SATURDAY 26 Dec 17 APRIL, 2025 RUSSIAN GENERAL KILLED IN CAR BOMB AS U.S. ENVOY MEETS PUTIN WAS WHEN A SIMILAR BOMB KILLED LT GENERAL IGOR KIRILLOV epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard TRUMP CRIMEA WILL STAY WITH RUSSIA US Prez said Crimea will stay with Russia, the latest example of Trump pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege. PAGE 9 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS NEW DELHI J8.00 A Russian general was killed by a car bomb on Friday in the second such attack in four months; Russia pointed fingers at Ukraine for the hit PAGES 12 Amit Shah holds meet to discuss ways to stop water flow into neighbouring country, asks CMs to trace and deport Pak nationals ‘Won’t allow a drop of water flow into Pak’ M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi HOME Minister Amit Shah on Friday held a high-level meeting with Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil to chalk out the strategy to stop the flow of water from Indian rivers into Pakistani territory . Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Patil said that the Centre has formulated a comprehensive plan to prevent the flow of water from Indian rivers into Pakistan. “A roadmap was prepared in the meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Three options were discussed in the meeting. T he gover nment is wo rk i n g o n s h o r t - t e r m , medium-term, and long-term measures so that not even a drop of water goes to Pakistan. Soon, desilting of rivers will be done to stop the water and divert it,” Patil said. It was also decided to inform the World Bank, the mediator of the Indus Waters Treaty, of the suspension of the pact. Officials said the government also decided to raise the storage and operational capacity of EXPRESS READ KOTA US national detained for forced conversion An American citizen, identified as Colleen, has been detained in Kota on charges of religious conversion. He, along with his father-in-law Joy Mathew, is alleged to have incited members of the Bhil community to convert by luring them with money and food. Colleen also faces charges of violating visa regulations. AFFIDAVIT Waqf Act is valid, Centre tells SC T’GANA CM SEEKS REVENGE dams on the rivers covered under the treaty, which governs water sharing of six rivers in the Indus basin between the two countries. On Thursday, India had formally communicated to Pakistan about its intent to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty . Earlier in the day Shah called , up the chief ministers of all states and asked them to identify all Pakistani nationals in their respective jurisdictions and take immediate steps to ensure their prompt return to their country, sources said. Later, Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a video conference with the chief secretaries of all states and directed them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the fixed deadline. The Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by PM Naren, dra Modi, on Wednesday decided to cancel all visas granted to Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were shot dead. MORE REPORTS ON P5, 7 & 8 Pledging complete support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the Pahalgam terror attack, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy urged him to “launch an attack on Pakistan” and integrate Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) into the Indian Union. “it is the time for a strong reply,” he said FLIGHTS CANCELLED IndiGo has cancelled flights to Almaty and Tashkent due to the closure of Pakistan’s airspace. About 50 international routes operated by IndiGo may be subject to schedule adjustments, the airline said AFTER an almost two-and-ahalf-year gap, the BJP reclaimed power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Friday as Raja Iqbal , Singh became the new mayor. Of the 142 votes cast, BJP nominee Singh received 133 votes, Congress candidate Mandeep Singh got eight, while one vote was declared invalid. After Congress candidate Ariba Asif Khan withdrew her nomination, BJP’s Jai Bhagwan Yadav was elected as deputy mayor. With the AAP boycotting the election and the Congress re- The house of Adil Thokar, linked to the attack, being demolished in Bijbhera, in Anantnag | PTI HOUSES OF 2 LASHKAR TERRORISTS LINKED TO TERROR PLOT RAZED F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar SENDING a loud and clear message that acts of terror will not be tolerated, the houses of two Lashkar-eToiba ter rorists, whose names figured during investigation into the Pahalgam terror attack, were demolished by security forces in Tral and Bijbehara area of south Kashmir. This is the first such instance in J&K in over three decades long terrorism. The two terrorists were identified as Asif Sheikh from Monaghama area of Tral in Pulwama and Adil Hussain Thokar from Bijbehara area of Anantnag. Sources said the houses were blown up by security forces after planting IEDs. Their family members were evicted from the houses before they were demolished. Sources said both Asif and Adil’s name had cropped up during investigation in Tuesd ay ’s t e r r o r a t t a c k a t Baisaran, Pahalgam in which 25 tourists and a local resident were killed. While Adil was one of the duced to a marginal presence, the saffron party comfortably swept the civic posts, solidifying its control over the city through the Centre. In his first announcement after the election, Singh said that the BJP-run MCD would immediately scrap user charges for garbage collection to relieve residents. The MCD, in a statement on April 8, said the government had notified the Solid Waste Management Bylaws in January 2018 for the three municipal corporations in the city It . said from this financial year, house owners will find user charges for garbage collection from residential units added to their property tax bill. “As per the said bylaws, a ‘user fee’ is to be collected to provide services for garbage collection, transportation, and disposal of solid waste,” the statement said. The decision was criticised by citizens, who questioned how the user The Centre on Friday defended the amended Waqf Act in the Supreme Court and opposed any “blanket stay” by the court on a “law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament”. In a affidavit, the Centre urged the SC to dismiss the petitions challenging the validity of the act. | P7 Patkar nabbed in defamation case, released on bail; Sentence stayed three attackers involved in the attack, Sheikh is suspected to be involved in the conspiracy The police re. leased sketches of three attackers, including Adil, and announced a bounty of `20 lakh each. “It is a loud and clear message to terrorists and their sympathisers that such attacks will not be tolerated. This will act as a deterrent to prevent such attacks in future,” a security official said. He said that there are clear cut orders to crush all those involved in the terror attack. charges could be collected only from those paying property tax but not from those who didn’t pay property tax but generated garbage every day . Singh said the priority of the triple-engine government would be to ensure sanitation, desilting of drains ahead of monsoon rains, flattening the curve of garbage mountains, improve the health and education system, and abolishing inspector raj from the corporation on a priority basis. He said the BJP would try to form the Standing Committee within a month and coordinate with the government to ensure people face no problems. P3 DEPUTY MAYOR FROM BJP BJP’s Raja Iqbal Singh defeated Mandeep Singh of Congress to secure the top civic post, while AAP boycotted the election. Jai Bhagwan Yadav of BJP was elected as deputy mayor after Congress candidate Ariba Khan withdrew her nomination. HOURS after her arrest by Delhi Police, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar was released upon furnishing a probation bond and depositing `1 lakh in compensation in a city court on Friday The social activist . was taken into custody following a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against her in a 23-year-old defamation case filed by Lieutenant-Governor V K Saxena. The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed the sentence of Patkar in a criminal defamation case filed against her by Saxena in 2001. Justice Shalinder Kaur issued the order during the CASE DATES post-lunch session, following BACK TO 2000 an urgent petition submitted The case, by Patkar. Earlier in the day dating back to , Patkar, soon after her arrest, 2000 involves had withdrawn her appeal Medha Patkar against the conviction, but accusing V K later re-approached the court Saxena of with a fresh petition chal- mortgaging lenging both the conviction resources of and the sentencing order de- Gujarat to livered by the trial court. foreign The arrest came after interests. Patkar failed to appear in court on April 23 to comply with her sentencing conditions, namely the submission of a , probation bond and payment of the fine. After the arrest, she was presented before Saket Court where Patkar’s counsel submitted that the NBW had been executed, affirming that the probation order remained valid as she was now present before the court. Additional Sessions Judge Vipin Kharb then orally directed her release, conditional upon the furnishing of the probation bonds and payment of the compensation amount, after her counsel assured the court that the earlier order would be duly complied with. NUCLEAR US-IRAN TALKS FOR DEAL BEGIN IN OMAN Negotiations between Iran and the US over Tehran’s N-programme will return on Saturday to Oman, where experts on both sides will start hammering out the technical details of a possible deal. | P9 SC censures Rahul for ‘irresponsible’ remarks on Savarkar, stays HC order S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi FIR Adivasi not a caste, says J’khand HC Observing that “Adivasi is not a caste”, the Jharkhand HC has quashed an FIR lodged against a government officer under the ST/ SC Act. A person can’t be treated as an SC/ST member unless their caste/tribe is specifically included in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order or the relevant Presidential notifications, it said. Friday’s bombing came just as US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for the protracted Ukraine conflict. The meeting is their fourth encounter since February. Witkoff and Putin discussed the possibility of renewing direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. | P9 S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi BJP reclaims MCD, Raja Iqbal Singh mayor A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi Signs of direct talks between Kyiv, Moscow DESERT STORM A picture shared by KonarkCorps, one of the two corps of Pune-based Southern Command, on ‘X’ shows mechanised forces of Battle Axe Division validating battlefield drills in deserts of Rajasthan on Friday | KONARKCORPS VIA PTI PHOTO IN a major relief to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Allahabad High Court refusing to quash summons against him in a defamation case for his remarks against V D Savarkar. The court, however, censured Gandhi for his “irresponsible” remarks against Savarkar. “Issue notice. Stay on impugned order (of the Allahabad High Court),” the court said. The two-judge bench headed by Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Manmohan cautioned Gandhi to not repeat such “irresponsible” statements. “Let us not mock our freedom fighters,” the bench said. The court asked Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, if his client knew that his grandmother (former PM Indira Gandhi) also sent a let- ter to Savarkar praising him? “How can he make irresponsible statements on our freedom fighters without knowing history the bench said. Warning ,..” Gandhi not to criticize freedom fighters, the court said any further statement by him will be taken up on a suo motu basis. During his Bharat Jodo Yatra at a rally in Maharashtra’s Akola district, on November 17, 2022, Gandhi had allegedly said that “V D Savarkar was a British servant who received a pension.” Aggrieved by this comment, advocate Nripendra Pandey had filed a complaint against Gandhi in Lucknow. 24 OCTOBER 1940—25 APRIL 2025 Kasturirangan: A visionary who gave a lift-off to India’s space achievements MYLSWAMY ANNADURAI K RISHNASWAMY Kasturirang an, for mer chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is no more. Starting as an X-ray astronomer while growing up in positions, his scholastic services and accomplishments in the fields of science, technology and education have , left an indelible mark. India started her national space programme in a very humble way in the late 1960s, when the US and the erstwhile USSR made their presence felt with the lunar missions. It was during Kasturirangan’s tenure, stretching nine long years as chairman of ISRO (1994-2003) that the Indian space programme smoothly graduated from the experimental phase to the operational phase in the areas of earth observation satellites, communication satellites, and launch services. His visionary approach made ISRO boldly venture into commercial space, also leasing 10 transponders of INSAT-2E satellite to INTELSAT – an International consortium for communication satellites, for $10 million as early as 1999. It is through this service that Indian households were able to watch cable TV programmes in regional languages and Indian TV programmes Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan reached out to 47 countries. Kasturirangan took ISRO’s slogan of “Space for Society” in a true spirit when he came out with the thematic space missions: EDUSAT for tele education; INSATs/GSATs for telemedicine and communication; RESOURCESAT for earth resources; METSAT for meteorology; OCEANSAT for oceanography; CARTOSAT for cartography; Meghatropique for earth science; ASTROSAT for space science; and CHANDRAYAAN-1 for planetary science. His initiative to translate the benefits of space to the real last- mile users brought in a system called National Natural Resource Management System, wherein many government departments including agriculture, town planning, water resource management, fisheries, health, education, etc, were enabled to harness the benefits. It was during Kasturirangan’s tenure that ISRO’s launch vehicles PSLV and GSLV were made operational, making ISRO a complete national space agen- cy on the lines of advanced space-faring countries. It was Kasturirangan’s historic lecture on National Technology Day in 1998 ideating a technical possibility of India placing a satellite around the Moon (Chandrayaan-1) using the PSLV launcher that germinated into a full-fledged project report in 2003. (The author former director ISRO , , Satellite Centre, worked with Dr Kasturirangan from 1982 to 2003)
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