DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2025, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES `7.00 (`8.00 RAIPUR, `15 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ALUDEIDBASEATTACKEDBYSHORT-RANGE, medium-range ballistic missiles, no casualties: US MATCHEDNUMBEROFBOMBSDROPPED by US, mighty and successful response: Iran IRANINFORMEDU.S.VIADIPLOMATIC channels before missile attack, says report War widens: Iran hits US base in Qatar SYRIA Tel Aviv Tehran Baghdad IRAQ ISRAEL IRAN ia rs Pe SAUDI ARABIA Qatar home to over 8 lakh Indians, Delhi monitors situation, alerts its nationals n QATAR Al Udeid Gu lf Doha Strait of Hormuz SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 Qatar condemns attack, Bahrain suspends flights in its airspace DUBAI, JUNE 23 IRANLAUNCHEDmissileattacks Monday on a United States military base in Qatar, retaliating for theAmericanbombingof itsnuclear sites and escalating tensions in the volatile region. A US defence department official confirmed the missile attack but said no casualties have been reported. The official said thattheAlUdeidAirBasewasattacked by short-range and medium-rangeballisticmissiles. The US is continuing to monitor the situation, said the official. (Reuters adds: Iran, which had been warned by Washington not to retaliate or face massive US military action, had informed the US via two diplomatic channels hours ahead of the attack, as well as Qatari authorities, a senior regional source told Reuters.) Qatarcondemnedtheattack, but said it successfully inter- BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY cepted the missiles and no casualties were reported. It said its airspace is now safe. Shortly after the attack, the Gulf nation of Bahrain that is home to the US 5th Fleet headquarters temporarilysuspended flights in its airspace, which is similarto what Qatar did shortly before it was hit. Iran said the attack in Qatar matched the number of bombs dropped by the US on its nuclear sites over the weekend, signaling its likely desire to deescalate.Iranalsosaidittargeted the base because it was outside of populated areas. Iranannouncedtheattackon state television as martial music played. A caption on screen calledit“amightyandsuccessful response” to “America’s aggression”. The Ain al-Assad base housing US troops in western Iraq was also targeted, an Iraqi security official who was not authorised to comment publicly told TheAssociated Press oncondition of anonymity. But Iran did CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SPORT FORMER INDIA SPINNER DILIP DOSHI PASSES AWAY P 19 PAGE 1 ANCHOR SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 RUSSIA BACKS IRAN AS PUTIN HOSTS FOREIGN MINISTER IAEA’S CHALLENGES AFTER ATTACKS ON IRAN’S N-SITES PAGES 14, 17 India seeks pause in World Bank expert’s proceedings over Kishanganga & Ratle NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 BYPOLLS: AAP RETAINS SEATS IN GUJARAT, PUNJAB; CONGRESS WINS IN KERALA PAGE 6 India set to ramp up oil imports from Russia, Africa, US and Latin America INSIDE AFTER IWT SUSPENSION RITIKA CHOPRA GOVT & POLITICS Tracers are seen in the sky after Iran targeted the US’s Al Udeid base in Qatar, as seen from Doha on Monday. Reuters INDIA HAS written to the World Bank’s neutral expert, Michel Lino, requesting a pause in his proceedings on the Ratle and Kishanganga hydropower disputes, following the Union government’s decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance, The Indian Express has learned. Lino is understood to have sought Pakistan’s views on India’srequest,whichIslamabad has opposed. The disputes being heard by Lino since 2022 concern two Indian hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir — Kishanganga, on the Kishanganga river, and Ratle, on the Chenab river. A French dam engineer and, until recently, the president of the International Commission on Large Dams, Lino was appointed by the World Bank on E E X P L A I NE D DAVID RISING, JON GAMBRELL & MELANIE LIDMAN A WORRIED Delhi was monitoring the situation in Qatar where morethan8lakhIndiansliveand work, and the Indian embassy asked the community to be cautious as Iran launched a military attack Monday night on a US base in Qatar. The Indian embassy in Doha said, “In view of the ongoing situation, the Indian community in Qatar is urged to be cautious and remain indoors. Please remain calm and follow local news, instructions and guidance pro- Ultimatum ● to Pak AFTER THE Pahalgam attack, India kept the IWT in abeyance “until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”. Under the IWT, the waters of the “Eastern Rivers” — Sutlej, Beas and Ravi – are for India’s unrestricted use, while the “Western Rivers” – Indus, Jhelum, Chenab – are primarily for Pakistan. October 13, 2022, under Article IX and Annexure F of the Indus Waters Treaty. His mandate is to hear both India and Pakistan and determine whether the design of theseprojectscomplieswiththe CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE ESCALATION in the IsraelIran conflict and Tehran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz are likely to push Indian refiners to further ramp up oil purchases from non-West Asian suppliers —mainlyRussia,WestAfrica,the US and Latin America — as shipping routes to Indian ports from these suppliers are detached from the critical choke point in the Persian Gulf, according to industry sources and experts. In fact, India’s oil sourcing strategy is already reflecting a risk-hedged posture pertaining to West Asian oil flows with RussianoildominatingIndia’soil import mix. Following US air strikes at Iraniannuclearfacilitiesoverthe weekend, Iran’s parliament Sunday approved a motion calling for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil transit choke point in global energy flows. It is now up to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to decide on whether or not to go ahead to try and choke the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has in the past threatened to close the strait on multiple occasions, but has never actually done it. Even in the current scenario, industry experts also expect the possibility of an actual closure to be really low. Notwithstanding that, aheightenedriskof theclosureis boundtoraiseconcernsglobally, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Seeking return of Nehru papers, PMML decides on legal pursuit DIVYA A NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 AT THE annual general meeting Monday of the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) Society, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a strong consensus emerged among members that the matter of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi taking away the Jawaharlal Nehru papers should be legally pursued, The Indian Express has learnt. Besides the Prime Minister SRINAGAR, JUNE 23 A PROBE into alleged irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission in Jammu and Kashmir has run into paperwork — quite literally. In March, following a debate during the Budget session, the J&K Assembly set up a House Committee to probeclaims of ir- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Iranian Army Commander-in-chief Amir Hatami attends a meeting in their War Command Room at an undisclosed location in Iran on Monday. Reuters Notice against Justice Yadav pending, 50 MPs confirm signing Secretariat verified 44 signatures, 50 needed to move on impeachment Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at the PMML Society meeting on Monday. ANI who is the PMML Society president, the 47th AGM was attended by Union Ministers Rajnath Singh (vice-president), Nirmala Sitharaman, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 1.3 crore pages need to be sent: Jal Shakti dept to J&K House request NAVEED IQBAL vided by Qatari authorities. The Embassy will also keep updating through our social media channels.” The Indian community is the largest expat community in the country, which has one of the highest per capita income in the world. Iransaiditlaunchedamilitary attack on the Al Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest US military installationintheregion,according to a statement by the country’s armed forces. A senior White House official earlier confirmed thattheUSwasawareof apotential attack by Iran against the regularities. In response to the committee’s request for documents, the Jal Shakti Department is learnt to have written that, based on an average of 200 to 250 pages per scheme — there are 3,253 schemes under the Mission — each set would run into roughly 7.3 lakh pages. Since the committee has sought 18 sets for the members and allied staff, the department has written that this would require over 1.30 crore pages. The department has sought an extension to submit the documents, stating that “this exercise will not even need more time for compilation, but will also require huge resources for printing/photocopying the required number of sets.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DAMINI NATH & LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 THE IMPEACHMENT notice by 54 Rajya Sabha MPs against Allahabad High Court judge Justice Shekhar Yadav for a controversial speech by him at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad event last year is confirmed to have been signed by at least 50 MPs, the minimum required to move forward, The Indian Express has learnt. According to Rajya Sabha sources, so far only 44 of those MPs have verified their signaturesafter the secretariatsought their responses via emails and calls in March and May this year. Of the remaining 10, The Indian Express was told by six MPsthattheyhadsignedthenotice. Three MPs could not be reached for comment and one, AAP’s Sanjeev Arora, said he was busywiththeLudhianaWestbyelections. Justice Shekhar Yadav of Allahabad High Court Sources said the notice has not been rejected by VicePresident Jagdeep Dhankhar as there is no timeframe for deciding on the notice submitted under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. A minimum of 50 MPs in the Rajya Sabha or 100 in the Lok Sabhaare required for thenotice of motion to impeach a judge, as per the Act. The notice was submitted by 54 MPs in December last year. Outof those54 MPs,43MPshad responded to emails or phone callsbythesecretariattoconfirm their signatures as of 5 pm on May 23, The Indian Express has learnt. Of the remaining 11 MPs, atleasttwosaidtheyhadverified CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In India team’s chess win, story of recreational player from IIM-Calcutta MAYANK NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 IT WAS just another day for Atharvaa Tayade, a 24-year-old pursuing an MBA degree at IIMCalcutta, when a message popped up on his chess.com account in March: “We are participating as Team MGD1, would you be interested to play?” The message was from N Srinath,thegoldmedal-winning captain of India’s Budapest Olympiad team, seeking a “recreationalplayer”fortheonly team from India at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships. The championship requires six players per team, with one compulsory spot each for a womanandarecreationalplayer (someone who has never achieved FIDEClassical,Rapid or Blitz Rating of 2000 Elo points). Tayade was a perfect fit:a skilled player who stepped away from chess to pursue academics, his peak rating frozen at 1926 since July 2015 when he left the sport. Last week, when Team MGD1, which had the most numberof Indians,wontheFIDE World Rapid Team Championship in London, the focus was on Tayade, not on star players like Arjun Erigaisi, Harikrishna Pentala or Pranav V. Tayade remained unbeaten untilthefinalround,carryinghis team until the defeat by Malcolm’s Mates’ Murat Omarov. By then, his 11 wins in 12 rounds had already secured a win for his team. This meant the Pune-based chess management firm, Team MGD1, became the firstIndianteamtowintheevent in the tournament’s brief threeyear history. “I knew that I was strong but I did not expect to perform this well. Luck was a factor; there were multiple things that had to fallintoplace,butIamhappythat Special Arrangement Atharvaa Tayade (right) with grandmaster N Srinath after his team won the FIDE World Rapid Team Championship it went well eventually,” said Tayade,anIIT-Bombaygraduate. Tayadesaidhewaspreparing forhissummerinternshipwhen Srinath messaged him. “I was quite surprised, but I responded by stating a bit about myself and said I could participate. That's when we exchanged numbers, spoke on WhatsApp and Srinath told me a couple of days later that they were finalising me,” he recalled. Aheadof hisfirstmajorevent in years — his first at the world level — Tayade said he made no preparations. His internship — part of the MBA course — took precedence. He spent two months — April and May — at Standard Chartered’s Mumbai office.Inbetween,he playedjust one local tournament as suggested by Srinath, to re-adjust to over-the-board play, relying solely on his online games. How Tayade dominated the field is intriguing. “When I restarted chess during my engineering days, I came close to my original strength. Slowly, I was abletoincreasemyratingonline, and that's when I hit a peak of 2800, which is probably why Srinath noticed me,” he recalled. He proceededto beat players like Wadim Rosenstein — architect of WR Chess Team and the recreational board concept — and nine-year-old compatriot Sarbartho Mani, among other rising talents. With an 11.0/12 Rapid score and 4.0/4 in Blitz, Tayade, who is originally from Mumbai, earned the moniker “India’s Pang Bo”. China's Pang Bo hogged the limelight in 2024 with his unbeaten run for the all-Chinese team, Decade China, in the amateur board. Earlier, while his contemporaries like Mitrabha Guha, Harshit Raja and Abhimanyu Puranik became grandmasters, Tayade opted for academics. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2