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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Manipur on Saturday. This will be his first trip to the state since ethnic clashes broke out between the Kuki and Meitei communities more than two years ago. The Opposition parties have repeatedly criticised Modi for not having visited the state so far.

Manipur Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel said that the prime minister will meet residents displaced by the conflict in Churachandpur and Imphal. More than 59,000 people have been displaced and at least 260 killed since the clashes began in May 2023.

Ahead of Modi’s visit, security has been heightened in Imphal and Churachandpur. This came as clashes broke out in Churachandpur on Thursday after a group allegedly attempted to tear down decorative structures set up for the prime minister’s arrival. Read more.

Kashmir’s chief cleric and Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq alleged that he was placed under house arrest. He claimed that he was stopped from leading the Friday prayers at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid, a week after the Ashoka emblem on an inauguration plaque inside the Hazratbal shrine was damaged, allegedly by protesters who claimed that it went against Islamic principles.

Farooq accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration of “relentless interference in religious matters” by “locking us up to silencing our voice on issues ranging from the Ashoka plaque at Hazratbal to meddling with Muslin calendar holidays, to disallowing religious functions at masjids”. Read on.

Explained: The furore at Kashmir’s Hazratbal shrine reflects a deeper anxiety

Wahid Shaikh, who was acquitted in 2015 by a trial court in the 2006 Mumbai local train blasts case, has demanded Rs 9 crore as compensation for nine years of wrongful imprisonment and alleged custodial torture. Alleging that he faced custodial torture, Shaikh said that he was demanding compensation as recognition of the “grave injustice” inflicted on him and his family, and as a step towards accountability.

Shaikh was among 13 men arrested in 2006 for the Mumbai train blasts that killed 189 and injured 824. He was acquitted in 2015 due to lack of evidence. In July this year, the Bombay High Court also acquitted the other 12 persons accused in the case, citing the prosecution’s failure to prove their guilt. Read on.

The toll from the violent protests in Nepal against corruption and the government increased to 51. This included at least 21 protesters and three security personnel.

More than 12,500 prisoners who escaped from several jails in the country during the protests are still on the run, the police said. Fifty-four inmates who escaped from Bharatpur jail in Chitwan have voluntarily returned. Indian security personnel at the border have apprehended 67 inmates who escaped from Nepali jails, officials said. Read on.

Nepal’s Gen Z revolt risks swapping rot for rule by army and king

Jagdeep S Chhokar, activist and co-founder of the nonprofit organisation Association for Democratic Reforms, has died. He was 80.

Chhokar, an advocate for transparency in Indian politics and the electoral system, founded the election watchdog in 1999 with his colleagues from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

One of the organisation’s key efforts was a legal battle led by Chhokar that led to the Supreme Court striking down electoral bonds in February 2024. Read on.

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