A state of high alert was issued across Uttar Pradesh, following the surgical strike across the Line of Control (LoC), an official said on Friday.

Security was heightened in all districts, fearing retaliation from Pakistan.

The Seema Shashastra Bal (SSB) was also asked to step up vigil along the Indo-Nepal border.

Special focus was on security of historical monuments, tourist destinations, public places like railway and bus stations, malls, shopping complexes and film theatres, an official told IANS.

Additional police force was deployed in the peripheral parameters of cantonments in Lucknow, Agra, Kanpur and Meerut, and military installations and airports were put under close watch.

Special checking operations were initiated to screen vehicles on border and other sensitive areas like Maharajganj, Bahraich, Gonda and Gorakhpur.

“Other than scaling up the visible security, we have also sensitised the intelligence system and are keeping an eye on every activity,” an official said.

By blaming Pak for Uri & any attempt to escalate tension to deflect attention from state terrorism in Kashmir will prove expensive for Indians. KHAWAJA ASIF, Pak defence minister, in a tweet

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Sunday rejected India’s assertion that it had a hand in the terror attack on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, saying New Delhi should share “actionable intelligence” on the incident with Islamabad.

Soon after Indian home minister Rajnath Singh pointed a finger at Pakistan for its “continued and direct support” to terror groups, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria dismissed the accusation. “India immediately puts blame on Pakistan without doing any investigation. We reject this,” Zakaria told Reuters.

A statement from the InterServices Public Relations, the Pakistan Army’s media wing, later in the day referred to the hotline contact between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) and sought intelligence on the terror attack. “Refuting the unfounded and premature Indian allegations, the Pakistan DGMO asked his counterpart to share any actionable intelligence,” it said.

The latest situation on the Line of Control was discussed and the Pakistan DGMO “reiterated that no infiltration is allowed from Pakistan’s soil because water tight arrangements were in place on both sides of LoC/working boundary all along”, the statement added.

The attack was extensively covered by Pakistani news channels and foreign office officials privately said Pakistan condemns the attack. “We condemn terrorist actions in all forms,” said an official.

Adding to the uncertainty in bilateral relations were remarks by Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif that his country would not hesitate to use tactical nuclear weapons in the event of an attack by India. But Asif made the comments in an interview with Geo News channel that was recorded before the attack and aired on Saturday night.

His remarks were aired again after the attack and picked up by Indian media. In response to a question about the possibility of hostilities with India, Asif said: “I don’t think there is any immediate threat (of a war with India) but as Allah has said in the Quran, the horses should be ready. Our readiness should be complete at all times… The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

Army vehicles move towards the border area in Akhnoor sector, 35 km from Jammu, on Friday. PTI

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 30

Home Minister Rajnath Singh today reviewed the security situation in the country, taking stock of the forces’ preparedness along the western border in view of yesterday’s surgical strikes by the Army on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.Edit: After the strikesDuring hour-long deliberations, the top security brass briefed Rajnath about the steps being taken to foil any Pakistani design to attack Border Security Force posts. They also elaborated on the measures taken to ensure the safety of civilians living in border areas. Sources said Rajnath directed officials to be on high alert. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and top officials of security and Intelligence agencies attended the meeting. Meanwhile, the MHA has issued a countrywide alert, asking states to heighten vigil to foil any attempt by Pakistan-based terror groups to carry out attacks, especially in metropolitan cities. The border states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat were also directed to remain vigilant.Rajnath told reporters that all attempts were being made to secure the release of an Indian soldier who had inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan. He said the government had taken note of the reports that stated that an Indian soldier was in Pakistan’s captivity.Sources in the MHA, however, said the minister had not spoken to anyone in Pakistan to secure the release of the soldier in captivity, but they went on to add that the ministry would soon make moves in that regard.Army sources yesterday said, “One soldier from 37 RR with a weapon has inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control. Pakistan has been informed by the DGMO on the hotline.” Sources said the incident was not related to the surgical strikes in PoK.

*VETERAN’S SOLIDARITY RALLY on Thursday, 15 September 2016 At War Memorial at 1630h, Sector 3, Chandigarh

*CAPT AMARINER SINGH* the most celebrated veteran will lead the ESM to Governor residence

1. To affirm our support to the COSC bold decision asking Govt to withhold implementation of 7CPC for Armed Forces till all anomalies are solved
.
2. *You are requested to Assemble at War Memorial  Sector 3, Chandigarh at 1630 PM sharp*.

3.Veterans shall proceed thereafter to Governor Punjab (Administrator UT) & Governor Haryana to hand over the Memorandum of Solidarity with COSC Lead by Capt Amarinder Singh.

4. We request all the Veterans of Punjab , Haryana, UT Chandigarh and other places to join this Mega Solidarity Rally, irrespective of your political affiliation groups or associations .

5. No slogans to be raised during assembly Nor  display of banners.

Let’s get together as true and real soldiers in letter and spirit.

Must give Moral support to our chiefs as the Govt is all out to degrade defence forces to the lowest statuall veterans requested to Join and recah RV at 16:30 h on 15 Sep 2015.

It’s a prestigious issue and cause  so all requested  to come in strength.Even civilian brothers and sisters can join in support.

*SOLIDARITY RALLY*
*Dt~Thursday, 15 Sep.
*Time~16:30 hrs.
*Venue~War Memorial.
* BOAT CLUB ,SUKHNA LAKE , Chandigarh.
Regtl insignias, scarves, side caps, a riot of colour.
Chest up, pride written on your face, a soldiers countenance.

Let people know the difference.

Rgds.
Col Charanjit Singh Khera

Gen Secy

Sanjha Morcha

The crossover: The strikes did take the Pakistan army by surprise.

AS I write these lines, Pakistan has strongly denied that the Indian army carried out surgical strikes across the LoC. It has claimed, indeed asserted, through the official army spokesman that the Indian action was confined to the traditional exchange of fire across the LoC which the two armies have undertaken many times in the past, including heavy fire last year. In doing so, as of now, Pakistan has obviously sought to ensure that it does not come under pressure from its domestic public opinion to adequately respond to uphold the country’s honour. For if it acknowledges that Indian soldiers crossed the LoC, even by a short distance of a couple of kilometres, the Pakistani people, more so, Pakistani soldiers and officers will demand of its generals, especially army chief General Raheel Sharif, that the Indian Army be soonest taught a lesson so it does not undertake such an action again. This refrain would be heard the loudest from the jehadi tanzeems.Raheel Sharif has an image to live up to — his elder brother and maternal uncle were decorated with the Naishan-e-Haider, Pakistan’s highest gallantry award, and the Sharif family is greatly respected in army circles and by the public at large. Raheel Sharif is also credited with successful action in North Waziristan to clear Tehrik-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan cadres under the Zarb-e-Arz operation. Thus more than Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, it is the General who is under greater scrutiny. It is obvious that his initial reaction has been not to immediately get into a tit-for-tat situation and to move cautiously. That is not unnatural, for the Pakistan General staff would need to carefully weigh all options, especially as the international community knows that Pakistan has provoked India continuously over two decades with its pursuit of cross-border terrorism and that no army would take the Uri terrorist attack lying down.The major powers, especially the US, have advised Pakistan that it has to take action against all terrorist groups, not only those that have turned against the state. This counsel has fallen on deaf ears, for there is no evidence that the Pakistan army is willing to take a re-look at its security doctrines. These prescribe the pursuit of low-intensity conflict to contain India by keeping it off-balance. The fact is that despite the Pathankot attack and India’s acceptance of a Pakistani joint investigation team,  including an ISI representative, to visit the Pathankot air base, it continued to essentially remain in denial, which is a clear evidence of its unwillingness to modify its security approaches. As India has crossed a threshold, Pakistan’s security planners will be under international pressure to modify their policies on the use of terror, even as they will not easily give it up. Why?The major powers, including Pakistan’s all-weather friend, China, do not want a conflagration between two countries with nuclear weapons. As India has always acted “responsibly”, it has ironically been under greater pressure to avoid taking any step that would enhance the chance of escalation. This has been so after every significant terrorist provocation, including the Parliament attack and the Mumbai outrage. Each time, India absorbed terrorist action, despite the loss of life. Indeed, influential sections of the Indian political and security classes advanced the view that terrorism did pose a real security challenge to the country. Thus Pakistan-sponsored terrorism was cynically relegated to a matter of political management. If this was the view of those who governed the country, the international community naturally went along. The Pakistan Generals too felt secure that India’s political masters would not really react with force. They were initially concerned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may be different and they tested him even prior to his taking oath when the Indian consulate-general in Herat was attacked. When Modi flip-flopped, laying down red lines only to dissolve them, they felt that he was no different from his predecessors. They will now have to reassess.The only time the global powers brought pressure to bear on Pakistan was during the Kargil encroachment. Then India acted with determination to throw out Pakistan forces that had occupied the Kargil heights. It is because India refused to accept Pakistani action and the Indian Army started meeting with success despite great odds that the US put pressure on Pakistan to abandon its unacceptable misadventure. The US pressure was a contributory factor to Pakistan’s decision to withdraw. The Kargil lesson was that if India showed resolve and acted then Pakistan was asked to act responsibly. The key factor in all such situations is calm and sober resolve and deliberate action. Now after the surgical strikes, which have been undertaken with precision, it would be Pakistan that would be under pressure not to notch up the situation. That would be the quiet message that the Chinese would also give, notwithstanding the public postures that they may take.The Modi government has also done well not to have undertaken the surgical strikes in isolation, but as part of a package of measures to show that India is re-examining the premises of its Pakistan policy. No previous government has focussed on the Indus Waters Treaty and Pakistan’s MFN status. Nor has any government raised Pakistan’s human rights record in Balochistan internationally,  that to at the UN. Most importantly, the withdrawal from the SAARC Summit — and, it is obvious that Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and India have consulted on this matter — would not have gone unnoticed in important capital cities. While there will be routine counsels of restraint, there is no doubt that there will be an understanding that India has suffered much and Modi expended much political capital and the present action — with no intention, at present, to undertake any other surgical strike — was neither adventurous nor unnatural.There is little doubt that Pakistan will loudly proclaim the dangers of Indian action leading to the danger of acquiring a nuclear dimension. This is hogwash and self-serving. Pakistan will also renew efforts to draw attention to the Kashmir situation, but global indifference to developments in the Valley will continue as no country wants to intervene in it.So, how will Pakistan respond? Indian security managers should redouble their vigilance against a major terrorist strike. The writer is a former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs 

https://youtu.be/cspNIDG4esI

Kashmiri wants freedom from India then why 25 crore Muslims are living in India: Hamid Bashani

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Leaders of various parties attending an all-party meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 29

All political parties on Thursday supported the Indian Army’s surgical strikes across the Line of Control to destroy terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, the government said after an all-party meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.The leaders of political parties representing Parliament were briefed about the surgical strikes across the LoC by senior security officials.Talking to reporters after the meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said all parties supported the government action.Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who attended the meeting said the government briefed us about the surgical strikes and “we congratulate the forces for being successful in the operation”.Naidu said the surgical strikes targeted 5-6 places across LoC along Kupwara and Poonch. “There was no casualty on the Indian side.”Information that these terrorists were planning to attack some towns and important places prompted the Army to act, Naidu said.Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and NSA Ajit Doval were present at the meet attended by BJP chief Amit Shah, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Union minister and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan and NCP leader Sharad Pawar among others.BSP’s Satish Mishra and RJD’s Prem Chand Gupta also attended the meet.  — With agencies

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar

New Delhi, September 9

Taking on Pakistan, India on Friday said the concept of state actors and non-state actors on the issue of terrorism is a “false dichotomy” and a state cannot escape responsibility by hiding behind it.

India also said that acting against some terror groups is not a justification for giving a free pass, leave alone active support, to other groups.

Without mincing words, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar tore into Pakistan’s narrative that terror attacks against India are done by non-state actors and said the state cannot escape responsibility.

Speaking at a conference organised by US-based East West Centre, the Foreign Secretary reminded everyone that this was the case after 9/11 attack when countries were told that they cannot escape responsibility by saying that non-state actors were involved.

“There is a connect between state actors and non-state actors, which is why we use the word ‘sponsored’. So, the state cannot escape responsibility by saying it is non-state. This is not just vis-a-vis India. It was the situation even after 9/11,” Jaishankar said.

He underlined that the concept of state and non-state actors is a “false dichotomy”.

“We have always maintained the view that acting against some groups is not a justification for giving a free pass, leave alone active support, to other groups. So, you can’t have a segmented, differentiated fight against terrorism,” he said.

He was responding to questions about the US, while supporting India’s stand on terrorism, also saying that Pakistan was fighting against terrorism by taking action against various groups.

Jaishankar said the world has a better sense of the nesting ground of terrorism in the region, where terrorism is being bred and nurtured.

His remarks came as India upped the ante on the issue of “terror export” from the neighbouring country, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising it at BRICS meet and East Asia Summit, where he called on the international community to isolate and sanction “this” instigator.

Modi urged other BRICS members to intensify joint efforts to combat terrorism and sought “coordinated actions” by the grouping to “isolate supporters and sponsors of terror”.

“There’s one country in our neighbourhood whose competitive advantage rests solely in producing and exporting terrorism,” he later said in his address at the East Asia Summit, without naming Pakistan. —PTI

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 29

In what apparently seems to be a case of paper leak, 14 of the 100 questions for the Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT), conducted yesterday for short service commission in the Indian Air Force, allegedly appeared on the Internet at least 25 minutes prior to the commencement of the first shift of the test at 9 am. The Indian Air Force has ordered a probe into the incident.A BTech student from Jalandhar, who appeared for the test in Amritsar, said he was checking the answer key for the paper last night when he stumbled upon a website that showed conversation among candidates leaking and discussing the paper online at 8.35 am yesterday, while the exam was to start at 9 am. “I was shocked to see those questions in both sets. Later, I decided to highlight the matter in the media,” said the candidate’s father pleading anonymity.Three-mark questions were repeated in a different order for the afternoon paper starting at 1 pm, which gave candidates four hours and 25 minutes to prepare. Around 7 lakh students took the test across the country for getting entry into flying, technical and ground duty branches.

The hints

• The 14 questions leaked by a person with an identity “tk” came in short hints as: “Book of Sharad Pawar, shooting 50 m rifle, highest civil award of Australia, lifetime achievement in cricket, environmental conference, Hyder Ali won with British, fundamental right part-3, Commonwealth Game 2018 Australia, solar eclipse, Mirage 2000, Piku-Deepika, IRNSS satellite, Goswami Ashoka Chakra and acid rain.”

Some questions in the test

• The book “On My Terms: From the Grassroots to the Corridors of Power” is the autobiography of? (Sharad Pawar is an option in the answer)
• Indian ruler who defeated British in early stage of their rule in India was? (Hyder Ali is an option in the answer)
• Fundamental Rights are enshrined in the Constitution of India in which part? (Part 3 is one of the options in the answer)
• Deepika Padukone has received Filmfare award 2016 for the Best Actress in the movie? (Piku is an option in the answer)…

The conversation that followed

• As “tk” leaked the paper, another person with an identity “Rohit Sindhu” responded with a message at 10.05 am, “Dear Tapendra, thanks for sharing, we appreciate your efforts”.
• Then the criticism begins, “How the hell did u get hold of these questions man? The paper was held after 9 am and u had posted here by 8.30 am”.
• The discussion goes on till next day with a message appearing, “How is this possible? This should be reported to media! Paper leaked”.