The traffic on the highway was suspended on Wednesday evening after heavy rain triggered shooting of stones from the hillocks overlooking the arterial road in Ramban district, officials said. Tribune file

Jammu, November 28

Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for the second consecutive day on Thursday after heavy rain in the Banihal-Ramban section triggered five landslides, leaving over 3,000 vehicles stranded at various places on the route, officials said.

The traffic on the highway was suspended on Wednesday evening after heavy rain triggered shooting of stones from the hillocks overlooking the arterial road in Ramban district, officials said.

“Highway is closed. There have been five landslides triggered by rain at various places in Banihal-Ramban section of the highway,” a traffic police official told PTI.

As result of which, over 3,000 vehicles, mostly trucks, were stranded at various places on the highway at Jammu, Nagrota, Udhampur, Ramban, Chenani, Batote, Banihal and Kathua, they said.

The 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was closed around 5.15 pm on Wednesday, the officials said.

Heavy rain lashed the Jammu-Srinagar national highway throughout the day with Banihal on this side of the Jawahar Tunnel receiving 19.6 mm of rainfall, they said, adding that the highway town of Qazigund on the other side recorded 24.8 mm of rainfall during the day.  A hailstorm also hit Banihal and adjoining areas.

The officials said the Border Roads Organisation is working to clear snow from the highway. PTI

The military ambulance after the accident near Malout. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service
Muktsar, November 28

Three army men died as a stray cattle came in front of their ambulance on the Abohar-Delhi highway near Malout on Wednesday night and as a result collided with a truck.

The ambulance was ferrying a sick Army man and four others from Abohar to the Army hospital in Bathinda when the mishap took place around 10 pm, sources said.

The deceased were identified as Subedar Jeetpal, Naib-Subedar Ajit Singh and Naik N Pandya. Two Army men–driver DS Pal and rifleman Devinder–were injured and shifted to hospital.

Malout Sadar police have started investigation after registering a case against the unidentified truck driver, who fled the spot after leaving the vehicle behind.

Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. File photo

Islamabad, November 28

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday granted a six-month conditional extension to Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, in a landmark case that shook the high echelons of power in a country that has been ruled for decades by the powerful military.

Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who headed a three-member Bench comprising Justices Mazhar Alam Khan and Mansoor Ali Shah, announced the verdict after being assured by the government that parliament will pass legislation on the extension/reappointment of an army chief within six months.

“The current appointment of General Qamar Javed Bajwa as COAS shall be subject to the said legislation and shall continue for a period of six months from today, whereafter the new legislation shall determine his tenure and other terms and conditions of service,” the Bench said in its short order.

The verdict was announced after the government submitted “a new summary” to extend the service of Gen Bajwa.

The ruling comes in the nick of time as Gen Bajwa was set to retire at midnight on Thursday.

A much-relieved Prime Minister Imran Khan lauded the apex court after the ruling even as he took a jibe at the country’s “external enemies” and the “mafias within”, saying the verdict must be of “special disappointment” to them.

Khan had extended Bajwa’s tenure through a notification on August 19, but the apex court suspended it on Tuesday, citing irregularities in the manner the army chief, a close confidant of the prime minister, was granted an extension.

“Today must be a great disappointment to those who expected the country to be destabilised by a clash of institutions,” Khan tweeted.

“That this did not happen must be of special disappointment to our external enemies & mafias within,” Khan said, without identifying them.

Delivering the verdict, Chief Justice Khosa directed the government to bring necessary legislation within six months.

Justice Khosa said that the court observed “judicial restraint” and left the matter to the parliament.

“We have reviewed several laws, including Army Act 1952 and Rule 1954, before announcing the judgment,” he said.

The Bench had concluded the case in the morning after three consecutive days of hearing but reserved the judgment.

It had directed to the government to present “a new summary for extension” in the service of Gen Bajwa.

The Bench had also directed that the summary should not mention any time period for which the service of army chief would be extended.

Earlier, when the hearing restarted, Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan told the court that government made a fresh appointment of Gen Bajwa as army chief under article 243 of the Constitution.

However, the court questioned how the fresh appointment was different from the previous appointment and the government’s legal team failed to satisfy the court.

The Bench asked the government to produce the documents related to the extension and pension of former army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani and those related to the retirement of his successor General Raheel Sharif.

As the documents were not readily available, the court suspended the proceedings for 15 minutes.

When the hearing resumed the relevant document were presented. But even those papers failed to answer the basic question that under which law the government was giving extension to the army chief for three years.

It turned out that there was no law on the issue of extension and reappointment of a sitting army chief for three years.

Khosa asked if the government was ready to formulate laws in specific period.

Attorney General Khan said the government can enact laws in three months. It prompted the court to offer that it can grant extension for three months to army chief.

However, lawyer of the army chief, Farogh Naeem who resigned from his post as law minister on Tuesday to pursue the case, said the government would make laws within six months.

The attorney general said the court should give extension without mentioning time period.

Khosa finally ordered that the government should come up with the new summary to appoint army chief and after seeing it the court would issue its verdict. He ordered that the salary and other perks of the army chief should also be mentioned in it.

Some interesting exchanges took place during the hearing as Chief Justice Khosa said that judges were termed as “agents of India” and “agents of CIA” for questioning laws related to the extension of army chief.

He said it was also alleged that the top court proceedings were part of “fifth generation warfare” against Pakistan.

The powerful Army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 70 plus years of existence, has wielded considerable power in deciding matters concerning security and foreign policies.

When Bajwa was appointed army chief by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he superseded three generals. —PTI

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 26

The Punjab State War Memorial and Museum will be hosting the first ever Army Literature festival on its premises on December 2 and 3.

The inaugural edition of the two-day festival will have multiple interactive activities and sessions on the famous historical battles by former Army personnel and experts. The festival is being organised in collaboration with the Army headquarters, Western Command.

“The focus of the festival would be to bring to the fore the stories of courage and sacrifice of our soldiers and to engage people in getting to know more about our armed forces. The literature festival has been conceived by the Governor of Punjab, VPS Badnore, and the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, who himself is an Army historian.

“We will host writers and experts talking about the famous Battle of Naushera in 1823 fought between Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s forces and Afghan tribals. Then there are so many stories of victory and loss, of love and longing that soldiers had to face fighting for the country. These are a part of our military history,” said Col HP Singh, Director, war memorial and museum.

Apart from these sessions, creative workshops in calligraphy, umbrella painting and music will also be held. The highlight of the festival would be a documentary titled Half Moon Stories, an account of the soldiers taken prisoners and detained at Halfmoon camp during the First World War. The documentary has recorded voices of Indian prisoners of war during the First World War that had been archived and kept among thousands of voice recordings at Humboldt University’s Sound Archive, Lautarchiv, Berlin.

Sourced and shared by Chandigarh-based Col Parminder Singh Randhawa, from German filmmaker Philip Scheffne, the documentary has voices of about 70 soldiers from Punjab, who shared their days, talked about missing their families and home, while kept detained at camp Halfmoon.

A madrasa is seen near the site where IAF struck near Balakot, in Pakistan. — Reuters file

New Delhi, November 27

The government on Wednesday said inputs indicate that attempts are being made to reactivate terror camps at Balakot in Pakistan which was bombed by the Indian Air Force fighters.

Union minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said in Rajya Sabha that the central government is committed to take all necessary steps to protect the borders of the country and maintain its integrity and sovereignty.

“Inputs indicate that attempts are being made by Pakistan-based terror outfits to reactivate its camp at Balakot and restart their religious and Jihadi indoctrination courses against India,” he said replying a written question.

The fighters of the Indian Air Force had bombed and destroyed the terror camp at Balakot on February 26 after terrorists attacked a convoy of CRPF vehicles, killing 40 jawans on February 14.

Reddy said the government has adopted a policy of zero-tolerance towards terrorism and the security forces are taking effective and continuous action in countering it as a result of which a large number of terrorists have been neutralised in Jammu and Kashmir during the past few years.

The minister said in Jammu and Kashmir, this year till November 17, as many as 594 terror incidents have taken place in which 37 civilians and 79 security personnel were killed.

He said a total of 614 terrorist incidents have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 in which 39 civilians and 91 security personnel were killed.

Reddy said up to October 2019, there have been 171 infiltration attempts from across the border of which 114 were successful.

In 2018, there were 328 infiltration attempts of which 143 were successful. — PTI

The opening of Khokhrapar border would facilitate followers of Saint Moinuddin Chishti to visit Dargah Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan and allow Hindu pilgrims to visit Hinglaj Mandir in Balochistan

Washington, November 27

Congratulating Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for showing “admirable magnanimity” in the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor for Sikh pilgrims, a US-based advocacy group has urged him to now reopen the Khokhrapar-Munabao border with India for millions of Hindu and Muslim devotees.

The opening of the Khokhrapar border would facilitate millions of followers of Saint Moinuddin Chishti to visit Dargah Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan. It will also allow Hindu pilgrims to visit the Hinglaj Mandir in Balochistan province of Pakistan, said the Voice of Karachi.

The group represents Mohajirs, Urdu-speaking Indian Muslims who settled in Pakistan after the Partition. It says on its website it is “committed to raise global awareness about the plight of the Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi”.

“Now that your government has shown admirable magnanimity by opening the Kartarpur crossing making it convenient for Sikh pilgrims to visit their sacred places in Pakistan, I would request you on behalf of millions of Muslim and Hindu followers of Saint Moinuddin Chishti and Hinglaj Devi respectively to show similar generosity by opening Khokhrapar-Munabao border with immediate effect,” the group’s Nadeem Nusrat said in a letter to the Pakistan prime minister.

“Your favourable response will not only win you millions of hearts, but it will also help ease tensions in the region by improving people-to-people contact. The failure to do so, on the other hand, would justifiably reinforce rumours and speculations about the real intentions behind the opening of Kartarpur crossing,” Nusrat said.

He said millions of Muslims and Hindus living in Pakistan and India have been facing difficulties in visiting the two places of worship since 1947. “Fortunately, both issues could quickly be resolved with the same level of kindness you have demonstrated in the Kartarpur crossing issue,” he said.

Millions of Muslims from India who had settled in urban areas of Sindh Province of Pakistan, still deeply revere Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti, and want to visit his shrine in India, Nusrat said.

This should not be an issue because Pakistan’s Sindh Province shares its border with India’s Rajasthan state, and the journey from Sindh’s Khokhrapar border crossing to Ajmer Shrine is just a few hours long.

“However, this border crossing is closed for years, which forces the visitors to undertake an almost four-time longer journey to Ajmer Shrine via Punjab and Delhi. This unnecessary longer journey also places a substantial financial burden on visitors whose overwhelming majority comes poor and middle-class people,” the group said in the letter.

“If you look at it from a human perspective, it is a blatant case of the violation of millions of peoples’ fundamental religious rights,” he said.

Hinglaj Mandir is a sacred Hindu temple on the Makran coast in Balochistan province.

“A large number of Hindu worshippers every year undertake a four-day pilgrimage to the Hinglaj Mandir. The deity is also worshipped and visited by many Hindus in India who want to visit this temple but face the same challenges as do the followers of Saint Moinuddin Chishti,” Nusrat said

Kumar was the Navy Chief from 1998-2001. iStock

New Delhi, November 27

Former Navy chief Admiral Sushil Kumar died at a military hospital here on Wednesday morning following a brief illness, his family sources said.

He was 79. Kumar was the Navy Chief from 1998-2001. PTI

Players from the Patiala Polo and Riding Club in action during the Western Command Polo Challenge at the Polo Ground Aviation Club in Patiala. Tribune photo:Rajesh Sachar

Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 25

Patiala Polo and Riding Club witnessed Western Command Polo Challenge exhibition match, organised in the run-up to the MLF (Military Literature Festival) to be held in December, here today.

The day witnessed a nail-biting match between Patiala Chargers and Patiala Raiders. Lieutenant General RP Singh GOC-in-C Western Command was the chief guest.

Patiala Raiders, ably led by Arjuna Awardee World Cup player Colonel Ravi Rathore, dominated the four chukkars and won the match by 5-3. Both teams equalised in first three chukkars, but in the third chukkar, Colonel Ravi Rathore scored the fourth and fifth goal and kept Patiala Chargers under pressure in the last two chukkars blocking their every effort to score the goal.

In the first chukkar, Patiala Raiders controlled the game in their favour with first two goals by Colonel Ravi, but by the third chukker (round), both teams were on a par with three goals each. 

By this time, the Patiala Raider team with Colonel Ravi Rathore was the star performer who scored two more goals.

By the time third Chukkar finished, Patiala Chargers led by Colonel N.S. Sandhu scored two goals with the third goal being scored by Capt. Raghav Raj But in the last two Chukkars Patiala Chargers couldn’t s score any goal losing match to Patiala Raiders.

The best pony award was clinched by Messiah rode by Colonel NS Sandhu of Patiala Chargers.

Jawans of 61 cavalries showed their horsemanship skill that included standing salute lance peg, triple tent pegging, indian file, hanky picking and trick tent pegging.

Earlier, in a perfect show of aerobatic skills, Senior Instructor Captain Malkiat Singh, having 10,000 hours of flying experience on various kinds of aircraft, displayed multiple manoeuvres. Earlier, the Military Band, led by N Subedar Mahinder Kumar, marched with melodious tunes and set the tempo of the function.

Best pony award

• The best pony award was clinched by Messiah rode by Colonel NS Sandhu of Patiala Chargers.
• The jawans of 61 cavalries showed their horsemanship skill that included standing salute lance peg, triple tent pegging, indian file, hanky picking and trick tent pegging.