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Operation Vijay: How India won the 1999 Kargil war against Pakistan

New Delhi (NVI): It was this day 21 years ago when India emerged victorious in a three-month-long battle with Pakistan as its armed forces evicted Pakistani troops perched on mountain tops of Kargil in Ladakh.

The Kargil war was fought between India and Pakistan between May and July 1999 in the Kargil sector of Line of Control (LOC). During the war, the Indian Army evicted Pakistani intruders and succeeded in recapturing the Tiger Hill and other posts as a part of ‘Operation Vijay’.

It was on this day in 1999 that the Indian Army had declared successful culmination of ‘Operation Vijay’ after recapturing the peaks occupied by Pakistan Army and hoisted the national tricolor.

To commemorate the supreme sacrifice of brave Indian officers and soldiers, Kargil Day or Vijay Diwas is observed every year on July 26.

The Indian troops fought the months-long battle under one of the toughest conditions and difficult terrain. Therefore, the war is the most recent example of high-altitude warfare in mountainous terrain, and as such posed significant logistical problems for the combating sides.

The War

The war took place from May 3 to July 26 in 1999 as the Indian Army evicted Pakistani intruders– both regular troops and mujahideens (intruders)- from the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC). The whole world was concerned as the armies of the nuclear-armed nations fought the war. India launched Operation Vijay to clear the posts in the Kargil sector, which was occupied by the Pakistani soldiers and infiltrators on the Indian side of the LoC.

The Pakistani soldiers and intruders had positioned themselves at higher altitudes, which gave them an advantage over their Indian counterparts as they could easily shoot down on them. Due to this height advantage, two Indian fighter jets — one Mig-21 and one MiG-27 were shot down by Pakistan.

Pakistan had also asked the US to intervene in the war. However, the international diplomatic community stood with India. As a result, Pakistan started withdrawing its troops after India continued to chase the intruders despite heavy losses. The Indian armed forces attacked the rest of the outposts and July on 26, the Indian Army had managed to conquer back the last of these posts.

In the war fought along Line of Control (LoC), the country lost nearly 490 Army officers and soldiers, while flushing out militias and regular troops of Pakistan. Pakistan also lost a number of its regular and irregular troops.

Among the brave hearts of the war are Captain Vikram Batra, Captain Anuj Nayar, Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey, Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav, Colonel Sonam Wangchuk, Major Vivek Gupta, Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, Naik Digendra Kumar and Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari.

-ARK

DC office in Jammu declared containment zone after 3 test positive

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Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Three people working in the office of Deputy Commissioner- Jammu tested positive for the Covid-19, forcing the district administration to declare the entire office complex as a containment zone.

Officials said that three people including a petition writer, security guard and a sanitary worker at the office complex tested positive for Covid this morning after which the district administration Jammu decided to close the office and declare the entire building as a containment zone. The DC office, along with the external area on Wazarat road, Jammu has been declared as a containment zone, officials said.

DC Jammu also wrote on his Twitter handle: “3 persons (petitioner writer, security guard, sanitary worker) engaged in the premises of the DC office complex have turned Covid +ve. The entire complex of DC office with external holding area on Wazarat road is declared temporarily as a containment zone for extensive sanitization.”

Officials said that entry and exit of all the employees have been restricted to the complex for some time till the entire building is sanitized extensively. The Jammu division has over 3,600 positive cases with around 2,000 recoveries and 22 deaths.

-ARK

Terrorists fire at security forces party in J&K’s Shopian, flee

Kashmir
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Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Terrorists attacked a joint party of Police and CRPF at the main town in South Kashmir’s Shopian today and managed to flee from the spot, police said.

No loss of life or injury was reported in the incident.

A police official said that militants fired a few bullets from a distance at the joint teams of police at main town Shopian and managed to escape from the spot.

“The forces didn’t retaliate as the place witnesses huge rush of people,” he said, adding that the entire area has been cordoned off and a massive search operation is launched.

“An alert has been sounded in the area and forces deployed at all entry and exit points are maintaining a tight vigil,” the officer said.

-ARK

PM pays tributes to martyrs on Kargil Vijay Diwas

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tributes to martyrs on Kargil Vijay Diwas, while remembering the courage and determination of the Indian armed forces who fought bravely against Pakistan at chilling heights.

“On Kargil Vijay Diwas, we remember the courage and determination of our armed forces, who steadfastly protected our nation in 1999. Their valour continues to inspire generations,” PM Modi tweeted.

In another tweet, the PM shared a small video clip on the Kargil war by the Indian Army, while tweeting: “India remains eternally grateful to our soldiers for their bravery.”

The Prime Minister also said that he will speak more on Vijay Diwas during his Mann Ki Baat radio address today.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also paid tributes at the National War Memorial on New Delhi on the occasion of 21st anniversary of the country’s victory over Pakistan in the Kargil war.

Every year, July 26 is celebrated as ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’ to mark the successful completion of ‘Operation Vijay’, that ended after a three-month battle with Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC). The country lost nearly 490 Indian Army officers and soldiers in the war while flushing out militias and regular troops of Pakistan.

.-ARK

Daily Covid-19 tests in India reach up to 4.2 lakh amid surge in cases

New Delhi (NVI): India has registered a record number of single-day COVID-19 tests on the second consecutive day as a total of 4,42,031 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said today.

The daily testing has been increased as there has been no let-up in daily new infection rate. The total number of coronavirus positive cases in the country now stand at 13,36,861 with 31,358 deaths recorded so far. 8,49,431 patients have been cured or discharged so far.

48,661 fresh cases and 705 new deaths were recorded since yesterday.

Currently, India is the third worst-hit country after the US and Brazil. Union Health Ministry yesterday said that india has ramped up its testing capacity to 4.2 lakh tests in a day. The rate at which the infection is spreading remains nearly double than the US and Brazil at present.

For the first time, government labs set a new record of testing 3,62,153 samples. Private labs also scaled a new high of 79,878 samples tested in a single day, the Health Ministry said.

Apart from that, the Central Government has advised all States to keep up with the strategy of aggressive testing, tracking and treatment which may initially lead to a high number of daily positive cases but would eventually achieve a decline as has been demonstrated after Union Govt’s efforts in Delhi.

In another development, North Korea has imposed lockdown on the border city of Kaesong after the country’s first suspected case of the novel coronavirus.

According to North Korean state media KCNA, its leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting yesterday to implement a “maximum emergency system and issue a top-class alert” to contain the virus.

Meanwhile, over 16 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide with around 6,44,000 deaths and approximately 9.23 million people recovered.

-ARK

Dragon Sniper Rifle, ammunition recovered in J&K’s Gulmarg sector: Army

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Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): The Indian Army has today recovered a Dragon Sniper Rifle with a magazine besides other arms and ammunition at Gulmarg sector in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

Today’s weapon and ammunition recovery along the LoC in Baramulla district is third in a row in the ensuing month of July. Defence Spokesman in Srinagar, Colonel Rajesh Kalia told NVI that a Dragon Sniper with a magazine and 194 AK-47 rounds, 10 Rifle Grenades and two IED Circuits were recovered in Marpathri, upper reaches of Gulmarg in Baramulla district.

He said that a search operation was launched in the morning following credible inputs regarding presence of arms cache in the forest area. Police sources said that a case has been registered in this regard in Gulmarg Police Station. This recovery comes just two days after the Army recovered a huge arms cache in Hathlangoo area of Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

On July 22, Army’s Srinagar-based Chinar-Corps had said in a tweet that an input was received regarding weapon drop near LoC and a search operation was launched after that. The recovered items included one AK-47 rifle with magazines, five Chinese pistols with magazines, 24 grenades and other warlike stores.

Earlier, on July 7, the Army during a search operation close to Line of Control (LoC) in Maidan Nala, of Uri area in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district had recovered a cache of arms consisting of three AK-56, two Pistols with magazines and other ammunition.

-CHK

COVID-19: J&K records 523 fresh cases, tally at 17,305

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir today witnessed yet another spike as 523 fresh coronavirus cases, including 88 travelers, were reported taking the total number of positive cases in the Union Territory to 17,305.

Officials said that among the 523 new cases, 367 belong to Kashmir division while 156 are from Jammu division, adding that the total number of positive cases in Kashmir division has reached 13.669 including 7,550 recoveries while the total number of positive cases in Jammu division has reached 3,636 including 1,967 recoveries and 22 deaths.

Officials said that total number of active cases in Jammu and Kashmir stands at 7,483 including 5,836 from Kashmir division and 1,647 from Jammu division.

With 300 more recoveries, the tally of total recoveries in the UT has reached 9,517 which is 54.99 percent of the total cases which was over 63 percent a few days before.

Pertinently, Srinagar district alone has 3,793 positive cases which is more than the total number of positive cases in Jammu division.

Cases tested positive in J&K include 145 from Srinagar, 18 from Baramulla, 06 from Kulgam, 11 from Shopian, 20 from Anantnag, 10 from Kupwara, 62 from Pulwama, 56 from Budgam, 30 from Bandipora and 09 from Ganderbal in Kashmir division while as 156 from Jammu division include 66 from Jammu, 27 from Kuthua, 16 from Rajouri, 02 from Udhampur, 09 from Ramban, 02 from Samba, 18 from Doda, 04 from Poonch, 10 from Kishtwar and 02 from Reasi.

As per the officials figures, in Kashmir division, 3,793 positive cases including 86 deaths and 1,518 recoveries are from Srinagar, 1,758 including 63 deaths and 1,109 recoveries are from Baramulla, 1,443 including 916 recoveries and 26 deaths are from Kulgam, 1,363 including 20 deaths and 886 recoveries are from Shopian, 1,151 including 21 deaths and 728 recoveries are from Anantnag, 1,018 including 644 recoveries and 16 deaths are from Kupwara, 1,194 including 594 recoveries and 16 deaths are from Pulwama, 1,040 including 611 recoveries and 21 deaths are from Budgam, 591 including 396 recoveries and 08 deaths are from Bandipora and 318 including 149 recoveries and 06 death are from Ganderbal.

In Jammu division, 823 including 482 recoveries and 14 deaths are from Jammu district, 460 including 298 recoveries and 01 death are from Kathua, 524 including 123 recoveries and 02 death are from Rajouri, 388 including 299 recoveries and 01 death are from Udhampur, 472 including 240 recoveries are from Ramban, 364 including 202 recoveries and 01 death are from Samba, 228 including 109 recoveries and 02 deaths are from Doda, 170 including 135 recoveries and 01 death is from Poonch, 106 including 34 recoveries are from Kishtwar and 101 including 45 recoveries are from Reasi.

As per the daily information bulletin, 3,50,946 people in Jammu and Kashmir are placed under observation while 43,332 people have been kept under home quarantine. 7,483 people are in hospital isolation while 12 people are under hospital quarantine.

According to the bulletin, 2,58,962 people have completed surveillance period and 40,852 people are under home surveillance besides that so far results of 5,70,508 samples have been made available.

-CHK

PM Modi reviews implementation of PM-SVANidhi Scheme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held a meeting to review the implementation of PM-SVANidhi Scheme which comes under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.

The Centre launched the PM SVANidhi Scheme to facilitate collateral free working capital loan upto Rs 10,000 with a tenure of one-year to approximately 50 lakh street vendors, to help them resume their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Loan processing under the scheme has begun since July 2, 2020 through an IT platform “PM SVANidhi” with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), which is the implementing agency for the scheme administration.

During the meeting, it was informed that over 2.6 lakh applications have been received, over 64,000 have been sanctioned and more than 5,500 have been disbursed.

PM Modi expressed satisfaction on use of end-to-end IT solution through a web-portal and mobile App for administration of the Scheme to ensure transparency, accountability and speed.

While noting that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is working on a complete IT solution including mobile application for seamless implementation of the scheme, the PM said that the scheme design should invent use of end-to-end digital transactions by the street vendors. This should cover the entire gamut of their business – from procurement of raw material to collection of sale proceeds.

Appropriate incentives and training should be conducted for this purpose. Use of digital payments would also help build a credit profile for the street vendor helping them in future financial needs, Modi further added.

The Prime Minister also said that the scheme should not be just seen from the perspective for extending loans to street vendors. It should also be seen as a part of an outreach to the street vendors for their holistic development and economic upliftment.

-CHK

Coronavirus cases cross 2.70 lakh-mark in Pakistan

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan have crossed 2.70 lakh and have reached 2,71,886 after detection of 1,487 new cases in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus death toll has reached to 5,787 in the country.

Looking at the breakdown of cases, Sindh reported 1,16,800 coronavirus cases, highest among all the provinces, while Punjab has 91,691 positive cases.

On the other hand, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 33,071 cases, Balochistan is at 11,550, Gilgit-Baltistan at 1,942, Islamabad at 14,821 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is at 2,012 cases so far, according to media reports.

A total of 2,36,596 patients have recovered from the disease so far in the country.

-CHK

India records highest-ever COVID-19 tests in a single day

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New Delhi (NVI): A record number of more than 4,20,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted in a single day by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) across the country, the Ministry of Health said.

In an official statement, the ministry said that, with 4,20,898 samples tested in the last 24 hours, the Tests Per Million (TPM) has further increased to 11,485 and cumulative testing to 1,58,49,068 and both continue to maintain the upward trend.

Notably, there has been increase in the number of labs from merely one in January to 1,301 today, inclusive of 902 government labs and 399 in the private sector.

Meanwhile, the Centre has advised all states and UTs to keep up the strategy of “Test, Track and Treat”. It has also asked the governments to test aggressive which may lead to higher number of daily positive cases initially but would eventually achieve a decline, the ministry said.

The statement further added that, the case fatality rate continues on its downward trend which means that the collective efforts of the Centre and State/UT governments have resulted to keep a check on the mortality due to COVID-19.

The fatality rate has significantly dipped to 2.35 per cent today. “India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world,” it said.

In the last 24 hours, 32,223 COVID-19 patients have recovered taking the cumulative number of recovered cases to 8,49,431 today. With this the recovery rate has achieved another high of 63.54 per cent.

However, the gap between recovered patients and active COVID-19 cases has further increased to 3,93,360, the ministry added.

-RJV

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