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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

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.