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Move comes as govt aims to promote participation of women in armed forces

A recent report of the Home Ministry has made public a fact that was known to many but did not get the due visibility in the media and hence remained confined to a few. Ever since, Amit Shah has occupied the all- important chair of the Union Home Minister, the ministry has got a new fillip because of his perceived image of Sardar Patel 2.0. During his recent maiden visit to Kashmir, he minced no words in reiterating the zero tolerance policy of his government towards terror and terrorists.

In the three-pronged strategy he enunciated to the security forces, strict action against terror funding and security forces to ensure that law of the land prevails were the other two prongs. Ever since, his all-important maiden visit and subsequent rousing speeches in the two houses of the Parliament while replying to the debate of extension of President’s Rule in J&K, the media’s ears now remain glued to the North Block. The media eagerly awaits for the next move of the government viz a viz J&K. Thus, the recent report of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) revealing that hard line separatist leaders received funds from abroad and utilised them for personal gains- from amassing properties to paying for foreign education of their kin, has not only hogged the limelight in media but also raised a public outcry that the black deeds of these leaders should reach every household in Kashmir.

Tightening its noose around those who were involved in terror funding, terror financing, money laundering and hawala operations, National Investigation Agency (NIA) for the first time under the directions of previous Modi government had arrested many separatist leaders, businessmen, hawala operators and close relatives of the Hurriyat leadership and put them through sustained interrogation to track the sources and origin of terror funding in Kashmir.

NIA was successful in not only tracking the trail of terror funding but also revealed the beneficiaries and how terror was being sustained in the Valley apart from allowing the so-called leaders in Kashmir lead a luxurious life. The regional parties who were heading the governments in Kashmir turned a blind eye to this notorious malpractice because of their vested interest in continuation of terrorism in the state. How else can they explain cases of money laundering and hawala operations which were lingering on for decades together despite the registration of the cases? This, in fact has been the misfortune of Kashmir because the regional mainstream parties owe their political survival to separatist and extremist forces operating in the Valley.

During their interrogation, the separatist leaders confessed that Pakistan was the main source of terror funding with the specific purpose of fuelling separatist sentiments among the people of Kashmir. Cross-LOC trade was one of the major sources of hawala operations and terror financing.

During interrogation, Asiya Andrabi of Duktaran-e-Milat admitted that she had been receiving funds and donations from Pakistan and other foreign sources for organising protests by Muslim girls and women in the valley. She has used part of this money to finance education of her son in Malaysia while major portion of expenses are borne by Zahoor Watali a businessman arrested for terror funding. Watali is one of the main hawala conduits who received funds from Pakistan, ISI, UAE and had floated various shell companies to disguise foreign remittances for further transfer to separatist leaders and stone pelters in the valley.

Masrat Alam, the master-mind of stone-pelters, has confessed that funds were being distributed among various Hurriyat leaders including Syed Ali Shah Gilani. Shabbir Shah, another separatist leader, confessed that his hotel in Pahalgam and other businesses are financed through funds received from Pakistan.

Yasin Malik, who brought together the various factions of Hurriyat under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), which became notorious for issuing “bandh rosters” in Kashmir affecting the lives of common Kashmiris, confessed before the agencies that funds were received from big business houses in Kashmir and other “sources” as well to sustain the bandh calls disrupting economic activities in Kashmir which also indirectly affected the trading community of Jammu.

These funds were used to fuel unrest in the Kashmir valley and organise violent agitations and anti-India activities which resulted in large scale violence leading to numerous injuries and deaths of innocent civilians and security forces personnel. The funds were also used to pay stone pelters, Friday protestors, those tasked to torch schools and government buildings particularly Panchayat Ghar and the over ground workers. Pakistan has also entrusted Hurriyat the responsibility of financing “Home-Grown” terror groups from the funds received by them. Thus apart from promoting and sustaining terror in Kashmir, these leaders were also involved in the killings of Kashmiris, closure of educational institutions and encouraging local youth to join the terror ranks. Among all this they also indulged in luxurious life for self and financing foreign education of their wards.

According to the list released by the MHA, 210 relatives of Kashmiri separatist leaders currently live abroad. The documents also mention that 112 children of the separatists study in foreign lands, out of which 21 belong to 14 well-known separatists. The separatists purportedly utilise the funds received to fuel unrest in the valley in sending their children to foreign schools and universities. The MHA document also reveals as to how they spread hate and violence in Kashmir to further the Pakistani agenda of keeping the pot boiling and Kashmir continuing to remain in perpetual turmoil.

While they deny Kashmiris, the right to live peacefully and decide their future as per their own wishes, they themselves lead a lavish lifestyle. While the separatists encourage the youth of the Valley to pick up stones and arms against security forces and join militancy, they seem to have no qualms in shielding their own family from the strife in the region by settling them not only in the metros but abroad as well. The hands of the Hurriyat leadership are soaked with the blood of innocent Kashmiris and the Kashmiris have the right to know about their misdeeds. This is the story of the great betrayal in Kashmir by their own and they need to be exposed so that the false image they have built in the hearts of the poor Kashmiri folk is shattered.

Sensing defeat in its design of annexing Kashmir through “religious militancy”, radicalisation and jihadi terror, it has now resorted to destroy the future generations of Kashmir by making them drug addicts. The frequency of seizure of drug consignments in the near past must have rung the alarm bells among the concerned authorities by now.

Incidentally, drug menace is not confined to the Valley but has also engulfed the border districts of Jammu region and is slowly penetrating into other areas. It is more alarming in the Valley because the youth there is a vulnerable target due to the prevailing circumstances. The environment is such that the youth can be easily lured to drugs initially for fun sake and subsequently turning them into addicts. The example of post-militancy Punjab is worth noting. Radicalisation and drug-addiction are the two major challenges staring in the face of the administration.

The betrayal of their own for lust of money at the behest of an enemy nation needs to be exposed to the Kashmiris. The people need to know that how they have been cheated by their revered leaders in the garb of the “cause.” It is obvious now that it was the lure of money that guided these leaders and that was their sole cause. Every Kashmiri young or old needs to know the true face of the leaders who have been pushing them into hell for their personal gains. There is a need to launch “Back to Village 2.0” in the state. While “Back to Village 1.0” a massive outreach programme was aimed at taking the administration to the doorstep of the villagers, its 2.0 version should aim at launching an effective information campaign.

The information campaign apart from exposing the betrayers should also launch massive anti-drug and anti-radicalisation campaigns. Apart from extensive exploitation of the vernacular press, the campaign should also aim at educating the people and making them aware through audio-visual means. One is reminded of the good old days when the teams of field publicity division of the Government of India used to visit the villages with 16 mm projectors and screen documentary films. Now the technology has improved manifold. Rather than depending on in-house resources government should consider taking the services of professionals in the field. The films/songs should be in the local dialects to widen their reach. Use should also be made of the local “Bhands”, which will also help in promoting the local folk art. “Nukkad Natak” (Street plays) can also be staged by professional groups who excel in the field.

If terror has to end and lasting peace ensured in Kashmir, the terror support network both local and Pak-sponsored will have to be completely eliminated. Social awareness will ensure that such elements are exposed and are unable to mislead the simple Kashmiris with anti-India propaganda and exploit the Kashmiri youth.

(The author is a Jammu based political commentator, columnist, security and strategic analyst. He can be contacted at anil5457@gmail.co

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday tweeted a letter from Army Headquarters that appeared to justify unexpected withdrawal of tax exemption for disabled veterans. The letter claims that some retired personnel are ‘exploiting’ the system.

A recent notification by the Central Board of Direct Taxation reversed a decades-old privilege given to disabled soldiers that exempted them from income tax. This created an uproar among veterans, forcing the finance ministry to release the letter, suggesting that the recommendation came from the Army HQ itself.

The unsigned letter, shared on the Twitter account of Sitharaman, blames some “unscrupulous personnel” for exploiting the system for personal gain and justifies the change in policy. Disability is granted to personnel who are disabled in combat or during peace time and their disability is attributable to service conditions. The latter have somehow explanted the weakness in the mechanism for grant of disability pension and along with the tax exemption,” the letter states.

Veterans have termed the letter “unprofessional” and “shocking”, pointing out that the power to grant disability pension lies with the Army itself and if needed, a crackdown should be conducted against those faking disability, instead of punishing the entire community for the wrongs of a few.

The Army HQ letter says that there has been a rise in personnel being awarded disability pension even for lifestyle diseases, which it considers a “cause for worry.”

On Saturday, the tarmac of the 28 Squadron (“The First Supersonics”) in Gujarat’s Jamnagar buzzed with the roar of the MiG-29 legacy jets, popularly known as “Baaz” (eagle), as they took off for Ojhar in Maharashtra, where the IAF’s ’11 Base Repair Depot’ (BRD) is located. The ’11 BRD’ that was set up in 1975 is the only fighter aircraft depot of the IAF.

The two jets flew in a formation and carried out a flypast over the Ojhar airfield, marking the end to an impressive era when this aircraft proved its mettle in operations.

The aircraft flown by commanding officer group captain JS Patel carried out a flypast at the overhead of Ojhar Airfield.

It landed and was received by the 11 BRD officials where it will be overhauled.

Air Commodore Samir V Borade, the Commanding Officer of 11 BRD, handed over the souvenir plaque to the Commanding Officer of the squadron to mark the event.

The Indian Navy operates some 45 new MiG-29K onboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. The fighter jets will also operate from the deck of the new carrier, INS Vikrant, being built in Kochi. The new MiG-29Ks whose wings can be folded are a very different aircraft from the legacy MiG-29s as the naval version has been optimized for landing on aircraft carriers and for maritime operations.

Since 1975, the ’11 BRD’ has upgraded over 500 fighter jets including Sukhoi-7, MiG-23, and Sukhoi-30MKI. It started overhauling MiG-29s in 1996.

Several variants of the MiG-29s – as also the MiG-21s – have served with the air forces of nations friendly with the former Soviet Union and later Russia and have seen action in multiple conflicts.

SEEKING the extension of President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told the Lok Sabha on Friday that Article 370 — which grants special status to the state — is ‘temporary’. He was quoting from the Constitution, wherein the term ‘temporary’ has been used with the Article. This provision has triggered several controversies regarding its merit and the circumstances under which it was inserted into the Constitution when J&K faced aggression from Pakistan’s tribesmen; this had led the last Dogra king of the state, Maharaja Hari Singh, to accede to India for getting the military’s help to repel the invaders. The negotiations for this provision were held between the Centre and the representatives of J&K, led by Kashmir’s towering leader Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.

Over the past few decades, this Article, which entitles the state to have its own constitution, flag and legislature that can pass its own laws — and the Central laws cannot apply to J&K without its concurrence — is deemed as permanent. Some rulings of the Supreme Court have maintained this position. The Kashmiri Muslim community regards the Article as an iconic symbol of its distinct political identity and a matter of collective dignity. Some voices, including that of former CM Omar Abdullah, have said that “If Article 370 goes, the accession of the state into India also collapses.”

The Home Minister has held India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, responsible for the discrepancy in the Constitution in the form of Article 370. Shah also suggested that the current conflict was an offshoot of this constitutional provision and the ‘fake’ elections held in the 1950s and 1960s. When he reminded the House that it was a temporary provision, the implication was that the Article would go sooner or later as the BJP, which has been demanding its abrogation, has stuck to its stand on the issue. His words were given a supplementary explanation by BJP’s national general secretary in charge of J&K, Ram Madhav, who said on Saturday that “Article 370 will have to go lock, stock and barrel” after fulfilling certain procedures. This has reignited a debate on whether the Article should stay or not, and will bring diverse political outfits in Kashmir under one umbrella to, as they claim, fight for safeguarding the state’s special status.

A Pakistani soldier was killed and two women were injured on Thursday in an alleged cross-border shelling by Indian security forces along the Line of Control (LoC), the Pakistan Army said.

The shelling occurred in Baroh and Chirikot sector, the Inter-Services Public Relations, the army’s media wing, said in a statement.

In response, Pakistan troops targeted Indian Army posts which were “substantially damaged” and there was also reports of casualties of Indian troops, the statement said.
Pakistan has frequently summoned Indian envoys over the human losses in the firing across the LoC.

On October 8, Foreign Office summoned Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia to record a strong protest against the killing of woman in “unprovoked ceasefire violations” by Indian forces on October 6 and 7.

Ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after New Delhi’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5. Pakistan reacted angrily to the move and expelled the Indian envoy. Since then, Pakistan has been trying to rally international support against India on the issue.

India has been maintaining that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan and there is no scope for third-party mediation.

On the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh — June 27 — it’s time to look afresh and recall some of the unprecedented achievements of a mighty Indian Maharaja, checkmating the mightier Englishmen, steam-rolling their Indian opponents with ease, one after another.

Abhijit Bhattacharyya
Commentator and Author

When Rabindranath Tagore wrote the immortal stanza on Sikhs: “Pancha nadir tire, beni pakaiya shire; dekhite dekhite gurur mantre jagiya uthichhe Sikh; nirmomo nirbhik” (on the banks of the five rivers, tying their hair and braids, the Sikhs responded to the clarion call of their Gurus to wake up from torpor to transform themselves as valiant fighters for their honour), one is not sure whether the poet had Maharaja Ranjit Singh in mind or not.

Nevertheless, the well-known fact is that Tagore wrote at least six poems on Sikh heroism and martyrdom owing to the indelible impression it left on his psyche. Thus, he wrote two poems in 1888, three in 1898, and one in 1935. Of them, three were on Guru Gobind Singh, one each on Banda Bahadur and Bhai Taru Singh, and one on the boy, Nehal Singh.

Be that as it may, if we re-focus from the spiritual to the statecraft of the Sikhs led by Ranjit Singh, what re-surfaces today is the mind-boggling action and thought process of the first geo-strategic thinker-cum-ruler of modern Indian history who knew how to call a spade a spade with the rapacious and roving British, notwithstanding his multi-front disadvantages. 

On the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who passed away on June 27, 1839, at Lahore, the capital of his empire, it’s time to look afresh and recall some of the unprecedented achievements of a mighty Indian Maharaja, checkmating the mightier Englishmen, steam-rolling their Indian opponents with ease, one after another. In a matter of days. Battle after battle. State after state. The London juggernaut across South Asian terrain appeared endless, and unstoppable.

When Ranjit was born (originally named Buddh Singh) on November 13, 1780, and growing, it was an era of perennial turbulence and anarchy in India. The Marathas (aspiring to be the Mughals’ successor on the Delhi throne) had already been brutally battered by Afghan chief Ahmad Shah Abdali (aka Durrani) in the third battle of Panipat (January 1761). Soon thereafter, the English (under Warren Hastings), too, fought the Marathas and ended with the treaty of Salbai (May 1782), thereby giving another rude jolt to the Indian dream of establishing ‘Hindu Pada Padashahi’ (the Great Hindu Kingdom). 

Thus, when (minor) Ranjit, as the chief of Sukarchakia Sikh Misl, since April 1792, ascended the throne in April 1801 (at 20-plus), who would foresee the man reigning a long 38 years, till 1839? Perhaps, the ruler Ranjit himself also could not have had seen the future valour, achievement and foresight of his own self!

No wonder, Ranjit’s sixth sense-cum-vision told him to contain the British in the south through sweet words of diplomacy and curb the congenitally habitual invaders of India (since time immemorial) with the sword-wielding cavalry combatants to the north and north-west. Thus was concluded one of the rare, landmark treaties: the Treaty of Amritsar on April 25, 1809, between the British Government and the State of Lahore.

As many as 210 years have gone post the Amritsar Treaty, yet every Indian would be proud to peruse its semantics: “Both parties being anxious to maintain the relations of perfect amity and concord” were the opening words. The British want “perfect amity and concord” with an Indian ruler! How often has it happened during 19th-century Indian history? The treaty was concluded “by Rajah Ranjeet Singh on his own part, and by the agency of Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, on the part of the British Government.” Ranjit’s best bet came as a sort of guarantee by the British: “The British Government will have no concern with the territories and subjects of the Rajah” (Ranjeet Singh) “to the northward of the Sutlej”.

The strategic vision of Ranjit assured avoidance of ‘war on two fronts’. The British, too, having thus far arrived from their tiny island, were more than aware of their vulnerability owing to the real possibility of a Maratha revival in the heartland and the prospect of growing resentment in the periphery turning into a multi-front revolt across the Indian terrain. Both the British and the Punjab king secured their respective fronts.

Assured of stability and security, Ranjit had the north, north-west, and west to move his military; which he did. Successfully. With ‘one at a time’ policy. With a professional band of fortune-seeking, able commanders transcending borders and barriers of caste, language and religion, thereby putting Ranjit Singh way ahead of his times, compatriots, foes and friends alike. His sentence ‘Ek din sab lal ho jayega’ (One day everything will turn red) after seeing several red-colour territories on the map of South Asia (red denoting the British-conquered or -occupied Indian kingdoms and principalities) was prophetic. Ranjit Singh certainly was no prophet. He was an able ruler. A king. Far from pretentious. He had his plus points. He also had fault lines and share of failure.

He was a brilliant commander and himself a warrior par excellence without doubt. However, it was the misfortune of Punjab, and hence the history of India, that so great a visionary and geostrategic ruler like him would leave behind an empire destined to be doomed so fast and furious.

It’s of course no fault of Ranjit Singh that his was an essentially land power owing to Punjab (for that matter all territories which he conquered), Kashmir, Afghanistan and the fringe areas of Central Asia being landlocked. Hence, when the ‘great game’ began for the possession of land as buffer by the British and access to the Indian Ocean warm water port by Moscow (through the territories of South Asia) to break out of its land-fixative strategy, the importance of Ranjit Singh as the best buffer emerged for London and Moscow. His stability and ability were undoubtedly far superior, and preferable, to the eternal turbulence of Afghanistan which the British realised soon after his demise.

The British made the fatal mistake to fight the Afghans directly, in March 1839; but came back battered and shattered in 1842. There was no Ranjit Singh to give the British shelter, safety and security from/of/for the north-west frontier, to expand across other zones. The strong man of Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Central Asia was gone. And as it so often happens, an ‘over-strong’ predecessor is invariably succeeded by spineless, squabbling successors. Ashoka, Aurangzeb and Hitler: all were strong. Their states just capitulated after them. One is reminded of the old saying about the strong father’s weak son: “His sceptre was the bow of Ulysses which could not be drawn by a weaker hand.”

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 8

Of the 33 cadets from Punjab, who were commissioned as officers at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, today, as many as 15 are alumni of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI), Mohali.

A total of 382 officers of the 144th Course, along with 77 foreign cadets, passed out from the IMA today. Punjab stood at the fourth place in terms of the number of officers in the batch, a marked improvement over previous years.

The highest number of officers are from Uttar Pradesh (72), followed by Bihar (46) and Haryana (40). The passing out parade was reviewed by Lt Gen C Mathson, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Command.

The cadets from the AFPI are from the institute’s third batch. They had undergone two-year training at the institute along with completing their Class XII from 2013 to 2015, followed by three years at the NDA and a final year at the IMA. The senior most among them was Battalion Under Officer Harshdeep Singh Sohi, who has been commissioned into the Mechanised Infantry.

Amongst the rest, two have joined the Armoured Corps, four each have opted for the Infantry and the Artillery while two each have chosen the Signals and the Army Ordnance Corps.

“With this, the total number of commissioned officers from the first three AFPI batches comes to 50. Another five cadets are under training at the Air Force Academy and are expected to be commissioned into the Indian Air Force on June 15,” said Maj Gen BS Grewal, Director General, AFPI.

In the batch that had passed out in June last year, over half the cadets from Punjab were AFPI alumni. General Grewal said so far, six AFPI courses had contributed 119 cadets to various service academies.

The AFPI was set up by the Punjab Government in 2011 for training boys for joining the armed forces as commissioned officers through the NDA or other service academies. Earlier, the entire state was sending just six to eight boys to the NDA for each course.