Sanjha Morcha

Amarinder announces ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh, job to family member of slain soldier Rajwinder Singh hailed from Goindwal village

Amarinder announces ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh, job to family member of slain soldier

Chandigarh, August 30

Punjab Chief Minister  Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh and a government job to a family member of Naib Subedar Rajwinder Singh, who was killed in unprovoked firing by Pakistan troops along the LoC in Rajouri.

The soldier of 1 Sikh Light Infantry unit was seriously injured in the firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. He later succumbed to the injuries.

Paying homage to the slain soldier and extending his sympathy to the bereaved family, the chief minister in a statement said that Rajwinder Singh was a brave and highly motivated soldier.

The nation will always remain indebted to him for his supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty, he said.

Rajwinder Singh, whose father late Havildar Jagir Singh also served in the army, hailed from Goindwal village of Tarn Taran district near Amritsar.

He is survived by his mother, wife Manpreet Kaur, son Jobanjeet Singh (16) and daughter Pawanpreet (15), a state government statement said. — PTI


JCO dies in Pak shelling, hailed from Amritsar Punjab CM announces Rs 50L ex gratia and job for a family member

JCO dies in Pak shelling, hailed from Amritsar

aib Subedar Rajwinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 30

A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) was today killed in fresh shelling by Pakistan troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri district.

According to official sources, Pakistan resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation using small arms at Khanger, Kalsian and Bhawani along the LoC.

“Our troops responded to the enemy fire. In the incident, a Naib Subedar was critically injured and later succumbed to his injuries,” said Lt Col Devender Anand, PRO (Defence), Jammu.

The deceased soldier was identified as Naib Subedar Rajwinder Singh, a resident of Goindwal Sahib village in Amritsar’s Khadoor Sahib tehsil. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

This is the eighth casualty due to shelling in Poonch and Rajouri over the past three months


Honest conversation on Ladakh standoff

A way forward could be to move beyond the concept of LAC as such in the areas of standoff and work on a concept of buffer zone in some areas that are without human population or obvious natural geomorphological features. This would mean going beyond the traditional ‘border line’ approach to a method of delimiting the disputed ‘border belt’.

Honest conversation on Ladakh standoff

Core Issue: How did the departure from the India-China agreements and understandings occur?

MK Bhadrakumar

Former Ambassador

The remarks by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in an interview to a news portal last week regarding the standoff with China bore the sweet scent of rain on parched earth. His emphasis that the government is looking for a solution through diplomacy comes in bleak circumstances.

For, the one area where the Indian and Chinese narratives seem to converge is that a stalemate has developed in the military standoff in eastern Ladakh that might continue into the winter. A race of attrition apparently lies ahead. Therefore, the EAM’s remarks are reassuring. A military option doesn’t really exist, given the state of the Indian economy, the raging pandemic and the great suffering in our country. The best are lacking conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity.

The EAM pointed out that when it comes to finding a solution to the standoff, this must be ‘predicated on honouring all agreements and understandings. And not attempting to alter the status quo unilaterally.’ He could have framed it differently — that status quo ante must be restored, territorial sovereignty is non-negotiable and so on. But he chose not to. The EAM, instead, approached the paradigm from a creative angle.

This is important since, according to reports, he is likely to meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, within a fortnight in Moscow. And our Russian friends are reportedly setting up other high-level meetings at the political level in the period ahead, including possibly a summit.

The core issue here is: how did the departure from agreements and understandings occur? We tend to chalk up early May as the departure point when the ground beneath the feet began shifting. Per Chinese narratives, though, the departure occurred somewhat earlier and on multiple templates.

The Chinese side holds the view that the basic ‘consensus’ reached at the two informal summits between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi — that neither side regarded the other in adversarial terms — was side-stepped, the implication being that Indian diplomacy careened away in a direction with a pronounced anti-China orientation displaying antipathy or animus.

In this context, the EAM’s remarks are particularly relevant when he says that India takes a clinical view of its own interests and does not get entangled in the discords of others — while referring to the US tensions with China. The EAM also emphatically stated elsewhere in the interview, ‘India is and will always be an extremely independent polity. The manner in which it pursues its interests will reflect that basic character.’ This important statement should allay Chinese apprehensions.

Meanwhile, another template pertains to India’s unilateral moves in August last year when it annulled Article 370 of the Constitution, ending the autonomy of J&K and splitting J&K into two entities to bring them directly under the jurisdiction of the Central government.

Of course, we also drew up a new map showing areas of Aksai Chin (which is under China’s actual control and where British India never exercised its jurisdiction) as part of Ladakh. Beijing regards these unilateral Indian moves on the ground and on the map as a violation of the political consensus between the two countries.

Indeed, Beijing robustly protested that India has unilaterally changed the status quo, but Delhi disregarded it. In the Chinese narrative, India’s move to change the status quo in Ladakh obliged the PLA to take countermeasures, while taking into account the Indian Army’s infrastructure build-up near the LAC in eastern Ladakh. For sure, in the prevailing hyper-nationalism endemic to both countries, the border issues touch sensitive chords of national psyche and impact the trajectory of the bilateral relationship.

Clearly, there has to be sincerity of purpose and a need to approach the political settlement of the border issues with realism and a sense of urgency. Needless to say, an unemotional view of the northern border is needed. China never accepted the LAC under the 1993 agreement either on the map or on the ground in eastern Ladakh.

Equally, the Chinese claim line of 1959 — which is based on the McCartney-MacDonald Line that British India presented to the Chinese government in Peking in 1899 with a diplomatic note and which they never repudiated — is unlikely to be given up. That claim line safeguards the security of the Chinese Highway 219, vital for linking Xinjiang and Tibet, and for an effective control over Tibet.

The core issue when it comes to disengagement, which is an urgent necessity, is the Chinese contention that after the 1962 war, whereas the PLA withdrew from its claim line in Ladakh by 20 km with a view to creating a demilitarised zone, the Indian Army has since been incrementally occupying that territory, and, therefore, India needs to vacate that territory. We, of course, prefer to affirm by our 1993 perception of the LAC in eastern Ladakh (although China never accepted such a line on a map or on the ground).

Conceivably, a way forward could be to move beyond the concept of LAC as such in the areas of standoff and work on a concept of buffer zone in some areas that are without human population or obvious natural geomorphological features.

This would mean going beyond the traditional ‘border line’ approach to a method of delimiting the disputed ‘border belt’. This seems to be one realistic way the disengagement can be completed, and peace and tranquility ensured in eastern Ladakh on a sustainable basis.

Suffice to say, the subtle alchemy of the border standoff couldn’t have been captured more succinctly than in EAM’s exhortation that we need ‘honest conversations… among Indians and between India and China. That is why this relationship requires both a strategy and a vision.


Sikh lists on British Army homepage

Sikh lists on British Army homepage

Chamandeep, whose father was with the Indian Army, was born in Punjab and attended a military school in India for 12 years.

Kolkata: Featuring of a Sikh soldier on the homepage of the British Army website has gladdened Sikhs, many of whom are posting the link on their Facebook pages.

“The Sikhs, wherever they go, leave a mark by their good work. Chamandeep’s story also shows how versatile the community members are,” said Jagmohan Singh Gill, Punjabi Sahitya Sabha chief.

“Sikhs have been an integral part of the British Army. It is good to see the story of a Sikh soldier on the British Army homepage,” said Bhupinder Singh Bashar, a poet. — TNS


PM Modi lauds brave Army dogs Sophie, Vida Urges citizens to adopt dogs of Indian breed

PM Modi lauds brave Army dogs Sophie, Vida

New Delhi, August 30

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his monthly radio address “Mann ki Baat” on Sunday lauded the country’s canine brigade and specifically mentioned about two dogs — “Sophie” and “Vida”. The two brave dogs were awarded the Chief of Army Staff’s Commendation Cards on August 15.

Sophie and Vida received this honour because they performed their duties diligently while protecting their country, the PM said.

Military sources said Vida, belonging to an Army dog unit under Udhampur-headquartered Northern Command, was instrumental in the timely detection of five mines and one grenade buried underground, preventing possible casualties and injuries to soldiers.

Sophie of the Special Frontier Force (bomb disposal squad) saved lives by sniffing out the presence of initiator/accelerant which could have been hastily used to fabricate an IED (improvised explosive device), they said.

“Such canines have played a very important role in thwarting numerous bomb blasts and terrorist conspiracies,” PM Modi said.

In the past one year, Army dogs have contributed to 53 successful missions for the Indian Army, including tracking of terrorists and recovering individuals from snow-bound areas. The PM also exhorted those planning to raise a pet dog to adopt one from the Indian breeds, saying they are “very good and capable”. — TNS


Army Air Defence changes Raising Day Will now match with the date the unit was raised by the British

New Delhi, August 30

Eighty years after the first unit of the Army Air Defence (AAD) was raised during the British rule in Mumbai, the Corps of the AAD has decided to change its Raising Day to match it with the date the unit was raised by the British.

The AAD will now observe its Raising Day on September 15, instead of January 10.

It was on January 10, 1989, that the Corps AAD was bifurcated from the Corps Artillery and was formed as a separate unit.

In July 1940, Sir Claude Auchinleck, commander-in-chief of the British Indian Armed Forces, took a decision to raise anti-aircraft units in India with Indian troops.

On 15 September, 1940, a group of British officers under Major RA Ronald raised the 1st Technical Training Battery. This group formed the nucleus of the 1st Indian anti-air regiment at Colaba, Mumbai. Immediately, a unit was dispatched to defend oilfields in Digboi, Assam. The remaining troops sailed to Malaya and Singapore to protect assets against the anticipated Japanese onslaught.

In the last days of the World War II (1939-45), the British army overran Burma in May 5, 1945. The Indian anti-aircraft regiments played role in keeping the air space clear and won gallantry awards. The heaviest concentration of the anti-aircraft guns in the British Army outside Britain was with the Indian command.

The AAD had played an active role during the 1965, 1971 and Kargil wars. — TNS


Former President Pranab Mukherjee dies at 84 Son announces death in a tweet

Former President Pranab Mukherjee dies at 84

Former President Pranab Mukherjee has suffered a septic shock in the course of his lung infection treatment.

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 31

Former President Pranab Mukherjee died at 84 on Monday, his son announced on Twitter.

“With a heavy Heart, this is to inform you that my father Shri Pranab Mukherjee has just passed away inspite of the best efforts of doctors of RR Hospital & prayers,duas & prarthanas from people throughout India ! I thank all of you. His son, Abhijeet Mukherjee, said.

Army Research and Referral Hospital said in a bulletin on earlier on Monday that the ex- President’s condition has declined since yesterday.

“There is a decline in the medical condition of Shri Pranab Mukherjee since yesterday. He is in septic shock due to his lung infection and is being managed by team of specialists. He continues to be in deep coma and on ventilator support,” said doctors.

Mukherjee was admitted to the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi Cantonment on August 10 and was operated for removal of a clot in the brain the same day.

He had also tested positive for COVID-19.

He developed a lung infection later and is being treated at the hospital.

Pranab Mukherjee was the 13th President of India from 2012 to 2017.


China violates Ladakh truce, tries to change status quo near Pangong Tso lake; India pre-empts activity

China violates Ladakh truce, tries to change status quo near Pangong Tso lake; India pre-empts activity

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 31

Fresh tensions have erupted between India and China. This time at the South Bank of Pangong Tso, a 135 km glacial melt lake, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.

The incident occurred on the night intervening August 29 and August 30, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday morning.

“The Peoples Liberation Army carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo (at the LAC). Indian troops pre-empted this activity on the Southern Bank of Pangong Tso and undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on ground,” read the MoD statement.

Brigade Commander-level Flag Meeting is in progress at Chushul along the LAC to resolve the issues.

The Army has so far not responded to questions on injuries or any casualties in the incident. Sources, however, said additional troops had been rushed to the spot and the surrounding areas.

This action by the PLA troops violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements following the standoff in Eastern Ladakh since May this year.

The Indian Army is committed to maintaining peace and tranquility through dialogue, but is also equally determined to protect its territorial integrity, said the MoD.

Since May, there had been clashes at Galwan Valley and North bank of Pangong Tso. The South Bank of the lake has multiple Indian Army posts. The one at Thakung is smack along the LAC.  From Thakung a route leads to Chushul.