Amritsar, August 5

In view of the scrapping of Article 370, the Punjab Police have strengthened security near the Indo-Pak border.

“Patrolling has been intensified and an alert sounded in view of the decision to check any misadventure from across the border. The state government has also banned any protest or rally against or in favour of the decision that could provoke communal tension,” said Vikram Jeet Duggal, SSP, Amritsar (Rural).

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today held a high-level meeting in Chandigarh that also included Dinkar Gupta, DGP, Punjab. He instructed the police force to remain vigilant.

Takht raises concern

Amritsar: Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said the government must take immediate steps to win the confidence of the J&K residents and ensure to safeguard their interests and rights at first place. TNS

Srinagar, August 4

Congress leader Usman Majid and CPI (M) MLA M Y Tarigami claimed they were arrested on Sunday night as Kashmir remained on edge with authorities stepping up security deployment.

However, no official confirmation was immediately available.

Police officials said former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti would not be allowed to move out of house as strict curfew would be imposed in Kashmir at the crack of dawn amid heightened terror threat and flare-up of hostilities with Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC).

Sources said that the former CMs have been detained at their respective house.

National Conference leader Abdullah tweeted, “I believe I’m being placed under house arrest from midnight tonight & the process has already started for other mainstream leaders. No way of knowing if this is true but if it is then I’ll see all of you on the other side of whatever is in store.”

The authorities suspended mobile Internet connection in the Kashmir valley, the officials said, adding that satellite phones were being provided to police officials and district magistrates.

Reacting to the development, Mehbooba tweeted, “Hearing reports about internet being snapped soon including cellular coverage. Curfew passes being issued too. God knows what awaits us tomorrow. It’s going to be a long night.”

“In such difficult times, I’d like to assure our people that come what may, we are in this together & will fight it out. Nothing should break our resolve to strive for what’s rightfully ours,” she said.

Kashmir remained on edge on Sunday as authorities stepped up security deployment at vital installations and sensitive areas amid heightened terror threat and flare up of hostilities with Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC).

After the Jammu and Kashmir administration curtailed the Amarnath Yatra and asked pilgrims and tourists to leave the valley at the earliest on Friday, anxious residents continue to throng markets to stock on essentials and serpentine queues have been visible outside shops and fuel stations.

Jammu and Kashmir Governor S P Malik has dismissed speculations that the Centre might be planning to do away with Article 35A of the Constitution, which gives exclusive rights to the state’s residents in government jobs and land.

Political parties in J-K had expressed apprehensions about such action after the Centre deployed additional troops and curtailed the Amarnath Yatra.

Earlier in the day, regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir unanimously resolved to fight any attempt to abrogate the constitutional provisions that guarantee it special status or any move to trifurcate the state. PTI

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 2

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The government on Friday said that besides the last week’s order to deploy additional 100 companies of Central Paramilitary Forces in Jammu & Kashmir, no more personnel are being moved to the state.

Clarifying the position of the government over the reports that additional 280 companies of security forces are in the process of being deployed in the Kashmir Valley, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it is reiterated that 100 companies had been ordered for deployment about a week ago, which are in the process of reaching their destinations. “This has apparently led to speculation of induction of additional forces,” a senior official said.

Sources said that based on the assessment of internal security situation, training requirements, the need for paramilitary troops to be rotated for rest and recuperation, “induction and de-induction of central forces is a continuous and dynamic process”.

They insisted that it had never been the practice to discuss in public domain the details of deployment and movement of paramilitary forces deployed in a particular theatre.

Media reports quoting sources in Srinagar on Friday suggested that over 280 companies of security forces are in the process of being deployed in the Kashmir Valley. They suggested that the forces, mostly CRPF personnel, are being deployed in vulnerable spots in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley, they said.

What “on going situation” in Kashmir would require the army AND the Air Force to be put on alert? This isn’t about 35A or delimitation. This sort of alert, if actually issued, would be about something very different. https://t.co/FTYG36F6aD

Srinagar, August 1

Over 280 companies of security forces are in the process of being deployed in the Kashmir valley, official sources said today.

The security forces, mostly CRPF personnel, are being deployed in vulnerable spots in the city and other parts of the Valley, they said.

However, no reason was given for the sudden deployment of over 280 companies (28,000 troops) late in the evening, the sources said.  All major entry and exit points of the city have been taken over by the Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs) with a token presence of local police, they said. 

Officials said security has been withdrawn from some isolated shrines because of intelligence inputs that foreign terrorists are planning to target police guards there.

Summer vacation has been pre-poned at educational institutions and they will be closed for 10 days starting Thursday, they said.

Local residents have started panic-buying essentials as they are linking the deployment of forces to apprehension of deterioration in the law and order situation.

The Centre had earlier ordered deployment of about 10,000 central forces personnel to Kashmir to strengthen counter-insurgency operations and law and order duties. — PTI

• Security tax? The 15^th Finance Commission (which will decide the distribution of tax revenues between Centre and states) is expected to create a defence and internal security fund by setting aside money from gross tax revenues of the central government. This would mean less money for sharing with states. While the Centre wants states to share the financial burden of maintaining and upgrading its security apparatus, states fear that they may be left with less funds at a time when developmental demands on them are rising. The defence budget for 2019-20, at Rs 3.05 lakh crore, is 1.45% of GDP of which just a little over a third is capital expenditure.
• But then… Defence is in the Centre’s remit in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, which sets out the responsibilities respectively, of the Centre, the states and jointly of both. While Article 280 of the Constitution empowers the commission to decide how taxes are distributed, Article 266 says that the Consolidated Fund of India is a shared pool for all national priorities. Creating a fund outside this structure is against the Constitutional principle, some experts have said. The finance ministry had earlier rejected the idea of a non-lapsable defence fund on two grounds: unspent monies represent opportunities forgone in other vital areas (such funds are often idly parked instead of being used to pay off urgent bills) and once started for defence, such funds would proliferate.
• Shrinking kitty: The actual devolution of the revenues of the Centre to the states is much less than the 42% recommended by the 14^th Finance Commission, thanks to a sizeable chunk of the Centre’s collections being in the form of cesses and surcharges that are not shareable with the states. While the share of taxes in the divisible pool has grown, their share in the overall tax revenue has fallen because of the faster growth of the non-divisible pool of cesses and surcharges.

1. CM GIVES DOUBLE PROMOTION TO ‘FORGOTTEN’ KARGIL WAR HERO VIR CHAKRA AWARDEE WAS MANNING TRAFFIC IN SANGRUR AS SENIOR CONSTABLE
2. AMARINDER PAYS TRIBUTES TO MARTYRS OF KARGIL CONFLICT
3. CHIEFS OF ARMED FORCES PAY TRIBUTE
4. WAR HERO RUNS LAST LEG WITH ‘VICTORY FLAME’
5. VETERANS SUGGESTED TO OPEN DEFENCE SALARY PACKAGE /PENSION ACCOUNT WITH STATE BANK OF INDIA FOR BETTER BENEFITS
6. OF 527 KARGIL MARTYRS, 13 FROM HOSHIARPUR
7. BAN ON ‘ARMY’, ‘POLICE’, ‘VIP’ STICKERS ON VEHICLES

8. RICH TRIBUTES PAID TO MARTYRS, 35 FAMILIES FROM 14 DISTS HONOURED

     

9. COMMEMORATING WAR HEROES 500 EX-SERVICEMEN, INCLUDING OFFICERS, JCOS, OTHER RANK OFFICIALS, SERVING SOLDIERS AND THEIR FAMILIES ATTEND THE EVENT

   10.KARGIL: ‘IZZAT’ AND HONOUR FOR THE SOLDIER, AFTER THE HEADLINES FADE

     

   11. THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR IS A GOOD TIME TO INTERNALISE ISSUES THAT HAVE ALIENATED THE MILITARY

   12. REMEMBERING KARGIL 20 YEARS AFTER

     

   ACCUSES NEIGHBOURING COUNTRY OF TRYING TO KEEP KASHMIR ISSUE ALIVE

   WAR-DISABLED ARMY MEN SHARE THEIR TALES

   KARGIL VIJAY DIWAS: 27 FAMILIES HONOURED

   PARENTS LIVE ON BRAVEHEART’S BELONGINGS

   VEER NARIS REMEMBER GREAT SACRIFICES

   MY PROUDEST MOMENT, SAYS RIFLEMAN JAMMU’S KULDEEP SINGH SERVED 13 JAKRIF THAT CAPTURED THE TOLOLING PEAK

   BOOK ON PSYCHOLOGY FOR SOLDIERS’ SPOUSES

   20 YEARS ON, WOUNDS OF MARTYR’S FAMILY YET TO HEAL NO ACTION TAKEN TO DELIVER JUSTICE, SAYS SAURABH’S FATHER

   GUNS WILL LEAD TO GRAVE: GEN RAWAT WARNS MILITANTS AND PAK OF ‘BLOODIER NOSE’

    

Azhar Qadri
Tribune News Service
Drass (Kargil), July 25

The desolate highway town of Drass, which made headlines during the 1999 Kargil war and is home to some of the well-known battle sites like Tiger Hill and Tololing, is witnessing small but significant changes of modernity.

For the first time, this frontier town is receiving round-the-clock electricity and mobile Internet services. The road connectivity has improved and a college is also being constructed.

It is a remarkable progress for Drass, which had remained cloaked in isolation due to geographic and climatic limitations. Located at an altitude of nearly 11,000 feet and also distinct for being the second coldest inhabited place on earth, Drass remains cut off from Kashmir valley for around six months every year. The shutdown of the highway for half a year means dormancy as regards economic activity. The war of 1999, however, brought Drass on the map of tourism. The hills surrounding the town, which were battlefields during the war, are now attracting tourists and veterans.

As the 20th anniversary of the war is being celebrated by the Army, which is holding all main events in Drass, the town is bustling with activity and its hotels are fully packed.

“Lots of tourists now stop at Drass and visit the places,” a motel owner said in Drass. “There is a huge potential for this place, but it needs proper connectivity,” he said.

It all can change once the Zojilla tunnel, which will be a major construction marvel that will ease the travel between Kashmir valley and Drass town, is completed.

The highway town also receives war veterans. Major DP Singh (retd), Kargil war veteran famously known as Indian Blade Runner who has run marathons despite being an amputee, is on a visit to Drass to mark the war’s anniversary. He visited the Kargil war memorial, which has become a must stopover for tourists on way to Leh and for veterans who pay their homage.

“The flag flutters so beautifully not just because the wind blows, but also because someone secured the area to let this happen by sacrificing their lives,” the former officer wrote on Twitter yesterday