Current Events :
NEW DELHI: A top Pakistani official promised in 1968 to help India research Subhas Chandra Bose’s secret journey to Europe during World War II, provided New Delhi kept the assistance a secret.
GETTY IMAGESThe Kolkata-based Netaji Research Bureau had asked then PM Indira Gandhi for help to collect information related to Netaji’s trip through Peshawar, Kabul, Tashkent, Moscow and Berlin.The Kolkata-based Netaji Research Bureau had asked then prime minister Indira Gandhi for help to collect information related to Netaji’s trip in 1941 through Peshawar, Kabul, Tashkent, Moscow and Berlin.
“In normal times, one could expect that the Pakistan government will render all cooperation… but in the present circumstances, it seems advisable to first consult our high commissioner,” the external affairs ministry joint secretary PRS Mani wrote.
When Indian high commissioner S Sen informally checked with Pakistan’s information secretary Altaf Gauhar, he was positive. The file, however, does not indicate if the offer materialised.
Gauhar was an influential civil servant in Pakistan in the sixties, largely on account of his proximity to President Ayub Khan that later cost him his job. He later went on to edit Pakistan’s English daily, Dawn, and was imprisoned twice.
Altaf Gauhar told Sen that he would try to get in touch with an official posted in Pakistan’s mission in Cairo who was supposed to be knowledgeable about Netaji’s journey. “Secondly, Mr Altaf Gauhar advised that while there was no objection to this kind of scientific research being undertaken with Pakistan’s cooperation, no publicity should be given to this matter simply because Netaji’s background has many political implications which are not liked by several political elements,” Sen said in his report to the ministry.
Jind, March 27
Akhil Bhartiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (ABJASS), the body that spearheaded the Jat quota stir in February, on Sunday threatened to resume the agitation if its demands are not met by the end of this month.”If Jats are not accorded reservation, the next agitation would be bigger than the previous one. The Jat community is not in the mood to wait more,” ABJASS president Yashpal Malik said.He said a meeting of representatives of the Jat community from 13 states will be held in Delhi on April 3 where an announcement will be made regarding the mode of agitation.In February, 30 people had lost their lives during the nine-day violent agitation by Jats demanding 10 per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutions.Several districts including Rohtak, the epicentre of Jat agitation, Jhajjar, Kaithal, Jind, Sonipat and Bhiwani had witnessed violence.Jats are also demanding withdrawal of FIRs registered against the protesters, compensation to those killed during the stir and action against BJP MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini for his anti-Jat reservation stand. — PTI
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 23
Two months after India and France disagreed on the pricing of the 36 Rafale fighter jets, the two sides are set to re-start negotiations on the issue.India, in January this year, did not accept the price quoted by Rafale manufacturers—Dassault Aviation. The company was asked to come up with a fresh quote on pricing. Sources said French negotiators would reach New Delhi on March 29.Within the Ministry of Defence, a benchmark figure has been decided upon and in no way this can be changed. Sources said the benchmark was close to $7 billion (Rs 46,000 crore, as on today’s dollar rates). Anything beyond that would be impossible to justify within the country.During the three-day visit of French President Francois Hollande in January, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed as the first step towards signing a formal inter-governmental agreement (IGA). Only the pricing had to be decided. Specific aspects were discussed on reducing the price, a top functionary said.Last-minute efforts to ink the IGA for the purchase of jets during Hollande’s visit had come to a naught as New Delhi was not happy with the pricing.The French President was quoted as having cited a figure of $9 billion for 36 jets, including two types of missiles (air-to-ground and air-to-air), training of pilots, bombs and base facilities for planes. It would translate into Rs 59,000 crore or Rs 1,630 crore per piece. Indian negotiators are willing to pay around $7 billion or Rs 46,000 crore (Rs 1,180 crore per piece).The IAF is now at its lowest combat strength in more than a decade. The IAF has informed the government of the gravity of the situation.The IAF, with only 33 squadrons (16-18 planes in each), is nine short of the government mandated 42 squadrons needed to tackle a simultaneous two-front war with China and Pakistan.
India may be able to develop its own fighter aircraft with the help of indigenous and foreign technology in the next four to five years, Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Friday, while stressing on curbing the dependency in import in defence sector.
“In four or five years we could develop our own fighter planes with the help of a mixture of indigenous and foreign technologies,” he said.
Parrikar was in the city to launch a three-day annual technical festival of IIT Roorkee, which started on Friday.
Addressing the students, Parrikar said that under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the focus of the government is to reduce the burden of import to a “noticeable extent” through the use of indigenous technology. The minister appealed to the “bright minds” of IITs and other areas to integrate themselves and give their services to the defence sector.
“Bright minds from IITs and other areas should integrate themselves with the country’s defence sector and render their services to DRDO-like establishments to make the ‘Make in India’ campaign successful through your ‘out of the box’ thinking, creative ability, innovation and engineering knowledge,” Parrikar said.
The minister said that people from industry, academia and technology-developing fields could be integrated with DRDO like establishments. “My first priority in this direction is to make a hassle-free and non-bureaucratic system for getting the entry in DRDO by these people,” he said.
“We have earmarked over 120 items of defence requirements which we can be developed with the help of indigenous technology,” the minister said.
On the occasion, the institute’s chairman of board of governors Ashok Misra, director Pradipta Banerji, former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission PV Athawale, former Air Marshal T Suvarna Raju and defence journalist Ajai Shukla were present on the occasion.
Tribune News Service
Batala, March 17
Two persons were allegedly shot dead by a former Army man from his double-barreled rifle at Basantkot village near here today.The deceased have been identified as Hira Singh and his son Dilbagh Singh. The police have arrested ex-serviceman Nirmal Singh and a murder case has been registered against him.Villagers claimed that the police arrived at the crime scene two hours after the shooting took place.Rubbishing the residents’ claim, SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon said he himself reached the village 30 minutes after receiving news from the control room.“I received a call form the control room around 3.30pm. My force, led by senior officers, reached the crime scene by 4pm,” he said.Ex-serviceman Nirmal Singh, who also worked as a security guard in a local bank, entered into a dispute with his neighbour Hira Singh over the construction of a fodder shed.Later, Nirmal Singh entered Hira Singh’s house in an inebriated condition and shot him dead. Hearing shrieks when Hira’s son Dilbagh Singh came out of his residence, he too was shot dead from close range.
Chennai: Army chief General Dalbir Singh on Saturday said the force was the “most admired and respected institution” in the country and it was even being recognised by the international community.
“Indian Army has an image. Our Army is the most admired and respected institution in the country. We have rendered exemplary service in the face of external and internal challenges,” he said in his address after reviewing a passing out parade at the Officers’ Training Academy here.
He said that Indian Army’s role in UN peacekeeping operations had been “lauded by the international community” and noted that Indian Army was not just for the power it represents, but also for maturity and responsibility.
Earlier, 183 cadets, including 37 women, passed out as officers following an impressive parade.
Among those inducted as officers were Lt Nikita A Nair, a former ‘May Queen Miss Pune’ who had walked the ramp for two fashion pageants, the Army said.
Lt G Vaishali was a professional Bharatnatyam dancer while Lt Balveer Singh Rathore from Jodhpur is the son of a tourist guide who wanted to make it to the Army.General Singh also gave away awards to outstanding cadets. http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/indian-army-most-admired-respected-institution-dalbir-singh_1864908.html
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 11
A section of locally based ex-servicemen have flayed the manner in which 75-year old medically unwell, Wing Commander CK Sharma (retd), treasurer of the Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Movement (IESM),was picked up by the Haryana Police from his Gurgaon residence on March 10.In a statement issued here today, Brig Harwant Singh, member of IESM’s governing body, said the retired officer was picked up in the night on flimsy charges filed by a disgruntled former functionary of IESM about some alleged financial discrepancy in the organisation’s accounts.He said it was a three-year-old case, which was investigated twice by the same police force and had been dismissed both times on the grounds that the charges were untenable. Even though the case was in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for anticipatory bail against the denial of the same by the lower court, and it was verbally conveyed by the court on 10 March to the defendants’ lawyer that no pre-emptive action was to be taken till the hearing on 11 March, and the same was conveyed to the police, he claimed.Yet the police arrested the veteran in a very humiliating manner, who was not even allowed to make phone calls or change from his night suit into normal clothes, he said, adding that this act seemed to be coercing ex-servicemen to close down their ongoing agitation over rectification of enormous anomalies in the one rank—one pension formula.
arlier, the wrestler had shared a patriotic poem in his Facebook post, after the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) controversy.
New Delhi: Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt launched a veiled attack on Kanhaiya Kumar for calling Indian Army rapists.
The celebrated wrestler took to Twitter, and said in the lines of “some people fed snakes only to let the serpents spew venom against our army brethren”.
It may be noted that Kumar, who is out in an six months interim bail, addressed a student’s gathering on International Women’s Day on Tuesday, with the BJP’s youth wing filing a police complaint for making “anti-national” statements.
“No matter how much you try to stop us, we will speak up against human rights violations. We will raise our voice against AFSPA. While we have a lot of respect for our soldiers, we will still talk about the fact that in Kashmir women are raped by security personnel,” Kanhaiya reportedly said while addressing students on Tuesday night.“During war in Rwanda 1000 women were raped. In Africa during the ethnic conflict, when military attacks other group firstly their women were raped. You take example of Gujarat, women were not just killed but were raped first,” he added.
Earlier, the wrestler had shared a patriotic poem in his Facebook post, after the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) controversy.
Washington, March 10
Restricting or conditioning of military aid to Pakistan will be detrimental to US interests as it may “reduce” the country’s willingness to continue its counterterrorism operations, top Pentagon commanders have warned lawmakers.
“The risks of ineffective and unclear signals and conditioning may risk us losing our access and frank dialogue to Pakistan in areas critical to our US interests,” General Joseph L. Votel, nominee of the Commander of US Central Command told members of Senate Armed Services Committee during a confirmation hearing.
Votel warned that curtailing aid “may reduce” Pakistan’s willingness to continue its counterterrorism and counterinsurgency (CT/COIN) and “risks our current access” to Pakistan Air Lines of Communication and Ground Lines of Communication to support operations in Afghanistan and the region.
“We will need to continue cooperation with Pakistan to defeat al-Qaeda, support Pakistan’s stability, and achieve a lasting peace in Afghanistan,” said Lieutenant General Raymond Thomas, nominee for US Special Operations Command during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The US-Pakistan relationship is fundamental to our vital national security interests, Thomas said.
“If confirmed, I would in consultation with Commander United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) continue to evaluate the specifics of the relationship based on my assessment of our shared interests with Pakistan and its effectiveness of achieving our shared goals,” Thomas said.
“I will continue to evaluate the efficacy of the SOF-to-SOF military cooperation we have with Pakistan and identify ways in which we can support USCENTCOM efforts to work with Pakistan to enhance regional stability,” Thomas added.
Votel said Pakistan’s counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns remain vital to targeting militants that threaten the United States and Pakistan.
“Our security assistance, which focuses on enhancing Pakistani CT/COIN capabilities is critical in this regard,” he said, adding that the risks and benefits of conditioning US assistance and support to Pakistan vary.
“The important thing will be for the United States to maintain credibility while still accruing benefits toward our US CT/COIN interests,” he added.
“If we are able to strike such a balance and remain consistent in our bilateral relationship, we may see Pakistan increase its transparency and cooperation with Afghanistan on the full range of security, border control, and economic issues,” he said.
“Likewise, Pakistan may take further action against violent extremist organisations, such as Haqqani network,” Vitol said. — PTI
