FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA LC | NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW Udhayanidhi arrested, to get station bail ‘Last chance’ before ‘decapitation’: Trump after halting ‘biggest attack since World War II’ FM Sitharaman tables Tax Amendment Bill Page 9 NIKHIL VYAS New Delhi, 4 August I People displaced from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) stage a protest condemning alleged atrocities and human rights violations Jammu on 31 July 2026. FILE PHOTOGRAPH (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “This so-called local election in PoK is a complete farce. The real happening is that of public protests and wanton killings by Pakistani forces. Such hollow exercises cannot hide reality.” “Since June this year, at least 90 civilians have lost their lives in the continuing crackdown. The Pakistani Establishment has answered public discontent with bullets, blackouts, intimidation and repression, and now seeks to manufacture legitimacy through a hollow electoral exercise,” the MEA spokesperson further said. Jaiswal urged the international community to hold Islamabad accountable. “It must be held accountable, and the world should see through the flimsy veneer of Pakistan’s hypocritical lecturing on human rights.” Demonstrations unfolded across PoJK and among Kashmiri communities in various Pakistani cities, including large protest gatherings in Karachi, where demonstrators criticised the electoral process and demanded political reforms. According to sources, police detained several protesters and student leaders during the demonstrations. Global human rights and press freedom watchdogs, including Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ Asia), have issued urgent statements condemning escalating state violence, press restrictions and media suppression surrounding the ongoing protests in Rawalakot and across Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Day after Bankipur Parliament clears stricter birth, death verdict, Nitish meets PM registration Bill New Delhi, 4 August Parliament on Tuesday approved the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026, after the Rajya Sabha also passed it by voice vote amid noisy protests by Opposition members, completing the legislative process for a measure aimed at strengthening safeguards against fraudulent delayed registrations of births and deaths. The Bill had earlier been passed by the Lok Sabha on Friday. Following its passage in the Upper House, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day as Opposition protests continued. Moving the Bill for consideration and passage, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said the amendments seek to reinforce the credibility and integrity of India’s civil registration system while ensuring genuine applicants continue to receive legal recognition through a more robust verification process. The legislation amends the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, with its principal focus on strengthening the legal framework governing registrations sought more than two years after the occurrence of a birth or death. Earlier, while responding to concerns raised during the introduction of the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Rai had said the amendments were intended to curb fraudulent registrations without causing hardship to genuine citizens. He stressed that birth and death certificates form the foundation of several legal and administrative processes and therefore require stronger safeguards to preserve their authenticity. VIBHA SHARMA New Delhi, 4 August A day after the BJP lost its long-held bastion of Bankipur to Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, former Bihar chief minister and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kumar, now a Rajya Sabha MP, was accompanied by Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh and JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha. Describing the meeting as a “courtesy call”, Kumar did not elaborate on the discussions. However, the timing of the meeting fuelled political speculation, though Jha said meaningful discussions on several important issues related to the development of Bihar and the North East were held during the meeting. As political observers analyse the reasons behind the BJP’s defeat, JD(U) sources claim the party would not have lost Bankipur if Nitish Kumar had remained chief minister. Among the reasons cited for the BJP’s surprising defeat in the seat held by party president Nitin Nabin are upper-caste and middleclass “anger”, Gen Z protests and a split in the RJD’s MuslimYadav support base. Experts, however, say there was also widespread resentment, including among Kurmi voters, over the way the BJP removed Nitish Kumar as chief minister and sent him to the Rajya Sabha, replacing him with Samrat Choudhary. Much like Kishor, who was also previously with the JD(U), party leaders describe the Bankipur verdict as a referendum on Choudhary’s leadership. Extradition now India’s ‘national priority’, 274 fugitives brought back since 2019: MHA STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 4 August The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday said India has brought back 274 fugitive criminals from 36 countries between 2019 and July 2026, describing the achievement as the outcome of an integrated, intelligence-led and technology-driven strategy Wednesday, 05 August 2026 Page 12 Page 10 India dismisses PoJK polls as ‘complete farce’ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE | Diamond League: Neeraj faces world-class field in Lausanne BUSINESS Page 4 ndia on Tuesday strongly criticised Pakistan over its recently conducted so-called elections in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, calling the electoral exercise a “complete farce” and saying the real situation was one of public protests and wanton killings by Pakistani forces in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). New Delhi’s reaction came amid a brutal crackdown on the civilian population in PoJK during the local elections in the region. The polls witnessed widespread disruptions, logistical failures and continuing protests on Sunday, casting a shadow over the process and raising fresh questions about its credibility. Addressing a media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs SILIGURI SPORTS WORLD NATION | under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the guidance of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In a detailed statement, the ministry said the government had transformed the pursuit of fugitives into a “national priority”, strengthening the legal framework, expanding international cooperation, leveraging technology and enhancing coordination among multiple agencies to secure the return of accused involved in terrorism, organised crime, financial fraud, narcotics trafficking, murder, rape and offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The MHA said the issue of fugitive offenders is “intrinsically linked to the country’s sovereignty, economic stability, law and order and national security”, adding that India has adopted a three-pronged strategy comprising global operations, robust coordination and smart diplomacy. According to the ministry, the government strengthened the country’s extradition framework beginning with the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, followed by amendments to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2019. The statement said that, from 2020 onwards, efforts to bring back fugitives were pursued in mission mode, expanding enforcement beyond banned organisations to include individual terrorists, handlers, financial networks and overseas support systems. The MHA also highlighted the introduction of the three new criminal laws in 2024. The ministry said India has significantly intensified its engagement with INTERPOL in recent years. CM meets NCPI MPs in Delhi; alliance questions persist STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 4 August West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari held an hour-long meeting with MPs of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) at Banga Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon. Though questions over the party's equation with the BJP and the NDA continued to surface, the NCPI maintained that the discussions centred on development projects in the MPs’ respective constituencies. Apart from BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Deb, all 20 NCPI MPs who had defected from the Trinamul Congress attended the meeting. Sources in the party said Deb was absent because of a pre-scheduledshootingcommitment. Addressing reporters after the meeting, NCPI MP Satabdi Roy said: “We spoke only about the development of our area. The chief minister asked us to submit proposals. We will meet him again at Nabanna and place our proposals.” Dismissing speculation that NCPI MPs would formally join the BJP, Roy said, “There was no discussion regarding this. We are in the NDA, so there should be no confusion.” 17 injured in Air India mid-air altitude drop; probe launched: New Delhi: Seventeen people were injured after an Air India flight from Phuket to New Delhi experienced a “sudden loss of altitude during cruise” on Tuesday, the airline said. Flight AI2379, operated by an Airbus A320neo, was carrying 137 passengers and eight crew members when the incident occurred. The aircraft later continued its journey and landed safely at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 11:07 am IST. The airline said it had informed the relevant authorities as per safety and regulatory procedures and was cooperating fully with the investigation. Page 5