The Kashmir Pulse

SRINAGAR — Political leaders across Jammu and Kashmir expressed profound grief and widespread condemnation on Monday following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes.

National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah voiced deep concern over the rapidly escalating conflict in West Asia, describing the strikes as a "tragic and destabilising development." He warned of severe humanitarian and economic consequences, particularly for the Global South, and urged the United Nations and the international community to intervene immediately to de-escalate tensions.

"Sustainable peace in West Asia can only be achieved through respectful negotiation, mutual understanding and the protection of civilian lives," Abdullah said, calling for a return to diplomacy and respect for the territorial integrity of nations in the Middle East.

At the National Conference headquarters in Srinagar, General Secretary Haji Ali Mohammad Sagar led party functionaries in a formal condolence meeting. Participants recited prayers for Khamenei and other victims of the strikes, which officials noted included schoolgirls.

The party unanimously passed a resolution, presented by Provincial President Showkat Ahmad Mir, expressing solidarity with the Iranian people.

National Conference Member of Parliament Mian Altaf Ahmad also issued a statement condemning the assassination, noting that the loss has "shaken the Muslim world."

Separately, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, former minister and president of the J&K People's Democratic Front (JKPDF), paid tribute to the Iranian leader. Yaseen described Khamenei as a "beacon of steadfastness and courage" and a symbol of resistance, adding that his death is an irreparable loss to the global Muslim community.

JUBA — At least 169 people have been killed and buried in a mass grave in northern South Sudan, two local officials told AFP on Monday, as the country sees a dramatic increase in violence.

South Sudan, the world's youngest country, has been beset by civil war, poverty and massive corruption since it was formed in 2011.

The United Nations warns of a return to "all-out civil war" as a power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, Riek Machar, has unravelled over the past year. The desperately poor East African country also faces chronic ethnic violence and violent cattle-raiding.

The latest massacre happened early on Sunday in Abiemnom County near the Sudan border.

"A total of 169 bodies have been laid to rest in a mass grave," Elizabeth Achol, Health Minister in the northern Ruweng administrative area, told AFP by phone. Local Information Minister James Monyluak gave the same toll, saying it included women, children and elderly people and could increase further as more bodies are found.

A diplomatic source, speaking to AFP anonymously, placed the death toll at 70 but said it could rise.

Initial reports indicated the attack was carried out by an ethnic Nuer group, potentially in revenge for the killing of some traders, the diplomatic source added, though no group has claimed responsibility. Many residents have fled to nearby villages, while others have sought protection at a local UN compound, Monyluak said.

"The security situation has since stabilised, with government security forces deployed and now in control of the area," he added.

U.N. peacekeepers were "temporarily sheltering some 1,000 civilians within our base in the area and providing emergency medical care to the injured," a spokesperson for the UN Mission in South Sudan said. Clashes between government and opposition forces have focused on Jonglei state in the last two months, where some 2,80,000 have been displaced according to the U.N.

Humanitarian workers have also been targeted.

On Monday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said 26 members of staff were missing following an airstrike on one of its facilities. The organisation has suspended medical services in Lankien and Pieri in Jonglei state.

U.N. rights chief Volker Turk voiced alarm Friday (February 27, 2026) at the country's deteriorating situation, calling for swift action to avert a return to full-scale civil war.

BEIJING — China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart on a call that Beijing supports Tehran defending itself against US-Israeli strikes, as war spreads across the Middle East.

Wang told Abbas Araghchi that Beijing “cherishes the traditional friendship between China and Iran, supports Iran in defending its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity, and national dignity, and supports Iran in protecting its legitimate rights and interests,” state broadcaster CCTV reports.

China “urged the US and Israel to immediately cease military operations, avoid further escalation of tensions and prevent the conflict from spreading to the entire Middle East region,” Wang says, according to CCTV.

In a separate phone call with Oman’s foreign minister, Wang accuses the United States and Israel of “violating the purposes and principles of the UN charter” by “deliberately instigating a war against Iran.”

“China is also willing to play a constructive role, including upholding justice, striving for peace, and stopping the war through the platform of the UN Security Council,” Wang told Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, CCTV reports.

And in another call with France’s Jean-Noel Barrot, Wang warns that the world risked “regression to the law of the jungle.”

“Major powers cannot arbitrarily attack other countries based on their military superiority,” Wang says, according to CCTV.

“The Iranian nuclear issue must ultimately return to the track of political and diplomatic settlement,” he says.