KANNUR l thursday l july 17, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Kharge, Rahul write to PM, seek law to restore statehood of J&k ‘Include Ladakh under 6th Schedule’ In their letter, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi said the legislation should be brought in Parliament’s Monsoon session All-party meeting likely on Saturday The leaders of opposition in the two houses of Parliament—Kharge in Rajya Sabha and Gandhi in Lok Sabha—also called on the government to bring a legislation to include the Union Territory of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The Sixth Schedule is constitutionally protected, ensuring greater autonomy and security for local governance ■ ■ The upcoming session is likely to be stormy as Opposition members are gearing up raise the Pahalgam attack, leak of the interim report on the Ahmedabad air crash in the international media, etc Sources said the government may convene an all-party meeting on July 19, two days before the Monsoon session’s commencement July 21 First day of the Monsoon session, will go on till August 21 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 ‘SIT misdirected Don at it again on India deal itself’ in Ashoka prof case, says SC that the deal with India will be on the same line. India has not formally reacted to Trump’s claims, but officials say that the US president has the habit of making tall claims in public, which are far from reality. They cite the example of the Vietnam deal; Trump had claimed the South East Asian country had agreed to a 20% tariff, but Hanoi rejected the claim. India has maintained that it will not sign any deal that is against the country’s interest. New Delhi and Washington are in talks to finalise a trade deal before D IPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi Asks why it expanded scope of investigation into Mahmudabad’s FB post on Op Sindoor “It is open for the SIT to say that the contents of the FIRs does not disclose any offence. Questioning the line of Then this case can be closed. It probe by a Haryana police Spe- can always say that during the cial Investigation Team (SIT) course of investigation, they into social media posts by have come across certain inAshoka University professor criminating materials, which Ali Khan Mahmudabad on Op- constitute separate offences eration Sindoor, the Supreme and the law will take its own Court on Wednesday observed course,” the bench said. “it had misdirected itself.” When the state’s lawyer said The court had ordered the Mahmudabad could be asked to setting up of the SIT to exam- join the investigation at any ine if there was anything in- point again, a surprised court criminating in the social media said, “You do not need him, you posts by Mahmudabad. need a dictionary .” In its interim report, The bench directed the SIT said it had the SIT to submit its reseized Mahmudabad’s port in four weeks. mobile phones and sent Granting some liberthem for forensic analyty and relaxation on his sis. It further revealed bail conditions, the that he had appeared court said Mahmudabefore the SIT for ques- A K Mahmudabad bad is now free to write tioning four times. on any subject other A bench of justices Surya than the matter pending before Kant and Joymalya Bagchi the court. wondered why the SIT was exSenior advocate Kapil Sibal, panding the scope of the probe. appearing for Mahmudabad, It said its direction was to con- told the court that the SIT had fine the investigation to the two also questioned the professor FIRs against Mahmudabad about the places he had travover his contentious social me- elled to in the past 10 years. dia posts. Mahmudabad had moved the “We are asking why SIT is, court challenging his arrest folon the face of it, misdirecting lowing a Facebook post on Opitself ? They were supposed to eration Sindoor, India’s retaliaexamine the contents of the tory strike against Pakistan for posts,” Justice Kant said. the Pahalagam terror attack. S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi HC quashes changes in driving tests E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi The Kerala High Court on Wednesday quashed the transport commissioner’s circular that introduced new regulations and modifications to driving tests, including prohibiting the use of automatic vehicles and EVs. Justice N Nagaresh issued the order on the petitions filed by All Kerala Motor Driving School Instructors and Workers Association, Thiruvananthapuram, and others challenging the modifications suggested by the circular issued on February 21, 2024. The court held the circular and amendments made during the pendency of the petitions were set aside to the extent “they are found illegal and unsustainable.” It also said the Union government had the power to make rules relating to licensing and regulation of driving schools. The circular had mandated that in driving tests for light motor vehicles, those with automatic gear/automatic transmission, and electric vehicles shall not be used. It had also limited the driving tests to be jointly conducted by one motor vehicle inspector and one assistant motor vehicle inspector to 30 per day – 20 new applicants and 10 who failed earlier. The HC order said Section 12(2)(i) of the Motor Vehicles Act confers on the Union government the power to make rules with regard to the apparatus and equipment (including motor vehicles fitted with dual control) required for imparting such instruction. It said the transport commissioner cannot usurp the power. express read SC refuses to interfere with KEAM admissions New Delhi/T’Puram: The SC has refused to interfere with admissions based on revised KEAM mark list, but agreed to examine the question of law raised over the power to change the formula to standardise marks | P4 C V Padmarajan dies T’Puram: Former minister and Congress state president C V Padmarajan died at a private hospital in Kollam on Wednesday. He was 93 | P4 US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a trade deal with India would soon be sealed under which American firms would get greater access to Indian markets. According to Trump, the trade pact with India will be on the lines of the US-Indonesia deal announced early in the day . “They are going to pay 19% and we are going to pay nothing … we will have full access into Indonesia, and we have a couple of those deals that are going to be announced,” Trump said, adding It’s Not a setback: counsel Govt for mercy killing to tackle stray dog menace E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram The Kerala government has decided to carry out euthanasia “strictly in accordance” with rules, and start mobile animal birth control (ABC) units as public concern mounts over rising stray dog menace and recent rabiesrelated deaths in the state. Local Self-Government Minister M B Rajesh on Wednesday also warned of strict action against those disrupting operations of ABC centres. He said the government will invoke the euthanasia provision under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Animal Husbandry Practices and Procedures) Rules, 2023. “It will be carried out strictly in accordance with Section 8 of the rules, which lays down procedures for humane euthanasia in specific circumstances,” he said. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting jointly convened by Rajesh and Animal Husbandry Minister J Chinchurani to review and strengthen measures to control stray dog population. Section 8 allows euthanasia when the Union or state governments find an animal is “so diseased that it can spread disease” or if it is certified as “mortally injured or so severely injured or in such a physical condition that it ● More on P4 shall be cruel to keep it alive.”  nipah Two cases confirmed in Palakkad 39-year-old woman under critical care at Kozhikode MCH since July 4; 58-yr-old infected man passed away on Saturday | P4 Bright moves At women’s chess World Cup, China faces new threat - India s w a r oo p s w am i nathan @ Chennai THE Chinese women’s dominance of the 64 squares faces an existential threat from an upcoming force. India. At the ongoing women’s World Cup in Batumi, there are four from China in the last 16, including two World Championship runners-up. The reigning world champion, Ju Wenjun, declined to take part but they are still well represented, both in terms of quality and quantity . India, though, aren’t too far back. The gold medallists from last year’s Olympiad also have four players in the pre-quarterfinals. In the only direct confrontation between the two nations in the last-16, Divya Deshmukh took down Zhu Jiner (a GM) in the first tie (Deshmukh, an IM, is one of the country’s brightest prospects). In a queen-centric endgame versus Jiner, Deshmukh, an age-group world champion, completely asserted her posi- tion as her pieces had better coordination and were very active. After building up an imposing advantage, she played the decisive 49. Qf7+ and Jiner resigned on the spot. If the 19year-old draws with black pieces on Thursday, she will advance to the quarterfinals. The teen was joined by young R Vaishali, seasoned D Harika and Koneru Humpy in the last 16 after the first three rounds in Georgia. The other three drew their opening ties and they will all advance if they win on Thursday. The women’s World Cup is important as it carries with it as many as three qualification places for next year’s women’s Candidates. Divya Deshmukh against Zhu Jiner at the event I FIDE/ Anna Shtourman Candidates calling World Cup carries three qualification spots. Vaishali and Humpy played in 2024 but qualified through other pathways. If players qualify through World Cup, they can have 7-8 months to prepare “We do not see this as a setback, but as part of a longer process. Our goal is to bring the entire family around,” Subhash Chandran said. A source familiar with the talks said: “We are mounting a collective effort. Govt continues to provide help for conversation with the victim’s family for a settlement.” August 1, the new deadline for imposing the reciprocal tariff. The US has announced a 26% tariff on India, but has put on hold the tariff for now. Currently only a 10% , basic tariff is in place. An Indian team is in the US for carrying out the fifth round of negotiations on the bilateral trade agreement. Chief negotiator and commerce secretary-designate Rajesh Agrawal on Tuesday said that the Indo-US trade deal was progressing as per the terms of reference decided between the two countries agreed in February . The US has already announced reciprocal tariff between 25-40% against two dozen nations. Relative rejects blood money offer the death sentence, and negotiators are working on getEfforts are in full throttle ting the immediate family to to convince the family of Ta- collectively accept the blood lal Abdo Mahdi, the money offer. This manYe m e n i n a t i o n a l datory process could murdered in 2017, to be long and we need to accept blood money have patience,” her in return for sparing lawyer Subhash ChanIndian nurse Nimidran told this paper. sha Priya from execuHer execution, origition. This comes even nally scheduled for Nimisha Priya as one of Mahdi’s Wednesday was postfamily members pubponed following interlicly rejected reconciliation. ventions from various quar“We are making all efforts ters. In a Facebook post, to get Nimisha spared from Mahdi’s brother, Abdelfattah J ayanth J a c o b @ New Delhi Mahdi, condemned the delay and reaffirmed the family’s position: “Now it’s been postponed and we were not expecting that – unfortunately – especially that those who have stopped the implementation know our absolute refusal to any attempt to reconcile in any form... pressure won’t move us. Retribution will come.” Priya’s legal team and supporters are working to evolve consensus within the Mahdi family to accept blood money and pardon her.