http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140730/nation.htm#21
VVIP chopper deal:
Proceedings against Finmeccannica shelved
Rome/New Delhi,
July 29
Italian
prosecutors have “shelved” proceedings against defence major Finmeccannica, the
parent firm of AgustaWestland, saying it had nothing to do with the alleged
corruption in India’s Rs 3,600-crore deal to procure 12 VVIP helicopters,
Italian news agency Ansa reported.
India scrapped the
deal on January 1 on the basis of alleged breach of pre-contract integrity pact
and alleged payment of kickbacks to Indian agents by the firm to secure the
contract.
Prosecutors in the
northern Italian city of Busto Arsizio have shelved proceedings against
Finmeccanica for the alleged corruption in the sale to the Indian government of
12 AW-101 helicopters made by its AgustaWestland subsidiary, Ansa said in its
report.
They have stated
that Finmeccanica has nothing to do with the offence, the company said in a
statement issued in Italy.
The Italian firm
said its two subsidiary companies have agreed to pay a fine in the contract,
but not admitted to any wrongdoing.
“AgustaWestland SpA and its UK
subsidiary AgustaWestland Ltd, together with the prosecutor, decided to ask for
the application of administrative pecuniary sanctions of limited extent against
them, also confirming the effectiveness of their control systems and the
substantial strangeness towards the facts alleged by the prosecution of
corruption assumed. It remains therefore excluded any admission of wrongdoing
on the part of both companies," the firm said.
Finmeccannica said the
"two companies have taken this decision (to pay fine) on the basis of the
radical reorganisation of the Finmeccanica group, based on the desire to focus
on the business activities and take full advantage of the potential of the
market."
The Italian Government is the
largest shareholder of Finmeccannica with a 30% stake. — PTI
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140730/nation.htm#13
Sri Lankan navy arrests 50 Indian fishermen
Rameswaram, July
29
Fifty fishermen
from Nagapattinam and Karaikal have been arrested by the Sri Lankan navy
personnel for allegedly fishing near the Lankan coast. This is the second time
this week that Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Lankan navy.
The fishermen, who
were arrested around midnight on Monday, have been taken to Kankesanthurai
along with their five mechanised boats and two country boats, ‘Q’ branch
inspector Kennedy and fishermen’s association secretary S Emirit said.
The fishermen were
arrested when they were fishing almost close to the Lankan coast, officials
here said.
Joint director of
fisheries Subburaj said they have also received information about the arrest.
On July 22, 38
fishermen from Kottaipattinam and Rameswaram were arrested by the Lankan navy
on charges of crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line.
Fishermen of
Ramanathapuram district have been boycotting fishing since July 24 highlighting
their demands including putting an end to frequent “arrests and harassment” by
Sri Lankan navy personnel.
Reiterating her
government’s ‘firm commitment’ to restore traditional fishing rights of Tamil
Nadu fishermen in the Palk Bay and retrieval of Katchatheevu,” chief minister
Jayalalithaa had last week written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the
Centre’s intervention in securing the release of the fishermen. — PTI
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-how-officers-of-china-s-people-s-liberation-army-embarrassed-the-india-army-chief-2006135
How officers of
China's People's Liberation Army embarrassed the India army chief
Army chief General
Bikram Singh faced embarrassing questions from some officers of the People's
Liberation Army during his recent visit to Beijing.
What exactly
happened?
After Gen Singh
finished his lecture at China's prestigious National Defence University, a
woman Colonel from the audience asked him to explain Indian Army's stand on
Arunachal Pradesh. The next question was on Tibet and the activities of Tibetan
refugees in India.
How did Gen Singh
react to the situation?
Though General
Bikram Singh deftly handled both questions, he was taken aback by the
unexpected and embarrassing queries, sources privy to the incident said. On the
northeastern state claimed by China, the army chief said that "Arunachal
Pradesh is an integral part of India". While on the activities of Tibetans
living in India, he simply reiterated Indian government's stand that
"India does not allow any foreign political activities from its
soil," the sources said.
Who had invited
Gen Singh to China?
The Indian Army
chief visited the neighbouring country from July 2 to 5 on the invitation of
China's Military Commission, the body that controls People's Liberation Army.
He was the first Indian Army chief to have gone to China in seven years after
Gen JJ Singh's visit in 2007.
What is China's
stand on Arunchal Pradesh?
China claims
Arunachal Pradesh to be its territory and has been embarrassing India from time
to time on the issue. Whenever the residents of Arunachal Pradesh apply for
Chinese visa, Beijing issues them stapled visas in order to reiterate its claim
on the Indian state. It also registers its protest whenever Tibetan leader
Dalai Lama visits Tawang in Arunchal Pradesh.
What is the status
of talks on the border dispute?
India and China
have so far held 17 rounds of talks by special representatives to resolve the
boundary dispute.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-armies-of-india-pakistan-greet-each-other-along-loc-on-eid-2006403
Armies of India,
Pakistan greet each other along LoC on Eid
Amid increasing
hostilities triggered by ceasefire violations along Line of Control (LoC), the
Armies of India and Pakistan on Tuesday exchanged sweets and greeted each other
along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir on the occasion of Eid.
Army officers
today greeted officers of Pakistani Army at a flag meeting at Chakan-Da-Bagh
crossing point along LoC in Poonch district and later handed over sweets to
them, a Defence Spokesman said.
Another such
function was held at Roshni post along LoC in Poonch where Indian Army officers
greeted Pakistani Army officers and exchanged sweets, he said.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/india-should-watch-out-for-spillover-from-north-waziristan-operation-northern-army-commander-to-ndtv-567338?curl=1406681010
India Should Watch
Out for Spillover from North Waziristan Operation: Northern Army Commander to
NDTV
Kargil: With reports of some terrorists having moved
from North Waziristan after operations by Pakistan there, the Chief of the
Northern Army Command Lieutenant General DS Hooda says that India needs to
remain vigilant about infiltration and the possible fallout of the operations
in North Waziristan.
"We are very
closely looking at Pakistani operations which are carrying on in North
Waziristan, and whether there is some spillover because there are reports of
terrorists from those areas of having moved on from those areas and Pakistan
Occupied Kashmir is a neighboring area to that, so whether there is any
manifestation of that, and of course the larger Afghan issue," Lieutenant General
Hooda told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
Lieutenant General
Hooda was speaking to NDTV on the eve of the 15th Kargil Diwas, an annual
ceremony in remembrance of the Indian army soldiers who laid down their lives
during the Kargil War with Pakistan in 1999.
The Northern Army
Command, that Lieutenant General Hooda leads, is the country's most
operationally active command as it looks after the land borders with China and
Pakistan. It is also responsible for looking after the Siachen Glacier region,
the world's highest battlefield.
In his response to
a question on the army's summer strategy of counter-infiltration, Lieutenant
General Hooda said that the army's key challenges would revolve around the
ongoing Amarnath trip as well as the elections in Jammu and Kashmir, expected
to be held in October.
"We had to do
some re-deployments to make sure that the Amarnath Yatra is successful and
similarly as the election comes closer, a little more domination of the areas
in the hinterland," Lieutenant General Hooda added.
The Indian Army
continues to battle repeated ceasefire violations on the Line of Control from
time to time. Last week, the Defence Minister informed Parliament that Pakistan
had violated the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir 19 times since the new BJP-led
government came to power.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/western-army-commander-meets-haryana-cm-114072901020_1.html
Western Army
Commander meets Haryana CM
The Western Army
Commander Lt General Philip Campose today met Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder
Singh Hooda at his residence here.
General Philip,
who is moving to Delhi to take over as Vice Chief of Army Staff, raised issues
of mutual interest pertaining to military stations in Haryana during the
meeting, an official release said.
The General
thanked the Chief Minister for looking after the interests of the Defence
community especially war widows and Army veterans.
The Chief Minister
assured the General that his government would continue to give priority to
solving problems of soldiers and appreciated the sacrifices made by the Indian
Army for the nation, the release said.
http://news.oneindia.in/feature/is-india-ready-for-next-kargil-1491911.html
Is India Ready for
the Next Kargil?
New Delhi, July
29: The 15th anniversary of India's victory over Pakistan Army in the Kargil
War was celebrated with much fervor and passion across many parts of India.
Even as India's Defence Minister paid floral tributes to the martyrs and
announced that the Government is in the process of finalizing a place for the
construction of an iconic National War Memorial, one lingering question that
should be given due importance is whether India has finally seen the back of
the Kargil kind of saga. The lingering questions.... Can one completely rule
out the possibility of another Kargil War? Is it necessary that the next Kargil
would happen in Kargil? Is India prepared enough to make sure that the toll of
the next Kargil War would not be that high and that it would be nipped in the
bud? Can one entirely rule out the possibility of the next Kargil type siege
being orchestrated from within the country by external elements? Fact of the
matter is that no one can rule out any of the possibilities. On the positive
side Over the last fifteen years, strength and arsenal of Indian Armed Forces
have been increased considerably. The Indian Air Force now have around 190
frontline Su-30 MKI aircrafts and a whole new array of modern helicopters like
new generation Mi-17 medium lift helicopters and Dhruv Advanced Light
Helicopters,, Indian Navy has added a large number of patrol ships, destroyers
and frigates to its fleet while the Indian Army has tried to contain the void
created by complete lack of acquisition of the new artilleries with induction
of Smerch and Pinaka type Multiple Rocket Launch Systems (MRLS). Likewise Indian
Army and Air Force now has a sizeable fleet of drones which keep constant vigil
on vulnerable areas of borders in addition to support from satellite imaging.
Meanwhile India has worked hard to reduce the mobilization period of its army
to a mere 48 hours which is a commendable achievement and worked well master
its Cold Start Doctrine. India is also augmenting the strength of the army with
addition of a whole new Mountin strike Corps with 90,000 soldiers at a cost of
a whopping Rs 65,000 crore. On the flip side... Yet one cannot at the same time
deny that there are also major issues that continue to plague the Indian Armed
Forces including gargantuan delay in acquisition of many critical equipment
including light utility helicopters, combat aircrafts of the MMRCA category,
critical artilleries which have not been inducted for decades and even
something as basic as new generation infantry assault rifles. On the flip side
there are also issues related to India's War Wastage Reserve (WWR) or the
amount of ammunition it has to fight a war. Reports in media earlier this year
indicated that India's WWR has reduced to less than half of what ideally it
should be with the Army not even having
enough ammunition reserve to even fight a war for 20 days even when it ideally
should have ammunition to fight 40 days of intense war to the least. The
loopholes, the lacunae and the threats in East and South While one cannot deny
the fact that the entire grid along the Line of Control with Pakistan has been
considerably strengthened, the incident of 26/11 as well as the increasing
intransigence of the Chinese Army along India's eastern borders raise issues
about how the shape and location of the next Kargil War would be. The incident
of 26/11 vindicated that what was presumed to be an impregnable sea border has
now proved to be permeable. Even though efforts are being made to considerably
augment the capacity of Indian Coast Guard, loopholes do remain and that cannot
be ignored. In the same league, Southern India which was always considered to
be out of bound of radical terror groups, is now witnessing real time threat
from terror groups from inside as well as from neighboring Sri Lanka and
especially Maldives which has evolved as a dangerous hub of radical extremism.
Also, there are serious apprehensions of the existence of several sleeper cells
of Laskhkar and other terror groups in India which are manned by Pakistani
nationals living in disguise here. A volatile Pakistan continues to be a major
nemesis The situation across the border in Pakistan continues to be extremely
grave with on one side Tehreek e Taliban's assault in Karachi and their near
stranglehold on the Sindh province is a real cause of worry for India. Given
the demonstration of firepower and audacious attacks they executed on Pakistani
Airports and military bases, it would be naïve to presume that they would never
set their eyes on India. The ISIS factor and the threat of radical jihad in
India Likewise, the sudden resurgence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, termed as the
deadliest terror organization of the world today, is also a major threat to
India. Their influence, one should remember, is not just restricted to Middle East
only. Recent reports about a large number of Indian Muslim youths having
already either gone to Iraq to fight for ISIS (
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tamil-Nadu-youth-joins-ISIS-family-recalls-his-journey-into-insurgency/articleshow/38771536.cms)
or are planning to go, comes as a portentous news for the secular fabric of
India's multicultural society. Already it is a known fact that India is in the
scheme of things of ISIS so far as their sinister global ambition is concerned.
Reports have also emerged about an alleged letter written by Maulana Syed
Salman Hussaini Nadvi of the Darul Uloom Nadwa, Lucknow (
http://www.firstpost.com/world/daft-and-dangerous-muslim-scholars-plan-for-a-militia-to-fight-global-jihad-1634307.html)
wherein it was alleged that he has sought help from the Saudi Government to
help him fund the creation of a 5 lakh strong Jihadi force in India to fight
for ISIS. Whether this allegation is authentic or not is subject to scrutiny
but one cannot deny the fact that a certain proportion of support does exist in
India for ISIS and its success in establishing Caliphate in Middle East.
Combining this with the existing threat from SIMI, Indian Mujahideen as well as
cross border terror organizations, one has to keep in mind that both the
recurrence of a Kargil type incident or a 26/11 kind of a siege is extremely
possible but the dimension of either need not be same as their previous
occurrence. The appalling condition of Indian Police- Is it prepared to take on
threats from inside? Reality is that India's Army, BSF or the naval forces are
still better prepared to deal with an assault from across the border, but the
condition of the internal security forces and especially the state level police
forces is grim. There are serious doubts about their ability to provide a
credible first line of defense if any major eventuality erupt from inside.
Nearly six years after the happening of the 26/11 incident, ground realities so
far as the ill preparedness of India's police forces have not changed much.
Further, one cannot also deny the Maoist factor and the possibility of them
resorting to major strike leading to a major siege of cities, either on their
own or in alliance with other forces inimical to India. The issue of links
between Maoists and ISI is not an alien one. It is therefore critical for India
to have a new architecture of national security by combining the external and
internal security threats and develop a holistic approach towards dealing with
the next Kargil or 26/11. The next Kargil War need not happen in Kargil Given
the worsening security situation both inside the country and in the immediate
and distant neighborhood, the issue of the happening of the next Kargil or
26/11 is perhaps not a question of if but when. Developing a credible
deterrence therefore is the only way out. The next Kargil War need not happen
in Kargil just as the next 26/11 may not necessarily happen in Mumbai. India
needs to be prepared for all kinds of eventualities.
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