Amit Khajuria,Tribune News Service,Jammu, December 31
In a major security concern, Pakistan has increased its mobile tower range near the international border, keeping security agencies on their toes. The Defence Ministry remains tightlipped on the issue.Pakistan has spread its mobile tower range across the international border, touching the Jammu-Pathankot national highway in Jammu and Kashmir.Mobile phones in Kathua and Samba districts in Jammu and Kashmir are catching the service of Pakistani telecom operators, which have raised their signal strength near the international border.Pakistani telecom operators like Mobilink, Zong and PakUfone are active on National Highway 1, which connects Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country. It had remained among the targets of terrorists for 12 years.After crossing Lakhanpur, prepaid mobile phones of networks from the rest of the country stop working and mobile phones start searching for network automatically.Some mobile networks from the other side of the border are tracked by the mobile phones, causing fear among tourists and pilgrims and raising a a big question mark on security.A number of incidents involving terrorists had taken place on the highway in recent years. The strong mobile signal strength on this side of the border could help Pakistani terrorists in their operations. Despite repeated attempts, the Defence Ministry did not respond on the issue.A technical expert of a telecom operator in Jammu told The Tribune on the condition of anonymity that no one was allowed to install a tower or radiation equipment within a radius of 10 km from the border on the Indian side.
Network@neighbour
Mobiles in Kathua and Samba districts catching service of Pak telecom providers
Service providers like Mobilink, Zong and PakUfone active on National Highway 1
Strong mobile signal strength on this side of the border can help Pakistani terrorists
Army Day 2016: General Dalbir Singh says Indian Army counted among most professional forces in the world
Army Day 2016: Army Chief General Dalbir Singh on Friday said the Indian Army is ready to face any challenges and is among the world’s most professional forces.
Army Day 2016: Army Chief General Dalbir Singh on Friday said the Indian Army is ready to face any challenges and is among the world’s most professional forces.
“Our response to natural disasters has been efficient, the world has also praised our efforts during the Nepal quake. We are ready to face challenges and are more than capable of overcoming them. Our biggest strength are our soldiers, we are counted among the most professional forces in the world,” General Singh said on the occasion of the 68th Army Day.
General Singh also said that good coordination between all three services (Army, Navy, Air Force) is the most crucial aspect to overcome any challenges.
“We will soon establish a veteran wing at Base Hospital, where the veterans will be exclusively treated. Modernization of our weapons is very important,” he added.
Army Day is annually celebrated on January 15. It marks the day in 1949 when Lt.Gen. K.M. Cariappa took over as the first commander-in-chief of the Indian Army from the last British commander-in-chief.
Honouring the indomitable valour and extreme courage of the armed forces, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the forces on the occasion of Army Day.
“Saluting the indomitable valour, determination and dedication of our Army on Army Day,” Prime Minister Modi tweeted.
General Dalbir Singh, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Robin Dhowan and Chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha paid homage to martyrs by laying wreaths at the Amar Jawan Jyoti.
Army Day is a day when the nation salutes the sacrifices and contributions as also the martyrdom of its valiant soldiers.
Joint search begins again near Tibri military station
Migrant labourers had said they were thrashed by two ultras at Bahia village
TIBRI (GURDASPUR): With some migrant labourers complaining to the Tibber police that they were thrashed by two suspected Pakistani militants in sugarcane fields of Bahia village opposite Tibri Military Station on Saturday, security agencies launched a search operation for the terrorists in Mann, Chopra, Tibri, Shorhian Bangar and Kotli Sainian villages on Sunday.
HT FILESecurity forces have been searching for two suspected terrorists at Tibri and other villages near the military station since Saturday.
Sleuths of Punjab Police, the army, the Border Security Force (BSF) and Israel-trained SWAT (Special Weapons Attack Team) have been pressed into service for the joint search operation.
Gurdaspur senior superintendent of police Gurpreet Singh Toor confirmed that a search operation had been launched, but refused to share details on the plea that this could hamper the search.
He added that Tibri Military Station, 5km from Gurdaspur city, on the Gurdaspur-Mukerian Road, could be a possible target.
After a similar search at Pandher village search was called off on Wednesday, there have at least two instances where villagers claim to have seen the two terrorists.
On Friday, Lavpreet Singh (22), a resident of Tibri village, had claimed that he was stopped by two Pakistani terrorists. Unconfirmed reports of terrorists hiding in the fields of Virk-Talwandi village had also been reported at the Tibber police station.
BSF works to plug gaps along Indo-Pak border
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE? Top officials camping in the area to ensure the porous borders, used by smugglers till now, are secured
PATHANKOT: The Border Security Force has increased surveillance in the Bamiyal sector along the Pakistan border in Punjab, believed to be a transit point for smugglers, drug traffickers and terrorists because of stretches of “gaping holes” in the heavilyguarded boundary.
HT FILEThe BSF has sprung into action and erected more barbed wires and surveillance equipment such as high-beam lights along the border.
Pakistan-based terrorists reportedly sneaked through this porous border to lay siege on the Pathankot air base recently, as did their comrades to attack Dinanagar police station some months ago.
The BSF came under severe criticism for the “gaps” in the border fence.
The complex geography and topography of the area — compounded by a fast-running Ravi river and swampland of tall grasses on its banks — make it difficult to build a continuous fence of barbed wires along the border.
About 750 metres of land were without a fence at many points because of the river terrain.
The BSF spokesperson said senior officers were camping at the frontier village of Bamiyal since the Pathankot attack and overseeing work to strengthen the surveillance system.
BSF special director-general MK Singla was reportedly visiting areas where the border has remained porous. He was said to be leading a team of BSF officers to fortify vulnerable points with modern equipment.
To plug the gaps, the paramilitary force has installed highbeam lights and other equipment to detect movements.
The spokesperson said the BSF has added at least six more companies and a process was initiated to deploy 800 more personnel to guard the area. “We have placed more barbed wires, modern surveillance equipment and more boats to tackle the fast current of the Ravi,” he said.
Vijay Mohan,Tribune News Service,Pathankot, January 4
Shed a Tear: The father of the late Lt Col Niranjan EK with his granddaughter in Bengaluru. The cremation takes place in Kerala today. PTI
As operations to clear the Pathankot Air Force Station of terrorists continued for the third day, security forces came up with what could be construed as a definitive figure to end the confusion: the fifth terrorist had been killed today. They, however, chose to maintain silence on the possible presence of more terrorists inside, saying combing operations were underway.
Earlier during the day, there were reports of six terrorists having been killed, with the last one blowing himself up, but the commanders on the ground did not officially mention any additional number other than five.“We have eliminated the fifth terrorist today and the combing and search operations are still continuing,” Maj Gen Dushyant Singh, Inspector General (Operations) of the National Security Guard (NSG), announced at the airbase this evening as an IAF C-130 Super Hercules special missions aircraft circled overhead and intermittent gunshots could be heard nearby.Gunshots indicated the possible presence of more terrorists inside or a cautionary measure being undertaken by combat elements when faced with a doubtful situation.The operations are being conducted by the NSG with support from the Army, which is contributing a “major combat element” along with medical and administrative support.The IAF has also deployed its assets, including Mi-35 helicopter gunships, Mi-17 and Dhruv helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and its Garud special forces.“Given the magnitude of the airbase, the search operations will continue till we can declare the station fully safe,” Maj Gen Dushyant Singh said, adding that all assets at the station, including personnel and families, were secure and safe. The air base is huge, spread over 75 acres with a residential area, a school and other amenities, besides technical facilities. Senior officers said the Army was on a general alert since January 1 following inputs of a terror strike. The area around the air base remains cordoned off and access roads have been barricaded with armed Air Force guards along with the police manning the check-points. Life beyond the vicinity of the air base appeared to continue as routine, with bustling markets and jostling traffic.There have been no reports of any further casualties among NSG and armed forces personnel present at the airbase. Seven persons, including a Lieutenant Colonel have been killed in the operations, besides about 20 being injured.Ravi Dhaliwal adds: The Army and Air Force were said to be under pressure from New Delhi to tear down the residential building where two terrorists had taken position after four co-attackers had been shot dead. The two, it is learnt, had entered the building last evening.The Army, anticipating their move, had got the premises vacated. The building is adjacent to the Technical Area and has been partially damaged. It was during the blast that one of the ultras was killed while the remaining one managed to escape. A hunt is on to nab or kill him.Experts also examined the drain from where the terrorists are believed to have entered the Air Force complex. The drain flows from outside the high-walled station, near the Akalgarh Gurdwara, to inside the base away from the Technical Area. That is the reason why the terrorists kept firing from the outskirts and failed to enter the space where high-tech air equipment, including a squadron of fighter planes and helicopters, has been parked.Meanwhile, Punjab Police have formed a special team to trace the route taken by the terrorists to reach the outskirts of the air base. Some officers opine that the armed men trudged their way in from Paharipur village, near the border, in this district. However, another section says the terrorists might have come in from either Bamyal or from the border near Dinanagar. The police team is working in tandem with the BSF officials.
NSG commando’s last rites in Kerala today
Shubhadeep Choudhury,Tribune News Service,Bengaluru, January 4
Lt Col Niranjan’s father EK Sivaranjam (C) consoles his daughter-in-law Radhika in Bengaluru. pti
Karnataka CM Siddharamaiah today announced Rs30 lakh as compensation to the family of Lt Col Niranjan EK who died fighting terrorists at Pathankot.Siddaramaiah said, “Karnataka had given Rs30 lakh as compensation to the family of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, a martyr in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. We will give the same compensation to Niranjan’s family.”Kumar’s body was brought to the HAL Airport at Bengaluru today and kept at the mortuary at Command Hospital. The body was brought to his residence around 7 am where family members burst into tears after they saw the mortal remains. Niranjan’s mother is no more. His family comprised his wife and a young child, father, elder brother, sister and stepmother and a stepbrother. His brother E Sharath is an IAF pilot. Union ministers Ananth Kumar and Sadananda Gowda, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, former Union minister Veerappa Moily paid tributes to the martyr.The body was then flown by a Mi-17 helicopter to Niranjan’s native village Palakkad in Kerala where the cremation would take place tomorrow.
Kangra family says 3-day wait for body added to their agony
Lalit Mohan,Tribune News Service,Dharamsala/Chamba, January 4
The grieving family members of Sanjeevan Rana. photo: Kamaljeet
The family of Sanjeevan Singh Rana, killed on Saturday in the Pathankot terrorist attack, had to wait for three days to receive his body. The “long delay”, they said, had compounded their miseries.This, rued the relatives of Sanjeevan, who belonged to Shahpur’s Siyunh village in Kangra district, could have been avoided by the state government had it made “some efforts”.Onkar Thakur, a relative, alleged while the Punjab and Haryana governments made special arrangements for bringing home the bodies of their victims, no such effort was visible on the part of the Himachal government.“Let aside the Chief Minister or other higher-rung bureaucrats, not even a lower-rank official from Himachal reached Pathankot to get the body. This is painful disregard for the martyrdom of the soldiers from Himachal by the state government,” said Onkar.Sanjeevan is survived by his wife Pinki Devi, two daughters—Komal, a Class XII student, and Shivani, who is pursuing BCA—and a son, Shubham, who is doing B. Pharma. Serving in the Army has been a tradition with the family as Sanjeevan’s father Rattan Singh Rana is also an ex-serviceman. Rattan Singh, a septuagenarian, said India should toughen its stance towards Pakistan. “Why is Indian government not doing anything when terrorists trained in Pakistan are repeatedly attacking India? We should strike back in the same coin,” he said.Among others who attended Sanjeevan’s cremation were Cabinet Ministers GS Bali and Dhani Ram Shandil, Himachal Pradesh State Forest Corporation vice-chairman Kewal Singh Pathania, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s son and state Youth Congress president Vikramaditya Singh, state Congress committee secretary Raghubir Singh Bali, BJP legislator Sarween Chaudhary and Kangra Deputy Commissioner Ritesh Chauhan.
Govt to give Rs 20 lakh
The Himachal Pradesh government said it would provide Rs 20 lakh each to the families of the two martyrs killed in the Pathankot terror attack
State Minister GS Bali said the government earlier used to give Rs 5 lakh to the families of martyrs, but Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Monday increased the amount to Rs 20 lakh
Bali said the family members of both the victims would also be entitled to free travel in the state transport buses
Heart-rending scenes mark final journey
Suman Bhatnagar,Ambala, January 4
Army personnel carry the coffin of Havildar Jagdish Chand, who was killed in the Pathankot terrorist attack, for the cremation at his native village in Chamba on Monday. PTI
Chamba man wanted to enter new house
Lalit Mohan,Tribune News Service,Dharamsala/Chamba, Jan 4
Jagdish Chand’s family at Basa village in Chamba was on fast since they received the news of his martyrdom.Jagdish had recently built a new house at his native village and was planning to shift there. There is no road link to his village and one has to walk 2 km on foot. His relatives said the destiny did not allow Jagdish to spend time in his new house.Jagdish Chand had retired from the Army in 2009 after serving in the 7 Dogra Regiment for 26 years. A year later, he joined the Defence Security Corps (DSC). He was transferred to Pathankot from Leh on November 23. He visited his village on December 31 and assured the villagers that he would return for the panchayat elections on January 10.The villagers said Jagdish was off duty and was working in a mess when terrorists attacked the Pathankot airbase. Unarmed, Jagdish snatched a rifle from the terrorist and killed him. However, he could not survive attack from other terrorists.Jagdish is the third martyr from Basa village with a population of 250. The other two martyrs were Suja Ram of 15 Dogra who was killed while serving the IPKF in Sri Lanka and Khemraj, who was killed in the Kargil war. Jagdish Chand is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
The wailing family of Commando Gursewak Singh in Ambala. PTI
The mortal remains of Garud Commando Corporal Gursewak Singh (26), who was killed in the Pathankot terror attack on Saturday, were consigned to flames with full state honours at his native village Garnala today.Gursewak is survived by his wife Jaspreet, who he had married one-and-a-half months ago, parents and an elder brother. The family was inconsolable as an Air Force vehicle brought the body, wrapped in the Tricolur, to the village.Around 300 Air Force personnel escorted the funeral procession. Emotions ran high as the commando’s elder brother Hardeep Singh lit the pyre amid the raising of patriotic slogans.Besides the Air Force and Army contingents, hundreds of people from various walks of life attended the cremation. Prominent among them were Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij, Finance Minister Abhimanyu and Minister of State for Mines Nayab Singh Saini, MLA Aseem Goel, INLD state president Ashok Arora, Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, All-India Anti-Terrorist Front president MS Bitta, Anti-Terrorist Front India chief Viresh Shandily, former state minister Nirmal Singh and senior officers of the district administration.Amid heart-rending scenes, Gursewak’s mother Amrik Kaur and father Sucha Singh said their son had made them proud.Sucha Singh, an exserviceman, said, “My son has laid down his life for the country.” He said his elder son Hardeep Singh too was in the Army and he wished that his grandson should also join the armed forces to keep the family tradition alive.
Daughter lends shoulder to Punjab shooter’s body
Ravi Dhaliwal,Tribune News Service,Gurdaspur, January 4
Poignant scenes were witnessed at the crematorium of Jhanda Gujran, the native village of Capt (Hon) Fateh Singh who was killed by the militants in Pathankot on Saturday. The soldier’s body was brought to his village yesterday and was cremated with full military honours today in the presence of Brig RK Tiwari. A guard of honour was given by the Sikh Regiment.Fateh Singh’s daughter Madhu Radha Katal, an English teacher at a college in Mhow (MP) who had come to the air force base on a vacation, lent her shoulder to her father’s body at the crematorium.Fateh Singh, a former international-level shooter who has bagged 64 medals of various hues in national and international events, retired from the Army before joining the Air Force. He is survived by his wife Shobha Thakur, daughter Madhu and two sons, Gurdeep Rana and Nitin Thakur. The eldest son, Gurdeep Rana, is working with the 15th Dogra Regiment, the same regiment from which his late father retired.An inconsolable Madhu said she heard a loud noise, following which power supply to their quarter at the air base was disconnected. “I was afraid and crawled under a bed. Minutes later, somebody told me that Papa was admitted to the Military Hospital, and that his condition was critical. My mother consoled me and my other family members. My father used to consider me as his third son,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.
DOUBLE CLICK THE IMAGE FILE ABOVE TO READ ENLARGED VIEW SEPARATE IN NEW WINDOW
Ajay Banerjee,Tribune News Service,New Delhi, January 28
The Ministry of Defence has ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against two serving Major Generals of the Indian Army for allegedly having disproportionate assets.Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today ordered the probe against Maj Gen Ashok Kumar and Maj Gen Surinder Singh Lamba.General Lamba was posted as Additional Director General in the Ordnance Directorate at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi.General Kumar is posted to the Bengal area. He was earlier posted as officiating GOC of the headquarters, Bengal Area at Kolkatta.When files for their routine promotions were taken up some two weeks ago, Parrikar had told the appointments committee of the Cabinet that the CBI has to clear them of the charges.
Conduct thorough probe into Pathankot attack: US to Pak
The US has pressed Pakistan to conduct a “thorough, fair and transparent” probe into the deadly terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot and wants to see the outcome of the investigation.”We certainly look forward to and expect a thorough, complete, fair and transparent investigative process. We are going to have to let it work through,” State Department spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday.”We look forward to seeing the results of their investigation. We would all like them to be done as quickly as possible and transparently discussed when it’s complete. But this is for the government of Pakistan to sort out how long this investigation is going to take,” Kirby said.”They (Pakistan) said they’re going to investigate it. They said they’re not going to discriminate between terrorist groups when they conduct counter-terrorism operations,” the official said.He acknowledged that the US has reached out to Pakistan after the Pathankot terror attack.”It’s more important to us, as it is in our own investigative issues here in the United States, that it be a good, solid, thoughtful and comprehensive investigation, not that it be done by a certain timeline,” he said.Six terrorists, who had sneaked into the country from Indo-Pak border in Pakistan, had attacked Indian Air Force base in Pathankot during the intervening night of January 1 and 2.All the terrorist were killed during a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days in which seven security personnel were killed.The US said it encourages an “aggressive” approach to counter-terrorism operations by Pakistan and other regional powers, Kirby said, and expressed willingness to support such operations as required or deemed fit by those nations.Meanwhile, the Pentagon has said communication between India and Pakistan is a “hopeful sign” that the two countries will be able to resolve their concerns bilaterally despite the terror attack in Pathankot.”The communication (between India and Pakistan) is a hopeful sign that they will be able to address these concerns, but I’ll leave it to the governments of Pakistan and India to respond to this particular situation,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said while responding to questions about the cross-border terror attack.”This is a situation between India and Pakistan, and we encourage their continued communication and efforts to address these issues,” he said yesterday.Cook also said the US has a very good defence and military-to-military relationship with India. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter had hosted Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at the Pentagon last month. —PTI
Role of BSF, Punjab Police and IAF officials to be examined
NEW DELHI: Heads are likely to roll for serious lapses leading to the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase, senior officials said on Wednesday, as calls for fixing responsibility grew shriller across the security establishment and political spectrum.
SAMEER SEHGAL/HTAir Force personnel pinning down the ‘suspect’ outside the Pathankot airbase on Wednesday night.Seven security personnel, including an officer of the elite National Security Guard (NSG), were killed in the siege of the airbase, one of the biggest and most strategic defence installations in the country. Six terrorists, who had managed to infiltrate the highly-guarded airbase, were also killed.
“It would be premature to fix accountability but there are several indications that people entrusted with specific tasks did not measure up. The role of officials from the BSF, the state police and the IAF will be minutely examined,” a top official said.
No agency would be allowed to sidestep blame and firm action would be taken after a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the attack, the official added.
Questions have already been raised about the role of the BSF after the terrorists exploited gaps in Indo-Pak border security to sneak into Punjab before infiltrating the high security base.
The terrorists also roamed freely for more than 20 hours without being detected by the state police, the officials said, and pointed out that security personnel at the airbase, already on a high alert, also could not prevent the attackers from infiltrating into the installation.
“If we have to prevent future attacks, heads have to roll. Organisations can’t shrug off blame and give themselves a clean chit,” the government officer said.
As several unanswered questions continue to baffle the security establishment, experts also demanded swift action against those responsible for the lapses.
“It’s quite obvious we failed to draw lessons from the 26/11 terror strike and other recent attacks. And that’s why we keep suffering casualties. Accountability has to be fixed at the earliest to prevent security lapses,” said General Deepak Kapoor (retd), who was the army chief when the Mumbai attacks took place.
He said the fighter base’s perimeter security should have been made foolproof as soon as hard intelligence about a possible strike was received.
Several IAF officials HT spoke to said the air force could not be expected to secure the perimeter of huge bases – Pathankot’s measures 25 km.
“The IAF can only guard its vital assets in such a scenario. We should not jump to any conclusions till all questions are answered. Remember no vital assets were lost,” said a former IAF chief, requesting anonymity.
Experts also flagged concerns about no lessons being learnt after last year’s Dinanagar attack. Former army vice-chief lieutenant general Philip Campose said, “The security establishment should have come up with some solutions after the Dinanagar strike… it was the first strike outside Jammu and Kashmir. But it’s clear no methodology of response was worked out.”
UT air force base vulnerable; shares wall with illegal shanties
The air force transport base shares its boundary wall with a illegal building in Behlana. From the roof of this building, anybody can sneak into the transport base and shockingly such a major illegal entry point to the base is still unplugged, two days after the Pathankot attacks.
Air force officials have approached us and the administration will hold a demolition drive around the boundary walls of defence installations and facilities. Ajit Bala Joshi, UT deputy commissioner
CHANDIGARH: Even as the Pathankot airbase attack has come as a major warning signal to the country’s defence establishment, an HT reality check has revealed that the city’s Air Force Transport Base and the newly operational airport in Mohali remain vulnerable to security breach. The danger for both vital installations comes from tall buildings, constructed illegally, in nearby villages that share boundary wall with the facilities.
KARUN SHARMA/ HTA high rise building next to the wall of the technical airport at Behlana in Chandigarh.The air force transport base shares its boundary wall with a illegal building in Behlana. From the roof of this building, anybody can sneak into the transport base and shockingly such a major illegal entry point to the base is still unplugged, two days after the Pathankot attacks.
Residents claim that with most buildings on rent, it would be difficult to trace miscreants in case of any attempted attack at the transport base.
BUILDINGS TALLER THAN AIRPORT BOUNDARY WALL
At the new airport in SAS Nagar, mushrooming illegal shanties and buildings at Jagatpur village are a major security threat. Some buildings in the village are even taller than the airport boundary wall and one is just a step away from gaining unauthorised access to the facility.
“It is ridiculously easy for someone to rent or build a shack there and just keep a watch on the security system at the airport. The consequences can be harrowing,” said a source in the police department. Intelligence officials claim that as per the guidelines issued by the supreme court, no structure could be constructed within 100m of the boundary wall of a defence establishment or an airport, the UT administration as well as the SAS Nagar mandarins had failed to implement the law. When HT brought the issue to light and contacted officials in administration as well as the air force, the attempt seemed to be to pass the nuck. Officials in the administration said that it was the duty of the air force officers to pursue the matter. A senior air force officer, however, claimed that it was the duty of the local administration to remove illegal structures.
OFFICIAL VERSION
Chandigarh deputy commissioner Ajit Bala Joshi said, “Air force officials have approached us and the administration will hold a demolition drive around the boundary walls of the defence installations.”
Zirakpur municipal council executive officer Parminder Singh Saroi said, “We have already demolished a godown. One of the structures we demolished was again erected and we have received an email to raze it again. I will take police along and demolish structures within 100m of the airport boundary wall.”
HAILING HEROES Visits families of Honorary Captain Fateh Singh, Havildar Kulwant Singh, promises all support
GURDASPUR: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday visited the families of Honorary Captain Fateh Singh and Havildar Kulwant Singh, who laid down their lives fighting terrorists at the Pathankot air force base.
HT PHOTODefence minister Manohar Parrikar at martyr Kulwant Singh’s house at Chak Sharif village in Gurdaspur on Tuesday.
At Jhanda Gujjran village, Parrikar announced a job for Fateh Singh’s daughter Madhu Radha and free education for his younger son Nitin, a Class-8 student. Fateh’s elder son Gurdip Rana, who is serving in the 15 Dogra Regiment in Sikkim, will be transferred to Tibri Military Station near Gurdaspur, said Parrikar.
The minister also announced that Pathankot martyrs would be treated as battle casualties and corresponding benefits would be provided to the families.
Even the injured would get all due benefits, he said.
At Havildar Kulwant Singh’s house in Chak Sharif village, the defence minister said the families of the martyrs belonged to the nation.
He said he will instruct the officials of the army brigade nearby to take care of these families and ensure that they don’t face any hardship.
10 LESSONS FROM THE ASSAULT
Counter-terror ops to protect India’s largest operational air base near Pakistan spilled over three days and raised several questions. Security experts give key lessons to be learnt from the incident.
1 MORE MEN ON THE BORDER
HT FILE/SAMEER SEHGALThe bold attack by terrorists has raised eyebrows.In J&K, a BSF company (about 100 men) guards an average frontage of 2.75km. In Punjab it covers 5.6km, underling an urgent need of more men and equipment on international border.
2 STRENGTHEN INTELLIGENCE
Garner more real-time actionable inputs, especially from human sources. Also need better-trained officers to glean such intelligence more effectively.
3 BUST NARCO ROUTE
Thriving cross-border drug smuggling network is suspected to be providing an extensive logistics support to terror outfits based in Pakistan.
4 HIGH-VALUE SYSTEMS
As militants in the region are increasingly targeting defence bases, special plans and sophisticated force are required to ensure fool-proof security.
5 BETTER TRAINING
Terrorists are known to improvise. Every counter-terror operation is a new learning curve. Training designs need to be constantly upgraded.
6 CORRECT INFORMATION
Declaring the operation’s success even before it got over was a public embarrassment. A unified command centre for media briefing is needed.
7 A CLEAR STRUCTURE
For operations involving multiple security agencies like NSG, army and police, a clear command and control structure can check any gaps in coordination at operation level.
8 BRIDGING THE GAP
Experts pointed out huge gaps in vigilance, planning, coordination and counterterrorism force application during the operations.
9 BOLSTER AIR SURVEILLANCE
Air surveillance on Punjab and Jammu borders is currently done more on a special basis. A routine arrangement can act as a better scanner and plug the loopholes.
10 SECURITY AUDIT
A thorough security audit, in a timebound manner, at all vulnerable military installations to plug gaps in the existing security architecture.
Gaping holes make airbase vulnerable
PATHANKOT: Even as combing operations continued at the Pathankot air base for the fourth day on Tuesday which had led to the death of seven security personnel while neutralising six terrorists, various agencies involved in the operation are still grappling with the question how the terrorists, armed with loads of ammunition managed to enter the heavily guarded air force base.
RAVI KUMAR/HTThe wall near the main entry of the Pathankot airbase is adjoining to the residential area of Dhaki village.The air force station is spread across over 1,900 acres and its perimeter is over 24 kilometres long. The entire perimeter is enclosed by a 10-foot wall with an additional two feet of barbed wire on top. The wall is guarded by raised defence pickets at every half and kilometres and the wall is lit up at night with hundreds of lights.
Even though the air force station seems like a heavily guarded impenetrable complex, the fact is that over the years, the boundary wall has been rendered porous and it is no wonder that crossing over or across the wall of the station would have been the least of the problems for terrorists.
Addressing a press conference at the airbase, union defence minister Manohar Parrikar admitted that there have been some “gaps” which he could see but the entire set of facts would be clear only after investigations. “The biggest question before me is that how did these (terrorists) enter the air base?” he said.
The wall, near the main entry of the base is abutting the residential area of Dhaki, earlier a village and now within the municipal limits of Pathankot. The houses in this area are built in a manner that their walls are common with the boundary wall of the air force base. At one point where a house is under construction, the construction material has been stacked next to the air force station boundary wall and all it would take is a skip and hop to get across.
Secondly, the wall on one large tract runs parallel to a seasonal nallah (water channel) which also had inlets inside the complex. These inlets are channelised from under the wall through pipes. But over the years the sand around the pipes has eroded and holes have come up which are large enough for anyone to slip through. While it is generally believed that the terrorists used such an inlet to enter the base, Mangal Singh Bajwa, a resident of Dhaki says that these inlets have been converted into breeding grounds to pigs and generally the owners of the pigs live close by. “If the terrorists entered the base through the inlet, they would have been noticed,” he pointed out.
The lighting of the wall is also not complete, said Ashwani Sharma, BJP president of Dhaki ward who lives barely a hundred meters from the wall. “There are many times when the lights go bust and are not repaired for months. We used to think that we are living next to an air force base and are safe, not realising that we are living in such an unsafe place which will be attacked by terrorists,” said Sharma.
Parrikar’s tough
posers to BSF, military officials
INFILTRATION Defence minister perturbed over Punjab’s porous border
NEW DELHI: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday posed tough questions to the Border Security Force (BSF) and top brass of the Air Force and Army on continued cross-border infiltration and security along the perimeter of the Pathankot airbase, which was breached by terrorists.
Parrikar visited the air base even as forces continued mopping up operation at the airfield following one of the worst terrorist attack on a defence installation in the country in recent times.
Top South Block sources said Parrikar wanted to find out whether the Defence Security Corps personnel at the Pathankot base had been put on alert after an alarm was sounded by New Delhi on an impending terror attack on January 1 afternoon.
Both the defence minister and home minister Rajnath Singh are extremely perturbed over continued infiltration of terrorists through the international border in Punjab despite patrolling by the BSF and want serious investigation on whether the terror network was mixed up with the thriving drug-smuggling network along the border.
Parrikar also questioned the Western Command Air Force brass on whether the DSC was put on alert and how did the JeM terrorists enter the airbase which had eight feet walls and round-the-clock patrolling.
Only one Air Force jawan died in directly fighting the Pakistani terrorists. While the NSG managed to kill all six terrorists, there are some unanswered questions in the run-up to the attack.
Firstly, killed taxi driver Ekagar Singh received seven calls from Pakistan on his phone on December 31 and his vehicle was found with a puncture at a totally different direction from where he was to pick up a passenger.
The question that is being asked by the internal security establishment is whether Ekagar Singh had gone to pick up the terrorists or was he involved in any drug smuggling network across the border.
Secondly, why did the terrorists not touch the Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh but tried to slit the throat of his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma. Thirdly, the Jaish-e-Mohammed note left by terrorists in the SP’s vehicle talks about attacks in Tangdhar, Samba, Kathua and Delhi in revenge for hanged Afzal Guru. This raises questions if Delhi is the next target of Azhar Masood’s cadres?
PM wants Pak to take firm action against perpetrators
Simran Sodhi,Tribune News Service,New Delhi, January 5
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today phoned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and assured him of Pakistan’s support in investigations into the Pathankot attack. “Modi strongly emphasised the need for Pakistan to take firm and immediate action against the organisations and individuals responsible for and linked to the Pathankot terrorist attack,” the Ministry of External Affairs stated in a press note. Sharif assured Modi that his government would take “prompt and decisive action against the terrorists”. Sharif, who is on a visit to Sri Lanka, made the phone call around 3.30 pm, a day after India provided leads to Pakistan indicating the involvement of its nationals in the attacks. Sources said India had shared with Pakistan the telephone intercepts of calls made by terrorists to their alleged handlers and the location of those they had called in Pakistan. The attackers had made about a dozen calls to numbers in Pakistan. The evidence provided by India to Pakistan includes call records from Bahawalpur and the addresses from where the calls originated. Sources say India has been able to identify the Pakistani handlers. It is understood that the leads and evidence have been provided to Pakistan by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval. Meanwhile, the fate of the Foreign Secretary-level talks is yet to decided. Sources say India has demanded action against the JeM top leadership and the arrest of Masood Azhar before the talks take place. Pakistan had on Monday said it was working on the “leads” provided by India. The US too has said that Pakistan must take action against the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack.
MK Bhadrakumar
Modi caught in a bind
War with Pak a non-option, but no retaliation will rile followers
Pakistan will keep up the pressure on serious negotiation, which India will find unpalatable.
THE terror attack on the Pathankot base is being simplistically interpreted as an attempt by the Pakistani military establishment to detract from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brilliant display of diplomacy to ‘drop by’out of the blue at Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family estate in Lahore on December 25. But the state of play is far more complicated than that.Indeed, there is some sign of confusion also as to whether Prime Minister Sharif wouldn’t have been au fait with Rawalpindi’s sabotage plan. There is an overall lack of clarity in the government’s account of what is happening, compounded by the acute need to cover up the embarrassment over security lapses and the inept handling of the looming threat despite intelligence inputs in advance. The Pathankot terror strike coincides with an attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, which also comes within a week of Modi’s visit to Afghanistan. The Pakistani objective appears to be to throw the gauntlet at Modi himself. Make no mistake, the ‘powers that be’ in Pakistan have challenged Modi to live up to his carefully-cultivated self-image as a tough leader who is capable of paying back terrorism with terrorism, waging ‘swift, short’ wars if need be, resorting to ‘hot pursuit’, while playing the subtle ‘great game’ in Afghanistan threatening to dismember Pakistan if push comes to shove.Today, Modi faces a big dilemma. If he decides to live up to his fearsome reputation and orders the subalterns to retaliate with force, there could be unforeseen consequences and the downstream developments will most certainly spin out of control. Washington has already raised the spectre of an India-Pakistan war, alerting the need for the international community’s intervention in the developing situation. No world capital, including Washington, has cared to point finger at Pakistan for staging the attack in Pathankot, which is a sad reflection on the Modi government’s failed containment strategy against that country.At any rate, with an economy in slow growth, the government needs to borrow money to wage a war and the balance of military power is so delicately poised that an outright victory over Pakistan would be far from certain. A stalemate will not serve India’s purpose either. What is beyond doubt is that a war will mean sudden death for Modi’s so-called ‘development agenda’, which has been struggling to take off after nearly 20 months into the 60-month term of the government.On the other hand, Modi cannot afford to disappoint his hardcore followers. They feel let down if he does not live up to his reputation for being a ‘forceful’ leader. Of course, if the Modi mystique wears off, there will be a political price to pay. And that could be damaging at a time when there are signs already that the nation is becoming sceptical of the Modi brand. The point with brand value is that once it begins to wear off, the dubious quality of the product begins to get exposed.The dilemma, however, is going to be even more acute if the government proceeds on the dialogue track as if nothing really changed after the Pathankot attack. The pitfalls could be many. To begin with, India will be entering the dialogue without a well-thought out strategy. The government has been blowing hot and cold on Pakistan and the current phase favouring dialogue may well be yet another whimsical phase, given the robust opposition to the very idea of dialogue among influential sections of opinion within the ruling circles.On the contrary, Pakistan has disclosed that it has already drawn up a six-month road map for the dialogue process to run its course, and that it hopes to make progress on some ‘doable’ issues. Does the Modi government have an action plan? Indeed, there are ‘doable’ issues, but does the Modi government have the political will to move forward? The Siachen dispute comes readily to mind. Again, Pakistan most certainly would expect discussions over the Kashmir problem. But the maximal agenda of the government would have us believe that all that needs to be discussed is the ‘return’ of POK and the Northern Areas, which rightfully belong to India.Meanwhile, Pakistan has made serious charges regarding India’s alleged covert support of terrorism directed against that country. It handed over to the Obama administration last October a bulky dossier in three volumes detailing its allegations with purported evidence. The Obama administration is yet to throw the dossier out of the window, and instead, the joint statement issued after Sharif’s visit to the White House mentioned that India and Pakistan should discuss their ‘mutual concerns’ over terrorism. (Interestingly, this is also the line taken by the US state department on the Pathankot terror strike.)Suffice it to say, the government’s Pakistan policies through the past 19-month period have come full circle. The core issue increasingly is the credibility problem surrounding the persona of Modi. The prevailing opinion in Pakistan is that Modi is a Hindu fundamentalist who built a political career by whipping up communal polarisation, and that calibrating the India-Pakistan tensions suits his and his party’s political agenda. Many thoughtful Pakistanis genuinely fear that Modi might trigger an armed conflict with Pakistan at some point as a means to divert attention from the lacklustre record of his government. All in all, therefore, Modi is caught in a bind. War is a non-option but lack of retaliation for the high-profile Pathankot terror strike disappoints his ardent followers. A decision to continue the dialogue track is the right thing to do, but this time around Pakistan can be expected to keep up the pressure on India to negotiate seriously, which the Modi government will find unpalatable for the simple reason that in their view there is nothing to negotiate except cross-border terrorism. A new cycle of terrorist violence threatens the country’s internal security.The obvious thing to do is for the government to proceed on the dialogue track with the full backing of a national consensus. This should have come naturally because after 19 months in power, Modi has virtually borrowed the farsighted vision of his predecessor Manmohan Singh to constructively engage Pakistan in dialogue. But the BJP is fixated on ratcheting up confrontation with the Congress. Modi has reduced foreign policy to a platform to embellish his political profile and is unwilling to share the limelight even with the Cabinet minister holding the portfolio. He and he alone must own up the responsibility if the India-Pakistan relationship touches a criticality barely 10 days after his dramatic touch-down in Lahore.— The writer is a former Ambassador to Uzbekistan and Turkey
State Stalwarts
DEFENCES FORCES RANKS
ARMY, NAVY, AIRFORCE RANKS
FORMATION SIGNS
FORMATION SIGNS
ALL HUMANS ARE ONE CREATED BY GOD
HINDUS,MUSLIMS,SIKHS.ISAI SAB HAI BHAI BHAI
CHIEF PATRON ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
LT GEN JASBIR SINGH DHALIWAL, DOGRA
SENIOR PATRON ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
MAJOR GEN HARVIJAY SINGH, SENA MEDAL ,corps of signals
.
.
PATRON ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
MAJ GEN RAMINDER GORAYA , CORPS OF
sanjhamorcha303@gmail.com
PRESIDENT CHANDIGARH ZONE
COL SHANJIT SINGH BHULLAR
.
.
PRESIDENT TRI CITY COORDINATOR
COL B S BRAR (BHUPI BRAR)
.
.
INDIAN DEFENCE FORCES
DEFENCE FORCES INTEGRATED LOGO
FORCES FLAGS
15 Th PRESIDENT OF INDIA SUPREME COMMANDER ARMED FORCES
Droupadi Murmu
DEFENCE MINISTER
Minister Rajnath Singh
CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF (2nd)
General Anil Chauhan PVSM UYSM AVSM SM VSM
INDIAN FORCES CHIEFS
CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF(29th)
General Upendra Dwivedi, PVSM, AVSM (30 Jun 2024 to Till Date)
