All India

A curfew was imposed in parts of Jammu city on Friday after massive protests and violence over the terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in which over 40 security personnel were killed. The army has been requested to be on standby to help the maintain calm, officials said. The curfew was imposed as authorities feared a communal backlash, they added.

While the government went into a huddle this morning to dissect the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama that left more than 40 security personnel dead, the opposition blowback has already begun. From the two main parties in Jammu and Kashmir, both out of power because of Governor's rule in the state, to some Congress leaders, the government faced difficult questions on the security lapse.

The government going ahead with the launch of the Vande Bharat Express the morning after the worst terror attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama was a "befitting reply" to the terrorists responsible for the death of over 40 CRPF personnel, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said.

Vande Bharat Express, India's first semi-high speed train, was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday from the New Delhi railway station amid sombre mood in the backdrop of the terror attack in Pulwama. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and members of the Railway Board were also on board the train on its inaugural journey. "I am grateful to designers and engineers behind Vande Bharat Express which will take its first trip from Delhi to Varanasi today. With our sincerity and hardwork in the last 4.5 years we have tried to improve railways," the Prime Minister said. The bookings for the train are open. A senior railway official said that tickets of the first commercial run of Vande Bharat Express on February 17 have been completely sold out.

Countries from across the globe condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district with nations like the United States, UK, Russia and France asserting that they stand with India in combating the menace of terrorism. China however, kept its stand on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar unchanged.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday strongly condemned Thursday's terror attack by the Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed in Jammu and Kashmir that claimed the lives of over 40 CRPF personnel and said that the perpetrators behind the act should be "duly punished".

Eminent citizens from all walks of life and not just bureaucratsshould be considered for the role of Information Commissioners, who arepart of the body formed to look into complaints and requests for information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Supreme Court said today. The top court also stressed on theimportance of the need for transparency for good governance.

Rahul Gandhi, mourning the Pulwama terror attack in which over 40 soldiers were killed, said today that he and his Congress party would support the government and would "not get into any other discussion for the next couple of days".

The US government had urged its citizens to reconsider their travel to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir because of "terrorism and the potential for armed conflict" in an advisory issued on Wednesday, just a day before the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that left over 40 security personnel dead.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today warned that those responsible for the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed would pay a "very heavy price" and had made a "big mistake".

The bereaved father of a CRPF personnel who was killed in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in a heart-wrenching message said he is ready to sacrifice his other son as well for the country. He, however, also said Pakistan must be given a "befitting reply" for the attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP have cancelled all political programmes they had planned today to campaign for the upcoming national election, after the terror attack in Kashmir in which over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on Thursday.

Experts of anti-terror commando force the National Security Guard (NSG) and investigators of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) left for Jammu and Kashmir on Friday to join the probe into the terror attack in Pulwama in which at least 40 CRPF personnel were killed, officials said.

A day after over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in the deadliest terror attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top ministers held a security review meeting. PM Modi said those behind the terror attack would pay a "very heavy price" and had made a "huge mistake". Union Minister Arun Jaitley said the government has decided to take all possible diplomatic steps to ensure "complete isolation" of Pakistan and has withdrawn 'Most Favoured Nation' status to the country. Yesterday, New Delhi had urged the international community to back the naming of Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar as a "UN designated terrorist"; the Pakistan-based terror outfit has claimed the attack. The US has also asked Pakistan to "immediately end support and safe haven to all terrorist groups".

The involvement of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Thursday's attack in Jammu and Kashmir has raised serious questions about the role and involvement of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI in the terror attack, American experts have said.