5 stories you must read today, November 25: From Assam CM’s claim of Zubeen Garg’s ‘murder’ to Pakistani airstrike in Afghanistan and more

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday told the state assembly that the death of singer-superstar Zubeen Garg was a case of murder. CM Sarma made the claim on the first day of the winter session of the assembly. According to the CM, during the probe into the singer’s death in Singapore in September, the Assam police concluded that this is not culpable homicide, but it is a plain and simple murder. Seven people have been arrested in connection with the case, including his manager, bandmates and Shyamkanu Mahanta, the organiser of the North East festival for which Garg was in Singapore. Read more

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban has claimed that a late-night cross-border airstrike by Pakistan has killed nine children. According to Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Afghan government, Pakistani forces bombed a house last night in the Mughalgai area of Gurbuz district in Khost. Attacks from both sides have been going on and off since 2022, following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. In recent months, Pakistan has carried out several cross-border attacks inside Afghanistan, allegedly targeting the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Read more

China on Tuesday refuted the allegations raised by an Indian woman that she was harassed at the Shanghai airport for being from Arunachal Pradesh. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning claimed that the woman was not subjected to any compulsory measures, detainment, or harassment as alleged by her. She also reiterated China’s claims over Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Zangnan or South Tibet. Earlier, Pema Wangjom Thongdok, a UK-based Indian citizen who was travelling from London to Japan on November 21, had claimed that her three-hour scheduled layover turned into a traumatising ordeal after immigration personnel declared her passport “invalid” solely because it listed Arunachal Pradesh as her birthplace. Read more

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday predicted that the BJP will not stay in power in 2029, when the next Lok Sabha elections are scheduled, and said that after Bengal’s Assembly elections in 2026, she would “tour the nation”. Addressing a rally in Bongaon, a border district with a sizeable Matua population in North 24 Parganas, Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to win Bengal using the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, claiming that, unlike in Bihar, she “understands the game being played”. Read more

A day after 22 people were arrested in connection with the alleged attack on police during a protest ostensibly over poor air quality near India Gate, the Delhi Police added Section 197 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (“Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration”) to one of the two FIRs that have been registered. The police are investigating “any Naxal links” of the protesters, who reportedly “raised slogans in support of Naxalites”, officers said. Some protesters were reportedly seen carrying posters of Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, who was killed in an encounter in Andhra Pradesh last week, police said. Read more