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 SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 20 WEST BENGAL ‘NO CONDITIONS APPLY’: JR DOCTORS AGREE TO MEET CM TMC BETS ON FRESH, LOCAL FACES IN STATE BYPOLL PAGE 3 `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `17 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 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 site of the attack Ganderbal 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 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 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD 87 KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKES IN GAZA PAK SENATE CLEARS CONTROVERSIAL BILL PAGE 11 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 DECISION EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, OCTOBER 20 JUST TWO days after he joined MaharashtraCMEknathShindeled Shiv Sena, Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, was Sunday removed from the party. Pangarkar was inducted into the Shinde Sena on Friday in the presence of former state minis- ter Arjun Khotkar, who also announced his appointment as the party’s in-charge for the Assembly poll campaign in Jalna seat. “Pangarkar is a former Shiv CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 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 NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 20 PAGE 7 Shrikant Pangarkar got bail on September 4 SHUBHAJIT ROY HARIKISHAN SHARMA ● JMM-Congress discord out in the open Two days after joining Shinde Sena, Lankesh case accused removed As he left for India, Verma accused ‘some G7 countries’ of extrajudicial killings 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. AddlchargetoShah-ledMinistrybyACC thathashimandPM ● MVA seat-sharing: Amid impasse, Sena, Cong call on Pawar CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Khalistan extremists Canada deep assets, Trudeau destroyed ties: Indian envoy NAFED post goes to Agriculture official, week later to Cooperation 2024 Fadnavis and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule. WhileFadnaviswillcontestfrom his traditional Nagpur South West constituency, Bawankule, DELHI-OTTAWA ROW OVER NIJJAR KILLING EXPLAINED MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES MORE BOMB THREATS TO AIRLINES Security personnel patrol after a flight made an emergency landing following an alleged bomb threat at the Jodhpur airport. At least 24 more flights received bomb threats, most from the same X account, on Sunday. PTI REPORT,PAGE4 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 HYDERABAD, OCTOBER 20 IN REMARKS that could trigger a fresh debate on population control, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu while expressing concern over ageing population in the southernstateshasurgedpeopleinhis state to have more children. He also said that his government is planning to bring in legislation to make only those with more thantwochildreneligibletocontest local body elections. Thinkingof providing incentivesto familieswith morekids:CM “We are thinking of providing incentives to families with morechildren,encouragingcouples to have more children,” Naidu said Saturday after flagging off the resumption of constructionworkatAmaravatithat hadbeenhaltedundertheprevious government. “We have repealed the earlier law barring people with more than two children from contesting local body elections,” he said, referring to the August 7 state Cabinet decision. “We will bring in a new law to make only those with more than two children eligible to contest.’’ In many districts, Naidu said, villages had only elderly people as the younger generation migratedtootherpartsof thecountry and abroad. He said India’s average population growth has declined from 6.2 per cent in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As trade gap with UAE, ASEAN widens, India pauses talks with others Naidu flags state’s ageing population, urges couples to have more children SREENIVAS JANYALA 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 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 10 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. 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’. 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 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 Kolkata