Soldiers along the Line of control are in the thick of a nerve­wracking battle after the surgical strikes in september altered the rules of the game. Hindustan Times spent time with army troops on the border to understand the challenges the men are up aga

THE SOLDIER WILL HAVE TO STAND AT HIS POST AS THE SNOWS PILE UP TO 20 AND 30 FEET AND TEMPERATURES FALL TO MINUS 20. EACH POST IS CUT OFF FROM THE OTHER FROM OCTOBER TO FEBRUARY…

Imagine standing at attention for a full 120 minutes. Imagine scanning the ridges and valleys, looking for trees that may have been cut overnight. Imagine straining your ears each time the leaves rustle. Imagine being glued to an automatic weapon, finger constantly on the trigger. Imagine an icy wind sweeping your face and the snow collecting at your feet. Imagine a life constantly on the edge.

Soldiers along the 740-km Line of Control (LoC), that demarcates India and Pakistan, are in the thick of a nerve-wracking battle. The surgical strikes following the suicide attack on an army camp in Uri on September 18 that killed 20 soldiers have drastically altered the rules of the game. The ceasefire agreement of 2003 is in tatters and the daily dose of mortar and artillery fire, have the jawans on their toes.

Lives are now on the line, by day and by night. The LoC is not an easy place to get to but HT got permission to go to the forward posts. The first briefing by Colonel MB Singh, commanding officer, 20 Rashtriya Rifles, left little room for doubt. “The place where you’re standing is within enemy range and can be pounded. In case that happens, you need to take shelter,’’ he said, pointing to his right, where sandbags cover an underground bunker. His men know the drill. Bunkers have come up next to every post and that’s the only safe place, provided you have the time to respond and run. Six to eight soldiers can crouch for safety in freshly-made bunkers that have been constructed after the surgical strikes on September 29.

Safety, however, is one thing that is not guaranteed. The soldiers, who are on full alert for 120 minutes, after which they rest their taut nerves for the next two hours, are now not just looking for infiltrating terrorists. They are also guarding against sniper attacks from Pakistani rangers and the battle action teams (BATs) comprising jihadis from the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad. In the unequal proxy war that has become sharp and intense, leaves have been curtailed and commanding officers are up all night and in constant touch with their company commanders. Leading from the front in the time of escadetect, lation and ‘near-war’ – as one officer put it – is of utmost importance.

A NEW NORMAL

India cannot afford a breach along the LoC or along the 221-km stretch of the international border between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan. The bloody attack in Uri in September and the audacious three-day stand-off at the air force base in Pathankot in January are painful reminders of what a breach can result in. “We now constantly practise anti-fidayeen and counter BAT drills,’’ says Bhaskar Kataria, commanding officer, 19 Maratha. His unit is responsible for roughly 38 km of the LoC but even though his posts are ‘’dominating Pakistan’’ because they are at a higher height, that’s not solace enough. His troops get a daily reminder of what DIE stands for: identify, eliminate. The identification is of utmost importance. In the dead of night – when the troops have to be on maximum alert – the danger of shooting one of your own has to be factored in and the orders are strict: do not fire till you have established the identity of a militant with a weapon.

In the precipitous heights that range from 9,000 to 14,000 feet, danger is manifold. Up until the attack in Uri, the army could monitor infiltration routes selectively and focus on areas identified through surveillance radars and intelligence inputs but the surgical strikes on ‘launch pads’ (areas where the Pakistani army keeps trained terrorists just before they’re pushed across the LoC into India) have also changed the vocabulary of the officers tasked with guarding the line once referred to as ‘the most dangerous place on earth’ by former US President Bill Clinton.

“We are dealing with a ‘new normal’,’’ one officer tells us. What’s the ‘new normal?’ we ask. The answer is as simple as it is stark. It is visible on a daily basis: killing of civilians (eight in a single day on November 1), heavy mortar shells whistling through the treacherous mountains, scaring civilians into migrating, artillery pounding of each other’s positions, stealth attacks that leave soldiers’ bodies mutilated.

After the ceasefire in 2003, the Indian army was able to fence large parts of the Line of Control. Attempts at putting up the anti-infiltration obstacle system (AIOS) were made earlier too but were met with constant firing from Pakistan. The rolls of concertina wire that make up this fence had helped bring infiltration levels down but the figures are spiking once again. Determined and highly-motivated terrorists are attempting to cross the line again and 2016 has already seen 70 attempts (up to September) as compared to 30 in 2015. “The fence is constantly under the gaze. It cannot be protected at every step but the troops return to the same spot, under their guard, every 30 minutes, to see if anyone has attempted to cut it,” an officer explains.

But scores of Indian posts lie ahead of the fence and these are extremely vulnerable. Sepoy Mandeep Singh, the young 28-year-old jawan whose body was mutilated, was at one such location when he came under attack from the battle action teams on October 28. Officials privy to the attack say – but only off the record – that he was beheaded just like Hemraj was three years ago, in the Poonch sector. The BATs retreated as quickly and stealthily as they had entered, secure that their masters in the Pakistani army would help them by providing cover fire. In a similar action, five days earlier, Surat Singh, from 22 Grenadiers, was amongst those who noticed some movement in the bushes. Was it a Pakistani infiltrator or a panther? That’s a question they have to contend with often. Soon, Singh saw infiltrators coming towards them with grenade launchers. He was hit by shrapnel and fell to the ground.

The border is at its most volatile. India has shrugged off its self-imposed restriction of opening up its artillery weapons and the verbal messaging from the political masters is unambiguous: fire ten mortars in return for one; don’t ask for flag meetings to lower tensions.

MULTIPLE ENEMIES

The surgical strikes, owned politically by the Narendra Modi government, have buoyed the troops on the ground but unlike the past, the officers know that this winter is going to be a turbulent one. Heavy snowfall makes for a formidable trek across the LoC but admits Lt Gen Satish Dua, Corps Commander, 15 Corps, “We expect a more difficult winter because of the heightened state of alert after the surgical strikes and are prepared for any misadventure from Pakistan.”

A heightened state of alert through the winter is a mind-boggling exercise, unimaginable till you visit the forward posts. The ridges were covered with snow in the last week of October and the temperatures had dipped to minus six degrees Celsius. And that’s just the beginning. The soldier will have to stand at his post as the snows slowly pile up to 20 and 30 feet and temperatures fall to minus 20. Each post is cut off from the other from October to February and each has to be stocked with enough ration and fuel so that the jawans can sustain themselves. For those who need to move, ropes are tied to winter route markers to help them slither to and fro. “We are fighting more than one enemy,’’ says Kataria. Twenty RR’s Singh adds, “Each soldier needs 2.3 kg of ration and while earlier we could stock by day, this time we are doing it after light fades so we are not visible to the enemy.’’

Soon, the platoon hawaldar will also be checking the feet of each solider to ensure he’s not showing early signs of chilblains. But as the days shrink, the nights become longer and the infiltrators prepare to infiltrate in snow suits, the most challenging of all is casualty evacuation. It is difficult for helicopters to land in thick fog and snow blizzards but the injured must be rushed. Surat Singh, injured by splinters, was carried on the shoulders of his colleagues because the ‘hepter’ couldn’t make it despite the pilot’s best attempts.

Lives are on the line and there is little room for leisure. Brigadier Zubin A Minwalla in Kupwara’s Pharkian Gali area had organised a cake-cutting for one of his officers, Vaibhav Fauzdar’s wedding anniversary. Before they could gather at 5pm, came news of Surat’s injury and the news that the infiltrators had managed to flee.

On the Line of Control, birthdays and anniversaries can provide a few minutes of relief and motivation, if at all. Too much is at stake. The beauty of the white mountains is treacherous. The snowcapped heights belie the daily battle of life and death

Ambala, November 4

The 501 Signal Unit and 30 Squadron will receive the President’s Standard from President Pranab Mukherjee for their exceptional and dedicated services at the Air Force Station here on November 10.Western Air Command AOC-in-C Air Marshal SB Deo informed this at the Air Forces Station here today.The 30 Squadron, based in Pune, was raised on November 1, 1969, while 501 Signal Unit, based in Barnala, was raised in 1964. The Air Marshal expressed pride over the selection of the units and said: “The President’s Standards are given to units of the armed forces which render exceptional and dedicated service over a period of time. The President himself selects the unit after a lot of deliberation and it is the most valuable achievement for a unit.” —TNS

The PMO is believed to have agreed to revise not only parliamentarians’ salary but also their allowances. File photo

New Delhi, November 2The central government has decided to give a 100 percent raise to members of parliament from their current Rs 50,000 a month.The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is learnt to have agreed to consider a proposal by the Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament, which is headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Yogi Adityanath.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The PMO is believed to have agreed to revise not only parliamentarians’ salary but also their allowances.The government is also considering an increase in President’s salary from current Rs. 1.5 lakh a month to Rs. 5 lakh and the governor’s salary from current Rs. 1.10 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh. — ANI

I attended the Kasauli Literary Festival on 15-16 Oct and was involved in two great sessions. The first with Lt Gen Mohinder Puri, former GOC 8 Mtn Div during Kargil operations in 1999. We reviewed the operations keeping his great book Kargil : Turning the Tide, recently published by Lancer. Along with us was Lt Gen KJ Singh, former GOC in C Western Command.

A day earlier I appeared on a panel on Nationalism, with Kanhaiya Kumar, Madhu Kishwar and  Gul Panag to discuss Nationalism. It proved to be the high point of the Fest leading one of the high profile journalists Achana Masih  from Rediff, who was there too, to write this piece for rediff.

I dressed very casually for the fest keeping in mind the prevailing environment of informality.

Kurukshetra/Jammu, Oct 29

The barbaric incident at the Line of Control in Kashmir in which the body of an Army jawan was mutilated after being killed by terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistan army, sparked an outrage today even as a pall of gloom descended on his native village in Haryana.Union Minister Jitendra Singh condemned the mutilation of the soldier’s body as “atrocious”, while senior Congress leader Manish Tewari called it “depraved behaviour”.At Sepoy Mandeep Singh’s Antehri village in Kurukshetra, his family demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson for harbouring terrorists while former Army officers expressed their sadness. His brother Sandeep Singh demanded  10 Pakistani heads for the price of one.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)“These are acts of cowardice and are happening at a time of desperation on the part of the Pakistan army as well as Islamabad,” minister Jitendra Singh said.“I am very sad being a soldier. It is a very sad mentality to take your anger on an injured or dead person,” said Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd).Former Army Chief General JJ Singh (retd) said it reflected the “barbarism” of the Pakistan army. “India should tell the whole world what Pakistan is doing. Particularly with India, we honoured their fallen soldiers who they had abandoned. They should be grateful to us forever. How uncivilised they are…” he said. — Agencies

Army says 4 Pak posts destroyed in massive assault

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: The Army said on Saturday it destroyed four Pakistani posts in a “massive” assault across the Line of Control in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district amid mounting tension over the mutilation of an Indian soldier’s body by militants.

“Four Pakistani posts were destroyed in a massive fire assault in Keran sector,” an army official said. Heavy casualties have been inflicted on the Pakistani side, he said, without elaborating. The Indian strike is seen as a retaliation to ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops in the Keran sector earlier in the day.

The de-facto border with Pakistan has remained tense since a militant attack on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in September left 19 soldiers dead. India retaliated by carrying out “surgical strikes” across the LoC to destroy several militant launch pads in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir. NEW DELHI: Amid continuing ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the LoC, home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday assured the nation that security forces were giving “befitting reply” to firing from across the border and that the country will not bow down before anyone. “I want to assure the nation that the security forces are giving befitting reply to the firing from Pakistan. We will not bow down before anyone,” he told reporters here.

JeM backed by Pak army may be behind jawan’s mutilation

NEW DELHI: Intelligence agencies suspect Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants, backed by Pakistani Army, to be behind the killing and mutilation of 17 Sikh battalion sepoy Mandeep Singh at Machhil sector on Friday evening, even as high alert has been sounded along the Line of Control (LoC) for more BAT action by terrorists for the remaining of 2016.

Sepoy Singh of 53 Independent Brigade was part of a patrol that left its base in Machhil sector at 4pm on Friday and was ambushed around 7.45pm by the JeM terrorists with Pakistani army providing fire cover for nearly four hours, sources said.

The Pakistani army pounded Indian positions from 4pm and continued till 8pm to facilitate BAT action by JeM terrorists. A Pakistani terrorist was gunned down by the Indian forces in retaliation but his body has not been recovered.

Top government sources said some 250-300 terrorists of both JeM and largely Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) are waiting deep beyond the launching pads to infiltrate across the LoC.

Indian security establishment has discussed the possibility of a BAT action by Pakistani terrorists along the LoC after September 28-29 surgical strikes by Indian special forces in PakistanOccupied Kashmir (PoK).

Indian army chief Gen Dalbir Singh had alerted the Northern Command on the possibility of such action.

Post the surgical strikes, one army trooper, three BSF soldiers and three civilians have been killed in cross border and LoC firing and mortar shelling by Pakistani Army.

Nineteen personnel of the security forces and 41 civilians have been injured in the unprovoked firing and shelling that has affected more than 150 villages along the international border in Jammu.

The Pakistani focus on 125 Hindu-dominated villages in Jammu has killed one person and injured another nine from the minority community.

Home ministry reports indicate all the 101 BSF/army posts have been targeted by Pakistani army since September 28-29 with Uri and Machhil sector being pounded by enemy mortars since the surgical strikes. The Pakistani army is firing across the IB and LoC with heavy machine guns and 82-inch mortars to facilitate infiltration by pinning down Indian security forces.

Do You Know Your Defense Forces? FAQs: On the Constitutional Status of Defense Forces?

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 23

The Army said today that more than 3,000 local youths appeared for the common entrance examination (CEE) for recruitment in the Army, thus defying the separatists’ protest calls.According to an Army statement : “After successful recruitment rallies in south Kashmir’s Anantnag and north Kashmir’s Bandipora districts from September 21 to October 3 in which 3,000 candidates appeared, the last phase of the CEE was held at Anantnag in south Kashmir today in which 412 candidates from different parts of Kashmir and Ladakh appeared.”The Army said the youths had proved that they wanted to serve the nation. The Army had assisted the aspirants to prepare for the CEE by conducting their pre-recruitment training across many parts of Kashmir.

It is alleged that payoffs were routed through Austria and Switzerland

New Delhi, October 21

The CBI has registered an FIR against a UK-based arms dealer for allegedly taking kickbacks worth over USD 5.7 million from Brazilian company Embraer in the 2008 three-aircraft deal.CBI sources said a case had been registered against a UK-based NRI whose name had also figured in another defence deal probed by the agency.They said the kickbacks were allegedly paid in 2009 through subsidiaries of Embraer via a Singapore-based company owned by the middleman.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

It is alleged that payoffs were routed through Austria and Switzerland.They said the agency, which had registered a preliminary inquiry in September, had converted it into a regular FIR as enough prima facie material had been found by it to proceed in the case.The deal for three aircraft, which were to be used by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for air-borne radar systems, was inked in 2008 with Embraer. A Brazilian newspaper had alleged that that the company had taken the services of middlemen to clinch deals in Saudi Arabia and India.According to defence procurement rules of India, middlemen are strictly barred in such deals.Leading Brazilian newspaper ‘Folha de Sao Paulo’ had reported that the company allegedly paid commissions to a UK-based defence agent to finalise the deal with India.The DRDO had purchased three aircraft from the company in 2008 and customised them for serving air-borne radar system known as airborne early-warning and control systems or AWACS for the Indian Air Force.The company has been under investigation by the US Justice Department since 2010 when a contract with the Dominican Republic raised the Americans’ suspicions, the report said.Since then, the investigation has widened to examine business dealings with eight more countries.After the PE was registered, Embraer had issued a statement saying, “Since 2011, Embraer has publicly reported that it has been conducting an extensive internal investigation and cooperating with the authorities on investigations regarding alleged violations of the FCPA.“The company voluntarily expanded the scope of the investigation, systematically reporting the progress of the case to the market.”“The company is not party of the legal proceedings in Brazil. Therefore, it does not have access to the information contained therein,” it had said. PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been unsparing in his efforts to imbed in the country’s consciousness political ownership of the army’s action to avenge the Uri strikes. As part of that drive, the government and the BJP have shouted down any suggestions to the contrary despite occasional spanners like the Foreign Secretary’s reported admission to a Parliamentary Committee of such strikes having been carried out before.  A clarification skirted the Foreign Secretary’s main assertion and emphasises on India’s first-ever admission of such an operation. No government can pass up the opportunity to capitalise on a military operation on its watch. But the Modi government has moved on two fronts.Political appropriation of the strike is a work-in-progress but it is time to examine the government’s channeling of vast amounts of energy and resources to internationally isolate Pakistan. It didn’t require a Chinese report to mention what has been obvious. Instead of inviting SAARC to the BRICS summit, India opted for BIMSTEC that doesn’t have Pakistan.  But Modi may have queered the pitch by giving an Israel-like spin to the Indian army attack. Israel’s ways and methods of security management have always held the political Hindutva devotees in thrall. But large sections of the world see Israeli tactics as an impermanent solution that it is fated to repeat over and over again.Surely the Prime Minister’s intention was not to equate the Indian armed forces with the trigger-happy Israeli army. Israel’s military actions have created a permanent sore the world over and motivate generations of Palestinians to settle scores with a much superior enemy. It has also provided the fuel for faith-based mobilisation that we today know as political terrorism. Bangladesh, despite its overt political reliance on India, may have started feeling queasy over the Israel comparison.  As the BRICS joint declaration showed, in an era of ultra-violence, the world doesn’t really pay heed to border skirmishes.  The domestic dividend of the surgical strikes will be known in the coming assembly elections. But intemperate statements have already started diminishing the efficacy of the efforts to isolate Pakistan.

Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh joins party workers in cleaning the statue of Subedar Nand Singh at Fauji Chowk in Bathinda on Wednesday. PTI

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 19

Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder, whose book “Lest We Forget” has a detained mention of Subedar Nand Singh, lambasted the Badal government for “failing” to maintain his statue here.He along with party workers and leaders took upon himself the task of cleaning the statue of Victoria Cross and Maha Vir Chakra decorated Subedar Nand Singh of the 1st Sikh Regiment.He expressed anguish over the pitiable condition of the statue installed at Fauji (Shaheed) Chowk. He said there was no point in setting up memorials and installing statues if the government could not ensure their proper maintenance. He urged the Indian Army to take over the upkeep of such properties to prevent their degradation. “Our martyrs deserve no less,” he said.Himself hailing from the 1st Sikh Regiment, Amarinder described the condition of the statue as “yet another glaring instance of how little the Badals care for martyrs and their memorials.”Amarinder today met farmers at Gidderbaha, Muktsar, Bathinda and Faridkot on the third and last day of the Kisan Rath Yatra. Meanwhile, the PPCC chief claimed that there was no plan yet to enter into an alliance with the CPI.‘Will resign as MP after poll’Gidderbaha: PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh today made it clear that he would not resign as MP for contesting the state assembly elections. “I will resign only after the results of the elections. This is the convention and I had even contested the Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar while being the MLA Patiala,” he said.