Photo for representational purpose only. PTI

New Delhi, March 15

The armies of India and Myanmar conducted a “coordinated operation” from February 17 to March 2 against insurgents in Myanmarese territory to avert a possible threat to the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project, official sources said.

However, the Indian Army did not cross the border during the operation, they said.

The focus of the operation was to crack down on the members of the Arakan Army, an insurgent group in Myanmar, the sources said. The members of the Arakan Army had also moved close to the international border along Mizoram, they said.

The sources added that during the operation, the Indian Army beefed up the security along the border from Nagaland and Manipur to ensure that the insurgents do not cross over to the Indian side.

The Indian Army also helped the Myanmarese Army by providing them intelligence, they said. There were also inputs that some members of the Arakan Army were also planning to sneak into India.

The sources said setting up of camps by the insurgent groups was being viewed as a grave concern by armies of the two countries.

The operation was also undertaken keeping in view the safety of Indian workers engaged in the project.

After a series of meetings between personnel from both the countries, it was decided to carry out the coordinated operation. Additional troops were moved to the international border areas, besides deploying the Assam Rifles personnel.

The Assam Rifles has the responsibility to guard the international border with Myanmar.

The Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project is being viewed as India’s gateway to the Southeast Asia.

India entered into a framework agreement with Myanmar in April 2008 to facilitate implementation of the project. On completion, the project will help connect Mizoram with the Sittwe Port in Rakhine State of Myanmar.

On the Indian side, work is on to extend the Aizawl-Saiha National Highway by 90 km to the international border at Zorinpui. PTI

Shyam Sood
Rajouri, March 13

The Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked shelling on Wednesday afternoon, causing huge damage to the trade facilitation centre at Chakan da Bagh cross-LoC point in Poonch district.

Trade centre employees, security personnel and drivers from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) had a narrow escape.

Meanwhile, the trade centre authorities suspended the business till further orders as the X-ray room along with the old and new sheds were damaged badly.

“The shelling started around 1 pm when the cross-LoC trade was in progress between Poonch and Rawlakot. Two shells fell on the trade centre while two others landed in its vicinity, forcing the people to take shelter at safer places, including bunkers,” said Fareed Kohli, custodian, trade facilitation centre.

“The X-ray room along with the electric wiring in the old and new sheds have been damaged and it’s not feasible to carry out the routine work under such tense situation. So, we have decided to suspend the trade till the situation becomes normal or till further orders.”

Kohli, however, said 31 trucks from Pakistan-occupied Kashmirthat reached the immigration centre would be sent back at the earliest.

“Pakistan resorted to unprovoked heavy shelling in the afternoon when the cross-LoC trade was in progress. The shelling started immediately after 35 trucks crossed the LoC while 31 trucks from PoK reached the immigration centre. No injury or loss of life has been reported,” said Ramesh Kumar Angral, SSP.

“The Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation for two hours till 12.30 pm in the Krishna Ghati sector and again around 1 pm in the Chakan da Bagh area of Poonch district. The Army retaliated strongly,” said Lt Col Davender Anand, PRO, Defence.

Fighter jets fly close to border 

Jammu: An air alert was sounded along the International Border and the Line of Control (LoC) on Wednesday after Pakistani fighter jets were detected close to the LoC. Defence Ministry sources said the Indian air defence systems detected the Pakistani jets 10 km inside the LoC on the Pakistan side in Poonch. “This is the first time after the Indian Air Force scrambled to push back Pakistani fighter jets, which entered our air space in the Nowshera sector on February 27, that Pakistani fighter jets flew this close to the LoC,” said an official. ians

New Delhi, March 9

A day after a former Navy Chief, Admiral L Ramdas (retd), flagged the misuse of defence forces in electioneering, the Election Commission (EC) today asked all parties not to use pictures of any defence personnel in their posters and campaigns.

The EC has reminded the parties about its December 2013 letter in which it said photographs of any defence personnel should not be associated with advertisements, propaganda and campaigns.

Sources said the move came about after many retired officers pointed out how pictures of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman were being used in campaigns. — TNS

An Army soldier takes position near the encounter site at Badra Payeen area of Kralgund, on Thursday. Tribune photo: Amin War

Srinagar, March 7

A Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist from Pakistan was killed in an encounter with security forces in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, police said.

Security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Kralgund area of Handwara in the north Kashmir district late Wednesday night following information about the presence of some terrorists in the area, a police official said.

He said the cordon was maintained during the night and contact was established with them in the morning after the forces zeroed in on the location.

There was an exchange of firing between the two sides, in which one terrorist was killed, the official said.

He said the slain terrorist was identified as a Pakistani national, known as Anwar, who was affiliated to the JeM.

Incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition, were recovered from the site of the encounter, he added. — PTI

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Bengaluru, February 23

After the final operational clearance (FOC) of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, India is now looking at a rapid multi-pronged effort to build the next class of fighter jets having more powerful engines and potent weaponry.

Dr G Satheesh Reddy, who is Secretary, Defence Research and Development, and also Chairman of DRDO, said, “The FOC for Tejas is a landmark for the country. From here on, we can produce faster (jets).”  The design for the Medium Weight Fighter (MWF) is ready. The prototype will be ready by 2021-end,” the senior defence scientist added.

The Tejas weighs 6.5 tonnes and the MWF is the next class and targeted to weigh around 17 tonnes. The Aeronautical Development Agency and the Indian Air Force (IAF) have designed it as per the requirement of the IAF. It will have an engine of 98 Kilonewton (Kn) thrust.

Also, India is looking to take a technological leap. The DRDO is now in talks with an international partner to make a jet engine of 110 Kn power. So far, no such engine exists anywhere in the world.  “We are open to working on this and are in talks with partners for joint development,” said Dr Reddy, adding this engine could be used on future jets.

On being asked about the Kaveri engine, Dr Reddy said it would be used on UAVs. “It is not being shelved.” Notably, Kaveri’s thrust is about 75 Kn and 90 Kn is desired to power a fighter jet.

The Ministry of Defence has already informed Parliament about the technological difficulties of engine-making, including non-availability of raw material/critical components and skilled manpower.

On the much-debated construction timeline for the variants of Tejas, Dr Reddy, who took over as DRDO Chairman in August last year, said the first 20 of the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) version will be ending very soon. The production of 20 jets under the FOC version would start this year and would be done in two years. We are waiting for the IAF to place an order for 83 jets of the Mark 1A version.

On the engine of the Arjun tank, so far imported from MTU Germany, Dr Reddy said, “A new engine is being developed and will be tested.”

Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, February 20

The district administration, Chamba, has sought the help of the Army to supply essential items to Pangi villages. All routes to the villages have been cut off for the past few days due to an avalanche.

Chamba DC Harikesh Meena said there had been heavy snow and avalanches in many areas of Pangi and Bharmour. Due to that,certain villages had been cut off.

“We requested the Army to provide food and necessary medication to such villages. Since there was heavy snow today also, the aid could not be provided to the cut-off villages. We will make efforts with the help of the Army when the weather improves,” he said.

The Pangi valley is a remote, rugged and poorly developed tribal area of Chamba district. It is one of the most remote areas in the state. The valley comprises Saichu, Hudan Bhatori and Sural Bhatori valleys. Roads conditions are poor. In winters, the valley remains cut off due to heavy snow.

The Saach Pass at an altitude of 14,500 feet (4,400 m) is open to the traffic between mid-June and October, but closed due to heavy snow.

Pangi tehsil covers 1,601 square kilometres and had a population of about 20,000. The valley has 16 panchayats and 54 villages. The valley is mostly inhabited by Pangwala and Bhoti people.

Bharmour MLA trapped for five days

Bharmour MLA Jia Lal has been trapped in the Killar area of the Pangi valley for the past five days. Sources said he was trying to come out from the Doda area of Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi, February 21

The Supreme Court today said it would consider hearing petitions seeking review of its verdict dismissing petitions demanding a probe into alleged irregularities in procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France under an inter-governmental agreement (IGA).

In a relief to the Modi government, the top court had on December 14 dismissed petitions seeking probe into India-France deal for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets — a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation — holding there was no commercial favouritism. There was no occasion to “really doubt the decision making process” warranting setting aside of the contract, it had said.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan today requested a Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi to consider the submission that his review petition and an application seeking perjury prosecution of some government officials for “misleading” the court during earlier hearings be listed urgently.

Bhushan said the review petition filed by AAP leader Sanjay Singh was defective and the defect had to be cured and so far as other pleas were concerned, they could be listed for the hearing. Besides former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and Bhushan, advocates ML Sharma and Vineet Dhanda and AAP leader Sanjay Singh had also filed pleas challenging the Rafale deal.  — TNS

It is ironical that a day after the National Security Guard (NSG) conducted its national seminar focused on improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the very day the Indian Army was discussing sub-conventional operations in an Army-level seminar, both in the National Capital Region, a major car bomb attack killed as many as 40 CRPF personnel travelling in a bus on the Srinagar–Jammu National Highway in Pulwama. Proportion wise this is the biggest terror-related event in Jammu and Kashmir since the Uri attack of 18 September, 2016 and probably one of the worst losses in the 30-year-proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir.

The attack comes in the wake of a festering situation described by some as ‘security stable’ and many others as ‘dynamic – awaiting the next event’. I place myself in the latter category, since for over two years I have feared the return of the IED threat to Kashmir and been writing about it. Even more than that, I have feared the advent of suicide bombing as part of the emerging threats. More on this later but suffice to say for now that suicide bombers have been rife in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan for past many years. This is one domain of sub-conventional violence which had largely eluded Kashmir and all such low intensity conflict theatres in rest of India.

The geographical location of the incident was the notorious Pampore-Letapur section of the Srinagar-Jammu highway. It was a vehicle laden with 350 kgs of explosives which detonated after ramming against the CRPF bus transporting CRPF jawans in large numbers as part of a convoy; mostly personnel stuck in transit camps due to the closure of the highway due to heavy snow. Apparently some indiscriminate firing by other terrorists also added to the casualty figures. It won’t take long establishing the facts. Already the name of the suicide bomber is known; Adil Ahmad Dar of Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The fact that the name is Kashmiri is all the more disturbing. Kashmiri ‘fidayeen’ have been rare but this incident may just spur more towards such a trend.

It is easy to blame this incident on lapse in security and insufficient vigil on the road when the CRPF convoy was due to pass. For the past few months, the Pampore segment of the highway has been relatively incident free compared to 2017 when a series of ambushes on several convoys claimed several lives of soldiers and policemen. In counter-terror operations often a certain domain of activity takes primacy; it could be targetting of policemen on leave or on duty, rocket attacks or standoff firing on posts and attempted entry into security posts by so called ‘fidayeen’ who are prepared to die in the course of their actions.

There are many such terrorist actions and the selected choice always remains in the hands of the terrorists which therefore gives them the initiative. Security forces have the major challenge of predicting these through intelligence-based assessment. Sometimes they are right and many times inaccurate. However, while an emplaced IED can still be discovered by alert security personnel on road opening duties, the threat posed by a car bomb or simply a wired up single suicide bomber is vastly different. Check of every car on the road is never possible nor of all individuals; there are thousands of cars on Kashmir’s roads every day and particularly on this stretch of the National Highway, being closer to Srinagar.

While the media is being critical of the security for movement of convoys it is entirely unfair to blame intelligence agencies or the police. When a trend takes course, such as that of IEDs or car bombs the alert is of a focused kind. Currently there was a threat but not something which could give leads for any substantial intelligence work.

At the same time it is not easy for terrorists or over ground workers (OGWs) to prepare and emplace an IED or fabricate a car bomb if the intelligence is hands on and the area domination is effective. Almost 16 years devoid of any car bombs had diverted attention to other types of threats.

Prediction that this trend could return was made by many experienced hands after analysing the security environment in other affected countries but accuracy and assessment of timing and nature of attack would always be questionable. That is why blame game in such situations is strictly avoidable. Where the blame must be genuinely apportioned is in the non-availability of hardened vehicles for movement of personnel.

A massive effort was undertaken in 2004-07 to harden such buses to minimise damage to personnel in the event of an IED related attack. Obviously replacements have been far and few and budget constraints have probably come in the way. The army, too, remains vulnerable on this count. It’s good for the people and the leadership to know that in 2004 an army bus hardened with skirt plates of vintage tanks suffered such a car bomb attack; except for the driver whose cabin was unhardened all others survived with minor injuries. That car, too, was driven by a Kashmiri local just as the one which rammed Badami Bagh’s Batwara Gate in 2001.

The likely effect of Thursday’s dastardly attack will be of an immediate change in the nature of threats. Obviously one or more ‘IED doctors’ are at work in the terrorist ranks and explosives are not under any form of government control. Movement of VIPs, security convoys and even entry points of important institutions will immediately come under threat entailing much higher density of deployment for physical security. This will take away personnel from domination duties and intelligence-related deployment thus opening up more space for terrorist movement deployment and capability.

There will be an immediate necessity for greater population control measures and curbs on freedom of movement with many more checkpoints leading to more antipathy among the people. The cause is due to the terrorists but the blame will come on the security forces and the vicious cycle will continue exactly as intended by the sponsors of the proxy war in Pakistan. These are the typical travails of a sub conventional conflict and the sponsors know exactly how a failing situation can be retracted for effect by a big ticket event.

With what is happening in Afghanistan and the emerging advantage that is like to accrue to Pakistan in terms of enhanced importance in the eyes of major powers, there is likelihood that its risk taking propensity in Kashmir will increase. Thus the first of the steps that India needs to take is to enhance its diplomatic energy in major capitals and institutions of the world. Public opinion will be coloured by sentiment but it really is the time that the Indian leadership will have to relook at the entire strategy India has thus far played out. India cannot afford to be seen to be helpless but options are extremely limited and therein lies our 30 year old dilemma.

It is also important to ensure that vilification of the ordinary Kashmiri is not done. We already have a seething youth on our hands and alienating just about everyone is not going to be helpful. It calls for statesmanship of the highest order. Will India’s political community rise to the occasion?

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New Delhi: At least 10 covert operations outside India were carried out by a tiny specialised unit of the Indian Army, the Technical Service Division (TSD), which was formed in May 2010 after General V.K. Singh took over as Chief of Army Staff. These included operations that prevented 26/11 Mumbai-type attacks of 2008 from taking place. However, once Gen Singh retired in May 2012, the TSD was disbanded after being portrayed as “rogue” by several media reports that were based on so-called information leaked allegedly from the laptops and pen-drives of serving Army officers. There was intelligence that external forces inimical to India’s interests were attempting the shutting down of this unit, according to Gen Singh.

Gen V.K. Singh, who is now a Minister of State in the NDA government, had pointed out in a letter to the then UPA Ministry of Home Affairs in 2013 that the winding up of the TSD had resulted in the Army being “left with no covert operation and weak counter-insurgency capacity”, thus resulting in an increase in cross-border terrorism.

Though the details regarding what the division achieved in less than 24 months of its existence was never made public, sources who were familiar with its working revealed that the details of its operations, if made public, would wash away the ignominy of it being a “rogue” unit, which was tagged to it in the last few months of its existence.

The TSD was engaged in carrying out covert operations outside India which involved gathering intelligence based on technical and human intervention, acting on those intelligence inputs and taking pre-emptive measures and conducting strikes of retribution against the entities that were engaged in anti-India operations.

The unit was brought into existence after the failure on the part of the agencies to get advance intelligence on the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

A section within the Army leadership, encouraged by the office of the National Security Advisor, felt that the Army too should have the capability to carry out limited, covert strikes outside the country to prevent any such further attacks.

The unit, when it was functioning to its full capacity, comprised at least six officers, five JCOs and 30 men who were working from a two-storied building in the Delhi Cantonment area and was reporting directly to Gen V.K. Singh.

When The Sunday Guardian contacted some of the officers who were a part of the division or played a part in its formation, they were not ready to disclose any information about the unit.

After his retirement, on 13 November 2013, Gen Singh wrote a letter to then Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde seeking action against government servants, defence officials and some private individuals for leaking information about the existence of the division and maligning it, which ultimately led to it being disbanded.

The letter reads: “The Indian Army had a unit called the Technical Service Division (TSD). It was set up to accomplish covert operations in other countries. It was a very important wing because it was the only unit which could perform this task. Given the nature of the work, the whole unit worked in a secretive and ‘camouflaged manner’. TSD is a covert operation agency, activities of which are directly related to the safety of the soldiers fighting on the borders, retribution on the enemy and the security of the citizens. By its very nature TSD operation was ‘top secret’. In that event, even the existence of TSD should never have been publicised. Further, if there is exposure of the actual working of the top-secret unit, leaking information about it could be treacherous, regardless of whether information is true or not.”

Yet, information about it was leaked to the media, which went to town painting it as a “rogue” agency riddled with “irregularities”.

Gen Singh also mentioned in the same letter that “there was an intelligence report which clearly warned that a few anti-national elements are conspiring to defame TSD by leveling false allegations and giving wide media coverage on the issue as the name of the unit has already been tarnished on several occasions. As a consequence of these acts prejudicial to the defence of India and the security of the State, TSD has been wound up and Indian Army is left with no covert operation and weak counter-insurgency capacity.”

“It is widely believed that if TSD had not wound up, the recent Samba attack by Pakistan-based elements (wherein several soldiers including a Lt. Col. were killed) could have been avoided. There is also widespread belief among senior Army officers that the scrapping of the TSD is a major reason why there has been a spurt in cross-border intrusions over the past year leading to the death of several soldiers and civilians,” Gen Singh had added in the letter.

When approached by this newspaper to confirm whether he had received the letter and if any action was taken on the basis of it, Shinde sounded evasive. “I don’t know… I don’t know. If at all he had any complaint, he should have come personally and met me at that time,” he said, adding that he later saw the letter. However, he ended the conversation commenting that “No General can write to the Minister in that language in which the letter was written.”