Monthly Archives: August 2018

Supporters of Capt Amarinder Singh celebrating the Congress victory in Punjab Assembly elections at his residence in Patiala on Saturday. — Tribune photo: Rajesh Sachar

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, March 11

The Congress on Saturday made a resounding comeback in Punjab after a gap of a decade, getting a clear majority in the 117-member Assembly with lead/win in 77 seats.  AAP and the SAD-BJP combine were at 22 and 18, respectively.

Click here for all candidates, winners and their votes in Punjab Assembly elections-2017

PUNJAB ROUNDUP: Amarinder wins Patiala, Badal Lambi, Sukhbir Jalalabad seats

With the ruling party facing a humiliating defeat, Chief Minister and Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal said he would be submitting his resignation to the Governor tomorrow.

Shiromani Akali Dal managed to win three seats and was ahead in 11 seats.Among key candidates, Congress party’s chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh won the Patiala seat with a huge margin of 52,407 votes as he defeated his nearest rival AAP candidate Balbir Singh.SAD candidate and former Army Chief J J Singh finished third by securing 11,677 votes.Chief Minister Badal won from his traditional Lambi seat defeating his nearest rival Congress candidate Captain Amarinder Singh by 22,770 votes.Badal, the SAD candidate, polled 66,375 votes while Singh secured 43,605 votes. The Chief Minister congratulated Congress president Amarinder Singh on his win and assured full support to him.”SAD will discuss the reasons for the defeat of the party in the assembly elections,” he said.A beaming Amarinder Singh thanked the people of the state for their overwhelming support. “People voted out Akalis, who destroyed Punjab and rejected the AAP, who came more like a summer storm,” Singh said.”Committed to good governance, tackling drug menace, besides health and education will be priority,” Singh said.In the 2012 assembly elections, the SAD had won 56 seats and its ally BJP 12 seats.Congress had won 46 and the remaining three seats had gone to Independents. — PTI

AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh. — File photos

Chandigarh, March 9

Punjab, which witnessed a triangular contest in the Assembly polls, could be in for a neck-and-neck fight between the Congress and the AAP while the ruling SAD-BJP may face a drubbing, according to pollsters.Exit polls released ahead of the March-11 counting predict the SAD-BJP combine, which has been ruling the state for 10 years, could be struggling to get even into double-digit in the 117-member House due to multiple factors including the anti-incumbency.

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While India Today-Axis exit polls gave 62-71 seats to the Congress and 42-51 to AAP, India TV-C Voter projected 41-49 for the Congress and 59-67 seats for the AAP.India News-MRC and News 24-Chanakya forecast a dead heat giving 55 to the Congress and 54 to the AAP.It the NDTV poll of polls, an average of several exit polls, Congress was predicted to win 55 seats, closely followed by the AAP with 54 seats. The incumbent Akali Dal-BJP alliance was predicted staring at a virtual decimation with only 7 seats in the 117-member assembly.The Assembly elections to five states — Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa — concluded today after polling in Karanprayag (Uttarakhand) and Alapur (UP) constituencies was held.As per the exit polls, the BJP is likely to gain in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur.The ruling Akali Dal-BJP alliance in Punjab was reduced to single digit tally in all exit polls.Away from the hustle and bustle of the exit polls, the SAD-BJP alliance is confident of defying the pollsters “like in 2012″, when it proved the surveys wrong.89-year-old Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal claimed the combine would win 72 seats.As for Congress, Amarinder Singh claimed it would win 65 seats and the AAP exuded confidence of bagging close to 100.The state went to polls in single phase on February 4 and recorded 78.60 per cent polling against 78.57 per cent in the 2012 polls.1,145 candidates are in the fray, 81 of whom are female and one transgender.”The counting of votes will take place on Saturday (March 11) for which all necessary preparations have been made,” an election office spokesman said here today.It was a record for the state when the SAD (with BJP) came back to power in 2012 as no party had ever been given two consecutive terms.Since reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, the Congress and the SAD have been ruling the state alternately. The SAD-BJP alliance formed the government for the first time in 2007 and retained majority in 2012.This time around, while the SAD is contesting 94 seats the BJP is 23. The Congress has contested all the seats.The AAP and its ally Lok Insaf Party, led by the Bains brothers of Ludhiana, are fighting 112 and 5 seats, respectively. — PTI

Here are the exit polls for 5 states:

PUNJAB (TOTAL SEATS: 117)

NewsX-MRC exit poll

Congress: 55

AAP: 55

SAD-BJP: 7

Today’s Chanakya-News 24 exit poll

Congress: 54 (+/-9)

AAP: 54 (+/-9)

SAD-BJP: 9 (+/-5) 

India Today-Axis

Cong: 62-71

AAP: 45-51

Akali: 4-7

India TV-C voter

Cong: 41-49

AAP: 59-67

Akali: 5-13

POLL OF POLLS FOR PUNJAB

Cong: 55

AAP: 54

Akali: 7

Others 1

UTTAR PRADESH (403)

NewsX-MRC exit poll

BJP: 185

SP-Cong: 120

BSP: 90

Others: 8

Times Now-VMR

BJP: 190-210

SP-Cong: 110-130

BSP: 57-74

Others: 8

ABP News-Lokniti

BJP: 164-176

SP-Cong: 156-169

BSP: 60-72

Others: 2-6

India TV-C Voter

BJP: 155-167

SP-Cong: 135-147

BSP: 81-93

Others: 8-20

POLL OF POLLS FOR UTTAR PRADESH 

BJP: 179

SP-Cong: 136

BSP: 77

Others: 11

UTTARAKHAND (70)

Today’s Chanakya-News 24 exit poll

BJP: 53 (+/-7)

Congress: 15 (+/-7)

Independent: 2 (+/-2) 

India Today-Axis

BJP: 46-53

Cong: 12-21

Others: 2-6

India TV-C voter

BJP: 29-35

Cong: 29-35

Others: 2-9

POLL OF POLLS FOR UTTARAKHAND

BJP: 45

Cong: 21

Others: 4

GOA (40)

NewsX-MRC exit poll

BJP: 15

Cong: 10

AAP: 7

Others: 6

Mag: 2

India Today Axis

BJP: 18-22

Cong: 9-13

AAP: 0-2

Others: 4-9

India TV-C Voter

BJP: 15-21

Cong: 12-18

AAP: 0-4

Others: 2-8

POLL OF POLLS FOR GOA

BJP: 17

Cong: 13

AAP: 4

Others: 6

MANIPUR (60)

India TV-C Voter exit poll

Congress: 17-23

BJP: 25-31

Others: 9-15

India Today-Axis

Congress: 30-36

BJP: 16-22

Others:3-5

POLL OF POLLS FOR MANIPUR

Congress: 26

BJP: 24

Others:10

Soldiers at the encounter site in Tral on Sunday. Two militants, including a Pakistani national, were killed in the gunfight. Tribune photo

New Delhi, March 6

Pakistan-based terror groups are financing terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir by generating millions in donations through their charity organisations, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer said today.Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, a charity run by terror outfits Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), and Al Rehmat Trust, backed by another terrorists group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), have been supporting terrorists and funding terrorism in Kashmir, said Atul Goel, Superintendent of Police, National Investigation Agency (NIA), addressing a session at the 19th Asian Security Conference on ‘Combating Terrorism: Evolving an Asian Response’. The session was chaired by former Home Secretary G K Pillai.Goel said the NIA was looking into the activities of JuD, LeT and JeM and also the working of trusts associated with them in the neighbouring country.“These outfits collect donations from people in Pakistan and then pass on the money to finance terrorism in Kashmir through their over-ground workers,” he added.‘Al Rehmat Trust’ distributes pamphlets to raise funds for sacrificing animals during Eid and after collecting the money, they finance terrorism, the officer said.Meanwhile, Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, one of the major and fastest growing NGOs in Pakistan, also collects money from people and uses them to fund terrorists, Goel said.“JuD chief Hafiz Saeed addresses the volunteers of Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. They have an entire network of people who work for their agenda of fomenting terror in Kashmir,” he said.Goel said these organisations indulge in collection of money outside mosques.“The authorities have a video in which two persons are seen soliciting funds from people outside a mosque in Karachi in the presence of Pakistan Rangers,” the officer claimed.These groups organise special campaigns during natural disasters and festivals to solicit money.“The JuD seeks voluntary donations during Eid. Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, under the name of Tehreek-e-Azadi, Jammu and Kashmir, organises campaigns and seeks donations illegally. It also works online. Such incidents often get published in the local media (there),” Goel said.The groups also run profit-generating businesses like operating schools where fee is exceptionally high in the context of south Asia, targeting upper middle class, Goel added.David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American terrorist who is serving a 35-year sentence in the US, before his seventh visit to India, was given fake indian currency note by Major Iqbal of Pakistan-snoop agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Lahore, which he spent in Mumbai, Goel claimed. Headley is an accused in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case.Meanwhile, Director General, National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics, PK Dash said terrorism had mutated into a business of power and money cloaked in fundamentalism, funded by rogue economics that requires little capital but gives huge return.“A comprehensive approach is needed to tackle the issue as terrorism cannot be neutralised merely with guns,” Dash added.

How they operate

• Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Al Rehmat Trust distributes pamphlets to raise funds for sacrificing animals during Eid and after collecting the money, they finance terrorism
• Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, a charity run by terror outfits Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Toiba, organises campaigns and seeks donations illegally. It works under the name of Tehreek-e-Azadi, Jammu and Kashmir.
• The terror outfits collect donations from people in Pakistan and then pass on the money through their over-ground worker

The earlier insulation of the Army in its cantonments and being tied down to its professional till has been eroded in the internet and mobile age. Earlier, politics was a taboo subject in officers’ messes. Reservation on espousing a political line has failed to extend to regulating the social media behaviour of the armed forces.

Jawans take a selfie with the Kargil war martyrs statue on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas in Patna. PTI

ONE of General Bipin Rawat’s early concerns into his tenure is social media. He had barely taken charge of the Army when the BSF trooper at a post under Army jurisdiction, along the Line of Control, sent out a social-media salvo on poor food being served. It set off posts by uniformed personnel, including Army soldiers, similarly exercised by myriad perceived impositions on them, such as “Sahayak” (batman or soldier-helper) duties. The Army has since revisited its social media policy. Essentially, its call for restraint is intended to keep personnel from washing dirty linen in public. Tightening internal grievance redress, the Chief has opened a direct line of access to his staff in case lower levels fail to prove responsive. On the batman system, there are innovative proposals in the pipeline, at least for peace stations, substituting for soldiers undertaking domestic work in officer accommodation. It is apparent that the Army has taken the constructively seized  opportunity to make the necessary, if overdue, changes. However, there is one aspect that is likely to have missed its eye.  It is the extent of right-wing trope being exchanged on social media in military networks. It is now so commonplace as to be unremarkable. It is unexceptionable therefore in case the Army is oblivious to this. Precisely for this reason, the matter needs airing. The trend of social media penetration of right-wing jargon, thinking, positions and propaganda line began at the same time as in other middle class social media groups, sometime prior to the last General Election in 2014. It is now in the open that the “Modi wave” was partially manufactured in troll factories by paid agents and committed volunteers. The Army was no exception to this trend since its officer class is middle class. The earlier insulation of the Army in its cantonments and being tied down to its professional till has been eroded in the internet and mobile age. Consequently, the political winds that swept the dysfunctional UPA II government away found their way into the minds of the officer corps. Anecdotal evidence suggests that liberal voices on social media networks were feeble and easily overwhelmed. Protest was silenced through cyber bullying, with the majority being silent spectators. Political posts were widely shared, most with a degree of endorsement. It is easy in retrospect to identify that the Army had its share of what  have since come to be called bhakts. These self-anointed monitors outshouted any group managers who dared intervene on groups ranging from old-boy networks of military schools, course-mate groups to battalion groups. While earlier, politics was a taboo subject in officers’ messes, and perhaps continues to be so, reservation on espousing a political line failed to extend to regulating the social media behaviour of members of the armed forces. The enthusiasm for the conservative party’s victory is explicable as it is in keeping with the universal political inclination of an officer corps; the attractions of the allusion to development; its anti-corruption packaging; and the BJP’s largely pro-security agenda. The problem is that the ideological baggage that attends the politics of the BJP — Hindutva — was part of the package. One popular propaganda line that was seemingly heartily consumed — judging from its traffic on the social media group — was the conflation of the two “others” in the Hindutva worldview, the Indian Muslim with Pakistan. This was easy to sell since a majority of the military has been through Kashmir and has seen the Pakistani hand at play. Exposed to the media attention to the terror attacks in the hinterland, that seldom went beyond the reporting on the blasts to the investigations that have attended these blasts, the theme of a strong government was easily sold. Lately, the letting off by courts of Muslims incarcerated for alleged complicity in the blasts suggests that India was well into the post-truth age before the term was coined. Any collateral damage in terms of marginalisation of the minority and social relationships was found acceptable. The distasteful experience of this writer on social media chatter on Army groups led to his withdrawing from the three social media groups comprising his military cohort and former comrades. It was not so much on account of religious affiliation but constraints on expression of a liberal worldview encountered. The military leadership needs alerting to this unseemly underside of social media. The military’s social media policy is a work-in-progress. It needs updating with stipulations on the content that is exchanged. While self-regulation is best, it has proven insufficient. This has implications for the freedom of expression intrinsic to social media. A case can be made that those who do not wish to receive such posts can opt to leave. The problem with this line of reasoning is that it divides the officer corps, leaving the turf to the cultural nationalists in uniform, for whom patriotism is just not enough. The Army’s social media policy has further steps to take. It needs to be possessive of its social turf. Its cohesion and apolitical nature is at stake. The writer is a former Infantry Officer.

Yash Goyal

Our Correspondent          

Jaipur, March 29

The massive fire that broke out in the forests near Sisarma village in Udaipur has been contained after firemen along with forest officials and the armed forces battled the blaze for hours with an IAF chopper on Wednesday dropping over 25,000 litres of water.

Army troopers spotted the fire to the south of Eklingarh Military Cantonment in Udaipur and quickly alerted the administration, forest officials and fire services, a Defense PRO Lt Col Manish Ojha said.

Indian Air Force’s modified MI-17 V5 helicopters were dispatched from south Western Air Command headquarters at Gandhinagar to survey the fire on Tuesday evening.

“Prompt and effective fire fighting operation was carried out by army troops with guidance from officials of the Forest Department and assistance from fire fighting services,” Lt Col Ojha said. “The operation continued throughout the night, with all agencies working in coordination on the ground to ensure no loss of life and property.”

Troops created fire lanes to staunch its spread. (With agency inputs)

Before approaching the Armed Forces Tribunal, the veteran soldier who retired from Army in 1978, had approached the Chief of Army Staff for recognition of his services.

Almost 52 years after late Param Veer Chakra winner Abdul Hamid destroyed Pakistani Patton tanks in the famous battle of Asal Uttar on his jeep, his “driver” in the epic battle has demanded his contribution and valour in the war to be recognised by the country and the Army.

Grenadier Mohammed Naseem, 72 has claimed before a military court almost five decades after the battle with Pakistan that he was detailed to drive the rocket launcher-mounted jeep of Hamid and he assisted him with his full ability and exemplary courage.

“I have also prayed that the outstanding performance and gallantry shown by me in the war should be recorded in his service record with all consequential benefits,” Naseem, who lives in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, told Mail Today.

Before approaching the Armed Forces Tribunal, the veteran soldier who retired from Army in 1978, had approached the Chief of Army Staff for recognition of his services but his claims and plea were apparently not accepted by the force.

IF CLAIMS TRUE, APPLICANT TO BE AWARDED SUITABLY: BENCH

To support his claim, Naseem had attached a certificate issued to him by a former unit officer but that was not accepted as a proof as it was issued only in 2012, almost 50 years after the war. The military court bench headed by justice DP Singh and Air Marshal Anil Chopra also took a sympathetic view of the plea condoning the huge delay in filing of the petition by Naseem.

“There appears to be delay, but the fact remains that in case the respondents find applicant’s work and conduct and entitlement with regard to gallantry and outstanding performance shown by him in Indo-Pak war, then it shall be life-time achievement for him and he may be benefitted throughout his life,” the court said.

The court said the unit commander of Naseem is still alive and the Army should investigate the claims made by the soldier for recognition of his efforts and valour. “It shall be appropriate to the respondents to hold a fact finding inquiry after recording statements of persons who are surviving at the present and participated in the Indo-Pak war as a member of the unit of late Abdul Hamid and submit a report,” the court said in its directions to the Army.

The legendary battle of Asal Uttar started on September 8 in 1965 when Pakistan’s 1 Armoured Division, with some 200 Patton tanks, invaded Punjab and captured the border town of Khemkaran. The Indians flooded the sugarcane fields in border town with water and took position behind the plants.

Thanks to the flooded fields, the Pakistani tanks were trapped in Mahmudpura and became sitting ducks for the Indian tanks and recoilless guns. It was in one such field that Abdul Hamid along with his driver Mohammed Naseem and two others had taken position in a RCL jeep and turned the area into a graveyard of the Pakistani tanks.

CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh International Airport has released its summer schedule, which will come into effect from March 26. The schedule will last till October 28. With this, the airport will have 38 flights arriving and departing on a daily basis. These 38 flights include two international flights to Dubai and Sharjah. Now, 17 flights will fly on the Chandigarh-Delhi sector. Till last year, only 26 flights were operational. The watch hours have also been increased, with the first flight arriving at 7:40 am and the last flight departing at 9:45 pm. In the domestic sector, two new destinations will be connected to Chandigarh. Indigo Airlines and Jet Airways will start flying directly to Jammu and Jaipur.

The Union Government’s move to force citizens to quote the Aadhaar number in the filing of income tax returns has raised certain issues which have not been adequately dealt with. A failure to link Aadhaar and tax filing can lead to the cancellation of the user’s permanent account number (PAN). Citizens are being asked to make their personal details public by a government which itself is becoming increasingly non-transparent. The surreptitious way the government slipped in crucial changes in the Finance Bill 2017 at the last minute is intriguing. There was almost no debate.  There are obvious advantages of bringing in transparency in financial deals. Income tax officials can compare citizens’ spending with income tax paid and find out evasion, if any. But there is a downside to it. Government machinery will gain access to personal user information such as bank details, education data and health records. The law allows official tapping of phone calls and data usage. The Aadhaar Act has not been subjected to sufficient judicial scrutiny. It permits surveillance of citizens on the pretext of “national security”, which is a vague term undefined in the Act. A citizen suffering the loss of privacy or personal data has no recourse to justice as Section 47 of the Act allows only the Unique Identification Authority of India to file a criminal complaint for the theft of data. The crucial twin issue of privacy and security of personal data has been sidestepped.  Besides, one of the amendments to the Finance Bill apparently violates the Supreme Court’s recent order that had directed it not to make Aadhaar mandatory for citizens except in case of certain specific services. The court is yet to judge the constitutionality of Aadhaar and decide whether privacy is a fundamental right. The government stand on the issue of privacy as stated in the Supreme Court is troubling. Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi had contended in the court that “violation of privacy doesn’t mean anything because privacy is not a guaranteed right”. The government’s open violation of the Supreme Court order and Parliament’s failure to flag concerns on Finance Bill amendments should be a cause of concern to all those who value democracy and the rule of law.

AN ARMY VETERAN’S HOMAGE JOURNEY REACHES CITY

IAF CHOPPER MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING AT RAJAJI TIGER RESERVE

FORCES SHOULD BE READY FOR CONVENTIONAL WARFARE ALONG BORDERS: ARMY CHIEF RAWAT

PAK ARMY UNLIKELY TO ALLOW STRATEGIC SHIFT IN TIES WITH INDIA

ISLAMIC STATE CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BRITISH PARLIAMENT ATTACK