Jammu, September 7

Pakistan used firing and shelling on Monday to violate ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.

Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Devender Anand said at about 5 pm on Monday, Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms and shelling with mortars along the LoC in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district.

“Indian army retaliated befittingly,” the spokesman said.

Pakistan has violated ceasefire along the LoC with impunity this year. As many as 24 civilians have been killed while over 100 have been injured in more than 2,730 ceasefire violations by Pakistan so far this year. IANS

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 8

China in the wee hours of Tuesday accused Indian troops of having fired bullet shots across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in an area south of the Pangong Tso, a 135 km glacial-melt lake.

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A statement by Colonel Zhang Shuili of China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Western Theater Command, was reported by Global Times, a Chinese state owned news outlet at almost 2:30 am China time on Tuesday. That would be midnight in India. The PLA claimed the incident occurred on September 7, Monday.

The Indian side has so far not responded to this claim. Indications are that a response was expected soon.

Since 1967, no bullets have been fired across the LAC, when an incident occurred at Nathu La and both sides were involved in a bloody skirmish. In another incident in 1974, a few Assam Rifles personnel had lost their lives when they inadvertently crossed over the undefined boundary in Arunachal Pradesh.

Sources on the Indian side said it was the PLA on September 7 that was trying to capture a peak held by India.

The PLA had earlier said that the “Indian Army blatantly fired threats to the patrol personnel of the Chinese border guards who had made representations, and the Chinese border guards were forced to take countermeasures to stabilize the situation on the ground (sic).”

The Chinese spokesperson alleged the Indian Army had illegally crossed the LAC and India’s actions seriously violated the relevant agreements between China and India.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 7

After having made dogs an integral part of the force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is now setting up a retirement home for its K-9 veterans, who are no longer fit for active duty, where they can be cared for.

“A case for establishing a retirement home for our dogs is under process at force headquarters and it is expected to come up at the ITBP’s National Dog Training Centre at Bhanu this year,” an ITBP officer said.

At present, dogs that are no longer to be used for operational or security duties due to old age or injury are sent to an ITBP unit where veterinary care is available and where they can pass the rest of their life peacefully.

The ITBP uses dogs for border patrolling as well as in internal security duties. Besides tracking humans, they are also trained to storm into rooms and vehicles, neutralise and restrain intruders and armed persons, detect explosives and narcotics and assist in search and rescue operations.

More recently, the ITBP raised a new unit of assault dogs that have been trained to work in a pack of four to pin down an adversary. This means that all four dogs in the pack will go after a single adversary who is considered to be a threat.

The ITBP, which claims this to be the first unit of its kind in the world, plans to train a total of 30 such dogs of the Belgian Malinois and the German Shepherd breeds and deploy them in highly sensitive areas.

“Such animals are placed on a rehabilitation register and given a sheltered appointment where they can also be used for training dog handlers and veterinary staff,” said the officer.

“Our K-9s are highly valuable assets who have rendered Yeoman’s service, especially during anti-naxal and anti-terrorist operations. It becomes the responsibility of the force to care for them in the twilight of their life,” he added.

According to the ITBP sources, there are at present 30 “retired” dogs on its rolls living in various units, where they are groomed and exercised regularly and provided vet care. These dogs are entitled to 70 per cent of the ration scale of active duty K-9s.

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 4

Against the backdrop of detection of a trans-border tunnel originating from Pakistan in the Samba sector, Director General (DG) of the Border Security Force (BSF) Rakesh Asthana on Friday praised BSF troops for their alertness, saying “it has foiled the cruel motives of counterpart”.

Asthana, who arrived at the Frontier Headquarters, Jammu, on his three-day-long visit of the international border, toured critical areas along the border and reviewed overall deployment of the BSF and its domination plan.

Official sources said the DG had all praise for the alertness of the troops deployed along the international border as they had also shot down an arms-laden Pakistan drone at Rathua village in the Hiranagar sector on June 20.

On August 28, the BSF had detected a 25-ft deep and 4-ft wide tunnel on the Indian side near border fencing in the Galar area of the Samba sector. Pakistan-made sand bags with marking of Karachi factories were also found at the mouth of the tunnel to hide it. The place of opening of the tunnel was around 170 metres from the IB on the Indian side in the field of a farmer.

According to official spokesperson, the DG visited areas of Pargwal and Akhnoor to take stock of situation on the first day of his visit.

He was accompanied by Addl DG (WC) SS Panwar, Inspector General (IG), BSF, Jammu Frontier, NS Jamwal and other officers. Jamwal briefed the DG about complexities of management of the Jammu border under the prevailing security scenario. Asthana, visited the critical areas of Chicken Neck stretch of the Akhnoor sector and held discussion with sector/unit commanders on the ground and reviewed security situation.

He also interacted with jawans and was full of praise for them for their dedication towards safeguarding the international borders.

Tribune News Service
Srinagar, September 4

Three unidentified militants were killed while three security personnel, including an Army Major, were injured in an encounter in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district today, the police said.

The gunfight erupted after the joint forces launched a cordon and search operation at Yedipora Pattan in the morning following inputs about militants’ presence.

“The hideout was identified and the militants asked to surrender. They, however, took hostage 12 members of two families, including some children. The priority was to get hostages freed,” a police spokesman said. “One Army Major and two policemen were injured while rescuing hostages,” he said. In the ensuing gunfight, which continued for several hours, three militants were killed.

Colombo, September 4

The Sri Lankan Navy with assistance from Indian ships was battling for a second day on Friday to douse a major fire raging on an oil tanker carrying crude from Kuwait to India that left one of its 23 crew members dead.

The Sri Lankan Navy on Friday confirmed that a Filipino sailor died in a boiler explosion in the engine room of the Panama registered tanker MT New Diamond that caught fire on Thursday.

The Navy said that 22 of the 23 member crew had been safely rescued off the tanker.

The tanker was carrying 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Kuwait to India when its engine room caught fire off the coast of Sangamankanda in the eastern district of Ampara.

The Navy said that so far the 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil it was carrying had not been affected by the fire.

“Steps are currently being taken to stop the spread of fire to the cargo,” it said in a statement.

The Sri Lankan Navy is also taking steps to ensure that there will be no seepage of oil to the sea from the tanker.

The distressed vessel is in the waters 23 nautical miles off the eastern coast where the sea depth is measured at 3100 metres.

The operation to douse the fire resumed early this morning under the supervision of the Greek national captain of the tanker.

The Indian Naval Frigate INS Sahyadri joined the operations by 0200 hours on Friday.

The Navy said two more Indian Coast guard vessels are to join the rescue operations.

The Indian Coast Guard on Thursday said that it pressed into action three of its ships and a Dornier aircraft after the Sri Lankan Navy sought assistance to control the fire onboard the oil tanker.

In a swift sea and air coordinated Search and Rescue (SAR) operation, the Coast Guard said it immediately diverted ICG Ships Shaurya, Sarang and Samudra Paheredar, besides a Dornier aircraft for the firefight on the oil tanker.

The Sri Lankan Navy said that the two Russian vessels which were docked at the Hambantota port since August 31 and dispatched to the area to join the rescue operations departed Sri Lankan waters this morning.

On Thursday night, MV Helen, a vessel sailing in the area, rescued 3 Greeks and 16 Filipino crew members from the distressed vessel.

The Navy spokesman said that at least four ships had been dispatched to carry out the rescue operation.

The naval ships were dispatched from the eastern port of Trincomalee and the southern port of Hambantota.

At the time the fire broke out, the Panamanian-registered ship was about 38 nautical miles (70 kilometres) east of Sri Lanka. PTI

Mumbai, September 4

Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has filed a fresh petition in the Bombay High Court seeking that the charges against him be quashed.

Purohit was doing his job as a military intelligence officer and was “framed” in the case, his lawyer and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the high court on Friday.

The petition also contended that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the prosecuting agency, did not seek a prior sanction under the Code of Criminal Procedure to prosecute him, though he was a serving Army officer.

Arguing before a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik, Rohatgi said that Purohit had been working for the Army’s military intelligence unit.

He attended conspiracy meetings before the 2008 Malegaon blast while “discharging his duties” as an intelligence officer, the senior counsel said.

Hence the NIA should have sought a prior sanction under Section 197 of the CrPC to prosecute him, Rohatgi argued. Section 197 makes it mandatory to obtain a sanction from the government before public servants are prosecuted.

The Army reinstated Purohit in 2017 after the Supreme Court granted him bail, Rohatgi pointed out, adding that the apex court had noted in bail order that Purohit attended conspiracy meetings as part of discharging his duties.

“His job was to infiltrate meetings of religious fanatics and report to the Army. He was framed in the case and spent eight years in jail until the SC granted him bail,” Rohatgi said.

The NIA, in its affidavit opposing Purohit’s plea, has claimed that while attending the conspiracy meetings, he was not working for the Army, so no sanction was required for his prosecution.

The trial court as well as the high court had in the past rejected his plea seeking discharge, and a criminal appeal seeking similar relief is already pending before the high court, so he can not file a fresh plea, the NIA said.

The high court granted Purohit’s lawyers time to respond to the NIA’s affidavit and posted the matter for hearing on September 23.

Purohit had argued earlier too that he attended the blast conspiracy meetings in Faridabad and Bhopal while doing his job as an intelligence officer with his superiors’ permission.

Six people were killed and 100 injured when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque at Malegaon in north Maharashtra on September 29, 2008. As per the investigators, the bike belonged to co-accused and BJP MP Pragya Thakur. PTI