Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on Friday cleared the air on creating theatre commands, saying the Northern Command of the Indian Army for the time being would remain as it is while there would be dedicated integrated commands for China and Pakistan.
These would have the Air Force component, separate from the Air Defence Command that would be the exclusive mandate of the IAF. General Rawat was speaking at a ‘Global Counter-Terrorism Council’ webinar on artificial intelligence and other modern technologies. He also talked of the existing counter-drone systems. He said as far as the Indian Air Force was concerned, the country’s entire airspace would be looked after by the Air Defence Command.
The theatres with the northern and western adversary (China and Pakistan) would be land-based, General Rawat said. Offensive air support for these would be provided by the IAF. On the Northern Command of the Army, he said: “The Northern Command looks after both the fronts — the China front in Ladakh and the northern front in the Kargil sector. This is one area that would witness a two-front war.”
A new short span bridging system designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been inducted into the Indian Army.
The structure is 10-m long and is expected to play a crucial role in bridging the gaps, ensuring faster movement of troops and equipment across canals and waters bodies.
The first lot of 12 bridges was inducted by Army Chief Gen MM Naravane at a ceremony at Delhi Cantt on Friday. The Defence Minister congratulated the DRDO. tns
Remark on LAC: SC rejects plea for action against Gen VK Singh
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking action against Union Minister Gen (Retd) VK Singh for allegedly violating oath of office by making certain comments on the India-China border stand-off.
“Are you a scientist? Use your energies to find a solution. If he is not good, the Prime Minister will look into it,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana told the petitioner’s counsel after he insisted that Singh made statements against the Army.
“If the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways has done something it was for the Prime Minister to act and the court can’t pass any order in this regard,” the Bench said.
“If you don’t like a statement by a minister, you file a plea and ask him to be removed,” it told the counsel for petitioner Chandrasekaran Ramaswamy, who cited various events where Singh made controversial statements.
Ramaswamy, an activist, had sought directions to declare that Singh breached of his oath for his recent statements on the Line of Actual Control in which the former Army Chief allegedly claimed that India transgressed the LAC many times, as per its perception, and the Chinese had taken advantage of the statement made and used it to blame India for encroaching upon its perceived territory.
Last Day of Uniform ::story of a fauji :Fauji will remain Fauji::Col Rakesh Kumr Dubey :55 Engr: recollection
14 drones were launched reportedly from across the International Border and LoC in the recent past. (Representational Photo:AFP)
SRINAGAR: Three more flying objects — possibly drones — were spotted over strategically important areas of Jammu on Wednesday. Security forces opened fire at them following which they withdrew, officials said.
The unnamed officials quoted by local newsgathering agencies said that the drones were seen hovering over Miran Sahab, Kaluchak and Kunjwani areas of Jammu where several military bases and sensitive installations are located.
They said that the first “unidentified flying object” at a height of about 1,000 meters was sighted near a place called Goswami Enclave in Kaluchak area at around 4.40 am. The second one was spotted near the Indian Air Force ‘Signal’ in the neighbouring Kunjwani area and the third at Miran Sahab at around 6 am. “All these activities on the third consecutive day were witnessed near defence installations but the alert security personnel quickly swung into action and opened fire at these objects,” said an official.
On June 27, the overly sensitive Air Force Station at Jammu had come under a terror attack when two low-intensity bombs believed to have been dropped by drones hit a barracks and an open space in quick succession, leaving two IAF personnel were injured in the explosions that took place within a gap of five minutes.
A day later, the Army averted two separate drone activities in Ratnuchak-Kaluchak belt close to the border with Pakistan in Jammu region and, thereby, as was claimed by it, foiled a possible threat in this extremely sensitive military area. The activity continued on Tuesday when the drone-like objects were seen flying at a couple of places in the same security belt.
The Jammu and Kashmir police and Indian Army officials in Jammu had said on Monday that as many as 14 drones were launched reportedly from across the International Border (called Working Boundary by Islamabad) and Line of Control (LoC) in the recent past.
They said that the areas which witnessed the activity include Jammu, Rajouri, Samba and Kathua districts of Indian-administered Kashmir. Six sorties with weapon payloads were found in Samba sector, three to four in Hiranagar sector and two each in Nowshera-Rajouri and Arnia sectors.
J&K’s director general of police, Dilbagh Singh, said that in the recent past drones have been used to drop weapons and narcotic consignments. He said that the twin blasts at the Jammu Air Force base was a “terror attack” in which IED payloads were dropped using drones. A security alert for all vital installations in the Jammu region as well as Kashmir Valley was issued on Sunday itself.
In view of the June 27 bombing at the Air Force Station Jammu and subsequent increased activity of illegal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or unmanned aircraft systems (UASes) in Jammu region, director general (DG) of National Security Guard (NSG), M.A. Ganapathy, who is also DG, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Director General Central Industrial Security Force, Subodh Kumar Jaiswal arrived in Jammu to assess the situation.
Rajouri’s DC Rajesh Kumar Shavan has, through an order issued on Wednesday, banned the storage, sale or possession and use and transportation of the flying machines (drones). He has also directed those having drones or like objects in their possession to deposit them with the local police station.
However, the government agencies using drones for mapping, surveys and surveillance would get the local police station in-charge and executive magistrate informed, the order says.
The drone attack on the Jammu airbase seriously escalates the threat of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan. Earlier, drones from across the border have been used to drop weapons in Punjab for terrorist purposes. In those cases, the targets were not military. However, in the Jammu drone attack, the target was an Air Force base with the intention no doubt to cause serious material damage. Even if this objective was not realised, the message that our air bases close to the Pakistan border are now vulnerable has been conveyed. The drone used in the Jammu Air Force Station attack was a relatively less sophisticated one, but in future more potent drones with greater reach can be used. That will depend on the calculations of the Pakistani elements behind this escalation and how much they think they can get away with, as well as their assessment of the options available to New Delhi. Because drones fly low, they escape detection by radars and interjection by air defence systems. Drones have been used with deadly effect, for example, from Yemeni soil against the Saudi oil installations. They have also been used militarily with great success against the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh by Turkey-supported Azerbaijani forces. The Chinese have used drones for aerial surveillance in Ladakh during the current stand-off. The Americans have used armed drones in Afghanistan and in Iraq to eliminate terrorists, and even a high-ranking serving military officer as in the case of the Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Drone swarms are now part of the panoply of a country’s military arsenal. India too has acquired armed drones from the US for maritime security. This new security challenge that has surfaced has to be effectively met. It is not possible for local Kashmiri elements to, without external help, get access to drones and get trained to operate them with explosive charges and target acquisition. An in-depth investigation is needed to determine the trajectory of the drone used in the Jammu Air Force Station attack and the source of the technical support needed for operating it. It can safely be assumed that Pakistani elements are behind this one way or another. It is well to recall the attack on the Pathankot air base in 2016 wherein the Jaish-e-Mohammed was involved. Judging from the manner in which Pakistan treated the Pathankot investigation, there is no doubt that it was carried out with the connivance of Pakistan-based ISI. Ceasefire: A Win-Win For Both Sides India has to carefully evaluate its options. According to our Army chief, the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) has been holding well barring a minor infraction. He has acknowledged the absence of attempts by Pakistan to infiltrate terrorists with covering fire. The tenor of statements from the Indian side has been supple lately, suggesting that we see value in preserving the ceasefire, if for nothing else than protecting our civilian population from the firing across the LoC. A ceasefire on our western border is also helpful in fully concentrating on the military stand-off with China on our northern border. For Pakistan, putting a stop to punishing fire from the Indian side would be a consideration, besides the need to concentrate on the developments on its border with Afghanistan. Pakistan may also be calculating that for it to exit from the Financial Action Task Force or FATF grey list a ceasefire with India and curbing terrorist infiltration would add to its credibility in making the case that it was seriously addressing the FATF concerns. Pakistan’s Malevolence: A Permanent Feature On the other hand, the anti-India political rhetoric from Pakistan has not significantly abated. In his recent interview with The New York Times, Imran Khan projected himself as someone who is loved and respected in India, a peace-maker looking for a civilised trade relationship with New Delhi. Durign the interview, he hit hit against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s RSS ideology. Khan’s condition for a dialogue with India is a reversal of the 5 August, 2019, changes in Jammu and Kashmir. He is living in a fantasy world if he really believes what he says. If Khan thinks that this is the right propagandist line to take with the “liberal” US press, which is antipathetic towards Modi, he is exhibiting his lack of political maturity. Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has developed a new concept that the size of a diplomatic mission in a country depends on whether it is a neighbour or not. According to him, India, not being a neighbour of Afghanistan, has a larger presence in Afghanistan than what is necessary. He also alleged that India uses its presence in Afghanistan to promote terrorist activity against Pakistan. Pakistan National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf claims that Kashmir has never belonged to India and that after India inevitably reverses its 5 August, 2019, decisions, Pakistan will consider a dialogue with India. Pakistan seems to believe that India’s policy in Kashmir is failing, and that it can leverage opinion in the US administration against Indian actions in Jammu and Kashmir to its advantage. And this, even as its interventionist policy in Afghanistan is succeeding with the US consent. It is not unlikely that Pakistan may have reasoned that with India embroiled with China in the north, the internal situation in Kashmir still unsettled, the cooperation of the old political class still needed to implement the post 5 August agenda of the Modi government, and the developments in Afghanistan which have compelled India to reach out to the Taliban contrary to long-standing policy ” no doubt to ward off concerns about an externally abetted revival of terrorist activity in Kashmir ” upping the ante on Kashmir was needed to put India on the defensive. If India retaliated, it would be accused of violating the ceasefire and distracting Pakistan from constructively cooperating with the US to facilitate its withdrawal from Afghanistan. It will argue, as it has always done, that it is wrongly blamed by India for its own failures to control the insurgency in Kashmir. Pakistan’s malevolence towards India remains a fundamental feature of its foreign policy. It is most important that the result of India’s meticulous investigation of the drone attack is widely shared domestically and internationally. India could bring the incident to the attention of the Security Council of which it is currently a member. A clear warning should go to Pakistan that India reserves the right to react appropriately to such a dangerous provocation at a time of its own choosing.
INDIAN MILITARY PERSONNEL TO TRAIN IN US ON CYBERSECURITY, COMMAND IN THE OFFING
CDS General Bipin Rawat with three armed forces chiefs The proposed cyber command will marry the individual capabilities of all the three services to protect the military from being vulnerable to cyber-attacks from India’s adversaries. With the threat of cyber attacks mounting against the Indian armed forces, the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) is planning to send up to 100 personnel to US to train in latest cybersecurity technology and artificial intelligence (AI) for future warfare. According to South Block officials, the US, under the 2016 Cyber Framework and defence cooperation agreement, has offered to train up to 100 military personnel in Silicon Valley to give them first-hand experience on how to counter cyber warfare and AI role in future defence and warfare. While India military has a tri-service defence cyber agency under the integrated headquarters, the government is in favour of setting up of a proper cyber command in the hinterlands of Madhya Pradesh to give the fighting edge to the proposed theatre commands. The proposed cyber command will marry the individual capabilities of all the three services to protect the military from being vulnerable to cyber-attacks from India’s adversaries. The charter of the command will be also to ensure that Indian military communications are secure and systems are not contaminated with any malware by adversaries in the forward formations like the sensitive Siliguri Corps, Tezpur Corps and the Northern Command including the Ladakh Corps facing Tibet. The Siliguri Corps facing Chumbi Valley has in the past decade seen cyber attacks through malware for not only corrupting the software but also leakage of sensitive documentation to the adversary. With AI, cyber warfare, armed drones and standalone weapon systems now being part of warfare, the cyber military command will have to dump the World War II concepts of strike and defending corps and prepare for a future where war shifts seamlessly from missile to cyberattacks. The cybersecurity is being taken seriously by national security planners as Chinese PLA and the Ministry of State Security have high end capability to target the adversary through new age weapons.
The police have booked an Army Havildar after he allegedly hit an on-duty police head constable at the Capitol Chowk in Ambala Cantonment.
The suspect has been identified as Anil Kumar, a resident of Himachal Pradesh. At present, he is posted with 24 Grenadiers in Ambala Cantonment.
As per information, the incident took place on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday when the suspect had a scuffle with head constables Krishan Kumar and Kuldeep Singh of the Regiment Bazaar police post in Ambala Cantonment.
In his complaint, Krishan Kumar stated that they were at the Capitol Chowk when they observed that an uncontrolled car was coming from the Military Hospital side. The suspect, who was drunk, stopped his car and started abusing them. He hit the head constable on his face and neck, after which he started bleeding.
A case has been registered against Anil Kumar under Sections 186, 332, 353, 427 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code at the Ambala Cantonment police station.
Does Pak have proprietary rights over Taliban, ask experts
Dismiss Pak NSA’s comment on Indian contacts with Taliban
Afghan Commando forces are seen at the site of a battlefield where they clash with the Taliban insurgent in Kunduz province, Afghanistan. Reuters file
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 30
Pakistan National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf’s comment that it is “shameless” of India to engage the Afghan Taliban in Qatar has been dismissed by strategic experts.
“I want to ask this: with what standing did this Indian high-level official meet the Taliban there? Did they not feel ashamed?” Yusuf said in a TV programme when asked how Pakistan viewed the India-Taliban meetings.
“They kept having the Taliban killed daily and kept giving funds for operations against them and today they have reached there to have talks,” he added.
“Could not understand his logic why India should not engage with Taliban, except that he appears very upset. Or does he claim proprietary rights and allows only a few to engage with the Taliban? He will be even more upset as the Taliban leadership displays more independence,” commented former Indian ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha.
“India’s outreach to the Taliban is limited and late-in-the-day. But it seems to have upset Pindi enough for them to evoke “shame” with no sense of irony whatsoever. I guess the message from the Taliban to India isn’t all that bad after all,” observed Avinash Paliwal, strategic expert and the author of a well-received book on India’s role in Afghanistan in the 80s.
The Ministry of External Affairs has dismissed speculation that EAM S. Jaishankar had met top Taliban leaders during his recent visits to Qatar. But Qatar’s Special Envoy for Counterterrorism Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani said at a webinar that, “there has been a quiet visit by Indian officials to speak to the Taliban”.
SKM condemns ‘provocative behaviour of BJP-RSS goons to instigate protesting farmers’
Claims attempts being made to provoke them for several days
Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 30
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Wednesday condemned the “provocative behaviour of BJP-RSS goons to instigate protesting farmers at Ghazipur border and disrupt their peaceful protests”, claiming attempts being made to provoke them for several days.
The BJP in turn blamed the agitating farmers for the ruckus in Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border and damaging vehicles belonging to party supporters.
Though, as per a statement issued by the SKM, “for several days now, BJP-RSS goons have been trying to instigate and provoke protesting farmers at Ghazipur border. On the pretext of welcoming a BJP leader, Amit Valmiki, several BJP-RSS workers and supporters came into the Ghazipur border UP Gate protest site today and went close to the morcha stage.
“They also raised slogans against the farmers’ movement. They raised slogans against protesting farmers calling them ‘gaddar’, anti-national, ‘khalistanis’ and terrorists and indulged in stone-pelting on the morcha stage”.
Stating that there was “absolutely no justification to welcoming the BJP leader at this location”, Morcha leaders claimed it was done only to “instigate a clash with the protesting farmers, police in tow, in a time-testing BJP-RSS tactic”.
“When they moved aggressively towards the stage, threatened to cross over the divider, farmers objected and confronted them with black flags. They insisted that BJP workers should leave the place. Police remained mute spectators throughout. In the ensuing clash, at least 5 farmers were injured,” they claimed, accusing the BJP of “trying to bring in discord and disturbance and dividing people into caste and religion lines”.
Demanding to know who allowed “welcoming of the BJP leader” hardly 50 metres from the SKM stage, they termed the “allegations of weapons being found and vehicles being damaged as political diversionary tactics”.
A complaint has been lodged by the protesting farmers at the local police station, they also said.https://1768d7b2d138d241b8f7ed6f9af53e1b.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
The ruckus took place when BJP workers were carrying out a procession on a flyway where farm law protesters, mainly supporters of the Rakesh Tikait-led BKU have been camping for the past several months now.
According to the eyewitness accounts, as the two sides came near each other on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway around noon, a scuffle broke out.
Videos and pictures surfaced on social media, purportedly showing some damaged vehicles which were part of a cavalcade of Valmiki, for whose welcome the procession was being held.
Meanwhile, agitating farmers observed ‘Hool Kranti Diwas’ at protest sites today to remember resistance and sacrifice of Adivasis in India’s independence struggle, and for a just and equitable land tenure system.https://1768d7b2d138d241b8f7ed6f9af53e1b.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Several Adivasi farmers from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were part of the morchas today, the SKM said.
In Maharashtra, SKM leaders and All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee met with the chief minister, demanding an assembly resolution in the upcoming session on July 5 “on the Centre repealing the 3 black acts and bring a statute on MSP guarantee for farmers”.
Amid reports of the Centre bringing in a Bill to convert the Delhi air pollution-related ordinance into a central law in the upcoming Parliament session, the SKM also asked the “government to not bring covert and sly provisions of penalising farmers for straw burning in this legislation”.
“The government had orally assured the protesting farmers that penalty provisions will not be applicable to farmers, during the talks between SKM leaders and the government, in late December 2020,” they said.
According to the SKM, more farmers are reaching the protest sites at Singhu border and Tikri border.
State Stalwarts
CHIEF PATRON ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
LT GEN JASBIR SINGH DHALIWAL, DOGRA
PATRON ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
MAJOR GEN HARVIJAY SINGH, SENA MEDAL ,corps of signals
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PRESIDENT HARYANA STATE UNIT SANJHA MORCHA
BRIG HPS BEDI , VSM ,JAK Rif
PRESIDENT PANCHKULA HARYANA UNIT SANJHA MORCHA
BRIG DALJIT THUKRAL (Retd) BENGAL SAPPERS
SECY (HONY) NRI’s ESMs , ALL INDIA SANJHA MORCHA
SUB AVTAR SINGH
+1(647)501-8112
AFFILIATED TO SANJHA MORCHA
INDO-CANADIAN VETERANS GROUP
FOUNDER CHAIRMAN SANJHA MORCHA
MAJOR SANTOKH SINGH DHILLON,SIGNALS
FOUNDER PRESIDENT SANJHA MORCHA
COL RANJIT SINGH BOPARAI ,ASC
INDIAN DEFENCE FORCES
DEFENCE FORCES INTEGRATED LOGO
FORCES FLAGS
15 Th PRESIDENT OF INDIA SUPREME COMMANDER ARMED FORCES
Droupadi Murmu
DEFENCE MINISTER
Minister Rajnath Singh
CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF (2nd)
General Anil Chauhan PVSM UYSM AVSM SM VSM
INDIAN FORCES CHIEFS
CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF(29th)
General Upendra Dwivedi, PVSM, AVSM (30 Jun 2024 to Till Date)
