The yatra commenced on July 25 and was scheduled to end on September 5. File photo

Jammu, August 3

The 43-day long ‘Machail Mata Yatra’ in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir was suspended on Saturday due to security reasons, officials said.

Authorities have asked people not to start the yatra and those on the way should leave and get back.

“The yatra has been suspended with immediate effect due to security reasons,” Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar Angrez Singh Rana said.

The yatra commenced on July 25 and was scheduled to end on September 5.

Thousands of devotees from across the country visit the scenic Paddar valley, also famous for its sapphire mines, during the yatra and pay obeisance at the holy shrine of goddess Durga in Machail village of Kishtwar after trekking a 30-km arduous route.

Kishtwar, which was declared terrorism-free over a decade ago, was rattled by the killing of state secretary of BJP Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet Parihar on November 1 last year, followed by assassination of senior RSS leader Chanderkant Sharma and his security guard inside a health centre on April 9.

The annual Amarnath Yatra has already been suspended due to security reasons. PTI

JAYADEVA RANADE
President, Centre for China Analysis and Strategy

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s scheduled visit to India this October, as a follow-up to the first informal working meeting with PM Modi at Wuhan in April last year, comes at a time when he is under growing domestic and international pressure. Domestically, dissatisfaction is spreading inside China because of the rise in the cost of living, an almost 23% slowdown of the economy in dollar terms, closure of factories, retrenchments and unemployment and the imposition of stringent controls on academia and society.

Jinping’s decision in 2017 to ignore the retirement age limits for elevation of cadres to the top echelons of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), consensus on which was reached over two decades ago, has angered many party members and others who say they do not want a return to Mao’s era of ‘one-man rule’.

The US-China trade war has accentuated Jinping’s difficulties. It has contributed to the economic slowdown and US and European curbs on the purchase of dual-use hi-tech products by Chinese companies will probably delay the ‘Made in China-2025’ programme announced by Jinping at the 19th Party Congress in 2017, by some years. The US and West are additionally pushing back on the BRI, a major Chinese geopolitical initiative backed by Jinping. 

The US has prohibited 68 Chinese companies, and another 144 companies linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), from purchasing dual-use hi-tech components from US companies, thereby adversely impacting China’s fast-growing technology companies that have seen shares plummet. The market share, for example, of mobile phone handsets sold by China’s Huawei has dropped 48%. Huawei is under pressure as the US has brought extradition proceedings against its founder Ren Zhengfei’s daughter, who is the CFO. The US is persuading allies not to purchase Huawei’s 5G technology as it would compromise their security. Higher tariffs on Chinese goods have also slowed exports to the US and products are piling up in warehouses.

Some former ministers, senior party cadres, ‘princelings’ and strategic experts have advised that to counter and ease US pressure, it would be prudent at this juncture to revert to Deng Xiaoping’s policy of ‘lie low, bide your time’. They have recommended relaxing assertive policies on the South China Sea and with Taiwan, India, etc. Advice to strive for a compromise with the US has, however, been met with two stern articles by Xinhua in June, hitting out at ‘those who choose to surrender to the United States’ in the trade war. 

The situation has become more complex since June 9, with the inordinately protracted troubles in Hong Kong, which appear to have caught the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Beijing by surprise. News of the developments has been blocked inside China, but Hu Xijin, Chief Editor of Global Times, a subsidiary of People’s Daily, commented that the Hong Kong protests were a malicious action by opposition groups in Hong Kong with Western support. More interesting, and reflecting the backroom power-play underway in Beijing, is the difference in coverage of developments by the Chinese language media. Some media outlets speculate that former Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s faction is behind the trouble.

Meanwhile, preparing the ground for the Modi-Jinping summit, China’s ambassador Sun Weidong on July 21, in carefully worded comments, indicated that Beijing was in no hurry to resolve the issue. He repeated it was ‘a legacy left over from history’, adding that ‘before we finally come to a solution to this boundary dispute, we have to properly manage our differences so as to ensure peace and tranquillity in border areas’. He also appeared to exempt China’s actions along the border by saying ‘we should not allow some individual incidents to disrupt the long-term relationship’. The reference becomes pertinent in view of the incident involving Chinese personnel in civilian clothes intimidating villagers of Koyul in Ladakh on July 6, when they were celebrating the Dalai Lama’s birthday. Urgain Chodon, head of Koyul village, posted photographs on Facebook of 11 Chinese personnel standing next to their vehicle with the five-star flag and a banner emblazoned with the words ‘All activities to separate Tibet are prohibited.’ She said residents of Koyul have been celebrating the Dalai Lama’s birthday for years, but this is the first time such action has been taken. The Army Chief, however, clarified that the Chinese had not intruded.

This is the first time that China has combined the issues of the Dalai Lama and the China-India border issue in such a manner. The action was intended to convey an implicit warning to Tibetans in India. China, incidentally, lays claim to Ladakh. The incident has taken place just months before Jinping’s proposed visit to India, and its location suggests the likely involvement of Chinese military authorities.

Separately, the official Global Times on July 30 picked up on US President Trump’s offer to mediate on Kashmir and quoted China’s ministry of foreign affairs as ‘expressing support to the international community, including the US, to play a constructive role in improving India-Pakistan relations’. Stating that many countries had tried to mediate between India and Pakistan but India had rejected the offers, it asked India not to ignore the international community. The developments clearly indicate there will be negligible forward movement on the border issue and no softening in China’s stance on India, though trade, etc., will be discussed. But the issue of the Dalai Lama will be on Jinping’s agenda. He will also emphasise that India must improve ties with Pakistan and, in this context, probably raise the Kashmir issue with an offer to mediate.

Arun Joshi

Srinagar, August 2

It was darkness in the afternoon for Kashmir as an “advisory” by the state government on Friday asked Amarnath pilgrims and tourists to leave the Valley in light of an impending terror threat directed at them. But such terror threats are a given in Kashmir where armed militancy and counter-insurgency operations have been going on for the past 30 years. The yatra was never disrupted in this manner, nor tourists asked to return to their homes at the earliest.

Kashmir has seen worse times but such steps were never taken in the past 30 years of high militancy in the Valley, even when tourists and pilgrims were actually attacked in 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2007. These steps announced to save the visitors from terrorists and their lethal intentions amid speculation on the Centre delivering on its oft-stated stance on doing away with Article 370 and Article 35A, that grant special status to J&K and exclusive rights to owning immovable property and jobs in the state, plunged the Valley into a literal abyss, as it braced for tough days ahead.

Such steps were not announced even during the Kargil war. In those days, the state government had launched a campaign, beckoning tourists underlining “Kashmir is safe”. But today, it was declared unsafe for tourists and pilgrims.

It is a never-before phenomenon as the annual Himalayan pilgrimage was never shut down and the pilgrims asked to leave, and that too surprisingly when the government was boasting that the yatra had broken the past four years’ record, the pilgrim footfall having crossed three lakh in less than a month. And before and after the start of the pilgrimage on July 1, it was claimed the security arrangements for the pilgrims were “fool-proof”. This time, the security arrangements included a ban on all but pilgrim traffic on the highway for five hours every day

“If this unprecedented magnitude of the security measures is not enough to secure pilgrims and tourists from terror attacks, then what will,” asked a group of pilgrims while looking for transport to go back home.

Soon after the state’s Home Ministry order appeared on the social media, security personnel started alighting from vehicles in full anti-riot dress even as people scurried to ATMs, petrol stations and thronged grocery stores.

None knew what for these  arrangements were being put in place . The speculation ranged from the much-talked-about doing away with Article 35 A to plans change the state’s political map in which the  Valley and Ladakh were to become Union Territories and Jammu a separate state. Driving through congested roads amid people rushing back to their homes, drivers asked one another, “What’s going to happen?”. They then moved their hands as if praying for peace.

Tourists who had started arriving, and some of them  came even  in the last flight that landed in Srinagar this evening, were told there was an advisory to return to their homes as soon as possible.

This was a body blow to the tourist season that had started picking up after a long spell after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed .

With the mystery surrounding on the purpose of such an exercise, fears have deepened in the Valley,  and it is looking at dark times ahead.

Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 31

The Punjab Police are carrying out a massive cordon and search operation (CASO) across the state to tackle drugs. Under focus are 125 sites, identified as havens for smugglers and addicts — the first such mapping of drugs ever.

Not just nakas, border areas, bus terminals, railway stations and airports, the police have spread deep into the hinterland and in cities, searching homes, fields and riverine belts along the border with Himachal Pradesh from where smugglers are known to flee to the hill state during raids. “CASO is our special project to get to the root of the problem,” says DGP Dinkar Gupta. The move, initiated in June, has picked up pace in  the past two weeks.

Along with teams of the Special Task Force (STF), district police teams are going door-to-door, also covering isolated houses in border belts, slums and downtown areas frequented by addicts. As many as 663 persons have been arrested and 406 FIRs filed so far. On Tuesday, the Ferozepur police found 2 kg heroin in a plastic bottle near the banks of a river in Nihala Kilcha village along the Pakistan border.

The DGP says the raids are neither random, nor a shot in the dark. “These are information-based. We have received immense cooperation from the people. They have come out to inform us about hideouts in their areas.”

Intelligence reports are being prepared on the basis of clues provided by the public on helpline 181.

“We receive about 25-30 calls every day,” say officials. The name of the informer is kept confidential. “The police act on complaints after due verification,” they say, adding they received 1,930 tips/information on this helpline in the past two months.

The information is processed and subsequently the raids are planned, many of which have yielded big recoveries. Nearly 40 complaints have been converted into FIRs. A clue from the public last month led to the recovery of 4.5 kg of heroin from Tarn Taran. Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Amneet Kondal says these raids are not about the quantity of recovery, but about breaking the drug supply chain. “It was not easy. It took time to win the trust of the public. After a series of meetings, they gradually opened up, providing the police with valuable inputs on specific areas where the peddlers and addicts meet.

“We came across a retired government employee, whose both sons are hooked on drugs.The leg of one of them had to be amputated. We are trying to rehabilitate the brothers,” she says.

On Sunday, 800 cops from Mansa recovered 227 gm heroin and 15 kg ganja and other intoxicants from various places and arrested 20 persons. Prior to that on June 29, the Customs made the biggest ever recovery of 532 kg of heroin and 52 kg of another narcotic at the Attari check post in Amritsar. “Every drug addict has to be monitored daily. The questioning of most peddlers reveal they are addicts too.

The work is monstrous. Studies show 12.5 lakh persons in the state are addicts. It is not easy to wean them away. Police can cut the supply but smugglers always find a way to reach addicts,” says the DGP.

Will cooperate, says Kangra SP 

Dharamsala, July 31

There has been a spurt in cases registered under the NDPS Act in Kangra district — 270 so far this year,  the highest-ever. As many as 311 drug peddlers, including 42 women,  have been arrested in the district.

Kangra SP Vimukt Ranjan says, “We will cooperate with Punjab Police.” The Kangra police have nabbed 90 per cent peddlers from areas bordering Pathankot. The Himachal police say most synthetic drugs are coming from Punjab and J&K.

Rakesh Pathania, BJP MLA from Nurpur, has been demanding a police district be set up in Nurpur.  — TNS

Armymen pay tribute to Gorkha Rifles soldier Rajib Thapa, who was killed in a ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir, at Palam Air Force Station in New Delhi on Saturday

While a final call is yet to be taken on ARTRAC’s new location, the proposed structural changes in the training command are currently being finalised.

New Delhi: The Army Training Command (ARTRAC) in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, is set to undergo several structural changes, including creation of two different training wings and a separate validation wing for approving training standards, besides a possible location change, ThePrint has learnt.

Set up on the lines of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command, the ARTRAC is one of the seven commands of the Indian Army tasked with formulating training modules, disseminating doctrines of warfare in the “fields of strategy, operational art, tactics, logistics, training and human resource development”.

According to top Army sources, while a final call is yet to be taken on the new location of the ARTRAC, which is likely to be in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, the proposed structural changes in the training command are currently being finalised.

DGMT likely to be merged with ARTRAC

The proposed changes also feature merging the Directorate General of Military Training (DGMT) into the ARTRAC — as both have similar functions.

The DGMT, currently, is responsible for the execution of training plans for operations as well as for joint training.

The changes also involve creation of two separate training wings in ARTRAC, as against one that currently exists, a well-placed source told ThePrint.

The first training wing would be tasked with training officers after being commissioned into the Army such as joint training-related courses with foreign Armies or the ones with the Indian Air Force or the Navy. The second training wing, meanwhile, would be focused on pre-commission training and training of recruits in regimental centres and professional military education.

A new validation wing is also likely to be set up, which will advise General Officer Commanding in Chief of ARTRAC on validation of field formations, and Category A and Category B training institutions.

Category A training includes training conducted in Indian Military Academy, while Category B refers to those conducted in regimental centres, among others.

Two separate wings on coordination and administration also feature in the proposed restructuring plan of ARTRAC.

Other existing wings in ARTRAC such as the ones for studying and preparing various warfare doctrines, and for studies and research on foreign militaries and their training modules will continue to exist.

Also read: The 3 major reforms for Indian Army restructuring and what they will mean for the force

Greater synergy in ARTRAC

A separate vertical under ARTRAC will be located at Army headquarters for planning and approval of major proposals, while sports activities will be separated from training and put under under the deputy chief IS&T (Information Systems and Training).

Over 100 officers will be posted at the ARTRAC, a second source said, adding that the idea is to bring more synergy into the functioning of ARTRAC. Each vertical will be headed by a Major General-rank officer, including the new ones that are likely to come up.

Last month, confusion about the shifting of ARTRAC from Shimla had cropped up after Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik responded with a categorical “No, Sir” in the Rajya Sabha to a question on whether the government had decided on relocating ARTRAC from Shimla to Meerut.

The first senior Army official quoted above, however, said that the general consensus about ARTRAC’s new location is Meerut, even though the formal proposal is yet to be finalised.

ThePrint had earlier reported that the plan to shift ARTRAC out of Shimla was being opposed vehemently by politicians and retired army officers in Himachal Pradesh, who questioned the rationale of shifting ARTRAC out of Shimla.

In an opinion piece written for ThePrint earlier this month, retired Army officer Lt General HS Panag had even listed out the various problems that ATRAC is grappling with, including lack of research scholars, a need to place the Recruitment Directorate under the ARTRAC and a lack of validation of training standards and professional military education, among others.

The defence ministry had this week approved three major reforms for the Army headquarters.

However, sources say that unless the restructuring is approved in totality, it won’t be possible to implement the restructuring plan at all. The proposed restructuring of Army headquarters came on the recommendations of the Army itself.

The Indian Army recently – and after a considerable period of time – made use of Bofors artillery guns to unhinge the nefarious designs of Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT).

The guns were brought into use on July 31 and August 1 when the Indian forces hit back against BAT squads trying to infiltrate Indian territory. The attempts had been made in the Keran Sector of Jammu and Kashmir. It is reported that while at least five Pakistani soldiers were killed, the Bofors guns were also used to target BAT posts giving their personnel covering fire. As many as five attempts made by BAT teams to enter Indian territory were foiled.

Tensions along the Line of Control has increased in recent days with Pakistan violating the ceasefire repeatedly. Sources have revealed that while BAT commandos were attempting to cross into the Keran Sector in their attempts at possibly targeting Indian positions here, the return fire was unforgiving and such that the personnel from across the LoC had to beat a hasty retreat. It is suspected that among the Pakistani security personnel were also several terrorists. “Security forces will continue to respond to all nefarious activities along the LoC,” the Northern Command had said in a statement.

Pakistan’s most-recent attempts at disrupting peace and order in Jammu and Kashmir comes in the backdrop of the firm and affirmative action taken by Indian agencies to check terror as well as terror funding. Separatists in Jammu and Kashmir too have had it tough over the past several months and continue to remain under radar.

With such prevailing situations, Pakistan has resorted to violating ceasefire by indulging in unprovoked firing. Indian forces have retaliated severely and the use of Bofors artillery guns in the recent past points to the fact that the disruptive messages from across the LoC would only be met with an even more scorching response.