AFP Asia

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan have exchanged gunfire across their heavily militarised de facto border in contested Kashmir since an April 22 attack that New Delhi blames on Islamabad, claims it rejects.Troops are facing off along the 770-kilometre (478-mile) fortified Line of Control — the route of a ceasefire line dating back to 1949 — which ranges from icy outposts in high-altitude Himalayan mountains down to greener foothills in the south.India and Pakistan have fought over the Muslim-majority region since their partition at the end of British rule in 1947.Insurgents in Indian-run Kashmir have battled since 1989 seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.Both countries trade accusations of arming groups in each other’s territory to cause instability.India, a Hindu majority nation with 1.4 billion people, and Pakistan, a Muslim-majority nation with 240 million citizens, both have nuclear weapons, and their militaries are among the largest in the world.Pakistan’s main weapons supplier is China, Islamabad’s closest regional ally, as well getting drones from Turkey.Although India’s military strength is much larger, Pakistani analysts point to Islamabad’s decades of experience fighting insurgencies on its border with Afghanistan.India is the world’s largest arms importer, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).The bulk of India’s supplies come from Russia. New Delhi has also expanded military suppliers to include the United States, France and Israel, as well as developing its domestic production, including of aircraft carriers, submarines and helicopters.Both sides have boosted their military capabilities since 2019, when India launched air strikes on Pakistan following an attack by a suicide bomber on Indian forces in Kashmir.Here, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance database, are their estimated forces.- Pakistan – Military hardware and personnel: Active military:          660,000Paramilitary police:      291,000Defence budget:           $10 billion (2025)Nuclear capabilities: Islamabad has both land-based and air-delivered weapons, with medium-, short- and close-range ballistic missiles. Islamabad has sought submarine-launched nuclear-armed cruise missiles.Fixed wing aircraft:         812Rotary-wing (helicopters):   322Armoured fighting vehicles:  6,137Artillery:                   4,619- India – Military hardware and personnel: Active military:          1,475,000Paramilitary police:      1,616,000Defence budget:           $81 billion (2025)Nuclear capabilities: primarily land-based, but may be able to deliver bombs from the air, and is developing its submarine force. It has intermediate-range ballistic missiles, and are testing an intercontinental-range version.Fixed wing aircraft:           1,437Rotary-wing (helicopters):       995Armoured fighting vehicle:     7,074Artillery:                     11,225bb-jma-ecl-pjm/rsc

A fierce fire ripped through a hotel in the Indian city of Kolkata killing at least 15 people, police said Wednesday, with some clambering out of windows and onto the rooftop to escape.Several people were rescued from rooms and the roof of the budget hotel, Kolkata police chief Manoj Verma told AFP after the fire broke out on Tuesday evening.”The hotel turned into a gas chamber and it appears that many people suffocated to death,” said Verma, adding an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the blaze.The Rituraj Hotel, which had 88 guests when the fire broke out, is located in a congested business district of central Kolkata.About a dozen people were burned and were undergoing treatment.A hotel worker told AFP that the fire broke out on the first floor of the six-storey building, where a bar was being built and where construction work had bricked up the windows.Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and a routine disregard for safety regulations.Eyewitness Nanda Mondal, who runs a construction company, said he saw plastic panels covering the building that appeared to have “fuelled the fire”.”A man died after he tried to climb down a rainwater pipe,” said Mondal, 64.- ‘Negligence’ -The Press Trust of India news agency, which filmed images of soaring flames from the Kolkata building, reported that “several people were seen trying to escape through the windows and narrow ledges of the building”.Kolkata’s The Telegraph newspaper reported that at least one person died when he “jumped off the terrace trying to escape” the fire.Verma said the fire had been tackled and that “cooling operations are underway”.Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the families of those killed.”May the injured recover soon,” his office said in a statement.Kolkata, a bustling metropolis of more than 15 million people, is the capital of West Bengal state, which is governed by the opposition Trinamool Congress party.Sajal Ghosh, a city councillor who belongs to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party — which is in power nationally — said the fire seemed to have been a result of “negligence”.”It has also raised fresh questions about illegal constructions and safety standards in poorly regulated budget hotels in the city,” he said.

Pakistan said on Wednesday it had “credible intelligence” that India was planning an imminent military strike and vowed to retaliate, as worries of spiralling conflict grew over a deadly attack in Kashmir.Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted since New Delhi blamed its arch-rival Pakistan for last week’s assault on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, the deadliest attack on civilians there in a quarter of a century.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “complete operational freedom” to respond to the attack during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, a senior government source told AFP.Pakistan’s government has denied any involvement in the shooting, and information minister Attaullah Tarar said overnight that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response”.”Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext,” Tarar said in a statement early on Wednesday.However, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar also said Pakistan would not strike first.Leaders around the world have expressed deep concerns and urged restraint by the uneasy neighbours who have fought several wars.Muslim-majority Kashmir, a region of around 15 million people, is divided between Pakistan and India but claimed in full by both nations. About 1.5 million people live near the ceasefire line on the Pakistani side of the border, where residents were preparing for violence by readying simple, mud-walled underground bunkers reinforced with concrete if they can afford it. “We are cleaning the bunker to ensure that if the enemy attacks at any time, we are not caught off guard and we can bring our children to safety,” 42-year-old Muhammad Javed told AFP in the village of Chakothi.- De-escalation calls -India’s army said on Wednesday it had repeatedly traded gunfire with Pakistani troops for a sixth straight night across the Line of Control (LoC), a heavily fortified zone of high-altitude Himalayan outposts that represents the de facto Kashmir border.A Pakistani security source told AFP that two drones were shot down on Tuesday near the LoC “after violating our airspace”. Tensions have been rapidly mounting in the week since the Pahalgam attack, with tit-for-tat diplomatic barbs, expulsion of citizens and border crossings shut.Modi vowed last week to pursue those who carried out the attack and those who had supported it.”I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” he said on Thursday.”We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth”.The bellicose statements have prompted worries of a spiral into military action, with calls for restraint from several nations.The US State Department said top diplomat Marco Rubio would call his Pakistani and Indian counterparts soon to urge them “to not escalate the situation”.UN chief Antonio Guterres held calls on Tuesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in which he “offered his Good Offices to support de-escalation”, his spokesman said in a statement.Sharif’s office said later he had urged Guterres to “counsel India” to exercise restraint, while pledging to defend Pakistan’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force in case of any misadventure by India”.- Wanted posters -India and Pakistan have fought over the former princely state since their independence from British rule in 1947, with the border splitting generations of families.Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest and carried out sweeping detentions seeking anyone suspected of links to the alleged killers.The worst attack in recent years in Indian-run Kashmir was at Pulwama in 2019, when a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a security forces convoy, killing 40 and wounding 35.Indian fighter jets carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory 12 days later.burs-pjm/ecl/pbt

Since the start of the school year in March, Afghan boys have been required to wear new uniforms of turbans and long tunics, following an order to adopt outfits reflecting Taliban rule.The Taliban government’s education ministry cites strengthening discipline, masking social inequalities and promoting what the authorities see as true Islamic attire as reasons for the dress code change — a move that has sparked division.”Islam has preserved and strengthened the standards of modesty and dignity by paying attention to clothing. Sharia clothing defines the identity of a Muslim male and female,” the ministry said in its directive.”Sharia clothing is a means to preserve the dignity of the individual and protect the society against moral degradation.”Before the Taliban authorities swept back to power in 2021, the shalwar kameez and turban — traditional wear in the region — were uncommon in academic or professional settings. Since their return, the streets of Kabul and other areas have become more uniform, with many men opting for the monochrome loose trousers and long tunic.Once mostly limited to religious schools, the shalwar kameez with a turban or hat are now mandatory for all students, whether in public or private schools.Girls are already from a young age required to wear uniforms, often a long black dress over matching trousers with a white headscarf, but can no longer study past primary school in non-religious institutions.- ‘Turned away’ -Male students must wear a light blue shalwar kameez along with a cap up to the age of around 15, afterwards donning white and wearing a turban.The rule — ordered by the Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada — took time to be enforced and is still implemented unevenly across the country.In western Herat, student Nassir Ahmad said few pupils wore the new uniform at the start of the school year, but now they have no choice.”Our teachers told us not to come without it. If we don’t have the uniform and the cap, we can’t enter the classroom,” the 13-year-old told AFP.”I saw several of my friends turned away because they didn’t have a turban on,” said 17-year-old Qassim.He said morality police from the department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice came to the schools to ensure the rules are being followed.In the Taliban heartland of southern Kandahar, several students told AFP they were pleased with their new clothing.Mohammad Wali, a student at the Mahmoud Tarzi school, said he was “very happy” to wear the “Prophet’s clothing”.”It distinguishes students from other people in the street,” said the 17-year-old.In the capital Kabul, some students wear the turban while at school, only to stuff it into their bags as soon as they leave. – Too expensive -Among teachers and school principals — also told to swap their suits and ties or casual clothes for shalwar kameez and a black turban — some disapproved of the measure.”Today, everyone looks the same. A doctor no longer looks like a doctor and a cook no longer looks like a cook,” said the principal of a Kabul school, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.”The uniform does create discipline,” the principal conceded, having swapped out his suit and tie nearly four years ago to avoid trouble.But for some families, he said, paying the average 1,000 Afghanis ($14) per uniform is a burden in a country where 85 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, according the UN.”If a family has five or six children, how are they supposed to manage?” he asked.Students now wear their new uniforms in often dilapidated schools with meager resources.In remote areas, lessons are sometimes held outdoors under the shade of a tree. The Kabul principal said at first he didn’t sanction students out of uniform, but now education ministry officials show up at his school two to three times a week to check whether students are complying.”People in Afghanistan have no choice,” he said. “They obey and cannot complain.”strs-cgo/sw/dhc

Pakistan’s information minister said Wednesday that Islamabad had “credible intelligence” that India was planning an imminent military strike and he vowed a “decisive response”, as worries of spiralling conflict grew over a deadly attack in Kashmir.The statement by Attaullah Tarar came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a closed-door meeting the previous day with army and security chiefs, at which he gave the military “complete operational freedom” to respond to the attack, a senior government source told AFP.”Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext,” Tarar said in a statement.Pahalgam is a tourist hub in Indian-administered Kashmir where 26 men were killed on April 22, the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested region in years.India has accused Pakistan of supporting the attack, a claim Islamabad has rejected.”Any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response,” said Tarar. “India will be fully responsible for any serious consequences in the region!”The development comes as nations around the world, from neighbouring China to the United States, express deep concerns and urge restraint by the nuclear-armed neighbours.India’s army on Wednesday said it had repeatedly traded gunfire with Pakistani troops for a sixth night in a row across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto Kashmir border, a heavily fortified zone of high-altitude Himalayan outposts.The army reported “small arms firing” in multiple sites, but with no reported casualties. Pakistan’s military did not confirm the shooting, but state radio in Islamabad reported on Tuesday it had shot down an Indian drone, calling it a violation of its airspace.It did not say when the incident happened, and there was no comment from New Delhi.- ‘Ends of the Earth’ -Tensions have been rapidly mounting in the week since the Pahalgam attack, with tit-for-tat diplomatic barbs, expulsion of citizens and land border crossings shut.Last week, Modi vowed to pursue those who carried out the attack, and those who had supported it.”I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” he said on Thursday.”We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth”.The bellicose statements have prompted worries of a spiral into military action, with calls from several nations for restraint.The US State Department said top diplomat Marco Rubio would call his Pakistani and Indian counterparts soon to urge them “to not escalate the situation”.UN chief Antonio Guterres meanwhile held calls Tuesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in which he “offered his Good Offices to support de-escalation”, his spokesman said.Sharif’s office later said he had urged Guterres to “counsel India” to exercise restraint, while pledging to defend Pakistan’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force in case of any misadventure by India”.Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest and carried out sweeping detentions seeking anyone suspected of links to the alleged killers.The worst attack in recent years in Indian-run Kashmir was at Pulwama in 2019, when a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a security forces convoy, killing 40 and wounding 35.Indian fighter jets carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory 12 days later.Iran has already offered to mediate and Saudi Arabia has said Riyadh was trying to “prevent an escalation”.US President Donald Trump downplayed tensions, saying on Friday the dispute will get “figured out, one way or another”.burs-pjm/mtp

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the military “operational freedom” to respond to a deadly attack in Kashmir that New Delhi has blamed on arch-rival Pakistan, a senior government source told AFP Tuesday.A week after the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested region in years, Modi on Tuesday held a closed-door meeting with army and security chiefs, during which he granted “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response to the terror attack”, said the government source, who was not authorised to speak to the media.The development comes as nations around the world, from neighbouring China to the United States, express deep concerns over the nuclear-armed neighbors’ mounting tensions and urge restraint.India’s army on Tuesday also said it had repeatedly traded gunfire with Pakistani troops across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto Kashmir border, a heavily fortified zone of high-altitude Himalayan outposts.Pakistan’s military did not confirm the shooting, but state radio in Islamabad reported on Tuesday it had shot down an Indian drone, calling it a violation of its airspace.It did not say when the incident happened, and there was no comment from New Delhi.India said the “Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small arms firing across the Line of Control” overnight Monday to Tuesday, the fifth night in a row that fire was exchanged there.The Indian army said its troops had “responded in a measured and effective manner to the provocation”. There were no reports of casualties.- ‘Ends of the Earth’ -Relations have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 in which 26 men were killed.Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir and diplomatic barbs, as well as expelled citizens and ordered the main land border crossing shut.Last week, Modi vowed to pursue those who carried out the attack in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, and those who had supported it.”I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” he said on Thursday.”We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth”.The bellicose statements have prompted worries of a rapid spiral into military action, with calls from several nations for restraint.The US State Department said top diplomat Marco Rubio would call his Pakistani and Indian counterparts soon to urge them “to not escalate the situation.”UN chief Antonio Guterres meanwhile held calls Tuesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in which he “offered his Good Offices to support de-escalation”, his spokesman said.Sharif’s office later said he had urged Guterres to “counsel India” to exercise restraint, while pledging to defend Pakistan’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force in case of any misadventure by India”.Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest and carried out sweeping detentions seeking anyone suspected of links to the alleged killers.The worst attack in recent years in Indian-run Kashmir was at Pulwama in 2019, when an insurgent rammed a car packed with explosives into a security forces convoy, killing 40 and wounding 35.Indian fighter jets carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory 12 days later.Iran has already offered to mediate and Saudi Arabia has said Riyadh was trying to “prevent an escalation”.US President Donald Trump downplayed tensions, saying on Friday the dispute will get “figured out, one way or another”.burs-pjm/sco/des/md

West Indies’ Sunil Narine put in a fine all-round performance to keep holders Kolkata Knight Riders alive in the IPL with a tense 14-run win over Delhi Capitals on Tuesday.Narine smashed 27 off 16 balls in Kolkata’s 204-9 and then returned figures of 3-29 with his mystery spin to restrict the opposition to 190-9 at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla ground.Delhi’s South African star Faf du Plessis top-scored with 62 off 45 balls, but his knock was in vain as the hosts regularly lost wickets.Delhi are fourth in the 10-team table. Kolkata, who won their third title last year, stay seventh with four wins and five defeats.The top four teams at the end of the league phase will move into the play-offs of the popular and lucrative T20 tournament.Du Plessis hit back for Delhi after Abishek Porel’s early departure, but Kolkata had the opposition in trouble at 60-3 when KL Rahul was run out off a direct hit by Narine.Du Plessis, who returned to the team in the previous match after missing four games due to injury, raised his fifty in 31 balls and put on 76 runs with skipper Axar Patel, who hit a quickfire 43.Narine broke the stand to get Axar back in the dugout and five balls later bowled Tristan Stubbs for one to tilt the game in KKR’s favour.He then got the prized wicket of Du Plessis in his final over to dim Delhi’s hopes, but Vipraj Nigam smashed 38 off 19 balls to keep the chase alive until the last over when he fell to Andre Russell.Earlier, Narine and fellow opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz set it up for Kolkata in their brisk stand of 48 from 18 balls.Narine got off the mark with a first-ball six off Sri Lankan pace bowler Dushmantha Chameera and along with Gurbaz got 25 runs from the second over.Starc got Afghanistan’s Gurbaz caught behind for 26.Delhi struck back when leg-spinner Nigam trapped Narine lbw in his first over and Axar had skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who made a 14-ball 26, lbw with his left-arm spin.Angkrish Raghuvanshi, a 20-year-old up and coming batter who made 44, stood firm and, with Rinku Singh, added 61 runs.Chameera denied Raghuvanshi his fifty and Nigam cut short Rinku’s knock on 36 in the next over.Russell, who turned 37 on Tuesday, took the team past 200 with a six off Mitchell Starc, who roared back with two wickets in two balls in the 20th over but the hat-trick was avoided.Australia’s left-arm quick Starc trapped Rovman Powell lbw and then dismissed Anukul Roy for a duck with Chameera taking a stunner in the deep as he dived full length to take the catch.

Bangladesh opener Shadman Islam smashed a century in the second Test against Zimbabwe on Tuesday, giving the hosts a lead of 64 runs at the end of the second day with three wickets in hand.Bangladesh were 291-7 at the close, with Mehidy Hasan Miraz (16) and Taijul Islam (5) remaining not out, in response to Zimbabwe’s first innings total of 227. Shadman recorded a career-best knock of 120 and partnered with Anamul Haque in a first-wicket stand of 118 runs, only the 10th time that Bangladesh’s openers had passed the 100-run mark in Tests. Despite Shadman’s century, the other batsmen failed to exploit the dry and slow surface at Chattogram after a good start.Anamul, who was making a comeback to the Test team after three years, scored 39.Mominul Haque (33) and Mushfiqur Rahim (40) have also struggled to convert good starts into big scores.Mushfiqur, who failed to pass the 50-run mark in the past 12 innings, was run out by Wessly Madhevere.Bangladesh were 259-3 at one point but then lost their next four wickets for 20 runs. Vincent Masekesa, Zimbabwe’s debutant leg-spinner, took three wickets, including those of Bangladesh’s captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and wicketkeeper batter Jaker Ali. Zimbabwe were earlier dismissed on their overnight score of 227.Resuming with one wicket in hand, their innings was wrapped up with Taijul’s first ball of the second day.Taijul finished with figures of 6-60.Zimbabwe are 1-0 up in the two-Test series after winning the opener in Sylhet by three wickets.Brief scores: Zimbabwe: 227 all out (Sean Williams 67, Nick Welch 54; Taijul Islam 6-60, Nayeem Hasan 2-42). Bangladesh: 291-7 (Shadman Islam 120, Mushfiqur Rahim 40; Vincent Masekesa 3-44)Toss: Zimbabwe

Vaibhav Suryavanshi was touted as Indian cricket’s next superstar on Tuesday after the 14-year-old’s IPL century off 35 balls shattered batting records.Left-handed opener Suryavanshi became the youngest player to hit a Twenty20 hundred in Rajasthan Royals’ thumping eight-wicket win over Gujarat Titans on Monday. “It is like a dream,” the teenager said.In only his third Indian Premier League match, he scored the second-fastest century in competition history, second only to Chris Gayle’s 30-ball ton in 2013.Nicknamed “Boss Baby”, Suryavanshi has drawn instant comparisons with West Indies great Gayle, who styled himself as the “Universe Boss”.Suryavanshi, who made headlines when bought by Rajasthan for $130,500 after a bidding war at the November auction when aged 13, has been fearless in the face of seasoned opponents.He announced himself on debut earlier this month by launching his first ball in the IPL for six off experienced India pace bowler Shardul Thakur on his way to a quickfire 34 off 20 balls.Nine days later in Jaipur, Suryavanshi destroyed a bowling attack comprising India’s Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma and Washington Sundar, shredding reputations as he hit 94 of his 101 runs in boundaries — 11 sixes and seven fours.- ‘Carnage’ -“Vaibhav’s fearless approach, bat speed, picking the length early and transferring the energy behind the ball was the recipe behind a fabulous innings,” India cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar wrote on social media. Suryavanshi took 28 in one over off veteran quick Sharma on his way to a 17-ball fifty.He then gave Afghanistan pace bowler Karim Janat a debut to forget, blasting 30 runs — three sixes and three fours — off his first IPL over.Rajasthan head coach Rahul Dravid, who has a broken leg, still managed to get out of his wheelchair to celebrate when Suryavanshi hit a six off Afghanistan spin wizard Rashid Khan to bring up his century.”Have you ever seen anything like this?” former Australia white-ball captain Aaron Finch posted on social media. “What a talent!”India’s 1983 World Cup-winning batsman Kris Srikkanth lauded the teenager’s “composure, class and courage” beyond his years, adding: “Indian cricket’s next superstar is here.”India’s T20 skipper and Mumbai Indians batsman Suryakumar Yadav said it had been “carnage of an innings” and “absolutely insane!”Suryavanshi, who can also bowl spin, comes from India’s poorest state, Bihar.On Tuesday, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced a cash prize of one million rupees ($11,700) for the budding batsman.”I wish that Vaibhav creates new records for the Indian team in the future and brings glory to the country,” Kumar said in a social media post.Suryavanshi made his domestic debut aged only 12 in the Ranji Trophy in January 2024, then was selected for India’s under-19 squad against a touring Australia team.He promptly hit a 58-ball century — the second fastest ton in youth Tests after England’s Moeen Ali in 2005.After the game on Monday night, Suryavanshi, who comes from a modest family, credited his success to his parents.”Whatever I am today, I owe it to my parents,” he said in a video posted on the official IPL handle on X. “My mother used to wake up early because I had to go to practise, and she used to prepare food for me. She would sleep for only three hours. My father left his work for me.”

Pakistan’s military shot down an Indian drone along the de facto Kashmir border, state radio in Islamabad reported on Tuesday, a week after the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested region in years.The Indian army also said that both sides exchanged fire for a fifth straight night along the Line of Control (LoC), a heavily fortified zone of high-altitude Himalayan outposts.There was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan on the exchange of fire but state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported that the military had shot down an Indian “quadcopter”, calling it a violation of its airspace.Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 in which 26 men were killed.Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir, diplomatic barbs, expelled citizens and ordered the border shut.The unmanned Indian aircraft had attempted to conduct surveillance along the LoC in the Manawar Sector of the Bhimber area, the Radio Pakistan report said. It did not say when the incident happened. There was no comment from New Delhi.India said the “Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small arms firing across the Line of Control” overnight Monday to Tuesday. The gunfire took place in areas opposite Kupwara and Baramulla districts, as well as in the Akhnoor sector, it said.The Indian army said its troops had “responded in a measured and effective manner to the provocation”. There were no reports of casualties.India has said Tuesday is the deadline for Pakistani citizens to leave.- ‘Exercise restraint’ -Analysts say they fear bellicose statements will escalate into possible military action.Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest and carried out sweeping detentions seeking anyone suspected of links to the killers.The United Nations has urged the arch-rivals to show “maximum restraint”, while China, which shares a border with both India and Pakistan, on Tuesday repeated its call on both sides to “exercise restraint”.”Both India and Pakistan are important countries in South Asia. Their harmonious coexistence is crucial to the peace, stability and development of the region,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.Iran has already offered to mediate and Saudi Arabia has said Riyadh was trying to “prevent an escalation”.US President Donald Trump downplayed tensions, saying on Friday the dispute will get “figured out, one way or another”.