UNCONVENTIONAL political leader that he is, Donald Trump chose to make Saudi Arabia his first port of call as President of the United States. After his first-ever major speech on Islam to leaders of 50 Muslim-majority countries, the jury is out: did he flunk his first test or did he develop cold feet? The leader of the most powerful country in the world is supposed to be indefatigable. But according to his spin masters, Trump was so exhausted in Saudi Arabia that instead of railing about “radical Islamic terrorism” he made a turnaround in the birthplace of Wahabism whose severe, puritan and, often, intolerant strain of Islam is held responsible for terrorism in many spots of the world.During this kind of dialogue with the new boss in the Oval Office, the Muslim leaders would have noticed that Trump forgot to berate Saudi Arabia for providing ideological fuel (and often direct military sustenance) to terrorists. The obvious explanation is Saudi Arabia’s massive $100 billion sweetener to the American military complex in the form of orders for war machines. For the most part, Trump had quite a mouthful to say about Islam and terrorism — that too in a tone and tenor radically different from the Muslim-bashing during his election days. He has jettisoned, more or less, the “clash-of-civilisation” thesis so eagerly embraced by neo-conservatives.But Trump’s obvious backsliding, even when laced with a $100 billion purchase order, did not go unnoticed. When he called on other nations to isolate Iran, Tehran promptly pointed out that these comments were a result of “milking Saudi Arabia”. His past record of backsliding, especially vis-à-vis China, had already made his reconciliatory speech to Muslims appear insincere. The $100 billion “gift” from Saudi Arabia and his refusal to pin it down must have only confirmed to the Arab political class that Trump was yet another US leader who dexterously strains to bridge the gulf between his words and deeds. Trump has barely started negotiating the treacherous world of West Asian politics. And he has pulled up short on his maiden outing.

The Army got its new artillery gun — the 155MM M777 howitzer — on Thursday. The gun, seen here operated by US soldiers against a Taliban position in Afghanistan, will replace the Bofors gun that saw service in Kargil. The ultralight M777s will be deployed in the north and east sectors. BAE will provide 25 fully­built units, and 120 more will be Made in India.See page 14

India on Thursday received its first artillery guns in almost 30 years after the Bofors scandal unfolded in the late 1980s. The two M777s that arrived in New Delhi are part of a $750-million contract with the US for 145 ultra-light howitzers.

The operation will continue till May 23. AFP file photo

Jaisalmer, May 17

The BSF has started operation ‘Garam Hawa’ in the western sector in Rajasthan, under which vigil along the International Border with Pakistan has been stepped up.

The operation, which started on Monday, will continue till May 23.

The operation is being conducted as chances of infiltration across the border increase during intense heatwave conditions, BSF DIG Ravi Gandhi said.

He said the main aim is to reinforce and strengthen the BSF’s vigil along the border during summer. PTI

Coming closer: Russian President Vladimir Putin with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Sunday. AFP

Beijing, May 14

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $124 billion on Sunday for his new Silk Road plan to forge a path of peace, inclusiveness and free trade, and called for the abandonment of old models based on rivalry and diplomatic power games.Xi used a summit on the initiative, attended by leaders and top officials from around the world, to bolster China’s global leadership ambitions as US President Donald Trump questions existing global free trade deals.“We should build an open platform of cooperation and uphold and grow an open world economy,” Xi told the opening of the two-day gathering in Beijing. China has touted what it formally calls the Belt and Road initiative as a new way to boost global development since Xi unveiled the plan in 2013, aiming to expand the country’s links to Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond underpinned by massive infrastructure investment.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Massive funding boost

Xi pledged a major funding boost to the new Silk Road, including an extra 100 billion yuan ($14.50 billion) into the existing Silk Road Fund, 380 billion yuan in loans from two policy banks and 60 billion yuan in aid to developing countries and international bodies in countries along the new trade routes.Leaders from 29 countries attended the forum, as well as the heads of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and World Bank.Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a close Chinese ally, praised China’s “vision and ingenuity”. “Such a broad sweep and scale of interlocking economic partnerships and investments is unprecedented in history,” Sharif said.India refused to send an official delegation to Beijing, reflecting displeasure with China for developing a $57 billion trade corridor through Pakistan that also crosses the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. “No country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said Indian foreign ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay, adding that there were concerns about host countries taking on “unsustainable debt”. China plans to import $2 trillion of products from countries participating in its Belt and Road initiative over the next five years, commerce minister Zhong Shan said.

Unease over summit

But some Western diplomats have expressed unease about both the summit and the plan as a whole, seeing it as an attempt to promote Chinese influence globally. They are also concerned about transparency and access for foreign firms to the scheme.“We will not interfere in other countries’ internal affairs. We will not export our system of society and development model, and even more will not impose our views on others. In advancing the Belt and Road, we will not re-tread the old path of games between foes. Instead we will create a new model of cooperation and mutual benefit,” Xi said. — Reuters

Of late one increasingly hears and reads about the weaknesses in the Army’s Officer class: Law suits in the Court, statutory complaints, representations, sexual aberrations and so on. If a disciplined, motivated and specifically groomed part of our society is so affected then it is a cause for society’s and nation’s concern. Treating it as a holy cow, an exclusivist organisation not to be touched will only exacerbate the malaise.

Obedience is the sine qua non of the philosphy of soldiering. Brought up in the environment of taking every and any order ‘as a challenge and a task to be successfully tackled officers find it difficult to say no even to an unjust order. Psychologically the soldier’s pleasure of doing his superior’s bidding is great and materially equally lucrative. It satisfied his sense of duty and holds promises of advancement. Habituated to being led or ordered, and inured to that undying dictum “set example .. In his ethos charity never begins at home! As he grows in age and weight of senior rank, he sinks into no committing remoteness or studied unwillingness because the onus of interpreting orders and setting example inexorably descend on him. Whichever army has broken this chain has prospered. And history shows that more often than not those who break this chain are the middle-piece ofl1cers colonels and brigadiers.
Read more at:
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/spotlights/what-ails-the-armys-officer-class/

A file photo of the Dhola-Sadiya bridge over the Brahmaputra. — PTI

Dibrugarh, May 14

India’s longest river bridge, capable of withstanding the weight of a 60-tonne battle tank, will be inaugurated in Assam close to the border with China on May 26 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.With the inauguration of the 9.15-km Dhola-Sadiya bridge over the Brahmaputra river, the Prime Minister will kick off the celebrations of the NDA government’s three years in office from this eastern-most part of Assam.The construction of the bridge is seen as an attempt by India to shore up its defence infrastructure along the Sino-Indian border. It is also part of the Centre’s endeavour to improve connectivity in the region.It is 3.55 km longer than the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai, making it the longest bridge in India.”The prime minister will dedicate the strategically important bridge to the nation on May 26. It will bolster road connectivity in the Northeast as the bridge will be used by people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh besides defence forces extensively,” Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told PTI.The construction of the bridge began in 2011 at a project cost of Rs 950 crore. It has been designed to withstand the movement of military tanks.”Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have huge strategic value to the country. Since the bridge is located close to our border with China, it will help quick movement of military troops and artillery in times of conflict,” Sonowal said.The bridge is located 540 km from Assam capital Dispur and 300 km from Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar. The aerial distance to the Chinese border is less than 100 km.After Kaliabhomora bridge near Tezpur, there is no bridge over the Brahmaputra for the next 375 km upstream till Dhola, where the new one has been constructed. Currently, all transportation between the two banks of the river is through water.The bridge, when opened to public, will cut down the travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by as much as four hours.As there is no civilian airport in Arunachal Pradesh and this bridge will help people of the state reach the nearest rail head in Tinsukia and the airport in Dibrugarh easily.Sonowal said the construction of the bridge was expedited after Modi assumed the charge in 2014. The bridge was originally scheduled to open in 2015.The BJP government in Assam will complete one year in office on May 24.The bridge is one of the key projects of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in the northeast and has been built in public-private partnership. — PTI 

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 14

Two militants were killed in a gunfight in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Sunday.The gunfight broke this afternoon at Waripora Handwara, some 80 km from Srinagar, when police and Army launched a joint operation in the area.” As the operation was underway, militants hiding in the area opened fire triggering an encounter. Two militants were killed in the gunfight,” police sources said.A senior police officer said that two slain militants belonged to the Lashkar-e- Toiba militant organisation.

Army men near the site of the encounter in Handwara on Sunday. Tribune Photo: Amin War

Majid Jahangir & Amin Masoodi

Tribune News Service

Srinagar/Handwara, May 14

In a major breakthrough, security forces killed two Pakistani Lashkar-e-Toiba militants who were a part of the fidayeen attack on an artillery garrison in Kupwara on April 27 that left three Army men, including an officer dead.The militants were killed in a brief gunfight in Kupwara district on Sunday when joint teams of the Army and the police launched an anti-militancy operation in Waripora village of Handwara, around 100 km from Srinagar.“Two fidayeen Lashkar militants killed in Waripora were a part of the infiltrating group that launched an attack on an Army base in Panzgam Kupwara,” J&K Police chief SP Vaid said.The Commanding Officer of 21 Rashtriya Rifles, Colonel Kuldeep Singh, said they had found evidence that confirmed the involvement of the two militants in the Panzgam attack.“We have found a wound on one of the eliminated terrorist which is indicative of likely involvement of these two terrorists in the Panzgam attack. We have found some other evidence, including the war-like stores,” Colonel Kuldeep Singh told reporters.In the first fidayeen attack of the year, an Army captain, two soldiers and two militants were killed while a militant managed to flee from the Army base at Panzgam on April 27. The artillery garrison close to the Line of Control was stormed by the militants from the rear of the camp by cutting the barbed wire.Today’s firefight erupted when the Army’s 21 RR battalion and Special Operations Group of the police, launched an anti-militancy operation following inputs about the presence of the militants.“During the 10-minute firefight, two LeT militants were killed. Their identity is being ascertained but they appear to be Pakistani nationals linked to the Lashkar,” Senior Superintendent of Police, Handwara, Ghulam Jeelani said.“Two AK-47 rifles, two pistols, four AK magazines, two pistol magazines, two UBGL grenades and other articles, including maps, were recovered from the encounter site,” he said.Police sources said for the last one week, the forces had been closely following leads about the presence of the two ultras in the area.

Mystery blast in Tral

Three persons were injured in a mysterious blast in the Tral area of Pulwama district on Saturday night. The police said the incident was being investigated. TNS

AK rifle recovered

An AK rifle and three magazines were recovered in Handwara on Sunday. The police said the recovery was made during the demolition of an old mosque in the Rajwar area of Handwara. “The locals found an AK rifle and three magazines during the demolition of an old masjid sharief in Lashipora, Rajwar. Later, the villagers informed the police and handed over the rifle and magazines to them,” a police spokesman said. TNS

The killing of Lieutenant Umar Fayaz, a Kashmiri in the Indian Army, in Shopian in South Kashmir, obliterates all the distinction between the soldiers on duty and those on leave. This is a gruesome departure even from the standards of terrorism. It is a horrible manifestation of the prevailing culture of hate in which anyone siding with the security forces is considered an enemy and has to be purged. The tacit approval of such atrocious acts of the Kashmiri awaam — out of fear or out of sympathy for them — is an invitation for more violence.In this atmosphere governance has gone for a six. Governance has fallen victim to violence and the fear-gripped politics. The political space has shrunk to an alarming level. The reopening of the government offices in Srinagar on Monday as part of the durbar move practice saw the resumption of protests with greater intensity. Nothing has changed for the people, and the government is as remote as it has been since July last year when the killing of a militant, Burhan Wani,  pushed governance to the margins. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti finds herself isolated as ministers and others flee the Valley as and when she needs them the most. The aimless ministerial reshuffle earlier this year has added to her woes. The ministers and other PDP leaders grudgingly accept her as their leader. Her political constituency and charisma have suffered an almost irreparable dent.The alliance partner, the BJP, is caught in its own infighting. It speaks in multiple voices. One of its spokespersons, arguing that since the Kashmir situation is not conducive for the people of Jammu to visit violence-swept  Srinagar, has called for an “abandoning” of the more-than-century old durbar move practice which is based on the idea of making governance  more  accessible  to the peoples  of the two regions on a rotational basis. The party is missing a larger point. The closure of the durbar in Kashmir amounts to a withdrawal from the Valley. It would have a profound impact on the integrity of Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP is betraying signs of a clueless leadership.