The Bench questioned senior counsel Prashant Bhushan on the nine-year delay in filing the petition.
Legal Correspondent New Delhi, September 23
The Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre’s response to a PIL seeking an independent probe into the purchase of an Agusta A109 VIP helicopter by the Chhattisgarh government in 2007-08 and the alleged offshore accounts of Chief Minister Raman Singh’s son Abhishek Singh.
A Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan, however, refused to issue a formal notice to the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government on the PIL by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan and Dr AA Degwekar.
The Bench questioned senior counsel Prashant Bhushan on the nine-year delay in filing the petition. Bhushan pleaded that most of the details about the deal were available only now.
The petition said the deal was for $6.57 million (about Rs 44 crore) and nearly one-third of this ($2 million or Rs 13 cr) was paid to a company registered in British Virgin Islands as commission for early supply. In 2011, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had indicted the state government for wasting considerable money by going through a charade of global tender.
An Internet search showed that several other companies were selling helicopters with same specifications at prices ranging from $1.3 million to $2.6 million, the petition said.
Soon after the state government paid the amount to Agusta dealer Sharp Ocean, Abhishek Singh also opened an account through a company called Quest Heights Ltd, allegedly incorporated in British Virgin Islands, on July 3, 2008, the petitioner pleaded.
India slams Sharif’s speech at UN, calls it a ‘threat bluster’
NEW YORK: Strongly reacting to Pakistan Prime Minister’s remarks at the UN, India today described them as non-factual and full of “threat bluster” and said glorification of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani by him at the world forum is an act of “self-incrimination” by Pakistan.
“We just heard a speech full of threat bluster and rising immaturity and complete disregard of facts,” Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar said at a press conference at the India’s permanent mission here after Sharif’s address to the UN General Assembly.
He also criticised Sharif for glorifying Wani, who was killed in an encounter with security forces on July 8, and said India “will not succumb to blackmail tactics of the Pakistan Government that seems eager to use terrorism as policy”.
“We heard the glorification of a terrorist. Wani is declared commander of Hizbul, widely acknowledged as a terror group. It is shocking that a leader of a nation can glorify a self-advertised terrorist at such a forum. This is self incrimination by Pakistan PM,” Akbar said.
Rejecting Sharif’s offer to India to enter into a serious and sustained dialogue for the peaceful resolution of all outstanding disputes, the minister said, “Talks and guns don’t go together”.
“Pakistan at this moment seems to be run by a war machine rather than a government. Pakistan wants dialogue while holding a terrorist gun in its hand,” he said.
He also rejected Sharif’s allegations against India with regard to the current unrest in Kashmir and said, “Kashmir occupation is by Pakistan occupation army. The world also knows that Pakistan has been indulged in ethnic cleansing of its own people,” he said.
Cabinet panel clears final Rafale draft Rs 59-crore deal for 36 fighter jets to be inked with France this week
When India and France ink their much-awaited contract to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets this week, it will not only bridge a two-decade gap in procuring new fighter jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF) but will also provide a technological edge.The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) today cleared the final draft of the inter-governmental agreement to be signed with France.The IAF has not procured any new fighter jets since the start of this century. The last one being the Sukhoi 30-MKI from Russia first ordered in mid-1990s and since then licence produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).The two countries are set to sign a €7.878 billion (Rs 58.828 crore) contract with Dassault Aviation of France this week for these 36 Rafale jet fighters. This means around Rs 1634 crore for each plane that will add more power to the IAF’s fleet – currently operating at its lowest force levels in a decade.The first jet is to be delivered in 36 months (September 2019) and the entire lot will be delivered over the following 30 months.The French company will make India-specific changes like the next-generation missiles such as Meteor and Scalp, which will add capability much beyond India’s immediate adversaries. The Meteor, is a BVR (Beyond Visual Range) air-to-air missile with a range in excess of 150 km. It will allow the IAF to hit targets inside both Pakistan and Tibet from within its own territory. The Scalp is a long-range air-to-cruise missile with a range of 300 km.The Ministry of Defence and the IAF team that negotiated the price has secured a concession of almost €722 million (Rs 5390 crore). In January, a day before French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were to jointly issue a statement during the French President’s visit to India, the French team had quoted a price of €8.6 billion. The negotiations ended at a price of €7.898 billion, sources in the Ministry of Defence said. Of this, €3.42 billion is the cost of the bare planes, €1.8 billion of associate supplies for the infrastructure and support, €1.7 billion for India-specific changes, €710 million is the additional weapons package and €353 million is the cost of ‘Performance-based Logistics Support’.Under this logistics support, Dassault will ensure that at least 75 per cent of the fleet remains operational or air worthy at any given time under what is called the existing frontline fighter, the Sukhoi 30-MKI has only 60 per cent availability. Other concessions include free training for nine IAF personnel, additional guarantee for 60 hours of usage of training aircraft for Indian pilots and six months of free weapons storage without charge. Under the originally planned (and now scrapped) proposal to produce 126 planes in India, the first batch of 18 planes were to be manufactured in France and 108 were to be manufactured in India. France cited that cost of man hours (labour) needed in India to produce a plane was 2.7 times higher due to lack of automation. This along would have meant additional Rs 150 crore per plane.
First jet by September 2019
France is set to deliver the first jet in 36 months (September 2019) and the entire lot will be delivered over the following 30 months
The IAF has not procured any new fighter jets since the start of this century. The last one being the Sukhoi 30-MKI from Russia first ordered in mid-1990s and since then licence produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
NATION LOOSES 18 BRAVE HEARTS AND BIDING ADIEU BUT CHANDIGARH MP ENJOYS DANCE:WHAT A NATIONALIST SPIRIT OF BJP MINISTER
The body of a soldier who died in Sunday’s terror strike at a military camp in north Kashmir’s Uri was brought home to a village Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district on Monday. Havaldar Chef NS Rawat was among the 18 who died in the attack on Sunday. His family, an army unit and the district administration received his body on Monday evening.After a wreath-laying ceremony, the body was taken in an army vehicle Rawat’s village, Rajawa, in Rajsamand’s Bhim tehsil.His funeral rites will be held with state honours on Tuesday, a defence spokesperson, Lt Col Manish Ojha, said.Rajasthan PHED Minister Kiran Maheshwari cancelled her tour to Dausa and is now on her way to the district to offer her condolences to Rawat’s bereaved family.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday threw her weight behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the surgical strikes on terror camps in POK and said the Congress stood behind the government in its action to protect the country’s security.“We hope Pakistan will now take effective steps to dismantle infrastructure on terror that it has supported,” Sonia said after chairing a high-level party meeting on the issue of the government’s response post the Uri attack.Leading the Congress’s position on the development moments after the Director General Military Operations announced India’s strikes across the LoC was Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Sonia, who is still not fully recovered from her shoulder dislocation, chaired the Congress meeting ahead of the all-party meeting called by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The meeting was attended by former prime minister Manmohan singh, former defence minister AK Antony, Sonia’s political secretary Ahmed Patel and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad. Since the Uri attack the Congress had been calling for a response that would deter Pakistan from indulging in further attacks of the nature of Uri and Pathankot. On Wednesday, the Congress officially criticised India’s decision to boycott the Saarc meet, asking for the Saarc meeting sans Pakistan.But on Thursday, all Congress leaders hailed the military response which signals a shift in India’s oft-practised policy of strategic restraint.“We congratulate the Indian Army for undertaking surgical strikes on terror launch pads. We stand completely behind our Armed Forces,” Ahmed Patel said.Randeep Singh Surjewala, chief spokesperson of the Congress, said, “The Congress wholeheartedly supports the surgical strike on terror pads in PoK by the Indian Army. Salute the valour of our armed forces.”Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was yet to comment on the strikes and tweeted only against the RSS accusing it of preventing him from addressing Congress workers in Guwahati where on Thursday he appeared before a court in a case of defamation of the Sangh.Top Congress leaders, meanwhile, remained huddled in a meeting chaired by Sonia to discuss the party’s position should the government seek a national political consensus on further relatiation against Pakistan.Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel earlier held a long conversation before Manmohan Singh and AK Antony arrived at Sonia’s residence for a formal meeting on the subject.The Congress had been arguing that the government’s recent responses against the Uri attack swung between the sublime and the ridiculous and were not tough enough.Congress leader Manish Tewari on Wednesday said, “Response has to be such as deters Pakistan’s deep state from staging further terror attacks in India. So far India’s responses–the stated review of the Indus Water Treaty, Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan and boycott of Saarc summit in Islamabad have only been from sublime to ridiculous in nature. The Indus response is long-term. The MFN status must be immediately withdrawn and boycott of Saarc is no answer. The government should in fact work to amend the Saarc charter which prohibits change in summit venue to see that the summit is held but without Pakistan. Most of all, we are yet to see evidence of the muscularity PM Narendra Modi had flaunted on the eve of the 2014 General Elections.”
Sacrifice of our 18 jawans will not go in vain. We will isolate Pak in the world
One country in Asia is exporting terror everywhere, they want bloodshed
Terrorists should clearly hear out that India will never forget the Uri attack
Leaders of neighbouring country are reading out the script of terrorists
Our soldiers have defeated 17 attempts by fidayeen attackers sent by neighbour
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
Kozhikode, September 24
After the Uri attack, India was anticipating a strong reaction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi against Pakistan. And they got it today here at the Calicut beach where he used the platform of the BJP National Council meeting to take on the neighbouring country.
He said Pakistan was “exporting terror” and India would never forget the sacrifices made by its 18 soldiers.
Labelling Pakistan a “haven of terrorism”, the PM also used the opportunity of a public rally here to “talk” to the people of Pakistan, warning them that their “hukmaran (rulers)” were misguiding them. This was an obvious dig at Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his speech praising Burhan Wani at the UN General Assembly and his latest diatribe calling Uri a result of the “reaction” of people to the situation in Kashmir.
Making a comparison between India, “a country of peace, unity and amity which has a bright future”, and Pakistan, “an exporter of terrorists”, the Prime Minister also sought to mark Pakistan in the neighbourhood as a country intent on keeping Asia “blood-soaked and backward”.
The smart balancing act saw him soothe frayed nerves of people demanding strong action against the troublesome neighbour. “The country will never forget the sacrifices made by the 18 bravehearts in Uri. There is anger in the country, let the terrorists know India will never forget the Uri incident,” he said.
And then, speaking directly to the “people of Pakistan”, perhaps a rare attempt by a world leader to engage with the people of another country, he said they should ask their “hukmaran” why when “India is exporting software, they (Pakistan) are exporting terrorists”. Striking a statesman-like posture, Modi said India was willing to go on a war with Pakistan but over social maladies like poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. “Let us wage a war and see who wins it,” he said.
The attempt evoked varied reactions. While many political observers dubbed this as an attempt to “incite” the people of Pakistan, others saw it a smart attempt to show India as one-up, which would also cater to its current circumstances.
As per Modi, the rulers of Pakistan were reading out speeches written by heads of terrorist organisations and “singing the Kashmir song but the day is not far when the people of Pakistan will wage a war against their own leaders”.
“Your leaders, trying to misguide you, talk of waging a war against India for 1,000 years. Let me tell you, the kind of government we have in India, we are ready,” he said.
In an apparent effort to address the criticism that his government has been unable to thwart terrorist incidents, Modi said as many as 17 attempts were made in the last few months to push in terrorists, and the security forces stationed at the border had foiled these, killing more than 110 terrorists.
“Our security forces have fought bravely and saved the country from 17 possible terrorist incidents. In one successful attempt of the neighbouring country, 18 brave men were martyred. If the 17 attempts would have been successful, they could have caused so much destruction,” he said.
Trying to answer questions raised about what action his government was taking, he said India would isolate Pakistan on the global stage. “We will force you to be alone in the world,” he said. Not just India, the entire world held Pakistan responsible for being a haven of terrorism, he said.
Pak calls off key trade exhibitionIslamabad/New Delhi: Pakistan has cancelled a trade exhibition which was scheduled to be held next month in India, amid heightened tension between the two neighbours. The third edition of ‘Aalishaan Pakistan exhibition’ was scheduled to be held in October in New Delhi. The exhibition was meant to promote bilateral trade between the two countries. PTIIslamabad wants Bugti extraditedIslamabad: Pakistan is to contact Interpol to extradite Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti, who is seeking political asylum in India. “The Federal Investigation Agency will send a formal reference to Interpol within a few days for the extradition,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali said. His statement came after India said it was examining Bugti’s application for political asylum. The Baloch Republican Party chief visited the Indian consulate in Geneva to inquire about the process of seeking asylum. IANSQUOTESToday I am speaking to the people of Pakistan directly. Before 1947, your ancestors used to consider undivided India their land, worshipped it. Please ask your leaders, you have PoK. You cannot manage it. Bangladesh used to be yours, you couldn’t manage it. You cannot manage Gilgit, Baltistan, Pakhtun, Balochistan, Sindh… and you are talking about Kashmir. People of Pakistan must ask their leaders to first give secure lives to their citizens. Ask your leaders, both our countries got freedom together. Why does India export software and your country export terrorists? If you have what it takes, let’s compete to end poverty in our countries. — Prime Minister Narendra ModiUri could be ‘reaction’ to Kashmir situation: SharifUri attack can be the reaction of atrocities in Kashmir, as the relatives and near and dear ones of those killed and blinded were hurt and outraged… how could India accuse us just hours after the Uri incident without any inquiry? —Nawaz Sharif, Pak PM
Next level: The pace of India-US ties was set during the UPA regime.
DURING his recent visit to the US, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar signed the LEMOA with his American counterpart, Ashton Carter. The memorandum outlined a framework for the provision of supplies like food, fuel and berthing for visiting naval ships and on overflight and landing facilities for military aircraft. The opposition Congress and the Left cried “foul” and accused the government of mortgaging the country’s sovereignty, the country’s policy of “non-alignment”, and even its “strategic autonomy”. This, despite the fact that the agreement contained provisions for providing such facilities, only on a case-by-case basis.The present agreement logically follows the remarkable transformation in India-US relations, during the presidency of George Bush, by the actions of the two UPA government stalwarts — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mr Pranab Mukherjee. It was Mr Mukherjee, as defence minister, who signed a 10-year agreement in June 2005, titled “New Framework for the US India Defence Relationship (NDFR)”, with his American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld. This framework covered a wide range of activities, including collaboration in multinational operations, when such operations were found to be in “their common interest”. Such cooperation was envisaged in areas like terrorism and curbing nuclear weapons proliferation. There has been a substantial increase in military-to-military cooperation, arms acquisitions and joint exercises between the two militaries, since then. Negotiations, thereafter, continued for signing three framework agreements in defence cooperation, logistics, communications and information security and geospatial information.The most pathbreaking agreement that India has signed in this century came barely a month later, when PM Manmohan Singh and President Bush agreed that the US would end nuclear sanctions against India. They also agreed to persuade other nuclear suppliers to end global nuclear sanctions imposed on India after its nuclear test in 1974, by the establishment of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. President Bush stood by his word and even personally intervened with then Chinese President Hu Jintao to fall in line. In the meantime, in August 2008, Mr Mukherjee, then external affairs minister, signed an agreement with his counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, for the resumption of bilateral nuclear cooperation. The question, which remains, is whether India historically ever provided facilities for positioning foreign warships and aircraft on its soil?India has historically shaped its military cooperation with foreign powers, from the days of its first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, based on geopolitical realities, and not ideology. Even before the Sino-Indian border conflict broke out in 1962, the CIA was permitted to position facilities along the border with China, to monitor Chinese nuclear tests. Panicking after the humiliation heaped on India in the 1962 conflict, a desperate Nehru wrote to President Kennedy, appealing him to deploy 12 squadrons of fighters and two squadrons of fighter bombers, together with radar cover, on Indian soil. The US was permitted to use a staging base in Charbatia, Odisha, for flying its U2 spy planes over China. Strangely, our non-alignment was such in the 1950s that we fought shy of seeking defence equipment from the Soviet Union, despite signs of a growing Sino-Soviet rift!In less than a decade, thereafter, the geopolitical situation turned upside down, with Nixon and Mao embarking on a clandestine love affair, midwifed by Pakistan. This “love affair” came to light when Henry Kissinger flew secretly to China from Pakistan. Indira Gandhi had no hesitation in entering into a defence agreement with the Soviet Union to deal with the emerging US-China-Pakistan axis. The Soviet Union had proposed a bilateral treaty with India in 1969, when its defence minister Marshal Grechko visited India. The draft treaty proposed by the Soviets gathered dust for two years in South Block. It was spruced up once it became clear that a Sino-US-Pakistan axis was emerging to counter the Soviet Union and, incidentally, India also, even as the Pakistan army proceeded with its genocide in Bangladesh.Once this geopolitical reality was recognised in Moscow and New Delhi, DP Dhar was sent to Moscow to finalise the treaty in the first week of August 1971. Sardar Swaran Singh and Andrei Gromyko signed the treaty on August 21, 1971. Despite our claims of being “non-aligned”, there was a clear military provision in Article 9 of the Indo-Soviet Treaty. It read: “In the event of either party (India and the Soviet Union) being subjected to an attack or a threat thereof, the High Contracting Parties shall immediately enter into mutual consultations, in order to remove the threat and to take appropriate effective measures, to ensure peace and security of their countries.” I was then a young First Secretary in Moscow and took notes in meetings as events unfolded. When the conflict broke out in December 1971, the Soviets, though isolated, vetoed every effort by the US-China axis to stop us from liberating Bangladesh. According to what the Soviets told us, they had deployed mechanised forces and airpower on their borders with China and warned China of serious consequences if it militarily intervened. A Russian nuclear submarine followed the USS Enterprise, as it crossed the Straits of Malacca.The world situation has changed drastically since the 1970s. What has, however, continued, is the Sino-Pakistan axis, with a growingly powerful China providing Pakistan with nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities, while enhancing Pakistan’s maritime, air and land power. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is being accompanied with the establishment of a direct fibre optic link between the headquarters of the Western Theatre Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army in Kashgar (in China’s Muslim-majority Xinjiang province) and the GHQ of the Pakistan army in Rawalpindi. Signing defence cooperation agreements with the US does not mean we are compromising our “strategic autonomy”. We will continue to differ with the US on some of its policies; in Syria and elsewhere. We should understand Russian imperatives in its immediate neighbourhood, in Crimea and elsewhere, while strengthening defence and energy cooperation with Moscow. We should spare no effort to enhance mutual trust and confidence in the India-Russia relationship. In the meantime, both India and China hopefully share a common interest in maintaining peace and tranquility along their borders. The 2005 agreement outlining the guidelines for a settlement of the border issue remains the most viable framework for moving forward.
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