Gurdaspur, December 26
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD/BJP) leaders today carried their campaign to border constituencies of the district. SAD president Prakash Singh Badal organised six rallies in Sujanpur and Pathankot Assembly constituencies.

The BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley and former MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu attended two rallies of the alliance in Sujanpur assembly constituency.

The response to the rallies was good but tussle between aspirants of party ticket from the area was obvious. Both Sujanpur and Pathankot assembly constituencies are to be contested by the BJP. Former BJP ministers from the area Satpal Saini and Mohan Lal had tough time tackling their detractors.

Slogans by supporters in favour of their respective annoyed candidates Mr Badal. He said it was not the Congress but infighting in their parties that could inflict defeat on them in the Assembly elections.

Addressing the rally Mr Badal said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was wasting public money on Vikas rallies. Till date crores of public money had been spent on election campaign of the Congress. The same amount could have been spent on development and welfare of the poor.

Mr Amarinder Singh has also failed to secure any major benefit for the state from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In his last two visits the Prime Minister has failed to announce anything special for Punjab. On the contrary former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee waived loan of Rs 6400 crore on Punjab and gave refinery to the state, he said.

Mr Arun Jaitley said it was for the first time in the history of the country since independence that the Indian government was referring to Kashmir as Indian Occupied Kashmir. Earlier the reference was just Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. This is dangerous shift in the foreign policy of the country that was compromised national interests.

He also said the present Congress government in the state had deprived farmers of agriculture land. The land acquired from the farmers has been handed to property dealers leading to scams of hundreds of crores.

Mr Navjot Singh Sidhu targeted the Chief Minister. He said for four years the Chief Minister remained unavailable even to his party colleagues leave aside the common man. Only election drove him into meeting the common man. He also referred to Congress Minister from Sujanpur Raghunath Sahay Puri as the most corrupt Minister in present Cabinet.

Mr Avinash Rai Khanna targeted the present government for failing to check price rise. Former minister Mohan Lal levelled charges of corruption against the local representative of the Congress. He said despite the fact that crores had been spent in papers on development of the Pathankot constituency nothing was visible on ground. The development remained limited to just encroachments on roads and government land.

Fatehgarh Sahib, December 26
The three-day annual Saheedi Jor Mela concluded here today with religious ceremonies. A massive nagar kirtan was taken out from Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib to Gurdwara Jyoti Swarup Sahib after performing the ardas by Giani Tarlochan Singh, head granthi, Gurdwara Keshgarh Sahib.

Lakhs of devotees took part in the nagar kirtan, which covered a distance of 2 km in four hours. Several school bands, gatka parties, Nihang Singhs, kirtani jathas, Sukhmani Sahib Sewa Societies and a large number of social, religious and political leaders took part. The main attraction was the skills of martial arts shown by Nihang Singhs and gatka parties.

The palanquin carrying Guru Granth Sahib was placed on a well-decorated vehicle. Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, Jathedar Akal Takhat; Bhai Gurbachan Singh, Head Granthi, Darbar Sahib; Bhai Balwant Singh, Jathedar, Dandama Sahib; and Giani Sukhdev Singh, Head Granthi Gurudwara Dukh Niwarn, Patiala; performed the duty of “chor sahib”.

Jathedar Avtar Singh Makkar, president, SGPC, and Dr Harbans Lal, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, along with other political leaders followed the vehicle carrying the palanquin.

Addressing the gathering, the SGPC chief called upon the people to follow the teachings of great Gurus and appealed to the youths to shun drugs and get baptised.

The main attraction of the mela was the light and sound program, “Sarvansh Dani” organised by the district administration and the Department of Public 
Relations.

Addressing a joint press conference, Ms Jaspreet Talwar, Deputy Commissioner and Mr Paramraj Singh Umranangal, SSP, thanked the devotees and all those who helped in commemorating the annual fair in a peaceful manner. They expressed satisfaction over the arrangements and said not even a single untoward incident was reported in these three days. The concept of opening an information centre was a great success and many lost children were handed over to their parents, they added.

Jalandhar, December 26
Senior Congress leader Raj Khurana, sitting MLA from Rajpura and a Vice-President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after quitting his positions in the PPCC and the Vidhan Sabha. The announcement which was kept secret by BJP leadership till afternoon, was made by senior BJP leader. Arun Jaitley.

Mr Khurana held Chief Minister Amarinder Singh responsible for his resignation from the party.

A senior leader like me was not granted time to meet the Chief Minister for the past five years. I was upset over the controversies surrounding the Congress government and had been taking up the matter with the party high command at different times for the past five years.

They are talking of clean administration, but what about controversies surrounding the DLF SEZ, Silicon Constructions, City Centre and other projects? prices of essential commodities have risen manifold and become beyond the reach of the common man.

No effort was made to contain the spiralling prices. Our youth is unemployed. The Congress is claiming the central loan on Punjab has decreased, whereas, the truth is that the loan has increased from Rs 34966 crore in 2002 to more than Rs 53000 crore. Moreover the Congress has been a party of poor people, but now it is being steered by Raja-Maharajas. These are the issues which, forced me to take a tough stance,” said Mr Khurana.

Mr Jaitley and Mr Khurana were accompanied by senior BJP leaders, including Mr Manoranjan Kalia, Mr Balramji Dass Tandon, Mr Navjot Sidhu, Mr S.D. Chugh and Mr Krishan Lal Dhall.

Mr Jaitley indicated the BJP fielding Mr Khurana from Rajpura constituency for the assembly elections. There are so many leaders in the Congress, which like Mr Khurana, have been speaking on important issues. We feel the BJP will use Mr Khurana. Our leaders, Mr Balramji Dass Tandon and Mr Grewal have been instrumental in bringing Mr Khurana to the BJP fold, said Mr Jaitley.

To a query on reported differences between the BJP and the SAD over seat-sharing Mr Jaitley denied any big differences between the two parties on the issue.

“The BJP and the SAD have old and strong ties and the two parties will resolve the matter amicably. As far as Amritsar parliamentary seat is concerned, I think the best candidate (Mr Sidhu) is sitting along with me,” said Mr Jaitley. He said his party was opposed to reservation on religion in the country.

Mr Khurana also distributed copies of his recent letter to AICC chief Ms Sonia Gandhi. 

Chandigarh, December 26
In pursuance of a Delhi lower court order to frame charges against four Punjab police officials in connection with the alleged abduction of three missing persons, the Delhi High Court has issued notice to the CBI on a petition filed by one of the accused, DSP Paramjit Singh.

The Delhi High Court has fixed January 9 as the date of hearing of the petition in which the DSP contended that a criminal mafia operating in Ludhiana had in fact stage-managed the disappearance of Vinod Kumar to harm them.

The petition, which was taken up by the High Court on December 13, said the missing Vinod Kumar was an experienced criminal who had been detained under the National Security Act (NSA) in 1978 for black marketing in cement. In fact, a demi-official letter written by the then AIG (Operation) S.Chattopadhayay to the then DGP K.P.S.Gill had specifically mentioned that Vinod Kumar had close links with this criminal mafia, it added. In his petition, the accused DSP contended that while Vinod Kumar had absconded, his brother Ashish Kumar was moving one judicial forum after another just to prolong the litigation and thereby escape criminal action pending against the two brothers and thwart the process of recovery suits to the tune of crores of rupees filed by nationalised banks against them.

More specifically, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued orders on March 15, 1994, to execute recovery of Rs 70 lakh within 30 days, which was the immediate reason for Vinod Kumar to abscond.

It may be mentioned that the complainant Ashish Kumar had moved the court, alleging that his brother Vinod Kumar was kidnapped by the four police officers due to the personal enmity of the then SSP Sumedh Singh Saini. The case was first investigated by the Punjab police which had given a finding that the missing persons had absconded.

On the same facts, however, the CBI had given a report in 1995, concluding that the missing persons “remained untraced so far despite best efforts made by the CBI. The advertisements in the newspapers and the use of print and electronic media have not yielded any results so far. The family members have not heard from them in the past about 17 months, nor have their dead bodies been recovered. In the circumstances, it can reasonably be concluded that they are no longer alive even though there is no evidence to establish that they have died”.

Moreover, the four police officers were indicted for “causing the disappearance” of the missing persons.

While hearing the arguments, the Tis Hazari Trial Court decided to frame charges against the accused officers under Section 364 of the IPC. However, the petitioner has contended before the High Court that he was not even present at the spot where the alleged abduction

took place and such a finding is a “glaring example of non-application of mind”.

The DSP further said even the two known residential addresses of Vinod Kumar in Singapore mentioned in the recovery suits filed by nationalised banks against him had not been checked by the CBI. The investigating agency did not look into this basic fact in spite of a clear order from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, he added. — UNI 

Sangrur, December 26
Seven persons were killed while 14 persons sustained injuries in a head-on bus-truck collision on the Sunam-Bhawanigarh road near Sajuma village, about 12 km from here, this morning.

Five persons were killed on the spot while one each succumbed to injuries at the Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, and the Civil Hospital, Sunam.

Eight of the injured were under treatment at the Rajindra Hospital and six at the Primary Health Centre, Bhawanigarh. The PRTC bus of the Budhlada Depot was on its way to Chandigarh from Sirsa while the truck was going from Patiala to Sunam when the mishap took place around 7.30 am.

Teachers and students of the St Xavier’s School, Sirsa, going to Chandigarh for a tour to Shimla, were travelling in the bus.

The names of the deceased are Father Alex Desouza (32), assistant principal; Shwella Fernades (24), a teacher; Mohit (16), a student; Makhan Singh, driver of the bus; Shiv Dayal, driver of the truck; Sukhdev Singh of Sadhuwala village in Budhlada; and Ashok Kumar of Rajpura.

Among the injured were Syle Fernades, Sandra Fernades and Joseph, women teaching at the school.

The other injured are Rani Kaur, Gurcharan Kaur, Perneet Kaur, Kiranjit Kaur, Vinod Sharma (Sirsa), Arvind Kumar (Lehra), Avtar Singh (Rajpura), Swaran Kaur (Dera Bassi), Gurlal Singh (Sardoolgarh), Paramjit Kaur (Sardoolgarh) and Tarlochan Singh (Shadipur).

The Sunam police registered a case under Sections 304-A, 237 and 238 of the IPC.

Bodies of Desouza and Fernades were being taken to Goa for burial.

The postmortem examination of the deceased, except Mohit, was conducted at the local Civil Hospital.

A grant of Rs 50,000 each was announced for dependants of the deceased from the chief minister’s relief fund.

The district Red Cross Society would bear expenses for the treatment of the injured.

The PRTC would pay Rs 50,000 each as grant to dependants of the deceased.

Mansa, December 26
Apparently irked with the CPI for denying her ticket, Dr Harmanderjit Kaur Joga today resigned from the party along with her supporters and announced that she would contest as an independent candidate from Mansa Assembly constituency.

Political observers here termed her resignation as a major setback to the CPI, as Dr Joga had not only been the party’s city secretary for the past one decade but also the daughter-in-law of veteran Communist leader Jangir Singh Joga, who represented Mansa for record 23 years in state Assembly.

Dr Joga has attributed her resignation to the “serious” differences with the current leadership of the party. She took the party’s state leadership to task and said the party had lost its way. She also flayed the party for fielding Mr Daljeet Singh Mansiah from Mansa and went on to term him as an outsider.

She said: “The party has no place for an educated woman who has her own views on contemporary issues. It cannot provide any credible alternative to the people of Punjab”.

She alleged that the party’s only agenda was to oppose the government on every issue.

She claimed that over 300 party workers had also left the party in her support. Prominent among those included Comrade Nathu Singh, Comrade Kaur Singh, Mr Kaka Singh, and Ms Mukhtiar Kaur, Mr Rampal Singh and Mr Shamsher Singh, all municipal councillors.

Faridkot, December 26
Detection of a polio case in the Kotkapura segment of the district has put the Health Department on its toes, which is finding itself at a loss for words to explain as to how, despite being administered vaccination drops on time, the child got infected with the polio virus.

The six-month-old Shivani was tested positive for polio virus after the Health Department got medical tests done about a month back. However, the family members of the girl rued that they were not informed about the test results despite their repeated attempts. Shivani’s father, Ravi Kumar, said his daughter was administered polio drops on schedule at the local Civil Hospital and despite this she got infected with the virus.

Meanwhile, the representatives of the World Health Organisation’s coordination cell at Faridkot met the family of the affected child to get more details about the family history. Confirming the polio case the Civil Surgeon said that the matter had been taken up at the state and Centre levels. 

Gurdaspur, December 26
The three-day 115th annual convention of Ahmadiyya Muslims started at Qadian today.

A spokesperson of the community said about 40,000 followers were expected to reach Qadian from about 184 countries and 3500 local chapters.

Today Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih V (supreme head of Worldwide Jama’at Ahmadiyya) addressed the gathering.

He said main objectives of the convention were to promote peace in the world, project pristine teachings of Islam and promote the bond between human beings and Allah.

Issues like safeguarding the rights of women, guaranteeing human rights and controlling the rise of fundamentalism would be deliberated upon at the convention, he said.

The speech of the Ahmadiyya spiritual leader was telecast through satellite link from the Jamaat headquarters at London.

Syed Tanwir Ahmad, press secretary for India, said all arrangements for the large numbers of participants expected had been completed.

Special arrangement for board and lodging and medical facilities had been made.

The speakers stressed that as the objective of the conference was spiritual, it had no connection with politics.

They expressed concern over the state of Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan, where they had been declared non-Muslims and their religious places attached.

There had been biased behaviour towards Ahmadiyyas in Jammu and Kashmir, where they had denied the right to bury their dead in Muslim cemeteries at some places.

Politicians greeted Ahmadiyyas with an eye on the forthcoming elections, with Shiromani Akali Dal candidate from Qadian Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal attending the conference.

Sangrur, December 26
The police has arrested Rahul Sharma, an alleged reporter of a TV channel, for allegedly kidnapping a college girl on November 9. He was today produced in a local, which remanded him in police custody for a day.

SSP Harinder Singh Chahal said the accused was arrested yesterday and the victim had given a statement against him in the court.

According to the police, Rahul took the girl to Jammu and then to Srinagar. He allegedly married the girl and made sexual relations against her wishes. Later, he took the girl to Dalhousie and stayed in a hotel from where the girl fled and returned to Sangrur on December 23.

The father of the girl had stated in the FIR that his daughter had gone to the college but did not return home the same day. The family made efforts to trace her, but 
to no avail.

Later, he knew from reliable sources that Rahul had eloped with her daughter with intent to marry her by keeping her in the dark. The accused was already married and had a six-year-old son. 

Hoshiarpur, December 26
A case of rape and another of attempt to rape were reported at the Mukerian and Tanda police stations last night.

According to the police, a 13-year-old girl of Parika was allegedly raped by Parveen Chib of the same village on December 24.

She went to a grocery shop to purchase household articles when Parveen forcibly took her to a nearby sugarcane field and raped her.

When she did not return, her parents started a search and informed the sarpanch.

She came back around 10:30 pm and informed her parents.

After getting her medically examined, the police arrested Parveen.

In the other incident, a 12-year-old girl of Ahiyapur village alleged that she was forcibly taken by Mangi, Tiddi and Kalu of the same village to a plot while she was going for tuition yesterday.

She alleged that the trio tried to rape her, but she escaped and informed her mother.

On the complaint of her mother, the police registered a case under Sections 376, 511, 506 and 34 of the IPC against the trio.

The police said an FIR was also registered under Sections 452, 323, 148 and 149 of the IPC by relatives of the accused against relatives of the girl for assault.

Ropar, December 26
Within two months another undertrial, Sucha Ram(45), died at the district jail here. The body after a post-mortem at the Civil Hospital here was today handed over to his family. On October 6 a 30-year-old undertrial, Harinder Singh, had died under mysterious circumstances at the jail. He was also said to be a drug addict while his family had denied it and demanded an independent inquiry.

The condition of Sucha Singh of Jadla village, Nawanshahr district, had deteriorated last evening. He was admitted to the Civil Hospital where he died. He was arrested under the Excise Act on December 10 and since then he had been lodged here, the jail authorities said.

The jail lacks a permanent doctor and has been facing staff shortage.

Incidentally, the jail had not been formally inaugurated as its inauguration had had been postponed twice.

The Deputy Superintendent of the jail, Mr Gurpal Singh Saroya, said Sucha Ram had died due to poor health.

“We have requested the authorities concerned for deputing a permanent doctor here and also fill vacant posts of the employees,” he added.

The SDM, Ropar, Mr P.S. Gill, today recorded the statements of the members of the family of the deceased and also of the other undertrials sharing the barrack with the victim. The SDM would submit his inquiry report to the Deputy Commissioner.

11 hurt in road accident
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 26
Eleven persons, including six women, were injured, three of them critically, when a jeep and a car collided head on near Kalajhrani village today.

Sources said the incident occurred when the family of Nachhatar Singh, a resident of Ganji Mansa, was on its way to collect ashes of his son-in-law. The jeep, in which they were travelling, collided with a car that was on its way from Malout to Talwandi.

Sources said the accident led to serious injuries to the car driver and two women occupants of the jeep.

Sahara volunteers rushed the injured to the Civil Hospital in Bathinda.

The car occupants were identified as Rupesh Kumar and Rajesh Kumar.

In another incident, a pregnant woman sustained serious burn injuries under mysterious circumstances. Sahara workers admitted her to the hospital in a critical condition. The reason behind her getting burnt was yet to be ascertained.

Amritsar, December 26
The mutilated body of an unidentified one-and-a-half year-old female child was found outside the new building of Government-run Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here.

The incident sent shockwaves in the hospital as the body was being devoured by stray dogs. The Majitha road police has initiated an inquiry under Section 174, CrPC.

The police authorities said the stray dogs mutilated the body beyond recognition. They added that nobody had come forward with a complaint of missing child. However, they also did not rule out the possibility that the child would have been killed and then the body was thrown near the hospital where it was eaten up by stray dogs.