Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 25

A pall of gloom descended on Gadasu village in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand as the mortal remains of martyr Naik Jagdish Purohit reached his native village. Martyr’s wife Usha Devi was in a state of shock as the entire village gathered to pay their tributes to the martyr.Before the martyr’s dead body reached Gadasu village, it was brought to Gopeshwar in Chamoli district of the state from Jammu in a helicopter. At Gopeshwar, martyr’s body was kept at the local stadium for the general public, who had gathered in big numbers to pay their homage to the martyr. Chamoli District Magistrate Ashish Joshi also turned up to pay tributes. The last rites of the martyr will be performed on Friday. Naik Jagdish Purohit from Mahar Regiment was injured in a ceasefire violation by Pakistan a few days back succumbed to his injuries in military hospital in Jammu on Wednesday morning.

“Today, there is no important institution or activity which is not insecure. It has, thus, become extremely essential to safeguard almost every arena. — NN Vohra, J&K Governor

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 21

Advocating a new approach in managing the ever-increasing challenges to national security, Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra today suggested a three-pronged strategy — a National Security Policy, creation of a National Security Administrative Service and a Ministry of National Security Affairs.“Today, there is no important institution or activity which is not insecure. It has, thus, become extremely essential to safeguard almost every arena and to particularly secure arrangements relating to food, water, energy, nuclear power, science and technology, environment, ecology, finance, business, commerce, banking, cyber space and other important quarters,” Governor Vohra said delivering the 12th RN Kao Memorial Lecture instituted by the Research and Analysis Wing, in honour of the founder of the country’s external intelligence agency.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Drawing upon his vast administrative experience, he identified some of the structural deficiencies in the existing national security management systems and offered ways to address some of these, including the UK model of parliamentary oversight that examines the expenditure, administration and policies of intelligence services.On the Centre-state equation, he said it is not easy to explain the Government of India’s approach, particularly in the context of the constitutional prescription that “it shall be the Union’s duty to protect the states against internal disturbances”.Over the years, he said, tendency of the Centre was to avoid any confrontation with states, while rarely questioning the states about the root causes of disturbances even after extending assistance in the form of forces to restore normalcy.Referring to the question on Centre’s constitutional responsibility after warning to the state in the Babri Masjid demolition case or concerns on actual capability of the Centre to deal with events like the Mumbai terror attack, he said it leads to imperative of having a well-considered National Security Policy (NSP), that is “founded in unambiguous Union-states understandings to work together for collectively safeguarding the country’s unity and territorial integrity”.The draft NSP, he said, could be discussed at the Inter-State Council chaired by the Prime Minister and once states accept their responsibility to maintain internal security, there would be no reason why they should not become progressively capable of effectively dealing on their own with any arising internal disturbance.Barring Jammu and Kashmir, where India is fighting Pakistan’s proxy war, Governor Vohra said the recurring deployment of the Army in other parts for dealing with local insurgencies and internal disturbances in states “has the rather worrying potential of blunting the Army’s operational efficiencies….”Governor Vohra also said for effective maintenance of internal security, it is also essential to implement reforms and improvements in the entire framework of the criminal justice system, and clean up the system since there is also subsisting question mark on the integrity of the subordinate judicial services.He also touched upon the need for comprehensive laws with pan-India jurisdictions to deal with terrorism, cyber crimes and economic offences and to tackle growing criminality by organised crime, drug trafficking and mafia groups many of which have close connections with terrorist organisations, both in the light of experience of the National Investigation Agency and the proposed National Counter-Terrorism Centre.

General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Army Staff, interacts with Army jawans and officers during his visit to Jalandhar Cantonment on Saturday. Tribune Photograph

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 20

General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Army Staff, visited the Jalandhar Cantonment today. He reviewed the security situation and the operational preparedness of the formations guarding the Western Theatre in the state of Punjab.The Chief of Army Staff was received by Lt Gen Surinder Singh, Army Commander of Western Command and Lt Gen Dushyant Singh, Corps Commander of the Vajra Corps.Lt Gen Dushyant Singh briefed the Army Chief on the operational preparedness as also the security issues including ways to counter the proxy threat.The matter of Punjab continuing to contribute a large number of youth for enrolment in the Armed Forces also came up for discussions on the occasion. In the past wars and the ongoing counter insurgency operations in J&K and elsewhere, a number of service personnel from Punjab have laid down their lives in the line of duty, it was said.“There are also a large numbers of veterans in the region who continue to be a part of the larger family of the Armed Forces,” it was shared on the occasion.Lt Gen Dushyant Singh also briefed the Army Chief on outreach programmes for veterans including settling of pension issues, resettlement avenues, helplines introduced for medical support in the twilight years of ex-Army personnel and other welfare measures.General Bipan Rawat also interacted with the officers, Junior Commissioned Officers, other ranks and veterans during their visit.

CHIEF COMES CALLING

On 19 July 1919, there was a large Victory Parade through the streets of London to mark the end of the First World War. Around 15,000 troops led by the Allied commanders marched to the cheers of thousands of spectators. Bands played in London’s parks, and a memorial to those killed and wounded was unveiled in Whitehall.

The Indian Army had been invited to send a representative contingent to take part in the parade, but problems with shipping and an outbreak of influenza, prevented the contingent from arriving in time. Instead, it was decided that the Indian contingent would have its own Victory March through London as an acknowledgement of the vital role the Indian Armed Forces had played during the War.

The India Office Records has a number of files on the arrangements for the Peace Contingent’s visit to England, which make fascinating reading. The Contingent consisted of a British detachment of 11 officers and 270 men, an Indian Army detachment of 27 British officers, 465 Indian officers and 985 Indian other ranks, and 34 Imperial Service troops of the Indian Native States. The Contingent arrived in the camp at Hampton Court on 26 July.

The procession on August 2 started at Waterloo Station, continued across Westminster Bridge, along Whitehall, and up the Mall to Buckingham Palace. The King inspected the Contingent on the East lawn of the Palace, and presented some awards, including the Victoria Cross to Naik Karanbahadur Rana of the 2nd/3rd Gurkha Rifles. The King then gave a speech thanking the men for their service during the War, which was repeated in Urdu by General Sir Frederick Campbell. The troops were then given tea before returning to their camp.

After the King’s inspection the British troops were demobilised, but the Indian troops stayed for several weeks camped at Hampton Court. The troops were entertained with outdoor games and sports and in the evenings lectures were given, and a cinema was established by the Young Men’s Christian Association. Groups of officers and men were taken on day trips to London and other parts of Britain.

These trips included a bombing display by the Royal Air Force, the steel works of Vickers Ltd in Sheffield, the shipyards of John Brown and the Fairfield Engineering Works on the Clyde and Portsmouth Dockyard. In London trips were organised to the Houses of Parliament, Tower of London, Kew Gardens, St Paul’s Cathedral, and also to some schools. There were also regular shopping trips to the West End.

The Peace Contingent left for India in the middle of September 1919, and the India Office marked the occasion by issuing a souvenir book, beautifully illustrated by the artist W Luker Jnr.

This article first appeared on the British Library’s Asian and African Studies blog.

Islamabad, January 16

Pakistan is examining a proposal for a DGMO-level meeting with India after a gap of four years to reduce tensions along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary through fresh confidence-building measures, a media report said on Tuesday.The report comes a day after Pakistan said four of its soldiers died and five others injured in cross-border firing by Indian troops across the Line of Control. The Indian Army, however, said seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in its retaliatory firing.At a meeting, a Pakistan defence ministry official yesterday told the Senate defence committee that a “fresh proposal of DGMOs’ (Director Generals of Military Operations) meeting is being considered,” the Dawn reported. The official also briefed the senators about the latest trend in Indian ceasefire violations, it said.In November, a telephonic conversation between the two Director Generals of Military Operations took place following a request by the Pakistani side.According to the report, one of the confidence-building measures being considered for the planned meeting of Director Generals of Military Operations is “calibre reduction” of the arms being used at the Line of Control.Pakistan-India Director Generals of Military Operations have a frequent hotline contact, but they last met face-to-face four years ago at Wagah, a village which serves as a transit terminal between Lahore and Amritsar. The December 24, 2013, Wagah meeting had taken place after a break of 14 years. That meeting too was held to discuss ways to ensure peace along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary.Meanwhile, a resolution adopted by the Senate committee condemned Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s statement about “calling nuclear bluff of Pakistan” as “stupidity and provocative”. They termed it a “war-like” proclamation, the report said. — PTIMove after 4 Yrs 

• Pakistan is examining such a proposal after a gap of four years to reduce tension along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary through fresh confidence-building measures
• At a meeting, a Pakistan defence ministry official on Monday told the Senate defence committee that a ‘fresh proposal of Director Generals of Military Operations meeting was being considered’
• The official also briefed the senators about the latest trend in Indian ceasefire violations

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. File photo

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 11

In an unprecedented attack on the defence services, Union Minister for Shipping and Transport Nitin Gadkari on Thursday hit out at the naval top brass for refusing permission for the construction of a floating hotel, or floatel, and a private jetty on the Arabian Sea.Gadkari said the construction of the floatel and the jetty near the base of Malabar Hill did not pose any security risk. “What has the Navy to do with Malabar Hill? They should be guarding the country’s borders. You should be going to the Pakistani border and do patrolling,” Gadkari said at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the International Cruise Terminal here. Among those who present on the occasion included Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Chief, Western Naval Command.Incidentally, the site of the proposed floating hotel and the jetty for it are located just a few km from where Kasab and his fellow terrorists from Pakistan landed on November 26, 2008.Continuing with his harangue against the naval authorities, Gadkari alleged that the men in white were after the minister to allot plots of land for construction of housing for them. “These navy officers wanted a plot of land to build houses in South Mumbai. I will not give you even one inch of land. Why do you want to build houses in South Mumbai? I will not entertain you,” he said.Gadkari went on to say that he headed a committee to clear stalled infrastructure projects and would push for the construction of the floating jetty and hotel when the project comes to him for clearance. “We are the government. The Navy and the defence ministry are not the government,” he added.The Navy and the Coast Guard had earlier refused to give the green signal to the little-known private company, Rashmi Development Private Ltd, to build a floating hotel in the Arabian Sea and construct a floating jetty near Malabar Hill to offer seaplane services and ferry tourists to the floatel. Both the agencies had warned of security threats to several vital installations should private companies and foreigners were allowed access to the coast.Gadkari, as Union minister for shipping and transport, is aggressively pushing for the construction of tourism-based infrastructure along the coast of Maharashtra.

@narendramodi @DefenceMinIndia Ur minister must know without Indian Navy in Mumbai he is inviting Pak Adventurers for another 26/11.

Pl advise Nitin Gadkari remain within limits.

2019 is NOT far

New Delhi, January 7

In an offshoot of the Bofors guns purchase case, two executives of a private company have been convicted by a Special CBI court, Mumbai, in a 25-year-old matter pertaining to criminal conspiracy and cheating in exports to the Swedish company.Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Laxmi Kant Bidwai has convicted Abhay V Udeshi, director of Jayant Oil Mills, and Harish Pandya, an employee of the company, for criminal conspiracy and cheating and sentenced them to two years of imprisonment.In a recent order, Bidwai said it was a case of cheating to cause “damage or harm” to the reputation of the Indian government in the international market. “This is not only an attempt to commit cheating but it is a complete act of cheating,” he said.India had inked a deal with Swedish company Bofors for the supply of 400 155-mm Howitzer guns for the Army worth Rs 1,437 crore in 1986 through a counter trade agreement.One of the conditions of the agreement was that in return of the sale of guns, Bofors would import from India commodities such as coffee and castor oil and its byproducts. The Indian government had nominated the State Trading Corporation (STC) as the nodal agency to monitor the import of castor oil and other commodities by Bofors from India.Similarly, Bofors had nominated London-based Alexander Crichton Associates Limited to import various commodities from India on its behalf under counter trade obligation. Jayant Oil Mills agreed to export castor oil and its byproducts to Bofors through the London-based company. As part of the trade, Jayant Oil Mills had to pay 0.5 per cent of the Free On Board value of the export to the STC as a service charge.In 1989-90, Abhay V Udeshi and Vithaldas G Udeshi — both directors of Jayant Mills — along with Harish K Pandya, an employee of the company, entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the STC.  The trio submitted the forged documents to Alexander Crichton Associates Ltd which forwarded those papers to STC, without the actual export of a goods consignment.The STC officials noticed the fraud and informed the CBI which started the investigation in 1992. — PTI25-year-old export fraud

• As part of the 1986 deal for purchase of 400 155-mm Howitzer guns for the Army, Bofors was to import from India commodities such as coffee and castor oil and byproducts
• In 1989-90, on behalf of directors of Jayant Mills Abhay V Udeshi and Vithaldas G Udeshi, employee Harish K Pandya prepared false export shipment papers and sought payment
• The CBI started the probe in 1992 and framed charges against Abhay, Vithaldas and Pandya in 2004. Vithaldas died during the trial and proceedings against him were dropped

Signalman Chandan Kumar Rai

Jammu, January 21

Signalman Chandan Kumar Rai, who was critically injured during the ceasefire violation in Mendhar sector of the Line of Control (LoC) on Saturday, succumbed to his injuries at the military hospital last night. One civilian was today killed and another injured when Pakistani troops resorted to heavy shelling along the International Border (IB) and the LoC in Jammu and Poonch districts.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)”Two brothers were injured when shells hit their house in Kanachak-Pragwal sector along the IB in Jammu district tonight. One of them, Gopal, later succumbed to his injuries and the other is in hospital,” a senior police official said.The death toll in the intense shelling by Pakistan troops over the past four days has now risen to 12  — three soldiers, two BSF personnel and seven civilians.Pakistani troops violated ceasefire for the fourth consecutive day today, resorting to heavy shelling along the LoC in Noushera, Rajouri and Akhnoor sectors of J&K. While Rajouri DC Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said Pakistan resumed heavy shelling in Bhawani, Karali, Said, Numb and Sher Makri areas this evening, a BSF spokesman said firing from across the border stopped in Samba and Kathua districts in the afternoon, but intermittently went on in some areas of Jammu district.In Jammu district, over 1.27 lakh people in 81 villages have been affected by the border shelling and 41,000 moved to safer places. In the shelling that started on January 18, mostly Arnia, RS Pura and Suchetgarh areas were affected. On January 19, the shelling spread to Samba and Kathua districts. The following day, Marh area also witnessed heavy shelling, said official sources. — TNS