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Survey: AAP likely to win 100 seats in Punjab

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punjab-aap

Chandigarh: In what is likely to be an encouraging development for the Aam Aadmi Party supporters, a new survey has predicted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s party to win nearly 100 seats in Punjab.

The survey conducted by HuffPost-CVoter in February shows a consolidation of favourable sentiment in favour of AAP from the same time last year.

As per the findings of the survey, AAP is likely to bag between 94-100 out of the 117 seats in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, up from the 83-89 projection of the CVoter poll from April, 2015.

The latest CVoter-HuffPost poll has the Congress Party trailing in the second position with 8-14 seats in the Assembly, down from the 12-18 seats projection, last year.

The ruling SAD-BJP alliance will come with just 6-12 seats, down from 13-19 seats last year, the survey claimed.

Interestingly, the survey claimed that 48 percent would vote for AAP if the election was held today.

In the 2012 State Assembly Election for Punjab, SAD won 56 seats followed by the Congress Party with 46 seats, and the BJP with 12 seats. 78 percent of respondents said that they wanted a change in government, indicating a huge wave of anti-incumbency.

According to the survey, AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal is the most favoured face as chief ministerial candidate for Punjab, while Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh turns out to be the second favourite choice for the top job.

While 59% respondents wanted Kejriwal to be declared the chief ministerial candidate for Punjab, 51% said they would choose Arvind Kejriwal over Amarinder Singh. They also chose him over deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Among Kejriwal, Sukhbir Badal and Captain Amarinder for CM’s choice, 51% backed Kejriwal, 35% Amarinder and 7% Sukhbir.

Unemployment, drug abuse and corruption were identified as the three main problems of Punjab.

(Agencies)

Kejriwal’s car attacked in Punjab

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kejriwal-car-punjab

Ludhiana: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had a narrow escape on Monday when some men armed with iron rods attacked his car here, coming “within an inch of grievously injuring” him, the AAP said.

Kejriwal, whose five-day tour of Punjab ends later in the day, tweeted that his car was attacked with sticks and stones, breaking the front glass pane.

“Badals and Congress nervous? They can’t break my spirits,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader added.

AAP leader Ashish Khetan called it a “well orchestrated attack” and said the “goons sent by Badals attacked Kejriwal’s car with stones and rods as police stood by.

“The attackers came within an inch of grievously injuring Kejriwal. It was only by god’s grace that he escaped unhurt,” Khetan added.

The AAP gave no further details. It was not immediately clear if Kejriwal, who usually sits to the left of the driver, continued with his journey or not.

The AAP put out a photograph showing the shattered front glass pane with a visibly worried Punjab police officer standing close by. The car appeared to be stranded on a rural road, with a police vehicle in the front.

The AAP has emerged as a major player ahead of assembly elections in Punjab due next year.

(IANS)

Kejriwal visits turmoil-hit Punjab, condemns sacrilege acts

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Arvind Kejriwal Golden Temple

Amritsar: Terming as painful the alleged incidents of desecration of holy books, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said it was a “willful act” to disturb Punjab as he prayed at the Golden Temple here for “return of peace” in the state.

It “is unfortunate and painful. It seems it is a willful act by somebody who wanted to disturb peace in the state,” Kejriwal told reporters here after he arrived on his first visit to Punjab since becoming the Chief Minister in February and was set to meet families of two Sikhs killed in police firing during anti-desecration protests at Faridkot.

The AAP leader condemned the police action, saying it was wrong to use force against people who were protesting peacefully against acts of sacrilege.

Kejriwal said it was the responsibility of Punjab government to arrest the real culprits behind the incidents of desecration of holy books, saying no innocent person should be slapped with “false cases”.

He refused to answer more queries, saying he was here to pray for peace in Punjab.

“Golden Temple has great spiritual power and I prayed before the Almighty for early peace and normalcy to get rid of current turmoil in Punjab,” he said after paying obeisance at the Sikh shrine.

His visit to Punjab assumes significance as AAP is eying the 2017 Assembly polls and has re-structured its unit in the state, where it won its four seats in the last Lok Sabaha elections. The fledgling AAP recently suspended two of the MPs for “anti-party” activities.

While paying obeisance at the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Golden Temple, Kejriwal preferred to go inside along with other devotees, ignoring the VIP passage.Thereafter, he also paid obeisance in front of Akal Takht (the highest Sikh Temporal Seat).

Earlier before entering Golden Temple, he was he was honoured with Siropa (robe of honour) and presented a set of Sikh religious books at the information centre.
However, he did not register his visit in the visitors’ book of the shrine.

After paying obeisance, he went to Kotkapura by road to meet families of two persons who were killed in police firing.

Alleged incidents of sacrilege took place at seven villages in the state in the recent past plunging the state into turmoil with Sikh protesters blocking highways and other key roads.

Police have so far arrested six persons, mostly working in Sikh shrines, in connection with the sacrilege incidents.

Punjab police has alleged “foreign hand” behind the incidents of sacrilege even as the Centre has sought a report from the Punjab government on the matter.

(Agencies)

World Kabaddi Cup cancelled in wake of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab

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Punjab Deputy Chief Minister said he had taken the emergent decision to cancel the Kabaddi Cup in the wake of the recent incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.

Representational Image

Representational Image

Chandigarh: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday announced cancellation of the sixth edition of the World Kabaddi Cup scheduled to be held in the state from November 14 to 28, in the wake of incidents of sacrilege and protests over them in the state.

Announcing this here, the Deputy Chief Minister, who also holds the sports portfolio, said he had taken the emergent decision to cancel the Kabaddi Cup in the wake of the recent incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.

“Kabaddi symbolises the spirit of the Punjabis and their quest for excellence in rural sports. At a time when the entire Sikh community is shell-shocked with grief at the ghastly manner in which Guru Granth Sahib has been desecrated, holding such a tournament is not appropriate,” he said.

Sukhbir said the feelings of the entire Punjabi community had been outraged after the “ghastly incidents of sacrilege”.

“My feelings too have been outraged and my conscience is not allowing me to preside over a tournament at a time when the Sikh community in India and all over the world is in grief over the ghastly acts of sacrilege,” he said.

A series of incidents of desecration of the Sikh holy book followed by protests by religious orgainsations, including hardliners, has put Punjab on boil recently.

(PTI)

Violence in Punjab after ‘desecration’ of holy book, several injured

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Police lathi charge members of Sikh groups protesting the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Kotkapura. (Sanjeev Kumar / Hindustan Times)

Police lathi charge members of Sikh groups protesting the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Kotkapura. (Sanjeev Kumar / Hindustan Times)

Faridkot: Several people were injured in a clash between Sikhs, who gathered to protest the desecration of their holy book, and the police in Punjab’s Faridkot district on Wednesday, eyewitnesses said.

Sources said that police used cane charge, water cannons and even fired in the air to disperse hundreds of protestors from the spot.

The clash took place in the main square of Kotkapura town, 230 km from here, on Wednesday when police tried to arrest leaders of the protestors.

The protestors had tried to block highways towards Moga and Bathinda towns.

The injured included protestors and police officials.

The protestors had pitched their tents in Kotkapura town since Monday to protest the alleged desecration of a ‘bir’ (holy book) of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari village, 15 km from Kotkapura.

Tension mounted in Kotkapura area on Monday after over 100 pages of the Sikh holy book were found scattered in a street near the gurdwara.

The holy book was stolen from a gurdwara in June.

Protestors clashed with police in Buttar Kalan village of Moga district on Tuesday, leaving many injured.

Police rounded up nearly 200 protestors in Kotkapura on Tuesday but released them later.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal urged people to remain calm.

(IANS)

Pakistan police officers held in child-abuse probe

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Three officers transferred amid scandal over abuse of hundreds of children for nearly a decade in Punjab province.

People have protested in the wake of the scandal calling for action against perpetrators [AFP]

People have protested in the wake of the scandal calling for action against perpetrators [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Three Pakistani police officers have been transferred to other districts over accusations of negligence amid a deepening scandal over a paedophile ring alleged to have abused hundreds of children for nearly a decade, officials say.

A prominent family in the central Punjabi village of Husain Khan Wala allegedly used guns, knives and axes to force children – some as young as five – to perform sex acts on video, which they then sold or used to extort money from the victims’ families, villagers said.

This weekend, the prime minister pledged an investigation after Pakistani media covered protests by parents claiming that police in the district of Kasur had not investigated their complaints.

The officers were removed from their posts “for their negligence on the Kasur sex scandal”, Nabeela Ghazanfar, a spokesperson for the provincial police, told Reuters news agency on Wednesday.

Rai Babar, the district police chief, and two deputy superintendents were reassigned out of the district. Police in Pakistan are rarely sacked.

Parents told Reuters that police had refused to register some complaints and treated some of the victims “like criminals”.

The police have arrested 14 suspects so far. Seven cases have been registered against them for alleged sodomy, kidnapping and torture, Muhammad Amin, a police official, said.

The accused would be tried in an anti-terrorism court, Amin said. Law enforcement officials frequently use the anti-terror courts to bypass Pakistan’s moribund judicial system.

On Monday, opposition politicians criticised the ruling party over the scandal in Punjab, the country’s biggest and wealthiest province and the political heartland of the ruling party.

Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab’s chief minister and the brother of the prime minister, said on Tuesday that he was “personally monitoring” the case.

“We will not let anyone involved in this incident escape the law and justice. All victims and their families will be provided every possible assistance to identify culprits without any fear,” he said in a statement on his Facebook page.

Parents in Kasur have protested that police in the district in Punjab did not investigate their complaints [The Associated Press]

Pakistan stumbles upon its ‘biggest’ child abuse case

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Shock and anger as police discovers 400 video recordings of more than 280 children being forced to have sex in Punjab.

People have protested in the wake of the scandal calling for action against perpetrators [AFP]

People have protested in the wake of the scandal calling for action against perpetrators [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Officials in the Pakistani state of Punjab have called for a federal inquiry into what it called the largest-ever child abuse case in the South Asian country’s history involving nearly 300 children.

The government of Punjab state on Sunday ordered a judicial investigation into the case that came to light last week after discovery of about 400 video recordings of more than 280 children being forced to have sex.

“Those involved in the case will be severely punished. They will not be able to escape their fate. The affected families will be provided with justice at any cost,” Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper website.

So far seven people have been reportedly arrested by the police over the case that has shocked the nation of 180 million.

Most of the victims were under 14, including a six-year-old boy, Rai Babar Saeed, district police chief of Kasur, where the incident happened, told reporters, adding that a 10-year-old schoolgirl was filmed being molested by a 14-year-old boy.

Videos of these assaults were filmed and thousands of copies are believed to have been sold in Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur district, the police said.

One of the victims said he was injected in the spine with a drug before he was assaulted, they added.

Government in denial

The scale of the scandal emerged earlier this week after the victims’ parents clashed with the police during a protest against their failure to prosecute the men who orchestrated the scandal.

Pakistan experienced a similar tragedy in the late 1990s, when 100 children were sexually abused and murdered in Lahore by Javed Iqbal Mughal, a serial killer.

Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston, reporting from Islamabad, said that a gang of 25 men were involved in the crime, coordinating it.

“Some of the victims’ families started to speak up. This is creating a lot of controversy in Pakistan,” she said.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Tahira Abdullah, a human rights activist in Islamabad, said that the government is “in denial” about the abuses.

“I think Pakistan is failing its children,” she said, adding that the stigma about the cases, and the lack of trust in the court system, have prevented the arrest and persecution of abusers.

Terror strikes Punjab, SP among 6 killed, 1 militant eliminated

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Terror strikes Punja

Gurdaspur: In the first major terror strike in Punjab in eight years, heavily-armed militants in army uniform today sprayed bullets on a moving bus and stormed a police station, killing six persons, including an SP, and injuring eight others in Gurdaspur bordering Pakistan.

One militant was killed and another seriously injured in the gunbattle with security forces that stretched for over 10 hours as the terrorists, who went of a rampage at around 5 AM, were holed up in a vacant building adjacent to Dinanagar police station.

The terrorists have killed six persons– three civilians and three policemen including Superintendent of Police (Detective), Baljit Singh, a Punjab provincial service officer, police said.

Official sources said it was too early to say which terrorist outfit had carried out the strike, but finger of suspicion is on Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba as the modus operandi of the militants was similar to the attacks in Jammu region in recent past.

According to Punjab Police IG (Counter Intelligence) Gaurav Yadav, SP Baljit Singh succumbed to bullet injuries sustained in the gunbattle.

Police said out of the eight injured brought to civil hospital at Gurdaspur, seven seriously injured were referred to Amritsar. They all were aged between 15-54 years.

One militant was killed and another seriously injured in the operation, Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur, Abhinav Trikha, said.

According to police, the attackers first targeted a roadside eatery and took off in a white Maruti 800 with Punjab registration number. They shot dead a roadside vendor near Dinanagar bypass.

They opened fire on passengers of a moving Punjab roadways bus before targeting a community health centre adjacent to Dinanagar police station.

The gunmen barged into the Dinanagar police station and opened indiscriminate fire. The militants also targeted another part of the complex where the families of police personnel reside and hurled grenades.

An alert has been sounded along the international border in Punjab and Jammu as the terrorists are suspected to have infiltrated from there, the sources said.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval about the situation.

Singh said he will make a statement on the issue tomorrow in Parliament, where members today sought a detailed government response.

On October 14, 2007, seven persons were killed and more than 30 were injured when a powerful explosion took place at the cinema hall in Ludhiana, the last major terror attack in the state which had grappled with Sikh militancy for several years from 1980s.

Security agencies have heightened vigil across the contry especially Punjab and neighbouring states as well a Union Territory of Chandigarh in the wake of the attack which came just three weeks ahead of Independence Day.

In a related development, five live bombs were found on Amritsar-Pathankot railway track and the train services on the route have been suspended.

Dina Nagar town, which is close to Pakistan, falls in Gurdaspur district. It is sandwiched between Gurdaspur town on one side and Pathankot on the other and lies about 260 km from capital Chandigarh.

Officials said schools, colleges and other institutions have been shut today in the town in view of the incident.

Local resident Kamaljeet Singh Matharu, who said that the assailants had snatched his car after firing at him, said they were dressed in army uniform and were heavily armed.

Matharu received gunshot injuries and is admitted to hospital.

Three of the dead were identified as Ghulam Rasool, Asha Rani and Amarjeet Singh.

Ishwar Chandra Sharma, IG, Border Zone, said the gunmen attacked a Punjab roadways bus and then entered the police station complex.

“We have engaged them in an adjoining building which is an abandoned building and a barrack,” he said.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said there is no hostage situation.

According to Civil hospital authorities at Gurdaspur, SP Baljit Singh was brought dead to the hospital.

Fear gripped the town this morning and people largely remained indoors.

“People are in a state of shock and terrified here after they came to know about the attack,” said Jatinder Kumar, whose house is just 500 metre away from the Dina Nagar police station.

“We could clearly listen to the sound of firing going on at police station between and security personnel and (suspected) militants,” Jatinder, who is an employee of Punjab Health department, said.

Strongly condemning the terror strike, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that terrorism was a national problem.

“Terrorism is a national problem, it is not a state problem. It has to be tackled by national policies,” Badal said and demanded that the border be sealed.

(Agencies)

Six dead, 100 injured in ammonia gas tanker leak in Punjab

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punjab-ammonia-gas-leak

Ludhiana: At least six persons were killed and around 100 others were injured when an ammonia gas tanker leaked early today in the district, police said.

The leak occurred when the tanker got stuck under a flyover on the Doraha Bypass Road along a canal, about 25 kms from here, they said.

Six persons died due to inhaling of the gas, Doraha Police Station’s SHO Rajnish Kumar Sood said, adding, the bodies have been shifted to a hospital in Ludhiana.

He said that around 100 other persons complained of breathing problem due to inhaling of the gas.

The residents came out of their houses when the gas from the leaking tanker spread in and around Doraha, police said.

The affected people have been admitted to different hospitals in Doraha, Khanna and Ludhiana, the SHO said.

The tanker, bearing registration number of Gujarat was going from Ludhiana side, the police said.

Details were still awaited and identities of the victims yet to be ascertained, police said, adding, senior civil and police officers have rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.

(PTI)

Chandigarh: Girl dies after jumping off bus to avoid molesters

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Chandigarh Girl dies after jumping off bus to avoid molesters

Chandigarh: A 13-year-old girl died and her mother was seriously injured when they had to jump out of a moving private bus to avoid molestation by some youth along with the bus conductor near Punjab’s Moga town, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Wednesday evening.

The girl was declared brought dead by doctors. The mother was admitted to a government hospital in Moga.

The bus was impounded.

“We are investigating the matter and trying to nab the accused. The bus has been impounded,” a police officer told media on Wednesday night.

Eyewitness account of passengers on the bus indicated that the mother and daughter were subjected to molestation and lewd remarks by some youth and the bus staff after they boarded it.

When both of them, travelling with a boy, tried to get off the bus, the driver increased the speed.
“No one in the bus came to the rescue of the victims. There were not many passengers in the bus when the incident happened,” an eyewitness told police.

The Punjab Police registered a case.

(IANS)

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