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BIG STORY                                                               OCTOBER 15, 2021  |       The Indian Eye                          8




            Captain Amarinder Singh                                                                                   minister amidst tensions with-
        had resigned as Chief Minister                                                                                in the Congress has howev-
        on September 18 and had told                                                                                  er approved of the Centre’s
        the media that the Congress                                                                                   move. “Our soldiers are being
        leadership had let him down.                                                                                  killed in Kashmir. We’re see-
        He had also taken a dig at Sid-                                                                               ing more and more weapons
        hu over his resignation, saying                                                                               and drugs being pushed by Pa-
        he is not a stable man.                                                                                       kistan-backed terrorists into
            Sidhu was made PCC chief                                                                                  Punjab. BSF’s enhanced pres-
        by Congress leadership in July                                                                                ence and powers will only make
        to  stem  infighting  in  Punjab                                                                              us stronger. Let’s not drag cen-
        Congress ahead of next year’s                                                                                 tral armed forces into politics,”
        assembly polls but the party is                                                                               Singh tweeted.
        now grappling with a fresh cri-                                                                                   Former Punjab Congress
        sis.                                                                                                          President Sunil Jhakkar also
            Punjab  goes  to  elections                                                                               took a dig at the chief minister
        early next year and the focus                                                                                 when he put out a tweet stating
        of the party is on the polls. But                                                                             that Channi had unwittingly
        a constant bickering between          Punjab chief minister charanjit singh channi lays a wreath at the mortal   managed to hand over half of
        Sidhu and Amarinder Singh is         remains of Sepoy Gajjan Singh who was killed fighting terrorists in Jammu   Punjab to Central government.
        still a cause of concern. Also,              and Kashmir's Poonch, in rupnagar on wednesday (aNi)                 “Be careful what you ask for!
        the BJP government at the                                                                                     Has (Punjab CM) Charanjit
        Center is adding to its prob-                                                                                 Singh Channi unwittingly man-
        lems.                                                                                                         aged to hand over half of Pun-
            In a move aimed at main-                                                                                  jab to Central govt. 25,000sq
        taining “zero tolerance” against                                                                              km (out of total 50,000sq km)
        terrorism and cross border                                                                                    has now been placed under
        crimes, the Centre has em-                                                                                    BSF jurisdiction. Punjab Police
        powered the BSF to conduct                                                                                    stands castigated. Do we still
        searches, arrest suspects and                                                                                 want more autonomy from the
        make seizures up to an area of                                                                                States?”
        50 km inside Indian territory                                                                                     But Punjab Congress lead-
        from the International Border                                                                                 ers Pargat Singh and Vijay In-
        (IB) along the India-Pakistan                                                                                 der Singh on Thursday said the
        and India-Bangladesh borders.                                                                                 centre’s decision to extend the
        As per the fresh order, the BSF,                                                                              jurisdiction of the Border Se-
        which was only empowered to                                                                                   curity Force (BSF) over a wide
        take  action  up  to  fifteen  kilo-                                                                          area in three states, including
        metres in the states of Punjab,                                                                               Punjab, is an attack on the fed-
        West Bengal and Assam, has                                                                                    eral structure of India. “BJP is
        now been authorised to spread                                                                                 trying to take away the rights
        its jurisdiction up  to 50  km         Former Punjab cm captain amarinder singh addresses a press confer-     of the states. They should not
        without any hurdle or further                           ence in mohali on thursday (aNi)                      do this, they should not de-
        permission either from central                                                                                stroy federal structure... Pun-
        or state governments.                draw this decision, calling it an  running along the international       jabis have always stood togeth-
            As per the fresh order, the  attack on the federal structure  borders, which is a direct attack           er whether it was the freedom
        BSF, which was only empow- of the country.                               on federalism. I urge the Union      struggle or farmers’ protest.. we
        ered  to  take  action  up  to  fif-    Punjab Chief Minister Cha- Home Minister @AmitShah                    will fight against this too,” said
        teen kilometres in the states of  ranjit  Singh  Channi  has  con- to immediately roll back this              Vijay Inder Singh. On the issue
        Punjab, West Bengal and As- demned the Centre’s decision  irrational decision,” tweeted                       of drugs being supplied from
        sam, has now been authorised  to extend the Border Security  Channi.                                          across the border as one of the
        to spread its jurisdiction up to  Force (BSF)’s jurisdiction over            Punjab  Home  Minister           reasons for the BSF’s increased
        50 km without any hurdle or  a wider area along the borders  Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa                        jurisdiction order, Pargat Singh
        further permission either from  of three states and said that it is  has termed the Centre’s recent           said, “The Punjab Police, Chief
        central or state governments.  a “direct attack on federalism”.  decision of allowing more juris-             Minister and Home Minister
        The Congress government in  Channi requested the Union  diction to the Border Security                        are competent enough to deal
        Punjab has opposed the in- Home Minister Amit Shah to  Force (BSF) in border areas as                         with the problem. I accept there
        crease in the jurisdiction of the  immediately roll back this irra- an attempt to “weaken the spir-           are some black sheep who need
        Border Security  Force. Shiro- tional decision. “I strongly con- it of federalism”.                           to be identified.”
        mani Akali Dal has also op- demn the GoI’s unilateral deci-                  Channi’s  predecessor  Cap-          Slamming BJP and former
        posed it. Both the parties have  sion to give additional powers  tain Amarinder Singh who                     Punjab CM Captain Amarind-
        demanded the Centre to with- to BSF within the 50 km belt  had  to  resign  as  Punjab  chief                    Continued on next page... >>


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