The Tribune – Suicides by debt-trapped Farmers; Human rights panel seeks report from government

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 29. Taking cognisance of the news report, “In Punjab, three farmers kill selves every two days,” published in The Tribune on May 27, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) today registered a complaint and sought a report from the state government.

The report had said that an estimated 5,000 farmers and farm labourers had committed suicide in Punjab between 2000 to 2010 because of financial reasons.

“The news item has been considered by the Full Commission. Let it be registered as a complaint. A report under Section 17(i) of the Protection of Human Rights Act be called for from the Principal Secretary to the Government of Punjab, Department of Home, well before July 23, 2012, on which date the case shall come up before the Commission for further consideration,” the PSHRC directed.

The report was based on the findings of a government commissioned survey conducted by three universities – Punjabi University, Patiala; Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

The commission has also taken cognisance of another news report, “Punjab’s aided schools face staff shortage,” published in The Tribune last week. While registering it as a complaint, it called for a report on the issue from the Principal Secretary, Department of Education.

The report had said that the studies of more than five lakh students was being hit with aided schools were being run with less than half the sanctioned staff strength.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120530/punjab.htm#6

The Tribune – Sarabjit makes fresh clemency appeal to Zardari

Islamabad, May 29. Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, convicted for his alleged role in bomb attacks in Pakistan in 1990, has sent a fresh clemency appeal to President Asif Ali Zardari, a media report said today.

This is the fifth mercy petition from Sarabjit, who was sentenced to death for a string of bombings that killed 14 persons. The 49-year-old Indian is being held at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. He has been on death row for over 20 years.

Sarabjit’s fresh petition, which includes a document with signatures of 1,00,000 Indians, urges Zardari to reciprocate the recent release of Pakistani virologist Khalil Chishti by India, The Express Tribune reported.

Chishti, who was convicted in a murder case in 1992, was recently freed on bail by India’s Supreme Court.The court, subsequently, allowed him to visit Pakistan to meet his family. Attached to Sarabjit’s mercy petition are two letters addressed to Zardari by Delhi’s Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari and Syed Muhammad Yamin Hashmi, caretaker of the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

Sarabjit’s counsel Owais Sheikh said his client had written a two-page letter to be sent to the President. “I’ve forwarded both the petition and the letter to President Zardari.” In his letter to the President, Maulana Bukhari of the Jama Masjid pointed out that Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur had met him personally and provided “vital evidence” which proved Sarabjit’s innocence.

“Singh should be freed on humanitarian grounds, which will not only help in promoting goodwill between the two neighbours but will also result in promoting communal harmony among Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims of India,” Bukhari wrote. Sarabjit was set to be hanged in 2008 but the Pakistan put off his execution indefinitely after PM Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened. (PTI)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120530/punjab.htm#5

The Tribune – HC forms tribunal to probe land-grab cases in Punjab

About 60 VVIPs, including CM Badal and DGP Sumedh Saini, have acquired property in Mohali district

Saurabh Malik, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 29. In a move that could spell trouble for politicians, bureaucrats and top cops involved in grabbing land across Punjab, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the constitution of a three-member tribunal.

Headed by former Judge of the Supreme Court Justice Kuldip Singh, the tribunal would look into land-grab cases not just in Nayagaon and other villages on the Chandigarh periphery, but in the entire Punjab. Senior advocate P N Aggarwal, known for his knowledge about land-related matters, has been made the other member of the tribunal. The third member, a retired Sessions Judge, is yet to be appointed.

The directions are significant as the issue of influential persons acquiring land in Mohali district has been under the high court scanner since 2007. Punjab had, on a previous date of hearing, informed the Bench that about 60 influential persons, including Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, had acquired property in the area.

Issuing directions in an open court this morning, the Bench of Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Alok Singh also set a four-month deadline for the completion of the probe. The Bench, however, gave the tribunal the liberty to seek additional time after taking into consideration the enormity of the task.

The panel would identify whether land transferred to and acquired by individuals, top politicians, bureaucrats and cops, was at any point in time, public, shamlat, forest or nazul land. The tribunal would also probe as to how the ownership of such land was changed or mutated into private ownership.

Stressing on the need for constituting the tribunal, the Bench minced no words to verbally observe that a fair probe by a statutory functionary could not be expected, when the names of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and DGP Sumedh Singh Saini figured in the list of 60 influential persons possessing land in Mohali.

Before parting with the order, the Bench also directed the Punjab Government to provide necessary infrastructure, required staff and office space for the tribunal within two weeks.

The case hovers around the acquisition of properties by the high-ups in Nayagaon and its vicinity. The matter was brought to the high court’s notice by Nayagaon resident Kuldip Singh.

Accusing a senior police functionary in a land-grab bid in Nayagaon, he had sought protection, while praying for registration of an FIR and a CBI probe into the dealings. The inquiry was entrusted to Additional Director-General of Police Chandrasekhar, after Justice Ranjit Singh of the high court took cognisance of the matter.

Justice Ranjit Singh asked the ADGP to lay emphasis on Nayagaon, Zirakpur, Mohali, Kansal and the Koraran area. The Judge added: “It would also need investigation to see as to what is the source of acquisition.”

During the hearing of the case, Punjab had given a clean chit to its high and the mighty. The state claimed “except in seven cases, the land in possession of all other individuals was never government/public land”.

Questioning the veracity of the assertion, the Bench made clear its intention of directing for an independent probe through a tribunal or commission.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120530/main7.htm