Jalandhar, June 19
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) joint secretary and former Pakistan Legislative Assembly member Peer Ghulam Farid has said that the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) had had a free run so far, but those days are over. The agency, which earlier was functioning as an autonomous body, would be brought under the control of the home ministry by the present government.

The former legislator, who was in the city on a personal visit along with his son, told mediapersons that East Punjab was more developed as compared to West Punjab in almost all spheres.

The prolonged military spells in his country were responsible for the slow pace of development there, he said. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that the olive factor had stalled progress in other sectors too, he pointed out.

Answering a query as to who was to be blamed for military rule, he said Pakistani politicians were responsible for the mess since they could not do anything to build up strong democratic institutions needed for establishing a truly democratic order, even after six decades of independence.

However, he said the present government would put in all efforts to strengthen democracy in Pakistan, besides maintaining cordial relations with India.

He said the governments of both the countries should provide corridors so that people of different religions could visit different religious places in the two countries.

Visa and other consular facilities should be provided at the borders of both the countries, instead of Delhi and Islamabad, so that people could easily visit each other’s countries, he added.

Commenting on the status of Indian prisoners Sarabjit Singh and Kirpal Singh, he said a committee had been formed that would give its recommendations in the coming days.

Jalandhar, June 19
Facing the heat of an unprecedented hike in the paper prices in the recent past, over 200 box manufacturing units have decided to go on a two-day strike from
June 23.

The decision was taken by the Box Manufacturing Association of Punjab at a well-attended meeting chaired by president Manish Arora here today. The association members alleged that paper mill owners had been acting as a “paper mafia” right under the nose of the government and had been joining hands to hike the paper prices. They claimed that the prices of paper and raw material, including adhesives and stitching wire used for box manufacturing, had been increased from 25 to 40 per cent since February 2008.

Talking to The Tribune, Arora revealed that the exceptional hike in the prices of paper and other raw materials had hit the corrugated box trade hard. The frequent increases in the prices had created an atmosphere of uncertainty among the box manufacturers. He said that the price rise had forced the owners of box manufacturing units in Jalandhar and Ludhiana to increase the prices of different types of boxes by 25 per cent or they faced closure.

A delegation of the association would take up the issue with the paper mill owners shortly so that the box manufacturing industry could be saved from closure, claimed association organising secretary S. Aroa. He added that the frequent hike in the paper prices was not acceptable. The government should increase the prices on annual basis and not monthly or fortnightly, he felt. The association demanded direct intervention of the government so that the paper mill owners were restrained from following the pooling policy. The association also demanded that different types of duties and taxes on the paper be curtailed.

Jalandhar, June 19
“Gair hazir hoke vi hazir hai tu,

mai tan hazir hoke vi hazir nahin”.

Melancholy came naturally to him. His sense of spreading the myriad shades of life onto the canvas of poetry makes him a unique person. Always ready to delve into the hidden aspects of an issue, this man truly deserves kudos for his attempt at ghazals and poetry.

Meet Narinder ‘Manav’, a working superintendent with the Punjab State Electricity Board who not only spares time for it but is a name to reckon with in the circles of ghazal and poetry writing.

Narinder acquired the fine skills of writing soulful ghazals and poetry from his father. Being brought up in a literary atmosphere, Narinder learnt the finer nuances of language at an early age. Son of famous ghazal ustad, critic and shayar Mahinder Singh ‘Manav’, Narinder started writing ghazals after joining the PSEB as a UDC.

He says, “Writing was in my blood. As my father was a known name in the field of ghazal writing, learning words of Urdu and Punjabi was not a difficult task for me.”

Till date, Narinder has penned two books on ghazals and poetry. His first two books “Kirmchy Sholey” and “Ebaadat” were critically acclaimed. He has also written short stories, a novelette - “Dukh Bhaide Dheeyan De”, a ghazal collection, and has been contributing to newspapers and magazines as well.

His first ghazal “Supne vich hon chehre milde” was published in a newspaper and brought instant appreciation for him. Always sensitive towards issues like human relations, communal harmony, love, separation, sorrow, infidelity and fraud, he has touched almost every emotion of life in his writings.

Despite his efforts at writing humane ghazals his father kept on discouraging him. Lost in the past days, he said, “I still remember the day when my father bluntly told me that I should stop writing ghazals as I lacked the aesthetic sense of understanding them. But my passion for ghazals increased manifold and there’s been no turning back since then.”

For his ghazals and poetry he has been awarded the “Principal Takht Singh award”, “Kewal Vig award”, “Bijli Board Seh Sabha award” and many more.

Jalandhar, June 19
The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has launched Market Plus-I, a unit-linked deferred pension plan, which will give the benefit of the stock market with future security.

The policy also provides accident benefit and critical rider in this plan.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, senior divisional manager, sales department, divisional office, Girish Kumar said, “The allocated premiums will be applied to purchase units as per the desired fund type.

Four types of funds - bond, secured, balanced and growth - are available in
this plan.

The units are available at an introductory price of Rs 10 for a limited period.”

The plan is available for persons between 18 to 74 years of age.

However, only those between 18 to 70 years of age can avail the plan with life cover. The premium can be paid on yearly, half-yearly or quarterly and also in lump sum (single premium) or the policy term.

The minimum annual premium would be Rs 10,000.

Jalandhar, June 19
Contrary to its claims the Punjab government has failed to provide the minimum wages to the labourers, besides implementing the labour law since long. Moreover, the labour laws are being violated by the authorities with impunity.

These allegations were levelled by members of the joint action committee of national trade unions, Jalandhar and Kapurthala, at a meeting presided over by Harimuni Singh here today.

He claimed that the Punjab government had failed to provide the minimum wages to the labourers on the pattern of its neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi. He added that the prices of almost all commodities had increased manifold in the recent past, but the labour community was not being given any type of incentives by employers as well as the government.

The labour department had failed to enforce the labour laws in industrial units, alleged Ravi Wadhawan, a leader of the joint action committee. The officials, in connivance with industrialists, had been exploiting the labour class, he alleged.

The committee decided to burn the effigies of the Punjab Chief Minister and the labour minister shortly. 

Jalandhar, June 19
A minor “Bangladeshi” girl has been released from the local Central Jail after the completion of her nine-month imprisonment on Friday. Seventeen-year-old Durgi Munde was caught in a theft case last year.

Superintendent of jail Gursharan Singh Sidhu said, “As per rules, foreign nationals are handed over after completion of their sentence to thana police concerned to send them to camp jail in Amritsar after producing them either before the district magistrate or SSP.”

So, Durgi Munde was handed over to the police of thana number four to send her to camp jail in Amritsar.

When contacted, the SHO of thana number four Nirmal Singh said she was not sent to camp jail, Amritsar, as it came to light that she was not a Bangladeshi but a resident of Siliguri in West Bengal.

When asked that she had been mentioned as a Bangladeshi girl in the judgement by the court and in the FIR lodged against her on September 7 last year, the SHO said her address was not verified at that time.

The SHO said she now stated to the police that she was a resident of Siliguri in West Bengal. Subsequently, she was sent to Nari Niketan here from where she would be handed over to her family members if they turned up.

According to sources, she was arrested after registration of an FIR against her under sections 381 and 347 of the IPC at police station number four on September 7, 2007.

A son-in-law of industrialist Bittu Makkar, residing in Saheed Udham Singh Nagar, had brought her from a private employment agency located in New Delhi about five years back, the sources added.

After working at the industrialist’s house as a domestic help for several years, she left the job and started working as a domestic help at some other house in the same locality. Her employer levelled allegations against her of stealing some household items.

Jalandhar, June 19
Another Punjabi channel, Just TV Punjabi, will be launched on June 23. According to managing director and CEO Manish Vasisht, Just TV Punjabi channel is truly rooted to the soil with every programme created locally.

For the first time the family audiences in Punjab will experience an engaging blend of drama, comedy, reality, lifestyle, devotional programmes and music shows in Punjabi.

Vasisht claims that this channel is by the Punjabis, for the Punjabis and of the  Punjabis across the world. This is a channel which will have something for every member of the family.