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Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh/Bikaner, November 13 

The closing ceremony of the joint military exercise  between the armies of India and France—‘Exercise Shakti-2019’ was held at the Mahajan Field firing range here on Wednesday.

Sikh-French bonhomie was witnessed when soldiers celebrated Parkash Utsav of Guru Nanak Dev on Wednesday.

Soldiers from both countries partook of ‘langar’ as Brigadier General Jean Christophe Bechon, Commandant 6th Light Armoured Brigade, French Army, greeted Sikh soldiers on Gurpurb.

An infantry platoon group of the Sikh Regiment part of South Western Command and a platoon group of the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment of 6th Armoured Brigade represented India and France, respectively, in the exercise, defence spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh said.

An infantry platoon group of the Sikh Regiment part of south western Command and a platoon group of the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment of 6th Armoured Brigade represented India and France respectively in the exercise, defence spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh said.

The exercise, which had two phases, began on October 31.

Both the armies shared valuable combat experience of counter terrorists operations in an international environment under the United Nations mandate.

The biennial exercise, which is conducted alternately in India and France, began in 2011. With PTI inputs

Srinagar, October 31

As the clock struck 12 and a new day beckoned, Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday transitioned from a state into two union territories with a wary Valley shutting down as it has for 88 days and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the “new system” is aimed at “building a strong link of trust”.

President Ram Nath Kovind revoked President’s rule imposed in the restive state, long the centre of global attention, and took over control of the administration of the two new union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

This is the first time that a state is being downsized into union territories, the two new entities taking the total number of UTs to nine and bringing down the number of states in India to 28.

This was in accordance with the government’s August 5 announcement withdrawing the state’s special status under Article 370 and bifurcating it into union territories.

Girish Chandra Murmu in Jammu and Kashmir and Radha Krishna Mathur in Ladakh stepped into history as the first lieutenant governors of the new union territories. Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal administered the oath of office to the new appointees, first in Leh and then later in the day in Srinagar.

As the changes came into effect, the Prime Minister was at the Statue of Unity in Kevadiya in Gujarat where he paid glowing tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 144th birth anniversary and led the “national unity pledge”.

Defending the abrogation of Article 370, he said the special status provisions only generated terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The new system in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is not meant to draw a line on the land (to draw a boundary) but to build a strong link of trust,” the Prime Minister said.

In a swipe at Pakistan, he said those “who cannot win wars” against India are trying to destroy its unity.

“The country took the decision of abrogation of Article 370, which had given only separatism and terrorism to that state,” Modi said.

“Patel had once said that had he handled the Kashmir issue, it would not have taken so long to resolve it,” Modi said, in a veiled swipe at Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister whom the ruling BJP often blames for the Kashmir issue.

Addressing a gathering in the national capital, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Articles 370 and 35A were the gateway of terrorism into Jammu and Kashmir. Modi closed the gateway by repealing them, he said.

With this move, the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and the Ranbir Penal Code have ceased to exist.

In the Kashmir Valley, however, it was another day of shutdowns and tension with markets shut, deserted roads and children staying away from school.

“This is a decision against our interests. They have robbed us of our special status and our identity,” Muzammil Mohamad, a resident of Srinagar’s Civil Lines area, said.

Another local, Umer Zargar, said, “Kashmir was a disputed territory and India’s decision was illegal, immoral and unconstitutional.”

“India cannot abrogate Article 370. This issue is in the United Nations. There are resolutions on it. This decision is illegal, immoral and unconstitutional,” he said.

For the third consecutive day, no vendors set up stalls on the TRC Chowk-Lal Chowk road, the officials said.

The roadside vendors, who had regularly set up their stalls over the past two months, have not been turning up for business since Tuesday when a delegation of EU parliamentarians landed for a two-day visit to assess the situation.

Landline and post-paid mobile phone services have been restored across the Valley, but all internet services continued to remain suspended since the night of August 4.

Most top-level and second-rung separatist politicians have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders, including two former chief ministers–Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti–have been either detained or placed under house arrest.

Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah has been arrested under the controversial Public Safety Act, a law enacted by his father and National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1978 when he was the chief minister.

In a late-night notification on Wednesday, the Home Ministry replaced the state of Jammu and Kashmir with the “union territory of Jammu and Kashmir” and announced omission of “permanent residents or hereditary state subjects”.

The ministry’s Jammu and Kashmir division announced a slew of measures, including application of central laws to the state. PTI

IAF’s policy of 2011 under which Sqn Leader Sangeetha Damodar was denied permanent commission not applicable in her case, says AFT

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 28

Eight years after a woman IAF officer was released from service after her claim for permanent commission was declined, she may be reinstated in service as the Armed Forces Tribunal has held that the policy under which her claim was rejected was not applicable in her case.

In her petition, Sqn Ldr Sangeetha Damodar had averred that she was not granted permanent commission by applying the eligibility criteria under the IAF’s policy of August 2011 whereas she ought to have been considered under the policy issued in November 2010.

Setting aside the IAF order that rejected her claim for permanent commission, the AFT, in its order earlier this month, directed the IAF to consider her case on the basis of the IAF’s policy of November 2010, read with the policy of September 2004, within four months and if found eligible, reinstate her in service.

Sqn Ldr Damodar joined the IAF as a short service commission officer in July 2000 and was released from service in August 2011.

She contended that she was commissioned on the basis of a letter issued in June 2003, which was reiterated in the policy of September 2004 that listed the criteria for grant of extension to women short service commission officers. The policy did not provide for permanent commission to women officers.

Some women officers had approached the Delhi High Court for grant of permanent commission, which allowed their petitions in March 2010, making all women officers eligible for grant of permanent commission on the same parameters as applicable to male short service officers.