Sniping is not a new phenomenon along Line of Control (LoC) and Indian Army’s improvisations have made up for lack of equipment.

The media has repeatedly said over the last few months that sniping is a new modus operandi at the Line of Control between India and Pakistan and the Army is losing this new war due to ageing equipment.

Out dated equipment is a concern, and therefore the Indian Army has just bought new deadly sniper rifles for the Northern Command – .50 Calibre M95 by Barrett and the .338 Lapua Magnum Scorpio TGT by Beretta – to replace the Russian Dragunov.

But contrary to media’s claims, sniping is not a new phenomenon, and is in fact a tried-and-tested way of achieving moral ascendancy along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Indian Army hasn’t fared poorly. Improvisation has largely made up for lack of adequate equipment.

Also read: Deadly new sniper rifles are here for Northern Command soldiers along LoC

A force-multiplier

The Soviet-era Dragunov sniper rifle has been the mainstay of the Indian Army in conventional operations along the LoC as well in counter-terror missions. However, the 800-metre effective range offered by the Dragunov is now insufficient for modern-day warfare.

Yet, the Indian Army through improvisation, correct training and selection has created an environment wherein sniping has become a force multiplier. The adversary too hasn’t been static on this front.

I recall on the first day of my command at Siachen in 1995, we lost an outstanding young officer, keeping vigil on his post from behind a four-feet wall, to a single shot fired by the enemy. Investigation showed that the shot was fired by a medium machine gun (MMG) from a range of 4,200 metres. It is definitely not a range from which an MMG is fired, but improvisation made it possible.

Sources within the Indian Army say that there is no despair over inadequate sniping equipment because improvisation has made up for it, with even anti-material rifles being used for sniping now. However, improvisation alone cannot ever be a permanent solution to fighting the adversary; soldiers won’t say it but they know it.

The purchase of new sniper rifles, with enhanced range of 1500-1800 metres, was much-needed, but their arrival doesn’t guarantee overnight success. Some degree of improvisation and innovation will again be the key to ensuring optimum utilisation.

Also read: The new danger in Kashmir: Cold, calculating snipers who are wary of close contact

How to maximise effectiveness

The effectiveness of a weapon can be maximised when the user is confident about it, its technical characteristics including faults have been well-understood, and the required talent pool has been created for it among the fighting units.

All this can happen fast, given the Indian Army’s penchant to pursue an aim with utmost focus. But it also needs to add institutional weight behind the effort, through reintroduction of the sniper training course and sniper competitions, which stopped several years ago. Those who acquire requisite skills after rigorous training must be suitably rewarded.

Introducing the Sniper Badge is the first such step and only those meeting the stringent standards must earn the right to display it. Shooting ranges of 1,800 metres and beyond are not available along the LoC. There is little scope for the troops deployed to train with the equipment unless select batches are sent for training at the ranges in desert areas or central India. The best training ground, of course, is the LoC itself and there is no doubt that a simultaneous on-the-job training, while fighting the adversary, can continue there.

But we need more than just a gung-ho approach to streamline the creation of a talent pool that once existed in the Infantry units.

Sniping war will continue

It is important to know why sniping is a difficult operation at the LoC and yet easy enough to grab opportunities when they present themselves. Recently, a one-star rank officer of the Pakistan Army was seriously injured in an exchange of fire in the Lipa sector. It led to the Pakistanis targeting two JCOs on our side in the Kupwara sector. Both operations, the Pakistani and ours, involved the use of snipers. Many more exchanges have been reported over the last year. The LoC posts are virtual citadels with a labyrinth of deep communication trenches to afford movement within the post without enemy observation, but there are a number of other places where any movement is under observation.

Terrain domination in some areas give either side the advantage of observation, and vegetation is not available everywhere for cover. A quid pro quo situation exists at most places along the LoC where there are mutual vulnerabilities that prevent risk taking by either side. He who has the ability and confidence to prevent exposure of potential targets becomes the psychological winner, a major contribution to moral ascendancy at the LoC. It forces a lot of movement by night.

Also read: The enemy at the gates has a new weapon and Indian Army needs to wake up

At the LoC, the Indian Army will always be forced to offer more targets than the adversary not only because of the higher quantum of deployment, but also due to the nature of it. Deployment in small detachments in tactically unsound positions along the LoC to prevent infiltration is common; tactically unsound may seem strange to older soldiers, but the fact remains that in counter infiltration the aim is to prevent terrorists getting across and not the defence of some real estate. This increases vulnerability especially when the LoC fence is under reconstruction or maintenance.

The idiom ‘two can play this game’ is applicable all along the LoC. While ceasefire will remain on paper, violations will take place. Sniping exchange, however, is largely unreported and therefore remains outside the purview of public gaze.

The sniping war, therefore, will continue even as other means of moral domination emerge. The arrival of new sniper weapons, combined with improvisation and a return to the old-world sniper training culture, will definitely help in turning the tables on the adversary to a greater extent.

The author, a former GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, is associated with the Vivekanand International Foundation and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. He is the Chancellor of Central University of Kashmir.

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New Delhi, March 24

As part of its relief operations in cyclone-hit Mozambique, the Indian Navy has rescued more than 192 persons and provided assistance to 1,381 at medical camps set up by it, a statement said.

Cyclone Idai made landfall in East and Southern Africa around March 15 causing widespread destruction and loss of human lives in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. In response to a request from Mozambique, India diverted three naval ships to the port city of Beira, a Ministry of External Affairs statement said. — PTI

Lt Gen. General Ranbir Singh added that there was a significant percentage of Pakistani terrorists, who were being used as cannon fodder and pushed into Jammu and Kashmir to cause casualties among Indian citizens.

Army said the terror infrastructure was intact in PoK and Pakistan. (File)

Srinagar, March 13

One person was arrested and arms and ammunition, including grenades, were seized by security forces from a militant hideout in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district, police said on Wednesday.

“On credible input, a joint party of police and other security forces busted a hideout in a residential house at Kulgam district’s Yaripora area, and recovered arms and ammunition, including grenades and live rounds, on Tuesday night,” a police spokesman said here.

Mohammad Ayoub Rather, a resident of Yaripora, was arrested, he said.

Police had registered a case and an investigation had been initiated, the spokesman said. PTI

New Delhi, February 4

The Ministry of Defence has no money to pay for the transportation of armed forces officers who have been transferred to various places of postings and also to those being attached on temporary duty for field exercises or for attending courses.

The Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) has said on its website that due to insufficient funds available under temporary duty and permanent duty, no advances and claims can be processed till further receipt of funds.

A defence official late on Monday evening said shortfalls were temporary and resolved routinely through re-appropriations (from existing budget allocations).

It costs around Rs 4,000 crore per annum to pay for transportation and allowances for officers who are transferred from one station to another and also those going to attend courses or to take part in exercises. Sources said an additional sum of Rs 800 crore has been sanctioned, which may help tide over some of this difficulty for now. There are nearly 40,000 Army officers. With tenures being just two-three years at one station, postings are a frequent reality. Also, during military exercises — conducted every year — a huge body of troops moves.

Then another element is the courses conducted to keep the officers updated on military issues. In October last year, several infrastructure projects of the armed forces had been stalled or are moving at a slow pace due to “fund crunch”. The then Engineer-in-Chief branch in the Military Engineering Services (MES) accepted “fund crunch” and issued instructions that at all ongoing works where payments were held up due to “fund crunch”, the work shall be put under “suspension”. The budget for infrastructure works this year is Rs 2,300 crore, of which Rs 1,850 crore had been spent by October. Some of the outstanding payment due for projects has rolled over from the previous year that ended on March 31. The work on perimeter walls around military stations in northern India (for security to prevent terror attacks) has been stopped, while making additional ammunition storage dumps or IAF works like hangars and runways have been held up or are moving slowly for want of funds. — TNS

Ravi S.Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 19

Defence Minister  Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday accused opposition parties of “playing into” corporate hands. “The questioning of the deal should be guided only by this country’s strategic and security interests, and to clear doubts on process of procurement and transparency,” Sitharaman said.

“I want every strand of this debate to be explained, as much as it can be, without any of us playing into the hands of international corporate warfare. None of us should play party to any corporate warfare. We cannot become pawns in the hands of the corporate giants to constantly bully the government, to constantly throw misinformation at the public, to misinform the public,” she said.

Sitharaman, who was speaking about ‘India’s Strategic interest in the context of the Rafale deal’, organised by Foundation For Public Awareness and Policy—a think tank— she said the controversy over Rafale deal was now beyond reasonable questioning.

“They have knocked at every door, including Supreme Court, but still continue with the questions. The answers to their questions have also been given during a discussion in Parliament on the issue. But they’re deliberately not trying to understand, and continue to misread and misconstrue Supreme Court’s verdict on these issues.”

She wondered whether the procurement of 36 fighter jets was being “sabotaged”.

“There is a growing sense that efforts are still being made to scuttle the Rafale deal. This would be the greatest disservice to the country,” she said, adding that ever since the Modi government came to power, there was a conscious effort to keep middlemen at bay from the corridors of the Defence Ministry.

“Rafale will act as force-multiplier to country’s defence capability,” she added.

Referring to opposition members playing with paper aeroplanes in Parliament when Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was speaking during a discussion on Rafale issue, Sitharaman wondered if the opposition seriously wanted to hear the answers.

She said their “hardwiring to corruption” was making it hard for them to believe the “above board” deal.

“The country cannot wait anymore to upgrade its air defence preparedness, considering the disturbances at its borders, and the neighbouring countries scaling up their preparedness at a fast pace,” she said.

New Delhi, January 17

Naval commander Abhilash Tomy was left incapacitated in a sail boat after it was hit by a massive storm in the choppy waters of the Indian Ocean, but even the rough seas could not drown his will to survive against the odds.

Tomy, 39, the “only Asian” to participate in the Golden Globe Race 2018 — a 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe — that kicked off from Les Sables-d’Olonne, a seaside town in France in July, was rescued from his location late September by French vessel ‘Osiris’.

A pilot in the Navy, he shared his experiences and challenges faced during the gruelling contest at a media interaction held at the Kota House here on Thursday.

“After being rescued by ‘Osiris’, which incidentally is named after the (Egyptian) god of afterlife, I was sent for treatment at a hospital in Amsterdam Island (in southern Indian Ocean). And, a few days later, INS Satpura arrived and evacuated me,” he said. The naval officer had circumnavigated the globe in 2012-13, and was a special invitee at the race, which commemorates 50 years of the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race 1968-69.

Survival was challenging for Tomy and other sailors, as the commemorative race had disallowed use of any modern equipment manufactured after 1968, in a bid to authentically recreate the race held half-a-century ago. — PTI

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 13

The Army is organising a major recruitment drive for youth in the Territorial Army in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts.

The recruitment will be done for the 159 Infantry Battalion (Territorial Army), Dogra, which will commence on February 12 at the sports stadium, Doda, and will culminate on February 20.

The recruitment drive will be for the youth between the age group of 18 and 42 of Udhampur, Kishtwar, Ramban and Doda districts for the posts of soldier (general duty), clerk and tradesman. The minimum qualification for soldier is matric with 45 per cent marks whereas for clerk, it is Class XII in any stream with minimum 60 per cent marks in aggregate and 50 per cent marks in every subject with computer knowledge.

Last year, militant activity in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts was witnessed and a few youth also joined the militant ranks which brought focus back on the region. There were also intelligence inputs that Pakistan is trying to push in militants through the International Border and is sending them to these districts with a plan to recruit more youth.

At this time, providing educated youth a job opportunity will prove detrimental to the plans of militant outfits and youth will get their desired jobs at their doorsteps.

The Indian Army currently has its hands full with two restive borders, internal insurgencies and the need to trim its fat. It has done a good job of all the three. When the Army Chief dwells on these aspects, and even if some observations step on civilian toes such as the one about J&K’s school education system, he still operates within his envelope of expertise. His concern on the two-map system in J&K schools, for instance, hints that this perception of separateness opens the door for radicalisation. Social scientists can contest the perception, but for an Army combating recurring bouts of militancy, the Chief cannot be faulted for airing his conceptual worldview about the root of the trouble.

However, Gen Bipin Rawat left his crease by seeking to draw a distinction between the traders of violence in Kashmir and Afghanistan. Talks with the Taliban are at a fragile juncture and India is treading a very fine line; which the Army Chief sought to enlighten the audience about and ended up sending a tangential message. Dissimulation has never been a soldier’s forte; it is a task best left to the diplomat. India needs a course correction in its approach towards Afghanistan, which has witnessed some forward movement. It demands complex political manoeuvring and also picking and choosing of allies, which are beyond the pale of an institution that has less to do with international relations.

General Rawat was on familiar turf when he dealt with the restructuring of the Indian Army to make it a weapon-intensive, manpower-lean force. The Army also has the more painful task of integrating the command and control of all the three services for the armed forces to integrate with the times. By all accounts, the General is up for the task. His men have also performed uniformly well in manning the borders and tamping down on insurgencies. The Army needs to retain focus on its task in Kashmir and leave the categorisation of militancy in faraway lands to domain specialists.