Clashes erupt in South Kashmir as civilian shot in crossfire; one dead, 24 injured

Suhail A Shah & Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Anantnag/Srinagar, Feb 12

Two soldiers, four militants and a civilian were killed in a gunfight in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district today, triggering clashes in Kulgam and Anantnag that left one dead  and more than 24 injured. Three Armymen, including a Major, were injured in the encounter. The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The deceased Army men were identified as Lance Naik Bhandoriya Gopal Singh, 33, and Sepoy Raghubeer Singh, 31. Acting on a tip-off, teams of the Army and J&K Police cordoned a cluster of houses at Nagbal Frisal, Kulgam, 55 km from Srinagar. “The teams searched a house twice but found nobody there. The third time,  militants hiding inside opened fire, killing two soldiers and a civilian,” DGP Shesh Paul Vaid said. Ashiq Reshi, 40, son of house owner Abdul Majeed, was also killed.The DIG, South Kashmir Range, SP Pani, said four militants, two from Hizbul-Mujahideen and two from Lashkar-e-Toiba, were killed. “All of them hailed from Kulgam district. One of them had been missing since January 14. Three militants escaped.” While the Army claimed the civilian was taken hostage by the militants, the locals claimed he was used by the soldiers as a shield. “The operation was halted following inputs that a civilian was trapped inside. We tried to rescue him, asking the village elders to use the public address system to urge him to come out, but he didn’t,” explained Brig R Chakravarty, Commanding Officer, Sector-1, Rashtriya Rifles. “At 5.30 am, we entered the house. The civilian tried to flee. But the militants opened fire, killing him as well as two jawans,” he said.Locals and the family of the slain civilian refuted the Army claim. “Abdul Majeed and his sons Ashiq and Muhammad Shafi were taken into custody after the village was cordoned. The Army personnel took Ashiq along as they entered the house. He and two soldiers were killed in cross-firing,” they said.Ashiq’s killing triggered fierce clashes in Kulgam and Anantnag. Mushtaq Ibrahim (22) of Anantnag was killed and more than 24 were injured. Sixteen sustained bullet injuries. The separatists have called for a shutdown on February 13 and “Kulgam Chalo” on February 15 against the killing of civilians.  The slain militants were identified as Mudassir Tantrey, Wakeel Thokar, Farooq Ahmed Bhat and Mohd Younis Lone.

Four militants, two jawans die in Valley encounter; protests erupt

SRINAGAR: Two civilians and as many jawans were killed in the bloodiest day in Kashmir in a while on Sunday that saw a gunfight between security forces and militants, which was followed by violent protests.

Four militants were also killed in the encounter that prompted hundreds of people to descend on the streets of Kulgam in south Kashmir and its adjoining areas.

One of the civilians was a protester and the other was caught in the crossfire.

The opposition National Conference demanded a probe into the firing, and Kashmiri separatists called for a strike on Monday to protest crackdown by the security forces. At least 21 protesters were injured when police used bullets, pellets and tear gas shells to repel amassing demonstrators.

The protester killed in the firing was identified as 24-year-old MushtaqIbrahimfromSirgufwara. The youth probably died of bullet wounds, said deputy inspector general of south Kashmir SP Pani, adding that the other injured protesters are stable.

Security forces had cordoned off a house where the alleged militants were holed up at Kulgam’s Frisal village on Saturday night before the gunfight began Sunday morning. Late Sunday evening, a police spokesman identified the four militants as locals of south Kashmir. While two belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen, two others were associated with Lashkar e Taiba. The spokesman said that during the initial cordon three militants managed to escape from the spot.

The two slain soldiers belonged to 1st Rashtriya Rifles and were identified as Raghubeer Singh of Uttarakhand and Bhandoriya Gopal Singh of Gujarat.

Schoolchildren pay tributes at the memorial of the Sikh warrior, General Sham Singh Attari, in Amritsar on Friday. Sunil Kumar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 10

Residents of border villages paid rich tributes to legendary Sikh General Sham Singh Attari on his 171st martyrdom day at his village and memorial at Gateway of India in the Naraingarh area here today.Deputy General Officer Commanding of 15 infantry division Sushil Sharma was the chief guest on the occasion. He paid floral tributes to the Sikh General at Sham Singh Attari statue. Among others, the members of Sham Singh Attari clan, Col Kuldeep Singh Sidhu and Col Harinder Singh, were also present on the occasion. The Punjab Police jawans paid tributes by reversing their arms.Meanwhile, a martyrdom-day programme was also held at Sham Singh Attari Memorial at Attari.The legendary General sacrificed his life during the first Anglo-Sikh war.

ATTARIWALA REMEMBERED

The army paying tributes to Shaheed Sardar Sham Singh Attariwala at his memorial near India Gate on the Amritsar­Attari road. Attariwala led the Sikh army after Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s death, attaining martyrdom in the 1849 Anglo­Sikh war.

An Indian Army contingent marches during the 68th Republic Day parade in New Delhi. — File photo for representation only

New Delhi, February 7With some instances of security personnel using social media to focus on their grievances, the government on Tuesday said it is not desirable that armed force personnel indulge in such acts as mechanisms to raise such issues already exist within the system.Replying to questions in Rajya Sabha, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, while highlighting improvements made towards dietary and clothing needs of jawans, said under the Army Act, there was a system of grievance redressal which should be followed.In case of a problem, the Chief of Army Staff has also been provided with a mechanism of redressal and even the Defence Minister could be approached and Grievance Boxes have also been placed at various places, he said.Complaints should come through proper channel and “we will redress it,” Parrikar said.During the Question Hour, members raised the issue of a BSF jawan who had complained of diet in a social media post.One of the members asked Parrikar that though BSF fell under the Home Ministry, how would he view if Army jawans, too, aired their problems through the social media.Parrikar also said the government has improved the dietary provisions for soldiers and there has been increase in the scale of meat, chicken for JCOs and authorisation of chilled, frozen meat as basic ration.He said extension of special ration available for those posted in Siachen Glacier to troops across the country anywhere above 12,000 feet has also been undertaken. The number of eggs provided in the diet per person has been increased from one to two, the Minister said.Parrikar also said large-scale procurement of bullet-proof jackets and helmets has also been undertaken as were rifles and other equipment. More than one lakh bulletproof jackets would be procured by the end of 2017, he said. — PTI 

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 24

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has upheld sentence of a Major who was cashiered from service and awarded three years rigorous imprisonment by a general court martial (GCM) on charges that included abetting a soldier to set a Captain’s house afire, stealing his car, encouraging the soldier to desert and improperly borrowing money from a subordinate.In his petition, the officer had contended that false charges had been levelled against him and the trial by the GCM was without jurisdiction as his trial had commenced and concluded before the trial of the main accused had started. He said he could not have been tried as an abettor until the charges against the main accused in the case had been established in a legal proceeding.The petitioner, ex-Major Om Prakash, had been tried on seven charges under various provisions of the Army Act and the GCM had held him guilty on five of the charges. The AFT, later, absolved him of a charge and finally, upheld the conviction on four charges.The GCM, convened by the General Officer Commanding, 24 Infantry Division, had tried him for abetting the jawan to set a Captain’s official accommodation on fire at the Suratgarh military station, thereby causing a loss of Rs 4.08 lakh to the victim and of Rs 2.01 lakh to the government.He was also tried for abetting the jawan to steal the Captain’s Santro car; inciting the jawan to desert, which he did the same day; improperly granting excess casual leave to the jawan; failing to pay transportation cost to a private contractor for transporting goods to his village and borrowing Rs 35,000 and Rs 5,000 from two soldiers in contravention of rules.

Nitin Jain

Chandigarh, February 19

A war veteran father-son duo and the son’s wife had invested their hard-earned money in what they thought would be their own home where they would live a peaceful life post-retirement. However, over a decade later, they have neither got the dream home nor their money back.This is one of the many such cases which are awaiting execution at the Chandigarh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.In separate complaints of war veteran Col Pritam Singh, who had fought World War-II, his son Brig DS Grewal, who had fought for the country in the war against Pakistan in 1971, and Grewal’s wife Manveen Grewal, the commission had issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against the respondents, Castle Concrete Infrastructure, through its directors Aashish Goel and Sumita Goel, 35 times and recovery certificates 37 times before declaring the respondents proclaimed offenders in May 2016.However, surprisingly, the commission is still awaiting compliance of its orders.On the execution appeals filed by the war veteran family way back in 2011, the commission had issued NBWs and recovery certificates against the respondents first time on May 17, 2012, and till March 30, 2017, it had issued NBWs for a record 35 times and recovery certificates for a record 37 times but to no avail. As a last resort, the commission declared the respondents proclaimed offenders on May 31 2016, but that also failed to deliver justice to the war veteran family.Besides the war veteran family’s case, there are at least 16 other such execution appeals that are awaiting justice at the commission despite issuance of NBWs and recovery certificates for a number of times.“It is due to the absence of power to initiate contempt proceedings that we are rendered helpless to take the accused to task even after declaring them proclaimed offenders,” the commission president, Justice Jasbir Singh, told The Tribune when asked about the reason behind the long delay in the execution of commission’s orders.However, there was an exceptional case in which the owners of Shalimar Estate were caught by the Panchkula police in some other case and the commission asked the police to procure their production warrants to arrest them in seven separate execution appeals wherein they were wanted.In the remaining six such cases, the police have failed to execute the NBWs and recovery certificates issued by the commission for delivering justice to the consumers. 

Record filings and disposals

• In 2016, there were a record 993 filings, including complaints, first appeals, execution appeals, revision petitions and miscellaneous appeals, and 706 disposals at the commission. This year, till February 15, another 147 cases have been filed and 155 cases have been disposed of.

The Army chips in with recovery vehicles wherever it can, but it’s never enough.

 A villager walks near a vehicle coverd with snow on Srinagar-Gulmarg Road after heavy snowfall at Tangmarg in Baramulla District of North Kashmir. (Photo: AP/File)

Director Colleges AWES

Our Correspondent

Rajouri, February 15

The Counter Insurgency Force’s (Romeo Force) pilot project on ‘Skill Development: Future of J&K’ culminated here today. The project was take up under the aegis of the Indian Army as a part of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna.A felicitation ceremony was organised at Government Degree College, which was chaired by Maj Gen Yogendra Dimri, GOC, Romeo Force.Meanwhile, the Army, under the aegis of Northern Command, trained more than 330 youths from Rajouri and Poonch districts in a year.“Under this project, several unemployed youths were trained in skill courses for four months at the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) at Rajouri, Poonch, Mendher and Surankote,” a senior Army officer said.The Army distributed certificates and kits among the successful trainees.Speaking on the occasion, the GOC said: “Now the civil administration and financial institutions must come forward to provide financial assistance to these certificate holders so that these courses become a guiding beacon to the state of J&K.”Prof Sandeep Singh of the University of Jammu appreciated the endeavour of the Army and requested the civil administration to implement the model in other districts. Candidates were given loan offer and cheques on the occasion by bank officials.

LONDON: China is reaching nearparity with the West in military technology and its progress highlights that western dominance in advanced weapons systems can no longer be taken for granted, an influential London-based thinktank said in a new assessment released on Tuesday.

Beijing’s growing dominance in military technology and its exports to countries that cannot afford western hardware has major implications for New Delhi and its security, London-based sources told Hindustan Times, adding India remained watchful.

Releasing the annual Military Balance 2017, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) director John Chipman said the balance of global military spending continued to shift towards Asia, where defence expenditure rose by 5% to 6% from 2012 to 2016, as the total global spending on military fell by 0.4%.

China featured prominently in the launch event of the publication, which, over the decades, has come to be considered one of the most definitive references for state and non-state stakeholders, including policy-makers.

Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, IISS senior fellow, told Hindustan Times: “China’s real-term increase in defence spending matched by its militarily technological advances has enabled it to reach near parity with the West in aspects of air power.

“In contrast, India’s decrease in defence spending in terms of GDP in the absence of a boost in the acquisition or development of advanced military technology results in a widening gap between Indian and Chinese military capabilities.”

According to him, an activist Trumppolitico-militarypolicyin the region could provide strategic opportunities amidst potential pitfalls for India’s military diplomacy. Referring to the September 2016 contract for Rafale jets and the “prolonged and ultimately futile negotiations” over the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, IISS said that given the existing security concerns related to China and Pakistan, India is likely to quickly acquire an F-16 or F/A-18 derivative to help cover the shortfall.

20 die in avalanches, two in anti-militancy operation

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 13

Like the previous year, when the Army had to face a huge loss as many of its soldiers were killed in various terror attacks in the state, 2017 has not brought any relief to the force and it has lost 22 soldiers, including a Major, till date.Twenty out of 22 Army men have been lost due to nature’s fury when avalanche struck Army camps in the Sonmarg, Gurez and Machil areas of the Kashmir valley. The loss in less than one and a half months of the year is relatively high as compared to earlier years.As the Army has been fighting nature’s fury, two of its soldiers were killed in the Frisal area of Kulgam district in south Kashmir yesterday during an encounter with militants in the area. Four militants and two civilians were also killed in the gun battle.Since the start of the year till January 25, the Army in the state had achieved success in killing several militants in different encounters without losing a single soldier. But on January 25, a snow avalanche killed a Major in Sonamarg and in the Gurez area 14 soldiers were killed after an avalanche hit the area. In the Machil area of Kupwara district five soldiers were rescued on January 28, but they succumbed to their injuries on January 30 in Srinagar.Last year, the Army had suffered a loss of around 60 soldiers in different militancy-related incidents, including Uri and Nagrota terror attacks. In all, 165 militants were killed in the state last year and to date this year, 15 militants have been killed in the Kashmir valley.Yesterday, it was the Army’s first casualty during an anti-militancy operation this year when two soldiers were killed in Kulgam.

Earlier casualties

• In 2016, the Army had suffered a loss of 60 soldiers in different militancy-related incidents, including the Uri and Nagrota terror attacks.
• 165 militants were killed in the state last year and this year to date, 15 militants have been killed.