Posted with armoured unit, was lured on FB, now in police remand

Yash Goyal

Jaipur, January 13

An Army jawan, posted with an armoured unit in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district, has been arrested for allegedly sharing sensitive information with a Pakistan agent after being honey-trapped. A special court has remanded him in police custody for seven days.

The jawan, Somveer Singh, hailing from Haryana and posted with 75 Armoured Regiment, was allegedly honey-trapped by the agent by posing as “Anika Chopra”, “Captain” in the Military Nursing Corps, on the Facebook. Somveer Singh was arrested under various sections of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, by the Intelligence Wing of the Rajasthan Police and produced before the Special Criminal Court on Saturday, said a senior official of the state police today.

The accused, who allegedly received Rs 5,000 for spying, was currently lodged at the Central Police Station here and was being interrogated, he said. A unit of Military Intelligence had found the jawan allegedly sending pictures, locations of exercises and sensitive information, including that on Arjun tank, to the Pakistan agent. In a joint surveillance, the Military Intelligence and state police’s Intelligence Wing headed by DG-Intelligence arrested Somveer.

Gadgets, including a smart phone, were seized from his possession. His call details were being examined to ascertain the kind of information sent across the border. “The accused has confessed to having shared crucial information with the Pakistan agent,” the official said. Asked about the possibility of other Army personnel being honey-trapped by the Pakistan operative on the Facebook, the official said: “The matter is being investigated.”

“It is not just a case of honeytrap, but that of spying too as this jawan was paid Rs 5,000 through another account to avoid suspicion. He transferred the money into his account, probably an e-wallet,” the official said.

“Eight months ago, the operative posing as ‘Anika Chopra’ befriended him on the social networking platform by sending lewd messages. During online chats, intimate pictures and videos, besides sensitive information, were shared on the smartphone,” he said. “The fake account originating in Karachi, Pakistan, was closed after the Military Intelligence spotted Somveer sharing sensitive information,” the official said.

A fully loaded Rafale is only as capable as the Su-30, MiG-29 and Mirage 2000. The talk of Su-30/Rafale for distant nuclear delivery against China is a joke.

The French Rafale combat aircraft is a political embarrassment and a military liability. It’s an inappropriate, cost-ineffective buy that adds no real operational value to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in terms of enhancing its reach, clout and mission versatility, but adversely impacts the air order-of-battle.

Per current plans, by 2025 and with the induction of the 36 Rafales bought in flyaway condition, the IAF will have between 272 and 312 Su-30MKIs or 17-20 squadrons upgraded to the ‘Super Sukhoi’ configuration, more than 90 Jaguars or five squadrons, more than 60 MiG-29s or four squadrons, and over 50 Mirage 2000s or three squadrons-totalling 34 squadrons of 4.5 generation aircraft. Seven squadrons of the indigenous Tejas Mk-1A and Mark-2-also 4.5 generation-replacing MiG-21 for short-range air defence means an IAF force profile of 41 squadrons (by mid-2030s).

So, what’s wrong with this force structure? Other than Jaguar for low-level strike and Tejas, the Rafale has, with full ordnance loading, the same operational range and capability as the Su-30, MiG-29 and Mirage 2000. These are all medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) which, given range constraints, can be optimally fielded against Pakistan alone and in border affrays against China, but have zero strategic reach and worth. So, the talk of Su-30/ Rafale for distant nuclear delivery against China is a joke. This fits in with the IAF’s thinking and conduct as a tactical adjunct in the region of superior extra-territorial air forces (Royal Air Force in colonial times and the US Air Force in the immediate post-1962 war period and, perhaps, in the future). Whence the service’s emphasis solely on short- to medium-legged aircraft with no interest whatsoever in acquiring long-range strategic bombers, such as the Tu-22 ‘Backfire’ (first offered in August 1971) or the more lethal Tu-160 ‘Blackjack’, either of which could long ago have been purchased or leased from Russia. It would have enlarged the IAF’s operational/ mission envelope and firmed up the manned, recallable vector for nuclear as well as conventional deterrence of China. The IAF has had no bomber after the phasing out of the medium-range Canberra.

Until the April 2015 Rafale announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the erst­while defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, correctly favoured the option of quickly and economically augmenting the fleet of Su-30s-rated the best fighter aircraft in the world. It had several merits. For the price of one Rafale, the country would have had two Su-30s and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Nashik, which assembles this aircraft, would have had a contract to produce more of them. The ‘Super Sukhoi’ version of the Su-30, more­over, meets the Rafale level of on-board data fusion capability. The upgrade of the Su-30 is, therefore, a critical need, except it is now imperilled by the Rs 59,000 crore down pay­ment for the Rafale, which leaves little funding for anything else.

The Rafale’s only other attribute is the exorbitantly priced Meteor air-to-air (A2A) missile, whose effectiveness is exaggerated. Even the most advanced A2A missiles have limited ‘kill zones’. The certainty of tracking, identifying, targeting and hitting enemy aircraft diminishes markedly beyond 50-80 miles. Worse, with so few Rafales and such high investment, the IAF will be loath to deploy them in war because every Rafale lost would mean over Rs 1,600 crore down the drain and, proportionately, a seriously attrited force.

Besotted by Western-origin aircraft, the IAF had hoped to use the initial order of 36 Rafales as a wedge to procure 90 more. That ruse being blown, it has indented for 114 new type single-engine MMRCA. With Donald Trump turning up the pressure, the 1960s vintage, museum-ready F-16 is likely to be the gap filler. It will pose no danger to the Pakistan Air Force that has been operating this plane for 30-odd years, but will fritter away resources and exacerbate an already hellish logistics problem for the IAF, created by the unmanageable diversity of aircraft in its inventory, each requiring its own expensive maintenance infrastructure.

The writer is author of Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India’s Global Ambiti.

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 6

A counter-insurgency expert with varied experience in tackling Kashmir militancy is likely to don the mantle of the highly sensitive 15 Corps of the Army.

Lt Gen KJS Dhillon is likely to take charge of the Army’s Srinagar-based sensitive and strategic 15 Corps in February, defence sources in Delhi said.

Lt General Dhillon is at present the Director General of Perspective Planning of the Army. He has previously served in various capacities in the conflict-hit Kashmir.

He will be replacing Lt Gen AK Bhatt, who had taken over as the General Officer Commanding of the 15 Corps, also called the Chinar Corps, on January 31, 2017.

“The new Corps Commander is assuming office in February,” a senior defence official said.

Lt General Bhatt is proceeding to New Delhi to assume charge of the Military Secretary, the defence official added.

Lt General Dhillon, a Rajputana Rifles officer, had earlier served in the Valley and commanded a counter-insurgency brigade — 7 Sector of the Rashtriya Rifles — at Handwara in frontier Kupwara district in 2011.

As the Brigade Commander, he was instrumental in planning a large number of anti-militancy operations in Handwara. Later, he also served as the Brigadier General Staff of the 15 Corps.

Lt General Dhillon also commanded the 36 Infantry Division, also called RAPID in the Southern Command.

The new Corps Commander would assume office at a time when J&K is gearing up for the parliamentary and Assembly elections. During the tenure of Lt General Bhatt, the security forces stepped up anti-militancy operations in Kashmir. Over 240 militants were killed in Kashmir during his tenure.

Author Gita Mehta, who is also the sister of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.(Photo: Twitter/@kanak_news)

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 26

The US-based author and sister of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Gita Mehta, on Saturday declined the Padma Shri citing the timing of the selection on the eve of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Mehta, who was chosen for her work on the Indian history and culture, said she didn’t want any embarrassment to be caused to herself or the government.

“The timing may be misconstrued as it comes on the eve of 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” she said, expressing regret that she would have to decline the award.

Gita Mehta and her publisher husband Sonny Mehta have documented the Indian history and culture. Gita Mehta was awarded in the category of literature yesterday night.

The Padma awards this year come on the eve of Lok Sabha polls with the BJP all set to put up a strong fight in Odisha which is ruled by Gita Mehta’s brother Naveen Patnaik of the BJD.

The return of the Padma by Mehta caused a flutter on Twitter with people recollecting the 2015 award wapasi controversy, with many saying this time the award was returned by unexpected quarters.

Many Twitter visitors also questioned Mehta’s decision saying “Padma awards are an expression of the honour by the people of India, these awards are given to select few by the people of India and should not be seen as political.”

Jammu, January 10

The Pakistan army violated ceasefire for the third consecutive day on Thursday, shelling forward posts and civilian areas along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district inviting a strong retaliation from Indian forces, officials said.

The year 2018 witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violations–2,936–by Pakistan troops in the past 15 years along the Indo-Pak border.

“The Pakistani army resorted to firing and shelling on forward posts along the LoC in Poonch sector on Thursday morning,” officials said, adding there were no casualties or injuries on the Indian side.

Indian troops guarding the border retaliated strongly, he said.

On Wednesday as well, Pakistani troops had fired on and shelled the Kalal forward area in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district twice, they said.

The continuous shelling and firing on villages has set in a fear psychosis among the border dwellers.

With the latest incident, Pakistani troops resorted to firing and shelling along the LoC in Poonch for seven of first 10 days of the New Year.

The Pakistani army fired on forward posts along the LoC in Poonch district on Tuesday as well.

Despite repeated calls, made during Indo-Pak flag meetings, for restraint and adherence to the ceasefire understanding of 2003 for maintaining peace and tranquillity, the Indo-Pak border areas witnessed shelling and firing.

The chief of northern command, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, had on Monday visited forward areas along the LoC and reviewed security situation in Jammu and Rajouri districts, officials said.

Accompanied by White Knight Corps commander Lt Gen Paramjit Singh, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh visited forward posts of Rajouri and Akhnoor sectors to review the operational preparedness and the prevailing security situation, they said. PTI

Pak targets Gulpur, locals run for safety

Our Correspondent
Rajouri, January 9

The Pakistan army again resorted to mortar shelling and firing in the Khari Karmara and Gulpur areas of Poonch district around 9 am on Wednesday.

Around 5 am on Tuesday, Pakistani troops had resorted to heavy unprovoked shelling and firing on India forward posts and forward areas in the Chakan da Bagh area.

“Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation with small arms and also resorted to shelling with heavy-calibre weapons in the Gulpur sector. The firing was retaliated strongly and effectively,” said Lt Col Devender Anand, Defence PRO.

Sources said the shelling created panic among locals as mortar shells landed in fields in civilian areas of Khari Karmara in the Gulpur sector, forcing residents to run for shelter.

Around two or three mortar shells fell near the Sarla post manned by the Maratha Regiment. No loss to life or property was, however, reported from the area, the sources said.

The sources said Indian troops were retaliating effectively to Pakistani shelling and firing.

“The Maratha Regiment has blocked all infiltration routes, especially through the Rangar Nullah. Irked by the move, the Pakistan army for the last few days has been continuously targeting areas manned by the Maratha Regiment,” said the sources.

For the past many days, the Pakistan army has been targeting Indian forward posts in the Gulpur, Khari Karmara, Degwar and Chakan da Bagh areas of Poonch district.

In the US, several official and non-official agencies are involved in countering online radicalisation. We don’t seem to have paid focused attention to this issue. Our security agencies, Home Ministry, police forces and the National Security Council might assure us that they are taking steps, but there is no transparency regarding their specific contribution.

Vappala Balachandran
Ex-Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat

BY unearthing ‘terror mastermind’ Mufti Suhail’s conspiracy, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has disproved Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s assertion, made on May 23, 2016, that there was “no threat to India from the Islamic State (IS) as people of the Muslim community are against the IS”. Rajnath Singh had repeated this argument on March 15, 2018, saying that the IS would have no impact on India. He should have known that the IS is not supported even in Sunni-majority Arab areas, not to speak of Muslims globally.

The Home Minister is not alone in going wrong on the shadowy terror group. Mathew Olsen, Director of the US National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), had told the Brookings Institution on September 3, 2014, that he had “no credible information that the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) is planning to attack the US”. A year later, ISIL (IS) organised one of the worst mass killings in the US at San Bernardino on December 2, 2015, through a Pakistani-origin couple.

Thus, even knowledgeable people go wrong in assessing the danger from the IS. Some say that the IS would not be able to march into India like the way it captured Syrian-Iraqi territories. Others think that it would stealthily infiltrate foreign cadres into target countries on the lines of al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The first scholar to describe how they operate was US journalist James Kitfield. When the IS had not even made its appearance, he wrote in the National Journal Weekly in September 2006: “Global insurgency reacts to Osama bin Laden’s radical ideology almost like distant and seemingly disconnected light particles respond in unison to an unseen wave”. This is also called ‘Do it yourself terrorism’.

No doubt the IS had raised a spectacular army and captured 60,400 sq km during 2014-17 with 31,000 foreign fighters from 81 countries. By January 2018, this area had shrunk to 6,500 sq km through allied bombing and online propaganda was reduced by over 60 per cent. Still they are able to sneak into the minds of their adherents remotely and make them zombies to obey commands. The UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee acknowledged this in November 2018. The IS’ covert propaganda is able to bypass the internet and shift to “anonymous sharing portals like Sendvid.com, Justpast.it, and Dump.to and maintain its networking structure in the face of coordinated disruption”. The UN report of December 31, 2018, estimated that 20,000 fighters might still be present in IS-controlled areas.

The IS also motivates its retuning cadres to unleash terrorism in countries of their origin. Algerian Islamists who had taken part in the Afghan Mujahideen wars (1980-89) had started it on their return to Algeria, killing thousands in the 10-year civil war from 1991. I had envisaged a scenario like this in India through my column, ‘When the Boys Come Home’, in a prominent weekly on September 21, 2014.

A tragic example of this type of terrorism happened in Surabaya (Indonesia). The families of Dita Oepriarto, Anton Febryanto and Tri Murtano, including their minor children, blew themselves up on May 13, 2018, when they attacked three Christian churches. Oepriarto, a childhood education programmer belonging to IS affiliate Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), had spent time in IS-controlled areas.

Other countries are spending thousands of man hours decoding how such remote propaganda affects the minds of people beyond national borders and how to counter them. The European Union has a staff of 550 in its Radicalisation Awareness Network on cross-border issues such as asylum, migration, border control and terrorism. The Organisation for Security & Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world’s largest security-oriented inter-governmental organisation, has programmes to prevent online radicalisation, not all very successful. An article in New York Times in 2017 says that people tend to look up to online propaganda, being dissatisfied with the mainstream media.

In the US, several official and non-official agencies are involved in countering online radicalisation following the theme paper of December 2012 by Thomas Keen and Lee Hamilton, co-Chairs of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission. We do not seem to have paid focused attention to it. Our security agencies, Home Ministry, police forces and the National Security Council might assure us that they are taking necessary steps, but there is no transparency regarding their specific contribution. We have no tradition of academic institutions being involved in such serious studies, except by think tanks that might produce occasional papers.

One of the basic requirements to prevent radicalisation is to maintain an inclusive society where justice is assured to all sections irrespective of their religions or castes. The UN General Assembly’s ‘Four Pillars’ of ‘Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy’, adopted on September 8, 2006, and renewed every two years speak of “addressing conditions to the spread of terrorism”, including violation of human rights. Mufti Suhail had spoken about “the persecution of Muslims in India” as one of the reasons for his joining the IS network. We should introspect whether the ‘beef lynchings’ in some states on mere suspicion had created such ‘conditions’, especially when DNA tests by the National Research Centre on Meat had certified that only 7 per cent of the suspected samples were cow meat (between 2014 and 2017).

We should also introspect how far the NDA government’s misguided policy on Kashmir has contributed to this trend even after the May 24, 2018, recommendation by the National Security Strategies Conference to Rajnath Singh on holding talks with the Hurriyat and Pakistan to stop the slide. This introspection should include policy deviations such as considering ‘separatists’ as untouchables, policy excesses like treating stone throwers as terrorists and using pellet shots on demonstrators.

On December 29, 2018, masked youths entered the 14th-century Jama Masjid in Srinagar and hoisted Islamic State flags on the pulpit, akin to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s action of proclaiming the IS from the podium of the 12th-century grand mosque of al-Nouri in Mosul on July 4, 2014. It is hoped that the present J&K administration would fully support the Hurriyat-led joint resistance in countering this sacrilege.

Our Correspondent
Hamirpur, January 1

The district administration paid floral tributes to Capt Mirdul Sharma here on Tuesday. Capt Sharma made the supreme sacrifice on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1, 2004.

The brave Army officer was on night patrolling in higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir with his troops when the nation was celebrating theNew Year.

Capt Sharma’s father Col JK Sharma (retd) said that the patrolling team was informed about infiltration from the Pakistani side. Despite darkness and possibility of an ambush, Captain Sharma decided to move ahead to protect the border. During a fierce gunfight with infiltrators, a bullet pierced the ribs of Captain Sharma from the left side and it proved fatal.

The young officer was just 26-year-old when he sacrificed his life for the nation.

MLANarender Thakur said, “Borders of the country are secure only because of our gallant soldiers. People must pay respect to the martyrs and their families who had given their children for the service of the nation.”

Deputy Commissioner Richa Verma and other officials of the district administration also paid tributes to the martyr. Many serving and retired Army personnel were present.

Washington, January 1

US President Donald Trump signed into law a legislation on Monday aimed at enhancing America’s leadership in the Indo-Pacific region, strengthening multi-faceted ties with India and calling out Chinese actions that “undermine” the rules-based international system.

Recognising the vital role of the strategic partnership between the United States and India in promoting peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region, Section 204 of the Act calls for strengthening and broadening of diplomatic, economic, and security ties between the two countries.

The Indo-Pacific is a bio-geographic region, comprising the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea.

In a statement, Trump shared the objective of the Congress with respect to maintaining the strength and security of the United States, but did not guarantee to abide by the effort of the Congress to dictate the policy of the US in external, military, and foreign affairs, or to require the executive branch to undertake certain diplomatic initiatives with international partners.

The Act reaffirms its commitment to the New Framework for the 2005 US-India Defence Relationship, Defence Technology and Trade Initiative launched in 2012; the 2015 Joint Strategic Vision for the Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, and 2017 Joint Statement on Prosperity Through Partnership.

Describing India as a major defence partner, the Act says this designation institutionalises the progress made to facilitate defence trade and technology sharing between the two countries, elevates defence trade and technology cooperation to a level commensurate with the closest allies and partners of the US.

It also facilitates technology-sharing, including licence-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies, after taking into account national security concerns; and joint exercises, coordination on defence strategy and policy, military exchanges, and port calls in support of defence cooperation between the two countries, the Act says.

The Act, which was introduced in April by Senators Cory Gardner and Ed Markey, who are chairman and member of Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, along with Senators Marco Rubio and Ben Cardin, endorses quadrilateral dialogue between the United States, Australia, India and Japan.

Such a quadrilateral dialogue, it said, is vital to addressing pressing security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region in order to promote a rules-based order; respect for international law; and a free and open Indo-Pacific, the Act says.

According to the Act, it is the policy of the US to develop and commit to a long-term strategic vision and a comprehensive, multifaceted, and principled United States policy for the Indo-Pacific region that secures its vital national security interests and its allies and partners; and promotes American prosperity and economic interests by advancing economic growth and development of a rules-based Indo-Pacific economic community.

“The core tenets of the US-backed international system are being challenged, including by China’s illegal construction and militarisation of artificial features in the South China Sea and coercive economic practices; North Korea’s acceleration of its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities; and the increased presence throughout Southeast Asia of the Islamic State and other international terrorist organisations that threaten the United States,” it says. PTI