DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY DASTARDLY, COWARDLY ATTACK, SAYS OMAR Seven employees of infra company gunned down in Kashmir terror attack The workers were engaged in building tunnel on Srinagar-Sonamarg road Gagangir, BASHAARAT MASOOD INSIDE 24 FLIGHTS GET BOMB THREATS SHINDE SENA DROPS LANKESH CASE ACCUSED PAGES 6 & 7 SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 20 SEVEN EMPLOYEES of an infrastructure company, including a doctorfromKashmir,werekilled in a terror attack on a camp housing workers near the Sonamarg health resort on the Srinagar-Leh national highway. Five employees were also injured in the attack. This is the first major attack in the Valley on construction workers of a large infrastructure project, and has taken place in a region that has witnessed little Ganderbal site of the attack Gund Srinagar-Leh Road Srinagar Pahalgam ornopresenceof militantsinthe last decade. Police sources said that on Sundayevening,suspectedmilitants opened fire on a camp set upbytheconstructioncompany, Security forces cordon off the site of the terror attack at Gagangir in Ganderbal district on Sunday. PTI which is building the Z-Morh tunnel near Gagangir on the Srinagar-Sonamargroad.Sources saidthemenwerehavingdinner when the attack took place. According to a J&K govern- BJP first off the block in Maharashtra: Fadnavis, Chavan daughter in list EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, OCTOBER 20 TAKING THE lead in announcing nominees for the November 20 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, the BJP on Sunday released its first list of 99 candidates, retaining 80 of its sitting MLAs. The party, which is likely to contest around 160 of the total 288seats,iscurrentlyengagedin tough bargaining with its ruling allies — Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-ledShivSenaandDeputy ChiefMinisterAjitPawar-ledNCP — for the rest of the seats. In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP had won 105 of the 164 seats it contested in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena. Prominent among those figuring in the BJP’s first list are DeputyChief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule. WhileFadnaviswillcontestfrom his traditional Nagpur South West constituency, Bawankule, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HC gives Bahraich residents 15 days to respond to demolition notices of PWD LUCKNOW, OCTOBER 20 THE ALLAHABAD High Court on Sunday granted 15 days to a section of residents of Maharajganj villageinUttarPradesh’sBahraich districttorespondtothedemolition notices served on them by the Public Works Department (PWD)inthewakeof communal clashes in the area last week. Earlier, the residents were PAGE 12 given only three days to reply, maintaining that the failure to respondtothenoticeswithinthe stipulated time will lead to the demolition of structures and the costof removingthesewillberecovered from their owners. A special division bench of Justices Subhash Vidyarthi and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 5 MORE ARRESTED PAGE 4 DELHI-OTTAWA ROW OVER NIJJAR KILLING Khalistan extremists Canada deep assets, Trudeau destroyed ties: Indian envoy As he left for India, Verma accused ‘some G7 countries’ of extrajudicial killings SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 20 AS HE headed home to India after New Delhi rejected Ottawa’s allegations linking him to the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma said there was “mistrust” towards Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau andhisteam,thatKhalistanseparatists were being “being encouraged all the time” and were “deepassets”of theCanadianintelligence agency. Questioning the political independenceof theCanadianpolice, Verma, in an interview to CTV News aired Sunday, said Trudeau“destroyedtherelationship” with India. He also said “some G7 countries” have committed extrajudicial killings. Althoughhemaintainedthat the Canadians have not shared a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E IndianHigh Commissioner SanjayKumar Verma Signalsnot ● endofties THE OUTGOING Indian High Commissioner has targeted Trudeau, the Canadian police and accused Canadian intelligence of using Khalistan separatists as assets. But like the Canadian envoy, he maintained that people-to-people and business ties should not be impacted. NAFED post goes to Agriculture official, week later to Cooperation AddlchargetoShah-ledMinistrybyACC thathashimandPM ● MVA seat-sharing: Amid impasse, Sena, Cong call on Pawar PAGE 10 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 87 KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKES IN GAZA PAK SENATE CLEARS CONTROVERSIAL BILL 2024 ● JMM-Congress discord out in the open ment official, the injured workers told them that two men came, snapped the electricity and opened fire at the camp. The employees are from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu, and include a safety managerandamechanicalmanager. The doctor, sources said, wasaresidentof Budgamincentral Kashmir. Out of the five injured workers, two are from Kashmir, two from Jammu, and one from Bihar. They have been shifted to SKIMS, Srinagar for specialised treatment. Seniorpoliceofficers,including Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat and Inspector Generalof PoliceKashmirVirdhi THE WORLD DECISION DAYS AFTER COMMUNAL VIOLENCE EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 EXPLAINED MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES HARIKISHAN SHARMA Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during the inauguration and foundation stone laying of various projects, in Varanasi, Sunday. PTI INAUGURATES PROJECTS WORTH `6,700 CRORE IN VARANASI Will bring 1 lakh youth who have no political link into politics: PM EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE LUCKNOW, OCTOBER 20 WARNING AGAINST nepotism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he was planning to bring 1 lakh young people, whose families have no political connections, into politics. He was speaking in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, after inaugurated a slew of projects worth over Rs 6,700 crore in the aviation, education, health, sports, and tourism sectors. Varanasi will witness a “new era of development”, he said. The Prime Minister congratulated Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over development in the state, which RELATED REPORT KASHI WILL EMERGE AS A BIG CENTRE OF HEALTHCARE: PM PAGE 3 the PM said was now known as the “Expressway state” while earlier it used to face taunts for theconditionof itsroads.Healso said UP has the most number of international airports, and soon another one will be built in Jewar. The state is becoming a major centre of investment and employment, Modi said. “Ten years ago, news of government scams used to be all over the place. But today, news of the country’s development is a topic of discussion in every household,” he said. PM Modi urged young people to be cautious of “parivarvad (nepotism)”. “The youth should be cautious of nepotism as it harms the country and the youth… We will bring 1 lakh youth into politics who do not have any previous political connections,” he said. Arguing that society can developonlywhenwomenareempowered, Modi said the government was helping women start businesses through initiatives like the MUDRA loan scheme. Theschemeallowssmallandmicro enterprises to avail bank loans of up to Rs 10 lakh. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 20 A WEEK after Union Agriculture MinisterShivrajSinghChouhan’s decision to assign additional charge of Managing Director, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), toanAgricultureMinistryofficial, theAppointmentsCommitteeof NAFEDisregisteredunder theMultiStateCo-operative SocietiesActandcomes underMinistryof Agriculture the Cabinet (ACC) entrusted chargeof theposttoanofficialof the Ministry of Cooperation. The ACC, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has Amit Shah, Union Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation, as its only other ministerial member. It is responsible for appointing senior officials to key positions in the Central government,publicsectorundertakings CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As trade gap with UAE, ASEAN widens, India pauses talks with others RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 20 ‘US-India health partnership is vital to protect the world from future pandemics’ DR VIVEK MURTHY SURGEON GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES PAGE 14 AFTER A series of free trade agreements (FTAs) that have proved more beneficial to partner countries, India is adopting a more cautious negotiating strategy,temporarilypausingtalksfor trade pacts with smaller countries such as Oman and Peru. The Commerce Ministry is working on developing a fresh Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) aimed at addressing the “lack of consistent and streamlined” procedures for negotiating future trade agreements. Thiscomesafterseveraltrade agreements, including the pact withtheUAEthatcameintoeffect inFebruary2022andtheonewith theAssociationofSoutheastAsian Nations(ASEAN)signedwayback in 2010, have resulted in significantly higher imports of goods compared to exports, and concerns over potential breaching of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Delhi is a city of secrets...everything’s hidden, you need a good guide’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR NIRBHAY THAKUR NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 20 IT’S AN international city. It’s a city of secrets and cafes, of layers and amazing contrasts. It isn’t one city, it’s a dozen or more cities built on top of each other and rebuilt and abandoned and rediscovered. If you want to experience humanity at its fullest, this is the city for you. This,inessence,iswhatDelhi means to US Ambassador Eric Garcetti. “I’ve been coming since I was 14 but this has been home for the last year-and-a-half,” he says. In a way, Garcetti is also a bit like the city. He is a former naval officer. He was Mayor of Los Angeles — twice. He has studied Hindi,andIndiancultureandhistory,atColumbiaUniversity,from whereheholdsaMaster’sdegree from the School of International and Public Affairs. As a Rhodes Scholar,hestudiedatTheQueen’s College, Oxford, and the London SchoolofEconomicsandPolitical Science. He is also a pianist and photographer. Garcetti, the 26th US Ambassador to India, spoke to The Indian Express for the first in a series of interviews with Ambassadors about Delhi — their home. Edited excerpts: What is your favourite spot in Delhi? It’s difficult to pick one... but I think the place I spent the most time (during this stint) was Lodhi Garden. You see kids playing, athletes practicing, couples holdinghands,weddingpictures being taken, and yoga classes, all surrounded by history. It’s a very unique place in the world to see the collision of the modern and the ancient living in harmony... Delhi reminds me a lot of my hometown, Los Angeles. Everything’shidden,soyouneed a good guide. It’s a city of secrets andif youpassyoursecretsonto your friends, it’s almost like a scavenger hunt to find the best places. Much of Delhi is hidden behind walls or complexes or neighbourhoods. It’s very different from New York or Mumbai where it’s just, ‘Here I am, take me.’ I think cities like Delhi and Los Angeles say, ‘Here I am, but you have to find me’. US Ambassador Eric Garcetti at an eatery in the city. File Can you list 3 things that have stood out in your stay so far. I think the biggest surprise wasridingtheMetro...howclean, modern,andefficientitis.It’sone of thebestintheworld.Thepink car for women also stood out. It is a place where you see the future of India coming up. Thesecondiscafelife.Delhiis definitely a city of cafes. I like going to Santushti. There’s a little cafe...Ithinkit'scalledCaféFlora. It’s where I’ve met the smartest peopleintheworld.Everybody’s a polymath — they’re like, ‘I was an ambassador. Here’s my book of poetry and I’m working on a TV series’. Conversations fuel this city. I would tell any diplomat, ‘Don’t just do business, ex- perience living in this great city’ —arguablythesecondbiggestin the world, but also the deepest city I’ve lived in, intellectually and culturally. Third, this is a city of such amazing contrast. You can go to the spice market in Old Delhi or get a cup of tea from a chaiwala on the streets. Later, you can be at a brand-new mall... In certainparts of the world, you could havetheancientandit’sstillalive and beautiful. In other cities, you have the modern. There are few cities where you could go 10-20 minutes away and see the past and future collide... CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow