Monthly Archives: August 2018

Our Correspondent

Rajouri/Jammu, May 6

A terrorist was killed and another was likely injured on Saturday in an ongoing operation in the densely forested area of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, Army said.

Five army personnel were killed and a major-rank officer was injured on Friday in an explosion triggered by the militants during the ongoing operation to flush out the terrorists.

“In the ongoing joint operation in Kandi forest, Rajouri sector, by Indian Army in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF, at around 7 am the cordon, while closing in, spotted and pinned down the terrorists.

“In the ensuing gun battle one terrorist has been neutralised and one terrorist is likely injured,” a defence spokesperson said.

He said an AK-56 rifle, four magazines, 56 bullets, one .9 mm pistol, its three magazines and three grenades were seized from the slain terrorist whose identity and group affiliation were not known immediately.

The operation is under way, the spokesperson added. With PTI

The first ever All Women’s Senior Command Course at the College of Combat MHOW. All ladies are Full Col rank and soon to take over independent Command if a Unit.  A proud moment.

rjun Sharma

Jammu, May 5

Five Army men were killed and a Major injured today in an explosion triggered by terrorists in the thickly forested Kandi area in Rajouri district. The explosion occurred while an operation was underway to flush out terrorists suspected to be behind the Army truck ambush in Poonch on April 20 that killed five soldiers.

On April 20

FIVE soldiers were killed as terrorists ambushed Army truck in Poonch

In the morning, two soldiers belonging to the Special Forces were killed and four others, including the Major, injured during the ongoing operation in the Rajouri sector. Later in the day, three soldiers succumbed to their injuries in a hospital in Udhampur, an Army spokesperson said. Mobile internet facilities in Rajouri area have been suspended.

“On specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Kandi forest in the Rajouri sector, a joint operation was launched on May 3. Around 7.30 am on Friday, a search team established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave. The area is thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs.

“The terrorists triggered an explosive device in retaliation. The Army team suffered two fatal casualties with injuries to four more soldiers, including an officer. Three of the soldiers later succumbed to their injures,” said a Northern Command statement.

It said additional teams from the vicinity had been directed to the site of the encounter. “There is a likelihood of casualties in the terrorist group and the operation is in progress,” it said.

“Army columns have been conducting relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Bhata Dhurian area of Poonch in Jammu region,” Lt Col Devender Anand, Jammu-based Army PRO, said in a statement.

The Army has been aggressively searching for the terrorists since the April 20 attack. The terrorists who ambushed the Army truck reportedly included the two ultras behind the Dhangri attack in Rajouri in which seven members of the Hindu community were killed on January 1 and 2 this year.

Sources in Military Intelligence said a track on the movement of ultras was being kept. “This is probably the same group that was behind the Poonch ambush,” said the sources.

THE DECEASED

• L/Nk Ruchin Singh Rawat, Gairsain, Uttarakhand
• Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri, Darjeeling, WB
• Nk Arvind Kumar, Palampur, HP
• Havildar Neelam Singh, Akhnoor, Jammu
• Paratrooper Pramod Negi, Shillai, Sirmaur, HP

Casualties in Rajouri-Poonch attacks

April 20, 2023: 5 soldiers killed as terrorists ambushed Army truck in Bhata Dhurian, Poonch

August 2022: 4 soldiers, including JCO, killed when 2 terrorists tried to enter Army camp in Pargal, Rajouri

October 2021: 9 soldiers killed in encounter which lasted fortnight in Bhata Dhurian, Poonch

August 2021: Army man killed in encounter in Thanamandi, Rajouri

PTI

Udhampur/Jammu, May 5

The Army’s Northern Command on Friday paid homage to technician Pabballa Anil, who was killed when an Army helicopter crashed in Kishtwar district, officials said.

The helicopter crashed after a “hard landing” in a forested area in the upper reaches on Thursday following a technical fault, killing the technician and injuring two pilots on board.

Brig IS Gakhal (retd)

IN 1970, a tall, well-built recruit joined the 10 Sikh Regiment (Dashmesh), then garrisoned at Pune. The regulation-issue uniform did not fit his frame nor the boots his feet. He needed special-issue items for his huge frame. Simple and uncomplicated, he reported to Charlie Company and came under the care of Major Amrik Singh Gill. The latter conferred with Major Baljit Singh Johal, then second-in-command, and both decided to push Kaur Singh into boxing.

The Army School of Physical Training (ASPT), also in Pune, was tapped and a boxing career started. Kaur Singh was unmindful of his potential or interest in boxing, but did as he was told. His obedience and dedication to do hard work did the rest. Young, he pushed himself to physical limits as he honed his boxing skills. The India-Pakistan war came and went; Kaur Singh was back at the ASPT, slogging it out. He started off for Charlie Company and won; next, he fought for 10 Sikh and won again. A boxing career had been launched.

The Brigade, Division and Command medals followed. He was picked up for the Asian Boxing Championships, winning the gold medal three years in a row from 1980 onwards. Then came the 1982 Asian Games hosted by Delhi, where Kaur Singh won the gold. He participated in the 1984 Olympics and was eliminated on points in the quarterfinal to the eventual gold medallist. Muhammad Ali visited India on a promotional tour and it was Hav Kaur Singh who was picked to fight a bout with him; it was a true honour as Ali acknowledged his talent.

Kaur Singh was a simple fellow. At the Delhi Asian Games, he was presented a medal by Amitabh Bachchan. Later, when others asked him how he felt about receiving his gold medal from the nation’s idol, Kaur Singh just did not know who Amitabh was (‘Koi dasoo eh babu karda kee hai’). Such was his simplicity and focus on his sport. He took a premature exit in the rank of subedar, only to realise that family commitments needed him to take up another employment. He joined the Punjab Police as a sepoy. SSP Sajjan Singh Cheema, a basketball player, took up his case and the then CM Parkash Singh Badal promoted him as ASI.

Life went on; his medical condition took a toll on his finances. During Capt Amarinder Singh’s tenure, he was provided financial and medical assistance. A sportsman who should be feted died nearly unsung. His was a life of dedication and hard work — he was a recipient of the Padma Shri, Arjuna Award and Vishisht Seva Medal. The Sikh Regiment and the nation are proud of Subedar Kaur Singh.

t is time Pakistan started paying for the death of every soldier or civilian murdered on our side. Short of declaring a war, we need to immediately initiate the following moves: dump the peace and tranquillity agreement and reactivate the entire LoC; carry out effective and sustained fire assaults; destroy military infrastructure behind the LoC; and strengthen our ground-level and electronic intelligence surveillance.

Lt Gen SR Ghosh (retd)

Former GOC-in-C, Western Command

The killing of five soldiers by terrorists in Poonch district on April 20 has again turned the spotlight on the Army’s role in Jammu and Kashmir and the machinations of our hostile neighbour. What is required is a rapid rethink of our Pakistan policy and the initiation of immediate counter-operations.

The humiliation of the 1971 defeat and the abject surrender are deeply rooted in the psyche of the Pakistan army. Coupled with this is India’s rapid ascendancy towards becoming a powerful international and economic democratic power vis-à-vis Pakistan’s status of a failed, bankrupt state. All this rankles so badly that the Pakistani military will never cease to carry out attacks against us. Terrorist camps will continue to flourish across the Line of Control (LoC) and no sporadic surgical strikes or Balakot-like airstrike will wipe them out.

During 2000-02, while I was commanding a brigade in the volatile Pallanwala sector of Akhnoor, there was an undeclared war being waged all along the LoC. Thousands of rounds of rifle and machine-gun fire were exchanged every night; mortars regularly pounded each other’s posts as well as civilian areas, forcing the villagers into refugee camps while snipers lay in wait to blow off the head of any soldier who exposed himself for even a few seconds. Border Action Teams (BATs), trained, equipped and supported by the Pakistani army, were permanently located in their forward posts, watching and mapping all our movements and routine. On a moonless night, they would cross the LoC through thick sarkanda grass to either lay an ambush and plant anti-personnel mines in our trenches or disappear into our jungles in the hinterland. There was no border fencing in those days and the Indian Army was in a perpetual state of high alert across every inch of the LoC, day in and day out.

However, we always gave it back to the enemy in greater measure. We had larger stockpiles of ammunition and our senior commanders gave us a free hand to plan offensive actions. We had highly motivated young officers and men, dynamic commanding officers and trained Ghatak (Commando) platoons, which executed shallow ‘surgical strikes’ across the LoC. Our mortars targeted villages such as Chhamb, which had once belonged to us but were allowed to be retained by Pakistan after the 1971 war.https://b7a4cc0213bb5b290f0672e7be3311c4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html

Reports of high Pakistani military casualties were received by us from time to time, especially due to the volume and effectiveness of our long-range weapons. Many terrorists were eliminated along the LoC. The only offensive asset we lacked was the unending pool of expendable, brainwashed youth from various Islamic countries who were sent across to launch BAT attacks or enter our hinterland to wage a war against India. However, raids and quick attacks across the LoC by our troops ensured that the Pakistani soldier on the forward posts also could not sleep in peace.

In November 2003, the guns fell silent as a peace and tranquillity agreement between the two nations came into force. The Pakistani army rejoiced. It got a much-needed breather and was now able to repair its damaged forward defences with impunity, prepare fresh logistics and operational infrastructure and go on leave to their families. In summation, the enemy was allowed to get back to a peaceful, routine level of activity, while our troops continued to remain at the same level of high alert, both along the LoC and in the hinterland. Over the next 20 years, Pakistanis have been waging a brutal war against India. The recent killing of our five soldiers was just one of the many dastardly actions by them.

It is time Pakistan started paying for the death of every soldier or civilian murdered on our side. Short of declaring a war, we need to immediately initiate the following moves: dump the peace and tranquillity agreement and reactivate the entire LoC; carry out effective and sustained fire assaults, especially on those Pakistani posts which harbour, guide and induct terrorists to carry out BAT actions or attacks in the hinterland; destroy military infrastructure behind the LoC, especially ammunition, communication, fuel, food, transport and radar centres, using drones and other means at our disposal; strengthen our ground-level and electronic intelligence surveillance; penetrate their communication networks and obtain hard intelligence on a continuous basis. Most importantly, our intelligence agencies must immediately start creating and training a force of motivated irregulars (maybe mercenaries) to operate in the Pakistani hinterland in the same manner as their jihadis and BATs do in ours.

The time to remain passive is gone. It is time for action, proactive action, action that will undermine the will, morale, sustenance and infrastructure of a rogue army. This is the time to do it, with the Pakistani economy and political leadership in turmoil, besides the likelihood of low holdings of ammunition and degraded condition of war-fighting equipment. Let us reactivate the LoC now and carry the battle across into their side rather than fight a defensive, disadvantageous battle on our side. Let us not bleed any more, let us bleed them, and profusely at that.

MANIPUR has been rocked by violence between tribal groups and the majority Meitei community over the latter’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. The unrest has displaced thousands of people from both communities, even as the Centre has deployed riot-handling teams of the Rapid Action Force in the disturbed areas of the northeastern state. Trouble started in Torbung area of Churachandpur district during the Tribal Solidarity March organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) on Wednesday in protest against the Meiteis’ demand. During the march, an armed mob allegedly attacked members of the Meitei community, triggering retaliatory attacks in the valley districts. The Meiteis account for 53 per cent of the state’s population, while the share of the tribal people (including Nagas and Kukis) is about 40 per cent; the former inhabit the valley region, while the latter reside mostly in the hill districts.

The incumbent state government and its predecessors are to be blamed for allowing the situation to spin out of control. Last month, the Manipur High Court had asked the state government to send a recommendation to the Centre within four weeks on the Meitei demand for ST status. It was in 2013 that the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs had written to the Manipur government, ‘requesting for a specific recommendation along with the latest socio-economic survey and ethnographic report’. However, the then Congress dispensation in the state did not do the needful; the BJP-led alliance, which has been in power from 2017 onwards, has also allowed the sensitive issue to fester.

The volatile situation needs to be defused by lending a sympathetic ear to the tribal population, which is apprehensive that its educational and employment opportunities will shrink once the Meiteis are added to the ST list. At the same time, the wishes and expectations of the Meitei community must be duly taken into account. Having become a major stakeholder in the North-East, the BJP should go the extra mile to restore peace and public order in Manipur. The state government, in coordination with the Centre, must work out a solution which is acceptable to all groups concerned. Sustainable economic growth and social stability can be ensured though peaceful coexistence of various communities in Manipur, or for that matter in any state of the country.

Kyiv, May 5

The owner of Russia’s Wagner military contractor threatened on Friday to withdraw his troops next week from the protracted battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, accusing Moscow’s military command of starving his forces of ammunition.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy entrepreneur with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Wagner fighters had planned to capture Bakhmut by May 9, Russia’s Victory Day holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. But they were undersupplied and suffering heavy losses, he said, and would hand over operations to the regular army on May 10. It is not the first time Prigozhin has raged about ammunition shortages and blamed Russia’s military, with which he has long been in conflict. Known for bluster, he has previously made unverifiable claims and threats

Prigozhin’s spokespeople also published a video of him Friday shouting, swearing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground. — AP

PTI

New Delhi, May 5

An Income Tax department official posted in Imphal was “dragged out” of his official residence and killed during the current spate of violence in Manipur, the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) Association said on Friday.

In a tweet, the association strongly condemned “the dastardly act of violence resulting in the death of Letminthang Haokip, Tax Assistant in Imphal”. “No cause or ideology can justify the killing of an innocent public servant on duty. Our thoughts are with his family in this difficult hour,” it said.

It also put out a photo of Haokip, saying he was “dragged out from his official quarter in Imphal by Meitei miscreants and beaten to death”. The association is an all-India body of the Income Tax department. Parts of the state have witnessed bloody ethnic rioting over the last 48 hours with a defence spokesperson saying a total of 13,000 people were rescued and shifted to safe shelters.

Meanwhile, a CRPF CoBRA commando on leave was shot dead by armed assailants in his village in Manipur’s Churachandpur district on Friday, officials said. Constable Chonkholen Haokip of Delta company of the 204th CoBRA Battalion was killed between 2 pm and 3 pm. The circumstances in which he was killed are not clear but it is learnt that assailants in police-like uniform entered his village and shot him, senior officials said.

Tribune News Service

Benaulim (GOA), May 5

In an indirect rebuttal to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s concerns over cross-border terrorism and curbing terror-financing, his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called on the SCO to collectively eradicate the menace of terrorism and “not get caught up in weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point -scoring”.

He reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the SCO. “There couldn’t be a more powerful indication of the importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO than my presence here in Goa for this meeting,” he said in his opening address, underscoring the importance of enhanced cooperation and regional integration.

“When great powers play the role of peacemaker, we can unlock the potential of peace while paving the way for greater cooperation, regional integration and economic opportunities for our people,” he said.

The first Pakistan Foreign Minister to visit India after 12 years, Bilawal also spoke on unilateral and illegal measures by the States in violation of international law and said UNSC resolutions ran counter to the SCO objectives. Bilawal was greeted with a frosty “Namastey” by Jaishankar.