In all, 22 farmer leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of the protesting farmer unions, which are spearheading anti-farm laws’ movement, are campaigning against the BJP in West Bengal. In the absence of the senior farmer leaders, the second-line leadership is maintaining the protest at the Singhu border.
The SKM had decided in the meeting held on March 1 at the Singhu border to campaign against the BJP and its alliance in five poll-bound states and it started the campaign from Kolkata in West Bengal two days ago.
As per the scheduled programme, 22 farmer leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Gurnam Singh Charuni and Medha Patkar, are on a tour of poll-bound West Bengal.
These leaders are holding panchayats in in Bengal. The SKM delegation addressed mahapanchayats in Singur and Asansol in the state on Sunday.
Darshan Pal Singh, president, Krantikari Kisan Union, said: “I am at the Singhu border and the second line of some farmer union groups are with me and we are managing all the things well at the dharna site. Some leaders would come back late at night today, while some others will arrive tomorrow.”
22 touring WB
As per the SKM programme, 22 farmer leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Gurnam Singh Charuni and Medha Patkar, are touring the poll-bound West Bengal to campaign against the BJP.
Haryana Rajya Sabha MP Lt General Vats appeals to soldierly magnanimity of Capt Amarinder Singh
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. File photo
Ravi S Singh Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 15
BJP MP in Rajya Sabha from Haryana Lt General (retd) Dr DP Vats on Monday appealed to the inherent virtues of “benevolence and magnanimity” of a military veteran in Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in allowing Haryana’s share of rivers’ waters.
Taking part in a discussion on the working of Jal Shakti Ministry in Rajya Sabha, Lt General Vats said that although commissions and the Supreme Court have upheld the cause of Haryana with regard to its share of 3.5 MAF of rivers’ waters through SYL from Punjab, the state was not receiving the same.
A lot many issues between Haryana and Punjab are unsettled, including the state capital.
He said that after Haryana was carved out of Punjab in 1966, it did not have any river allocated to it.
However, bulk of the allocated share of Haryana’s share of waters flow into the seas.
He said that the waters to be drawn vide SYL to Haryana are to cater to the southern region of the state, which is a home of the ex-servicemen.
He referred to iconic Major Shaitan Singh of Kumao Regiment, who led a successful counter to the aggression of the Chinese Army during 1962 Sino-India conflict at Rezang La pass along LAC at the expense of his life, was a native of the Ahirwal belt in south Haryana.
It is often the case that mortal remains of soldiers from the region often return draped in Tricolour.
“The Punjab government is headed by a military veteran. I hope that in the tradition of benevolence and large-heartedness of a soldier, he would facilitate the flow of Haryana’s share of waters.”
He was critical of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for speaking in forked tongue on the issue of SYL and Haryana’s share of waters from Punjab.
Without naming the Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, he said the former is a native of Haryana.
However, during elections in Punjab he says Haryana has no share.
But in Delhi, he accuses Haryana of not providing water to Delhi, Lt General Vats added.
He further said that AAP indulges in double standards with regard to Haryana’s interest on the water issue even though two of its sitting three Rajya Sabha MPs are natives of the state.
LeT militant too shot | 3 youths, cop hurt in clashes
J&K DGP Dilbag Singh, along with Kashmir IGP Vijay Kumar, reviews a meeting with Police, Army and CRPF officers in Anantnag on Monday. PTI
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 15
Top Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Sajjad Afghani has been killed in an encounter at Rawalpora area of Shopian district in South Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh confirmed that Afghani, who was instrumental in recruiting terrorists, had been killed in the encounter that entered its third day.
Another terrorist killed in the encounter has been identified as Jahangir Ahmad Wani from Rakh Narapora, who was affiliated to Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Jaish-e-Mohammed commander Sajjad Afghani
Kashmir IGP Vijay Kumar congratulated the joint force of J&K Police, Army’s 34 Rashtriya Rifles and the CRPF for eliminating Afghani during the three-day encounter that started on Saturday after inputs regarding presence of terrorists.
A joint cordon and search operation was launched by the forces on Saturday. The police said after the presence of terrorists was ascertained during the search operation, they were given an opportunity to surrender, but the terrorists fired indiscriminately at the joint search party, which retaliated, leading to an encounter.
The J&K Police said even on Sunday morning they made repeated announcements, telling the hiding terrorists to surrender but the terrorists fired at the joint search party, which led to Jahangir Ahmad Wani’s death.
One US-made M4 carbine, three magazines, 36 armor piercing rounds and Rs 9,600 were recovered from the slain militant’s possession at the encounter site, the J&K Police said, adding that three residential houses, from where the militants were firing, were damaged after security forces fired mortars.
Meanwhile, three youths and a police constable were injured in clashes as part of the three-day encounter where security forces initially fired pellets, burst teargas shells and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the stone-pelting demonstrators on Sunday.
Farm labourers under the banner of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union protest in Bathinda on Monday. photo: Pawan Sharma
Bathinda, March 15
Scores of labourers under the banner of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union staged a protest at the Dana mandi area here against the three contentious agricultural laws and recent amendments being made to labour laws.
Also, on a call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a separate protest was also organised by different unions, including contractual workers from government departments, farmers and labourers in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Bathinda. Farm labourers, including men and women, held a rally in the local grain market and later carried out a protest march in the city.
Union president Zora Singh Nasrali said, “The government is betraying the country by selling out all natural resources, public and agricultural sectors to corporate houses. The atrocities against the Dalits and caste discrimination have increased manifold and the democratic rights of people have been crushed.” “New land reforms have to be introduced in order to empower landless labourers and Dalits in the country,” he added.
BKU (Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan praised the effort of farm labourers. He appealed to the youth to participate in the rally at the Sunam grain market on March 21 to pay tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. — TNS
The Sarpanch Union and the Bhartiya Kisan Mazdoor Union will hold a kisan mahapanchayat — Maha Kisan Mazdoor Ekta Rally — at the new grain market, Sirhind Mandi, on March 24.
He said farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Gurnam Singh Chaduni had confirmed their participation and Rakesh Tikait’s secretary had also assured his participation.
He said talks with Ruldu Singh Mansa and Jagjit Singh Dalewal were on and their consent was awaited. He added that besides these farm union leaders, singer Babbu Maan and a few other artistes would also participate. He called upon all farm unions, supporters, traders and others to participate in a large number. Meanwhile, leaders of various farm unions today staged a protest outside the DC office against increase in fuel price and handed over a memorandum to him. — TNS
India’s import of arms decreases by 33 per cent, says SIPRI
It said the drop in Indian arms imports seemed to have been the result of the country’s complex procurement processes
File photo for representation.
New Delhi, March 15
India’s import of arms decreased by 33 per cent between 2011–15 and 2016–20 and Russia was the most affected supplier, according to a report released on Monday by Stockholm-based defence think-tank SIPRI.
It said the drop in Indian arms imports seemed to have been the result of the country’s complex procurement processes combined with an attempt to reduce its dependence on Russian arms.
In the last few years, India has taken a series of measures to boost domestic defence industry with an aim to reduce dependence on imported military platforms and hardware.
In reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said approval (Acceptance of Necessity) was given to 112 proposals between 2018-19 and 2020-21 (till December) worth around Rs 1.99 lakh crore under various categories of capital acquisition to promote the domestic defence manufacturing.
The report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said, “Arms imports by India decreased by 33 per cent between 2011–15 and 2016–20. Russia was the most affected supplier, although India’s imports of US arms also fell, by 46 per cent.”
“The drop in Indian arms imports seems to have been mainly due to its complex procurement processes, combined with an attempt to reduce its dependence on Russian arms. India is planning large-scale arms imports in the coming years from several suppliers,” it said.
The government has been majorly focusing on boosting domestic defence production and set a target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore (USD 25 billion) turnover in defence manufacturing by 2025.
In May, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rolled out a number of reform measures for the defence sector including making separate budgetary outlay to procure Indian-made military hardware, increasing FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent under the automatic route and generating a year-wise negative list of weapons which won’t be imported.
The SIPRI report said Russia and China both saw their arms exports falling. Arms exports by Russia, which accounted for 20 per cent of all exports of major arms in 2016–20, dropped by 22 per cent to roughly the same level as in 2006–10.
“The bulk—around 90 per cent—of this decrease was attributable to a 53 per cent fall in its arms exports to India,” it said.
“Russia substantially increased its arms transfers to China, Algeria and Egypt between 2011–15 and 2016–20, but this did not offset the large drop in its arms exports to India,” said Alexandra Kuimova, a researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.
The report said exports by China, the world’s fifth largest arms exporter in 2016–20, decreased by 7.8 per cent between 2011–15 and 2016–20. Chinese arms exports accounted for 5.2 per cent of total arms exports in 2016–20. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Algeria were the largest recipients of Chinese arms, it added.
The SIPRI said the US remained the largest arms exporter, increasing its global share of arms exports from 32 to 37 per cent between 2011–15 and 2016–20, adding it supplied major arms to 96 states in 2016–20, far more than any other supplier.
“Almost half (47 per cent) of US arms transfers went to the Middle East. Saudi Arabia alone accounted for 24 per cent of total US arms exports. The 15 per cent increase in US arms exports between 2011–15 and 2016–20 further widened the gap between the US and second largest arms exporter Russia,” the report noted.
It said France increased its exports of major arms by 44 per cent and accounted for 8.2 percent of global arms exports in 2016–20. “India, Egypt and Qatar together received 59 per cent of French arms exports,” it said. PTI
Woman dentist camps at Tikri border in support of farmers
She is also involved in Trolly Talkies, which was started at Tikri border to show movies to the protesting farmers
Women from Punjab and Haryana participate in farmers protest against the Centre’s new farm laws, at Tikri border in Delhi. PTI file
New Delhi, March 15
Farmers protesting at various Delhi borders are garnering support from all sections of society. A lot of people have even left their jobs and work to support the cause.
Twentynine-year-old Navkiran Natt is one of those who’ve left her profession and joined her family at the Tikri border to express her solidarity with farmers in the protest against the farm laws.
Natt, along with her family, has been at the Tikri border for the last three months.
Natt, a dentist by profession, has completed a Master’s in Film Studies. Before joining the protest, she was doing internship in one of the projects related to film studies.
She told IANS, “I completed BDS from Panjab University and practised there for three years but the experience was not good so I joined a film studies course.”
“I have been at Tikri border for the last three months. After a lot of brainstorming on how we could support farmers, we began by making wall paintings. Then we started the Shaheed Bhagat Singh library at the three borders,” Natt added.
Natt is also involved in Trolly Talkies, which was started at Tikri border to show movies to the farmers protesting here.
Every evening, a show is being organised for the farmers. She is also part of the editorial team of Trolly Times—a newspaper distributed here. IANS
In a major crackdown on Kerala ISIS module led by accused Mohammed Ameen, the NIA today carried out searches at 11 locations, including eight locations in Kerala. Photo for representation only
New Delhi, March 15
In a major crackdown on Kerala ISIS module led by accused Mohammed Ameen, the NIA today carried out searches at 11 locations, including eight locations in Kerala spread over the districts of Kannur, Mallapuram, Kollam and Kasargod, two locations in Bengaluru and one location in Delhi in a case pertaining to terrorist activities of a group led by Ameen, a resident of Kerala.
Those arrested include Mushab Anuvar, Rahees Rashid and Mohammed Ameen. A senior NIA official said, “The group has been running various ISIS propaganda channels on different social media platforms such as Telegram, Hoop and Instagram for propagating violent Jihadi ideology of the ISIS and radicalising/recruiting new members.”
The NIA had registered the case against seven known and unknown persons under various sections of the IPC and the UAPA on March 5, 2021, the official said. According to the official, searches were conducted on the premises of accused Mohammed Ameen and his associates, who were members of various groups/channels on encrypted chat platforms.
“Laptops, mobiles, hard disks, pendrives, multiple SIM cards and incriminating documents were seized,” the official said. — TNS
CBI books personnel of armed force, their relatives in Army recruitment scam
The agency raids 30 locations in 13 cities across the country; recovers several incriminating documents
Photo for representation.
Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 15
The anti-graft central probe agency CBI on Monday said it has registered a case against five Lieutenant Colonels among 23 others in alleged Army recruitment scam and conducted searches at around 30 locations across the country.
CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said after receiving a complaint from the office of Additional Directorate General, Discipline & Vigilance, the agency has booked 23 people, including 17 Army officials, six private persons and others, on the allegations pertaining to bribery and irregularities in recruitment of officers and other ranks through Service Selection Board (SSB).
The spokesperson said, “Searches were conducted today at 30 places including Base Hospital in Delhi, other Army establishments, civilian areas covering 13 cities, including Kapurthala, Bathinda, Delhi, Kaithal, Palwal, Lucknow, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati, Jorhat and Chirang.”
He also said the searches led to recovery of several incriminating documents and the documents so recovered during searches are being scrutinised by the CBI officials.
Those Lieutenant Colonels against whom the case has been registered and their names mentioned in the CBI FIR include MVSNA Bhagwan, Surender Singh, Sukhdev Arora, Vinay and Navjot Singh Kanwar. The other Army personnel, who have been named in the FIR, are Major Bhavesh Kumar, Major Amit Fagna, Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh, Havildar Pawan Kumar, Havildar Rajesh Kumar, Havildar Harpal Singh, Naik Parwinder Jeet Singh, Sepoy Rohit Kanwar, Cadet Hemant Dagar and Cadet Inderjeet.
The CBI in its FIR has also named relatives of the Army officers as private persons and they included Pragati Singh, Devyanim wife of Major Bhavesh Kumar, Surender Singh, the father of Bhavesh Kumar, Usha Kumawat, the mother of Bhavesh Kumar, and Bhupender Bajaj, the brother-in-law of Lieutenant Colonel Surender Singh.
Manish Tewari | Does India have strategic interests in Afghanistan?
Since India is now going to sit at the high table to decide the future of Afghanistan it must seriously consider what real strategic interests it has in Afghanistan. (Photo: AP)
Manish Tewari is a lawyer and a former Union minister. The views expressed are personal. Twitter handle @manishtewari
Consider the following vignettes. A child born in the December of 1979 in Afghanistan would be today 41 years old. Across four decades that middle-aged person now has only known strife, violence and bloodshed as the only normal. It was on the 24th of December of that year, Soviet Tanks had rolled across the Amu Daraya to commence a brutal nine-year occupation of that antediluvian acreage situated on the crossroads of time.
It was the year 2016. For 15 long years Afghanistan had now been free of the malevolent influence of the Taliban. At a Track-2 event, I ran into a former chief of the Afghan National Army early one morning. I asked him, how is the situation in Afghanistan currently? He said we have democratic government, a free and a vibrant press — print, TV, radio and digital — encompassing over 1,800 media outlets, girls and women in schools and colleges. Any Afghan can even tell the President that he is in the wrong. It was a learning to see that a former military man was calculating the achievements of the past decade-and-a-half in intangibles rather than gain or loss of territory qua the Taliban.
Cut to 2021 and Joe Biden is the third consecutive President wanting to end America’s longest war. Two decades ago, the Americans had gone into Afghanistan after 9/11 hunting for Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda after the Taliban leader Mullah Omar refused to turn them over to the US. While Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar were both dead, the Taliban and even the Al Qaeda are both alive and kicking.
In fact, the United States, after holding leading elements of the Taliban leadership in primitively medieval incarceration in Guantanamo Bay for over 15 years or more, in a complete volte-face on February 29, 2020, cut a deal with the “same eminences” in Doha. One of the essential elements of the deal being total withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by 1st of May 2021
In a recent letter to President Ashraf Ghani, the new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken virtually read out the riot act to the Afghan government to fall in line with the latest US approach to the Afghan quagmire. The letter has been made public by the Afghan news outlet Tolo News. Neither has it been denied by the US or the Afghan government, respectively.
The missive sketches out the following modes for an across-the-board settlement to the Afghan imbroglio pegged on the desirability of an enduring ceasefire by the Taliban. It, therefore, envisages ministerial-level parleys under the auspices of the United Nations between Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran and India and the United States of America to deliberate upon a unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan, a senior-level meeting between the Taliban and the Afghan government hosted by Turkey to take place shortly to finalise a peace agreement between the two.
It mentions a revised plan to operationalise a ninety-day reduction in violence programme predicated upon thwarting a spring offensive by the Taliban. The dispatch further calls upon President Ghani to consider US proposals for a roadmap targeted at a new and inclusive Afghan government.
The letter closes with a rather portentous caveat stating: “We are considering the full withdrawal of our forces by May 1st, as we consider other options. Even with the continuation of financial assistance from the United States to your forces after an American military withdrawal, I am concerned the security situation will worsen and that the Taliban could make rapid territorial gains
Since India is now going to sit at the high table to decide the future of Afghanistan it must seriously consider what “real” strategic interests it has in Afghanistan.
Writing a decade earlier on the same question veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta opined, “It will still be a country of great strategic importance. But for whom, is the question. It will be of no strategic importance to us. None of our supplies or trade comes to Afghanistan. None of our bad guys hide there. No Afghan has ever been involved in a terror attack on India. In fact, almost never has a terror attack on us been even planned in the more precise Af-Pak region. They have all been planned and executed between Muzaffarabad, Muridke, Karachi and Multan. Almost never has an Afghan, Pakhtun, Baluch, Tajik, any ethnicity, been involved in a terror attack in India.
It’s always been the Punjabis. Ask anybody in the Indian army who has served in Kashmir and he will tell you that the intruders he fought were exactly of the same ethnic stock as the bulk of the Pakistani army he may have to fight in a real war: the Punjabi Muslims. Leave Afghanistan to the Pakistanis. If the Pakistani army thinks it can fix, subdue and control Afghanistan, after the British, Soviets and Americans have failed to do precisely this at the peak of each one’s superpowerdom, why not let the Pakistanis try their hand at it? If they pour another ten divisions and half of the ISI into that hapless country now, isn’t it that much of a relief for us on our western borders?”
This assessment is as relevant today as it was a decade ago. Hard questions with regard to our “real interests” in Afghanistan were never asked then and are not being asked even now. Would a foothold in Afghanistan help us in the event of a two-front war with China and Pakistan? Highly unlikely till the time we are not willing to put boots on the ground in Afghanistan. Is it desirable to put boots on the ground even if the Afghans were to request Indian military presence after the Americans leave? Highly undesirable. The last time India had seriously considered such a request was in early 2003 to deploy US forces in Iraq. Prime Minister Vajpayee had rightly refused to do so. Does a presence in Afghanistan open up new vistas for India in Central Asia? Not really, after Iran dropped India from the Chabahar to Zahedan just before it inked a USD 400 billion 25-year strategic partnership with China.
