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| Act against terrorists or face Indian action, BJP to Musharraf CHENNAI, Dec 16: The Bharatiya Janata Party today warned Pakistan to take action against terrorist outfits responsible for the December 13 terror attacks on Parliament house or risk Indian action. .....more Will the
Idgah construction KOLAR, Dec 16: The proposed construction of Idgah by the district Wakf Board at Ganeshkindi village ...more How and when India NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Much as it may deny, Pakistan has allowed anti-India terrorists to set up bases in its....more BJP to project Koshiyari DEHRADUN, Dec 16: BJP will project Bhagat Singh Koshiyari as its Chief Ministerial ......more |
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Italian Ambassador for joint efforts in culture, tourism LUCKNOW, Dec 16 : Italian Ambassador to India Benedetto Amari has called for joint efforts by India and...more India,
Bangla for SAJNEKHALI (WB), Dec 16: The Governments of India and Bangladesh have agreed to form a joint team......more Is J&K Assembly built on JAMMU, Dec 16: Is the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and Civil Secretariat here built on "illegally .......more Controversial emergency
procurements NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Arms and military equipment manufacturers in Russia, Israel and South Africa were the main beneficiaries |
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Act
against terrorists or face Indian action, CHENNAI, Dec 16: The Bharatiya Janata Party today warned Pakistan to take action against terrorist outfits responsible for the December 13 terror attacks on Parliament house or risk Indian action. Pakistan was "on test" on its professed global fight against terrorism and it would have to ‘pay a heavy price’ if it failed to take action against the terrorists, BJP president Jana Krishnamurthy told reporters. Mr Krishnamurthy dismissed as ‘flippant’, Pakistan President Gen Musharraf’s accusation that the attack was ‘stage managed’ by India. The general sentiment prevailing in the country was that when the us, crossing continents, could wage war against Afghanistan as a retaliation to the September 11 terror attacks in its country, should India not strike at the terrorist bases in a neighbouring country from where attacks were launched. The Indian authorities had obtained clinching evidence about the role of Pakistan-based terrorists in the December 13 attacks, he claimed. On question of the "punitive action" against Pakistan leading to a nuclear conflict, Mr Krishnamurthy said ‘the Government is well aware of its capabilities vis a vis its neighbour’. "The defence forces are fully prepared to face any contingency. Nothing will deter us from taking any action to safeguard our interests," he asserted. Mr Krishnamurthy said the Government was in touch with the United States and many other countries in wake of the December 13 attack and the response was ‘positive’. "I don’t think any country has any reservation on fighting terrorism," he said on the Russian advice to maintain restraint. He evaded a direct reply when asked whether the party advocated hot pursuit. The entire nation wanted the Government to take action against the terrorists, Mr Krishnamurthy said adding it was for the Government to take "an appropriate action at an appropriate time". The "minorities" of this country were as patriotic as the majority community, he said. Mr Krishnamurthy castigated congress and other opposition parties for "not standing by the Government even in the matter of national security." "It was most unfortunate," he regretted adding the Congress should not politicise even security issues. The BJP president indicated that the Government would go ahead with the action against terrorism despite the opposition’s failure to rally behind it. However, he hoped that the Congress would fall in line. If they failed, the nation would make them (fall in line), he added. He said the BJP was observing December 18 to 23 as "Sankalp Diwas" (day of resolve) to mobilise support for the Government to fight terrorism. "Instead of seeking people’s mandate the congress was stalling the proceedings in Parliament. This is not democracy. There is a legitimate way of coming back to power," he said. Mr Krishnamurthy said the attack was not because of security or intelligence failure. Even in the best of security arrangements there could be weak links, he noted. The BJP president paid homage to the securitymen who sacrificed their lives defending Parliament against the terrorists. (UNI) |
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Will the Idgah construction be in the doldrums? KOLAR, Dec 16: The proposed construction of Idgah by the district Wakf Board at Ganeshkindi village near Kolar is snowballing into a major controversy for the district administration. As already reported, the Wakf Board’s decision to construct Idgah at the village triggered off controversies as some village residents objected to the Board’s action in filling upto two Kalyanis (holy ponds) which they claimed was a drinking water source. In the meantime, some villagers, Hindu organisations including Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagaran Manch staked their claim that the land belonged to them as the Ganesh Temple was situated in the site. Mr Liyakath Ali Khan, Chairman of District Wakf Board, had claimed that the Board possessed all documents to prove that the land actually belonged to it. Speaking at a press conference here, he said the land which had been given under "Makan Inamthi" had been handed over to the Board during 1965. He also said 3.03 acres of land where the Board was planning to have Idgah was litigation-free. "The Muslim population has been on the rise in the recent past and with the present idgah situated on the Bangalore road becoming congested, the Board is planning a second one near Sangondhalli," he said and appealed to the Hindu brethren to "co-operate with the Muslim minorities and allow them to celebrate the festival on a grand scale". Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner K Keshavachari said he had verified all records with the District Wakf Board from the Revenue Department and it revealed that the land belonged to the board. "I had a meeting with the BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal leaders and appealed to them not to create any disturbances and they have agreed for the same," he added. However, according to a press note from some villagers in Sangondahalli and neighbouring villages, they would perform a day-long Pooja at the Ganesh Temple situated at the site on Monday. Following this, two ministers including the District-in-charge Minister V Muniyappa and Mr Roshan Baig today rushed to Kolar and held separate discussions with both the Muslim and Hindu leaders and appealed to them to "not rake up fresh controversies". But both leaders stood firm on to their stand and the district administration would hold a meeting again today over the issue. Mr K V Suresh Kumar, convener of State Auto Morcha, also present in the press conference, urged the district administration to take steps to "re-dig the Kalyanis", conduct a fresh survey of the disputed site and take steps for construction of the Ganesh temple at the same site. (UNI) |
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How and when India should strike back NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Much as it may deny, Pakistan has allowed anti-India terrorists to set up bases in its country and the only way for India is to wage a counter proxy war that "hurts it (Pakistan) politically, economically, paramilitarily and militarily till it abandons its sponsorship," says B Raman, a top security expert in a new book. As India smarts under the attack on its Parliament with evidence of involvement of Pak-based terrorist outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba with a school of thought suggesting hot pursuit, Raman, a retired senior officer from Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), points out that "ideas such as the right of hot pursuit, raids on training camps across the Line of Control (LoC) will not work." "The question of raids on training camps across LoC (Line of Control) does not arise because the camps are located on either side of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and not in PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) or NA (Northern Areas)," writes Raman in "A terrorist state as a frontline ally." "Hot pursuit can work against terrorists, insurgents indulging in hit and run raids from rear bases across the border. There cannot be hot pursuit of terrorists operating from shelters inside our territory and against suicide bombers," he points. In the book, written after the september 11 horrific attacks on the World Trade Centre towers in USA, Raman writes that the policy of dealing with conventional terrorism policy based on the principle of passive defence has not paid us in good stead. It will not so in future "unless and until the Pakistani army is made to realise that a proxy war is a game which two people can play and that India can play it more effectively and conclusively than Pakistan," he asserts. Raman’s idea of a counter proxy war is that of a carefully-planned policy that has to have an overt and a covert component. The overt component, according to him, relates to extending political, moral and diplomatic support to the alientated sections of PoK and NA in their agitations and struggles against the Government of Pakistan. Another dimension of the overt methodology is to highlight the "atrocities" of Islamabad in these areas that have gone un-noticed in the international arena so far. The world, for instance, does not know, that the PoK Assembly does not have any financial powers, that the budgets are prepared in Islamabad and that the Chief Secretary and other senior officials of the na are either Punjabis or Pakhtoons, that the people of na have never participated in elections to Pakistan’s National Assembly and are governed even today as the frontier tribals of British India were before independence, he writes. The covert part of the operation has to be well thought out, says the author, warning that it should not be pok or na "because of the presence of a strong Punjabi- Pakhtoon component in the local population." "The epicentre of the covert component of any counter proxy war policy has to be in areas where we will have the advantages of ground conditions and local support. We have to choose the terrain, which will hurt Pakistan and hurt it badly," he emphasises. The drafting of such a policy has to be entrusted to a special task force on a time bound basis, and once adopted its implementation has to be the responsibility of a counter proxy war centre in the External Intelligence Department, he writes cautioning that "the policy would also have to be executed in a manner that it does not come in the way of the US-led war in Afghanistan which, if successful, would have spin-off benefits for India such as Thomy of Pakistan and Afghanistan, of the training infrastructure in Afghan territory and of open channels of money transfer. The author, however, is also critical of US approach to Pakistan post-September 11 in its war against terrorism : "Instead of acting firmly against the military junta and insisting on its dismantling the terrorist infrastructure on its territory, the USA has chosen to reward it by removing even the existing sanctions and projecting the junta as the USA’s strategic ally in the "war" against terrorism." "Instead of controlling terrorism, this unwise policy would only further aggravate the threats from Pakistan and Afghanistan based terrorists to the rest of the world," warns Raman. According to the security expert, "whatever be the outcome of the US-led `war’ against international terrorism, Pakistan will continue its proxy war against India through its Jihadi surrogates even while denying links with control over them." "Any optimism of a reduction in violence and cross-border terrorism as a result of the "war" would be misplaced," says the author. "We have till now treated our intelligence agencies essentially as intelligence collection, analysis and assessment agencies and not given them an adequate covert action/counter proxy war capability. This capability is an urgent need," says Raman. (PTI) |
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Is J&K Assembly built on ‘illegally occupied’ land? JAMMU, Dec 16: Is the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and Civil Secretariat here built on "illegally occupied" land? This is what has been alleged by a committee of a temple situated inside the complex, which claims the land belongs to it and has asked the Government to vacate it. "The land under Khasra No. 229 to 249 is illegally occupied by the Jammu and Kashmir Government. The buildings of Civil Secretariat, Assembly, Council, Mini Secretariat, MLAs Hostel, office of the Directorate of Health and other constructions are illegally constructed," Committee president Sat Pal Saini claimed. The General Council of the ancient Bua-Datti Temple committee held an emergency meeting here and passed a resolution asking the State Government to vacate the land. He warned that the temple committee will launch a mass movement if the land was not vacated. The committee of the temple, which has existed within the Secretariat Complex for more than 60 years, has been provoked recently due to inconveniences to the devotees caused because of tight security measures. The temple management alleges that the security measures at the complex create problems in day-to-day functioning and devotees who throng the temple everyday face "a lot of harassment" at the hands of security personnel. According to the management, the Government was urged to fulfill some demands but "unfortunately, the Government is using delaying tactics to avoid us". Among the main demands of the committee submitted to the Government, were creation of a separate entrance to the temple and halt to cooking and use of non-vegetarian food inside the secretariat canteen. It also alleged that toilet water was entering the temple as toilets of the Assembly were situated on its roof. The committee had also demanded that nobody be allowed to walk on the roof of the temple with shoes on besides possession of room of the temple lying closed. Saini said several meetings were held with the authorities from time to time and the latter had agreed to provide a separate entrance to the temple and remove the flower bed from the rooftop of the temple. Authorities had also agreed to fulfill other demands but later reneged on it, he claimed. "Taking all the circumstances into consideration and negative attitude of the Government towards the genuine demands of Bua-Datti temple management committee, the general council adopted the resolution," Saini said. (PTI) |
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Controversial emergency
procurements NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Arms and military equipment manufacturers in Russia, Israel and South Africa were the main beneficiaries of the controversial emergency procurements made by India during the Kargil conflict, an issue that has rocked the defence and political establishment of the country. Firms from these countries together accounted for more than Rs 1000 crore worth of contracts for supplies that reached well after the cessation of hostilities and in no way supported the operations against Pakistani intruders. The latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which revealed bunglings in the contracts made during May-June, 1999, including those in the matter of coffins from an American firm, said the excuse of Kargil was cited to push through procurements that would otherwise have been scrutinised more closely. Others benefiting from the lopsided acquisitions during Kargil war were companies from Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, Romania, Sweden, Germany and Bulgaria. The KBP, Tula firm from Russia won orders for terminally guided munitions (Krasnapol), flame throwers and automatic grenade launchers while RVZ, Russia got deals for various types of ammunition and sniper rifles. The Russian contracts were worth over Rs 650 crore. The CAG said Operation Vijay in Kargil seemed an excuse for pushing through the procurement of Krasnapol as it may not have otherwise qualified because of limitations in high altitude areas and incompatibility with the 155mm gun in respect of certain charges. Despite the urgency of the procurement of various ammunition by Army headquarters for Operation Vijay, the Government concluded a rs 402.76 crore contract with RVZ through two contracts only in August and December, 1999. The contracts stipulated that the ammunition should be new, unused and of current production but it was found that the shelf life of four types, valued at Rs 74.59 crores, had already expired at the time of conclusion of the contract. The 600 flame throwers, each costing 3600 dollars, were procured at a total cost of Rs 18.22 crores even though it did not meet operational requirements and the delivery commenced in August, 1999 thereby being non-available during the Kargil operations, the CAG said. The automatic grenade launchers, from KBP, fell short of quality standards, while in the deal for sniper rifles from tula, no night vision device was provided in the initial contract. In June, 1999, the deal was struck with the Israeli Military Industries Limited for 26,000 rounds of ammunition for T-72 tanks at a cost of Rs 116.83 crores. Operation vijay and the relaxation in procedures enabled the Government to conclude the contract for the ammunition even though deployment of the T-72 tanks was not possible in the high altitude areas of Kargil. Surveillance radars (short range) were ordered from Elta of Israel at a higher cost and battlefield surveillance radars, also from Elta, were not delivered till April this year. The procurement of high speed data modem for man pack radio sets from Israel’s tardiancom was a redundant purchase, the CAG felt. South African companies were given contracts worth more than Rs 154 crores. These were for 155mm red phosphorous ammunition, anti bunker weapon system, illuminating ammunition for 155 mm, universal variable times fuses and anti material rifles, from the companies Denel and Stalza. Even though the 155mm red phosphorous was projected as urgently required for Operation Vijay, the first lot of 1200 rounds came one year later in June, 2000. The anti bunker weapon system came in December, 1999, four months after being ready for despatch, and the illuminating ammunition in May, 2000. The first delivery of 6 anti material rifles, scheduled to come within 15 days of the signing of the contract in July, 1999, came only in December, several months after the Kargil conflict was over. Italian companies, Simmel Difesa, Asolo Italia and Camp Spa, got total contracts worth Rs 180 crore for special ammunition for 40 mm l-70 guns, multipurpose boots and gloves. The Rs 166 crore deal for pre fragmented proximity fuse and ap(t) ammunition was struck even though the company had not completely delivered till 1999 what it was to supply against a contract of 1997. The boots from Asolo were too small and the gloves made by camp spa also could not be used. More than Rs 54 crore worth sleeping bags, special woolen socks and multipurpose boots were ordered from the Swiss company Aptech. The sleeping bags came only in December, 1999, and the socks were rejected due to variance in wool and polyamide content. UK firms got orders for underslung cargo nets, spares for combat engineer tractors, rubber hoops and kolos tyres, France’s Thompson CSF Optoniq was given a Rs 41.95 crore contract for hand held thermal imagers, Bulgaria’s Kintex SCH for under barrel grenade launchers, Sweden’s Celsius Weapon System for spares for 155 mm guns, Romania’s RA Romtechnica for AK-47 rounds and a German firm for hand held mine detectors. In almost every case, the delivery was either delayed, did not conform to the quality requirements or was procured from vendors who did not bid the lowest, the CAG said. (UNI) |
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