Monthly Archives: August 2018

New Delhi, March 7

The BSF today withdrew an order deducting a week’s salary of a jawan for showing “disrespect” towards the Prime Minister during a routine drill after Narendra Modi expressed his displeasure over the punishment, the force said.Modi directed the BSF today to immediately withdraw the order, a spokesperson for the paramilitary said, adding that it had been rescinded.Constable Sanjeev Kumar, posted in the 15th battalion of the Border Security Force deployed in West Bengal’s Nadia district, was found “guilty” by his commanding officer (CO) for using the words “Modi programme” while attending a morning roll call task on February 21.The CO of the unit, Commandant Anup Lal Bhagat, issued an order handing down a “pay fine of 7 days”, which means a salary cut for a week, to the jawan for “showing disrespect towards the PM”.“The Prime Minister has expressed his displeasure and directed the force to immediately withdraw the punishment. The order has been rescinded and the Commandant concerned has been cautioned for not dealing with the matter judiciously,” the BSF spokesperson said.Officials said the jawan referred to an event that he attended as “Modi programme” during the ‘zero parade’ or reporting assembly of briefing seniors about their official activities. — PTI

Sohail Mahmood

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 22

Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mehmood on Friday hosted the 70th National Day celebrations at the mission in Delhi even as bilateral ties continue to be tense. The event was attended by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of State for Agriculture in the Modi cabinet, instead of any junior foreign minister as is mostly the practice, though not a norm.“Pakistan desires peaceful and good neighbourly relations with India on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual respect,” Mehmood said.The celebrations happen at a time when the two neighbours have been levelling allegations of harassment of each other’s diplomats by security agencies in respective countries in violation of the Vienna convention.“Pakistan and India have completed 70 years as free nations. At the time of Independence, our founding fathers had envisioned an amicable relationship between the two countries. The relations however, evolved on a different trajectory,” said Mehmood.Mehmood returned to the capital Thursday late evening after weeklong consultations with the foreign ministry in Islamabad on the issue of harassment of diplomat. Sources in Pakistan foreign ministry in apparent posturing had told local media that the envoy’s return would be subject to resolution of the issue. India has also so far sent 15 note verbales and summoned Pakistani diplomats to lodge protest against reported intimidation of Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria and mission staff in Islamabad.

Security personnel stand guard in Srinagar. Amin War

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, March 12

Three militants, two of them former engineering students and another suspected to be a resident of Hyderabad, were killed in an encounter with security forces in the wee hours of Monday in the Hakoora area of Anantnag district, some 70 km south of Srinagar city.The militants are suspected to be linked to a local unit of the Islamic State even as the police said they were investigating the previous claims made by the global militant group based in Iraq and Syria.Two of the slain militants have been identified as Syed Owais of Kokernag in Anantnag district and Eisa Fazili, a resident of Soura in Srinagar. “The identity of the third militant is being ascertained,” said Inspector General of Police SP Pani.While the police maintained that the identity of the third militant was being ascertained, unverified claims on the social media identified him as a resident of Hyderabad. It identified him as Abu Zarr al-Hindi, alias Sultan al-Hyderabad.According to the police, the militants were traced to Badasgam village of the Hakoora area in Anantnag district about midnight on Sunday.Hakoora is located some 10 km from Anantnag town. “There were specific inputs regarding the movement of these militants,” a senior police official from Anantnag said.The official said the militants who were hiding in a house sensed trouble as a cordon was being laid and tried to escape by firing.“The fire was retaliated triggering an encounter, resulting in the killing of the three militants in an open paddy field,” the official said.Local sources said there was intense firing sometime after midnight and then again at 2 am after a lull. “No one ventured outside as the firing continued. In the morning, we got to know that the militants had been killed in a nearby paddy field,” a source said.Bodies of the two local militants were handed over to their families after medico-legal formalities.A complete shutdown was observed in Srinagar and Anantnag districts as the news of the killings spread and the mobile Internet speed was curtailed and train services were suspended by the authorities.Thousands, meanwhile, reached Soura in Srinagar and Vailoo village in the Kokernag area to participate in the funerals of Fazili and Owais. Intense clashes erupted in Vailoo when security forces used tearsmoke shells to disperse the mourners. The clashes continued for the better part of the day.Both local militants Owais and Fazili had pursued B-Technology from Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University in Rajouri district, but had left the course midway.

Shutdown observed

A complete shutdown was observed in Srinagar and Anantnag districts on Monday as the news of the killings spread and the mobile Internet speed was curtailed and train services were suspended by the authorities

Army jawans during the cremation of sepoy Amarshir Singh in Fazilka on Thursday. Tribune Photo

Our Correspondent

Fazilka, March 8

Sepoy Amarshir Singh (30), who died during a terrorist attack in Assam on March 5, was cremated with state and military honours at his native Jorki Andhewali village here today.A pall of gloom descended on the village when the martyr’s body reached here. His nephews lit the pyre as his two daughters – Gurnoor Kaur (4) and three-month-old Gurbir Kaur – were not in a position to do so. His body was draped in the national flag.A contingent of Army jawans gave a gun salute to him in the presence of senior Army officials, Fazilka SDM Balbir Raj Singh and former Congress MLA Dr Mohinder Kumar Rinwa. SAD (rural) district president Gurpal Singh Grewal and All India Youth Congress Committee secretary Goldy Kamboj were also present.Amarshir had joined the Army on March 7, 2008.Wife Veerpal Kaur said she was proud of her husband and would tell the stories of his bravery to their daughters.Amarshir’s father Sukhmander Singh, a shepherd, demanded a government job for the martyr’s wife as he was the only breadwinner of the family.

On January 27, an Army column of 10 Garhwal, led by Major Aditya Kumar fired on a stone-pelting mob in Gawanpora village of Shopian district. Three local men, Javed Ahmed Bhat, Suhail Javed Lone and Rayees Ahmed Ganai died in the Army firing.

An FIR was filed to investigate the incident, specifically naming Major Aditya Kumar and 10 Garhwal. A counter FIR was also filed by the Army. As is the norm in insurgency prone J&K, there are two conflicting versions of the incident. The Army insisted that the column had followed “standard operating procedure” and that they were constrained to open fire in self-defense to prevent lynching of a JCO and burning of a vehicle by the mob. An attempt to snatch weapons was also highlighted.

The government of J&K and the people of Gawanpora gave a conflicting version. On January 29, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti informed the assembly that the police had advised the Army to avoid the Gawanpora route in view of the tension following the killing of two Hizbul Mujahideen militants and injuring of three civilians in a firefight on January 24 in Chaigund. One of the two militants killed that day was a resident of Gawanpora. As a result, passions were already running high in the area at the loss of local militants as well as civilian casualties.

The Army ignored the police advisory. The first Army convoy that passed through the village in the morning had a fracas with locals over posters paying tribute to the local militant. Around 3.30pm, a convoy of 10 Garhwal Regiment led by Major Aditya Kumar decided to travel through Gawanpora. The Army column, when faced with a protesting mob, resorted to unprovoked firing, resulting in the death of three civilians.

Given the current “us versus them” environment, emotions ran high, without any rational analysis either of the incident or of the legal position. A section of the politicians and local people highlighted the brutality of the security forces and accused them of murder, berating the AFSPA. The “nationalists”, TV media, right wing politicians and the military veterans were outraged at an FIR being filed naming Major Aditya Kumar and 10 Garhwal for an action in “self-defense”. More so, when FIRs earlier filed against a large number stone-pelters had recently been withdrawn by the state. The mood was that actions of the Army cannot be questioned and the stone-pelters got what they deserved.

On February 12, a petition filed by the father of Major Aditya Kumar seeking to “protect the morale of the soldiers” was heard by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of India. The Court ruled in an ex-parte order that no “coercive action” be initiated against Major Aditya Kumar of 10 Garhwal Rifles by the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Human rights violations threaten the moral authority of the state and the reputation of its armed forces and further the cause of insurgents. They enable insurgents to create circumstances for more human rights violations by instigating violent protests which lead to security forces reacting in self-defense or panic, setting off a chain reaction. A democratic state or its armed forces must never perpetrate or cover up human rights violations as this leads to a moral victory for insurgents. Justifying violations of human rights by security forces and comparing them to the violent actions of terrorists or stone-pelting mobs is reducing them to the same level.

Human rights violations do take place in an insurgency where force has to be used against terrorists who intermingle with people and enjoy their tacit or coerced support. First, violations may be the result of legitimate and good faith actions. Such cases should and do have the protection of AFSPA. Second, violations stem from overzealous actions of the security forces. These also get the protection of AFSPA from prosecution in civil courts. However, violations of laid down rules of engagement are dealt with under military law. Third, violations are caused by rogue actions. Such cases do not have or deserve the protection of AFSPA. Even in these cases, the courts permit the Army to carry out trial by court-martial.

The Supreme Court has examined the AFSPA in detail in a number of benchmark cases. While it has upheld the legality of the act, it has categorically ruled that the immunity provided to soldiers is only for “good faith” actions and is not absolute. Actions of the troops can be investigated, keeping in view the law of the land, COAS commandments and “dos and don’ts” laid down by the Army. The benchmark judgement given on July 8, 2016 by a three-judge bench examined all aspects in detail and ruled that every allegation of the “use of excessive force” must be investigated. It made the registration of an FIR mandatory in such cases.

Thus the registration of an FIR is within reason and is mandatory; it is just a narration of circumstances and in this particular incident, names Major Aditya only as the column commander of the troops that opened fire. Hundreds of FIRs have been lodged to investigate use of force in J&K against unknown military personnel or investigate actions of individuals and units by name. In fact, experienced commanders in J&K always insist that an FIR be filed in all cases of deaths caused by use of force by security forces irrespective of whether the local police had filed one or not. This is to ensure proper investigation and legitimate closure of the case.

In all legitimate cases of use of force, police closes the case and it remains on record to avoid future opening of cases, as has happened many times earlier. In controversial cases, the police carries out its investigations and a parallel Court of Inquiry is conducted by the Army. When the chargesheet is filed in court, if both the inquiries are in consonance, that a wrong has been done, the Army takes over the case under Army Act Section 125 and conducts a trial by court-martial. In cases where only the police investigations find that an offence has been committed, the Army informs the court about its own inquiry and invokes AFSPA. In most cases the matter ends there.

In rare cases, the court decides to proceed with the case under the Army Act, Section 126. However, under the AFSPA, central government permission is required to proceed with such cases. This has never been granted up till now. Some cases do linger and go up to the High Court and even Supreme Court. There is not a single case where the Army’s stand has not been upheld. Appearance of individual soldiers in courts is exceptional. The Army has a well laid out procedure to carry such cases to their logical conclusion.

The emotive protests against the lodging of an FIR in the instant case are due to ignorance of the law and Army’s own time tested policy, and only contribute towards further alienation of the people.

Sandeep Dikshit

PAKISTAN High Commissioner Sohail Mehmood’s sulk over the harassment of his diplomatic colleagues in New Delhi lasted for just one short week. That is a surprisingly short period in the annals of Indo-Pak ties where estrangement lasts for years. The reason may lie in Pakistan Foreign Office’s desire not to be a spoilsport. Contrary signals would have gone out had Sohail Mehmood stayed put in Islamabad and missed his New Delhi mission’s observance of Pakistan Republic Day on March 23. India too seems to be playing ball. The Foreign Office was restrained, describing Mehmood’s departure as normal. But his return to New Delhi without a resolution of the issue of harassment of diplomats suggests that either South Block has given quiet assurances or was he carrying a message from South Block for the Pakistani leadership.At stake is India’s offer for an ice breaker. Pakistan’s initial response has gone beyond India’s offer of releasing each other’s prisoners on humanitarian grounds. While accepting India’s offer, Pakistan foreign minister Khwaja Mohammed Asif went on to hope that both countries would embark on the road to a comprehensive dialogue and make an effort to de-escalate the “extremely vitiated current environment and the situation on the border”. The significance of India and Pakistan agreeing to reactivate the Joint Judicial Committee of eight retired judges for releasing the prisoners should rank as a major effort in PM Modi’s record of limited breakthroughs in the immediate neighbourhood. The last visit of such a committee had taken place over four years ago; in other words, except for keeping alive the channel of NSAs, both sides have no formal or informal structure to understand each other.Pakistan’s more-than-hearty reciprocation to the Indian offer may not have come at a better time. The mantra of surgical strikes has stopped resonating among people who are now questioning the attrition rate of soldiers and Pakistan’s undiminished appetite for what passes off as Indian punishment for dispatching militants into the Kashmir Valley. The muscularity and tough speak by security forces in the Valley have also given way to implementation of the Kashmir Interlocutor’s recommendations to prepare the ground for a dialogue.  This may be the perfect opportunity for PM Modi to attempt an inspiring moon shot in foreign relations despite the failures of his earlier attempts with both nettlesome neighbours: Pakistan and China. For a person who lays claim for bold and iconic strokes on the foreign policy palette, he is yet to translate the effort into an engaging portrait. Headway on perennial irritants like terrorism, demilitarising Siachen or resolving the Sir Creek dispute will either be politically perilous in an election year or yield meager results because of the frigidity in their respective positions. As a person responsible for giving more momentum to the transport corridors being built by India in the region — Iran to Afghanistan and Assam to Vietnam via Myanmar and Thailand — PM Modi would be aware that this is one area where he could establish his stamp. The breakthrough could be a boon for North India that has found itself increasingly boxed-in because of escalation in Indo-Pak hostility. A community whose ingenuity and adventurous spirit had resonated as far off as the bazaars of Tehran and Astrakhan had the freedom of uninhibited trade and travel after Partition. The 1965 war turned the screws further by scrapping the joint India-Pakistan passport for frequent travellers. The final nail in flexible borders was struck by the Punjab militancy and Pakistan’s deep involvement in the J&K unrest. The subsequent PM braved public opprobrium because of bomb blasts in Indian cities to restore trade but incremental progress has been glacial.The elephant in the room is Pakistani military that has been a spoilsport to all civilian attempts to normalise trade with India. But the situation has changed from a decade back. The Pakistan army’s brains trust in Rawalpindi should feel inclined to loosen their veto on trade ties with India in view of the challenge to Pakistan’s exclusive control over land routes to Afghanistan by two rival transport corridors. There may come a day when the corridors from Pakistan may not find any outside takers and Rawalpindi will lose a bargaining chip with the US over Afghanistan. The time for a course correction may have come especially because despite the revolving door policy for critical advisers and ministers, US President Trump is firm on a closure to the war in Afghanistan. The Pakistan army may not just want to be on his right side but also needs India’s grudging acceptance for its proxies to share power in Kabul.The sticking point will be Pakistan army’s patronisation of militant outfits. Of great interest will be the way India reacts to the integration of the Haqqani network. The clan pulls considerable weight on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border. New Delhi holds the Haqqani network culpable for the considerable Indian blood spilt in Afghanistan, including the deaths of several Army officers and a diplomat. The US attempt at a makeover in Kabul should be salutary lesson for both India and Pakistan who hold on to tales rooted in old grudges.  The US is making the peace overture with Taliban that has accounted for a much greater toll of American lives than the militancy in JK. India’s other nemesis Hafiz Saeed’s dive into legitimate political activity may in fact be a blessing in disguise. Saeed and his cadres are bound to be sucked in by the intensity of political processes as well as be forced to drop their gun-wielding instincts to increase their acceptability base. They also would have realised that the battlefield has tilted because of the sharp step up in Indian surveillance and location finding abilities. Infiltrators from across the border have sometimes extracted a high body count of soldiers, but they have been unable to inflict high value damage for several years now.India and Pakistan’s overtures towards trade may also please the US. Its Permanent Ruling Class has tried to persuade Central Asian states to sell their oil to Asia and Europe instead of rivals Russia and China. They were unsuccessful for the last quarter of a century, in part because of Pakistan army’s obduracy. Now a project once mentored by Reagan’s Secretary of State Alexander Haig has come alive. This proposes to bring oil and gas from the derricks of Turkmenistan to the energy-hungry Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. This TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India ) pipeline may become the harbinger for a relook at the trade routes that have turned frigid because of hostility.Pakistan may also need to dilute the impression that China has complete ownership over the CPEC by involving India, Iran and Russia. China is Pakistan’s Santa Claus for its strategic and elite circles. But incidents of targeted killing of Chinese citizens in Pakistan suggest toxicity in domestic opinion about the unusual Chinese proximity. This has the potential to turn the political tide against the project. The safest course will be to make it an international project. Faith in the government declines when the economy falters and Trump is well on the way to spark a trade war. Economic realities dictate a change of course by both India and Pakistan. The core issues will still remain on the table. But instead of being the director of change, PM Modi will be able to settle for a middling report card.

sandeep4731@gmail.com

Rural Development Minister Virender Kanwar inaugurates the war memorial in Una on Friday. Photo: Rajesh Sharma

Our Correspondent

Una, March 23

A war memorial, depicting the names of 87 defence personnel from Una district, who laid down their lives for the country, was inaugurated on Friday at the Municipal Park in Una town by Rural Development Minister Virender Kanwar.The memorial was constructed by the Una district unit of the Ex-Servicemen Service Council. Lt Gen VM Patil (Retd), national chairman of the council, and BJP state president Satpal Singh Satti were also present. After paying homage to the martyrs at the memorial, he said after coming to power, the BJP government in the state had revived the financial benefits to ex-servicemen, which were stopped by the previous Congress government. He said while the state government provided jobs to one person from the family of a soldier who died fighting for the country, the facility was now being extended to dependents of paramilitary officials also who had been martyred. Kanwar said there would be village honour boards which would describe the names and achievements of the distinguished persons of the panchayat.

Dawood Ibrahim

Washington, March 23

Pakistan-based Dawood Ibrahim-led terrorist group D-company has diversified in many other fields and built a powerful transnational crime-terror organisation in part from drug proceeds, US lawmakers were told on Friday.

Indian underworld don Dawood, wanted in India for a number of terrorist attacks, is now based in Karachi, according to the US and Indian officials. However, Pakistan has denied his presence in the country.

“Pakistan-based crime-terror group D-company, whose origins lie in India, expanded Karachi’s historic role as a drug transhipment point, and built a powerful transnational crime-terror organisation in part from drug proceeds,” Dr Louise Shelley, Professor at Schar School of Policy and Government at the George Mason University told lawmakers.

Shelley claimed that the D-company has diversified.

“D-company, like Mexican drug organisations, has diversified. They traffic weapons, counterfeit DVDs and provide financial services through their extensive system of hawala operators,” he said during a Congressional hearing organised by the Committee on House Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance.

India’s sustained campaign against Dawood was finally acknowledged by America in 2003 when the US declared him a global terrorist having links with al-Qaeda. He also faces sanctions from the UN under its anti-terror resolution.

Vindicating India’s position that Pakistan has been sheltering Dawood, the US had said that he was in Karachi and possessed a Pakistani passport under the individual category.

Testifying before the same Congressional sub-committee, Celina B Realuyo, Professor of Practice, William J Perry Centre for Hemispheric Defence Studies, National Defence University, said a number of recent attacks in Kabul were planned and launched from safe havens in Pakistan.

The year 2018 has already witnessed many deadly attacks.

On January 20, at least 22 persons, including four Americans, were killed during a 12-hour standoff with security forces after gunmen dressed as Army men raided a hotel in Kabul, frequented by many foreigners, he said.

On January 27, an attacker detonated explosives in an ambulance in Kabul, killing over 100 people and injuring some 158, according to Afghan officials.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mojahid claimed responsibility for the attack, one week after the attack on the Kabul hotel attack, Realuyo added.

In June last year during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, India and the US, in a joint statement after talks between Modi and President Donald Trump, vowed to strengthen cooperation against terror outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba and D-Company. PTI

The huge phalanx of protesting farmers has won over Mumbaikars with their self-discipline and compassion. Incredulous urbanites have watched a spectacle of exemplary fortitude as the salt of the earth — the tribal, the landless and the marginal farmer — braved the scorching sun and roofless nights as they silently walked hundreds of kilometres from their farmsteads to the state’s political and financial capital to seek their due. Social media has posted amazing pictures of a sea of farmers walking past populated areas at the break of dawn so as not to inconvenience children during exam time. CM Fadnavis was “technically” correct but  came off looking insensitive and extremely condescending when he said the sea of agitating rural India was “technically” not farmers. Many of the feet are bare, calloused and bruised. This was not merely the tractor-crowd whose sole focus is personal aggrandisement in the form of debt waivers and high crop purchase prices. These sons of the soil seek not just immediate respite from farm distress, but also devolution of the rights-based promises made to rural India by successive ruling arrangements, especially the Forests Act and land rights to the tiller. Another principal communitarian demand relates to the apprehensions triggered by river interlinking projects. Rural India is not asking for the unattainable. It simply seeks an assurance against being left out or being made the victims of the New Delhi’s model of vikas. The massive “Long March” is not the only manifestation of rural India’s resentment over the short shrift given to its fears, suspicions and aspirations. From Tamil Nadu to Madhya Pradesh, people in villages are up in arms against a non-existent public delivery system and denial of a rights-based existence. The discipline displayed by the marchers exemplifies the legendary forbearance of the Indian peasantry. But it is being tested. Successive protests are gathering more and more adherents; the previous edition pales in comparison to the numbers who participated in the current march. The governments at the Centre and the states can ignore these storm clouds only at their peril.