http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/colonel-killed-in-kupwara-gunfight/159737.html
Colonel killed in
Kupwara gunfight
Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, November
17
A Colonel of the
Army’s elite Para Commando unit was today killed and a policeman injured in a
firefight with militants in north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district.
Colonel Santosh
Mahadik, Commanding Officer of 41 Rashtriya Rifles, belonged to 21 Para
Regiment (Special Forces) and had been successfully leading his RR unit engaged
in anti-militancy operations.
Sources said the
officer was relentlessly pursuing a group of 3-5 militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba
in the forest area of Manigah Haihama, Kupwara, nearly 120 km from here, for
the past few days.
“Various anti-militancy
operations are on in the dense forest area of Kupwara
over the past few days. An input
was received today morning that the militants had come to Kashmiri Manigah
hamlet, close to a forest area, for meals. Thereafter, Colonel Mahadik led the
team of his unit and Special Operation Group (SOG) of police. As they were
combing the forest area around 1pm, the hiding militants opened indiscriminate
firing, critically wounding the Army officer and a policeman," a source
privy to the operation said.
"The injured were shifted
to an Army hospital where the
Colonel succumbed to injuries,”
the source said, adding that the operation to track down the militants was on
when last reports were received. “The Colonel was a true soldier. He had been
awarded Sena Medal for exhibiting gallantry and leadership in counter-terrorist
operations,” Srinagar-based defence spokesman Colonel NN Joshi said.
Colonel Mahadik hailed from
Godlo in Satara district of Maharashtra. Born on January 15, 1977, he donned
olive green in December 1998. He leaves behind wife, seven-year-old son and a
five-year-old daughter. A police officer said Colonel Mahadik was keen on
flushing out the hiding ultras. “Let us chase them,” he had reportedly told the
police officer after the operation was launched.
The combing operation in the
forest of Haihama has been on since Friday in which so far an Army officer has
been killed and two soldiers and policeman have been injured. The operation was
launched by the Army, SOG J&K Police and para commandos. The militants
managed to flee at least twice after contact was established with them by
security forces.
Colonel Mahadik is the second
Commanding Officer of an RR Battalion to have been killed this year in the
region. On January 27, Col Munindra Nath Rai, who was commanding 42 RR, was
killed in an encounter at a village in Pulwama district.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/russians-up-strikes-in-french-fury/159736.html
Russians up strikes
in French fury
Moscow confirms bomb
downed its airliner in Oct, Paris calls for EU assistance
Paris/Moscow,
November 17
France and Russia
staged air strikes on Islamic State targets in northern Syria on Tuesday,
punishing the group for attacks in Paris and against a Russian airliner that
together killed 353 people.
Edit: G-20: From
trade to terror
Islamic State had
claimed responsibility for a coordinated onslaught in Paris on Friday and the
downing of a Russian charter jet over Sinai on October 31, saying they were in retaliation
for French and Russian air raids in Iraq and Syria.
Still reeling from
the Paris carnage that killed 129, most of them young people, France formally
requested European Union assistance in its fight against the militants and
British PM David Cameron edged closer to extending military action against
Islamic State in Syria. Police investigating the worst atrocity in France since
World War-II discovered two safe houses in Paris where they believe the
militants launched their assault. Underlining the widening scope of the probe,
the police in Germany said they arrested five suspects, including two women.
In Moscow, the
Kremlin acknowledged that a homemade bomb had destroyed a Russian airliner last
month, killing 224 people. President Vladimir Putin vowed to hunt down those
responsible and intensify air strikes against Islamists in Syria.
“Our air force's military work
in Syria must not simply be continued,” he said. “It must be intensified in
such a way that the criminals understand that retribution is inevitable.”
Western officials said Russia launched a “significant number” of strikes
hitting the Islamic State stronghold of Raqa. In a separate action, apparently
not coordinated, French warplanes targeted Raqa for a second day. French
President Francois Hollande has said he will see Putin and US President Barack
Obama to convince them to join a grand coalition against Islamic State. —
Reuters
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/5-naga-papers-publish-blank-edit-in-protest/159733.html
5 Naga papers
publish blank edit in protest
Kohima, November 17
Five newspapers in
Nagaland were published with their editorial spaces blank to protest what they
termed an effort by the Assam Rifles to suppress freedom of the media in the
state. The Nagaland Press Association (NPA), a conglomerate of journalists and
non-journalists, also extended support to the editors in their protest against
the paramilitary force.
English dailies
Morung Express, Eastern Mirror and Nagaland Page and vernacular papers Capi
Daily (in Angami dialect) and Tir Yimyim (in Ao dialect) were published with
their editorial spaces blank yesterday as a mark of protest. The Nagaland Post
carried an editorial opposing the Assam Rifles' diktat.
They were protesting
a letter purportedly sent by the Assam Rifles to the editors of all local
dailies on October 24. The letter allegedly warned newspapers against carrying
statements made by militant groups, specifically the NSCN (K), reminding them
that the outfit had been declared an "unlawful association" by the
Union Home Ministry.
"Any article
which projects the demands of NSCN (K) and gives it publicity is a violation
under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1957, and should not be
published by your newspaper," the letter had said. The NSCN (K) had
abrogated the 14-year-old ceasefire with the Centre in April.
Nagaland Press
Association president K Temjen Jamir today said, "The Assam Rifles is not
here to govern, but only to perform their assigned duty. They are supposed to
maintain peace and as mediapersons, we are also trying to promote peace. We
must work together," he said. Apex students' body in the state, Naga
Students' Federation, also condemned the "malicious effort" of the
Assam Rifles. — PTI
Move comes after
letter from Assam Rifles
The newspapers were
protesting a letter purportedly sent by the Assam Rifles to the editors of all
local dailies allegedly warning them against carrying statements made by
militant groups, specifically the NSCN (K)
"The Assam
Rifles is not here to govern, but only to perform their assigned duty. They are
supposed to maintain peace and as mediapersons, we are also trying to promote
peace. We must work together," - K
Temjen Jamir, Nagaland Press Association President
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/pakistan-violates-truce-pact-in-samba-sector-bsf-retaliates/159504.html
Pakistan violates
truce pact in Samba sector, BSF retaliates
Tribune News Service
Jammu, November 17
In less than a month
after a sector commander-level meeting between the border guarding forces of
Pakistan and India, Pakistan violated ceasefire in the Samba sector last night.
The BSF retaliated in equal measure.
“Four rounds of AK-47 assault
rifle were fired from a jungle on the Pakistan’s side towards our side. There
was no targeted firing and it could not be attributed to Pakistan Rangers. They
could have been ultras because there are a number of them on their (Pakistan)
side,” said RK Sharma, Inspector General of the BSF, Jammu Frontier.
We didn’t see any suspicious
movement but following four rounds of fire from Pakistan’s side, we also
retaliated in equal measure and also fired a para bomb to light up the area to
ensure that no intrusion bid was made by subversive elements from across the
border, added Sharma.
The IG said the BSF would
shortly lodge a strong protest with the Rangers against the unwarranted firing
from the Pakistan’s side.
Official sources said around
2.20 am on Monday night, four rounds of small arms were fired from across the
border in the Chalyari area of Samba sector.
“Fire didn’t come from any of
the Pakistani posts in the area. Consequently, we also fired three or four
rounds and a para bomb,” they added. There were no reports of damage on the
Indian side.
It may be stated here that
following intense firing and shelling by Pakistan for three consecutive nights
from October 23 to October 25 in the Samba and Hiranagar subsectors, the BSF
and Rangers had a sector commander-level meeting on October 27 to de-escalate
tension and restore sanity on the border.
From July 15 to October 25, at
least 13 persons, including two BSF jawans and two BSF officers were killed and
53 others injured in rampant ceasefire violations by the Pakistan army and
Pakistan Rangers on the LoC and the international border in the Jammu region.
More than 2,000 border residents had also fled their homes to escape Pakistani
shelling.
Eventually, sweets diplomacy was
back on the international border on November 11 when the BSF and Pakistan
Rangers exchanged sweets and pleasantries at seven border outposts on the Zero
Line in seven subsectors along the border in the Jammu region to mark Diwali.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif in a recent letter to Asiya Andrabi, chief of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, avowed
unwavering support of his country to separatists.
Meanwhile, the BSF and the
Pakistan Rangers held a flag meeting at the local level in the Samba sector
today.
“The meeting was held at the
local level between the post commandants of BSF and Pakistan Rangers where the
former lodged a strong protest against the unwarranted act from their side,”
said an Intelligence official.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/obama-puts-disputed-sea-on-agenda/159452.html
Obama puts disputed
sea on agenda
Manila, November 17
US President Barack
Obama put tensions over Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea squarely on the
agenda ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit on Tuesday, pointedly visiting the main
warship of close ally the Philippines shortly after he landed in Manila.
While Obama affirmed
a commitment to the Philippines’ security and to freedom of navigation in
regional waters, a senior official in Beijing said China was the real victim of
the waterway dispute because other countries had illegally occupied islands
there.
The verbal jousting
could cast a shadow over the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit of
about 20 heads of state and government, including Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Manila has said it
will not bring up the maritime dispute to avoid embarrassing Xi, but could not
prevent others from doing so. Xi also arrived in Manila on Tuesday, but did not
make any public comments.
Shortly after Air
Force One touched down in Manila, Obama boarded the Gregorio del Pilar, a
Philippines navy frigate that was a US Coast Guard cutter until 2011 but on
Tuesday flew the flags of the two allies.
“We have a treaty obligation, an
iron-clad commitment to the defence of our ally the Philippines,” he said,
flanked by about two dozen US and Philippines uniformed navy personnel.
“My visit here underscored our
shared commitment to the security of the waters of this region and to freedom
of navigation.” He did not mention China but the symbolism of his visit was
hard to miss: the ageing vessel is now a mainstay of the Philippine Navy,
operating around the Spratly islands in the South China Sea that are claimed by
both Manila and Beijing.
Obama also announced two more US
ships would be transferred to the Philippines as part of a two-year $250
million package to enhance regional maritime security - a research vessel to
help navigate territorial waters and a coast guard cutter for “long endurance
patrols”. — Reuters
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