Yamunanagar, August 11

The police have booked six persons for allegedly raping a woman in a village here.In a complaint to the police, the victim stated that her husband was working with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Panchkula. On August 5, he went to Delhi for Independence Day duty.She alleged that Majid, Kasim, Najir, Kala and two more persons forcibly entered her house late in the night on August 5 and gang-raped her. They threatened her with dire consequences if she narrated the incident to anyone.She alleged that the accused came to her house the next day also and asked her to go with them. When she refused to go with them, one of them pointed a revolver at her and they took her on a motorcycle to an unknown place and gang-raped her in a hut there, she alleged. She said that one of the accused had left her near her house after committing the crime.The victim said that when she told her husband about the incident, he asked her to lodge an FIR against the accused. A case was registered against six persons under Sections 452, 376-D and 506 of IPC and the Arms Act at Bilaspur police station on Saturday. — TNS

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 3

The Ministry of Defence, in a terse order, has barred the use of “local designations” being used in the armed forces and the civilian staff from July 30.The order is to sort out the long-festering “rank parity” issue between the forces and the civilian staff – called the armed forces headquarters (AFHQ). The forces have been saying that the AFHQ cadre has assumed designations to place themselves on a par with higher ranks of the forces.A letter in this regard says the AFHQ-Civil services officers in the “grade” of Director and Joint Director shall use cadre designations of same ranks. In case of the forces, a separate set of instructions has been issued as to what could be the names of the posts when officers are posted to the headquarters. These are for Brigadier, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and Major.Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman issued a letter on January 4 withdrawing “local designations” assigned to the armed forces and civilian officers. The forces and the civil staff had agreed to revert to original designations on July 30. Besides, there has been another flare-up for the nomenclature of the posts to be held by Major General-rank officers.

A Lieutenant Colonel of the Indian army, Dharamvir Singh has alleged that his unit was behind fake encounters of innocent civilians and extortion in north-eastern state of Manipur, a media report said on Tuesday.

Lt Colonel Singh’s wife has moved to the Manipur High Court claiming that her husband was wrongly detained by army soldiers on July 1 morning and was kept under house arrest till the court ordered his release, ANI reported.

“Ranju Singh on July 20 had submitted an affidavit with the court on behalf of her husband highlighting possible reasons behind latter’s arrest,” said the report.

The affidavit accused few army officers of demanding extortion money and carrying out fake encounter of innocent individuals in the north-eastern state of Manipur.

Fearing that the Army officials will continue to harass her husband and family, Ranju mentioned in the affidavit that Lieutenant Colonel Dharamvir Singh in the year 2016 had complained about wrongdoings of some officers.

The affidavit accused few army officers of demanding extortion money and carrying out fake encounter of innocent individuals in the north-eastern state of Manipur.

Following the complaint, some senior officers turned vindictive and began to harass Lieutenant Colonel Singh, said the affidavit.

Owing to pressure mounted on Lt. Col. Singh, he, later on, withdrew the complaint on the assurance that action will be taken against the perpetrators.

Notably, Lt. Col. Singh was serving as officer commanding, 3 CISU at M Sector, Imphal when he was allegedly arrested.

“He was taken away by the officials in front of me. We don’t know why he was arrested and where he has been taken. I don’t know anybody over here. Nobody was ready to help me, at last, I sought the court’s help in this matter. My husband has done nothing, he is innocent,” Ranju told ANI.

The affidavit mentions three alleged fake encounters and an extortion case by one unit and one particular team of the CISU.

The affidavit further divulges about the extortion and fake encounter killings of Manipur boys, Phijam Naobi, R.K. Ranel and Th Prem who were picked up from Dimapur in Nagaland and allegedly killed after being tortured.

Their dead bodies were found in Lakhijan area under Bokajan police station in Karbi Anglong district of Assam on March 12, 2010.

It also mentions the custodial killing of PLA leader Gypsy and her friend who were picked up from a rented accommodation near SM College in Dimapur.

PUNJAB has, once more, come clean and clear on its regularisation policy, with its Cabinet approving the Regularisation of Unauthorised Colony Bill. The contours of the pro-people policy are well defined, having taken into account the concerns of all stakeholders. The draft of the policy came with its own squeeze: property developers dismissed the policy notified in April as impractical, cumbersome and unrealistic, while Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu declared it was ‘pro-coloniser’ and crammed with flaws that would ‘kill planned urban development for next 25 years’.The Group of Ministers did well to take cognizance of the real fears on high licence fee, external development charges and composition fee; and incorporating suggestions forwarded by Navjot Sidhu, including those on road width and resident welfare associations. Under the reworked policy, plot holders applying for regularisation will have to ensure registration within the stipulated three months, while the developer must get 50 per cent plots registered within a year of filing an application. Otherwise, an additional 20 per cent cost would have to be braved. There is also a clause on the abeyance of FIRs against illegal developers if they deposit the mandatory charges. The regularisation charges will be used for providing basic infrastructure to colonies. The SAD-BJP alliance had introduced three such policies. A forklift overhaul was needed, but the short-term seductive narrative was a partial success. Punjab’s official figure of its illegal colonies is 7,000, some located outside the MC limits. Despite the numerous challenges that come with illegal colonies, the problem deserved sympathetic handling. Demolishing lakhs and lakhs of houses, rendering scores of people homeless, was well-nigh unthinkable. But again, the government can’t abdicate its own responsibility to provide affordable, clean living to its citizenry. Its development wings must keep coming up with planned colonies. The newest policy may claim to be sui generis if it can assure that at its non-negotiable core is the welfare of the buyer, struggling to find a decent place, with very basic amenities, she can call home.

Flt Lt Kunal (27), whose family is from Nigdi in Pimpri Chinchwad area, was a navigating officer with the 33 Squadron of the IAF, which is a transport squadron under the Southern Air Command and is located at Air Force Station Sulur in Tamil Nadu.

It is two years since the AN-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which was on a weekly flight from Chennai to Port Blair with 29 onboard, went missing on the morning of July 22. But for Rajendra Barpatte and Vidya, whose son, Flight Lieutenant Kunal, was the flight navigator on the plane, several questions remain unanswered as they seek closure.

Flt Lt Kunal (27), whose family is from Nigdi in Pimpri Chinchwad area, was a navigating officer with the 33 Squadron of the IAF, which is a transport squadron under the Southern Air Command and is located at Air Force Station Sulur in Tamil Nadu. There were 29 people onboard the AN-32, including the crew members. A massive search was conducted in the Bay of Bengal by the Air Force, Navy and the Coast Guard following the incident.

What had come as a shock for the Barpatte family was a letter they received from the office of Assistant Vice Chief of the IAF on August 26, 2016, seeking their consent for presumption of demise of their son. The Barpatte couple along with the kin of six IAF officers on the plane had refused to sign the letter. On September 15 that year, the IAF declared all the 29 persons onboard were presumed dead. IAF officials had clarified that the letter was an administrative procedure and the search will continue.

Flt Lt Kunal’s father, a retired scientist from the Central Institute of Road Transport, said, “In the months after the incident we had asked several questions to the IAF. Those questions were: what exactly happened to the aircraft, its overall condition, delay in starting the rescue operation despite the fact that authorities had received clear radar signals, failure of the Emergency Locater Beacon and many more things. The answers were given by the IAF after several months after we wrote to them repeatedly and the answers were all stereotypical and bureaucratic. We are not at all satisfied by these answers. We even received a mail asking if we were satisfied by the answers, as if they wanted to ask if we will stop asking. But I will soon be writing to them with my counter-queries.”

He added, “We fear that something like this will happen again as there are over 100 AN-32s in operation. The then Air Chief has said that upgrade of 40 out of the 100 aircraft was done in Ukraine from 2011 onwards. The remaining aircraft are being upgraded in India. As the lost aircraft was upgraded in India, we need to ask questions about those remaining aircraft which have been upgraded here. Does the IAF have any time-bound plan to replace the aging AN 32 fleet, which they keep calling their workhorse? How many precious lives are going to be lost before the authorities take any steps?”

The Barpattes have one more grievance. “Flt Lt Kunal had taken a housing loan from the State Bank of India, which was disbursed and we had even purchased the flat. After his death, we had requested the bank if we could be given some concession on the loan repayment like if the interest could be waived off. We are not asking for the entire loan to be waived off. But the bank has refused to do so. It is disheartening to get that reply. Both my wife and I are now retired. This is yet another battle that we are fighting,” he said.

That theatre command is the way forward is a given. But we need to tread cautiously till our military-industrial complex becomes more self-sufficient and our dependence on foreign weapon imports is reduced.

The no-confidence motion is part of strategic preparations for upcoming elections

A large and Kind hearted veterans

Veterans Col Atamjit Singh* of 7 CAV

Financial assistance poured IN for debit ridden daughter of an Army officer.
Betrayed by their biological Father  at tender age ,col Jasdev of ASC corps.
Col Charanjit Singh ,Gen Secy received a cheque of Rs 25000/- from *Veterans Col Atamjit Singh* of 7 CAV for the noble cause .

We are greatful to him from the core of our heart to come forward for a noble cause.
A advocate Malkait  Singh has agreed to fight legal battle for the legitimate rights of the girls free of cost and will fight case at Patiala being from Chandigarh.
Efforts of the Gen Secy ,Sanjha Morcha have started pying for the noble cause.
Veterans requested to send cheques of any amount pay in favour of any girl name to the Branch office of Sanjha Morcha.

OR

Deposit Directly in their accounts

Pay to…..Chehak Kaur 

OR

Pay to..Mehak Kaur 

Address
To,
*Chehak Kaur /Mehak Kaur*
C/O
Ex Sevicemen Joint Action Front (Sanjha Morcha)
#1403 sector 40-B
Chandigarh-160036

RESPONSE FROM ADJUTANT GENERAL BRANCH ON SANJHA MORCHA LETTER WRITTEN : DEEDS ABOUT BIOLOGICAL FATHER SETTLED IN NIODA 

here is stiff resistance from the Indian Air Force to theaterisation, or setting up of integrated commands where the assets of all three defence arms would come under the operational control of a three-star officer from any of the three services.

The Indian Air Force has harmed itself by opposing ‘theaterisation’ and this has resulted in weakening of trust between it and the army and the navy, a top navy officer wrote in a new paper published by defence think-tank Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (Cenjows) on Friday in a rare criticism of one service by a serving senior officer in another.

The paper, titled ‘The IAF and Theaterisation — Misplaced Apprehensions,’ is a deep dive into the military’s approach towards enhancing so-called jointmanship and its progression tow-ard theaterisation. Jointmanship refers to a degree of co-ordination and integration in terms of both strategy and execution across the three services. Theaterisation refers to placing under a Theatre Commander, specific units of the army, the navy, and the air force.

There is stiff resistance from the IAF to theaterisation, or setting up of integrated commands where the assets of all three defence arms would come under the operational control of a three-star officer from any of the three services, depending on the function assigned to that command.

“By continuing to stress on a ‘do it alone’ command structure, the IAF has only harmed itself. It has resulted in a weakening of trust with the other two services who have attempted to resolve the issue by investing into integral air power,” rear admiral Monty Khanna wrote.

Cenjows was set up by the defence ministry over a decade ago.

The two-star admiral is currently posted at the prestigious Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, where he is the navy’s chief instructor.

Citing the examples of the navy and army deploying air assets, Khanna notes in the paper, “This chipping away of IAF roles will continue until the fundamental issue of trust is addressed. For doing so, the IAF would need to embrace the deepening of its integration with the other two services rather than back-pedal on this relationship.”

The principle of “one front, one commander” would require the cutting down the number of existing commands from 14 to around four. While all the three services would be impacted, the IAF could get the short end of the stick with the most to lose, the paper states.

“This is the 800 pound gorilla in the room which often unites the three services in opposing theaterisation. Understandably, opposition from the IAF is the most vehement.” Khanna wrote. This is an issue that the three services have to resolve among themselves and thereafter take up with the government.

Cenjows director, lieutenant general Vinod Bhatia (retd), described the paper as “very significant” as it made a strong case for theaterisation at a time it is “very much required” and being pushed by the government.

“We are opposed to the idea of theater commands and have articulated our stand to the government,” said Air Marshal KK Nohwar (retd), who heads the Centre for Air Power Studies.

While a navy official refused to comment, saying that the admiral had authored the paper for a think tank, defence ministry officials declined to react, saying they hadn’t read the paper.