Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 9

As the impasse between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh is likely to continue through the winter, with the Army working on the employment of heli-kites and mini-aerostats for surveillance of mountain passes.

Movement in high altitude areas gets severely restricted in the winter due to heavy snow which affects the operational deployment and manning of forward positions in the eastern as well as western theatres. There are several high passes and other viable ingress routes in the vicinity of the LAC.

According to Army sources, there is a need to keep passes in the region under surveillance at all times and aerial platforms equipped, with day and night cameras, and thermal imagers, along with recording and transmitting facilities, are the best option. The project is being overseen by the Directorate General of Artillery at Army Headquarters.

“No doubt movement in these areas becomes extremely difficult in high snow during winters and troop deployment along the LAC on both sides thins out, but this time the situation is different,” an officer said. “The possibility of some activity from the other side or even the use of special forces at some specific points cannot be ruled out,” he added.

Constant surveillance of areas of interest is an operational necessity which needs to be ensured. The information gained on enemy activities and build up defines the threat perception and formulation of appropriate counter-measures, but without effective aerial surveillance it is difficult to achieve, sources said.

The Army is open to the private industry developing heli-kites or mini aerostats to meet its requirements. Given the operating altitude, which may be above 20,000 feet, depth or surveillance required and other operational parameters, commercially available systems may not fit the bill. Equipment would have to be designed or modified as per the required specifications.

Heli-kite is a combination of a helium balloon and a kite to form an aerodynamically sound tethered aircraft that uses both wind and helium for its lift. They have military as well as civilian applications and are used for aerial photography, lifting antennas, radio-relay, surveillance, advertising, agricultural bird-control and meteorology. An aerostat is a lighter-than-air aircraft that gains its lift through the use of a buoyant gas like helium hydrogen. Aerostats can be powered or unpowered balloons.

The Army is already using small drones for local surveillance and tactical intelligence gathering. Drones, however, require active flying control by operators and their flying time, range and altitude are limited. Tethered heli-kites or aerostats, on the other hand, can be raised to greater heights, carry heavier payload and remain aloft longer, even for days at a stretch.

China is known to have deployed aerostats in Tibet for surveillance. In 2007 and 2008, the Indian Air Force also procured two aerostats from Israel and later projected a requirement for up to eight more such platforms.

Maj Gen Ashok K Mehta (retd)

Military commentator

INDIA-NEPAL relations are at their lowest point after the 2015 economic blockade following the promulgation of Nepal’s new Constitution which India did not welcome. Fortunately, the light at the end of the tunnel, the lodestar of ties, is in the hands of India’s most trusted and reliable constituency outside the political battleground of Kathmandu valley, the Indian Army Gorkhas and the ex-servicemen community. They make up for the growing anti-India sentiment in Nepal driven by ultranationalism and a Left-leaning government. The Gorkha connect is as strong as it is stable in a country where hardy youth still flee their homes to become Lahure, the mythical mantra which transforms stout-hearted mountain lads into fearsome khukuri-wielding warriors. Starting 1809, they would trek to Lahore to join Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Sikh army, creating a formidable Gurkha-Sikh martial force much before the British East India Company began recruiting them after the Anglo-Gurkha war (1814-15). Even today, soldiers of fortune are called Lahure. A more than 200-year-old legacy of valour and affection, acclaimed by 12 Victoria Crosses, made the Lahure the loved Johnny Gurkha to the British.

At the time of Independence, British Gurkhas became Indian Gorkhas and for the first time, officered by Indians. A tripartite agreement of 1947 between the UK, India and Nepal regulated the recruitment, pay, pension and terms of service of Gorkhas recruited into three sovereign countries. The bulk of the Gurkha regiments volunteered to join the Indian Army, growing to 43 infantry battalions (45,000 combatants which is larger than the entire British infantry) plus an artillery regiment and a mechanised battalion. Initially, recruitment was wholly from Nepal, but it reduced progressively to the current 60 per cent while the remaining 40 per cent are Indian-domiciled Gorkhas. Scattered across Nepal from Mechi and Mahakali are 28 District Soldier Boards and three Pension Paying Offices. Recruitment rallies are now held in Nepal but these were for long periods organised at Gorakhpur’s Gorkha Recruitment Depot. Roughly 1,500 to 2,000 Gorkhas are recruited annually compared to 200 lads for the British Army where the British Gurkhas are 3,500-strong, making up two battalions and support forces. A third battalion was to be raised in 2019 along with female combatants, but Covid-19 has probably delayed it.

Relations between the Indian and Nepalese armies go back to 1952 when Nepal requested India to establish a military mission which waxed and waned under different acronyms till it was withdrawn under Communist pressure in 1970. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw as the Army Chief, set up a special Gorkha cell which revamped army-to-army ties. Later, the Army Chiefs of India and Nepal were recognised as honorary Generals and Chiefs of each other’s armies. A slew of welfare measures for Gorkha ex-servicemen were instituted in Nepal and young officers were required not only to acquire proficiency in Nepali language, but also trek across remote areas from where the Gorkhas were drawn. The military connect is unique: Nepal’s advance training is held in India on a preferential basis; the India-Nepal Security Cooperation Agreement of 2003 was at the height of the Maoist civil war; it was during this military engagement that the Indian Army provided tactical and strategic guidance to the Nepal Army as well as lethal and non-lethal military hardware. When in 2005, King Gyanendra dismissed the elected government by a royal coup, India suspended the supply of lethal equipment which led to a spat between the Army and Foreign Office in which the latter prevailed. The then Army Chief General JJ Singh claimed that suspension of military support would adversely affect army-to-army relations and the course of counter-insurgency, but political authority trumped military considerations. The two armies continue with joint military exercises under Surya Kiran series and also organise special joint seminars.

The Indian military has traditionally been the first responder during Nepal’s natural disasters. In the 1990s, during a major aviation accident, the IAF pressed in half a dozen helicopters to trace and evacuate its victims. After the 2015 earthquake, the Indian Army reached out before one could say Aayo Gorkhali. Nepal Army chief General Gaurav Rana paid rich tribute to the Indian military. India has provided medicines and medical equipment including ventilators to the Nepal Army during Covid-19.

These special relations are not without missteps like the non-participation of Nepali contingent in the BIMSTEC military exercise in 2019 even after the Nepal Army Chief had accepted the invitation, apparently without political sanction. Army Chief General MM Naravane’s recent comments on the Chinese stirring the pot in Nepal were ill advised. A periodic problem is Gorkha recruitment in the Indian Army which has been turned into a political football by the Left governments in Nepal. In 1990, the Maoists had included it in their 40-point memorandum to the government. During the Doklam crisis, the Nepali media erringly reported that 4/8 Gorkha Rifles — the battalion that was dislodged from Galwan in 1962 — was in eyeball confrontation with the Chinese PLA when it was 13 JaK Rif (Jammu and Kashmir Rifles). Then Foreign Minister KB Mahara, when asked by reporters about this, replied: “Nepal is neutral between China and India.”

With a pro-China KP Oli-led Nepali Communist party government, Beijing might object to Nepalese troops in the Indian Army confronting a friendly Chinese PLA with whom they have begun joint training. The fear in India that the Indian Army Gorkhas could fall prey to Nepalese domestic politics over map wars, and India-China issues, is misplaced as the Gorkhas are institutionally embedded as a unique entity of the Army which has weathered economic blockades and a Gorkhaland movement.

Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali said recently that the tripartite agreement has become redundant and should be replaced with bilateral agreements, adding the staple that it is not appropriate for the Nepalese to serve in foreign armies. Nepali politicians are unaware that in 1974, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi rejected a proposal to discontinue Gorkha recruitment. Although it is possible to continue the legendary Gorkha legacy with Indian-domiciled Nepalese (such a Gorkha battalion was raised in 2015), India would lose a valuable strategic asset in Nepal.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 7 

The longest bridge on the strategic Manali – Leh highway, located in Himachal Pradesh, is complete and will be opened for traffic this month.

While easing the flow of traffic, the new structure had greatly increased load carrying capacity.

Known as Barsi Bridge, it is the second longest bridge of its kind in the country after the Col Chewang Rinchen Setu across Shyok river on route to the world’s highest landing ground at Daulat Beg Oldie in Ladakh.

The 360-meter long bridge over the Bhaga river at Darcha took about 10 years to construct owing to the difficult terrain, inclement weather and limited working season due to long snow bound winters, BRO sources said.

It is a steel-truss structure in which the load bearing super structure is constructed of a rigid assembly of steel beams. In addition to the abutments on either end, the length is supported by five piers arising from the river bed.

The project was executed by 70 Road Construction Company of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). The same unit had also constructed the 100-meter steel truss bridge connecting the north portal of Atal Tunnel under the Rohtang Pass that was inaugurated this month, with the Manali – Leh Highway at Sissu near Keylong.

Located in Lahaul region about 33 kms ahead of Keylong, Darcha is at an altitude of 11,020 feet, higher than Leh, and is the last permanent settlement on this route in Himachal. It is also here that the alternate route to Kargil-via Padum branches off from the highway.

According to BRO officials, barring a small old bridge over the main water channel, most of the existing route between the two banks was an unpaved track laying across the wide river bed which was prone to floods, rock hazards or high-water levels, especially during rains, thereby disrupting traffic.

The Bhaga River is a tributary of Chenab River and originates from the Suraj Tal, a few kilometers south of the Baralacha Pass. The only way to overcome the problem was to build a permanent bridge well above the riverbed.

According to BRO sources, work on the bridge had also remained suspended for some time in the past due to administrative reasons. It was only about four years ago that it resumed and picked up speed recently.

The Manali – Leh route, known as National Highway – 3, provides the vital alternate road axis to Ladakh, the other being the Srinagar – Leh axis. BRO has been engaged in upgrading the Manali – Leh axis, which lies across some of the highest motorable passes in the world such as Baralacha La, Tanglang La, Nakee La and Lachung La, touching heights of 17,500 feet, to double lane specifications.

About 90 per cent of the work on this route, which remains closed to traffic during winters because of snow, is reportedly complete. Proposed tunnels under these passes, similar to the Atal Tunnel that took 10 years, would make the route all weather.

New Delhi, October 8

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused bail to a former IAF official who is facing trial for allegedly sharing secret information with those suspected to be backed by Pakistan’s ISI, saying he is a “danger” to the entire nation.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde dismissed the plea filed by Ranjith K K challenging the Delhi High Court order which had rejected his bail application.

“You are a danger to the entire nation. If you will seek permission to meet your mother, we will allow it,” said the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.

“The special leave petition is dismissed. Pending application(s), if any, shall also stand disposed of,” the bench said in its order.

The counsel appearing for the petitioner told the bench that Ranjith has been in jail for around five years in the case, under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), and he has not seen his mother who is in Kerala.

“You should have thought about all this before you did it,” the bench observed.

Before the high court, Ranjith had sought bail saying he was only 24 years of age at the time of his arrest and the only charge framed against him is under section 3 of the Official Secrets Act for which maximum punishment is 14 years.

In its order, the high court had noted that according to the FIR and the order by which charge was framed against him, the petitioner is accused of having passed on sensitive data to persons who were intending to threaten the sovereignty and integrity of the country.

The high court had noted that status report filed by the prosecution showed that various documents have been recovered including WhatsApp messages, chat history, forwarding of a map of the Air Force base etc.

The high court had observed that accused ought not to be granted bail at this stage as trial in the case was still underway.

The police had earlier alleged that he had shared secret information with intelligence operatives suspected to be backed by Pakistan’s ISI after being honey-trapped.

He had joined the Indian Air Force as a leading aircraftsman. — PTI