Sanjiv Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, August 11

Nine members of a family from Himachal Pradesh travelling in an SUV to attend a wedding in Punjab’s Nawanshahr were swept away along with the vehicle in a sudden flood in a rivulet near Jejon town in Mahilpur block of Hoshiarpur district on Sunday.

Of the 11 people travelling in the SUV, 10, including the driver, drowned while one was rescued.

According to information, Deepak Bhatia, a resident of Dehra near Mehatpur in Una district of Himachal Pradesh, along with nine members of his family, had left for Nawanshahr to attend a wedding.

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Those accompanying Deepak were his father Surjeet Bhatia, mother Paramjeet Kaur, uncle Sarup Chand, aunts Bindar and Shino, daughters Bhavna (18) and Anku (20), and son Harmeet (12) besides the SUV driver.

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 9

Inspector-General of BSF (Punjab Frontier) Atul Fulzele on Friday said the newer versions of drones coming from Pakistan side have become smaller in size, fly up to a height of 1 km and are not easily detectable.

BSF providing IELTS training to youngsters

• BSF IG Atul Fulzele said various training programmes were being offered for the wards of the civilians in the border areas as part of goodwill gesture. He said mobile repair training modules were being carried out to make the youth employable
• “Recently, we have opened an IELTS centre at 103 Battalion of the BSF in Amarkot. The villagers had approached us seeking free IELTS coaching for which we even hired trainers. Three girls from the area have qualified the exam,” he said
• IELTS is one of the most sought after English language proficiency tests for study, migration or work abroad. An estimated 30 lakh people take the test every year

During a half-yearly briefing with the media at the BSF headquarters here, the IG said 137 drones had been seized by the force since January 1 along with 28 weapons, including pistols and two AK rifles, and 160.28 kg of heroin. The IG said land smuggling, even through underground pipes, had become negligible over the years and almost all influx of weaponry and drugs was being made via drones.

Fulzele said all drones were being tested in a drone laboratory and had been found to be Chinese with brandname Mavic. He said: “Earlier, the drones which were being flown had a payload capacity of 3-4 kg, had a detectable sound and could even be viewed visually but the newer versions of drones could carry only 500 g weight and emit no sound. For the new-age drones, we are deploying a different counter strategy as there is a higher chance of missing them.”

New Delhi, August 9

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a light-weight bullet proof jacket (BPJ) comprising the lighter front hard armour panel (FHAP).

The process to transfer the technology to Indian industries has been initiated as per transfer of technology (ToT) policy and procedure of DRDO for production. — TNS

For the Indian Army fighting cross-border terrorism, militants hiding in houses pose the biggest challenge

The Indian Army has specially prepared drills for entering houses and dealing with terrorists, which are practiced regularly. Despite this, the Army suffers the most losses while fighting terrorists hiding in houses in cities or villages.

Now, a sure solution has been found: a drone, only 15 cm long and weighing 260 grams, will search for terrorists hiding in houses and eliminate them. This drone, named Hover-B and developed by Zulu Defence, is already inducted in the Indian Army.

“This drone, upon entering a building, searches for its target while avoiding surrounding obstacles. It is equipped with a 400-gram grenade that can be detonated remotely,” said Major Samar Toor (3rd Generation Infantry Veteran), Chief Growth Officer at Zulu Defence.

Hover-B can also explode if there is any movement around it or if it hits its target.

The drone has sensors that help it navigate and send video streams. It is equipped with night vision, making it easy to search for terrorists even at night.

It can also be used for monitoring purposes and send live broadcasts to its base. It can be sent up to 2 km away from the base.

“Terrorists constantly attempt to infiltrate India’s borders through mountains and forests. Hover B can monitor the border even in bad weather or fog and alert its base of any infiltration incidents,” Major Samar Toor added.

The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a Bullet Proof Jacket (BPJ) consisting of the lightest Front Hard Armour Panel (FHAP).

This jacket has been developed in two configuration viz. In-Conjunction-With (ICW) and Standalone with different areal density of FHAP.

This jacket has been developed in two configuration viz. In-Conjunction-With (ICW) and Standalone with different areal density of FHAP.

The process to transfer the developed technology to Indian Industries has been initiated as per Transfer of Technology (ToT) policy and procedure of DRDO for production, Minister of State for Defence C M Ramesh in the Lok Sabha today.

This BPJ is based on new design approach, in which novel materials and processes have been used. This BPJ confirms BIS standard 17051 and, therefore, is the lightest BPJ of level 6 with approximate weight of 10.1 kg for medium size, which enhances the wearability and comfort during the operation.

The minister said this jacket has also a unique feature of Quick Release Mechanism (QRM) along with other associated features. This BPJ will protect the soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces/ CAPFs from the maximum possible threat.

Agencies

New Delhi: Three Chinese research vessels are currently operating in the Indian Ocean Region and are being tracked by the Indian Navy.

The latest satellite images show that these vessels – Xiang Yang Hong 03, Zhong Shan Da Xue and Ying Wang 7 – are in the neighbourhood.

UNESCO terms Zhong Shan Da Xue as a gigantic state-of-the-art floating laboratory that will help scientists discover the deep seas. It is China ‘s largest oceanographic research vessel at 114.3 metres long and 19.4 metres wide, with a total tonnage of 6,800 tons.

With a range of about 15,000 miles, the vessel can host 100 people — a crew of 24 as well as 76 scientific team members.

Xiang Yang Hong 03 is part of the latest class of research vessels and has several pieces of remote-sensing equipment to explore as deep as 10,000 metres.

While the Chinese claim that these are scientific research vessels, Indian as well as western authorities suspect it’s not quite that simple.

It is suspected the vessels are part of a larger ploy to gather data vital for conduct of naval operations, especially that of submarines, as mentioned earlier in a note prepared by the Indian Navy.

“Such unencumbered and suspicious activity within Sri Lankan waters will surely raise the hackles of other nations in the region and also has the potential to upset the delicate maritime balance in the IOR,” it said.

The Chinese ships are believed to be gathering information for naval planners — currents, bathymetry, salinity of the water — which are all relevant to submarine warfare.

The hydrographic data is civilian-defence agnostic, which means it can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

In an article published on Naval-News on 22 January, 2021 (‘Chinese Ships Seen Mapping Strategic Seabed In Indian Ocean’), defence and open-source intelligence analyst H.I. Sutton had written that some of the survey activities, nearer to Indonesia and the Andaman and Nicobar islands, could relate to finding the US Navy’s reputed “fish hook” sensor networks.

These networks are designed to track Chinese submarines entering the Indian Ocean.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 8

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan said the unrest in Bangladesh was concerning in the wake of the regime change in that country.

“India has its own share of security challenges. We have a proxy war raged by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir, a sudden escalation of which is now being seen in Pir Panjal Range,” the CDS said while speaking at a conference on military ammunition in Delhi.

“The prolonged border dispute with China is yet to abate,” he added. “There are two major security challenges that we are facing, the instability in our neighbouring nation is another cause for concern for us.”

Events are leavened not just by the memory of August 15, 1975, but also coloured by fate of things to come

RONEN Sen was a young diplomat in 1974 when he was posted to Dacca (Dhaka), Bangladesh, still new after the 1971 Liberation War and still ruled by the conquering democrat-hero Mujibur Rahman. Within a year, Mujib and his family — including his youngest son Russel, barely 10 years old — were massacred in the wee hours of August 15, 1975, in their home at Dhanmondi in the heart of the capital. (I’ve visited that home, which later became a memorial, several times and the memory of the fading blood splatter on the staircase as some of Mujib’s family members sought to escape, in hindsight, is a testimony to the bloody rollercoaster of Bangladesh’s history.)

As the Modi govt contemplates a realigning South Asia, it must ask itself what it really wants its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy to look like.

The way Sen tells the story, with characteristic understatement, about how the message of Mujib’s assassination was sent to Indira Gandhi, from Dacca to Delhi that morning — all kinds of transport were employed, it seems, including a motorbike — and how it barely reached her, just as she was climbing the ramparts of the Red Fort to deliver the PM’s address to the nation. Mujib was dead. A young nation’s promise had been brutally cut short.

As he thinks back on that strange morning, Sen says, he is filled with a sense of déjà vu. What were the forces that had carried out those murders 49 years ago? And who is responsible for the revolution in Bangladesh this past week?

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As we celebrate another Independence Day in India, the events in Bangladesh are leavened not just by the memory of 1975, but surely coloured by the fate of things to come. As a 17-member interim government has been sworn in under Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, there are reports that the BSF is stopping Bangladeshis from entering India via the land borders. Seems the BJP is in a dilemma — let the people, not long ago described by Home Minister Amit Shah as ‘termites’, in, or keep them out, like the BJP chief ministers of Assam and Tripura are demanding. Moreover, should only Bangladeshi Hindus be allowed in – remember that citizenship under the CAA is applicable only to ‘minorities’ in South Asia — or should India open its doors to all Bangladeshis, including those secular Awami Leaguers believed to be hiding near the airport in the hope they can soon make a dash and catch a plane to safety?

Some of Sen’s déjà vu need not be 49 years old. Many remember another August 15 only three years ago, in 2021, when then Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul with three close aides and suitcases full of cash — the aides have long resettled in parts of the Western world, while Ghani cools his heels in Abu Dhabi. Like in Bangladesh, India had firmly shut the entry of all Afghans into the country — they are still not allowed in.

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Killing of Haniyeh, Shukr can trigger wider war in West Asia’

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The similarity with Sheikh Hasina ends there. Five days after the former Bangladesh PM fled Dhaka and landed at the Hindon airbase, she is still awaiting permission to enter the UK. It’s likely the British are waiting for the Americans to say yes — everyone knows about the bad blood between Hasina and the Americans as well as London’s deferential ties with Washington DC — and highly likely that the latter are keeping Hasina on hold in order to send her a message.

The incredible irony is that if Hasina is allowed into London, she will likely take the place of another Bangladeshi exile who has lived there for more than 15 years and is probably wending his way back home — Tarique Rahman, also known as Tino, the son of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Khaleda Zia. Mother Khaleda, a former Prime Minister and the wife of former martial law dictator Gen Ziaur Rahman, is more ill than well. When Tino returns to Dhaka from London, which is supposed to be fairly soon, he will be the power on or behind the throne.

The next few weeks will be interesting to watch — certainly, everyone will watch how the relationship between Chief Adviser Yunus and the Bangladesh army unfolds. Army chief Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman was supposed to visit Delhi this month — Delhi should encourage that the visit take place sooner than later. We know by now that 48 hours before Hasina fled, persuaded by her son in the US to stand down — it seems she refused to entertain even her sister Rehana’s plea to do so — army officers had resolved not to fire into the crowds of student protesters. There is this tradition of loyalty to people that the Bangladesh army abides by — thousands of whose soldiers gave their lives in the Liberation War — even if the temptation to wield power behind the throne is a strong one.

As the Modi government contemplates a realigning South Asia, it must ask itself what it really wants its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy to look like — especially when it seems likely that Pakistan’s ISI will now happily splash in the waters of the Bay of Bengal. The truth is that the Indian subcontinent is different from relationships with the US or Russia or China because India’s ties with its neighbours are deeply embedded in culture, religion, ethnicity, language — all of them seeping into each other, creating a pulsating palimpsest of cultures on your doorstep. That’s why it’s imperative to constantly talk to everyone, including those that don’t like you — or especially those that don’t like you — in order to know what, when and why they think as they do.

Equally, it is true that India supported Hasina to the hilt, in the face of severe criticism by the Americans, across two elections. But as things deteriorated, perhaps Prime Minister Modi or External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar could have called her and given her “brotherly advice”, like Pranab Mukherjee used to do. Perhaps, if they had metaphorically held Hasina’s hand and persuaded her to stand down in time, they could have averted this twisted turn of fate.

For now, as India watches pictures of the smouldering remains of Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman’s home in Dhanmondi, where he and his family were cruelly felled, the only thought that comes to mind is that even in 1975, the murderers didn’t touch Bangabandhu’s home. What is it about Naya Bangladesh that has made them want to deface their own history today?

Says passengers can dial helpline number 011-61232182 for any sort of assistance

o facilitate the Punjabi diaspora, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday inaugurated a state-of-the-art NRI facilitation booth named ‘Punjab Help Centre’ at the Terminal 3 of the  Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

Launching the centre, the Chief Minister said: “Today is a red letter day in the history of the state as Punjab has become the first state to launch such an initiative which reflects the strong commitment of the state government to support and facilitate the NRI brethren.”

He said the centre would be manned round the clock and would provide assistance to all the NRIs and other passengers arriving at the terminal.

Mann said the centre has two Innova cars at its disposal for helping passengers with local movement to Punjab Bhawan and to other nearby places.

The Chief Minister said that the passengers or relatives will be free to take assistance regarding arrival flights, connecting flights, taxi services, lost luggage facilities and any other assistance required at the airport.

He said in case of any emergency, a few rooms, depending upon the availability, will be provided in Punjab Bhawan, Copernicus Marg, for the passengers or their relatives.

Mann said passengers could dial a helpline number 011-61232182 for any sort of assistance.

We used to have linear deployment here but now we have set up nakas (posts) in depth with additional deployment points and CCTVs installed in large numbers, IG Atul Fulzele said

alandhar, August 9

The Border Security Force (BSF) has “hugely” bolstered its manpower and deployed CCTVs along the Punjab-Jammu inter-state border to fortify security in the wake of a spurt in terrorist incidents in Jammu along the India-Pakistan front, the forces’ Punjab frontier chief said on Friday.

Inspector General (IG) Atul Fulzele told reporters during a press conference at its frontier headquarters here that the additional troops have been deployed along the Gurdaspur area in Pathankot district that abuts Jammu.

“We used to have linear deployment here but now we have set up nakas (posts) in depth with additional deployment points and CCTVs installed in large numbers. We are fully alert in this area,” he said.

The enhancement in these security measures comes in the wake of increased terrorist activities in the Jammu region leading to the killing of more than 20 security personnel and civilians over the last few months.