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Udupi, Mar 18: In response to concerns over the potential cancellation of the Mangaluru-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express due to low passenger occupancy, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Kota Srinivas Poojary has proposed extending the service to Mumbai instead of discontinuing it.

MP Poojary met Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and urged him to consider the extension, highlighting the benefits it would bring to commuters and the economy. The minister promptly directed railway officials to ensure the train service is not discontinued and to explore the feasibility of extending it to Mumbai.

A detailed report on the economic significance of Mangaluru and Udupi was also presented, stressing the necessity of the train's extension. Additionally, a request was made to introduce a sleeper Vande Bharat train between Mangaluru and Mumbai in the future.

Expressing gratitude to the minister for his prompt attention and assurance of support, MP Poojary welcomed the positive response and reiterated his commitment to improving railway connectivity in the region.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written a letter to Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who today began her return journey to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) after being stranded there for more than nine months.

In a letter dated March 1, which was shared by Union Minister Jitendra Singh on X today, the Prime Minister said he had inquired about the well-being of Ms Williams - who flew to the orbital lab on June 5 last year - when he met President Donald Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, during his visits to the United States.

The letter was made public hours after Ms Williams and her colleague, Butch Wilmore, undocked from the ISS for a 17-hour trip back home.

PM Modi recalled that at a meeting with former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino in Delhi this month, her name had come up in their conversation.

"We discussed how proud we are of you and your work. Following this interaction, I could not stop myself from writing to you," PM Modi said.

"1.4 billion Indians have always taken great pride in your achievements. Recent developments have yet again showcased your inspirational fortitude and perseverance," he wrote.

He said her mother, Bonnie Pandya, must be "keenly" awaiting her return.

"I am sure that Late Deepakbhai's blessings are with you as well," the Prime Minister said, referring to her father, Deepak Pandya, who was a resident of his home state, Gujarat, and died in 2020.

PM Modi also said he "fondly" remembers meeting him and her during his visit to the US in 2016.

"Even though you are thousands of miles away, you continue to remain close to our hearts. The people of India are praying for your good health and success in your mission," PM Modi told the 59-year-old astronaut.

"After your return, we are looking forward to seeing you in India. It will be a pleasure for India to host one of its most illustrious daughters," he added.

He also sent his "warm regards" to her husband, Michael Williams.

Sunita Williams and her colleague, Butch Wilmore, flew to the orbital lab on June 5 last year, on what was supposed to be a days-long roundtrip to test out Boeing's Starliner on its first crewed flight.

The spaceship, however, developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly them back. It instead returned uncrewed.

The two astronauts were then reassigned to the NASA-SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which saw a Dragon spacecraft fly to the ISS in September last year with a team of two -- American astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov -- rather than the usual four, to make room for the stranded astronauts.

On Sunday, a relief team -- Crew-10 -- docked with the space station to make the way for Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore's much-awaited homecoming, along with Mr Hague and Mr Gorbunov.

New York: An Indian national enrolled as a postdoctoral fellow in the US has been detained by immigration authorities, said a media report, less than a week after a Columbia student from India self-deported following allegations of activities supporting Hamas.

Badar Khan Suri's lawyer claimed that he is being punished “because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife — who is a US citizen — and because the government suspects that he and his wife oppose US foreign policy toward Israel.”

He is a former student of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

Suri is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington DC.

A report in Politico said that Suri, who was studying and teaching on a student visa, has been “detained by federal immigration authorities amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on student activists whom the government accuses of opposing American foreign policy.”

The report said that “masked agents” arrested Suri from outside his home in Virginia Monday night.

A petition filed by his lawyer Hassan Ahmad said that he was taken to a facility in Virginia and is “expected to be transferred soon to a detention centre in Texas.”

The Politico report said that Suri’s lawyer has filed a lawsuit for his immediate release.

“The agents identified themselves as being with the Department of Homeland Security and told him the government had revoked his visa,” the lawsuit says, according to the Politico report.

The report added that according to Suri’s petition, he was put in “deportation proceedings under the same rarely used provision of immigration law” that the government has invoked to try to deport Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident arrested for his role in leading campus protests at Columbia against Israel. 

The petition says the couple has “long been doxxed and smeared” on anonymously run, far-right websites due to their support for Palestinian rights. The petition adds that Suri’s wife Mapheze Saleh has been alleged to have “ties with Hamas” and once worked for Al Jazeera.

The petition further notes that Suri has no criminal record and has not been charged with a crime. Ahmad said he had not been able to contact Suri as of Wednesday evening.

“We’re trying to speak with him. That hasn’t happened yet,” Ahmad said.

“This is just another example of our government abducting people the same way they abducted Khalil.”

According to his profile on the website of Georgetown University, Suri completed his PhD in Peace & Conflict Studies from Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 2020. 

He wrote his thesis on Transitional Democracy, Divided Societies and Prospects for Peace: A Study of State Building in Afghanistan and Iraq in which he underlined the complexities involved in introducing democracy in ethnically diverse societies; as well as challenges to project state building.

He has travelled extensively in the conflict zones of India, Pakistan, Balochistan in Iran, Iran, Turkey, Kurdish Areas in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and its southern region, Egypt and Palestine.  

The Politico report quoted a statement from a Georgetown spokesperson as saying that Suri is an "Indian national who was duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention. We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly," the spokesperson said.

Suri's detention comes less than a week after Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student at Columbia University, self-deported after her visa was revoked for allegedly “advocating for violence and terrorism” and involvement in activities supporting Hamas.

Srinivasan had entered the United States on an F-1 student visa as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University, the Department of Homeland Security had said.

It added that Srinivasan was “involved in activities supporting” Hamas, a terrorist organisation.

The Department of State had revoked her visa on March 5. The Department of Homeland Security said it has obtained video footage of Srinivasan using the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App to self-deport on March 11.