INDIA NEWS
March 1-15, 2021 - Vol 1, Issue 17
Indian Navy, Coast Guard feeding stranded Rohingyas, but no rescue yet association with the Rohingyas through her humanitarian project providing relief to the hapless refugees often stranded in hostile host countries or at sea. She welcomed the Indian supplies and medical treatment but appeared worried by unconfirmed reports that Indian technicians were trying to repair the boat’s engine.
By Subir Bhaumik
Andamans islands.
Kolkata, Feb 23 (IANS): The Indian Navy and Coast Guard personnel have been feeding and providing medical attention to a group of 90 Rohingya refugees and three Bangladesh crewmen on a boat that was stranded on high seas after it drifted into India’s territorial waters on Monday.
“The navy doctors are on the Rohingya boat to treat the sick.
Humanitarian groups monitoring the plight of the sea-stranded Rohingyas say the Indian sailors have given them some food and water and doctors have attended to the sick on the boat off India’s
“Eight of them have died since Saturday and many are suffering acute dehydration and diarohhea. But we learn that the Indians are not rescuing the Rohingyas,” said Chris Lewa of the Bangkok-based ‘Arakan Project’. “The last we heard from the Rohingyas was on Monday night when the one sat-phone on the boat was still working. Now that contact is lost. Nobody is taking our call on that sat-phone,” said Chris Lewa, who has a long
Tanks, choppers deployed in Ladakh part of counter terror drills with US
If that was true, she said, it would mean the Indians would not mount a full-fledged rescue mission, rather leave the boat inmates pursue their perilous journey to South-east Asia. The ‘Arakan Project’ has confirmed the presence of 65 Rohingya women and girls, five children below the age of 2 and 20 men on the boat. Since the boat’s engines stopped functioning six days ago, it has been drifting towards India’s Andaman islands from its course. But Indian navy sources said they were ‘trying to ascertain the identity of a boat that seems to have drifted into Indian waters off the Andaman coast’.
By Sumit Kumar Singh
By Aarti Tikoo Singh
Mahajan (Rajasthan), Feb 25 (IANS): Two Apache helicopters hover over a recreated combat area in Thar desert as troops slither from four Mi-17 transport choppers in batches of two during the India and US armies joint drill at Mahajan Field Firing Range on Saturday.
New Delhi/Naypyitaw, Feb 20 (IANS): Myanmar’s military regime, which recently overthrew the democratically elected government in a coup, has intensified its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the country.
Minutes later a Chinook, a multi-mission helicopter, comes carrying an armoured transport vehicle, drops it at the designated location and leaves. The hovering Apaches also stop. The troops are on the ground and now they are ready for action.
On Saturday, several users on social media who claimed to be the citizens of Myanmar posted shocking pictures and videos of military repression against the protesters at Yadanarpon Dock in Mandalay.
During the drill, mock terror situations like in Afghanistan and Iraq were created at Mahajan Field Firing Range and counter terror operations were carried out by a joint team of Indian and US Armies.
Earlier this month, the Myanmar military imposed a one-year state of emergency after detaining democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others.
Tanks and air power deployed at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh -- after the border dispute with China -- are now part of the drill.
Myanmar military regime backed by China, cracks down on protesters
The military junta, which ruled the country through the 90s and 2000s, has had the backing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). After a long struggle against the military regime for nearly two decades, Suu Kyi had led Myanmar’s transition to a partial democracy in the last five years. For CCP, Myanmar is of strategic importance due to its access to the Indian Ocean, the main route for China’s oil imports from the Middle East. Beijing is keen on the development of overland routes for oil and gas pipelines via the Kyaukphyu special economic zone (SEZ) and deep-sea port, which will allow it to bypass the South China Sea where the US and Japan are challenging its sovereignty.
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A Reuters photographer Soe Zeya Tun on Saturday posted a video of a wounded woman seen after the police crackdown on the protesters.
regime with the technology to control information and quell protests. The CCP has expertise in using technology to locate, identify and penalize dissidents.
Protesters posted pictures of injured victims and sharp irons, reportedly thrown at them by police.
As per the new censorship rules, internet service providers in Myanmar are required to share critical information to authorities in cases that threaten the country’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Civilians tweeted saying that the police had arrested some of the protesters too. The information regarding the military and police brutality trickled out from Myanmar on social media as the regime is preparing to bring in a tough cyber bill to censor free speech online. According to sources, the CCP is helping the Myanmar military
WORLD NEWS
A violator can go to jail for up to three years and will have to pay a fine up to $7,500 or both. Incidentally, following the military coup in Myanmar, Chinese and Indian troops disengaged along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh after a 10-month long face-off.
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Rajasthan’s Suratgarh based Brigade represented by 11th Battalion of Sapt Shakti Command of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles carried out counter terrorism drills with the Seattle based soldiers of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, also known as “Ghost Brigade”. The 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team earned its name as Ghost Brigade for carrying out counter terror operations stealthily in Iraq. Major Spencer Garrison of the Ist Stryker Brigade told IANS, “We gained the reputation as Ghost Brigade in early 2003 during first deployment in Iraq. We gained the reputation for quickly and quietly entering enemy town homes in
certain areas and we were able to strike and defeat the enemy before they knew what hit them. From then on our motto became ‘Arrive in Silence’.” He said that it is a Brigade of over 4000 soldiers from various military specialities. During the drill the joint team move towards a built up area, a village, were militants are hiding. Troops with long range and short range guns along with Infantry Combat Vehicle BMP and T-90 Bhishma Tank, Stryker Armoured Vehicle and troops use their firepower in a coordinated manner. Thereafter searches were carried out to trace the militants. During the mock counter terror operation, fire support was given by Army Aviation. Four Indigenously Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Rudra hit the targets with missiles. The drill culminated with destroying the militants hideouts. It is the 16th edition of Exercise Yudh Abhyas, a bilateral exercise. It started on February 8 and will end on February 21. The drill is named Zorawar after Dogra military commander General Zorawar Singh who is known as ‘Conqueror of Ladakh’. The focus of the drill is on counter terror operations. Apart from that both the countries’ militaries are carrying out familiarisation and handling of weapons, battlefield trauma management, casualty evacuation, tactical level questioning, intelligence collection, tracking and interrogation techniques and counter IED drills. A total of 240 soldiers of the US army are part of the exercise.
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