Worried India to call back officials from Pakistan

The Indian officials include a counselor, three first secretaries and four assistants.

The external affairs ministry also summoned Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner Syed Haider Shah and protested against ceasefire violations on the frontiers in Kashmir. It also protested against the mutilation of the body of an Indian solider by a “terrorist” who crossed the Line of Control.

Pakistani forces have targeted border villages and army posts since India’s elite forces conducted surgical strikes on militant hideouts in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in September.

No deaths were reported on Wednesday but many villagers living near the frontline have been evacuated to safe places. appeared clueless on battling the menace despite announcing several schemes.

“If pollution levels deteriorate then the government will shut schools for a few days. Health of students is of prime importance but at present there is no such plan,” a senior government official said.

Some schools admitted to a 10-15% lower attendance on days with dense smog, especially post-Diwali.

“Mostly students who already have breathing problems do not come to school on days with heavy smog,” said Ruma Pathak, principal of MM Public School.

Some parents agreed that shutting schools for a few days will help.

“My son has breathing problems and I usually don’t send him to school on such days. If schools are shut it will help but then what about pollution in general,” said Roopa Aryan, mother of a six-year-old.

Schools in Gurgaon have put restrictions on outdoor activities while in Noida, authorities have asked students to wear masks while commuting or when on the playground.

However, some school authorities said they can’t suspend classes as it would affect their schedule.

“Children’s health is a priority but under the Right to Education (RTE) Act we have to have at least 220 working days per year. If we give holidays then studies will get affected. But definitely something needs to be done,” said Madhulika Sen, principal of Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar.

The state-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) said the air quality was likely to improve from Friday. threatened to relaunch his agitation over the OROP issue, saying the Centre’s betrayal of the nation’s ex-servicemen resulted in the suicide of Grewal.

The suicide comes just three days after Prime Minister Modi spent Diwali with soldiers deployed near the India-China border and in the middle of the government’s sustained proArmy campaign following the surgical strikes across the Line of Control in September.

Delhi Police’s special commissioner Mukesh Kumar Meena said Gandhi and other Congress leaders had been held for “disruption of duty”. “The hospital is not a place for demonstration,” he said.

Grewal’s friends said he had been trying to deliver a petition to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in South Block, but had been turned away on two occasions on Monday and Tuesday. A typed application letter addressed to Parrikar, on which a suicide note had been penned, was found on him. “I am sacrificing my life for my country, my motherland and my country’s brave soldier,” it said.

An audio clip surfaced later in which a man said to be Grewal is heard telling his son he was consuming poison as he felt the treatment meted out to jawans was “unfair”.

The Central government’s response was officious and combative. “The reason for his suicide being reported is OROP, don’t know what his mental state was, need investigation,” said Union minister and former army chief VK Singh.

Sources in the defence ministry said Grewal had been drawing his pension benefits as per the Sixth Pay Commission report and had also received the first set of his OROP arrears.

They said if there was any problem it was probably at Grewal’s bank. They also said there was no record of any veteran seeking an appointment with Parrikar and questioned why his suicide note was dated October 31 when he committed suicide two days later.

When asked about the Delhi police action against Congress and AAP leaders, home minister Rajnath Singh defended it by saying: “Whatever has to be done for risk reduction, the Delhi Police will do.”