Photo for representation only.

Jammu, November 30

Two Army personnel were killed on Saturday after an avalanche hit their patrol at an altitude of about 18,000 feet in southern Siachen glacier in the Union Territory of Ladakh, a defence spokesperson said.

An Army patrol operating at an altitude of approximately 18,000 feet in Southern Siachen Glacier was hit by an avalanche during the early hours of Saturday, Srinagar-based defence spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia said in a statement.

He said an Avalanche Rescue Team (ART) following the patrol immediately rushed and managed to locate and pull out all members of the patrol.

Army helicopters too were simultaneously pressed into service to evacuate the avalanche victims, he said.

Despite the best efforts by the medical teams, two Army personnel, however, perished in the avalanche, the officer said.

It was for the second time that an avalanche occurred in Siachen in the past two weeks.

Earlier on November 18, four Indian Army personnel and two civilian porters were killed in an avalanche in the northern part of the Siachen Glacier.

The Siachen Glacier at the height of around 20,000 ft in the Karakoram range is known as the highest militarised zone in the world where the soldiers have to battle frostbite and high winds.

Avalanches and landslides are common at the glacier during winters with temperatures often dropping to as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius. PTI

Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Lahore, November 30

The opening of the historic Kartarpur corridor was the brainchild of Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and it will hurt India for ever, a top Pakistani minister claimed on Saturday, contradicting his government’s assertion that the idea behind the initiative was of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

On November 9, Prime Minister Khan inaugurated the Kartarpur corridor to facilitate the visa-free entry of Indian Sikh pilgrims to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev.

While inaugurating the corridor, Khan had told a gathering of over 12,000 devotees, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh and cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu: “I had no idea of the importance this place holds. I found out a year ago. I am happy we could do this for you”.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has claimed that the Kartarpur corridor was the initiative of Prime Minister Khan.

However, Pakistan’s Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid, a known motormouth considered to be a close aide of Prime Minister Khan, contradicted the government’s claim on Saturday when he told reporters here that the opening of the corridor was the brainchild of Army chief General Bajwa and asserted that it will hurt India for ever.

“India will remember for ever the kind of wound inflicted on it by Gen Bajwa by opening Kartarpur corridor,” he said.

“Gen Bajwa strongly hit India by opening the corridor. Through this project, Pakistan has created a new environment of peace and won itself love of the Sikh community, “he said.

Rashid claimed that the Indian media “played up” the issue of General Bajwa’s extension.

“The Imran Khan government has three more years and Bajwa has got three years in extension and not six months. So our government will complete its tenure,” he said, indirectly referring that General Bajwa is here to back Prime Minister Khan’s government.

General Bajwa did not attend the Kartarpur Corridor’s opening ceremony apparently to avoid any controversy.

In the ground breaking ceremony on November 28 last year, the hug of Congress leader Sidhu with General Bajwa had sparked a controversy.

The inauguration of the corridor came in the midst of frayed ties between India and Pakistan following New Delhi’s August 5 decision to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcate the State into two Union Territories.

Notwithstanding a chill in the bilateral ties over Kashmir, India and Pakistan after tough negotiations signed an agreement in October, paving the way for the inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor on November 9.

The agreement will allow 5,000 Indian pilgrims daily to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib where Guru Nanak spent last 18 years of his life.

In February 1999, the Kartarpur corridor was proposed by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he took a bus ride to Lahore during a peace initiative with Pakistan. It links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district. –

INVITATION TO ALL CITIZENS  FOR  30 NOV TO 01 DEC 2019 10.00 A.M TO 5.00 P.M 

Whoever designed the new uniform for Parliament marshals was either ignorant of what he was doing or it was yet another attempt to denigrate the military. It is for the Centre to ensure that no one copies any item of the military uniform.

DRESS CODE: The marshals appeared in their new uniform when the 250th session of the Rajya Sabha began on November 18.

Lt Gen Harwant Singh (retd)
Former Deputy Chief of Army staff

The ULFA was established in 1979 and the group was first banned in 1990.

New Delhi, November 28

The Centre has extended the ban on the Assam-based insurgent outfit ULFA for five years for continuing subversive activities, including killings, kidnapping and extortions.

In a notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the ULFA has been indulging in various illegal and violent activities intended to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India in furtherance of its objective of liberating Assam.

“Now therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), the central government hereby declares the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) along with all its factions, wings and front organisations as an unlawful association,” it said.

A ministry official said the ban has been extended for five years.

The home ministry said in its notification that the ULFA has aligned itself with other unlawful associations of Northeastern region to secede Assam from India and in pursuance of its aims and objectives, engaged in several unlawful and violent activities during the currency of its declaration as an unlawful association.

The central government is of the opinion that the unlawful and violent activities which are attributed to ULFA include about 70 incidents of violence, either individually or in alliance with other insurgent groups of the Northeast, killing of 32 persons — 25 civilians and seven security forces personnel—during the period from January 1, 2015 to July 31 2019.

The outfit has also indulged in a spate of extortions and secessionist activities, and endangering the lives of innocent citizens, in addition to acts of kidnapping for ransom, instructing its cadres to carry out acts by targeting the establishments of security forces and their personnel, political leaders, railways and oil installations and establishing sanctuaries and training camps in the neighbouring countries.

“And Whereas, for the reasons mentioned above, the central government is also of the opinion that the activities of ULFA are detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India and that it is an unlawful association.

“And Whereas, if there is no immediate curb and control of the unlawful activities of ULFA, it may take the opportunity to mobilise its cadres for escalating its secessionist, subversive and violent activities openly propagate anti-national activities in collusion with forces inimical to India’s sovereignty and national integrity,” it said.

The ULFA was established in 1979 and the group was first banned in 1990. Since then the central government has been extending the ban imposed on it regularly.

A faction of the ULFA is currently involved in peace talks with an interlocutor of the central government, while another faction, led by its military chief Paresh Baruah, has been engaged in subversive activities. — PTI

BJP working president JP Nadda said Thakur has been barred from House meetings.

The BJP has recommended Pragya Thakur’s removal from the consultative committee on defence after she   referred to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as a ‘deshbhakt‘ in the Lok Sabha.

BJP working president J P Nadda announced disciplinary actions against her and condemned the controversial Hindutva leader’s remarks in a bid to defuse the political crisis triggered by her remarks in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

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“The statement given by MP Pragya Thakur is condemnable. BJP never supports such statement and we do not support this ideology. We have decided that Thakur will not attend meetings of BJP parliamentary party during the session,” Nadda said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Lok Sabha that the BJP condemns any philosophy which describes Nathuram Godse as a patriot.

During Wednesday’s debate in the Lok Sabha on Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019, DMK member A Raja said that Godse nursed a grudge against Mahatma Gandhi for over three decades. Following which Thakur interjected speaking against the example.

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However, her remarks were expunged by the Chair.

Afterwards, Thakur, the MP from Bhopal, told ANI, “The topic that was discussed was of security and A Raja spoke about ‘deshbhakt‘ Udham Singh. He said that Udham Singh nursed a grudge against General Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh massacre for 20 years before killing him. When Raja went on speaking, I interrupted to say that he should not take the name of patriots – ‘Deshbhakto ka naam mat lijiye‘.”

Her comment drew flak from Congress and other opposition parties.

“Our party has said everything that needs to be said on the issue… Her comments are shocking,” Congress president Sonia Gandhi said.

Echoing similar sentiments, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that he does not want to “waste time on what Pragya said”. “That is the heart of the RSS. What can I say?” he added.

Earlier, during the Lok Sabha election campaign, Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, had described Godse as a “patriot”, triggering a huge political storm and all-around condemnation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he would never be able to forgive her fully.

The Hindutva activist had then withdrawn the statement and issued an apology. Even PM Narendra Modi had condemned her comments.

(With inputs from PTI)

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New Delhi, November 28

Cracking the whip on its serial-offender MP Pragya Thakur, who hailed Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse in the Lok Sabha, the BJP on Thursday barred her from attending its parliamentary party meeting in the ongoing Parliament session and removed her from the consultative committee on defence.

BJP working president JP Nadda announced the disciplinary action against her and condemned the controversial Hindutva leader’s remarks in a bid to defuse the political crisis triggered by her remarks in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Nadda said Thakur would be removed from the consultative committee on defence, to which she was recently appointed.

“The statement given by MP Pragya Thakur is condemnable. The BJP never supports such a statement and we do not support this ideology. We have decided that Thakur will not attend meetings of the BJP parliamentary party during the session,” he told reporters.

Thakur created a controversy on Wednesday with her remark in the Lower House during DMK member A Raja’s narration of a statement by Godse before a court on why he killed the Mahatma.

However, after opposition members protested against Thakur’s remarks, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said only the DMK leader’s speech during the discussion on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill would go on record.

Opposition parties targeted the government, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the PM’s “inaction” against her proved his latent support to “Godse’s sinister thought”.

The opposition party said Thakur’s remarks were a “perfect representation” of the BJP’s “deplorable hate politics”.

“We are very clear about it that we condemn her statement and we do not support this ideology,” Nadda, who was accompanied by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi,, said.

During the Lok Sabha election campaign, Thakur had described Godse as a patriot, triggering a huge political storm.

Later, she had apologised for her statement. PTI

Jammu, November 27

In consonance with the ongoing efforts to reach out to the local populace, the Army organised a medical camp for people living in the remote Gohra Gali village of Ramban.

The Army is continuously undertaking various activities to “win hearts and minds” of people residing in far-flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir. In all, 53 people reaped the benefits of the medical camp which reached them at their doorsteps.

The medical patrol team provided medicines and medical advice to residents of the village. The Indian Army Medical Patrol also interacted with locals and discussed the hardships being faced by them. — OC