Indian Air Force officials show sections of an exploded AMRAAM missile, said to be fired by Pakistan Air Force F-16s, at an IAF, Army and Navy joint press conference at South Block in New Delhi, on February 28, 2019. PTI

Washington, March 6

The US is “very closely” following the reports which have claimed that Pakistan misused American-made F-16 fighter jets against India in the recent aerial confrontation between the air forces of the two countries, a top State Department official has said.

The Indian Air Force on Thursday displayed parts of an AMRAAM beyond visual range air-to-air missile as evidence to “conclusively” prove that Pakistan deployed US-manufactured F-16 fighter jets during an aerial raid targeting Indian military installations in Kashmir after India’s anti-terror operation in Balakot.

Pakistan has said that no F-16 fighter jets were used.

The US State Department has said that America is seeking more information from Pakistan on the potential misuse of American-made F-16 fighter jets by it against India in violation of the end-user agreement.

“We’ve seen those reports and we’re following that issue very closely,” US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino told reporters at his biweekly news conference on Tuesday.

He was responding to questions that Pakistan has violated the end-user agreement on F-16 that it procured from the United States.

“I can’t confirm anything, but as a matter of policy, we don’t publicly comment on the contents of bilateral agreements that we have in this regard involving US defence technologies nor the communications that we have with other countries about that.

“So, we’re taking a look and we’re going to continue to take a look. I’m going to leave it at that,” Palladino said.

AMRAAM missiles allow a fighter pilot to target an enemy aircraft that is beyond visual range, in day or night, and in all-weather conditions. They have an autonomous guidance capability, which allows the pilot to manoeuvre immediately after the missile’s launch.

Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14.

India launched a counter-terror operation in Balakot on February 26.

The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 and captured its pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was handed over to India on Friday. PTI

File photo for representation only.

New Delhi, February 21

On the lines of the Army, the CRPF is mulling to enhance the number of leave given to its combat personnel, as part of a renewed push to provide enhanced rest and recuperation to its troops deployed extensively for anti-terrorism and anti-Naxal operations in the country, officials said on Thursday.

The force is planning to enhance by 13 days the number of casual leave given in a year to its jawans and officials, up to the rank of Commanding Officer (CO), they said.

At present, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troops, up to the CO rank, get 60 days of EL (earned leave) and 15 days of casual leave (CL) while being in an operationally active area like Jammu and Kashmir, left wing extremism deployment or counter-insurgency duties in the north east.

It is now planning to enhance the CL to 28 days.

In the Army, all the officials—from a sepoy to the Army chief—get 60 days of EL and 28 days of CL whether they are deployed in a peace station or the operations grid. This system helps a jawan to plan his off-duty activities and vacations better, they said.

The proposal was much favoured by the troops and officers of the force after CRPF Director General (DG) RR Bhatnagar visited his formations for two days in the Kashmir Valley post the February 14 Pulwama attack, they said.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed while five others were injured after a suicide bomber triggered a deadly explosion next to a force bus plying on the Jammu-Srinagar highway as part of a convoy.

The official said all field commanders of the over 3-lakh personnel strong force have been asked to firm up their views after which the CRPF will move the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking its sanction to the proposal.

“The move will greatly benefit the troops in planning their time when they are off duty.

“They can better spend their time with their families or get their domestic work done or to simply say make the most of their holidays, given the hectic and stressful work schedule they have on job,” the official said. — PTI

A family member of slain CRPF Mahesh Yadav cries before his funeral at Tudihar, in Allahabad district on February 16, 2019. PTI photo

Lucknow/Jaipur, February 16

Sobbing family members Saturday lit the funeral pyres of the CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack, joined by other mourners who at places gathered in their thousands.

In an Uttarakhand village, a 3-year-old child lit his father’s pyre.  At another cremation in Rajasthan, a 2-month baby was made to symbolically touch the torch used for the last rites.

Traders downed shutters and people lined the streets at many places as caskets carrying the remains of the jawans arrived at their native villages and towns across the country, amid the chanting of slogans—some of them anti-Pakistan.

Union ministers flew down from New Delhi to join ministers from the states to lay wreaths on the caskets of many of the 40 jawans killed in the suicide attack on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Thursday.

In most cases, the coffins draped in the tricolor arrived from Delhi at the nearest airport, and were then taken by road to the jawans’ villages for state funerals.

In a village in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district, the 3-year-old Rehan lit his father Virendra Singh’s funeral pyre.

Union Minister of state for Textiles Ajay Tamta and Uttarakhand minister Yashpal Arya were at the cremation, where CRPF jawans fired three rounds in the air as a salute to their fallen colleague.

Shopkeepers in nearby Khatima, Chakarpur and Jhankat downed shutters. People taking part in a procession in Khatima shouted anti-Pakistan slogans.

In Ghalauti Khurd in Punjab’s Moga district, Jaimal Singh’s 5-year-old son Gurprakash lit the pyre. Rohitash Lamba’s infant son was made to symbolically touch the torch that lit his pyre in Shahpura town near Jaipur.

Thousands of people, including Union minister Jitendra Singh, attended the burial of head constable Naseer Ahmad at Dudasunballa village in the border district of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

Officers from the Central Reserve Police Force and the Army also visited the village to pay homage, promising to take care of the jawan’s family which includes his wife and two children, officials said.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on the coffin of C Sivachandran at Tiruchirappali airport, where his body had been flown on the way to his village.

As Pankaj Tripathi’s body reached Harpur Bailhiya in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district, the villagers broke out in slogans hailing him as a martyr, and also chanting “Pakistan murdabad”.

Taking the cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarks, Union Minister Shiv Pratap Shukla, who attended the funeral, said: “India will give a befitting reply to the cowardly act of Pakistan”. He announced that the local primary school will be renamed after the jawan.

“My son was coming soon to meet me, but it seems that something else was written in my fate,” his mother told reporters.

Uttarakhand’s Trivendra Singh Rawat, Himachal Pradesh’s Jai Ram Thakur and Odisha’s Naveen Pathak were among the chief ministers who paid homage as the remains of soldiers from their states arrived.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal turned pallbearer when head constable Maneswar Basumatari’s body arrived in Guwahati, flown in by the Indian Air Force.

“The nation will fight united to protect the sovereignty of our country. Basumatari’s sacrifice, along with that of the other CRPF jawans, will not go in vain,” he told reporters.

In Deoria district, Vijay Maurya’s wife Vijay Laxmi demanded that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath should visit the family before the cremation takes place.

UP Minister Anupama Jaiswal and other leaders were trying to persuade her to go ahead with the last rites. PTI

Col Dilbag Dabas (Retd)

Affectionately called ‘Shanky’ by friends, Capt Sandeep Shankla, son of Colonel JS Kanwar, was born on January 3, 1964, in Hamirpur district.

An alumnus of the prestigious Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Shanky was commissioned into the 18th Battalion of the Dogra Infantry Regiment.

Militancy started in late 1990/ early 1991 in Kashmir Valley and before the Indian state could realise, it had engulfed the entire Valley and Kashmir was no more a paradise! Pakistan-trained militants made it hell by resulting in mass exodus of Kashmiri pandits and a sizable number of Hindu trading community from the Valley. Tourism, one of the major sources of the regional economy and livelihood for many, was badly hit since the Valley was perceived as a dangerous place to live in. Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir was and still is a hot bed of militancy in the Valley. It was at that time that the 18th Dogra Battalion was inducted into the Valley for anti-militancy operations.

After a detailed study of the terrain, the modus operandi of militants and expected support from the local population, the 18th Dogra Battalion got on to the job it was sent for — to cordon, search, apprehend or eliminate terrorists from its area of responsibility. During its anti-militancy operations in the Valley, the battalion did a commendable job, though at unavoidable cost. During one such operation, Captain Sandeep Shankla, the leader of the Quick Reaction Team, single-handedly killed nine militants and under his inspirational leadership, the team apprehended 22 hardcore terrorists.

For his inspirational leadership and unparalleled act of bravery, Captain Sandeep Shankla was awarded the Ashok Chakra posthumously. 

His act of bravery recorded in the War Diary of 18th Dogra battalion reads: Captain Sandeep Shankla was the leader of the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of the 18th Dogra Battalion deployed in counter-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir. On August 8, 1991, he learnt about the presence of a large number of militants at Zafarkhani village in Kupwara district in north Kashmir. The intelligence input was authentic and needed urgent action before the terrorists could move out to some other hideout. Leading from the front, Captain Sandeep Shankla approached the village and immediately cordoned off the area and told the militants to surrender. Finding themselves trapped, the militants opened indiscriminate firing and lobbed hand grenades. The Quick Reaction Team also retaliated and in the encounter, Captain Sandeep Shankla suffered bullet injuries. However, without caring for himself, he continued the operation and single-handedly killed nine militants. Before fleeing from the scene, a terrorist shot Captain Shankla on the abdomen and also hurled two hand grenades. Grievously wounded for the second time, Shanky, though in acute pain, threw back one of the two hand grenades hurled at him and rescued his colleague, who had sustained injuries during the cross fire. However, due to excessive loss of blood, the brave officer succumbed to his injuries.”

Captain Shankla lived and died fearlessly. For his inspirational leadership, unmatched gallantry and camaraderie of the highest order in the face of the enemy, he was awarded the Ashok Chakra, the highest peace-time military decoration, equivalent to the Param Vir Chakra awarded during war time.

Himachal Pradesh, a very small state, with a population just about 1.6 per cent of the Indian total, has given to the Indian Army 14 Maha Virs (MVC), 66 Virs (Vr C) and a large number of brave-hearts, who have won Sena Medals and other gallantry awards. Among the 77 bravest of the braves (winners of Param Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra), seven of them have been nurtured by Himachali soil. Undoubtedly, Himachal is a nursery that produces and nurtures the future brave-hearts.

Ashok Chakra, the highest peace time military decoration, equivalent to Param Vir Chakra during war time, is awarded for the most conspicuous act of bravery or some act of daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice other than in the face of the enemy on land, at sea or in the air.

Act of bravery in 18th Dogra battalion War Diary reads…

Captain Sandeep Shankla was the leader of the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of the 18th Dogra Battalion deployed in counter-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir. On August 8, 1991, he learnt about the presence of a large number of militants at Zafarkhani village in Kupwara district in north Kashmir. The intelligence input was authentic and needed urgent action before the terrorists could move out to some other hideout. Leading from the front, Captain Sandeep Shankla approached the village and immediately cordoned off the area and told the militants to surrender. Finding themselves trapped, the militants opened indiscriminate firing and lobbed hand grenades. The Quick Reaction Team also retaliated and in the encounter, Captain Sandeep Shankla suffered bullet injuries. However, without caring for himself, he continued the operation and single-handedly killed nine militants. Before fleeing from the scene, a terrorist shot Captain Shankla on the abdomen and also hurled two hand grenades. Grievously wounded for the second time, Shanky, though in acute pain, threw back one of the two hand grenades hurled at him and rescued his colleague, who had sustained injuries during the cross fire. However, due to excessive loss of blood, the brave officer succumbed to his injuries

(The writer is a veteran Gunner, 6 Field Regiment)

NEW DELHI: Reacting to some media reports that the Army will no longer process travelling and dearness allowance (TA/DA) and advances and claims of the officers, Defence Ministry has issued a clarification stressing that adequate funds stands allocated under all heads, including the heads for temporary and permanent duty.

The Defence Ministry also said that the shortfalls, if any, are not permanent and additional money will be provided if need arises. The Army pays temporary allowances to officers when they travel for purposes such as tours and training.

“At times, however, the allocated funds to specific head, which is based on predicted/ envisaged expenditure, may fall short of the actual expenditure. These shortfalls are only temporary and are resolved through routine reappropriation. Additional funds will be provided if necessity arises,” the Defence Ministry said in a press release.

A Defence Ministry spokesman told PTI that the news is completely baseless and the hype created around it is unnecessary.

Some news articles were published on February 4 on the notification by Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA), Pune, that due to insufficient funds available under temporary and permanent duty heads of Army officers, no TA/DA advances and claims of the officers can be processed till receipt of sufficient funds under the relevant heads.

In the last few years the term ‘last helicopter’ has been synonymous with US withdrawal of its remaining rump military and civil elements from any expeditionary deployment abroad.

It originated with the final stages of the US pullout from Saigon, reportedly from atop the US embassy building by helicopter, at the end of the Vietnam War.

That is why when reports poured in last week of a possible US-Taliban deal over a full US pullout from Afghanistan, the first thoughts reflected on the potential of the last helicopter flying away from Kabul and ending the 17-year US involvement in that country.

The question is whether such an eventuality is anywhere near fructification.

The US, Taliban, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan (the last three being the only ones, which recognised the once existent Taliban government) have over the last few months been negotiating a possible deal, which will allow a full US pullout from its involvement in Afghanistan.

“Meetings here were more productive than they have been in the past. We made significant progress on vital issues,” Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative for Afghan reconciliation, tweeted after six days of talks with the Taliban in Qatar in which Saudi Arabia and UAE were not present. Presence of some Pakistani representation remains unconfirmed.

The Afghan National Unity Government (NUG) led by President Ashraf Ghani is marked by its absence at the supposed conflict termination talks, primarily because of Taliban objections. It is too early to make any big deductions from the leaked and stated results, which appear at best tentative.

But the fact that some progress has been made in the six days of negotiations at Qatar is obvious because, at the end of it, Zalmay Khalilzad headed to Kabul for discussions with President Ashraf Ghani.

There are several issues that remain sticking points. It starts with the absence of the NUG itself, as the Taliban refuses to talk with its representatives, possibly out of fear of revealing weaknesses and legitimising an entity it opposes tooth and nail.

Ashraf Ghani has made genuine and sincere efforts to be a part of the negotiations. The Taliban also knows that the NUG’s absence will force the US to remain uncertain.

The Taliban is deeply suspicious of US intent. As a non-state entity, it is difficult to negotiate with, as it is not bound by conventions and rules; there can be no certainty that the Taliban will honour an accord in total.

The presence of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and UAE is the guarantee that the US seeks for implementation of a negotiated settlement.

It appears that the two sides may have agreed to a framework deal, which may then lead to a more committed intra-Afghan dialogue. The relative seriousness of the Taliban commitment to talks is reflected by the presence of Baradar Akhund, now considered as the virtual deputy in the Taliban hierarchy.

What probably will hold back the talks from progressing to a breakthrough level is the Taliban strategy of continuing to fight while negotiating. The US, hamstrung by a 17-year-old costly war, is unable to urge the Taliban to enter a ceasefire before talks.

It does remind one of a similar situation existing in the Indo-Pak environment, where the Indian government has steadfastly refused to talk with Pakistan that backs proxy terror against it.

The Taliban possibly appreciates that the greater its domination of the security environment, the more it can squeeze from the US. In fact, there could be expectations of a renewed annual spring offensive in 2019, which usually results in a large number of casualties to the Afghan security forces that have been on an average losing 7,000-8,000 men annually in the last few years.

Conceptually, US strategy has harped on operations being fought and led by Afghans themselves, but it has consistently refused to adequately arm them with weapons considered appropriate to stem the Taliban’s frequent offensives.

A full US withdrawal without adequate safeguards of a better armed and equipped Afghan security forces, is the surest opening to civil war with only one anticipated end.

The other issue on which the talks would be focused on is the duration for a complete withdrawal. A progressive drawdown will give President Donald Trump the political leverage he seeks and yet continue the support to the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the NUG.

The US can make a quick exit without an agreement and leave behind a mess, which will only aid in advancing the interests of organisations such as ISIS that remains perched somewhere observing the situation and ready to exploit the slightest opportunity. It could then be a repeat of the conflict termination witnessed in Iraq with resultant chaos and emergence of the ISIS.

Daniel Coats, US Director of National Intelligence, has expressed his apprehensions about the situation in South Asia due to the upcoming Indian and Afghanistan elections and in particular, has reflected on the relative insecurity of nuclear resources within Pakistan.

The duration till May 2019 and a little beyond is being considered by the international community as a period of uncertainty.

With the state of Pakistan’s economy and its reluctance to rein in all extremist elements, the underlying message in Coats’reflections also points to the possibility of turbulence within Pakistan.

This, in the light of intended US withdrawal, is likely to be viewed as advantage Taliban.

India finds itself out of the mainstream parleys and Pakistan has thrived in driving uncertainty by first calling for Indian involvement (recall Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi’s earlier statement about the need for India to be a part of the negotiations) and then working against the same.

In the light of this, should India open some form of engagement with the Taliban to develop options for a post-US Afghanistan? Prudence does point towards following such a course, but given the current strong position the Taliban finds itself in, it is uncertain whether it will wish to upset the cards, all of which seems to be falling in its favour.

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 3

Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, Northern Command chief, visited forward locations in western Ladakh on Sunday.

He was briefed on the operational readiness being maintained in the sector.

He met and interacted with troops deployed in some of the most hostile terrain and adverse weather conditions in the world. He appreciated and complimented the troops for their dedication and tenacity even in these challenging circumstances and urged them to uphold the highest standards of professionalism of the Army.

The Northern Command chief was accompanied by the General Officer Commanding, Fire and Fury Corps, and General Officer Commanding, Forever in Operations Division.