THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l saturday l October 04, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Church of England names first female Archbishop of Canterbury The Church of England on Friday named Sarah Mullally as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to hold the 1,400-year-old office To lead 85 mn anglicans in 165 countries To officially take charge in March 2026 As the principal leader of the Church of England, Mullally, 63, will now lead 85 million Anglicans across 165 countries. She will replace Justin Welby, who resigned last year over a child abuse cover-up scandal. Mullally is a former cancer nurse who worked as the UK government’s Chief Nursing Officer for England in the early 2000s. She became a priest in 2006 ■ ■ Mullally will be known as Archbishop of Canterbury-designate till she is confirmed in January 2026 and officially takes charge in March She may face opposition from conservative churches in Africa and Asia, which rejected the reforms introduced a decade ago that made it possible for a woman to become the Archbishop of Canterbury 2018 When Mullally was appointed the first woman Bishop of London 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 Stern Army, IAF warning to Pak India won’t show restraint next time, says Army Chief; Pak lost 12-13 aircraft during Operation Sindoor M India flags PoK rights violation amid unrest andar Pardikar M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi Thayil Jacob Sony George 7 M ay 1 9 2 8 - 3 O c t o b e r 2 0 2 5 TJS, That Legend Down the Corridor T here are journalists, and then there are journalists who get that rare prefix, ‘legendary’. TJS George belonged to this second order, an endangered tribe these days. Its list of card-holding members got rarer still when the man passed away today at age 97. , Behind him trails a career in letters that has spanned about as long as the life of the Indian republic, and as varied. From his erudition in Carnatic music that birthed a book on MS Subbulakshmi, and others on VK Krishna Menon as well as Nargis, it also contained landmarks in good old-fashioned print journalism, such as being the founding editor of Asiaweek in Hong Kong back in the 1970s—an act of pan-Asia ecumenism that would have resonated well today . That such an eminence was a living presence in the offices of The New Indian Express till the other day was a matter of honour and delight equally for all of us here. It was only in June 2022 that he laid his pen to rest after writing his last column, the Sunday Point of View, in his inimitable, no-holds-barred style—sharp, ironic, fearless. Over 25 years, he contributed 1,300 columns for these pages. Politicians, judges and powerful people feared and respected his pen, and treaded carefully around him. He was famously unpredictable. In our Bangalore office, when a VVIP dropped by wanting santwana to meet him, we would exbhattacharya change nervous glances. If it Editor was his column-writing hour—always longhand, pen on paper—he would refuse to meet them, however important they might be. Siddaramaiah, the current chief minister, had a taste of that brusqueness when TJS admonished him in a humorous, schoolmasterly way on one such visit—for wasting time in a newspaper office instead of working among the people! No one took offence. Once at a function in Mysore, SM Krishna, then External Affairs Minister, vacated his seat for TJS when he saw him standing, but characteristically he refused. Such was the awe he inspired among Union ministers, high court judges, chief ministers. Even when his columns were scathing, the powerful usually held their peace—it was only their sycophants who protested. He had opinions, he took stands, and never wavered, even when it led to sedition charges in earlier years. The only man he openly admired was our founder, Ramnath Goenka. “I have no god,” he would often say A non. believer, or rather a believer only in humanity , and in journalism as a calling. He taught generations of journalists the importance of precision in language, and of calling a spade a spade. Outside the newsroom, George had deep interests in cities and food. He was fascinated by urban planning—often comparing the systematic grid of New York, where he and his beloved wife Ammu lived during his UN years, with the chaos of Bangalore’s house numbering. In his last few years, he spent his winters in Coimbatore, leaving the chaos of Bangalore behind him, to “best idlis, dosas and coffee”. P5, P7 This time we will take a step forward and act in a manner that will make Pakistan think whether it wants to remain on the world map or not — Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi We have clear evidence of one long-range strike with over 300 kms range hitting an AEW&C or SigNit aircraft, along with five hi-tech fighters - F-16 and JF-17 Air Chief A P Singh Two service chiefs on Friday used strong language to put Pakistan on notice, a day after Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said any misadventure from across the border in the Sir Creek sector will invite a decisive response. Addressing soldiers in Rajasthan, Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said Pakistan should stop sponsoring terrorism on its soil if it wants to retain its place on world map. “India practised restraint during Operation Sindoor 1.0, but this time we won’t. This time we will take a step forward and act in a manner that will make Pakistan think whether it wants to remain on world map or not,” he warned. In Delhi, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh told the media ahead of the annual Air Force Day that the IAF destroyed around 12-13 aircraft during the Operation Sindoor, which included Chinese-made JF17s and F-16s procured from the US. He described Islamabad’s claim of India’s losses as fanciful stories (Manohar Kahaniyan). Recalling the widespread destruction of Pakistani military assets both in the air and on the ground during Operation Sindoor in May he said, “radars at , least in four places, command For over a week now, largescale protests led by the Awami Reacting strongly to the on- Action Committee (AAC) have going unrest in Pakistan-occu- swept across PoK, with Rawalapied Kashmir (PoK), India on kot, Mirpur, Kotli and Neelum Thursday called on the interna- Valley among the worst-hit. The tional community to region has witnessed a hold Pakistan accountcomplete shutdown, able for its “horrific huwith businesses closed man rights violations” and transport services and systemic exploitaparalysed in what has tion of the region under been described as the its illegal occupation. largest civil uprising in External Affairs MinPoK in recent years. Randhir Jaiswal istry spokesperson RanThe AAC has accused dhir Jaiswal condemned the Shehbaz Sharif govthe Pakistani military’s brutal ernment of denying fundamencrackdown on protesters across tal rights to the people of the multiple areas of PoK. “We region, demanding an end to have seen reports on protests in what it calls institutional disseveral areas of Pakistan-occu- crimination. The protests have pied Jammu & Kashmir, in- also raised calls for the abolition cluding brutalities by Pakista- of 12 reserved seats in the PoK ni forces on innocent civilians. legislative assembly allocated to We believe this is a natural con- Kashmiri refugees living in Pasequence of Pakistan’s oppres- kistan—seen by many as a tool sive approach and systemic to manipulate regional politics. plundering of resources from The situation is volatile, with these territories,” Jaiswal reports confirming at least 10 said. protest-related deaths and a “Pakistan must be held ac- near-total suspension of intercountable for its horrific human net and mobile services to suprights violations,” he said. press the unrest. Jayan t h Ja c o b @ New Delhi and control centres at two places, runways damaged at two places, three of their hangars in three different stations damaged… we have signs of one C-130 class of aircraft and at least 4-5 fighter aircraft (in one strike), most likely F-16s, because that place happened to be F-16 base with whatever was under maintenance at that time.” Besides, one SAM (Surface to Air Missile) system was destroyed in Pakistan. “We have clear evidence of one longrange strike of more than 300 km, which happened to be either an AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control System) or a SigNit aircraft. Along with that five hi-tech fighters between F-16 and JF 17 class (were shot down) — this is what our system tells us,” the Air Chief said. He refused to reveal India’s losses during Op Sindoor. “Let them find out,” he said. Gold plating row: TDB feels heat as new docus surface US Senators question TCS’ hiring practice E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram S A N A L S U D E V A N @ Chennai Pushed to a corner after its vigilance wing recovered documents revealing gross irregularities and mismanagement in the gold covering of the sanctum at Sabarimala temple, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has decided to approach the High Court seeking a comprehensive investigation under its supervision into the entire episode since 1999. As per uncovered documents, the dwarapalaka idols were among the properties that were layered with gold in 1999. However, when the plates covering the idols were sent for maintenance in 2019, the entries in the register did not mention any gold. They say 14 copper panels were sent for repair. The records showed that 30.3 kg of gold were used for gold covering the sanctum, including the dwarapalaka idols, roof, steps and certain portions of the wall in 1999. The gold plating was sponsored by businessman Vijay Mallya. In 2019, the documents say, 14 panels which covered the dwarapalaka idols in front of the sanctum were sent for maintenance in Chennai. The maintenance was sponsored by priesttur ned-businessman Unnikrishnan Potti, the central figure in the current controversy. The Chennai-based company, which did the re- Gold work over years The gold-covered sanctum of the Sabarimala temple TDB will seek a comprehensive probe under the supervision of HC on all developments related to the gold covering of the sanctum since 1999. We will submit the representation through our standing counsel P S Prasanth, TDB president pair work, said recently that it received pure copper panels for gold plating. Moreover, the 14 panels weighed 42 kg at the time of handover. But at the time of return, the weight was 38 kg. Another startling find by the vigilance was that the panels were in the possession of Potti for a considerable period — 30 days — after the formal handover by the TDB. He is also accused of illegally displaying and performing pooja on the panels in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He publicly conducted poojas at the Srirampura Temple in Bengaluru and the Chennai-based company where they were re● More on P4 paired.  1999: The sanctum, its roofing, steps and the two dwarapalaka idols were gold-covered under the sponsorship of businessman Vijay Mallya. A total of 30.3 kg gold was used. 2019: 14 panels covering the dwarapalaka idols were sent to a Chennai-based company for refurbishment. It was sponsored by Unnikrishnan Potty, who received 42 kg of material in total. The panels he returned weighed only 38 kg. 397g of gold was used for the process 2025: 12 panels covering the dwarapalaka idols sent for maintenance to the same company where work was done in 2019. An additional 10g of gold was used for the process. The maintenance was done through Potty under the supervision of board’s officers TWO US Senators have shot off a letter to the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), raising concerns about its hiring practices in the US and questioning its rationale for filing thousands of H-1B visa petitions after allegedly laying off local staff. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley and ranking member Richard Durbin also questioned Cognizant, Amazon, Apple, Deloitte, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Meta, Microsoft, and Walmart, seeking details of their recruitment practices and wage parity between VISA H-1B visa holders and American employees. In their letter addressed to TCS CEO Krithi Krithivasan on September 24, Grassley and Durbin flagged “troubling employment trends” in the tech sector. The letter quoted US media reports about IT sector’s high unemployment rate. “Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the tech sector’s unemployment rate was “well above” the overall jobless rate,” read the letter addressed to Krithivasan. Among Indian tech firms, TCS is the biggest beneficiary of H-1B visa with 5,005 approvals so far in 2025. EXPRESS READ Over 30,000 divorce cases in state a year Kochi: Divorce cases have been on the rise in Kerala for the past several years. According to an RTI reply obtained by TNIE from the Kerala HC, 30,781 divorce pleas were filed in 2022. In 2023, the number rose to 33,535, while in 2024 the figure stood at 30,647. As of June 2025, as many as 9,199 cases have already been filed. P4 Dweep official behind ‘coconut’ order shifted Kochi: A deputy collector in Lakshadweep who triggered controversy for making prior permission mandatory to pluck coconuts from trees abutting public roads has been moved from the post. An order issued by the administration said Mukund Vallabh Joshi will hold charges of director (road transport) and director (Information and PR) of the UT. P4 Karur stampede: Madras HC forms SIT Chennai: Expressing ‘anguish’ over the death of 41 people during the September 27 roadshow of TVK leader Vijay in Karur and the failure of the government in taking stringent action against those responsible, the Madras HC formed a special investigation team to probe the incident. 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express 2 - h o u r o rdea l Coconut picker blacks out atop tree, friend’s heroics come to rescue A r o c k i a r a j J @ Kasaragod “My friend was in danger and I needed to do everything I could to save him.” After all, it was the life of M Sasi’s buddy of over 30 years that was on the line. In an act of ‘high’ bravery, he held on to P Babu, who blacked out atop a 70-feet-tall coconut tree that he intended to harvest. And, all this while Babu hung upside down for over two hours — till help arrived. It was a two-three hour task, harvesting around 30 trees, that the two coconut pickers had taken up on Tuesday morning at a farm in Kappalli, near Malakallu. The duo, both aged 55, was almost done with their labour, with six trees left, when Babu, who was cleaning the crown of a tree after plucking coconuts, blacked out all of a sudden. “I have passed out several times, but always on the ground. This time it happened atop a tree,” recalled Babu, from Perinkaya village in Kasaragod. Having l o s t co n s ci o u s n e s s, h e swooned forward with his two feet still caught in the metal climber. Within seconds, he was hanging upside down from the tree. M Sasi (left) and P Babu The workers collecting harvested coconuts below raised an alar m. “I was plucking coconuts four trees away. I climbed down and rushed to inspect the situation, only to find my friend hanging upside down from the tree,” said Sasi. He hurried to get his climber, hooked it on to the tree Babu was hanging from and started making his way up. Babu had regained conscious by then. But he was hanging upside down, and the situation was still precarious. Sasi got hold of Babu’s towel, which climbers use as headgear, and bound it to his to fashion a rope, which he used to tie Babu’s legs to the tree. After descending to get hold of a coir rope, Sasi climbed back up to bind Babu further to the tree from his hip. With his feet still caught in the climber, Babu was wrig● More on P4 gling in pain.