Russian general killed in car bomb as U.s. envoy meets Putin kochi l saturday l april 26, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION signs of direct talks between kyiv, moscow A Russian general was killed by a car bomb on Friday in the second such attack in four months; Russia pointed fingers at Ukraine for the hit Friday’s bombing came just as US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for the protracted Ukraine conflict. P9 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 Union minister Amit Shah holds high-level meeting to discuss ways to stop water flow from Indian rivers into Pak Visionary behind India’s achievements in space ‘Will not let a drop of water flow into Pak’ M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday held a high-level meeting with Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Paatil to chalk out the strategy to stop the flow of water from Indian rivers into Pakistani territory . Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Paatil said the Centre has formulated a comp re h e n s ive p l a n fo r t h e purpose. “A roadmap was prepared in the meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Three options were discussed in the meeting. The government is working on short-term, medium-term, and long-term measures so that not even a drop of water goes to Pakistan. Soon, desilting of rivers will be done to stop the water and divert it,” Paatil said. It was also decided to inform the World Bank, the mediator of the Indus Waters Treaty of , the suspension of the pact. Officials said the government also decided to raise the storage and op- erational capacity of dams on the rivers covered under the treaty, which governs water sharing of six rivers in the Indus basin between the two countries. On Thursday, India had formally communicated to Pakistan about its intent to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty . Earlier in the day Shah called , up the chief ministers of all states and asked them to identify all Pakistani nationals in their respective jurisdictions and take immediate steps to ensure their prompt return to their country sources said. , Later, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a video conference with the chief secretaries of all states and directed them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked leave India by the fixed deadline. The Cabinet Committee on Security had on Wednesday decided to cancel all visas granted to Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 dead. ‘send back Pak nationals’: Amit Shah called up the CMs of all states and asked them to identify all Pakistani nationals in their jurisdictions and take steps to ensure their prompt return to their country, said sources. INSIDE M y l s w am y A nna d ura i K T’gana CM seeks revenge Pledging complete support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the Pahalgam terror attack, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy urged him to “launch an attack on Pakistan” and integrate Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) into the Indian Union. “it is the time for a strong reply,” he said Flights cancelled IndiGo has cancelled flights to Almaty and Tashkent due to the closure of Pakistan’s airspace. About 50 international routes operated by IndiGo may be subject to schedule adjustments, the airline said Army Chief briefs L-G on situation I P7 2 4 O c to b e r 1 9 4 0 - 2 5 A p r i l 2 0 2 5 The house of Adil Thokar, linked to the attack, being demolished in Bijbhera, in Anantnag | PTI Houses of 2 Lashkar militants linked to terror attack razed f aya z w an i @ Srinagar SENDING a loud and clear message that acts of terror will not be tolerated, the houses of two Lashkar-eToiba militants, whose names figured during investigation into the Pahalgam terror attack, were demolished by security forces in Tral and Bijbehara area of south Kashmir. This is the first such instance in J&K in over three decades long militancy . The two militants were identified as Asif Sheikh from Monaghama area of Tral in Pulwama and Adil Hussain Thokar from Bijbehara area of Anantnag. Sources said the houses were blown up by security forces after planting IEDs. Their family members were evicted from the houses before they were demol- ished. Sources said both Asif and Adil’s name had cropped up during investigation in Tuesday’s terror attack at Baisaran, Pahalgam in which 25 tourists and a local resident were killed. While Adil was one of the three attackers involved in the attack, Sheikh is suspected to be involved in the conspiracy. Police released sketches of three attackers, including Adil, and announced a bounty of `20 lakh each. “It is a loud and clear message to militants and their sympathisers that such attacks will not be tolerated. This will act as a deterrent to prevent such attacks in future,” a security official said. He said there are clear cut orders to crush all those involved in the terror attack. Spl session of Parliament likely for united war on terror I P7 rishnaswamy Kasturirang an, for mer chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), is no more. Starting as an X-ray astronomer while growing up in positions, his scholastic services and accomplishments in the fields of science, technology, and education have left an indelible mark. India started her national space programme in a very humble way in the late 1960s, when the US and the erstwhile USSR made their presence felt with the lunar missions. It was during Kasturirangan’s tenure, stretching nine long years as chairman of Isro (1994-2003) that the Indian space programme smoothly graduated from the experimental phase to the operational phase in the areas of earth observation satellites, communication satel- Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan lites, and launch services. His visionary approach made Isro boldly venture into commercial space, also leasing 10 transponders of INSAT-2E satellite to INTELSAT – an international consortium for communication satellites, for $10 million as early as 1999. It is through this service that Indian households were able to watch cable TV programmes in regional languages and Indian TV programmes reached out to 47 countries. Kasturirangan took Isro’s slogan of “Space for Society” in a true spirit when he came out with thematic space ● More on P2 missions.  E X P RE S S RE A D Govt allows liquor in IT parks; L10L for licence SC raps Rahul for remarks on Savarkar T’Puram: Paving the way for serving liquor in IT parks in Kerala, the government has formulated new rules. As per the Foreign Liquor (5th Amendment) Rules, 2025, the licence for IT parks will be sanctioned for an annual fee of D10 lakh. P5 New Delhi: The Supreme Court stayed an order of the Allahabad HC refusing to quash summons against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case for his remarks against V D Savarkar. The SC, however, censured Rahul for his “irresponsible” remarks. 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express