Bengaluru, Nov 12: The last rites of Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, who passed away here Monday, would be performed on Tuesday afternoon, Karnataka BJP said.

The mortal remains of Kumar would be placed at his residence in Basavanagudi For the entire day today, state BJP General Secretary N RaviKumar said in a statement.

He said, by 8 AM on Tuesday, it would be taken to Jagannath Bhavan, BJP state office at Malleshwaram, where arrangements would be made for party workers and his followers to pay their last respects.

Kumar's body would then be taken to National College Ground in the city for public to pay their respects, and the last rites would be performed at 1PM at Chamarajpet crematorium, the statement added.

Kumar died at a private hospital here in the early hours of Monday after battling lung cancer for several months.

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New Delhi — Indian defence forces successfully thwarted an attempt by Pakistan to target several military locations in Northern and Western India, a senior army officer confirmed during a special press briefing on Thursday.

Colonel Sofiya Quraishi, addressing the media on developments related to Operation Sindoor, said Pakistan had launched a coordinated drone and missile attack on the night of May 7 and 8, aiming at multiple Indian cities including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj.

“These attempts were neutralised by our Integrated Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Grid and Air Defence systems,” she stated. “Debris recovered from different sites confirms the Pakistani attacks.”

Col Quraishi noted that India's earlier military response was “focused, measured, and non-escalatory,” and that no Pakistani military establishments were targeted at that time. However, she said, India had warned that any attack on its military installations would invite an appropriate response.

“Today morning, Indian Armed Forces responded by targeting Pakistan’s Air Defence Radars and systems at multiple locations. It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system in Lahore has been neutralised,” she added.

In the same briefing, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh highlighted the increased intensity of unprovoked cross-border shelling by Pakistan.

“Pakistan has been using mortars and heavy artillery to target Indian positions along the Line of Control in sectors such as Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar, and Rajouri,” she said. “So far, 16 innocent civilians, including three women and five children, have lost their lives due to this shelling.”

She said India was compelled to respond in order to halt the artillery fire from across the border. “Our Armed Forces remain committed to non-escalation, provided this is respected by the Pakistani military,” Wing Commander Singh said.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri also addressed the media, pointing to Pakistan’s contradictory stand on international platforms. He said that despite the terror group The Resistance Front (TRF) publicly claiming responsibility for the Pahalgam attack twice, Pakistan denied their involvement during discussions at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

“Col Quraishi and Wing Commander Singh made it clear that India’s military actions are measured and focused only on terrorist infrastructure. Our intention is not to escalate tensions. We have not targeted any Pakistani military sites,” Misri said.

He further added, “Any further action by Pakistan, some of which we are seeing today, is nothing but escalation by Pakistan once again, and will be responded to and is being responded to appropriately.”