Saturday, 18 June 2011
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KOLKATA: The coast guard on Saturday launched an operation to trace about 400 fishermen who went missing during monsoon storms in West Bengal, officials said.
About 33 fishing boats went missing on Friday in the choppy waters of the Bay of Bengal in eastern India.
"Our team has been able to establish contact with some fishermen but we are yet to trace 25 trawlers," Iqbal Singh Chauhan, coast guard commander stationed in West Bengal, said.
Naval vessels, hovercraft and helicopters have joined the rescue effort but incessant rainfall is hindering the search operation.
Chauhan said they had reports that more than 20 fishing boats had anchored at various isolated islands near the Sundarbans mangrove forest 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Kolkata, capital of West Bengal.
"Preliminary reports suggest that most of the fishermen are safe but we are yet to establish direct contact with them," he said.
During storms in West Bengal, many captains find themselves unable to return to port and take refuge with their boats and crews along the coast.
Monday, 20 June 2011
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NEW DELHI: With Chinese troops continuing with their aggressive "transgressions'' across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Army wants the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to be placed under its "operational control'' for better border management.
Defence ministry sources said the Army contends India's border management posture will acquire the much-needed "cohesion, coordination and synergy'' required to counter the People's Liberation Army's "offensive'' posture if ITBP is placed under its jurisdiction.
The Army feels such a step will prove operationally productive as well as ensure optimal utilisation of resources especially in eastern Ladakh where ITBP, one of the seven central police forces under the home ministry, is responsible for border management of 826 km of the LAC.
The Army is also present in depth along that stretch but it can exercise operational control over ITBP only during the outbreak of hostilities.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
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NEW DELHI: From just a couple of joint exercises annually a decade ago, Indian Army is really cranking up its engagement with foreign armies now. The 1.13-million force will undertake as many as 16 combat exercises with friendly forces in 2011-2012.
The flurry of exercises constitute an effective diplomatic tool to enhance overall strategic ties and military-to-military cooperation with countries in India's "immediate" and "strategic neighbourhood" as well as "priority nations'' far away.
From US, UK, France, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Maldives, Seychelles, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, the response has been "simply overwhelming", say Army officers.
"Other armies are very keen to exercise with us since we have six decades of combat experience across the entire spectrum of conflict. One of the main focus areas in the exercises has been counter-terrorism/counter-insurgency in rural, semi-urban and urban terrains," said a senior officer.
Wednesday, 02 November 2011
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NEW DELHI: Lt Gen Shri Krishna Singh, a veteran Gorkha soldier, today took over as the Army's vice chief and asked the troops to remain vigilant to "stay one step ahead" of militants.
Singh succeeded Lt Gen Arvinder Singh Lamba, who superannuated yesterday.
"The militants tend to acquire new techniques and we have to be vigilant always to stay one step ahead of them," he told reporters soon after taking over the new post.
He said the Army was well-prepared to tackle both external and internal challenges faced by the country.
Lt Gen Singh is also one of the first officers to have been commissioned into the Army after the 1971 Bangladesh War.
Prior to this appointment, the Gorkha officer was commanding the Jaipur-based South Western Army.
In his career span of over 35 years, the General officer has commanded a brigade in Siachen Glacier, an infantry division on Line of Control and the Leh-based 14 Corps.
He has the privilege of being Colonel of 8 Gorkha Rifles (Sam's Own) since April 1, 2006, of which Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw was the first Colonel post-Independence.
Sunday, 06 November 2011
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NEW DELHI: A set of freshly declassified top secret papers on the 1971 war show that US hostility towards India during the war with Pakistan was far more intense than known until now.
The documents reveal that Indira Gandhi went ahead with her plan to liberate Bangladesh despite inputs that the Nixon Administration had kept three battalions of Marines on standby to deter India, and that the American aircraft carrier USS Enterprise had orders to target Indian Army facilities.
The bold leadership that the former PM showed during the 1971 war is well known. But the declassified documents further burnish the portrait of her courageous defiance.
The documents show how Americans held back communication regarding Pakistan's desire to surrender in Dhaka by almost a day.
That the American establishment had mobilized their 7th Fleet to the Bay of Bengal, ostensibly to evacuate US nationals, is public knowledge. But the declassified papers show Washington had planned to use the 7th Fleet to attack the Indian Army.
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
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NEW DELHI: The Indian Army is conducting a Court of Inquiry against a Colonel who was allegedly honey-trapped by Pakistan intelligence agency ISI in Bangladesh.
Sources said the Colonel was cultivated by a woman when he was posted in Bangladesh for a military course in one of the institutes of the neighbouring country. The relationship developed into a love affair sometime in the middle of this year, the Colonel has confessed to Indian army contacts.
Later sometime in October, the Colonel was approached by ISI operatives based in Bangladesh, asking him to work for them. Sources said the Colonel also received letters threatening to put up on the Internet photographs of him in compromising position with the woman, as well as to send them to Delhi, if he failed to work for the ISI. When the pressure mounted on him, the Colonel reported the entire matter to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, sources said.
The officer was immediately repatriated to Delhi and the Army headquartered ordered a Court of Inquiry.
Friday, 20 January 2012
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DHAKA: A bid to topple the Bangladeshi government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been foiled, the Bangladesh Army said on Thursday.
The Bangladesh Army said efforts by some officers to topple the government have been foiled and that the process to bring the culprits to justice has begun.
"Specific information has been unearthed that some officers in active military service have been involved in the conspiracy to topple the system of democratic governance," bdnews24.com quoted army spokesman Brigadier General Muhammad Masud Razzaq as saying at a press briefing.
Razzaq branded the accused officers as having extreme religious views.
"Some unruly military officers have been actively engaged in the execution of the heinous conspiracy through maintaining contacts with fugitive Major Zia (Syed Mohammad Ziaul Huq) by mobile phones and internet," Razzaq said.
"On Dec 22 last year, Major Zia met a senior officer and tried to provoke that senior officer into using the army against the state and democracy," Razzaq said.
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
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NEW DELHI: A suspected Pakistani spy, who was in the national capital for the last one year doing recce of army installations, was arrested here with police today claiming that they have recovered confidential documents related to Indian Army from his possession.
Sajjad Haider (43), hailing from Lahore, was apprehended by a team of Delhi Police's Special Cell from Samalkha village here on September 14 on a tip off from central intelligence agencies, a senior police official said.
He has revealed names of certain persons who facilitated his activities in India, who are being questioned. He was staying in the capital with a fake name Mohd Pervez, he said.
"Confidential documents related to Indian Army, a fake Indian driving license, an Indian PAN card along with Western Union money transfer receipts, rent agreements, mobile sim cards and phones have been recovered from his rented accommodation in Samalakha," the official said.
Trained at Military trade craft in Lahore by ISI for five months, the official said, he was tasked to conduct recce of army installations in Punjab to collect information regarding movements of armed forces.
Monday, 27 December 2010
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[PIB] The thirty member Indian Air Force Brass and Jazz Band played live for the general public at India Gate, New Delhi today. The gathered people were treated to the soulful tunes ranging from an overture to ‘Mozart’s Symphony 40’ to ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon’, from ‘Havana’ to the sensational ‘Waka Waka’ concluding in ‘Vande Mataram’. Besides the music, that held the audience completely rapt, the Air Warrior Drill Team also performed during the show.
From the earliest times, music has been a soul stirring accompaniment to the men of arms, acting as a catalyst of exciting passion and inspiring them to go forth and conquer. Military bands enliven the spirit, strengthen the mood and help in promoting pride and camaraderie.
The first Air Force Band was raised in the year 1944 at the Royal Air Force Station, Kohat, in North Western Frontier Province. Today there are eight bands in the Indian Air Force. Progressing from the delightful martial music, successive conductors of the bands enhanced the range of its repertoire to include arrangements of symphonies, overtures and concertos as well as other forms of contemporary music including the Indian Classical.
Sunday, 09 January 2011
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NEW DELHI: Paresh Baruah, the military chief of the banned outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), seems to be enjoying hospitality in China. His presence in the neighbouring country has been confirmed by the arrested head of a Manipuri militant group.
United National Liberation Front ( UNLF) chief R K Sanayaima alias Meghen, arrested last month in Bihar by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), confessed during interrogation that he had met the elusive 'commander-in-chief' of ULFA during the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
Highly-placed sources said the Manipuri militant leader also told NIA investigators that both of them had intensive talks in Shanghai about the activities of the two outfits, future plans, arms procurement, and the casualties suffered during the offensive launched by security forces.
The Shanghai World Expo was held between May 1 to October 31, 2010.
Sources said 54-year-old Baruah has been mostly based in Yunnan province of China bordering Myanmar but he frequents northern Myanmar's Kachin areas.
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