Skydivers of the Akash Ganga team of the Air Force make a formation in Jammu on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Amarjeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 22

The ‘Akash Ganga’ team of the Indian Air Force and Air Warriors’ symphony orchestra stole IAF Mela at the MA Stadium here today.Led by Wing Commander AK Yadav, 11 skydivers of the Akash Ganga team jumped off IAF flying machines from an altitude of 8,000 feet and formed various formations before touching the ground amid applause from the audience.It was the Akash Ganga skydiving team’s maiden display in Jammu.Though the “drill to thrill” — display of weapon handling skills by nicely attired Air Force personnel, martial arts presentation by the Garud Commando Force of the IAF and gravity-defying maneuvers on the skyline by three UAV’s (unmanned aerial vehicles) — drew applause, renditions by Air Warriors’ symphony orchestra stole the show.Air Officer Commanding, Jammu Air Force Station, Air Commodore Ashutosh Lal; former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah; Nagrota MLA Devinder Singh Rana; state BJP president and sitting MLA Sat Sharma; and BJP legislator Rajesh Gupta were present at the event.

Supporters of Mumtaz Qadri (inset) shower rose petals on the ambulance carrying his body for the funeral in Rawalpindi. Reuters

TRY and remember the last time you saw a crowd in Liaquat Bagh as large as the one we just saw on Tuesday. That ill-fated park, which has seen two prime ministers assassinated, has hosted political gatherings since the earliest days of Pakistan, but you will have to travel more than two decades back in time to find a gathering as large as this one.  Try and remember the day Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by Qadri, whose funeral has taken on such historic qualities. Can you recall what the various political parties were doing on that day? In the days leading up to the assassination, the PPP was struggling to keep its hold on power as the MQM had left the coalition. On the day of the murder, the MQM was threatening to also withdraw from the Sindh government. And only minutes before the bullets flew, Nawaz Sharif had issued an ultimatum to the government to implement a 10-point agenda dictated by his party or face eviction from the Punjab government, where the parties were coalition partners. He gave the government three days to respond. When news of the assassination was flashed all over the country the PML-N spokesman, graciously decided to extend the deadline by another three days. The next day the PML-Q, little more than a memory itself now, announced that it would support a no-confidence motion in Parliament if Nawaz Sharif were to introduce one. Even before the bloodstains were cleansed from the site of the gruesome murder, it was business as usual for the political leadership. It would be worth pausing here to note the irony behind Nawaz Sharif having to bear the consequences of hanging the murderer of his own arch-enemy. Remember also that Mumtaz Qadri was a member of the Elite Force of Punjab. The New York Times reported he had been “removed from a special police branch several years ago because of his extremist religious views”, and reinducted in 2008, when Shahbaz Sharif became the chief minister of Punjab. This paper carried a report saying “the IG of Special Branch, Mr Nasir Durrani, had released a report last year in which it had been pointed out that Mumtaz Qadri and 10 other policemen had some nexus with religious extremists and it was suggested that they should not be deployed on VIP duty.”It was also reported that three days prior to the assassination, Qadri had organised a ‘religious ceremony’ at home, which according to other police officials quoted in the same report, ought to have flagged him for observation by the Intelligence Bureau and the Special Branch. Recall also that Shahbaz Sharif, who bravely begged the Taliban to spare Punjab from their ferocious bombing campaign around the country, did not attend the funeral of the assassinated governor of the very province of which he was the sitting chief minister.  Over the years, we have whistled casually past all the milestones that announce the spread of extremist mindsets in our society. Lal Masjid was one such milestone. The assassination of Salmaan Taseer was another. What lessons were learned from these episodes, and where do we see the impact of these lessons? The last milestone has been the tragedy at Army Public School last year. We have finally woken up to the threat posed by the spread of violent extremism. Good, but just look at the sights from the funeral to see what we have woken up to. In local government elections last November several banners erected by PTI candidates carried large pictures of Mumtaz Qadri. When it was pointed out, Naeem ul Haque, the party’s central information secretary, tweeted that “PTI wishes to dissociate completely from certain posters in Karachi LB campaign glorifying convicted killers”. Dissociate from certain posters? What about your coalition partners whose head has just led the funeral prayers for one of these “convicted killers”? All political forces need to say it loud and clear: Convicted murderers will receive the punishment the law says they should receive. They should collectively put out a message that the only road forward for Pakistan is an inclusive and a progressive one. Many countries realised decades ago that the death penalty does not work as an instrument to fight violent crime. It is even more ineffective in fighting religiously inspired militancy. It is crucial that the memory of Qadri does not morph into a legend to inspire future generations. Islamabad must loudly proclaim what kind of Pakistan it is committed to building. Rawalpindi must visibly bury its history of using religious militancy as a tool in foreign adventures.We must climb down the pole of denial that we climbed up, unless we want to wake up yet again in a Pakistan where the picture of Quaid-i-Azam has been replaced with that of a garlanded Mumtaz Qadri in government offices across the country. By arrangement with the Dawn.

Sandeep Dikshit,Tribune News Service,Chandigarh, February 29

The course correction in Narendra Modi’s government’s emphasis on the political economy that began after the setback of the Bihar elections found full reflection in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s budget speech today. Union Budget in graphicsThe entire address was an exercise in front-loading the government’s empathy with the rural sector and the less privileged urban dweller, while consciously backpedalling initiatives to promote the pro-business and liberalisation sentiment. Was it any wonder that Jaitley gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet Smart City theme a pass? While Jaitley mentioned farmer and agriculture over 50 times, he spelt out the industry-friendly measures only once in the first 70 paras of the Budget speech. Despite his upbeat projections, question marks remain on some major farm sector initiatives. With banks in trouble and food credit slipping, does the Government have enough left to extend the farm credit of Rs 9 lakh crore this fiscal? Saved from the blushes due to a massive inflow of revenues from the oil and the telecom sectors, Jaitley managed to calm fears about the government overshooting the limit for overspending by sticking to the targets.This bonanza helped Jaitley withstand the pressure from outgoes on the one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme and the Seventh Pay Commission, and helped him extend direct relief to a section of the salaried class and pensioners, step up the allocation for infrastructure, especially roads, highways and power and announce several farm-friendly proposals.The disappointment over the taxing of Provident Fund withdrawals was explained away as bringing parity in the tax treatment of long-term retirement products.As the outlay remained generous for rural employment, crop insurance, village roads and irrigation, Jaitley was careful to ensure that the industry was taken care of. The Budget and its Finance Bill gave ample space to measures to reduce litigation in infrastructure-related construction, simplify taxation for the industry and propose changes in insurance and pension, asset reconstruction companies, stock exchanges and SEBI. The Budget itself is being reformed and the distinction between Plan and non-Plan will be completely eliminated in the next Budget.More industry-friendly measures flowed in the latter part of the speech though several were couched in a language assuring universal payback. Among them were leveraging India’s maritime outreach by incentivising deep-sea gas discovery and exploration, undertaking important banking sector reforms and several changes in the FDI policy.While Jaitley has banked on borrowings, an ambitious uptick in the economy and extra service tax for funding farm-friendly proposals, the macroeconomic situation remained on the edge. The Make-in-India and Startup India seem to be at the gestation stage because instead of manufacturing, services sector has gained according to the Budget figures. The tax base was also heavily dependent on corporate tax and service tax receipts while little lip service was paid to the continuous deceleration in exports. This precariousness of the financial situation would have compelled Jaitley to tap every taxable avenue, from a 1-4 per cent cess on automobiles to the doubling of clean energy cess.

UNION BUDGET 2016-17
Arun Kumar

Pretending to be pro-poor, little change over UPA

While giving concessions worth Rs1,000 crore in the direct taxes paid by the rich, the government plans to net an extra Rs 19,000 crore in indirect taxes, which are contributed by all. This reveals a regressive intent.

Like all Union budgets, this one also is long on promises but hides the real dynamics, namely, how the resources are to be raised for the promised very substantial expenditures. The budget is targeting more than Rs 19 lakh crore of expenditures. This is enough to give small amounts to almost every section of Indian society. Based on this increase the Finance Minister has claimed a budget that is pro-farmer and pro other marginalised sections of society. But, what is also clear is that these schemes often do not require budgetary allocations and can be financed through bank loans. Also some are mere policy announcements with little budgetary implications.In this respect, the budget indicates that the government is more or less continuing with the policies of the UPA regime. That is what it had done last year as well. The one important lesson that the NDA government learnt last year was that its political losses were due to its image of being anti-poor and pro-business – Rahul Gandhi’s ‘suit boot ki sarkar’. The budget attempts to correct that image. The UPA had also tried the same in its last few budgets. No wonder, the government has made many pro-poor announcements. Arun Jaitley likes the number 9, since he has listed nine points of ‘transformative agenda’ and as many of ‘tax reform’.The government has given direct tax concessions and will forego almost Rs 1,000 crore in direct taxes while hoping to collect Rs 19,000 crore additional from indirect taxes. This reveals the real intent of the government. Direct taxes are paid by the well-off (only 4 per cent of Indians pay direct taxes, and these are the well-off) while indirect taxes are paid by everyone and tend to cascade into increased prices via consumption for the poor. Thus, a decline in the share of direct taxes is an indication of a regressive scheme of things.The Economic Survey had indicated that India has one of the lowest tax/GDP and direct tax/GDP ratios. The Survey hinted that taxes on the rich may be raised and their subsidies cut. However, apart from some tinkering, the overall reduction in direct taxes indicates that the rich are not likely to bear any major increase in taxation. This author has been proposing since the late 1980s an increase in wealth taxation and estate duty to reduce inequities but this is nowhere in sight. Mr. Picketty has also argued for these measures and the Economic Survey raised expectations that these policies may be finally introduced.The black money schemes if effectively implemented could have increased direct taxes’ collection substantially. However, the NDA government has not been successful in tackling the black economy in spite of the various schemes it has introduced since it came to power. For instance, little has been declared out of the hoards of black wealth held abroad. The gold monetisation scheme has also not been successful. The new schemes in this budget which give concessions from penalties and prosecution amount to an amnesty to those who have not declared their incomes in the past. However, the government cannot call it that since it gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court in 1997 that in the future it will not introduce any voluntary disclosure schemes. These schemes cannot succeed unless the government is willing to be tough but that would send an anti-business signal and the NDA regime does not wish to do that.The Finance Minister announced proudly that in 2015-16 the Plan expenditures have not been cut to attain the fiscal deficit target and he is correct in this. In the preceding five years there have been massive cuts in this. This year’s good performance has been possible because the tax collections have been on target. This is due to the decline in the petroleum goods prices and the non-passing of that decrease to the public by raising excise duties. Excise duty collection has gone up by approximately Rs 50,000 crore over the budget estimates. This has compensated for the decrease in direct taxes by around Rs 50,000 crore. Non-tax revenue has gone up by Rs 37,000 crore over the budget estimates with the net result that the total revenue collection has gone up. States’ share has gone down by about Rs 17,000 crore, thus leading to an increase in the Centre’s share of revenue.The implication is that the revenue buoyancy of direct taxes has been less than that assumed last year. What it also suggests is that the economy is not growing at around 7 per cent, as assumed in the budget. This is also apparent from the repeated attempts of the Ministry of Finance to improve demand in the economy. Businesses are also repeatedly asking for interest rate cuts to boost demand.Assuming a 7 per cent rate of growth for the coming year may also lead to miscalculations. This year’s budget has been drafted in an uncertain environment emanating from both the internal and external situations. The Finance Minister has flagged this. The implication is that there is need to be cautious rather than ambitious. The external sector can short-circuit the growth of the Indian economy and make the budgetary calculations go wrong. Unless the correct figures are used for growth and the rate of inflation, errors can get multiplied in case of any exogenous shock.Finally, the Union Budget is first an instrument of macro-economic policy and then of micro-economic policies. If the calculus of the former is incorrect then the latter are likely to fail. Given the international situation of declining commodity prices and likely shortfall in growth, the package for farmers and for the marginalised sections — the highlight of the budget — is likely to also yield partial results.The writer is retired Professor, JNU.

t’s well-known: law & order completely broke down in Haryana for at least five days since Feb 19. It was as if the state abdicated its responsibility so egregiously that when mobs went about their vicious attacks, police posts were abandoned, Army’s hands tied and officials vanished. Was there a politics of silence in the government? The Tribune takes a look

Rohtak, Feb 21: Charred remains of shops set on fire by Jat agitators demanding reservation. PTI

Caught in the maelstrom of complete lawlessness, a localized incident on Feb 19 in Bhiwani, Haryana, gives you an idea of the mindlessness: A college girl walking to her home in the evening was prevented by stick-wielding youths. She called up her friends and there was a minor clash. The girl escaped in the melee. Later, everyone said the girl was a Rajput. A few hours later men from ‘OBC Brigade’ arrived and tried to disperse the warring sides and asked the Jat agitators to lift the road blockade. What happened next was unprecedented: it was Jat vs Rajput, OBCs and others with Punjabis getting caught in the crossfire. District policemen, sources said, were deployed elsewhere, so none came. Soon, it was nothing short of a full-scale caste war. The situation in Rohtak, the parliamentary constituency of Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda, was explosive: Several residents said they themselves worked the phones to the Prime Minister’s Office, but the officials “concerned” expressed their inability to do anything. As violent mobs went on the rampage, no help was forthcoming. Recalls VK Juneja, owner of Silver Bells School on the Gohana Road: “On February 19, my school watchman called up saying a mob was about to set the school building afire. I immediately called up the local police and fire-station officials, but they plainly expressed their helplessness. The school building was ransacked and burnt.” Then on Feb 22, almost a day after the Army was deployed in parts of Hisar, despite curfew, an armed mob arrived in tractor trailers and motorcycles and looted houses located in the fields of Dhani Pal village. At least 20 houses were ransacked and burnt down. Policemen and an Army column failed to control the mob. Harphool, whose house was torched, said the rioters took away jewelry and cash. “The security forces were thinly spread out in the fields. We kept shouting for help, but no one came.” A day later, the body of a youth, Mintu, was found when security forces conducted a flag march. Off the record, top government sources said something akin to ‘politics of silence’ prevailed in the government, paralyzing law-enforcement. “For the Punjabi community in Sonepat, Rohtak, Gohana and Karnal, the violence resembled the Partition horror. “It will take years before inter-caste trust is restored,” said a government officer in Panipat. What could have been a controllable rural upsurge soon mushroomed into a caste conflagration: 30 people were killed (official count), hundreds injured, women assaulted, and property worth thousands of crores perished across the state. Worse, the inter-caste bond was allowed to be damaged. In the run-up to the reservation agitation, even when khaps and other Jat leaders were bitterly complaining against government “betrayal” and warning of an aggressive agitation, the state machinery, it’d seem, was at best sleeping, or worst, pretending to be talking. Here’s a surgical analysis of worst affected districts and the response, or the lack of it, from the authorities, especially the police. 

Administration gives in

Rohtak, Feb 20: A curfew was imposed on February 19 and the Army was called out. Jat protesters had dug up roads blocking access to the city. Army troops were airdropped to the Rohtak Police Lines. The troops carried ‘Army’ banners as they marched along with BSF and state police personnel. Yet the violence didn’t stop. This was the seventh day since NH 10 passing through Sampla was blocked.. When residents met Deputy Commissioner DK Behera a day before, his officials had told them quietly: “Don’t depend on sarkari help, you are on your own.” Says Sanjay Khurana, a community leader based at Patel Nagar: “After the district authorities expressed their helplessness, we formed groups of armed youths to keep a watch round the clock.” He says hordes of violent youths tried to enter their locality several times, but were met with equally belligerent response. Several shots were fired in the air to scare away the mob and keep us safe,” he said.The mayhem was in addition to the fear among thousands of people stranded on roads in and around Rohtak. Armed youth continued to vandalize public property as well as showrooms, shops, hotels and restaurants.”The people’s trust in the state machinery could have been saved to some extent had the police personnel and administrative officials stepped in. It was free-for-all,” said Lovely Mittal, a local resident. So bad was the situation that the police posts were abandoned and police stations locked by the very personnel. The result was all too clear: total anarchy in Rohtak and nearby Kalanaur and Meham.”Shockingly, for four-five days neither any MLA, nor did any community leader bother to approach the agitators for calm,” said a resident, Dinesh Kumar. Several prominent businessmen and industrialists are now weighing moving their operations/units to some other state. The educated and well-meaning members of the Jat community regret the large-scale devastation but intelligentsia sees it from a different perspective. “Economic frustration resulting from agrarian crisis has been vented out as caste frenzy. Law-enforcement agencies have failed the people,” says Dr Ravi Mohan, a leading medical practitioner. Dr Rajender Sharma, a Professor of Political Science at Maharishi Dayanand University thinks that in a democratic set-up, the shift of power should be accepted by the established political elites, including the members of the dominant communities.For Phool Kanwar, a former Air Force official, the cracks in communal harmony is the most unfortunate part. And for Vijay Balhara, Principal of Model School in Sector 4, destruction happened in minutes, but construction would take a long time. “The damaged buildings will get reconstructed, but the social fabric that has been destroyed will take a very long time to repair,” says Sandhya, a schoolteacher.Left to fend for themselvesJhajjar: Locals blame the police inaction, saying policemen bothered more about the safety of their officers while common man was left to fend for himself. “No policeman was present in any of the police posts,” said a resident. “The police have lost the faith of people,” said Om Prakash, another resident. Over 15 houses at Chhawani Colony, 20 business establishments, new buildings of PWD rest house, BDPO, Red Cross and Excise offices, Railway Station, Police station, Bank of Patiala, Chhotu Ram Dharamshala and over 50 roadways buses, government vehicles, private cars and two wheelers were set on fire in a town that aspires to be an industrial hub of the state.Most shops are still closed in all main markets. Residents in each colony take up thikri pehra (night patrolling) in self-defence in the absence of any worthwhile police help that suddenly vanished for four-five days since Feb 20.”How can you blame the police alone when the Army was also deployed? Arson and violence took place in the presence of army personnel who were mute spectators in the absence of orders,” said a police officer, claiming that the police did not receive any order to resort to firing to disperse the mobs.Om Prakash Dhankar, a leader of Dhankar Khap, said “We want to financially help families who lost their loved ones. The violence is the direct result of government ignoring the Jat community even as BJP’s Rajkumar Saini made inflammatory statements.””The police were nowhere to be seen when people were being thrashed and killed by hooligans,” said Ram Niwas Saini, a resident of Chhawani Colony where two men were killed and 20 others were injured when protesters attacked their houses. Said TV mechanic Anil Kumar whose shop was torched: “It was horrible. Let no suffer the way I have.”

Warnings ignored

Hisar: Feb 21, just when violence seemed ebbing in other areas of the state, caste clashes broke out in parts of the district. Jats hailing from Sisay village clashed with Gurjars and Sainis in adjoining villages of Sainipura, Dhani Pal and Jaggabara in the Hansi region. Senior Superintendent of Police Ashwin Shenvi said it was a free-for-all. “The area is wide, where houses are thinly spread out. So, we didn’t have a particular area to defend. Even then, we managed to prevent clashes,” he said.It all began from the district’s Mayyar village, the centre of Jat agitation in 2010-13. This time again, the All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) announced it’d resume the stir with a sit-in on the railway tracks. On Feb 12, AIJASS boss Hawa Singh Sangwan, addressing around 1,000 of his supporters, seemed undecided about how to reignite the stir. A group of 10 persons went into a huddle near him and announced: March to the railway tracks. “The government didn’t respond to our 3pm deadline. We had no option. Let the ‘OBC Brigade’ of Rajkumar Saini dare remove us from the tracks,” the Jats sounded the battle cry. Yet things were in a flux.Sangwan finally withdrew the stir after an assurance from state agriculture minister OP Dhankar on Feb 13. But a group of the Samiti was disappointed and refused to clear the blockade. The next day, this group too lifted the blockade. But some of them went to Sampla in Rohtak, the birthplace of legendary Jat leader Sir Chhotu Ram, where an indefinite dharna began.Meanwhile, sensing the buildup in the Rohtak region, the Yashpal Malik group, too, started a dharna on the railway tracks between Mayyar and Ramyana village in the district from February 17. The agitation thus split between the moderates and extremists.

Loud & clear

Bhiwani: Om Prakash Mann, state president of All India Jat Mahasabha and a khap spokesperson makes it plain: the community is a victim in Bhiwani district. “The Jat Dharamsala was vandalized and torched. At least 10 private properties of community members, including one belonging to me, were attacked by Rajputs,” he said.The Rajputs guarding a community centre attacked during violent situation, have a different story to tell. One of them claiming to be an ex-sarpanch said that the Jat agitation was a facade in the garb of disturbing law and order situation to malign the image of a non-Jat Chief Minister. The Rajputs as well as other caste members blame the police for inaction.Such is the caste divide that persons who are now coming forward to lodge complaints are questioning the caste of investigation officers or the SHOs concerned. A senior police officer admitted that there was a complete failure of the system in which even policemen had to run away. “Police posts at several places were burned down by goons who wanted to destroy their criminal records,” said an officer.Superintendent of Police Pratiksha Godara said the force could not dispatch reinforcements to rural areas as all the roads were blocked. “We had inputs that what happened in Rohtak on Feb 19 could be replicated in Bhiwani. So I and the Deputy Commissioner set up a control room to assess the situation,” she said.She said many individuals settled their personal scores taking advantage of the volatile situation. Deputy Commissioner Pankaj said they were told not to order firing until it was absolutely necessary, and that too, after permission from higher authorities. As the events unfolded, it’d seem no permission to open fire was sought.

‘Heavily outnumbered’

Jind: Former additional director general of police, Haryana, BK Sinha says the police force in the present agitation largely remained confined to their safe offices as its movement was restricted by agitating mobs blockading the roads. How else would you explain the burning down of around seven railway stations and a police post? However, the question is when the mobs were chopping over 5,000 fully grown trees to use them as obstacles, what was the forest department or the police doing? Senior police officers said since villagers didn’t allow policemen to move ahead, they had to take interior routes, which delayed the response, enabling mobs to loot and plunder.The district forest office deploys only one guard at every 10km. Officers said they were helpless when they were heavily outnumbered by agitators. Jind Deputy Commissioner Vinay Singh and Superintendent of Police , Abhishek Jorwal said ultimately it was people’s support that brought some semblance of order

Run-up to the caste conflagration

• February 2Sarva Khap Jat Panchayat threatens to intensify protest by blocking roads at about 40 places in the state on February 15 at a Jind rally.
• February 9 CM Khattar holds talks with a section of the community; sets up a panel under the chief secretary to review the quota. Jat groups put off the Feb 15 protest.
• February 12Jats unite under All-India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti, resume stir from Mayyar (Hisar) after a rally by blocking railway tracks on Delhi-Hisar section.
• February 14Khap and other leaders hold Swabhiman Rally at Sampla (Rohtak). Young members block the Delhi-Fazilka (NH-10) passing through Sampla.
• February 15Even when the CM and Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar are in Rohtak, protesters block roads linking the town to Delhi, Sonepat and Jhajjar.
• February 16The agitation intensifies. College students roughed up. Rohtak completely cut off. Agitation spreads to Sonepat, Jhajjar, Bhiwani and other towns.
• February 18Protesters and non-Jat activists clash. Scores of properties damaged in Rohtak. Police try to stop clashes. Uneasy calm prevails in city.
• February 19Protesters clash with police/BSF personnel, Jat and non-Jat members fight on the streets, setting buildings and vehicles ablaze.
• February 20After the police fail to control thesituation, the Army airdrops its men in Rohtak. Troops flag-march in eight other districts.

. Sunit Dhawan in Rohtak, Ravinder Saini in Jhajjar, Deepender Deswal in Hisar, Sat Singh in Bhiwani and N Kalia in Jind. Coordination & anchoring: Prashant Saxena

Google has removed an app accused of spying on the Indian Army from its official PlayStore. According to CNN-IBN, the app – called Smesh — was allegedly being used by Pakistan Intelligence agencies to monitor the movement of troops and to acquire crucial information related to the army and its counter terrorism operations.

The app which was seen till late Monday night was immediately removed after investigation revealed it to be a spyware app. The Indian Army has blacklisted the app.

The investigation revealed the involvement of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) behind this cyber threat. According to reports, ISI was using the app to spy on the army through the smartphone of military personnel.

SmeshApp was found stealing information including one’s movements, phone calls, messages and even photographs. The information collected was saved on a server located in Germany and hosted by an unknown person based out of Karachi.

The investigation showed that this app was also used during the Pathankot Terror Attack in January 2016 by Pakistani handlers to procure vital information. These handlers reportedly lured soldiers through fake Facebook profiles. It was also revealed that several Indian military officials were unknowingly in touch with Pakistani handlers through these fake profiles on Facebook.

According to the reports, the app was aimed at all the three services of the armed forces — Army, Navy and Air Force. Army had issued new guidelines post-Pathankot attack for using messaging app WhatsApp. As per the new norms any Army man can access WhatsApp account in their individual name without revealing their original identity.  Mention of rank and posting is strictly prohibited. Also, only personal messages should be shared in the messages even with family

Soldiers scan the area along the LoC fence for landmines. A Tribune Photo

Shyam Sood

Rajouri, March 13

No major firing incident and infiltration attempt has been reported since the Brigadier-level flag meeting between India and Pakistan in September in Poonch after more than 20 days of heavy firing and mortar shelling.“Since the Brigadier-level flag meeting between both countries, no major incidents, including ceasefire violations and infiltration attempts, have been reported in our area of operation or at other places. However, our troops are ready to meet any challenge from across the border,” said Colonel MS Garewal, Commanding Officer of the Punjab Regiment.A senior Army officer deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district said: “Pakistan can’t be trusted for taking forward the confidence-building measures agreed at the Brigadier-level flag meeting, including maintaining truce, return of civilians who cross the border inadvertently, air space violations and construction activities close to the Line of Control.”He said: “Our troops are guarding the LoC and the fence round the clock and are ready to foil any nefarious design of Pakistan.”The work to install new fence, equipped with sensitive night vision surveillance instruments and other modern gadgets, is also in progress in both frontier districts of Poonch and Rajouri and will ensure zero infiltration in future.