BHUBANESWAR l Saturday l march 18, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Imran gets protective bail in 8 terrorism cases till next week The Lahore HC gave relief to the former Pak PM till March 24 in five cases registered in Islamabad and till March 27 for remaining cases in Lahore To appear before Islamabad court today Faces over 80 cases across Pakistan The 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief has also got protective bail till March 27 in a case pertaining to interfering in matters of the state. Earlier, the Islamabad HC suspended non-bailable arrest warrants issued against Khan till March 18, providing him with a chance to appear before the trial court hearing the Toshakhana case over illegal sale of state gifts ■ Khan could still be arrested as he is facing over 80 different cases in various courts across Pakistan. Imran told the court that he was not even informed of the details of some of the cases against him ■ He also claimed that as soon as he is granted bail in one case, another one is registered. The court said it can only grant bail in cases before it Bulletproof Vehicle was used to take Imran Khan to the Lahore high court on Friday CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Oppn forms G-8, calls Cong for LS poll talks Wants freeze on the leadership issue till the 2024 elections are over Trinamool Congress head and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greets Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who called on her in Kolkata on Friday | PTI S H A H I D F A R I D I @ New Delhi Seven non-Congress opposition chief ministers and a deputy CM have together formed a group and had three video conferences over the last few weeks to discuss a united fight against the BJP in 2024. The eight leaders of this group include seven chief ministers - Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), K Chandrashekar Rao (Telangana), Hemant Soren (Jharkhand), Bhagwant Mann (Punjab), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav. The Congress is part of the ruling alliance in TN, Jharkhand and Bihar. Sources said the group, called G-8, has invited the Congress to start seat-sharing talks on the condition that the leadership 600 shut down No need for madrasas, will shut them all in Assam: Himanta E x p r ess Ne ws S e r v ice @ Belagavi ASSAM Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma categorically stated here on Friday that there is no need for madrasas in society and instead, colleges and universities should be built to churn out doctors, engineers and other professionals for nation-building. Sarma is in Karnataka to campaign for the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections. Speaking after inaugurating the Shivacharitra exhibition, depicting the life and achievements of Chhatrapati Shivaji here, Sarma said all madrasas in Assam will be closed soon, adding that 600 such religious institutions have already been shut. “A t r o c i t i e s ” were committed during the Mughal rule and the Congress is continuing with the same legacy, he said, adding: “The grand old party will not succeed in its efforts. Indian culture and heritage will continue to thrive.” Sarma said: “Mughals wanted to weaken the country by destroying the Sanatan Hindu culture and Congress today has a similar agenda. Mughal rulers of Delhi destroyed the country’s places of worship. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is helping people finally realise their dreams of having a Ram temple in Ayodhya and Kashi Vishwanath corridor.” Stating that Congressmen only spoke about Babri Mosque, he urged voters to “teach them a lesson in elections”. We will go our own way, maintain distance from the Congress and BJP. We are not talking about forming a third front at the moment Sudip Bandyopadhyay, TMC MP of the united opposition group is left open until after the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress is yet to respond to the proposal. But sources said Rahul Gandhi is keen to engage with G-8 leaders. They said a united challenge to the BJP with all opposition parties coming on one platform was the plan Rahul Gandhi had referred to in London recently . Some of the group’s leaders like KCR, Kejriwal and Mamata oppose breaking bread with the Congress. It is on their insistence that the condition to freeze the leadership issue until after the elections was conveyed to the Congress. Two other chief ministers — Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) and Jagan Mohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) — have refused to have any pre-poll understanding with the Congress. Sources said if the Congress does not agree to their condition on leadership, they would go ahead and expand the group by including the remaining opposition CMs and other opposition parties. According to sources, Mamata Banerjee’s meeting with Samajwadi Par ty president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday was an attempt by the non-Congress opposition leaders to send a message to the grand old party not to insist on a leadership position in the opposition. The opposition leaders had not taken kindly to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s remark at an election rally that his party would lead the opposition and form the next government by ousting the BJP . An opposition leader who is privy to the discussions among the G-8 said that the Congress had failed to take on the BJP in the last two Lok Sabha elections. “It was routed in states where it was in a direct fight with the BJP .” It is time the Congress allowed the regional parties that have successfully halted the BJP’s march in their respective states to take the leadership position, he said. ICC issues arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin E x p r ess Ne ws S e r v ice IN a rare move, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Friday issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, holding him responsible for the alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Accusing Putin of forced transfer of children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant against Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova for her “individual criminal responsibility” for the crimes. The ICC’s action does not mean Putin will be extradited as the court doesn’t have the power to arrest suspects; it can only exercise jurisdiction within countries that are signatories to Ro m e S t at u t e, t h e agreement that set up ICC. Russia is not a signatory. However, technically Putin can be ar, rested if he travels to any ICC member states. The ICC said the arrest warrants are intended to be secret in order to protect victims and witnesses, but in this case, it was making it public to prevent any further abductions of children in future. The court’s president, Piotr Hofmanski, said in a video statement that while the ICC’s judges have issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them. The court has no police force of its own to enforce warrants. “The ICC is doing its part of work as a court of law,” he said. “The judges issued arrest warrants. The execution depends Mega textile parks to come up in 7 states R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi Last wall standing The ruins of Podampeta village, in Ganjam district, that has been washed away by waves following sea erosion, stands testimony to the impact of climate change on human habitats | DEBADATTA MALLICK Drivers postpone strike, supply of BJP-Congress fight gets shriller essential commodities resumes E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v ice @ Bhubaneswar Hours after refusing to call off its protest, the Drivers Ekata Maha Mancha on Friday postponed its agitation following assurance from the government that its demands will be looked into within three months. The drivers federation, however, stated it will intensify the protests across the state and its members will even attempt self-immolation in front of Naveen Nivas if their 10-point charter of demands including social security pension, insur, ance, parking, toilet facilities and death benefits are not met within the set time-frame. In a video message, Maha Mancha president Prasant Menduli urged the members to return and join work. “General public suffered due to the protests and fuel supply was also hit in the state. Lawyers and others advised us that the government’s written statement on fulfilling our demands We will intensify the protests across the state and our members will even attempt self-immolation in front of Naveen Nivas if the 10-point charter of demands is not met within three months Prasant Menduli, Maha Mancha chief should be considered, following which we decided to postpone the strike for 90 days,” Menduli said. The decision was taken after chief secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena reiterated through a video message that their demand will be considered and requested them to call off the strike. Jena was joined by DGP Sunil Kumar Bansal and other senior officials in a high-level meeting after the drivers refused to withdraw their protests across the state. The DGP also warned the on international cooperation.” Ukraine welcomed ICC’s move but Russia termed it ‘meaningless’. Ukraine also is not a member of the court, but it has granted the ICC jurisdiction over its territory . Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during Russia’s invasion of its neighbour. Putin is only the third serving president to have been issued an ICC arrest warrant, after Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir and Libya’s Muammar GaddP9 afi.  protesters that stringent action will be initiated if they did not cease the strike immediately as the government had already reached out to them. Earlier on the day, Sambalpur police took around 165 protesters into preventive custody after receiving information that they were planning to block the national highway. Hundreds of drivers also protested in Chandikhol. Meanwhile, supply of essential commodities including fuel limped back to normalcy on Friday. “Everyday around 500 tankers are loaded with fuel across the state. However, only 200 tankers were loaded on Friday owing to the uncertainties regarding the strike. On priority basis, fuel was supplied to petrol pumps in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack,” said Sanjay Lath, general secretary of Utkal Petroleum Association. Lath said fuel was supplied to other districts too but to a lesser extent and the situation i s l i ke ly t o i m p rove by Saturday . P r eet h a Nai r @ New Delhi The war of words between the BJP and the Congress got shriller on Friday with their respective party heads sparring in the context of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘democracy under siege’ statement in London recently. In Parliament, too, the Congress retaliated against a BJP member’s demand to set up a special panel to probe Rahul’s remarks and consider his expulsion, by moving a privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged derogatory remarks against party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The Congress also criticised the alleged ‘muting’ of Parliament’s proceedings after the day’s session began. Both Houses were adjourned after ruckus for the fifth consecutive day. Outside Parliament, while BJP president J P Nadda charged that Rahul had become a permanent part of the toolkit working against India, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in his riposte said those who are ‘anti-nationals’ themselves must not preach about patriotism and must learn from the Congress instead. Congress leader K C Venugopal, in his privilege notice to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, drew his attention to the PM’s remarks on the Gandhis not using the Nehru surname during a speech in the House. The mocking remarks were insulting and defamatory against the members of the Nehru family, particularly Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi who are Lok Sabha MPs, he said. IN a bid to attract big-ticket investments and create jobs on a large scale, the Centre will set up mega textile parks in seven states. Announcing the PM MITRA (mega integrated textile region and apparel) parks in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh here on Friday Prime , Minister Narendra Modi said these parks will attract massive investments and create lakhs of jobs in the coming years. Taking to Twitter, the PM said: “The PM MITRA mega textile parks will provide stateof-the-art infrastructure for the textiles sector… It will be a great example of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for the World”. In another tweet, Modi said: “PM MITRA mega textile parks will boost the textiles sector in line with 5F (farm to fibre to factory to fashion to foreign) vision.” Union textiles minister Piyush Goyal said the parks will be set up with an outlay of `4,445 crore as the biggest ever initiative for infrastructure in this sector. “These parks will create 20 lakh direct/indirect jobs and attract an estimated `70,000 crore of domestic and foreign investment,” he added. Goyal described the decision as “India’s big leap towards becoming a global textiles hub”. India is already one of the largest exporters of textiles and apparel in the world. express read Free electricity will lead to Sri Lanka type crisis: Govt Bhubaneswar: Energy minister Pratap Deb on Friday rejected the Opposition demand for free and subsidised power supply, warning it will lead to a Sri Lanka-like situation. The minister said though electricity is a basic requirement of people, free supply is not the solution | P3 memorable journey Drivers’ stir forces groom to walk 28 km for wedding in Rayagada village S isi r Pa n i g r a h y @ Berhampur Naresh and the ‘bara jatri’ party walk towards the brides house at Dibalapadu A 22-year-old groom with his ‘bara jatri’ in tow walked 28 km through Thursday night in Rayagada district of Odisha as the marriage party could not find a vehicle due to the statewide drivers’ stir. Naresh Praska, a farmer, had rented vehicles for the marriage but when the drivers went on strike, his plans went haywire. The family and friends then decided to take the long walk from Parthiguda village on Thursday evening. Parthiguda, where Naresh belongs to, comes under Sunakhandi gram panchayat of K a lya n s i n g h p u r bl o ck i n Rayagada. The groom and his entourage finally reached the bride’s place at Dibalapadu village at 3 am. It was a nine hour walk but as some of the relatives would go on to tell later, it was a ‘walk to remember.’ Come to think of it, marriage procession without decorated vehicles and a DJ is unthinkable nowadays and Naresh too had similar ideas but strike by Drivers’ Ekta Mahamanch put paid to his plans. For the two families, everything was on track till the strike (now called off) by the drivers came as a bolt from the blue. Since no driver came forward, the groom’s family landed in a spot while the bride’s side was tense. “We sent materials needed for the marriage on two-wheelers, and around 30 members of the family, relatives and friends including eight women decided to walk. It was a long walk but a memorable experience,” said Naresh. Before starting the ninehour long marriage procession, the Praska family called the bride’s side over phone to inform that the entire party is walking to the wedding. Family members of the bride were delighted when the groom arrived with the procession and made all arrangements for their Continued on P5 reception.