Thanks Shaun. Appreciate it.Shaun wrote:Enjoy !!
......
-Ankit
Thanks Shaun. Appreciate it.Shaun wrote:Enjoy !!
......
“@dawn_com: Pakistan suggests urgent DGMOs meeting to India after ceasefire violation | http://www.dawn.com/news/1127237/ pic.twitter.com/aHQCTECjsd” Good!
PTI via Hindustan Times:In a major embarrassment to the army, a brigadier deployed along the Line of Control in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir is facing the prospect of disciplinary for allegedly sodomising his assistant (sahayak).
http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/poonch-br ... ent-leave/Army Headquarters today sent Poonch Brigade Commander Brigadier Arminder Joshi on leave on the charges of misbehaviour with the Army jawans.
Official sources said Brig Joshi was sent on leave after a complaint against him for misbehaving with the jawans was verified and found true.
The army Headquarters has also ordered a Court of Inquiry (CoI) against the Brigadier
Joining all the dots together Singha. IF as according to that report, we can see 400 km deep into enemy territory, the entirety of Pakistan is covered, and a lot of the Chinese border is very well covered. The BFSR-SR is a man portable, battery powered J-band surveillance and acquisition radar capable of detecting crawling men at 500 m, moving groups of people at 5 km and a group of vehicles at 10 kms. Plus the IR Kshitij means means all infiltrators can no longer make it over the border. The LoC is going to be a deathtrap .Singha wrote:hawks like Surya and KaranM will find this interesting...
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/sauravjha/2 ... rends.html
Indian Army C4ISR trends
IA's spend on ISR systems is expected to exceed 5-6 billion dollars by 2020. Indeed for truly persistent 'ISR', IA has to move towards airborne intelligence systems which will increasingly be based on medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAVs in the years ahead that enable an operator to look 400-500 kilometres deep into enemy territory.
This indigenous SAR, which will eventually be carried by the Rustom-2 MALE UAV is expected to boost medium range battlefield mapping capabilities by conferring IA with the ability to cover ground the size of an army corps commander's area of interest from a safe stand-off distance.
Systems based on unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) however seem to be moving faster.
BEL's PJT-531 Battlefield surveillance radar-Short range (BFSR-SR ) however is an indigenous product developed by LRDE in a period of just 24 months in response to a specific qualitative requirement from IA. BFSR-SR is a man portable, battery powered J-band surveillance and acquisition radar capable of detecting crawling men at 500 m, moving groups of people at 5 km and a group of vehicles at 10 kms. It can track 50 targets in track-while-scan (TWS) mode and displays target information on a high resolution portable colour PC display.
This year however BEL began deliveries of the 'Kshitij' to IA which is an upgraded version of LORROS that extends its FLIR range beyond 13 km and was developed keeping in mind the Line of Actual Control with China. It is expected that the cheaper Kshitij will allow IA to field it in every battalion.
In the words of a former Defence Minister himself, 'DCN envisages a network of optical fibre cables, satellite earth stations and transportable and portable satellite terminals with high security features that enable conduct of simultaneous real time networked operations from multiple sites to cater for contingencies and failures, as well as hardware redundancies for fail-safe operations. Such a network will be the backbone of the proposed joint commands for cyberwarfare, special operations and space operations.
Am i right in assuming that this kit is far from becoming operational along the length and breath of our borders? The beheading of Indian soldiers along the LOC means there are still plenty of Gaps?!Joining all the dots together Singha. IF as according to that report, we can see 400 km deep into enemy territory, the entirety of Pakistan is covered, and a lot of the Chinese border is very well covered. The BFSR-SR is a man portable, battery powered J-band surveillance and acquisition radar capable of detecting crawling men at 500 m, moving groups of people at 5 km and a group of vehicles at 10 kms. Plus the IR Kshitij means means all infiltrators can no longer make it over the border. The LoC is going to be a deathtra
never say neverAnd the final thing, tying it all together makes a system much stronger than its individual parts.DCN meshes the IA,IAF, IN into a smooth seamless whole. No more Kargils! Pakistan can't even mount a surprise attack
Raja Ram wrote:Ulan Batori Gentleman
The word is that the retaliation is calibrated to inflict disproportionate casualty to command and coordination centers across the IB. Apparently, there is a lot of activity on ground inside Pakistan as well. There has been an increased coordination from Afghanistan side as well I believe. In addition, there has been some clear demands made to Nawaz when he was here.
The GHQ in Pindi is feeling the heat because of the situation internally and the slow loosening of grip on the Allah Army that traditionally did only what the Generals said. Apparently there is a churning on that front and some of them are not willing to listen to everything the PA says.
But there has been some sobering considerations as well. The establishment is horrified at the state of preparedness of all three forces. Further, they had taken an assessment of the Indian capability in terms of Stand-Off retaliation that can be calibrated and delivered with precision. They have found that it is not to the level that is desired for effective operations. The Decade of Drift has caused major shortfalls in operational capabilities that according to some borders on near treason levels.
This the ground reality. Apparently the NSA Mr. Doval is working overtime along with key teams to get things into shape into Intel Network. The silver lining has been the very close involvement of the political leadership by way of PM and the RM to get things moving. It has led to a major boost to the morale of the Uniformed Leadership across the board as well as greater demands from them to get things done.
As you rightly surmise, this is a strategic window of opportunity to bring to end the artificial entity's existence. While there is an intention to get going from the GOI, there has been a realization that serious capability drawbacks exist. The priority is to get those fixed as quickly as possible while making sure that Pakistan gets the message.
May not make all of us here happy, but this seems to be a realistic assessment that I gathered by talking to a few who have been around.
Just an informed ramble. Take it for what it is worth.
A crow perched atop the high flag mast scans a sleepy kutcha stretch while a cement statute of a turquoise uniformed-sepoy sporting a twirled moustache stands upright, the right hand raised in a salute. Hidden in a corner is a plaque with names of persons who perished in the two World Wars.
The sleepy village of P. Thippanapalli, nestled away from the yawning highways, is some 20 km from Krishnagiri. The village, with 345 households, has over 400 men in the armed forces while over 160 persons draw ex-servicemen’s pensions.
Even today lanky young boys in the village want to continue in the footsteps of their fathers and grandfathers in what has become an unwritten tradition spanning over a century since World War I. According to P. Chinappan, district president of the ex-servicemen welfare association, poverty and lack of education drove the villagers to take up jobs in the army during the world wars. Later, army jobs became a lucrative proposition for them as it ensured job security.
The village had one of its own get martyred only once; in 2008, when Govindasamy, deployed in Afghanistan, was killed in a suicide-bomb attack. “Whoever went away always returned. Perhaps, that may also be the reason why we do not fear sending our men,” says 35-year-old Anuradha, whose husband returned to Sikkim last weekend.
“My father and uncle were in the Army, and now my husband is posted in Sikkim,” says 34-year-old Saradha while Kannamma, 45, whose husband has been in the Army for over 25 years, says: “We are used to this. It is a pride for our village, and for the country.”
Pakistani Chaiwala Alert from across the border
Apparently the Indian Army has been giving hell across the length of the Punjab border too. People are getting out of and nearby areas because of shelling. There have been some civie casualties in that area.
With all due respect this is BS. If the full time RM was appointed at the same time all the current ones were then he would have enough time to learn and understand stuff. The only reason I can think of is that Modi doesn't really think defence is a priority and minor cosmetic changes done by Jaitley and moving forward stuck procurement is sufficient to stem the rot in the defence field in India.vsunder wrote:Aha, as I thought, this is the real reason why no full time Raksha Mantri has been appointed. A new Raksha Mantri would need time to be apprised of the situation and would have to be someone who is energetic enough to take care of this mess, tall order. There is no luxury of time now, and no learning on the job, certain things have to be done fast lest the situation deteriorate and the forces be found wanting of some minimal needs.
Like RR, don't take this seriously.
If Pakistani Punjab or Pakistani Sindh is being shelled then it is a major Geopolitical development and paradigm change from being Mouse to being ShivajiMukesh.Kumar wrote:X-Post from Border Watch ThreadPakistani Chaiwala Alert from across the border
Apparently the Indian Army has been giving hell across the length of the Punjab border too. People are getting out of and nearby areas because of shelling. There have been some civie casualties in that area.
But he is not DM, Jaitley is. Isn't Jaitley chairing the DAC and clearing deals?Singha wrote:thats the sense I get. the DM post is too sensitive, too much scams, too much pressure groups for anyone but the big boss himself to handle. him being the DM needs nobody of any pressure group will dare to show their faces in his strike radius to push their cases.
In an extraordinary order, the Armed Forces Tribunal has exonerated Lieutenant General PK Rath, the former General Officer Commanding the Siliguri based 33 Corps, of any wrong doing in what has been labeled by the media as the 'Sukhna Scam'. The bench, comprising Hon'ble Justice Sunil Hali and Hon'ble Air Marshal JN Burma has in their order virtually overturned the order of the General Court Martial that had found General Rath guilty of charges 2, 4 and 5 in January 2011.
The order of the AFT has raised many eyebrows as it was by and large felt that the Indian Army had a watertight case against General Rath. The bench can only go by what is put up to them, and it is felt that the Army has 'played the court' with an eye towards an even bigger game; the exoneration of a senior officer who has been issued a notice by the c of India accusing him of directly shielding officers involved in the Jorhat Dacoity case. In addition, another case against the same officer is also pending in the Gauhati High Court wherein he is again accused of shielding the same officers in the Dimapur Murder case where three Manipuri boys were tortured and executed by the same people involved in the Jorhat case. The main accused, a Colonel in the Intelligence Wing, involved in both the Jorhat and Dimapur cases, has earlier served as an OSD to two former Chiefs. He has since moved to Delhi on attachment and has been seen by serving officers regularly interacting with the Senior Officer who is now in a n extremely prominent appointment.
Lieutenant General PK Rath's petition before the AFT plays up the 'revenge' angle. This interpretation has (obviously successfully) tried to imply that the entire Sukhna land scam issue was a devious scheme hatched up General VK Singh (Respondent No. 2) when he was the Eastern Army Commander. Early in his petition, General Rath prays: "On 13.02.2009, Respondent No.2 visited HQ 33 Corps. The petitioner made a mention of the proposal received from the private parties while seeing him off at the helipad. At that time, respondent No.2 showed no reaction to the proposal. However, the matter was given undue prominence by Respondent No.2 later, since he had a serious grudge against the then Military Secretary Lt Gen Avdesh Prakash who he held responsible for obtaining a commitment from him on the issue of his date of birth which stood in the way of his extension of tenure as the Chief of the Army Staff."
That the AFT should buy this argument is ridiculous on two counts: a) Lieutenant General Avdesh Prakash was not on the horizon when the COI was ordered. His name tumbled out of the closet much later and b) General VK Singh, now a Minister in the Government, should not be called upon for his views even though the entire petition before the AFT now reads like a Shakespearean play in which he is the real villain. Somewhere along the line, presumably with the help of the Army (Respondent No. 1) the entire spotlight has been shifted. General Rath's petition is punctuated with references to the infamous age issue, which was the brainchild of a senior bureaucrat within the PMO during the UPA Government and then played out through the various bureaucrats and sections of the media who had been set up to discredit the General. None of this is implied, it is stated in black and white. To quote from the writ which has been reproduced as a part of the order:
"(aa) Respondent No.2 and the then Military Secretary Lt. Gen Avdesh Prakash had exchanged certain letters related to the issue of change in the record of the year of birth of Respondent No.2 from 1950 to 1951 even after his giving a written commitment earlier. Respondent No.2 again reiterated his written commitment sometime in 2008-2009 by accepting 1950 as the year of his birth. The commitment was projected as having been made under duress and coercion.
"(ab) Respondent No.2 was overlooked for being appointed as Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) during the time of his predecessor as the COAS and Lt Gen (Retd) PC Bhardwaj appointed as the VCOAS.
"(ac) Both these events resulted in a vengeance in the mind of Respondent No.2 for which he held the then Military Secretary responsible and was looking for an opportunity to get even."
So what does Rath's exoneration have to do with the Senior Army officer's case? In all cases that directly or indirectly affected this particular officer, the entire defence mechanism has been activated to paint a picture wherein the former Army Chief, General VK Singh, is somehow dragged into the scenario and the theme song becomes that of 'vengeance'. The various points of merit (or demerit) promptly lose their significance, as the former Army Chief becomes the de facto accused. From General VK Singh's perspective, the irony is further heightened as he is not allowed to depose in his own defence as he is not the main accused and therefore not involved in the principle case. It helps even more if Respondent No. 1 is the MoD or the Indian Army. After that, regardless of who is the chair Umpire, it is 'game, set and match'.
The AFT bench claims that it has 'righted a wrong' and have even refused the respondents the right to appeal, but one wonders if they have any idea of what they are doing? In effect, as Lieutenant General Rath's lawyer was at great pains to explain on NDTV later in the evening, the AFT had overturned the General Court Martial (GCM)'s findings on the ground that since the original complainant was General VK Singh, nobody involved with the GCM had the guts to go against a senior officer. This is an amazing charge, especially since the present VCOAS was also involved in the GCM that found Rath guilty on three counts. By the yardstick being employed by the media, should not the VCOAS be asked to put in his papers on the grounds of 'gutless sycophancy'?
The present Chief Justice of India, the Hon'ble Justice RM Lodha, had gone on record saying that judgments can be questioned, but motive cannot be attributed to the Judges. In this case it would seem an order has been passed that reeks of incompetence. If anything, it would appear the bench has done exactly what it accuses the GCM of doing - doled out a verdict to please the boss!
This automatically brings us to a sore point that needs to be addressed. The AFT continues, against all logic, to be under the MoD. The contradiction is obvious - in all cases brought before the AFT, the MoD is a respondent. Yet the boss of AFT is MoD. What has happened to the basic principles of justice in this country?
Interestingly, the AFT bench can very cleverly argue that in its 77-page order, it has not said a single word against General VK Singh and hence they have in no way indicted the General. However, it is well known that the entire game is more to do with 'Perception Management' and less to do with facts. The media has been cleverly manipulated time and again to run a hysterical campaign against VK Singh, the single biggest campaign being the age issue itself. For anyone watching the developments closely, the attempt is now to paint him as a 'vengeful, vindictive individual'; and by extension, anyone accused of any wrong-doing during his tenure is therefore being victimized regardless of the facts.
The same lobby, in defusing Lieutenant General Ravi Dastane's case, considered to be a fairly open and shut affair, used the same technique. Though the bribery case of Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh overshadowed his case against General VK Singh and four other officers of the Indian Army, the same technique was also considered. Who knows what strange turns that will eventually take? Left to the various lobbies working against the former chief, it will not be surprising if some day they arrest him for having refused a bribe!
The Army has once before already gone out on a limb to protect Lt General Tejinder Singh after he was caught red handed inside the TSD premises. Not only did the Army turn against the officers who filed a case against the former General, they even disbanded and took apart the Intelligence agency in the fond hope that they could find 'something' that would help write General VK Singh's epitaph. Today, the biggest loser is the country, for not only has the TSD been shut down, the main accused who actually controlled the Off-the-Air Interceptors, was allowed to go scot free on that score.
On the very day AFT was letting Lieutenant General Rath off the hook, a battery of senior lawyers at the High Court were trying to get Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh out on bail after he had been remanded to judicial custody. Forget all the other names, just calculate the fee of Mr Kapil Sibal and honestly tell me which Army officer can afford to hire such expensive council? Or was Mr Sibal there to defend the accused on behalf of the UPA on a pro bono basis? Maybe the IT people need to look into this as well.
Having set the tone, the AFT must realize the dangerous game it is being forced to play by its masters, which continue to be the MoD and not the Ministry of Law and Justice. What will they do next? Exonerate Lieutenant General Avdesh Prakash? Already, it's a good chance that the defence for the Senior Officer in both the Jorhat and Dimapur cases will be an all out attack on General VK Singh who initiated an enquiry into the first incident when he slapped a DV Ban on the said Senior Officer for inaction when he was the 3 Corps commander. It will be of little consequence that allegedly not only were heinous crimes committed, they were committed under the umbrella of ASFA. This much maligned act, so necessary for the protection of the soldiers who have to be protected from false charges in internal operational areas, loses its sanctity when people at the very top hide behind it to hide their own acts of omission. When that happens, it is a pity that the great institution, the Indian army, then has to resort to playing games to save these people who hold the reigns of power. Let us not forget that every man, be he/she a soldier, sailor or airman, knows what is happening.
We talk endlessly of Institutional integrity and the need to stand up when it comes to right and wrong. The learned bench of the AFT quotes Text 34 Chapter 2 of the Bhagwadgita: "People will always speak of your infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonor is worse than death." Today, it would seem the sacred message has been given a new interpretation - do what you want, just don't get caught! After this, which commander will ever pull up his subordinate who is caught with the hand in the till? The Army as an institution has suffered enough damage in this desire to get at the former Chief so that others with major cases against them can be protected. Question is, how far are we willing to go when every Tom, Dick and Harry knows what the real game plan is?
arun wrote:The Indian Army is investigating allegations that a Brigadier sodomised a Sahayak.
If the allegations turn out to be true, trust detterent will be handed down:
PTI via Hindustan Times:In a major embarrassment to the army, a brigadier deployed along the Line of Control in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir is facing the prospect of disciplinary for allegedly sodomising his assistant (sahayak).
Brigadier faces charges after allegedly sodomy
Indian Express reveals more details about the Brigadier under investigation. The Brigadier is attached to 7/8 Gorkha Rifles, was a winner of Vishisht Seva Medal and till recently was posted as a Colonel at the Army Headquarters:
Brigadier posted at LoC faces inquiry for ‘sodomy’
I think that the amirkhans have sold us some and some (28)?? made by BEL Weapon Locating Radar (WLR)P Chitkara wrote:BTW, what types and how many weapon locating radars does the IA have? Google uncle couldn't come up with conclusive numbers.
The major Indo-US defense deals so far are valued at much less. Recently, the Indian Army took delivery of 12 Weapon Locating Radars from US arms manufacturer Raytheon at a cost of $200 million.
CHANDIGARH: Made famous by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the salutation "Jai Hind" was coined by Major Abid Hasan Zafrani of the Azad Hind Fauj. Two decades after Zafrani's death, a Muslim priest of the Indian Army has approached the President of India, the National Commission of Minorities and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav alleging that his superior officers have censured him for using the slogan because it "sends a message of religious hatred and extremism".
Subedar Ishrat Ali alleges his commanding officer has served him a notice warning him to "rise above narrowmindedness", and instead salute by using "Ram, Ram" and "Jai Mata Di" — the official battalion slogans — or face "disciplinary action". Ali told ET from Bikaner that he has protested and written to his superior officers.
He has informed them that it is impossible for him to use the said salutes as they are Hindu religious chants and he is an Islamic priest. On his behalf, his wife Shehnaz Bano has written to the President of India and the National Commission for Minorities, Delhi, with a copy to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister complaining of "mental torture and harassment" and demanding justice.
Ali's commanding officer Colonel Chitra Sen refused to comment on the issue and said Army HQ had all the relevant information. "Army is absolutely secular. We respect salutation of Jai Hind and all battle cries," said Major General Shokin Chauhan, additional director general, public information, without getting into the details of Subedar Ali's complaints.
Leading lawyer Rajeev Anand, who took premature retirement as assistant commandant of Border Security Force, was critical of the notice issued to Ali. "This is totally wrong. Salutations are in the name of the country and not in the name of a religion. They all are soldiers of India. Passing such directives are totally untenable."
The notice issued to Ali asks him to change his salutation. "The task of Army's religious teacher is to enthuse the spirit of patriotism, zeal and unity in the jawans, while the slogan of Jai Hind (Long Live India) sends a message of religious hatred and extremism. If you do not rise above narrowmindedness and do not salute by shouting 'Ram Ram' and 'Jai Mata di', as per the rules of the battalion disciplinary action will be taken against you," it says. "You are a religious teacher and your job is to enthuse patriotism, zeal and spirit of unity in the jawans. Your action (the utterance of Jai Hind) does not only send a message of religious hatred and extremism but also reflects upon your lack of knowledge; and that will not be tolerated."
In his 22 years of service as a maulvi, Ali claims he was never asked not to use "Jai Hind" until July when he was verbally "warned" to shun the slogan and resort to shouting "Ram Ram and Jai Mata Ki" or else face a court martial.
"I have served the Army for 22 years, saluted many chiefs including General VK Singh and others who never objected to it. Jai Hind is a slogan, which marks patriotism. How can I be faulted for being a patriot?" he asks. Ali claims his "harassment" began in May this year after his return from Sudan, after a seven-month special assignment.
According to him, he is being targeted for his earlier complaint against a junior maulvi being sent to Sudan. "I had served at Rajputana Rifles centre, Delhi, for 10 years but was transferred to Rajputana Rifles (3 Raj Rif Bikaner) because I had complained against the move to send a junior of mine to Sudan. After my complaint I was sent to Sudan but immediately after my return I was posted to Bikaner, Rajasthan," Ali told ET over the phone from there.
Ali added that he petitioned the Delhi high court against the transfer citing the ill health of his wife who is a heart patient and is undergoing treatment. In his petition, Ali had also mentioned that since he is left with two years of service and his two daughters and a son are studying in Delhi, he be allowed to serve in the capital.
Although his initial case was rejected on the grounds of delay, his review petition is hanging fire in the Delhi high court.
Ali says that on August 17, he refused to sign his annual confidential report (ACR), which according to him was tarnished "deliberately".
A second notice was issued to him over this issue.
one illustrious forum defender of the vainglorious saint seems to be rather missing in action, or is the tattered mundu of the plebeian, pedestrian saint showing the usual politician's striped undies for all to see him for the low level family retainer he has always been.ramana wrote:So what do AKA bhaktas or fan boys have to say about the scurrilous AKA and his clean mundu? Its soiled beyond any detergent can clean.
Worse than Krishna Menon.