.”A pope speaking Filipino, plain Filipino, talking to you like he’s talking to you directly… it will be an inspiration.”Reyes agreed a shared heritage would be meaningful in a “personality-oriented” country.”If there’s someone famous, we gravitate towards the person and his actions, way of life,” Reyes said. “There might be many who will be interested in (becoming a) priest.”Rabena, the seminary chancellor, pointed to his own decision to join the clergy, saying it had been “ignited” by the 2015 visit of Pope Francis to the country following the deadliest storm in its history.Arvin Eballo, a theology professor at the University of Santo Tomas, said there was a time when almost every family aspired to have a son as a priest.”They believed it was a blessing of God,” he said.

A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement.Thousands of overseas Filipino workers, or OFWs, have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos and his impeached vice president Sara Duterte.While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) show at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened April 13.But Jun Burlasa III, a Filipino working in Singapore, says he will not vote again if he has to do it online. “I’d rather do manual,” the 50-year-old told AFP this week, describing the new system as “confusing and suspicious”.At issue is a digital QR code generated after voting that leads users to a page asking them to verify their ballot has been submitted correctly. Below that is a box containing a jumble of computer code and candidate names.Burlasa said many of the names visible were candidates for whom he had not voted.Similar stories about the anxiety-inducing webpage have proliferated across social media, including Facebook posts that have reached thousands.Eman Villanueva, a Hong Kong-based activist with migrant rights group BAYAN, said he was unsure his vote had been properly counted. “There is absolutely no way for the voters to know if the votes that went through really reflected our choices,” he said. In previous overseas elections, voters could review the names they selected after the fact, but Comelec told AFP the QR code was never supposed to serve that purpose.The landing page was only intended to verify a ballot’s receipt, the commission said, adding that the name of every candidate running in the election should appear.”We are definitely considering the feedback and studying how to incorporate them in future elections,” Ian Geonanga, Comelec’s director of overseas voting, told AFP.Election watchdogs, however, say the commission failed to properly explain the new system and warn of the confusion risks disenfranchising voters. “It’s a natural reaction of people that if you’re not familiar with the system, then you won’t trust it the first instance,” said Ona Caritos, executive director of the nonprofit Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente). – ChatGPT, disinfo and 2028 -Since April 14, 1.5 million people have watched a video in which a Philippines-based engineer named Jaydee San Juan quizzes ChatGPT about the names visible on the ballot verification page.”It’s highly likely showing the candidates that were selected/voted for using that ballot ID,” the AI chatbot replied.Comelec, however, got the opposite answer when conducting the ChatGPT experiment itself, Geonanga told AFP.The election commission’s efforts to quell fears about the new system, meanwhile, have been misrepresented to sow more disinformation.AFP fact-checkers recently debunked a video edited to make it appear Geonanga was saying online ballots were “designed” to rig the election’s results.The fiasco has also left election watchdogs and migrant groups sceptical that the switch to online voting will boost turnout as intended.Danilo Arao, convenor of voting watchdog Kontra Daya, said even a small change to the ballot’s design might have helped assuage fears he believes could lead to “widespread disenfranchisement”.Lente’s Caritos said losing trust in the online voting system could impact OFWs’ participation in the 2028 presidential election.“We don’t want that, because if election results are not trusted by our voters, then it would go into the legitimacy of the government,” she said. “It’s a domino effect.”

Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government’s request, the account’s founder said Wednesday, denouncing the move as “censorship” as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan.Instagram users in India trying to access posts from the handle @Muslim — a page with 6.7 million followers — were met with a message stating: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government on the ban, which comes after access was blocked to the social media accounts of Pakistani actors and cricketers.”I received hundreds of messages, emails and comments from our followers in India, that they cannot access our account,” Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh, the news account’s founder and editor-in-chief, said in a statement. “Meta has blocked the @Muslim account by legal request of the Indian government. This is censorship.”Meta declined to comment. A spokesman for the tech giant directed AFP to a company webpage outlining its policy for restricting content when governments believe material on its platforms goes “against local law.”The development, first reported by the US tech journalist Taylor Lorenz’ outlet User Magazine, comes in the wake of the worst violence between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in two decades.Both countries have exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier, after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival.At least 43 deaths were reported in the fighting, which came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-run side of the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.Pakistan rejects the charge and has warned it will “avenge” those killed by Indian air strikes.The @Muslim account is among the most followed Muslim news sources on Instagram. Khatahtbeh apologized to followers in India, adding: “When platforms and countries try to silence media, it tells us that we are doing our job in holding those in power accountable.””We will continue to document the truth and stand out firmly for justice,” he added, while calling on Meta to reinstate the account in India.India has also banned more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” content, including Pakistani news outlets.In recent days, access to the Instagram account of Pakistan’s former prime minister and cricket captain Imran Khan has also been blocked in India.Pakistani Bollywood movie regulars Fawad Khan and Atif Aslam were also off limits in India, as well as a wide range of cricketers — including star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and retired players Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram.Rising hostilities between the South Asian neighbors have also unleashed an avalanche of online misinformation, with social media users circulating everything from deepfake videos to outdated images from unrelated conflicts, falsely linking them to the Indian strikes.On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump called for India and Pakistan to immediately halt their fighting, and offered to help end the violence.

Pakistan has warned it will “avenge” those killed by Indian air strikes that New Delhi said were in response to an attack in Kashmir, signalling an imminent escalation in the worst violence in decades between the nuclear-armed neighbours.At least 43 deaths have been reported so far, with Islamabad saying 31 civilians were killed by the Indian strikes and firing along the border, and New Delhi adding at least 12 dead from Pakistani shelling.”We make this pledge, that we will avenge each drop of the blood of these martyrs,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in an address to the nation late Wednesday.India’s army said it destroyed nine “terrorist camps” in Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday, two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on tourists in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir — a charge Pakistan denies.Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said five Indian jets had been downed across the border.An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.The two sides have exchanged heavy artillery fire along the Line of Control that divides Kashmir, which both countries claim in full but administer separately. The South Asian neighbours have fought two full-scale wars over the divided territory since they were carved out of the sub-continent after gaining independence from British rule in 1947.”There were terrible sounds during the night, there was panic among everyone,” said Muhammad Salman, who lives close to a mosque in Pakistan-administered Kashmir that was hit by an Indian strike.”We are moving to a safer place… we are homeless now,” added 24-year-old Tariq Mir, who was hit in the leg by shrapnel. India said that its actions “have been focused, measured and non-escalatory”.Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of launching the strikes to “shore up” his domestic popularity, adding that Islamabad “won’t take long to settle the score”.- ‘People are fleeing’ -On Wednesday night, the Pakistani military spokesman said firing was “ongoing” at the Line of Control and that Islamabad would take retaliatory action against the air strikes.Chaudhry reiterated Pakistan’s “right to respond, in self-defence, at time, place, and manner of its choosing,” adding that the armed forces had been “authorised” to do so by the government. The largest Indian strike was on an Islamic seminary near the Punjab city of Bahawalpur, killing 13 people, according to the Pakistan military. A government health and education complex in Muridke, 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Lahore, was blown apart, along with the mosque in Muzaffarabad — the main city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir — killing its caretaker.Four children were among those killed in Wednesday’s attacks, according to the Pakistan military. Pakistan also said a hydropower plant in Kashmir was targeted by India, damaging a dam structure, after India threatened to stop the flow of water on its side of the border.India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the operation was New Delhi’s “right to respond” following the attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month. Pakistan has denied any involvement in that assault, which killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men, on April 22.In Muzaffarabad, United Nations military observers arrived to inspect the mosque that Islamabad said was struck by India. Residents collected damaged copies of the Koran from among concrete, wood, and iron debris.In Indian-administered Kashmir, residents fled in panic from the Pakistani shelling.”There was firing from Pakistan, which damaged the houses and injured many,” said Wasim Ahmed, 29, from Salamabad village. “People are fleeing.” – Calls for restraint -India had been widely expected to respond militarily to the Pahalgam attack, which it blamed on Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.The two nations had traded days of threats and tit-for-tat diplomatic measures, and Pakistan conducted two missile tests.The Indian army has reported nightly gunfire along the heavily militarised Line of Control since April 24.Diplomats and world leaders have piled pressure on both countries to step back from the brink.”The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,” the spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres said.On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump called for a halt to the fighting, adding: “If I can do anything to help, I will be there.”Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was expected in New Delhi late on Wednesday, two days after a visit to Islamabad, as Tehran seeks to mediate. Rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.India regularly blames Pakistan for backing armed groups fighting its forces in Kashmir, a charge that Islamabad denies.burs-pjm-aha/sst

President Donald Trump has been shaking up how the United States does business in the world. But with the violence between Pakistan and India, Trump has marked a return to a traditional, and even cautious, diplomacy.The United States across successive administrations has sought to build ties with India and Trump voiced solidarity after suspected Islamist gunmen killed 26 people in  Indian-administered Kashmir, nearly all Hindus.Trump did not criticize India after it carried out retaliatory strikes against Pakistan but has pleaded for a quick resolution.”It’s so terrible,” Trump said Wednesday. “I get along with both. I know both very well, and I want to see them work it out. I want to see them stop.”India briefed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also interim national security advisor, on the overnight strikes. After the Kashmir attack, Rubio spoke to Pakistan’s prime minister to urge condemnation and cooperation but also asked India’s foreign minister to avoid escalation.Lisa Curtis, who was the National Security Council senior director on South Asia during Trump’s first term, said the United States remained unique in its influence on both sides.”There are other countries that are worried and may be in touch with their Indian and Pakistani counterparts, but when it comes down to it, it is the role and responsibility of the United States to help the countries find a face-saving way out of the crisis,” said Curtis, now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.In 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also ordered strikes after a deadly attack, which was against soldiers rather than civilians.Mike Pompeo, then Trump’s secretary of state, later said that he defused tensions after an Indian official contacted him to voice suspicion that Pakistan was readying a nuclear strike.”I do not think the world properly knows just how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear conflagration,” Pompeo wrote in his memoir.- Leverage with Pakistan -India blames Islamabad for the attack and points to remarks beforehand by Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir who called Kashmir — the Muslim-majority Himalayan region divided between the powers — as Pakistan’s “jugular vein.”Pakistan denies responsibility for the attack.Former president Joe Biden had little patience for Pakistan, keeping it at arm’s length as he fumed over Islamabad’s role in the two-decade Afghanistan war.Pakistan was stunned late in Biden’s term when his deputy national security advisor, Jon Finer, called its long-range missiles “an emerging threat” to the United States, Islamabad’s Cold War-era military partner.Trump on returning to the White House quickly invited Modi but Pakistan has also reached out, arresting a purported perpetrator of the 2021 suicide bombing in Kabul on US troops, with Trump trumpeting the move in an address to Congress.”One of the motivating factors for Pakistan to de-escalate this situation is in order to have a better relationship with the United States,” Curtis said.Manjari Chatterjee Miller, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that the United States faced a dilemma on its public stance.”If the United States government were to be seen as either unsupportive of India or interfering in any way in Kashmir, it would be a serious setback to the US-India partnership. But the risk of escalation between two nuclear-armed neighbors is also real,” she wrote in an essay.- Placing priorities -Trump has largely sidelined career diplomats since his return, relying on his friend Steve Witkoff to crisscross the globe.Trump has so far failed in his quest to quickly end the Ukraine war and Israel has ended a Gaza ceasefire with Hamas, with Witkoff still pursuing diplomacy with Iran and recently reaching a deal with Yemen’s Huthi rebels.”The Trump administration has several global crises to deal with currently and would like to avoid another one right now,” said Aparna Pande, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute.”The Trump administration would also like the focus to remain on trade and commerce and the competition with China and any conflict detracts India, a partner in this endeavor, away from these efforts,” she said.

South Africa’s Dewald Brevis hit a 22-ball fifty as Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by two wickets on Wednesday, leaving the defending IPL champions in grave danger of missing the playoffs.Chasing 180 for victory, Chennai slipped to 60-5 in the sixth over before Brevis hit 52 and impact substitute Shivam Dube made 45 to steer the team home with two balls to spare at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.Skipper M.S. Dhoni hit a six when Chennai needed eight off the last over and finished unbeaten on 17 with number 10 Anshul Kamboj hitting the winning four off Andre Russell.The result left Kolkata’s chances of making the playoffs hanging by a thread as they need to win their remaining two matches and hope other results go their way.”It was really tough,” Kolkata skipper Ajinkya Rahane said of the defeat. “We were 10-15 short, 185-195 would have been an ideal total. The bowlers bowled really well but tough to be on the losing side.On the way forward, Rahane said, “Pretty simple. Try to win two out of two, and then see what happens from there.”Five-time champions Chennai had already bowed out of the playoff race.Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad set up victory with his four wickets that kept Kolkata down to 179-6.In reply, Chennai openers Ayush Mhatre and Devon Conway both fell for ducks but IPL debutant Urvil Patel clobbered the Kolkata attack in his 11-ball 31.Spinner Varun Chakravarthy bowled Ravindra Jadeja but Brevis and Dube put the chase back on track in their carefully crafted stand.Brevis took his time to get going before he blasted 30 runs off Vaibhav Arora, reaching his fifty with three sixes and three fours in one over.Chakravarthy soon cut short Brevis’ blitz, but the left-handed Dube then found Dhoni for company.- Fans for Dhoni -Arora dismissed Dube as Rinku Singh clung on to a steepling catch before taking another opportunity to dismiss Noor, but Dhoni and Kamboj got the team through to just their third win in 12 matches.The 43-year-old Dhoni still remained the biggest draw for the Kolkata crowd and the former India captain who played down talk of imminent retirement, saying he would entertain his fans as long as he can.”A lot of them don’t know when it is going to be my last time, so they want to come and see me play,” said Dhoni.”After this IPL is over, I have to work hard for another six to eight months to see if my body can take this pressure. (There’s) Nothing to decide now but the love and affection I have seen is excellent.”Earlier Kolkata lost opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz early on 11 before Sunil Narine (26) and Rahane, who made 48, put on 58 runs to rebuild the innings.Noor broke the stand with left-arm wrist spin to get Narine stumped by Dhoni and three balls later had Angkrish Raghuvanshi caught behind for one.Rahane was joined by Manish Pandey but was denied his fifty by Jadeja’s left-arm spin, spooning a reverse sweep to backward point.Pandey stood firm and combined to add 46 with Russell, who hammered 38 off 21 balls before Noor struck again to have the big-hitter caught at long-off.Player of the match Noor removed Rinku for nine and despite Manish’s presence Kolkata’s total ultimately proved insufficient.Noor moved to 20 wickets in 12 matches alongside this season’s leading bowler Prasidh Krishna — Gujarat Titans pace bowler who also has 20 scalps but in 11 matches. 

India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier Wednesday after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival, in the worst violence between the nuclear-armed neighbours in two decades.At least 43 deaths were reported, with Islamabad saying 31 civilians were killed by the Indian strikes and firing along the border, and New Delhi adding at least 12 dead from Pakistani shelling.The fighting came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied.The South Asian neighbours have fought multiple wars over the divided territory since they were carved out of the sub-continent after gaining independence from British rule in 1947.The Indian army said “justice is served”, reporting nine “terrorist camps” had been destroyed, with New Delhi adding that its actions “have been focused, measured and non-escalatory”.Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of launching the strikes to “shore up” his domestic popularity, adding that Islamabad “won’t take long to settle the score”.Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said five Indian jets had been downed across the border overnight.An Indian senior security source, who asked not to be named, said three of its fighter jets had crashed on home territory.- Children among the dead -The largest Indian strike was on an Islamic seminary near the Punjabi city of Bahawalpur, killing 13 people according to the Pakistan military. A government health and education complex in Muridke, 30 kilometres from Lahore, was blown apart, along with a mosque in Muzaffarabad — the main city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir — killing its caretaker.  Four children were among those killed in Wednesday’s attacks, according to the Pakistan military. Pakistan also said a hydropower plant in Kashmir was targeted by India, damaging a dam structure, after India threatened to stop the flow of water on its side of the border.Pakistan had earlier warned that tampering with the rivers that flow into its territory would be an “act of war”.India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the overnight operation was New Delhi’s “right to respond” following the attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the Pahalgam assault.Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif labelled India’s strikes a “heinous act of aggression” that would “not go unpunished”.On Wednesday night, Pakistan military spokesman Chaudhry said the rise in the death toll was due to “India’s unprovoked firing at the Line of Control and ceasefire violations.””Every last drop of the blood of innocent Pakistani civilians killed will be avenged,” he said.- ‘Terrible sounds in the night’ -In Muzaffarabad, United Nations military observers arrived to inspect a mosque that Islamabad said was struck by India. “There were terrible sounds during the night, there was panic among everyone,” said Muhammad Salman, who lives close to the mosque.”We are moving to a safer place… we are homeless now,” added 24-year-old Tariq Mir, who was hit in the leg by shrapnel. Residents collected damaged copies of the Koran from among concrete, wood, and iron debris.In Indian-administered Kashmir, residents fled in panic from the Pakistan shelling.”There was firing from Pakistan, which damaged the houses and injured many,” said Wasim Ahmed, 29, from Salamabad village. “People are fleeing.” – Global concern -India had been widely expected to respond militarily to the Pahalgam attack on April 22 that killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men, which it blamed on Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.The two nations have traded days of threats and tit-for-tat diplomatic measures, while Pakistan has conducted two missile tests.The Indian army has reported nightly gunfire along the heavily militarised Line of Control that separates the region since April 24.”Escalation between India and Pakistan has already reached a larger scale than during the last major crisis in 2019, with potentially dire consequences,” International Crisis Group analyst Praveen Donthi said.Diplomats and world leaders have piled pressure on both countries to step back. “The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,” the spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump called for a halt to the fighting, adding “if I can do anything to help, I will be there.”Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was expected in New Delhi late on Wednesday, two days after a visit to Islamabad, as Tehran seeks to mediate. Rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.India regularly blames Pakistan for backing armed groups fighting its forces in Kashmir, a charge that Islamabad denies.burs-pjm/ecl/fox/aha/bgs

Rohit Sharma rose from humble beginnings to captain cricket-mad India and redefined Test batting with his ability to score big hundreds as he dominated opposition attacks.The 38-year-old called time on his Test career on Wednesday after playing 67 matches and scoring 4301 runs including 12 centuries since his debut in 2013.Rohit quit T20 international cricket in 2024 after lifting the World Cup and earlier this year led India to an ODI Champions Trophy title in Dubai.He will continue to play the ODI format but his declining batting form in the five-day format prompted his decision to call time on a career divided into two halves.As a youngster Rohit studied on a scholarship because his family was unable to afford monthly fees of a few dollars.He overcame all odds to become a cricketing superstar, especially in the white-ball game, his feats including taking his country to World Cup glory in 2024.He is also the only batsman to have scored three double-centuries in one-day internationals.Prior to his drop-off in form, Rohit gave India real firepower at the top of the innings and his selfless approach allowed the rest of the batsmen to play freely.But the man dubbed the “Hitman” for getting to big scores quickly in spectacular style failed to get past 10 runs in any of his five innings during India’s tour of Australia late last year.He described his performances as “disturbing” while there was also mounting criticism about his decisions as captain.Rohit missed the first Test in Perth for the birth of his second child, with Jasprit Bumrah assuming the captaincy and playing a starring role with the ball in a big India win.With India trailing 2-1 in the series, vice-captain Bumrah was named to lead the team at the Sydney Cricket Ground as the visitors battled to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.Indian media mockingly noted that Rohit’s 31 runs in three Tests was only one more than the Bumrah’s 30 wickets.”Rohit, because of captaincy and reputation… managed to hang on longer than he should have,” the Times of India wrote.- ‘Hero’ -Rohit was also way below his brilliant best in the 3-0 Test series whitewash at home to New Zealand in November.Just months before that, he lifted the World Cup in Barbados after India edged out South Africa by seven runs in a thrilling final to finally deliver the cricket-crazy nation a global title again.Rohit signed off as India’s highest scorer in the shortest format, plundering 4,231 runs including five centuries in 159 matches since his T20 debut in 2007.A five-time IPL winner for Mumbai Indians, Rohit took over the captaincy of the white-ball national team in 2021 from Virat Kohli.A year later, Rohit became Test skipper too.He left a lasting legacy in the shortest format, having featured in all nine editions of the T20 World Cup.He was part of M.S. Dhoni’s winning team in the inaugural event in 2007, before clinching his second T20 crown 17 years later.Rohit, who has been criticised for not having the athletic physique of some other players, has also amassed 11,168 runs at an average of over 48 in 273 ODIs.But his Test record is less prolific as he only came into his own in 2019 when he revived his stop-start five-day career as an opener, hitting 176 and 127 against South Africa in the first Test in Visakhapatnam.In the third match of the same series in Ranchi, Rohit hit 28 fours and six sixes in a blistering innings of 212 which remained his highest Test score.However his recent shortcomings have not detracted from Rohit’s stature around the world. Former England captain Michael Vaughan lauded him as the “man who has changed the culture” of the India team — and a “genuine hero”.

India captain Rohit Sharma on Wednesday announced his retirement from Test cricket ahead of the team’s tour of England starting next month, but will continue to play the shorter 50-over format.In 67 Tests, Rohit scored 4,301 runs including 12 centuries with a best of 212 against South Africa in 2019 and an average of over 40. He captained India in 24 Tests with 12 wins, nine defeats and three draws.”Hello everyone I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket,” the 38-year-old Rohit wrote on Instagram.”It’s been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites. Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I will continue to represent India in the ODI format.”Rohit, who quit T20 internationals alongwith Virat Kohli after India’s World Cup triumph in Barbados last year, recently led the team to an ODI Champions Trophy title in Dubai.India will begin a five-Test series in England in June-July and the team now needs a new Test skipper.India’s cricket board said, “Rohit Sharma has informed us of his decision to retire from Test cricket. A legend of the red-ball game.””We will soon announce a new Test captain — it’s time for the next generation to rise.”Rohit’s last Test was in Melbourne last year when India lost to Australia by 184 runs.He stood down as captain in the fifth Test in Sydney due to poor batting form but India went on to lose the match and the five-match series 2-1.Jasprit Bumrah was Rohit’s deputy in Australia and led the team in the first Test, which Rohit missed due to the birth of his second child, and the final Test.- ‘Priceless’ -Rohit managed just 31 runs in five innings of his three outings Down Under and the Indian media speculated that he could retire from Test cricket after the series.The captain, nicknamed ‘Hitman’ for getting to big scores quickly — especially in white-ball, also had a poor home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand late last year.Rohit’s India won both the Tests against Bangladesh, but New Zealand handed a rare 3-0 whitewash to the hosts.Rohit began his Test career in 2013, but it was five years later that he came into his own in the five-day format as a swashbuckling opener and later took over as captain from Kohli.”As player and as captain, you were a joy and India will say a big thank you to you,” veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle posted on social media.”That century in Chennai, that one at the Oval, both priceless. You walked out against South Africa to open as if you had done it all your life. Will look forward to watching and, hopefully calling, some more great moments in your ODI career.”After India’s defeat in Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) mandated national players to participate in the domestic Ranji Trophy, forcing Rohit and Kohli to take field.Rohit’s batting woes continued as he made three and 28 against Jammu and Kashmir, but he was retained as captain of the ODI team.Rohit is currently playing the Indian Premier League T20 tournament with Mumbai Indians and has endured a patchy season so far, scoring 300 runs in 11 matches.