The Pakistan Rangers called up its counterpart, Border Security Force (BSF), to seek a halt to the firing

and shelling along the International Border in Jammu.

A commander of Pakistan Rangers phoned a BSF officer on Saturday night and urged that Pakistan’s
forward posts not be targeted as the incessant firing was causing damage to civilians.

The BSF released a 19-second thermal-imaging footage that showed the destruction of a Pakistani post
across the border. A BSF officer refused to reveal the location, but said it was destroyed in the past few
days. “Our officer told Pakistan Rangers that we were only responding to the unprovoked firing from
across the border. We did not fire first,” he said.

Two BSF soldiers were killed in the latest round of unprovoked firing in Jammu last week. The BSF said
the current spell of cross-border firing was expected as the harvest season was over. A senior official
said this was the “third spell” of heavy firing from across the border this year; the first two occurred in
January. The firing also coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the State on Saturday.

India is not going to allow its defence engagement with Russia to be dictated by any other country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday voiced the hope his talks with President Vladimir Putin would
further strengthen the “special and privileged” strategic partnership between India and Russia.

In a series of tweets — in Russian and then in English — on the eve of his visit to Russia, Mr. Modi said
he looked forward to his meeting with Mr. Putin.

“Greetings to the friendly people of Russia. I look forward to my visit to Sochi tomorrow and my meeting
with President Putin. It is always a pleasure to meet him,” Mr. Modi tweeted.

During their informal summit in the Russian city of Sochi on Monday, the two leaders will primarily focus
on global and regional issues, including the impact of the U.S. decision to withdraw from a nuclear deal
with Iran.

“Am confident the talks with President Putin will further strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic
Partnership between India and Russia,” Mr. Modi said in another tweet.

Official sources said the two leaders would meet for 4-6 hours for the “agendaless” talks where
deliberations on bilateral issues were likely to be limited.

They said the issues on the table might include the economic impact on India and Russia in the wake of
the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the situation in Afghanistan and Syria, the threat of terrorism
and matters relating to the upcoming SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) and BRICS summits.

The sources said the possible impact of the US sanctions against Russia under the Countering America’s
Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) on Indo-Russia defence cooperation may also figure during
the talks between Modi and Putin.

India is not going to allow its defence engagement with Russia to be dictated by any other country, the
sources said, adding New Delhi has been lobbying with the Trump administration on the issue.

The aim of the informal summit is to use the friendship and trust between the two countries to create
convergence on key global and regional issues, the sources said.
The two leaders may also deliberate on extending the Indo-Russia civil nuclear cooperation to third
countries, possible areas for cooperation for the International North-South Transport Corridor project,
India’s engagement with the five-nation Eurasian Economic Union and the situation in the Korean
peninsula.

A Mumbai-based jeweller who created a hijack scare on board a Jet Airways flight in October last year
has become the first person to be put on the ‘National No Fly List’, eight months after it was unveiled.

Incidentally, he was also the first to be booked under the stringent Anti-Hijacking Act, which has
replaced the vintage law of 1982.

Birju Kishore Salla (37) was arrested in October following the emergency landing made by the Mumbai-
Delhi Jet Airways plane at the Ahmedabad airport. The pilot was alerted about a note that mentioned
that there were hijackers and a bomb in the cargo area.

The then Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had advised airlines to put him on the no-fly list, in
addition to other statutory criminal action.

Under the revised Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR), a passenger can be considered to be placed under
three categories of unruly behaviour, with category three bearing the harshest punishment. Salla has
been placed under the third category.

It says that if a passenger’s behaviour is considered life threatening, like affecting the safety of the
aircraft, he/she can be banned for up to two years.

Salla is a multi-millionaire jeweller with an office in the Zaveri Bazar area of Mumbai. He owns a flat in a
posh locality of the metropolis.

All for love

He had confessed to preparing the note, hoping the threat could make Jet Airways close operations in
Delhi. He wanted his girlfriend, who works for Jet in Delhi, to return to Mumbai.

According to the crime branch, the note was a printed note in Urdu and English, asking that the plane be
flown straight to POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). It ended with the words, “Allah is Great”. The
reference to POK made investigators suspicious because Pakistan-based terrorists call the area ‘Azad
Kashmir’

According to the DGCA, it is the responsibility of Jet Airways now to inform other airlines about the
grounding of this particular passenger under the CAR. The DGCA will continue to maintain database of
such passengers.