| Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Here are the big stories you need to follow today: Separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani quits HurriyatHurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani has decided to quit the All Party Hurriyat Conference, the conglomerate of Kashmiri separatist parties. "I have decided to distance myself from the Hurriyat given the current situation," an ailing Geelani said in a voice note. He said all the constituents of his faction of the Hurriyat had been informed, in a detailed letter, about the decision. Under house arrest since 2013 in his Srinagar residence, Geelani, who is 90, was earlier associated with the Jamaat-e-Islami but left it to float his own political organisation, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. He also split from the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq faction of the Hurriyat following differences over the approach to be adopted to resolve the Kashmir issue. Considered a hardliner, Geelani advocated accession of J&K with Pakistan. We have a quick profile of Geelani that you can read here. SC questions blanket blacklisting of Tablighi attendeesThe Supreme Court on Monday asked the Union government to clarify the visa status of 3,500 foreign nationals from 35 countries who have been blacklisted in connection with the Tablighi Jamaat gathering. It asked the Centre to clarify if this was a blanket directive, or care was taken to hear and decide the merits of each case individually. "What we have here on record is a press note. It does not say notices were issued, orders were passed, and action was taken on a case-to-case basis. We do not see any individual orders here. Please take instructions on the stand of the Union of India," Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said, addressing Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. The court ordered the government to respond on July 2, the next date of hearing. Four writ petitions, including one by a Thai national who is seven months pregnant, have challenged the Centre's decision of April 2, which blacklisted 960 foreigners, and another subsequent decision on June 4, by which over 2,500 foreign nationals were blacklisted for 10 years from travelling to India. "No order has been passed, no notice has been issued. No individual order was given to any single person in any individual case", senior advocate C.U. Singh, appearing for one of the petitioners, submitted. Fuel price increase is 'forced extortion': Sonia  A worker fill petrol and diesel at IOC petrol bunk in Ahmedabad. File Accusing the Union government of setting a "new example of forced extortion" by raising fuel prices 22 times in a short span of time, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday demanded an immediate rollback of the fuel price hikes. Gandhi charged the government with "profiteering" at the expense of the people instead of helping them during a crisis. "After the March 25 lockdown, the Modi government, in the last three months, has raised the prices of petrol and diesel 22 times. The price of diesel has gone up by ₹11 a litre and that of petrol by ₹9.12 a litre. The Modi government has made provision for collecting lakhs of crores by raising excise duty in the last three months and all this is happening at a time when the international crude oil prices are continuously falling," she said in a video message. SC says CA students can opt out of examIn a relief for lakhs of Chartered Accountancy (CA) aspirants, the Supreme Court has said students can opt out of their July exams without running the risk of being marked as having failed in the papers they missed due to the pandemic. While allowing the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to conduct the exams in July-August, a Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said students should have an option to change their exam centres "till the end". The students' choice of exam centres should not be frozen but left open-ended, the court said. "The situation due to the pandemic is not static but dynamic. An exam centre may suddenly fall within a containment zone," Justice Khanwilkar, heading a three-judge Vacation Bench, remarked orally. Terror attack on Karachi stock exchange  Policeman secure the area outside the Pakistan Stock Exchange building after a group of gunmen attacked the building, in Karachi on June 29, 2020. Gunmen attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi, killing two guards and a policeman, and wounding seven others, before security forces killed all four of the attackers, police said. Separatist insurgents from Balochistan province — the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) — claimed responsibility in a post on Twitter. However, Reuters and other news agencies were not able to verify the authenticity of the claim. The police chief in Pakistan's biggest city and financial hub, Ghulam Nabi Memon, told Reuters that four gunmen attacked with grenades and guns after pulling up in a silver-coloured car. Covid Watch: Numbers and developments The number of coronavirus cases in the country stood at 5,67,089 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 16,895. India on Monday reported 19,459 new coronavirus cases and 380 deaths, by far the highest single day counts so far. Amid a rising number of coronavirus cases, the Maharashtra government on Monday extended the lockdown in the State till July 31. The Nagaland government also extended the lockdown in the State till July 15. Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, has extended its current intensive lockdown, which was set to end in two days, till July 5. After July 5, the old lockdown relaxations will come into play except on Sundays. The intensive restrictions on Sundays will continue till July 31. The State reported close to 4,000 new cases today. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government will launch a plasma bank in the national capital to help critically-ill coronavirus patients. And in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched Project Platina, a plasma therapy trial for treatment of critical Covid-19 patients. A state official described it as the largest initiative of its kind in the world. Third round of corps commander meetingsThe third round of meetings between Indian and Chinese Corps Commanders is scheduled to take place on Tuesday amid continuing tensions along the border in Ladakh and little headway in de-escalation. The talks are to be held from 10:30 a.m. at Chushul on the Indian side, a government source said on Monday. The earlier talks were held on the Chinese side at Moldo opposite Chushul. In Brief:
The first batch of four Rafale fighter jets are scheduled to arrive in India in the last week of July. The four aircraft are scheduled to depart from France on July 27 and fly to India with a stopover at the Al Dhafra air base in the UAE, a defence source said. There was a possibility of one more aircraft being delivered but it's not confirmed yet, a second source said.
Amid heightened tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, the Centre on Monday decided to ban 59 Chinese apps, including Tik Tok. Meanwhile, on the subject of boycotting all things Chinese, Congress leader and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in a press conference today asked the BJP-led Union government to return the donations made by Chinese companies to the PM-CARES fund. "I don't think we can afford to take Chinese money when our boys are being killed," he said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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