“We have produced 16th LCA as per the target till March 31. The customer flights are expected to be completed by the end of March,” city-based HAL said in a statement.

Production of the Tejas fighter began in 2014 with a capacity of eight aircraft per annum.

BENGALURU: 

State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Monday said it has rolled out its 16th Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas fighter in the initial operational clearance (IOC) configuration to be inducted into the fleet of Indian Air Force (IAF).

“We have produced 16th LCA as per the target till March 31. The customer flights are expected to be completed by the end of March,” city-based HAL said in a statement.

The defence behemoth has an order from IAF for 40 LCAs (16 each in IOC and final operational clearance (FOC) configuration and eight trainers).

The Tejas aircraft was inducted into the IAF squadron ‘Flying Daggers’ on July 1, 2016.

In February, HAL received drawings and documents related to FOC with limited clearance for Tejas from military aviation regulator Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac) and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).

“The first aircraft in FOC configuration may roll out by the end of this calendar year (2019),” HAL said.

Two of the fighters will be flying at the Langkawi International Maritime Expo (Lima-2019) in Malaysia, starting Tuesday.

“An HAL team will be providing the technical support at the show,” the aerospace major said.

Production of the fighter began in 2014 with a capacity of eight aircraft per annum.

A second production line has been set up at Aircraft Division in this aerospace hub, which carries out structural assembly, final assembly and equipping of the aircraft.

Dhanush, the first indigenous long-range artillery gun developed during the project to upgrade the scam-ridden but useful Bofors artillery gun, will be inducted into the Indian Army on March 26. The first batch of six guns will be deployed along the China and Pakistan frontiers, sources in the Indian Army said.

By the end of the year, a complete regiment — comprising of 18 guns — will be in action along the borders shared with China and Pakistan.

It is a 155mm x 45mm calibre artillery gun. In February end, the Ministry of Defence, along with the Indian Army approved the bulk production order of 118 of these guns for the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

The guns are manufactured by the Jabalpur-based Gun Carriage Factory (GCF), each of the artillery guns cost around Rs 14.50 crore and each shell costs Rs 1 lakh.

The Gun Carriage Factory received the Dhanush project in October 2011 and the first prototype was made in 2014. Later, 11 more prototypes were made from which 4,200 rounds were fired.

The guns have passed tests in extreme cold in Sikkim and Leh and also in hot and humid weather conditions in Balasore, Odisha, and Babina in Jhansi. It also worked perfectly in the deserts of Pokhran in Rajasthan. Dhanush has a strike range of 38 kilometre and 81 per cent of its components are indigenously sourced; this will go up to 90 per cent by the end of this year.

Apart from the Jabalpur-based Gun Carriage Factory (GCF), there is active cooperation from other ordinance factories and PSUs such as SAIL, BEL, and many private sector companies.

In a statement released in February, The Defence Ministry stated that Dhanush is equipped with inertial navigation-based sighting system, auto-laying facility, on-board ballistic computation and an advanced day and night direct firing system.

The ministry further pointed out that the self-propulsion unit allows the gun to negotiate and deploy itself in mountainous terrains with ease.

Avijit Pathak 
Professor of Sociology, JNU

As the elections approach, the ruling regime wants to make us believe that there is no alternative, and hence it is wise to reject the Opposition that can only cause ‘anarchy’. Yes, the propaganda machinery that the establishment has succeeded in creating through noisy TV channels and the toxic social media manufactures this ‘truth’ — Modi with his macho-nationalism is the best choice, and the BJP with its Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley knows how to emancipate the country from all the ‘mistakes’ Nehru and his ‘dynasty’ committed.

As awakened voters and self-reflexive political subjects, we need to understand the implications of this discourse. Agreed, at a deeper level, the structure of ‘representative democracy’ and the electoral process associated with money/muscle power, as Gandhi’s vision of decentralised ‘oceanic circles’ and MN Roy’s ‘radical humanism’ with party-less participatory democracy would suggest, tend to impose some sort of passivity on us. We are compelled to believe that we can’t do much except ‘choosing’ the ‘lesser evil’; and we have no control over the quality of candidates the gigantic political parties impose on us. In a way, it generates some sort of cynicism and helplessness: everyone is corrupt, and hence it makes no sense to think of an alternative possibility! Is it that after every five years we only ‘select’ our masters?

Even though we have to acknowledge the inherent limitations of the form of democracy we have institutionalised, we should try to see some possibilities in it by exercising our agency, critical thinking and ethically nuanced political praxis. And it is in this context that we can see the dangers of the no-alternative discourse, which emanates from the cult of ‘absolute certainty’ through which all authoritarian regimes seek to define themselves. ‘We are infallible. We are true nationalists. And all those who oppose us are dangerous’ — Indira (recall the dark days of Emergency) thought like this; and today the assertive noise that the ruling regime makes manifests itself in Amit Shah’s body language filled with inflated confidence, Mr Modi’s melodramatic and aggressive speeches, Arun Jaitley’s one-dimensional blog,  Ravi Shankar Prasad’s ‘legalistic’ press conference and Sambit Patra’s toxic words on TV channels known for deciding the fate of the ‘republic’ in our ‘times’. To cherish democracy, however, is to celebrate the idea of experimentation, possibilities and changes. Hence, the popularisation of the no-alternative discourse is inherently anti-democratic.

Another danger of this discourse is that it seeks to transform us as mere consumers guided by ‘brand consciousness’. Hence, politics, too, is being projected as a ‘product’, and a political personality becomes a ‘brand’. Let us understand it through an analogy. Salman Khan as a ‘brand’ promotes, say, a specific soft drink product; and his ‘magical performance’ aims at seducing the consumers. Likewise, in our times — driven by the management discourse of selling politics as a product, we see Modi as a ‘brand’ (‘energetic’, ‘efficient’, ‘dashing’ and ‘brave’) selling the politics as a ‘product’ — the gospel of hyper-masculine nationalism that gives a tough lesson to the ‘enemy’ — internal as well as external; the project of techno-development that promises bullet trains and smart cities; and the psychology of ‘Hindu pride’ aiming at reclaiming the ‘heritage’ the ‘Muslim invaders’ destroyed. With the 24×7 ‘live coverage’ of the ‘presentation of self’, the hyper-real spectacles of the ‘surgical strike’ and ‘surveys’ indicating his ‘mass appeal’, Modi as a ‘brand’ looks gorgeous. And hence, as the argument goes, there is no alternative because an ‘immature’ Rahul, a ‘pro-Muslim’ Mamata and an ‘eccentric’ Mayawati look so ‘dull’. It is like saying that Pepsi is so gorgeous that a glass of lemon water can never be an alternative! The danger is that as passive consumers of politics with ‘brand consciousness’, we lose our democratic spirit — the ability to think clearly and critically, and the creativity to nurture our own politics.

Another point needs to be understood. ‘Alternatives’ are not like fancy products that one can buy as a consumer. Our alternative political culture or our alternative mode of governance ought to emerge out of a sustained search and practice. We will make mistakes, and even enter a domain of chaos or uncertainty. Yet, history teaches us that without creative practice, temporary upheaval, and experimentation nothing innovative takes place. Gandhi made experiments with satyagraha; Ambedkar interrogated patriarchal Brahminism; and Marx dared to see beyond the exploitative character of capitalism. They were working on alternatives. 

We need to see beyond what the ruling regime symbolises — the culture of narcissism leading to the mass psychology of authoritarianism, the aggression of militaristic nationalism, the reduction of religion into a mere identity-marker, the close affinity with the corporate elite causing further marginalisation of the downtrodden, and the normalisation of aggression and hatred. If we begin to think that there cannot be or should not be any alternative, we accept the rejection of our reflexivity and agency.

Well, it is possible to say that the ‘opposition’ parties — given the history of their opportunism and instrumental politics — are incapable of doing things differently. Yet, we should not stop our quest for an alternative political culture, even if we do not get a perfect result. Modi, too, emerged as an alternative to the corrupt UPA-II. So, this time why should we deprive ourselves of striving for an alternative to the present regime known for devastating consequences that measures like demonetisation, and the culture of mob lynching, cow vigilantism and war-mongering psychology have led to?

Senior journalist and Chairman of Kasturi & Sons, which publishes The Hindu, speaks about series of investigative articles recently published in the newspaper, suggesting the PMO’s involvement in parallel negotiations in the Rafale deal.

A series of investigative articles published recently in The Hindu has flared up the political storm over the controversial Rafale aircraft deal. The Hindu reports claim that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was conducting ‘parallel negotiations’ in the deal, removing the anti-corruption clauses and the integrity pact, while France refused to offer any bank guarantee for the 36 Rafale jets India bought, which shot the price of each aircraft by 41% Edited excerpts of an interview with senior journalist N Ram, the author of the reports:

Do you think the Rafale scandal will be Narendra Modi’s nemesis?

N. Ram: It was something very mysterious to start with. It was announced suddenly and I think all procedures were violated or bypassed. It also came as a surprise to all his senior officials. The nature of decision-making was quite shocking. Nothing had prepared people for that, especially on a major defence deal because in the past, following the Bofors scandal, governments had been fairly careful in signing defence deals or military deals on this scale anyway. So, it came as a big shock when a completely new framework for a deal to buy state of the art fighter aircraft was announced.

And then there was a stench of corruption here because the price was too high, the air force didn’t get what it asked for, the usual procedures were not followed or violated and it looked like a big loss for the Indian national exchequer. It took some time for some of the details to emerge clearly since the contract was signed in September 2016. But it is about completely manipulating the decision-making process to do something that is seen to be against the public interest, and also in favour of certain business groups and so on. There was no transparency.

The present government removed Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and bought a lot less aircraft. Why? What did your research show?

Research shows that it was arbitrary decision-making. It makes no commercial or financial sense, nor any sense for the air force. Because they wanted seven squadrons, now they are going to get two. And part of the plan was to develop indigenous capabilities using a well-known public sector company, HAL. However, that has been thrown out of the window now, saying that it was taking too long. Of course, it’s taken too long but you also contributed to that.

Also Read: MoD Had Protested Against PMO Undermining Rafale Negotiations, Says Report

They could have considered I think the Eurofighter offer, either go for it or use it as a leverage to beat the French down on these issues. But because of the arbitrary nature of the decision-making, parallel negotiation was conducted by the PMO and by the National Security Advisor behind the backs of the officially sanctioned negotiators. In case of the seven-member Indian negotiating team constituted by law in the Defence Ministry, their position is undercut on virtually every issue—from price, bank guarantees, sovereign guarantee to delivery schedules. This is because the parallel negotiators are with the French side rather than the Indian side.

HAL got kicked out. So, who was brought in?

Nobody was brought in, but the interest is in the offsets. Initially, it looked like some of the offset partners will do what HAL was going to do, but it’s not very clear. Some of them will be manufacturing executive business jets rather than anything in the military sphere. I don’t know what the connection is, because you were supposed to strengthen indigenous defence capability, not provide handouts to others who may be in trouble.

Businessman Anil Ambani became involved in the deal. How did that work?

He went to Paris and boasted about the deal being very big. It was even reported in the press. It is not yet clear what the size of investment with Anil Ambani’s joint venture will be. But I think they have said that he will put out an executive jet, whether it has anything to do with defence that we don’t know.

Could you please elaborate on the extent of corruption?

For example, the procedure laid down has to have anti-corruption clauses. There should not be any commission agents or undue influence- it’s called the integrity pact. And the buyer, the Government of India, will have access to the book of accounts of the commercial suppliers—Dassault and MBDA France in this case—their books of accounts would be open to scrutiny, to check in case they give a bribe or a commission. The French side, however, absolutely refused this under the pretext that it’s an inter-governmental agreement.

Also Read: Govt. Waived Anti-corruption Clauses in Rafale Deal, Says Report

Actually, it’s not an inter-governmental agreement if these supply protocols are to be executed by the commercial private companies. Have they paid commissions? Or are they going to pay commissions? Have they used undue influence? What are they hiding in the book of accounts? These questions arise, which lead to suspicion of corruption.

Why would the government want to waive anti-corruption clauses? To hide something?

That’s the question we have asked. This is a safeguard that is required in your procedure, then why would you waive it? The negotiators demanded it. The Ministry of Law and Justice had wanted the safety procedures in place, but the PMO’s parallel track shot it down. If you read the report, on every issue similar to this, the French side said it already agreed with them, so that matter is over. Even if only to use it as a bargain, you could have considered the Eurofighter deal, to make the French be more reasonable.

If we listen to Modi now after the Pulwama attack, he blames the Congress government for delaying the Rafale deal. He turned the whole story upside down. How do you see it?

It will be a major issue, and now, of course, they will try to control the narrative, on the platform of hyper-nationalism, jingoism, war mongering, not actually going to war, but talking in a war like manner. Because you can’t go to war with two nuclear states are involved, everybody knows that, but they are using this, but Rafale won’t go away. Modi is saying they delayed it… it’s true, it was delayed, but part of the delay is during his period, because they came into power in 2014, and they got have easily push forward on these issues, making Make in India an important part of it. If the French didn’t agree you could have gone to Eurofighter, which the Air Force says is equally good.

Also Read: Rafale Deal: Is the Inter-Governmental Agreement a Smokescreen?

They both meet Air Force qualifications, the only difference is price and delivery schedules and so on, how quickly you can get it. They hide behind these procedures to say that we can’t consider the Eurofighter option, saying these procedures are already there to prevent us. So, on the one hand you go via procedures to scuttle the Eurofighter offer or looking at the Eurofighter offer or even using it to compare prices and on the other hand, you completely do away with the procedure in striking the new Rafale deal with 36 aircraft. So, I think this is certainly misconduct on a massive scale. It will be a big issue, I think.

Will it be decisive for the elections?

No issue is decisive, I believe that the really decisive issues are livelihood issues. And if you see the public opinion polls, now and earlier, once usually the top will be unemployment, other livelihood issues are price rise, and the rural distress in a country like India, the agrarian distress, those are the top issues. Even now they will be the top issues followed by whether this hyper nationalism or Rafale, we can’t say it. But livelihood issues matter most in any election in India.

How is the Rafale deal different from Bofors?

The commonality is in decision-making. In the Bofors deal and also in Rafale deal, professional standards were not applied to make the decision. In Bofors, for example, the rival to Bofors, the French Howitzer, came first and all the military trials, but through political intervention, Bofors was preferred. And then you found that, it involved commission payments, bribes, disguised as commission, percentage payments, so everything… something was supplied as part of the contract, the money went to secret Swiss bank accounts to these people and they were of course initially hidden, we found out who they were.

In Rafale, the money trail has not been found yet. But decision-making is common, but as I said the anti-corruption clauses, the integrity pact all this were done away with, making it easier to cover up corruption if it’s happened and so on. That’s the huge difference. The big difference is nobody has found the money trail yet. Same thing about 2G spectrum by the way, they alleged it’s a huge scam. A. Raja, the then telecom minister said that there is no money trail, he said it in many interviews, including what The Hindu published, and that’s exactly what the trial court found. They found no evidence of any money being paid as a result. So, the decisions you can question, but there was no bribe that could be proved by the CBI at that stage, so very similar.

The government seems to be going against The Hindu for publishing the documents. Do you think investigative journalism is getting riskier in India?

Of course, that’s at stake. I think the Official Secrets Act is an obnoxious piece of legislation. It goes back to 1923, its part of the British Raj, used it to against the people of India, against the freedom struggle at that point. Unfortunately, it continues to be in the statured books. It has been rarely used against publications. Those who publish any number of secret documents have not been punished in the past. In 1981, I was Washington correspondent with The Hindu, and we published many secret papers, where India was involved in negotiations with International Monetary Fund for what was then the largest multi-lateral loan of credit in line of credit in history, 5 Billion SDR, about $ 6.3 billion at that time. And lots of secret papers were there. Nobody spoke about using the Official Secrets Act against it.

Also Read: ‘Stolen Documents’: Opposition Questions Government’s Ability to Defend Country

On Bofors, we published 250 documents, including many government documents, nobody spoke about using the Official Secrets Act of 1923 against the publications. The public-spirited lawyer Prashant Bhushan has produced the secret papers and documents and taken them to the court. For example, on the coal block allocations scandal, the courts have no hesitation in looking at it. Nobody thought of using the Official Secrets Act against Prashant Bhushan. So, the first time it happened was in the Supreme Court, but it remains to be seen. It has been clarified that it won’t, I think, according to the report in Times of India and also in Editor’s Guild statement, that it won’t be used against the journalists and lawyers. Let’s wait and see. But we are not concerned about it. Because we are well protected by Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. The fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression and also by the RTI provisions specifically Section 8(1i) and 8(2) which overtake the Official Secrets Act, so we are not really concerned about it.

Aaquib Khan is a Mumbai-based multi-media journalist. He tweets at @kaqibb.

Eighteen terrorists, 14 from the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), have been gunned down over three weeks in the Valley. These include the second-in-command and key commanders of the terror outfit that planned and executed the lethal February 14 Pulwama attack, killing over 40 CRPF personnel. Violence begets violence and there was a response which came fast, and expectedly, all guns blazing. Not losing any time, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the immediate movement of the armed forces and the deployment of an additional 100 companies of the paramilitary forces in the Valley. There was pressure to deliver: Jaish operatives had to be wiped out in the Valley. Simultaneously, they had to be eliminated across the border. What followed was the daring success of the February 26 airstrikes unleashed on JeM training camps at Balakot.

After the Pulwama attack, with an iron hand and a new resolve, the security forces have determinedly dealt a major blow to JeM, taking out key conspirators one by one. The Sunday encounter saw the killing of 25-year-old main Jaish coordinator of the Pulwama attack, besides a Pakistani national and the group’s operational chief. Operations will continue ‘till we eliminate all of them’, declared the Army during a joint briefing. In attendance were the IGP and the CRPF IG (Operations) in Kashmir. The coming together of the forces on intelligence sharing, seamless communication and rapid action is clearly a reason for the successful operations that have liquidated Jaish leadership in the Valley. Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba are on the radar, too. The objective being that there is no recurrence of a Pulwama or Uri.

In what underpins India’s declaration on Balakot, a videotape quotes the PoK police and civilian population as claiming that four Pakistani soldiers were killed in the airstrikes and infrastructure had, indeed, been damaged. Foreign media had in a rush undermined India’s claim of having effected substantial damage, but did admit later to ‘limited’ assessment. The IAF’s claims of success stand vindicated. Balakot action has struck the message home: India will not think twice before penetrating the borders of its adversaries to avenge the killings of its soldiers.

n architecture design of the Passenger Terminal Building to be constructed for the Kartarpur corridor, in Gurdaspur. — PTI

New Delhi, March 9

India will construct a “state-of-the-art” passenger terminal building for the Kartarpur corridor at a cost of Rs 190 crore, officials said Saturday.

The passenger terminal building (PTB) complex will have all the necessary passenger amenities to facilitate pilgrims intending to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, located across the border in Pakistan.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved a detailed plan for construction of a “state-of-the-art” PTB complex at the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, an official at the ministry said.

The approval came following the Cabinet decision in November 2018 to develop the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district in Punjab to the International Border.

The Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI), which is mandated to build and operate integrated check posts along the land borders of the country, has reportedly been entrusted with this work and has been directed to complete the work on a fast-track basis, before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in November 2019.

The design and quality parameters have been prepared keeping in view the aspirations and religious sentiments of the followers of Guru Nanak Dev, the official said.

Fifty acres of land has been identified for the purpose and will be developed in two phases.

“Phase 1 will be developed over 15 acres for which the process of land acquisition has already commenced,” another official said.

The PTB complex to be developed in the first phase is proposed to have a fully air-conditioned building of approximately 21,650 sq metre built-up area.

The PTB complex is expected to be constructed at a cost of Rs 190 crore, the official said.

The design of the PTB complex has been inspired by the symbol ‘Khanda’ which represents values of oneness and humanity, he said.

The disabled-friendly building will display murals and photographs based on rich Indian cultural values with eye soothing landscaping.

It will have adequate immigration and customs clearance facilities to process the smooth movement of approximately 5,000 pilgrims per day, the official said, adding that the complex will have open areas for kiosks, cloakrooms and adequate parking space.

The passage up to the zero point on the International border will be covered.

In addition, a 300-feet-high monumental flagpole bearing the tricolour will be erected at the International Border, the official said.

The phase II will cover development of a visitors gallery, a hospital, accommodation for pilgrims and expanded amenities. — PTI

Time for developing capabilities for counter-strikes is now ripe

G Parthasarathy
Former diplomat

After the precision air strike by the IAF on Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, public attention in India is now focused on bringing JeM leaders, including Masood Azhar, to justice. Ironically, Azhar would not have been such a threat today if we had not cravenly released him after being blackmailed during the Kandahar hijacking of IC 814. Those then released included Omar Syed Sheikh, who funded the 9/11 hijackers in the US and murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The mass killing of Indians in terrorist strikes organised by the ISI has been a continuing feature of Pakistan’s policy since the 1993 Mumbai blasts. People seem to forget that 253 people were killed and 713 injured in the blasts. These killings were organised by the then ISI chief, Lt Gen Javed Nasir, who enjoyed Nawaz Sharif’s patronage for years. The mastermind of the 1993 blasts, Dawood Ibrahim, lives under heavy security protection in the elite locality of Clifton in Karachi. There is conclusive evidence that the attack on India’s Parliament in 2001 was organised by Masood Azhar’s JeM. A former ISI chief, Lt Gen Javed Akhtar, admitted this in 2004, in Pakistan’s Parliament. As many as 527 Indian soldiers had been killed and 453 wounded in the 1999 Kargil conflict.

When the JeM thereafter briefly receded into the background, the ISI-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba mounted yet another attack on November 26, 2008, on Mumbai, killing 139 Indians and injuring 256. This received huge international attention, as the casualties included citizens of countries like the US, the UK, France, Germany and Israel. Yet, within a few months, we were back to a ‘composite dialogue’ with Pakistan after the Sharm El Sheikh Summit, where the focus of attention was not the 26/11 terror strike on Mumbai, but unfounded allegations of Indian involvement in the freedom struggle in Balochistan! Sadly, this was a manifestation of Indian diplomacy at its worst. 

The Balakot air strike was marked by the use of precision-guided Israeli Spice 2000 bombs that function with deadly accuracy. There is now conclusive evidence that the target was a JeM madrasa, which was badly damaged. Hundreds of jihadis, preparing for ‘martyrdom’ in J&K, were trained in Balakot. Our government would, however, have been better advised, if unverified claims of hundreds of casualties were not prematurely made or publicised.

What will, however, please our Russian friends is the fact that an upgraded frontline American F-16, equipped with highly sophisticated AAM-RAM missiles, was shot down by a vintage Russian MiG-21 Bison of the IAF. This again exposed the inefficiency of our Defence Ministry, which has delayed a proposal for the modernisation of the fighter fleet for over two decades. Successive defence ministers must accept constitutional responsibility for the cavalier manner in which the entire issue of modernisation has been handled. More importantly, the decision-making organisational structure in the ministry, dominated by a generalist bureaucracy, needs to be drastically restructured.

Pakistan should be made to realise that India’s air strike marks only the beginning of a new approach, which India will now undertake. Firstly, it is time for decision-makers in New Delhi to realise that our covert action capabilities on foreign soil need to be upgraded. I recently read a book on how Indira Gandhi supervised covert actions in Bangladesh in 1971, which virtually destroyed maritime communication facilities there, even before the conflict started in December 1971. The Israelis spent years developing capabilities to seek out the perpetrators of the Second World War Holocaust across the world. Their Iranian rivals have developed similar capabilities, which one saw recently, when Iran responded to a terrorist attack from Pakistani soil, which killed 29 Iranian Revolutionary Guards. In an almost immediate counter-strike across the border, over eight Pakistani soldiers were killed and a large number injured.

The time for developing capabilities for counter-strikes is now ripe. The global political, diplomatic and economic scenario in India and Pakistan has changed over the past two decades. Pakistan remains, in international perspectives, an economically bankrupt and politically dysfunctional country, which is ostensibly democratic, but run by a military elite, given to promoting religious extremism across its neighbourhood.  Its actions, like hosting Osama bin Laden secretly for over a decade, promoting Taliban extremism in Afghanistan and using internationally discredited terrorist groups for jihad abroad, have sullied its image and reliability.

Islamabad is addicted to seeking doles from rich Arab neighbours, China and financial institutions like the IMF, Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. Pakistan is dependent on them for economic survival. In contrast, India is seen today as a country with the fastest growing economy. India is at peace and enjoys excellent relations with all countries (except Pakistan) in its Indian Ocean neighbourhood. It has multiple free trade and comprehensive economic cooperation agreements within SAARC and with members of BIMSTEC and ASEAN. There are, likewise, Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreements with South Korea and Japan.

Across its western maritime frontiers, India is the only country which enjoys excellent ties with the Gulf states, Iran and Israel.  PM Modi has publicly expressed India’s thanks for US support in recent days. These developments need to be augmented by engaging people in Pakistan, making it clear that India wishes them well. It must be made known to them that their miseries are the result of actions by a rogue army, which is leading the country to economic disaster and international isolation.

FINALLY, the Prime Minister has spoken. A day after the Supreme Court lent protection to Kashmiri students, Modi assured during a BJP rally in Jaipur on Saturday that the fight is not against Kashmiris and that the people of the Valley are at the receiving end of terrorist violence — better late than never. Meanwhile, the apex court yet again came to the rescue of the people, performing its crucial constitutional duty of safeguarding citizens from rabid mobs driven by hatred. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Friday directed Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police of 11 states to prevent incidents of threat, assault and social boycott of Kashmiris. The court entrusted the safety of Kashmiris with police officers who were earlier appointed as nodal officers to stop instances of lynching.

The order had a salutary effect. Late on Friday night, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an advisory directing all state governments to ensure the security of people from Jammu and Kashmir. The University Grants Commission, too, asked vice chancellors of all universities to personally look into the issue of harassment of Kashmiri students.

Since the court has very specifically mentioned ‘social boycott, etc, against Kashmiris’, action ought to be taken against all those who spread venom and sought to shun Kashmiris. The sad reality of Indian politics is that, among those who actively promoted this agenda was a Governor, a constitutional authority. Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy had put out a tweet early last week openly calling for a boycott of everything Kashmiri, asking people not to visit Kashmir or buy Kashmiri handicrafts. Despite the Supreme Court order, he has neither removed his tweet nor stopped his Twitter tirade. In the context of the order, he has committed an offence and must pay for it. As a person who is blinded by ideology to even see the difference between terrorists and those desperately trying to defeat terrorists, he does not deserve to hold the office of the Governor.

Saab is expected to face competition from rivals such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Dassault Aviation to supply 110 fighter jets to the Indian Air Force

BENGALURU: 

Swedish defence firm Saab AB, which is seeking to sell its Gripen fighter jets to the Indian Air Force, said on Tuesday it could offer to make most of them in a production facility likely to be set up in one of the southern cities.

Saab is expected to face competition from rivals such as Boeing Co, Lockheed Martin Corp and Dassault Aviation SA to supply about 110 fighter jets to the Air Force, in what could be a deal worth more than $15 billion.

As part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India push, Saab is considering locally manufacturing 96 of the 114 jets it wants to sell to the country, the Stockholm-based company officials told reporters on the sidelines of a conference ahead of Aero India 2019 in Bengaluru.

Saab has tied up with resources conglomerate Adani Group to sell the single-engine planes to fulfil the condition of bidders having an Indian partner to be considered for the order.

Any manufacturing facility in the country could also become an export hub, Saab’s Indian unit Chairman and Managing Director Ola Rignell told Reuters at the conference. Bengaluru and Hyderabad would be the “natural choice” for any plant.

Muzaffarnagar, February 22

A government education officer in Uttar Pradesh has been suspended for allegedly posting an objectionable message on social media about the Pulwama terror attack, officials said on Friday.

Basic Shiksha Adhikari DK Yadav was suspended on the recommendation of district authorities here and the Uttar Pradesh government has taken steps in this connection, according to Additional District Magistrate Amit Kumar.

Yadav was suspended for allegedly posting an objectionable message on social media about the Pulwama incident on Thursday, the officials said.

Some people also staged a protest outside Yadav’s office over his comment and demanded strict action against him.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14. PTI