THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 68 No. 139 | Monday, March 17, 2025 | 26 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 Leader in E-paper circulation l www.freepressjournal.in ● EDITIONS: ● MUMBAI ● INDORE ● PUNE ● BHOPAL ● NASHIK ● KONKAN ● E-paper ● Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to June 2024) GAMES NATION Drugs worth `88cr seized; Union Home Minister Amit Shah says no mercy for drug cartels Cinema Rashami Desai opens up about her darkest phase Indian star batter Virat Kohli supports the presence of players’ families on tours Edit Congress’s grand illusion of progress amid electoral woes In an extensive three-hour interaction with podcaster Lex Fridman, who fasted for 45 hours to prepare for his interview, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reveals many facets of his soul MODI’S ASLI MANN KI BAAT “There is a bond of trust with Trump” Agencies NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday he shares a bond of mutual trust with US President Donald Trump and they connect well because they believe in putting their respective national interests above everything else. In a podcast with Lex Fridman, Modi hailed Trump as a man of courage, who took his own decisions, was unwaveringly dedicated to the United States and the same spirit was on display when he was shot at by a gunman on the election campaign trail last year. The prime minister said President Trump appeared far more prepared than before in his second term. "He has a clear roadmap in his mind with well-defined steps, each one designed to lead him toward his goals," Modi said. "We had an event in Houston, Howdy Modi. Both President Trump and I were there and the entire stadium was completely packed. A massive crowd at an event in the US is a huge moment. While packed stadiums are common in sports, this was extraordinary for a political rally...Both of us delivered speeches and he sat down below listening to me speak. Now, that's his humility. The President of the United States sitting in the audience while I spoke from the stage, that was a remarkable gesture on his part," he said. "After finishing my speech, I stepped down and as we all know, security in the US is extremely strict and thorough. In American life, it's almost impossible for the President to walk into a crowd of thousands, but without even a moment's hesitation, he agreed and started walking with me. 4Contd on | nation “People of Pakistan long for peace” Agencies “False narrative over 2002 Godhra riots” Agencies NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly countered allegations surrounding the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, stating that a deliberate effort was made to create a false narrative against him. Despite attempts by his political opponents to see him punished, courts examined the case in depth and exonerated him, he said. In an in-depth conversation on a podcast with Lex Fridman, Modi asserted that misinformation was systematically spread to portray the 2002 riots as the most significant communal violence in Gujarat’s history. "If you review the data from before 2002, you will see that Gujarat faced frequent riots. Curfews were constantly being imposed somewhere. Communal violence would erupt over trivial issues such as kite flying contests or even bicycle collisions," Modi said. The prime minister emphasised that Gujarat had witnessed large-scale riots long before his tenure, citing the 1969 riots that lasted over six months—at a time when he had no political role. He noted that the Godhra train burning incident, which triggered the 2002 riots, took place just three days after he was elected as an MLA. 4Contd on | nation FPJ News Service MUMBAI Agencies WASHINGTON/ADEN 4Contd on | nation Agencies NOKSHI (PAKISTAN): At least 90 Pakistani army personnel have been killed after a bus filled with army officers faced an attack in Nokshi district in Balochistan on the National Highway 40. It was apparently part of a convoy of eight buses. One of them was completely destroyed in the attack.The state media reported a much lower figure for the deaths, however: Three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were among five lives lost. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the same group responsible for the recent train hijacking, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Earlier, BLA ambushed a train and took about 400 passengers hostage and claimed The attack, claimed by the BLA, comes on the heels of the Jaffer Express hijack. Official figures put the death toll at 5, although dozens are thought to be injured, many of them critically to have killed 214 hostages, most of them army personnel. The Pakistani government however said that the Baloch militants killed 26 hostages, while security forces killed all 33 attackers during a rescue operation.  4Contd on | nation Beed, Maharashtra, was left shaken after 30-yr-old teacher Dhananjay Abhiman Nagargoje ended his life, hanging himself in the courtyard of Krishna Urban Cooperative Bank. For 18 years, he had taught at a non-governmentaided ashram school in Kelgaon, surviving without a regular salary. A state promise in 2019 to provide a 20% grant for such institutions never materialized, leaving him trapped in despair. His final act was accompanied by a haunting suicide note posted on Facebook and marked to his three year daughter, Shravani, in which he accused six individuals of relentless harassment. “These monsters pushed me into darkness,” he wrote, claiming they mocked his pleas for fair wages. Erratic and unpaid wages, taunts, harassment drive a young teacher to take his own life 4Contd on | nation offgrid Sunita Williams homeward bound FPJ News Service NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are poised to return to earth, probably on Wednesday MUMBAI NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are poised to return to Earth this week following a ninemonth stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS), culminating a high-stakes rescue mission led by SpaceX. Originally launched in June 2023 aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule for a oneweek mission, their return was derailed by multiple technical failures, forcing the un-crewed Starliner to de- part alone and leaving the duo stranded. Their homecoming now hinges on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which docked with the ISS on Friday atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The Crew-10 Lashkar chief’s right hand man eliminated Gunmen kill Zia-ur-Rehman and his security guard in Jhelum, Pak NEW DELHI Beed shaken US BOMBS 90 dead as Baloch by teacher’s YEMEN TO rebels target convoy suicide TARGET HOUTHIS At least 31 people have been killed and 101 injured after the United States  launched a series of airstrikes on Yemen on Saturday, according to the Houthi health ministry, as a rebel spokesperson told NBC News that they group would respond with "more escalation." Those who died were mostly women and children, the health ministry spokesperson said. President Donald Trump  said he ordered the airstrikes on Houthi-held areas of Yemen on Saturday and promised to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the rebel group ceased attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor. "To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform announcing the attack, Reuters adds. HAFIZ SAEED LOSES AIDE mission delivered four replacement astronauts— NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA’s Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos’ Kirill Peskov—temporarily swelling the ISS crew to 11. This ro- tation enables Crew-9, including Wilmore and Williams, to finally depart. They are expected to be back not earlier than on Wednesday, March 19 after the hand over process is completed. 4Contd on | nation Prime Minister Narendra Modi told podcaster Lex Fridman that every attempt to foster peace with Pakistan was met with hostility and betrayal and hoped that wisdom would prevail on the leadership in Islamabad to improve bilateral ties. Modi recalled that he had specially invited his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony in 2014 with the hope that the two countries could turn a new leaf. "Yet, every noble attempt at fostering peace was met with hostility and betrayal. We sincerely hope that wisdom prevails upon them and they choose the path of peace," the prime minister said in his over three-hour interaction. Modi said he believed that even the people of Pakistan long for peace because they also must be tired of living in strife, unrest and relentless terror where even innocent children are killed and countless lives are destroyed. The prime minister said his first attempt at improving bilateral relations was a gesture Every noble attempt at fostering peace was met with hostility and betrayal. We sincerely hope that wisdom prevails upon them and they choose the path of peace. of goodwill. "It was a diplomatic gesture unlike any in decades. The very people who once questioned my approach to foreign policy were taken aback when they learned I had invited all SAARC heads of state and our then President Pranab Mukherjee beautifully captured that historic gesture in his memoir," Modi said. "This was a testament to how clear and confident India's foreign policy had become. 4Contd on | nation 4Rel. Stories | nation PTI NEW DELHI A top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, a high priority target for Indian security agencies for several deadly terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, was eliminated by gunmen in an attack in Pakistan, the Press Trust of India reported quoting unnamed officials on Sunday. Zia-ur-Rehman alias Nadeem alias Abu Qatal alias Qatal Sindhi was gunned down in the Jhelum area of Punjab on Saturday evening. His security guard was also killed, the officials said, quoting information re- ceived from the neighbouring country. The officials, given the nature of information, were presumably from intelligence community. No other details were provided on the nature of the killing or a more precise whereabouts or circumstances. Considered the most trusted handler of LeT founder and 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, they said 43year-old Rehman was the main handler of the terror outfit involved in the planning of various attacks in the Poonch-Rajouri region of Jammu and Kashmir. 4Contd on | nation