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After India’s Maoist rebels executed his father, accusing him of spying, the young tribal man dropped out of university to join a controversial paramilitary group hunting down the insurgents.”They claim to be fighting for us, but they kill us,” the 21-year-old member of the District Reserve Guards (DRG) told AFP.India is waging an all-out offensive against the last vestiges of its Naxalite rebellion, named after the Darjeeling village in the foothills of the Himalayas where the Maoist-inspired guerrilla movement began nearly six decades ago.More than 12,000 rebels, soldiers and civilians have died since a handful of villagers rose up against their feudal lords there in 1967.At its peak in the mid-2000s, the rebellion controlled nearly a third of the country with an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 fighters. But the “Red Corridor” across east and central India with its parallel administration that included schools and clinics has been ruthlessly squeezed since.Security forces have killed nearly 400 suspected rebels — a record — since the start of last year, with Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah vowing to wipe them out by next April.Most have died in the insurgency’s last stronghold, the mineral-rich forests of Bastar region in central Chhattisgarh state, where police say up to 1,200 insurgents are still holding out.- ‘Personal fight’Police say their success is largely down to the DRG, a force of local Indigenous tribal men and disillusioned Maoist fighters with intimate knowledge of the ancient forests and the rebels’ operational secrets.”They are our actual fighting force,” the commander of a DRG unit in Bastar told AFP, requesting anonymity.”My DRG fighters have directly suffered. For them it’s a personal fight,” he added.”We are familiar with every aspect of the forest,” said Kiran, a rebel-turned-DRG commando, who changed sides because he felt “undermined” by the Maoist leadership.”We can sneak the forces in through one secret road and take them out through another,” he added.But many Indigenous tribal communities in the forests of Bastar say the crackdown has failed to distinguish between armed insurgents and ordinary villagers.Rameshwar Negi was shot dead last year in the forests near his home — the police justifying the killing by saying he had been carrying a firearm and Maoist literature.His grieving wife Somari said he was just an ordinary farmer.”They killed an innocent man,” Somari, 40, told AFP from her mud home on the fringes of dense woodland where her husband foraged for food. – ‘Killing civilians’ -“We have no guns in the house,” she added. “He went out carrying an axe, the same as he always did.”Two other men were killed alongside him, including Suresh Teta, 31, who lived in the same village.His brother, Dinesh, said he supported the military crackdown on the Maoists, but insisted that Suresh was not a rebel.”What the government is doing is right, but it is unacceptable that they are killing unarmed civilians like my brother.”Several villagers said that while many men and women in Marda had joined the Maoists, the three killed that morning had not.The main opposition Congress party say the killings were a “fake encounter” — a term for staged confrontations in which security forces execute unarmed suspects and later claim to have acted in self-defence. – ‘Counting dead bodies’ –  DRG commandos have been implicated in several such cases.Among the most notorious was the killing of 12 people in the remote forest village of Pedia last year.A rights group, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), claimed that those killed “were civilians who were later branded by police as insurgents”.A DRG commando, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, confirmed that “civilians died” in Pedia.”It was a mistake,” the commando said. Police prevented AFP from visiting Pedia and several other villages where military operations have come under scrutiny, citing security concerns.Bastar police chief P. Sundarraj said his troops carry out all their operations lawfully. “Security forces retaliate as part of the right to self-defence,” he said. “We take no pleasure in counting dead bodies.”- Atrocity claims -Yet atrocity allegations have dogged the DRG and their previous incarnation, the Salwa Judum tribal militia, which was set up to spearhead the fight against what former prime minister Manmohan Singh called India’s “biggest internal security threat”.  Salwa Judum was accused of carrying out mass murders, rape and arson in raids on village as well as forcing people into government-run camps.Those atrocities saw ranks of the rebels swell with disaffected villagers.Kiran, the former Maoist fighter, said he joined the rebels in 2005 after his house and village were razed in one such raid.”I resisted for a long time but joined them to save my life,” he said.   In 2011, India’s top court ruled it illegal for the government to recruit tribal youths driven by a “desire for revenge”.In response, it created the DRG as a formal unit of the police.It now comprises more than 4,000 troops — more than triple the police estimate of the remaining Maoist guerrillas.- ‘Tribals are killing tribals’ -But some warn that the recruiting tribal youth — many nursing personal vendettas — to fight Maoist rebels is only perpetuating the cycle of violence.  “Adivasis are killing Adivasis,” said Bastar-based rights activist Soni Sori, using the local word for members of India’s tribal communities. “No one else is dying.”Soni said most people killed in the conflict were either innocent villagers or low-ranking foot soldiers from the community forced into service by Maoists who come from higher castes elsewhere.Some of the DRG commandos also expressed unease.”The ones dying are our own people,” said former Maoist commander-turned-paramilitary commando Yogesh Madhvi.”Here, it is us Adivasis, the other side is also us Adivasis.”The 41-year-old, who spent almost 15 years with the rebels after joining as a teenager, said he quit the Maoists because he was “done with the mindless violence” and wanted to put an end to it.- Security camps -Police chief Sundarraj hailed the security camps being set up in areas cleared of rebels as “epicentres for developmental activity”, allowing the building of roads and mobile phone towers.But critics argue their expansion — often without public transport — is a precursor to opening up the forests to large-scale mining. A report by activists and academics said the Bastar region had been turned into a “vast (military) cantonment”.It estimated that there was “one security person to every nine civilians”, making it “one of the most militarised regions” in India.AFP journalists were subjected to repeated police interrogations while in Bastar — part of a draconian security cordon that has hindered independent reporting of the conflict.The tribal communities living in the hamlets that dot the sparsely populated forest — many still without basic services such as running water and electricity — are resigned to life under the shadow of the gun.While the Maoists claimed to protect them from discrimination and exploitation, they also ruled by terror, ruthlessly executing “informers”.”The camps make us feel safe from the Maoists, who would earlier threaten us if we did not help. But now (government) forces are routinely killing innocent people and branding them Maoists,” said one elderly man.- Mining endgame? -Many are deeply worried mining will rob them of their traditional livelihoods from farming and foraging, with the state government announcing plans to further expand operations into a forest considered sacred by locals.Mining has already displaced tribal communities and caused severe environmental damage, according to locals, with an iron ore mine at Rowghat pushed through in 2022 despite fierce opposition.”The endgame is to open up the forest to mining by big corporations,” said rights activist Sori.Chhattisgarh has a long history of communities being forcibly moved to make way for mining, an issue the Maoists have sought to exploit.Their top body last month claimed that the crackdown was to “facilitate the plunder of land, forests, water and other resources by imperialists, big corporations and feudal lords.” Even among those fighting the insurgency, there are concerns that history could repeat itself. “If it becomes all about mining, and people are displaced without proper rehabilitation, they will say that maybe the Naxals were better,” one DRG member told AFP.Cornered by the all-out offensive, the Maoists are now believed to be holed up in a rugged and mountainous stretch of forest, where long-term sustenance is difficult.  Last month their top body offered to engage in peace talks if a ceasefire was called.The authorities rejected the offer.Activists say it is a missed opportunity — and one that could backfire. The military approach will only temporarily suppress the rebellion, Sori warned. “If the government has to end Maoism, it needs to have another strategy,” she said.”The militarisation of their land will only make the tribal people run towards the Maoists to save their lives.”

Holders Kolkata Knight Riders survived a batting blitz including six straight sixes from Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag to win a high-scoring IPL thriller by one run on Sunday.In the day’s second match, Rishabh Pant again struggled to a low score as his Lucknow Super Giants team slumped to a fourth defeat in five IPL games, losing by 37 runs to the Punjab Kings.Parag went on the attack as Rajasthan, chasing 207 for victory, slipped to 71-5. He struck 95 off 45 balls and hit six sixes in six successive legal balls — a first in IPL — across two overs.The 23-year-old’s blitz, which included a wide in between the fourth and fifth six, began with him smacking England spinner Moeen Ali for five sixes in an over. Then, after his partner Shimron Hetmyer took a single, he hit one over the fence off Varun Chakravarthy.Parag joined an elite list of batters to have hit five sixes in an over in the IPL after Chris Gayle (2012), Rahul Tewatia (2020), Ravindra Jadeja (2021) and Rinku Singh (2023).Parag, who is leading the team in the absence of regular skipper Sanju Samson, added 92 with Hetmyer, but after their departures Rajasthan finished on 205-8 after a tense last over.Needing 22 to win in the final over, impact substitute Shubham Dubey, a left-hand batter, hit two sixes and a four off Vaibhav Arora who defended three on the final ball with a run out of Jofra Archer as KKR celebrated.”I was just too sad about myself getting out,” said Parag. “Probably a miscalculation from my side. I should have finished it.”Kolkata remain in the hunt for the play-offs with their fifth victory in 11 matches. Rajasthan are already out of the final-four race.The top four teams from the league phase will move into the play-offs.Andre Russell set up victory for three-time champions Kolkata as he struck form with his unbeaten 57 off 25 balls to steer Kolkata to 206-4.- Lucknow’s IPL ‘dream still alive’ -In the late match, opener Prabhsimran Singh struck 91 off 48 balls to steer Punjab to 236-5, helped by several impressive cameos at the Kings’ second home in Dharamsala.Arshdeep Singh then returned brilliant figures of 3-16 as Lucknow could only make 199-7 in reply. Pant fell for a 17-ball 18 in another failure for the India star.Pant, who was snapped up by LSG for a record price of $3.21 million in the November auction, could not find any fluency despite hitting two fours and one six.The wicketkeeper-batsman has mustered only 128 runs from 10 innings this season.Lucknow sit seventh in the table, four points outside the fourth and final play-off spot with three games remaining.”The dream is still alive,” Pant said of his team’s chances of moving ahead in the T20 tournament. “If we can win the next three matches, we can definitely turn around and do amazing things.”Punjab climbed to second behind leaders Royal Challengers Bengaluru after a seventh win of the campaign.Lucknow were never in their chase after left-arm seamer Arshdeep struck twice in the space of four balls in his second over to send back Mitchell Marsh, for a duck, and then Aiden Markram, for 13.He dismissed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran for six before Pant attempted to rebuild in a scratchy innings that was ended by Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai.Omarzai soon sent back David Miller for 11 to put Lucknow in further trouble at 73-5.Ayush Badoni, who top-scored with 74, and Abdul Samad, who hit 45, put on a valiant stand of 81 but could only reduce the margin of defeat.

Rishabh Pant again struggled to a low score  as his Lucknow Super Giants team slumped to a fourth defeat in five IPL games, losing by 37 runs to the Punjab Kings on Sunday.Opener Prabhsimran Singh struck 91 off 48 balls to steer Punjab to 236-5, helped by several impressive cameos at the Kings’ second home in Dharamsala.Arshdeep Singh then returned brilliant figures of 3-16 as Lucknow could only make 199-7 in reply. Pant fell for a 17-ball 18 in another failure for the India star.Pant, who was snapped up by LSG for a record price of $3.21 million in the November auction, could not find any fluency during his stay despite hitting two fours and one six.The wicketkeeper-batsman has mustered only 128 runs from 10 innings this season.Lucknow sit seventh in the table, four points outside the fourth and final play-off spot with three games remaining.Punjab climbed to second behind leaders Royal Challengers Bengaluru after their seventh win of the campaign.Lucknow were never in their chase after left-arm seamer Arshdeep struck twice in the space of four balls in his second over to send back Mitchell Marsh, for a duck, and then Aiden Markram, for 13.He dismissed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran for six before Pant attempted to rebuild in a scratchy innings that was ended by Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai.Omarzai soon sent back David Miller for 11 to put Lucknow in further trouble at 73-5.Ayush Badoni, who top-scored with 74, and Abdul Samad, who hit 45, put on a valiant stand of 81 but could only reduce the margin of defeat.Earlier, Australia’s Josh Inglis, who hammered a quick 30, and Prabhsimran lay the foundations for Punjab’s imposing total with a second-wicket partnership of 48.Skipper Shreyas Iyer took charge after Inglis’ departure and made 45 in a partnership of 78 with Prabhsimran, who survived a dropped catch by Pooran when on 21.Leg-spinner Digvesh Rathi denied Prabhsimran a century, but Shashank Singh, who struck an unbeaten 33, and Marcus Stoinis, who made 15 not out off five balls, ensured Punjab finished strongly.

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders survived a batting blitz including six sixes in a row from Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag to win a high-scoring IPL thriller by one run on Sunday.Chasing 207 for victory, Rajasthan slipped to 71-5 in the eighth over when Parag hit 95 off 45 balls and hit six sixes in six successive legal balls — a first in IPL — across two overs at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.The 23-year-old’s blitz, which included a wide in between the fourth and fifth six, began with him smacking England spinner Moeen Ali for five sixes in an over. Then, after his partner Shimron Hetmyer took a single, he hit one over the fence off Varun Chakravarthy.Parag joined an elite list of batters to have hit five sixes in an over in the IPL after Chris Gayle (2012), Rahul Tewatia (2020), Ravindra Jadeja (2021) and Rinku Singh (2023) achieved the feat in earlier editions.Parag, who is leading the team in the absence of regular skipper Sanju Samson, added 92 with Hetmyer but after their departures Rajasthan finished on 205-8 after a tense last over.Needing 22 to win in the final over, impact substitute Shubham Dubey, a left-hand batter, hit two sixes and a four off Vaibhav Arora who defended three on the final ball with a run out of Jofra Archer as KKR celebrated.Kolkata remain in the hunt for the play-offs with their fifth victory in 11 matches. Rajasthan are already out of the final-four race.The top four teams from the league phase will move into the play-offs.Andre Russell set up victory for three-time champions Kolkata as he struck form with his unbeaten 57 off 25 balls to steer Kolkata to 206-4.In reply, Moeen and fellow spinner Chakravarthy took two wickets each to dent the opposition chase as Rajasthan lost half their side in the eighth over.Fourteen-year-old IPL sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi was the first to go on four for his second successive flop after he became an overnight hero with his 35-ball ton earlier this week.Moeen struck on his fifth ball in the second over of the chase and soon got the left-handed Yashasvi Jaiswal to dent the chase.Chakravarthy further rattled the opposition batting with two wickets in three balls including wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel and Wanindu Hasaranga — both out for a duck.Parag and Hetmyer, who hit 29, then brought Rajasthan back into the contest, but fast bowler Harshit Rana removed both the players in two overs.Earlier Kolkata’s Afghanistan opener Rahmanaullah Gurbaz and Rahane set the pace in their second-wicket partnership of 56 after Sunil Narine’s early departure.Gurbaz, a wicketkeeper-batsman, made 35, and Rahane scored 30 before Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who hit 44, and Russell took stock and then took the attack to the opposition.Russell, who turned 37 on Tuesday, took his time to get going before he launched an attack as he hit the ball to all parts of the ground.Player of the match Russell, Raghuvanshi and the left-handed Rinku Singh, who made 19 off six balls, fired as Kolkata managed 85 runs from the last five overs.

Rabia Bibi, a glittering red dupatta pulled over her eyes, wasn’t about to let the threat of war with India stop her wedding in a remote valley in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.”In our childhood the situation was also like this but we are not afraid. Nor will we be,” the 18-year-old told AFP after being carried in a flower-garlanded “doli” carriage.”We want peace, so our life does not get affected,” said the bride, radiant in gold bangles, bejewelled bridal headpiece and richly embroidered scarlet robe.At the ceremony — preceded by the sacrifice of a chicken — groom Chaudhry Junaid, no less resplendent in his elaborate sherwani coat and red-and-gold turban, was also defiant.”People are anxious and worried, but even so, we haven’t cancelled any traditional ceremonies,” the 23-year-old chef said.- Gunfire traded -Tensions between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals have soared since India accused Pakistan of backing a shooting that killed 26 civilians on the Indian side of disputed Kashmir on April 22.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his military “full operational freedom” to respond to the attack.The two sides have traded gunfire for more than a week on the heavily militarised border and Pakistan on Saturday conducted a “training launch” of a missile to prove its “operational readiness”.Islamabad last week warned they had “credible intelligence” that India was planning imminent strikes.International pressure has been piled on both New Delhi and Islamabad to de-escalate.On the Pakistani side, emergency drills have been carried out in playing fields, residents have been told to stock up on food and medicine, and religious schools have shut.In Indian-run Kashmir, a vast manhunt seeking the gunmen continues across the territory, while those living along the frontier are moving further away — or cleaning out bunkers fearing conflict.- ‘We want peace’ -India and Pakistan, which both claim Kashmir in full, have fought several wars over the Himalayan territory since the end of British rule in 1947.Ordinary Kashmiris living on both sides of the divided Muslim-majority region are often the first victims caught in the crossfire.In a checkpoint-free corner of the picturesque Neelum Valley, a tourist epicentre that was shut down last week, Indian territory is the other side of the river that winds through the mountainous region.Residents told AFP they had been urged by the Pakistani authorities to remain vigilant because of the threat of a possible military confrontation. In another village, mechanical engineer Shoaib Akhtar was also getting married.”This is the happiest occasion of our lives, and we won’t let anything ruin it,” said Akhtar, the 25-year-old groom surrounded by family.”Right now, I’m getting married and that’s what matters most. If war comes, we’ll deal with it when it happens,” he added.”We are happy, and if India has some issues, we don’t care,” Bibi said.”We stand firm and will fight for our interests and our nation.”

For 10 nights straight, gunfire between Indian and Pakistani soldiers has echoed from the mountains and deep valleys that form the heavily defended de facto border between the nuclear-armed rivals.And, each night, it brings back afresh the horror for 50-year-old maize farmer Bashir Dar — the last time the bitter enemies battled across the Line of Control in contested Kashmir, his wife was killed.”The mortar shell landed right next to my wife — she died instantly”, said Dar, describing fighting in 2020 near his mountain village of Balkote, on the Indian side of the dividing line.His home lies less than a mile from Pakistani-controlled territory.”These days, that moment flashes in my head all the time,” the widower said, holding up a picture of his late wife.”Every night, I sit huddled with my four children in one room — with an ear to the sounds of gunfire coming from the border.”Relations between the neighbours have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing the worst attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir in years, in which a gang of gunmen shot dead 26 men, mostly Hindus.Islamabad has rejected the accusations.Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men — two Pakistanis and an Indian — accused of carrying out the April 22 attack at Pahalgam.They say they are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation. – Cleaning bunkers -India’s army said Sunday that its troops had exchanged gunfire with Pakistani soldiers overnight across the Line of Control in multiple sites, which it says has taken place every night since April 24.The army said “unprovoked small arms fire” from Pakistan, to which Indian soldiers “responded promptly and proportionately”.There was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan, but Islamabad — whose military on Saturday said it carried out a “training launch” of a missile weapons system — has accused India of a “ceasefire violation”.Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, with both governing part of the disputed territory separately and claiming it in its entirety.Rebel groups opposed to Indian rule have waged an insurgency since 1989. Tens of thousands have been killed.Government employee Mansoor Ahmed, 38, took two days off to prepare his bunker he had built in the village, at a cost of some 200,000 rupees ($2,300).”I cleaned up my bunker and stocked it up for the first time since 2021,” Ahmed said, referring to the year India and Pakistan agreed to a renewed border ceasefire.Many of those without bunkers have already left for safer places like Baramulla, further from the dividing line.”Six families in my neighbourhood left their homes for safety during the last few days,” said truck driver Mohammad Ibrahim, who has stayed with his wife and children.”They requested us to look after their homes and cattle.”- ‘No protection’ -In the villages of Churunda and Tilawari, fearful residents said officials had visited, telling them to check the condition of a few government-constructed community bunkers.”There are only six bunkers, and each bunker can accommodate a maximum of 15 people,” a young villager told AFP, declining to be named.In Churunda village, there are some 120 families.”No proper facilities exist in the bunkers, and when it rains, water enters inside. The bunkers have not been built properly,” said the man.”If war happens, these bunkers will be useless.”AFP reporters saw a community bunker in the village with thick concrete walls and a slab on top.But the floor was covered in runny mud.Residents are fearful, and watch news on their mobile phones constantly.”We live in constant fear of becoming victims of the conflict,” said a young woman in Tilawari, who declined to be named.”We want peace,” she said. “We want to send our children to school and live our lives without fear.” 

An incredible final over from Yash Dayal and Romario Shepherd’s late batting blitz helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru scrape past Chennai Super Kings by two runs in an IPL thriller to move top of the table on Saturday.In-form Virat Kohli, who made 62, and fellow opener Jacob Bethell put on 97 runs to lay the foundations of Bengaluru’s 213-5 in their home at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.West Indies’ Shepherd boosted the total with his 14-ball 53 — the IPL’s second fastest fifty. The quickest 50 is in 13 balls by Yashasvi Jaiswal in 2023.Chennai’s 17-year-old opener Ayush Mhatre attempted to trump the effort as he blasted 94 off 48 balls as part of a 114-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja, who hit 77 not out, but the team finished on 211-5.Left-arm medium pace bowler Dayal kept his calm in the last over when Chennai needed 15 to win.He sent back skipper M.S. Dhoni and despite getting hit for six by impact player Shivam Dube off a no-ball, he gave away just 12 runs as Bengaluru moved closer to a play-off spot.”I felt I should have converted a couple of more shots, and ease the pressure, so I will take the blame for it,” said the 43-year-old Dhoni.”Shepherd in the death overs was excellent – whatever we were bowling, he was able to hit it for maximum runs.”Shepherd, who hit six sixes, tore into Khaleel Ahmed in the 19th over to smack 33 runs off the left-arm pace bowler and then got the team 21 runs in the 20th.- Red-hot Kohli -Player of the match Shepherd said: “I had my opportunity today, was waiting for it for a long time. Wanted to give the team a good finish.”Five-time champions Chennai, who are already out of the play-off race, slumped to their ninth defeat in 11 matches to stay rock bottom of the 10-team standings.Mhatre, who made his IPL debut for Chennai last month, registered his first fifty and went on to hit nine fours and five sixes.Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi denied Mhatre a century and struck next ball to trap fellow South African Dewald Brevis for a duck, but the hat-trick was avoided by Dhoni, who made 12.The left-handed Jadeja stood firm but Bengaluru’s disciplined bowling including Dayal’s final over heroics steered the team to their eighth win as they hunt for their first IPL title.England left-hander Bethell scored his first half-century for Bengaluru before Kohli struck his seventh fifty this season, leading the batting chart with 505 runs in 11 innings.Bethell set the pace in the first over when he hit Ahmed for three successive boundaries and made the most of a dropped catch on 27 to reach his fifty with a four.Bethell finally fell to Sri Lankan pace bowler Matheesha Pathirana after his 33-ball knock, but Kohli kept up the charge and raised his fifty.England left-arm pace bowler Sam Curran cut short Kohli’s knock after which the bowlers attempted to pull things back with three wickets until Shepherd exploded in the final two overs.

Pakistan’s military said it carried out a “training launch” of a surface-to-surface missile weapons system on Saturday, further heightening tensions with India after last month’s deadly attack in disputed Kashmir.New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on tourists last month in Indian-administered Kashmir, sparking a fresh stand-off between the nuclear-armed neighbours.Pakistan’s military said Saturday it conducted a “successful training launch of the Abdali Weapon System”, a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 450 kilometres (279 miles).”The launch was aimed at ensuring the operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters, including the missile’s advanced navigation system and enhanced manoeuvrability features,” Pakistan’s military said in a statement. It did not say where the test took place. The missile training launch comes after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he has given his military “full operational freedom” to respond to the attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists.Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attack and called for an independent probe. This week Islamabad warned of an imminent air strike from its neighbour, and has repeatedly made clear it will respond with force to any aggression by India. International pressure has been piled on both New Delhi and Islamabad — who have fought several wars over the disputed Kashmir region — to de-escalate.Neighbouring China has urged “restraint”, with the European Union warning Friday that the situation was “alarming.In an interview with Fox News, US Vice President JD Vance called on India to respond to the attack in a way “that doesn’t lead to a broader regional conflict”.He also urged Pakistan to “make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with”.- ‘Message to the world’ -Analysts in Pakistan told AFP the missile launch was a warning shot. “It clearly indicates that we have resources to counter India. This is not a message only for India but the rest of the world that we are well-prepared,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a military analyst. On Friday, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir presided over a meeting of his top commanders about the “current Pakistan-India standoff”, a military statement said. Munir “underscored the critical importance of heightened vigilance and proactive readiness across all fronts”.Since the attack — the deadliest in Kashmir on civilians in years — India and Pakistan have exchanged tit-for-tat diplomatic barbs and expulsions, and shut border crossings.The two sides have exchanged gunfire for nine consecutive nights along the militarised Line of Control, the de facto border, according to Indian defence sources.Muslim-majority Kashmir, a region of around 15 million people, is divided but claimed in full between Pakistan and India.Rebels on the Indian side have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.India regularly blames its neighbour for backing gunmen behind the insurgency.Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir’s struggle for self-determination and regularly denounces rights abuses in the region. 

Hotels are empty and roads deserted at the start of what is normally peak tourist season amidst the towering peaks and lush valleys of Pakistan’s Kashmir valley, as the threat of attack from India looms. Tensions between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals have soared since India accused Pakistan of backing a shooting that killed 26 civilians on the Indian side of the disputed territory on April 22.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his military “full operational freedom” to respond while Islamabad earlier this week warned they had “credible intelligence” that India was planning imminent strikes.High season in the cooler climes of the Neelum Valley, the tourist centre of Pakistan administered-Kashmir, begins in May as temperatures around the rest of the country rise.”It’s been a really bad start,” said Muhammad Awais, a 22-year-old photographer at a popular picnic spot.Tourism is the Neelum Valley’s lifeline, drawing over 300,000 visitors each year from all over Pakistan, according to the district administration. Much of the local population depends on roughly 350 guesthouses, which employ thousands of families.”Our livelihoods depend on tourism, and without it, we suffer,” Awais told AFP.”The way things are unfolding is very slow, and it’s affecting our work badly.”This week police and soldiers at army check points barred tourists from entering the valley, allowing only local residents through the checkpoint.Tourists were instead told to return the main town of Muzaffarabad.”It’s extremely disappointing that the government did not warn us or advise against visiting,” said Saleem Uddin Siddique, who travelled from the capital Islamabad with his family.”Our hopes are now dashed,” the 69-year-old retired accountant said. – ‘We don’t want war’ -Islamabad has denied any involvement in last month’s attack at Pahalgam and the uneasy neighbours have issued a raft of tit-for-tat punitive diplomatic measures.The two South Asian nations have exchanged gunfire for nine consecutive nights along the militarised Line of Control, the de-facto border, according to Indian defence sources.On Saturday, Pakistan’s military said it tested a surface-to-surface missile system with a range of 450 kilometres (280 miles) aimed at “ensuring the operational readiness of troops”.International pressure has been piled on both New Delhi and Islamabad to settle their differences through talks.India and Pakistan, which both claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full, have fought several wars over the Himalayan territory since the end of British rule in 1947.On India’s heavily fortified border, residents of farming villages along the Chenab river have sent families back from the frontier, recalling the terror of the last major conflict between the rival armies in 1999.There has been an exodus of tourists on the Indian side of the border too since the attack which targeted Hindu men enjoying the open meadows with their families.Indian authorities have heavily promoted the region as a holiday destination, both for skiing in winter and to escape the sweltering heat of the summer.The regional government of Pakistan‑administered Kashmir has ordered religious schools to close and urged residents to stockpile food. However, some tourists continued to arrive undeterred.”We don’t think the threat of possible war is serious,” said Mudasar Maqsood, a 39‑year‑old factory worker from the eastern city of Kasur, over 630 kilometres away, who was blocked along with his friends from entering the valley.”We should not disrupt our routine life,” he added.Raja Iftikhar Khan, the president of private tourism association, said the situation could become “extremely dire”.”This disruption has been devastating for all those tied to tourism,” he said”We don’t want war — no sensible businessperson ever does”.

Thousands of Bangladeshi Islamists rallied in Dhaka on Saturday, one of their biggest public shows of strength in years as religious activism surges.Islamist groups have gained strength after the toppling of the iron-fisted regime of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, opposing attempts at reforms they say are un-Islamic.Hefazat-e-Islam — an influential pressure group made up of multiple political parties, Muslim organisations and religious schools — issued a string of demands at Saturday’s rally, including the abolishment of a government women’s commission seeking equality.”Men and women can never be equal: the Koran outlines specific codes of life for both genders,” said Mohammad Shihab Uddin, 53, leader of a women’s madrassa, a religious school.”There is no way we can go beyond that.”The rally on Saturday came after two days of demonstrations by political parties, drumming up support ahead of much-anticipated elections, including by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), widely tipped to win the poll.No date has been set for elections but caretaker leader Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who heads the interim government, has promised polls will be held by June 2026 at the latest. Muhammad Umar Faruq, 30, another teacher at a seminary, said they helped the interim government run the country. “If a government attempts anything anti-Islamic in a country where 92 percent of the population is Muslim, we will reject it immediately,” Umar Faruq said.Hasina, who was blamed for extensive human rights abuses, took a tough stand against Islamist movements during her autocratic 15-year rule.Since she fled to India — where she has defied extradition orders to face charges of crimes against humanity — Islamist groups have become emboldened. That has sparked worries from smaller groups, including Muslim Sufi worshippers and the Hindu minority, who together account for less than a 10th of the population.Women, in particular, have expressed concern.Islamists have demanded an end to a swath of activities, including cultural events deemed “anti-Islamic” — from music to theatre festivals, women’s football matches and kite-flying celebrations.