THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l sunday l October 19, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION SC expresses alarm over 8.8l pending execution petitions Extends compliance deadline by six months The Supreme Court directed high courts to take action after observing that 8,82,578 execution petitions remain pending before district courts Maharashtra leads with 3.4l petitions The Supreme Court expressed concern over the large number of pending execution petitions, despite its earlier direction to high courts to ensure their disposal within six months. The court, in its order on October 16, directed all high courts to formulate a procedure and guide their district judiciary to ensure expeditious disposal of these petitions over the next six months ■ Maharashtra has the highest number of pending execution petitions, with 3.4 lakh cases, followed by Tamil Nadu with 86,000, Kerala with nearly 83,000 and Andhra Pradesh with 68,000 ■ An execution petition is a legal request to enforce a court order, ensuring that the winning party receives relief granted April 10 When the supreme Court will hear the matter again 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 Pending audits HC flays TDB over fin mismanagement E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi Dhaka airport on fire A massive fire at the cargo complex of the international airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Saturday, forced authorities to suspend flight operations for hours | AP/PTI | P9 Full Pak in BrahMos range, says Rajnath Defence minister warns neighbour against misadventurism na m i ta b aj pa i @ Lucknow EVERY inch of Pakistan’s territory lies within the range of BrahMos and Operation Sindoor was just a trailer, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday in a stern warning to Pakistan. The Union minister, along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, flagged off the first batch of BrahMos missiles manufactured at the BrahMos Integration and Testing Facility Centre in Lucknow. Singh described the missile as a symbol of India’s rising strength and proof of India’s strategic confidence. “India’s defence capabilities now serve as a powerful deterrent,” the minister said. “Every inch of Pakistan’s territory lies within the range of BrahMos... Operation Sindoor ... made Pakistan realise that if India could create Pakistan, then if the time comes... I need not say more, you all are wise enough,” he said. “Maintaining this confidence is now our collective responsibility he said. ,” “The entire world now recog- Operation Sindoor is proof that victory has become a habit for us, and we must enhance our capabilities. It made Pakistan realise what might follow IN an escalation of rhetoric, Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir has warned that Pakistan’s expanding military capabilities could “shatter the misconceived immunity of India’s geographical warspace.” His statement, delivered during a high-profile address at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul, signifies yet another round of nuclear sabre-rattling by Islamabad. This time, it comes against the backdrop of ongoing Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan civilians near the border. Cricketers killed, Af board exits series in pak F i r o z M i r z a @ Chennai nises India’s capability. BrahMos has strengthened our belief that India can turn its dreams into reality,” he said. The indigenously developed BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles were used by India to destroy Pakistan’s air bases during Operation Sindoor in May this year. Inaugurated on May 11, 2025, the state-of-the-art BrahMos Aerospace unit houses all modern facilities for missile integration, testing and final quality checks. After successful testing, the missiles are prepared for deployment by the Indian armed forces. The defence minister said that BrahMos has proved that Made-in-India is now a global brand even as India strengthens its security and has emerged as a credible partner in defence and technology . Contracts worth crores Rajnath Singh said in Lucknow that the BrahMos team has wrapped up contracts worth approximately I4,000 crore with two countries in the last one month Self-reliance a reality: Yogi Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath said a self-reliant India is now a reality. Adityanath made the remark while kicking off a programme at the BrahMos unit Can shatter the image of Indian immunity: Munir jayan t h ja c o b @ New Delhi From left: Kabeer Agha, Haroon and Sibghatullah Munir, addressing graduating cadets, asserted that even a “minor provocation” from India would invite a “decisive, beyond proportions” response from Pakistan. “Should a fresh wave of hostilities be triggered, Pakistan would respond much beyond the expectations of the initiators,” he said. Munir went on to warn of “deeply hurting retributive military and economic losses” and said the responsibility for any future escalation, potentially with “catastrophic consequences for the region and beyond” would rest solely with the neighbouring India. Asim Munir Not the first time from Munir This isn’t the first time Pakistan army chief Asim Munir has resorted to inflammatory language. Days before the dastardly Pahalgam attack last year that killed 26 civilians, Munir had referred to Kashmir as Pakistan’s “jugular vein.” After featuring in a domestic tournament in Sharana of Paktika province of Afghanistan, local cricketers were having a get together in their home district, Urgun when three of them were killed in air strikes reportedly carried out by Pakistan. Condemning the incident and terming it cowardly Afghanistan Crick, et Board (ACB) has withdrawn its team from the tri-series involving Pakistan and Sri Lanka to be held in Rawalpindi and Lahore from November 17 to 29. The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Indian cricket board (BCCI) expressed solidarity with the ACB. The ICC in a statement said it is deeply saddened and appalled by the tragic deaths of three young and promising Afghan cricketers, Kabeer Agha, Sibghatullah, and Haroon, who lost their lives in a recent air strike. “It was a local event in Sharana, the capital of the Paktika province. One of the teams has come from far away district named Urgun. After the game, they returned to Urgun. The players were having a get together after when they were targetted by Pakistan state,” Sayed Naseem Sadaat, ACB spokesperson, told this daily “Not only . once, three times the same area was attacked. A number of our innocent civilians and three cricketers were martyred in this attack. The ACB management has decided to withdraw from the tri-series planned by the PCB,” he added. Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan stood by ACB and posted on X: “It is absolutely immoral and barbaric to target civilian infrastructure... I welcome the ACB’s decision.” His teammate Mohammad Nabi termed it heinous. WITH THIS ISSUE Bling in the New PLUS 12 PAGES Criticising the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) over financial mismanagement, the Kerala High Court has observed that the board’s failure to maintain proper, verifiable and contemporaneous accounts amounts to a fundamental lapse in management. The court ordered immediate digitisation of the board’s accounts. “The divine assets of the temples cannot be left vulnerable to outdated ledgers and missing records,” the court observed. It issued the order in a case pertaining to the devaswom audit report. The court noted that even audits more than a decade old remain pending, primarily on account of missing vouchers, incomplete records, and obsolete accounting systems still being followed across the devaswom institutions. The continued reliance on manual registers and paper vouchers has made the accounting system vulnerable to manipulation and defalcation. Depending on archaic manual record-keeping, absence of digitised accounting systems and failure to conduct timely audits reveal a pattern of gross Documents seized from Potti’s home T’Puram: A day after the arrest of Unnikrishnan Potti, the SIT probing the Sabarimala gold theft case seized documents and collected evidence from his ancestral home at Karette in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. P5 administrative indifference. Such neglect has rendered the board a passive enabler, and in effect, an active participant in financial indiscipline, it said. When vouchers disappear, receipts remain unverified and audits are delayed for years, opacity becomes institutionalised, creating fertile ground for misappropriation and corruption. This abdication of responsibility has allowed errant employees to misuse temple funds with impunity secure in , the knowledge that systemic weaknesses will shield their misconduct, the court said. It is imperative that the board immediately shift to a fully digitised, end-to-end accounting framework, the court ● More on P5 said. EXPRESS READ Double life term for Chenthamara Actor Mohanlal speaks at the Artist Namboodiri Samman presentation ceremony in Kochi on Saturday | T P Sooraj When Mohanlal’s 5-year wait for a Namboodiri painting turned ‘blessing’ A N N A J O S E @ Kochi Speaking at the first Artist Namboodiri Samman ceremony in Kochi on Saturday actor Mohanlal’s voice dripped with admira, tion and nostalgia. Recounting a deeply personal memory, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner shared how he once waited five long years for a painting by the legendary artist — a work inspired by a sloka from the ‘Soundarya Lahari’. It was on the sets of ‘Vanaprastham’ that Mohanlal became very close to Namboodiri. Struck by Namboodiri’s creative depth, the actor later requested him to paint a scene based on the sloka — brimming with divine imagery and many characters. The actor patiently explained the essence of the verse, and the artist agreed to make it a reality But what seemed like an exciting col. laboration soon turned into a test of ‘artistic patience’. “Namboodiri agreed to try but there was no painting for sev, eral years,” Mohanlal recalled. “Eventually he began to avoid me , whenever we met. He admitted that he could not complete the work and was wondering why I hadn’t enquired about it. I told him, ‘I understood it was difficult to recreate’,” said Mohanlal. Years passed. One day, while in Kozhikode, Namboodiri sent word to Mohanlal asking for brushes and paint. Soon after, the long-awaited piece arrived. “When I saw the work, I held his fingers and placed them on my head for his blessings. That’s all I ● More on P2, P5 remember,” the actor said, visibly moved. Palakkad: The Additional District and Sessions Court-IV on Saturday awarded double life imprisonment to 54-yearold Chenthamara, the lone accused in the 2019 murder of Sajitha, 35, of Nenmara. He was also fined `3.25 lakh. The court awarded separate life terms for murder and house trespass with intent to commit an offence, along with a fiveyear sentence for destruction of evidence. P2 Flash floods ravage Idukki Idukki: A sudden spell of torrential rain on Friday night wreaked havoc across Idukki district, flooding towns, triggering landslides, and forcing major dams to be opened. Continuous downpour caused streams to inundate hundreds of houses across the high ranges. Mullaperiyar dam recorded an unprecedented rise in water level on Friday night, forcing TN to open all spillway shutters in phases. P2 Congress leaders voice displeasure Kottayam: Amid brewing resentment in the Congress over the KPCC revamp, some senior leaders have reportedly voiced their displeasure to AICC leadership for ignoring their nominees. Sources indicate that, alongside K Muraleedharan and Chandy Oommen, veteran leader V M Sudheeran is displeased with the leadership for ignoring his recommendations. P5