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 HYDERABAD l friday l may 23, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 36 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 R a j e s h A s n a n 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. Kavitha drops ‘letter bomb’ on dad kcr V V B a l a k r i s h n a @ Hyderabad 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 | P7 Backwardness index for castes in the works in TG E x p r e ss Ne ws Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad The simmering discontent in BRS MLC K Kavitha’s camp spilled out into the open after a purported sixpage letter written by her to party president and father K Chandrasekhar Rao surfaced on Thursday . The letter, dated May 2, has damning comments on her party’s and father’s style of functioning. It questioned his perceived ‘soft stance’ on the BJP, as well as the issue of ‘selective access’ to party leaders. In the letter, Kavitha urged the BRS supremo to convene a two-day plenary session to listen to voices from the grassroots and reenergise the cadre. “Kindly reach out to everyone,” she advised KCR. Despite the criticism, Kavitha began the letter — addressing the former chief minister informally as “Daddy” — by congratulating him i ns i de RIFT out in the open  Questions KCR’s perceived ‘soft stance’ on the BJP & issue of ‘selective access’ to party leaders  Cadre expected a stronger ‘punch’ in your speech, especially on changing the Telangana Talli idol and introducing the Telangana state song, she tells KCR  Questions his silence on Waqf Bill, 42% reservations for BCs and SC subclassification You spoke about the BJP for only two minutes at the (Warangal) meeting, which led many to speculate about a possible alliance. I felt you should have been more critical as I have also suffered – K Kavitha, BRS MLC on the success of the silver jubilee meeting held in Warangal on April 27. Kavitha, who has been in the US, is scheduled to arrive in Hyderabad on Friday night. Although her letter was dated May 2, it was leaked only after 20 days. The timing of the leak has raised several eyebrows. Kavitha’s letter assumes significance amid the alleged rift among three top leaders of the BRS. Former minister T Harish Rao held a threehour-long meeting with KCR earlier on Thursday ostensi, bly over the notices given by the Commission of Inquiry on Kaleshwaram. Harish had also recently met BRS working president KT Rama Rao and announced he would work under the leadership of his cousin if the latter were made party president.  Continued on P4 TG’s IPS cadre strength increased from 139 to 151 I P4 In a major step toward evidence-based policymaking, the Independent Expert Working Group (IEWG) chaired by Justice B Sudarshan Reddy has decided to formulate a Composite Backwardness Index for each of Telangana’s 243 sub-castes. The index will be based on data from the state’s comprehensive Social, Education, Economic, Employment, Political, Caste Survey (SEEEPC), which covered 3.55 crore individuals. At its fourth meeting held on Thursday at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, the IEWG revealed that 73 sub-castes account for 96% of Telangana’s population. These include 10 SC groups, seven ST groups, 45 BC groups and 11 OC groups. The index aims to provide a data-driven measure of each sub-caste’s backwardness, drawing from 43 parameters under seven categories: social, education, living standards, occupation, income, movable & immovable assets and access to banking and finance.  Continued on P4 Arguments over, SC reserves order on Waqf law S U CHI T RA KALYAN M O HAN 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.