On Saturday, the tarmac of the 28 Squadron (“The First Supersonics”) in Gujarat’s Jamnagar buzzed with the roar of the MiG-29 legacy jets, popularly known as “Baaz” (eagle), as they took off for Ojhar in Maharashtra, where the IAF’s ’11 Base Repair Depot’ (BRD) is located. The ’11 BRD’ that was set up in 1975 is the only fighter aircraft depot of the IAF.

The two jets flew in a formation and carried out a flypast over the Ojhar airfield, marking the end to an impressive era when this aircraft proved its mettle in operations.

The aircraft flown by commanding officer group captain JS Patel carried out a flypast at the overhead of Ojhar Airfield.

It landed and was received by the 11 BRD officials where it will be overhauled.

Air Commodore Samir V Borade, the Commanding Officer of 11 BRD, handed over the souvenir plaque to the Commanding Officer of the squadron to mark the event.

The Indian Navy operates some 45 new MiG-29K onboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. The fighter jets will also operate from the deck of the new carrier, INS Vikrant, being built in Kochi. The new MiG-29Ks whose wings can be folded are a very different aircraft from the legacy MiG-29s as the naval version has been optimized for landing on aircraft carriers and for maritime operations.

Since 1975, the ’11 BRD’ has upgraded over 500 fighter jets including Sukhoi-7, MiG-23, and Sukhoi-30MKI. It started overhauling MiG-29s in 1996.

Several variants of the MiG-29s – as also the MiG-21s – have served with the air forces of nations friendly with the former Soviet Union and later Russia and have seen action in multiple conflicts.

SEEKING the extension of President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told the Lok Sabha on Friday that Article 370 — which grants special status to the state — is ‘temporary’. He was quoting from the Constitution, wherein the term ‘temporary’ has been used with the Article. This provision has triggered several controversies regarding its merit and the circumstances under which it was inserted into the Constitution when J&K faced aggression from Pakistan’s tribesmen; this had led the last Dogra king of the state, Maharaja Hari Singh, to accede to India for getting the military’s help to repel the invaders. The negotiations for this provision were held between the Centre and the representatives of J&K, led by Kashmir’s towering leader Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.

Over the past few decades, this Article, which entitles the state to have its own constitution, flag and legislature that can pass its own laws — and the Central laws cannot apply to J&K without its concurrence — is deemed as permanent. Some rulings of the Supreme Court have maintained this position. The Kashmiri Muslim community regards the Article as an iconic symbol of its distinct political identity and a matter of collective dignity. Some voices, including that of former CM Omar Abdullah, have said that “If Article 370 goes, the accession of the state into India also collapses.”

The Home Minister has held India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, responsible for the discrepancy in the Constitution in the form of Article 370. Shah also suggested that the current conflict was an offshoot of this constitutional provision and the ‘fake’ elections held in the 1950s and 1960s. When he reminded the House that it was a temporary provision, the implication was that the Article would go sooner or later as the BJP, which has been demanding its abrogation, has stuck to its stand on the issue. His words were given a supplementary explanation by BJP’s national general secretary in charge of J&K, Ram Madhav, who said on Saturday that “Article 370 will have to go lock, stock and barrel” after fulfilling certain procedures. This has reignited a debate on whether the Article should stay or not, and will bring diverse political outfits in Kashmir under one umbrella to, as they claim, fight for safeguarding the state’s special status.

A Pakistani soldier was killed and two women were injured on Thursday in an alleged cross-border shelling by Indian security forces along the Line of Control (LoC), the Pakistan Army said.

The shelling occurred in Baroh and Chirikot sector, the Inter-Services Public Relations, the army’s media wing, said in a statement.

In response, Pakistan troops targeted Indian Army posts which were “substantially damaged” and there was also reports of casualties of Indian troops, the statement said.
Pakistan has frequently summoned Indian envoys over the human losses in the firing across the LoC.

On October 8, Foreign Office summoned Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia to record a strong protest against the killing of woman in “unprovoked ceasefire violations” by Indian forces on October 6 and 7.

Ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after New Delhi’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5. Pakistan reacted angrily to the move and expelled the Indian envoy. Since then, Pakistan has been trying to rally international support against India on the issue.

India has been maintaining that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan and there is no scope for third-party mediation.

On the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh — June 27 — it’s time to look afresh and recall some of the unprecedented achievements of a mighty Indian Maharaja, checkmating the mightier Englishmen, steam-rolling their Indian opponents with ease, one after another.

Abhijit Bhattacharyya
Commentator and Author

When Rabindranath Tagore wrote the immortal stanza on Sikhs: “Pancha nadir tire, beni pakaiya shire; dekhite dekhite gurur mantre jagiya uthichhe Sikh; nirmomo nirbhik” (on the banks of the five rivers, tying their hair and braids, the Sikhs responded to the clarion call of their Gurus to wake up from torpor to transform themselves as valiant fighters for their honour), one is not sure whether the poet had Maharaja Ranjit Singh in mind or not.

Nevertheless, the well-known fact is that Tagore wrote at least six poems on Sikh heroism and martyrdom owing to the indelible impression it left on his psyche. Thus, he wrote two poems in 1888, three in 1898, and one in 1935. Of them, three were on Guru Gobind Singh, one each on Banda Bahadur and Bhai Taru Singh, and one on the boy, Nehal Singh.

Be that as it may, if we re-focus from the spiritual to the statecraft of the Sikhs led by Ranjit Singh, what re-surfaces today is the mind-boggling action and thought process of the first geo-strategic thinker-cum-ruler of modern Indian history who knew how to call a spade a spade with the rapacious and roving British, notwithstanding his multi-front disadvantages. 

On the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who passed away on June 27, 1839, at Lahore, the capital of his empire, it’s time to look afresh and recall some of the unprecedented achievements of a mighty Indian Maharaja, checkmating the mightier Englishmen, steam-rolling their Indian opponents with ease, one after another. In a matter of days. Battle after battle. State after state. The London juggernaut across South Asian terrain appeared endless, and unstoppable.

When Ranjit was born (originally named Buddh Singh) on November 13, 1780, and growing, it was an era of perennial turbulence and anarchy in India. The Marathas (aspiring to be the Mughals’ successor on the Delhi throne) had already been brutally battered by Afghan chief Ahmad Shah Abdali (aka Durrani) in the third battle of Panipat (January 1761). Soon thereafter, the English (under Warren Hastings), too, fought the Marathas and ended with the treaty of Salbai (May 1782), thereby giving another rude jolt to the Indian dream of establishing ‘Hindu Pada Padashahi’ (the Great Hindu Kingdom). 

Thus, when (minor) Ranjit, as the chief of Sukarchakia Sikh Misl, since April 1792, ascended the throne in April 1801 (at 20-plus), who would foresee the man reigning a long 38 years, till 1839? Perhaps, the ruler Ranjit himself also could not have had seen the future valour, achievement and foresight of his own self!

No wonder, Ranjit’s sixth sense-cum-vision told him to contain the British in the south through sweet words of diplomacy and curb the congenitally habitual invaders of India (since time immemorial) with the sword-wielding cavalry combatants to the north and north-west. Thus was concluded one of the rare, landmark treaties: the Treaty of Amritsar on April 25, 1809, between the British Government and the State of Lahore.

As many as 210 years have gone post the Amritsar Treaty, yet every Indian would be proud to peruse its semantics: “Both parties being anxious to maintain the relations of perfect amity and concord” were the opening words. The British want “perfect amity and concord” with an Indian ruler! How often has it happened during 19th-century Indian history? The treaty was concluded “by Rajah Ranjeet Singh on his own part, and by the agency of Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, on the part of the British Government.” Ranjit’s best bet came as a sort of guarantee by the British: “The British Government will have no concern with the territories and subjects of the Rajah” (Ranjeet Singh) “to the northward of the Sutlej”.

The strategic vision of Ranjit assured avoidance of ‘war on two fronts’. The British, too, having thus far arrived from their tiny island, were more than aware of their vulnerability owing to the real possibility of a Maratha revival in the heartland and the prospect of growing resentment in the periphery turning into a multi-front revolt across the Indian terrain. Both the British and the Punjab king secured their respective fronts.

Assured of stability and security, Ranjit had the north, north-west, and west to move his military; which he did. Successfully. With ‘one at a time’ policy. With a professional band of fortune-seeking, able commanders transcending borders and barriers of caste, language and religion, thereby putting Ranjit Singh way ahead of his times, compatriots, foes and friends alike. His sentence ‘Ek din sab lal ho jayega’ (One day everything will turn red) after seeing several red-colour territories on the map of South Asia (red denoting the British-conquered or -occupied Indian kingdoms and principalities) was prophetic. Ranjit Singh certainly was no prophet. He was an able ruler. A king. Far from pretentious. He had his plus points. He also had fault lines and share of failure.

He was a brilliant commander and himself a warrior par excellence without doubt. However, it was the misfortune of Punjab, and hence the history of India, that so great a visionary and geostrategic ruler like him would leave behind an empire destined to be doomed so fast and furious.

It’s of course no fault of Ranjit Singh that his was an essentially land power owing to Punjab (for that matter all territories which he conquered), Kashmir, Afghanistan and the fringe areas of Central Asia being landlocked. Hence, when the ‘great game’ began for the possession of land as buffer by the British and access to the Indian Ocean warm water port by Moscow (through the territories of South Asia) to break out of its land-fixative strategy, the importance of Ranjit Singh as the best buffer emerged for London and Moscow. His stability and ability were undoubtedly far superior, and preferable, to the eternal turbulence of Afghanistan which the British realised soon after his demise.

The British made the fatal mistake to fight the Afghans directly, in March 1839; but came back battered and shattered in 1842. There was no Ranjit Singh to give the British shelter, safety and security from/of/for the north-west frontier, to expand across other zones. The strong man of Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Central Asia was gone. And as it so often happens, an ‘over-strong’ predecessor is invariably succeeded by spineless, squabbling successors. Ashoka, Aurangzeb and Hitler: all were strong. Their states just capitulated after them. One is reminded of the old saying about the strong father’s weak son: “His sceptre was the bow of Ulysses which could not be drawn by a weaker hand.”

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 8

Of the 33 cadets from Punjab, who were commissioned as officers at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, today, as many as 15 are alumni of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI), Mohali.

A total of 382 officers of the 144th Course, along with 77 foreign cadets, passed out from the IMA today. Punjab stood at the fourth place in terms of the number of officers in the batch, a marked improvement over previous years.

The highest number of officers are from Uttar Pradesh (72), followed by Bihar (46) and Haryana (40). The passing out parade was reviewed by Lt Gen C Mathson, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Command.

The cadets from the AFPI are from the institute’s third batch. They had undergone two-year training at the institute along with completing their Class XII from 2013 to 2015, followed by three years at the NDA and a final year at the IMA. The senior most among them was Battalion Under Officer Harshdeep Singh Sohi, who has been commissioned into the Mechanised Infantry.

Amongst the rest, two have joined the Armoured Corps, four each have opted for the Infantry and the Artillery while two each have chosen the Signals and the Army Ordnance Corps.

“With this, the total number of commissioned officers from the first three AFPI batches comes to 50. Another five cadets are under training at the Air Force Academy and are expected to be commissioned into the Indian Air Force on June 15,” said Maj Gen BS Grewal, Director General, AFPI.

In the batch that had passed out in June last year, over half the cadets from Punjab were AFPI alumni. General Grewal said so far, six AFPI courses had contributed 119 cadets to various service academies.

The AFPI was set up by the Punjab Government in 2011 for training boys for joining the armed forces as commissioned officers through the NDA or other service academies. Earlier, the entire state was sending just six to eight boys to the NDA for each course.

Itanagar/New Delhi, June 5

A massive day-night search for a transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force, which went missing two days ago, continued on Wednesday in remote mountainous Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh’s West Siang district.

The Russian-origin AN-32 aircraft with 13 people on board lost contact on Monday afternoon after taking off from Jorhat in Assam for Menchuka advanced landing ground near the border with China.

IAF sources on Wednesday said additional assets, including two Sukhoi-30 aircraft, were deployed on the third day to locate the missing plane apart from the fleet of C-130J and AN-32 planes and two Mi-17 and two ALH helicopters.

The ground forces included troops from the Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and state police.

The two Sukhoi-30 and two C-130J aircraft will carry out night missions, they said.

The IAF has been regularly updating the families of all air-warriors on board the aircraft about the rescue operation.

Military sources said rescuers have not received any signal from the emergency locator beacon in the missing plane, adding there is a possibility that the device may not have been functional.

They said the plane that went missing is yet to be upgraded with latest avionics and radars, though some of the AN-32 were strengthened with advanced systems.

The Indian Navy’s P-8I aircraft was deployed on Tuesday as it has electro-optical and infra-red sensors which could be helpful in the search operation.

IAF officials said ISRO’s Cartosat and RISAT satellites are taking images of the area around Menchuka to help the rescuers find the plane.

They said the area has thick vegetation and difficult terrain which are making the rescue operation challenging.

The IAF on Monday said the aircraft took off from Jorhat at 12.27 pm for the Menchuka advance landing ground, and its last contact with the ground control was at 1 pm.

A total of eight aircrew and five passengers were on board the aircraft.

The AN-32 is a Russian origin aircraft and the IAF currently operates a sizeable number of it. It is a twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft.

An AN-32 aircraft had crashed near a village in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh in June 2009 in which 13 defence personnel were killed.

The aircraft had crashed over the Rinchi Hill above Heyo village, about 30 km from Mechuka advance landing ground.

In July 2016, an AN-32 aircraft went missing while taking off from Chennai for Port Blair with 29 people on board.

The aircraft could not be traced following weeks of massive search operations covering 2,17,800 square nautical miles by multiple aircraft.

Months later, an IAF court of inquiry concluded that it was unlikely that the missing personnel on board the aircraft would have survived the accident. — PTI

Col Manmohan SIngh father of Lt Gen Ranbir Singh contradicts surgical strikes due to name changed for Raids conducted earlier .Her himself had conducted Raids in J& K.

Photo for representation only.

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 12

Almost three years after 19 people lost their lives in a massive fire that had broken out at the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), Pulgaon, it has now emerged that the Army had made multiple requests to the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) for removing defective anti-tank mines from the depot but no action was taken.

A petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the widow of Lt Col RS Pawar, herself an Army officer hailing from Rohtak, has averred that the Army had in strong terms put on record that the matter was being “delayed deliberately” and “dragged unendingly”, thereby posing a serious threat to safety and security of personnel and endangering the establishment.

No effective action whatsoever was taken by the OFB, ultimately leading to the tragic blast in depot, one of the largest in Asia, on May 31, 2016, because of defective mines.

Two officers, including Lt Col Pawar, who was posthumously decorated for gallantry, and 17 others were killed and a huge stockpile of ammunition was destroyed.

Taking cognisance of the petition filed by Maj Reenu Ohlan, the high court has issued notices to the Department of Defence Production (DDP) and the OFB.

Besides seeking compensation “as the court may deem fit” from these two establishments, she has also sought action on the directions passed by the defence minister for fixing accountability and culpability in the incident and also for ensuring time-bound removal of all defective ammunition to prevent any such catastrophe in the future.

It was the mandate of technical experts from the OFB and the Quality Assurance Directorate to remove the mines categorised as defective.

The Army, which controls the CAD, is not authorised to handle such ammunition. In fact, there was another blast at CAD, Pulgaon in 2018, in which six persons were killed.

The petition states that thereafter the statutory Court of Inquiry established the lapses at various stages at the end of the OFB and directions were issued by the then defence minister in July 2016 to fix responsibility and criminal culpability and also to replace and dispose all defective ammunition.

Despite orders from the highest political executive, that the aforesaid action be taken within one month, no effective steps have been taken till date, the petition claims.

Pointing out that though the Army and the Department of Defence (DoD) in the MoD are supporting her, she has averred that there has been total apathy, negligence and indifference on part of the DDP and OFB.