Monthly Archives: August 2018

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 5

Questioning the government’s claim that Aadhaar will enable authorities to check frauds in banks and financial institutions, the Supreme Court on Thursday said such scams happened because bank officials were hand-in-glove with fraudsters and Aadhaar can do little to stop it.“A bank fraud does not take place because of multiple identities. A loan is given by a banker and he knows who the borrower is. A fraud can take place if the banker is hand-in-glove with the customer… Aadhaar can do little to stop it,” a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra told Attorney General KK Venugopal after he said Aadhaar would prevent bank fraud.As the top law officer said Aadhaar would stop creation of benami accounts and help authorities to track illegal transactions, the Bench – which also included justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, agreed. “But, to stop bank frauds, the manger or official at that level needs to carry out due diligence before advancing loans,” said Justice Sikri.The courtroom burst into laughter after the AG said, “What the court wants to say is that Nirav Modis will continue to flourish despite Aadhaar.” As the AG’s arguments remained inconclusive, he would resume on April 10.The Bench wondered if asking the entire population to link their mobile phones with Aadhaar “just to catch a few terrorists” was the right thing. “What if authorities, through administrative orders, ask citizens to part with their DNA, semen and blood samples as part of their Aadhaar demographics?” asked the Bench.Justice Chandrachud questioned the government, saying it has assumed that all the services for which it was asking for Aadhaar amounted to legitimate state interest.“The core issue is that how far you can cast the net of Aadhaar asking citizens to give their biometric details for services that are not covered under Section 7 (deals with welfare schemes) of the Aadhaar law,” Justice Chandrachud said.

Kim’s sudden Beijing visit enhances the crucial role that China plays in maneuvering North Korea’s equations with the rest of the world.

On a pointed question pertaining to the strategic Chinese investments abroad for either long-term military platforms or controlling the local governments, the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying quoted two Chinese sayings in its defense – first that ‘one’s mentality will determine how he perceives the world’ and second, ‘if one suspects his neighbour of stealing his axe, all behaviour of that innocent neighbour appears suspicious to him!’ Trying to allay specific fears about the Chinese intent on the increasingly-China-dependent states in Africa, Hua Chunying said, “China welcomes African countries aboard the express train of its development and is willing to make positive contributions to promoting the peace, security, development and rejuvenation of African countries.” Ironically, that very day of the Chinese statement, a heavily-armoured train actually chugged into Beijing, carrying the secretive entourage of the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un. Read This – Mamata’s unity efforts The ostensibly ‘unofficial visit’ was also the first international visit made by Kim Jong-un since he assumed power in 2011. While the suddenness, secrecy and the mode of conveyance has raised eyebrows across the world, the timing is not surprising given the impending meetings between Kim Jong-un and his South Korean counterpart President Moon Jae-in, which is to be followed by the unprecedented meeting of the North Korean strongman with the US President Donald Trump, around May. As North Korea’s biggest trading partner, military ally, and diplomatic vanguard, China is singularly responsible for the survival and sustenance of the North Korean regime. Since the bloody Korean War (1950-1953), when Kim Jong-un’s grandfather Kim Il-sung was supported by China’s Mao Zedong and the USSR – the North Koreans are perennially indebted to Beijing for the installation and perpetuation of the successive Kim-dynasts. Fittingly, Kim Jong-un’s toast to the Chinese President Xi Jinping during the recent visit was very servile: “It is appropriate that my first trip abroad is in China’s capital, and my responsibility to consider continuing NK-China relations as valuable as life!” Read This – Polyhouse: A versatile solution The strange sight of the 21-car armoured train in Bejing has reiterated the criticality of China in any possible future-solution to the dangerous theatrics and sabre-rattling unleashed by both the despot in Pyongyang and his equally colourful nemesis in Washington DC, US President Donald Trump. The obvious trust and equation between North Korea and China came to the forefront as Kim Jong-un felt safe enough to travel to China, without the pathological fear of a looming decapitation strike that haunts the North Korean establishment. The complexities and intrigues of the Sino-North Korean relationship belie the real instigator of the North Korean dictator’s sudden visit to China. Was it Kim Jong-un who wanted full Chinese alignment on the exact contours and extent of possible concessions with the South Koreans and the Americans, or was it the wary Chinese who wanted to secure a seat in any future discussions pertaining to the North Korean impasse? Most probably, it was a combination of both as the North Korean regime could implode and melt-away without the firing of a single-shot if the Chinese were to withdraw their beneficence, and likewise, an uninvolved China in the rapprochement process of North Korea could strip Beijing of a strategic pawn, military shield, and economic backyard for its wares. Importantly, both nations have signed a mutual defense treaty wherein they have stated that ‘in the event of one of the parties being subjected to armed attack by any state or several states together and thus being involved in a state of war, the other party shall immediately render military and other assistance by all means at its disposal’. This treaty was first signed by the governments in 1961, and subsequently renewed in 1981, 2001, and is now in effect until 2021. The stakes in the crucial meetings of Kim Jong-un with Moon and Trump are as high for Bejing as they are for Pyongyang. Potentially, the carefully plotted and positioned structures of Chinese assertion, dominance and geopolitical import are at risk in case of either any major concessions afforded by North Korea or escalations from the current structures in the North Korean narrative. The non-progress in talks could also license a military strike by the US, which could shoot-up tensions in the Chinese neighbourhood and bring rival forces to near its borders. Already, China is battling international opprobrium in the South China Sea and it could be doubly stretched in case the security situation worsens for Bejing in the Korean peninsula. Ideally the Chinese would want to bat for an incremental de-escalation via the ‘freeze-for-freeze’ methodology, which potentially kills two birds with one stone – the suspension of military drills and the possible withdrawal of the US military forces from the Korean peninsula, in exchange for North Korea suspending nuclear testing. This way, the Chinese manage to debar US presence in its vicinity, whilst also controlling the reckless bravado of the North Korean maverick. A possible thaw without altering the fundamentals of the sovereign-alignments or regime-changes would be in China’s best interest. Additionally, the optics of a successful peace-broker would enhance Beijing’s international prestige and prospects as it embarks on its quest for global super-powership and moral legitimacy. Inaction or non-intervention is not an option for the Chinese, as Mao Zedong had famously stated, ‘Passivity is fatal to us. Our goal is to make the enemy passive’; and, in this case, the enemy is the one that can upset the apple cart of the carefully charted coordinates of the Chinese dream, including the vassal states like North Korea under its strategic tutelage. Contrary to the publically declared position of a denuclearised Korean peninsula, China has tactically tolerated and even supported the nuclearisation program of North Korea. This existing arrangement of an anti-west, belligerent and roguish neighbour that is existentially beholden and completely dependent on the Chinese diktats and interests, works to Beijing’s advantage and it will not allow any major progressions or regression from the existing storyline in North Korea. The game plan, ‘red-lines’ and the absolute ‘no-go’ zones for the forthcoming discussions that North Korea would be partaking in would have been carefully discussed and agreed upon – between the two illiberal and mutually-aligned leaders. Lt General Bhopinder Singh (retd) is former Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands & Puducherry. The views expressed are strictly personal

http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/strategic-chinese-checkers-291783

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 25

With the US on a confrontational path with Russia reminiscent of the Cold War era, India is walking a tightrope between Moscow and DC.The Ministry of External Affairs is lobbying hard with the US administration to ensure the showdown between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin does not impact major deals in pipeline with Russia.The Tribune has learnt that India has made a three-fold argument on Capital Hill to seek exemptions from CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act). Under CAATSA, third countries dealing with Russian oligarchs and firms blacklisted by the US could face the heat of secondary sanctions. This could have a significant impact on Russia’s profitable military and nuclear relationship with India.For instance, NPO Mashinostroyeniya, the Russian firm partnering on flagship JV Brahmos project, is sanctioned and under CAATSA India could be subject to punitive restrictions for dealing with it.India, meanwhile, has argued with Americans that its dependence on Russian arms is reducing. “We have asked the US to look at our trend of defence purchases for past 10 years. Not only have we diversified our supplies, but substantial part has gone to the US which is the net beneficiary,” said an official source.According to the latest report published by SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), Indian import of Russian military hardware stands at 62 per cent during past five years compared to 79 per cent between 2008 and 2012. Washington today is the second largest arms supplier to India with military sales worth $15 billion.India’s negotiations with Russia on major S400 air defence missile systems and Kamov-226 T helicopter deals have been moving at a slow pace leading to questions of possible American pressure.Russian entities like Rosboronexport partnering with India on dual use technology, too, face the heat. India has told the US that any such restrictions could impact its existing arms and ammunition reserves and defence preparedness, thus adversely affecting its capacity to act in areas where the two countries have major security convergences.“It is not known yet as to how will CAATSA kick in. If spares for legacy items will come under its ambit or not. But if we have sourcing issues how can be of help in areas where our interests converge with the US like in Indo-Pacific or Afghanistan?” remarked a source. New Delhi has also told the US that Russian purchases are not to be used against America or its strategic interests.Past few weeks on allegations against Russia from Salisbury UK to Syria, India has treaded cautiously without criticising or backing Kremlin.

‘Reducing dependence on Russia’

• India has argued with America that its dependence on Russian arms is reducing
• “We have asked the US to look at our trend of defence purchases for past 10 years. Not only have we diversified our supplies, but substantial part has gone to the US which is the net beneficiary,” a source said
• New Delhi has also told the US that Russian purchases are not to be used against America or its strategic interests

Abohar: An Army jawan reportedly ended his life on Thursday at Lalgarh military station near Sriganganagar. Preliminary investigation indicated that Mukesh Prasad (30) used the guard room firearm to kill himself at about 6 am in his official quarters. From his mouth, the bullet went through his head. The Police Control Room was informed about the incident at 10 am. It was learnt that Mukesh had been given some medical treatment last week for depression, the cause of which has not yet been ascertained. The body will be taken to his native place in Chanderpur district in Maharashtra, sources said. OC

Our Correspondent

KULLU, APRIL 13

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has again cleared snow from 13,050-feet high Rohtang Pass after the snowfall at the peaks on April 11 and 12 had hampered the movement of vehicles. Earlier the Manali-Keylong road was connected by the BRO on April 5 but traffic came to a halt after the Rohtang again received about two feet of snow.The BRO’s 38 Border Road Task Force (BRTF) commander Colonel AK Awasthi said that snow had been cleared from Manali-Rohtang-Keylong highway. He said that teams of jawans moved towards Rohtang from its both sides and accomplished the task late on Friday. A few vehicles went from Manali side to Keylong.The district administration had made an arrangement that one day vehicles will move from the Manali side toward Keylong, while on the other day vehicles would be allowed from the Lahaul side towards Manali.The road remains closed for traffic for about six months during winters due to accumulation of heavy snow on the Pass, gateway to Lahaul valley. Every year the Rohtang receives heavy snowfall, which cuts off the residents of Lahaul Spiti from the rest of the state for several months.The Rohtang Pass is a major attraction for the tourists and the district administration has said that tourist vehicles would be allowed after broadening job is completed by the BRO and there are adequate parking facilities.

India may need to adopt a model that keeps the individual components in a theatre under some form of dual control.

There is now a proposal to amend the single service acts to legally facilitate more operational integration between the three military services. The goal is that command and control issues, which are single-service based, do not come in the way of joint operations and the future joint theatre concept.

Some military legal experts have expressed their view that this has nothing to do with the desired operational integration. But any trigger to bring to light issues regarding integration, better command and control, jointness and resource sharing, is always welcome.

There needs to be greater debate in the public realm about these things because transparency in defence matters can be healthy.

There is a basic logic to the argument for ‘jointness’ and integration. The common aim of the three armed forces is to secure India against aggression and conduct such operations in the achievement of the national aim. To do this, they have different means, resources and work cultures. Without optimising joint capability, there is much wastage of resources. Also, the lack of a common work culture and procedures often places the achievement of the national aim at risk. It is the practice of integrating common technologies and available best practices with smart resource sharing that makes winners.

The Kargil Review Committee (KRC) in 2001 strongly recommended the adoption of greater integration, and the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to be the single authority for the government to consult, rather than individual service chiefs.

There are many examples of integrated services around the world. However, the model to be finally adopted has to be an Indian one, based on the threat pattern, geographic factors, and distinct work culture. It is best never to copy-paste existent models, but examine each for its worth.

The most common model quoted for integration is that of the US, which actually forced its armed forces into integration through a legislation in 1986; the Goldwater Nichols Act. It was the result of the perceived collective failure of the disastrous rescue attempt to evacuate hostages from the US embassy in Tehran in 1980 and the botched Grenada operation of 1983. All resources of the four armed forces (the Marines being the fourth element) were placed under different regional and task-based theatre headquarters.The theatre commander reports directly to the President of the US through the defence secretary (equivalent to defence minister in our case). The Joint Chiefs of Staff acts as an advisory body, with a chairman as its head. The individual service chiefs of the components do not assume operational responsibility, but are responsible for personnel, logistics and equipment aspects.

Is such a model applicable to the Indian scenario?

The answer is both yes and no. India has 17 individual service command HQs. The issue is whether these can regionally be integrated into theatres to ensure that no single service can claim primacy for its operations.

Whatever model of integration is adopted, there has to be doctrinal guidance and placement of all resources in a single basket. The key question is the ability to accept one service as the lead for a theatre. The best example of this is witnessed in the Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC) where naval primacy may be obvious and J&K where the Army may have to be in greater control. The issue of primacy, however, can pose obstacles in the path of integration.

The Shekatkar Committee has included in its recommendations the appointment of a CDS and an integrated ministry of defence, but that’s exactly what the KRC also did.

Here, the US model will make the service chiefs somewhat irrelevant. This is not a model which will be easily welcome in India. Our model may need to yet keep the individual components in a theatre under some form of dual control. Will this work optimally is something which needs intense debate. The responsibility for details of structures and resource sharing is surely that of the current military leadership, which can suitably seek greater advice from the strategic community.

The critical question is whether the incremental approach towards theaterisation and integration is the right way or a sudden, transformational approach as adopted by the US in 1986.

Baby steps such as amending service laws may not really lead to anything substantial. The government is on record to have taken a decision on the Defence Cyber and Space Agencies and a Special Operations Division, which the defence secretary has said will soon become a reality. However, a MoD shorn of expertise in the handling of these may surely not be the optimum way towards the future.

One can perhaps visualise a potential compromise formula as a first move: creating a CDS holding all task-based commands and agencies (including Strategic Forces Command and ANC). We can also reform the MoD, infusing it with some uniformed presence. These can be the baby steps that eventually move towards a full-blown theatre command concept.

Lt Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd), a former GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, is associated with the Vivekanand International Foundation and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies

It had become clear last month that linking your Aadhaar number with mobile phones or bank accounts was not mandatory, at least till the matter was resolved in the Supreme Court. However, on Wednesday, the government was taken to task by the court for claiming in the public domain that the mobile linking was required under orders of the Apex court. It defies comprehension as to why the government would have invited the embarrassment upon itself when it is not in a position to enforce the order as yet. The same is true for PAN.As things began, citizens were fine till Aaadhar linkage was limited to those drawing subsidies from the treasury and left out those who didn’t. However, on ground people are being asked to give the Aadhaar number for everything from school admission to getting a marriage certificate. Lack of awareness is leading to most people complying with the unwarranted requirement, or stand losing a benefit. This is wholly unjustified and illegal denial of services. Both the state and Central governments should thus come out with a positive list of services that require the Aadhaar; but before that they will have to ensure the demand has a legal basis. Anything outside those lists may then be ignored by people till the matter is settled.The government, defending its case in the Supreme Court, has said that banks and phone companies have more data on clients than the UIDAI even without the Aadhaar linking, so the question of privacy being violated by Aadhaar does not arise. There is truth in the statement to the extent that all of this is part of the larger digital cloud that is gathering over the private citizen, who is steadily losing his privacy; ‘whataboutery’ will not change that fact. Unfortunately, to what extent this global intrusion may go is something that is likely to be settled more by way of might, whether legal or financial, than a nuanced debate within jurisprudence. Certain rights laid down in the Constitution may well end up being reinterpreted.

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, April 24

Four militants, a soldier and a policeman were killed in a day-long encounter in Tral area of Pulwama district, 50 km south-east of Srinagar, on Tuesday.Police said the militants belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and their identities were being ascertained. Sources in the police said two of the slain militants were believed to be Pakistan nationals, while the other two were locals, one of them a constable’s son.The slain Army man has been identified as Sepoy Ajay Kumar of Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, and the policeman as Constable Lateef Ahmad Gojri from Tral.The encounter began early morning in the forest area of Laam in Tral, where security forces had initiated a search operation following a lead.“While the search was on, the militants opened heavy fire on our men, leaving an Army man injured,” a senior police official said. “The jawan succumbed to his injuries later.” After the initial fire, police sources said, the militants took cover in the dense forest. There was a lull for a few hours. The security forces then employed helicopters and para-commandos to track down the militants.“Once the militants were located, the exchange of fire resumed,” the police official said, adding that four militants and one policeman were killed during the fresh firing.The operation ended with the retrieval of the slain militants’ bodies, which were sent for medico-legal formalities. Meanwhile, clashes erupted in main town and Batpora areas of Tral soon after the operation started. The clashes continued for a while before heavy deployment of security forces brought things under control. The area remained shut throughout the day.The residents awaited the arrival of bodies of the local militants. All roads leading to Tral had been sealed and mobile Internet suspended in the area.

Washington, April 20

US President Donald Trump has ordered government agencies to expedite and expand arms sales abroad, including exports of advanced drones to reinforce allied armies, the White House has said, a move expected to be helpful to countries like India.Trump has also established a new administration policy on the export of American-manufactured unmanned aerial systems (UAS), White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.The move is expected to be helpful to countries like India, a ‘major defence partner’ which is seeking to purchase large number of armed and surveillance drones from the US. Trump signed a national security presidential memorandum approving a new Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) policy, Sanders said. — PTI

Around 1,500 civilians have been killed in the bombardment by Russia and the Syrian government, but many more — and the Islamist fighters opposing the regime — would have died without this secret underground warren.

Robert Fisk

ALL battles and bombardments share their secrets one by one. Eastern Ghouta is no different. Why the sudden, savage bombardment of these Syrian towns and villages more than three weeks ago? Why the wasteland of homes and streets — and how did so many of the civilians survive, along with hundreds of Islamist gunmen? You can do no better that start your enquiry in a frontline dugout near Arbeen, on the old and now war-smashed international highway between Damascus and Aleppo. It is protected by oil barrels of solid concrete, an iron roof, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a couple of rifles and a rusting motorbike, presumably to carry messages when the lines were cut. “Twenty mortars a day,” one of the Syrian soldiers says, rolling his eyes.And now it is over, he hopes. But — aside from the oil lamps and the cups of ‘mutta’ tea what catches your attention is the absence of a single trench.The soldiers sport beards like the French ‘poilu’ in the Great War a hundred years ago. But they dig no trenches. Not a single communications alleyway winds through the dirt and mud on either side of the dugout to give the running messenger cover from those mortars. Maybe the motorbike increased their chances. The lattice of trenches and revetments — dug so deeply a century ago by the Brits, French and Germans — has never caught on in Syria.Thus, Syrian soldiers were shocked to find how safe their enemies were. These tunnels of great stoneworks — for they were carved through the living rock, supposedly by Palestinians on loan from Hamas, men who had spent years hacking tunnels between Gaza and the Egyptian desert — have become a familiar part of the Syrian war. In Homs, the makers carved their names on the walls like Victorian railway builders, and in eastern Aleppo. These tunnels carry inside them the necrology of ideas, the ideological martyrs’ cemetery of their makers’ minds. They are deep and dank and  moist. But they are safe.So here comes the latest little secret of the Ghouta war. The Syrian aircraft — so often blamed for the indiscriminate nature of a bombing campaign which, according to many reports, has killed 1,500 civilians in eastern Ghouta — were old. But the Russian aircraft were also old Sukhoi 24s. A Russian source says: “The bombs we used in Ghouta were not ‘smart’ bombs with full computer guidance. Maybe some. But most had a variable of 50 metres off target.” In other words, you can forget the old claim of “pinpoint” accuracy which Western armies also like to adopt. These Russian bombs launched against eastern Ghouta had a spread pattern of 150 feet each side of what the pilots were aiming at; which means a house instead of an anti-aircraft gun. Or one house rather than another house. And anyone inside.But these blockbusters, it seems, couldn’t bust any blocks. The tunnels were never breached. That’s why they were built. They were bomb-proof. And thus the Russians and Syrians fired more and more bombs to break them. The Islamist groups in Ghouta did not have barracks or dugouts, for they lived in the tunnels, ate in the tunnels, fought, briefly, in daylight outside the tunnels, and then dragged their mortars back inside. A fighter wishes to pray: he can take the tunnel to the mosque. He needs surgery? He can be taken between those glistening walls to the hospital. He needs to move to a new battlefront, he takes a mile or two walk across town. Underground.The Syrians paid for their advance. In one short battle, at least 20 of them were killed. During another, five men emerged from the ruins, all dressed in Syrian army uniform and carrying weapons, well shaved, saying they were “coming across” to the Syrian lines. Several Syrian soldiers captured years ago were still held hostage by Islamists in underground cells. But the ‘Nimr’ units, while they knew the uniforms were real, looked closely at the faces of the men wearing them. “They could see they were newly shaved, that they weren’t so tanned on their chins as on the rest of their faces, and they realised they were Jaish al-Islam men dressed in Syrian uniform who had just removed their beards,” the eyewitness added bleakly. “They killed them all.”So why the ferocity of the bombardment? That Russian source believes that the Russian president wanted to end the Syrian war, especially the Ghouta conflict, before his election. But this proved impossible. Syria doesn’t fit the familiar ‘quagmire’ of Vietnam legend; it is a vast terrain of captured and recaptured and re-recaptured towns and villages, which moves with the power of the antagonists. The Russians can pick and choose their battles. This increases mobility. But it doesn’t create the exit home.There are streets in Ghouta, incredibly enough, whose buildings are still standing relatively unscathed. They were spared during the bombardment because their inhabitants said they wanted to stay in their homes and would not resist the Syrian army. Thousands of Syrians in Ghouta have thus not joined the refugee buses nor accompanied the women and children travelling with their jihadi menfolk to Idlib. They are still living at home.You might not think this, staring over the miles of wreckage, grey, powdered, roof upon pancaked roof. But then you wouldn’t imagine the tunnels either. The Syrians were amazed at them. So were the Moscow military men guarding the Russian Centre for Reconciliation inside Ghouta. That’s where the convoys are put together on paper and lists and buses numbered for evacuation, where the Islamist groups bargain for freedom with or without weapons, for ‘reconciliation’ or for a temporary Russian presence in their streets – even for local authorities run by Islamist political groups instead of by armed men. The Syrians have spotted the trick in this one, of course. Try to take back the land from the ‘local authorities’ and the Islamists will spring mushroom-like from the ground again, along with their weapons. And perhaps from undiscovered tunnels.

‘There are tunnels everywhere’

An eyewitness who entered the ruins after Syrian assault units burst through the tunnels towards Douma said, “I have never seen so many tunnels. They had built tunnels everywhere. They were deep and they ran beneath shops and mosques and hospitals and homes and apartment blocks and roads and fields. I went into one with full electric lighting, the lamps strung out for hundreds of yards. I walked half a mile through it. They were safe there. So were the civilians who hid in the same tunnels.”

By arrangement with Independent