INDIA EXACTS PAK VENGEANCE - dailypioneer.com...chief Masood Azhar. Maulana Yousuf Azhar is believed to be one of the hijack-ers of Indian Airlines Airbus IC-814 in December 1999,

RAHUL DUTTA n NEW DELHI

Twelve days after Paksitan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad

(JeM) carried out a deadly ter-ror attack in Pulwama killing44 CRPF men, Indian fighterjets on Tuesday pre-dawn exe-cuted pin-pointed punitivestrikes deep inside Pakistan ter-ritory against terror groups’training camps eliminatingaround 325 of their cadre.

India termed the action as“pre-emptive” and “non-mili-tary” to deter JeM from carry-ing out suicide attacks in thecountry. It was not clearwhether JeM chief MaulanaMasood Azhar’s brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar, aliasUstad Ghouri, was killed in theIAF attack. Precision guidedammunition and missiles wereused to destroy the JeM’sbiggest terror camp in Balakotin Khyber PakhtunkhwaProvince (KPK) located at thetri-junction of Pakistan Punjab

and KPK. Using air power forthe first time since the 1971 warwith Pakistan, India conduct-ed “intelligence-led” opera-tion. In fact, the IAF was notallowed to cross the Line ofControl (LoC) even at theheight of the Kargil war in1999. The punitive strikes werecarried out by at least 12Mirage-2000 jets at 3.40 am.

The terror camp in Balakot islocated about 60km as thecrow flies from the LoC in Uriin Kashmir, sources said.

The actual bombing at theterror camp was over in 90 sec-onds and at least five to sixMirages were in Pakistani ter-ritory for not more than six toseven minutes. The entireoperation including the

Mirages taking off from variouslocations close to the LoC toconfuse the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) lasted about 20minutes and all the aircraftlanded back safely.

The Pakistan Army allegedthe strike was futile. “Indianaircraft intruded from

Continued on Page 5Also see on P6, 10

PNS n NEW DELHI

After the IAF successfullycarried out the mission to

destroy terror camps in Balakoton Tuesday, the Indian defenceestablishment is on guard tothwart any retaliation fromacross the border.

Officials said the next 48hours are most crucial asPakistan might be forced tocarry out some action in a “tit for tat” to assuage itsdomestic audience, which isquestioning the lapses inPakistan defences to detect thefighter jets which penetrateddeep inside the country.

In the fast evolving sce-nario post Balakot attack, theCabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) chaired byPrime Minister NarendraModi took stock of the situa-tion and defence preparedness

to meet any challenge fromPakistan.

Since India does not haveany terrorist camps, Pakistancan resort to airstrike only bytargeting military or civiliantargets. This could be an opendeclaration of war, whichIslamabad could ill afford givenits global isolation and miser-able economic situation. Giventhat constraint,. Pakistan willtry to ramp up pressure allacross the 750km Line ofControl (LOC) in Jammu &Kashmir and InternationalBorder stretching from Jammuto Punjab, Rajasthan andGujarat. All these States arenow on high alert.

The Army is on alert acrossthe LoC as it is the first line ofdefence there. All the airbasesof the IAF are also following thedrills to prevent any aerialattack. Reports indicated that

many high value targets likefighter jets were shifted tounderground hangars to avoiddetection by Pakistani satellites.

Most of these airbases arein Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan,Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir,sources said. Also, the IAF hastaken all offensive measures torespond in case Pakistan vio-lates Indian airspace from anydirection, they said.

All the radars and othersophisticated communicationsystems were put on maximumalert, sources said.

The Navy has alreadydeployed its warships con-ducting pre-planned exercisesin various sea lanes of theArabian Sea and the IndianOcean. In case of any exigency,the Naval war machine includ-ing its warships and aircraft willcome into

Continued on Page 5

PNS n NEW DELHI

India on Tuesday reaches outto world powers on its

airstrike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) biggestterror training camp at Balakotin Pakistan and briefed envoyof 12 nations about its “pre-emptive measure”.

Top sources said ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also spoke to her coun-terparts in the US, China,Singapore, Bangladesh andAfghanistan and briefed themon the airstrike on the JeMtraining camp.

In her telephonic conver-sation with US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo, Sushmaexplained the reasons behindthe strike and conveyed that theaction was specifically target-ed at the JeM camp. She alsospoke to Chinese ForeignMinister Wang Yi and apprised him of the “non-mil-itary, preemptive airstrikes”,

the sources said. Sushma isscheduled to brief the ChineseForeign Minister and Russian Foreign Minister on Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary VijayGokhale and other Secretarieshave been briefing separately toforeign envoys, includingenvoys of the P-5 countries —the United States, Russia,China, France and the UnitedKingdom. Envoys of Sri Lanka,Australia, Maldives,Afghanistan, Bhutan, Turkeyand Indonesia were also briefedabout the airstrike.

Australian ForeignMinister Marise Payne alsoissued a stern warning toPakistan saying that Pakistantake “urgent and meaningful”action against terrorist groupsin its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which hasclaimed responsibility for the14 February bombing, andLashkar-e-Tayyeba.”

Continued on Page 5

Churu (Rajasthan): In his firstpublic address after airstrikeson terror camps in Pakistan,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Tuesday said the country isin safe hands and that he willnot let the country down.

The PM stressed that noth-ing was above the nation. “Todayis a day to pay homage to India’sbravehearts. Today, from theland of Churu, I want to assurethe people of the country thatthe country is in safe hands,” hesaid at a public rally here. The

Continued on Page 5

PTI n ISLAMABAD

Pakistan on Tuesday strong-ly rejected India’s claim of

targeting terrorist camp in thecountry and causing heavycasualties even as it vowed torespond “at the time and placeof its choosing” and raise theissue at the United Nations andother international forums.

At a hurriedly called spe-cial meeting of the NationalSecurity Committee (NSC)hours after India’s airstrikesinside Pakistan, Prime MinisterImran Khan asked the armedforces and the people of hiscountry to remain prepared for“all eventualities.”

“The forum (NSC) strong-ly rejected Indian claim of tar-geting an alleged terrorist campnear Balakot and the claim ofheavy casualties. Once againIndian Government has resort-ed to a self-serving, recklessand fictitious claim,” said astatement issued after the NSCmeeting in Islamabad.

The country’s top civil andmilitary brass “concluded thatIndia has committed uncalledfor aggression to which

Pakistan shall respond at thetime and place of its choosing,”it added.

It also invited the worldmedia to see the facts onground and proposed a visit tothe site. Citing sources, Geo TVreported that Pakistan willraise the issue of India’s “vio-lation” of the LoC at the UnitedNations, the Organisation ofIslamic Cooperation and otherinternational forums.

The decision was taken atthe NSC meeting chaired byPrime Minister Khan.

The NSC statementclaimed that India’s “action hasbeen done for domestic con-sumption being in electionenvironment, putting regionalpeace and stability at graverisk.”

The government has decid-ed to requisition a joint sessionof the Parliament onWednesday. Prime MinisterKhan also summoned a specialmeeting of the NationalCommand Authority (NCA)on Wednesday.

The Foreign Office sum-moned India’s acting High

Continued on Page 5

New Delhi: In the RamJanambhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute case, the apexcourt on Tuesday asked thecontending parties to explorethe possibility of amicably set-tling the decades old disputethrough mediation, saying itmay help in “healing relations”.

Even if there is “one percent chance” of settling the dis-pute amicably, the partiesshould go for mediation, afive-judge bench headed by CJIRanjan Gogoi suggested.

Detailed report on P5

12 days afterPulwama, IAFjets bomb JeMcamps in Pak,kill 325 ultras

SC backs mediationin Ayodhya case foramicable settlement

PNS n NEW DELHI

The terror “facility at Balakot”that was struck by Mirage

fighter jets at 3.30 am onTuesday was headed byMaulana Yousuf Azhar orMohammed Salim, the brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammedchief Masood Azhar.

Maulana Yousuf Azhar isbelieved to be one of the hijack-ers of Indian Airlines AirbusIC-814 in December 1999,which led to the release ofMasood Azhar and two otherterrorists by New Delhi in

exchange for passengers’ safe-ty after a seven-day crisis.

The Balakot camp of JeMwas a joint training camp of thePakistan Army’s terror proxythat also trained some fightersfor al-Qaeda and some of therecruits of East TurkistanIslamic Party which is active inthe Xinjiang province of China.Many of these fidayeens andrecruits are also suspected tohave been killed in the deepstrike by the Indian Air Force.

Yousuf Azhar, who headedthe Balakot-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp, iswanted by the CBI in the IC-814 hijacking case with a pend-ing Interpol red corner notice(RCN) against him since 2000,officials said.

Continued on Page 5

Forces keep eyes peeled for raids

Imran threatensretaliation

MEA briefs nations about

pre-emptive strike need

Country is in safehands: Modi afterIAF’s Pak strikes

IC-814 hijacker headedcamp targeted by IAF

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OPINION 8

WHAT PAKSTANDS TO LOSE

WORLD 12

CHINA CALLS FOR ‘RESTRAINT’ AFTERINDIA’S AIR STRIKES ON PAKISTAN

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LUCKNOW, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

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INDIA EXACTS PAK VENGEANCE

city 02LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019

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PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that the

cooperative sector played animportant role in the develop-ment of the farm sector bring-ing prosperity to farmers.

While launching mobilevans for the district coopera-tive banks on Tuesday, he saidthat such vans would help ineasy transactions as farmersacross Uttar Pradesh would beable to get money using theirATM cards at their doorsteps.“Not only this, through these

mobile vans people will be ableto carry out banking opera-tions and for that there will beno need to go to banks,” theChief Minister said.

He said of 50 districtcooperative banks across thestate such mobile vans hadbeen provided in 39 districts.“The villagers will also beexposed to digital bankingthough these vans. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasa vision to build a new Indiaand these mobile vans are astep in this direction,” theChief Minister said.

“The present governmenthas strengthened the cooper-ative sector by putting moremoney in this sector. Both theBJP governments at theCentre and the state are work-ing with a single vision toempower farmers. The PrimeMinister has made it clear thatincome of farmers shoulddouble by 2022 and we areworking in this direction,” hesaid. The CM also talkedabout Pradhan Mantra KisanSamman Nidhi that waslaunched on February 24 andthat would help 2.14 croresmall and marginal farmers inUP. Agriculture MinisterSurya Pratap Shahi also spokeon the occasion.

CM Yogi launches bank

mobile vans for farmers

Coop sector role stressed

Celebration time: Shah


While launching theparty’s Kamal Jyoti

Sampark Parv from Ghazipur,BJP national president AmitShah said that Indian AirForce had avenged the killingof CRPF jawans in Pulwamaand that was possible onlybecause of the strong willpower of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“The country is celebrat-ing today. They are celebrat-ing the valour of Indian AirForce pilots. Diwali may bemonths away but people arecelebrating Diwali tonight,”Shah said while launchingthe party’s campaign fromGauhat village in Ghazipurdistrict on Tuesday. He also lita lamp outside the residenceof Dalit Rudranath Ram.Later, BJP workers lightedearthen diyas across the vil-lage.

“This is the land of RajaSuheldeo and Abdul Hamid.Both of them taught lesson toenemies. And today also ourforces taught a bitter lesson tothe enemies,” he said. He alsotalked about different pro-gramme the Modi govern-

ment had launched for thewelfare of the people.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath attended the func-tion at Bhagukheda village inSarojini Nagar on the outskirtsof Lucknow while party’s statepresident Mahendra NathPandey attended a pro-gramme in Ghaziabad.

The Chief Minister saidthat his government wasimplementing programmesof the Modi government inletter and spirit. He talkedabout electrification of villagessaying his government wascommitted to improving theinfrastructure across the state.

The programmes wereheld in the evening wherelamps resembling lotus (elec-tion symbol of the BJP) werelit all across the state and thusthe function was named asKamal Jyoti Sampark Parv.This is the party’s outreachprogramme through whichparty leaders made an attemptto popularise welfare schemesof the Modi and the Yogi gov-ernments. “The programmeswere attended by senior lead-ers of the party and ministersin Modi and Yogi govern-ments,” BJP spokesman said.

The BJP workers alsoinvolved beneficiaries of dif-ferent government schemes inthis programme. The workerswere asked to light the lampat the doorsteps of beneficia-ries to give a sense of involve-ment to these people.

The spokesman addedthat party workers talkedabout how houses had beenprovided to the people duringthe Modi regime or electrifi-cation of villages or roads hadbeen built in villages in the lastfour years. He asserted thatthere was a transformation inthe lives of people.

Senior leaders and min-isters attended the functionsat village level. Deputy ChiefMinister Keshav PrasadMaurya attended a functionat Phaphamau (Prayagraj dis-trict) and Deputy ChiefMinister Dinesh Sharma inrural Lucknow. GovardhanJhadapia was at Barabankidistrict, while Union minis-ter Santosh Gangwaraddressed people in Bareilly.Speaker of UP LegislativeAssembly Hriday NarayanDixit was in Unnao andSuresh Khanna was at a vil-lage in Kaushambi.

Party chief kickstarts election drive in east UP

Yogi all praise for Modi, IAF pilots


Claiming ‘Modi hai toMumkin hai’, Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath said that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadthe capability to make even animpossible thing possible and thecountry saluted to the bravery ofIAF pilots who killed 400 terror-ists to avenge Pulwama incidentin which 41 CRPF jawans weremartyred.

“We have taken the revengeof our 41 martyrs and it is pos-sible because of our daring PM,who knows how to give a befit-ting reply to the enemy in its den,”he said while addressing peoplein Hardoi on Tuesday.

He said with the deadly

airstrike at the headquarters ofJeM had shown his clear inten-tion that the country wouldnever compromise on the secu-rity of the nation. “Whoever willdare raise an eye towards Indiawill be eliminated,” CM said.

The CM, who laid the foun-dation stone of a new medicalcollege in the district andlaunched several developmentschemes, asked the people at apublic meeting to shout slogansso that the Indian army couldhear their appreciation. UnionHealth Minister JP Nadda wasalso present on the occasion.

Talking about the new med-ical college to be set up at the dis-trict headquarters, he said afterthe medical college started func-

tioning it would produce 100 newdoctors every year. "Hardoi willget a new identity in the countrywhen doctors passing out fromhere will serve patients all overthe country and even abroad," theCM said. "This medical collegehas been gifted by PM to the peo-ple of Hardoi so that the peopleget quality and affordable med-ical facilities near their homes," headded.

Union Health Minister JPNadda said that the AyushmanBharat was the largest scheme inthe world and almost all the poorhad been included in the scheme.He said UP had been given 13medical colleges with one inHardoi and it would improvehealth facilities in the state.

Youth shoots sister

in honour killing


In a sensational incident inMuzaffarnagar, a youth shot

dead his sister in full publicview on Monday morning and

later walked down to thelocal police station to confesshis crime.

The cops shifted the girlto the district hospital wheredoctors declared her "broughtdead upon arrival". A case hasbeen registered in this regardby the local police and theaccused was sent to jail.Reports said that the 22-year-old girl, hailing fromBopada locality of Mansorpurin Muzaffarnagar, had gone toa hotel along with herboyfriend a few days back.However, some other youthstried to take advantage of thesituation and molested herafter which the local policecame on the scene.

Reports said that the inci-dent brought trouble for thegirl as her brother, after learn-ing about the facts, wasshocked to know that hissister went with some youthto a hotel. The matter took anugly turn on Monday morn-ing when the girl was goingto her college. Her brotherintercepted her and openedfire and later walked down tothe nearest police station,handed over the weapon andconfessed his crime. The copsshifted the girl to a hospitalbut she succumbed toinjuries. The cops registereda case and the body was sent

for the post-mortem.In another sensational

incident also reported fromMuzaffarnagar, a group offour armed men looted Rs 8lakh in cash from a man in avillage when he was on hisway to the bank to deposit themoney. The incidentoccurred near Talda villageunder the Jansath police sta-tion limits in the district onMonday morning.Muzaffarnagar SP AlokSharma revealed claimed thatthey registered a case in thatregard and made all-outattempts to get some lead inthe matter and, subsequent-ly, nab the accused but theirattempts went in vain.Further investigations are onin the matter.

Meanwhile, in a separateincident reported fromJalaun, a married couple waskilled and another one wasinjured after their motorcy-cles collided near PaniyaraManiri village in Koch area ofthe district on Tuesday. VinayNarayan (40) and his wifeKiran (36) were killed whileChhedalal, who was onanother bike, was seriouslyinjured in the accident thatoccurred on Monday night.The injured was rushed to ahospital where his conditionwas stated to be stable.

Maya, Akhilesh hail IAFLucknow (PNS):

Bahujan Samaj Party chiefMayawati and SamajwadiParty president AkhileshYadav congratulated theIndian Air Force (IAF) fordestroying terrorist camps inthe Pakistan-occupiedKashmir early Tuesday

morning.Mayawati, however,

added a political twist bysaying that if BJP govern-ment had given such freehand to the army, the terror-ist attacks in several places ofKashmir would have beenprevented.

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03LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019the pioneer


U.P. Rajya VidyutUtpadan Nigam Ltd.Obra Thermal PowerStation, OBRA-

S o n e b h a d r a - 2 3 1 2 1 9Corrigendum Tender no. T-05/SE(HQ)/ TD/OTPS/2018-19floated for Load Testing and issu-ing of Statutory certificate ofSafety of 300 T SumitomoCrane, 150 T IHI Crane, & 16 TACE Hydra of OTPS Obra fornext one year scheduled to beopened 07.02.2019 is is here byextended due to some unavoid-able circumstances and shallnow be opened as below:- LASTDATE AND TIME FOR SUB-MISSION OF E-BIDS (Website- http://etender.up.nic.in) :-05.03.2019 up to 18:00 hrs.LAST DATE AND TIME FORSUBMISSION OF HARD COPYOF TENDER FEE AND EMD :-06.03.2019 up to 17:00 hrs.DATE AND TIME OF OPENINGOF E-BIDS (Part-I) :- 08.03.2019up to 16:00 hrs. DATE ANDTIME OF OPENING OF E-BIDS(Part-II) :- Announced to be laterAll other terms & conditionsshall be remain same.(Superintending Engineer)Head Quarter Circle, OTPS,Obra-Sonebhadra No. 40 Date22.2.2019 SAVE ELECTRICITYIN THE INTEREST OF NATION


Lucknow Metro’s innovativeenergy conservation mea-

sures are top notch and ener-gy-efficient apart from beingeco-friendly, and will continueto provide sustainability in thelong run. An LMRC officialsaid they not only carried for-ward the vision of ‘CleanMetro-Green Metro’ but alsoplayed a major role in the con-servation and preservation ofthe city’s environment by pro-viding seamless connectivity toLucknowites.

“To minimise air pollutiondigisets with scrubbers havebeen installed at the stations.Moreover, the entry and exitgates have glass rooftops toreduce energy consumptionand to beautify the surround-ings. To maintain the greeneryof outdoor station areas,saplings have been plantedwhich gives an aesthetic appealto Metro stations. Specialarrangements have also beenmade for rainwater collectionfor irrigating plants grown out-side the station premises andsurrounding areas,” an LMRCofficial said. He said that by

generating renewable energyfrom roof-mounted solar pan-els at the Metro depot andadministrative building, LMRCis continuously serving as a rolemodel for other such projects.

“Lucknow Metro’s vision ofenergy conservation and beingan energy efficient mode ofMass Rapid Transit System(MRTS), it has led to the trans-formation of lighting arrange-ments at all the stations, liftsand escalators through instal-lation of LED lights. LED light-ing not only minimises powerand energy consumption butalso provides more brightness,

ambience and illumination. Inthe underground section, theenergy-efficient EnvironmentControl System (ECS) andTunnel Ventilation System(TVS) will be used extensive-ly,” he added.

On similar lines, the regen-erative braking technologyused in trains is capable inenergy optimisation by saving30-35% traction energy, thuscontributing to energy effi-ciency. “The same regenerativebraking technology is alsobeing used in lifts. LMRC hasalso introduced controlled ACsystem at the station areas and

in trains based on the numberof people using it so that whennumber of people are less in thetrain, the level of cooling willautomatically go down. Theair-conditioning is alsoequipped with chillers whichhave variable frequency drives(VFD) in addition to chillerplant manager for the optimi-sation of energy efficiency,” headded. Lucknow Metro’s objec-tive is decongestion of trafficwoes by considerably reducingtravelling time and streamlin-ing the mode of mass rapidtransportation for the urbanpopulation.

VIP NUMBER FETCHES WHOPPING AMOUNT

Registration numberUP32-KM0001 fetched awhopping amount (Rs 1.42lakh) in the final bidding forVIP numbers. RTO officialRaghvendra Singh said othernumbers which fetched highamounts were UP32-KM0009(Rs 18,000), UP32-KM0027(Rs 27,000), UP32-KM3232(Rs 14,000) and UP32-KM4000 (Rs 20,000).

MoU SIGNEDCentral Drug Research

Institute and Union Ministryof Earth Sciences signed amemorandum of understand-ing. The MoU was exchangedby CDRI director TK Kunduand joint secretary (Admin)MoES, Vipin Chandra fordevelopment of potentialdrugs from ocean. Chandrasaid India was endowed witha rich marine biota all alongits 8,000-km coastline. “TheIndian Ocean is the reposito-ry of a diverse and rich sourceof flora and fauna that havenot been explored systemati-cally for commercial use,” hepointed out.

SYMPOSIUMAmity Institute of

Biotechnology organised atwo-day national symposiumon ‘Biotech breakthrough in

clinical research and diag-nostic’. The symposium wasaimed at promoting scientif-ic and educational activitiestowards the advancement ofclinical research and diag-nostics. The organisers saidthat the symposium would behelpful in bringing togetherleading academicians, scien-tists and researchers to pro-vide a forum for dissemina-tion of original researchresults, new ideas and provideplatform for sharing of ideasamong faculties, students andvarious researchers. The chiefguest was head of RespiratoryMedicine department(KGMU) Dr Surya Kant whilethe guest of honour wasPrincipal Secretary, VidhanSabha (UP) Pradeep KumarDubey. Dr Surya Kant talkedabout recent updates in diag-nosis of respiratory diseases.He said that by 2035, Indiawould be capital of populationand of diseases like tubercu-losis, diabetes, heart prob-lems etc. He added that 14 percent of school-going childrenwere suffering from allergyand asthma. “In such a sce-nario, the role of biotechnol-ogy in clinical research anddiagnosis becomes important.With the help of biotechnol-ogy, we can ensure early diag-nosis and prevention,” headded.

KRISHI MELAA ‘Krishi Mela’ will be

organised by Central Institutefor Subtropical Horticultureon the eve of InternationalScience Day (February 28).Farmers will learn how to aug-ment income by adoptinglow-cost technologies suit-able for their small landhold.Around 400 farmers from 40different villages are expectedto participate in the the fair,CISH director ShailendraRajan said.

BSNL CGMSatish Kumaron Tuesdaytook over aschief generalmanager ofUP East circle, BSNL. Hereplaced TN Shukla, who waspromoted as advisor(Telecom). A 1984-batch ITSofficer, Satish Kumar was dis-charging the duties of gener-al manager (sales and market-ing), UP East. He has a vastexperience of working in thecircle on various posts.

ATHLETICS C’SHIP

MSK Events is organisingan All-India Madarsa AthleticChampionship at Charbaghstadium from March 3. Thechampionship will be organ-ised in 15-20 and 20-25 agegroups and around 250 play-ers are expected to take partin it.

Lucknow (PNS): The pricesof f lats under LucknowDevelopment Authority (LDA)and Housing Development

INVESTITURE CEREMONYThe Central Command

Investiture Ceremony wasconducted on Tuesday.General OfficerC ommanding- in-Chief ,Central Command, Lt GenAbhay Krishna felicitated fiveofficers and six other rankswith gallantry and distin-guished service awards. Theofficers and other ranks were

felicitated for various gal-lantry acts of in the face ofenemy as well as exceptionaldevotion to duty and serviceto the nation. Sena medals(gallantry) were given away toPrabhakar Dev Singh,Shashank, Babulal Yadav,Jagtinder Singh, Dharampal,Ramvir Singh, Sachin Kumarand Manjinder Singh (posthu-mously). Sena medals (distin-

guished) were given away toMaj Praveen Kumar, VishishtSeva Medal (VSM) to Lt GenDaleep Singh and ColManeesh Parthasarthi. Nineunits were awarded CentralCommand Unit citations fortheir meritorious and out-standing performance. Lt GenAbhay Krishna congratulatedall the awardees and recipientsof citations.

NATIONAL EXAMINATIONApurva Chauhan, a class

XI student of City MontessoriSchool, Gomti Nagar CampusI, topped the national levelexamination in western music(Opera singing). TheAssociated Board of RoyalSchool of Music (ABRSM),London, conducted thisexamination. CMS founderJagdish Gandhi expressed

happinessfor Apurva’ssuccess andwished hergood luckfor a brightfuture. Shewill be per-forming in

Malaysia at ABRSM HighScorer Contest in April andwill receive her diploma. In

2017, Apurva had performedin the joint concert of theIndia National YouthOrchestra & Chorus and theVienna University Orchestra& Choir at Bengaluru as theyoungest singer. In August2018, she was selected at theconcert of the BerkeleyCollege of Music , Boston,USA, held at India HabitatCentre, New Delhi.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD

In a shocking incident WingCommander, Arvind Sinha,

Regional Public RelationsOfficer and spokesperson ofMinistry of Defence, AllahabadRegion, shot himself dead witha double barrel gun. This inci-dent took place at the AirForce residential quarters atBamrauli under theDhoomanganj police station onTuesday morning.

According to reports, WingCommander Arvind Sinhaplaced the barrel of the gun onhis neck and pushed the trig-ger with his toes and shothimself from a point blankrange. On hearing the gunshot,his wife ran to the room andwas shocked to found himlying in a pool of blood. Hedied minutes after the incident.

Wing Commander ArvindSinha, a resident of Patna, wasposted here as Regional PublicRelations Officer andspokesperson of Ministry ofDefence, Allahabad Region,for the past couple of months.

On being informed, the AirForce police reached the spotand after conducting a prelim-inary investigation informedthe civil police. On receipt ofinformation, Station HouseOfficer of Dhoomanganj policestation reached there alongwith a police force and con-ducted necessary investigation.The police took the body of thedeceased into its custody andsent it to the mortuary for thepost-mortem examination. Italso took the weapon used forcommitting suicide in its cus-tody. Reports said that WingCommander Arvind Sinha issurvived by his wife and twosons, aged 14 and 10 years.Meanwhile the parents of thedeceased has reached here latein the evening. The police saidthat investigation was on theascertain what compelled thevictim to take this drastic step.

Board will come down fromRs 1 lakh up to Rs 3.5 lakh asGST has been slashed by fiveper cent from 12 per cent. Therevised rates will come intoexistence from April 1 thisyear. With implementationof the revised GST rates, thecost of 20,000 flats in the citylying unsold will come down.The LDA has over 4,000 flatswhile Housing Board has3,000 flats situated in differ-ent places.

Financial controller ofHousing Board VC Vermasaid there would be big fall inthe prices of flats, includingthe luxurious ones. However,he said he had not gonethrough the GST rate cutdetails as yet.

The GST Council had onFebruary 24 slashed GST onhouses by five per cent from12 per cent. The step wastaken in view of the slump inthe real estate business.

Officer on special duty,LDA, RK Shukla said thosewho constructed their hous-es and as well as owners ofunder-construction flatswould be benefitted. LDAaccounts officer MK Agarwalsaid the rebate would benefitpeople from all walks of society.

GST cut to bring down costs of houses

‘Innovative energy conservation

measures of LMRC top-notch’

SCHOOLSCAN

CITYBRIEFS

CANTTWATCH


It is a historic day for Indiaas the country avenged the

death of 40 CRPF jawans.Ours is a self-respecting coun-try and so is our PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

These views wereexpressed by Forest MinisterDara Singh Chauhan, whoinaugurated four new cagesand wildlife museums ofKatarniyaghat, LakhimpurKheri and Hastinapur atLucknow zoo on Tuesday. Theoccasion witnessed the pres-ence of senior forest officialsand students from girls’ col-lege. The minister said that

Lucknow’s was amongst thefew zoos in the country hav-ing three ISO certifications. Hesaid zoos helped people estab-lish relations with animals.

The minister said it wasrare to have a forest likeKukrail so close to the city, anda consultant should be invitedto develop it into a beautifularea without impacting theenvironment. Chief wildlifewarden Pawan Kumar saidthe theme of the programmethis year was ‘Climate changeand ethics’. “Environmentshould be kept clean andgreen,” said the minister, whoarrived at the venue in a bat-tery-operated car.

Historic day for

India: Minister

Forest Minister Dara Singh Chauhan inaugurating four new cages and wildlifemuseums of Katarniyaghat, Lakhimpur Kheri and Hastinapur at LucknowZoological Gardens on Tuesday Pioneer

IAF officer

shoots self

MoU signed by CDRI



A50-year-old labourer diedafter he fell down from the

third storey of an under-con-struction building in Ghazipur.His brother lodged a com-plaint against the contractor.

The victim, identified asRam Gopal of Sitapur, washired for construction work ata house in sector C of IndiraNagar on Monday. He andthree other labourers, identifiedas Bechan Shah, MohammedIslam and Ramesh (all ofSitapur) were busy working onthe third floor of the building.

“Around 1:30 pm onMonday, I got a call from anunknown phone number andthe caller informed me aboutthe death of Ram Gopal. I

reached the place and was toldthat Ram Gopal fell down dueto lack of security arrange-ments. I was also told that RamGopal was taken to RamManohar Lohiya Hospitalwhere he was declared broughtdead,” deceased’s brotherShrawan Kumar said. Blamingthe contractor for laxity,Shrawan demanded actionagainst him. On his complaint,the police registered a case,” apolice spokesman said.

“The body was sent tomorgue on Monday but theautopsy was conducted onTuesday after deceased’s fami-ly members reached there,”the police spokesman said. Headded that Ram Gopal sufferedhead injuries and died of exces-sive bleeding.


Hundreds of advocatesunder the banner of

Awadhi Sena on Tuesday after-noon created a ruckus insideHazratganj police station wherethey entered the lock-up andrefused to come out. The hap-less cops tried to mollify theadvocates but the deadlockended only after the interventionof senior officers.

The group of advocatesassembled at Parivartan Chowk

in Hazratganj on Tuesday to paytributes to the Pulwama martyrsand demanded removal ofArticle 370 in Kashmir andaction against terrorist MasoodAzhar. The protest was led byAwadhi Sena chief Atul Singh.Meanwhile, some fellow advo-cates had a heated exchange withdistrict administration officialsand later, they heard of a possi-ble police action against them.

Irked with this, nearly 150members of Awadhi Senareached Hazratganj police sta-

tion around 2:30 pm. Afterentering the lock-up, they con-tinued shouting slogans untilHazratganj SHO Radha RamanSingh rushed to the scene toquell the protest. Atul Singh saidthey received calls from policeand ACM-I and were warned toend the protest or else be readyto face arrest. Hazratganj SHORadha Raman Singh said section144 of CrPC was imposed inthe locality and it allowed policeto initiate action against the violators.

Lucknow (PNS): In anincident which left policebemused, a burqa-clad drugpeddler was arrested inWazirganj on Tuesday. Hewas going to sell ganja amonghis customers and was wear-ing burqa to avoid coming inpolice’s glare.

The miscreant, identifiedas Sandeep Kumar of DhobiGhat locality in Wazirganj,was carrying 1.25 kg ganja,

which was also recovered bythe police. The cops alsoseized the burqa. As perreports, some informerstipped off the police aboutSandeep’s trick some timeback, and a team was keepinga tab on him. Sub-inspectorMN Upadhyay said it was adifficult task as any mistakecould backfire.

“On Tuesday afternoon,our informer told us about

Sandeep’s presence atChandganj railway crossing,and we laid a trap for him.After the informer pointedtowards Sandeep, a womanconstable was sent to the placefirst and Sandeep started flee-ing. We surrounded him andhe was nabbed,” Upadhyaysaid. The S-I said Sandeepused to sell ganja among pave-ment-dwellers, rickshaw-pullers and labourers.


Celebrations erupted at thestate capital after India Air

Force struck Jaish-eMohammed terror camps inPakistan in a pre-dawn strike.People distributed sweets andcame out with Tricolour tocelebrate the revenge ofPulwama attack in which 40CRPF jawans were martyred onFebruary 14.

Members of a social organ-isation from Indiranagar dis-tributing sweets among thepassersby at GPO. MohammedAshfaq from the organisationsaid India was a superpowerand could destroy Pakistanwithin minutes. “It is alsoimportant to take action againstpeople who live here but sidewith Pakistan. Terrorists belongto no country, they are notfriends with anyone and theyare enemies of all,” he said.

Murtaza Ali from the sameorganisation said people fromthe enemy country entered

India and killed CRPF jawans,hence it was important to hitback. “We had also gatheredhere on February 23 and raisedslogans against Pakistan. Today,our own soldiers enteredPakistan and destroyed the JeMterror camps. We welcome thiscounterattack and want all theterrorist camps destroyed,” headded.

Uttar Pradesh AdarshVyapar Mandal also celebratedthe air strikes as they burst fire-crackers and distributed sweetsat Udaiganj. Traders’ leaderSanjay Gupta said the actionhad made all the Indians proud.

Joyous scenes were alsowitnessed at gate number 1 ofLucknow University by mem-bers of Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad. A Tricolourmarch was taken out fromBhootnath market to Faizabadroad by residents. ManishYadav, a youth, said a largecrowd would gather at GPO insupport of the Army and IndianAir Force on Wednesday.


The swine flu scare contin-ues unabated as 20 new

cases of H1N1 infection weredetected on Tuesday. The freshcases were reported fromMadiaon, Kanpur Road,Indiranagar, Saraswatipuramand Eldeco Colony. Dr KPTripathi from the CMO officesaid weather fluctuation wascausing the H1N1 virus topersist and the increase intemperature would see thecases decline. He pointed outthat there were 3-4 cases inJanuary and they increased inthe first week of February.

“However, the trend is onthe decline. If the weatherremains warm, the cases willsignificantly decline. It maytake some time because somecases may be in the incubationperiod,” he added.


With the parliamentaryelection dates likely to be

announced next month, theElection Commission (EC),led by Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) SunilArora, will arrive here onWednesday for a three-dayvisit to assess poll preparednessin UP. The CEC will be alsoaccompanied by two otherElection Commissioners AshokLavasa and Sushil Chandra.

Official sources said onTuesday that during theirthree-day stay, the EC will bemeeting delegations of politi-cal parties followed by meet-ings with the Chief Secretary,DGP, Principal Secretary,

Home, and PrincipalSecretary, Excise.

On February 28, the ECwill hold meeting with DistrictMagistrates/ returning offi-cers of 80 Lok Sabha seats,SPs/SSPs of all 75 districtsalong with divisional com-missioners and rangeDIGs/IGs. The EC will alsohold meetings with officials ofIncome Tax, Narcotics depart-ment, Transport, banks, rail-ways and Civil Aviationdepartments to apprise themabout their role in the elec-tions. Sources said beforewinding up their visit, theCEC will also address a pressconference to share with themedia about the outcome intheir meetings.


The construction work ofKukrail overbridge con-

necting Samta Moolak withRing Road has been complet-ed. Managing director of SetuNigam Uttam Kumar Gehlautsaid as soon as they felt it wassafe and sound for the public,it would be thrown open.

He said they had plannedto complete it by the end ofFebruary. “We will be carryingout some testing work becauseit is over the railways and thenwe will open the bridge for traf-fic after we find everythingtechnically sound,” he said.

General manager, BridgeCorporation, Arvind Srivastavasaid that traffic congestionwould ease from Lohia Path toPolytechnic crossing and onAshok Marg because a persongoing from Munshipulia toSitapur road could take thisroad from 1090 crossing toKhurram Nagar. He said itwas a six-lane road, so a widerroad was available and it wouldhelp in the traffic movementbeing smooth. He said theconstruction of joint over-

bridge on Badshahnagar-Barabanki railway line andNH8 in alignment of con-struction of the 6-lane road onthe left embankment of Kukrailnullah from Gomti Barrage toKhurram Nagar-Ring Roadwas started in 2011. The sanc-tioned cost was Rs 4814.52 lakhand the final construction costis still being estimated. “Theoverbridge will go a long wayin streamlining the traffic atPolytechnic crossing” he added.


Former Union minister andrebel BJP MP from Patna

Shatrughan Sinha welcomedthe airstrike by the Indian AirForce on cross border terrortraining camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He, howev-er, added: “It has indeedenthused people of the country.However, it’s not a time for cel-ebrations unless the matterreaches its logical conclusionand all relevant facts are avail-able in the public domain.” Hesaid the entire country was withPrime Minister Narendra Modion the issue. The BJP MP saidthe government must takecomprehensive punitive action

against Pakistan so as to pre-vent the recurrence of suchincidents in the Kashmir valley.

Sinha was in Lucknow onTuesday to meet SamajwadiParty president Akhilesh Yadav.Both the leaders were closetedfor an hour. But they refused to

divulge details of their discus-sions. It is, however, widelyspeculated that he could be aSamajwadi Party candidate andthey met here for the purpose.Sources said Shatrughan Sinhawas seeking intervention ofAkhilesh Yadav to get the sup-port of Rashtriya Janata Dalleader Tejashwi Yadav in Biharfor contesting the election.

Shatrughan Sinha is sulk-ing ever since Narendra Modicame to power in May 2014. Hehad been criticising Modi forthe past several years. InJanuary, he had also joined theconclave of the Oppositionparties in Kolkata organised bythe West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee.

Celebrations erupt after IAF strikeShotgun hails airstrike

H1N1 cases

continue

to pour in

Labourer falls to

death from third

floor of buildingEC team arriving today

Advocates create ruckus at

Hazratganj police station

Construction of Kukrail overbridge completed

General manager,Bridge Corporation,Arvind Srivastavasaid that trafficcongestion wouldease from Lohia Path to Polytechniccrossing and on Ashok Marg

Burqa-clad drug peddler held

Congress workers taking out a 100-metre ‘Tiranga Yatra’ to celebrate the IAF strikes on Tuesday Pioneer

Members of a social organisation distributing sweets on Tuesday Pioneer

FORCES KEEP...action without wasting time,sources said. Hours after thestrike, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi chaired theCCS attended by FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley, ExternalAffairs Minister SushmaSwaraj, Home Minister RajnathSingh and Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman. TheArmy, meanwhile, is not takingany chances in Jammu andKashmir on the LOC by furtherplugging gaps in defences ifany, officials said. Similarly, theBorder Security Force (BSF)guarding the InternationalBorder in Jammu, Punjab,Rajasthan and Gujarat is alsoon high alert and steppedpatrolling to prevent any infil-tration from Pakistani side.

MEA BRIEFS...The Minister said Pakistan

must do everything possible toimplement its own proscriptionof JeM. “It (Pakistan) can nolonger allow extremist groupsthe legal and physical space tooperate from its territory,” theMinister said. “The AustralianGovernment is concernedabout relations between Indiaand Pakistan following thehorrific terrorist attack inJammu and Kashmir onFebruary 14, which Australiahas condemned,” Payne said.

“We are very happy that theIndian Government hasinformed us in a quick and

informed about what hap-pened. We are informing ourcapitals and our capitals willdecide what opinion has to beformed,” said HansDannenberg Castellanos, Deanof Diplomatic Corps in Indiaafter meeting Gokhale.

He further said, “Theinformation is that they did notaffect any civilian or anyPakistani military installation.”

European Unionspokesperson Maja Kocijanciccalled on New Delhi andIslamabad to exercise “maxi-mum restraint” after Indianwarplanes attacked a terrorcamp in Pakistan, sending ten-sions soaring between thenuclear-armed arch-rivals. “Weremain in contact with bothcountries and what we believeis essential is that all exercisemaximum restraint and avoidfurther escalation of tensions,”EU spokeswoman Kocijancicsaid. Hours after the Indian AirForce carried out a targetedstrike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) camp located across theLine of Control (LoC), Chinaurged India to fight terrorismthrough “international cooper-ation”. China urged both Indiaand Pakistan to “exerciserestraint” .

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kang told themedia here that “we have takennote of the relevant reports.”

“I want to say that Indiaand Pakistan are both impor-

tant countries in South Asia. Asound relationship and coop-eration between the two servesthe interests of both the coun-tries and peace and stability inSouth Asia,” he said. TheUnited Kingdom has calledon India and Pakistan to pur-sue diplomatic solutions in thewake of the Pulwama terroristattack in Jammu and Kashmir.UK Foreign Secretary JeremyHunt held telephonic conver-sations with External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj andPakistan Foreign Minister ShahMehmood Qureshi onFebruary 25, the UK Foreignand Commonwealth Office(FCO) said in a statement.

“The Foreign Secretaryhighlighted the UK’s concernabout the enduring threat toregional stability from terror-ism. He encouraged Pakistanand India to improve cooper-ation and find diplomatic solu-tions that will create greater sta-bility and trust in the region,”the statement added. Gokhalehad met around 25 envoys,including those from P-5nations, a day after thePulwama terror attack in which40 Central Reserve Police Forcepersonnel were killed.

INDIA EXACTS...Muzafarabad sector. Facingtimely and effective responsefrom PAF, they released pay-load in haste while escapingwhich fell near Balakot. No

casualties or damage,” saidMajor General Asif Ghafoor,Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations(ISPR), which is the mediawing of the Pakistan Army.

Sources said at least twoMirages flew in a loop afterradars picked them up in orderto confuse Pakistani defences.Two other Mirages flying at lowlevel slipped through the radarnet and targeted the terrorcamp, sources said. TheMirages also used electronicwarfare to jam the enemyradars to enter Pakistani air-space and deployed the sametactics when PAF scrambledtheir F-16s near Balakot. Also,some SU-30 MKI, the frontlinefighter jets, were deployed closeto the LoC to take care of anyretaliatory action by the PAFbesides air borne early earningcommunication system air-craft hovered in Indian territo-ry to feed real time situationabout Pakistani defences tothe Mirage formation, theysaid. At least 1,000 kg ofexplosives were released bythe IAF jets to destroy thecamp. While the mother baseof Mirage-2000s is at Gwalior,more than 1,000 km fromBalakot, the jets selected for themission were shifted to someforward bases in Jammu &Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana

shortly before the designatedtime. Mid-air refuellers provid-ed fuel to the jets to sustainthem for long in the air.

The Mirages also took offfrom various airbases to avoidPakistan intelligence network,they said.

Giving details of the strikesand terming them as “non-mil-itary” apparently since the tar-gets were not military, ForeignSecretary Vijay Gokhale saidhere credible intelligence wasreceived that the JeM was plan-ning to carry out other suicideattacks in India after thePulwama bombing.

“Credible intelligence wasreceived that JeM was attempt-ing another suicide terrorattack in various parts of thecountry, and the fidayeenjihadis were being trained forthis purpose. In the face ofimminent danger, a pre-emp-tive strike became absolutelynecessary. “In an intelligenceled operation in the early hoursof today (Tuesday), India struckthe biggest training camp ofJeM in Balakot,” Gokhale said.

IMRAN THREATENS...Commissioner here and con-demned the “violation of itsterritorial sovereignty” byIndian jets. Meanwhile, thePakistan Army confirmed thatIndian jets dropped “four

bombs” during an operation onTuesday but downplayed itssignificance, saying the Indianattack was repulsed and whilegoing back the aircraft “jetti-soned their payload.” Armyspokesman Maj Gen AsifGhafoor said, “We will surpriseyou and wait for the surprise.(Our) response will come andit will be different. Ourresponse will be in all domainsincluding diplomatic, politicaland military.” He claimed thatthe Indian planes were inPakistan’s airspace for “just 4minutes” and went back whenchallenged by the Pakistaniaircraft. Ghafoor said thatIndian jets first tried to enterLahore-Sialkot sector, whileanother formation of jets cameclose to Okara-Bahawalpurarea of international border butfound Pakistan air force readyand went back. “Then a thirdformation was picked inMuzaffarabad sector whichwas heavier...It was repulsed,but while going back they jet-tisoned their payload and fourbombs fell in Jabba, near thetown of Balakot, causing nocasualties or damage,” he said.

IC-814 HIJACKER...The RCN was issued at the

behest of the CBI against sevenaccused in the hijacking of theIndian Airlines plane fromKathmandu to Kandahar insouthern Afghanistan onDecember 24, 1999 -- Yousuf

Azhar, Ibrahim Athar, SunnyAhmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim,Shahid Akhter, Sayed Shakirand Abdul Rauf, they said.Foreign Secretary VijayGokhale, while briefing themedia on the Operation againstJeM’s biggest training camp inBalakot, said the facility washeaded by Yousuf Azhar aliasUstad Ghouri. Brother-in-lawof Jaish chief Masood Azhar,Yousuf Azhar with red cornernotice number A-565/6-2000and Rauf with notice numberA-566/6-2000 are key conspir-ator in the Kandahar planehijack case. Masood Azhar andtwo other dreaded terroristsMushtaq Ahmed Zargar andAhmed Omar Syed Sheikhwere released in exchange ofthe 154 hostages aboard Flight814 on December 31, 1999 bythe then BJP-led NDAGovernment. India has beenseeking extradition of theseaccused from Pakistan underthe SAARC and the Hagueagreements under whichIslamabad has the obligation toextradite them, according toCBI sources.

COUNTRY IS IN...PM, however, did not make adirect reference to the strikes.Recalling his address at the2014-Vijay Shankhnad YuvaSangam, the Prime Ministersaid today was the day to reit-erate the sentiments. “My soulsays today is the day to reiter-

ate what I had expressed in2014. I swear by my land Iwon’t let my country bedestroyed. I will not let thecountry stop. I will not let thecountry bow down. I pledge tothe motherland that I will notlet her head down,” he said.The Prime Minister began theaddress by asking the peopleto raise slogans of ‘BharatMata ki Jai’ and said heunderstood very well the sen-timent, excitement andenthusiasm of the people pre-sent here. “Nothing is abovethe nation. Those who servethe nation, everyone who isengaged in nation building,Pradhan Sevak once againgreets them,” he said. Modisaid he had promised toimplement the one rank onepension scheme. It has beenimplemented and more than20 lakh families have beenbenefitted and Rs 35,000 croredisbursed. “Your pradhansevak is able to do this workbecause for us, the party isabove self and the nation isabove the party. We areengaged in public service andmoving ahead with the sen-timent of ‘Jai jawan Jai kisanJai vigyan’,”he said.

The Prime Minister alsoacknowledged the contribu-tion of Churu, Sikar andJhunjhunu in the armed forces,saying soldiers from here areguarding the nation’s borders.PTI

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Political parties asked togive mediation a chanceNew Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday asked thecontending parties in the polit-ically sensitive RamJanambhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute in Ayodhya toseriously con-sider mediationfor a permanentsolution even if there is "oneper cent chance" of success.

Observing it was looking atthe possibility of "healing rela-tions" between the parties, afive-judge constitution benchheaded by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi also said it would pass anorder on March 6 on whetherto refer the dispute to a court-appointed mediator. The sug-gestion for another round ofmediation, however, drew amixed response from the par-ties to the decades-old dispute.

The proposal was mootedby one of the judges, Justice SA Bobde, during the hearingwhen both the Hindu and theMuslim litigants were spar-ring over the veracity of docu-ments related to the case whichwere translated by the Uttar

Pradesh Government and filedwith the apex court registry.

"We are considering it(mediation) very seriously. Youall (parties) have used the wordthat this matter is not adversar-

ial. Wew o u l dlike to

give a chance to mediation evenif there is one per cent chance,"said the bench, also comprisingJustices DY Chandrachud,Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer."We would like to know your(both parties) views on it. Wedo not want any third party tomake a comment to jeopardisethe entire process."

"This, we have done keep-ing in mind that the period ofeight weeks that we haveallowed to the parties to gothrough the translations of theoral and documentary evi-dence could be effectivelyutilised to try and resolve theissues in the manner indicatedabove," the bench said.

"We have suggested to theparties that during the interreg-num a court appointed and

court monitored mediationwith utmost confidentialitycould be initiated to bring apermanent solution to theissues raised in the cases," itobserved. The bench noted inits order that lawyers represent-ing the legal heirs of original lit-igants M Siddiq and MohdHashim and Nirmohi Akharaare "in broad agreement" withthe suggestion of the courtabout mediation while counselappearing for Sri Ram LallaVirajman, Mahant Suresh Dasand Akhil Bharat HinduMahasabha have "not con-curred" with it. "Do you seri-ously think that the entire dis-pute for so many years is forproperty? We can only decideproperty rights but we are con-sidering the possibility of heal-ing relations," it said. Senioradvocate Rajeev Dhavan,appearing for M Siddiq, saidthey were agreeable to the"very important suggestion" ofmediation but said the courtshould fix a time frame formediation as the dispute was a"knotty issue".

AYODHYA DISPUTE

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019 nation 06

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Hours after Indian fighterjets pounded Jaish-e-

Mohammed terror-trainingcamps at Balakot deep insidePakistani territory decimatingone of the biggest terror basesin that country and killingseveral hundred terroristsincluding some of their topcommanders, Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onTuesday came out in openpraise for the “amazing fight-ers” even as her party leaderssuch actions were long overdue.

Conferring a new appella-tion on the Indian Air Forcepilots for their exceptionalbravery in penetrating deepinto the neighbouring countryto eliminate a highly potent ter-ror training facility of the JeMfunded and run by thePakistani armed forces,Banerjee wrote on the TwitterIAF was another name of

India’s Amazing Fighters.“IAF means India’s

Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind,”Banerjee tweeted in the wake ofthe pre-dawn strike at Balakotwhere terrorists from JeM,Lashkar-e-Toiba and HizbulMujahideen were being trainedsince 2000.

About a dozen fighterMirage 2000 fighter jets pound-ed terror targets deep insidePakistan in the small hours ofTuesday.

Reacting to the Tuesday’s“pre-emptive strike” a senior

Trinamool Congress and also aState Minister said, “such anaction was long overdue,”adding the Narendra ModiGovernment should have beenmore alert so as to avoid theattack on a convoy of Centralforces at Pulwama in Kashmirkilling 41 personnel onFebruary 14.

“One hopes Pakistan willretrace its steps in future beforeaiding such terror strikes inIndia,” the leader said echoinghowever the Chief Minister’searlier statement that therewas no need to drum up a war-chorus. “War-mongering andreacting to a situation are twodifferent things,” the leadersaid.

The Chief Minister hadearlier attacked the ModiGovernment for “playing withthe blood of martyrs ofPulwama” why the CRPFjawans were not sent by air inview of intelligence reports.

SURGICAL STRIKE 2.0

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Hostilities between India andPakistan peaked on Tuesday

along the Line of Control inJammu & Kashmir, followingfresh exchange of firing at dif-ferent locations, in Rajouri andPoonch sectors shortly afterfighter jets flattened 'terror fac-tories' deep inside Pakistan inpunitive strikes. The jawans of theIndian Army, already in a state ofhigh alert, maintained tight vigilto prevent any strike by theBorder action team of thePakistan army in the forwardareas.

After the Pulwama terrorstrike security of all the vitaldefence installations in the regionwas beefed up and high alert wassounded to prevent any strike byheavily armed terrorists in theregion.

According to ground reports,Pakistan army violated ceasefireagreement at five different loca-tions in the last 24 hours in twinborder districts.

Five Army soldiers wereinjured and two houses damagedas Pakistani army resorted toheavy mortar shelling on 55 for-ward areas in Jammu, Rajouriand Poonch districts on Tuesday,officials said, hours after IAF jets

struck a JeM terror camp acrossthe LoC. Situation along theInternational border acrossJammu frontier remained peace-ful even as local residents weredirected to stay alert and exercisecaution in the wake of prevailingsecurity situation.

Defence PRO, Lt-ColDevendra Anand, in Jammusaid, "Pakistan army initiated'unprovoked' firing in BabaKhori and Sunderbani areas ofRajouri early Tuesday morn-ing".

He said the firing continued

for over two hours between 5 to7.30 a.m in the forward areas.Indian army retaliated stronglyand effectively, he added.

In Poonch, similar incidentof firing reported between 1.20a.m and 2.30 a.m in Gulpur andDeegwar sectors.

Lt-Col Anand said, fresh firing sparked off tensionsin the region Tuesday evening asPakistan army shelled mortars targeting forward Indianposts. "At about 5.30 p.mPakistan initiated unprovokedceasefire violation by heavy

Border tense, Army alert in J&KDidi praises Air Force

Residents climb out of a bunker built outside their home in border town of Chakoti situated at the Line of Control in PoK onTuesday AP

PTI n JAIPUR / CHANDIGARH /

BENGALURU

Family members of the CRPFpersonnel, who lost their

lives in Pulwama attack, onTuesday said they have foundsome solace in the airstrikeagainst Jaish-e-Mohammedterrorists but pressed for effortsto wipe out the menace of ter-rorism "once and for all".

"We were expecting astrong response to Pakistanfrom India and this has beendone now. Our loss is irrepara-ble but we are satisfied withwhat has been done," saidMahesh Gurjar, a cousin ofslain CRPF soldier Narayan LalGurjar.

Narayan Lal, a native ofBinol village of Rajsamand dis-trict, is survived by wife andtwo minor children. He wasamong the five victims fromRajasthan who lost their livesin the February 14 attack byJaish-e-Mohammed.

Vikram, younger brotherof another victim Jeet Ram,said, "A step has been taken butwe want that the menace of ter-rorism should be ended onceand for all."

Hailing from Sundarwali ofBharatpur district, Jeet Ram hastwo young daughters.

In Shahpura town of Jaipurdistrict, people burst crackersat the cremation site of CRPFsoldier Rohitash Lamba, whowas bid a tearful adieu bythousands of mourners lessthan two weeks back.

"There is satisfactionamong the people of the coun-try. Government's decision isappreciable as the action waswithin 13 days of the terrorattack," said Jitendra Lamba,younger brother of Rohitash.

Slain CRPF jawan HGuru's native village Gudigerein Mandya district, about 100km from here, too burst intojubilation on hearing aboutthe Indian Air Force's early

morning attack on the JeM ter-ror camp.

Villagers took out a marchand a tricolour was unfurledatop his house as a mark ofrespect. "We have been insist-ing on peace but peace is not asolution anymore. They have tobe completely destroyed. Myson will rest in peace only ifthey are wiped out entirely,"said Guru's father Honnaiah.

With tears in her eyes,Guru's wife Kalavathi toldreporters: "I salute the Indianarmed forces. I am happy withthis action. I feel that thisaction will give peace to themartyred soldiers. I am proudof my Indian armed forces."

Darshan Singh, father ofCRPF jawan Kulwinder Singhof Rupnagar district in Punjab,said the IAF action "gave solaceto the family". He, however,said had this action been takenbefore the Pulwama attack,the lives of 40 CRPF jawanswould have been saved. PTI

Maha: Frompolitics toBollywoodhail airstrike

Finally, martyred CRPF

personnel get solace

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Hours after Indian fighter jetsbombarded Jaish-e-

Mohammad-run terror campsin Balakot area of Pakistan,PDP Chief and former StateChief Minister Mehbooba Muftiwent berserk while reacting tothe news break on her twittertimeline.

"Todays IAF strikes were fol-lowed by mass war hysteria ontwitter & news channels. Mostof these people are ignorant whohave suspended the use of com-mon sense. But its disconcertingthat educated privileged peopleare cheering on at the prospectof a war. This is true jahaalat",Mehbooba wrote inviting sharpreactions from her followers.

She maintained she willcontinue to bat for peace thansacrifice countless lives to satis-fy collective egos and misplacedsense of pride and patriotism.

"If my aversion to unneces-sary retaliation & subsequentwar makes gullible people ques-tion my nationalism then so beit. I would rather bat for peace& save lives than sacrifice count-

less ones just to satisfy collectiveegos and misplaced sense ofpride & patriotism", Mehboobatweeted.

In another tweet Mehboobawent on to claim that Pulwamaattack has undoubtedly vitiatedthe nation’s atmosphere."Pulwama attacks has undoubt-edly vitiated the nation’s atmos-phere.People are baying forblood & want revenge. But letsnot forget violence begets vio-lence. Having said that in whichpart of the world does advocat-ing peace and not wantingsenseless violence make one atraitor"?

Another mainstreamKashmiri politician OmarAbdullah initially raised ques-tion marks over the IAF strikesbut as the day progressed heanalysed it in perspective.

"If this is Balakote in KPK it’sa major incursion & a significantstrike by IAF planes. However ifit’s Balakote in Poonch sector,along the LoC it’s a largely sym-bolic strike because at this timeof the year forward launch pads& militant camps are empty &non-functional" Omar tweeted.

Mehbooba goes berserk afterplethora of reactions on twitter

New Delhi: Jubilant peoplecame out on streets and march-es were held on Tuesday as thenews of the IAF's strike on a JeMterror camp in Pakistan waswelcomed across the country,with political leaders as well asgeneral public lauding thearmed forces for the actionwhich came in the aftermath ofthe dastardly Pulwama attack.

The sentiment echoed inState Assemblies with the legis-latures in Haryana, Maharashtraand Chhattisgarh passing reso-lutions prasing the IAF action.

In Jammu & Kashmir,youths came out on the streetsto celebrate in Kathua, Samba,Poonch, Rajouri andUdhampur.

"I feel this action will givepeace to the martyred soldiers...I salute the Indian armedforces," said Kalavathi, whosehusband H Guru fromKarnataka was among the 40CRPF jawans who died in theFebruary 14 terror attack inJammu & Kashmir. PTI

People come outon streets acrosscountry tocelebrate airstrike

shelling with mortars and firingof small arms along LoC inAkhnoor, Nowshera and KrishnaGhati Sectors". He said, Indianarmy retaliated strongly andeffectively. Earlier in the morn-ing, large number of border res-idents, living in the direct line offire in frontier Poonch district,woke up to 'bizarre' sounds offighter jets hovering over theskies. Initially, these border res-idents could not make out whatwas going on in the forward areabut at day break they realisedIndian fighter jets were returningafter carrying out the successfuloperation.

Waqar Younis, a resident ofShahpur village in Poonch said,"i woke up around 3.30 a.m afterlistening to loud sounds offighter jets" .

"I had no idea what wasgoing on in the area. I felt littlescared as we are not used to lis-tening to such 'bizarre' sounds".

He said, "in the morningwhen i came to know Indian AirForce jets had launched an oper-ation to target terror camps ofJaish-e- Mohammad terroristoutfit inside Pakistani territory icould relate the things".

Another resident of Poonchcity Advoctae Sanjay Raina said,"We are used to border skir-mishes in the area but the soundi heard early Tuesday morningwas different. I could not sleepproperly as jets kept hoveringover the Poonch skies for longerduration. It was very unusual.Weare used to movement of heli-copters in the area but haven'tseen fighter jets in our area in therecent times." Despite mountingtension in the area cross LoCtrade went on smoothly viaChakan-Da-Bagh crossing pointalong the Poonch-Rawlakot traderoute.

According to official sources,"35 truck loads of food itemsincluding Tomato, fresh fruitwere dispatched to Pakistan and15 truck loads were received atthe Trade facilitation centre inPoonch". Deputy Commissioner,Poonch Rahul Yadav said, " weare monitoring the situation onground zero on hourly basis. Hesaid, as of now no specific advi-sory has been issued to the bor-der residents to relocate to saferplaces in the wake of escalatingtensions between India andPakistan".

PTI n MUMBAI

Maharashtra’s political lead-ers, organisations and

Bollywood celebrities onTuesday joined the nation inapplauding the strikes by theIndian Air Force against biggesttraining camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad" in Balakot acrossthe Line of Control (LoC) inMuzafarabad in retaliation forthe Pulwama terror attack.

Welcoming the IAF’s strikeson terror camps in Pakistan,Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis said: “Bylaunching a successful strikeon the terror camps operatingfrom the Pakistani soil, theIndian armed forces have dis-played their might. The retalia-tion that was on the mind ofeach and every Indian since thePulwama terror attack has hap-pened”. Stating that PM Modihad kept his word that the sac-rifices of the jawans killed in thePulwama attack would not go invain, Fadnavis congratulatedthe IAF for its strikes on terrorcamps in Balakot. “I am proudof Indian armed forces. Theyhave proved that the sacrificesmade by the jawans in Pulwamawill not go waste”.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs (HUA)

has spent has spent six timesthe money used for urbanrejuvenation in the 10-yearUPA rule and asserted that it isnot going to stop at just 100smart cities. As many as 15smart command and controlcentres (SCCC) worth `2,771crores in 15 smart cities havebeen completed and workorders for setting up 31 inte-grated command and controlcentre have been issued. In 18cities, it is under tenderingprocess. Due to this, crime ratehas been decreased in thesesmart cities.

According to HUA, smartroads in 21 cities worth `795

crore have been completed,work orders amounting to`7,626 crore have been issuedin 54 cities and tenderingworth `5,942 crore is underprogress in 40 cities undersmart city mission (SCM). Asper latest data, smart wastewater projects in four citiesworth `326 crore have beencompleted, work ordersamounting to `5,342 crorehave been issued in 41 citiesand tendering worth `3,860crore is under progress in 23cities.

"Similarly, smart waterprojects in 20 cities worth`1,135 crore have been com-pleted, work orders amount-ing to `9,382 crore have beenissued in 49 cities and ten-dering worth `4,239 crore is

under progress in 29 cities.Impactful projects in 18 citiesworth `232 crore have beencompleted, work ordersamounting to `4,610 crorehave been issued in 37 citiesand tendering worth `3291crore is under progress in 20cities," the HUA Ministrysaid.

Earlier, addressing the"Second National ApexConference of CEOs of SmartCities", the Union HUA min-ister Hardeep Singh Puri saidthe amount spent on urbanrejuvenation in the 10-yearUPA rule, from 2004 to 2014...It's around ̀ 1.5 lakh crore. Themoney spent between June2015 and February 2019 is sixtimes that amount. It's around`8.6 lakh crore.

SC to hearRafale verdictreview pleain open court

HUA Will not stop at just100 smart cities, says Puri

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday agreed tohear in open court the petitionsseeking review of its Decemberverdict that dismissed pleaschallenging the deal betweenIndia and France for procure-ment of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

A bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and Justices S KKaul and K M Joseph, in itschamber hearing, allowed theprayer of former Union minis-ters Yashwant Sinha and ArunShourie as also activist lawyerPrashant Bhushan that thereview pleas be heard in opencourt.

"The prayer for open Courthearing is allowed", said thebench which also consideredthe review petition filed byAAP MP Sanjay Singh throughlawyer Dheeraj Singh.

Besides two review peti-tions, the top court is alsoseized of some applicationsincluding the one filed bySinha, Shourie and Bhushanseeking perjury prosecutionof government officials forallegedly misleading the courton the issue of pricing and pro-curement process. PTI


In 1948, Pakistan’s Ambassador to theUnited Nations, Sir MuhammadZafarullah Khan, declared that onApril 1, 1948 India turned off thewater of the Indus river which used

to flow into Pakistan… India exercised thiscontrol upon the waters of rivers flowingthrough its territory…India turned offevery drop of water which Pakistan had for-merly received.

Surprisingly, no one in the audiencehad the presence of mind to ask how canthe flow of rivers be suddenly switched offlike a tap in the kitchen? The Indus riversystem issue was, thus, raised first with athunderous lie. Negotiations between Indiaand Pakistan began thereafter but yearswere wasted in wrangling as to where,between officers of what qualifications andrank should be involved in the talks.

The river waters issue was dramati-cally articulated again by former PrimeMinister of Pakistan, Huseyn ShaheedSuhrawardy, in 1957. In his words, quot-ed from the Dawn by Prof Shashi KGulhati in his book, ‘The Untiring Indian’,“Canal waters and Kashmir are the twoprongs of India’s grip on us. There is nothing we can do. India is so powerfulthat everybody wants to be its friend,including America. If Bharat decides tocut off water, Pakistan would be withinits rights to fight for water supply butstopping of water will be greater aggression than our fighting.”

The distinctive feature of irrigationdevelopment in this basin, during about100 years preceding the Partition, was thata development of 26 million acres of inten-sive irrigation, by far the largest irrigatedarea on any one river system in theworld, had been based entirely on the run-of-the-river with no storage at all, rightlyearning the compliment of being one of theproudest achievements of human endeav-our. The first four years after Partition hadbeen marked by abortive bilateral discus-sions between India and Pakistan, leavenedwith threats and recriminations. Thenmajor developments took place in 1952.First, the World Bank, interested in theeconomic well-being of both countries,offered to serve as a mediator to help solvethe dispute.

A working party of engineers of India,Pakistan and the World Bank was consti-tuted. The World Bank team consisted ofLt General Raymond Albert Wheeler, for-mer Chief of the US Army Corps ofEngineers, Pakistan nominatedMohammad Abdul Hamid and repre-senting India were Ajudhiya Nath Khosla,Chairman of the Central Water and PowerCommission, and ND Gulhati, who assist-ed him.

The working party had begun itswork long before. Everyone agreed on itsultimate objective. In the words of GeneralWheeler, it was to develop a comprehen-

sive long-range plan for themost effective utilisation ofthe total water resources of theIndus river system for thedevelopment of the region.Pakistan wanted the discus-sions to be limited to the threeeastern rivers only, keepingthe three western rivers total-ly for itself; India wanted toconsider the flow in all the sixrivers. The Pakistani plan com-prised largely a statement of itsirrigation requirements, whichadded up to three times thetotal supply of the system.

On February 5, 1954,General Wheeler presentedthe World Bank’s proposal.But not necessarily from thesame source as before. It divid-ed the six rivers into two parts.All the water of the three east-ern rivers would be for theexclusive use of India. And allthe water of the three westernrivers (Indus, Jhelum andChenab) would be for Pakistanexcept for some specific with-drawals allowed to India.

The World Bank proposalpresented in February 1954,stipulated that: (1) The entireflow of water of the three east-ern rivers would be for theexclusive use and benefit ofIndia after a brief transitionperiod during which Pakistanwill construct link canals that

would bring water from thewestern rivers to replace thewater then being supplied to itscanals by the eastern rivers andIndia would contribute fundsfor the construction of theselink canals; and, (2) the flow ofwater of the three westernrivers would be largely for theuse and benefit of Pakistan.

Six years later, when theIndus Waters Treaty wassigned, India could irrigateannually 70,000 acres fromthe Indus, 400,000 acres fromthe Jhelum and 231,000 acresfrom the Chenab, over andabove the uses as on April1960, and, according toGulhati’s book, couldimpound, for specified purpos-es, 3.0 million acre feet on thetributaries of the western riversand 0.6 MAF on the Chenabmain, apart from storage insmall tanks and for flood con-trol in the Jhelum main. Thisis the maximum quantity ofwater India’s latest decision cancause Pakistan to lose.

Pakistan never wanted thata solution to the Indus watersdispute should emerge throughnegotiations. It was notinclined to view the problem asa technical one. It wanted totake the issue to theInternational Court of Justiceand seek adjudication. If not

that, then it would try to pushIndia into seeking a solutionthrough arbitration. India,however, did not wish anyoneor a group, least of all thosewho were not familiar with thetechnicalities of river basindevelopment, to thrust a solu-tion upon it.

It soon became apparent,however, that bilateral dia-logue with Pakistan was notmaking any progress and sowhen the World Bank offeredits good offices to assist the twocountries to negotiate a settle-ment, it accepted that offer.

The key point in acceptingthe Bank’s offer was that itwould serve as a good officerthat is a facilitator and notassume the role of an arbiter.The World Bank mostadmirably stuck to this role formany years and went throughvery difficult times. Even whenit seemed that negotiations wereon the verge of a breakdown, iturged the two sides to contin-ue the dialogue. After six yearsof playing such a role, in early1960, the Bank began to see thelight at the end of the tunnel.

There was a basic differ-ence in the approach ofPakistan and India vis-à-viskeeping the issue in the publiceye. Pakistan was the down-stream riparian state; rivers

flowed into it from India. Itwas, thus, in a weaker position.It felt necessary to arouse sym-pathy for itself from the inter-national community by main-taining a public posture of acountry that was at the mercyof India. From the very outset,it established a publicity front,one that followed its leaders’populist stance of making lit-tle distinction between, on theone hand, an Indian actionactually taken or planned and,on the other hand, theextremes to which India, as anupper riparian, might go.

After the Treaty had beensigned, some leaders felt that insigning it, India had appeasedPakistan by yielding too manyconcessions; that the division ofwaters was much to the advan-tage of Pakistan. In a reply inthe Lok Sabha, PanditJawaharlal Nehru asked: “Howis this House now to judge thequantum of supply or thequantum of money to be given?I confess I cannot judge it off-hand. I am distressed that amatter of this importance, anissue that concerns not only thepresent but the future shouldbe treated so lightly and casu-ally and in such a narrowminded spirit.”

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author)

There can be no doubt that the future of

personal mobility inside urban areas will

be electric. The only doubt is: How long

will that take? And there is also the chicken

and egg problem. What should come first?

The electric cars or charging stations? Well,

while some electric cars have already made

it onto Delhi’s roads, some charging stations

are also being set up. Now, the New Delhi

Municipal Corporation (NDMC), the Delhi

Government and the Energy Efficiency

Services Limited (EESL), an entity owned by

India’s power public-sector units, are establishing several charging stations across

the heart of the capital. This is a good start that must be celebrated and indeed

emulated by other Indian cities. But now, it is the time for Indian car-makers to

step up to the plate and start selling electric vehicles that buyers want to buy. It

is public knowledge that both Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor Company, the

country’s two largest car manufacturers, are going to launch proper electric vehi-

cles this year that might entice buyers — an electric version of WagonR and

the Hyundai Kona. Unlike some electric vehicles on offer in India today, these

vehicles should be able to assuage buyers that they will have enough range. At

the same time, work by the Urban Development and Power Ministries on encour-

aging home-owners to upgrade their infrastructure to allow charging at home

through new policies is also being undertaken.

But we should not underestimate the scale of the challenge. Even with new

charging stations across the capital, Delhi will have around a hundred charging

points, whereas Beijing, where the Government has been building charging sta-

tions for a few years, will have four million for its fleet of electric vehicles. Also,

more encouragement has to be given to electric two-wheelers across the coun-

try as these would be cheaper and an easy goal to implement. Work also remains

to be done on improving India’s electric grid infrastructure that can support elec-

trification of vehicles, thanks to work over the past few years. India already pro-

duces enough and more power. But that leads to a different set of questions given

that much of our power remains thermal and is not extremely clean. Electrification

will just transfer the pollution problem from cities to rural areas. While much work

has been done on renewables, the Rajasthan desert is now dotted with thou-

sands of wind-power generators. We cannot make electrification a situation of

‘emissions elsewhere’ but thankfully, some serious thought is being put into the

problem by every level of Government. At the same time, electrification should

not become the single answer for curbing vehicular pollution. Other alternatives

such as increased gasification, waste-to-energy solutions and hydrogen-fuelled

vehicles must not be forgotten just because electricity leads the way.

Enough is enough. For far too long, since

the Kandahar hijacking, terrorism has cost

us too much blood, muscle and trade-

offs, hit after hit. For far too long, since 2004,

we have been providing reams of dossiers to

Pakistan on terrorist havens operating in its ter-

ritory though it dismissed them as non-state

actors. For far too long, we have desisted from

smashing terror bases on foreign soil though

there have been precedents by the US no less

of doing so for protecting American civilians,

wondering if we would be on the right side of

law and fearing a hitback. So yesterday’s pre-emptive air strike on a Jaish-e-

Mohammed camp deep inside Pakistan, killing a “very large number” of terror-

ists, trainers and senior commanders of the outfit, was more than just decisive

and proactive. It meant that India had freed itself of a psychological baggage. It

meant that India had broken the curse of coercion and would ensure that terror

would be met with equal counter-terror. It also showed that it would now stare

down at Pakistan by denting its missile shield and the frontline of the proxy war

— namely UN-proscribed terrorists like Jaish chief Masood Azhar. That it would

henceforth keep an eagle eye on every terrorist camp Pakistan hosted, be it on

a hilltop or forest, and strike with precise brute force when needed. And do it

intelligently. So within hours of the strike, India launched an equally precise diplo-

matic offensive, briefing envoys and telling the world that the “intelligence-led

operation” on Jaish’s biggest training camp in Balakot became “absolutely nec-

essary” as it was planning more suicide attacks in India. It calibrated its response,

emphasising there weren’t any civilian casualties or collateral damage, that it stayed

clear of human habitation and Pakistan Army facilities and, hence, had stayed

clear of an “act of war.” More so, by mentioning that the camp was run by none

other than Jaish chief Masood Azhar’s kin, Yousuf Azhar, it pin-pointed that it

went after a man who was on the global watchlist and was jumping a lookout

notice. Which is why international reaction has been tepid, too, with even a China

not going beyond asking both countries to “exercise restraint” henceforth. Clearly,

we have the tacit support of the US, France, Israel, Russia and Iran.

In short, post Uri and Pulwama, there is a new template for our counter-ter-

rorism approach. For there was a number of firsts. This was the first aerial attack

where IAF jets evaded Pakistani air defences and dropped 1,000 kg bombs deep

inside, showing that the whole of Pakistan was easily under India’s attack arc,

that it could jam even US radar systems that our neighbour prided in. By choos-

ing a hidden away terror training camp, the IAF proved that it could smoke out

the toughest targets. India even called the frequent nuclear bluff of Pakistan, which

has claimed the right of escalation, but on paper is limited in its ability and funds

to do so. Finally, we have successfully included the phrase “non-military, pre-

emptive strike” into our lexicon, which leaves us with many options to beat non-

state actors that Pakistan has used to needle and provoke us. However, the airstrikes

have also meant that hereon, there can be no lowering our guard and prepared-

ness given an unpredictable Pakistan. It does have Chinese jets and F-16s with

upgraded avionics. And with Jaish linked to Taliban, which is increasing its polit-

ical footprint in the reason, Pakistan will but have to yield to pressure to react.

Back home, the Modi government definitely has got some firepower prior to the

general elections, positioning itself as a deliverer versus the pusillanimous lead-

ership of decades, avenging Kandahar by targetting key plotter Yousuf Azhar and

attempting some salve for Pulwama. As for the Opposition, the strikes certain-

ly take the fizz out of the Rafale debate considering Mirage 2000, its precursor,

is also made by Dassault and its capability has only reinforced why we need

these jets. And though mahagathbandhan leaders saluted the IAF, fact is they

will have trouble coming up with another emboldening, nationalist narrative.

India strikes back

Pre-emptive action on Jaish camp in Pakistan shows thatIndia’s counter-terrorism template has shifted quite a bit

Payback time

Sir — Now that the Indian AirForce has given a befitting replyto Pakistan by carrying out airstrikes on the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp atBalakot inside Pakistan, killinga large number of terroristsover there, all diplomatic andeconomic relations withPakistan must end till the country stops assisting terrorgroups.

M KumarNew Delhi

Forest land claims

Sir — Three orders passed by theSupreme Court in 2016, 2018and 2019 do not question thethree-tiered verification processthat forest rights claims under-go as part of the 2006 ForestRights Act. On January 29, 2016,a three-judge Bench held that “ifthe claim is found to be not ten-able by the competent authori-ty, the result would be that theclaimant is not entitled for thegrant of any patta or any otherright under the Act, but such aclaimant is also either required

to be evicted from that parcel ofland or some other action is tobe taken in accordance with law.”Statistics from the Ministry ofTribal Affairs, which is the nodalagency under the 2006 Act,show that lakhs of titles were dis-tributed to genuine claimantseven as several lakh claims wererejected across 20 States.

MD Hasibur RahmanKarnataka

Save our forests

Sir — The major fire that brokeat the Bandipur Tiger Reserve inKarnataka is worsening with nosigns of let-up. With butterflies inthe officials’ stomachs of the for-est department, an all-out efforthad been made to douse the firebut to no avail. Even as thedepartment was grappling in the

dark to check the raging fire, itreceived a shot in the arm with thestate government sending out anSOS to the Indian Air Force todeploy choppers to douse the fire.

It is distressing that pristineforest landscapes are beingreduced to ashes. It is true that thehot summer wave has causedverdant vegetation to go dry. Thismay have accelerated due to thespread of fire. Elsewhere in the

country also, sporadic cases ofwildfire are being reported. Theforest departments of respectiveState Governments must be pre-pared to deal with wildfires. Swiftaction can avert greater catastro-phes and save our forests.

TK NandananChennai

Gayle’s milestone

Sir — West Indies batman ChrisGayle must be congratulated forbreaking the long-standing recordof Pakistani cricketer ShahidAfridi of the highest number ofsixes in international cricket. Hedid so in West Indies’s first one-day international against Englandin Barbados. He has now 477 sixesacross all formats, while Afridi has476. Moreover, Gayle achievedthis feat in his 444th match whileAfridi did so in 524 games. Gayleis the kind of player who chipsaway his opponents’ chance to winthe longer he stays at the crease.One hopes that he plays interna-tional cricket for years to come.

Muhammad Zaid Ramanagara

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N


facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionLUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019

08

What Pak stands to lose

PRAFULL GORADIA

There was a basic difference in the approach of Pakistan and India vis-à-vis keeping the

river waters issue alive. Pakistan was the downstream riparian state in a weaker position

I swear by my land I won’tlet my country bedestroyed. I will not let thecountry stop. I will not letthe country bow down.

Prime Minister—Narendra Modi

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

Imran Khan must read the message on the wall

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been ask-ing India to “give peace a chance.” Ironically, it isnot the latter but the former that should show on

ground that it is serious about giving peace a chance.When our jawans are being killed due to Pakistan-spon-sored terrorism, can India cry for peace? The surpriseair strikes by the Indian Air Force across the Line ofControl was a timely and effective response. If Khan real-ly wants relations between both countries to improve,his Government must go on an offensive to track downterrorists and break their backbones. Annihilation of ter-rorists lock, stock and barrel can assure peace.

Khan is no different from his predecessors in beingcomplacent to let terrorists use Pakistani soil for design-ing nefarious attacks against India. Khan has been insist-ing for actionable intelligence to go after perpetratorsof crime on India. The flames of distrust between Indiaand Pakistan cannot be doused unless the likes of HafizSaeed and Masood Azhar are handed over to India to

face trial. Wars are waged for peace but are not desirous.If war has to be averted, Pakistan should plunge intoaction and take action against terrorist leaders. The worldknows that Pakistan has been harbouring them. It can-not always rely upon China’s support for survival. IfChina’s reputation nosedives, it will not hesitate to pullthe plug from its fair-weather friend.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

Send your feedback to:[email protected]

Charging up policy

I congratulate the IAF forstrikes on terror launch padsin Pakistan but revenge willnot be complete till MasoodAzhar is struck down.

Senior Shiv Sena leader—Sanjay Raut

Several agencies want to set up charging stations in Delhi.But will that be enough to encourage electric vehicle sales?

Pakistan has a long historyof harbouring terrorists andAmerica should not give aidto Pakistan until it stopsharbouring terrorists.

Former US envoy to UN —Nikki Haley

We hope the two countries(India and Pakistan) cankeep restraint and do moreto improve bilateral relations.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson—Lu Kang

When cash is the king

INDIA HAD BEEN URGING PAKISTAN TO TAKE ACTION

AGAINST THE JEM BUT IT TOOK NO CONCRETE STEPS

TO DISMANTLE THE TERRORIST INFRASTRUCTURE.

—INDIA’S FOREIGN SECRETARY

VIJAY GOKHALE

IT’S A GRAVE AGGRESSION BY INDIA. WE HAD TOLD

THE WORLD COMMUNITY THAT SUCH A STEP

COULD BE TAKEN BY INDIA.

—PAKISTAN FOREIGN MINISTER

SHAH MEHMOOD QURESHI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

When it comes to business, be it small orlarge, cash is the king, always. Whethera business is growing or struggling, man-

aging cash flow effectively is absolutely essentialand for many, it’s the key to business survival. Theimportance of cash can be understood from thefact that over 60 per cent of businesses that fail arestill profitable but they just ran out of cash.

On overusing the working capital, a businesscan witness a cash crunch that can prevent pay-ments to its suppliers, purchase of raw materialsand salary payments to its employees. Delaybetween the time when a business pays to its sup-pliers and when money is received from the cus-tomers is the problem. This requires effective cashflow management to survive and grow. Therefore,maintaining a level of working capital, that allowsa business to make it through crunch times andcontinue operating the business, is crucial. Simplyput, cash flow management means delaying out-lays of cash as long as possible while encouragingcustomers to pay as quickly as possible.

So, what is cash flow? It’s basically the move-ment of funds in and out of one’s business.Typically, businesses track cash flow eitherweekly, monthly or quarterly. Essentially, thereare two kinds of cash flows: A positive cash flowoccurs when cash entering into the business fromsales, accounts receivables and so on is more thanthe amount of cash leaving the businessesthrough accounts payable, monthly expenses andemployee salaries. A negative cash flow is just theopposite situation and occurs when the cash out-flow is greater than incoming cash. This gener-ally means trouble for a business.

It is not possible, however, to look at the prof-it and loss statement (P&L) and get a grip on cashflows. Many other financial figures feed into fac-toring cash flows, including accounts receivable,inventory, accounts payable, capital expenditures,and taxation. Effective cash flow managementrequires a laser focus on each of these drivers ofcash in addition to profit or loss. Rules of account-ing define profit simply as revenue minus expens-es. However, a smart business owner understandsthe fact that whether one earned profit or not isnot the same as knowing what happened to yourcash. An astute businessman should know whenthe business will become profitable, not becauseit will affect the cash flow — because it won’t —but because it gives one an early goal to strive forand a ready-made target for projecting future cashflow. Negative cash flow and negative profits makefor a grim combination. Focus your efforts on man-aging cash flow with an eye towards reaching thatmoment when you realise your first profits.

Since cash flows are very important for thesmooth running of any business, one should alwaysfocus on improving and managing cash flow anddevelop strategies to manage problems:

Short-term financing: This type of businessfinancing such as a line of credit can be used to makeemergency purchases or to bridge the gap betweenpayables and receivables. Many banks issue busi-ness credit cards that can be used to pay vendors.

Long-term financing: Large asset purchasessuch as equipment and real estate should usuallybe financed with long-term loans rather than withworking capital. This allows a business to spreadpayments over the average life of the asset.

Speed up recovery of receivables:The main mantra of any business shouldbe to bill early and collect quickly. Toguard against late payments, bill asearly as possible and make those invoic-es as clear and detailed as possible.Instead of waiting until the end of themonth, generate an invoice as soon as thegoods or services are delivered. For bigorders, one can consider progressiveinvoicing while the goods are manufac-tured or services delivered. It’s easy to losetrack and then neglect to follow up onan overdue account. Experience showsthat the longer one remains out of con-tact with a customer, the less likely he/sheis able to recover the amount owed. Onecan even incentivise customers who paytheir bills rapidly by offering discounts.

Liquidate cash tied up with assets:Does your business have equipmentthat is no longer in use or inventory that’sbecoming obsolete? Consider selling it togenerate quick cash. Idle, obsolete andnon-working equipment takes up spaceand ties up capital, which can be usedmore productively. Equipment that hasbeen owned for a longer period will usu-ally have a book value equal to its salvagevalue or less. So, a sale might result in ataxable gain. Excess inventory can quick-ly become obsolete and worthless as cus-tomer requirements change and newmaterials are introduced. Consider sell-ing any inventory, which is unlikely to beused over the next 12 months, unless thecosts to retain it are minimal and the pro-ceeds from a sale would be negligible.

Delay your payables: This maysound obvious but is often neglected.Unless there’s a worthwhile incentive topay early, figure out how late you can payyour vendors without risking late fees or

harming your relationship. This keeps thecash in your account and out of your ven-dor’s until it absolutely has to be there.

Identify business risks and preparein advance: There are many risksinvolved in running a business. Seriouschallenges should be expected at somepoint in the future. You need to consid-er a number of scenarios such as “Whatif a big order suddenly comes in?” “Whatif a big order is cancelled?” or “What ifthat important client goes missing whilestill owing me money”? This kind of riskanalysis should become a part of the cashflow budgeting process.

Monitor inventory efficiently:Analyse inventory movement to deter-mine which items are selling and whichones are duds that soak up working cap-ital. Try to keep inventory levels lean sothat working capital isn’t tied up unpro-ductively and unprofitably.

Always keep buffer money: Oncethe break-even point is found, one mustensure that the business has enough cashto fund working capital needs. It’sadvised to keep three months worth ofoutgoings in the bank for a rainy day.That may be a thing of the past but ifthat’s the case, make sure you have abuffer of some sort, either personal fundsavailable or an overdraft or revolvingcredit facility.

Implement better systems to man-age cash flow: Many businessmen pro-crastinate to invoice customers. Some donot invoice as soon as they deliver theproduct or services or do it just at themonth end. Many do not even know howmuch is owed to them by their customersor how much they owe to suppliers.

If you are one of them, it’s time tostart implementing an efficient process

to manage cash flow. You can use a sim-ple spreadsheet or an accounting soft-ware. But its important to have some sys-tems in place.

Cut costs, control cash outflows:The best way to control cash flow is tostay on top of expenses. When we startmaking profits, we often tend to ignorecost-cutting opportunities. Unmanagedoutflow could be a silent business killer.

Do not focus on profit but on cashflow: It has been found that 90 per centof SMEs do not have a cash flow planfrom day one, despite having forecasts ofprofit margins for years ahead. This is acommon reason for early business fail-ure. If cash flow is in order, profit will bein order. A lot of businesses do not makeit past six months. They might have beena profitable business eventually but theyneed to have good cash flow to survive.

Young businesses should work withreliable, quick-paying clients initially,even if it means smaller clients and slim-mer profits margins. Small businessowners should learn one principle earlyin the life: Cash is king. Building andkeeping an adequate stockpile of cashprovides maximum opportunity andflexibility to any business while enablingits owners to sleep soundly at night.

Without cash, profits are meaning-less. Many profitable businesses onpaper have ended up in bankruptcybecause the amount of cash coming indoesn’t compare with the amount of cashgoing out. Firms that don’t exercise goodcash management may not be able tomake the investments needed to com-pete, or they may have to pay more toborrow money to function.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

Since cash flows are important for the smooth running of businesses, one should focuson improving and managing them and develop strategies to counter emergencies

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

Give other half

the right to live

VK BAHUGUNA

Being migratory workers, those in the informaleconomy have been denied their due. It’s time the

Government takes note of this valuable social capital

HIMA BINDU KOTA

WITHOUT CASH,PROFITS ARE

MEANINGLESS.MANY

PROFITABLEBUSINESSES ON

PAPER HAVEENDED UP IN

BANKRUPTCYBECAUSE THE

AMOUNT OF CASHCOMING IN

DOESN’TCOMPARE WITHTHE AMOUNT OF

CASH GOING OUT.FIRMS THAT

DON’T EXERCISEGOOD CASH

MANAGEMENTMAY NOT BE ABLE

TO MAKE THEINVESTMENTS

NEEDED TOCOMPETE, OR

THEY MAY HAVETO PAY MORE TOBORROW MONEY

TO FUNCTION

The 16th Lok Sabha’s five-year tenure came to an end on

February 13 and political leaders said goodbye to each other

in a rare bonhomie and are now getting ready for the

Parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in May. The Indian

polity remained embroiled in the Rafale deal and other superfi-

cial issues for most part of the year; though the NDA

Government did give some parting gifts in the interim Budget to

the farmers and the poor people, who largely constitute a work

force in the unorganised sector. It’s time to discuss what major

political parties like the BJP and the Congress are going to offer

to the unorganised workers, who constitute about 90 per cent

of the work force and according to the National Commission for

Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, contribute 50 per cent to

the GDP. India is the fifth largest economy of the world today

and is poised to climb further to the third position. But did our

planners think about the plight and acute hardship this group of

people faces almost everyday? They constitute a solid vote bank

of more than 45 crore and are mostly engaged in agriculture,

construction and other such activities. Of these, the condition of

migratory construction workers is very pitiable.

This writer had recently interacted with migrant workers from

Madhya Pradesh during an extremely cold day in January. The

workers said that they had to suffer from cold while living in plas-

tic huts and that they had been cooking and bathing in the open

for the past two months. They were working for the Noida Authority’s

civil works department and their wages varied from ̀ 400 to ̀ 500.

Their condition reflected the lack of application of mind and a gross

uncaring attitude to human welfare while planning for developmen-

tal activities. The construction industry plays a major role in the eco-

nomic growth of the nation and occupies a pivotal position in its

developmental plans, valued as it is at around ̀ 9 lakh crore. These

are the people who toil hard to make big mansions, beautiful roads,

swanky offices and posh residential colonies but themselves lead

a precarious life under the open sky.

Largely being migratory workers, they are denied voting rights.

They are either landless or small farmers, who come to urban

areas with their children in search of a better livelihood, season-

al employment but get trapped. Most of them are vulnerable to

diseases. Around 30 per cent of the construction workers in India

are women, mostly working as head loader or unskilled worker.

Many are even unaware about their legal rights during an acci-

dent at work, which has become a regular phenomenon now.

Several cases of deaths and injuries are reported due the laxity

of contractors and unscrupulous builders, many of whom are

spurious and play with human life in their greed for money. Yet

another group of people are the mine workers. The gory inci-

dent in Meghalaya, where 15 coal miners were trapped in a rat-

hole mine, must be our conscience call. It was such a horrific

incident that the miners’ bodies could not be retrieved. In a recent

report, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour high-

lighted the plight of the unorganised sector workers. It is high

time that political parties take cognisance of this most valuable

social capital of the nation. They are much more in numbers than

all the unions members put together but they have no voice.

It is essential to discuss issues that concern the livelihoods of

these people. The Government must first classify the unorganised

sector by occupation — agriculture, construction (rural and urban),

service or manufacturing and nature of employment among oth-

ers. It must then scrutinise the problems for each category. The

most important issue is their exploitation due to poor wages, which

is compounded with low productivity compared to the formal sec-

tor. They have seasonal jobs and are absent from social security

systems due to poor human capital base in terms of education,

skill and training. It would be in the fitness of things that the

Government announces a separate national programme for differ-

ent segments, particularly agriculture, construction and ones who

are self-employed. New laws must be devised if existing laws do

not support providing them basic necessities of life.

The skill development programme must include these segments

with an emphasis on personality development. Laws must have

the provision for a decent shelter with basic civic amenities like clean

water, sanitation, protection from extreme heat and cold in their liv-

ing space, proper medical facilities, child care and legal remedies.

Insurance companies can be be roped in. It would be worthwhile

to provide earmarked housing on nominal rental basis for season-

al workers for which the Government should take action. To give

a fillip to their welfare, a national commission on unorganised sec-

tor should be constituted to suggest a road-map for social secu-

rity at par with the organised sector, structure welfare modules and

review legal redress mechanisms.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal is back with his oldgame of street-level confronta-

tion with the Union Government asa part of his political strategy. Thistime, his indefinite fast — that wassupposed to start from March 1, buthas been postponed — is to get fullstatehood for Delhi. Can he achievethis objective? It looks difficult becauseno party at the Centre wants to givefull statehood to Delhi.

In the last two decades, both theBJP and the Congress have promisedstatehood to the capital city but whenthey came to power at the Centre, theissue took a backseat. Delhi being aspecial State, its land and law and ordercome under the purview of the Union

Home Ministry. The Chief Ministerwants them under his Government’scontrol but the Centre will never partwith these powers as there are sever-al hiccups — financial and political.

Like West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee, Kejriwal is best atconfrontational politics. There hasbeen a constant tussle between himand the Centre ever since the AamAadmi Party (AAP) Governmentcame to power in 2015. Earlier in hisfirst term, he went on dharna and evenheld Cabinet meetings near the RailBhavan on the pavement.

Last week, Kejriwal declared in theAssembly: “From March 1, I will begina hunger strike. I am going to fast tillwe get statehood. I am ready to facedeath.” The demand was one of thepromises made by AAP in the run-upto the 2015 Assembly polls. “Ab aarya paar ki ladai hai (this is going to bea decisive battle),” the Chief Ministersaid, announcing his decision. Prior tothat, Kejriwal had declared in publicmeetings that if the AAP got seven outof seven seats in the Delhi Lok Sabhabattle, his party would ensure thatDelhi got statehood within two years.

Kejriwal is also prodding the peopleof Delhi to come to the streets to par-ticipate in the agitation for statehood.

The immediate provocation forthis decision was the Supreme Court’sverdict last week, which held that theCentre and not the Delhi Governmenthad the power to order investigationsagainst corrupt officers in the capital.The court also left the decision to ahigher Bench as to who should con-trol the officers. Prior to that, in Julylast year, a five-judge ConstitutionBench ruled that Delhi cannot beaccorded the status of a State but said

the Lieutenant-Governor has no“independent decision-makingpower” and must act on the “aid andadvice” of the elected Government.

Kejriwal is not happy with thesejudicial pronouncements. Therefore,he is building up this issue as a partof his campaign for the upcoming LokSabha poll and also to divert public’sattention from his Government’s fail-ures. He claimed that statehood wouldprovide two lakh jobs in the DelhiGovernment, pucca houses for everyDelhiite, regularisation of contractu-al Government employees and new

schools and universities.Though Delhi is going for polls

in 2020, Kejriwal’s compulsion is toraise the issue now because of theparliamentary polls. AAP has per-formed well on sectors like health,education, water, electricity andunauthorised colonies and is quitesure of support from the lowermiddle class and poorer sections butKejriwal is not sure about prospectsin the Lok Sabha poll. What betterway than sit in dharna on behalf ofthe people. This way, he can impresson the people that he is the only onewho is taking care of their interests.

Second, Kejriwal may also need aface-saving formula at some point oftime later if he continues with the fast.He knows he can expect Banerjee andAndhra Pradesh Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu, with whom heis on excellent terms, to come to Delhiand persuade him to end the indefi-nite fast. Are they not together in theproposed mahagathbandhan? He hascome much closer to them and this isa part of taking on the Centre. Theyare all equally interested in embarrass-ing the Modi Government.

Kejriwal is not the only onefighting the Centre as PuducherryChief Minister V Narayanasamy,too, has been locked in a turf warwith Lt Governor Kiran Bedi overthe latter’s negative attitude towardsvarious proposals of his govern-ment. He had been sitting in dhar-na since February 13, outside the RajBhavan, demanding that the LtGovernor approve his cabinet’s pro-posals.

Kejriwal should realise that con-frontational politics will not gethim anywhere. The country is tenseafter the Pulwama terror attack andhe has chosen a wrong time to pressfor his demands. What happens if alimited war with Pakistan startsbefore that? What is important isgovernance and this is where he isweak though he puts the blame onthe Centre for his failures. Pressingfor Delhi’s statehood is somethingthat cannot happen in a day. Kejriwalshould realise the difficulties on theroad to it. As a Chief Minister, hismantra should be governance first.

(The writer is a senior political com-mentator and syndicated columnist)

The unending battle for statehoodArvind Kejriwal has, perhaps, chosen a wrong time to press for full statehood for Delhi as wounds of the Pulwama attack

have not healed yet. It would be better if he highlights his achievements in health, education and power sectors

KALYANI SHANKAR

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019


F O R E I G N E Y E

It is dangerous to thinknuclear-armed nations canengage in a tit-for-tat spiral.The greatest risk is amiscalculation by India orPakistan. Delhi ought toresist the urge to respondmilitarily, not least becauseof the chance of escalation.Pakistan, for its part, oughtto move decisively againstterrorist groups whichdespite being bannedoperate with impunity on itssoil. Both need to seek away out of confrontation. (The Guardian editorial)

STOP BEATING THEDRUMS OF WAR

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n

NEW DELHI

The Centre on Tuesdaybriefed all the political par-

ties over the pre-dawn strike bythe Indian Air Force on terrorcamps deep across the Line ofControl (LoC) following whichthe leaders cutting across partylines congratulated the IAF onits operation targeting terror-ist camp in Pakistan.

The Congress said that itwill support security forces intheir endeavour to finish ter-rorism coming into India fromoutside. Earlier, Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi too hadtweeted, “I salute the pilots ofthe IAF.”

After the Government’sbriefing, Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad said theopposition parties extended“full support” to the govern-ment and security forces in thefight against terror.

External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj briefed theleaders, who included CPI(M)’sSitaram Yechury, TMC’s DerekO’Brian, Omar Abdullah ofNational Conference andBhartruhari Mahtab from BJD,on the air strike carried out inthe early hours. NCP’s PrafulPatel, BSP’s Satish Mishra andBJP ally Ramdas Athawale alsoattended the meeting.

Union Ministers RajnathSingh and Arun Jaitley, bothmembers of the CabinetCommittee on Security likeSwaraj, were also present. Swarajalso briefed the opposition lead-ers about her telephonic con-versation with US Secretary ofState Michael Pompeo over theIndian air strikes on JeM terrorcamps in Balakot.

Azad while talking tomedia after the meeting saidthat political parties laudedthe IAF strikes to destroy ter-ror camps in a “clean” operationas there were no civilian casu-alties. “We will support oursecurity forces in their endeav-our to finish terrorism cominginto Indian from outside. Thegood part was that it was a very

clean operation,” he said. “We have appreciated the

efforts by the forces, theyalways have our support to endterrorism. Another good thingis that it was a clean operationin which no civilian died andterror camps were specificallytargeted,” said Azad.

Swaraj said, “I am happythat all parties in one voice

praised the security forces andsupported the Government’santi-terror operations.” In thelast all-party meeting also, con-vened in the wake of Pulwamaattack, the opposition partieshad said they backed the gov-ernment calling upon to take allnecessary action in the after-math of the terror attack killingat least 40 CRPF soldiers.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Despite his public appear-ances throughout the day

on Tuesday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi only madeindirect references to the aer-ial surgical strikes by the IndianAir Force (IAF) against the JeMin Pakistan — first at an eventat Rashtrapati Bhawan, then athis rally in Churu and later atan event at ISKCON here.

Early in the day, he soughtan apology from the audienceat the Rashtrapati Bhawan forbeing late as he was “busy” with“some other work”. He hadchaired a meeting of theCabinet Committee onSecurity at his official residencearound 10.00 am before rush-ing to the Rashtrapati Bhawan,where President Ram NathKovind conferred the GandhiPeace Prize for 2015-2018.

The event at theRashtrapati Bhawan was tobegin at 11.00 am, but starteda little late.

“First of all, my apologiesor being late. The programmestarted late as I reached here(Darbar Hall of RashtrapatiBhawan) late. I was busy insome other work and I waslate,” he said while addressingthe gathering.

During the day at a rally inChuru in Rajasthan, the PrimeMinister again made an indi-rect reference to the actionacross the border by the IndianAir Force.

“Today is a day to payhomage to India’s bravehearts.Today, from the land of Churu,I want to assure the people ofthe country that the country isin safe hands,” he said.

The Prime Minister beganthe address by asking the peo-ple to raise slogans of ‘BharatMata ki Jai’ and said he under-stood very well the sentiment,excitement and enthusiasm ofthe people present here.

Later in the day, at Delhi’sISKCON temple, he said,“Manavta ke dushmano sedharti ko bachane ke liye prab-hu ki shakti humare saathhamesha rehti hai. Yahisandesh hum poori pra-maanikta ke saath dusht aat-mayon, asuro ko dene kaprayaas kar rahe hain.”

New Delhi: Sending out a hugemessage to Pakistan, BJP presi-dent Amit Shah on Tuesday saidsurgical strikes after Uri and nowair strikes in self-defence, bothhave given the message to theworld that for the security of thecountry, India’s soldiers andGovernment can go to anyextent. “Pure desh ko sukoondene wala samachaar aaj subahhi aya hai, ye maang pure deshbhar ki samvedna thi ki aisikaryawahi honi chahiye kidobara Pulwama jaisi ghatnakarne se pehle dus baar sochnapade.(The news that providedrelief to the entire nation wasdelivered this morning. It wasthe appeal of the entire nationthat a befitting reply must begiven, so that anyone shouldthink twice before carrying outan attack such as Pulwama),”Shah said at a public rally inGhazipur.

Earlier, Shah congratulatedthe Indian Air Force (IAF)’steam which carried out theairstrike across the Line ofControl (LoC). “I congratulateand salute the bravery and val-our of our armed forces. Today’saction further demonstratesthat India is safe and secureunder the strong and decisiveleadership of PM NarendraModi,” Shah said on Twitter.

Union minister Prakash

Javadekar was the first promi-nent voice from the governmentto react on the strike. “This wasa necessary step for the securi-ty forces. The entire country isbacking the forces now”.

The BJP president said“New India” under the primeleadership of Narendra Modi“will not spare any acts of ter-ror, their perpetrators andpatrons.” Today’s strong actionshows the will and resolve of aNew India. Our New India willnot spare any acts of terror andtheir perpetrators and patrons,”Shah said.

BJP general secretary RamMadhav also lauded both thepolitical leadership as well asthe forces for the operation.“Every Indian who had d (the)pain n (and) anguish of d (the)martyrdom of our forces isgreatly relieved and delightedthis morning. Salute to d (the)Air Force for a meticulousoperation. Our forces r (are)world class anyway. It is dpolitical will of our PM n(and) team that made all d (the)difference,” he tweeted.

Former Madhya Pradeshchief minister Shivraj SinghChouhan hailed the air strikeby the Indian armed forces onterror launch pads in Pakistan.Chouhan, said, “The drive toeliminate terrorism has begun.

Anybody with ill intentionagainst India will meet thesame fate as the Jaish terrorists”.

Union Minister GajendraShekhawat was also quick topost his reaction. His tweet wasmore political. “This is Modi’sHindustan, it will not onlyenter your house but will strikeat you (Ye Modi ka Hindustanhai, ghar mein ghusega bhi aurmarega bhi). Air Force carriedout aerial strike early morningtoday at terror camps across theLoC and Completely destroyedit …every drop of blood will beaccounted for. This is just abeginning…. will not let thecountry down (Ek ek katrakhoon ka hisab hoga. Yeh tohek shuruat hai, ye desh nahijhukne dunga),” he tweeted.

Minister of State forExternal Affairs VK Singhtweeted saying that India willretaliate ‘harder and stronger’every time it gets attacked.

In the MaharashtraAssembly, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis passed anunanimous resolution con-gratulating the IAF for carry-ing out the air strike on terrorlaunch pads in Pakistan. For itspart, the Haryana Assemblycongratulated Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and the armedforces for the “surgical strike”across the Line of Control.PNS

PNS/PTI n NEW DELHI

Defence experts on Tuesdayhailed the IAF’s pre-dawn

air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed’s terror camp inPakistan with some saying “themessage had been communi-cated strongly”, while a formerAir Chief said India needs to beon guard as Pakistan mightreact soon.

The operation drew reac-tions from various defenceexperts including retired officersin the armed forces.

Former military secretary LtGen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnaintermed the operation “an appro-priate response (delivered) witha sense of proportionality”.

It was a nonmilitary, pre-emptive strike and “we havegone deep”, so no scope fordenial from Pakistan side, hesaid.

“We have only targeted aterror camp. No civilian area ormilitary installation weretouched by us. Also, our mea-sure is such that onus of esca-lation will now be on thePakistani side,” he told PTI.

“Besides, the internationalcommunity will continue tostand by us for the same reasonand the traction gained formdiplomatic and other means willcontinue to have impact,” said

the former general officer com-manding for the 15 and the 21Corps.

Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh,former colonel of the PoonaHorse, an over 200-year-oldregiment, had mixed feelingsabout the air strike.

“It is like a double-edgedsword. While the action hasaroused our nation and fostereda sense of patriotism, by thisstrike, we have alerted Pakistan,”he told PTI.

The 84-year-old veteransaid, he has participated in1962, 1965 and 1971 wars.

“The message has been sentto them, but we have alertedPakistan, and now they will getcautious,” he said, adding, “Weneed a master plan to handle thesituation.”

Former IAF chief, Air ChiefMarshal (retd) S Krishnaswamycomplimented the governmentfor taking the stand, but cau-tioned there might be “reaction”from the Pakistani side.

“It is a natural to have areaction (from Pakistan). I’ll besurprised if Pakistan doesn’treact in the next 48 hours...Theycannot resist certain temptationof a tit-for-tat,” he said.

The former chief of air staffalso said that there is “nothingcalled absolute safety, and weneed to be on guard”.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Within hours of confirma-tion of an Indian aerial

surgical strike inside Pakistan,microblogging site Twitterturned into a virtual battlefieldwith both Indians andPakistanis taking on each otherusing memes, Bollywood ref-erences wit and humour andeven some serious tongue lash-ing. It was the Indians, howev-er, who fired thicker and faster.

In no time, hashtags like#surgicalstrike2, #indias-trikespakistan, #indiastrikes-back were topping the trendinglist. Memes, videos and one-liners came thick and fast.

One of the most populartweets from India was atweaked version of a dialoguefrom the Bollywood film “Uri:The Surgical Strike”. “How’s theJaish?/Dead Sir,” several twitterusers wrote and many othersretweeted. The oft-quoted dia-logue from the hit film is,“How’s the josh? High Sir.”

A tweet by PakistanDefence posted Tuesday mid-night -- “Sleep tight becausePAF is awake.#PakistanZindabad” -- alsobecame the butt of jokes forIndia’s twitterati.

“PAF: Sleep tight because

PAF is awake. Reply from IAF:3:30am, Jaag ke kya ukhaadliya? (What did you achieve bybeing awake?)#Surgicalstrike2.”

Even politician OmarAbdullah couldn’t help butjoin in. Retweeting PakistanDefence’s post, he wrote, “Thisone will be filed under ‘tweetswe wish we hadn’t put out butcan’t delete now’. Don’t worrywe all have them just not onthis scale perhaps.”

Some tweets also took ajibe at Pakistan’s rejection ofIndia’s claim over destroying aterror camp. “When Americakilled Osama, they claimedthat Osama wasn’t in Pakistan.

When India killed the ter-rorists of 26/11 attack, theyclaimed that they were notPakistanis. When India tooksurgical strike, Theyclaimed/claiming that noth-ing has happened. #surgical-strike2,” a tweet read.

Famous scenes fromBollywood films also came inhandy for Twitterati who usedthem as memes to expresstheir pride and excitementover the IAF’s achievement.

A tweet by Aam AadmiParty’s handle shared an icon-ic scene from “Border” whereSunny Deol is seen giving a

thumbs up to pilot Jackie Shroffflying the fighter aircraft. Usersalso posted a scene from theSalman-Govinda starrer‘Partner’ to convey their “itnikhushi” — a famous dialogue inthe film.

Videos of celebrations inKolkata and Gujarat showingpeople distributing sweets andbursting crackers were doingthe rounds on social media.

Pakistanis mocked India’sclaim that the strikes in Balakotallegedly killed around 350terrorists. Many tweets circu-lated pictures of bombingshared by Major General AsifGhafoor, director general of theInter-Services Public Relations(ISPR), the media wing of thePakistan Army, captioned,“Payload of hastily escapingIndian aircrafts fell in open.”

According to these tweets,what the Indian Air Forcebombed was not a terror campbut simply trees.

“My name is tree and I amnot a terrorist.#Surgicalstrike2,” a tweet read.Sharing the same images, a userwrote, “#SurgicalStrike2 myfoot Indian’s April Fool day.”

Another post read, “Areyou sure! that ..These trees aret e r r o r i s t . . . ? ? ? ? ? ?#Surgicalstrike2”.

Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj convenes an all-party meeting at Jawahar Lal Bhawan in New Delhi to brief leaders on Indian Air Force’s pre-dawn strikeon JeM camp in Balakot on Tuesday PTI

For India’s security we’ll

go to any extent: Shah

n Jubilant people came out on streets and marches were held indifferent parts of the country

n The sentiment echoed in state assemblies with the legislatures inHaryana, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh passing resolutions praising theIAF action

n In Jammu and Kashmir, youths came out on the streets to celebratein Kathua, Samba, Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur

n Gudigere, the native village of H Guru from Karnataka who wasamong the 40 CRPF jawans who died in the Pulwama terror attack, burstinto jubilation on hearing about the strikes

n Family members of another slain CRPF jawan Narayan Lal Gurjar, aresident of Rajasthan, said they feel satisfied after the air strike

n In Shahpura town of Jaipur district, the people celebrated the IAF’sstrike by bursting crackers at the funeral site of martyred soldierRohitash Lamba

PNS n NEW DELHI

Leaders across the party linescame forward and hailed

the Indian Air Force for strik-ing the JeM terror camp inPakistan. Several Oppositionleaders even took to socialmedia to express themselvesover the airstrike development.

NCP chief Sharad Pawarsaid any retaliation by Pakistanwill prove that it provides shel-ter to terrorists. The formerdefence minister lauded theIndian Air Force for the strikes,adding India’s defence forceshave made citizens feel proud.

It would not be proper topoliticise the air strikes, Pawarsaid. Targeting Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, he said the IAFhad carried out such strikesearlier also, but there was nopoliticisation (of the same).

“The credit always went tothe Army. Now if the credit isbeing given to Prime MinisterModi, then credit should alsobe given to RSS chief MohanBhagwat,” he said.

“Being a former defenceminister, I was sure that thosewho committed the dastardlyattack in Pulwama would have topay for their actions soon,” Pawarsaid. He said the IAF took pre-cautions to ensure the air strikewas done in such a way that therewas no international backlash.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal, KarnatakaCM HD Kumaraswamy,Madhya Pradesh CM KamalNath, Congress leader ShashiTharoor and RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav were among theopposition leaders, who extend-ed support to the armed forces.

Kejriwal postponed hisindefinite hunger strike call inview of the prevailing Indo-Paksituation. “In view of prevailingIndo Pak situation, I am post-poning my upwas for full state-hood of Delhi. We all stand asone nation today,” the DelhiCM posted on Twitter. Earlier,Kejriwal saluted the pilots ofthe IAF after it carried out thestrikes in Pakistan.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee also hailedthe IAF for carrying out airstrikes in Pakistan. “IAF alsomeans India’s AmazingFighters. Jai Hind,” Banerjeetweeted.

Congress leader andPunjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh hailed it as agreat job by the Indian AirForce. “The IAF strikes havesent the much needed signal toPakistan and the terrorists it’sharbouring — don’t think youcan get away with acts like thePulwama Attack. Bravo to theIAF men and my full supportfor the action,” he said.

All praise forIndian Air Force

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019

RAKESH K SINGH n

NEW DELHI

The Mirage 2000 aircraftdeployed for conducting

deep strike on Pakistan’s deepstate i.e. the camps of terrorgroup Jaish-e-Mohammed inPakistan was chosen due to itslethality and precision in thestrikes.

As per the lethality countof Mirage 2000, 30 to 100 peo-ple can be killed every 30 sec-onds and a conservative esti-mate here suggests about 400people could have been liqui-dated in the raids includingtwo IC 814 hijack case mas-terminds, 25 terror comman-ders and trainers, some ofwhom are suspected to havebeen former Army officersbesides 325 to 350 trainedfidayeens being readied forhitting Indian interests.

The Mirage 2000 are thestrategic bombers capable ofdelivering an array of bombsand missiles including nuclearand laser-guided ones withcapability to hit long-rangetargets with “pin-point” accu-racy.

India inducted the Miragejets about three decades backand the fleet is undergoing up-gradation and enhancementswith a budget of Rs 20,000crore. The multi-role, single

engine jet is a single-pilotfighter with a range of about1,500 km.

The Dassault-manufac-tured jet can travel at morethan twice the speed of soundat Mach 2.2 (2,336 kmph). It iscapable of flying at an altitudeof 59,000 ft. A commercial jet-liner usually flies at 35,000 to40,000 feet.

Interestingly, the Rafale,manufactured by the sameDassault, is now in the midstof a massive controversy evenas the Mirage 2000 is garner-ing lavish praise from all quar-ters.

The aircraft was preferredover other options as it iscapable of conducting long-range engagement of targetsand the assessment of successwas estimated to be 100 percent, sources said.

The Mirage also is fittedwith the state-of-the art radar

system, control system andflight navigation system withvirtual display of the functionsto aid the pilot.

The Indian Air Force hasabout three squadrons ofMirage 2000 fighter jets man-ufactured by HAL underlicence from French aerospacemajor Dassault Aviation, themanufacturer of Rafale multi-role fighters being procured byIndia.

A number of equipmentand platforms of the IAF werealso used in the deep opera-tion, first inside Pakistan afterthe 1971 Indo-Pak war.

The Mirage 2000 was firstcommissioned into the IAF in1985, when it was christened asVajra (thunderbolt). India ini-tially bought 36 single-seaterMirage 2000 and 4 twin-seaterMirage 2000 after US suppliedF-16 fighters manufactured byLockheed Martin.

All you need to know aboutMirage that smoked out Jaish

Modi makes veiledreference of air strikeat public events

Twitter turns into Indo-Pakvirtual battleground

India needs to be on guard asPak may retaliate: Ex-Air chief

Members of the Raza Academy celebrate India’s preemptivestrike on JeM camps in Mumbai on Tuesday PTI

PM seeksapology fromaudience forbeing late

Opp backs IAF at all-party meet

HIGHLIGHTS

nation 10

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019 avenues 11

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The purpose of education is to

make good human beings with

skill and expertise. Enlightened

human beings can be created by

teachers

— Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

Business school predic-tions for the last twoyears have already sung

paeans to emerging technolo-gies such as artificial intelli-gence, internet of things andvirtual reality in modern class-rooms and the disruptionsthey bring to education. 2019has already recognised thosetrends and given them theirdue pedestal. What is new in2019 is that there is renewedfocus on the MBA degree's rel-evance to society and whetherit has become out of sync withcurrent industry practices.

Pursuing an MBA requiresconsiderable personal andfinancial commitment. One ofthe most obvious questionsthat today's generation asks aB-school is that when college-dropouts can go on to becomebillionaires why should oneneed an MBA?

A recent employer surveyin the US reveals that employ-ers search for five key skills intheir target managerial per-sonnel — ability to work witha variety of different people,ability to build, sustain andexpand networks of people,ability to solve complex prob-lems, ability to understandthe impact of digitalisation onbusiness and the ability toprioritise and deliver time-bound results. As can be seen,these are typical soft skillswhich rarely form part ofbusiness curricula and are dif-ficult to teach in classroom

environments or even simula-tions.

Some of the expectationsaround an MBA are patentlyunreasonable. For example, anumber of students have beenled to believe that an MBA isa golden ticket to a high-pay-ing job, which it isn't. The factremains that your career willdepend on the body of workyou are able to present to aprospective employer.Employers are looking to hirepeople with not only the rele-vant skills and competencieswhen they hire an MBA butalso one who has demonstrat-ed success in managementthrough relevant experience.And only a handful of businessschools will give you real-world laboratories to practiceand hone skills ancillary toyour core competencies.

Given below are the toptrends that MBA programmeswill be looking to deliver in2019.nNew disciplines to take cen-ter-stage: Entrepreneurship,analytics and design-thinkingare predicted to be the 3 topareas in which demand willincrease manifold this year.Digital media and luxurymanagement are other emerg-ing areas where specialisationis a key requirement for entry.As per naukrihub.com, a qual-ity control manager's salaryranges between `5,49,320 to`8,77,720. A pharma productmanager earns from `4,47,620

to `1,051,550 and that for abusiness analyst, between`5,02,830 to `9,45,630.nBusiness schools will bemore responsive to society:Social upheavals in today'senvironment continue to ques-tion established institutionsand their relevance to socialrealities. Business leaders too,being an inherent part of the

community, will be pressed tobecome more responsive andresponsible to needs such asenvironmental regulation,CSR and other collaborations.Industries ranging from phar-maceuticals and energy toFMCG and fashion, all arebeing pressed to prove theirinvolvement and contributionto the society at large.Adequate training and prepa-ration will be called for thoseroles.n Increasing relevancethrough collaborations withGovernment and industry: Inaddition to continued global-isation on one side with easeof mobility and inter-con-nectedness of joint academicand student exchanges world-wide, while on the otherside,some countries have start-ed to look inwards towardsnationalisation. This has led tochanging trading relations,resulting in redesigning oper-ations and strategies for manybusinesses. MBA programmes,therefore, will be required torespond to such needs, whereunderstanding the govern-ments and the industry will beimperative. nDespite the presence of tech-nologies such as AI and digi-tal twinning, personal inter-actions will continue to trumpdigital interactions as thethings that make a businessrelationship sustainable arestill developed over lunch orface-to-face cues. Negotiations

and transactions will have thebest chance of success overtechnically enhanced face-to-face interactions.nEmbedding technology inthe classroom: Apart fromthese new trends, classroomsare already being supple-mented by digital lectures,notes, AI-enhanced assess-ments that personalise thelearning pace according tothe comprehension capacitiesof individual students, VR-powered simulations modelwhat would happen if deci-sions were to be implemented.Automation, robotisation andblockchain skills are invaluableto the evolution of industry 4.0and those possessing suchskills will be at a distinctadvantage.

The MBA degree has notlost relevance despite its beingoverused and non-uniformstandard of education in India.As Professor, Dr Jyoti PrakashNaidu, Dean of Research &Devlopment, JKLU's PinnacleMBA program, says, “Thecrucible of experience in acomprehensive MBA programteaches one the language ofbusiness and should cultivatein the learner the ability toinspire others to action.” Theskills and capabilities the MBAoffers to society and businessare still generating greatimpact and will continue to doso in the coming future.The writer is Pro Vice Chancellor, JK

Lakshmipat University, Jaipur

Biz Buzz fest at IP UniversityPNS n NEW DELHI

The University School of ManagementStudies(USMS), IP University organ-

ised two-day long management festivalBiz Buzz 2019 at its Dwarka campus.

According to faculty Co-ordinator ofthis festival Dr Shilpa Jain, apart fromvarious events like case developmentcontest, business plan contest, mockstock, best finance talent, best mar-keting talent, best hr talent, standupcomedy, brush it up, treasure hunt,debate on management topic, businessstrategy game, outdoor events like com-edy show, DJ night and star night werealso organised on the occasion for all twodays of the festival.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The new chairman of NationalBook Trust, India (an

autonomous organisation underthe Department of HigherEducation, Ministry of HumanResource Development) hasbeen appointed on 21 February2019. Professor Govind PrasadSharma, distinguished educa-tionist, took over as the newchairman.

Born in the year 1939,Prof.essor Sharma has served asthe Principal of GovernmentP.G. College, Madhya Pradesh.

Later, he was appointed as theAdditional Director of HigherEducation (Gwalior ChambalDivision) and has also been theDirector of Madhya PradeshHindi Granth Akademi.

Having worked extensivelyin the field of education, Sharmahas also worked in the capacityof Vice Chairman of MadhyaPradesh Board of SecondaryEducation as well as Chairmanof Madhya Pradesh TextbookWriting Standing Committee.

In addition, Sharma haspublished numerous researchpapers.

ICSI exam result declaredNew chairman appointed

The result of Executiveprogramme (old and new

syllabus) and Professionalprogramme held inDecember 2018, has beendeclared on Monday,February 25 to all the region-al and chapter offices of theinstitute throughout thecountry.

In Executive programmes(old syllabus) examination5.24 per cent candidatespassed in Module I and 9.60per cent in Module II, whilein Executive Programme(new syllabus) examination5.38 per cent candidates

passed in Module I and 4.76per cent n Module 11.

In Professional pro-gramme examination 12.86per cent of candidates passedin Module I, 14.74 per cent inModule II and 13.06 per centin Module III.

The next examinationsof Company Secretar yExecutive programme andProfessional programme willbe held from Saturday, June 1to Monday, June 10, 2019.

The last date for onlinesubmission enrollment appli-cations together with the req-uisite fee is March 25, 2019.

MSC IN BIO SCIENCES The University of

Sheffield, UK is invitingapplications for its newMSc Biological Sciencescourse starting in September2019.

The programme pro-vides training in the breadthand depth of whole-organ-ism biology, allowing stu-dents to develop a wide rangeof knowledge across the dis-cipline via the general bio-logical sciences pathway, or tospecialise within one of threemajor areas through dedicat-ed pathways in — evolution-ary biology, plant and cropscience, and biodiversity andconservation.

Duration: 12 monthsEligibility: Holders of a

three year bachelor degreewith a minimum of 60 percent or first class from a rep-utable university in BiologicalSciences or other relevant sci-ence subject.

Fee: The annual fee foroverseas students is £24,600 in2019.

How to apply: Log on [email protected];https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/aps/biological-sciences.

DIPLOMA IN BANKINGAND FINANCE

TKWs Institute ofBanking & Finance, NewDelhi invites applications forits new academic session ofPost graduate diploma inBanking & Finance with spe-cialisation in InternationalTrade Finance.

This programme starts byproviding fundamental clari-ty and then advances toexpose the participants to allessentials of banking &finance.

With Certif icate inInternational Trade andFinance (CITF), a studentcan easily seek jobs in tradedepartment of a bank. Theexam for this certification isconducted by InternationalChamber of Commerce(ICC).

Eligibility : Minimumqualification for securingadmission to PG Diplomacourse in Banking & Finance

is gradu-ate in any stream with 50 percent marks, students awaitingfinal year results may alsoapply.

How to apply: Fill anonline application form andpay `1000 application fee,online or by visiting the insti-tute.

L ast Date to apply :March 19, 2019.

Fee: The annual fee foroverseas students is £24,600 in2019.

UG-DIPLOMA IMS-Design & Innovation

Academy is inviting applica-tions for Jewellery Design,Bachelors of Fine Arts:Fashion Design, Bachelors ofFine Arts: Applied Arts,Undergraduate Diploma InAccessories Design (FashionAccessories), Fashion Design,Interior Design andCommunication Design.

Duration: Three years forBachelors of Science, Fouryers for Bachelors of FineArts, Four years Bachelors ofFine Arts: Applied Arts andTwo years for undergraduateDiploma In AccessoriesDesign.

Eligibility: Students whohave passed or will appear forthe qualifying examinationsunder the higher secondary(Class XII) from any recog-nised Board of Educationsuch as AISSCE/IB/ICSE, orequivalents can apply.

How to Apply :Prospectus along with theapplication form can beobtained for `1000 from theacademy or by post enclosing or log on to http://www.diain-dia.co.in.

Contact: 18001039383,0120-4097100.

L ast Date to apply :Design Entrance Exam (DEE)on April 28, 2019.

Holistic approach in moderneducation has become quin-

tessential for students across theworld. The days of thestereotype educationsystem and limited sub-ject study are long gone.Today, it is important forstudents to observe,study and explore dif-ferent facets of societyand cultures for their all-rounddevelopment. The inclusion offoreign educational trips in edu-cational curriculums not onlynurtures humanitarian qualities instudents but also brings forththeir expertise and develops newskills.

Educational trips to thediverse nations give studentsexposure to new landscapes,wildlife, and topography. Morethan that, the act of philanthropy,volunteering for underprivilegedones, volunteerism, volunteertourism, or voluntourism duringthese foreign educational tripsfacilitate a ‘socially impactful jour-ney’ for students.

Some of the key benefits,which make these foreign educa-tional trips and volunteering activ-ities an integral tool for all-round

development of students are:nAdapting to foreign culturesfacilitates creativity and buildsperspective: Volunteerism duringthe educational trips isn’t just anattempt to make a difference, infact, it also helps students tounderstand and adapt to foreigncultures and learn their traditionalvalues by helping them in creat-ing a better life. The experience ofcultural immersion creates a newperspective of life in studentsand gives wings to their creativi-ty in a longer run. A chance tospend time with natives andindulging in humanitarian activ-ities create awareness of underly-ing connections and build newassociations.

nInvokes curiosity and facilitatesidea flexibility: Curiosity canlead to a generation of revolu-tionary ideas and change the wayof life. Foreign educational tripsinstill great qualities in studentsand open a new horizon for themto explore. This gives curiousones a chance to explore theirinterest areas and develop theirexpertise. nKickstarts an interest in newcareer avenues: What can be bet-ter than realising your true poten-tial and exploring possible careeravenues during your educationaltrips? By taking a step out of thecomfort zone and finding yourtrue strengths and weaknesses,you can become a better human

and a successful person in thefuture. The process of skill devel-opment and upskilling duringvolunteering activities help stu-dents in molding a better future.nTeaches the skill of networkingand opportunity to learn multi-ple languages: Embarking onforeign educational trips effi-ciently breaks the myth of lan-guage barriers. Apart from gain-ing better command in English,the global lingua franca, studentsalso get a chance to learn nativelanguages of their host countries.It turns into one of the best prac-tical exercises for students tointeract with speakers of differentlanguages and learn more abouttheir cultures, to realise the dreamof a global family. nIncreases understanding ofworking as a team: Apart fromskill enhancement and diverse cul-tural experience, one of the impor-tant lessons that an educationaltrip brings is — benefits of work-ing as a team. When people fromdifferent cultures and back-grounds come together to workfor the underprivileged in unison,the enthralling adventures turninto life’s most memorable expe-riences. Students working inteams, collectively steppingtowards one motive to benefit oth-ers and serving society help intheir evolution into more humbleand compassionate human beings.

The writer is Founder-CEO, VolunteeringSolutions Pvt Limited

Engineering is the most preferredprofessional course among students

— the right choice of engineering dis-cipline can help you to reach the topof your career. The engineering indus-try is vast and there are plenty of nich-es among which students can decide,based on their interest and passion.

This is the reason why students aremore desirous to pursue streams inengineering which are always indemand. Civil engineering is one suchdiscipline which is ‘evergreen’ and ver-satile. Students can pursue differentroles such as quantity surveying,nuclear engineering, waste resourcemanagement, structural designs andothers.

In short, civil engineering is aninnovative career choice. A degree incivil engineering helps the students tosecure well-paid jobs in this particu-lar sector.

Civil engineers with their greattechnical skills, core-knowledge ofthe discipline and understanding ofconcepts are always in-demand.

According to research conductedby the Royal Institute of CharteredSurveyors (RICS), India is expected toface a demand of approximately 4 mil-lion civil engineering professionals.With steady urbanisation and mod-ernism, we can expect an enhancedcareer scope for civil engineering stu-dents in India.

After procuring a degree in civilengineering, the individual is capableof working in top multinational com-panies like Larsen & Toubro,Gammon, HCC. Civil engineers canlook for international projects incounties like the USA, UAE, Chinawhere the demand is considerablyhigh.

Why civil engineers are here to

stay?Presently, the civil sector is expe-

riencing a huge boom, hence it is high-ly sought-after. A significant increasein the number of private players andthe need for unique infrastructure andmanagement of resources has createdimmense employment opportunitiesfor skilled civil engineers.

The global value of the civil engi-neering market is $7.84 trillion for theyear 2017. It is expected to rise furtherby 5.6 per cent between the year 2018to 2025. The rise in urban populationis the key factor which boosts the civilindustry.

This is the best time to pursue civil

engineering as the construction indus-try of India is on the rise. Globalisationhas created a drastic civil upturn indeveloping nations. As per the WorldBank estimation, urban population inIndia is expected to grow further. This,in turn, has put pressure on the civilsector, facilitating extremely demand-ing numbers for civil engineers in thecountry.

In conclusion, civil engineeringremains the fastest growing, compet-itive engineering discipline, whosedemand continues to grow year afteryear with a consequent rise in urban-isation.

The writer is Chancellor, Alliance University

Professor Govind Prasad Sharma

‘Foreign education facilitates impactful journeys’SAURABH SABHARWALgives reasons whyforeign education isimportant for students

Take the civil route

Civil engineering is an innovative career choice.

SUDHIR G ANGUR tells you more

Manage the

FutureWith the evolution in MBA programmesin the last few years, ASHEESH GUPTAtells you the top trends to look out for

A quality control

manager's salary

ranges between

`5,49,320 to

`8,77,720. A pharma

product manager

earns from `4,47,620

to `1,051,550

world 12LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019

China calls for ‘restraint’ after

India’s air strikes on Pakistan

PTI n BEIJING/ WUZHE

China on Tuesday urgedIndia and Pakistan to

“exercise restraint” and askedNew Delhi to carry out its fightagainst terrorism throughinternational cooperation,hours after Indian fighter jetsstruck Jaish-e-Mohammed’sbiggest camp in Pakistan in apre-dawn attack.When askedfor China’s response to India’sair strikes on terrorist camps inPakistan, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman Lu Kangtold the media here that “wehave taken note of the relevantreports.” “I want to say thatIndia and Pakistan are bothimportant countries in SouthAsia. A sound relationshipand cooperation between thetwo serves the interests ofboth the countries and peaceand stability in South Asia,” hesaid. “We hope that both Indiaand Pakistan can exerciserestraint and do more toimprove their bilateral rela-tions,” he said.

India bombed anddestroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest trainingcamp in Pakistan earlyTuesday, killing a “very largenumber” of terrorists, trainersand senior commanders, offi-cials said in New Delhi. OnIndia’s assertion that it was a“non-military pre-emptivestrikes” directed against train-ing camps of the terroristgroups who are carrying outviolent acts in India, Lu said,“as for India’s claim on taking

action against terrorism, wellfighting terrorism is a globalpractice”.

“It needs necessary inter-national cooperation. Indianeeds to create favourable con-dition internationally for thesame,” he said. To anotherquestion, he said PakistanForeign Minister ShahMuhammad Qureshi has spo-ken to his Chinese counterpartWang Yi on the Pulwama ter-ror attack in Jammu andKashmir.

“During the phone call,Wang listened carefully toPakistan foreign minister’snotification and proposals onthe issues and reaffirmed hisopinion that the two sidesneed to advance their cooper-ation in the counter terrorismfor peace and stability in theregion,” the spokesman said.Lu’s comments came ahead ofRussia, India and China (RIC)Foreign Ministers’ meeting atChinese city of Wuzhen on

Wednesday in which ExternalAffairs Minister SushmaSwaraj is due to take part.

The Pulwama terror attackand India’s air strikes on theterrorists training camps wereexpected to figure in the hertalks with Wang and RussianForeign Minister SergeiLevrov.The issue of listing ofJeM chief Masood Azhar in theUN 1267 committee was alsoexpected to figure in theirtalks.Azhar’s listing as global terror-ist may figure at RIC ForeignMinisters meet in China

The Pulwama terror attackand the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammadchief Masood Azhar as a glob-al terrorist by the UN areexpected to figure prominent-ly at Russia, India and China(RIC) Foreign Ministers’ meet-ing being held here onWednesday. Besides attendingthe annual trilateral meeting,External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj would alsohold bilateral talks with herChinese and Russian counter-parts on the sidelines of themeeting in which the listing ofAzhar by the UN’s 1267 com-mittee is expected to figure.

Swaraj’s meeting withChinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi assumes significanceas it is the first high-levelinteraction between the twocountries after the Pulwamaterror attack that left 40 CRPFpersonnel dead. China, a veto-wielding member, has beenconsistently blocking India,

the US, the UK and France’sefforts to list Azhar as a glob-al terrorist since 2016 butendorsed a scathing statementissued by UN Security Councilon February 21 on thePulwama attack.

The UNSC statement onthe the Pulwama attack statedthat “the members of theSecurity Council condemnedin the strongest terms theheinous and cowardly suicidebombing in Jammu andKashmir, which left 40 Indianparamilitary forces dead anddozens wounded on February14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimedresponsibility”.

But after endorsing thestatement in which JeM hasbeen named, China the nextday in an apparent attempt toplacate Pakistan sought to playit down, saying that the men-tion of JeM in the statementwas only in general terms anddoes not represent a judge-ment.

China also said that thePakistani government showedreadiness to cooperate withIndia on the investigation andthat it was also ready to resolvedifferences with India throughdialogue.

The issue of listing ofAzhar as a global terrorist bythe UN is expected to come upbefore the 1267 committee ofthe UN Security Council againas France, also a veto-wieldingmember of the high-powerUN body, said it would movethe resolution again.

Pak accuses Indian AirForce of violating LoCPTI n ISLAMABAD

The Pakistan Army onTuesday alleged that the

Indian Air Force violated theLine of Control (LoC) inMuzafarabad sector.“Indianaircraft intruded fromMuzafarabad sector. Facingtimely and effective responsefrom Pakistan Air Forcereleased payload in hastewhile escaping which fell nearBalakot. No casualties or dam-age,” Major General AsifGhafoor, Director General ofInter-Services Public Relations(ISPR), the media wing of thearmy, said in a tweet.

“Indian Air Force violat-ed Line of Control Pakistan.Pakistan Air Force immedi-ately scrambled. Indian air-craft gone back,” he tweeted.Hours later, the ISPR saidIndian aircrafts’ “intrusion”across the LOC inMuzafarabad Sector was with-in 3-4 miles in Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir.

“Under forced hasty with-drawal aircraft released pay-load which had free fall inopen area. No infrastructuregot hit, no casualties.Technical details and otherimportant information to fol-low,” it said.

The allegation came amidheightened tension betweenIndia and Pakistan after theFebruary 14 suicide attack byPakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group thatkilled 40 CRPF soldiers inJammu and Kashmir’sPulwama district.

India committed ‘aggression’,Islamabad has ‘right to respond’

Pakistan Foreign MinisterShah Mahmood Qureshi onTuesday said India has com-mitted “aggression” by violat-ing the LoC and Islamabadhas “right to respond”. Hisremarks came after combatjets of the Indian Air Force(IAF) bombed terror camps atmultiple locations across theLine of Control (LoC) on thePakistani side in a pre-dawnstrike.Prime Minister Imran Khanwas chairing an “important meet-ing” to discuss the situation, sourceshere said. India’s air strikes came 12days after the Pakistan-based ter-ror group Jaish-e-Mohammedcarried out the Pulwama attack inKashmir. In Islamabad, ForeignMinister Qureshi said India has vio-lated the LoC and Pakistan hasright to respond.“First, they com-

mitted aggression against Pakistantoday. It is a violation of the LoC.I consider it a violation of the LoC,and Pakistan his right to give a suit-able response in self defence,” hetold reporters after an “emergencymeeting” with high-level officialsat the Foreign Office (FO) for con-sultations.Qureshi briefed PrimeMinister Khan after the meeting atthe FO. Earlier, the Pakistan Armyalleged that the Indian Air Force(IAF) violated the Line of Control(LoC) in MuzafarabadSector.“Indian aircraft intrudedfrom Muzafarabad sector. Facingtimely and effective response fromPakistan Air Force released payloadin haste while escaping which fellnear Balakot. No casualties ordamage,” Major General AsifGhafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR),the media wing of the PakistanArmy, said in a tweet.

UK asks India,Pakistan tofind diplomaticsolutionsLondon (PTI): The Britishgovernment has called onIndia and Pakistan to pursuediplomatic solutions in thewake of the Pulwama terror-ist attack in Jammu andKashmir. UK ForeignSecretary Jeremy Hunt heldtelephonic conversations withExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and PakistanForeign Minister ShahMehmood Qureshi onMonday, the UK Foreign andCommonwealth Office(FCO) said in a statement.

“The Foreign Secretaryhighlighted the UK’s con-cern about the enduringthreat to regional stabilityfrom terrorism.“He encour-aged Pakistan and India toimprove cooperation and finddiplomatic solutions that willcreate greater stability andtrust in the region,” the FCOsaid hours before Indianfighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest camp inPakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

The Indian Air Force(IAF) bombed terror camps atmultiple locations across theLine of Control (LoC) on thePakistani side in a pre-dawnstrike, 12 days after thePakistan-based terror groupJaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)carried out the Pulwamaattack in Kashmir. H u n tcondemned the Pulwama ter-ror attack and expressed con-dolences to all those affected,it said.

The FCO statement cameamid heightened tensionbetween India and Pakistanafter the February 14 suicideattack by JeM terror groupthat killed 40 CRPF soldiersin Pulwama.

The FCO said that theUK minister reiterated withboth Indian and Pakistanicounterparts that Britain wascommitted to working withboth India and Pakistan aswell as international part-ners at the United Nations toensure that those responsiblefor the attack are held toaccount.

“The UK has been, andcontinues to be, in close con-tact at senior levels in bothcountries and will be pro-moting international effortsto tackle the threats of ter-rorism and improve regionalstability,” an FCO spokesper-son said.

Washington/New York(PTI): Pakistan has a long his-tory of harbouring terroristsand America should not giveIslamabad even a dollar untilit corrects its behaviour,Indian-American former USenvoy to the UN Nikki Haleyhas said as she praised theTrump administration forwisely restricting financialassistance to the country.

Haley, who hasfounded a new policy group‘Stand America Now’ thatwill focus on how to keep theUS safe, strong, and prosper-ous, wrote in an op-ed that

when the US provides aid tonations, “it is more than fairto ask what the U.S. gets inreturn for our generosity”but instead Pakistan routine-ly opposed the US position at

the UN on several issues. “In2017, Pakistan received near-ly USD 1 billion in US foreignaid, the sixth most of anycountry. Much of the aid wentto the Pakistani military.Some went for road, highway,and energy projects to assistthe Pakistani people,” Haleywrote in the op-ed ‘ForeignAid Should Only Go ToFriends’. “On all key votes atthe UN, Pakistan opposedthe American position 76 percent of the time.

Much more troubling,Pakistan also has a long his-tory of harbouring terrorists

who have killed US troops inAfghanistan,” she said. Haley,the former Governor of SouthCarolina, added that theTrump Administration has“already wisely restrictedassistance to Pakistan, butthere is much more to bedone.” Haley, who hadstepped down as the US envoyto the UN at the end of lastyear, has previously stronglycriticised Pakistan for con-tinuing to harbour terroriststhat turn around and killAmerican soldiers while tak-ing billions of dollars in for-eign aid from the US.

Australia asks India, Pak to ‘exerciserestraint’ & engage in dialogueMelbourne: Australia onTuesday urged India andPakistan to “exercise restraint”and engage in dialogue toensure issues are resolvedpeacefully even as it askedIslamabad to take “urgent andmeaningful” action againstterrorist groups including JeMoperating from its soil.

Australian Foreign AffairsMinister Marise Payne’s state-ment came hours after Indianfighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)’s biggestterror camp in Pakistan in apre-dawn attack. The IndianAir Force (IAF) bombed ter-

ror camps at multiple loca-tions across the Line ofControl (LoC) on thePakistani side in a pre-dawnstrike, 12 days after thePakistan-based terror groupJeM carried out the Pulwamaattack in Kashmir.

The Australian govern-ment is concerned about therelations between India andPakistan, Payne said.

“Australia urges both sidesto exercise restraint, avoidany action which wouldendanger peace and securityin the region and engage indialogue to ensure that these

issues are resolved peacefully,”she said.

“The Australian govern-ment is concerned about rela-tions between India andPakistan following the horrif-ic terrorist attack in Jammuand Kashmir on 14 February,which Australia has con-demned.

“Pakistan must takeurgent and meaningful actionagainst terrorist groups in itsterritory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which hasclaimed responsibility for the14 February bombing, andLashkar-e-Taiba,” Payne said.

Haley: US should not give aid to Pakuntil it stops harbouring terrorists

Top Cardinal foundguilty of child sexualassault in AustraliaMelbourne (PTI): CardinalGeorge Pell, one of the most pow-erful men in the Roman CatholicChurch, has been found guilty ofchild sexual assault in Australiain a verdict which has sentshockwaves through the Vaticanand around the world. Each ofthe five charges of which he wasfound guilty carries a maximum10 year jail term.

The 77-year-old Vaticantreasurer Cardinal, a trustedadvisor of the Pope, was foundguilty of orally raping one choir-boy and molesting another inMelbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral22 years ago.

Pell, Australia’s most seniorCatholic cleric, will be sentencedafter the end of a five-week trialin the Victorian County Courtand over three days of delibera-tions by the jury. The Cardinalwas Archbishop of Melbournewhen he abused the two 13-year-old boys and was managing thechurch’s response to widespreadchild abuse by priests through the“Melbourne Response”, whichhe designed, The Age reported.

One of the victims, now inhis 30s, testified against Pell dur-ing the trial while other victim

died in 2014 in accidental cir-cumstances.

He was found guilty in aretrial last December, with theverdict sending shockwavesthrough the Vatican and aroundthe world. A jury in an earlier trialwas discharged, in September,when it was unable to reach a ver-dict. His legal team will appealagainst the conviction, the paperreported.

County Court chief judgePeter Kidd has revoked the sup-pression order that preventedmedia from reporting the resultsof the trial and retrial. The ver-dict was made public on Tuesdayin Melbourne’s County Courtand extensively covered byAustralian media after a sup-pression order was lifted as a sec-ond trial, over allegations that heabused boys in a swimmingpool in Ballarat in the 1970s, wasabandoned due to lack of admis-sible evidence.

In 1996, Pell was the newly-appointed Archbishop ofMelbourne and had just givenmass one Sunday when he assault-ed two 13-year-old boys who werefound having sacramental wine inthe priest’s sacristy.

New parents face up to six years of disrupted sleepPTI n LONDON

Having a baby disruptssleep quality of the new

parents for up to six years afterthe child’s birth, a study hasfound. Researchers at theUniversity of Warwick in theUK studied sleep in 4,659parents who had a childbetween 2008 and 2015.

During these years par-ents also reported on theirsleep in yearly interviews. Inthe first three months afterbirth mothers slept on average

one hour less than beforepregnancy while fathers sleepduration decreased by approx-imately 15 minutes,

researchers said in a state-ments. The study shows thatafter birth of the first childand up to six years after birth

mothers and fathers sleepduration and sleep satisfactiondo not fully recover to the lev-els before pregnancy.

“Women tend to experi-ence more sleep disruptionthan men after the birth of achild reflecting that mothersare still more often in the roleof the primary caregiver thanfathers,” said Sakari Lemola,from the University ofWarwick.

However, when the chil-dren were 4-6 years old sleepduration was still about 20

minutes shorter in mothersand 15 minutes shorter infathers compared to theirsleep duration before preg-nancy.

A similar time course wasalso observed for their satis-faction with sleep.

Sleep effects were morepronounced in first-time par-ents compared with experi-enced parents. In the firsthalf a year after birth thesleep effects were also some-what stronger in breastfeedingcompared with bottle-feeding

mothers. Higher householdincome and psychosocial fac-tors such as dual vs single par-enting did not appear to pro-tect against these changes insleep after childbirth.

“While having children isa major source of joy for mostparents it is possible thatincreased demands andresponsibilities associatedwith the role as a parent leadto shorter sleep and decreasedsleep quality even up to sixyears after birth of the firstchild,” said Lemola. Cardinal George Pell arrives at the County Court in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday.

In this photo released by the Foreign Office, Pakistan Foreign Minister ShahMahmood Qureshi, right, heads an emergency meeting following Indian aircrafthave violated the Pakistani erritory, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday.

US House lawmakers to vote

on blocking Trump emergency

AFP n WASHINGTON

US House lawmakers onTuesday are expected to

pass a Democratic measureannulling President DonaldTrump’s declared emergency onthe southern border, an effortthat appeared to earn growingsupport among SenateRepublicans.

Trump’s February 15emergency declaration giveshim access to billions of dollarsto construct his wall on theMexican border, beyond thenearly $1.4 billion that

Congress allocated for con-struction of border barriers. ]

But the House ofRepresentatives, run sinceJanuary by Democrats, has thesupport necessary to terminatethe emergency, dealing a sternrebuke to a president contro-versially seeking to expand hisexecutive powers.

Should the measure clearCongress and reach his desk,Trump would be cornered intoissuing the first veto of his pres-idency, an embarrassing devel-opment because the measureseeks to directly rein in the

president’s authority. TheHouse vote, expected Tuesdayafternoon, will serve to “defendour democracy,” SpeakerNancy Pelosi told reportersMonday.

Trump’s top Democraticrival in Congress warned thathis emergency order was tan-tamount to an unconstitution-al attempt to seize executiveauthority by taking lawmaker’spower to control how federalfunds are spent. “The presi-dent’s power grab usurps thatresponsibility and fundamen-tally violates the balance ofpower envisioned by ourfounders,” said Pelosi, who hasnoted that the measure alreadyhas 226 supporters in the 435-member body.

After clearing the House,the measure would receive avote in the US Senate.Republicans control the cham-ber, 53-47, but several senatorsin Trump’s party returned toWashington after a one-weekbreak to express deep reserva-tions about Trump’s end runaround Congress to obtainwall funding. Trump sought tohead them off early Monday,saying he hoped Republicans“don’t get led down the path ofweak and ineffective BorderSecurity.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves upon arrival by train in Dong Dang in Vietnamese border town Tuesday ahead of hissecond summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. AP

Iran’s foreign minister resignsTehran (AP): Iranian ForeignMinister Mohammad JavadZarif resigned without warninglate Monday, offering an “apol-ogy” to the nation as thenuclear deal he negotiated withworld powers is on the verge ofcollapse after the US with-drawal from the accord.

Zarif ’s resignation, ifaccepted by Iran’s relativelymoderate President HassanRouhani, would leave the cler-ic without one of his main allies

in pushing the Islamic Republictoward further negotiations

with the West.It remains unclear why

Zarif chose to leave his postnow and what effect it will haveon the atomic accord, whichIran has been complying with.He likely briefed SupremeLeader Ayatollah Ali Khameneibefore offering his resignation.Khamenei, who has final say onall state matters, previouslybacked the American-educat-ed envoy through the nuclearnegotiations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., accompanied by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, left, and others, speaks about a resolution to block President Donald Trump'semergency border security declaration on Capitol Hill, Monday in Washington. AP

sport 13LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019

6 INDIANS IN MAKRAN FINALNew Delhi: Commonwealth GamesSilver-winning duo of Manish Kaushik(60kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) led thecharge as six Indian boxers advanced tothe finals of the Makran Cup in Chabahar,Iran. In the semifinal bouts held onMonday evening, the other boxers whomade the finals were Deepak Singh(49kg), P Lalitha Prasad (52kg), Sanjeet((91kg), and Duryodhan Singh Negi(69kg). However, Rohit Tokas (64kg) andManjeet Singh Panghal (75kg) lost insemifinals to sign off with Bronze medalsin the tournament.

WI-ENG 3RD ODI ABANDONED Grenada: The third One-DayInternational of the five-match seriesbetween the West Indies and Englandwas abandoned on Monday after Steadyrainfall forced the match to be stoppedbefore a ball was bowled in Grenada.England captain Eoin Morgan put theWest Indies to bat but the showers whichdelayed the toss returned before theplayers could get on the field at theNational Stadium. It leaves the serieslocked at 1-1 going into the fourth matchat the same venue on Thursday. Bothteams will then move on to St Lucia forthe final ODI and the first fixture of athree-match T20 International series inthe same country.

INJURED SPOHIE TO FLY HOMEMumbai: The struggling Englandwomen's team suffered a big blow totheir hopes of preventing a clean sweepby India in the ODI series after all-rounder Sophie Ecclestone was ruled outof the last match due to a fractured hand.The third and final ODI is to be held onThursday. 19-year-old Ecclestone, aright-handed batter and slow left-armorthodox bowler, sustained the injuryduring warm-up ahead of the secondODI. "Sophie Ecclestone has fracturedthe fifth metacarpal on her right hand andwill fly home from England women's tourof India. "Ecclestone sustained the injuryin the warm-up ahead of Monday'ssecond ODI," England team managementsaid in a media statement Tuesday.

JAYASURIYA BANNED FOR 2 YRS Dubai: Legendary Sri Lanka batsmanSanath Jayasuriya was on Tuesdaybanned for two years after admitting toobstruct an anti-corruption probe by"destroying" the phones which weresought as evidence by the InternationalCricket Council. Jayasuriya admittedbreaching the anti-corruption unit codeof the global body on two separatecounts. "As a result of the admissions, hehas accepted a sanction of a two-yearperiod of ineligibility," the ICC stated.However, he wasn't given the maximumpunishment of five years for his breachafter the world body took his "previousgood conduct" into account.

INDIA IN CONTROL OVER SA Thiruvananthapuram: Left-armspinner Manishi scalped five wickets asIndia Under-19 took the upper hand overSouth Africa Under-19 on the openingday of the second 'Youth' Test onTuesday. Manishi returned with superbfigures of 5 for 58 to help India Under-19bundle out South Africa for 152 in 54.4overs after being asked to bowl first.Yashasvi Jaiswal then stroked his way toan unbeaten 81 as the hosts finished theday at 112 for 2 to take control of theproceedings. For South Africa, openerRuan Terblanche (51, 130 balls, 5X4s,1X6) and Bryce Parsons (64, 76 balls,3X4s, 5X6s) were the only significantcontributors. AGENCIES

SINGLES

PTI n BENGALURU

India all-rounder KrunalPandya on Tuesday insist-

ed that the team has not lostmomentum despite losingthe series opener andinstead taken a lot of heartfrom "almost defending"126 at Vizag.

Krunal was the bestspinner in the game whilepacer Jasprit Bumrahbowled brilliantly in hiscomeback game to take thematch into the final overafter a pedestrian battingperformance.

"It was a great bowlingeffort. Everyone chipped inand we almost defended thelow total. We just have to bemore cautious about ourbatting," said Krunal ahead

of the secondT20." T o m o r r o w

(Wednesday) is a veryimportant game as we are 0-1 down but I would not saythat we have lost momen-tum. We lost the other nightbut we are not losing con-secutive games. I am surewe will do well," said the 27-

year-old.Krunal said it would be

nice to have some part-timeoptions in the team consid-ering India only played fivespecialist bowlers in Vizag.

"All the five bowlerswho played are all qualitybowlers. All are match win-ners on a given day. If you

have options it is good butwhatever is there we are finewith that."

Krunal also praisedAustralia for their effort onSunday.

"History says they are acompetitive side and weknow that they will give 100percent every time theystep on the field. We aremindful of that.

"The wicket looks goodhere. It will be better thanVizag for sure. So we expectmore runs," he said.

Krunal knows that hemay not be in the team'sWorld Cup plans anddespite the focus being onfinalising the squad for the50-over mega event, he saidthe second T20 is a "veryimportant game".

PTI n BENGALURU

In-form Australian pacer PatCummins on Tuesday could not

help but praise another fast bowleron the top of his game — JaspritBumrah, saying the Indian's paceand accuracy has made him a seri-ous threat in all three formats.

Cummins has beenAustralia's standout fast bowlerover the last 12 months and haseven made some useful contribu-tions with the bat, including in thefirst T20 against India, when hegot a crucial four and a double onthe final two balls to pull off athree wicket win for his team.

Bumrah, on the other hand,brought back India into the gameby taking two wickets in the 19thover conceding just two runs. Inhis comeback game, he showedhow invaluable he has become forIndia in all three formats.

"He is obviously a class act.Two of the basics he does reallywell is that he bowls fast and he

bowls accurately. Anyone whodoes that in world cricket will posea real challenge for the batsmen.He has got a great slower ball,seems to have a great cricketingbrain, executes his skills reallywell," Cummins said.

"He has done really well in allthree formats and the one to watchout for,added the Auusie speedsterahead of the second and final T20.

The 25-year-old from Sydneyhimself has become invaluable for

his team after maintaining his fit-ness over the past two seasons.

"I haven't seen too manymemes (of myself on socialmedia) but really happy withhow my game is going at themoment. So many things havefallen into place. Playing quiteconsistent cricket has helped,"Cummins said.

"I have not played too muchwhite ball cricket, so looking for-ward to more of it. It is a biggerchallenge with the ball not swing-ing as much as the red ball."

Australia are a game awayfrom a series win in India and ifthat happens, "it will be a hugeresult", feels Cummins.

"It (leading a series) has nothappened for us in a while in anoverseas series. Especially in aplace like India which is so foreignto Australian conditions, againstone of the best sides in the world.It will be a huge result for us, yeah.But we know will have to reallyplay well to beat them tomorrow."

PTI n BENGALURU

Asurprise selection in the first T20I,Australia's Peter Handscomb says he

wants to don the gloves in ODIs too andis willing to work on his fitness to man-age the workload of wicket-keeping andbatting in the middle order.

Handscomb was picked ahead ofregular wicket-keeper Alex Carey in thefirst T20I, giving a boost to his hopes ofmaking Australia's World Cup squad.

"I can keep and all, I just need to makesure I'm fit enough and strong enough that

if we keep first in a 50-over game I canstill go out there and bat at four or five andmake sure I'm still running hard betweenthe wickets and doing everything right bythe team," Handscomb said.

Carey is likely to be back in the teamfor the five-match ODI series butHandscomb wants to continue donningthe gloves during rest of the tour if givena chance.

"T20 is not too bad, it's sort of overand done with pretty quickly. One-day-ers can be a bit tougher. Especially inIndia with a bit of heat and up to thestumps a lot more on spinning wickets,"he was quoted as saying incricket.Com.Au. "So it can be tough butit's something I am looking forward tohaving a crack at."

PTI n BENGALURU

The focus remains firmly on theWorld Cup but India would also bedesperate to ensure that a home

series does not slip out of their grip whenthey take on Australia in the second andfinal T20 International on Wednesday.

The below-par 126 with the bat atVizag on Sunday denied bowlers a decentshot at securing a win even though theJasprit Bumrah-led attack did all it couldto keep the home team in the game till thefinal over of the match.

India skipper Virat Kohli has alreadysaid that his squad composition for theWorld Cup in May-July is "more or lesssorted" but has not ruled out rewardingstandout performances over the course oftwo T20s and five ODIs.

Considering the captain's currentframe of mind, both K L Rahul andRishabh Pant are likely to feature in mostof the games against Australia.

India rested opener Shikhar Dhawanto give game time to Rahul, who grabbedthe opportunity with both hands bysmashing 50 off 36 balls in his comebackgame.

With the series on the line, it remainsto be seen if Dhawan is brought back intothe side to open alongside Rohit Sharmaor the team retains the opening combina-tion which featured in Vizag.

"Anything is possible now. We wantto give game time to Rahul and Pant tofigure out what we need to do in the WorldCup," Kohli said after the first T20.

While Bumrah showed his class aftercoming back from a break, the other pacerin Umesh Yadav leaked runs and was notable to defend 14 in the final over.

India could replace Umesh withSiddharth Kaul or bring in all-rounder

Vijay Shankar to beef-up the battingdepartment.

The hosts played with a long tail inVizag and that impacted their final totalfollowing an inexplicable batting collapsefrom 69 for one in the ninth over.

Pant, a strong contender for a WorldCup berth, will be itching to perform aftergetting out cheaply on Sunday, and so willbe Dinesh Karthik, who is left with justone game to make a compelling contribu-tion before the World Cup.

All eyes will once again also be onMahendra Singh Dhoni the batsmanwho struggled to an unbeaten 29 off 37balls.

He was able to silence his critics witha solid showing in Australia and NewZealand but his rather slow innings onSunday has got the tongues waggingagain over his waning finishing abilities.

Debutant leg-spinner MayankMarkande (0/31 in four overs) did not pickup a wicket but bowled well according toKohli. The 21-year-old might get anoth-er game.

Australia, on the other hand, will befancying a rare series win against India inrecent times, especially after losing the Testand ODI series at home to Kohli's team.

They would be happy with theirbowling on a slow surface in the first gamebut made a mess of the 127-run targetafter cruising at one stage.

Australia somehow got over the linebut they know that India won't be serv-ing the series win on a platter and willcome hard at them at the ChinnaswamyStadium.

Captain Aaron Finch would love to beback among the runs and the team will beexpecting another blinder from GlennMaxwell, who hit 56 off 43 deliveries inVizag.

AFP n DUBAI

Roger Federer began hischarge for a 100th career

title by dispatching PhilippKohlschreiber 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 ona windy centre court in the firstround of the DubaiChampionships.

Second seed Federer had todeal with a tricky opponent andstrong gusts at the AviationClub in front of nearly 5,500fans at the Aviation Club, need-ing all three sets to make it pastthe opening round.

The Swiss, a seven-timeDubai champion, had to go upa gear in the third set toadvance to a second roundmeeting with FernandoVerdasco after GermanKohlschreiber made a match ofit by winning the second.

"I'm just happy to getthrough, it was tricky condi-tions out there," the 20-timeGrand Slam champion saidafter his 14th straight win overKohlschreiber, his friend andpractice partner.

"Philipp caused me a lot oftrouble and we played in swirlyconditions. All of a sudden it(the wind) could stop and you

could be a break down. Thatalso plays in your head a littlebit.

"I know the game'sthere. It was just really dif-ficult conditions tonight."

Federer, who is seed-ed behind Kei Nishikori,swept the opening set afterbreaking in the first game butwas pegged back.

Kohlschreiber, ranked 31stin the world, made a match ofit in the second, breakingFederer three times on his wayto taking the set 6-3.

The final game of the set

was a nine-minute thriller,with the Swiss seed savingthree set points before

Kohlschreiber levelled thematch with a volley win-ner.

But Federer cruisedto the third set and the

next round.

THROUGH TRICKY DEBUTTop seed Kei Nishikori

dispatched "tricky" Benoit Paire6-4, 6-3 on his debut at theChampionships on Tuesday.

Asia's top player and theworld number six will meet

Huburt Hurkacz in the secondround at the Aviation Clubafter the Pole beat French qual-ifier Corentin Moutet 6-3, 7-5.

Nishikori has shaken uphis longtime schedule this sea-son and is playing Dubai forthe first time for a welcomechange of ATP scenery afterlimiting himself in the past toNorth American venuesincluding the defunct Memphisevent and Delray Beach.

Victory over the unpre-dictable Paire who is prone tothrowing and smashing rac-quets in moments of despair,lasted for 81 minutes.

"It's never easy playingBenoit, of course. Great serve,great backhand. Tricky play-er. Good dropshot, goodtouch," was Nishikori's analy-sis.

"The key to the first setwas the (eight-minute) long(third) game in the first set.

"After I got that one, I wasmore confident — but if hebroke back, anything can hap-pen.

"It was a good match, it'snever easy with this wind. Ithink played good enoughtennis today."

PTI n NEW DELHI

Anish Bhanwala could not make up forManu Bhaker and Heena Sidhu's fail-

ure to reach the women's 10m air pistol final,finishing fifth in hisevent on a lacklustreday for India in theISSF World Cup onTuesday.

Anish, who wasplaced fifth in the qual-ification too, shot a totalof 14 to finish outsidethe podium in the six-man final of the men's25m rapid fire pistolcompetition.

The International Shooting Federation(ISSF) has offered to reimburse all theexpenses of the winner and runners-up inthis event since its Olympic quota status waswithdrawn after Pakistani shooters weredenied visa in the wake of thePulwama terror attack.

Gaayathri Nityanadam andSunidhi Chauhan also failed to qual-ify for the final in the 50m rifle 3 posi-tions at the Dr Karni Singh ShootingRange.

Hoping to make up for her meltdown inthe 25m pistol final, the 17-year-old Bhakerwas in for more disappointment, finishinga lowly 14th with 573 in the qualifications.

The more experienced Heena Sidhu suf-fered a similar fate and was placed 25th with571.

Shooting in her maiden World Cup,Anuradha, employed with the Indian Navy,was 22nd with 571.

Hungary's Veronika Major (245.1) wonthe Gold medal in women's 10am air pistolahead of Taipei's Chia Ying Wu (238.4) andKorean Bomi Kim (218.3).

In the day's other event, the women's50m rifle positions, India's Nityanadam was36th with 1163, while Chauhan was 49thwith 1156.

Nina Christen, from Switzerland, wonthe 50m rifle 3 positions event with a scoreof 457.1 points, beating Silver medallist ShiMengyao of China, and Kazakhstan's Bronze

winner Yelizaveta Korol.In the day's last final, men's 25m

rapid fire pistol, Olympic championChristian Reitz of Germany claimed theGold medal with 35, shooting a perfect5 four times out of the six series.China's world champion and world

number one Junmin Lin claimed the Silverafter scoring 31, while the Bronze went toKorea's Junhong Kim (22).

The two Olympic quota places went toSwitzerland and the China.

With Wednesday's mixed events notoffering Olympic quota places, hosts Indiawill have to be content with only one 2020Tokyo Games berth from the tournament.

They will now have to wait until the nextWorld Cup to secure quotas.

When asked what went wrong, Heenasaid she got too engrossed with the tourna-ment since it was being held at home.

"I think last one and half months we havebeen thinking so much about this match, Ithink most of the people got too emotion-ally involved. It played on our minds," Heenasaid.

"I got too engrossed while trying toohard instead of just sticking to the process,"she explained.

Do or Die: Ind eye series saving win

After losing first game by whisker, Men in Blue look to get back into winning ways and avoid series defeat against inconsistent Aussies

202India is the only team to score over200 runs in Twenty-20 Internationalat M.Chinnaswamy Stadium,

Bangalore. They scored 202 for six against Englandon February 1,2017.

1Australia played their only T-20I againstBangladesh on March 21,2016 at this ground.

6Yuzvendra Chahal's six for 25 against Englandhere on February 1,2017 is India's best bowlingin the shorter format of cricket

51Jasprit Bumrah who claimed 51 at 19.58 in41 matches so far, needs just one wicket toequal Ravichandran's Indian record of

most wickets in Twenty-20 Internationals. The off-spinner took 52 wickets in 52 wickets at 22.94 in 46matches between 2010 and 2017. Faisel Features

FIGURATIVELY

T20S AT BANGALORE

Team P W L Success%

India 3 2 1 66.66

Australia 1 1 - 100.00

r India and Australia will face each other for the first time in T-20I at this venue.

India vs Australia

Live from 7:00pm IST

STAR SPORTS 1 NETWORK

HAVE TAKEN LOT OF HEART FROM

ALMOST DEFENDING 126: KRUNAL

Cummins praises ‘fast and accurate' Bumrah

Manu, Heena fizzle out inqualifications; Anish finishes 5th

Anish Bhanwala during men's 25m rapid fire pistol final

Handscomb wants to don gloves in ODIs

Federer starts 100th title bid with win


sport 15LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 27, 2019

AFP n LONDON

Chelsea goalkeeper KepaArrizabalaga has been

fined a week's wages by theclub after defying managerMaurizio Sarri and refusing tobe substituted during theLeague Cup final on Sunday.

"Although there was amisunderstanding, on reflec-tion, I made a big mistakewith how I handled the situ-ation," Kepa said in a state-ment on Chelsea's websitewhich announced the fine.

The club simultaneouslypublished a statement fromSarri in which the managersaid the pair had spoken fol-

lowing the row, whichoccurred in extra time of thematch which Manchester Citywon on penalties.

"He has apologised to me,his team-mates and the club,"said Sarri. "It is up to the clubif they want to discipline himaccording to the club rules,but for me this matter is nowclosed."

Sarri, who reacted furi-ously when Kepa refused to besubstituted after needingtreatment in the closingstages, said the incident hadbeen a "misunderstanding".

"There was a misunder-standing yesterday but (Kepa)realises he made a big mistake

in the way he reacted."The team performance as

a whole was extremely posi-tive and it is a shame to seehow this incident has over-shadowed our efforts in whatwas a very competitive cupfinal." Kepa, the club's record71 million ($ 93 million) sign-ing from Athletic Bilbao,refused to leave the field to bereplaced by Willy Caballero.Sarri then stormed off downthe tunnel in anger beforereturning.

"I wanted to take the timetoday to apologise fully and inperson to the coach, to Willy,my team-mates and to theclub," said Kepa.

AFP n MANCHESTER

Manchester City bagged the first silverware of the seasonby winning the League Cup final against Chelsea but man-

ager Pep Guardiola will be cautious about the midweek leagueencounter with his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini.

Mid-table West Ham are the visitors to the EtihadStadium on Wednesday as City return to league action follow-ing their penalty shootout win at Wembley.

But celebrations after a highly satisfactory Sunday after-noon for Guardiola, with title rivals Liverpool only managingto pick up a point in a draw at Manchester United, were mutedby the post-match news from the City dressing room.

Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho (groin) and centraldefender Aymeric Laporte (hamstring) both collected injuriesat Wembley that Guardiola said would sideline them for sev-eral weeks. Even allowing for the depth of a City squad assem-bled for vast sums, it would be hard to pick two less replace-able performers for the manager to lose at such a pivotal stageof the campaign, with his side chasing an unprecedentedquadruple. Fernandinho, in particular, has become one ofGuardiola's most dependable lieutenants at the Etihad, one ofthe few players whose name is guaranteed to be in City's start-ing XI every week. Since his arrival in 2013, City have won morethan 70 percent of the games in which he has played, a per-centage that drops below 60 in his absence. Most recently, whenCity suffered shock consecutive defeats against Crystal Palaceand Leicester, Fernandinho, 33, was absent.

Ilkay Gundogan and Fabian Delph are logical potentialreplacements in the defensive midfield role but, despite theirstatus as international players, they cannot match Fernandinho'spoise and tackling ability . Danilo played in that role with RealMadrid and is another potential replacement while Guardiolahas even spoken about playmaker Kevin De Bruyne playingin a deeper position.

FERNANDINHO FACTORFernandinho's all-round excellence even saw him select-

ed at centre-half by Guardiola for the recent home win overArsenal and the loss of Laporte adds to the manager's concernsin that department. Veteran Vincent Kompany has struggledfor fitness and form for much of the season although John Stonesis close to returning from his own injury lay-off.

AFP n BARCELONA

Clement Lenglet describesit as the fixture that"freezes time" and

believes this week's Clasicodouble-header could stilldefine the seasons of both hisown Barcelona, and RealMadrid.

The two clubs will meettwice in four days at theSantiago Bernabeu, onWednesday in the second legof their Copa del Rey semi-final and then on Saturday, ina battle of first against third inLa Liga.

Even victory is unlikely toproject Madrid back into thetitle race but for SantiagoSolari's side, momentum is atstake, their steady, if not unwa-vering, resurgence poised for apotential double boost aheadof the campaign's decisivemonths.

Barcelona's priority may bethe Champions League andtheir hold on La Liga too tightto shake off but it says some-thing for the magnitude of theClasico that Lenglet still feelsits significance.

"This month is pivotal," hesays.

"There is the ChampionsLeague and these two gamesagainst Real, when wecan qualify for a cupfinal and then gain orlose points on them inthe league.

"We have to manage themproperly. It could be pivotal forthe rest of the season." Madridhold a slight advantage in thecup, having taken a creditable1-1 draw from the opening leglast month at the Camp Nou.

Barca were without LionelMessi, whose stunning hat-trick against Sevilla on Sundaywas surely one of his best, butMadrid's showing confirmedtheir transformation from thebroken team that werethrashed 5-1 by the Catalansin October.

"The dynamics are com-

pletely different now," saysLenglet.

"These are the Europeanchampions. They have turnedthe tide."

GREATEST GRUDGEMATCH

Madrid and Barca lookunder threat in the ChampionsLeague from the likes ofManchester City, Liverpool,

Paris Saint-Germain,J u v e n t u sa n d

Atletico. Yet in terms of qual-ity, the Clasico remains foot-ball's greatest grudge match.

"As players, we are in ourlittle bubble but when wecome out, we realise it is a dif-ferent game from the othersbecause of the power it hasaround the world," Lengletsaid. "It's a game that seems tofreeze time."

Lenglet is in a position toappreciate it more than most.Only three seasons ago, the 23-year-old was playing forNancy, the French club wherehe was first given his chance.

He spent 18 months at

Sevilla, enough to persuadeBarca to pay his 35.9 million-euro ($40.6 million) buy-outclause last summer.

"I could never have imag-ined I'd come so far so quick-ly," he says. "I went to Seville,and for me that was a bigjump.

"No disrespect to Nancy,but they were worlds apart. Tothen be at Barcelona a year anda half later, I could never haveimagined it."

He has been thrown in atthe deep end, with SamuelUmtiti only just recoveringfrom a knee injury, allowingLenglet to be fast-tracked intothe role of Gerard Pique'spartner-in-chief.

Many are predicting a call-up to the France squad nextmonth.

"We live with the bestplayers in the world and thatmakes you learn quickly,"Lenglet said.

"I'm more thoughtful nowabout when to release the ball,when to clear and when tokeep it, when to be morepatient. It's about managingthe game."

It helps to have Messi too,Barcelona's captain fresh fromscoring his 50th career hat-trick last weekend.

"I remember when I firstarrived, he said hello, gave mea little hug — I felt immediate-ly at ease," Lenglet said.

Messi may not play bothgames against Madrid, afterbeing disrupted recently by athigh strain, but his influenceon youngsters like Lenglet istotal. "He is a technical leader,"said Lenglet.

"On the field he makes thedifference so often, in almostevery game. He's a leaderthrough his experience. Hewatches football, knows alltypes of football and has mas-tered it to perfection.

There's only one Messiand when he gives advice,you listen."

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Documents

INDIA EXACTS PAK VENGEANCE - dailypioneer.com...chief Masood Azhar. Maulana Yousuf Azhar is believed to be one of the hijack-ers of Indian Airlines Airbus IC-814 in December 1999,