Alleged 9/11 mastermind reaches plea deal, avoids death penalty The alleged mastermind of the deadliest attacks ever on US soil Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other accused reached a plea deal with the US prosecutors, the Pentagon said on Thursday TIRUCHY l Friday l august 02, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE city EDITION The three were tortured extensively by the CIA. Their case has been delayed over concerns that the evidence extracted through torture was admissible in court. A plea deal avoids this problem Bridge rises but hope fades Seven more bodies recovered, toll touches 256; Army opens Bailey bridge to restore connectivity with affected areas; Rahul, Priyanka visit Wayanad T o b y A n t o n y @ Chooralmala (Wayanad) THE Army on Thursday evening opened the 190-ft-long Bailey bridge at Chooralmala that could help speed up the search operations at upstream Mundakkai and Punjirimattom villages but hopes of finding more survivors at the landslide-hit areas in Wayanad faded on Day 3 of rescue efforts. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who visited the affected areas on Thursday said all survi, vors in Mundakkai have been rescued, indicating there is little hope of finding more people alive. During the day, search teams sifted through the rubble braving heavy rains and recovered seven more bodies, taking toll in the devastating tragedy to 256. Over 200 persons are still missing. The government tally as given by Revenue , Minister K Rajan, however, is 189. “The debris at Punjirimattom and Mundakkai has piled up like a mountain. Most houses have been completed destroyed. The search and restoration efforts will Bill to strengthen management of disasters creates Lok Sabha heat P r e e t h a n a i r @ New Delhi Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra crossing a make-shift bridge during their visit to Chooralmala in Wayanad on Thursday | EXPRESS be daunting and time-consuming, which would take more than a week,” an official at the Control Room said. As per preliminary assessment, 348 houses were damaged in the landslides. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the landslideaffected areas at Chooralmala and a hospital and community health centre in Meppadi. Calling the landslide a “national disaster”, Rahul said: “It is very difficult to speak to people in these circumstances because you really don’t know what to say to them. It’s been quite a difficult day for me, but we are going to try and help make sure that the survivors get what is due.” Days after deadly landslides hit Wayanad, the Centre on Thursday introduced Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in Lok Sabha to strengthen the national and state disaster management authorities. The Opposition parties including the Congress and Trinamool Congress questioned the constitutionality of the proposed legislation and said it will undermine the federal structure of the country . The government said it has become necessary to amend certain provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to bring more clarity and convergence regarding the roles of authorities and committees working in the field of disaster management. Big-hitters gone, but Swapnil shoots for the stars AT the shooting ranges, Swapnil Ku- intense and Swapnil was see-sawing; sale recedes into a cocoon and blocks sixth, fourth, third, second and third himself off from the noise. On in the 50 m rifle 3-position final. Thursday, when the shooting fiThere is no place for emotion in nal was on at the Chateauroux shooting. The heart needs to keep shooting centre, Swapnil still and that’s what Swapnil did shut himself from the while securing India one more outside world. bronze at the Olympics. He was The competition was hearing the PA system but Swapnil Kusale SL navy vessel rams TN boat; fisher dies, one missing M S Thanaraj @ Ramanathapuram A 59-year-old fisher man from Rameswaram died and another went missing after a Sri Lankan navy patrol vessel rammed their boat causing it to capsize in the Sri Lankan waters in the wee hours of Thursday Two oth. er fishermen from the capsized boat, who sustained injuries, have been rescued by the Sri Lankan authorities, sources said. The Ministry of External Affairs has registered its strong protest with the Sri Lankan Acting High Commissioner in New Delhi over the incident. A video of the two rescued fishermen requesting Chief Minister MK Stalin to bring them back to Tamil Nadu also surfaced on social media. CM has announced `10 lakh solatium to the family of Malaisamy, the deceased fisherman, and Ramanathapuram Collector Simranjeet Singh Kahlon handed over the cheque on Thursday evening. In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the CM urged the centre to ensure consular access, adequate medical care, and support to the injured, and bring them back t o Ta m i l N a d u at t h e earliest. The CM has also requested the centre to expedite the process to bring back the mortal remains of the deceased fisherman to India.  p5 did not pay heed to where he was positioned. The fifty-odd Indian supporters were cheering him on. “I did not pay attention to what the MC was saying. But I could hear the Indian fans shouting and I shifted my attention to that. And I said I don’t want to disappoint them. I will have to win for them,” he said.  P11 They have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy in exchange for a life sentence 2003 When Khalid Sheikh was captured in Pak. He spent three years in secret CIA prisons before arriving in Guantanamo in 2006. A trusted lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, it was Sheikh’s idea to use planes as weapons in the 9/11 attacks | P9 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 ■ ■ Sub-classification of SCs by states valid, rules top court Verdict a recognition for Dravidian model: Stalin Chennai: CM MK Stalin and leaders of various political parties welcomed the Supreme Court verdict. In his tweet, Stalin said the SC verdict has come as yet another recognition for the social justice journey of the Dravidian model government. He recalled that former CM M Karunanidhi had brought in the 3% internal reservation for the Arunthathiyar community based on data gathered by a committee. Page 4 S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi A seven-judge Supreme Court bench in a landmark ruling on Thursday empowered states to sub-classify groups within the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) to uplift the more socially and economically backward among them for reservation benefits. The majority 6:1 verdict set aside a 2004 judgment by a five-judge bench in the E V C h i n n a i a h c a s e, which had held that sub-classification was not permissible because SC/STs form homogenous classes. But the 6:1 ruling said the SCs are heterogeneous. However, sub-classification can be done only on the basis of quantifiable and demonstrable data of backwardness and representation in government jobs and not on whims or political expediency the bench said. , The verdict came on a batch of petitions against sub-classi- fication laws in Punjab, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, arguing they were not in sync with the Chinnaiah order. “Article 14 permits the subclassification,” the verdict authored by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud for himself and Justice Manoj Misra said. Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath, Pankaj Mithal and Satish Chandra Sharma wrote separate verdicts that concurred with the CJI. Justice Bela Trivedi was the lone dissenter. She said Parliament alone has the right to include or exclude castes in the SC list, adding states cannot tinker with it. The CJI said the state in exercise of its power under Articles 15 (non-discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth) and 16 (equality in public employment) of the Constitution is free to identify the different degrees of social backwardness and provide special provisions, such as quota.