DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ARMY PROMISES INTERIM GOVT AFTER ESCALATING STUDENT PROTESTS LEAD TO HER EXIT — AND A POLITICAL VACUUM Hasina falls, flees; Army takes Dhaka Celebration and uncertainty as protesters storm her home; son rules out her comeback RUMA PAUL & SUDIPTO GANGULY DHAKA, AUGUST 5 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2021-23 34 tiger deaths in Bandhavgarh, nine more in Shahdol: SIT flags lapses ANAND MOHAN J BHOPAL, AUGUST 5 INSUFFICIENT INVESTIGATION into possible poaching cases, lapses during postmortem, and medical negligence leading to deaths — these are some of the red flags raised by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that waslookingintothedeathsof 43 tigersbetween2021and2023in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (34 deaths) and Shahdol Forest Circle (9 deaths). TheSIT,headedbyStateTiger Strike Force in-charge Ritesh Sarothia, submitted its report to actingPrincipalChiefConservator of Forests (PCCF) on May 14 and thePrincipalChiefConservatorof Forest & Head of the Forest Force (PCCF-HoFF) on July 15. Accordingtothereport,there appeared to be insufficient investigation into at least 10 cases of tiger deaths. There was a “lack CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Sheikh Hasina leaves Dhaka in a helicopter; people greet Army personnel in Dhaka as they celebrate her resignation; protesters vandalise Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s statue. PTI, Reuters, ANI Hasina lands in India, meets Doval, taken to safe house; set to go to UK SHUBHAJIT ROY & MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, AUGUST 5 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY HOURS AFTER she resigned as Bangladesh Prime Minister and fled the country, Sheikh Hasina landed in India — at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad — on Mondayevening,whereshemet National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Sources said she was taken to a “safe house”, and is likely to travel to the United Kingdom (UK). Hasina’sunceremoniousexit andtheturmoilonDhakastreets has got India worried and concerned that the popular anger against her may also singe Delhi, seen as a trusted ally and supporter of the Awami League. On Monday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and took stock of the situation in Bangladesh. Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE EDITORIAL PAGE WATCHING DHAKA By SHYAM SARAN EXIT HASINA Former Bangladesh PM has reaped wages of authoritarian politics. Delhi should work to limit damage, protect ties PAGE 12 EXPLAINED STRATEGY INDIA & HASINA: A 50-YEAR-OLD BOND PAGE 11 MOREREPORTS,PAGES5,14 New Delhi needs to deal with new Dhaka: 5 challenges beyond 1971 Identified with Hasina, must reach out to Opp, realise it can’t shape Bangla politics C RAJA MOHAN WARSAW, AUGUST 5 E INDIA WILL need much political and diplomatic skill in ● dealing with the consequences of the fall of Sheikh Hasina that couldrattlethegeopoliticsof the subcontinent, if not reshape it. EXPLAINED BANGLADESH PRIME Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on Monday after hundreds of people were killed in a crackdown on demonstrations that began as protests against job quotas and swelled into a movement demanding her downfall. Jubilantcrowdsstormedinto the opulent grounds of the presidential residence unopposed, carryingoutlootedfurnitureand TVs.Onemanbalancedaredvelvet, gilt-edged chair on his head. Another held an armful of vases. Elsewhere in Dhaka, protesters climbed atop a statue of Hasina's father, state founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and began chiselling away at the head with an axe. The flight into exile — she landed at the Hindon airbase near Delhi in the evening and was taken to a safe house for the night, while her likely destination is London (see accompanying report) — ended a 15-year second stint in power for Hasina (76), who has ruled for 20 of the last 30 years as leader of the Five broad questions stand out for Indian statecraft in a crisis that has just begun to unfold. First, can India stand by its friends? The Indian establishment has certainly ensured that Hasina was flown to safety before the angry protestors broke through to her residence in Dhaka. The story was quite different 50 years ago, when Delhi CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Hasina with PM Narendra Modi during her visit to India in June this year. File Rattled by US and Japan, markets crash over 2.5% on global sell-off HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, AUGUST 5 DOMESTICSTOCKmarketindices SensexandNiftycrashedover2.5 percent—theirbiggestfallintwo months—asfearof arecessionin theUS,theunwindingofYencarry trades after the Bank of Japan hiked interest rate and geopoliticaltensionsintheMiddleEastrat- tledinvestorsresultingintheselling of riskier assets. The BSE’s 30-share Sensex plunged 2,222.55 points, or 2.74 percent,tocloseat78,759.40and the Nifty 50 fell 2.68 per cent, or 662.1points,tofinishat24,055.6. During the intraday trades, both indices declined over 3 per cent. Thisisthesharpestsingle-dayfall since June 4, when Sensex and Nifty tanked 6 per cent after the Lok Sabha election results were announced. The market capitalisation, or thetotalvalueof alllistedshares, of the BSE-listed firms dropped by Rs 15 lakh crore to Rs 441.84 lakh crore on Monday, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE REPORTS PAGE 15 Explain process behind inclusions in OBC list, top court asks Bengal EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, AUGUST 5 THESUPREMECourtonMonday asked the West Bengal government to explain the process it followed to classify 77 communities, mostly Muslim, as Other Backward Class (OBC), making them eligible for reservation benefits. Asking the state if there was quantifiable data to show the backwardness of the communi- ties so included, a three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud also sought to know if the state had undertaken any consultation for the sub-classification of OBCs. The top court was hearing an appeal by the West Bengal government challenging a May 22 Calcutta High Court order cancellingallOBCcertificatesissued since 2010. In its order, the HC had held that “religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion” for granting OBC sta- tus to the 77 communities. While issuing notices to the private litigants, the SC bench, also comprising Justices JB PardiwalaandManojMisra,asked the state to file an affidavit “explaining the process followed for classification of 77 communities as OBCs : (1) the nature of survey (and)(2)whethertherewasalack of consultation with the Commission (state backward panel)inrespectofanycommunities in the list of 77 communities CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Behind Valley’s terror dip: Sprawling security net and a hard clampdown NAVEED IQBAL SRINAGAR, AUGUST 5 5 YEARS SINCE AUG 5 AN EXPRESS SERIES PART-2 SECURITY TOMORROW Why fingers crossed over polls in J&K ON JUNE 16 this year, after a security review in New Delhi, UnionHomeMinisterAmitShah directed the security apparatus inJ&Kto“replicatethesuccesses achieved in Kashmir valley through area domination plan and zero terror plan in Jammu division”. A stringent security clampdown in Kashmir has ensured minimum casualty for the uniformed forces and also civilians over the last five years. With the theatre of violence shifting to Jammu, the number of security personnel killed there in 2023 tripled to 21. In contrast, last year saw 11 deaths of security per- P10 THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW ‘I WILL WORK TOWARDS A FINE BALANCE WITH ELECTED GOVT’ MANOJ SINHA LT GOVERNOR, JAMMU & KASHMIR sonnel in the Valley. The number of “militancy related incidents” has also steadily dropped in the Valley since J&K lost its special status and the erstwhile state was split into two Union territories. There are several factors to the sense of “control” established in Kashmir over the last fiveyears,sourcesinthesecurity establishmentsaid.Fromcutting the wings of mainstream political parties to a hard stop of recruitmenttolocalmilitantranks, cracking down on separatists, booking supporters of militants under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA, and holding back service verifications for those with alleged links to militancy, the government trained its guns on what it calls the “terror ecosystem”. Besides bringing J&K directly under the Centre’s control as an CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata