Vikram Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 22

BJP Member of Parliament Shamsher Singh has said that Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit and Baltistan were our homes and India had initiated the process to liberate them from the illegal occupation of Pakistan.He said the surgical strikes in PoJK to eliminate terrorists from the area were the first step by the Central government in this direction and soon the areas would be liberated. He, however, reserved his comments on the next move by the Central government to liberate the occupied areas by Pakistan, saying, “These are internal matters of the government which cannot be made public.”The Rajya Sabha member said the Centre was considering the issue seriously.On the opening of fire by Pakistan on both international border and Line of Control, Shamsher Singh said: “Frustrated by India’s action through surgical strikes, Pakistan has taken to its oft-repeated retaliation on borders. This is momentary and will die down soon. There is nothing much to worry about it.”The BJP MP was speaking at the sidelines of a seminar.

India, Pak not at brink of war: Omar

QUOTE: “I am not one of those who sees imminent war looming in the subcontinent. I’d like to believe that both governments in New Delhi and Islamabad are a lot more careful about the prospect of war than perhaps some of our TV channels would like them to be,” Omar Abdullah, former CM

New York, October 22

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah does not see an imminent war looming between India and Pakistan despite heightened tensions along the Line of Control (LoC). He believes the two countries are a “lot more careful” about the prospect of war than some of the news channels would like them to be.“I don’t believe we are,” Omar said when asked whether India and Pakistan were at the brink of war.“I am not one of those who sees imminent war looming in the subcontinent. I’d like to believe that both governments in New Delhi and Islamabad are a lot more careful about the prospect of war than perhaps some of our TV channels would like them to be,” he said at a conference titled ‘India and Pakistan: A Subcontinental Affair’, organised by the students of New York University on Friday.Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf was also scheduled to speak at the conference but cancelled his appearance at the last minute, citing “security concerns”.There were several moments of animated discussions, some heated arguments and loud cheers during Omar’s nearly hour-long discussion with the gathering, that included students from both India and Pakistan, on Kashmir, surgical strikes by India, killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani, tension with Pakistan, plight of Kashmiri Pandits and Article 370.Omar said while there was tension along the LoC and ceasefire was “under a bit more pressure” than it was at the same time last year, India and Pakistan were not at the brink of war.He noted that the Government of India had been careful “in moderating how it has sold” to the rest of the world the surgical strikes conducted across the Line of Control.“The Government of India has been careful in explaining what they have done post the Uri militant attack. They have told the world this (surgical strikes) was an anti-terror operation conducted in the vicinity of the LoC,” he said, adding that the government has not gone into details of how far they had gone inside the LoC or how many people were killed in the strikes.“What that has allowed is for an opportunity for a sort of a more nuanced response on the part of Pakistan,” he said, adding that there will have been “enormous pressure” on Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to retaliate had the Indian government spoken of how far they had gone across the LoC or how many people were killed in the strikes.The former CM said the heightened tensions between India and Pakistan added to the “mood of gloom” in the Valley because “no state more than Jammu and Kashmir suffers on account of a downturn in relations between India and Pakistan”. — PTI

Achieving a strategic shift in Islamabad should be the goal, which is in danger because of premature celebrations

In Uttar Pradesh, the recent retaliatory commando raids across the LoC have taken on a new meaning. On Dussehra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared at a Ram Lila in Lucknow, holding a faux sudarshan chakra. Across the state, posters featuring Modi, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, Union home minister Rajnath Singh and assorted BJP leaders have been plastered, along with silhouettes of soldiers, hailing the triumph of the “avengers of Uri”.

PTIPrime Minister Narendra Modi has now signalled a zero tolerance for jihadi activity so he is now committed to respond each time an incident occurs. But we are still a long way from cracking the tough Pakistani nut

In the recent narrative, India seems to have had three military victories: The unambiguous triumph that led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, the somewhat ambiguous Kargil victory of 1999, and now, the “surgical strikes” of September 29, 2016, which have been declared to be a great victory, even though it has not quite achieved its goal — getting Pakistan to dismantle its terrorist infrastructure.

The war of 1971 lasted two weeks, with the loss of more than 3,800 officers and jawans. The Kargil operation lasted roughly two months with the loss of some 470. In the surgical strike, which lasted several hours, fortuitously no one was killed.

The reason why the government is furiously making all kinds of claims, including that the Indian Army is now as good as the one of Israel in counter-terrorism, has to do with electoral politics. The use of military achievements to win elections is not new. But conflating a limited border operation to a military triumph certainly is, especially as it is aided by sections of an over-the-top media that seems to have lost its balance. The army itself has been low-key and the DGMO’s statement announcing the attacks was factual and made none of the claims subsequently adduced on their behalf.

Elections have played a role in all three victories. In March 1971, Indira Gandhi called for general elections and crushed the Opposition, in the main the dissident Congress and Jana Sangh. Strengthened enormously, she began the military-diplomatic moves that led to the surrender of the Pakistani army and the break-up of the country. Months after the war, in March 1972, she called for elections to 16 assemblies and the Congress swept them all.

In 1999, having been voted out of power in the midst of the Kargil crisis, Atal Bihari Vajpayee went to the polls with the “Kargil victory” as a slogan, accompanied by the same kind of media hype we see today. It didn’t wash, the BJP managed to win 182 seats, the exact number it had in the outgoing Lok Sabha. But it formed the government because the Congress did particularly badly.

The assembly elections in UP are due in a few months. At this juncture, we can only guess on the outcome, but one thing that is clear is that the BJP is going all out to make the maximum political use of what it says is a famous “victory”.

The surgical strikes are witnessing some of the repeat of the Kargil scenario, when the ruling party raised the din of the victory so high that the failure to detect intruding Pakistanis for several months was papered over. TV studios have constructed their own war room sets complete with anchors in war correspondent’s gear. As for politicians, they are truly over the top.

What would Indira Gandhi have said of Parrikar’s claim that “Like Hanuman, Army didn’t know its power, I made our armed forces realise their power”? Just how a supposedly cultural organisation like the RSS inspires a tactical military strike is another unfathomable mystery.

Parrikar insists that the strikes have been the most outstanding achievements of the army in the past 30 years. In claiming this, he does grave disservice to the brave personnel who have conducted such operations since 1993, sometimes going deeper into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir than the soldiers did this time. His job is higher management of the defence portfolio and he needs to be seen as a responsible member of the National Nuclear Command Authority and the Cabinet Committee on Security

In democracies, using military achievements for elections are not unusual. But it’s worth looking at the outcomes of our listed “victories”. Indira Gandhi squandered her mandate, and in three years declared the Emergency. Vajpayee wisely consolidated the NDA and ordered the Kargil inquiry, which led to the first systematic reform in India’s defence system since the mid-1960s.

It is one thing to declare that our army is the best in the world, it’s quite another thing to be taken in by one’s own rhetoric. There are lots of gaps in the army’s organisation, equipment, doctrine and professional education. As defence minister, Parrikar’s first job is to address these issues, not win elections.

Modi has now signalled a zero tolerance for jihadi activity so he is now committed to respond each time an incident occurs. But we are still a long way from cracking the tough Pakistani nut and getting it to abandon support to terrorism. The strikes have been a great tactical success, but the real triumph will be in achieving a strategic shift in Islamabad. The strikes are only one element in what could be a sophisticated strategy of compellence; however, that strategy is already in danger of getting derailed by the premature celebrations of victory

Islamabad, October 11

A prominent Pakistani journalist has been barred from leaving the country after he reported a rift between the civilian and military leaderships over the powerful ISI shielding terror groups like the Haqqani network and LeT that led to Pakistan’s international isolation.Cyril Almeida, a columnist and reporter for the Dawn newspaper, tweeted he has been told that he has been put on ‘Exit Control List’—a system which allows Pakistan government to bar people from leaving the country.“Puzzled, saddened. Had no intention of going anywhere; this is my home. Pakistan. I feel sad tonight. This is my life, my country. What went wrong,” Almeida tweeted.PM Nawaz Sharif yesterday asked authorities to take “stern action” against people responsible for publishing the “fabricated” story. The daily today stood by the story issued on October 6, saying it was “verified, cross-checked and fact-checked”. — PTI

India believes Pakistan will resort to a major strike in J&K using terrorists, but there won’t be an attack by Army regulars. pti

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 11

Buoyed by a “positive signal” from global powers and the international “cold-shoulder” to Pakistan, following the September 29 strikes by the Indian Army across the Line of Control (LoC) to target terror  camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the Indian security establishment has devised a “three-S” formula to respond to terror threat originating from across the border.“Speed, Skills and Surprise” will form the fulcrum of the “three-S” formula. The “skills” shall include stealth and training to carry out responses in future as the security establishment knows that cross-LoC raid or strike at multiple locations cannot be repeated after every terror attack in India.Pakistan’s “low-cost” option of waging a proxy war by sending terrorists to India can no more remain viable in the long run; the unpredictability that will be factored in the “three-S” formula, would  be a deterrent, a source told The Tribune.Within hours of the cross-LoC strikes, Russia, China and the US made it clear that they “stood by” New Delhi’s response. While China asked both sides to scale down tension and resort to dialogue, the US and Russia, in separate statements, called on Pakistan to end terrorism originating from its soil.On September 30, Moscow said, “We expect that the Pakistan government should take effective steps in order to stop activities of terrorist groups in the territory of the country.”US National Security Adviser Susan Rice called on Pakistan “to take effective action to combat and de-legitimise United Nations-designated terrorist individuals and entities, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and their affiliates.”Within India, an assessment within the security establishment is that Pakistan will attempt to retaliate through terror strikes even as citizens in its own country have questioned the wisdom of engaging with India.New Delhi believes Pakistan will resort to a major strike in Jammu and Kashmir using terrorists, but there won’t be an attack by Pakistan Army regulars. India’s response to such a strike will depend on the nature of the attack, but so far it’s almost certain that “no war” looms on the horizon unless Pakistan is hell-bent on taking on the economic and military might of India.

Ambala October 10

Ex-servicemen today protested political parties and criticised them for seeking evidence of surgical strikes and said politicians must not drag the Army into politics.Subedar Atar Singh Multani, president, Ex-servicemen Welfare Committee, Ambala, said: “The Army is not supposed to give proof of operations carried out by it. The surgical strikes were a confidential operation and the politicians must stop questioning the Army.” He said it was an insult to the Army and martyrs who laid their lives for the country. Later, they burnt Chinese lights and called upon the public to boycott Chinese products. — OC

BSP chief Mayawati. PTI

Lucknow, October 7

Alleging that the BJP was trying to take “political mileage” out of the surgical strikes across the LoC, BSP chief Mayawati on Friday said only the Army should be felicitated for its action and not the Defence Minister or the Prime Minister.

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“BJP’s attempt to take political mileage out of the surgical strikes ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls should be condemned. Only the Army should be felicitated and hailed for it not any leader, the Defence Minister or the Prime Minister,” Mayawati said.

She said the BJP leadership’s reported directive to its leaders and ministers not to issue statements on the surgical strikes seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

“Against the instruction, hoardings, posters and statements of BJP leaders are being used to take political gain out the of force’s action. This is happening when the situation on the border is tense and terrorists are continuing their attacks.

The Centre and the BJP should avoid such propaganda for political gains,” the BSP supremo said.

“People’s apprehensions that the BJP government headed by Narendra Modi will promote hatred, orchestrate communal riots and rake up the India-Pakistan issue ahead of the UP Assembly polls to turn the tide in its favour are proving true. It did the same before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls,” she alleged.

Mayawati said the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh Government have gone on an “inauguration spree, which is an attempt to divert voters’ attention and confuse them”. —PTI

Unprovoked firing at Naushera sector in Rajouri, KG sector in Poonch and Pallanwala in Akhnoor

JAMMU: There seems to be no end to ceasefire violations by Pakistan as it resorted to mortar shelling and unprovoked firing on Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Naushera sector of Rajouri district (5am) and Pallanwala area of Akhnoor sector in Jammu (1.35pm) on Tuesday. Later in the day, more ceasefire violations were reported from Naushera Sector of Rajouri and KG Sector of Poonch at 5pm.

AFPA Border Security Force (BSF) soldier patrolling along a fence at the India-Pakistan border in R S Pura, southwest of Jammu, on Tuesday.

“Unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistan started in Naushera and KG Sectors of Rajouri and Poonch districts respectively from 5pm. Firing stopped at KG Sector at 8 pm but continued in Naushera Sector of Rajouri district,” defence spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta said.

Reports of ceasefire violation in Pallanwala sector came in around 1.35pm and continued till evening. Rifleman Dharender Bisht of 2/9 Gurkha Rifles was injured in the firing in Bhudwaal forward post of Khour area in Pallanwala sector in Akhnoor. He was evacuated by army authorities.

Col Mehta said Pakistan is using small arms, automatics and 82 and 120 mm mortars. “Our own troops are responding in equal measure,” he added.

A police officer from Pallanwala police station said Pakistan has been firing mortars on forward villages like Darkote, Platan, Channi Dewanu, Budhwal, Gagrial and Garar villages. Villagers had already moved to relief camps set up in government schools in safer areas, he added.

Meanwhile, an intelligence official said that Pakistan has been trying to push a group of ultras from Naushera sector since India’s surgical strike on September 29.

“This morning they tried once again to push the ultras. They are said to be five to six in number. The Indian army is alert to the situation,” he said.