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NIA teams launched searches at 18 locations in the three northern states in the morning. They seized various incriminating materials, including mobiles, digital devices and documents, officials said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted a series of searches across Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh to probe Khalistani terror network, officials said.

NIA teams launched searches at 18 locations in the three northern states in the morning. They seized various incriminating materials, including mobiles, digital devices and documents, officials said.

The searches were conducted at the premises of suspects linked with banned outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operative Kulbir Sidhu, US-based gangster Manish alias Kaka Rana, and their nodes based in India and various other countries, according to a statement issued by the probe agency.

Sidhu, originally from Yamunanagar in Haryana, is currently in Germany and is a key aide of designated terrorist and BKI chief Wadhawa Singh Babbar, who is based in Pakistan, it said.

Sidhu is also an accused in the NIA case related to the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Vikas Prabhakar in Nangal, Punjab, in April 2024.

The searches were conducted as part of the NIA’s ongoing investigation into the recent BKI-linked grenade attack at the residence of former Punjab Minister Manoranjan Kalia.

“The terror attack on the Punjab ex-minister’s house in Jalandhar was committed on the night of 7th April 2025 by accused Saidul Ameen, who was arrested by the state police on 12th April,” the statement said.

This was one of the series of grenade attacks carried out by BKI operatives in Punjab, on the directions of foreign-based handlers of the proscribed terrorist organisation, it added.

While in Punjab, searches were carried out in Hoshiarpur, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Mansa districts, in Haryana, the NIA teams cracked down in the districts of Kurukshetra, Yamuna Nagar, Karnal and Ambala.

Extensive searches were also conducted in the Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh, the anti-terror agency said.

NIA, which took over the probe from the state police on April 12, 2025, is continuing with its investigation in the case, it added.

RSS Leader Calls For Debate On Words “Socialist”, “Secular” In Preamble

“During Emergency, two words Secular and Socialist were added to the Constitution, which were not part of the original Preamble,” Dattatreya Hosabale said at an event organised on 50 years of the Emergency.

Dattatreya Hosabale, the general secretary of the BJP’s ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, today said the fate of two words in the preamble of the constitution – “Socialist” and “Secular” — should be decided through debate.

“During Emergency, two words Secular and Socialist were added to the Constitution, which were not part of the original Preamble,” Mr Hosabale said at an event organised on 50 years of the Emergency.

“Later, these words were not removed. Should they remain or not, debate must happen on this. These two words were not in Dr Ambedkar’s Constitution. During Emergency, the country had no functioning Parliament, no rights, no judiciary and yet these two words were added.” 

On the occasion, he also took a jibe at the Congress, and without naming him, its senior leader Rahul Gandhi.

“The people who did this (imposed Emergency) are roaming around with copies of the Constitution today. They have, to date, not apologised to the people of India for this,” he said.

“You put more than 1 lakh people in jail, kept more than 250 journalists in jail, violated fundamental rights, and forced 60 lakh Indians to undergo sterilisation… You ended the independence of judiciary. Have all the people who did this apologised to the country? If it was not you but your ancestors, then you have to apologise in their name,” he added. 

The BJP’s move to name the 50th anniversary of Emergency —  – imposed by the government of the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975  — as the “Samvidhan Hatya Divas (Murder of Constitution Day)”, has opened a new front with the Congress.

The two parties have been again at loggerheads since yesterday, with leaders from JP Nadda to Union home minister Amit Shah ripping into the Congress.  

The Congress has responded sharply in face of the concerted BJP attack .

“Those who never contributed to the freedom struggle or constitution-making are now claiming to defend it,” said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge. 

“PM Modi is repeatedly invoking a period that the country has moved past. He is making an issue out of something that people have already forgotten,” he had added.

Apart from BJP-backed  programmes  in various states, the Union Cabinet adopted a resolution to honour the sacrifices of those who resisted Emergency. The ministers also observed two-minute silence against the excesses committed back then.”During Emergency, two words Secular and Socialist were added to the Constitution, which were not part of the original Preamble,” Dattatreya Hosabale said at an event organised on 50 years of the Emergency.

Dattatreya Hosabale, the general secretary of the BJP’s ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, today said the fate of two words in the preamble of the constitution – “Socialist” and “Secular” — should be decided through debate.

“During Emergency, two words Secular and Socialist were added to the Constitution, which were not part of the original Preamble,” Mr Hosabale said at an event organised on 50 years of the Emergency.

“Later, these words were not removed. Should they remain or not, debate must happen on this. These two words were not in Dr Ambedkar’s Constitution. During Emergency, the country had no functioning Parliament, no rights, no judiciary and yet these two words were added.” 

On the occasion, he also took a jibe at the Congress, and without naming him, its senior leader Rahul Gandhi.

“The people who did this (imposed Emergency) are roaming around with copies of the Constitution today. They have, to date, not apologised to the people of India for this,” he said.

“You put more than 1 lakh people in jail, kept more than 250 journalists in jail, violated fundamental rights, and forced 60 lakh Indians to undergo sterilisation… You ended the independence of judiciary. Have all the people who did this apologised to the country? If it was not you but your ancestors, then you have to apologise in their name,” he added. 

The BJP’s move to name the 50th anniversary of Emergency —  – imposed by the government of the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975  — as the “Samvidhan Hatya Divas (Murder of Constitution Day)”, has opened a new front with the Congress.

The two parties have been again at loggerheads since yesterday, with leaders from JP Nadda to Union home minister Amit Shah ripping into the Congress.  

The Congress has responded sharply in face of the concerted BJP attack .

“Those who never contributed to the freedom struggle or constitution-making are now claiming to defend it,” said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge. 

“PM Modi is repeatedly invoking a period that the country has moved past. He is making an issue out of something that people have already forgotten,” he had added.

Apart from BJP-backed  programmes  in various states, the Union Cabinet adopted a resolution to honour the sacrifices of those who resisted Emergency. The ministers also observed two-minute silence against the excesses committed back then.

On Thursday, in a news conference at the Pentagon, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff described in great detail the planning and execution of the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

On Thursday, in a news conference at the Pentagon, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff described in great detail the planning and execution of the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. 

Gen. Caine shared test footage of the bunker buster bombs. 12 of these were used during the Iran strikes, a US official told CNN.

They pushed back against the classified Defense Intelligence Agency report that the attacks damaged the facilities but did not destroy them, and that the country’s nuclear programme has been pushed only by a few months.

Hegseth said that the strike was “decimating – choose your word – obliterating, destroying.” He added that the report was “low confidence” and had “gaps in the information”.

They played videos of how the bombing took place on the nuclear sites, explaining how the bombers attacked. Unlike other normal bombs, the damage done by a bunker-buster bomb, cannot be seen on the surface level. They are designed to deeply bury and then function.

“A bomb has three effects that cause damage: blast, fragmentation and overpressure. In this case, the primary kill mechanisms in the mission space were a mix of overpressure and blast,” Gen Caine added.

Hegseth blamed the media for questioning the success of the strike and said the media cannot cheer for Trump. “Searching for scandals, you miss historic moments like recruiting at the Pentagon, historic levels in the Army, the Air Force and the Navy”, he said.

Gen. Caine did not get political, but focussed on the two officers at the Defence Threat Reduction Agency who studied the subterranean nuclear plant at Fordow for 15 years to plan the attack, the personnel who developed the 30,000-pound bombs that the B-2’s dropped, the crew who flew the 37-hour mission, and the troops who defended an American base from Iranian retaliation.

He described how all the six bombs “went exactly where they were intended to go” and added that “unlike a normal surface bomb, you won’t see an impact crater”. He said the bombs targeted ventilation shafts located on the opposite sides of Fordow, that Iran tried to cover with concrete before the strikes. 

On each side, he said, the first bomb opened the shaft and the four bombs after it entered “at greater than 1,000 feet per second”. The final and sixth bomb would act like a “flex weapon” in case any of the bombs preceding it had an issue.

However, they did not speak about Natanz, which was attacked with only two penetrator bombs, and Isfahan, which was struck by only one missile fired from a Navy submarine. Asked by reporters on what happened to the 880 pounds of uranium buried in the underground tunnels at Isfahan, Hegseth said, “We’re looking at all aspects of intelligence and making sure we have a sense of what was where.”

US President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to share that, “The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move.”

“Pleased to know that the first batch of pilgrims has arrived at Lake Mapam Yun Tso (Manasarovar) in Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, China,” Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong posted on X.

The first batch of Indian pilgrims visiting Tibet to pray at Mount Kailash and Manasarovar Lake, believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva, arrived at the holy place on Thursday, according to Chinese officials.

“Pleased to know that the first batch of pilgrims has arrived at Lake Mapam Yun Tso (Manasarovar) in Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, China,” Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong posted on X.

The journey of 36 pilgrims to Mt. Kailash and Manasarovar Lake assumed significance as they were the first group of Indian pilgrims to visit the holy place after a five-year hiatus.

The relations between the two countries were frozen for over four years following the Eastern Ladakh standoff.

The two countries agreed to resume ties after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, last year.

The resumption of the Kailash and Manasarovar Yatra is stated to be the first step initiated by the two countries to resume ties.

The pilgrims arrived in the Tibet Autonomous Province on Friday last, marking the resumption of pilgrimages.

China calls Tibet ‘Xizang’ and Mt. Kailash ‘Mt. Gang Renpoche’ and Manasarovar Lake as ‘Mapam Yun Tso’.

The mountain and the lake are sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.

For 68-year-old Damina Bendya, who is making her first visit to Tibet, the mountain is a sacred place.

“China and India are neighbours. China is wonderful, and all the staff here have been very warm and helpful,” she told the state-run Xinhua news agency on arrival at Lhasa, the provincial capital of Tibet.

The pilgrimage to the two sites was suspended in 2020.

On April 28, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun announced their resumption this summer under a bilateral agreement.

Mt. Kailash and Manasarovar Lake are the “sacred mountain and lake” for believers of several religions, including Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism, Guo said, adding that these pilgrimages are an important part of cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and India.

Noting that this year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and India, Guo said that China stands ready to work with India to earnestly implement the important common understandings between the leaders of the two countries and to advance China-India relations on track of sound and stable development.

A second group of Indian pilgrims is scheduled to enter China via the Nathu La Pass this week, according to the regional foreign affairs office.

The family reportedly lived on the 9th floor, and the earthquake was registered as a 4.9 on the Richter scale.

A Chinese boy has become an internet sensation after a video of him running back to grab food from a table during an earthquake surfaced online. According to the South China Morning Post, an earthquake shook Qingyuan, southern China, on June 23, after which the video amused millions of people on social media. In the clip, the child is seen running back to grab food from a table in the middle of the tremors while the rest of his family fled in fear. 

The video begins to show a family, including a father and his two sons, sitting together at a dining table and enjoying a meal. Moments later, an earthquake hits, following which the father, surnamed Li, grabs his younger son and rushes towards the door in panic. The older son initially follows the father. However, just moments later, he runs back to the dining table to grab the food.

Despite his father’s frantic shouts to run, the boy continues to take some more mouthfuls of food. At one point, he even tries to grab some dishes. However, his father quickly steps in and persuades the boy to put the dish back. 

According to SCMP, the family lived on the 9th floor, and the earthquake was registered as a 4.9 on the Richter scale.

Speaking to a local media outlet, the father said, “At the time, I was so nervous and just kept telling him to run, run. He has a natural comedic gene. I only realised how funny it was after watching the video.”

He added that the dish his son was so eager to save was not necessarily his favourite, but “he just likes to eat”.

“Life comes first, safety comes first. Do not think about material possessions. When an earthquake happens, your priority must be to escape and ensure your safety,” the father told his son. 

The video has since gone viral on several social media platforms, drawing a wave of humorous and playful comments. 

“Boy, eat enough to have the strength to run!” wrote one user. “This is so funny. A panicked dad, a blindly following younger brother, a calm nanny and a hungry boy,” commented another. 

“Earthquake or not, those snacks are non-negotiable!” quipped a third user. “That kid’s focus is amazing, food is serious business!” said another. 

Every five minutes, a plane flies overhead. The sound and sight of aircraft were once part and parcel of their daily life. Now, it’s a terrifying reminder.

The ground on which they stood shook suddenly – so did their homes. Windows and doors swung open as the Air India flight crashed just 20 metres away from their houses in Meghaninagar, Ahmedabad.

London-bound Air India flight AI-171, carrying 242 passengers and crew, crashed in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on June 12. Tragically, all but one passenger lost their lives, along with nearly 29 people on the ground, when the plane went down on the BJ Medical College hostel complex immediately after take-off.

Since June 12, the lives of the residents of the Gujarat Housing Board in Meghaninagar – who live in the vicinity of the Air India crash site – have changed forever. 

‘Unable To Sleep’

The residents now live in perpetual fear, suffering full-blown panic attacks since the day of the crash. Hundreds of planes fly over their housing society every day to and from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. Their houses lie directly in the flight path – every five minutes, a plane flies overhead. The sound and sight of aircraft were once part and parcel of daily life. That fateful day, however, the Air India flight had an unusual sound – and it was flying low.

First, it hit a tall tree inside the BJ Medical College hostel complex before crashing into the hostel mess and the Atulyam hostel blocks.

“We are scared. We want to be relocated somewhere else, or the planes should be flown via another route,” say Kishanbhai and his wife Maniben. Kishanbhai is still nursing burn wounds, sustained while running in confusion and shock after the plane crashed.

Sonalben, who lives on the third floor of the housing society with her husband and two sons, said, “I was making rotis when I heard a loud sound accompanied by my room shaking. The floor became extremely hot, and so did everything else. I ran out with my son, as my husband and the other son were out…Since then, I haven’t been able to sleep. I tremble with fear every time a flight passes by.”

In another building nearby, Birendra Trivedi, who works with Metro Rail, said, “There are more than 40 children in my building. Most of them start crying at night after hearing the sound of planes since the crash.”

“Cargo planes make more noise,” says Vikram Singh Parmar, who runs a grocery shop and has lived here since 1961. “It was an accident. It won’t happen every day,” he adds.

Vikram Singh Parmar with his mother at their grocery shop, near Ahmedabad airport.

Manubhai points to the view from the terrace of the ground-plus-two-floor housing building that overlooks the crash site. One could see debris clearance still underway. 

Flashbacks, Trauma

The psychological distress suffered by residents living near airports can’t be cured quickly, according to medical experts. Living near a crash site can lead to intense distress, even among those not directly involved. The sense of safety is deeply shaken, especially when tragedy strikes so close to home.

“Constant exposure to the aftermath – sirens, debris, and the sound of planes – can trigger acute stress responses. Children may experience nightmares, fearfulness or disturbed sleep,” said Dr Dhruv Raval, psychiatrist at VIMS Hospital, Ahmedabad. “People can experience flashbacks, emotional reactions in the form of panic attacks, excessive sweating, irritability, or loss of interest.”

To cope, it’s crucial to normalise emotional responses and seek community support. Community healing efforts – such as memorials or support circles – can also help foster collective resilience. “Mental health interventions like grief counselling, trauma-informed therapy, and peer support groups can help process fear and anxiety,” says Dr Raval.

“Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may be helpful, especially for children, to process memories of traumatic events and rebuild a sense of safety.”

Various government-run and private helplines have announced counselling numbers and are receiving calls from those affected directly by the plane crash. But there is a pressing need for outreach for the residents living near the crash site too.  

She teased her followers as she asked if they could tell the reel had been edited by internet sensation Orry

Janhvi Kapoor who is currently holidaying in London with sister Khushi Kapoor and boyfriend Shikhar Pahariya, took to Instagram to share an all-new post from all the fun she is having.

In this new video, we once again spot Shikhar Pahariya and an unfiltered Janhvi Kapoor who’s seen enjoying some skincare, food, museum trips, and workout sessions.

What’s Happening

• Janhvi Kapoor shared a new video from her London trip on Instagram.
• In this new video, she is seen gorging on some delicious food, working out in the gym, glamming up with her sister Khushi Kapoor, and enjoying a picnic in the park.
• She captioned the post, “Thnx Khushu for introducing me to powdered sunscreen. Can you guys tell @orry edited my reel?”
• The text in the video read, “POV: 24 hrs in 30 seconds.”

Janhvi Kapoor’s Viral Posts With Shikhar Pahariya From Their London Trip

Two days back, a video of lovebirds Janhvi Kapoor and Shikhar Pahariya had gone viral online. The two were seen walking hand-in-hand, as they took a stroll. They were accompanied by Janhvi’s sister Khushi Kapoor.

Work

On the work front, Janhvi Kapoor has Param Sundari with Sidharth Malhotra and Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari with Varun Dhawan to look forward to.

In A Nutshell

Janhvi Kapoor shared a glimpse of her London Holiday, quoting it as “POV: 24 hrs in 30 seconds”. She teased her followers as she asked if they could tell the reel had been edited by internet sensation Orry.

This means we are now a (giant) step closer to understanding why AI 171, Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed 36 seconds after take-off, killing 241 people on the plane and 34 on the ground.

Information from the black boxes recovered from the June 12 Air India plane crash has been successfully downloaded and is being analysed, the government said Thursday afternoon.

The black boxes – a flight data recorder, or FDR, and a cockpit voice recorder, or CVR – were damaged in the crash and there were questions over the recovery of usable data. Last week sources told NDTV the government may send the FDR and CVR to the United States for forensic extraction of data.

However, in a big breakthrough, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has succeeded in safely extracting the Crash Protection Module, or CPM, and the memory module, and downloaded the data.

The government said both boxes – one found on the rooftop of the hostel into which the plane crashed and the other from the debris – were securely transported to the AAIB lab in Delhi on Tuesday.

The first black box reached the lab at 2pm. The second at 5.15pm.

The data extraction began the same day and was completed by Wednesday.

CVR data is expected to shed light on cockpit conversations, crew responses, and ambient sounds, while the FDR contains parameters like altitude, airspeed, flight control inputs, and engine performance.

“Analysis of CVR and FDR data underway. These efforts aim to reconstruct sequence of events leading to the accident and identify contributing factors to enhance aviation safety,” the government said.

Tail section of AI 171 that crashed into a hostel building near Ahmedabad airport.

This means we are now a (giant) step closer to understanding why AI 171, Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed 36 seconds after take-off, killing 241 people on the plane and 34 on the ground.

Quesions For AI Black Box: ‘What Alarms Rang?’

These are some of the key questions the data should be able to answer.

1. What did Captain Sabharwal say in his distress call?

The Civil Aviation Ministry said a distress call had been broadcast seconds before impact. ‘Mayday, mayday…’ was what Captain Sabharwal reportedly told Ahmedabad ATC.

There were also reports Captain Sabharwal had flagged the loss of power and thrust as well.

CVR data should reveal if he did, indeed, also say ‘… no power… no thrust…’, which will be a key piece of evidence pushing investigators to focus on the engine as the cause for the crash.

2. What time was the message sent?

The plane took off at 1.39 pm, the government has confirmed.

Thirty-six seconds later it crashed.

What happened in that painfully brief period?

CVR data will pinpoint the exact millisecond Captain Sabharwal sent his ‘mayday’ message, which will establish just how much time First Officer Clive Kunder and he had to try and rescue the plane.

Only one passenger – a British-Indian man seated in 11A – survived the horrific crash.

What Caused Air India Crash?

It is still unclear what caused the crash but the prevailing theory – backed by audio and video of the crash that seems to show deployment of the RAT, or Ram Air Turbine, is either a dual engine malfunction or a system-wide hydraulic or electronic failure.

Meanwhile, a parliamentary committee is expected to convene next week to discuss safety issues in the civil aviation sector, including aircraft maintenance concerns. Government officials, airline reps, and Boeing executives have been summoned and are expected to face tough questions, sources said.

Sources had told NDTV of ‘multiple shortcomings’ in the aviation sector, with aircraft maintenance a matter of concern. The committee will also address frequent helicopter accidents.

SCO Summit 2025: Without naming Pakistan explicitly, Mr Singh highlighted India’s concerns about cross-border terrorism and urged SCO member states to take a principled stand.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has described peace, security, and a trust deficit as the most significant challenges confronting the region during his address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ Meeting in China’s Qingdao. Without naming Pakistan explicitly, Mr Singh highlighted India’s concerns about cross-border terrorism and urged SCO member states to take a principled stand.

“Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of policy and provide shelter to terrorists. There should be no place for such double standards. SCO should not hesitate to criticise such nations,” Mr Singh said. 

Mr Singh’s comments came weeks after the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22. The attack, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians, including a Nepali national and a local pony handler, has been attributed to The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy group of the UN-designated terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). According to Mr Singh, the victims were profiled and killed based on their religious identity.

“On 22 April 2025, the terror group ‘The Resistance Front’ carried out a dastardly and heinous attack on innocent tourists at Pahalgam in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. 26 innocent civilians, including a Nepali national, were killed. Victims were shot at after they were profiled based on their religious identity. The Resistance Front, which is a proxy of UN UN-designated terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack,” Mr SIngh said. 

The two-day SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting, scheduled for June 25-26, is being hosted by China in the eastern city of Qingdao. The event brought together defence ministers and senior officials from SCO’s ten full member states: India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and new entrant Belarus. The meeting is held under the 2025 Chinese Chairmanship, with the theme “Upholding the Shanghai Spirit: SCO on the Move.”

“The biggest challenges in our region are related to peace, security and trust deficit,” Mr Singh said. “India believes that reformed multilateralism can help build cooperation to prevent conflict between countries by creating mechanisms for dialogue and collaboration. No country, however large and powerful, can manage alone.”

Mr Singh is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from China and Russia on the sidelines of the event. The agenda for these meetings includes border security, regional defence cooperation, and counter-terrorism collaboration.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is in China’s Qingdao to attend the SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting.

Sending a stern message to India’s neighbours, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has refused to sign a joint statement at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet because it did not mention the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 innocent lives and did not reflect India’s strong position on terror. While skipping any mention of Pahalgam, the document mentioned Balochistan, tacitly accusing India of creating unrest there. Pahalgam’s exclusion from the document appears to have been done at Pakistan’s behest as its all-weather ally, China, holds the Chair now. 

India has consistently trashed Pakistan’s allegations about its involvement in Balochistan and said Islamabad must look within and stop backing terror instead of making wild allegations. 

“India is not satisfied with the language of the joint document. There was no mention of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, there was mention of the incidents that happened in Pakistan, so India refused to sign the joint declaration, and there is no joint communique either,” a Defence Ministry source said.

Mr Singh is currently in China’s Qingdao to attend the SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting. The summit is being attended by member states, including Russia, Pakistan and China, to discuss issues related to regional and international security. Established in 2001, SCO aims to promote regional stability through cooperation. The bloc currently has 10 member states — Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Addressing the summit, the Defence Minister called upon SCO members to unite to eliminate terrorism for collective safety and security. He said the biggest challenges faced by the region are related to peace, security and trust deficit, with radicalisation, extremism and terrorism being the root cause of these problems.

“Peace and prosperity cannot co-exist with terrorism and proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the hands of non-state actors and terror groups. Dealing with these challenges requires decisive action. It is imperative that those who sponsor, nurture and utilise terrorism for their narrow and selfish ends must bear the consequences. Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of policy and provide shelter to terrorists. There should be no place for such double standards. SCO should not hesitate to criticise such nations,” Mr Singh, taking in a veiled swipe at Pakistan.

Referring to the Pahalgam terror attack, he said India had exercised its right to defend against terrorism and pre-empt as well as deter further cross-border attacks. “During the Pahalgam terror attack, victims were shot after they were profiled on religious identity. The Resistance Front, a proxy of UN-designated terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) claimed responsibility for the attack. The pattern of Pahalgam attack matches with LeT’s previous terror attacks in India. India’s zero tolerance for terrorism was demonstrated through its actions. It includes our right to defend ourselves against terrorism. We have shown that epicentres of terrorism are no longer safe and we will not hesitate to target them,” he said.

He stressed the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of terror and to bring them to justice. He termed any and every act of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable. SCO members, he said, must condemn this evil unequivocally.

The Defence Minister’s refusal to sign the joint statement reflects India’s stern stand against terror now and falls in line with the global messaging in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. Eight delegations were sent abroad to articulate New Delhi’s stand on terror and how it plans to tackle it going forward.