India”s Ambassador to UN, Ajit Kumar addressing the 34th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. — ANI

Geneva/New Delhi, March 1Pakistan created terror outfits against India and the “monster” is now devouring its own creator, India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva said on Wednesday.Addressing the 34th Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), Ambassador Ajit Kumar hit out at Pakistan for destabilising the situation in Jammu and Kashmir by promoting infiltration and cross-border terrorism, inciting, promoting and glorifying violence.Asserting that terrorism is the “grossest violation of human rights”, he said members will recognise the irony of a nation that has established a well-earned reputation of being a “global epicentre of terrorism holding forth on human rights”.”Pakistan has created terrorist outfits against India.This monster is now devouring its own creator,” Kumar said, adding that in the last two decades, the most wanted terrorists of the world have found “succour and sustenance” in Pakistan.The fundamental reason for disturbances in parts of Jammu and Kashmir is cross-border terrorism aided and abetted by Pakistan, he said, noting that for many years now, Islamabad has been carrying out an intense campaign to destabilise the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.He further emphasised that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and the situation there is an internal matter of the country.The Central government and democratically elected state government have led a system-wide effort last year to restore normalcy in the state in the wake of Pakistan-supported violent unrest, he said in the session’s ‘General Segment’.India would also like to point out that Pakistan’s unwarranted references to UNSC resolutions are “grossly misleading as Pakistan was required to vacate the parts of the State of J&K under its illegal and forced occupation,” Kumar said. — PTI

The officer, who gets a salary of around Rs 65,000-70,000 per month, stole the wallet from a CSD canteen in Mumbai.

A flight lieutenant was caught stealing a wallet from a CSD canteen in Mumbai on CCTV cameras and has been court-martialled by the Indian Air Force for the petty theft worth Rs 531.

The incident had happened when the officer (name withheld) – who gets a salary of around Rs 65,000-70,000 per month – visited the CSD canteen in the Madh Island air force base in Mumbai in February 2013 to buy something and stole one of the two black wallets kept there, an IAF officerl told Mail Today.

The theft of the wallet could not be detected by the canteen officers for two days and an investigation into the matter had started when one of the wallet covers was found lying empty, they said.

“When the CCTV footage was checked, it was observed that the officer of the rank of Flt Lt had picked up the wallet and put it in his rear trouser pocket for concealing it from canteen staff, and after that, he was attached for trial by the authorities concerned,” said the officer.

The General Court Martial also found him guilty and recommended him to be severely reprimanded, pay back Rs 531 as the cost of the wallet stolen by him to the unit and also forfeit one-year service for the purpose of promotion.

However, the then Air Force chief took a lenient view of the case and removed the loss of seniority from his punishment but the officer decided to approach the Armed Forces Tribunal to get the proceedings against him to be quashed completely.

In the tribunal, the judges watched the CCTV footage before deciding the case. The bench headed by AFT chairman Justice Virender Singh found him not only indulging in theft but also trying to conceal his act.

It said it supported the decision taken by the IAF whose chief had already applied his mind in the case and given relief to the officer.

The Indian Army plans to employ 10,000 civilians to be provided as sahayaks for officers and JCOs posted in peace areas.

Against the backdrop of controversies over using combat soldiers as buddies, the Indian Army is now planning to employ 10,000 civilians to be provided as sahayaks for officers and JCOs posted in peace areas for helping them in their official work.

The move being undertaken by the Army headquarters – in consultations with the defence ministry – will help in freeing an equal number of combat soldiers from performing tasks of sahayaks, which have been under the scanner after a few jawans made videos against the system and made them viral on social media.

“We are going to employ around 10,000 civilians who would be helping officers and JCOs in pace stations by performing the roles of sahayaks,” Army sources told MAIL TODAY. At the moment, the Army uses around 40,000 combat soldiers who perform sahayak duties in their respective units and regiments.

In the peace stations also, the civilians would be provided to officers from static formations such as the Army headquarters in New Delhi or the seven command headquarters in different locations in the country who don’t have to move out in field areas during their posting there, they said.

Units which are deployed in places like Delhi but are part of a fighting formation like the infantry battalions here would continue to use combat soldiers as sahayaks as they have to move into field areas for months during exercises in Rajasthan and Punjab at regular intervals, they said.

‘BUDDY SYSTEM IMPORTANT FOR ARMY’S FUNCTIONING IN TIMES OF WAR’

Soon after he took over, Army chief General Bipin Rawat had said the Army Headquarters had submitted a proposal to the government that “sahayaks” could be done away with in peace locations, but had said the buddy system is important for functioning of the Army in times of wars and for deployment of forces in field areas.

Buddy system is a colonial system where combat soldiers are used as orderlies or sahayaks to polish boots and maintain the uniform of the officers and junior commissioned officers.

However, there have been several complaints of misuse in the recent times. After controversies over misuse of sahayaks, Army formations have asked officers to ensure that dignity of jawans is maintained and they are not used for looking after pets and children of officers and washing private cars.

“Please refer to social media outburst by serving soldier and media statement issued by the Chief of Army Staff thereto. All formations and unit are requested to ensure that dignity of serving soldier be maintained and employment of buddies should be restricted to entitled duties only,” an instruction letter from a formation in Eastern Command had said.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 1

  The Army’s move will help in freeing an equal number of combat soldiers from performing tasks of sahayaks.
• 2

  They’ve been under the scanner after a few jawans made videos against the system and made them viral on social media.
• 3

  At the moment, the Army uses around 40,000 combat soldiers who perform sahayak duties.

ALSO READ | Exclusive: Indian Army considering reducing strength of its 40,000 sahayaks by 25 per cent

ALSO WATCH | Jammu-Kashmir: Army readies strategy to deal with stone-pelters

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh

Chandigarh: The Congress-led government on Wednesday announced five more political appointments as Officers on Special Duty (OSD) with Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. The OSDs are Gurpreet Singh Sonu Dhesi, Jagdeep Singh Sidhu, Sandeep Singh Brar, Damanjeet Singh Mohi and Ankit Bansal. A spokesman for the CMO’s office said the terms and conditions of their appointments would be finalised shortly. More political appointments of advisers under newly appointed Senior Adviser Lt Gen TS Shergill is expected in coming days. Sources said Kewal Dhillon, former MLA who lost from Barnala in the recent Assembly elections, could also be rehabilitated. Meanwhile, the process of assigning rooms to CM’s advisers and political secretaries began on Wednesday. TNS

Assembly session from tomorrow

Chandigarh: The 15th Punjab Vidhan Sabha formally constituted on March 14 has been summoned by the Governor to meet for its first session on March 24. The session will begin with the taking of oath by the new MLAs followed by the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker on March 27. On March 28, there will be Governor’s address and March 29 has been fixed for obituaries and passing the vote of account. TNSPay panel chief Mann resignsChandigarh: RS Mann, who was made the chairman of the Sixth Pay Commission of Punjab by the previous government, on Wednesday resigned from the post citing personal reasons. Jai Singh Gill will replace him. This would mean that entire process would have to be started all over again. TNSAjit Singh Kohar SAD deputy leaderChandigarh: Ajit Singh Kohar has been appointed as the deputy leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the Assembly. The party has 15 members in the House and party president Sukhbir Singh Badal is the leader of the House. TNS

Union leader wants lal batti

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, March 22

In a telling satire on bureaucrats bending the rules for the coveted red beacon, a union leader here has sought permission from the DC for doing so.Rajesh Behal, president, Jai Vishavkarma Mistri Mazdoor Union, in a letter written to DC Sumeet Jarangal has cited frequent traffic jams and shortage of space in parking lots of the state for this request.The DC said, “I am not the competent authority to take a decision in this regard.”

How will beacon move benefit commoners, Badal asks Cong

Parkash Singh Badal

Tribune News Service

Lambi, March 22

Former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said there would be no impact of removing red beacons from vehicles of the VIPs on the commoners in the state. He advised the Congress government to take decisions for the welfare of people.“It doesn’t matter whether the red beacon is allowed or banned. What is the impact of it on the common man? The government must do works that directly benefit people. In the first cabinet meeting, the Congress has not announced any such work,” said Badal, while visiting villages on the second day of his thanksgiving tour in Lambi.He, however, added that the SAD would not react on the initial performance of the government, saying, “We will wait and watch.”On the controversy over Navjot Singh Sidhu continuing his TV shows, Badal said: “It is his own sweet will or if the law permits. What can I say?”

Cable operators lock Fastway offices

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 22

With the change of guard in the state, the much anticipated dispute over a private channel allegedly run by Akali stakeholders has begun. Cable operators who were operating in 2006-07 forcefully locked offices of Fastway Cable Operators in Sanaur and Devigarh towns of Patiala district today.The matter has reached the respective police stations but no formal complaints have been made. Sources said the old cable operators had been very annoyed with the SAD-BJP government since it came to power in 2007 as their cable services were allegedly taken over forcibly and they were “thrown out” of their offices.They said the resentment kept brewing but there was no one to support them all these years. However, soon after the Congress came to power, they decided to take back “their” properties, considering they were shareholders in the cable services, they said.Sub-Inspector Vijay Kumar said, “Yuvraj Singh, who locked a Fastway office today, has shown us an agreement made in 2006-07. In the agreement, the property stands in his name and it states that he is the owner of 52 per cent shares in this cable service. However, he alleged that Vikas Puri took over the entire network in the area, ousting them. We will take action once the investigation is complete.”

Muktsar sarpanch not allowed to disburse pension

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, March 22

A few Congress workers at Gurusar village in the Gidderbaha Assembly segment today stopped the village sarpanch and panchayat secretary from disbursing pension among beneficiaries.Bhupinder Singh, party general secretary, Muktsar, said, “The village sarpanch and panchayat secretary had come to disburse pension at Sidhu dharamshala in the village, but we asked them to disburse the money at Panchayat Ghar. We not only stopped them from the disbursal of pension but also asked the status of pension of the past five months. They were distributing pensions of just one month.”However, Naib Singh, SAD sarpanch of Gurusar village, said, “We received the pension of October 2017 and started the disbursement today. They are now making an issue because the Congress has come to the power.”

Health Dept raids medicine stores, seizes contraband

A duty magistrate with a drug inspector and other officials during a raid at a medical store in Hospital Bazaar in Bathinda on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, March 21

In an attempt to tighten the noose around the illegal sale of drugs, as promised by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in the first cabinet meeting, as many as 16 medicine stores across the city were raided late this evening.Deputy Commissioner Diprava Lakra had directed the District Health Department to conduct surprise checks at unauthorised stores selling medicnes without prescription and also selling contraband drugs.“Following the directions, the Health Department had constituted three teams comprising of officials from the department and the district administration. Raids were conducted at medicine stores located in the rear of the bus stand, Haji Ratan Chowk, Mall Road, Hospital Bazaar, areas located across railway lines, Bhatti Road and Powerhouse Road,” said Civil Surgeon RS Randhawa.As per information, the teams confiscated proscribed drugs from some of the stores.A team headed by tehsildar Lakhwinder Singh, drug inspector Amandeep Verma and policemen Kulwinder Singh and Rajwinder Singh raided stores in Hospital Bazaar. At one of the stores, Alprex and Tramedol tablets were found.Strips of Illegal medicines were also found from the pockets of the  workers at these shops. Anticipating raids at their stores, owners of some of the stores closed their shops earlier than their scheduled timings and left. 

Shopowners stage protest

Irked over the raids, almost 100 drug store owners and workers of these shops staged a late night protest outside Jawahar Medical Store. They lifted the dharna after they decided to convene a meeting tomorrow in this regard. They argued that the state government had resorted to troubling the small-time medicine sellers rather than getting hold of the big drug peddlers.

Dr Navjot Sidhu

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 21

Hours after CM Capt Amarinder Singh sought legal opinion on his minister Navjot Sidhu’s continuity as a celebrity-judge on a popular TV comedy show, the latter’s wife Dr Navjot Sidhu said the ‘office of profit’ clause was not applicable in her husband’s instance but he would abide by the law.She stated that if his TV commitments clashed with Punjab’s interest, he is prepared to quit them, including the famous Kapil Sharma show.After discussing the matter with personalities who were in the entertainment industry before venturing into politics, Navjot had stated that he won’t quit TV.Dr Sidhu said that TV was their only source of earning as of now and he needed hardly five hours a week for the the comedy show.Navjot had already quit 90 per cent of the TV programmes, including the IPL cricket commentary, WWF, and scores of other product endorsements.“If need be, he would quit the remaining 10 per cent TV shows. I fail to understand why the matter was being blown out of proportion. When Chandigarh MP Kiron Kher continued her association with TV shows as a judge, Shatrughan Sinha too had done a movie after becoming an MP, so did Hema Malini. Why the objections on my husband’s commitments,” she questioned.Nonetheless, she had convinced her husband who is now ready to give up his TV career. “Even if Navjot quits the entertainment industry, we can survive on rental income though on a lesser scale sans flamboyance. We have left plum political positions just because it prevented us from working for the interests of Punjab and Punjabiat”, she said.The debate over the new Local Bodies Minister brewed up after Navjot announced that he would continue doing TV shows.Dr Sidhu had defended her husband on her facebook account a few days ago. “Shooting for two shows (of the comedy show) takes only five hours a week and that also mostly on Saturday night. I think it is a meagre time for a non-socially active God-fearing workaholic (sic),” she wrote.However, some reports suggest that the flamboyant commentator and comedy show judge has asked for lighter responsibilities so that he could continue with his professional commitments.

Sidhu will quit show if AG says it’s office of profit: Wife

Amarinder is the boss and the boss is always right. He would be worried as a father figure, which is why he is seeking legal opinion on my participation in a TV show. NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU, local bodies and tourism minister

CHANDIGARH: Reacting to chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh seeking legal opinion on local government and tourism minister Navjot Sidhu’s participation in The Kapil Sharma Show, his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu told a news channel in Chandigarh that the show was their only source of income as Sidhu had left all cricket commentary assignments.

“Yet, if the Punjab advocate general office finds any illegality, he will leave the show. Our daughter is studying in London. We too have expenses to take care of,” said Kaur, who earlier represented Amritsar East segment in the Punjab assembly, now represented by her husband.

Kaur has also courted controversy over attending an official meeting with her husband. She defended it by saying she has been a MLA and knows the problems of urban areas and was only sitting behind Sidhu at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Sidhu said: “Amarinder is the boss and the boss is always right. He would be worried as a father figure. I have left all commentary for the Indian Premier League. I only do one TV show. I have gone through the entire Supreme Court ruling. It clearly states the minister should not be appointed at any other government position, the government should not have a right over his position and remuneration, he performs no function of the government and the government should not have any control over his functions. Where is my TV show in conflict with this rule?”

Sidhu took a flight to Mumbai on Monday evening from Chandigarh, shot for The Kapil Sharma Show and was back in his office at 9.30am on Tuesday.

NOW, GOVT WILL BE GOING TO PEOPLE, SAYS SIDHU

On being asked that a government office is usually full of people seeking services, but his is not, the new local bodies and tourism minister says: “Earlier, people came to the government, but now, the government will go to them.” But how would that happen if cannot be approached directly over a mobile phone?

“I have got three new mobile numbers. I will be getting three new phones too — one for the media, one for MLAs and one for people of my constituency. You will find me sitting in this office from Mondays to Thursdays and in my constituency from Fridays to Saturdays,” he said.

Congress MLA Pargat Singh greets Union Minister Gen VK Singh (retd) in Jalandhar on Tuesday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 21

Taking a dig at former Army chief two terms senior to him, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Gen VK Singh (retd) today said that he personally felt that Gen JJ Singh (retd) should not have contested the state Assembly elections.“Having already served as a Governor, there was no need for him to vie for an MLA’s post. I went through media reports which indicated that the campaign was not good and was rather abusive. There were posts on social media calling him Jamanat Japt Singh,” said the former Army chief, who was here to take part in a “digi dhan mela”.On 39 people missing in Iraq for nearly two years, General Singh said: “So far, there has been no indication. We are still hopeful. We know which area they are in. But we cannot divulge more details as it may harm the process.”

Capt Amarinder Singh (left) along with Lt Gen T S Shergill (right) during his new book release in December 2014 at Chandigarh. Tribune file

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 20

Lt Gen Tajinder Singh Shergill (retd), a war veteran and close associate of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, is set to be appointed as senior adviser in the office of the Punjab Chief Minister, signaling the start of process by the CM to make political appointments.A former chairman of Punjab Public Service Commission during the previous Capt Amarinder Singh government, Lt Gen Shergill has been closely associated in the election campaign of Amarinder. He has also co-authored a book ‘The Monsoon War” with Capt Amarinder Singh.Sources in the government said though the CM has given formal approval to the first political appointment, the formal orders are expected in a day or two.Ex-CS Lakhanpal to head Expenditure Reforms CommissionSources said former chief secretary KR Lakhanpal is tipped to head the Expenditure Reforms Commission.The commission, approved in the first Cabinet meeting, has been mandated to examine all government expenditures to ensure prudence and efficiency in spending by various department and other organisations funded by the government over the next two months.