DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2025, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM CBC 15502/13/0012/2526 SINCE 1932 PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED INDIA, CHINA WORK ON FIRST STEPS Nepal gets its first woman Prime Minister, Sushila Karki More reliance on surveillance among measures to reduce trust deficit at LAC Monitoring infra being strengthened in eastern Ladakh to reduce additional patrolling deployment in the long run NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 INDIAN TROOPS deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh are working onreducingthetrustdeficitwith Chinese troops on the ground by implementing additional confidence-buildingmeasures,which include greater reliance on the technicalsurveillanceinfrastructure that has been put in place over the last five years. According to sources, since 2020 when the military standoff began in eastern Ladakh, India hasestablishedacomprehensive surveillance network to extensively monitor the LAC and surrounding areas round the clock. This is being further upgraded andstrengthened,withthelongterm aim of reducing additional patrolling effort. SAU terminates prof for ‘inciting students’ during 2022 protest over stipend Snehashish Bhattacharya suspended in June 2023 VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 THE SOUTH Asian University (SAU) has terminated the services of Associate Professor Snehashish Bhattacharya, two yearsafterhewassuspendedfor “inciting students” during the 2022-23 stipend protests, The Indian Express has learnt. Bhattacharya was among four faculty members suspended by the SAU in 2023 for “inciting students against... the interestof theuniversity”.Asper documents, two of the faculty members wrote a “submission of regret” to the administration in March 2024, following which the SAU revoked their suspension. The third, a contractual faculty member, is learnt to have left the varsity after his contract ended. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E EXPLAINED AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA ● India welcomes new interim govt, says hope it brings peace and stability Moving to repair ties A SERIES of meetings over the last 10 months, including one between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO recently, have signalled efforts by India and China to repair ties after a five-year military standoff. The next steps involve border management mechanisms and discussions on de-escalation in eastern Ladakh. Currently, Indian patrols go out at regular intervals to dominate the LAC and conduct CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Newly elected Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan with former V-Ps Jagdeep Dhankhar, M Venkaiah Naidu and Hamid Ansari during his swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. Renuka Puri Radhakrishnan takes oath as 15th V-P, tells Opp he will ensure ‘fair justice’ Says his uncle was Cong MP, grandfather Communist: ‘Know how it is being in Opp’ MANOJ CG NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 CPRadhakrishnanwasswornin as the country’s 15th VicePresident in a brief ceremony at theRashtrapatiBhavanonFriday. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to the 67-year-old at an event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Union Ministers, and other dignitaries. Hours later, Radhakrishnan met the floor leaders of political parties in the Rajya Sabha — the V-P is the ex officio Chairman of the Upper House — and the Opposition's representatives were in for a pleasant surprise. Radhakrishnan’s predecessor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resignedinasurprisemoveonJuly 21, often had run-ins with the Opposition.Somuchsothatthey had given a notice to bring a motion for his removal last year. Given the past rancour, Opposition leaders were keen to urge the new V-P to ensure that the Opposition is given equal space and dignity in the House Dhankhar present, aide jots down names of MPs who want to call on him MANOJ CG NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 HE CHATTED with his predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu, indulged in a chit-chat with MPs who walked up to him to exchange pleasantries, and surprised many by staying back for a customary high tea. On Friday, Jagdeep Dhankhar made his first public appearance since stepping down as VicePresidentalmosttwomonthsago at the swearing-in ceremony of hissuccessorCPRadhakrishnan. Dhankhar was seated alongside his predecessors Naidu and Hamid Ansari. “He was engaged in a discussion with Naidu,” said aleaderwhoattendedtheevent. Dhankhar had not been seen in public since his July 21 resignation, despite speculation Nepal President Ramchandra Paudel administers the oath of office to Sushila Karki as interim PM in Kathmandu. Reuters YUBARAJ GHIMIRE & SHUBHAJIT ROY KATHMANDU, NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 ENDINGTHEpoliticalvacuumin Nepal following the fall of the K P Sharma Oli government after violentprotestsearlierthisweek, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Sushila Karki was sworn in as the interim Prime Minister on Friday night, making her the first woman to lead the country. Karki, 73, was administered the oath of office by President Ramchandra Paudel who also dissolved the House of EXPRESS NETWORK ‘FELT LIKE WARZONE’: RELIEF AS NEPAL BORDER REOPENS P7 Representatives. The interim government has been asked to hold elections to Parliament in six months. Karki is likely to expand the Cabinet on Saturday with Kul Man Ghising as the new Energy Minister. An engineer, Ghising, as Chief Executive Officer of the Nepal Electricity Authority, was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Regulator eases entry Why cracker ban only IN FIRST VISIT AFTER CLASHES, WILL MEET DISPLACED PEOPLE norms for foreign in elite Delhi, why not PM in Manipur today, officials roll investors, relaxes IPO across India, protect out red carpet, navigate red flags rules for large firms HITESH VYAS industry workers: CJI Fullycommittedto inclusive,all-round ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 ENQUIRING IF the ban on firecrackers in Delhi NCR was because its people were “elite citizensof thiscountry…entitledto pollution-free air”, Chief Justice of IndiaBRGavaisaidFridaythat if polluted air had become “a national problem”, any policy to deal with it should be “on a panIndia basis”. “If firecrackersaregoingtobe CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 12 development:Modi Chief Justice of India B R Gavai banned, let them be banned throughoutthecountry,”hesaid. Hearing an application by a group of Haryana firecracker manufacturers seeking modification of the Supreme Court’s April 3, 2025 order completely CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SUKRITA BARUAH CHURACHANDPUR, IMPHAL, SEPTEMBER 12 FOR DAYS, the government in Manipur had been preparing for a “VVIP visit”, but both the Centre and state government had refrained from any official confirmation on Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the strife-tornstate,hisfirstsincethe ongoing conflict began in May Banners welcoming the PM in Churachandpur. Sukrita Baruah 2023. However, on Friday morning, residents found posters CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORTS PAGE 6 INORDERtoenhanceeaseof doing business for foreign portfolio investors(FPIs),theSecuritiesand Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Friday announced a proposal to introduceasingleautomaticwindow for foreign investors. The board also proposed to relax initial public offering (IPO) norms for large issuers and extended timelines to meet the minimum public shareholding for issuers. “The Board approved the introductionof theSingleWindow SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey in Mumbai. PTI Automatic & Generalised Access for Trusted Foreign Investors (SWAGAT-FI) framework for FPIs and Foreign Venture Capital Investors(FVCIs),”SEBIChairman CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In despair after Osama killing, Pak leaders met at 6.30 am: Zardari aide PAGE 1 ANCHOR RITU SARIN NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 12 OVER 14 years ago, on May 2, 2011,theUSNavySealspulledoff one of their most audacious operations — in Abbottabad, a military cantonment in Pakistan — and slipped away with a prized trophy, the body of the world’s most wanted terrorist, al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden. But what happened in Pakistan after the world discov- eredthatOsamahadbeenhiding inAbbottabadforyears?HowseverewasthebacklashinPakistan foritsleadership,itsArmyandits intelligence agencies? A recently released book on Asif Ali Zardari’s first stint as Pakistan president from 20082013, penned by his close aide and spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, offers a rare insight into the “national humiliation” that followed Osama’s killing. Published by Rupa, the book, titled The Zardari Presidency: Now It Must Be Told, has a 50pagesectiondetailingjusttheUS raid on the Abbottabad compound and a vivid description of the “shock, confusion and paralysis” in Pakistan afterwards. The al-Qaedafounderwaswantedin connection with the airline hijackings and suicide attacks by the outfit in the US on September 11, 2001, that had killed thousands. Babar’s book juxtaposes the goings-on in Islamabad during those 40 minutes when Osama was taken out by the US Navy Seals against the squabble for power between the ruling PakistanPeople’sParty(PPP)and its ally, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q). His book states, “The realization that the raid on the OBL A book on Asif Ali Zardari’s first stint as Pakistan President from 2008-2013, by his close aide Farhatullah Babar; the Abbottabad compound where bin Laden was killed in 2011. Rupa & Reuters (Osama) compound was taking place just as politicians were wrangling over power-sharing while the defenders remained unaware was deeply unsettling, evoking feelings of embarrassment, despair, and fear.” Once the “shocking news” of the Abbottabad raid was known, the book mentions a 6.30 am meeting being called at the President’s office, with then Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and the author in attendance. Babar recalls: “For the past decade, Pakistan had been denying any knowledge about Osama. It had been caught on the wrong foot…” He reveals that after a 90minute meeting, President Zardari asked him what he thought about the situation. While the President kept his cards close to his chest, Babar’s own reaction was spontaneous. “Complicit or sheer incompetence, nothing else…an inquiry must be ordered immediately. Some action must be seen to have been taken against the Army and the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s military intelligence agency) Chiefs,” he told the President. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow