KIN OF FARMER WHO DIED DURING TRACTOR RALLY FILES PLEA IN DELHI HC
NEW DELHI: A petition has been moved before the Delhi High Court by the family of Navneet Singh, the farmer who died during the tractor rally on January 26 in the national capital. The plea has sought a thorough and independent court-monitored probe into the alleged incident.The matter is likely to come up for hearing tomorrow.
\“Various medical/forensic experts who have reviewed the description of injuries in the post mortem report have independently made statements reported by various media houses, opining that the injuries are consistent with firearm /gunshot wounds and that the said injuries could not have resulted from the tractor overturning, as has been repeatedly asserted and announced by the Delhi police including senior officers viz, the Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police,” read the petition. The plea moved by the grandfather of the deceased has stated that he has sufficient “reason to mistrust and not accept the hasty, unverified and selfserving conclusion of the Delhi Police, which has publicly stated that the death of his grandson was a motor accident”.
In an article, titled China and the World in the Year of the Ox, published on a website, The Policy Chronicle, China’s ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, has written that the two countries should “put the boundary dispute in the appropriate place in bilateral relations, address differences in a rational and constructive manner, and not allow differences to become disputes”. The core argument of the piece is that the cooperative element of the India-China relationship outweighs the areas of differences, common interests are greater than inconsistencies, and the two sides should respect each other, enhance mutual trust, and shelve differences while meeting each other halfway.
As reasonable as this sounds, China is wrong. The appropriate place of the border dispute is at the centre of the relationship at this juncture. Yes, India has recognised — at least since 1988 — that there is no easy resolution of the border dispute. That is why both countries evolved a framework to keep peace at the border, while maintaining their respective stated positions on it, and deepening other elements of the bilateral ties. The unilateral and unprovoked Chinese aggression at the border in eastern Ladakh, the clash at Galwan, and the prolonged military stand-off, however, have changed things. If the border is not peaceful, if India’s territorial integrity is at stake, and if Indian lives have been lost, then no Indian government can proceed with the relationship in business-asusual mode.
If China wants to repair overall ties, there is a simple solution. In the Year of the Ox, it can disengage, demobilise and restore status quo ante at the Line of Actual Control. Reports of disengagement from the Pangong Tso area on Wednesday evening are positive — but India must carefully monitor whether Beijing translates words into meaningful action.