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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

Ashok Chaudhary (seated), husband of minister Aruna Chaudhary (R), at an Education Department meeting in Punjab Secretariat. Tribune photo

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, March 23

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has said he would talk to Minister of State Aruna Chaudhary on the reported interference of her husband in her official functioning.Read: ‘Mantri pati’ does it all: From chairing meets to perusing files

In response to a question during a television interview, the Chief Minister agreed that such behaviour was not proper and could not be condoned.

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Captain Amarinder said he would personally speak with Aruna, who handles Higher Education and School Education in the newly-constituted council of ministers. He said he was sure the minister would be able to control any such interference in the future.The question related to media reports indicating that Aruna’s husband had chaired meetings and had been handling other office work along with her since she took over the education portfolio in the Punjab Secretariat.

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 17

Adding to India’s unease in the regional security paradigm, Pakistan and China today decided to jointly produce multi-role combat jets and missiles. The decision was reached in Beijing today after the top military brass of Pakistan and China met.The move is bound to upset many security equations in the region as China “appreciated” Pakistan’s efforts to protect China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and expressed its desire to further strengthen military cooperation between the two countries.Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, currently visiting China, held separate meetings with Gen Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) that is headed by President XI Jinping, and Fang Fenghui, chief of the Joint Staff Department under the CMC. While officially the Chinese foreign ministry maintained that “China and Pakistan maintain normal defence exchanges and relevant cooperation”, the Chinese state-run media ran news reports that detailed the meetings held between Bajwa and Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli.According to a report in the Global Times, Zhang suggested that the two countries should enhance defence and security cooperation and push forward the building of the CPEC in an orderly manner.Bajwa reportedly said Pakistan viewed the relations with China as the “cornerstone of its foreign policy and its army will always be a staunch supporter of bilateral friendship”. To ensure the smooth construction of the CPEC, the Pakistan armed forces will resolutely safeguard its security, he said.The Chinese Defence Ministry quoted Fan as having said that CPEC “is the flagship project of ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative and leaders of both countries have attached great importance to it and positive progress has been made”.“Fan stressed that China appreciates Pakistani military’s positive efforts to safeguard the security of the CPEC and is willing to further strengthen the cooperation with Pakistan, so as to promote the pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries in all fields to a new high.”Masood Khalid, Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, in a briefing, said Pakistan had deployed more than 15,000 troops to protect CPEC, and that the country’s navy had raised a security contingent to protect the Gwadar Port. The port, which was built and is now operated by China, is a key part of CPEC.

Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu (C) pays his respects at The Golden Temple in Amritsar on March 22, 2017. —AFP

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh/Sangrur, March 22

Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday said that nobody should have any issue if he was working elsewhere as long as it was not improper and didn’t involve illegal means.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Speaking to a TV channel, he said: “Should I run bus service like Sukhbir? Or indulge in corruption.”

He said that if he was working four days in a month from 7pm to 6 am, without affecting his responsibility as a minister, why anybody should be bothered?

“If I work four days a month 7pm to 6am why are people getting stomachache?” said Sidhu, who has been working on a popular comedy show on TV.Meanwhile, Aam Admi Party Sangrur MP and former comedian Bhagwant Mann said that Navjot Sidhu must quit the comedy show as he did, after becoming the MP.

Mann said: “Even after having many other sources of income, Sidhu is unwilling to quit the show, while I quit it soon after becoming the MP and had no other proper source of income.” “Navjot Sidhu is not a government employee to work from 9 am to 5 pm. He is a minister and must work round the clock for the welfare of people,” added Mann.

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 16

Capt Amarinder Singh took oath as Punjab’s 26th Chief Minister at a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhawan here today. Seven MLAs were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers and two as Ministers of State with Independent charge. It will be Capt Amarinder’s second stint as CM, having headed a Congress government in 2002-07. The first Cabinet meeting is scheduled for March 18. The CM assured to set up a Special Task Force to eliminate drugs as one of the first steps to be taken.Edit: Capt has team in placeCongress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh were among those who attended the ceremony. Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Sachin Pilot, Rajiv Shukla and Raj Babbar too were present. Security personnel had a tough time tackling a stream of Congress leaders trying to get through the security cordon.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)With five-time MLA Brahm Mohindra placed at number two and Navjot Singh Sidhu at number three in the ministry, ahead of Manpreet Singh Badal, all speculation on Sidhu being given the post of Deputy CM has been put to rest, at least for the time being. Patiala seems to have got a lion’s share with the CM and three of his ministers —Mohindra, Sidhu and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot (Nabha) — hailing from the district.Sources said Capt Amarinder had a word with Rahul on portfolios. Sidhu was reportedly keen on getting Excise and Taxation, but the CM chose to keep the portfolio with himself.The CM, accompanied by ministers, later took charge at the Secretariat amid a multi-faith prayer ceremony.

Ministers and their portfolios

• Capt Amarinder Singh (Chief Minister) :Home, Justice, Agriculture, Excise & Taxation, Industries
• Brahm Mohindra (cabinet minister) :Health, Medical Education, Parliamentary Affairs
• Navjot SinghSidhu(cabinet minister) :Local Government, Tourism & Cultural Affairs, Archives
• Manpreet Singh Badal(cabinet minister) :Finance, Planning and Employment Generation
• Rana Gurjit Singh(cabinet minister) :Irrigation,Power
• Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa(cabinet minister) :Rural Development, Panchayats, Water Supply & Sanitation
• Sadhu Singh Dharamsot(cabinet minister) :Forests, Printing & Stationery, Welfare of SCs, BCs
• CharanjitSingh Channi(cabinet minister) :Technical Education,Industrial Training
• Aruna ChaudharyMoS (independent) :Higher Education,School Education
• RaziaSultanaMoS (independent) :PWD (B&R), Social Security, Development of Women & Children

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 21

Capt Amarinder Singh, who has been allotted the Chief Minister’s official residence (Kothi No. 45) in Sector 2, will keep the adjoining house (No. 44) as well. The latter has to be vacated by former Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal.“The CM has been allotted both houses. The Public Works Department is readying the same for occupation,” said sources in the state government.A Congress leader said the party wanted to drive home the point that there was no possibility of appointing a Deputy CM.Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has sought to retain the house (Kothi No. 46) beside the CM’s residence. The house had been allotted to him when he was the Leader of the Opposition.Brahm Mohindra, Health Minister, has been allotted the official house of former Forest Minister Chunni Lal Bhagat. Navjot Singh Sidhu, Local Bodies Minister, will occupy the house in which the then Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal had been residing.

Navjot Singh Sidhu sworn in as a Cabinet minister. —PTI

Chandigarh, March 16

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu was on Thursday inducted as a Cabinet minister in the new Congress government in Punjab headed by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Sidhu was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore.However, Sidhu has not been designated as Deputy Chief Minister, as was being speculated in political circles.Sidhu, who joined the Congress party in January, just days ahead of the February 4 assembly elections in Punjab, won the Amritsar-east assembly seat with a margin of over 42,000 votes.Sidhu had earlier remained Member of Parliament (MP) from Amritsar when he was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was elected MP in 2004, 2007 (by-election) and 2009.He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Narendra Modi government in April 2016.

—IANS