Sanjha Morcha

New Pak army chief: Recasting the old mould

To some extent, Gen Kayani and Gen Sharif have distanced the army from the Musharraf era of total control of the political process. That has been a sensible and pragmatic repositioning that Gen Bajwa must try and further.

New Pak army chief: Recasting the old mould
Treading a tricky terrain: Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, the new chief of the Pakistan army. He will have to retool the army to continue counterterrorism efforts.

ON Tuesday, General Qamar Javed Bajwa will start his tenure as chief of army staff, the fourth individual in Pakistan to do so in the 21st century. His predecessor Gen Raheel Sharif has given Gen Bajwa an excellent platform to build on, though circumstances will also shape how the chief will be able to proceed. Certainly, a priority must be to wind down large-scale military operations and retool the army for the next phase of counterterrorism operations. The rehabilitation of Fata, the return of IDPs and a new constitutional scheme for the war-ravaged tribal areas are other important tasks in which the military will have an influential role. Then there are the national security and foreign policy arenas in which the military has an outsize role, a de facto situation made all the more important because of severely strained relations with India and Afghanistan and a growing focus on ties with China and CPEC.While the army is an institution, the personality, preferences and personal relationships with leaders of other institutions of any army chief do matter. In this, it will remain to be seen what kind of leadership style Gen Bajwa has — the mould of the thinker that Gen Kayani cast himself in, the no-nonsense, action-oriented leader that Gen Sharif has been, or something else? But once again, the direction that is needed is relatively clear — the focus on counterterrorism and the need to initiate action in Punjab beyond the superficial steps taken so far. Clearly, there are matters of law and constitution to navigate here. It is the prerogative of the elected government to decide policy and the military must abide by decisions taken. However, just as Gen Sharif was able to impress on a reluctant PML-N government the need to fight the banned TTP and abandon the foolhardy path of seeking negotiations — a view the centre belatedly embraced — Gen Bajwa may be able to persuade the government of new steps to be taken. It must certainly not be done in a way that the government is seen to be under orders; there are cooperative ways to persuade the need for a change in policy.Finally, there is the issue of military interference in politics. To some extent, Kayani and Sharif have distanced the army from the Musharraf era of total control of the political process. That has been a sensible and pragmatic repositioning that Gen Bajwa must try and further. Where the civilians themselves seek military input and advice, the army chief can play a role that is democracy-enhancing and system-strengthening. Beyond that, however, all army chiefs need to be mindful of institutional separation and the constitutional scheme of things. At no point would Gen Sharif have gained more than he would have lost had he opted to wade deep into the political process. Politics for politicians, army for national defence.Apolitical, easy-going & compassionate

Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, something of a dark horse in this race for the post of COAS, is currently serving at the GHQ as Inspector General of Training and Evaluation — the position Gen Sharif held before becoming the army chief. He has commanded the 10 Corps, the army’s largest, which is responsible for the area along the Line of Control (LoC). Lt Gen Bajwa has extensive experience of handling affairs in Kashmir and the northern areas of the country. As a major general, he led the Force Command Northern Areas. He also served in the 10 Corps as lieutenant colonel, where he was GSO.Despite his extensive involvement with Kashmir and northern areas, he is said to consider extremism a bigger threat for the country than India. He has served with a UN mission in Congo as a brigade commander, alongside former Indian Army chief Gen Bikram Singh, who was also there as a division commander. He has previously also remained the commandant of the Infantry School in Quetta. His military colleagues say he is not attention-seeking and remains well-connected with his troops.“He is extremely professional, but very easy-going and full of compassion,” an officer who had served under him said, adding that he was not protocol-minded either. Gen Bajwa is also said to be an apolitical person without any biases. He is from the infantry’s Baloch Regiment, which has given three officers to the post of army chief — Gen Yahya Khan, Gen Aslam Beg and Gen Kayani.By arrangement with the Dawn


Pak pushes for talks, India wary

Pak pushes for talks, India wary
Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa took over as new Pak army chief on Tuesday.

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 29

Pakistan is pushing hard for a resumption of dialogue with India on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia Conference being held in Amritsar on Sunday. India has so far been noncommittal to the offer and reiterated its position that “talks and terror cannot go together”.Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Adviser, will travel to the historic city on December 4 and as of now, his itinerary indicates he will return home the same day.Aziz has already indicated Pakistan is ready for talks in Amritsar and yesterday only, country’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said Islamabad was ready for unconditional talks with India. Sources in the government said it would be difficult for India to initiate a dialogue with Pakistan, especially in the wake of the recent Uri terror attack.Also, the worsening situation across the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border would not give India much confidence in resuming talks. To put pressure on India, Pakistan also delayed clearances to a special flight of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is representing India at Fidel Castro’s funeral in Cuba.Another factor is a change of guard in the Pakistan army — Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa today took charge as the army chief from Gen Raheel Sharif. Bajwa is believed to be less of a hawk when it comes to India and also pro-democracy, factors that worked in his favour and led to his elevation.Sources in the government, however, maintain one has to “wait and watch” and see how the situation changes with Bajwa at the helm. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is currently unwell, will skip the conference, which will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in attendance.NSA Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar are expected to accompany the PM to the conference on Sunday and Pakistan is hoping the presence of India’s top officials might squeeze in a bilateral to restart a dialogue.


Will not give tit-for-tat response to Indian aggression: Sartaj Aziz

Will not give tit-for-tat response to Indian aggression: Sartaj Aziz
Sartaj Aziz was speaking in the National Assembly

Islamabad, November 26

Pakistan has vowed to defend its borders, waters and space against any attacks by the neighbouring country, however, reiterating its stance that it would not respond in any kind to Indian aggression.Adviser to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, speaking in the National Assembly on Friday, hinted that talks with India would take place only if Kashmir issue was included in the agenda.“We are ready for a dialogue with India if the Kashmir issue is included [in the agenda],” the Dawn quoted Aziz as saying in his eight-minute-long speech on the floor of the House.

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Alleging that Indian forces had defied all international norms by attacking an ambulance at the LoC, he said the situation had escalated following the attack in which 11 people were killed.Aziz said India wanted to divert the world’s attention away from the Kashmir issue.The adviser said the Kashmir cause is actively being taken forward by Pakistan since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif delivered his speech at the UN General Assembly. “It is an indigenous freedom movement…led by youth. We will continue political, diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris,” Aziz said.Urging political parties to keep away from making political points on Kashmir and the LoC, he said it gave a wrong message to the rest of the world.Asserting that Pakistan would not come under any pressure, Aziz said a befitting response would be given to India for any aggression in the border areas. ANI


Every drop of water flowing to Pak will be used: Modi

Says all river water disputes need to resolved through talks; appeals to countrymen to opt for phone banking; thanks people for taking currency ban in stride

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday vowed to utilise “every drop” of the Sutlej-Ravi-Beas river waters that has been flowing over to Pakistan, for the benefit of farmers of border states, especially Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. “These rivers, as per the Indus water treaty, belong to India and our farmers. I will utilise every drop of it ,” Modi said at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the gathering during the foundation stone­laying ceremony of

“Every drop will be utilised by the farmers of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir and other states. I am committed to this,” the Prime Minister said.

The PM’s statement also holds significance in the wake of the SYL canal imbroglio in which the Badal regime in Punjab refused to abide by the apex court judgment and returned the land acquired for the canal to the owners. Without mentioning the SYL issue, he said all water disputes could be resolved through talks. “We are with Badal sahib on water issue,” he, however, said.

He blamed the previous successive governments for water disputes and under-utilisation of the natural resources.

ROOTS FOR MOBILE BANKING

A day after the opposition’s uproar against demonetisation in the Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday looked rather firm on his move, appealing to the countrymen to go for phone-banking or e-banking.

“Mobile phones are your wallet and your banks now. Download the banking apps on your phones and curb corruption,” the Prime Minister said at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here.

He said the number of mobile connections was four times the number of family units in the country.

Acknowledging the harassment to the common people due to cash crunch, Modi said he was thankful to the people of the country “for standing by us (NDA regime) in this mission of demonetisation and bearing the shortlived brunt”.

The PM, however, skipped a reply to his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh’s claim that this move initiated by Modi will lead to 2% decline in the growth of country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and people may “lose faith in currency and banking system”.

The PM also appealed to the information technology (IT) experts in universities and other agencies to train the people in net-banking. “We have taken this step to save the poor people and to save the middle class from exploitation. This will end all unaccounted transactions and rid us of fake currency,” he said.

ADVISES PAK TO FIGHT TERROR, NOT INDIA

The Prime Minister advised the regime in Pakistan “to fight corruption and black money in their country, if they want to fight terror”.

He said people in India were equally pained due to terror strikes in Pakistan.

“I want to tell the people of Pakistan that we are also pained for the deaths of children in Peshawar,” he said.

Punjab chief minister Parkash SIngh Badal, deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Union health minister Jgat Prakash Nadda were among those present on the occasion.


LoC firing: Pak rushes to UN, warns India

LoC firing: Pak rushes to UN, warns India

New York, November 24

Alarmed by the escalation of tension with India along the LoC, Pakistan today asked the UN to act before the situation snowballs into a “full-fledged crisis”.Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson and the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General Edmond Mulet and alleged that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) posed a “grave threat to international peace and security”.Lodhi, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, alleged that escalating tensions on the LoC “was a deliberate attempt” by India to “divert the attention of the international community from the gross human right violations being committed” by it in Kashmir.Alleging that the attack on an ambulance trying to evacuate the injured was a particularly “abhorrent act” that was a breach of the most fundamental legal and humanitarian laws, Lodhi urged the UN to act before the escalating tensions snowballed into a full-fledged crisis.The UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations was separately asked to mobilise United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to effectively monitor the LoC and the Working Boundary as a step to help deescalate tensions between the two. — PTI

 

Pakistan reaches out to United Nations over LoC tension with India

Pakistan reaches out to United Nations over LoC tension with India
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson

New York, November 24Alarmed by the escalation of tension with India along the LoC, Pakistan on Thursday asked the UN to act before the situation snowballed into a “full-fledged crisis”.Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson and the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General Edmond Mulet during which she alleged that the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) posed a “grave threat to international peace and security”.

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Lodhi, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, in her meeting with UN officials alleged that escalating tensions on the LoC “was a deliberate attempt” by India to “divert the attention of the international community from the gross human rights violations being committed” by it in Kashmir.Alleging that the attack on an ambulance trying to evacuate the injured was a particularly “abhorrent act” that was a breach of the most fundamental legal and humanitarian laws, Lodhi urged the UN to act before the escalating tensions snowballed into a full-fledged crisis.The UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations was separately asked to mobilise United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to effectively monitor the LoC and the Working Boundary as a step to help de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan, a statement said.Pakistan Army on Wednesday said seven people, including three of its soldiers, were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian troops on the LoC.The clash occurred a day after India warned of retribution after losing three soldiers in Pakistan firing and after Pakistan on Wednesday rejected as “false” and “baseless” the charges that the body of an Indian soldier was mutilated by Pakistani soldiers in a cross LoC-attack. PTI


Army pays tributes to the braveheart

Army pays tributes to the braveheart

Army pays tributes to the braveheart
The Army pays tributes to three soldiers — Gunner Manoj Kumar Kushwah, Rifleman Prabhu Singh and Rifleman Shashank Kumar Singh — in Srinagar on Wednesday. Tribune photo
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, November 23
Rifleman Prabhu Singh would have celebrated his 25th birthday today and may have been gifted flowers. Instead a floral wreath was laid on his body today during a ceremony here to pay tributes to the fallen soldiers.
Three soldiers of 57 Rashtriya Rifles battalion, including Prabhu Singh, were killed in Pakistani action in the Machil sector in the frontier district of Kupwara on Tuesday. The body of one of the soldiers was mutilated.
The Army today paid rich tributes to the three soldiers Gunner Manoj Kumar Kushwah, Rifleman Prabhu Singh and Rifleman Shashank Kumar Singh at the Army’s Srinagar-based headquarters of 15 Corps.
Prabu Singh, a resident of Khirjankhas village in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, is survived by his wife.
Kushwah, a resident of Daddupur village in Gazipur district of Uttar Pradesh, is survived his wife and two children Muskan, 6 and Manav, 4.
Shashank, a resident of Nasiruddin Pur of Gazipur in Uttar Pradesh, is survived by his mother.
General Officer Commanding of Chinar Corps Lt Gen JS Sandhu and all ranks paid their homage to the three slain soldiers in the solemn wreath-laying ceremony.
“The trio is remembered by their comrades for their commitment and dedication to duty,” an Army spokesman said after the ceremony.
The mortal remains of the martyrs will be flown to their native places tomorrow where the last rites will be held with full military honours.
“The Army stands beside the families of the bravehearts in this hour of grief and remains committed to their well being in future,” the spokesman said.

Cong condemns killing of soldiers

  • Jammu: The JKPCC has condemned the cowardly act of Pakistan in beheading a soldier and killing of two other jawans in Machil sector besides resorting to heavy shelling in border areas targeting civilian population. JKPCC chief GA Mir it was an act of provocation and violation of all international norms. TNS

3 soldiers killed on LoC, body of one mutilated; Army says retribution will be heavy

3 soldiers killed on LoC, body of one mutilated; Army says retribution will be heavy
Indian soldiers patrolling near the Line of Control in J&K. — File photo

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 22

Three soldiers were killed and body of one of them was mutilated at Machil sector in Jammu & Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara on Tuesday. While Army said the jawans were killed close to the Line of Control in “action”, sources said there was a possibility the action may have been carried out by BAT (Border Action Team) with support of Pakistani Army. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The army has vowed to revenge soldiers killings. “Three soldiers killed in action on LC in Machhal. Body of one soldier mutilated, retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act,” Army northern command said in a tweet.Sources said the firing took place at Kumgari near Shalabatu at around 1 pm.This is the second such incident of mutilation of the body of an Indian soldier on the LoC since October 29. Earlier, the Pakistani military said Indian firing killed at least four Pakistani nationals and injured 10 others in different sectors along the Line of Control (LoC).”There are reports of heavy casualties of Indian soldiers due to effective retaliatory fire by Pakistani troops,” a statement from the ISPR said late Monday. — With agencies

 


JET ON THE EXPRESSWAY

An IAF fighter jet touches down on a stretch of the Lucknow-Agra expressway in Unnao, UP on Monday. Six jets simulated landing on the expressway, inaugurated by former defence minister and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The 3.3km stretch can be used to land jets in emergencies.

 

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Pak military claims it downed Indian drone

Pak military claims it downed Indian drone
For representation only. Photo source: Thinkstock

Islamabad, November 19

The Pakistan Army claimed on Saturday that it had shot down an Indian drone that crossed into Pakistan’s territory across the Line of Control.“Indian quadcopter has been shot down by Pakistani troops at 1645 (hrs), fell in Pak territory & taken over by Pak troops,” army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa tweeted.

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He claimed the drone had “intruded 60 metres into the Pakistan side of LoC” and its debris “fell near Agahi Post in Rakhchakri Sector”.There have been some 286 incidents of firing and shelling along the LoC and International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani troops that have resulted in the death of 26 people, including 14 security personnel, since Indian army’s military strike on terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir on September 29. The strike came 10 days after a predawn militant strike on an army camp in north Kashmir’s Uri.  — PTI


Demarche issued to Pak envoy over ceasefire violations

Demarche issued to Pak envoy over ceasefire violations

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 17

The India-Pakistan narrative today returned to a low again with India stating that it had summoned a senior official of the Pakistan High Commission to protest against the ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC). The official was summoned and issued a demarche on Wednesday, the third such demarche this month.India also stated that it has, as of now, received no official confirmation from Pakistan of its participation in the Heart of Asia Conference to be held in Amritsar next month. This was in response to queries about the indications by Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs, that he might be attending the conference and that would provide an opportunity to defuse tension between the two neighbours.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)In a briefing today, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said that Pakistani forces had committed 12 ceasefire violations between November 9 and 15 this year alone and alleged that the Pakistan Army had “deliberately resorted to calibre escalation by employing artillery and 120 millimetre heavy mortars against Indian posts. These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the Ceasefire Agreement of 2003”.India, in its demarche to Pakistan, has also pointed out that there has been an increase in concentration of terrorists observed along the LoC and during the last week alone there have been ten instances when terrorists have attempted to cross over from Pakistan. India also protested to Pakistan the “deliberate” targeting by the Pakistan army of 14 villages along the LoC this month, which has resulted in four fatal and 25 non-fatal casualties.  India raised its concerns about the safety of sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan, who “inadvertently” crossed the LoC over a month ago, and sought his early and safe repatriation. 

What it means

  • Demarche is a word coined by the diplomatic community and refers to a strongly worded warning by one country to another
  • India on Wednesday summoned a senior official of the Pakistan High Commission and protested repeated ceasefire violations on the Line of Control
  • India also told Pakistan that there has been a rise in concentration of terrorists along the LoC as well as in incidents of infiltration attempts