Sameer Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 7

Octogenarian Mohinder Kaur from Sangat village in Bathinda, whom actress Kangana Ranaut had termed as Bilkis Bano of Shaheen Bagh, visited the Tikri border recently and addressed a massive gathering of protesters.

She extended New Year greetings to the protesting farmers and lauded them for showing resilience in the face of adversity, exhorted them to have patience and continue their agitation courageously and stay put at the protest venue until their demands were met by the government.

Kaur was given a rousing welcome by the farm union members at the protest venue and honoured her for her active participation in the agitation. She had gone to Tikri on Tuesday and came back on Thursday late evening.

Kaur said: “I am pained to see farmers protesting in adverse weather conditions, but it gives me joy to see that they continue to forge ahead undeterred with the conviction of winning. I extended New Year greetings to them and encouraged them to stay united and keep their struggle alive until government takes back the farm laws.”

Asked about Kangna’s earlier tweets, the octogenarian said: “I don’t know her but I know farmers and their problems. She made unsavoury remarks against me but people supported me, including singer Diljit Dosanjh.” Age is just a number for octogenarian Kaur who is not only participating in the farmers’ protest back in the state, but also actively working in the fields.

Tribune News Service

Moga, January 7

Seventy-nine days after the Punjab Vidhan Sabha unanimously passed three Bills to counter the Centre’s farm laws, Governor VP Singh Badnore is yet to forward them to the President for assent, thus creating confusion among the farming community and the traders on the status of the inter-state trade and the sale/purchase of the foodgrains.

Denying that the Punjab Government had implemented the Centre’s farm laws in the state, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu said: “The three state Bills are pending with the Governor … the Punjab Government will never abide by the central farm laws.”

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had already said the Punjab Government would explore legal options if the Governor does not grant his consent to the Bills.

On October 20, last year, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha unanimously passed three Bills — The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment Bill, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2020. These Bills were sent to the Governor for his consent, which hasn’t been given yet.

Stressing Punjab was the first state in the country to pass a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha against the central farm laws, Ashu said the state government would not allow the farmers and traders of other states to sell foodgrains in state.

Further, he assured that wheat and paddy would be purchased at MSP either by the government agencies or the private traders. The traditional practice of purchase of foodgrains through the commission agents would continue in the coming wheat procurement season, he said.

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, January 7

Agriculture scientists led by a former vice chancellor of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University (HAU) have suggested to the Centre to keep the new Agriculture Acts in abeyance for one year and redraft the Act by setting up a committee having representation from diverse sections of the society, including farmers.

The Agriculture experts held an online meeting today chaired by former HAU vice Chancellor Dr KS Khokhar. The meeting has retired agricultural scientists from different states, agricultural universities and ICAR institutes as participants to discuss the present scenario emerging due to the ongoing farmers’ agitation. NS Verma, former Associate Director and Head of Extension Education at the HAU, was convener.

Dr Khokhar stated that the participants agreed that the demand of the farmers to give statutory provision to the minimum support price (MSP) of their produce is genuine. “The Government is also not having any objection to continue it and prepared to give a written guarantee, hence, it should be given a legal sanction through a new Act,” he said.

Besides, the former VC stated, since both the Government and the farmers are posturing their rigid stands with regard to new Agriculture Acts, the agriculture scientists suggested that these Acts should be held in abeyance at least for one year. “ln the meantime, when the aforesaid Acts are not under implementation, a committee having representatives of farmers, agricultural experts, economists, lawmakers, and other stakeholders should be constituted to redraft the Agriculture Acts so that these are acceptable to all who are having a stake,” he maintained.

The participants appealed to government to show magnanimity for accommodating the point of view of the farmers and also urged the agitating farmers to maintain their stir peaceful in any eventuality and restrain themselves from falling prey to any clandestine design to flare up the situation. The participants also pay homage to the farmers who lost their lives during the 42 days of agitation.

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 6

Revolutions can’t succeed without shedding blood, it is said. At Singhu, it’s being done literally!

For the 15th day on Wednesday, 48-year-old Taranjit Singh Nimana sits with a thin wooden straw in his hand; its tip soaked in red. He is penning a letter to the leaders of the country. On a nearby table lies 10 more letters — red on white — in Punjabi. But in place of ink, what he writes with is the blood of farmers!

Since December 20, the Bhai Ghanaiya Ji Mission Sewa Society, a Ludhiana-based NGO, has been penning letters in blood of farmers exhorting the top leaders of the country to withdraw the three farm laws. Everyday an array of blood-soaked letters are handed over to farm leaders. This blood is donated at the NGO’s blood donation camps being held behind the main stage of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha at the Singhu border.

The NGO, which has won the state award nine times for its contribution in the field on blood donation, is headed by its president Taranjit Singh Nimana. Nearly 1,000 farmers have donated blood across the 15 blood donation camps held so far. Letters have so far been sent to the Prime Minister, Home Minister, President, Vice President and the Chief Justice of India, but to no avail. Nimana now plans to send a letter written in his blood to the UNO on his birthday tomorrow (January 7) in honour of those, who died at the Delhi protests.

On his recent visit to the Singhu border, environmentalist Seechewal also called upon Nimana, his old acquaintance, after Seechewal’s speech on stage.

Such is the spirit that after a storm uprooted the backstage tent and damaged the mattresses and equipment at the camp, it has been shifted to a safer shed, where the camp resumed today.

Nimana, says: “Ehnan chitthiyan vich kisanan da khoon raleya hai. Asi bhejde rahange jad tak kale kanoon vapas nahi hunde. Singhan de hausle chikkar vich vi buland ne. (These letters are soaked in farmers’ blood. We will keep writing these until the black laws are withdrawn. Singhs are full of courage even in mud).”

Nimana adds: “We sent back doctors yesterday. Our backstage tent lost its roof. It was very windy and the tent ended up dripping in rain. We resumed at another place today. It’s my birthday on January 7. In memory of lives lost at Singhu, I shall donate blood and write in blood to the UNO to get the laws withdrawn.” Blood collected from the camp has been donated to blood banks at Ludhiana, Patiala and now to UP, Delhi and Haryana (Faridabad, Rohtak, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Delhi (Mayur Vihar).

“While there is already a blood shortage during the pandemic, we would want the blood to be used for any emergency case. Anyone who needs blood is free to take it from us,” Nimana says. While Nimana planned to send blood-soaked letters to the PM from Ludhiana, he shifted to Singhu border when the idea was discussed with morcha leaders, who asked the NGO to shift base to Singhu.

Lahore, January 7

In a significant development, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar on the charges of terror financing.

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Gujranwala issued the warrant during a hearing in a terror financing case instituted by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police against some members of the JeM.

“ATC Gujranwala judge Natasha Naseem Supra issued an arrest warrant for Masood Azhar and directed the CTD to arrest him and present him in the court. The CTD told the judge the JeM chief was involved in terror financing and selling jihadi literature,” an official told PTI.

He said the ATC judge issued the arrest warrant for Azhar on the request of a CTD inspector.

Azhar is believed to be hiding in a “safe place” in his native town – Bahawalpur.

Following the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019 in India, Pakistan’s Punjab province police had launched a crackdown on terrorism financing and in this connection arrested six activists of the JeM in Gujranwala, some 130 km from Lahore.

The CTD said its teams raided the whereabouts of the JeM’s “safe house” and arrested its members—Muhammad Afzal, Muhammad Amir, Allah Ditta, Muhammad Iftikhar, Muhammad Ajmal and Muhammad Bilal Makki—and recovered lakhs of rupees from their possession.

“The suspects were collecting funds to finance activities of JeM. The chargesheet against them has been submitted to the Anti-Terrorism Court Gujranwala and they are being interrogated,” the CTD said.

Following immense international pressure after the Pulwama attack, the Pakistan government had arrested over 100 members of banned militant outfits including the JeM chief’s son and brother. The government also took control of the JeM, Mumbai terror attack mastermind Haifiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawah (uD) and Falahai Insaniat Foundation (FIF) properties including seminaries and mosques across the country.

JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Pakistan’s Punjab government claimed to have taken over the administrative control of the JeM headquarters — comprising Madressatul Sabir and Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah – in Bahawalpur.

According to the government, some 600 students are studying there and none of them is associated with any banned outfit or involved in any terror activity.

In May 2019, the United Nations designated Azhar a “global terrorist” after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-based JeM chief, a decade after New Delhi approached the world body for the first time on the issue.

The UN committee listed Azhar on May 1, 2019 as being associated with Al-Qaeda for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of”, “supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to”, “recruiting for”, “otherwise supporting acts or activities of”, and “other acts or activities indicating association with” the JeM.

Azhar is a fugitive released by India in exchange of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in 1999.

After his release in 1999, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed and scripted many audacious terror strikes in India.

On February 26, 2019 India had launched air strikes on what was said to be JeM’s biggest training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot.

The global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is instrumental in pushing Pakistan to take measures against terrorists roaming freely in Pakistan and using its territory to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere.

The Paris-based FATF placed Pakistan on the Grey List in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019 but the deadline was extended later on due to COVID-19 pandemic. PTI

New Delhi, January 6

The Indian Air Force has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Defence Studies and Research (IDSR) that would enable IAF officers to undertake doctoral research and post-graduate programmes in various areas, according to an official statement on Wednesday.

The IDSR is an autonomous institution of Gujarat University.

The MoU was signed under the patronage of the Gujarat government on December 29, the Defence Ministry’s statement noted.

“The MoU will enable officers of IAF to undertake doctoral research, post-graduate programme and post-graduate diploma covering various areas of interest that includes defence studies, defence management, national security, aerospace and aviation science and other areas of defence technology,” it mentioned.

As part of Project Akashdeep, the IAF has entered into such partnerships with various prestigious academic institutions to promote research by officers and create a pool of think tanks with strategic knowledge and intellectual skills, said the ministry. PTI

Gurugram, January 6

As the farmers’ demonstration is intensifying day-by-day, Haryana Police have installed barricades at four locations on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway to stop farmers from entering the national capital, resulting in blockages on the national highway.

These four key locations include Kapdiwas Chowk in Gurugram, Masani barrage in Dharuhera, Sangwari village in Rewari and Jaisinghpur Khera (Haryana-Rajasthan border) on the Delhi-Jaipur national highway.

With these blockages which resulted in traffic diversions on the expressway, the commuters going from Jaipur to Delhi and Delhi to Jaipur have to cover an extra 100 km to reach their destination.

Meanwhile, the police have diverted Jaipur-bound vehicles from Bilaspur, Kapriwas and Sidhrawali and Shahpura. Delhi-bound vehicles were diverted from Kotputli and Behror.

The Gurugram police have also set up barricades at Kapdiwas Chowk (Gurugram-Rewari border) after the clash between farmers and the police on Sunday.

With the NH-48 already blocked, heavy traffic movement is being seen on the alternative routes, like Pataudi Road and Kapdiwas Chowk in Gurugram, Bhiwadi in Rajasthan and Masani barrage in Rewari.

Following Sunday’s incident in which a group of farmers had breached police barricades and entered Bawal in Rewari with the intention of marching towards the national capital, Haryana Police along with CRPF, CISF, RAF and anti-riot team have been stationed on the Sabi flyover in Dharuhera located on the expressway to keep an eye on farmers protesting on the highway.

Meanwhile, hundreds of commercial vehicles, including many container trucks, are facing traffic hurdles between Kapdiwas and Masani barrage in Rewari for the past two days, though private and light commercial vehicles headed towards Jaipur are being diverted by the Rewari police towards Bhiwadi at Kapdiwas Chowk.

According to the police, over 2,000 farmers from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana and members of trade unions have gathered at Shahjahanpur (Haryana-Rajasthan border) on the national highway in support of farmers’ demonstration since December 13.

On December 29, farmers had broken the barricades at Shahjahanpur and they had entered Rewari on the Delhi-Jaipur highway, crossing the Shahjahanpur inter-state border in Rajasthan, as the police were not letting them enter Haryana.

“We are in touch with the adjoining districts to manage and control the situation and keep vigil on protesting farmers in Rewari. We have also deployed police personnel in Dharuhera and other protesting sites. In view of the current situation, we have diverted the traffic so that commuters do not face any inconvenience,” said Abhishek Jorwal, superintendent of police (Rewari).

Though both carriageways of the Delhi-Jaipur expressway were blocked at Shahjahanpur border since December 29, the Rewari Police installed containers and put up barricades near Masani barrage in Dharuhera on Sunday evening to stop farmers’ movement towards Delhi.

“Due to this clash between police and farmers the supply of essential things such as milk, vegetables was also hit for families staying in a group residential societies in Dharuhera located between Kapdiwas Chowk and Masani barrage,” said a member of Dharuhera-based RWA.

Aman of Alwar, a daily passenger, who was waiting for a bus at Gurugram’s Rajiv Chowk, said, “Before the farmers’ stir a number of buses were available heading towards Rajasthan but now only a few buses are heading towards Rajasthan and they are asking for extra fare due to route diversion.”

“We have alerted all the senior officials and their teams, and Bilaspur and Manesar police teams are already on alert. Barricades have been put up and extra force has been deployed at all the border points connecting Haryana with other states,” KK Rao, commissioner of police, said.

“We don’t want any confrontation with the police. We are here for our rights and our demonstration against the three agricultural laws will continue till they are rolled back. We will discuss our future course of action after meeting other union members,” said a member of Samyukt Kisan Morcha. IANS