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LeT terrorist involved in CRPF jawan’s killing hunted down in Handwara

Sageer Ahmad
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LeT terrorist involved in CRPF jawan’s killing hunted down in Handwara

Srinagar/ August 19: A prominent Lasker-e- Toiba terrorist involved in the killing of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans in northern Kashmir was eliminated along with another terrorist during a brief shoot out in Handwara Tehsil of district Kupwara last night.

The LeT terrorist has been identified as Naseer-u-Din lone. In a tweet J&K police quoted Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Vijay Kumar saying that LeT Commander Naseer-u-din Lone, who was involved in the killing of three CRPF personnel at Sopore on 18/4/20 and 3 CRPF jawans at Handwara on 4/5/20, got killed in Handwara.

The J&K Police said another terrorist is a Pakistani national, who was also involved in the attacks on security forces and civilians. Police has also recovered an AK Assault Rifle that was taken from a CRPF jawan after killing him in Sopore area of Baramulla district.

This is the second encounter in northern Kashmir in last 24 hours. In a two day long operation three terrorists and five security forces personnel were killed in Keeri area of Baramulla district.

Balochistan seethes with anger against brutal murder of Hayat Baloch

News Intervention Bureau
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Balochistan seethes with anger against brutal murder of Hayat Baloch

Protests were carried out across occupied Balochistan against the brutal murder of Hayat Baloch at the hands of Pakistani forces. Massive demonstrations were held in Quetta, Khuzdar, Pasni, Gwadar and Turbat cities of occupied Balochistan against the extrajudicial killing of Baloch student–Hayat Baloch.

These protests have now entered their fourth day in Balochistan as hundreds carried out rallies and protests in several cities of Balochistan to demand justice for Baloch student Hayat Baloch, who was killed by Pakistani security forces in Turbat.

Baloch women protesting with placards against the barbarism of Pakistani security forces in occupied Balochistan.

A candlelight walk was organized in Khuzdar city by the Bramsh Solidarity Committee Khuzdar against the killing of Hayat Baloch in Turbat on August 13. A large number of people including children took part in this candle walk, and the participants were holding placards with slogans against the assassination of Baloch youth.

Meanwhile, according to reports from Pasni, Civil Society Pasni also protested against the killing of Hayat Baloch by Pakistani security forces. A silent rally was carried out from Pasni Press Club to Mashaallah Junction by numerous people, while a large number of women also took part in the rally.

Rally to protest the brutal murder of Hayat Baloch in occupied Balochistan.

Addressing a protest rally in Pasni, the speakers termed the assassination of Hayat Baloch as part of ongoing Baloch genocide.

Civil society lit candles at Mashaallah Chowk and expressed solidarity with deceased’s family. Speaking on the occasion, the speakers said that a judicial inquiry should be held into the murder of Hayat Mirza Baloch and those involved in the crime should be brought to justice.

A large number of students also gathered in front of the Press Club in Balochistan’s capital city, Quetta and lit candles in the memory of Hayat Baloch.

Baloch protesters in a rally against the brutal killing of Hayat Baloch in occupied Balochistan.

On this occasion, student leaders condemned the killing of Hayat Baloch and said that the Frontier Corps (FC) officials involved in the murder should be punished immediately and the demands of justice should be met.

It is to mention that a day earlier, hundreds of people took to the roads in Quetta and staged sit-ins in front of Quetta and Karachi press clubs.

Similarly, hundreds rallied in Gwadar city of Balochistan to demand justice for the Baloch student.

The ‘Baloch Students Educational Organization’ has announced a nationwide protest on August 22 against the brutal murder of Hayat Baloch. A demonstration was held by the Baloch Solidarity Committee in Turbat, wherein a large number of people including women and children participated in the protest and demanded justice.

Hayat Baloch’s pen lies soaked in his blood after he was brutally murdered by the Frontier Corps of Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, a Baloch mother said that the state has forced us to ask for justice on the streets with our infants in this scorching heat. “If we remain silent, these bloodthirsty beasts will eat our descendants,” she added.

Rashida Saleh, a female participant in the protest said that the Frontier Corps official involved in Hayat Baloch’s murder has been taken into temporary custody to avoid public backlash. If we remain silent, our generations will have to pay the price, which will be terrible.

It must be noted that extrajudicial killings and disappearances of Baloch youth by the Pakistani security forces across occupied Balochistan is a serious issue, which has been the subject of protests for a long time. The protests have intensified since the assassination of Hayat Baloch last week.

Pak-Saudi spat and deepening fissures across the Muslim world

Prof. K.N. Pandita
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Pak-Saudi spat and deepening fissures across the Muslim world

The new Islamic syndicate, though still at the conceptual stage, is pushed mainly by Turkey and Pakistan. Iran, the lone Shi’a Muslim State, and traditionally not friendly with the Sunnis would be an odd man in the contemplated syndicate. Malaysia, after the ignominious exit of Mahathir Mohamad, is almost on the horns of a dilemma. The idea receives cautious support from China. It is so because in the furtive Kuala Lumpur Islamic meet last year, Mahathir had put Uighur issue also on the agenda. Nevertheless, China will not withhold its blessings to the initiative for known reasons. Initiators hope Russia will be on board. Moscow will have to think twice about the impact of its cooperation with the syndicate on the Muslim majority republics of Central Asia which have already rejected Islamic radicalism. Will Moscow opt for the company of radicalized Islamists, is an interesting question. An Eurasian power, Russian Federation’s primary interests are in the European Continent.

The Kuala Lumpur unproductive move for cobbling an alternate to Saudi-dominated centrality of the Muslim ummah left nobody in doubt that the ummah showed fissures deepening along ethnic lines. The divide is the Arab Muslim states versus non-Arab Muslim states. The latter category is of people of non-Semitic stock who were converted to Islamic faith after the rapid expansion of Islam among the non-Semitic races, particularly the Aryan and the Turkic.

Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and Malaysia all are of non-Semitic stock. A problem with almost all non-Arab Islamized societies is that they have inherited a split personality. They are unable to abandon their pre-Islamic backlog. To prove to the Arab Islamic world that they are very faithful to the new creed, these proselytized non-Semitics have been the fiercest enemies of their ancient culture and its symbols. Ethnic cleansing of Kashmir as late as 1990 is also traceable to this split-personality.

The ethnic and racial division among the Muslims has also led to the concept of good and bad Musalman, something we do not find in any other religion. Since the desk book definition of a good Musalman is not universally established, it became very easy to accuse a liberal Muslim as a non-conformist and bring about charges like blasphemy against him or her. It will be noted that following the recent Pakistan-Saudi Arab spat, Pakistan media lost no time in charging the Saudi ruler Muhammad bin Salman with anti-Islamic idiosyncrasy.

Though the idea is still in the embryonic stage, yet speculation is rife who between Pakistan and Turkey will replace Saudi Arabia as the epicenter of the Islamic world. Iran is out of the question because it is considered the odd man in Islamic fraternity. 

Some believe Pakistan has an edge over Turkey. As Pakistan is the only nuclear power among Muslim states; she is strategically better located; in collaboration with the Iranian naval force she can play important role in the Gulf region in controlling its trade channels. Pakistan has highly committed and trained radical Islamic terrorist legions and organizations nurtured at home which she will deploy as the frontline defence and offence strategy in case of a war. Additionally, Pakistan’s handler, viz. China has full control of Pakistan’s defence establishment and economy.

Turkey has already opened the bombast of the Ottoman Empire and is more than willing to fantasize with the dream of Ottoman glory. Of course, Turkey has acquired the technology of advanced military hardware production ever since she was a member of CENTO (Central Treaty Organization).

Why are the non-Arab Islamic states pursuing the ouster of Saudi Arabia as the religious leader of the ummah?

There are various perceptions. These could be summed up as follows: (a) Saudi monarchy is close to the US while the US gives little importance to the broader interests of the ummah (b) On the behest of the US, Saudi Arabia has adopted a mild and conciliatory attitude towards Israel. The recent friendship and cooperation agreement between the UAE and Israel have matured owing to the support of both Saudi and Washington. This is considered an act against the expectations of the ummah. (c) The Saudi monarchy prompts other Arab states to recognize Israel and come to reconciliation and (d) Saudi dominated OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) has become ineffective in protecting the interests of the Muslims on a global level.

A shock from which the non-Arab Islamic states like Pakistan, Turkey and Iran do not come out is that the Saudi monarch Mohammed bin Salman, having been educated in the western world, is trying to change the traditional policy of Islamic conservatism to liberalism. He has already brought about many social reforms and more are on the anvil. He pursues a policy of befriending many countries that were hitherto disregarded by previous monarchs. If he is allowed to go ahead with a drastically liberalized policy, it will have a far-reaching impact on the existing conservative social structure of their societies and undermine the strength of orthodox Islam. This is the deep contradiction within the Islamic fold which historians have been underlining for quite some time.

Pakistan’s claim that the refusal of the Saudi monarch to call OIC foreign ministers’ meet to discuss Kashmir is the real cause of deepening fissures in the ummah is far-fetched and a propaganda stunt. Pakistan wants to sell this story to the emotional Kashmiris. The reality is that in private, the Saudis ask Pakistan why the OIC should not consider the issue of Baluchistan, Pukhtoonistan, Turkish Kurds, Yezidis and the Uighurs of Xinjiang if the issue of Kashmir Muslims is to be taken up. Are not they Muslims and under suppression? The narrative came as a bolt from the blue for Pakistan. Following his ingrained instinct of belligerence, Pakistani foreign minister issued a threat to the Saudis that he would be calling a meeting of Muslim foreign ministers on his own. It indirectly meant that he (and his bandwagon travelers) had decided to create a new organization and sideline the Saudis.

Saudi reaction was prompt and unambiguous. The lifelong benefactor of Pakistan wondered at the thanklessness of the beneficiary. Pakistan mobilized its media to denounce the behaviour of the Saudi monarch saying that he had come out in true colours. General Bajwa’s intervention has not produced any result and now out of desperation he visited Saudi kingdom not to iron out the angularities but to beg the royal favour to the continuation of twenty-five thousand Pakistani soldiers deployed as bodyguard to the Saudi monarch. But will the monarch continue to repose trust in this strong force in the light of Pakistani foreign minister’s shameless statement. Mohammed bin Salman refused to meet General Bajwa and he has now returned back.

Obviously, many actors will jump into the fray to stop the escalation of differences and repair the damage done. The Saudis appear to have indicated at least three conditions for reconciliation and the ball is in the court of Pakistan. But it is reliably learnt that the Saudis will not conduct any reconciliation talks unless Imran Khan removes his foreign minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi. This man cannot escape becoming a casualty of the row he himself initiated. Saudis are far more adept in astute diplomacy and they know that removal of Pak foreign minister is what Imran Khan would like to happen in the heart of hearts because Qureshi had raised eyebrows on Imran Khan succumbing to the threats of Saudi monarch on Kuala Lumpur episode. Ever since, some of his lobbyists had been projecting him as the one who could replace Imran Khan.

Whatever will be the future shape and structure of the ummah, it is clear that old order has changed and old trusts have been betrayed. It is for the people of Pakistan to tell their government whether it is advisable to stretch differences with the Saudi kingdom and be prepared to see lakhs of Pakistani daily wagers packing up from their work places in the Saudi and heading homewards home to be restored to a phase of hunger and poverty.

Defence and Security: Achievements of NDA-II

Jaibans Singh
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Defence and Security: Achievements of NDA-II

The Independence Day address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 2020 will be given against the backdrop of some monumental events that have been witnessed in the year, plus formation of the NDA-II government in May this year. These events have a significant impact on national security in the short as well as the long term. In meeting all these challenges the prime minister has led from the front and provided leadership with firm resolve and nerves of steel.

The Modi Government took a significant decision on August 5, 2019 that has a direct strategic impact on the country. On that day, the Indian Parliament passed requisite legislation to reorganise the frontier state of Jammu and  Kashmir into two Union Territories and abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A  of the Indian Constitution. The decision was implemented on October 31, 2019.

Many political fronts had expressed apprehensions that the change would trigger huge security challenges both within the nation and out of it. It is to the credit of the people of the state that they wholeheartedly supported the Indian government in its decision even as the Indian Army and other security forces handled the tense situation with great maturity and empathy. As a result the change has been accepted in a smooth manner and the state is now moving in a positive direction.

The challenge of foreign sponsored terrorism and cross border firing by the enemy has been well controlled by the Indian Army. In this year itself more than 140 terrorists have been killed which includes complete decimation of the terrorist leadership. Indian Army is responding to cease fire violations proactively even as an iron vigil is being maintained on the Line of Control (LOC). As a result, cross border infiltration of terrorists is at an all time low. It is expected that the region will soon be free from the menace of terrorism even though Pakistan is unlikely to stop attempts to revive the same.

The Modi government has boldly responded to the standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) by mobilising Indian Army and front line aircraft to challenge the stubborn Chinese. Additional T-90 tanks have been inducted. Defence Minister has visited Russia for immediate supply of S-400 missile system, Sukoi 40 MK1/MIG 29 fighters and 45 light Tanks.

Indian troops boldly countered the Chinese at Patrolling Point 14 in Galwan Valley and caused them many casualties. Under pressure, the Chinese army has withdrawn from most of the areas but is still holding on at Despang plains and a few areas north of Pangong Tso Lake. The government is playing out a waiting game which, most strategic experts feel, is advantageous to India. Surely the nation will win the ground as well as the perception battle with China and compel the belligerent nation to change its strategy of pressuring India for all times to come.

China and Pakistan, have created a strengthened partnership towards jointly threatening the frontiers of India. Nepal, a traditional friend of India is also under pressure from China. Indian armed forces, therefore, have been gearing up for a two and a half front war.

Increasing the defence hardware capacity of the nation was identified as the first priority to meet this challenge. The Modi Government has addressed this aspect on  a war footing. The first batch of  five Rafale aircraft landed at Ambala Indian Air Force base on July 19, 2020. Another batch will arrive by October. The arrival of Rafale aircraft has given a much needed additional punch to the Indian armed forces. These game changers are more than a match for J-16, J-17 & J20 Chinese fighters. The fighters are already conducting sorties in the high altitude war zone against China.

The indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft received final operational clearance in February 2019. Hindustan Aeronautics has recently supplied 16 aircraft to the Indian Air Force and will be enhancing production facilities to provide 16 aircraft per year. The second Tejas squadron is under raising. The order for 123 Tejas is already in the pipeline.

Mid-2019 witnessed the arrival of ‘Chinook’ heavy lift helicopters and ‘Apache’ combat helicopters from the USA that are operating in Ladakh presently. In the present contract Boeing has to provide 15 Chinooks to India of which six have already arrived. The first batch of four AH-64 Apache helicopters, the most modern variant of the series, were received by India by the end of July 2019. Four more Apache Helicopters came subsequently. The eight helicopters are already operational from the Pathankot Air Force Station and performing combat duty on frontiers with both China and Pakistan. Additionally, the Modi government has agreed to the Army’s long-pending demand for Apache AH-64E Guardian attack helicopters for its Strike Corps. So Apache will now operate both with the Army as well as the Air Force.

Indian artillery had not seen any induction of new equipment after the Bofors, which came more than three decades back. A welcome addition into the Indian Artillery arsenal is the US M777 ultra-light howitzers. By Mid-2019 an Artillery Regiment was equipped with these state-of-the art guns, 15 of which were imported from the US while three were produced in India by the Mahindra Group as a part of the Make in India initiative. 

On the strategic front the Modi government has launched a bold initiative to reorganise the Indian armed forces in a manner that is more suitable for meeting present day defence and security challenges faced by the Nation.  The long awaited step of appointing a Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) has been taken with General Bipin Rawat designated the first CDS in December 2019. He will act as the principal advisor to the Defence Minister and also advice the prime Minister led nuclear command authority. Work is now underway to create joint commands and other organisational modifications.

There is a lot of work in the pipeline in hardware acquisition, road development and fine tuning of higher defence organisations. India is on the fast track to building a strong and self confident posture that will meet all defence and security needs of the country.

Chutzpah on Trial: A Fool’s Gold is His Life, and Meshuggeneh Ways

Scott Douglas Jacobsen
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Chutzpah on Trial: A Fool’s Gold is His Life, and Meshuggeneh Ways

Christian is a Philosopher that comes from Belgium. What identifies him the most and above all is simplicity, for everything is better with “vanilla flavour.” Perhaps, for this reason, his intellectual passion is criticism and irony, in the sense of trying to reveal what “hides behind the mask,” and give birth to the true. For him, ignorance and knowledge never “cross paths.” What he likes the most in his leisure time, is to go for a walk with his wife.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is the point of IQ?

Dr. Christian Sorensen: The IQ is a measurement unit, that’s relative and intends to be an indicator of general intelligence, but is in no way representative of the last.

Jacobsen: What is the purpose of building high-IQ societies?

Sorensen: I think that partly, they have purposes that are for profit, as well as those of forming communities with people who have a strong need for social recognition, and who tend to share common interests and needs, such as the constantly validation of their IQ scores, by developing and rendering countless games, denominated high-range IQ tests, through which they claim to emulate the validity and reliability of scores that could be earned with professional IQ tests.

Jacobsen: Why do some form for profit?

Sorensen: Because the reality check is obvious, since some business lines of enterprises, are openly destined to the development of web pages which are connected with these matters, and additionally the ones who do so, recognize it as a business.

Jacobsen: Why do some feel the need for social recognition?

Sorensen: Since probably, they did not manage to consolidate in childhood, a sufficient self-confidence and personal autonomy. Therefore they developed feelings of insecurity, shame and doubt, that lead them to overvalue the expectations of others, and to express mayor affective dependence behaviours towards them, which lastly translates into a constant search for acceptance and approval from these, through such type of mechanisms as forms of crutches.

Jacobsen: What alternative tests seem like reliable and valid IQ tests? What test makers seem to make reasonable reliable and valid IQ tests?

Sorensen: The question is not about what alternative IQ tests seem reliable and valid, but rather it is which alternative IQ test seems to be valid, in order to be reliable… And the answer from my point of view in this regard, is none, due to the reason that all of them lack of sufficient technical and scientific fundamentals. The foregoing, does not means, that there are no experimental-games developers trying to do their best efforts, or that though currently they may be achieving only plausible and irrefutable results, perhaps in the future these will become scientifically valid. According to this context, I would highlight the works of James Dorsey and Jason Betts.

Jacobsen: Mensa International, Intertel, Triple Nine Society, Prometheus Society, and the Mega Society have been the most reliable high-IQ societies via Wikipedia filtration and prevention of fraudulent pseudonym warping of the record for personal benefit and individual organizational benefit. The World Intelligence Network of Evangelos Katsioulis and Manahel Thabet lists over 80 active societies on the WIN website. Thus, this is a substantial implication. What is the point of so many societies?

Sorensen: Many of the names of these societies, though they appear as actives and are listed somewhere, they no longer exist. In that sense, the cemetery of high IQ societies is large, because some of them were created, and as they did not give good outcomes, they remained on the lists as such, but currently they are paralyzed. Besides the aforementioned, another factor that influences the enormous number of these societies, has to do with the idea of ​forming communities that are suitable for different IQ score segmentations.

Jacobsen: Why do so many go to the junk heap?

Sorensen: I think that because, in some way or another, they aren’t sufficiently profitable, and therefore they are no longer a lucrative business. In this sense, it could be said, from a more generic point of view, that since the opportunity-cost equation is not any more beneficial, then it doesn’t make any sense, that they continue to exist.

Jacobsen: What is the different between in the cemetery and paralyzed in this sense?

Sorensen: The paralyzed ones, are sort of sleeping waiting societies, that expect hopefully for improved conditions, while those in the cemetery, give me more the feeling of having been obvious and resounding failures, or of being fouls of which someone is sorry about, and therefore is better to hide that dirt underground with a tombstone on top, so that the dead do not speak.

Jacobsen: What about tragic circumstances, as happened with the suicide of Nathan Haselbauer?

Sorensen: I think he feared the idea of ​​living a lonely life, and it seems to me, that what led him to suicide, was the fact of realizing that his fear, which until then was just an idea, at one point when he was subjected to extreme isolation, turned into his worst nightmare, came true and become reality.

Jacobsen: What societies seem the most reliable and valid to you?

Sorensen: Triple Nine Society, and Mensa International, though the requirements of the former, such as scores, are much more demanding.

Jacobsen: What other reasons other than being demanding?

Sorensen: The fact that they follow rigorous procedures, both within their internal operations and with respect to their members, that at the same time are provided with quality results. Additionally because they value discretion, and their organizational structure, is stable and allows a correct functioning within the Society.

Jacobsen: More high-range people exist outside of the societies than in them. Why?

Sorensen: I think that this occurs because high IQ societies, are expensive and they don’t offer proportional benefits. Besides currently are de-profiled, and therefore the fact of belonging to them has ceased to be a differential factor.

Jacobsen: What people seem to legitimately exist in the 5.4-sigma to 6.6-sigma, or 181 IQ to 199 IQ on SD 15, general intelligence range based on the large number of high-range listings available to date?

Sorensen: Sorensen 185+ SD 15 WAIS-R

Kirkpatrick 185 SD 15 Stanford-Binet

Katsioulis 180+ SD 15 WAIS-R

Jacobsen: What is the implication of the aforementioned“Why?”?

Sorensen: In my opinion, this has occurred, because high IQ societies have become too widespread, and therefore have lost their discrimination capacity in relation to really gifted people. At the same time, I believe the credibility of many of them, has been lost, since they exhibit innumerable high-range IQ pseudo-tests, that always lack scientific basis, and due to the fact that also they show exorbitant IQ scores, as a result of these fancy test-games, which strictly speaking, do not tolerate any realistic statistical analysis, not even regarding probabilities and general population parameters.

Jacobsen: What does this portend for the future of high-range testing?

Sorensen: I think it may be useful, that high-range testing, as a criterion of the comparative parameter, takes the methodology and the timing used by professional scales, as Wechsler, Stanford-Binet and Raven have done, especially regarding the first two, since at least for over seventy years, have been carrying out their normalization and standardization reviews. What I intend to demonstrate with the aforementioned, is that in relation to the high-range testing, so far there is evidence of a counter sense approaching, because what actually occurs is quite the opposite. Insofar, what is verified within the high-IQ community, is the predominant presence of dozens testing-games, that day after day, continue to appear as if it were due to spontaneous sporulation. Besides, these are developed by practically everyone, due to the reason that it seems that the membership to the high-IQ community, or the fact of earning a high IQ score, carries with it, ipso factum, the right or some kind of super powers, for developing psychometric instruments to measure general intelligence.

Jacobsen: Why should prospective members focus on mainstream societies? Why should prospective test-takers focus on the mainstream intelligence tests for serious measurements and alternative measurements for various degrees of seriousness and fun & interest (leaning far more towards fun & interest)?

Sorensen: From my point of view, the first thing to do is that prospective members and testees ask themselves about the meaning of all this tedious procession that they intend to initiate, and afterwards to take it nice and easy. I personally do not understand the compulsive need that many members of high IQ societies, have to constantly measure their IQ’s. In my opinion also is an incomprehensible mystery, the issue that the vast majority of them, take numerous high-range IQ games, but almost never give professionals IQ test, and therefore if their purpose is to be certain about their actual IQ, why don’t they take serious measurements in order to fulfill that end… Since if simplicity principle is claimed, and tautology is left aside, then this last should be the most straight and reliable path to follow. Hypothetically, I believe it is a way to blindfold and to inflate their egos with fanciful movie scores, since at least in WGD listing, which is a good sample ranking, it is possible to verify in all cases that the scores of listees with professional tests and high-range IQ games, is much lower regarding the former ones. Likewise, if the meaning of taking these games every two days, is not to have certainty of their own IQs, but only for having fun, then probably what we are talking about or facing is a sort of pathological gambling out of any range of meaning, since as occurs with every type of addictive behaviour, it is an issue that lacks completely any rational or reasonable explanation and understanding.

Image Credit: Dr. Christian Sorensen.

All 3 terrorists involved in Baramulla attack eliminated: DGP Dilbag Singh

Sageer Ahmad
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All 3 terrorists involved in Baramulla attack eliminated: DGP Dilbag Singh

Srinagar, August 17: Three terrorists who had carried out the terror attack at Kreeri in Baramulla were killed on Monday, said Dilbag Singh Director General of J&K Police. The DGP termed the counter-terror operation as one of the most successful operations against terrorists. These three terrorists were the ones who on Monday morning had fired upon a Naka party and martyred two CRPF jawans and one J&K Police officer.

Dilbag Singh explained that soon after the terrorists launched their strike at Kreeri in Baramulla district killing three security forces personnel, the forces engaged the attackers and killed the three terrorists that included top most Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Sajad Haider, who was operating on the lines of slain Hizbul terrorist commander Burhan Wani to recruit local boys into terrorism.

The DGP added that two other slain terrorists were identified as Anayatullah Mir of Pattan and another was the Lashkar commander from Pakistan Usman. 

Addressing a press conference at the Police Control Room in Srinagar, the DGP said that one of the slain militants Sajad Haider alias Raja was one of the top most wanted commanders in J&K.

“He was like Burhan Wani and had joined militancy in the 2016 winters. Like Burhan, Sajad too would lure youth into militancy. We have arrested at least 20 youth who were recruited by Sajad besides many Over Ground Workers (OGWs),” said DGP Singh.

Flanked by IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, DGP Dilbag Singh said that Sajad was involved in a series of “crimes and militancy related incidents that include killing of fruit merchants, security forces personnel, non-local labourers etc.”

Of late, Sajad had started working like slain Hizb terrorist commander Reyaz Naikoo and would release video messages to lure youth and to issue fresh threats to political workers and forces. “His killing is a big success for security forces,” DGP Singh said. He said Sajad had taken along one of his recruits Annayatullah Mir, who joined Lashkar in March this year, to carry out the attack.

“Mir was injured in the first retaliation by one of our Head Constable just a few meters away from the attack spot where three security forces personnel were killed,” DGP Singh said.

He said the third terrorist was identified as Usman, a Pakistani, who was also operating with Sajad in the northern belt of Kashmir. Asked about the sequence of the attack and retaliatory action by the forces, the DGP said that in the morning, terrorists attacked a joint patrolling cum naka party of police and CRPF in which two CRPF men and a SPO were martyred. Just minutes after the attack, special operations group (SoG) of police engaged the terrorists and one was hit just at the bund, a few meters away from the attack site.

He later managed to go inside the orchards. In the meantime, SoG men surrounded the orchards and after they were joined by the Indian Army and CRPF, one terrorist who was sitting on a tree, started firing. First he was killed by the security forces, the DGP said, adding that “it was after him that the injured terrorist was also killed.”

He said as forces kept searching the area, another terrorist fired and he too was engaged and later killed. “In total three militants were killed in the operation that is going on still since morning,” said DGP Dilbag Singh.

2 CRPF jawans, J&K Police officer martyred in Baramulla terror attack

Sageer Ahmad
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2 CRPF jawans, J&K Police officer martyred in Baramulla terror attack

Srinagar/August 17: Terrorists on Monday attacked a joint Naka party in Kreeri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, leaving a Special Police Officer (SPO) and two CRPF personnel martyred.

Officials said that the terrorists fired upon the naka party today morning. The fire, they said, was retaliated by the forces, triggering a brief exchange of fire, in which a Special Police officer (SPO) was killed and two CRPF were personnel wounded.

They said that the injured troopers were rushed to a hospital where they succumbed. The martyred SPO was identified as Muzaffar Ahmad.

Sources said that terrorist had been surrounded by the forces and that reinforcements was rushed to the area to engage terrorists.

This is the second terrorist attack in the valley in the past four days. On Friday, two policemen were killed and another wounded in a terror attack on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar who visited the spot on Monday said that three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists came from the orchards and targeted a joint naka party of police and CRPF at Kreeri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district resulting in the killing of two CRPF men and a special police officer (SPO).

“After checking the statements of eye-witnesses and other technical details, it seems Lashkar men who were three in number carried out the attack near a shallow stream where a joint team was on a normal naka duty,” the Inspector General Police Vijay Kumar told reporters.

He said that police was developing the leads and the attackers will soon be neutralized. Asked about the two back to back terrorist attacks since August 15 and that the terrorists managed to escape, the IGP said the point has already been noted by the police. “At times, terrorists manage to flee. We are developing leads and will neutralize the terrorists involved in the two attacks (including Nowgam) soon,” he said.

Later in the day Indian Army’s Northern Command said in a tweet that two terrorists were killed and weapons and warlike stores were recovered. Joint operation was still in progress at the time of writing this news report.

On yesterday’s Sopore ‘attack’, the IGP said that wasn’t the attack but an operation launched on the basis of terrorist presence. “The terrorists fired few shots and after that no contact was established,” he said.

Meanwhile a major tragedy was averted after police and security forces recovered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district late late night, officials said today.

A senior police officer said that the IED was planted by terrorists under a bridge near Tujan village in Pulwama district. “This is a bridge between Tujan and Dalwan,” the officer said.

Karan Johar’s Gunjan Saxena creates fictional stereotypes in the IAF

Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain (retd.)
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Karan Johar’s Gunjan Saxena creates fictional stereotypes in the IAF

The Indian Air Force is seething and rightly so. Here comes a film — Karan Johar’s Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl — in which the producer and director had a basic theme to project — the idea of gender equality and the resistance by the environment to achieve it.

It is a great theme, especially when related to the Indian armed forces. Yet, it is so awfully researched and converted to story line and screenplay that one cringes. The story setting is on the IAF (Indian Air Force) in 1994 or so.

The IAF emerges from it as a service living in the 19th century and unwilling to change.

It is supposedly based upon a true life story of one of the first woman pilots of the IAF trying to break a male bastion and the huge resistance (both institutional and otherwise) she finds in her path.

The IAF, like the other two services, had obviously taken a very brave decision in 1991 to induct Women Officers into service. There were teething problems, many of which continue to the day, but lack of sensitivity was surely not one of them.

Let us cut to the story first.

Gunjan Saxena (Jahnvi Kapoor, better known as the late Sridevi’s daughter), the daughter of an Indian Army colonel, has a dream to be a pilot. However, society at large has resistance to the idea of seeing women in such a role.

Encouraged by her doting father, she overcomes all obstacles in the path to becoming, not a commercial pilot, which she originally set her heart on, but an Indian Air Force helicopter pilot.

Pankaj Tripathi and Jahnvi Kapoor in a still from “Gunjan Saxena”

The IAF is correctly shown as a service which offers equal opportunities to all classes of society, unlike the world of a commercial pilot where only the financially better off can afford to pursue the dream of a pilot’s license.

It is very well handled till here; the heart breaks at being found medically unfit and overcoming that, the entry into the Air Force Academy, the hard training she undergoes and the triumphant graduation as a pilot.

It is the story thereafter which bears no resemblance to truth starting with her elder brother (Angad Bedi) from the army (Punjab Regiment), dissuading her from joining her allotted unit after her commission as an officer in the IAF because he holds the lofty perception that women just aren’t made for service in the armed forces.

His advice is virtual abetment to desertion, something which should have been known to the umpteen military advisers whose names appear in the credits at the beginning.

It is the arrival of Flying Officer Gunjan Saxena at the Udhampur Air Force base, having already earned her wings at the Air Force Academy, which creates a flutter.

The negativities begin to overwhelm the narrative.

The story writers basically wish to depict that institutionally and otherwise, the IAF was not prepared for nor willing to accept women into the ranks of those who flew the aerial war machines. It was considered a male domain where during off time, the men indulged in horseplay, women talk and such like banter.

Poster of the movie Gunjan Saxena

The entry of a woman, with availability of no special facilities for basic segregation in the crew room, of course, impinges on their space and they go into raptures to deny Gunjan Saxena even her professional rights of gaining expertise and experience as a pilot.

Humiliation by ignoring her and refusal to even socially interact are hugely laughable exaggerations.

The depiction of the Udhampur Air Force base in the film appears to project a bunch of shell shocked, strait jacketed male chauvinists who had no idea about the decisions taken by their hierarchy.

Rightly understandable among some young officers and junior other ranks, but to expect even senior officers indulging in deliberate attempts at mocking the physical mismatch of women and using this as lessons for their command is only condemnable.

The officer cadre of the armed forces lives by a concept of honour.

Insulting a comrade and denying her opportunities to develop her professional expertise surely finds no place within that ambit.

Some basic observations at this point, and these fully support former Wing Commander Namrita Chandi’s very critical open letter published in a leading news magazine.

The IAF took the decision to induct Women Officers into branches other than the flying branch in 1991 and into the cadre of helicopter and transport aircraft pilots in 1994.

Momentous decisions such as these are accompanied by preparation of the environment.

There would definitely have been some misgivings at different levels, but in the armed forces, once a decision such as this is taken, you will attempt to resist it only at the risk to your own career.

Even in the Indian Army, Women Officers had to first learn the ropes under supervision, gain experience and seniority and only then were permitted to be convoy commanders, first in peace areas and later in even counter insurgency and high altitude areas.

No one attempted to embarrass them into submission to admit that they were not up to it.

Yes, there were problems such as toilets and matters of privacy, but all ranks were sensitive to it and improvisation was resorted to; who can better the ‘jugaad‘ of the armed forces when it comes to such contingencies?

What the writers and the director wanted to do with this theme was to treat it in binary terms. It appeared suitable to them to depict the IAF as an organisation inflexible in approach and completely dominated by insensitive men with no exposure to the fast changing world.

That would provide them enough stereotypes to project.

That situation could only change with contingencies which demanded operational involvement.

The real world Gunjan Saxena, on whom this story is based, had flown helicopters in a couple of missions during the Kargil War 1999. That seemed another sub story line to fit the circumstances to force a change of perception about the abilities of Women Officers.

No complaints about that, after all a director has to have some dramatic content to play upon.

It is the depiction of the terribly insensitive ways of the Udhampur Air Force base in which the story writers lost their bearings.

Instead, if they had chosen positivity to showcase how the IAF sensitively handled the challenging issues of initial induction of Women Officers (especially pilots), the extent to which their male counterparts made adjustments and their full commitment towards ensuring they would not allow any compromise in the progressive training of Women Officers, it would have given them enough anecdotal references to work upon and provide a feel good to the viewer.

As a soldier and senior officer, I can say with pride that some of the Women Officers I came across ensured by the dint of their sheer character and hard work that never did we have to think of shielding them in protected appointments.

I came across a Woman Officer, who was constructing an operational track in the dangerous Lipa Valley and was initially horrified to know that she slept on the deck of the single bulldozer available there and lived like that for three months.

The men were in awe of her personality and ability to lead by example.

As Adjutant of a Corps of Signals unit another Woman Officer commanded not just respect but the fear of her junior officers and the men. She could outrun most and put to shame others at the basketball court where she was the roughest player.

My Brigade Education Officer (a Woman Officer) accompanied me on many high altitude marches to visit troops at the LoC in the Uri sector.

The film is still watchable for some slick photography.

It is poorly acted. Jahnvi Kapoor just does not appear to have the bearing and body language of a confident military pilot, something which comes within weeks of academy training.

Angad Bedi is irritating while playing an old world elder brother, repeating his beliefs on gender capability mismatch at the drop of the hat.

What appears most surprising is that the IAF had full control on the shooting with its resources made available in abundance unless everything is through the new art of computer generation.

Surely its advisers would have had an idea of what was cooking in the pot; course correction could have then been advised.

Shooting letters now may not achieve much since there are enough disclaimers about the depiction of reality in the film.

The unfortunate thing is that the film will leave a poor impression of the IAF’s and indeed of the armed forces’s ability to handle sensitive social matters within their professional space.

As for my recommendation about watching the film, I will remain in the zone of grey.

If you have nothing to do in the evening and have worked from home the entire day, you could risk watching.

I found it to be a useful exercise in that age old army method of weapon training, called ‘fault finding’.

Sindhi Baloch Forum to protest in London for victims of ‘Enforced Disappearance’

News Intervention Bureau
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Sindhi Baloch Forum to protest in London for victims of ‘Enforced Disappearance’

London: The Sindhi Baloch Forum (SBF) has announced to hold a protest demonstration outside the House of Parliament in London on Sunday, August 30, 2020 to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

The announcement comes at a time when Sindh and Balochistan are witnessing a rapid increase in the forcible disappearances of Sindhi and Baloch residents from all spectrum of life by the Pakistani military and its paramilitaries to quell the national struggles of two brotherly nations for their socio-economic and political rights.

In its statement, the SBF (Sindhi Baloch Forum) denounced the reparation mechanism of the state military establishment who attempted to abduct Hani Gul Baloch and Shazia Chandio in Karachi to disrupt the peaceful protest of families of Sindhis and Baloch who have been subjected to “enforced disappearances”.

“More than 50 political activists from different areas of Sindh were subjected to enforced disappearance whose whereabouts are not known, whereas, according to the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), the cases of enforced disappearances in Balochistan are above 40 thousand, the mutilated dead bodies of many have been recovered in the last many years”, read the SBF statement.

The international community and the United Nations have so far failed to push the Pakistani state authorities to address the issue of enforced disappearances. The families of victims have lost faith in the Pakistani government and its state institutions. Parents of several victims have perished during these series of protests and the long wait for justice lasting for years that in many cases went on for decades. The Sindhi Baloch Forum (SBF) is compelled to convince the international community to resolve this prevalent humanitarian crisis in Sindh and Balochistan through its protest on the occasion of International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

SBF (Sindhi Baloch Forum) has appealed everyone who champions the cause of human rights to participate in their protest to echo the demands of the families of the victims of enforced disappearances for justice and the right to the truth of the victim.

Kashmiri diaspora organizes discussion on ‘Kashmir Today’

News Intervention Bureau
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Kashmiri diaspora organizes discussion on ‘Kashmir Today’

Washington DC: A panel discussion on the state of the exiled Kashmiri Hindu, Sikh and Tibetan Buddhist communities, and the geopolitical dimensions of human problems in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh was held by the US-based Kashmiri diaspora.

The panel featured prominent intellectuals, political representatives of the Kashmiri and Tibetan diaspora, and independent journalists. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Mohan Sapru, a founding member of GKPD (Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora) and its coordinator for the Washington, DC area. In his keynote address, Dr. Sapru highlighted that the recent dispossession, murder, rape and forced exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs at the hands of radical Muslims is only the latest in a spasmodic series of genocidal rounds of ethnic cleansing that began in 1323 CE. He suggested that intellectuals should remove their rose-tinted glasses and confront two political forces on the rampage in the world today: The first comprises expansionist religious ideologies that want to invade and dominate others, usurping their biophysical resources. The second comprises ideological nationalism that pursues the same aggressive policy in order to maintain a status as hegemon or superpower, the best example in the region being the People’s Republic of China.

Rajiv Malhotra, founder-director of a prominent think tank, the Infinity Foundation in his address said that India’s attempts to use soft power must be balanced by the exercise of hard power. He indicated that this was especially so in the case of China, whose record over the recent decades shows that it respects only hard power as part of a pragmatic strategy and puts little store by building long term relationships based on intangibles like ‘trust’. In this regard, Rajiv Malhotra lauded, both, the US government’s as well as India’s Modi government’s initiative to use trade as a political lever to contain China, which is building a chain of ruthless, fascist allies such as Pakistan and Iran. He noted that, historically, the capture of Tibet leapfrogged Communist China into hegemonic status. Importantly, he suggested that India must declare that the status of Tibet is open to discussion and retreat from its current position of accepting Tibet’s occupation by China. Malhotra also suggested that Indian diplomacy needs to consider a ‘post-Trump’ strategy of cooperation with the US, since the Democratic Party has been completely turned into an anti-India juggernaut by Islamist lobbies in the US.

Dorjee Tseten, a US-based member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile and executive director of Students for a Free Tibet in his address noted that this year marks 70 years of the Chinese occupation of Tibet – and 70 years of the Tibetan resistance that refuses to die. He noted that for millennia, independent Tibet and India shared mutually respectful intellectual and spiritual relations. China did not share a border with India, until the annexation of Tibet under Mao Tse Tung, who famously characterized Tibet as the ‘palm’, and regions like Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh as its ‘fingers’ that could be annexed subsequently. He warned that India cannot afford to be complacent about Chinese intentions, which plays a direct role not just on the Ladakh front but also via CPEC infrastructure that it is building in Pakistan-occupied J&K. He paid tribute to Ama Adhe, a prominent leader of the Tibetan Women’s Resistance, who passed away this year. Ama Adhe had spent 27 years in Chinese prisons and finally escaped to India. Out of around 300 female prisoners like her only four could survive the torture. Ama Adhe had described the hellish repression of Tibetans under Chinese occupation. She inspired Tibetan youth to take up the cause of freedom. Since 2009, over 155 Tibetans have self-immolated to protest Chinese colonialism. Tibet today has been rated as the 2nd least free place on earth, after Syria.

Dorjee noted significantly that even after decades, Tibetan youth born under Chinese occupation continue to periodically erupt in protest, indicating that the aspirations of Tibetans (within and outside) for independence have not subsided. Reflecting Malhotra’s recommendation, Dorjee Tseten strongly urged the Indian government to recognize that Tibet is an occupied country. Many countries are now reconsidering their acceptance of the ‘One China Policy’, and India should take a leadership role to expose Chinese colonialism, said Dorjee Tseten.

French author, journalist and historian Francois Gautier was another panelist. He described his experience covering the situation in J&K during the murderous exodus of Kashmiri Hindus. He revealed that it was an ‘eye-opener’ for him as a Westerner who had been misinformed with clichés about India and Kashmir. He realized that the ground situation was quite different, and he saw the terror Hindus faced in their own country. He recalled how his journalist colleague Mark Tully, who was chief India correspondent for BBC at the time, had peddled the opinion that India was wrong that Pakistan had anything to do with Islamic terrorism in Kashmir, and other international journalists would blindly follow that line. Francois Gautier noted that this journalistic disinformation continues to this day, by otherwise respectable people. He shared his anecdotal impression that common Muslims in Kashmir nurtured an active hatred for India and a preference for Pakistan based purely on religion – and that no amount of economic development and other sops by India can change religious fanaticism. He echoed the thoughts of Sri Aurobindo, that only by reversing the partition of Indian Subcontinent on religious lines can that thorn be removed. The hypocrisy of using Human Rights tribunals against those who fight religious terrorism was another aspect he brought out in his comments. Francois Gautier agreed with previous panelists that China was the main problem, and India must support the Dalai Lama against China, allowing him to teach in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Tibet must be declared a disputed territory. He felt that while Narendra Modi was a welcome change for India, Indian policy was still being hampered by Nehruvian bureaucrats.

Aasha Khosa, a senior journalist and author who covered Kashmir’s insurgency for a decade during the 1990’s shared several anecdotal experiences of the terror individual Kashmiri Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists felt even from ordinary radical Muslim civilians, who cooperated with armed terrorists in oppressing these minorities. She pointed out surveys that show the number of random killings of Kashmiri Hindus is grossly under-reported, and many unaccounted for. Many continue to suffer sexual harassment and rape at the hands of Islamic terrorists. Looking at the future, she gladly noted that after the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A, there has been some movement towards setting up colonies to resettle Kashmiri Hindus in their native land. She also noted that she personally witnessed many pro-India Muslims in J&K suffer and die because they stood with India. She suggested that Kashmiri Hindus should make common cause with them if possible. She disagreed with Gautier’s impression that all Kashmiri Muslims were pro-Pakistan and referred to a common slogan among even Islamists that ‘Pakistan can go to hell’. She urged the Kashmiri Hindu community to learn to build a cohesive narrative that goes beyond breast-beating and self-pity, a narrative platform that all Kashmiri Hindu organizations can subscribe to.

Jeevan Zutshi, another GKPD (Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora) founding member placed the J&K demographic in perspective, stating that only 60% of the population of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh was Muslim. It is only the Kashmir Valley where they had an overwhelming majority. Yet, even in such a demographic situation, the 40% non-Muslim population have found themselves treated like second-class citizens. He repeatedly mentioned the thousands of Hindu and Sikh Kashmiris who still live in miserable conditions in refugee camps and said that the rest of the diaspora will never forget them and continue to extend a helping hand.

Click on the YouTube link to watch this discussion
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