Islamabad : Pakistan conducted a successful test of the air launched nuclear-capable cruise missile Ra’ad-II with a range of 600km on Tuesday, significantly boosting the military’s “deterrence capability” on land and at sea.

The Ra’ad-II weapon system is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance and navigation systems ensuring engagement of targets with high precision, the military’s media wing said in a release. The missile significantly enhances air-delivered strategic standoff capability on land and at sea, it said.

Pakistan’s development of the Ra’ad could be seen as an attempt to match India’s BrahMos cruise missile, according to the US-based Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, non-profit organisation. It also said that currently this missile is planned to be attached to Mirage aircraft or F-16 fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force.

deadly GAS LEAK claims 14 lives

A gas leak in the southern port city of Karachi has killed 14 people and sickened hundreds more, Pakistani health officials said on Tuesday. The leak set off a panic in Karachi and raised concerns because city officials could not immediately identify the source and the type of gas involved. Officials said there was no suspicion of sabotage.

The apparently odourless gas, which causes severe breathing problems, has sickened hundreds since striking Karachi’s coastal area of Kamari on Sunday night. agencies

Sudhi Ranjan Sen

letters@hindustantimes.com

Kandla : The Chinese ship, detained in Kandla port for wrongly declaring an autoclave which can also be used in the manufacture of missiles as a dryer, almost managed to leave Indian shores on the intervening night of February 4 and 5 for its final destination, Port Qasim in Karachi, Pakistan.

Hindustan Times first reported on Monday that the merchant vessel (MV) Da Cui Yun had been detained by Indian customs officials at Deendayal Port, formerly known as Kandla Port, for allegedly carrying an autoclave, and also mis-declaring it.

Customs officials seized the suspect cargo from the vessel, which flies a Hong Kong flag, on Monday even though the crew are still on board.

The ship, which reached Kandla on February 3, has been moved away from Jetty 16, where it was berthed earlier, to the anchorage area of the port.

A port official familiar with the matter said on Tuesday that there was a strong chance of the ship’s papers also being seized. “The next course of action depends on the government,” the official added on condition of anonymity.

A team from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is examining the cargo.

HT has learnt that the ship almost got away with its precious cargo. Kandla Port authorities issued the crucial “no-objection certificate” after verifying it had no dues as per the norm. An “onward-sailing memo” was issued for February 4, a second senior port official said on condition of anonymity. A pilot to guide the 166.6-metre-long 20,949-tonne ship out of the harbour was put on standby at the request of the MV Da Cui Yun.

“Suddenly, however, there was a flurry of activity. Senior Kandla Port officials got calls from New Delhi. Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and other security agencies reached Kandla,” the second official added.

HT learns that officials from the national security establishment were part of the team.

The customs authorities, who were about to issue final clearance for the vessel to set sail, backed off. “On February 5, a ship chandler put in a request to bar the pilot and the vessel out of the harbour,” the second official said. “The DRDO report will be crucial in determining the next step,” said a third official, who asked not to be named.

On February 3, MV Da Cui Yun arrived in Kandla and immediately offloaded 2,480 tonne of machinery, even though Kandla Port authorities had been expecting the vessel to arrive on January 31. But such delays are common in shipping.

The ship was clearly aiming to leave soon. “Medical certificates of the crew — a mandatory requirement — was filed much in advance by their agents to secure necessary port clearances,” the second official said.

While DRDO scientists examine the equipment, investigators are also interested in the ship’s charter. Prior to sailing from Jiangyin port on the Yangtze river in China’s Jiangsu province, the vessel was harboured in Shanghai for five days and also passed through Nantong Port in Jiangsu province.

“In the current context, the visit to these ports could hold clues,” the third official said.

The tip-off, HT learns, came from Hong Kong to the highest levels of Indian intelligence. Indian operatives are believed to have sent a message that the ship could be carrying dual-use technology products — those that can be used for both civilian and military purposes. The US has also been maintaining a close watch on the Chinese shipping companies after it imposed sanctions on Iran, but it isn’t immediately clear whether the US provided any intelligence. The US had also imposed sanctions on some of the Chinese shipping companies.

After the ship was prevented from leaving, an inspection by the customs department found that the “ declaration (on the nature of cargo) wasn’t matching,” a fourth senior official at Kandla port said on condition of anonymity. “Prima facie, it appears the vessel violated the Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies (Scomet) regulations,” this person added.

Category 4 and 5 of the Scomet regulations deal with the transport of dual-use technology, especially those that can be used for the production of nuclear warheads. The regulations were introduced after the UN confirmed that Iraq had used chemical weapons on Iran during the Iran-Iraq war.

The regulations are designed to control the export and prevent the proliferation of technologies and equipment which can be used in the manufacture or disposal of chemical and biological weapons. Dual-use items are also considered contributors to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Press Trust of India

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : India will send a C-17 military transport aircraft to the Chinese city of Wuhan on February 20 to evacuate more Indians and deliver a consignment of medical supplies to China’s coronavirus-hit people, officials familiar with the matter said.

The C-17 Globemaster is the largest military aircraft in the Indian Air Force’s inventory. The plane can carry large combat equipment, troops and humanitarian aid across long distances in all weather conditions.

The officials said that the aircraft will carry a large consignment of medical supplies to China and bring back more Indians from Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic.

India’s national carrier Air India has already evacuated around 640 Indians from Wuhan in two separate flights.

According to estimates, over 100 Indians are still living in Wuhan, some of whom decided not to return to India.

A sizeable number of countries have evacuated their citizens from China and restricted movement of people and goods to and from China. All the Indians who want to return to India will be brought back in the IAF aircraft on Thursday as Indian embassy has reached out to the Indian citizens stuck in Wuhan, the officials said. Chinese Ambasador Sun Weidong, addressing a press conference, said there was no case of any infection among the Indians in Wuhan as of today and that the authorities are taking “good care” of them. Sun appreciated India for extending solidarity and expressing readiness to assist China to deal with the epidemic.

China’s National Health Commission on Tuesday said the death toll due to the outbreak climbed to 1,868 on Monday while the total number of confirmed cases jumped to 72,436. pti

Kalyan Das

kalyan.das@htlive.com

Dehradun : Subedar Mohammed Yaqoob Khan, a soldier from Kashmiri, was awarded Sena Medal for his exemplary bravery in neutralising five terrorists during an encounter along with his team in March 2018 near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara sector of Kashmir.

He was among the 32 awardees of Sena Medal in the Indian Army’s Western Command’s Investiture Ceremony held in Dehradun on Tuesday.

Khan is posted with the army’s Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry (J&KLI). Earlier, he served with the army’s Rashtriya Rifles in counter-terrorism operations in the valley.

Terming the gallantry award as a moment of extreme pride, he said, “It not only made me proud but also my unit and family. I hope this would serve as an example for the youths in Kashmir and inspire them to serve the mother land.” He said, “I also hope that my case would serve as a lesson for them on the consequences of getting involved in wrong activities like terrorism and fruits of getting on the right path by joining the army.”

Remembering the encounter with terrorists for which he was awarded Sena Medal, Khan said it happened in the jungles near LoC in Kupwara sector. “Only those soldiers, who are on ground zero with terrorists, know what it feels like to be there,” he said.

Murali Krishnan

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday struck a blow for gender parity in the army, saying that women should be considered for command roles, and that all women officers are entitled to permanent commission. It asked the army to give them permanent commission within three months.

In a judgment hailed for creating a new equality paradigm in the armed forces, the top court, upholding a 2010 Delhi high court verdict, ruled that women officers who joined the Indian Army through Short Service Commission (SSC) are entitled to permanent commission (PC) even if they have more than 14 years of service.

The bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Ajay Rastogi also held that there cannot be an “absolute bar” on women officers being considered for command appointments, paving the way for their elevation to such roles. To be sure, the case was only about permanent commission and command roles in non-combat streams of the army.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh welcomed the judgment. “I wholeheartedly welcome Honble Supreme Court’s judgement on giving the Women officers permanent commission in the Armed Forces. PM Shri Narendra Modi has supported the idea of permanent commission for women & announced the change in policy in his Independence Day speech in 2018”, he tweeted.

A permanent commission allows officers to serve in the army till they retire, unlike the SSC, which is for a specific period of 10 or 14 years. Women can only join the armed forced through SSC; they are not offered ab initio permanent commission in any of the forces. There was no immediate response from the Indian Army. The Centre proposed in February 2019 that permanent commission should be given to SSC-recruited women officers with less than 14 years of service. It also decided that these could only be given in “staff appointments” and not in command roles in specific non-combat streams.

Before this, PC was available to SSC-recruited women officers in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) and Army Education Corps (AEC) which belonged to the Services stream. “All serving women officers on SSC shall be considered for the grant of PCs irrespective of any of them having crossed 14 years or, as the case may be, 20 years of service; The option shall be granted to all women presently in service as SSC officers,” the court ruled on Monday.

Amrita Madhukalya

amrita.madhukalya@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : The Supreme Court ruling on Monday that all women officers are entitled to the permanent commission in the Indian Army concluded a struggle that began in 2003, when the first petitioner, Babita Puniya, a civilian, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi high court. Puniya, now a metropolitan magistrate in Delhi, was then an advocate represented by Rekha Palli, who is now a Delhi high court judge.

Several petitioners joined the crusade, and in 2010, the Delhi high court ruled in their favour.

One of them, Lt Col Seema Singh, who was a Major when she moved court in 2007, said she is happy to still be in the service when the case has come to a conclusion. “I would not call the existing rules discriminatory, but they came in the way of gender equality,” she said on Monday, when the top court also held that women should be considered for command roles.

“The army is one of the best organisations to work with. It makes you feel at home,” she added. The order will directly affect 332 women officers serving in the army, and others who join the eligibility ranks in the future.

Another officer, who like Singh was a Major when she filed her petition in 2010, said she was stressed about having to start another career in her late 30s if she would have to retire after 14 years of service without permanent commission.

“After a decade in the army, I was worried about finding a new career which might require a new skill set. Being in the job left us with little time to develop that,” she said, asking not to be named.

She added what hurt more was seeing male officers opt for courses that would help them progress in their careers. “We had no next step. There was a wall ahead of us,” she said. “We were never given any relaxation… we strived to do better than the men. Why were we not given the same rights?” she asked.

Lt Col Sandhya Yadav, who filed her petition in 2008, when she was also a Major, said the fight was for parity, and despite the long struggle, it was worth the wait. “You spend 14 years in service only to be left out in the cold one day. How is that fair?” she asked.

Lawyer Aishwarya Bhatti, who represented over 50 petitioners, said the policy was discriminatory because it left out all serving women officers from command roles, denied permanent commission to women with more than 14 years of service, and was applicable to staff appointments only.

In the petition, Bhatti mentioned Minty Agarwal, a fighter controller of the Indian Air Force who was part of the team that guided Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman during the post-Balakot dogfight last February. The combat followed Indian air strikes on a terror camp in Pakistan in retaliation to the Pulwama attack on a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu & Kashmir.

She also mentioned Major Mitali Madhumita, the first lady officer to receive the Sena Medal for gallantry.

“Minty was a staff appointment, and Madhumita faced a fidayeen [suicide] attack in Kabul,” she said. “This judgement is a watershed moment for women across the world.”

Bhatti said the next goal is to push for combat roles.

Singh was not that sure. “To be practical, combat roles require a special sort of preparedness, and women will need a certain kind of training. If the authorities decide to send us to combat, we are more than ready,” she said.

Yadav said the women, who will be commissioned henceforth, will have a clear path. Singh echoed her sentiments. “The army is the kind of organisation you will fight for and that is why we went to court. It is up to us all now to prove the judgement worthy.”

In a landmark order, the Supreme Court has upheld the right of short service commissioned (SSC) women officers to be entitled to permanent commission in the Indian Army. It also said that there could not be an absolute bar for considering women officers for command positions. This was in response to the government’s petition challenging a Delhi High Court order of 2010 to grant permanent commission to women officers at par with their male counterparts.

The SC’s verdict is welcome. For one, it upholds the right to equality in the Constitution — for the spirit of the order is the principle of non-discrimination. Gender cannot serve as the basis for inequitable and unequal treatment in any sphere, including in defence forces. Two, the SC has categorically rejected the arguments of the Centre — which was based on physiological limitations of women and prevailing social norms, including family obligations — and made it clear that casting aspersions on their ability was an insult to both women and the Indian Army. Three, it has very explicitly opened the doors for women in command positions, thus ensuring they will have a role in decision-making in due course of time.

It is now time for the government to implement the order both in letter and in spirit. This will involve changing mindsets internally, for male officers continue to see women as best suited for adjunct roles and not as equals. The decision will encourage more women to think of a career in the military. This may begin a process of correcting the gender imbalance in India’s forces.