The Indian Navy is using its US-made spy aircraft to track a Chinese submarine that is passing through the Bay of Bengal as part of a four-month anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden, reports The Telegraph. Both India and the US believe that this deployment has no operational logic. In March last year, the Navy had warned that a Chines submarine that had passed close to India was capable of "mapping the coastline". And last week, US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift said on his visit to India, "It's hard for me as a maritime commander to understand how a submarine can support anti-piracy operations".

The people charged with abetment of suicide after Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula hanged himself on Sunday may be tried under the tough new Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2015, which states that the "social or economic boycott" of Dalits or tribals is a punishable offence with a jail term of up to five years, reports the Hindustan Times. Union minister for labour and employment Bandaru Dattatreya, University of Hyderabad vice chancellor Appa Rao and two activists from the right wing students' party ABVP have been booked in the case. The Act was passed by Parliament a month ago.

In an open letter to PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, working president of the National Conference, asked her to either take charge as the chief minister of the state, or have the state assembly dissolved, reports The Telegraph. J&K has been under Governor's Rule since 7 January when Mehbooba's father, chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, died. Though Mehbooba will be the state's new chief minister, she is yet to take the oath. "Taking over now is not a sign of being power hungry, but not taking over is certainly an abuse of the trust the people placed in you and your party," Abdullah said.

The BJP is facing a concerted attack by all its opposition parties over the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula on Sunday, reports The Hindustan Times. On Monday, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi called for the resignations of union minister Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya, who had emailed the vice chancellor of Hyderabad University on five occasions to suspend Vemula and four others for making anti-national statements. Other parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Trinamool Congress, and the CPI(M) are sending fact-finding teams, and Arvind Kejriwal, chief of the Aam Aadmi Party, called Vemula's death 'murder'. Dattatreya, the university vice chancellor and two members of the right wing ABVP have been charged with abetting Vemula's suicide.

Two of the terrorists who attacked the air force base at Pathankot on 2 January may have been "insiders", reports The Economic Times. Sources from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said only four of the terrorists were identified as intruders into India, and only four AK47 guns were used. The black corner notice that India will send to Interpol also mentions only four suspects killed during the attack. Forensic reports and call logs of phones recovered from the attack sites will be examined to identify the two "insiders" who could be air base personnel or their family members, or locals from the vicinity.

Militants stormed into the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province early on Wednesday and opened fire.

According to reports, a professor two students, and two militants are among the 20 who have been killed in the attack. The Indian Express reported that 50 people have been wounded in the attack.

Pakistan Express Tribune reported that Tehreek-e-Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack. Read the full story here.