Former Northern Army commander Lt Gen HS Panag (retd) named his farmhouse near Fatehgarh Sahib, ‘Teetar Lodge’, due to fond memories of partridge shooting. That sport is outlawed but the analogy of a ‘’partridge hunt’ persists and is used in discourses on contemporary military matters. I queried Lt Gen S Ata Hasnain (retd), the authoritative commentator and former 15 Corps Commander, after he embellished his latest essay in the ‘Swarajya’ magazine with this intriguing analogy. The essay’s thrust is to decipher the Pakistan Army’s stratagem of launching terrorist attacks in quick succession at Baramulla/Langate/ Pampore and invites comparison to fidayeen attacks launched after the Kargil War by a humiliated Pakistan Army. But first, a tidbit on Lt Gen Hasnain’s family history of traditional shikar.

‘’My hunting days started in 1957 at Jammu in the company of my father who was the Brigade Major of the Damana Brigade under Brig Harbaksh Singh (the Western Army Commander during the 1965 War). My father had a BSA .12 bore shotgun and would take me and my brother hunting for ‘Tilyer’ (Common starling). We did family shoots every winter as one grew up in our home town of Allahabad and sometimes in areas around Meerut. We used to do beating in sugarcane and partridges flew at lightning speed. The beat was with a rope which was dragged by two men holding both ends and passing it over the sugarcane. The number of partridges flying out was very high but not to our ability to down them in flight mode. Difficult shooting indeed!’’ Lt Gen Hasnain told this writer.

Decades later, posted as Colonel (GS) at the Victor Force HQs, Awantipur, Lt Gen Hasnain tasted rich success with ‘’partridges’’ of another kind: those that could also peck pretty hard! His definition of the other hunt: ‘’The analogy of partridge hunt in the Army usually applies to the ease of multiple contacts because in such operations if you get a contact once in a month and that, too, on your own terms it is a big advantage. Units (battalions) go without contacts with terrorists for months. It is also used when an environment is created for multiple contacts and success at a relatively better rate.’’

Such favourable conditions arose after Kargil. ‘’The term partridge hunt was related to the situation of winter 1999-2000. Our one full division was employed (prewinter) for extensive operations in the upper reaches, rural and jungle terrain and we destroyed many hideouts and captured lots of rations and logistics material stocked by terrorists. This forced them to spend winter in the villages of South Kashmir. When we got wind of the situation, we did not await intelligence as there were so many terrorists all over. We started search and destroy operations by beating through villages with some intelligence sources. It is not as if terrorists came flying out like partridges but we started to pick up more intelligence and firefights commenced almost daily. There was a time when as the Colonel (GS), I was handling seven firefights in our area of responsibility. We killed a very large number through DecemberJanuary 1999,’’ he recounted.

Security men look towards the building where militants remained holed up for the second day of the gunfight in Pampore on Tuesday. Tribune Photo: Amin War

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Sempora, October 11

After intervals of absolute silence, loud thuds echoed through Sempora locality outside Srinagar city on Tuesday as the security forces continued to bombard the seven-storeyed building of Entrepreneurship Development Institute, turned into a secure bunker by a fidayeen squad.Few blasts were so powerful that shock waves could be felt even at a distance of 500 metres from ground zero. The offensive to kill the militants, which entered the second day today, was fierce but slow paced as the security forces ruled out the effective but risky “room-to-room intervention”.Here at the entrance of Sempora, where the limits of Srinagar city end and the highway enters Pampore town, the security forces were attempting to end the battle with a fierce fury of firepower, without suffering any casualty. An Army officer said the priority was to avoid casualty to the security forces. “Time is no consideration,” the officer told The Tribune.As the second day came to a close, the exact number of militants was not known even though there was confirmation about the killing of one militant. Since Monday morning, when the fidayeen squad took position inside the building, the security forces have fired several hundred 84-mm rockets, often with randomness as the exact location of militants remained unknown.The attack began at dawn on Monday when militants sneaked into the EDI building from its rear side bordering the Jhelum river. The police officials said the militants blocked the staircase with chairs and tables, and then drew the attention by lighting a fire.The militants appear to have carefully selected the multi-storey building as its concrete structure, which has so far remained resistant to a fierce barrage of rocket fire.It is for a second time this year that the EDI complex has become the site of a gun battle between militants and the security forces. In February, militants ambushed a convoy of the CRPF on the highway and later positioned themselves inside the EDI complex for three days. Two CRPF personnel, three Army commandos, including two captains, a civilian and three militants were killed in the February attack.The latest attack has come at a time when the region is in the midst of the unrest sparked by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in July, and amid heightened tension after the Army’s surgical strike targeted militants across the Line of Control last month.In the afternoon of the second day, a police official near the encounter site said the militants had not fired any shot since 11 am yesterday, which has made it difficult to assess their precise location. The building was being bombarded, the official said, to make it “dead sure” that militants had been neutralised.The security forces pounded the sprawling building with rocket fire and improvised explosive devices (IED) throughout the second day. “There are reports that at least two militants have been seen moving down the staircase,” the police official said.“It is difficult for the militants to have survived 100 kg of IED blast detonated last night, but we have to be dead sure that they are dead. Otherwise there is no use of firing so much ammunition,” the official said.

Long wait amid fury of rocket fire

• As the second day came to a close, the exact number of militants was not known even though there was confirmation about the killing of one militant. Since Monday morning, when the fidayeen squad took position inside the building, the security forces have fired several hundred 84-mm rockets, often with randomness as the exact location of militants remained unknown.

Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh during the ex-servicemen’s rally in Jalandhar on Saturday. Tribune Photo: Malkiat Singh

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, october 8

Training guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar over the Seventh Pay Commission anomalies, PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh today said the Modi government should remove them to show its true solidarity to the armed forces.He was in the city to attend a meeting with ex-servicemen of Doaba, organised by Shahkot constituency ticket probable Capt Harminder Singh. “When the nation is praising the armed forces for the surgical strikes, what is stopping Modi from removing the anomalies highlighted by the ex-servicemen?” asked Capt.Welcoming Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s proposal to raise five armed battalions to be deployed as the second line of defence along the international border in Punjab, Amarinder said he had also raised one such battalion of ex-servicemen in 2004 during his tenure as Chief Minister.On the third list of AAP candidates, the PPCC chief said he only knew two persons — Sukhpal Khaira and Kanwar Sandhu. “We will defeat Sandhu by a huge margin,” he added.Show-cause notice over Nakodar rowCongress leader Nimisha Mehta has been served a show-cause notice for alleged indiscipline during the Punjab Congress Express yatra in Nakodar recently. Party leaders, including former minister Amarjit Singh Samra and ex-MLA Gurbinder Singh Atwal, have already been issued show-cause notices over the incident. “The party has adopted a zero tolerance policy on indiscipline,” said Amarinder.

After repeated unsuccessful attempts to take on India in conventional conflicts, Pakistan shifted to waging a ‘proxy war’. The mainstay of its doctrine has been to employ irregulars, non-state actors (NSAs) to bleed India in a ‘low intensity war’. Pakistan mastered this art in Afghanistan where it supported the Mujahedeen to defeat the Soviets at the behest of the US. 

Proxy War

Since 1989, Pakistan has been actively involved in fuelling militancy in Kashmir. Ironically, Indian retaliation to terrorist actions has been incidence-specific, and has lacked a holistic approach. September 29, 2016, marked the first time when Indian military response became a part of a well thought-out national strategy in the form of surgical strikes across the LoC.Surgical strikes are well-planned, bold military actions against specific target(s), executed with precision, by specialised forces, to inflict maximum destruction, with minimal collateral damage. Such tactical actions have strategic ramifications; may be executed from ground, air or sea. These military responses require careful selection of objectives aligned with overall strategy, accurate real-time intelligence, seamless coordination amongst various agencies and fine timing. Surprise is most crucial element, a vital prerequisite for success.The destruction of Iraqi Osirak reactor by Israeli air raid in 1981, employment of Tomahawk cruise missiles in the Gulf wars, the use of armed drones and elimination of Osama Bin Laden in 2011 by the US Navy Seals in Abbottabad are classic examples of surgical strikes.The recent operations undertaken by the Army should be viewed as the military component of calibrated national response; which includes politico-diplomatic- economic dimensions. Some salient aspects with regards above surgical strike are:

• The selected targets were known terrorist launch pads in POK. Located in the close proximity of the Pak Army posts astride the LoC, these act as staging areas where terrorists in small groups wait for a short period before crossing over. Launch pads are makeshift shelters and can relocate at a short notice. These were kept under close surveillance both from ground and air, to facilitate accurate target analysis.
• The planning for such operations is done simultaneously at both strategic and operational levels. While it is a political decision to assign the task, the prerogative is of the field commanders to work out the plans and execute the mission. This was the format followed by the government in the run-up to the recent operation.
• The troops selected for execution of the task were from the Special Forces who are attached to the Northern Theatre. They are highly trained, well-rehearsed and equipped with state-of the-art weapons, with capability to operate in all-weather conditions at a short notice. They operate in teams, with strength varying according to a task. For the above operations, a team was tasked for each target, with strength around of 30.
• Execution of the surgical strike by the ground forces has three phases; insertion of force, conduct of strike and exfiltration. In this case, the strike force was heli- lifted to the forward bases during the day. Insertion was on foot in the hours of darkness. All the objectives were engaged simultaneously, well past midnight. The exfiltration had to be speedy, during the hours of darkness to avoid immediate enemy reactions.
• Detailed coordination with units and formations deployed on the LoC is critical, especially during the insertion and exfiltration phases.

Surgical strike by Indian Army across LoC is a manifestation of well calibrated national response to Pakistan with a clear message; there is a penalty to be paid if Islamabad does not mend its ways. India should be well prepared to blunt Pak retaliation, which could be by way of upping the ante astride the LoC and scaling up the terrorist activities in the hinterland. It is also time to expose its hollow nuclear bogey. Delhi has taken the call, projecting itself as a responsible and resilient nation, capable of not only safeguarding its own security but a stabilizing factor in the region at large. Diverse options including calibrated military responses are the only way to make Pakistan misadventures unsustainable and cost-prohibitive.(The writer is former Assistant Chief Integrated Defence Staff, commanded Brigade in Valley; currently Professor Security & Strategy)

They say these camps have made their life hell

Muzaffarabad (PoK), October 6Terror training camps have been thriving in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for years, according to people living across the area who have shown resentment to Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI for having made their region a haven for anti-social elements.Residents of Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Chinari, Mirpur, Gilgit, Diamer and various parts of the Neelum Valley say their lives have been made hell by the terror training camps as the lawless men, who train here, plunder local villages and molest women.

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They say their region is being used by the ISI to further its proxy war against India.In various interactions, people and leaders in the region spoke about the daily extortion and harassment caused the terror groups which are located near the Line of Control (LoC).“If management doesn’t end Taliban’s terror camps and ‘no-go’ areas in Diamer, Gilgit, Baseen and others, we will take action,” a local leader of Gilgit was seen as saying.Residents confirm that the region is being used as nothing more than a staging post for Pakistan’s proxy war against India. They say they have no sympathy for the terror groups which are perhaps hated more in PoK than anywhere else.PoK leaders like Arif Shahid exposed the ISI terror nexus in the region and paid for it with their lives.Shahid has been found on record saying that the poor people of Pakistan are being exploited by the ISI to wage a jihad against India in which only the Pakistan Army is interested.Shahid fought tooth and nail against Pakistan’s oppression in PoK before he was shot outside his residence in Rawalpindi on May 14, 2013. He was 62. The investigation into Shahid’s murder is still inconclusive, and there is no closure to the cold-blooded murder, so far. The ISI is blamed for conspiring and executing Shahid’s murder.The people of PoK have been demanding the removal of terror camps for years but the state has always turned a deaf ear.Earlier, the PoK witnessed a series of protests by residents against “rigged polls” that saw Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), coming to power. ANI

Says the issue should be left to the Army. ANI

New Delhi, October 5Amid demands for releasing proof of the surgical strikes by the Army across the LoC, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday said everyone should have faith in the government and allow the force to take its own call.“Have faith in the government and leave it to the Army,” he told reporters here when asked about the demand for release of proof of the surgical strikes by the Army.A political slugfest broke out on Tuesday over the surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC with Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam calling it “fake”, provoking stinging criticism from the BJP even as his own party said it “totally dissociates” itself from his remarks.

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The Congress leader demanded “some evidence” to prove that the surgical strikes did take place and accused the BJP of indulging in politics over the issue.With patriotic sentiments running high amid soaring tensions with Pakistan, Union Minister Uma Bharti said leaders who cast “doubt over the Army’s surgical strike should take Pakistani citizenship”. PTI

Army personnel comb Sheikhu Chak village in the Suchetgarh sector on Tuesday after locals reported suspicious movement in the area. Tribune Photo: Inderjeet Singh

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Suchetgarh, October 4

In the wake of escalating cross-border tension, villagers in forward areas in the Suchetgarh sector, 27km from Jammu, are living a life of uncertainty as about 8,000 kanals under basmati crop is under the shadow of Pakistani guns.The land falls near the fence erected by the government and some of it goes beyond the concertina wires for keeping the infiltrators away. Though the guns are still silent in the RS Pura-Suchetgarh belt yet the fear of losing their crop near the border is giving sleepless nights to people who do not wish to leave their homes despite the evacuation order issued by the government following the heightened tension on the international border and the Line of Control after the Uri terror attack on September 18 and the retaliation by India in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 29.Despite the fear of Pakistani small arms and mortar fire, villagers could be seen working in fields in the hope that restraint shown by military commanders from both sides would hold till farmers harvested their prized basmati crop.“This entire belt onwards till the Pakistani side is known for the world-famous basmati and harvesting is still a month away. There is a lot of anxiety among the people about what will happen to the crop if the shelling resumes,” said Mohinder Kumar, a resident of a border village in Suchetgarh. His village is just 500 metres from the international border and sentry towers of the Pakistan Rangers are visible from his fields.The villagers’ concern has grown as Pakistani guns are booming in the Pagarwal sector in Akhnoor, forcing thousands to leave their homes and crops behind to take shelter in makeshift camps established by the government in educational institutions.The border residents here are aware that shelling in the past has left several people dead and injured. “Life is very short here. A few years ago, a young boy, grazing his cattle, was killed after he became a victim of sniper fire from across the border. Death lurks everywhere and during tension on the border, our miseries increase”, said Shamshir Singh while cutting grass for his cattle.People in border villages in Jammu have always lived on the edge as they come in the first line of attack during cross-border shelling. During the Kargil war of 1999, hundreds of kanals of prime land was taken over by the Army to lay mines, leaving thousands of farmers without livelihood. 

Alert villagers help in search op

• Suchetgarh: Army and police personnel started scanning paddy fields near a village about one km from the border in Suchetgarh on Tuesday morning after a woman saw a suspicious person. Rakesh Singh, a farmer, joined the operation. He remained with the Army and police throughout the day. Though the search did not yield anything, it highlighted the alertness and cooperation of villagers.

CHENNAI: In yet another outrageous incident, terrorists on Sunday carried out a “Fidayeen” style attack on an Army camp located in the outskirts of the Baramulla town. One BSF jawan was reportedly killed in the incident and two others were injured. Both the terrorists involved in the attack were killed by the forces, claimed unconfirmed media reports.

The brazen attack has come less than a week after Indian Special Forces smashed seven terror launchpads in surgical strikes across the Line of Control. “The terrorists opened fire at an Army camp at Jabanzpora in Barmulla district,” Army spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia said.

The Army camp, according to agencies, is located about 50 km away from the Baramulla town. “The firing was reported at 46 battalion of Rashtriya Rifles and terrorists are believed to have entered the establishment through adjacent BSF camp,” official sources were quoted saying. “Some were also firing from houses adjacently located from the camp.” The attack comes following intelligence inputs about possible terrorist attacks on security installations in Jammu and Kashmir after the surgical strikes on September 29. The attack also comes exactly a fortnight after terrorists struck at army brigade headquarters at Uri, 102 kms from here killing 19 soldiers.

Cross-border firing reported: In yet another ceasefire violation, Pakistani troops launched firing and shelling on forward areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Pallanwala sector of Jammu district on Sunday evening.

Firing and shelling from across LoC started late in the evening in forward areas in Pallanwala belt along the LoC. It is intermittently going on,” a Police officer said. The officials could not confirm if any casualties were reported.

This is the sixth ceasefire violation since the surgical strike. On Saturday, Pakistani troops fired at Indian posts and civilian areas with mortar bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy-machine guns in Pallanwala and Chamb areas.

Intel reports had warned of retaliation

The attack comes following reports by intelligence agencies warning the armed forces in Kashmir of a retaliation by terrorists to the surgical strikes carried out by India in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The attack also comes exactly a fortnight after the Uri attack

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR COMMANDERS ON THE GROUND IS TO STRIKE A BALANCE BETWEEN KEEPING THE TROOPS BATTLE READY, AND ENSURING THAT THEY ARE NOT WORN OUT.

On the Line of Control (LoC), life is no picnic. Yet, a year ago, soldiers could break the monotony of keeping the troubled border under watch with occasional leisure activities. Sometimes, this meant a game of chess or carrom. Or flipping through a Bollywood glossy. Soldiers would even soak in the breathtaking beauty of the treacherous mountains.
GURINDER OSAN/HT PHOTO
Indian Army soldiers at forward posts in front of the illuminated fence in Hamirpur area near Bhimber Gali, about 180 km north west of Jammu. Soldiers barely get four hours of sleep when the situation on the border is tense.
Back then, when this correspondent toured the LoC for a week, things may not have been rosy but they weren’t this tense. Pakistani provocations had compelled India to shed a culture of restraint and lift a self-imposed restriction on using artillery guns. Border violations peaked in intensity and numbers last September, leaving the 2003 ceasefire in tatters.
But the LoC was never as volatile as it is now in the aftermath of Thursday’s surgical strikes by India’s Special Forces, the first direct military response to the Uri attack that left 19 men dead. “The strikes across the LoC are only the first step. It is an ongoing operation and we expect and are preparing for a retaliation,’’ says a Valley-based officer. A localised conflict can spread rapidly along the LoC.
The life of men guarding the de facto border has undergone a sea change, as the army is on its highest alert level to deal with a counter-offensive from Pakistan. There are serious concerns about hostilities escalating. So there’s absolutely no question of soldiers tossing a volleyball around, watching TV or finding time to prepare for a promotion exam.
Apart from leave restrictions amid heightened tensions, they are also getting less sleep, say army officers serving at the LoC. “Leisure activities are totally ruled out. The focus is on operational readiness and nothing else,” points out an officer on condition of anonymity. The soldiers have orders to retaliate with lethal force to any aggression.

If soldiers were getting six hours of sleep before hostilities spiked, they are now making do with barely four hours. Another officer explains, “Sleep is a casualty as we want maximum manpower available at all times. We have to guard all flanks, given the build-up on the other side.”

The army has intensified patrolling along the LoC and is keeping a cautious watch on a maze of routes infiltrators could take. Rogue border action teams could strike anytime — remember Hemraj’s beheading and the cold-blooded killing of five Indian soldiers in Poonch three years ago?

“When the situation is normal, you can sometimes afford to man infiltration routes selectively. That could be suicidal now,” says the officer. The army’s contingency plans are in place and the possibility of a flare up has been factored in.

“In its efforts to show it is equally strong, Pakistan may just repeat what India has done. But it’s fully aware that such as action would amount to an act of war,” says former army vice chief Lieutenant General AS Lamba (retd).

How Pakistan reacts is anybody’s guess. A senior army officer in Delhi says no matter what course the adversary takes, the army is prepared to deal with it. But the shadows of Pathankot and Uri loom large.

“We will dominate the conflict at any level of the escalation ladder,” he says, adding Pakistan may respond now, in a week or several months later. Battle readiness is constantly being reviewed. India cannot afford another Uri.

The biggest challenge for commanders on the ground is to strike a balance between keeping the troops battle ready and ensuring they aren’t worn out. “You can’t keep them on highest alert level for a year. We are monitoring how things unfold,” he says.

Last September, this correspondent visited several posts along a 224-km stretch of the 740 km-long LoC. At one such post in Poonch sector, guarded by one of the army’s largest brigades with nine battalions, I met a 22-year-old Gorkha soldier who had just returned from a punishing patrol.

There was chicken and rice for dinner but he was keener on reading some current affairs’ magazines tucked under his pillow. He was trying to make time to study for an exam that could fulfil his dream of becoming an army officer. His commanding officer called me a few months later breaking the news that the soldier had passed the exam.

Some of those dreams may be on the back burner now. A lot has changed at the LoC – except the stunning landscape dotted with towering ridges, dense pine groves, lush valleys and maize fields.

Lahore, September 30

Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday termed the Simla Agreement signed by India and Pakistan after the 1971 war a “big mistake” as it “hurt the Kashmiri freedom struggle”.Shahbaz is the brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. His statement evoked sharp criticism from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), whose then chairman and Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi signed the pact in 1972. “Someone should teach the CM what foreign policy is,” tweeted PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.The agreement resulted in the release of some 90,000 Pakistani soldiers imprisoned by India following the 1971 war. — IANS