
Pahalagam attack victim's kin from Vizag welcome 'Operation Sindoor'
Live Events
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
The kin of a Pahalgam terror attack victim from Andhra Pradesh welcomed India's ' Operation Sindoor ' against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir on Wednesday. Two tourists - JC Chandra Mouli (68) and S Madhusudan (45) - from Andhra Pradesh were shot dead by terrorists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.Along with the two from the southern state, as many as 26 persons were shot dead in that attack."Whatever government has done, it is a good step. Government did not touch any of their (Pakistan) citizens, only terrorists have been killed. So, it is a good sign, good attempt. We welcome it," Kumar Raja, Mouli's close relative, told PTI.However, he observed that Mouli's family is still in a state of shock, adding that their loss cannot be compensated.He said Mouli's wife again went into depression on Tuesday after she received her slain husband's ring and watch in a courier."Family is in total shock. Just unable to come out of it. Two daughters have come from the US, they are here. Daughters are also not in a position to talk," said Raja.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Deccan Herald
43 minutes ago
- Deccan Herald
Elusive global unity against terrorism
The 'Operation Sindoor' has shown us how deeply fragmented the fight against terror has become. There is a widely held conviction among all major powers that Pakistan is indeed harbouring terrorists and terror groups on its soil and using them as strategic assets against India, just as it had once used the earlier avatar of Taliban. They do not need more convincing. However, while there was widespread condemnation of the terror attack in Pahalgam, no country has called out Pakistan or even asked it to cooperate with apprehending the perpetrators. This is where facts diverge from reality. Before 'Operation Sindoor' was launched, all that the European Union (EU) did was to call the 'rising tensions between India and Pakistan' 'alarming' and advise India that 'escalation helps no one.' It was obvious that rather than taking a stand of zero tolerance to the menace, the EU continued to see terror attacks through a politically frosted glass – the frost that set in due to India's stand on the Ukraine war. The EU, which was peeved over India's abstentions on the UN votes on Ukraine, saw this as an opportunity to pay back in the same coin. However, what they have conveniently forgotten is that when China aggressed our borders in Galwan, all the European Council President could say in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was: 'The relationship between the EU and China is complex. We need to tackle different issues and support all the efforts to maintain a channel of dialogue to find peaceful solutions.' Thank you, EU, for this candid admission.. In fact, when an important member of the EU called India in February 2021 to express its indignation at India's stand in the UN Security Council on the Ukraine vote, India asked them politely to send us a copy of their statement issued when the Galwan clashes happened. There was silence at the other end, since it had issued none. Sometimes it is easy for the EU to forget that international relations did not start with the Ukraine war. The United States have, however, been more forthright on terrorism, though all their actions have to meet the touchstone of domestic acclaim in the US. President Donald Trump's administration has jettisoned the narrow internal focus of Joe Biden's administration on REMVE, or racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism. The recent post of FBI Director Kash Patel on X, calling out a 'Pakistani citizen' being extradited to the US for 'support to ISIS and attempting to commit acts of terrorism', signalled a robust anti-terror policy. The extradition of 26/11 plotter Tahawwur Rana from the US to India is a welcome development. However, the US has also found a sudden bonhomie with Pakistan, calling them 'a phenomenal partner' in combating terror. Consequently, while pursuing zero tolerance to terror, the US does not discriminate between whom it is willing to work with as long as its ends are met. This explains its embrace of former Al-Qaeda leader and current President of Syria, Al Shaara, and a separate deal with the Houthis for stopping attacks on American shipping. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), on the other hand, are now focusing narrowly on terror since the main ambition of most of its members, especially of the Gulf countries, is to break the shackles of their history of support to Islamic radicalism, spawning terrorists and terror groups around the world. Their desire for regional stability and integration with the 'outside' world has made them lukewarm to the Palestine issue and developments in Gaza, the West Bank and the Middle East. India should not expect much from them vis-a-vis Pakistan's terrorist misadventures either. The Saudi minister's shuttle diplomacy immediately after the Pahalgam attack was similar to the one it undertook after the Pulwama attack, ironically by the same minister, and yielded the same results – nothing. The litmus test will come next month when Pakistan takes over the presidency of the UN Security Council. We will see how the OIC countries in the Council – and there are five of them – treat the issue of terrorism and whether they will use Islamophobia to dilute the fight against terror. How the US and the UK react will be the other litmus test. the fight against terror in Africa has been orphaned. The Global Terrorism Index 2025 points out that the Sahel is now the epicentre of terrorism, accounting for over half of all terrorism deaths in the world. But the outside world has no time since it is not affecting them directly. It is a dismal commentary on our collective fight against terror. The inference is simple and, of course, has been self-evident for a long time. Each state will react as per its own geopolitical and other compulsions, especially when it affects it directly. This was how it was before 9/11 happened – the era of 'your terrorist' and 'my terrorist'. That era is returning. The fragmentation of this fight against terror is worse than ever before. In this scenario, Pakistan is not going to stop with the Pahalgam attack unless it knows that the price it will have to pay for sponsoring terrorism will be unacceptably high. It should be India's endeavour to ensure that this happens, if Pakistan is to be deterred. That is why it is even more necessary now for India to take the lead and sustain the high level of engagement to put forward our narrative and call out those responsible. This engagement should also extend to our neighbours. If sending multi-party delegations to neighbours proves to be sensitive, the foreign secretary can visit our neighbours, who are equally susceptible to being influenced by the Pakistani narrative, with Islamic radicals raising their heads again in some neighbouring countries. This will adversely impact our 'Neighbourhood First' policy. (The writer is a former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the UN in New York. He chaired the UN Security Council's Counter-terrorism Committee.)


Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Iran rains missiles on Israel, hits its Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv in retaliatory strikes
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel In a fresh escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, Iran late Friday (June 13) launched hundreds of ballistic missiles against Israel. More than 150 missiles were launched at Israel. Iranian missiles attacked a key IDF command post in Kirya, where most of the Israeli military and political leadership was latest offensive against Israel marked the beginning of a retaliatory operation called True Promise III. The main target of the strike was the city of Tel Aviv, Iranian media reported. Iran claimed that it managed to hit the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of were heard in Tel Aviv on Friday night local time, as air raid sirens were sounded across Israel amid what the country's military said was an Iranian missile attack. According to the Washington Post, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, promised 'severe punishment' for the attacks. President Donald Trump urged Iran to 'make a deal' with Israel 'before it is too late.'The bases of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the north of the country were also under fire following the strikes. Despite the large number of missiles fired, only part of them reached Israeli territory. About 50 were intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome the same time, Iranian government resources claim that they managed to hit the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Israeli media partially confirmed the reports of impacts near the building. As reports of interceptions and impacts continue to surface, another wave of missile attacks is comes in direct response to recent Israeli airstrikes that targeted key Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure, according to Iranian state Israeli military and the Iranian state media also claimed that the Israeli strikes killed four senior commanders, including Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, Iranian military chief Mohammad Bagheri, and Air Force chief Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.


India Gazette
4 hours ago
- India Gazette
Express deep appreciation to France for strong condemnation of cross-border terrorist attack in Pahalgam: Jaishankar
Marseille [France], June 13 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday appreciated France for the strong condemnation of the cross-border terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22 and France's support for India's right to defend itself against terrorism. Speaking to the press alongside French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot on Friday, Jaishankar said that the strategic partnership between India and France is based on shared values, strong sense of sovereignty, democratic commitment, independence, strategic autonomy, guiding foreign policy, and commitment to multilateralism and respect for international law. He stated that he and Barrot discussed defence, civilian nuclear energy, space. On his talks with Jean-Noel Barrot, he stated, 'Today, as the minister also indicated, we have really had wide ranging discussions which covered defence, it covered civilian nuclear energy, it covered space, counterterrorism, people to people relations, innovation, AI technology and we actually spent a little while discussing how between education, research, business, and mobility, how we can really find new ways of adding more substance to our relationship. When I look at the horizon, I think what is important is the India France year of innovation next year. So, we are really gearing up to use that as an additional new driver of our relationship, and we are in many ways trying to prepare for that. In terms of what we discussed, let me just, in addition to what the minister said, highlight some particular aspects from my perspective.' 'One, I would like to express our deep appreciation to France for the strong condemnation of the cross-border terrorist attack that took place on 22nd April at Pahalgam and for France's steadfast support for India's right to defend itself against terrorism. Second, where the pillars of our strategic partnership are concerned, especially defence, security, space, and civilian nuclear cooperation, I think we agreed to intensify all of these through very concrete measures and projects in the time to come,' he added. As many as 26 people were killed in the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. In response to the Pahalgam attack, India launched Operation Sindoor, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He also stated that India and France share a vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, where international law and maritime security are upheld. He stated, 'Third, where the Indo-Pacific is concerned, we both share a vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific where international law and maritime security are upheld. We discussed joint efforts for collaboration to promote those objectives. Our conversations today covered IMEC. Our triangular development cooperation, how do we take forward some of our trilateral mechanisms? We have one with the UAE and with Australia, and I look forward to a more detailed conversation about President Macron's recent visit to the Indo-Pacific.' Recalling his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, he stated, 'I think we had very good discussions today and it was a pleasure to participate at the Raisina Mediterranean dialogue, including the session that the two of us did this morning. I should also add that before coming here I was in Paris. I had the honour to call on President Macron the day before yesterday. So, in terms of our strategic partnership, our enduring partnership, what I do want to say is that it's built on shared values, on a strong sense of sovereignty, on our democratic commitment, on independence, on strategic autonomy, guiding our foreign policy, and obviously on our commitment to multilateralism and respect for international law. And clearly over the years I think there's a very high degree of trust between India and France as we look at our relationship and cooperation.' He also spoke about the people-to-people exchanges between people of India and France. He stated that India sees France as a 'valued partner' in India's national museum project in Delhi. Highlighting people-to-people exchanges between India and France, he stated, 'For us, this is a very special aspect of our relationship with France. You welcome a lot of students to this country. We hope that the numbers can grow in the years to come so that they constitute living bridge between us. We also see France as a very valued partner in our national museum project in Delhi as well as we discussed today cooperation for our national maritime heritage complex that we are building. And even when we talk about the year of innovation, I think cultural innovation is a very important part of that.' Jaishankar stated that he and Jean-Noel Barrot discussed global issues, including Ukraine conflict, situation in the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. He said, 'Let me just say a few words about the international global issues that we discussed. We've had some conversations. We expect to continue it after the remarks as well. So, those have covered the situation in Ukraine, obviously the situation in the Indian subcontinent, a brief discussion on what is happening right now in the Middle East and the Indo Pacific.' When asked about the plane crash in Gujarat, Jaishankar said, 'No, I don't have any specific news. Obviously, I'm also following, I'm out of the country. I'm following what probably you are as well. It's been really a very tragic event and I have in the last 24 hours been in touch with my counterparts in the UK, Portugal, and Canada because they also lost their citizens. We again appreciate very much the condolences and sympathy and support which we got from the French government, and I think we'll have to now wait to see more authoritative news about whatever has been found and what the analysis shows Yes, that is, that is, that is what is the standard procedure in these circumstances.' The aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday. There were 242 people on board, including 230 passengers and 12 crew members. Of the passengers, 241 died in the crash. The lone survivor, identified as Vishwashkumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment. Among the victims was former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and met the survivor and other injured people. According to airline authorities, the passengers on board included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national. (ANI)