Current Events :
The aircraft that crashed. ANI
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 28
An IAF training aircraft on a training sortie crashed near Hyderabad on Thursday morning.The pilot, a trainee, ejected safely.
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The plane, a Kiran trainer aircraft had got airborne from Hakimpet in Hyderabad for a routine training mission when it crashed.A Court of Inquiry will ascertain the cause of the accident.
TONY MCCLENAGHAN, A MILITARY HISTORIAN, WAS IN CHANDIGARH TO DELIVER THE FIRST MAHARAJA YADAVINDRA MEMORIAL LECTURE
CHANDIGARH: In Punjab, it’s remembered as the “waddi ladai” (the big war). The World War-1 fought by the British India continues to resonate in the state, which sent a large number of soldiers to the battlefields spread across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
McClenaghan, who has authored “Armies of the Indian Princely States”, is working to correct that oversight. He says the princely states, including Patiala, Kapurthala and Faridkot, contributed 50,000 men to the WW-1, of whom 18,500 served overseas where 1,634 were killed in action or went missing. They received 689 gallantry awards, including Indian Order of Merit (first class), which was considered equivalent to the Victoria Cross. IMPERIAL FORCES At least 40 of the 560 princely states volunteered their services to the British, merely days after the war erupted.
“Many did it out of a sense of honour and duty. They regarded themselves as leaders of fighting men. Also, they hoped that their participation would make the British loosen their stranglehold on the kingdoms and place India on a more equal footing with other colonies such as Australia and New Zealand,” said McClenaghan, who was invited by the Centre for Indian Military History (CIMH) to deliver the first Maharaja Yadavindra Memorial lecture here.
Mandeep Singh Bajwa, chairman of the CIMH, said the greatest contribution of the Patiala ruler, Yadvindra Singh, was to persuade his fellow princes to throw in their lot with India, thereby preventing its Balkanisation. AGAINST ALL ODDS Ill-equipped and ill-trained, it wasn’t an easy transition for the soldiers of the imperial forces. Maj Gen Raj Mehta (retd) said the soldiers wore cotton uniforms in cold Europe and were issued guns they had never fired before. “They learnt on the job, while displaying exceptional gallantry,” said McClenaghan.
The Patiala Lancers worked on the communication lines in Mesopotamia. The Indian 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade was part of the two regiments that captured the towns of Haifa and Acre. The Jodhpur Lancers’ commander, Major Dalpat Singh Shekhawat, who was killed in the battle, was posthumously awarded the Military Cross. Even today, the 61st Cavalry Regiment of the Indian Army commemorates the battle as Haifa Day on September 23 every year.
The Europeans found the Indian troops quite an eyeful. In France, they were called the “gentlemen from India”, while the Germans labelled them as “exotic barbarians”. McClenaghan recounts how the French lined the streets to get a glimpse of the Indian troops. “There are photos of young women pinning flowers on their uniforms at the Champs Elysees,” he said. PERSONAL CONNECT Many families in Punjab continue to carry memories of that war in the form of medals, tales and letters. Charanjeet Kaur Sohi, principal of Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector 26, heard of the war from her grandfather, Second Lieutenant Ude Singh, who had fought in the third battle of Krithia at Gallipoli. “I still have the 100-odd letters he exchanged with his commanding officer,” she recounted.
Lt Col MS Grewal (retd) had brought with him a photograph of his grandfather Havildar Bishan Singh, who was part of the 15 Sikh, the first Indian unit to land in France. He was injured in the famous Battle of NeuveChapelle that saw hand-to-hand combat in which 172 Indian soldiers were killed. Grewal still has his grandfather’s medals that include an Indian Distinguished Services Medal (IDSM).
Lt Gen KJ Singh (retd), former western army commander, drew the attention of the gathering to 300 audio files of prisoners of wars (POWs) lodged in German camps. “We must consider visiting the place. There are families in Punjab whose kin went missing in the war. They need a closure,” he said.
Col PS Randhawa (retd), who has the audio recording of Sepoy Mall Singh, an Indian POW in Germany, agrees. “Mall Singh sums up the entire battle in 80 seconds. His last words ‘Maharaj kirpa kare, chheti sulah hoye’ (May God be bountiful, and a truce be signed soon) always haunt me.”
Navy soldiers during the commissioning of INS Tarasa in Mumbai on Tuesday. PTI
Mumbai, September 26
The first Scorpene-class submarine Kalvari is expected to be commissioned by November-December, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra said on Tuesday.The Scorpene-class submarine was handed over to the Indian Navy four days back by the Mazgaon Dock Limited, one of the key ship building units of the Indian Navy.“The Kalvari submarine has already been in the sea for some time. Some 110 days of sea trials have been completed and more pre-commissioning sea trials are going on. We are expecting it to be commissioned by November-December this year,” Vice Admiral Luthra said.The submarines, designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS, are being built by Mazagon Dock Limited here as part of Project-75 of the Indian Navy.”The Indian Navy is keen on increasing indigenous components in ship building activity. We have also increased the indigenous components in submarines as well. The components’ share needs to be increased in weapons and sensors,” Vice Admiral Luthra said.He was speaking here at the commissioning of Indian Navy’s ship Tarasa at the Naval dockyard here.The Western Naval Command today commissioned INS Tarasa, which is a 400 tonne ship.It was a much needed addition in the Navy’s fleet, Luthra said. — PTI
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 16
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman paid a maiden visit to the Headquarters of the Western Command at the Chandimandir Military Station today.She was briefed about the operational preparedness, administrative issues and ex-servicemen’s affairs by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Lt Gen Surinder Singh.Expressing complete confidence in the immense operational might of the Western Command, she lauded its contribution to all spheres, including assistance to the civilian administration, especially in the recent past.She also laid a wreath at the Veer Smriti war memorial to pay tributes to martyrs and planted a sapling in the complex. She also interacted with the troops. Sitharaman attended a function at Kasauli and later proceeded back to New Delhi.
All praise
The minister lauded the Western Command’s contribution to all spheres, including assistance to the civilian administration.
Incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops have increased sharply this year. Tribune file
Jammu, September 16
Pakistani troops targeted Indian border outposts and hamlets along the International Border (IB) in Jammu district in overnight firing and shelling, a senior BSF officer said on Saturday.
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There have been continuous ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the IB for the past four days. A BSF jawan was killed and a few others were injured in the cross-Loc fire on Friday.
Pakistani troops started firing at Indian posts in Arnia sector around midnight, prompting Border Security Force (BSF) personnel to retaliate, the officer said.
“Firing stopped at 0645 hours,” the officer said.
One temple, two houses and three cowsheds were damaged in the Pakistani firing in Sai, Treva and Jabowl villages. Three livestock were killed in the overnight shelling, the officer added.
BSF jawan Bijender Bahadur was killed and a villager injured on Friday when Pakistan troops resorted to firing and shelling along the IB in Arnia sector.
Two Pakistani soldiers were killed in retaliatory action by the BSF on Thursday, while three Indian jawans were injured in unprovoked firing and shelling by Pakistani troops along the IB and the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Poonch districts on Wednesday.
Incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops have increased sharply this year. Till August 1, there have been 285 such actions by the Pakistan Army, while in 2016, the number was significantly less at 228 for the entire year, according to figures by the Indian Army. PTI
The Army also recovered weapons from the spot. PTI file
Tribune News Service
Jammu, September 16
Two militants were on Saturday killed as the Indian Army foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Machhil sector in Kashmir
Army said troops noticed suspicious movement along the LoC and challenged the intruders, leading to a gunfight in which the two militants were killed.
Weapons have been recovered from the slain militants.
More details awaited.
TARN TARAN: A 35 year-old soldier’s body was found in a dry canal of Uppal village in Khadoor Sahib sub-division on Wednesday night.
The Tarn Taran police are claiming it to be a ‘blind murder’. According to the police, the deceased Harpreet Singh of Fatehpur Badesa village had been deployed at Leh Ladakh as a sepoy in the army and was on leave for the last few days.
Harpreet had gone to Rayya town in Amritsar on Wednesday evening for some work by his Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 car but didn’t come back home, said the cops, as per the information, from the family members.
“After waiting till late night, the victim’s kin started searching for the victim from their village to the Rayya town,” said assistant sub inspector (ASI) Lakhwinder Singh.
“The victim’s family found his car abandoned, with broken windows, at the bridge of a canal in Uppal village. Harpreet’s body was found in the dry canal,” he said.
The police reached on the spot and started the investigation.
“A case under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against unidentified person(s) and the body has been sent to Tarn Taran civil hospital for post-mortem,” said assistant sub inspector (ASI) Lakhwinder Singh.
“Preliminary investigation suggest that Harpreet was strangled to death but we are investigating into the matter,” he said.
NEW DELHI: Granted bail by the Supreme Court in a blast case on Monday, Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit could be back serving the army.
The army would review his suspension, which could be revoked, and he could be posted to a unit in due course, army officials said on Monday.
Purohit was arrested for his alleged involvement in the September 29, 2008 blast in Maharashtra’s Muslim-majority town of Malegaon that killed six people.
The officer, who participated in counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir and was also with military intelligence, spent almost nine years in judicial custody.
The first serving army officer to be arrested on charges of terrorism, Purohit was granted bail on a personal security of ₹1 lakh and two sureties of the same sum.
The court directed the officer to surrender his passport and cooperate with the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the attack that came to be known as an act of “Hindu terror” along with six more cases.
The army suspended the officer shortly after his arrest in the Malegaon case. He was drawing 25% of his pay and allowances while under suspension but it was later revised to 75% following an order by the armed forces tribunal, sources said.
The officer would be attached to an army unit soon and allowed to wear his uniform, sources said.
“An officer under suspension is under the same restrictions as an officer under open arrest during a general court martial. During open arrest, an officer has to wear his uniform though he may be permitted to wear civilian clothes,” an army man said. Granting him bail, the court said there were variations in the charge sheets filed by the Mumbai anti-terrorism squad, which initially probed the case, and the NIA.
The trial was likely to take a long time and Purohit had been in prison for about eight years and eight months, it said.
Opposing the bail, the NIA said Purohit was the main conspirator and there was sufficient material to prove his involvement in the blast, which amounted to waging war against the state, and, that too, by violent means.
To keep the camaraderie alive, Citizen of Noida, paid homage to their 36 Martyrs, on Independence Day, at Shaheed Smarak Memorial in Sector 29 Noida. It is the only, triservice memorial in our country dedicated to the Nation by Services chiefs in 2002.
The chairman, Lt General Bakshi (V) PVSM, laid the first wreath followed by families of the martyrs, heads of institutions,residents of Noida, students and members of sanstha. It was a sight to watch as some of them stood in solemn silence and paid homage to the soldiers unknown to them including granddaughter of Col VN Thapar. The national Flag and flags of three services were fluttering majestically and adding to the great ambience of the memorial.
Cdr N Mahajan(V)
Director, Shaheed Samarak Sanstha, Noida
M 305 Sec 25 Noida
9818315422
