Two letters requesting for a meeting have been written to Amit Shah by former Inspector Generals of Police (CRPF) – V.P.S. Panwar and S.S. Sandhu – on behalf of the paramilitary forces.

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi-government may have approved the proposal to grant the status of organised cadre services to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), but paramilitary personnel still fear that IPS officers may circumvent the new rules to scuttle their career growth.

Worried that the ‘IPS lobby’ will not allow CAPF officers to avail benefits they are now entitled to, several retired officers from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) – the oldest paramilitary force in the country – have sought a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah.

Former Inspector Generals of Police (CRPF) – V.P.S. Panwar and S.S. Sandhu – have written to Shah requesting him for a meeting.

According to sources in the government, Shah is expected to visit the CRPF headquarters in Delhi on 29 July.

Given that serving officers in the force are bound by their service rules, and still report to IPS officers, the retired officers are in a better situation to express concerns of the forces, a serving CRPF officer told ThePrint.

“IPS officers are suddenly scared that they will lose hold over their fiefdom. They can do everything to scuttle our rights,” the senior officer said, on condition of anonymity.

‘Vested interests not inclined to execute order’

The Union Cabinet on 3 July gave its nod to the proposal to grant Non-Functional Financial Upgradation (NFFU) and other pay benefits to officers of the paramilitary forces, which their counterparts in all ‘Group A’ organised services are entitled to.

“Despite the fact that the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued directions for implementation of the above order, the general perception prevailing in the minds of the officers is that the vested interests are still not inclined to execute the orders in a holistic manner,” Sandhu, a 1976 batch officer, has written in his letter addressed to Shah.

While the Cabinet’s nod now allows CAPF officers to head their own forces, it will still require framing of new rules for the cadre. The CAPF personnel worry that IPS officers will use all their clout in the government to “delay” this.

According to the Department of Personnel and Training rules, in ‘Group A’ organised services, appointments up to the position of SDG can take place only through promotions and lateral entry or appointments through deputation is only permissible if the former is not possible.

“Efforts are still being made to deny the rightful benefits and career aspirations of these officers,” Sandhu’s letter says.

Seeking “an exclusive hearing” for the officers of the CRPF, the letter further states: “I am afraid that efforts are being made by hectic and active parlance among DGs (directors general) and senior IPS officers to find ways and means to delay the implementation of government orders according to the guidelines of DoPT.”

“According to the circulated programme of your visit to the CRPF headquarters on 29 July, even the serving cadre officers have not been included for any interaction with you lest the design of the IPS officers brought to your kind knowledge by them,” the letter further reads.

Also read: The inside story of what CRPF jawans go through to keep our marathon elections free & fair

‘Deep roots of discrimination’

Both Panwar and Sandhu have cited the absence of a proper platform for retired CAPF officers to bring forth their grievances before the government. This, CAPF officers believe, is in contrast to to the Indian Army and other armed forces, which have designated platforms to voice their protest.

According to the serving CRPF officer quoted above: “The roots of discrimination against them are so deep that the initial jubilation among CAPF officers has been shadowed by some real concerns.”

Sandhu’s letter also throws light on other specific concerns. According to it, since 2008, “not a single post of policy decision-making has ever been given to (an) experienced officer of the cadre.”

“This is a pertinent point which needs attention of the Hon’ble Home Minister.”

“The post of IG (personnel) which deals with promotions, posting and establishment matters of officers, ministerial cadre, subordinate officers, cadre reviews, disciplinary proceedings also vigilance matters have been held by an IPS officer for the last more than four decades,” the letter further contends.

“These are deliberate efforts to project the cadre officers in poor light not only before the government but also in the eyes of their own subordinates.”

Serving CRPF officers also say that they cannot transfer or post their own subordinates even after 30-35 years of service and this dampens the morale of the entire force, diminishes their authority in front of their subordinates.

Similarly, the post of inspector general (operations) – which deals with operational matters and deployment of forces – and the inspector general (northern sector) – which deals with allocation of resources such as vehicles, infrastructure and accommodation – have all been kept “under IPS control,” Sandhu’s letter states.

“The reason for this is to keep the cadre officers out of decision making and authoritative positions to run their writ and to utilise the force and its resources as per their whims and fancies,” the letter reads.

In a separate letter to Shah, Panwar, who spent 39 years in service, has said it is important that the home minister is aware of the difficulties faced by both the retired and serving officers of the force so that “privations can be adequately addressed for future generation of officers and their families…”

This would “motivate them to perform their duties and serve the country with more zeal, dedication and determination.”

Also read: Pulwama makes it to election speeches, but CRPF & its problems are left out

Islamabad/New Delhi, July 12

Pakistan has told India it will not open its airspace for commercial flights until New Delhi removes its fighter jets from forward IAF airbases, Pakistan’s Aviation Secretary Shahrukh Nusrat has informed a parliamentary committee.

Pakistan had closed its airspace on February 26 after the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camp in Balakot following the Pulwama attack.

Aviation Secretary Nusrat informed the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation that his department had intimated Indian officials that Pakistani airspace would remain unavailable for use by India until the country withdrew its fighter jets from forward positions, a news report said.

“The Indian Government approached asking us to open the airspace. We conveyed our concerns that first India must withdraw its fighter planes placed forward,” Nusrat told the committee. This is probably the first time a senior Pakistani official has publicly stated Islamabad’s precondition for reopening its airspace after the Balakot airstrikes.

India rejected the statement, with sources pointing to two flaws. First, military deployments are a country’s sovereign choice and no other country can demand a particular military posture. Second, it is Pakistan that had first closed the airspace and, hence, must take the first initiative towards opening closed air corridors. Pakistan had last month extended the airspace ban till July 12. — PTI/TNS

Saeed moves Court against terror cases 

• Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed on Friday challenged terror-financing cases lodged against him in the Lahore High Court
• Saeed, along with Amir Hamza, Abdur Rehman Makki, M Yahya Aziz and four others, filed a plea, naming the federal government, Punjab government and the counter-terrorism department as respondents
• The plea urges the court to declare the FIR against them null and void and claims Saeed has no relation with the LeT, Al-Qaida or any other such outfit

he charge was made during an ongoing trial against Lt. Col. Dharamvir Singh, who says he is being framed by ‘rogue officers’ for complaining against their involvement in extrajudicial killings in the state.

New Delhi: In a startling turn of events, a lieutenant colonel of the army’s 3 Corps Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (CISU) – posted in Manipur – has told an internal court of inquiry that a major of the same unit destroyed the original official documents related to the recovery of a huge cache of unaccounted arms and ammunition from inside the unit premises in July 2018.

Lt. Col. R.P. Nanda said this as a witness in the ongoing trial against another Lt. colonel, Dharamvir Singh, from whom he took over as the commanding officer of the 3 CISU unit in Manipur’s M-Sector in Imphal. The trial is ongoing at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh where Lt. Col. Singh is currently posted.

The trial is being conducted on the basis of a letter written by Lt. Col. Nanda on July 2, 2018, to the commanding officer (CO) of the unit, who operates from the 3 Corps headquarters in Dimapur (Nagaland). He alleged in his letter that the cache of arms was found in the possession of his predecessor, Lt. Col. Singh, on July 1, 2018, inside M-Sector in Imphal.

However, on the morning of July 1, 2018, Lt. Col. Singh was reportedly “illegally” arrested in the presence of Lt. Col. Nanda and Major B.S. Rathore – the officer who is said to have torn the original official document regarding the recovery of arms.

Lt. Col. Singh was thereafter taken to Dimapur. It meant that the said arms and ammunition were recovered in the absence of Lt. Col. Singh.

Though Lt. Col. Nanda’s letter – mentioning the serious allegation of keeping arms illegally inside a high-security army installation since 2016 – was received by the CO in Dimapur on July 2, 2018, Lt. Col. Singh told the court of inquiry that he was neither given any information about the charge nor asked for an explanation – as is the norm in the army. Instead, he was asked to resume normal duty at Dimapur.

Significantly, Lt. Col. Singh, otherwise a decorated army officer, has alleged that he was being “framed and victimised by a set of rogue officers” of the unit for writing a letter to the CO on September 9, 2016, informing him about the “involvement” of fellow officers in the extrajudicial killing of a student, Th. Satish, along with four other Manipuri youth and “commission of extortion by few rogue officers, including the Jorhat robbery.”

Also read | In Manipur Fake Encounter Cases, CBI Chases ‘Unknown Persons’ of Known Identity

The Jorhat robbery case had created a sensation in Assam in December 2011. The district police, following an investigation, said that 15 personnel from the 3 Corps of Dimapur were involved in an armed robbery inside the house of one Surajit Gogoi in Rowriah area of Jorhat. Shockingly, they were reportedly in their uniform.

Lt. Col. Singh’s allegation of extrajudicial killings is noteworthy considering the Supreme Court is hearing a PIL seeking a probe into 1,528 cases of such suspected killings by security forces in Manipur. So far, the court has sought an investigation into 41 cases by a special team of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

On July 3, 2018, on not being able to establish any contact with her husband or get any information about his whereabouts, Lt. Col. Singh’s wife, Ranju Singh, filed an FIR in an Imphal police station. She also held a press meet in Imphal after slipping out of her husband’s official quarters inside M-Sector to state the same, besides filing a writ petition in the Manipur high court seeking his whereabouts.

On the HC’s direction, Lt. Col. Singh was produced in court and the army said he was not arrested but taken to Dimapur to resume his duty.

However, Lt. Col. Singh was soon transferred to Pasighat and asked to face an internal inquiry on the basis of Lt. Col. Nanda’s letter to the CO in 2018. Though Lt. Col. Singh got an interim stay on that order from the Manipur high court, the Supreme Court vacated it in February 2019 directing the officer to face trial.

In April, Lt. Col. Singh filed another petition in the Manipur HC seeking a directive to the state government to register an FIR regarding the recovery of the huge cache of arms and ammunition from M-Sector. He also sought a court-monitored probe to ascertain how the arms remained secretly stored for about two years inside the unit before being discovered by Lt. Col. Nanda, and asked the court to prosecute those responsible for it.

Significantly, Nanda’s letter had also alleged that a cadre of the armed group United National Liberation Front (UNLF) named Japan and a civilian named Naoba were also residing in the barracks for about six months.

Also read: How Unregistered Weapons Were Procured for Fake Encounters, Surrender Dramas

The HC, thereafter, asked the state government to respond to it. Though it is mandatory under the Arms Act, 1959, to file an FIR at the nearest police station after the recovery of unaccounted arms and ammunition, and thereafter hand over the cache to the police without delay, the state government contended that it was an internal matter of the army and it would rather stay away from it.

Notably, Lt. Col. Nanda’s confession to the internal inquiry proceedings, made on March 4, 2019, about the original documents being destroyed by Major Rathore on the same day of its recovery – July 1, 2018 – brings to fore Lt. Col. Singh’s allegations that some ‘rogue officers’ had tried to frame him.

What is also to be underlined is that Lt. Col. Nanda admitted at the trial that he wrote the letter to the CO in July 2018 against Lt. Col. Singh on the directions of Brigadier Administrative and Brigadier Intelligence of 3 Corps.

On July 8, Lt. Col. Singh’s lawyer, Shreeji Bhavsar, appearing before the Manipur HC, presented the confession of Lt. Col. Nanda in the summary of evidence proceedings of the trial. He argued that Lt. Col. Singh was framed and victimised just because he wrote the letter in 2016 to the CO informing him about some rogue officers’ “illegal acts”.

Among other questions, Bhavsar also raised the point that if such a letter about the recovery of arms and ammunition was received by the CO, why then was it not mentioned in the court when Lt. Col. Singh was produced before it.

Speaking to The Wire, Bhavsar said, “Destruction of official documents regarding recovery of illegal arms and ammunition by an officer of the army is a serious criminal offence. Few officers in 3 Corps shall not try to cover up the crime and order inquiry at the highest level to unearth the larger conspiracy in which Lt. Col. Dharamvir Singh has been framed. We have full faith in the institution of the army and the honourable high court of Manipur that they will deal with the offenders with an iron hand and will bring justice to the honest and upright officer.”

The high court has adjourned the case till August 28 for further arguments and for the maintainability of Lt. Col. Singh’s petition.

The full OROP granted by the National Democratic Alliance government in 2015 has not been implemented so far’.

New Delhi: Ex-servicemen are raising the pitch of their request that the Centre implement the One Rank One Pension (OROP) in letter and spirit.

The ex-servicemen claim that the full OROP granted by the NDA government in November 2015 has not been implemented so far. According to them, this OROP has several anomalies which need to be removed. Moreover, they say that the OROP, which is due for revision from 1 July 2019, is being challenged by Comptroller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) by their letter to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which says that this revision is not necessary. The Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) has filed a case in the Supreme Court in this regard. The apex court has advised the government to talk to the ex-Army men and resolve the issue. However, this has not been done so far. Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Maj. Gen. Satbir Singh, Chairman of the IESM, said that the approved definition as announced by the MoS Defence on 2 December 2014 and as given in the MoD letter subsequently has been amended in such a way that may affect “the very soul of OROP”.

The four main anomalies of OROP implementation were pointed out to the government, but these have not yet been rectified so far, causing financial disadvantage to the Defence personnel, 85% of whom are of the rank of Sepoy and their dependants and widows, he said.

When all doors were closed for the ex-servicemen to get full OROP implemented, the IESM knocked the doors of the Supreme Court which asked the government to call the petitioner (IESM) to discuss and resolve the OROP anomalies. “So far, the Raksha Mantri has not yet granted a meeting with our delegation to discuss resolution of OROP anomalies,” said Maj. Gen. Singh.

“It’s not that we have not got anything. The pension has increased due to implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission. But the full OROP has still not been implemented,” he added.

CGDA, in the meantime, has written a letter to Minister of Defence questioning the logic of equalisation of pension with effect from 1 July 2019. “The Raksha Mantri has constituted a committee to go into the equalisation of OROP pensions. It is a surprising that a committee has been constituted on an issue which stood settled by the government. Also, it is intriguing that representative from the IESM has not been included in the committee,” he said, adding: “we urge Rajnath Singhji to fix a meeting with the IESM delegation to resolve the anomalies”.

Maj. Gen. Singh also asked that the constitution of the committee ordered to go into equalisation of pension be cancelled and the report of the one-man judicial committee report, which was submitted in October 2016 on the issue be made public. He also urged that the definition of OROP as per the Koshayari Committee report be accepted and implemented. The expectation is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take action on the matter, in the manner that he intervened earlier.

Exchange of firing is on. Tribune file photo

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 30

A militant was on Sunday killed in a gunfight with security forces in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, the police said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Bugam area of Budgam district in central Kashmir Sunday morning following specific inputs about the presence of militants there, a police official said.

He said as the forces were conducting searches, the militants fired upon them.

The forces retaliated, ensuing an encounter in which one militant was killed, the official said.

He said the body has been recovered along with arms and ammunition, adding the identity and group affiliation of the slain ultra was being ascertained.

The Indian army has revised its policy for the p ..

Read more at:
https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-army-brings-in-new-rules-for-its-officers-and-jawans-for-csd-facility/articleshow/69988073.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

From June 1, only vehicles with an engine capacity up to 2,500 CC and costing up to Rs 12 lakh will be available through Canteen Stores Department for serving and retired officers of Indian defence forces.

http://

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
Gwalior, June 24

Just 24 hours before the Indian Air Force launched the airstrikes on Balakot in Pakistan, the Mirage 2000 fighter jet base at Gwalior was abuzz with activity.

The young pilots knew something was on since they had been sent on regular combat air patrols at night. Like all other fighter bases in North India, Gwalior was on operational readiness after the February 14 terror attack on a CRPF convoy, that killed 40 troops at Pulwama.

Around 4 pm on February 25, things became clear when technical teams started to ‘feed’ the Spice 2000 bombs with geo-coordinates of the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp, which was finally attacked some 12 hours later at 3.30 am on February 26.

A small chip in the Spice 2000 holds the key information on how the bomb will travel and hit the target. After its release, it travels on an inbuilt ‘seeking device’ to hit the target. “No target was missed,” say the teams.

The town hosts three squadrons of Mirage 2000 — BattleAxes, Tigers, Wolfpack.

That night, the strike pack flew off at 2 am, like on a combat patrol. A small number of Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter jets showed up at the western front over Rajasthan. In this backdrop, the Mirage pilots flew almost behind the Himalayan ridge line to avoid Pakistani radars.

The last “90 seconds” of the mission meant every  communication equipment was switched off. The pilots then turned back. Some landed at Agra, some at Adampur. Their mates back in Gwalior were all smiles,  this was the first hit into Pakistan since the 1971 Indo-Pak War.

For feb 26 air attack

The Mirage 2000 jets were armed with two separate types of Israeli ammunition.  While the Spice 2000 is designed to penetrate deep inside the structures, the Crystal Maze was to send back video feed.

When pak tried to repeat kargil in 2002

Gwalior: The IAF on Monday publically admitted that Pakistan tried to repeat a Kargil-type intrusion in July-August 2002, but was rebuffed. IAF jets straffed Pakistan occupation some 3-4 kms on the Indian side of Line of Control in ‘Kel’ sector in north-west part of J&K. Air Marshal Rajesh Kumar, who is commanding Central Air Command, said, “We wanted to send a message without declaring war. It was a secret affair.” TNS

War-footing: Soldiers of 15th Ludhiana Sikhs were among the first Indian troops to disembark at Marseille. Photo courtesy: USI, New Delhi

Singapore, June 21

Sikhs in the United Kingdom have demanded a war memorial to be dedicated to the martyred community members who fought for the British during World Wars I and II, a senior community member has said.

Statistical data has been used effectively to lobby the government and other public authorities to ensure that a space can be found in central London for the memorial, Jasvir Singh, who chaired the British Sikh Report 2019, said.

“A vast majority of Sikhs want to have a war memorial in central London dedicated to Sikhs who died in the First and Second World Wars,” he said.

“There have been memorials that have been made across the country as well and dedicated to those who died in the two wars,” he said.

Singh was in Singapore to attend the International Conference on Cohesive Societies from June 19-21.

Singh leads the ‘Grand Trunk Project’ which brings Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities of British-Asian heritage, along with smaller communities from the Subcontinent, together in dialogue and understanding.

In his work on Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims as minority in the UK, Singh hopes “that people are able to see the similarities, respect and celebrate the differences”. Expressing his views on the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, he referred to the British Sikh Report 2019 and said 85 per cent of British Sikhs believe that events like this should be taught in schools in the United Kingdom.

According to the survey in the report, 79 per cent of respondents believe that the British Government should apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

“This view was shared across the age groups with those aged 19 and under and those aged 65 or more, (who) most likely to want an apology,” Singh said.

The survey included nearly 2,500 respondents spread across the United Kingdom. PTI

New Delhi, June 18

Reversing a two-year-old order, the government today okayed the restoration of ration supply in kind for officers of the armed forces.

In July 2017, the government had stopped rations to officers on peace postings and instead started giving a monetary allowance per man per month as per instructions.

The allowance for the ongoing fiscal was Rs 117.29 per month. The decision had led to confusion as officers on peace posting frequently went out with their units for field exercises, where their troops were getting rations, but they had to make “own arrangements”. 

In the Army, when in a field exercise or on a forward location, the officers are supposed to have the same food as the troops. Similarly, some of the special forces of the Army, Navy and the IAF are based in what are classified as “peace postings” but are constantly training and the troops and officers again eat the same food. A large chunk of the forces, especially the Army, is deployed in forward areas.

The move had outraged the serving community and a serving Colonel sent a legal notice to the government, warning he would go to court if the order was not rolled back. 

Officers are required to have a daily calorie intake of 1,800 to 2,000, which was not possible with the allowance.

And the existing supply of rations was not resulting in a major fiscal outgo as bulk purchases meant cheaper rates of items. The forces have ‘scale’ of ration, which could be two eggs a day, some grams of chicken or mutton, or paneer and fresh vegetables. — TNS