Braving minus six-degree temperature and chilly winds, the India Air Force on Wednesday came to the rescue and airlifted 150 stranded people, including women and children in snow-bound Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
While there were concerns about the security aspect of drones, top government officials were of the view that restricting the drone industry would stifle a sunrise sector which holds significant promise for future, reports Arindam Majumder.
"An elaborate plan has been made at headquarters of Air officer commanding Jammu and Kashmir for the seven phases of elections starting from November 17 to December 24," IAF Nodal officer for elections Wing commander Hari Krishan said.
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday approved 412 gallantry awards and other defence decorations to Armed Forces personnel and others on the eve of 74th Republic Day.
There were 11,301 tourists when the advisory was issued and only 1,652 of them remained on Saturday.
Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Shahid Latif, the mastermind of the 2016 attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, and his brother were gunned down by unidentified assailants outside a mosque in Pakistan's Sialkot district on Wednesday, officials said.
The Indian Air Force on Saturday showed an impressive gesture by air lifting 10 critical passengers from Chandrakot area to Jammu, after a mini bus fell 500 feet in deep gorge near Batot on Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) began a courier service for Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir's Ladakh region as the first flight took off from Kargil to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir with 21 passengers on board, an official spokesman said.
'As the IAF kicks off another round of myth-making -- launching a year-long commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1965 India-Pakistan war -- it is worth remembering how little there was to celebrate in those September days when the underdog PAF got the better of the IAF in raid after raid, dogfight after dogfight.'
'...and then get scaled down somewhat.' 'It will be difficult for any side to occupy meaningful territories, maybe just a bit here and there, and the destruction may vary on either side.'
The IAF 'evidence' shows that the S-2000 laser-guided munition hit the intended targets causing significant 'internal damage', sources said.
The ceasefire violations and firing from across the Line of Control are "quite serious" and the government wants a "quick resolution" of the problem there, IAF Chief Arup Raha said.
"We are making serious attempts to rescue people marooned in flood waters based on inputs we get from various sources, including people," asserted a top Indian Air Force official overseeing the marathon operations by his force amidst allegations by some people that forces had not reached all the affected people.
The IAF has pressed into services nine choppers, three Il-76s and four AN-32s for the operation.
Nearly 1,000 people have been stranded after heavy unseasonal snowfall have triggered avalanches and roadblocks in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttaranchal areas.
"There is a threat and a persistent one on this account," IAF's Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command, Air Marshal A R Gandhi said.
Flight Lieutenant Adivitiya Bal was killed in the line of duty along with Wing Commander Mohit Rana in last week's MiG-21 crash in Barmer. His school in Nagrota, Jammu, gave a final salute to a worthy ex-student.
In an unprecedented move, IAF Chief BS Dhanoa has written a personal letter to each officer in the Indian Air Force.
Air Chief Marshal said his force is ready for a full spectrum operation but added that any decision on surgical strike involving the IAF has to be taken by the government.
The encounter took place in Hajin area of north Kashmir's Bandipora district on Wednesday.
The Army's brave four-legged soldiers. The determined BSF. Magical Gulmarg. Don't miss watching these videos.
India also went on an overdrive in expanding its military engagement with like-minded countries in its neighbourhood and beyond in the face of China's relentless attempts to become a regional hegemon and establish its primacy in South Asia.
The national flag will fly half-mast on the day of the funeral in Delhi.
Hundreds of Kashmir-bound stranded vehicles were given green signal on Tuesday afternoon after the roads were cleared for vehicular traffic.
A special court in Jammu on Tuesday issued a bailable warrant against Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, after she did not appear for cross-examination in a case related to her abduction by the JKLF in 1989.
The IAF chief stressed on the ongoing development of advanced landing ground along the Himalayas.
In order to have protection against drone attacks, all the three defence forces including the Army, Navy and Air Force have signed contracts for acquiring DRDO-developed anti-drone systems.
A Korean couple and a retired Army Major General were among 310 people rescued by Chandigarh-based 12 Wing of the Indian Air Force, which has been conducting non-stop sorties during the past three days to evacuate people from flooded areas of Srinagar.
The minister asserted that India has taken major action against terrorism under the Modi government and referred to the surgical strikes carried out across the Line of Control (LoC) in 2016 and the Balakot air strike in 2019.
Since LeT is involved and the outfit is run from Pakistan, so in a way Pakistan's involvement cannot be ruled out, the police chief told reporters.
District authorities in Samba, Ramban and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday banned the storage, sale or possession of drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles.
The residents of Phule Malwadi hope this desperate act will draw attention to their problem.
Amid heightened security across Jammu and Kashmir after the recent bombing of an IAF station by armed drones in Jammu, authorities in the border district of Rajouri on Wednesday ordered ban a on the storage, sale or possession and use and transport of the flying machines.
A team of six trekkers from New Delhi and Shimla is missing in Kinnaur district, officials said. A rescue operation will be launched.
In unusually candid remarks, the Air Force chief termed Pakistani-occupied Kashmir as a "thorn in our flesh".
The capability of drones to evade radar, wreak devastation at strategic installations and transport weapons to terrorists has been a continuous concern for the country's security establishment, and in a maiden incident, these unmanned vehicles were used to strike an Indian Air Force base in Jammu on Sunday, officials said.
Chastened by the Kargil conflict, Pervez Musharraf will be remembered for gradually lowering the profile of terrorism and seeking a realistically negotiated settlement to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan when Musharraf seized power in a coup in October 1999.
Army chief General Bipin Rawat had visited Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to review the operational preparedness of the troops deployed in the state.
As part of moves to speedily build communication infrastructure on the Chinese frontier, the Indian Air Force has finalised plans to set up an another airstrip in Ladakh.
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