Category: Security

F-35 Acquisition May Worsen IAF’s Maintenance and Operational Costs

As one senior veteran irreverently put it, acquiring F-35s for the IAF would be akin to a person buying a Rolls Royce car, but with limited resources to run and maintain it.

New Delhi: The possible induction of F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters into the Indian Air Force (IAF), as ordained by US President Donald Trump during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hurried US trip last week, faces another formidable obstacle, besides their abnormally high acquisition and operating costs – daunting expenses to logistically maintain these advanced fifth generation combat platforms. 

 Each of the three single-engine F-35 variants is priced between $80-$115 million and costs around $36,000 per hour to operate. However, if commissioned into service over the next few years, the F-35 would also be the seventh fighter type to be deployed by the financially overstretched IAF, heaving under the burgeoning cost of sustaining its diverse combat, transport and rotary wing assets, to ensure their operational availability.

Presently, the IAF deploys Russian Sukhoi Su-30MKIs and upgraded MiG-29Ms, French Mirage 2000Hs, retrofitted to Mirage 2000-5 standards, and Rafales, in addition to the Soviet-era Mikoyan MiG-21, Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguars and variants of the indigenously developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). 

However, the two remaining upgraded MiG-21 ‘Bison’ ground attack squadrons at Bikaner and Surartgarh, comprising around 40 platforms, are due to be ‘number-plated’ or retired sometime later in the year, reducing the IAF’s fighter types to six. But, if the induction of the F-35s was approved by Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP-led) government, the IAFs fighter-type numbers would, once again, revert to seven. These could even increase to eight, if the Ministry of Defence (MoD) opted to operationalise its long-pending option to acquire 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) and proceed imminently with their procurement.

The MRFA procurement envisages importing a squadron of 18 fighters in flyaway condition from a shortlisted foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM), seven of who had responded to the IAF’s April 2019 request for information (RfI) by offering eight fighter types. The remaining 96 platforms would be built indigenously, via a collaborative venture between the qualified OEM and a domestic strategic partner (SP) from either the private or public sector, with progressively enhanced levels of indigenisation in a deal, currently estimated at around $25 billion. 

It is, however, unclear for now whether the potential F-35 buy would be a ‘stand-alone’ purchase, or morphed into the MRFA acquisition. Some recent news reports have suggested that the F-35s were to be acquired, much like the 36 Dassault Rafale fighters were in 2016 via an arbitrary announcement by Modi in Paris. Quoting unnamed official sources these reports also indicated that the IAF and the government were looking upon the F-35s as a pricey ‘stop-gap’ combat platform, till India developed and series built its own 5th Generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) in the late 2030s. 

Also read: Trump’s F-35 Push: If Modi Signs Up, Experts See It as a Costly ‘Political’ Buy, Not Practical Operationally

That being said, the F-35s will, if inducted, only exacerbate what senior IAF officials refer to as the ‘logistic nightmare’ of the fighter fleet with its diverse and assorted platforms. 

Over the years, successive Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and defence parliamentary committee reports have castigated the IAF for the poor operational readiness of its platforms, especially fighters, its high rate of aircraft on ground (AoG) and limited flying hours, but to little avail. Senior IAF officers, declining to be identified, said these shortcomings were caused ‘almost exclusively’ by Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) complications which, collectively had hindered IAF attempts at evolving from a largely tactical force to a strategic one, capable of power projection and executing out-of-area exigencies. 

In comparison to the IAF’s assortment of fighters, the US Air Force (USAF) principally operates four fighter types-F15s, F16s, F-22s and F-35s and some of their variants, all with an unusually high amount of ‘commonality’, while the Russian Air Force similarly employs seven primary types of combat aircraft – Su-25/27/30/35/57s and MiG-29/31s. These two Russian fighter models too rated a high degree of component uniformity between them, rendering their MRO relatively inexpensive and significantly less arduous compared with the IAFs. 

France, on the other hand, deploys two fighter types – Dassault Mirage 20005/Ds and Rafales – but is in the process of phasing out the former and replacing them with the latter. The two fighters fielded by Britain’s Royal Air Force include the Eurofighter Typhoon and the F-35.

Consequently, a two-star veteran said that the veritable ‘gallery’ of IAF fighters was not only expensive to sustain and maintain, but hugely traumatic to effectively manage. “Standardisation is the solution, but that is unlikely to come about for many decades,” he warned, adding that the possible advent of F-35s would only complicate MRO matters beyond belief.

The perennial problems of spares for the twin-engine MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’ and Su-30MKI ‘Flanker’ fighters, for instance, topped the agenda whenever a senior Indian defence delegation visited Russia, in what remains an unchanged litany. This was exacerbated further following the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s when many of the defence manufacturing units and factories were located in breakaway republics like Ukraine, which were inimical to Moscow.

This, in turn, spawned a severe paucity of spares, which were not only difficult to source, but also prohibitively expensive, as some of the production lines had closed down due to little or no demand. It also resulted in India’s military, including the IAF, obtaining spares of doubtful quality from the open market which, in some instances, even led to equipment failure. 

Industry officials said these problems could have easily been mitigated by the indigenisation of critical spares, but this did not fructify to a large extent and remains a work in progress. Instances of fighters being grounded for months for lack of spares or equipment being hauled to Russia for overhaul at inflated costs, endure but had rudely come to a virtual halt in recent years following the war in Ukraine.

However, the frequent predicament of maintaining assorted fighters and other IAF platforms is directly linked simply to financial resources, which remain a rapidly depreciating asset. In fiscal year 2020-21, for instance, the IAF was allocated Rs 299.62 billion in revenue expenditure of which Rs 91.10 billion was apportioned to stores, which includes MRO for all of its platforms. But astonishingly this latter store’s outlay was Rs 6.08 billion less than the Rs 97.18 billion allocated to stores in FY19-20, further aggravating the IAF’s financial woes concerning its MRO commitments. 

Analysts anticipate that the IAF’s logistic troubles will magnify manifold in the event of it acquiring 114 MRFA, over 200 Tejas LCA variants to make up for rapidly depleting fighter squadron numbers and possibly the F-35s. Instead of its sanctioned strength of 42 fighter squadrons, the IAF presently operates merely 29-30 but this number is expected to shrink further over the next two-three years after some MiG-21s and Jaguars were phased out. These shrinking numbers had prompted Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh to declare in December that the IAF needed the MRFA ‘as of yesterday’ but did not comment on their maintainability. 

Also read: As Yet Another Committee Takes Off, There’s No End in Sight to the Indian Air Force’s Woes

MRO hitches, especially regarding spares were not confined to IAF fighters alone, but also assailed its helicopter and transport fleets which in turn, impinged on the force’s wider platform serviceability issues. 

As far back as August 2017, the CAG had severely indicted the IAF for ‘low’ serviceability and ‘poor’ availability of its Ilyushin Il-76 ‘Candid’ transport aircraft fleet and Il-78 ‘Midas’ mid-air tankers that were adversely impacting the force’s operational efficiency, due to its inability to source spares from Russia. The CAG divulged that the average availability of the IAF’s 14 Il-76s between 2010-16 was just 38%, whilst that of its six Il-78s for the same period was 49%, significantly lower than the ‘desired’ 70% serviceability levels. Besides, the avionics of both platforms dated back to 1985, as a consequence of which they were “not permitted to operate in international flying corridors,” the CAG had stated. 

IAF fighter aircraft serviceability, on the other hand, had averaged no more than 50-60% for decades, significantly below ideal levels compared with the French Air Force for instance which was over 75%. As one senior veteran irreverently put it, acquiring F-35s for the IAF would be akin to a person buying a Rolls Royce car, but with limited resources to run and maintain it, he or she would be forced into operating it sparingly, merely to flaunt it as a badge of ownership. 

Is Trump’s Quest For an ‘Iron Dome’ Outlandish or Realistic?

It appears that the US security establishment is growing concerned by Russian and Chinese advancements in the field of hypersonic missiles.

As a businessman at heart, US President Donald Trump believes that large amounts of money are being spent on nuclear weapons. At the World Economic Forum, he suggested that negotiations with Russia and China should focus on denuclearisation and reducing nuclear arsenals.

However, the same president who wants to keep the US secure also announced plans for a national missile defence system, a bigger and more modern version of something like the Israeli Iron Dome.

So, is he advocating for two conflicting ideas? But that is what Trump is! It is difficult to comprehend exactly what he is thinking.

On February 6, two US Senators Dan Sullivan and Kevin Cramer, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, introduced the Increasing Response Options and Deterrence of Missile Engagements (IRON DOME) Act, which aims to strengthen and expand the US missile defence system to protect the entire country.

It is important to recognise the nuances of this new idea presented by Trump.

Today, the US administration is keen to ensure that they will never be caught off guard by a (nuclear) missile threat to their homeland. Various provisions have been suggested in this IRON DOME Act and a major financial outlay has been presented. It looks like having a missile shield is going to be an extremely costly proposal.

This document presents the need for provisions like $12 billion to expand missile interceptor fields and have new Next Generation Interceptors. A sum of $1.4 billion for the ‘Terminal High Altitude Area Defence’ (THAAD) system and $1.5 billion for PAC-2 and PAC-3 munitions and MM-104 Patriot batteries is required.

There are some other areas for which significant monetary requirements are projected, including $900 million for research and development in space-based missile defence and $60 million to develop space-based satellite sensors.

The president on January 28 signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to develop a comprehensive missile defence system. The threat is expected to be in the form of possible attacks from ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles, along with other advanced aerial threats.

It appears that owing to Russian and Chinese advancements in the hypersonic field, the US security establishment is getting much more concerned.

The directive requires the Pentagon to submit a comprehensive plan within 60 days, outlining the capabilities needed for the next-generation missile defence system.

There looks to be a strong focus on space technologies for the development of this system. Specifically, the order calls for the development and deployment of space-based interceptors for boost-phase interception and an accelerated deployment of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor layer.

For Trump, the idea of morality will never be attractive; what he is likely to focus on is the financial factor. File image courtesy X/@WhiteHouse.

What should be made of the order’s reference to the Cold War-era Strategic Defence Initiative?

The order specifically makes a mention of the plan proposed during the 1980s by then-President Ronald Reagan towards building an effective defence against nuclear attacks.

On March 23, 1983, in an address to the nation, Reagan had announced the need for pioneering research into a national defence system that could make nuclear weapons obsolete. This speech announced the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI). The concept was also referred to as ‘Star Wars’, inspired by the popular film series telecasted then of the same name.

At its core, the SDI program aimed to develop a space-based missile defence system capable of protecting the US from a large-scale nuclear attack. The SDI led to the development of various technologies, but the exact idea conceptualised by Ragan could not become a reality.

Over a period, the US has developed systems like the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System, THAAD, ground-based interceptors, air defence systems and various aerial systems and short-range anti-ballistic missile systems.

Now, are we seeing the same vision in Trump as we did in Reagan? Reagan strongly believed that US defence research should focus on making nuclear weapons unnecessary, as he viewed them as immoral. For Trump, however, the idea of morality will never be attractive; what he is likely to focus on is the financial factor.

During the Cold War, some believed that a successful missile defence system could stop the Soviet Union from launching a first strike, which raised the question: if that is presumable, then why have nuclear weapons?

In today’s world, particularly for the US, it would be naive to ignore the challenges posed by nations like North Korea and Iran, as no simple solutions exist and there appears to be no alternative to nuclear weapons. 

Hence, nothing much should be read about the mention of Regan’s SDI doctrine in the executive order signed by Trump.

US has concerns around hypersonic capabilities of Russia, China and maybe North Korea

The strategy of mutually assured destruction (MAD) was fully articulated in the early 1960s, primarily by the then-US defence secretary Robert McNamara. The idea behind MAD is that the threat of nuclear retaliation stops an enemy from using nuclear weapons. In this approach, a nuclear-armed defender would have such strong second-strike capabilities that any nuclear war would ultimately lead to complete annihilation on both sides.

Reagan never supported the MAD doctrine. Presently, even as it may not be with similar notions, Trump too must have realised MAD’s limitations.

In the ongoing Ukraine conflict, on March 19, 2022 Russia had fired hypersonic missiles (Kh-47 Kinzhal) on targets in Ukraine. This was the first time ever in history that hypersonic missiles were used in an actual war. Since then, on a few occasions, these missiles have been used by Russia on Ukrainian targets.

However, there are incidents when the Ukrainian forces had shot down Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles with a successful engagement by the Patriot Air Defence missile system.

So, if this is the case, then why is the US looking for a new missile defence system to address the hypersonic threat?

The Kh-47 Kinzhal is a hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile. The main types of hypersonic missiles include hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV) and hypersonic cruise missiles. Existing missile defence systems are not capable of addressing the HGV threat.

The Avangard (Yu-71 and Yu-74) is a Russian HGV that has been in service since 2019. It can carry a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle payload.

Obviously, the US needs next-generation missile defence systems as of yesterday! Recently, North Korea claimed that it has tested a missile that flew 12 times the speed of sound (a hypersonic missile is known to fly at speeds more than five times the speed of sound).

The US is expected to have major concerns about China too. During October 2019, China made a public display of its HGV called the DF-ZF (also known as DF-19 or WU-14).

More importantly, the US realises that in 2023, China established its fifth command, the Near-Space Command, which is the world’s first such structure. This command is responsible for military activities in the altitude zone above the Earth’s surface in the range of 20 to 100 km and will have full control over China’s hypersonic weapons, including those in the inventories of the other four branches of the military.

This indicates that China has great expectations from their hypersonic arsenal in any conflict situation.

Also read | Trump’s Arctic Ambition: Why Greenland is Crucial for US National Security and Space Warfare

Real challenge to involve space-based interceptors targeting missiles in boost phase

A step forward in the SDI architecture was a revolutionary concept put forward by the scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1987, called Brilliant Pebbles. This proposed system was to put thousands of small satellites in low earth orbit at an altitude of around 650 km. In the event of an incoming attack from intercontinental ballistic missiles, these pebbles were to destroy such missiles by smashing into them.

Under present circumstances, the US would not like to have such ideas projected as they would amount to the weaponisation of space.

Still, the modern-day missile shield would have a great amount of dependence on space technologies, but in a different form. Major technological hurdles would require to be overcome for developing tracking space sensors, particularly for an incoming hypersonic threat. 

The real challenge is going to be designing and developing space-based interceptors capable of taking out missiles during their boost phase.

Is the idea proposed by Trump outlandish or realistic? The world currently knows the Iron Dome as a highly effective Israeli missile defence system, but it only protects a small geography. If the US were to adopt a similar system, it would be far more complex and different from the Israeli system.

While present-day advancements in AI and machine learning are promising, more focused research is needed to apply AI to the concept of the proposed IRON DOME.

For long, laser technology has shown great potential as a part of an air defence structure for neutralising incoming threats, but significant technological challenges still remain towards making such systems operational.

On February 18, the US Missile Defence Agency will host an Industry Day to explore how the industry can contribute to this project. Obviously, Trump will rely heavily on his friend Elon Musk to develop this ambitious programme.

Known for his antagonism to arms control mechanisms, Trump is also unlikely to consider any strategic implications and the views of other major powers about such a project.

While it will be an extremely costly endeavour, Trump, with his business background, may have already calculated the project’s financial aspects before announcing it. What remains to be seen is whether the project is technically feasible.

Ajey Lele researches space issues and is the author of the book Institutions That Shaped Modern India: ISRO.

Trump’s F-35 Push: If Modi Signs Up, Experts See It as a Costly ‘Political’ Buy, Not Practical Operationally

Trump’s closest adviser Elon Musk had recently trashed the combat platform by labeling it a “shit design”.

New Delhi: US President Donald Trump appears to be strong-arming India into acquiring hugely expensive F-35 Lightning II 5th generation stealth fighters, despite his closest adviser having recently trashed the combat platform by labeling it a “shit design”.

“The F-35 design was broken at the requirements level because it was required to be too many things to too many people” Elon Musk declared on X last November. This made it an expensive and complex Jack of all trades, master of none, he stated. Furthermore, success, he added, was never in the set of possible outcomes (for the F-35).

Using a trash can emoji in his post, Musk went on to savage Lockheed Martin, responsible for designing and building the single-engine F-35,  dubbing its creators “idiots” for continuing to build these fighters that entered US Marine Corps service in 2015, and the US Air Force a year later. He further claimed that fighters like the F-35 were an “outdated” concept in warfare as they endangered pilot’s lives, compared with cost-effective drones, that were capable of performing analogous tasks without endangering humans.

Trump’s announcement about increasing military sales to India

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s day-long visit to Washington earlier this week, Trump had flamboyantly declared that starting this year, the US would be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars.

“We’re also paving the way to ultimately provide India with F-35 stealth fighters,” he said at the joint press conference with the Indian PM after their meeting.

It is, however, unclear for now whether the F-35s would be part of the long-pending Indian Air Force (IAF) requirement for 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA), or an entirely separate deal to supplement the former acquisition. News reports from Washington too said that neither the White House nor Lockheed Martin had elaborated on Trump’s announcement to sell F-35s to the IAF.

But, increasing military supplies to India worth “billions”, as Trump had stated, strongly suggests Lockheed Martin supplying a “substantial” number of F-35s to the IAF, in all likelihood via the US’s government-to-government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route.

Furthermore, licence-building F-35s locally via a transfer of technology, as part of the NDA government’s atmanirbhar policy of indigenously sourcing defence equipment, too, appears remote, considering the high levels of secrecy surrounding the combat platform and its advanced systems.

The only one, however, to attempt a feeble response to the queries prompted by Trump’s announcement was Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who told reporters in Washington that the F-35 sale was only at a “proposal stage”, but did not clarify whether it too had come as a surprise to the Indian delegation accompanying Modi.

He went on to add that there was a process through which military platforms were acquired, which included issuing a request for proposal or RFP, but that no such process concerning the F-35s had so far begun.

‘F-35 simply does not fit into the IAFs overall operational requirements and profile’

Meanwhile, Trump’s seemingly out-of-the-blue declaration regarding F-35s has prompted caution and wariness amongst senior IAF personnel, concerned over whether the putative US fighter purchase could end up being more a “political” buy rather than an operationally and financially practical one.

“The F-35 simply does not fit into the IAFs overall operational requirements and profile,” said military analyst Air Marshal V K “Jimmy” Bhatia (retired).

Besides, there were numerous conditionalities and protocols with regard to deploying and operating US defence equipment, especially combat aircraft, he added.

Also Read: As Yet Another Committee Takes Off, There’s No End in Sight to the Indian Air Force’s Woes

But rather than acquiring F-35s, with its variants priced between $80-$115 million each, India desperately needed to indigenously develop its fifth-generation fighter swiftly, with the in-built provision of upgrading it later, the IAF’s celebrated and highly decorated fighter pilot added.

Other IAF personnel, who declined to be named, were of the view that the Trump administration was leveraging the planned F-35 sale in exchange for “overlooking” sticky issues such as New Delhi’s alleged involvement in Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Pannun’s planned assassination in New York last year and more recently, criminal proceedings in a US federal court against businessman Gautam Adani on multiple charges of bribery and fraud.

“F-35s are not the best buy for the IAF despite their lethality, versatility and stealth, as they are hugely costly to procure in times of shrinking budgets and extremely pricey to operate,” said a two-star officer who preferred anonymity. Each fighter costs around $36,000 per hour to operate, which would automatically curtail its deployment as such an astronomical expense would “seriously corrode” the IAF’s already frugal revenue budget.

Besides, even if India opted to buy F-35s, said a two-star officer, platform deliveries would not begin for several years thereafter. It would not only take time for both sides to negotiate such a massive deal, he declared, but delays would further ensue as the US, in all probability, would opt to supply the fighters first to its NATO allies, before it did so to the IAF.

Acquiring F-35s, as with all other US equipment, comes with a further inherent handicap for the IAF: it would definitively foreclose the possibility of the IAF pursuing its long-established and hugely accomplished, and at times essential, resort to jugaad or innovation, an option it exercises upon almost all its platforms and equipment.

End Use Monitoring Agreement proscribe India from retrofitting US military equipment

US protocols like the End Use Monitoring Agreement (EUMA), agreed with Delhi in 2009 after much wrangling and extended negotiation, proscribe India from retrofitting and adapting US military equipment to its needs without the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) consent and participation for the entire duration of its service. In the US’s case, this jugaad route has rarely ever been permitted.

“Such cradle-to-grave restrictions provide Washington continuing leverage over the equipment recipient country,” said a one-star IAF officer. Such leverage, he added, which was not the case with equipment from other countries, has the inherent possibility of ensuring that the recipient country cooperated with Washington on US-centric strategic, political and diplomatic goals.

With the 80-odd countries with which Washington has concluded an EUMA, it has reportedly made an exception only a handful of times, once by allowing the Israel Air Force to incorporate locally developed sensors and weapons onto Lockheed Martin F-16s supplied to Tel Aviv and subsequently concerning some systems aboard some F-35’s supplied recently to the Israel Air Force.

Besides, all US military purchases by India under the FMS programme have been concluded under the stricter “Golden Sentry” EUMA, which governs physical verification of the equipment and its eventual disposal. This protocol is far stricter than the less stringent “Blue Lantern” EUMA which directs the direct commercial sale of US materiel worldwide.

Also Read: Air Chief Marshal Asks Officers to Express Grievances Privately Amid Military Politicisation Row

And though the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance government had then obliquely claimed success in concluding the EUMA on Indian terms, by securing the concession that the time and location of the US equipment’s verification process would be determined by Delhi, it had deftly avoided all mention of life-long and costly reliance on OEMs to keep US equipment in service.

Be that as it may, military officers said such foreclosures on US defence gear supplied to India prohibited “amazing and efficient implementation of jugaad” that, over decades, had been elevated to sophisticated levels.

Generations of military officers concede that jugaad not only ensured that imported weapon systems performed well above their declared operational potential, but also rendered a range of platforms like fighter aircraft and ordnance not only highly serviceable and effective but in some instances even supremely deadly.

Entirely feasible on Soviet/Russian and French fighters platforms and at times even welcomed and with no restrictions whatsoever, jugaad has not only provided India’s military flexibility in operating its kit but also ably rendered foreign equipment wholly serviceable in climatic extremes and assorted terrain and for varied operational deployments.

The F-35 fighter aircraft family, all capable of deployment for air superiority and strike missions, comprises three variants: the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A, the short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B, and the aircraft carrier variant (CV) catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) F-35C. All three variants also have electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities

Powered by Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 turbofan engines, the F-35’s cockpit is unlike other fighters, as it has neither gauges nor screens, but large touch screens instead, complemented by a helmet-mounted display system that allows the pilot to access real-time information. The helmet also provides the pilot with the capability to look directly through the aircraft via the platform’s Distributed Aperture System (DAS) and a suite of six infrared cameras mounted strategically around the aircraft. The fighter also features a 6,000-8,100kg weapons payload.

In conclusion, it remains to be seen over the next few months whether the F-35 deal will progress, or whether this too was “transactional” Trump’s negotiating ploy to leverage other concessions from India.

Srinagar: J&K Police Raid Bookstores, Seize Literature Linked to Jamaat-e-Islami

Defending the Jamaat, the Opposition People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Iltija Mufti alleged that the seizure of books was an attack on “freedom to read”.

Srinagar: Hundreds of books published in New Delhi and linked to the proscribed Jamaat-e-Islami outfit were seized by Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police from some stores in Srinagar, officials said on Friday (February 14).

“Based on credible intelligence regarding the clandestine sale and distribution of literature promoting the ideology of a banned organisation, police conducted a search in Srinagar, leading to the seizure of 668 books. Legal action has been initiated under Section 126 of the BNSS,” Srinagar district police said in a post on X.

Under Section 126 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, an executive magistrate can order a person “to show cause why he should not be ordered to execute a bond or bail bond for keeping the peace for such period, not exceeding one year, as the magistrate thinks fit”.

A book store owner in Lal Chowk, Srinagar’s largest marketplace, told The Wire that a group of police personnel showed up at the store at around 3:30 pm on Thursday.

“They asked about the types of books we had, saying there was a ban on some books. Later they seized some books of Maududi and Islahi,” the store owner said, wishing anonymity.

Abul A’la Maududi, an Islamic scholar and historian from Pakistan, founded the Jamaat-e-Islami, the J&K chapter of which was set up in 1952. Amin Ahsan Islahi was a Pakistani Muslim scholar and a founder member of the Jamaat.

Sources said that most of the books seized by the police in Srinagar have been published by MMI Publishers, a Delhi-based publisher of religious books that was founded in 1948.

Some of the books seized by the police comprise the essential literature of the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu Kashmir, which was banned by the BJP-led Union government under the provisions of the anti-terror law on February 28, 2019.

The five-year ban was imposed a fortnight after the Pulwama terror attack in which at least four dozen troopers were killed on February 14, 2019, when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a convoy of Central Reserve Paramilitary Force personnel in Lethipora.

Also read: J&K Court Grants Bail to Scholar Jailed for 3 Years Over ‘Seditious Article’

Last year, the Union government extended the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami J&K under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for another five years, saying the socio-politico-religious group “continues to be involved in fomenting terrorism and anti-India propaganda for fuelling secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir”.

Defending the Jamaat, the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s Iltija Mufti alleged that the seizure of books was an attack on the “freedom to read”.

Senior National Conference (NC) leader and MP for Srinagar, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, also opposed the police raids, saying they amounted to “meddling in [the] religious affairs” of the people of J&K.

A group of former and serving Jamaat-e-Islami members contested the assembly election in J&K last year, ending its three-decade-old boycott of the electoral process. The decision was welcomed by nearly all the mainstream parties of J&K, except the ruling NC.

Ghulam Qadir Lone, a former general secretary of the Jamaat who had invoked the call for ending the poll boycott, also led an eight-member panel of the outfit last year that held talks with the Union government for ending the ban on the outfit.

According to reports, the talks were facilitated by a Kashmir-based politician and an ally of the BJP.

However, the talks were reportedly opposed by the Jamaat’s active members, including its serving president Hameed Fayaz, who have been incarcerated following the reading down of Article 370 when J&K was demoted into two Union territories.

Lone’s son Kalimullah Lone also contested the 2024 assembly election but was defeated by the Awami Ittehad Party’s Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh.

With the exception of Sayar Ahmed Reshi, who contested from the Kulgam constituency, all the Jamaat candidates lost their security deposit.

This is not the first time that the Jamaat, which drafted its own constitution and separated from its parent outfit in Pakistan in 1952, has faced the music in J&K.

The outfit was banned first by the Indira Gandhi-led Union government under the anti-terror law in the aftermath of the emergency in 1975, when J&K was ruled by NC founder Sheikh Abdullah.

Some historians have noted that Abdullah saw the group as a political threat.

The Jamaat was again banned when the armed insurgency broke out in Kashmir in the early 1990s, and its members were hounded by the Ikhwan, a civil militia that was set up by the government to counter militancy.

The ban was lifted in 2004 when PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was ruling J&K in an alliance with the Congress party.

Manipur: CRPF Jawan Kills 2 Colleagues, Injures 8 Before Taking Own Life

The incident occurred at around 8 pm inside a CRPF camp and the personnel belonged to F-120 Coy CRPF.

New Delhi: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan allegedly opened fire, killing two colleagues and injuring eight others before taking his own life in Lamsang, Imphal West on Thursday (February 13).

According to a Manipur Police post on X, the incident occurred at around 8 pm inside a CRPF camp and the personnel belonged to F-120 Coy CRPF.

“In an unfortunate incident, tonight at around 8 pm, a suspected case of fratricide happened inside a CRPF camp in Lamsang under Imphal West District wherein one CRPF jawan opened fire killing 02 (two) of his own CRPF colleagues on the spot and injuring 08 (eight) others. Later, he also committed suicide by using service weapon. The personnel belonged to F-120 Coy CRPF. Senior officers of Police and CRPF have rushed to the spot,” the Manipur Police wrote.

According to news agency PTI, the accused’s name is Sanjay Kumar. He opened fire from his weapon killing a constable and a sub-inspector of the force on the spot.

Also read: Manipur CM N. Biren Singh Goes After 649 Days of Ethnic Violence

Meanwhile, the Union home ministry has noted in formal communication today that Manipur has been placed under President’s Rule, days after the resignation of chief minister N. Biren Singh. The state’s residents will be under Union government’s direct rule after 23 years.

In Manipur, both the Kuki and Meitei communities had called for Biren Singh’s resignation, holding him responsible for the ongoing ethnic violence that began on May 3, 2023. The conflict has claimed over 250 lives, displaced more than 60,000 people, and left villages, churches and hospitals in ruins.

‘Save Adani, Sell the Nation’: Opposition Questions Modi Govt After Report on Easing Border Protocol

When military officials raised concerns about tank mobilisation and security surveillance along the international border, developers assured them that “solar platforms would be adequate in mitigating any threats from enemy tank movements.”

New Delhi: Opposition leaders have been up in arms after a report unveiled that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Union government relaxed critical and long-standing national security defence protocols allowing billionaire businessman Gautam Adani to go ahead with the world’s largest renewable energy park in Gujarat’s Khavda with solar panels and wind turbines within a kilometre of the India-Pakistan border along the Rann of Kutch.

The Guardian has reported that the tweak in the protocols has also paved the way for similar construction on the borders with other neighbouring countries like China, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar, the report said. According to the British newspaper, the documents show the BJP had “lobbied at the highest levels for the protocols to be relaxed to make land in the Rann of Kutch available for both solar and wind construction”.

When military officials raised concerns about tank mobilisation and security surveillance along the international border, developers assured them that “solar platforms would be adequate in mitigating any threats from enemy tank movements.” The developers also rejected military requests for adjustments to solar panel size, citing financial viability concerns.

The defence ministry agreed in April 2023 to amend long-standing protocols that previously restricted major construction within 10 kilometres of the border. The 445-square kilometre project, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020, is expected to generate 30 gigawatts of renewable energy at peak capacity – enough to power small European countries. After the rules were relaxed, making the land significantly more valuable, it was transferred from state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India to the Adani Group.

In the wake of this media report, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had jeopardised national security at India’s borders to benefit private billionaires. He wrote on X,

“… BJP’s pseudo-nationalism face is once again unmasked. You have endangered National Security at our borders in order to benefit private billionaires.”

He also posed a volley of questions to Modi over the matter. “What happens if there is the need to lay mines, anti-tank and anti-personnel mechanisms to be put in place? What about the concept of space and surprise in offensive and defensive operations, a senior Army officer has asked. We repeat the same question. Why would you allow a huge private project, within easy striking distance of the India-Pakistan border, thereby increasing the defence responsibilities of our Armed Forces and reducing their strategic advantages?” Kharge questioned.

Echoing similar sentiments, Congress general secretary in-charge of organisation, K.C. Venugopal said, “PM Modi’s priority: Not securing India’s borders, but filling Adani’s coffers.” Asserting that the Modi government’s cronyism is a threat to national security, he said, “Allowing India’s largest solar project to be constructed hardly 1km away from the Pakistan border is extremely dangerous and goes against all established military norms. The PM and the Defence Minister must explain why such a drastic step to compromise our national security was taken.”

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra wrote on X with the hashtag #AdaniBachaoDeshBecho – “save Adani, sell the nation.”

“So [Narendra Modi] government relaxed defence protocols allowing best friend [Gautam Adani] to go ahead with renewable energy park in Gujarat,” Moitra posted.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan wrote, “Adani profited after India relaxed border security rules for energy park. Apprehensions around the implications of solar panels for tank mobilisation and security surveillance along the international border were raised by senior military officials.”

Last year, the US Department of Justice charged Adani over a scheme to bribe Indian officials. But now, Bloomberg reports, both court dockets – of the civil and criminal cases – have gone quiet as Adani has gone on an operation to build political influence in the US.

In an executive order on February 10, US President Donald Trump paused the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) that makes it illegal for some entities to bribe foreign government officials, under which prosecutors charged Adani.

A group of Republican federal legislators also appears to have written to the US attorney general saying that the case against Adani and others involves no real injury to American interests and risks damaging ties with India.

 

Pinaka Rocket Launchers, Civil Nuclear Cooperation Figure in Modi-Macron Talks

Several organisations have written an open letter to Macron on the appointment of Modi as co-chair of the AI Action Summit, asking why president Draupadi Murmu was not co-chair instead.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed defence and civil nuclear energy-related cooperation, among other things, in the bilateral talks they held during the former’s France visit that ended on Wednesday (February 12).

Modi proposed that the French army “take a closer look” at India’s Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers and added that Paris’s purchase of the system “would be another milestone in Indo-French defence ties”, according to a joint statement issued on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Reuters cited the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s director general of missiles and strategic systems U. Raja Babu as saying that France was “in active talks for Pinaka” but that a deal had not yet materialised.

The two leaders also “commended progress” in collaboration in building French license-built Scorpene-class submarines in India and welcomed the commissioning of the sixth and last P-75 Scorpene-class project, the INS Vagsheer, into the Indian navy last month.

They welcomed the “signing of a letter of intent” on small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors, said the joint statement, which cited the duo as recognising nuclear energy’s role in building energy security and transitioning towards a low-carbon economy.

Modi travelled to France on Monday and attended the AI Action summit in Paris the next day. He then travelled to Marseille along the country’s Mediterranean coast on Tuesday aboard the French presidential aircraft, where he held talks with Macron.

Several organisations like Foundation The London Story, the International Council of Indian Muslims, the Indian Labour Solidarity and the Unau Welfare Organisation have written an open letter on the appointment of Modi as co-chair of the AI Action Summit, asking why president Draupadi Murmu was not co-chair instead.

They wrote:

India must be at the helm of discussions on the future of AI and co-chair the 2025 AI Action Summit. Equally, the head of State should represent India whilst attending this event. In the future, we believe that Indian President Draupadi Murmu should be given precedence over Mr. Narendra Modi. President Murmu is the first Adivasi woman to rise to the position of President of India. Her presence at events such as the AI Action Summit would represent the hopes, aspirations and goals of the millions of Adivasis, minorities and women who look up to her. These are exactly the people who should benefit from the AI revolution in India, and who should be at the forefront of discussions around the future of AI.

Delegation-level talks followed in the city, near which Macron hosted Modi for a private dinner.

Visits to the Mazargues War Cemetery to pay tribute to Indian soldiers who fought in the World Wars, and to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor facility near Maseille, were on the itinerary as well.

Macron and Modi also jointly inaugurated the Indian consulate in Marseille.

The two sides signed a total of ten deals during Modi’s visit that spanned the technology, civil nuclear energy, “Indo-Pacific/sustainable development”, culture and environment sectors, the external affairs ministry said in a press release.

As per the joint statement, Modi and Macron lauded the launch of a scheme in September wherein Indian students are taught French as a foreign language at universities in France.

This will pave the way for increased “student mobility and meet the target of 30,000 Indian students in France by 2030”, said the statement, adding that the two leaders positively viewed the “rising number of Indian students in France, with 2025 figures expected to reach an unprecedented 10,000”.

They also discussed the situation in the Middle East, the Ukraine war as well as “their common commitment to a free, open, inclusive, secure and peaceful Indo-Pacific region”.

Recalling the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023, Modi and Macron also “agreed to work together more closely on implementing the initiative”.

Two Soldiers Killed, One Injured By IED Blast in Jammu

This is the second militancy-related incident within 24 hours in the Jammu division.

Srinagar: Two army soldiers, including a captain, were killed and at least one soldier was injured in a suspected improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the Akhnoor sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Jammu region on Tuesday (February 11).

An army official said that a suspected IED went off at Laleali in the Akhnoor sector during a routine patrol by soldiers, resulting in injuries to three troopers, of whom two have succumbed to injuries.

The deceased have been identified as Captain K.S. Bakshi and Mukesh, whose rank was not immediately confirmed.

“Own troops are dominating the area and search operations are underway. White Knight Corps salutes and pays tribute to the supreme sacrifice of two gallant soldiers,” the army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps said in a post on X.

Earlier in the day, the PTI news agency reported that a mortar shell was discovered and defused by a bomb-disposal squad in Akhnoor.

“Some locals had discovered the shell in a canal near the Namandar village around 10 am,” PTI reported, quoting unidentified police officials as saying.

The fatal IED blast in Akhnoor is the second militancy-related incident within 24 hours in the Jammu division, where violence has witnessed an increase in the aftermath of the reading down of Article 370 by the Modi government in 2019.

On Monday, a sniper hiding inside a forested area in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) fired shots on army soldiers patrolling along the LoC in Rajouri district, resulting in a shoulder injury to a soldier who is believed to be stable.

On February 8, suspected militants opened fire on an army patrolling party near Baratgala in the Keri sector of Rajouri, prompting a search operation.

A mysterious explosion in the intervening night of February 4 and 5 along one of the infiltration routes from the LoC in Poonch district is believed to have killed some militants who were reportedly trying to cross over from PoJK.

However, officials have not confirmed the exact number of dead so far.

The same day, a suspected IED went off near the LoC in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch, following which a massive search operation was launched in the area.

An army soldier was killed in north Kashmir’s Sopore police district in an encounter with suspected militants in the intervening night of January 19 and 20. The militants had managed to flee from the area after the shootout.

On January 14, six army soldiers suffered injuries in a landmine explosion in Rajouri’s Nowshera sector.

Last year, more than four dozen army soldiers, including some officers, were killed in Jammu division by a new breed of highly trained militants armed with sophisticated weapons and modern gadgets who have carried out some of the deadliest ambushes and targeted attacks on the army.

What’s Really Colonising the Military Mind

It appears the regime may be close to having the military leadership it wished for and the budding Hindu rashtra, a military it deserves.

The military’s implementing of Prime Minister Modi’s decolonisation dictum was on display yet again, this time in the renaming of Fort William as Vijaydurg.

Possible hypotheses on the name change are:

  • A benign view of the military’s alacrity is that India’s is an obedient military, subordinate to the civilian masters.
  • The army has read the tea leaves and is selective of the battles it picks. It perhaps intends to ride out such punches, if not the regime itself; bowing to the wind better than being blown away.
  • Its strategic in allowing the regime some leeway, for the regime’s attention for its organisational projects. The three services are in a competition to bend. When the navy has been rather supple, can the army be far behind? Though the air force came up with the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ tune for the Beating Retreat, it is not quite neck-in-neck, since the air chief is against airing dirty linen.
  • Maybe the army is periodically throwing the regime some bones.
  • It’s also not impossible that its leadership comprises believers, over-eager as are nascent converts.
  • Perhaps the commanding general in Kolkata is currying the regime’s favour, quite like the current chief of defence staff did once from the same perch, pronouncing on a student agitation.

Why fret?

Irrespective of which of these holds water, the army’s alacrity can be laid down to the army leadership being from the Great Indian Middle Class. It’s been brainwashed for some 30 years, the duration the army incubated the current leadership.

It appears the regime may be close to having the military leadership it wished for and the budding Hindu rashtra, a military it deserves.

Sensibly, the regime is proceeding post-haste to redo the military. It wishes the military to first shed its past skin, so that it can slip into the one it has in store.

The regime having time on its side, it is not possible to expect the military to take a stand.

It can be expected to continue down its ‘apolitical’ road, oblivious that under the circumstance of the Chanakyan – surreptitious, stealthy, subterranean, surely – assault on India’s verities, to be apolitical is political.

For now, the military is best advised to be go slow, shirk, disrobe leisurely.

Also read: Latest Chapter in Army’s BJP-Led Decolonisation Exercise Forgets the Contribution of Indian Soldiers in WWII

What’s at play?

If ‘Vijaydurg’ is its substitute for ‘Fort William’, then it must engage more intimately with alternatives thought up for it.

The alternate chosen is out of sync with the people and the place, as pointed out by a former army chief, a local to boot.

Linked as Vijaydurg is to the great warrior general, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, it is of a piece with the army installing statues of the Maratha king at two other places, neither of which the legendary patriot had any connection with – Kupwara and Ladakh.

For its part, the navy’s statue of the Maratha king – later felled by strong winds – was at least mitigated by the navy’s roleplay as legatee to the king’s exploits at sea. (Never mind that an admiral, Kunjali, was Muslim, prompting the navy to change the name of a Colaba helipad that bears his name – and that too in the pre-Modi era!)

There is no such redeeming feature in the army’s action, with locals – less in Kupwara where they are understandably muted – querying it.

The then-Maharashtra chief minister inaugurating of the one at Kupwara suggests where the funds come from, providing a clue to the intent.

It’s clear the military is being put to furthering an agenda. Its leadership – with bios invariably touting alma mater National Defence College – cannot be so naive as to not know what that is.

The proliferation of Shivaji’s likeness in unlikely places owes to the appropriation of a secular, progressive, modernist and humanist historical figure by the right wing. (Never mind that they stand for precisely the obverse, or rather, the appropriation owes precisely to that variance.)

Shivaji’s resolute fight against Aurangzeb – Hindutva’s Darth Vader – forced the wily Emperor to spend the rest of his life campaigning austerely in the Deccan.

Shivaji’s challenge is interpreted – in the right wing’s worldview – as the first blow against India’s initial colonisers, its Muslims.

Thus, the name change in Kolkata is a double-blow: more obviously against British colonisers, but also, more subtly, against Muslims.

Further, in Kolkata, it helps the onslaught on a stronghold against Hindutva: Bengal, the other being the deep South.

Ideologues know best erasure is a preliminary and necessary step to rewriting history.

By erasing the part of history of Bengal and its people that gave Bengal a head-start into modernity over the rest of India, they hope to subdue it. The insertion of the Hindutva icon is to recreate Partition’s divide.

On a wider note, the privileging of Shivaji is the regime’s way of ‘unifying’ India. It assumes diversity is a threat. Therefore, the emphasis on ‘One this, One that, and the ‘Other’’.

Unifying narratives, as one woven round Shivaji, are supplemented around historical figures as Mahabir Borphukan in Assam and Bhagwan Munda in Adivasi India.

The former is to build the ferment against ‘illegal immigrants’ which even Trump could envy; while the latter is against Christians, explicable when ‘British’ is collapsed with ‘Christian’.

It places a Christian ‘Other’ on par with the Muslim Other – in order to construct a Hindu identity and, in turn, unity (‘ek hai toh safe hai’).

This is increasingly necessary, troubled as the regime is by the imminent exposure, heralded by the Telangana caste census, of the Grand Indian 15:85 Faultline, wherein 15% lord it over the 85% majority.

A DIY kit

There are two possibilities, neither of which are edifying: one, either the army is acting in connivance; or, two, it is being dictated to.

Rajnath Singh has a former military general as principal adviser in his office, a post created for him.

The incumbent ordinarily ought to have alerted the Raksha Mantri, since he would know the military ethic, even if it evidently escapes Singh.

Its possible that the army furnishes the list of 75 prospective decolonisation initiatives, while the replacement draws on back links with the right wing behemoth.

When confronted with criticism on his redecoration of his office annex, that witnessed the relegation of the iconic 1971 War victory painting and the plaque with the army’s leadership credo, the army chief apologetically accepted three ‘golden ages’: the British, the Moghul and the era before that.

However, the fort’s renaming soon thereafter suggests that while his heart is in the right place, demonstrating spine might be needed.

For that, the military must engage Ali-like in a ‘rope-a-dope’ trick, resorting to a theaterisation-like merry-go-round.

The military must vet the Replacement Dharma for any repositioning entailed in relation to the constitution.

The regime’s innumerable protests to the contrary only aggravate suspicion that these serve as cover for its designs on the constitution, a pre-requisite for formalising Hindu rashtra.

Simultaneous steps to politicise the army are a dead give-away, since these but ensure the army does not rally to a guardianship role.

Reduction of the salience of the army in the national security scheme and in national esteem is evidence.

Diminution is visible in the army being at butt of memes (‘not a game changer but a name changer’) and brasshats as bookend for politician photo ops.

Worse is in placing the military afoul of the national security interest, such as in renewed jollity with China without a reckoning over the three ‘buffer zones’ in Ladakh.

Such undercutting of the military contradicts Rajnath Singh’s homily: ‘A robust security system relies on a strong military. No nation can develop unless its military is powerful.’

The regime must be apprised to the three paradoxes its actions bestir, in order that, hopefully, it treads more gingerly:

  • The more it hollows out the military, the more likely it will seek to preserve itself.
  • The closer it gets to constitutional tinkering, the more the military’s guardian role comes into play.
  • Disempowering the military internally, necessarily militates against empowering it externally.

Notwithstanding that, the military will do well to check on which of the hypothesis behind its name changing binge holds water, and shore up against keeling over.

Ali Ahmed is a strategic analyst. This post first appeared on the author’s Substack and has been lightly edited for style.

‘Who Will Now Take Care of Us, My Son?’ Asks Grieving Mother of Kashmiri Truck Driver Killed by Army

Witnesses said that mourners were angry over the alleged delay by the authorities in handing over the slain youngster’s body to his family for burial. 

Srinagar: Before leaving his home in Goripora village of Sopore police district in north Kashmir on Wednesday evening (February 5), Waseem Ahmad Mir, 27, a young truck driver, promised his mother Nisara Begum that he would take her to a good doctor after returning from Kolkata. 

Since the onset of winter in Kashmir this year, Begum had been complaining of loss of strength in her legs. “As the eldest son of the family, he used to take care of his parents,” said Rashid Rasheed, his cousin. 

On Thursday morning, security forces set up barricades around the village of Goripora to ensure a quiet funeral for Mir, who was shot dead by the army in Sangrama area on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway on Wednesday night after his truck allegedly jumped a security checkpoint.

Speaking with The Wire, Rasheed said that Mir had made a brief visit to home on Wednesday evening after loading his truck with about 800 boxes of Kashmiri apples in Sopore, the apple town of Kashmir. 

Also read: J&K: Civilian Killed in Firing by Army, Another Dies by Suicide After Police Torture Over Militant Links

The ill-fated truck was on the way to Srinagar where Mir was scheduled to pick up its owner, whose identity could not be immediately ascertained, before starting the long journey to Kolkata to deliver the consignment of apples. The shootout took place at around 10:30 pm on Wednesday.

According to Rasheed, the family got a phone call at midnight on Wednesday from the truck owner, who had been contacted by local police, informing them that Mir had met an “accident” on Srinagar-Baramulla highway and that he had been taken to Government Medical College in Baramulla in a critical condition. 

In a tragic turn of events, when the family arrived at the hospital, they learnt that Mir had been killed in firing allegedly by the army. “They even delayed handing over his body for more than 12 hours under the pretext of postmortem examination. We had to wait at the hospital till the afternoon on the next day,” said Rasheed. 

Wasim Ahmad Mir

A woman breaks down outside the residence of Wasim Ahmad Mir in Goripora village of Sopore. Photo: Sajad Hameed

In a statement, the army said that the truck, which was driven by Mir, jumped a security checkpoint, triggering a chase for about 23 km from Sopore during which the soldiers fired gunshots at the tyres which “forced (the) vehicle to halt at Sangrama Chowk” on Srinagar-Baramulla highway.    

Rasheed, however, said that “dozens of bullets” had been fired “all over the truck”. “There are dozens of CCTV cameras along the route. They (army) should share the footage with us,” he said, demanding an impartial inquiry into the killing.

Mir was the lone bread-earner of his family which includes his father Abdul Majeed Mir, who works partly as a mason, mother who is a housewife, two younger brothers – Shafqat Majeed and Irfan Majeed who work as salesman at a garments store in Sopore and housekeeping supervisor in a hotel respectively, and a younger sister who is jobless. 

“His death has inflicted a cruel blow to his family. The government should identify the perpetrators and hold them accountable for killing an innocent person. Ask anyone in the village and they will tell you that he was a noble person. His death is an injustice not just for his family but for the entire Kashmir,” said Rasheed.

As the news of the tragic killing spread in the village on Thursday morning, hundreds of women gathered at the dilapidated, single-storied house of the aggrieved family in Goripora to express their condolences. 

Wasim Ahmad Mir Sopore army firing

Dozens of women gathered outside the Goripora residence to express condolences with the aggrieved family who lost their lone bread earner in Baramulla shooting. Photo: Sajad Hameed

Witnesses said that Mir’s inconsolable mother beat her chest and wept relentlessly over the tragic fate of her son while other women tried to console her, asking her to show patience. “Who will now take care of us, my son? Who will take me to the doctor now? Why didn’t you take me along with you?” Begum cried. 

Witnesses said that mourners were angry over the alleged delay by the authorities in handing over the slain youngster’s body to his family for burial. 

“What has he done that his body is not being returned? He was killed by the army and now they aren’t allowing us to even see him for the last time. One would understand it if he had been a militant. He was innocent and a daily wage earner,” a woman, who could not be immediately identified, said on Thursday morning outside the aggrieved family’s house.

Also read: Kathua: J&K Admin Orders Probe After Youth Dies by Suicide Due to Alleged Police Torture

Security forces had thrown a cordon around the village and some journalists were allegedly stopped from reporting the story. 

“I was taking pictures when a man in civvies pulled me aside and asked me to leave, saying that he had orders from higher-ups in the police,” said a journalist, who works with an international wire agency, wishing to stay anonymous.

The Wire tried to reach senior police officials of Sopore police district over the issue. The story will be updated if and when a response is received. 

Later on Thursday afternoon, Mir’s body was handed to the family after which he was laid to rest amid emotional scenes at the common graveyard of Goripora village.