Varun Gandhi. — File photo

New Delhi, October 20

BJP MP Varun Gandhi was at the centre of a controversy over allegations that he had leaked defence secrets to middleman Abhishek Verma and arms manufacturers after being “honey trapped”, a charge he stoutly denied.At a press conference here, Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav released a letter written by Edmonds Allen, a New York-based lawyer, to the PMO last month that Varun was honey trapped and compromised by Verma.He alleged that Verma “blackmailed” Varun, a member of the Defence Consultative Committee, into sharing sensitive information on crucial arms matters.Varun rejected these charges, saying he has not met Verma since 2004 and threatened to file a defamation suit against Bhushan and Yadav over the charges.”The entire information presented does not contain an iota of proof that either I had access or shared any communication regarding sensitive information to Verma,” Varun said.Allen, who was a partner of Verma, fell out with him in 2012. Verma is facing trial in the 2006 Naval War Room leak case.Bhushan alleged that despite having all the details, the BJP government did not blacklist Thales, the company that sold scam-tainted Scorpene submarines, as Dassault acquired it.India recently signed a deal with Dassault for 36 Rafale aircraft.”Any action against Thales may have jeopardised the Rafale deal. Moreover, contrary to previous announcements of getting 126 aircrafts, the government bought 36 aircrafts, paying double the price for individual units. It certainly appears to be the case that something is fishy,” Bhushan said.However, Bhushan and Yadav did not take Varun’s name during the press conference and instead asked journalists to refer to the letter. They claimed to have withheld photographic evidences pertaining to the matter.Allen wrote to the PM, Defence Minister, CBI and the NSA with all the details on August and September this year.Varun said he last met Verma when he was a post graduate student in London at the age of 22.”I am going to turn 37 now. I have never met him since I entered public life in 2004. The only reason why I even know of him is because his parents were members of parliament and was a respected family. I knew them as many other leaders knew them,” he said.Asked if he had come across any sensitive information during his tenure on the consultative committee on defence, he said, “Any MP who has been on that committee knows that not even 0.1 percentage of any confidential information is shared with the committee.” — PTI 

‘It can’t be business as usual’ : The BRICS Summit saw a growing recognition that there cannot be business as usual when it comes to dealing with terrorism. There is a growing recognition that terror has become a truly global challenge.” — Sushma Swaraj,External Affairs Minister

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 18

India today again used the BRICS forum to hit out at Pakistan for state-sponsored terrorism.Addressing a BRICS forum today, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said there must be a “cost for those who support terrorists” and make a “false distinction between good and bad terrorists”.Her remarks were an obvious reference to Pakistan and her speech reflected a continuation of India’s policy of targeting Pakistan at the BRICS platform.But what should give India a cause to pause is the fact that among the BRICS grouping — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — two main countries Russia and China have refused to go along with India on this line. Sources in the government confirm that China was the main opposition to India’s attempts to include Pakistan-based terrorist groups in the Goa Declaration. While India was keen to have the names of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in the declaration, it was China that wanted a more general statement on terror. In the case of Russia, India expected some form of backing but to its surprise, Russia maintained silence on the Indian line against Pakistan.Even after the fiasco in Goa where both China and Russia made it clear that they were unwilling to go along with India on its anti-Pakistan tirade, the continuation of the policy by Swaraj today was a surprise.At a media forum in the capital, Swaraj said: “The BRICS Summit saw a growing recognition that there cannot be business as usual when it comes to dealing with terrorism. There is a growing recognition that terror has become a truly global challenge.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi, over the weekend, raised the issue of Pakistan terror repeatedly using the BRICS and later the BRICS-BIMSTEC Summits as international fora to highlight cross-border terrorism. That is a different story that there were few takers for India’s line.

Maya hits out at Parrikar over surgical strikes

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, October 18

BSP chief Mayawati today described Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar crediting the RSS teachings for the ‘surgical strikes’ as an insult to the Army.“The armymen had risked their lives to make a precise strike inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir terrorist camps causing heavy casualties while the Defence Minister gave the entire credit to the teachings of the RSS. This is not just wrong but an insult to the Army,” Mayawati said.She said first the credit for the attack was given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi instead of the Army and not going a step further, it is being attributed to the teachings of the RSS.“The RSS is not an organisation acceptable to all as its agenda is to promote hatred and divisive forces. Calling itself a cultural organisation, it has always worked for a political agenda and now has many representatives in the BJP and its government,” she said.

Srinagar, October 13

Twenty students and two teachers from the Army Goodwill Schools of Bandipora and Sopore, who returned from a fortnight long tour to Pune, received a warm reception at Badami Bagh Cantonment on Tuesday.The students shared with enthusiasm their experiences of the tour, which had commenced on September 24. “The smiling, joyous faces of the young children confirmed that the capacity building tour organised by the Army in concert with the Aseem Foundation had achieved what it had set out to accomplish,” an Army spokesman said.The tour was held as a part of summer schooling camp-cum-student’s exchange programme to Pune.On Monday, the children had also met the Northern Command Army chief Lt Gen DS Hooda in Udhampur. “The focus of the tour was primarily to make up for the loss of studies caused due to the prevailing unrest in Kashmir and also to provide an exposure to teachers and students to a modern educational institution and the prevalent advanced learning facilities at the national level,” he said.Complimenting the children and teachers on the successful tour Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen Satish Dua impressed upon them to optimise on the educative experience and share it with other friends and family members of theirs. — TN
Read more at http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/education/army-welcomes-students-after-pune-tour/309112.html#deRlxWOiitWPPk5H.99

New Delhi, October 11

Ahead of their annual bilateral Summit, India has conveyed its opposition to Russia over its joint exercise with Pakistan, a nation which “sponsors and practises terrorism as a matter of State policy”, saying it will create further problems.Indian Ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran said this in an interview to Russian news agency Ria Novosti. His remarks come ahead of the bilateral meeting in Goa on Saturday between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be arriving in India on October 14. Apart from bilateral Summit, Putin will attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) meet on October 16.India has been communicating its unhappiness to Russia over its joint military exercises with Pakistan. However, these concerns have been played down by the Russians who maintain that they hold similar military drills with other countries of the region as well.Saran also said: “There are some burning issues before the world today which the BRICS countries will certainly address and this includes the question of terrorism and the threat of terrorism faced by all countries in the BRICS group. So this will be a major item of discussion during the Summit apart from the regional conflicts and the global situation.”On India-Russia ties, the envoy said the two countries shared a special and privileged strategic partnership. — PTI

Indian Army soldiers take positions during their patrol near the Line of Control in Nowshera sector, 145 km from Jammu on Monday. PTI

Nowshera (LoC), October 10With spurt in ceasefire violations by Pakistan after India’s surgical strikes targeting terror camps, Indian Army on Monday said its “guard is up” along the Line of Control to reply to any eventuality, including BAT attacks.“The guard is up. We are on alert. We are ensuring that our LoC should be safe,” said a senior Army officer, manning the area of operation in Nowshera sector which falls opposite to Bhimber — one of the sites across the LoC targeted during the anti-terror operation on September 28 night.Army today took a team of mediapersons along the Line of Control to brief them on the situation, especially after the heavy firing by Pakistani troops post the cross-LoC surgical strike.”Defences at LoC are well prepared. Jawans are well motivated and morale is high. Our troops are prepared for 24X7 for any eventuality along the LoC,” the officer told reporters.There is a foolproof security mechanism in place and anti-infiltration measures have also been activated to foil infiltration of militants or any kind of BAT attack, the officer said.India had blamed Border Action Team (BAT), which is a mix of Pakistani special forces personnel and terrorists, for the brutal killing of its two soldiers in January 2013, one of whom was beheaded, and many other deadly attacks on troops along the LoC.”Our jawans are keeping a close eye and high degree of vigilance on the movement across the border to foil any design,” the officer said.There have been over 26 ceasefire violations from Pakistan on LoC in which four soldiers and five civilians suffered injuries and 11 shops were gutted.The heavy shelling and firing that followed the surgical strikes have resulted in displacement of thousands of border dwellers in Nowshera sector in Rajouri district.Despite the terrorising explosions from mortar bombs and the rattle of guns, people are reluctant to leave their houses and say they will help the Army.”We are not leaving our homes despite firing and shelling. We hope that it will also boost the morale of the Army,” S Singh, a Sarpanch (headman) of Gandrote, said.Most of the hamlets located along LoC in Nowshera are home to hundreds of ex-servicemen.”In case of any shelling and firing, we will put the villagers in safe houses to ensure their safety and security,” an army officer said.”We are prepared to give a befitting reply in the language that Pakistan understands,” said a jawan, deployed at the forward post on a hill top. — PTI

Washington: Meeting a long-pending demand of the Sikh community, the US has allowed career-long religious accommodation for them to serve in the armed forces while maintaining their articles of faith like the turban and beard. “We are a stronger nation, and a stronger military because of our respect for religious and personal freedom,” Congressman Joe Crowley, who spearheaded the campaign on behalf of Sikh Americans, said. As of now, Sikhs and others must be granted an accommodation, or permission, to serve in the US army while maintaining their articles of faith. Such accommodations are neither permanent nor guaranteed. Service members have also been required to remove their articles of faith while accommodation request is pending, subjecting them to the difficult position of choosing between their faith and their job. PTI

The celebrations were held at Hindon. PTI

Hindon (Ghaziabad), October 8

Asserting that the Indian armed forces are prepared to take on any challenge, Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on Saturday said there had been enough discussion on the surgical strikes across the LoC, but the forces would not talk about it.“There has been so much discussion on this issue in the country; every section of society is giving opinion on the issue. The armed forces are supposed to deliver the result that the nation expects. We are not going to talk about it; we will just deliver,” Air Chief Marshal Raha said at the Hindon air base on the 84th anniversary of the Air Force.Raha is also the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.

Responding to a question on the surgical strikes and politicisation of the issue, Raha refused to comment on the Indian Army action across the Line of Control on the night of September 28-29 and related issues.The surgical strikes had come in the wake of the September 18 terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri town of Jammu and Kashmir, in which 19 soldiers were killed.In his speech at the Air Force Day function earlier, Raha mentioned both Pathankot and Uri attacks in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, respectively. “Terrorist attacks at the Uri (army camp) and Pathankot (IAF) base show the troubled times we are living in,” Raha said.Asked to comment on the issue later, the Air Force chief said India is learning lessons every time something happened.“We are getting smarter and smarter; we are learning lessons every time something happens. I think we are very well prepared now to face any such contingency,” he said.“The armed forces are well prepared to take on any sub-conventional threat. We have had one or two cases…a determined terrorist can always get the better of people but the aim is to prevent it…the deterrence. We should be able to detect any such attack right in the beginning so that we can neutralise them (terrorists) before they cause any damage,” the IAF chief said.Raha said India is being seen as a “net security provider” in the Indian Ocean region.The Air Force Day commemorates the establishment of the armed force on October 8, 1932. IANS

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Air Force Day Being Celebrated at Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad

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IAF Air Show: Fighter jet Tejas is going to make its first flypast

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FACING THE HEAT Wants fresh attempts to be made to conclude the Pathankot probe and restart the Mumbai attack-related trials

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed authorities to conclude the probe into the Pathankot attack and resume the stalled Mumbai attacks case after the civilian leadership warned the military that Pakistan faces growing international isolation,according to a media report on Thursday.

AP FILEPakistan PM Sharif at a leaders’ summit at the UN.

The civilian government delivered a “blunt, orchestrated and unprecedented warning” to the military leadership and sought consensus on several key actions, including action against banned militant groups, the Dawn newspaper quoted unnamed individuals, who were involved in the meetings between the civil and military leadership, as saying

Sharif has “directed that fresh attempts be made to conclude the Pathankot investigation and restart the stalled Mumbai attacks-related trials”, the report said.

Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar and national security advisor Nasser Janjua will travel to the four provinces with a message for provincial apex committees and ISI sector commanders – “military-led intelligence agencies are not to interfere if law enforcement acts against militant groups that are banned or until now considered off-limits for civilian action”.

Akhtar’s tour began with a visit to Lahore, the report said, adding that the decisions were made after an “extraordinary verbal confrontation between Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif and the ISI DG”. The decisions apparently indicated a “high-stakes new approach by the PML-N government”, the report said.

The move comes against the backdrop of a spike in tensions between Pakistan and India. India last week carried out surgical strikes against terrorists across the Line of Control . ‘TAKE VISIBLE ACTION’

The Dawn reported that the decisions followed an undisclosed meeting between the civilian and military leadership on Monday when Sharif had also chaired a meeting of Pakistan’s political parties to forge a united front on the issue of tackling the tensions with India.

The report said foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, while making a presentation in the Prime Minister’s Office to a small group of civil and military officials on Tuesday, said “Pakistan faces diplomatic isolation” and the “government’s talking points have been met with indifference in major world capitals”.

Referring to India, Chaudhry said the “completion of the Pathankot investigation and some visible action against Jaish-e-Mohammed were the principal demands”, the report said.

Pakistan army beefs up positions along LoC: Intel

NEW DELHI: Intelligence reports indicate that the Pakistan Army has beefed up its positions all along the Line of Control (LoC). More troops have been inducted in the area north of Sialkot and heavy artillery guns have been moved into the theatre this week in what is an apparent reaction to India’s cross-LoC strike of September 29.

The intelligence assessment, top sources have revealed, is that Pakistan’s additional deployment is to prevent any cross-LoC strike by the Indian Army in the near future.

Pakistan’s aggressive LoC posture has been reported to the highest levels of Modi government, and counter-measures have been initiated.

“The Army is also strengthening its defences in cities like Muzaffarabad and other important towns in PoK as well as major cities like Lahore,” said a senior official.

Meanwhile, two global positioning system (GPS) sets, two wireless sets with code sheets of the kind used by Muridkebased Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group has been recovered from bodies of three terrorists who were killed when they tried to attack a Rashtriya Rifles camp in Handwara in Kashmir.

Top sources said that Pakistan violated the ceasefire at five places on the LoC using area weapons and mortars to target Indian positions. The aggressive Pakistani action was noticed after deployment of more troops and guns into area under the control of Rawalpindi-based X Corps and Gilgit based Force Commander Northern Areas.

Although both Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his envoy to India Abdul Basit have made peace overtures to India, intelligence officials say militants already in the Valley will make the coming winter “hot” for the security forces.

They, however, dismiss reports of 100 militants ready to infiltrate across the LoC from Pakistan as military deployment on both sides has been beefed up.

India hits out at UNSC’s handling of terror issues

It is a body that ponders over six months on whether to sanction leaders of organisations it has itself designated as terrorists. SYED AKBARUDDIN, India’s permanent representative to UN

NEW DELHI: India has hit out at the working of the United Nations Security Council for what it perceives as an unresponsive manner in which the world body addresses the issue of terrorism.

New Delhi cited inordinate delay in sanctioning terrorists, the secrecy of the procedures and more than 20 years of dilly-dallying in amending norms to extradite terrorists to countries where they are wanted by the law.

“It is near impossible to argue the case of relevance of the UN on the issue of terrorism, where even adoption of an international norm to ‘prosecute or extradite’ terrorists evades us despite 20 years of talk,” India’s permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said in his statement on the working of the organisation.

“At best, it is now a body that can be described as an interesting and random mix of ad-hocism, scrambling, and political paralysis,” he said.

What he dealt at length reflected India’s frustration with not being able to bring Pakistanbased individuals such as Jaishe-Mohammed (JeM) chief Mazood Azhar under the UN sanctions committee.

“It is a body that ponders over six months on whether to sanction leaders of organisations it has itself designated as terrorists. Then, unable to decide, it gives itself three more months to further consider the issue,” he said.

While the JeM had been designated as a terrorist organisation, Indian efforts to list Azhar had run into Chinese opposition.

On March 31 this year, China – a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council – had blocked India’s move to put a ban on Azhar under the al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council. China was the sole member in the 15-nation UNSC to put a hold on India’s application with all other 14 members of the Council supporting New Delhi’s bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.

The Chinese technical hold had lapsed on Monday, and had China not raised further objection, the resolution designating Azhar as a terrorist would have been passed automatically. However, Beijing on Saturday announced the extension of its “technical hold”. “The extended technical hold on it will allow more time for the Committee to deliberate on the matter and for relevant parties to have further consultations,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing.

Akbaruddin said that as many as 31 entities within the United Nations deal with some aspect of countering terrorism.

“We have learnt of the adage that too many cooks spoil the broth. This is clearly the case as coherence and coordination is missing,” he said.

SAINIK SCHOOL SCHOOL

Tribune News service

Chandigarh, October 6

The All-India Sainik School Entrance Examination has been rescheduled for January 15, 2017, instead of January 8, 2017, due to administrative reasons, stated a press note.