The Indian Panorama

Tag: BSF

  • UNSC calls for action on killing of UN peacekeepers in Congo

    UNSC calls for action on killing of UN peacekeepers in Congo

    Mortal remains of two Indian and one Moroccan peacekeeper transferred to Beni city

    NEW YORK (TIP): Members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) called on the Congolese authorities to swiftly investigate the killing of three UN Peacekeepers, including two BSF troopers, by a mob in Congo on Monday, July 25. A UNSC statement, piloted by India and France, also asked the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an update on Monday’s attack on a UN Peacekeepers’ base in Goma. The violent attackers had snatched weapons from Congolese police and “fired upon” the UN personnel. The two BSF personnel killed in the attack have been identified as Head Constables Shishupal Singh and Sanwala Ram Vishnoi.

    Two days back, while condoling the deaths of the peacekeepers, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had demanded that the perpetrators of the “outrageous attacks” must be held accountable and brought to justice. The UNSC statement requested the Secretary-General for an update consistent with paragraph 4(a) of Security Council resolution 2589 (2021) on measures undertaken to promote accountability for such acts. The relevant paragraph asks the Secretary-General to update on measures undertaken to promote accountability within a country’s domestic justice systems, consistent with applicable international obligations. The UN mission in Congo (MONUSCO) Acting Head Khassim Diagne also said, “we will not leave any stone unturned to get to the bottom of it, to the investigation. This was clearly a hostile act against our troops. This may be a war crime.’’ India is a non-permanent member of the UNSC and also among three troop contributing countries to the UN peacekeeping missions.

  • 1965 Indo-Pak war First Railway Martyrs’ memorial opens at Gadra Road border

    1965 Indo-Pak war First Railway Martyrs’ memorial opens at Gadra Road border

    History is inscribed on the Memorial
    BSF Barmer DIG Gurupal Singh salutes the martyrs.
    Divisional Railway Manager of Jodhpur DivisionGeetika Pandey offers a floral tribute. (Photos: Courtesy NWR PR office in Jodhpur)

    Dr. Yash Goyal

    JAIPUR (TIP): India’s first Railway Martyrs’ Memorial dedicated to 17 rail employees who had lost lives in the Indo-Pak war in 1965 was set up at Gadra Road Station in Barmer district on January 19. This sounds surprising that a martyrs’ memorial for railway employees who sacrificed their lives has come up now along the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan.Google reveals: “The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan’s Operation Gibraltar, which was designed to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against Indian rule. India had the upper hand over Pakistan when the ceasefire was declared. Although the two countries fought to a standoff, the conflict is seen as a strategic and political defeat for Pakistan, as it had neither succeeded in fomenting insurrection in Kashmir nor had it been able to gain meaningful support at an international level”. After 55 years, a new generation people might not be knowing that in the neighboring countries’ war Pakistani army had bombarded the Bhartiya railway track in Barmer district where its employees were transporting ‘Rasad” (food and other supplies) to defense forces fighting the war on land in air. In twice attack of air bomb shelling on moving train and on the track by Pakistani army during the war, 12 employees martyred in first hostile attack and 5 in the second one.  All the deceased were very young employees and left behind their family members including old age parents and children. Later the Railway has given jobs to their kins on compassionate ground, Gopal Sharma, North-Western Railway PR Officer, told TIP while sharing the war memories. Every year on September 9, scores of villagers, family members of the martyred and railway employees’ union used to observe a ‘shaheed diwas’ at the two sites, 1 to 2 km away from Gadra Road Railway station. They had to reach there by their own means of transportation and facing hard time. Now NWR has built the granite made memorial with 17 names inscribed on it as “Amar Jawan, Amar Shaheed” just outside the Gadra Road Station.

    On January 19, NWR General Manager Anand Prakash along with BSF Barmer DIG Gurupal Singh and DRM-Jodhpur Geetika Pandey dedicated the first memorial of its kind to the nation by placing flower wreaths. The 142nd Battalion of BSF gave the guard of honor. GM Prakash also felicitated the family members of martyred railway personnel at a simple function there. BSF DIG hailed the contribution and cooperation of Railway employees and India’s victory terming it a historic one. (EOM)

    (Dr. Yash Goyal is Foreign Correspondent, The Indian Panorama, based in Jaipur, Rajasthan. He can be reached at 91 94140 43334 / 0141 2942777)