Bandi Chhor Divas (“Day of Liberation”) (ਬੰਦੀ ਛੋੜ ਦਿਵਸ) is a Sikh holiday which coincides with the day of Diwali. Sikhs historically celebrated Diwali along with Hindus, with Guru Amar Das explicitly listing it along with Vaisakhias a festival for Sikhs.[1][2][3] In late 20th century, Sikh religious leaders increasingly called Diwali as Bandi Chhor Divas, and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee adopted this name along with the Nanakshahi calendar in 2003.[4]
Unlike the Hindu festival of Diwali whose significance is based on the texts and scriptures of Hinduism, Bandi Chhor Divas celebrates a Sikh historic event related to the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind. According to the Sikh tradition, on this day, Guru Hargobind was released from prison by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir who freed 52 other Hindu kings with him.[5][6][7]
The Bandi Chhor Divas is celebrated in a manner similar to Diwali, with the lighting of homes and Gurdwaras, fireworks, feast, gift giving and family time. It is an important Sikh tradition along with Vaisakhi, Maghi, Holi with Hola Mohalla and Gurpurb. Guru Hargobind’s father Guru Arjan was arrested under the orders of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir and he was asked to convert to Islam.[11][12] He refused, was tortured and executed in 1606 CE.[11][13] This event is remembered as a defining moment in Sikh history and as the martyrdom of Guru Arjan.[11][14] After the execution, Guru Hargobind succeeded his father as the next Guru of Sikhism.[11][15][16]
Guru Hargobind, on 24 June 1606, at age 11, was coronated as the sixth Sikh Guru.[17][18] At his succession ceremony, he put on two swords: one indicated his spiritual authority (piri) and the other, his temporal authority (miri).[19] Because of the execution of Guru Arjan by Mughal Emperor Jahangir, Guru Hargobind from the very start was a dedicated enemy of the Mughal rule. He advised Sikhs to arm and fight.[20] The death of his father at the hands of Jahangir prompted him to emphasise the military dimension of the Sikh community.[21]
Jahangir responded by jailing the 14 year old Guru Hargobind at Gwalior Fort in 1609, on the pretext that the fine imposed on Guru Arjan had not been paid by the Sikhs and Guru Hargobind.[22] It is not clear as to how much time he spent as a prisoner. The year of his release appears to have been either 1611 or 1612, when Guru Hargobind was about 16 years old.[22] Persian records, such as Dabistan i Mazahib suggest he was kept in jail for twelve years, including over 1617-1619 in Gwalior, after which he and his camp were kept under Muslim army’s surveillance by Jahangir.[23][24] According to the tradition, Guru Hargobind was released from the bondage of prison on Diwali. This important event in Sikh history is now termed the Bandi Chhor Divas festival.[25]
WISHING ALL A VERY HAPPY DEEPAWAALI
Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 18
Amid controversy over the Centre’s decision to withdraw central forces from the troubled Darjeeling hills in West Bengal, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today issued a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for their deployment in future.The MHA impressed upon the state governments that paramilitary forces cannot be a substitute for the local police and should be put into force only in emergency.In a written communication to all states, a copy of which is with The Tribune, the MHA has also asked them to set up a committee for examining requirements of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) while keeping in view the internal security, intelligence inputs and availability of central forces in nearby locations.It also said the Centre has formulated SOPs for deployment of CAPFs and according to which the central forces would be able to meet more pressing commitments like guarding borders, fighting insurgency, anti-national operations and in related situations, which need immediate mobilisation of forces.“CAPFs can’t substitute the state police force as their deployment is related to emergency crisis in states for maintaining law and order,” the communication noted.Incidentally, the MHA missive has come after the West Bengal government moved the Calcutta High Court and got a stay against the Centre’s move to withdraw 700 CAPF personnel from Darjeeling, where an agitation demanding a separate state is on. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee even spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and is said to have protested the move to withdraw the CAPFs from Darjeeling.The MHA, in the communication, has said the state governments often make requests to the Centre for deployment of CAPFs even for occasions where state should normally be in a position to take all security measures from their own resources by dispatching police and state armed police.
Former RAW chief Amarjit Singh Dulat. — File photo
London, October 8
Pakistan is not viewed as a key player within the Kashmir issue despite the “mess” India may have created in the region in the last 15 months, a former spy chief of India has said.Amarjit Singh Dulat, who served as head of RAW in 1999-2000, said the whole world knows that Kashmir is a “very integral part of India” and the problems in the region can be resolved with a more “civilised” approach by talks with all groups involved.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)”If there is alienation in Kashmir against India or anger… there is no love lost for Pakistan. Pakistan has long gone out of the Kashmir equation and Kashmiris realise there is nothing more to be gained from Pakistan,” he said.Dulat was addressing an event entitled ‘Spymasters Speak: Can intelligence agencies do good?’ at the London School of Economics (LSE) on Friday evening.“But for the last 15 months, Kashmir was never mentioned by Pakistan or in Pakistan…Now it has been raised again because of the mess we have created in Kashmir in the last 15 months, so Pakistan is back in business,” he said.Describing the killings of youth and security personnel in the violence that has erupted in the region as “unfortunate”, Dulat stressed that “heavy-handedness” is not the answer.”One message which comes out of Kashmir is that a lot can be achieved with love and compassion but never by force. And, I think that is the mistake we have made in the last 15 months,” he said.The former intelligence chief was of the view that talks with separatist groups should not be ruled out as all matters “need to be discussed upfront” between Delhi and Srinagar.”Democracy works. Apart from the mess we have created, the mistake we are making is not talking to people. It is high time we started talking…even to the Hurriyat. The idea of talking to them is to mainstream them and get them into the democratic process,” he said.Dulat, who was also a former special director of India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) and served as IB joint director in Kashmir in the late 1980s, claimed that the Kashmiri people are “not happy” with the BJP-PDP coalition for bringing the RSS into the Valley.”The RSS may have come into the Valley but will not achieve anything,” he said.Dulat was joined on the panel by General (retd) Ehsan ul Haq, former director-general of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), at the event organised by the UK-based South Asia Future Forum and chaired by the LSE’s South Asia Centre.The two former spies concurred with each other on the need for the intelligence agencies of the two countries to cooperate more closely but had predictably divergent views on the Kashmir issue.”The Kashmir dispute cannot be wished away. If it is left unresolved, it will keep recurring with increasing intensity,” said Haq.”Kashmir has regained centrality in Indo-Pakistan policy focus and from Pakistan’s perspective it remains the core issue within bilateral relations,” he said.On the issue of terrorism, both former spy chiefs called for coordinated efforts between India and Pakistan to tackle the menace together.”We have borne the brunt of it for a long time. We know that Pakistan is also suffering because of terrorism. Delhi is justified in its stand of no talks until there is terrorism.But there is no way but to talk. In the case of Pakistan, we need to make this one exception and talk along with terror,” said Dulat.Haq said: “There are no problems between India and Pakistan that cannot be solved through dialogue. War is no more an option. But setting preconditions is untenable. — PTI
New Delhi, October 2
Considering the evolving threat perception, the Indian Air Force has decided to raise night flying by its combat jets from the current around 30 per cent in all its frontline bases to have a major tactical advantage over its adversaries.IAF officials said the decision to enhance night flying is part of a move to boost overall strike capability and keep the fighter squadrons fully ready for operating in an entire 24 hour cycle.“The move to increase night flying from 30 per cent was based on a variety of factors including the evolving security scenario in our neighbourhood,” a senior IAF officer told PTI.He said ratio of night flying is being increased as IAF has now much more powerful and better electronic sensors, radars and air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and there is no impediment for night operation by the jets.“The warfare scenario is changing fast. We now are preparing ourselves to operate in an electronic warfare environment and that is why we are making the changes,” said the official.He said almost all IAF bases along the western and northern borders have started increasing the ratio of night flying.The IAF has drawn up an ambitious plan to enhance its overall combat capability which includes significantly ramping up existing infrastructure and procuring over 100 combat jets in the next few years.In September last year, India had signed a Euro 7.87 billion (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with the French government for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. Eighteen Rafale jets will be deployed in Ambala while an equal number of the new generation jet will be stationed in Hasimara.Sources said IAF has been pressing the government for placing a follow-up order for 36 additional Rafale jets so that it has at least four squadrons of Rafale aircraft.IAF sources said overall operational capability of all frontline bases, including Pathankot, Ambala, Halwara and Hasimara, are being strengthened to deal with any possible challenge. — PTI
With the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party coming up later this month, it appears that Xi Jingping wants to project that even after Doklam, it is China that is dictating terms to India.
Chinese envoy to India, Luo Zhaohui, said a few days ago – “We should turn the old page and start a new chapter with the same pace and direction. We should dance together. We should make one plus one eleven. China is the largest trading partner of India. We have made a lot of progress at the bilateral level, as well as in international and regional affairs”. Whether Luo had coordinated his words with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is not certain because the very first opportunity for China to walk the talk has actually been spurned by the PLA.
According to the 11 April 2005 Protocol, and the one reinforced on 17 January 2012, there are five points along the Sino-Indian border, where ceremonial border personnel meetings, as confidence building measures, were to be conducted twice a year on the respective national or army days of India and China. It is yet unclear whether these meetings actually took place on 01 August 2017 (PLA Day) or on 15 August 2017 (India’s Independence Day) at the height of the Doklam standoff. There have been reports of such meetings being in progress, according to a report on 15 August 2017, and subsequently denied. What is, however, abundantly clear is that on 1 October 2017, China’s National Day, there was no such invite from the Chinese side; that is a clear four weeks after the 72-day-long Doklam standoff ended. What do the signals portend in strategic terms?
The 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is slated to commence from 18 October 2017. Besides the second five-year term for President Xi Jinping, there is much at stake in this meeting. Xi intends to extend his hold to an unprecedented ‘beyond five years’ and retain chairmanship of the Central Military Commission (CMC) thus allowing him clear control over the armed forces. Besides this, the Congress will take stock of the position of China vis-a-vis its last stated objectives. That essentially means foreign, defence and economic policies will all be on the anvil.
How important are Sino-Indian relations in this context? On the face of things North Korea, South China Sea, US-China relations, Japan and the One Belt One Road (OBOR) appear to be the issues at hand, in no particular order of priority. The China-India border issue is really not such a priority although it is a part of the OBOR issue. However, two events have made China more tentative about Sino-Indian relationship, not entirely sure how to take it further. First is India’s decision to stay away from OBOR conference in Beijing in May 2017 and second the Doklam standoff. It is quite clear that China pushed the Doklam agenda beyond a point in the hope of scoring points in terms of intimidation of India; it was probably hoped that it would give Xi an advantage during the 19th Congress. It did not work out as it had been envisaged, with India’s more than robust and bold response plus refusal to be intimidated by the war of words unleashed by the Chinese propaganda machine.
To now display conciliatory gestures towards India through border personnel meetings and business as usual could send wrong signals about the PLA’s military and psychological capability under Xi. In fact, the Indian and international media, which have been feting India on the handling of Doklam, would probably go overboard in projecting India’s robust diplomacy in relationship to China. That is surely not something easily digestible to the Xi camp, which has competition within the Congress.
Two other issues may be in the mind of Xi Jinping camp. First of these is India-US relations, which seem to be getting stronger by the day. This is an area China is extremely wary of and uncertain of handling. A mere counter by establishing a stronger relationship with Pakistan is not sufficient because a strong Indo-American strategic partnership is not aimed at the Afghanistan-Pakistan region alone but also the Indian Ocean and Pacific regions, which matter much more to China for its resource security. Second is the emerging Indo-Japanese relationship, which after the recent visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India now seems more firmly embedded.
With the Doklam type of intimidation having failed, China remains uncertain about how to handle India. The BRICS summit and the communique condemning transnational terror temporarily restored order in the Sino-Indian relationship but Doklam has created a problem regarding calibration of China’s robust intimidation. The inability to create the right psychological noise in spite of the much touted 25-year policy of preparing the PLA and other forces for war under ‘informationised’ conditions must have come as a bit of a dampener after the Indian leadership could read the signals correctly and temper its response.
Thus further strategy in dealing with India is going to be a challenge. China does not wish to lose any further face and will thus approach issues with India tentatively. Border personnel meetings tend to convey business as usual which China certainly does not perceive as the situation. It has to be surer of itself on this, and also convey to India that there are many domains in which it will keep it engaged to prevent the latter from emerging more confident after Doklam.
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 30
To give a push to the “Make in India” scheme, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today issued a notification liberalising and easing the rules for attracting greater investment in the domestic manufacturing of arms, ammunition and other weaponry.The MHA said the move would boost employment. As per the new rules, the licences granted for manufacturing would now be valid for lifetime and the system of renewal has been done away with.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Similarly, the practice of prior approval from the Central and state governments that the manufactured small arms and light weapons would be sold to them only has been done away with.The liberalised rules will apply to licences granted by the MHA for small arms and ammunition, and those granted by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under powers delegated to it, for tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, defence aircraft, spacecrafts, warships of all kinds, arms and ammunition and allied items of defence equipment other than small arms.Under the new rules, which came into effect on October 27, enhancement of capacity up to 15 per cent of the quantity approved under the licence will not require any further approval. The licence fee has also been reduced significantly. Earlier, it was Rs 500 per firearm. The licence fee will now range from Rs 5,000 to the maximum of Rs 50,000.
Washington, October 18
India can help the US keep an eye on Pakistan as President Donald Trump has “taken a tougher approach to Islamabad harbouring terrorists”, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said.Noting that Trump recently announced a new strategy for combating terrorism in Afghanistan and South Asia, Haley said one of the pillars of that strategy is the development of America’s strategic partnership with India.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)“America’s overriding interest in Afghanistan and throughout South Asia is to eliminate terrorist safe havens that threaten us. And to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, we will use all the elements of our national power — economic, diplomatic and military — to pursue these goals,” she said.“Critically, we will look to our economic and security partnerships with India,” she added. In her address to an event organised by the US India Friendship Council, Haley said Trump has taken a “tougher approach to Pakistan harbouring terrorists”.“Pakistan has been a partner to the US at times. We value and respect that. But, we cannot tolerate this government or any other government giving safe haven to terrorists who target Americans. This new approach will require understanding and restraint from both Pakistan and India,” she said. The US, she said, is looking at India to help US more in Afghanistan, particularly in economic and development assistance. “We are really going to need India’s help in Afghanistan. They are the good neighbours and partner that we have in the region,” she said.“So, having them help not only with infrastructure and the aid that they can give towards rebuilding Afghanistan, (they can) also help us to keep an eye on Pakistan,” Haley said. — PTI
