The Catch Up: 24 April

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I am Ichha SHarma
Today is the 24 th of APril and here are the headlines

A day after India took several diplomatic measures against Pakistan over the Pahalgam terror attack, Islamabad said today it “shall exercise the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including but not limited to the Simla Agreement, in abeyance.” On Wednesday, India put on hold the Indus Waters Treaty, downgraded diplomatic relations with Pakistan, expelled diplomats and top defence officials from the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, cancelled all visas granted to Pakistan nationals and directed them to leave the country in 48 hours, and shut the Attari-Wagah border. The reaction from Pakistan came after the country’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting of the National Security Committee.

Months before elections in Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today quickly switched to English in the middle of his speech in Madhubani to promise stringent action against the terrorists and the “backers” involved in the attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. The PM’s switch to English in a speech largely focused on the state was meant to address the world, promising that the government would “identify, trace and punish every terrorist and their backers”, and thanking all nations who stood with India at this time of grief. Modi also made a pitch for national integration beyond linguistic boundaries — the linguistic divide has been in the news for some time now — underlining that those who lost their lives spoke different Indian languages and belonged to different states and that the nation stood firm with all of them.

Following a threat video by the Hindu Raksha Dal demanding that Kashmiri Muslims leave Uttarakhand on Wednesday, Dehradun police say they have amped up security and taken down 25 “inciting posts” from social media. A video has gone viral on social media in which Lalit Sharma, a Hindu Raksha Dal leader, says, “The incident in Pahalgam has hurt us… If we see any Kashmiri Muslim in the state after 10 am tomorrow, we will give them the right treatment.”A student at Doon PG College told The Indian Express that at least five students have left for the airport.

After the recent Supreme Court order which annulled the appointments of over 25,000 West Bengal school staff but said that “untainted” teachers could remain in service until 31st of December this year, confusion had remained as to who the “untainted” teachers are. Now, a district-wise list of “untainted” teachers of Classes IX-X and XI-XII has reached the offices of District Inspectors (DIs) of schools. A verification process has begun. The SC had found that the 2016 recruitment process by the SSC was “tainted”. School headmasters have been asked to submit a list of their teachers’ names, designations, subjects they teach, transfer histories, and confirmations that the names are in the “untainted” list.

US President Donald Trump responded today to the overnight Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Kyiv, saying he is “not happy,” and asked President Vladimir Putin to ‘stop’. Trump wrote in a social media post quote “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing,” unquote,  a day after expressing frustration that it was Ukraine’s leader who was hampering peace talks on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine does not “see strong pressure on Russia now” nor new sanctions against Moscow, despite its unwillingness to progress the talks.