Air crash (Aug 15, 2003)

Sepoy Beli Ram cremated after 35 years
S. P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Devipur (Akhnoor), August 14
Eightytwo-year-old Tando Devi stood numb in the Devipur migrant camp as the skeletal remains of her soldier son, Beli Ram, were handed over to her by the Army. The remains were flown in today from the Dacca glacier in Himachal Pradesh, where these had been lying for the past 35 years.

It was an unprecedented cremation of a soldier in the history of the armed forces as he was cremated 35 years after death. It was a sheer chance that remains of Beli Ram, who had died in an air crash in February, 1968, were recovered.

Beli Ram's wife Giano Devi sat with folded hands besides the remains, wrapped in the Tricolour, as a sea of humanity turned up at their mud house in the village to pay last respects.

The body was flown to Pathankot from Manali in an IAF aircraft this morning and brought here in a Chetak helicopter of the Army in the afternoon.

He was cremated with full military honours and given a gun salute by jawans of the Assam Rifles, when the pyre was lit by his nephew. Besides a large number of people, senior Army officers were also present at the cremation.

The people lined up on both sides of the road as the remains were brought here from Akhnoor, where the GOC of the 10th Infantry Div, Maj-GenTej Sapru, laid a wreath on the body.

Ms Tando Devi several times tried to have a glimpse of her son's remains by lifting the plastic sheet in which these were wrapped. Beli Ram's sisters wept bitterly and placed a rakhi on his body, wrapped in bandages when it was brought out of the plastic sheet.

A village elder, Mr Baldev Singh, said no one had ever thought that the body of Beli Ram would be recovered, 35 years after the crash. "It is a miracle for all of us." he said.

He was thankful to the Army, which gave respect to the dead soldier and brought his body home from an inaccessible mountain glacier.

The remains were scheduled to reach here at 11 am, but the helicopter landed about 1 pm as it could not take off from Manali due to bad weather.

Beli Ram had died when the AN-12, in which he was flying from Leh to Chandigarh, crashed on February 7, 1968, on the south Dakka glacier in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.

There were 102 soldiers and crew members on the flight. So far only the skeletal remains of Beli Ram have been found by trekkers of the Mountaineering Institute at Manali.

Pratibha Chauhan adds from Manali: "Except for Beli Ram's body, we could not identify any other person as only pieces of bones and flesh, which have become leathery and bloated after remaining buried under snow for years, could be recovered," said Colonel Chauhan, Director of the Mountaineering Institute.

"Though Army personnel in the search team have returned, the Air Force personnel are expected back here tomorrow," said Colonel Chauhan, who has been assisting in the search operation. He added that Dogra Scouts from the Sumdo battalion have returned to their location in Kinnaur.

He said the presence of Lance Naik Kamal Singh Bhandari in the aircraft could be established as his bed holding was found intact.

"Though the Army is trying to verify if the name of Lance Naik Bhandari figures in the manifest of the persons on board the aircraft, but from the documents found, he hails from Chamoli district in Garhwal and was in the Army Ordinance Corps.

A joint team of the Army and the Air Force had for the past three days been undertaking Operation Salvage at the 16,500 feet high Dacca glacier to search for the remains of persons on board the aircraft. The Army, after searching for the missing aircraft, had suspended the operation six months after the crash, said Army sources.

The recent search was carried out at the Dacca glacier, as the aircraft had crashed after hitting the Chander Bhaga-13 peak. The operation was undertaken after a team of climbers from the Mountaineering Institute chanced upon the remains of Beli Ram, whose identity could be established from his service documents.

Following this, the Army decided to launch an operation to search for the remains of others and extricate the body of Beli Ram.

It is, however, not certain whether the search operation would be wound up, as the defence authorities might wish to lift the wreckage of the aircraft from the glacier.

Air crash

Aug.6,2003                                                                   M A I N   N E W S

A wish realised after 35 years
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Trekkers of the Manali-based Mountaineering Institute sit beside the body of Sepoy Beli Ram on the South Dakka glacier (16000 ft) in Himachal Pradesh where he had died along with 101 soldiers 35 years ago in a crash; and (inset) 82-year-old Tando Devi with a picture of her son, Beli Ram. Photos Sarabjeet Singh and Mountaineering Institute.

Akhnoor, August 5
It is a miracle for the 82-year-old Tando Devi as some trekkers have spotted the mutilated body of her son, Sepoy Beli Ram, who had died in an air crash 35 years ago on the south Dakka Glacier (16,000 ft) in Lahaul-Spiti.

Tando Devi and Giano Devi (55), widow of Sepoy Beli Ram, are sobbing in a migrant camp at Devipur, near here, ever since they were informed about the recovery of the body of the soldier who had gone missing on February 7, 1968. The aged mother said she had never thought that she would be able to see her son alive or dead. And at last her wish to see at least her son's body has been realised.

The jawan was among the 102 soldiers, including six crew members of AN-12, who died when the aircraft on its way to Leh from Chandigarh crashed. The Army and the Air Force abandoned the search for the missing soldiers six months later.

The jawan had married Giano Devi just two years before the crash when she was just 20-year-old. After receiving the news of the recovery of the body, many friends of the jawan have started enquiring about the arrival of the body here.

Tando Devi and Giano Devi recalled that they were informed in 1968 that the jawan was among those missing after the crash. A few days later another soldier came to their house and informed them that he had been declared dead. Thereafter, the family married Giano Devi with the younger brother of Beli Ram.

Tando Devi said, according to the rituals, they performed his last rites by cremating his image made of silver. However, the family was anxiously waiting for his remains which they plan to cremate with their traditional style.

Giano Devi along with Chattu Ram, a friend of Beli Ram, yesterday met the Brigade Commander here seeking early recovery of the body.

When contacted at Manali on the telephone by this correspondent, Col H.S. Chauhan, Director of the mountaineering institute, said it might take a couple of days to retrieve the body. The body was identified from the service book which was found in the pocket of the coat which the jawan was wearing at the time of the crash.

He said some trekkers, who were on the way to scale the Chandra Bhaga-13 peak, spotted the body and some pieces of wreckage of the aircraft. Though the body had partially been reduced to a skeleton because of frost, the upper jaw, fingers and some hair were visible. Some badges of the Garhwal Rifles, Signals, Ordinance and RVC were scattered there.

Col Chauhan said the Army and the Air Force authorities were in touch with him and some men of the mountaineering institute might accompany them for the search of other bodies.

Mr Subhashish Panda, Deputy Commissioner, Lahaul-Spiti, said he was in contact with the Army authorities for retrieving the body.

Army lighting hills in J&K

OPED

TThe Tribune July 29, 2004

Electricity from water mills
An innovative experiment to generate power
by S.P. Sharma

Dr Anil Prakash Joshi explains the functioning of a water mill to Army officers

The villages along the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan that have become a hot bed of terrorism can now hope to have electricity of their own in case the innovative experiment of Dr Anil Prakash Joshi to generate power through the traditional water mills succeeds in the area.

The Northern Command of the Army has adopted the mechanism to modify the water mills introduced by Dr Joshi and is all set to make electricity available to the remote villages where the reach of the power development department of the J&K government is nowhere in sight.

The technology to generate electricity from the existing water mills that grind wheat for the villagers is not expensive. It costs around Rs 37,000 and the engineers of the Army were trying to cut the cost. It requires only replacing the traditional wooden shaft with a steel fabricated one, some belts and pulleys and an alternator to generate 1 to 8 KWs of electricity that is sufficient to electrify with one bulb about 100 households and also run a lathe and a wool combing machine.

Under the technique, the traditional "gharats" in the villages will not only grind the corn, but also generate electricity.

There was enthusiasm among the villagers to adopt the scheme that was environment friendly. The water mills have so far electrified the two villages of Barsada and Kulali in the Hillkaka area of Poonch and five others in the Kashmir valley where the terrorists virtually ruled till the past few months. The Army has identified about 80,000 water mills that were capable of electrifying the remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir. The Army has provided electricity to some villages by installing diesel generator sets, but that was an expensive proposition because of the recurring cost. Diesel has to be carried to certain areas in helicopters. But the water mills require only a one-time investment.

The engineers of the Army are fabricating the turbines and shafts and all this is being done under the "Operation Sadhbhavana" that has been launched by the Northern Command for the uplift of the villagers who were the worst victims of terrorism. By launching the operation under which not only electricity was being provided free of cost by the Army, several development works have been undertaken and children of the remote villages have been adopted by the Army to educate them in high quality institutions.

The credit for the thrust in such social welfare activity by the Army goes to Lt. Gen. Hari Prasad, GOC-in-C of the Northern Command. He has been taking personal interest in such activity.

The idea of getting the water mills modified struck the Army commander when he came across an article on the works of Dr Joshi in a book entitled "Prophets of New India". He immediately invited Dr Joshi here and discussed the modalities with him. Dr Joshi was providing knowhow free of cost to the Army.

Dr Joshi says that his dream was to create a mass movement at the grassroots level to modify the water mills to generate a substantial amount of electricity in the country. There were at least two lakh water mills in the sub-Himalayan region of the country that were capable of generating electricity for consumption on the local villages without depending on the large power projects.

He laments that although there was ample hidden raw material for progress, India has turned into a country of shortages and problems because we have not respected the traditions and are running after modern techniques. The villages were capable of being self-sufficient in every thing, but youth are shy of going to the places where their roots are. The mountains are rich in resources, but the people living there are the poorest in the country.

Dr Joshi says that he was in constant touch with the Planning Commission and pressuring the policy makers to invest in schemes that were rural friendly and not controlled from the urban areas.

He says steps should be taken to produce fruit products in the rural areas. About 50 per cent fruit gets destroyed in J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal every year. He has helped the local villagers establish groups for preserving fruit.

Dr Joshi, who was born in the Kotdwar village of Uttaranchal, quit his job as a Reader in the government college and took up works to use science and technology to solve the basic needs of the mountain people. He was declared "Man of the year" for 2002 by "The Week" magazine. He has been awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award by the Indian Science Congress in 1999 and also received Social Science Award for the year 2001 from Shri Ram Washeshran Devi Bhatia Memorial Charitable Trust.

He set about the task of checking the menace of landslides in 1979 through botanical methods controlling 30 major slides. The Border Roads Organisation took his technical advice to check landslides in Garhwal.

He has established the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) at Dehra Dun to guide development of the mountainous region.

Terror in J&K

July 29,2004

             Terrorist outfits using boys for infiltration

                                                                                                 S.P. Sharma

                                                                                         Tribune News Service 

 

Jammu, July 28

Pakistan-based terrorist outfits are using young boys as guinea pigs by making them infiltrate into Indian territory to find loopholes in the security arrangements.

 

The security forces during the past few days have arrested a number of infiltrators and eliminated the militant groups that had entered various border villages carrying a good quantity of remote-control explosive devices and grenades.

 

At least seven Pakistani nationals have been arrested during the current month at different places along the international border in Jammu district where they infiltrated from Pakistan. They were in the age group of 15 to 25 years. They have been sent to the joint interrogation centre of the BSF, state police and other central intelligence agencies.

 

A senior security officer today said that they were not taking the risk of handing back these persons to their Pakistani counterparts as it could lead to a breach of the security of the pilgrims. Although these persons have claimed that they inadvertently crossed the border, the BSF and other security agencies do not believe them and have pointed out that such a high number of infiltration during the "yatra" smells foul.

 

A top security officer suspected that these boys were being used as guinea pigs by the mentors of terrorism in Pakistan to find new routes for infiltrating the trained ultras. He said that such probing missions by the young Pakistani boys have increased eversince the Amarnath pilgrimage began.

 

A retired soldier of the Pakistani Army was arrested recently when he intruded into the Chicken Neck area of Akhnoor. It was being verified whether he was working for the Pakistani ISI that was spreading terrorism here.

 

During a meeting of officers of the BSF and Pakistani Rangers at Wagah in June, it was decided that both sides would immediately return those persons who inadvertently crossed the border. However, in this case the BSF was not taking any risk and would return these persons only after the Amarnath pilgrimage if they were found innocent.

 

The terrorists have been targeting the Amarnath pilgrimage almost every year. A number of persons were killed three years ago when the ultras attacked the base camp of the pilgrimage at Pahalgam. They made another attempt the very next year. The Vaishno Devi pilgrims were also attacked by terrorists at Katra, resulting in the death of eight of them.

 

Elaborate security arrangements have been made this time for the pilgrimage by deploying the Army, the BSF and the CRPF in strength. The convoy carrying the pilgrims is every day escorted by the BSF and the CRPF from here.

Kashmir dispute

Nov.29,2005

     J&K parties reject joint-control theory of US-based group 

                                                                            S.P. Sharma

                                                                  Tribune News Service 

 

Jammu, November 28

There is no taker here of the US-based Kashmir Study Group's (KSG) theory of joint control of India and Pakistan over Jammu & Kashmir and the main parties in Jammu and Ladakh have rejected the proposal outrightly.

 

While the Kashmir-based separatists, the PDP of Mufti Sayeed and the National Conference were either in favour of the proposal or wanted autonomy for the state, the BJP in Jammu and the Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUTF) say that accession of J&K to India was irrevocable and steps should be taken to bring the state in the mainstream of the country.

 

Various US-based individuals and bodies have started lobbying for the "self governance" proposal that also mooted by Pakistan.

 

Proposals of the KSG have evoked strong reactions here with the BJP describing it as an "insidious influence" to make India withdraw from Jammu and Kashmir and hand over the state to the Pakistani agents in Kashmir.

 

In a hard-hitting reaction, Prof Hari Om, vice-president of the BJP, today said that anti-India elements, including many sitting in Delhi, were these days busy conspiring against India with a view to preparing ground for another partition of the country on communal lines and throwing in the lot of the non-Muslim minorities in the state with the religious fanatics masquerading as freedom fighters. He named some individuals in his statement.

 

He said it was difficult to understand why the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre was watching as mute spectator anti-India activities going on in Delhi itself and allowing them to vitiate the country's politico-religious atmosphere.

 

Prof Hari Om said neither Mr Omar Abdullah and Ms Mehbooba Mufti, who were supporting the idea of self-governance, represented will of the people. He alleged they represented only the opinion which hates pluralism, diversity, secularism and the principle of justice, fair play and equal participation.

 

Chairman of the Hill Development Council of Ladakh, Tsring Dorjey, when contacted at Leh over the telephone, rejected the proposals of the KSG and said that we wanted to strengthen ties with India.

 

The idea of J&K becoming a buffer state was not acceptable to the people of Ladakh who wanted to join the mainstream of the country, he added.

 

Mr Rajiv Chunni, president of the SOS Refugees Organisation, who represents the displaced persons of Muzaffarabad (PoK), said that the accession of J&K to India was final and toying with the idea of self-governance or joint control of India and Pakistan over Kashmir was a dangerous proposition that was not acceptable to the refugees.

 

He questioned the proposal of the KSG that all displaced persons on either side would have the right to return to their home localities and pointed out that with Mirpur town (PoK) having submerged under the waters of the Mangla dam there was no question of the refugees returning there.

 

The KSG, that has claimed to have taken into account the Kashmiri sentiments before preparing the proposals, has among other things suggested that the borders of Jammu and Kashmir in India and Pakistan would remain open for the free transit of people, goods, services in accordance with arrangements to be worked out between India, Pakistan and the five entities of J&K.

 

The KSG has recommended that portions of the formerly princely state of Jammu and Kashmir be reconstituted into self-governing entities enjoying free access to one another and to and from India and Pakistan.

 

While the present Line of Control (LoC) would remain in place till such time as both India and Pakistan decided to alter it in their mutual interest, both India and Pakistan would de-militarise the area included in the entities. Neither India nor Pakistan could place troops on the other side of the LoC without the permission of the other side.

 

All displaced persons who left any portion of the entities would have the right to return to their home localities.

 

Kashmir problem

Apr 21, 2005

       Pak woman's claim rings warning bells  

                                                                              S.P. Sharma

                                                                     Tribune News Service

 

Jammu, April 20

A Pakistani woman, who travelled to Jammu and Kashmir in the inaugural bus service from Muzaffarabad to Srinagar on April 7, and has now resorted to legal recourse to reclaim the property that her father had left in the Kashmir valley in 1949 when he migrated to PoK, has sounded warning bells for those who were allotted evacuee properties after the country Partition.

 

The incident has created fear among the allottees residing in the evacuee properties for the past 58 years as the bus service has opened the door for their eviction in case of claimants coming here from Pakistan or the PoK areas.

 

Thousands of persons were allotted the evacuee properties after they migrated here from Pakistan in 1947. However, unlike other parts of the country the Jammu and Kashmir Government continues to officially maintain the evacuee properties.

 

A sword was hung over the heads of the allottees by the then National Conference government that introduced in 1982 the Resettlement Bill in the legislature seeking to restore the evacuee properties to the genuine claimants who returned here from Pakistan. The Bill was passed by the two Houses, but is currently challenged in the Supreme Court.

 

The issue was politicised by the Congress and the BJP during the elections in 1983 when the former managed to sweep the Assembly poll in the Jammu region by highlighting the disadvantages of the Bill. Hundreds of families, particularly in the Jammu region, face uncertainty because of the legislation.

 

Initially, the coalition government headed by Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed tried to dispel the apprehensions that starting the bus service would not affect the allottees. However, the action of the Pakistani woman, Fareeda Ghani, who has filed papers to reclaim her three properties in the valley, has created a peculiar situation.

 

Such happenings are not new in the state. A Pakistani national, who crossed into Poonch district from across the LoC, filed his papers for contesting the last Lok Sabha elections from the Jammu-Poonch constituency. However, a special scrutiny of his papers was held following media reports about his nationality and the Election Commission debarred him. However, the state government has not so far taken any action to either push him and his family members back or detain them for overstaying in India without valid documents.

 

Meanwhile, taking a serious note of the Pakistani national reclaiming her property, the state BJP has described it as a conspiracy hatched by the Congress-supported PDP to alter the demographic landscape of Jammu.

 

The vice-president of the BJP, Prof Hari Om, today expressed fear that those who were settled on evacuee properties in 1947 might get ousted once the visitors from PoK started reclaiming the properties they had left back during Partition.

 

He said that the state government had allowed these visitors to stay here beyond April 21 while they were supposed to return to their native land as part of the second trip of the bus service.

 

terror in J&K

July 20, 2005

           Ration for poor passed on to terrorists 

                                                                         S.P. Sharma

                                                               Tribune News Service 

 

Jammu, July 19

With fudged figures of the number of families below poverty line (BPL) in Jammu and Kashmir, a large quantity of ration meant for them is being passed on to terrorists particularly in border districts.

 

No actual survey appears to have been made to ascertain the number of BPL families and different departments were making conflicting claims. The Planning Commission of India has also taken serious view of the fudged figures that have been prepared by different departments.

 

During recent raids on terrorist hideouts, particularly in Doda, Poonch and Rajouri districts, the security forces recovered a huge quantity of ration. The ration was reportedly supplied by the FCI to the BPL families in the far-flung areas.

 

During Operation Sarapvinash in the Hill Kaka area of Poonch, the Army recovered more than 2,000 quintals of ration from various hideouts of terrorists.

 

There were allegations that not only officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department but also the transport mafia responsible for siphoning off the government ration.

 

The vigilance department has registered a case in which ration worth more than Rs 40 crore meant for the Antoyadaya and BPL families in the Marwah block of Doda district was misused. Against the nearly 20,000 population of the block, the authorities were drawing ration for a population of about 56,000 every month.

 

The same was the case with most of the kerosene depots that were thriving on illicit trade.

 

One of the data complied by the state government claimed that there were 7.86 lakh BPL families in the state. Another document claimed that 57 per cent of the households were BPL. Another department put the figure at 3.98 per cent.

 

Piqued over these figures, the planning commission has pointed out that how can one reconcile 57 per cent on one hand and 3.98 per cent on the other? "It seems that none of them is correct".

 

According to yet another figure released recently by a minister, the number of BPL families in the state was 6,04,369. Interestingly, within a couple of days another minister put the figure at 7.36 lakh.

 

The commission observed that it would be futile to continue pumping money into the state for poverty alleviation programmes without having a realistic estimation of poverty in the state.

 

It observed that a modest attempt at analysing the implementation of various rural development programmes provided a "very sad" picture in terms of accountability and fund utilisation.

 

It said a disturbing feature of rural development interventions in the state was the implementation mechanism adopted for the major poverty alleviation programmes and schemes.

 

"It seems that instead of helping rural poor to come out of the poverty trap, these interventions have further drifted them into it. The amount of money pumped into various development programmes should have resulted in complete rural poverty."