Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, March 27

Residents of Tigra village blocked traffic on the Yamunanagar bypass, part of the Yamunanagar-Panchkula national highway, near Karera village on Wednesday after an Army man was crushed to death by a truck.

The protesters blamed police officials deputed at a police post situated near the Karera chowk for the death of Naseeb Singh (25) of Tigra village, who was a sepoy in 72 Engineer Regiment of the Army.

They alleged the accident occurred due to the negligence of police officials, who tried to stop him to check his motorcycle documents. He had come home on leave.

Shiv Kumar, a family member of the deceased, lodged a police complaint, demanding action against police officials responsible for his death.

The complainant said Naseeb Singh was going to Jathlana village. When he reached near Karera chowk, two traffic cops and Home Guard personnel were checking overloaded trucks.

“When policemen and Home Guard personnel tried to stop Naseeb Singh, he lost control over the motorcycle, fell down and was crushed under a truck,” said the complainant.

The accident took place around 12.30 pm. As soon as the information of the accident reached deceased’s village, his family and other villagers reached the spot.

They allegedly created ruckus and demanded action against the police and the truck driver. Later, they blocked the national highway.

After getting information of the blockade, officials and Radaur MLA Shyam Singh Rana reached the spot and persuaded the protesters to lift the blockade. However, they lifted the blockade in the evening when the body reached the village after the post-mortem.

DSP Kushal Pal said the matter would be investigated and action would be taken against those responsible.

Playing an all-too-familiar tape, Pakistan has claimed that no terror camps exist on 22 ‘pin locations’ shared by India. A month after India handed over a dossier with details of Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM’s) complicity in the Pulwama attack and the presence of JeM terror camps and its leadership in the neighbouring country, Pakistan says it has found no evidence to prosecute 50-odd persons who were detained in connection with the February 14 terror strike. For the record, these suspects had included JeM chief Masood Azhar’s son and brother. After having denied access to the media to the area where the Balakot airstrikes took place on February 26, Pakistan has finally expressed willingness to allow visits — on request — to the locations. These spots have in all probability been duly ‘sanitised’ over the past month. Indian investigators are not likely to find even a shred of credible proof there, as sought by the wily neighbour.

Though these are ‘preliminary’ findings, India can’t expect the outcome to change once the investigation is complete. If Pakistan is sincere about taking its purported counter-terror operations to their logical conclusion, it should throw open the doors of its seminaries, some of which are notorious as breeding grounds for terrorists. This should have been done right after the Pulwama outrage. The reluctance has undone Pakistan’s efforts, already half-hearted, to convince the international community about its intentions to tackle terror.

Amid the jingoistic din raised by a section of the media, credible journalists with an unbiased approach could have shown the true picture to the world, but they were denied the opportunity. Creating a smokescreen has laid bare Pakistan’s agenda to shield the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack, for which the JeM had promptly claimed responsibility. India can go on providing evidence to Pakistan, but it will all be like water off a duck’s back. The fact that Pakistan has laughably identified ‘social media content’ as the basis for India’s documents makes it obvious that this probe is being stage-managed by the deep state.

Participants at the national convention-cum-reunion of the War Decorated India in Chandimandir on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: RAVI KUMAR

Maha Vir Chakra recipient the late Brig KS Chandpuri’s widow Surinder Kaur Chandpuri and son Hardip Chandpuri (right) being felicitated by Lt Gen GS Sihota (retd) during the national convention-cum-reunion of the War Decorated India in Chandimandir on Friday.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 15

The two-day national convention-cum-reunion of the War Decorated India (WDI) began at Chandimandir Military Station today. Gallantry award recipients from various parts of the country and next of kin of deceased war heroes attended the event.

Tributes were paid to the recently departed members of the association and war widows were honoured on the occasion. The election of the association president, nomination of executive committee members and issues relating to gallantry awardees and their welfare were part of the agenda. As tales of heroism flowed, old camaraderie was reignited.

The WDI was set up in 1991 to serve as a platform for strengthening camaraderie among the war heroes, further their cause and to provide them any assistance in times of need. Its members consist of recipients of gallantry awards won in the face of the enemy that include the Victoria Cross and Military Cross of the pre-Independence era and the Param Vir Chakra (PVC), Maha Vir Chakra and Vir Chakra, which were instituted post-Independence.

Chief of Staff, Western Command, Lt Gen PN Bali, addressed the gathering. He said the serving military men drew inspiration from the bravehearts who fought valiantly for the motherland and in the process many had laid down their lives.

The convention is held once in four years. The event this time was relatively a low-key affair with lesser number of participants as compared with past occasions as the number of war heroes has been dwindling over the years.

Among the Victoria Cross awardees, relatives of the Late Nb Sub Nand Singh of the Sikh Regiment, Late Sub Ram Sarup Singh of the Punjab Regiment and Late Badlu Singh of the Jat Lancers were felicitated. Dhano Devi, wife of Late Col Hoshiar Singh of the Grenadiers and daughter of Late Sub Joginder Singh of the Sikh Regiment, both of whom were decorated with the Param Vir Chakra, the nation’s highest gallantry award, was also honoured.

Col Hoshiar Singh was awarded the PVC for his actions while establishing a bridgehead across the Basantar river and repulsing enemy attacks in the Shakargarh Sector during the 1971 Indo-Pak War, while Sub Joginder Singh had led his troops in the face of the enemy despite being heavily outnumbered and defended his post near Bum La in the north-east until he was wounded and captured during the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

Sub Nand Singh’s son, Ripu Daman, who was attending the convention for the first time, pointed out that the names of Indian Victoria Cross recipients did not find a place in the newly constructed National War Memorial in the Capital.

Among those present was Lt Col (Dr) Virendra Sahi, a Vir Chakra recipient form the Battle of Laleali in the Chhamb Sector in December 1971. He had killed a Pakistani officer, who was physically much larger, in hand-to-hand combat after his weapon had jammed. Pakistani troops under the command of a major were able to gain a foothold on the forward tip of the Laleali post that resulted in a hand-to-hand combat between Indian and Pakistani soldiers. Sahi, who was also then a Major commanding an infantry company, had sent a handwritten citation to Pakistan, detailing his opponent’s actions.

Claims have been made that the Balakot airstrikes were intended to be a strategic step to deliver a strong message and isolate Pakistan. However, any such step has to be followed by other measures by other countries to debar Pakistan from every possible venue. Nothing concrete has been achieved so far.

Vappala Balachandran 
Former Special Secy, Cabinet Secretariat

THE discordant national security discourse after the Pulwama and Balakot incidents is denigrating our armed forces. Widespread exultation over the achievements of our Air Force in Balakot, its heroic resistance to Pakistan’s air aggression and the shooting down of their F-16 have been drowned out by a cacophony of opposing dialectics, including controversies triggered by the ruling party.

The first instance was on March 1 when BJP MP Subramanian Swamy tweeted that ‘just seven persons’ had ‘conceptualised’ the Balakot bombing. His list did not include Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This made people wonder how our armed forces could operate without their minister’s knowledge. Then came BJP president Amit Shah’s claim during an election rally that over 250 terrorists were killed in the Balakot airstrikes. He criticised the opposition parties for demanding proof of the deaths. This provoked the Congress to say that the BJP was politicising the armed forces. This and other interventions forced the Air Force Chief to draw the red line: “Government counts casualties, not us.” By implication, he conveyed that the Air Force was given targets, which they hit successfully. “We hit the target… otherwise why would they (Pakistan) have responded?”

Since then, all efforts of BJP spokespersons have been to justify the remarks of their president by quoting different sources, named or unnamed. No official figures have been released by the government so far. Simultaneously, the foreign media has been relentless in reporting the Pakistani version that no damage was caused. The opposition parties also complained that the Prime Minister was revealing details during public meetings, not officially. 

That did not prevent leaks from secret operational intelligence, collected by our National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), from appearing in the media. It was claimed that the NTRO had detected 300 active mobile phones in Balakot area before the airstrikes. No explanation for why the media was given this secret information unofficially was forthcoming. Simultaneously, an investigation by a leading Indian weekly found that residents of Balakot and police officials in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were admitting that the IAF strikes had resulted in military casualties too, “not just destruction of terror infrastructure and militants.”  If this is so, why is the government reluctant to reveal these details, which would only strengthen the official version?

It is true that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had indirectly confirmed the NTRO story when confronted by the media during a BSF function on March 5: “Were these mobile phones used by the trees? Will you not believe the NTRO also?” He added that the number of dead at the Jaish training camp would be known “today or tomorrow”. Still, no official account was published. 

At times, the BJP’s dialogue resembled egregious politics descending to the street level when ministers spoke about the dissenters. On March 6, Minister of State for External Affairs and former Army Chief VK Singh called critics and journalists as jonk (leeches).

Such remarks made the Opposition hit back. On March 11, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah made a frontal charge that the airstrikes were aimed at “winning the Lok Sabha elections”. The next day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the Centre was “stretching the elections till May-end for another strike in April”. Simultaneously, a Central investigating agency appears to be pitting the entire Muslim population in the Valley against New Delhi. The National Investigation Agency’s (NIA’s) recent summons to Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to come to New Delhi have united all 20 disparate Muslim religious groups behind him as he represents Srinagar’s Grand Mosque, a 300-year-old institution.

Claims have been made that the Balakot airstrikes were intended to be a strategic step of escalation to deliver a strong message and isolate Pakistan. However, any such strategic step has to be followed by other measures by other countries to debar Pakistan from every possible venue. Unfortunately, nothing concrete has been achieved so far. As regards compelling Pakistan to give up its support to terrorists, all we could earn so far is a message from US National Security Adviser (NSA) John Bolton about his talk with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who had assured to “deal firmly with terrorist groups operating from the country”.

To me, the Balakot strikes were as spectacular as the US bombing of Libya on April 15, 1986. Both conveyed the message, but did not have any strategic impact on the target country. Former CIA Director Robert Gates, who was then President Ronald Reagan’s Deputy National Security Adviser, writes in his memoirs From the Shadows that there was no consensus in the National Security Council (NSC) on the bombing, although the Reagan administration was ‘obsessed’ with Gaddafi from 1981. Secretary of State George P Shultz was clearly against it. Gaddafi was a bigger threat to world peace than even Pakistan, having supplied munitions to the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The immediate provocation was Gaddafi’s bomb attack on a Berlin discotheque patronised by American troops on April 5, 1986, killing 2 Americans, besides a missile attack on a US Air Force plane in the Gulf of Sidra on March 24, 1986.

Seymour Hersh, in his New York Times piece ‘Target Qaddafi’ (February 22, 1987), claims that the entire planning was done by a clandestine group in the NSC led by Col Oliver North, keeping senior NSC members, including Shultz, in the dark. (Do we see a parallel here if we were to believe Subramanian Swamy?) North came to grief only in 1988 for a similar illegal intervention in the 1987 Iran-Contra Affair.

Did the bombing stop Gaddafi in his tracks? No, he executed a much bigger attack by planting a bomb on Pan Am Frankfurt-Detroit Flight 103, killing 270 persons, on December 21, 1988. Gaddafi was killed over two decades later on October 20, 2011, during the Libyan Civil War

New Delhi, March 13

The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that documents filed by the petitioners seeking review of its Rafale deal verdict are “sensitive to national security” and those who conspired in photocopying the papers have committed theft and put the security in jeopardy by leaking them.

The Ministry of Defence said an internal enquiry commenced on February 28 and is currently in progress over the leakage of sensitive documents and it is of utmost concern to find out where the leakage took place.

The affidavit filed by the ministry said documents attached by the petitioners — former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie as also activist advocate Prashant Bhushan — relate to war capacity of combat aircraft and have been widely circulated, available to the country’s enemy and adversaries.

“This puts the national security in jeopardy. Without consent, permission or acquiescence of the Central Government, those who have conspired in making the photocopy of these sensitive documents and annexing it to the review petition/ miscellaneous application and thereby committing theft by unauthorised photocopying of such documents relied in this regard…have adversely affected the Sovereignty, Security and Friendly Relations with the foreign countries,” said the affidavit, filed by Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra.

The affidavit assumes significance as Attorney General K K Venugopal on March 6 hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had alleged that the review petition was based on the documents which were stolen from the ministry.

Two days later, Venugopal claimed the Rafale documents were not stolen from the Defence Ministry and he had meant in his submission before the top court that petitioners in the application used “photocopies of the original” papers, deemed secret by the government.

In the affidavit, the ministry said secrecy was envisaged in various agreements that the Centre had entered into with France and others concerning matters of national security.

It said even though the Centre maintains secrecy, Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan are relying on documents annexed and “are guilty of leakage of sensitive information, which offends the terms of the agreements”.

The Centre said those who have conspired in this leakage are guilty of penal offences under the Indian Penal Code including theft by unauthorised photocopying and leakage of sensitive official documents affecting National Security.

“These matters are now a subject of an internal enquiry which has commenced on February 28 and it is currently in progress. In particular, it is of utmost concern to the Central government to find out where the leakage took place so that in future the sanctity of decision making process in governance is maintained,” said the affidavit, which will come up for perusal before the apex court on Thursday.

The Centre asserted that Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan are using “unauthorisedly accessed documents” with the intention to present a selective and incomplete picture of internal secret deliberations on a matter relating to National Security and Defence and have been used by them with an intention to mislead the apex court.

“The documents presented by the petitioners are failing to bring out how the issues were addressed and resolved and necessary approvals of the competent authorities taken. The selective and incomplete presentation of the facts and records by the petitioners are intended to mislead this court into deriving wrong conclusions which is very damaging to National Security and public interest,” it said.

The affidavit added that the Performance Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Capital Acquisition in Indian Air Force Report No. 3 of 2019 has already been presented to Parliament and thus is in public domain.

It said documents relied in petition belong to a class “in which the Government of India is entitled to claim privilege under Section 123, 124 of the Indian Evidence Act”.

The documents unauthorisedly produced by petitioners are exempt from disclosure under Right to Information Act and as such petitioners have no authority whatsoever to produce it “before the court without the explicit permission of the Government of India, Ministry of Defence”, it added.

While claiming privilege over the documents relied upon by the petitioners to support the review petition, the Centre said since they have unauthorisedly and illegally produced those documents it has become imperative for the Union of India to seek removal of these documents from the record. — PTI

 pilot usually sustains injury either due to the forces involved in ejecting the aircraft, or due to how he landed. There could be significant pain in the back, particularly with standing or ambulating.

Written by Dr. A.K. Ghori

Within days of what happened to Wing Commander Abhinandan, another MiG 21 pilot has ejected safely in Bikaner on Friday. Fighter pilots face serious challenges in the unfortunate scenario they have to eject. Spine fractures are a common sequela of combat aircraft ejections and these injuries fall on a spectrum from stable compression fractures to unstable burst fractures.

Ejection and landing are the two events when a fighter pilot can sustain a spine fracture. The most common injury is a compression fracture in the thoraco-lumbar junction (T10—L2). (Image 1) Compression fractures are painful, but they heal over 12 weeks with no long term consequences in most patients.Image 1: Compression Fracture- The vertebra is “squished” but overall spinal column is stable allowing for upright posture and ambulation.

With low altitude ejections there isn’t enough time to decelerate adequately for a smooth landing. A hard landing can lead to much worse injuries, such as burst fractures, or fracture-dislocations. These injuries are extremely painful, the pilot would not be able to stand or ambulate, and may experience loss of sensation or motor function in his legs. This injury may require surgical intervention and long term outcome depends on the type of injury, success of surgery, and rehabilitation.

In many cases several of them have gone back to their normal activities, and some have even returned to challenging endeavors such as sky diving and ATV racing.

A pilot usually sustains injury either due to the forces involved in ejecting the aircraft, or due to how he landed. There could be significant pain in the back, particularly with standing or ambulating.

MRI and CT scans of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine can reveal a compression fracture. If that is the only spine injury, then pain would probably resolve in six weeks. At this point the pilot can start physical therapy to strengthen his paraspinal and core muscles. After the spine therapy programme, the pilot should be ready for fitness testing to evaluate return to flying status.

The irony is that even with all the modern testing available to us, the most important piece of information is simply looking at the patient’s ability to walk.

Dr. A.K. Ghori, is a Harvard University trained Spine Surgeon practicing in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA

Islamabad, March 26

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the Indo-Pak relations would remain tense till the general elections in India are over, adding he feared “another misadventure” by Pakistan’s eastern neighbour.

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the February 14 attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pulwama.

Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting what it said was a JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an Indian pilot, who was handed over to India later. 

Khan said shadows of war were still hovering over Pakistan and India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration could go for “another misadventure” before the general elections.

“The danger is not over. The situation will remain tense till the forthcoming general elections in India. We are already prepared to avert any aggression from India,” Dawn quoted Khan as saying. Khan also claimed that he cancelled his scheduled meeting with the Taliban in Islamabad due to “concerns” expressed by the Afghan government. — PTI 

Tribune News Service
Jammu, March 24

Another soldier was killed in ceasefire violation in Poonch district today, taking the toll to three in a week as Pakistan kept targeting Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC).

Grenadier Hari Bhakar (20) of Nagaur district in Rajasthan had suffered serious injuries in a ceasefire violation in Shahpur sector last evening.

According to the defence spokesperson, he was evacuated to the nearest Field Hospital, where he succumbed to his injury around 3.30 am.

Unprovoked firing by Pakistan troops commenced last evening in Kerni and Shahpur sectors in which heavy caliber weapons and rockets were also fired. Indian troops retaliated and inflicted damage and casualties.

Pakistan again initiated unprovoked truce violation using mortars and small arms in Nowshera sector at 11.30 am, after which the Indian Army retaliated. 

Pakistan has been violating the ceasefire along the LoC on a daily basis. On March 21, it used artillery guns for shelling in Akhnoor, Sunderbani and Nowshera sectors. Rifleman Yash Paul (24) of Udhampur lost his life in Sunderbani on Thursday and Rifleman Karamjeet Singh of Moga on Monday.

Mystery blast death 

• An Army jawan lost his life and another suffered critical injuries in a mysterious blast after a fire in Kalibari Army area of Kathua on Sunday
• The deceased has been identified as NK Deepan Tawand (35) and the injured as Havildar Lal Parsad Gurang (39)

Exactly a month after the Pulwama massacre, India and Pakistan have agreed to work towards an expeditious launch of the Kartarpur corridor. The terror attack and its aftermath had threatened to derail the project, but the two countries have commendably delinked it from the ongoing hostilities for the sake of a pious occasion — the upcoming 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. India has stuck to its oft-quoted stand that ‘talks and terror’ cannot go hand in hand, making it clear to the Pakistani delegates that the Attari meeting should not be seen as a ‘resumption of bilateral dialogue’.

Pakistan had initially stated that the proposed corridor would be opened only for Sikh devotees from India, a decision that had exposed the Pak ploy as Sikh places of worship are revered and frequented by Hindus as well. Quick to see through the divisive agenda, India has finally prevailed upon Pakistan to grant access to all Indian citizens, irrespective of their religion. In another positive move on the diplomatic front, India has managed to make the neighbour give the assurance that it would insulate Kartarpur Sahib pilgrims from Khalistani (and anti-India) propaganda. India and the world will watch closely whether Pakistan walks the talk on this contentious matter. Pakistan has repeatedly demonstrated a soft spot for pro-Khalistan terrorists and campaigners. Incidentally, a day before the Attari talks, PM Imran Khan was reported to have met a controversial Sikh leader, who is considered to be a close aide of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.

Such developments should make India wary of Pakistan’s intentions. Misuse of the corridor for the radicalisation of devotees or other nefarious designs will defeat its purpose. The possibility that the passage could be used to push in infiltrators might be slim, considering the high security expected all along the route, but it’s not entirely ruled out. The focus should remain on facilitating hassle-free access to the shrine associated with the first Sikh Guru. Mutual trust is a must to ensure that the project sees the light of day.

Decoding Kartarpur

Pravin Sawhney