HT Correspondents

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : Police enforced an unprecedented crackdown in large parts of the Capital on Thursday — ordering a prohibition on assembly, switching off mobile connectivity, shutting down Metro stations, and detaining people who defied the ban on demonstrations — to quell protests against a new citizenship law that has roiled India.

The restrictions led to people going without mobile phone services for four hours in the city, a first, being forced to disembark three Metro stations before their destination and walking to offices in central Delhi, and stuck for nine hours in the worst traffic snarl in Gurugram since 2016.

Thousands of people still swamped the streets on a grey misty morning and demanded the government roll back the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, which opens an easy route to naturalisation for “persecuted minorities” from three Muslim-majority countries.

Within an hour of people gathering at 9am, columns of police personnel started bundling protesters into buses outside Red Fort and Mandi House, transporting scenes of crowd control measures familiar in the country’s restive frontier states to the heart of India’s Capital. Television visuals showed protesters being dragged into buses and dropped off in the outer fringes of the city.

Section 144, which prevents the assembly of four or more people, was clamped from Red Fort in north Delhi to Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in the south; Seelampur in north-east Delhi to Mayur Vihar in the east; and the New Delhi area.

Many officers admitted that this was the first time in at least three decades — going back to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots — that prohibitory orders were issued for such a large area in Delhi.

At least 20 metro stations spanning the length and breadth of Delhi — from Vishwavidyalaya in the north to Central Secretariat in central Delhi and Munirka in the south — were shut down between 9am and 7pm. Even the arterial Rajiv Chowk station, which handles around 300,000 passengers daily, was closed for four hours.

Police also ordered four major service providers — Airtel, Vodaphone-Idea, Reliance Jio and MTNL — to switch off internet, messaging and voice call services in parts of north, central, north-east and south-east Delhi at 9am. This is the first time that the measure – currently enforced across some parts in five states, especially in Assam – was implemented in the city. Services were restored after 1pm.

According to an annual study of Freedom House, a US-based non-profit research organisation, India is the country with the worst record of government-mandated internet shutdowns in the world — including a four-month-long suspension of services in Kashmir since August.

Police barricaded the Delhi-Gurugram highway early on Thursday morning, triggering a major traffic jam that cost many commuters up to nine hours on the road and forced airlines to cancel 19 flights because both passengers and flight crew were stuck on the road.

Another 250 flights were affected. The ensuing jam was the worst since the so-called Guru Jam that lasted 20 hours in 2016 and forced authorities to implement major traffic and infrastructure changes.

Police said the restrictions were needed to prevent violence seen at two previous demonstrations in Seelampur and Jamia Nagar.

On Sunday, a mob torched buses in south Delhi and police using tear gas on protesters gathered near Jamia Millia Islamia. At least 21 people were injured and 20 vehicles damaged when a protest of around 2,000 people turned violent in Seelampur on Tuesday.

Delhi Police spokesperson, MS Randhawa, said the telecommunication services were temporarily suspended to prevent fake messages. “We had inputs that some outsiders were spreading rumours to mobilise crowd. We are monitoring social media posts and will take action against rumour mongers,” he added.

But protesters, many of whom walked back or hitched rides to Jantar Mantar from outer Delhi, contended that the orders were aimed at muzzling dissent. “It is shameful how the government wants to suppress any form of dissent. They want to turn the Capital into Kashmir,” said JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh.

HT Correspondent

chandigarh@hindustantimes.com

Mohali : : As many as 25 former cadets of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI), Mohali, who joined the National Defence Academy(NDA) and Indian Military Academy (IMA) this year were felicitated with ’Achiever Awards’ on Wednesday in a ceremony held at the Institute.

Air Marshal GP Singh, (Retd) was the chief guest on the occasion.

Special prizes were given to the cadets who excelled in various fields including academics and sports. The academics trophy was won by BCA Manraj Singh; the best officer like qualities trophy was won by CSM Bimalroop Singh and the sports trophy was won by Cadet Kushal Sharma.

The best all-round cadet of the seventh course was BCC Harshit Bakshi.

PT badges were awarded to the cadets of the eighth and ninth courses who are currently undergoing training at the Institute.

Air Marshal GP Singh advised the cadets to continue their hard work and bring further laurels to their alma mater. AFPI director Major General BS Grewal congratulated the cadets on their performance.

Admission process for the Tenth AFPI course commencing in April 2020 is currently in progress. AFPI aspirants may apply by 3 Jan for the entrance exam which is to be held on Jan 19, 2020.

AFPI has been established by the state government in 2011. Its first batch completed training in 2013. The institute has sent 134 cadets to NDA and other service academies till date.

This year, the institute has sent 25 cadets to NDA/other academies and 23 cadets of AFPI have earned their commission in the Armed Forces.

The total number of commissioned officers from the first three batches is now 58.

As many as 37 cadets of the eighth course currently training at AFPI have already cleared the UPSC entrance exam for NDA and will be going for services selection board interviews soon.

Sonika Sethi

My mother always wanted me to marry an army officer. I don’t know why but I certainly know why I couldn’t comply.

I was a small town girl, low on confidence and an introvert. I could never imagine myself being married to a man belonging to the armed forces. Moving from one city to another especially to metros was my Achilles’ heel. I don’t know if there is a phobia dedicated to my condition of the fear of big cities.

Studying in one of the popular convents of town, we had a considerable influx of army officers’ children and many of the officers’ wives took up teaching assignments in our school. The way these women and children acclimatised themselves to the changed environs and places, left me awestruck. The awe invariably played a hindrance in my striking a close friendship with them. However, the observer in me, beyond doubt, studied them as subjects of interest.

Soon I realised that life was not all rosy for the families of the men in uniform, especially their wives. Moving from one place to another at a regular interval is tough. Looking at the brighter side, they would enthusiastically say it made them adaptable and pan-Indian. When one of my classmates from the army background would inform me that her father has been posted to a non-family station and they are staying back, my heart would go out to the lady who was supposed to take care of her family single-handedly. I admired these ladies for their grit.

As a person who likes to stick to one’s roots, at times I reflected if these women felt any emotional discomfort leaving a particular station or a set of friends. It also came to my knowledge that sometimes they get postings at places which can hardly boast of comfortable surroundings or social life. The credit goes to these women for making the best of the worst situations.

Apart from a high level of emotional stability, these ladies are supposed to possess a number of skills that include being a pillar of strength to not only their own families but also to the families of hundreds of men of the units. They have to work for the development and empowerment of the wives of the jawans.

Socially, they are considered to be good managers and hostesses. In school, I observed the army officers’ wives could be easily distinguished from the rest of the teachers with the way they carried themselves with grace and poise and even in their social manners. Everything about them bespoke of confidence and élan.

A woman donning so many hats and playing myriad roles cannot be an ordinary woman. It takes a lot of strength, courage and valour to be the wife of a man who serves the nation by being in the forces. The men can be out there on the frontiers protecting the nation only because they are convinced that their families are in safe hands of such gutsy women. It is from them that they draw the power to make overwhelming sacrifices for the country. Bravo to these women behind our heroes in uniform!

sonrok15@gmail.com

The writer is an Ambala-based college teacher