25062025-TTB-01.qxd 6/25/2025 12:27 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 145 NO. 174 | 16 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 SHUBMAN-LED INDIA LOSE TEST DESPITE FIVE CENTURIES SPORT /thetribunechd REPATRIATE WOMAN SENT TO PAK AFTER APRIL 22 ATTACK: HC J&K INDIA, UK LIKELY TO INK FREE TRADE PACT BY JULY-END BUSINESS UNEQUIVOCALLY STAND AGAINST TERRORISM, SAYS CARNEY BACK PAGE wednesday | 25 june 2025 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com TRUMP’S TRUCE AFTER FIRESTORM Israeland Iran decide to stop Netanyahu says agreed to halt US Prez tones down, says not attacks despite initial hiccups strikes as war goals achieved seeking regime change in Iran Dubai, June 24 US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was in effect after the deal initially faltered and the American leader expressed deep frustration with both sides. Israel had earlier accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the truce was supposed to take effect and the Israeli finance minister vowed that “Tehran will tremble”. The Iranian military denied firing on Israel, state media reported, but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel in the morning. Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a NATO summit that, in his view, both sides had violated the nascent agreement. He had particularly strong words for Israel, a close ally, while suggesting Iran may have fired on the country by mistake. But later he said the deal was saved. “Israel is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly “plane wave” to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the ceasefire is in India no tariff king: Nirmala in midst of trade talks with US Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 24 Amid ongoing trade talks with the US, India on Tuesday signalled firmness regarding the national position around contentious issues of domestic tariff rates and the American urge for lower duties for their farm products. While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed US President Donald Trump’s claim of India being the “tariff king”, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the interests of domestic farmers would be safeguarded amid the ongoing trade negotiations. “For those who still believe in the commentary which was made in the US that India may be the tariff king, I want two things to be remembered — given our system, we seek parliamentary approval for deciding on the tariff rates. You obtain from Parliament the permission to go up continued on page 10 LIVID OVER STRIKES, TRUMP DIALS BIBI ■ President Trump raged at Israel and Iran for ruining his “complete and total ceasefire” plan, claiming “they don’t know what they are doing” ■ “I’m not happy with them. But I’m really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning. I’ve got to get them calm down,” he said ■ Israel “refrained” from further strikes on Tehran after a call between the US President and Prime Minister Netanyahu INDIA READY TO HELP RESOLVE CONFLICT: MEA ■ The Centre on Tuesday said it A residential site at Be’er Sheva, Israel, that was destroyed in an early morning missile attack by Iran. REUTERS effect,” Trump said in his Truth Social post. Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he held off on tougher strike against Iran after speaking to Trump. The conflict, now in its 12th day, began with Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and mili- tary sites, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons. Iran has long maintained that its programme is peaceful. Many Fearing extreme weather events, Tabo Monastery sends SOS to ASI Wants steps to save mud structures from damage Subhash Rajta Tribune News Service Shimla, June 24 The over 1,000-year-old Tabo Monastery in the Spiti valley has started feeling the heat of climate change. Worried over the increasing instances of cloudbursts and resulting flashfloods in the region over the past few years, the monastery has written to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to immediately undertake some preventive measures to save the monastery from damage during extreme weather events. “We have urged the ASI to provide temporary protective roofing across the structures and improve the drainage system to avert any damage to the monastery during the monsoon,” said Lama Sonam Kunga, a priest at the monastery. “Following our request, a team from the ASI visited the monastery a few Murals damaged due to seepage of water at the Tabo Monastery. LONG-TERM MEASURES SOUGHT ■ Comprehensive structural assessment and reinforcement of the monastery’s heritage structure, with attention to traditional material and methods for preservation ■ Installation of early warning and weather monitoring system for the Tabo Monastery region ■ Collaboration with local authorities and monastic leadership to prepare a localised disaster risk-reduction plan days ago. Hopefully, the ASI will understand our concern and take the required action at the earliest,” he said. The priest said extreme weather events like cloudbursts and flashfloods had increased significantly in the region over the past four-five continued on page 10 “stands ready to play its part to resolve the situation and insisted on dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward” ■ The MEA said it remained “deeply concerned” about the overall situation, but welcomed reports of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel ■ “There is no alternative to dialogue and diplomacy in order to address and resolve the multiple conflicts in the region,” it said An IAF C-17 aircraft transports Indian nationals from the war zone. ANI India brings back over 3,000 from Iran, Israel Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 24 As many as 268 Indian nationals were evacuated by an IAF plane under Operation Sindhu from Egypt this morning. They had crossed over to Egypt from Israel by road. So far, over 3,000 Indians have been evacuated from Iran and Israel under Operation Sindhu. A special flight from Iran carrying 281 Indian nationals, along with three Sri Lankan and two Nepalese citizens, also arrived in New Delhi this evening. With this, the total number of Indians brought back from Iran under Operation Sindhu has reached 2,576, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. An IAF C-17 air- worried the war might widen after the US joined the attacks by dropping bunker-buster bombs over the weekend. But after Tehran launched a limit- ed retaliatory strike on a US military base in Qatar on Monday, Trump announced the continued on page 10 Edit: Ceasefire in peril EPFO auto-claim limit hiked to ~5L for faster payout Don’t petition Guv, CM directly, Haryana warns college, varsity staffers Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 24 Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Tuesday that the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has increased the auto-settlement limit for advance claims from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. This enhancement will enable members to access funds within three days during urgent needs. SOON, WITHDRAW FUNDS VIA ATMs/UPI AFTER BANK LINK At present, auto-settlement, which ensures claim processing within 72 hours, was capped at Rs 1 lakh. The raised limit aims at streamlining financial support for purposes such as medical emergencies, education, marriage and housing. Additionally, the subscribers may soon be able to withdraw their EPF directly from their accounts through ATMs or other modes like continued on page 10 Pradeep Sharma Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 24 In a fresh diktat which may not go down well with employees’ unions, the Nayab Singh Saini government in Haryana has asked the college and university staff not to make direct petitions to the Governor, Chief Minister, ministers and people’s representatives on service matters. Instead they have been asked to follow “the proper administrative channel” to air their grievances. “Officers and officials working in the Directorate of Higher Education and state universities and colleges are making direct representations to the Governor, Chief Minister, ministers and other people’s representatives on various service matters without following the conduct rules and provisions of the Haryana Civil Services (Gov- VIOLATORS TO FACE THE MUSIC ■ Practice of sending direct representations on service matters to top state functionaries becoming routine ■ Sending direct representations violates Haryana Civil Services (Government Employees’ Conduct) Rules, 2016 ■ University, college officials asked to send their representations through proper administrative channel; violators to face the music ernment Employees’ Conduct) Rules, 2016,” an order issued by the Additional Chief Secretary (Higher Education) said. The order noted that the practice of direct representations “has become routine and is hampering the functioning of government operations and continued on page 10 AI PARTIALLY RESUMES WEST ASIA FLIGHTS ■ Air India and Air India Express on Tuesday progressively resumed their services to West Asia, with flights to Dubai and Muscat, respectively, as countries in the region reopened their airspace ■ Air India on Tuesday said most of the operations would resume from Wednesday craft that took off from Sharm-El-Sheikh landed in Delhi this morning. The passengers were welcomed by Minister of State in the MEA L Murugan. Spokesperson for the MEA Randhir Jaiswal, in a post on X, said, “As many as 268 Indian nationals from Israel continued on page 10 Lalu Yadav elected RJD president again PATNA: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Tuesday announced that its founder Lalu Prasad has been re-elected as the party's national president. Addressing a press conference here, the party's returning officer for organisational polls, Ramchandra Purbe, said that Prasad was the sole candidate to have filed his nomination papers the day before and the same were found to be in order during scrutiny. — PTI Aftermultipledelays, Axiom-4launchtoday DELHI: After getting delayed for six times, the Axiom-4 mission, which will be piloted by India’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, is now eyeing June 25 for the lift off. “NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are targeting 12.01 pm (IST) on June 25 for the launch of the Axiom-4 mission, the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station,” announced the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. INSIDE NEW When Zail Singh & Bansi Lal vied for Indira’s attention to shut down The Tribune SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE MG Devasahayam E VEN after 50 long years, memories of the night of June 25-26, 1975, is still fresh in my mind. It was on this night that the infamous Emergency was imposed with a proclamation by the then President, saying that “a grave emergency exists whereby the security of India is threatened by internal disturbances”. I was then the District Magistrate of the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Even before the ink dried on this declaration, Giani Zail Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab, acting on verbal directions from the Emergency masters in Delhi, called NP Mathur, Chief Commissioner of Chandigarh, directing him to severely discipline the press. He specifically demanded that The Tribune, a household name in the region, be sealed and its editor, Madhavan Nair, arrested. Deeply rattled, Mathur called Union Home Secretary SL Khurana, who had no clue about what was happening. Mathur’s attempts to contact Union Home Minister Brahmananda Reddy and Minister of State Om Mehta proved futile. Since he himself was not convinced, he did not call me, even though, as District Magistrate, I was the competent authority to issue formal orders to shut down The Tribune and arrest its editor. Instead, Mathur called Senior Superintendent of Police SN Bhanot and passed on Giani Zail Singh’s instructions. However, the SSP refused, stating he would not act without written orders from the District Magistrate. Nevertheless, Bhanot went through the motions of visiting The Tribune premises, advising staff not to print anything unpalatable to the “powersthat-be”. He also posted a small police contingent to keep watch. A grab of the front page of The Tribune dated June 25, 1975. Obviously, this did not have much impact on The Tribune and the next morning, the paper came out as usual with banner headlines on the Emergency and the arrest of top Opposition leaders, including Jayaprakash Narayan. This infuriated Chaudhry Bansi Lal, Chief Minister of Haryana. In his inimitable style, he threat- c m y b ened that if the Chandigarh Administration was not willing to shut down The Tribune and arrest its editor, he would get it done through the Haryana Police. For this, he would not even hesitate to “take over” the newspaper’s premises. It was my duty as District Magistrate to resolve the crisis. With rumours spreading like wildfire, there was a threat of the law-and-order situation going out of control in the city. Prompted by the Delhi Durbar, both Chief Ministers were breathing down our necks and could take over the Administration and seal The Tribune. To prevent this, I decided to act despite the absence of any official communication from the Centre regarding the imposition of the Emergency or related instructions. I swiftly obtained a copy of the Emergency notification from Deputy Director of the IB, Chandigarh. Moving quickly, I imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC across the Union Territory. SK Tuteja, Director of Public Relations, Chandigarh, was appointed as Censor Officer under the Defence of India Rules. A Joint Planning Committee was also formed under the Internal Security Scheme for continuous monitoring of the situation. By evening, official instructions on the Emergency and censorship arrived. SV Bedi, senior correspondent of The Tribune along with Lt Gen PS Gyani, trustee, met us and promised to adhere to continued on page 10