More BSF men to guard sensitive points as assessment lists gaping holes

Ajay Banerjee,Tribune News Service,New Delhi, January 7

After a comprehensive assessment of the Pathankot terror attack, the  Indian security establishment has found that conduits for smuggling drugs on either side of the border were used  by terrorists to cross over to India with arms, including mortars.Most of these drug conduits on the Pakistani side are controlled by the ISI and have in the past been used to push arms and terrorists inside the Indian territory.Top sources said it was clear that the six terrorists, who attacked the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot at 3.30 am on January 2, entered India in two groups.The group carrying bigger weapons arrived before the second group of four militants who killed taxi driver Ikagar Singh and “abducted” SP Salwinder Singh. The complicity of BS Force officials in allowing the drug carriers to pass through unfenced portions of the border and also middle-level politicians in Punjab is not ruled out. After the assessment, three key steps have been initiated. First, Punjab will get additional BSF companies to guard sensitive segments, especially the riverine stretch that is not fenced. Second, a way has been found for foolproof security in the area where the Ravi and its tributaries criss-cross  the border. Third, security on the periphery of military bases  will be strengthened. A new method will be devised for the job.After an alert was received, the first priority before Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha was to secure the assets. The MiG 21 fighter jets were moved out while the Army hiked security around missiles, ATC, ammunition and fuel dumps. Some 500 armed soldiers were stationed in Pathankot on January 1, hours before the attack. The immediate task at hand was to protect the 3,000 families inside the air base.  IG Operations of the National Security Guard (NSG) Maj Gen Dushyant Singh was made the commander of the operations in consultation with the Army.

Finding the gaps

• Most drug conduits on the Pakistani side are controlled by the ISI and have in the past helped push arms and terrorists into India
• It is now clear that the six Pathankot air base attackers entered India in two groups
• The group carrying bigger weapons arrived before the second group of four militants
• The second group killed taxi driver Ikagar Singh and also ‘abducted’Salwinder Singh, SP

Our Correspondent.Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 31

To spread awareness about welfare schemes for ex-servicemen and their families, the Defense Services Welfare Department organised an awareness workshop at Malaudh village near here today.Director Defence Services Welfare, Punjab, Brigadier Jatinder Singh Arora presided over the function.Officers of the department led by Brigadier Arora called upon members of families of the ex-servicemen to be associated with armed forces which besides providing dignified lifestyle to them, will also give rare opportunity to serve the nation.While interacting with the ex-servicemen, widows, veer naaris of the area, Brigadier Arora told about various state and Central government welfare schemes and steps taken by the state government to hike monetary benefits for the fraternity.C-PYTE, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute and Mai Bhaago Armed Forces Institute for Girls were cited among the organisations working for educating wards and members of families of the ex-servicemen. He listened to the grievances of the fraternity and assured them speedy action.

NEW DELHI: It was the speed and spontaneity with which the Indian Army launched its attacks that took the enemy by surprise, leading to their victory in the 1999 Kargil war, says Lieutenant General Mohinder Puri. He headed the 8 Mountain Division.

Gripping accounts of valour and fortitude from the battle front of the war between India and Pakistan have been recollected in a new book penned by Puri.

The book titled ‘Kargil: Turning the Tide’, which was launched here on Monday evening, is a first-hand narrative of the operations of 8 Mountain Division, which was tasked to evict the enemy from the Drass-Mushkoh Sector during ‘Operation Vijay’.

“We surprised the enemy with the speed and ferocity of our movement. It was the speed with which we conducted the operations and took them totally by surprise, this was one of the reasons why we succeeded in evicting the enemy,” he said.

Recounting one such incident, the then Major-General Puri said how after several failed attempts to capture the pivotal Tololing peak, he had asked his men to attack again the next evening, but by the time he reached his headquarters, India had already conquered the strategic feature.

The Tololing, a dominant position overlooking Srinagar- Leh Highway (NH-1D), was so strategic that after it was conquered it was only a matter of six days for Indian troops to notch up a string of successes by evicting well-entrenched intruders in four nearby outposts.

He said, Colonel MB Ravindranath, Commanding Officer of the 2 Rajputana Rifles, radioed him, camping some 20-km away and said in a terse message, “Sir, I’m on Tololing top.”

“After I was informed that we have not been able to capture Tololing, I just asked them to consolidate and in the evening I said, ‘have a go.’ By the time I reached the headquarters, I was told that we have captured Tololing.I spoke to Ravi and when I asked him what had happened he said he just saw a window of opportunity and there he launched the attack and captured the feature which was until then with the enemy,” Puri said.
Puri’s division was responsible for spearheading the Army’s offensive in the Kargil sector which restored the sanctity of the Line of Control by capturing Tololing, Tiger Hill and Point 4875.General (retd) VP Malik, who himself has authored a book titled “Kargil – From Surprise To Victory” in 2006 on the same subject inaugurated the event at Manekshaw Centre here.

HIGHLIGHTS

“Lots of books have been written about the Kargil War and most of them are hearsay. There are only two authentic books I can mention, one is General Puri’s and I will take credit for the second one.

“While I have dealt with the war at a macro level, General Puri’s book talks about the several battles fought. After all, there is no war without these battles,” Malik said.

Simran Sodhi,Tribune News Service,New Delhi, December 29

In yet another development that should worry India, China has decided to provide Nepal with additional 1.4 million litre fuel. The decision comes in the backdrop of the continuing blockade in Nepal which has brought the Himalayan kingdom to a state of humanitarian crisis.The decision was disclosed to the media in Kathmandu today by Kamal Thapa, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Nepal, who returned home after a week-long visit to China.While the Madhesis have blocked entry points on the Indo-Nepal border for the last four months, Nepal has turned to China to look for an additional supplier of fuel. “The Chinese government has agreed to provide 1.4 million litres of fuel worth 10 million yuan to Nepal as a grant,” Thapa said in Kathmandu today.In October, Nepal signed its first-ever fuel agreement with China for the import of petroleum products. China had then provided Nepal with 1.3 million litres of fuel, giving India the first jitters. India seems to have dug itself into a hole on the Nepal issue. By publicly demanding time and again that Nepal amend its Constitution and give more rights to the Madhesis, India has lost much goodwill in Nepal and also forced its neighbour to look to China.Despite the recent commitment made by Nepal, which was welcomed by India, that it would amend its Constitution to adjust the demands of the Madhesis, the blockade has continued. While India has denied it is behind this “unofficial blockade”, many in Nepal have publicly accused India of it.

DDCA CONTROVERSY The twin proceedings that Jailey has charged Kejriwal with are unheard of in most parts of the world

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley may have accused Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal of slander, invoking both civil and criminal jurisdiction to defend himself from corruption charges, but the twin proceedings are unheard of in most parts of the world.

Unlike many countries in the West and some near home, such as Sri Lanka, defamation in India is both civil and criminal offence. One can take recourse when defamed either by words spoken or in writing. When spoken, it amounts to slander and if printed, it is libel.

Under the civil law, the person defamed can move either the high court or trial court and seek damages in the form of monetary compensation from the accused. The remedy sought is covered under the Law of Torts, a rare and slow course of relief witnessed in India.

On the other hand, the Indian Penal Code gives an opportunity to the defamed individual to also move a criminal court, asking the latter to take cognizance of his complaint. It’s a bailable, non-cognizable and compoundable offence, which means no police can register a case and start investigation without the court’s permission.

Under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC, a person found guilty can be sent to jail for two years. The Supreme Court has already reserved its verdict on a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the two penal provisions.

Since the law is compoundable, a criminal court can drop the charges if the victim and the accused enter into a compromise to that effect (even without the permission of the court).

CONDITIONS TO BE SATISFIED IN CIVIL SUIT

Law defines defamatory content as one “calculated to injure the reputation of another by exposing him to hatred, contempt or ridicule.” This is the first condition required to be fulfilled under the civil remedy.

Second, the claimant should be identified in the defamatory statement. It must address a particular person and no broad based classification is acceptable.

And lastly there must be publication of the defamatory statement in either oral or written form. A civil defamation law would stand once these conditions are attained. The defendant then has to plead his defense.

CONDITIONS TO BE SATISFIED UNDER CRIMINAL LAW

In a criminal suit, the complainant should be able to prove the accused intended to defame him. In the absence of intention it must be established that the alleged offender had knowledge that the publication was likely to defame the person. Normal stand of proof in criminal cases, which is to prove the offence beyond reasonable doubt, should also be placed before the court.

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria,Tribune News Service,Jammu, December 21

In a major step forward, over 1,200 traders from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) have unanimously decided to constitute a joint federation of traders from Poonch and Anantnag in J&K and Rawalakote and Chakoti in PoK.In the absence of travel permits from New Delhi and Islamabad, traders from both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) met in Dubai on December 16 and 17.“It is a big achievement for traders from PoK and J&K. The joint federation exclusively meant for trans-LoC traders from Poonch, Anantnag, Rawalakote and Chakoti will be put in place by March 31,” said Pawan Anand, president of the Chakan-da-Bagh LoC Traders’ Association.“Once such a federation comes up, we will be able to efficiently thrash out trade-related disputes and, at the same time, think of more measures to streamline trade,” he added. He admitted that in the absence of travel permits to trans-LoC traders, they had to hold their third meeting in Dubai.“Two years ago, we held our second meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The first meeting took place in Istanbul. Had traders been sanctioned travel permits, there would have been no need for us to meet abroad,” said Anand.YV Sharma, president of the Jammu Kashmir Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Rakesh Gupta, president of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mushtaq Wani, president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Hilal Turki, general secretary of the Cross LoC Traders’ Federation, attended the meeting.“Being purely a meeting of traders from PoK and J&K, we discussed opening more trade routes via the LoC, more tradable items in the trade list, travel permits and banking facilities to take trade to another level,” said Anand.Traders from both sides felt the need for providing direct ISD facility to traders from J&K. They urged their respective governments to reopen the Kargil-Skardu road, which was part of the once flourishing Silk Route.Traders from PoK could call up traders in J&K on their cell phones, but there was an embargo on ISD facility from J&K to PoK.Trans-LoC trade was started in 2008, but the absence of basic facilities continued to hamper its growth. The trade was a brainchild of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in 2002 during the PDP’s alliance with the Congress.