New Delhi, May 16: The Supreme Court is set to hear the plea of Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah on Friday, challenging a Madhya Pradesh High Court order that initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against him.

The High Court had taken cognisance of Shah’s remarks directed at Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, the Indian Army officer who briefed the media regarding Operation Sindoor.

The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before the Bench of the Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, and Justice George Augustine Masih.

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the sense of responsibility of Madhya Pradesh Minister Shah, who reportedly made derogatory remarks about Colonel Qureshi.

“What sort of statements are you making… A responsible Minister of the government, that too when the country Is undergoing such a situation… A person holding a Constitutional office is expected to exercise a degree of restraint. Every sentence uttered by a Minister must be with a sense of responsibility,” Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai reproached Shah’s remarks about the woman officer.

Shah, represented by senior advocate Vibha Dutta Makhija, has moved the Supreme Court for a stay of a First Information Report (FIR) registered against him on the orders of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The apex court agreed to hear his case on May 16, 2025.

The apex court advised the Minister’s lawyers to inform the High Court, which had listed the case on May 15, about the May 16 hearing.

The High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the comments made by the Minister.

Makhija, in an oral mentioning for early hearing, submitted that the comments were “unfortunately over-hyped” by the media.

The Minister was not given an opportunity to be heard by the High Court before it passed the order to the police to register an FIR.

She argued that the High Court might have exceeded its jurisdiction.

At that point, Chief Justice Gavai asked why the Minister should approach the Supreme Court directly, and not fight his case in the High Court itself.

“Somebody is a Minister, so it should be entertained here?” Chief Justice Gavai asked Makhija.

The senior lawyer said Shah has publicly expressed remorse, and she had a recording of it.

On Wednesday, the Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered the Director General of Police (DGP) to register a criminal case against Shah within four hours and warned the DGP of contempt action in case of any delay in compliance.

A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Anuradha Shukla of the Madhya Pradesh High Court said that prima facie, an offence of promoting enmity between different castes, religion and language was made out.

The Justice Sreedharan-led Bench opined that referring to Colonel Sofiya Qureshi as a “sister of terrorists” is an offence of hurting the sentiments and faith of the Muslim community.

Talking about Operation Sindoor, Vijay Shah, on Monday, had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent a “sister from the same community” as those in Pakistan to avenge the April 22 terror strike in Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

“PM Modi is striving for the society. Those who widowed our daughters (in Pahalgam), we sent a sister of their own to teach them a lesson,” Shah had said.

The distasteful remarks against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, the Indian Army officer who briefed the media throughout Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, sparked nationwide outrage.

Following the incident, the Minister apologised from the “bottom of his heart” and said he respects the Armed Forces and mentioned Colonel Sofiya as “sister”.

“I, Vijay Shah, am not only ashamed and saddened by my recent statement, which has hurt the sentiments of every community, but I also apologise from the bottom of my heart. Our country’s sister Sofia Qureshi ji has worked rising above caste and society while fulfilling her national duty,” he said in a video message posted on the social media platform X.

In his petition filed before the Top Court, Shah sought quashing of the FIR as well as the suo motu proceedings initiated by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Srinagar, May 15: Three terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were killed on Thursday in a gunfight with the security forces in Nader village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Officials said the three terrorists were later identified as Asif Ahmed Sheikh, Amir Nazir Wani and Yawar Ahmad Bhat, all residents of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

This is the second encounter in the union territory within 48 hours.

Earlier today, Srinagar headquartered 15 Corps of the Army said on X, “On May 15, 2025, based on specific Intelligence input from Int agency, a Cordon & Search Operation was launched by Indian Army, J&K Police and Srinagar Sector CRPF at Nader, Tral, Awantipora. Suspicious activity was observed by vigilant troops and on being challenged, terrorists opened heavy fire, and a fierce gunfight ensued. Operation is in progress.”

A gunfight had started between the security forces and the hiding terrorists on Thursday in the Tral area of Pulwama district’s Awantipora sub-division.

The Police said on X, “Encounter has started at Nader, Tral area of #Awantipora. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow.”

Following specific Intelligence inputs, security forces surrounded the Nader village of Tral tehsil to conduct searches. “As the security forces came close to the hiding terrorists, there was an exchange of gunfire, which is now going on,” police said.

Today’s gunfight comes two days after security forces gunned down three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in an operation in the Keller area of Shopian district.

Of the three terrorists killed on Tuesday, the two slain terrorists were identified as Shahid Kuttay and Adnan Shafi, both residents of Shopian. Kuttay, who joined Lashkar in 2023, was involved in a shooting incident at the Danish resort on April 8 last year, in which two German tourists and one driver were injured.

He was also involved in the killing of a BJP Sarpanch at Heerpora in Shopian in May last year. Shafi, who joined the terror group in 2024, was involved in the killing of a non-local labourer at Wachi in Shopian district.

On May 10, a ceasefire understanding was announced by India and Pakistan. However, the terrorists fired at the sentry post outside the headquarters of the White Knight Corps in the Nagrota area of Jammu district nearly two hours after the ceasefire understanding came into force.

India has made it clear that any act of terror within the country would be treated as an “act of war”. The terrorists, aided and sponsored by Pakistan, killed 26 innocent people on April 22, including 25 tourists and a local in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam.

The cowardly act was carried out by LeT terrorists, as per the security forces. This finally resulted in India avenging the murder of innocent civilians by precision strikes at terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

India has made it clear that the Indus Waters Treaty would continue to remain in abeyance, and no trade would be restored with Pakistan.

During Pakistani targeting of civilian areas along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border, more than 200 houses and shops have been destroyed, forcing hundreds of border dwellers to abandon their homes to seek refuge at safer places away from the line of fire.

These affected families are yet to return to their homes at the LoC as the security forces are busy defusing unexploded Pakistani mortar shells in the affected areas.

New Delhi, May 15: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited an Army cantonment in Sialkot of Punjab province on Wednesday evening, to meet and express solidarity with the soldiers.

However, what could have been a morale-boosting exercise for Pakistani Defence forces turned out to be an ‘embarrassing and ignominious’ one because of the location, ambience and the backdrop in which the Pakistani PM interacted with them.

Shehbaz Sharif’s meeting with Pakistani soldiers is seen as a clear attempt to copy that of his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in sending a message to the world.

While India’s military prowess was reinforced during PM Modi’s visit to the Punjab airbase, the Pakistani establishment utterly failed not just in optics but also went to expose its flaws, its canards and the extent of devastation that it endured during India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’.

As India pummeled and pounced its multiple airbases on May 10 morning, in response to its escalation, Pakistan resorted to a barrage of lies, claiming that it downed Indian jets, destroyed its airbases and also captured an air force personnel. All those claims were outrightly rejected by India.

Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s visit to the airbase in Punjab, yesterday, shredded its web of lies and demolished all its claims.

PM Modi visited Adampur airbase, one of the forward areas, which Pakistan claimed to have destroyed in its airstrikes, and met the soldiers in the backdrop of India’s famed air defence system and also fighter jets, but Pakistan PM’s interaction with their soldiers took place in a deserted location, lined with some tanks and aircrafts parked at a distant location.

The pictures shared by PMOs of both the nations clearly show the stark contrast in which the Prime Ministers met their respective soldiers.

This clearly shows that Pakistan suffered large-scale decimation and also how its airbases and airfields suffered extensive damage in Indian bombing. The Pakistani PM’s interaction with soldiers in a deserted ground only confirms this.

The Pakistan PMO shared pictures of Shehbaz Sharif with soldiers but not of any airstrip or runaway, thereby ascertaining that its airfields suffered severe damage in Indian strikes. The only prominent picture was of Shehbaz Sharif standing on an Army tank and addressing the soldiers.

Sharif’s meet with Pakistani jawans has also been mocked and taunted by many social media users, who called it a copycat meet and the one aping the Indian style of lauding its braves but utterly failing in doing so.

In stark contrast to this, PM Modi’s visit to Adampur airbase was high on symbolism as well as messaging, about how the nation and the Indian Air Force command stand firm and resolute, in wake of the barrage of drone and missile attacks.

PM Modi’s pictures with the soldiers, with S-400 defence systems and MiG29 in the backdrop, right next to the airfield, said it all. Also, he landed at the airstrip in a Hercules aircraft, thus proving that there was no damage to the Adampur airbase.

All this goes to expose Pakistan’s theatrics and bombastic rhetoric despite being cut to size by the Indian military in the May 10 strikes.

This was well reflected in PM Modi’s rousing speech at the airbase, where he said that when our soldiers chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, the enemy trembles with fear.

He also saluted the braves for teaching Pakistan a lesson and also thundered, ‘ghar mein ghus ke maarenge’.

Notably, Indian forces inflicting severe damages on Pakistani airfields has also been reportedly globally, with two US dailies – The New York Times and The Washington Post, claiming that India took clear edge over Pakistan during ‘Operation Sindoor’.