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Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday led a candle march to protest the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives, and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a befitting reply to Pakistan, even if it means merging Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) with India. 

Accompanied by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi and other Congress leaders, in a show of opposition unity, Mr Reddy offered condolences to the victims of the attack and said the Centre needs to act decisively to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

Former Union Minister Salman Khurshid, other Telangana ministers and international delegates, who had arrived for a two-day ‘Bharat Summit’ in the state, also participated in the march. 

The Chief Minister recalled how former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had compared then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Goddess Durga over India’s retaliation in the 1967 India-China war and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.

“It was the brave Indira Gandhi who separated Bangladesh from Pakistan… You (PM Modi) remember ‘Durga Mata’. Take action, whether it’s attacking Pakistan or any other measure,” he said. 

“Today, steps should be taken against Pakistan. This is not the time for compromise. A befitting reply should be given. Move ahead, and we will stand with you. The 140 crore Indians are with you,” he added. 

Make Pakistan into two parts, Mr Reddy said. “Merge PoK with India. We will stand with you. You are a devotee of Durga Mata. Remember Indira ji,” he added. 

He also said that it is not time for politics and that everyone should be united during this period. He added that his government is ready to support the Prime Minister.

Twenty-six tourists – 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen – were killed in the attack at Baisaran – dubbed ‘mini Switzerland’ for its meadow – in Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Tuesday. It was the deadliest strike in the Valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike. The Resistance Front, a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, claimed responsibility. 

Following the attack, India downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan and announced a raft of measures, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 and revocation of visa services for Pakistani nationals. 

In retaliation, Pakistan also announced a series of  measures, including closure of its airspace for Indian airlines. Islamabad also said that any move to divert water meant for it under the pact will be considered an “Act of War”.

Mr Reddy’s remarks came hours after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who visited the injured at a Srinagar hospital, also urged the nation to stand united “to fight this nasty action” and defeat terrorism. He said the terror attack was carried out with an intent to “divide society”.

The former Congress President also said the entire Opposition condemned the actions of the terrorists during the all-party meeting on Thursday, and expressed full support for whatever action the government takes.

“It’s been a terrible tragedy. I came here to get a sense of what’s going on and to help. The entire people of Jammu & Kashmir have condemned this terrible act and are fully supportive of the nation at this time. I met one of the people who was injured,” Mr Gandhi told reporters.

Meanwhile, Mr Owaisi, in a post on X, said: “We are all united against terrorism. Along with @revanth_anumula & thousands of Indian citizens, I participated in a candlelight march against the cowardly Pahalgam terror attack.” 

We are all united against terrorism. Along with @revanth_anumula & thousands of Indian citizens, I participated in a candlelight march against the cowardly Pahalgam terror attack. pic.twitter.com/wC4PeJTwKB

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) April 25, 2025

He distributed black armbands at a mosque before the Friday prayers, urging people to wear them as a mark of protest against the Pahalgam terror attack.

The Hyderabad MP, who also wore a black armband, distributed them at a mosque in Shastripuram in Hyderabad, party sources said.

A group of Muslim men also protested at the historic Charminar against the terror attack after the Friday prayers.

Shopkeepers at Begum Bazar shut down their businesses and participated in a peaceful rally, while a protest was also held at Malkajgiri.

Washington DC:

FBI chief Kash Patel finds himself in a spot after hastily posting about a judge’s arrest on his social media handle on X. The case in question was about an undocumented migrant who was allegedly evading federal agents who were pursuing him.

The Trump administration has accused the sitting Judge of a federal court of allegedly “helping” the migrant. The judge’s arrest comes amid growing struggle between the government and the judiciary in America.

President Trump’s policy on immigrants, both legal and illegal – and the manner of their detention and deportation has been nothing short of being termed hardline, rights activists say.

‘DELETED WITHIN MINUTES’

The tussle between the White House and courts saw a sharp escalation with the arrest of Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge. She “intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject,” claimed Mr Patel in a post on X, adding that agents were “intending to detain the migrant at the courthouse.”

Mr Patel further wrote that “The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction – after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week.” But the FBI Director deleted his post within minutes.

The migrant was arrested shortly afterwards. “Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public,” Mr Patel said.

JUDGES BEING ARRESTED

However, Judge Dugan’s whereabouts remained unknown. Her arrest status also remained unclear.

On Thursday, a former county magistrate judge in New Mexico and his wife were also taken into custody after federal agents raided their Las Cruces home over their harboring of an alleged undocumented migrant who is believed to be a member of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, US media reported.

Several federal and state judges across America have issued rulings that put many of President Trump’s executive orders on hold, particularly those where he exercised unprecedented powers in deporting migrants.

TRUMP vs THE JUDICIARY

The Trump administration is at loggerheads with judges, activists, rights groups, academics, universities, and to say the least, Democrats, who all say that the US President has blatantly ignored rights enshrined in the US Constitution and trampled on the justice system in a rush to deport migrants, who he treats as enemies and hardened criminals.

They say that migrants are being chased out with such intensity and viciousness, that most are not even getting to exercise their right to a hearing. At a recent press briefing at the Oval Office, Donald Trump has even said that he believes not everybody deserves a court hearing.

“We’re getting them out, and I hope we get cooperation from the courts because you know, we have thousands of people that are ready to go out, and you can’t have a trial for all of these people,” President Trump had said.

Considering all migrants being deported as criminals and killers, Mr Trump had said, “Look, we are getting some very bad people, killers, murderers, drug dealers, really bad people, the mentally ill, the mentally insane, they emptied out insane asylums into our country, we’re getting them out”, adding that “A judge can’t say, ‘No, you have to have a trial.'”

“We are going to have a very dangerous country if we are not allowed to do what we are entitled to do,” Donald Trump had said.
 

Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane on Friday said Hindus should ask the religion of shopkeepers before buying anything from them, controversial remarks coming in the backdrop of the Pahalgam terror attack.

Heavily-armed terrorists struck a prime tourist location in Pahalgam in south Kashmir on April 22, killing at least 26 people, mostly tourists from other states.

According to some of the survivors, terrorists asked the name and religion of male tourists before shooting them. The survivors also said the terrorists asked some of the tourists to recite the ‘kalma’ (an Islamic declaration of faith), and those who failed to do so were shot dead.

Addressing a gathering in Ratnagiri district’s Dapoli town, Minister Rane said, “They asked our religion before killing us. So, Hindus must also ask about their religion before buying anything. If they are asking about your religion and killing you, then you should also ask about their religion before shopping or buying anything. Hindu ‘sangathans’ (organisations) should raise such a demand.” Chances are, some shopkeepers will not tell their religion or will just lie about their faith, the BJP leader said.

“Whenever you go shopping, ask about their religion. If they say they are Hindus, then tell them to recite Hanuman Chalisa. If they don’t know how to recite Hanuman Chalisa (a devotional hymn in praise of Lord Hanuman), then don’t buy anything from them,” he told the crowd.

Referring to Aurangzeb, Mr Rane maintained the Mughal emperor did not spare even his father and brother.

“Look at Aurangzeb. He did not respect even his father and brother. If he did not respect his father and brother, then how can they respect you people?” he asked.

“If they are behaving this way about religion, then why should we buy things from them and make them rich? You people will have to take a pledge that whenever you make any purchase, you should buy it only from a Hindu,” Rane told the gathering. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Friday said the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan that has been put in abeyance by the Centre in the wake of the Pahalgam attack was the “most unfair document” to the people of the Union territory and they have never been in favour of it.

“Government of India has taken some steps. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, let’s be honest we have never been in favour of the Indus Water Treaty,” Omar Abdullah told reporters here after a meeting with various tourism, trade and industry bodies.

In the aftermath of the attack in which 26 people were killed, India on Wednesday downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan and announced a raft of measures, including expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post.

Asked about the Centre’s decision on IWT, Omar Abdullah said Jammu and Kashmir has always believed that the IWT has been the “most unfair document to its people”.

“Now what the medium to long-term implications to this are, that is something we have to wait to see,” he added.

To a question whether the government would reward the bravery of ‘ponywallah’ Syed Adil Hussain Shah, who stood up against the armed terrorists before being killed, Omar Abdullah said “absolutely”.

“He (Shah) is a symbol not just of Kashmiriyat but of Kashmiri hospitality and it is our responsibility not just to reward him and his family, but to keep that memory alive for times immemorial,” he said.

The chief minister said the government will find a suitable mechanism to do that.

He also announced that Maharashtra tour and travel operators have decided to adopt Shah’s family to take care of all their education needs from now until they complete their education and also to help the family in the days and years ahead.

Omar Abdullah said Friday’s meeting condemned the killings and unitedly raised voice against such attacks.

“I thank all the participants in the meeting. They clearly said the attack was not done in our name and that they were not in favour of it nor will be in future. We regret that it happened.

“Some suggestions have been kept before the government so that such things do not happen in the future. I have assured them that all the suggestions will be implemented,” he said.

Asked if there was any discussion on the business losses for the tourism industry, the chief minister said “at this point in time, we are not counting rupees and paisa”.

“I think credit to all the participants and stakeholders in this meeting that not one of them lamented the loss of business. Not one of them said what will happen to me as my rooms are empty, or houseboats are empty or taxi is empty.

“They all said business comes and goes, at this point in time that is not our concern. Our concern is to express solidarity and sympathy with the families of those 26 people who were killed in this attack,” he said.

There may be a time in the future, Omar Abdullah said, when we will sit down and discuss the financial implications of what is happening to Jammu and Kashmir’s economy.

“But, not one of the participants used this meeting today to either talk about the business losses that they are suffering or ask for any sort of compensation from the government. I think that is a credit to our business organisations,” he added.

On the condemnations of the attack in mosques around the valley, Omar Abdullah said it was an answer to all those spreading venom and hatred against the people of Kashmir.

“The two-minute silence observed in Jamia masjid is an answer to all those channels who are trying to spread venom against Kashmiris. But, unfortunately, these shameless channels will not show that because their channels cannot run by showing such things,” he said.

“These channels run by spreading hatred. I wish these channels had courage. I am sorry for saying this, but anchors of some of these channels are cowards, they do not support the truth.

“Had they supported the truth, then they would have told the world that a two-minute silence was observed at the historic Jamia Masjid in Kashmir to express solidarity with the 26 victims of Pahalgam,” Omar Abdullah added.

Before the start of the Friday congregational prayers at the Jamia Masjid here, Kashmir’s chief cleric and Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and the people present in the mosque observed a minute’s silence to show solidarity with the affected families.

About the reports of harassment of Kashmiris outside Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah said he has raised the issue with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

“I talked to the home minister during this meeting only. He has assured me that all steps needed to be taken for the safety and security of the students or traders or others will be taken.

“An advisory will be issued from the home ministry and the home minister himself has talked to some chief ministers in this regard. I have also talked to my counterparts and concrete steps are being taken at such places,” he said.

Omar Abdullah said his ministerial colleagues will go to those states and liaise with the governments there to take whatever steps are needed.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Admiral Arun Prakash (retired) has cautioned people against going on a path that Pakistan’s ISI wants Indians to take amid the rising tension between the two neighbours, days after Pakistan-linked terrorists killed 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

An aviator by specialisation, Admiral Prakash was awarded the Vir Chakra while flying with an Indian Air Force (IAF) IAF fighter squadron in the Punjab during the 1971 war.

“… One of the results desired by the ISI and by the Pakistani actors is to cause a huge split in India on religious lines. Hence this business of Hindu-Muslim is going on. They have targeted Hindus, etc. And that has triggered off responses all over the country against Kashmiri students,” Admiral Prakash told NDTV, referring to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

“Now, that is exactly what our Pakistani adversaries want us to do. So, through your medium, may I request the media to hold facts. Yes, and I am a Kashmiri myself. I want to tell you I was born 40 miles away from where you are standing now in Anantnag. So it hurts when I hear Kashmiri students are being beaten up for something that Pakistani terrorists did in India. The media has a big role to play in this by cutting out this nonsense,” said the former Chief of the Naval Staff.

He said the Pahalgam terror attack was “just a part of a continuum that has been going on for the last 35-odd years.”

“From 1989, the Pakistanis have felt free to cross our border and attack military, civilian targets and so on. Now, the problem here is that if we go back in time, I think our first misstep was to coin the term cross-border terrorism. This possibly was a convenient and soft term, but it gave an escape clause to Pakistan because anything that came across the border, across the International Border or the Line of Control should have been treated as aggression or war,” Admiral Prakash said.

In hindsight, he said, India should have started off by saying anything that comes across the LoC or the International Border would be treated as an act of war and we would respond accordingly.

“And thereafter, there should have been a doctrine. We launched surgical strikes and we hoped at that time that they would have beneficial results, act as deterrents, but they should have been accompanied by a clear articulation of our national policy that we will not tolerate any such acts in future and there will be an instant and effective response,” Admiral Prakash said.

“We failed to do that. We haven’t articulated a doctrine. So I don’t know how effective the 2016 and 2019 strikes were and whether they conveyed a message of deterrence to Pakistan or not. Obviously, they haven’t. We have failed to deter Pakistan and they’ve continued with this policy of so-called cross-border terrorism. The policy of bleeding us by a thousand cuts and so on,” he said.

He suggested going for deterrence using various means, as the “kinetic option” is always available.

“… We have got armed forces. That’s what they are meant for, to fight wars. But that’s a political decision that has to be carefully considered and taken. If we go kinetic right away as a knee-jerk reaction or in the sense of taking revenge, then it will be stepping on an escalatory ladder for which we must be prepared,” Admiral Prakash told NDTV.

Sanctions against Pakistan, a country that is already reeling from harsh economic realities, will cripple the country, he said, adding the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), for example, can take strong action against Pakistan and choke all aid.

During his 40-year career, Admiral Prakash commanded a carrier-borne fighter-squadron, a naval air station and four warships, including the aircraft carrier INS Viraat.

India has taken seven steps against Pakistan following the terror attack in Pahalgam. The biggest yet was India keeping the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance.

In a dramatic about-turn, the Trump administration has announced that it will restore the student visa registrations of thousands of foreign students who were previously terminated from a federal database due to minor infractions. 

This decision comes after weeks of intense legal pressure, with over 100 lawsuits filed and more than 50 judges issuing restraining orders to block the terminations.

The terminations, which were made from a database used by universities and the federal government to track foreign students in the US, had caused panic among the affected students. Many had feared that they would lose their legal immigration status and face deportation. Some students had even been blocked from continuing their classes or research, with some cases occurring just weeks before graduation.

The judges who heard the cases expressed frustration with the seemingly arbitrary nature of the terminations and the lack of clarity on whether the students could continue to attend classes or needed to leave the country immediately. The administration’s decision to reverse the terminations was announced in federal court on Friday, with a Justice Department attorney reading from a written statement.

According to the statement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is working on a new policy regarding foreign students studying in the US on F-1 visas. Until this policy is issued, no students will have their online student visa records terminated solely based on criminal history checks that flagged misdemeanor charges and dismissed cases. 

The statement read, “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain active or shall be reactivated if not currently active, and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination.”

However, it remains unclear whether the State Department will reverse its decision to cancel the visas of many of the same students. A federal official had previously told a judge that the agency was performing “quality control” on those decisions. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had canceled the student visas of dozens of foreigners who were involved in pro-Palestinian activism, citing disruptions to US foreign policy.

The recent wave of visa cancellations and terminations from the SEVIS database appeared to target students who had minor brushes with the law. The Justice Department attorney emphasised that ICE maintains the authority to terminate a SEVIS record for other reasons. 

“ICE maintains the authority to terminate a SEVIS record for other reasons, such as if the plaintiff fails to maintain his or her nonimmigrant status after the record is reactivated or engages in other unlawful activity that would render him or her removable from the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” the attorney said.

The reversal brings relief to thousands of students who were facing uncertainty and fear about their future in the US.