Islamabad, February 19

Pakistan has said it is fully facilitating Sikh pilgrims from across the world, including India, for visiting their religious sites in the country.The remarks of the foreign ministry on Friday come a day after India denied permission to around 600 Sikh pilgrims to visit Pakistan, citing the security and Covid situation in the country.“Pakistan provides maximum facilitation to the Sikh yatris from all over the world, including India, for visiting their religious sites in Pakistan,” Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said at the weekly media briefing.

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India, Chaudhri said, should also facilitate Sikh pilgrims for visiting their religious sites in Pakistan.

In a communication to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), an apex Sikh religious body, India’s Home Ministry on Wednesday said the security situation in Pakistan continues to be adverse and there is a threat to Indian citizens in that country.

Besides, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected five lakh people in Pakistan and 10,000 people lost their lives due to the disease. The health infrastructure in Pakistan is also not adequate, it said.

Citing these reasons, the Home Ministry conveyed to the SGPC that it has decided not to accord permission to the group that was expected to visit gurdwaras in Pakistan from February 18 to 21. — PTI

Gangtok, February 19

The Indian Army provided food, medical help and warm clothes to over 400 tourists who were stranded in East Sikkim district due to sudden heavy snowfall, an official said on Friday.

Around 447 tourists in 150 vehicles were struck at JN Road Axis about 40 km from the state capital on Thursday afternoon due to heavy snowfall while returning from tourist destinations like Tsomgo lake, Nathula, Baba Mandir, Memencho Lake and Kupup, the official said.

Many tourists with medical problems were provided medical help at the 317 FD hospital by an Army medical team.

The other tourists were given hot food, warm clothes and shelter by the Army and were sent back to Gangtok after the weather improved and the blocked roads were cleared by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the official added. — PTI

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 19

Armed with evidence of physical verification of troops dis-engaging from along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladkah, Corps Commanders of the two countries are slated to meet on Saturday to discuss the next steps of the dis-engagement process.

The meeting will be held at 10 am on the Chinese side of the LAC at Spanggur Gap in Moldo.

The first phase of the dis-engagement process entails both sides withdrawing from positions on the north bank and south bank of Pangong Tso, a 135 km-wide glacial melt lake. The next phases will see talks for similar pull-back at Depsang, Gogra and Hot Springs along the 823 km of LAC in eastern Ladakh. Since April 2020, there has been a massive build-up by either side.

Also read: 5 Chinese soldiers were killed in Galwan Valley clash, acknowledges China

The timeline for the first phase of dis-engagement was between February 22 and February 24. The matters have speeded up as both sides have withdrawn tanks, troops, guns and all vehicles back at their home bases. The pull-back includes dismantling all infrastructure created after April 2020, which includes removing bunkers, helipads, housing units and tents.

A physical verification has been done by both sides using permissible means – physical visits and UAVs.

The commanders can either accept that the disengagement process has been done as per the agreement or can point out to any issues which remain.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told the Rajya Sabha on February 11 about the future plan and how further discussions would be done. “There are still some outstanding issues with regard to deployment and patrolling at some other points along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.  These will be the focus of further discussions with the Chinese side,” he said.

All along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh there are separate locations where militaries of both sides are in eyeball-to-eyeball situations.

Besides Pangong Tso, the next phases will cover resumption of patrolling limits in areas along the LAC, which have overlapping claims by both sides.

Then comes the issue of 900 square km Depsang plains located north of the Shyok river. Located at an altitude of 16,000 feet, the Indian Army holds a majority of the Depsang plains while People’s Liberation Army of China holds the eastern edge of the plains.

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 19

The Helina and Dhruvastra air launched anti-tank guided missile systems are ready for induction in the armed forces after successful trials were carried out from the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter platform in the desert ranges.

Helina is the missile’s Army version while Dhruvastra is the Air Force Version.

The missile systems have been designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). These missiles are a follow-on development of the ground-based Nag anti-tank missile.

Five missions were carried out for evaluating the missile capabilities at minimum and maximum range. The missiles were fired in hover and max forward flight against realistic static and moving targets.

Few missions were carried out with warheads against derelict tanks. A mission was also carried out against a moving target from a forward flying helicopter, according to an official spokesperson.

The Helina and Dhruvastra are third generation, Lock on Before Launch (LOBL) fire and forget anti-tank guided missiles that can engage targets both in the direct hit mode as well as the top attack mode.

The system has all-weather day and night capability, and can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as with explosive reactive armour.

DRDO claims it to be one of the most-advanced anti-tank weapons in the world. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, the Army and Air Force for the achievements.

Secretary Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy appreciated the effort of the teams involved in the successful trials.

Beijing, February 19

Four Chinese soldiers were killed in the fierce clash with the Indian Army in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June last year, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) acknowledged for the first time on Friday.

China’s military authorities have honoured two officers and three soldiers, including four who received the awards posthumously, for defending the country’s western border, the official Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the The People’s Liberation Army Daily, the newspaper of the Chinese military.

Also read: 10th round of commander-level talks between India and China tomorrow

Five Chinese frontier officers and soldiers stationed in the Karakoram Mountains have been recognised by the Central Military Commission of China (CMC) for their sacrifice in the border confrontation with India, which occurred in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, the PLA Daily said.

The CMC is headed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China.

The title of “border-defending hero” was conferred on Battalion Commander Chen Hongjun posthumously, while Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran received first-class merit. Qi Fabao, who was seriously injured in the skirmish, received the title of “hero regiment commander for defending the border,” the Xinhua report said.

Three PLA soldiers were killed in the combat while another soldier died while crossing the icy river when he went to support his army mates.

Asked why China chose to reveal the casualties suffered during the Galwan incident after over eight months, Hua said, “the report has been revealed to give the truth to the public because the truth is long awaited and is necessary for the people to know the true story.”

India has said that 20 of its soldiers were killed in the fierce hand-to-hand combat on June 15 in Galwan Valley, an incident that marked the most serious military conflicts between the two sides in over four decades.

While China acknowledged casualties, it did not disclose details.

“These heroes will along will be remembered by the Chinese people. Their sacrifices made to defend our territory will never be forgotten by the Chinese people,” she said.

“We all know that conflict broke out in Galwan in June last year and responsibility does not rest with Chinese side,” Hua claimed.

“We hope the border issue will be put in a proper place in our bilateral relations. We hope to work with the Indian side to properly resolve the issue and uphold the general picture and the interests of the bilateral ties”, Hua said.

“India is an important neighbour of China and restoring a healthy stable relationship is the aspiration and also in the interest of the two peoples. I hope the Indian side will work with us towards achieving this shared goal,” she said.

Asked whether the details of the Galwan incident revealed by China today will impact Saturday’s 10th round of Commanders-level talks to discuss further disengagement of troops, Hua said these are two separate issues.

“Through diplomatic and military channels of the two sides are in communications in completing the disengagement smoothly,” she added.

“We hope the Indian side will bear in mind the general interest of bilateral relations and bring the ties to the right track. What we released is just the facts and the truth,” she said.

The border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5 last year following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake areas and both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.

The Chinese soldiers used stones, nail-studded sticks, iron rods and clubs in carrying out brutal attacks on Indian soldiers after they protested the erection of a surveillance post by China on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control in Galwan.

The PLA Daily claimed that the Indian soldiers attacked the Chinese military personnel with steel tubes and cudgels and threw stones.

This is the first time China has acknowledged casualties and details of these officers and soldiers’ sacrifice, four of whom died when dealing with the Indian military’s “illegal trespassing” of the Galwan Valley Line of Actual Control (LAC), the report said.

While India has announced the casualties immediately after the incident, China did not officially acknowledge the casualties until Friday.

The Russian official news agency TASS reported on February 10 that 45 Chinese servicemen were killed in the Galwan Valley clash. According to an American intelligence report last year, the number of casualties on the Chinese side was 35.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet, while India contests it.

The Global Times, a tabloid, part of the ruling Communist Party of China-run People’s Daily group of publications, said the PLA Daily while acknowledging the Galwan Valley casualties stated that the five were killed fighting the “foreign military”.

“It is noticeable that the PLA Daily report used “foreign military” to refer to the Indian military, a move that showed China’s kindness of not inciting sentiments of the people against the background of the current disengagement of troops from China and India along the border areas”, the Global Times report said.

The admission of the casualties by the PLA coincides with the ongoing disengagement of troops by both sides at the North and South banks of the Pangong Lake, the most contentious part of the standoff which began in May last year. PTI

Srinagar, February 19

A militant gunned down two unarmed policemen in broad daylight in an upmarket Srinagar area, an incident witnessed by several people and captured on CCTV cameras, police said on Friday, two days after a similar shooting targeting the son of the owner of a city eatery.

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The two policemen were on duty at Baghat on the high-security airport road when they were attacked. The militant, identified as Saqib, can be seen pulling out an assault rifle hidden inside his ‘pheran’, a loose over-garment worn during winters, and pumping bullets at them at close range.

The attacker can be seen fleeing from the spot as people scatter around in horror.

“We have identified the militant and we will soon catch hold of him,” Director-General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbagh Singh told PTI here.

The two policemen were rushed to SMHS hospital. Constable Suhail was the first one to succumb while his colleague, constable Mohammed Yusuf, lost the battle of life as he was being wheeled into the operation theatre, police said.

Immediately after the incident, police teams rushed to the area and took into their possession recordings from CCTVs installed by shops and houses. This led them to identify the militant as Saquib from Barzulla area in the city. His affiliations were not immediately known.

This is the second attack in the city in three days.

On Wednesday evening, militants shot at and injured the son of a popular eatery owner in the city’s high security Durganag area.

“We have identified some people and they are being questioned by the police. I am sure the case will be cracked soon,” Singh said.

The attack in the city came as a 24-member delegation of envoys from various countries visited Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to assess the ground situation in the union territory. PTI

New Delhi, February 18

Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane on Thursday flagged off the 100th K-9 Vajra tracked self-propelled howitzer from a production facility of its maker Larsen and Toubro at Hazira near Surat.

The Indian Army said Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has supplied 100 units of indigenously made K-9 Vajra-T 155 mm/ 52 calibre self-propelled guns to it so far.

In a statement, L&T said with the flagging-off of the 100th howitzer, the company has successfully completed delivery of all guns under the existing contract awarded to it by the Ministry of Defence in May 2017.

The company said it has maintained its track record of “ahead of time deliveries” of complex platforms.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had flagged off the 51st K9 VAJRA in January last year from Hazira.

As a part of its ‘Make-in-India’ initiative, the company established a green-field manufacturing-cum-integration and testing facility at its Hazira manufacturing complex near Surat to produce the guns.

The ‘Armoured Systems Complex’ at Hazira was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2018.

L&T Defence produced the ‘K9 VAJRA’ under a contract awarded to it through global competitive bidding. L&T was the prime bidder for the programme with South Korean defence major Hanwha Defence, the original equipment maker of the world’s top rated howitzer the ‘K9 Thunder’, as its technology partner.

“The production of complex platforms like the K9 VAJRA contributes to the Indian economy with a large multiplier effect, creates new job opportunities and plays a significant role in enhancing India’s industrial ecosystem,” said J D Patil, Whole-Time Director and Senior Executive Vice President (Defence and Smart Technologies) of L&T.

“With the experience, track-record, skills, capabilities and infrastructure that L&T has built, we are ready to indigenously develop, and build India’s future capabilities,” he said.

Patil said with the supply of 100th K9 VAJRA howitzer, L&T have created an industry benchmark by delivering the only in-service equipment of its class, a major land-based programme ahead of schedule.

“We hope and believe that under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat policies of the Government of India, the national asset created in the form of the Armoured Systems Complex to execute this ambitious contract, will provide sustenance to the painstakingly built supply chain of more than 1000 MSME partners,” he said.

The company said ‘K9 VAJRA’ systems are delivered with more than 80 per cent indigenous work packages and above 50 per cent indigenisation (by value) at the programme level.

It said the project involved local production of over 13,000 components per system through a supply chain spread across the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. PTI