Stampede at Mumbai rlY station, 10 HURT At least 10 people were injured, including one critically, in a stampede at the Bandra railway station in Mumbai on Sunday. The incident occurred when hundreds of people attempted to board a Gorakhpur-bound train to head to their native places for the upcoming Diwali and Chhath festivals. | PTI kollam l monday l october 28, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 Jaishankar hard talk on no 26/11 govt retaliation Says things have changed and India is now a global leader in fighting incidents of terror M AYA N K SIN G H @ New Delhi External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday did some hard talk on India’s reaction to the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attack, saying “there was no response”, but that would not be the case if it happens now. The strong language came just over three weeks before Maharashtra goes to polls on November 20. Speaking on India’s response to terrorism and what changed after 2014, Jaishankar said Mumbai is a symbol of counter-terrorism for India and the world. “We should not have a repeat of what happened in Mumbai. That there was a terror attack and there was no response.” He said things have changed now and India is now a leader in fighting terror. Jaishankar fielded questions on issues ranging from terrorism to the India-China standoff and from investment to politics at a press conference in Mumbai. Reiterating the Modi government’s policy that talks and terror cannot go together, he said, “when we talk of zero tolerance against terror, it is clear that when somebody does something, there will be a response. “We also have to expose. It is not acceptable that you are doing business during daytime and indulging in terror during the night and I have to pretend that everything is okay .” When India was a member of t he UN Se c u r i t y Council and chairing the counter-terrorism committee, the counter-terrorism panel’s meeting was held in the same hotel that was hit by the 26/11 terror attack, the minister said. Without naming China, he said the disengagement of troops at Depsang and Demchok in Ladakh is the first step, adding it is expected that India will return to the pre-2020 patrolling status. He, however, stressed that the next step of de-escalation won’t be taken until India is assured of reciprocity from the other side. Speaking on Manipur, Jaishankar said there are complex reasons behind what is happening, noting that some factors are historical and the rest concern the border situation. Terror charges dropped against blast accused T o b y A n t o n y @Kochi In a surprising development, the police have dropped terrorism charges against Dominic Martin, the sole accused in last year’s blasts during a Jehovah’s Witnesses convention in Kalamassery that left eight dead and 45 others severely injured. As the first anniversary of the twin explosions at Zamra Convention Centre falls on Tuesday, TNIE has learnt that the charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against Martin were dropped after the state refused to prosecute him under the Act. Sources in the police headquar- Kalamassery twin explosions The twin explosions during a prayer meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kalamassery on October 29, 2023, had left eight dead and 45 others injured. Dominic Martin is the sole accused in the case. P2 ters said though the investigation team had completed all the procedures for prosecuting Martin under UAPA, the state government refused sanction. “The paperwork was completed, and the police had submitted the documents to the UAPA committee. After the committee reviewed it, the government decided not to grant prosecution sanction under UAPA in the case. The sanction was denied due to the stand of Left parties against UAPA,” said a source. “After the police filed the chargesheet at the Ernakulam District Principal Sessions Court in April this year, the case was transferred to the Kalamassery magistrate court for committal proceedings. Now, Martin will face trial for offences under various sections of the IPC and the Explosives Act,” the source said. Kochi Vijay goes all out against DMK, BJP at TVK’s maiden state conference E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai Addressing his maiden political public meeting, actorturned-politician Vijay minced no words in taking on both the BJP and the ruling DMK at the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK) first state conference in Vikravandi on Sunday . In his 46-minute speech, Vijay eschewed the traditions of Tamil political oratory and employed a youth-friendly mix of Tamil and English to outline his party’s political ideology and goals. Identifying those destroying the country through divisive politics as his ideological opponents, he said those exploiting the people by using terms like ‘Dravidian model governance’ are his political opponents. “We Actor Vijay addresses the first political conference of his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, at Vikravandi in Villupuram district on Sunday | Sriram R can spot divisive forces easily — they’re like a rogue elephant. But corrupt forces are harder to identify as they wear a mask and put on a garb of ‘ideology’. These corruption-ridden impostors are the ones ruling us now,” he said. Referring to the DMK’s frequent description of the Prime Minister Modi government as fascist, Vijay asked, “If they are fascists, then what are you? Calling an anti-people government a ‘Dravidian model government’ is just another way of deceiving people.” Speaking to a rapt audience of around 5-6 lakh people from within and outside the state, Vijay said Dravidian thought and Tamil nationalism would be the two eyes of the party While he . listed Periyar E V Ramasamy, Dr Ambedkar and K Kamaraj as among the party’s five ideological leaders, he said TVK does not believe in atheism. P5 City Police Deputy Commissioner K S Sudarshan, who investigated the case, confirmed that UAPA charges against Martin have been dropped, as they “did not get the sanction from the government.” “However, we don’t know the reason behind the denial,” he said. Officers in the probe team claim that though UAPA was dropped, Martin still faces other grave charges that could attract capital punishment. There are 284 witnesses in the case. Over 150 material objects and documents were submitted in the court, along with the chargesheet that runs into over ● More on P4 3,500 pages.  EXPRESS READ 7 Malayalis escape from Cambodia cyber gang Kozhikode: Seven Malayalis who escaped from the clutches of a gang of cyber criminals in Cambodia are set to return home on Monday. The youngsters were lured into joining the company with a salary of Rs 1 lakh. Having endured torture for days there, they managed to escape on Saturday while being shifted to another place and later reached the Indian Embassy. P5 Pooram disruption: Police register case Thrissur: The police on Sunday registered a case regarding the alleged disruption of Thrissur Pooram festival in April this year. According to officials, the Thrissur East police registered the case based on a report submitted by the special investigation team. Over 50 flights, temple in Tirupati get bomb threats U J W A L J A L A L I & Na m i ta Baj pa i @ New Delhi/Lucknow/Tirupati The hoax bomb threat menace continued for the aviation industry on Sunday as more than 50 flights received calls, keeping security agencies on their toes. The Sri Varadaraja Swamy temple in Tirupati and a couple of hotels there, as also over a dozen prominent hotels in Lucknow received similar threats. Flights which received hoax bomb threats included 18 of IndiGo airlines, 17 of Vistara and 15 of Akasa. Most of the threats were issued through social media posts. While this is the first time a bomb threat was sent to a temple in Tirupati, at least half a dozen hotels in the temple city received hoax bomb threats over the past three days. The Alipiri police received a mail regarding the bomb threat at the TTD-run temple. Bomb disposal teams and sniffer dogs were deployed at Hotel Renest and Pai Viceroy, situated near the Kapila Teertham circle, as well as the Sri Varadaraja Swamy temple. The e-mail threats again mentioned the alleged drug kingpin Jaffer Sadiq and the ISI. In Vijayawada, Hotel Taj Vivanta received a bomb threat. Inspector S S S V Nagaraju said extensive searches at the hotel revealed it was a hoax threat. Panic gripped Lucknow after nine prominent hotels received bomb threats demanding a ransom of `50 lakh on Sunday .