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Photo for representation only.

Anirudh Gupta
Ferozepur, October 8

The BSF on Tuesday sighted two high-flying drones along Punjab’s Hussainiwala sector, days after police recovered Pakistani drones used to airdrop arms and ammunition in border areas of the state.

The security forces went into a tizzy as the BSF troops spotted at least five sorties by drones originating from Pakistani side along the Hussaniwala border.

The development comes following confirmed reports about eight earlier sorties by drones used by Pakistan-based terror groups to airdrop almost 80 kg of sophisticated arms and ammunition to foment trouble in Punjab.

As per information, the BSF troops posted here spotted high-flying drones five times between 10 pm to 10:40 pm last night.

Sources said that while four times, the drone was spotted on Pakistani side, however, once the BSF troops belonging to 136 battalion sighted the drone venturing almost a kilometre inside the Indian territory near border outpost HK Tower close to Hussainiwala, around nine kilometres from district headquarters.

Later on, the BSF troops spotted the drone going back towards the Pakistani side but midway its light and sound went off and it could not be tracked further and vanished within no time.

Besides the BOP HK Tower, the BSF troops spotted a drone near border outpost Basti Ram Lal also at 12:25 am which was on Pakistani side.

Later, the BSF troops with assistance of Punjab Police conducted a search operation in the entire area, however, nothing suspicious was found.

“Ferozepur is well guarded by the BSF, besides there is an Army formation. The Pakistani agencies might be conducting aerial surveillance or they might be up to some mischief,” said an official, on condition of anonymity.

Sources said the drone-like objects were flying high with light appearing from them.

“Had they come to drop something, they would have been flying low and moreover, there would have been buzzing sound due to the bearing load,” said another official, while adding that nothing can be said or denied at the moment.

“The information has been shared with concerned authorities and an alert has been sounded,” he said.

On September 24, the BSF/STF had seized huge quantity of sophisticated arms, including five AK-47 rifles, ten magazines, 200 rounds, 1 Austria-made Glock pistol, 22 magazines and 20 rounds, from Mamdot in this area the source of which still remains unknown.

Sources said that following abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, the Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was pushing the Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorists to carry out an attack of 26/11 magnitude in religious places in Punjab.

On September 22, the police had busted a terrorist module being run with the active support of terrorist groups from Pakistan and Germany and had recovered huge cache of arms, including five AK-47 rifles, four Chinese-made .30 bore pistols, nine hand grenades, five satellite phones, which the police claimed had been dropped by a drone.

On September 12, another consignment was seized from a truck at Lakhanpur (Kathua) which included four AK-56 rifles, two AK-47 rifles besides over 10,000 bullets.

Sources said the troops have been asked to keep a hawk’s eye on all such developments and air intrusions.

Meanwhile, the BSF has also started sensitising the residents along the border to immediately inform the police or BSF authorities if they spot anything unusual near the zero line.

Faced with orders from the ICJ to review Jadhav’s case in the light of Pakistan breaching the Vienna Convention, Islamabad plans to use third-country diplomatic assistance to explore the possibility of sending him home in return for an official admission from New Delhi that he was engaged in espionage, sources close to the Pakistan government have told Firstpost.

Jadhav, an Islamabad-based Pakistani official told Firstpost, is being held in an Inter-Services Intelligence-run facility in Rawalpindi, rather than a prison, even though he is awaiting execution.

Islamabad, one senior Pakistani official said, hopes the offer will help bring about wider India-Pakistan talks, derailed since 2018. “The army understands that Pakistan’s economy cannot be subjected to the risk of another military crisis with India”, the official said. “They see talks as a way to finding some tactical breathing space.”
The deal Pakistan hopes to make builds on a secret diplomatic offer earlier made to New Delhi. Documents submitted to the International Court of Justice show that Pakistan had first offered to extradite Jadhav in a letter dated 30 October, 2017, written soon after India moved the International Court of Justice against his conviction.

“Without prejudice to the proceedings so far”, the letter stated, “the Government of Pakistan is prepared to consider any request for extradition that the Government of India may make in the event that Commander Jadhav is considered to be a criminal under the law of India.”

Put in plain language, the letter constituted an offer to return Jadhav to India, if New Delhi accepted his complicity in terrorism against Pakistan and was prepared to subject him to a criminal-law process.

New Delhi had, however, rejected Islamabad’s offer, seeing it as a ruse to tarnish high officials in the military and intelligence services. Islamabad’s supplementary First Information Report filed on 6 September, 2017 against Jadhav names National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, former naval chief Suresh Mehta, and former Research and Analysis Wing chief Alok Joshi as being among 15 “accomplices and facilitators”.

In a letter dated 11 December, 2017, New Delhi responded by describing Pakistan’s extradition offer as “attempted propaganda”, adding that it had no reason to believe Jadhav had committed any crime for which he could be tried.

Pakistan had made consular access to the incarcerated naval officer contingent on Indian cooperation in investigating the case, seeking statements of the officers, as well as Jadhav’s cellphone records and bank statements.

New Delhi, two Indian official sources said, would still treat any release offer with caution, if it involved an official admission that the country extended support to insurgent groups in Balochistan.
The government has so far declined to discuss several case-related issues—among them, precisely when Jadhav retired from naval service—saying it has no reason to do so until Islamabad provides consular access, and documentation related to the officer’s trial.

Islamabad’s extradition offer, interestingly, was made after the still-unexplained disappearance of former Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate officer Lieutenant-Colonel Mohammed Habib Zahir, who disappeared from Lumbini, in Nepal, in April.

The Pakistan government believes Zahir, who travelled to Nepal lured by an $8,500-per-month offer from Strategic Solutions Consultancy, a non-existent firm, had been kidnapped by Indian intelligence.

From the outset, the Pakistan army’s handling of the Jadhav case has been enmeshed with the country’s civilian-military power struggle. The public naming of high Indian officials — whose names were, notably, absent from a televised custodial confession made by Jadhav—appeared intended to derail the ongoing dialogue between the then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In December 2016, Doval and his Pakistani counterpart, Lieutenant-General Nasser Khan Janjua, had met at a Bangkok hotel to discuss normalisation measures.

The discussions were followed by Prime Minister Modi making an unscheduled visit to Lahore, to greet Sharif on the occasion of his granddaughter’s wedding.

Early in 2018, when Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Sharif had acknowledged the group’s responsibility and ordered officials from the country’s investigation and intelligence services to visit India to gather evidence.

Sharif’s efforts to punish the Jaish spiralled, in coming months, into a frontal break with army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Islamabad, September 24

Pakistan on Tuesday rejected as “completely baseless” the Indian Army chief’s statement on the reactivation of terror camp in Balakot that was destroyed by the Indian armed forces through a surgical strike earlier this year.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat in Chennai on Monday said that Pakistan had reactivated the Balakot terror camp recently and about 500 infiltrators were waiting to sneak into India.

The response to the terror camp getting functional again might go beyond India’s previous response by way of an air strike in February, he told reporters at the Officers Training Academy in the Tamil Nadu capital.

The Indian Army chief’s statement on the reactivation of terror camp in Balakot is “completely baseless”, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The allegation of “infiltration” from Pakistan reflected “a desperate attempt” by India to divert international attention from the “humanitarian crisis” in Jammu and Kashmir, it said, adding that New Delhi would not “succeed in misleading the world community through these diversionary tactics”.

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India on August 5 revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated it into union territories. PTI

Houston, September 22 

However, there are some more unresolved issues. We have outlined issues that the NRI Sikh community and Sikh Community in large is enduring and request you to address these issues in near future,” the memorandum said.

 

I had an excellent interaction with the Sikh Community in Houston. I am delighted to see their passion towards India’s development!

 Among the prominent members of the 50-member delegation were Satpal Singh Khalsa from New Mexico, eminent Sikh businessman Darshan Singh Dhaliwal from Milwaukee, Rachpal Singh from Indiana and Jaswinder Singh from Illinois.

The memorandum thanked the prime minister for bringing to justice some of the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

“We request you to ensure that justice prevails, and Sikhs in India get justice and dignity which is their right under the constitution of India,” it said.

Based in Pakistan, Rai Bular Bhatti’s descendants desire to visit Golden Temple

GS Paul
Tribune News Service
Nankana Sahib (Pak), August 4

The descendants of Rai Bular Bhatti, a 15th Century Muslim landlord of undivided Punjab and a disciple of Guru Nanak Dev, are a dejected lot for not getting fulfilled their desire to visit the Golden Temple. Their application for furnishing visa formalities was repeatedly rejected by the Indian authorities.

Rai Saleem Bhatti (41), a lawyer at Lahore High Court and the 19th generation of Rai Bular Bhatti, said till date the visa could not be procured for the reasons best known to the Indian authorities.

SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal confirmed that the programme could not be held due to non-availability of Bhatti family. “We will take up the matter with the Union Home Department for facilitating visa to Bhatti’s descendants,” he said. 

The Bhatti family, despite being devout Muslims, has kept alive their ancestral links with Sikhism for the past several generations.

Rai Saleem Bhatti and his 11-year-old son Rai Waleed Bhatti visited Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib on the occasion of nagar kirtan dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

The family still continued the legacy by contributing in every way for the wellbeing of people living in the area. The 16th generation, Rai Bashir Ahmed Bhatti, Rai Hadayat Khan Bhatti played important role in Pakistan politics too. Rai Saleem Bhatti said his cousins Rai Sarvar Khan Bhatti and Rai Ahmad Khan Bhatti’s family had donated 10 acres at Kot Hussan Khan, 5 km from Nankana Sahib, for setting up Nankana Sahib Foundation. The purpose was to generate jobs and revenue for the upkeep of Sikh shrines in Nankana Sahib.  “We desire to get it revived and take up the matter with the Pakistan government,” he said.

His father, Rai Akram Bhatti, also a lawyer, wishes to strengthen Sikh-Muslim cordial ties by conducting Sikh pilgrimage to the holy shrines and invite them to his place.

“Our family owes my birth due to the blessings of Baba Nanak only. Sikh devotees from any part of the world who visit Nankana Sahib hold special place in our heart and we take it as a divine opportunity to serve them,” he said.

Guru Nanak’s father Mehta Kalu was a munshi at Rai Bular Bhatti’s estate. Rai Bular Bhatti, who owned over 36,000 acres, had donated half of it to Guru Nanak in late 15th century. “Bhatti had donated around 18,750 acres. On some part of the land Gurdwara Janam Asthan Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Bal Leela were built. The remaining was leased to locals. The land is now under the control of the Evacuee Property Trust Board, Pakistan,” he said.

SGPC to honour them 

• The SGPC wants to set up a portrait of Rai Bular Bhatti, a 15th Century Muslim landlord of undivided Punjab and a disciple of Guru Nanak Dev, in the Central Sikh Museum.
• The programme was scheduled for May 5, 2018, but had to be deferred as Bhatti’s descendants were denied visa.
• Rai Saleem Bhatti, a lawyer at Lahore High Court and the 19th generation of Rai Bular Bhatti, said till date visa could not be procured for the reasons best known to the Indian authorities.

Raipur, July 31

A CRPF jawan was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by Naxals in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, officials said.

The blast took place around 6 am near a camp of 195th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force at Pushpal in Bastar when one of its patrol teams was on its way back, they said.

A constable-rank jawan was trapped in the blast, the officials said. PT

Paramilitary personnel pay respects to martyrs at the ITBP headquarters. tribune photo: Vishal kumar

ITBP personnel participate in a run for martyrs in Amritsar on Tuesday. tribune photo: Vishal kumar

Amritsar, July 23

Paramilitary personnel commemorated the victory of the nation in the Kargil war by holding a number of programmes here.

A 5-km race titled ‘Run for martyrs’ was organised by 52 Battalion, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), at New Amritsar. Apart from ITBP officials, civilians also took part in it.

Baljit Singh, Commandant, 52 Battalion, ITBP, said the run started from the New Amritsar market and concluded at the ITBP camp. The BSF held a blood donation camp as a part of a week-long Kargil war commemoration programme.

As many as 127 volunteers donated blood. As many as 59 BSF personnel and 68 civilians were among the donors at the Attari joint checkpost. Visitors, who had come to witness the Retreat ceremony, also donated blood.

JS Oberoi, DIG, BSF paid floral tributes to the martyrs.

Rajouri, July 6

After a lull of fortnight, the Pakistan army on Friday night resorted to unprovoked heavy firing and shelling in the Baba Khori area of Rajouri.

According to reports, two soldiers suffered splinter injuries and were taken to Army Hospital. They have been identified as Sepoy R Gautam and Naik K Singh.

“At 9 pm, Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation with small arms followed by shelling with mortars along the Line of Control in the Nowshera sector. The Army has retaliated beffitingly,” said Lt Col Devender Anand, PRO Defence (Jammu).

During the last six months, the Pakistan army has violated the truce 1,248 times on the LoC and four soldiers have attained martyrdom, including three in March and one in June.

On June 10, a soldier was killed while three others, including a BSF constable, were injured in Poonch. On June 16, two minor girls were injured in the Shahpur area along with an Army porter. On June 17, a BSF constable was injured in Poonch. — OC