From the archives of the Hindustan Times: September 19

Jagbir Singh strikes gold in shot put (1994)

New Delhi- The Indian junior athletes struck a rich of six medals on the second day of the Asian junior athletics meet at Jakarta here today (September 18). According to information received here, Indians have won one gold, four silvers and one bronze.

Jagbir Singh brought jubilation to the strong Indian camp as he retained the gold for the country in the shot put.

Jagbir, with a throw of 16.89 finished first, while Gurpreet Singh claimed the silver with a distance of 16.45 mts.

In the last Asian Track and Field Meet India’s Manjit Singh had won the gold in this event.

Though Jagbir won the gold, it was certainly not his best performance. At the Lucknow meet, he did better with distance of 17.38 mts. For Gurpreet Singh it was an improved effort, his previous best being 16.39 mts.

In hammer throw, Shubdeep Singh earned the second silver for India with a distance of 60.12 mts. His teammate Parmod Kumar Tiwari finished fourth with a throw of 56.72 mts.

Both Shubdeep Singh and Parmod Tiwari had done better during the trials.

In women’s discus Swaranjit Kaur, with a throw of 45.08 mts had to be content with a bronze. In the last ATF meet, Swaranjit Kaur had won the silver in this event.

In the women’s 800 M. K. Beenamol earned the silver with a timing of 2:05.11 secs. Mandip Kaur ended fourth with 2:09.32 secs.

In the last ATF meet, K. Beenamol had won a gold in this race. However, her timing at Jakarta is much better than what she had clocked in India during the trials.

Kaka Hathrasi passes away (1995)

Kanpur- The famous Hindi poet of humour Kaka Hathrasi died in his home town Hathras today (September 18). He was 90.

The poet died on his birthday, According to family sources.

Born in 1906, the Padmashree award winner poet was ailing for about a month and was under treatment at a hospital in Agra.

He was shifted from the hospital to his home town last week, where he died this morning. He is survived by his wife and a son.

The cremation will take place in the afternoon

Kaka, who wrote over 150 books of humour poetry, won much acclaim for his “Kaka Ke Kartoos” (Bullets of Kaka).

He was honoured with Padmashree award in 1985. In 1932, Kaka Hathrasi had started a Sangeet Academy in Hathras and in 1935 he brought out a monthly Hindi magazine.

The President, Dr Shanker Dayal Sharma, today condoled the death of Kaka.

In a condolence message, he said Kaka gave vent to social concerns through his poems.

17 soldiers killed, Modi vows action (2016)

Srinagar/New Delhi- Heavily armed militants attacked an army base in north Kashmir early Sunday (September 18) and killed 17 soldiers, triggering calls for a swift retaliation that could squeeze the space for any détente between India and Pakistan.

The dawn raid surprised soldiers in their sleep as attackers lobbed grenades and set fire to tents and shelters. The blaze killed 12 troopers and the rest died in the gunfight, sources added. TV images showed helicopters flying to evacuate the wounded and smoke billowing from the mountainous base at Uri, which houses about 12,000 troops.

Soldiers killed four “fidayeen” — or commando-style gunmen willing to fight to death — after an hours-long gunbattle to end what was the worst single attack on the army in years. More than 20 soldiers were wounded, some of them seriously.

The attack jeopardised hopes of peace returning quickly to Kashmir which has been rocked by two months of violent protests in which 86 people have been killed and thousands injured.

Sources said the raid was part of a fresh wave of infiltration by militants from across the Line of Control, the heavily militarised de-facto border with Pakistan.

CALL FOR RETALIATION

A top army official said the attack pointed to the involvement of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad, which was also blamed by India for the Pathankot airbase attack in January.