The Tribune – Bathinda court summons Dera Sacha Sauda chief

Gurdeep Singh Mann, Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 2. The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate today summoned Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a case of allegedly hurting Sikh community’s sentiments by wearing clothes similar to Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.

A case was registered against the dera head on May 20, 2007 at the Kotwali police station on the complaint of Rajinder Singh Sidhu, president, Khalsa Diwan Gurdwara Singh Sabha.

Taking cognisance of the case and not agreeing with the earlier cancellation report of the FIR filed by the police, CJM Harjeet Singh summoned the dera head to appear before the court on May 10. Heavy police force was deployed around the court complex and in the city in the wake of dera chief’s case hearing today.

Sidhu said he was satisfied with the decision of the court which came after four years of long wait. He said it was now up to
the dera head to respond to the court orders.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120403/punjab.htm#19

The Tribune – SGPC faces a crisis never seen before

The mini-parliament of Sikhs has an executive to pass budget, but no House in place to approve it

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 2. The SGPC, known as the mini-parliament of Sikhs, is passing through an unprecedented crisis in its 92-year history as today it has an executive to pass the budget, but no General House to put a stamp of approval on it.

A day before the SGPC executive meeting, the SGPC has taken a U-turn and stated that its annual budget will be passed by only the executive and will not be placed before the General House for its approval, as it was claiming earlier. This has raised a big question as to whether merely passing of the budget by the executive can bring it into force.

What has led to the crisis

The crisis in which the SGPC finds today has its roots in the Punjab and Haryana High Court order dated December 20, 2011, in which the court quashed a 2003 Central notification denying Sehajdhari Sikhs the right to vote in the SGPC elections. The HC verdict came three days after the new SGPC House was notified by the Union government on December 17, 2011. Prior to it, the Supreme Court had made it clear that the results of the SGPC elections held on September 18, 2011 would be subject to the HC verdict on the voting rights to the Sehajdharis. Subsequently, the Centre did not convene the SGPC session to elect its office-bearers.

As per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, the office-bearers are to be elected within a month of the House being notified. The SGPC then moved the SC which allowed the new SGPC House to function on February 17. However, even after the SC verdict, the Centre did not hold the SGPC session. The SGPC moved the apex court again on March 20, seeking a clarification on its February 17 verdict after the Centre attributed the delay in holding the SGPC session to the legal tangle over the Sehajdhari row and dubbed the February 17 SC order as “ambiguous”.

Hearing the SGPC petition on March 30, the SC allowed the old SGPC executive (elected in November 2010) to manage gurdwaras and institutions under the SGPC till further orders. The executive committee of the SGPC is elected in November every year and the 2010 executive was the last panel elected in the old House. Therefore, the SC gave the powers to it while stating that the House elected in September 2011 without Sehajdhari Sikhs’ participation could not be allowed to hold its first meeting and elect office-bearers in the light of the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict that restored the voting rights of Sehajdharis. As a result, the new House of the SGPC cannot function now till further orders of the SC.

What will happen to the budget

As per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, the executive committee needs to place the annual budget before the General House and it shall be in the discretion of the House “to pass or reject such estimate or to modify or alter it and to pass it as so modified or altered”.

What legal experts have to say

Legal experts say the executive has no power to bring the budget into force without the nod of the House. Punjab and Haryana High Court lawyer Balwant Singh Guliani said the executive committee could merely run day-to-day affairs of the SGPC. “If the executive had the powers to pass the annual budget on its own what was the need to call a meeting of the General House before March 31 every year in the past? Also if the new House is under the scanner how can it be allowed to chalk out the future plans?” he said. Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission Chairman MS Brar also stated that the executive had no powers to pass the budget on its own. Even major expenses could be passed by it subject to the approval of the General House, he added.

What SGPC president Makkar has to say

SGPC chief Avtar Singh MakkarSGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said they would discuss and approve the budget proposals in tomorrow’s executive meeting. Regarding the approval of the General House, he said they were seeking a legal opinion in this regard. Earlier, the SGPC had stated that it would place the budget before the new SGPC House for approval after getting it passed by the executive. Sources said the annual budget of the SGPC was estimated to be around Rs 600 crore as compared to last year’s figure of around Rs 580 crore.

Sehajdharis say SC order being misread

Sehajdhari Sikh Federation president Dr PS Ranu said those at the helm of affairs in the SGPC were still misinterpreting the Supreme Court order and were misleading the public. Reacting to Makkar’s statement that the new House shall pass the budget, he said the court had never given any such directions. “The new House can start functioning only when the Central Government issues a notification for holding its first meeting under Section 54 of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925. Any such meeting held against the orders of the court shall tantamount to contempt of the apex court.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120403/punjab.htm#1

The Asian Age – VIP treatment to Jagir Kaur in jail, probe ordered

Chandigarh, 3 April 2012. Amid reports that VIP facilities, including an LCD TV, were being provided to Bibi Jagir Kaur, lodged
in Theh Kanjla Jail in Kapurthala in connection with the abduction case of her daughter, a top Punjab Prisons official on Tuesday ordered an inquiry into it.

Punjab DGP (Prisons) Shashi Kant also insisted that rules will be followed in the case. “I have ordered an inquiry and deputed an IG rank officer to conduct the probe. He will visit the jail and go into all the reports (talk of VIP treatment to Kaur). I don’t tolerate any non-sensical stuff and we don’t want any adverse publicity. Rules will have to be followed,” Kant told.

Kant further said that he had also shot off a letter to Kapurthala jail superintendent, S.P. Khanna, asking him to strictly follow the rules.

“My one-line instruction to him was that rules have to be observed. I am also sending a team for inspection to Kapurthala Jail. I have asked the Jail superintendent that rules have to be observed at all costs,” Kant said.

Asked to comment on reports that a 32-inch LCD TV and DTH dish antenna was installed in the jail on Monday, Kant said he had got it checked from Khanna and the Jail Superintendent told him that the article had not made its way inside the complex where prisoners are lodged.

“The Jail superintendent said the TV could have been purchased by someone living in the residential complex inside the jail complex. The outer gate of the jail is common and besides the Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent there are doctors and other staff who live in the residential quarters in the complex. It could have been for any of them,” he said.

When his attention was drawn to media reports that suggested that there was beeline of visitors who wanted to meet 57-year-old Kaur, a SAD MLA who resigned as Punjab Cabinet Minister last week following her conviction, Kant said according to jail rules, friends and relatives can meet her.

“There is no specified number in jail manuals,” he said when asked how many people can meet her in a day. Jagir Kaur was last week sent to jail after she was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment by a CBI court for conspiring in forcible abortion and abduction in connection with the mysterious death of her teenaged daughter Harpreet Kaur 12 years ago.

To express solidarity with Kaur, a number of people including her supporters and SAD leaders, have been thronging the jail complex to have a meeting with her.

Kaur’s younger daughter Rajneet Kaur and son-in-law Yuvraj Singh were also reported to be by her side. Last week, Punjab Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira had demanded sacking of the jail officials for allegedly touching the feet of Jagir Kaur after her conviction and sentencing in a case.

Khaira, the former Congress legislator, had alleged that jail officials, in both uniform and plain clothes, touched her feet.

There were reports that each day hundreds of cars could be seen parked outside the jail complex as there was heavy rush of visitors to meet Jagir Kaur, with one vehicle ferrying the elderly inside the jail after they alight from their cars outside.

Some people were also bringing lots of fruits with them for Jagir Kaur, a visitor who had gone to meet the jailed leader, told
reporters outside the jail, adding that surplus fruits were later distributed among other jail inmates. Kaur was the lone woman member in the 18-member Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP ministry which was sworn in earlier this month. Kaur, who resigned as Minister on moral grounds, was, however, acquitted of murder charge against her. (PTI)

http://www.asianage.com/india/vip-treatment-jagir-kaur-jail-probe-ordered-812

19 February Home Sweet Home

My kitchen and my front door

My bed and my colourful UK made rajai

And I have one green plant !

The chair on which I never sit

My two cupboards with calendar art

To see more Belgium (mostly Limburg) pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622046344528/

More Belgium pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Myanmar on cusp of new era: Suu Kyi

Yangon, April 2. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi today hailed a “new era” for Myanmar and called for political unity
after her party swept to victory in elections seen as a test of budding reforms.

The dramatic political changes were accompanied by the quasi-civilian government’s most radical economic reform yet, an overhaul of the country’s complex currency regime. Suu Kyi supporters celebrated into the night after her National League for Democracy (NLD) party declared that the Nobel laureate had secured a seat in Parliament for the first time in yesterday’s bypoll.

The veteran activist’s election to political office, which was confirmed by state media, marks the latest sweeping change in the country formerly known as Burma after decades of outright military rule ended last year.

Suu Kyi struck a conciliatory tone towards the other political parties as she prepares to take her place in a parliament that will remain dominated by the military and its political allies.

State media said the NLD had won 40 of the 44 seats it contested, according to partial official results. In total, 45 seats were available. The results for the remaining five have not yet been officially announced. (AFP)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120403/main3.htm

Dawn – Gilgit violence leaves at least 10 dead, over 40 injured

Gilgit, 2 April 2012. At least 10 people were killed and another 40 were injured in clashes following a hand grenade attack amid curfew, confining the inhabitants to their homes, as the situation turned violent in the city.

The violence spreaded to Chilas as enraged mob killed four persons and torched four vehicles.

A large number of police and security forces arrived at the scene, while people injured in different firing incidents were shifted to District Headquarter Hospital.

Pakistan Army has been deployed to control the situation of the area.

Local administration has issued orders for the closure of all the government, non-government offices and educational institutions for an indefinite period.

According to details, Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ) was observing a shutter down strike for the release of their arrested leader Attaullah Saqib, who was taken into custody in the last week of March for alleged involvement in an incident in which some miscreants had opened fire on a procession soon after the Kohistan carnage.

The rioters ran amok when police refused to release some of their arrested colleagues allegedly involved in firing on a rally.

The enraged mob blocked the road by burning and incidents of aerial firing were also reported. Some unknown men hurled hand grenades at Ittehad Chowk that injured two policemen and a passerby.

The local administration is trying to control the situation, while curfew has been clamped the area for an indefinite period, but the gunshots can still be heard, restricting students and office workers to their respective institutes.

It is pertinent to mention here that a complete shutter-down strike was observed against the arrest of ASWJ leader Attaullah Saqib, who is said to be chief of Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) Gilgit chief.

“The unknown gunmen opened fire on a group of Sunnis while they were appealing to people to shut their shops in response to the strike call,” senior local police official Ali Sher told AFP.

In the February incident, gunmen disguised in military fatigues hauled 18 Shiite Muslim men off buses and shot them dead in cold blood in the northern district of Kohistan, which neighbours the Swat valley, a former Taliban stronghold.

A local intelligence official, who did not want to be identified, confirmed Tuesday’s death toll and also said a hand grenade had been used.

“But we still don’t know who the attackers were,” he said.

“What we can say at the moment is that tensions have been mounting high between Shiite and Sunni population in the area for the last many weeks.”

Gilgit is the capital of Pakistan’s far northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.

Human rights groups have heavily criticised the Pakistani government for failing to crack down on sectarian violence between the country’s majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslim communities that has killed thousands.

http://www.dawn.com/2012/04/03/at-least-five-killed-two-dozen-injured-in-gilgit-violence.html