The meeting of the Army Chief with the senior Army brass in Srinagar has sent out a strong message. Since collective wisdom always scores over unilateral considerations, a unified approach might work better. A unified command is essential to deal with the ongoing conflict in Kashmir.

Conflict Zone: The Chief of Army Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on a recent visit to LoC formations and units in North Kashmir.

THE event got highlighted briefly in print and electronic media and got a passing reference in social media. That is how unimportant the public considers an unusual meeting of top Indian military brass away from the traditional haunt of South Block, New Delhi. However, when the Army Chief and seven Army Commanders met at Srinagar last week it was a departure from normal and something that keen observers of strategic affairs, especially those with eyes on Jammu and Kashmir, should have noted. The meeting could very well have been for the purpose of a collective change of scene and retreat but the Indian Army is a little too serious to think of such things. It is not unusual for different field armies of the Indian Army to plan an odd training event at a picturesque location within its geographical precincts. Chandimandir’s Headquarters (HQ) Western Command often conducts events at Kasauli or Subathu as does Lucknow’s HQ Central Command at Nainital. These take in a few issues of general interest and focus thereafter on the fixed responsibilities and tasks as applicable to them. Thus a contentious issue such as the North-East remains only the purview of Eastern Command and its brass and Kashmir that of Northern Command. The operational discussions on pan-India security issues are restricted to the half-yearly conference at Delhi. The Military Operations Directorate gets just a day to itself to conduct these. There is grossly inadequate and insufficient employment of the wealth of talent available in the senior command and staff appointments each of whom have served across the spectrum of challenges that the Indian Army faces. Rarely do you find Principal Staff Officers from Delhi involved in the war games of field armies. In other words, while our regional issue-based approach may be efficient the combined national approach may really not be as seamless as it needs to be. Of course, one does think of the time of late General K Sundarji’s legendary Brasstacks series of exercises, where different departments of the Government of India were involved in the discussions in the lead up to Exercise Brasstacks 4 — the maneouvres involving troops which led to the near war between India and Pakistan in 1987. This has happened once or twice thereafter but at a much lesser level of intensity and seriousness.Collective wisdom always steals a march over unilateral consideration of issues. Jammu and Kashmir is currently facing one of the most challenging phases in the last 28 years of existence of the proxy conflict because the issue is deeply embroiled in the hybrid zone. If it was purely military, the Army would have found it far simpler to address. Because it is not, the situation needs deft handling, a 360-degree consideration of the issues, tremendous coordination, cooperation with multiple agencies and team work. This type of conflict just cannot be fought through isolated, single-agency campaigns. Very early in the conflict environment there were men worth their weight in gold who thought of the right things. The Unified Command was the product of such thinking as early as 1993 but somehow it could not achieve the desired interest in its scope and the same was not sufficiently investigated. Is it time that it was restored to the status of what was intended with its use? Are these signals that people in authority are giving the whole approach a fresher look? The recent meeting in Srinagar had some interesting aspects to it. Some of the brass met and briefed the Governor. The Chief Minister was also briefed by the Western Army Commander. It is not known whether any other important members of the security team at Srinagar had the occasion to meet and brief the brass; it would have been a great gesture in jointmanship and that is the direction which should be taken in the future. The cascading effect of this should be a greater empowerment of the Unified Command, with the Chief Minister playing a more proactive role in the security realm and the outreach campaign to the people; these are inevitable arms of comprehensively countering any hybrid conflict. The planning and war gaming should be selectively done by the Unified Command, using the Army’s time-tested methods and tools of decision- making.One of the reasons for the comparative lack of interest in the media towards this event has been the inability to comprehend just what this meeting means. It was not noticed that the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba was also in the Western theatre and being briefed at Yol by GOC 9 Corps. All this can be dismissed as holiday retreat time for the defence brass but it must also send a good message of the serious intent with which India is viewing Pakistan’s threats and attempts to intimidate it. At the same time the statements of the Army Chief, although taken negatively by many, do convey an upward ratcheting of the doctrine to fight the proxy efforts of Pakistan, brazenness of the mobs intimidating soldiers and getting away with it. As soon as reasonably can be the downward ratcheting will take place; have no doubts about that. The Air Force Chief’s letter to his officers is also a contributory factor in the turn of the screws as far as our readiness is concerned. The long overdue action against the financial networks also seems to have begun with recent revelations and raids. This will be a major contributory factor in diluting the proxy effectiveness. From across the border there would be many eyes glaring towards Srinagar, probably smug that a war council of the Indian Army had gathered there. The Pakistanis should be reassured that their perception is correct. India is no longer viewing the intimidation defensively and another high-profile negative incident could well test this intent. Repairing the situation in Kashmir should begin in earnest and there is no need to be in any hurry to engage Pakistan. Mission Kashmir is now all about securing Kashmir and making no bones about it.The writer, a former GOC 15 Corps, is now with Vivekanand International Foundation and Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies.

Women in the Combat Arms: The Greatest Disaster in US Military History

BY RAY STARMANN

Operation You Go Girl is destined to fail; failure defined not as a NO GO, or an F, but as the nation’s young women flown home in flag draped Glad Bags when the nation loses the next war(s). When this happens, the Hollywood producers, the feminists and the cultural Marxists who were responsible for forcing the nation’s women to experience the horrors of ground combat will scratch their heads and wonder why reality is so much different from their imaginary ideas of women in combat.

Think about this: US defense policy is now being run on a fantasy propagated by Hollywood, feminists and cultural Marxists.

Hollywood created the fantasy of the rough and tough, hard charging female cop. On any given night, on any given network, you can watch an anorexic 95 pound model, turned NYPD detective brandish a pistol larger than her waist and proceed to karate chop and cuff and stuff a myriad of male heavyweight thugs with the imaginary aplomb of Chuck Norris on all night POW camp raid.

Goodbye Popeye Doyle…

Unfortunately, real war is much different than a Demi Moore movie. A battlefield is not gender neutral. On a battlefield the roughest, toughest sons of bitches win the fight. What remains of the losers are picked at by ravens or fade away like dust in the wind.

Unfortunately, the Pentagon, the White House and Congress are no longer living in reality.

Simply put, the authorization in December 2015 to allow women to serve in the combat arms (infantry, armor, cavalry, artillery) and special operations forces (SEALs, Green Berets, Rangers, Delta Force, Marine Raiders) of the US armed forces is the greatest disaster in US military history.

The defenders of this insanity will say that women have been in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan so what’s the big deal? Returning fire when your convoy is attacked or defending yourself during a military police security operation is different than being in a unit with the sole mission of killing the enemy and seizing and holding ground. It’s like comparing peddling a beach cruiser to racing in the Tour de France.

The social engineers will cry that the standards will remain the same. Horse dung and hay: the standards were already warped so that the three females could graduate from Ranger School. They had months of special training, nutritionists, endless chances to repeat the course, etc. Ninety-nine percent of the women in the world simply cannot meet the male physical standards of the combat arms and special operations units. No amount of estrogen charged You Go Girl battle cries, or Universal Studios light and magic shows can stop reality. Reality says a million times over that women simply don’t have the physical strength, aerobic lung capacity or aggressiveness to withstand life in the combat arms and special operations. They are also more prone to stress fractures and other injuries.

Has anyone in the Pentagon wondered why they’re authorizing women for ground combat duty, yet the PGA won’t allow women to play with Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson in any tournament. Why, because women don’t have the physical strength to hit a golf ball as far as men, that’s why.

So, the Masters is out for women, but the Green Berets are in. Are you kidding me?

Either there will be double standards or the standards will be made gender neutral and so weak that the fat ladies driving around Walmart in two horsepower electric carts will become Navy SEALs.

Another factor dooming Operation You Go Girl are the emotional issues surrounding young men and women living together in garrison and more importantly, in the field.

The military says that good leadership will put a damper on human sex drive. Newsflash social engineers, no amount of ROTC Leadership 101 is going to stop an 18 year old with an erection in a movement to contact with a 36-24-36 cheerleader, Private Babs Horny. Get a grip; the Army and the Marines are about to become nothing more than a high school summer camp with guns and high explosives.

You have to wonder if the social engineers who are throwing a wrecking ball into the US military have any knowledge at all about combat, the military and war itself. People like Obama, Joe Biden, Ash Carter, Ray Mabus, Eric Fanning and the rest of the military’s executioners should study battles like The Wilderness, Verdun, Tarawa, Peleliu, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Normandy, the Bulge, Khe Sanh and Tet. Think modern war can be won by diversity and technology; just ask the Marines who fought at Fallujah, or the soldiers from the Big Red One in Desert Storm who got into hand to hand fighting with the Republican Guard during the Battle of Norfolk, on the night of 26 February 1991.

War is about one thing; killing the enemy before he can kill you. It has nothing to do with equal opportunity, diversity, LGBT rights, transgender expression and ludicrous fantasies emanating from Professor Birkenstock’s women’s studies class.

Call me a cynic, but I think the subject is such a third rail in American politics that even a PC bashing behemoth like Trump won’t touch the issue. If elected, Trump would rebuild the military, but I don’t believe he has the knowledge nor will he have any generals with the stones to tell him to amend this debacle. If Trump utilizes the same school of Pentagon jellyfish trolling the hallways of the E-Ring, it’s game, set and match bad guys.

And, of course if Madame Secretary is elected it really is End Times, not only for the military, but for the nation itself.

Nope, it will take a colossal military disaster for this fiasco to end once and for all. Colossal military disaster defined as Putin’s Boys leaving the wreckage of the New US Army on the Ukrainian steppes; M1 tanks, red high heels and breast milk coolers. Or, the Chinese leaving a trail of tampons, mascara, lipstick and dead coed Marines throughout the tiny atolls of the South China Sea.

The true victims of this impending disaster are America’s young women in uniform. Well over ninety percent of women in the US military want nothing to do with ground combat, the combat arms and special operations. They are happy serving their country in the hundreds and hundreds of different jobs open to them. They know more than anyone what they are physically capable of doing in the military. It is a small minority of self-serving women in the military and leftist civilians who are pushing this nightmare agenda down the throat of the military.

The US military is on a collision course to defeat, disaster and perhaps complete destruction in war. The forced integration of women in the combat arms is not a civil rights victory, but rather the single greatest disaster in US military history.

Raipur, May 30

Naxals torched a bus after asking passengers to alight in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district while seven rebels were arrested today following a face-off with the police in a nearby area, an official said today.When the private bus was on its way to Orchha from Narayanpur, a group of Naxals, some of them armed, stopped the vehicle last night near Jhorigaon village, around 300 km from the state capital, SP Santosh Singh said. “The rebels asked the passengers to de-board and then set the bus ablaze. The exact number of passengers is not known but all of them are reported safe,” he said.Security personnel rushed to the spot soon after receiving an alert. A combing operation has been launched in the region to nab the attackers, he said. According to Singh, the Naxals are frustrated with the road construction work in the region and, therefore, are committing such acts.“The ultras have been opposing road construction from Narayanpur to Orchha in Abujhmaad, considered as a Maoist den,” Singh said.Meanwhile, seven Naxals were today arrested in a nearby village in Narayanpur. They were nabbed after an exchange of fire between the ultras and security personnel near Tekanar village on Sunday on suspicion that they were involved in the skirmish, Singh said. — PTI

Arson in Bastar

• Suspected Naxals on Tuesday torched battery room of a mobile tower of BSNL in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar
• The tower was not damaged and is operational
• The police also found pamphlets left by Naxals protesting killing of rebel leader ‘Vilas’ in an encounter in Burgum area on May 14

Illustration by Sandeep Joshi

New Delhi, May 26

KPS Gill, the supercop credited with rooting out terrorism in Punjab with an iron hand, passed away today, succumbing to a kidney ailment at the age of 82.The IPS officer, who served as the Director General of Punjab Police twice during the peak of militancy, was considered an authority on dealing with security issues and even after his retirement, his services were utilised by the governments of Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)He had also served as the DGP in Assam and after his retirement, the benefit of his expertise was availed of even by Sri Lanka in 2000 during its fight against LTTE.The towering personality breathed his last at 2.55 pm at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, where he was admitted on May 18. The cremation will take place at 4 pm here on Sunday.An outspoken and daring officer who led from the front, Gill headed Punjab Police from 1988 to 1990 and then again from 1991 until his retirement in 1995.Related: 

• Super, and controversial, top cop
• He stood by his men, say former colleagues
• Modi recalls Gill’s service to nation
• An exceptional leader
• He cared little for means, but still deserves credit

A major feather in his crown was commanding Operation Black Thunder in 1988 to flush out militants from Golden Temple. The operation was a huge success as little damage was caused to the holiest shrine of the Sikhs, compared to Operation Bluestar in 1984 carried out by the Army.During the fight against terrorism under Gill, the Punjab Police faced a number of allegations of human rights violations. After the 2002 Gujarat riots, he was appointed security adviser to the then CM Narendra Modi. Gill requested deployment of 1,000 riot police from Punjab.Gill also headed the Indian Hockey Federation for several years, which too was surrounded often by controversies. His career was tainted by charges of sexual harassment at a party in 1988 for which he was convicted in 1996. — PTI

Punjab CM condoles former DGP KPS Gill’s death

Former Punjab DGP KPS Gill. File photo

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 26

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday offered his condolence on the death of former state DGP KPS Gill, recalling his invaluable contribution to bringing peace back to the state from the grip of militancy.The chief minister said Gill’s role in restoring peace and stability to Punjab cannot be undermined or forgotten, and he continues to be emulated by police and security personnel around the country, as an example of how the most complex of problems can be resolved with grit and determination.Expressing his heartfelt sympathies for the bereaved family, the chief minister said his thoughts and prayers were with them in their hour of grief.State Health Minister Brahm Mohindra also expressed profound grief and sorrow over the sad demise of KPS Gill.In a condolence message, Mohindra said KPS Gill was a committed and decorated police officer who served twice as the Director General of Police in Punjab. He termed KPS Gill as an honest, brave, highly efficient and upright officer.

Gill rules out terror revival in state

Former DGP says Rajiv brought in Bhindranwale to counter Akalis

Former DGP KPS Gill and Sadhavi Khosla, co-authors of a book on Punjab, in Delhi on Thursday. Tribune Photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 2

Former Punjab DGP KPS Gill said here today that Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had been brought in by Rajiv Gandhi to counter the Akalis, even as he ruled out the revival of terrorism in the state.Gill, who served as the DGP from 1988 to 1990 and then from 1991 till his retirement in 1995, spoke to The Tribune on the eve of the release of his book, ‘Punjab: The Enemies Within’, co-authored with Sadhavi Khosla.The 1957-batch Assam-cadre IPS officer said the seeds of terrorism in the state had also been sown by the linguistic movement of the 1950s and 1960s, when efforts were made to promote Hindi as the dominant language by suppressing other languages.Commenting on former President General Pervez Musharraf’s assertion that Pakistan could revive the Khalistan movement, Gill said: “Musharrraf will be proven wrong, just as he was mistaken in his assessment before the Kargil War (1999).” He also dismissed speculation that drug addicts in Punjab could be used as fidayeen (suicide bombers).Khosla, who hails from Patiala, said the book also addressed contemporary issues such as drugs, low farm productivity and lack of jobs. “Let’s sort the problems collectively,” said the author, who has made a documentary on Punjab’s drug menace.

Indira was wrongly advised on Bluestar: KPS Gill
Blames PMO, but takes no names in his biography Gives clean chit to Army
Ajay Banerjee/TNS

New Delhi, October 31
More than 29 years after the controversial Operation Bluestar in June of 1984, Punjab’s former Director General of Police Kanwar Pal Singh Gill has claimed that then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi would not have allowed the operation, but was wrongly advised to do so as it was presented as the only option by her advisors.

The operation – much criticised and scrutinised over nearly three decades — was to storm the Amritsar’s Golden Temple with tanks of the Indian Army to flush out Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his band of armed supporters.

The official biography of the supercop titled ‘KPS Gill The Paramount Cop’ released here tonight, also the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi, talks candidly of the role played by the 1957-batch Assam cadre IPS officer in tackling militancy in Punjab. Authored by Rahul Chandan, the 244-page book presents Gill’s opinion of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narsimha Rao and has passing references to VP Singh and Chandrashekhar, all Prime Ministers during the dark days of militancy in Punjab.

On Operation Bluestar, the author quotes Gill as having said: “(It) was conducted in a hasty manner and without thinking what impact it would have on the hearts and minds of Sikhs.” The book says Gill told his fellow officers: “Don’t understand how Mrs Gandhi can order such an operation.”

In what could be seen as a sort of clean-chit to Indira’s decision to order the operation, Gill is quoted as having said: “As far as Operation Bluestar is concerned, I know as being a witness to the secular credentials of Mrs Gandhi, she would have never have let that happen had she been advised properly. Advisors of Mrs Gandhi were not guiding her properly and the problem at hand they told her was a mountain whereas it was only a small hill.”

Gill, who was posted as IG BSF at Jammu in January 1984 and later posted as IG Punjab Armed Police in September that year, says Operation Bluestar can never be justified and blames the Prime Minister’s Office for it, but stops short of naming anyone in the Indira-led PMO. “The Army, however, is not to blame for this botched-up operation; it was acting on the specific direction of the PMO and had been given little time to prepare.”

The book says Operation Bluestar and the November 1984 Sikh massacres were the two most significant happenings for the cause of ‘Khalistan’ inflicted upon the nation by its own government. These two events in combination, gave a new lease of life to a movement, which could have easily been contained in 1984 itself, it says.

Giving reasons for militancy in Punjab, the book says: “One of the factors of militancy in Punjab was the high-level of complicity of New Delhi. Eager to consolidate its political hold over the state, the ruling party at the Centre (Congress) was prepared to ignore political violence.”

Gill goes on to speak about Rajiv Gandhi and the conduct of Operation Black Thunder in 1988: “(Rajiv) He had a very good grasp of what was happening and how it should be tackled. He was personally very honest… If any of his decisions didn’t go well, the fault lay with people who surrounded him.”

The supercop also narrates how PV Narimsha Rao (1991-1996) gave him a “free hand” and how Punjab Chief Minister late Beant Singh was keen to tackle militancy.

The book also reveals the genesis of Gill’s friendship with internal security ex-minister late Rajesh Pilot. Both were together in Shillong when Gill was a young IPS officer and Pilot was serving the Air Force as a fighter pilot. Pilot died in a road accident in 2000 and Gill retired from the IPS in 1995. 

L TO R–Late S. Albel SIngh Grewal,Media advisor to CM,KPS Gill,CM Beant Singh

A Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet of the Indian Air Force. File photo

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23

A Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet of the Indian Air Force is missing since 11 am on Tuesday. Two pilots are in the jet which had taken off from Tezpur in Assam.The aircraft had got airborne from Tezpur around 10:30 am on a routine training mission. It lost radar and radio contact approximately 60 Km north of Tezpur towards Arunachal Pradesh.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)“The aircraft is overdue and actions have been initiated,”   IAF sources said.The Sukhoi, a twin-engined aircraft, is of Russian origin and is considered a stable aircraft.

This is the second major cordon-and-search operation in Shopian in south Kashmir in the last 15 days and the first after the killing of a young Kashmiri army officer Ummer Fayaz.

This is the second major cordon-and-search operation in Shopian in the last 15 days. (File)
SRINAGAR: A massive search operation involving around 1,000 security personnel was launched in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian in the early hours today after reports of terrorists in a village.

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The anti-terror ops that began at 3 am in Heff Shirmal village have ended. The army, police and Central Reserve Police Force or CRPF launched a joint operation after information that terrorists were hiding in the village believed to be a hotbed of militancy.

“Over 500 houses were searched. It was already planned that cordon-and-search operation will be completed before 10 am,” the police said.

This is the second major cordon-and-search operation in Shopian in south Kashmir in the last 15 days and the first after the killing of a young Kashmiri army officer Ummer Fayaz. Lieutenant Fayaz was kidnapped from a family wedding last week and killed. His body was found in Shopian.

lieutenant ummer fayaz
Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz was kidnapped from a family wedding last week and killed.
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley is to travel to the Kashmir Valley today to review the security situation.

Earlier this month, after a series of attacks and videos showing large groups of terrorists moving freely in the area, a massive security operation was launched.

More than 3,000 personnel of the Army, Central Reserve Police Force and Jammu and Kashmir police were involved in the operation to search over two dozen villages, orchards and forest areas.

A number of videos have surfaced showing large groups of heavily-armed terrorists marching in the orchards of Shopian.

Around 100 local young men are suspected to have joined militancy after the unrest triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in July last year.