Morning Digest | Beijing continues to ‘harden its position’ along the border with India, says U.S. Secretary of Defence; Legal battle over validity of Places of Worship Act gains momentum, and more

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Beijing continues to ‘harden its position’ along the border with India: U.S. Secretary of Defence

Beijing continues to “harden its position” along the border that it shares with India, U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin said on Saturday while stating that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) adopts a more “coercive and aggressive approach” to its territorial claims. Mr. Austin also asserted that Indo-Pacific is their “priority” theatre of operations and is at the “heart” of American grand strategy.

Legal battle over validity of Places of Worship Act gains momentum

The legal battle over the validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991, which underlines the need to protect the liberty of faith and worship, is gaining steam in the Supreme Court. Several petitions have been filed in the top court questioning the law’s role, as they say, in perpetuating the “crimes of the barbaric invaders” who built mosques after destroying temples centuries ago. The Muslim bodies, such as the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, have countered that a dent in the 1991 Act would be the first blow to the secular fabric.

30 Para SF personnel, including a Major, named in Nagaland botched encounter chargesheet

Thirty personnel from the Army’s 21 Para Special Forces, including a Major, have been named in the chargesheet submitted to the courts in connection with the botched encounter in Nagaland’s Mon district in December 2021 that resulted in the death of 13 civilians, according to Nagaland Police.

Protests against Prophet remarks | In U.P., BJP members seek ‘revenge by bulldozer’