18072026-TTC-03.qxd 7/18/2026 WANGCHUK LOSES 9 KG AS FAST ENTERS DAY 20 NATION /thetribunechd 12:31 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 10 NO. 197 | 18 PAGES | ~7.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 CHINA MEDDLED IN 2020 ELECTION: TRUMP WORLD saturday | 18 july 2026 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com ex-minister claims PM slams AAP over law & order, graft; Kejriwalcounters Japanviolatedbullettrain Modi,questions silence on theft India attack on Akalis signals solo poll run at RamTemple pact; MEA rejects charge At Jalandhar rally, says only BJP can put Punjab back on development track Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 17 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday criticised the AAP government in Punjab over the alleged poor law and order situation and corruption, dubbing the ruling regime as “kattar beiman” (utterly dishonest). The PM was addressing a rally after inaugurating the revamped Jalandhar Cantonment railway station and laying stones for infrastructure projects worth Rs 5,470 crore. Modi said, “Punjab was a land ruled by Maharaja Ranjit Singh under whose rule there was prosperity, security and harmony among all communities. Everyone knows what is happening here now. The law and order situation has deteriorated. Incidents of firing, extortion, gang war and drug smuggling have become rampant. It has become increasingly difficult to run business in this state.” Attacking AAP the PM said, , “The party in power had claimed that it will change the politics of the country. Their Health Minister was removed on corruption charges. Another minister is caught up in charges of money laundering. The funds that the Centre has been pumping have been misused. The budget of the state is being used to pay interest on loans that it has acquired. continued on page 6 Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from Punjab BJP leaders during an event at the Jalandhar Cantt railway station on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH First hydrogen train chugs off from Jind as Modi lauds success of ‘Make in India’ Deepender Deswal Tribune News Service The PM flags off the hydrogen train at Jind. CM Nayab Saini is also seen. Jind, July 17 PM Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off the country’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train from Jind, terming it the “longest and most powerful such train in the world”. Addressing a gathering at the HUDA ground after inaugurating the train, the PM equated the moment with the launch of the first-ever train in continued on page 6 edit: hydrogen train c m y b CHANDIGARH: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) condemned PM Modi over his Punjab visit, saying that instead of answering serious questions, he chose to mislead people and lecture them on honesty. Party convener Arvind Kejriwal said the biggest leader of those allegedly involved in the Ram Mandir donation theft had come to Punjab to preach honesty. The party demanded that the PM answer questions on the donation theft, repeated seizures of drugs at Gujarat's Mundra Port and the pending dues of Rs 50,000 crore to Punjab. INSIDE Andy Burnham is Labour head, set to be next UK PM London, July 17 Andy Burnham was on Friday confirmed as the newly elected leader of the UK’s governing Labour Party, becoming the Prime Minister-designate to take charge at 10 Downing Street next week. The 56-year-old MP from Makerfield in northern England, on track to become Britain’s seventh PM in a decade, admitted that it was the “last chance” for Labour to deliver the change promised at the last general election in July 2024. INSIDE Ujwal Jalali Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 17 The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday dismissed criticism by former Japanese Justice Minister Hideki Makihara over the MumbaiAhmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project, describing his remarks as “an individual opinion” and “at considerable variance with facts”. The response came after Makihara shared on X an opinion article by Isao Tsujimura, a Japanese railway engineer, and endorsed its conclusions, accusing India of failing to honour commitments under the flagship India-Japan bullet train project. In his post, Makihara claimed that what stood out Makihara blames Delhi for rail project delay INDIVIDUAL OPINION ❝ It is an individual opinion and at considerable variance with facts. Randhir Jaiswal, MEA during international meetings and negotiations on the project was “the sheer recklessness of the Indian side”, alleging that India repeatedly failed to keep its promises and constantly pursued its own interests. “They keep pushing their own self-interest right up to the very end. The minister in charge was especially awful— if the top guy is like that, there’s no way to have any continued on page 6 Gary Sobers, one of cricket’s greatest, passes away at 89 BRIDGETOWN: Cricket lost one of its tallest icons on Friday with the death of Sir Garfield Sobers, the peerless West Indian whose breathtaking all-round brilliance made him one of the greatest players the game has ever known. He was 89. Sobers played 93 Tests and scored 8,032 runs at 57.78 with 26 centuries and 30 half-centuries between 1954 and 1974. INSIDE Removal from electoral list does not mean loss of citizenship, clarifies SC Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 17 The Supreme Court on Friday clarified that removal from electoral roll didn’t mean loss of citizenship as it agreed to examine the exclusion from welfare schemes of persons deleted from the list during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal. The SIR is currently underway in several parts of the Process underway in Punjab, Haryana, Chd country, including Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant reiterated that deletion from the electoral roll after SIR exercise would not automatically result in the loss of citizenship status. The Bench — which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana — pointed out that it had made it clear in the Bihar Special Intensive Revision judgment that the ultimate authority to determine citizenship was not the Election Commission and that the removal from electoral rolls cannot, by itself, result in the deprivation of citizenship. “Our judgment (in the Bihar SIR case) is clear. continued on page 6