Gaza summit: PM Modi gets invite, deputes MoS Prime Minister Narendra Modi got a last-minute invite for the Gaza peace summit to be held in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday hyderabad l Monday l October 13, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION The summit, hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, will discuss ways to bring lasting peace to Gaza and the wider West Asia. It will be co-chaired by Trump The Centre has deputed Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh to attend US President Donald Trump and nearly 20 other world leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian leader Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron, are expected to attend 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 ■ ■ From Delhi, Af minister warns Pakistan over border clashes J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi Devi awardees alongside chief guest Justice V Ramasubramanian (Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission), Prabhu Chawla (Editorial Director, The New Indian Express ), Lakshmi Menon (CEO, The New Indian Express ) and T Kalyan Chakravarthy (Resident Editor, The New Indian Express , Telangana) at ITC Kakatiya in Hyderabad on Sunday | SRI LOGANATHAN VELMURUGAN Honouring the unstoppable E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i ce @ Hyderabad The ballroom at ITC Kakatiya glowed with purpose as The New Indian Express brought the Devi Awards back to the city after nine years — celebrating women who embody resilience, leadership and grace. Instituted in 2014 by T N I E G ro u p , t h e awards honour women who have broken barriers and redefined success across diverse fields. Since their inception in New Delhi, 33 editions have been held across the country recognising , 405 exceptional women. Welcoming the gathering, Lakshmi Menon, CEO of TNIE, said the awards celebrated women “who shatter glass ceilings, rewrite codes, and lead with courage and conviction”. The awards were presented by Justice V Ramasubramanian, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission and former judge of the Supreme Court, in the presence of Prabhu Chawla, editorial director of TNIE. This year’s awardees reflected a broad range of achievements: filmmaker Elahe Hiptoola, advocate Shreya Paropkari, scientist Dr Rashna Bhandari, entrepreneurs Saraswathi Mallu- valasa and Anu Acharya, painter Anjani Reddy surgeon , Dr Palukuri Lakshmi, designer Mrunalini Rao, Kalakriti India CEO Rekha Lahoti and innovator Talluri Pallavi. Explaining why he accepted the invitation, Justice Ramasubramanian said, “When Prabhu Chawla sent me a message requesting me to make myself available for this function, I readily agreed for two reasons. The first is that today if there is , a media house that still maintains certain ethical standards, it is TNIE. The second is that its Tamil counterpart, Dinamani, made me a writer of things other than judgments. I was only writing judgments in court, but Dinamani made me a writer in Tamil.” Continued on P3 TALIBAN-ruled Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who is on a sixday visit to India, on Sunday issued a stern warning to Pakistan from Indian soil that Kabul has “other options” if Islamabad refuses diplomacy His . ‘Women journos excluded due to technical issue’ strong remarks come amid After widespread criticism over excluding female journalists from his deadly border clashes and first press meet in India, Muttaqi said it was not deliberate. “It was growing hostility between Afat short notice and the list was prepared with specific journalists. It ghanistan and Pakistan. was more of a technical issue and not intentional,” he said during a “The people of Pakistan, in second press briefing in Delhi, which included female journalists the majority are peace loving… , We have no issues with civilians,” Muttaqi said 20 border posts in re- ed trade caravans on both sides at a New Delhi press cont a l i a t o r y s t r i k e s and deepened the humanitariference, adding “certain against Pakistan’s al- a n s t re s s i n l a n d l o cke d sections” in Pakistan leged territorial and Afghanistan. are creating trouble. airspace violations. Muttaqi’s Delhi visit is be“Afghanistan will Islamabad disputed ing closely watched as a signal safeguard its national Amir Khan Muttaqi the claim, acknowledg- in the regional chess game. interest,” he said, adding 23 deaths and as- Without explicitly recognising ing Kabul had already retaliat- serting it had “neutralised” 200 the Taliban regime, India has ed to border violations. “We Taliban fighters in its counter- upgraded its technical mission achieved our military objec- offensive. Pakistan’s Interior in Kabul to a full embassy—a tives last night,” he said, before Minister Mohsin Naqvi de- bold step that underscores claiming he had heeded calls nounced the Taliban’s actions New Delhi’s willingness to from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to as unprovoked violence against engage directly with Kabul’s pause escalation. civilians, vowing retaliation new rulers. Against that backMuttaqi’s warning follows “with a stone for every brick.” drop, Muttaqi’s pointed reattacks along the Durand Line. Border crossings have been marks from a high-profile InThe Taliban claimed to have shut. Closure of the Torkham dian stage carry diplomatic killed 58 Pak soldiers and seized and Chaman points has strand- weight. bjp, jd(U) to contest 101 seats each The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday finalised its seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Bihar assembly election BJP and Janata Dal (United) will each contest 101 seats in the 243-member assembly, while Union Minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party will contest on 29 seats Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) will contest six seats each This is the first time since 2005 that BJP and JD(U) will contest an equal number of seats The JD(U) is understood to have not insisted on a lion’s share this time in view of the party’s poor performance in 2020, when it won only 43 seats, far less than the BJP’s 74 | P8 Express Read Sexually assaulted tribal woman dies Medak: The tribal woman who was found unconscious and severely assaulted near the Edupayala Vanadurga temple in Medak died while being shifted to a Hyderabad hospital late on Saturday. According to police, the woman was discovered early Saturday morning near an underconstruction structure within the Kulcharam police station limits. The victim had reportedly been stripped, tied to a cement column and left unconscious overnight. Locals who found her informed the police, following which she was moved to Medak Area Hospital | P2