Amritsar, May 5

The Akal Takht has taken note of the alleged discrimination meted out to Sikh youth hailing from hilly areas at the time of recruitment in the Army. It has sought intervention of the SGPC into the matter.

Akal Takht’s acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said turbaned Sikhs living in the foothills of Hoshiarpur, Mukerian, Tanda and Ropar had been subjected to discrimination in terms of relaxation in height criteria during recruitment in the defence services.

“We have received complaints that Sikhs who support turbans have not been given a special certificate of height relaxation by the authorities. Also, the certificate used to be issued under the name of ‘Dogra certificate’, which has now been changed to ‘Hindu Dogra certificate’. This is also objectionable. This discrimination needs urgent attention and the SGPC has been directed to carry out a probe and take action,” he said.

Meanwhile, Haryana Jannayak Janata Party’s state president and former MLA Nishan Singh appeared before the Akal Takht to seek an apology. He had equated the Dera Sirsa cult with Guru Gobind Singh in a video clip that went viral recently. Since he has submitted a written apology, he has been directed to hold ‘Akhand Path’ for atonement. —TNS

Although the lesser beneficiary, India has never deprived Pakistan of its share of water under the Indus Waters Treaty, even when there is ample evidence to suggest that the neighbour continues to waste the precious resource. The persistent use of antiquated agricultural techniques in Pakistan has led to excessive loss of water

Lt Gen PK Grover (retd)
Former State Information Commissioner, Punjab

WATER is perhaps the most coveted resource in the world today. With a burgeoning world population and consistently increasing demand, it is also becoming a highly scarce resource, especially in the developing countries. Its misuse, overuse or wastage is a matter of global concern.

After Independence, the Indus Waters Treaty was negotiated at Pakistan’s insistence to allay the fear of water insecurity in the lower riparian state. The treaty was signed with the World Bank as facilitator on September 19, 1960.

The spirit of the treaty, as stated in the preamble, included three essential parameters — optimum utilisation of all available water in the Indus basin; to maintain goodwill and friendship; and to cooperate in future for further exploitation — which were also to be taken into consideration while approving loans to Pakistan for replacement and developmental works.

For the past over 58 years, Pakistan has been the beneficiary of 80 per cent of the water available in the Indus basin. Pakistan had also received financial assistance in creating/developing the best canal and irrigation system in the world. This amount included £62 million paid by India.

Water is becoming an existential issue for Pakistan. As per a recent report, the United Nations has estimated that Pakistan’s water supply has dropped from about 5,000 cubic metres per person in the 1950s to about 1,000 cubic metres. It is expected to fall below 700 cubic metres (international marker for water scarcity) by 2025. Pakistan is the third most water-stressed country in the world.

Pakistan has been attributing its water scarcity to Indian action of constructing hydroelectric power projects on the western rivers, a situation that would jeopardise economic growth and prove to be a health hazard for Pakistan. Broadly, the problems may be attributed to Pakistan having drawn limited benefit of India’s benevolence, despite the fact that it has been receiving more than its authorised share. As per the treaty, Pakistan was to receive 136 MAF (million acre feet) of water annually, but as per a recent report it is getting about 154 MAF.

The treaty was signed with undivided Pakistan to provide requisite food security. Thus, the interests of erstwhile East Pakistan were also part of this agreement. Even though India has a separate treaty with Bangladesh, Pakistan continues to get more than its authorised share of water under fundamentally changed circumstances and with no justification for declining per capita water availability.

It can be inferred that optimal utilisation of water has been overlooked. This is most evident in the case of inefficient use of water for irrigation by Pakistan as almost 80 per cent of the water is used for low-value agricultural production. Moreover, for an irrigated agricultural area of 36 million acres, out of an average 104 MAF of river flows diverted for canal irrigation, a considerable amount of water is lost in conveyance and in its field applications. Water loss in field applications is due to lack of coordination between agriculture and irrigation departments. Incidentally, Pakistan is also permitting about 39.4 MAF of fresh water, worth approximately $25 billion, to flow into the Arabian Sea annually as it does not have enough reservoirs or dams to store water. Views regarding mismanagement of water have been expressed on the floor of Pakistan’s Senate on a number of occasions.

The treaty had been worked out on the assumption of 75 per cent cropping intensity. However, Pakistan has crossed 160 per cent in 2018, resulting in utilising about 95 per cent of the available water for agriculture alone. Further, the continued use of traditional and antiquated agricultural techniques has also led to the non-judicious use and excessive loss of water. As a result, the yield per hectare of cereal crops continues to be consistently low even when the most fertile lands are available in the interfluves (doabs) of the rivers.

Another vital use of the waters is for hydroelectric power generation, but here too Pakistan has lagged in optimal and judicious utilisation. Globally, most countries generate 80 per cent of their power requirements from their installed infrastructure, but Pakistan’s generation capacity only meets 65 per cent of the needs due to old plants, poor maintenance and circular debt. As per the World Energy Council Report 2016, Pakistan has an installed capacity of 6,481 MW of hydropower from all plants on the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab and Kabul rivers. The overall power deficiency of about 3,000 MW is made up by importing power from Iran, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

There is great reduction (about 33 per cent) in the storage capacity at the facilities developed at Tarbela, Mangala and Chasma for 17.79 MAF. This is primarily on account of excessive sedimentation. Pakistan has water storage capacity just for 30 days (indicating a paltry 150 cubic metres per person) against the minimum requirement of 120 days, while most of the developed countries have one-two years’ water storage capability.

It is apparent that this situation is now being exploited by Pakistan by approaching various world forums. India has all along adhered to the provisions of the treaty in letter and spirit. Although the lesser beneficiary, India has never deprived Pakistan of its share of water under the treaty, even when there is ample evidence to suggest that Pakistan continues to waste it, which can be stopped by being sensitive to the need of achieving optimum level of utilising this fast-depleting resource through improved infrastructure, better management and awareness. The question remains: should Pakistan be allowed to continue wasting the Indus waters and converting a renewable resource into a non-renewable one?

Ishfaq Tantry & Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, April 8

A day after civilian movement on the 270-km Baramulla-Srinagar-Udhampur National Highway was barred to secure the safe passage of security forces’ convoys, the Army and other forces’ convoys continued to ply on the highway in Kashmir today, prompting the people to question the logic behind the bi-weekly ban.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted a video of convoys plying on Monday despite two days being reserved specifically for their passage on the highway, which serves as a lifeline.

“If it is safe for SF convoys to move on Monday without closing the highway to civilian traffic, why is it not safe on Wednesdays and Sundays?

Nothing proves the mindlessness of the order more than the Army movement on ‘unsafe’ days. This road is part of the highway by the way,” he said in one of the tweets.

Throughout Monday, the Army convoys were seen plying along the Baramulla-Qazigund stretch, raising questions as the government had on April 3  notified Sunday and Wednesday for forces’ movement every week, restricting civilian traffic movement on the highway on these two designated days.  

An Army official who wished not to be named said that the ban was imposed not based on the inputs of Army, as Army requires to ply convoys on all days.

Besides, sources in police also alluded to this fact that plying convoys on exclusive days without civilian traffic on highway would make them (convoys) more prone to attacks by militants.

In fact, during the 2016 unrest following Burhan Wani’s killing,  the Army used to ply convoys during night hours, but the militants had attacked one such convoy in Baramulla, in which two personnel and a police driver was killed. Later, the Army decided to ply convoys during day time.

Apart from the Army, CRPF and BSF convoys also plied along the highway today. “The Army will ply their vehicles all the days except Friday,” a defence official said.

Brig Vivek Lall

The notion of victory or military success, be it in war or counterterrorist operations, lies in the mind. We know it better now, because of the pervasiveness of social media and the ease in availability of information. For me, this lesson was driven home in the forests of Jammu and Kashmir on the LoC at a time when terrorism was at its peak in the early 1990s.

My battalion had just moved to the LoC in an area known to be a traditional infiltration route. Our warm welcome started with discovery of an improvised explosive device along the fence where we kept our ammunition. If that was not enough, we found solar-activated rockets apparently aimed at where some of the officers stayed. We were fortunate in preventing what could have been a very sticky beginning. In the period that followed, we did everything we could to ‘dominate’ the LoC and the entire area behind it, where there were about 20-odd villages spread over approximately 80-100 sq km. In the rear areas, our innovative patrols would climb mountains from one side and walk through villages on the other to completely surprise even the locals; and we cultivated a network to identify ‘over ground workers’ or terrorists operating in full view. One such person (a shopkeeper) had faced multiple arrests and interrogations by different agencies. In absence of evidence, he was always released.

Knowing that he would never volunteer information, we designed a simple yet innovative plan. I started calling him every morning to our headquarters, where he would be made to sit comfortably in full view of everyone moving around, including the porters. Each day we would ask him about his terrorist links, and each day he would deny it. After a couple of hours, we would send him back to his village, which was a 30-minute walk away. While returning, he would often stop for tea at a shop before starting his journey along a single road connecting to the highway. This road was mostly deserted with a few villages located at intervals. The routine continued without a break for almost a month. One such day, just before leaving him I sent some vehicles ahead. They parked along a lonely patch, pretending that one of the vehicles had broken down. Our suspect, as usual, stopped to have tea before starting his journey, all alone. When he came up to the vehicles, he was very quietly bundled into them and taken to our base, completely under cover and hidden.

By evening, village elders were seeking our support to find him. They appeared to accept that he probably had links with terrorists and run away to avoid being caught. Around midnight, our vehicles came up and in complete darkness brought our suspect to me.

Our psychological domination over this terrorist was complete. Realising his predicament, he gave away every bit of information he had. He then took our patrol to the forest near his village and showed where he had hidden his supply of weapons and ammunition. I ensured that the patrol returned through his village first thing in the morning with him in tow, and the captured weapons in full view of the villagers. For us, the biggest revelation was the first anti-personnel non-detectable mine in the cache he handed over. Had he used the mines; this could have been a different story. It took us 24 hours to pack him off into jail, but interestingly, he was out in just a few months. This time though, his demeanour had changed. There was no defiance left in his eyes, or any fear either — just acceptance.

The lesson for me lay more in how he was captured and what happened thereafter. We did not just dominate this terrorist’s mind space completely, but even of the villagers. One of the elders came up to me and said “sahab, aapka pir to hamare pir se bahut bara hai” (the saint that looks over you is bigger than ours).There were absolutely no incidents of terrorist activity in our rear areas thereafter. I don’t think that it was fear of the Army that did the trick. It was more akin to respect and recognition. And this was not just because of our patrols, but also because of our genuine efforts to support development in the area, including our Santa Claus like Commanding Officer who would go around distributing toffees to children each time he stepped out.

This was just one block in the district of Baramulla where our efforts found resonance. But it holds lessons for the entire state, that to counter terrorism and radicalisation, it is the mind-space that has to be dominated. Respect for state institutions can’t be achieved by force, nor can it be done by seeking popularity and going easy on offenders, and it certainly can’t be done by throwing development money. There are probably no fixed answers, just a muddled way ahead.

Amritsar: Lt Gen Rajeev Chopra, Director General, National Cadet Corps (NCC), visited the District NCC Group Headquarters here on Tuesday. He was received by Maj Gen RS Mann, ADG, NCC Directorate, PHHP, and Chandigarh, along with Brig RK Mour, Commander, NCC group, Amritsar. NCC cadets presented a guard of honour. Brig Mour breifed Lt Gen Chopra on the activities of the NCC units. Lt Gen Chopra said the NCC continued to contribute to society and nation building. TNS

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 23

Vice Admiral Karambir Singh has been appointed the next Navy chief. He will replace Admiral Sunil Lanba who retires on May 31.

The Ministry of Defence announced the appointment on Saturday afternoon. Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, who hails from Jalandhar, supersedes Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, the Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the senior-most after Admiral Lanba.

Service chiefs are normally appointed two months in advance. Admiral RK Dhowan had been appointed chief after the 2014 general election was announced.  Ironically, he had also superseded Vice Admiral Sekhar Sinha.

The BJP government did not go by seniority when it appointed General Bipin Rawat as the Army chief, overlooking Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi.

Vice Admiral Karambir Singh is currently Commander of the Eastern Naval Command, Vishakapatnam. 

Commissioned into the Navy in 1980, Vice Admiral Karambir is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy. He earned his wings as a helicopter pilot in 1982 and has flown extensively on the Chetak and Kamov helicopters.

He has been the Chief of Staff of the Tri-Services Unified Command at Andaman and Nicobar Islands and as the Flag Officer Commanding, Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area.

India has split into two parallel worlds, one of hysterical nationalism and the other of everyday politics that the Opposition is desperately asking the nation to return to. Yet, everyday politics is dismal, while nationalism especially fought like a video game is entrancing.

Shiv Visvanathan
Academic Associated with compost heap

THERE is something eerie about the events of the past week or so. Replaying the developments, one senses that one is watching a composite of two plays, radically different, but blending into each other. The action seems scripted, the plots worked out. The first script seemed like a conspiracy of nationalisms, combining paranoia and hypocrisy. At one level, the nationalism on each side allows for the free play of the unconscious. The aerial tussle was like a video game that Pakistan and India were playing, each striking down the other jubilantly. Each nation claimed victory. India violated Pakistan’s airspace and came back intact, convincing the world that it would attack Pakistan, if necessary. Pakistan highlighted its ability to play the surrogate game of terror and get the Islamic States to highlight ‘Indian barbarism’ in Kashmir.

Two paranoid displays of nationalism ended quickly, each side content with its imaginary and imagined gains. India exerted its masculine self, creating seamless politics between the elections and militarism. In view of the terror strike, PM Narendra Modi could attack the Opposition as a ‘fifth column’. It almost felt as if these encounters enabled two nationalisms to consolidate themselves, create a sense of achievement around the anxieties each nation projected onto the other. The Indian ritual was clear. It was as if mobilising India for war with a sleight of hand became a drama of the nation being mobilised for the elections.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, too, seems content with his performance, acting as if he is not a creation of the army, playing the statesman and the peacenik. Suddenly, everything looks normal, eerily, uncannily normal.

A beleaguered regime suddenly appears immaculate. Pakistan, which had seemed servile, acquires moderation and diplomatic initiative. There is no sense of escalation. The two nationalists fight like the choruses’, content with the noise they make. The Opposition shakes its head in disbelief, wondering about the credulity of the story.

One feels that something was rewritten in the process. The Opposition sensed almost intuitively what was wrong. The idea of security and secrecy was being applied to the democratic processes that demanded openness. It was a displacement of frameworks where fetishising the nation state was threatening democracy. The attack on the Opposition and dissenting journalists was the first key step. What accompanied it in a symptomatic way was the breakdown of language. While there were jingoistic celebrations in India, there was a sense of skepticism about India’s claims. As informed experts pointed out, what was threatening India was not critique but wrong information. It was as if the BJP wanted the film on Uri to do the talking, instead of tabling the relevant facts. The open defence of vigilante groups adds to the tension, with the RSS unable to differentiate between an appeal to Imran Khan and an appeal for peace. It is almost as if truth and peace have become anti-national activities.

But these are symptoms which can no longer be read discretely. Worldwide nationalism has become a form of paranoia. As Yugoslav writer Danilo Kis writes in his book, Homo Poeticus, “a set of individual paranoia raised to the degree of paroxysm”. Lost in the wilderness of middle-class anxiety, the individual takes on the collective portfolio of “keeping the nation (state) alive, protecting is prestige.” This self-appointed task where the regime and the vigilante groups announce that the nation or its security is safe in their hands, hides a deeper dimension of the problem. The frenzy, the hysteria, the sense of urgency and duty conveys an effluvium of concern without quite conveying the language of responsibility. The intimation of war allows you to distort the logic of everyday civics. The new grammar is what Kis calls relativism. The only index is that we should outdo, out-talk, outperform Pakistan. Whatever the means employed, one forgets it is a negation of our sense of civilisation. Nationalism creates a parallel world of certainties and loyalties which is oblivious of everyday politics. In fact, it is a denial of everyday politics. Security becomes a word for internal and external coping. The ‘enemy’ is Pakistani, Kashmiri and Muslim. The extension of the security net covers the tribal as Naxal and the dissenter. Search, label and destroy seem to mark every level of battle. The State elevates populism to the level of policy.

Rational critiques and reasoned doubts have little claim to public space. When Rahul Gandhi chides Modi, all he does is to tell him that the moment for the inauguration of the National War Memorial is a time for unity, hardly a time to crib about the Congress. It gets worse when The Hindu investigates the Rafale deal persistently, opening up issues of corruption, and one of the heroes of the Bofors investigation is now dubbed as anti-national. Bofors and Rafale are narratives read in separate ledgers. Modi has even said that the pre-emptive strike would have been even more effective with the Rafale jets.

One realises that India has split into two parallel worlds, one of hysterical nationalism, outdoing any RSS dream, and the other of everyday politics which the Opposition is desperately asking the nation to return to. Yet, everyday politics is dismal, while nationalism especially fought like a video game is entrancing. There is an enthusiasm for bloodthirstiness which no digital mob brutalising a stranger can produce.

Democracy has to learn to battle not only majoritarian tyranny, but also challenge the simulacra, the imagined realities of the nation state. The imagined world forces itself on the real world, redefining it. The simulacra, as Jean Baudrillard points out, becomes real in consequences and seeks to perpetuate itself in the world of the media. The surreal devastates the real, creating a new script where the State is the only voice and citizens an ‘aye-saying’ chorus. The nation state, as a paranoid reductive entity, reduces the diversity of others to an imagined threat it has to suppress. In battling these imaginary enemies, it devastates the idioms of the political system. One needs new imaginaries to revitalise the possibilities of democratic politics. Our everydayness has to be invented again if we have to survive as a decent society.

ibune News Service

Jammu, March 3

Chief of Army Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on Sunday visited various Army forward locations of Samba and Ratnuchak in the Jammu region to review the operational deployment and preparedness. On Saturday, he had visited the 16 Corps headquarters.

The area falls under the Western Command of the Army.

Giving details, a defence spokesman said the Army Chief was briefed about the situation and preparedness by General Officer Commanding, Rising Star Corps (9 Corps), Lt Gen JS Nain.

“The Army Chief interacted with the troops at forward locations and expressed complete confidence in the Army’s capabilities to thwart any nefarious design of enemies of our country and handle any situation,” he said.

General Rawat also praised the high state of morale and preparedness of the troops, he added.

His visit to the state is considered crucial with respect to the current ground situation after the Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes deep inside Pakistan. Since the Pulwama attack on February 14, the hostility between India and Pakistan has increased.

The Rising Star Corps is managing the second line of defence on the 198-km International Border whereas the BSF is at the forefront. On several occasions, Army installations of this corps have been targeted by terrorists after infiltrating from across the border. Being close to the border, the alertness of Army in the area has to be high to thwart any aggression of Pakistan.