Current Events :
Chandigarh, March 25
In two separate incidents in Punjab, the Border Security Force has seized close to 8 kg of narcotics along the International Border in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.
In the first incident, 7 kg of drugs, suspected to be heroin, were seized near Wan village in Tarn Taran district on Saturday morning after troops on border guarding duty spotted suspicious packets lying in the field on the Indian side of the fence, a BSF officer said.
In the second incident, at about 11.30 am, troops spotted a tea container lying in the fields ahead of the border fence, near Bharopal village, in Amritsar district.
On dissecting the container, narcotic substance, suspected to be heroin, weighing 810 gram was found filled inside the cavity of the container, the officer added.
On Friday, the BSF had seized five Glock 9 mm pistols and 91 rounds of ammunition that had been dropped on the Indian side by a drone.
New Delhi, March 25
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the “automatic disqualification” of lawmakers upon their conviction and being sentenced to a jail term for two years or more according to section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act.
The plea, filed by a Kerala-based social activist, said the immediate reason for approaching the apex court was a recent development related to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a member of Parliament from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, after he was convicted by a court in Gujarat’s Surat in a 2019 criminal defamation case.
he petitioner, Aabha Muralidharan, has sought a declaration that the automatic disqualification under Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, is ultra vires the Constitution for being “arbitrary” and “illegal”.
The petition has claimed that an automatic disqualification of people’s representatives of elected legislative bodies restrains them from “freely discharging their duties cast upon them by the voters of their respective constituencies, which is against the principles of democracy”.
“The present scenario provides a blanket disqualification, irrespective of the nature, gravity and seriousness of the offences, allegedly against the concerned member, and provides for an ‘automatic’ disqualification, which is against the principles of natural justice since various convictions are reversed at the appellate stage and under such circumstances, the valuable time of a member, who is discharging his duties towards the public at large, shall be rendered futile,” the plea, filed through advocate Deepak Prakash, said.
Regarding Gandhi’s disqualification, the plea said the conviction had been challenged, but in light of the operations of the present disqualification rules under the 1951 Act, the stage of appeal, the nature of the offences, the gravity of the offences and the impact of the same over society and the country are not being considered, and in a blanket manner, an automatic disqualification has been ordered.
It said members of Parliament are the voice of people and they uphold the right to freedom of speech and expression of millions of their supporters who have elected them.
“All that the petitioner and the petition wish to establish is that the right under Article 19(1)(a) enjoyed by a member of Parliament is an extension of the voice of millions of his supporters,” it said.
Samaan Lateef
Srinagar, March 24
An unidentified infiltrator was killed on Friday after an infiltration bid was foiled by Army in north Kashmir.
The attack took place in Jabdi area along the Line of Control (LoC) of Tangdhar in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
The security forces challenged the intruders and in the ensuing gunfight, an infiltrator was killed, officials said. An AK assault rifle and some ammunition were recovered from the spot, they said.
Kashmir has witnessed a sharp decline in ceasefire violations along the LoC since February 2021 when India and Pakistan reaffirmed the 2003 ceasefire agreement along the LoC.
Even infiltration of militants from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has dropped to single digits as per Army officials.
On February 16, a militant was killed after the Indian Army foiled an infiltration bid along the LoC in Saidpora forward area of Kupwara.
The ceasefire between India and Pakistan has brought relief to the people living in the battle-worn villages along the LoC.
Lashkar terrorist held in Sopore
Baramulla: The J&K Police, in a joint operation with security forces, on Thursday arrested a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist from Sopore and recovered arms and ammunition from his possession. He was identified as Umer Bashir Bhat, a resident of Manz Seer linked with the proscribed terror outfit LeT. ani
10 packets of narcotics seized in Poonch
Jammu: The Army on Friday seized 10 packets of narcotics from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, officials said. Troops launched a search operation along LoC in Doda with the help of sniffer dogs, they said. The search was conducted on the basis of a tip-off.
New Delhi, March 24
Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said security in the ocean needed to be strengthened and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was “fully committed to totally eliminate the menace under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
The minister, however, contended that controlling the drug menace was not just the Centre’s fight, but also that of the states, society and citizens.
“At least 60-70 per cent of drug smuggling takes place through the sea route,” he said while addressing a regional conference on “Drug Trafficking and National Security” in Bengaluru.
“We need to have a top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approach, sparing no one,” the minister said, adding there was need to investigate the chain of network down below when a big fish was caught.
“When we catch a big fish, we need to investigate the entire chain of network down below. If drug addiction is not curbed, it will become an incurable ulcer in the body,” he said.
Chandigarh, March 23
Fugitive radical preacher and Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh had been targeting drug addicts and rogue ex-servicemen to help him build a gang that could be easily transformed into a terrorist outfit, officials here said on Thursday.
Giving details of his journey and plans that he was likely to execute at the behest of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), they said Amritpal Singh, upon his return from Dubai, started a drug de-addiction centre at his village Jallupur Kehra in Punjab’s Amritsar district.
In a simultaneous operation, he along with his men started looking for ex-servicemen who had been retired from the Army for bad behaviour so that they could be used for imparting arms training, the officials said.
Immediately after his return last year and he taking over the ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit after the death of actor-activist Deep Sidhu, Amritpal Singh had a cover of two private security officers, and by early this year, the number had gone up to 16.
The surprising part was that seven of his personal security officers were youngsters, who had joined his drug de-addiction centre for rehabilitation, the officials said, adding that during their stay there for treatment they had been imparted training.
The youngsters, admitted at the de-addiction centre, were brainwashed and pushed towards gun culture and also incited to choose the path of slain terrorist Dilawar Singh, who blew himself up and killed former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, they said.
Targeting rogue ex-servicemen was beneficial for the pro-Khalistan preacher as they already had arms licences which could help his organisation to evade the law, the officials said.
Two such ex-servicemen, identified as Varinder Singh of the 19 Sikhs and Talwinder Singh of the 3rd Armoured Punjab, were instrumental in providing arms training to the youngsters, who were addicted to drugs, they said.
The licences were cancelled by the administration subsequently and Varinder Singh was arrested while Taliwinder Singh is still at large, the officials said.
Security agencies had raised a red flag after intelligence inputs suggested that Amritpal Singh was using drug de-addiction centres and a gurudwara for stocking weapons besides preparing youngsters to carry out suicide attacks, the officials said.
A thick dossier prepared with inputs from various security agencies claimed that Amritpal Singh was mainly engaged in preparing the youngsters to become ‘Khadkoos’ (terrorists).
During investigation arms and ammunition meant for the so-called Anandpur Khalsa Fauj (AKF), a creation of Amritpal Singh, were seized. Uniforms and jackets were also confiscated by police, the officials said.
They added that the weapons and ammunition seized from the radical Sikh preacher’s car also bore ‘AKF’ markings on it.
The officials said weapons were being stored in several of de-addiction centres run by ‘Waris Punjab De’ as well as at the Jallupur Khera Gurdwara in Amritsar.
Amritpal Singh had attended a ‘Shaheedi Samagam’ of killed terrorists where he termed them martyrs of the Panth, and promoted gun culture and glorified use of weapons.
The preacher is on the run after the Punjab Police arrested several of his supporters in a major crackdown that began weeks after the storming of the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested associate. The episode had raised fears over the possibility of the return of Khalistani militancy to the state that borders Pakistan.
Studying at a reputed missionary school in the 1970s, under the strict Jesuit eye of the Irish Brothers who firmly believed that “sparing the rod spoilt the child”, imbued one with well-enforced moral values. However, sometimes integrity was put to the test. One afternoon, as the gong struck 3 pm, announcing the end of classes for the day, I joined other boys hurrying out to play or head home. Coming down the stairs, my foot slipped on something hard and round. Looking down, I saw a thick ballpoint pen shining brightly. In one quick swoop, quite like the kites that would snatch food from our hands during lunch break, I picked up and pocketed the pen. It was a prized possession, as unlike the maximum two refill pens, it had six different coloured refills, each of which could be pressed down to write. I joyfully hurried home, savouring the stroke of luck which had bestowed me with this wonderful gift.
Upon reaching home, I closeted myself in the room I shared with my brother, three years my junior, after making sure I was alone. A detailed examination of the pen thrilled me no end as I scribbled away in six colours, flipping between the refills.
At dinner time, my father asked us about our day at school, as he often did. The sibling talked about a beautiful multi-coloured pen, which one of his friends had brought to class and which the latter had recently received as a gift from a foreign-returned uncle. He also mentioned that after school, as he walked home with the boy, his friend was distraught as he had lost or dropped the pen while leaving school and was unable to find it even after retracing his steps. I absorbed this piece of information in stoic silence with my gaze fixed on my dinner plate, lest I should reveal any emotion.
I did feel pangs of conscience that night but firmly decided to hang on to my chance possession, believing in the dictum ‘finders are keepers’. However, the early-morning brightness next day, as we walked to school, seemed to nudge me to be righteous in conduct. Before entering our respective classrooms, I told my brother that I would turn up during recess to meet the boy who had lost the pen. He looked at me quizzically but said nothing.
At the appointed hour, I met a scrawny 10-year-old and as I took out the pen from my pocket, his face lit up with joy and relief. After returning the pen, I felt a deep inner peace and a unique satisfaction. However, my sibling never tires of telling me that it was the fear of being found out by him that compelled my conscience to follow the right path!
