Latest news with #KashmirSingh
Indian Express
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
On Simla Agreement anniversary, 1971 war survivors in Punjab remember poignant homecoming: ‘Had lost all hope, but we made it'
Fifty-three years after the Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan was signed on July 2, 1972, to 'normalise relations after the 1971 war', several senior citizens in Punjab's border villages remember how the peace accord had paved the way for their safe homecoming. During the 1971 war, Pakistan detained at least 300 civilians from Bakhu Shah and Muhammad Peer villages in Punjab's border district of Fazilka. These villagers were only released months later, after the Simla Agreement was inked. According to the agreement, it was mutually agreed that 'prisoners of wars and civilian internees' detained by both countries during the war would be released by both sides. 'We were lodged in Sahiwal jail for four months (December – April 1972) before being shifted to a camp in Harappa. My wife went into labour at the camp and was taken to the Sahiwal district hospital in a jeep. I was not allowed to accompany her. A Pakistani policeman informed me about my son's birth after returning to the camp. I was elated, but we had no means, no money, or even a spoonful of sugar to celebrate the moment. All detainees in the camp had collectively named him Rawel Singh,' recalls Kashmir Singh, 76, from Bakhu Shah village. Kashmir's wife, Nanki Bai, 74, remembers how Pakistanis would gather around her to catch a glimpse of her son. 'At Sahiwal government hospital, where I delivered my son, locals would say 'India ka bachha paida hua (An Indian baby is born here). They would just gather to see him. We were hopeful that we would return to our country someday,' she says. Rawel died a few years ago. The Simla Agreement, signed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and then Pakistan President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, now lies in abeyance following the recent tension between the two neighbours after the Pahalgam terror attack, and Operation Sindoor. However, for the Fazilka villagers who spent months in detention camps in Pakistan, the accord was the only ray of hope to return to their homes and reunite with their families. 'We returned to India via the Wagah border on September 16, 1972. We can never forget that day. Those scenes still roll in front of my eyes every night. All the hopes to return home were lost, but we finally made it,' says Kashmir. Kashmir Singh was among the first batch of 273 Indian civilians released by Pakistan and handed over to Indian authorities at Wagah on September 16, 1972. In return, India had agreed to repatriate all 700 Pakistani civilians in its custody, according to a Reuters report dated September 16, 1972. The war ended with India's victory, the creation of Bangladesh, and the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers. Like Singh, Channo Bai, 70, was also detained. 'My son was left behind in Fazilka with his grandparents, but my husband and I were taken away. They had taken away all the jewellery we were wearing, and it was never returned to us even after our release. They looted everything we had,' she says. Chindo Bai, in her sixties, who is the current sarpanch of Muhammad Peer village was around seven or eight years old at the time. 'Firing had started, and an officer came. We were all captured and taken to Pakistan. We were lodged in Sahiwal jail. Half of the village was with us. Our elders said that it was only due to then PM Indira Gandhi that we were released and could return home,' says Chindo. Dalip Singh, the lambardar (revenue official) of Bakhu Shah village, says that of nearly 300 people who were detained by the Pakistan Army in 1971, around 111 were from Bakhu Shah and the rest from Mohammad Peer and Pakka Chishti. 'Very few of them are alive now. A 10-member committee from border villages, led by then panchayat member late Guradita Ram, had met Gandhi, demanding the release of our people. She had promised that she would secure their release, as we had 93,000 Pakistani soldiers in our captivity. She kept her word,' says Dalip. Satnam Singh, 70, also from Muhammad Peer, says that he was detained along with his deceased parents, Nain Singh and Kartaro Bai. 'I was around 16-17 then. They looted all our belongings. We were only left with the clothes we were wearing. I can never forget Sahiwal jail. We used to get roasted chana (chickpeas) once a week. Assi museebat badi vekhi hai (We have been through a lot),' he says. Military historian Mandeep Singh Bajwa's father, the late Major General K S Bajwa, was the head of the repatriations of the civilian internees and prisoners of war exchanged between India and Pakistan after the 1971 war ended. 'Fazilka was the epicentre of the 1971 war, where the Pakistani Army had launched its offensive, but we had defended it successfully. The Pakistan Army had plundered these villages in Fazilka,' he says. On their return from Pakistan, all that was left behind was 'devastation', the villagers recall, adding that their lives had to be rebuilt, brick by brick. 'The Pakistan army had even looted doors and windows and uprooted handpumps. Our houses were razed; farms were reduced to barrenness. They left nothing behind. We had to restart our lives and rebuild everything. We never really came out of that trauma and poverty. Our children are still without jobs. We are still the first to be on the edge whenever there is India-Pakistan tension,' says Kashmir Singh. Even after five decades, the border villages of Bakhu Shah and Muhammad Peer lack basic facilities such as proper roads, clean drinking water and a bridge for easy evacuation. Chindo's son Kulwinder Singh, 31, says, 'We are always at the frontlines whenever there is tension between India and Pakistan, but even now we do not have a bridge to evacuate easily if there is a war-like situation again. We have written multiple letters demanding better roads and infrastructure in case there is a war again, but no one listens.' 'Even the thought of leaving our homes and rebuilding them gives us nightmares. We request the government to give us land in safer areas to build our homes, and then fight as many wars as they want. But who will hear us now when no one did for five decades? No one remembers what we endured for our country,' rues Kashmir. Leela Dhar Sharma, 71, a Fazilka native and president of the Border Area Vikas Front, says: 'Governments should have focused on the development of these villages as the villagers have endured a lot, but they have been forgotten like they never existed.'
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Time of India
Ludhiana police book bus driver and staff for violent attack on Jammu family.
Ludhiana: A Jammu resident was left with severe injuries after allegedly being attacked by a private bus driver and his associates here, following a dispute over transport arrangements. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Police have registered a case of attempted murder against the staff of Arman Travels, a Delhi-based private bus operator. The incident occurred on April 30 outside the Dhyan Singh Complex near the Ludhiana bus stand, when Chamail Singh, a resident of Thakrakote in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory, and 20-odd members of his family were travelling from Delhi to Jammu in a bus hired from Arman Travels. Assistant sub-inspector Kashmir Singh of Division Number 5 police station claims that the bus driver stopped in Ludhiana around 9 pm and told the passengers to switch buses. Even though he promised to arrange an alternative vehicle, one never arrived. As tensions escalated, the driver and other members of the agency staff turned violent allegedly. "An argument broke out when the promised replacement bus failed to show up even after an hour," ASI Singh said. "It spiralled into a physical assault quickly, during which Chamail Singh sustained a severe head injury." Chamail Singh refrained from filing a complaint in Ludhiana initially. Upon returning to Jammu, he filed a police complaint with Reasi district police. The FIR (first-information report) was, later, transferred to Ludhiana police as a zero FIR for jurisdictional processing. Based on the complaint, police have booked the accused under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including 109 (attempt to murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 118(1) (causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons), 191(3) (rioting), 310(2) (dacoity), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), and 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), along with sections 4 and 25 of the Arms Act. The FIR names unidentified individuals currently. The ASI said efforts were in progress to identify and arrest the suspects. MSID:: 121364140 413 |
Hindustan Times
24-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Ludhiana: Pvt bus staff booked for murder bid after attack on passengers
The Division Number 5 police have registered a case against the driver and staff of private travel company Arman Travels after they allegedly attempted to kill a passenger from Jammu and his family members following an altercation. The incident occurred on April 30 near the Dhyan Singh Complex, close to the Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar Inter State Bus Terminal in Ludhiana. The victim, Chamail Singh, a resident of Thakrakote in Reasi district, Jammu, was travelling with around 20 family members from Delhi to Jammu. The bus, operated by Arman Travels, was expected to reach Jammu by 10pm. However, around 9pm, the driver abruptly stopped the bus in Ludhiana and asked the passengers to disembark, assuring them that a replacement bus would be arranged. Initially, the family members agreed to disembark, trusting the driver's promise. However, after waiting for over an hour with no alternative transport arranged, tensions rose as passengers questioned the driver. According to assistant sub-inspector Kashmir Singh, who is investigating the case, the disagreement escalated rapidly, leading the driver and other staff members to violently attack the passengers. Chamail Singh sustained serious head injuries during the assault. Despite the severity of the attack, no complaint was filed in Ludhiana at the time as the family proceeded to their hometown. Later, Singh lodged a complaint with the Reasi police in Jammu, who registered an FIR and forwarded it as a zero FIR to Ludhiana police for further investigation. 'The FIR has been filed under Sections 109, 115(2), 118(1), 191(3), 310(2), 351 (2), 352 of the BNS and Section 25 of Arms Act against unidentified persons from Arman Travels. We are in the process of identifying and tracking down the accused. A hunt is on for their arrest,' said ASI Kashmir Singh.
Indian Express
11-05-2025
- Indian Express
NIA arrests Nabha jailbreak fugitive Kashmir Singh Galwaddi from Bihar
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a key Khalistani operative associated with Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda, a Babbar Khalsa terrorist based out of India. The accused, Kashmir Singh Galwaddi from Punjab's Ludhiana, was among the hardened criminals who escaped from Nabha jail during a high-profile jailbreak in 2016. The arrest was made in Motihari, Bihar, in coordination with the local police, in connection with an ongoing Khalistani terror conspiracy case. Since his escape, Kashmir Singh had remained actively involved with designated Khalistani terrorists, including Rinda, and played a critical role in their cross-border operations. An important link in the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Rinda's terror network in Nepal, Kashmir Singh was a proclaimed offender in the NIA case RC-37/2022/NIA/DLI. He is accused of being part of a larger conspiracy to provide shelter, logistics, and terror funding to aides of Khalistani terrorists who fled to Nepal after executing various attacks in India—including the RPG assault on the Punjab police intelligence headquarters in Mohali. The NIA registered the terror conspiracy case suo motu in August 2022 to investigate the activities of proscribed terrorist organisations such as the BKI, Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), and the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), among others. The probe uncovered a deep-rooted nexus between terrorist groups and criminal gangs engaged in smuggling arms, ammunition, explosives, IEDs, and other terrorist hardware from across the border to carry out attacks in India. Kashmir Singh had been declared a proclaimed offender by an NIA special court in the 2022 case. Non-bailable warrants had been issued against him, and the NIA had also announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for information leading to his arrest. In July 2023, the NIA chargesheeted nine accused in the case, including Rinda and his associate Landa. Two supplementary chargesheets against six more individuals followed. In August 2024, the agency secured the extradition of Landa's brother, Tarsem Singh, from the UAE, and filed a third supplementary chargesheet against him in December 2024.
Time of India
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
2016 Nabha jailbreak fugitive Kashmir Singh arrested by NIA in Bihar
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a key Khalistani operative associated with foreign-based Babbar Khalsa International terrorist Harwinder Singh Sandhu @Rinda, and who was among the prisoners who had escaped in the Nabha jail break of 2016. NIA nabbed Kashmir Singh Galwaddi of Ludhiana, Punjab, from Motihari, Bihar in coordination with the Bihar police, in connection with a Khalistani terror conspiracy case . Operation Sindoor 'Decided to strike where it would hurt': Air Marshal on Op Sindoor Op Sindoor: IC-814 hijackers, Pulwama plotters among over 100 terrorists killed 'Pak Army lost 35 to 40 personnel': Takeaways from armed forces' briefing on Op Sindoor Since the jailbreak, Kashmir Singh was actively associated with designated Khalistani terrorists including Rinda. Kashmir Singh was declared a proclaimed offender by an NIA court in a 2022 Khalistani terror conspiracy case. A cash reward of Rs 10 lakh was announced by NIA for information leading to his arrest. An important node of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Rinda's terror gang in Nepal, Kashmir was accused of conspiring and providing shelter, logistics support and terror funds to aides of the Khalistani terrorists. These aides had escaped to Nepal after carrying our various terror activities in India, including the RPG attack at the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like AI guru Andrew Ng recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around in 2025 Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo Investigations into the terror conspiracy case had exposed a terror-criminal nexus, suggesting that Khalistani terror like BKI, Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), along with organised criminal gangs, were engaged in smuggling terrorist hardware, such as arms, ammunition explosive, IEDs etc from across the border to carry out terror activities in various parts of the country. NIA has so far chargesheeted 15 accused in the case. In August 2024, the anti-terror agency had successfully secured the extradition of Landa's brother Tarsem Singh from UAE and filed a third supplementary chargesheet against him in December. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Mother's Day wishes , messages , and quotes !
