Srinagar, December 24

The Army has completed the Summary of Evidence against two of its men involved in July’s Amshipura encounter in south Kashmir’s Shopian district in which three civilians were killed and a possible court martial could take place after completion of formalities, officials said.

General Officer in Command of the strategically located XV Corps Lt Gen BS Raju said the Summary of Evidence has been completed but refused to give away any details of the outcome.

“Yes, the Summary of Evidence has been completed and the Army will take next course of action as per the law,” Lt Raju told PTI here.

The Army had ordered a Court of Inquiry earlier this year after reports appeared on social media that three youths, labelled as terrorists, had been gunned down by its personnel.

The Court of Inquiry, which completed its probe earlier in September, had found “prima facie” evidence that troops had “exceeded” powers under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) during the July 18 encounter in which three men were killed. Following this, the Army had initiated disciplinary proceedings.

Officials in know of the development said the two Army personnel may face court martial proceedings for violating the powers vested under the AFSPA, 1990 and not following the Do’s and Don’ts of Chief of Army Staff as approved by the Supreme Court.

The officials said the accused personnel may face serious charges under the law.

They also said the role of the three civilians as well as the person who had allegedly led the Army to the youths in Amshipura in Shopian needs to be thoroughly examined by the police.

The three civilians killed in Amshipura were Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrar, hailing from Rajouri district. Their identities were subsequently confirmed through a DNA test. The bodies were handed over to their families in Baramulla in October.

The role and antecedents of these three youths are also being investigated due to lack of clarity on their intent and actions upon coming to Shopian.

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had visited the families of the three Rajouri youths and expressed condolences. He had also assured the families that the UT government will extend full support to them and ensure that justice is done in the case.

He had also conveyed the message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the government stands with the aggrieved families, and they will be taken care of with all support from the government.

The officials said the Army has been maintaining high standards of transparency and punishing officials whenever rules are violated. — PTI

Ravneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 23

Already providing free medical aid and medicines to farmers at Singhu and Tikri borders, doctors in the state are now providing free consultation and aid to their families back home. The services are being provided in coordination with doctors in various districts.

Dr Balbir Singh, an eye surgeon, who is coordinating the initiative, said, “We have been providing our services at the Singhu border and a team will be on its way to the Tikri border also. We were informed that families of farmers back home were facing health issues as most men are in Delhi for weeks. The aged, women and children staying back can contact doctors on their numbers and seek free consultation and medication from them in their respective areas. This aid will continue till the end of the protest,” he said.

Dr Sandeep Kaur Nagpal, providing services as a general physician in the initiative, said they had released 35 contact numbers of various doctors, including those who are MD in medicine, eye surgeons, physiologists, psychologists and others. The list includes doctors from Fatehgarh Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Mansa, Bathinda, among others. “Apart from consultation and coordination on phone, some of us have also been visiting various villages to provide medical aid twice a week,” she said.

Dr Balbir Singh said they were expecting that more doctors will join them in providing the services and added, “We are also in touch with veterinarians that will provide free medical aid for the farmers’ cattle. The services will soon begin in Patiala as well.” Meanwhile, the doctors’ teams are providing continuous service at the Delhi borders. Dr Satyan Sharma, a psychiatrist who will be visiting the Tikri border on Wednesday, said the protesting farmers were facing issues due to their age and weather.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 24

Concerned about the sanitation at the Singhu border, an NGO started a community school there 10 days ago.

To date, 70 students have enrolled themselves, who attend the makeshift school regularly for three hours everyday.

‘Saanjhi Sath’ started the school to check the hygiene at the protest site. The NGO started distributing garbage bags, brooms and dustbins. “Soon, we noticed a large number of children participating in the struggle. We had some activists who were ready to volunteer as teachers. So, we thought of helping them with their studies,” said Dinesh Chadha, Ropar-based activist, one of the founders of the school.

“We got a better response from children of local migrant workers. Soon, the number of children swelled to 70,” he added.

The students attending classes study Hindi, Punjabi, English and mathamatics. The number of students as well as volunteer teachers has been growing every day.

Navjot Kaur, Kawaljit Kaur, Manpreet Singh and Sonu Chahal are some of the volunteers, who teach the students at the school.

Looking at the response, the NGO has opened another branch at Tikri.

Besides a painting exhibition, two seminars on various topics take place everyday. The topics also cover the farm laws as well as new ways to take the movement to new places.

“We do not know the fate of this struggle. However, children and local residents will remember the protesters as people, who gave something to the society,” Chadha added.

Faridkot, December 23

Inspector General of Police (IG) and SIT member Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who is probing the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan police firing, has expressed concern over how and under what circumstances the accused got a copy of the statement of the approver (Pardeep Singh) in the case.

In response to a petition in the HC by an accused, in which the IG’s removal from the SIT has been sought, Vijay Pratap has submitted an affidavit on December 20.

As the copy of the approver’s statement was not supplied by the prosecution so the accused has abused his official position or his seniors, who are accused in the case to get this document, alleged the IG. It shows that the high-profile accused are creating hindrances in the process of law, he alleged.

About his shifting by the ECI from the organised crime control unit in the run-up to the Lok Sahba poll in April 2019 and him filing the chargesheet against the accused of Kotkapura police firing during this time, the IG said it was backdoor but an unsuccessful attempt by Sukhbir Singh Badal, through one of his supporters to attract the jurisdiction of the ECI in a clandestine manner as his involvement

in firing as well as sacrilege cases had been precisely stated in the chargesheet.

Defending his act of writing a letter to the District and Sessions Judge, Faridkot, in June 2020, urging that a judicial officer should not be entrusted with “any part of the case at any stage” due to his alleged “family ties” with the Badal family, the IG submitted to the HC that it was based on inquiries and intelligence inputs that the judicial officer had close link with the Badal families, whose name have been specifically mentioned in the chargesheet. — TNS

New Delhi, December 24

India and China have agreed that the next round of military talks should be held soon for working towards an “early and complete” disengagement of troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the diplomatic and military talks have helped both sides to enhance understanding of each other’s positions on the issue.

Last week, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs.

In the virtual meeting, both sides agreed to continue work towards ensuring complete disengagement of troops in all friction points along the LAC in eastern at the “earliest”.

“India and China continue to maintain communications through diplomatic and military channels. These discussions have helped both sides to enhance understanding of each other’s positions,” Srivastava said.

He was replying to questions on the over seven-month border standoff.

“As you are aware, a meeting of the WMCC on India China border affairs took place on December 18 and the two sides have agreed that the ninth round of senior commanders meeting should be held at an early date so that both sides can work towards an early and complete disengagement of troops along the LAC in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols and fully restore peace and tranquillity,” he said.

The eighth and last round of military talks had taken place on November 6 during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points.

Nearly 50,000 Indian Army troops are currently deployed in a high state of combat readiness in various mountainous locations in eastern Ladakh in sub-zero conditions as multiple rounds of talks between the two sides have not yielded concrete outcome to resolve the standoff.

China has also deployed an equal number of troops, according to officials.

Army Chief Gen MM Naranave on Wednesday visited various high-altitude forward areas in eastern Ladakh and reviewed India’s overall military preparedness.

Asked whether India cancelled all diplomatic events planned with China to celebrate the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Srivastava said the activities have not yet been launched.

“This is the 70th year of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China. However, the activities that have been agreed upon have not yet been launched,” he said. PTI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 23

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) that guards the LAC with China has sought from the government a continued deployment of its troops in internal security duties so that it can give a “healthy break” to its personnel who man high-altitude icy locations, leading to various health issues among them, official sources said.

The force put across this point recently before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs and the Home Ministry in the wake of the Centre mulling over an “ambitious” proposal to gradually remove border guarding forces from security duties in the hinterland.

Sources said the border guarding force has informed the parliamentarians that owing to its primary task of protecting the high-altitude icy frontiers with very harsh weather conditions, it would prefer to be included in the internal security duties across the country so that its personnel “can be rotated between the hard deployment along the LAC and the normal plains”.

According to the sources, the ITBP has requested the continuation of deployment in the ratio of 60:40 in favour of the LAC, as this allows rotation of the troops, who face very harsh, sub-zero and hard climatic and terrain conditions along the front.

Most of the posts of the mountain warfare-trained ITBP are located between 9,000 feet and 18,700 feet in the western, middle and eastern sectors of the 3,488-km-long LAC that runs from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.

The government had recently begun working on a plan to gradually decrease the role of the three border guarding forces, the ITBP, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in internal security duties with an aim to further strengthen the frontiers’ security.

While the BSF is tasked with guarding the sensitive international borders (IB) with Pakistan and Bangladesh, the ITBP mans the LAC with China and the SSB guards the open Indian fronts with Nepal and Bhutan.

New Delhi, December 24

FASTags will be mandatory for vehicles from January 1, 2021, Union minister Nitin Gakdari said on Thursday.

FASTags, which facilitate electronic payment of fee at toll plazas, was introduced in 2016. Making the tags compulsory would also help in ensuring that vehicles pass seamlessly through the toll plazas as fee payment would be done electronically.

Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari has announced that FASTag is being made mandatory for all vehicles in the country from the New Year, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.

Addressing a virtual function on Thursday, he also said FASTag will be useful for commuters as they will not have to stop at toll plazas for cash payments. Besides, it will also help save time and fuel, he added.

FASTag was launched in 2016 and four banks together issued nearly a lakh of them. By 2017, their numbers went up to seven lakh and more than 34 lakh FASTags were issued in 2018.

In November this year, the ministry issued a notification also making FASTag mandatory from January 1, 2021 for old vehicles or that were sold before December 1, 2017.

As per the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since December 1, 2017, FASTag had been made mandatory for registration of new four-wheelers.

It was also mandated that the renewal of fitness certificate of a transport vehicle will be done only after the vehicle concerned has a FASTag.

For National Permit vehicles, the fitment of FASTag was mandated since October 1, 2019.

A valid FASTag would be made compulsory for getting a new third party insurance. This would come into force from April 1, 2021.

The ministry said that steps for ensuring availablity of FASTag through multiple channels are being taken. They would be available at physical locations as well as online.

The National Toll Collection (NETC) programme has been implemented on a pan-India basis in order to remove bottlenecks and ensure seamless movement of traffic and collection of user fee as per the notified rates using passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. PTI