CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ hyderabad l friday l october 30, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 36 l late city EDITION Pak envoy JOINS SCO’S LUNCH BEFORE NOV MEET India will host the SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi Pakistan’s Chargé d’Affaires to from November 20 to 22, with Prime India, Saad Ahmad Warraich, at- Minister Narendra Modi expected to tended a luncheon reception hosted inaugurate the event. by Sibi George, Secretary (West) in Pakistan has yet to confirm its repthe External Affairs Ministry, for resentation at the forum. Pakistan’s resident envoys of Shanghai Coop- Minister for National Heritage and eration Organisation (SCO) Culture, Aurungzeb Khan member states and partner Purana Qila Khichi, is among those countries, as India prepares invited. venue to host the grouping’s first If Khichi attends, it would The forum is Civilisational Dialogue Fomark the first visit by a Pakiexpected to rum next month. stani minister since then Forbring together MEA spokesperson Raneign Minister Bilawal Bhutto dhir Jaiswal said discus- representatives Zardari attended the SCO forsions focused on strength- from more than eign ministers’ meeting in ening cooperation within 25 countries at Goa in May 2023. the SCO framework, par- Purana Qila, the The luncheon comes amid 16th-century ticularly cultural and civicontinued diplomatic strains fort in Delhi lisational exchanges, and between New Delhi and Ispreparations for the uplamabad. However, both coming forum scheduled for No- countries remain engaged through vember 20. multilateral platforms such as the “The interaction underscored In- SCO. In September last, India sent its dia’s commitment to strengthening SCO National Coordinator, Alok longstanding civilisational connec- Dimri, to Islamabad for a meeting tions and people-to-people ties with ahead of Pakistan’s presidency of the SCO region,” the MEA spokes- the grouping and its planned SCO person said. leaders’ summit in August 2027. J aya nt h J a c o b @ New Delhi cji: Opposition from Bar halted hiring retired judges for hcs ex-Speaker steers Sridhar pitches for ISM 2.0 INDIA bloc to ‘impeach’ Gyanesh today IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu urged the Centre to include Telangana in ISM 2.0 to help the state develop a semiconductor fabrication and chip design ecosystem P r e e t h a N a i r @New Delhi THE INDIA bloc will hold a threehour “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s official residence on Friday, with for mer Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar presiding over the proceedings. Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, will move the motion to i m p e a c h Ku m a r, while LoP in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, will conclude the discussion before the ‘motion’ is passed by voting, sources said. The contours of the proceedings were finalised at a meet of INDIA bloc leaders at Kharge’s residence here on Thursday . At least 30 speakers, including representatives of 21 political parties, are expected to participate. Sources said an invitation has been extended to the BJD, but the party is yet to confirm.  Continued on p7 Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at the curtain-raiser for the Invest Telangana Global Summit in New Delhi on Thursday Goyal hails state’s success story, CM says more to come E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad Hailing Telangana’s growing role in India’s success story Union , Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said it was time the state looked beyond its established strengths in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and tapped opportunities in aerospace, defence and quantum computing. Goyal also urged Telangana to improve the ease of doing business. Welcoming the praise, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy credited the Centre’s support for Telangana, asserting that political differences had not come in the way of Hyderabad’s investment journey . Addressing the curtain-raiser programme for the ‘Invest Telangana Global Summit’ organised by the state government in Delhi on Thursday, Goyal called for collective efforts to achieve the Viksit Bharat-2047 target. Recalling the region’s trading legacy he cited the , Motupalli inscription issued by Kakatiya emperor Ganapati Deva around 700 years ago to regulate maritime trade, saying industrialists were now seeking similar measures.  Continued on p4 sc: Land worth `55,000 crore belongs to tg T G N a i d u @ Hyderabad The Supreme Court has dismissed a batch of civil appeals challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s 2003 judgment declaring the state government the owner of about 550 acres of land in Survey Nos. 100 and 101 of Miyapur village in Serilingampally mandal, Rangareddy district. The land is estimated to be worth around `55,000 crore. A bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma held that the appellants had failed to establish valid title to the land and that fraudulent revenue entries had been used in attempts to claim government property . The lead appeal, Civil Appeal No. 10699 of 2013, was filed by Bandari Ramchander and others against Maitri Cooperative Housing Society Ltd and others. The connected appeals involved rival claimants tracing their alleged rights to different predecessors, including descendants of the erstwhile Paigah estates.   Continued on p5