The confrontation between Indian and Chinese troops happened in North Sikkim. Matter resolved after local Command-level officers intervened.
File photo of Indian Army and China’s Peoples’ Liberation Army soldiers in September| ANI
New Delhi: At least 12 Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in stone pelting and fist fight along the Line of Actual Control in North Sikkim Saturday after a patrol party of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel was stopped.
Army sources said the intense stand-off was later resolved with the intervention of officers at the local Command level.
Incidentally, this is the same area where an Army helicopter carrying unidentified passengers was forced to make a hard landing.
The confrontation happened near the Naku La sector, a pass at a height of more than 5,000 metres.
A patrol party of the PLA came across Indian soldiers in an area they consider Chinese territory. This led to the face-off and more troops were called in, sources said.
They added that the soldiers exchanged blows with each other besides pelting stones in which some of them were injured.
“There was aggressive behaviour and minor injuries on both sides. Both sets of soldiers disengaged after local level interaction and dialogue. The issue was solved through established protocols for such issues,” a source in the Army Headquarters here said.
‘Face-offs occur as boundaries are not resolved’
Army sources said the incident happened after a very long time and pointed out that the temporary and short duration face-offs occur as boundaries are not resolved.
In August 2017, Indian and Chinese soldiers had pelted each other with stones and exchanged blows near Pangong Lake in Ladakh.
Since ‘Operation Juniper‘ — when Indian troops moved into Doklam, a small territory in Bhutan, to stop the Chinese army from constructing a road that threatens India’s strategic interests — India has increased focus on its northern and eastern boundaries than being purely Pakistan centric.
Army Chief Gen M.M. Naravane had said the force was “re-balancing” its deployment and strategy along the western, northern and northeastern borders to deal with any kind of threat that might emerge — be it from Pakistan or China.
The Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, has stoked a major controversy after he allegedly said that the performance of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was not up to the mark.
‘Unpleasant comments’
A Commandant of the CRPF, in an internal note to his officer, has stated that the IG, Kashmir, made “unpleasant remarks” about the CRPF.
Days after a checkpoint of the CRPF was attacked by militants in Sopore sub-district of north Kashmir which left three of its men dead, J&K Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, chaired a security review meeting which was attended by IG Kashmir, all SSPs and commandants of the CRPF of north Kashmir.
A Commandant of the CRPF, who attended the meeting, in an internal note to his officer, has stated that the IG, Kashmir, made “unpleasant remarks” about the CRPF.
“The performance of the CRPF is not up to the mark. Here, all intelligence is generated by the J&K Police and operations are conducted by the Army and Rashtriya Rifles. The name of the CRPF is included just like that. This I know. I have been in the CRPF,” read the internal note from the Commandant of the 53 battalion based in Baramulla, while quoting the IGP Kashmir.
The CRPF Commandant said he did not react during the meeting.
“To avoid public embarrassment, the CRPF officer(s) did not react on the spot. However, after the meeting, we met him personally and raised objections against the unpleasant remarks about the force,” the note added.
When contacted, IGP Vijay Kumar said he had nothing to say about it.
“Ask CRPF about it,” Kumar said.
The J&K DGP Singh did not respond to calls.
There are around 50 battalions of the CRPF deployed in Kashmir and these are involved in both anti-militancy operations and law and order duties.
A top officer of the CRPF said IG Kashmir should have not said like this.
“The officer (IG Kashmir) has no business to say this about the CRPF which has lost so many lives and has been performing its duties sincerely,” he said.
Tough to ‘weaponise’ coronavirus, but can’t rule out attacks: Armed Forces Medical Chief
Lt Gen. Anup Banerji says until a vaccine or treatment for coronavirus is found, the armed forces will stay vigilant.
File image of an Army personnel wearing a mask to protect against Covid-19, at Guwahati railway station | ANI
New Delhi: The possibility of adversaries weaponising or using the coronavirus against the Indian armed forces is remote, but they remain susceptible to such attacks until a vaccine or preventative medical therapy is found, Lt Gen. Anup Banerji, Director General of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) told ThePrint.
The DG is the head of the AFMS and is responsible for the overall medical policy of the armed forces.
The senior military officer further said that the virus is not a “lucrative” biological agent, and although highly contagious, has “very low mortality” in the young and those with no co-morbidities.
“In fact, most of those infected remain asymptomatic,” he said.
“However, in the absence of an effective vaccine or a proven chemoprophylaxis, we will remain susceptible to such attacks,” the officer added.
Chemoprophylaxis refers to the use of medicine to treat diseases.
Lt Gen. Banerji’s comments come days after the Army’s 15th Corps Commander, Lt Gen. B.S. Raju, had told the BBC that the Army has received intelligence inputs that Pakistan is pushing a lot of coronavirus cases into Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Lt Gen. Raju had said that India is “conscious that Pakistan is taking risk of putting gullible people training as terrorists into small, enclosed spaces in their launch pads”, and these people coming from across the Line of Control could be carriers of the virus.
On India’s current policies to prevent such threats, senior Army officers explained that while the pandemic has brought the aspect of such bio-threats into prominence lately, the Army has always considered chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) warfare as a critical part of its operational planning.
“Accordingly, a comprehensive policy is in place for defence against CBRN attacks, from which is derived our CBRN equipment policy,” a senior officer, who has specifically dealt with the subject, told ThePrint.
The Army has in place the Faculty of CBRN Protection (FCBRNP), nodal training institute that deals with defensive CBRN warfare, and is responsible for inculcating basic and advanced training.
On the status of availability of adequate protective gear on the ground to deal with such attacks, the officer said the Army is adequately prepared to ensure “both individual and collective protection for its troops during a bio-threat in operations or a bio-emergency at home in peace”.
“Exhaustive protocols are in place to ensure adequate protection for troops in sync with the guidelines being issued by the Government of India, without adversely affecting our security apparatus,” the officer added, and said that events which require mass movement of personnel such as training courses, exercises, conferences, postings, move of units etc., have been suspended to conform to the lockdown.
Given the speculation of how Covid-19 could be used as a bio-weapon since it is highly virulent, a second senior Army officer said that a doctrinal change is needed under which population protection and survivability of soldiers needs to be incorporated.
“It needs to be implemented to ensure that the necessary equipment is available to frontline troops,” the second officer said.
However, the first officer quoted said the detailed curriculum available focuses on all aspects of CBRN warfare and exposes combatants to the nuances of ‘On Job Training’ on the equipment held in the inventory.
“Experience from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is being suitably factored into the training philosophy. Since a virulent pathogen does not differentiate between a civilian or military personnel, no major doctrinal change as such is warranted,” the officer said.
The Navy has the Nuclear Biological Chemical Damage control (NBCD) school where all personnel compulsorily undergo basic, refresher and specialised training from ab initio, i.e., from entry to senior levels.
Naval sources said every operational unit is trained and equipped to meet contingencies of nuclear radiation, chemical attack and biological attack in addition to fighting fires and flooding on ships, and personnel are sensitised to these various forms of warfare and counteracting the same.
“Modern ships are designed to pass through contaminated areas that are mainly radioactive but could also include airborne attacks with chemical or biological weapons,” said a senior Naval officer said.
“The entire ship is closed down to an external environment and made airtight. The ventilation and filtration systems are recycled internally for habitation and continuation of operations,” the officer added.
“Personnel are cleansed through cleansing stations before entering the citadel spaces. A citadel is a group of interconnected compartments which are maintained sterile from the environment for personnel to operate from. There are other systems too that endeavour to protect an entire ship passing through contamination zones,” the officer said.
Apart from the Navy and Army, the Indian Air Force also has a dedicated institute on nuclear, biological, chemical protection, and has placed quick response teams with manpower trained for CBRN across the IAF bases in the country.
The Border Roads Organisation opened the Zojila and Razdan passes on the Srinagar-Leh and Bandipora-Gurez highways, respectively for traffic this year, ahead of schedule, despite the risk of COVID-19 prevailing over the world, officials said.
The 86 km-long Bandipora-Gurez road was thrown open for traffic after remaining closed for four months due to heavy snowfall at Razdan pass, which is at 11,560 feet above sea level, on April 17, over a month before it was done in previous years, they said.
Similarly, the Srinagar-Zojila-Leh road was restored after four months of closure and opened in March, whereas it was reopened by April-end last year, the BRO officials said.
Despite heavy snowfall over these passes last year, the officials said snow clearance operations were undertaken by Project Beacon of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) from Gagangir to Zero Point.
The same was done by Project Vijayak from Drass towards Zero Point to resume traffic to Leh, earlier than scheduled.
Chief Engineer, Project Beacon, Brigadier Ravi Navet said the BRO carried out the snow clearance operation on these high passes with highest degree of synchronisation and synergy of various snow-clearing equipment in the Valley.
“Our snow clearance teams started the clearance operations one month in advance. They went through a harsh environment, including biting cold, bone chilling winds and above all the avalanches which were major threats to the lives of the jawans in these high altitude passes,” Navet said.
“Our jawans had a narrow escape at occasions while these avalanches struck on Zojilla pass, but even that did not deter their determination,” he said.
“The intent was to provide early and smooth passage and ferry essential goods to the people living in Ladakh and Gurez valley,” the official said.
Brigadier Navet said the BRO teams downplayed all the risks on the ground and went ahead with its mission of opening these Himalayan passes as early as possible despite the coronavirus threat and the lockdown observed in the country.
He noted that the snow accumulation in these sectors is recorded at over 35 feet in many places and has an average height of 15 to 25 feet.
For the first time, the BRO pressed into service high tech snow cutters in the snow clearance operation at Srinagar Airport, which has enhanced our working efficiency, they said.
The chief engineer of Project Beacon said, “We cannot keep these road open throughout the winters, but we can minimise the period of road closures on these two highways through strategy, determination and modern technology.
“Both these highways are considered as lifelines of Ladakh and Gurez Valley,” he said.
“All the essential goods are ferried through these highways, providing much needed relief to the land-locked regions,” Brigadier Navet added. PTI
Lt Gen RP Singh reviews security situation in Samba and Kathua.
Our Correspondent
Jammu, May 11
Lt Gen RP Singh, Western Army Commander, visited the forward areas of the Rising Star Corps in Kathua and Samba Districts to review the security situation and operational readiness.
The Army Commander was accompanied by Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, GOC, Rising Star Corps. Lt Gen Singh interacted with the commanders of the field formations and was briefed about the operational and logistics preparedness and upgrade of security infrastructure.
The Army Commander interacted with troops and lauded them for their high morale and motivation. He also appreciated the high state of preparedness of the Rising Star Corps to thwart any threat manifested by inimical and anti national elements. Later, he commended the efforts of the formations in the fight against the ongoing Covid pandemic.
The Punjab Government has brought down the mortality rate to 1.8 per cent, Capt Amarinder Singh said, adding the state has so far conducted over 40,000 tests at the rate of 2,500 per day.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday pitched for the lockdown extension, but with a carefully crafted strategy backed by fiscal and economic empowerment of the states to save lives and secure livelihood.
Favouring continuation of a strict lockdown in view of the escalating Covid cases nationwide, the Chief Minister said at the videoconference with PM Narendra Modi that states needed to be given greater flexibility in micro-planning as part of a carefully planned exit strategy, encompassing both Covid containment and a defined path of economic revival.
The exit strategy should consider and focus on fiscal and economic empowerment of the states, which are responsible for the real action directly impinging upon the livelihood and social health of the common man, said the Chief Minister, suggesting that states should be allowed great flexibility in micro-planning, with MSMEs be allowed to function in red zones with proper safeguards. The decision on designating the red, orange/yellow and green zones should be left to the states, he said.
Capt Amarinder demanded urgent financial assistance to the states to meet at least 33 per cent of their committed liabilities, along with revenue grants to the states for three months to meet shortfall in revenue and to fund expenditure on Covid-19.
He called for a national strategy on Covid testing for making the battle more effective.
India holding existing positions along LAC; it’s not a ‘forward policy’
Each time troops of the Indian Army and Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) China clash along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or are locked in a stand-off, questions are raised about ‘aggressive behaviour’ by either side in the past few years.
Often commentators dwell upon India following a ‘forward policy’ or is China expanding to capture Ladakh, which it counts as one of the ‘five fingers’ of Tibet.
These counter strategic moves are of the 1950s and 1960s. Things have changed since 1993 — the timeline, incidentally, coincides with the economic rise of the India and China – a series of treaties, coupled with diplomacy and political directives maintain peace. The last such directive emerged from the Modi-Xi meeting at Wuhan which listed out a clear strategy to maintain peace.
On the night of May 5 and 6, Indian and Chinese troops clashed yet again in Ladakh, the second such clash in three years, besides at least six major stands-offs in the area since 2013, high-level meetings have been conducted to reduce tensions.
In the past decade or so, the Indian stance along the LAC, is not akin to Jawaharlal Nehru’s 1960-1961 “forward policy”. It only looks to hold claim lines along the LAC, a 3,488-km defacto boundary; 826 km of this is in Ladakh.
The “forward policy”, as explained by Neville Maxwell in his book “India’s China war”, entailed taking up permanent positions along the high ridgelines of eastern Ladakh as per India’s unilaterally decided boundary of 1954.
‘Five fingers’ of Tibet is what is India’s apprehension. China’s undeclared policy was made public to the outside world in early 1950s. Mao Tseung, the first Chairman cum President of China, declared Tibet to be ‘the palm of China’ whereas Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and North East Frontier Association (NEFA, modern Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh) are its five fingers and said it is China’s responsibility to ‘liberate’ them all.
India, in the past 15 years or so, has ‘militarily tailored’ its responses along 3488-km LAC, or the defacto boundary, by building infrastructure and acquiring military equipment to respond, if needed.
Undemarcated LAC is outcome of the ‘great game’, live with it
That the boundary between India and China is vexed and is not expected to be solved soon, is a reality both countries have realised. The Special Representatives on the boundary question, India is represented by National security Adviser, have held more than 20 rounds of talks.
The two Asian giants, both nuclear armed, and now leading economies, need to break away from a boundary dispute, dictated by British polices of 150-200 years ago and was the outcome of fluctuations of the British ‘forward policy’.
Ladakh was captured in 1834 by Sikh-ruler Ranjit Singh’s Army and incorporated into Jammu and Kashmir in 1846 by the British. Between 1846 and 1947, fluctuations of the British foreign policy reacting to Russian pressure held back the demarcation. Even when China sided with the British during World War I (1914-1918) the boundary question was never sorted. For almost a hundred years commencing 1815, Britain—then ruling India—and Czarist Russia expanded their respective Empires. Historians describe this as the ‘Great Game’. Treaties were inked between the two to create buffer zones.
Undecided boundaries that have been shifted several times have led to confusion. Today India and China have claims and counter claims which result in varying perception of the LAC. It all boils down to the perception of either side. Troops of both sides patrol the areas that they perceive as their own.
These variations in LAC have led to the India and China war in 1962. The two have had an armed skirmish in 1967 at Nathu La, had an eight-month long stand-off at Sumdrong Chu in north-western Arunachal Pradesh in 1986 and the 73-day stand-off at Doklam in 2017.
The British boundaries — five separate ones proposed in 1846, 1865, 1873, 1899 and 1914, which China never accepted — have no bearing on the present day situation. LAC partially adheres to one of the British-era boundaries, no more. Post 1947, there has been a proposal each from China and India but nothing happened. China proposal of 1960 to demarcate a boundary on present ‘day actualities’ was turned down by India. “Accepting that would have compromised territorial integrity,” says a book ‘History of the Conflict with China. 1962’, produced by the History Division of Ministry of Defence, and released for restricted circulation in March 1993.
As result several core disputes remain along the LAC as perception of its exact location on ground varies.
With the strategic Zoji La on the Srinagar-Leh national highway opening up for traffic amid the lockdown, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has been assigned the vital responsibility to escort goods trucks and fuel tankers carrying essential supplies to people located in far-flung areas of Ladakh.
The ITBP has said it had facilitated a safe passage to over 900 trucks carrying essential supplies from the icy heights of Zoji La to the frozen slopes of Kargil in the past 21 days.
Trucks carrying food and other items are reaching Kargil covering a distance of 100 km in about eight hours under security cover provided by the ITBP. — TNS
CAPT AMARINDER EXPRESSES SHOCK & GRIEF AT KASHMIR MARTYRDOM OF 5 SECURITY PERSONNEL
TERMS IT A COWARDLY & SHAMELESS ATTACK BY PAK-BACKED FORCES IN THE MIDST OF COVID PANDEMIC
ANNOUNCES JOB TO FAMILY MEMBER & RS 10 LAKH FINANCIAL AID FOR PUNJAB MARTYR NK RAJESH KUMAR
CHANDIGARH, MAY 3:
Expressing shock and grief over the loss of five security personnel in North Kashmir’s Handwara region, Chief Minister on Sunday mourned the sacrifice of the bravehearts, while announcing a job to a family member with Rs 10 lakh financial aid to the next of kin of NK Rajesh Kumar, a soldier who hailed from District Mansa of Punjab.As news of the martyrdom of the four Indian Army soldiers and one J&K policeman came in the morning, an anguished Captain Amarinder joined the nation “in saluting the bravery and valour” of the martrys, and prayed to God to “grant strength to their families in this time of grief.”The five security personnel, including an Army Colonel and a major, were killed in an encounter with terrorists, who had taken some civilians hostage in a house. The Chief Minister described it as a ghastly and cowardly act by the terrorists, who continued to be pushed in by Pakistan from across the border despite the whole world, including the two nations, currently engaged in a bigger war against the Covid.While terrorism could not be condoned at any time, resorting to such an act at a critical time like this showed a total lack of shame on the part of Islamabad, which seemed hell-bent on exploiting the opportunity for their own gains, said Captain Amarinder. But India would not take such attacks on its security personnel, he said, warning that nowithstanding the Covid battle at hand, nobody should make the mistake of trying to take advantage of our country’s perceived vulnerability at this difficult time.Meanwhile, extending his heartfelt condolences to the family of Naik Rajesh Kumar of 21 RR (Rashtriya Rifles, parent unit 3 GUARDS ), who hailed from village Rajrana in tehsil Sardulgarh of Mansa district, the Chief Minister said his heart went out to them. He announced financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to the next of the kin of the martyr, including Rs. 5 lakh as ex-gratia and Rs. 5 lakh in lieu of plot, in addition to a government job to one eligible member of the victim family, as per the state government’s existing policy.The body of the martyr will arrive in his village on Monday where he would cremated with due honours, keeping the Covid safety protocols in mind, said an official spokesperson
From Pak’s terror factories, 450 reach launch pads to enter Kashmir
Pakistan, which is struggling with the coronavirus disease like the rest of the world, has doubled the number of terrorists waiting to infiltrate into Kashmir from its 14 operational launch pads, a senior government official told Hindustan Times.
“Our information is that there are about 450 terrorists affiliated to different Pakistan -backed terrorist groups at these launch pads,” the official said. Pakistan has reported nearly 12,700 Covid-19 cases and 268 deaths.
The new estimate, powered by new intelligence inputs received by national security planners in Delhi, indicates that Pakistan has doubled the presence of terrorists at the launch pads in just about a week or so.
As reported by Hindustan Times on April 9, intelligence agencies had put the number of terrorists at the launch pads at about 230. “The situation has changed vastly over the last 2-3 weeks,” the official cited above said.
According to information available with national security planners, the 450 terrorists include 244 from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, 129 from the Jaish-e-Mohammed and 60 from the Hizbul Mujahideen. Smaller groups such as the Al Badr make up for the rest.
Most of these terrorists were minted recently from the many camps that are being run in Pakistan, mostly in its occupied territories.
Available intelligence inputs with security agencies indicate that out of 16 terror camps, 11 are functioning in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), two in Punjab, Pakistan and three in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) region.
Seven of the 11 terror camps running out of PoK are hybrid camps where the trainees include recruits of different terrorist groups. “The existence of such mixed terror camps is evidence that there is one force that oversees them; the Pakistani deep state,” a counter-terror official in Delhi said.
Three other camps are dedicated to train Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and one for training Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) group. In the KPK region, the Hizbul Mujahideen runs two camps and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) runs one. The LeT and JeM share one camp each in Punjab province of Pakistan.
Officials said Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence had gone to great lengths through the year to raise the presence of terrorists in Kashmir. This is the first summer after India scrapped Article 370 in August last year and there have been attempts to incite street protests, and violence, ever since.
The terror reinforcements at the launch pads, an intelligence official said, were designed to beef up the strength of terrorists in Kashmir depleted due to some recent setbacks. It is estimated that there are about 240 terrorists in Kashmir including about 100 foreigners. Every 6 of 10 foreign terrorists are affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Taiba; the other four are linked to the Jaish.
As things stand, officials said, Pakistan’s ISI has only operationalised 14 of the 86 launching pads or detachments along the Line of Control in Srinagar sector, Rajouri-Poonch sector and in Jammu sector across the international border.
In the Srinagar sector, 10 out of 51 pads are used by terrorists belonging to LeT, JeM, HM, Al-Badr and other sundry groups. In Rajouri-Poonch sector, three out of 13 pads across the LoC are occupied while one out of four pads are occupied by terrorists in Jammu sector largely belonging to LeT, JeM and HM terror groups.
“Pakistan Army has no option but to continue with jihad in Kashmir else the public will start focusing on the poor domestic situation on the economic and Covid-19 response front and start questioning the leadership,” said a senior Indian general.
Even though Rawalpindi GHQ plans to underplay its role by projecting local participation through the newly-formed Resistance Front and Tehreek-e-Millat-e-Islamia (TMI), Pakistani terrorists are being infiltrated to ensure that things don’t go south in the Valley and international attention .
Besides, a sustained effort is on by the Imran Khan government to raise the Kashmir issue at multilateral fora including filing a petition through an NGO in the International Criminal Court at Hague apart from moving the United Nations Security Council.
