The Tribune – Jobless linemen, teachers storm into Sangat Darshan

Balwant Garg, Tribune News Service

Lambi (Muktsar), October 23. Till some days back, former Punjab Chief Minster Surjit Singh Barnala was not “important” enough to require a comment in the political speeches of SAD (B) in this area. But now for the past few days after Barnala joined hands with Manpreet Badal, forming the Sanjha Morcha, while the Congress has been relegated to second position, the frontrunners are Barnala and Manpreet in the Akalis political diatribes.

Time and again, Badal claimed that the Sanjha Morcha has no political or social base, but now he is dubbing both Manpreet and Barnala as traitors and political defectors, bereft of credibility.

The people will teach these defectors a lesson, said Badal, while addressing a public gathering during the Sangat Darshan programme in Lambi constituency villages today. “People know that if these leaders were not faithful to their own party than how they can be faithful to them”, Badal said.

It was only after a bitter verbal attack on Manpreet and Barnala that the CM turned to the Congress-led UPA government, blaming it for all problems confronting Punjab.

Criticising the Congress, Badal alleged the party was hand in glove with petroleum companies to the disadvantage of the common man. He said 30 per cent increase in the petroleum prices during the current regime of UPA speaks about the ideology of the government which claims to be the votary of the common man.

However, the Chief Minister avoided the reply to a question about Punjab charging maximum, 33.36 per cent VAT and sales tax, on petrol in the country. Though the CM blamed the Congress for unemployment in the country but Badal himself faced a protest by unemployed youths today during the Sangat Darshan programme in Middu Khera. Over one dozen unemployed linemen barged into the barricaded and cordoned-off area and raised slogans against the state government and the CM.

While the police had just controlled the linemen, another batch of protestors, led by three unemployed women computer teachers, entered the Sangat Darshan area, demanding the CM to provide them employment. The police faced a tough time in controlling the protestors and rounded up 50 of them.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111024/punjab.htm#6

The Asian Age – Woman hanged, beaten, burnt on pyre

Bhopal, 24 October 2011. A married woman who tried to elope with her Dalit lover met a gruesome death when her husband and in-laws tried to hang her, set her on fire as she was hanging and then put her out on a burning pyre in Madhya Pradesh, police said on Monday.

The dance of death – yet another instance of honour killing – played out for two hours in Lahar village of Murena district, police said. Murena is over 450km from the state capital.

Guddi, wife of Dhaniram, had fled with her lover. She was caught and her husband and in-laws killed her October 20 morning, police said. However, villagers did not let the matter reach the police.

Only on Sunday was an FIR registered after the woman’s father complained.

Police said the woman was first hung from a tree. But on finding that she was still breathing, she was beaten up, doused with kerosene oil and set on fire.

Since the fire was not lit properly, they finally laid her on a pyre and burnt her to death, police said.

The entire act played out over two hours near Bhumia Baba Temple in the village and the whole village watched, police said.

“Four people have been made accused in the case, including the woman’s husband. I have got information that one of them was arrested too. However, I don’t have much details right now about the arrested person,” Murena Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar Singh told IANS.

http://www.asianage.com/india/woman-hanged-beaten-burnt-pyre-467

The Netherlands : Den Haag – Rotterdam – Amsterdam 2 till 12 September 2011

Mostly pictures of gurdwaras, trains and trams taken during my recent visit to the Netherlands

Pictures taken on 7 September, Regentesselaan, Paul Krugerlaan, Loosduinsekade

HTM tram 12 to Station Holland Spoor

Southbound HTM RandstadRail TramTrain 3

HTM RandstadRail TramTrain 3 and HTM Tram 12

RandstadRail TramTrain 3 stuck at points, Duindorp bound Tram 12 stuck behind RandstadRail TramTrain and the junction gridlocked. It took long enough for me to take this picture, but not long enough to result in chaos.

Belgium and Netherlands public transport pictures at :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622685920411/  

More Netherlands pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Imran Khan: For Pakistanis, US bigger enemy than India

New York, October 23. The US is now perceived as a “bigger enemy” in Pakistan than India, cricketer-turned- politician Imran Khan has said, while voicing concern that his country is “petrified” it could be bombed every time a terror attack takes place in India, US or Europe.

Khan further said that no amount of confidence-building measures will help India and Pakistan if intelligence agencies from the two countries “interfere” in each other’s business. “No matter how far we go with confidence-building measures, one act like Mumbai will bring us back to square one,” he said.

Addressing a gathering of students at Columbia Journalism School here, Khan said thanks to the American policy in Pakistan, a majority of Pakistanis now perceive the US to be a bigger enemy than India.

“What the American policy has achieved in Pakistan is something which is almost impossible to imagine. About 80 per cent of Pakistanis perceive the US to be a bigger enemy than Indians even though Pakistan and India have fought four wars,” he said. “Today America is perceived as a bigger enemy, yet we are supposed to be allies.”

On whether he thinks India is an “existential threat” to Pakistan, Khan said “no I don’t think so.” (PTI)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111024/main6.htm

Dawn – Indian helicopter forced to land

By Iftikhar A Khan

Islamabad, 24 October 2011. Pakistan on Sunday forced an Indian army helicopter to land for having violated its airspace, but later allowed the four officers on board and the helicopter to return after interrogating the officers for a couple of hours, military sources said.

They said a lieutenant colonel, two majors and a junior commissioned officer (JCO) were on board the Lama helicopter belonging to the Aviation Corps of the Indian army. The helicopter was deep inside Pakistani territory when it was intercepted and forced to land in the Olding-Kargil sector near the Line of Control (LoC).

Reuters news agency quoted Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas as saying: “The helicopter and four officers on board returned around 5.30pm (1230 GMT) after a contact between the director-general military operations of the two countries.”

The Indian defence ministry said the helicopter had returned to Kargil in Indian-ruled Kashmir. “The issue has been resolved,” the ministry’s spokesman, Sitanshu Kar, said.

Indian officials said the helicopter had strayed into Pakistani territory because of bad weather.

“The swift release of the helicopter shows both countries do not want to derail the peace process. Otherwise it could have turned into a major crisis,” security analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said.

“The helicopter was some 20 kilometres inside Pakistan’s territory when it was intercepted and forced to land near Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, at about 1pm,” an official of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said.

During the interrogation, the crew members said the helicopter had strayed because of bad weather and no deliberate attempt had been made to intrude the airspace.

Though Indian planes have violated Pakistan’s airspace in the past as well, it was perhaps for the first time that a chopper was forced to land. It was also the first violation of the country’s airspace by India, after the May 2 raid by US Navy Seals in Abbottabad which led to the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The incident took place at a time when relations between the two South Asian neighbours have seen an improvement in recent months.

Sources said India had been immediately informed about the incident and an investigation was under way to see if it was a mistake or a deliberate attempt to test Pakistan’s defence capabilities.

An official said on the condition of anonymity that in normal circumstances, crew members of a hostile country were not freed in hours, but it had been done to give benefit of doubt because Pakistan did not want to vitiate the atmosphere and derail the composite dialogue process.

The sources said a PAF plane scrambled immediately after spotting the helicopter and at the same time the Air Defence, through its communication system, warned those on board that they would come under fire if they tried to escape.

Directors General Military Operations of the two countries established contact during which the Indian side said it had violated the airspace by mistake.

http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/24/indian-helicopter-forced-to-land.html