US, Russia and China have urged India, Pakistan for restraint. AFP

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 2

With major global powers like the US, Russia and China urging India and Pakistan to resolve disputes and reduce tensions, the chances of escalation to the latest war-type hysteria are receding.In India, the calculation is that barring the usual firing across the Line of Control (LoC), matters will not escalate. But the guard is up as Pakistan could try a new tactic to counter the Indian Army’s cross-LoC strike on terror camps on September 29.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Though it may be too early to think of a dialogue, going by recent incidents, tensions have defused slowly. Almost a year after the Operation Parakaram (December 2001 to October 2002), Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had taken a call on opening a dialogue with Pakistan. The ceasefire along the LoC in November 2003 had been agreed upon. The composite dialogue had carried on ‘well’ for the next five years till the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008. After the Mumbai attacks, it took several months for the first official engagement.As of now, Beijing has favoured direct bilateral talks between India and Pakistan to iron out the wrinkles. China holds an economic interest in both countries. It has a US $46 billion investment in the China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) that connects its Xinjiang province (north of Kashmir) with Gawadar port in the Arabian Sea. This is road, rail and petroleum pipeline connection. With India, China has bilateral annual trade of nearly US $80 billion with India being a major market for China’s exports.“As for the tension between Pakistan and India, recently Chinese side has been in communication with both sides through different channels,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing last week.New Delhi and Beijing had conducted pre-planned counter-terrorism and security dialogue and it happened after the September 18 terror attack on an Indian military establishment at Uri in northern Kashmir.Air Vice Marshall Kapil Kak (retd), a former fighter pilot who fought two wars with Pakistan, says, “While being prepared in every way to respond potently to any reaction from Pakistan Army, we need to rework our arithmetic to initiate talks at the NSA level to begin with for restoration of a semblance of normality in bilateral relations.”Air Vice Marshal Kak, who has been a powerful voice among New Delhi’s think-tanks and track-II diplomacy circles,  cites the example of  Vajpayee and his initiative to argue: “Such an initiative would be a true indicator of India’s maturation as a great power in the making”.The US, on its part, has asked Pakistan to close all terrorist safe havens and target all militant groups, including those that target neighbouring countries. India made a pitch at the UN for isolating nations that nurture, peddle and export terror.  Russia has also supported the US and called upon both Pakistan and India to show restraint and resolve all the outstanding issues through peaceful means. 

GUWAHATI: A father-son officer duo has achieved a rare feat in the Indian Air Force – flying a helicopter together.

HT PHOTOAir Vice-Marshal Manvendra Singh (right) and his son Flight Lieutenant Siddharth Singh after the flight.

Air Vice-Marshal Manavendra Singh and son Flight Lieutenant Siddharth Singh flew an Mi-17 V5 together during an air fest at the advanced landing ground near Meghalaya’s capital, Shillong, on Saturday.

“This is possibly not the first time that a father-son duo has flown an IAF aircraft together, but such cases are rare,” defence spokesperson, Group Captain Amit Mahajan told HT from Shillong. Manavendra Singh, the senior officer in-charge of administration at the Upper Shillong-headquartered Eastern Air Command, has 6,700 hours of flying to his credit. Siddharth Singh was commissioned in 2011 in the helicopter stream.

Shamsher Singh Bisht, president of the Personnel Below Officers Rank Purva Sainik Welfare Association, demands facilities in Dehradun on Friday. Tribune photo: Abhyudaya Kotnala

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 30

Shamsher Singh Bisht, president of the Personnel Below Officers Rank Purva Sainik Welfare Association (PBOR), today said the Union Government should approve monetary and non-monetary benefits to retired honorary captains, and lieutenants like commissioned officers of Indian defence forces. The government should immediately draft a blueprint in this regard.Bisht, while addressing mediapersons here, said association members had submitted memorandums to state and Union governments, but to no avail. The President of India grants honorary commission to PBOR considering their 28 to 34 years of service. Honorary officers were not treated equally in hospitals and were deprived of other monetary and non-monetary perks. He demanded that honorary officers should be deployed in the Soldiers’ Welfare Board in the state. RD Shahi, UD Joshi, Ramesh Rawat and SS Bisht were present.

The firing is still on. Tribune file photo

Jammu, October 1

Violating the ceasefire again, Pakistani troops on Saturday targeted Indian posts and civilian areas with mortar bombs and heavy machine guns along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir’s Akhnoor tehsil.There was no loss of life or injury to anyone in the firing, which started at 3.30 am and ended at 6 am.Indian troops guarding the border retaliated effectively, defence sources said.“There was heavy shelling of mortar bombs, RPGs and heavy machine guns and small arms firing on forward positions along the LoC in Pallanwala sector and Chamb area of Akhnoor tehsil on Saturday,” sources said.Police said the Pakistani troops targeted Badoo and Chanoo hamlets. “Villagers residing along the LoC were evacuated and shifted to safer places,” a police official said.

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As some border residents were returning to take care of their cattle and homes along the border, Pakistan troops tried to target them by heavy firing, they said.Some houses were hit by bullets from Pakistan in Badoo village, police said.This is the fifth violation of the 2004 ceasefire by Pakistani troops along LoC in J&K in the past four days.Pakistan has stepped up cross-border firing after the surgical strikes on September 29 by the India Army to destroy terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.On Friday, Pakistani troops had restored to small arms firing along LoC in Pallanwala, Chaprial and Samnam areas of Akhnoor sector of Jammu district during the night, Jammu Deputy Commissioner Simrandeep Singh said. PTI

Pall of gloom descends on deceased jawan’s native village in Kurukshetra

Rifleman Mandeep Singh’s widow Prerna mourns at her residence at Anteri village of Kurukshetra on Saturday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, October 29

A pall of gloom descended on the native village of army jawan Mandeep Singh, who was killed by terrorists in Machil sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.The family members of the 30-year-old were inconsolable.Several women from Aantehri village here reached the jawan’s house on Saturday and tried to console Mandeep’s widow. The couple had got married two years ago, the family said.

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Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria also visited the jawan’s home and offered her condolences.The martyr’s neighbours described him as a “go-getter” who always had a smile on his face.Subhash, husband of the sarpanch of the village, said Mandeep was a helpful person who always offered help to anyone who approached him in need.Mandeep’s widow Prerna is a head constable with Haryana Police and is posted at Shahbad Markanda here.Mandeep joined 17 Sikh Regiment as a sepoy in 2008 and got married in 2014His father Phool Singh, a truck driver, said the government should give a free hand to the army to tackle the menace from Pakistan. He said Mandeep had called him around 10 days ago and promised to him to come home on Diwali.His brother Sandeep Singh said, “Give me a chance to join the army. I would avenge his death.”His cousin Jagbir Singh, an ex-serviceman, said it was an act of cowardice and urged the government to take revenge.The mortal remains of Mandeep will reach the village by 5pm and would be consigned to the flames later.Mandeep’s sacrifice came within a week after Sushil Kumar (47), a BSF constable was martyred in Jammu district. He also hailed from Kurukshetra district and belonged to Pehowa town. With PTI

Human rights of Army soldiers are supreme: Jitendra

Rajpura (Kathua), October 29Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Saturday that an Indian soldier’s rights should take precedence over those of terrorists.He said a militant forfeits his entitlement to human rights the day he engages in terrorism, the “biggest violation of human rights”.”Human rights of an Army soldier are supreme…The human rights of Indian soldiers should take precedence over the rights of terrorists,” he said.Singh, who arrived in Jammu this morning, drove straight to International Border, saying he would like to begin his visit by meeting the security personnel posted at the border and greeting them on Diwali eve.He addressed a public meeting organised by Seema Jan Kalyan Samiti, comprising ex-servicemen, their families and local residents.He said people find Army a convenient, soft target as it was trained to exercise restraint but they did not have the courage “to call a terrorist a terrorist” or to condemn the atrocious act of mutilating a soldier’s body.Singh said was time to rise and call the bluff of the “so-called human rights protagonists and the pseudo-intellectuals” who sought to promote their politics at the cost of army jawans. He said when you asked whether Burhan Wani was a terrorist, instead of saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’, they come out with long platitudes, philosophies and postulations.“Those who lack the courage of conviction to call a spade a spade, have no right to point a finger at an armed forces jawan because of whom they are in a position to conveniently sit in their drawing rooms and issue lofty statements,” he said.Stressing that this year’s Diwali was dedicated to the army and paramilitary forces, Singh said we are able to celebrate the festival in the country, because of the young soldiers who are guarding the border day and night and spending sleepless nights.”It is a sin to say or do anything that would directly or indirectly compromise the morale of armed forces,” he added. — PTI

I am saddened that in the last few weeks, actions taken by the government, far from reassuring the soldiers, have indeed caused them pain and hurt. RAHUL GANDHI, Congress vice-president

NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern over reports suggesting that his government has decided to downgrade the status of military officers compared to their civilian counterparts.

Raising the issues of reduction of disability pension and the “anomalies” in the one rank-one pension rolled out by the BJP-led NDA government, he said these developments have “adversely affected” the morale of the armed forces soon after they conducted surgical strikes against terror launch pads across the LoC.

“I am saddened that in the last few weeks actions taken by the government, far from reassuring the soldiers, have indeed caused them pain and hurt,” Gandhi said in the October 28 letter to the PM.

“Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability,” he said. NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing concern over reports suggesting that his government has decided to downgrade the status of military officers compared to their civilian counterparts.

Raising the issues of reduction of disability pension and the “anomalies” in the one rank one pension rolled out by the BJP-led NDA government, he said these developments had “adversely affected” the morale of the armed forces soon after they conducted surgical strikes against terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC).

I am saddened that in the last few weeks, actions taken by the government, far from reassuring the soldiers, have indeed caused them pain and hurt,” Gandhi said in the October 28 letter to the PM. “Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability,” he said.

The defence ministry had earlier this month referred the representation of the armed forces for a percentage-based system rather than a slab-based one for determining disability pension to the Anomaly Committee of the 7th Central Pay Commission. The decision followed widespread criticism over a move that introduced a slabbased by the 7th Pay Commission, for determining the disability pension for forces.

The Congress vice-president claimed that the roll out of the 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at “disadvantage and further exacerbates” the disparity between them and civil employees. “To add to that we learnt through the media that the government has downgraded the status of our military officers visà-vis their civilian counterparts in a letter dated 18 October 2016,” Gandhi wrote.

The rank parity controversy erupted after hindustantimes. com broke the story on October 24. On Friday, the government took a U-turn and decided to form a panel to look into the row.

Rahul writes to Modi on raw deal for defence officers

I am saddened that in the last few weeks, actions taken by the government, far from reassuring the soldiers, have indeed caused them pain and hurt. RAHUL GANDHI, Congress vice-president

From page 01 NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing concern over reports suggesting that his government has decided to downgrade the status of military officers compared to their civilian counterparts.

Raising the issues of reduction of disability pension and the “anomalies” in the one rank one pension rolled out by the BJP-led NDA government, he said these developments had “adversely affected” the morale of the armed forces soon after they conducted surgical strikes against terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC).

“I am saddened that in the last few weeks, actions taken by the government, far from reassuring the soldiers, have indeed caused them pain and hurt,” Gandhi said in the October 28 letter to the PM. “Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability,” he said.

The defence ministry had earlier this month referred the representation of the armed forces for a percentage-based system rather than a slab-based one for determining disability pension to the Anomaly Committee of the 7th Central Pay Commission. The decision followed widespread criticism over a move that introduced a slabbased by the 7th Pay Commission, for determining the disability pension for forces.

The Congress vice-president claimed that the roll out of the 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at “disadvantage and further exacerbates” the disparity between them and civil employees. “To add to that we learnt through the media that the government has downgraded the status of our military officers visà-vis their civilian counterparts in a letter dated 18 October 2016,” Gandhi wrote.

The rank parity controversy erupted after hindustantimes. com broke the story on October 24. On Friday, the government took a U-turn and decided to form a panel to look into the row.

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 27

Following ongoing drive to address grievances of ex-servicemen a Veterans’ Rally was organised at Beas Military Station today. The rally was attended by as many as 250 ex-service personnel and Veer Naris.During his address, Brigadier Sandeep Singh, Station Commander, Beas Military Station, highlighted benefits of online registration of complaints with regard to pension and other assistance to ex-servicemen without having to visit any office. Giving information about various welfare measures being taken by the Army, the Station Commander added that special emphasis would be laid on self-reliance and as such employment opportunities had been created for veterans, Veer Naris and their dependents.Presently, 70 ex-servicemen, Veer Naris and dependents are employed by the Beas Military Station on various civilian posts in the Ex Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), canteen, schools and polyclinic, he added.Representatives from different departments, including banks, Department of Defence Service Welfare Office (DDSWO) and Defence Pension Disbursing Office (DPDO), were present at the rally to resolve grievances and apprise veterans about various schemes and facilities offered by them.Meanwhile, medical specialists examined several veterans and Veer Naris in a separate camp held concurrently with the rally.Later, Station Commander and Soni Singh, chairperson, Family Welfare Organisation, Double Victory Brigade, interacted with veterans and Veer Naris and reiterated commitment of the Army towards ex-servicemen.

TA cycle rally spreads awareness on social issues

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 27

A cycle expedition organised by the 152 Infantry Battalion (Sikh) of the Territorial Army (TA) to spread social awareness on drug addiction and saving the girl child culminated at the TA Group Headquarters here today.Covering a distance of 152 km, the 11-member expedition was flagged off from Ludhiana on October 24 and was flagged in by Maj Gen AK Sanyal from the Western Command Headquarters.The expedition halted en-route at different villages where the troops interacted with school children and local residents to spread awareness on the above causes.Local ex-servicemen supported the troops’ endeavour.

As a serial infiltrator into disputed territories, Beijing has no grounds to complain about who goes where on Indian soil

T hat China has professed displeasure over a recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh by Richard Verma, the US ambassador to India, is both unsurprising and irrelevant. Beijing is merely effecting to be hopping mad, when it has no leg to stand on. Resorting to classic 1950s Communist Party vernacular, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang pronounced that Beijing was “firmly opposed” to Verma’s visit to Tawang — how does one oppose something that has already happened? — on the highly dubious grounds that it might “damage the hard-earned peace and tranquillity of the China-India border region.” Lu told a press briefing in Beijing that “any responsible third party should respect efforts by China and India to seek peaceful and stable reconciliation, and not the opposite.” He went on: “We urge the United States to stop getting involved in the China-India territorial dispute.”

PTI(Left to right): US ambassador to India Richard Verma, chief minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal and chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, October 21

One imagines he wagged an admonishing finger as he spoke.

For all the faux umbrage, Lu’s argument is bunkum. The travel plans of a foreign envoy, even one from the US, represent no material threat to relations between India and China. Nor does Verma’s visit to Tawang in any way compromise his government’s “respect” for India-China peace. Lu knows this, and it’s not the point: Although the scolding was notionally directed at Verma, the message was meant for the Modi government. Beijing knows the ambassador would not have made the trip without New Delhi’s knowledge and blessing.

What China is reminding India, with all the subtlety of a giant dam across the Yangtze, is that it will not renounce its claims to the swath of Arunachal Pradesh it calls “South Tibet”. If India thinks allowing ambassadors to visit might change the status quo, then it is sorely mistaken.

But there’s nothing to suggest this was India’s calculation — New Delhi views the status quo in Arunachal Pradesh quite differently. Its reaction to Lu’s pouty posturing was as bland as it was blunt: “The US Ambassador visited Arunachal Pradesh, a state which is an integral part of the country to which he is accredited. There is nothing unusual in it,” said Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs.

Swarup is an accomplished novelist (he wrote the book that became the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”) and it can’t have been easy to restrain himself from using much more colourful language — and from exercising an entirely different finger gesture.

Were he not shackled by diplomatic considerations, he might have mentioned that if the “hard-earned peace and tranquillity” along the India-China border is being damaged, it is not by the scheduled and advertised visit of the American envoy, but by the clandestine infiltration along the frontier by Chinese troops. There were 350 such transgressions last year alone. India’s restraint in this matter has been remarkable.

Swarup might also have pointed out that China is a fine one to preach about the need to tread carefully on disputed territory, when its soldiers have been spotted in border posts in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir: Earlier this year, Chinese officers were seen in the Nowgam sector, close to the Line of Control. Imagine the hyperventilating in Beijing if Verma had been accompanied by a handful uniformed US army officers!

Other soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army have made their presence felt near the Tangdhar sector. The ostensible reason is the construction of a hydel project there by a Chinese company, but that’s not much of an excuse: Either Beijing doesn’t trust its ally, the Pakistani military, or the soldiers are there for another reason.

There will be many more excuses for a growing Chinese troop presence in PoK in the months ahead. Beijing is literally bulldozing a highway, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, through areas India regards as its own. CPEC, a $46 billion project that seeks to connect the Chinese province of Xinjiang to the Pakistani port of Gwadar, will pass through Gilgit-Baltistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj have expressed New Delhi’s reservations about this to Beijing, with little effect.

Nor has Beijing been especially accommodating of the claims of other nations in the South China Sea littoral, where international arbitrators have ruled against its spurious proclamations of ownership. China has opposed India-Vietnamese oil exploration in the area, and maintains, without explanation, that there are no parallels between its presence in PoK and India’s commercial pursuits in the South China Sea. What’s more, operating on the principle that possession is nine-tenths of the law, China is building islands in disputed waters with the sole purpose of turning its claims into a fait accompli.

Two can play that game. Having dispensed with Beijing’s blather over the American envoy’s North-Eastern trip, the MEA should now consider building metaphorical islands in Arunachal Pradesh. The area is ripe for tourism, especially of the environmental kind favoured by many Westerners and a growing number of Indians. An economic corridor in Arunachal Pradesh would be welcomed by locals for the jobs and opportunities it would bring.

In the meantime, the Modi government should encourage more foreign diplomats to visit Tawang — individually, and in groups. After all, as Verma tweeted after his trip, it is a place of “stunning mountains and wonderful people.”

Better yet, why not hold an international event there, inviting ALL foreign envoys currently in New Delhi? Yes, China’s too.

New Delhi, October 25

The salary of the President and the Vice-President may go up three times as the Union Home Ministry has prepared a proposal for raising emoluments of the country’s top two functionaries.The move comes following the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations that has created an anomalous situation in which the salary of the President is Rs 1 lakh less than that of the country’s top-most bureaucrat, the Cabinet Secretary. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The proposal is expected to be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval soon.At present, the President gets Rs 1.5 lakh per month, the Vice-President Rs 1.25 lakh and the Governor of a state Rs 1.1 lakh. As per the latest proposal, the President’s salary may go up to Rs 5 lakh and the Vice-President’s up to Rs 3.5 lakh.After the implementation of the Pay Commission’s awards, the Cabinet Secretary, the top-most bureaucrat in the country, gets Rs 2.5 lakh per month and a Secretary in the Union Government gets Rs 2.25 lakh per month.After the Cabinet nod, the Bills will be tabled in Parliament, possibly in the coming winter session.The salaries of the President, Vice-President and Governors were last hiked in 2008 when Parliament approved a three-fold increase. — PTI

INS Viraat is expected to be decommissioned by end of this year. Photo: Twitter handle @indiannavy

Kochi, October 23

INS Viraat, the world’s oldest aircraft carrier, was accorded a grand send-off from the port city here on Sunday, after over five decades of its service to the Navy.The ship, which underwent a decommissioning refit, is being towed back by three tugs to Mumbai for the decommissioning ceremony, a Navy official said here.

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The final journey of the carrier began with Navy officials led by the Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Nadkarni bidding farewell to the carrier at Ernakulam Wharf of Cochin Port Trust this morning.Viraat is expected to be decommissioned by end of this year, after 55 years of service, including 27 years with the Royal Navy (British Navy).The Navy has agreed to hand over INS Viraat to Andhra Pradesh government after its decommissioning.The AP government had shown a keen interest in getting INS Viraat, the oldest aircraft carrier operated by Indian Navy, to berth in Vizag for promotion of tourism after its decommissioning. — PTI