Dehradun, November 4

Activists of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) held a symbolic funeral procession of Union Minister VK Singh over his statement on deceased ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal here today. The protesters said Singh should apologise for his statement.The protesters, led by NSUI state president Shyam Singh Chauhan, held a procession that passed through different routes of the city. Chauhan said, “Soldiers strive round the clock to safeguard the international boundaries but the Union minister tried to defame an ex-serviceman who ended his life for his dues.”“It’s the matter of proud that there is a huge representation from Uttarakhand in the defence forces. NSUI activists will not tolerate insult to army personnel,” he said.It may be recalled that after Grewal committed suicide in New Delhi, VK Singh had said, “Though OROP is said to be the reason behind the extreme step, no one knows the exact cause. We don’t know what his mental state was.” Singh had also said that the deceased was a Congress worker, who contested Sarpanch elections. — TNS

From: Satbir <satbirsm@gmail.com>
Date: 21 October 2016 at 10:57
Subject: FAUJI JANTA PARTY (FJP)

Dated: 20 Oct 2016
To: 

Dear Friends,

1. Fauji Janta Party (FJP) was introduced to the Nation on 05 Oct 2016 at Press Club of India New Delhi through a well attended Media.  The Pres Conference was chaired by noted Advocate Shri Ram Jethmalani.
2. Another important Press Conference was held at Sood Bhawan Sector 44A Chandigarh on 18 Oct 2016 where FJP was introduced in Punjab with a special focus on the forthcoming Punjab Election.  Operation ”Chardhi Kala” has been launched in Punjab to inform the people about the FORMATION OF FJP” right up to the village level.  It is a Party with a difference with main focus on deliverance of good governance on schedule with Military Precision.  We are confident that the people of Punjab will give us the convincing victory.  Simultaneously, we will spread our wings in other states and at the centre.  We wish to assure the people that we will provide honest and quality governance for which we will start the functioning from very moment we from the Govt in state or at the Centre.
3. In order, to sustain the Party Logistically for management of Rallies, for preparation of publicity materials, and other administrative needs we will need funds.  We request all members of defence Fraternity and the citizenry of the Nation to join in this effort by donating funds generously. 

BANK DETAILS – FJP

4. You may send the cheque/DD/deposit directly in above account in your local PNB Branch, or do an e-transfer. Please send us the filled Membership or Donation form(s) by post at.

Sh. Ram Mehar Malik                                                                         National President, Fauji Janta Party                                                      Plot No: 124, 2nd Floor                                                                          Pocket –III, Sector 24, Rohini, New Delhi – 110085

 

5. Please address your emails on the above matter to the following email IDs:

(a)     Maj Gen Satbir Singh, SM (Retd), Chief Patron Fauji      Jantar Party,  Mob No: 09312404269 satbirsm@gmail.com

(b)     Ram Mehar Malik, National President, Fauji Janta Party

 Mobile – 9871759977,rmmalik2003@yahoo.co.in,  faujijantaparty@gmail.com

6. Your contribution will be highly appreciated.

Jai Hind!

With Regards,

Yours Sincerely,

Maj Gen Satbir Singh, SM (Retd) 
Chief  Patron FJP
Mobile: 9312404269, 0124 4110570                                                                                       

Email: satbirsm@gmail.com

ALANDHAR: The defence wing is set to hold a recruitment rally under unit headquarters quota (UHQ) at Punjab Regiment Centre, Ramgarh Cantonment.

While the enlistment for soldier clerk is set for November 19, for soldier (general duty) and soldier tradesmen, the screening is on November 22.

The notification issued by the defence department states that recruitment for soldier on general duty, Sikh (except Mazhabi, Ramdasi and Rai Sikh), Dogra and other Indian caste (OIC) candidates hailing from Punjab, Himachal Pardesh, Haryana, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, North and North West Rajasthan will be considered.

The defence wing has also laid the qualification required for the posts: solider (general duty) category candidate should have passed Class 10 with a minimum of 33 % marks in each subject and 45% in aggregate.

Meanwhile, candidates hailing from Jammu and Kashmir except Jammu’s Samba and Kathua district should have simply cleared Class 10.

For soldier’s clerk category, Class 12th pass candidate with minimum 40% marks in each subject and 50% marks in aggregate will be considered.

For soldier tradesmen category, candidates need to have cleared Class 10.

For soldier general duty category, the candidate should be between 17½ -21 years of age and for soldier clerk and soldier tradesmen category, the age of the candidate should be between 17½ to 23 years.

Candidates are required to bring their original certificates and latest 15 colour passport size photographs (in turban and without turban) attested on back side only.

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 28

Chief of Army Staff Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag today visited the Pooh and Samdoh areas of tribal Kinnaur district, bordering China.The visit of Gen Suhag was kept a closely guarded secret and even the Kinnaur administration and police were completely unaware of it. The visit assumes significance in view of escalating tension and ceasefire violation along the Line of Control. Suhag visited the brigade headquarter at Pooh and Samdoh along the international boundary India shares with China.He interacted with the Army personnel posted along the border area and inquired about their well being and problems. He flew back later in the afternoon.

 

1.      Lieutenant General Surinder Singh, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal took over the reins as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the prestigious Western Army on 17 Sep 2016. In keeping with the traditions, the General Officer paid homage to the Martyrs at the Veer Smriti and reviewed Guard of Honour at the command Headquarters.

2.     Lieutenant General Surinder Singh, an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Pune was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion, BRIGADE OF THE GUARDS in 1979 and later commanded the same unit. In a distinguished military career panning near four decades, he has tenanted critical Command and Staff appointments in active counter insurgency and operational environments. He has held important operational appointments in Military Operations Directorate and the Perspective Planning Directorate at the Army Headquarters. The General Officer has vast experience in Operational logistics as well having tenanted key logistic appointments on the western front. He also has had the distinction of serving with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Liberia.

3.     The General Officer is a graduate of Staff Collage Camberley (UK), The Higher Command Course and the National Defence Collage. He has served as an Instructor at The Infantry School and The Collage of Military Engineering. He has commanded an Armoured Brigade, a Division in Strike Corps and operationally committed Corps in the Eastern Command prior to taking over the Western Army.

4. Lieutenant General Surinder Singh is a proud recipient of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal for his distinguished service to the Nation. He is also the ‘Colonel’ of The Brigade of Guards.

AMRITSAR: “Indian soldiers were the bravest of the brave. It was an honour to command them,” says Major Tom Conway (retd), 98, one of the last surviving British officers who had commanded Indian soldiers.

Major Conway was in Amritsar on Sunday for the inaugural ceremony of War Memorial and had come to north India after 80 years. “They (state government) wanted other officers around as well, but probably I am the only one surviving,” he says.

A World War-II veteran and one of the heroes of Battle of Alamein, he had commanded the Dogras, Sikhs and Pathans.

Major Conway joined the British Army in April 1940. “I volunteered to join the Indian Army in Egypt. I had heard and read so much about India. I had read Rudyard Kipling and I was also impressed from the tales of valour of the Indian soldiers,” he says. He joined Guides Cavalry where he commanded companies of Dogras, Sikhs and Pathans. “Dogras were the quietest. It was being said that they were easier to command. But they were all good,” he adds. “I used to take train from Pathankot to Kullu valley which used to run at ten past midnight daily. I used to visit Dogra soldiers’ families to get to know them better,” he recalls. WORLD WAR-II WITH INDIAN SOLDIERS

In 1941, Guides Cavalry was a reconnaissance regiment for 8 Indian Division in Egypt. “We were armed with wheeler carriers, made by Tata,” he narrates. Then they went to Syria. “One of our brigades was overrun. We were retreating,” he adds. Then he was asked to go to Sudan where he commanded the Sikhs.

In November 1942, the Battle of Alamein took place in Egypt where he was one of the heroes and got a medal too. “First time in 3 years, Germans had a major defeat. Churchill (Winston) said it was not the end of war but the beginning of the end. Our job was to keep the Army chasing,” he says. Then he was sent to Iraq to check Germans from the North, but they instead attacked Russia and tasted reverses.

“By the beginning of 1943, there was no threat to Middle East. I was sent to India. I was to engage in Burma (Myanmar) with 15 Indian Division but was sent to North West Frontier area as small-scale battles were going on there. I commanded Dogras there,” he adds.

In 1944, he went to Britain for a month which was his first leave in four years. He looked after Indian contingent in London and retired after victory parade in 1946.

“It is wrong to say that the British only recruited martial races in India. In the 18th century, most of the soldiers in the Army used to be from the Southern parts,” he says. After going back to Britain, he married a Chinese teacher and stayed in Japan for about 25 years. “I would love to go back to Kullu valley again… Though I do not know whether I would be able to make it,” he says.

Remembrance: A woman looks at the pictures of martyred police personnel on Police Commemoration Day at PAP Complex in Jalandhar on Friday. Tribune Photo: Malkiat Singh

Rachna Khaira

Tribune New Service

Jalandhar, October 21

The Union Home Ministry has approved two armed battalions for Punjab to strengthen the second line of defence in the border areas.Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal had sought the sanctioning of five armed battalions in the state to detect and prevent intrusion in the border districts.“The battalions with strength of 1,100 personnel each will be equipped with the latest weapons and technology to deal with any insurgency,” said DGP Suresh Arora, who was here to attend the 57th state-level Police Commemoration Day observed at the Punjab Armed Police headquarters here.He said the Centre had agreed to bear the cost of the raising and further maintaining of these battalions that would be deployed along the international border in the state.The DGP said the state government had taken several measures to upgrade the Police Department in the wake of terror attacks in Dinanagar and the recent one at the Pathankot airbase.He said while the Union Government had sanctioned Rs 106 crore to upgrade the Police Department, the post of IG (Counter Intelligence) and AIG (CI) had been created in the department to improve the performance and coordination of the state police with that of the BSF and the Army. MF Farooqi, an ex-BSF top brass, had been recruited as IG (CI) by the state police recently.

Families of police martyrs honoured

• Fatehgarh Sahib: The district police organised a function to commemorate the sacrifice of police martyrs at the Police Lines here today. Sixteen families of the martyrs from the district were honoured. Deputy Commissioner Kamaldeep Singh Sangha and District and Sessions Judge Sanjiv Bery were the chief guests, while SSP HS Bhullar presided over the function. OC

BSF jawan remembered

• Hoshiarpur: BSF martyr constable Roshan Lal, who got President’s Police Medal for Gallantry (posthumously), was on Friday remembered on Police Commemoration Day by NCC cadets of his alma mater, DAV Senior Secondary School. NCC incharge Sanjiv Kumar said Roshan Lal had laid down his life fighting terrorists even after being injured in a grenade attack in the Gul area of Akhnoor sector in J&K on November 29, 2002, at the age of 28. OC

Panaji, October 20

In a suspected case of road rage, five Naval men have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a 25-year-old man in Vasco town near here, police said on Thursday.Rajesh Pachar, Shamlal Singh Takshak, Jitendra Singh, Amit Kumar Jaiswal and Anupam Sharma, posted at the Navy’s INS Hansa base, were yesterday arrested for assaulting Atul Bicholkar in Vasco town.As per the complaint filed by Bicholkar’s mother, the five men were yesterday travelling in an official vehicle which they dashed against the two-wheeler of her son.When Bicholkar fell down, they assaulted him with a metal pipe and fist blows causing grievous injury to his right leg and other parts of the body, according to the complaint.Offences have been registered under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 325, 326 read with 149 of the IPC against the five accused, police said. — PTI

Capt Amarinder Singh cleans the statue of martyr Nand Singh at Fauji Chowk in Bathinda on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Pawan sharma

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 19

Bahadurpur, a village near Bareta town of Mansa district, is still longing for the statue of naib subedar Nand Singh, the lone winner of the twin bravery awards of Victoria Cross and Maha Vir Chakra.The demand for an entry gate in the name of this great martyr is still awaiting approval.“At the age of 33, Nand Singh, a loyal solider of the Indian Army (by then, a jemadar, who was not even required to go into the battle) chose to lead his platoon of D Coy in a desperate but successful attack to rescue his battalion from an ambush in Uri in Kashmir in December 1947. He was killed in action but his body was never recovered,” mentions former chief minister and Member of Parliament Captain Amarinder Singh in his book ‘Lest We Forget’.In 1944, as jemadar in the British Indian Army, Nand Singh received its highest military honour — Victoria Cross — for his bravery against the Japanese forces on the Arakan front in Burma during the World War-2.On March 12, 1944 on the Maungdaw-Buthidaung Road, Burma (now Myanmar), naik Nand Singh, commanding a leading section of the attack, was ordered to recapture a position gained by the enemy.He led his section up a very steep knife-edged ridge under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire and although wounded in the thigh, captured the first trench.He then crawled forward alone and wounded again in the face and shoulder, nevertheless captured the second and third trenches.On December 12, 1947 he laid down his life fighting Pakistani intruders in Jammu and Kashmir.Captain Amarinder Singh, who himself hails from the 1st Sikh regiment, had mentioned a detailed story on Nand Singh (September 24, 1914 –December 12, 1947) and recalls that it was later discovered that the Pakistanis recognised Singh because of his decorated VC ribbon and took his body to Muzaffarabad, where, in the most abominable manner, “it was tied spread-eagled on a truck and paraded through the city with a loudspeaker proclaiming that this would be the fate of every Indian VC”.Nand Singh’s body was later thrown onto a garbage dump, an emotional Captain Amarinder recalled, lamenting that the state government had failed to take care of the statue of this great soldier of the Indian soil, even though it was located on the “Badals’ own turf”.Captain Amarinder Singh was here to clean the statue of the martyr.Gurpreet Singh, member of panchayat and cousin grandson of the martyr at Bahadurpur village regretted that the state government had not only forgotten his family and the village but even failed to meet the demand of the villagers to set up an entry gate in the name of the great soldier. “The gate at the entry is our demand and Rs 10 lakh has been approved for it but not even a single brick has been laid. We were informed by senior officials of the Army that a statue of this great martyr was made but they were yet to get any space and approval for installation. We demanded that the statue should be installed at Bareta Kainchiyan but the administration is yet to approve space for installation,” he said.“Nand Singh and his four brothers — Chanda Singh, Dhanna Singh, Arjan Singh and Sarwan Singh —were sons of Bhag Singh,” he added.

After cross-LOC raids, aptly called ‘surgical strikes’, at terrorist hide outs in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, there has been much hype and hoopla. The public euphoria, though, is well understood in the wake of Uri massacre . However, the political buzz it has created is sad and unfortunate. Murky allegations, counters and clarifications continue to cloud the national spectrum. Loose cannons on ill-conceived debates, un checked posts and cartoons on social media sites are vitiating the environment.

Having served in the Indian Army for 27 years in a combat arm with an exposure to active operational areas, the military, I can state with conviction, is least affected with such insinuations. Having accomplished the assigned job, the troops would be rearing to take up the next venture with an even enhanced professionalism. The nature of hype that the army experiences is of a different nature, quite contrary to what prevails outside.

The earliest hype that one remembers was during induction into the military academy. The first bug-bear was to pass the drill test. Only the successful cadets would get an out pass , called ‘liberty’ to visit town on Sundays. The drill test was a tough one which required perseverance and a disciplined dedication to transform a carefree, dandy and clumsy youngster into a military man. I recollect my drill instructor’s words,” Cadet, yeh battak (duck) wali chaal nahin chalegi”. The effort to respond to military command coupled with a synchronising movement of body and slick unwavering soldierly demeanour was a task. The success rate in the initial screening was a mere one percent .

The sight of a fellow cadet dressed up in smart mufti atop a bicycle off to see a movie and eating out egged the failures to put in the extra bit. Similar was the challenge to excel in the battle physical efficiency tests (BPET) , 20-km cross-country run, a mandatory boxing bout, a riding test and multifarious sports competition involved during the tough military training. On being commissioned into a tank regiment with glorious traditions of excellence was like getting into fire out of a frying pan. The ability to fire a 105-mm high velocity shell in the bulls eye was the ultimate and the euphoria to enjoy the achievement with the crew heavenly. As one progressed, the ambit of responsibility to deliver, gained prominence both in spectrum and scope, quite insulated from the humdrum of activities in the civvie street.

During OP PARAKRAM, post a terrorist attack on Parliament, we got mobilised for an impending war with Pakistan. I was in command of my regiment and the troops were rearing to go. It was January 13, 2002, and the Pakistan President addressed his nation, fuelling jingoism. We were in our battle stations . I called for a special Sainik Sammellan of my troops for a collective motivational chat as a precursor to real action. After I finished, I asked if anyone had anything in mind. Sowar Manjit Singh, a young 23-year-old tank gunner got up smartly, “‘Saab, mann mein ek hi baat hai’,” and after a pause, :”Ek gola aur ek Pakistani tank”. (I have a thought, another grenade, another Pakistani tank).

The scraggy, desolate desert echoed with a loud unison of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai “and “Nishay kar apni jeet karoon”, our regimental war cry. Such is the focus of our soldiers, oblivious to irrelevant hype and hoopla. The honorable defence minister was right when he said that he gave the army an opportunity to exploit its potential. We thank the minister and wish he makes it a habit.

(The writer is a Chandigarh-based freelance contributor. Views expressed

are personal)