To leave for Delhi today to observe martyrdom day

People attend a conference on a call given by farmer unions in Sangrur on Sunday. Tribune photo

Sangrur, March 21

On a call of the BKU Ugrahan and the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union (PKMU), a massive gathering of youngsters, including thousands of girls, paid tributes to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev during a youth conference in Sunam today. They also pledged to fight against farm laws.

“We declare that Basanti convoys of the youth will stand in frontlines in struggle against the farm laws and the corporate world. We will carry on the spirit of our martyrs against anti-people decisions of the governments,” said Gurpreet Kaur Brass, a youth leader.

All leaders said the sacrifice of the martyrs was a source of inspiration for the youth till today. Despite gaining Independence, the people were still suffering from the exploitation of big corporate houses as the governments were supporting them.

Youth leader Kala Singh alleged that the Modi government brought the farm laws for the exploitation of farmers and the laws would further multiply the problems of farmers. “A huge convoy of the youth will move to Delhi on March 22 to celebrate the martyrdom day on March 23. Girls will pay tributes to the martyrs in the villages. We also appeal to make the March 26 bandh successful and will also organise flag marches on March 24 and 25,” said another youth leader Ajay Pal Singh Ghudda.

BKU Ugrahan state general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan expressed satisfaction over the youth’s participation in conference.

“Some forces are trying to label the farm struggle as a religious one. Today’s conference is a befitting reply to such baseless propaganda,” said Kokri Kalan. — TNS

The minimum temperature in Jammu city settled at 14.9 degrees Celsius

Photo for representation only. — PTI

Banihal/Jammu, March 23

The Jammu-Srinagar national highway was closed for traffic on Tuesday following snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel area and multiple landslides between Banihal and Chanderkote, officials said.

Over 300 vehicles have been stranded on both sides of the highway due to the closure.

The Jawahar Tunnel – the gateway to Kashmir – experienced snowfall this morning following which traffic was suspended between Banihal and Qazigund townships, the officials said.

They said incessant rains also lashed most parts of the highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, for the third day on Tuesday, triggering landslides and shooting of stones from hillocks overlooking the highway at nearly a dozen places between Banihal and Chanderkote.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Traffic (National Highway Ramban), Parul Bhardwaj said a few hundred vehicles were stranded on the highway between Nashri and Chanderkote since Monday night.

“Despite incessant rains and the lurking threat of shooting stones, the men and machinery kept the highway open and the majority of the stranded vehicles in Ramban were cleared last night itself,” he told PTI.

He said a major landslide had struck the highway overnight at Cafeteria Morh, while the road is also closed by debris at many places including Maroog, Monkey Morh, Panthiyal, Digdole, Sherbibi, Shabinbas.

Once the weather improves, all our efforts would be made to ensure early restoration of the highway, the officer said.

Officials said reports of snowfall were also received from other high altitude areas including Peer Ki Gali along Mughal Road connecting the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region with Shopian in south Kashmir.

The Mughal road was closed for traffic in December and is expected to be thrown open on completion of the snow clearance operation in the first or second week of next month, they said.

They said snowfall was also recorded in the upper reaches of Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar districts, while Jammu city was lashed by overnight rains, resulting in a drop in the temperature.

The minimum temperature in Jammu city settled at 14.9 degrees Celsius against the 16.2 degrees Celsius the previous night, a spokesman of the Meteorological department said. — PTI 

Farm union leaders and police personnel at the venue of the rally in Sirhind Mandi. Tribune photo

Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, March 21

Local leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha along with SSP Amneet Kondal and other police officials today took stock of preparations for the “Maha Kisan Mazdoor Ekta Rally” to be held at the new grain market, Sirhind Mandi, on March 24.

The rally is being organised by the Sarpanch Union, Punjab, in collaboration with Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Union. They discussed the security plan with police officials and farmer leaders coming from Delhi. The district administration has already granted permission for the rally.

BKU (Ugrahan) district president Prof Dharmjit Singh confirmed farm union leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Gurnam Singh Chaduni and Rakesh Tikait’s participation in the rally.

Sarpanch Union, Punjab, state president Gurmeet Singh Gunia Majra; and Kranti Kari Kissan Union, Bhal Majra district president, Harnek Singh said the consent of Ruldu Singh Mansa and Jagjit Singh Dalewal was awaited. He said besides farm union leaders, several artistes, including Babbu Mann, would also participate. They said farmers were holding meetings at village level to make the rally a success.

The farmer leaders said on the pretext of Covid threat the state government was trying to sabotage their rally, but the people would attend the rally en masse. They said if there was any Covid threat farmers protesting at Delhi would have been affected. They called upon all farm unions, traders, labour organisations, supporters and others to participate in large numbers, so that a strong message was conveyed to the central government against the three contentious farm laws.

Deepender Hooda addresses farmers at a toll plaza in Jind.

Tribune News Service

Hisar, March 21

Condemning the alleged disgraceful comments by certain BJP leaders about the protesting farmers, the Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda said the “arrogant behaviour of the BJP leaders would result in their political fall at the Centre and in Haryana”.

Addressing the farmers at the Khatkar toll plaza in Jind today, the MP said the tone and tenor of certain BJP leaders had been disgraceful vis-à-vis the agitating farmers. He said it was the unsavoury language of the ruling party leaders that seemed to have invited the wrath of the farmers.

Deepender visited the families of the two farmers who died at the Tikri border recently. Farmers Man Singh of Dindholi village and Karambir of Singhwal village had died of cardiac arrest. The MP handed over cheques for Rs 2 lakh to each of the families of the deceased and promised government job to one member of these families each.

The Congress leader said though nearly 300 farmers had died during the ongoing agitation, the farmers had not lost their patience and were keeping the stir afloat. The farmer leaders also appreciated the MP for raising the voice of the farmers in Parliament and on other platforms.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at the Delhi border points

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait at Ghazipur border during the ongoing farmers agitation against Centres farm reform laws in New Delhi. — PTI

Shivamogga, March 21

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait has exhorted farmers of Karnataka to lay siege to Bengaluru with their tractors in protest against the three contentious farm laws passed by the Centre and convert the city to the focal point of agitation, like in Delhi.

“….you have to turn Bengaluru into Delhi. You will have to lay siege to the city from all directions,” he told a farmers’ mahapanchayat here late on Saturday.

Only tractors should be used, like in Delhi, where over 25,000 have blocked entry points to the city, he said.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at the Delhi border points —Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur—for over three months, demanding the repeal of farm laws and a legal guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their crops.

Tikait claimed that lakhs of farmers and their families have laid siege to Delhi by agitating at the border points and said the stir would continue until the three laws are repealed.

“Unless the three laws are repealed, unless there is a law related to the MSP, you need to continue this agitation in Karnataka as well,” Tikait said.

He said though the stir was to repeal the three farm bills, there were other ‘controversial’ bills in the pipeline, aimed at grabbing farmers’ lands, forcing them to work as daily wagers in factories

“Besides these three laws, other bills pertaining to milk, electricity, seed and pesticides will also be introduced,” he said.

Tikait alleged that privatisation of banks would result in farmers who have availed of loans through Kisan Credit Cards, with land as collateral, being asked to surrender them.

“If the farmers do not have money to repay the loans, then they will take away your land,” he alleged.

The government’s target is to ensure that in the next 20 years, all the land goes to the banks and companies and the farmers become labourers, he charged.

The farmer leader, son of illustrious farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, has taken the mantle of farmers’ agitation along with his brother Naresh Tikait around Delhi and has been conducting public meetings in various parts of the country against the farm bills. — PTI

Rights activist Nodeep Kaur

Patiala, March 22

Labour rights activist Nodeep Kaur, while speaking to students at Punjabi University, Patiala, said various organisations would come together and hold a conference in Delhi to discuss the ideas of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev and their associates, to apply them in relation to protests against the farm laws.

The event was organised by the Democratic Students’ Organisation to commemorate the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh and his associates. Accompanied by activist Shiv Kumar, she said people associated with various organisations should come together to fight the ‘fascist’ government.

She said a conference would be organised at an all-India level on March 30. “We are also meeting trade unions and are in touch with farmer unions,” she said. — TNS

Essential Commodities Amendment Act is one of the three laws against which farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders

Farmers at Ghazipur border during their ongoing protest against farm laws in New Delhi. Tribune file photo

New Delhi, March 21

Farmer unions on Sunday condemned the demand for immediate implementation of the Essential Commodities Amendment Act (ECAA) by a parliamentary committee.

The ECAA is one of the three laws against which farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders.

The parliamentary panel, which also has members from opposition parties, including the Congress, TMC and the AAP, asked the government to implement in “letter and spirit” the ECAA.

These parties have been demanding repeal of all three farm laws enacted by the Centre recently.

“It is insensitive to the food security of poor people and the demand to increase the procurement of farmers’ crops,” the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a joint front of the protesting farmer unions, said in a statement.

“We appeal to farmers, labourers and common citizens to intensify their struggle for the repeal of the three laws and legal right of minimum support price,” the SKM said.

The Morcha said it is clear from the overwhelming support from “Kisan Mahapanchayats” against the agricultural laws that the proposed “Bharat Bandh” on March 26 will be successful.

It said all services, other than emergency services, will remain suspended from 6 am to 6 pm on that day. PTI

Death likely caused by cardiac arrest

mage only for representational purposes

Tribune News Service
Jhajjar, March 23

A 65-year-old woman protester from Punjab reportedly died of cardiac arrest at the Tikri border on Monday night.

Balbir Kaur, of Mandi Kalan village (Bhatinda), had been actively participating in the farmers’ agitation.

Dr Sanjay Dahiya, Civil Surgeon, Jhajjar, said she was brought dead to Civil Hospital in Bahadurgarh town late on Monday night. The exact cause of death would be ascertained after the postmortem, he added.

Balbir Kaur is the first woman protester to lose her life at Tikri during the agitation.

Chandigarh, March 19
Terming Islamabad-sponsored terrorism as the biggest hurdle to normalizing relations between the two nations, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday said Pakistan Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, should back his rhetoric on peace with India with solid action.

Bajwa should first control his ISI, and then talk about stability in Indo-Pak relations, said the Chief Minister, adding that India cannot afford to go soft with Pakistan till they walk the talk and prove their sincerity with concrete actions.

“Infiltration into India from across the border is still happening, Indian soldiers are being killed at the borders every day. They (Pakistan) are dropping arms and heroin into Punjab via drones every other day. Efforts to create trouble in my state continue to take place. All this should stop first, only then we can talk peace,” said Captain Amarinder.

For India to trust Pakistan, the latter will have to do much more than offer an olive branch, said the Chief Minister, citing his own experience of 1964 as ADC to GOC-in-C, Western Command. “We used to receive daily reports then of firing and trouble from the western border, as we continue to do now,” he said

It is important for not just Bajwa but the entire Pakistan military apparatus to be on board with the idea of burying the past and paving the way for peace with India, said Captain Amarinder, adding that it is not New Delhi but Islamabad which has obstructed the path of peace between the two countries.

“Are they all of the same view as shared by General Bajwa? Are they withdrawing all support to terror groups immediately? Have they asked ISI to back off and leave India alone?” These, said the Chief Ministers, are questions that need to be answered before India can start believing in, and responding to, Pakistan’s overtures of peace. “India is all for peace, all Indians stand for peace, but India cannot compromise on its security and integrity,” he stressed, adding that peace cannot be conditional.

Given the way the situation has evolved over the past few months, Pakistan’s increasing collusion with China, which has been causing a whole lot of trouble for India on the other border, is a matter of concern, the Chief Minister said. “If Islamabad seriously wants peace with New Delhi, they should send out the message to Beijing, loud and clear, that Pakistan is not with them in the dangerous escapades at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh (left) and Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa (right) | Twitter and FlickrText Size: A- A+

Chandigarh: Reacting to Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s remarks that it was time for India and Pakistan to “bury the past and move forward”, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday said he should back his rhetoric on peace with solid action.

Bajwa’s statement had come on Thursday, a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made similar overtures following an unexpected ceasefire announcement by the militaries of the two countries weeks ago.

Addressing a session of the first-ever Islamabad Security Dialogue, General Bajwa had said the potential for regional peace and development always remained hostage to the issues between Pakistan and India–the two “nuclear-armed neighbours”.

Terming the Islamabad-sponsored terrorism as “the biggest hurdle to normalising relations between the two nations”, Amarinder Singh said Bajwa should first control his ISI and then talk about stability in the India-Pakistan relations.

General Bajwa should back his rhetoric on peace with solid action , the CM said in a statement, adding that India cannot afford to go soft with Pakistan till they walk the talk and prove their sincerity with concrete actions .

Infiltration into India from across the border is still happening, Indian soldiers are being killed at the borders every day. They (Pakistan) are dropping arms and heroin into Punjab via drones every other day.

Efforts to create trouble in my state continue to take place. All this should stop first, only then we can talk peace,” the Punjab CM said.

“For India to trust Pakistan, the latter will have to do much more than offer an olive branch,” said the chief minister, citing his own experience of 1964 as ADC to the General Officer Commanding-in-C, Western Command.

“We used to receive daily reports of firing and trouble from the western border as we continue to do now,” said Amarinder Singh.

It is important for not just Bajwa but the entire Pakistan military apparatus to be on board with the idea of burying the past and paving the way for peace with India, said Amarinder Singh on Friday, adding that it is not New Delhi but Islamabad which has obstructed the path of peace between the two countries.

Are they all of the same view as shared by General Bajwa? Are they withdrawing all support to terror groups immediately? Have they asked the ISI to back off and leave India alone, asked the chief minister.

India is all for peace, all Indians stand for peace, but India cannot compromise on its security and integrity, he stressed, adding that peace cannot be conditional.

Given the way the situation has evolved over the past few months, Pakistan’s increasing collusion with China, which has been causing a whole lot of trouble for India on the other border, is a matter of concern, the chief minister said.

If Islamabad seriously wants peace with New Delhi, they should send out the message to Beijing, loud and clear, that Pakistan is not with them in the dangerous escapades at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), he said.

Also read: Bajwa’s change of heart on India isn’t enough. All of Pakistani military must be on board