New Delhi: An Mi-17 medium-lift transport helicopter of the Indian Air Force made an emergency landing near Mukutang in Sikkim on Thursday due to bad weather, officials said.

All four aircrew of the IAF and two Indian Army personnel on board the chopper are reported to be safe, they said.

The helicopter was on a routine air maintenance sortie from Chaten to Mukutang and it sustained damage in the incident, the officials said.

“An investigation has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident,” an IAF spokesperson said.

Also read: IAF, Navy salute corona warriors across the country, honour them with flypast

The Army conducts close to 600 courses for its personnel over the training year that begins on 1 July and ends on 30 June the following year.

New Delhi: The Army has drawn up a fresh plan to reorganise all its training courses, a number of which have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak, ThePrint has learnt. The service conducts close to 600 courses for its personnel over a training year that begins on 1 July and ends on 30 June the following year.

While the bulk of the courses are in progress and will conclude in the latter half of the current training year, about 90 courses have been shifted to the next one, according to the fresh plan.reover, around 180 courses, which are comparatively of lesser priority, stand cancelled for the current training year.

An Army source told ThePrint that the courses, which have been shifted to the next training year, may be conducted either as additional courses or fit into vacant slots that may be created to cater to the backlog.

“The decision on this would be taken in June when the new training calendar for 2020-2021 is being finalised,” the source said.

Sources added that training at the unit level, which includes firing, will continue as before but with social distancing and other Covid-19 precautions.

However, other training activities for soldiers, such as field firing that includes firing of heavier calibre weapons, and exercises with troops in select firing ranges across the country, have been cancelled for now and will resume once the Covid-19 situation returns to normal.

Also read: Make short service lucrative, raise retirement age: CDS plan to reduce defence pensions

According to the new schedule being planned, a second source said, only the training of fresh recruits at all regimental centres will continue, while all other training conducted at these centres will be cancelled.

Additionally, fresh training with foreign armies and other courses in foreign countries have been suspended until 1 September.

A senior Army officer told ThePrint that training is one of the most essential parts of a soldier’s routine and will have to continue despite any other challenges.

“As regards to courses, while the duration would be reduced at times, there would be no compromise on the content as additional working hours would be squeezed out every day,” the officer said.

Also read: Pakistani operatives create fake Arogya Setu app to ‘steal info’ from Indian defence forces

Passing Out Parades to be muted affairs

As part of the fresh plans, Passing Out Parades at officers’ training establishments — considered a landmark event in the Army’s training calendar — are also set to be muted affairs this year with the pandemic affecting the training of all ranks of the service.

The details of the ceremony will be approved by the Army Training Command (ARTRAC).

The parades are major biannual events at all officers’ training establishments, and conducted at a large scale and are attended by thousands. The event marks the culmination of the cadets’ training and their foray into their journey as officers.

Officers get commissioned from Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Officers’ Training Academy, Gaya, and Officers’ Training Academy, Chennai. The commissioning ceremony is marked by a Passing Out Parade. Passing out Parades at IMA are held in June and December every year, while at OTA, Chennai it is held in March and September.

The event is also held at Cadet Training Wings in Pune, Mhow and Secunderabad.

However, there are no details available as of now, about the Passing out Parades at the National Defence Academy, which is a tri service institution.

The Pakistan ‘deep state’ is said to be hard at work trying to attack India as the Modi govt focuses its efforts on tackling the Covid-19 crisis.

Despite the fact that the novel coronavirus pandemic has led countries around the world, including India and Pakistan, to go for unprecedented lockdowns, there has been relentless violence along the Line of Control (LoC) and in Kashmir, with several Indian security personnel being killed.

While the Modi government has had its hands full fighting Covid-19 and managing the ongoing lockdown, it has also been keeping a tight vigil on the spurt in ceasefire violations by Pakistan, sources said.

While India has lodged several protests with Pakistan on the ceasefire violations at the border, it has also been concerned by the uptick in terrorist activity.

Since the first week of April, five special forces personnel have died as the Army foiled an infiltration bid in the Keran sector, three CRPF personnel were killed in an attack in Handwara (a differently-abled teenager also died in the crossfire that reportedly followed the attack), and another five security men, including two senior Army officers, were killed in an encounter with terrorists in a remote Kashmir village (the terrorists were subsequently killed).

All this, the sources said, is seen by the Modi government as part of a “special plan” hatched by Pakistan to escalate such incidents.

In March alone, there were 411 ceasefire violations. This was much higher than the 267 violations last March, in the immediate aftermath of the Balakot air strikes. The air strikes, which targeted a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp after the group killed 40 CRPF personnel in a terror attack in Pulwama, marked one of the most tense phases of India-Pakistan relations in recent times.

While there were 3,168 ceasefire violations by Pakistan in 2019, the number has already touched 1,547 as of 3 May.

Also Read: Instead of organising spectacles, military must focus on faultlines in Kashmir now

‘Nothing surprising’

Army sources said there was nothing surprising in the fact that Pakistan is ratcheting up terror activities even in times of coronavirus.

“Coronavirus is a concern for you and me but not for Pakistan. There are specific departments and others whose only job is to support terror against India and their work continues,” an officer said.

This was echoed by former Indian envoy to Pakistan T.C.A. Raghavan, who said one should not be surprised by Islamabad’s behaviour.

According to Raghavan, who is now the director general of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), a New Delhi-based think-tank, there are institutions in Pakistan whose only job is to target India no matter what.

“They are doing the job. There is nothing to be surprised about,” he said.

A former special secretary in the cabinet secretariat, who did not wish to be identified, said Pakistan is only trying to hide its internal affairs.

“They have never let up on their agenda and why would they do that now? This is more important to them to hide their failures on the economic front, and also coronavirus,” the officer said.

Also Read: Riyaz Naikoo — dreaded militant who ‘looted farmers and brought new ruthlessness to Hizbul’

A bid to raise global pressure on Pakistan

Meanwhile, India has decided to make a stronger case at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to get Pakistan blacklisted for terror financing, basing its case on the Handwara and Keran incidents as well as the emergence of new terror outfits in J&K, including The Resistance Front (TRF).

Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Programme at the Wilson Center in Washington, said Pakistan had little incentive at this moment to be stoking violence in Kashmir, pointing out out that it is under immense pressure through the FATF to crack down on terror, suffering through a serious economic crisis, and fighting a pandemic.

“Given all the pressures and crises confronting Pakistan at home right now, it has little incentive to be causing trouble in Kashmir,” he said.

However, he added that its role in the recent terror incidents could not be ruled out, especially given its “past track record and given how toxic its relations are with New Delhi right now”.

According to Ayesha Siddiqa, the London-based expert and commentator of Pakistani origin, infiltration may be taking place as it used to, but no major plan is being executed by the ISI (Pakistani intelligence agency).

On the emergence of some new terror outfits in Jammu & Kashmir, like the TRF, which India believes is an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Siddiqa said it “depends on the fact if it’s LeT in Kashmir that has changed name”.

“A lot of answers may be obtained from the US, which is keeping silent on Jaish-e-Mohammed and its chief Masood Azhar gone missing,” she added.

In February this year, Pakistan had told the FATF plenary that Azhar, a UN-designated terrorist, and his family are missing from Pakistan.

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal added that the “US will not put pressure or come down on Islamabad at any cost now till it is done with the Taliban peace deal”.

“The peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government is already facing issues, so to bring in more complexities with Pakistan, is the last thing on US’ mind,” he added.

The confrontation between Indian and Chinese troops happened in North Sikkim. Matter resolved after local Command-level officers intervened.

Army sources said the intense stand-off was later resolved with the intervention of officers at the local Command level.

Incidentally, this is the same area where an Army helicopter carrying unidentified passengers was forced to make a hard landing.

The confrontation happened near the Naku La sector, a pass at a height of more than 5,000 metres.

A patrol party of the PLA came across Indian soldiers in an area they consider Chinese territory. This led to the face-off and more troops were called in, sources said.

They added that the soldiers exchanged blows with each other besides pelting stones in which some of them were injured.

“There was aggressive behaviour and minor injuries on both sides. Both sets of soldiers disengaged after local level interaction and dialogue. The issue was solved through established protocols for such issues,” a source in the Army Headquarters here said.

‘Face-offs occur as boundaries are not resolved’

Army sources said the incident happened after a very long time and pointed out that the temporary and short duration face-offs occur as boundaries are not resolved.

In August 2017, Indian and Chinese soldiers had pelted each other with stones and exchanged blows near Pangong Lake in Ladakh.

Since ‘Operation Juniper‘ — when Indian troops moved into Doklam, a small territory in Bhutan, to stop the Chinese army from constructing a road that threatens India’s strategic interests — India has increased focus on its northern and eastern boundaries than being purely Pakistan centric.

Army Chief Gen M.M. Naravane had said the force was “re-balancing” its deployment and strategy along the western, northern and northeastern borders to deal with any kind of threat that might emerge — be it from Pakistan or China.

Lt Gen. Anup Banerji says until a vaccine or treatment for coronavirus is found, the armed forces will stay vigilant.

The DG is the head of the AFMS and is responsible for the overall medical policy of the armed forces.

The senior military officer further said that the virus is not a “lucrative” biological agent, and although highly contagious, has “very low mortality” in the young and those with no co-morbidities.

“In fact, most of those infected remain asymptomatic,” he said.

“However, in the absence of an effective vaccine or a proven chemoprophylaxis, we will remain susceptible to such attacks,” the officer added.

Chemoprophylaxis refers to the use of medicine to treat diseases.

Lt Gen. Banerji’s comments come days after the Army’s 15th Corps Commander, Lt Gen. B.S. Raju, had told the BBC that the Army has received intelligence inputs that Pakistan is pushing a lot of coronavirus cases into Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Lt Gen. Raju had said that India is “conscious that Pakistan is taking risk of putting gullible people training as terrorists into small, enclosed spaces in their launch pads”, and these people coming from across the Line of Control could be carriers of the virus.

Also read: Global lockdown and Covid crisis haven’t stopped Pakistan from its anti-India agenda

Preparing for bio-threats not a new plan 

On India’s current policies to prevent such threats, senior Army officers explained that while the pandemic has brought the aspect of such bio-threats into prominence lately, the Army has always considered chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) warfare as a critical part of its operational planning.

“Accordingly, a comprehensive policy is in place for defence against CBRN attacks, from which is derived our CBRN equipment policy,” a senior officer, who has specifically dealt with the subject, told ThePrint.

The Army has in place the Faculty of CBRN Protection (FCBRNP), nodal training institute that deals with defensive CBRN warfare, and is responsible for inculcating basic and advanced training.

On the status of availability of adequate protective gear on the ground to deal with such attacks, the officer said the Army is adequately prepared to ensure “both individual and collective protection for its troops during a bio-threat in operations or a bio-emergency at home in peace”.

“Exhaustive protocols are in place to ensure adequate protection for troops in sync with the guidelines being issued by the Government of India, without adversely affecting our security apparatus,” the officer added, and said that events which require mass movement of personnel such as training courses, exercises, conferences, postings, move of units etc., have been suspended to conform to the lockdown.

Also read: Covid blurs distinction between war and peace as soldiers worldwide fight the third army

Policy in place and debate for change

Given the speculation of how Covid-19 could be used as a bio-weapon since it is highly virulent, a second senior Army officer said that a doctrinal change is needed under which population protection and survivability of soldiers needs to be incorporated.

“It needs to be implemented to ensure that the necessary equipment is available to frontline troops,” the second officer said.

However, the first officer quoted said the detailed curriculum available focuses on all aspects of CBRN warfare and exposes combatants to the nuances of ‘On Job Training’ on the equipment held in the inventory.

“Experience from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is being suitably factored into the training philosophy. Since a virulent pathogen does not differentiate between a civilian or military personnel, no major doctrinal change as such is warranted,” the officer said.

The Navy has the Nuclear Biological Chemical Damage control (NBCD) school where all personnel compulsorily undergo basic, refresher and specialised training from ab initio, i.e., from entry to senior levels.

Naval sources said every operational unit is trained and equipped to meet contingencies of nuclear radiation, chemical attack and biological attack in addition to fighting fires and flooding on ships, and personnel are sensitised to these various forms of warfare and counteracting the same.

“Modern ships are designed to pass through contaminated areas that are mainly radioactive but could also include airborne attacks with chemical or biological weapons,” said a senior Naval officer said.

“The entire ship is closed down to an external environment and made airtight. The ventilation and filtration systems are recycled internally for habitation and continuation of operations,” the officer added.

“Personnel are cleansed through cleansing stations before entering the citadel spaces. A citadel is a group of interconnected compartments which are maintained sterile from the environment for personnel to operate from. There are other systems too that endeavour to protect an entire ship passing through contamination zones,” the officer said.

Apart from the Navy and Army, the Indian Air Force also has a dedicated institute on nuclear, biological, chemical protection, and has placed quick response teams with manpower trained for CBRN across the IAF bases in the country.

IAF’s Su 30 MKI jets have been on sorties in Ladakh but they weren’t rushed to Line of Actual Control after 2 Chinese choppers were spotted last week.

News agency ANI, quoting government sources, reported Tuesday that the Chinese military helicopters were flying very close to the Line of Actual Control last week and “after their movement was picked up, the Indian Air Force fighter jets flew patrols in the area”.

The report said IAF was “forced to rush” fighter jets.

While there was no official word from the IAF Tuesday, defence sources said that it was an overstatement to say jets were scrambled since fighters regularly fly in the region.

“Helicopters are allowed to fly till the border on both sides. There has been no violation of Indian air space. And never have jets been scrambled in the past for helicopters in the northern sector,” said an IAF officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

He also said that no fighters were scrambled but training flights have been going on.

“If you are asking whether the jets were scrambled, then no. If you are asking if Sukhois were flying on May 5 and 6, I would say regular training flights are taking place, including today,” he added.

The reports come amid new tensions between India and China after soldiers from both sides clashed on the border last week, leaving many injured in fist fights and stone pelting. While the two sides have officially disengaged on 6 May, both have rushed additional troops to the Pangong Tso lake area.

Also read: Not much has changed for IAF a year after it was outgunned by Pakistan

IAF deployment 

The IAF maintains two main bases in Ladakh — Leh and Thoise air bases. Fighter jets are not deployed at the Thoise air base while at Leh, detachments from various squadrons are operational on rotation throughout the year.

However, sources said that no Su 30 MKI was based in Leh on 5 and 6 May but they were flying from another location.

Sources said that two Chinese choppers were indeed spotted flying in their area just like the Indian helicopters do in that region.

According to the ANI report, the Chinese choppers did not cross the LAC into Indian territory in that particular area.

While there have been tensions at the LAC in the past, which have resulted in physical clashes between the two countries’ soldiers, this is the first time in years the IAF has come into the picture.

ThePrint had earlier reported that though the countries had officially disengaged, additional forces were brought in to ensure no more violence takes place in the area, just as it had been done in Doklam in August 2017.

While disengagement happened in Doklam, both sides have continued with their build-up a few metres away from their face-off location.

Army sources told ThePrint that the incident in Ladakh happened on the evening of 5 May, near the northern banks of the 134-km Pangong Tso lake. A similar clash took place in the region in September 2019 too.

Two-thirds of the lake, which extends from Tibet to Ladakh, is controlled by China.

The sources said the Chinese objected to the presence of Indians in the disputed area, and an argument quickly took the shape of a brawl with the Indians standing their ground. The soldiers indulged in a “fist fight and stone pelting”, which led to half a dozen injuries on the Indian side, including that of a young officer, the sources said, adding there were several injuries on the Chinese side too.

Situation is ‘under control’ now

The official “disengagement” in Ladakh happened on 6 May after formation commanders spoke to each other. However, the sources said, the matter has been noted for the next formal discussions between higher military authorities on both sides. They added that the situation is under control now.

Though the disengagement has happened, additional forces have been brought in to ensure no more violence takes place. Since ‘Operation Juniper’ — when Indian troops moved into Doklam, a small territory in Bhutan, to stop the Chinese army from constructing a road that threatens India’s strategic interests — India has increased focus on its northern and eastern boundaries than being purely Pakistan centric.

Army Chief Gen M.M. Naravane had said the force was “re-balancing” its deployment and strategy along the western, northern and northeastern borders to deal with any kind of threat that might emerge — be it from Pakistan or China. While disengagement happened in Doklam, both sides have continued with their build-up a few metres away from their face-off location.

The area was witness to a similar incident in September last year. The incident had rung alarm bells in the defence circles in New Delhi as it came just a month ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s scheduled visit to India for an informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To prevent the situation from spiralling into a major confrontation, the Army activated the established bilateral mechanism for defusing such situations.

Also read: Indian, Chinese soldiers injured in Sikkim’s Naku La after ‘exchanging blows’, stone-pelting

Face-off near Sikkim’s Naku La

Meanwhile, at least 12 Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in stone pelting and fist fight along the Line of Actual Control in North Sikkim Saturday after a patrol party of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel was stopped.

Army sources said the intense stand-off was later resolved with the intervention of officers at the local Command level. The confrontation happened near the Naku La sector, a pass at a height of more than 5,000 metres.

A patrol party of the PLA came across Indian soldiers in an area they consider Chinese territory. This led to the face-off and more troops were called in, sources said.
They added that the soldiers exchanged blows with each other besides pelting stones in which some of them were injured.

“There was aggressive behaviour and minor injuries on both sides. Both sets of soldiers disengaged after local level interaction and dialogue. The issue was solved through established protocols for such issues,” a source in the Army Headquarters here said.

Lt Gen. Anup Banerji says the armed forces have enough PPEs and ventilators for the 10,000 beds prepared for civilians, but could need more if the Covid-19 crisis spirals.

New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as well as state health departments will need to support the armed forces with adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and ventilators as their availability is finite, Lt Gen. Anup Banerji, director general of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) has told ThePrint.

The armed forces currently have an adequate number of PPEs and ventilators for around 10,000 beds they have provided in aid to civil authorities in over 50 hospitals. However, if the situation worsens, they might need government support.

“For PPE, ventilators etc., the armed forces need to be supported by the health ministry and the various state health departments, since the availability of these items is finite, and have been currently catered for only the 10,000 beds earmarked for civilians,” Banerji said.

Also read: Tough to ‘weaponise’ coronavirus, but can’t rule out attacks: Armed Forces Medical Chief

Cases in the military

Lt Gen. Banerji’s comments come in the backdrop of multiple Covid-19 positive cases reported within the military. Just a week ago, 24 in-patients at the Army’s Research and Referral (R&R) Hospital in Delhi had tested positive. Last month, 26 sailors at the INS Angre, a stone frigate (naval establishment on land) under the Western Naval Command in Mumbai, tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

This is despite the armed forces following strict measures inside their bases, because if even a single person contracts Covid-19, the spread is likely to be at a faster rate, not just affecting the community, but also operational preparedness.

Asked about the cases in the military, Lt Gen. Banerji said: “We need to accept the fact that the pandemic has affected the entire country, cutting across all segments of society, with more than 47 per cent of the districts in either red or orange zones. The armed forces cannot be considered in isolation from the rest of the country.”

He added that if the Covid-19 pandemic spirals out of control, the fact that the armed forces will not be immune to it will first need to be accepted.

“We need to be geared up first to attend to our own serving personnel, their dependents and the huge ex-servicemen clientele who are especially liable to develop complications,” the officer said.

Training personnel to tackle Covid-19

Banerji said the medical and paramedical personnel have been trained in handling Covid-19 cases according to established protocols.

“We have now trained even non-medical personnel (BFNAs) in every command to act as frontline responders for Covid-19 cases,” he said.

Speaking about the efforts of the armed forces on containing the spread of the pandemic, the officer further said that infections, often in clusters, will continue to take place due to the highly contagious nature of the virus.

“The success of our plans will depend on our ability to control and prevent their further spread. Healthcare facilities are especially at higher risk since patients with non Covid illness will come to hospitals from hotspots,” he said.

Lt Gen. Banerji added that since a majority of such patients are asymptomatic, they will continue to pose a threat to healthcare workers and other admitted patients.

The Rajapaksa brothers do not wish the pandemic to rob them of the fruits of the stunning presidential election victory last November. The economy is likely to contract. Any inordinate delay in holding the election will worsen the economy. Going to the people for a general election during a pandemic is a risky proposition, especially when the National Election Commission cannot guarantee free & fair polls.

Maj Gen Ashok K Mehta (retd)

Military commentator

Sri Lanka may be heading for another constitutional crisis. It is the only country confronting the pandemic without a Parliament but with an unelected caretaker cabinet. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is keen to hold early elections, dissolved Parliament on March 2 even as the National Election Commission (NEC) ordered elections for April 25 after the Health Minister had claimed that by April 19, the situation would be normal. With the Covid-19 situation deteriorating sharply, the NEC postponed the elections, first to May 28 and then to June 20. A new Parliament has to be installed by September 2 as the term of the eighth Parliament will end on September 1. The spread of Covid-19 has followed an upward trajectory — the first 100 cases in 57 days; the next 100 cases in 18 days, next 100 cases in eight days with the next 100 cases in four days and another 100 cases in just two days. Sri Lanka has reported over 860 cases of Covid-19 so far, including nine deaths.

A new Parliament should be in place within three months of the House abrogation. The election has been fixed for June 20 and it is likely that the date could be extended. In the interim the President will run the country without Parliament, and an unelected caretaker government. Further, the vote-on-account for the current budget ended on April 30. Former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that spending from the Consolidated Fund of Sri Lanka will be unconstitutional, with Gota rejecting his stand.

Given this extraordinary situation, exacerbated by the growing pandemic, Gota has two options: first to rescind presidential proclamation of March 2 to restore Parliament elected on August 27, 2015, to serve its full term till September 1; second, under Article 70 (7) of the constitution, temporarily summon Parliament due to the emergency Covid-19 situation. If Parliament is kept alive till 1 September, elections can be held comfortably and likely in Covid-19 free environment on December 1. If Parliament does not convene by June 2, the old gazette notification and presidential order dissolving Parliament becomes null and void.

June 20 is Gota’s 71st birthday. The NEC has said it was not aware of it. The former Army Colonel in the President has floated more than one balloon in the air. In a recent TV interview given to the family confidant and presidential advisor Lalith Weeratunga, on question of reviving old Parliament, Gota said: “I will not restore Parliament… I will not summon old Parliament… I have no legal right.” On the question of yet another postponement of election beyond June 20 — he has previously affirmed that the NEC can fix any date it considers appropriate — Gota in typically military style said: “I will take solo action.” He elaborated: “It is clear who has the ultimate responsibility to uphold the constitution. I will fulfil promises made to the people.” Gota’s historic election victory of 6.9 million votes was the first ever with majority Sinhalese votes. For now he is keen to hold an election on June 20 and not reconvene dissolved Parliament notwithstanding the constitutional crisis that may confront the country.

No one has forgotten the 2018 constitutional crisis when former President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved Parliament and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa Prime Minister. The Supreme Court finally restored Parliament which was revoked for a second time on March 2 according to Article 19 of the amended constitution. The Rajapaksa brothers do not wish the pandemic to rob them of the fruits of the stunning presidential election victory last November. The economy is likely to contract, facing a 3 per cent recession. Any inordinate delay in holding the election will worsen the economy. Going to the people for a general election during a pandemic is a risky proposition, especially when the NEC cannot guarantee a free and fair election, especially on the question of turnout.

Before fixing the date (June 20), the NEC consulted some of the Opposition parties. Even June 20 is subject to revision, it said. The Opposition complained that the government is ‘electioneering’ in the guise of a pandemic response. The Presidential Task Force on Essential Services is led by Gota’s younger brother and head of Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) national organisation Basil Rajapaksa. The Army, security forces and national intelligence are key elements of the National Operational Centre for Prevention of the Covid-19 outbreak, led by CDS and Army Commander, Lt Gen Shavindra Silva. The national curfew/lockdown is army-promulgated but with military personnel especially 4,000 naval soldiers quarantined at Welisara Naval Base, the public may have lost confidence in the military. The Army has employed the Root and Bolt system which identifies a Covid-infected person and all possible contact-links of the infected using military intelligence. The country’s medical and health staff, along with the military, are portrayed as the new corona warriors. The apparent advantage by the SLPP has not been missed by the Opposition. Presidential loser Sajith Premadasa has told NEC that elections be held only after health officials certify that the conditions are safe for the purpose.

Surprisingly, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa recently summoned all 225 lawmakers of the old Parliament which many parties skipped, floating another balloon against the Colombo skyline soon after the President ruled out restoring Parliament. This time, Gota criticised Opposition parties for not wishing to hold elections at a crucial time when government is striving to safeguard public health, social security and welfare. He is confident he will ride over the alleged constitutional crisis and the pandemic and hold elections in June, bagging a two-thirds majority to remove Article 19 of the constitution. Already a PIL has been filed by Premadasa against holding elections on June 20. Who knows which party will approach the Supreme Court after June 2 for restoring the missing Parliament.