New Delhi: The Indian Army is conducting a massive exercise ‘Shatrujeet’ in the Thar desert near to the border with Pakistan to fine-tune its proactive war strategy to respond swiftly to any threat to nation’s security.
As per a report in The Times of India, the exercise is being steered by the 1 Corps – one of the three principle `strike corps of the Indian Army` – based in Mathura near Delhi.Several infantry, armoured and artillery fomations are taking part in the operations being conducted under a simulated nuclear, biological, chemical warfare environment. Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag will review the final phase of the exercise.
The exercise is o critical importance for the Indian Army as Pakistan has often flaunted its 60-km Hatf-IX missiles as a counter to India’s conventional military superiority. Shatrujeet aims to fine-tune the strategy to tackle the threat.
The TOI quotes a defence expert as saying, “Pakistan might be foolish enough to talk about tactical nukes as weapons but India’s no-first-use nuclear policy is clear. It warns of a massive and harsh retaliation to any first NBC strike by an adversary, be it tactical or strategic.”
To add teeth to the strategy, the Shatrujeet exercise will also see major airborne operations, including para-dropping of around 3,000 soldiers.
Villagers in South Kashmir’s Karimabad and Gudoora are up in arms against the army and blamed them for vandalizing and desecrating the graveyard at Karimabad village
A police vehicle was set on fire in Karimabad on Thursday. (Source: AP)
Villagers in South Kashmir’s Karimabad and Gudoora are up in arms against the army and blamed them for vandalizing and desecrating the graveyard at Karimabad village where militants who were killed on Thursday are buried.
Army, however, denied the allegations and termed it as a ploy to malign the image of the army by separatists.
On Thursday after killing two militants at Vehil Shopian, the villagers intercepted the police bulletproof vehicle at Muran chowk in which body of a militant was being carried. The villagers hijacked the vehicle and later set it on fire while the body of militant Naseer Ahmad Pandit who was a former police constable turned militant was buried in the graveyard of his native village Karimabad.
The villagers alleged that the army at night came to the village and took away the damaged vehicle and also vandalized the graveyard and desecrated the graves. “This has been done by the army and their agents who are not happy with the participation of huge number of people in the militant funerals,’’ a villager alleged.
Even some villagers alleged that they (army) also damaged an apple orchard in the neighborhood of the graveyard.
On social networking sites, many people reacted on the desecration of the graveyard and termed it as an inhuman act and circulated the pictures of the graveyard. “After yesterday’s (Friday) massive participation in the funeral of Naseer & Waseem in South Kashmir, the desecration of the martyr’s graveyard perhaps by frustrated Indian army only reiterates that our revolutionaries even after death haunt the Indian army. This growing insecurity of India on Kashmir is encouraging,’’ Khurram Parvez, a human rights activist wrote on the face book.
Army on its part strongly termed these allegations as baseless and said the story has been cooked up by separatists with an obvious intent to malign the fair image of the army.
“The Indian Army, during the Kargil conflict, had given a befitting and honorable military burial to even Pakistani soldiers. Desecrating the ‘graves’ of our own youth even if they are misguided is unimaginable for a disciplined force with a proven track record in displaying due dignity to the adversary during and after combat,’’ the army spokesman said adding that such irresponsible allegations are only indicative of intellectual bankruptcy of ignorant and ill informed minds.
– See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/shopian-encounter-villagers-blame-army-for-vandalising-graveyard-where-militants-are-buried/#sthash.xyaO5hmz.dpuf
 Army Chief General Dalbir Singh on Friday met the Chief of Staff of the US Army (CSA) Gen. Mark A. Milley during his ongoing four-day visit to the United States. General Singh was given the Guard of Honour in an Army Full Honour Arrival Ceremony. Earlier, he paid homage at Arlington National Cemetery in the Army Full Honour Wreath Ceremony at the ‘Tomb of Unknown Soldiers’. The Indian Army Chief later visited the Pentagon and called on the Chairman, Joint Chief of Staff (CJCS) and Commandant, US Marine Corps. The military and security leaders of both nations discussed a range of strategic and security issues of mutual interest. The Indian Army Chief is scheduled to visit one of the regiments of the US Army Rangers and the Maneuver Center of Excellence. |
Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service
Jammu, April 7
At its recruitment rallies in the state, the Army has been relying on different stages of verification and character certificate to check youth with separatist sentiment, or shady past, from donning the olive green.While the Army’s recruitment rallies have been evoking overwhelming response from youths of the state, in recent times there have been instances of some BSF personnel (serving and retired) spying for Pakistan in the state.However, the response to such rallies could be gauged from the fact that 42,868 candidates had registered themselves for one a rally that started at Samba on April 2.The Delhi Police Crime Branch, in November last year, had arrested a BSF head constable and a Rajouri-based resident on charges of leaking sensitive information to Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).However, a Defence official said, “There is an in-built mechanism in the Army to monitor every single recruit. Instead of being apprehensive, we should appreciate the state-centric recruitment rallies.”While the Army has plans to conduct two more recruitment rallies in Bandipora and Anantnag in Kashmir region, Deputy Director General Recruiting (Punjab and J&K) Brigadier JS Samyal had said at Samba that candidates proceed to the final stage of selection only after proper verification.“Candidates have to go through different stages of verification and are required to submit a character certificate from the police. Hence, there are no possibilities of such incidents,” Brigadier Samyal had said. The Army has been conducting these recruitment rallies across the state to ameliorate socio-economic condition of unemployed youth of the state.
Ex-servicemen stage a protest outside Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s residence over implementation of OROP, in New Delhi on Sunday. Photo: V. Sudershan.
Protesting ex-servicemen called upon their community to contest elections and have their own political representation to achieve One Rank One Pension in its rightful form.
The call was given by several veterans in a major rally organised at Jantar Mantar on Sunday.
“We have given a call to ex-servicemen to contest elections to State Assemblies, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. We are a six-crore vote bank and we should have our own representatives to achieve our demands,” Group Captain V.K. Gandhi (retd), general secretary of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement said.
He said that if they remained united with our vote bank they would be able to fill at least 25 per cent seats in each Assembly and about 30 MPs in the Lok Sabha. However he denied that United Front of Ex-Servicemen Movement (UFESM) was contesting polls. “If someone comes to us and if they have good credentials we will support them,” Mr. Gandhi stated.http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/contest-polls-to-achieve-orop-say-veterans/article8434252.ece
SRINAGAR: A militant has been killed in one of the two ongoing gun battles between government forces and militants in Kashmir on Tuesday.
PTI PHOTOArmy personnel at the site where militants were hiding during an encounter in Kupwara district of Kashmir on Tuesday.“A militant identified as Bilal Ahmad of Karimabad Pulwama has been killed. The encounter has not yet finished,” said superintendent of police Pulwama, Rais Mohammad.
Two gun battles between government forces and militants were going-on at two separate places in Kashmir on Tuesday.
While one encounter raged between security forces and militants in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, another was going on in north Kashmir’s Kupwara.
A police official said the forces received inputs about the presence of militants in Gudoora village of Pulwama.
Following the information, a joint party of army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles and police’s special operations group cordoned the village.
“The militants opened fire on the security forces. The cordon is in place and cross-firing is going on,” said the official.
Even as the encounter was underway, hundreds of youth around the encounter sight started pelting stones on the forces.
Police had to use tear gas shells to disperse the youth.
The stone pelting clashes were going on till late evening.
Meanwhile, searches continued in the forests of Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara after suspected militants opened fire on a patrolling party of security forces.
Police officials said that a joint party of 28 Rashtriya Rifles and police’s special operations group were patrolling the districts’ Darpora area when they were fired upon by suspected militants.
“There is intermittent firing between the forces and the militants. It is a huge forest area and the searches are going on,” said superintendent of police, Kupwara, Aijaz Ahmad.
The historical First Gorkha regiment of the Indian army has raised a new battalion on Friday at Subathu Cantonment, which is the birth place of the First Gorkha Rifles in Himachal Pradesh. The move is historical as the Gorkha regiment has raised a new battalion after a gap of almost five decades. As of now First Gorkha Regiment has five battalions and the new battalion would be known as 6/1GR.
The announcement about the raising of this battalion was made by Lt Gen Ravi Thodge, Master General of Ordinance and Colonel of the Regiment in October 2015 during the grand celebrations of Reunion-cum-Bicentenary of the Regiment.
First Gorkha regiment was raised on April 24, 1815 at Subathu Cantonment. The raising celebrations included wreath laying, special sainik sammelan and prayers at the regimental mandir to invoke the benign blessings of Goddess Durga. Lt Gen Ravi Thodge conveyed his best wishes to all ranks of newly raised battalion and exhorted them to perform at their best and to serve the nation in a manner befitting the magnificent Indian Army.
He also brought out that a modern and professional Indian army has to always be ready for any challenges that come its way. Colonel Avaneesh Chambial, has been appointed as the first commanding officer of the new battalion.
Ropar, March 29
Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) will take on Signals in the final of the 28th Dashmesh Hawks All India Hockey Festival at the Hawks Stadium on Tuesday. Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) blanked ITBP 4-0 in the first semifinal, while Signals defeated Jalandhar XI by a solitary goal on Monday. In the first semifinal, EME took the lead through a penalty corner by Saimon (10th min). Saimon scored again through a field goal in the 29th minute to make it 2-0. The second-half started on brisk note and EME scored the third goal through a solo effort by Mandeep Singh (Sr.) (37th min). Saimon scored his third goal (57th min) of the match to give EME an unassailable 4-0 lead. In the second semifinal, Signals and Jalandhar XI made a number of moves early on but the forwards failed to give the finishing touches. As a result, the first-half ended goalless. Jalandhar XI was the first one to concede a goal in the 39th minute when G Das of Signals scored a field goal. Signals won the match by a margin of 1-0 and booked a seat in the final. — TNS
Tribune News Service & PTI
Pathankot, March 29
A five-member Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT), accompanied by NIA officials, today visited the Pathankot air base that was for most part visually barricaded as scores of Congress and AAP workers protested outside against their probe into the terror attack.On January 2, a group of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists had launched a pre-dawn attack on the air base, killing seven security men.The team that arrived in Amritsar in the morning from Delhi in a special plane was taken to Pathankot by road to avoid giving it an aerial view of the strategic base. The team was ferried in six bullet-proof vehicles for the 118-km journey.Around 11.30 am, the members were led into the complex through a specially created entrance at the perimeter wall that was breached by the terrorists. White curtains were used as visual barricades to ensure they could not have a glimpse of valuable defence assets.The team, officials said, was taken to only the “scene of crime”. After spending around 40 minutes at the air base, the visitors were taken in a mini bus to other places relevant to the case. The team was driven to Koliyan village area where Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh, his friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal were abducted. It also visited Gulpur village where the SP and his cook were dumped.They were then taken to Tajpur village where the SUV in which Rajesh in injured condition was finally found.The team also visited the spot near Kathlour bridge where Ikagar Singh, a taxi driver, was killed after being kidnapped. The proposed tour to the civil hospital mortuary, where the bodies of the four terrorists have been kept, was called off at the last minute. The team could also not go to the forward post in Bamial as the BSF had reservations given its strategic importance.NIA wants undertakingNew Delhi: The NIA has asked the JIT to give an undertaking that the evidences gathered in India will be admissible in a Pakistan court. NIA DG Sharad Kumar said: “During the 26/11 trials, we had sent several evidences and dossiers to Pakistan, but they said they were not admissible in their court. So we have asked them to give the undertaking.” TNS.
