Tribune News Service

Mumbai, July 12

Taunting the Modi government over the recent terror attack on Amarnath pilgrims, the Shiv Sena has asked its ally to send “gau rakshaks” to fight militants in Kashmir.“We understand that none of the terrorists would have been be alive today, if they had cow meat in their bags instead of weapons…… our gau rakshaks should be sent to take on the militants in Kashmir,” Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said. He was addressing a delegation of Ganesh mandals in Mumbai last evening.The party’s mouthpiece Saamna expanded on the subject further this morning by stating that the government should not remain satisfied by condemning the terror attack on social media. “You need a 56-inch chest to fight terrorism…. it is not enough to make statements on Twitter…,” an editorial in the newspaper said.The Shiv Sena mouthpiece went on to say that the government machinery in Kashmir had collapsed completely. “There is no government in Jammu and Kashmir. Terrorists have been given a free hand there,” the newspaper said. It added that the Modi government should abolish the special status given to it under Article 370 of the Constitution “within a week to show that Jammu and Kashmir is an inseparable part of India”.

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Modi’s policies created space for terrorists in Kashmir: Rahul

New Delhi, July 12

Stepping up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused him of pursuing policies that created space for terrorists in Kashmir.He also said that the prime minister’s pursuit of short- term political gains from the BJP-PDP alliance in the state has cost the country dear and resulted in sacrifices of innocent Indians.“Modi’s policies have created space for terrorists in Kashmir. Grave strategic blow for India.“Short term political gain for Modi from PDP alliance has cost India massively,” he said in a series of tweets.Gandhi also tweeted, “Modi’s personal gain = India’s strategic loss + sacrifice of innocent Indian blood.”The Congress vice president had yesterday termed the attack on Amarnath pilgrims as a “grave and unacceptable security lapse” and asked the prime minister to accept responsibility.Read: Rahul’s comments immature; Nehru to be blamed for Kashmir situation: BJPHe had also said that India will never be intimidated by terrorists.Opposition parties had also asked the government to introspect on its failure to prevent the “cowardly and ghastly” terror attack on Amarnath pilgrims despite reports of advance intelligence inputs.“The government needs to introspect as to why, despite advanced intelligence inputs, was there a failure to prevent this attack?” a resolution passed by 18 opposition parties yesterday said.The BJP, however, asked Gandhi to “rise to the occasion” and not do politics over the Amarnath terror strike after he attacked the PM. — PTI

Security men patrol Srinagar city amid tight restrictions on Saturday. Tribune Photo: Yawar Kabli

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 9

Life in Kashmir returned to normal after two days of restrictions and shutdown over the first death anniversary of militant commander Burhan Wani. The mobile Internet services and the broadband were also restored in the region today as the overall situation showed signs of improvement.Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on 8 July last year, and to mark his first anniversary, the region’s separatists had issued a weeklong protest calendar.Whereas the region witnessed a complete shutdown on Saturday coupled with security clampdown in major towns of the Valley on Burhan’s death anniversary, there were no restrictions today even as normal traffic on the city roads and inter-district highways resumed today. Being a Sunday, a majority of the markets and business centres, however, were closed in the summer capital. In the past two days, the police and paramilitary forces had virtually taken over all streets to stall rallies and protests planned to mark the slain militant’s first anniversary. Kashmir was virtually under siege with everyone confined to their homes and neighbhourhoods, as people feared a replay of last year, when Burhan’s killing led to the killing of over two dozen people in a single day.The authorities today also restored the mobile and broadband Internet services across Kashmir, two days after these facilities were suspended. However, only 2G services were working on mobile networks, as officials indicated that high-seed mobile Internet would be resumed after a review of the overall situation. The rail services between Banihal and Baramulla also resumed today.CRPF man injured in  attackA CRPF man was injured in a militant attack in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district late Saturday. Militants fired a grenade from a UBGL (under barrel grenade launcher) at a newly established joint camp of the CRPF and police around 11 pm at Aribal, Tral, injuring a CRPF man. TNS

Pak shells Poonch villages

Jammu: The Pakistan army today targeted villages and forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district by resorting to heavy mortar shelling and firing automatic weapons in yet another ceasefire violation. However, there has been no loss of life or injury to anyone in the firing. PTI

Fastway has carried out loot in Punjab and finished off many small cable operators through monopoly. We can give employment to 1 lakh youth if this ends. We will be seen as cowards if we do not act now. NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU, local bodies minister

In an election fought against business interests of the Badal family, the Congress promised both sops and clean-up of the system by ending the family’s “monopoly” – from roads to airwaves. The transport policy unveiled this week tried to rein in Badal buses, but the Amarinder Singh government is still to bring the promised law to end the “monopoly” of Fastway, patronised by the Badals, over cable business. Local bodies minister Navjot Sidhu has, however, launched a tirade against the company’s alleged tax evasions running into crores, forcing the CM to warn it of action “if found guilty of violations”. HT explains the controversy and its many actors.

HT PHOTOThe Fastway Transmissions office in Ludhiana.

WHAT IS FASTWAY CONTROVERSY?

Fastway Transmissions is a multi-system operator (MSO) started by Ludhianabased Jhujhar Transport owner, Gurdeep Singh, after the Badals came to power in 2007. Through aggressive expansion, it made majority of local cable operators buy its signal, edging Siti Cable, owned by Zee group, out of competition. The Congress had then alleged that it monopolised the business under patronage of then deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, who “promoted” his PTC group of channels and blocked access to other Punjab-based news channels such as Zee Punjabi and Day and Night.

WHAT DOES NAVJOT SIDHU WANT?

Sidhu, who had a running political battle with the Badals, wants Fastway’s monopoly to end. He has accused it of evading state taxes such as entertainment tax and sales tax, and charges for using electricity poles for overhead cable and road digging for laying optical fibre. He has demanded a vigilance inquiry. Sidhu is also claiming a bigger scam in evasion of central taxes, mainly service tax.

WHY IS SIDHU AFTER FASTWAY?

Badal-bashing being his USP, Sidhu was restless to get down to his agenda of taking them on. But Amarinder said he would not indulge in political vendetta. All Sidhu needed was a tax that fell within his purview and used “unpaid” road cutting charges payable to department of local government to go after Fastway. He has written to other departments, including those under the CM, to probe and penalise it.

DOES HE HAVE EVIDENCE?

Sidhu’s evidence, particularly his charge of Fastway underreporting its TV connections to avoid tax liability, is mostly based on a deductive theory than facts on record. Reliance Jio has yet to respond to charges that Fastway “bullied” it to lay its optical fibre in Punjab for free. His tax evasion figures are estimates. No documentary evidence has been shown. The extent of evasion of central taxes is based on allegations.

WHAT LAW DID CONG PROMISE?

The Congress had promised to end the monopoly over the transmission of TV channels by bringing the cable business regulation law.

WHY IS CM SOFT­PEDALING?

Amarinder wants to ruffle no feathers, not the least of the Badals, and is flip-flopping on several promises. Even if he wants to hit business interests of the Badals, Captain may not want to be seen as the hand behind it. But he may not be too happy to let Sidhu set the agenda of governance.

WHAT ARE BADALS’ STAKES?

They have stayed away from the controversy so far, but the links between Fastway and Sukhbir’s PTC are not hard to find. Mumbai-based JS Kohli and Yogesh Shah had joined hands with Gurdeep to roll out Fastway in 2007. The two were also the founders of PTC. However, they ceased to be directors of PTC in 2010. The cartelisation of cable network had ensured promotion of PTC, a mouthpiece of the Badals.

WHAT DOES FASTWAY HAVE TO SAY?

It has rebutted the minister’s all charges, showing agreements, filings and permissions for its dealings with Jio, laying underground cable, number of TV connections. It also claims to have permission for using electricity poles.

WHAT NEXT?

Though it has answers to allegations on paper, Sidhu has bound Fastway in knots by raising lapses such as non-reversal of credit availed on central value-added tax (CENVAT) on set-top boxes and cancelling of invoices. In this maze of tax details, it would finally come down to how credible are Sidhu’s sources and how efficient are the tax consultants of Fastway.

Itanagar, July 5

An Arunachal Pradesh Police team today spotted the debris of an IAF chopper, which went missing yesterday, in a deep ravine, and also the bodies of two crew members.“The team could not retrieve the bodies as the crash site is located in a deep gorge at the confluence of a waterfall and the Nyorch river. The third body is yet to be traced,” IGP (Law and Order) Nabin Payeng said, adding extra ground force would move to the site early tomorrow to retrieve the bodies. The team spotted the chopper’s debris earlier in the day and two search teams were deployed at the reported locations.One team, was led by Papum Pare SP Tumme Amo comprising 63 personnel from Police Training Centre and 17 ITBP personnel, besides a medical team. The second team was led by DSP Neelam Nega with 61 personnel from PTC and 10 local youths armed  with GPS and WT set.A search operation was launched since morning by the Army, ITBP along with Arunachal Pradesh Police and India Reserve Battalion to locate the chopper.The Advanced Light Helicopter of the IAF engaged in flood rescue mission in the state went missing at 3.50 pm yesterday after it took off from Pilputu Helipad near Sagalee. It was evacuating people stranded in Sagalee and Dambuk due to landslides caused by heavy rains.Tezpur-based Defence spokesperson Lt Col Sombit Ghosh had said the chopper had gone out for flood rescue operations from its base in Jorhat on Tuesday morning.Sagalee Additional Deputy Commissioner J Pertin said the IAF helicopter had made five sorties since it arrived there at 10.30 am yesterday. — TNS/PTI

Fatalities in Arunachal 

• In May this year, IAF’s Sukhoi-30 jet crashed near the Assam-Arunachal border, killing both pilots
• In 2011, then Arunacha CM Dorjee Khandu and four others had died after the Pawan Hans chopper carrying them crashed at a remote location in the state

Army men pay floral tributes to the statue of martyr Capt Roopendra Singh Garcha on his 17th martyrdom day in Jalandhar on Friday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 30

Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma today said the supreme sacrifice made by Capt Roopendra Singh Garcha and other Army men would always inspire the younger generations to lay down their lives for safeguarding the unity and integrity of the country.He was addressing the gathering during a function to commemorate the 17th martyrdom day of Capt Garcha, who sacrificed his life at the altar of his motherland in 2000. The Deputy Commissioner, while saluting the Army, said the exemplary social services being rendered by the Capt Roopendra Singh Garcha Charitable Trust instituted by the family were laudable. Presiding over the function, Chief of Staff Headquarters 11 Corps Maj Gen Balwinder Singh saluted the martyr on this momentous occasion. Recalling the days of his posting in the Valley during 2000 when Capt Garcha attained martyrdom, the Major General said the Army was mostly fighting with an invisible enemy to protect the country.Like every year, a contingent of 323 AAD Regiment from which Capt Roopendra Singh Garcha hailed also came all the way from Pune under Captain Lokesh Yadav to pay homage to the great martyr.Prominent amongst other present on the occasion included mother of Capt Garcha Harminder Kaur Garcha, brother Deepinder Singh Garcha, Lieut Gen Surjit Singh (retd), Lieut Gen MS Shergill (retd), Lieut Gen AS Bahia (retd), Lieut Gen JS Dhillon (retd), Maj Gen Iqbal Singh, Maj Gen Manjit Singh, Maj Gen MS Parmar, Major Gen Amrik Singh, Lieut Col Manmohan Singh (retd) and families of Kargil martyrs.

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 29

Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat wrapped up his two-day visit to the Jammu region today. During his tour, he visited the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district and held threadbare discussion with Army officers on the security situation in the state.Sources said the Army Chief was scheduled to visit forward areas in Poonch district today but due to bad weather, he cut short his visit and returned to New Delhi this morning.On Friday, General Rawat had a firsthand account of the Army’s preparedness at the LoC, where Pakistan has been violating ceasefire for the past few months.The Army Chief reviewed the security situation with Northern Command chief Lt Gen D Anbu and General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 16 Corps Lt Gen AK Sharma.The Northern Command PRO, on Friday, said that General Bipin Rawat complimented the troops for their unflinching efforts and reiterated the need to remain ever prepared to counter the nefarious designs of the adversary.During his visit to Rajouri on Friday, the Chief of Army Staff was briefed on the Army’s operational readiness by the GOC, Ace of Spades Division.During his visit to the 16 Corps, he reviewed the operational preparedness and the prevailing security situation in the Corps zone.

GOING by some latest judgments, courts are no longer inclined to treat women as innocent victims. The Supreme Court has acknowledged that women involved in marital disputes often abuse Section 498A of the IPC to target in-laws. The apex court has directed that no arrests will be made in a dowry case without a verification of charges by a special police officer and a district-level family welfare committee. Though the appointment of such committees will add to the cost of administering justice in the country, the move would save innocents from unwarranted police harassment. The law that everyone is innocent until declared guilty has been trampled upon with impunity. The handcuffing of a husband, his parents and brothers/sisters on the basis of a mere allegation exposes them to not just mental agony but also media trial and social disgrace. A subsequent acquittal does not restore them their lost self-respect and pride. Relying on a conviction rate of just 15.6 per cent in dowry cases, the Supreme Court has reached the conclusion that the blatant misuse of Section 498A has to stop. The court has said the impounding of passports of non-resident Indians involved in marital disputes should be avoided. There are several areas in which the law has been used as “a weapon for vengeance and personal vendetta”. The Delhi High Court has expressed concern over incidents of consensual sex being converted into rape after a break-up. The court refused to prosecute a man whose wife sought a retrial of a settled rape case. In a recent case the Madras High Court was constrained to tell the family courts not to treat husbands like “armless soldiers” and order them “in a mechanical manner” to pay maintenance to wives. Where they have parents to support, the maintenance amount awarded to a wife has to be reasonable. Frequent instances of misuse of the law have forced courts to dilute legal protection secured for women over the years. Women approaching the police/courts for reasons other than the pursuit of justice or redress of a grievance have hurt their own cause.  

War widows and their kin have been on the warpath over their demands. Tribune file photo

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 18

Providing relief to war widows, dependants and differently abled soldiers who were struggling for decades to get allotted promised land, CM Capt Amarinder Singh today approved a policy to grant them cash in lieu of the land.An official spokesperson said entitled persons would get a grant of Rs 5 lakh in lieu of one acre of land up to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh for 10 acres. The policy will be applicable to widows and dependents as well as differently abled soldiers from the 1962 and 1965 wars with China and Pakistan and to widows of the 1971 war with Pakistan.As a welfare measure, the Punjab Government had a policy to allocate up to 10 acres of land free of cost to the aforementioned individuals. But over the years, scarcity of land, red-tapism and bureaucratic indifference had affected the scheme.Defence Services Welfare Department officials said there are 161 cases pending where land has not been allocated. Of these, 125 have been fully verified by the department for grant of monetary relief and another 20 were in the process of being finalised.

Punjab CM approves cash grant for war widows in place of land

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. File photo

Chandigarh, July 18

Conceding a long pending demand, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday approved a policy change allowing cash grants instead of land for war widows.The policy change will be applicable to dependents of martyred soldiers, besides permanently disabled soldiers of 1962 Indo-China War, 1965 Indo-Pak War and widows of 1971 Indo-Pak War.An official spokesperson of the chief minister’s office said that Singh had approved a grant of Rs 5 lakh in lieu of one acre of land up to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh for 10 acres, as per individual eligibility.The chief minister also directed the sainik welfare department to expedite the disbursement of the cash to provide the war widows with the much-needed relief, the spokesperson said.He added that the chief minister has reiterated his commitment to the welfare of the war widows, as well as ex-servicemen.Amarinder Singh has started connecting with all the war widows and ex-servicemen in the state on a personal basis through Demi-Official letters, the spokesperson said.The chief minister has also set up a special ex- serviceman cell in his office to look into various issues concerning them. He has also directed the civil and police officials to extend full respect, assistance and recognition to ex-servicemen in the state, the spokesperson said. — PT

NAGPUR: Air Marshal Hemant Sharma assumed charge as the thirty-fourth air officer commanding-in-chief of Headquarters Maintenance Command, Indian Air Force, on Thursday. On his arrival, Sharma was presented a guard of honour by air warriors.
Addressing field commanders during Commanders Conclave, Sharma urged them to achieve mission statement of Maintenance Command which mandates pursuance of excellence in all facets of operations, maintenance and administration. The conclave provided an opportunity to the incoming AOC-in-C to share his vision for the Maintenance Command with field commanders. Air Marshal RKS Shera, Air Vice-Marshal SC Chafekar and Air Vice-Marshal Biju Paul were present.
The air officer is a recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal for his distinguished service to the nation. Sharma is well-versed with front-line fighter aircraft in Indian Air Force. He revolutionized the communication layers of IAF by pioneering the pan-India voice over IP network, namely the Air Force Net. The Air Marshal has held various field and staff appointments during his service career.
At a function, Kusum Sharma took over command of Air Force Wives Welfare Association (regional) from Asha Aneja.