Pakistan-US Relationship: A Dream, A Need

PAKISTAN: THE ONLY ALLY AMERICA CAN TRUSTBy Brig Asif Haroon Raja

Pakistan-US relations that had soured after 1990, warmed up after 9 11 when Pakistan agreed to fight US coined war on terror as a frontline state. Their relations are apparently still friendly but clouded in suspicions and mistrust. Whatever steps taken by government of Pakistan for the benefit of US interests and at the cost of earning displeasure of the people of Pakistan are received with mixed feelings. No sooner Pakistan’s actions are applauded by some US officials; these are promptly washed off by other officials or US media through censures and ‘do more mantra’. Barring few, there is general consensus in Pakistan that it has suffered immensely because of its purported friendship with USA. It has lost much more and gained very little. Indian factor has played a prominent role in coloring the perceptions of US officials and widening trust deficit. Indian lobbyists are feverishly burning midnight oil to further widen this gulf and to turn USA hostile against Pakistan. They would have succeeded in their designs if the US military had achieved some of the objectives of war on terror and had gained an upper edge in Afghanistan and US economy had remained stable.

The US had to reconsider its policies in the wake of continuously deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, which forced Obama Administration to rush in 21000 additional troops from Iraq in 2009 to stabilize the situation. US-UK joint operation in Helmand turned into a fiasco and ISAF suffered heavy casualties. When no improvement could be affected another heavy reinforcement of 30000 is being dispatched. This is in spite of US claim that not more than 100 Al-Qaeda operatives are operating in Afghanistan. At the same time, Washington has decided to start pulling out its troops from Afghanistan by July 2011 onwards and has also stepped up its efforts to win over Taliban. Its futile endeavour is however to break linkage between Al-Qaeda and Taliban and to invest in alternative leadership of Taliban that can stand up against Mulla Omar. It has not made breakthrough on any front. Death of seven CIA agents at US base in Khost is the latest debacle and an indication that Taliban-Al-Qaeda nexus is intact.

Looking around, one finds obtaining situation in Central Asian Republics (CAR) where US economic interests reside unfavourably disposed towards USA. This is because of resurgence of Russia and its increasing grip over CAR, growing military and economic power of China and defiance of nuclear North Korea. Nuclearization of Iran and its anti-Israel and anti-US policies are a pain in the neck both for USA and Israel. And so is Iraq where the US having shed river of blood and spent colossal amounts has failed to stabilize it. Shia elements aligned with Iran are ruling the roost. Hamas in Gaza and Hizbollah in Lebanon refuse to get cowed down by Israeli belligerence and remain in a fighting mood. Turkey which had refused use of its airspace and territory to US troops for invasion of Iraq from the north in 2003 retains its Islamic identity and independence of thought and action. Syria too maintains its warrior spirit against USA and Israel. It had fiercely reacted to a single drone attack on a border village last year which restrained USA from making another attempt. Whole of impoverished Africa is in ferment because of western looters policy of divide and rule and wanton plunder of their wealth.

Al-Qaeda has grown in size and strength. Apart from its bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has bases in Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and North Africa. While Yemen has heated up, in Somalia, Al-Shabaab linked with al-Qaeda has gained control over more than 90% of Somali territory. Al-Qaeda is linked with all Islamic movements like Afghan Taliban, Chechnya movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Islamic movements in certain Far Eastern Asian countries. US ambassador in Islamabad has admitted that the US has credible information that large number of terrorists are homing towards Yemen and Somalia. Till recent the flow from Africa and Iraq was in the opposite direction. This reversal of tide has occurred because of brilliant successes achieved by Pak Army in Swat, South Waziristan and other troubled spots in the northwest. Pro-active and aggressive posture adopted by Pak army together with planned troop surge in Afghanistan has shrunk space for the militants forcing them to flee to safer havens elsewhere.

Somali coast off Indian Ocean has become another hotspot where pirates have posed a serious challenge to western commercial interests. From 2008 onwards, several daring raids have been carried out by Somali sea pirates to seize foreign ships for ransom. This practice is still continuing despite formation of joint counter-piracy force by Asian-Western countries. All these militant activities in various parts of Muslim world indicate that Al-Qaeda that was confined to Afghanistan till September 2001 has spread its tentacles far and wide and has now become an international organization. Aiman al-Zahawari based in Iraq has emerged as a strong and influential leader and like Osama bin Laden has successfully evaded worldwide hunt against him.

War on terror instead of getting curbed has become uncontrollable. It has not only made the lives of Americans highly insecure but has also made the world as a whole unsafe. Lots of hopes were pinned on Barack Obama to undo wrongful policies of George W. Bush and to promote peace and harmony in the world. He has proved to be huge disappointment. Instead of calling off senseless war on terror he is stoking it further. Resurgence of Taliban power in Afghanistan has deflated his fervour to some extent but not his resolve since he feels that he somehow would lose next election if he adopts defensive strategy. He has however been forced to revise his Pakistan specific Af-Pak policy in which the two countries were integrated into a single battle zone and India given a key role in Afghan affairs. It has belatedly dawned upon his team that what to talk of turning defeat into victory, exit from Afghanistan would become impossible without Pakistan support. This realization has compelled Washington to keep Pakistan on board with a heavy heart and it is these days trying to show its soft face.

Not only about 80% of Afghan territory has come under the influence of Taliban, rigged presidential election has made the position of unpopular Karzai more fragile. Performance of Afghan security forces predominated by non-Pashtuns is below average. The US is spending huge amount to expand and upgrade the quality of National Army and the police so that frontline duties could be assigned to them within next two years. There is however little hope for tangible improvement without the induction of Pashtuns. Likewise, Afghan regime will be unable to gain credibility as long as Pashtuns are denied their rightful share in power.

Rumbling within NATO countries based in Afghanistan is getting louder since they can see the writing on the wall. So is the case with American public which no more supports war on terror and wants its soldiers to return home. The US has so far spent over $38 billions but anti-Americanism among the Afghans has multiplied since they want them to leave. Anti-Americanism in Pakistan too has peaked because of biased and discriminatory policies pursued by Washington. Latest provocative step is the new discriminatory law framed to screen visiting Pakistanis on American ports while excusing India.

The US can upturn its image in Pakistan if it stops drone attacks in FATA and provide civilian nuclear deal to Pakistan similar to the one provided to India. It can boost its image if it forcefully forbids India to carryout covert operations against Pakistan using Afghan soil and restrains it from stealing Pakistan water. Other steps that can help build trust and confidence are construction of hydel power projects and provision of greater access to US and EU markets for Pakistani products. Pakistanis will become pro-America and be a willing partner to safeguard US interests from a position of respect and honour if the US helps Pakistan in easing the debt burden and plays a pro-active role to solve longstanding Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiris and UN Resolutions. These two acts would go a long way in dispelling misgivings and mistrust harboured by people of Pakistan and in building mutually sustaining and durable strategic partnership premised on mutual interests, mutual respect and mutual trust.

Practically, such an occurrence is far-fetched and a pipedream since Indo-Israeli lobbies enjoying strong influence over policy makers in USA would never allow it to happen. In 2010, distrust and antagonism would accelerate rather than de-escalate since the security situation in Afghanistan would keep spinning out of control. It would leave politically weakened Obama Administration with no choice other than to continue following Indo-Israel dictated dual faced policies of harming Pakistan under the garb of friendship. While making Pakistan more dependent upon IMF and US aid, tunnel-vision US leaders would release aid miserly, keep on blaming Pakistan for US failures and intensifying pressure to commence operation against Maulvi Nazir, Gul Bahadur and Haqqani network and intensifying as well as widening scope of drones. At the same time, it would keep expanding its presence in Pakistan to be able to hunt Pak nukes. Such hypocritical recourse would give short term benefits to India and Israel and a sadistic pleasure to USA but in the long run all will be losers. Those wishing for mutually beneficial relationship are living in cloud-cuckoo-land.                                 

Brig Asif Haroon is Member Board Of Advisors, Opinion Maker, has been a Defence Attache at Cairo. He is a defence and security analyst who has authored 5 books.

Story Of My Mother

Proud to be a Pakistani

Next target: Yemen

Farooq Sulehria

Yemen has become the focus of media attention in the wake of the foiled attempt to blow up a US airliner by Umar Farooq Abdul Muttalab on Dec 25. The US mainstream media is busy portraying Yemen as a ‘’failed state,” and hence a legitimate target for US aggression.

Yemen is the poorest of all Arab countries, with 40 percent living below the poverty line, and the writ of government is hardly in existence there. Ninety of the 200 detainees now held at Guantanamo, we are told, hail from Yemen. Footage of picturesque Ribat Baashen, Osama bin Laden’s ancestral village, spices up the coverage to reinforce Yemen’s image as a safe haven for Al-Qaeda.

A tribal society of 23 million, with 60 million guns, Yemen, it seems, will be Empire’s next front. American corporate media, in unison with the US establishment, are suffering from amnesia-as-usual. Hence, no mention is made of the fact that during the Cold War Washington backed the Islamist regime in North Yemen against “socialists” ruling South Yemen, which has since merged with the North. Similarly, thousands of Yemeni citizens reached Afghanistan to fight back the infidel Reds.

In the country’s 1994 civil war, Yemenis returning from Afghanistan helped secure the rule of incumbent president Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power since 1978. For these Afghan veterans, suppression of godless South Yemen was a logical continuation of their victorious jihad in Afghanistan.

True, the present focus on Yemen owes to Republican criticism of the Obama administration over the evident security failure despite an alarm raised by the Nigerian suspect’s father. A military action is likely to offer a distraction.

However, it is Yemen’s highly strategic location that interests Empire. Adjacent to Saudi Arabia (the world’s largest oil exporter) and the Red Sea (controlling access to the Suez Canal), Yemen also borders on the Gulf of Aden, the westward shipping route for much of the oil leaving the Persian Gulf.

From the Red Sea, some three million barrels of crude oil are shipped daily to the West. US military forces are already deployed in Djibouti, to oversee this passage. In view of Yemen’s strategic location in the ongoing ‘’war on terror,’’ which translates into occupation of strategic Muslim countries in western Asia, the $11 million US military assistance to Yemen in 2006 had by 2009 quadrupled to $70 million. The US Congress is likely to approve $150 million for 2010.

What also worries Washington is that 40 per cent of the country’s population is Shia Muslim, receiving support from Iran in an insurgency (which rendered 175,000 homeless since August) against Sanaa. Riyadh, however, is even more worried. Hence, it lent Yemen $2 billion last year and committed its forces last November to quell the Shia insurgency.

Meantime, Americans have been closely watching Yemen. Only last summer CIA deputy director Stephen Kappes and David Petraeus, head of the US Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East, called on President Saleh. In September John Brennan, Obama’s advisor on anti-terrorism, paid a visit to Sanaa. These visits resulted in a US-Yemeni joint air and ground offensive against presumed Al-Qaeda camps near the capital and in the provinces of Shabwah, Al-Jawf and Abyan.

Abdul Muttalab, it is believed, boarded the Detroit-bound flight to avenge these attacks. With Yemen having exhausted its oil reserves and facing an acute water crisis, the country’s dictator needs US money as well as US protection. For Saleh, Al-Qaeda is an excuse to secure US patronage. After all, he himself has been patronising Al-Qaeda in the past. His real worry is the Shia insurgency and a secessionist movement in the south.

Yemen’s analogy to Pakistan under Musharraf is indeed striking: blowback from the Afghan war, dictatorship in need of US patronage, writ of state largely missing, an ideal terrain for guerrilla warfare (as in Pakistan’s north) and a society seething with anti-Americanism. This is a recipe for perfect disaster.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Sweden. Email: mfsulehria@hotmail.com

Is India really playing nasty with Iran?

Afshain Afzal

The successful launch of Sejil-2 missile by Iran that can target Israel and US did not surprise both these countries as India had already leaked sufficient information on Iranian missile project. Because of the same forecast, Washington was pushing the world community and United Nations for tougher sanctions against Tehran. Iran is well aware of Indian role in espionage for US and Israel.

With the surfacing of Indo-US-Israel troika, India’s long awaited desire to win over Iran to her side against Pakistan and other Muslim countries seems fading away. Although in the recent years there was a record growth in the bilateral relations between India and Iran but latest India-US-Israel collaboration against the Muslim world has cautioned Iranian government and political analysts in Tehran. Indian modus operandai against Muslims remains that it creates misunderstanding between Muslim countries, which finally lead to suspicion and hostile relations. In a conspiracy against Pakistan, India made a lot of material investment and sacrificed precious time of her Intelligence agencies in order to share so called self-engineered red hot information with US, Israel and at times with Iran.

It is interesting to note that the state of art technical equipment provided by US and Israel to collect intelligence pertaining to Iran’s nuclear programme and movement of Iranian Armed Forces, especially the Iranian Navy is also utilized against countries like Pakistan to provide selected information to please strategic partners. The sole aim of India is to isolate Pakistan from Iran in order to create her hegemony over the entire region. In another recent development, a secret Indo-US agreement has been recently concluded by virtue of which India has agreed upon to transfer data regarding Iranian nuclear programme including monitoring of nuclear radiation-emission through human intelligence as well as from India satellite RISAT. It need to be kept in mind that US has started installation of two nuclear reactors on selected Indian sites as a reward for furnishing information against Iranian secrets. Due to US and Israeli growing influence over India, despite New Delhi’s generous offers to Iran in the field of military hardware as well as infrastructure, Iran has always looked towards India with suspicion. No doubt that there are numerous agreements inked between the two countries to jointly counter terrorism and extremism but India failed to get recognition of trusted friend in the eyes of an ordinary Iranian. The Iranian intelligence is well aware of India’s long term designs in the region and as a defensive strategy, New Delhi is being kept at safe distance. Despite Iranian careful dealings, India is constantly disseminating important intelligence to Non-Muslim world regarding Iran’s religious activities in Qom, Mashed and Muqadas shrine, portraying it as anti West and more threatening than the Al-Qaida. Thus purely religious practices are painted as some sort of an attempt to take over the world by a revolution. Indian Consulate General Zahidan and Indian Embassy Tehran have become Indian intelligence agency RAW’s breeding ground for agents. Diplomats of Indian Embassy Tehran and Consulate General Zahidan were photographed by Afghan intelligence agencies holding confidential meetings with leaders of Mujahideen-e-Khalq and Jandollah group in Dubai, Zabal and Zarang in Afghanistan.

Many analysts get confused to observe that when India’s collaboration with US and Israel is being monitored by Iran, why Tehran is unable to discontinue diplomatic relations with India. In fact, Iran at this critical juncture cannot give India a blunt reply because of her fear of isolation. Iran is very clear that the India will not only allow US and Israeli planes to use its bases but will also extend full strategic and logistic support if pre-emptive military strikes are carried out to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. In fact, the Israeli Air Force had even held an exercise over the Mediterranean in June 2008, which was widely believed to be the simulation of a strike against Iranian nuclear installations. Among the 52 joint combat exercises between India and US in the last seven years, the Red Flag air combat exercise in US in 2008 and Yudh Abanas in 2009 are excellent examples of Indo-US nexus against Iranian Nuclear and missile installations.

India’s past record vis-à-vis Iran had been very poor. India played a major role in developing a consensus against Iran’s nuclear programme. It even did not bother the long-standing ties with Iran, when it voted against Iran in the IAEA Board of Governors’ meetings in September 2005 and March 2006. Presently India is trying hard to mend fences with Iran. However, the last year’s incident of not permitting the Indian aircrafts to fly over Iranian territory is indicative that Iran has lost its trust over India and that she has realized that it is India which is disseminating secrets of Iranian strategic and tactical targets to US and Israel. In the recent past, the espionage activities of Indian diplomats in Afghanistan came into the notice of Iran and United Arab Emirates, when personnel of Indian Border Road Organization (BRO) and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were caught red handed carrying out highly objectionable activities. Presently, Presently, Iran security forces have disallowed the Indian agents to us Iranian soil against Pakistan and Afghanistan.

India’s Iran Policy has miserably failed rather its long-standing ties with Iran has been strained. Although the India’s past record will never encourage any leadership in Tehran to maintain relations of trust with New Delhi but Iran at the same time will not refuse a friendly handshake with India, to avoid international isolation. Supported by powerful print and electronic media, India’s policy in the region aimed at maintaining hegemony over the entire region through its bluff game. It is right time for Iran to neutralize the activities being carried out by Indian intelligence agency RAW through Indian Embassy Tehran and Indian Consulate General Zahidan.

There is no doubt that India is waging a silent proxy war inside Iran to serve the interests of US and Israel. By and large Indian civilian workers in Iran and the Gulf region have no bad intentions against Islamic Republic of Iran but Indian Armed Forces personnel and its intelligence agents are working against Iranian interests to please US and Israel.

RAW Targets NATO Forces

There is no doubt that while fighting against the occupying forces, the Taliban have been conducting ambush assaults and suicide attacks on the NATO forces and claim responsibility. Last year, western commanders and high officials have admitted that level of insurgency has increased in Afghanistan.
In fact, Indian intelligence agency, RAW has been availing this golden opportunity of perennial militancy—to target the NATO troops and military installations in Afghanistan. Such acts of sabotage are also being conducted inside Pakistan, which also include attacks on the NATO’s supply-trucks and containers passing through Pakistan.
Question arises in the mind of people as to how RAW can conduct subversive activities against the US-led NATO interest both in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The reply is quite clear, which can better be understood by students of international relations.
All the developments in Afghanistan cannot be seen in isolation because they have a co-relationship with Indian other regional designs. India is determined to become a greater power of Asia, and wants to go even to the extent of war with nuclear power like Pakistan and China. In this context, Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor vocally said on December 29, 2009 that Indian Army “is now revising its five-year-old doctrine” and is preparing for a “possible two-front war with China and Pakistan.”
No country can ignore its defence, while its enemy has aggressive designs. In response to New Delhi’s open threat, on January 2, Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) Chairman Gen. Tariq Majid stated, “The Indian Army Chief’s statement exhibits a lack of strategic acumen. He further said that such a path could “fix India on a self-destruct mechanism.” A day ago, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani warned that the situation would get out of control in case of any dangerous adventurism of New Delhi.
It is notable that in the recent past, although the US President Obama has announced that he will send an extra 30,000 US troops to fight the war in Afghanistan, yet his revised strategy also includes withdrawal of forces, which will start in July 2011. In this context, on November 15, last year, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had already revealed, “We’re not interested in staying in Afghanistan” for a long time and set a start date for military withdrawal.
It is mentionable that during his trip to the USA in 2009, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left no stone unturned in convincing Washington by raising alleged concerns regarding Pakistan and Afghanistan in connection with militancy. In his interview to the Washington Post and Newsweek, Singh remarked that India “wants to resolve all outstanding issues with Pakistan”, while accusing the latter of “sponsoring terrorism.” He called for the US pressure on Islamabad to rein in extremists. He also said that he would encourage the American leadership to stay in Afghanistan. Besides, Singh warned that Afghanistan could fall into a civil war if the US exited.
On the other side, frustrated in achieving their aims, NATO countries have seriously been considering withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan in future owing to growing domestic pressure coupled with daily casualties of their personal and rising cost of war. Particularly, America has been bearing huge losses, amounting seven trillion dollars in the total cost of war against terrorism, increase in defence budget and acute financial crisis inside the US homeland.
If US-led NATO forces pull out of Afghanistan, Karzai regime will fall like a house of cards due to the Taliban insurgency. Hence, India has planned to entrap the US permanently in Afghanistan in order to achieve its secret designs against Pakistan and China—in the Indian-held Kashmir by damaging American global and regional interests, and thus wants to get further benefits from the US and other developed countries so as to become a superpower.
Notably, American dependence on Pakistan for war against terrorism and for close economic cooperation with China, and in future, withdrawal of foreign powers from Afghanistan will roll back Indian clandestine agenda which is part of its regional ambition against Islamabad and Beijing.
Sometimes surprises happen in world politics which is an arena of great complications, and states’ shrewd strategies are followed by all unfair means. In this respect, renowned thinker, Morghenthau, while echoing the thoughts of Machiavelli indicates that sometimes rulers have to act upon immoral activities like falsehood, deceit and theft. In this connection, India is determined to obtain its inter-related aims to dominate other regional countries. Particularly, it considers Pakistan an obstacle in its way.
Under the pretext of Talibinisation of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Indian secret agency, RAW with the support of Israeli Mossad has well-established its networks. Particularly, India has been running secret operations against Pakistan from its consulates in Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, Kandhar and other sensitive parts of the Pak-Afghan border. It has spent millions of dollars in Afghanistan to strengthen its grip. And from there, Indian RAW has been sending well-trained militants along with arms to Pakistan so as to attack the security personnel including western nationals. New Delhi which wants to get strategic depth against Pakistan has not only increased its military troops in the counry, but has also decided to set up cantonments. In this respect, puppet regeme of Hamid Karzai encouraged India in using the Border Roads Organisation in constructing the ring roads by employing Indo-Tibeten police force for security.
Meanwhile, admiting Indian activities in Afghanistan, on September 20, NATO commander, Gen. McChrystal in his report on the Afghan war had admitted: “Indian political and economic influence is increasing in Afghanistan including significant development efforts…is likely to exacerbate regional tensions.”
Worried about withdrawal of the US-led allies from Afghanistan, India with the covert support of Indo-Israeli lobbies has already started a propaganda campaign in the west to implicate Islamabad.
Nevertheless, with its ambitious policy including development and acquisition of sophisticated arms from the most developed countries, New Delhi tries to achieve its secret goals, coupled with its size at any cost. For this purpose, RAW has been given a carte blanche to target the US-backed forces in Afghanistan. In this context, with the help of Indian so-called Muslim scholars, RAW has set up a number of secret mudrassas in India from where well-trained agents of RAW are being sent to Afghanistan to join the ranks and files of Taliban—and are conducting various activities such as plantation of roadside bombs, deployment of mines and suicide attacks on NATO’s personnel and installations so as to distort the image of Pakistan in the eyes of America and Europe.
In this context, RAW has also intensified subversive activities in Pakistan where Afghan-like militancy is continuously being supported by RAW agents. This agency has also been given a free hand by New Delhi to attack NATO’s supply vehicles in Pakistan.
While in case of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, sometimes Taliban claims responsibility for their acts of sabotage. But fact of the matter is that in most of the cases, RAW’s technical experts arrange video movies and tapes to show that Taliban have accepted the responsibility in order to conceal the real face of India.
Besides other assaults on NATO troops and bases, on December, 2009 a well-planned suicide attack killed seven CIA officers at a highly-protected military base in Afghanistan. In this regard, The Washington post reported, “the suicide attack was one of the deadliest blows ever against the CIA…a bomber managed to penetrate the defences of the ‘forward base’, detonating an explosives belt in a room described as a gym.”
American military officials are worried as to how this base became vulnerable to insurgents’ target. Although the Taliban have claimed responsibility for the incident, yet the authenticity of this message is either not clear or the same is fake. In fact, hired Muslim agents of RAW have conducted this suicide attacks in the guise of the Taliban. Same is also true regarding Pakistan where similar pattern is being adopted by the agents of RAW, who sometimes kill the foreigners including Chinese nationals. Other subversive activities and targeted killings of Pakistanis by RAW in our country are not only to create instability, but also to confuse the massacre of westerners in order to hide the real identity of the Indian agents.

Benazir Bhutto International Boxing Championship

Rift Among Indian Army Top Generals Over Corruption

According to the findings of The Daily Mail, the difference between the Indian army Chief General Kapoor and the Chief of Army's Eastern Command, Lt. General V.K Singh, who is the senior-most Lieutenant General, were emerging for the past few months after the inquiries into a military land scam began. These finding indicate that this tension between the two top general officers of the Indian army reached to the extreme when a Court of Inquiry, convened by the Eastern Army Commander who is based in Fort William in Calcutta, started the proceedings and recommended the sacking of Army Chief General Kapoor's Principal Staff Officer  and Military Secretary Lt. Gen. Avadhesh Prakash.

According to the sources in the in the Indian army, the Army Chief General Kapoor has made an abortive attempt to defend his top confidant. Our sources in the Ministry of Defence informed that General Kapoor has officially informed the Defence Minister A.K. Antony that Lt. Gen. V.K Singh was taking an over enthusiastic and "undue interest" in the land scam case of North Bengal

The Daily Mail's investigations further indicate that the Court of Inquiry, presided over by Commander 4 Corps, based at Tezpur-based, Lt. Gen. K.T. Parnaik, had forwarded its findings to Lt. Gen. Singh. Based on the findings and on consultations with the Judge Advocate General  in his command, the eastern army commander recommended the "termination of services" of Lt. Gen. Prakash because of his alleged involvement in a land scam case. The army sources say that this situation has paralyzed the entire military establishment as the scuffle between the 2 bigwigs of the Indian Army is rising day by day with Army Chief trying to show his muscles to Commander Eastern Command and resisting  Judge Advocate General branch's recommendations while Commander Eastern Command sticking to the set rules and procedures.

The Daily Mail's investigations further reveal that the Indian Defence Minister, who istrying hard to stay away from this controversy over the corruption scam of the Generals of the Indian army, held a confidential meeting with his Army Chief General Kapoor on the eve of Christmas and asked General Kapoor to go easy on the case of his PSO Lt. Gen. Prakash. The sources say that upon this Gen. Kapoor demurred and defended his confidant but failed to convince the Defence Minister.

These investigations further indicate that while the report of the Court of Inquiry was being "studied and analysed", another probe from the central command brought out "the involvement without blaming" of the military secretary in awarding an Rs 1.7-crore contract to a north Bengal-based realtor, Dilip Aggarwal.

Brigadier  M.K Singh, a former Indian army officer and is one way or the other, associated to the state of affairs, upon contacting by The Daily Mail said that it was all indicative of a serious communication gap between Army Headquarters and the Eastern Command, a fully operational authority whose area of responsibility covers the maximum length of international borders. According to Brigadier Singh, after the report of the Court of Inquiry  was hand-delivered from Calcutta at 9.30 on the morning of December 23, Wednesday, Army Chief Kapoor was summoned for an unscheduled meeting by the Defence Minister in his office and he discussed the matter with General Kapoor for about two hours but general Kapoor remained stick to defend 'his' men and the meeting ended with no positive outcome.

Brigadier Singh says that there was cold war going on between general Kaporr and the Fort William boss Lt.. General V.K Singh for the past few months over some personal issues. He says that since Gen. Singh had convened a Court of Inquiry that indicted Lt. Gen. Prakash in the land case. Gen. Kapoor felt that the Eastern Commander did not have the authority to summon the army chief's principal staff officer and he did so with ill-intentions. He further said that Lt. Gen. V.K. Singh, whose age was caught in a discrepancy, was bypassed earlier for the post of Vice-Chief of the Army staff and somehow blamed General Kapoor for it and that is perhaps from where the row between the two began.

The Daily Mail's findings reveal that a meeting between Defence Minister and Army Chief General Kapoor was held in the afternoon of December 24 after the minister had returned from Hyderabad. This meeting lasted for 40 minutes. During the meeting the Defence Minister and the army Chief discussed the Eastern Command's recommendation to "terminate the services" of Prakash over the alleged Rs 300-crore land scam in north Bengal. Sources in the defence Ministry say that Minister Antony sought a summary of the investigation and the recommendations and directed that the military secretary be prevailed upon to put in his papers to avoid further embarrassment to his ministry and the army.

The Daily Mail findings suggest that Gen. Kapoor protested and defended his PSO's position and pleaded to the Defence Minister that the Eastern Command under Lt. Gen. Singh, who was the convening authority of the court of inquiry that has indicted the military secretary, has taken an "undue interest" in investigating Lt. Gen. Prakash. The military secretary was called as a witness to the court and the eastern commander does not have authority to investigate him or recommend action against one of the eight principal staff officers.

The Daily Mail's findings further indicate that the army Chief suggested that the recommendation to "terminate the services" in other words, cashier or sack the military secretary should be toned down to "administrative action" that could involve cutting his benefits but will not drape an officer with such a long career in ignominy but the minister did not agree to it and instead conveyed that Lt. Gen. Prakash should be persuaded to put in his papers if he does not do so voluntarily.

These findings indicate that the next day, December 25, Gen. Kapoor visited the defence minister at his residence, ostensibly to wish him on Christmas. Staff at the defence minister's residence expected the meeting to last about 30 minutes or so. But it ended after 10 minutes in a very cold manner.

The Daily Mail's investigations reveal that during the time of the first unscheduled meeting, the Defence Minister was not properly briefed about the second investigation in Lucknow by a Major General. That investigation indicted seven officers, including a Major General, in the Ranikhet Kumaon Regimental Centre land scam while Military Secretary Lt. Gen. Prakash is the Colonel Commandant of the Kumaon Regiment. It was a double whammy for the Army Chief General Kapoor and his Principal aide.

The defence analysts here at New Delhi believe that this state of affairs where the Chief of Army Staff is patronizing the officers that have been proved guilty of corruption, the Indian Army is bound suffer badly. They suggest that general Kapoor should either be removed or be asked for a volunteer retirement from the service to save the image and reputation of the institution that is already suffering from big blows of corruption.

Costs and Effects of Kashmiri Uprising

Momin Iftikhar

      December 8, 2009 has seen the Kashmiri Intifada completing its twenty years. It was exactly two decades ago that the grassroots uprising was initiated with the abduction of Dr. Rubiya Saeed, daughter of Indian Minister of Home affairs Mufti Saeed , as she emerged from a Hospital in Sri Nagar to return home. With that the volcano of the Kashmiri pent up anger burst with a fury that was staggering in its magnitude and repercussions. The following days witnessed the emergence of dozens of Kashmiri insurgent groups that took up arms to fight the Indian occupying Army. The hatred for the Indian occupation of Kashmir transcended all shades of ideological differences. Authority of the Indian State virtually collapsed. Berlin wall had been destroyed by the will of the people only months ago and the Kashmiri uprising sought to change the status quo that India had so brazenly imposed on the Kashmiri Population  with sheer courage of their ideals and conviction. A lot has occurred in the past two decades and the time is ripe to take a stock of the cost and benefits of the upheaval that has transformed Kashmir into a throbbing issue even bringing Afghanistan into the festering equation.

      What triggered the spontaneous uprising in India’s only Muslim majority state remains a conundrum but the Kashmiri voice seeking a say in deciding the ultimate fate of Kashmir had been suppressed for too long. Kashmiris had patiently tolerated the political chicanery of Sheikh Abdullah’s National Conference which, over the decades, had been reduced to the level of an Indian vehicle for conducting the charade of democracy in IHK. New innovations in mass media, however, were breaking the pall of ignorance and political awakening was building up public anger against the Indian state. Large scale electoral malpractices in Kashmir had been a routine but the 1987 elections crossed all limits of fraud and intimidation. Congress Party and the National Conference jointly contested the elections against a conglomerate of smaller political parties under the umbrella of Muslim United Front (MUF). The landslide victory of Indian supported candidates broke the proverbial back of the Kashmiri patience. The young generation of Kashmir was convinced that to make itself heard, gun was the preferred mode. Interesting to note; some key resistance leaders like Shabbir Shah, Yasin Malik and Javed Mir were the polling agents for the MUF in the 1987 elections.

            The response by the Indian state was Draconian. It saturated the Kashmiri landscape with the force of bayonet; the high water mark being reached with the presence of seven lacs of Indian soldiers. Draconian laws, like Armed Forces special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) were enacted by the Indian parliament to facilitate untrammeled use of force and freedom from prosecution for committing gravest possible excesses by the Indian Armed Forces. Thus facilitated, the Indian Armed forces began the killing of Kashmiris with an abandon. Troops occupied every nook and corner of cities and hamlets and crisscrossed the forests turning the landscape into a virtual jail. Around one hundred thousand Kashmiris have lost their lives during twenty years of conflict and 8000 � 10000 people have simply vanished after arrest by the security forces. The Indian Armed Forces employ infamous Special Operations Group, an officially patronized band of local collaborators, to perform the dirty job of extra judicial executions. The culture of fake encounters thrives whereby innocent locals are killed and dumped in nameless graves as Pakistani militants and cross border terrorists to enable their killers to claim gallantry awards and promotions.

      The unrelenting use of excessive force against the civil population over prolonged period and the sea change brought about by 9/11 has tended to transform the nature of the Kashmiri freedom movement� changing in character from essentially an armed resistance to embracing the tactics of non violence. The civil society in Kashmir is getting organized to challenge the Indian state authority through massive displays of non-violent resistance. This power was evident in the summer of 2008 when a transfer of 100 acres of forest land to Shri Amar Nath Yatra Shrine Board for construction of staging facilities for the Hindu pilgrims caused unprecedented uprising. The climax of the agitation came on 11 August when 500 000 people formed a rally and marched towards the LoC to breach it. Fifteen people were killed when Police opened fire. Sheikh Abdul Aziz a moderate leader of APHC was among those killed on that day. His burial the next day saw even a greater gathering of people defying curfews and shouting anti India slogans. Another fifteen Kashmiris were killed on 12 August. In total over fifty people were killed in the upheaval. The coalition state Government of Congress and PDP disintegrated in face of mounting public pressure and the Indian Government had to rescind its decision concerning the transfer of Kashmiri land. The trend of mass protests has persisted continuing to this day when IHK is up in protest to mourn the rape and killing of two young Kashmiri women by Indian security forces in May this year. The trend is chilling from the Indian perspective. It is deep rooted, determined, non violent and says it all so emphatically � Kashmiris have had enough of state sponsored repression and their urge to cut ties with India have reached a point of no return.

      The organization of civil resistance is evident through formation of organizations like the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and by resilience of activists like Parves Imroz, who have begun to draw attention at forums like the European Parliament for the unending pain that the Kashmiri population has to bear with. During 2008 a benchmark was reached when the efforts of APDP, resulted into unmasking of a mass grave site where one thousand graves are believed to contain bodies of the victims of fake encounters , enforced disappearances , torture and other abuses which the Indian security forces had used as a dumping ground. The findings have been compiled by APDP in a report; “Facts Under Ground” and lists the graves of at least 940 people discovered in 18 villages of Uri District. The Indian Army claimed that those buried were “foreign militants” killed during military encounters but the report presents testimonies of locals asserting that buried men were Kashmiris. The protests and demonstrations launched by APDP attracted global attention to the Indian atrocities in Kashmir. In Jul 2008 the European parliament during its plenary session in Strasbourg France adopted a protest resolution regarding the existence of mass graves in Kashmir and called upon the Indian Government to “urgently ensure independent and impartial investigations into all sites of mass graves in Jammu and Kashmir and as immediate first step to secure the grave sites in order to preserve the evidence.” For India, aspiring for the regional leadership and claiming the right to have a seat in the Security Council, an organization of Kashmiris’ mass resistance exposing state brutality and expressing its alienation with Indian rule is stuff of the nightmare.
 
Author is Free Lance Journalist, based in Islamabad, expert on defence and political analysis. Email: mominiftikhar@ymail.com

Why India cannot deliver on climate change

Sunday, January 10, 2010
Aakar Patel

Last month, the world failed to agree on a process that would slow down the rate of climate change. Scientists believe that the world is heating up because of an increase in three gases in our atmosphere: carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing due to human activity. It is already at its highest in 650,000 years; we know this from analysing ice that has remained frozen during this period with bubbles of air trapped inside.

There is 35 per cent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than before the industrial revolution 200 years ago. This is because our recent burning of carbon-based coal, petrol and diesel releases the gas into the air. Because it is a good insulator, the atmosphere's carbon dioxide does not let the sun's heat escape the earth as fast as it comes in, leading to a rise in the temperature.

This warming of the atmosphere causes climate change, since weather is quite volatile and a small change in conditions can result in a storm or a drought.

Recent weather phenomena, like hurricane Katrina or last week's unusually heavy snow in Europe and America, are thought to be the result of our actions. The second effect of the air's warming is the melting of ice in the north and south poles, raising the level of the ocean waters. Low-lying nations like Bangladesh and the Maldives, which have little land and almost all of it by the sea, are vulnerable to this rise of the waters because they are in danger of being submerged.

If the release of carbon dioxide is so serious, why did the nations fail to agree on some solution?

Primarily because America believes it still has time before the problem becomes a crisis. Scientists think that big trouble is a century or more away. America wants to pass on the climate change problem to its next generation, or the one after that, because they will be better equipped with technology; certainly they will have more at stake. But also because those generations cannot vote in current elections.

There was another reason for the failure at Denmark, and it was that China, India and Brazil do not want to slow the pace of their industrial growth. The economy of China, the world's biggest polluter, has been growing rapidly, helping pull its people out of poverty. China does not want to stop doing that soon. India says it will slow the rate at which its polluting is increasing, but adds, for the same reason as China, that it cannot commit to a reduction of overall pollution.

Whether human activity is responsible or not for climate change, and there is debate over this, the fact that the world is warming is not in dispute.

This means that at some point, not far off, the world's nations will have to agree to do things to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide. There are two ways in which emissions can be restricted by a nation. The first is through government and legislation. This means the passing of laws that limit, say, the carbon dioxide emitted per ton manufactured of steel, or the banning of certain industrial processes, like electricity generation by burning coal.

The second way is through civil society and personal sacrifice. This can happen if a society acknowledges the danger to the world and a majority of individuals in that society voluntarily change their behaviour; by switching off lights, not heating their homes too much in winter or driving smaller cars. These two ways can also coincide, for instance if the government legislates to ban the manufacture of large cars.

There is a problem in India with both these ways, and if it commits to a reduction in emission, the Indian government will not be able to effectively deliver.

The problem with the first way, legislation, is implementation. We have many laws in India, but they are difficult to enforce. When they are violated, it is difficult to have the violators prosecuted. This is a problem with most poor nations, but it is remarkable in India because we are also a democracy and have been making laws under one constitution for six decades.

Unlike Europe, which can legislate a law and make it effective, in India legislation does not necessarily mean a change in the way things happen.

Returning from some future climate summit with an agreement, India's government might have to legislate some change in the way that, say, steel is made. But because of corruption and inefficiency it is certain that any manufacturer, who wants to violate this new law, will be able to do so by paying people off locally. Since restrictions on manufacturing processes usually mean an increase in cost, it is also likely that most factories would have an incentive to violate the law.

Let's look at an example. The industrial city of Surat has 300 dyeing and printing factories. These are serious polluters and often the ground around them is stained a brilliant purple or pink because the manner of disposal of the waste water is simply to release it in the land around. The effluent looks pretty but it is pure poison.

There are laws which make this release illegal and there are processes that the plants must follow to keep the environment safe, but because treating the water is expensive, it isn't done. And though the legislation might be quite good, it is also quite useless.

Twenty years ago, I worked in a factory in the industrial area of Ankleshwar, which is next to the port city of Bharuch. Every evening, at 6 pm, the chemical factory next door would release fumes of acid so powerful that the roads would empty at that time. The gas corroded thick metal pipes all around and will have affected the health of many people working in and around it. Why did the factory release the gas at six? Because the pollution control board's office shut at 5:30.

Now let us look at the second way in which a nation can reduce its carbon emissions, through a change in the behaviour of civil society. Many Indians are now middle-class and consume energy and resources at levels similar to those in the west.

If these Indians are observed in traffic, we can understand that sacrifice will not be easily forthcoming in our nation. This is because we are a low-trust society and have little faith in collective well-being. Simply put, we do not trust the other person on the road to behave and so we have no incentive to change our own behaviour. Culturally, the Indian is inclined to think of himself and ignore the world around him. It is safe to say that there will be little voluntary change in our behaviour because it affects the rest of the world.

A rich Indian, if asked to sacrifice his large garden which consumed much water, would not understand why he had to do that. And a lecture on conservation would do little good.

The other problem is that the world cannot tell its poorest, of whom many are Indian, that they must sacrifice something now for tomorrow because they have so little for today.

This is not to say that no conservation happens in India. We have raddiwalas, people who deal in scrap; and glass and plastic in India is always recycled. However, this is because scrap has value here, unlike in the west, where recycling is expensive and so is disposal. The test will come when this no longer has value in India.

All of this becomes academic if the levels of the second dangerous gas, methane, increase. And some believe that this is already happening. Global warming is slowly melting long-frozen lakes in Russia. Below these ice sheets is thought to be trapped billions of tons of methane, formed by the rotting of aquatic vegetation. If this is really methane, and it is released, the carbon dioxide debate might become meaningless because the methane will accelerate global warming to a point where we cannot really change it.

So perhaps already some disaster has been set in motion. In the Book of Genesis, Noah records a rise in the water by 20 feet and that is enough to wipe out all life.



The writer is director with Hill Road Media in Bombay. Email: aakar @hillroadmedia.com

India’s Cold Start Strategy hollow, lacks military logic

Former Chief of Army Staff, General  Mirza Aslam Beg has termed the recent statement of Indian Army Chief, Gen Deepak Kapoor as hollow, lacking in military logic and reflective of Indian sinister designs.
In an exclusive interview with Pakistan Observer here on Friday Gen Beg analysed the factors behind Kapoor’s outlandish statement and said, this cannot be described as a workable doctrine. “Pakis-tan’s Armed Forces are fully alive to the situation and capable of meeting any challenge from across the border,” he stressed.
Gen Beg said, the Indian Army Chief should keep in mind that Pakistan can assemble its forces within three to four days as against eight to nine days required by India to launch any ground, air and naval offensive against Pakistan.
He said, Gen Deepak’s statement in fact reflects India’s inner fear and seems to be for public consumption at home. “It also shows Indian fear of growing might of China and its strategic alliance with Pakistan.”
To a question, the former Army Chief said, India has failed miserably in Afghanistan where the occupation forces have been defeated and India is per force to withdraw from that country. This has led to a sense of frustration in India as its huge network in Afghanistan faces collapse.
He said, the new Indian military doctrine described as cold start is intended to carry out surprise surgical strikes against Pakistan with the assumption that Islamabad would not react in time. However, he made it clear that Pakistan would never allow any intrusion into its territory on whatever pretext and would fully retaliate and beat back the Indian aggression.
He said in terms of military might Pakistan has an edge over India. He elaborated: “Pakistan has indigenous production of armament. It has its own battle tanks, latest warplanes, submarines and frigates. As opposed to it, India lacks indigenous capability. Moreover, India is in the process of transformation of its armament from Russia to the United States and the Western countries. It would take India years to replace its weaponry.”
Answering a question regarding Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence, Gen Aslam Beg said, there is no danger to Pakistan’s nuclear assets, adding that Pakistan would always maintain its credible nuclear deterrence. The nuclear deterrence would always discourage India to undertake any misadventure.
He said India’s new doctrine is to carry out surprise attack against Pakistan to achieve limited objectives under the nuclear umbrella, but such objective would be unachievable
The former Army Chief said Pakistan’s intelligence agencies are quite capable of forewarning our Armed Forces about Indian deployment and pass on the information to the relevant quarters within hours.
Replying to another question, he said India is in no position to take on Pakistan or China much less both simultaneously as has been boasted by India’s Army Chief, he pointed out that China can repel the Indian aggression in much more befitting manner today than it did in 1962 when Indian forces had suffered humiliating defeat.
He said, China’s air power is much superior to that of India. “China has formidable missile arsenal and it can use its medium range missiles against India with telling effects.”
Gen Aslam Beg said, India cannot afford to indulge in mad adventure against Pakistan being aware of its military might and decisive military strategy. New Delhi is also faced with a real threat from insurgents who are active in various parts of the country. He pointed out that “India has lost its writ in almost two hundred and fifty districts where as many as twelve insurgencies are actively engaged in freedom struggle