JALANDHAR: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Captain Amarinder Singh has appointed his key man from Jalandhar, Captain Harminder Singh as the working president of the district Congress committee (Rural) Jalandhar.

A prominent Kamboj community leader Harminder, who was a ticket aspirant from Shahkot segment of Jalandhar was issued a letter regarding his appointment on Monday.

After denying him ticket, Harminder was attached with Amarinder’s son Raninder Singh and was made coordinator of Lambi segment from where the PPCC chief contested polls against chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Presently, another Captain loyalist Jagbir Brar is holding the post of president of district Congress committee (Rural) who was also a Congress candidate from Nakodar segment.

Harminder’s elevation as acting president holds significance as by this move, Captain has tried to give signal that he may have lost in the ticket race but was still a favourite

Union Minister of State for Foreign Affairs General (retd) VK Singh (centre) being felicitated at an election rally by BJP candidate Ganesh Joshi in Mussoorie on Saturday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, February 4

Union Minister of State for Foreign Affairs General VK Singh (retd) today said in order to keep the national honour intact and good future prospects for the youth, a BJP government was a must in Uttarakhand. He was addressing an election rally organised in support of BJP Candidate from Mussoorie Ganesh Joshi at Vijay Pur in Hathbarkala Naya Gaon.He said Prime Minister Narendar Modi was working 20 hours a day and due to such dedication the flag of the country was swaying around the world with pride. He sought votes for Ganesh Joshi and said the state had seen nothing but corruption in the past five years and the present government had been indulging in corrupt practices all these years.Gen VK Singh (retd) took a dig at the previous UPA government at the Centre and said it used to announce every year that all villages would be electrified but nothing happened. “It is the BJP government that had embarked on a mission of electrifying all villages in the country by 2018. The BJP does not release a manifesto but a pledge note. The vision document released for the state today will usher in development according to the aspirations of people,” he added.He appealed to people to vote for Joshi. Asked about the issues of ex-servicemen, he said he could not comment on these due to the election model code of conduct but the government was seriously considering these. Joshi thanked the Union minister for the support and hoped with love and affection of people he would again emerge victorious.Lt Gen OP Kaushik (retd) also addressed the gathering. Joshi presented a Gorkhali cap carrying a symbolic khukri on its top to Gen VK Singh. Yesterday, senior BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari also appealed to people to vote for Joshi.

A view of the aircraft carrier INS Viraat docked at the Naval Dockyard ahead of its decommissioning after 30 years of service in Mumbai on Monday. PTI photo

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, February 27

INS Viraat, India’s second aircraft carrier after INS Vikrant, will be decommissioned on March 6 after serving the Indian Navy for nearly 30 years.

As part of her final duties, the warship that first saw action as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka in 1989, was thrown open to the media on Monday.

Originally christened HMS Hermes, INS Viraat served the British Royal Navy from 1959 to 1984 before she was decommissioned and sold to India. According to naval officials here, as HMS Hermes, the aircraft carrier saw action in the Falklands War between Great Britain and Argentina. Under her new name and flag, INS Viraat was commissioned into the Indian Navy on May 12, 1987.
The ageing warship sailed under her own power for the last time from Mumbai to Kochi in July 2016. Last October she was towed out of Kochi and brought back to Mumbai where she will be formally decommissioned on March 6, according to the Indian Navy.

According to an official statement, INS Viraat was deployed for operational duties for the last time at the International Fleet Review in Viskhakapatnam in February last year.

An Islamic State fighter being taken into custody in Mosul on Saturday. AP/PTI

Mosul, February 25

US-backed Iraqi forces pushed deeper into western Mosul on Saturday, advancing in several populated southern districts after punching through the defences of Islamic State’s last major urban stronghold in Iraq a day earlier.About 1,000 civilians also walked across the frontlines, the largest movement since the new offensive launched last week to deal the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim group a decisive blow.In Baghdad, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir met Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday in the first such visit in more than a decade between Sunni Muslim-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite-led Iraq.The new push in Mosul comes after government forces and their allies finished clearing IS from the east of the northern Iraqi city last month, confining the insurgents to the western sector on the other side of the Tigris river.Commanders expect the battle in western Mosul to be more difficult, in part because tanks and armoured vehicles cannot pass through the narrow alleyways that crisscross ancient districts there.But Iraqi forces have so far made quick advances on multiple fronts, capturing the northern city’s airport on Thursday, which they plan to use as a support zone, and breaching a 3-m-high berm and trench set up by the IS.The forces are less than 3 km from the mosque in the old city where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria in 2014. — Reuters

Civilians flee

• About a thousand civilians, mostly women and children, walked out of southwestern parts of Mosul on Saturday and climbed into military trucks taking them to camps further south
• The UN says up to 4,00,000 people may have to leave their homes during the new offensive as food and fuel runs out in western Mosul

NC president Farooq Abdullah addresses party workers in Srinagar on Friday. Tribune Photo: Amin War

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 24

National Conference leader and three-time state Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today came out openly in defence of militants, saying they have made a “promise with God” and are sacrificing their lives for freedom.Farooq’s rare pro-militant rhetoric, which came at a time when the levels of violence and sympathies for militants have significantly shot up, illustrated a stark change of heart for a political leader who had once advocated a full assault against militants and their backers.“If our children are offering sacrifices today, they do not want to become MLAs or MPs or minister. They offer sacrifices (to demand) their rights: this is our land, we are its owners,” Farooq said, addressing a gathering of his party’s workers and leaders at an event commemorating the death anniversary of his brother Sheikh Nazir.The NC leader’s new-found love for the separatist cause has a remarkable similarity to the soft-separatist politics of his party’s arch-rival PDP, which had blurred the lines between the mainstream and separatist politics during its years as the opposition party.Though Farooq did not make a clear mention of militants — instead referring to them as “they”, his speech was laden with references indicating he was eulogising the new generation of armed youth.Farooq, who has three times served as the CM, said everyone loves life and no one wants to die. “They have made a promise to God that he is the giver and taker of life, but we will give our lives for the freedom of this land,” he said.He said a “new nation has been born, which does not fear guns”. “This (new) nation strives to achieve the freedom of this country,” Farooq said.He also criticised the policy of responding to bullets with bullets. “If someone says bullets will be responded with bullets, (should know) that they are not afraid of bullets,” he said.The former CM linked the current phase of fighting to the 1931 agitation, which became the ladder to leadership for his father Sheikh Abdullah.He complained that promises made in 1948 — a reference to the implementation of UN resolutions on J&K which called for plebiscite — have been forgotten and asked India and Pakistan to do justice “with us.”

Protesters throw stones at security personnel during a search operation in Kulgam on Wednesday. Tribune Photo: Amin War

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 22

Despite a stern warning from Army Chief General Bipin Rawat last week, protesters continue to hamper counter-insurgency operations in the Valley. In the latest such incident, a few hundred demonstrators attempted to disrupt a search operation on Wednesday in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.A police official said the security forces cordoned off a village in Kulgam district following an intelligence input about the presence of militants inside a hospital. The search operation was launched in Tarigam village at 10 am and two militants were suspected to be inside the hospital, the police official said.However, protesters from nearby villages gathered around Tarigam as soon as the cordon was established and threw stones at police and paramilitary forces manning the outer ring of the cordon, the official said. Tarigam is the native village of CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami.The police official said a crowd of over 200 protesters tried to disrupt the anti-militancy operation. “We had to fire tear-smoke shells to disperse the crowd,” the official said.The official said the anti-militancy operation continued and remained unaffected by theprotesting crowd. The search of the hospital and the adjoining structures ended after five hours when militants could not be traced.Another cordon and search operation was launched in Kulgam district’s Qoimoh area, the police official said. “It was based on speculative input and there was a minor law and order incident there too,” the official said, addingthat the operation was conducted smoothly and concluded after militant presence was not established in the area.Protests at encounter sites are still being held despite a stern warning from the Army Chief, who had last week said that if locals “become a problem in our operation and if that causes losses to our soldiers, we will not hesitate to use weapons”.General Rawat had further said that the security forces were facing higher casualties due to the manner in which locals were preventing them from conducting the operations.A high-profile militant, Abu Dujana, was suspected to have escaped last week when the police intercepted the car in which he was travelling in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district and protesters later clashed with the security forces, which is believed to have helped him escape from the spot.

No let-up in protests 

• February 22: Over 200 protesters attempt to disrupt a search operation in Kulgam district, restrained by tear-smoke shells
• Feb 18: Search operation launched in Newa area of Pulwama, protesters clash with security forces
• Feb 15: Army Chief Bipin Rawat warns protesters
• Feb 14: Three soldiers killed in a gun battle in Bandipora district, where protesters clashed with forces during several anti-militant operations in past month
• Feb 14: Police intercept a car in which militant commander Abu Dujana was travelling in Pulwama. Protesters clashed with the forces to distract them from the chase

Jalandhar, February 20

The 112 Infantry Battalion of Territorial Army (Dogra) will hold a recruitment rally for the category of Soldier General Duty, 20 vacancies, and tradesmen, 05 vacancies, at Jalandhar Cantt (Dogra Ground) from March 6 to 15.Candidates hailing from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh (UT) can take part in this rally.Candidates from Punjab & Chandigarh (UT) will be screened on March 6, those from Haryana and Delhi on March 7 and from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir on March 8.The age of the candidate should be between 18 and 42.Details can be had on the website www.indianarmy.nic.in. — TNS

Bags with ‘Army uniforms’ cause panic

Mohit Khanna and Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana/ Talwandi village, February 20Two abandoned bags full of army uniforms in Talwandi village near Phillaur caused panic, leading to high alert in the area on Monday. A passerby found the bag abandoned under a tree, some 100 metres from a railway track, on Sunday night and alerted police.The station house officer of Ladowal initially dismissed claims of army uniforms being found in the back as rumours.However, later in the evening, Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh confirmed it and said that the bag appeared to belong to a theatre troupe whose name they also found among its contents.Investigators said they found a slip of paper bearing the address of Tarun Talkies at Jammu Tavi, another paper with a list of costumes and sheets of coloured paper in the bag, leading them to suspect that it was stolen from a theatre troupe.DCP Investigation Bhupinder Singh Sidhu said: “We suspect that the may may have been stolen from a train from Jammu and Amritsar route that usually halts near Talwandi Village for signal. However, we are still investigating the case.”Although police claim there was nothing to worry about, some villagers remain unconvinced.Lakhbir Singh, a resident of the village, accused police of presenting an incomplete picture, which he claimed made the villagers wonder if the police was deliberately “hushing up” the incident.“They never bothered to search the houses near the spot where the bag was found. Instead, police searched 2-3 houses of Gujjars.”

Photo for representational purpose only. iStock

New Delhi, February 17

The Navy on Friday sealed a Rs 200-crore deal with Tata-backed Nova Integrated System Ltd for procurement of over two dozen surveillance radars, said to be first such contract by an armed force under the ‘Buy and Make’ category.

The procurement of surface surveillance radars (SSR) is part of the navy’s plan for modernisation of its fleet and these systems will also be installed on board ships under construction.

“A contract between Nova Integrated Systems Ltd and the Indian Navy for procurement of surface surveillance radars (SSR) has been concluded today,” a Navy statement said.

It said the deal is in line with the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Nova Integrated Systems Ltd is a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Advanced System Ltd and it will indigenously manufacture these radars in collaboration with Terma of Denmark.

“This contract marks the entry of Indian private industry in production of hi-tech sensors for Indian Navy,” the statement said.

It said the government’s drive to modernise the armed forces and build an Indian defence industrial base with participation of the private industry has got a major boost with the signing of the contract.

Under the deal, over two dozen radars will be procured at a cost of Rs 200 crore.

“This is the first contract concluded under the Buy and Make category,” it added. — PTI

Jammu, February 13

Pakistani troops targeted Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday evening using mortars and small arms, the Defence Ministry said here.The Pakistani troops initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatic weapons and also mortar bombs on Indian posts along the LoC in the Sunderbani sector at 6.05 pm, a defence spokesman said.Indian troops retaliated strongly and effectively, the spokesman said.—PTI

New Delhi, February 12

Expensive and sleek snow scooters, usually found at ice-capped tourist spots for adventure sport lovers, have for the first time been inducted for patrol by ITBP troops along the Sino-Indian frontier.The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Five of these powerful scooters, procured from a US-based firm, have been deployed at high-altitude border locations of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim to monitor the Chinese PLA deployment on the other side. Officials said the modern scooters, all costing around a crore, can seat two personnel (driver and pillion rider) with their rifle and ammunition in tow and can negotiate a 45-degree slope on the hills. They are supported by chaincase belts to help the 278-kg machine glide smooth and cut through the ice.The force, as part of bolstering its capabilities to effectively secure the 3,488-km border, had last year procured over six dozen SUVs and sent them to far-flung border areas for patrol and transport. — PTI