Nurmahal (Jalandhar), September 9
Under the influence of liquor, a Dadduwal village resident strangulated his teenager daughter to death after bludgeoning her on the head with a baton here last night.

The father - Surinder Pal - in an attempt to destroy evidence, told people that his daughter, Gurpreet (17), had died of a cardiac arrest, and cremated the body early this morning.

The murder was ascertained when some women of the locality while preparing the body for the last rites. They spotted injury marks in the head and other parts of the body. The women brought it to the knowledge of men following which they informed the police and the funeral procession was suspended.

While there was commotion in the village, Surinder Pal, along with his four sons, took the body to the cremation ground and consigned it to the flames. The body had already been reduced to ashes when the police arrived on the spot.

In her complaint to the police, Shakuntla, mother of the deceased, said Surinder Pal used to drink and assault family members under the influence of liquor for a long time. To earn livelihood and bring up the family of nine members, she and her two daughters were working as domestic help in nearby houses.

After returning home last evening she noticed Surinder Pal drinking liquor after selling some foodgrains. He started assaulting Shankutla when she objected to it.

Nurmahal SHO Satish Malhotra said elder daughter Gurpreet become the victim of her father when she came to the rescue of her mother. Leaving his wife aside, Surinder Pal started assaulting Gurpreet with a baton. He chased her to a room where Gurpreet tried to hide.

The SHO said the father first assaulted the girl on her head with a baton and then strangled her. He even threatened the family members of dire consequences if they disclosed the incident.

The police has arrested Surinder Pal and a case of murder registered against him at Nurmahal police station on the complaint of his wife Shakuntla.

Amritsar, September 9
The recent seizures of fake currency notes, heroin and other contrabands by the DRI and Border Security Force (BSF) has given clear indications that Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) has again started proxy war after the ouster of General Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan.

The ISI has been pumping in crores of rupees to sustain the proxy war unleashed on India with a view to destabilise its economy. The escalation of smuggling on the Indo-Pak border has also indicated that such activities might be increased during the coming winter season as the smugglers invariably take advantage of the foggy season.

On the intervening night of September 6 and 7 a BSF jawan had a miraculous escape when an Indian smuggler attacked him with a sharp-edged weapon, while Pakistani smugglers gave covering fire to Indian smugglers near zero line of border at Rajatal village.

However, Sonu, an Indian smuggler, was killed when BSF jawans fired at him in defence while his accomplice Partap Singh (20) was nabbed after he was injured in the scuffle. The uniform of one of the BSF jawan was also torn in the scuffle. However, out of total 12 packets of heroin, four packets were thrown into the Indian side from the border fencing. The Pakistani smugglers fled under the cover of darkness. The smugglers tried to take the advantage of standing paddy crop on both sides of the border fencing.

The DIG, BSF, Mohammad Akil, claimed that it was for the first time that Pakisani smugglers gave covering fire to their Indian counterparts in this sector.

The four packets of heroin, thrown by Pakistani smugglers into the Indian territory, were seized by the BSF. The district police chief, Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, was also present when the BSF presented the Indian smuggler before the media.

The BSF also recovered a sword, nine used and three live cartridges, having mark of Pakistani village Wah. The Pakistan ordnance factory, the premier defence industry, is situated in the village.

The yellow cello tape used for the packing of the contraband was similar to the one used for packing the fake currency notes, smuggled from across the border recently.

However, the sources said the seized heroin by the BSF is just a tip of the iceberg of the ever-increasing haul of heroin in the border state. The recent seizures made by the DRI shows that Punjab had become the main transit point for heroine coming from Afghanistan via Pakistan. The ever-increasing seizures has already put the BSF and police in a fix.

However, SSP Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh claimed that in comparison to other sectors less attempts had been made to smuggle heroin from this sector. He said the deceased, Sonu, was a nephew of notorious smuggler of Chogawan town while his accomplice Partap Singh of Chheherta town seemed to be “first timer.” The sources said smuggling from Pakistan on the border was likely to increase with the onset of winter season. The BSF would have to increase its vigil along the zero line in the coming days.

Kapurthala, September 9
In what may be termed as a question mark on the safety of a common man, a newly married girl was allegedly abducted from just outside the SSP’s office in broad daylight on Tuesday.

Kulwinder Kaur’s parents and relatives took her forcibly with them as she had reportedly married Didar Singh of the Sunder Nagar locality against their wishes at a gurdwara on Saturday after running away from her house at Meera village in Sultanpur Lodhi.

Narrating the incident, Didar Singh told newsmen that he, along with his wife Kulwinder Kaur, had gone to the office of SSP Rakesh Agarwal to submit an application for police protection as they feared for their lives because they had married against the wishes of Kulwinder’s parents.

“When we were sitting outside the SSP’s office waiting for our turn, suddenly Kulwinder’s parents and some other persons reached there and took her forcibly with them,” Didar Singh alleged. He shouted for help but the SSP’s gunmen remained mute spectators and did nothing to save her from being kidnapped, he further alleged.

Interestingly, close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras attached with the monitor in the SSP’s room had also been installed but probably the SSP could not notice the incident.

After Kulwinder’s abduction, Didar brought the entire incident to the SSP’s notice and submitted a written complaint in this regard.

When contacted, the SSP said a first information report (FIR) of abduction was registered under section 364 of the IPC against Kulwinder’s father Malkit Singh, her mother Ranjit Kaur and some other persons at city police station.

Agarwal further said police parties had been dispatched to arrest the accused and recover the girl. The girl’s statement would be recorded to know whether she had married Didar Singh with her consent or not, he added.

Jalandhar, September 9
The diversification drive of the state has fizzled out since Punjab does not have a definite policy on agriculture, especially organic farming, which is the trend worldwide.

Jaspal Singh of the state secretariat of the Punjab Organic Farming Association (POFA) said they had drawn the attention of the government to this aspect but to no avail. The contribution of agriculture towards the GNP of the country was decreasing while the after effects of chemical farming on the environment, ecology and human health were taking a toll.Privitisation in the country has been taking place at a rapid pace but we have ignored the fact that our agriculture system is semi-feudal till date and land reforms that had been promised since the advent of independence are yet to see the light of the day.

He said agricultural practices across the major part of the country were still primitive and a majority of farmers and agricultural labourers were ignorant about their rights.

Therefore, liberalisation in this sector cannot do much for the farmers. But the way such policies have been adopted by the government will not improve the lot of the farmers but will only help the MNCs rake in more profits. As we have seen, farming has been rendered an unviable proposition and farmer’s suicides are the order of the day, Jaspal pointed out. 

Hoshiarpur, September 9
After facing the fury of recent rains and floods, the farmers of Kandi in Hoshiarpur district are now facing the threat of damage to their crops by wild animals.

Bohan village panch and farmer Mehnga Singh said a group of wild boars had recently been witnessed in Patti, Harian Belan and Bohan villages. The animals had started destroying the standing maize and sugarcane crops. Bassi Gulam Hussain village sarpanch Narvir Singh Nandi also made a similar complaint.

A deputation of marginal farmers of Kandi met Hoshiarpur MP Avinash Rai Khanna at his residence last evening and apprised him of the losses which wild animals had caused to their crops.

Khanna told this correspondent today that on account of the existing sections of the Wildlife Protect Act and the Forest Act in the Kandi belt, marginal farmers had been facing a lot of problems. On account of sub-mountainous terrain, the farmers have small holdings.

Due to the topographical condition and lack of irrigation facilities in Kandi, only limited portion of the land had been brought under cultivation and the production is less than that of other areas in Punjab.

The Union government had already imposed a ban on hunting on account of which the population of wild animals had increased tremendously in the area. These animals, especially wild boar and antelopes, were doing great loss to the standing crops of the farmers.

Due to these conditions, many farmers had been forced to leave agriculture and adopt some other trade, said Khanna, adding that he would meet the Chief Minister of Punjab to get compensation provided to these marginal farmers for damage to their crops by the wild animals and to allow them to kill these animals.

Hoshiarpur, September 9
At a meeting of leaders of various trade unions held here today, district president of CITU Gurmesh Singh condemned the police lathi charge allegedly carried out at the behest of Chief Minister of Punjab on the peaceful anganwari workers at Chandigarh yesterday.

In a press release here this afternoon, general secretary and secretary of CITU Jagdish Singh Chokha and Ajit Singh, respectively, said the police also beat up unemployed teachers, including women, while they were going to submit their memorandum to the education minister a few days ago.

Both these incidents added insult to injury of the unemployed teachers and anganwari workers, said CITU leaders, demanding withdrawal of false cases registered against the anganwari workers, get probed the incident from an honest officer and take action against those police officers responsible for the lathi charge. — OC