NEW DELHI: 

“When it is an unprovoked attack, the army was given the right to retaliate… We honour the ceasefire but a margin was given to us when there is an unprovoked attack,” Ms Sitharaman said at a function to mark her ministry’s achievements in Delhi today.

Amid repeated terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan at the border, the government had announced that the security forces will desist from anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Last month, data collated by the home ministry, however, showed that the number of terror attacks in the Valley has been on the rise and civilians have been facing the brunt of it. While four incidents of terrorist violence were reported in the valley a week before the initiative was announced on May 16, the number rose to 13 a week after.

Over the last four days, 10 attacks have taken place in the Valley. In the last one, which took place yesterday, 14 civilians and two police officers were injured. Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The defence minister said it was not her ministry’s role to “assess whether ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir has been successful or not”.

But she made it clear that unprovoked attacks even at the border will not go unpunished. “It is our business to guard the border and we won’t stop if we’re provoked. We shall be alert that no unprovoked attack goes without us responding. It’s our duty to keep India safe,” she said.

Peace initiatives on LoC, and internally in J&K, must be enthusiastically welcomed, but not taken at face value

Peace initiatives on LoC, and internally in J&K, must be enthusiastically welcomed, but not taken at face value.

At 6 pm on May 29, the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan reportedly spoke to each other as part of the weekly Tuesday call and agreed to effectively implement the informal November 26, 2003, ceasefire at the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K. While there is much debate about who made the first move, that is irrelevant. All one should do as the first response is to welcome the move while being circumspect about it.

There has been destruction and loss of lives of civilians and soldiers on both sides. A few days ago in a television programme, in the wake of large-scale violations by Pakistan, I said that either there is peace or India should undertake vertical and horizontal escalation to draw Pakistan into a war of attrition at the LoC, including deploying the army at the Jammu international border (IB). We should be glad that the idea of peace has prevailed.

The move towards proper implementation of the informal ceasefire of 2003 should not come as a surprise. It is, however, important to note some facts about the 2003 ceasefire and its history through the subsequent 15 years in order to get a clearer perspective of the current decision and its possible effectiveness and longevity. In November 2003, there were backroom parleys which led to the much-touted Musharraf initiative; India allowed the credit to go Pakistan’s way. Infiltration attempts were still rife and the proxy conflict in J&K was sustained through the numbers that successfully penetrated the Indian dragnet at the LoC.

The ceasefire facilitated the construction of the Anti-Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS) in a quicker time frame. In November 2003, the war in Afghanistan had been on for about two years. Pakistan was not under any international pressure except to support the US operations. Unfriendly terrorists had not yet appeared on Pakistan’s internal security radar. It is generally believed that Musharraf risked it but it was motivated by seriousness to pursue his four-point formula with then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, it lacked the support of Pakistan’s powerful corps commanders.

Musharraf’s intent was timed with then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s serious effort to bring into effect his “healing touch” policy; a humanitarian effort to calm the internal environment in J&K. It was preceded by PM Vajpayee’s April 2003 initiative, urging treatment of the people of J&K with greater compassion.

The ceasefire lasted in letter and spirit as long as Musharraf was in power. Even before the Mumbai attacks, violations had begun. The effectiveness got progressively diluted till it hit a nadir this year. For Pakistan, in the face of the waning effectiveness of its capability to calibrate the hinterland situation in J&K, tension at the LoC became an instrument to remind the international community of the existence of the J&K issue.

Surprisingly, the ceasefire along the 750-km LoC held effectively in the Kargil and Siachen sectors of the Ladakh division and only sporadic violations occurred in the Kashmir segment where, except for Uri and occasionally Tangdhar, the LoC remained peaceful. An age-old notion that ceasefire violations occurred primarily to aid infiltration was also laid to rest as infiltration attempts continued primarily in Kashmir although a few attempts were also made in the Jammu division and along the IB. The targeting of the Hindu population in the Jammu division, including the IB sector, was generally ascribed to Pakistan’s intent to cause greater communal dissension within the people of J&K and fracturing of the polity to aid the turbulence it aimed for in the hinterland.

So what has changed and why should keen observers have sensed something in the offing towards the current peace move? First, the situation in Pakistan is none too stable. Financially, Pakistan has just borrowed a billion USD from China to sustain its forex reserve and avoid having to go to the IMF. Its forex reserve has fallen to $10.8 billion. Second, it is on the back foot with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which is due to review its grey listing to see whether Pakistan has fulfilled obligations to prevent terror financing. A blacklisting would place Pakistan in the dock. Third, for some time now, the security establishment in Pakistan has been playing games to test the environment — the Bajwa Doctrine with its vagueness, backroom talks between the National Security Advisors and a couple of Track 2 dialogues in which the Indians remained non-committal due to the trust deficit.

The Indian decision to stick to a robust response at the LoC/IB was creating problems notwithstanding the Pakistani bravado with which the civilian areas were targeted. Fourth, the cessation of operations in J&K was received positively by the people with Pakistan acting as the spoiler at the border. With the FATF watchful, Pakistan was muted on the Indian initiative, although terror groups rejected it outright. It was perhaps a combination of factors in which the tentative political environment of Pakistan, too, played its part.

Although peace initiatives at the LoC or internally in J&K must receive enthusiastic welcome, they must never be taken at face value. Unless matching add-ons accompany such initiatives, they at best remain uncertain. What needs to be pursued holistically is a follow-up to get the DGMOs to meet, free of political baggage and in a proper format quite unlike the flag meeting format adopted the last time in 2013.

Enablers to formalise the ceasefire through drawn up rules of engagement must be equally pursued; that was an agreed weakness the last time. Alternate hotlines need to be established at lower levels in identified sectors to allow lower commanders to speak without hesitation and clarify local misgivings. Pakistan, on its part, must desist from supporting infiltration — the single issue which can upset the applecart.

India needs to take the ceasefire and the cessation of operations in the hinterland together and create an environment of hope, notwithstanding the maverick elements who will continue to act as spoilers. Perhaps the J&K chief minister’s words of wisdom, that the decisions need to be taken one step at a time, is a good mantra. These should be examined for their individual and combined worth and efforts undertaken to strengthen them even as other efforts are made to try and bring about some trust to sustain the situation and improve on it.

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, May 26

Nine used rocket launcher shells found from the bushes near the Pathankot Cantonment railway station created a scare in the city following which the cops called in GRP personnel to remove them.Initially, there were rumours that some live bombs had been found. However, SSP Vivek Sheel Soni dispelled the rumours by holding an impromptu press conference in which he clarified that “the shells which were found from near the rail track were used ones”.In army parlance they are known as ‘Training Practice Tracers’. Army and other paramilitary forces often train their personnel in the area in the use of rocket launchers. The ‘empties’, as the used shells are called, are then collected and handed over to junk dealers.It was a late night phone call to the SSP which alerted the cops.The GRP was immediately informed and efforts were on to call in army experts but once it became clear that the shells were indeed ‘empties’, the army was asked to wait.“My personnel and those of the GRP reached there in large numbers after we received a call on Friday night. Since we were not in a position to take risk in light of the infiltrations from across the border, which is nearby, we sealed all important installations like the ammunition dump, Mamun cantonment and the Air Force base. Searches near the bus stand and the railway station were intensified. However, the need to divert or stop rail traffic did not arise,” said SSP Soni.On January 2, 2016, four militants had laid siege to the Air Force station. The terrorists were killed after a 24-hour gun battle. On July 27, 2015, 5.2 kg of RDX was found on the railway track near Dinanagar, 20 km from Pathankot.    An officer claimed that since a part of Pathankot district is near the border, they took no chances.“Whenever such shells are found it is imperative on our part to launch an investigation to know how and from where these shells came,” he said

Jammu, May 21

In yet another ceasefire violation, Pakistani Rangers on Monday fired mortar shells on border outposts at several places in Jammu and Kashmir’s Arnia sector, prompting retaliation by the BSF personnel guarding the International Border.The mortar firing from across the border started around 0700 hours in Arnia sector of Jammu and was still continuing when the reports last came in, a senior BSF official told PTI.“Three border outposts are under fire from the Pakistani Rangers and the personnel deployed there are also retaliating to silence the Pakistani guns,” the official said.“However, there is no immediate report of any casualty,” he said.On Sunday night, Pakistani troops fired small arms and mortars, targeting Narayanpur area of Ramgarh sector in Samba district, hours after “pleading” with the BSF to stop firing, after being pounded with heavy artillery that left a trooper dead across the border.The BSF also released a 19-second thermal-imagery footage, showing the destruction of a Pakistani picket across the border, in retaliation to the unprovoked firing and shelling along the IB.The BSF has lost two of its jawans in the latest round of unprovoked firing along the IB in Jammu region since May 15. PTI

Former prime minister faces criticism for saying non-state actors from Pakistan were behind 2008 attacks in Indian city.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan’s National Security Committee has rejected comments by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who said that Pakistanis had carried out the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai, in another signal of the widening rift between his ruling party and the country’s powerful military.

The committee, which includes the country’s top military and civilian leadership, met in the capital Islamabad on Monday, and termed Sharif’s comments “incorrect and misleading”.

Last week, Sharif told local newspaper Dawn that Pakistan needed to act against anti-India armed groups that are operating on its soil, a claim India has often made and which Pakistan has long officially denied.

“Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai?” said Sharif, referring to the 2008 attacks, in which at least 160 people were killed by gunmen in attacks on hotels and transportation infrastructure in the Indian business hub.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable. This is exactly what we are struggling for. [Russian] President Putin has said it. [Chinese] President Xi has said it.”

The comments from Sharif, who was dismissed as prime minister by the Supreme Court in July over corruption allegations, riled political opponents and the military, although senior Pakistani officials have made similar comments in the past.

Indian media seized upon the comments as proof that Pakistan has backed armed groups to attack targets in India. No official statements have been made, however, by India’s foreign or interior ministries.

“The participants observed that it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities,” said a statement following the Pakistani NSC meeting on Monday.

“The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions,” it added.

On Monday, Sharif stuck to his guns, telling a political rally in the northern town of Buner that a commission should be formed to probe his statement.

“What have I said in the interview that was wrong?” he responded to reporters earlier in the day, when asked if he stood by the statement.

‘Grey list’

Pakistani security forces have been battling the Pakistani Taliban and its allies, including al-Qaeda, in the country’s northwest since 2007.

A series of military operations have displaced the Taliban from their former strongholds in the country’s northwestern tribal districts, but sporadic attacks continue to happen.

Pakistan has come under pressure from the United States and India to do more, however, to shut down groups such as the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which target US forces in Afghanistan or Indian forces in the disputed region of Kashmir.

Pakistan denies that it offers sanctuary to those groups, with the military saying its operations have been directed indiscriminately against all armed groups.

However, groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is banned as a “terrorist organisation” under Pakistani law, continue to fundraise and carry out political and humanitarian aid activities across the country.

In February, Pakistan was placed on a “grey list” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a 35-member alliance aimed at curbing money laundering and the financing of armed groups.

It faces sanctions if it does not implement reforms by this summer.

Political backlash

Sharif’s own party distanced itself from his comments on Sunday, with a spokesperson saying it was “grossly misinterpreted by Indian media”.

Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz’s brother and the party’s presumptive prime ministerial candidate in the July general election, went even further, saying the party rejected the comments outright.

“PML-N rejects all assertions, direct or implied, made in news report of Dawn,” he tweeted. “State of Pakistan [and] all its institutions stand together in the global fight against terrorism.”

Other parties, too, criticised the three-time prime minister’s comments.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, opposition PTI chief Imran Khan demanded that the former prime minister be tried for treason, and that PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi resign as prime minister.

“[Nawaz Sharif] has hurt the national interests of Pakistan,” he said.

The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) party also slammed the former prime minister for implying that Pakistan allowed the attacks to happen.

“If you suggest the [government] “allowed” any action against another country then [you are] suggesting official complicity,” said PPP Senator Sherry Rehman. “Painful to see such talk from a former PM either calculated to divert attention or just casual chatter.”

Sharif’s embattled PML-N party, facing a number of desertions and corruption charges against its senior leadership, will take on the PTI, PPP and others in a general election in July.

A verdict in a high-profile corruption case against Sharif and his family members is due next month.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera’s Digital Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim

India has long accused Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba of carrying out the attacks in Mumbai on 26 November, 2008, that left 166 people dead.

NEW DELHI: 

Ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared to admit that Pakistani terrorists carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, known as 26/11, and suggest that such terror strikes could have been prevented. In an interview to the Dawn newspaper published on Saturday, Mr Sharif also lamented that Pakistan had isolated itself. He indicated that his country should look into why its narrative that it had been fighting terrorism had not been accepted by the international community “despite sacrifices”.

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India has long accused Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba of carrying out the attacks in Mumbai on 26 November, 2008, that left 166 people dead and many injured after 10 terrorists with backpacks, automatic weapons and grenades launched a three-day siege on India’s financial capital targeting multiple locations.

Mr Sharif did not name Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar’s Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Jaish-e-Mohammad that operate in the country with impunity in the interview. Or the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which according to India, sailed into Mumbai from Karachi, to carry out the attacks in an operation that was coordinated by Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI.

“Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can’t we complete the trial?” he said, according to the newspaper.

The Mumbai case is being tried in an anti-terrorism court since 2009 but the case isn’t going anywhere. Indian officials say Pakistan did not keep its end of the bargain and sent the case to court without really investigating the conspiracy that led to the attacks.

Islamabad, on the other hand, has blamed setbacks during the trial on India, insisting that New Delhi had not given “solid evidence” against Hafiz Saeed and others. When Saeed was ordered to be released after 10 months of house arrest in November last, the Pakistan government had justified the move, saying the law was equal for all.

Mr Sharif, 68, was disqualified by the Supreme Court for not being “honest and righteous” as he failed to declare in 2013 a salary he got from the company of his son in the UAE. In February, the top court also disqualified him as the head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Former PM Nawaz Sharif’s apparently conciliatory remark on the state’s role in terrorism, however, is unlikely to indicate a concrete shift in Islamabad’s position. Just months before Hafiz Saeed was released from detention, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had launched a sharp attack on India, over what he had described as, “brutally suppressing” people in Jammu and Kashmir.

In March again, Pakistan had attempted to drag in the Kashmir issue at the United Nations again and was pummelled by New Delhi that underlined India was still waiting for “credible action” to bring all those involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks to justice.

New Delhi, May 8

Senior commanders of the Indian Navy began a four-day conclave here on Tuesday to discuss combat efficiency and military preparedness of the blue water force amid worries about an assertive China encircling India with its military and strategic assets in the Indian Ocean region and its neighbourhood.

The first edition of this year’s bi-annual Naval Commanders’ Conference is being held to review the Navy’s new “mission-based deployments philosophy that is aimed at ensuring peace and stability in the region”, a Navy spokesperson said.

“The Indian Navy’s focus over the past year has been on combat efficiency and materiel readiness and upkeep of its large fleet of 131 ships and submarines.” The spokesperson didn’t speak about China creating military and strategic assets in India’s close neighbourhood like in Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Maldives and Sri Lanka who have all signed up to Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

But the looming presence of Chinese warships on the high seas in the Indian Ocean has left India a lot worried, scurrying for strategic bases overseas—like the one New Delhi is now set to establish in the archipelago of Seychelles with which it signed a pact to build naval infrastructure in February this year.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who inaugurated the May 8-11 conference, said the Indian “Navy will be a force to reckon with in the Indo-Pacific” region.

She parried a question on Chinese ubiquitous presence in the region including a deep-sea port at Gwadar in Pakistan and the establishment of a naval base in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.

Asked about India’s border and maritime competitiveness with China, the Defence Minister said “there is no tension between” the two neighbours.

Probed further and asked what had militarily changed between India and China following official visits to China by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and by herself, Sitharaman said: “We are talking and meeting each other. That is a big change.”  She said she had “a very pointed discussion on the issues raised by the (Navy) commanders” who were open-minded about the issues concerning the Navy and in highlighting India’s maritime strength.

The conclave would also review the measures to ensure safety, continued training and checks and balances on crew proficiency on-board the Navy’s frontline warships.

The spokesperson said the Navy had been at the forefront in the absorption and exploitation of cutting-edge technology.

As such, the “Naval commanders will deliberate upon steps to improve the teeth-to-tail ratio and explore niche fields such as Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics” during the conference, he said.

The Navy’s initiatives to enhance indigenous defence industrial capability extending up to the micro small and medium enterprises are also likely to be covered during the conclave.

Currently, 27 ships and submarines are under construction in Indian shipyards. These include the first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant.

The Navy has already promulgated the ‘Indian Naval Indigenisation Plan 2015-30’, laying down its 15-year plan. IANS

By the time Vladimir Putin ends his fresh term as President of Russia, he would have controlled the Kremlin for an unprecedented 25 years. A man the West loves to loath, Putin’s years at the rudder have seen Russia making a significant turn from the Europeanism that guided the two terms of Boris Yeltsin’s unpredictable and whimsical rule.  Weary of poverty and lawlessness, Russian welcomed the arrival of Putin but that’s where its relationship with the West plummeted. Apart from Germany, Russia has few friends in the trans-Atlantic alliance and is now at the receiving end of an intense campaign to restrict its area of influence.India leveraged West’s antagonism towards Putin in a variety of ways, mainly by transfer of high-tech Russian technology and deepening its energy relationship that began only after the end of the Cold War. That window seems to be closing with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CATSA). US President Donald Trump believes the Act is flawed but that perception has not stopped the legislation from casting a shadow on high-end Russian arms export to India such as the S 400 anti-missile defence, the developing trilateral transport partnership between Russia, Iran and India or the burgeoning relationship in oil that has made the Russian Rosneft the biggest FDI investor in India. Putin owes his power to the St Petersburg elite whose historical and cultural impetuses push it for a closer relationship with Europe. But the Kremlin now believes that its destiny is with Asia. India has to be creative to address the future problems that may arise from CATSA in order to make the most from Russia’s pivot towards Asia. Despite its dalliance with Pakistan, Russia too is aware that its interests will be better served by a balance between India and the Sino-Pakistan alliance. There is much that suggests Russia may be a declining power. Despite several structural weaknesses, it has always bounced back because of its geopolitical location, resource potential and great power tradition. Russia bez Putina (Russia without Putin) is not yet a foreseeable possibility and India needs to make the most of that.

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 25

It might sound absurd but the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) takes longer time to finalise the tendering process for procurement of fresh ration for its personnel than the period for which it is to be supplied — courtesy red tape.However, the ITBP attributes the delay in procurement of fresh ration, including vegetables, fruits, fresh milk (tetra packs), meat, chicken and eggs, to cumbersome “procedures” that are required to be followed before finalising the tenders.According to sources, the Station Headquarters (SHQ), ITBP, based in Ladakh, issued a notification regarding an e-tender on January 16 this year for procurement of fresh ration for six months (from March 1, 2018 to August 31, 2018) for its 47th Battalion at Rae camp in Samba district.“The tendering process was to be completed in February so that the successful bidder could supply fresh ration from March 1 but it did not happen that resulted in the cancellation of the tender,” a source said.The source claimed the ITBP did the same thing last year when the SHQ had issued three tenders for the supply of fresh ration for six months for the Samba unit.“The first notification was issued on February 23, 2017. The second notification was issued on April 13, 2017,” the source said, adding that the third tender was floated on June 2, 2017. “As per the record available on e-tender website, the tender was not even finalised till August last year and what happened thereafter we don’t know,” the source said, adding, “Complaints were made to the Union Home Ministry as it was not clear whether the ITBP personnel were served fruits and vegetables for the period.” When contacted, Jaipal Yadav, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), ITBP, SHQ, Ladakh, said the finalisation of tenders was delayed because they were bound “to follow the laid down procedures.”“It mandatory for us to follow the procedures for the finalisation of the tendering process. This year, the tender has been cancelled because documents of bidders were incomplete,” the DIG said.He also rejected the allegations that the ITBP personnel remained without fresh ration, vegetables, fruits and meat until the tenders were finalised last year. “The commandant of the unit was authorised to set up a purchase committee to get the fresh ration from local market,” Yadav said while accusing contractors of unleashing this “propaganda.”“These contractors are basically ‘badmash’ (goons). There are adverse reports against them and how can they say that personnel were not getting ration. This is a propaganda,” the DIG said, adding that they also wrote several “false letters” to malign the image of the force.“If we do anything wrong, the audit people will grill us,” he said.

Tender cancelled

The Station Headquarters, ITBP, based in Ladakh, issued a notification regarding an e-tender on January 16 this year for procurement of fresh ration for six months (from March 1, 2018 to August 31, 2018) for its 47th Battalion at Rae camp in Samba district. The tendering process was to be completed in February so but it did not happen that resulted in the cancellation of the tender