Tarn Taran, April 5. A 40-year-old woman was allegedly raped at the Bhikhiwind police station by a head constable late last night. SSP Manminder Singh said the police had arrested Rajwinder Kaur of Balehar village along with her paramour Baljinder Singh in connection with the murder of her husband.
The accused, Paramjit Singh, raped Rajwinder last night.
He said Paramjit had been arrested and a case had been registered against him under Section 376 of the IPC.
Aditi Tandon, Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 5. Had it not been for a petition filed in the Supreme Court way back in 1995 by Paramjit Kaur of Amritsar, whose husband had gone missing, the truth of killings and mass cremations of thousands of young men in Punjab would have never come to light.
What later came to be known as the “Punjab mass cremation case” actually originated in Paramjit Kaur’s habeas corpus petition in the apex court wherein she sought production of her missing husband Jaswant Singh Khalra, one of the two men who first documented extra-judicial killings in the state during militancy days.
It was in fact a press note (detailing these killings) issued by Khalra and JS Dhillon, both members of Shiromani Akali Dal’s human rights wing, which served as a tipping point for the case that later revealed gory details before ending yesterday with the National Human Rights Commission’s awarding Rs 27.40 crore compensation to kin of 1513 victims who were identified out of 2097, cases pertaining to whom were probed.
The Tribune dug into the files of this 17-year-old case which started when the Supreme Court took cognisance of Kaur’s petition and another filed by Tapan Basu of the Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab. The first related to abduction and disappearance of Khalra and the second, to a press note dated November 16, 1995 issued by Dhillon and Khalra, general secretary of Akali Dal’s human rights wing. Khalra went missing soon as this press statement came out.
Captioned “Disappeared Cremation Grounds”, the press note contained investigations of the killings of 3100 men whose bodies were labelled as “unidentified” and cremated in three Punjab Police districts of Amritsar, Majitha and Tarn Taran.
The press note, which became the basis for a CBI and later an NHRC probe into the killings, stated, “Several bodies were cremated as unidentified in Punjab between June 1984 and December 1994 – 700 at Tarn Taran’s Municipal crematorium; 400 at Patti municipal crematorium and 2000 at Durgiana Mandir crematorium in Amritsar.”
Records of the court and NHRC, which The Tribune exclusively accessed, show that the Supreme Court awarded compensation to Kaur and took up the press note for investigation, directing the CBI to report back on its contents.
The court observed in its November 15, 1995 order, “This court cannot close its eyes to the contents of the press note stated to be investigated by Khalra and Dhillon. In case these are correct, it would be a gory tale of human rights violations. It is horrifying to visualise that bodies of thousands could be cremated unceremoniously by the police with a label – unidentified.
Contents of this press note are horrendous and we direct the CBI Director to investigate these.”
The CBI investigated 2097 bodies. In its fifth and final report to the SC submitted on December 9, 1996, CBI said, “585 bodies had been fully identified; 274 partially and 1238 are unidentified.”
Following the CBI’s report, the apex court, on December 12, 1996, invoked its powers under Article 32 of the Constitution, asking the NHRC to probe further. In all, out of 2097 bodies, 1513 were identified. Of these 1513, 109 involve young men who were in police custody when killed. These were later disposed of as unidentified. Their families were awarded Rs 2.50 lakh each as against 1.75 lakh to the families of those who were killed but were not in police custody prior to the killing.
(To be concluded)
Asian Age Correspondent
New Delhi, 6 April 2012. Keeping up the emphasis on modernisation, the ministry of defence (MoD) and armed forces have made a presentation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence on modernisation plans for the armed forces, including much-needed modernisation of the Army’s air-defence and artillery. Sources said the tri-services presentation was made by the MoD.
Sources said that with Pakistan continuing to be the epicentre of terror and with terror camps across the border continuing to function with impunity, the need for accelerating modernisation of the armed forces including more weapons for the infantry was put across. Recently, in the wake of the Army Chief’s letter to the Prime Minister on critical shortages of equipment in the Army, the MoD had also held a meeting to review progress on modernisation projects.
On Wednesday, defence minister A.K. Antony had also spelt out the modernisation programme for the Navy including induction of seven ships this year and five ships every year for the next few years from various shipyards. After induction of the nuclear-powered submarine INS Chakra on Wednesday — that was acquired on lease from Russia — India is also likely to eventually operate another 10 submarines by the end of this decade.
These will include six conventional Scorpene submarines that will be inducted in phases over the next few years and also the indigenous nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant that will undergo sea-trials this year. India is also likely to build two more indigenous nuclear-powered submarines.
The country could also acquire another nuclear-powered submarine on lease from Russia which is currently at a proposal stage.
http://www.asianage.com/india/army-lays-thrust-modernisation-620
On the 19th of February I went to Vilvoorde to introduce tw0 people of Internationaal Comité Brussel and Leuven to the president of the Vilvoorde Gurdwara
Vilvoorde – Lange Molenstraat
Arab Christian Church
Vilvoorde – Lange Molenstraat
Bakery delivery cart
Vilvoorde – Lange Molenstraat
Recently restored building
Vilvoorde – Lange Molenstraat
Town Hall
Vilvoorde – Lange Molenstraat
Carnival
This last picture was taken after my visit to the Gurdwara
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
Mohit Khanna, Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, April 5. With the arrest of three persons, the city police claims to have cracked the murder case of Balraj Singh Gill, DSP, Moga, and Monica Kapila. The two were found dead in a farmhouse in the Golf Link area near Hambran road on February 1.
The accused, identified as Harwinder Singh alias Binder, Pritpal Singh alias Ladoo and Umesh Karda — all residents of Talwara village located near the farmhouse — were arrested by the Haibowal police this morning. Another accomplice, Hassanji of Leha village near Sidhwan Bet, is absconding.
Besides gold ornaments and a purse, the police has seized three mobile phones belonging to Gill and Monica from the the accused.
The police said Harwinder Singh works as a security guard at Ayali Kalan and Pritpal Singh is a construction worker. Umesh is a videographer at a studio in the Clock Tower area.
Harwinder owned a pick-up truck, which the suspects allegedly used to move around in the area for snatching valuables.
Hassanji deals in sale and purchase of stolen vehicles. Sources said Hassanji lured the three suspects into carjacking and murder.
Sources said Pritpal Singh made contradictory statements during questioning by the special investigating team (SIT).
“It is too early to comment on the motive. We nabbed them only in the morning,” said Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh at a press conference. The police has seized an iron rod, a wooden log and a knife allegedly used in the crime.Police sources said the accused confessed to over a dozen snatchings and rapes.
The suspects, who were equipped with sharp weapons, trapped young couples visiting the Golf Link area. While one of them robbed the male, the other three would gangrape the woman, the police said.
“We are yet to ascertain if the accused are drug addicts. We are not ruling out the involvement of more persons in the murder of the DSP and Monica,” said the commissioner.
The Commissioner said on the evening of February 1, Umesh Karda saw Gill and Monica reach the farmhouse owned by Sanjay Agnihotri in their cars. He passed this information to his accomplices, including Pritpal and Harwinder.
Sources said before lifting the vehicles, they waited outside the house. When Gill and Monica came out and were locking the gate, the assailants attacked them with sharp weapons and dragged them inside the farmhouse.
As Balraj suffered injuries and was bleeding profusely, they made him sit on a sofa. Then, one of the suspects dealt the fatal blow on the head of the DSP. To ensure that the victim was dead, the suspects slit his throat.
Sources said the suspects then tried to rape Monica. When she resisted, they smashed her head against a wall killing her.
The suspects then fled the scene in the stolen vehicles. They assembled at Noorpur Bet where they switched off the mobile
phones so that the police could not trace them.
Soutik Biswas, Delhi correspondent
Thursday, 5 April 2012. Hope is not a policy, but neither is despair, as South Asia expert Stephen Cohen says in a recent essay on Pakistan.
So it is with relations between India and Pakistan.
The past few days have shown how fragile the relationship can be – even as India welcomed President Asif Ali Zardari’s private trip to India on Sunday – the first by a Pakistani head of state for seven years – and PM Manmohan Singh invited him for lunch, the $10m US bounty for Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, provoked the cleric to openly launch a fresh attack against India (and the US).
But people live in hope, so Indian media is gung-ho about Mr Zardari’s visit.
They say the Pakistani president must be applauded for trying to end trade discrimination against India, easing petroleum imports from across the border, and moving towards a liberal visa deal.
“Under Mr Zardari’s watch, India and Pakistan are considering a sweeping agenda for economic co-operation for the first time in decades. The prime minister has every reason to welcome Mr Zardari warmly and consider the next steps in consolidating the unexpected movement in bilateral relations,” the Indian Express wrote.
Analyst C Raja Mohan believes Mr Singh must make an official trip to Pakistan after his meeting with Mr Zardari. “For his part,” he wrote, “Mr Singh should convey to Mr Zardari his readiness to move as fast and as far as the Pakistan president is willing to go.” Others like Jyoti Malhotra actually find Mr Zardari’s visit to the shrine of a famous Sufi Muslim saint in Rajasthan loaded with symbolism in these troubled times. “Clearly, Mr Zardari has stolen an imaginative moment from the bitter-sullen history of India-Pakistan, by asking to come to pay his respects to a cherished and much-beloved saint across the Indian subcontinent,” she wrote.
The relations between two neighbours remain complex. A 2010 Pew survey found 53% of the respondents in Pakistan chose India as the greater threat to their country, and only 26% chose the Taliban and al-Qaeda. At the same time 72% said it was important to improve relations with India, and about 75% wanted more trade relations and talks with India.
Pundits like Mr Cohen believe that it will “take the [Pakistan] army’s compliance, strong political leadership, and resolutely independent-minded foreign ministers to secure any significant shift of approach towards India”.
None of this appears to be in much evidence at the moment.
Both countries have seriously weakened governments that makes them unable to move towards any radical confidence building measures. In the current circumstances, President Zardari’s visit can only be a small bonus.
And as scholars like Kanti Bajpai suggest, India must remain patient (even if faced with another Mumbai-style attack), continue to engage with Islamabad, help the civilian government in Pakistan politically, try to resolve a few outstanding disputes like Siachen and Sir Creek, build a relationship with the army and explore the possibility of cooperating with Islamabad on the future of Afghanistan. Despair does not help mend a stormy relationship.
