Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, November 23

Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday credited his visit to Pakistan for Imran Khan’s swearing-in for the decision by the Indian and Pakistan governments to build the Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate easy pilgrimage to Sikh devotees to historic Nankana Sahib gurdwara across the border.

Campaigning in Madhya Pradesh, Sidhu said the decision would benefit 15-16 crore Sikhs. Sidhu said his hug was still better than the Rafale deal.

His hug to Pakistan Army chief during the swearing-in visit led to a huge controversy.

“Kam se kam vo rafale deal toh nahi thi,” said Navjot Sidhu on the BJP criticising him during Madhya Pradesh campaign, for hugging Pakistan Army Chief #KartarpurCorridor.

View image on Twitter

View image on Twitter

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 16

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday directed the Union Ministry of External Affairs to once again take up with Pakistan the release of war prisoner Surjit Singh. The direction by Justice Rajan Gupta came after the surfacing of “new evidence”.

The direction came on a writ petition filed by Angrez Kaur for release of her husband Surjit Singh. A constable with the Border Security Force, he was captured by the Pakistani army during the 1971 war in the Chhamb sector. He was, however, presumed to have been killed in the war.

Appearing before the Bench, her counsel HC Arora relied upon a statement given in April 2011 to a newspaper, “Jang”, by former Pakistani Human Rights Minister Ansar Burni. It was later reported in a vernacular newspaper. Among other things, it said Surjit Singh was in the Pakistan jail after completing 20 years of imprisonment.

The petitioner stated that subsequent news reports suggested that he was being released. The wife even went to the border to receive him, only to find one Makhan Singh, who was undergoing imprisonment in Pakistan on the charge of spying, but was repatriated under the assumed name of Surjit Singh. Makhan Singh admitted before news channels that Surjit Singh was still in a jail in Pakistan.

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 2

The Indian Navy is considering entry women as sailors—equal to jawans of the Indian Army—and separately to permit existing women officers on board warships.

While addressing the Naval Commanders on Friday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked the top-brass of the Indian Navy to give more impetus to enrollment of women in the Navy. Navy’s Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba confirmed that the enrollment of women in sailor-ranks is one of the agenda of the three-day Naval Commanders’ conference that concluded Friday, official sources said.

So far, the armed forces do have not women in non-officer ranks. In March this year, the Army announced that it will start recruiting women in other ranks in the Corps of Military Police.

The Navy has 639 women officers (including 148 doctors). The only combat-related role they have is as ‘observors’ on the maritime reconnaissance aircraft the Boeing P8-I, the IL-38 and the Dornier. Women officers are also in logistics, law, education and naval constructors, etc.

The Defence Minister was assured at the conference that Navy was considering inclusion of women in the sea-going cadre. That is being looked at in the near future, official sources said.

The Defence Minister complemented the Navy for maintaining a high operational tempo and ensuring maritime security of the country. She reiterated the need for the nation to be strong at sea and the Navy to be ready and vigilant to counter any challenge in the maritime domain.

She appreciated Navy’s efforts in the area of indigenisation, self-reliance and support to the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government.  She expressed her satisfaction at Navy’s initiatives to achieve ‘Digital Navy’ vision in line with the Government’s initiative of ‘Digital India Programme’.

She lauded the navy for the outstanding and efficient rescue operations undertaken in the wake of the recent floods in Kerala wherein close to 17,000 personnel were rescued. The conference undertook a review of the Navy’s modernisation plan, including induction of aircraft carrier, ships, nuclear powered submarines, conventional submarines, re-vitalisation of the aviation and sub-surface assets and induction of certain state-of-the-art weapons, sensors and equipment. Further, development of technical and support infrastructure for maintenance of these assets were also discussed in consonance with the ‘Indian Naval Indigenisation Plan 2015-30’, which has formulated the requirements of the Indian Navy towards indigenous development of equipment and systems over the next 15 years.

Gen Bipin Rawat had on Saturday said that Indian army can resort to “other actions” too, if Islamabad continues to support cross-border militancy

Secretary General, Kashmir Peace Institute, Syed Hameed Shaheen Alvi on Sunday said the statement of Indian army chief in which he “threatened” Pakistan “smacks of New Delhi’s jingoism” and that it seems a “calculated move to strangulate ongoing Kashmir movement”.

Gen Bipin Rawat had on Saturday said that Indian army can resort to “other actions” too, if Islamabad continues to support cross-border militancy.

“It [threat] seems a calculated move to strangulate ongoing Kashmir movement against the occupation of Jammu and Kashmir by India by force,” said Alvi while urging Pakistan to raise “this latest provocation at the UN forum.”

Alvi said this while talking to a group of Kashmiri students in Pakistan capital Islamabad who wanted to know the situation in Kashmir region, said a statement.

He told the youth that UN Security Council back in 1948 and 1949 had given clear cut verdict on the peaceful solution of Kashmir dispute, via UN supervised plebiscite, said the statement.

General Rawat’s statement, he said, is a virtual military attack against Pakistan and Kashmiris.

He accused India of withholding UN-recommended plebiscite in Kashmir and questioned why “India has stationed over 800,000 armed forces in Kashmir?”

Alvi said that in 2008 the then Indian Premier Dr Manmohan Singh in his address to the Annual session of the UN General Assembly had re-assured the international community that India would settle all outstanding disputes with Pakistan through negotiations.

“In the light of that UN statement of Dr Singh, India should have taken appropriate measures towards resolutions of all the unresolved issues,” he said.

Kashmiris are struggling for their birth right of self-determination, he said, adding that “it is India that blocks the forward way.”

Ravinder Saini

The demand for the creation of an Ahir regiment in the Indian Army has become a hot issue in the Ahirwal region of Haryana comprising Rewari, Mahendragarh and Gurugram districts. Leaders of various political parties and representatives of social organisations are raising the issue to mount pressure on the Central Government to accede to the demand of the Ahir community.

Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Rao Inderjit Singh has written to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, urging her to consider the demand positively. Chiranjeev Rao, national secretary of the Youth Congress, is carrying out a signature campaign in various states to give an impetus to the issue. Besides, the Akhil Bharatiya Yadav Sewak Samaj (ABYSS), a social outfit, has already orgainsed a padyatra from Gaud-Balaha in Mahendragarh to Jantar-Mantar in Delhi in support of the issue.

Members of the Ahir community had organised a protest in Rewari city recently and submitted a memorandum, addressed to the President of India, to the Deputy Commissioner, seeking the creation of an Ahir or Ahirwal regiment in the Indian Army.

Political observers say the issue has become politically significant as people have started asking parties to include it in their election manifestoes. The ABYSS has given the slogan “Vote vahi paayega jo Ahir regiment ko laayega” to strengthen its ongoing campaign.

“No doubt, the demand for an Ahir regiment will be a rallying point in the coming Lok Sabha elections, as people are coming together in its favour. Ahirs and people of Ahirwal had played a leading role in the mutiny of 1857 and also revolted against the British in Singapore in 1939-40. Around 19,600 and 39,000 soldiers belonging to the Ahirwal region took part in World War-I and World War-II, respectively,” says Ishwar Yadav, a social activist.

He says almost all regional regiments existing today had contributed a lesser number of soldiers to the two world wars than the Ahirwal region. Besides, people from Ahirwal had also made valuable contributions to all other battles fought before and after Independence, he claims.

“Right from World War-I the Ahirwal area had been considered a nursery of soldiers. A large number of soldiers and officers from the region are still serving on various ranks in the Indian Army. I understand that post-Independence the Central Government decided not to raise any regiment on caste lines but the ban should not be extended to regiments named after areas,” says Rao Inderjit in a letter sent to the Defence Minister.

Rao says a regiment may be raised in the name of the Ahirwal region of Haryana as has been done in the case of Rajputana Rifles, and Assam Rifles that have troops belonging to all castes from their regions. The new Ahirwal regiment can also cater to all castes from this region, he adds.

Chiranjeev Rao says his signature campaign got a marvelous response in various parts of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana. A large number of people participated wholeheartedly in the campaign for an Ahir regiment. “The campaign will now be run in Gurugram, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in the coming days. Since the issue also strikes an emotional chord with people of the Ahirwal region, it has the potential of becoming the deciding factor in the elections,” he adds.

Satish Khola, vice-president of the ABYSS, says that besides organizing a padyatra, they had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and all MPs in support of the demand.

“When several regiments have already been formed on regional and caste lines, then why an Ahir regiment can’t be raised? People will raise the issue with political parties in the forthcoming elections,” says Khola.

At the negotiating table with Khalilzad, the Taliban are unlikely to settle for anything short of the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. A situation as traumatic as the Afghan transition from communist rule in 1991-92 could be staring at India.

MK Bhadrakumar
Former ambassador

Seventeen years is a long time for a war. Watching the 17-year-old Afghan war — and having witnessed the 18-year-old war that preceded it — nerves have become numb. Reports of violent incidents are an almost daily occurrence and they have ceased to catch the mind’s eye. But the incident in Kandahar city, the throbbing heart of southern Afghanistan, in the afternoon of October 18 was truly stunning.

An attack on a gathering of Afghan and US officials inside the Kandahar Governor’s compound left dead the province’s intelligence chief and police commander, General Abdul Razeq. The NATO-led mission said three of its personnel were wounded, including a US brigadier-general, but that the top US commander in the country, General Austin Miller, who was in the meeting with Razeq, escaped unharmed, thanks to his body armour. The Taliban claimed the strike.

The death of Razeq will have great consequences. He was in reality the unrivalled regional warlord of the entire Afghan south who was admired and courted by the US military and the CIA for his ruthlessness and anti-Taliban prowess. Razeq was an extremely brutal man and in May last year, the United Nations Committee Against Torture released a report describing credible allegations of Razeq’s “complicity, if not of personal implication, in severe human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and … secret detention centres.” But he was an indispensable ally for the US, being their most effective warlord and the “kingpin” in the fight against the Taliban in its homeland of southern Afghanistan bordering Pakistan.

There is high probability that with the departure of this charismatic warlord, southern Afghanistan will spin out of control — Afghan forces fragmenting and local commanders vying for power and the security situation dramatically deteriorating. Clearly, Taliban’s intention in eliminating Razeq is to reduce the entire southern region of Afghanistan to turmoil. And with that, Americans will have irretrievably lost the war.

Coincidence or not, in the week after Razeq’s killing, Pakistan released from prison three senior Taliban members, including Mullah Baradar, Mullah Abdul Samad Sani and Mullah Mohammad Rasul. Out of the three, it is Mullah Baradar who makes the headlines. He is a co-founder of the Taliban movement and was the deputy of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the legendary emir of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan who died in 2016. Pakistan has been holding Baradar in custody since 2010 on grounds of his perceived inclination to hold peace talks directly with then President Hamid Karzai to end the insurgency.

Baradar’s release has been apparently at the request of the newly appointed US special representative on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad (an ethnic Pashtun himself) who is pursuing a mandated mission by the Trump administration to engage Taliban in talks.

Meanwhile, this is all playing out against the backdrop of a growing realisation in Washington that a face-saving deal with the Taliban can still enable the US to head for the exit door and leave the Hindukush without the appearance of having lost the war. President Trump has not yet announced a timetable for withdrawal, but the growing impression is that a drawdown is on cards and time is running out. It is patently obvious that Trump himself stands disconnected from the war effort — he’s never once visited Afghanistan and has outsourced to Vice-President Pence any conversations needed periodically with Afghan President Ghani.

The Taliban, who control more than half of Afghanistan, and Pakistan, who mentors its leadership, know that the US is desperate to leave. They have begun pushing the envelope in a calibrated way, as the attack in Kandahar city shows, to keep the Americans on the razor’s edge. On the other hand, there is much dismay within Afghanistan, especially among non-Pashtun ethnic groups, that Khalilzad, who is an ambitious careerist and a go-getter, will be in a hurry to report to Trump about Mission Accomplished. Plainly put, Afghans fear that Khalilzad may cut a secret deal with Pakistan. The release of Mullah Baradar, therefore, will set alarm bells ringing in Kabul.

The big question is what is it that the Taliban may be willing to settle for at the negotiating table with Khalilzad? Make no mistake. The Taliban are unlikely to settle for anything short of the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Any assumption that the Taliban leadership will reconcile with Ghani government is misplaced. The Taliban have always insisted that only an Islamic system is legitimate.

Succinctly put, in the emergent circumstances, the possibility of the Taliban reconciling with Afghan government and participating in a political process is virtually nil since they are already ruling over much of the country. Perhaps, they may agree for tactical reasons to joining an interim government as a provisional step toward the resurrection of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which was liquidated by the US through force in 2001. And, of course, Pakistan has no good reason to rein in the Taliban.

A situation as traumatic as the Afghan transition from communist rule in 1991-92 could be staring at India in the face in the near future. Alas, there has been a catastrophic misjudgement by our foreign and security policy establishment.

The right thing to do should have been to welcome the overture by Pakistan’s army chief for dialogue alongside making discreet efforts to have a conversation with the Taliban. Neither happened. Hardliners prevailed.

Our capacity now to leverage US approach is zero. Trump’s Afghan strategy was formulated by then US National Security Adviser HR McMaster with Indian inputs and now that the strategy has failed spectacularly, Indian credibility also takes a hit. The wheel may come full circle if a Taliban regime reopens training camps for Indian militants. Therefore, hasty steps must be avoided.

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, October 21

Three militants and six civilians were killed in Laroo village of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Sunday — the former in a gunbattle and the latter in a blast at the ‘unsanitised’ encounter site. Also, more than 20 persons were injured, a few

sustaining bullet and many pellet injuries as the security forces tried to disperse the protesters. 

The dead civilians were identified as Irshad Ahmad Padder, Zubair Ahmad Lone, Talib Maqbool Laway, Uzair Ahmad Dar, Aqib Ahmad Sheikh and Mansoor Ahmad Dar, all residents of villages in Kulgam district.

The militants who were gunned down, all members of Jaish-e-Muhammad, are Shahid-ul-Islam Tantray of Shopian, Yazil Makroo of Anantnag and Zubair Lone of Kulgam.

Police sources said a cordon and search operation was launched in Laroo village on the outskirts of Kulgam at about 2 am. “While searches were on, the militants at 3.30 am opened fire. The forces retaliated and a gunfight ensued that lasted till about 10 am. All three militants were neutralised.”

As the forces began to evacuate the area after the encounter, hundreds of residents marched to the site. “A fire caused by explosives was still to be put off and the site yet to be sanitised,” a source said.

An eyewitness claimed people were standing on the rubble of the house razed during the encounter when a deafening explosion took place, injuring seven. “They were rushed to the Kulgam district hospital where three of them were declared dead,” a health official said. Two more succumbed at the SMHS Hospital in Srinagar and another at the SKIMS in Soura.

The locals blamed the security forces for the tragedy. A police source said the forces had to leave in a hurry because of incessant stone-pelting and, therefore, could not sanitise the site.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) SP Pani said the people had been warned to keep off, but paid no heed. Despite the authorities snapping mobile and Internet services, intense clashes erupted at the site and the forces fired pellets and bullets to disperse the protesters, leaving more than 20 injured.

Adviser to the Governor K Vijay Kumar and DGP Dilbag Singh expressed regret over the loss of lives and sent condolences to the bereaved families.

How events unfolded 

2 am: Cordon and Search Operation launched by forces following inputs on militants’ presence 

3:25 am: Militants open indiscriminate fire on the forces from a house they were hiding in

4 am: Amid the gunfight, mobile and Internet services terminated in Kulgam district as a precaution

7 am: Locals assemble at the encounter site in large numbers, throw stones at forces, fired upon

9 am: Several blasts at the site as the security personnel try to flush out the holed-up militants

10 am: Militants are killed and 30 minutes later, the forces leave the site with the bodies and arms

10:50 am: A blast pierces through the area, leaving seven injured, six of whom succumb later

Shutdown today

Separatists in Kashmir valley have called for a strike on Monday over the death of civilians in a blast in Kulgam district. The strike has been called by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL).

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 15

Alarmed at misuse of social media to spread falsehoods about the Indian Army and its personnel, top military commanders led by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat have discussed the issue of setting up a dedicated cell that will identify, monitor and inspect fake and inflammatory messages against the Army.

The aim is to nail and expose those with malicious intent and bring them to book, sources told The Tribune.

The cell will work round the clock to counter any propaganda. The Army presently has a small (three-officer) social media team but that is not enough. The top Army commanders who are meeting in Delhi (October 9 to 15), have been apprised of the seriousness of the situation.

The Army believes “too much” of wrong information has been spread on the Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. The misuse of social media is part of asymmetric warfare (from across border) aimed at lowering the morale of the Army through rumours and falsehood. These messages exaggerate issues and tell half-truth.

A possible trigger was in June when fake and morphed videos showing “strong action” by the Army in Kashmir were circulated on WhatsApp.

Some of these videos were not even shot in India, but were passed off as new “policy” in Kashmir. Such fake videos showing “strong action” were seen as propaganda from Pakistan, which was eyeing to discredit the Indian Army during the then ongoing session of the United Nations Human Right Council (UNHRC).

Videos of the Army bringing down houses, mishandling people and dragging terrorists were all fake. These videos are a soft and oblique way to spread a false narrative of human rights violations.

Last year, falsehood was spread saying “one rank, one pension” was only for officers and how the 7th CPC delayed all benefits to jawans, but not officers.

Then came two fake letters circulated listing emoluments of the 7th Central Pay Commission. One of these had the complete format of a government gazette. The Ministry of Defence had to intervene and deny having issued any such letter.

The Army was also alerted about a message on WhatsApp with phone numbers of leading TV channels exhorting jawans to share videos and audio recordings of any act of corruption or exploitation with media houses. Army men are not allowed to have media contact unless authorised in writing.

Nailing culprits

• Given the seriousness of social media misuse to target forces, top Army commanders have discussed setting up a dedicated cell
• The cell will work round the clock to counter propaganda. The aim is to nail and expose those with malicious intent and bring them to book
• The Army currently has a small social media team but that is not enough

In 2004, 16 containers had brought the scrap of the Gulf War from Tughlaqabad in Delhi to SD Steel Factory, Kashipur for melting. The scrap had a total of 556 objects which were later established as missiles. One of the missiles exploded on December 30, 2004 when it was being melted at the factory, leading to the death of a worker.

The Indian army began disposing off the 555 missiles on Wednesday that were brought with scrap to Jaspur in Udham Singh Nagar in 2004.

The work began with teams of the Indian army digging out the buried missiles that would be taken in special vehicles secured with sandbags to the disposal site by the banks of the Feeka river, 4.5km away. Here all the missiles would be blown up in a controlled explosion.

Captain Vikas Malik of the Counter Explosives Device Unit, Indian army, who is leading the group of one junior commissioned officer (JCO) and 10 Jawans from Lucknow, said that the procedure might take 4-10 days.

“The missiles would first be dug out from the ground where they have been buried since the past 14 years. They will then be transported to the disposal site on the banks of the Feeka river,”he said. They would then be blasted under the ground with explosives such as RDX and TNT. After the blast, the missiles would beconverted into dust, he said.

Captain Malik said that the explosion will follow the procedures laid down by the Indian army. He was also a part of the disposal of explosives at 55 places in Jammu in 2016-2017, he added.

Additional superintendent of police, Jaspur, Jagdish Chandra, said that the work ofdisposalofmissileshas begun. “Onthe first day, the digging work was carried out by the Indian army,” he said.

In 2004, 16 containers had brought the scrap of the Gulf War from Tughlaqabad in Delhi to SD Steel Factory, Kashipur for melting. The scrap had a total of 556 objects which were later established as missiles. One of the missiles exploded on December 30, 2004 when it was being melted at the factory, leading to the death of a worker named Satpal. Taking serious note of the mishap, the administration brought the 555 missiles to a plot near the Patrampur police station and buried them there. A police contingent had been posted at the site so that the missiles were not tampered with.

The local people had been had been demanding the buried missiles be disposed off scientifically so that they do not lead to sudden detonation in future. The matter was being looked after by the defence ministry and the approval for the disposal of the missiles was received on June 26 this year.

A team of the Indian army based at Lucknow visited the site and devised a method of disposal of the missiles after which the work began.First Published: Oct 12, 2018 15:08 IST