21082026-TTC-01.qxd 8/21/2026 12:17 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 146 NO. 230 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 VETERAN BNP LEADER MIRZA ALAMGIR ELECTED B’DESH PREZ WORLD /thetribunechd US ENVOY GOR MAKES MAIDEN LADAKH VISIT, GOES RAFTING J&K SENSEX UP 628 PTS, NIFTY SNAPS LOSING STREAK BUSINESS US BODY: SHUN DIPLOMATIC COURTESIES TO RSS LEADERS BACK PAGE friday | 21 august 2026 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com AFT upholds action against Brigadier CHANDIGARH: The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has upheld the “severe displeasure” awarded to a Brigadier commanding a Rashtriya Rifles Sector in the Poonch region of Jammu and Kashmir over a 2023 incident in which three civilians died during interrogation in the aftermath of an Army column being ambushed. BACK PAGE Fix onus for pension delay: HC to Pb, Hry CHANDIGARH: Taking a strong view of repeated delays in the release of pension and other retirement benefits, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to fix the responsibility upon the erring officials for not following the laid down rules. INSIDE QaumiInsaafMorcha Punjab bandh today CHANDIGARH: The Qaumi Insaaf Morcha has called for a statewide bandh in Punjab on Friday to protest police action against its members and the continued detention of ‘Bandi Singhs’ (Sikh prisoners). The morcha’s march towards the Punjab Governor’s House on August 15 was foiled by the Chandigarh Police. INSIDE SC ex-judge to head 5-member panel to probe ‘police excesses’ CJP PROTESTS Will also look into ‘violence’ against cops last month He should’ve been hanged: Witness JharkhandHCstays cancellationofhiring throughJPSCexams Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 20 The Supreme Court has set up a five-member high-powered committee, headed by former top court judge Justice R Subhash Reddy, to look into alleged police excesses against student protesters and violence against police personnel during the CJP protests here last month. The other members of the panel are former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi High Court judge Shalinder Kaur, former CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla and former Meghalaya DGP LR Bishnoi. An order to this effect, passed by a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana on August 18, was made public by the top court on Thursday. The committee will examine the use of “excessive force and violence” against the protesters by the police, including the deployment of pellet guns, as well as the alleged use of force and violence by the protesters BACK TO CLASS Manikant Mishra Tribune News Service Panel will also examine pellet gun use and monitoring of protesters. FILE against security personnel, besides the damage caused to public and private property. The points of reference also include “the desirability of banning the use of metallic kinetic projectiles or pellet guns, as they cause bodily harm to protesters”, and “the necessity of ensuring that police personnel wear proper uniforms and nameplates at the time of making arrests or using force during crowd-control operations to fix accountability”. The panel will also examine the allegations pertaining to the monitoring of the SOURCE: X/@CHARANJITCHANNI protesters by the police, and the extent to which such measures, if undertaken, were consistent with the protesters’ constitutional rights to privacy and free assembly. It will also look into the provision of medical and other requisite support, including award of compensation, to victims of alleged police abuse. The injuries sustained by police personnel in the course of discharging their duties, as well as the consequent mental and emotional trauma borne by their kin, merit due continued on page 10 Punjab ex-CM Charanjit Singh Channi takes his MA exam at Panjab University, Chandigarh, on Thursday. Channi had skipped the Congress Working Committee meeting in Delhi on Wednesday to appear in the exam. The Jalandhar MP a PhD in political science, , is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration. Revisiting controversial UGC norms meant to curb caste bias, govt tells SC Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 20 The controversial UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, on preventing caste-based discrimination on educational campuses, which triggered widespread protests across India, is being reconsidered, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday. Terming the regulations as “vague and capable of mis- Bench kept rules in abeyance in Jan citing ‘misuse’ concerns use”, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had on January 29 decided to keep them in abeyance. “If we don’t intervene, it will lead to dangerous impacts… divide the society,” it had said while hearing petitions challenging the validity of the regulations. “It is under reconsideration,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Bench, which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana at the very outset of the hearing. The Bench asked the UGC to file a comprehensive counteraffidavit in four weeks. It also gave two weeks thereafter to the petitioners to file a rejoinder, if any. Senior counsel Indira Jaising, representing the mothers of Rohit Vemula and continued on page 10 New Delhi, August 20 The Jharkhand High Court has put on hold, until further orders, the state’s decision to cancel appointments made through the 11th to 13th Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) examination and the Food Safety Officer recruitment, saying it appeared to have been taken without following the principles of natural justice. Justice Deepak Roshan directed that candidates already appointed should not be removed until further orders. The court has sought a response from the government and asked it to explain what facts emerged during the CID investigation that led to the decision to cancel the appointments. The next hearing has been fixed for September 15. The court’s order came on petitions challenging a notification issued by the Personnel Department on August 18, continued on page 10 Ladakh to drop FIRs against 25 over last year’s statehood stir Arjun Sharma Satya Prakash 42 yrs after anti-Sikh riots, Sajjan Kumar dies serving life term Jammu, August 20 The Ladakh administration has decided to withdraw FIRs against 25 persons booked in connection with last year’s statehood protests. The next formal meeting between Ladakh leaders and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is expected to be held in New Delhi in the first half of September. A total of 87 persons were booked following the protests in September last year, during which four persons were killed in police firing. Representatives of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) had demanded the withdrawal of the cases. Following their demand, the administration has decided to withdraw cases against those booked under minor charges. A meeting of Ladakh representatives from the LAB and KDA with senior MHA officials and the Chief Secretary was held in Leh on Wednesday. Ladakh Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra, while addressing a press conference on Thursday, said 87 persons Cases with minor charges to be closed; MHA meet with UT leaders in Sept CABINET APPROVES HC BENCH FOR LADAKH ■ The Union Cabinet has cleared the setting up of a Bench of the J&K High Court in Ladakh ■ Home Minister Amit Shah said the move would give people of Ladakh easy access to justice ■ He said the Centre was fully committed to the all-round development of Ladakh INSIDE were booked during the September protests in Leh. “Chargesheet has been presented against nine of those booked who allegedly provoked the mob that turned violent. Once the chargesheet is presented, the case goes to the court. However, we discussed the matter with the LG and it was decided to withdraw the FIRs against 25 persons booked on minor charges,” Kundra said. He said these FIRs would be withdrawn through closure reports before the court. continued on page 10 imprisonment in two separate cases. The first involved New Delhi, August 20 killings of five members of Haunted by the ghosts of the Jagdish Kaur’s family, who 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which resided in Delhi’s Palam clouded much of his political Colony’s Raj Nagar at the time career, former Conof the crimes on gress MP Sajjan November 1 and 2, Kumar died on Thurs1984. The second was day while serving two for the murders of concurrent life senJaswant Singh and tences at Tihar Jail. his son in the Kumar, 80, was Saraswati Vihar area. declared dead at Jagdish Kaur, Safdarjung Hospital whose relentless Sajjan Kumar after being taken quest for justice led to there following Kumar’s first conviccomplaints of uneasiness. tion on December 17, 2018, Ironically, he died on the when the Delhi High Court same day the Supreme convicted him in the Raj Nagar Court was to hear his parole murders, said she had always application. Kumar had wanted Kumar to be hanged. sought three weeks’ parole “Sajjan Kumar should have to tend to his ailing wife. been hanged to death or A former three-time Lok lynched in full public view Sabha MP from Outer Delhi, for the crimes he committed. Kumar remained the only I will never be able to make high-profile Congress leader peace with the fact that he to ever face justice for his role died a natural death in jail. in the riots that led to the The brutality he heaped on killing of more than 2,700 my family members will stay Sikhs in the aftermath of with me like a festering then Prime Minister Indira wound which will never heal. Gandhi’s assassination on The mobs he incited crushed October 31, 1984. my husband’s head till he continued on page 10 Kumar was sentenced to life Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 20 A rare collection of 688 handwritten notes by Mahatma Gandhi on truth, ahimsa, service and moral responsibility was sold for a record Rs 16.20 crore at a Saffronart auction, setting a world record for an Indian historical document. The manuscript, comprising Gandhi’s daily handwritten messages to his close associate and freedom fighter Anand T Hingorani, was written over two years following the death of Hingorani’s wife Vidya. The messages of guidance, consolation and reflection were later compiled into a book, ‘A Thought for the Day’. The identity of the buyer was not disclosed, but Saffronart said the purchaser was from India and that the manuscript would remain in the country. The 86-lot auction, titled ‘Gandhi: From the Collection of Anand T Hingorani’, brought together letters, manuscripts, photographs and personal ‘A Thought for the Day’, a collection of 688 notes, was written by Gandhi to Anand T Hingorani over 23 months. PTI objects associated with Gandhi. The notes touch upon a sweeping range of themes central to his philosophy, including truth, ahimsa, brahmacharya, removal of untouchability, Swaraj and self-realisation. “It has been a privilege to bring the Anand T Hingorani Collection to auc- c m y b tion and share a remarkable record of Gandhi’s life and thought,” said Dinesh Vazirani, co-founder of Saffronart. Other significant lots also Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 20 In a major move meant to cut delays in the grant of citizenship to non-Muslim religious minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the Centre has amended the Citizenship Rules, 2009, empowering the district collectors in Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and certain other states and UTs to grant citizenship. The new rules say jurisdictional district collectors can scrutinise and dispose of applications for registration or naturalisation under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act (which allows Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian minorities to seek citizenship). The Ministry of Home Affairs has notified the Citizenship (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026, to this effect. A new sub-rule (6) has been inserted in Rule 11A of the Citizenship Rules for the purpose and the revised mechanism will apply to applicants ordinarily residing in the border states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam (except its tribal area) and Tripura (except its tribal area), and the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. continued on page 10 Punjab & Haryana HC gets 9 new addl judges; oath today Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 20 More than three months after the Supreme Court Collegium cleared the name of 10 advocates for elevation as additional judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Centre on Thursday notified the appointment of nine, including Haryana Advocate-General Pravindra Singh Chauhan. They will be administered the oath by the Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra, in the High Court on Friday. The nine advocates appointed as additional judges are Monica Chhibber Sharma, Harmeet Singh Deol, Pravindra Singh Chauhan, Rajesh Gaur, Puja Chopra, Sunish Bindlish, Minderjeet Yadav, Divya Sharma and Ravinder Malik. Justice Mishra’s name has already been cleared by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment as the regular Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the notification by the Centre is expected soon. Chauhan’s appointment as an additional judge has also heated up the race for the continued on page 10 Gandhi’s 688handwritten notes to freedomfighter fetch record ~16.2 cr Anshita Mehra DCsinPunjab,J&K, otherborderstates, UTsempoweredto grantcitizenship drew strong bids. ‘Message on God’, comprising three related manuscripts and correspondence items concerning Gandhi’s reflections on God and the Bhagavad Gita, was sold for Rs 1.68 crore. Gandhi’s peti charkha, accompanied by two letters on the spiritual discipline of spinning, fetched Rs 1.02 crore. A signed presentation photograph of Gandhi writing sold for Rs 78 lakh, while a set of his letters, telegrams and postcards concerning economic independence fetched Rs 57.60 lakh. Structures extending beyond the approved boundary of the Pakistan High Commission’s visa section removed by authorities in New Delhi. PTI In tit-for-tat act, India removes barricades outside Pak mission Ujwal Jalali Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 20 In a tit-for-tat move amid continuing tensions with Pakistan, India has removed the queue liner, barricades, traffic bollards and other structures outside the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, following similar action by Islamabad outside the Indian mission there. Government sources said the queue liner installed outside the Pakistan High Commission, particularly in the lane leading to its visa section, was removed after Pakistan removed parking poles outside the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on Monday. Heavy machinery, including a JCB, was used to clear structures and obstructions outside the Pakistan mission’s visa section in Chanakyapuri, opening up an area that had earlier been ring-fenced by traffic bollards and barricades. The removal marks a visible change in the external security and crowd management arrangements outside the Pakistan High Commission. India significantly downgraded diplomatic and bilateral ties with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed after being targeted on the basis of their religion. Apart from military action under Operation Sindoor, New Delhi subsequently announced a series of measures affecting diplomatic, consular and people-to-people ties, including keeping the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, suspending visa services for Pakistani nationals, closing the Attari-Wagah border crossing and reducing the strength of diplomatic missions. The latest reciprocal action comes amid continued friction between the two countries, with diplomatic ties remaining at a low ebb. The Pakistan High Commission continues to provide limited consular and visa services. The move also came hours after Pakistan lodged a strong protest with the US over Ambassador to India Sergio Gor’s description of Jammu and Kashmir as “an important part of India” during his visit to Srinagar. The US Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad was summoned by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which lodged what it called a “strong demarche” over Gor’s remarks and his visit to Jammu and Kashmir.