Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Poonch, September 27

Two years after Army commandos carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the morale of the forces guarding this volatile zone continues to be high.

Committed to keeping the enemy at bay and not letting it push in armed militants, soldiers of the Army unit (name withheld) manning the Poonch sector are putting their lives at risk to guard the LoC amid all odds.

From a forward post on an undisclosed location on the LoC in the Poonch sector, the surgical strikes were carried out inside the PoK on September 28-29, 2016. “Initially, when we came here as a frontline battalion, we adopted a tit-for-tat policy. Now, the emphasis is more on punitive action. The commanding officers have more freedom to take action and that is translating into success,” Col Bhupinder Singh, Commanding Officer of the unit, told The Tribune.

“The commanders on the ground are free to initiate any action if any misadventure is undertaken by the enemy,” he said.

Besides ceasefire violations by the Pakistan army, the biggest challenge on the LoC remains infiltration, as terror launch pads are still active there. To meet this challenge, the Army is using surveillance devices with advance technology and carries out drills and ambush operations to ensure the area remains safe. Also, patrolling is done to clear the area of all threats, including mines.

“Infiltration has to be stopped at any cost. Our boys keep a high morale even in the face of harsh weather conditions and tough terrain,” the Colonel added.

Major General Rajeeva Kumar, commissioned in the Sikh Light Infantry, is now the most senior officer among the Army personnel to approach the Supreme Court in the AFSPA matter following a petition by Colonel Amit Kumar and others.

Days after Army chief General Bipin Rawat questioned the need for serving Army officers and soldiers to approach the Supreme Court in personal capacity against alleged dilution of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, a serving Major General, currently posted as Chief of Staff of a Corps in the Eastern Command, has filed an application that he be made party to the petition filed by 739 Army personnel.

Major General Rajeeva Kumar, commissioned in the Sikh Light Infantry, is now the most senior officer among the Army personnel to approach the Supreme Court in the AFSPA matter following a petition by Colonel Amit Kumar and others. Hearing in the case is scheduled for September 28.

Incidentally, Colonel Amit Kumar too was commissioned in the Sikh Light Infantry before he joined the legal branch of the Army, the Judge Advocate General Branch.

READ | Army chief Bipin Rawat asks why officers, soldiers filed plea in SC

“The points raised in the present petition go to the significant problems and confusions being encountered by soldiers of Indian Army as to whether they are supposed to continue to engage in the proxy war and insurgency with their military training, principles, standard operating procedures, operational realities, valour and courage or act and operate as per the yardsticks of peacetime law and order issues and CrPC,” the application states.

The application refers to an extraordinary situation of confusion that has arisen with respect to protection of soldiers from prosecution as defined under Section 6 of AFSPA (Assam and Manipur) and Section 7 of AFSPA (J&K). “This protection does not give any blanket prohibition or any special right to the soldiers for themselves but only facilitates their functioning and operations in extraordinary circumstances or proxy war, insurgency, armed hostility, ambushes, cover and covert operations. Such operations are materially and substantially different from law and order situations,” the application states.

Sources in Army Headquarters said Major General Kumar has commanded troops in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and has filed the application out of “his own conviction”.

Read | Officer behind AFSPA plea of 356 Army men drafted it for Major Aditya too

“The officer feels that officers, JCOs and jawans have gone to the court and that the cause is very important and, therefore, he has decided to implead as a petitioner,” a senior officer said.

Initially, 356 Army personnel moved the Supreme Court on August 13, stating that the “garb of protection of human rights should not be taken as a shield to protect the persons involved in the terrorist act”. Later in the month, another 383 Army personnel asked to be impleaded in the petition, taking the number of personnel who have moved the court to 739.

Earlier this month, during an interaction with Colonel-rank officers and their wives, General Rawat had questioned the need for serving personnel to move court, pointing out that the Army was fighting these cases, that the government too was aware of these cases. “AFSPA is a very strong law which provides protection to the soldiers. Now if these guys (the petitioners) lose the case, what will happen,” General Rawat was quoted as having said.

Amritsar, September 25

The last date for applying for 55,000 posts in the Central Security Forces, including the BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP, SSB, ARNIA and SSF, has been extended till September 30, said Deputy Commissioner Kamaldeep Singh Sangha. Earlier, the last date was September 17.

Sangha said the recruitment process would be conducted by the Staff Selection Commission and unemployed youths could avail the opportunity. The DC said the date had been extended due to some technical glitches on the commission’s website.

The general and OBC category candidates can fill the application form by paying a fee of Rs100. The SC candidates have been exempted from paying any fee.

Sangha said the state government would provide free two-month coaching for the written test along with physical training to the candidates for the competition. — TNS

Army chief General Bipin Rawat said in modern day warfare, information warfare was important and artificial intelligence or AI was being talked about

NEW DELHI: 

https://www.ndtv.com/video/news/news/can-t-keep-soldiers-away-from-social-media-smartphones-says-army-chief-493038

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Soldiers cannot be prevented from using smartphones and social media but there has to be discipline, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said today. He said he had been advised to keep soldiers away from smartphones, but that was not possible, so best to allow it.

“Social media is here to stay, soldiers will use social media. Our adversary will use social media for psychological warfare and deception, we must leverage it to our advantage,” the Army Chief was quoted as saying by ANI news agency.

There are reports that the government wants to keep soldiers away from social media. The policy for social media use in the military came under sharp focus when a rash of videos emerged on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter of soldiers critical of the army or their seniors.

Recently, the subject came back in the media glare after a Lieutenant Colonel posted in Jabalpur was trapped by the Pakistani intelligence through social media.

“We have received advice that we should advise our soldiers to stay away from social media. Can you deny a soldier from the possession of a smartphone?” General Rawat questioned.

“If you can’t prevent usage of smartphone, best to allow it, but important to have means of imposing discipline,” he added.

General Rawat also said in modern day warfare, information warfare was important and artificial intelligence (AI) was being talked about. “If we have to leverage AI to our advantage we must engage through social media as a lot of what we wish to gain as part of AI will come via social media,” said the army chief, according to ANI.

Newly constructed strategically important 280 feet long bridge at Hussainiwala, which was destroyed during 1971 Indo-Pak War, was dedicated to the #Nation by Hon’ble Defence Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman. #DefenceMinister appreciated the efforts made by #DGBRPress Information Bureau Shillong Ministry of Defence, Government of India

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 12

A policeman was killed and five security men were injured in an ongoing gunfight that raged in a Srinagar’s congested locality on Sunday morning.

The gunfight erupted in Batamaloo locality days ahead of Independence Day, when Srinagar is on a high alert.

The gunfight started around 4 am when joint teams of the J&K Police and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation at Batamaloo after inputs about presence of two to three militants.

“The CASO turned into a gunfight when hiding militants fired indiscriminately upon the security forces. In the initial gunfight, three policemen and equal number of the CRPF were injured. One of the injured policemen later succumbed to injuries,” a senior security officer said.

The operation in the congested locality is still under way.

The gunfight is taking place close to the same spot where a CRPF man was killed and another was injured in a militant attack on July 24.

12 SPOs have quit, announce Imams

Fallout of relentless attacks on cops in South Kashmir districts

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 11

At least 12 Special Police Officers (SPOs) of the J&K Police, all posted in South Kashmir districts, have quit. An announcement in this regard was made by local Imams (priests) on their behalf after the Friday prayers.The Imams of two mosques, while delivering sermons at Luraw Jagir and Pastoona Sayedabad villages of Tral in Pulwama district, on Friday announced that seven SPOs had  “quit their job” and were back home. At least five more SPOs “resigned publicly”  after the announcement, said sources. The resignations are seen as a fallout of the relentless militant attacks on policemen and SPOs, who are part-time police employees, in the past two weeks. Only some days ago, the state police had launched a crowd-funding campaign on Twitter to provide financial aid to the families of 499 SPOs killed while fighting militants. On August 7, an SPO was injured in an attack in Tral. A day earlier, militants had fired at another SPO but he escaped unhurt. On July 28, militants had released SPO Mudasir Lone, whom they had abducted the same morning. Before setting him free, they released a videotape of Lone urging fellow SPOs to quit their jobs. The SPOs, who number 24,000,  are paid a pittance —  Rs 6,000 per month.Dangerous trend

• All SPOs  who resigned were posted in South Kashmir districts
• Imam of Pastoona Sayedabad Jamia mosque announced resignations of Parvaiz Ahmed Ahanger, Hilal Ahmed Khan, Muzaffar Ahmed Khan and  Mudasir Ahmed Mir
• Imam of Luraw Jagir mosque announced resignations of Ishaq Ahmed Bhat, Gulzar Ahmed Wani and Aijaz Ahmed Mir
• J&K Director General of Police Shesh Paul Vaid said they were ‘verifying facts’

The Aero India 2019 may not be held in Bengaluru’s Yelahanka Air Force station after all. The Union government and the Ministry of Defence, according to sources, are in the process of shifting the 12th edition of the grand military and commercial air show to a new venue — Bakshi Ka Talab Air Force Station in Lucknow.

The military airport that is currently under the Central Air Command is likely to host India’s biggest biennial air show and aviation exhibition, sources told The New Indian Express. Bengaluru has been hosting the Aero India show since 1996. Talks of Aero India being shifted out of Bengaluru have been doing the rounds for years now. Goa was being considered as a potential venue for the event that sees participation from defence manufacturing firms from across the world as part of the expo apart from displaying the might of the Indian Air Force.

In a move that has come as a surprise to many within the air force, the defence ministry that was in the process of identifying new venues is said to have zeroed in on Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. “It is an apology of an air field. To conduct something on the scale of Aero India is impossible at the suggested venue,” said a senior officer of the Indian Air Force.

Space constraint was pointed out to be the single most important reason to shift Aero India out of Bengaluru but the purportedly suggested new venue in Lucknow is a downgrade from Bengaluru’s Yelahanka Air Force station even in terms of real estate. Challenges that Bakshi Ka Talab pose for such an event became evident when an aero show of a much smaller scale was held in 2016 at the venue. With a mere crowd of 5,000 visitors, traffic, security and infrastructure were a challenge.

“Inadequate infrastructure, security concerns for air show routines and sorties, lack of preparedness at the venue, inadequate basic amenities were a concern in 2016 as well and that was a much smaller air show,” said an Air Force official adding that the venue may not be ideal, at least on the lines of aviation safety, for something as massive as the Aero India show.