Three foreign militants and a six-year-old girl were killed in a gunfight between holed-up militants and security forces in north Kashmir's Kupwara district on Wednesday.

Security forces seized three AK-47 rifles from the possession of the slain militants.

The army said the three Pakistani militants, belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, were holed up in a house in Kalaroos area. 

The gunfight started early Wednesday after the militants fired at and injured a policeman during a cordon-and-search operation in the area.

Police sources said the minor girl was fatally hit by a stray bullet at her house, about 100 metres from the gunfight spot.

Putting an end to days of uncertainty in the state over government formation, Nongthombam Biren Singh on Wednesday took charge as Manipur’s 24th chief minister at the Raj Bhavan, the state’s first ever BJP-led government.

Earlier in the day, Governor Najma Heptullah had administered the oath of office to Biren and eight cabinet ministers, including Yumnam Joykumar as the deputy chief minister.

This is the first time that the BJP has come to power in the state, which had otherwise been a Congress bastion.

Biren Singh was elected unanimously as the leader of the BJP legislature party, and had staked claim to form the government after meeting the Governor on Tuesday.

Earlier state Governor Najma Haptullah had invited the BJP-led coalition under Singh to form the next government in the state after being assured of requisite support from regional parties and Independents.

Since March 11, the day of the results, both the Congress and the BJP have claimed support to form the next government. Although the Congress emerged as the single largest party with 28 MLAs, the BJP, with 21 MLAs, claims to have the support of NPP (4), NPF (4), LJP (1), and three others.

Whether it was "Lag jaa gale" in 1964 or "Luka Chuppi" in 2006 — legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar's renditions have touched generations of music lovers who continue to enjoy her golden tracks. But she says she finds the "soul" missing from today's music.

"I think playback singing has a lot to do with voice acting. I would suggest to all the youngsters to understand the character, situation and the story behind the songs. That is when you can add soul to the rendition which, I think, is missing in today's music," the 87-year-old told IANS in an interview at her Prabhu Kunj residence here.

She observed that "perhaps that is why people still love to listen to retro songs, and new songs are going out of listeners' memory faster".

"As a singer, you have to bring the soul to the song," said the industry veteran, hailed by many as the Nightingale of India.

One of the most decorated singers in India, Mangeshkar has been awarded the Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Dadasaheb Phalke Award and multiple National Film Awards, among others.

Adding to her portfolio of awards was an honour by radio station Big 92.7 FM, which announced a listeners' choice award — ‘Hit Thhe Hit Rahenge' — to commemorate the magic of Indian cinema by remembering and appreciating the evergreen movies and iconic stars in five categories.

Mangeshkar won the ‘Best Singer' award and her song "Lag Ja Gale" won the ‘Best Song' award.

According to her, awards are a token of respect.

"More than the trophy, it is the love and affection that people shower on me by listening to my songs years after years, that touches me. For me, awards are a token of respect that people are giving me. So no matter how many awards I am receiving, I always feel emotional," said the melody queen, dressed in a beautiful white sari and with her trademark bindi on her forehead.

During her musical journey of over seven decades in the Hindi film industry, the singer lent her voice for many heroines of different generations. She says Meena Kumari, Nargis, Madhubala and Sadhana were some of the yesteryear actresses whose voice was quite in sync with her playback. And among the younger ones, she feels Madhuri Dixit and Kajol did justice to her songs on screen with their lip-sync and expressive faces.

However, Mangeshkar believes Jaya Bachchan stood out when it comes to bringing all her songs alive on screen with her skilful acting.

Sharing an anecdote from Abhimaan — in which she sang memorable and evergreen tracks like "Piya bina piya bina", Tere mere milan ki yeh raina and Teri bindiya re for Jaya — Mangeshkar said: "Jaya-ji used to sit and observe me when I recorded all those songs. Since her presence made me conscious, I asked Hrishikesh-ji (Hrishikesh Mukherjee) the reason and he told me it was a part of her process to get a better insight of her character in the film.

"Later, when I saw the film, I was quite blown away to see her wearing red bordered white sari, red bindi and certain mannerisms like I do, unconsciously. But I must say, she did such a wonderful work. She is a very good actress."

As a singer, Mangeshkar has explored various genres in different languages, including the regional film industry. However, she has a special connection with Bengali music.

"Though I have sung in 26 langauges, after Hindi, I sang the maximum number of songs in Bengali for music directors like Salil Chowdhury, Satinath Mukherjee and Bappi Lahiri. Since Bengali and Marathi language have many similarities, I always felt as if it is my own," she said, sometimes breaking into chaste Bengali while talking to this scribe, who also has roots in Bengal.

While her musical journey is too well known to the world, it is interesting to know that Mangeshkar is not only a food connoisseur, but also a good cook.

"I love eating food and cooking for others. Unfortunately, my food habit has changed due to age and health issues and I am not allowed to eat most of my favourite dishes, specially hot and spicy food. I must tell you that I cook very good ‘mutton pasanda' that I learnt from Majrooh Sultanpuri's wife.

"These days, whenever I get time, I cook for my grandchildren," she said with a smile as heart-warming as her songs. 
 

Stock market is all about making handsome gains in a short span of time with small investments, that is what most believe. And why not, the Sensex and Nifty have climbed 20 per cent and 22 per cent respectively in the last one year, from March 15, 2016 to March 14, 2017. If you are one of those dreaming of growing money through investments in equity markets, then here are a few dos and don'ts you must pay heed to.

“Buy in dips and sell in rallies”

If you know the market-related investment strategies than “buy in dips and sell in rallies” rule is among the most talked rules. The rule gives good profit in long term if other factors do not hurt the market sentiments. The rule is simple to remember and easy to implement. But if it is true then how do most people lose their money in the market? The answer, according to some experts, is letting emotions guide your decisions and not making the best strategy.

What experts say

On March 14, Nifty settled at a life-time high of 9,087, surpassing its previous record of 8,996 on March 3, 2015. Therefore, some market analysts are waiting for a correction now. Meanwhile, according to reports, some Mutual Funds (MFs) have stopped new investment in stock markets because the latest bull run is barring them from parking investors money in the markets for their protection.

Notice the indication

It is true that markets do not run in one direction and if it is true then the markets may correct very soon. If we see the previous one year of market run, the Sensex touched 29,045 level on September 8, 2016 and then it fell to 25,765 in around two months' time (November 11, 2016), which is almost 12 per cent dip.

If you are really interested in growing your heard-earned money through equity markets then wait for the right time.

Don’t buy the high or sell the low.

Don’t buy when you see everyone is buying.

Sometimes it is better to focus on specific stocks and forget the benchmark indices.

Identifying the healthy companies and waiting for the right time is perhaps a good investment strategy.

Batsman Adam Voges and left-arm orthodox spinner Xavier Doherty have announced their retirement from international cricket, Cricket Australia declared on Wednesday.

"Western Australian captain Adam Voges, 37, announced his international and state domestic retirement at the end of the Sheffield Shield season, following an international career spanning 10 years and a 15-year career with the Western Warriors since making his first-class debut," CA said in a statement.

Voges, a middle-order batsman, represented Australia in all three formats of the game.

He made his ODI and T20I debuts in 2007, before becoming the oldest player to score a Test century on debut as a 35-year-old against the West Indies in 2015.

Voges featured for his country in 20 Test matches, 31 ODI matches and seven T20Is, and most recently captained the Prime Minister's XI last month.

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said: "Adam has made an outstanding contribution to Australian cricket, and we congratulate him on his achievements with both Australia and Western Australia.

"An exceptional batsman and leader, Adam has represented his country in exemplary fashion not only with his run-scoring feats, but also in the manner with which he conducts himself both on and off the field.

"A relative latecomer to Test cricket at the age of 35, Adam was immediately successful at Test level, which is a testament to both his playing ability and his character to rise to the challenge at the top level."

Voges passed 100 six times at international level — including two Test double-centuries, three more Test centuries and one ODI ton — and finishes his career with a Test batting average (61.87) second only to Don Bradman, for any player to have played 20 or more Test matches.

Doherty represented Australia in all three formats of the game in an international career spanning from 2010 to 2015. The 2015 World Cup winner will continue to be available for the upcoming season of the KFC Big Bash League.

The Tasmanian left-arm orthodox spinner played four Test matches, 60 One-Day Internationals and 11 T20Is for his country.

He made his international debut against Sri Lanka in an ODI in November 2010, and later that month debuted at Test level in the opening match of the 2010-11 Ashes Series against England. 

The 34-year-old has represented Tasmania for more than 15 years, and finishes his international career with more than 70 wickets across all three formats.

"Xavier was an outstanding competitor who always represented Australia to the best of his abilities," Sutherland said.

"Playing in all three formats of the game at international level, Xavier proved he could compete against the best players in the world."

Actress Anushka Sharma on Wednesday said that she never faced nepotism in her decade-long career in Bollywood despite being an outsider.

Actress Kangana Ranaut had called filmmaker Karan Johar the "flag bearer of nepotism" on his talk show, leading to a war of words between the director and the actress.

Anushka, who made her acting debut in 2008 with Aditya Chopra's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, said she got a chance to make it big in the industry without a godfather.

"The production house which launched me, I can't talk like that about them because they gave an outsider like me a chance," Anushka said in an interview here.

The actress said Yash Raj Films could have easily taken an industry kid on board but they have given a chance to many outsiders.

"They did have an option to take any industry kid at that time but Aditya Chopra put faith in me. I can talk about my experience and I've never faced nepotism in any way. Whether this happens or not, everybody has their own experiences. May be it happens but I can never say this about Aditya.

"He has launched all the outsiders. Me, Ranveer Singh, Pareeniti Chopra. Except for Arjun (Kapoor), all the Yash Raj talent are outsiders." 

The 28-year-old actress is currently gearing up for her upcoming production Phillauri, in which she stars opposite Punjabi superstar Diljit Dosanjh.

The romantic-drama chronicles the story of a young man (Suraj Sharma) who meets a friendly spirit (Anushka) after he reluctantly marries a tree to ward off any threats to his love life.

The film is scheduled to release on March 24.

Former Congress Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Wednesday said his party will be a responsible watchdog of the coalition government led by the BJP.

Ibobi was a conspicuous invitee to Wednesday's swearing-in ceremony of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition ministry in Imphal.

Ibobi said that since his party was not given a chance to form the ministry, it will remain a responsible watchdog of the coalition government.

Manipur has had no vibrant opposition for several years. 

Governor Najma Heptullah, who invited the BJP leader N. Biren Singh to form the ministry, said, "The BJP has the requisite numbers. It was in the interest of Manipur to have invited the BJP. Political stability and development are the issues."

Ibobi, who had claimed majority support, could not physically produce the supporters of the Congress before the Governor.

In the March elections, the ruling Congress bagged 28 seats in the 60-member House. The BJP, which had opened accounts in 2015 after a gap of 15 years by winning two seats in the by-elections, got 21 seats.

The Naga People's Front and the National People's Party got four seats each. All India Trinamool Congress, the Lok Janashakti Party and Independents got one seat each.

All the non-Congress parties and the lone Independent are supporting the BJP now, and the coalition has the total strength of 32 as against 28 of the Congress.

The agitating Madhesi Morcha, an alliance of seven political parties, on Tuesday night withdrew its support extended to the Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'-led government on expiry of its seven-day ultimatum, a Morcha leader said on Wednesday.

The deadline of the ultimatum to government ended on Tuesday midnight.

The Madhesi Morcha has now decided to sit in the opposition and said it would be announcing a series of protests.

The Morcha leaders have already written to Parliament Speaker Onsari Gharti, saying they were no more part of the ruling coalition, so they be allowed seats in the opposition row.

"We have withdrawn our support extended to the government, so allot us chairs in the opposition row," Morcha leader Mahendra Raya Yadav said in Parliament on Wednesday.

The Madhesi parties have 39 votes in Parliament, but their withdrawal will not have any immediate bearing on the coalition, as Prachanda still enjoys comfortable majority in the House.

Ahead of the installation of the Prachanda-led government in August 2016, the Morcha had extended support to the government after reaching a three-point agreement, including amendment in the Constitution to make it Madhes friendly and compensation to the victims of the Madhes uprising.

But the government, according to the Morcha leaders, failed to address the demands and understandings reached with Madhesi parties, forcing them to roll back their support. 

A formal decision to withdraw support was expected to be taken by the Morcha later in the day.

After Morcha's ultimatum, Prime Minister Prachanda inducted the fourth largest party — Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) — into the government to ensure the local polls slated for May 14 pass of without any hitches.

The Madhes-based parties have already announced a boycott of the local polls.

The Morcha felt betrayed by the current establishment after Prachanda proposed to amend the Constitution only after the local polls, citing the shortcoming of required two-third votes, according to the agitators. 

Newly-inducted Deputy Prime Minister and RPP Chairman Kamal Thapa said on Tuesday that he joined the government after the Prime Minister assured that there would be no Constitution amendment.

Thapa is against the amendment and holds that if the amendment is put to voting in House, his party would vote against it and withdraw its ministers from the Cabinet.
 

Director Tigmanshu Dhulia will lend his voice to late actor Om Puri's forthcoming film 2006 Varanasi – The Untold.

The first look of the legendary actor's last film was released on March 13. While Puri had completed the shooting of the film, dubbing was still pending.

After the sudden demise of the 66-year-old actor, the makers approached a lot of people from the film industry and have zeroed in on director, writer and actor Dhulia to lend his voice for Puri, a press release issued here said.

"After Om Puri's demise we had approached a couple of his friends from the industry but things didn't work out. We decided to go with Tigmanshu and he will be dubbing for his (Om Puri) part. He immediately agreed to it as a tribute to the actor," producer Mira Marwah of Silver Entertainment said in the statement.

Directed by Aryeman Keshu 2006 Varanasi – The Untold revolves around a controversial writer, who gets intrigued by a bomb blast in the holy city of Varanasi.

Produced by Silver Entertainment and Morning Star the film also stars Raima Sen, Ravi Kishan, Rahul Dev, Mukul Dev and others. It is slated to release this year.

In a fresh twist to the mysteries over deceased Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, another man from the state has emerged as a 'secret son' of the late chief minister and staked claim to her property.

Krishnamurthy, a resident of Erode, has filed a complaint with chief secretary of the state claiming that he is the only son of Jayalalithaa and that his mother was killed.

He alleged that he resides at Jayalalithaa's friend Vanithamani's house along with his adopted parents and that he visited the late chief minister at Poes Garden on September 14, 2016 and stayed with her for four days.

'My mother wanted to introduce me as her son to the world and knowing this an argument broke out between her and Sasikala,' he was quoted as saying to a news agency.

Krishnamurthy said that he had kept quiet, fearing for his life, but has now mustered the courage to reveal the truth.

He also stated that by being the only son of Jayalalithaa he is the rightful owner to her properties.

Allegedly, Krishnamurthy had written a letter to social activist Traffic Ramaswamy, who had advised him to file the complaint.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospital on September 22 after suffering high fever and dehydration. She passed away on December 5 after being in the hospital for 72 days.

Her death caused a major political stir in Tamil Nadu and even disintegrated AIADMK into OPS, Sasikala and Deepa factions.

Meanwhile, a woman namely Priya Lakshmi had come out of the dark claiming that she was the daughter of MGR and Jayalalithaa. However the cops identified her claim as a hoax and arrested her for 'fraud'.

Mocked several times for her not so appealing IQ, Alia Bhat’s unbeatable charm and easy grip on acting has perfectly silenced her trollers. At the young age of 23, she bagged the Best actress award for her stupendous performance of a drug abused girl in Udta Punjab and she got this prestigious award just five years after setting her foot in this industry.

On her birthday, let us have a look at some her breathtaking performances where she has portrayed herself as multi-faceted actress and with every role that she has played, she has outdone herself!

Alia Bhatt as Veera Tripathi in Highway

Although Alia Bhatt was refreshing and charming in her debut film Student of the year, the audience was pleasantly surprised to see a whole new side of Alia Bhatt in Highway. Imtiaz Ali’s Highway was like a stepping stone of her career. The film talked about a lot of social concerns which involves Pedophilia, bondages, utopia/dystopia, parenting and the typical Indian society. Alia portrays the character of a rich girl who gets kidnapped a night before her wedding. Despite of being in custody of a complete stranger, she finds solace. She is freed from all the pretense, bondages and the social life of rich family when she is kidnapped. Alia’s has excellently essayed the vulnerability, the fear, the rawness of Veera’s character.

Alia Bhatt as Tia Malik in Kapoor and Sons

In Kapoor and Sons, once again Alia has a troubled childhood. The happy-go-lucky girl who looks zealous, happy and content actually leads a hollow life. She lost her parents when she was just 13 years old and her only regret in life is that she didn’t speak to her parents properly for the very last time. She wished to say a lot of things but said none of those because she was too angry at her parents for not turning up for her birthday. Tia Malik misses her family more when she meets the dysfunctional Kapoor family. Although the film revolves around the family, Alia manages to draw considerable amount of attention towards her jovial and refreshing character.

Alia Bhatt as Bauria in Udta Punjab

This film had a gamut of reasons to get all the accolades that it has received ever since it has made its way to the theatres. A multi-starrer Udta Punjab had the best of everything which includes a great script, great actors and a great director. Alia Bhatt had to undergo a lot of transformation to get into the skin of her character. She adopted a Bihari diction and mastered. Alia plays a migrant who works on a farm where she finds a bag of heroin. In an attempt to sell it, she gets trapped in the vicious circle of drug dealers there she is raped repeatedly. She only had the desire to become a hockey player and inspite of all the wrong happenings in her life, she hopefully waits for her Acha tayme.

Alia Bhatt as Kiara in Dear Zindagi 

Alia slips into the character 'Kiara' without much effort and she makes it too real for the audience to believe that Alia is just role playing in the movie and this character is not the real Alia. The plot centers around a budding cinematographer Kaira, who is discontented with her life and meets Dr. Jehangir, a free-spirited psychologist,  who helps her to gain a new perspective of  life. 

At a time when India-Pakistan relations are highly strained, an 11-year-old Pakistani girl has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's help for maintaining “peace” between the countries.

The Pakistani girl, Aqeedat Naveed wrote a letter to Modi recently, urging him to improve the bilateral ties.

“Both countries need good relations. Let’s make a peace bridge between India and Pakistan,” she wrote.

Aqeedat, a class five student at Cathedral School, unlike most girls of her age dreams everyone would "buy books instead of bullets”.

“Let’s decide that we will not buy bullets, will buy books. We will not buy guns, will buy medicine for the poor people,” she said.

Congratulating Modi on his party’s unprecedented win in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, Aqeedat said, “Once my father told me that winning of hearts is a marvelous job. But I must tell you if you want to win more Indian and Pakistani hearts, you should take steps towards friendship and peace.”

Aqeedat had previously written letters to other Indian leaders, including External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar among others on various issues.

The terrorist attack in Uri on September 18, 2016 was a final blow to the already strained relationship between the countries.

Nearly 10 days after the Uri attack, India conducted surgical strikes on September 29 in the de facto border of Kashmir, the Line of Control (LoC), in the wake of the increase in infiltration bids. Indian Army’s elite forces entered the LoC barricades with snipers and paratroopers. The commandos were airdropped at the LoC to cross over to the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The strikes were carried out in Pakistan’s Bhimber, Hotspring, Kel and Lipa sectors.

However, Pakistan dismissed the surgical strike, terming it an ‘illusion’.

In another instance, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s speech at the UN General Assembly aggravated the tension between the neighbouring countries as he called Hizbul commander Burhan Wani a “young leader”.

However, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj gave a strong reply, saying, “Neighbours should forget about Kashmir because it’s an integral part of India and will remain so”.

Revisiting the death of Rohith Vemula and the assault against Dalits in Gujarat's Una, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that people of India should hang their heads in shame for not protecting the country's Dalits in the country.

"All of us should hang our heads in shame that we have not been able to stop the persecution of Dallits. Not much has changed in India from the India he (Ambedkar) portrayed," he said.

Speaking on Tuesday evening at the launch of "The Essential Ambedkar," which has been edited by former Planning Commission member Bhalchandra Mungekar, Chidambaram grieved that not much has changed since the days of the Dalit icon.

The event was attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, among others.

Describing Vemula's life as a miracle, Chidambaram said he was "raised as a Dalit" and it is not really significant whether he was actually Dalit or no because he and his peers believed so.

Desperation made him hang himself, Chidambaram said, asking what has changed in India now since the times of Ambedkar.

In "The Essential Ambedkar," the finest extracts from Ambedkar's impressive body of work have been selected and thematically arranged, covering issues such as caste and untouchability, the philosophy of the Hindu religion, the making of the Indian Constitution, the emancipation of women, India's education policy, the Partition and much more.

The book has been published by Rupa publications. The author, Bhalchandra Mungekar is the founder-president of Dr Ambedkar Institute of Social and Economic Change. He is currently a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday snubbed reports of his name being in the race for post of Uttar Pradesh chief minister and said it’s all unnecessary and futile talk.

"All these talks are futile and unnecessary," the Home minister said, replying to a question of his name being in the running for Uttar Pradesh CM.

Rajnath, 65, has served earlier as chief minister and is among the party's most-senior leaders from UP.

As an MP from Lucknow, Rajnath was looked at as a contender by the party leadership but the Union minister hasn’t shown much interest for the post.

Meanwhile, Keshav Prasad Maurya, an MP from Phulpur and one of the names supposedly in consideration for the next chief minister of the state, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

The BJP's unprecedented election victory is a hot topic not only in the political arena, but it is also also making new waves in the filmdom.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his election rally at Mau district in Uttar Pradesh, had referred  to SS Rajamouli 's film Baahubali.

Now that the election results are out, Modi's Baahubali comment has resurfaced. 

The video of Modi contextualizing UP's election scenario with the plot of Baahubali has gone viral on social media.

The trailer to Baahubali: The Conclusion is all set to be unveiled on March 16, 2017, with the film set to go on floors on April 28. 

It's been more than two years since Australia cricketer Phillip Hughes breathed his last, but former captain Michael Clarke still has his phone number saved on his mobile.

Hughes was killed during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on November 25, 2014 after being hit in the neck by a bouncer. The blow had caused a vertebral artery dissection that led to a subarachnoid haemorrhage. 

Hughes died in a Sydney hospital two days later. He was 25.

Talking at the launch of his autobiography titled "My Story" here on Tuesday, Clarke also added that Hughes was the reason which prompted him to write the book.

"It's still very emotional for me to talk about. The incident is one of the reasons for me to write the book. To get through that period, I spent that time writing it to show his family and the world how I feel. I feel it a big part of my responsibility to be Australian cricket captain and lead from the front for my teammate," the 35-year old said while interacting with former India captain Sourav Ganguly and cricket historian Boria Majumdar at the Fanattic Sports Museum here.

"Apart from that, it'a a big responsibility as one of Phillip's closest friends to be there for his family and for his other friends. I don't I did anything different than he would have done for me if I had been in his position. 

It took me longer to accept he is not there. I still have his mobile phone number in my phone. It's still very hard for me to fathom that he is no longer with us," Clarke, who struggled to hold back tears as he paid tribute to his friend after the tragic death on November 27, 2014 said.

Clarke lauded current India skipper Virat Kohli's gesture of attending Hughes' funeral in his hometown of Macksville. Kohli had attended the event accompanied by then team manager Ravi Shastri and then coach Duncan Fletcher. 

The first of the four Tests of the series between India and Australia in 2014 was also postponed from December 4 to December 9 in Adelaide.

"The way (Virat) handled that situation, he came for the funeral and had some of the Indian players too. I have utmost respect for him because of that. 

"This is clearly above the game of cricket and they didn't need to postpone the game. They could not have turned up for the funeral. They didn't have to do anything that they did. I will always remember that," Clarke said.

Sixteen year-old singer, Indian Idol Junior 2’s runner-up Nahid Afrin has a fatwa issued against her by 46 Mullahs as they claim that singing, dancing and drama are against Islam and Sharia.

Nahid debuted in Bollywood by singing Rajj rajjke for the movie Akira,

The singer said she is not afraid and would not stop singing or performing till her death.

"I was broken completely after hearing about the 'fatwa'. But I am not going to stop singing. I have received hundreds of calls and messages from the people of Assam and different organisations supporting me." Afrin said.

Celebrities and public figures took to Twitter to show their support to this brave-heart.

Chief Minister of Assam Sarbanand Sonowal condemned the fatwa and tweeted “We strongly condemn putting restrictions on performance by young talented singer Nahid Afrin by some organisations.”

Activist and author Taslima Nasreen showed her support to Afrin with her tweet: “After getting fatwa from 46 mullahs in Assam, 16 yrs old Nahid Afrin said she'll never bow down and will never leave singing. Bravo girl!”

Gaurav Gogoi, MP, Assam posted on Facebook: “Nahid Afrin is a young talented singer. Fatwas should be against issues which hold our communities back such as illiteracy and lack of medical awareness.”

Twitteratis used the hashtag #WeSupportNahid in their tweets to show their support to the young singer.