Chandigarh: Lt Gen IS Ghuman has taken over as the Chief of Staff (CoS), Western Command, on promotion today. Prior to this, he was serving on a staff appointment at Headquarters Eastern Command in Kolkata. He has relieved Lt Gen Gurdeep Singh who has retired. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla, Lt Gen Ghuman was commissioned into The Brigade of Guards in 1981. He commanded an infantry battalion in Operation Parakram and then an infantry brigade and an infantry division in varied operational roles. He has also attended the National Defence College course. tns

Srinagar, May 26

The Srinagar-based 15 Corps of the Army celebrated its centenary with many of its members from different areas and regions joining the festivities at the Badami Bagh Cantt here yesterday.Over the last 100 years, Chinar Corps has undertaken operations and humanitarian activities across the entire region. Spread over the western part of Jammu and Kashmir covering the Pir Panjal and Shamshabari Ranges, the Corps has stood like a sentinel of national integrity. —TNS

Jawan hurt in Pulwama grenade attack

Srinagar

An Army jawan was injured in a grenade attack in south Kashmir’s Pulwma district on Thursday evening. The police said a grenade was lobbed by militants towards an Army camp at Kakpora, 20 km from Srinagar, around 9.45 pm. “The grenade exploded inside the camp, injuring a soldier,” the police said. Soon after the incident, the area was cordoned off to trace the attackers.

Gurmit Kaur, widow of L/Hav Joginder Singh, a veteran of the 1947 Kashmir operations, inaugurates a new canteen in Mohali on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28

A new unit-run canteen for the benefit of soldiers and ex-servicemen residing in and around Mohali started functioning in Sector 64 here today. The canteen was inaugurated by Gurmit Kaur, a war widow of L/Hav Joginder Singh, a Vir Chakra recipient who killed seven Kabalees and Pathans during patrolling on the Baramulla-Srinagar road in November 1947 as part of operations undertaken by the Army to repel external aggression in the Srinagar Valley.This service outlet will fulfill a long cherished demand of the veterans living in the vicinity and would enable provisioning of canteen services alongside other facilities established for the welfare of ex-servicemen at the Punjab Sainik Sadan like training of wards of veterans in management and information technology, services of district defence welfare office and medical care in an integrated manner. Lt Gen KJ Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command; Anita Singh, Regional President, Army Wives Welfare Association; Maj Gen IS Ghuman, Chief of Staff, Western Command; district administration officials; Rajya Sainik Board members; senior Army officers and veterans were also present. 

New Delhi, May 18The Princess Park Complex near India Gate will be suitable for constructing the proposed National War Museum, a high-level committee informed the Union Cabinet today.The Empowered Apex Steering Committee had recently decided that Princess Park Complex would be the suitable site for the museum. The Union Cabinet was apprised of the decision of the committee, an official statement said.The Union Cabinet had on October 7 last approved the construction of the National War Memorial at ‘C’ Hexagon of India Gate, acceding to a long-pending demand of the armed forces. The total time for completion of the Rs500-crore project to build a memorial and an accompanying museum is estimated to be five years.Post-Independence, more than 22,500 soldiers have made the supreme sacrifice in national interest and in defence of the sovereignty and integrity of the country.“The memorial will promote a sense of patriotism in the minds of visitors, and will award an opportunity to citizens of this vast nation, to express their token sense of gratitude to the brave soldiers,” a statement said. — PTI

Not again: Led by the US, Nato is continuing to take a bleak view of Russia.

IS the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) starting a new Cold War? Germany’s foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeir thinks so. He has accused recent Nato exercises on Russia’s borders as “sabre rattling and war-mongering”. And a Nato summit in Warsaw firmed up a battle group of 4,000 new troops in Poland and in each of the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and took command of a US-built nuclear shield in Europe.Reaction from Moscow to the plan was swift, President Vladimir Putin declaring, “Where all this will lead I don’t know but I do know that we will be forced to respond.” A small ray of hope last week at a rare Russia-Nato meeting was an agreement by Russia’s Alexander Grushko to have its military jets flying over the Baltic skies switch on their transponders if Western planes did the same. There have been several near misses of adversarial planes after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea led the US-led alliance to police the Baltic skies.The sense of foreboding felt in Russia is apparent from the alarm bells rung by Mr Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, accusing Nato of preparing an attack on Russia. He declared, “Nato has started preparations for switching from a cold to a hot war. All rhetoric in Warsaw simply clamours for anything but declaring war on Russia. They are only talking of defence but in fact are preparing for offensive actions.”There is little doubt that the new hard line Nato is taking towards Russia is led by Poland, given its tragic history, and the fragile Baltic states, once part of the Soviet Union as was Crimea, gifted to Ukraine by Nikita Khushchev.In geopolitical terms, Russia is no longer the superpower it was as the Soviet Union. But despite his economic problems exacerbated by Western economic sanctions and the precipitous fall in oil prices, President Putin has kept his country’s end up. There has been a major modernisation of the Russian military and his air military assistance to Syria’s beleaguered President Bashar al-Assad has meant that Washington must seek his help in ending the Syrian civil war. US Secretary of State John Kerry did so during his recent Moscow visit.Nato is not a monolith, with its members holding divergent views on Russia. Italy’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said during the Warsaw meet that it was time to end the stand-off with Russia. And East European negotiators believe that the French attitude is more indulgent to Moscow in private. German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not entirely share her foreign minister’s views, but by temperament she follows sober policies and is aware of the high stakes her country’s industries have in the Russian market.The important point to emerge out of the Warsaw summit is that the US stands solidly behind Poland and the Baltic states in their hard line, even as it somewhat nervously assesses China’s rising power and treats it with kid gloves. At Warsaw, President Barack Obama brought dissenting views to an end by declaring, “We are united that there can be no business as usual with Russia. In good times and in bad, Europe can count on the US. Always.”Contrast these remarks with China defying the adverse ruling by the international tribunal on the South China Sea by breathing fire and brimstone and conducting a military display over the disputed area. The initial American reaction was to calm the roiling seas. Beijing has acquired power and is showing it, and the Washington establishment is duly respectful.Returning to the European theatre, Mr Grushko made telling comments at the recent meeting with Nato representatives, “There is no reason for Nato to do what it is doing…The direction in which Nato is moving in military terms is very bothersome.” The next test for Nato’s hard line will be in January, with a review of anti-Russian economic sanctions. It remains to be seen whether some European countries will break ranks.Nato’s justification for “war-mongering”, as Mr Steinmeier has defined it, is that its response is proportionate to the perceived threat from Russia. But the key to the present stance lies with Washington. In his overarching world view, President Obama outlined over extensive sessions for The Atlantic magazine, Russia appears as the familiar adversary in a weakened state while unusual attention is paid to China.The US administration is deeply  worried whether China, which is well on the way to achieving superpower status, will observe the international norms of diplomacy. And even when its reaction is ill-tempered and defiant as on the South China Sea ruling, Washington shows forbearance while painting Moscow as the truant.Ukraine remains a major hurdle in improving relations between the US and Russia for two reasons: the foolish idea that despite it sharing long borders with Russia and a largely Russian-speaking population in the eastern region has deep religious affinity with Mother Russia, the country should be hijacked by the West, taking advantage of Moscow’s perceived weaknesses. Speaking of sacrosanct post-World War II borders, who changed borders to create a new nation state in the Balkans?The second reason for the impasse is the closing of the US establishment’s mind on seeking a friendlier Russia. Most US think tanks are so obsessed with examining every tiny move China makes that they have little time left to study new Russian developments, except in hostile terms. In a sense, whatever the West’s future moves on the ground, Americans have already adopted a new Cold War attitude to Moscow.All is not yet lost. President Putin has reportedly spoken to President Obama, Ms Merkel and President Hollande in recent days. But judging by Mr Gorbachev’s rare public intervention on Nato’s moves, the sense of foreboding in Russia is palpable. Many in the West look up to Chancellor Merkel to find a way out. She is a fluent Russian speaker, having been brought up in the once Communist East Germany.

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 21

As the threat of infiltration and increase in terror activities from the Pakistan side is on the rise following the death of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8 in Kashmir, the Army is increasing its vigil on areas under its control near the international border (IB).Within eight days, Western Command chief Lt Gen KJ Singh visited border areas and Jammu twice to take stock of the security situation.Earlier, KJ Singh visited border areas of Samba and Kathua districts on July 12 and on Tuesday (July 19) he had a tour of Tiger Division based at Jammu. During his visit to Jammu, he had a detailed discussion with officers and soldiers of Tiger Division and asked for maintaining greater synergy between Army and civilians living in border areas.“He was of the opinion that civilians of border areas have always helped the Indian Army to thwart any design of terrorists to rein terror in the area. He wanted greater synergy between Army and public to help in maintaining peace in the region,” said a Defence source.The Western Command chief wants to improve the condition of the Udhampur-Dhar road, which will help the Army as well as improve the living of people whose movement is dependent on this road. “It will help the Army in improving its logistics,” Lt Gen KJ Singh said.The Western Command is maintaining the second line of defence on areas close to the international border and on the Jammu-Pathankot national highway, which has remained on the radar of terrorists after infiltrating from the Pakistan side. The Army has remained on the targets of terrorists on the Jammu-Pathankot highway and this highway has remained vulnerable.Thus keeping in mind these aspects, the Western Command chief wants to keep foolproof security in place which will help in thwarting any future attacks without suffering loss.During his July 12 visit to border areas, the Western Command chief took a stock of the security arrangements in these sensitive areas and complimented the troops in successfully maintaining a high state of vigil against enemy designs, braving the odds of terrain and weather.