The Tribune – Makkar courts controversy

Puneet Pal Singh Gill, Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 15. A video of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar using derogatory language for former Akal Takht Jathedar Ranjit Singh is making rounds on social networking site Facebook these days.

Uploaded on Youtube and other social networking sites a few days ago, the video was shot when Makkar was replying to a question related to his petrol expenses.

The video, titled as “Dekh Hamaara Haal…”, was uploaded by a user named Satpalsinghk on September 10. It has been viewed by 14,484 people till date.

In the video, Makkar, is seen talking to someone over the phone and is passing derogatory remarks against Bhai Ranjit Singh, former Akal Takht Jathedar and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna.

He even accused Bhai Ranjit Singh of grabbing SGPC property and says that he would bury him into earth.

Bhai Ranjit Singh said that the property, which Makkar is accusing him of grabbing, was given to him after passing a resolution. “If they (SGPC) pass another resolution that they want this property (house) back, I would return it that very day. And regarding the issue of burying me in earth, I laugh when I hear that Makkar is making these statements,” he said.

Commenting on the issue, Makkar said he was reacting sharply because Sarna and his group were levelling baseless allegations on him. “When they didn’t find anything wrong against me, they have started uploading such videos over the internet. I didn’t use such language intentionally and maybe I was not in a good mood at the time when this video was made. Who is Sarna to comment on it.” when everyone knows the kind of language he uses,” said Makkar.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110916/punjab.htm#9

The Tribune – House resolution on Bhullar unlikely

Jangveer Singh, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 15. An attempt by the Shiromani Akali Dal to pass a resolution in the state assembly demanding commuting of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar’s death sentence to life imprisonment is unlikely to see the light of day with the Punjab BJP not playing ball.

Punjab BJP sources said they would oppose any such resolution, as it would amount to adoption of double standards by the party at the Centre and the state. The BJP has demanded that the death sentence awarded to Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru be carried out and it cannot be seen to be taking an opposite stand in case of Bhullar.

Punjab BJP legislature party leader and Local Government Minister Tikshan Sud said the SAD had not held any discussion on the issue.

He said the party had a consistent stand on the issue irrespective of the names involved. He, however, said if the SAD proposed adoption of a resolution favouring life imprisonment for Bhullar, the state unit would take a stand after referring the matter to its high command.

Veteran BJP leader Balramji Das Tandon, however, was more blunt. He said the BJP had made it clear that it was not in favour of remission of the death sentence. Tandon said, moreover, there could not be any soft corner for militants as Bhullar, too, was responsible for many deaths.

Tandon said a coalition did not mean that views of both parties should be the same on every issue. He said the government was running as per a common minimum programme and that both parties could have different opinions on various issues.

Meanwhile, sources said that under the present circumstances, the government might not table the resolution in the forthcoming assembly session. With Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal already announcing the government’s intention to table a resolution in this regard, the government might go in for some other measure to express solidarity with Bhullar.

Earlier, veteran leader and party incharge for Punjab Shanta Kumar had also claimed that the party would not back the mercy plea of any militant.

The situation is likely to embarrass the Akalis as Pradesh Congress President Captain Amarinder Singh has spoken out in favour of commuting Bhullar’s death sentence. Various Sikh bodies, including the Dal Khalsa and the All Indian Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), have also urged the government to pass a resolution to this effect. Bhullar was convicted for carrying out a bomb blast in 1993 in New Delhi aimed at the then president of the Youth Congress, Maninderjit Singh Bitta. Though Bitta survived, nine people were killed in the blast. The President has rejected his mercy petition.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110916/punjab.htm#3

The Asian Age – Initiative of back-bencher UK MPs: MeA

Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 16 September 2011. A decision by the British House of Commons to debate the alleged violation of human rights in the Kashmir Valley has left India fuming. India said that it has taken “due note of the proposed debate” and that it has sufficient mechanisms within its democratic framework to address any aberrations that there might be in its democratic framework.

The debate in the House of Commons which was slated for Thursday has been prompted by an Amnesty International report on alleged human rights violations in the Valley. It has been called by Conservative MP Steve Baker and is on the topic “Human Rights in Indian sub-continent”.

The official spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, when asked about the proposed debate on Thursday said, “We take due note of the proposed debate in the UK House of Commons which we believe is an initiative of back-bencher MPs and does not reflect the position fo the UK government.”

http://www.asianage.com/india/initiative-back-bencher-uk-mps-mea-338

Visit to the UK from 17 till 27 June 2011

On Friday June 17 I went by Eurostar to London St Pancras and from there to the house of my brother Amrik Singh in Hayes, Middlesex, just west of Southall. In the coming weeks I will post pictures of this visit. Monday 27 June I went back to Sint-Truiden, Belgium.

25 June, Sue Brooks ordination, Rochester Cathedral

25 June, Sue Brooks ordination, Rochester Cathedral

25 June, Sue Brooks ordination, Rochester Cathedral

25 June, Rochester Station

To see my UK Public Transport pictures go to :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157611244941713/

More UK pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
 Man in Blue

The Tribune – ‘Illegal’ plying of buses; Lokpal orders inquiry against Badals

Naveen S Garewal, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 15. Punjab Lokpal Justice DS Dhaliwal (retd) today ordered an inquiry into the complaint pertaining to the alleged “illegal” plying of air-conditioned buses by the family of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on 73 routes.

The Lokpal, after taking into account the preliminary evidence in a case filed under the Punjab Lokpal Act 1966, directed the IG (Lokpal) to submit a report by November 1.

The petition was filed on September 2 by one Arvind Thakur against the Chief Minister by name, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Transport Secretary D S Jaspal.

Arguing the case before the court, the petitioner said that the Chief Minister and his family members had used their authority to circumvent procedure by securing a notification that allowed air-conditioned buses running from various points in Punjab to enter Chandigarh, thereby denying the UT Administration a huge amount of revenue in permit tax.

Giving the background of the case to The Tribune, the complainant said that nearly 150 buses enter Chandigarh from Punjab daily without the requisite permission required under Section 100 of the Motor Vehicle Act and the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. The petition says that on September 9, 2007, Badal wrote a confidential letter to the then Punjab Governor General S F Rodrigues (retd) asking him to allow buses from Punjab to ply on 73 routes and terminate at Chandigarh. The same was granted.

At a time when the then UT Home Secretary Krishan Mohan had relinquished charge and the new incumbent Ram Niwas was yet to take over, the Badals ‘manipulated’ to get the then Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar officiate as the UT Transport Secretary and made him issue a notification regularising the plying of buses into Chandigarh.

The complainant then approached the Special Vigilance Court at Chandigarh and got an observation that the notification was done in haste. The case was then made before the CBI which found that no permission was sought from the Government of India.

After going through the details of the argument, the Punjab Lokpal ordered that an inquiry be conducted and its report be submitted in a time-bound manner.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110916/main5.htm

BBC News – Pakistan attack: Bomb ‘kills 20′ at Lower Dir funeral

15 September 2011

At least 20 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on the funeral of a tribal elder in north-west Pakistan, police say.

More than 45 others were wounded in the blast in Lower Dir near the Afghan border, the local police chief said.

He told the BBC some villagers at the funeral belonged to an anti-Taliban militia and may have been the target.

No group has said it carried out the bombing. The area has seen many militant attacks in the past.

Funerals of tribal leaders in the north-west have been targeted by militants before, and there have been many attacks on anti-Taliban tribal forces.

On Tuesday, gunmen ambushed a school bus near the north-western city of Peshawar, killing six. The militants claimed responsibility, saying the children were from a pro-government tribe.

‘Pools of blood’

Samarbagh, the district where the latest attack took place, is an area where locals have raised tribal volunteer militias to defend themselves against Taliban attacks, the BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says.

Lower Dir police chief Mohammad Saleem Marwat told the BBC that early reports indicated the Samarbagh incident was a suicide attack, possibly aimed at anti-Taliban militiamen.

“The funeral was that of an ordinary villager, but some participants of the funeral who belonged to a local tribal volunteer force opposed to the Taliban may have been the target,” he said.

Reports from the village of Peerlo where the attack took place said at least 100 people were at the funeral. The attacker blew himself up as mourners were preparing for prayers.

“I could see pools of blood everywhere,” one local man, Zahoor Khan, told the AFP news agency.

“People were collecting the remains of the dead in bed sheets.”

Lower Dir borders the Swat valley from where the Pakistani army ousted Taliban militants in 2009.

Taliban chased out of Swat and Dir regions are reported to have set up bases in Afghanistan, just across the border from Dir.

These sanctuaries became possible when American forces deployed in Afghanistan vacated their bases in Kunar and Nuristan provinces a year ago, our correspondent says.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14930409