New Delhi: Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (JUH) General Secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani on Friday said that the communal flare up in the state could have been stopped if they had taken timely steps.

"If the necessary action had been taken against Arjit Shaswat, the son of a Union Minister who is accused of Bhagalpur riots, the ensuing communal flare-ups would not have spread in Nalanda, Aurangabad, and Samastipur," Madani said in a statement.

Expressing deep concern over communal riots in West Bengal and Bihar, he demanded the state and Central governments take every possible steps for restoring peace and amity in the disturbed areas.

Madani exhorted religious and social leaders of the majority community to come forward for thwarting nefarious designs of communal forces who are hell-bent on polarizing society on religious lines.

He reiterated that the district administration should be held accountable for outbreak of any communal riots and that adequate financial compensation should be given to the affected persons.

He also praised Maulana Imdadullah Rasheedi, the imam of an Asansol mosque who lost his young son in the communal violence, for displaying exemplary courage and sacrifice by asking angry Muslim crowds to not take any provocative action in retaliation.

Rasheedi exhorted the emotional congregation that he did not want any more families to lose their loved ones.

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New Delhi, May 6 (PTI): The Indian Air Force will carry out a two-day mega military exercise along the border with Pakistan from Wednesday that will involve all the frontline fighter jets including Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar aircraft, sources in the defence establishment said on Tuesday.

The exercise is taking place amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.

India's civil aviation authorities have already issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for the major air exercise that will largely take place along the southern and western section of the Indo-Pakistan border.

India's frontline fighter jets including the Rafale, Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Mirage-2000, Tejas and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft are set to feature in the exercise, the sources said.

In the course of the exercise, the IAF will simulate enemy targets on ground and in the air with deadly precision, they said.

The militaries of both India and Pakistan are on a high alert following rising tensions between the two nations.

Soon after the Pahalgam terror attack, India, citing "cross-border linkages" to the strike, promised severe punishment to those involved in it.

In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass on April 29, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the armed forces have "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India's response to the terror attack.

Air Chief Marshal A P Singh met Prime Minister Modi on Sunday and the Chief of Air Staff briefed him about the IAF's operational readiness.

On Saturday, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi apprised the prime minister on the overall situation in the critical sea lanes in the Arabian Sea.