The Director of CSWT, Indore, IGP Pankaj, posing with the pistol of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Photos: Jupinderjit Singh

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Indore, November 22

Lying in oblivion for almost half a century as just another of the 294 relics at the Border Security Force’s Central School of Weapons and Tactics in this Madhya Pradesh town, Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s pistol is finally getting revered status here.Till recently, Assistant Commandant Vijendra Singh, who imparts briefings on the history of weapons to trainees, would talk about a US-made .32 Colt rimless and smokeless pistol as a small chapter in the growth of weapons from 1531 onwards.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)All that changed after a four-part series by The Tribune — based on the findings of an Indian historian in Lahore — and subsequent reportage on the possible whereabouts of the freedom fighter’s pistol.The weapon was used in the killing of British police officer JP Saunders in Lahore on December 17, 1928, and played a pivotal part in the Lahore conspiracy case that saw Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev being hanged and attaining legendary martyr status.Assistant Commandant Vijendra now devotes a lot of time talking about the weapon and its rich history while the trainees, including a group of DSPs on a refresher course, vie with each other to get photographed with it.“I am overcome with emotion as I hold the great martyr’s pistol in hand. I have held so many weapons in my long career but none like this one,” says IG Pankaj, who is the director of the BSF weapons’ school.“No one here had any idea that the pistol belonged to Shaheed Bhagat Singh,” he admits candidly.After The Tribune furnished details of the pistol to him to look for in the BSF records, a team found an entry in an old register but an obstacle came up next to locate the exact weapon. For preservation purposes as well as for better display, all weapons in the museum are painted black. The staff had to remove the paint to find the real one. “We removed the paint and to our great joy, the number 168896 came out clearly on the barrel with matching details.”Commandant HS Bedi and other officers of the BSF confide that the discovery of the pistol in their museum was news for them. “It is amazing. It was always here and no one knew it,” he says.Such is the craze that the museum is witnessing an unprecedented footfall. The weapon is now kept separately in a glass case on a pedestal. But the description about its importance is yet to be displayed alongside.“We are preparing a special place for displaying the pistol along with Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s portrait and documents at the new museum building that is under construction. We would prepare a gallery of the documents, including clippings of The Tribune that brought the weapon back from oblivion,” the IG says.In Chandigarh, publisher Harish Jain, who has penned several books on Shaheed Bhagat Singh, can’t hide his excitement. “No photograph of the pistol is available anywhere. This is the first time it would be in public domain.” Co-author and historian Malwinderjit Singh Waraich says it would be a dream come true for him to see the pistol.

Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to Pak PM

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 16

The next round between India and Pakistan might play out in Amritsar in early December as indications suggest that Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister’s adviser on foreign affairs, is likely to travel to the city to attend an international conference.Amritsar will host ‘Heart of Asia Conference’ on December 3-4, which would provide an opportunity for India and Pakistan to resume dialogue that has remained suspended since the September Uri attacks. Speaking to a Pakistani TV channel, Aziz said his visit could be a “good opportunity” to “defuse tension”. Aziz said he was not yet aware if he would be meeting his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the conference.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)India has not yet responded to the comments of Aziz and sources in the government here said for India, this would have to be a careful decision. If India decides to hold a meeting with Aziz, it could be construed that India had compromised on the tough position it had taken post-Uri, said sources.Since Uri, the government has tried to isolate Pakistan globally and its biggest success was the cancellation of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad. Led by India, SAARC member nations boycotted the summit citing that the atmosphere was not “conducive” for the event. 

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 13

Offices of the Defence Accounts Department (DAD), which is closely involved in all aspects of defence planning and functioning, have been cautioned against the leak of sensitive military information from its staff.The Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) had recently reported that sensitive information was shared by some of the DAD’s field officers with unauthorised persons, prompting the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) to issue a cautionary note to all its establishments.The DAD deals with all military matters having a financial bearing and is associated with scrutiny and vetting of all proposals pertaining to procurements and defence works, processing of payments as well as audit. DAD officers are also integrated with military formations and establishments at various levels to render financial advice to commanders and conduct local audit.Referring to DGMI’s reports, the CGDA’s notepoints out that local audit offices are vulnerable and can be targeted for information pertaining to movement of units and formations, names of commanders and other operational details.Moreover, information pertaining to weapons or equipment being procured, works being executed like building defence structures such as bunkers and bunds or revealing gaps through audit has a serious bearing on national security. The CGDA has cautioned that communication of sensitive information to unauthorised persons would attract disciplinary action.

Members of the Personnel Below Officers Rank(PBOR) Purva Sainik Welfare Association protest outside the District Magistrate’s office in Dehradun on Friday. Tribune photo: Abhyudaya Kotnala

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, November 4

Members of the Personnel Below Officers Rank(PBOR) Purva Sainik Welfare Association held a demonstration at the District Magistrate’s office here today, demanding better pension and other perks. The protesters said they would intensify their agitation if the Central government did not accede to their demands.The retired defence personnel led by PBOR Purva Sainik Welfare Association state president Shemsher Singh Bisht gathered at the District Magistrate’s office and raised slogans against the government. They said they had given a memorandum to officials concerned but nothing had come out.They demanded full pensionary benefits to retired honorary captain, honorary lieutenant and honorary subedar major. They demanded that honorary captain and honorary lieutenant should be treated as commissioned officers. They also demanded that retired honorary captain, lieutenant and subedar major should be appointed in the state Soldiers’ Welfare Board.RD Shahi, UD Joshi, Ramesh Rawat and Surendra Singh Bisht took part in the protest.

Sat Singh

Tribune News Service

Bamla (Bhiwani), November 3

The body of ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide on November 1 over the “delay” in  implementation of the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme, was brought to his hometown early this morning after a postmortem at Lady Hardinge Hospital, Delhi. “I don’t know why the Delhi Police kept me and my two brothers in detention for the whole day yesterday,” said a crestfallen Dilawar Singh, Grewal’s eldest son. He said they were let off after being told the family would be paid a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and one member given a government job. Jaswant Singh, angry with Union Minister VK Singh for calling his father “mentally unstable”, said: “My father served the forces for 30 years. Post-retirement, he was elected sarpanch. But the minister thinks he was unstable.”Senior state Congress leaders thronged the deceased’s house. Among them were former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, CLP leader Kiran Choudhry, AICC secretary Randeep Surjewala, Ashok Tanwar, Deepender Hooda, Kumari Selja, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Shruti Choudhry and Subhash Batra. They were all there much before AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi.The leaders gathered around the body in the courtyard, leaving little room for the mourners. Women were heard pleading that they be allowed to pay their last respects, but to no avail. There was utter chaos as the police jostled with the crowds to make way for Rahul.Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal reached at noon and headed straight for the cremation ground. He later met the bereaved family and announced Rs 1-crore aid. He said his government had decided to declare Grewal a martyr. To a query if the parties were needlessly politicising the issue, he said he was doing so for the welfare of the defence veterans “while Prime Minister Narendra Modi does it to snatch their rights”. TMC’s Derek O’Brien, Bhiwani MP Dharambir (BJP) and INLD’s Dadri MLA Rajdeep Phogat also paid their respects. 

Not a martyr, says Haryana Chief Minister

• Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said that “only those who lay down their lives while fighting the enemy on the borders are called martyrs, not the ones who commit suicide”. He said no soldier would ever commit suicide. TNS

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi along with party leaders being carried in a police bus in New Delhi on Wednesday. PTI

New Delhi, November 2The alleged suicide of an army veteran over the OROP issue today snowballed into a huge political showdown in the capital with Rahul Gandhi being detained twice by Delhi police amid high drama and the movement of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal restricted.In a tweet, Kejriwal claimed that he has been detained.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Several leaders of Congress and AAP, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, were also held by the police even as Rahul and Kejriwal tore into Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Rahul said the Delhi police action was symbolic of “undemocratic” mentality of the Modi government while Kejriwal accused the prime minister of being guilty of “deceit” and indulging in “lies” over the One Rank One Pension (OROP) issue.

Read: Beaten up, abused by cops, allege ex-serviceman’s kin

I urge the PM once again: soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is their due.OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way!

Let us show our gratitude to our brave soldiers not only through our words but also through our actions.My letter to the Hon. Prime Minister

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Antehri (Kurukshetra), October 30The last rites of army jawan Mandeep Singh, who was killed by terrorists in Macchil sector of Jammu and Kashmir, were performed here with full state honours on Sunday, even as his family and villagers demanded that Pakistan be given a befitting reply for its repeated misadventures.The jawan’s body, wrapped in the Tricolour, was brought in a bedecked army vehicle to his native village here as a large number of people, including from neighbouring areas, paid their last respects.The martyr whose body was mutilated by the terrorists, was given a gun salute by the army, which sounded the last post.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Mandeep’s father lit the pyre.Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, senior army officers, and officials from the district administration were present on the occasion.Villagers who kept chanting ‘Shaheed Mandeep Amar Rahe’ also raised anti-Pakistan slogans.The 30-year-old soldier was scheduled to return to his village to celebrate Diwali and for a ceremony in connection with the family’s newly constructed house here, but instead he returned in a coffin, his family and local villagers, all of whom were inconsolable, said.Mandeep’s family and villagers demanded the Centre avenge the sacrifice of soldiers and teach Pakistan a lesson.People of his village said they would not celebrate Diwali as a mark of respect to the martyr’s supreme sacrifice. However, each household had decided to light a ‘diya’ (earthen lamp) in his memory.Mandeep’s sacrifice is the second loss to the district within a week after BSF constable Sushil Kumar, who belonged to Pehowa, was martyred in Jammu district.Antehri is famous as a village of soldiers. Several youths from here are serving in the armed forces.There was anger among the people here over the barbaric incident at the Line of Control in Kashmir as the body of the jawan was mutilated by the terrorists, who were aided by the cover fire by Pakistan army.Mandeep had joined the 17th Sikh regiment as a sepoy in 2008. He had got married in 2014.Consoling the martyr’s family, Khattar while responding to their demand that stern action be taken against Pakistan for harbouring terrorists and its repeated misadventures, said “we will teach them a lesson”.“We will avenge this. Pakistan will be taught a lesson,” Khattar said.He said, “The martyr laid down his life for the nation’s sake. In this hour of grief, we are standing solidly behind the family. We will give whatever assistance they require.”

Meanwhile, interacting with reporters here, Khattar described the killing of soldier Mandeep Singh as a cowardly act by the terrorists.

Khattar said such nefarious designs of evil forces would not succeed.“The martyrdom of Mandeep Singh will inspire many others to protect our motherland,” Khattar said.The Chief Minister said a financial assistance of Rs 50 lakh would be given to the next of kin of the martyr.To a question, he said the state government would consider raising a memorial or naming a road after the martyr. “Whatever his family wants, we will consider it,” he said.A pall of gloom descended on Antehri village after the body of the jawan reached here. People thronged the martyr’s house to pay their last respects before the coffin was carried in a bedecked vehicle for the last rites.The Chief Minister and others laid a wreath on the body.Mandeep’s widow Prerna is a head constable with Haryana Police posted at Shahbad Markanda here.Prerna said Pakistan must be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists. “We cannot see our soldiers dying daily,” she said breaking down.Mandeep was the youngest of three sons of Phool Singh.Singh said the army should be given a free hand to deal with the “nefarious designs” of Pakistan.The martyr’s brother Sandeep said he wanted to join the army to avenge the killing of “our soldiers”.The martyr’s neighbours described him as a “go-getter” who always had a smile on his face.Mandeep’s sacrifice came within a week after Sushil Kumar (47), a BSF constable, was martyred in Jammu district. He also hailed from Kurukshetra district and belonged to Pehowa town.Kumar was killed as Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire, resorting to heavy shelling and firing from automatic weapons in several sectors along the International Border in Jammu district on October 24. With PTI

Antahedi village, the native place of slain soldier Mandeep Singh, who lost his life after an attack near the Line of Control, has mutually decided to skip this year’s Diwali festival, marking it as a tribute to the brave soldier.

The Congress vice president wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Delhi, October 29

Rahul Gandhi on Saturday questioned Modi government’s resolve to work for soldiers’ welfare, asking the Prime Minister to first implement the ‘one rank, one pension’ scheme in a meaningful way and redress their pay anomalies and other grievances.The Congress vice president wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was saddened at the decisions of the government taken in the last few weeks “which are far from reassuring the soldiers and has caused them pain instead”.Steps should be taken to send a message to soldiers on Diwali expressing “our gratitude both in words and in deed”, Rahul said in his letter to the Prime Minister who has launched a campaign through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation’s frontiers to boost their morale.The PM will celebrate this Diwali with ITBP personnel at one of the remotest border posts in Uttarakhand.”Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability,” the Congress leader said.”OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way to satisfy ex-servicemen and the anomalies in the 7th Pay Commission must be addressed at the earliest, because soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is surely due to them on behalf of a grateful nation,” Rahul said, claiming that some decision of the government have “adversely affect the morale of our armed forces”.The Prime Minister had earlier accused Congress of not taking the OROP issue seriously by earmarking a paltry sum of Rs 500 crore for it.Rahul said, “As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us, feel the love, support and gratitude of 125 crore people.””I therefore urge you Prime Minister to ensure that our soldiers get their due whether it is regarding compensation, disability pension, or parity with civil employees,” he said.Rahul said that the roll out of 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at a disadvantage and further exacerbates the disparity between them and civil employees.”As we celebrate Diwali, and rejoice in the victory of light over darkness, let us send this message to our soldiers that our gratitude is expressed both in words and in deed.This is the very least we owe to those who give up their today to secure our tomorrow,” the letter further said. — PTI