CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to grant special permission to defence personnel who have retired from service to return to their home states amid the countrywide lockdown due to COVID-19.

In a letter to the Union minister, Amarinder Singh said in case it was not feasible to enable them to return home immediately, then the Command Headquarters across the country should be directed to take special care of them until they are able to get the requisite permissions.

Amarinder Singh said every month a significant number of defence personnel retire from the services and a large number of them hailing from Punjab are unable to come back to the state in view of the lockdown and continue to be stationed in their last place of posting.

“Undoubtedly they are facing considerable mental trauma because of the inability to be reunited with their near and dear ones, ” he said.

During the video conference with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with other Chief Ministers of the country, Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh favoured extending the lockdown further, while planning the exit strategy also. The Chief Minister is right as the time has not come as yet to lift the lockdown as number of cases has been increasing day by day. For last two days consecutively there were more than 4200 new cases each. The rate of increase has by and large been around 5 percent and at current rate the number of patients is likely to double in 14 days. This is certainly not the right prospect and the right time to open the lockdown. It is a fact that the country is paying a heavy economic price for the prolonged lockdown. While there is every possibility of bringing back the economy on tracks, there is no possibility of bringing back dead people to life. It is important that lives are saved and no price is too heavy to be paid for that. Indian economy may have got the hit, but that does not take away the rich and abundant resources the country has with which it can manage the extended lockdown. In fact the granaries of Punjab alone can feed the entire country for months together, if not years. There needs to be a proper and coordinated effort. People really do not need to come on roads for food. The real test of the administration and the leaders lies ahead. Every political leader of some worth has a good network spread all over their areas of influence. They have been doing it and they can be involved in it in a more methodical and organised way till the lockdown is in force. Critics and doomsayers’ cynicism notwithstanding, India has indeed done very well. The curve may not have flattened, but the spread has definitely been contained. The recovery rate of the positive patients has also touched 30 percent, which is a very positive indication. This momentum needs to be maintained and improved further. It can only be done by extending the lockdown further and also to ensure that the gains made during the last seven weeks are not squandered away. A few weeks of extra lockdown will not do any harm, but will certainly help in controlling the situation. We have already come this far, will need to go little further and we can go ahead together.

New Delhi: An Mi-17 medium-lift transport helicopter of the Indian Air Force made an emergency landing near Mukutang in Sikkim on Thursday due to bad weather, officials said.

All four aircrew of the IAF and two Indian Army personnel on board the chopper are reported to be safe, they said.

The helicopter was on a routine air maintenance sortie from Chaten to Mukutang and it sustained damage in the incident, the officials said.

“An investigation has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident,” an IAF spokesperson said.

Also read: IAF, Navy salute corona warriors across the country, honour them with flypast

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The Army conducts close to 600 courses for its personnel over the training year that begins on 1 July and ends on 30 June the following year.

New Delhi: The Army has drawn up a fresh plan to reorganise all its training courses, a number of which have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak, ThePrint has learnt. The service conducts close to 600 courses for its personnel over a training year that begins on 1 July and ends on 30 June the following year.

While the bulk of the courses are in progress and will conclude in the latter half of the current training year, about 90 courses have been shifted to the next one, according to the fresh plan.reover, around 180 courses, which are comparatively of lesser priority, stand cancelled for the current training year.

An Army source told ThePrint that the courses, which have been shifted to the next training year, may be conducted either as additional courses or fit into vacant slots that may be created to cater to the backlog.

“The decision on this would be taken in June when the new training calendar for 2020-2021 is being finalised,” the source said.

Sources added that training at the unit level, which includes firing, will continue as before but with social distancing and other Covid-19 precautions.

However, other training activities for soldiers, such as field firing that includes firing of heavier calibre weapons, and exercises with troops in select firing ranges across the country, have been cancelled for now and will resume once the Covid-19 situation returns to normal.

Also read: Make short service lucrative, raise retirement age: CDS plan to reduce defence pensions

According to the new schedule being planned, a second source said, only the training of fresh recruits at all regimental centres will continue, while all other training conducted at these centres will be cancelled.

Additionally, fresh training with foreign armies and other courses in foreign countries have been suspended until 1 September.

A senior Army officer told ThePrint that training is one of the most essential parts of a soldier’s routine and will have to continue despite any other challenges.

“As regards to courses, while the duration would be reduced at times, there would be no compromise on the content as additional working hours would be squeezed out every day,” the officer said.

Also read: Pakistani operatives create fake Arogya Setu app to ‘steal info’ from Indian defence forces

Passing Out Parades to be muted affairs

As part of the fresh plans, Passing Out Parades at officers’ training establishments — considered a landmark event in the Army’s training calendar — are also set to be muted affairs this year with the pandemic affecting the training of all ranks of the service.

The details of the ceremony will be approved by the Army Training Command (ARTRAC).

The parades are major biannual events at all officers’ training establishments, and conducted at a large scale and are attended by thousands. The event marks the culmination of the cadets’ training and their foray into their journey as officers.

Officers get commissioned from Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Officers’ Training Academy, Gaya, and Officers’ Training Academy, Chennai. The commissioning ceremony is marked by a Passing Out Parade. Passing out Parades at IMA are held in June and December every year, while at OTA, Chennai it is held in March and September.

The event is also held at Cadet Training Wings in Pune, Mhow and Secunderabad.

However, there are no details available as of now, about the Passing out Parades at the National Defence Academy, which is a tri service institution.

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The Pakistan ‘deep state’ is said to be hard at work trying to attack India as the Modi govt focuses its efforts on tackling the Covid-19 crisis.

Despite the fact that the novel coronavirus pandemic has led countries around the world, including India and Pakistan, to go for unprecedented lockdowns, there has been relentless violence along the Line of Control (LoC) and in Kashmir, with several Indian security personnel being killed.

While the Modi government has had its hands full fighting Covid-19 and managing the ongoing lockdown, it has also been keeping a tight vigil on the spurt in ceasefire violations by Pakistan, sources said.

While India has lodged several protests with Pakistan on the ceasefire violations at the border, it has also been concerned by the uptick in terrorist activity.

Since the first week of April, five special forces personnel have died as the Army foiled an infiltration bid in the Keran sector, three CRPF personnel were killed in an attack in Handwara (a differently-abled teenager also died in the crossfire that reportedly followed the attack), and another five security men, including two senior Army officers, were killed in an encounter with terrorists in a remote Kashmir village (the terrorists were subsequently killed).

All this, the sources said, is seen by the Modi government as part of a “special plan” hatched by Pakistan to escalate such incidents.

In March alone, there were 411 ceasefire violations. This was much higher than the 267 violations last March, in the immediate aftermath of the Balakot air strikes. The air strikes, which targeted a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp after the group killed 40 CRPF personnel in a terror attack in Pulwama, marked one of the most tense phases of India-Pakistan relations in recent times.

While there were 3,168 ceasefire violations by Pakistan in 2019, the number has already touched 1,547 as of 3 May.

Also Read: Instead of organising spectacles, military must focus on faultlines in Kashmir now

‘Nothing surprising’

Army sources said there was nothing surprising in the fact that Pakistan is ratcheting up terror activities even in times of coronavirus.

“Coronavirus is a concern for you and me but not for Pakistan. There are specific departments and others whose only job is to support terror against India and their work continues,” an officer said.

This was echoed by former Indian envoy to Pakistan T.C.A. Raghavan, who said one should not be surprised by Islamabad’s behaviour.

According to Raghavan, who is now the director general of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), a New Delhi-based think-tank, there are institutions in Pakistan whose only job is to target India no matter what.

“They are doing the job. There is nothing to be surprised about,” he said.

A former special secretary in the cabinet secretariat, who did not wish to be identified, said Pakistan is only trying to hide its internal affairs.

“They have never let up on their agenda and why would they do that now? This is more important to them to hide their failures on the economic front, and also coronavirus,” the officer said.

Also Read: Riyaz Naikoo — dreaded militant who ‘looted farmers and brought new ruthlessness to Hizbul’

A bid to raise global pressure on Pakistan

Meanwhile, India has decided to make a stronger case at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to get Pakistan blacklisted for terror financing, basing its case on the Handwara and Keran incidents as well as the emergence of new terror outfits in J&K, including The Resistance Front (TRF).

Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Programme at the Wilson Center in Washington, said Pakistan had little incentive at this moment to be stoking violence in Kashmir, pointing out out that it is under immense pressure through the FATF to crack down on terror, suffering through a serious economic crisis, and fighting a pandemic.

“Given all the pressures and crises confronting Pakistan at home right now, it has little incentive to be causing trouble in Kashmir,” he said.

However, he added that its role in the recent terror incidents could not be ruled out, especially given its “past track record and given how toxic its relations are with New Delhi right now”.

According to Ayesha Siddiqa, the London-based expert and commentator of Pakistani origin, infiltration may be taking place as it used to, but no major plan is being executed by the ISI (Pakistani intelligence agency).

On the emergence of some new terror outfits in Jammu & Kashmir, like the TRF, which India believes is an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Siddiqa said it “depends on the fact if it’s LeT in Kashmir that has changed name”.

“A lot of answers may be obtained from the US, which is keeping silent on Jaish-e-Mohammed and its chief Masood Azhar gone missing,” she added.

In February this year, Pakistan had told the FATF plenary that Azhar, a UN-designated terrorist, and his family are missing from Pakistan.

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal added that the “US will not put pressure or come down on Islamabad at any cost now till it is done with the Taliban peace deal”.

“The peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government is already facing issues, so to bring in more complexities with Pakistan, is the last thing on US’ mind,” he added.

The confrontation between Indian and Chinese troops happened in North Sikkim. Matter resolved after local Command-level officers intervened.

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.

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 9

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.