Arun Joshi

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s talks offer to the Taliban to bring about a negotiated settlement in his trouble-torn country is a typical paradox of pragmatism and compulsion. The problem in Afghanistan is that the government is not in control of more than 56 per cent of its territory, and the Pakistan-backed Taliban cannot take Kabul. It is very difficult to find the middle ground, but optimists are looking for a bright spot in the initiative.The outcome of the talks, if held at all — so far the Taliban has not responded, will depend much on Pakistan. This time around Pakistan has a reason to welcome the talks for three reasons. One, it wants to avert getting blacklisted by Finance Action Task Force, as it already is set to figure in its “grey list” from June. Second, it wants to mend its ties with the Trump administration that doesn’t trust it. Third, it wants to maintain peace and order on its border with Afghanistan to fulfil its obligations to China that has invested $56 billion in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.But, Pakistan is unable to shake off its frozen mindset that has invested in terrorism to have strategic depth in Afghanistan. It will never allow its leverage to go unless pushed to the wall but what no one can change is the strategic geographical location that it enjoys. Had it not been the transit route for the American troops and supplies to the landlocked Afghanistan, the international community would have declared it enabler and incubator of terrorism long ago.It is for Pakistan to make the Taliban talk. Its intent would be tested soon. India will have to watch each and every move on this front very carefully, while mounting a high-pitched diplomatic offensive to ensure that Pakistan doesn’t dictate its agenda in Afghan talks through the Taliban. India needs to take care of its interests in Afghanistan for Pakistan has targeted these in Kabul and elsewhere through the Taliban. The international community may think that the dismantling of the Haqqani network and making the Taliban behave form sufficient grounds to look at Pakistan in a positive way. But unless Pakistan dismantles all terror networks, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba, and stops exporting terrorism to India, particularly in J&K, it should not be let off the hook. Even if peace is restored in Afghanistan, the stability will not dawn in South Asia. For overall peace in the region where Pakistan often threatens to use its nuclear weapons against India, Islamabad must eliminate all sources and promotion of terrorism. Kashmir is bleeding because of the terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil. It has invested a lot in the misinformation campaign through the social media and other communication channels that it will take years to bring J&K back on the path of normalcy. At the moment because of Pakistan’s continuation with its pro-terrorism policy in Kashmir, as it is doing in Kabul, the return of normalcy appears to be a difficult goal to accomplish.India and Pakistan must hold talks and resolve their issues. However, Delhi should not be expected to pay a premium on the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. This should be made clear to the world community and to the loud-mouthed politicians within the country. Pakistan should be made to take back its terror machines not only from Afghanistan but also from India, particularly J&K. Pakistan continues to provide “safe haven and sanctuaries to terrorists”. That is the real threat to the peace in region. With regard to India, it justifies its terror and murderous campaign by claiming that the “unresolved” Kashmir issue is at the root of the conflict. That is what makes it justify terrorists unleashing atrocities on the innocent.The problem needs to be dealt with in a holistic manner, Afghan-centric measures will not help in obtaining peace and order in South Asia. Kabul initiative is just half a step.

On July 1 last year, the government had issued an order saying the assistance under the scheme cannot exceed Rs 10,000 per month, triggering widespread discontent among all the three services

New Delhi: The Defence Ministry has requested the Finance Ministry to remove the cap of Rs 10,000 per month on educational assistance given to children of martyrs or those disabled in action, official sources said today.

On July 1 last year, the government had issued an order saying the assistance under the scheme cannot exceed Rs 10,000 per month, triggering widespread discontent among all the three services.

The Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC), comprising the Army, Navy and the Air Force chiefs, had also written to the defence ministry requesting it to remove the cap. Under the scheme, which was initially rolled out in 1972, tuition fee of children of martyrs or those disabled in action were completely waived in schools, colleges and other professional educational institutions.The defence minister has requested the finance ministry to remove the cap. We are hoping for a favourable decision,” a defence ministry source said.

Approximately 250 students were affected during the current financial year following the government’s decision to cap the assistance, according to officials.

Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre last month had said that the annual saving on account of putting the cap would be Rs 3.20 crore per annum. He had said the highest amount drawn has been reported to be Rs 18.95 lakh per annum per student.

New Delhi, April 6

The Indian Air Force will conduct a 10-day exercise to practise simultaneous ‘wartime drills’ along the northern and western frontiers, amply indicating the readiness for a collusive two-front war with Pakistan and China. This exercise will hone the war-fighting skills in a real time scenario.Named ‘Gaganshakti’, the exercise will be conducted by the IAF from April 8-22. “The aim is real time coordination, deployment and employment of air power in a short and intense battle scenario,” the IAF said on Friday. “The focus will be on weapons delivery,” said a source.The IAF will exercise the entire machinery to validate its concept of operations and war-waging capability. With each successive exercise, the lessons learnt in the previous exercises and doctrinal precepts are put to test, for developing new concepts. This year, the IAF has planned tactics that will be tested in a real time scenario. — TNS

New Delhi, February 9

The Delhi Police today said they had arrested Indian Air Force Group Captain Arun Marwaha on charges of espionage for passing secret information to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.“He was arrested on Wednesday after a case was registered under the Official Secrets Act,” said MM Oberoi, Delhi Police Special Cell’s Special Commissioner. He was produced in a court that remanded him in police custody for five days.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Oberoi said Marwaha was earlier detained by the IAF on January 31 after his activities were found “suspicious”. The Air Force had approached the Delhi Police to investigate the case.According to a special cell officer, Marwaha (51) shared information and documents with two Pakistani agents who chatted with him on  Facebook, pretending to be women. Fake accounts in the names of “Kiran Randhawa” and “Mahima Patel” were used to entice him.He allegedly used his smartphone to click pictures of classified documents pertaining to the IAF headquarters and sent those across via WhatsApp. The officer reportedly befriended ISI agents posing as women models a few months ago. The documents shared mostly dealt with training and combat-related air exercises. — IANS

Capt Kapil Kundu (Gurugram)

Chandigarh, February 5

Captain Kapil Kundu, who was killed in Pakistani shelling along the LoC in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir yesterday, was to visit home on his 23rd birthday on February 10.Capt Kundu was a resident of Ransika village near Pataudi in Haryana’s Gururgram district.His mother, Sunita, 52, who was struggling to hold back her tears, said her son loved an adventurous life. “Kapil was to visit us on his birthday. He always used to surprise me and tell his sisters first about his visit,” she said. He had visited the family in November.Sunita Kundu lost her husband Lala Ram Kundu when Kapil Kundu was just 15. Now pain and anger rage inside her heart at having lost her son.Family members said Capt Kundu believed in life that was larger in stature and not in length. “He loved nature. He was a great patriot. He used to write poetry to express his feelings for the country. He used to say the country is supreme,” she said. — PTI

It is curious that security considerations have evaporated for the Seoul Winter Olympics. The West has forfeited events for a lesser excuse than an unbalanced man controlling N-weapons.

North Korea”s ice hockey players arrive at the inter-Korea transit office on January 25 for the Winter Olympics. AFP

Sandeep Dikshit

THE world has grappled with international games being held under the shadow of terrorism or an extremely divisive moment in world politics. The western bloc boycotted the 1980 summer Olympics over the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan. The Warsaw Pact countries retaliated at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 but their boycott didn’t have the bite. It was evident that the one who controls the media also sets the narrative. The 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing came to painted as tainted by human rights abuses. The Olympic Torch was repeatedly intercepted by inspired as well as spontaneous protestors as it went through member nations on its way to Beijing.But never has the world hosted an Olympics, 50 kms away from an adversary depicted by repurted western publications as deranged, unstable and a megalomaniac. Unsurprisingly, ticket sales are lukewarm.The west has boycotted international sports events for far weaker reasons than the possibility of all the athletes at the Winter Olympics facing a nuclear apocalypse. England forfeited its match against Zimbabwe in the 2003 cricket world cup because of a mere political unrest after its media whipped up a fanciful figure of 70 lakh starving Zimbabweans. It didn’t agree with the International Cricket Council that had sensibly reasoned about the impossibility of starving people disrupting a cricket match being under the security gaze of a regime that wanted nothing to go wrong.A legendary Zimbabwean cricketer later let the cat out of the bag. Politics and not security was the consideration of the boycott. Seven years earlier, the Australians turned churlish by refusing to play in Sri Lanka because of a Tamil Tiger bombing a few weeks before their arrival. . Australia abandoned its test series in Pakistan in 2003 because a few gunmen were on the loose.Why isn’t the same consideration at play in case of the Seoul Winter Olympics? Why aren’t we reading or watching about the dangers of hosting an international event close to a neighbor who just two months back was being painted as homicidal and a psychopath? And aren’t those who blanched at the thought of playing at venues where bombs had gone off in the past, now happily acquiescing to play under the shadow of nuclear missiles?Perhaps there is a lesson in it for inveterate enemies like India and Pakistan. After the west had exhausted itself into helplessness by imposing sanctions and threatening North Korea with a massive nuclear wipeout, the turnaround came because of a new President in the neighbouring South Korea. During the days when North Korea was pressing ahead with missile tests and refusing to walk back, the South Korean President Moon Jae-in did not give up. He persisted even when the strategic chatteratti thumbed its nose at the possibility of rapprochement and felt North Korea will not miss the opportunity of disrupting an international event being staged 80 kms from its border.We will know this weekend which side was right: the conciliators led by the South Korean President or the partisans from Pentagon and Langley. But it is still strange that countries are preparing to send their athletes to South Korea with flimsy security guarantees that cannot stand the storm of a nuclear attack. 

Doomsday scenarios

• North Korea conducts missile or nuclear tests to demonstrate its strength to the world.
• North Korea starts skirmishes in the Yellow Sea or the demilitarized zone.
• North Korea infiltrates special commandos to sabotage transportation hubs

sandeep4731@gmail.com

LT Gen Surinder Singh, GOC-in-C, Western Command, addresses a symposium at Chandimandir on Thursday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: VIJAY MATHUR

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 25

Cautioning the officers of the armed forces against the build-up of an “unhealthy synergy” between sections of the media, political establishment, the military and arms dealers in the pursuit of vested interests, Harish Khare, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune, stressed that the service personnel could do well by following the Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat’s dictum issued on Army Day to uphold the core national values and service ethos and live up to the trust reposed in the armed forces by the nation.Addressing senior Army officers and journalists on the theme of “Army and the media: Who uses whom” at a media symposium organised by the Western Command Headquarters at Chandimandir here today, Khare said while the Army remained the country’s most professional and secular organisation, there had been instances of individual abrasions, which were a cause for concern.Stating that the armed forces had to work within the larger constitutional framework, he said, “We can no longer pretend that there is no clash of professional interests and egos at the top level. This has resulted in some senior officers coming closer to political figures or seeking unhealthy alliances in a section of the media and the people have unfairly fallen victim to this.”While being critical of the functioning of both, the media and the top military leadership, Khare also warned against manipulation of institutional processes for personal or commercial purposes. He added that sections of the armed forces had used the media to create narratives about the weakness of the political leadership in military matters.General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt Gen Surinder Singh spoke about the Army’s perspective on engagement with the media and highlighted the services’ concern over inadvertent dissemination of information that could have security implications or impact troop morale.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh with GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lt Gen Surinder Singh, at Chandimandir. Tribune photo

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 24

While announcing that the Punjab government will set up two high-level committees, one to resolve issues relating to acquisition of land for setting up military facilities in the state and the other to address infrastructural and garbage dumping problems around the Chandigarh Air Force Station, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh also called for a review of provisions governing constructions around sensitive military installations.The committees would comprise officials from both the armed forces as well as the state government and will meet regularly for updates and decisions. This was resolved during the annual Civil-Military Liaison Conference between the Punjab government and Western Command at Chandimandir today.Chaired jointly by the Chief Minister and the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt Gen Surinder Singh, it was attended by top government and Army officials.Expressing concern that various issues raised by the armed forces earlier have not yet been resolved, the Chief Minister said ammunition depots, for instance, were established many years ago but the manifold growth of Punjab necessitated a re-look in the context of the current situation and review of the provisions for such facilities.The issue came up in the context of non-promulgation of gazette notification with respect to ammunition depots at Dappar and Naraingarh in the state. Failure to issue the notification had made it difficult to stop proliferation of construction activity in the vicinity of the depots, the government was informed.The armed forces have requested notification of the notified zone by publishing a gazette, to which the state government said it would be issued once the discrepancies found in revenue records of the areas were removed.Problems relating to exchange of land between the Army and civil authorities for infrastructural projects, development of access roads and railways crossings at strategic places, bird menace arising out of dumping of garbage around airfields, illegal mining and storage around vital installations were also discussed.The committee to look into the Chandigarh airfield problems would be headed by the Secretary, Civil Aviation, and include representatives of the airport management.One of the key demands of the military for the acquisition of 5 kanal and 13 marla land to strength security around the Air Force Station, Barnala, had been pending due to delay in the release of funds to the PWD to pay compensation for construction of a new road after acquisition. The acquisition of land for passage between the Chandigarh airbase and Air Force High Grounds is also under consideration.The Chief Minister also agreed to extend the notification of land near Faridkot, used for training and manoeuvres, up to 2030 and would also look into the issue of exchange of camping ground land to enable the armed forces to carry out training. The Kandi belt and Hoshiarpur area is being considered for this. The issue of damage to the ditch-cum-bundh border defences in Amritsar and Gurdaspur areas due to sand mining also cropped up.

Civil-Military Liaison Conference  

• The committees would comprise officials from both the armed forces as well as the state government and will meet regularly for updates and decisions.
• This was resolved during the annual Civil-Military Liaison Conference between the Punjab government and Western Command at Chandimandir on Wednesday.
• Chaired jointly by the Chief Minister and the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt Gen Surinder Singh, it was attended by top government and Army officials.