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New Delhi, June 18
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is peeved at former Chief of Army Staff Gen V.P. Malik for his recent statements that have actually been perceived as an attempt to deflect the attention from the core issues of the Pakistani intrusion into the remote Kargil hills of Jammu and Kashmir in 1999.
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BSP to contest plea of Kanshi Ram’s mother
BJP leaders innocent, party tells Liberhan Commission
Sonia trying to be super PM, says BJP
EDUSAT launch in Aug-Sept
Siachen
commander shifted Cauvery water for TN
Punjab decision on water disturbs farmers
Bank deposit for STD operators cut by 50 pc
Energy security top priority for Foreign
Secy-designate
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MoD peeved at Gen Malik over remarks
New Delhi, June 18 Sources in the MoD stated that the recent statements of General Malik, who was the Chief of Army Staff when the Pakistani intrusion took place, have not gone down well in the Ministry. The statements have been looked upon as an attempt by him to shift the attention not only from the fact that a “top secret” report of the Army, which was prepared during his tenure, was leaked to the media but also from the core issues of “intelligence failure and poor assessment” of the prevailing situation five years ago. Earlier this week, General Malik came out with a statement in which he had dubbed as “conjured, distorted and fabricated” the media assessment of an internal report of the Army on Kargil intrusion and had asserted that the recommendation to use air power to evict the Pakistani intruders was a “unanimous decision of the three Services”. While saying that there was never any blame game or accusation in the whole episode, General Malik asserted that the major thrust of the report was on the need for creation of post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and integrated staff at higher level, and the need for the Army to control attack helicopters i.e. availability of air power with the Army. Media reports had suggested that the political leadership had delayed the decision on the use of air power to evict the intruders. Officials in the MoD said although the new government did not believe in witch hunting, there were many lapses that led to the Kargil conflict with Pakistan and these were really not addressed in the right context. Though the government may not go deep into the mismanagement, as it could demoralise the Armed Forces, specific instances of mismanagement could still be looked into. Sources pointed out that firstly General Malik was not in the country (he was away to Poland) when the intrusion was detected and secondly the Army till quite late did not even know the depth and the dimension of the intrusion. There was a major intelligence failure and it was Vice-Chief of Staff General Chandrashekhar who provided assessment reports to the government rather than the chief himself. The level of intelligence failure could be gauged from the fact that when the first reports of intrusion came in late in April 1999, the Army actually had no assessment of the situation. As a result of the Army’s briefing, former Defence Minister George Fernandes actually went on record in the first week of May 1999 saying that there was minor intrusion in Kargil and as per the Northern Command report it would be cleared within 48 hours. But that did not happen and it was only a week later that the Army realised the extent of the intrusion and immediately sought the use of air power. Officials, while again asserting that in the recent statement made in the Lok Sabha Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee had not given a clean chit to either the previous NDA government or former Defence Minister, point out that even for the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to take a decision it would need specific information, which was not available either with the Army or the intelligence agencies. On the other hand, the Army had sought the use of attack helicopters, to which the Air Force refused, as they would become easy targets even to normal bullets from the heights at which the Pakistanis were sitting. The IAF clearly said it was not geared to take on the intrusion at that height. Sources said although there was no second opinion that with whatever means available the Indian Armed Forces did put up a stupendous show to oust the intruders from those heights, there was mismanagement at all levels. Now the MoD is not only peeved at the leakage of the internal assessment report made by the Army, which is being perceived as a result of the struggle within the Army, but also over the fact that statements like those being made by General Malik are keeping the pyre burning when the fire should have died down. It is only helping in further bringing out the inter-Services differences, which actually should remain an internal matter, sources said. |
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Indo-Pak talks set to begin on positive note
New Delhi, June 18 The Tribune understands that there are many commonalities between India and Pakistan on the nuclear issue and the Indian strategy would be to play upon the minimum achievable targets rather than getting bogged down with contentious issues like the A Q Khan episode. Talking to The Tribune, Indian and Pakistani sources gave the following points on commonalities and differences between the two sides. First the “commonalities”. (i) Notifying each other before ballistic missile tests, a practice which has stood the test of time and both sides have, more or less, adhered to it. (ii) Non-use of Nuclear Weapons Resolution which India has been moving before the United Nations for years and Pakistan has been supporting. (iii) Elimination of nuclear weapons in the long run, an ideology both sides subscribe to. The two countries’ position on these points is so starkly similar that when the Indian and Pakistani delegates speak at
multilateral fora on this issue, it would be impossible for a blindfolded participant to find out whether the speaker is an Indian or a Pakistani. But there are acute differences also between New Delhi and Islamabad which sources from the two sides listed as follows: 1. No First Use policy. While the Government of India has publicly declared that it will never use a nuclear weapon first (a stand which China too has taken), Pakistan has never said so. It will be India’s endeavour tomorrow and day after to get to know from the horse’s mouth the Pakistani position on no-first-use. 2. Pakistani ambivalence on their nuclear doctrine. While India has a declared nuclear doctrine, Pakistan has maintained silence on the subject. It will be India’s effort at these talks to find out the Pakistani nuclear doctrine rather than piecing together Islamabad’s pronouncements at various multilateral fora. 3. Pakistan’s focus is on “strategic restraint” while India’s insistence is on getting on with the simple CBMs. India realises that the Pakistani talk of “strategic restraint” in the nuclear context is aimed at restraining India’s capability, like putting nuclear warheads on various kinds of missiles. However, one thing is certain: that India is not going to raise the A Q Khan issue at these talks because it feels that this is not a bilateral issue but an international one. The schedule for tomorrow is that the two sides will have a morning session of talks which will be followed by a working lunch. After this, the Pakistani delegation will call on Foreign Secretary Shashank, National Security Advisor J N Dixit and External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh. Earlier in the day, the six-member Pakistani delegation arrived here today for the nuclear CBMs talks. Delegation leader Tariq Usman Haider, Additional Secretary in the Foreign Ministry, told reporters at Delhi airport that they had come here with “a positive spirit, positive suggestions and for result-oriented talk”. The two sides are expected to pick up threads from the February, 1999 Memorandum of Understanding dealing with nuclear CBMs signed in Lahore during the visit of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Indian side at the talks, to be held at the recently renovated Hyderabad House, will be led by Mr Sheel Kant Sharma, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. The Pakistani delegation includes Mr Jalil Abbas Jilani, Director General, South Asia in the Foreign Office who is a former Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan, who has come in a different capacity, and senior nuclear and defence officials. These expert level talks were to have taken place soon after the signing of the MoU in 1999 but the Kargil war changed the scenario. The decision to hold talks on nuclear CBMs was taken during a meeting of the two Foreign Secretaries in Islamabad on February 18 as part of the composite dialogue process to resolve all bilateral issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. |
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BSP to contest plea of Kanshi Ram’s mother New Delhi, June 18 Arguing before Justice
B.N. Chaturvedi, BSP counsel sought to be impleaded in the case to rebut allegations made in the petition against the party and it members. He claimed that Kanshi Ram’s mother, Ms Bishan Kaur, and brothers, Mr Harbans and Mr Dalbara Singh, had not shown any concern for him till now, but had raked up the issue just before the elections. They were only abusing the process of law, he alleged. Earlier today, Kanshi Ram’s mother and brothers sought to move the senior leader from Batra Hospital to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. Counsel for the private hospital said they had no objection to the move. However, the judge posted the matter for Monday. On June 4, the high court had “allowed” close relatives to visit Mr Kanshi Ram at the city hospital. Justice O.P. Dwivedi had said family members, including his mother, were free to visit the leader at the hospital as per its timings and rules. The judge had also sought the latest medical report of the MP, including one on the blood toxin level, by June 23. Counsel of the leader’s family said his mother and brothers were being denied “access” to him. He also demanded that the Ms Bishan Kaur be given charge of her ailing son and member of the family be allowed to take him to some other hospital. However, Batra Hospital counsel termed the petition as “frivlous”. He denied that the family had ever been stopped from meeting Mr Kanshi Ram or that he had been “confined” by the hospital authorities. He was getting proper medical attention, it was added. On May 25, the high court had issued notices to the Central Government and the Commissioner of Police on a petition filed by the mother and brothers of Mr Kanshi Ram, seeking the court’s intervention to meet him at the hospital. In the petition, they had said that the veteran leader was being illegally detained and was not allowed to move out of the hospital and get treatment at a place of his choice. It was alleged that security personnel and medical staff of the hospital were not allowing them to meet the leader, although he wanted to meet his relatives, especially his mother. The Medical Superintendent of Batra Hospital had denied the allegations. His mother had been visiting and meeting him and, therefore, the petition filed by her was a “bundle of lies,” he said in an affidavit. Mr Kanshi Ram’s cousin, Mr Hukam Singh, and his brother-in-law, Mr Ranjit Singh, had been staying in the hospital with the patient. The Delhi police had been providing security to the VIP, over which the hospital authorities had no control, it further added.
— UNI |
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BJP leaders innocent, party tells Liberhan Commission
New Delhi, June 18 Similarly, a senior party leader and the then Chief Minister, Mr Kalyan Singh, in his separate arguments said there was no prior information about any conspiracy and even the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had failed to get inputs about any demolition plan by anyone. While the BJP reiterated its earlier stand in the final written submission, filed by its counsel Satya Pal Jain, Kalyan Singh’s counsel B.B. Saxena argued on behalf of the former Chief Minister, during whose tenure the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992. The party was always against the “demolition of the disputed structure and the unfortunate incident was a result of spontaneous uncontrollable action of kar sevaks,” BJP counsel told Justice M.S. Liberhan, heading the panel. “The BJP stand was that the mosque should be shifted to some nearby place respectfully, which could pave the way for the construction of a Ram temple at the site, believed to the birth place of Lord Ram,” Jain said. The position of the BJP was evident from the fact that its leaders present at the site for the kar seva had made frequent appeals to all those who had climbed the structure to come down. “But unfortunately they did not heed to those appeals,” the party counsel claimed. He said BJP leader L.K. Advani wanted to go inside the structure from the platform where the leaders had assembled, to persuade the kar sevaks to come down, but he was prevented from going there by security personnel due to security reasons. He had then asked party leaders Pramod Mahajan and Uma Bharti to go there, he contended. As the people who had climbed the tombs had not been identified there was no reason to believe that there was any “preplanned conspiracy” to demolish the disputed structure, Jain said. “It can be safely concluded that the demolition was a spontaneous act of the uncontrollable assembly of people, provoked by the callousness attitude of the then Union Government in dealing with the vexed issue and ignoring the sentiments of the people,” he said. Charging the then Congress government with not making any serious effort to resolve the dispute, Jain said there was no evidence to put the blame on the BJP, as the subsequent “white paper” brought out by the Centre had also described the event as “sad and sudden”. Kalyan Singh’s counsel told the panel that the former Chief Minister could not be held responsible for the demolition as he was neither present on the spot nor was their any evidence to suggest that he had any knowledge of the alleged conspiracy. Regarding the beating up of journalists, who had gathered at the site to report the event, Kalyan’s counsel said it was true that such incident had taken place. Though the journalists had given statements to the probe agencies, they had failed to identify the people. |
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Sonia trying to be super PM, says BJP
New Delhi, June 18 “The super PMO’s secretariat being called the common minimum programme council will emerge as more powerful than the Prime Minister’s Office as the real remote control of the Central Government will be located there,” BJP spokesperson M.A. Naqvi said in a statement here. “It is indeed amusing that the expenses for this super PMO will be borne by the Prime Minister’s Office,” he said adding the attempt of the Congress to portray Ms Gandhi as an “idol of sacrifice” stands completely exposed with the UPA government’s attempt to give legitimacy to the two power centres in the country. |
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Siachen
commander shifted New Delhi, June 18 A release issued here said Lieut-Gen M.L. Naidu
had been appointed the new Corps Commander for the area. "General
Naidu replaces Lieut-Gen Arvind Sharma and will take over his new post
tomorrow," the release said. |
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Cauvery water for TN Bangalore, June 18 A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to him over phone, Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh told reporters that water was being released from the Kabini reservoir since yesterday and further releases would be decided after reviewing the situation. — PTI |
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EDUSAT launch in Aug-Sept
Bangalore, June 18 ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair told The Tribune that ISRO was aiming at an August-end launching from Sriharikota. EDUSAT, costing about Rs 90 crore, would carry 6-KU band transponders, one with a footprint covering the Indian mainland, and others providing spot beams towards northern, north-eastern, eastern, southern and western regions. It would also have six C-band transponders. The ISRO already had 130 operational transponders in space, Mr Nair noted. “We have also achieved 90 per cent indigenisation in our launch vehicles and 50 per cent indigenisation in our satellites,” he added. This will in fact be the first operational flight of the GSLV and the vehicle has been designated GSLV F-01. The GSLV has seen two successful development flights, designated D1 and D2, which put in the experimental satellites, GSAT-1 and GSAT-2, into geo-synchronous transfer orbit (GTO) in April, 2001, and May, 2003, respectively. The GTO refers to the placing of a satellite in orbit about 36,000 km above the earth where it is stationary with respect to the earth (it follows the earth’s rotation). Before the GSLV, all our satellites requiring the GTO employed the services of the European Ariane Space Launch Vehicle. EDUSAT will support both formal and non-formal education, at both school and college levels. “Once operational, EDUSAT will be servicing 1000 stations covering at least 20 educational institutions in the country, including IITs, the UGC, IGNOU and certain remote locations. In three to four years, we expect the EDUSAT system as a whole to enable at least 10,000 stations,” Mr Nair said. |
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Punjab decision on water disturbs farmers
Jaipur, June 18 If Punjab’s threat is translated into reality, millions of people would be deprived of their livelihood and the large tracts of shifting sands, which have been transformed into lush green fields with the availability of water of the Indira Gandhi Canal and its distributaries, would face the danger of becoming barren again. The state government has so far spent Rs 2,500 crore on the construction of the Indira Gandhi Canal. As per agreement, Rajasthan has so far been receiving water from the Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and Jhajjar rivers. Commenting on the commotion caused by the announcement of the Punjab Government refusing water to Rajasthan, Mr Shiv Charan Mathur, former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, observed that the fear was unfounded. Such a decision could not be implemented in an arbitrary manner. Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje had high-level parleys to discuss the issue. Sources felt that the Punjab Vidhan Sabha resolution appeared to be basically designed to obstruct the availability of water to Haryana. Irrigation Minister Sanwar Lal Jat said that Rajasthan had already been receiving 6,000 cusecs of water from Punjab and a representation of the state government regarding release of the remaining 60 MAF of water was already under consideration of the Eradi Commission. |
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Bank deposit for STD operators cut by 50 pc
New Delhi, June 18 “I have approved the proposal to reduce the performance bank guarantee of national long distance (NLD) service providers by 50 per cent,” Minister of IT and Communications Dayanidhi Maran said here today. The decision to reduce the bank guarantee of NLD operators has been a long-standing demand of cellular operators. Mr Maran said the reduction in bank guarantee would release funds worth Rs 50 crore for cellular operators. “It used to be Rs 100 crore earlier, which will now be Rs 50 crore,” he said. The performance bank guarantee after establishment of point of presence (PoP) shall also be reduced by 50 per cent. The Department of Telecom would shortly issue the appropriate notification in this respect, the minister said, adding that the procedures were also being simplified so that the guarantee money could be quickly released once the performance is reported. On the issue of spectrum availability, the minister said the government would bring about a comprehensive policy as soon as possible. Addressing members of the cellular industry at a meeting organised by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Mr Maran said, “The industry has also sought reduction of costs and duties on this sector.” To bridge the digital divide in the country, the minister suggested that all telecom service providers could organise to pool their resources to maximise the utilisation of the existing infrastructure and develop more infrastructure and other resources so that the optimum utilisation is achieved. “The government on its part will work as a facilitator to accelerate this process,” he said. |
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Energy security top priority for Foreign
Secy-designate
New Delhi, June 18 Highly volatile oil prices in international markets and country’s growing energy needs require a long-term strategy and Mr Saran has been working on the issue for a pretty long time, sources said. The coming Commonwealth Games in 2010 and India’s bid to hold Olympics in 2016 are going to put a heavy pressure for power on the country and that is why Mr Saran is determined to pave the way for the successful completion of hydel power projects in neighbouring Nepal where he has worked as India’s top envoy for about two years, official sources said. |
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