Major Nikhil Rai Handa being taken to a court. PTI file

New Delhi, June 29

An Army major, arrested for allegedly killing another officer’s wife, was on Friday sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Delhi court after the police did not seek his further remand. Metropolitan Magistrate Manisha Tripathy sent Major Nikhil Handa, who was produced before the court on expiry of his four-day police custody, to Tihar Jail here, while allowing the application moved by the crime branch of Delhi Police seeking the same.“Accused is remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. To be produced on July 13, 2018,” the magistrate said.Handa was arrested on June 24 from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh for his alleged involvement in the killing of another Major’s wife in west Delhi on Saturday.The court also held as “infructuous” the applications moved by the counsel for the accused — one for medical examination of Handa every day during police custody and another application seeking lawyers’ assistance at the stage of interrogation.“Since the accused has been sent to judicial custody remand, both the applications have become infructuous and are disposed of,” the court said.During the hearing, the investigating officer told the court that several recoveries were made during the four-day custody and he was no more required for interrogation.The counsel for Handa, advocate Sanjeev Sahai, moved an application to have a 10-minute meeting with the accused, which was allowed by the court.The Delhi Police told the court that it yesterday recovered the knife, allegedly used by Handa to slit the throat of a fellow Army officer’s wife, from a spot near the Meerut-Muzaffarnagar highway. Traces of burnt clothes were also recovered from the spot, it said.The woman’s body was found with her throat slit near the Brar Square in the Delhi Cantonment area.Initially, the police was informed that a woman had died in an accident. Later, when they inspected the body, it was found that her throat was slit, the police had said.The accused had allegedly run a car over her face and the body in order to make the incident appear as an accident, the police have claimed. — PT

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 29

A militant was killed in an encounter that broke out on Friday between security forces and militants in the forests of Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.A police official said security forces launched a search operation in the forest of Kupwara following information about the presence of militants there.He said the exchange of firing was going on between the two sides. With agencies

Tribune News Service
Srinagar, June 23Days after Governor rule was imposed in J&K, the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat reviewed the security situation along the Line of Control and hinterland in Kashmir.Gen Rawat arrived in Srinagar on Saturday and immediately visited forward posts along the LoC in the frontier districts of Kupwara and Baramulla, where he was briefed on all aspects of operational and logistical preparedness.He was accompanied by the Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh and the Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen AK Bhatt.”The chief was appreciative of the measures and Standard Operating Procedures instituted by the units and formations to meet the challenges posed by the inimical elements,” army spokesman said.Commending the performance of the troops in the recent successful operations, the Army Chief stressed the need to maintain the extra vigil to defeat the evil designs of hostile forces and assured his full support to further strengthen the security posture.Later in the day, the Army Chief called on the Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhavan in Srinagar and discussed the overall security situation in the Valley.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Monday met the family of martyred soldier Aurengzeb who was kidnapped and killed by terrorists in Kashmir last week.

Rawat spent over 30 minutes with the parents of Aurangzeb who was a rifleman with 4 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry. His bullet-ridden body was found on June 14 at Gusoo Pulwama after a day long search operation.

A video has also surfaced on the internet in which the trooper is seen being interrogated by suspected Hizbul Mujahideen militants about the encounters he had participated in.

The video is believed to be taken moments before the army jawan was killed by militants.

The rifleman was abducted by militants at Kalampora in Pulwama when he was on his way home in Rajouri district for Eid celebrations.

The soldier’s family has also demanded PM Modi to take action. “I want to ask PM Modi if he’s listening to me, why are you appeasing stone-pelters and separatists? Punish the terrorists who killed my son. Why was Ramzan ceasefire announced? Terrorists have no religion, then why operations were stopped against them during Ramzan?” Mohammad Haneef, Aurangzeb’s father had said earlier.

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Shujaat Bukhari was probably killed to silence a voice of a free-thinker and to scare others like him

Aasha Khosa
Senior journalistShujaat Bukhari’s cold-blooded murder by terrorists in Srinagar’s busiest quarter is a chilling reminder of how journalists are among the most vulnerable targets in a conflict situation. Bukhari’s rise from a salaried journalist to the owner-editor of an English newspaper in a short span of time was the envy of many. He was ambitious and keen to play even bigger roles in life. Being articulate, Shujaat was the most sought-after Kashmiri journalist in the seminar circuits of New Delhi and even abroad and part of the back-channel efforts to make India and Pakistan settle Kashmir on the table.Though his newspaper — Rising Kashmir — was in no way promoting the Indian interests in Kashmir, terrorists couldn’t stand his enterprising spirit and free thinking. Probably, he had been under their watch for long and the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back happened recently when he wrote an article disapproving of separatists’ spurning of New Delhi’s offer of talks. He was probably done to death in the most ghastly manner to silence a voice of a free-thinker and also to send a chill down the spine of others who are trying to join the peace-and-talk bandwagon.Bukhari’s violent death reminds me of the time when my late husband George Joseph and I reported from Kashmir under a threat to our lives. Our fault was that we had simply reported a happening and a fact. However, those holding the gun want everyone to see the situation only from their perspective and in the process, they obfuscate the truth and kill the human spirit. They tried to do the same with us.On a cold winter day, the phone in our two-room apartment in Srinagar rang and George picked it. The caller said he was from Hizbul Mujahideen and claimed the largest pro-Pakistan group had split but no local journalist was ready to publish the news. The main faction of the Hizbul had issued a handout that had been quickly canceled (verbally), apparently on instructions from Pakistan. Now, this anonymous caller — from the marginalised and smaller faction — had approached us in the hope that we will not take sides (between the two Hizb factions) and expose the truth.It was quite a story. The Indian Express, for which George was reporting, carried it as a banner; The Tribune — I worked for it back then — too carried it on the front page.  The Hizbul split was one of the turning points in Kashmir’s militancy and if one goes through the archives of local newspapers today, it has never happened!The Hizbul reacted violently. It banned the circulation of The Tribune and The Indian Express in Kashmir and asked us to leave Kashmir within 48 hours.We continued to stay put and report from the Valley. Not to offend the terrorists further, George started using the Jammu dateline for his stories even as he was reporting from Srinagar. No journalist in Kashmir supported us; media activists in Delhi didn’t issue statements either. On a personal level, friends would praise us for being bold but none cared about how difficult it was for us. There were no trolls back then, but a majority of Srinagar-based journalists spread lies and propaganda about us to many visiting journalists from Delhi.One local Urdu newspaper wrote that we were ISI agents; a few days later, another one said we were IB agents. Another newspaper report claimed that George and I had received arms training in Zeevan! All this was meant to scare us and force us to leave Kashmir. George left after his office negotiated a deal with the Hizbul Mujahideen through a person who is today a member of the BJP’s national executive committee. He was transferred out of the Valley and the Indian Express resumed its circulation.I lived alone and worked for another year from Kashmir. Believe me, life wasn’t easy. To even buy veggies and groceries, I had to plan my camouflage of the day. To beat my loneliness and to vent my anger against what had happened to our lives, I started working hard on my stories. I was doing well and not giving a clue to anyone on my routine. And, then came reports in newspapers that I was being offered scoops by the government. Before this, terrorists had managed to scare away many veteran journalists, most of them Kashmiri Hindus and non-Kashmiris, through targeted killings of Lassa Koul, Director of Srinagar Doordarshan, and PL Handoo, an officer of the state information department.  A non-Kashmiri Muslim journalist working for the Times of India was manhandled in public and he left the same night. This gave rise to a bizarre situation: the international news agencies and newspapers were hugely interested in Kashmir and their search for local journalists ended with makeup artists and teleprinter operators. Over the last two decades, reporting from Kashmir has undergone a sea change; almost all regular news is being reported by Kashmiri Muslims. Shujaat was a product of this transformation and, in a way, he should have been hailed as a visionary and enterprising editor. His reporting and newspaper seemed to be in no conflict with the narrative unleashed by the separatists and yet he was killed.Prima facie, it seems that he took the threat to his life not so seriously or else he would not be moving out of his office at a predictable hour. His friends have scooped an insidious write-up about him by an anonymous writer on the worldpress.com. It was posted four weeks back and clearly targeted him for ‘betraying and making use of the movement.’Like all sane people, Shujaat Bukhari probably wanted his two children to grow and live in peace and, therefore, he tried to work for peace in Kashmir and paid with his life.

New Delhi, June 5

The Air Force on Tuesday rescued three Israeli nationals after their vehicle fell down a gorge on the way to Rohtang Pass and one of them later succumbed to injuries.All three were evacuated in an MK III chopper from Kullu to Chandigarh, along with an Israeli Embassy official and a medical officer, a statement by the Air Force said.One of the rescued Israelis succumbed to his injuries, the statement said.“The ‘Himalayan Dragons’ based at Air Force Station Sarsawa were tasked to undertake a challenging casualty evacuation of three Israeli nationals whose vehicle had fallen down in a gorge on the way to Rohtang Pass,” the statement said. PTI

Col HP Singh (retd)

He was leading a patrol of six men on the icy moraine of the Siachen glacier, which has the dubious distinction of being the highest battlefield in the world. The weather was inclement and blizzards made movement extremely difficult; taking a hundred steps warranted a minute’s halt to catch up with breath. Every step he took made him sink knee-deep in the loose snow and extricating it to step forward was getting tougher by the minute. The whiteout conditions were getting worse and he feared losing the beaten track, lest his party should sink in the crevasse covered by a thin layer of ice which appeared deceptively firm. Their destination, though in sight, seemed hours away. Lack of oxygen at 18,000 feet above the sea level had made everybody’s senses numb. If they didn’t reach their post in the next hour or so, they could be victims of hypoxia, a condition were the supply of oxygen is reduced to a level causing malfunction of brain cells. It was not easy to move with six layers of clothes adding to your weight and reducing the flexibility of the limbs.Moments later, he felt that he was gradually sinking in the snow. He cautioned his patrol members who were all tied to one another with a specially made rope that could withstand the weight of 15 men without snapping. His party, as per training, instantly took to the lying down position with their ice axes anchored to the ice of beaten track which arrested their free-fall into the bottomless crevasse they had just encountered. Before they could take any further action, he was already chest-deep inside the snow, gasping for breath, with no energy left to extricate himself. His team tried to pull him out, but with every attempt, he was only getting deeper into the snow. It was a matter of time when the anchorage of the ice axes would give way and all of them would meet their icy end. By now, the vapours of breath he exhaled had transformed into ice crystals over his moustaches and beard. He slid further down into the quagmire of snow till it became all white, before becoming dark all around. Asphyxiated and desperately trying to breathe, he felt sleepy and was soon in a different world. The commotion and vibrations of the helicopter interrupted his slumber as we made the final approach to the helipad. He gave a faint smile of gratitude as he was transferred to the ambulance waiting for him. We had successfully added a few positive points to our karmic account. We were about to switch off our engine when we got a call from the control tower. There were some more karmic points left to be scored for the day. A shell splinter injury case was awaiting evacuation at another forward post. I looked at my equally fatigued co-pilot, took a few puffs from the oxygen cylinder, and once again got airborne to extricate some other soul from the jaws of death.

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, May 28

A massive forest fire, which engulfed a 100-acre area at Karoli village near the Mamun Army Cantonment, was brought under control after a joint operation by the Pathankot district administration, Air Force and the Army.A thick blanket of smoke enveloped Pathankot city. Information about the fire was received by the Army on Sunday evening following which fire tenders and water tankers were pressed into service. In view of the intensity of the fire, the Army sought the help of the Deputy Commissioner.DC Neelima informed Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sanjeev Tiwari who rushed to the spot at Karoli village and engaged his men in dousing the flames. Hundreds of Army personal too joined the fire-fighting operation.However, an hour later the DFO sent an SOS to the DC, saying strong winds were making the situation difficult and cited some technical reasons and told the DC that the fire could be controlled only through an aerial fire-fighting exercise.The Deputy Commissioner called up the Chief Secretary, who then got in touch with the Air Chief Marshal. An hour later, a helicopter from the Udhampur airbase was sent.The chopper began the operation on Monday morning. Officials claimed that rice stubble burning in the area made things difficult for the chopper which was equipped with a water carrier.The DFO said there could have been several reasons for the forest fire.“Either it could be an accident or a handiwork of some miscreants. A major part of the affected area has been brought under control now,” the Divisional Forest Officer said.At the time of filing this report, operations were under way though officials maintained that a major part of the fire had been doused.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Srinagar, May 25

The Indian Army ordered a court of enquiry on Friday into the conduct of Major Leetul Gogoi following the incident at a hotel in Dalgate Srinagar.  The major had booked a room for himself in the hotel where a woman was scheduled to come and meet him.

The woman has recorded a statement under Section 164 of the CrPC saying she knew Major Gogoi.Army Chief Bipin Rawat had earlier in the day said exemplary punishment would be given to Major Leetul Gogoi if he was found guilty of “any offence”.(Read: Hotel fracas: Girl states she met Major of her ‘own will’)

“If Major Gogoi has done something wrong then I can say that he will be given due punishment and the punishment will be such that it will set an example,” Gen Rawat told reporters in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. He arrived on a two-day visit to Kashmir on Thursday to review the security situation.

On May 23, Gogoi was briefly detained by police in Srinagar after an altercation when he was allegedly trying to enter a hotel with an 18-year-old woman, according to a police official.“If any officer of the Indian Army is found guilty of any offence, we will take strictest possible action,” Rawat told reporters at Pahalgham while on a visit to the Army Goodwill School. “If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you that he will be awarded punishment at the earliest…the punishment will set an example,” the Army chief said.The Jammu and Kashmir Police has initiated an inquiry into the incident involving Gogoi, whose decision to tie a civilian to the bonnet of his vehicle in Kashmir last year sparked a row. — With PTI

The MoD’s acceptance of the proposal for reversing the ratio of the Main to Support segments of the Army’s officer cadre will afford both better cadre and financial management

Lt-Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd)To understand the readiness of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to implement, in phases, the Army’s recent proposal to “increase the intake of officers under Short Service Commission (SSC) and correspondingly reduce the number of permanent commission or regular commissioned officers”, the public needs to have a deep grasp of the army’s cadre.   A professional army’s cadre management is not the easiest of responsibilities; it needs to be known that the army’s cadre structure is hugely pyramidal, necessitating high wastage as promotions take place at different select ranks from Colonel upwards to Lt-Gen. With an average intake of approximately 2,000 commissioned officers every year and the majority being regular permanent cadre officers, only a few can be promoted (20-50 per cent) even at the first selection promotion level; this can be as early as 37 years of age and 14 years of service. The non-empanelled have to remain in the same rank till the age of 54, necessitating five to six rotations of placement in appointments. They conventionally cannot be placed in frontline units which are then under the command of officers junior to them. It’s a huge social and financial burden on the government due to no fault of the officers who are simply victims of the cadre structure. 

World position

Every professional army in the world follows a system of main and support cadres; the main being lean, with officers who are in service having undergone longer training duration and looking towards long careers, including consideration for higher promotions. The support cadre, on the other hand, with shorter initial training and by virtue therefore not aspiring for higher level command or staff responsibility, is a much larger cadre; the terms of service dictate only short-term engagement —  5, 10 or 15 years. The ratio, main to lean is ideally at 1:5. That reduces aspirants for higher training and promotion opportunities, improves promotion approval percentages and keeps available the younger support cadre officers to man lower command responsibilities in units.

Indian Army structure

The Indian Army’s officer cadre structure is skewed with main to support at 4:1, thus forcing a large number of non-empanelled officers in the system, all of whom are carried to the final retiring age and given pension, and a below par manning of units. The Ajai Vikram Singh Committee (AVSC) set up to implement the Group of Ministers recommendations after the Kargil Review Committee’s deliberations  recommended 1: 1.1 as the better ratio, probably realising that doing anything better than that would take many years; a detailed professional study by the College of Defence Management did help towards that recommendation. The current proposal for short service engagement of officers for duration of 10 or 14 years entails that they will be part of the support cadre. None will serve beyond rank of Major or Lt-Col. They will receive a golden handshake package of two months’ salary per completed year up to 10 years and four months’ salary for the same up to 14 years, thus sweetening the exit (maximum 36 months by one calculation). Training for post-exit jobs is also included in the recommendations, thus overcoming many of the earlier objections which spelt out the disadvantage to exiting officers at an age when they bore family responsibilities. The lump sum payments will entail high financial outgo, but far lesser than recurring pension liability.The advantages of 1:1.1 ratio are many 

• First, a younger officer profile in front line units will manifest.
• Second, the pension bill will reduce as the number of officers exiting with pension will greatly reduce. Progressively, the advantage will be even more as life expectancy keeps increasing.
• Third, lower numbers in non-empanelled ranks whose motivation can be managed through financial increments and reservation of some promotion vacancies a few years later than their approved colleagues.

Employment opportunities for exiting army officersThere exist two employment opportunities for exiting officers. 

• First, a Cabinet approval already exists for the implementation of ‘peel effect’, whereby officers exiting the army cadre are to be absorbed in fixed vacancies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and other government cadres. This is on the assumption that a large part of the exiting officers form an efficient segment of experience which cannot be absorbed by the Army’s pyramidal system and will contribute to other government services with minimal training. The approved decision is pending due to lack of energy in commitment for implementation.
• Second, another approved decision involving corporate responsibility (termed industrial deputation) with terms and conditions towards initial secondment with the government bearing expenses and ultimate absorption, has also not been implemented for lack of awareness and inability to take the industry on board.