United News of Bangladesh

The Indian Premier League match between Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians, originally set to take place in Dharamsala on Sunday, has been relocated to Ahmedabad due to rising tensions between India and Pakistan. The IPL announced the change on Thursday, citing logistical difficulties. Civilian and commercial flights have been suspended at the airports in Dharamsala and Chandigarh — the home base for the Punjab Kings — since Wednesday. Similar airport closures have occurred across India’s northwestern region in response to the escalating cross-border situation. With air travel halted, it became impossible for the Mumbai Indians to fly into either Chandigarh or Dharamsala. Additionally, transporting the Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals squads, along with broadcast personnel, from Dharamsala to their upcoming match locations posed further logistical hurdles. Punjab takes on Delhi in Dharamsala in a crucial game on Thursday. Both teams will take a 10-hour road journey to New Delhi after the game. The Capitals play Gujarat Titans at home next, and the Kings fly from Delhi to Ahmedabad for their next game against the Mumbai Indians. SAFF U-19 Champs: Holders Bangladesh will start campaign taking on Maldives in opener on Friday Punjab, Delhi and Mumbai are all in contention for the four knockout spots. Despite shifting Sunday's game to Ahmedabad, there were other operational challenges as well: Narendra Modi Stadium was adorned with Gujarat Titans sponsor branding as its home ground. Punjab hosts the game on Sunday, so shaping a neutral tone to the venue presents another challenge as Gujarat has two more home games on May 14 and 18.    

India fired missiles across the border into Pakistani-controlled territory in at least three locations early Wednesday, killing at a child and wounding two other people, Pakistani security officials said. India said it was striking infrastructure used by militants. India also claims there are casualties from Pakistani fire in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. Tensions have soared between the nuclear-armed neighbors over last month’s militant attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled portion. India has blamed Pakistan for backing the militant attack, which Islamabad has denied. India has moved to punish Pakistan after accusing it of backing the attack in Pahalgam, which Islamabad denies. The region has been split between India and Pakistan since 1949 and is claimed by both in its entirety. Aircraft crashes on a school building in the outskirts of main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir An unknown aircraft has crashed on a school building in the outskirts of the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Police and residents said the aircraft fell in the early hours Wednesday, shortly after India launched missile strikes on Pakistan. “There was a huge fire in the sky. Then we heard several blasts also,” said Mohammed Yousuf Dar, a local resident in southern Wuyan village in Pampore area, where the incident occurred. Firefighters struggled for hours to extinguish the fires. Police and military officials sealed off the area immediately after the incident. India says Pakistani army shelling kills 3 India’s army says three civilians were killed in Pakistani shelling into Indian-controlled Kashmir. It says the Pakistani army “resorted to arbitrary firing” across the de facto border that divides disputed Kashmir between the two countries. Pakistan tells UN it reserves right to respond Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Islamabad has informed the U.N. Security Council about the Indian attacks and the threat it poses to international peace and security. The ministry says in a statement that the Security Council was told that “Pakistan reserves the right to respond appropriately to this aggression at a time and place of its choosing.” Officials say India used precision strike weapons systems Indian security officials say that army, navy and air force personnel used precision strike weapon systems, including drones, to carry out the strikes. The officials said that intelligence agencies provided coordinates for the strikes and that all operations were executed from Indian territory. The officials said the strikes targeted the headquarters of militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed in Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Muridke. South Asia analyst says Pakistan's response will ‘pack a punch’ Geopolitical analyst Michael Kugelman said that “these are some of the most high-intensity Indian strikes in Pakistan in years, and Pakistan’s response will surely pack a punch as well.” “These are two strong militaries that, even with nuclear weapons as a deterrent, are not afraid to deploy sizeable levels of conventional military force against each other. The escalation risks are real. And they could well increase, and quickly,” Kugelman said in an interview with The Associated Press. Rubio says he hopes the latest conflict ends quickly The U.S. secretary of state says in a post on X that “I am monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely.” Rubio continued: “I echo @POTUS’s comments earlier today that this hopefully ends quickly and will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution.” Trump said earlier Tuesday that he hopes the fighting “ends very quickly” and called it “a shame.” Indian airlines cancel some flights SpiceJet says it cancelled flights to Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir’s main city, and to the cities of Dharamshala, Leh, Jammu and Amritsar in northern India after their airports were “closed until further notice.” Dhaka seeks peace, not conflict: Touhid tells his Pak counterpart There was no immediate comment from India’s civil aviation ministry. Two other Indian airlines also said they were cancelling their flights to the airports till possibly later Wednesday. Indian official says Prime Minister Modi monitored the operation An Indian official says Prime Minister Narendra Modi monitored the operation against Pakistan through the night. The government official says there were nine targets that were hit “successfully.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to disclose details. Pakistani official says eight killed and dozens injured Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif, Pakistan’s military spokesperson, says India attacked six locations, killing eight people and injuring 38 others. He said in televised remarks that five civilians were killed in Ahmedpur East in Punjab province and that three people were killed at other locations. Sharig says that “retaliatory action is being taken in response to the enemy’s attacks.” Emergency declared in hospitals in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir Waqar Noor, the region’s interior minister, says authorities have declared an emergency in local hospitals. In Muzaffarabad, the main city of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, resident Abdul Sammad says he heard several explosions and that some people were wounded in the attack. He says people were running in panic and that authorities immediately cut the power, leading to a blackout. Indian police say a woman is killed and a girl is injured during border fight Police say a woman was killed and a girl was wounded in Indian-controlled Kashmir when Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged mortar and gunfire at several places along the highly militarized frontier. A local doctor says the woman was killed in the Mankote area of the Poonch district. The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. India says official spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio India’s embassy in Washington says that Ajit Doval, the country’s national security adviser, has spoken U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio shortly after the Indian strikes. The Embassy says in a statement that India’s actions “were measured, responsible and designed to be non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani civilian, economic or military targets have been hit. Only known terror camps were targeted.” Pakistan says a child was killed and two people injured in attack A Pakistani official says one missile struck a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab, where a child was killed and a woman and man were injured. The official and others say Pakistan launched retaliatory strikes but didn’t provide any details. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Pakistan condemns what it calls Indian Air Force strikes on civilian areas The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned what it calls a “blatant and unprovoked act of aggression” on civilian areas by the Indian Air Force. It says Indian aircraft lunched strikes from Indian airspace, targeting civilian areas in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in Punjab province. The ministry says in a statement that the attack reportedly resulted in civilian casualties, including women and children, and posed a significant threat to commercial air traffic.UN secretary-general calls for restraint U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says in a statement that Secretary General Antonio Guterres is calling for restraint from both countries. “The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,” the statement read. Pakistan’s defense minister condemns what he calls a ‘cowardly act’ Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has strongly condemned what he calls a “cowardly act by India.” He told Pakistan’s Geo news channel that India had deliberately targeted civilian populations and a mosque. “This was a cowardly move by India,” Asif said. “We will also respond.” Indian army says Pakistan fired artillery along the border The Indian army says in a statement that Pakistan fired artillery along what’s known as the de facto border, or the Line of Control, in Bhimber Gali in India-controlled Kashmir. It said India’s armed forces were “responding appropriately in a calibrated manner.” Pakistan’s Sharif convenes national security committee Pakistan’s prime minister has convened a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday morning, according to a government announcement. Pakistan's prime minister calls Indian action an ‘act of war’ In a statement, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that “Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given.” Sharif said the entire nation stands with the Pakistan Armed Forces, and the morale and spirit of the Pakistani people are high. “The Pakistani nation and the Pakistan Armed Forces know very well how to deal with the enemy,” he said. “We will never let the enemy succeed in its nefarious objectives.” Trump says he hopes fighting ‘ends very quickly’ President Donald Trump was asked about the airstrikes India launched in Pakistani-controlled territory and said he’d just heard about it an said, “It’s a shame.” “I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time. They’ve been fighting for many, many decades. And centuries, actually, if you really think about it,” Trump said. Fire along the frontier India and Pakistan accused each other of initiating the attacks. The incidents could not be independently verified. In the past, each side has accused the other of starting border skirmishes in the Himalayan region. Strikes follow a militant attack on Kashmir last month The strikes come amid soaring tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors over last month’s militant attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. India has blamed Pakistan for backing the militant attack, which Islamabad has denied. India fires missiles across the frontier with Pakistan, killing at least 1 child, officials say India fired missiles across the border into Pakistani-controlled territory in at least three locations early Wednesday, killing at a child and wounding two other people, Pakistani security officials said. India said it was striking infrastructure used by militants. The missiles early Wednesday struck locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province, according to three Pakistani security officials. One of them struck a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab, where a child was killed, and a woman and man were injured, one official said. The officials said Pakistan had launched retaliatory strikes, without providing any details. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the record. India says at least nine sites were targeted India’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that at least nine sites were targeted “where terrorist attacks against India have been planned.” “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistan military facilities have been targeted,” the statement said, adding that “India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated sharply on Thursday after a deadly attack in Kashmir killed 26 people, prompting New Delhi to launch a diplomatic offensive against Islamabad and suspend a landmark water-sharing treaty that had withstood wars and border skirmishes for over six decades. India accused Pakistan of backing the assault in Kashmir’s tourist town Pahalgam, which shattered claims of calm in the disputed region and fuelled demands for a strong response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced late Wednesday that several Pakistani diplomats were asked to leave the country. In a statement issued Thursday, India's foreign ministry said all visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be revoked with effect from Sunday. It also advised Indians citizens not to travel to Pakistan, reports AP. India increases security in Kashmir following tourist attack In a reciprocal move, Indian diplomats are being withdrawn from Pakistan. Both countries agreed to cut diplomatic staff from 55 to 30, effective May 1, and the only functioning land border crossing between the nations will be closed. Besides, Indian Prime Minister Modi vowed harsh action, “India will identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth,” he declared in a public rally on Thursday. “We will pursue them to the ends of the earth,” said Modi, who was later in the day scheduled to head an all-party meeting with opposition parties to brief them on the government’s response to the attack. Meanwhile, Pakistan rejected the accusations and called India’s actions rash and baseless. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the country’s National Security Committee to chart out a response to India’s diplomatic and strategic retaliation. According to Radio Pakistan, the top civil and military leadership are attending the emergency meeting, reviewing measures in response to “India’s hastily taken, impulsive and impractical water measures.”