Stampede at Mumbai rlY station, 10 HURT Humongous rush at the Bandra railway station in Mumbai on Sunday. At least 10 people were injured, including one critically, in a stampede when hundreds of people attempted to board a Gorakhpur-bound train to head to their native places for the upcoming Diwali and Chhatth festival | PTI tirupati l monday l october 28, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late 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 Menace continues as 50 flights, talk on no 26/11 many hotels get bomb threats govt retaliation U J W A L J A L A L I & N a m i ta B aj pai @ New Delhi/Lucknow/Tirupati Says things have changed and India is now a global leader in fighting incidents of terror M AYA N K S I N 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 counterterrorism 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 the UN Security 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 ter ror 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. 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 Tirupati police conducting searches at a hotel after a bomb threat | Express 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. Express read Lokesh pitches AP as investors’ top choice Vijayawada: During his visit to the USA, Minister of Information Technology, Electronics & Communications, and Human Resources Development, N Lokesh, addressed potential investors at a roundtable hosted by the Consul General of India in San Francisco, K Srikar Reddy. Lokesh emphasised that AP’s industrial policy prioritises employment generation, decentralised development, and streamlined business operations Amrapalli Katta posted as Tourism Corp MD Vijayawada: Chief Secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad on Sunday issued orders appointing IAS officers, who were relieved from Telangana recently. Amrapali Kata’s has been appointed as vice-chairperson and managing director of the AP Tourism Development Corporation, relieving Muttimbaku Abhishikth Kishore of the full additional charge. She was assigned full additional charge as CEO of the AP Tourism Authority | P4 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 The . email, sent around 8.03 am, claimed that explosive devices had been planted in black bags across all the hotel premises. The sender warned that any attempt to defuse them would lead to mass casualties, prompting an emergency response. The Lucknow police roped in the Cyber Cell to trace the origin of the email, while bomb disposal and dog squads were deployed to begin large-scale evacuations. The hotels mentioned in the threatening email are situated in tony areas of Lucknow, including Gomti Nagar, Hazratganj, Sarojininagar, Alambagh and Krishnanagar. More hoax bomb threats in Tirupati & Vijayawada D S u r e nd r a k u m a r @ Tirupati Sri Varadaraja Swamy temple and a couple of hotels in Tirupati received bomb threats on Sunday prompting police to , mobilise bomb squad personnel and launch searches. While this is the first time a bomb threat was sent to a temple, at least half a dozen hotels in the city have received hoax bomb threats over the past three days. Alipiri police had 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 at Sri Varadaraja Swamy temple, located near the administrative building of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). Fortunately no explosives were , found during the searches. The e-mails once again mentioned alleged drug kingpin Jaffer Sadiq and the ISI. Tirupati has been on high alert with several hotels receiving bomb threats over the past three days. Subsequently, Tirupati police and the Cyber Crime Department have intensified their investigation into these hoax threats. Meanwhile, Hotel Taj Vivanta in Vijayawada also received a bomb threat on Sunday Krish. na Lanka inspector SSSV Nagaraju said extensive searches were conducted at the hotel and no bombs were found. Hurriyat eyes comeback in Kashmir F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar AFTER remaining dormant for five years, Kashmir’s separatist outfit Hurriyat Conference seems to have got a lease of life with the victory of National Conference early this month in the first Assembly polls since Article 370 was read down. Since his release in September 2023 from five years of house arrest, Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s activities have been con- fined to addressing weekly Friday sermons at the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar. But now he appears to have become very active, responding to the killing of migrant labourers by terrorists in Kashmir, commenting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks at the BRICS meet in Russia, and trying to revive the Hurriyat by meeting other leaders of the group. Mirwaiz broke the pattern in the run-up to the Assembly polls, making his first political speech from the pulpit of Jamia Masjid, saying elections are for road, electricity and wa, ter and can’t resolve the Kashmir issue. On October 23, he met other Hurriyat leaders—his first meeting with them since August 5, 2019 when the Centre scrapped J&K’s special status and bifurcated the erstwhile state. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq