New Delhi, October 3

The Army has built a memorial to its 20 personnel who were killed while valiantly fighting Chinese troops in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15, official sources said on Saturday.

The memorial, located at Post 120 in eastern Ladakh and inaugurated earlier this week, mentions the heroics of the “Gallants of Galwan” under operation “Snow Leopard” and the way they evicted the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops from the area while inflicting “heavy casualties” on them in “hand-to-hand combat”.

China is yet to disclose the number of its soldiers killed and injured in the clash, though it officially admitted to have suffered casualties. According to an American intelligence report, the number of casualties on the Chinese side was 35.

Post 120 lies along the Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) road. The names of all the 20 Indian Army personnel were inscribed at the unit-level memorial.

Colonel B Santosh Babu, the Commanding Officer of the 16 Bihar regiment, was among the Indian Army personnel killed in the clash that had significantly escalated the border tension between the two countries with India calling it “a premeditated and planned action by China”.

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 around patrolling point 14 in the Galwan valley.

Giving a brief account of Operation “Snow Leopard”, the Army mentioned in a plaque at the memorial that Colonel Babu led the “Quick Reaction Force” of 16 Bihar Regiment and attached troops tasked to evict a group of Chinese troops from the general area in “Y nala” (a junction) and stop them from moving further to Patrolling Point 14.

“The column successfully evicted the PLA OP from Y Nala and reached PP14 where a fierce skirmish broke out between the IA (Indian Army) and PLA troops. Col B Santosh Babu led from the front and his troops fought gallantly in hand-to-hand combat, causing heavy casualties to the PLA. In the ensuing fight twenty ‘Gallants of Galwan’ achieved martyrdom,” the Army wrote.

The list of 20 personnel in the memorial included three naib subedars, three havildars and 12 sepoys. — PTI

Located at Post 120 in eastern Ladakh

The memorial, located at Post 120 in eastern Ladakh and inaugurated earlier this week, mentions the heroics of the “Gallants of Galwan” under operation “Snow Leopard” and the way they evicted the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops from the area while inflicting “heavy casualties” on them in “hand-to-hand combat”.

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 6

The Army has cited the current border situation and critical officer shortage to deny the same place posting to its first ‘colonel couple’.

The Army has revealed that the present strength of officers of the rank of Colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Department, the Army’s legal wing, is just about half of the sanctioned strength.

“The JAG Department at present is holding only 23 Colonels out of its authorization of 40 Colonels,” an affidavit, submitted before the Delhi High Court by Army Headquarters in the matter of the Army’s first “colonel couple” seeking a posting to the same station, states.

In September, the High Court had stayed the postings of the couple. Col Amit Kumar and Col Annu Dogra from Jodhpur to Port Blair and Bathinda respectively, after a petition by Col Amit, averred that the posting orders were arbitrary and in complete violation of the standard operating procedure on the subject. Both are serving with the JAG Department.

Expressing its inability to transfer them both to the same station, the Army has contended that the only potential station is New Delhi, but due to overall paucity of Colonels in the JAG’s Department, posting both to Delhi will be at the cost of maintaining voids at formation HQs, which is not in organisational interest especially in view of the present operational situation along the borders.

Pointing out that they had been granted a spouse coordinated posting at Jodhpur after about three years, the officer had claimed that they had remained separated for long durations in the past due to various factors that prevented spouse coordinated postings. Further, the tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) was a low-key appointment with the relatively little workload.

The Army has contended that ANC is an independent and important command which is not under the JAG, therefore demanding the posting of an experienced officer and presently there is an operational situation which includes high security at all levels including ANC which requires strengthening of hands.

In its affidavit, the Army has also pointed out that in 12 years of marriage, the officer and his wife were given three spouses coordinated posting, including the home station and extended tenures.

Dimapur, October 6

The NSCN (IM) has demanded direct involvement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the talks to resolve the festering insurgency in the northeastern state and insisted that the negotiations be held in a “third country”.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi written on February 25, but kept secret so far, Thuingaleng Muivah, the general secretary of the group and chief Naga negotiator in the talks with the government, also spoke about the framework agreement (FA) signed in 2015 and its proposal that the state should be allowed to have a Constitution and national flag.

In the letter released to the media on Monday, the outfit said it was making public the letter for “lack of response” from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Muivah, who is the Ato Kilonser (prime minister) of the self-styled Naga government, referred to the circumstances in which he and the then chairman of the outfit Isak Chishi Swu first arrived in India in 2002 and “patiently” stayed here since 2010 to conclude an “acceptable and honourable political settlement.

He said the NSCN(IM) started political negotiation with the government only after it recognised the Naga problem as a “political issue” and stopped calling it India’s internal law and order issue.

Referring to the framework agreement, Muivah said, ”We mentioned in our proposal that Nagaland shall use its National Flag, Anthem, Emblem and Insignia” and have a Constitution called ‘Yehzabo’.

Though Muivah said it was not a “demand”, his letter spoke about how “sovereignty lies with the people” and the “peaceful co-existence” of “two entities” through “sharing of sovereign power”.

Talking about the deal in implementing the framework agreement, Muivah said, “In the given circumstances and in order to save the political dialogue, the talks should resume at the highest i.e. prime minister level, without precondition, and outside India in a third country”.

Muivah also wrote about the “obnoxious” conduct of the Ministry of Home Affairs while dealing with the Naga question.

“We are totally shocked and surprised that even after more than two decades of political negotiation, the MHA and its agencies have become obnoxious.

“It has come as a total shock and surprise that the Gol has started branding and accusing the members of the NSCN who are in political negotiation as terrorist and with impunity they are arresting the members of the organization, he wrote.

He dubbed as “serious provocation” the conduct of the home ministry, and said it went against the spirit of political negotiation and the framework agreement.

Muivah was also bitter about the role of Nagaland Governor RN Ravi who, before taking up the new assignment, was the Government of India’s chief negotiator for the Naga talks.

He alleged that Ravi was interfering with the law and order issues in “deliberate deviation” from his appointment as the Centre’s representative for the peace talks.

“The activities of the Representative of the Gol is polarizing the Naga society instead of uniting the Nagas for an honourable political solution,” Muivah wrote.

He alleged Ravi was meeting only a “certain section” of the Naga society that is not committed to a “genuine political solution and who do not represent the genuine aspiration of the Naga people”.

Despite Muivah’s fulmination, several rounds of talks to restore peace in Nagaland have been held in New Delhi. The Indian side was largely represented by officers of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

“We have come to India on the invitation of the Gol and we are in Nagaland to meet our own Naga people vis-a-vis the peace process. If the MHA is trying to stop us from meeting our own people, then their negative intent against the peace process has become very clear,” he said.

Muivah also wrote that the Indian government should allow him to leave the country if our stay in India is no more welcome. All necessary arrangements must be made for us to leave India and the political talks be resumed in a third country.

The NSCN(IM) leader said the letter was released belatedly as he expected the PMO to respond “positively”. PTI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 6

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is considering more numbers of the next generation stealt featured Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). The plan is to have at least 125 planes of the AMCA with two versions powered by separate engines.

During a press conference on Monday, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said the force was looking for seven squadrons (some 125 jets) with two separate engines.

Sources said the first two squadrons of the fighters would be powered by an imported engine, the General Electric 414 with 90 KN thrust, same as the one used by US-made fighter jets made by Boeing.

The remaining five squadrons are likely to get an indigenous power plant with a greater thrust of 125 KN. A joint venture is being worked out with a foreign engine maker to jointly develop a new engine. A powerful engine will allow greater weapons carrying capacity and faster speed.

According to the existing plan, the AMCA’s first flight will be in 2027 and full production by 2029. The IAF, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are working on the AMCA.

The DRDO has tasked various labs for doing R&D on material, paint and structure. Separate studies are under way on flight control, avionics, aerodynamics, composite structure and general systems like brakes, hydraulics and fuel systems.

A super-cruise ability, which gives an aircraft capability to fly at supersonic speed, is being developed. The AMCA team is using geometric drawing for stealth by shaping the aircraft and designing it at such angles so as to deflect away maximum radar waves. It will use radar-absorbing material. The AMCA will be a single-seat, twin-engine, stealth all-weather multirole fighter aircraft.

AMCA: all-weather fighter aircraft

• The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft will be a single-seat, twin-engine, stealth all-weather multirole fighter aircraft
• The 25-tonne jet will be capable of attaining super-cruise speed
• According to the existing plan, the AMCA’s first flight will be in 2027 and full production by 2029

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 5

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Chief of the Army Staff Gen MM Naravane ended their two-day visit to Myanmar with a subtle message to China.

As Shringla and Gen Naravane went through the paces of calling on state councillor Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar army Chief Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, India also announced that it had opened a high-tech IT centre at Myitkyina.

The significance of this town, closer to the China border, is that it is on Stillwell Road, now largely a rutted track that snakes from Assam to China via Myanmar.

The town is located just 60 km from Myitsone, the confluence of two rivers and the starting point of a now-junked Chinese project to build a huge multipurpose dam.

India was highly concerned after Myanmar awarded the dam to the Chinese, but it has since been kept suspended with Beijing reportedly lobbying for its revival.

The centre inaugurated by India with its advanced IT training modes, including conventional and virtual classrooms, is expected to be a magnet for the youth in this Kachin territory considered strategic as it is a bridge between Yunnan and north east India.

Shringla and Gen Naravane, accompanied by Indian envoy Saurabh Kumar, handed over 3,000 vials of Remdesivir to Suu Kyi as India has positioned itself as a reliable partner in Myanmar’s battle against Covid. They also discussed important bilateral issues.