New Delhi, March 12

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper’s visit to India on March 15-16 has been called off due to the coronavirus threat, Defence Ministry officials said on Thursday.

The trip, during which Esper was supposed to meet his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, is among the several events being postponed because of the coronavirus infection.

A two-day conference organised by the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), which was to start from Thursday, has also been postponed due to the COVID-19 threat.

The defence minister and Home Minister Amit Shah were scheduled to attend the conference, which included seminars on a range of security issues in Asia.

“Due to the prevailing global situation with regard to COVID-19, it has been decided to postpone the 21st Asian Security Conference (ASC) to a later date. Fresh dates for the Conference will be conveyed in due course,” the Ministry of Defence think tank said in an email to the participants.

The conference organised by IDSA, now rechristened Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, was to be attended by participants from countries such as the US, Russia, Australia, Vietnam, Sweden, Belgium, Japan and the UK.

Besides this, Milan-2020, the largest multilateral exercise hosted by the Navy to be held from March 18 to 28 in Visakhapatnam, was indefinitely postponed as a precaution.

Another military drill—India Egypt Joint Special Forces exercise 2020—which was scheduled to be held at Jodhpur from March 11 to 13, has been postponed as well.

The number of coronavirus patients in the country has risen to 73 with 13 fresh cases, including nine from Maharahtra and one each from Delhi, Ladakh and Uttar Pradesh as well as one foreign national, the Union Health Ministry said.—PTI

shfaq Tantry
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, March 11

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has declined to ban the use of pellet guns for crowd control “in rare and extreme situations” in the region.

A Division Bench of Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, dismissing a PIL seeking a ban on pellet guns and pellet-filled cartridges during protests, reiterated that “it is manifest that so long as there is violence by mobs, use of force is inevitable. What kind of force has to be used at the relevant point of time or in a given situation/place, has to be decided by the persons in charge of the place”, the Bench said.

“In view of the ground situation prevailing as of now and the fact that the MHA has already constituted a committee through its memorandum dated July 26, 2016, for exploring alternative to pellet guns…, we are not inclined to prohibit the use of pellet guns in rare and extreme situations,” the HC said while dismissing a PIL by the Kashmir High Court Bar Association in the wake of protests following Hizb commander Burhan Wani’s death and pellet injuries to hundreds during the protests.

“So far as the Constitutional Tort is concerned, the State has fulfilled its obligation inasmuch as they have made

ex gratia payments to most of the injured,” it said.

New Delhi, March 11

ITBP Director General SS Deswal today took additional charge of the BSF as its serving chief VK Johri was repatriated to take over as the Madhya Pradesh DGP, according to an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The order issued on Tuesday said Deswal would handle the charge “till the appointment and joining of the successor or until further orders, whichever is earlier”.

The Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh had issued an order appointing Johri, a 1984-batch IPS officer, the new DGP.

In the same order, the MP government shifted incumbent DGP VK Singh to the Sports and Youth Welfare Department as its Director.

DG, Cyber Cell, Rajendra Kumar, a 1985-batch officer, has been asked to officiate as the DGP till Johri takes over. Johri is expected to reach state capital Bhopal tomorrow and subsequently take over his new assignment in a few days.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by PM Narendra Modi, issued an order on Wednesday approving the proposal of the MHA for repatriation of Johri to his parent cadre with immediate effect.

Deswal, a 1984-batch Haryana cadre IPS officer, has earlier headed the Sashastra Seema Bal as its DG, apart from handling additional charge of DG Central Reserve Police Force and National Security Guard. — TNS

Capt Shweta Misra (retd)

Women officers are only showpieces in the Army!’ he said and went on with similar affronts. Those gendered swipes were made at a woman soldier discharging her duties at the sensitive Indo-Pak border for months at a stretch. She had seen no civilian life or even the face of another woman, while facing extreme weather conditions of the Thar Desert in the peak of winter; living in makeshift tents with no concrete roof above or floor below; with no privacy as a woman, as there were only male soldiers for miles around.

The accusations of ‘taking away our share of peace postings’ were made against a woman soldier who wore a dog tag and was out there, ready to make the supreme sacrifice for the country in the event of a war.

In 2001, India’s Parliament was attacked by Pakistan-trained terrorists. The then PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, decided to launch a retaliatory attack. Lakhs of troops were mobilised to the border.

She was a young Captain, on leave, when the orders of ‘recall from leave’ came. Leaving her two-year-old child, the mother reported on duty. Her Air Defence regiment, located in central India, got orders to get deployed along the border and the responsibility of safely transporting the goods train full of weapon systems, associated equipment and manpower was assigned to her. The train took 15 days to reach the operational area. The task was accomplished without a glitch. At no point did she think that she is a woman, and the only one in the train and the deployment area.

However, a woman living in an extreme war situation, performing exceptionally well and excelling, hurt the male ego of some fellow officers. Thus started the everyday nagging, derogatory remarks for being in a profession that didn’t belong to her gender. A climate of intimidation and insecurity was created — ‘women officers are a liability’. It was the sheer ugliness of this mansplaining that made her existence a hell, not the hardships and exigencies of service.

The perpetual sexist jibes lower the morale of women workers and drain out their energy, which otherwise is intended for job performance. Such hostile environment impacts the organisational culture and its overall efficiency. Research shows that 80% of women have been confronted with this phenomenon of mansplaining and manterrupting at work. In order to support inclusive and sustainable development, substantial measures need to be taken to prevent sexism and its manifestations in all public and private spheres.

Our defence forces are at a nascent stage of including women in the organisational setup. They have the opportunity to be at the forefront and lead by example by creating legislation, policies and programmes that perpetuate gender parity. Let them.

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 5

Shock, anger and disbelief have gripped the Shah family after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a father-daughter duo for harbouring and facilitating the Pulwama suicide bomber, Adil Dar, and his Pakistan handler, Mohammad Umar Farooq.

More than 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many others were injured when Dar rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy on February 14 last year. In retaliation, the Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control and bombed terror camps in Balakote on February 27.

Tariq Ahmed Shah, 50, and his daughter, Insha Jan, 23, were arrested on Tuesday after investigations revealed that they were acting as conduits of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and their house was used for recording Dar’s video before he rammed his Eeco car into the CRPF convoy.

“Militants were coming to our home one and a half years ago. But we couldn’t say no to them as they were armed,” said Tariq’s wife Naseema.

Naseema said militants had visited their house twice, but she had requested them to leave.

“When they (militants) came the first time, I told them that we don’t have space. My husband even fled the house that night. One of the militants told me that they will stay only for the night,” said Naseema.

“When they came for the second time, I categorically told them to leave the house. I even warned them I will go to a nearby camp to inform the forces. The militants threatened to kill us. They even took pictures of my daughter (Insha) and threatened to upload them on social media. Tell me what should I have done?” she asked.

Insha is the youngest of the three siblings, who dropped out after Class IX. Her father, Tariq, is a truck driver.

An NIA spokesman on Tuesday said the accused, Tariq Shah, had disclosed that his house at Hakripora, Pulwama, was used by Adil Dar, Pakistani militant Mohammad Umar Farooq, who assembled the IED, Kamran, another Pakistani militant, Sameer Ahmed Dar and Mohammad Ismail, alias Ibrahim, alias Adnan, a Pakistani militant.

“His house was also used by the terrorists for preparing and recording the video of fidayeen Adil Ahmad Dar, which was released by the Jaish-e-Mohammed soon after the Pulwama attack,” the spokesman said.

Insha Jan, according to the NIA spokesman, facilitated the militants at their home and provided them food and other logistics during their stay on more than 15 occasions for two to four days each time.

“The initial interrogation has revealed that Insha Jan was in constant touch with Mohammad Umar Farooq, Pakistani IED maker, and was in communication with him over the telephone and other social media applications,” he said.

The arrest of the father-daughter duo is the second major breakthrough in the Pulwama attack in the last one week.

On Friday, the NIA arrested a key overground worker Shakir Bashir Magray, who had provided shelter and logistic support to the Jaish suicide bomber, Adil Dar.

Second major breakthrough

• The arrest of the father-daughter duo is the second major breakthrough in the Pulwama attack in the last one week
• On Friday, the NIA arrested a key overground worker, Shakir Bashir Magray, who had provided shelter and logistic support to the Jaish suicide bomber, Adil Dar

srinagar, March 6

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the Pulwama suicide attack, today said the chemicals used in the attack were procured from e-commerce website Amazon.

The probe agency also arrested two youths from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The NIA said one of the accused — Waiz ul Islam, 19, of Srinagar — disclosed that he used his Amazon online shopping account to procure chemicals for making IEDs, batteries and other accessories on the directions of Pakistani JeM terrorists.

“He also personally delivered the items to the JeM terrorists after procuring the incriminating material online as part of the conspiracy to carry out the Pulwama attack,” NIA spokesperson Alok Mittal said. The other youth, Muhammad Abbas Rather, 32, of Hakripora village in Pulwama, has taken the number of arrests in the case to five. “Rather has disclosed that he gave shelter at his home to Jaish terrorist Mohd Umar (IED expert) after he came to Kashmir in April-May 2018,” the NIA said. — TNS

Shyam Sood

Rajouri, March 8

Troops of 39 Rashtriya Rifles under Romeo Force along with the Rajouri district police have rescued nine passengers who were trapped in heavy snow near Dera –Ki-Gali (DKG) the highest point on the border of Rajouri and Poonch districts.

The DKG situated at a height of 6,500 feet from sea level and falls in the temperate region. It experiences heavy snowfall in the winter. According to a report, all the nine, including five women were on way to Bafliaz town (in Poonch district) from Thanamandi town in Rajouri in Tata Sumo.

The vehicle got stuck ahead of the DKG in the heavy snowfall which kept increasing with every minute. On receiving a message from the trapped passengers, troops of 33 RR and cops from their respective posts at the DKG swung into action.

The rescue operation was launched under the supervision of Sajjad Khan, SDPO, Thanamandi, and Commanding Officer of 39 RR and all the trapped passengers were brought to the joint check post at the DKG.

“All passengers were provided tea and medical attention by the Army” said an Army spokesman.