Familial bonding at Rashtrapati Bhavan Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi (second from left) and Navy Chief Adm Dinesh K Tripathi with their spouses during the Defence Investiture Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday. At the ceremony, President Droupadi Murmu conferred six Kirti Chakras, including four posthumously, to personnel of the Army and J&K Police | PTI bengaluru l friday l may 23, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 40 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 Pakistan will pay a big price for any terror attack: PM Says no scope for bilateral talks, adds no water for the neighbour from Indian rivers Ra j e s h A s nan i @ Jaipur IN his first public meeting in Rajasthan after Operation Sindoor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday castigated Pakistan for using terrorism as a weapon against India and asserted that the hostile neighbour and its economy will pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack in future. Addressing a large gathering in Bikaner, Modi said Pakistan will not get a drop of water from rivers over which India has rights and claimed there was no scope for further talks. Modi arrived at the Nal Airbase in Bikaner and proceeded to the Karni Mata temple to offer prayers. From there, he reached Palana in Bikaner district to address the public gathering. At the meeting in Palana, about 20 km from Bikaner on the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan, Modi said: “Pakistan will from now onwards pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack... Pakistan’s army will pay it, Pakistan’s economy will pay it.” PM Modi vowed a firm response to any hostile action from across the border. “Every drop of Indian blood will be avenged... Those who play with the lives of Indians will not be spared, India is no longer afraid of nuclear threats. Those who shed Indian blood will pay dearly for every drop,” he said. Referring to the recent Pahalgam attack, Modi said, “On May 7, India eliminated nine major terrorist hideouts within 22 minutes. The world has now seen what happens when sindoor (vermilion) turns into gunpowder.” India carried out precision strikes under Operation Sindoor on terror infrastructure early on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people. Following that, Pakistan tried, unsuccessfully to at, tack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10. India launched a fierce counter-attack on several Pakistani military installations. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the military confrontation. “Pakistan can never win a direct fight against India. Whenever there is a direct fight, Pakistan has to face defeat again and again. That is why Pakistan has made terrorism a weapon to fight against India,” PM Modi said. SC Stays probe against Tasmac ‘ED crossing all limits, violating federal structure’ `1K-cr liquor scam: ED Su c h i t r a K alyan M ohanty @ New Delhi We won’t differentiate between terrorist organisations and govt that supports them — they’ll be treated as one UAE, Japan express solidarity The UAE and Japan have expressed solidarity with India as multi-party delegations started reaching out to world capitals to sensitise global leadership about terror from Pakistan 3-fold formula key for ties with China India on Thursday reminded China that mutual trust, respect and sensitivity are the basis of its bilateral ties, after it became clear that Pakistan used Chinese weapons in the recent clash India to Turkiye: Show sensitivity India on Thursday called on Turkiye to understand that bilateral ties must be built on mutual respect and sensitivity to each other’s core concerns | P9 In a relief to the Tamil Nadu government, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Enforcement Directorate’s probe and proceedings against the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasm a c ) o ve r a n a l l e g e d `1,000-crore scam. The twojudge bench hearing Tamil Nadu’s petition orally criticised the probe agency . “Enforcement Directorate is crossing all limits. How can your office raid a corporation (Tasmac)? You are totally violating the federal structure of the country,” Chief Justice of India Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, who led the bench, said. The bench also comprised Justice Augustine George Tn govt had moved the top court on May 20 challenging the raids conducted by ED on Tasmac premises 1 The apex court asked, “How can you raid the state-run Tasmac?” 2 Advocate Kapil Sibal said TN has filed 41 FIRs against Tasmac staff Masih. The petition filed by the DMK-run state government and Tasmac challenged the April 23 order of the Madras High Court that upheld the ED’s actions, alleging grave violations of constitutional rights and the federal structure. “The present petition raises questions of law having wide ramifications including the issue of federalism laid bare by the respondent 1 (ED) exceeding its remit and 3 ED said TN distilleries gave unaccounted cash to secure supply orders 4 ASG SV Raju said the ED is not crossing limits “at least in this case” attempting to usurp the state’s right to investigate offences occurring therein,” the state gover nment contended. The ED, however, claimed that there is a `1,000-crore liquor scam in Tamil Nadu. The central probe agency had conducted various raids in March, during which allegations had surfaced that distillery companies had given unaccounted cash to secure liquor supply orders from Tasmac. i n s i d e DMK: ED acting like blackmailing agency I P5 Cabinet nod to rename R’gara as Bengaluru South E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday approved renaming of Ramanagara district as ‘Bengaluru South’. According to sources, the cabinet decided to go ahead with renaming the district, defying the Centre. “Ramanagara was originally a Bengaluru district, today in the cabinet it was decided to name it as the Bengaluru South district,” DCM DK Shivakumar said. Meanwhile, the cabinet also authorised CM Siddaramaiah to decide on the implementation of the tunnel road project in Bengaluru at a cost of Rs 17,800 crore.  fullreport P4 Govt to give site to Banu Congratulating author Banu Mushtaq, who won the Booker Prize for her book ‘Heart Lamp’, and translator Deepa Bhasthi, the Karnataka Cabinet has resolved to allot a ‘G’ category site by the BDA to the author, if she accepts the government’s goodwill gift, informed DCM DK Shivakumar. Arguments over, SC reserves order on Waqf law S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi After three days of arguments, the Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, reiterating observation on the presumption of constitutionality in favour of the law. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih that waqf managements misused monuments, giving rooms for shops and making unau- thorised alterations. This was opposed by senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, saying: “There are other laws to deal with such issues. You can’t take my right over the waqf property because of these issues.” Defending the Act, Mehta said the fact that the SC has to hear the pleas seeking interim stay for three days shows there is nothing ex-facie unconstitutional with the law. He submitted that creating a waqf is different from donating to a waqf. That’s why there is a requirement for five years practice as Muslims, so that waqf is not used to defraud someone.