Pakistan honours 'Kargil hero' whose body it refused to accept
However, it's learnt that Pakistan had refused to accept his body that was found on Tiger Hill in the Dras sub-sector.
According to a press release issued by the Indian embassy in Washington on July 15, 1999, Pakistan authorities adamantly refused to acknowledge the involvement of Pakistan army regulars in the misadventure in Kargil and as a part of that process did not initially acknowledge Khan's identification by India through correspondence found on him.
"It is clear that Pakistan is fully aware of the identities of these bodies but they do not wish to acknowledge this fact as it would immediately expose their army's involvement in Kargil. Hence, their persistent and callous refusal to do so, they are doing great disservice to the families of their soldiers and to the traditions of armed forces everywhere," the embassy had said in its statement.
India had approached Pakistan on July 12, saying it would like to hand over the body to the Pakistan army.
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Subsequently, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) approached India on July 13, stating that the Pakistan govt had requested them to contact India for handing over the bodies of the two officers about which they had heard.
"The Pakistani request did not specify the names and identities of the two officers, despite the information being available to them. The reason is obvious. The Pakistan authorities realised that if they conceded the identities of these two officers, it would demolish the myth that the Pakistan army was not involved in Kargil," said the embassy.
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India Today
8 minutes ago
- India Today
Voter rolls revision is legal, moral and essential. So, what's the problem?
Demography is destiny, and dozens of districts in India have already seen their destiny being shaped by those who aren't Indians. It is through elections that a nation shapes its politics and policy, and it is only fair that only genuine citizens get to decide on the course the country takes. For this, intensive scrutiny of electoral rolls, from time to time, is a 326 of the Constitution ensures every Indian above the age of 18 shall be entitled to be registered as a voter, but the fundamental precondition is that the person has to be an Indian citizen. The Election Commission (EC) says it "has a constitutional obligation to ensure that only persons who are citizens" get to ensure that, the EC needs to conduct intensive revisions of electoral rolls at regular the recent political fireworks were sparked by the EC's announcement that it was starting a special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in intensive revision of electoral rolls is planned as a pan-India exercise and starts with Bihar, the state to go to the polls July 3, 11 INDIA bloc parties met Election Commission (EC) officials and raised concerns over the timing of the exercise. They alleged that over two crore voters of Bihar might get disenfranchised because they won't be able to provide the documents sought by the July 06, the EC made it clear that while voters were required to "submit their documents anytime before July 25, 2025", those who failed to do so would get an opportunity "during the claims and objections period". The enumeration form has to be submitted to the Booth Level Officer (BLO).The EC said in a statement on July 6 that 77,895 BLOs were involved in the house-to-house exercise, helping voters fill out enumeration forms, and collecting them.A revision of electoral rolls is an essential, legal and moral exercise, and was last conducted 20 years ago. Since then, only summary revision of electoral rolls has taken place. Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, also states that only Indian citizens are entitled to be registered on the electoral roll. (PTI Image for representation) With the special intensive revison, the EC intends to hold rigorous door-to-door surveys and weed out illegal immigrants who might have surreptitiously sneaked in into the voters' has 20 million Bangladeshi illegal immigrants, Kiren Rijiju, then junior Home Minister, told Parliament in SPECIAL INTENSIVE REVISION OF ELECTORAL ROLLS MATTERS FOR BIHARBihar, other than states like Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand, is reported to have witnessed large-scale illegal immigration, especially from of Bihar, especially the Seemanchal region -- adjoining Bengal and Nepal -- are said to have seen an asymmetric growth in population. The region with four districts is not far from the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck, where Bangladesh territory juts in."The [Seemanchal] region, which is also considered the most backward in Bihar, has a 47% Muslim population as against Bihar's state-wide average of 17%," according to a 2020 National Herald demography of Seemanchal districts like Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnea has enabled Bangladeshis to blend in is ironic is that the name Seemanchal itself reveals the change. The region was regarded as part of the larger Kosi-Mithila belt, and experts opine that the new nomenclature is a calculated move to create a sub-regional region contributes 24 seats to Bihar's 243-member has 7.9 crore voters and will likely hold election later. Currently, the BJP-led NDA is in power in the state, with JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar the chief minister. Purnia MP Pappu Yadav speaking during a conference in Patna, on June 29. The Independent Lok Sabha MP, who supports the Opposition INDIA bloc in the lower house, declared a 'Bihar Bandh' on July 9 against the SIR drive of the Election Commission. (PTI Image) LIST OF 11 DOCUMENTS, 2003 VOTER ROLLS FOR VERIFICATIONThe last intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar was conducted in 2003, over two decades EC, in a statement issued on June 24, cited reasons like rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants for the revision of Bihar, the poll body is conducting a door-to-door exercise, which began on June 25 and will continue till September 30, to collect enumeration forms to verify genuine the 7.9 crore voters in Bihar, around 5 crore were in the January 1, 2003, last scrutinised list and only need to submit an extract from that roll. The remaining 2.9 crore voters must produce at least one document from a list of 11 list doesn't include Aadhaar card, PAN and driving licence, generally used across India as ID simple reason is that none of these documents are proof of voting in India is a right that comes with being an Indian, people will need to provide documents that prove they are identity card or pension payment order, birth certificate, passport, matriculation certificate, permanent residence, caste or forest right certificates are among the 11 documents that will work to prove date and place of of 11 Accepted Documents for Voter Verification (for those not in 2003 Rolls) Type1Identity card / Pension Payment Order of a PSU employee or pensioner2ID / Certificate / Document issued by government, local bodies, banks, post offices, LIC, PSU (pre-July 1, 1987)3Birth certificate issued by a competent authority4Passport5Matriculation / Educational certificate from a recognised board or university6Permanent residence certificate issued by competent state authority7Forest Rights Certificate8OBC / SC / ST or any valid caste certificate9National Register of Citizens (NRC), wherever it exists10Family register11Land or house allotment certificateWHY EXPERTS FEEL THE EXERCISE MIGHT DELIST VOTERSThe EC has divided the voters into three categories for the verification drive. Each category needs to furnish a different set of two significant years here are 1987 and 2004. In those last two years, India brought in laws to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining EC exercise is aligned with the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2003, which was notified in 2004, and the documents sought are according to the born before July 1, 1987, are most likely to be on the 2003 revised voter list. They just need to submit the enumeration form with the extract of the 2003 roll, which has been made available 2003 voter list would be treated as the base document with those on the list and their children using it to file the enumeration born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, have to provide one of the 11 documents for themselves, establishing date and place of birth. And also provide any of the documents for one of the those born after December 2, 2004, other than a document for themselves proving the date and place of birth, documents proving the citizenship of both parents are of BirthRequired DocumentsCategory 1: Likely on the 2003 voter listBefore July 1, 1987Only Enumeration Form (no additional documents needed if name is on 2003 list)Category 2: Self + One Parent's ProofBetween July 1, 1987 and Dec 2, 2004One of 11 Documents for self (date & place of birth) + One document for one parentCategory 3: Self + Both Parents' ProofAfter December 2, 2004One of 11 Documents for self (date & place of birth) + Documents for both parents' citizenshipIn the case of Bihar, the EC has clarified that 60% of the voters don't need to furnish any documents after it uploaded the 2003 record on its Bihar is the second most-populous state after Uttar Pradesh, the record of births and issuance of certificates has been historically that shouldn't be the case for those born in the 2000s. Also, officials and the EC are banking on the fact that the young voters will have one of the several listed are also suggesting that the idea of a universal adult franchise will now get pegged around education, with a matriculation certificate being one of the basic documents ARE OPPOSITION PARTIES OBJECTING TOThere are two reasons why the long-overdue process has kicked up a political storm. One is the list of documents, and the other is the window in which the exercise is being to reports, the EC earlier conducted intensive revisions of electoral rolls six to eight months ahead of polls. The window in this case is three-four months at the EC is confident that its well-oiled machinery is more than capable of conducting the exercise in the given time than the 77,895 block-level officers (BLOs), "20,603 BLOs are being appointed for the smooth and timely completion of the process," the EC said on July 6. Four lakh volunteers, including government officials and NCC cadets, were working in the field to assist "vulnerable populations", and 1.5 lakh booth-level agents of political parties were also helping out, it parties are contending that the exercise, too close to the Assembly polls in Bihar, will not give an opportunity to those left out of the rolls, especially the poor and the unlettered, to challenge the decision and get back as voters in are calling it votebandi, that is following the notebandi (demonetisation) and deshbandi (lockdown)."This is 'votebandi, this is disenfranchisement": @_YogendraYadav, Co-Founder, Swaraj India, on Bihar electoral roll revision move#NewsToday #BiharAssemblyElection #ElectoralRollRevision | @sardesairajdeep IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) July 3, 2025The Congress alleges that the SIR of electoral rolls would lead to poor and tribal voters being disenfranchised. It says the exercise carries a huge risk of wilful exclusion of voters using the power of the State was the Congress itself that raised doubts over the electoral rolls after the 2024 Assembly election in MP Rajesh Ranjan, better known as Pappu Yadav, has urged voters in Bihar's Seemanchal region to not cooperate with the BLOs conducting the SIR. He says the exercise could disenfranchise marginalised communities."Don't show any documents; they will use these documents as an excuse to delete your vote," said the Lok Sabha MP, who is an Independent but supports the opposition INDIA bloc in Parliament. He has called a Bihar bandh on July 9 against the intensive revision of electoral chief Asaduddin Owaisi accused the EC of using the SIR to "secretly implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Bihar". Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress too alleged that the EC exercise was a "sinister move" to "bring NRC through the backdoor". The West Bengal CM called the exercise, a Trinamool Congress has also gone ahead and suggested that the EC treat the 2024 voter list as the base year for any revision of electoral is quite stunning coming from the ruling party of a state like West Bengal that has seen large-scale illegal immigration from Bangladesh. Regular rioting in Bengal, the latest of which was during anti-waqf law protests, has been blamed on the change in demography of its 2024 the base year would also legalise illegal voters who have made it to the electoral lists in the last 20 argument against the 11 documents is equally stunning. How can documents, like PAN and Aadhaar, which are issued declaring that they aren't proof of citizenship be allowed to prove citizenship?AN ARGUMENT FOR REVISION OF ELECTORAL ROLLSThe value of a citizen's vote is sacrosanct. That is why the country also holds the delimitation must be ensured that only genuine citizens get to vote. The special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is the only way to ensure July 6, the EC said that the initial phase of Bihar SIR had been completed. It said 1.69 crore or 21.46% of the total enumeration forms had been SIR is a much-needed exercise, and the government should enable all genuine citizens to prove their citizenship. The EC has vowed that no genuine voter will be dropped from the vetted the electoral rolls aren't vetted now, or if the base year is changed, then there is a risk of illegal immigrants, and India has millions of them getting into or continuing on the electoral end result will be people who have no stake in India's growth and those not rooted in the nation's ethos making decisions that will impact its politics and policy. India is at a crossroads, and it can't surrender to clamour. If the exercise isn't conducted now, it might be too late.- EndsMust Watch advertisement
Time of India
9 minutes ago
- Time of India
Banakacherla river row: CM Revanth Reddy on 2-day Delhi visit; to seek aid for Telangana project approvals
HYDERABAD: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy will leave for New Delhi on Monday on a two-day visit. He will be meeting Union ministers to seek approval for key projects as well as release of central funds for them. Before leaving for the national capital, the CM is expected to launch the Vana Mahotsav programme by planting saplings at Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University campus in Rajendranagar in the morning. During his stay in the national capital, he, along with officials, is expected to urge the Union ministers to expedite approvals for the Hyderabad Metro rail phase-II project, the detailed project report (DPR) of which was submitted to the Centre. Sources said the chief minister's office (CMO) has sought appointments with over half-a-dozen Union ministers on Monday and Tuesday. Revanth to discuss Banakacherla issue by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Depending on their availability, Revanth would meet them to discuss issues related to Banakacherla and other irrigation projects being undertaken by Andhra Pradesh, which are detrimental to Telangana's river water share. The CM is likely to meet Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, seeking approval and funding for the southern corridor of the Regional Ring Road (RRR) project, and cabinet approvals for both the northern and southern corridors of the project. The Congress govt in the state has already declared the area between the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and the proposed RRR as Telangana's semi-urban area, where industrial clusters would be set up. Revanth would also address the issue of the Musi rejuvenation project, industrial and defence corridors, and fertiliser supply, and seek forest and environmental clearances for various projects. The CM, along with minister D Sridhar Babu and PonnamPrabhakar, was supposed to meet Union home minister Amit Shah during his visit to Telangana recently. However, Shah, due to his busy schedule, did not meet even his party leaders who had planned a programme at the Begumpet airport. Revanth is also set to invite AICC leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi for the public meetings to be organised in Telangana. In May, Revanth had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital and urged him to approve a dedicated channel for Telangana to attract global investments and boost exports. He also requested the issuance of a notification for the Hyderabad-Bengaluru defence corridor, support for defence and aerospace projects, approval to include Telangana in India's Semiconductor Mission, and the Union cabinet's approval and funding for Hyderabad Metro rail expansion, RRR, and the dry port greenfield corridor with dedicated railway lines around it. He met the Prime Minister immediately after the NITI Aayog meeting.
The Wire
12 minutes ago
- The Wire
Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in Bihar Is a Recipe for Disenfranchisement
Government The bulk of Bihar's electorate, comprising poor cultivators and rural labourers would find it difficult to comply with the stringent citizenship criteria underlying the enumeration process. Most of them would have to rely entirely on the BLOs. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on June 24, 2025 is already underway in the state of Bihar, where assembly election is scheduled later this year. The order issued by the ECI states that the exercise is to be undertaken across the country to "protect the integrity of the electoral rolls". ECI's order further informs that intensive revisions of electoral rolls have been undertaken in various states thirteen times in the past between 1952 and 2004, the last SIR in Bihar being conducted in 2003. However, in 2025, the SIR is directed at verifying the citizenship status of each and every voter through house-to-house enumeration by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Voters are required to submit documents proving Indian citizenship. This is quite unprecedented, outside the states of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir. SIR 2025: The Process Sections 21(1) & (2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RPA, 1950) mandate the revision of electoral rolls for every constituency before each general elections for parliament and state assemblies, as well as bye-elections. The Act also empowers the ECI to direct a revision of electoral rolls in any year, "by reference to the qualifying date". As far as special revisions are concerned, Section 21(3) of the law permits the ECI to "direct a special revision of the electoral roll for any constituency or part of a constituency in such manner as it may think fit" at any time, "for reasons to be recorded". The RPA, 1950 does not refer to any "intensive" revision of electoral rolls. The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 framed under section 28 of the RPA, 1950 lays down the process of electoral roll revisions. Section 25 of the 1960 rules was amended in 1987 to introduce two distinct categories of electoral roll revisions, summary and intensive. ECI's press note dated June 24 states: "Rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of an intensive revision so as to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls." Migration, addition of newly eligible voters and deletion of deceased voters are normal phenomena based on which summary revisions of electoral rolls have been duly undertaken by the ECI in the past 20 years and more. A special revision is not necessitated by such factors. Inclusion of "foreign illegal immigrants" does stand out as the new reason. However, no evidence of large-scale inclusion of "foreign illegal immigrants" in the electoral rolls have been provided from any quarter, to justify a special revision in Bihar or the entire country. The SIR exercise already underway in Bihar since June 25 involves 98,498 BLOs reaching out to all the existing 7.89 crore enrolled voters of the state, through house-to-house enumeration within a span of 30 days. BLOs are required to hand over printed copies of enumeration forms to every voter, which have to be duly filled and submitted before July 25, 2025. The filled up forms have to be uploaded to the newly developed ECINet unified portal, either directly or through a BLO. Any voter who fails to upload the filled up enumeration form along with self-attested documents by the July deadline, would be excluded from the draft electoral roll to be published on August 1, 2025. Those excluded are required to fill the enumeration form for new electors and submit it within a period stipulated for "claims and objections", ending on September 1, 2025. Also read: EC Officials Can Now Report Persons to Foreigner Tribunals: New Clause 5(b) in Bihar Roll 'Update' Sparks Concern Legality The self-attested documents required to be submitted along with the enumeration forms are the most contentious. Each voter has to submit documentary proof of his/her date and place of birth. For those born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004, additional documentary proof of date and place of birth of either father or mother is required. For those voters born after December 2, 2004, both parents' date and place of birth are required to be submitted. It is clear that the ECI has decided to verify the citizenship of each and every enrolled voter of Bihar through the SIR process, as per the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2003. This is confirmed by the explicit instruction for the electoral registration officers (EROs) "to refer cases of suspected foreign nationals to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955", contained in the detailed guidelines for SIR appended to the ECI's June 24 order. The controversial citizenship amendment legislation passed in 2003, whose constitutionality remains under challenge before the Supreme Court, had labelled all undocumented migrants including cross-border refugees in India as "illegal migrants"; denied birthright citizenship for their children; and proposed to introduce a National Register of Indian Citizens (NRC). It is noteworthy, that the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, which elaborates the process of excluding the names of doubtful citizens from the population register and initialising the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRC), was notified on December 10, 2023 under the pre-existing Citizenship Act, 1955. The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2003 was passed by parliament only on December 22, 2003 and received presidential assent on January 7, 2004. Its provisions came into force through a gazette notification dated December 3, 2004. Yet, the Citizenship Rules, 2003 were never revised or reissued after the operationalisation of the law, which makes their legal status doubtful. Neither did the Registrar General of India ever issue any order to initiate the NRC nor was any house-to-house enumeration process carried out throughout the country, as stipulated in the citizenship rules. Following the Assam NRC, attempts to initiate a nationwide NRC process were made in 2019 by the Union home ministry, but they were non-starters after nationwide protests. In this backdrop, it is questionable whether the Election Commission of India has any legal mandate to direct a citizenship test for all the electors of Bihar or any other state, based on a process quite similar to the one prescribed in the citizenship rules of 2003. The way this citizenship verification process was suddenly initiated in the name of a special intensive revision of electoral rolls, months ahead of a general election in Bihar, does not befit a universally respected constitutional authority like the ECI. Also read: EC's Directive to Update Voter Lists in Bihar Risks Mass Exclusion. Here's Why Logistical nightmare Besides issues of legality, it is doubtful whether the ECI commands the logistical wherewithal to conduct this mammoth citizenship test for 7.89 crore voters of Bihar within a period of 68 days, with the final electoral roll scheduled for publication on September 30, 2025. The application process of Assam NRC took 90 days for 3.3 crore applications to be filed online. It took another four years for the State Coordinator of NRC to process the documents and publish the final updated NRC in August 2019 with 3.11 crore names, only to be rejected as " flawed" by the government of Assam. Over Rs 1600 crore of public expenditure went down the drain. The outcome of ECI's SIR in a state like Bihar is unlikely to be any different. ECI had conducted the KAP-Endline Survey, 2024 ("Knowledge, Attitude and Practices") in Bihar after the last Loksabha polls with a sample size of 41,913 citizens spread across 243 assembly constituencies. The survey revealed that only 27% of respondents had studied upto higher secondary and above, 33% were illiterate, 41% did not use the internet at all, 29% did not watch TV, 53% did not read newspapers and less than 10% had any regular job in government or private service. The bulk of Bihar's electorate, comprising poor cultivators and rural labourers from the backward classes and scheduled castes, would find it difficult to comply with the stringent citizenship criteria underlying the enumeration process. Most of them would have to rely entirely on the BLOs, and suffer for the errors made by the latter. Errors are likely, because each BLO will have to verify and upload enumeration forms for around 800 voters per polling station within 30 days. In case large numbers of voters get excluded from the draft roll to be published on August 1, the electoral registration officers (EROs) and those higher up shall get overwhelmed with large numbers of claims and objections, possibly in lakhs. What shall further complicate the SIR exercise in Bihar is its inter-state out-migration rate, which is the highest among all Indian states. The Bihar caste survey conducted in 2022 revealed that 53.7 lakh of the 13.07 crore total population, i.e 4% of the population resided outside Bihar. A large section of such outmigrants; who would either not have access to the requisite documents and/or the wherewithal to upload them online within the deadline; would get excluded from the rolls. In sum, the sheer size and complexity of the SIR process alongside its limited timeframe makes it an exclusionary exercise, which can only lead to large-scale disenfranchisement of existing voters. Voter turnout in Bihar is among the lowest in India; only 56% of the Bihar electorate voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha election against the all-India voter turnout of 66%. For the ECI to conduct an exclusionary exercise like SIR ahead of the assembly poll is not in the direction of strengthening democracy. Prasenjit Bose is an economist and activist based in Kolkata. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
