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Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 14

A day after India met opposition from China, the US today supported New Delhi’s entry into the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), saying it conformed to the “missile technology control regime requirements” that were a must for the membership.China had issued a statement yesterday saying several NSG members felt that signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was a “cornerstone for gaining the NSG membership”. Before Beijing, Islamabad had tried to block India’s entry into the exclusive club. Last month, Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, went to the extent of saying that “China had helped Pakistan stall India’s bid to get NSG membership”. India has not signed the NPT as it claims the treaty is discriminatory but given its super-clean record in non-proliferation, it is eager to join the NSG.In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said last night: “I’d point you back to what the President said during his visit to India in 2015, where he reaffirmed that the US view was that India meets missile technology control regime requirements and is ready for NSG membership.”Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that not only China, several other NSG members too were of the view that “NPT was the cornerstone for safeguarding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime”. The US support is welcome news but since the NSG membership is based on consensus, India still may have a long way to go before it finally enters the group.

About the elite club

• Nuclear Suppliers Group is an international body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export andre-transfer of materials that may be used for developing nuclear weapons
• India along with Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan are the only nations that have not signed the NPT, a pact that aims to control spread of nuclear weapons
• India, however, has been pushing for a berth in the NSG on the basis of its clean track record but if India is granted this waiver, Pakistan’s argument is that it too should be given the membership

File photo of AW101 helicopter

New Delhi, May 11

Chirstian Michel, a suspected middleman in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal, on Wednesday said that he had never met Congress President Sonia Gandhi or the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to push for the purchase of VVIP choppers.

“No, never,” was the prompt reply of Michel when he was asked whether he had ever met Gandhi, Singh or then Defence Minister AK Antony for pushing the deal.

“I have never met any of these,” he said in an interview to ‘TV Today’ news channel in Abu Dhabi.

Michel sought to clear his name from the kickbacks scam claiming that he had “once” shaken hands with the then IAF Chief SP Tyagi in Delhi but “avoided him” for his links with Italian businessman Guido Haschke and another middleman.

“I probably met him (SP Tyagi) at Gymkhana club and I think I shook his hand there. But because of his association with Haschke, I really avoided him,” he said.

He also said that BJP Parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy has not lied about the deal but it seems he has been misled.

“He has authenticated (documents) what was given in the CAG report. The CAG report was prepared in great hurry as the deal was always blowing away.

“They (CAG) are not aviation experts and they are bureaucrats asked to put together document way beyond their expertise. So he was misled by his own documentation,” he said.

The VVIP choppers deal probe has shed light on the involvement of three suspected middlemen — Carlo Gerosa, Guido Haschke and Michel — in swinging the deal in favour of UK-based AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian firm Finmeccanica.

Investigating agencies are inquiring into their role in payment of bribes and extension of favours by the company to clinch the multi-million dollar deal.

On January 1, 2014, India cancelled the contract with the company over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks of Rs 423 crore by it for securing the deal. — Agencies

Vijay Arora

Shimla, May 9

Giving respite to Manali residents, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) today relaxed some of its conditions imposed on commercial activities in the eco-sensitive Rohtang Pass.Now, 800 petrol vehicles can enter Rohtang every day. Earlier, the number was 600. The tribunal, however, refused to increase the number of diesel vehicles from 400 per day.After considering the assurance given by the state in its affidavit and reports, the NGT, headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, also allowed limited activities for a limited period (subject to filing of the report by local commissioners appointed by it for the inspection of the area).The NGT has allowed only four stroke snow-scooters to operate at the Beas Nullah to Sagu Fall and at Gulaba with a rider that not more than 50 scooters would be permitted to operate at both the sites collectively.It further allowed paragliding at Solang and Marhi with a clear direction that at both the places the paragliding would take place within the identified areas and it would be ensured that the persons organising paragliding and tourists did not generate any municipal solid waste at the take-off and landing points.Giving relief to photographers of the area, the Green Tribunal has permitted them to carry out their activity at Rohtang, Gulaba, Solang and Marhi (subject to terms and conditions of the licence to be provided by the concerned state authority).While passing the order, the NGT clarified that ‘no activity of any kind would be permitted at the Rohtang Pass, except the provision of local dresses and photography’. It will consider permitting other activities at Rohtang only after receiving the report of the commissioners appointed under the order.“We make it absolutely clear that no other activity or business, snow-scooters, ATVs and horses, except the ones specifically permitted above, and visiting of the tourists will be carried on at the Rohtang Pass and its surrounding areas.”The NGT observed: “The state has prayed for relaxation in certain directions issued by the tribunal, more particularly related to paragliding, snow-scooters and other activities, which according to them are non-polluting, as well as the number of vehicles. We do not find merit in all contentions raised on behalf of the state, but some of them can be permitted to be started in the restricted areas with an objective to examine if the government and its authorities are able to maintain a check and strike a balance without causing any pollution in the area. As far as Rohtang is concerned, we are completely unsatisfied with the proposals made as it is an extremely eco-sensitive area and cannot be subjected to further degradation on the mere assurance that the government will take appropriate steps. It will be appropriate to permit some activities to the state administration at lower levels and observe the consequences on the environment and the ecology.”It directed the state authorities to provide at least 30 eco-friendly toilets, submit a comprehensive status/compliance report regarding a ropeway, operation of CNG and electric buses and status with regard to establishment of eco-friendly market at Marhi. It also directed the state that in consultation with NEERI submit complete and comprehensive status report on the carrying capacity of the Rohtang Pass, Marhi, Solang, Gulaba and other tourist spots.With a view to check the impact on environment and ecology of Rohtang, the NGT also appointed six advocates as the local commissioners and directed them to file their report within three weeks. It asked them to file the report on establishment of barriers, including technical support systems, regular checking of pollution of vehicles, whether all vehicles going to Rohtang possessed requisite permissions, establishment of toilets, sanitary facilities, relief and rehabilitation plan for house owners, taxi drivers, particularly those having diesel cars, partial rehabilitation and incentive programme for the people involved in tourism activities in the areas.

Army men near an encounter site in Kupwara. Tribune file photo

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 8

Despite dying in regular encounters with security forces in recent years, militants in Kashmir have managed to keep insurgency alive by successfully recruiting new members – most of them young and educated.The number of militants operating in the region over the past few years has remained roughly static even as 435 of them died in the last five years, according to the data shared by the Union Home Ministry in its annual report last month.The militant count in Kashmir has fluctuated in the range of 100 and 200 in recent years even as stricter surveillance along the Line of Control has partly contained the flow of foreign elements.The figures indicate that the region’s long insurgency has made a slow resurgence in recent years, relying mostly on local recruits, despite being battered by a swift counter-insurgency campaign which caused its ranks to shrink to double-digits in 2012, the lowest in its history that now spans into the third decade.At present, there are 130 named militants active in the Kashmir valley while the total number is believed to be anywhere around 150 to 170, said Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, SJM Gilani.“The number of people who are infiltrating and the number of people who are (locally) joining is around the same figure (as those dying),” Gilani told The Tribune, referring to the local recruitment of militants and infiltration of foreign militants as reason for the steady number of militants in the region.Gilani said militants are “putting all their efforts” at local recruitment. Last year, when 108 militants were killed in various gunfights along the Line of Control and in the interiors of the Valley, 72 local youth had joined militant ranks and provided it the sufficient manpower to keep it going.The maximum militant recruits have come from five police districts that constitute south Kashmir, the ground zero of new-age militants and the electoral stronghold of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. In 2015, 59 of the 72 new recruits had come from south Kashmir.In a pattern that has emerged in south Kashmir districts, new recruits quickly substitute for the dead militants. In February 2015, Shabir Ahmad Mir and Idrees Shah were killed in a gun battle in the picturesque Tral sub-district of south Kashmir and a fortnight later Ishaq Parray, a meritorious student, and Saleh Mohammad joined the militant ranks.In April that year, a militant was killed in a forest near Tral and the next day Sabzar Ahmad and Shakir Ahmad joined the militant underground.The trend even dates back to summer of 2013 when a militant commander Shabir Ahmad Bhat and his associates Shahnawaz Mir and Aijaz Ahmad were killed in a fierce gunfight in south Kashmir. Bhat and his two associates were among the 67 militants killed in various gunfights with the security forces in the region that year.Within days of the encounter, a new set of recruits — among them Aqib Bhat, a resident of the slain commander’s village, and engineering student Zakir Rashid — had left their homes and joined the underground network in a trend that has become a signature style of militant recruitment.

Tracking terror

• The number of militants operating in the region over the past few years has remained roughly static even as 435 of them died in the last five years
• The militant count in Kashmir has fluctuated between 100 and 200 in recent years. At present, there are 130 named militants active in Kashmir while the total
• umber is anywhere around 150 to 170
• Last year, 108 militants were killed in gunfights in the Valley, while 72 local youths joined militancy, providing it sufficient manpower to keep it going

Three Armed Forces veterans deserve a special salute today. One for being a Kargil war hero, the second for bringing public attention to him, and the third for sharing their story widely on social media.

Naik Deep Chand, who lost both legs and his right arm in the 1999 Kargil War, was flying Indigo Airlines recently. As soon as the pilot of the aircraft, Harish Nayani, an ex-IAF fighter pilot himself, learned about this, he made an announcement to the passengers that they had a war hero aboard.

All 180 passengers on the flight got up and gave a resounding round of applause to Naik Deep Chand.

Next, another former Indian Air Force pilot, Rajiv Tyagi, shared this incident on Facebook through a status update that went viral and was picked up by the media. This is what he wrote:

“Harish Nayani, 62nd course, Kilo Squadron, NDA, erstwhile IAF fighter pilot, now a Captain flying for Indigo Airlines, had a war-hero passenger on his flight the other day. Naik Deep Chand, who lost both legs and his right arm in the 1999 Kargil War, was flying Indigo. Harish announced the presence of the war hero on the flight, to the delighted applause of 180 passengers. This is all the recognition war heroes need, for acts no nation can repay them for.”

Our armed forces men and women, and war veterans, do not get enough recognition for their brave and selfless service to the country. In giving Naik Deep Chand, a hero who lost both legs and an arm in the Kargil war, his due recognition, Rajiv Tyagi and Harish Nayani have again reminded us that it is our duty to respect, honour and share stories of their valour with a larger audience.

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 6

An Army jawan was killed in a gunfight in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district while foiling an infiltration bid today.The Army said an encounter erupted this morning when a group of militants was intercepted near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kwaja Behak Gujjardori area of the Keran sector, 120 km from Srinagar. “A group of terrorists was intercepted close to the LoC this morning by alert troops. In the ensuing encounter, one soldier was injured. He later succumbed to his injuries,” said an Army spokesman. The slain soldier was identified as Sepoy Ramesh Chand Yadav, a resident of Alwar in Rajasthan.The Army said the operation was underway to track the militants in the dense forest close to the LoC. There was intermittent exchange of fire in the Keran sector during the day.This is the second infiltration attempt foiled by the Army in the Valley this year.The Union Government recently informed Parliament that 18 successful infiltration attempts had taken place in J&K in the first three months of 2016. The government said 24 infiltration attempts had taken place in the first three month, of which 18 turned out to be successful.In 2015, there were 33 successful infiltration attempts.

The braveheart

• Sepoy Ramesh Chand Yadav of Alwar in Rajasthan was killed in a gunfight in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district while foiling an infiltration bid on Friday.
• This is the second infiltration attempt foiled by the Army in the Valley this year.

CJI breaks down into tears due to lack of Judges …
wants to deliver quick justice…

JUDICIARY me nafri kam hone aur Bhayankar pendency ke bawazood bhi
………

SUMMER vacation 45 days aur WINTER vacation 30 days
aur DRUGA Puja vacation 20 days aur DIWALI/CHHATT vacation 10 days ;; In addn
Saturday/ Sunday vacation 104 days aur anya chutti 20 days aur upar se….
CL 12 days & EL 30 days….

Total kewal 297 Days ki hi leave lete hain hum…..
Baki bache hue Saal mein  68 days AIR CONDITIONED COURT mein  kadi mehnat kar DESH SEWA dete hai.

Jai ho!! Great Indian Judiciary