Multiple blasts, blackout in Jammu city in Indian Kashmir
Multiple blasts were heard in Jammu city in Indian Kashmir for the second day on Friday, and projectiles seen in the night sky after a blackout, two Reuters witnesses said.
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Kohli ‘lost for words' after 11 die celebrating Bengaluru IPL win
BENGALURU: Virat Kohli said he was lost for words after celebrations of a dream IPL title turned to tragedy when 11 mainly young cricket fans were crushed to death in Bengaluru. Hundreds of thousands had packed the streets Wednesday to welcome home their hero Kohli and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after they had beaten Punjab Kings a day earlier in a thrilling Indian Premier League final. But the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling it 'absolutely heartrending.' Karnataka state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the 11 dead were young people and there were 47 others injured in the crush after a stampede near the city's M. Chinnaswamy cricket stadium, where the players were parading the trophy for fans. Kohli, who top scored in the final, said earlier it had been 'as much for the fans' after the 36-year-old finally celebrated winning the IPL at his 18th attempt. Later, Kohli wrote on social media: 'At a loss for words. 'Absolutely gutted,' he added, alongside a statement from the RCB team saying they were 'deeply anguished' at what had unfolded. One of the people injured described to AFP how a 'huge crowd' had crushed her. 'They stamped on me,' said the woman, who did not give her name, from a wheelchair. 'I was not able to breathe. I fell unconscious.' Most of the dead were young fans who had gone out just to catch a glimpse of their sporting heroes. Street food vendor Manoj Kumar mourned the death of his 18-year-old son, killed in the stampede, who he said he had stopped from working on his stall so he could study. 'I wanted him to go to college,' Kumar told the Indian Express newspaper. 'I brought him up with a lot of care. Now, he is gone.' A grieving mother outside a city mortuary said her 22-year-old engineering student son had also died in the crush. 'He was crazy about RCB,' she was quoted as saying by the Indian Express on Thursday. 'He died in an RCB shirt. They danced when RCB won and now he is gone. Can RCB give him back to us?' Authorities had already called off RCB's proposed open-top bus victory parade through the streets after anticipating vast crowds. But organizers pressed ahead with the welcome ceremony and celebrations inside the stadium. RCB's social media account posted a video of cheering crowds lining the streets as the players waved back from their team bus on their way to the stadium. The team said they cut short the celebrations 'immediately upon being made aware of the situation.' Siddaramaiah said that the stadium had a capacity of 'only 35,000 people, but 200,000-300,000 people came.'
Arab News
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Bengaluru offer cash help after deadly India cricket stampede
BENGALURU: Royal Challengers Bengaluru said Thursday they stood 'united' with fans as the Indian Premier League champions announced financial aid to families of those crushed to death during their title celebrations. Hundreds of thousands had packed the streets in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru on Wednesday to welcome home their hero Virat Kohli and his RCB team-mates after they beat Punjab Kings in a thrilling IPL final. But the euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster when 11 fans died in a stampede near the city's M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the players were parading the trophy. Most of the dead were young fans aged between 14 and 29 who had gone out just to catch a glimpse of their heroes. Dozens of abandoned shoes and flip-flops littered the site in the aftermath. RCB offered financial aid of $11,655 to each family of those killed. Indian media have widely reported the team earned $2.3 million in prize money alone for taking the title on Wednesday. 'Our fans will always remain at the heart of everything that we do,' RCB said. 'We remain united in grief.' Kohli, who top-scored in the final, said he was 'at a loss for words' after celebrations of a dream IPL crown turned to tragedy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accident 'absolutely heartrending.' Police used mild force to disperse people outside the stadium, an eyewitness told AFP, but the crowd was 'extremely difficult' to control. Lakshminarayan, who lost his 14-year-old granddaughter in the crush, said his family carried the child in a motor rickshaw to hospital. He said celebrations should have been delayed to prepare for the widely expected mass crowds. 'There was no need to conduct celebrations the very next day, they should have postponed it to a week and organized it a better way,' he said. 'You should take all precautionary measures, they should have police protection and follow the queue system.' One of the people injured described to AFP how a 'huge crowd' had crushed her. 'They stamped on me,' said the woman, who did not give her name, from a wheelchair. 'I was not able to breathe. I fell unconscious.' Street food vendor Manoj Kumar mourned the death of his 18-year-old son. 'I wanted him to go to college,' Kumar told the Indian Express newspaper. 'I brought him up with a lot of care. Now he is gone.' A grieving mother outside a city mortuary said her 22-year-old engineering student son had also died. 'He was crazy about RCB,' she was quoted as saying by the Indian Express. 'He died in an RCB shirt. They danced when RCB won and now he is gone. Can RCB give him back to us?' Authorities had already called off RCB's proposed open-top bus victory parade through the streets after anticipating vast crowds. But organizers pressed ahead with the welcome ceremony and celebrations inside the stadium. RCB's social media account posted a video of cheering crowds lining the streets as the players waved back from their team bus on their way to the stadium. The team said they cut short the celebrations 'immediately upon being made aware of the situation.' Karnataka state chief minister Siddaramaiah said that the stadium had a capacity of 'only 35,000 people, but 200,000-300,000 people came.'
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Pakistan defense minister says Simla Agreement with India ‘has no worth' after conflict
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Thursday that Islamabad's Simla Agreement with New Delhi, which formalized the de facto border separating the disputed Kashmir territory with its neighbor, 'has no worth' after the recent standoff between them. India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement in 1972 after the 1971 war between the two countries, which New Delhi won and led to the creation of Bangladesh. One of its main clauses was that India and Pakistan both agreed to bilaterally discuss and resolve the issue of the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Another clause of the agreement was that both countries renamed the Ceasefire Line, the de facto border separating Pakistan-administered Kashmir from the one governed by India, to the 'Line of Control' (LoC). Both India and Pakistan agreed not to change it unilaterally. After India suspended a decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan following an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April, Pakistan announced a raft of tit-for-tat measures against Delhi. Islamabad said it had the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including the Simla Agreement, in abeyance. 'Because of India's steps I think the sanctity of the Simla Agreement has ended,' Asif told Geo News. 'All the status before the Simla Agreement, that we will resolve problems bilaterally, all of its provisions, is not applicable. That agreement as a whole, I think after this war and episode, has no worth or value,' he added. He reiterated Pakistan's position that India's move to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance was illegal as the terms dictated that neither of the two parties can alter its status unilaterally. Signed in 1960, the treaty allocates the six Indus Basin rivers between India and Pakistan, with the World Bank acting as its guarantor. Pakistan has rights to the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — for irrigation, drinking, and non-consumptive uses like hydropower. India controls the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — for unrestricted use but must not significantly alter their flow. India can use the western rivers for limited purposes such as power generation and irrigation, without storing or diverting large volumes Asif said neither the World Bank nor any other institution had any 'interference or patronage' in the Simla Agreement when it was signed in 1972. 'So then, the Control Line will once again shift to its original status of Ceasefire Line,' the minister said. While the fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan announced on May 10 by US President Donald Trump -persists, tensions remain high as delegations by both nuclear-armed neighbors head to world capitals and blame each other for the May conflict. Kashmir has always remained the root cause of conflict between India and Pakistan. The two countries claim the region in full but administer only parts of it. They have fought two out of three wars since 1947 over the territory. Delhi blames Islamabad for fomenting militancy in the part of Kashmir it administers. Pakistan denies the allegations and says it only extends diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir it says are living under 'occupation.'
