Monthly Archives: August 2018

Amit Kumar Sinha, a sergeant with the Indian Air Force, on Wednesday succumbed to injuries he sustained when he was shot at on November 18 by thieves who wanted to steal the mobile phone he had just bought.

Amit, 35, had come to Patna on November 3 to celebrate Diwali and Chhath with his parents, four sisters and two brothers. The cheer for the family was short-lived.

Amit had gone to buy a mobile phone form a shopping complex on the Kurji-Patliputra road on November 18 evening.

As he came out of the shop with his newly bought MI phone, motorcycle-borne criminals accosted him and demanded at gunpoint that he hand over the device. Amit resisted, and was shot twice.

He was first admitted to a nearby hospital in Patliputra Colony and later shifted to the army hospital in Danapur, where he died at 1.30am on Wednesday.

Before the Diwali-Chhath break, he had visited Patna for Rakshabandhan in August.

He was to rejoin duty at Nalli air force base in Gujarat on November 23.

As Amit’s body reached his house in Mithila Colony of Nasriganj locality on Wednesday morning, the wails of his mother Nirmala Devi, 63, and his sisters could be heard from a distance.

Local residents, including many women, had assembled outside his and some of them were consoling the family members.

Amit, a bachelor, had joined the air force in 2000. His first posting was in Bihta, about 40km from Patna.

An eight-member team from the Bihta air force base also reached his house and placed a floral wreath on his mortal remains.

Shouts of “Sinha amar rahe, amar rahe” rent the air as Amit’s was taken to Shiva Ghat on the bank of the Ganga in Digha for his last rites.

His elder brother Sanjay Kumar, who runs a shop in Mithila Colony, performed the rites.

Amit’s friend Ajay Singh, who was with him on November 18 evening, said Amit had joined the air force to serve his country and lay down his life fighting for the motherland.

“But see what happened to him, he died fighting with petty criminals,” Ajay said.

Amit’s 70-year-old father, Krishna Kumar Singh, a retired journalist, his mother and his siblings had been left with nothing but tears, the friend rued.

Contacted about progress in Amit’s murder case, deputy superintendent of police (law & order) Rakesh Kumar said the local cops had identified some persons and raids are on to arrest those involved in the crime.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 21

Claiming that Air India intended to restructure flights operating to and from the Chandigarh international airport, the airlines today told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it planned early morning flights between the city and Delhi for providing connectivity to European flights.

It also told the High Court that it planned “additional capacity” only after the airport was 24-hour functional. The Bench was also told that “Chandigarh-Bangkok” was making losses on a monopoly sector from the start. As such, a decision was taken to withdraw the flight. It added that Air India was in a financial crisis and could not afford to operate loss-making routes.

The High Court was also told that Air India had written to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation seeking permission to operate “hub and spoke” flights from the Chandigarh airport. If granted, it would greatly help Air India provide better connectivity and ease of travel to the people of Chandigarh and adjoining areas.

The spoke-hub pattern is a form of transport topology optimisation in which traffic planners organise routes as a series of “spokes” that connect outlying points to a central “hub”. In an affidavit submitted before the High Court, Meenakshi Malik, executive director, sales and marketing, Air India, said it could introduce a new early morning flight on Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi sector from January next year.

The flight would depart from Delhi around 7 am and arrive at Chandigarh around 8 am. The departure time from Chandigarh to Delhi would be 8.45 am and the arrival in Delhi would be at 9.45 am. This was subject to regulatory approvals and availability of slots from Delhi and Chandigarh. She said the route would enable passengers from five states adjoining Chandigarh to connect to European flights such as London, Paris, Frankfurt, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Rome, Milan, Vienna and Madrid.

The morning flight would also provide connectivity to Bangkok from Delhi in the afternoon. After the restructuring, the number of flights between Delhi and Chandigarh would be 14 per week from the current seven.

The Bench was also told that the Chandigarh-Bangkok flight was incurring losses from the beginning. Air India continued to operate on this sector, thereby giving enough time for the flight to stabilise and generate revenue. However, it did not happen.

Washington, November 21

The US has suspended USD 1.66 billion in security assistance to Pakistan after President Donald Trump’s directive, the Pentagon has said, in what experts believe is a strong signal of American frustration.

The Pentagon’s statement came days after President Trump said Pakistan did not do “a damn thing” for the US, alleging that its government had helped al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city of Abbottabad.

“USD 1.66 billion of security assistance to Pakistan is suspended,” Col Rob Manning, spokesman of the Department of Defence, told reporters in an e-mail response to questions on Tuesday.

No further breakdown of the suspended security assistance to Pakistan was provided.

According to David Sedney, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary Defence for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia during the previous Obama administration, the blocking of military assistance to Pakistan, which began in January this year, is a strong signal of American frustration.

“But, so far Pakistan has taken no serious steps to address the core US concern–that Pakistan tolerates and often encourages groups which use violence against Pakistan’s neighbours,” Sedney told PTI.

“Pakistan’s leaders have promised cooperation, but beyond words, serious cooperation has not happened, therefore President Trump is frustrated and so are most Americans,” he said in response to a question.

“This frustration does not ignore the suffering that Pakistani people have undergone. It just asks Pakistan to recognise that it should act to help stop the suffering of others,” said the Senior Associate at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think-tank.

Previously, Sedney was at the Department of State and the National Security Council, as well as Acting President of American University of Afghanistan. He was part of the Pentagon when Laden was killed in a raid by US commandoes in Pakistan’s Abbottabad.

Over the last few days, Trump has said that people in Pakistan knew about the presence of Laden.

“I agree with the views of Carlotta Gall of the New York Times who reported in her book ‘The Wrong Enemy’ that a very small group of very senior Pakistani military leaders knew about Laden’s presence in Pakistan. I have not seen any evidence that his presence in Abbottabad was widely known by many in Pakistan,” Sedney told PTI in an interview.

While Pakistan has suffered terribly from terrorism by Islamic extremists, Islamabad has also enabled extremist groups that attack its neighbours, he observed.

After years of dithering, in recent years, Pakistan’s security forces have moved strongly against the extremists that threaten the Pakistani state, Sedney said.

“What the US seeks, what President Trump is asking for, is for Pakistan to take the same kind of measures against the Taliban, Lashkhar-e-Taiba and against all groups in Pakistan that threaten Pakistan’s neighbours,” he said.

“But, we still see the Taliban moving weapons, fighters and money through Pakistan. We still see Taliban commanders taking refuge in Pakistan, keeping their families in Pakistan, holding meetings and conducting training in Pakistan and shipping explosives from Pakistan into Afghanistan,” Sedney alleged, adding that leaders of sanctioned organisations were acting freely in Pakistan and speaking publicly in favour of violence.

If Pakistan took some strong measures against the Taliban, peace would come to Afghanistan quickly, he said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has roped in former top American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad for peace talks with the Taliban. Both Afghanistan and Pakistan would benefit from a huge “peace dividend”, he asserted.

“Similarly, if Pakistan took strong measures against groups which act against India, Pakistan would harvest huge economic benefits from better economic ties with India,” Sedney added.

Ties between the US and Pakistan strained after Trump, while announcing his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August last year, hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to “agents of chaos” that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it had “much to lose” by harbouring terrorists.

In September, the Trump administration cancelled USD 300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups like the Haqqani Network and the Taliban active on its soil. PTI

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 14

Following a four-hour marathon hearing, the Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its order on petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France under an inter-government agreement.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice KM Joseph reserved the verdict on the contentious issue after hearing arguments from counsel for the petitioners, including Prashant Bhushan, senior journalist Arun Shourie and Attorney General KK Venugopal, who defended the secrecy clause.

 Alleging irregularities in the deal, petitioners ML Sharma, Prashant Bhushan, Vineet Dhanda and Sanjay Singh demanded registration of an FIR and a court-monitored investigation.

Venugopal said the decision on the types of aircraft and weapons needed to be procured was a matter for experts and could not be adjudicated upon by the judiciary. “Even Parliament has not been told about the complete cost of jets,” he said, defending the non-disclosure clause of Rafale deal.

“I decided not to peruse it myself as in case of any leak, my office would be held responsible,” the AG said.

“The decision we need to take is whether to bring the fact on pricing in public domain or not,” the Bench said.

Venugopal said though there was no sovereign guarantee, there was a letter of comfort issued by the French Government which was as good as a sovereign guarantee.

Perhaps for the first time, four senior IAF officers — three Air Marshals and an Air Vice Marshal — and Additional Secretary (Defence) appeared in the top court to explain various aspects of a defence deal.

“We are dealing with the requirements of the Air Force and would like to ask an Air Force officer on Rafale jets. We want to hear from an Air Force officer and not the official of the Defence Ministry on the issue,” the Bench said, prompting the AG to assure it that they would be available in 10 minutes.

Air Vice Marshal J Chalapathi told the Bench that the last acquisition was Sukhoi-30 and before that Mirage aircraft were bought in 1985. He said while most of the countries were using 4th and 5th generation fighter planes, IAF was using 3rd or sub-4th generation (3.5) aircraft. After getting answers from the IAF officers, the Bench said they were free to go. “The Air Marshals and Air Vice Marshal can go now. This (court) is a different war room. You can go to the actual war room,” the CJI told them.

Following the court’s October 31 order, the Centre had on Monday submitted in a sealed cover the pricing details of 36 Rafale jets.

The process of acquisition had started in 2001 and India was to purchase 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) but the contract negations reached a stalemate and Request for Proposal compliance was finally withdrawn in June 2015. During the protracted process, India’s adversaries modernised their combact capabilities, the AG submitted.

It was in this background that India signed an agreement with France in September 2016 for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of upgrading process of the Indian Air Force equipment. It has better deliverables, the AG said, adding norms prescribed under Defence Procurement Policy -2013 were followed.

The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore.

Venugopal said at the exchange rate of November 2016, the cost of a bare fighter jet was Rs 670 crore. He, however, said earlier the jets were not to be loaded with requisite weapons system and the reservation of the government was due to the fact that it did not want to violate the clause of the Inter Government Agreement and the secrecy clause.

Describing Rafale aircraft as potent, Venugopal said, “Had we possessed Rafale during the Kargil war, we could have avoided huge casualties as Rafale is capable of hitting targets from a distance of 60 km.”

“Mr Attorney, Kargil was in 1999-2000, Rafale came in 2014,” pointed out the CJI. “I said it hypothetically,” responded the AG.

Vikramdeep Johal
Tribune News Service
Patiala, November 11

Even as India joined nations from Europe and other continents in commemorating the centenary of the end of World War I, the country’s “sword arm” — Punjab — failed to rise to the occasion.

No official event was organised on Sunday to mark 100 years of the Armistice, not even at the Patiala State Forces Memorial, which commemorates the dead from the military units of the erstwhile princely state for both World Wars.

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, grandfather of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, and other royals had contributed significantly to mobilising troops from undivided Punjab for World  War I.

For the record, Remembrance Sunday was observed in several parts of India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Puducherry. “The state government and the Punjab-based Army authorities should have hosted functions on November 11 to remember our long-forgotten heroes,” said Kulveer Singh, a history researcher based in Muktsar’s Doda village, which sent 41 men to the war (of whom two died).

Capt Amarinder Singh, a noted military historian himself, had recently paid homage to Indian soldiers at the Helles Memorial in Gallipoli (Turkey) and the Haifa Memorial in Israel. In September, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal had visited the Kranji War Memorial in Singapore, where he had saluted the supreme sacrifice of about 5,000 Punjabi soldiers in World War II.

Talking to The Tribune, Lt Gen TS Shergill (retd), senior adviser to the CM, said, “We will honour the families of WW-I soldiers during the upcoming Military Literature Festival. Moreover, a section dedicated to the conflict is nearing completion at the War Heroes’ Memorial-cum-Museum in Amritsar.”

Punjab was also not in the thick of things when the WW-I centenary commemoration was launched in 2014, even as Capt Amarinder Singh has been attending memorial events organised jointly by the British Deputy High Commission and the Canadian Consulate General in Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, the CM tweeted on Sunday: “As we complete 100 years of World War I, let us remember and salute the thousands of Indian soldiers who fought far from their land, and the millions of innocent lives lost in the senseless violence. And let us vow never to let the world plunge into such a war again.”

Royal celebrations in 1918

The then princely state of Patiala had celebrated the signing of the Armistice on a grand scale, in stark contrast to Sunday’s no-show.

A 1923 publication, ‘Patiala and the Great War’, now digitised by the Panjab Digital Library, reads: “The Maharaja (Bhupinder Singh) ordered the firing of a salute of 101 guns… The day was observed as a public holiday. In the morning, thanksgiving services were held in all places of worship. In the afternoon, the city polo ground was thronged by people to witness hastily-arranged sports. Food was distributed to the poor in the big quadrangle outside the fort, and sweetmeats were distributed to all schoolboys. In the evening, the city and cantonment, which had all day been decorated with buntings and flags, were brilliantly illuminated.”

“The rejoicing spread over to the following day, then there were further sports, a prize distribution, and the release of some 107 prisoners… The programme on Armistice Day was brought to a close by a state banquet at the Maharaja’s palace to which all European officers, civil and military, and the sirdars of His Highness’ government were invited.

THE Moscow round of talks, although the latest addition to a round-the-year shifting caravan of international conferences on Afghanistan, has had the most promising start of them all. Not a single invitee cried off. Nearly all of them were neighbours and so had a direct stake in a stable Afghanistan. Those that had reservations found ways to work around the limitations. The Afghan government found it difficult to attend because it insists that it should lead the talks with Taliban. Besides it had to be mindful of some rightwing American concerns. For India, the Taliban is a proscribed organisation and hence sitting at the same table posed a dilemma. Both instead opted for ‘unofficial’ delegations but headed by heavyweights to convey the gravity they attach to the Moscow meet.

More than India and Afghanistan working their way around, the surprise is Russia’s return to the centre-stage nearly four decades after its military was driven out over the Pamirs. From Syria to Afghanistan, US President Donald Trump’s capriciousness towards steady allies is forcing a hunt for alternatives. And Russia, goose-stepping with regional allies, has used the breach. The Moscow meet is also part of that piece. All invitees, bar two, are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. All of them with no exception share the existentialist fear of Afghanistan again becoming a breeding ground for pan-regional political Islamists.

The Moscow meet provides more than a glimmer of hope because Washington has not yet acted as a spoiler. Still there is a long distance to travel. The Taliban says this is not a formal dialogue for peace, even the hosts have the limited aim of creating conditions for direct talks and influential countries such as Saudi Arabia are still out of the mix. However, success will be assured only if external players resist the temptation of taking ownership of the process. Their end goal ought to be to ensure that the sense of ennui among Afghans does not turn the country into a bridgehead for the expansion of ISIS into South and Central Asia.

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, November 1

Dream of soldier Sanju Ram of Kadkuhi village in Jogindernagar, who had been demanding road to his village since 2012, will soon be a reality.

He lost his both legs in a landmine blast at Srinagar in 2012 while patrolling, making him dependent on his family. Whenever he had to go to a nearby hospital, his family and relatives had to carry him in a palanquin to cover around 2-km uneven path.

This made his life miserable. Finally, he decided to live in a rented house at Jogindernagar.

For long Sanju Ram’s demand remained unfulfilled. A project report was prepared by the PWD a few years back but there was no progress at the ground level.

Sanju Ram said, “I had requested to the government several times but to no avail. I am requesting again to construct a road, which will be of great help not only for me but also for people of the area”, he said.

Taking note of soldier’s demand, Mandi MP Ramswaroop Sharma has now asked officials to construct a road.

The MP said according to PWD officials construction work of road could not progress because of absence of clearance.

However, now a new report of Rs 3.40 crore had been prepared and construction work would begin soon.

Kartarpur, November 28

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday came in for wholesome praise from Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and several other Pakistani leaders for his “persistent” efforts in pushing for the Katarpur corridor project.

Sidhu’s “contribution” for the project was even prominently mentioned in a short film on the Katarpur corridor, which was showed after the foundation-laying ceremony of the project here.

“Whatever I have seen since yesterday, I can tell you Sidhu, you will win elections here if you contest, particularly in Punjab,” Khan said jokingly, while hailing the former cricketer’s efforts to push for the corridor.

Khan said only leaders with determination can improve strained ties between the two countries. “I hope we do not have to wait till Sidhu becomes Wazir-e-Azam (prime minister),” Khan said. His comments drew laud applause from the audience.

Khan wondered why there was a hue and cry back home over the former Indian cricketer’s push for peace and brotherhood during his previous visit to the country around three months ago.

“I heard there was a lot of criticism of Sidhu when he went back. I don’t know why was he criticised? He was just talking about peace between two countries,” Khan said.

“It is foolish for anyone to think there can be war between two nuclear-armed countries as there is no winning for anyone. So, if there can be no war then what other way is there other than friendship?” he added.

Sidhu attended Khan’s swearing-in ceremony, and had hugged Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, drawing severe criticism in India.

General Bajwa had talked about Pakistan’s plan on Kartarpur corridor project after the hug.

In his address, Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Nurul Haq Qadri said: “A number of problems between the two countries can be resolved if we have more such hugs.” A number of Sikh pilgrims from India also credited Sidhu for the corridor.

“Sidhu is the architect of the corridor project. We are indebted to him. His contribution must be hailed,” said Pooran Singh, a 65-year-old pilgrim from Amritsar.

In his address, Navjot Sidhu was effusive in his praise for PM Imran Khan.

“Khan’s name will be written in golden letters when the history of the Kartarpur corridor is written,” Sidhu said in his speech, which was interspersed with Punjabi couplet. “I am impressed by what Sidhu said. I didn’t know he knows so much about Sufi poetry,” said Khan. — PTI

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 28

American defence major Boeing is expected to commence the delivery of CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter to the Indian Air Force in February next year, it is learnt.

“The helicopters would be shipped to India in a partially disassembled state and would be off-loaded at Okhla port in Gujarat,” an IAF officer said. The Americans are setting up facilities near Okhla to re-assemble and test-fly the helicopters before being handed over to the IAF, he added.

After acceptance trials, the helicopters will be flown to Chandigarh, which would be their permanent base. Two hangars and a maintenance bay along with associated technical and logistics facilities are to be set up here for the purpose.

India had signed a deal with the US in September 2015 for 15 Chinook helicopters, with an option for another four machines, and 22 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters that would be based elsewhere.

“The fact that the new machines are arriving by sea indicates that the entire fleet would be delivered in one or two consignments,” an officer said. “The other option was to have the choppers airlifted in heavy freighters like the AN-124, which would have taken multiple sorties spread over days or weeks,” he added. The first Chinook airframe manufactured for the IAF made its inaugural flight in the US in July this year. Last month, a team of IAF personnel comprising four pilots and four engineers proceeded to Delaware in the US for conversion training on Chinooks.

Chinooks have a payload capacity of about 10 tonne and will provide much-needed fillip to the IAF heavy-lift capability, a role earlier being fulfilled by Soviet origin Mi-26s, also based at Chandigarh. The IAF had four Mi-26, but now is left with just one serviceable machine. Chinooks will lift artillery, vehicles, road construction and engineer equipment as well as troops and supplies to mountainous sectors in North and North-East.

Chandigarh is no stranger to Chinook. Three of them belonging to British Royal Air Force had been airlifted here from the UK for onward journey to Nepal for flood relief operations in 2015. After being re-assembled and test-flown, these spent a few days here before being recalled home.