Wife waits in camp, Major killed in Jammu and Kashmir encounter

On October 5, Major J S Suri would have turned 30. He had planned to celebrate his birthday with his wife, S Pallavi, by the picturesque Manasbal lake where his 13 Rashtriya Rifles unit is deployed. Pallavi arrived at the 13 RR regimental centre in Manasbal a few days ago.

On Wednesday, Major Suri was killed in a major encounter with militants in Bandipore in North Kashmir. Pallavi is in shock. They were married only last year.

“She seemed to have guessed last night that something was wrong... confusing reports about Maj. Suri were coming in from the encounter site,” said an Army officer who was part of the 45-hour operation to flush out the militants holed up on an island on Wular lake.

“She is in a state of shock. Officers and jawans of the unit are trying to console her.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.indianexpress.com

Patil reminds Omar of a bad film: Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

The of a smiling President Pratibha Patil with an AK-47 during her visit to forward posts in north Kashmir has become more than a photo-op here. So much so that National Conference president and MP Omar Abdullah took aim at it in his blog on the party's official website.

"Yesterday my newspaper had a photograph prominent on the first page of this country's First Citizen the President. The photograph was of President Patil brand ishingan AK-47 and smiling. Somehow the two things didn't seem to go together," the blog says. "I know she's the Commander in-Chief of the Armed Forces but the photograph reminded me of a rather forgettable Sylvester Stallone movie Stop! Or My Mom Wil Shoot".

The media had not been invited to cover Patil's visit to the forward posts and this picture was taken by a photographer in the President's encourage who then distributed it to the media.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.indianexpress.com