EASTERN LADAKH ROW: INDIA, CHINA HOLD 18TH ROUND OF MILITARY TALKS

India and China held a fresh round of high-level military talks on Sunday with a focus on resolving the remaining issues in eastern Ladakh as the border row enters the fourth year. The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020 following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area. The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

The 18th round of military talks took place ahead of Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu’s visit to India next week to attend a key meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation being hosted by New Delhi under its presidency of the grouping.

Sunday’s military talks came around four months after the last round of the dialogue between the senior Army commanders of the two sides.

The talks were held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Indian side is said to have insisted on resolving the issues at the remaining friction points of Demchok and Depsang in eastern Ladakh as soon as possible.

The Indian delegation at the dialogue was led by Lt Gen Rashim Bali, Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps that takes care of security along the LAC in the Ladakh sector.

The Corps Commander-level talks were instituted to resolve the eastern Ladakh row. India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.

2 IAF PLANES, NAVAL SHIP ON STANDBY FOR SUDAN EVACUATION

India has put two military aircraft on standby in Jeddah while a Navy ship reached Port Sudan as part of the govt’s plans to evacuate stranded Indians from violence-hit Sudan.

“Contingency plans are in place, but any movement on the ground would depend on the security situation, which continues to be volatile with reports of fierce fighting at various locations in Khartoum. Two IAF planes are currently positioned on standby in Jeddah. And, INS Sumedha has reached Port Sudan,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. It said the Sudanese airspace currently remained closed for all foreign aircraft and overland movement also had risks and logistical challenges. Sources said the perils of evacuation by road were evident when the Qatari Ambassador’s convoy, on its way to Port Sudan, was looted by armed groups.

The MEA said India was making all-out efforts to ensure the safety and security of Indians stranded in Sudan. Apart from the Sudanese authorities, the MEA and the Indian embassy in Sudan are also in regular touch with the United Nations, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and the United States among others. “As part of our preparations and in order to move swiftly, the govt is pursuing multiple options,” the Ministry of External Affairs said.

PUNJAB CM BHAGWANT MANN SPEAKS AFTER AMRITPAL’S ARREST

Hours after the arrest of Waris Punjab De (WPD) chief Amritpal Singh on Sunday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said he was awake all night on Saturday ever since they received news of the self-styled preacher’s presence in Rode village. Thanking people for maintaining harmony in the state, Mann said in a video message, “Whatever happened, we got the information last night. I was awake the whole night. I was talking to police officers every 15 minutes. I wanted all this to end smoothly and peacefully.”

“As Home Minister and as CM, I am sharing with you that if we wanted to arrest him on March 18, then bullets would have been fired. But we did not want to do that. We could have done anything during the Ajnala violence also when they carried the palanquin carrying the Guru Granth Sahib, but I did not want anything done. I cannot tolerate even a drop of water on the Guru. I appreciate the police also for exercising such restraint.”

Mann continued, “Punjab’s mutual harmony is very strong. It is a fertile land. Any seed can be sown here but not the seeds of hatred. Punjab had been at the forefront during the freedom struggle. Four of our soldiers were martyred two days ago. I just want Punjab to become the number one state in the country. It is the responsibility of the govt to maintain peace and harmony. There is no news of any untoward incident. I assure you that Punjab will remain on the trajectory of growth. We are trying to bring Punjab on the top.”

“I want to thank the 3.5 crore people (of the state) for having shown mutual harmony… You have given the responsibility to the Aam Aadmi Party govt. We will come true to that. We will take action, no matter how strong it is. But we will not say anything to innocent people. Law will take its own course.”

Mann said he had spoken to police officers across the state. “There was no news of any disturbance anywhere. Punjab was peaceful and people have been engaging in their normal work,” he shared.

Mann’s crackdown operation also got appreciation from the BJP, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma offering fulsome praises for the CM’s move.

CENTRAL AGENCIES OFFICIALS ON WAY TO DIBRUGARH

With Amritpal Singh arrested and lodged in the Dibrugarh jail in Assam, central agencies will interrogate him to establish his links with Pakistan’s ISI, his connection with the drugs mafia and gun dealers and attempts to disturb communal peace in Punjab, officials said yesterday. A senior official in the security establishment said, “Amritpal has been kept in a separate cell, distant from his other aides.” The official said teams of the IB, RAW, NIA and other agencies would soon reach the Dibrugarh jail for Amritpal’s questioning.

The agencies would now want to know from Amritpal as to how he was backed by the ISI to come to Punjab from Dubai where he was working for his family business, the official said.

“He will be questioned on his association with his sympathisers and his source of funding. The intelligence agencies have got a lot of inputs regarding his association with handlers in Pakistan and other countries,” another official said.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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EXODUS OF DIPLOMATS FROM SUDAN

The US military evacuated American embassy officials from Sudan’s capital early on Sunday, starting an exodus of foreign diplomats amid continuing violence as rival military leaders battled for control of Africa’s third largest country.

As gunfire again echoed through Khartoum and fighter jets roared above, foreigners also fled the capital in a long UN convoy, while millions of frightened residents hunkered down inside their homes, many running low on water and food. Across the city of five million, army and paramilitary troops have fought ferocious street battles since April 15, leaving behind charred tanks, gutted buildings and shops that have been looted and torched. More than 420 people have been killed and thousands wounded, according to UN figures.

The White House announced extraction of its citizens in an overnight statement from President Biden. “Today, on my orders, the US military conducted an operation to extract US govt personnel from Khartoum,” Biden said, referring to the Sudanese capital. Biden added the US was temporarily suspending operations at its embassy in Khartoum. US officials said special forces using aircraft including MH-47 Chinook helicopters swept into battle-stricken Khartoum on Saturday from a US base in Djibouti, spending just one hour on the ground to bring out fewer than 100 people.

Britain, France and the Netherlands also said they had moved to evacuate their nationals and diplomatic staff.

The efforts to extract foreign residents frustrated some Sudanese who felt the rival factions showed less concern for the safety of locals. “Seeing the foreigners leave made me upset because I see there’s some groups that were helped by the army and RSF, meanwhile we keep getting hit,” said a local.

TWITTER REINSTATES BLUE TICKS FOR SOME ACCOUNTS, INCLUDING OF DEAD CELEBS

Twitter’s blue ticks were reinstated on some media, celebrity, and other high profile accounts Saturday — a move protested by many of the recipients.

Once a free sign of authenticity and fame, blue ticks must now be bought by subscribers for $8 a month.

Non-paying accounts that had a blue tick lost it on Thursday, as Elon Musk implemented a strategy, dubbed “Twitter Blue”, to generate new revenue, announced last year. Only a tiny fraction of blue-ticked users subscribed — less than 5% of the 407,000 profiles affected, according to Travis Brown, a Berlin-based software developer who tracks social-media platforms.

But on Friday and Saturday, a number of celebrities regained their blueticks, seemingly without action on their part. Musk tweeted Friday that he was “paying for a few (subscriptions) personally. ”

American rapper Lil Nas X, whose profile displays the blue tick, tweeted: “on my soul i didn’t pay for twitter blue, u will feel my wrath tesla man!”

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DISCREET SILENCE BY UK HELPED AMRITPAL SINGH'S DETENTION

On the diplomatic back foot after Khalistani elements tried to vandalise the Indian High Commission in London over Punjab Police’s hunt for Amritpal Singh, the UK held its silence when his wife Kirandeep Kaur, a British national, was detained by Punjab police from at Amritsar airport on Wednesday as she was trying to board a flight to London.

Kirandeep’s Indian visa was due to expire in July and if South Block had not been against countenancing Khalistani activity in the UK, there were expectations of voices from abroad protesting against her detention. But India mounted counter-pressure from various angles. NSA Ajit Doval on March 30 discussed the heightened pro-Khalistan activity in the UK with its NSA Tim Barrow.

Delhi municipal authorities removed the extra security barricades around the UK High Commission.

A senior British diplomat was also summoned to protest the lack of security. India had already summoned a senior UK diplomat late on March 19 and sought an explanation for the complete absence of British security that allowed separatist and extremist elements to enter the Indian High Commission in London earlier in the day and replace the Tricolour with the Khalistani flag.

Then, PM Narendra Modi called for strong action against anti-India elements in a conversation with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on April 13.

The absence of any outside support over the detention of his wife is said to be an element that may have persuaded Amritpal Singh to prefer surrender over trying to be on the run.

AMIT SHAH VOWS TO SCRAP MUSLIM QUOTA IN TELANGANA

Union Minister Amit on Sunday vowed to scrap the reservations for Muslims in Telangana if the BJP comes to power in the state.

Addressing the rally at Chevella near Hyderabad, Amit Shah slammed religion-based reservations, calling them "unconstitutional".

Amit Shah accused the K Chandrasekhar Rao govt of implementing the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM "agenda" in the state.  "No govt can run in Telangana whose steering is with Majlis (Owaisi). We are not afraid of Majlis. The govt of Telangana will run for the people of the state. It will not run for Owaisi," Shah said.

Hitting back at the home minister over his promise to scrap the Muslim quota in the state, Owaisi said that the BJP has no vision for Telangana, besides "anti-Muslim hate speech".

The assembly election in Telangana will be held later this year.

The BJP-ruled Karnataka had recently scrapped the 4 per cent reservations for Muslims and decided to and distribute it equally between two dominant Hindu communities ahead of the May 10 assembly elections. Criticising the decision, the Supreme Court earlier this month said the move appeared to be on a "highly shaky ground" and "flawed".

SAME SEX MARRIAGE: BAR COUNCIL URGES SC TO LET PARLIAMENT DECIDE

Maintaining that more than 99.9 per cent of people of the country were in opposition of the same sex marriage, the Bar Council of India on Sunday urged the Supreme Court to leave the issue to be decided by the Legislature, saying it was likely to tinker with the fundamental social structure.

“India is one of the most diverse socio-religious countries of the world consisting of a mosaic of beliefs. Hence, any matter which is likely to tinker with the fundamental social structure, a matter which has far reaching impact on our socio-cultural and religious beliefs should necessarily come through the Legislative process only,” BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra said after BCI’s joint meeting of all state bar councils.

“Any decision by the Apex Court in such a sensitive matter may prove very harmful for the future generation of our country,” the BCI said in a resolution unanimously passed in the meeting.

ARMY PROMOTIONS NOW GENDER-NEUTRAL

With the first group of women officers set to get commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery on April 29, the Army has decided on a multi-pronged approach on inducting and promoting them.

This includes empowering women for higher leadership roles and making all future selection boards gender-neutral.

In the armed forces, the top vacancies are few and all ranks of Colonel, Brigadier, Maj General and Lt General are selection posts. Now onwards, for all officers recruited beyond the 2009 batch, a common gender-neutral selection board will look into promotions. Women officers will be considered along with their male course mates for selection and no separate selection board will be convened for women officers.

'VERY SORRY PICTURE,' SC ON 1003 SUPER SPECIALTY MEDICAL SEATS GOING WASTE

The Supreme Court has noted with concern "a very sorry picture" showing that 1003 precious super specialty seats in the country are going to waste, though there is always a shortage of such doctors.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Aravind Kumar asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to impress upon the Union govt to find a solution to this problem.

The court was dealing with a writ petition filed by Kevin Joy and others seeking a direction to the refund of fees and return of original documents of the candidates after their resignation from the seats. The court directed all the concerned colleges to return the original documents/papers of the petitioners, while fixing the issue of the refund of fees for consideration subsequently.

SECOND TRANSLOCATED CHEETAH DIES

One of the cheetahs translocated to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP) from South Africa died on Sunday. The deceased cheetah 'Uday' was six years old.

Notably, this is the second such incident at KNP in almost a month. Earlier, Namibian cheetah Sasha died due to a kidney ailment on March 27.

TOP WRESTLERS ON PROTEST AGAINST WFI

Top Indian wrestlers who earlier this year protested against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, and other trainers, accusing them of sexually exploiting women wrestlers, are back at Delhi's Jantar Mantar with a fresh police complaint. Seven women wrestlers have filed a sexual harassment complaint against federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at the Connaught Place police station in Central Delhi.

A First Information Report based on the complaint is yet to be filed, wrestler Sakshee Malikkh said, adding that they are frustrated that a govt panel report on the issue hasn't been made public yet.

"We won't leave from here until Brij Bhushan is arrested," Bajrang Punia, another top wrestler, said.

Vinesh Phogat said they aren't getting any response from the govt despite repeated attempts. "We are going to sleep and eat here till we get justice.

Olympic medalist Mary Kom is heading the Oversight Committee. Former wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, former shuttler Trupti Murgunde, SAI member Radhica Sreeman, ex-CEO of the Target Olympic Podium Plan Rajesh Rajagopalan, and CWG gold medalist Babita Phogat are the other members of the Mary Kom-led committee.

IPL MATCH 32: RCB CLINCH NERVY LAST-OVER WIN OVER RR

A century stand between captain Faf du Plessis (62 off 39 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (77 off 44 balls) set up a thrilling seven-run win for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Rajasthan Royals, in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Devdutt Padikkal (52 off 34 balls) struck his maiden fifty of the season and Yashasvi Jaiswal made 47 for a 98-run partnership for the second wicket but the Royals were lagging behind in the run chase before gaining momentum in the last five overs. Dhruv Jurel played a small cameo of 34 not out off just 16 balls as the Royals scored 61 runs off the last five overs, losing three wickets in the process. But they fell short by seven runs in the end, reaching to 182 for 6 in 20 overs.

Both these teams have played 7 matches each and have 4 wins each.

IPL MATCH 33: CSK SCORE A BIG WIN OVER KKR

Ajinkya Rahane, whose T20 game has undergone complete metamorphosis, smashed an eye-popping 29-ball-71 as Chennai Super Kings, buoyed by support from capacity Eden Gardens crowd, out-batted Kolkata Knight Riders by 49 runs in Kolkata on Sunday.

A transformed Rahane took Eden Gardens by storm with his sensational stroke-play which was complemented in equal measure by the muscular Shivam Dube (50 off 21 balls) and ever-consistent Devon Conway (56 off 40 balls) with CSK scoring an imposing 235 for 4 in 20 overs.

And then CSK restricted KKR to 186 for 8 in 20 overs.

CSK now have 5 wins from 7 matches while KKR have 2 from 7.

EDEN GARDENS TURNS YELLOW AS FANS BID 'FAREWELL' TO DHONI

In a never seen atmosphere, yellow (CSK jersey colour) fever gripped the Eden Gardens in support of talismanic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who probably made his last appearance at the iconic venue while leading Chennai Super Kings to an emphatic win over the hosts yesterday.

KKR franchise had planted their purple flags in every seat of the 67,000-capacity stadium before the match began.

But once the spectators packed the stadium before the toss, all purple flags disappeared and it was a sea of yellow in support of Dhoni.

There was however no official word from CSK that Dhoni was playing his last season for the franchise but the 41-year-old few days back has hinted that he is in the last phase of his career.

And as Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube were going berserk in their 85-run stand, loud chants of "We want Dhoni" reverberated the Eden Gardens.

Dhoni finally made a grand entry after the dismissal of Rahane with two balls left in CSK's innings.

"I will just say thanks for the support, they came in big numbers. Most of these guys will come in a KKR jersey next time. They are trying to give me a farewell," said Dhoni.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it. - George R. R. Martin

OFF TRACK

A man returned from his ninth business trip of the year with a severe bout of jet lag-induced foot-in-mouth disease. As he prepared to go to sleep that night, he wrapped his arms around his better half, gave her a kiss, and announced, "It's good to be in my own bed, with my own wife!"