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EDITORIAL Prime Minister A B Vajpayee says that entire scheme of peace process initiated by him more than a month back will be reviewed in the light of continued violence engineered by Pak sponsored terrorists. Cabinet Committee on Security would take a decision for extending ceasefire beyond January 26. He is visibly perturbed over the abortive grenade attack on Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah while addressing a rally at Habbakadal in Srinagar. There have been other attacks on political workers/leaders besides targetting innocent citizens. Level of internal violence continues to be source of acute concern.......more It may look unbelievable but Pak Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider speaks out eloquently on futility of jehad in Kashmir and those who are funding and carrying out the jehad. While addressing conference of national level 18 Islamic religious parties in Islamabad he has asked these parties to put an end to mobilisation of funds for waging jehad in Kashmir.........more |
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By Avinash Shirodkar By Sanchet Barua Cost-effective treatment By Jyotshna Pandit Striking at the root By Aarti |
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EDITORIAL Prime Minister A B Vajpayee says that entire scheme of peace process initiated by him more than a month back will be reviewed in the light of continued violence engineered by Pak sponsored terrorists. Cabinet Committee on Security would take a decision for extending ceasefire beyond January 26. He is visibly perturbed over the abortive grenade attack on Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah while addressing a rally at Habbakadal in Srinagar. There have been other attacks on political workers/leaders besides targetting innocent citizens. Level of internal violence continues to be source of acute concern. Although it is not the first attack on Farooq but its timing this time can best be interpreted as an attempt to sabotage the ongoing peace process as also Panchayat elections. Elections are taboo to all secessionist, militant and their sponsors across the border. It hardly matters whether it is Lok Sabha, State Assembly or Panchayat elections. For them democracy is an evil as amply manifested Hurriyat leader Geelani wherein he blames secularism and those who patronise it as the villain of Kashmir imbroglio. Incidentally, elections stem from democratic dispensation and secularism is enshrined in the Constitution as mainstay of the nation. Come election and it is boycott calls galore. They begin terrorising the people as also the political cadres/leaders. In retrospect one may mention other attacks to eliminate Farooq. Three such attacks took place in 1996 itself during run-up to assembly polls. First attack occurred in September 1996 when grenades were thrown at a public meeting of Farooq in Pulwama. The second was also a grenade attack on the election rally in Kishtwar/Doda. The third one was in December 1996 when bombs exploded near the mausoleum minutes before Farooq was to reach there on 91st birth anniversary of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. Even when he became the Chief Minister Pak-sponsored terrorists continued making futile attempts to finish him as manifested by autorickshaw bomb explosion at Gupkar road near Chief Minister's residence in January 1997. In February 1999 landmine exploded on Surankot-Poonch road minutes after Farooq's cavalcade passed through the area. One can as well mention Daler Mehndi night at MA Stadium when the tight security interfered with the plans of subversives to carry out RDX blast there. Instead they planted the same in the bus causing large casualties. There have been other attempts as well or the ones which got aborted without any hype or knowledge. It explains why he is provided with 'Z' Plus security. It is thus a handiwork of those who hate elections, who hate secularism, who are most unreligious and who are paid killers, the mercenaries to be precise. Peace process however has different connotations because there is a think-tank which has pool of information to guide its course. True, many killings have taken place and there is organised attempt to target political leadership, surrendered militants and our informers besides of course the security forces. This violence continues unabated and the Government has no immediate answer how it can be neutralised. As violence largely comes under the ambit of law and order agencies which is a State subject, each incident and dastardly act should be pursued vigorously until the perpetrators have been booked or eliminated Peace process in the larger context is much bigger game than the isolated local violence. The fact is ceasefire is holding on LoC/IB and AGPL (Siachin Glacier) and to that extent it is welcome and a step forward towards peace process. The fact is that Track II diplomacy is at work to diffuse the situation further which in other words imply frozen borders to gain enough of time to pursue the peace agenda. The fact is that Hurriyat delegation is slated to visit Pakistan with declared objective of meeting Pak military rulers and terrorist outfits that continue to cause large scale violence in J&K so that they can be pursuaded to leave the Kashmiris alone. They should thus be given fair chance to prove their bonafides as leaders who honestly want peace for the strife torn State and its wretched people. It may be apt to mention that a mighty country like India cannot be browbeaten by miniscules. There have been hundred faults with policy and those who make policies as regards Jammu & Kashmir but the fact is Pakistan has not been able to annex it by force. It knows so well that it cannot do it even through proxy war. What cannot be cured must be endured. It is precisely because of this that ceasefire is holding and there is partial reciprocity from Pakistan on LoC/IB. It is being watched keenly how and to what extent Pakistan shows its sincerity in terms of stopping sponsorship of terrorism. Peace process thus cannot be abandoned at this stage when expectations of the people have been aroused for early dawn of peace for which they have been yearning all these 12 years of turmoil and turbulence. It may look unbelievable but Pak Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider speaks out eloquently on futility of jehad in Kashmir and those who are funding and carrying out the jehad. While addressing conference of national level 18 Islamic religious parties in Islamabad he has asked these parties to put an end to mobilisation of funds for waging jehad in Kashmir. He also has a peace of sermon for them asking to refurbish their soiled image and begin respecting law by refraining from displaying weapons publicly and openly. Haider is visibly perturbed over the display of such weapons by some masked men at a rally organised to show solidarity with Talibans and puts a question asto what it conveys. He says that Islam teaches kindness and understanding. But what is happening today is most un-Islamic. What he has in mind is the large scale blood spillage of the innocent not only in Kashmir at the hands of these jehadis but also within Pakistan itself. They are increasingly becoming intolerant of anything and anyone who is opposed to them in anyway and want everyone to follow them or face the guns carried by them. This means law of jungle and not Islam or civilised dispensation. He exhorts these Islamic political-religious groups/parties to collect funds not for financing jehad in Kashmir but for humanitarian causes to alleviate the sufferings. In fact such vulgar display of arms and brutalisation has sullied image of Pakistan abroad even as it has all the ingredients of taking Pakistan itself within its fold before long unless it is checked right now. One really does not know whether this discourse is his personal opinion or in saying so he has the blessings of General Musharraf. Musharraf is on record of having given clean chit to jehadis justifying whatever they are doing in Kashmir and showing his helplessness to rein in these outfits. But Haider is Home Minister and law and order is his domain. It will be safe to surmise that sanity is at work to save Pakistan from bigger catastrophe when it is bound to become totally Talibanised unless those sponsoring jehad and wielding guns in public are put in their proper place. But million dollar question is will sanity be allowed to prevail upon brutality and are there more Haiders in Pakistan advocating the same thing loudly ? |
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By Avinash Shirodkar The single biggest and composite deal in the history of India's weapons acquisition programme was signed recently in Moscow. It is worth nearly Rs. 20,000 crore and involves the purchase and license production (including transfer of technology) of the advanced multi-role Sukhoi 30 fighter. Russian media has described the Indo-Russia project as the most successful defence deal. This, however, is only part of the Sukhoi story. When the advanced multi-role Sukhoi 30 fighter was inducted in IAF in 1996, the country was oblivious of what had transpired the previous three years. There was no Air Staff Requirement (ASR) for such a class of fighter, as the Chief of Air Staff had dismissed the Sukhoi as "irrelevant to the IAF". Air Chief Marshal S.K. Kaul had also criticized Russia for failing to provide critical product support. But six months later, he reversed his opinion and the Government, without even signing a contract, paid an advance of Rs. 500 crore to Russia's Irkutsk Aircraft Production Organisation for developing an aircraft that did not exist. After the initial order for 40 Su 30 MKI, followed by another 10, India recently signed a letter of intent to produce under licence another 140 aircraft of the same make. The intention is fraught with risks and uncertainties much more serious than the ones which went with the decision to acquire the Sukhoi 30 MKI in the first place. But the idea of licence production is not new. The Secretary, Defence Production, had suggested that only eight aircraft be purchased and the remaining be made in the country. The idea was shot down. The first eight Su 30 arrived in 1997 but were non-operational in the absence of any matching weapons and also because they were modified versions of the older one-seat Su 27. Further, the Russians had dumped used support equipment as new. Only two years later did the Su 30 acquire its primary profile as SU 30 K. The first prototype of the intermediate version - SU 30 MK - with state of the art aerodynamics was test-flown in Bangalore but later on 12 June, 2000, crashed at the Le Bourget Paris Air Show. This confirmed reports about the infighting between the Sukhoi organisation and Russia's arms export agency, Ros Vooruzheniye and raised doubts on the credibility of Sukhoi to design and produce a super multi-role fighter. A turf battle has been going on between the two for some time. In December 1999, IAF took delivery of another 10 Su 30 Ks which were originally meant for Indonesia. The delivery schedule of the final version, Su 30 MKI, is very complicated. Given the rush of conversions and fitting avionics from French, Israeli and Russian companies. The best case scenario of the 50 Sukhois becoming operational is 2006 though the government says 2003. After India went nuclear in 1998, the IAF went into raptures justifying the choice of the Su 30 as a strategic long range deterrent against China. The air-to-air refuellers that would give the Su 30 the required range and endurance for this have yet to be ordered. Further, refuellers have to remain well within Indian airspace, thereby limiting the range of the Su 30. In any case, by the time these strategic bombers get operational, Agni 3, the primary strategic deterrent should be in place making the Su 30, at best, a backup force. China is rapidly modernising its air force. It already possesses around 70 to 100 Su 27s single seaters. It is quite possible it might opt for a few twinseater multi-role SU 30 MKs. Some senior Air Force officers are wondering whether the decision of license production of 140 more SU 30 MKI is a wise option. While the detailed project report on establishing a production facility must be awaited, preliminary estimates on costs are likely to make the IAF have second thoughts. It is proposed to replace the MiG 21 plant at Nasik which is technology of the 1940s, with a modern facility. Experts at Hindustan Aeronauticals Limited, Bangalore, have estimated this cost at around $1 billion and around four years to set up. The amortised per unit cost of Su 30 MKI will be a staggering Rs. 161 crore. The up-front cost of the multi-role aircraft is the avionics and weapons fit. The 25 tonne SU 30 MKI has eight hard points to carry another eight tonne of missiles and bombs. This will cost money. That is not all. The hidden expenditure lies in the ownership or lifecycle cost, which in Russian aircraft is very high, compared to the western versions. The lifecycle cost of an SU 30 MKI is likely to shoot up to Rs. 450 crore. Why is the maintenance and life support to Russian aircraft so expensive and complicated? First the engine life is short and the TBO (time between overhaul) is low. After every 300 hours of flying, a life span of 3000 hours of the engine has to be changed. The Su 30 MKI has two engines. This gives it immense power and aerodynamics which depends on canards and thrust vectoring for superb agility. After every 300 hours of flying, two engines, each costing $5 million would require replacement. The second problem is related to the flight philosophy of the IAF. To this day, it has been woven around single-seater planes. By introducing the twin-cockpit concept, the IAF is arguably revolutionising the flying philosophy for its pilots, who far want of an AJT, have been on an erratic learning curve. Further, it will need to develop dedicated software for the crew. The IAF is already short of 400 pilots. If all goes well, the last of the 140th SU 30 MKI will roll out in 2020. By then, an additional 400 pilots would be required to cope with this. The Su 30 MKI which the IAF neither asked for nor required is an excellent multi-role fighter. In view of the high costs of license production and ownership costs, the IAF has to decide whether it wants to produce this aircraft and also if it could do with a mix of single and twinseater versions. Until this deal was signed, the options were (a) to buy outright, another 200 SU 30 MKI in a mix of 150 single and 50 twin seater versions; or (b) Buy two or three squadrons of the improved Mirage 2000-5. The earlier Mirage 2000 H has an excellent flight safety and operational flying record. Only three out of 49 aircraft have crashed, two from bird hits. Another 10 Mirage 2000 H have been ordered, five twin seater trainers and five single seaters, and will be delivered over the next two years. (c) The option of licence production should include evaluating the French offer of Mirage 2000-5. The mirage overhaul factory at Gwalior, which is at present underutilised, could then be maximised. Diversification will enable the IAF to slowly loosen the Russian stranglehold over its inventory. A proposal for license production of 140 Mirage-5 is also under consideration. The biggest snag in building airpower to bolster India's security has been inept and erratic decision-making. Thanks to whims and fancies of Air Chiefs, there has also been no continuity in sustaining its Long Term Re Equipment Plan (LTREP). The Government has played no mean role in this. Time and cost overruns have affected every project, be it the LCA, AJT, SU 30 MK and even the MiG 21 BiS upgrade. To a lesser extent, unfortunately, this is the story of the other two services too. Till an integrated higher defence management system is put in place, the IAF will not take off with or without the SU 30 MKI. The latest deal with the Russians must not be taken at face value. Given our experience with Soviet/Russian equipment and projects, the IAF will continue to breathe heavy. None should be taken in by the grandiose promises of the Russian defence industry struggling to keep afloat, especially after Russian defence experts themselves are saying that India, which has helped and paid for the development of the Su 30, might end up getting a super fighter which is a Mirage. INAV |
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Cost-effective treatment of coronary disease By Jyotshna Pandit Coronary artery bypass and balloon angioplasty have become commonplace in the world of heart care. But, for those who are afraid of or cannot afford either of the two rather expensive procedures to mend the heart, an alternative will soon be available in India. A non-invasive technique, the Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP) procedure claims to be a safe and effective method of enhancing blood supply to the targeted portion of the heart to relieve angina. Dr. S. Ramaswamy, an internal medicine practitioner and research associate at Stony Brook University in New York, and a representative of the US-based Vaso Medical Company, which manufactures the EECP system, is now in India to find more users for the EECP machine, which costs around Rs. 50 lakh. In an interview to INAV, Dr. Ramaswamy said the severity and frequency of angina could be decreased in many heart patients without surgery or angioplasty by using this procedure. Angina is caused by a block in one of the major vessels of the heart - the coronary artery. "When this happens the blood supply to the region served by that particular blood vessel is reduced. Normal heart function depends on maintaining constant blood flow and oxygen to the heart muscle through the coronary artery. "When a blood vessel is partially blocked, the body can often compensate for this narrowing by expanding tiny branches of blood vessels," he says. These tiny branches are referred to as 'collaterals' in medical terminology; in most people, these usually lie dormant as their functioning is not really required in a person with a totally healthy heart, well serviced by a healthy coronary artery. But when the occasion requires it - when an artery gets blocked - these collaterals can be opened up to supply blood to that particular area of the heart. The EECP technique, first developed by Harken and associates at Harvard University in the late 1950s, promises to do just that. During the procedure, the patient lies down on a padded table in the treatment room. Three sets of rubber cuffs, about 4 inches wide, are tied around three points on the body - the calves, thighs and the hips. These connect to air hoses which, in turn, are connected to valves. "When the heart contracts it supplies blood to all the organs. When it relaxes it gets its own blood supply from the coronary artery. So when the heart contracts, the cuffs are deflated, and when it relaxes the cuffs are inflated with a predetermined amount of pressure which pushes the blood from the lower extremities in a times, sequential manner, toward the heart," explains Dr. Ramaswamy. Normally a patient has to undergo the procedure several times, usually through 335 one-hour-out-patient sessions, five times a week, for seven weeks. Eventually the minute blood vessels, or the dormant collaterals, open up, and that portion of the heart which has been starved of blood because of a blocked artery or arteries, starts receiving blood all over again. With the heart getting adequate blood supply, the chest pain disappears and the angina is noticeably reduced. The procedure can be done by a nurse who is specially trained in cardiology under the supervision of a cardiologist. According to medical literature, the concept that coronary blood flow can be increased by raising diastolic perfusion pressure was first proposed in 1953. In the mid-1970s the Chinese picked up this method and improvised on it by replacing hydraulic pressure with pneumatic air pressure. "Bur this technique did not gain popularity as the 1970s was the decade of the bypass surgery; the 1980s of angioplasty and the 1990s belonged to the stent (enlarging an artery by placing a stent within). But in China they adopted this technique 20 years ago and have treated almost a million patients through 1,500 centres all over the country," he added. According to him, in 1990, researchers in the US started scrutinising the Chinese research papers, conducted their own clinical trials and with FDA approval in 1995 and subsequent clearance by insurance companies "about 150 centres, including renowned centres such as Mayo Clinic, adopted this as one of the accepted lines of treatment for coronary disease". There are many factors involves in choosing which treatment option is appropriate for a particular person. The decision also depends on how severely the arteries are blocked, how many arteries are blocked, and if the heart muscle has been weakened by a prior heart attack. Giving the reasons why EECP was becoming more accepted, Dr. Ramaswamy says a major cause is that funding for invasive procedures like bypass surgery is being reduced. "Then, there are large groups of patients who over a long period of time, stop responding to medication, and surgery too is contraindicated for them." Or, because of what is called in medical jargon "co-morbid illness" (other illnesses along with a heart problem), surgery cannot be done, and this procedure can help the patient. In still other patients who have a very diffused coronary artery disease, surgery cannot be done. If the lesion in the artery is small, it can be opened up through balloon angioplasty. "But if it is a discreet lesion, angioplasty cannot be done. If the disease is in the peripheral or small vessels, angioplasty cannot be done. In old people too, surgery is usually contraindicated. In all such cases EECP is a viable mode of treatment." As for the cost, Dr. Ramaswamy says that in the US, against the cost of bypass surgery, which is around $65,000, the entire EECP procedure costs around $7,000. He estimates that in India, where a hospital has to invest Rs. 50 lakh to buy the equipment, "a commercial hospital can treat a patient for Rs. 30,000-40,000." Now in India to sell the equipment for Vaso Medical, a company with an annual turnover of about $60 million and with a patent for the equipment, his first customer was the People's General Hospital, a private hospital in Bhopal. It hopes to start this mode of treatment in the first fortnight of January. To the question whether EECP can replace bypass surgery, the doctor says that it "can filter the number of patients going in for a bypass and could be a supplementary to bypass surgery. "If the patient has only two vessels blocked, the success rate for this procedure is about 90 per cent. But if three vessels are blocked, the success rate comes down to 50-60 per cent." But probably the biggest attraction of this relatively new treatment for coronary artery disease is that it has no side effects and no risks, unlike many of the more traditional approaches to treat heart disease. INAV |
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Striking at the root of terrorism By Aarti At a time when New Delhi's extension of the unilateral cease-fire upto the 26h of January 2001 and Islamabad's softening its stand by agreeing that India could first enter into a dialogue with the Hurriyat Conference, the Red Fort shootout came as a shock to many looking forward to substantive improvement in the situation. The questions being asked reflect on our anxiety about the state of internal security against a group of desparate subversives. Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), the military wing of the Pakistan-based religious organisation Markaz-al-Dawa-ul-Irshad, which has not only claimed responsibility for the attack but has reportedly vowed to strike again till India pulls out its troops from Kashmir cannot be ignored. More so because, the LeT which is said to have masterminded about 42 attacks through its suicide squads or fidayeen, has killed close to 150 security personnel (including a DIG of the BSF and Army Major) in Jammu & Kashmir. Notably the massacre of Amarnath yatris and labourers in different parts of Jammu & Kashmir last August and a series of bomb blasts two days after the Hizbul Mujahideen called off a cease-fire (for not involving Pakistan in the dialogue with India), besides categorically warning of bigger military operations in the Valley by urging Islamabad to send troops into the Kashmir Valley, need to be borne in mind. Media reports indicating both the Pakistani President Rafiq Tarar and military ruler General Pervez Musharraf pledging Islamabad's moral, political and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri cause, leaves no room for complacency. The present circumstances call for serious introspection. Way back in July 1998, the Union Home Ministry reportedly placed before the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs startling information which among other things pointed out that 210 of 535 districts in the country were affected by insurgency, infiltration etc. Besides Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agents in Kathmandu and Dhaka, funds and unwanted elements came in to the country through the porous Indo-Nepal border. Particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, as many as 9,023 persons were killed between 1995 and 1998 in 13,130 violent incidents aided and abetted by ISI and terrorist organisations based in Pakistan. In the US, a major initiative is on to combat and frustrate the evil designs of disruptive forces perpetuating terrorism. An anti-terrorism legislation proposed by the Congress in the United States of America, among others, provides for expanding the investigating tools. Apart from creation of new offences and modified procedures for facilitating the deportation of terrorists, it aims at exercising greater control over fund-raising by terrorists. Since the seriousness of acts of international terrorism often depend on the finances that terrorists might often get at a global level efforts are on to cut off such funds. The United Nations General Assembly last December adopted the International Convention for Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. Accordingly, it is a crime for anyone to provide or collect funds to be used for acts that constitute terrorist acts. This also includes any other act intended to kill or harm civilians, to intimidate them or a Government or an international organisation. It is obligatory for countries ratifying the convention to expeditiously confiscate funds found to be intended for use in terrorist acts and to investigate such crimes committed in their territory. But the harsh reality is that only 7 out of 22 countries that are signatories to the treaty have ratified it so far. In India, a proposal mooted by the Union Government for a new intelligence set-up at the Central level, including a stricter law for the prevention of terrorism did not translate into a reality for want of a consensus amongst the states. But that should not dilute our efforts in the fight against terrorism within the country. Primarily our diplomatic channels ought to be utilised to apply pressure to force neighbouring countries, including Islamabad, having militant camps on their soil to stop supporting terrorist activities. Pakistan's indulgence in cross-border terrorism, as an instrument of state policy not only to pursue the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir but to destabilise the country, needs to be tackled effectively with well-trained and specialised border security personnel to repulse such activities. To tackle the malaise of terrorrism at the grassroots, besides close networking of various security agencies, the community at the household level needs to be sensitised so that they coordinate with the local police. However, with the threat of terrorist camps operating in some of the neighbouring countries, including several Pakistani-based groups calling for ''Jehad'' across the border looming large, the situation calls for remaining on red alert always. It needs to be emphasised
that only stringent security measures like the drill
undertaken during the last Independence Day celebrations
across the country, particularly in sensitive Jammu and
Kashmir and North Eastern States, can help in keeping
many unscrupulous elements effectively at bay. Above all,
since the implications of terrorism can be far reaching,
it is imperative to modernise and strengthen the entire
intelligence set-up across the country. |
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