The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Hero of Battle of Dograi, Brig Hayde, passes away Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 25 In September 1965, in one of the most hard-fought battles of the Indo-Pakistan war, Indian troops captured the towns of Batapore and Dograi on the western frontier near Lahore. While the famous Battle of Dograi remains etched in the annals of military history, its protagonist, Brig Desmond Hayde, who was decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC), died at Nainital today. Brig Hyde, who was 87, is survived by three sons, one of whom had served in the Army. Brig (then Lt Col) Hayde was the commanding officer of 3 Jat, when the unit crossed the Ichogil canal and captured the town of Batapore. A Pakistani counter offensive by an armoured and infantry division supported by its air force resulted in Indian troops withdrawing to their starting point. According to some historical excerpts the Indian commanders had no information of 3 Jat capturing Batapore and misleading information Indian withdrawal from Batapore and Dograi, which was eventually recaptured by 3 Jat on September 21, 1965, for the second time but after a much harder battle due to Pakistani reinforcements. “On September 6, 1965, when the initial attack on the lchhogil Canal in Pakistan was launched, LT Col Hayde, officer commanding of a battalion of Jat Regiment, captured the western bank of the canal against very stiff enemy opposition. It was primarily due to his leadership that not only did his battalion not fall back from the positions which it had occupied, but in fact moved forward in spite of continuous and heavy shelling and frequent air and ground attacks. On September 9, when the enemy launched an attack with Patton and Sherman tanks, his battalion accounted for five enemy tanks. The performance of this battalion throughout the operations was excellent and this was largely due to the great personal courage and exceptional qualities of leadership shown by Lt Col Hayde,” his MVC citation states.
	VK Singh jeopardising national security: Cong Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, September 25 The Congress today launched a scathing attack on General VK Singh, accusing him of jeopardising national security interests with his recent statements on Jammu and Kashmir. “A retired General is damaging the Army’s glorious tradition of sacrifice, courage and honour. His statements are creating a strange environment in the country. He has forgotten that there are some sensitive states and some sensitive borders,” party spokesperson Raj Babbar said at a Congress briefing. General Singh had recently said there was an established practice in the Army of paying money to ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir Government for getting various kinds of works done in the state. The National Conference government has dared the General to reveal the names of ministers who have been paid money. The Congress officially came out for the first time today to question General Singh’s intent behind the statements, which it described as “highly irresponsible”. The party recalled some old controversies that surfaced during General Singh’s tenure as the Army Chief. “How is it that this retired Army Chief courted all controversies - be it the date of birth row or the bribery accusation in the Tatra truck deal or the leak of his letter to the Prime Minister in respect of India’s alleged lack of Defence preparedness. Why do all controversies relate to him?” Babbar asked. The Congress’ move appears to be an attempt to separate the Army from the General by drawing comparisons between his old controversies and the latest allegations against him that he raised a secret service within the Army’s Military Intelligence and misused it to topple the state government. “The General should mind what he says. He ought to be serious as his statements are causing anguish to all of us and the Congress, which bows to the Army’s tradition of glory and courage. General Singh’s irresponsible statements are not good. He should guard the Army’s traditions,” Babbar said. On why the Congress was attacking General Singh for defending his position against serious allegations, Congress leaders privately said the General should not have made the statements he did. “What good would such a leak do to the Government?” a Congress leader asked, dismissing apprehensions that the castigation of the General had anything to do with his recent visible proximity to BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
	paternity suit DNA test report not conclusive proof, ND Tiwari tells HC R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, September 25 Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister ND Tiwari today pleaded with the Delhi High Court to reject the DNA test report, contending that this cannot be treated as conclusive proof that he is the biological father of 34-year-old Rohit Shekhar. “It is a scientific fact that the DNA of any person would match with another in one out of one lakh cases and as such DNA test could not be depended upon with 100 per cent surety to resolve paternity disputes,” the veteran Congress leader said in a six-page affidavit repudiating Rohit’s claim. Further, the DNA test was not conducted “according to the requisite requirements,” the 88-year-old politician contended. In his paternity suit, Rohit has pleaded for a declaration that he is the biological son of Tiwari as he was born out of an affair the Congress leader had with his mother, Ujjawala. Disputing this, Tiwari contended that Rohit was making the claim on the basis of “hear-say,” which had no evidentiary value, as the alleged affair was said to have taken place before his birth. Tiwari said the paternity claim was an “absolutely obnoxious and self-concocted story to tarnish my image at the instance of some political conspirators. It is a collusive suit not only between Rohit, Ujjawala and BP Sharma (former husband of Ujjawala) but also with some political opponents.” He said he was refraining from naming the politicians behind the case as he was a public figure. “Ujjawala and Sharma had fictitiously obtained a decree of divorce, that too recently in order to file the paternity suit by throwing dust in the eyes of law,” Tiwari said in his affidavit.
	Chances of finding Usmani fade Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, September 25 Despite a dozen police teams hunting for him, there is no sign of Afzal Usmani, the alleged Indian Mujahideen operative who escaped from police custody on September 19. Teams of the Anti-Terrorist Squad and the Crime Branch have fanned out across different areas Mumbai, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh where he was known to operate before his arrest in 2008. Within hours of his escape, the Mumbai police had questioned several of his former associates in the city, but search turned out to be blank. While some policemen believe that Usmani may be lying low in the vicinity of Mumbai, others feel that he may have already boarded a train out of Mumbai on the very day of his escape. "If he has managed to cross into Bihar or West Bengal there is a strong possibility of Afzal Usmani escaping to Nepal or Bangladesh," says a police official. Usmani was known to have set up terror networks in his home state of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat before his arrest. Though some of the sleeper cells set up by him have been unravelled, investigators feel that Usmani may not have confessed everything to his interrogators. The police says Usmani's wife and a son are in Uttar Pradesh and a team is keeping a watch on his family in case he tries to contact them.
	Gujarati entry to Oscars sparks protests over content Manas Dasgupta Ahmedabad, September 25 “Modi factor” has entered the Gujarati film industry too. The nomination of a Gujarati film “The Good Road” to represent India for the Oscars this year has sparked off a row in the film industry and the cultural world in the state. It is the first time in the 60-year history of Gujarati films that one of its productions has received national award and recognition and thought fit to represent the country in the international arena. However, instead of feeling proud for the achievement, a section of the Gujarati film industry and writers are up in arms alleging the selection of “The Good Road” was “politically motivated” to show Gujarat in bad light when Chief Minister Narendra Modi was on the threshold of becoming the Prime Minister of the country. A large number of persons connected with the Gujarati film industry including some producers, directors and technicians, organised a dharna in front of the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram against the selection of the film for Oscars. They said the film, financed by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), showed Gujarat in bad light by depicting child prostitution that was “non-existent” in the state and “very unrealistic”. The film also used some “abusive dialects” that would not go down well with the viewers, they claimed. The film has been directed by Mumbai-based non-Gujarati film-maker Gyan Correa, nephew of celebrated architect and urban planner Padma Vibhushan Charles Correa. It evoked no murmur of protest when it was released in various cities in the state on July 19, though it ran for just about two weeks. Even its nomination for the Oscars last week was initially greeted with loud cheers by the film-makers in the state claiming it to be the first major achievement of the Gujarati film industry, but apparently at the behest of the Modi fan club that wants everything negative about Gujarat be swept under the carpet till at least the Chief Minister was firmly seated in the coveted Prime Minister’s office, the protest against the film’s nomination was engineered. Pointing out that Gyan, married to a Gujarati, was himself not able to read or write Gujarati language, the protesters claimed that he did not connect with Gujarat and knew nothing about Gujarat culture and ethos. “What does he know about Gujarat?” asked writer and lyricist Vinay Dave. The protesters even went to the extent of hinting that the political opponents of Modi influenced the 15-member jury of the Film Federation of India to select “The Good Road” for the Oscars only to show Gujarat in bad light.
	Convicted lawmakers in poll fray PIL challenges ordinance in SC Legal Correspondent New Delhi, September 25 Just a day after the Union Cabinet clearance for promulgating an ordinance to undo the Supreme Court judgment against convicted lawmakers, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court today seeking quashing of the government move. The petitioner, advocate ML Sharma, has contended that the move was a fraud being committed by political leaders "to demolish the basic structure of the Constitution" and as such was illegal and unconstitutional. There was no extra-ordinary emergency to issue an ordinance for amending the Representation of People Act (RPA) to negate the July 10 SC verdict, disqualifying MPs and MLAs immediately upon being sentenced for two years or more by the trial court in criminal cases, the PIL pleaded. Under the proposed ordinance, convicted lawmakers would retain their membership if their conviction is stayed by a higher court within 90 days, but they would not be allowed to vote in the House or draw salaries and other emoluments till the final disposal of their appeal. The government had taken the decision after consulting all the parties in order to prevent an irreversible situation arising from convicted lawmakers losing their seats but subsequently getting the sentence reversed in a higher court only to find that re-election had already been held for the seats vacated by them.
	Effort to protect Constitution, not convicted MP, MLAs: Congress Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 25 Amid a political storm over the approval of an ordinance yesterday to prevent automatic disqualification of convicted MPs and MLAs upon their conviction by the trial court, the Congress today said the ordinance was meant to protect the Constitution, and not the convicted lawmakers. "The law of the land has not been weakened by this ordinance. We have, in fact, ensured that the SC order is implemented. The ordinance is meant to avoid constitutional errors that may arise in case a lawmaker who lost his seat in Parliament or state legislature upon conviction by a trial court was later acquitted. No MP is being saved by this ordinance. Only the Constitution is being saved," Raj Babbar, Congress spokesperson said. Opposing the ordinance, the CPM Politburo said the UPA government had been repeatedly taking the undemocratic route. "The matter regarding the disqualification of elected members who are convicted should have been discussed in Parliament and appropriate steps taken," the CPM said. The Congress said it had been forced to bring an ordinance because the BJP stalled the related Bill that was scheduled to be passed in monsoon session of Parliament.
	Boys back to performing stunts on Mumbai trains Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, September 25 After a lull of several months following a crackdown by the Government Railway Police, groups of youths are back to performing stunts on Mumbai’s local trains. According to complaints filed by passengers with the GRP, groups of youth often skate on platforms holding on to moving trains and jump on board in the nick of time as their coach moves out of the station. “Passengers have complained that the youths also harass women standing on the platforms,” PP Pandey, an officer of the GRP stationed at Borivali in the Western Railway said. The stunt performances came to light last year after several youths posted visuals of their acts on social networking sites. “Most of the boys are in the 15 to 25 year age groups and do these things out of peer pressure,” says an official of the Central Railway. Following complaints, the authorities carried out raids at several railway stations this week with police personnel in plain clothes nabbing 25 boys over two days. In all, 24 police personnel were deployed at several stations to nab these boys. While some of them recorded their stunts on mobile phones to show off among their peers, the police personnel themselves filmed several of them trying various tricks on board moving trains. GRP officials say most of the boys picked up were below 18 years of age and were influenced by older boys they were associating with.
	Centre constitutes 7th Pay Commission * To be implemented from Jan 1, 2016 * No separate panel for forces Ajay Banerjee/TNS New Delhi, September 25 The Central Government today set up the Seventh Pay Commission for its employees. However, the promised separate pay commission for the armed forces has not been declared, so far, possibly following inputs from the services against having such a provision. Sources said a large section of top officers in the Army, the Navy and the IAF were not keen on having a separate pay commission for forces as de-linking the forces from the main pay commission would cause more anomalies and there would be no relevant benchmarks to follow. “In the end, the recommendations of a separate pay commission will also have to go through the Finance Ministry,” sources said. IAF Chief Air Chief Marshall NAK Browne, after consultations with the chiefs of the Navy and the Army, wrote to Defence Minister AK Antony saying the forces should from part of the main central pay commission, sources confirmed. Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in a statement today that the Prime Minister had approved the constitution of the Seventh Central Pay Commission. The fourth, fifth and sixth Central Pay Commissions’ recommendations were implemented in 1986, 1996 and 2006, respectively. However, there was no mention of a separate pay commission for the forces in the statement of the Finance Minister. Sources in the Ministry of Defence said there was no instruction, so far, to have a separate pay commission for the forces.