Our Correspondent

Poonch, April 16

An 11-year-old schoolgirl died after a rashly driven Army vehicle allegedly hit a motorcycle near DAV Public School in the Kanoyian area of Poonch district this morning.The deceased has been identified as Payal Devi, a resident of Mangnar village in Poonch.Sources said the Poonch police received information about the accident around 9 am today. The police rushed to the spot and found the girl lying in a pool of blood, they added.At the time of the accident, the girl was going to school with her uncle on a motorcycle.A police officer said the girl died instantly, adding that the police have started investigation into the matter.The driver of the Army vehicle, however, managed to flee.Meanwhile, the police said a hunt was on to nab the erring driver.

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 14

The Ministry of Defence has for now deferred a decision on having a permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) to coordinate all issues between the three Services and the ministry.At present, the senior-most among the three Chiefs — of the Army, IAF and Navy — also holds the post of COSC Chairman in addition to his regular duties. He notionally coordinates the issues on behalf of the three Services.Sources have confirmed that various aspects of having an additional officer at that level are still under study. “It will take another six months to examine his role, status and duties,” a source said. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is studying various aspects related to the creation of the new post.The Naresh Chandra task force, set up by the UPA government in 2011, on higher defence reforms had in its report in 2012 suggested a four-star officer as a permanent chairman of the COSC, who will be equal in rank of the three Chiefs.Sources said the government was planning a permanent chairman for COSC having two-year tenure with equal rank and protocol as the Chiefs of the three Services. The chiefs, because of their retirement age of 62 instead of 60 years, have a tenure that is usually longer than two years.One thinking in the government is that the COSC should be headed by the “first among equals within the Chiefs”. This would entail appointment of the senior-most General as the permanent chairman of the COSC in the armed forces bound by hierarchy.He will be the boss of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), which is presently headed by a Lt General-rank officer in rotation among the three Services.The government’s thinking is that a permanent COSC Chairman, backed by a strong administrative structure, will have ample time to focus on tri-Services’ issues and would be better placed to coordinate between the Army, Navy and Air Force.The officer will be responsible for all military acquisition processes, Strategic Forces Command, cyber command and on promoting “jointmanship” within the forces.A single-point military adviser’s post in the form of Chief of Defence Staff was proposed by K Subrahmanyam-led Kargil Review Committee set up by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government after the Kargil war.

Need for fourth top officer

• The Naresh Chandra task force on higher defence reforms had in 2012 suggested a four-star officer as a permanent chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)
• The senior-most Service Chief currently doubles as Chairman of COSC. He coordinates matters on behalf of the Army, IAF and Navy
• It is felt that a permanent chairman, backed by a strong administrative structure, will allow better coordination between the three Services.

A new the wave of violence has swept northwest Kashmir coinciding with the Chief Minister’s first-ever visit to New Delhi. The violence was triggered by an alleged molestation of a young girl   by a soldier in Handwara town on Tuesday.  She has denied this in a video that itself has invited criticism and charged a group of youths with creating the whole trouble. There obviously is something more than what meets the eye. The Army suspects a conspiracy orchestrated by the separatist-inclined forces  to “malign its image.” The two inquiries, ordered by the Army and the state government, will serve  their purpose only if  allowed to reach their conclusions in  a transparent manner  by applying the principle of accountability. The past experience doesn’t offer much ground for optimism.  This is a testing time for the new Chief Minister to ensure that not only the inquiries are conducted in a fair manner but also appear to be impartial and result-oriented. It is time for her to prove that she is different and that she means business.Mehbooba has a double-task at hand. Her effort should be to seek punishment for those who killed the protesters and also  go deeper into the malaise that has resulted in the current turmoil. There is an attempt by separatists and some other quarters to push her in a  confrontational mode with Delhi, hoping instability in which they do thrive. It is a toxic idea. It would create more trouble and sour the Srinagar-Delhi relationship.  She cannot afford to get trapped in that strategy; not because of the political arithmetic of the PDP and the BJP but primarily because that would produce no gains. She must take control of things  as the Chairman of the Unified Headquarters, the highest policy-making body of the security  affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, and ensure that command-and-control works. Equally important is the  task  of administering the much-needed “healing touch” to the people in the real sense of the phrase. Her test lies in making right decisions. If she insists on wanting to please all, she would please none.

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, March 3

The BSF, working on specific inputs, sounded an alert in Pathankot district following reports that 3-5 persons were spotted “extremely close” to the international border, also called the Zero Line, on the Pakistani side.A Shreenivasan, DIG, Gurdaspur sector, confirmed that an alert had been sounded.“We received some specific reports from our Jalandhar office following which we are working on the inputs,” he said. Today’s high alert comes after weeks of relative calm in the area.The BSF also sounded the Pathankot police in the morning today following which the police went into overdrive, sealing the Narot Jaimal Singh area.Terrorists who were responsible for the January 2 Pathankot Air Force station and the July 27 (last year) Dinanagar police station attacks are said to have sneaked in through the Bamial area. Bamial falls under the Narot Jaimal Singh police station of Pathankot police district.Pathankot SSP RK Bakshi said, “All the villages near the border have been sealed and checking has been intensified.”The last threat received was on January 6 when some terrorists were spotted by villagers near Tibri Cantonment following which Gurdaspur SSP Gurpreet Singh Toor asked the administration to call in the Army.Two days later, the BSF and CRPF also joined the mega search operation. However, nothing tangible came out of the exercise even as the authorities extended their search towards the Dera Baba Nanak area falling under the Batala police district.Police check posts have been set up at various places on the roads leading to Bamial. In the last three months, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) sent at least three alerts to the Punjab Police and the Border Security Force (BSF) on a possible infiltration attempt, with detailed inputs including the number of terrorists, according to sources.

Our Correspondent

Rajouri, April 12

People of Rajouri today paid homage to martyrs of 1947, killed fighting Pakistan intruders who had laid siege to the city from November 1947 to April 1948.The Pathans and Pakistan army and had captured many areas of Poonch and Rajouri districts.More than 20,000 people of the minority community, including women and children, had sacrificed their lives between November 1947 and April 13, 1948, while fighting the marauders to save their motherland.Residents of old Rajouri city every year organise a function at Balidan Bhavan to pay homage to the martyrs.“The survivors came out of their hiding places only when the Indian Army entered the town on April 13, 1948,” said Krishan Lal, an eyewitness of the 1947 massacre.Rajouri was 28 miles from the 19 Noushera Brigade Headquarters and the road was badly damaged. The enemy had planted mines under culverts to stop the movement of the Army.To chalk out a strategy for launching offensives, Lt Col Zorawar flew over the area along with a senior Engineering Officer who, according to Army records, had said: “Anyone who is thinking of advancing with tanks to Rajouri is in my opinion taking a great risk.”On April 13, 1948, at 10.30 am, the Indian Army had entered Rajouri town and liberated it from the clutches of Pakistanis.

Lieut Gen Balwant Singh Negi, Army Commander, Central Command, with fellow officers, after witnessing an exercise at Purkazi, near Roorkee, on Wednesday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 2

Lieut Gen Balwant Singh Negi, Army Commander, Central Command, visited formations of Central Command at Roorkee and Raiwala today and witnessed combat engineering training undertaken by Surya Combat Sapper Formation at Purkazi.Lieut Gen Negi reviewed the collective training wherein all combat Sapper specialist units train together to hone their skills by physical execution on ground. He witnessed the complete range of multi-faceted training of mechanical mine breaching using trawl tanks, mechanical dry launch and wet bridging capable of sustained tank traffic and associated myriad activities.Lieut Gen Negi stressed the need to maintain the highest standards of operational preparedness. He commended the Sappers for their ‘josh’ and ‘hard work’ and exhorted them to uphold the glory of the Indian Army.At Roorkee, Lieut Gen Negi visited the Bengal Engineer Group and Centre where he was briefed about training activities, welfare measures for veterans and coordination and liaison of the centre with the civil authorities for internal security duty, including flood relief and response to anti-national elements. He held a windshield tour of the centre and saw the training infrastructure. He appreciated the modern infrastructure of the Hajipir Auditorium, Sainik Institute and the automated cook house for recruits at the centre.At the Raiwala military station, Lieut Gen Negi visited the Army formation. He was briefed on all aspects of operational readiness, training and welfare. He appreciated the cleanliness drive undertaken as part of the ‘Swachh Bharat campaign, yoga training for Army personnel in cooperation with Dev Sanskriti University and the efforts of the formation towards welfare of the veterans and veer naris in the region.Lieut Gen Negi also carried out an aerial reconnaissance of the areas of western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Pakistan JIT visits a spot near the Pathankot IAF base. PTI file photo

Islamabad/New Delhi, April 6

Pakistan tonight said India had not produced witnesses belonging to the security forces before its Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on the Pathankot terror attack.In its first statement after the JIT returned Pakistan following its visit to Pathankot and New Delhi, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry made no reference to media reports that claimed the attack was “stage-managed” by India.“The JIT visited the crime scene and also recorded the statements of some witnesses. However, the witnesses belonging to the Indian security forces were not produced before it,” said a statement.Meanwhile, NIA has approached probe agencies of some foreign countries, including the US’ FBI, in connection with its probe into the terror attack. Sources say their help is being sought to track cyber footprints left by JeM handlers. — PTI

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 2

India today made it clear that action against terror by Pakistan would take priority over any diplomatic activity with it in the aftermath of the Pathankot airbase attack.This was stated today by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar at the Raisina Dialogue in response to a question. “In the aftermath of a terror attack, if you ask me what do you give priority to, a terrorist attack or a diplomatic dialogue, I think the answer should be obvious,” he said.He said India had been saying for a while now that both India and Pakistan continued to be in touch, especially through the National Security Advisers (NSAs) since the Pathankot terror attack.India has blamed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) for the Pathankot strike and has handed over evidence to Pakistan to prove its case. It is also demanding action against the JeM leader Masood Azar. Pakistan has formed an SIT and promised action, but not much has happened in terms of real action on the ground.On the context of improving ties with Pakistan, he said India was for a “much more modern relationship” with Islamabad. “I think there was a need to have change in attitude towards a number of issues of which terrorism is a central one,” he said.“It takes two hands to clap and that India would like to have same kind of ties with Islamabad like with other neighbours. We need to remove obstacles which are coming in between India and Pakistan. Most people in this country want to treat Pakistan as a normal neighbour,” Jaishankar said.Meanwhile, in Washington DC, Sartaj Aziz, the foreign policy adviser to PM Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan was “anxiously awaiting” the FS talks between the two countries to take place.