Sarabjit's death sentence commuted

Chandigarh, June 26 (babushahi.com bureau): In a significant development, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari changed the sentence of Sarabjit Singh to life in prison on Tuesday. The Law Ministry of Pakistan Govt. has sent a summary to the Interior Ministry for the immediate release of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh. 
Sarabjit Singh had been sentenced to death after he was convicted for his involvement in the 1990 Multan and Lahore bomb attacks. He is currently imprisoned in the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. 
The family of Singh had appealed to President Zardari for his release during the president's visit to India. 

Badal hails release of Sarbjit Singh from Pak jail

Badal congratulates family of Sarbjit Singh 
Chandigarh 26 June (Babushahi.com Bureau): Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today hailed the release of Indian convict on death row Sarbjit Singh by the Pakistan Government. In a statement the Chief Minister profusely thanked the President of Pakistan for allowing his mercy petition. Badal said that this goodwill gesture would further boost the congenial ties between the two countries. He said the release of Sarbjit Singh would give further impetus to the on going Confidence Building measures between India and Pakistan for strengthening the bonds of friendship, amity, peace and brotherhood amongst the people of India and Pakistan. The Chief Minister also congratulated the family members especially the sister of Sarbjit Singh Sarbjit Kaur for mobilizing support for the release of her brother not within the country but in Pakistan also through making use of diplomatic channels besides people to people contact.

Arrest Capt. Amarinder in Power theft case:PPP

Manpreet Singh Badal

The Punjab Peoples Party (PPP) today demanded that the state government should register a case of power theft against former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and arrest him in this case. The chief spokesperson of the party Bir Devinder Singh said here in a release that if news published in the various newspapers regarding RTI information was correct suggested than it was very serious matter and a non- bailable offence. He said Capt Singh should live such life which was ane example for others as he remained Chief Minister of the state fro full five years and now he was a MLA. It was astonishing matter to note that the seals of power meters were allegedly broken and some meters were dead, he added.

He also lashed upon the officials of Powercom and questioned that why they have not sent bills on teh basis of load and average. It was very serious matter and a high level inquiry should be initiated by the powercom officials, he demanded.

Arrest Amarinder for power theft: Bir Devinder Singh

Offenders of power theft should not go scot free: Bir Devinder

Patiala 25 June : Former deputy speaker of Punjab Bir Devinder Singh today demanded immediate arrest of former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh for alleged gigantic power theft and blatant irregularities committed at Moti Bag, Patiala the residence of Amarinder Singh. In a statement issued here today Singh said, If the information obtained under the Right to Information Act, which appeared in the Punjabi Daily, is factually correct then a serious offence is made out against the offender the law of the land. He said that Amarinder Singh, who happened to be the Chief Minister of Punjab once and now MLA from Patiala besides being the President of the principal opposition party of Punjab, the congress, is expected to live by example. Such a colossal misuse of authority and committing grave offence of gigantic power theft should not go unobserved and unpunished. Offenders should not go scot free, no matter what public status or official authority they enjoy. They must be booked under the relevant provisions of the law, that deals with the power theft and other enormous irregularity they had committed, in utter disregard of the law of the land, sans their political position in the Indian polity, he added. He further added that the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd apparently follow the dictates of the legendary Proverb, Law grinds the poor and the rich rule the law in latter and spirit. Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. should either take immediate explicit action or supply domestic power free of cost, to all the consumers of the State, forthwith, he demanded . I wonder as to why Capt. Amarinder Singh has not responded to the media reports, so far and conspicuously refrained from joining the issue, who is otherwise in the habit of joining issues on the gaudy-gaudy things of no consequence, he said adding the general public of the state of Punjab is impatient to know his version of the alleged massive power theft being committed at his Patiala Moti Bag residence, as per the information supplied by the POWERCOM under the Right to Information Act.

Pranab Mukherjee behind ‘cover-up’ on Netaji’s air-crash, alleges book

NEW DELHI: A soon-to-be-published book claims that finance minister and UPA's presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee was engaged in an elaborate "cover-up" on the last days of Azad Hind Fauj founder and national leader Subhas Chandra Bose.

Penned by former journalist Anuj Dhar, the book that is likely to hit the stands in July, dismisses the official version that Bose died in an air-crash in Taiwan in 1945. The book, India's Biggest Cover-Up, is based on records declassified by the US, British and Indian authorities and several documents that continue to be kept secret over 65 years after the incident.

Dhar says that Mukherjee, in his capacity as the foreign minister, went the extra mile to support the air-crash theory despite evidence negating it. Referring to an incident in 1996, Dhar says that the then joint secretary (JS) in the ministry of external affairs suggested in a secret note that India should issue a demarche to the Russian Federation that they should conduct a search for any evidence about Bose in the KGB archives.

The book says, Mukherjee saw this note and directed foreign secretary Salman Haider to meet the JS. After this meeting, the JS forgot about the demarche and became increasingly cynical and eventually noted that to seek access to the KGB archive would harm Indo-Russian relations. "Mukherjee remains India's foremost proponent of the Bose died in Taiwan theory,'' he writes.

Dhar also claims that in 1994 the MEA in response to a top secret home ministry query about the Japanese government's confirmation of Bose's death by way of furnishing a proper death certificate replied in negative since the Japanese records were obviously fake.

A decade later, Mukherjee was described in the Justice Mukherjee Commission of inquiry report as one of the seven witnesses who had testified before it in favour of the story of Bose's death. Ironically, Mukherjee returned to power in 2004, and then sat in judgment on the Commission report with his other Cabinet colleagues, rejecting the report's conclusions.

The author believes that there is enough circumstantial evidence to show that Bose was possibly in Russia after the crash, and between 1945 and 1990 the Indian government did not bother to ask the Russian authorities about it.

When asked what he believed actually happened if Bose did not die in 1945, Dhar said, "There is some evidence to suggest he died in Faizabad but the question can only be incontestably settled when government undertakes comprehensive declassification especially of those documents held by intelligence agencies."

200-yr-old shrine lost in fire in Kashmir

Relics of Pir Dastageer Sahab safe

Firefighters try to douse the fire that broke out at the
 Pir Dastageer Sahab shrine in Srinagar on Monday. 

SRINAGAR: More than two dozen people were injured in clashes with police in downtown Srinagar after a fire broke out in 200-year-old Peer Dastageer Sahib shrine at Khanyar. The fire, which started in the dome of the wooden shrine due to a short circuit at about 6.30am on Monday, soon engulfed the whole building. 

Angry locals took to the streets holding fire officials responsible for laxity in reaching the shrine and clashed with them, in which several firemen were also injured. 

"The fire tenders arrived late and they had no water. Because of their unpreparedness, the entire building was ablaze in a matter of minutes," said Riyaz Ahmad Bhat of Khanyar. 

The cause of the fire is being inquired into, said director general of fire and emergency GA Bhat. "But the protesting people damaged 22 department vehicles and burnt down one. They also damaged a sky lift which costs Rs 6 crore," he said. In all, 15 firemen were injured. 

Bhat denied any scarcity of water in fire tenders. "The people did not allow firemen to use water from the nearby Barinimbal canal," Bhat said. 

The Sufi shrine of Hazrat Shaikh Abdula Qadir Jeelani, popularly known as Peer Dastageer Sahib, is revered in the whole of Kashmir. Syed Khalid Hussain, the 'sajjada nasheen' (descendent of the peer) of Dastageer Sahib, said the holy relic and copies of holy Quran are safe in his custody. 

Soon after the news spread, people began pelting stones at passing vehicles in the city, forcing the authorities to restrict people's movement. The restrictions in turn triggered clashes between the youth and the police. Police and CRPF men used smoke shells and resorted to lathi charge to disperse the agitating mob. 

Muthaida Majlis-e-Ulema, the amalgam of various religious organizations, asked people to observe a shutdown on Tuesday to mourn the loss.

ਸਾਊਥਾਲ ਦਾ ਕਬੱਡੀ ਕੱਪ ਵੁਲਵਰਹੈਂਪਟਨ ਦੇ ਹਿੱਸੇ ਆਇਆ ਅਤੇ ਡਰਬੀ ਉੱਪ ਜੇਤੂ ਰਹੀ

1) ਵੁਲਵਰਹੈਂਪਟਨ ਦੀ ਟੀਮ ਜੇਤੂ ਕੱਪ ਨਾਲ ( 2) ਸਾਊਥਾਲ ਦੇ ਟੂਰਨਾਮੈਂਟ ਦਾ ਅਨੋਖਾ ਦ੍ਰਿਸ਼ ਲੈਸਟਰ ਕਬੱਡੀ ਟੀਮ ਦੇ ਖਿਡਾਰੀ ਸੁੱਖਾ ਮੋਢਿਆਂ 'ਤੇ ਕਵੈਂਟਰੀ ਦੀ ਟੀਮ ਦੇ ਖਿਡਾਰੀ ਨੂੰ ਲਿਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੋਇਆ    (3) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਖਿਡਾਰੀਆਂ ਦਾ ਸਨਮਾਨ ਕਰਦੇ ਹੋਏ ਪ੍ਰਬੰਧਕ  (4) ਮੁੱਖ ਮਹਿਮਾਨ ਸ. ਗੁਰਮੇਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਮੱਲ੍ਹੀ, ਸ. ਰਵਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਪਵਾਰ, ਸ. ਸੁਰਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਿਲਗਾ ਤੇ ਹੋਰ।

ਲੰਡਨ, 25 ਜੂਨ - ਸਾਊਥਾਲ ਕਬੱਡੀ ਟੂਰਨਾਮੈਂਟ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਕਿੜਾਂ ਕੱਢਦਾ ਹੋਇਆ, ਮੀਂਹ ਤੋਂ ਬਚਦਾ ਬਚਾਉਂਦਾ ਆਖਰ ਸਿਰੇ ਲੱਗ ਹੀ ਗਿਆ, ਹਜ਼ਾਰਾਂ ਦਰਸ਼ਕਾਂ ਦਾ ਇਕੱਠ ਇਸ ਗੱਲ ਦੀ ਗਵਾਹੀ ਭਰਦਾ ਸੀ ਕਿ ਸਾਊਥਾਲ ਸੱਚ ਮੁੱਚ ਹੀ ਮਿੰਨੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਹੈ। ਗਰਾਊਂਡ ਦੀਆਂ ਚਾਰੇ ਬਾਹੀਆਂ ਖਚਾਖਚ ਭਰੀਆਂ ਹੋਈਆਂ ਸਨ। ਇਸ ਮੌਕੇ ਸਥਾਨਿਕ ਐਮ ਪੀ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਵਰਿੰਦਰ ਸ਼ਰਮਾ, ਐਮ ਪੀ ਸੀਮਾ ਮਲਹੋਤਰਾ, ਡਾ. ਉਂਕਾਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਸਹੋਤਾ, ਈਲਿੰਗ ਦੇ ਮੇਅਰ ਮੁਹੰਮਦ ਅਸਲਮ, ਹੰਸਲੋ ਦੇ ਮੇਅਰ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ ਸਿੰਘ ਗਰੇਵਾਲ, ਸਿੰਘ ਸਭਾ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਹਿੰਮਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੋਹੀ, ਸ਼ੇਰ ਗਰੁੱਪ ਦੇ ਚੇਅਰਮੈਨ ਸ. ਗੁਰਮੇਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਮੱਲ੍ਹੀ ਮੁੱਖ ਮਹਿਮਾਨ ਦੇ ਤੌਰ 'ਤੇ ਸ਼ਾਮਿਲ ਹੋਏ, ਕਬੱਡੀ ਕਲੱਬ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਪ੍ਰਮਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਰੰਧਾਵਾ, ਕੁਲਵੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਵਿਰਦੀ, ਕੰਮਾ ਔਜਲਾ, ਬਲਜੀਤ ਮੱਲ੍ਹੀ, ਪਾਲੀ ਢਿਲੋਂ, ਪ੍ਰਭਜੋਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਿੱਟੂ ਮੋਹੀ, ਬਲਬੀਰ ਰਣੀਆਂ, ਕੇਵਲ ਰਣਦੇਵਾ, ਬੁਲਟ, ਭਿੰਦਾ ਸੰਧੂ, ਬਿੱਲਾ ਗਿੱਲ ਆਦਿ ਸਮੇਤ ਵੱਡੀ ਗਿਣਤੀ 'ਚ ਸਾਊਥਾਲ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਬੰਧਕ ਹਾਜ਼ਰ ਸਨ। ਇਸ ਟੂਰਨਾਮੈਂਟ ਦਾ ਫਾਈਨਲ ਕੱਪ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਯੂਨਾਇਟਿਡ ਵੁਲਵਰਹੈਂਪਟਨ ਨੇ ਤੇ ਦੂਸਰੇ ਨੰਬਰ ਦਾ ਕੱਪ ਡਰਬੀ ਨੇ ਜਿੱਤਿਆ। ਪ੍ਰਬੰਧਕਾਂ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਇਸ ਮੌਕੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਕਬੱਡੀ ਖਿਡਾਰੀ, ਸ. ਹਿੰਮਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੋਹੀ, ਬਾਈ ਚੀਮਾ, ਇੰਦਰਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਬੱਲ, ਕੁਲਦੀਪ ਸਿੰਘ ਪੁਰੇਵਾਲ, ਕੁਲਵੰਤ ਸ਼ਾਹ, ਰਸ਼ਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਅਟਵਾਲ, ਦਵਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੰਧੂ ਦਾ ਸਨਮਾਨ ਕੀਤਾ ਗਿਆ। ਪਾਲਾ ਜਲਾਲ ਵਧੀਆ ਜਾਫੀ ਤੇ ਦੀਪਾ ਬੱਲਾਂਵਾਲਾ ਵਧੀਆ ਧਾਵੀ ਐਲਾਨੇ ਗਏ। ਇਸ ਮੌਕੇ ਨਿਰਮਲ ਸਿੱਧੂ ਤੇ ਨੈੱਬ ਸਿੱਧੂ ਨੇ ਗੀਤਾਂ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਦਰਸ਼ਕਾਂ ਦਾ ਮਨੋਰੰਜਨ ਕੀਤਾ ਤੇ ਸਟੇਜ ਦੀ ਕਾਰਵਾਈ ਸੁਖਦੇਵ ਸਿੰਘ ਔਜਲਾ, ਸੁਖਬੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੋਢੀ ਨੇ ਨਿਭਾਈ ਤੇ ਕੁਮੈਂਟਰੀ ਦਾ ਰੰਗ ਭਿੰਦਾ ਮੁਠੱਡਾ, ਸੋਖਾ ਢੇਸੀ ਤੇ ਰਵਿੰਦਰ ਕੋਛੜ ਨੇ ਬੰਨ੍ਹਿਆ।