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Martyrs remembered on Infantry Day

Martyrs remembered on Infantry Day
Brigadier Vijay Mohan Chaudhari pays tributes at the memorial of 1965 Indo-Pak war hero Major Surinder Prasad in Abohar on Thursday. Tribune photo

The Army on Thursday paid homage to its martyrs on the occasion of Infantry Day. Brigadier Vijay Mohan Chaudhari laid a wreath at the memorial of Major Surinder Prasad in Abohar. He was joined by other senior officers in saluting the 1965 Indo-Pak war hero. 


The Pak policy cul-de-sac Aggression yields diminishing returns

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on one of his frequent sojourns around the country, came to Bathinda on Friday. The Indian army’s elite strike corps is garrisoned not far from where he spoke. The border too is not too far away. Its villagers had felt the pain of tensions with Pakistan when they were asked to evacuate their homes in the middle of the harvest season while their compatriots in Rajasthan stayed put.  There is no doubt the relationship with Pakistan seems irretrievably settled in a deep hole. These days the battle is being fought in Kashmir and both sides have expelled eight diplomats each.Pakistan’s main foreign policy point person Sartaj Aziz has signalled his intent to attend an international conference on Afghanistan to be held in Amritsar. Clearly, this was an opportunity for South Block to extricate itself from its self-spun web of inconsistent policy statements. Modi, however, feels there should be no looking back from the kadak policy he has fashioned for Pakistan. That is why, almost as if he was turning a screw on Pakistan’s leadership, the Prime Minister spoke against letting a drop of “India’s water” to enter Pakistan. As the rising body-count of Indian soldiers after the “surgical strike” shows, Modi may have kept his domestic audience engrossed with his reality shows. But it is another matter to try and impose them on Pakistan.Pakistan, more than India, has played this game with greater dexterity and with mightier adversaries like the Soviet Union and the US.  It will be happy to match skills with the Indians in Modi’s shoot and scoot policy. And it is making it difficult for the Prime Minister to walk back from this path, especially because he was singularly responsible for building the anti-Pakistani mindset dominating the Indian domestic public opinion. Aziz’s visit can hardly alter the deep structural divide that has engulfed India and Pakistan. But it could provide the opportunity to reduce the possibility of emotions and tensions getting out of control. Unless the Modi strategy is to let tensions simmer and bring them to a boil whenever there is depletion in his political capital.


CAPT LAMBASTS BADALS FOR TREATING EX-SERVICEMEN AS ‘POLITICAL PAWNS’

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh has accused the Badals of ill-treating ex-servicemen. He was reacting to reports that ex-servicemen were tricked to reach chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s rally at Amrtisar’s Ranjit Avenue on Sunday. “The Badals have a history of illtreating ex-servicemen and the families of martyrs,” he said. The ex-servicemen had reportedly been told that they were being escorted to the memorial inauguration, but to their shock they were taken to the venue of the Badal rally.

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AMARINDER SINGH

Former chief minister

The veteran politician and acclaimed author is the Congress face in the Punjab assembly elections early next year. The 74-year-old has authored many books on Sikh history and wars. He resigned twice from Parliament — first in 1984 in protest against the army action during Operation Blue Star and in 2016 after the Supreme Court verdict on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal water-sharing agreement. He joined the army in 1963 after graduating from the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy but resigned in 1965. However, he soon rejoined the army and served as captain in the 1965 India Pakistan war.

The Last Sunset: The Rise & Fall of the Lahore Durbar

 

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‘Honour and Fidelity:

India’s Military Contribution to the Great War 1914 to 1918’ was formally launched yesterday. I have dedicated the book to Smt. Sonia Gandhi, our party president. I have served the people under various capacities under her visionary leadership.
I also thank all those who graced the occasion of the book launch at Delhi by their august presence.Amarinder Singh

Amarinder’s book on 1965 Indo-Pak war

Singh has penned the book ‘The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce 1965 India-Pakistan’ along with Lieutenant General Tajindar Shergill, who was the Troop Leader 1 Troop C Squadron Deccan Horse during the war.

“I was in the thick of the action. I was ADC to the GOC-in-C (Western Command) Harbaksh Singh. And most of the action took place in the Western Command only. So, I wanted to present the right perspective of the war. The book tries to put the record straight,” Singh said told PTI about what motivated him to write the book, launched at an event here yesterday.

During the event, the authors shared their experiences about working on the book, the Congress MP serving as ADC to Harbaksh Singh, situation back home after Shergill was put in prison by Pakistan, and putting forth their account of the war.

The attendees mostly comprised of serving and retired defense personnel.

Replying to an often-debated question of who was the actual winner of the war as both the countries claim victory for it, Shergill said it was India given the objectives set out to armed forces by then Central Government and the context in which it was fought.

They also gifted copies of the book, published by Roli Books, to the kins of war heroes, including wife of Veer Abdul Hamid, Rasoolan Biwi, and Harbaksh Singh’s daughter Harmala Gupta.

A documentary on the war was also screened during the event.

In the past, the Congress leader has penned several books, including ‘Honour and Fidelity: India’s Military Contribution to the Great War 1914-1918’ and ‘The Last Sunset: The Rise and Fall of the Lahore Durbar’.

Shergill, winner of Param Vishisht Seva Medal, has in the past written a book ‘Counter-Insurgency Support to a Host Nation’. —PTI

Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942) is an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress. Head of the royal family of the erstwhile State of Patiala, he was Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007.[1] Presently, he is the sitting President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC),[2][3][4] and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the 16th Lok Sabha, having been chosen for the position after his election as a Member of Parliament from Amritsar, where he defeated the prominent BJP leader Arun Jaitley.

Personal life

Singh is the son of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur of Patiala belonging to the Phulkian Jat dynasty of Sidhu Brar descent.[5] He attended the Welham Boys’ School and Lawrence School Sanawar[6] before going to The Doon School,[7] Dehradun. He has one son, Raninder Singh, and one daughter, Jai Inder Kaur, who is married to a Delhi-based businessman, Gurpal Singh.[8] His wife, Preneet Kaur, served as an MP and was Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to 2014.

His elder sister Heminder Kaur is married to former foreign minister K. Natwar Singh. He is also related to Shiromani Akali Dal (A) supremo and former IPS Officer Simranjit Singh Mann. Mann’s wife and Amarinder Singh’s wife, Preneet Kaur, are sisters.

Army career

He joined the Indian Army in June 1963 after graduating from the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy before resigning in early 1965. He rejoined the Army again as hostilities broke out with Pakistan and served as Captain in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War.[9][10]

Political career

He was inducted into the Congress by Rajiv Gandhi, who was his friend from school and was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980. In 1984, he resigned from Parliament and from Congress as a protest against the Army action during Operation Blue Star. Subsequently he joined the Shiromani Akali Dal was elected to the state legislature from Talwandi Sabo and became a minister in the state government for Agriculture, Forest, Development and Panchayats.

In 1992 he broke away from the Akali Dal and formed a splinter group named Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) which later merged with the Congress in 1998 (after his party’s crushing defeat in Vidhan Sabha election in which he himself was defeated from his own constituency where he got only 856 votes) after Sonia Gandhi took over the reign of the party. He was defeated by Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra from Patiala Constituency in 1998 by a whooping margin of 33251 votes. He served as the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee on two occasions from 1999 to 2002 and 2010 to 2013, he also became Chief Minister of Punjab in 2002 and continued until 2007.

In September 2008, a special committee of Punjab Vidhan Sabha expelled him on the count of regularities in the transfer of land related to the Amritsar Improvement Trust by the Akali DalBharatiya Janata Party led government.[11] In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held his expulsion unconstitutional on the grounds it was excessive and unconstitutional.[11]

He was appointed as chairman of Punjab Congress Campaign Committee in 2008. Captain Amarinder Singh is also a Permanent Invitee to the Congress Working Committee since 2013. He defeated senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley by a margin of more than 1,02,000 votes in 2014 general elections. He has been a member of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for five terms representing Patiala (Urban) thrice, Samana and Talwandi Sabo once each.

On 27 November 2015, Amarinder Singh was appointed President of Punjab Congress in the run up to Punjab elections slated for 2017.[12]

President of All India Jat Maha Sabha

Capt Amarinder Singh is president of the All India Jat Maha Sabha. He had been associated with the Jat Maha Sabha for last 30 years as its patron since 1980 when Capt Bhagwan Singh was its president. He demanded reservation for Jats under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.[13]

Books

He has also written books on war and Sikh history which include A Ridge Too Far, Lest We Forget, The Last Sunset: Rise and Fall of Lahore Durbarand The Sikhs in Britain: 150 years of Photographs. Among his most recent works are Honour and Fidelity: India’s Military Contribution to the Great War 1914 to 1918 released in Chandigarh on 6 December 2014, and The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce – 1965 India-Pakistan War– which contains his memoirs of the 1965 Indo-Pak war.[14][15]


Day after, Army resorts to massive counter-assault

Day after, Army resorts to massive counter-assault
A villager showing remains of a mortar shell in Rajouri. PTI

Srinagar/ Rajouri: A day after three soldiers were killed in Machil sector, the Army on Wednesday launched a major fire assault along the Line of Control in Kashmir, causing “substantive damage” and disrupting Pakistani army’s movement in the Neelum Valley,  a 144-km bow-shaped thick forest area in occupied Kashmir.Defence sources claimed some Pakistani soldiers had been killed. On Tuesday, Pakistani commandos and irregulars had crossed the LoC, ambushed a counter-infiltration patrol of 57 Rashtriya Rifles near Shalabatu and killed three soldiers, beheading one of them. “We have punished Pakistan. All calibre weapons  were used.”Meanwhile, seven security personnel and three civilians were injured in cross-border shelling. Three men of Madras Regiment, Subedar Satwinder Singh, Naik Baldev and gunner Sarbjit Singh, manning the LoC in Kalal area of Nowshera, were injured. Also, two BSF jawans of 163 Battalion manning Bhimber Gali sector received minor injuries. In Kupwara, two civilians were injured. — TNS


The end game

The end game
All Powerful: Raheel Sharif has been deciding Pakistan’s foreign policy too.

RELATIONS between Pakistan’s elected government and the country’s all-powerful military establishment become tense and coup prone whenever Nawaz Sharif is elected Prime Minister. This is rather ironical since Sharif entered politics with the blessings of the military in the early 1980s. The then military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq had sought the support of Nawaz’s father — industrialist and steel magnate, Mian Mohamed Sharif — to contribute for the establishment of a new Muslim League Party. General Zia’s military Governor in Lahore, Lt Gen Ghulam Gilani Khan, duly provided the support for Nawaz’s meteoric rise in politics. It was the backing of the military and the ISI chief, Lt Gen Asad Durrani, that enabled Sharif to cobble together an alliance of Islamist parties to prevail over Benazir Bhutto’s Peoples’ Party in 1992.Sharif’s whimsical and authoritarian functioning thereafter led to serious differences with then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. The President was infuriated by the involvement of Sharif and his handpicked ISI chief Lt Gen Javed Nasir, in the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts. In the meantime, Sharif had developed an acrimonious relationship with his army chief, Gen Asif Nawaz, whose sudden death, attributed to arsenic poisoning, led to suspicions of Sharif’s involvement. Sharif was duly sacked by President Ishaq Khan, but briefly restored to office by the Supreme Court. The army chief, Gen Waheed Kakkar, forced both Sharif and the President, out of office shortly thereafter.  Sharif’s relationship with the army was equally stormy in his second term. He peremptorily sacked his highly respected and apolitical army chief, Gen Jehangir Karamat. He was then ousted, jailed and exiled by Karamat’s successor, Pervez Musharraf, following differences over who was responsible for the Kargil fiasco.Sharif’s relations with the army have been no less tumultuous in his third term. Like in the case of his appointment of Musharraf, Sharif erred in this third term by his appointment of Gen Raheel Sharif as army chief. He ignored the fact that General Raheel was a protégé of General Musharraf, who would challenge the PM’s efforts to have Musharraf tried for treason. Raheel Sharif predictably warned not only Nawaz, but also the Supreme Court, to back off from efforts to arrest and imprison Musharraf. His success in this effort only whetted Raheel’s appetite for taking over control of foreign policy, particularly relations with India, Afghanistan and even the US. China duly played on the General’s huge ego, by suggesting that it was the Pakistan army alone that could provide security for its $46 billion ‘One-Belt, One-Road’project.Over the past three years, Raheel Sharif has taken over control of Pakistan’s foreign policy and the country’s internal security. He undermined the successful meeting that Nawaz had with Mr Modi in Ufa by not permitting his DGMO to meet his Indian counterpart. He then undermined any chance of a rapprochement with India by the attack on the Pathankot air base, just after Mr Modi had extended a hand of friendship by visiting Lahore during the wedding of Nawaz Sharif’s daughter. General Sharif has taken over the conduct of relations with Afghanistan to such an extent that when the Taliban, which has links with the ISI across the border, mounts terrorist strikes in Afghanistan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks to him rather than Nawaz Sharif!General Sharif has shown similar disregard for constitutional norms on issues of internal security. He mounted a large-scale attack on the Pashtun tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, ruthlessly using artillery and air strikes after the Pakistani Taliban attack on the Army School in Peshawar. These operations, named Zarb-e-Azb, have rendered 8,00,000 tribals homeless, with an estimated 50,000 fleeing into Afghanistan. The entire operation was mounted in the face of opposition from both provincial and federal governments and without parliamentary approval. Raheel Sharif showed similar disregard for the views of these governments in his crackdown using the army-controlled Paramilitary Rangers to crush the MQM Party in Karachi. In the meantime, the brutal army repression in Balochistan continues. Despite being lauded as a  “saviour” by sections in Pakistan, Raheel Sharif has laid the foundations for prolonged unrest in three of Pakistan’s four provinces. In these circumstances, the Nawaz government hit back with leaks to the Dawn newspaper, alleging that support of the army and ISI for groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, JeM and the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan had led to the diplomatic isolation of Pakistan, with even “all-weather friend” China expressing misgivings. This sentiment echoed widely in Pakistan’s parliament. The fact that India’s surgical strikes has been welcomed by the US and European parliament and that this has accompanied a boycott of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad, has given Nawaz Sharif more political space to act. He can now move to replace Raheel Sharif, who is due to retire on November 29, with a person of his choice. This will happen, unless, in the meantime, the Supreme Court acts against Nawaz Sharif on allegations of corruption and money laundering, or if a proposed agitation by Imran Khan paralyses Sharif’s government and invites army intervention. Nawaz Sharif may, therefore, name the new army chief well before November 29.General Sharif will likely recommend the most senior officer, Lt Gen Zubair Hayat, presently the chief of general staff, to be the next army chief. Hayat is highly regarded and briefly headed the Strategic Plans Division of Pakistan’s Nuclear Command Authority. But Sharif will be wary of appointing a trusted buddy of General Sharif as the next chief. Hayat could well be “kicked upstairs” to the largely ceremonial, but senior-most post of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC). As the CJCSC heads the Nuclear Command Authority, Hayat’s appointment could be justified on the grounds of his earlier association with it. In that case, Sharif could look lower down the list and could possibly appoint Lt Gen Iqbal Ramaday, who has impeccable family credentials and is presently Corps Commander Bahawalpur, or Lt Gen Qamar Bajwa, said to be a competent officer, who evidently has reservations about extremist jehadi outfits. Bajwa presently holds the same post that Raheel Sharif did before he was appointed as army chief.


In dragon’s territory

In dragon's territory
Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag inspects a guard of honour in Beijing on Monday. PTI
  • Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag on Tuesday held talks with China’s Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman General Xu Qiliang and head of China’s ground forces Gen Li Zuocheng and wrapped up his visit to Beijing and left for field visits
  • At Nanjing, he is scheduled to interact with General Liu Yuejun, Commander of the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army and visit military installations, including an infantry division and air defence brigades. He will also visit Xian before returning home on November 24
  • During General Suhag’s meeting with Xu, both Generals “reiterated their desire to keep up the momentum of defence exchanges and the need to keep the borders tranquil and peaceful”, an Indian Embassy statement said

 


Army officer’s remains reach home town after 24 years

Kottayam (Kerala), October 15

Twenty-four years after he lost his life fighting insurgents in Nagaland, Second Lt E Thomas Joseph’s mortal remains were brought to his home town of Kanjiramatttom and laid to rest with full state and military honours in a church there.The remains were taken in a procession to the Holy Cross Church yesterday and prayers were conducted by his family. Joseph died fighting Naga insurgents on June 12, 1992, and his body had been buried in a church at Chakabama in Nagaland.Thanks to efforts by Joseph’s batchmates at the Indian Military Academy, his parents were able to travel to Nagaland and bring back their son’s remains to their home state.  His father Subdedar Major (retd) AT Joseph and mother Rosamma Joseph were moist-eyed seeing the Tricolour draped casket carrying the remains of their son. They kissed the casket, bidding him the final farewell.  — PTI


A paratrooper with a flair for design

12 Jat, raised as the forerunner of Rashtriya Rifles units, has had a varied combat experience of 46 years

Please write in with your narratives of war and soldiering to msbajwa@gmail.com or call/WhatsApp on 093161-35343

Soldiers though trained to be hard, have a softer and creative side too. Of them, paratroopers are reputed to be tough with a keen eye for detail and ground. Akash Deep Gill is all of these with the added quality of having a flair for design where the famed paratrooper’s vision undoubtedly helps. Commissioned in 1978, he served with 2 and 3 Para and formed part of the Army .22 pistol shooting team, becoming the national champion in 1991-92. Later he did a stint with the ‘hush-hush’ Special Frontier Force’s 3rd Battalion. With no command vacancies in the Paras, he took over 15 Maratha Light Infantry, serving in Pune and the LOC from where he took premature retirement, settling in Chandigarh.

KESHAV SINGH/HTColonel Akash Deep Gill (retd) pictured with some of the artefacts designed by him. His creative bent of mind showcases the sensitive side of the otherwise harsh world of soldiering.

The running of a premier leader goods store in Sector 7 occupied his time. Gill’s leisure time was spent travelling and indulging in his hobby of collecting antiques. This led to what became his passion – the design and creation of artefacts. The modification and enhancement of period pieces of furniture occupies a fair bit of his time as does the design and fabrication of new furniture and objets d’art. His house in Sector 28 is filled with his creations. The future might see him turning professional with his designing and creation. 12 JAT REUNION

12 Jat was raised as a part of the 31-32 series of specialised battalions for counter-insurgency (the precursor of today’s Rashtriya Rifles units) with a mix of personnel from the parent regiment and the Punjab, Rajput and Sikh Regiments. Deployed to Mizoram, the battalion soon found itself in the forefront of operations against East Pakistan in 1971. The Jats carried out surgical strikes against Pakistani forces in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Most notable was young Lieutenant Baljit Gill’s raid in September on a group of boats carrying men of 3 Commando Battalion, SSG on the Karnaphuli River, 35 kms deep in enemy territory. He was awarded a Vir Chakra for the successful operation. Forming part of Kilo Force, the Jats spearheaded the advance on Chittagong, taking the surrender of a large number of naval personnel.

During the Sri Lanka operations, the battalion served in the jungles of Vavuniya, winning a number of decorations. 12 Jat again distinguished itself in Siachen during the Kargil War. It has a number of tenures in counter-insurgency and in the no-war, no-peace environment of the LOC.

Recently, the first-ever reunion of the battalion’s officers was held at Chandimandir with veterans coming from as far away as Guwahati. This indeed is the spirit that spurs men to perform impossible deeds for the good names of their regiments. 12 Jat Zindabad! LIKELY NEXT AIR CHIEF

Air Marshal Birender ‘Tony’ Dhanoa is likely to be the next Air Chief on account of his seniority and undoubted merit. Currently he is the vice-chief after having commanded South-Western Air Command. He commanded 17 Squadron (The Golden Arrows) in action during the Kargil War, flying reconnaissance and strike missions and winning the Yudh Seva Medal. Belonging to Gharuan village near Kharar, he was educated at the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun. The Air Marshal’s father was in the IAS and volunteered to serve in Punjab as the chief secretary in the difficult time after Operation Bluestar. One looks forward to the good news.