Good morning, From the ouster of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the situation in Sri Lanka and India’s rejection of a proposal from China -- here are the top stories from today’s edition. The Big Story
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan lost power late on Saturday night, voted out by parliament in a test of strength that the Speaker had stalled all day. The motion was taken up after Pakistan’s Supreme Court prepared to step in to enforce compliance of its April 7 order directing the holding of the vote of no-confidence, and prison vans were stationed outside the National Assembly, apparently to take away officials guilty of contempt. 
Supporters of opposition parties greet opposition lawmakers leaving the National Assembly after success of a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan. (AP) Only in the Express Around the time Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India last month, Beijing sent Delhi a proposal on disengagement of troops from Patrolling Point 15 in the Hot Springs area of eastern Ladakh. The proposal was rejected by India. Government sources said China proposed that Indian troops move back to the Karam Singh Post between PP 16 and PP 17 and they would withdraw its troops just behind the Line of Actual Control as claimed by India in that region. Sources said this was unacceptable to India. Sri Lanka’s economic distress and its ruling Rajapaksa family have achieved what many thought was impossible: bringing Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim together and, at least for now, uniting them in one cry: “Go Gota go”. On the streets, protestors chant: “We are not divided by class, We are not divided by race.” A new generation of Sri Lankans has taken the lead in the outpouring of anger against the Rajapaksa family, and they do not appear to carry the baggage of Sri Lanka’s ethnic divide.
From the Front Page The Congress reached out to BSP supremo Mayawati for an alliance ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and even offered her the Chief Minister’s post, but she did not even respond, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, suggesting that it was because she was under pressure from investigating agencies of the Central government. “She left the field open. Why?” Gandhi said, adding: “The CBI, ED, Pegasus…” He was called to the police station almost every day, made to stay there hours, pressured to sign documents, while his mobile phone remains missing since his death. These are some of the charges made in the FIR filed by the family of Niranjan Baishnab, eyewitness to the murder of Congress councillor Tapan Kandu, and who allegedly took his own life on April 6. Must Read
“I am neither the head master nor the remote controller of this (MVA) government. In evolved democracies governments can’t be run through remote controls.” While Sharad Pawar has repeatedly denied any role in the day-to-day functioning of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, the 83-year-old Maratha stalwart remains the fulcrum of this coalition government. Maharashtra CM and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has heavily relied on Pawar’s advice over the last two-and-a-half years. Pawar has a network across political parties and has extended help to leaders from all political parties, says Sanjay Raut. For an unlikely Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, got off to a good start. He came to the CM chair with little baggage, as the socialist who was expected to find his way around the BJP’s ideological priorities. But that honeymoon period barely lasted six months with a gradual piling up of woes against Bommai — within the party, the central leadership, the state government and public at large. After a food cart was vandalised for allegedly selling non-veg dishes during Navratri — which coincides with Ramzan this year — apprehensive vendors in Western UP’ Sardhana town have abandoned biryani for dal-roti, even if it means loss of business. “Things have changed so rapidly. Earlier there would be oral instructions to not sell non-vegetarian dishes, but it wasn’t set in stone. We would still have non-veg items. But now they are going around beating up people,” one vendor said. P Chidambaram writes on the recently-passed Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022, which he calls a “brazen attempt to overreach the Supreme Court and to deny the fundamental rights to liberty and privacy, two of the most precious rights in a democracy.” And Finally...
It’s often said in Indian classical music circles that “if God ever decided to sing, he’d choose Pt Bhimsen Joshi’s voice”. Pandit Joshi would have turned 100 this year. From a little boy who ran away from home to becoming a voice that remains Hindustani classical singing’s gold standard, we trace his extraordinary journey. Until tomorrow, Rahel Philipose and Rounak Bagchi
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