Islamabad, November 26

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the decision to grant a three-year term extension to the powerful Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, in a major blow to Prime Minister Imran Khan who had cited “regional security environment” for the move.

The move came just ahead of 59-year-old Bajwa’s retirement on November 29.

The petition against Bajwa’s extension was filed by one Raiz Rahi, who later filed an application to withdraw it.

However, Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa rejected the withdrawal bid and took up the petition as a public interest litigation under Article 184.

During the hearing, the Chief Justice said the notification issued on August 19 mentioned an ‘extension’ while the notification issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said the army chief had been ‘reappointed’.

“As per rules, there is no authority of extending army chief’s tenure or his reappointment. The government can only suspend his retirement and the army chief has not retired yet,” Khosa said.

Khosa after suspending the government’s notification adjourned the hearing until Wednesday.

Prime Minister Khan had approved an extension to the tenure of General Bajwa for another three years, citing “regional security environment”.

Ties between India and Pakistan worsened following India’s decision on August 5 to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370.

Khan also took into account the ongoing Afghan peace talks between the US and the Taliban militants, facilitated by Islamabad, for extending Bajwa’s tenure.

“General Qamar Javed Bajwa is appointed Chief of Army Staff for another term of three years from the date of completion of the current tenure,” according to the notification.

Khosa during the hearing said that only the president of Pakistan could extend the tenure of the Army chief.

He also observed that when the matter was discussed in the Cabinet, only 11 of the 25 members approved the extension.

Attorney General Anwar Mansoor contested the observations by the Chief Justice, saying the extension was announced after approval of the President.

However, the Chief Justice suspended the extension notification and fixed the next hearing for further proceedings.

It is for the first time that the top court has suspended a notification by the government to extend service of the powerful army chief.

The Army so far has not commented on the development. PTI

Cabinet Meeting: PM Imran khan Orders To Resolve Army Chief Extension Issue

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The General – who is serving a rare full three year term as the Army Chief after he superseded two officers in 2016 – is likely to get a term of over two years as the CDS, which will largely see the creation of a new structure to provide military

NEW DELHI: General Bipin Rawat is on a series of farewell visits to military establishments as his tenure as the Army Chief draws to an end in December.

However, the top officer is unlikely to shed his uniform anytime soon, with the decks being cleared for him to take over as the first Chief of Defence Staff – a four star position being created as part of a defence management overhaul.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has opened channels of communication with 32 detained political prisoners of the regional parties, but put riders on their release. Meanwhile, two leaders, Jammu and Kashmir People Democratic Front’s Hakeem Yaseen and Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Mohammad Ashraf Mir, were released on Monday, indicating a move to release the leaders in a phased manner.

In the past 10 days, a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM)-level officer visited senior leaders of the National Conference (NC), the PDP, the Peoples Conference (PC) and the J&K Peoples Movement (J&KPM) more than three times and discussed ways and means to ensure their release.

Reject condition

The officer, sources said, “insisted on abiding by the administration’s suggestion to sign bonds in lieu of their release.”

Senior officials confirmed to The Hindu that NC’s top leader Ali Muhammad Sagar, a former legislator and minister; PDP’s Naeem Akhar, a former legislator and minister; PC chief Sajad Lone, a former legislator and minister, and J&K PM chief Shah Faesal, an IAS topper who quit his job join politics earlier this year, “have repeatedly refused to sign a bond for their release.”

Mr. Sagar and Mr. Akhtar, sources said, told the government point man that such bonds were aimed at “curtailing the rightful political space of regional players, discredit the local leadership in front of the eyes of the locals and were being publicised later only to add to the political vacuum post August 5.”

All these leaders were detained and taken into preventive detention on August 5 under Section 107, Section 109 and Section 117 of the Cr.PC. The bonds, which the leaders were being asked to sign, reads: “He/she will not make any comment or issue statement or make public speeches or participate in the public assembly related to recent events…for a period of one year from the date of signature of the bond.”

Some headway

The move by the authorities to release NC leader Mubarak Gul for a night on Saturday on parole to meet his ailing sister has failed to break the ice with the regional leaders, “who have put up a joint front inside the sub-jail of MLA Hostel in Srinagar.”

However, sources said Mr. Lone’s plea to meet his mother was turned down by the authorities. Meanwhile, Mr. Yaseen and Mr. Mir’s release is a signal that the officials negotiating have been able to make some headway.

A close relative of a senior NC leader said the government is not following legal procedure related to preventive detentions.

“To prolong detentions under Section 107, a preventive custody, these are supposed to be proven with witnesses and evidences, which has not taken place in most of these cases,” he said. However, officials insisted that such bonds were “a legal requirement to secure releases in such cases.”

The IAF Chief while addressing his commanders emphasised on the need for enhanced joint training with the army and navy for ensuring better jointmanship. The biannual IAF Commanders Conference, which began on Monday will also discuss anti-drone op…

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force on Monday said that there is a need to improve joint training with the army and navy and focus on joint operations as well.

The IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria while addressing his commanders emphasised on the need for enhanced joint training with the army and navy for ensuring better jointmanship. The biannual IAF Commanders Conference, which began on Monday and ends on Tuesday, will have discussions on joint operations, the IAF said.

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The Indian air force plans in December 2019 finally to retire its last few Soviet-designed MiG-27 Flogger fighter-bombers, bringing to an end 38 years of MiG-27 operations in India and leaving the Kazakh air force as the last operator of the 1970s-vintage, swing-wing warplane.

New Delhi’s last MiG-27 unit, No. 29 Squadron is based in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Two other MiG-27 squadrons shuttered in 2016.

Pilots and planners probably won’t miss the speedy but volatile MiG-27, a ground-attack derivative of the MiG-23 interceptor. U.S. Air Force test pilots who flew a captured MiG-23 under the auspices of the once-secret Constant Peg program, literally were afraid of the plane owing to its tendency to explode in mid-flight.

“It would accelerate until it blew up,” John Manclark, a commander of Constant Peg during the mid-1980s, said of the MiG-23. “The limit was 720 to 710 knots, but guys would look down inside and see they were going 850 to 880.”

The Toll of the Sea debuts as the first general release film to use two-tone Technicolor. (The Gulf Between was the first film to do so, but it was not widely distributed.)

President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November.

 The Indian air force acquired the first of 165 locally-assembled MiG-27s starting in 1981. The type flew in combat during the Kargil War between India and Pakistan in 1999. In essence, a simpler MiG-23 without that type’s air-to-air radar, the MiG-27 with its powerful R-29 engine at low altitude could accelerate to a top speed of around Mach one.

But the plane was complex and unsafe compared to Western types. Even other Soviet types were safer to fly than the MiG-27 was. The Indian air force lost at least 10 percent of its MiG-27s in crashes.

The MiG-27 arguably was a poor choice. It’s unsurprising that Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the country’s wartime defense secretary, later was accused of accepting bribes in exchange for approving the MiG buy. A newspaper editor died in an apparent assassination after reporting on the allegedly corrupt fighter deal.

The initial six MiG-27s, plus a follow-on batch of six Floggers and one trainer that the country bought in 2000, performed poorly in Sri Lankan service, even when flown by experienced Ukrainian mercenary pilots.

U.S. advisors in 2001 assessed the Sri Lankan air force’s No. 12 Squadron, which flew the MiG-27s and found it wanting. Air force leaders “never bothered to procure the required weapons systems/ammunition for them,” The Island reported. “On the basis of testimony of both army and [air force] personnel, the U.S. pointed out the failure on the part of No 10 [flying Israeli-made Kfirs] and No. 12 squadrons to destroy targets.”

No fewer than four of Sri Lanka’s 14 MiG-27s and MiG trainers crashed. A Tamil Tiger commando raid destroyed another MiG on the ground. As late as 2017, seven MiGs remained in the Sri Lankan air force’s inventory, but none were flightworthy.

The air force in early 2019 finally shut down No. 12 Squadron, formally ending the MiG-27’s service in the country and reportedly leaving Sri Lanka with just a handful of operational Kfirs and Chinese-made F-7s.

Lockheed is pitching to India a new “F-21” version of its iconic F-16 fighter. For the purposes of Lockheed’s marketing campaign, the F-21 is a new fighter, although it shares many of its major features with the F-16V the company has sold to Bahrain, Greece, Slovakia, South Korea and Taiwan.

A total of 210 missiles along with 12 launchers were delivered to the Indian Army from Israel under a Rs 280 crore deal, as a part of its ’emergency purchase’ mechanism. These anti-tank guided missiles and its launchers were inducted along the LoC…

JAMMU: The Indian Army has inducted Israel-made anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMS) Spike along the LoC in northern command theatre in Jammu and Kashmir to bolster defence along the country’s border with Pakistan.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25

In the run-up to the third edition of the Military Literature Festival, a military carnival is underway at Rajendra Park, Sector 1, near the Chandigarh Club.

Several events are being conducted to showcase military equipment. Arms, ammunition and surveillance equipment used by the military are on display for public.

To showcase the spirit of adventure, the organisers have teamed up with Gerrari Offroaders/Oraz in organising an event for drivers fascinated with off-roading.

The theme for Military Literature Fest this year is the Burma Campaign of World War II. The event will also mark the centenary of the JallianwalaBagh massacre and the 20th anniversary of the Kargil War.

File photo

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25

Several companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will be deployed at four jails in Punjab from Tuesday onwards. Punjab Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said 60 CRPF men would be deployed at Amritsar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana and Patiala jails.

Randhawa said the CRPF has been called to meet shortage of staff and break nexus of gangsters, drugs smugglers with jail staff, if any.  

The Union Government had given a go-ahead to the deployment of Central forces in three jails of Punjab in June this year.

The decision came into light the day a bloody clash broke out in Ludhiana jail, which had left one prisoner dead and several injured, including nearly six policemen. The state will have to pay the requisite cost of the deployment of these CRPF companies in its jails. In general, one CRPF company has around 100 personnel.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh took a dig at his successor Narendra Modi

New Delhi, November 26

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh took a dig at his successor Narendra Modi on Tuesday for his remarks hailing the Constitution, saying “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” and the way the Centre has behaved in Maharashtra it is not certain that constitutional norms are safe.

Singh also said that the Supreme Court order directing a floor test in Maharashtra assembly on Wednesday “has to be respected”.

He made the remarks to reporters at a joint opposition protest in front of the Ambedkar statue inside Parliament complex against the BJP’s alleged high-handedness in Maharashtra.

Asked about Prime Minister Modi hailing the Constitution, Singh said, “Well I think the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The way the central government has behaved in Maharashtra, it is not certain that constitutional norms are safe in the hands of present establishment.”          

In his address to a joint sitting of Parliament to mark the Constitution Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Indian Constitution is a sacred text “for us”.

“It is a book that encompasses our life, our society, our traditions and beliefs and also solutions to new challenges,” Modi said. —PTI   

Naval Band performs during a function to pay homage to 26/11 victims at Gateway of India in Mumbai. PTI

Mumbai, November 26

Floral tributes were paid on Tuesday to those who laid down their lives while fighting Pakistani terrorists who had attacked Mumbai on this day 11 years ago.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was among the dignitaries who paid homage at the 26/11 police memorial site at Mumbai Police Gymkhana in south Mumbai.

“I pay homage to the brave policemen who fought for Mumbai’s safety and laid down their lives for us on 26/11. We are proud of them and we will strive hard for the safety and security of our state,” Fadnavis said.

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari also paid tributes to the martyrs.

State Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta, Director General of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve, and family members of the policemen who lost their lives during the attacks were also present during the ceremony.

On November 26, 2008, 10 Pakistani terrorists arrived by sea route and opened fire indiscriminately at people killing 166, including 18 security personnel, and injuring several others, besides damaging property worth crores.

The then Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, Army Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Mumbai’s Additional Police Commissioner Ashok Kamte, Senior Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar and Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Tukaram Omble were among those killed in the attack.

The attacks had begun on November 26 and lasted till November 29.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Hotel, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital and the Nariman House Jewish community centre, now renamed Nariman Light House, were some of the places targeted by the terrorists.

Ajmal Kasab was the only terrorist who was captured alive. He was hanged four years later on November 21, 2012.

Railway officials also laid wreathes at the 26/11 memorial at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, one of the targets of the terror attack. PTI