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Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, May 9
The Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, has stoked a major controversy after he allegedly said that the performance of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was not up to the mark.
‘Unpleasant comments’
A Commandant of the CRPF, in an internal note to his officer, has stated that the IG, Kashmir, made “unpleasant remarks” about the CRPF.
Days after a checkpoint of the CRPF was attacked by militants in Sopore sub-district of north Kashmir which left three of its men dead, J&K Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, chaired a security review meeting which was attended by IG Kashmir, all SSPs and commandants of the CRPF of north Kashmir.
A Commandant of the CRPF, who attended the meeting, in an internal note to his officer, has stated that the IG, Kashmir, made “unpleasant remarks” about the CRPF.
“The performance of the CRPF is not up to the mark. Here, all intelligence is generated by the J&K Police and operations are conducted by the Army and Rashtriya Rifles. The name of the CRPF is included just like that. This I know. I have been in the CRPF,” read the internal note from the Commandant of the 53 battalion based in Baramulla, while quoting the IGP Kashmir.
The CRPF Commandant said he did not react during the meeting.
“To avoid public embarrassment, the CRPF officer(s) did not react on the spot. However, after the meeting, we met him personally and raised objections against the unpleasant remarks about the force,” the note added.
When contacted, IGP Vijay Kumar said he had nothing to say about it.
“Ask CRPF about it,” Kumar said.
The J&K DGP Singh did not respond to calls.
There are around 50 battalions of the CRPF deployed in Kashmir and these are involved in both anti-militancy operations and law and order duties.
A top officer of the CRPF said IG Kashmir should have not said like this.
“The officer (IG Kashmir) has no business to say this about the CRPF which has lost so many lives and has been performing its duties sincerely,” he said.
Srinagar/Jammu, May 11
The Border Roads Organisation opened the Zojila and Razdan passes on the Srinagar-Leh and Bandipora-Gurez highways, respectively for traffic this year, ahead of schedule, despite the risk of COVID-19 prevailing over the world, officials said.
The 86 km-long Bandipora-Gurez road was thrown open for traffic after remaining closed for four months due to heavy snowfall at Razdan pass, which is at 11,560 feet above sea level, on April 17, over a month before it was done in previous years, they said.
Similarly, the Srinagar-Zojila-Leh road was restored after four months of closure and opened in March, whereas it was reopened by April-end last year, the BRO officials said.
Despite heavy snowfall over these passes last year, the officials said snow clearance operations were undertaken by Project Beacon of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) from Gagangir to Zero Point.
The same was done by Project Vijayak from Drass towards Zero Point to resume traffic to Leh, earlier than scheduled.
Chief Engineer, Project Beacon, Brigadier Ravi Navet said the BRO carried out the snow clearance operation on these high passes with highest degree of synchronisation and synergy of various snow-clearing equipment in the Valley.
“Our snow clearance teams started the clearance operations one month in advance. They went through a harsh environment, including biting cold, bone chilling winds and above all the avalanches which were major threats to the lives of the jawans in these high altitude passes,” Navet said.
“Our jawans had a narrow escape at occasions while these avalanches struck on Zojilla pass, but even that did not deter their determination,” he said.
“The intent was to provide early and smooth passage and ferry essential goods to the people living in Ladakh and Gurez valley,” the official said.
Brigadier Navet said the BRO teams downplayed all the risks on the ground and went ahead with its mission of opening these Himalayan passes as early as possible despite the coronavirus threat and the lockdown observed in the country.
He noted that the snow accumulation in these sectors is recorded at over 35 feet in many places and has an average height of 15 to 25 feet.
For the first time, the BRO pressed into service high tech snow cutters in the snow clearance operation at Srinagar Airport, which has enhanced our working efficiency, they said.
The chief engineer of Project Beacon said, “We cannot keep these road open throughout the winters, but we can minimise the period of road closures on these two highways through strategy, determination and modern technology.
“Both these highways are considered as lifelines of Ladakh and Gurez Valley,” he said.
“All the essential goods are ferried through these highways, providing much needed relief to the land-locked regions,” Brigadier Navet added. PTI
Lt Gen RP Singh reviews security situation in Samba and Kathua.
Our Correspondent
Jammu, May 11
Lt Gen RP Singh, Western Army Commander, visited the forward areas of the Rising Star Corps in Kathua and Samba Districts to review the security situation and operational readiness.
The Army Commander was accompanied by Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, GOC, Rising Star Corps. Lt Gen Singh interacted with the commanders of the field formations and was briefed about the operational and logistics preparedness and upgrade of security infrastructure.
The Army Commander interacted with troops and lauded them for their high morale and motivation. He also appreciated the high state of preparedness of the Rising Star Corps to thwart any threat manifested by inimical and anti national elements. Later, he commended the efforts of the formations in the fight against the ongoing Covid pandemic.
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 11
‘Mortality rate down to 1.8%’
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday pitched for the lockdown extension, but with a carefully crafted strategy backed by fiscal and economic empowerment of the states to save lives and secure livelihood.
Favouring continuation of a strict lockdown in view of the escalating Covid cases nationwide, the Chief Minister said at the videoconference with PM Narendra Modi that states needed to be given greater flexibility in micro-planning as part of a carefully planned exit strategy, encompassing both Covid containment and a defined path of economic revival.
The exit strategy should consider and focus on fiscal and economic empowerment of the states, which are responsible for the real action directly impinging upon the livelihood and social health of the common man, said the Chief Minister, suggesting that states should be allowed great flexibility in micro-planning, with MSMEs be allowed to function in red zones with proper safeguards. The decision on designating the red, orange/yellow and green zones should be left to the states, he said.
Capt Amarinder demanded urgent financial assistance to the states to meet at least 33 per cent of their committed liabilities, along with revenue grants to the states for three months to meet shortfall in revenue and to fund expenditure on Covid-19.
He called for a national strategy on Covid testing for making the battle more effective.
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 11
Each time troops of the Indian Army and Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) China clash along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or are locked in a stand-off, questions are raised about ‘aggressive behaviour’ by either side in the past few years.
Often commentators dwell upon India following a ‘forward policy’ or is China expanding to capture Ladakh, which it counts as one of the ‘five fingers’ of Tibet.
These counter strategic moves are of the 1950s and 1960s. Things have changed since 1993 — the timeline, incidentally, coincides with the economic rise of the India and China – a series of treaties, coupled with diplomacy and political directives maintain peace. The last such directive emerged from the Modi-Xi meeting at Wuhan which listed out a clear strategy to maintain peace.
On the night of May 5 and 6, Indian and Chinese troops clashed yet again in Ladakh, the second such clash in three years, besides at least six major stands-offs in the area since 2013, high-level meetings have been conducted to reduce tensions.
In the past decade or so, the Indian stance along the LAC, is not akin to Jawaharlal Nehru’s 1960-1961 “forward policy”. It only looks to hold claim lines along the LAC, a 3,488-km defacto boundary; 826 km of this is in Ladakh.
The “forward policy”, as explained by Neville Maxwell in his book “India’s China war”, entailed taking up permanent positions along the high ridgelines of eastern Ladakh as per India’s unilaterally decided boundary of 1954.
‘Five fingers’ of Tibet is what is India’s apprehension. China’s undeclared policy was made public to the outside world in early 1950s. Mao Tseung, the first Chairman cum President of China, declared Tibet to be ‘the palm of China’ whereas Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and North East Frontier Association (NEFA, modern Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh) are its five fingers and said it is China’s responsibility to ‘liberate’ them all.
India, in the past 15 years or so, has ‘militarily tailored’ its responses along 3488-km LAC, or the defacto boundary, by building infrastructure and acquiring military equipment to respond, if needed.
Undemarcated LAC is outcome of the ‘great game’, live with it
That the boundary between India and China is vexed and is not expected to be solved soon, is a reality both countries have realised. The Special Representatives on the boundary question, India is represented by National security Adviser, have held more than 20 rounds of talks.
The two Asian giants, both nuclear armed, and now leading economies, need to break away from a boundary dispute, dictated by British polices of 150-200 years ago and was the outcome of fluctuations of the British ‘forward policy’.
Ladakh was captured in 1834 by Sikh-ruler Ranjit Singh’s Army and incorporated into Jammu and Kashmir in 1846 by the British. Between 1846 and 1947, fluctuations of the British foreign policy reacting to Russian pressure held back the demarcation. Even when China sided with the British during World War I (1914-1918) the boundary question was never sorted. For almost a hundred years commencing 1815, Britain—then ruling India—and Czarist Russia expanded their respective Empires. Historians describe this as the ‘Great Game’. Treaties were inked between the two to create buffer zones.
Undecided boundaries that have been shifted several times have led to confusion. Today India and China have claims and counter claims which result in varying perception of the LAC. It all boils down to the perception of either side. Troops of both sides patrol the areas that they perceive as their own.
These variations in LAC have led to the India and China war in 1962. The two have had an armed skirmish in 1967 at Nathu La, had an eight-month long stand-off at Sumdrong Chu in north-western Arunachal Pradesh in 1986 and the 73-day stand-off at Doklam in 2017.
The British boundaries — five separate ones proposed in 1846, 1865, 1873, 1899 and 1914, which China never accepted — have no bearing on the present day situation. LAC partially adheres to one of the British-era boundaries, no more. Post 1947, there has been a proposal each from China and India but nothing happened. China proposal of 1960 to demarcate a boundary on present ‘day actualities’ was turned down by India. “Accepting that would have compromised territorial integrity,” says a book ‘History of the Conflict with China. 1962’, produced by the History Division of Ministry of Defence, and released for restricted circulation in March 1993.
As result several core disputes remain along the LAC as perception of its exact location on ground varies.
Chandigarh/ New Delhi, May 11
With the strategic Zoji La on the Srinagar-Leh national highway opening up for traffic amid the lockdown, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has been assigned the vital responsibility to escort goods trucks and fuel tankers carrying essential supplies to people located in far-flung areas of Ladakh.
The ITBP has said it had facilitated a safe passage to over 900 trucks carrying essential supplies from the icy heights of Zoji La to the frozen slopes of Kargil in the past 21 days.
Trucks carrying food and other items are reaching Kargil covering a distance of 100 km in about eight hours under security cover provided by the ITBP. — TNS
