Security establishments say the videos of troop movements being telecast by news channels are more than a month old and were part of an exercise by the PLA mobile unit in Tibet on June 10. PTI file

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19

An internal assessment by the Indian security establishment says there has been no ‘unusual’ military movement from China’s armed forces in Tibet during the past two months.Nothing that China has done militarily is unusual or could be counted as a ‘red flag’ to observers of the People Liberation Army (PLA).The videos of troop movements being telecast by Indian news channels are more than a month old and were part of an exercise done by the PLA mobile unit in Tibet on June 10. Also, the reports of China’s ‘massive’ mobilisation are misplaced. Since 2009, the PLA has been conducting an annual exercise to rapidly move a mass of troops and logistics across military regions.From an Indian perspective, the ‘red flag’ is the military point of view when a large body of PLA troops crosses over any of the 11 bridges across the Tsangpo River — known as the Brahmaputra in India. It originates at a 17,050 feet high glacier near the Kailash Mansarovar (north of Uttarakhand). It travels 1,100 km eastwards across the Tibetan plateau before taking a sharp southwards turn near the 25,547 feet high Nanjagbarwa Peak to enter Arunachal Pradesh for its destination into the Bay of Bengal. Militarily, the two sides are more or less evenly matched. China’s newly carved out Western Theatre is tasked all along the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC). It has 15-16 divisions, each having 12,000 to 14,000 troops.It has five operational airfields in its area and another 4-5 more landing strips that cannot support operations due to lack of logistics and repair facilities. In Xinjiang — north of Jammu and Kashmir also a part of PLA’s Western Command — the PLA has 4-5 divisions that are dual tasked. For, one they look after the China Pakistan Economic Corridor in the Muslim-dominated Xinjiang and also are mandated to swing south-east across the Aksai Chin plateau to face eastern Ladakh.On the Indian side, 13-14 divisions face China. However, the advantage is that India occupies the heights on the Himalayas, while China stations its troops at some distance. A movement for war will give an advance warning. The other advantage is that more than a dozen Indian Airfields are less than 10 minutes flying time away from Tibet. These include Leh, Pathankot, Adampur, Ambala, Chandigarh, Sarsawa and Bareilly in the north. And in the East, this would include Passighat, Hashimara, Tezpur and Bagdogra. Barring Leh (11,000 feet) all Indian bases are in the plains whereas the ones in Tibet are all above 12,000 feet high, severely restricting the ability of fighter jet to take off with full weapon package.

Work together for peace, US tells India and China 

• India and China should work together to come up with ‘some better sort of arrangement’ for peace, the US said on Wednesday, expressing concern over the standoff between their troops in the Sikkim sector
• “I know that the US is concerned about the ongoing situation there… We believe that both parties, both sides should work together to try to come up with some better sort of arrangement for peace,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said
• Chinese and Indian soldiers have been locked in a faceoff in Doklam for over a month after Indian troops stopped the Chinese from building a road in the disputed area  PTI

Shift focus to education, economic development

REDIRECT: Help youth realise the T-shirt slogan. Take to books, success will follow.

BARELY two hours before PM Modi arrived in the White House on June 26, the State Department designated Mohammad Yusuf Shah, better known as Syed Salahuddin, head of the PoK-based Hizbul Mujahideen, as a “specially designated global terrorist” for “committing terrorist acts”  that “endangered the lives of American nationals”. The State Department added that Salahuddin had vowed in September 2016 to “block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers” and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley “into a graveyard for Indian forces”. Salahuddin was a member of the Muslim United Front (MUF) formed in the Valley to contest the Assembly elections in 1987. The emergence of the MUF was a response to the rampant corruption during the rule of the National Conference (NC). Interestingly, the NC was overly tolerant of the Pakistan-backed and fundamentalist Jamat-e-Islami headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Salahuddin participated in the elections which were blatantly rigged. He was defeated in a seat he was sure to win.  Disillusioned with electoral politics, Salahuddin crossed the LoC and was co-opted by the ISI. He soon became the head of the ISI-sponsored Hizbul Mujahideen and the 15-member United Jihad Council, including groups like the LeT and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Salahuddin linked separatist violence in Kashmir with war waged by international terrorist groups like the Al-Qaeda and Taliban. He proclaimed: “If the Al-Qaeda, Taliban or any other organisation or country extends a helping hand to the oppressed Kashmiris, we will welcome it.” Like other ageing leaders of armed groups, Salahuddin has yielded his place as a folk hero to newly emerging “social media jihadis” like Burhan Wani in Southern Kashmir. The Kashmir “jihad” of the 1990s witnessed its ebb and tides. With Kashmiris tiring of violence, it inevitably became a movement dominated by Pakistani jihadis from international terrorist groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the LeT. The security forces eliminated Burhan Wani last year. His successor Sabzar Ahmad Bhatt met the same fate a few weeks ago. It seems a matter of time before the South Kashmir jihad is weakened significantly and Pakistan is forced to again rely heavily on its Punjabi jihadis. Within the next two years, South Kashmir’s new young jihadis will likely become as marginalised as members of Kashmiri armed groups that emerged in the 1990s  became.  J&K is the only erstwhile princely state that has remained a hotbed of violence, tensions and intrigues after acceding to India. In his report of a meeting with then Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah in May 1950, US ambassador Loy Henderson noted: “Sheikh Abdullah, talking about the future of Kashmir, was vigorous in restating his opinion that it should be independent; that overwhelming majority population desired this independence, and he had reason to believe that some Azad Kashmir (PoK) ministers also desired independence”. There were suspicions that Sheikh Abdullah voiced similar sentiments to American politician Adlai Stevenson in 1953, resulting in his prolonged detention. Following Pakistan’s humiliating defeat in 1971 and the signing of the Simla Agreement, PM Indira Gandhi decided that given his stature, an effort should be made to restore and reintegrate Sheikh Abdullah in India’s national life. This happened after prolonged negotiations with the Sheikh’s representative, Mirza Afzal Beg. Sheikh Abdullah agreed that he would abide by Article 370 of the Constitution and all subsequent measures that had brought the state more into the national mainstream on issues like the powers of the Supreme Court and the Central Election Commission will remain in force. The agreement ensured that there would be no backsliding on the progressive integration of J&K with the Indian Union.The Modi government has been under criticism domestically for its refusal to go by the advice of our “dialogue at all costs” advocates, who would like it to commence talks with the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference. There is no dearth of information that the leadership of the 14-party Hurriyat Conference has acted virtually as agents of Pakistan, with its two major factions, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, constantly fomenting unrest in the Valley. The Pakistani links of both these leaders are well known. A member of the Hizbul Mujahideen assassinated Mirwaiz Umar’s father, Mirwaiz Mohammed Farooq, in 1994. Mirwaiz Umar, who incites mobs against India and the security forces after virtually every Friday prayer, has not raised his voice against those who killed his father. On the contrary, he is known to have received patronage and protection from across the LoC. The ageing Geelani makes no secret of his association with the army-backed Jamat-e-Islami in Pakistan. The NIA, CBI, intelligence agencies and the Enforcement Directorate have enough evidence to charge virtually the entire Hurriyat leadership for sedition and money laundering. It is conveniently forgotten that the autonomy granted to J&K far exceeds the powers exercised by governments in in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Moreover, the Pakistan army is not going to relent on its support for terrorism, unless the domestic and international costs for its sponsoring terrorism become unacceptable. This would require measures imposing increasing political and diplomatic costs on Pakistan, altering realities on the ground within Pakistan and across its borders with Afghanistan. What has been an immense source of encouragement for those genuinely desiring restoration of normalcy in Kashmir is the enterprise and talent of Kashmiri youth in performing brilliantly in competitive examinations, whether for recruitment to the armed forces and paramilitary, or in all-India competitive examinations. The priority of Pakistan-sponsored jihadis has been to eliminate such people physically. This has been accompanied by brutal killings of members of the J&K Police.  Mainstream political parties in the Valley, like the NC and the PDP need to reach out to a wide cross-section of people, including concerned parents, to encourage Kashmiri students to seek business and employment opportunities across the country, with support from the Union Government. This will enhance prospects for peace, progress and economic development in the state. After acceding to the GST, people in Kashmir now have access to a fully integrated market of 1.3 billion people. The Mehbooba Mufti government has sought to focus on economic development in difficult conditions. It needs to be assisted in getting public support to shift the narrative and discourse in Kashmir, from stone throwing and violence, to education and economic development.

Photo for representational purpose only. Thinkstock

New Delhi, July 9

One does not have a fundamental right to keep a weapon and its possession nowadays is more for “showing off” as a “status symbol” than for self-defence, the Delhi High Court has said.

The observation by Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva came while rejecting a private company official’s plea for an arms licence, a request which was denied to him by the licensing authority of the police as well as the Lieutenant Governor (LG).

Upholding the decisions of the licensing authority and the LG, the court said, “We are not living in a lawless society where individuals have to acquire or hold arms to protect themselves.”

It said that the object of the Arms Act was to ensure that weapons are available to citizens for self defence, but it “does not mean that every individual should be given a licence” to possess a weapon.

“The object of the Act is self-defence. The grant of Arms license is a privilege conferred by the Act. There is no fundamental right of an individual to hold an arm (weapon).

“Possession of arms today has become a status symbol.

Individuals seek to possess arms mostly for the purposes of showing off that they are influential people. Arms are even being used indiscriminately for celebratory firing at marriages etc.,” the court said.

The petitioner had sought an arms licence on the ground that he daily deals with cash ranging between Rs 2-3 lakh and needs a weapon for his safety and to secure the money.

The court rejected the contention, saying that the cash belonged to the company and if there was any need to protect the money, the company would have taken the requisite measures.

“The amount of cash mentioned by the petitioner is only about Rs 2-3 lakh a day. Merely because an individual deals with cash of Rs 2-3 lakh a day and that also of a third party does not by itself show that there is any threat to that individual,” the court said.

The same view was expressed by the LG while rejecting the man’s plea for an arms licence.

The court said the petitioner has not shown any circumstance that could create a perception that there is a threat to his life.

“License to hold an arm is to be granted where there is a necessity for the same and not merely at the asking of an individual at his whims and fancies,” the court said. PTI

Snow being cleared at the Rohtang Pass on Tuesday.

Tribune News Service

Mandi, November 12

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has restored the 13,050-foot-high Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul on the Manali-Leh highway, to traffic on Monday night. The road was blocked on Saturday after a heavy snowfall.

The BRO had engaged its workforce and machinery for the snow clearance work. BRO Commander Colonel Uma Shankar told The Tribune, “Despite tough geographical conditions, the BRO workforce had worked round the clock in the below zero temperature to restore traffic on the pass. There was over 4 feet snow on the road near Rohtang.”

Sub Divisional Magistrate, Manali, Raman Gharsangi said around 30 vehicles were crossed from the Lahaul side to Manali, which stranded near Rohtang. A rescue team of the local administration was sent to the spot to move the stranded vehicles out of the area.

He said the movement of vehicles from Manali to Lahaul on Wednesday will depend on weather conditions in the region.

Cong leader Navjot Sidhu offers prayers at Gurdwara Nanaksar in the East constituency of Amritsar on Tuesday. Photo: Sunil Kumar

Amritsar, November 12

Skipping the state government’s grand celebrations at Sultanpur Lodhi, former Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu preferred to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak today with the residents of the East constituency, represented by him as a lawmaker.

After attending the Kartarpur gurdwara function from Pakistan side, this was Sidhu’s first public appearance with his supporters here.

As his cavalcade reached his constituency, his supporters welcomed him declaring him to be the real “hero owing to his contribution in opening the corridor”.

A huge garland weighing around 1.5 quintal was specially arranged to welcome Sidhu, who paid obeisance at Gurdwara Nanaksar located in the Verka area.

Earlier, his supporters had erected huge billboards in the holy city, giving credit to him whose association with his old-time cricket pal and Pakistan PM Imran Khan had helped in pushing the much-sought-after project. —TNS

Amid chanting of ‘Dhan Guru Nanak’ and hymns like Kal taaran Guru Nanak aaya, religious processions were taken out across the state, including Sultanpur Lodhi and Amritsar, on the 550th Gurpurb eve on Monday.

On the 550th Gurpurb eve, thousands of devotees take part in religious processions in Amritsar and Sultanpur Lodhi on Monday. Tribune photo/PTI

In Sultanpur Lodhi, the nagar kirtan started with traditional fervour from Gurdwara Sant Ghat in the morning and culminated at Gurdwara Ber Sahib in the evening.

Several gatka teams showed their skills. A gatka team of the UK-based Sikh girls’ jatha stole the limelight.

Huge trumpets and traditional instruments were played. Jathas sat on tractor-trailers to recite shabads from Gurbani. Flowers were showered upon the sangat at various historical gurdwaras. TNS