Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 2

Admiral L Ramdas (retd), a former Navy Chief, has shot off a protest letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora against the remark ‘Modi ji ki sena’ (Modi’s Army) by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at an election rally on Sunday.

“The armed forces are not a private entity belonging to any individual or political party and, therefore, any suggestion to that effect is completely unacceptable,” Admiral Ramdas said, asking the EC to take suitable action as soon as possible to arrest such irresponsible actions.

Separately, former Haryana IAS officer MG Devasahayam has sent a message to the EC saying: “The integrity of the armed forces is being compromised with to deceive people and secure votes.” He urged the Election Commission to initiate firm steps, including the suspension of the political party concerned.

Admiral Ramdas, who lives in Maharashtra, had some three weeks ago expressed concerns about the growing “politicisation of the armed forces by political parties”. The EC had issued guidelines advising political parties to refrain from using pictures or images of armed forces in their campaigning for the General Election.

At a rally on Sunday, Adityanath, while campaigning for sitting MP and Union minister VK Singh in Ghaziabad, said: “Congress people would feed biryani to terrorists while Modi’s army gives them bullets or bombs.” The remarks have also not gone down well with the military.

“This was exactly the kind of development I was fearing when I wrote to you last month,” said Admiral Ramdas. “As one of the seniormost former Chiefs of the armed forces, I consider it my duty and responsibility to bring to your notice the fact that we, the armed forces of the country, owe our allegiance only to the Constitution of India.”

Photo for representation only.

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 12

Almost three years after 19 people lost their lives in a massive fire that had broken out at the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), Pulgaon, it has now emerged that the Army had made multiple requests to the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) for removing defective anti-tank mines from the depot but no action was taken.

A petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the widow of Lt Col RS Pawar, herself an Army officer hailing from Rohtak, has averred that the Army had in strong terms put on record that the matter was being “delayed deliberately” and “dragged unendingly”, thereby posing a serious threat to safety and security of personnel and endangering the establishment.

No effective action whatsoever was taken by the OFB, ultimately leading to the tragic blast in depot, one of the largest in Asia, on May 31, 2016, because of defective mines.

Two officers, including Lt Col Pawar, who was posthumously decorated for gallantry, and 17 others were killed and a huge stockpile of ammunition was destroyed.

Taking cognisance of the petition filed by Maj Reenu Ohlan, the high court has issued notices to the Department of Defence Production (DDP) and the OFB.

Besides seeking compensation “as the court may deem fit” from these two establishments, she has also sought action on the directions passed by the defence minister for fixing accountability and culpability in the incident and also for ensuring time-bound removal of all defective ammunition to prevent any such catastrophe in the future.

It was the mandate of technical experts from the OFB and the Quality Assurance Directorate to remove the mines categorised as defective.

The Army, which controls the CAD, is not authorised to handle such ammunition. In fact, there was another blast at CAD, Pulgaon in 2018, in which six persons were killed.

The petition states that thereafter the statutory Court of Inquiry established the lapses at various stages at the end of the OFB and directions were issued by the then defence minister in July 2016 to fix responsibility and criminal culpability and also to replace and dispose all defective ammunition.

Despite orders from the highest political executive, that the aforesaid action be taken within one month, no effective steps have been taken till date, the petition claims.

Pointing out that though the Army and the Department of Defence (DoD) in the MoD are supporting her, she has averred that there has been total apathy, negligence and indifference on part of the DDP and OFB.

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, April 1

Four local Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants were killed and four security forces personnel, including three Army men, were injured in a gunfight between security forces and militants at Lassipora in Pulwama district on Monday morning.

The injured personnel are all out of danger and are undergoing treatment at the Army’s base hospital in Srinagar.

The slain militants have been identified as Zaffar Ahmad Paul of Dangerpora in Shopian, Aqib and Kumar of Imam Sahib in Shopian, Muhammad Shafi Bhat of Sedow in Shopian and Towseef Aziz Yattoo of Lassipora in Pulwama.

Yattoo was a category ‘A’ militant and was active since 2016. The other three had joined militant ranks in late 2018 or earlier this year. Before joining the Lashkar, Kumar was part of the Al-Qaida offshoot Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.

A senior police officer said the operation was launched about 3 am following inputs about a militant hideout in the area.

“While the area was being cordoned off, the militants, who were hiding, opened indiscriminate fire, triggering a gunfight. The fire was duly retaliated,” the police officer said.

The officer said three Army men and a policeman were injured in the initial burst of fire by the militants. “They were evacuated to a hospital and are stable,” he said.

The gunfight continued for at least three hours before the militants were eliminated. The police have called the operation a clean one. They said there was no collateral damage. After identification and medico-legal formalities, the bodies of the militants were handed over to the families later in the day.

Despite curbs on civilian movement and an internet shutdown in both Pulwama and Shopian districts, thousands of people reached the villages of the militants to offer funeral prayers. A spontaneous shutdown was observed in the two districts.

Clean operation, says police

• The gunfight at Lassipora in Pulwama district on Monday morning continued for at least three hours before the four militants were eliminated
• The police have called the operation a clean one. They said there was no collateral damage

Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 11

Preparations are in full swing to commemorate the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Heavy police force has been deployed for the security arrangements. Huge pandals have been erected for the visitors coming to the holy city for paying tributes to those who attained martyrdom in the massacre.

Thousands of people from across Punjab and a number of organisations have prepared plans to pay homage to the martyrs on April 13. Being Baisakhi on the day, a huge number of devotees is expected to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple also. This has posed a great challenge for the police force.

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, AICC president Rahul Gandhi, Punjab Governor VP Badnore and CM Capt Amarinder Singh are among the dignitaries who would be visiting the Jallianwala Bagh on April 13. On the eve of the event, being organised by the Central government at the Jallianwala Bagh, a candle march, led by Capt Amarinder Singh, would be held.

In view of the huge gatherings and VVIPs visiting the memorial on Saturday, the police have urged the people to reach there in a “controlled” manner. “Elaborate security arrangements are being made considering the visits of the Vice-President, Punjab Chief Minister and Governor, besides the AICC president. We are expecting huge rush on the day. Many organisations had also announced to pay tributes to the martyrs at the memorial on the day. Therefore, we are urging the people to come in controlled manner so that nobody is inconvenienced,” said Police Commissioner SS Srivastava.

A temporary divider has been erected in the middle of Heritage Street for the smooth movement of thousand of devotees coming to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple and VVIP movement towards the Jallianwala Bagh.

Three-day photo exhibition

A three-day photo exhibition on freedom struggle at the historic garden commenced here today. Regional Outreach Bureau, Chandigarh, under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, has organised the exhibition.

New Delhi, April 8

Vice Admiral Bimal Verma on Tuesday withdrew his petition challenging the appointment of Vice Admiral Karambir Singh as the next chief of naval staff after a military tribunal told him to first explore “internal remedies”, official sources said.

Verma, commander-in-chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command, approached the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) on Monday, asking why he was overlooked as the next Navy chief despite being the senior-most in the line of command.

Sources said Verma withdrew his petition after being told by the AFT that he should first explore “internal remedies” to his grievances. It said he could again approach the tribunal if he was not satisfied with the remedies.

In his petition to the AFT here on Monday, Verma sought to know why the government ignored his seniority and appointed Vice Admiral Karambir Singh as the next Navy chief.

His petition is likely to be taken up on Tuesday.

The government last month named Singh as the next chief of naval staff, succeeding Admiral Sunil Lanba who retires on May 30.

The government made the selection following a merit-based approach and did not go with the tradition of appointing the senior-most eligible officer to the post.

Verma is senior to Singh and was among the contenders for the top post.

While appointing the Army chief in 2016, the government did not follow the long-held tradition of going by seniority. Bipin Rawat was appointed Army chief superseding then Eastern Command Chief Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi and Southern Command Chief PM Hariz.

Besides Verma, the other contenders for the Navy Chief post included Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar, FOC-in-C of Western Naval Command Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar and FOC-in-C of Southern Naval Command Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla.

Singh, who is at present serving as the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief (FOC-in-C) of the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam, will be the first helicopter pilot to become chief of naval staff. PTI

Manoj Joshi
Distinguished fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi 

A Latin phrase comes to mind, given the sudden mushrooming of chowkidars across the land: ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?’ Its closest English translation is, ‘Who will guard the guards?’ To put it in our context: Who will keep watch on our self-declared political chowkidars?

The phrase, attributed to Roman poet Juvenal, has come to be used in the context of policing a tyrannical government or demanding accountability of those in power.

PM Modi, who is very good in capturing narratives, has given his chowkidari a neat twist: Instead of accountability for the acts and omissions of his own government, he says his chowkidari is directed at the malfeasance of governments  past.

Accounting for the performance of the old watchmen is important, but surely, it is more important to know how the current lot is performing. There are charges that they allowed high-profile corporate crooks like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi to escape. Indeed, our political chowkidars pushed out the real ones, RBI Governors Raghuram Rajan and Urijit Patel, who had presented a list of high-profile fraud cases and non-performing assets to the supreme chowkidar, Narendra Modi’s office.

Then, there is the Rafale deal. Even now it is not clear as to the circumstances in which the old deal for 126 aircraft was scrapped and one for the off-the-shelf purchase of 36 came about. Junior chowkidars like the CAG have not covered themselves with glory by accepting the dubious accounting through which the deal is being made to look cheaper.   

All democratic polities have watchmen—the police, Parliament, civil society groups, RBI, CAG, Central Information Commission (CIC), National Women’s Commission (NWC), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the media, and so on.

In the watch of our self-appointed political chowkidars, police malfeasance has reached new heights. The CBI Director and Special Director slugged it out for months before the chowkidars woke up. The charges that have been flung against the top-most officers of the CBI and the CVC will put ordinary criminals to shame.

We have seen how the RBI has been undermined, the CIC, too, has been rendered toothless; CAG has bent with the wind; and the National Statistical Commission (NSC) defenestrated. Key appointments have not been made to the NWC and NHRC.

But thievery is not just about money and valuables, it is also about depriving the people of good governance, justice and national security. Here, our self-declared political chowkidars have been found wanting. Their wanton decision to demonetise the currency brought untold hardship to the entire nation, especially the poor.

Political chowkidars have always been quick to claim credit and wrap the tricolour around themselves on national security matters. But a closer accounting shows their conduct has been less than satisfactory. On their watch, J&K has seen a sharp rise in violence leading to an increase in the deaths of security personnel. Worse, indiscriminate and disproportionate violence has led to the rise of local recruitment. Alarmingly, the Pulwama bomber was a local.

Pakistani raids across the border in J&K and Punjab continued unabated despite the so-called surgical strikes of 2016. But we cannot forget the grossly incompetent handling of the Pathankot attack earlier. Despite prior information, the response was so messed up because the chowkidars in New Delhi insisted on handling them by remote control. It took four days to put down the attack by some four attackers with the loss of seven security personnel. And despite the strikes, attacks from across the border continued—Nagrota 2016, Pulwama 2017, Sunjuwan 2018, and then earlier this year again in Pulwama.

The recent events relating to Balakot and the aerial clash, too, does not quite jell with the excessive self-praise that the chowkidars have heaped on themselves. While the Air Force strike was well conceived and executed, the aerial encounter was hardly an Indian victory as is being made out. We lost one MiG-21 and an officer prisoner to the Pakistanis, and another Mi-17 helicopter and six personnel aboard to what was probably friendly fire.

Now in the fog of war this happens, but not the fact that the Indian fighters lacked the equipment or weapons to deal effectively with the Pakistani challenge. Who can we blame for this, if not the chowkidars who said they would be guarding the national turf better than the team before them?

Perhaps the most pernicious action of these watchmen has been the manner in which they have systematically undermined the status of the real chowkidars—Parliament, police, civil society, autonomous institutions like CAG, NHRC and CIC.

Civil society groups have been systematically targeted and neutered because of their critique of government policies in the name of curbing foreign funding influencing policy, yet the chowkidars had no hesitation in allowing anonymous foreign funding for political parties to come in.

The respected chairman of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence, Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd) was replaced in 2018 because of the devastating report on the sorry state of our defence system. Murli Manohar Joshi has been denied a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections because the Estimates Committee chaired by him had questioned the government’s performance on job creation.

So, what have political chowkidars achieved in the past five years? Seeking accountability from the earlier chowkidars is needed, but it is not as important as getting an accounting of the performance of our current ones.

Although the lesser beneficiary, India has never deprived Pakistan of its share of water under the Indus Waters Treaty, even when there is ample evidence to suggest that the neighbour continues to waste the precious resource. The persistent use of antiquated agricultural techniques in Pakistan has led to excessive loss of water

Lt Gen PK Grover (retd)
Former State Information Commissioner, Punjab

WATER is perhaps the most coveted resource in the world today. With a burgeoning world population and consistently increasing demand, it is also becoming a highly scarce resource, especially in the developing countries. Its misuse, overuse or wastage is a matter of global concern.

After Independence, the Indus Waters Treaty was negotiated at Pakistan’s insistence to allay the fear of water insecurity in the lower riparian state. The treaty was signed with the World Bank as facilitator on September 19, 1960.

The spirit of the treaty, as stated in the preamble, included three essential parameters — optimum utilisation of all available water in the Indus basin; to maintain goodwill and friendship; and to cooperate in future for further exploitation — which were also to be taken into consideration while approving loans to Pakistan for replacement and developmental works.

For the past over 58 years, Pakistan has been the beneficiary of 80 per cent of the water available in the Indus basin. Pakistan had also received financial assistance in creating/developing the best canal and irrigation system in the world. This amount included £62 million paid by India.

Water is becoming an existential issue for Pakistan. As per a recent report, the United Nations has estimated that Pakistan’s water supply has dropped from about 5,000 cubic metres per person in the 1950s to about 1,000 cubic metres. It is expected to fall below 700 cubic metres (international marker for water scarcity) by 2025. Pakistan is the third most water-stressed country in the world.

Pakistan has been attributing its water scarcity to Indian action of constructing hydroelectric power projects on the western rivers, a situation that would jeopardise economic growth and prove to be a health hazard for Pakistan. Broadly, the problems may be attributed to Pakistan having drawn limited benefit of India’s benevolence, despite the fact that it has been receiving more than its authorised share. As per the treaty, Pakistan was to receive 136 MAF (million acre feet) of water annually, but as per a recent report it is getting about 154 MAF.

The treaty was signed with undivided Pakistan to provide requisite food security. Thus, the interests of erstwhile East Pakistan were also part of this agreement. Even though India has a separate treaty with Bangladesh, Pakistan continues to get more than its authorised share of water under fundamentally changed circumstances and with no justification for declining per capita water availability.

It can be inferred that optimal utilisation of water has been overlooked. This is most evident in the case of inefficient use of water for irrigation by Pakistan as almost 80 per cent of the water is used for low-value agricultural production. Moreover, for an irrigated agricultural area of 36 million acres, out of an average 104 MAF of river flows diverted for canal irrigation, a considerable amount of water is lost in conveyance and in its field applications. Water loss in field applications is due to lack of coordination between agriculture and irrigation departments. Incidentally, Pakistan is also permitting about 39.4 MAF of fresh water, worth approximately $25 billion, to flow into the Arabian Sea annually as it does not have enough reservoirs or dams to store water. Views regarding mismanagement of water have been expressed on the floor of Pakistan’s Senate on a number of occasions.

The treaty had been worked out on the assumption of 75 per cent cropping intensity. However, Pakistan has crossed 160 per cent in 2018, resulting in utilising about 95 per cent of the available water for agriculture alone. Further, the continued use of traditional and antiquated agricultural techniques has also led to the non-judicious use and excessive loss of water. As a result, the yield per hectare of cereal crops continues to be consistently low even when the most fertile lands are available in the interfluves (doabs) of the rivers.

Another vital use of the waters is for hydroelectric power generation, but here too Pakistan has lagged in optimal and judicious utilisation. Globally, most countries generate 80 per cent of their power requirements from their installed infrastructure, but Pakistan’s generation capacity only meets 65 per cent of the needs due to old plants, poor maintenance and circular debt. As per the World Energy Council Report 2016, Pakistan has an installed capacity of 6,481 MW of hydropower from all plants on the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab and Kabul rivers. The overall power deficiency of about 3,000 MW is made up by importing power from Iran, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

There is great reduction (about 33 per cent) in the storage capacity at the facilities developed at Tarbela, Mangala and Chasma for 17.79 MAF. This is primarily on account of excessive sedimentation. Pakistan has water storage capacity just for 30 days (indicating a paltry 150 cubic metres per person) against the minimum requirement of 120 days, while most of the developed countries have one-two years’ water storage capability.

It is apparent that this situation is now being exploited by Pakistan by approaching various world forums. India has all along adhered to the provisions of the treaty in letter and spirit. Although the lesser beneficiary, India has never deprived Pakistan of its share of water under the treaty, even when there is ample evidence to suggest that Pakistan continues to waste it, which can be stopped by being sensitive to the need of achieving optimum level of utilising this fast-depleting resource through improved infrastructure, better management and awareness. The question remains: should Pakistan be allowed to continue wasting the Indus waters and converting a renewable resource into a non-renewable one?

Ishfaq Tantry & Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, April 8

A day after civilian movement on the 270-km Baramulla-Srinagar-Udhampur National Highway was barred to secure the safe passage of security forces’ convoys, the Army and other forces’ convoys continued to ply on the highway in Kashmir today, prompting the people to question the logic behind the bi-weekly ban.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted a video of convoys plying on Monday despite two days being reserved specifically for their passage on the highway, which serves as a lifeline.

“If it is safe for SF convoys to move on Monday without closing the highway to civilian traffic, why is it not safe on Wednesdays and Sundays?

Nothing proves the mindlessness of the order more than the Army movement on ‘unsafe’ days. This road is part of the highway by the way,” he said in one of the tweets.

Throughout Monday, the Army convoys were seen plying along the Baramulla-Qazigund stretch, raising questions as the government had on April 3  notified Sunday and Wednesday for forces’ movement every week, restricting civilian traffic movement on the highway on these two designated days.  

An Army official who wished not to be named said that the ban was imposed not based on the inputs of Army, as Army requires to ply convoys on all days.

Besides, sources in police also alluded to this fact that plying convoys on exclusive days without civilian traffic on highway would make them (convoys) more prone to attacks by militants.

In fact, during the 2016 unrest following Burhan Wani’s killing,  the Army used to ply convoys during night hours, but the militants had attacked one such convoy in Baramulla, in which two personnel and a police driver was killed. Later, the Army decided to ply convoys during day time.

Apart from the Army, CRPF and BSF convoys also plied along the highway today. “The Army will ply their vehicles all the days except Friday,” a defence official said.