Monthly Archives: August 2018

n architecture design of the Passenger Terminal Building to be constructed for the Kartarpur corridor, in Gurdaspur. — PTI

New Delhi, March 9

India will construct a “state-of-the-art” passenger terminal building for the Kartarpur corridor at a cost of Rs 190 crore, officials said Saturday.

The passenger terminal building (PTB) complex will have all the necessary passenger amenities to facilitate pilgrims intending to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, located across the border in Pakistan.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved a detailed plan for construction of a “state-of-the-art” PTB complex at the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, an official at the ministry said.

The approval came following the Cabinet decision in November 2018 to develop the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district in Punjab to the International Border.

The Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI), which is mandated to build and operate integrated check posts along the land borders of the country, has reportedly been entrusted with this work and has been directed to complete the work on a fast-track basis, before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in November 2019.

The design and quality parameters have been prepared keeping in view the aspirations and religious sentiments of the followers of Guru Nanak Dev, the official said.

Fifty acres of land has been identified for the purpose and will be developed in two phases.

“Phase 1 will be developed over 15 acres for which the process of land acquisition has already commenced,” another official said.

The PTB complex to be developed in the first phase is proposed to have a fully air-conditioned building of approximately 21,650 sq metre built-up area.

The PTB complex is expected to be constructed at a cost of Rs 190 crore, the official said.

The design of the PTB complex has been inspired by the symbol ‘Khanda’ which represents values of oneness and humanity, he said.

The disabled-friendly building will display murals and photographs based on rich Indian cultural values with eye soothing landscaping.

It will have adequate immigration and customs clearance facilities to process the smooth movement of approximately 5,000 pilgrims per day, the official said, adding that the complex will have open areas for kiosks, cloakrooms and adequate parking space.

The passage up to the zero point on the International border will be covered.

In addition, a 300-feet-high monumental flagpole bearing the tricolour will be erected at the International Border, the official said.

The phase II will cover development of a visitors gallery, a hospital, accommodation for pilgrims and expanded amenities. — PTI

Time for developing capabilities for counter-strikes is now ripe

G Parthasarathy
Former diplomat

After the precision air strike by the IAF on Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, public attention in India is now focused on bringing JeM leaders, including Masood Azhar, to justice. Ironically, Azhar would not have been such a threat today if we had not cravenly released him after being blackmailed during the Kandahar hijacking of IC 814. Those then released included Omar Syed Sheikh, who funded the 9/11 hijackers in the US and murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The mass killing of Indians in terrorist strikes organised by the ISI has been a continuing feature of Pakistan’s policy since the 1993 Mumbai blasts. People seem to forget that 253 people were killed and 713 injured in the blasts. These killings were organised by the then ISI chief, Lt Gen Javed Nasir, who enjoyed Nawaz Sharif’s patronage for years. The mastermind of the 1993 blasts, Dawood Ibrahim, lives under heavy security protection in the elite locality of Clifton in Karachi. There is conclusive evidence that the attack on India’s Parliament in 2001 was organised by Masood Azhar’s JeM. A former ISI chief, Lt Gen Javed Akhtar, admitted this in 2004, in Pakistan’s Parliament. As many as 527 Indian soldiers had been killed and 453 wounded in the 1999 Kargil conflict.

When the JeM thereafter briefly receded into the background, the ISI-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba mounted yet another attack on November 26, 2008, on Mumbai, killing 139 Indians and injuring 256. This received huge international attention, as the casualties included citizens of countries like the US, the UK, France, Germany and Israel. Yet, within a few months, we were back to a ‘composite dialogue’ with Pakistan after the Sharm El Sheikh Summit, where the focus of attention was not the 26/11 terror strike on Mumbai, but unfounded allegations of Indian involvement in the freedom struggle in Balochistan! Sadly, this was a manifestation of Indian diplomacy at its worst. 

The Balakot air strike was marked by the use of precision-guided Israeli Spice 2000 bombs that function with deadly accuracy. There is now conclusive evidence that the target was a JeM madrasa, which was badly damaged. Hundreds of jihadis, preparing for ‘martyrdom’ in J&K, were trained in Balakot. Our government would, however, have been better advised, if unverified claims of hundreds of casualties were not prematurely made or publicised.

What will, however, please our Russian friends is the fact that an upgraded frontline American F-16, equipped with highly sophisticated AAM-RAM missiles, was shot down by a vintage Russian MiG-21 Bison of the IAF. This again exposed the inefficiency of our Defence Ministry, which has delayed a proposal for the modernisation of the fighter fleet for over two decades. Successive defence ministers must accept constitutional responsibility for the cavalier manner in which the entire issue of modernisation has been handled. More importantly, the decision-making organisational structure in the ministry, dominated by a generalist bureaucracy, needs to be drastically restructured.

Pakistan should be made to realise that India’s air strike marks only the beginning of a new approach, which India will now undertake. Firstly, it is time for decision-makers in New Delhi to realise that our covert action capabilities on foreign soil need to be upgraded. I recently read a book on how Indira Gandhi supervised covert actions in Bangladesh in 1971, which virtually destroyed maritime communication facilities there, even before the conflict started in December 1971. The Israelis spent years developing capabilities to seek out the perpetrators of the Second World War Holocaust across the world. Their Iranian rivals have developed similar capabilities, which one saw recently, when Iran responded to a terrorist attack from Pakistani soil, which killed 29 Iranian Revolutionary Guards. In an almost immediate counter-strike across the border, over eight Pakistani soldiers were killed and a large number injured.

The time for developing capabilities for counter-strikes is now ripe. The global political, diplomatic and economic scenario in India and Pakistan has changed over the past two decades. Pakistan remains, in international perspectives, an economically bankrupt and politically dysfunctional country, which is ostensibly democratic, but run by a military elite, given to promoting religious extremism across its neighbourhood.  Its actions, like hosting Osama bin Laden secretly for over a decade, promoting Taliban extremism in Afghanistan and using internationally discredited terrorist groups for jihad abroad, have sullied its image and reliability.

Islamabad is addicted to seeking doles from rich Arab neighbours, China and financial institutions like the IMF, Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. Pakistan is dependent on them for economic survival. In contrast, India is seen today as a country with the fastest growing economy. India is at peace and enjoys excellent relations with all countries (except Pakistan) in its Indian Ocean neighbourhood. It has multiple free trade and comprehensive economic cooperation agreements within SAARC and with members of BIMSTEC and ASEAN. There are, likewise, Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreements with South Korea and Japan.

Across its western maritime frontiers, India is the only country which enjoys excellent ties with the Gulf states, Iran and Israel.  PM Modi has publicly expressed India’s thanks for US support in recent days. These developments need to be augmented by engaging people in Pakistan, making it clear that India wishes them well. It must be made known to them that their miseries are the result of actions by a rogue army, which is leading the country to economic disaster and international isolation.

M Rajivlochan
Professor, Department of History, Panjab University

IT may be said history shows that adversaries cannot be reformed as per one’s wish. So, what is it that needs to be reformed in the specific case of Pakistan? A glimpse of this was made available when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan referred to history in his address to the joint session of his country’s parliamentarians in the aftermath of the Balakot airstrike by the Indian Air Force, post Pulwama. References to history have to be taken seriously, especially when made by politicians, since they provide us a glimpse of the template along which the mind works. Being familiar with the template helps understand the nuances of the twists and turns that the politicians are liable to take while trying to grab more power and demolish their opponents. Most Indian newspapers missed out on Imran Khan’s take on history.

This is what Imran Khan said as he concluded his speech in Parliament on the matter of the Balakot strikes: ‘If you push a community into a corner where it has to take such a decision, then a self-respecting community will fight for freedom. So today, I want to send a message to Narendra Modi that do not push anyone in that corner.’

What is important is that Imran Khan sought to preface his remarks by referring to Tipu Sultan as the hero whom Pakistan seeks to currently emulate. Tipu Sultan — in Indian understanding — has been a most secular ruler, opposed to imperialism, etc. He lost his life fighting. In contrast there was Bahadur Shah Zafar, who agreed to being jailed by the British for participating in the mutiny of 1857. ‘There was Bahadur Shah Zafar and there was Tipu Sultan,’ Imran Khan said, ‘when it came to choosing between slavery and freedom, Tipu Sultan chose the latter. Tipu Sultan is our hero.’ 

On the face of it such bombast could be little more than a face-saving device for the government of Pakistan, an effort to assure the people that their government would fight to protect them against an Indian invasion.

However, Tipu Sultan, carries a completely different meaning in Pakistan. According to the textbooks of Pakistan Studies on which Pakistani students are brought up, Tipu Sultan is depicted as a defender of the faith. Pakistani army blogs frequently mention Tipu Sultan as a great warrior who won numerous battles against infidels, experimented with new technology and made Mysore a very prosperous territory. The veracity of such claims is a matter of historical debate. 

What does not require debate, though, is a letter by Tipu Sultan to Bekal’s governor, Budruz Zuman Khan, in 1790, which is cited in disgust by Pakistani columnist Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, who warns Pakistanis against having bad role models. ‘Don’t you know I have achieved a great victory recently in Malabar and over four lakh Hindus were converted to Islam?’ Tipu writes. ‘I am determined to march against that cursed Raman Nair (Raja of Travancore) very soon. Since I am overjoyed at the prospect of converting him and his subjects to Islam, I have happily abandoned the idea of going back to Srirangapatanam now.’

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s reference to the ‘self-respecting community’ is to ‘Muslims’. The ones in India — the defence minister of Pakistan claimed in his press conference soon after the Balakot airstrikes — are a ‘persecuted community’. The falsity of that narrative has often been pointed out by various social scientists.

Neither are the Muslims of India persecuted nor do they form a homogenous community, except in the minds of Hindu and Muslim communalists. Communalism is roundly condemned. Communalists attract strong censure by society and polity in India.  Yet, insisting that all Muslims form a singular political and social group is a point that forms the basis of Pakistan’s attitude towards India.

It also forms the guiding principle for bodies such as the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which was formed as an umbrella body of 26 political, social and religious organisations in the state of Jammu and Kashmir for the cause of Kashmiri separatism. The word ‘hurriyat’ means ‘freedom’. The slogan with which it works, too, is ‘azadi’. The context in which it is used gives it the meaning of ‘azadi for Muslims’. Now, that would never do for a multi-cultural country like India that is committed to secularism and pluralism.

Col Mahesh Chadha (retd)

Walking for miles to school across Shimla dales, drinking water at a flowing spring; pelting stones at some pear, apple, plum, fig tree and savouring the raw fruit; plucking a berry or some wild flower; admiring a farmer ploughing his terraced fields with a pair of oxen; giving a helping hand to a whistling shepherd to mentor his sheep and caressing his lamb are unconvincing stories for my grandchildren. It is no surprise, brought up as they are in modern cities, devoid of such heavenly benevolence. They go to school by car or bus, nor do they come across blossoming fruit trees. For them, fruits and flowers are only purchased from vendors; milk from a machine or a carton.

They wonder at my confidence when I tell them that on the very first day of my school, in 1952, I walked back home to my mother’s utter surprise as she failed to pick me up. Appreciating my initiative, she showed no signs of worry. Shimla was a peaceful, walker’s paradise, then — no traffic hazards; people along the way knew us and children were considered safe everywhere. Today, children wear identity cards, carry mobiles and are collected from school by guardians as a ritual.

They do not believe that I used to venture out in severe winter, wearing heavy woollens knit by my mother, to enjoy the soft snowflakes on my face; making a snowman and snowballs to hit friends and siblings with! For them, snow may be fun, but shortlived — only during holidays, that too if luck favours it.

They go to sleep while watching cartoons on TV, whereas for me it was the melodious ringing bells of the mules passing by our house or, at times, the deafening growl of a leopard or a barking deer not far away in the jungle. Sundays meant a picnic, walking to Glen, Annadale, Naldhera or Mashobra for juicy apples and peaches etc. The ‘Big Ben’, mall road, Ridge, ‘Scandal Point’, and Gaiety Theatre were where we would cross path with dignitaries like Dr Rajendra Prasad and Marshal Tito. After a tiring walk, there would be a feast of bhutta, doodh-jalebi or puri-bhaji at Mehru and Nathu halwai. For the kids now, it is malls, pizzas and burgers.

The heart laments — koi lautade mere beete hue din, that often lure me to the now-flattened hills of my childhood — sans pristine beauty. All that one sees now is dying pines and deodars; drying chashmas, concrete jungles, noisy traffic, pollution, growing population and nobody shaking hands with a tourist.

Shimla is as bad as other cities where grandchildren live, rendering it worthy of their taunt and unworthy of a melodious story anymore.

Tribune News Service
Moga, March 19

Rifleman Karamjit Singh (24), who was killed in a ceasefire violation along the LoC in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, was cremated with state honours at his native Janer village in Dharamkot on Tuesday.

District Magistrate Sandeep Hans accompanied by SSP AS Bajwa laid a wreath on the behalf of Punjab government, while Captain Gokul Ashok from the martyr’s 18 JAK RIF regiment paid tributes on the behalf of the Army.

Hundreds of people, who came from different parts of the district, gave a tearful adieu to the martyr. Karamjit’s coffin, draped in Tricolour was brought to his home in the presence of senior Army officials.

As Karamjit’s father Avtar Singh and elder brother Swaran Singh lit the pyre, a contingent of the Army gave a gun salute to the martyr.

Local MP Prof Sadhu Singh of AAP, local MLAs Kaka Sukhjit Singh Lohgarh and Dr Harjot Kamal and senior Akali leader Jathedar Tota Singh were also present.

Srinagar, March 22

Six militants and a 12-year-old boy were killed on Friday in three separate gunfights in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Two militants and a boy, who was taken hostage, were killed in an encounter in Bandipora district’s Mir Mohalla area.

“One Lashkar-e-Taiba commander is among the two militant victims,” the police said.

In Shopian district’s Imam Sahib area, security forces killed two militants following a gunfight.

In another gun battle in Sopore’s Warpora area, two militants were killed in the same site of an encounter on Thursday where two policemen were injured.

The police said the gunfight in Bandipora had ended but the two others were still going on.

All educational institutes in Sopore were closed and mobile Internet services suspended as a precautionary measure.

On Thursday, three militants were killed while seven securitymen and three civilians injured in three different gun battles in the Kashmir Valley. IANS

Washington, March 13

Sikh-Americans have urged the Indian Government to ensure that the work on the landmark Kartarpur Corridor is not impacted by the tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14.

India launched a counter-terror operation in Balakot on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured its pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1.

A delegation of eminent Sikh-Americans from various parts of the US, gathered in Washington DC on Tuesday to present a memorandum to the Indian Embassy here.

The delegation, under the banner of California-based United Sikh Mission, also met nearly half a dozen lawmakers, including two Senators and Congressman Greg Pence, elder brother of the US Vice President, Mike Pence, urging them that the US play a role a role in ensuring peace in the region.

Leaders of various Sikh organizations, including SikhsPAC from Indiana, Gadhar Memorial Foundation from Oregon, Sikh SEVA from Virginia, Sikh Religious Society from Illinois, Let’s Share a Meal from New Jersey and those from various gurdwaras formed part of the delegation.

The ongoing tension between India and Pakistan “should not slow the progress” that has been made on the implementation of the Kartarpur Corridor, said Rashpal Singh Dhindsa, founder of United Sikh Mission in a memorandum submitted to Indian Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla.

“The approval of the peace corridor is a great step in the right direction for all parties affected by this conflict. Now is the time to continue our efforts to create a peaceful resolve to this situation,” the memorandum said. PTI

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 11

With national pride becoming a pivotal issue in the General Election 2019, in Punjab Congress Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh seems to have wrested the “nationalism narrative” from the BJP and its Punjab ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Playing his cards well, he toured the state’s border areas immediately after the IAF Balakot airstrike. Taking the narrative to a whole new level, he interacted with border residents, assuring them of government help in case of any eventuality, expressing solidarity with soldiers posted at border posts as well as their families.

A day before the Modi-led Union Government “dared” Pakistan on February 26, the Punjab CM visited the families of Pulwama attack victims. Moved by the plight of the family of martyr Kulwinder Singh, who belonged to Rauli village in Ropar, he announced lifelong pension for his aged parents. 

Such gestures seems to have helped Capt Amarinder retain the goodwill of the people, preventing them from leaning towards the BJP. An ex-serviceman himself, the Chief Minister is being perceived as having said and done “the right thing, much like the PM”.  Earlier too the CM has taken a tough stand against “anti-nationals”, including separatist leaders and those funding their movements abroad.

Senior BJP leaders in Punjab have been left fretting and fuming at their party’s “political agenda” being  hijacked by the CM of a Congress-ruled state. The saffron party is contesting three seats — Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur. Two of these are border constituencies where nationalist fervour is running high post the Balakot strike. “We believed the party would benefit from the nationalism agenda. But this may not be so. We are now banking on ‘anti-incumbency’ sentiment against the Capt Amarinder government,” said a  BJP leader.

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, March 8

The BRO is gearing up to begin snow-clearance operation on the Manali-Leh highway to connect 13,050 feet high Rohtang Pass, gateway to remote Lahaul, with the picturesque valley. As soon as the weather improves, the BRO will start clearing snow from Gulaba towards Lahaul.

The pass was closed to traffic in December last because of heavy snowfall, depriving the residents of Lahaul-Spiti connectivity with the rest of the state for several months. Internal link road of Lahaul Spiti are also blocked. This has paralyzed transportation badly in the district.

Now with the weather improving, the residents of Lahaul have urged the district administration and the BRO to start snow-clearance operation on the Rohtang Pass allowing connectivity between Manali and Keylong. They have urged the Deputy Commissioner Lahaul-Spiti Ashwani Kumar Chaudhari to ask the BRO and the PWD to begin snow-clearance operation within the valley to connect link roads within the district.

Tenzin Gyaccho, a Zila Parishad member in Keylong, told The Tribune, “Due to heavy snowfall this winter, life in Lahaul-Spiti has been badly hit. All internal links roads are blocked, which is giving tough time to the people of the valley. Patients are the worst sufferers because they could not be airlifted out of the valley for medical treatment due to bad weather.

“Now as the weather has improved the people want speedy restoration of roads within the district and outside. It will be of great help to us to move in and out of the district”, he added.

The DC Lahaul-Spiti had called a meeting of BRO and PWD officials at Satingri yesterday to discuss the issue. The DC said the BRO was going to start snow clearance operation in a day or two from Satingri toward Tandi and Sissu to connect the road with the Rohtang tunnel in north portal. The tunnel can be used for transportation of tribals between Lahaul and Kullu in emergency cases. Similarly, BRO workforce and machinery is moving from Udaipur ahead toward Kolang.

Colonel Uma Shankar, BRO Commander, 38 BRTF, Manali said, “Snow clearance work on the Manali-Leh highway will start from Gulaba towards Rohtang Pass within one week depending upon the weather conditions. There is warning of snowfall in the coming days and we will observe the situation. As soon as the weather improves we will begin snow-clearance operation

njit Thakur

Doda, March 6

Nawaz Ahmed, 32, is among hundreds of youth who came to take part in a recruitment rally of the Territorial Army in Doda district.

Ahmed Hails from Kuntwara in Kishtwar district. He said, “I have participated in 13 recruitment rallies so far because I want to be a part of the Army. I wanted to participate in this recruitment rally but had no money. The imam sahab of the local mosque extended a helping hand and gave me Rs 1,500. I want to join the Army to serve my nation and also take care of my family as we hardly have any employment opportunities here.”

Sushil Shan, another youth, said, “My family is against my decision. They wanted me to do a civil job. I also got selected for one but left it to cherish by childhood dream to join the Army. I want that youth should come forward to join the armed forces to strengthen our nation.”

The Territorial Army is conducting a recruitment rally in four districts of Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and Udhampur from March 5 to 13 at the Sports Stadium, Doda.

“The enthusiasm among youth is high post the Pulwama attack. They are reaching here from the remotest areas, braving snow and cold conditions. Over 3,000 youth have participated in the rally in two days,” an official said.

“In all, 1,533 youth participated on Wednesday but only 89 managed to get selected for physical tests. Though the turnout is high, the youth are unable to clear the ground race due to lack of skills and guidance,” he said.