Carter dismissed China’s characterisation of a more robust US military presence in the region as being the cause of heightened tensions. A file photo

Aboard the USS John C. Stennis, South China Sea/Beijing, April 15

The chief US defence official visited an American aircraft carrier transiting the disputed South China Sea on Friday, as China said one of its top military officers had visited islands and reefs in the region to oversee building work.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter flew to the nuclear-powered USS John C. Stennis for a two-hour visit as it sailed 60 to 70 miles west of the Philippines island of Luzon.

While there, he dismissed China’s characterisation of a more robust US military presence in the region as being the cause of heightened tensions.

“What’s new is not an American carrier in this region,” Carter said aboard the Stennis, where he met US troops and observed flight operations. “What’s new is the context of tension which exists which we want to reduce.” China claims almost the entire South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the waters, through which about $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year.

The carrier visit, while not unprecedented, was still likely to inflame tension with China, which says the US is “militarising” the South China Sea and endangering security.

Carter made a similar stop at the USS Theodore Roosevelt in November as it transited the South China Sea near Malaysia.

On Friday’s visit, Carter was accompanied by Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

The US has already conducted what it calls “freedom of navigation” patrols in the area, sailing within 12-nautical mile territorial limits around disputed islands controlled by China to underscore its right to navigate the seas.

In a brief statement, China’s defense ministry said Fan Changlong, one of the vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission which controls its military, had recently visited some of China’s islands and reefs there.

While not saying where or when he went, it did say he met soldiers and inspected building work. He also visited islands in the contested Spratly archipelago, the ministry said.

China had earlier denounced plans announced in Manila on Thursday to deepen US-Philippine military ties, including joint patrols in the South China Sea, saying they reflected a “Cold War mentality”.

US promoting militarisation, says China

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the US move was proof of “who was the real promoter of the militarisation of the South China Sea.”

The US had never been able to give an example of civilian freedom of navigation being affected in the South China Sea, he told a daily news briefing.

“In reality, what the US is probably talking about is military freedom of navigation and safety. If that’s the case, then many countries, not only in this region, will hope that these big countries can act in accordance with international law.”

The Stennis has been on a routine deployment in the Western Pacific for three months, said the carrier strike group’s commander, Rear Admiral Ronald Boxall. Their ships interact with Chinese ships on a near-constant basis, he said, though he characterized the Chinese operations as professional.

“We see quite a presence out here,” Boxall said. “It’s more than I’ve seen in the past but that’s reasonable considering they have grown as a navy.”

During the course of a six-day trip to Asia, Carter has maintained that US strategy was aimed at maintaining peace and lawful settlement of disputes, not provoking a conflict with a major world power.

“We have been here for decade upon decade,” Carter said.

“The only reason that question even comes up is because of what has gone on over the last year and that’s a question of Chinese behavior.”

The carrier stop caps a trip designed to highlight the expanding partnerships the United States is building with countries in the region, which Carter said had been asking for a greater US role in response to anxiety over Chinese actions.

In addition to the joint US-Philippines patrols announced on Thursday, hundreds of US troops and some aircraft will stay behind in the Philippines on a temporary rotation.

In India this week, Carter won a preliminary but long-awaited agreement to share military logistics, considered a necessary step to deeper security cooperation between the two countries. — Reuters

Govind Talwalkar
The latest 50 files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose released recently dwell on the Japanese offer to transfer the Andaman and Nicobar islands to Netaji’s Provisional Government of Free India. However, the offer made by the then Japanese Prime Minister General Tojo, at the Greater East Asia Conference in 1943, was just specious fiction.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose inside the Cellular Jail in Port Blair. Netaji arrived in Port Blair on December 29, 1943.

IN the latest 50 files of Netaji, we find that on August 22, 1969, Netaji’s nephew, Amiya Nath Bose, MP, suggested to the government, that they should request the Japanese government to supply them all the relevant diplomatic documents and other records regarding the transfer of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the  Provisional Government of Free India.The then Foreign Minister asked our ambassador, in Tokyo, accordingly to communicate with his Japanese counterpart. On May 26, 1970, the Japanese sent a copy of the speech made at the Greater East Asia Conference on May 11, 1943, by General Tojo, the Prime Minister of Japan. In that speech, Tojo declared that his government was ready to transfer, in the near future, Andaman and Nicobar islands to Netaji’s Provisional Government of Free India. Netaji, who attended the conference, hailed General Tojo’s announcement and said that such a step would strengthen the free India movement. Later, Netaji said that Andaman was British penal colony, its freedom would be the beginning of the Indian revolution just like the storming of the Bastille was the start of the French Revolution.   However, Tojo’s announcement did not really start the process of the transfer of Islands. There was a slip between the cup and the lip. Nay, ultimately it proved that there was only an empty cup. Since no diplomatic documents were exchanged at that time, decades later the Japanese government had only a text of a speech of their late Prime Minister, who after the end of the war was hanged as a war criminal. The announcement by Tojo might have induced Netaji to think about the storming of the Bastille, but the hard-core civil and military officials of Japan thought of putting restrictions, which they felt were imperative because of the exigencies of war. So the Imperial General Staff deliberated for three months. M. Sivaram, a Press consultant and the broadcasting chief of Netaji’s Provisional Government has noted the outcome of those deliberations in his book, The Road To Delhi, he writes, they did not want their government forced to make any serious commitments. They agreed that Subhas Chandra Bose might form a Provisional Government of Free India and the Japanese government would recognise it, but the instrument of recognition, however, would not be sent to the Privy Council of Japan for ratification.There was also an understanding that the Free India Government would not press Japan for all the normal rights and privileges of an allied government. Japan would send an ambassador to the Free India Government which should not expect a reciprocal diplomatic representation, in Tokyo. The Free India Government was not to seek diplomatic representation at the capitals of the powers which might recognise it. Bose should not attempt any official contact with any foreign government or any military authorities without the knowledge and approval of the Japanese military authorities. In the publicity campaign, Bose and his Government would have unlimited powers, subject to the approval of the Japanese censors. All these stipulations were conveyed to Bose by Colonel Nagai at Singapore, in September and discussed in detail for about a fortnight. How was the life under the Japanese? N. Iqbal Singh’s The Andaman Story gives the details. The cruelty and torture were unprecedented. Besides, as the imports of almost all things became scarce, the prices went skyrocketing. Ghee was  Rs 200 per seer and rice was practically unobtainable. Politically we find that Netaji went ahead with his plan to strengthen the base and the reach of his Provisional Government.  He arrived in Port Blair on December 29, 1943.  His objective was to appoint an Indian Chief Commissioner who would be in charge of the administration of Andaman and Nicobar. The Japanese admiral, in charge of the administration, agreeing to the appointment of an Indian Chief Commissioner, told Bose that for cogent strategic reasons there would be no complete handover during the war, but if the Commissioner cooperated a few departments could be transferred. It seems that Netaji neither rejected any of those conditions nor did he say that he would approach General Tojo to get any amendments. Hugh Toye, in The Springing Tiger, called this transfer of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to Netaji’s Provisional Government a “specious fiction”. During Netaji’s three-day stay, he was always surrounded by the Japanese officials. There was pomp and ceremony but complete lack of enthusiasm in the local populace. Selected Japanese officials and a few Indians accompanied Netaji. One of them was Mushtaq Ali. In the evening, when the Japanese officials were quite high, Mushtaq had the opportunity to whisper into Netaji’s ear about the state of affairs in the Andamans. He requested Netaji that during his visit to the Cellular Jail, the next day, he should ask to be shown the sixth wing of the jail. He singled out the case of Diwan Singh and the torture he was subjected to. However, though Netaji visited the Jail, he did not go to the sixth wing. Bose renamed Andaman as “Shahid Dweep” and Nicobar as “Swaraj Dweep”. Loganathan, appointed by Bose as the Chief Commissioner, did not have any effective power. He visited Singapore and reported to Netaji about what had happened to Diwan Singh and others and how the Japanese were treating the Provisional Government. Unmindful of the conditions under the Japanese, some people in India continued to believe that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were independent under the Japanese dispensation. On August 22, 1969, the question of changing the names of Andaman and Nicobar islands to Shahid Dweep and Swaraj Dweep came up.  K. R. Ganesh, Deputy Minister, elected from the same constituency, reacting sharply replied that, three-fourths of the island had been completely annihilated by the Japanese fascists. Thousands were thrown in the sea, thousands were decimated and hundreds were jailed. Samar Guha asked whether this happened before or after Netaji. Ganesh categorically replied: “My answer is — before, during and afterwards”.  He then firmly said that the history of the islands did not start in 1943, but in 1857. The name of Andaman is in our soul and we are not going to allow you to change it. Thus, while the independence of Andaman, Nicobar Islands was all Japanese hocus pocus, the assertion of Ganesh had the solid backing of history and the emotions of the people. The writer is a former Editor of  “Maharashtra Times”. The views expressed are personal

New Delhi, April 8

India is in talks with the US to purchase 40 Predator surveillance drones, officials said, a possible first step towards acquiring the armed version of the aircraft and a development likely to annoy Pakistan.

India is trying to equip the military with more unmanned technologies to gather intelligence as well as boost its firepower along the vast land borders with Pakistan and China.

It also wants a closer eye on the Indian Ocean.

New Delhi has already acquired surveillance drones from Israel to monitor the mountains of Kashmir, a region disputed by the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals and the cause of two of their three wars.

As defence ties deepen with the US, which sees India as a counterweight to China in the region, New Delhi has asked Washington for the Predator series of unmanned planes built by privately-held General Atomics, military officials said.

“We are aware of Predator interest from the Indian Navy. However, it is a government-to-government discussion,” Vivek Lall, chief executive of US and International Strategic Development at San Diego-based General Atomics, told Reuters.

The US government late last year cleared General Atomics’ proposal to market the unarmed Predator XP in India. It was not clear when the delivery of the drones would take place.

The Navy wants them for surveillance in the Indian Ocean, where the pilotless aircraft can remain airborne for 35 hours at a stretch, at a time when the Chinese navy is expanding ship and submarine patrols in the region.

Moves by India to enhance its defence capabilities have in the past provoked sharp reactions from Islamabad, where the government and military are worried about falling further behind their bigger rival in the arms race.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry could not be reached for comment on Friday, the start of the weekend there, while the military had no immediate comment.

Carter visit

The Indian Air force has also asked Washington about acquiring around 100 armed Predator C Avenger aircraft, which the US has used to carry out strikes against Islamist militants in Pakistan’s northwest and neighbouring Afghanistan.

But it would need clearance from the Missile Technology Control Regime group of 34 nations as well as approval from the US Congress before any transfer of lethal Predators could happen, officials said.

The push for the drones comes as US Defense Secretary Ash Carter heads to India this weekend for talks to cement military collaboration in the final months of the Obama administration.

Indian military officials said they expected the request for the armed aircraft to figure in Carter’s talks with his counterpart Manohar Parrikar.

Washington wants India to sign a set of agreements, including on the use of each other’s military bases that would help them operate together.

The Narendra Modi government has signalled its willingness to move forward with the proposed pacts after the previous administration did not act for more than a decade.

Retired Air Vice-Marshal Manmohan Bahadur said the proposed acquisition of armed Predators would give the military the ability to carry out cross-border strikes, or even attack targets lying deeper inside a neighbouring country.

“But at the end of the day, it’s a political decision. It’s one thing to lob artillery shells, it’s another to use air power, that’s an escalation,” he said.

India has not moved against Pakistan militarily despite blaming militant groups based there for orchestrating attacks on its soil including one on Mumbai in 2008, in part out of fear it would spiral into a broader conflict.

But a drone strike might be a less risky option, experts said.

Ejaz Haider, a Pakistani security analyst, said Islamabad would object to the transfer of such drones in the region.

But he questioned their effectiveness if they entered Pakistani air space, since it would probably try to shoot them down, something it did not do with US drones.

“There is obviously going to be push-back from Pakistan, because if it (the drone) does get through in some way or other it enhances Indian capability,” he said. — Reuters

Masood Azhar. Reuters file photo

New Delhi, April 6

India has taken up at a “fairly high level” with China the issue of Beijing blocking its bid to have JeM chief and Pathankot attack mastermind Masood Azhar as designated terrorist by the UN, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said today.Asserting that India will continue to pursue the matter with China in the context of the UN, he also noted that the government has had a “backing and forthing” on the issue with the Chinese.”My sense is that the particular issue that you referred to is something we have taken up with the Chinese. We have taken it up at a sort of fairly high level and we will continue to pursue this with the Chinese,” Jaishankar said.He was replying to a question during an interaction on India’s position on China blocking for the second time country’s bid at the UN to get Azhar banned.At the same time, he indicated that the issue was not going affect India’s relationship with China in other areas.“This is an issue to be pursued with the Chinese in a UN context. I would not like to give the impression that somehow this is going to overflow into other areas. We have had a backing and forthing with them on this issue. We have to wait and see where this goes,” he said.Last week, China stopped UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as terrorist, maintaining that the case “did not meet the requirements” of the Security Council.This is not the first time China has blocked India’s bid to get Pakistan-based militant groups and leaders proscribed by the UN.The UN had banned the JeM in 2001 but India’s efforts for slapping sanctions on Azhar after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack also did not fructify as China — that has veto powers — did not allow it apparently at the behest of Pakistan again.Last July, China had similarly halted India’s move in the UN to take action against Pakistan for its release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, saying its stand was “based on facts and in the spirit of objectiveness and fairness” with Beijing again claiming at the time that it was in touch with New Delhi. — PTI

Excellent calculator to know the 1st installment OROP arrears including New pension with 119% DA.

No difference between the calculator calculation and the Calculation from of the Bank  for the 1st installment arrears found no difference in calculations.

Calculator is for All
(a) Officers
(b)  PBOR

you have to select  your  category  i.e  Officers/PBOR and the Rank to know the arrears as per years of service rendered and the New revised pension.However the DA has gone up to 125% and not 119%. which will further increase the Pension in next few months.

The arrears are paid from 1/07/2014 to 01/02/2016 as inMarch 2016 you get the revised  pension with New Scale.

www.htpp://orop.indiensoft.com/

Check for yourself with bank pension statement and ask bank for the calculations sheet for comparison  They will oblige.

col charanjit Khera(Retd)
Gen secy
Sanjha Morcha

Army Chief visits Siachen with words of praise for soldiers
Chief of Army Staff General Dalbir Singh Suhag interacts with soldiers in Siachen on Friday.
Tribune News Service
Jammu, April 1
Chief of the Army Staff General Dalbir Singh Suhag today visited Siachen to review the situation following recent avalanches in which 12 soldiers and a porter were killed.
“The Army Chief visited the sites where soldiers lost their lives at Siachen in the recent avalanches. He interacted with the soldiers serving at Siachen and commended them for their outstanding work in difficult conditions. He exhorted them to be careful of the threats of avalanches,” said defence spokesperson Col SD Goswami.
The Army Chief also met the porters who maintain the posts in difficult conditions at Siachen.
General Dalbir Singh was accompanied by Northern Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda and 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen SK Patyal.
On March 25, two soldiers on patrol duty were buried under an avalanche in the Turtuk area of western Siachen.
A porter died on February 27 when he fell into a 200-foot-deep crevasse in Siachen’s northern glacier.
His body was found 130-foot-deep after the rescue teams cut through frozen snow and ice.
On February 3, 10 soldiers were buried under a major avalanche which wiped out an Army post on Siachen Glacier. While nine of the soldiers were found dead, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, buried under 25 feet of snow, was found alive in a critical condition six days after the avalanche had hit the Sonam post.
Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, however, succumbed to hypothermia among other ailments at Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi on February 11.
Following the death of nine soldiers on February 3, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit had suggested withdrawal of Indian and Pakistani armies from the strategic glacier.

GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lt Gen KJ Singh (centre) meets officers and staff of the new Service Selection Centre (North) in Kapurthala on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 1

As the armed forces continue to grapple with shortage of officers, a new Services Selection Centre (North) became operational today at Kapurthala, near Jalandhar, and is expected to help offset some shortfall.Last month, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had told Parliament that there was a shortage of 9,106 officers (18 per cent) in the Army and 1,265 officers (15 per cent) in the Navy. The Air Force is reported to have negligible deficiency.The Army has drawn up a roadmap to fill the vacancies, but the process is expected to take another six to eight years to bring the shortfall from 18 to 12 per cent. While there is no deficiency in the higher ranks of Colonel and above, the problem lies at the junior officer level that forms the cutting edge. Battalions and regiments remain severely understaffed, raising operational, administrative and psychological issues.The screening and tests for the first batch of 80 candidates commenced today at the new centre. Candidates from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and even Jammu and Kashmir will generally be called here for Service Selection Board (SSB) interviews. These states, according to last year’s figure, contributed over 24 per cent of the total cadets who became officers.The centre consists of two SSBs (No. 31 and No. 32). This is the fourth selection centre to be raised to select aspirants for the Army, the other three being at Bangalore, Allahabad and Bhopal. The Air Force and the Navy have separate SSBs. The Defence Ministry has approved seven new boards across the country, including two each for the Army and the Air Force and three for the Navy.The centre was earlier scheduled to commence functioning from September this year, but its early operationalisation would enable the centre to handle an additional 25 batches. It is expected to function provisionally at Kapurthala Military Station for two years till it is shifted to its proposed permanent location at Ropar where a state-of-the-art campus spread over 200 acres is under construction.Inaugurating the centre, Lt Gen KJ Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, said it was a pending demand of Punjab to open a selection centre in the state as aspirants from the North had to travel to far off places for SSB interview.

Widows and family members of martyrs of the Indian Army sit on a dharna in support of their demands in Patiala on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Rajesh Sachar

Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 20

Members of the State Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association (SEWA), Punjab, have extended their support to families of War Widows of 1962 and 1965, who have been continuously sitting on dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office from the past 10 days to press upon their pending demands with the state government. Bant Kaur, who lost her husband Pyara Singh in the 1965 India-Pakistan war, and Surjit Kaur, widow of Jangir Singh who died in the 1962 Indo-China war, are running from pillar to post to get financial justice. Twenty other such war widows have also joined the protest that would continue outside the DC’s office.War widows have expressed that the ongoing protest should not be politicized, but their pending demands of pension and other promised assurances should be given to them. As per estimates, there are 60 such pending cases in Punjab, of which three were in Patiala, while one died penniless the other two are still fighting for their rights. A letter from Director, Defence Services Welfare Department written in 2015, tells these widows that “their cases are pending along with 60 other similar cases as no decision has been taken by the government”. “Two war widows over 70 years of age are fighting for their rights day and night. The government should be ashamed of its attitude towards the families of war martyrs. If the government does not come forward with an amicable solution for the families of 1962 and 1965 martyrs, .“Families have decided to return the ‘siropas’ and shields given to them recently by the state government to the CM,”The Punjab Government decided to implement all promises made for the veterans in the election manifesto.“Allowances for operating in hard areas should be the same, if not more for the Army as given to the civilian employees. During China war, recruitment was made under emergency and soldiers had participated in two wars. Thereafter, they were released under retrenchment as reservists. The affected soldiers are being denied the OROP benefits. We condemn this use and throw policy of the government,”