Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 30

Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has been appointed the new Northern Army Commander. He replaces Lt Gen Devraj Anbu, who has been shifted as Vice-Chief of the Indian Army.Lt Gen Singh, 58, who belongs to Jalandhar, was the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) when India carried out the surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), destroying terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on September 29, 2016. He has also had stints as Colonel and Brigadier in the military operations directorate that oversees and coordinates all operations and troop movements.Lt Gen Singh, along with Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane, who now heads the Army Training Command at Shimla, are likely to be the front-runners for the Army Chief’s post when General Bipin Rawat ends his tenure in December 2019. Lt Gen Naravane is senior to Lt Gen Singh.Lt Gen Anbu from the Sikh Light Infantry moves to Delhi. The Vice-Chief is the head of all policy and planning of the 1.3 million-strong Army. The current Vice-Chief, Lt Gen Sarath Chand, retires on Thursday.Commissioned in December 1980 into the 9 Battalion of the Dogra Regiment that draws its troops from Himachal Pradesh and parts of Jammu region, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh commanded the same unit. Presently posted at Army Headquarters as the Deputy Chief of Army Staff, he had earlier commanded the Mathura-based 1 Strike Corps, a strike formation.One of his most significant appointments was the General Officer Commanding of the 33 Armoured Division based at Hisar in 2012. According to his course mates, he is probably the first infantry officer after the late General K Sundarji to command an armoured formation.An alumnus of the Sainik School, Kapurthala, and the National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla, he also attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in the UK for a year-long course and served with UN missions in Angola and Rwanda.As Commander of the 181 Mountain Brigade in the North-East, he was decorated with the Yudh Seva Medal in 2010. The other awards include the Sena Medal and a bar to the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2015 and 2018.These two new appointments are the first in the series of changes in the top structure of the Army this year. Three Army Commanders — Lt Gen DR Soni, Southern Army Commander; Lt Gen BS Negi, Central Army Commander; and Lt General Satish Dua, who heads tri-service organisation — retire this year.

The army had organised the Iftar party at a village in south Kashmir’s Shopian. The event was part of the affirmative measures following the recent ceasefire

Police say army has been asked not to hold Iftar parties in areas where there could be trouble

SRINAGAR:  An Iftar party held by the army at a village in Jammu and Kashmir as a goodwill measure ended with clash and gunfire yesterday. Four girls — all between 15 and 17 years old, sustained bullet injuries, the police said. They have been shifted to a hospital and their condition is stable.

The army had organised the Iftar party at DK Pora village in south Kashmir’s Shopian district. The event was part of the affirmative measures following the recent ceasefire announcement by the central government, meant to restore peace and goodwill in the valley.

The locals, however, refused to accept the biryani offered by the army. It led to chaos and clashes. Police said miscreants started throwing stones at the soldiers and the army opened fire, injuring four people.

“It’s unfortunate. It was a good gesture by the army, but it was not properly planned. I think the Iftar party could have been held inside the camp itself,” said SP Vaid, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police.

In large parts of Kashmir, relations between the security forces and locals are at an all-time low for the last few years. The security forces have often complained of people trying to foil counter-terror operations. There have been numerous incidents when mobs surrounded security forces — even when an encounter was going on.

The Iftar party was part of the affirmative measures following the recent ceasefire announcement by the central government

Since the clashes in 2016 following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen operative Burhan Wani, over 200 civilians have been killed in security forces firing after clashes and thousands have been injured. The use of pellet guns has left over 1,500 people with eye injuries, according hospital records.

There have also been numerous attacks on police, paramilitary and army camps in Jammu and Kashmir over the last two years.

Because of the volatile situation and civilian casualties, it has become a challenge for the government to reach out to the locals amid the intermittent violence.

During his visit to Jammu and Kashmir last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached out to the people of Kashmir by saying that the Kashmir issue can be solved only by embracing Kashmiris.

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“The Kashmir problem cannot be resolved through bullets or abuses. It can be resolved only by embracing every Kashmiri,” PM Modi had said.

Police sources say they have now asked the army not to organise Iftarparties in areas where they believe the locals could turn hostile.

Washington, May 22

Pakistan has raised with the World Bank the alleged violation of the Indus Waters Treaty by India, which inaugurated the Kishanganga hydro project in Kashmir, as the multilateral lender sought opportunities within the treaty to find an amicable resolution of the issue.The four-member Pakistani delegation, led by Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali, met the World Bank officials here yesterday, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 330 MW Kishanganga hydroelectric project in Jammu and Kashmir.The inauguration of the hydroelectric project was held amid protests from Pakistan, which claims that the dam on a river flowing into Pakistan will disrupt water supplies.Pakistan’s Foreign Office had, on Friday, voiced concern over the inauguration of the hydroelectric project, saying inauguration without resolution of dispute between the two countries will tantamount to violation of the Indus Waters 1960 that regulates the use of waters in the shared rivers.”The Indus Waters Treaty is a profoundly important international agreement that provides an essential cooperative framework for India and Pakistan to address current and future challenges of effective water management to meet human needs and achieve development goals,” a World Bank spokesperson told PTI.”The meetings are discussing concerns raised by the Pakistan delegation and opportunities within the treaty to seek an amicable resolution,” the spokesperson said.No other details about the nature of Pakistani grievances were made available by the World Bank officials.The discussions are scheduled to continue today.Pakistani daily Dawn said the talks would cover four key points: the height of the dam built on the Kishanganga River, its capacity to hold water, Pakistan’s demand for setting up a court of arbitration to settle the dispute and India’s counter-demand for an international expert.Islamabad had been raising objections over the design of the hydel project, saying it is not in line with the criteria laid down under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) between the two countries. But, India says the project design was well within parameters of the treaty.The project, located at Bandipore in North Kashmir, envisages diversion of water of Kishan Ganga river to underground power house through a 23.25-km-long head race tunnel to generate 1713 million units per annum.The Kishanganga project was started in 2007 but on May 17, 2010, Pakistan moved for international arbitration against India under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty.The Hague-based International Court of Arbitration allowed India in 2013 to go ahead with construction of the project in North Kashmir and upheld India’s right under the bilateral Indus Waters Treaty to divert waters from the Kishanganga for power generation in Jammu and Kashmir.The international court, however, decided that India shall release a minimum flow of nine cubic metres per second into the Kishanganga river (known as Neelam in Pakistan) at all times to maintain environmental flows.  PTI 

Ajay Banerjee in New DelhiIn the heat of May in Rajasthan, a squadron of helicopters flew a few metres above ground, attempting to evade ‘enemy radars.’ On ground, in a separate corridor, moved a column of T-90 tanks in attack formation. The Indian Army’s tested ‘Air Cavalry’ – a concept the US introduced in 1965. The US’ first ‘Air Cavalry’ division arrived in Vietnam in August and September 1965. Airmobile operations used helicopters to fly over difficult terrains and move behind enemy lines to air-assault targeted objectives. The ‘air cavalry’ was tried during the four-week exercise ‘Vijay Prahar’ conducted by the Jaipur-headquartered South Western Command at the Mahajan field firing ranges near Suratgarh. The concept of ‘Air Cavalry’ employing attack and weaponized helicopters has been validated, a statement from the South Western Command said at the end of the exercise on May 9. The exercise was aimed at designing an offensive battle on the principles of a ‘deep air-land battle’ with real-time intelligence-surveillance and reconnaissance using space-based technology. It used the elements of the Mathura-based 1 Strike Corps, about 25,000 troops, tanks, UAVs, IAF fighter jets and attack helicopters. It included a component of fighting and surviving in battle after a tactical nuclear weapon is fired by the enemy.Manoj Joshi, Distinguished Fellow at the Observor Research Foundation (ORF) National Security Programme, disagrees with the use of attack helicopters beyond the ‘forward edge’ of the battle. With fluid battle conditions, defining the ‘forward edge’ would be tough. In the era of shoulder-fired missiles, a low-flying armed copter cannot be used in an offensive style. There are other ways to use a copter, he said. He cited the example of Soviet helicopters being hit during the Afghan invasion (1979-1989) by the Mujahideen who had US-supplied Stinger missiles. The battle of Karbala in Iraq in 2003 led to the destruction of many American attack copters. The US used the ‘air cavalry’ to some good use, but lost about 5,000 men in Vietnam despite the fact there were no shoulder-fired missiles then, he said.

Why ‘Air Cavalry’ now?

The Army first experimented it in the 1980s. Starting 2019, the Army and the IAF, will start adding the new-age attack copters and the number will go up 230 copters over the next decade. Lt Gen Cherish Mathson, Commander of the South-Western Command, said after the exercise: “We have been working on this (air cavalry) in consonance with the air force.”In 2014, the Ministry of Defence accepted the need to have 39 armed helicopters which will fly overhead when ground-based Strike Corps elements move in for an attack.

Tactical N-strike

In the second week of February this year, the US Congress heard director of National Intelligence Dan Coats on possible worldwide threats. He warned how Pakistan continues to develop short-range tactical weapons.The Indian assessment says tactical nukes are an option for Pakistan if the ‘Cold-Start’ doctrine — a strike by armoured units deep inside Pakistan — is operationalized. A tactical nuke is small warhead targeted at ground forces. The Army is gearing itself to fight and win in the battle field ‘contaminated’ by a nuclear strike. “It a real threat. we must keep practising it”, says Lt Gen KJ Singh (retd),  a former Western Army Commander, who was in 63 Cavalry, a 1971 war decorated regiment.Almost all the Russian-origin T-90 and T-72 tanks — the prime fighting machines on the western front — have been fitted with a specialized kit to allow troops to survive and even carry forward with a counter-attack in case of tactical nuclear strike.

New Delhi, May 17

Security agencies were keeping their fingers crossed over a fresh unilateral ceasefire announced by the Centre during Ramzan beginning today, as a similar exercise nearly two decades ago witnessed the killings of 129 people, including 43 security personnel, according to officials.The security agency officials felt a need to monitor the situation closely as terror groups had used such a window as an opportunity to regroup themselves and carry out more attacks on security establishments.The Centre yesterday announced that security forces would not launch any operation in the state during the holy month of Ramzan but they reserved the right to retaliate, if attacked.The announcement came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.“It is important to isolate the forces that bring a bad name to Islam by resorting to mindless violence and terror,” a Home Ministry spokesperson had said yesterday.During his Independence Day address last year, Modi had said bullets or abuses would not resolve the Kashmir issue and that it could be addressed by embracing every Kashmiri.Quoting data, the officials said that during the unilateral ceasefire, popularly known as NICO—‘Non Initiation of Combat Operations’, which was announced on November 19, 2000 and came into effect on November 28, terrorists carried out three ‘fidayeen’ (suicide) attacks on Army cantonment, police control room and Srinagar airport, and two massacres.The previous ceasefire, which was announced by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and extended twice—January 24, 2001 and on February 22 of the same year—also witnessed an attack on former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.From November 19, 2000 to May 23, 2001, 44 terrorists were killed by the security forces. During the period, 42 civilians also died which included massacre of six Sikh civilians at Mehjoor Nagar in Srinagar on February 3, 2001 and 15 civilians by Lashker-e-Toiba terror outfit at Morha Salui in Rajouri district on February 10.During this period, the first Kashmiri ‘fidayeen’ suicide bomber Afaq Ahmed Shah blew himself along with an explosive-laden car outside Badami Bagh Cantonment area on December 25, killing four security personnel.According to the officials, the number of terrorists killed during the period was 44, civilians 42, Army (six), police (24) and other security forces (13).This included a ‘fidayeen’ attack by terrorists at the Jammu and Kashmir Police control room on February 9, in which 12 people—eight policemen and four militants—were killed.During the period, nine security force personnel were killed in two land mine blasts in Pulwama and Kaigam on January 18, and 15 policemen and two civilians were killed in an ambush at Morha Chatru in Rajouri district on March 2, 2001.The NICO ended on May 23 after Vajpayee chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. — PTI

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 13

As part of welfare measures for its personnel deployed in anti-Naxal operations (ANO), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) has not only reduced their tenure of deployment in affected areas but will also offer them choice postings thereafter.“These issues along with other welfare schemes came up for discussions during the visit of ITBP Director General RK Pachnanda to an operationally deployed battalion last week,” a senior ITBP officer said.The DG has decided that personnel completing two years of deployment in Maoist-affected areas will have the choice of either continuing at their present location or opt for a transfer, he added.Further, it was also projected that considering the difficulties and stress involved in an ANO tenure, a posting of choice may be given to all officers and men and the same has been agreed to in principle.The ITBP, which is responsible for the peace time management of the 3,488 km-long mountainous border with China, has eight battalions deployed for anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh.One battalion comprises over 1,000 personnel. The ITBP is one of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) under the Home Ministry that are deployed for anti-Naxal operations in addition to their regular charter.In addition, the ministry has also issued new guidelines on posting of CAPF personnel who are “care-givers” to disabled dependents. Such personnel may be exempted from the routine exercise of transfer or rotational postings, subject to administrative constraints.This follows a Delhi High Court order of January 2018 directing the Home Minister to formulate a policy for posting of such personnel.Consequently, the Home Ministry has issued directions recently to all CAPFs that guidelines and provisions of tenures and other rules for peace and field postings may be relaxed by the competent authority on merits so as to meet the requirement of care-givers.