Srinagar/Jammu: A militant was killed and a policeman injured in a grenade attack at a police station, one civilian was injured in a clash with security forces, while an infiltration bid was foiled in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

A Hizbul Mujahideen militant, in police custody, was killed when his fellow militants hurled a grenade at a police station in Pulwama district to help him escape."Terrorist Mushtaq Ahmad Chopan died in the grenade explosion while trying to escape from Tral police station," said Director General of Police S.P. Vaid.

A police constable sustained minor injuries in the blast.

Riyaz Ahmad was injured in the clash in Hajan area where militants and security forces had exchanged fire earlier in the day, a police officer said. Taking advantage of the clashes, the militants hiding in the area managed to escape, reports said.

In another incident, Border Security Force troopers foiled an infiltration bid across the International Border in Samba district.

Alert troopers noticed suspicious movement near one of the border outposts in Samba around 5 a.m. and opened fire and used illumination flares, leading to group of militants trying to infiltrate into Indian territory being forced to withdraw, an official said.

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Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.

Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.

He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.

Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.

He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.

Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.

He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.