High-power dance and martial arts showcased

The Army is known for its valour but high power martial art and dance performances by various regiments showcased one facet of the forces that few know about at the inaugural day of the three-day Military Literature Festival-2019, organised at the Lake Club here.

The show, which left the visitors spellbound, was organised by the Unit 270 of the 474 Engineer Brigade under the leadership of Col Mohammad Rakib with Naib Subedar Bhupinder Singh in charge. Leading the show, 5 Madras Regiment led by Sepoy Ashok Kumar along with a team of 10 Army men enthralled the audience by performing Kalari Payattu, the ancient martial art that originated in Kerala. Khukri, the sharp edged weapon used chiefly by the Gurkhas of Nepal and India, was also on display as a team of 21 performers led by Naib Subedar Nima Tshering Sherpa from 2/5 Gorkha Regiment (Front Fighters), 69 Indian Infantry Brigade (INF BDE) did the Khukri Dance. As for Punjab, it was obviously the Gatka, associated by the Sikhs of Punjab, performed by 22 Punjab Regiment led by Subedar Dalwinder Singh and Naik Jagjit Singh.

He was declared the maharaja of Punjab in 1801 and occupied a kingdom that stretched from the borders of Afghanistan to those of the British Raj, so a special session was justified on the book, Camel Merchant of Philadelphia, by Sarbpreet Singh, which has stories from the court of the Lion of Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Interesting facets of the emperor’s relationship with figures such as his mother-in-law Sada Kaur, and the truculent leader of his army, Akali Phoola Singh, came up for discussion on the occasion.

Rain plays spoilsport

Heavy rainfall and gusty winds played spoilsport at the fest on Friday. A few sections, including an organ donation awareness camp, could not attract many visitors as the weather worsened by the evening because of which the crowds thinned. A few of the stalls were dismantled as a precautionary measure too. However, that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the youth. Digvijay Singh, 18, from Panchkula, and four of his friends at the venue said this platform gave them the opportunity to interact with serving soldiers, officers, and veterans.

Want to see what a war hero wore?

The uniforms and awards of Late Lt Gen Sagat Singh, (14 July 1918 – 26 September 2001), who played an important role in the liberationof Goa and during the Bangladesh War, have been exhibited at the military fest.

Col Ran Vijay Singh (retd), son of the celebrated Army officer and his lawyer daughter Meghna Singh, travelled from their home town Jaipur to set up the exhibition. “The valour of my father inspired me and through his achievements I want to inspire the youngsters to join the forces,” Col Ran Vijay said.

Lt Gen Sagat Singh served in the Middle East during World War-II broke out and was later absorbed in the Indian Army.

Don’t miss the medals

An engineer and grandson of a Military Engineering Service officer, Narinderpal Singh has exhibited old and rare medals. A collector of rare weapons, manuscripts, and coins for the past 32 years, Narinderpal has sourced War medals from World War-I to the Kargil war through jewellers and auctions and from families of soldiers. “I have around 500 such medals and some of them have been sold by the second and third-generation families of the officers who have received them,” the collector said. He plans to set up a museum of his antiques soon.

HT Correspondent

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

HOSHIARPUR : An army deserter and the son of a Khalistani militant were among the four people arrested for stealing two INSAS rifles from an army training centre checkpost at Pachmarhi in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh on December 5. The arrests were made from Tanda town of Hoshiarpur district. The weapons they stole were also recovered.

Punjab Police were alerted by the army intelligence and Madhya Pradesh anti-terrorist squad (ATS) that Harpreet Singh, 25, who was absent from duty since October 15, had stolen two 5.56-mm rifles, three magazines and 20 cartridges from the sentries at the training centre.

Two-day search

A search operation was conducted for two days before Harpreet Singh was arrested from Chotala village and his accomplice, Jagtar Singh, alias Jagga, from Kandhali Narangpur village on Monday night.

Both Harpreet Singh and Jagga are natives of Miani village in Tanda, 30 km from Hoshiarpur. The police also arrested Karamjit Singh and Gurjinder Singh of Miani for their alleged role in the conspiracy.

Police sources said Jagga is the son Harbhajan Singh, a Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) militant, who was arrested in connection with a blast in the border district of Tarn Taran in September. It was later reported that China-made drones were being used to drop weapons in the border villages of the district from Pakistan.

In September, police busted the KZF terror module, which was conspiring to unleash terror strikes in the state, by arresting four people and seizing five AK-47 rifles, pistols, satellite phones and hand-grenades.

The four included Harbhajan Singh, who was arrested from Chohla Sahib village in Tarn Taran district.

RIFLES HIDDEN IN SUGARCANE FIELDS

Hoshiarpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gaurav Garg said that during the raids, the stolen rifles were recovered from a sugarcane field of Kandhali Narangpur village.

“Three teams were constituted under the command of the deputy superintendent of police, Tanda, DSP, Dasuya, and DSP, special branch. They were successful in catching the culprits,” the SSP said.

Harpreet was commissioned in the Sikh Regiment at Ramgarh in Jharkhand in December 2015. He was trained as bandsman at Pachmarhi and deputed as B-Flat clariant (musician) in June 2017.

Posing as army personnel, the two arrived at a check post in the early hours of Friday and asked the sentries on duty to call someone from inside the cantonment. After engaging the sentries in light chatter, the duo suddenly seized the two INSAS assault rifles and 20 cartridges from the check-post and fled.

Preliminary investigation showed that the duo had got down at Piparia station, 55 km away around midnight and taken a taxi for Pachmarhi. The police received information about the incident around 5am and were on high alert.

HT Correspondent

chandigarh@hindustantimes.com

Chandigarh : The 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 550th Prakash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev made 2019 a landmark year, reminding people that the way of nations was that of ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence) and universal brotherhood where war was never an option, Punjab governor and UT administrator VP Singh Badnore said on Friday, while inaugurating the 3rd edition of the annual Military Literature Festival (MLF) at the Lake Club here.

India, however, was a strong nation, capable of dealing with any kind of insurgency threatening peace, unity, and integrity from within or across borders, Badnore said.

“Our Armed Forces have demonstrated this with a ‘surgical strike’ in the mountains across the Line of Control and an airstrike deep in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province.”

The country had come a long way since Independence in 1947, being no longer dependent upon food or aid from abroad. In fact, it was providing aid to other weaker nations, he added. “We have had to rely upon war material from other countries but slowly we aim to become self-reliant in making our own weapon systems with cutting edge technology. Already, ₹3,000 crore worth of defence equipment is being made in India,” the Punjab governor said.

On India’s space programme, Badnore said the country had proved that It was competent to reach targets in space, was evolving its own global positioning system and had the ability to watch its frontiers and beyond with its satellite systems. “We are in the process of making the Indian ocean militarily safe for our country, secure our island territories and our maritime traffic,” he added.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Punjab tourism and cultural affairs minister, Charanjit Singh Channi, said the MLF was an appropriate platform where youngsters were being inspired by decorated officers of the Indian Army.

In his address, GOC, Western Command, Lt General RP Singh, said that it was a matter of great pride and honour to be fully involved and associated with the festival right from its inception in 2017.

Badnore also honoured Subedar Major Yogendra Singh Yadav, who was awarded the highest military honour,the Param Vir Chakra, for action in Kargil.

The senior advisor to Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Lt General Tejinder Singh Shergill (retd), assertedthat MLF would go a longway in imbibing a spirit of patriotism and nationalism among youngsters.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included ex-Chief of Army Staff, Gen VP Malik (retd), ex-Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa and former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba.

HT Correspondent

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday claimed that the situation in the Kashmir valley is normal and maintained that a decision on releasing detained political leaders will be taken by the local administration. Shah’s assertion that the central government will not interfere in the matter came after Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked the government when political leaders, including sitting Lok Sabha member and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, would be released.

“There is no need to keep anyone in jail even for a day more than that is required. As and when the local administration feels the time is appropriate, they will be released. Unlike in the past during Congress governments, there will be no interference from our side,” Shah told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour

Shah also cited the 11-year detention of National Conference leader and Farooq Abdullah’s father, the Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, by the Congress government in the 1950s-1960s. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was arrested on August 9, 1953, in the Kashmir conspiracy case and on April 8, 1964, the state government dropped all charges and released him.

“But we will not follow their footsteps and the leaders will be released soon,” he added.

Apart from Farooq Abdullah, two other former chief ministers, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, along with several other political leaders have been detained since August 4, a day before the government nullified Article 370 that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union territories — Jand K and Ladakh .

Asked when the situation will return to normal, Shah shot back, “It is not normalcy for Congress even though no bullet was fired in the valley. At least 99.5% students appeared for exams but for Adhir Ranjanji this is not normalcy. At least 7 lakh people availed medical services in Srinagar. Curfew and Section 144 have been lifted from everywhere. But for Adhirji only parameter for normalcy is political activity. What about local body polls which were held?”

Chowdhury also pointed out that a Congress delegation, led by Rahul Gandhi, had not allowed to visit the Kashmir valley. Gandhi was present in the House.

The union home minister also attacked the Congress for predicting bloodshed after the abrogation of Article 370.

Barkha Dutt

The government insists that the amended new law on citizenship (the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA) is not anti-Muslim. In fact, it claims that Indian Muslims are not even impacted by the legislation. Its stormtroopers on social media have been deployed to vociferously argue that those criticising the revamped rules — I am among them — are begrudging fast-track protection to persecuted religious minorities from neighbouring countries.

This is sophistry. It is also a convenient and deliberate cherry-picking of facts. To understand why India has just passed a highly discriminatory and blatantly prejudiced law, you must juxtapose the citizenship legislation with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s avowal of implementing an all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Home minister Amit Shah has already declared that the NRC will help push out all “infiltrators” from India. In that case, the religion of the “infiltrators” should not matter, should it? An illegal migrant or outsider is an outsider, irrespective of whether she is Christian, Muslim, Sikh or Hindu, right? Well, not according to the BJP’s ideological and political calculations.

These calculations first went awry in Assam — the present epicentre of the protests against the CAA — when the court-supervised NRC experiment ended in results that were politically inconvenient for the party.

About 1.9 million people found themselves excluded from the NRC in Assam, but these were not just Muslim migrants from Bangladesh — the suddenly stateless included lakhs of Hindus as well. What may now happen is something like this. The citizenship law will throw a protective shield over the disenfranchised non-Muslims; the Muslim migrants will then be left to appeal before the foreigners’ tribunals. The new law also offers legal immunity to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan from jail, deportation and other criminal proceedings. In other words, the only people in internment centres will likely be Muslim migrants.

The twin projects of the CAA and NRC will fundamentally change India and the nation we have always prided ourselves on being. The government has presented the CAA as an act of generosity, but when it will be weaponised by the NRC, it will become a merciless instrument of bigotry. For those who say that this does not impact India’s 200 million Muslim citizens, let me ask, how can you be untouched by the signalling that there is now a hierarchy of faiths among our people?

If refugees have been living in abject conditions of poverty and statelessness — and I myself have met Hindus from Pakistan living for decades in dismal conditions in Rajasthan — and deserve the magnanimity of the Indian State, that should extend to all of them, irrespective of their religion. It should include Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus and persecuted Rohingyas of Myanmar. And if our national policy is that illegal entrants are infiltrators, overrunning our land and culture, and stretching our already tight resources, then that too should apply to all of those who come into India without papers and documentation and visas. How can the BJP argue this both ways?

It can, because very few outside the fishbowl of politicians and journalists have understood the linkages between the citizenship law and the NRC. The former, without the latter, is politically pointless. And once you join the dots between the two, it’s more than clear. Like we saw in Assam, we will all have to prove our Indianness, the poorest among us will be the hardest-hit, and the Muslims among us will be on the very margins.

The eruption in the Northeast, especially in Assam, is a timely reminder to the BJP about how complex a country ours is. The notion of the “outsider” is not just defined by religion alone. In Assam, they want both the Muslims and Bengali Hindus who came in after 1971 to go back. In other parts of the east, there is similar hostility towards the Chakmas. In an area where there are more than 200 indigenous communities, ethnicity, language, and culture are as emotive, and, sometimes more, than religion. For these protesters, the new law overturns the Assam Accord that set the cut off for citizenship at 1971, instead of 2014.

There is also the irony that the BJP, which declared a “One Nation, One Law” principle, while abrogating Kashmir’s special status, is unable to apply the citizenship law uniformly to the Northeast and has to create several exemptions. It is a lesson in the governance of India. Saying something in a manifesto is easier than doing it.

And it begs the question. Why do it at all? Why create a crisis from two decades of peace; why fix what isn’t broken; why upend the very idea of nationhood that distinguishes India from its neighbours; and why bring religion into who can be Indian or not?

The CAA plus NRC equation will change not just the arithmetic but the very philosophy of India.

Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author

The views expressed are personal

Several people were heard at the market saying they even got dressed for office after the reports of curfew relaxations. However, schools and offices remained shut.