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Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 26

Coming down heavily on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for indulging in excessive litigation in settled matters, the Supreme Court had asked the government to wake up to its duties and responsibilities to the justice delivery system.“The couldn’t-care-less and insouciant attitude of the Union of India with regard to litigation, particularly in the Supreme Court, has gone a little too far,” a Division Bench comprising Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta ruled on April 24 while imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the government for a second time within a few weeks.Dismissing an appeal filed by the MoD in a disability related case of Prithwi Singh, a resident of Bhiwani in Haryana who had been granted relief by the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal, the Bench observed that several similar matters had been disposed of by the top court earlier and even a fine of Rs 1 lakh had been imposed last month to ensure the Union of India was far more circumspect.“The Union of India must appreciate that by pursuing frivolous or infructuous cases, it is adding to the burden of this court and collaterally harming other litigants by delaying hearing of their cases through the sheer volume of numbers,” the Bench said.To make matters worse, the Bench pointed out, 10 lawyers, including an additional solicitor general and a senior advocate, were engaged in this case. “The Union of India has created a huge financial liability by engaging so many lawyers for an appeal whose fate can be easily imagined on the basis of existing orders of dismissal in similar cases. Yet the Union of India is increasing its liability and asking the taxpayers to bear an avoidable financial burden for the misadventure,” the Bench ruled.The Bench observed that the government’s own action plan, which has been hanging fire for several years, mentions among others, steps to avoid unnecessary filing of appeals in routine matters and that vexatious litigation should be immediately withdrawn. It hoped that someday some sense will prevail on the Union of India with regard to the formulation of a realistic and meaningful National Litigation Policy.

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 25

The Army on Wednesday paid tributes to Sepoy Ajay Kumar, who was killed during a counter-insurgency operation on Tuesday in south Kashmir’s Tral sub-district.“In a solemn ceremony at BB Cantt, Lt Gen AK Bhatt, Chinar Corps Commander, paid homage to the martyr on behalf of the country,” the Army said in a statement. “In a show of solidarity, representatives from other security agencies also joined in to pay their last respects to the martyr,” it said.Kumar had sustained a bullet injury during the fierce gunfight in the Laam forest in Tral and succumbed to injuries at the 92 Base Hospital here.The slain soldier was 25 years old and had joined the Army in 2013. He belonged to Panjola village of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh and is survived by his parents and a brother.Four militants affiliated with the Jaish-e-Mohammad and a policeman were also killed in the gun battle on Tuesday.

Chandigarh, April 22

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has opposed the move of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to merge the Chandigarh cadre DSPs with those of all union territories, including Delhi.He has demanded that status quo be maintained till the dispute over Chandigarh between Punjab and Haryana was settled.The CM has directed the Chief Secretary to prepare a formal proposal on setting up a special cell in the General Administration to deal with Chandigarh-related issues in order to protect the interests of Punjab and bring it in the next Cabinet meeting.In a statement issued here, the CM said any move to erode the state’s stake in Chandigarh was not acceptable to Punjab. Capt said any such move would limit the avenues for the career progression of senior Punjab officers in line for promotion.The proposal of the MHA would lead to merger of all sanctioned posts of DSP of Chandigarh with the entry grade of the combined cadre of Delhi and other UTs, which would allow their transfer/posting in any UT, the CM pointed out. — TNS

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, April 16

Police in border districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Batala are on a high alert after reports of ‘carjacking’ near the International border late Sunday night. IG (Border) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar confirmed the incident and added that a massive manhunt had been launched after the questioning of the car owner Gujjar Maskin Ali. The car owner told the police that two unidentified armed fled with his car after threatening him.Pathankot SSP Vivek Sheel Soni received a call from the control room around 11 pm about the incident. After making initial inquiries from the SHO Narot Jaimal Singh police station, the SSP sensed that the threat was “indeed real” and immediately put his force into action. Within two hours all vital installations in the city, including the road leading to the civil airport, Air Force station, Mamun cantonment and the ammunition dump — considered to be one of the biggest army storage facility in North India — were secured.By the time morning walkers hit the streets, the city had been converted into an impregnable fortress with the cops also establishing a dozen check posts on the strategic Jammu-Pathankot national highway.

Washington, April 7

American aerospace and defence major Lockheed Martin has welcomed India’s mega procurement initiative for fighter jets worth over USD 15 billion and said that it looked forward to responding to the initial tender.India on Friday began the process to acquire a fleet of around 110 fighter jets in one of the biggest such procurements in recent years globally which could be worth over USD 15 billion.At least 85 per cent of the aircraft will have to be made in India while 15 per cent of them can be in a flyaway condition.An RFI (Request for Information) or initial tender for the mega deal was issued by the Indian Air Force and the procurement will be in sync with the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative in the defence sector, officials said.“Lockheed Martin welcomes India’s fighter aircraft Request for Information (RFI) and we look forward to responding to it,” said Dr Vivek Lall, vice president, strategy and business development at Lockheed Martin.“The F-16 remains the only aircraft programme in this competition with the proven performance and industrial scale to meet India’s operational needs and ‘Make in India’ priorities, including unmatched export opportunities,” he said.Indian-American Lall was last year instrumental in the decision of the Trump administration to sell top-of-the-line unarmed drones from General Atomics.Lockheed Martin has positioned the newest Block 70 variant of its F-16 aircraft for the Indian Air Force, while Boeing has offered its F/A-18 Super Hornet Block III for the Indian Navy.“The two aircraft have been positioned complementarily, and the purchase of the pair is an interesting proposition for policymakers from both countries,” US-based think-tank Atlantic Council said in a report released in New Delhi on Friday.In the report, ‘India’s Quest for Fighter Jets: Make in India vs Make America Great Again’, it said China’s bellicose incursions in the Indo-Pacific region are challenging US geostrategic supremacy in the region.Consequently, improving India’s capacity to play a stronger role in the region would play a critical role in the US grand strategy, the think-tank said.While offshoring both the F-16 and F/A-18 assembly lines would appear to contradict Trump’s promise to create more manufacturing jobs in the US, nuances in that policy could open a window of opportunity, Atlantic Council said.The F-16s and the F/A-18 Super Hornets manufactured in India would not be sold to the US, it said.The F-16 production line will be used to service the orders from the Indian Air Force, as well as any follow-on international orders.Noting that the US Air Force has not bought an F-16 since 1999, and is transitioning its multi-role fighter force to the F-35, the think-tank said that any additional F-16 orders would be for non-US customers. An India partnership presents a way to sustain F-16 production, with all the economic and strategic benefits that result, it said.Similarly, the F/A-18 Super Hornet production line would also be used to service orders for the Indian Navy, with all US orders manufactured in the US.Despite the shift of production lines, there is a considerable work-share component in the proposals by Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which would present a reasonable case for setting up production lines in India, despite the obvious hindrances that such an operation would ordinarily pose for a foreign investor, the think-tank added.India’s latest hunt for over 100 fighter jets is the first mega procurement initiative for fighter jets after the government scrapped the process to acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the IAF around five years ago.The IAF has been pressing for expediting the process to acquire the aircraft citing declining strength of its fighter squadron as some of the ageing jets are being phased out.Currently, the IAF has 31 fighter squadrons as against authorised strength of 42 squadrons. PTI

Sohail Mahmood

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 22

Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mehmood on Friday hosted the 70th National Day celebrations at the mission in Delhi even as bilateral ties continue to be tense. The event was attended by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of State for Agriculture in the Modi cabinet, instead of any junior foreign minister as is mostly the practice, though not a norm.“Pakistan desires peaceful and good neighbourly relations with India on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual respect,” Mehmood said.The celebrations happen at a time when the two neighbours have been levelling allegations of harassment of each other’s diplomats by security agencies in respective countries in violation of the Vienna convention.“Pakistan and India have completed 70 years as free nations. At the time of Independence, our founding fathers had envisioned an amicable relationship between the two countries. The relations however, evolved on a different trajectory,” said Mehmood.Mehmood returned to the capital Thursday late evening after weeklong consultations with the foreign ministry in Islamabad on the issue of harassment of diplomat. Sources in Pakistan foreign ministry in apparent posturing had told local media that the envoy’s return would be subject to resolution of the issue. India has also so far sent 15 note verbales and summoned Pakistani diplomats to lodge protest against reported intimidation of Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria and mission staff in Islamabad.

Security personnel stand guard in Srinagar. Amin War

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, March 12

Three militants, two of them former engineering students and another suspected to be a resident of Hyderabad, were killed in an encounter with security forces in the wee hours of Monday in the Hakoora area of Anantnag district, some 70 km south of Srinagar city.The militants are suspected to be linked to a local unit of the Islamic State even as the police said they were investigating the previous claims made by the global militant group based in Iraq and Syria.Two of the slain militants have been identified as Syed Owais of Kokernag in Anantnag district and Eisa Fazili, a resident of Soura in Srinagar. “The identity of the third militant is being ascertained,” said Inspector General of Police SP Pani.While the police maintained that the identity of the third militant was being ascertained, unverified claims on the social media identified him as a resident of Hyderabad. It identified him as Abu Zarr al-Hindi, alias Sultan al-Hyderabad.According to the police, the militants were traced to Badasgam village of the Hakoora area in Anantnag district about midnight on Sunday.Hakoora is located some 10 km from Anantnag town. “There were specific inputs regarding the movement of these militants,” a senior police official from Anantnag said.The official said the militants who were hiding in a house sensed trouble as a cordon was being laid and tried to escape by firing.“The fire was retaliated triggering an encounter, resulting in the killing of the three militants in an open paddy field,” the official said.Local sources said there was intense firing sometime after midnight and then again at 2 am after a lull. “No one ventured outside as the firing continued. In the morning, we got to know that the militants had been killed in a nearby paddy field,” a source said.Bodies of the two local militants were handed over to their families after medico-legal formalities.A complete shutdown was observed in Srinagar and Anantnag districts as the news of the killings spread and the mobile Internet speed was curtailed and train services were suspended by the authorities.Thousands, meanwhile, reached Soura in Srinagar and Vailoo village in the Kokernag area to participate in the funerals of Fazili and Owais. Intense clashes erupted in Vailoo when security forces used tearsmoke shells to disperse the mourners. The clashes continued for the better part of the day.Both local militants Owais and Fazili had pursued B-Technology from Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University in Rajouri district, but had left the course midway.

Shutdown observed

A complete shutdown was observed in Srinagar and Anantnag districts on Monday as the news of the killings spread and the mobile Internet speed was curtailed and train services were suspended by the authorities