Amritsar, December 9
The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) president, Mr Mastan Singh, has said he was committed to implement the ‘maryada’, approved by Akal Takht and SGPC in toto in all Sikh shrines in Pakistan .

Talking to TNS on telephone today, Mr Mastan Singh, president of the PSGPC said the allegations, levelled by Bibi Jagir Kaur, SGPC chief, that “maryada” was not being observed in Pakistan’s gurdwaras, were baseless.

He said Bibi Jagir Kaur should herself visit Pakistan to know the facts, before criticising PSGPC.

He said there was a lot of improvement in the condition of gurdwaras after the formation of PSGPC in 1999.

Mr Mastan Singh said the SGPC should take care of gurdwaras in India which were not being properly managed. He alleged that media had been highlighting the ‘mismanagement of SGPC’ almost everyday, which had brought a bad name to the Sikh Panth. He said the SGPC members from Haryana had already demanded the formation of separate gurdwara committee by amending the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 hence SGPC had no moral right to demand scraping of PSGPC in a sovereign country like Pakistan which had been looking after religious places of minorities in a proper way.

The PSGPC chief said if SGPC had failed in getting the All-India Gurdwara Act enacted then Bibi Jagir Kaur had no right to challenge the authority of PSGPC .

Mr Mastan Singh said if Bibi Jagir Kaur would visit Pakistan then she would fail to find even a single ‘patit’ Sikh (apostate) all over Pakistan. However, in India, especially in Punjab, the number of “patit” Sikhs could be well in the knowledge of SGPC. He said such a situation was due to the lack of propagation of Sikhism by the SGPC .

The PSGPC chief claimed that whenever any jatha of SGPC visits Pakistan its leaders not only accept ‘siropas’ (robe of honour) but also appreciated the beautification of gurdwaras there. However, after returning to India, they (the SGPC Jatha leaders) start criticising the PSGPC. Mr Mastan Singh said SGPC must shun such double standards.

Amritsar, December 9
While the father of one of the two girls who had run away to get married to each other by breaking all the cultural and social barriers has refused to accept her, the police is in a quandary over this, as law does not have any provision in this regard.

The two local girls, Raju (25) and Mala (22), both residents of Sandhu Colony in Vijay Nagar area situated on the Batala road had fled on November 27. Both were brought back by Mukhtar Singh, father of Raju, after they called their parents from New Delhi where they got married in a temple.

They were taken to Vijay Nagar police station where a complaint of their missing was lodged.

Rajkumar, father of Mala while talking to the media refused to accept her and said he would disown her. The senior police official present said they would be taken to the SDM and further action would be taken after that.

He said the law did not have any provision to take action against such marriages. He said the law was not clear about same sex marriage.

Mukhtar Singh said Raju had called him from Delhi asking him to take them back as they had run out of money. Raju had stolen Rs 11,000 from her house.

Both the girls were fast friends for past several months and used to stay with each other most of time.

They used to say that they would get married but nobody took it seriously. However, when the girls refused to marry the boys who were selected for them, the parents started taking it seriously.

Raju even reportedly tried to commit suicide.

Nangal December 9
A case of exploitation of a poor minor girl has been brought to light by a Non-Government Organisation (NGO), Arpan. About a 14- year old girl, residing in the Raj Nagar locality of Nangal town, has been reported to be seven months pregnant because certain wards of influential people of the town allegedly exploited her sexually.

Revealing the details of the case, the director of Arpan told The Tribune that when the case came to his notice, they went to the victim’s house. Her father is in Malaysia to earn a living. The mother of the girl, though in deep remorse, was afraid to lodge a complaint with the police against the accused, fearing backlash from the culprits.

The police was informed about the incident. However, they demanded a written complaint to initiate action in the matter. Since the mother of the victim girl was afraid to lodge the FIR, Arpan lodged a complaint in the matter. However, till date no action has been taken against the culprits.

The teenaged girl has been taken away allegedly by the culprits to an undisclosed destination. There is strong possibility that the culprits may try to get the pregnancy of the girl aborted. Since she is a teenager, her life was also at a risk if an abortion was performed on her. So, the police has been urged to locate the girl at the earliest and book the culprits.

Due to the delay in police action, the complaint in the matter has also been sent to the Women’s Commission, the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP, Ropar.

The SHO, Nangal, admitted over the phone that he had received a complaint in the matter. He, however, added that the mother of the girl was not ready to lodge a complaint with the police in the matter. The girl was not present at her house. Efforts were being made to locate the girl so that the accused in the case could be arrested.

A former Food and Civil Supplies Minister and senior BJP leader, Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, has also demanded a fair inquiry into the case. He has demanded that the girl should be produced and culprits should be booked so that the faith of the people in the system was restored.

Hoshiarpur, December 9
Workers of the SAD, led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, former Chief Minister, and Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, general secretary, SAD, staged a protest infront of the Mini Secretariat here today to register their resentment against the working of the Congress government in Punjab.

Mr Badal criticised Capt Amarinder Singh’s government for its anti-people policies. He alleged that the Congress government had not fulfilled even a single promise made in its election manifesto and had created a chaotic situation in the state. All the development works started by his government had come to a standstill because of the wrong policies of Capt Amarinder Singh.

Mr Badal said that on account of mismanagement, Punjab was facing a severe power crisis. This had adversely affected the agriculture and industrial sectors. No worthwhile industrial units had been set up in the state during the past three years. The prices of cotton had decreased recently. The government had not obeyed even the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding sacking of seven Deputy Superintendents of Police from service who were wrongly appointed under the sportsmen quota. The law and order situation was going from bad to worse.

He said that to awaken the masses against the misdeeds of the government, the SAD had started a series of protest dharnas in the state. Dharnas had already been staged at Bathinda, Ropar and Hoshiarpur.

Later Mr Badal presented a memorandum relating to the misdeeds of the Congress government to the Governor through the Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur.

Hoshiarpur, December 9
Pakistan-supported militants have tried their level best to annex Jammu and Kashmir from India, but on account of the commendable services and sacrifices of BSF personnel, they have not succeeded in their mission. This was stated by Mr Ajai Raj Sharma, Director-General of the Border Security Force, while addressing a press conference today at the Subsidiary Training Centre of the BSF at Kharkan, 12 km from here.

He said more than 1,300 BSF jawans and officers had sacrificed their lives in Jammu and Kashmir during the past 12 years. As many as 57 BSF personnel had sacrificed their lives and 132 terrorists had been killed during this year in Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura and Assam. Besides, 200 terrorists had been arrested.

He said there had been a considerable decrease in terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. On account of fencing at the Line of Control, infiltration had reduced to a great extent. After the peace process was started between India and Pakistan, the number of terrorist training camps across the border had also reduced. The Pakistan Government had stopped helping organisers of these camps. However, the ISI was still extending its support to them.

Replying to a question, Mr Sharma said there was no increase in the terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir after reducing the number of Army troops in the state.

He said out of 180-km long Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, fencing in 160 km had been completed so far. Fencing in the remaining area would be completed within four or five months. Fourtyfive per cent fencing on the North-East border of the country had already been done. It would be completed before 2006. To speed up the fencing work, other agencies had also been involved.

Meanwhile, the Director-General, BSF, took a march past salute from 454 newly passed out recruits at an impressive passing out parade at the Subsidiary Training Centre. Mr A.K. Surollia, Inspector-General, Punjab Frontier BSF, accompanied the Director-General. The Director-General awarded medals to five best recruit constables for their outstanding performance in endurance, drill, shooting and overall first and second position during their 36-week basic training. Recruit constable C. H. Sai Kumar was adjudged the overall best recruit constable.

Bathinda, December 9
Panic gripped the occupants of a section of houses and hutments located in Udham Singh Nagar and Vir Singh Nagar when they were asked to vacate their dwellings by officials of the Wakf Board accompanied by policemen today.

Hundreds of residents of these localities, who assembled in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office to meet him, said that they had been living in these houses and hutments for the past 15 to 20 years after purchasing the land. Now suddenly they had been asked to vacate their dwellings by the officials of the Wakf Board. They added that Wakf Board officials had also locked a few houses located in these areas.

They alleged that when the Wakf Board had not raised its objection against the construction of their houses and hutments earlier, then why it had been trying to get the same vacated now when they had bought those pieces of land.

Mr Mohammad Edris, estate official, Wakf Board, when contacted, said that though hundreds of acres of land belonging to the Wakf Board was under occupation of individuals and different departments of the state government, only a few of them had been paying lease money to the Wakf Board and hence it was the main reason that the board had to resort to such action.

He pointed out that the board had also got registered criminal cases against some of those persons who had been occupying its land and not paying the lease money. 

Amritsar, December 9
A 91-member Hindu jatha left for Pakistan on a pilgrimage to Shadani Darbar – Hayat Pitafi and other Hindu shrines by the Samjhauta Express via Attari rail route from here today.

Mr Surinder Kumar Billa, president, All-India Hindu Shiv Sena, heading the jatha, said that they would visit Hayat Pitafi from December 11 to 13, Jarwar, Mathelo and Adalpur the next day and proceed to Khanpur Mahar on December 15.

The jatha would reach Ghotki and the Arode-Sukkur Rohri Jindpir Temple, besides Mata Kalka Devi Temple (December 16), Deharki (December 17), Mirpur Mathelo (December 18-19) and return to Lahore (December 20) to visit Sant Shadaram’s birthplace, Vir Haquiquat Rai Shaidi Sthal and Gurdwara Dera Sahib.

They would return to Amritsar on December 21.

Barnala, December 9
As many as five retired professor of the S.D. College are awaiting the release of their provident fund which has not been released even after nearly 12 years of their retirement. The management committee of S.D. College has even failed to provide the records relating to the provident fund account statements.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that the five professors — Mr O.P. Goyal, Mr H. Kumar Kaul, Mr N.S. Kanwal, Mr L.P. Chopra and Mr M.L. Gupta — have been demanding the release of provident funds while two professors Dr N.D. Sharma and Mr R.K. Sharma have already died without getting their hard earned money.

All the five professors have demanded from the Principal of the college to provide them PF account statements.

It is alleged that there is no transparency regarding their PF accounts. Their repeated requests to know the dates and amounts withdrawn from individual accounts and deposit back and also request to furnish photostat copies of pass books and college ledger sheets to check their accounts have not been entertained.

Interestingly, the Principal in his letter has admitted that 59 employees were wrongly covered who would have otherwise been exempted from employee provident fund schemes, 1952, by the regional PF Commissioner, Bathinda.

A part of PF was transferred to the regional commissioner, Bathinda. This fund pertains to the period from June 1982 to October 1989. The total amount till date with interest is in lakhs.

One of the aggrieved professors Mr O.P. Goyal has also sent copies to DPI, Colleges, Punjab, Director (Vigilance), and employees provident fund, New Delhi and Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University stating their plight. Mr O.P. Goyal and N.D. Sharma retired in 1993 while other professors retired about 8 years back. 

Kharar, December 9
Work on Dashmesh canal will be taken up on priority if the SAD comes to power in the state in the next elections.

This was stated by Capt Kanwaljit Singh, former Finance Minister, Punjab, and general secretary of the SAD, while talking to mediapersons at Landran village today where he had come to attend a meeting held in connection with the 300th anniversary of the martyrdom of the four sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh. He said Dashmesh canal would help Punjab land from not becoming barren.

He said when the SAD-BJP government was in power in Punjab, it had got funds to the tune of Rs 650 crore approved from the Central Government for the canal. He himself had sanctioned Rs 50 crore for the project when he had prepared the Punjab budget for the year 2001-2002. The work on the canal had also started, but when the Congress came to power in 2002, the work was got stopped.

He said the work on the project would be started once again if the SAD came to power. The canal would benefit areas falling under Anandpur Sahib, Ropar, Kurali, block Majri, Mullanpur, Kharar, Morinda, Fatehgarh Sahib, Dera Bassi, Banur, Zirakpur, Rajpura and other towns.

The SAD leader said Punjab was an agricultural state which contributed by about 50 per cent to the nation’s needs for food. It did not have any surplus water which could be given to other states. Any move made to share waters of Punjab would be opposed by the SAD.

Kapurthala, December 9
Irked over the low prices offered to them by the mandis in the Doaba region, potato farmers here have taken a decision to market their produce directly to the mandis of West Bengal and Asssam.

As many as 40 farmers of Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Shahkot and Lambran today sent nearly 421 quintals of potato in 40 bogies of a goods train.

Satisfied over their first major achievement in their quest for direct marketing, the farmers said that the process not only enabled them to earn a huge profit but also saved them from exploitation in the hands of the arhtiyas.

Talking to The Tribune, Mr Surjit Singh, a farmer from Lambran, said that this year they were not getting anything more than Rs 200 per quintal in the local mandis. He said that some of the farmers even sold it out at Rs 160 per quintal to the arhtiyas. But he said that he was hopeful to get as much as Rs 500 per quintal from the mandis in Kolkata and Assam.

Mr Bhag Singh a farmer from Shahkot, said that nearly 421 quintals of potato was being sent out by farmers in a goods train at a cost of Rs 36,700. He said that the trucks, on the other hand, would have proved very expensive as it would have cost them Rs 40,000 for transporting just 150 quintals of the produce.

The farmers said that if their produce reached the destination in good condition within the stipulated time, it could fetch them as much as Rs 500 per quintal. 

Moga, December 9
Demanding the immediate release of six farmers of Khosa Pando village, hundreds of Kirti Kisan Union (KKU) activists today blocked traffic on Joginder Singh Chowk here.

The union is demanding immediate release of farmers arrested for desisting the electricity board employees’ bid to snap their power connection owing to the non-payment of bills.

The blockade left a long queue of vehicles stranded on Ludhiana-Ferozepore road and on Moga-Amritsar road. Addressing the protesters, the state union president, Mr Hardev Singh Sandhu, said the state government was working against the interests of the farmers. He said their agitation was in its initial phase right now and if the government did not accept their demands it would be intensified.

He said at present their stir was limited to a couple of districts, but it would soon spread to other parts of the state as well. He said the state government was a “WTO agent” that was “forcing the farmers to commit suicide”.

He said on the one hand the state government was waiving off the loans of big farmers while on the other hand small farmers seeking acceptance of their demands were being jailed.

The general secretary of the state unit of the union, Mr Satbir Singh Gurdaspur, demanded that the farmers should be given 24-hour power supply and their debts should be waived off.

He demanded that farmers should be given loan on four per cent annual interest and the dues of cane farmers be paid immediately. Union leaders also urged the state government to release the farmers who had been arrested during their recent agitation.

They reminded the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, of his promise to pay Rs 30 per quintal bonus to paddy growers in the state and demanded immediate payment, of the same.

Moga police had arrested six farmers of Khosa Pando village, who are also the local leaders of Kirti Kisan Union, for holding hostage a Junior Engineer of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB).

Pathankot, December 9
The Punjab Government is considering a proposal to fill 2,200 vacancies of veterinary officers, pharmacists and peons in the Department of Animal Husbandry on contract basis. A committee headed by the Chief Secretary has been constituted to work out the modalities for the recruitment.

Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Poultries, Fisheries and Tourism, stated this while talking to The Tribune here today. He was here to inaugurate a hockey tournament being organised on the SD school premises by the Pathankot Sports Club.

The work in veterinary dispensaries was being hit due to the shortage of staff, so it was high time to fill the vacancies. After the committee headed by the Chief Secretary gives its report, the matter would be put before the Cabinet for clearance, he said.

About allowing fishing in the Ranjit Sagar Dam lake, he said the proposal had been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs to allow fishing in areas apart from the high security zone near the dam.

When asked about illegal fishing in the lake he said it was the duty of the civil administration to check the theft.

He also said due to its better semen bank infrastructure the state was now in a position to export quality bull semen to other states. The Union Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, would release a booklet advertising the semen bank facilities in Punjab on December 11 in Delhi. It would help the Animal Husbandry Department of the state to earn revenue by the sale of its quality bull semen, he said.

When asked about the state of the PTDC he said sale in most of the complexes of the corporation had increased after improvement in facilities available there.

The government was keeping a watch on the working of the complexes. If employees manage to improve the financial condition of the corporation the government might give second thought to its privatisation.

On the occasion, Mr Kang also announced a grant of Rs 31,000 for the Pathankot Sports Club. Mr Ashok Sharma, Chairman of the PTDC, was also present on the occasion.

Bathinda, December 9
A murderous attack was allegedly made on renowned Punjabi singer Balkar Sidhu and on some musicians of his group while they were sitting in his house.

The attack was allegedly made by a group of people, including Jaswinder Singh Mangat, husband of Ms Gurinder Pal Kaur Mangat, president, BJP, district unit Bathinda, late last night. Ghazal singer Maghhar Ali Khan and other musicians had to be hospitalised as they suffered multiple injuries.

A case in this connection was registered at the city police station against Mr Mangat, Gurpreet Singh, Narinder Singh, Gurminder Singh and six others under Sections 307, 452, 356, 511, 148 and 149 of the IPC. However, no arrest has been made in this connection so far.

Amritsar, December 9
Prof S.A. Ali, Vice-Chancellor, Hamdard University, New Delhi, today delivered a keynote address at the three-day international conference on “Guru Granth Sahib: Challenges and Response in the New Millennium” organised by Guru Nanak Dev University under aegis of the Department of Guru Nanak Studies.

Dr Ali further said, “Guru Granth Sahib has answers to most of the challenges we face today but many new confrontations could arise. One such problem would be legitimacy of the authority in Sikh Diaspora. Earlier, similar problem was faced by the Muslim world when the last Ottoman Caliph, Sultan Abdul Wahid was overthrown by Mustafa Kamal Attaturk. But the alert Sikh community, acting on the moral principles already given, would prove equal to any challenge” he added

The conference was presided over by Dr Bhai Harbans Lal, Professor Emeritus, University of North Texas Health Science Centre, and President, Academy of Guru Granth Studies, USA. It was inaugurated by Dr S.P.Singh, Vice-Chancellor.

Dr S.P. Singh said the university took initiative in 2001 to organise series of international conference on Sri Guru Granth Sahib. He also announced a new series of international seminars on Sri Guru Granth Sahib, which would conclude in 2008.

The Vice-Chancellor apprised scholars of various programmes chalked out to propagate the message of Guru Granth Sahib by publishing books and special journal named “Perspectives on Guru Granth Sahib”.

Dr Bhai Harbans Lal, President, Academy of Guru Granth Studies, USA, while speaking on “Peeking Back to Move Forward” said Guru Grant Sahib was revealed repository of divine light for all to learn, explore and seek.