DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ALUDEIDBASEATTACKEDBYSHORT-RANGE, medium-range ballistic missiles, no casualties: US MATCHEDNUMBEROFBOMBSDROPPED by US, mighty and successful response: Iran IRANINFORMEDU.S.VIADIPLOMATIC channels before missile attack, says report War widens: Iran hits US base in Qatar SYRIA Tel Aviv Tehran Baghdad IRAQ ISRAEL IRAN ia rs Pe SAUDI ARABIA Qatar home to over 8 lakh Indians, Delhi monitors situation, alerts its nationals n QATAR Al Udeid Gu lf Doha Strait of Hormuz SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 Qatar condemns attack, Bahrain suspends flights in its airspace DUBAI, JUNE 23 IRANLAUNCHEDmissileattacks Monday on a United States military base in Qatar, retaliating for theAmericanbombingof itsnuclear sites and escalating tensions in the volatile region. A US defence department official confirmed the missile attack but said no casualties have been reported. The official said thattheAlUdeidAirBasewasattacked by short-range and medium-rangeballisticmissiles. The US is continuing to monitor the situation, said the official. (Reuters adds: Iran, which had been warned by Washington not to retaliate or face massive US military action, had informed the US via two diplomatic channels hours ahead of the attack, as well as Qatari authorities, a senior regional source told Reuters.) Qatarcondemnedtheattack, but said it successfully inter- BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY cepted the missiles and no casualties were reported. It said its airspace is now safe. Shortly after the attack, the Gulf nation of Bahrain that is home to the US 5th Fleet headquarterstemporarilysuspended flights in its airspace, which is similar to what Qatar did shortly before it was hit. Iran said the attack in Qatar matched the number of bombs dropped by the US on its nuclear sites over the weekend, signaling its likely desire to deescalate.Iranalsosaidittargeted the base because it was outside of populated areas. Iranannouncedtheattackon state television as martial music played. A caption on screen calledit“amightyandsuccessful response” to “America’s aggression”. The Ain al-Assad base housing US troops in western Iraq was also targeted, an Iraqi security official who was not authorised to comment publicly told The Associated Press oncondition of anonymity. But Iran did CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SPORT FORMER INDIA SPINNER DILIP DOSHI PASSES AWAY P 19 PAGE 1 ANCHOR SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 RUSSIA BACKS IRAN AS PUTIN HOSTS FOREIGN MINISTER IAEA’S CHALLENGES AFTER ATTACKS ON IRAN’S N-SITES PAGES 9, 12 India seeks pause in World Bank expert’s proceedings over Kishanganga & Ratle NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 4 BJP MLAS ESCORTED OUT, SUSPENDED FOR REST OF SESSION AFTER CHAOS IN HOUSE PAGE 3 India set to ramp up oil imports from Russia, Africa, US and Latin America INSIDE AFTER IWT SUSPENSION RITIKA CHOPRA WEST BENGAL Tracers are seen in the sky after Iran targeted the US’s Al Udeid base in Qatar, as seen from Doha on Monday. Reuters INDIA HAS written to the World Bank’s neutral expert, Michel Lino, requesting a pause in his proceedings on the Ratle and Kishanganga hydropower disputes, following the Union government’s decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance, The Indian Express has learned. Lino is understood to have sought Pakistan’s views on India’srequest,whichIslamabad has opposed. The disputes being heard by Lino since 2022 concern two Indian hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir — Kishanganga, on the Kishanganga river, and Ratle, on the Chenab river. A French dam engineer and, until recently, the president of the International Commission on Large Dams, Lino was appointed by the World Bank on E EXPLAINED DAVID RISING, JON GAMBRELL & MELANIE LIDMAN A WORRIED Delhi was monitoring the situation in Qatar where morethan8lakhIndiansliveand work, and the Indian embassy asked the community to be cautious as Iran launched a military attack Monday night on a US base in Qatar. The Indian embassy in Doha said, “In view of the ongoing situation, the Indian community in Qatar is urged to be cautious and remain indoors. Please remain calm and follow local news, instructions and guidance pro- ● Ultimatum to Pak AFTER THE Pahalgam attack, India kept the IWT in abeyance “until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”. Under the IWT, the waters of the “Eastern Rivers” — Sutlej, Beas and Ravi – are for India’s unrestricted use, while the “Western Rivers” – Indus, Jhelum, Chenab – are primarily for Pakistan. October 13, 2022, under Article IX and Annexure F of the Indus Waters Treaty. His mandate is to hear both India and Pakistan and determine whether the design of theseprojectscomplieswiththe CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE ESCALATION in the IsraelIran conflict and Tehran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz are likely to push Indian refiners to further ramp up oil purchases from non-West Asian suppliers —mainlyRussia,WestAfrica,the US and Latin America — as shipping routes to Indian ports from these suppliers are detached from the critical choke point in the Persian Gulf, according to industry sources and experts. In fact, India’s oil sourcing strategy is already reflecting a risk-hedged posture pertaining to West Asian oil flows with RussianoildominatingIndia’soil import mix. Following US air strikes at Iraniannuclearfacilitiesoverthe weekend, Iran’s parliament Sunday approved a motion calling for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil transit choke point in global energy flows. It is now up to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to decide on whether or not to go ahead to try and choke the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has in the past threatened to close the strait on multiple occasions, but has never actually done it. Even in the current scenario, industry experts also expect the possibility of an actual closure to be really low. Notwithstanding that, aheightenedriskof theclosureis boundtoraiseconcernsglobally, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 vided by Qatari authorities. The Embassy will also keep updating through our social media channels.” The Indian community is the largest expat community in the country, which has one of the highest per capita income in the world. Iransaiditlaunchedamilitary attack on the Al Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest US military installationintheregion,according to a statement by the country’s armed forces. A senior White House official earlier confirmed thattheUSwasawareof apotential attack by Iran against the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Iranian Army Commander-in-chief Amir Hatami attends a meeting in their War Command Room at an undisclosed location in Iran on Monday. Reuters Bypolls: TMC has easy win in Bengal, Seeking return of AAP wins seats in Gujarat & Punjab Nehru papers, PMML Kerala:CongwrestsNilamburfromLeft 13-year-old girl decides on legal pursuit killed in blast during Kaliganj victory rally LEENA MISRA, SHAJU PHILIP, DIVYA GOYAL & ATRI MITRA AHMEDABAD, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, LUDHIANA, KOLKATA, JUNE 23 AFTERSUCCESSIVEsetbacks,the Aam Aadmi Party had some reason to rejoice Monday as the party won two Assembly seat bypolls, with the victory in Gujarat particularly sweet. Taking to X, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal called the bypolls“asemi-finalto2027”.Both Gujarat and Punjab, the other state where the AAP picked up a seat, will see Assembly elections in 2027. "Both the parties, Congress and BJP, contested the electionstogetherinbothplaces. Both of them had the same objective – to defeat AAP. But peoplerejectedboththesepartiesin both the places," Kejriwal said in a post on X. Both the Assembly seats that the AAP won had also gone to the party in the 2022 state polls. While the Ludhiana West bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi SWEETY KUMARI & ATRI MITRA TMC’s Alifa Ahmed after her victory in Kaliganj, West Bengal, on Monday. PTI Gogi, the Visavadar seat in Gujarat fell vacant after the sittingAAPMLAdefectedtotheBJP. Another bypoll with political repercussions was Nilambur in Kerala, where the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) was delivered a shock by the Congress. The Assembly elections in Kerala are just months away, and both the LDF and Congress-ledUnitedDemocratic Front (UDF) had built up the Nilambur contest as a pointer to the 2026 elections. The fifth bypoll, in West Bengal’s Kaliganj, held no surprises, but the ruling Trinamool Congress had the comfort of not CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KOLKATA, JUNE 23 A 13-YEAR-OLD girl was killed in an explosion in West Bengal’s Kaliganj on Monday, allegedly after a crude bomb was hurled during a Trinamool Congress (TMC) victory rallyfollowing the party’s bypoll win. “So far, four persons have been arrested,” Krishnanagar Superintendent of Police Amarnath K told The Indian Express. Police identified those arrested as as Kali Sheikh, his father AdarSheikh,AnowarSheikh andhisbrotherManoarSheikh— all TMC workers. Theschoolstudent,Tammana Khatoon, was found with an injury on her neck on the verandah of her home in Barochandgar village, an area considered a Congress-CPM stronghold. She later succumbed. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DIVYA A NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 AT THE annual general meeting Monday of the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) Society, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a strong consensus emerged among members that the matter of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi taking away the Jawaharlal Nehru papers should be legally pursued, The Indian Express has learnt. Besides the Prime Minister who is the PMML Society president, the 47th AGM was attended by Union Ministers Rajnath Singh (vice-president), Nirmala Sitharaman, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Chairman NripendraMishra,andmembers including BJP leader Smriti Irani, adman-lyricist Prasoon Joshi, and PMML’s new Director Ashwani Lohani. While the matter of Sonia Gandhi taking away a huge chunk of donated Nehru papers –in51cartonsin2008–wasdiscussed at length at the last AGM held in February 2024, the issue came up for discussion again Mondayatthe90-minutemeeting at Teen Murti Bhavan in New Delhi. Sources said a broad consensus emerged that the papers CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at the PMML Society meeting on Monday. ANI In India team’s chess win, story of recreational player from IIM-Calcutta MAYANK NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 IT WAS just another day for Atharvaa Tayade, a 24-year-old pursuing an MBA degree at IIMCalcutta, when a message popped up on his chess.com account in March: “We are participating as Team MGD1, would you be interested to play?” The message was from N Srinath,thegoldmedal-winning captain of India’s Budapest Olympiad team, seeking a “recreationalplayer”fortheonly team from India at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships. The championship requires six players per team, with one compulsory spot each for a womanandarecreationalplayer (someone who has never achieved FIDE Classical, Rapid or Blitz Rating of 2000 Elo points). Tayade was a perfect fit: a skilled player who stepped away from chess to pursue academics, his peak rating frozen at 1926 since July 2015 when he left the sport. Last week, when Team MGD1, which had the most numberof Indians,wontheFIDE World Rapid Team Championship in London, the focus was on Tayade, not on star players like Arjun Erigaisi, Harikrishna Pentala or Pranav V. Tayade remained unbeaten untilthefinalround,carryinghis team until the defeat by Malcolm’s Mates’ Murat Omarov. By then, his 11 wins in 12 rounds had already secured a win for his team. This meant the Pune-based chess management firm, Team MGD1, became the firstIndianteamtowintheevent in the tournament’s brief threeyear history. “I knew that I was strong but I did not expect to perform this well. Luck was a factor; there were multiple things that had to fallintoplace,butIamhappythat Special Arrangement Atharvaa Tayade (right) with grandmaster N Srinath after his team won the FIDE World Rapid Team Championship it went well eventually,” said Tayade,anIIT-Bombaygraduate. Tayadesaidhewaspreparing forhissummerinternshipwhen Srinath messaged him. “I was quite surprised, but I responded by stating a bit about myself and said I could participate. That's when we exchanged numbers, spoke on WhatsApp and Srinath told me a couple of days later that they were finalising me,” he recalled. Aheadof hisfirstmajorevent in years — his first at the world level — Tayade said he made no preparations. His internship — part of the MBA course — took precedence. He spent two months — April and May — at Standard Chartered’s Mumbai office.Inbetween, heplayedjust one local tournament as suggested by Srinath, to re-adjust to over-the-board play, relying solely on his online games. How Tayade dominated the field is intriguing. “When I restarted chess during my engineering days, I came close to my original strength. Slowly, I was abletoincreasemyratingonline, and that's when I hit a peak of 2800, which is probably why Srinath noticed me,” he recalled. Heproceededtobeatplayers like Wadim Rosenstein — architect of WR Chess Team and the recreational board concept — and nine-year-old compatriot Sarbartho Mani, among other rising talents. With an 11.0/12 Rapid score and 4.0/4 in Blitz, Tayade, who is originally from Mumbai, earned the moniker “India’s Pang Bo”. China's Pang Bo hogged the limelight in 2024 with his unbeaten run for the all-Chinese team, Decade China, in the amateur board. Earlier, while his contemporaries like Mitrabha Guha, Harshit Raja and Abhimanyu Puranik became grandmasters, Tayade opted for academics. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata