PC: Maoists get arms from abroad

Disclosing that the Maoists were acquiring arms through Bangladesh, Myanmar and possibly Nepal, Home Minister P Chidambaram today nonetheless told them to "simply halt the violence" so that the government could start talks with them.

There was no evidence of any money flowing in from abroad to the Maoists but "there is certainly evidence of weapons being smuggled from abroad through Myanmar or Bangladesh" and possibly Nepal, he said.

During a wide-ranging interview, Chidambaram firmly refused to respond to the comments made by Maoist leader Kishenji, who had laid down certain conditions for a dialogue with the government.

"He is the leader of an organisation declared as unlawful." The Home Minister affirmed that the government was not insisting on the Maoists laying down arms as a pre-condition for talks.

"I have not used these words. Besides I am too practical to know they will not lay down arms.They have to halt violence, which means halt the wanton destruction of railway track, roads, telephone towers, school buildings, bridges," he said.

Chidambaram said violence must be stopped and then with the help of well-meaning people, "we can find a way in which the state governments primarily can talk to the groups in that state and the Central government will afford any assistance it can to facilitate such talks".

Referring to a statement issued by former Lok Sabha Speaker Rabi Ray and his friends for a halt to violence and holding of talks, he said he felt it was his duty to write to Ray making clear the government's policy.

"Let me state it in carefully chosen words that if any group abjures violence we are willing to talk to that group about any genuine grievances.

"This is what the Prime Minister has said. This is what I have said. We have not asked them to do anything more. We simply say halt the violence and then we can talk," the minister said.

Hitting out at "intellectuals" who voice support for the Maoists, he referred to the statement of the Maoists earlier this week that their objective of the attack on Sankhrail police station in West Bengal was weapons and money.

"Even after this statement, if people romanticise the Naxalites, all I can say is that only God can help them." — PTI

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20091025/main3.htm

Pakistan: A country divided against itself

PAKISTAN IS at war. It is not a declared war but everyone, one and all, both the natives and the foreigners know that a war is going on. The Pakistan Army is dead serious on eliminating the menace of terrorism. However, other citizens like teachers, bureaucrats and ordinary citizens are not convinced that the Army is serious about its business vis-a-vis terrorism. Nevertheless, in the heart and mind, a guide escorting some brave foreign tourists is convinced that this is not the best of times to see Taxila’s Buddhist university of yore or the Anarkali Bazar of Lahore today. But he has to earn his daily bread and this is the cleanest way of doing so.

 

Where is the enemy

 

It is an undeclared war. No unit has identified an enemy. A circular floated by General Headquarters has just arrived. It defines the enemy and asks all ranks not to have any dealings with the defined enemy. A person, male or female of any age, who challenges the concept and formation of Pakistan and is waging a war against Pakistan or is prepared to wage a war, and with this common intent assembles and organises them to go on a raid to destabilise the country, will be called an enemy of the state of Pakistan and will be brought before a court of law to stand trial. On conviction, such a person will be hanged till death. The body will be handed over to the next of kin for performance of last rites.

Who runs the government of Pakistan? It is a sensitive issue and is never discussed in an open space. In the lighter vein, one may say that three A’s run the show –America, Army and Allah –and in the same order of importance. America has loosened its purse strings and gives a soft loan to Pakistan to the tune of 1.25 billion dollars per year. He who pays the piper, dictates the tune – the age old saying is true to situation even today. Army has run the government most of the time since independence and knows the finer nuances of administration.

 

One of the major reasons why the Pakistan army lost the 1971 war and surrendered unconditionally to India was their distaste for the devilish business of fighting and their penchant for a cushy job like governance of the country. Be that as it may, the Pakistan Army still runs the show by using remote control. There is a civil administration with a President, a Prime Minister and an elected legislature. They know their limitations and do not wish to cross the Lakshman Rekha. No one in his senses expects a powerful Army Chief like General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to take orders from a President, Asif Ali Zardari. In any case, the two are not on talking terms.

Thus here is a government where the right hand does not know what the left is doing. Here is a country where the people are badly divided on sectarian lines like the Shiite, the Sunni, the Ahmediyas and what have you. The residents of the tribal belt come under a separate administration called the FATA or Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The British in India had kept them divided so that they gain no political strength. Since Independence on August 14, 1947, the government of Pakistan made no endeavour to improve their educational, economic or political condition and they are where they were more than 62 years ago.

 

Since no effort was made for their integration, the process of disintegration gained momentum. The tribes like Mehsuds, Waziri, Yusufzai, Tadjiks and what have you who were fiercely independent by nature gained more momentum through the barrel of the gun. The British Indian Army of the undivided India had found it difficult to control what is now called FATA through force and they bought their silence through hard cash. The situation is no better now; rather it is worse. The invisible enemy lies in wait for the regular army in the hills and dales, jungles and ravines of the unforgiving terrain of Waziristan.

 

Waterloo of foreign forces

Alexander’s invincible phalanxes had found it difficult to hold the ground in the areas called FATA today. The mighty Mughals ruling from Delhi lost the humorist general, Raja Birbal in the process of suppressing the revolt of these tribal people. The tribal loyalties are strong and the entire tribe goes out to the rescue of an individual or a family in distress. Even Tadjiks and Waziris come to the active aid of Mehsuds, notwithstanding tribal rivalries.

 

Of late, Pakistan had been trying hard to play one tribe against the other but had no appreciable success. With modern system of surveillance, an organised regular army has gained more strength. Baitullah Mehsud, the tribal chief and head of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan was thus killed by a missile fired from an American drone while sleeping in the open terrace with his young second wife. While making an attempt to sire a son, he lost his life. His place is now taken over by Hakimullah Mehsud who has vowed a revenge for loss of his predecessor.

As is well known to those who have been following the strategy of the Taliban and the Pakistan Army, it is the United States of America that had been pressurising the Pakistan government to make a decision to eliminate the Taliban leadership and proceed against Islamist terrorism with determination. The Americans increased the aid money to Pakistan but kept an eye on the recipients ’budgeting. It is an open secret that General Kayani is unhappy with the strings attached to the US aid and was in favour of declining to accept it. President Zardari, however, did not wish to alienate the Americans and has accepted both the aid and strings.

 

The US pressure on Pakistan worked and in June 2009, a firm decision was taken to fight it out with a one-time brothers-in-arms, the Taliban. However, it took time to mobilise two divisions of 28000 men and deploy them in the battle zone. Thus it was not until October 16, 09 that a ground attack code named “Rahe Nijaat”or Road of Deliverance, was launched. The air attacks by helicopter gunships and fighter jets had been going on for quite some time. The troops were needed to hold the ground snatched from the Taliban. Should the Pakistan Army make a decision to penetrate deep into the jungles or the hills and dry ravines, they will have to constantly keep an eye on the Terrain, the Weather and the attitude of non-Mehsud tribes towards the ongoing armed confrontation. The winter is not far behind and a snowfall may be expected in November-December 2009.

Progress of battle

Let us admit right at the beginning that there is no transparency in the battle procedure and progress of battle. The whole process is opaque. The press briefing by the PRO confuses the scribes more and removes doubts less. Whatever little information comes out of the battle zone is rather scanty and paints only the army in good light. The Taliban is shown as the losing force. However, the press corps know that had the Army been so efficient and powerful, the Taliban would have been exterminated long ago. But they are still alive and kicking. The government spokesman says that only 17 soldiers lost their life but more than 90 Taliban were killed in a fierce fire fight. Anyway, the media has no means of checking the truth or otherwise of this report.

Some refugees who came out of the dense jungles and ravines did mention that most of the residential areas have been vacated by the local tribesmen. At the same time they did not confirm any large scale movement of army officers and soldiers on footpaths or cart roads leading into the ravines and broken terrain. One may safely surmise that the fierce hand to hand battle between the army men and the tribesmen has not yet begun. It may be mentioned that in 2004 and twice thereafter the Pakistan army had closed in on the tribal people but they were beaten back by the tribal fighters. The Army Headquarters was forced to negotiate and propitiate the tribal fighters every time. Naturally, the Pakistan army officers and soldiers did not cover themselves with glory in these face offs. No wonder, the Army is still testing the waters before taking a plunge. The million dollar question is; how long?

 

Since the Wajiristan warfront is getting more and more opaque, we have little choice but to sign off for now. We promise to return when there is some worthwhile report to bring to our readers who are real connoisseurs of news and views.

http://www.merinews.com/article/pakistan-a-country-divided-against-itself/15786794.shtml

Protests in Kashmir town after man killed for barging into army camp

Srinagar: A 25-year-old man was killed Saturday when a soldier opened fire at him after he ignored a warning to stop near a security picket in a north Kashmir village, police said.
The killing triggered massive protests in Handwara town.

 A police officer said a sentry manning an army bunker at the Dangiwachi camp in north Kashmir's Baramulla district in the morning asked Sajad Ahmed Ganai to stop.

 "The man did not heed the warning of the guard who opened fire. He died on the spot and the body has now been handed over to the relatives for burial," the police officer said.

 The relatives refused to bury the body and have been demanding an inquiry into the "murder".

 A spokesman of the army's 15 Corps said the soldier opened fire in self defence when the man attacked him with an axe.

"A suspicious movement by an individual was observed near the camp this morning. On being challenged by the sentry, the man charged at the sentry with an axe and hit him on his head and right shoulder, injuring him seriously.

 "He then jumped inside the camp gate and tried to charge at the other sentries in the camp. In the retaliatory gunfire, he was shot dead inside the camp. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident and FIR (First Information Report) lodged," Lt. Col. J.S. Brar said.

Police have registered an FIR accusing the soldier of murder.

Local lawmaker Abdul Rashid was leading the protesters demanding a judicial probe into the incident.

http://www.samaylive.com/news/protests-in-kashmir-town-after-man-killed-for-barging-into-army-camp/664083.html

Indian soldier injured in firing across LoC

Jammu: An Indian Army soldier was injured in firing from across the Line of Control (LoC) which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, military officials said Saturday.

The incident took place at Kranti post in Poonch sector, about 200 km northwest of Jammu.

 Official sources said that in violation of ceasefire a sudden burst of fire from across the LoC left a soldier of 28 Grenadiers injured.

Indian troops retaliated and the exchange of fire lasted for half an hour.

The Indian Army believes that these incidents of firing from Pakistani side of the LoC are meant to facilitate infiltration of militants into Kashmir.

http://www.samaylive.com/news/indian-soldier-injured-in-firing-across-loc/664046.html

Navy to have satellite over Indian Ocean

NEW DELHI: The Navy is all set to have a dedicated communication satellite by next year that will enable it to operate more effectively in the Indian Ocean.Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday said that the launch of the naval communication satellite will significantly improve connectivity at sea. All the three services are looking to explore space for military applications and the Navy will be the first one to have its own satellite.Antony was talking to senior naval commanders where he touched upon the importance of having a satellite what would help in strengthening the network-centric approach. It would be a geo-stationary satellite concentrating on the Indian Ocean Region, a key area of operation for the Indian Navy. It will provide data link service for the Indian naval ships and aircraft positioned in the area, said officials.After the Navy, the Indian Air Force will be next in line to have its own satellite. The Air Force is already working on setting up an aerospace command.The Navy now has an added responsibility of the entire maritime security of the country. It leads a 14-department establishment concerning with various aspects of maritime security.The naval commanders are busy working out standard operating procedures for all these bodies so that a repeat of 26/11 could be prevented. The Navy will have to train troops of Central Industrial Security Force for specialised maritime operation. The CISF is responsible for the security of ports and harbour.As the maritime security framework is being re-designed, the Navy top brass is worried about delays in inducting new warships, aircraft and submarines in its fleet. Most of the big ticket purchases from the foreign vendors are running behind schedule. The suppliers have failed to keep the delivery  deadline making it difficult for the Navy to carry on with the existing fleet. Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma asked his officers to take innovative ideas in maintenance and operations of the old ships.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Navy+to+have+satellite++over+Indian+Ocean&artid=UjiGUpDObns=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SEO=Indian+Ocean,Defence+Minister+A+K+Antony&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=

China, India Stoke 21st-Century Rivalry

LEH, India -- In the brewing discord between two giant, ambitious nations, even a remote meadow in the Himalayas is worth fighting over.
Some two-dozen Chinese soldiers converged earlier this year on a family of nomads who wouldn't budge from a winter grazing ground that locals say Indian herders had used for generations. China claims the pasture is part of Tibet, not northern India. The soldiers tore up the family's tent and tried to push them back toward the Indian border town of Demchok, Indian authorities say.

Increasing Friction

Comparing China and India's most crucial statistics.

Chering Dorjay, the chairman of India's Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, says he arrived on the scene with a new tent and Indian intelligence officers and urged the herders to stay put. "The Chinese, it seems, are gradually taking our territory," he says. "We will feel very insecure unless India strengthens its defenses."
Dueling territorial claims along this heavily militarized mountain border, coupled with economic tensions between the two nations, are kindling a 21st-century rivalry. The budding distrust has created a dilemma for the U.S. about how to court one nation without angering the other.
China and India cooperate occasionally. But in recent years, they have competed vigorously over trade, energy investments, even a race to land a man on the moon. Some Indians want their nation to move closer to the U.S. as a hedge against a rising China -- a strategic shift that's likely to complicate ties among all three.
"China is trying to become No. 1," says Brajesh Mishra, a former national-security adviser for India. "This is the seed of conflict between China, India and the U.S."

Walk the Line

View Slideshow

Peter Wonacott/The Wall Street Journal

A sign in the village of Spangmik in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir marks the last stop for tourists.

The prime ministers of India and China are expected to meet this weekend at a summit of Asian leaders in Bangkok, following several weeks in which their nations traded barbs over trade and disputed territory. "Both sides will exchange views on issues of mutual concern," China's assistant foreign minister, Hu Zhengyao, told reporters Wednesday.
Next month, after a planned visit to China, President Barack Obama will host a U.S. visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a meeting meant to highlight what the White House says is a "growing strategic partnership." Commercial and military ties between the two countries have been getting stronger. Last year, the U.S. loosened restrictions to allow India to buy sensitive technology and nuclear equipment for civilian use. Soldiers from both countries are participating this month in a joint defense exercise.
Indian defense analysts say India needs closer U.S. ties to hedge against potential hostilities with China. "If China's rise is peaceful, and it integrates into the global economy, everything should be fine," says retired Indian Brig. Gen. Gurmeet Kanwal, director of the Center for Land Warfare Studies, an army think tank. "Should China implode, it's better to have a friend like the U.S."
In addition to the defense concerns, trade friction is growing between India and China. India leads all members of the World Trade Organization in antidumping cases against China. India has banned imports of Chinese toys, milk and chocolate, citing safety concerns, and has launched investigations into export surges of Chinese truck tires and chemicals, among other products.
On Oct. 15, Indian heavy-industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh asked the finance ministry to impose taxes on imports of inexpensive Chinese power equipment. "We don't want India to be turned into a dumping ground," he told reporters.
At the moment, the biggest threat to India-China relations may be their competing claims for big swaths of territory along their border. In recent years, China has settled border disputes with a host of nations, including Russia, as part of what it calls its "good neighbor policy." But China and India have made little progress, despite 13 rounds of meetings since 2003.
China says the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is historically part of southern Tibet. India wants China to hand back territory it calls Aksai Chin, desolate high-altitude salt flats that residents of Ladakh claim as part of its ancient Buddhist kingdom. India's discovery of a Chinese-built road in the region helped spark a border war in 1962.
Earlier this month, China objected to a visit by Indian Prime Minister Singh to Arunachal Pradesh to campaign for local elections, saying it was disputed territory. "We request India to pay great attention to China's solemn concerns, and not stir up incidents in the areas of dispute," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters.
India's foreign minister countered that Arunachal Pradesh is Indian territory, and demanded that China stop investing in infrastructure-related projects in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan claim the whole of Kashmir.
The 1962 border war, which India lost, complicated the boundary between the two countries. These days, Chinese and Indian forces in some border areas have agreed to go out on different days to patrol contested territory. "We want to avoid an eyeball-to-eyeball conflict," says Gopal Pillai, India's secretary for the home ministry, which oversees the border police.
India and China are intent on turning fast economic growth into national strength. When their interests have converged, they have proven a powerful combination. On Wednesday, they announced plans to cooperate at December's climate-change talks in Copenhagen, a pact likely to see both fighting carbon-emission caps proposed by industrialized nations. During global-trade talks, they both resisted Western pressure to open farm markets.
"China's economic and military growth is not a threat to India. And India's shouldn't be a threat to China," says Cheng Ruisheng, a former Chinese ambassador to India. "We should be an opportunity to one another."
But many Chinese resent any comparison with India, still a largely poor agrarian nation with only about one-third of China's per-capita income. And they're generally wary of India's warming ties with the U.S.
Indians, for their part, bristle over the flood of Chinese imports and China's increasingly cozy ties with India's neighbors, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and arch-rival Pakistan. In a speech last November, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, then its foreign minister, identified an expansionist China as one of India's top challenges. "Today's China seeks to further her interests more aggressively than in the past," he told the National Defense College in New Delhi.

The Indian government has closely scrutinized proposals by Chinese companies to invest in India. It recently demanded that thousands of Chinese citizens in India convert short-term business visas into employment visas -- a move that effectively boots unskilled Chinese workers from the country.
The Chinese government has objected to a proposed Asian Development Bank program that India hoped would help fund a water project in the disputed territory of Arunachal Pradesh. This year, the Chinese embassy began issuing visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir in a manner that Indian officials say leaves China with a way to later claim that it isn't recognizing the visa recipients as Indian citizens. A spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy in New Delhi says "every country has the right" to set its own visa policies.
U.S. defense contractors could benefit from India's desire to modernize its military. While the U.S. has banned weapons sales to China, it has ramped up such sales to India. Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. are among the defense contractors competing to supply India's air force a new fleet of jet fighters -- a deal that could be valued at $10.4 billion.
Some Chinese analysts say friction between India and China are playing into what they say is a U.S. wish to contain China. "If border tensions between India and China continue to simmer, I can't say the U.S. will be displeased," says Shi Yinhong, a specialist in Sino-U.S. ties at People's University in Beijing.
The contested territory in northern India lies in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The region abutting China, known as Ladakh, consists largely of rocky mountain terrain with isolated green pastures grazed by yaks, goats and horses. Many of the herders and traders living on both sides of the blurred border share the same Tibetan heritage and Buddhist faith. The main town on the Indian side, Leh, was an ancient caravan stop.
Today, the area crawls with Indian soldiers. Indian border police tightly regulate visitors traveling east toward China.

Peter Wonacott/The Wall Street Journal

The Indian army built this road in Ladakh, near the China border, where there have been disputes over territory.

The Indian army has accelerated a road-building program in the region.
The roads, which run beside Indian army camps and over a pass above 17,000 feet, are dotted with offbeat signs: "I'm curvaceous, be slow," warns one. "I like you darling, but not so fast," says another.
India intends to use the new mountain roads in part to move military supplies. In September, an Indian cargo plane landed at a new high-altitude airstrip near the border.
Indian villagers near the border have been caught in the middle of the conflict. When villagers were constructing an irrigation canal a few years ago, Chinese soldiers tried to wave them off, says Rigzin Spalbar, chairman at the time of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.
The villagers hurled abuse at the soldiers, but were angry at Indian soldiers for doing nothing, he says. The Chinese "are pestering us to test India's reaction," he says.
Indian residents of the area claim Chinese soldiers have painted Chinese characters on rocks in territory that India claims as its own. The residents say the border has never been as tightly patrolled as it is now.
Konchok Gurmet, 70 years old, lives in Spangmik, a village ringed with Tibetan prayer flags on Panggong Lake, beside the border with China.
He says that until a few years ago he was able to smuggle horses and wool across the border in exchange for Chinese crockery, clothes and thermos bottles.

These days, locals say, border forces on both sides turn smugglers back. After violent protests in Tibet last year, China has been sensitive about who crosses over. Indian police worry that herders and smugglers may be offering the Chinese information on military positions and infrastructure projects, locals say.
According to Mr. Pillai, the Indian home secretary, infrastructure development on both sides of the border has heightened interest in establishing an exact line.
The confrontation between the Indian goatherds and Chinese soldiers, which occurred in January, began after the herders crossed a river to reach a pasture they'd used for generations, Mr. Pillai says.
The Chinese viewed the river as the border line. Indian security forces haven't pressed the claim, he says, because the pasture now is encircled by Chinese sentry posts. "We'd find it difficult tactically to hold that land," he says.
China's ministry of defense declined to comment on the incident, and the Chinese foreign ministry has denied any incursions into Indian territory. "China's border patrol is always conducted in strict accordance with rules," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman last month.
Mr. Pillai says more troops are moving to the border with China, which he describes as a "gradual" buildup of "defensive positions."
Some residents of Arunachal Pradesh -- the Indian state that China claims -- say it's about time.
"India needs to wake up. China is going to flex its muscles," says Kiren Rijiju, a former member of parliament from Arunachal Pradesh. "Being one of its largest neighbors, we are a soft target."

—Vibhuti Agarwal in New Delhi and Sue Feng in Beijing contributed to this article. Write to Peter Wonacott at peter.wonacott@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125625173429702481.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


 

Tuning into China’s changing India mood

The foreign ministry in Beijing, from where India tunes in to China’s changing bilateral mood, is a sprawling brown complex beside a mall with the capital’s biggest Starbucks and shops like Padaa selling western clothes named after global brands.

Twice a week, journalists and staff from embassies including India’s, amble with their notebooks past stiff young guards wearing green ties into a media hall where they plug headphones into chairs for English translations in a Chinese woman’s voice.

Until recently it was possible to spend forty-five minutes listening to discussions about China’s relations with the US, Iran, North Korea, Africa, Pakistan, and even Guinea and Venezuela more than India, if at all. India would be talked about mostly in the context of the border talks or the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama whom Beijing labels a ‘splittist’.

These days, one hears references to Yindu (India) more frequently inside the brown hall where a spokesman stands before a world map flanked by Chinese flags. More journalists, not just Indians, now raise hands to ask about India and China. On Thursday, they asked about the new bilateral climate change pact.

Earlier this week, when spokesman Ma Zhaoxu responded that the Kashmir issue ‘left over from history’ should be ‘properly handled’ through dialogue between Pakistan and India, a hand shot up.

The journalist asked whether Chinese investment in the disputed area would help proper settlement of the issue, but the answer didn’t change.

Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao in Thailand, Beijing is again emphasising friendly bilateral relations, without softening its stance on the rough patches. So it’s possible to sit through a briefing that begins with glowing words about the ‘sound momentum of growth’ in bilateral relations, and trails off with China ‘firmly opposing’ the Dalai Lama’s visit to ‘so-called Arunachal Pradesh’.

The officials rarely make impromptu departures from standard statements. At an ASEAN briefing where a row of officials sat on stage to read Chinese speeches about regional trade, assistant foreign minister Hu Zhengyue confirmed HT’s question that the two PMs would meet in Thailand.

But the minister didn’t stop at that. He paused and chose to slowly elaborate, “PM Singh is now in his second term. There has been good progress in our bilateral relationship and we hope this momentum can sustain. This meeting is an important one.’’

It sounded like a message from Beijing and not just another prepared statement.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Tuning-into-China-s-changing-India-mood/H1-Article1-468202.aspx

CDA NEWS

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