Monthly Archives: August 2018

Ex-servicemen raise anti-Pakistan slogans in Karnal on Thursday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar

Tribune News Service

Karnal, September 22

Members of the Purv Sainik Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti today protested against the terrorist attack on the Army camp in Uri sector on Sunday. They burnt the flag of Pakistan and extended their support to the Army and said that they would join hands with the Army in the war-like situation. Besides, they also paid tributes to the brave soldiers.Rajbir Singh Chauhan, chairman of the sangh, led the protest and handed over a memorandum addressed to the President to SDM Yogesh Kumar. He said that members of their sangh had given their consent to extend support to the Army in any situation of war.He said that the sangh condemned the cowardly act and demanded equal compensation for the family members of the Uri martyrs.

WITH THE TRIFURCATION OF J&K, THE CHOICE TO LIVE WITH ARTICLE 370 OR ABROGATE IT SHOULD BE LEFT TO THE THREE STATES. AT THE SAME TIME, STEPS TOWARDS ABROGATION OF INDUS WATER TREATY SHOULD BE TAKEN UP WITHOUT DELAY

That the Jammu and Kashmir problem has been grossly mishandled right from the start needs no recalling. What is of concern is that it continues to be mismanaged. Killing a known terrorist led to widespread disturbance, loss of life and injuries to hundreds, including police personnel. Stonepelting has become a routine form of protest, where those indulging in this unlawful activity are paid Rs 200 to Rs 500 a day. That the authorities have failed to track down the source of this money and those making these payments, speaks volumes of the poor state of administration, intelligence and the law and order. Those instigating these protests from the precincts of mosques too have been given a free run. Else by now most of those indulging in anti-national activities should have been rounded up.

Given the unrest in the valley, Pakistan was expected to not only exploit the situation but also give impetus to the disturbance by staging cross-border raids in continuation of its policy of ‘thousand cuts’. That the Uri attack has caused so many casualties speaks volumes about the equally poor state of alertness and security arrangements at the military camp.

WATER WAY OUT

While there is much chest-beating and clamour in India for an immediate and strong retaliation, what is not being appreciated is that India has been left with few options. In any case, the political class needs to enunciate its policy taking into account the full ramifications of it, and leave it to the military to execute it in the manner it finds appropriate.

At the diplomatic level, to hope that concerted efforts by India can result in Pakistan being declared a terrorist state by the United Nations is to overlook the veto power of China. In any case, diplomacy has never been India’s asset.

What is possible, and must be played out to full, is the abrogation of the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan.

After all, terrorism and friendly treaties cannot go hand in hand. There is, therefore, the need to put both Pakistan and World Bank on notice. The Indus water treaty was negotiated through the World Bank. To let Pakistan know that we are serious about abrogating this treaty, work on diverting waters of the Chandrabagha tributary of the Chenab river into the Beas at Manali needs to be started. At the same time, India should begin work on the Salal Dam to convert it from a run-of-the river project to a storage dam.

hese steps alone will be enough to make Pakistan fall in line.

Much of the discontent in the Valley is hype. There is no absolute poverty there as it is in other parts of Jammu and Kashmir or parts of India. Billions of rupees that the Indian government has been doling out to the state since Independence have mostly been deployed in the Kashmir Valley. Admittedly, a good part of these funds have ended up in political and bureaucratic pockets. What India has been overlooking is the imperatives of the trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into three independent states: Kashmir Valley, including areas across the Nasthachun Pass, Jammu region, including KishtwarDoda, and Ladakh, including Kargil, Zanskar, and Nubra Valley.

BANE OF ARTICLE 370

While Article 370 has been a major impediment to economic development of Jammu and Kashmir, those in the valley have been made to believe that its abrogation will be their ruin. This line has suited the political class and others with vested interest to the great disadvantage of the common man.

With Article 370 in place, no large-scale industry has come to the state. No major investment from outside has taken place in the tourist industry though the scope for it in Jammu and Kashmir is enormous. Nor has the state drawn any outside investment in education and healthcare.

Article 370 has resulted in the stagnation of price of properties and land. The absence of industrialisation has denied the youth lakhs of jobs, which industry and tourism would have, otherwise created. Therefore, unemployment haunts the youth who have become more disgruntled not only in Kashmir but also in the rest of the state. In the valley, they are easily exploited by the separatists and the Inter Services Intelligence of Pakistan, pinning the cause of their distress on India.

With the trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, the choice to live with Article 370 or abrogate it should be left with the three states. At the same time, steps towards the abrogation of the Indus Water Treaty should be taken up without any delay and dithering.

POLICE SOURCES CLAIM OFFICIALS AT THE URI BRIGADE WERE GIVEN SPECIFIC INPUTS, BUT THEY WERE NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY

From page 1 SRINAGAR: A day after the attack on army base in Uri, questions are being raised whether intelligence inputs about a possible strike were ignored by the army.

Police sources said army officials at the Uri brigade were given specific inputs about possibility of an attack on their installation, but the inputs, however, were not taken seriously. “We had reports of militant presence in the area and the same was shared with army,’’ said an official.

Sources also said the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had passed on a specific information about the presence of militants near a launch pad across the border. It had also warned about a possible infiltration bid as well as a strike.

Considering the 73-day unrest in the Valley that could have helped militant handlers across the border take advantage of the situation, experts in Kashmir had also warned of a possible strike.

There has also been a spike in infiltration bids across the Line of Control. According to the army, over 10 bids to push militants into the Indian territory were made after the killing of Hizb commander Burhan Wani on July 8.

Police sources suggest militant presence in the Valley has also increased since the unrest.

Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, former Corp commander of Srinagarbased Chinar Corp, said he had also warned against the attack.

“Uri attack, this is my old HQ. Warned the Cdr specifically on 8 Sep. Happened in 10 days. Done to remove pressure from hinterland Army move,” Hasnain tweeted on Sunday. He, however, said preventing the attacks was not possible but “some measures could have been taken’’.

“Preventing suicide attack is difficult, damage control is always possible. Main danger is of suicide bombing not witnessed since 2004,’’ he said in another tweet.

While army sources say deployment is less on rear side, locals claimed concertina wires at a certain patch were also not intact as locals would venture to the other side to arrange grass for cattle.

According to the army, all four militants killed were foreigners and had some items with Pakistani markings.

“Initial reports indicate that the slain terrorists belonged to Jaishe-Mohammed tanzeem. Four AK 47 rifles and four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers along with other war-like equipment were recovered from them,’’ DGMO Ranbir Singh said.

From Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Lahore Declaration to Manmohan Singh’s peace-at-any-price doctrine and Narendra Modi’s Lahore visit statement, India’s readiness to trust Pakistan’s anti-terrorism assurances draws attention to the adage: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”. India has been fooled repeatedly.

The bloody attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists on yet another military camp in Jammu and Kashmir, however, represents double shame for India: Coming after the terrorist strike at the Pathankot air base earlier this year, the attack on the army headquarters at Uri highlights defencerelated incompetence. If Modi wishes to send a clear message, he must begin at home by firing his bumbling defence minister and fixing the drift in his Pakistan policy.

For more than a quarter-century, India has been gripped by a vacillating leadership and a paralytic sense of indecision and despair over cross-border terrorism. This year’s series of terrorist attacks on Indian targets — from Jalalabad and Mazar-i-Sharif to Pampore and Uri — signals that the ISI terror masterminds, learning from the international outrage over their November 2008 strikes on civilians in Mumbai, are now concentrating their spectacular hits on symbols of the Indian state, including security forces.

The Uri attack is similarly intended to make India feel vulnerable and weak while seeking to minimise the risk of Indian retaliation. This attack, however, is likely to represent a turning point for India, especially given the number of soldiers killed. Indeed, the lesson for India from its restraint despite Pathankot is that all talk and no action invites more deadly terrorism, besides encouraging Pakistan to fuel unrest in Kashmir and “internationalise” the J&K issue.

For Modi in particular, the Uri attack constitutes a defining moment. He has completed half of his five-year term with his Pakistan policy in a mess.

Indeed, despite terrorists testing India’s resolve from Herat to Gurdaspur and Udhampur after his election victory, Modi’s response to the Pathankot siege underscored continuing strategic naïveté. Even before the siege ended, New Delhi supplied Islamabad communication intercepts and other evidence linking the attackers with their handlers in Pakistan.

India later granted Pakistani investigators access to the Pathankot base. It was like treating arsonists as firefighters. Pakistan set up its investigation team not to bring the Pathankot masterminds to justice but to probe the operational deficiencies of the Pathankot strike and to ensure that the next proxy attack left no similar telltale signs of Pakistani involvement.

Today, India has little choice but to overhaul its strategy as both diplomacy and restraint have failed to stem Pakistan’s relentless efforts to export terrorism and intermittently engage in border provocations.

India needs a comprehensive, proactive approach. The choice is not between persisting with a weak-kneed approach and risking an all-out war. This is a false, immoral choice that undermines the credibility of India’s nuclear and conventional deterrence and encourages the enemy to sustain aggression. It is also a false argument that India has no choice but to keep battling Pakistan’s unconventional war on its own territory.

To deter Pakistan’s unconventional warfare, India’s response must be spread across a spectrum of unconventional options that no nation will discuss in public. Nuclear weapons have no deterrence value in an unconventional war. If the Pakistani security establishment is to get the message that the benefits of peace outweigh hostilities, it should be made to bear most of the costs that India seeks to impose. New Delhi should also be ready to downgrade diplomatic relations with Pakistan and mount pressure on its three benefactors, China, America and Saudi Arabia.

India’s goal is narrow: to halt cross-border terrorist attacks. In keeping with the United Nations Charter, which recognises selfdefence as an “inherent right” of every nation, India must impose measured and pointed costs on the terror exporters without displaying overt belligerence or brinkmanship

Director General Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh briefing the media in New Delhi on Sunday. Photo courtesy: Indian Army

New Delhi/Islamabad, September 18Stung by the deadliest ever attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir, DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh on Sunday called up his counterpart in Pakistan expressing “serious concerns” over Pakistani markings found on the equipment used by four “foreign” terrorists suspected to be belonging to Pakistan-based terror group JeM.Pakistan, however, refuted as “unfounded and premature” India’s charge that it was behind the Uri terrorist attack, with its army demanding “actionable intelligence” to support New Delhi’s accusation.Initial reports suggest the four terrorists killed in the Uri attack were from Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Director General Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said in a brief statement to the media at the South Block in New Delhi.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)He added that since “the terrorists had some items with Pakistani markings, I have spoken to Pakistan DGMO and conveyed our serious concern on the same”.He said the terrorists had fired incendiary ammunition along with automatic fire of small arms that led to army tents and temporary shelters catching fire.”There have been a total of 17 Army fatal casualties. Of these, 13-14 casualties have been due to these tents/shelters having caught fire,” he said.The senior Army officer, in charge of the force’s operations, asserted that the Indian Army remains prepared to thwart any nefarious designs and any evil designs of the adversary shall be given a befitting reply.The DGMO said that four AK 47 rifles and four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers along with a large number of other war-like stores were recovered from the group of heavily armed terrorists.He said the operation for clearance of the area is still in progress and a very deliberate search is being carried out in the entire area around the military complex in Uri.”As such, complete details of the operation are not yet available. However, the operation is being carried out by the Indian Army in a very professional manner and the Army personnel have displayed exceptionally high standards of courage and gallantry while neutralising the terrorists,” Lt Gen Singh said.Amid reports that intelligence agencies had warned of a possible attack, he said all the intelligence agencies are working in close synergy with the security forces and regular intelligence inputs are received from concerned agencies and necessary action is being taken accordingly.He said Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag has visited the site of operation and taken an “on the ground” assessment of the situation.Defence Minister, who too visited Srinagar, will be updated by Suhag on the situation.”We salute the supreme sacrifice made by our brave soldiers following the highest traditions of Indian Army,” he said.Pakistan army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said following the Uri attack DGMOs of the two countries discussed the situation along the Line of Control through hotline.”Refuting the unfounded and pre-mature Indian allegation, Pakistani DGMO asked his counterpart to share any actionable intelligence,” Radio Pakistan reported citing an ISPR release.Bajwa reiterated that no infiltration was allowed from the Pakistani soil because of “water-tight arrangements” in place on both sides of LoC and the Working Boundary. — TNS/PTI

MAJOR GENERAL S.G.VOMBATKERE

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

MYSURU: News of the unhappiness of the Armed Forces (Fauj, for short) with the bureaucracy is old hat. The contempt in which the bureaucracy holds the Fauj is also old hat, reflected most recently in the 7CPC making the already unfavourable position of the Fauj even more unfavourable.

When the 7CPC recommendations were to be implemented for all government servants, all the three Service Chiefs went to THE government and asked the existing pay anomalies be rectified before the 7CPC recommendations were implemented for the Fauj.

That is, the 7CPC award was unacceptable to the Fauj as it was unjust. This move by the three Service Chiefs was in their understanding of the widespread outrage among the rank-and-file and the officers, that the 7CPC had given them a raw deal.

This outrage had already gone viral on social media, and the signal from Service Headquarters informing All Ranks that the matter has been referrred to government and that they should patiently await the outcome, was to pre-empt any overt demonstrations of outrage, which would go against military discipline.

Now the outcome of the Service Chiefs’ approaching the government is that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has overruled them and directed them to implement the 7CPC award for the defence services. This has created a very grave situation, in which there can be three possible outcomes, which we will consider along with the repercussions.

One, the Service Chiefs follow Parrikar’s directions. If this is done, they will have to face the fallout of their decision among the rank-and-file and the officers, who are already keyed-up with anger at continuing injustice from the Sarkar (the combination of politicians and bureaucrats). This is wholly unpredictable, and if the worst happens, it will have extremely serious repercussions on military functioning.

Two, if the Service Chiefs argue with the Defence Minister and insist on having anomalies are attended to before implementing the 7CPC award, it will amount to disobedience of orders. This would be a constitutional crisis of hitherto unseen magnitude, and in the worst case, may result in dismissal of the Service Chiefs.

Three, the Service Chiefs have the option of tendering their resignations. (One may presume that all three would do so, in the present circumstance). If government accepts their resignations, the officers next-in-line to take their places would be faced with the same situation.But if on the other hand, the government does not accept the resignations, it will possibly require a resignation from the Defence Minister.

In any of the three contingencies, the nation’s defence preparedness will be irretrievably compromised. All this is at the end of many happenings … Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promises at Rewari when he addressed Veterans in the run-up to the 2014 election, and his subsequent promises after he assumed office, to get more for the military, have all been proven false.

PM Modi has probably not understood that the soldier is not a fool, and also that the Fauj is the nation’s instrument of last resort.

Defence Minister Parrikar’s contempt for the defence services is a matter of discussion within the serving and retired Fauji fraternity, who noted that he inspected a military guard of honour wearing chappals, that he “saluted” at the Amar Jawan Jyoti with his vest showing, and that he attended the International Fleet Review in February wearing casual clothes, whereas he dresses appropriately when he is abroad.

Parrikar’s peremptory direction to the three Service Chiefs to implement the 7CPC award without delay is the latest itdisplay of his dismissive approach to the Fauj. It is being said that both the Prime Minister and his Defence Minister are jointly responsible for the present contretemps.

(Major General S.G. Vombatkere, VSM, retired as Additional DG Discipline & Vigilance in Army)

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Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 9

The judicial committee headed by Justice L Narasimha Reddy, retired Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, today addressed veterans and family pensioners on the one-rank-one-pension (OROP) scheme, implemented by the Centre from July 1.More than 300 veterans and family pensioners voiced their concerns through this event at Tiger Auditorium. Post implementation of OROP scheme, certain infirmities had emerged in the policy, which were submitted to the government by service headquarters, veterans’ fraternity and their associations.Air Commodore Ashutosh Lal, Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station, Jammu, welcomed Justice Reddy. The event was opened with an address by Major General GS Jamwal, president, Jammu and Kashmir Veterans League.Anomalies on this policy were collated from various veterans’ associations and presented by Colonel Virendra Kumar Sahi to the judicial committee. Brigadier Harcharan Singh, Director, Rajya Sainik Board, proposed the vote of thanks to the judicial committee, all veterans and Air Force Station for the event.

Search operation on to nab militants. Tribune file photo

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 7

In a second attack in less than a month, three soldiers were injured when militants ambushed an Army convoy in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday morning.

The attack took place around 7.30 am at Wadipora Kralgund, Handwara, over 70 km from Srinagar, when the Army convoy was on way to Baramulla.

“The armed militants fired indiscriminately on the convoy, injuring three Army jawans,” an official said. The fire was retaliated by the soldiers, but militants apparently managed to escape.

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The Army and police immediately launched a search operation in the area to nab the militants.

No militant group has owned the responsibility for the attack.

This is the second attack on an Army convoy in north Kashmir in the past one month.  On August 17, two Army men and a policeman were killed in the wee hours ambush on the outskirts of Baramulla town on the strategic Srinagar-Uri highway.

Following the Kashmir unrest, the Army was moving its convoys in the night for essential supplies and routine movements to avoid any confrontation with the protesters. However, after the August 17 attack, the Army decided to move convoys during the day after getting proper security clearance from Army’s Road Opening Parties on all the designated convoy routes.