Canada said on Monday it had credible information linking Indian government agents to the murder of a Sikh leader in British Columbia in June and said it had expelled a senior Indian intelligence official.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen was “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.
Nijjar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani state and been branded by India as a “terrorist,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corp said.
“Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” Trudeau said in an emergency statement to the House of Commons parliamentary chamber.
“Canada has declared its deep concerns to the top intelligence and security officials of the Indian government.
Last week at the G20 I brought them personally and directly to Prime Minister Modi in no uncertain terms.” New Delhi said last week that Modi had conveyed strong concerns about protests in Canada against India to Trudeau.
Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters that Ottawa had expelled the Indian head of intelligence in Canada but gave no further details.
Canada has the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab in India, and the country has been the site of many protests that have irked India.
kuki Soldier abducted, killed in Manipur: high time for govt to wakeup: even soldiers not safe in Manipur
Unidentified persons abducted and killed an Indian Army soldier, Sepoy Serto Thangthang Kom, while he was on leave in Manipur. The slain soldier was abducted from his house at Tarung in Neikanlong area of Imphal West district around 10 am on September 16. He was deployed at Leimakhong Military Station, Manipur.
As per the statement of his 10-year-old son, the only eyewitness to the crime, three miscreants entered their house while the father-son duo was working on the porch. The miscreants, he said, placed a pistol on his father’s head and forced him into a white-coloured vehicle and drove away.
There was no news of the soldier till this morning. Around 9.30 am, his body was found at Khuningthek village under Sogolmang police station in Imphal East. His identity was confirmed by his brother and brother-in-law, Ministry of Defence spokesperson in Nagaland Col Amit Shukla said. The soldier is survived by his wife, daughter and the son.
The last rites will be conducted as per the wishes of the family, officials said, adding the Army had rushed a team to assist the bereaved family.
Startup’s nano drones show potential in counter-terror operations
‘Doot Mk1 nano drone is equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities, allowing it to identify up to 80 different objects’
Weighing approximately 200 gm, these drones boast an endurance of up to 30 minutes and can reach a maximum speed of 80 kmph with very low sound. Photo: @IDR_RND_PVT_LTD/X PTI
Jammu, September 17
A defence startup founded two years ago by a team of young engineers from IIT Roorkee has developed three variants of nano drones, including a ‘Kamikaze’ UAV, which have application in anti-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations.
Mayank Pratap Singh, the co-founder of the startup IDR, said, “This is the first time that nano drones have been developed indigenously in this country.”
“In just two years since the formation of our startup in 2021, we have developed three variants of nano drones that are actively aiding security forces in their efforts against insurgency and terrorism,” Singh told PTI here.
He said IDR Research and Development has introduced the Doot Mk1 nano drone in three specialised variants, which were showcased at the North-tech symposium. The symposium was held here recently to address operational challenges and procure state-of-the-art equipment for the Army.
Weighing approximately 200 gm, these drones boast an endurance of up to 30 minutes and can reach a maximum speed of 80 kmph with very low sound, Singh said, adding the Doot Mk1 is equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities, allowing it to identify up to 80 different objects.
“One version of the drone is optimised for outdoor operations, another for indoor settings, and there’s an explosive variant (Kamikaze).
“These nano drones can be deployed in under 10 seconds during emergencies. Their compact sizes allow them to be navigated in complex spaces, whether launched from hand, rooftop, or moving vehicles,” Singh said.
The ‘Kamikaze’ version, named Parush, explodes upon reaching its target.
Carrying explosives, the drone has a kill button for it to detonate, he said, adding the drones equipped with such mechanism would have to be programmed to identify the enemy’s hideout and explode there.
“Parush means lethal or destructive. We have successfully tested the explosive drone recently and are working on the safety part now,” he said. “It will be ready by December.”https://88c29d1943995b2e974ebe93fe17a43f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
About the Doot MK1 drone, Singh said, the live feed from it is relayed to multiple screens, ensuring seamless coordination in close combat scenarios. It has a range of 1.5 km, and is operable indoors or within buildings covering 200 to 300 metres, he added.
These nano drones were tested by various commands of the armed forces as well as the NSG and Assam rifles, the startup’s officials said, adding that the Army has produced 20 units.
The cost of a nano drone is roughly Rs 5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh.https://88c29d1943995b2e974ebe93fe17a43f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
“Our drones are crafted specifically for Indian conditions. They have successfully passed tests in high-altitude areas, deserts, and varying weather conditions,” Singh said, adding that these nano drones are essential for anti-terrorism operations, close-quarter combats, indoor interventions, and silent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations.
The mini drones that are currently in use in India are predominantly the US-manufactured ‘Black Hornet.’
The startup is actively exploring opportunities for exporting its products.
“We recently participated in a defence exhibition in Gujarat and received excellent feedback from countries such as Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and Morocco. Discussions are underway with their respective governments for procurement. The Cambodian army has expressed interest and discussions for potential procurement are underway,” Singh said.
Two drones shot down, 5.6 kg narcotics seized in Punjab near Pakistan border
In three separate incidents along the International Border in Punjab over the past 24 hours, the Border Security Force (BSF) has shot down two drones and seized two consignments of narcotics, totalling over 5.6 kg.
On September 17, around 4.10 am, BSF troops detected the movement of a drone near Gatti Rajoke village in Ferozepur district. As per the laid-down drill, troops immediately intercepted the drone and shot it, a BSF officer said.
The staff of the Counter-Intelligence Wing arrested a smuggler from Lakho ke Behram and seized 1 kg heroin from him
The accused was booked under Section 25 of the NDPS Act at the State Special Operation Cell
A joint search with the police was carried out and around 6.30 am, a large yellow-coloured packet, suspected to contain heroin weighing 2.5 kg, was found from the fields near the village, he added.
In the second incident today, based on a specific information regarding the presence of a consignment of contraband items dropped by a drone, a joint search operation with the police was launched by the BSF on the outskirts of Amesha village in Tarn Taran district around 2 pm.
Around 3.30 pm, a large packet wrapped in yellow adhesive tape and attached with a metal hook, suspected to be heroin weighing 3.130 kg, was found from the fields near the village.
In the evening of September 16, the BSF shot down a China-made drone in the Tarn Taran Sector.
The downed drone, a quadcopter DJI Mavic-3 Classic, was recovered from the fields near TJ Singh Village in a joint search with the Punjab Police.
The police also nabbed one smuggler while his two accomplices escaped. A manhunt is on to nab them.
The smuggler has been identified as Jagdish Singh, who, during the preliminary investigation, accepted that he along with two other smugglers Bittu Singh and Buta Singh (all residents of Gatti Rajoke village) had brought the consignment from Pakistan. “All three accused have been booked under the NDPS Act at Sadar police station,” said the SSP.
Anantnag operation enters 5th day, security forces hunt for terrorists in Gadole forest area
The operation to flush out terrorists hiding in Gadole forest area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district entered the fifth day on Sunday as security forces widened the area of operation to neighbouring villages and fired several mortar shells towards the forest, officials said.
Security forces are using drones and helicopters for surveillance of the dense forest area where terrorists are believed to be holed up since Wednesday after killing two Army officers and a deputy superintendent of police in the initial exchange of fire, the officials said.
As the assault resumed on Sunday morning, the security forces fired several mortar shells towards the forest, they said.
They said there were several cave-like hideouts in the forest area and drones were being used to pinpoint their locations to carry out attacks on them.
Drone footage showed a terrorist running for cover after one such hideout was hit by shells fired by security forces on Friday.
The security cordon has been extended to neighbouring Posh Kreeri area as a precautionary measure to ensure that terrorists don’t slip into civilian habitation, the officials said.
The Northern Army commander on Saturday visited the site of the gunfight to take stock of the operational situation.
Lt Gen Dwivedi was briefed by the ground commanders on the high-intensity operations, in which hi-tech equipment is being used for surveillance and delivery of firepower, along with the high impact of precision fire being used by the forces.
The Northern Army commander inspected the drone which has been used to survey the area and track the terrorists, the officials said.
They said Lt Gen Dwivedi reviewed the operation with senior police and Army officers.He also interacted with troops deployed in the operation, they added.
The police believe two to three terrorists are trapped in the forest area as the forces maintained a tight cordon.
Additional Director General of Police (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar late Friday night said the operation was launched on the basis of specific input and claimed “two to three trapped terrorists will be neutralised.”
Colonel Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer, 19 Rashtriya Rifles, Major Ashish Dhonchak, Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police Humayun Bhat and a soldier were killed by the terrorists on Wednesday.
An Army jawan was killed and another injured in an “accidental discharge” of a weapon inside a camp in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, police said.
“There has been an accidental discharge of weapon resulting in one fatal casualty and one injury to army personnel,” Bandipora police posted on X.
Police said necessary legal action has been initiated and an inquiry started into the incident.
“Accused army personnel has been detained. Necessary legal action has been initiated,” police added.
Army, CAPF and local police need to harmonise operations to prevent repeat of Anantnag incident
C Uday Bhaskar
Director, Society for Policy Studies
TWO incidents that happened on September 13 — the death of two Army officers and a J&K police officer in a counter-terror operation in Anantnag and the killing of a police inspector in Manipur’s Churachandpur district — point to the continuing challenges related to India’s internal security and the price being paid by the security forces.
One of the tenets of internal security management is that if there is a clear political directive and no malevolent external interference, the Army can be effective in bringing down the level of violence.
Both Kashmir and Manipur have a complex pattern of faultlines and fissures that go back several decades and they have been exacerbated, in different ways, by both external and domestic factors.
The Anantnag incident, which resulted in the death of Col Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer of 19 Rashtriya Rifles, and others, belies the recent assessment of the Union Home Ministry that Kashmir is now relatively safe and stable.
Subsequent to the division of J&K into two UTs, the ministry released data indicating that there was a 32 per cent reduction in acts of terrorism (2019-22) as compared to the previous three years. Concurrently, the number of deaths among security personnel also showed a reduction by as much as 52 per cent.
However, this encouraging trend has been marred over the past two years by periodic counter-terror operations in Kashmir that have led to an uptick in the casualties of security personnel. The loss of a Commanding Officer is a serious setback for any Army unit. In May 2020, another Commanding Officer, Col Ashutosh Sharma, lost his life while leading a counter-terror operation in Handwara.
The Army has acquired considerable operational experience in dealing with the LIC-IS (low intensity conflict-internal security) challenge since the decades following Independence and has a commendable track record. There is little doubt that it will be reviewing the Anantnag episode in order to draw lessons. In this case, the inclusion of a police officer (DSP) in the operation suggests that there was an information/intelligence dimension that warranted such a joint effort, with officers leading from the front. Whether they were lured into a trap or compromised by other factors remains moot at this stage.
No two counter-terror or anti-militant operations are the same, but the loss of senior officers with years of experience in leadership will merit an objective review by the Army top brass. On the basis of current evidence, given the broader regional geopolitical situation — from Afghanistan to Pakistan — it is evident that the entropy of terrorist fervour is steadily increasing and hence the Kashmir challenge will, in all likelihood, continue to persist in varying degrees. From the lone-wolf attack to a more coordinated ambush engineered by domestic terror groups and those enabled from across the border by the deep state in Pakistan, the Indian security establishment in Kashmir will have to be on alert for a variety of exigencies.
One of the tenets of internal security management for a country like India is that if there is a clear political directive and no malevolent external interference, the Army, in particular, can be effective in bringing down the level of LIC-IS violence, wherever required, by neutralising the terrorists.
However, once the level of violence is brought below a given median, it is incumbent upon the government to invest in and nurture the political process so that reasonably lasting and sustainable peace is allowed to take root.
While Kashmir has its distinctive LIC-IS genealogy and the abrogation of Article 370 was a major political initiative, the return to electoral dynamics, wherein elected representatives will govern, is still awaited. In the interim, the Army, Central Armed Police Forces and the local police will have to harmonise their operations more effectively so as to prevent another Anantnag or Handwara.
The killing of Sub-Inspector Onkhomang Haokip in Manipur by a sniper may not have received the same attention as the Anantnag deaths, but the import of this incident is also very significant and detrimental to the overall internal security index. The degree of polarisation between the majority Meitei community and other ethnicities, such as the Kukis, is very deep and the ground situation remains tense and fragile.
A sniper killing a police official points to the many problems that bedevil Manipur — the proliferation of light weapons (stolen from police armouries); the assumption that security personnel belonging to the ‘adversary’ ethnicity are ‘enemy’ and to be targeted; and above all, the perception that the state government is partisan. The last strand is the most corrosive aspect of the Manipur tragedy — doubts about the rectitude of the state law and order machinery. And where the Army and the Assam Rifles (an armed force specific to the North-East) have been deployed to contain bloodshed, aspersions have been cast on their professional neutrality. This is undesirable and dangerous.
In a candid interview about the current situation in Manipur, Lt Gen PC Nair, the Director General of Assam Rifles, noted: “If I have to put it very frankly, it is not the security forces who can sort out the problem. We are here only to curtail the level of violence. We are here to stop the firings that take place.”
The extrapolation is that ultimately the civil society that is distilled into the political process must be resurrected to arrive at a mutually acceptable framework of harmonious societal coexistence, where all citizens have a sense that they are secure and are being treated in an equitable manner. That is the essence of the democratic impulse whose sanctity must be respected in word and deed.
INDIA’S decision to procure 12 Sukhoi 30-MKI fighter jets from Russia sends out a clear signal that catering to pressing strategic needs is at the core of the country’s defence acquisition policy. Coming as it does within months of a path-breaking deal on the purchase of sophisticated US arms, it belies the notion that New Delhi is becoming more reliant on the West. The development of the domestic weapon industry and home-built hardware remains the overarching goal. Irrespective of which country India is dealing with, almost all major weapon purchases now include provisions for joint manufacture or technology transfer. Of the 272 Su-30-MKIs contracted from Russia since the 1990s, as many as 222 aircraft have been licence-built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The 12 new planes are meant to tide over the shortfall caused by crashes.
As it pushes the envelope on the ambitious ‘Make in India’ plans, India has been diversifying its import portfolio. The indication is that it does not want to rely on any one nation. Narrowing the technological gap with better-armed China remains a critical challenge. That is where India sees the potential for enhanced collaboration with the US. After the sanctions waiver over India’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defence systems, the Sukhoi deal will be viewed with anxiety in Washington. Put to the test again will be the US legislation which authorises sanctions on countries that purchase major defence hardware from Russia. That New Delhi does not seem overly concerned reinforces its growing global stature. What’s unmistakable is that the days of domination of a few in the global defence market are over. No country can now dictate terms.
The Defence Acquisition Council has also given the go-ahead for the purchase of key military hardware from Indian vendors. This will provide a substantial boost to the domestic industry.
The G20 Summit in New Delhi saw the announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), an ambitious programme clearly meant to rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative, of which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is an important component. https://cdn.vuukle.com/widgets/audio.html?version=1.2.0 Advertisement
Pakistan
Resounding silence
The G20 Summit in New Delhi saw the announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), an ambitious programme clearly meant to rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative, of which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is an important component. Pakistan should notice that apart from India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the EU, France, Italy, Germany and USA have all signed on. These are all traditional allies, with the exception of India… And how has the Pakistan government reacted? With resounding silence. Pakistan Today
Sri Lanka
Power grid with India
In the establishment of power grid connectivity with India, Sri Lanka remains open for either undersea cables or overhead lines, a top official of the Ceylon Electricity Board said. The Sri Lankan side submitted all the details to the Power Grid Corporation of India. The length of the power line will be around 120 km. During the visit of President Ranil Wickremesinghe to India, the two sides signed an agreement to link the power grids. India has currently linked its grid with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The Daily Mirror
Bangladesh
Third largest market
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has invited investors from the Commonwealth countries to come to Bangladesh in a bigger way. ‘Geographically, Bangladesh is at the centre of a market of 3 billion people. We have 170 million people of our own. By 2030, the affluent population of Bangladesh will stand at 35 million. Therefore, Bangladesh will become the third largest market globally, leaving behind Germany and the United Kingdom,’ she said. Hasina said some 70 per cent of Bangladesh’s foreign direct investment came from reinvestment, which was a proof of the excellent investment environment that Bangladesh offers to investors. The New Age
Nepal
Morocco a cruel reminder
The 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Morocco makes Nepalis mindful of their own vulnerability. Nepal straddles two massive tectonic plates — the Indian and Eurasian — the collision of which was responsible for forming the Himalayas and the earthquakes that occur now and then. For the same reason, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranks Nepal the 11th most earthquake-prone country and Kathmandu as one of the most quake-vulnerable cities in the world due to its poor infrastructure and burgeoning population. The Kathmandu Post
State Stalwarts
ALL HUMANS ARE ONE CREATED BY GOD
HINDUS,MUSLIMS,SIKHS.ISAI SAB HAI BHAI BHAI
CHIEF PATRON ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
LT GEN JASBIR SINGH DHALIWAL, DOGRA
PATRON ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
MAJOR GEN HARVIJAY SINGH, SENA MEDAL ,corps of signals
.
.
PRESIDENT DISTT LUDHIANA : ALL INDIA EXSERVICEMEN SANJHA MORCHA
BRIG SS GILL ARTY
PRESIDENT PANCHKULA HARYANA UNIT SANJHA MORCHA
BRIG DALJIT THUKRAL (Retd) BENGAL SAPPERS
PRESIDENT DISTT MOHALI :ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
COL BALBIR SINGH , ARTY
SECY (HONY) NRI’s ESMs , ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
SUB AVTAR SINGH
+1(647)501-8112
INDIAN DEFENCE FORCES
DEFENCE FORCES INTEGRATED LOGO
FORCES FLAGS
15 Th PRESIDENT OF INDIA SUPREME COMMANDER ARMED FORCES
Droupadi Murmu
DEFENCE MINISTER
Minister Rajnath Singh
CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF (2nd)
General Anil Chauhan PVSM UYSM AVSM SM VSM
INDIAN FORCES CHIEFS
CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF(29th)
General Upendra Dwivedi, PVSM, AVSM (30 Jun 2024 to Till Date)
