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.
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
Exit polls: Congress, AAP neck-and-neck in Punjab, SAD-BJP out
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.
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
365 feet HIGH TRI COLOUR FLAG FLYING AT WAGHA BORDER
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.
Naval war room leak case: Supreme Court upholds sacking of two officers
The officers were removed from service after a board of inquiry (BoI) held that they were involved in providing sensitive information regarding defence forces to outside agencies. The 2005 case involved leak of over 7,000 pages of sensitive defence information from the Navy War Room and the Air Headquarters, with a direct bearing on national security.
The leak of sensitive information came to light in May 2005 when an officer was found in possession of an unauthorised pen drive containing secrets of defence forces. An informal inquiry was held and Rana and Jha were found to be likely conduits. An BoI was convened and it was held that the officers had become undesirable and their sacking was recommended. The Centre accepted the recommendation and dismissed them on October 26, 2005.
The officers challenged the Centre’s decision before the Armed Forces Tribunal which dismissed their plea on June 30, 2010. They then approached the SC.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra, A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar, however, found no merit in their petition and upheld the Centre’s decision.
Advocate R Balasubramanian, appearing for the Centre, said the two officers used to provide sensitive information to unauthorised agencies and endangered the country’s security. He said Rana and Jha were arrested along with other officers involved in the case.
Apart form Rana and Jha, former naval officer Kulbhushan Prashar, former IAF Wing Commander Sambha Jee L Surve and alleged arms dealer Abhishek Verma are facing trial in the case for criminal conspiracy under IPC and under various provisions of Official Secrets Act.
State Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh today warned of a serious law and order problem in the “old Naxalite and hardliners’ belt of southern Punjab” if the SYL canal was completed without taking into account the ground realities. Pointing to the huge infrastructural cost involved in the construction, which would all come to naught if there was no water found subsequently to share with the neighbouring states, Amarinder urged the Supreme Court to take cognisance of the situation in terms of water availability and quantum in Punjab. Reacting to Abhay Chautala’s threat not to allow any Punjab leader to enter Haryana, Amarinder termed it a desperate bid to revive the INLD following today’s “flop show”.He welcomed the apex court’s directive on maintaining law and order.
SYL march ends in symbolic dig
20 INLD lawmakers held after border halt by Punjab cops, sent to Patiala jai
INLD workers taking up symbolic digging of a road near the Shambhu barrier on Thursday. Manoj Mahajan
Naveen S Garewal & Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 23
The Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD) attempt to dig the defunct Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal ended in the arrest of two party MPs, 18 MLAs and 73 workers as they tried to cross over into Punjab via the Shambhu barrier today.The “Jal Yudh Sammelan”, planned for over a month, ended without any violence with half-a-dozen INLD workers performing symbolic digging at the Punjab-Haryana border (instead of the canal), after the Punjab Police effectively sealed all routes to the canal.Following a Supreme Court directive to both states to maintain law and order, the security agencies in Haryana repeatedly announced on loudspeakers asking INLD workers not to breach the law and return.Unwilling to relent, the INLD workers broke three cordons, manned by a handful of personnel, of the Haryana Police. They were, however, stopped in their tracks by the Punjab Police before they could cross the barricading.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)To prevent any untoward incident, the Punjab Police told Haryana Leader of the Opposition Abhay Chautala, INLD chief Ashok Arora and other leaders to cooperate.The police told the INLD rank and file that unless they vacated the area within 10 minutes, they would be arrested as failure to leave the area would amount to violation of Section 144 (prohibiting assembly of five or more at one place) of the Criminal Procedure Code.All through it was apparent the Shiromani Akali Dal-led coalition government in Punjab had instructed the state police not to use force.The Punjab Police personnel offered bottled drinking water to the protesters even as they minded them not to get close to the sharp iron barricading.The INLD first held a rally at the Sabzi Mandi in Ambala and then marched towards the Shambhu barrier, 2 km east of the rally site. On the way, the Haryana Police had set up three lines of defence. Each was easily breached by the protesters, though warnings were issued by the civil administration of Ambala. The protesters stopped only when they reached Punjab’s first line of defence. Punjab Police asked the protesters to leave the area within 10 minutes or face arrest.Chautala, while addressing supporters in front of the barricading, asked them to turn away after symbolic digging with spades. He soon made a U-turn and requested the Punjab Police to let them march into the neighbouring territory peacefully. He asked his party workers to climb down from the barricading. While some workers turned around, Chautala persisted with his request for allowing senior party leaders to enter Punjab peacefully.The police then arrested 93 protesters — two party MPs, 18 MLAs and 73 workers — and made arrangements for early resumption of traffic on the Ludhiana-Ambala highway. Traffic remained suspended on the highway for around 12 hours. While traffic was diverted, many stranded commuters were seen walking across the Ghaggar bridge carrying their luggage.Those arrested were taken away in two private buses and produced in the court of Rajpura Sub-Divisional Magistrate, who remanded them in judicial custody till February 27. All those arrested have been sent to the Patiala Central Jail.The Punjab Police monitored the situation using modern equipment, including drones fitted with cameras. Aerial surveillance was conducted every few minutes. Besides, 10 companies of paramilitary forces and nearly 5,000 policemen were deployed.The dispute between Punjab and Haryana is currently pending adjudication in the Supreme Court, which has directed both states and the Government of India to ensure peace. Punjab has been maintaining it has no water to spare.Traffic hit for 12 hrsTraffic remained suspended on the Ludhiana-Ambala stretch of the national highway for around 12 hours. The movement of traffic was restored around 9 pm after remaining suspended since 9 am. While traffic was diverted to alternative routes, many commuters were seen walking across the Ghaggar bridge, carrying their luggage over to the other side
The personnel of the anti-riot police rehearse at the Shambu barrier on Thursday
Avoid confrontation
SYL requires a cooling down and rethink
The immediate challenge before the governments in Punjab and Haryana is to maintain law and order in view of the INLD’s call for a march to the Punjab border to dig the controversial SYL link canal. The Supreme Court has asserted that the canal cannot be delayed further. The INLD posturing is political, aimed at preserving its shrinking political base with the Chautala father-son duo in jail. The Punjab Police has wisely averted a possible showdown by not letting All-India Sikh Student Federation activists reach the site of the INLD protest. Though the Haryana government has allowed Chautala men to gather and stage their political drama, it cannot afford to let them cross the line for a peaceful democratic protest.The more difficult challenge is for Punjab to implement the stern Supreme Court directive: build the canal whether or not there is water to carry. There is almost a political consensus in the state as was reflected in the Assembly resolution and the Congress resignations that Punjab has not a drop of additional river water to spare for Haryana. Over the years all the ruling political parties have failed to put up a convincing case for the state either in court or outside. A politically acceptable and saleable solution was possible with the BJP in power at the Centre, in Haryana and in a coalition with the Akali Dal but electorally milking the water issue seemed more important than finding a lasting solution. The past aggressive political posturing on the SYL would make the new government in Punjab less flexible and possibly pit it against the apex court. Already the Centre has taken a pro-Haryana stance in the Supreme Court and it is expected to be less cooperative if Punjab gets a non-Akali Dal government. Punjab will have to rebuild and reposition its case, based on sound legal facts rather than adopt the path of confrontation or cry victimhood. Courts or tribunals rule on the issue at hand on the basis of legal arguments backed by evidence. In the long run the larger issue for both states is how to cut waste and manage efficiently the existing water resources.
Ex-Servicemen will get special Status when Congress forms Govt in Punjab:Col Bhag Singh Tihara
NEWDELHI: For India, the RussiaChina-Pakistan trilateral on Afghanistan was an uncomfortable proposition for some time.
But after joining the format along with Afghanistan, Iran, New Delhi has found a forum to highlight its concerns.
“We had certain concerns and wanted Afghanistan on the talking table and it did happen. What was agreed upon was also to our satisfaction,” said a source. Officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, China and India attended the discussion on Afghanistan on February 15. Sources said regional powers need to focus on “terrorism getting sustenance” from Pakistan.“The proper regional representation is good to have a frank discussion on the issue. There can be no two voices on fighting terrorism and no one accepts that violence will have to continue even as efforts are being made ,” sources said.
