Monthly Archives: August 2018

A unique Kashmiri translation of 40 poems by Bhai Vir Singh on the heritage and glory of the Valley will be unveiled by J&K Governor NN Vohra today

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 1

As Kashmir gets back to normalcy, a Delhi-based Punjabi literary centre has prepared its own contribution to the ongoing national efforts aimed at healing the Valley of its wounds. Bhai Vir Singh Sadan has published a unique Kashmiri translation of the Punjabi poems the Father of Modern Punjab Literature Bhai Vir Singh wrote over a span of many years starting 1922 when he first visited the Valley. From then on, he returned to Kashmir every summer to capture its virgin beauty in thoughts and words.The title of the anthology — “A Valley Nonpareil” — is a literal translation of Bhai Vir Singh’s famous poem describing Kashmir as “Tukdi jag ton niari”.Featuring 40 poems, each illustrated by a photograph of the location that inspired the work, the book will be unveiled by Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra at a special ceremony in Srinagar tomorrow. Each verse bears the Kashmiri and English translation of the original Punjabi poem on Kashmir by Bhai Vir Singh.The work brings to life the Valley’s diverse heritage using the poet’s tender verse which often laments how Kashmir’s beauty has become its bane. The works mirror Kashmir in all its glory as the poet reflects on the Punjabi love legend of Heer and Ranjha unfolding on the banks of Chenab, captures the beauty of Kashmiri damsels, relishes the cadences of Valley’s countless streams and even rues the axing of grand Kikars.A rare gem in the work is a photograph of Bhai Vir Singh basking in the beauty of Alpathar he visited on September 7, 1927 — a picture Sadan’s Director Mohinder Singh dug out from the archives as evidence of how the Valley inspired generations of saints, artistes and writers alike. Yet another Bhai Vir Singh poem the book reproduces is on Gulmarg. It carries as an illustration a postcard the poet himself wrote on August 10, 1928.Then there is an especially heartwarming longish “Dumel de Panian da Naad” in which Bhai Vir Singh traces the heritage of Kashmir and its rendezvous with Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Lord Budhha and Guru Nanak.Referring to the association of Sikh Gurus with the Valley, the poet dwells on Guru Nanak’s dialogue with Pandit Brahm Das in Srinagar on his way to Kailash Parbat. He then captures the Valley’s age-old tradition of peaceful coexistence by writing of how Gurdwara Matan Sahib and the temple in the memory of Brahm Das stand side by side in Kashmir, as testimonies to its s all embracing culture.“How could such a land and beautiful Valley become a centre of conflict?” wonders the poet.The book has a preface by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a foreword by NN Vohra and an introduction by eminent litterateur Dr Surjit Patar.

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NEW DELHII: Video footage of surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) that took place on September 29, 2016 was aired on TV news channels on Wednesday.

The eight-minute-long video shows how the Special Forces of the Indian Army crossed over the LoC and destroyed the targets on the Pakistani side of the LoC.

The footage was reportedly shot from drones and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and was shot on thermal imaging cameras used by

Ever since the surgical strikes took place, the opposition had been raising questions and demanading proof of the military action.

The strike were conducted in 2016 when the the Indian Army destroyed terrorist launch pads and killed many terrorists.

“The operation was monitored from a control room in Udhampur, Headquarters of Indian Army’s strategic Northern Command,” Lt Gen (retd) D S Hooda, the then Northern Army Commander told Times Now.

“One of the major challenges that the team that went across, faced was that the camps were located close to Pakistan Army posts,” Hooda added. He further said that the “feed was also going to Delhi”. “The whole operation lasted for six hours. The first target was hit at midnights and the last at about 6-6.15,” he added.

A day after the video’s release, the Congress on Thursday accused the Modi government and the BJP of politicising the September 2016 surgical strikes to garner votes.

Addressing a press conference, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala charged that while on the one hand the Modi government is seeking credit for the sacrifice and valour of the armed forces, on the other it has failed to provide direction and vision to deal with Pakistan .

He also accused the government of meting out “step-motherly treatment” to the armed forces by not providing them with state-of-the-art equipment and slashing their budgetary allocation.

In Video: Video footage provides proof of surgical strikes across LoC

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 21

Even as the Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) struggles with budgetary constraints and functional issues, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has accorded approval to enhance the land and plinth area for housing ECHS polyclincs by about three times of the existing norms.The move, which has serious financial implications, has been initiated to cater to the growing number of ECHS beneficiaries, especially in large cities, and also to improve the existing infrastructural environment and provide greater convenience to visitors.Depending on the footfall, ECHS has five types of polyclinics, categorised as A, B, C, D and E. The first four require a minimum dependency of 20,000, 10,000, 5,000 and 2,500, respectively, while E is a mobile polyclinic for area where the footfall is less than 2,500. The sanctioned number of polyclinics is 426, out of which 424 are operational.According to orders issued by the Adjutant General’s Branch in June, the built up area of A category has been increased from 5,000 to 14,440 square feet. For B and C categories, the area has been revised from 4,000 and 2,500 square feet, respectively, to 11,350 and 7,800 square feet, respectively. The area for D category has been hiked from 2,000 to 6,650 square feet.At present, the ECHS has a clientele of 52 lakh, including ex-servicemen and dependants, and this number is increasing consistently. Inadequate funding, shortage of medical staff, non-availability of medicines and unethical practices by some empanelled hospitals are among issues plaguing the scheme. Parliament’s standing committee on defence observed earlier this year that for long ECHS has not been getting adequate funds. For 2018-19, ECHS projected for Rs 4,686 crore under revenue head, but only Rs 3,226.76 crore has been provided.An internal MoD note pointed out that the “quantum jump” in area authorisation is estimated to cost Rs 200 crore for land alone, while the construction cost would be much more. The note suggests that in view of the financial constraints, expansion may be taken up on a case-to-case basis, depending on merit, urgency and actual load rather than across the board blanket approval for all polyclinics.

the rise in numbers

Types of Footfall  Past built-up Revised built-up polyclinics dependency area areaA 20,000 5,000 sq ft 14,440 sq ftB 10,000 4,000 sq ft 11,350 sq ftC 5,000 2,500 sq ft 7,800 sq ftD 2,500 2,000 sq ft 6,650 sq ft

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 16At loggerheads with the Centre on the Shopian firing incident, the Jammu and Kashmir Government on Monday requested the Supreme Court to hear all states and union territories to decide whether a state police can register an FIR against an Army man without prior sanction of the central government.In an interim application filed in the Supreme Court, the Jammu and Kashmir Government asserted that in terms of a 2014 Constitution Bench ruling police were obliged to register an FIR in incidents of cognisable nature and Army men could not be exempted from it. “Since the Union of India has taken a stand that is in conflict with the view taken by the Constitution Bench of this court and the Union de facto seeks to exclude the application of the judgment in the case of a specific class of persons (Army personnel in this regard), it is imperative that all State Governments in the Union of India be hard before the matter is decided,” the application filed through its standing counsel M Shoeb Alam stated.Since law and order was a state subject, accepting the Centre’s plea would directly affect the statutory powers of the police in all states across India with regard to registration of FIRs against Army personnel involved in cognisable offences, senior counsel Shekhar Naphade told a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra behalf of the state.The Bench said it would take up the matter on July 30.“The CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) mandates compulsory registration of FIR in a case where a cognizable offence is disclosed. No person-specific or class-specific exception is carved out in this principle to exclude any individual or class of persons against whom FIR should not be registered in a case where information of a cognizable offence is prima facie disclosed. The police officer concerned is duty-bound to register the FIR,” the application read.Contradicting New Delhi’s stand on Shopian firing, the State of Jammu and Kashmir has maintained that there was no need for sanction from the central government to register a criminal case against Army personnel.“Even under the AFSPA, The Army Act or under any other law in force, there is no prohibition of registration of FIR against an army personnel”, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had said in its affidavit filed last week. The affidavit was filed in response to a petition by Lt Colonel Karamveer Singh, father of Major Aditya Kumar of 10 Garhwal Rifles, for quashing of an FIR registered against the latter in connection with the death of three civilians in alleged army firing in Shopian on January 27. It had said sanction would be required only at the stage of taking cognisance by a court. Three civilians were killed on January 27 when Army personnel fired at a stone-pelting mob in Ganovpora village in Shopian, prompting the chief minister to order an inquiry into the incident.  An FIR was registered against the personnel of 10, Garhwal unit of the Army, including Major Kumar, under the Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code. The affidavit, however, said the FIR “does not arraign” Major Aditya “as an accused”. Clarifying that “he is also not mentioned in the column of accused persons, it said no specific role had been attributed to Major Aditya in the FIR”.The Supreme Court had earlier stayed all proceedings against Major Aditya and said: “He is an army officer and not an ordinary criminal”.The affidavit was at variance with the stand of the Centre as Attorney General KK Venugopal had in March supported the petitioner and criticised the state of Jammu and Kashmir for registering a criminal case against a serving Army officer without sanction from the central government.

Our Correspondent

Fazilka, July 15

A pall of gloom descended on Fattuwala village in Jalalabad subdivision of the district as its native Mukhtiar Singh (36), a constable with the BSF, was killed in an ambush by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district on Sunday.Constable Lokender Singh of Rajasthan was also killed, while constable Sandeep Dey sustained injuries in the gunfight.The gunfight took place in a forest near Mahla camp of the BSF when a team of BSF’s 114th battalion was returning after carrying out an anti-Maoist operation. The injured jawan was airlifted to Raipur for treatment.Family members said Mukhtiar Singh had joined the BSF as a constable in 2002.Mukhtiar Singh’s relative Subeg Singh said Mukhtiar Singh’s leave was sanctioned and he was to come to his village on a holiday in a few days. Now, his body would reach the village on Monday. Sources said the body has been airlifted to Delhi. Subeg Singh said Mukhtiar’s cremation would be held in the village on Monday evening.He is survived by a 13-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter, besides wife.

Our Correspondent

Kharar, July 14

A fourth-year student of space engineering at Chandigarh University (CU), Gharuan, allegedly ended his life here on Friday. His kin has sought a detailed probe into the incident.Karan Kaushal (20) allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling fan at his room in Darpan City here. His father Rajinder Kaushal, a resident of Solan district in HP who reached here on learning about his son’s death, demanded a thorough probe.In his complaint to the Kharar City police, Rajinder stated that his son was living in a rented room, along with three other students. His son’s friends informed him that on July 12, a woman had come to their room and told (Karan) that he was not picking up her phone and was ignoring her.Later, Karan left the room and returned the next morning. According to his friends, he refused to go to his class on Friday morning and the woman had come to the room when they left for their class.His friends returned at about 4.30 pm and found Karan hanging.

New Delhi, July 11

A Delhi court today awarded seven-year rigorous imprisonment to retired Captain Salam Singh Rathore in an offshoot of the 2006 Navy war room leak case, saying he did not deserve leniency as he had committed an offence against national security.Special CBI Judge SK Aggarwal handed down the jail term to Rathore for the offence of spying under the Official Secrets Act, saying the documents found in his possession belonged to the Defence Ministry and were “directly or indirectly useful to the enemy in one way or the other”. The other accused in the case, Commander (Retd) Jarnail Singh Kalra, was acquitted. While awarding the sentence, the court considered the submission of the prosecutor that several secret documents were recovered from Rathore’s possession, which he could not account for.“The offence was against national security. The documents found pertain to defence department and are… directly or indirectly useful to an enemy. The convict does not deserve lenient punishment. Being a defence personnel, his job was to even keep his life at stake for the unity, integrity and security of India, but he has acted otherwise,” the judge said.The judge said sentencing of the convict should act as a deterrent so that no one committed such an offence.“This court feels appropriate sentencing of the convict should be such that it leaves a deterrent effect so that the offence which threatens the very security of India may not be committed by anyone in India,” the judge said.The agency, while seeking the maximum punishment of 14 years for Rathore, had argued that he had committed offence against national security and deserved no leniency. The accused, who are facing trial in the main case for the offence of criminal conspiracy under IPC and under provisions of Official Secrets Act, are former naval Lieutenant Kulbhushan Parashar, ex-Commander Vijender Rana, sacked naval Commander VK Jha, former IAF Wing Commander Sambha Jee L Surve and Delhi-based arms dealer Abhishek Verma. — PTI

17 documents seized

• Case involves leakage of over 7,000 pages of sensitive defence information from naval war room and the Air Headquarters
• The CBI said 17 official documents relating to various issues were seized from the convict’s possession
• Nine of these were secret, four restricted and one confidential, the agency had said in its chargesheet