Sumedha Sharma,Tribune news Service,Gurgaon, March 12

Retired Wing Commander CK Sharma was placed in judicial custody till March 25 by a city court today for alleged financial irregularities committed in an organisation for defence veterans and their widows.Sharma was booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC and was arrested on Thursday night from his Palam Vihar residence. Sharma’s daughter Daughter Nisha Sharma took to Facebook to seek support for him claiming his arrest to be an outcome of political vendetta.“My father has fought both the wars for India and also led the OROP movement at Jantar mantar. He has never stolen Rs 1 all his life. The way he was arrested was shameful. Five policemen barged into my parents house, threw his phones away. He was just picked up from his bed (he has been hospitalised and sick for the last 2 weeks). And he is spending the night with diabetes, hyper tension and a heart condition. The police are not telling us where he is and what is his condition. The charges are fake and inspired by political vendetta please support the man who supported countless widows and armed forced personnel” read the post.Major General (Retd) Satbir Singh, who’s leading the OROP movement, tweeted, “this is utter high headedness of the Police against all norms in violation of Court orders. Please releas imdt. (sic)

”The police had booked Sharma along with Major General (retd.) Satbir Singh and Group Capt (retd) V K Gandhi on complaint of Lietenant General (retd) Raj Kadiyan, the chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM).

Tehri Garhwal kings had skirmishes with Mughal army that they successfully resisted

The Himalayan ranges as visible from Suwakholi, near Dhanaulti, depict the serene beauty of Uttarakhand. Photo courtesy: Bhumesh Bharti

Ajay Ramola

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, February 21

Tehri Garhwal district is often described as the land of celestial beauty. It has towns such as Pratap Nagar, Kirtinagar and Narendar Nagar that were founded by kings and New Tehri town are worth seeing for their serene beauty.  The history of Garhwal is older than that of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The worship of Lord Shiva is predominant in this region.Historically, Garhwal is believed to be the land where the Vedas and the Shastras were composed and the great epic Mahabharata was written.  Kanak Pal was the first ruler of the state of Garhwal in 823 AD. He came from what is now called Dhara Najari in Dhar. The rulers of Garhwal gradually expanded their kingdom and power. In fact, Garhwal was one of the independent kingdoms on which the mighty Mughals of Delhi had neither influence nor supremacy. The kings of Garhwal remained independent and were able to retain their diplomatic presence to some extent from the rule of Mughal emperors who swept the northern plains of India. However, there have been a few skirmishes with the Mughals for various reasons and they changed the course of the history of the region. The relationship between the Mughal rulers and the Garhwal kings was believed to be cordial, barring a few incidents from time to time.One famous instance mentioned in the annals of the history of Garhwal is of Rani Karnavati (also famous as Nak kati Rani), wife of Mahipati Shah. Karnavati is known to have cut the noses of Mughal soldiers who attacked Garhwal. She ascended to the throne in 1622 after the death of her husband and ruled the kingdom on behalf of his son Prithvi Pat Shah, according to some historians.Karnavati repelled the attack of the army of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan that was led by his chieftain Najabat Khan around 1,640. She is known to have cut the noses of the Mughal soldiers at a battle that took place near Srinagar, forcing Najabat Khan to retreat. Shah Jahan infuriated by this loss removed Najabat Khan from the post of Jagirdar and appointed Mirja Khan in his place. The monuments erected by Karnavati existed at Nawada in Dehradun district but gradually phased out due to government apathy. She is also credited with the construction of the Rajpur canal that starts from the Rispana river and supplies water to the Doon valley. It is believed that Karnavati had built present Karanpur.The instances of King Shyam Shah visiting Agra for meeting Mughal emperor Jahangir are also recorded in the history of Garhwal. However, this did not mean that the Garhwal kingdom was part of the Mughal empire.Mahipati Shah also did not have good terms with the Mughals but he did attend the crowning of Shah Jahan as Mughal emperor in 1628. Prithvi Pat Shah too while assuming the throne did not treat well the envoy sent by Shah Jahan to the Garhwal King court. Shah Jahan after hearing about the insult of the Mughal envoy ordered his commander Meer Mughal to capture the Garhwal king and bring him to the Mughal court.Prithvi Pat Shah faced by regular Mughal attacks sent several letters to Jahanara Begum, daughter of Shah Jahan, and requested her to involve Dara Shikoh in establishing some sort of truce with Shah Jahan. Dara Shikoh assured Prithvi Pat Shah of helping him. He did convince Shah Jahan to pardon the Garhwal king, leading to a treaty with Garhwal. Medani Shah, son of Prithvi Pat Shah, was sent to Delhi where he met Shah Jahan and offered him gold coins.Another interaction of Garhwal kings with the Mughals occurred after Shah Jahan was taken ill in 1657. Shah Jahan declared Dara Shikoh as his heir but other sons, namely Shah Suja, Murad and Aurangzeb, who all wanted to sit on the throne of Delhi, did not like it. Aurangzeb put his father and brother Murad in prison and declared himself the emperor of India. He sent a battalion to Lahore to capture Dara Shikoh. Suleman  Shikoh, son of Dara Shikoh, who was in Allahabad, came to know about Aurangzeb’s intentions and on the advice of King Jai Singh, who was his local guardian, marched towards Srinagar in Parui Garhwal. Though King Jai Singh deceived him on the way, Suleman still made it to Srinagar. Aurangzeb on learning about Suleman’s whereabouts threatened the Garhwal king to hand over him or he would capture Pataldun or Bhabhar.Medni Shah, fearful of Aurangzeb, is believed to have handed over Suleman to the Mughal army. Suleman saddened by the whole episode cursed the Garhwal king that his kingdom would be ruined very shortly.Delhi emperor bestowed Shah title on King Balbhadra PalThe Pal rulers later came to be known as Shahs, the title that a Mughal ruler gave them out of gratitude. There is an interesting story about how they got the Shah title in the first place. Historian Pandit Harikrishan Raturi states in his book “Garhwal ka Itihas” that Balbhadra Pal was known for his massive physical strength. Once he was on a hunting trip in the forest of Bhabhar, near Najibabad, and there he met the emperor of Delhi who was also hunting. One day when both were hunting together, Balbhadra Pal saved the emperor from a tiger attack by fighting the animal single-handedly. The emperor impressed by his valour took him to his palace in Delhi and extended his hospitality to him for several days. Some rogue fighters were harassing the emperor in the hills in the northeast of the country. Balbhadra finding the emperor tense over the issue offered his services in silencing the rogue elements, to which the latter agreed. Balbhadra with his Garhwali army defeated the rogue elements and killed their leaders. Balbhadra thus brought peace on the border and got a consent letter signed by the rogue elements that they would never attack the emperor’s territory again. The emperor pleased with the outcome granted Balbhadra the title of Shah and also changed his name to Bahadur Shah. Subsequently, Balbhadra’s successors started using the title Shah. Maharaja Mahipati Shah was another famous ruler who was strong enough to attack the Mughals and mount a punitive expedition into Tibet. Maharaja Lalit Shah was able to subdue their old enemy by invading and conquering Kumaon. He expelled the Chands and presented the throne to his younger son. But his sons quarrelled with each other and brought ruin upon themselves.

Sandeep Joshi

Recollect George Orwell and his wonderful 1946 essay, “Politics and the English Language”.  Recall his warning about the use of language in political discourse: “Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”  Orwell needs to be recalled to understand how the issues are being framed in the JNU battle, in particular the tendentious juxtapositioning of “martyred” jawans and the university dissenters. In the short-hand language of the television anchor, it is about choosing in the “Nine Martyrs versus Five Anti-Nationals” fight. The dictionary meaning of the word “martyr” is “someone who chooses to be put to death as an act of witness to their faith, rather than abandon his or her religious beliefs.” In the military vocabulary, a soldier who dies in a battlefield, fighting the enemy, is honoured and remembered as a martyr. The preferred word in India is “shaheed” as in the hauntingly memorable song sung by Lata Mangeshkar: Jo shaheed huen hain unki zara yaad karo qurbani. Death on the battlefield, in a face-to-face combat with the enemy, in defence of motherland. The most glorious death a soldier could wish for.However, to pit the nine soldiers who lost their lives in an avalanche in the treacherous Siachen heights against the JNU dissenters is definitely a bit of an Orwellian stretch. The death of a solider is a national loss, any day, any place. Nonetheless, every commander who has led his men in a battlefield would know the difference: laying down life, fighting and defying the enemy, is one kind of death, for which he recommends a medal for his dead comrade, and, an accidental death is in another category. Both are to be mourned, yet the two are separated by acts of bravery, valour and heroism. To confuse the two or to equate the two diminishes the glorious martyrdom of the Major Shaitan Singhs and Havildar Abdul Hamids.Any language that is not able to make a distinction between fighting the enemy and fighting the elements unwittingly lends itself to a larger project of militarisation of popular culture and political debate. Every thinking and serving or retired General would be feeling uncomfortable at this gross exaggeration of the loss.   Even more disquieting to all sober and sensible Generals would be enlisting of the “martyred” soldiers in an ugly political  battle that is ideological and against the grain of the constitutional and republican values.  The martyred jawans are being recruited as posthumous foot soldiers by political leaders  who flaunt their spurious deshbhakti. The Army as an institution must do everything possible to remain immune from this contamination.  The soldier who enlists in the armed forces undertakes — willingly and cheerfully — to fight and, if need be, lay down his life in defence of his motherland. He does not enlist himself to be made a partisan in the partisan battles among partisan politicians, each pretending to be a better deshbhakt and rashtravadi than the other. The question that we must be asking ourselves is: why as a nation do we seem to be succumbing to the vendors of nervous nationalism?  Why are we re-fighting battles that we have already fought and won? Indian unity, our sense of nationhood, our self-assurance and our capability to get the better of our detractors had long been established. We are far too sturdy, far too self-assured, far too resilient to feel threatened by a few “anti-national” slogans on the sprawling campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University.  We have always lived with pockets of secessionism. And we can take legitimate pride in the knowledge that the Indian democracy has successfully coopted yesterday’s secessionists. Even in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP is in alliance with a political party that fifteen years ago would have been dubbed “secessionist”. And, this alliance is being mid-wifed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh! A definite intent seems to be at work in making a great and prolonged political spectacle out of the “anti-national” slogans. Some may find unconscionable the inspired ugliness that was on display at the Patiala House Court but it does seem to be part of a political and electoral strategy. The agenda is to draw wider and wider, what Milan Kundera calls the “national circle of intimacy”. The ruling establishment would demand that every artist, writer, intellectual, journalist, architect, painter, scholar enter this national circle of intimacy. And those who refuse or demur from entering this circle should be made to feel the Delhi Police Commissioner’s baton.    From Dadri to Hyderabad to JNU, the country is being subjected to majoritarian demands. In Dadri,  those speaking in the name of majority asserted a right to determine what one could eat or not eat; in Hyderabad they insisted on defining who is a Dalit and who is not a Dalit; and in JNU, they are clamorously reserving the right to sit in judgment over this or that citizen’s national loyalty. There is a familiar ring to this kind of insistent demands. European history is replete with blood and genocide because of demands made by organised thugs in the name of this or that majority. Eastern European countries still continue to experiment with the exacting and ugly terms of co-existence among communities. Only a few months ago, the country had found itself engaged in a fierce “intolerance” debate. Those handful of people speaking in the name of the majority arrogated to themselves the exclusive licence to decide what was to be allowed, how much was to be “tolerated”. That round between the illiberal and intolerant forces and the liberal and progressive voices subsided only after the functionaries of the Supreme Court assured that their protection would always be available for democratic values and dissent. The battle has been renewed again. The only difference this time is the invocation of “national” themes. Who is a “national” and who is not “national” would be decided by the OP Sharmas. “Sedition” has been bandied about all too easily and all too glibly.The judiciary would be called upon to step in. It must be hoped that those who man the Bench, individually and collectively, have come a long way from the time when a court felt that a death sentence would ease the national conscience. Judicial decision-making, hopefully, would maintain its distance from the dramas being enacted in the streets across the nation.Above all, the quality and content of our nationalism cannot be dictated by a demagogue. Nor can our nationalism be sustained and extracted by the state’s coercive instruments. Those driven by vote-bank politics should not be allowed to demean and diminish the nobility of Indian nationalism.

Punjab and Haryana Governor-cum-UT Administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki and Lt Gen KJ Singh, GOC-in-C, Western Command, during a Civil Military Liaison Conference at the Haryana Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph

Ramkrishan Upadhyay,Tribune News Service,Chandigarh, February 17

The UT Administration and the IAF will carry out a joint survey to find a workable solution for providing a shorter route from Chandigarh to the international airport in Mohali.The Administration raised the issue during the Civil Military Liaison Conference held today at the Haryana Raj Bhawan under the chairmanship of Punjab and Haryana Governor-cum-UT Administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki.During the meeting, Solanki called for a joint survey of the area for an early resolution of the matter.The Administration presented three options in this connection.While UT officials pressed for the shortest route from the existing route to the airport, they also gave presentation of developing two other roads — one from the Sector 47 side and the other connecting with the airport road in Mohali. In the last two cases, additional land will have to be acquired by the Government of Punjab and the Chandigarh Administration.These two routes would require an additional detour of about 10-12 km for the residents of Chandigarh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.However, if the first option is followed, the distance from the city airport to the international airport would be merely 0.7 km.The Chandigarh Administration has again proposed to build an underground tunnel to have direct connectivity to the international airport terminal in the area of Punjab. Under the proposal, the tunnel will pass through the runway and connect with the road to the airport in Chandigarh.A senior UT official said though this plan was discussed with the Airport Authority of India earlier and the latter supported it, it could not materialise. “So we have requested the IAF to look into the matter again as we have no other option,” the official said.While appreciating the role of armed forces, Solanki said a country could progress only if its citizens felt secure and were at peace. He emphasised the importance of holding such meetings regularly so that issues of the defence personnel and the civil administration did not remain unresolved for long.UT Finance Secretary Sarvjit Singh assured that the issue of allotment of land for a girls’ hostel, Armed Forces Tribunal and the primary wing of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Sector 47 would be resolved soon.Home Secretary Anurag Agarwal said as far as reservation and pay protection of the ex-servicemen on re-employment in the civil administration was concerned, the UT had already adopted the pattern followed in Punjab. Similar was the case as far as giving compensation and concessional benefits to the next of kin of deceased defence personnel was concerned.Lt Gen KJ Singh, GOC-in-C, Western Command, appreciated the cooperation extended by the Administration from time to time in dealing with the issues pertaining to defence forces promptly. Meanwhile, he expressed concern over the security of military establishments and the Air Force Base in the wake of terrorist attacks in the recent past.

Security, welfare matters discussed

Tribune News Service,Chandigarh, February 17

The annual Civil Military Liaison Conference (CMLC) between the Headquarters, Western Command, Chandimandir, and the Chandigarh Administration was held here today to discuss matters related to security, land, welfare and other matters of mutual interest.The meeting was co-chaired by Punjab and Haryana Governor-cum-UT Administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki and Lt Gen KJ Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command. Senior civil functionaries from the UT Administration and military officers from the Command Headquarters attended the event.In his inaugural address, Vijay Dev, Adviser to the Administrator, highlighted the excellent rapport between civil and military officials in Chandigarh.Dev said the Western Command considered itself an intrinsic part of Chandigarh and would like to be actively associated with important social, cultural, recreational and sporting events being organised in the City Beautiful.The UT Adviser also appreciated the support provided by the Administration for organising events to commemorate the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the 1965 Indo-Pak War, which included display of military equipment and band, ‘raahgiri’ at Sukhna Lake and the Martyr’s Day commemoration at the Chandigarh War Memorial.

CM had announced to bear study expenses of brother, Rs 10 lakh

Sushma, mother of Capt Ashwani Kumar, with the martyr’s photograph at her house in Patiala. Tribune photo: Rajesh Sachar

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service,Patiala, February 14

Sacrifices made by bravehearts, promises to martyrs’ families by politicians, candlelight marches and debates on TV channels are forgotten as soon as the dust settles.The family of Regimental Medical Officer Capt Ashwani Kumar, who died in an avalanche at the Siachen glacier in November 2015, is struggling to make both ends meet, leave aside keep his name alive for future generation.Sixtysix-year old Anokhe Lal still recalls the last phone call he received from his son Capt Ashwani Kumar, in which they had discussed a few family matters, including studies of his younger brother.However, a week later, an avalanche struck a patrol party at the Siachen glacier on November 13. While 15 soldiers were rescued, Capt Ashwani could not be saved.Various politicians announced compensation and jobs for the kin, but there was no follow-up on promises.The promises made by the state government, including financial help of Rs 10 lakh and all study expenses of the martyr’s younger brother, are yet to be fulfilled.“Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal came to our house on November 21, gave a cheque for Rs 5 lakh and left promising more. Almost over two months since, we are not sure if we will get anything else,” said Lal, worried over his younger son’s future.To add insult to injury, the Patiala Municipal Corporation has ignored the claim of Capt Ashwani Kumar and instead named a road after a councillor who died in an accident on a holiday in HP.A road in Tripuri is now named after Paramjit Singh Dixie, the councillor who died in the road accident in 2014, while a park in Model Town is named after BJP rural president Ravinder Singh Ginny’s deceased father.“I am not bothered if everyone forgets my son’s sacrifices. At least we won’t. We would have been happy if a road would have been named after my son. My youngest son now wants to leave studies and start earning as there is no earning member in the family. Leave aside his education, the government should provide him a suitable job,” says his mother Sushma.All efforts to contact Patiala Deputy Commissioner Rambir Singh turned futile as he refused to take calls or reply to a detailed SMS sent on his mobile.Capt Ashwani Kumar (26), born on August 27, 1989, represented 3 Ladakh Scouts. He was a bachelor and hailed from Patiala. Kumar did MBBS from Government Medical College, Patiala, and was commissioned into the Army on January 6, 2015.

short by Aarushi Maheshwari / 06:43 pm on 12 Feb 2016,Friday
China has said that nations “outside the area” must not militarise the South China Sea, after reports claiming India and US were considering conducting joint patrols in the region emerged. Meanwhile, US State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner reportedly said that there were no plans to conduct India-US joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea or the Indian Ocean.

A ship (top) of the Chinese Coast Guard is seen near a ship of the Vietnam Marine Guard in the South China Sea. China has reacted sharply to a report suggesting that the United States and India were planning joint patrols of the disputed South China Seas region. (REUTERS Photo)

China has reacted angrily to reports of possible joint patrolling by the US and India in the South China Sea, most of which is claimed by Beijing, saying the region should not be militarised by countries from “outside the area”.

Chinese officials took time out from the week-long national New Year holiday to warn the US and India against any naval patrolling in the disputed waters. They were responding to a media report that Washington and New Delhi had discussed joint patrols, including in the South China Sea.

China lays claim to most of the South China Sea but is locked in dispute with Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Vietnam over the ownership of islands in the region.

“No cooperation between any countries should be directed at a third party,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

“Countries from outside the area must stop pushing forward the militarisation of the South China Sea, cease endangering the sovereignty and national security of littoral countries in the name of ‘freedom of navigation’ and harming the peace and stability of the region,” Hong said.

“We hope that the relevant parties speak and act with caution, refrain from intervening in the South China Sea issue, and especially avoid being manipulated by certain countries and ultimately harming their own interests.”

Read: India, US consider joint naval patrols in South China Sea

A US defence official told Hindustan Time that India and the US had held “informal discussions” on conducting joint naval patrols but no decisions had been made. The officials further said the South China Sea did not figure in those discussions, contrary to a Reuters report on Wednesday which said the two countries planned to start the patrols within the year.

Sources in the Indian defence ministry described the report as “highly speculative”. Indian officials also noted that the country had never conducted joint patrols with any country and there was no change in the government’s policy of joining an international military effort only under the UN flag.

China’s hackles were raised when the United States sent a missile destroyer to patrol in the South China Sea. China has always maintained that discussions surrounding the disputed maritime territory cannot involve third parties. (REUTERS)

Any mention of the South China Sea in international diplomacy triggers a sharp reaction from China, which says no country, other than those involved in the disputes, has the right to be involved.

China has become more assertive in the region and has been building airfields and increasing its naval presence.

When the September trilateral dialogue among the foreign ministers of Japan, India and the US mentioned the South China Sea, Beijing responded with a pointed statement to Hindustan Times.

“China enjoys indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha (Spratly) Islands and their adjacent waters as well as sovereign rights and jurisdiction over relevant seabed and subsoil,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a written statement.

The response mentioned the “Five Persistence” policy followed by China. “…we have always adhered to the principle of “Five Persistence”, which stands for persistence in maintaining the peace and stability of South China Sea; persistence in settling disputes with the party concerned according to the international laws via bilateral negotiation based on respect for historical facts; persistence in relying on rule-based system to control disputes; persistence in sustaining the freedom of flight and navigation in South China Sea.”

 

Washington, February 10

The relations between India and Pakistan “remain tense” after the Pathankot terror attack and India’s engagement with Pakistan this year may depend on Islamabad’s willingness to take action against those linked to the incident, the US intelligence chief has said.“Relations between Pakistan and India remain tense despite the resumption of a bilateral dialogue in December,” James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.“Following a terrorist attack on Pathankot air base in India, which Delhi blames on a Pakistan-based group, India’s engagement with Pakistan will probably hinge in 2016 on Islamabad’s willingness to take action against those in Pakistan linked to the attack,” Clapper said during his testimony. State Department Spokesman John Kirby agreed with Clapper. — PTI

Photo for representational purpose.

Focusing on humanitarian aid and disaster relief, the Indian and Chinese troops held the first joint tactical exercise in Eastern Ladakh sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.

Part of the ongoing initiatives being taken by both the countries, the joint exercise lasted the entire day in Chushul-Moldo area on Saturday, an Udhampur based Defence ministry spokesperson Colonel S D Goswami said.

Led by Colonel Ritesh Chandra Singh, thirty Indian personnel participated in the joint exercise. The Chinese delegation was led by Colonel Qu Yi, the spokesperson said, adding that the exercise was code-named “Sino-India Cooperation 2016’’. The joint exercise was based on a situation of national disaster occurring on the border and subsequent coordination of rescue mission by joint teams of both the countries, he added.

It compliments the Hand-in-Hand series of India-China joint exercises, including the recently conduced one in Sikkim, the spokesperson said, adding the increased interaction among both the Indian and Chinese troops is “very positive step in enhancing confidence and building relations between the two armies’’.

– See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/indian-and-chinese-troops-hold-first-joint-tactical-exercise-in-ladakh/?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=inshorts_full_article&utm_campaign=inshorts_full_article#sthash.K2ZhhYDC.dpuf