Tribune News Service

Batala, March 17

Two persons were allegedly shot dead by a former Army man from his double-barreled rifle at Basantkot village near here today.The deceased have been identified as Hira Singh and his son Dilbagh Singh. The police have arrested ex-serviceman Nirmal Singh and a murder case has been registered against him.Villagers claimed that the police arrived at the crime scene two hours after the shooting took place.Rubbishing the residents’ claim, SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon said he himself reached the village 30 minutes after receiving news from the control room.“I received a call form the control room around 3.30pm. My force, led by senior officers, reached the crime scene by 4pm,” he said.Ex-serviceman Nirmal Singh, who also worked as a security guard in a local bank, entered into a dispute with his neighbour Hira Singh over the construction of a fodder shed.Later, Nirmal Singh entered Hira Singh’s house in an inebriated condition and shot him dead. Hearing shrieks when Hira’s son Dilbagh Singh came out of his residence, he too was shot dead from close range.

Chennai: Army chief General Dalbir Singh on Saturday said the force was the “most admired and respected institution” in the country and it was even being recognised by the international community.

“Indian Army has an image. Our Army is the most admired and respected institution in the country. We have rendered exemplary service in the face of external and internal challenges,” he said in his address after reviewing a passing out parade at the Officers’ Training Academy here.

He said that Indian Army’s role in UN peacekeeping operations had been “lauded by the international community” and noted that Indian Army was not just for the power it represents, but also for maturity and responsibility.

Earlier, 183 cadets, including 37 women, passed out as officers following an impressive parade.

Among those inducted as officers were Lt Nikita A Nair, a former ‘May Queen Miss Pune’ who had walked the ramp for two fashion pageants, the Army said.

Lt G Vaishali was a professional Bharatnatyam dancer while Lt Balveer Singh Rathore from Jodhpur is the son of a tourist guide who wanted to make it to the Army.General Singh also gave away awards to outstanding cadets. http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/indian-army-most-admired-respected-institution-dalbir-singh_1864908.html

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 11

A section of locally based ex-servicemen have flayed the manner in which 75-year old medically unwell, Wing Commander CK Sharma (retd), treasurer of the Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Movement (IESM),was picked up by the Haryana Police from his Gurgaon residence on March 10.In a statement issued here today, Brig Harwant Singh, member of IESM’s governing body, said the retired officer was picked up in the night on flimsy charges filed by a disgruntled former functionary of IESM about some alleged financial discrepancy in the organisation’s accounts.He said it was a three-year-old case, which was investigated twice by the same police force and had been dismissed both times on the grounds that the charges were untenable. Even though the case was in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for anticipatory bail against the denial of the same by the lower court, and it was verbally conveyed by the court on 10 March to the defendants’ lawyer that no pre-emptive action was to be taken till the hearing on 11 March, and the same was conveyed to the police, he claimed.Yet the police arrested the veteran in a very humiliating manner, who was not even allowed to make phone calls or change from his night suit into normal clothes, he said, adding that this act seemed to be coercing ex-servicemen to close down their ongoing agitation over rectification of enormous anomalies in the one rank—one pension formula.

arlier, the wrestler had shared a patriotic poem in his Facebook post, after the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) controversy.

New Delhi: Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt launched a veiled attack on Kanhaiya Kumar for calling Indian Army rapists.

The celebrated wrestler took to Twitter, and said in the lines of “some people fed snakes only to let the serpents spew venom against our army brethren”.

It may be noted that Kumar, who is out in an six months interim bail, addressed a student’s gathering on International Women’s Day on Tuesday, with the BJP’s youth wing filing a police complaint for making “anti-national” statements.

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Yogeshwar Dutt: Twitterati hail wrestler’s patriotic poem slamming Afzal Guru, praising Lance Naik Hanumanthappa

“No matter how much you try to stop us, we will speak up against human rights violations. We will raise our voice against AFSPA. While we have a lot of respect for our soldiers, we will still talk about the fact that in Kashmir women are raped by security personnel,” Kanhaiya reportedly said while addressing students on Tuesday night.“During war in Rwanda 1000 women were raped. In Africa during the ethnic conflict, when military attacks other group firstly their women were raped. You take example of Gujarat, women were not just killed but were raped first,” he added.

Earlier, the wrestler had shared a patriotic poem in his Facebook post, after the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) controversy.

Washington, March 10

Restricting or conditioning of military aid to Pakistan will be detrimental to US interests as it may “reduce” the country’s willingness to continue its counterterrorism operations, top Pentagon commanders have warned lawmakers.

“The risks of ineffective and unclear signals and conditioning may risk us losing our access and frank dialogue to Pakistan in areas critical to our US interests,” General Joseph L. Votel, nominee of the Commander of US Central Command told members of Senate Armed Services Committee during a confirmation hearing.

Votel warned that curtailing aid “may reduce” Pakistan’s willingness to continue its counterterrorism and counterinsurgency (CT/COIN) and “risks our current access” to Pakistan Air Lines of Communication and Ground Lines of Communication to support operations in Afghanistan and the region.

“We will need to continue cooperation with Pakistan to defeat al-Qaeda, support Pakistan’s stability, and achieve a lasting peace in Afghanistan,” said Lieutenant General Raymond Thomas, nominee for US Special Operations Command during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The US-Pakistan relationship is fundamental to our vital national security interests, Thomas said.

“If confirmed, I would in consultation with Commander United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) continue to evaluate the specifics of the relationship based on my assessment of our shared interests with Pakistan and its effectiveness of achieving our shared goals,” Thomas said.

“I will continue to evaluate the efficacy of the SOF-to-SOF military cooperation we have with Pakistan and identify ways in which we can support USCENTCOM efforts to work with Pakistan to enhance regional stability,” Thomas added.

Votel said Pakistan’s counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns remain vital to targeting militants that threaten the United States and Pakistan.

“Our security assistance, which focuses on enhancing Pakistani CT/COIN capabilities is critical in this regard,” he said, adding that the risks and benefits of conditioning US assistance and support to Pakistan vary.

“The important thing will be for the United States to maintain credibility while still accruing benefits toward our US CT/COIN interests,” he added.

“If we are able to strike such a balance and remain consistent in our bilateral relationship, we may see Pakistan increase its transparency and cooperation with Afghanistan on the full range of security, border control, and economic issues,” he said.

“Likewise, Pakistan may take further action against violent extremist organisations, such as Haqqani network,” Vitol said. — PTI

GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lt Gen KJ Singh (left) interacts with gallantry award recipients during the triennial convention.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5

The Army is renaming important landmarks in military stations after the names of gallantry award winners of the armed forces to give them due recognition and inspire the present generation.Lt Gen KJ Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, stated this while addressing participants at the silver jubilee convention of the War Decorated India (WDI). He said many residential colonies, office complex entrances and important structures had names that had little or no relevance with India’s contemporary military history.The Western Command, he said, was associating such landmarks with war heroes who had set professional standards for others to look up to. The WDI is an association of Param Vir Chakra (PVC), Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) and Vir Chakra (VrC) recipients and is engaged in looking after the welfare of the soldiers decorated for gallantry in war or their next of kin. Over a 100 gallantry awardees, many of them now in their sunset years, their widows or survivors from various parts of the country attended the convention. They were also honoured on the occasion.Prominent among the attendees were Wg Cdr Jagmohan Nath, the only survivor among six officers decorated with the MVC twice.

War heroes, kin divided over Indo-Pak tie

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service,New Delhi, March 3

Indian security agencies are searching for an “enemy within”, who allegedly helped a person based in Pakistan to spread military-related information in real-time using Twitter.A probe is on in New Delhi as to how a man in Karachi was uploading pictures on the web in real time of the gunfight between terrorists and security forces at Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir between February 20 and February 22. Seven tweets of the person are under scrutiny.The Army and the CRPF had been locked in an encounter with terrorists, who had stormed a building of the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) at Pampore.Security agencies were baffled over the real-time pictures being uploaded on Twitter from an account, which suggested the person was based in Karachi. Also, the pictures are from such locations where it’s impossible for any photographer to reach. The person has 13,000 Twitter followers. (The name of his Twitter handle is being withheld as a probe is on). The Karachi-based person, in one of his tweets, credited a Mumbai-based person (name withheld) for the pictures.The Twitter account of the Mumbai-based person is accessible to only 72 persons.The most vital link is the person, who clicked the pictures and possibly circulated the same using either WhatsApp or Hike to the Mumbai-based person, who further tweeted them to his closed group, and from thereon, the Karachi-based person picked them up.Here are the tweets that are under probe.At 10.28 am on Feb 22:  A tweet from Karachi showed the bullet-riddled body of Capt Pawan Kumar Khatkarat a hospital. It’s a close-up shot taken from less than 5 feet away and inside a hospital. The media was reportedly not allowed inside the hospital.At 10.32 am on the same day, the Karachi-based man posted two pictures of an Army mini-UAV – one ready to take off and another one flying at a low altitude to locate terrorists at Pampore. The tweet appeared almost real-time and the UAVs were used in the operation, said sources.The Karachi-based Twitter handle also uploaded pictures of a CRPF convoy, the JKEDI building set on fire and bodies of terrorists surrounded by Army men.