Sanjha Morcha

Ex­armyman guns down wife’s mother, another kin in Fatehabad

Accused Devender Singh first fired at his wife Sunita Rani who fled the spot and managed to save herself, and then shot dead her mother Manapati Devi and paternal aunt Kaila Devi

From page 01 HISAR:An ex-armyman shot dead his mother-in-law and her sisterin-law allegedly over dowry dispute at Gorakhpur village under Bhuna block of Fatehabad district on Monday.

HT PHOTO■ Police near the crime spot at Gorakhpur village of Fatehabad district on Monday.

DEVENDER HAD RETIRED AS NAIK FROM THE ARMY ON OCTOBER 31 LAST YEAR

Accused Devender Singh, 38, a resident of Hisar, reached his in-laws’ house at about 1pm and first opened fire on his wife Sunita Rani, who had come to her maternal house last month after he allegedly harassed her for not giving his family the money demanded as dowry.

Sunita managed to flee the spot and took shelter at a neighbour’s house. Devender then fired at her mother Manapati Devi (55) and the latter’s sister-in-law Kaila Devi. The two women received serious bullet injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead.

The accused later surrendered before the police. The cops recovered a .32 bore pistol from his possession, besides fired bullet shells from the spot.

The accused told that he used his licensed weapon in the crime. Devender had retired as Naik from the Indian Army on October 31 last year.

After the incident, Fatehabad superintendent of police (SP) Deepak Saharan, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Jagdish Kajal and Bhuna SHO Ramesh Kumar reached the spot.

Accused’s wife Sunita told the police that she got married to Surender in 2008 and had given his family adequate dowry as per her parents’ resources. Later when Devender’s brother Vinay Kumar got married in 2014, their family got Rs 18 lakh as dowry. Since then, Devender’s family started demanding Rs 14 lakh from her family members, Sunita alleged.

She also alleged that Devender and his family members often beat her up and in such circumstances she returned to her maternal house last month.

On the other hand, sources said the accused told the police that he had come to his in-laws’ house to take his wife back home. But her relatives thrashed him after which he lost his temper.

DSP Kajal said, “The police are investigating into the matter. A case of murder has been registered against the accused.”


Retired Captain on mission to train youth for defence services Army man Raj Singh provides free coaching

Retired Captain on mission to train youth for defence services

Youth undergoing training under the guidance of Captain Raj Singh in Samba. Tribune photo

Vishal Jasrotia

Samba, April 22

While most retired Army officers look forward to spend time with their families for the rest of their lives, Capt Raj Singh (retd) of Kehli Mandi in Samba had other things on his mind. After serving in the Army for 30 years, he decided to make a difference in others’ lives.Captain Raj Singh (52) has been making efforts to help youth build a career in the armed forces by providing free-of-cost training on a daily basis for the past two years.“I saw tremendous potential and zeal among the local youth who wanted to serve the nation. Unfortunately, they were not aware of the various recruitments conducted in the Army and paramilitary forces. So, I thought of getting them trained for the recruitment process based on my experience in the Army,” Captain Raj Singh said.He said there were academies to train youngsters for civil services, banking sector and other services but there was a lack of such facilities for the armed forces, especially in Samba district. “Keeping this in mind, I started giving training, which includes physical fitness and written test coaching, to aspiring youth with an aim to enable them gain entry in the Army and other security forces,” he said.With sustained hard work, practice and training, of the 150 youth he has trained, around 80 have been selected in the Army, BSF and other paramilitary forces, he said. At present, a group of around 200 to 300 youth, who were preparing to join the Army, were undergoing training, he said.The youth undergoing strenuous training were highly motivated. One of them, Abhimanyu Singh, said, “Gallantry is a cherished value for us and joining the Army to serve the nation is our dream.”“Many of our elderly generations had served in various decorated infantry regiments of the Army. So, we want to take forward the tradition. We are determined to join the armed forces come what may,” said Akshay Singh, an aspirant from Samba.

 

 


‘Price’ of Chinese investments by Lt Gen Bhopinder Singh (retd)

The Chinese onslaught is relentless with its multi-named infrastructural initiative (One-Belt-One-Road) that is unparalleled in its scale, temerity of ambition and its ability to ensnare the participating countries within its ambit.

‘Price’ of Chinese investments

CHINA STANDING TALL IN EAST: 91 per cent of Pakistan’s Gwadar port revenue is accruing to the Chinese.

Lt Gen Bhopinder Singh (retd)The  self-inflicted retreat of the US footprint from the global stage is matched with the commensurate increase in the Chinese presence, impact and strategic-hold. Armed with what Henry Kissinger calls an ‘subtle sense of the intangible’, the Chinese are making huge investments, from $60 billion committed for the African countries, $140 billion in loan commitments to Latin America, $60 billion for just Pakistan under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative, to now even a potential toehold in the Pacific ocean country of Vanuatu! The Chinese onslaught is relentless with its multi-named infrastructural initiative (One-Belt-One-Road, Silk Road Economic Belt, The Belt & Road, 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and The Belt and Road Initiative) that is unparalleled in its scale, temerity of ambition and its ability to ensnare the participating countries within its ambit. Chinese President Xi Jingping first introduced the overarching concept in 2013, and since then a complex web of Chinese state-owned banks, private enterprises, sovereign funds and even the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are intermingling to cast an irresistible promise of infrastructural, economic, social and security transformation, owing to these Chinese investments. Ironically, it is the regime of the Communist Party of China that is fueling the globalisation imperatives, with its intended goal of investing $1 trillion across 60 countries. Making the deal sweeter for the recipient country is the ‘conditionless’ collaterals, that unlike the investments from the Western powers and institutions like the World Bank or IMF, seeks no intervention in domestic policies, human rights, transparency requirements or any democratisation of the regimes concerned. The Chinese investment models entail no immediate changes and they allow for an ‘incremental correction’ that is more palatable to the populist regimes in recipient countries. The Chinese are said to be inking trade deals worth $600 billion with Iran (recently they were even offered the Chabahar port development, much to India’s consternation), sustaining Pakistani economy and seducing countries like the Maldives, Nepal etc.  As Xi Jingping said, “It is time for us to take centre stage in the world” and that China was “standing tall and firm in the east”.However, there is growing disquiet of a sinister “debt-trap diplomacy” at work, wherever and whenever Beijing decides to invest its multi-billions, earned from the trade-surpluses accumulated for the last 25 years. The ‘Pearl Port’ of Hambantota in the southern tip of Sri Lanka is a classic case of a Chinese carrot ($1.3 billion investment) that morphed into a unserviceable debt trap within seven years, only to result into a sovereign surrender leading to a handover of the port to the Chinese on a 99-year lease! China formally opened its first overseas military base in Djibouti — the 90 acre real-estate earns the cash-tight Djiboutian dictator, Ismail Omar Guelleh, $20 million annually — besides having Chinese banks pump in $14.4 billion for infrastructure projects in Djibouti. This seamless transformation of the initial ‘economic investments’ leading to a ‘logistical base’ in the restive Horn of Africa,  to finally a ‘military base’ in Djibouti has Australia, New Zealand and the US in a tizzy with eerie similarities of ‘Chinese Infrastructure funding’ in Vanuatu. The ‘generosity’ and ubiquity of Chinese investments in the island nation of 2,80,000 people already accounts for half of the $440 million foreign debt and that makes it vulnerable to the possibility of a military outpost like Djibouti, that typically follows the original agreement to allow Chinese naval ships to dock for ‘logistical purposes and refueling’.Similarly in Pakistan, the Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development had forewarned on the CPEC, “Another East India Company is in the offing; national interests are not being protected. We are proud of the friendship between Pakistan and China, but the interests of the state should come first”. Facts like 91 per cent of the Gwadar port revenue accruing to the Chinese, with only 9 per cent residual left for the Gwadar Port Authority for the next 40 years, militate against the supposed ‘all-weather-friendship’ of the two countries. Embarrassingly, the Pakistanis had to turn down a Chinese demand to allow the exclusive use of Yuan as the standard currency in the Gwadar Free Trade Zone. As Pakistan commits 15,000 military troops of a dedicated ‘Special Security Division’ to physically secure CPEC assets, projects and personnel —murmurs are rife of local tensions with the ‘hordes’ of Chinese workers (apparently even Chinese prisoners), contracts going arbitrarily to Chinese companies as opposed to benefitting the local companies, besides a prospective annual payout of approximately $3.5 to $4.5 billion for Pakistan by 2024. A typical debt trap looms that could lead to a complete vassal-state that is encumbered,even more to Beijing’s diktats.  Donald Trump alleges that China is attempting to “challenge American power” by seeking “to pull the region into its orbit through state-led investment and loans”. The Chinese model of investments and ‘bail-outs’ also leads to geopolitical subservience beyond commercial entrapment, eg Venezuela has a staggering Chinese debt of approximately $20 billion that makes it susceptible to dancing to China’s tunes. Already, Brazil, Chile and Peru have China as their top trading partner, as the dragon uses its financial-muscle initially, to fuel its geopolitical and military presence, later. Nearer home, the Chinese investment model has the Maldives enthralled with the millions rolling in, while the parallel matter of a Chinese listening post with radars and SIGNIT (Signals intelligence) that will also have ‘military application with provision for a submarine base’ is typical of the ‘Price’ for Chinese investments.


Surviving on milk powder and willpower, six Indian soldiers held a peak on Siachen for half a year

The Indian Army in Siachen

A general recounts the tale of how as a young captain, he and five soldiers manned a post on a peak 20,000 feet above sea level for six gruelling months.

It was early 1986 and almost two years after the Indian Army, supported by the IAF and Army Aviation’s fleet of Mi-8s and Cheetahs, had established dominance over many heights on the Saltoro Range. In a daring but completely unsustainable operation, the Ladakh Scouts of the Indian Army attempted to establish posts over 6100 metres on the lower slopes of the Saltoro Kangri Mastiff that was part of what the Indian army calls the Northern Glacier.

As a young captain and paratrooper, Navkiran Singh Ghei, was posted to the Ladakh Scouts after a stint as an instructor at the National Defence Academy. Ghei went on to command the Indian Army’s only Para Brigade, a division in the northeast in counter-insurgency operations and a corps in Punjab, before signing off his illustrious career as a Lieutenant General, after a three-year stint as the Commandant of the National Defence College, India’s premier institution of strategic learning.

A reticent and ‘feet on the ground’ kind of a general, I was fortunate to get him talking one day on his experience of opening and maintaining a small post at 6135 m (20,250 feet) for over six months with hardly any back-up or logistics support, along with five ‘Nunnus’, as the Ladakh Scouts soldiers were affectionately called.

Having gradually occupied the heights at Bilafondla, Sia la and tasted some success in the Southern and Central Glacier, operational ideas about how to dominate the entire glacier flowed fast and thick from both Northern Command and Army HQs. The importance of establishing more posts in the Northern Glacier was important for the visibility it offered over the entire communication lines that extended towards the Pakistani posts in the Central Glacier and on the Saltoro and Baltoro ridges, particularly from the point of view of providing direction for artillery fire. Consequently, a height was identified that overlooked the Indian posts of Ashok and U Cut (so named because the post itself was located on a ridge that resembled a U Cut) and offered visibility over the Pakistani logistics line that ran up the Bilafond Glacier to support posts like Qaid Post.

As the Siachen imbroglio deepened, the value of the Ladakh Scouts was immense and officers from various regiments were posted there to garner expertise in high altitude operations. At the time, the Ladakh Scouts had its headquarters in Leh, and was divided into two forces of approximately 8-10 companies each. These were known as the Karakoram and Indus Forces after the areas given to them to patrol and operate in.

After a period of acclimatisation at Base Camp and a Forward Logistics Camp, Ghei and his platoon, which included Subedar Sonam as platoon commander, and four hardy Ladakhi troops set out on an arduous climb from 15,000 feet to 20,000 feet, reaching their intended summit at around 8 pm on 26 February 1986. Having pitched their three-man Arctic Tents, they burrowed-in for the night, little realising that they would suffer white out conditions in appalling weather for the next three days.

Ghei recalls that they could not see beyond a couple of feet and had to make do ‘without a pee or a crap for days’. It was a surreal experience for the six men as they huddled in their small tents thinking of how they would survive a week, leave alone for a couple of months as they were tasked to accomplish. Realising that they had bitten off more than they could chew, Ghei radioed for assistance. He sought a larger tent, some supplies and reinforcements.

As the weather cleared, the team established camp for the long haul. It was envisaged that the teams would be rotated every few weeks, but when Ghei’s replacement came a few weeks later, he was all but gone. He barely reached the camp suffering from acute mountain sickness, and had to be evacuated down to the base camp and onwards to the military hospital before he sank further. This meant that Ghei remained on station.

On a clear day, the team had a vantage view of Pakistani supply lines along the Bilafond La glacier and directed artillery shoots on these lines. The rarefied atmosphere posed great challenges for Indian gunners as the lower density meant that the shells encountered lower drag and thus overshot the target by miles as there were no charts for those altitudes. ‘Drop 300m, drop 500m’ were common radio calls that Ghei made to the artillery gun posts to aim much shorter.

They invariably transmitted back to him that the firing picture they were getting pointed at an impact point that was in friendly territory; sometimes even coinciding with his own location. It was a period of uncertainty and virgin territory for India’s gunners, and it was only gradually that ballistics were worked out to ensure acceptable levels of accuracy. One month turned to two, and then almost six. Ghei and his team survived on the post like zombies.

When I asked him how they survived, he said that the Ladakhis were amazing survivors and seeing them gave him the courage to lead from the front. Deprived of sleep, suffering from periodic hallucinations, surviving on milk powder and an odd paratha that the ‘Nunnus’ made him, Ghei lost 10 kg and suffered partial memory loss by the end of his extended six-month vigil on Pt 6135.

When they went down and reported the conditions, the post was abandoned and never manned again. This is a story like the stuff one only reads in the memoirs of mountaineers and their struggle against the odds of nature. The only difference is that it is only one of many that come out of Siachen.

Arjun Subramaniam is a retired Air Vice Marshal from the IAF and currently a Visiting Fellow at Oxford.


Boeing, HAL, Mahindra Defence join hands to make F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet

Boeing, HAL, Mahindra Defence join hands to make F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet

Chennai, April 12

Boeing India, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Mahindra Defence Systems on Thursday entered into an agreement to manufacture fighter aircraft F/A-18 Super Hornet in the country.Boeing India president Pratyush Kumar, HAL Chairman and Managing Director T Suvarna Raju and Mahindra Defence Systems chairman S P Shukla exchanged a ‘Memorandum of Agreement’ for ‘Make in India fighter’ at the on-going ‘DefExpo’ near here.Stating that the discussions on the tie-up have been going on for the last 18 months, Kumar said, “The intent of the government and the MoD (Ministry of Defence) for a strategic partnership is to produce ‘Make in India’ aircraft.” “We scanned across length and breadth of the country. We discussed with over 400 suppliers.” Kumar told reporters.”Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is the only company that manufactures combat fighters, while Mahindra Defence is the only company that manufactures small commercial planes. It is exciting for us,” he said.To a query, Kumar said a joint venture company would be floated over the next few months and added that investments under the agreement will be “huge.”He, however, declined to share any figures on the investments to be made.On the agreement, Mahindra Defence Systems chairman S P Shukla said, “This is a combination.. We have three companies that will bring their expertise, domain knowledge and flavour to the alliance.”Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Chairman and Managing Director, T Suvarna Raju said under the agreement the existing facilities may be used for manufacturing the fighter aircraft or if required may set up a facility.The Super Hornet fighter aircraft does not only have a low acquisition cost, but it costs less per flight hour to operate than a tactical aicraft, a company statement said. The F/A-18 Super Hornet will outpace threats, bolster defence capabilities and make India stronger for decades to come, it said.The partnership would also bring Boeing, HAL and Mahindra Defence System global scale and supply chain, best-in-industry precision manufacturing processes as well as unrivaled experience in designing and optimising aerospace production, the release added.The ‘DefExpo’ was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Thiruvidanthai, about 40 km from here, today. – PTI


India to get 110 fighter jets from global makers

India to get 110 fighter jets from global makers

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 6

Eleven years after India went scouting for a foreign fighter jet, it on Friday invited global military aviation companies to make fighter jets in India.The Tribune was the first to report this in its edition dated February 22 this year as to how India would float a fresh tender and scout for foreign firms to come and make in India.The Ministry of Defence invited global plane makers to send in their initial proposals. Termed as the request for information (RFI), this is the first step in the tendering process and is expected shortly.It was in 2007 that tenders for the 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) were floated. An intensive flight trial process later, two planes–Eurofighter Typhoon and French Dassault’s Rafale–were selected in 2012.Price negotiations followed, but the deal couldn’t be completed and was scrapped. In April 2015, the Government announced a move to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets in an off-the-shelf condition from French major Dassault.India’s move comes as the Indian Air Force is now down to 31 squadrons against the need of 42, as mandated by the Cabinet Committee on Security. Each squadron has 16-18 planes. The MoD and the IAF have kept their options open and are not restricted to, say a “single engine” fighter jet. The option will be to get a “fighter jet” and it will not specify the number of engines as that restricts the options.These will be under ‘make in India’ and to get global manufactures to have a production line in India, the project needs adequate numbers with possibility of future expansions. To speed up matters, the MoD will be looking at new additions made by global players since the MMRCA trials were carried out in 2011. The planes tested then were Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN, US Boeing’s F/A-18IN, Eurofighter Typhoon, French Dassault’s Rafale, Swedish Saab’s Gripen and Russian MiG-35.In the past two years, the IAF and the MoD were in talks for a “single engine” fighter jet with two global manufactures. However, this has been superseded by the thought process to just focus on getting additional jets without getting into “single engine” or “twin engine” variants.The existing production of 123 Tejas fighter jets being made by public sector giant Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is just taking off and it will take more than a decade for the entire lot to be manufactured. The IAF has the mandate to have 272 Sukhoi 30 MKI in its fleet. The MiG 21s are on their last legs and have to be phased out.


Soldier killed, four injured in LoC shelling in Poonch

Soldier killed, four injured in LoC shelling in Poonch

Jammu/Rajouri, April 3

A young Army soldier lost his life, while four others, including an officer, suffered serious injuries in unprovoked firing by Pakistan across the Line of Control in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch on Tuesday morning.Sepoy Mustapure Shubham Suryakant, 20, was critically wounded and succumbed to his injuries at the Command Hospital, Udhampur. “The firing and mortar shelling lasted about 45 minutes,” tweeted a senior police officer posted in Poonch. The injured were airlifted to the Command Hospital.The slain soldier belonged to Parbhani district of Maharashtra and is survived by his mother Sunita. The injured were identified as Lt Kallamputi Bhargva, Naib Subedar Mahlya V Motilal, Subedar Sakunday S Kashinath and Naik Dhumal Sandeep. — TNS


3 Army jawans, 11 militants killed in separate encounters in south Kashmir 2 civilians dead, several injured in clashes

3 Army jawans, 11 militants killed in separate encounters in south Kashmir

Kashmiris stand along a barricaded street during unrest following gun fights between suspected militants and Indian forces in south Kashmir, in Srinagar on April 1. AFP

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 1

Militant groups in the Valley suffered a major setback as 11 militants were gunned down in counter-insurgency operations in three different areas in South Kashmir in which three Army jawans and two civilians were also killed.

The police said that an ultra had also surrendered before the security forces in Anantnag district.

At a hurriedly called joint press conference of army, police and CRPF, Jammu and Kashmir Police chief S P Vaid said this is one of the biggest counter-offensives in recent times against terror groups operating in the Kashmir Valley.The operations by security forces rendered a severe dent to militant groups such as the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashker-e-Toiba, officials said here.Three army jawans have lost their lives in the operations at Kachdooru in Shopian, officials said, adding three bodies of militants have been recovered from the debris so far.The operation has been called off at Kachdooru and the security personnel were search the debris tomorrow again, the officials said.Earlier, at a press conference called at Victor Force headquarters at Awantipura, around 33 kms from here, Corps Commander of XV Corps, Lt Gen A K Bhatt, termed it one of the biggest operations in recent times and said the death of Lt Umar Fayaz, who was brutally killed in Shopian last year, had been avenged.”Among the militants killed are Ishfaq Malik and Rayees Thokar. They were responsible for his death,” Bhatt said.Fayaz, 22, was killed by militants in May last year. His body was found with bullet wounds in the Hermain area of Shopian district in south Kashmir.The DGP also made a special mention of an SSP’s efforts to convince a militant to surrender during the Dialgam encounter.”I would like to make a special mention about the Dialgam encounter where our Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) made a special effort, which is unheard of in any part of the world.”He called the family members of one of the terrorists. They spoke with him for 30 minutes, to convince him to surrender,” the officer said.”Unfortunately, he did not heed the advice of his family. During the talks, the district SSP tried to get him over. Instead he fired on the police leaving the police with no option other than to retaliate. He was killed. The other one was caught alive,” he said.On the ongoing operations at Kachedoora, the DGP said there was information about the presence of four to five militants, but “we will be able to give a clear picture only after the debris is cleared”.One civilian death was reported from Draggad and the other at Kachudoora, both in Shopian district, the police chief said.Violence broke out at the Kachedoora encounter site in which 25 civilians received pellet injuries while six others suffered bullet injuries, the police chief said.The DGP said all the seven militants killed in the Draggad encounter were locals and their bodies have been claimed by their families.Inspector General of CRPF Zulfikar Hassan pointed out that people came in large numbers at the encounter site in Shopian.”The operations will not stop and we will have to take all offensive measures in case they do not refrain from throwing stones at the jawans engaged in the counter-insurgency operations,” he said.It was painful to see young boys getting killed in this manner, the DGP said.”I urge all the parents to appeal to their children to shun the path of violence and join the national mainstream,” Vaid said. With PTI


LAC disputes bigger than Doklam Little headway despite 11 Modi-Xi meetings since May 2014

LAC disputes bigger than Doklam

Indian Army personnel at Bumla pass on the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. AFP

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 26

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold an “informal summit” at Wuhan on Friday, the 150-year British-era boundary dispute — at the core of tensions between the two neighbours — will surely play out.Disputes over the alignment of the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto boundary between India and China, are much bigger in scale than Doklam, located on the edge of south-eastern Sikkim, which witnessed a 73-day military standoff in June last year. Either side of the Himalayan divide is now militarised with thousands of gun-toting soldiers, pre-positioned tanks, missiles and fully equipped air bases.As of now, 14 core disputes remain along the LAC, all due to British cartography dictated by fluctuations of its “forward policy” of 1800s. PM Modi and President Xi will need to move out of the chessboard of disputes.Since May 2014, the two leaders have met 11 times (including a brief meeting at Hamburg on July 7). PM Modi, in September 2014, suggested demarcation of the LAC on ground, but China was less enthusiastic. The LAC is not marked on the ground and it largely runs along the east-west axis, in contiguity with the Himalayan ridgeline.India and China fought a war in 1962. The two had an armed skirmish in 1967 at Nathu La and an eight-month standoff at Sumdrong Chu in north-western Arunachal Pradesh in 1986.On February 2, Minister for State for Defence Subhash Bhamre told the Rajya Sabha that Chinese troops were involved in 426 transgressions along the LAC during 2017 — a huge jump from 273 transgressions in 2016.Eastern Ladakh tangle

India has militarily “tailored” eastern Ladakh, which shares a 826-km frontier with China, to include real-time updates on Chinese; countering patrols along the LAC with own patrols; maintaining a minimum level of firepower and future stationing of fighter jets at Leh — the key air base in Ladakh.The Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) conduct joint patrols along the LAC at 65 designated points. China in 1960 bizarrely expanded its claim on another 5,100 sq km of territory in eastern Ladakh. In March last year, Beijing made another bizarre suggestion asking India to cede its own territory in Tawang tract in Arunachal and also in eastern Ladakh. An option for India is to agree to demarcate the LAC, possibly along the Macartney-MacDonald line proposed by the British in 1899 or the 1873 line proposed by the British Foreign Office.Conversely China also fears India’s intentions at interdicting the Aksai Chin G-219 highway — the only road access from Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province to Tibet.

 

 


Video of Army men’s ransacked house goes viral on social media

Video of Army men’s ransacked house goes viral on social media

Household items lying scattered at the house of the Army men in Tarn Taran. Tribune Photo

Tarn Taran, April 24

The video of the ransacked house of two brothers, both of whom are Army men and residents of Piddi village, eight km from here, has gone viral on social media. It has caused embarrassment to the district administration.The incident took place on April 14 while a case under Sections 324, 452, 427, 506. 148 and 149 of the IPC was registered on April 18. A total of 23 persons, including 16 are yet to be identified, were booked.Sub-Inspector Amritpal Singh, who is investigating the case, said raids were on to arrest the accused.Jasbir Singh Piddi, former sarpanch of the village, said the victim, Jaswant Singh and Paramjit Singh, had come to the village on leave. He said the accused were harassing them by parking their bikes in the common street. He said the accused armed with swords, sticks and other sharp-edged weapons attacked them and ransacked the house. The victims are three brothers and Baljinder Kaur is the wife of their third brother. She is the sarpanch of the village.Jasbir Singh said a delegation of villagers had met SSP Darshan Singh Mann on Monday and demanded action against the accused, but no accused had been arrested yet. He said the damaged household items were worth more than Rs 20 lakh. The former sarpanch said a car and bikes were damaged. — OC

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