The Editorial Page: Sleepwalking into catastrophe — silence is as alarming as the war 8 THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2026 Journalism of Courage MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I LY F R O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA R H , D E L H I , j A I P U R , kO L k ATA , L U C k N O W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N E , VA D O DA R A REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 Happening today lCHINESE VICE FOREIgN Min- ister Sun Weidong will visit Bangladesh, the first high-level trip by a Chinese official since the BNP came to power in February. TRACK THIS AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm Business as Usual By EP UNNY SCALES UP THREAT TO PULL OUT OF NATO; WILL ADDRESS AMERICA TODAY Trump’s latest: May exit Iran war soon, return for spot hits Whyoilprice mayremain elevatedeven ifwarends Says Tehran has sought ceasefire, won’t consider until Hormuz open; Iran denies Anil Sasi New Delhi, April 1 Steve Holland, Alexander Cornwell & Yomna Ehab Washington, Tel Aviv, Cairo, April 1 INsIDE ArtEmIS II SEtS oUt oN hIStorIc LUNAr mISSIoN todAy pAgE 12 94 122 150 60 THEUNITEDStateswillendits war on Iran fairly soon and could return for “spot hits” if needed, President Donald Trump told Reuters on Wednesday, hours before he was scheduledtomakeaprimetime address to the nation. Trump also said he would state in the speech, which is due at 9 pm EDT, that he was considering withdrawing the US from the NATO alliance. Trumpsaidseparatelyonsocial media that Iran had asked foraceasefirebutthathewould notconsiderituntiltheStraitof Hormuz was open. “Iran’s New Regime President, much less radicalizedandfarmoreintelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of Americaforaceasefire,”Trump said, but did not specify who he hadspokento.HesaidWashingtonwouldconsidertheceasefire »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 morE rEportS, p 12, 13 A large queue near a gas agency in Delhi’s Masoodpur locality, Wednesday. People have been thronging the gas agency from early morning for the last several days, many of them saying the cylinders they booked had been delayed and they had come to enquire when they would be delivered. TASHI TOBGYAL LPG, LNG sources diversified: AtCCS, PM flags efforts to ‘safeguard’ citizens Harikishan Sharma New Delhi, April 1 TAKING STOCK of government efforts to source LPG and LNG supplies from different countries and ensuring availability of power and fertilisers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday directed all departments concerned to “take all possible measures to amelioratetheproblemsofcitizensand sectors affected by the ongoing global situation” in the wake of PM Narendra Modi chairs a CCS meeting, Wednesday. @NARENDRAMODI the war in West Asia. At a meeting of the Cabinet CommitteeonSecurity,chaired by the Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 USPRESIDENTDonaldTrump told reporters at the White House that the US “will be leaving (Iran) very soon” and US military action could end as soon as “two or three weeks”. If that were to prove true, it is still likelythatthepriceofcrudewill remain elevated, possibly around $100 per barrel, for months after this war indeed draws to a close. There are multiplereasons for this: Supply disruptions will take many months to unwind, even if the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil trade traverses, were to open up fully. While tankers stranded at sea on either side of the Strait currently could make theirwaytotheirdestinationsas soonasthepassageweretoopen up,newshipmentsonthatroute could likely take longer to get going. That is because shipping contracts, marine insurance and other supporting factors would have to be redrawn now, E. »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 MEA returns I&B’s proposal on posting IIS officers abroad I&B now proposes 10 posts instead of 40 The Indian Express report on March 18 about the proposal Divya A New Delhi, April 1 THE PROPOSAL by the MinistryofInformation&Broadcasting (I&B) to post Indian Information Service (IIS) officers at 40 Indian missions abroad has not found favour with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), The Indian Express has learnt. The I&B ministry, in a fresh proposal, is learnt to have scaled down the number of such posts to 10. As reported by The Indian Express on March 18, the I&B ministry had sent a proposal to the MEA for creation of a new global outreach unit within the Press Information Bureau »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 Nashik Police flaunts ‘walk of shame’ as crime deterrence, sets off debate Mohamed Thaver & Zeeshan Shaikh Mumbai, April 1 THESCENEoutsidetheNashik Police Crime Branch office has become familiar. An accused is brought out, sometimes limping, sometimes held up by policemen on either side, and madetofacethecameras.Then comes the line: “Nashik zilla kaydyacha balekilla (Nashik »CONTINUED ON PAgE 2 A clip of an accused on Nashik Police’s Instagram handle Mumbai