Pratibha: Stern action on border violation

By YUSUF JAMEEL

Srinagar, May 23: President Pratibha Patil said on Friday that any violation of the truce holding along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir since November 2003 will be dealt with strongly by the troops. "Any kind of violation on our borders will be dealt with sternly," she said, asserting, "When the borders of a country are safe, the nations develop and progress."

Addressing a Sainik Sammelan in the historic Baramulla town, 58 km north-west from here, the President said that she was confident of India’s borders being safe in the hands of "our brave soldiers who are serving the nation in the most difficult and hazardous situations away from their families".

She assured them that the government will do all that was required to alleviate their working conditions, besides equipping them with latest weaponry and technology so that they could discharge their duties smoothly. She said, "Your hard work and courage have been instrumental in making the Indian Army one of the greatest armies in the world. We want to give you more and more facilities. It was indeed extremely exciting and gratifying to see our jawans doing such hard work. They are sleeping in bunkers and eating tin food. I simply appreciate their courage and sense of duty."

The President also touched upon the "human face" of the Army and other security forces. She said, "It is a matter of pride that ours is a great independent, sovereign nation whose armed forces are in love with humanity apart from being valiant." She said it was heartening to learn that they were involved in people-friendly developmental work and civic action, particularly through the Army’s "Operation Sadbhavana". "These measures have helped the people of Jammu and Kashmir a lot," she said.

Ms Patil, who began a five-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir amid tight security on Friday, her first as President, told the soldiers that besides being with them as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, she was there to tell them that "your mother and sister has come to bless you".

Earlier, soon after her arrival here, Ms Patil flew into Tanghdar on the LoC to meet and interact with the troops. She went inside an Army bunker located at an altitude of 9,600 feet and wrote on the visitors’ book: "I’m so delighted to visit this very important and strategic post. I simply admire the courage and morale of the troops who are keeping vigil on the border day and night in such a hazardous area and climatic conditions."

Accompanied by the Jammu and Kashmir governor, Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha (retd), chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Army Chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor, she was briefed about the anti-infiltration and surveillance mechanism put in place along the LoC to thwart infiltration from across and check other illegal trans-border activity.

These include the use of night vision and hand-held thermal equipment which has proved very helpful in tracking the movement of militants in the border areas, she was told.

Later in the day, Ms. Patil addressed convocation of Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) here and attended the dinner hosted by Mr. Azad at his official residence here. During her visit, the President is scheduled to attend a number of othr functions besides taking a break at Kashmir’s premier resort of Gulmarg.

Meanwhile, small crowds of people held protest demonstrations against her visit after the Friday congregations here and in some other parts of the Valley, the call for which had been issued by hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. He has also asked the people to observe a shut down on Saturday against the President’s visit to "disputed territory of Kashmir." Frontline indigenous militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen has, meanwhile, urged Islamabad to stop Pakistan’s Sufi-pop band ‘Junoon’ from visiting Srinagar to perform on the banks of Dal Lake during Ms. Patil’s visit. The concert will be part of the celebrations of the inauguration of Kashmir Study Center at Kashmir University for which the hosts have invited several dignitaries of SAARC nations, as well. End it