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Pakistan received real-time intelligence from China about India’s important military deployments during Operation Sindoor, the Indian Army said.

Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh, the deputy Army chief (capability development and sustenance), said at an event: “When the DGMO [director general of military operations]-level talks were going on, Pakistan actually was mentioning that ‘we know that your such and such important sort of...vector is primed and it is ready for action...I would request you to perhaps pull it back’. So he was getting live inputs from China.”

Singh also said that India must be prepared for future attacks on its population centres and highlighted the need for strengthening air defence capabilities.

The Army officer further said that India was effectively up against three adversaries during the four-day conflict: with Pakistan leading the front, China offering extensive support and Turkey playing an important role by providing drones “along with trained individuals who were there”. Read on.

The Kerala government issued a high alert in three districts after two suspected cases of the Nipah virus were detected in the state. One of the cases was later confirmed. The alert was issued for Malappuram, Palakkad and Kozhikode districts.

State Health Minister Veena George convened an emergency meeting and confirmed that preventive actions had been intensified in line with the Nipah virus protocol. Police assistance had been sought to help trace persons who may have been in contact with the suspected cases, the minister said.

Twenty-six rapid response teams had been deployed to carry out contact tracing, monitor symptoms and spread public awareness. Since 2018, Kerala has experienced five Nipah outbreaks. Read on.

Witness testimonies and videos from the violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal in November “contradict the official narrative” that the crowd protesting a court-appointed survey was violent, said a fact-finding report by a civil rights groups.

“Rather, they [testimonies and videos] depict excessive force by the police, including unlawful entries into homes, destruction of property and beatings,” said the report released by non-governmental organisation Association for Protection of Civil Rights and solidarity campaign Karwan-e-Mohabbat.

The report pertained to the violence that broke out in Sambhal on November 24 after a group of Muslims objected to a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Chandausi town. A trial court had ordered the survey in a lawsuit claiming that the mosque had been built in 1526 by Mughal ruler Babar on the site of the “centuries-old Shri Hari Har Temple dedicated to Lord Kalki”. Five persons were killed in the violence.

The district magistrate rejected the fact-finding report, claiming that the protesters had thrown stones at the police. Read on.

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