Monthly Archives: August 2018

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 7

With the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) receiving an Intelligence input regarding a “possible aerial terror attack” on and around the Republic Day, the Centre has alerted the security agencies of northern states and directed them to follow “strict security drill”.Sources in the MHA said a letter has been sent to the Director of General Police (DGPs) and the Police Commissioners of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.Asking them to keep a vigil on all airborne craft, a senior MHA official, in the letter, said the states had been asked to “keep surveillance and positioning of special security guards at recognised field to check that no light/micro light aircraft, hand glider and helicopters is allowed to fly or even starts on and around the Republic Day.”“Operations of light, micro-light aircraft, UAVs and similar long-range vehicles should be prohibited around 300 km from Delhi between 6 am and 9 pm on January 26,” the letter stated. However, all state-owned aircraft, having prior security clearance, will be allowed to fly.It has also been advised to prohibit airborne cameras and drones along sensitive locations such as Vijay Chowk, Rashtrapati Bhawan and Rajpath during the restriction period between January 26 and 29, sources said. The police have been asked to intensify highway patrolling as the aerial vehicles and light aircraft may not necessarily be operated from the airports, but from any other unprepared ground as well.The state security agencies have also been instructed to keep a tight vigil on unused airstrips and open grounds which may allow operations of these aircraft.

Capt Amarinder Singh takes salute from the march past at Patiala. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 26

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday appealed to the state’s farmers not to commit suicide saying his government is committed to the total implementation of its farm debt waiver programme by November 2018.He also launched the release of benefits under a unique scheme aimed at the inclusive growth of the distressed sections of society.In his brief speech after taking the salute and unfurling the national flag at the Republic Day parade at the YPS Stadium here, Amarinder assured the beleaguered farmers of the state that each of the 10.25 lakh farmers covered by the debt waiver scheme would receive its benefit by November this year.

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Underlining his government’s commitment to the development of Patiala, which had been “sidelined” by the erstwhile SAD-BJP government completely during its 10-year rule, the Chief Minister announced a development grant of Rs 45 crore for rural areas and Rs 5 crore for urban areas over and above the Rs 100 crore already announced by him for the upgrade of infrastructure in both urban and rural segments of the district.Holding the Akalis solely responsible for the ruin of the state’s economy, Capt Amarinder pointed out that when his government demitted office in 2007, the total debt burden on state was Rs 46,000 crore, which had now mounted to Rs 2,08,000 crore due to the misrule and ill- conceived policies of the SAD-BJP government.Listing out the various initiatives taken by his government to bring about the development of the state, which had been totally ruined by the Akalis, Capt Amarinder inaugurated a Rs 2000 crore project to repair 16,000 km rural link roads. This was the first time that the state government was investing such a huge amount for the development of rural link roads, he added.

Launching the benefits under the Mahatama Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana, with the aim to ‘Wipe every tear from every eye’ as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi, Amarinder said the programme’s objective is to give the distressed sections the help they needed, socially or economically or psychologically.

The government had identified a large number of such needy people who had so far been deprived of the pro-poor initiatives, he said, adding that of these, two lakh people would start getting the benefits of 20 different schemes of the government from today onwards.Extending Republic Day greetings to people, Amarinder recalled the historic moment in 1950 when India adopted its Constitution.He said the government had also decided to waive loans up to Rs 50,000 of Punjab Backward Classes Land Development and Finance Corporation (Backfinco) given to the beneficiaries.Amarinder also launched the e-POS scheme to cover the state’s fair price shops to replace the earlier blue card system for distribution of atta-dal.The Chief Minister lauded the visually and hearing and speech impaired students who participated in the parade and presented a taekwondo show. He announced Rs 1 lakh per school/college which participated in the cultural function, from the CM’s fund.The CM honoured freedom fighters and their families with shawls and sweets. He also honoured 67 eminent personalities from different walks of life for their outstanding contributions in their respective fields.

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 25

In a major jolt to ex-servicemen and outstanding sportspersons aspiring for Class I and II jobs in Haryana, the state government has withdrawn its order on quota for them.According to an order issued by the Chief Secretary today, the instructions had been withdrawn from “date of its issuance (January 23, 2018)”.Though no official reason has been given for the withdrawal of the quota for the ESM and sportspersons, a senior government functionary told The Tribune that it had been done on account of certain ‘technical issues’.The state government would re-examine the issue and rectify the legal lacunae in the order so that there was no legal complications at a later stage, he said.Claiming that the state government was committed to providing quota to these two categories, the functionary asserted that the circular had been withdrawn for the “time being” and would be “re-issued” in due course after examining its legality.The Haryana Government had decided to provide 5 per cent horizontal reservation to ex-servicemen (ESM) and one per cent horizontal reservation to outstanding sportspersons in direct recruitment in the Class I and II jobsA circular issued by the Chief Secretary’s office had stated that in case no candidate was found suitable for appointment even on re-advertisement, the vacancies reserved for the ESM of a particular category would be filled from among the same category candidates.For example, if a suitable candidate belonging to the SC is not available in the ESM category, the post could be filled from among the candidates of the SC. The same condition would apply to other categories

Why no quota

• Though no official reason has been given for the withdrawal of the quota for the ESM and sportspersons, a senior government functionary told The Tribune that it had been done on account of certain ‘technical issues’.

Jora Farm villagers move to safer places after heavy shelling by Pakistan in the RS Pura sector on Sunday. PTI

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 21

As guns boomed along the International Border on Friday and Saturday, the thuds of falling shells could be heard in Jammu city, reminding people that how close the winter capital, having a population of 7 lakh, is to the battlefield.People living in residential colonies of the Temple City looked towards the western horizon as border villages experienced heavy and sustained bombardment. They could even hear the sound of heavy calibre weapons being used all along Suchetgarh, Kanachak and Akhnoor sectors.Jammu is separated from Pakistan by the 198-km International Border. The areas along the border have fertile fields in the northern India but the undulating land has greatly suffered due to continued hostility. While the 744-km Line of Control (LoC) starting from Akhnoor towards Rajouri, Poonch and Kashmir divides J&K from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.From the city centre, the International Border towards RS Pura is at a distance of 27 km while the Gajansoo-Kanachak sector is nearly 25-30 km. Akhnoor lies nearly 50 km away the city.“Our heart goes out tothe people living near the border and soldiers who are defending our country. We are living in an undeclared battle zone since 1990 when insurgency erupted in Kashmir,” said Tarsem Kumar, a resident of Chinore.The entire International Border and LoC resemble trench warfare scenario of World War I when armies of Germany, Britain and French were bogged down in western Europe, with respective forces maintaining the status quo but using heavy weapons to attack each other’s positions.“Although only heavy mortars and automatic weapons are being used in the Jammu sector, nobody knows when the heavy artillery could be inducted,” said Inder Paul, who lives at Domana. Artillery and deadly air burst weapons are already being used along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch sectors.“During night and day, we could hear the sound of shelling. The intensity of blasts explained how bad the situation was. Although there is no panic in the city, worries remain,” said Narinder Jamwal, a resident of Sarwal.Lakhs of people have taken refuge in Jammu city since 1947. The city has become an oasis for those escaping the trouble-torn areas of the Himalayan region.

File photo

Washington, January 20

American aerospace and defence major Lockheed Martin has proposed to manufacture custom-built F-35 fighter jets in India, which its officials say, will give Indian industry a unique opportunity to become part of the world’s largest fighter aircraft ecosystem.“We plan to introduce two new words into the lexicon of international fighter aircraft manufacturing: ‘India’ and ‘exclusive’,” Vivek Lall, vice president, strategy and business development, at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, told PTI in an interview.“India-specific state-of-the-art fighter production in India will be exclusive, something that has never before been presented by any other fighter aircraft manufacturer, past or present. There will also be a significant export market available for Indian-made fighters,” he said.

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Lall, an Indian American last year was instrumental in the decision of the Trump administration to sell top-of-the-line unarmed drones from General Atomics, in his previous capacity.Noting that the India-specific fighter on offer and its programme’s size, scope and success will enable Indian industry to take advantage of unprecedented manufacturing, upgrade and sustainment opportunities well into the future, Lall said the platform would give Indian industry a unique opportunity to become a part of the world’s largest fighter aircraft ecosystem.“We intend to create far more than an “assembly line” in India,” he said.Lall claimed no other advanced fourth-generation platform even comes close to matching the record of real-world combat experience and proven operational effectiveness.“The fighter being offered specifically to India is uniquely the best state-of-the-art fighter,” he said, adding that all three variants of the F-35 are single-engine aircraft.Many of the systems used on the India-specific platform are derived from key lessons learned and technologies from Lockheed Martin’s F-22 and the F-35, the world’s only operational fifth generation fighters, he said.Northrop Grumman’s advanced APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar on the F-16 Block 70 provides F-16s with fifth-generation fighter radar capabilities by leveraging hardware and software commonality with F-22 and F-35 AESA radars, he added.The APG-83 radar shares more than 95 per cent software commonality with the F-35 radar and more than 70 per cent hardware commonality.Lall said the F-16 provided the path to business relationships with Lockheed Martin, the only company in the world that had designed, developed and produced operational fifth-generation fighter aircraft.Technology improvements would also continue to flow between the F-16, F-22 and F-35 for decades, at a fraction of the cost to F-16 operators, he said.The platform being offered provides unmatched opportunities for Indian companies of all sizes, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and suppliers throughout India, to establish new business relationships with Lockheed Martin and other industry leaders in the US and around the globe, Lall said, giving an insight into the offer being made by his company.Asserting that approximately half of the Indian fighter supply chain would be common with the fifth-generation F-22 and F-35, Lall said the aircraft brought the most modern avionics, a proven AESA radar, modernised cockpit, advanced weapons, longer range with conformal fuel tanks, auto ground collision avoidance capability, and an advanced engine with an extended service life.Even with the addition of targeting systems and two 2,000 pound (lb) class Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), the aircraft has a mission radius exceeding 1,300 km—30 per cent greater than that of its closest competitor, he said.“Many of the advances in systems on the aircraft India would get draw directly from key lessons learned from Lockheed Martin’s work on the F-22 and the F-35,” he said.“The AESA radar is the result of over two decades of investment, use and experience with AESA technology, and it’s fully operational today,” Lall said. PTI

Dhaka’s move hurts China’s strategic play in South Asia & underscores the frustration among smaller countries over China’s strong-arm project financing methods.

New Delhi: In what is perhaps the first major blow to Chinese strategic investments in South Asia, the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh blacklisted Wednesday the Chinese company which helped build key ports in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

China Harbour and Engineering Company (CHEC) was blacklisted for alleged attempts to bribe Bangladeshi government officials. The company, which was involved in the expansion of the Dhaka-Sylhet highway, will now be disqualified from participating in any contract in Bangladesh.

Informed sources, however, told ThePrint that the nub of the issue lay in a discord over China apparently changing goalposts in the commercial negotiations with Bangladesh.

Dhaka, it’s learnt, was of the impression that this project was to be a government-to-government deal under the mega $21.5 billion soft loan Chinese package for 26 projects agreed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 2016 visit.

Beijing, however, is believed to have changed tack when negotiations for specific projects like the Dhaka-Sylhet highway expansion proposal started. At that point, sources said, CHEC as the nominated company from Beijing estimated a cost that was double of what had initially been built into the package.

This discord had been building over the past few months with Bangladesh even conveying this resentment officially to China. But matters came to a head when Beijing took the line that it had only assured ‘considering’ a G-to-G model but never committed to one.

CHEC has had a long presence in Bangladesh and was involved in an alleged bribery scandal in the past involving Arafat Rahman Koko, the son of former Bangladeshi PM Khaleda Zia.

But of late, CHEC has been known for its massive dredging and port operations in Gwadar port of Pakistan and Hambantota in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government too faced a viability problem in Hambantota as traffic and recovery estimates were way lower than assumed. They were forced to lease the port to China in order to walk out of a bad debt trap.

In Bangladesh, China’s soft loans come with a 2 per cent interest rate, which is substantially higher than what India offers.

China gives a 15-year repayment schedule while India provides a 20-year schedule. Also, China has a fixed commitment and management fee while India only takes a commitment fee.

But the real catch is China’s condition that the contract has to mandatorily go to a Beijing-nominated company. Here, countries like India, ask Bangladesh to float a tender among Indian companies and choose accordingly.

The nomination model, thus, does not allow for a proper price discovery to take place, which is where the dispute starts as other costs get built into project estimates. This, sources said, also lay at the core of the problem in Wednesday’s blacklisting.

China, under its ‘One Belt, One Road’ programme, has planned for a major push for strategic connectivity projects in its neighbourhood and South Asia.

In that context, Wednesday’s blacklisting by Bangladesh was a move against the run of China’s strategic play in South Asia, underscoring the frustration among smaller countries over China’s strong-arm project financing methods.

India, the US and Japan, have agreed to work together to pool in resources to offer alternative financing mechanisms to developing countries in South Asia.

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, January 18

The Army’s plans to set up a camp in a playground in Sahmsipora village of Anantnag district, triggered protests by locals.The issue was also taken up by the lawmaker of the constituency (Home-Shalibugh), Abdul Majeed Bhat in the Assembly today.Bhat asked law and parliamentary affairs minister Abdul Rehman Veeri to issue a statement in this regard.Hundreds of people from the Shamsipora area reached the Anantnag Deputy Commissioner’s office on Thursday afternoon and demanded intervention by the district administration.“This morning dozens of Army vehicles reached the local playfield and started taking measurements for setting up a camp. When we intervened, the Army men threatened to shoot at us if we did not disperse,” the protesting locals alleged.They said that the Army men asked them to go and meet the DC and talk to him.“We don’t understand why do they want to use a playfield for their camp and that too when the state government has shown keen interest in developing sports infrastructure in the Valley,” the locals said.Anantnag DC MYMalik assured the locals that the issue would be resolved soon. “I have talked to the DIG, south Kashmir, and the Army officers concerned. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved soon,” he said.

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 7

The Standing Committee on External Affairs, in its report submitted last week to Parliament, has sought an incremental approach towards the revival of dialogue with Pakistan, while acknowledging the Pakistan army’s hostility as big obstacle to peace.The report says, “The committee, headed by Shashi Tharoor, was of the opinion that peace process should not be held hostage to terror acts and both countries must keep the channels of communication open, even during the worst of crises and not let non-state actors and their state sponsors derail or dictate the foreign policy objectives of sovereign nations. It believed that the engagement between neighbours cannot be stopped indefinitely.”  It further adds, “The committee would recommend an incremental approach to such a resumption of the dialogue process by starting with less-contentious issues.”The government, in its response, said it was committed to resolving “all outstanding issues bilaterally through peaceful means in accordance with Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration”, but added this could only be achieved in “environment free from terror, hostility and violence”. Underlining that there can be no compromise on cross-border terrorism, the ministry, in its reply, has said, “The government has maintained the channels of communications open with Pakistan, including through respective diplomatic missions and regular contacts between the border-guarding forces on both sides.” The committee has called regrettable the lack of a National Security Framework for outlining a broad doctrine, response mechanism and standard operating procedures on all-possible aspects of national security concerns. It seeks establishing a joint coordination mechanism of the Army, Navy and Air Force and border-guarding forces. It advocates pursuing a proactive and assertive position on India’s rightful claims to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.“In view of the fact that India is currently occupying strategic heights and advantage at Siachen, it was Pakistan’s agenda to push for demilitarisation of the glacier. Moreover, the committee observed that the present cooperation between China and Pakistan has assumed worrying proportions,” says the report.“The committee would also desire the government to continue making concerted efforts through diplomatic outreach to sensitise China about the manner in which the CPEC and the non-listing of Masood Azhar on the UN sanction list impinges on our sovereignty and security interests,” says the report.

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 1

Having donated blood 121 times and platelets 93 times, Subedar Major Suresh Saini became a motivational figure for people to donate blood. In a blood donation camp organised by a Jalandhar-based NGO, The Blood Association (Team Baaj) Saini said, “Donating blood is one of the most supreme social causes through which one can contribute towards society.”This was the 50th huge blood donation camp organised by the NGO. The vice-president of the team, Amanjot singh said for the past three years, they have been organising blood donation camps on every first day of the year so as to inspire the people to begin new year by doing something meaningful for society. Various teams of ‘Association of Blood Donors’ societies of Punjab had reached Maqsudan chowk to be the part of the camp. The Blood Donation Camp not only focused on collecting blood for 25 children suffering from Thalassemia but also strived to clarify the misconceptions about blood donation. A total of 480 units of blood were collected in the camp.Also present at the camp was Dr Gurvinder Singh of a private hospital. Suffering from spinal cord injury and sitting on a wheelchair, he still donates blood once every three months. He was a great motivation drive at the camp and advised people to contribute towards donating blood. He also said people should drive safely to avoid meeting with any accident. It was better to donate the blood rather than drain it in accidents, he said.

For representation only. The Foreign Office said the India would also hand over the list of Pakistani prisoners to Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

Tribune News Service
New Delhi/Islamabad, January 1

A total of 457 Indian prisoners—including 399 fishermen—are languishing in various Pakistani jails, according to a list the Pakistan government handed over to the Indian High Commission on Monday.

The Foreign Office said that the step of giving the list of prisoners was consistent with the provisions of the Consular Access Agreement between Pakistan and India, signed on May 21, 2008.

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Under the agreement, both countries are required to exchange lists of prisoners in each other’s custody twice a year, on January 1 and July 1.

“Pakistan today handed over a list of 457 Indian prisoners—58 civil prisoners and 399 fishermen—in Pakistan, to the High Commission of India in Islamabad,” it said.

It further said that Pakistan would release 146 fishermen on January 8.

The Foreign Office said the India would also hand over the list of Pakistani prisoners to Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

Fishermen from Pakistan and India are frequently detained for illegally fishing in each other’s territorial waters since the Arabian Sea does not have a clearly defined marine border and the wooden boats lack the technology to avoid being drifting away. With PTI