DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 DAYS AFTER IT SUSPENDED TREATY, DELHI CONSIDERING ISLAMABAD RESPONSE Firsttime,PaksayswillingtodiscussIndusterms Encourage direct India, IAEA: No radiation leak Pak communication: US or release from any walks back on mediation nuclear facility in Pak Pak Water Resources Secretary offers to discuss specific terms of 1960 Treaty on which India has objections HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, MAY 14 DAYS AFTER India notified Pakistan that it was placing the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) inabeyancewith“immediateeffect”followingthePahalgamterror attack, Islamabad has — for thefirsttime—signalleditswillingness to discuss Delhi’s concernsaboutthetreaty,TheIndian Express has learned. Pakistan’s Water Resources Secretary,SyedAliMurtaza,isunderstood to have recently respondedtoIndia’sformalintimation of the Union Cabinet’s 15/05/2025 102 130 161 72 MAHARASHTRA SHARAD PAWAR WILL BE THE ONLY ONE TO TAKE FINAL CALL ON MERGER: NCP(SP) P 6 decision to keep the treaty in abeyance, and offered to, on behalf of his government, discuss thespecifictermsIndiaobjectsto. Sources aware of the development said, Murtaza, however, questioned the basis of the decision, pointing out that the treaty itself didnothaveanyexitclause. Murtaza’s offer to discuss India’s objections is especially significant because despite two prior notices — in January 2023 and again in September 2024 — requesting a “review and modification”of theIWT,Pakistanhad notexpresseditsexplicitwillingness so far. It is only after India CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, MAY 14 BSF constable Purnam Kumar Shaw (centre) was returned to India after three weeks in Pakistani custody. PTI PAGE10 ‘Cancerous’: HC orders FIR against MP Minister for targeting Col Qureshi ANAND MOHAN J BHOPAL, MAY 14 THE MADHYA Pradesh High Court Wednesday ordered an FIR against state Tribal Affairs Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his remarks directed at Colonel Sofiya Qureshi who was part of the daily media briefings by the Indian Armed Forces on Operation Sindoor. Shah’s comments targeting CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FACING A pushback from India on US President Donald Trump’s remark about mediation on Kashmir, the US State Department has sought to nuance Washington’s position by saying it “encourages direct communication” between India and Pakistan and commends Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for choosing the path of peace. GOVT & POLITICS ANIL SASI NEW DELHI, MAY 14 DELHISENDSTEAMTO U.N.TOLISTTRFAS THE GLOBAL nuclear watchdog, TERRORGROUP PAGE 11 International Atomic Energy The State Department is awareofNewDelhi’ssensitivities on an issue like mediation by the US, and has articulated a carefully-crafted factual statement that doesn’t wade into the IndiaPakistanpolitics,anddoesn’tcontradict President Trump either. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BY UNNY PRATIP ACHARYA MUMBAI, MAY 14 THE EDITORIAL PAGE Government must send this much-needed message given the abuse machine. Colonel Qureshi deserves better P8 EXPRESS NETWORK FOREIGN LAW FIRMS CAN ADVISE INDIAN PARTNERS PAGE 2 A satellite image of the damaged Sargodha air base runway hit by India. PTI Hills, which is reported to house some nuclear installations. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BMC floats tender of Rs 2,368 crore to clear Deonar landfill BUSINESS AS USUAL MP minister Vijay Shah under fire over remark FIRE THE MINISTER Agency (IAEA), has said that there has been “no radiation leak” from any nuclear facility in Pakistan after the escalated military engagement with India. The Vienna-based global nuclearwatchdog’sreply,toaquery from The Indian Express, ties in with the earlier response by the IndianAirForcethatIndiahasnot hitanytargetinPakistan’sKirana CJI GAVAI TAKES CHARGE: President Droupadi Murmu administers the oath of office to Justice B R Gavai as the 52nd Chief Justice of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan. ANI PAGE11 THE BRIHANMUMBAI MunicipalCorporation(BMC)on Wednesday floated an ambitious tender of Rs 2,368 crore for cleaningthewastepilesfromthe Deonar landfill through bioremediation — process of treating garbage through natural elements such as air, sunlight as well as microorganisms. The move comes ahead of the state government’s plans to relocate a section of Dharavi residents under its redevelopment project. InOctober2024,thestategovernment allocated a 124 acres of the 311-acre Deonar landfill for constructing housing tenements for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP). In its tender document,thecivicofficialsmentioned that 110 hectares, or 271 acres, of the land will be cleaned by them. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2