IAF officers pay tributes to Lance Naik Om Parkash at the Chandigarh Air Force Station on Monday. A Tribune Photograph

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 22

The mortal remains of Lance Naik Om Parkash, who was killed while fighting with terrorists at Pampore on the outskirts of Srinagar yesterday, were airlifted to his native place near Shimla, today.The body was flown into Chandigarh in an IAF aircraft and then ferried by helicopter to Chail near Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. Floral tributes were paid to the fallen soldier at the Chandigarh Air Forces Station. Wreaths were laid on his coffin by Brig Hitesh Kohli from the Headquarters Western Command and Air Commodore A Saklani, Air Officer Commanding 12 Wing.Om Parkash and two other officers were killed during an attempt to neutralise terrorists who were holed up in a building. The sacrifices of Capt Pawan Kumar and Capt Tushar Mahajan, who were from the same unit and killed in the same operation, were also remembered with heavy hearts by those present. Capt Akash Pawar, Capt Sudhanshu Pani, Capt Harshit and Capt A. Baghel, the course mates of Capt Pawan Kumar who were on their way to Jind, shared their fond memories with tearful eyes. Capt Pawan belonged to Jind, where his last rites were held today with full military honours.

Fresh violence was reported on Monday in Rohtak and Sonipat in Haryana as Jat protesters continued to block roads in some parts of the state, including the arterial Delhi-Ambala highway, demanding a written assurance that the community will be given reservation in jobs and education.

Live updates:

2.30 am: PIL filed in SC seeking court to step into law and order breakdown pertaining to Jat agitation

2.20 am: Caste violence in a Hansi village. Curfew imposed.

1.45 am: Major tension in Panipat and Murthal where heavy police force and army have been deployed

1.30 am: Rohtak bypass at Delhi-Bahadurgarh border chowk blocked by protesters again.

1.00 am: Freight train set on fire by protesters in Ganaur, Sonepat.

12.30 am: Fresh violence in Meham sub-division of Rohtak district. Traffic has been disrupted and the official vehicle of the sub-divisional magistrate set on fire by a mob.

11.40 am: Haryana says 400 Cusescs water will be released to Delhi by 1 pm; to reach Delhi by 5 pm.

11.30 am: Supreme Court slams Delhi govt for not talking to Haryana to sort it out and move court in the matter.

11.20 am: Munak canal won’t be operational for a week.

11.15 am: There are road blockades at few places in Rohtak, the situation is likely to improve during the day.

11am: In Rohtak, the epicentre of pro-quota Jat agitation, curfew remained in force even as there was no report of any incident of violence and arson in the last 24 hours.

“There is no major incident in the last 24 hours in Rohtak and last night was peaceful,” a senior Rohtak Police official said.

Watch | How people of Haryana suffered during Jat quota agitation

Read | Khattar’s Haryana govt floundered in many respects

10.30 am: Curfew lifted in Hisar, Barwala and Hansi

10.30am: Blockades at several places in Sirsa and Fatehabad have also been lifted

10 am: No untoward incident, except for the blockades, was reported in the state in the past 12-hours, police said.

8.30 am: Security forces moved in to get blockades removed from the busy NH-1 (Delhi-Ambala) and NH-10 (Delhi-Hisar). Efforts were also made to clear railway tracks on the Delhi-Ambala and Delhi-Bathinda sections.

7.50 am: The army has taken control of the strategic Munak canal from Jat quota agitators, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday, raising hopes of an end to a crippling water crisis in large parts of the Capital.

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promising to give reservation to Jats and assuring that a bill will be brought in the next session of the Haryana assembly, leaders of the community have appealed to the protesters to end the agitation.

The violence in the aftermath of the Jat agitation, which is into its ninth day on Monday, has left 11 people dead and over 150 injured.

Read | This will go very far, says a protester on Jat quota agitation

Thousands of people and vehicles were stranded on NH-1 as the protesters laid siege to the highway in Sonipat and Panipat districts in the past three days, cutting off road connectivity to Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh through the highway.

Nearly 800 trains were also cancelled by railway authorities in the region due to the Jat agitation.

Hundreds of shops have been vandalised and set on fire in Rohtak, Bhiwani, Jhajjar and other places. A number of government and private buildings and vehicles were also set on fire in the past four days as mobs went on a rampage in over 10 districts in Haryana.

The state government had to requisition the army and para-military forces to contain the situation. However, the violent protests continued and spread to other areas of the state.

(With agency inputs)

Srinagar: Another officer of the Indian army’s elite Para Regiment was killed on Sunday evening in the ongoing gunfight between guerrillas and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district while an injured soldier died in hospital, taking the toll to six, police said.

A senior police officer said Captain Tushar Mahajan was killed Sunday evening in the over 24-hour-long ongoing gunfight between holed-up guerrillas and security forces inside the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) complex in Pampore town on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

Mahajan belonged to Udhampur district.

Earlier, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) spokesman said one of the militants was also killed and his body recovered, but then denied it, saying there had been some confusion.

Earlier on Sunday, Captain Pawan Kumar of 10 Para Regiment was killed when he entered the JKEDI multi-storeyed building in which the guerrillas are holed up.

Captain Pawan Kumar belonged to Haryana’s Jind and was the only son of his parents.

“Lance Naik Om Prakash of the Para Commandos, injured in the gunfight during the day, succumbed to critical injuries in the army’s base hospital in Srinagar,” said the police officer.

The toll in the gunfight among the security forces now comprises three soldiers, and two CRPF troopers. A civilian identified as Abdul Gani Mir of Gundipora village of Pulwama district, who worked as a gardener at the JKEDI complex, was also killed.

A total of 13 other security men have so far been injured in the gunfight that started on Saturday when guerrillas attacked a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway at Sempora in the district.

After attacking the bus that was part of the CRPF convoy, the group of three to five heavily-armed guerrillas, said to be of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had entered the JKEDI complex where around 120 staff members were inside the complex.

All the civilians were safely evacuated before the operation was started by the security forces against the holed up guerrillas.

Security forces on Sunday pressed drones into service to pinpoint the exact location of the guerrillas inside the building whose top floor has already been destroyed in the fire caused by the use of explosives to flush out the militants.

A senior police officer said the security forces have entered the ground floor, while the guerrillas are in the upper floors.

Meanwhile, dozens of protesters resorted to heavy stone pelting at the security forces in Pampore town and some other places close to the gunfight site.

Two protesters sustained injuries in tear smoke shelling and aerial firing by security forces to disperse the protesters. The Srinagar-Jammu national highway remained closed for the second day Sunday due to the gunfight.

HRADUN: In a first-of-its-kind exercise, 250 soldiers of the Western Command of the Army have been sent for a two-week Yoga Teacher’s Training Course being organised by Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar.
Officials said the soldiers after their stint will help impart this training to others in the Command. During the training, which began on January 10 and concluded on Tuesday, the jawans were given a “comprehensive knowledge of yoga and meditation” by specialists of Patanjali Yogpeeth under Ramdev’s guidance.

Gurdaspur, February 19

Senior Congress leader Parminder Gill, who had also played host to 16 MPs of the Home Ministry’s Parliamentary Standing Committee last week, has urged the state government to treat the families of the martyrs of the Pathankot attack on a par with Olympians.Addressing a press conference, Gill, who is a former chairman of the ‘kisan’ wing of the PPCC, said that the state government had not done enough for the families of Honorary Major Subedar Fateh Singh of Jhanda Gujran village and Kulwant Singh of Chak Sharif village, both of which fall in Gurdaspur district. Both were retired Army officers and were killed in the terrorist attack on the Air Force station.“I had informed the MPs of the standing committee that Rs 1 crore each should have been given to their kin. This is the same amount as is given to gold medal winners in the Olympics. Moreover, a job commensurate with the educational qualifications of the daughter of Fateh Singh should be given to her,” he said. Gill said he had urged the Defence Ministry to strengthen the present set-up of the District Sainik Welfare Boards. — TNS

KJ Singh, GOC-in-C, Western Command, lays wreaths at the memorial in Chandigarh, on Saturday. A Tribune photograph

Tribune News Service,Chandigarh, January 30

The Western Command commemorated Martyrs’ Day today to remember the soldiers of the Indian Army who laid down their lives for the country. To mark the occasion, a wreath-laying ceremony was organised at the Chandigarh War Memorial in Sector 3.The Governor of Punjab and Haryana and UT Administrator, Kaptan Singh Solanki, and the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt Gen KJ Singh, paid floral tributes to martyrs at the memorial. A ceremonial guard reversed arms as a mark of respect to the fallen soldiers and a two-minute silence was also observed by all present.Wreaths were also laid by veterans, including the former Chief of Army Staff, Gen VP Malik, as well as the top brass of the local civil administration and other senior defence officers. A choir by school students was also performed on the occasion, with the national song Vande Mataram, and multi-faith prayers in reverence to the martyrs being the order of the day.The Chandigarh War Memorial is a citizens’ initiative, comprising a central obelisk and the names of over 11,000 martyrs from the region etched on surrounding granite plaques. The memorial was dedicated to the nation by former President APJ Abdul Kalam.A candle-light ceremony was held in the evening at the War Memorial as a mark of respect for fallen heroes. About 600 Army personnel and civilians took part in the event.

Two-minute silence observed

The Governor of Punjab and Haryana and UT Administrator, Kaptan Singh Solanki, and the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt Gen KJ Singh, paid floral tributes to martyrs at the memorial. A ceremonial guard reversed arms as a mark of respect to the fallen soldiers and a two-minute silence was also observed by all present.

Tribune News Service,Chandigarh, January 30

Lt Gen KJ Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, has, on behalf of all ranks of the Command, condoled the demise of the former Army Chief and Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Gen KV Krishna Rao.General Rao, who was from the Mahar Regiment, had commanded a Mountain Division during the 1971 Indo-Pak War and was posted as the Chief of Staff, Western Command, immediately after the war. Later, after commanding a Corps in Jammu, he served as the GOC-in-C, Western Command from 1979-81.Lt Gen KJ Singh described Gen Rao as an officer with extraordinary leadership qualities and finest military mind in the country who had displayed outstanding, courage, determination and drive in war.

Western Command pays tributes to martyrs, remembers their sacrifices

Beijing’s reported deployment of surface-to-air missile bound to be introspected as launchers on an island in the South China Sea recently photographed by a commercial satellite is an act of grave provocation. It is clearly in violation of the spirit of a 2002 Asean-China joint declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea which affirms the signatories’ commitment to international law. China’s unilateral action, clearly aimed at militarily asserting its claim in the maritime region, is going to aggravate tensions in the South China Sea, a key international shipping route through which $5 trillion worth trade passes each year.
Beijing is not going to be amused at the detection of the missiles on Woody Island. It could think of imposing an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) whereby China can question and intercept aircraft flying in that area. This could increase chances of conflict, especially with the US insisting on its right to continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international laws permits. Already aircraft from the Philippines overflying the Spratly Islands, another disputed archipelago in the South China Sea, have been the recipients of such stern warnings due to a Chinese ADIZ established in the area. The South China Sea is the scene of multiple and complex maritime disputes between several countries with China as the central player. Beijing claims 1.35 million square miles of water in the area, thus virtually regarding the entire South China Sea to be its own.
China is busy buildings roads, runways, jetties and other infrastructure on some of the disputed islands and all these activities invite suspicion of its expansionist intent. China also wants the world to respect it as a peaceful nation. It is imperative that it disengages militarily in the South China Sea and seeks to resolve its disputes peacefully through negotiations. Muscle flexing is not going to help build a benign image.

At about noon today, January 27, the Indian Army Ocean Sailing Expedition 2016 was flagged off by Lieutenant General V Menon, Commandant, College of Military Engineering, Pune.  The expedition will cover approximately 800 nautical miles (1,500 kms) from Marve to Porbandar, Okha (Gujarat) and back.  A total of 32 crew members consisting of officers, JCOs and Ors from the Corps of Engineers and the Regiment of Artillery under the helm of Lieutenant Colonel Karunakaran are participating in the expedition. The expedition consisting of four Seabird Class Yachts which set sail from Marve Beach this morning is scheduled to return on February 18.

Speaking on the occasion, Lt Gen V Menon said that the Indian Army has been a pioneer in adventure activities and has a glorious legacy in the field of sailing. He explained to the crew that the field of warfare is similar to an adventure as it involves alertness of body and mind and risk to life and that the expedition will provide big lessons in soldering. He recounted the circumnavigation of the globe, onboard the yacht ‘Trishna’ in 1985-87 by brave officers from Corps of Engineers as the crowning glory in sailing in the history of Indian Army. The expedition had covered a mammoth 30,000 nautical miles. Since then the army has undertaken numerous ocean sailing expeditions and carved a niche in the field of ocean sailing.

The current expedition is being conducted under the aegis of the Army Aqua Nodal Centre, Marve and has been planned, coordinated and organised by the College of Military Engineering, Pune.  All the sailors underwent rigorous selection process and were trained on Blue Water Sailing at the Heavy Bridging Training Camp at Marve, which, in addition to its professional training task, is a premier institute for carrying out watermanship and sailing training for the Indian Army.