DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, PATNA, VADODARA REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 CBC 15502/13/0018/2526 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES ● Manipur: Two Assam Rifles personnel killed, five injured as convoy ambushed on highway Incident in Bishnupur district comes less than a week after PM visited state EFFORTS FOR EARLY CONCLUSION BEING INTENSIFIED: MEA Trade deal talks back on track, Goyal-led team in US next week Jaishankar and Rubio also likely to meet in New York on UNGA sidelines RAVI DUTTA MISHRA & SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 19 A TEAM of officials led by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is expected to visit Washington next week to resume negotiations for a trade deal, two officials aware of the development told The Indian Express Friday. ThiscomesaftertheUSteam, led by Assistant US Trade Representative (USTR) for South andCentralAsia,BrendanLynch, visited New Delhi earlier this week to meet his Indian counterpart. Official sources said the talks will also be carried on at the po- Goyal will be in Washington, Jaishankar in New York litical level by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio whentheymeetonthesidelines of the UNGA next week. Jaishankar’s travel plans to the US are being worked out and an official announcement is awaited. On Friday, Randhir Jaiswal, spokespersonfortheMinistryof External Affairs, said, “A team from United States Trade Representative, led by Assistant USTR Brendan Lynch, had meetings at the Ministry of Commerce on September 16 to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Security personnel at the site of the attack in Nambol Sabal Leikai area of Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Friday. ANI EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE IMPHAL, GUWAHATI, SEPTEMBER 19 TWO ASSAM Rifles personnel were killed and another five were injured in an ambush by BUSINESS AS USUAL “unidentified terrorists” in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Friday evening. In a statement , a Defence spokesperson said the attack tookplacearound5.50pm,when a column of the 33 Assam Rifles BY UNNY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD 20/09/2025 139 76 TRUMP-XI PROGRESS ON TIKTOK DEAL, PLAN TO MEET IN SOUTH KOREA PAGE 18 CAG REPORT ON 2013-14 TO 2022-23 Fiscal health of states under strain as public debt trebles in 10 years HIGH DEBT-TO-GSDP RATIO: TOP 5 STATES State Punjab Debt as % of GSDP 40.35% Public debt* GSDP 2022-23 `2,76,459 cr `6,85,147 cr Nagaland 37.15% `13,242 cr West Bengal 33.70% `5,10,763 cr `1,515,564 cr `35,642 cr Himachal Pradesh 33.06% `63,363 cr Bihar 32.58% `2,42,846 cr `7,45,440 cr *as on March 31, 2023 Source: CAG report on State Finances 2022-23 HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 19 THE PUBLIC debt of all 28 states combined trebled in 10 years — from Rs 17.57 lakh crore in 201314toRs59.60lakhcrorein202223 — according to a first-of-itskind report by the Comptroller `1,91,659 cr and Auditor General of India (CAG) that provides a decadal analysisonfiscalhealthof states. The report was released Friday by CAG K Sanjay Murthy during the State Finance Secretaries Conference. According to the report, the total public debt (internal debt CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TO THE RESCUE IN UTTARAKHAND Officials and others carry a woman during a rescue operation following landslides and floods triggered by heavy rainfall in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand on Friday. PTI PUNE STUDENT BOOKED FOR POST ON OP SINDOOR Mere deletion of post, apology, being ‘bright’ can’t be grounds to quash FIR: Bombay HC EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 19 THE BOMBAY High Court on Friday orally remarked that it cannot quash an FIR against a 19-year-old student from Pune, who was booked over a social media post during Operation Sindoor, merely because she apologised and is a “bright stu- dent”, who passed her exams with “flying colours”. The HC bench led by Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar also remarked that mere deletion of the post and apology did not mean the case against her can be quashed. The court said while all these factors could be considered for granting bail to her, which she availed from the HC in May this year, they could not be grounds for plea seeking quashing of the FIR against her. The bench led by CJ Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A Ankhad was hearing apleabythestudentseekingdirection to quash and set aside theFIRregisteredagainstherby Pune police. The Sinhgad Academy of Engineering in Pune had CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Zubeen Garg, Assam superstar who became voice of a generation, dies SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, SEPTEMBER 19 AS NEWS of Assamese superstar Zubeen Garg — the man who bound the state’s population together as his fandom — passing away in Singapore broke on Friday, tearful admirers began to gather outside his home in ZUBEEN GARG 1972-2025 Guwahati’s Kahilipara. Garg,52,knownsimplytohis followersasZubeenda,wasborn in Meghalaya’s Tura in 1972 and emerged as Assam’s most influential cultural icon over his three-decade long career as a singer, songwriter, actor, and even filmmaker. On Friday afternoon, he died CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 After win in custodial torture case, Kerala Youth Congress leader seals it with a wedding ring PAGE 1 ANCHOR SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPTEMBER 19 HAPPINESS SHONE on the faces of V S Sujith, 29, and Thrishna, 22, as they tied the knot at Guruvayur temple in Kerala’s Thrissur district on September 15. Days earlier, Sujith, a Youth Congress leader, had another US, UK, France put on hold Pak bid to designate Baloch group as terrorists Need more information on links to Al Qaeda, ISIL, say permanent members SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 19 The US, France and the UK have teamed up to put a “technical hold” on Pakistan’s bid to list the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its alias, Majeed Brigade,asterroristgroupsatthe UNSecurityCouncil’s1267sanctions committee. Pakistan, a non-permanent memberattheUNSC,hadChina, reasontorejoice—his30-month fightagainsthiscustodialtorture had finally led to the suspension of four police personnel. Throughout this fight, Thrishna, who plans to pursue her Master’s degree in psychology, stood by him. The couple had met five years ago at a temple where Sujith, president of the Youth Congress in Chovvannur mandalam of Thrissur’s Kunnamkulam town, worked as a priest. Congress leaders, including MP Shafi Parambil, former MPs V S Sujith and Thrishna at their wedding. Facebook T N Prathapan and V M Sudheeran,andformerMLAAnil Akkara, among others, attended the wedding. A week earlier, Sujith had got a gold ring as his wedding gift from AICC generalsecretary K C Venugopal and a gold chain from Joseph Tajet, the Congress’sThrissurdistrictcommittee chief. Sujith’slong-drawn-outlegal battle over two years — during which he used the Right to Information(RTI)Acttoforcethe police to hand over the CCTV CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 a permanent member, backing theproposal,butthreeotherpermanentmembersof theSecurity Council said the BLA does not have links with Al Qaeda or ISIL. On September 17, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, had told a meeting of the UN Security Council: “Pakistan and China have jointly submitted to the 1267 Sanctions Committee a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pak Defence Minister’s bombshell: If need be, our n-programme can be given to the Saudis SHUBHAJIT ROY 85 113 BEFORE UNSC SANCTIONS COMMITTEE GOVT & POLITICS NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 19 CANADA MINISTER, NSA, WHO FUELLED INDIA ROW, HOLD TALKS IN DELHI BJP SLAMS PITRODA OVER PAK REMARK P8 IN REMARKS that are making world capitals sit up, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has said his country’s nuclear programme “willbemadeavailable”toSaudi Arabia, if needed, under their new defence pact. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Defencepact anumbrella arrangement, saysAsif Mohammed bin Salman signed the pact Wednesday with PakistanPrimeMinisterShehbaz Sharif inthepresenceof Pakistan CONTINUED ON PAGE 2