09012025-TTC-01.qxd 1/9/2025 12:51 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 9 NO. 9 | 18 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 TRUMP DOESN’T RULE OUT FORCE TO TAKE PANAMA, GREENLAND WORLD /thetribunechd SUCCESSFUL TRIAL PAVES WAY FOR FIRST TRAIN TO VALLEY J&K EPFO PENSION HIKE, TAX PM MODI LAUNCHES SOPS KEY PRE-BUDGET ~2 LAKH CR PROJECTS DEMANDS BUSINESS IN VIZAG BACK PAGE thursday | 9 january 2025 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Oppn questions ‘real motive’ behind Misri meets Taliban minister as Delhi, Kabul reset relations simultaneous poll at first panel meet Foreign Secy discusses aid to Af, security in region Raises economic viability, infrastructure | BJP members term move pathbreaking Animesh Singh Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 8 From seeking to know the economic viability of holding simultaneous elections to questioning the “real motive” behind the move, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other opposition members on Wednesday posed several queries during the inaugural meeting of the joint parliamentary panel on the One Nation, One Election (ONOE) Bill. Ruling BJP members termed the proposed legislations on the ONOE “pathbreaking”. The meeting of the joint committee on the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which is headed by BJP MP PP Chaudhary, witnessed animated discussions with the Secretary (Legislative) giving a detailed presentation on the circumstances which led to the introduction of the proposed legislations. Sources aware of the deliberations said the “context and contents” of the two Bills were explained by officials of Members of the joint parliamentary committee on simultaneous poll arrive for a meeting in New Delhi. PTI the Law and Justice Ministry through presentations. Vadra, the Congress MP from Wayanad who is a member of the joint panel, sought to know the economic viability of holding simultaneous elections and also the number of EVMs needed for the purpose. Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee wondered whether the necessary infrastructure was ready for holding simultaneous elections. He asked whether the real motive behind the move was to reduce expenses or to harm the basic fabric of democracy. “People have a right to vote after every five years in the municipal, Assembly and General Election; why is the government trying to snatch this right from them,” he asked officials of the Law Ministry during the meeting. Another opposition member from the Rajya Sabha said the recommendations of the high-level committee on simultaneous elections headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, on the basis of which the two Bills were introduced in Parliament, were not acceptable. The committee headed by Kovind was constituted by the Centre on September 2, 2023. Its primary objective was to explore the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. The panel had spoken to 47 parties and taken their opinion on the ONOE, with 32 of them supporting it and 15 opposing it. Meanwhile, another opposition MP expressed apprehensions that the ONOE could violate the basic structure of the Constitution upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1973 Kesavananda Bharati case. In this significant judgment, the apex court had ruled that while Parliament had the power to amend the Constitution, it could not alter its basic structure, the fundamental features of which were democracy, secularism, federalism and the rule of law. The BJP MPs reiterated that a continuous cycle of elections hampered the country’s development and was a drain on the exchequer. The continued on page 10 Cryogenic tech expert After NSA, UAPA slapped on next ISRO Chairman MP Amritpal in murder case To take charge from Somanath on Jan 14 Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 8 Cryogenic engine expert V Narayanan has been appointed the new Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Secretary of the Department of Space for two years. Narayanan will take over from current ISRO chief S Somanath on January 14. Somanath had assumed charge as the Secretary, Department of Space, on January 14, 2022, for a three-year term. He became the toast of the nation after the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission when India became the first country in the world to land a rover in the South Pole region of the moon. Narayanan is currently serving as the Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems DEVELOPED ENGINE DENIED BY RUSSIA V Narayanan played a key role in the development of the indigenous cryogenic engine, a technology that was denied to the country by Russia following pressure from the US Centre, ISRO, at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. A pioneer in cryogenic propulsion, Narayanan will steer India’s journey to excellence in space continued on page 10 Juvenile at time of crime: SC frees man after 25 yrs Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 8 Having spent 25 years in jail in a murder case, an Uttarakhand man finally got justice on Wednesday from the Supreme Court which freed him after it found that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime in 1994. “At every stage, injustice has been inflicted by courts, either by ignoring the documents or by casting a furtive glance,” a Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Aravind Kumar said, setting free Om Prakash. “The appellant shall be released forthwith, if not required in any other case,” it said. Interestingly, Prakash got justice in the second round of HAD MURDERED BRIGADIER, 2 KIN Om Prakash, who had several aliases, was a domestic help. He had killed 62-year-old Brig Shyam Lal Khanna (retd), his sister-in-law Bishna Mathur (67) and son Sarit Khanna (27) on November 15, 1994, in Dehradun with a ‘khukhri’ and a sword. Prakash was arrested from West Bengal in 1999. Another accused Nitesh was acquitted by the trial court. litigation. In the first round, he was convicted by the trial court and awarded the death penalty, rejecting his plea of juvenility on the ground that he had a bank account. The order was upheld by the high court and continued on page 10 Faridkot, January8 The Punjab Police today invoked the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh and other accused in the killing of a Sikh activist from Hari Nau village in Faridkot. On October 10 last year, three assailants had gunned down Gurpreet Singh at Hari Nau village. Arsh Dalla, a designated terrorist, was also named an accused in the case. On October 23, the Kotkapura police had added Section 111 (organised crime) of the BNS to Amritpal Singh, Khadoor Sahib MP the FIR. Charged under the stringent National Security Act (NSA), the MP is lodged in the Dibrugarh jail of Assam along with his nine associates. The police claimed that they slapped the UAPA following new revelations in the case. Sources, however, claimed that as the police were facing difficulty in presenting a challan (chargesheet) in the court within the prescribed period of 90 days, they decided to invoke the UAPA to deter the accused from seeking default bail. A senior police official said the murder was a “well-organised conspiracy to create unrest and undermine the security of the nation”. “We have strong evidence connecting all accused to a series of planned unlawful activities, which is why we invoked the UAPA,” he said. — TNS Jyoti Malhotra TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE chandigarh, January 8 Three years after the Taliban walked into Kabul without firing a shot, overhauling the great game in inner Asia, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met the acting Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai today and put his seal on a brand new engagement between Delhi and Kabul. “Both sides discussed India’s ongoing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, bilateral issues and security situation in the region. India reiterated its commitment to continue to provide humanitarian and development assistance to the Afghan people,” a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said. The Taliban statement on the meeting sought to reassure India. “The foreign minister (Muttaqi) assured the Indian side that there is no danger to anyone from Afghanistan and expressed the hope of increasing diplomatic relations and creating facilities related to visas for businessmen, patients and students,” it said. The Misri-Muttaqi meeting is bound to shake up not just 6 devotees killed, several injured in Tirupati stampede Tirupati, January 8 At least six devotees died and dozens were injured in a stampede here on Wednesday night as hundreds of them jostled for tickets for Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam at Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple on Tirumala Hills, said an official. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Chairman BR Naidu said, “A DSP opened the gates… and immediately everybody pushing ahead led to this stampede.” Hundreds of devotees turned up from across the country for the 10day darshanam commencing from January 10. — PTI In Delhi, it’s ‘sheeshmahal’ vs ‘rajmahal’ AAP in war of words with BJP after its leaders stopped from entering CM house Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 8 A political war over former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence, infamously called by rival parties as ‘sheeshmahal’, has escalated with AAP leaders now terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bungalow ‘rajmahal’. AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Saurabh Bhardwaj today reached the 6, Flagstaff Road bungalow, which once was residence of AAP convener Kejriwal when he was the Chief Minister of Delhi. The AAP leaders wanted to show to the public “on camera” that there were no luxuries inside the house as claimed by the BJP . However, the police did not allow them to enter the house following which they sat on a dharna and also got into a heated argument with police personnel deployed there. “For months, BJP leaders have been claiming that the Chief Minister’s residence has a golden toilet, a swimming pool and a mini bar. Today, I brought the media here, along with our minister Saurabh Bhardwaj. We invited the fourth pillar of democracy — the media — to see for themselves where this golden toilet, mini bar and swimming pool were. But instead of transparency, we were met with water cannons and a heavy police presence. Why are we being stopped? This proves that the BJP is lying,” Sanjay Singh said. Later, the AAP leaders headed to the PM’s residence with the media but were stopped by the police. To counter the BJP’s blistering attack on terming the CM’s residence ‘sheeshmahal’, continued on page 10 Vikram Misri with acting Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Pakistan, whose military establishment has always believed that it is the Taliban’s first and fast friend, but also the US and the remainder of the western world. The Americans fled Kabul days before August 15, 2021, without even turning the lights off at their Bagram base located within shouting distance of Kabul, and the rest of the western embassies — British, French, German — followed suit. Only the Russians and the Chinese stayed, the first steeled in the art of realpolitik, the second eager to spread their influence via the exploitation of virgin mineral belts, like copper. The Pak- istanis moved in, then ISI chief Faiz Hamid strutting around Kabul, confident that Rawalpindi had written the last chapter on “strategic depth” — in which Pakistanis would take charge of the vast Afghan territories and use it to crowd out India. But relations between Kabul and Islamabad have deteriorated in recent days and months, with both sides accusing each other of carrying out terrorist incidents in the other’s country. At least for the moment, India seems to have won this round. JP Singh, a middleranking diplomat in the continued on page 10 Kullu cops ‘botch up’ probe, CBI lodges FIR for Hry boy’s ‘murder’ Ujwal Jalali Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 8 A case regarding the mysterious death of a Haryana youth at Tosh in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, in December 2023, in which the police did not even register an FIR for a year, was finally taken over by the CBI on the directions of the high court. The probe agency has now registered a case of murder and criminal conspiracy. Vaibhav Yadav (22), a commerce graduate hailing from Haryana who was pursuing CA, had died after falling from the fourth floor of a hotel where he was staying as a tourist with his three friends — Kushagra, Shashank Sharma and Ritika Mittal. The police, despite the deceased’s family raising suspicions, did not find any foul play in the matter and subsequently proceeded with inquest proceedings without registering an FIR. The Himachal Pradesh High Court, in its order last month, while recommending that the investigation be handed over to the CBI, rebuked the Kullu police for BODY WAS FOUND IN TOSH HOTEL ■ Vaibhav Yadav (22) had died after falling from the fourth floor of a hotel in Tosh ■ A commerce graduate and pursuing CA, he was staying with his friends Kushagra, Shashank Sharma and Ritika Mittal ■ The police, despite the deceased’s family raising suspicions, did not find any foul play in the matter ■ The police proceeded with inquest proceedings without registering an FIR their “botched up” investigation and also observed that the fundamental rights of the victim were violated at the “hands of state’s law enforcement agency”. From initially not even knowing who reported the matter to the police to alleged involvement of a trainee IPS officer in influencing the case, the court had observed a series of lacunae in the police investigation. The police version states that four friends — Vaibhav, Kushagra, Shashank and continued on page 10 Isolated & hostile for long, Andamans’ Jarawa tribals now enrolled as voters Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service Nineteen Jarawas have registered as voters in the first phase. New Delhi, January 8 Long known for their isolation and hostility, the primitive Jarawa tribals of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Wednesday gained a new identity — as registered voters in India. Though it won’t be until the 2029 Lok Sabha elections that these Jarawas, one of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ five particularly vul- Today’s issue is of 18 pages, including four-page Jalandhar Tribune. c m y b FIRST FRIENDLY CONTACT IN 1974 ■ The Jarawas inhabit the western coast of the Middle Andaman and South Andaman Islands and are largely hostile ■ The Andaman and Nicobar administration has been sending contact expeditions periodically to the Jarawas to befriend them ■ The first friendly contact was made in 1974 and since then the Jarawas have come to accept gifts like coconuts and bananas from expedition members nerable tribal groups (PVTGs), will cast their vote, the cause for celebrations is the inclusion of a largely hostile, secluded people in the nation- al democratic mainstream. Speaking exclusively to The Tribune about the milestone today, Vinayak Chamadia, deputy chief electoral officer of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said their teams had registered 19 Jarawas as voters in the first phase of the ongoing voter registration campaign for the tribe. The total Jarawa population on the islands is 240 and more are expected to become voters as days go by. Asked how they managed to achieve what once appeared impossible, Chamadia said, “This was a culmination of continued on page 10