JALANDHAR, Aug 13 — The Union Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, virtually made both the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and his detractor and the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Capt Amarinder Singh, eat a humble pie by clarifying today that there had never been a cut in the intake of Punjab youths in the Army.

Both Mr Badal and Capt Amarinder Singh have been demanding that the recruitment of Punjab youths in the Army should not be on the basis of percentage of population since the Punjabis had made ‘maximum’ contribution to the country’s freedom struggle and its wars with neighbouring countries. They had alleged that the state’s share in the Army had been reduced to 2.5 per cent since the population of the state constituted 2.5 per cent of the country’s total.

The Defence Minister also clarified that Point 5353, the highest feature in the Dras region, had never been in the control of India as had been reported in a section of the Press and that Point 5353, did not fall on the Indian side. In fact, the LoC crossed the 17397-feet-high peak, dividing Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

He indicated that he was not averse to devolution of powers in view of the Jammu and Kashmir tangle and was a votary for greater freedom and powers to civic bodies.

Referring again to the Army recruitment issue, Mr Fernandes said though a formula had been devised to decide the intake into the Army on the basis of population of states when Jagjivan Ram was the Defence Minister, it had never been applied in the case of Punjab and there was no ceiling on recruitment of Punjab youths into the Army. “It is open for Punjab youths and will remain so in the future,” asserted Mr Fernandes in response to the demand made by Mr Badal and Capt Amarinder Singh at a function organised by the Hind Samachar Group of Newspapers here today. Both state leaders had lamented that Punjab’s share in the armed forces, which was 35 per cent during the British rule, was dwindling.

On Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Fernandes asserted that the state was an integral part of the country and this was endorsed by the Indian Constitution too and there was no question of talks on this issue. The ultimate objective of the dialogue was to silence the guns, to stop the bloodshed and to take back PoK from the neighbouring state. “If we don’t do even this much then how will the problems will get solved?” questioned Mr Fernandes. He said with this intention that the government had initiated dialogue with the Hizbul Mujahideen, but it was sabotaged by Pakistan. “In spite of this, we are ready to talk to any body in the interest of peace,” said Mr Fernandes.

The Defence Minister said he favoured devolution of powers even if it came to the troubled valley. He said the role of local bodies should increase. “In the USA, even the recruitment of police and administrative officials is done by the civic bodies and I had suggested a similar system here and I hope there are many takers of the idea here too,” he said.

Stressing the need for national discipline, the Defence Minister said no country could sustain or progress without a spirit of sacrifice among its masses. “We lacked it at the time of hijack of the Indian Airlines plane last year. Mothers and relatives of the hijacked persons started demonstrating in front of the Prime Minister’s house to put pressure on the government to secure their release in any way. Instead of doing this and exposing their weakness they should have offered that their relatives should be allowed to be killed but the nation could not bow before the ultras for a few lives. Such things are bound to send a wrong single outside,” he said.

Internal matters should also get equal focus. “We have so many issues like corruption and unemployment to deal with. We have 4 crore skilled persons registered with different employment exchanges in the country. In Assam, 1200 militants surrendered themselves and their only demand was that they wanted employment. We have to think over it seriously,” said Mr Fernandes.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Mr Fernandes said several rounds of discussions were held, during which Mr Badal had opposed the inclusion of US Nagar in the proposed Uttaranchal state. “This is exactly what was stated by me in Parliament,” said Mr Fernandes. He also denied that 97 per cent of the people of the area opposed the inclusion.” Who has done this calculation? I don’t know,” he said.

Capt Amarinder Singh criticised the Centre for having initiated talks with the militants. “Is it time to talk. They are killing our people and are threatening us by sitting in Islamabad and you are inviting them to the table. It is ridiculous at this point of time, particularly when the valley is bleeding. They should be dealt with sternly,” he said. He said the idea of trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir was far from being practical.

He urged the Punjab Chief Minister to clear the picture regarding the US Nagar issue and tell people why the three-member committee, of which he was a member, did not meet for a full year. “He has deserted the people of the state,” Mr Fernandes alleged.

Mr Bhim Singh, President of the Panthers’ Party, invited intellectuals and policy makers to review Article 370 of the Constitution

Mr Navin Patnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa, was presented cheques worth Rs 25.51 lakh by Mr Vijay Chopra of the Hind Samachar group of newspapers in aid of Orissa cyclone victims.