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Photo for representation only. Thinkstock

New Delhi, August 12 

BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Shwait Malik on Friday raised the issue of what he said were “security lapses” at Wagah-Attari Joint Check Post (JCP) on the India-Pakistan border, and claimed illegal weapons were brought into India in the past through this land border crossing that lacks scanners.Malik, who hails from Amritsar in Punjab, raised the issue during zero hour in the Rajya Sabha and said: “There is a big security lapse along the India-Pakistan border.”The Bharatiya Janata Party member said only 13 of the 231 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the check post were working while all 18 boom barriers, installed to stop unauthorised vehicles from entering certain areas, were not working.The MP said while Pakistan had installed scanners on its side, the Indian side had deployed only dogs to scrutinise vehicles crossing over from Pakistan side.“It is pricking us that there are scanners on the Pakistan side and only dogs on our side. You cannot trust an animal… weapons have come through the post many times,” Malik said.He said the Home Ministry had sanctioned scanners for the international joint check post after he requested for them, and urged the government to speed up the process.“Crores of rupees have been spent on (border) fencing but the security (at Attari) has been left to the canines. Weapons have come through the international check post because of checking conducted by dogs,” Malik said.— IANS

FRIEND OR FOE? Taliban is being nurtured in numerous sanctuaries within Pakistan.

THIS year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of Kabul to the Taliban and its subsequent expansion to almost all parts of Afghanistan with Pakistani and Al-Qaeda assistance. It also marks the 15th anniversary of 9/11 and of the Taliban “defeat” and subsequent withdrawal into Pakistan. However, the Taliban is today a potent and deadly force, which as per a recent US official report, is in “control or influence” in almost 35 per cent of Afghan territory, up by about 5 per cent over the past year. There is little doubt that the US and its NATO allies and the Afghan security forces have failed in their military objective of rooting out the Taliban.The failure on the military front has compelled the Afghan authorities and the international community to attempt a political reconciliation between the Taliban and the Afghan government. That endeavour is going nowhere. The Taliban is in no hurry to engage a weak and politically unconsolidated Kabul under the current National Unity Government led by President Ashraf Ghani though it desires formal international acceptance. For the latter purpose, it has  softened its position on gender issues. The loss of its founder Mullah Omar and his main successor Mullah Akhtar Mansour have not diluted its attachment to the ideal of an Islamic Emirate which casts doubts on its interest in sharing power under Afghanistan’s Islamic Republic constitution.Why has the situation come to this sorry pass? Why did the US and its allies fail to effectively neutralise the Taliban and the Afghan political class fail to establish a consensus that would have driven the Taliban to the social and political margins? Above all, are there any lessons for India in the developments that have taken place in Afghanistan in the past 15 years?The failures of both US policy in Afghanistan and of Afghan political actors beginning with former President Hamid Karzai have been many. The US failed to recognise that the Taliban had the potential to become a factor of continuing instability in Afghanistan. This was mainly because the purpose of its war in Afghanistan was to so emasculate the Al-Qaeda that it could never again launch a major operation on the US mainland or US interests worldwide. In this it has largely succeeded but at the cost of allowing Pakistan to nurture the Taliban in numerous sanctuaries within the country. It is also true that the US had per se no problems with the Taliban. Its view till 9/11 was that the Taliban was an authentic Afghan group that was a factor of stability. It is ironic that after two decades, Taliban participation is being considered necessary for stability in Afghanistan. The fact that the Taliban has killed over 2,000 US soldiers is simply forgotten.The Afghan political class post the Taliban “defeat” had the formidable task of healing the wounds of almost three decades of civil conflict and of navigating through endemic ethnic cleavages and theological and ideological dissensions. It did not succeed in meeting these grave challenges. However it is also a fact that a damaged body, social and political, needs space to begin the processes of healing and Pakistan through the Taliban did not provide Afghanistan that space.Pakistan’s historic fear is of Indian encirclement through an India-friendly Afghanistan government. That this apprehension is grossly exaggerated has been of little consequence to Pakistani security policy controllers in the army. It has however led to an unyielding desire to exercise effective influence over Kabul’s engagement with India. For the five years of Taliban rule, Pakistan was assured that India would have no role in Afghan affairs. It simply wants that kind of assurance again.The establishment of an interim administration under Karzai with key Northern Alliance figures, with whom India had an excellent understanding, rang alarm bells in Rawalpindi. Karzai diligently sought to dispel Pakistani fears of allowing India space to use Afghanistan for fomenting trouble. But he was unwilling to give Pakistan a veto over his country’s India policy. Pakistan wanted just nothing less. This contributed to Pakistan fully sustaining the Taliban to ensure that Kabul was unable to put in place or invigorate state institutions, particularly in the Pushtoon-dominated areas in the western and southern parts of the country.The US was unwilling to “drain the Taliban swamp” in Pakistan and fought it largely on Afghan territory, including through airstrikes that resulted in substantial collateral loss of life and property. This diminished Karzai who appealed to the Taliban for direct negotiations. The Taliban turned a deaf ear with quiet Pakistani encouragement. Karzai’s relations soured both with the US and Pakistan as he helplessly watched the neighbour’s interference through Taliban that was acting as its virtual proxy.Immediately on assuming office, Ashraf Ghani reached out to Pakistan, including through an unprecedented gesture of calling on the Pakistan army chief in his office. He publicly, though indirectly, signalled his willingness to downgrade ties with India, especially in the security sector. In return, he sought Pakistan to use its influence to control Taliban violence and bring it to the negotiation table. The US, and more significantly China, asked it to do the same. Pakistan did not heed the first request but did arrange to get a group of the Taliban to meet with Afghan representatives on its soil. When the Afghans asked for assurances that the representatives had the authority of Mullah Omar, it revealed that the Afghan leader had been long dead though all this while this crucial fact was not revealed to Kabul. That broke Ghani’s trust. He told a NATO summit in Warsaw last month, “Our regional initiatives with neighbours are beginning to yield significant cooperative dividends. The clear exception is with Pakistan—despite clear commitments to a quadrilateral peace process their dangerous distinction between good and bad terrorists is being maintained in practice”. On other occasions, his language on Pakistani interference has been more robust.The critical question is could Kabul have done better despite Pakistan using the Taliban as its proxy? Perhaps yes; but it certainly could not have stabilised the country as long as the contaminant continued to uninterruptedly flow which it would do even now under the new Taliban chief Haibatullah.The lesson for Afghanistan and the US is that stability will elude the country as long as Pakistani intrusiveness is not eliminated. That has to be done by raising the costs of interference for Pakistan. Therein lies a lesson for India in J&K. —The writer is a former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 30

Two soldiers were killed and another was injured as they foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowgam sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.  Two militants were also killed in the gunbattle, the second in the area in the past three days. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

 “When challenged, they resorted to indiscriminate firing. A fierce gunfight followed in which two jawans — Ashish Choudhary and Babloo Singh of 18 Jat Regiment — were killed. One jawan was injured,” defence spokesman Col NN Joshi said. He said the operation was underway and the Army was combing the thick forest. Sources said the Army had pressed choppers into service to hunt for any more militants hiding in the area. Besides ammunition, food items had been recovered.There have been Intelligence inputs that owing to the civil unrest in Kashmir in the past three weeks, Pakistan and militants’ handlers are trying to push more men into Kashmir.   Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh, during his recent visit, had asked the soldiers to remain vigilant against  infiltration attempts. Official figures show that against the total figure of 35 last year, 54 militants were able to infiltrate into Kashmir in the first half of 2016. And this may be the reason for the increase in violence in the Valley.Meanwhile, barring parts of Srinagar, Anantnag and Pampore towns, curfew was today lifted in Kashmir even as life remained disrupted  because of the strike called by separatists.Far away, the United States, while expressing concern over the tension in the Valley, called on “all sides” to make efforts for lasting peace.

Minister’s cavalcade attacked

• Srinagar: Education Minister Naeem Akhtar escaped unhurt after his cavalcade came under a stone-pelting attack in Sumbal area of Bandipore district, about 25 km north of here, on Saturday evening. The incident took place at Shilvat on the Srinagar-Bandipore road when he was on his way back after taking stock of the law and order situation. TNS

Here are the highlights of the recommendations of the commission:

1. The present system of Pay Bands and Grade Pay has been dispensed with and a new Pay Matrix as recommended by the Commission has been approved. The status of the employee, hitherto determined by grade pay, will now be determined by the level in the Pay Matrix. Separate Pay Matrices have been drawn up for Civilians, Defence Personnel and for Military Nursing Service. The principle and rationale behind these matrices are the same.

2. All existing levels have been subsumed in the new structure; no new levels have been introduced nor has any level been dispensed with. Index of Rationalisation has been approved for arriving at minimum pay in each Level of the Pay Matrix depending upon the increasing role, responsibility and accountability at each step in the hierarchy.

3. The minimum pay has been increased from Rs 7,000 to 18,000 per month. Starting salary of a newly recruited employee at the lowest level will now be Rs 18,000 whereas for a freshly recruited Class I officer, it will be Rs 56,100. This reflects a compression ratio of 1:3.12 signifying that the pay of a Class I officer on direct recruitment will be three times the pay of an entrant at the lowest level.

4. For the purpose of revision of pay and pension, a fitment factor of 2.57 will be applied across all Levels in the Pay Matrices. After taking into account the DA at prevailing rate, the salary/pension of all government employees/pensioners will be raised by at least 14.29 % as on 01.01.2016.

5. Rate of increment has been retained at 3%. This will benefit the employees in future on account of higher basic pay as the annual increments that they earn in future will be 2.57 times than at present.

6. The Cabinet approved further improvements in the Defence Pay Matrix by enhancing Index of Rationalisation for Level 13A (Brigadier) and providing for additional stages in Level 12A (Lieutenant Colonel), 13 (Colonel) and 13A (Brigadier) in order to bring parity with Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) counterparts at the maximum of the respective Levels.

7. Some other decisions impacting the employees including Defence & Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel include :

— Gratuity ceiling enhanced from Rs10 to 20 lakh. The ceiling on gratuity will increase by 25 % whenever DA rises by 50%.

— A common regime for payment of Ex-gratia lump sum compensation for civil and defence forces personnel payable to Next of Kin with the existing rates enhanced from Rs 10-20 lakh to Rs 25-45 lakh for different categories.

— Rates of Military Service Pay revised from Rs 1,000, 2,000, 4,200 and 6,000 to Rs 3,600, 5,200, 10,800 and 15,500 respectively for various categories of Defence Forces personnel.

— Terminal gratuity equivalent of 10.5 months of reckonable emoluments for Short Service Commissioned Officers who will be allowed to exit Armed Forces any time between 7 and 10 years of service.

— Hospital Leave, Special Disability Leave and Sick Leave subsumed into a composite new Leave named ‘Work Related Illness and Injury Leave’ (WRIIL). Full pay and allowances will be granted to all employees during the entire period of hospitalization on account of WRIIL.

8. The Cabinet also approved the recommendation of the Commission to enhance the ceiling of House Building Advance from Rs 7.50 lakh to 25 lakh. In order to ensure that no hardship is caused to employees, four interest-free advances namely Advances for Medical Treatment, TA on tour/transfer, TA for family of deceased employees and LTC have been retained. All other interest-free advances have been abolished.

9. The Cabinet also decided not to accept the steep hike in monthly contribution towards Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) recommended by the Commission. The existing rates of monthly contribution will continue. This will increase the take home salary of employees at lower levels by Rs 1,470. However, considering the need for social security of employees, the Cabinet has asked Ministry of Finance to work out a customised group insurance scheme for Central Government Employees with low premium and high risk cover.

10. The general recommendations of the Commission on pension and related benefits have been approved by the Cabinet. Both the options recommended by the Commission as regards pension revision have been accepted subject to feasibility of their implementation. Revision of pension using the second option based on fitment factor of 2.57 shall be implemented immediately. A Committee is being constituted to address the implementation issues anticipated in the first formulation. The first formulation may be made applicable if its implementation is found feasible after examination by proposed Committee which is to submit its Report within 4 months.

11. The Commission examined a total of 196 existing Allowances and, by way of rationalisation, recommended abolition of 51 Allowances and subsuming of 37 Allowances. Given the significant changes in the existing provisions for Allowances which may have wide-ranging implications, the Cabinet decided to constitute a Committee headed by Finance Secretary for further examination of the recommendations of 7th CPC on Allowances. The Committee will complete its work in a time bound manner and submit its reports within a period of 4 months. Till a final decision, all existing Allowances will continue to be paid at the existing rates.

12. The Cabinet also decided to constitute two separate Committees:

    (i) to suggest measures for streamlining the implementation of National Pension System (NPS) and

    (ii) to look into anomalies likely to arise out of implementation of the Commission’s Report.

13. Apart from the pay, pension and other recommendations approved by the Cabinet, it was decided that the concerned Ministries may examine the issues that are administrative in nature, individual post/ cadre specific and issues in which the Commission has not been able to arrive at a consensus.

14. As estimated by the 7th CPC, the additional financial impact on account of implementation of all its recommendations in 2016-17 will be Rs 1,02,100 crore. There will be an additional implication of Rs 12,133 crore on account of payments of arrears of pay and pension for two months of 2015-16.

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 29

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to respond by Monday to Army doctors’ plea for enhancing their retirement age to 65 under the recent policy announced by the Centre.A Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit issued notice to the Centre on a PIL by some of the doctors of the Army Medical Corps and Army Dental Corps pleading for parity with civilian medicos in the retirement age at 65.A copy of the petition should be handed over to the government during the day to enable it to respond by August 1, the next date for hearing, the court clarified.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Arguing for the petitioners, advocate Indira Sen Singh said his clients would be superannuating in two days and as such, the Bench should restrain the government from retiring them, pending disposal of their petition. “Don’t worry on this,” the Bench told the petitioners, Amitabh Thapliyal and others, without passing any restraint order.The petitioners from the Army Medical Corps (AMC) pleaded that the Centre had enhanced the retirement age of non-teaching civilian doctors to 65 years, but the Defence Ministry was not extending the benefit to the Army where doctors retired at 60 or 62, depending upon their rank.However, other government wings such as paramilitary forces had decided to follow the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) decision to retire doctors at 65 years of age from May 31 this year.If the Army was not willing to retain them, they should be transferred to other departments facing shortage of doctors so that they could continue to serve till 65, they pleaded. The Centre’s move to increase the retirement age has come at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using the services of experienced doctors to benefit the poor.

Deepanker Gupta

Udhampur, July 27

As the search for the AN-32 IAF aircraft, which went missing over the Bay of Bengal on July 22 with 29 persons on board, is on, the family members of airman Ravi Dev Singh, a resident of Pakhali village in Udhampur district, wait and pray for a miracle.Airman Ravi Dev Singh (19) was on board the missing aircraft. A pall of gloom descended on his village as the news of the missing aircraft spread.For the past five days, Ravi’s mother, father, brother and sisters have not had their meals. They are awaiting some news about the missing aircraft.Ravi’s friends said they were praying to god for a miracle and expecting Ravi to come home safely. They said all his family members, especially Ravi’s mother, was in a shock and had stopped talking to everyone. She only wants to see her son safe and alive, they said.“We are all waiting to hear some good news. We had spent some time together when he (Ravi) was here on leave a month ago,” said one of Ravi’s friends.“We pray that not only our friend, but all 29 on board the AN-32 aircraft safely return home,” he added.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 26

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has observed that operational capabilities of C-17 Globemaster aircraft were under-utilised due to non-availability of runway with appropriate length and strength (pavement classification number) and lack of ground equipment at various bases.The IAF had procured 10 C-17s and associated equipment from the US at a cost of 18,646 crore, which form 81 Squadron based at Hindon. There was delay in the completion of specialist infrastructure and setting up of simulators required for training pilots and loadmasters.The average load airlifted by C-17 ranged between 13 and 18 tonne per sortie, against the aircraft’s payload capacity of 70 tonne. The IAF flew 666 C-17 sorties in 2013, 1,617 in 2014 and 1,992 in 2015, out of which only 72, 260 and 731, respectively, were for air maintenance.On the VVIP front, CAG observed that the utilisation of the current fleet of Air Headquarters Communication Squadron, tasked with ferrying top leaders, was low. The squadron has three Boeing Business Jets, four Embraer aircraft and six Mi-8 helicopters. In addition, Air India’s Boeing 747-400 aircraft are used for international VVIP travel.

Nearly every video of Burhan Wani shows him affirming that his fight is for Islam. (Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

China on Thursday continued to defy an arbitral tribunal’s ruling against its claims in the South China Sea, landing civilian aircraft on disputed islands in the region while staterun media referred to the US and Japan as “worrying eunuchs”.

REUTERSA Chinese ship and helicopter conduct a rescue exercise near the Paracel Islands in South China Sea on Thursday.

Beijing rejected the ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that it has no exclusive rights over islands and resources in the South China Sea, saying it was “null and void”. It also warned it could create an air defence zone over the contested waters.

In what appeared to be planned retaliation, China successfully tested two new airfields on the Nansha (Spratly) Islands with civil flights, state media reported. This took the number of airfields in the archipelago open to civil aircraft to three. “The two flights, an Airbus A319 chartered by China Southern Airlines and a Boeing 737 by Hainan Airlines, both returned to Haikou after a short stay on the reefs,” official news agency Xinhua reported.

“The round trips came one day after a Cessna CE-680 flew to the two reefs to ensure that both airfields are prepared for civil flights,” Xinhua reported.

“Including the airport on the Yongshu Reef opened in January, China now has three functioning airports on the Nansha Islands, which lie under one of the world’s busiest airspaces,” it said. Statecontrolled media continued to castigate the US for purportedly manipulating the Philippines, which had approached the PCA, and for destabilising the region.

An editorial in the nationalist tabloid Global Times stood out for its use of language that usually doesn’t get into print. It said the US and Japan were more worried than the Philippines, whose attitude was “relatively mild” after the tribunal’s ruling on Tuesday.

The editorial said the Philippines had described the ruling as a “milestone decision” and called for restraint.

“An old Chinese saying goes ‘The emperor doesn’t worry but his eunuch does,’ meaning the outsider is more anxious than the player. In this case, Washington and Tokyo are the worrying eunuchs,” it added.

China may have no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea but the undaunted juggernaut leaves footprints far and wide. Closer home, India too needs to keep a hawk-eye on the other side of the Palk Straits because the Chinese have also strategically re-entered the Sri Lankan waters.

China sphere of influence in the region is rising. A container ship docked at the Colombo South Harbour funded by China. REUTERS.

The recent ruling of the international tribunal in Hague called off the Chinese bluff of claiming historical legality over the bulk of the South China Sea waters. The aggressive “nine-dash-line” approach of the Chinese swallows over 90 per cent of the disputed waters, much to the consternation of the wary neighbourhood. Behind the obvious issues of sovereignty, lies the geostrategic future and protection of the $5-trillion trade and the very survival of the Chinese juggernaut. This survival insecurity has led to the Chinese instincts of belligerence and strategic sweep like the “String of Pearls” that encompasses active “pitching” to various countries in the vicinity. Geographically, Sri Lanka is a priceless nugget in the Chinese chessboard of strategic footprints.             In 1952, the Dudley Senanayake government in Ceylon (now, Sri Lanka)  faced a dual challenge of acute shortages of the staple rice and the limited availability of foreign exchange to source the same, from the international markets — to compound the economic miseries, international commodity prices of rubber had sunk to a record low, impacting Ceylon’s rubber exports and forex realisations. A masterstroke in the form of a barter-based trade agreement with China, to import the much-needed rice in exchange of rubber for the Chinese, ushered in a critical understanding and relationship of the Chinese with the Island.This act of dire necessity set the backdrop of modern Sri Lankan practicality when it came to dealing with the Chinese, thereafter. The subsequent hue and cry over the annexation of Tibet and the plight of fellow-Buddhist Tibetans was met with a stoic silence by Colombo —contrary to the language of Chapter II of the Sri Lankan constitution which mandates, “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the state to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana…”. The Chinese paid back the Sri Lankan for their silence and acquiescence, with weaponry during the difficult days of the Tamil wars when neither India nor the US was forthcoming to help the Sri Lankans — the Chinese had readily stepped in unconditionally to bail out the Sri Lankans, this time militarily.However, it was the reign of the megalomaniac former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa that the pronounced pro-China tilt took shape and swerved dangerously to the utter discomfort of both India and the US. This tilt manifested in murmurs of the Hambantota port emerging as another “Pearl” port (like Gwadar in Pakistan, Marao Atoll in Maldives, Sittwe in Myanmar etc.) of the grand Chinese strategy to dominate the waters from the restive South China Seas, the vulnerable “chicken-neck” of Malacca Straits and all the way up to the African hinterlands. The alarm bells went ringing when Rajapaksa allowed Chinese submarines to dock twice in Sri Lanka, without informing New Delhi as per a long-standing agreement between the two nations.This Chinese transgression in India’s backyard was against of the spirit of the 1987 India-Sri Lanka accord, that binds both India and Sri Lanka to not to allow forces inimical to each other, to use the other nation’s ports. However, it was the “cheque-book diplomacy” of generous doles and infrastructural investment by way of the mega $1.4 billion land-reclamation project of the Colombo Port City (part of Beijing’s One Belt, One Road and New Silk Route initiatives) that could potentially entrap Sri Lanka into a veritable vassal status due to its financial indebtedness to the Chinese. Clearly, Rajapaksa’s fondness for the Chinese was not just economic but also strategic, political and military. The end of the bloody Tamil conflict and the victory of the Sri Lankan forces had a lot to do with the critical supplies of Chinese ammunition and ordnance, besides the timely supply of six F-7 jet fighters, scores of anti-aircraft guns and a JY-11 radar system. The providential electoral results spoilt the Chinese stratagem of the “String-of- Pearls” approach with decidedly pro-India governments emerging in Myanmar (Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD replaced the junta rule), Bangladesh (with Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League in power) and in Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa was ousted by his own former minister Maithripala Sirisena who promised more neutrality to correct the Chinese tilt — “would not offer preferential economic or security access to any one country”, besides placing several Chinese contracts on hold for audit and review of the terms. Sirisena’s election manifesto alluded to the impending Chinese noose by noting, “The land that the White Man took over by means of military strength is now being obtained by foreigners by paying ransom to a handful of persons. This robbery is taking place before everybody in broad daylight… If this trend continues for another six years our country would become a colony and we would become slaves”.However, a year and half down the tenure of President Sirisena, the Chinese freeze is slowly thawing as financial considerations are forcing a climb-down from the earlier bravado, skepticism and intransigence against the Chinese. A precarious balance-of-payment situation, falling foreign reserves and a crippling $8-billion debt to China has brought Sri Lanka scurrying back to the Chinese to renegotiate the repayment terms and accept the reciprocal collateral conditions. Talk of equity swap instead of hard currency projects to mitigate repayment term has already been bandied. The famed Chinese economic-statecraft via the “cheque-book” diplomacy has ensured the return of the Colombo Port City project, besides other initiatives like the expansion of the Hambantota port and Mattala airport. Certain new projects like the development of the Special Economic Zone is also on the burgeoning agenda. The Sri Lankan experience with the ostensible Chinese generosity and largesse has always been smooth and readily available (unlike the Tamil  issues and conditions of India and the tight purse strings of Western powers). Also, the Chinese are “non-judgmental” and do not allow issues like alleged human right violations during the Tamil wars to derail stitching-up of strategic relationships.  Even though the Sri Lankans are making meek assurances that the Chinese return to favour does not entail any ownership of land as part of the Colombo Port Project, the Sri Lankan backtracking has geopolitical ramifications. India realises the reality of the Sri Lankan financial conditions and the resultant practicality of snuggling back to Beijing to avoid defaulting on debts. The Indians will do well to continuously forewarn and reiterate the typical strings that come attached with Chinese doles, partake all possible opportunities to ensure a toehold in all development projects (as it is supposedly not exclusive to any one nation) and indulge in smarter diplomacy to “sell” the benefits of the larger picture of an alternative, “anti-Sino” bloc which could be composed of countries like India, Japan, US and the other ASEAN powers. For now the Chinese have gleefully re-entered the Sri Lankan waters by waving thick wads of hard currency.The writer is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands & Puducherry.