Jammu, November 27

In consonance with the ongoing efforts to reach out to the local populace, the Army organised a medical camp for people living in the remote Gohra Gali village of Ramban.

The Army is continuously undertaking various activities to “win hearts and minds” of people residing in far-flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir. In all, 53 people reaped the benefits of the medical camp which reached them at their doorsteps.

The medical patrol team provided medicines and medical advice to residents of the village. The Indian Army Medical Patrol also interacted with locals and discussed the hardships being faced by them. — OC

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 27

In a bid to perk up the morale of their workforce working in “extremely hazardous” and hostile conditions bereft of even a semblance of entertainment, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has embarked upon organising musical events “Call of the mountains” at Ladakh’s remote forward areas by renowned film and theatre artistes.

The musical shows are performed by different bands through ‘Go Magic Trails’, a company promoted by Bangalore-based entrepreneur Uma Sudhindra. The company specialises in conducting musical events for the armed personnel of the country whose motto is to promote military tourism.

The initiative is the brainchild of Chief Engineer, Project Himank of BRO, Brig NK Sharma, who conceived the idea about two years ago for the sole objective of boosting the morale of his jawans.

“Jawans are performing relentlessly at some of the world’s highest terrains all along the Indo-China border. The areas where they work remain entirely cut off from the rest of the world with no means of even the basic modes of communication, not to speak of any Internet facility or any other mode of recreation,” an official spokesperson for the BRO said.

“Discharging duties at an altitude of 18,000 feet above the sea level where oxygen levels are highly rarefied and icy winds blow is very difficult. This result in exposing them to high levels of mental fatigue, besides taking a toll on their physical well-being,” the spokesperson said quoting Brig Sharma.

“For addressing health-related issues of jawans, medical facilities have been established at vital installations. This has resulted in dramatic dip in casualties over the past three years,” the Chief Engineer said, adding, “It, however, remained a challenge to boost the morale and mental fitness of the jawans. It is with this motive to boost their morale and provide some kind of entertainment to our jawans that we teamed up with Go Magic Trails.”

This is the third year in row when the band has been performing at remote forward locations. Recently, they conducted a musical event at Shyok base — almost 130 km north of Leh — and at Daulat Beg Oldies (DBO) forward post, which is situated 350 km away from Leh along with the Indo-China border.

State Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar takes a tour of the museum at Kurukshetra University.

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, November 27

State Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar on Wednesday inaugurated a museum dedicated to the heroes of the 1857 First Warof Independence at Kurukshetra University. The memorial has been constructedat a cost of Rs 5 crore.

Speaking on the occasion, Gujjar said: “There was hardly any museum in the country dedicated to the martyrs of the 1857 freedom struggle. The museum at the KU has been constructed to commemorate the sacrifice of the 1857 martyrs. It will motivate the younger generations.”

The minister also inaugurated a shooting range established at a cost of Rs5.48 on the university campus.

Vice Chancellor KC Sharma said: “The aim is to ensure that the students are well aware of the country’s history, culture and art. The university is working to save the art and culture of Haryana through the Dharohar Museum. With thisnew museum, more people from across the country and world will be attracted to the KU. This museum dedicated to the first freedom struggle of 1857 will remind thecoming generations of the country’s valour.”

“The freedom struggle of 1857 started from Ambala, spread to Meerut and then in the entire country. An attempt has been made to presentthe same history throughphotographs through this museum,” he added.

The museum also has a statue of Rani of Jhansi, Laxmibai. Apart from this, it has been prepared in three parts. The first part depicts the activities of the first freedom struggle on the national level, second one shows the state’s contribution to it and the third one has the details of the unsung heroes of the Independence of Haryana. The museum has a lobby, art gallery, auditorium hall, audio visual room, and a library.

Stone laid in 2008

• The museum was to be inaugurated on January 11 this year, but the ceremony was postponed.
• The then Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma was to inaugurate it, but he failed to turn up due the BJP’s national executive meeting in New Delhi on the same day.
• Funded by the Centre, the foundation stone of the project was laid by the then UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on July 27, 2008, at the KU.

The traffic on the highway was suspended on Wednesday evening after heavy rain triggered shooting of stones from the hillocks overlooking the arterial road in Ramban district, officials said. Tribune file

Jammu, November 28

Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for the second consecutive day on Thursday after heavy rain in the Banihal-Ramban section triggered five landslides, leaving over 3,000 vehicles stranded at various places on the route, officials said.

The traffic on the highway was suspended on Wednesday evening after heavy rain triggered shooting of stones from the hillocks overlooking the arterial road in Ramban district, officials said.

“Highway is closed. There have been five landslides triggered by rain at various places in Banihal-Ramban section of the highway,” a traffic police official told PTI.

As result of which, over 3,000 vehicles, mostly trucks, were stranded at various places on the highway at Jammu, Nagrota, Udhampur, Ramban, Chenani, Batote, Banihal and Kathua, they said.

The 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was closed around 5.15 pm on Wednesday, the officials said.

Heavy rain lashed the Jammu-Srinagar national highway throughout the day with Banihal on this side of the Jawahar Tunnel receiving 19.6 mm of rainfall, they said, adding that the highway town of Qazigund on the other side recorded 24.8 mm of rainfall during the day.  A hailstorm also hit Banihal and adjoining areas.

The officials said the Border Roads Organisation is working to clear snow from the highway. PTI

The military ambulance after the accident near Malout. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service
Muktsar, November 28

Three army men died as a stray cattle came in front of their ambulance on the Abohar-Delhi highway near Malout on Wednesday night and as a result collided with a truck.

The ambulance was ferrying a sick Army man and four others from Abohar to the Army hospital in Bathinda when the mishap took place around 10 pm, sources said.

The deceased were identified as Subedar Jeetpal, Naib-Subedar Ajit Singh and Naik N Pandya. Two Army men–driver DS Pal and rifleman Devinder–were injured and shifted to hospital.

Malout Sadar police have started investigation after registering a case against the unidentified truck driver, who fled the spot after leaving the vehicle behind.

Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. File photo

Islamabad, November 28

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday granted a six-month conditional extension to Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, in a landmark case that shook the high echelons of power in a country that has been ruled for decades by the powerful military.

Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who headed a three-member Bench comprising Justices Mazhar Alam Khan and Mansoor Ali Shah, announced the verdict after being assured by the government that parliament will pass legislation on the extension/reappointment of an army chief within six months.

“The current appointment of General Qamar Javed Bajwa as COAS shall be subject to the said legislation and shall continue for a period of six months from today, whereafter the new legislation shall determine his tenure and other terms and conditions of service,” the Bench said in its short order.

The verdict was announced after the government submitted “a new summary” to extend the service of Gen Bajwa.

The ruling comes in the nick of time as Gen Bajwa was set to retire at midnight on Thursday.

A much-relieved Prime Minister Imran Khan lauded the apex court after the ruling even as he took a jibe at the country’s “external enemies” and the “mafias within”, saying the verdict must be of “special disappointment” to them.

Khan had extended Bajwa’s tenure through a notification on August 19, but the apex court suspended it on Tuesday, citing irregularities in the manner the army chief, a close confidant of the prime minister, was granted an extension.

“Today must be a great disappointment to those who expected the country to be destabilised by a clash of institutions,” Khan tweeted.

“That this did not happen must be of special disappointment to our external enemies & mafias within,” Khan said, without identifying them.

Delivering the verdict, Chief Justice Khosa directed the government to bring necessary legislation within six months.

Justice Khosa said that the court observed “judicial restraint” and left the matter to the parliament.

“We have reviewed several laws, including Army Act 1952 and Rule 1954, before announcing the judgment,” he said.

The Bench had concluded the case in the morning after three consecutive days of hearing but reserved the judgment.

It had directed to the government to present “a new summary for extension” in the service of Gen Bajwa.

The Bench had also directed that the summary should not mention any time period for which the service of army chief would be extended.

Earlier, when the hearing restarted, Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan told the court that government made a fresh appointment of Gen Bajwa as army chief under article 243 of the Constitution.

However, the court questioned how the fresh appointment was different from the previous appointment and the government’s legal team failed to satisfy the court.

The Bench asked the government to produce the documents related to the extension and pension of former army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani and those related to the retirement of his successor General Raheel Sharif.

As the documents were not readily available, the court suspended the proceedings for 15 minutes.

When the hearing resumed the relevant document were presented. But even those papers failed to answer the basic question that under which law the government was giving extension to the army chief for three years.

It turned out that there was no law on the issue of extension and reappointment of a sitting army chief for three years.

Khosa asked if the government was ready to formulate laws in specific period.

Attorney General Khan said the government can enact laws in three months. It prompted the court to offer that it can grant extension for three months to army chief.

However, lawyer of the army chief, Farogh Naeem who resigned from his post as law minister on Tuesday to pursue the case, said the government would make laws within six months.

The attorney general said the court should give extension without mentioning time period.

Khosa finally ordered that the government should come up with the new summary to appoint army chief and after seeing it the court would issue its verdict. He ordered that the salary and other perks of the army chief should also be mentioned in it.

Some interesting exchanges took place during the hearing as Chief Justice Khosa said that judges were termed as “agents of India” and “agents of CIA” for questioning laws related to the extension of army chief.

He said it was also alleged that the top court proceedings were part of “fifth generation warfare” against Pakistan.

The powerful Army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 70 plus years of existence, has wielded considerable power in deciding matters concerning security and foreign policies.

When Bajwa was appointed army chief by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he superseded three generals. —PTI

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 26

The Punjab State War Memorial and Museum will be hosting the first ever Army Literature festival on its premises on December 2 and 3.

The inaugural edition of the two-day festival will have multiple interactive activities and sessions on the famous historical battles by former Army personnel and experts. The festival is being organised in collaboration with the Army headquarters, Western Command.

“The focus of the festival would be to bring to the fore the stories of courage and sacrifice of our soldiers and to engage people in getting to know more about our armed forces. The literature festival has been conceived by the Governor of Punjab, VPS Badnore, and the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, who himself is an Army historian.

“We will host writers and experts talking about the famous Battle of Naushera in 1823 fought between Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s forces and Afghan tribals. Then there are so many stories of victory and loss, of love and longing that soldiers had to face fighting for the country. These are a part of our military history,” said Col HP Singh, Director, war memorial and museum.

Apart from these sessions, creative workshops in calligraphy, umbrella painting and music will also be held. The highlight of the festival would be a documentary titled Half Moon Stories, an account of the soldiers taken prisoners and detained at Halfmoon camp during the First World War. The documentary has recorded voices of Indian prisoners of war during the First World War that had been archived and kept among thousands of voice recordings at Humboldt University’s Sound Archive, Lautarchiv, Berlin.

Sourced and shared by Chandigarh-based Col Parminder Singh Randhawa, from German filmmaker Philip Scheffne, the documentary has voices of about 70 soldiers from Punjab, who shared their days, talked about missing their families and home, while kept detained at camp Halfmoon.

A madrasa is seen near the site where IAF struck near Balakot, in Pakistan. — Reuters file

New Delhi, November 27

The government on Wednesday said inputs indicate that attempts are being made to reactivate terror camps at Balakot in Pakistan which was bombed by the Indian Air Force fighters.

Union minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said in Rajya Sabha that the central government is committed to take all necessary steps to protect the borders of the country and maintain its integrity and sovereignty.

“Inputs indicate that attempts are being made by Pakistan-based terror outfits to reactivate its camp at Balakot and restart their religious and Jihadi indoctrination courses against India,” he said replying a written question.

The fighters of the Indian Air Force had bombed and destroyed the terror camp at Balakot on February 26 after terrorists attacked a convoy of CRPF vehicles, killing 40 jawans on February 14.

Reddy said the government has adopted a policy of zero-tolerance towards terrorism and the security forces are taking effective and continuous action in countering it as a result of which a large number of terrorists have been neutralised in Jammu and Kashmir during the past few years.

The minister said in Jammu and Kashmir, this year till November 17, as many as 594 terror incidents have taken place in which 37 civilians and 79 security personnel were killed.

He said a total of 614 terrorist incidents have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 in which 39 civilians and 91 security personnel were killed.

Reddy said up to October 2019, there have been 171 infiltration attempts from across the border of which 114 were successful.

In 2018, there were 328 infiltration attempts of which 143 were successful. — PTI