Former Punjab Chief Minister warns against using the past to polarise the present

Former Punjab Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Capt Amarinder Singh has warned against using the past to polarise people in the present, asserting that there can be no escape from history.

Speaking on the  political fallout of the film ‘Satluj’, Amarinder, in an exclusive interview with The Tribune, said Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu was “unnecessarily raising the issue”. 

The senior BJP leader was reacting to posts on Bittu’s social media feed about ‘Satluj,’ including video clips of deceased and clean-shaven men, and persistent statements that the BJP did not ban the film and should not be held responsible for it.

Instead of piecemeal efforts like the movie, the former Chief Minister said, the entire gamut of incidents should be brought out. “If 25,000 were killed, there were 1,800 policemen who also died fighting these terrorists, as did thousands of other innocent persons. The names of all those who committed excesses on both sides should come out,” he said.

Asked what he thought about public screenings of the movie across Punjab, he said he didn’t know who was behind the movie being pulled down.

“But let me tell you that the BJP or the Congress will not gain from this. Only the Shiromani Akali Dal, Waris Punjab De and the Akali Dal (Punar Surjit) can probably foresee political gain. That is why these parties are encouraging public screenings,” he said. He pointed out that only after the movie was pulled down had it aroused massive public interest. “Had it remained on the platform, it would probably not have garnered such public interest,” he said.

The former Chief Minister also said there was “no point in running away from history, but that didn’t mean history should end up polarising the present”. “Jaswant Singh Khalra was collecting evidence of those who went missing. He was not doing anything wrong. Six policemen were also convicted later. How can this be denied? We need to own our past and remember it to the extent where we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. One does not want to carry these things to the future and get the younger generation worked up for past incidents,” he said, warning that it was a “very tricky business”.

Amarinder, who had resigned as an MP in 1984 to protest the Army entering the Golden Temple during Operation Bluestar, said that even during the worst phase of militancy in Punjab, the Hindus and the Sikhs remained united.

Recalling how the Hindus had always held the Darbar Sahib in the highest reverence, he said, “In days preceding Operation Bluestar when I was trying to facilitate dialogue between the Centre and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, I would go to meet him at Guru Nanak Niwas at 1 am and come out at 3 am. About 80 per cent of those cleaning the Darbar Sahib parikarma were Hindus. If Hindus were killed by militants, the Sikhs always sympathised with them. Be it the incident at Dhilwan where people were pulled out of a bus and killed or such targeted killings in Dera Bassi, Lalru or my own constituency, the common Sikh was totally against it. Back then, all were Punjabis–not Hindus or Sikhs,” he said.

The former Chief Minister also came out in support of the late KPS Gill, a former Punjab DGP. “He was brought to Punjab and assigned a specific task. He delegated work to his junior officers posted in different districts and police stations. If some of his juniors did things that were uncalled for, he cannot be blamed for it. His role in eliminating terrorism should not be undermined,” he added.

Naib Subedar Dhanda of the Army Marksmanship Unit clinched the gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Lonato, Italy

An Indian Army woman shooter has created history by winning country’s first-ever international gold medal in shotgun trap shooting, finishing ahead of champions from several European nations.

Naib Subedar Neeru Dhanda of the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) clinched the gold medal at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Lonato, Italy. The prestigious event featured top shooters from the United States, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

“She delivered a stellar performance, scoring 121/125 in qualifications and 27/30 in the finals, finishing ahead of world champions from France and Spain,” the Indian Army said on Sunday. “A landmark moment for Indian Army shooting and a major boost ahead of the Asian Games,” the Army’s statement added.

In June, Sejal Raju Kamble from the Army Girls Sports Company, who had also trained at AMU, secured the individual gold medal in the junior women’s 10m air pistol event at the ISSF Junior World Championships at Suhl in Germany. Cadet Navya clinched the team gold, while Cadet Himanshi secured the bronze in the same event.

Hailing from Haryana’s Jind district, 26-year old Neeru joined the Corps of Military Police after entry into the rank and file was opened for women. She trained at the AMU located at the Infantry School in Mhow, that trains military personnel, para-athletes and civilians in precision sports shooting for international competitions under the Indian Army’s Mission Olympics Wing. It trains military personnel for Olympic and national competitions.

Earlier, Neeru had won the gold medal in trap shooting at the Asian Shooting Championship in 2025.

Trap shooting is a popular target sport where participants use a shotgun to shoot flying targets known as clay pigeons, which are launched from a concealed ‘trap house’. The objective is to break as many targets as possible, requiring excellent focus, quick reflexes and precise aim.

Remaking that Neeru triumphed in dramatic Trap Women final to secure the first ISSF World Cup gold after producing a composed performance, the ISSF said the Indian shooter finished with 27 hits to secure her maiden ISSF World Cup gold medal, holding off a strong challenge from France’s Carole Cormenier and Italy’s Erica Sessa.

Neeru established herself among the front-runners from the opening stages of the final and remained remarkably consistent throughout the 30-target contest. Entering the decisive phase with a narrow advantage, she maintained her composure to finish on 27, sealing an impressive victory in one of the strongest fields of the season, the ISSF said.

Founded in 1907 and headquartered at Munich in Germany, the ISSF is the global governing body for Olympic shooting events and several other non-Olympic disciplines covering rifle, pistol, and shotgun. It oversees several international tournaments.

While Neeru is the first Indian gold medallist in the shotgun event, Esha Singh has been an ISSF World Cup gold medallist and junior world record holder in the women’s 25m pistol event and Abhinav Bindra was the first-ever individual Olympic gold medallist for India in the men’s 10m air rifle event. There have also been other Indian medallists at various international events.

The battle, according to historical records, was intended to hasten victory for the Allies.

Princess Anne at the 110th anniversary commemoration in France. Photo: The Royal Family X handle

princess Anne, the only sister of reigning British monarch King Charles III, earlier this month honoured servicemen who fought in the Battle of the Somme, regarded as the deadliest campaign of World War-I, in which Indian troops played a vital but often overlooked role. 

MilitaryHistory

The commemorations would have struck a chord with military historians, as the 2nd Lancers, the only Indian  Army unit to have produced three Army Chiefs, including the incumbent Gen Dhiraj Seth, was among those that had fought at the Somme.

Also referred to as the Somme Offensive, the battle was fought along the upper reaches of Somme river in France, with the forces of the erstwhile British Empire and the French Republic pitted against the German Empire from July 1 to November 18, 1916. The Indian cavalry regiments, along with some other elements, were deployed at the Somme.

The battle, according to  historical records, was intended to hasten victory for the Allies. More than three million men fought in the battle, of whom more than a million were either killed or wounded, making it one of the deadliest battles in human  history. 

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“The Princess Royal (Anne) and The Duke of Gloucester joined commemorations to mark the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme in France. They paid tributes to servicemen at events across the Somme, including at The Thiepval Memorial, the largest CWGC memorial by the number of casualties commemorated,” a post on the X handle of The Royal Family said.

Princess Anne is the president of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), an intergovernmental organisation that maintains the graves and memorials of nearly two million soldiers from Commonwealth countries who died during the First and Second World Wars.

Describing it as one of the most infamous campaigns of the First World War, the CWGC website states that the first day of the Somme Offensive, July 1, 1916, remains the single deadliest day in British military history. Over 57,000 casualties were suffered by the British Army, marking its largest single-day loss of life.

“The Battle of the Somme was a major moment not just for Britain and Ireland, but for the wider Commonwealth. Australian, Canadian, Indian, New Zealand, Newfoundland and South African forces were all part of the battle,” the website states.

During World War-I, also known as the Great War, more than 1,40,000 Indian soldiers served in Europe with valour and distinction from 1914 to 1918. These included 90,000 infantry and cavalry personnel and 50,000 non-combatant support staff, with frontline casualties estimated at nearly 84,000.

After 1915, Indian infantry divisions were redeployed to Mesopotamia, while only two cavalry formations, the 1st Indian Cavalry Division and the 2nd Indian Cavalry Division, remained in France, fighting dismounted battles in the trenches. The Embassy of India in France lists the 2nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse) and 9 Horse (Deccan Horse) as participants in the Battle of the Somme, where they fought at Bazentin Ridge and High Wood. 

MilitaryHistory

These are among the Indian Army’s oldest and most highly decorated armoured units, tracing their origins to 1809 and 1790, respectively, as part of the Presidency Armies. Both units were awarded the Battle Honour Somme for their performance in France. Besides the Somme, they had also participated in other battles on the Western Front.

Gardner’s Horse is closely associated with two other Army Chiefs. Gen Rajendrasinhji Jadeja had commanded the regiment, while Gen Bipin C Joshi, like Gen Seth, was commissioned into it. Another Army Chief, Gen AS Vaidya, had commanded Deccan Horse. 

MilitaryHistory

At the Somme, the cavalry was generally held in reserve, poised to exploit any breakthrough created by infantry assaults. The Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London mentions Indian cavalry charging and attacking German machine-gun positions.

The most notable action involving Indian troops occurred on July 14, 1916, during the attack on the Bazentin Ridge. As part of efforts to capture High Wood and surrounding areas, the Deccan Horse and the British 7th Dragoon Guards were ordered to move forward in the afternoon.

“Emerging from Carnoy Valley, they galloped towards positions between High Wood and Delville Wood. The charge was bold but costly. German resistance was fierce and the cavalry achieved limited gains before withdrawing. As many as 74 men and 110 horses of the Deccan Horse and supporting units were killed or wounded in that engagement alone,” IWM records state.

A passport remains the state’s strongest and most authoritative official evidence that its holder has been recognised as an Indian citizen for international purposes.

Illustration: The Wire, with Canva.

A recent public controversy has raised an important constitutional question: is an Indian passport merely a travel document, or does it signify something more? The issue arose from an unsolicited official statement that a passport is “only a travel document” and not proof of citizenship.

Former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao rightly reminded us that citizenship is governed by the Citizenship Act, 1955, not the Passports Act. That proposition is legally unexceptionable. Yet it does not answer the real question: what is the legal and constitutional significance of a passport in a country that issues no universal certificate of citizenship?

The starting point must be the Passports Act, 1967. Curiously, much of the present discussion has overlooked the very language chosen by parliament. The Preamble of the Act states that it is “an Act to provide for the issue of passports and (emphasis added) travel documents, to regulate the departure from India of citizens of India and other persons…”. The deliberate use of two distinct expressions, in several sections of the Passports Act, cannot be dismissed as careless drafting.

A passport is undoubtedly a travel document, but a travel document need not be a passport. Refugees, stateless persons and certain foreign nationals may instead be issued documents such as ‘identity certificates’. Similarly, an Indian who is being extradited and whose passport is cancelled may be issued a travel document to enter India.

Parliament created two legal categories of documents, not one. To reduce a passport to “just another travel document” is to blur a distinction the statute itself deliberately draws.

There is a further reason the passport occupies a unique place in Indian law. Unlike many countries, India does not issue a universal certificate of citizenship. There is no single document handed to every Indian certifying nationality; certificates of citizenship are issued only in limited cases, such as registration or naturalisation. The overwhelming majority of Indians possess no such certificate.

Citizenship is therefore ordinarily inferred from a range of official records – birth certificates, electoral rolls, passports and school records – each serving its own purpose, none universally conclusive.

The passport nevertheless stands apart because of what precedes its issuance. Before issuing one, the passport authority must satisfy itself, through documentary scrutiny and police verification where required, that the applicant is entitled to receive it under the law. No other document commonly held by Indian citizens undergoes comparable scrutiny before issuance.

Electoral photo identity cards, too, are issued only to citizens, but that process rests primarily on declarations made within the electoral roll framework. A passport follows a separate and significantly more rigorous process because it is intended to establish the holder’s nationality before foreign governments.

That international function makes the passport unique. It is the instrument through which the Republic presents one of its citizens to the international community. When an Indian passport is presented to an immigration officer abroad, it embodies the government of India’s representation that the bearer is entitled to travel as an Indian national and to seek the protection of the Indian State.

Foreign governments do not independently investigate every traveller’s citizenship; they rely upon the issuing state’s certification contained in the passport. This reflects a long-established principle of international practice: passports are accepted because they embody the issuing state’s assertion that the bearer is one of its nationals.

None of this means that a passport creates citizenship. It does not. Citizenship is determined by the Constitution and the Citizenship Act, 1955, and a passport neither confers it nor overrides those laws.

If a passport is obtained by fraud or issued in error, it can be cancelled, and the underlying legal status determined afresh under the Citizenship Act. But invoking the possibility of fraud as an argument against the passport’s evidentiary value is erroneous. Birth certificates have been fabricated, electoral rolls have contained ineligible names and even citizenship certificates could eventually be procured by deception. No one suggests these documents are therefore without evidentiary value. Fraud is the exception; the law proceeds on the ordinary case, not the exceptional one.

Among the documents ordinarily available to Indian citizens, the passport reflects the highest level of official verification by the state. That is why the familiar words printed in every passport – requesting foreign states to allow the bearer to pass freely and extend assistance and protection – are not ornamental. They express the constitutional relationship between the Republic and its citizen beyond India’s borders.

The Supreme Court has recognised this constitutional dimension directly. In Satwant Singh Sawhney v. D. Ramarathnam (1967), decided even before the Passports Act was enacted, the court held that the right to travel abroad forms part of the personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21. Parliament responded the same year by replacing executive discretion with a statutory framework.

A decade later, in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978), the Court reaffirmed that any restriction on a citizen’s passport must satisfy fairness, reasonableness and due process under Article 21. These decisions did not determine the legal status of citizenship. They established something equally significant: a passport is not an ordinary administrative document but one intimately connected with the exercise of a fundamental freedom.

One provision deserves particular attention. Section 20 of the Passports Act provides:

“Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions relating to issue of a passport or travel document, the Central Government may issue, or cause to be issued, a passport or travel document to a person who is not a citizen of India if that Government is of the opinion that it is necessary so to do in the public interest.”

Some might read this as weakening the proposition that passports are intended for citizens. We think it does precisely the opposite. The very fact that parliament found it necessary to enact an express exception confirms the general rule. Ordinarily, passports are issued to citizens. Only in exceptional cases, and only where the Union government considers it necessary in the public interest, may that rule be departed from.

The present controversy appears to conflate two distinct questions. The first is whether a passport is conclusive proof of citizenship in every legal proceeding. Plainly it is not; courts must remain free to examine evidence wherever citizenship is genuinely disputed. The second is whether a passport is merely another travel document carrying no special evidentiary weight.

That is an altogether different question, on which the statutory scheme, administrative practice and constitutional jurisprudence all point in the same direction. A passport therefore occupies a different legal plane from other official documents.

It is therefore inaccurate to describe a passport as a certificate of citizenship, for the law employs no such expression. It is equally inaccurate to dismiss it as “just a travel document”. The truth lies between those two extremes. A passport remains the state’s strongest and most authoritative official evidence that its holder has been recognised as an Indian citizen for international purposes.

A contrary view would reduce diplomatic passports issued to ministers, senior government officials, ambassadors and the Chief Justice of India to mere travel documents bearing a different colour.

Parliament chose its words carefully. Those entrusted with administering the law should do likewise. For when the Republic places its seal upon a passport, it is doing far more than permitting international travel. It is formally vouching for one of its own citizens before the world.

Madan B. Lokur is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. S.Y. Quraishi is former Chief Election Commissioner of India and a member of the Board of Advisers, International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm.

Over a century after World War I ended, 34 Punjab Registers found in the Lahore Museum have been instrumental in finally honouring the sacrifice of previously unrecorded Indian servicemen

More than a century after the guns of World  War I fell silent, nearly 10,000 Indian soldiers whose deaths slipped from the official  historical record are finally to receive the recognition they were denied.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has announced that 9,909 previously unrecorded Indian servicemen will now be commemorated after a decade-long research project centred on a remarkable archive in Pakistan: 34 handwritten Punjab Registers containing the names of some 3,20,000 men recruited into the Indian army during the  war.

It is one of the largest single additions ever made to the Commission’s casualty records, and represents far more than an administrative correction. It restores identities, acknowledges forgotten sacrifice and shines a light on one of the last major gaps in the history of India’s contribution to the Great War.

More than 13 lakh Indians served during World War I, making the Indian army one of the largest volunteer forces in history, with soldiers fighting from Flanders and Gallipoli to East Africa and Mesopotamia.

Behind the announcement lies an extraordinary story of historical detective work that began not in London or Delhi, but in the Lahore Museum.

The 34 Punjab Registers found in the Lahore Museum by Amandeep Madra, co-founder of the UK Punjab Heritage Association, in 2014. He worked with British and Punjabi scholars, Pakistan archivists, and transcribers in India and Pakistan for over 10 years to convert thousands of handwritten pages into searchable data. Photo courtesy: CWGC

“I found them in 2014 during research for our Empire, Faith & War project,” recalls Amandeep Madra, co-founder of the UK Punjab Heritage Association, whose discovery set the entire process in motion. 

War& Conflict

“Military historians knew the registers existed in principle, but no one had gone to look. It seemed unlikely: an art museum holding 34 handwritten volumes of military records. But they were there: a systematic record of every Punjabi man who served in the Indian army during the First World War. I knew straightaway it was significant.”

The significance became deeply personal. One of the first registers photographed was from Ambala district, the home of Madra’s own family.

 “My father’s Chacha (paternal uncle), Bishen Singh, had served,” he says. “My dad remembered being taken to collect his pension as a boy and that he’d been blinded by sandstorms during the war. That was all we knew. Then I found him in the register. He was the only man from our village to serve. If it could do that for my family, I knew it could do it for thousands of others.”

What followed was more than 10 years of painstaking work.

The 26,000 pages had first to be photographed, digitised, indexed and transcribed. The project later became a collaboration between the UK Punjab Heritage Association, the University of Greenwich and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Prof Gavin Rand of the University of Greenwich recognised the scholarly importance of the archive and secured funding for its transcription. The CWGC then undertook the laborious task of comparing the information with its own casualty database.

That comparison proved anything but straightforward.

Names had often been spelled differently by different clerks. Villages appeared under several spellings. Regimental records varied. Punjabi naming customs created further complications.

As Madra explains, researchers had to learn to think like Edwardian record keepers. ‘Roor Singh’ and ‘Rood Singh’ could be the same man. ‘Dulla’ might turn out to be Abdullah Khan, “but only if every other detail — father’s name, village and regiment — matched”.

During the Covid lockdown, volunteers began checking a sample of soldiers listed in the registers as having died during the war against CWGC records. They immediately discovered dozens whose names simply did not exist in the Commission’s database.

As the work expanded, the omissions kept growing. Ultimately, researchers examined almost 16,000 recorded deaths against some 74,000 existing Indian army casualty records. Supported by computer-assisted analysis and multiple layers of verification, they identified 9,909 men who had never previously been commemorated.

Why had they disappeared from  history? According to Dr George Hay, Official Historian at the Commonwealth  War Graves Commission, the reasons were both administrative and political.

“The British Indian Government made a conscious decision not to extend full war graves status to Indian army soldiers who died at home and away from operational zones,” he explains.

Many of those men had survived the battlefields only to die later from wounds or disease after returning to India. Unlike British soldiers who died in comparable circumstances, their names were never passed on to the Commission’s predecessors for permanent commemoration.

Administrative failures compounded the problem, meaning that some operational casualties also disappeared from the  historical record.

The findings reinforce the conclusions reached by the CWGC’s Special Committee on Historical Inequalities in Commemoration, established in 2021, that entrenched racial prejudice and discriminatory colonial attitudes had contributed to unequal commemoration.

For Madra, who served on that committee alongside Professor Rand, the present announcement demonstrates that history can sometimes be corrected rather than merely debated. “This is one of the rare cases in Britain’s colonial history where we can actually correct a wrong rather than just argue about it,” he says.

The Punjab Registers reveal far more than military service. Taken together, the registers amount to an unparalleled census of rural Punjab on the eve of modern history, recording not simply soldiers but families, villages, religions, castes and communities that would later be divided by Partition.

A close up of the Punjab Registers shows the handwritten entries. There were 26,000 pages of detailed entries which had to be photographed, digitised, indexed and transcribed. Photo courtesy: CWGC 

MilitaryHistory

Each entry records a soldier’s religion, caste, father’s name, village and district, creating an extraordinarily detailed portrait of rural Punjab between 1914 and 1918.

The newly identified casualties themselves reflect the diversity of that society: approximately 41 per cent were Muslim, 26 per cent Hindu, 25 per cent Sikh and less than 1 per cent Christian.

“It gives us Punjab from the village up,” Madra says. “You begin to see how communities were organised and how people identified themselves. It tells the social history of Punjab as much as its military history.”

That Punjab no longer exists. The villages recorded in the registers now lie across India and Pakistan, reminding us that the soldiers belonged to an undivided province long before Partition divided families, communities and memories.

“It isn’t an Indian story or a Pakistani story,” Madra says. “It’s a shared Punjabi story.” The research itself crossed modern borders. British and Punjabi scholars worked alongside archivists in Pakistan, while transcribers in both India and Pakistan painstakingly converted thousands of handwritten pages into searchable data.

For many families, the project has already transformed fragments of family legend into documented history.

Among those newly recognised is Jagat Singh of the 34th Reserve Mountain Battery, who died in Mesopotamia in January 1918. His great-granddaughter, Manjinder Nagra, became the first Sikh woman to play rugby for England.

Another descendant, Leicester dentist Dr Inder Singh Palahey, spent years searching for information about his great-grandfather, Kesar Singh.

“From just hearsay to now discovering the facts about my great-grandfather’s ultimate military sacrifice has been incredibly poignant,” he says. “The fact that he will now be remembered in perpetuity simply means everything to us.”

Madra has experienced that same emotion himself. Finding his own relative, Bishen Singh, in the registers remains his most powerful memory of the project.

“It’s probably the only surviving record where both his name and his father’s name still exist,” he says.

The work, however, is far from complete. The 9,909 names represent only those who died and were omitted from commemoration. The registers themselves contain details of around 3,20,000 soldiers and promise to become one of the richest resources ever assembled on the Indian army during World War I.

Researchers hope eventually to create a public, searchable database allowing descendants across the world to trace relatives, add family  histories and photographs, and piece together stories that have lain buried for generations. The CWGC also believes similar archives may survive elsewhere in the former British Empire, raising the possibility that more forgotten soldiers may yet be found.

For Madra, however, the work will not be complete until the names exist not only in a digital database, but on permanent memorials where descendants can stand before them. He believes the men should ultimately be commemorated physically, with their names carved in stone, just like those of other Commonwealth  war dead.

For thousands of families, the project has transformed fading memories and family folklore into documented  history.

After more than a century, the forgotten soldiers of undivided Punjab have begun their journey back into history.

— Shyam Bhatia is the London correspondent of The Tribune

The explosion reportedly targeted an Assam Rifles vehicle during an operational movement, Defence PRO Col Amit Shukla says

An Assam Rifles jawan was killed and four others were injured in a suspected improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Chumoukedima district of Nagaland on Monday, a defence official said.

The explosion reportedly targeted an Assam Rifles vehicle during an operational movement, Defence PRO Col Amit Shukla said.

Security forces have launched a search operation in the area, while the injured personnel have been shifted for medical treatment.

Further investigation is under way, he said.

The authorities have not yet released the identity of the victims or confirmed who was responsible for the attack.

Oil prices shoot up 5% as US-Iran peace pact on brink

US President Donald Trump on Monday said he would probably “take over” the Strait of Hormuz and the US should be “reimbursed for controlling” the vital waterway by way of a 20 per cent toll on eligible cargo.

The development comes as the two countries witnessed their fourth round of military aggression last night, triggering fears that the peace MoU signed between them on June 17 is effectively dead and that West Asia is headed for another crisis.

In an interview to Fox  News on Monday, Trump said, “We’re going to keep the Strait, and we’ll probably run it. We’ll become the guardian of the Strait of Hurmuz. Maybe we’ll call it the ‘guardian angel of the Strait’. And we should be reimbursed for that.” 

Later, Trump posted on social media, saying: “As a matter of fairness, the US will be reimbursed at a rate of 20 per cent on all cargo shipped for any country and all costs incurred in providing safety and security in this very volatile part of the world. The process and arrangements will begin immediately.”

The Ministry of External Affairs was yet respond to this development.

Immediately after Trump’s announcement, international crude oil prices jumped by 5 per cent, with benchmark Brent rising to $80 per barrel.

Following the US-Iran conflict, India diversified its crude import basket. West Asia’s share in India’s crude imports fell to around 22 per cent in June, according to Kpler data, down from 60-70 per cent before the Iran conflict.

India is now sourcing larger volumes of crude from Russia, the US, Venezuela and West Africa. However, with crude oil prices rising again, it would add pressure on India’s dollar-linked crude purchases from sources outside West Asia.

Nevertheless, the proposed fee, if it is actually enforced, is likely to impact the supply chain.

Over 50 per cent of India’s LNG imports and between 35 per cent and 50 per cent of its crude oil imports pass via the Strait. The landed cost of these vital fuels is promptly raised by a 20 per cent toll plus increased maritime war-risk insurance premiums.

The big bulk of India’s imports of raw materials and fertiliser come from the Gulf. The Persian Gulf’s supply chain bottlenecks could drive up the price of agricultural inputs.

Various shipping routes, including sailing via the Cape of Good Hope, increase baseline freight prices by up to 30 per cent and extend maritime transit times by 10 to 15 days.

India’s overall wholesale and retail inflation is also expected to rise due to increased transportation and raw material prices. (With inputs from Aditya Rangroo) 

The UAE Ministry of Defence on Tuesday said that its two national tankers, Mombasa and Al Bahiyah, were struck by two Iranian cruise missiles while transiting the southern shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz in Omani territorial waters.

In a statement, the UAE MoD said that the attack killed one Indian crew member aboard the Mombasa and injured eight others, including six Indian nationals and two Ukrainians, four of whom sustained serious injuries.

“The Ministry of Defence announces that the national tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah were targeted by two Iranian cruise missiles while transiting the southern shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz, within Omani territorial waters. The attack resulted in the death of one Indian crew member aboard the Mombasa tanker and the injury of eight others, including four who sustained serious injuries. The injured comprise six Indian nationals and two Ukrainian nationals. The attack also caused material damage to both tankers as a result of the fires that broke out on board, which have since been brought under control,” the post read. 

Condemning the strike as a grave violation of international law, the UAE said it reserves the right to respond and has heightened its state of readiness to safeguard its security and national interests.

UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) also condemned and denounced the attack in the strongest terms.

“The Ministry extended its sincere condolences and sympathy to the family of the victim, as well as to the Government and people of the Republic of India, and wished all the injured a speedy recovery,” the statement read.

The Ministry emphasised that targeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of “economic coercion” or “blackmail” constitutes an act of piracy and poses a direct threat to the stability of the region, its peoples, and global energy security.

“The UAE stressed the need for Iran to halt these unprovoked attacks, ensure its full commitment to an immediate cessation of all hostilities, and the complete and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz in order to safeguard regional security and maintain the stability of the global economy and trade,” the UAE said.

This development follows renewed hostilities between the US and Iran after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) closed the Strait of Hormuz, which triggered American retaliatory strikes on 140 locations across Iran.

Concurrently, the United States announced that it will resume blockading maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports starting Tuesday evening.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump stated that the naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz would specifically target Iran, while allowing vessels from other nations to continue transiting through the strategic waterway.

Speaking to reporters after signing an Executive Order, Trump said the blockade would apply only to Iran and those doing business with Tehran. (ANI)

(This content is sourced from a syndicated feed and is published as received. The Tribune assumes no responsibility or liability for its accuracy, completeness, or content

Even as gurdwaras and villages across Jalandhar and its outskirts host special screenings of the controversial film “Satluj” following its ban on streaming platform ZEE5, the film is also drawing attention for the brief yet significant appearances of two actors from the city. 

Jalandhar-based advocate, theatre artiste and actor Neeraj Kaushik plays a human rights activist who accompanies the film’s protagonist, Jaswant Singh Khalra, portrayed by Diljit Dosanjh, on visits to victims’ families. City-based artiste Santosh Basra appears as a neighbour questioned by a CBI team searching for one of the characters.

Actor and singer Santosh Basra made a cameo appearance in the film Satluj. 

Kaushik has previously appeared in projects such as “Kohrra” —where he shared screen space with Suvinder Vicky, who also features in “Satluj” — and “Sadda Haq”, another film set against the backdrop of Punjab’s militancy era. According to Kaushik, while the makers expected some controversy because of the film’s sensitive subject, the scale of the backlash took them by surprise.

“‘Satluj’ was conceived in 2019 and shooting began in late 2020. At the time, many politically correct films were being made, and Honey Trehan and the team never imagined that a film depicting events from Punjab’s past would face objections of this magnitude. The film neither criticises any current political dispensation nor endorses separatist ideology. Therefore, such a large-scale controversy was unexpected, especially since approvals had been obtained from Jaswant Singh Khalra’s family as well as the SGPC. We expected some debate because of the subject, and there were a few permission-related issues during filming, but nothing on this scale,” he said.

Recalling his experience on the sets, Kaushik said his role was inspired by the network of human rights activists who worked alongside Khalra. 

“The work of human rights activist Ram Narayan Kumar, author of book “Reduced to Ashes”, along with several other activists who supported Jaswant Singh Khalra, is well known. I and several other actors portrayed human rights workers associated with Khalra. I was selected after an audition by casting director Varun Bajaj. Honey Trehan liked my audition. We shot for eight days across Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Chandigarh and Patiala. I have great admiration for Honey Trehan. He is a wonderful human being and his research is meticulous. We even filmed in villages where actual disappearances had taken place during the 1990s,” he said.

Kaushik shared screen space with both Diljit Dosanjh and Arjun Rampal, and spoke warmly about working with the two actors.

“Diljit Dosanjh is generally reserved on set, but he enjoys discussing important issues at length. He is deeply spiritual and very protective of junior artistes, speaking up whenever he feels they are not being treated fairly. Once, I asked him how he managed his hectic schedule and superstardom. He simply replied, ‘Kuch nahi haiga yaar, sab ainwai dooron lagda, asi vi onne ku hi khush ya pareshan haan jinna aam banda’ (Stardom seems big from afar. We are as happy or as troubled as any ordinary person),” he recalled.

Speaking about Arjun Rampal, Kaushik said, “He was extremely open, candid and free of any star tantrums. He interacted warmly with everyone on the set and had a very relaxed, easy-going personality. Among the film’s performances, his portrayal is one of my favourites.”

Reflecting on the growing number of OTT films and series centred on Punjab’s social and political issues, Kaushik observed that the state’s changing realities have provided filmmakers with compelling subjects.

“In Punjab, ‘Pehle pyaar mudda tha, ab takraar mudda hai’ (Earlier, love was the dominant theme; today, conflict is). Earlier, Punjabi stories revolved around legendary romances like ‘Heer Ranjha’, ‘Sassi Punnu’ and ‘Sohni Mahiwal’. But the state’s complex social and political realities have made Punjab fertile ground for filmmakers. Just as Anurag Kashyap often turns to Uttar Pradesh or Bihar to explore gang violence, filmmakers increasingly look to Punjab for stories about drugs, militancy, policing and conflict. These films are reflections of both the state’s past and its contemporary upheavals.” 

Jalandhar-based actor, singer and artiste Santosh Basra, who also makes a cameo appearance in the film, says, “It was a beautiful and serious project. Working on the film was a great experience. The controversy surrounding it was something we anticipated, as people have not forgotten 1984 and its aftermath. It was also long felt that a film on Khalra Sahib’s life and work needed to be made. This is an issue that resonates across communities in Punjab, as children from both Hindu and Sikh families lost their lives during those years.”

“On the sets, it felt like one big family. I feel proud to have been associated with such an important cinematic project of our times,” she says. Besides Neeraj Kaushik and Santosh Basra, several theatre artistes and actors from the region are part of the film, including Jalandhar-based theatre personality and actor Gurwinder Singh, Haryana-based theatre artiste and actor Rajindra Sharma (Nanu), and theatre actor Emmanuel Singh, among others. Rajindra has been a familiar presence in Jalandhar’s theatre circles and has also appeared in several Bollywood films.

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Arrests made in Imphal East and Thoubal districts during security operations targeting alleged extortion networks, with one rifle and ammunition also recovered

Another person with alleged links with insurgents was also nabbed and arms and ammunition were seized from his possession.

An insurgent belonging to the banned United Peoples’ Party of Kangleipak (UPPK) outfit was apprehended in Porompat area in Imphal East district on Saturday. He has been identified as Salam Bijanda Singh (37).

A militant of Kangleipak Communist Party (Nongdrenkhomba) was arrested from Wangkhei Ayangpalli in Imphal East district on the same day. Another cadre of KCP (Nongdrenkhomba) was also nabbed the same day from Khurai Nandeibam Leikai in Imphal East district. He has been identified as Md Motim (31).

Meanwhile, security forces arrested a person with alleged links with militants in Yairipok Pechi Road area under the jurisdiction of Yairipok police station in Thoubal district on Sunday.

A self-loading rifle with a magazine and 10 cartridges were also seized from the possession of the man, identified as Chagisongtanbou Nkhamnamai (46), the statement added.