Daily briefing: Manhunt underway in Poonch; how will Kolkata’s metro under Hooghly work; and more

1) A day after five Army personnel were killed in a terror attack in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, a massive manhunt was carried out in the area on Friday. Sources said the investigation so far points to the involvement of three-four “unidentified terrorists”, who are suspected to have used Chinese-made armour-piercing 7.62 mm steel core bullets.

Meanwhile residents of the village that was the destination of the ill-fated Army truck that was ambushed on Thursday, have said that they will not be celebrating Eid. The vehicle was carrying fruits and other items for an iftar gathering meant to be held in Sagiote later that evening.

2) “I decided to give up the hijab (in college) and pursue my education. We will need to make some sacrifices for education.”

When the BJP-led government in the state decided to prohibit the wearing of hijabs in classrooms last year, 18-year-old Tabassum Shaik was faced with a tough choice. But a year later, her decision has paid off. She achieved the top score in the PUC-II exam (equivalent to the Class 12 board exam elsewhere) conducted by the Karnataka Pre-University Education Department.

3) In her weekly column, Neerja Chowdhury writes on the elimination of don Atiq Ahmed’s empire and how UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has has consolidated his politics of crackdown: “Like the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots polarised the state along Hindu-Muslim lines in the run-up to the 2014 LS polls, the Atiq-Ashraf killings threaten to do the same ahead of the big battle in 2024.”

4) By the end of this year, commuters could be taking a Metro train across the Hooghly, which separates Kolkata from Howrah, its smaller twin city on the opposite bank, travelling under the mighty river. How will it work and what are the challenges ahead? We explain.

5) This week, Shubhra Gupta reviews the latest Salman Khan starrer ‘Kisi Ka Bhaai Kisi Ki Jaan’: “The last time a Salman Khan film had Bhaijaan in the title, its prefix was ‘Bajrangi’, and that solid Kabir Khan film had, verily, a story. This Bhaijaan is running on empty.”

Until tomorrow,
Rahel Philipose