India celebrated its 68^th Army Day. India’s Army Day 2016 was celebrated on January 15, 2016 which also the 68^th Army Day of India. On this occassion, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, Army Chief Genral Dalbir Singh, Navy Chief Admiral Robin Dhowan and Air Force Chief Arup Raha paid homage to the martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate, New Delhi. At the same time, soldiers who sacrificed their life for India in 2015 as well as soldiers who showed courage in the line of duty were awarded on January 15, 2016 (Army Day 2016).

Army Day in India is celebrated in the remembrance of Lieutenant General (later Field Marshal) Kodandera Madappa Cariappa who took over as the first Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) of Indian Army ( of Independent India) from General Sir Francis Butcher, the last Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) of British Indian Army, on January 15, 1949.

Kodandera Madappa Cariappa

Field Marshal Kodandera “Kipper” Madappa Cariappa was first Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) of Indian Army (of Independent India). He took the charge as Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) of Indian Army on January 15, 1949 from Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) of British Indian Army General Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher. Kodandera Madappa Cariappa was succeeded by General Rajendrasinhji Jadeja as Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) of Indian Army.  He was also the one who headed the Indian Army on the Western Front during Indo-Pakistan War of 1947.

Born on January 28, 1899 Kodandera Madappa Cariappa was a native of Sanivarsanthe, Coorg Province (now in Karnataka) during British rule in India. He was among the two Indian Army officers to hold the highest rank of Field Marshal in Indian until present (the other Indian Army Officer to become Field Marshal was Sam Manekshaw). He retired from Indian Army in 1953. After his retirement, he was served as the High Commissioner to Australia and High Commissioner to New Zealand.

On May 15, 1993, Field Marshal Cariappa passed away in Bangalore, India. He was honoured with Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Vijay Mohan,Tribune News Service,Chandigarh, January 11

While holding that participation in adventure activities, when detailed for the same, was bona fide service duty, the Armed Force Tribunal (AFT) has termed as “perverse” and “malafide” Defence Accounts Department officials’ move to reject ex gratia benefits to the widow of an Air Force officer who had died during an expedition to Mt Everest 10 years ago.“Without applying the mind to the provisions, the case of the petitioner has been rejected. We hope that the government will take appropriate action against the delinquent officials for sitting over the issue for so long,” the AFT said.While descending after successfully summiting the Everest, the officer, Squadron Leader SS Chaitanya, had died in May 2005 due to a heavy storm. His wife had sought ex gratia.The Air Force had recommended ex gratia in accordance with the Rules of Casualty Pensionary Awards to Armed Forces Personnel, which state that mountaineering expeditions organised by the service authorities, with the approval of the Service Headquarters would be deemed to be ‘on duty’.The detailment orders issued for the officer by the Air Headquarters and the government sanction letter for the expedition were also produced on court record.An officer of the level of Joint Controller of Defence Accounts (JCDA), however, refused to grant ex gratia. The AFT said the respondent department had not filed reply as to why the payment has not been made and that the stand of the JCDA was that there was no casual connection in the occurrence of the death and the service rendered by the officer.Ruling that there was no dispute that the victim was on official duty, the AFT said it was pained to note that the matter was treated with utmost callousness without understanding the plight of the officer’s wife. It directed the authorities to release ex gratia within two months along with interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum from the date of the officer’s death.

Punjab SP has been ‘less than truthful’ during interrogation, suspects NIA

Mukesh Ranjan,Tribune News Service,New Delhi, January 11

Questioning of Punjab SP Salwinder Singh by the National Investigation Agency today remained inconclusive as investigators suspected him of being “less than truthful”. His questioning will continue tomorrow.Singh and his two accomplices — Rajesh Verma and Madan Gopal — were abducted by terrorists involved in the Pathankot attack on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 when they were returning from a shrine.Sources in the Punjab Police say the NIA would ask Salwinder Singh to explain what he had been doing for three hours, from the time he visited the dera till he was kidnapped. The distance between the dera and the site where he was abducted is about 5 km. The officer has been unable to explain what he was doing on this stretch for three hours.A separate NIA team continued to question Verma and Gopal in Pathankot. Sources said Gopal would be called to the NIA headquarters in Delhi and the date of his questioning would be intimated soon.Sources in the anti-terror probe agency said the NIA would soon ask Interpol to issue Black Corner Notice for establishing identity of the terrorists killed by security forces in the Pathankot air base.Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs said the NIA would review the answers of Salwinder and his two accomplices to decide whether they would be made accused or witness in the case.Singh reached the NIA headquarters at 10.45 am on Monday after being summoned by the anti-terror agency in connection with its investigation into the Pathankot attack. The police officer didn’t speak while entering the NIA office.Sources in the NIA said several discrepancies had been found in the versions of Salwinder and his two accomplices and thus the possibility of subjecting them to a lie detector test was not being ruled out.Meanwhile, since NIA has taken over the case, during its own searches in the air base complex, the investigators have found one AK-47 magazine and a mobile handset, besides several guns and huge quantity of explosives and aluminium powder handed over to it by security forces involved in the operation.The NIA has registered three cases in connection with the terror strike at the Pathankot IAF base. The first case pertains to abduction and the second to the killing of a taxi driver. The third case relates to the terrorist attack on the air base.

While holding that participation in adventure activities, when detailed for the same, was bona fide service duty, the Armed Force Tribunal (AFT) has termed as “perverse” and “malafide” Defence Accounts Department officials’ move to reject ex gratia benefits to the widow of an Air Force officer who had died during an expedition to Mt Everest 10 years ago.“Without applying the mind to the provisions, the case of the petitioner has been rejected. We hope that the government will take appropriate action against the delinquent officials for sitting over the issue for so long,” the AFT said.While descending after successfully summiting the Everest, the officer, Squadron Leader SS Chaitanya, had died in May 2005 due to a heavy storm. His wife had sought ex gratia.The Air Force had recommended ex gratia in accordance with the Rules of Casualty Pensionary Awards to Armed Forces Personnel, which state that mountaineering expeditions organised by the service authorities, with the approval of the Service Headquarters would be deemed to be ‘on duty’.The detailment orders issued for the officer by the Air Headquarters and the government sanction letter for the expedition were also produced on court record.An officer of the level of Joint Controller of Defence Accounts (JCDA), however, refused to grant ex gratia. The AFT said the respondent department had not filed reply as to why the payment has not been made and that the stand of the JCDA was that there was no casual connection in the occurrence of the death and the service rendered by the officer.Ruling that there was no dispute that the victim was on official duty, the AFT said it was pained to note that the matter was treated with utmost callousness without understanding the plight of the officer’s wife. It directed the authorities to release ex gratia within two months along with interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum from the date of the officer’s death.

His accomplice will be summoned to Delhi

• A separate NIA team on Monday continued to question Punjab SP Salwinder Singh’s (pic) two accomplices — Rajesh Verma and Madan Gopal in Pathankot
• Sources say Gopal will be called to the NIA headquarters in Delhi and the date of his questioning will be announced soon
• Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs said the NIA would review the answers of the trio to decide whether they would be made accused or witness in the case

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today chaired a high-level meeting and discussed the Pathankot terror attack as he directed officials to speed up work on the leads given by India, sources said.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today chaired a high-level meeting and discussed the Pathankot terror attack as he directed officials to speed up work on the leads given by India, sources said.
“Issues pertaining to national and regional security were discussed during the meeting,” the Prime Minister’s Office here said in a brief statement.
The meeting was attended by Ishaq Dar, Minister for Finance; Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Interior; Sartaj Aziz, Advisor on Foreign Affairs; Lt Gen (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, National Security Advisor; Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Foreign Secretary; Aftab Sultan, chief of Intelligence Bureau and other officials.

A source privy to the details said that the meeting discussed the Pathankot attack and the information shared so far by India. “The meeting decided to speed up work on the leads given by India,” he said on anonymity.
Another official said that the information provided by India was not enough as it was just limited to telephone numbers and Pakistan might ask for additional information.
“We would like to have solid information to build a case for action otherwise courts intervene and the suspects are bailed out,” he said.
He added the meeting agreed that strong action would be taken after probe against anyone found guilty of involvement in the attack.
The meeting came as India said it is waiting for “prompt and decisive action” as promised by Sharif to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a telephone call on Tuesday.
India has provided “specific and actionable information in this regard” to Pakistan.
Yesterday, Pakistan’s army chief Gen Raheel Sharif reaffirmed zero tolerance for terrorist organisations and took a detailed review of overall internal and external security situation in the country.
He made the remarks while presiding over the Corps Commander Conference held at General Headquarters, a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
In a pre-dawn attack on January 2, a group of heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at the Air Force base in Punjab.

Pathankot attack: Pakistan reiterates support to India on probe

Rachna Khaira,Tribune News Service.Jalandhar, January 7

Taking cognisance of a news report, ‘Statues in memory of bravehearts gathering dust’, published in these columns on Wednesday pertaining to the dilapidated condition of war heroes’ statues in the city, the Army authorities today approached the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar (MCJ) and asked them to maintain the dignity of statues of their bravehearts in the city, who had laid their lives to protect the sovereignty of the nation.While informing this, Municipal Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khehra said the Army authorities called him in the morning and asked him about the mechanism under which these memorials were being taken care of in the city.“Though we do not have any policy or mechanism to construct or maintain such memorials, I assured them that we will try to maintain the sanctity of such places. However, a mere cleaning of such memorials by the MC staff everyday will not serve the purpose. Rather, residents of local areas have to come forward to maintain the same,” Khehra said.He said though many people and social welfare organisations come forward and construct such memorials after every war or terrorist attack like the one at the Pathankot Air Force station recently, later they fail to maintain these and pass on the responsibility to the MC.While holding families of such war heroes also responsible for the dilapidated condition of these statues, Mayor Sunil Jyoti said though family members of several martyrs cross the memorial places everyday, they never bother to visit the spot and pay homage to their children’s sacrifice.“Except one or two families, none of the families even hold any event on the occasion of birth or death anniversaries of their kin. If they can’t hold the memories of their son after many years, how can they expect society to remember and keep on paying homage to their sons,” asks Mayor Sunil Jyoti.He added that besides asking various NGOs in the city to take care of martyrs’ statues, the MC would also get in touch with the District Defence Welfare Office for the maintenance of such statues.

Simran Sodhi,Tribune News Service,New Delhi, January 7

India today put the ball firmly in Pakistan’s court over the scheduled foreign secretary level talks. India made it clear that talks will go ahead only if Pakistan acts on the “actionable intelligence” provided to it.“The ball is in Pakistan’s court. The immediate issue is Pakistan’s response to the Pathankot attack and actionable intelligence provided to it,” official spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs Vikas Swarup said.India has provided evidence to Pakistan that the terrorists who attacked the Pathankot Air Force base were constantly in touch with their handlers in Pakistan. The evidence provided by India includes intercepts of phone calls made by the terrorists and the location of the numbers they had called in Pakistan. Sources said India had also identified the alleged handlers and demanded that action be taken against the leadership of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) before any talks between the two countries can take place.Swarup said Pakistan had assured India of prompt action against those involved or responsible for the attack. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif, who assured of prompt response,” Swarup said, adding that “we now await prompt and decisive action from the Pakistan Prime Minister”.While there are still eight days to go before the foreign secretary level talks are held in Islamabad, India seems to be weighing on the decision with each passing day. Sources in the government point out that the government would want the dialogue process to continue but some visible action by Pakistan against the perpetrators would have to be there for the process to continue.

India names JeM, its chief for Pathankot attack

• India has held Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar (pic) and the banned outfitresponsible for the Pathankot attack in evidence shared with Pakistan, sources said
• MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup refrained from naming any group, while confirming that “actionableintelligence” had been provided to Pakistan
• In Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif onThursday chaired a high-level meeting and directedofficials to speed up work on the leads given by India

Handlers behind Pathankot attack identified

The Indian intelligence agencies have identified four handlers, including the Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, who carried out the terror attacks in Pathankot. Ashfaq Ahmed, Haji Abdul Shakur and Kashim Jaan were the other three identified handlers. According to the intelligence sources, the attack was planned in Markaz, Pakistan.

Ball is in Pak’s court: MEA on Pathankot probe

short by Smrithin Satishan / 06:28 pm on 07 Jan 2016,Thursday

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup on Thursday said Pakistan needs to decide how it acts against the perpetrators of Pathankot terror attack, adding that the “ball is in their court”. Swarup said the government’s stand over the issue is “very clear” and that India wants to have good relations with all its neighbours including Pakistan.

The attack started early on Saturday. Helicopters with night vision facility hovered above the base through the night and a fresh operation began Sunday morning

AP PHOTOIndian security forces patrol inside the air force base in Pathankot on Sunday.

Five terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistani, were killed in a gunfight that lasted nearly 15 hours after they breached a high-security security perimeter and entered a frontline Indian Air Force (IAF) base near Pathankot town in northern Punjab early on Saturday to carry out an attack, police said.

Here is what we know about the attack:

A pre-dawn attack

Gunshots rang out at the facility in Pathankot around 3.30am as the group of five men in army-style clothing — believed to be operatives of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group — launched the daring operation. The attack came less than 24 hours after an alarm was sounded in the state over the assault of a top police officer by suspected Pakistani terrorists.

‘Attackers from Jaish-e-Mohammed’

A defence source said the terrorists from JeM, blamed for the December 2001 attack on Parliament that killed 11 people, had probably infiltrated about three days ago.

The attackers, with huge quantity of RDX in their possession, made their way to the base from the rear area where there is a jungle.

Security forces were put on high alert on Friday after Gurdaspur superintendent of police (headquarters) Salwinder Singh said he and his associates were kidnapped by five armed men in army fatigues.

Read: 4 terrorists, 3 IAF men killed in Pathankot air force base attack

How security forces fought back

The terrorists, who struck just a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unscheduled visit to Lahore, could not penetrate the defence cordon at the air base as they met with effective response from the security forces.

A team of 50 commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) led the fight against the militants, a top security official said. The NSG commandos were flown to Pathankot on Friday night in view of a security threat after the abduction and thrashing of Singh by terrorists, who dodged security forces and escaped.

The NSG commandos were rushed to the air force base and the army cantonment at Mamoon after they arrived in Punjab, and a major search operation was launched. They were battle-ready when terrorists attacked the air force base.

The IAF used its two attack helicopters to assist the joint team of ground troops to neutralise the remaining terrorists.

Read: What makes Punjab’s Gurdaspur-Pathankot belt so vulnerable

The IAF facility

Pathankot — located at the tri-junction of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh — has an army cantonment and the air force base, which is barely 10km from where Gurdaspur SP Singh was waylaid and assaulted.

The IAF facility is the base of MiG-21 fighter planes and Mi-25 attack helicopters of Air Force.

Punjab, again

In July, heavily armed men in army fatigues sprayed bullets on a moving bus and stormed Dinanagar police station in Gurdaspur district bordering Pakistan, killing six people and injuring eight.

The Punjab Police and security agencies were charged with a slow response during the Dinanagar terror attack.

The Pakistan angle

Saturday’s attack came close on the heels of an upswing in India-Pakistan ties after PM Modi made the surprise trip to Lahore last month and held talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif.

Even before the gunfire had died down at the Pathankot airbase, people across India had begun asking the inevitable question: Would this brazen terror attack neutralise the bonhomie and gains generated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Lahore?

The question was not surprising, given the cycle that has accompanied almost every recent effort by Indian and Pakistani leaders to engage and move ahead with the fraught peace process – a grand gesture or a visit or some forward movement, and an outrageous terror attack meant to inflame and incite public opinion.

Several events that preceded the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot are definitely a cause for concern – the July attack, the ambush of a BSF convoy in Udhampur that resulted in the capture of a Pakistani member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and evidence gathered by Indian intelligence agencies from the GPS devices used in both attacks.

“Pakistan is our neighbour and we want peace, but any terrorist attack on India will get a befitting response,” home minister Rajnath Singh said after the Pathankot attack.