Washington, March 10

Terming the Haqqani network as the greatest threat to US forces in Afghanistan, a top American general has said it is time for Pakistan to “take decisive action” against this Pakistan-based terror group.

“We need Pakistan to take decisive actions against the Haqqani Network (HQN). The Pakistanis are uniquely positioned to counter the HQN, which remains the greatest threat to our forces and to stability in Afghanistan long-term,” Commander of US Central Command General Lloyd J Austin told members of the Senate Armed Service Committee at a Congressional hearing.

The US is encouraged by some signs from Kabul and Islamabad that point towards a renewed effort at improving Afghanistan-Pakistan relations, and Pakistani support for the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, Austin said yesterday.

“The Pakistan military continues to play a visible role in efforts to reduce safe havens in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, while at the same time actively countering VEOs, including AQ, Tehrik- e-Taliban Pakistan, and the newly-emerged ISIL-KP,” he said.

“During the most recent fighting season, we saw increased collaboration among Afghan and Pakistani military leadership.

Commanders at the corps level have met multiple times and continue their efforts to increase interoperability between the forces.

“Both countries’ military leaders are working to secure a bilateral border standard operating procedure,” Austin said.

Noting that US-Pakistan military-to-military relationship remains stable, he said key contributing factors are the American security assistance and the Coalition Support Fund.

“In December 2015, we participated in the Defence Consultative Group, a component of the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, which focused on future initiatives that will help sustain US-Pakistan bilateral defence cooperation on shared security interests,” Austin added. — PTI

Brig KG Behl (retd)

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 9

Brig KG Behl (retd), president of the All India Consumers Council Uttarakhand, has requested all environmentalists to come together to save Parade Ground in Dehradun that was being converted into a concrete ground without permission for change of land use.Brig Behl said Parade Ground is considered the lungs of Dehradun and it is along with Gandhi Park was the only open and green place left in the town. Its conversion into a concrete ground would not only spoil the greenery and beauty of Dehradun but also suffocate the people of Doon who were already suffering from increasing traffic and pollution.He said on the pretext of one or another excuse Parade Ground was being converted into a concrete surface without bothering how much it would affect the greenery of the town and create pollution. He added why couldn’t the environmentalists, who keep on harping on greening Dehradun, come and see how Parade Ground was being spoiled in the name of sports.Brig Behl said they were not against sports but it should be managed properly and carried out at specific places. He questioned the necessity of making concrete courts for tennis, basketball and volleyball in Parade Ground.An old Doon resident said the government had a few years ago planned construction of a stadium at Parade Ground but all lovers of green Dehradun protested and the proposal was shelved. “But now slowly they are again following in the footsteps of those residents who had opposed construction of a stadium at Parade Ground and trying to convert it into a concrete one. It needs to be stopped forthwith,” he added.He appealed to the Governor and the Chief Minister to save the historic Parade Ground and its green cover.

The police keep a vigil at a temple in Surat on Mahashivaratri on Monday. PTI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 7

Home Minister Rajnath Singh today held a high-level internal security review meeting amid multi-city alert owing to a terror threat following inputs of 10 LeT and JeM terrorists having entered the Indian territory from Pakistan through Gujarat coast. Alert has also been sounded in Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.As most temples, keeping in view Mahashivaratri celebration today, and other strategic locations were put under tight vigil, the Home Minister was briefed by officials about the security drill.Singh took stock of the situation and steps taken to prevent any possible terror attacks, though the agencies remained clueless about the location and possible target of the suspected terrorists.Besides National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, other top security officials present at the meeting included Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Director of Intelligence Bureau Dineshwar Sharma.An alert has already been sounded in Gujarat and other major metropolitan centres by central security agencies following reports that the 10 terrorists are on a mission to carry out attacks against high-value targets. Tier-two cities such as Lucknow, Jaipur, Vijayawada, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Panaji have also been asked to step up vigil. Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore have already been on alert following the input.In the national Capital, police presence and patrolling have been stepped up around temples, popular markets, iconic buildings and other places such as metro stations, railway stations and bus terminus, a senior official said.After the review meeting, the Home Minister told mediapersons that action had been taken following the intelligence inputs. “We have received some information and whatever necessary instructions had to be given, have been given,” he said.Sources in the MHA said the minister reviewed the steps taken to beef up security at strategic locations, religious sites and industrial spots in Gujarat and metro cities apprehending threats.Kiren Rijiju, junior minister in the MHA, said security agencies were working and taking necessary steps after receiving the intelligence inputs. In view of the January 2 terror attack at the Pathankot airbase, security agencies were not taking any chances and all possible steps are being taken to prevent any possible terror strike, assured the minister. Security was beefed up across Gujarat and in other parts of the country after the National Security Adviser got a call from his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua about the 10 terrorists from two Pakistan-based outfits having sneaked into India through the Gujarat coast.The central agencies are investigating the discovery of five abandoned fishing boats near Sir Creek on the Kutch coast over the past three months, including one found by a BSF patrol on Friday. 

(With agency inputs)

RAJNATH REVIEWS SECURITY SITUATION

The home minister on Monday met top intelligence officials in the wake of an input from Pakistan about possible militant infiltration into Gujarat. But 48 hours after the tip-off, security agencies had no information pointing to the presence of a suicide squad. They, however, continued to trawl through voice and data traffic for leads

VIGIL ON SHIVRATRI Rajnath meets top officials in wake of input about possible infiltration by 10 extremists from Pakistan

SCENE one: After retirement we moved into a small house which provided  parking space for only one car. My Maruti 800 occupied that space. With the arrival of the second and expensive car of my son, the Maruti had to be parked outside the house. I would secure the vehicle with a steering lock at night, an act not pleasant to my friends who believed  that no one would take away a Maruti 800. During the thick of summer, the roof padding of the car would give way due to extreme heat, and I would look for a shady space to protect my vehicle from the cruelty of the sun.  After a short survey, an elegant amaltas tree was spotted across the road. The tree looks beautiful when it sheds its leaves and sways majestically in the spring breeze.One day, while I was parking the car,  a middle-aged lady gestured me to stop; possibly she had a message. I unrolled the windowpane to listen to her. “Veerji, don’t park the car here. The reflection of the sun annoys me in my house which is just across the road.” I was dumb-founded with the unusual sermon of the lady, and took a  few seconds before I could react. I thought a bit and folded my hands: “Sat bachan,” I replied, accepting her verdict. She walked away satisfied with the sense of achievement, contentment writ large on her face. My  sat bachan had avoided any conflict, even though I had  parked the car on government land Scene two: I was driving the Maruti in the congested motor market of Chandigarh to get the roof repaired. I was trying to locate the shop which I had visited on earlier occasions. I observed a young boy running behind my car, signalling me to stop. After negotiating my way, I managed to park the car and followed the boy to the shop. The owner, standing behind the counter, furiously remarked: “Sardar saheb, you have hit and damaged my scooter while driving in front of my shop!” I had the moral courage to accept my mistake and replied: “Sat bachan, my fault. Please get it repaired at my cost.” The shopkeeper,  who initially appeared aggressive  mellowed, possibly never expecting  such a reply. “Sir, it is ok,” he said.Driving back, I realised the power of sat bachan, and being humble. There were no arguments, no raising of voices, no fights, but everything ended on a pleasant note. The present young generation, which is all set to fight on trivial issues, needs to embrace humility, a quality which keeps oneself under control. It would prevent many road rage cases that occur often. Humility does not exhibit   weakness, but the strength of the individual.

The biggest disappointment has been the move to tax Provident Fund withdrawals. This is like rubbing salt in the wounds of a middle class that honestly pays its taxes.

The Union Budget-2016 is typical of the NDA government, strong on hype and short on substance. The Finance Minister has made a lot of statements, but one wonders how he would deliver on those. The Budget speech was resoundingly silent on the “how” aspect of the promises. For example, it is a very worthy objective to claim that farmers’ incomes can double in five years! But Mr Jaitley has not mentioned any concrete steps on how this income can go up so rapidly. For this to happen, farmers’ incomes would have to go up by almost 15 per cent per year, which is almost double the rate at which the GDP is expected to grow for the next few years. In view of the current macro-economic situation, as well as the cautionary notes issued by the Economic Survey, this kind of rapid growth looks unlikely. That is what betrays the NDA government’s lack of intent to fulfil the big promises.Farmers are already grappling with a vicious cycle of debt, stagnation of income and two consecutive bad monsoons. Under such circumstances it would have been reassuring to see the government increasing the crop insurance allocation, but that hasn’t happened. Likewise, the increase in the allotment for irrigation is also suspect. It has been done previously as well, but there was also a commensurate increase in the area under irrigation. States like Punjab need investment to upgrade the irrigation infrastructure, but there was no announcement to that effect.What is heartening to see is that the government has chosen to persist with the MNREGA. This is a good decision, though one cannot restrain oneself from pointing out that shortly after coming to power, the Prime Minister had rather boastfully claimed that the scheme epitomised all that was wrong with UPA policies. It would be unfair on my part to say that the government has done a U-turn, but it is good to see that it is persisting with some of the good polices of the UPA, including Aadhaar, which it had initially debunked.It is also good to observe that the Finance Minister has chosen to keep fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent. However, it is unclear how this is going to be achieved. There is no mention of how the minister is going to adjust the implementation of the pay commission proposals. There has been no buoyancy in the collection of income tax and corporate tax in the first two years of the NDA government. So a suggestion that income and corporate tax collections would go up significantly this year needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Moreover, the service tax has been left unchanged and corporate tax has been brought down; the GST still appears on a distant horizon; so one wonders if the fiscal target would be achieved.The biggest disappointment for me was the disastrous move to tax Provident Fund (PF) withdrawals. This is like rubbing salt in the wounds of a middle class that honestly pays taxes and is suffering an unstoppable inflation. While it would have been good of the Finance Minister to give some income tax exemptions, he has gone on to charge tax on as much as 60 per cent of the corpus of the PF withdrawals. The justification that the government wants the middle class to remain invested in pension annuity incomes, etc, to retain continuous saving is highly disingenuous. To attract the middle class to these schemes you don’t need to give them the fear of tax. You should be giving attractive savings interest rates to ensure that the money flows back into the economy, stimulating capital formation.Also, the government seems to have grossly underestimated the extent of the rot that exists in our public-sector banks. It would have been good to see a clear strategy and more aggressive laws hitting at defaulters and reducing the bad debt/non-performing assets (NPAs). It is shocking to know that the total NPAs of public-sector banks are more than the combined market capitalisation of these banks. It is obvious that we are sitting on dynamite. Under such circumstances, it would have been good to see aggressive bankruptcy norms, merging of small banks, performance indicators of public sector banks, reform in the boards of these banks, and infusion of private capital in them. None of this happened. The allocation of Rs 11,000 crore is paltry in view of the sheer extent of the problem in the banking sector.There has been no indication of the achievements of the much-touted Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or the Skill India Mission. Promises, we see, have been made liberally, while there is very little money visible to realise those.The writer is a member of the Congress and former Finance Minister of Punjab.

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 29

The state government has taken a serious note of filling of posts reserved for settlement of SRO-43 (militancy-related) cases to adjust the candidates outside the purview of the scheme.It has directed the administrative wings of various departments to adhere to the guidelines and ensure that the posts are reserved for settlement of SRO-43 (militancy-related) cases only.The Sadr-e-Riyasat Ordinance (SRO)-43 of 1994 (militancy related) provides for immediate financial support to the family or next of kin of those killed in militancy-related incidents in the form of government jobs or cash compensation in lieu thereof.“On the basis of inputs of the Administrative Secretaries regarding availability of Class IV posts in different departments, two government orders were issued in 2006 and 2009. In the orders, Class IV posts were kept at the disposal of the Deputy Commissioners for settlement of SRO-43 (militancy- related) cases except for the cases which require relaxation as provided in SRO-43,” said an order issued by the General Administration Department on Monday evening.The order said some of the departments had utilised the posts for adjustment of candidates outside the purview of SRO-43.“Such delinquency not only causes inordinate delay in settlement of these cases, but also leads to litigation and defeats the very purpose of the scheme,” it said.

Lt Gen MMS Rai, Vice Chief of the Army Staff, flags off the Army’s Everest Massif Expedition to scale the Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse at South Block in New Delhi. A Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 29

Led by a native of Jammu, Lt Col RS Jamwal, an avid climber, the Army’s Everest Massif Expedition to scale the Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse, was flagged off today by Lt Gen MMS Rai, Vice Chief of the Army Staff, at a ceremony held at South Block in New Delhi.The 30-member team, consisting of five officers, four junior commissioned officers and 21 other ranks, will attempt to summit world’s highest peak Mt Everest and world’s fourth highest peak Mt Lhotse. Lt Col RS Jamwal was also the team leader during last year’s Everest expedition when a strong 7.9-magnitude quake had struck Nepal and triggered avalanches in the Himalayan range on April 25.They were at the base camp when the quake had struck. Col Jamwal and other team members had survived the massive quake and had joined the rescue operations saving other climbers.The avalanche had struck the Everest Base Camp from Mount Pumori destroying camps of many expedition teams, killing 22 international climbers and local Sherpas and injuring more than 70.Jamwal belongs to Badhori village in the Bari-Brahmana area of Samba district.The expedition team will reach the Everest Base Camp on April 14 and will make summit attempts from May 16 to 30.Two members of the team would also be attempting the Everest- Lhotse traverse and five members would be participating in the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon on May 29.On completion of the expedition the team will return to Delhi on June 10.

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 28

India is all set to script history by launching a record number of 22 satellites, including a number of micro and nano ones from foreign countries, in a single mission in May this year.“The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s workhorse PSLV C34 carrying India’s Cartosat 2C will also have 21 other satellites from various countries, including the US, Canada, Indonesia and Germany, as co-passengers,” a senior ISRO official said today.“We are planning to launch 22 satellites on board PSLV C34. Earlier, we had sent 10 satellites on a single mission. Now, we are planning more than double. We hope the launch will be in May,” said ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) Director K Sivan.The launch will be made from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in the spaceport of Sriharikota, 100 km from Chennai. NASA put 29 satellites into orbit in a single launch in 2013, setting a world record.The upcoming ISRO mission would carry LAPAN A3 of Indonesia, BIROS of Germany, SKYSAT GEN 2-1 of US, MVV of Germany among the micro satellites. — PTI