New Delhi: Rejecting BJP’s criticism, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused it of playing politics over the anti-terror surgical strike and said why was the party “scared” when he had only asked the Prime Minister to counter the false propaganda by Pakistan.

Maintaining that Aam Aadmi Party believes that surgical strikes did take place, Kejriwal said that in his video message yesterday he had only appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a befitting reply.

In a rare gesture, Kejriwal has yesterday “saluted” Modi for the surgical strikes by the Army on terror launch pads across the LoC.

At the same time, he had urged the Centre to counter the smear campaign by Pakistan and international media, but BJP alleged that Kejriwal had in the garb of his statement questioned the Army’s assertion on surgical strike and insulted the armed forces.

“I have supported the Prime Minister, applauded the army. I only said that Pakistan is spreading false propaganda in the world that surgical strikes did not happen. We all believe that surgical strikes took place,” Kejriwal said today.

“Pakistan is spreading the propaganda across the world and international media is running this that surgical strikes did not take place. I had only appealed to the PM that a befitting reply should be given to Pakistan.

“If I said that we have to counter Pakistan’s false propaganda then why is the BJP so rattled and scared? We all have to counter Pakistan’s propaganda and we should all, irrespective of the party, strengthen PM’s hands in this,” Kejriwal said.

Claiming that Kejriwal “sought proof” on the anti-terror operation, the BJP asked him not to belittle the armed forces by getting influenced by Pakistani “propaganda”.

At a press conference today, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the AAP leader should answer whether he believed in the Indian Army or not.

Kejriwal later retorted: “I am unhappy. Ravi Shankar ji is saying I am playing politics. Am I playing politics or they?”

Senior AAP leader Ashutosh said Pakistan is insulting ‘Bharat Mata’ and Indian army through its propaganda, but BJP is settling score with Kejriwal.

“I am amazed that Ravi Shankar Prasad instead of unmasking Pak Propaganda is questioning AK. Shows BJP’s bankruptcy of ideas,” Ashutosh tweeted.

(Agencies)

Jammu: Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire four times today by targeting forward posts and civilian areas along the LoC in Poonch district with 120 mm mortar bombs and opening fire with automatic weapons, drawing retaliation from Indian troops.

There were reports of two civilians suffering minor injuries in the firing and shelling. Pakistan shelled posts along the LoC in Shahpur, Krishnagati, Mandi and Sabzian sectors of Poonch district.

“Pakistan troops resorted to unprovoked firing in Mandi and Sabzian sectors of Poonch district from 1345 hours today”, Defence Spokesman Col Manish Mehta said. They fired 120 mm, 80 mm mortar bombs, automatic weapons and small arms, he said, adding the exchanges are going on.

Earlier Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire in Poonch using small arms, automatic and mortar bombs (in Shahpur) in Poonch, he said. “It has appropriately been responded to, we have given them a befitting reply. The ceasefire violation is still on”, he said.

A police officer said the firing started at around 1045 hours and is going on. Pakistani troops had earlier briefly opened fire in Krishnagati sector of Poonch district around 0100 hours, officials said.

Deputy Commissioner of Poonch, Mohmmad Harun Malik said that as per reports from the border area, two civilian has suffered minor injuries. There have been four ceasefire violations today and 10 since the surgical strikes carried out by Indian Army on the intervening night of September 28 and 29.

Pakistan had opened fire in forward areas in Pallanwala belt of Jammu district yesterday evening. On October 1, Pakistani troops had shelled Indian posts and civilian areas with mortar bombs, RPGS and HMGS amid small arms firing along LoC this sector.

There was heavy shelling of mortar bombs, RPGs and firing of Heavy Machine guns (HMGs) and small arms firing targeting forward positions along LoC in Pallanwala,Chhamb areas.

On September 30, Pakistani troops had opened fire from small arms along the LoC in Pallanwala, Chaprial and Samnam areas of Akhnoor sector of Jammu district. On September 29, Pakistan troops had resorted to firing in Balnoie area of Mendhar sector.

The Pakistani troops had violated the ceasefire on September 28 by opening fire on Indian army posts along LoC in Sabzian area Poonch sector. On September 6, Pakistani troops had fired on Army posts along the LoC in Pooch sector.

Pakistani troops had also violated the ceasefire on September 2 by firing on forward army posts along the LoC in Akhnoor sector of Jammu district. Last year, 16 civilians were killed and 71 others injured in 405 incidents of cross-border firing by Pakistan.

(PTI)

Srinagar: A massive search operation to hunt down militants who escaped after a failed attempt to attack an army camp in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town was called off on Monday morning, officials said.

The search operation, which lasted for more than six hours, was launched soon after a two-hour gunfight outside the camp of counter-insurgency 46 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in Janbazpora stopped late Sunday night, a senior police officer said.

“After six hours, the search operation was called off and traffic restored in the area,” he said.

Border Security Force (BSF) Constable Nitin Kumar was killed and Constable Parminder injured when a group of heavily armed guerrillas attacked the camp on Sunday night.

“The two troopers got suspicious of some movement. When they tried to find out the cause, they were fired upon by militants using grenade-launchers. One of the grenades exploded, seriously injuring Nitin,” BSF’s Kashmir Frontier Inspector General Vikash Chandra told Times Now.

Parminder was hit in his leg. Despite his injuries, Constable Nitin fired at least 20 rounds while Parminder fired 48 rounds.

“Nitin Kumar succumbed to injuries in a hospital. But we repulsed the attack,” the IG said.

“We have seized a wirecutter, which points towards the terrorists’ intention. They should ideally have been killed, but they escaped due to darkness and ground conditions,” the BSF officer said.

The forces are on high alert to face any eventuality, he said.

Police said that ‘fidayeen’ militants attacked the army camp outpost at around 10.30 p.m. on Sunday.

“They used grenades and heavy automatic gunfire as cover in their attempt to enter the camp,” the senior police officer said.

“They first attacked the camp outpost guarded by the BSF but were thwarted by the security forces.”

The attack on the 46 RR camp comes in the wake of the Indian Army’s surgical strikes on September 29 across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the killing of 19 soldiers by four terrorists in the garrison town of Uri in Baramulla district on September 18.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Supreme Court today asked the Karnataka government to apprise it by tomorrow afternoon whether it has released water to Tamil Nadu as directed by it on September 30.

The Centre also moved the apex court seeking modification of its earlier order asking it to constitute the Cauvery Water Management Board (CWMB) by Tuesday.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, told the court that the Centre should not have been asked to constitute the CWMB as the main civil appeal on the issue was still pending and the task of setting up the CWMB fell under the domain of the Executive.

A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan listed the interim plea of the Centre for hearing tomorrow. The apex court sought a report from Karnataka by 2 PM tomorrow on compliance of its order of September 30.

On September 30, SC had directed Karnataka to discharge 6,000 cusecs water from October 1-6, warning it that no one would know when the “wrath of the law” would fall on it.

The apex court had also directed the Centre to establish the CWMB, saying once it was constituted, its team would visit the sites to take a prima facie view of the ground reality and submit a report.

On October 1, Karnataka had moved a review petition in the apex court against its three orders on Cauvery water release to Tamil Nadu and direction to the Centre to create the CWMB.

In its review petition, Karnataka said “grave miscarriage of justice” has been caused to it pursuant to the three apex court orders of September 20, 27 and 30, by which it was directed to release 6000 cusecs of water till October 6 and the Centre was to constitute the Board by October 4.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered RJD leader Mohammad Shahabuddin back to jail as it set aside the Patna High Court order granting him bail in the Rajiv Roshan murder case.

A bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy said that Shahabuddin would be taken into custody forthwith.

“The State will take all consequential steps to take him into custody forthwith,” Justice Ghose said pronouncing the judgment.

The court added that the State and the court will take all steps to complete the trial expeditiously.

The verdict followed a Bihar government’s plea challenging the Patna High Court order granting bail on grounds that though Shahabuddin was arrested in 2014, the trial did not start till date.

The High Court order was also challenged by Rajiv Roshan’s father Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose other two sons were also allegedly killed by Shahabuddin’s henchmen.

Rajiv Roshan, who was the sole witness to the killings of his brothers, was allegedly killed by Shahabuddin’s henchmen, including his son Osama.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan says artistes from Pakistan should not be treated like terrorists and art and terrorism should not be mixed.

The Indian Motion Picture Producers Association passed a resolution yesterday to ban Pakistani actors from the industry in the wake of the Uri attack.

The resolution came after Indian Army announced that seven terror launch pads were targeted across the LoC by special forces during a ‘surgical strike’.

“Pakistani artistes are just artistes and not terrorists. Terrorism and art are two different subjects,” Salman said, when asked about his take on banning the actors from Pakistan.

The actor said the action (surgical strike) taken by the Indian Army is proper as it was against terrorism, but he would prefer to have a situation of peace and harmony.

“Ideal situation should have been that of peace. But, now a reaction to an action has happened. It was a proper action as they were terrorists. But still in this day and age, I think if we lived in peace an harmony it would have been better for everyone and especially for common people,” he said while speaking at the launch of his jewellery range for Being Human.

Last week, Raj Thackeray-led MNS issued an ultimatum to Pakistani artistes and actors including Fawad Khan, who is part of one of the productions under Salman’s banner, and Ali Zafar, to leave India by September 25 or else they would be “pushed out”.

Recently concerts of Pakistani singers Shafqat Amanat Ali and Atif Aslam, scheduled in Bengaluru and Gurgaon, respectively were also cancelled.

(Agencies)

(Photo: PTI/File)

Chennai: Tearing into Karnataka for treating the Supreme Court orders on release of Cauvery water with “utter contempt”, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today said such “deliberate defiance” goes against the spirit of the Constitution and amounts to “contempt” of the Court.

In her speech, read out by Chief Secretary P Ramamohana Rao, at the meeting of the Chief Ministers of two states convened by the Water Resources Ministry, she said her state has “scrupulously” adhered to every Apex Court order.

“By contrast, the State of Karnataka has treated the orders of the Honourable Supreme Court with utter contempt. Successive orders of the Honourable Supreme Court have been deliberately and systematically defied,” by the neighbouring state, she said.

Jayalalithaa, recuperating at a corporate hospital here, said she could not attend the meeting as she was hospitalised.

She said she participated in the discussions “with the hope Tamil Nadu would get its legitimate share in Cauvery water”.

The Chief Minister said that as of August 31, 2016, Tamil Nadu had a shortfall of 60.983 tmc ft of water as per the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

It was in this context of such a “huge shortfall” and with the intention of saving at least a single samba crop in the Cauvery delta that her state was “forced” to approach the Supreme Court for interim directions, she said.

She recalled the Apex Court directions to Karnataka to initially release 15,000 cusecs and later modify it to 12,000 cusecs per day up to September 20, totalling 17.366 tmc ft.

“But “Karnataka failed to release the requisite quantity of water,” she said.
The Apex Court had later modified the quantum of water to be released to 6,000 cusecs, she said.

“In utter disregard and in complete contempt of the orders of the Honourable Supreme Court, Karnataka failed to release the stipulated quantity of water to Tamil Nadu and in addition, failed to make good the shortfall,” as per its earlier orders, she said.

“This deliberate defiance goes against the spirit of the Constitution itself and amounts to contempt of the Apex Court. Karnataka has not followed the orders of the Honourable Supreme Court and has on the other hand permitted unruly elements to create law and order issues,” she said.

Jayalalithaa said it “is very unfortunate” that not only was water not released as stipulated, but ever since Supreme Court gave its first interim directions on September 5, “an orchestrated spate of arson and violence was unleashed, directed at Tamils living in Karnataka”.

She said many large and small properties and establishments owned by Tamils were systematically targeted, ransacked and burnt.

Also a large number of vehicles bearing Tamil Nadu registration number plates were burnt and vandalised.

“Tamils had been persecuted and attacked with impunity by frenzied mobs with little or no effective restraint or action by the Karnataka authorities. We are led to believe that many of these instances of mob violence were deliberately fanned by various political formations and high level instigators charged with maintaining law and order, who watched the incidents with glee,” she charged.

“In contrast”, her government ensured law and order was “maintained” in Tamil Nadu and no “person from Karnataka or institutions, commercial establishments, educational bodies, properties belonging to persons from Karnataka were affected in Tamil Nadu in any way,” she said.

“Absolute restraint was observed by all sections in Tamil Nadu, including farmers. Even one or two very minor incidents were acted on promptly, cases registered and the miscreants arrested. On the other hand, in Karnataka the situation was grave,” she said.

She recalled that in 1991 the Tribunal had issued interim order on water release, but Karnataka did not honour it and had promulgated an ordinance nullifying it.

The Supreme Court had, however, struck it down, she said.
“Even in 1991, when the interim order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was passed, a reign of terror was unleashed and Tamils in Karnataka were targeted.

“Tamil people living in Karnataka have been living in fear whenever Tamil Nadu has claimed its rightful share of water in judicial forums, though all judicial forums have seen merit and justice in our case,” she said.

Jayalalithaa said Karnataka never honoured the Tribunal’s interim order and had only allowed surplus waters which its reservoirs could not hold, to flow to Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalithaa said the tribunal allocated 419 TMC ft. of water to Tamil Nadu, of which an annual quantity of 192 TMC ft. has to be ensured at the Inter-State border.

“But this quantum was far below the actual requirement of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka has not released that in any of the years except when its reservoirs could not hold the surplus flows,” she said.

She recalled her “vigorous and spirited efforts to get the Tribunal’s final order notified,” which was done in 2013 following a Supreme Court direction to the Centre.

She said it must not be forgotten the final order now has the status of a Supreme Court decree and therefore is law of the land and mandates formation of Cauvery Management Board.

She urged the forum to recognise Karnataka’s pattern of “arrogating” to itself waters of the inter-State Cauvery river “in defiance” of the Apex Court.

She recalled the court’s observation in 1991 that though the inter-State river pass through territories of riparian states, such waters cannot be said to be located in any one state.

Tamil Nadu is a lower riparian state with long established irrigation systems based on unhindered water flow in Cauvery river. But agricultural patterns had been adversely affected by systematic actions by Karnataka to deprive Tamil Nadu of its legitimate share of water, she said.

The state “had no option” but knock the SC’s doors for water release after its pleas to Karnataka and to the Centre “fell on deaf ears”, she said.

“The Honourable Supreme Court has been very magnanimous in its latest directions to direct that a meeting may be held at the level of Executive Heads of the two State Governments to find a way out of the present impasse.

“However, as Karnataka continues to take a defiant stance, I wonder whether the meeting would serve its intended purpose unless Karnataka can be prevailed upon to honour the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s directions,” she said.

Stating that Tamil Nadu is in dire need of water,she said that in the spirit of the Supreme Court order, she was urging Government of India to ensure Karnataka complies and releases water to Tamil Nadu forthwith.

They should also release the stipulated quantity of water as per the Tribunal’s final order, including backlog of 76.042 TMC ft, she said.

(PTI)

New Delhi: India said on Thursday it carried out surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads across the LoC in Pakistan and inflicted heavy casualties. Islamabad insisted there had been only cross-border clashes that left two of its soldiers dead.

Eleven days after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Special Forces targeted “some terrorist teams” positioned on the Line of Control (LoC) on Wednesday night, the military said.

“During these counter-terrorist operations, significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists and those who support them,” Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, the Director General Military Operations (DGMO), told the media.

As Indian authorities ordered a high alert along the border areas of Punjab and Gujarat and said it was ready for any retaliation by Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sounded a warning to New Delhi.

Villagers in a 10-km border belt in Punjab in India were ordered to move to safer places, while schools were shut in the entire area. Leave of police as well as medical personnel there was cancelled.

Across the border in Neelum Valley in Pakistan, authorities banned the movement of vehicles near the LoC, ordered primary schools shut and warned people not to loiter in the vicinity, according to Geo News.

Minutes after India announced the surgical strikes on Thursday, Sharif denounced what he said was “unprovoked and naked aggression” by Indian forces.

“Our intent for peaceful neighbourhood should not be mistaken as our weakness,” he said. Pakistan can “thwart any evil design made to undermine the sovereignty of Pakistan”, he added.

The Pakistani military said there were no surgical strikes by India, and “instead there had been cross-border fire initiated and conducted by India which is existential phenomenon.

“The same was strongly and befittingly responded by Pakistani troops,” it said. “The notion of surgical strikes linked to alleged terrorist bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by India.”

Terrorists fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir are known to be based in the Pakistani part of divided Kashmir and are said to enjoy the backing of both the Pakistani military and terrorist groups aligned with Pakistani intelligence.

As temperatures mounted in the region, with the Saarc summit scheduled in Islamabad in November under a shadow following a boycott by India, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the government convened an all-party meeting in New Delhi and shared details of the overnight surgical strikes.

The Indian forces did not release details but some reports said that Indian Special Forces had gone three kilometers across the LoC and eliminated 38 terrorists before retreating.

Gen Ranbir Singh said the terrorists in the surgical strikes had planned “to carry out infiltration and terrorist strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and various other metros in our country.

“The operation was basically focussed to ensure that these terrorists do not succeed in their design of infiltration and carrying out destruction and endangering the lives of citizens of our country,” he said.

The DGMO said the operation had since ceased. “We do not have plans of further continuation of the operations. However, the Indian armed forces are fully prepared for any contingency that may arise.”

The Indian action was based on “very specific and credible information”, he added.

Thursday also saw Pakistani military shelling Indian positions across the LoC — which divides Jammu and Kashmir between the two countries — at Danesh and Lakshmi posts in Naugam sector, the state Police said. The Indian military retaliated.

Pakistan said the exchange of fire began at 2.30 a.m. and continued till 8.00 a.m., leaving two Pakistani soldiers dead.

“Pakistani troops befittingly responded to Indian unprovoked firing on the LoC in Bhimber, Hotspring Kel and Lipa sectors,” it said.

The Indian DGMO said he also spoke to his Pakistani counterpart and told him about the operation.

“It is India’s intention to maintain peace and tranquility in the region but we cannot — certainly not — allow the terrorists to operate across the LoC with impunity and attack the citizens of the country.

“We expect the Pakistan Army to cooperate with us to erase the menace of terrorism from our region,” he added.

(IANS)

New Delhi: A meeting convened by the Centre to iron out differences between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on the impasse over Cauvery river water sharing failed to achieve any breakthrough today.

At the meeting convened by Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, Tamil Nadu refused to accept Karnataka’s proposal that an expert committee be sent to the river basin to assess water availability.

“There was a request from Karnataka government to our ministry to form an expert committee to take a view over availability of water in the Cauvery basin. The Karnataka Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) pressed for it. Tamil Nadu could not give its consent to the proposal,” Bharti told reporters after the meeting.

She said ultimately, solution could not be achieved outside the court. “Now things are again before the Honourable Supreme Court,” Bharti, who chaired the meeting, said.

Besides Bharti and Siddaramaiah, Tamil Nadu PWD Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy, chief secretaries of the two states, Union Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar, and officials from Central Water Commission attended the nearly three-hour meeting.

Bharti said the Ministry noted views expressed by the two states during the meeting, convened after a Supreme Court order on Tuesday, and the same will be submitted before the apex court when it hears the matter tomorrow.

Referring to the tense situation in the two states, especially in Bengaluru, Mysore and Mandya– the hotbed of Cauvery politics– Bharti urged people to “take care of each other” and ensure peace.

“I may go on an indefinite hunger strike along the border between the two states, if the problem persists,” Bharti said, making an emotional appeal.

Speaking to PTI after the meeting, Karnataka Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav said his state insisted on a Central expert committee’s visit to the basin area to study “ground realities, actual quantum of drinking water available and crop situation” before water was released as directed by SC.

“Before releasing water, we want a central team to come and visit the Cauvery basin and assess ground realities, look at the situation and the level of drinking water and crop situation. And whatever the central team says, we will abide by that,” Jadhav said. He also said the Tamil Nadu government reiterated the long-standing demand for setting up a Cauvery Water Management Board.

“To this, our Chief Minister replied that there is a hearing scheduled before a court in this regard on October 11 and let the issues relating to formation of the board be decided then,” Jadhav said.

Meanwhile, on Karnataka’s demand for sending an expert team to the basin area, Shekhar stated there is no provision under law in this regard and that the SC order in the matter also does not speak about it.

(Agencies)