“Marching contingents on the Rajpath would include mounted troops from 61st Cavalry, mechanized columns and 11 regiments of the Indian Army followed by a flypast of ALH from Army Aviation Corps,” said parade second-in-command Major General Rajbir Singh.

The parade would be commanded by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Delhi Area, Lieutenant General V K Pillai.

Maj Gen Singh further informed that the one-and-a-half hour long parade would begin with national salute followed by presentation of one Ashok Chakra.

“The parade would begin with the Param Vir Chakra (PVC) and Ashok Chakra (AC) awardees marching on the Rajpath which would be followed by the mounted cavalry troops, mechanized column and three ALH,” he said.

Besides Smerch and Pinaka rocket launchers, army contingent would also feature NBC water purification system, jammers, and march past by ‘Canine Force’ of the Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC).

The army contingent would be followed by the tableaux from Indian Navy and Indian Air Force (IAF).

While Navy is showcasing a Delhi-class destroyer, IL-38 reconnaissance aircraft and a UAV positioned atop a globe, IAF’s marching contingent would be followed by the tableau of C-130J Super Hercules aircraft and Mi-17 choppers.

For the first time, the IAF marching contingent would be commanded by a women officer Flight Lieutenant Sneha Shekhawat.

Kilobyte (KB)                                  10³ 

Megabyte (MB)                              10⁶

Gigabyte (GB)                                 10⁹

Terabyte (TB)                                 10¹²

Petabyte (PB)                                 10¹⁵

Exabyte (EB)                                   10¹⁸

Zettabyte (ZB)                                10²¹

Yottabyte (YB)                               10²⁴

Kibibyte (KiB)                                  2¹⁰ = 1.024 × 10³

Mebibyte (MiB)                               2²⁰ ≈ 1.049 × 10⁶

Gibibyte (GiB)                                  2³⁰ ≈ 1.074 × 10⁹

Tebibyte (TiB)                                  2⁴⁰ ≈ 1.100 × 10¹²

Pebibyte (PiB)                                  2⁵⁰ ≈ 1.126 × 10¹⁵

Exbibyte (EiB)                                  2⁶⁰ ≈ 1.153 × 10¹⁸

Zebibyte (ZiB)                                   2⁷⁰ ≈ 1.181 × 10²¹

Yobibyte (YiB)                                  2⁸⁰ ≈ 1.209 × 10²⁴

Under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has the legal right to produce nuclear power for peaceful purposes. The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found no evidence that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently said on CBS that Iran is not currently trying to build a nuclear weapon.

Nevertheless, the United States and Israel are mounting a campaign of aggression against Iran. The United States has imposed punishing sanctions against Iran that are crippling Iran’s economy, and pressuring other countries and strong-arming financial institutions to stop buying oil from Iran, the world’s third largest exporter.  The Obama administration is also preparing new punitive measures that target the Central Bank of Iran. And the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass the Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011 which would outlaw any contact between U.S. government employees and some Iranian officials.

There is also evidence that Israel, with the possible assistance of the United States, has orchestrated the assassinations of at least five Iranian nuclear scientists or engineers since 2007. The New York Times reported: “The campaign, which experts believe is being carried out mainly by Israel, apparently claimed its latest victim on [January 11] when a bomb killed a 32-year-old nuclear scientist in Tehran’s morning rush hour.” These assassinations constitute acts of terrorism. There have also been cyber-attacks on Iranian centrifuges and an explosion at a missile facility last year that killed a senior general and 16 other people.

These acts of aggression are designed to provoke Iran to retaliate, including possibly closing the Strait of Hormuz, which will spark a war that could spread to the entire Middle East.

In addition, the United States has shifted combat troops and warships to the Middle East, and supplied Israel with bunker-busting bombs. Moreover, President Barack Obama has deployed 9,000 U.S. troops to Israel to participate later this year with thousands of Israeli troops in “war games” to test the U.S./Israeli air defense system; this exercise will be the largest ever joint drill between the two countries. Panetta said the exercise is designed “to back up our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security.”

Iran is not a threat to Israel’s security. Iran has not attacked any country in some 200 years. In 1953, the CIA engineered a coup that replaced a democratic government in Iran with the vicious Shah. He ruled Iran with an iron hand for 25 years, wreaking torture and terror on Iranians while keeping Iran open to Western investment. When I visited Iran in 1978 as a human rights observer, there were dozens of U.S. corporations in downtown Tehran. One year later, the chickens came home to roost. The Iranian revolution overthrew the Shah, replacing him with a tyrannical theocracy that continues to violate the rights of the Iranian people. But that does not mean that Iran, if it does obtain nuclear weapons, will attack Israel. The Iranian government knows that Israel and the United States would retaliate with unimaginable military force that would devastate Iran and much of the Middle East.

Article 2 of the United Nations Charter requires the peaceful settlement of international disputes between Iran and the United States. Both the U.S. and Iran are signatories of the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact of 1928, which states, “The High Contracting Parties agree that the settlement or solution of all disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them, shall never be sought except by pacific means.” Yet the United States has been illegally threatening war against Iran, dating back to the administration of President George W. Bush.

Security Council Resolution 687, that ended the first Gulf War, requires a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free zone in the Middle East. Israel, which reportedly has an arsenal of 200-300 nuclear weapons, stands in violation of that resolution. Israel refuses to sign the NPT, thus avoiding inspections by the IAEA. As Shibley Telhami and Steven Kull advocate in a recent op-ed in the Times, we should work toward a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, and that includes Israel. They cite a poll in which 65 percent of Israeli Jews think it would be best if neither Israel nor Iran had the bomb, even if that means Israel giving up its nukes.

AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the Israel lobby in the United States, has tremendous support in the U.S. Congress. Even Zionist Thomas Friedman wrote in the Times last month that the standing ovation Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got in Congress “was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.” AIPAC also exerts considerable pressure on Obama to be tough on Iran. When the new Chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff and the new head of CENTCOM told Obama late last year they were disappointed that he was not firmly opposing an Israeli strike on Iran, Obama replied that he “had no say over Israel” because “it is a sovereign country.”

Obama does indeed have a say – a strong say – over Israel. The United States has pledged $30 billion to Israel over the next 10 years. Obama should inform his counterparts in Israel that if it launches a military attack on Iran, the U.S. will withhold foreign aid from Israel. Although pressure from the neocons to support an Israeli attack on Iran will increase as the presidential elections draws near, Obama has a legal duty to refrain from actions that will lead to war with Iran.

Additionally, the U.N. Security Council, which has the duty to prevent threats to international peace and security, should order Israel and the United States to cease their aggressive provocation against Iran.

The same voices who brought us the illegal, tragic, and ill-advised war with Iraq will continue to try to dominate the national conversation with battle cries against Iran. It is up to us to prevail upon our elected officials to avoid a tragic conflagration in Iran by pressuring Israel to cease and desist.

Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, past president of the National Lawyers Guild, and deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Her most recent book is The United  States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse.

By Keith B. Richburg,

Ask most people which city they would most want to live in and usually their answers would be shaped by such realities as proximity to their jobs and what they can afford. But suppose you could choose to live anywhere you wanted regardless of cost? What if you could live in a city that offered a wealth of culture, entertainment, good schools, low crime, and plenty of green space? Many people might opt for obvious choices such as New York or San Francisco, but great as they are, data reveal other cities are even better.

Businessweek.com spent months working with data that would help us to identify the best cities in the U.S. We looked at a range of positive metrics around quality of life, counted up restaurants, evaluated school scores, and considered the number of colleges and pro sports teams. All these factors and more add up to a city that would seem to offer it all. When we began the process we had no idea which cities would come out on top. The winner? Raleigh, N.C.
Raleigh No. 1

To most residents of Raleigh, it may not come as a surprise that their city earned the title of America’s Best City. Raleigh shows the cultural graces that go along with anchoring the so-called Research Triangle, home to North Carolina State University, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Among its many attributes the city sports 867 restaurants, 110 bars, and 51 museums, according to Onboard Informatics, as well as a thriving social scene, good schools, and 12,512 park acres, equal to several times the green space per capita in cities like New York and Los Angeles, according to the Trust for Public Land. It also offers a great deal on nights and weekends—from concerts and opera, to the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes and college sports, to the 30,000-square-foot State Farmers Market.

Raleigh may have a population of only about 400,000 and span about 144 square miles, yet data show it still offers a lot, if only in a smaller package. True, Raleigh may not be the center of the tech universe like San Francisco, a hub of higher education on the same scale as Boston, or a vibrant 24-hour metropolis like New York, but all those cities also offered higher unemployment, a dearth of parks, worse public education, and other negative factors that weighed against them.

“We’ve always said, you can find about every amenity that you want, even in a city of our size,” says James Sauls, director of Raleigh Economic Development, a partnership between the City of Raleigh and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.

The city has been home to an array of celebs including Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi, Dexter star Michael C. Hall, and singer Clay Aiken (whose dog was even named Raleigh).
Better, Not Bigger

With help from Bloomberg Rankings, Businessweek.com evaluated 100 of the country’s largest cities based on 16 criteria including: the number of restaurants, bars, and museums per capita; the number of colleges, libraries, and professional sports teams; the income, poverty, unemployment, crime, and foreclosure rates; percentage of population with bachelor’s degrees or higher; public school performance; park acres per 1,000 residents; and air quality. Greater weighting was placed on recreational amenities such as parks, bars, restaurants, and museums per capita, educational attainment, school performance, poverty, and air quality. As living in great cities can be expensive, affordability was not taken into account.

The data for this ranking came from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sperling’s BestPlaces, GreatSchools, Onboard Informatics, RealtyTrac, Bloomberg, and the Trust for Public Land.
After Raleigh, the next highest-ranked cities were Arlington, Va.; Honolulu; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Irvine, Calif. Larger cities placed lower: New York was 14th, while Los Angeles ranked 53rd and Chicago 75th. The highest-ranked city with a population greater than 1 million was San Diego, at seventh. Washington, D.C., which has 588,433 people, came in sixth. Since some criteria were evaluated on a per population basis, places did not necessarily score higher for having a larger number of establishments or amenities.

At the bottom of this ranking of 100 cities were Detroit; Stockton, Calif.; Akron, Ohio; Laredo, Tex.; and Cleveland.
A Park With a City in It

Many urbanites appreciate cities’ bustling streets and constant activity. Raleigh, though active, is often described as “a park with a city in it,” according to the city tourism site, and the downtown area has wide sidewalks, public art, and outdoor cafes, according to the Downtown Raleigh Alliance. With several colleges in the area, it is also a young city and about one-fifth of the population are in their 20s, compared to a national rate of 13.8 percent, show 2010 Census data.

“The Raleigh area features a cluster of great universities, so education is part of the culture of the community,” says Ford W. Bell, president of the American Association of Museums. “Integral to this culture are the region’s museums, rooted as they are in education and lifelong learning.”

Most residents drive, though Raleigh also has a public bus system, including a free bus service downtown.

High quality of life combined with new and expanding business in the region have attracted more residents to Raleigh, one of the fastest-growing U.S. cities: The population in the metro area expanded by an estimated 12.2 percent from 2009 to 2010, according to economic and demographic data company Woods & Poole Economics.
Growing Economy

The city’s largest employers are the state and public school system, according to Raleigh Economic Development. Strong technology, defense technology, biotechnology, and life sciences sectors and emerging cleantech and smart grid industries have bolstered the local economy, says Sauls.

In the weak U.S. economy, Raleigh’s unemployment rate increased to 7.6 percent in July 2011 from an annual average of 4.4 percent in 2008, BLS data indicate, but joblessness in the city remains lower than the metro area, which reached 8.4 percent, and lower than the U.S. rate of 9.1 percent.

Even in today’s tough environment, a number of Raleigh companies are expanding, including software company Red Hat (RHT), which announced in January that it would add 540 jobs. The company had looked at other cities, but as Chief Executive Officer Jim Whitehurst told reporters, Raleigh offered the best overall package.

“It’s a combination of things: There’s a great university system here so it’s easy to find qualified talent and it’s a great place to hire people. The relative cost of living is low, the cost of real estate is dramatically lower [than other cities], and the state is pro-business,” says Whitehurst, who moved to the area in 2008 from Atlanta. And with most of the benefits of a major metropolitan area, he says, “it’s a wonderful lifestyle.”

The official will go into the matter and also take note of the timing of the surfacing of these reports, sources said in New Delhi.

Lt Gen Bikram Singh, who heads the Eastern Command, is a front-runner for the post of next army chief after the incumbent General VK Singh retires on 31 May.

The government has also shortlisted Northern Army Commander Lt Gen KT Parnaik and Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Krishna Singh in the panel to succeed Gen VK Singh.

Lt Gen Bikram Singh has been accused of staging a fake encounter by the mother of an alleged militant killed in firing by Rashtriya Rifles personnel in South Kashmir’s Anantnag town in March 2001.

The petition by Zaituna, the mother of the alleged militant, has prompted the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to issue notice to the state government and the defence ministry seeking their response.

Lt Gen Bikram Singh, then a Brigadier, was heading the 5 Sector Rashtriya Rifles headquartered in Janglat Mandi in Anantnag.

The defence ministry official will also look into a media report which has suggested that a MP had written a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office questioning Bikram Singh’s suitability to lead the Army on the ground that his daughter in-law is allegedly from Pakistan.

Ironically, Chief Executive Officer Yitzhak Nissan, who negotiated the contract, has been sacked in an internal squabble with IAI Chairman Dov Baharav, appointed in June 2011 to head the state-owned flagship of the defense industry amid widespread speculation of plans to privatize it.

IAI announced to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Monday it had signed the $1.1 billion deal with “an Asian country.” Without explanation, it neither named the country nor specified what military systems were involved.

But the Globes business daily identified the customer as India and said the systems included missiles, UAVs and intelligence technologies. Other sources said aircraft were also involved but gave no details.

In early 2006, IAI and the Indian Defense Research Development Organization signed a $480 million contract on missile development.

Globes quoted business sources as saying the deal was a major boost to IAI’s orders backlog at a time when Israel’s defense industry, a key revenue earner, was having to grapple with a big dip in the global market because of big cutbacks in defense spending.

“A deal of this size should not be taken for granted at a time when many countries are cutting their defense spending because of uncertainty in global markets,” one source said.

“Nissan succeeded in reaching a mega-deal that will give IAI financial and job security for years.”

Other Israeli defense companies sought to nab the contract with India, which has in recent years become a major buyer of Israeli weapons systems and other defense equipment.

IAI won a $1.1 billion deal with the Indian navy in 2009 to provide advanced Barak-8 tactical air-defense missile systems for its warships.

The same year, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems secured a $1 billion contract with New Delhi for 18 Spyder surface-to-air missile systems by 2012.

IAI sold the Indian air force three Phalcon early warning aircraft worth $1.1 billion in 2004.

All told, Israeli companies have sold India weapons and other military systems worth more than $10 billion over the last decade or so.

In 2007, the Jewish state replaced France as India’s second-largest arms supplier after Russia.

In March 2011, the U.S. weekly Defense News reported India was preparing to sign a $1 billion order with Rafael for 8,356 Spike anti-tank missiles, along with 321 launchers and 15 training simulators.

There had been reports the Israeli Defense Ministry, which can veto defense sales to foreign customers, was uncomfortable with the technology transfer involved in the Spike contract.

That could explain why there has been no official confirmation that the deal ever went through.

All Israel’s defense exports are coordinated and regulated through the ministry’s Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Organization, or SIBAT.

India has also expressed interest in Israel’s Arrow-2 anti-ballistic missile system jointly manufactured by IAI and the Boeing Co. But the technology transfer involved could impede any sale since U.S. approval would be required.

China was once a promising emerging market for Israeli weapons and electronic systems, but it currently remains largely off-limits, mainly because of Israel’s strategic ally, the United States.

Washington, which provides Israel with $3 billion a year in military aid, blocked the $1 billion sale of four Phalcon AWACS aircraft to China in 2000, citing U.S. components used in the planes’ systems. Beijing was furious.

With a significant slowdown in the growth of high-tech exports to the United States and Europe, Israeli defense exporters are shifting their marketing focus to Asia.

In 2010, Israeli defense sales reached $9.6 billion, with the three largest defense-oriented companies alone employing 30,600 people.

“However,” Oxford Analytica observed in a December analysis, “these industries are now facing a problem similar to the one they faced in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they reacted quickly to the lessons learned during the 1973 war and the spate of airline hijackings.

“Systems invented at that time included UAVs and sophisticated airport security networks, but for a while it was hard to sell these products. Both systems have since been adopted by the security forces of many countries and form the core of Israeli defense exports.”

The lease will cost the Indian government an estimated 920 million US dollars. Nerpa was commissioned into the Russian Navy in Dec. 2009. After refitting it to meet India’s needs, the Russian Navy trained a team of Indian naval officers on it in early 2010 and handed it over to its Indian counterpart on Dec. 30. As per an earlier schedule, the submarine was expected to join the Indian Navy in late 2011 but this was delayed by an accident on the submarine, Indian Navy sources told Express.Though a dispute arose between India and Russia consequent to the accident, they resolved that the agreement will hold good and the transfer will be implemented as per schedule. “Chakra will in all likelihood be commissioned into the Indian Navy in the first week of Feb. “This will make India the sixth nation in the world to have a nuclear-powered attack submarine,” sources said.The submarine has a dual hull and sails at a speed of 10 knots on surface waters with a maximum speed of 30 knots under water, sources said.

In fact Dr. Singh was confident about “going ahead’’ with Unit I of the Russia supplied Kudankulam plant in a “couple of weeks.’’ The second one should follow after six months, he said at a joint press conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev here on December 16.

Separately, highly placed sources in the Russian nuclear energy sector said the two sides have sorted out their differences over the setting up of the next two units, and “may be more.’’ The sources claimed that the nuclear liability legislation, main bone of contention between the two sides, would not apply to these units as well.

“There can be no question about it: the original agreement on Units 1 and 2 at Kudankulam apply to Units 3 and 4, as well as to any additional reactors that may be put up on the site,” the sources said.

Dr. Singh seemed to endorse this observation. “The two sides have concluded negotiations and agreed on the terms and conditions for the Russian credit for Units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam nuclear power project. We look forward to moving ahead with the road map for cooperation in the nuclear energy sector, which we signed in 2010,’’ he said.

The road map he was referring to was about the setting up at least a dozen reactors based on Russian technology. India has so far demurred, claiming that funds are released on the basis of projections made in the Five Year Plans and, therefore, it was difficult to make commitments far into the future.

The Russia sources made it clear that Moscow’s proposal to New Delhi to set up a joint production of nuclear fuel on the Russian soil would not lead to transfer of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies to India.

India and Russia also concluded negotiations on obtaining military and strategic communications from the Glonass constellation of satellites being put into orbit by Moscow as an alternative to the West controlled GPS system.

India and Russia meanwhile inked five agreements, including two protocols, two memoranda of understanding and one pact related to exchange in education. The agreements were signed after bilateral summit level talks between the two sides. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh led the Indian delegation, while President Dmitry Medvedev led the Russian side at the discussion.

The agreement comes after India, the biggest importer of military hardware among emerging nations, had earlier this year rejected Moscow’s bid to supply its traditional ally with 126 multi-role combat aircraft in a deal worth about $12 billion (9.2 billion euros).

The two leaders sought to play up progress in bilateral ties, stressing they withstood the test of time.

“Our cooperation with India in the military technical sphere has reached an unprecedented level,” Medvedev said in comments released by the Kremlin.

After the talks the two leaders oversaw the signing of an agreement to “render technical assistance in the organisation of production of the SU-30 plane,” the Kremlin said in a statement without providing further details.

The Kremin said ahead of the signing the two sides had planned to ink an agreement to supply India with 42 Su-30 jets in kit form that would be assembled in India.

New Delhi and Moscow have enjoyed close ties that date back to the 1950s but relations have recently come under strain as India becomes more demanding over pricing and quality and looks to other countries like Israel and the United States as potential military suppliers.

Singh said the two countries discussed nuclear cooperation and supplies of liquefied gas adding they also agreed the terms of a Russian loan to build two additional generating units at a nuclear power plant in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. (AFP)

1. INTRODUCTION

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 (AFSPA) is one of the more draconian legislations that the Indian Parliament has passed in its 45 years of Parliamentary history. Under this Act, all security forces are given unrestricted and unaccounted power to carry out their operations, once an area is declared disturbed. Even a non-commissioned officer is granted the right to shoot to kill based on mere suspicion that it is necessary to do so in order to “maintain the public order”.

The AFSPA gives the armed forces wide powers to shoot, arrest and search, all in the name of “aiding civil power.” It was first applied to the North Eastern states of Assam and Manipur and was amended in 1972 to extend to all the seven states in the north- eastern region of India. They are Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, also known as the “seven sisters”. The enforcement of the AFSPA has resulted in innumerable incidents of arbitrary detention, torture, rape, and looting by security personnel. This legislation is sought to be justified by the Government of India, on the plea that it is required to stop the North East states from seceeding from the Indian Union. There is a strong movement for self-determination which precedes the formation of the Indian Union.

2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

As the great Himalayan range dividing South and Central Asia runs down the east, it takes a southward curve and splits into lower hill ranges. The hills are punctuated by valleys and the valleys are washed by the rivers that drain into to the Bay of Bengal. Waves of people settled in these blue hills and green valleys at various times in history. They brought with them cultures and traditions. The new interacted with the old and evolved into the unique cultural mosaic that characterizes the region.

Through the centuries, these hills and valleys have bridged South, South East, and Central Asia. On today’s geo-political map, a large part of the original region constitutes the seven states of the Republic of India, but its political, economic and socio-cultural systems have always been linked with South East Asia. The great Hindu and Muslim empires that reigned over the Indian sub-continent never extended east of the Bhramaputra river.

India’s British colonizers were the first to break this barrier. In the early 19th century, they moved in to check the Burmese expansion into today’s Manipur and Assam. The British, with the help of the then Manipur King, Gambhir Singh, crushed the Burmese imperialist dream and the treaty of Yandabo was signed in 1828. Under this treaty, Assam became a part of British India and the British continued to influence the political affairs of the region.

This undue interference eventually led to the bloody Anglo- Manipuri conflict of 1891. The British reaffirmed their position but were cognizant of the ferocious spirit of independence of these people and did not administer directly but only through the King.

It was during the Second World War, when the Japanese tried to enter the Indian sub-continent through this narrow corridor, that the strategic significance of the region to the Indian armed forces was realised. With the bombing of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a disenchanted Japanese had to retreat from Imphal and Kohima fronts, however the importance of control over the region subsequently remained a priority for the Government of India.

With the end of the war, the global political map was changed over night. As the British were preparing to leave Asia, the Political Department of the British Government planned to carve out a buffer state consisting of the Naga Hills, Mikir Hills, Sadiya Area, Balipara Tract, Manipur, Lushai Hills, Khasi and Hills in Assam, as well as the Chin Hills and the hills of northern Burma. The impending departure of the British created confusion and turmoil over how to fill the political vacuum they would leave behind. Ultimately, the various territories were parceled out to Nehru’s India, Jinnah’s Pakistan, Aung Sang’s Burma and Mao’s China according to strategic requirements. As expected, there were some rumblings between the new Asiatic powers on who should get how much – India and Burma over Kabow valley, India and East Pakistan over Chittagong Hill Tracts, and India and China over the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA), present day Arunachal Pradesh.

Compromises were made, and issues were finally settled in distant capitals, to the satifaction of the new rulers. The people who had been dwelling in these hills and valleys for thousands of years were systematically excluded from the consultation process. The Indian share of the British colonial cake in this region constitutes the present “Seven Sisters” states of the North-East.

Over the years, thanks to the British, the advent of western education and contact with new ideas brought about the realization that the old ways had to give way to the new. Indigenous movements evolved as the people aspired to a new social and political order. For example, in the ancient Kingdom of Manipur, under the charismatic leadership of Hijam Irabot, a strong popular democratic movement against feudalism and colonialism was raging. After the departure of the British, the Kingdom of Manipur was reconstituted as a constitutional monarchy on modern lines by passing the Manipur Constitution Act, 1947.

Elections were held under the new constitution. A legislative assembly was formed. In 1949, Mr V P Menon, a senior representative of the Government of India, invited the King to a meeting on the pretext of discussing the deteriorating law and order situation in the state at Shillong. Upon his arrival, the King was allegedly forced to sign under duress the merger agreement. The agreement was never ratified in the Manipur Legislative Assembly. Rather, the Assembly was dissolved and Manipur was kept under the charge of a Chief Commissioner. There were protests, but the carrot-and-stick policy launched by the Indian Government successfully suppressed any opposition.

The Naga Movement

At the beginning of the century, the inhabitants of the Naga Hills, which extend across the Indo-Burmese border, came together under the single banner of Naga National Council (NNC), aspiring for a common homeland and self-governance. As early as 1929, the NNC petitioned the Simon Commission, which was examining the feasibility of future of self-governance of India. The Naga leaders were adamantly against Indian rule over their people once the British pulled out of the region. Mahatma Gandhi publicly announced that the Nagas had every right to be independent. His assertion was based on his belief in non-violence, he did not believe in the use of force or an unwilling union.

Under the Hydari Agreement signed between NNC and British administration, Nagaland was granted protected status for ten years, after which the Nagas would decide whether they should stay in the Union or not. However, shortly after the British withdrew, independent India proclaimed the Naga Territory as part and parcel of the new Republic.

The NNC proclaimed Nagaland’s independence. In retaliation, Indian authorities arrested the Naga leaders. An armed struggle ensued and there were large casualties on either side. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act is the product of this tension.

In 1975, some Naga leaders held talks with the Government of India which resulted in what is known as the Shillong Accord. The Naga leaders who did not agree with the Shillong accord formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and continue to fight for what they call,” Naga sovereignty”.

Problems of Integration

Much of this historical bloodshed could have been avoided if the new India had lived up to the democratic principles enshrined in its Constitution and respected the rights of the nationalities it had taken within its borders. But in the over-zealous efforts to integrate these people into the “national mainstream”, based on the dominant brahminical Aryan culture, much destruction has been done to the indigenous populations.

Culturally, the highly caste ridden, feudal society is totally incompatible with the ethics of North-East cultures which are by and large egalitarian. To make matters even worse, the Indian leaders found it useful to club these ethnic groups with the adivasis (indigenous peoples) of the sub-continent, dubbing them “scheduled tribes”. As a result, in the casteist Indian social milieu, indigenous peoples are stigmatized by higher castes.

The languages of the North-East are of the Tibeto- Chinese family rather than the Indo-Aryan or Dravidian. Until the recent Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, none of the Tibeto- Chinese languages were recognized as Indian languages. The predominantly mongoloid features of the people of the North-East is another barrier to cultural assimilation.

Politically dependent, the North East is being economically undermined; the traditional trade routes with South East Asia and Bangladesh have been closed. It was kept out of the Government of India’s massive infrastructural development in the first few five-year-plans. Gradually, the region has become the Indian capitalist’s hinterland, where local industries have been reduced to nothing and the people are now entirely dependent on goods and businesses owned predominantly by those from the Indo- Gangetic plains. The economic strings of this region are controlled by these, in many cases, unscrupulous traders.

All the states of the North-East are connected to India by the “chicken’s neck”, a narrow corridor between Bangladesh and Bhutan. At partition, the area was cut off from the nearest port of Chittagong, in what is now Bangladesh, reducing traffic to and from the region to a trickle. The states in the region are largely unconnected to India’ vast rail system.

India freely exploits the natural resources of the North-East. Assam produces one-fourth of all the petroleum for India, yet it is processed outside of Assam so the state does not receive the revenues. Manipur is 22% behind the national average for infrastructural development, and the entire North-Eastern region is 30% behind the rest of India.

Observers have pointed out that “…it is clear that in the North East, insurgency and underdevelopment have been closely linked; in such a situation strong-arm tactics will only help to further alienate the people.”

The shifting demographic balance due to large-scale immigration from within and outside the country is another source of tension. The indigenous people fear that they will be outnumbered by outsiders in their own land. Laborers from Bihar and Bengal who live under rigidly feudal, casteist socio-economic conditions in their states are ready to do all kinds of menial jobs at much lower wages. As they pour in, more and more local laborers are being edged out of their jobs. Illegal immigration from Bangladesh and Nepal is also percieved as a threat. In Tripura, the indigenous population has been reduced to a mere 28% of the total population of the state because of large scale immigration from then East Pakistan and now Bangladesh.

In Assam, a similar fear of ” immigrant invasion” was at the root of a student movement in the early eighties. The student leaders formed a political party called the Assam Gana Parisad (AGP) and contested state elections and won. In 1984, the Assam Accord was signed with the Central Government. However, the provisions of the Accord were never implemented. The failure of the AGP to bring about change in the state of Assam fostered the growth of the armed and overtly seccessionist United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).

Mizoram

In the Lushai hills of Assam in the early sixties, a famine broke out. A relief team cried out for help from the Government of India. But there was little help. The relief team organized themselves into the Mizo National Front (MNF) and called for an armed struggle, ” to liberate Mizoram from Indian colonialiasm.” In February 1966, armed militant groups captured the town of Aizawl and took possession of all government offices. It took the Indian army one week to recapture the town. The army responded viciously with air raids. This is the only place in India where the Indian Security Forces actually aerially bombed its own civilian population. The armed forces compelled people to leave their homes and dumped them on the roadside to set up new villages, so that the armed forces would be able to better control them. This devastated the structure of Mizo society. In 1986, the Mizo Accord was signed between the MNF and the Government of India. This accord was identical to the Shilong Accord made with the Nagas earlier. The MNF agreed to work within the Indian Constitution and to renounce violence.

The Government of India’s primary interest in the North East was strategic, and so was its response to the problems. A series of repressive laws were passed by the Government of India in order to deal with this uprising. In 1953, the Assam Maintenance of Public Order (Autonomous District) Regulation Act was passed. It was applicable to the then Naga Hills and Tuensang districts. It empowered the Governor to impose collective fines, prohibit public meetings and and detain anybody without a warrant.

On 22 May 1958, a mere 12 days after the Budget Session of Parliament was over, the Armed Forces (Assam-Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance was passed. A bill was introduced in the Monsoon session of Parliament that year. Amongst those who cautioned against giving such blanket powers to the Army included the then Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, (Upper House of the Indian Parliament), Mr P N Sapru. In a brief discussion that lasted for three hours in the Lok Sabha and for four hours in the Rajya Sabha, Parliament approved the Armed Forces (Assam- Manipur) Special Powers Act with retrospective from 22 May 1958.

3. THE ACT AND ITS PROVISIONS

Section 1: This section states the name of the Act and the areas to which it extends (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram).

Section 2: This section sets out the definition of the Act, but leaves much un-defined. Under part (a) in the 1972 version, the armed forces were defined as “the military and Air Force of the Union so operating”. In the 1958 version of the Act the definition was of the “military forces and the air forces operating as land forces”. In the Lok Sabha Debates which led to the passing of the original Act, Mr Naushir Bharucha commented, “that probably means that the Government very mercifully has not permitted the air forces to shoot or strafe the area … or to bomb.” The Minister of Home Affairs did not confirm this interpretation, but certainly “acting as land forces” should rule out the power to resort to aerial bombardment. Nevertheless, in 1966, the Air Force in Mizoram did resort to aerial bombardment.

Section 2(b) defines a “disturbed area” as any area declared as such under Clause 3 (see discussion below). Section 2(c) states that all other words not defined in the AFSPA have the meanings assigned to them in the Army Act of 1950.

Section 3: This section defines “disturbed area” by stating how an area can be declared disturbed. It grants the power to declare an area disturbed to the Central Government and the Governor of the State, but does not describe the circumstances under which the authority would be justified in making such a declaration. Rather, the AFSPA only requires that such authority be “of the opinion that whole or parts of the area are in a dangerous or disturbed condition such that the use of the Armed Forces in aid of civil powers is necessary.” The vagueness of this definition was challenged in Indrajit Barua v. State of Assam case. The court decided that the lack of precision to the definition of a disturbed area was not an issue because the government and people of India understand its meaning. However, since the declaration depends on the satisfaction of the Government official, the declaration that an area is disturbed is not subject to judicial review. So in practice, it is only the government’s understanding which classifies an area as disturbed. There is no mechanism for the people to challenge this opinion. Strangely, there are acts which define the term more concretely. In the Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976, an area may be declared disturbed when “a State Government is satisfied that (i) there was, or (ii) there is, in any area within a State extensive disturbance of the public peace and tranquility, by reason of differences or disputes between members of different religions, racial, language, or regional groups or castes or communities, it may … declare such area to be a disturbed area.” The lack of precision in the definition of a disturbed area under the AFSPA demonstrates that the government is not interested in putting safeguards on its application of the AFSPA.

The 1972 amendments to the AFSPA extended the power to declare an area disturbed to the Central Government. In the 1958 version of the AFSPA only the state governments had this power. In the 1972 Lok Sabha debates it was argued that extending this power to the Central Government would take away the State’s authority. In the 1958 debates the authority and power of the states in applying the AFSPA was a key issue. The Home Minister had argued that the AFSPA broadened states’ power because they could call in the military whenever they chose. The 1972 amendment shows that the Central Government is no longer concerned with the state’s power. Rather, the Central Government now has the ability to overrule the opinion of a state governor and declare an area disturbed. This happened in Tripura, when the Central Government declared Tripura a disturbed area, over the opposition of the State Government.

In the 1972 Lok Sabha debates, Mr S D Somasundaram pointed out that there was no need to extend this power to the Central Government, since the President had “the power to intervene in a disturbed State at any time” under the Constitution. This point went unheeded and the Central Government retains the power to apply the AFSPA to the areas it wishes in the Northeast.

Section 4: This section sets out the powers granted to the military stationed in a disturbed area. These powers are granted to the commissioned officer, warrant officer, or non-commissioned officer, only a jawan (private) does not have these powers. The Section allows the armed forces personnel to use force for a variety of reasons.

The army can shoot to kill, under the powers of section 4(a), for the commission or suspicion of the commission of the following offenses: acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area prohibiting the assembly of five or more persons, carrying weapons, or carrying anything which is capable of being used as a fire-arm or ammunition. To justify the invocation of this provision, the officer need only be “of the opinion that it is necessary to do so for the maintenance of public order” and only give “such due warning as he may consider necessary”.

The army can destroy property under section 4(b) if it is an arms dump, a fortified position or shelter from where armed attacks are made or are suspected of being made, if the structure is used as a training camp, or as a hide-out by armed gangs or absconders.

The army can arrest anyone without a warrant under section 4(c) who has committed, is suspected of having committed or of being about to commit, a cognisable offense and use any amount of force “necessary to effect the arrest”.

Under section 4(d), the army can enter and search without a warrant to make an arrest or to recover any property, arms, ammunition or explosives which are believed to be unlawfully kept on the premises. This section also allows the use of force necessary for the search.

Section 5: This section states that after the military has arrested someone under the AFSPA, they must hand that person over to the nearest police station with the “least possible delay”. There is no definition in the act of what constitutes the least possible delay. Some case-law has established that 4 to 5 days is too long. But since this provision has been interpreted as depending on the specifics circumstances of each case, there is no precise amount of time after which the section is violated. The holding of the arrested person, without review by a magistrate, constitutes arbitrary detention.

Section 6: This section establishes that no legal proceeding can be brought against any member of the armed forces acting under the AFSPA, without the permission of the Central Government. This section leaves the victims of the armed forces abuses without a remedy.

4. LEGAL ANALYSIS

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act contravenes both Indian and International law standards. This was exemplified when India presented its second periodic report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1991. Members of the UNHRC asked numerous questions about the validity of the AFSPA, questioning how the AFSPA could be deemed constitutional under Indian law and how it could be justified in light of Article 4 of the ICCPR. The Attorney General of India relied on the sole argument that the AFSPA is a necessary measure to prevent the secession of the North Eastern states. He said that a response to this agitation for secession in the North East had to be done on a “war footing.” He argued that the Indian Constitution, in Article 355, made it the duty of the Central Government to protect the states from internal disturbance, and that there is no duty under international law to allow secession.

This reasoning exemplifies the vicious cycle which has been instituted in the North East due to the AFSPA. The use of the AFSPA pushes the demand for more autonomy, giving the peoples of the North East more reason to want to secede from a state which enacts such powers and the agitation which ensues continues to justify the use of the AFSPA from the point of view of the Indian Government.

A) INDIAN LAW

There are several cases pending before the Indian Supreme Court which challenge the constitutionality of the AFSPA. Some of these cases have been pending for over nine years. Since the Delhi High Court found the AFSPA to be constitutional in the case of Indrajit Barua and the Gauhati High court found this decision to be binding in People’s Union for Democratic Rights, the only judicial way to repeal the act is for the Supreme Court to declare the AFSPA unconstitutional.

It is extremely surprising that the Delhi High Court found the AFSPA constitutional given the wording and application of the AFSPA. The AFSPA is unconstitutional and should be repealed by the judiciary or the legislature to end army rule in the North East.

• Violation of Article 21 – Right to life

  Article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees the right to life to all people. It reads, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” Judicial interpretation that “procedure established by law means a “fair, just and reasonable law” has been part of Indian jurisprudence since the 1978 case of Maneka Gandhi. This decision overrules the 1950 Gopalan case which had found that any law enacted by Parliament met the requirement of “procedure established by law”.

  Under section 4(a) of the AFSPA, which grants armed forces personnel the power to shoot to kill, the constitutional right to life is violated. This law is not fair, just or reasonable because it allows the armed forces to use an excessive amount of force.

  The offenses under section 4(a) are: “acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area prohibiting the assembly of five or more persons or the carrying of weapons or of things capable of being used as weapons or fire-arms, ammunition or explosive substances”. None of these offences necessarily involve the use of force. The armed forces are thus allowed to retaliate with powers which are grossly out of proportion with the offence.

  Justice requires that the use of force be justified by a need for self-defense and a minimum level of proportionality. As pointed out by the UN Human Rights Commission, since “assembly” is not defined, it could well be a lawful assembly, such as a family gathering, and since “weapon” is not defined it could include a stone. This shows how wide the interpretation of the offences may be, illustrating that the use of force is disproportionate and irrational.

  Several incidents show how the Border Security Force (BSF) and army personnel abuse their powers in the North East. In April 1995, a villager in West Tripura was riding near a border outpost when a soldier asked him to stop. The villager did not stop and the soldier shot him dead. Even more grotesque were the killings in Kohima on 5 March 1995. The Rastriya Rifles (National Rifles) mistook the sound of a tyre burst from their own convoy as a bomb attack and began firing indiscriminately in the town. The Assam Rifles and the CRPF who were camped two kilometers away heard the gunshots and also began firing. The firing lasted for more than one hour, resulting in the death of seven innocent civilians, 22 were also seriously injured. Among those killed were two girls aged 3 1/2 and 8 years old. The injured also included 7 minors. Mortars were used even though using mortars in a civilian area is prohibited under army rules.

  This atrocity demonstrates the level of tension prevalent in the North East. For a tire burst to be mistaken for a bomb proves that the armed forces are perpetually under stress and live under a state of siege.

  In the Indrajit Barua case, the Delhi High Court found that the state has the duty to assure the protection of rights under Article 21 to the largest number of people. Couched in the rhetoric of the need to protect the “greater good”, it is clear that the Court did not feel that Article 21 is a fundamental right for the people of Assam. The Court stated, “If to save hundred lives one life is put in peril or if a law ensures and protects the greater social interest then such law will be a wholesome and beneficial law although it may infringe the liberty of some individuals.”

  This directly contradicts Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which guarantees equality before the law. This article guarantees that “the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.” The AFSPA is in place in limited parts of India. Since the people residing in areas declared “disturbed” are denied the protection of the right to life, denied the protections of the Criminal Procedure Code and prohibited from seeking judicial redress, they are also denied equality before the law. Residents of non-disturbed areas enjoy the protections guaranteed under the Constitution, whereas the residents of the Northeast live under virtual army rule. Residents of the rest of the Union of India are not obliged to sacrifice their Constitutional rights in the name of the “greater good”.

• Protection against arrest and detention – Article 22

  Article 22 of the Indian Constitution states that “(1) No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice. (2) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the magistrate and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate.” The remaining sections of the Article deal with limits on these first two sections in the case of preventive detention laws. On its face, the AFSPA is not a preventive detention law therefore the safeguards of sections (1) and (2) must be guaranteed to people arrested under the AFSPA.

  Section (2) of Article 22 was the subject of much debate during the framing of the Indian Constitution. There was argument over whether the time limit should be specified or whether the words “with the least possible delay” should be used. Dr Amedkar, one of the principal framers of the Indian Constitution argued that “with the least possible delay” would actually result in the person being held for a shorter period of time, whereas “twenty- four hours” would result in the person being held for the maximum time of twenty-four hours. The application of these terms has since shown that a specified time period constitutes a greater safeguard. Under the AFSPA, the use of “least possible delay” language has allowed the security forces to hold people for days and months at a time. A few habeas corpus cases in which the court did find the delay to be excessive are indicative of the abuses which are occurring in practice. It should be noted that habeas corpus cases are only filed for those who have access to lawyers and the court. In all the seven states of the North East only the Guwhati High Court bench in Assam can hear habeas corpus cases. So although in the two following cases the time of delay in handing over the arrested person was found excessive, it can only be imagined what types of abuses occur in the states of Manipur and Nagaland where the people do not have access to the court. In Nungshitombi Devi v. Rishang Keishang, CM Manipur, (1982) 1 GLR 756, the petitioner’s husband was arrested by CRPF on 10 January 1981, and was still missing on 22 February 1981. He had been arrested under AFSPA Section 4(c). The court found this delay to have been too long and unjustified, even under Section 5 of the AFSPA. In Civil Liberties Organisation (CLAHRO) v. PL Kukrety, (1988) 2 GLR 137, people arrested in Oinam were held for five days before being handed over to magistrates. The court found this to be an unjustified delay.

  In its application, the AFSPA does lead to arbitrary detention. If the AFSPA were defended on the grounds that it is a preventive detention law, it would still violate Article 22 of the Constitution. Preventive detention laws can allow the detention of the arrested person for up to three months. Under 22(4) any detention longer than three months must be reviewed by an Advisory Board. Moreover, under 22(5) the person must be told the grounds of their arrest. Under section 4(c) of the AFSPA a person can be arrested by the armed forces without a warrant and on the mere suspicion that they are going to commit an offence. The armed forces are not obliged to communicate the grounds for the arrest. There is also no advisory board in place to review arrests made under the AFSPA. Since the arrest is without a warrant it violates the preventive detention sections of article 22.

  The case of Luithukla v. Rishang Keishing, (1988) 2 GLR 159, a habeas corpus case, exemplifies the total lack of restraint on the armed forces when carrying out arrests. The case was brought to ascertain the whereabouts of a man who had been arrested five years previously by the army. The court found that the man had been detained by the army and that the forces had mistaken their role of “aiding civil power”. The court said that the army may not act independently of the district administration. Repeatedly, the Guwahati High Court has told the army to comply with the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), but there are is no enforcement of these rulings.

  Army officers have accused High Court judges of weakening military powers in the North East, exemplifying that the armed forces are not interested in complying with civil law standards. Any attempt by the courts to oblige compliance with police procedure is ignored. (see further section on the lack of independence of the judiciary)

  In the habeas corpus case of Bacha Bora v. State of Assam, (1991) 2 GLR 119, the petition was denied because a later arrest by the civil police was found to be legal. However, in a discussion of the AFSPA, the court analyzed Section 5 (turn the arrested person over to the nearest magistrate “with least possible delay”). The court did not use Article 22 of the Constitution to find that this should be less than twenty-four hours, but rather said that “least possible delay” is defined by the particular circumstances of each case. In this case, the army had provided no justification for the two week delay, when a police station was nearby, so section 5 was violated. Nevertheless, this leaves open the interpretation that circumstances could justify a delay of 5 days or more.

• The Indian Criminal Procedure Code (“CrPC”)

  The CrPC establishes the procedure police officers are to follow for arrests, searches and seizures, a procedure which the army and other para- military are not trained to follow. Therefore when the armed forces personnel act in aid of civil power, it should be clarified that they may not act with broader power than the police and that these troops must receive specific training in criminal procedure.

  In explaining the AFSPA bill in the Lok Sabha in 1958, the Union Home Minister stated that the Act was subject to the provisions of the Constitution and the CrPC. He said “these persons [military personnel] have the authority to act only within the limits that have been prescribed generally in the CrPC or in the Constitution.” If this is the case, then why was the AFSPA not drafted to say “use of minimum force” as done in the CrPC? If the government truly means to have the armed forces comply with criminal procedure, than the AFSPA should have a specific clause enunciating this compliance. Further it should also train the armed forces in this procedure.

  The CrPC has a section on the maintenance of public order, Chapter X, which provides more safeguards than the AFSPA. Section 129 in that chapter allows for the dispersal of an assembly by use of civil force. The section empowers an Executive Magistrate, officer-in-charge of a police station or any police officer not below the rank of sub-inspector to disperse such an assembly. It is interesting to compare this section with the powers the army has to disperse assemblies under section 4(a) of the Act. The CrPC clearly delineates the ranks which can disperse such an assembly, whereas the Act grants the power to use maximum force to even to non commissioned officers. Moreover, the CrPC does not state that force to the extent of causing death can be used to disperse an assembly.

  Sections 130 and 131 of the same chapter sets out the conditions under which the armed forces may be called in to disperse an assembly. These two sections have several safeguards which are lacking in the Act. Under section 130, the armed forces officers are to follow the directives of the Magistrate and use as little force as necessary in doing so. Under 131, when no Executive Magistrate can be contacted, the armed forces may disperse the assembly but if it becomes possible to contact an Executive Magistrate at any point, the armed forces must do so. Section 131 only gives the armed forces the power to arrest and confine. Moreover, it is only commissioned or gazetted officers who may give the command to disperse such an assembly, whereas in the AFSPA even non-commissioned officers are given this power. The AFSPA grants wider powers than the CrPC for dispersal of an assembly.

  Moreover, dispersal of assemblies under Chapter X of the CrPC is slightly more justifiable than dispersal under Section 4(a) of the AFSPA. Sections 129-131 refer to the unlawful assemblies as ones which “manifestly endanger” public security. Under the AFSPA the assembly is only classified as “unlawful” leaving open the possibility that peaceful assemblies can be dispersed by use of force.

  Chapter V of the CrPC sets out the arrest procedure the police are to follow. Section 46 establishes the way in which arrests are to be made. It is only if the person attempts to evade arrest that the police officer may use “all means necessary to effect the arrest.” However, sub-section (3) limits this use of force by stipulating that this does not give the officer the right to cause the death of the person, unless they are accused of an offence punishable by death or life imprisonment. This power is already too broad. It allows the police to use more force than stipulated in the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (see section on International law below). Yet the AFSPA is even more excessive. Section 4(a) lets the armed forces kill a person who is not suspected of an offence punishable by death or life imprisonment.

  Under the Indian Penal Code, at Section 302, only murder is punishable with death. Murder is not one of the offenses listed in section 4(a) of the AFSPA. Moreover the 4(a) offences are assembly of five or more persons, the carrying of weapons, ammunition or explosive substances, none of which are punishable with life imprisonment under the Indian Penal Code. Under section 143 of the Penal Code, being a member of an unlawful assembly is punishable with imprisonment of up to six months and/or a fine. Even if the person has joined such unlawful assembly armed with a deadly weapon, the maximum penalty is imprisonment for two years and a fine. Moreover, persisting or joining in an unlawful assembly of five or more persons is also punishable with six months imprisonment, or a fine, or both. The same offence committed by someone in a disturbed area under the AFSPA is punishable with death. This again violates the Constitutional right to equality before the law. Different standards of punishment are in place for the same act in different parts of the country, violating the equality standards set out in the Constitution.

  Supposedly the military do have instructions on the procedures they are to follow when they act in aid of civil power. In People’s Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, (1991) 2 GLR 1, when the court reviewed the army’s powers it referred to two sets of instructions issued to the military when acting in aid of civil power. The first was a 1969 pamphlet issued by the Government of India as guidance for military but it was confidential and the court was not allowed to review it. A 1973 basic book instructions for army acting in aid of civil power was also referred to in the case. In a personal meeting with Justice Raghuvir, former Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court, and the Justice who wrote the opinion in People’s Union for Democratic Rights, SAHRDC asked for details on the nature of these instructions. Justice Raghuvir told us that he was only able to see a few pages and that the whole booklet was not available to non-military personnel. He believes that the military keeps these instruction manuals confidential so that it can not be shown that the armed forces fail to comply with their own standards. This is another example of the lack of judicial review and allows the armed forces to remain above the law.

• Military’s Immunity / Lack of Remedies

  The members of the Armed Forces in the whole of the Indian territory are protected from arrest for anything done within the line of official duty by Section 45 of the CrPC. Section 6 of the AFSPA provides them with absolute immunity for all atrocities committed under the AFSPA. A person wishing to file suit against a member of the armed forces for abuses under the AFSPA must first seek the permission of the Central Government.

  In a report on the AFSPA to the UN Human Rights Committee in 1991, Nandita Haksar, a lawyer who has often petitioned the Guwahati High Court in cases related to the AFSPA, explains how in practice this leaves the military’s victims without a remedy. Firstly, there has not been a single case of any one seeking such permission to file a case in the North East. Given that the armed forces personnel conduct themselves as being above the law and the people are alienated from the state government, it is hardly surprising that no one would approach Delhi for such permission. Secondly, when the armed forces are tried in army courts, the public is not informed of the proceedings and the court martial judgments are not published. In a meeting with the government National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), a representative of SAHRDC was able to discuss cases where BSF and armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir were punished for abuses. Yet, the results of these trials were not published and the NHRC representative stated that it would endanger the lives of the soldiers.

  This section of the AFSPA was also reviewed in Indrajit Barua. The High Court justified this provision on the grounds that it prevents the filing of “frivolous claims”. The court even said that this provision provides more safeguards, obviously confusing safeguards for the military with safeguards for the victims of the military’s abuses.

  Instances of human rights abuses by the army have shown that unless there is public accountability there is no incentive for the army to change its conduct. This was exemplified in Burundi when security forces killed 1,000 people in October 1991. Amnesty International reported, “The failure to identify those responsible for human rights violations and bring them to justice has meant that members of the security forces continue to believe that they are above the law and can violate human rights with impunity.” Without the transparency of the public accounting, it is impossible to be sure that perpetrators are actually punished.

  Habeas corpus cases have been the only remedy available for those arrested under the AFSPA. A habeas corpus case forces the military or police to hand the person over to the court. This gives the arrested person some protection and it is in these cases that legal counsel have been able to make arguments challenging the AFSPA. However, a habeas corpus case will not lead to the repeal of the act nor will it punish particular officers who committed the abuses. Also, only people who have access to lawyers will be able to file such a case.

  Section 6 of the AFSPA thus suspends the Constitutional right to file suit. Mr Mahanty raised this crucial argument in the first Lok Sabha debate on the AFSPA in 1958. He said that Section 6 of the AFSPA “immediately takes away, abrogates, pinches, frustrates the right to constitutional remedy which has been given in article 32(1) of the Constitution.” This further shows that the AFSPA is more than an emergency provision because it is only in states of emergency that these rights can be constitutionally suspended.

  Section 32(1) of the Constitution states that “the right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this Part is guaranteed.” In the Constitutional Assembly debates, Dr B R Ambedkar said, “If I was asked to name any particular article of the Constitution as the most important – an article without which this Constitution would be a nullity. I would not refer to any other article except this one (Article 32). It is the very soul of the Constitution and the very heart of it.”

  During the emergency in 1975 the right to file for writs of habeas corpus was suspended as ruled by the Supreme Court in A.D.M. v. Shivakant Shukla, (1976) 2 SCC 521. The Emergency had been declared under Section 359 of the Constitution. This section has now been amended, stating that the fundamental rights of section 20 and 21 cannot be suspended, even in a state of emergency. Therefore, should an emergency be declared today, the right to file habeas corpus on the grounds that the fundamental right to life has been denied should be allowed. Nevertheless, the 1975 case exemplifies the court’s deference for the executive, even if it means a total suspension of individual liberty.

  In the 1958 Lok Sabha, debate also occured about whether the right to file suit was a guaranteed right under the Constitution. The Speaker said, “Now who is to decide whether a right is one which has been guaranteed under this article? (article 32) The Supreme Court will decide it.” Turning to this argument later, the Home Minister pointed out that under the Criminal Procedure Code and the Civil Procedure Code that the Government’s consent was already required before a member of the armed forces could be sued in connection with their duties. This remains the case under both Codes today. Since, as seen above, the Supreme Court so readily defers to the executive and legislative branches, if the legislature does not pause to ask if a provision is constitutional, should the court review it once the legislature has passed it, it will most likely be deemed constitutional.

• The Army Act

  The 1950 act was a revision of the 1911 Indian Army Act. One of the goals of this revision was “to bridge the gap between the Army and civil laws as far as possible in the matter of punishments of offenses.” The High Courts of the country have a limited right to interfere with the court-martial system. Court-martial proceedings do not have to satisfy Article 21 of the Constitution. In chapter five of the Army Act, the members of the services are granted privileges, including immunity from attachments and arrest for debt. The only civil acts committed by members of the army which are not triable by court-martial are murder or rape of a civilian, unless this was done while on active service. This means that soldiers operating under the AFSPA will, if tried at all, be tried by court-martial, leaving no civil law remedy for the victims. Section 6 of the AFSPA only further reinforces the army’s immunity.

• States of Emergency

  The declaration that an area is disturbed essentially amounts to declaring a state of emergency but by-passes the Constitutional safeguards. The point that this bill invokes a state of emergency was raised immediately by Mr Mahanty (Dhenkanal) in the 1958 Lok Sabha debates. He said the Assembly could not proceed if Section 352(1) of the Constitution was not fulfilled. In response, Mr K C Pant, then Home Minister, attempted to argue that the powers granted under the AFSPA do not resemble a state of emergency. He said that in an emergency fundamental rights can be abrogated and that the AFSPA does not abrogate those rights. But under Section 4(a) the right to life is clearly violated. An officer shooting to kill, because he is of the opinion that it is necessary, does not conform, even prima facie, with the Article 21 Constitutional requirement that the right to life cannot be abridged except according to procedure established by law. The Home Minister said the AFSPA powers stem rather from Article 355 of the Constitution, which gives the Central Government authority to protect the States against external aggression.

  Dr Krishnaswanmi (Chingleput) also made the argument that the AFSPA was outside the powers granted in the Constitution, since it was declaring a state of emergency without following the Constitutional provisions for such a declaration. He argued that this Bill would take away the State’s power by bringing in the military. The Speaker responded that this did not take away the State’s power, rather it granted the States more power because it allowed them to decide to “hand over thoroughly, entirely and completely to the Armed Forces”. This argument is circular – the Speaker was saying that the States are given more power because they are now able to freely hand over their power. And because this was explained as granting power to the States, no Presidential proclamation was necessary (the proclamation is only made when the State powers are restricted). So the emergency provisions in the Constitution were cleverly by-passed.

  In a state of emergency, fundamental rights may be suspended under Article 359, since the 1978 amendment to this article, rights under Articles 20 and 21 may not be suspended. As shown above, the AFSPA results in the suspension of Article 21 right to life, therefore AFSPA is more draconian than emergency rule. Emergency rule can only be declared for a specified period of time, and the President’s proclamation of emergency must be reviewed by Parliament. The AFSPA is in place for an indefinite period of time and there is no legislative review.

  The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention noted in its report of 17 December 1993, that states of emergency tend to be a “fruitful source of arbitrary arrests.” In its report of 21 December 1994, the Working Group concluded that preventive detention is “facilitated and aggravated by several factors such as … exercise of the powers specific to states of emergency without a formal declaration, non-observance of the principle of proportionality between the gravity of the measures taken and the situation concerned, too vague a definition of offenses against State security, and the existence of special or emergency jurisdictions.” This describes exactly the situation under the AFSPA. The AFSPA grants state of emergency powers without declaring an emergency as prescribed in the Constitution. The measures taken by the military outweigh the situation in the North East, notably the power to shoot to kill. The offences are not clearly defined, since all of the Section 4 offences are judged subjectively by the military personnel. And the AFSPA is a “special jurisdiction” provision.

B) INTERNATIONAL LAW

Under relevant international human rights and humanitarian law standards there is no justification for such an act as the AFSPA. The AFSPA, by its form and in its application, violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the “UDHR”), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the “ICCPR”), the Convention Against Torture, the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the UN Body of Principles for Protection of All Persons Under any form of Detention, and the UN Principles on Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra- legal and summary executions.

A UDHR argument would just be repetitive with ICCPR so SAHRDC has not done it but the UDHR articles which the AFSPA violates are the following: 1 – Free and Equal Dignity and rights, 2 – Non- discrimination, 3 – Life, liberty, security of person, 5 – no torture, 7 – equality before the law, 8 – effective remedy, 9 – no arbitrary arrest, 17 – property.

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”)

  India signed the ICCPR in 1978, taking on the responsibility of securing the rights guaranteed by the Covenant to all its citizens. The rights enunciated by the ICCPR are those which must be guaranteed during times of peace by the member states. In times of public emergency, the ICCPR foresees that some rights may have to be suspended. However, the ICCPR remains operative even under such circumstances since certain rights are non- derogable. The AFSPA violates both derogable and non-derogable rights.

  This first article of the ICCPR states that all people have the right to self-determination. As discussed previously, the AFSPA is a tool in stifling the self-determination aspirations of the indigenous peoples of the North East.

  Article 2 imposes an obligation on the states to ensure that all individuals enjoy the rights guaranteed by the Covenant. This includes an obligation to provide a remedy for those whose rights are violated. When India gave its second periodic report to the UN Human Rights Committee in March 1991, members of the Committee pointed out that the AFSPA violates this right because article 2 foresees more than just a legal system which provides such remedies, but requires that such a system work on the practical level.

  Article 4 of the Covenant governs the suspension of some of the Covenant’s rights. Derogation of the ICCPR has three conditions. Firstly, it is only “in time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed” that states may derogate from their obligations under the ICCPR. Also, such derogation must be “strictly required by the exigencies of the situation” and cannot be inconsistent with other international law obligations nor “involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin.” The AFSPA has been enacted without such an official proclamation of emergency and goes beyond the requirements of the situation. Moreover, the fact that the AFSPA targets the population of the North East shows that it does discriminate on the basis of social origin. Secondly, there can be no derogation from articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs 1 and 2), 11, 15, 16 and 18. As discussed below, the AFSPA violates three of these, article 6 guaranteeing the right to life, article 7 prohibiting torture and article 8 prohibiting forced labour. Thirdly, any state which derogates from the ICCPR obligations must inform the other states party to the Covenant. India has not met this obligation as regards the AFSPA.

  The AFSPA comes within the purview of article 4 as understood by the Human Rights Committee. The members found that since it “enables the army to supplement … [the] civil authorities [in] powers of arrest, powers of search” the AFSPA is the equivalent of emergency legislation. Moreover, a committee member stated that the AFSPA had actually created a “continuous state of emergency” since it has been in application since 1958.

  The greatest outrage of the AFSPA under both Indian and international law is the violation of the right to life. This comes under Article 6 of the ICCPR, and it is a non-derogable right. This means no situation, or state of emergency, or internal disturbance, can justify the suspension of this right. Committee members insisted on this particular point in regards to the AFSPA. They found that the powers to kill under the Act are simply too broad. As pointed out by a member of the committee, the offences under Section 4(a) for which the soldier may shoot do not threaten the soldier. The Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials only foresees the use of deadly force when the officer is threatened with force. Under Section 4(a) of the AFSPA, the officer can shoot when there is an unlawful assembly, not defined as threatening, or when the person has or is suspected of having a weapon. Since “weapon” is defined as anything “capable of being used as a weapon”, a committee member pointed out that this could even include a stone, further bringing out the lack of proportionality between the offence and the use of force by the army.

  The armed forces in the North East have systematically tortured the people they arrested under the AFSPA. Article 7 of the ICCPR prohibits torture and this also is a non-derogable right. Moreover, the prohibition against torture is a “norm of customary law”. Under the UDHR, torture is defined as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted by or at the instigation of a public official on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or confession, punishing him for an act he has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating him or other person.”

  During Operation Bluebird, the Assam Rifles committed gross abuses of this right. The Operation was launched in the wake of an attack on an Assam Rifles outpost in Oinam, a village in Manipur. The attack is believed to have been carried out by the NSCN. The armed forces retaliated by perpetuating atrocities on the village people of Oinam. The Amnesty International report found that more than 300 villagers claimed they were beaten, “some torture victims were left for dead … others were reportedly subjected to other forms of torture including inserting chili powder into sensitive parts of the body, being given electric shocks by means of a hand operated dynamo … or being buried up to the neck in apparent mock executions.” The headman of the village was also tortured and reported, “I was called out and repeatedly interrogated throughout the day … I was beaten by the officers an jawans … they also indiscriminately attack[ed] the villagers – … chili powder dissolved in water [was] rubbed into the nostrils, eyes and soft parts of the body and [officers and jawans] took sadistic pleasure from the cries of pain by the victims.”

  Under similar circumstances in “Operation Rhino”, Rajputana Rifles surrounded the village of Bodhakors on October 4, 1991. An extensive house to house searched was conducted during which women were sexually harassed and men were taken to interrogation camps. They were beaten up and kept without food or water. During this combing operation not a single insurgent was found. The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) noted, “It is very difficult to understand the logic such useless raids, mass torture and interrogations, unless the purpose is taken to be the creation of pure terror for some sinister and ulterior motives.”

  During Operation Bluebird, the military also forced the villagers of Oinam to work for them and provided them with no compensation. This violates article 8(3) of the ICCPR which prohibits forced labour. The Assam Rifles “rounded up villagers for forced labour for such tasks as porter service, building new army camps, washing clothes and carrying firewood.”

  Article 9 of the ICCPR guarantees liberty and security of person, and the AFSPA violates all five sub-parts of this right. Sub- part (1) guarantees that “Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his Liberty except on such ground and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.” All the residents of a disturbed area are subject to arbitrary arrest. The military can arrest them on mere suspicion and detain them for unspecified amounts of time before handing them over to the nearest magistrate. Sub-part (2) states “Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.” The AFSPA does not require the arresting army officer to inform the person of the reason for their arrest. This is a requirement under Indian criminal procedure, but the military are not trained in this procedure. Sub-part (3) requires that “Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other official authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time of release.” The AFSPA requires less than this since it states that the person should be brought to the nearest police station “with the least possible delay”. Moreover, requiring the person to be handed over to the police station does not assure that they will be brought promptly before a judge.

  Article 26 of the ICCPR, like article 14 of the Indian Constitution guarantees equal protection for all persons before the law. The AFSPA violates this right because the inhabitants of the North East do not have equal protection before the law. They live under a virtual but undeclared state of emergency and are given no remedy for the injustices they suffer at the hands of the military. Inhabitants of the rest of India, with the exception of Punjab and Kashmir are not subject to this law.

  In response the UN Human Rights Committee in 1991, the Attorney General from India did not address the specific points of these various ICCPR articles. He justified the AFSPA under Section 355 of the Indian Constitution which makes it the duty of the Union to protect each state from external aggression. He said the AFSPA was necessary given the context of the North East where there is “infiltration of aliens into the territories mingling with the local public, and encouraging them towards this [secession].” He stated that the ICCPR does not encourage secession and governments are not encouraged to promote it. He said the AFSPA is a “temporary measure”, not addressing the concern of committee members that the AFSPA has proven to be a longterm provision as it has been in force for over thirty years.

• International Customary Law

  The UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the UN Body of Principles for Protection of All Persons Under any form of Detention, and the UN Principles on Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal and summary executions all form part of international customary law because they were passed by UN General Assembly resolutions. They lend further strength to the conclusion that the AFSPA violates basic human rights standards.

  1. The UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials was adopted by the UN General Assembly in resolution 34/169 of 17 December 1979. This code applies to all security forces stationed in the North East since “law enforcement officials” are defined as all those who exercise police powers, and it can include military officers. The first article requires that, “Law enforcement officials shall at all times fulfil the duty imposed upon them by law, by serving the community and by protecting all persons against illegal act, consistent with the high degree of responsibility required by their profession.” A high degree of responsibility is sadly lacking in the troops stationed in the North East. As exemplified by the atrocities noted above, the BSF, CRPF and Assam Rifles are not concerned with the requirements of the law enforcement profession, rather they are operating on a “war footing”.

     The second article of the code requires that, “In the performance of their duty, law enforcement officials shall respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons.” As demonstrated above, multiple provisions of the basic human rights standards in the ICCPR are violated under the AFSPA. The AFSPA encourages the military officers to violate human rights because it allows the armed forces to base arrests, searches and seizures on their subjective suspicion. The armed forces know their actions will not be reviewed and that they will not be held accountable for their actions. They have neither the training nor the incentive to comply with this article of the Code.

     Under Article 3 of the Code, “Law enforcement officials may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty.” The Attorney General of India tried to convince the UN Human Rights Committee that the use of force under the AFSPA is strictly necessary and is “squarely within the requirements of Article 3 [of the Code].” However, this argument ignores the sub-sections of Article 3 which stipulate that “(a) This provision emphasizes that the use of force by law enforcement officials should be exceptional; while it implies that law enforcement officials may be authorized to use force as is reasonably necessary under the circumstances for the prevention of crime or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders, no force going beyond that may be used.” This provision aims at establishing proportionality between the use of force by an officer and the use of force by an offender. Under 4(a) of the AFSPA, the military personnel can use force against people who are not presenting any force. Under 4(c) they can use any amount of force necessary to arrest someone who is suspected of having committed, or being about to commit, an offence. Under 4(d), this same excessive use of force can be justified in entering and searching premises without a warrant.

     Sub-section (c) of the code further clarifies that “in general, firearms should not be used except when a suspected offender offers armed resistance or otherwise jeopardizes the lives of others and less extreme measures are not sufficient to restrain or apprehend the suspected offender.” When armed forces fire upon an unlawful assembly under Section 4(a) they are violating this basic provision. Moreover, the fact that the armed forces have begun firing into crowds and lob mortar shells in the middle of a town in the North East proves they are not interested in “less extreme measures”.

     Under the Code, the armed forces have no grounds on which to justify their broad powers in the North East. Article 5 of the code reads, “No law enforcement official may inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, nor may any law enforcement official invoke superior orders or exceptional circumstances such as state of war or a threat of war, a threat to national security, internal political instability or any other public emergency as a justification of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” (emphasis added) This sweeps aside all the arguments made in the Lok Sabha to justify the original passage of the AFSPA, as well as the Attorney General’s arguments before the UN Committee. Even if the North East is a “disturbed area” there is no justification for the human rights abuses being carried out by the military in the region.

  2. The Body of Principles on Detention or Imprisonment was passed by UN General Assembly resolution no. 43/173, on 9 December 1988. This body of principles applies to all persons under any form of detention. It further strengthens several of the points raised under both Indian and international law.

     Principle 10 states that “Anyone who is arrested shall be informed at the time of his arrest of the reason for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of the charges against him.” The armed forces are not obliged to provide this information under the AFSPA. Moreover, under principle 14, “A person who does not adequately understand or speak the language used by the authorities responsible for his arrest, detention or imprisonment is entitled to receive [information] promptly in a language which he understands”. Since the armed forces stationed in the North East are foreign to the region they are unable to comply with this principle. Under principle 32 the right to habeas corpus must be absolutely guaranteed.

  3. The Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions adopted by Economic and Social Council also offer guidance for the use of force. Principle 3 says, “Governments shall prohibit orders from superior officers or public authorities authorizing or inciting other person to carry out any such extra-legal, arbitrary or summary executions. All persons shall have the right and the duty to defy such orders. Training of law enforcement officials shall emphasize the above provisions.” The armed forces operating in the North East should therefore not follow the excessive power to shoot to kill granted in the AFSPA.

• International Humanitarian Law

  The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 along with the two optional protocols, constitute the body of international humanitarian law. These provisions are suited to human rights protection in times of armed conflict. Under these conventions the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is given access to all international conflicts. In non-international armed conflicts, the ICRC can only offer its services.

  The ICRC’s mandate in the context of non-international armed struggle is based on Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions. However, India has not signed either protocol to the Geneva Conventions. Nevertheless, the ICRC can offer its services in such a conflict based on Article 3, paragraph 2, common to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 (“an impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict”). When the ICRC offers its services in such a situation, a state does not have to accept them, or consider it an interference in its internal affairs. However, “in situations of internal disturbance, the rules of international humanitarian law can only be invoked by analogy.”

  C) COMPARATIVE LAW STANDARDS

  The British armed forces presence in Northern Ireland is an apt comparison to the Indian military presence in the North East. The British carry out arrests under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act or the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act. When detainees were held for seven days without charge the European Court of Human Rights found this to be in violation of the European Human Rights Covenant.

5. CONCLUSIONS

The Supreme Court of India reached a low for its lack of enforcement of fundamental rights in the Jabalpur case of 1975. The country was in a state of emergency and the high courts had concluded that although the executive could restrict certain rights, people could still file habeas corpus claims. The Supreme Court rejected this conclusion and said the high court judges had substituted their suspicion of the executive for “frank and unreserved acception of the proclamation of emergency.” Noted Legal luminary, H M Seervai notes that this shows the lack of judicial detachment. Indeed, it exemplifies a deference to the executive which leaves the people with no enforcement of their constitutional rights. Jabalpur has since been deemed an incorrect decision, but it remains an apt example of the judiciary’s submission to the executive.

The Supreme Court has avoided a Constitutional review for over 9 years, the amount of time the principal case has been pending. The Court is not displaying any judicial activism on this Act. The Lok Sabha in the 1958 debate acknowledged that if the AFSPA were unconstitutional, it would be for the Supreme Court to determine. The deference of the Delhi High Court to the legislature in the Indrajit case also demonstrates a lack of judicial independence.

The Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary was adopted by the seventh UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders and was also adopted by the UN General Assembly. Principle 2 of this document says, “The judiciary shall decide matters before them impartially, on the basis of facts and in accordance with the law, without any restrictions, improper influences, inducements, pressure, threats or interferences, direct or indirect, from any quarter or for any reason.” The Indian judicial system is not subject to direct interference. It seems to function independently, but under the surface it is possible to discern indirect pressure. For example, the practice of appointing retired judges to commissions may well influence judges while they are on the bench. There may not be direct pressure to render decisions favorable to the executive, but certainly a judge who has “towed the government line” is more likely to be appointed by that same government to a position of prominence upon retirement.

Moreover, there is an absence of creative legal thinking. When the Guwahati High Court was presented with international law argument in People’s Union for Democratic Rights, the court ignored it. Justice Raghuvir said in a personal interview that the court could not use international law. If the government has signed an international convention like the ICCPR which requires the government to guarantee rights to its citizens, how can these be enforced if the judiciary does not turn to the text of the convention in its rendering of decisions? The courts are not turning to the spirit of the law which guarantees the fundamental right to life to all people and as a result violations of human rights go unchecked.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence and Impartiality of the Judiciary, Jurors and Assessors and the Independence of Lawyers, Mr Param Cumaraswamy, stated in the 51st Session of the Commission on Human Rights on 10 February 1995, at the United Nations in Geneva that,” The power of judicial review is vital for the protection of the rule of law.” He also quoted from Mr L M Singhvi’s 1985 report that “the strength of legal institutions is a form of insurance for the rule of law and for the observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms and for preventing the denial and miscarriage of justice.”

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

The only way to guarantee that the human rights abuses perpetrated by the armed forces in the North East cease is to both repeal the AFSPA and remove the military from playing a civil role in the area. Indeed with 50% of the military forces in India acting in a domestic role, through internal security duties, there is a serious question as to whether the civil authority’s role is being usurped. As long as the local police are not relied on they will not be able to assume their proper role in law enforcement. The continued presence of the military forces prevents the police force from carrying out its functions. This also perpetuates the justification for the AFSPA.

Among the recommendations made by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, from 1994 was the statement that “Governments which have been maintaining states of emergency in force for many years should lift them, limit their effects or review the custodial measures that affect many persons, and in particular should apply the principle of proportionality rigorously.”

The National Human Rights Commission is now reviewing the AFSPA. Hopefully, the NHRC will find that the AFSPA is unconstitutional and will submit this finding to the Supreme Court to influence its review of the pending cases. However, the NHRC has a very limited role. In past cases, the Supreme Court has not welcomed such intervention by the NHRC. This was evident when the NHRC attempted to intervene in the hearing against the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA).

If the AFSPA is not repealed, it must at a bare minimum comply with international law and Indian law standards. This means the powers to shoot to kill under section 4(a) must be unequivocally revoked. Arrests must be made with warrants and no force should be allowed in the search and seizure procedures. Section 5 should clearly state that persons arrested under the Act are to be handed over to the police within twenty-four hours. Section 6 should be completely repealed so that individuals who suffer abuses at the hands of the security forces may prosecute their abusers.

Moreover, the definition of key phrases, especially “disturbed area” must be clarified. The declaration that an area is disturbed should not be left to the subjective opinion of the Central or State Government. It should have an objective standard which is judicially reviewable. Moreover, the declaration that an area is disturbed should be for a specified amount of time, no longer than six months. Such a declaration should not persist without legislative review.

Armed forces should not be allowed to arrest or carry out any procedure on suspicion alone. All their actions should have an objective basis so that they are judicially reviewable. This will also assist those who file suit against the security forces.

All personnel acting in a law enforcement capacity should be trained according to the UN Code of Conduct for law enforcement personnel. The instructions and training given to the armed forces should be available to the public. Complete transparency should be established so that a public accountability is rendered possible.

Having the armed forces comply with the Indian CrPC would also be a bare minimum. The CrPC itself does not fully comply with international human rights standards, so making the AFSPA comply on its face with the CrPC provisions for the use of minimal force, arrest, search and seizure would only be a rudimentary step in reducing the abuses committed under the AFSPA.

If the Indian Government truly believes that the only way to handle the governance of the North Eastern states is through force, then it must allow the ICRC to intervene. This can only have a calming influence. Acceptance of ICRC services would demonstrate that the fighting parties want to bring an end to the violence. The ICRC’s involvement could help protect the residents of the North East who are currently trapped in the middle between insurgents and the military.

The idea to separate Siberia and annex the territory to the United States of America has been engrossing the minds of Siberian separatists for a long time already. Surprisingly, or maybe not, they find the support from across the ocean.

Many, if not all Siberians, may think at times that the Siberian regions with their natural riches live poorly just because they have to give away a big part of their incomes to other territories of the Russian Federation. It is not a very popular idea in Siberia, of course, but it may visit people’s minds time and again. Some people even tried to put that idea into action: they decided to establish a political movement. The vain attempts did not lead to anything, but quantity may easily evolve into quality, especially if they find powerful forces of support.

A whole movement emerged during the recent population census in the Russian Federation. The movement promotes the idea to identify the nationality of those living in Siberia as the Siberians. A special group appeared on Facebook in the summer of the outgoing year. The members of the group believe that Siberia should become a part of the United States of America. The initiator of the strange movement, Vladimir Kiselyov, a 37-year-old resident of the city of Mezhdurechensk, believes that Siberia must get rid of the Moscow yoke. According to him, Siberia will not be able to become an independent state. The only way for the territory to prosper in the future is to become a part of the US.

“The referendum will be held with the help of the US administration. The US has successful experience in obtaining independence. After the referendum, Siberia will become a part of the territory of the United States, just like California and Alaska are, even though they were Russian colonies in the 19^th century,” Kiselyov said.

You may laugh at it, but the idea finds its followers in the US. US politician Zbigniew Brzezhinski, a well-known politician, put forward an idea during his speech at the Political Forum in Yaroslavl to create a new commonwealth from Vancouver to Vladivostok. The politician did not specify, from which end the movement was supposed to start, but judging upon Brzezhinski’s views, one shall assume that he was interested in the shortest way possible. It appears that America approaches the goal responsibly and begins to train managers to administer the new territories.

The Irkutsk State University has recently held a seminar with the participation of fifth-year students of the US-Siberian Department for Management and “Regionalistic Alternative to Siberia” Public Movement. The future graduates of the US-Siberian Department of the University analyzed the pluses and minuses of the future of the Siberian state, as well as the risks for its creation and existence. First priority was paid to the economic grounds of the state of Siberia,” the final report at the seminar said.

This is not a joke already. It goes about Russian specialists, the future elite of the Russian society, although this society is not actually Russian. It is also very alarming that such seminars are held at a higher educational institution, whose administration does not seem to care much about the propaganda of separatist ideas among its students.

Indian defence saw many new things in 2011: the debut test of the 3,500 km range strategic Agni-IV missile, induction of new naval ships like INS Satpura and Deepak, initial operational clearance for the indigenous fighter Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, and clearance for the setting up of an Officers Training Academy (OTA) at Gaya in Bihar. The Sunday Guardian examines some of the new milestones that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) hopes to achieve in 2012.

MMRCA

Medium multi-role combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF)
The deal for 126 fighters was shortlisted in April 2011, with just two contenders left out of six —French Rafale and European EADS’ Eurofighter Typhoon. The decision on the winner was expected anytime around mid-December, but has been postponed to early 2012. The original deal was for $12 billion, but when the commercial bids were opened on 4 November 2011, the price went up to $15 billion, and is expected to touch $18 billion when the contract is signed. The tenders were floated in 2007, during Air Chief F.H. Major’s tenure. The deal is likely to be inked in 2012 during Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne’s tenure. The aircraft will replace the ageing MiGs. The first 18 will be bought off-the-shelf and the remaining 108 will be made in India, under licence. The first fighter will fly four years after the deal is signed, which is in 2016, approximately 15 years after the statement of case was made by the IAF for the first time.

AGNI-V

Strategic 5,000 km range nuclear-tipped indigenous missile
Buoyed by the success of the two-stage 20-m long Agni-IV, weighing 17 tonnes, carrying 800-kg conventional explosives, the Defence Research and Defence Organisation (DRDO) is all set to test the 5,000-km plus range strategic Agni-V indigenous missile.

Agni -IV is test fired off the Orissa coast in November. PTI

The debut test-launch was slated for 2011, but has been delayed to February 2012. It will put India in an elite club of ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) owners.

The Agni-IV has more than a 3,000 km range and was earlier called Agni-II Prime. The first flight of Agni-II Prime in December 2010 was a failure.

Admiral Gorshkov

Aircraft carrier, rechristened INS Vikramaditya

Indian Navy crew began training in Russia aboard the 44,570 tonne Russian carrier Admiral Gorshkov in April 2011. To be rechristened INS Vikramaditya, the carrier will be inducted in the Indian fleet after she’s commissioned in Russia on 4 December 2012. The deal, when inked in January 2004, was valued at $974 million. A fresh deal was signed with a new price tag of $2.3 billion in early 2010.

The deal will also be remembered for Commodore Sukhjinder Singh, who was dismissed from service in early 2011, after his illegitimate liaison with a Russian woman came to light. He met her during his tenure in Russia to oversee the refit of Gorshkov. An inquiry was held to ascertain whether Singh had in any way influenced the final price. There has been speculation about whether he was honey-trapped.

After the ship is commissioned in Russia in December 2012, she will take a month to reach India. India will now get Gorshkov in 2013, instead of the earlier August 2008. Captain Suraj Berry, posted in Mumbai, is tipped to be the first commissioning Indian Commanding Officer of the carrier.

“The signing rite happened yesterday during a Bolshoi Kamen boat building trickery in a (Far East) Primorye segment where a Nerpa is now based,” a central in a naval arch of staff told ITAR-TASS.

Russian reports pronounced an Indian organisation would journey a Akula II category qualification to a home bottom during a finish of Jan after receiving it on a 10-year franchise that has hurt India’s arch-rival Pakistan and resulted in plea threats.

The qualification is due to strech a Bay of Bengal bottom of Visakhapatnam underneath a Indian dwindle in Feb and be consecrated by a navy in March.

“All of a naval tests and opening checks have been completed,” a Russian central said. “The organisation will start creation themselves feel during home on house a qualification after New Year and start sailing it to India in a latter half of January.”

An unnamed Russian central during a Amur district trickery where a Nerpa was built combined that a “Indian side is entirely confident by a volume and peculiarity of a tests” finished on a Nerpa during sea.

The Nerpa will be a initial nuclear-powered submarine to be operated by India in scarcely dual decades after it decommissioned a final such Soviet-built vessel in 1991.

India is completing a growth of a possess Arihant-classnuclear-powered ballistic submarines and a Nerpa’s smoothness is approaching to assistance crews sight for a domestic boat’s introduction into use subsequent year.

The Russian Pacific pier rite was hold on a same day that a shipyard glow engulfed a Northern Fleet’s Yekaterinburg nuclear-powered vital submarine in a Murmansk segment on a conflicting side of a country.

The Nerpa had primarily been due to be handed over to India in 2009 though gifted several problems during testing. It suffered a fumble during trials in a Sea of Japan in Nov 2008 that killed 20 sailors when a glow extinguisher expelled a lethal chemical that was incidentally installed into a system.

Media reports pronounced that some of a ship’s apparatus malfunctioned during contrast and that a weapons navigation complement did not work to India’s specifications.

The 8,140-ton vessel can glow a operation of torpedoes as good as Granat journey missiles that can be nuclear-tipped. India has betrothed not to arm a submarine with nuclear-tipped journey missiles underneath a obligations to general treaties it adopted after conducting a array of atomic tests in a 1990s.

But a craft’s smoothness has still dissapoint Pakistan.

“Rest assured, there will be no concede in terms of progressing a credit of a deterrence,” Pakistan unfamiliar bureau orator Abdul Basit was quoted as observant by The Asian Age journal this week.

The submarine is due to be consecrated as a INS Chakra in India underneath a2004 agreement that has seen a South Asian hulk compensate $650 million in construction costs.

Newspaper reports in India pronounced New Delhi might finish adult profitable as most as $900 million underneath a terms of a deal. Russia’s RIA Novosti news agencies valued a agreement during $920 million.

Russia reserve 70 percent of India’s troops hardware though New Delhi has been unfortunate about delays to arms orders from Moscow and has looked to other suppliers including Israel and a United States in new years.

According to New START Treaty Aggregate Numbers of Strategic Offensive Arms facts sheet, posted on the State Department’s website, the United States has 822 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers, while Russia has 516.

Russia is also at a disadvantage in the number of warheads on deployed carriers – 1,566 warheads against 1,790 American warheads.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which entered into force on February 5, 2011, commits the United States and the Russian Federation to reduce and limit the number of deployed and non-deployed strategic offensive arms to the agreed aggregate numbers.

Beginning April 6, 2011, inspections under the New START Treaty are regularly conducted in the Russian Federation and the United States with consistent data exchange carried out every six months.

To date, the U.S. has conducted twelve inspections while Russia has conducted eleven inspections. These inspections have taken place at ICBM, SLBM, and heavy bomber bases, storage facilities, conversion or elimination facilities, and test ranges.

The T-50 fifth-generation fighter

“It will fly when the designers are absolutely confident in their product,” the source said.

The assembly of the fourth fighter is “in the final stages of completion,” he added.

The T-50 made its maiden flight in January and two prototypes have since been undergoing flight tests.

The T-50, developed under the program PAK FA (Future Aviation System for Tactical Air Force) at the Sukhoi OKB, is Russia’s first new major warplane designed since the fall of the Soviet Union.

It is expected to enter service in 2016.

If there’s one issue that still enjoys bipartisan support in the US Congress these days, it’s that co-operating with India on military acquisitions would be a swell idea. The Pentagon notified the US Congress on Thursday about India’s planned purchase under a government-to-government foreign military sales (FMS) arrangement.

Analysts expect the proposed sale to be green lighted by December. Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne has indicated that he expects a formal agreement with the US by January 2012.

“This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the US by helping to improve the security of an important partner and to strengthen the US-India strategic relationship,” the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a notification to the Congress.

The proposed sale is expected to provide India with a “credible special operations airlift capability that will help deter aggression in the region” and provide enhanced humanitarian assistance and disaster relief support.

The C-130 has been in continuous production since 1954 and more than 2,300 Hercules have been built for 67 countries. The improvements built into the C-130J, which entered production in 1997, have enhanced the performance of the plane in terms of its range, cruise ceiling time to climb, speed and airfield requirements.

This deal is estimated at roughly $1.2 billion, covering six aircraft with six spare engines, eight AN/AAR-47 missile warning systems, eight AN/ALR-56M advanced radar warning receivers, eight AN/ALE-47 counter-measures dispensing systems (two of them spares), eight AAQ-22 Star SAFIRE III special operations suites, eight ARC-210 radios and 3,200 flare cartridges.

India’s first six Hercules airlifters were acquired for $1.1 billion with a big training and support package with abundant spares and special equipment.

New Delhi is aware that many of its purchases are big-ticket items. Under current Indian rules, foreign companies that win orders in excess of about $62 million, must draw at least 30 percent of that order from domestic suppliers or make a similarly sized investment within India, in what is known as an offset. Under that agreement, Lockheed Martin set up an advanced simulator at IAF’s Hindon airbase where the first batch of C-130J Super Hercules airlifters is located.

The second batch of planes would be based out of Charbatia in Orissa to serve the country’s northeastern region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which have been buzzing with military activity as India bolsters its maritime defences. The cluster of 572 islands lies just 175 miles south of mainland Myanmar, a close ally of China.

A recent Congressional Research Service report found that India was the biggest buyer of conventional arms among developing nations in 2010 and had global defence giants lining up to capture $5.8 billion in new deals. As China grows wealthier and builds up its military, other nations in the region like India really don’t have a choice but to amass weapons of their own.

India had long focussed its military planning on Pakistan, and Pakistan-based militants, but it is now growing more worried about feuding with China over the border they share in the Himalayas, where China continues to claim land in Arunachal Pradesh.

India’s defence budget, which is roughly $32 billion for the year ending 31 March, has increased 151 percent  in the past decade. Given the hostile neighborhood that India is wedged in, the government expects military spending to grow at about 8.33 percent annually in the coming years.

New Delhi also conveyed its appreciation to Japan for its decision to remove seven Indian entities from a banned list, paving the way for bilateral high-technology trade.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba held comprehensive talks here after which Mr. Krishna said, “My aim…is to take our partnership to an even higher level.”

“I also discussed with Foreign Minister Gemba the status of civil nuclear cooperation between our countries…We have had three rounds of negotiations on this subject. After my discussions today, I am optimistic on this score,” he said.

Noting that Japan has removed seven Indian entities from its Foreign End User List this year, Mr. Krishna said this would boost high-technology trade between the two countries.

“One of the entities removed from this List is Indian Rare Earths Limited. We now look forward to greater cooperation between Indian and Japanese firms in the rare earth sector,” he said.

Thanking the Japanese government for its consistent support to India’s developmental effort by means of its ODA or Official Development Assistance, Mr. Krishna said: “This year, Japan has maintained the level of ODA for India despite its focus on reconstruction activity after the earthquake and tsunami.

“This is a strong vote of confidence in India’s growth story and exhibits the importance Japan attaches to our Strategic Partnership.”

After the successful joint cooperation in establishing the metro rail network, Japan has also proposed to help India in bringing high-speed bullet trains to the country.

Mr. Gemba said Japanese companies were “very keen” on offering support for bullet trains and open to joint ventures with the Indian government or companies in implementing the project.

He said they were ready with their study report regarding bullet train projects on the Delhi, Agra, Bangalore, Chennai route and the Bangalore-Hyderabad route.

He said the freight corridor project between Delhi and Mumbai and the high-speed bullet train network are on Japan’s immediate support list to India.

The Japanese Foreign Minister also emphasised the need to strengthen maritime security and combating piracy.

Mr. Krishna said 2012 will mark the 60th anniversary year of the establishment of India-Japan diplomatic relations and the two sides also discussed how to celebrate the “momentous occasion.”

He also suggested to the Japanese side the possibility of the navies of India and Japan conducting bilateral exercises besides multilateral ones.

“Our Defence Minister will be in Tokyo in a few days and will discuss this subject in greater detail with his counterpart,” Mr. Krishna said.

“We also discussed the India-Japan-United States trilateral dialogue. We agreed that it will be held very soon. It will cover regional and international issues of concern to all three countries,” he said.

Mr. Krishna also expressed confidence that trade and investment between the two countries would increase exponentially as a result of the implementation of the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) since August 1 this year.
“India, a great friend”

Later, in an unusual gesture of warmth, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda received Mr. Krishna at his residence and termed India “a great friend” of Japan.

He said he was looking forward to his visit to Delhi in December and spoke in favour of further encouraging economic ties. “I am confident of further increase in trade and investment between the two countries,” the Prime Minister said.

Speaking on the occasion Lt Gen KJS Oberoi, commandant of Infantry School stressed on the tradition of Infantry soldiers to get associated with humanitarian relief in natural calamities and shouldering additional responsibilities in peace keeping mission to bring global peace on behalf of the United Nations.

Infantry operates in all types of terrain be it air, land, water, mountains, glaciated super high altitude area, desert, riverine etc. It is this trait which has earned it the coveted of ‘Queen of the Battle’, he said.

Everyone’s story begins at birth. One does not have the wherewithal then to determine, change or influence the date of birth. In the case of General Singh, the Army Hospital records show his date of birth as the year 1951. It is certain that since his father was in the army, Part II of the Army Orders issued then, would have also shown the year as 1951.

The next landmark of any Bharatvasi, as far as age is concerned, is the school leaving certificate. For most of those born before the 1970s, many at home, a birth certificate was an unknown document and the school certificate became the most important document for date of birth. The General’s school certificate shows 1951.

It is now that the documentus villainous enters the picture – the UPSC form for entry to the NDA. This shows 1950! One must note that an NDA application is hardly ever filled by the applicant who is about 15-16 then.

Usually a parent, a relative and in the case of those who went to Sainik/Public Schools and the like, it could have been the teacher or school staff.

What is intriguing is that this document surfaces only around 2005-06, 40 years later! One must also note that it is easy to alter a 1 into a 0 but not the other way round. This document needs some deep forensic study.

Notwithstanding the NDA application form, the AG’s branch in AHQ, the official record-keeper of the Army, has recorded the year as 1951. All his promotions to starred ranks, issued by the MS branch, show 1951 as the year. Now from where, why and on whose behest did the same MS branch after 2005, suddenly come up with 1950?

Only the NDA UPSC form shows 1950. Who was so interested in digging it up and why? Now, which is more authentic – a hospital record, a school certificate (none of which have been created by the General) or a form? The rule that changes must be made within two years is not applicable.

Confirming this, Russian Navy chief Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky has been quoted as holding that “the Indian crew is now absolutely prepared for operating the submarine”, which will be on a 10-year lease.

Over 50 Indian officers and sailors have undergone extensive training on the Nerpa, followed by testing and acceptance trials of the submarine spread over several weeks, as earlier reported by TOI.

The lease flows from an agreement inked between New Delhi and Moscowin January 2004, with India funding part of Nerpa’s construction at Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard in Russia with an initial $650 million.

Nerpa was slated for induction much earlier but technical glitches delayed the process, which included a toxic gas leak in November 2008 that killed 20 Russian sailors.

Incidentally, the `Charlie-I’ class nuclear submarine India had leased from Russia from 1988 to 1991 was also named INS Chakra but the expertise gained on it was steadily lost since Indian Navy did not operate any other nuclear submarine thereafter.

Though not armed with long-range nuclear-tipped missiles due to international treaties like the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Nerpa will bridge the gap now. It will help train Indian sailors in the complex art of operating nuclear submarines, which will be useful when India’s own nuclear submarine, the over 6,000-tonne INS Arihant, becomes operational next year. Armed with torpedoes and 300-km Klub-S cruise missiles, Nerpa of course will also be a lethal hunter of enemy submarines and warships.

Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma had earlier announced India’s nuclear weapon triad will be completed, with the most effective and difficult-to-detect underwater leg, when INS Arihant goes on “deterrent patrols” in 2012.

The triad’s land and air legs are already in place with the Agni family of road and rail-mobile ballistic missiles as well as fighter jets like Mirage-2000s and Sukhoi-30MKIs jury-rigged to deliver nuclear weapons.

INS Arihant and its already-approved two follow-on submarines are crucial to India’s nuclear deterrence doctrine, which revolves around a clear “no-first use” policy. A robust and survivable second-strike capability is hugely dependent on having nuclear-powered submarines, armed with SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles), which can operate silently underwater for several months at a time.

Oxfam and Action Aid said many Afghan women were worried that improvements could be sacrificed to secure a political deal with the Taliban.

Women and girls in Afghanistan continue to face enormous challenges, and we recognise that there is still a lot to do. ” – Andrew Mitchell International Development Secretary

An Action Aid survey of 1,000 Afghan women found that 86% were worried about a return to a Taliban-style government.

The UK government said it was working hard to support Afghan women’s empowerment “through transition”.

Felt safer

Action Aid said many women were still denied basic rights.

The charity found that 72% of those surveyed felt that things had improved for them since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001.

But 37% feared their country would become a worse place following the departure of international troops.

Two-thirds of Afghan women said they felt safer now than they did 10 years ago.

Action Aid said that under Taliban rule women and girls had not been allowed to go to work or school, access to healthcare had been difficult and they had not been able to leave their houses without a male relative.

The charity said progress had been made in the past decade but added that there was still a lot more to be done to improve women’s lives.

An Action Aid report said: “Women are free to be educated and to work. They serve as government ministers and MPs and work as doctors, teachers, professors, entrepreneurs and lawyers.

“These are significant achievements. However, huge challenges remain, with many women still denied basic rights.

“Action Aid believes that including women in the peace, reconciliation and transition processes is the best means of safeguarding and furthering women’s hard-won civil freedoms and human rights.”

The survey commissioned by Action Aid polled women in the provinces of Kabul, Balkh, Kandahar, Herat and Bamiyan.

BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said that 10 years ago, improving the rights of women in Afghanistan was seen as one of the goals of outside intervention.

‘Encouraging results’

Oxfam and Action Aid said there had been real progress in girls’ education and with better health care, more women in work and a new constitution that enshrined equal rights for women.

But the charities warned that these fragile advances were already under threat from worsening security in Afghanistan and a resurgent Taliban.

Both organisations are using the 10-year anniversary to appeal to the British government to make sure that women’s rights do not end up traded away in any future peace deal with the Taliban.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said the survey results were “hugely encouraging”.

“However, women and girls in Afghanistan continue to face enormous challenges, and we recognise that there is still a lot to do.

“That is why the British government is working hard to support Afghan women’s empowerment as we move through transition and beyond, focusing on areas where we can influence change such as education, economic opportunities, women’s participation in public life and rights, justice and the rule of law.”

India had in 2008 signed a deal with Russia to induct 80 Mi-17 V5 helicopters for strengthening its chopper fleet for humanitarian and disaster relief missions and transport operations. “We are going to induct the first batch of Mi-17 V5s from Russia by the second week of the month, and by March next year we will have 26 of them,” an IAF official said.

They said one of the first few helicopters would be sent to the northeast sector and will be deployed at the Bagdogra air base under the 156 helicopter unit.

The compliment of all 80 helicopters is likely to be inducted by late 2013 or early 2014, IAF sources said. The IAF is also looking to induct another 59 such choppers to replace the older Mi-17 variants and the Mi-8 choppers.

The IAF has plans of procuring over 230 helicopters.

“The 21 Strike Corps under the Southern Command will hold its routine exercise in the western deserts in Pokharan in November-December time-frame,” Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted army officials as saying here.

The exercise will be part of the Army’s routine wargames under which it validates and fine-tunes its war-fighting concepts and doctrines.

During the exercise, the Army troops will also practice joint operations, with the Indian Air Force fighters and transport aircraft also taking part in the wargames to showcase their fire power.

“The exercise will involve precision munition and advance surveillance systems to achieve a greater degree of network centric capability,” they said.

After its experience in ‘Operation Parakram’, the Indian Army has been practising manoeuvres to reduce the time taken to mobilise its troops to attack enemy formations swiftly.

The wargames come soon after the army successfully carried out two exercises in the summer. Exercise ‘Vijayee Bhava’ involving the 2 Strike Corps was carried out in the

Mahajan ranges in Rajasthan whereas ‘Pine Prahar’ was held in the plains of Punjab by the Jalandhar-based 11 Vajra Corps.

Top industrialists have expressed concerns over the impact that worsening corruption has on their businesses and said there is no short-cut to becoming a billion-dollar company other than doing things the right way.

“I think corruption has become worse and if you choose not to participate in this, you leave behind a fair amount of business,” Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata said at an event on ‘Higher Ambition/How Great Leaders Create Economic and Social Value’, organised by Harvard Business School here on Tuesday.

Tata said that unlike in 1991, corruption is now not only seen in the grant of licence approvals, but also in the award of contracts and in changing the terms of contractual obligations.

“You have a non-level playing field and those who do not participate in this (paying bribes) live at a disadvantage. A large part of the business community is cautious,” Tata said.

“You often have young employees who ask me, ‘Why don’t you just do it (give bribe)’, but my reply to that is I would rather like to hold my head high,” Tata remarked.

“What’s happening at the Ramlila Ground signals a great shift of people wanting accountability and not just from politicians, but also from businesses,” said Mahindra & Mahindra Vice Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra.

“There is a much greater demand for accountability. You would not be able to deliver value unless you recognise this change in consumers, who are not going to buy brands that do not signify fairness and shared values,” Mahindra said.

“One can bribe their way to make a $10 million company, but if you want to make a $1 billion company, there is no other way but to do business the right way,” the founder of Infosys, N R Narayana Murthy, said at the event.

Businessmen remaining silent on corruption is also very unfair, Murthy said.

Replying to a query on why businessmen are not entering politics, Murthy said, “It is important to give an opportunity to young people. I want youngsters to join politics and we can support them.”

The PLA has replaced liquid-fuelled, nuclear-capable CSS-2 IRBMs with more advanced and survivable solid-fuelled CSS-5 MRBM systems to strengthen its deterrent posture relative to India, the Pentagon has said in its annual report on Chinese military build up to the Congress.

The report also says that Beijing is pumping in huge investments on border infrastructure developments laying more roads and rail network along the Sino-Indian border.

“Although this construction is primarily aimed at facilitating economic development in western China, improved roads could also support PLA border defense operations,” it said.

Pentagon said that New Delhi remains concerned by China’s close military ties with Pakistan and its growing footprints in the Indian Ocean, Central Asia and Africa. The report noted that Pakistan continued to be China’s primary customer for conventional weapons and sales to Islamabad included newly rolled out JF-17 fighters with production facilities, F-22P frigates with helicopters, early warning and control aircraft, tanks, K-8 trainers, F-7 fighters, air-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles and missile technologies.

On Sino-Indian ties, Pentagon said, that though bilateral dialogue between the two nations increased, border tensions remained an irritant.

“China deepened its ties with India through increased trade and high-level dialogues in 2010, though border tensions remained an irritant in the bilateral relationship. Bilateral trade in 2010 reached nearly USD 60 billion,” Pentagon said.

The two neighbours have held several rounds of dialogue over disputed territorial claims. Sino-Indian defense ties were institutionalised in 2007 with the establishment of an Annual Defense Dialogue, the report said.

“Though India cancelled high-level military exchanges following China’s denial of visa to a senior Indian general in 2010, both sides agreed to resume exchanges in April 2011,” the Pentagon said.

The US Defence Department in its assessment said that Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s trip to New Delhi in 2010 attempted to smooth over differences following a year of uneasy relations, but he did not address serious irritants.

“A high degree of mistrust continues to strain the bilateral relationship,” it said.

India’s defence establishment is taking this new threat seriously, as also that posed by Pakistan’s nuclear-tipped MRBMs — like the Ghauri-2 and the Shaheen-2 — which can strike targets 2300 kilometres away. In an exclusive interview with Business Standard, the Defence R & D Organisation’s chief missile scientist has announced that, within three years, India will have a fully deployed missile-defence shield to safeguard a city like New Delhi from missile-borne nuclear attack.

Termed an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) shield, this complex system has been in the making since 1996. The DRDO is satisfied with the system’s ability to detect and track an incoming missile, and then launch an interceptor missile to destroy it while it is still in space (exo-atmospheric interception). If that misses, there is a second interceptor that homes in on the enemy missile while it is in the upper atmosphere (endo-atmospheric interception). In internationally watched tests, these interceptors have been tested thrice each.

But only now has the DRDO announced that a fully integrated ABM system is close to deployment. Says Dr Avinash Chander, the DRDO’s Chief Controller for Missiles and Strategic Systems; “We can deploy an effective ABM system for a single city within 3 years from now. We can definitely ensure the safety of one city in that time frame. After that, the [ABM shield for] other cities will follow.&”

Chander will not confirm that Delhi will receive India’s first ABM shield but, given Delhi’s vulnerability to MRBMs from Pakistan and China, and its status as the capital city, experts predict that it will almost certainly be the first city to be safeguarded.

“We are planning more ABM trials in a month or two. Both exo and endo-atmospheric interceptors are doing well in development. We already have a demonstrated capability against enemy missiles that are fired from up to 2000 kilometres away. After some more trials we will be going into deployment mode. The ground systems and the missiles are going to be available… there is no issue,&” says Chander.

The sophistication of an ABM system depends upon the range of the incoming enemy missile. The longer the range of the incoming missile, the faster it travels and the more difficult it is to it detect and shoot it down. The missiles that currently target India — the Shaheen; the Ghauri; and the Dongfeng-21 — can all be successfully intercepted, says the DRDO.

“Pakistan can only target India with missiles that have ranges of less than 3000 kilometers, otherwise the missile will overshoot India. Our ABM system will be capable of detecting and shooting down incoming missiles from those ranges,&” says Chander.

However China, with its arsenal of longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and the geographical space to launch missiles from thousands of kilometres away, is capable of defeating India’s ABM system in its current form. The DRDO says that it will gradually enhance the ABM system to enable the interception of longer-range missiles.

For now, deployment is on track, says the DRDO’s missile chief. The radar network that is needed to detect an incoming enemy missile is already being sited. This includes a Long Range Tracking Radar (LRTR), which Bangalore-based Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) has developed in collaboration with Israeli company, ELTA. The LRTR picks up incoming missiles at ranges out to 300 kilometres.

The ABM system also has a “guidance radar&”, which tracks the incoming missile in its terminal phase and guides the interceptor missile onto the target. The DRDO developed the guidance radar in collaboration with French company, Thales. In addition, ABM systems also use satellite-based detection systems to detect enemy missile launches.

ABM systems are controversial; strategists argue that they destabilise a nuclear balance, incentivising the production of more nuclear weapons to defeat an enemy’s ABM shield. Indeed, Pakistan now has the world’s fastest growing nuclear arsenal after it aggressively expanded its Khushab reactor complex to produce more plutonium for bombs.

An investment of about Rs. 4900 crore has been received as FDI equity inflows in the renewable energy sector during the last three years and the current year, he said in the Lok Sabha on Monday

The Minister said that FDI up to 100% under the automatic route is permitted in Renewable Energy Generation and Distribution projects subject to the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003.

He said, besides existing policy enablers under the Electricity Act, other key initiatives taken in the recent past to attract foreign private investments including from foreign countries in the Renewable Energy  sector, include introduction of Generation Based Incentives scheme for wind power to promote projects under IPP mode, launch of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission with 22,000 MW target for solar power by 2022, Payment Security Mechanism for Grid Connected Solar Power Projects under the Mission, Launch of Renewable Energy Certificate mechanism and Amendment in National Tariff Policy to enable Solar specific RPO.

Meanwhile, Iran is already dictating Iraq’s foreign policy. While much of the world, including Arab states, has condemned Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is following Iran’s lead and supporting Assad. Iraq has called for Syria to “reach a dialogue with the opposition,” urging the “armed gangs” not to “sabotage” the state.

“Mr. Maliki’s support for Mr. Assad has illustrated how much Iraq’s position in the Middle East has shifted toward an axis led by Iran,” writes the New York Times.

The Iranian-backed militias have the ability to cause serious problems for Iraq if it doesn’t toe the line. They are smuggling in Iranian-made weapons, some of which were manufactured just last year.

Buchanan said there is “a significant increase in support” from Iran’s Quds force, the elite unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

“The Quds force is providing direct support (to the militias) in terms of manning, equipping, provision of intelligence,” he said. “They have been at least exhibiting the behavior that lines up with a strategy that wants to keep Iraq weak and isolated from everybody else, all of its neighbors and the United States. And so they’ve been employing political means, economic means, security means in the way that these militant groups operate.”

Iran’s pushy tactics are alienating Iraq’s Sunni population, who sympathize with the Sunni rebels in Syria. Last month, Iran signed a contract with Iraq to build a 1,500-mile pipeline across Iraq to Syria. Representatives of Sunni Iraqis who live in the areas that the pipeline will cross have said they will sabotage it. “Such terror attacks, Iraq fears, are likely to cause Iran to demand placing its own security forces there and thus make an Iranian military presence in Iraq a fact on the ground,” writes Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

No wonder Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said this week that “The occupation of Iraq by the U.S. did only good things for Iran. Iran became more influential than it ever dreamed.”

This what the Trumpet has been saying for years. As America prepares to pull out of Iraq at the end of the year, watch for Iran to continue to take over.

The Bushehr nuclear power plant is currently nearing its pre- operation phase which means that initial tests for its reactor and turbine are in the final stages, Abbasi was quoted as saying.

He said that the steam which had already been produced in the plant is currently injected to the turbine and electricity is generated which is tentatively and in intervals connected to the electricity grid for the tests required.

Abbasi said Sunday that the first phase of Bushehr nuclear power plant will be commissioned by the end of August if the tests underway are completed.

If the tests are completed, the first stage of the Bushehr nuclear power plant will surely become operational by the end of Ramadan (August), said Abbasi.

He added that the nuclear power plant will join the national grid at the first phase and can consequently generate 40 percent of its total power generation.

Construction of the Bushehr plant began in 1975 by several German companies. However, work was halted when the United States imposed an embargo of hi-tech supplies on Iran after the 1979 revolution. Russia signed a contract with Iran to complete the construction in 1998.

Completion of the plant’s construction has been postponed several times due to technical and financial challenges and pressure from the United States. – NNI

TEHRAN: Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereidoon Abbasi said Wednesday his country is planning for the official inauguration of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran in mid-November or in December, the local satellite Pess TV reported.

The Bushehr nuclear power plant is currently nearing its pre- operation phase which means that initial tests for its reactor and turbine are in the final stages, Abbasi was quoted as saying.

He said that the steam which had already been produced in the plant is currently injected to the turbine and electricity is generated which is tentatively and in intervals connected to the electricity grid for the tests required.

Abbasi said Sunday that the first phase of Bushehr nuclear power plant will be commissioned by the end of August if the tests underway are completed.

If the tests are completed, the first stage of the Bushehr nuclear power plant will surely become operational by the end of Ramadan (August), said Abbasi.

He added that the nuclear power plant will join the national grid at the first phase and can consequently generate 40 percent of its total power generation.

Construction of the Bushehr plant began in 1975 by several German companies. However, work was halted when the United States imposed an embargo of hi-tech supplies on Iran after the 1979 revolution. Russia signed a contract with Iran to complete the construction in 1998.

Completion of the plant’s construction has been postponed several times due to technical and financial challenges and pressure from the United States. – NNI

Salehi made the remarks during his Moscow meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss Russia’s proposal for a “step-by-step” plan that rewards Tehran for greater transparency with a gradual easing of UN sanctions.

“If one is starting on a long journey, one has to take the first step,” AFP quoted Salehi as saying, adding that “the Russian proposal has good elements, and we will study all the details of this proposal. It is positive.”

Salehi’s statement came a day after Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said Russia’s proposal was a basis for discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, adding that “the proposal by our Russian friends can be a basis to start negotiations for regional and international cooperation, specifically in the field of peaceful nuclear activities,” The New York Times reported.

Shi Yinhong, director of the Center on American Studies at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times that the Russian proposal would help revive talks on Iran’s nuclear program, but would not resolve the nuclear issue.

Iran insists that all its nuclear activities are peaceful, while the West accuses Iran of not being fully forthcoming about its nuclear aims. 

Shi said that while the stances of both sides will not change, a “step-by-step” plan could give the required push to negotiations.

Previous attempts by Russia to mediate between its traditional Middle East partner and the West have been viewed with suspicion by the US administration, and Washington has thus far taken a wait-and-see approach to the latest bid.

Russia’s foreign policy toward Iran has changed since last year, as Moscow wants to improve its economic ties with the West, Shi said.

The idea has been agreed by other major Western powers and “has received their supports,” an unidentified Russian diplomat told AFP.

However, US officials think that “Lavrov’s plan is unlikely to succeed” and would much prefer to put additional pressure on Iran through stronger sanctions, he added.

In an overworked, often-maligned but still impossibly glamorous force, he is at the top and – after the horrifying attacks of November 2008 – is the cynosure of all eyes. Yet the Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Rakesh Maria is a private man in an extremely public role. The officer speaks to Shraddha Jahagirdar-Saxena about its effects on his life, his commitment to the job, and his role in keeping the city he loves safe.

Terror attacks and bomb blasts. Undercover agents and secret informants. Bulletproof jackets and AK-47s. 9/11 and 26/11. Nabbed suspects and solved cases. Fact or fiction? Real or reel? All these and more are the stuff that Bond movies, detective novels and Hindi films are often made of. Yet, with nail-biting action and bullet-riddled encounters, they are willy-nilly also the elements that make up the life of the many who work 24/7 so that we can live and sleep safely. Closer home, in Mumbai, the task of assuring immunity from terror attacks is in the hands of the Anti-Terrorism Squad. In April this year, this squad was entrusted into the able hands of 52-year-old Rakesh Maria who was promoted to the rank of Additional Director General of police and made the Chief of the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS).

To try and pin him down for an exclusive session for Verve, I make my first trek to his eminently-missable Byculla office and go through the routine checks with equanimity. A flight of wooden steps up and I am on a verandah where an armed cop keeps vigil amidst a few potted plants. A plainclothes officer peers out through a room, in between monitoring his console. A very short wait outside Maria’s cabin, and then I am ushered in by his assistant. About a dozen chairs are lined like sentinels opposite his huge desk. The niceties over, after some initial reluctance, he agrees to speak and shoot on another day. Two appointments are fixed – both cancelled as some last-minute urgent assignment that crops up in his schedule eats into my allotted time. Finally, on a Saturday, I am headed first to his home on an off-shoot of Napean Sea Road and then to his office, where the top cop will later delve into the memories that make up his life.

As we walk into his apartment, it is a few minutes before Maria appears. His wife, Preeti and sons, Kunal and Krish, express immediate surprise that the officer has agreed to do this! Talking about life with their father, they comment that they have got used to living with a top cop and Preeti says, “He tries to switch off before walking in through our door. But from his face I can read how the day has gone. Luckily he is one person at work, another at home.” Yet life with a cop has touched them, as Kunal, who is studying law at Government Law College, admits, “The psyche of terrorists fascinated me. For a while I thought of following Dad into the profession but then the idea fizzled out.”

As I wonder aloud if it was seeing the pressure of their father’s life that turned him off, Maria interrupts with a smile, “Don’t start them on that trip.” I turn around to find that he has entered the room, clad casually in a Tee and trousers – he walks softly for his six-foot-plus build. Game for the shoot first, Preeti dishes up slices of mangoes with cups of chai as the Maria boys settle down comfortably around the table. The shots over, with a quiet swiftness, Maria leaves for office, having changed into a more formal garb – “He will never be seen at work in a Tee,” interjects his wife. We quickly follow suit…and soon I find myself back in a familiar zone.

Walking up the steps to his first-floor office, I see a board on which his name is painted – just a little above is one more familiar name, that of Hemant Karkare, the ATS chief who died on 26/11. Naturally, as I sit on the middle chair in the first row, the conversation kick-starts from that crucial night, for even though Maria has been instrumental in cracking other crucial cases – the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar blasts case, the 1993 serial blasts – 26/11 was a watershed day.

Rewinding to those traumatic nights, Maria says softly, “The training and outlook of the police changed after 26/11. One was used to bomb blasts, in a taxi or a cab at iconic locations, transport systems, but an incident like that, not at all. The conspiracy was hatched abroad, the terrorists were trained, equipped and launched abroad and the plan was only executed here. The sheer ingenuity of the operation left everyone stunned. I remember how after 9/11 in America, the commission set up asked if it was an intelligence failure. They said it was a failure of imagination. Here for us also it was the same. I don’t think even films had ever depicted something like that.”

As cops and citizens perished on the roads of Mumbai on a night that no one will ever forget, many questions were raised. One that referred directly to the present ATS chief was ‘Where was he that night?’ Unhesitatingly, Maria replies, “I had come to the crime branch to rush with my boys to the Taj. But the Commissioner of Police asked me to go to the control room and take charge there. I was there right through the period. My son was taking a bus from Sion to go to Ahmednagar. When my wife spoke to me soon after the trauma started – it was the last conversation I had with her for 24 hours – she asked me if Kunal should travel or return home. At the back of my mind, like any father, I thought God forbid if this whole city is finished, we are all finished then there is someone in the family who will be safe. After that I did not speak to my wife at all.”

The scars of that night have remained – as they have on all of us – on his sons and wife. As his attendant brings in a tray with tea on it, Maria continues, “Krish often phones me up in the office just like that. I know, even though he will not tell me, that he wants to assure himself that his dad is safe. Even my wife, after I have left home, around the time that she expects me to have reached office, calls me up. It is to find out if I have reached safely. The safety factor does bother them. Repeatedly information comes in that you are on the hit list of so-and-so gang or terror group but as I told I am not afraid of being on the hit list. The only thing that frightens me is the failure of not performing.”

Maria himself brushes the fear fixation aside; it’s something that does not bother him. “In the late ’70s and early ’80s, the police had an aura about them,” he remembers. “It was only later on when terrorism increased and organised crime raised its head and became powerful, the police force began to experience greater levels of danger. The serial blasts saw the fear factor emerge. But, our training helps, the force is there. And I am sure that this also will pass.”

The tray of tea has been completely forgotten as our conversation delves into the mind of an officer who is the man who has to ensure that Mumbai remains safe and terror-free. He is aware of the huge burden that he shoulders, for he says, “It is the responsibility that is frightening. People expect a lot from us and that is evident from the messages one gets, the letters that are sent to us and the people who meet us every day. Everyone feels we must deliver and deliver fast. I am not afraid of the terrorists. I am not afraid of the underworld. But my biggest fear is the fear of not delivering.”

It’s not an easy job especially in these tough times. The man in the hot seat states, “The force looks up to you. You have to constantly motivate your men, inspire them to action and finally have to lead by example. That itself is a challenge. Performing all the time, not letting the people down, not letting the department down, not letting your bosses down; that I feel is the biggest stress of all. And given the nature of the department, at the ATS we have to collect intelligence to prevent an attack not just cope with one. In short, we are constantly trying to remain one step ahead of the terrorist. For this we need a very elaborate and good informant network system. And in the eventuality of an attack taking place, one is required to nab the terrorists as soon as possible. No time can be lost.”

It is said that the character of Ajay Lal in Suketu Mehta’s novel Maximum City was inspired by Maria and in the movie Black Friday, actor Kay Kay Menon plays a role based on him. An IPS graduate from the batch of 1981, Maria interestingly hails from a film family that has their own production house Kala Niketan and has grown up on a diet of films. “Thanks largely to what the film industry portrays, everyone thinks that third degree is the only way interrogations take place. This is absolutely off the mark. Just beating and torture does not get you answers or answers that will stand up. The terrorist today is completely indoctrinated. One needs to understand his or her psychology, break his or her mind to get information from him or her. Apart from this there are lawyers, courts, NGOs and strict laws in place. So, the general perception that a criminal breaks down after a beating, is not true. We use a lot of mental games when we interrogate the accused. I often step in and do it myself. Kasab was interrogated by me for the first time on the 27th at around four or five a.m.”

That night is just one example of the round-the-clock commitment that his work entails. And it is the sign of the changing times that “you cannot afford to relax for a bit with all that is happening, not just in the city but in the whole world. There is simply no time. Maybe God has willed that this lifetime of mine is not to be spent with family but focussing on my career and job. Every night I leave office at 11.00 or 11. 30 p.m. Till two or three in the morning, the telephone calls continue – informants phone in, operations are on. And the first call comes from the control room at 7.30 a.m. My wife Preeti has stoically accepted it. She takes all the decisions and informs me at night. Luckily, when there are holidays and the kids can afford to stay up, I call them into the room when I return and we sit up and chat.”

While we were at their home, I heard Maria telling his wife that he cannot make it for a wedding at night, just one of the many family occasions that he has missed out on. Maria says, “Kunal was four when the serial blasts took place. From that time, life changed. And all of a sudden, he passed out from school and I didn’t even realise where time had gone. I should have gone to his football or basketball games but could not. These are things which don’t come back and even if you have photographs, it is not the same thing. Now being Joint Commissioner of Police Crime and Additional Director-General, ATS, with my younger son, I think life is going back to ’93. I am missing out on the same things again. Kunal understands, but Krish still throws tantrums. I had promised to attend his finals of an under-14 cricket tourney, but on that day we received an important intelligence input that needed to be worked on. At night, when I returned home, he refused to speak to me till Kunal reasoned with him. And, I had to apologise. I have also told the family not to expect me to take any holidays or spend time with them throughout the year. But at the end of the year in December I take ten days leave and am at their beck and call. I still feel that it is not enough. There are so many things I would love to do with the family. Just playing basketball, cricket or football outdoors with the boys is so relaxing but they are growing. Soon they will be leaving home, getting married and that is the time that it is going to hit me the most. That I did not enjoy their company when they were at home.”

This is the life that Maria has chosen for himself, having dreamt of joining the force right from the time he was a kid. He smilingly admits, “I always wanted to join the uniformed service. I was infatuated by the uniform, its dignity and the discipline. When I look back I remember that I was class monitor right from the second or third standard, ultimately becoming head boy of my school. Even the teachers and principal knew that if the class had to be controlled I was the one who could do it and I would be be invariably picked up. Maybe from childhood policing was there in my nature. Later, I knew that for me it was very specific. It was either IPS or nothing else.”

All things taken into account, the journey so far has been satisfying. Cases have dotted his career and given him the satisfaction he seeks. “I find it all very thrilling. You get a case; you get a lead and work on it. Often the chase is there and the thing develops. You plan out operations, arrest someone and a big group is neutralised. That gives me a high. It is also extremely satisfying that one can help so many people. In the Neeraj Grover case, the parents came and cried; their son was missing. Unfortunately we could not save the boy, but they later came and thanked us. The look on their face when they do that is more than enough compensation.”

The job satisfaction apart, there have been plenty of moments that have given him heartburn. With great power come great responsibility and a fair degree of isolation. Often in the news when things go wrong, more than when they have gone right, for as Maria says, “Success is shared by everyone but when failure comes to your doorstep, you fail alone. In this time, executive decisions are solely yours. If you fail the blame is yours, accountability is there. You cannot share it. The force looks up to you for prompt, clear and correct decisions.”

Uneasy lies Maria’s head for he wears the ‘crown’ – and, like Atlas, he cannot shrug off the load at will. No wonder then that he admits, “I don’t think I have slept for more than three to four hours at a stretch for the last three or four years. Today, something happening in New York or London or Pakistan directly affects some other part of the world. After 26/11 the police force all over the world learnt lessons but unfortunately it was at our expense. Every decision has two sides. And the scrutiny is terrible.”

It is the scrutiny and glare of public attention that has messed up another pitch that Maria ‘plays’ on. While cases are being solved or events are in progress and action is being taken, he feels, “Breaking news reveals plans. In investigations, the element of surprise is essential to nab the accused. So, the handlers and bosses know what is happening. We have to keep that in mind while investigating. Policing has become more difficult today than what it was in the early ’80s or ’90s. I would prefer the ’93 era any day.”

In the course of the conversation and his swift forays to the covered verandahs for the photo-shoot, I have noticed a couple of rings on his fingers and I also recall seeing beautiful statuettes of Lord Ganesha in his home. Given the level of danger and risk that he lives with, it would be natural to turn to some sort of religious solace or talisman. But, no that is not for Maria, for he says, “I am not superstitious. My mother gave me these rings. I am a private person when it comes to religion and very rarely go to religious places. My wife comes from a family of Arya Samajis so at home expression of religions is not formal. And believe me, in the police department you cannot afford to be superstitious. You take each day and situation as it comes.”

One of the many phones that are on the table on his left, rings; he picks it up and is for a moment distracted. Just realising how swiftly time has flown in this gripping interaction, I fire my last salvo at the man who is focussed on keeping Mumbai safe: ‘Any regrets about joining the profession?’ Maria thinks for a moment and confesses, “I do not regret joining the force. If I could rewind my life, I would do the same thing again. But in all the years, I have only one regret – the loss of the three officers on 26/11. I wish I could have told them not to go there; it was not a feasible act. But that was not possible given that we were entirely dependent on wireless messages to know what was happening. Post 26/11, we have got fantastic equipment; the government has given us everything – speedboats, jackets, bullet-proof vehicles, sophisticated communication technology. It required a crisis to get us that. If only I could go back….”

 RAKESH MARIA

Seated in his impressive office, the Maharashtra Police Crest in spit-polished brass mounted on a cheery peachy-gold wall, which his wife suggested he have when he assumed office (“to add some warmth to a cold room”), Rakesh Maria is an unlikely foodie. Why? Because, with his harried life, he eats lunch at four in the afternoon (“Sometimes, if I’m busy, I may skip it”), and dinner’s always after he gets home post-midnight!

Fortunately, Sundays are relaxed. “We have brunch with eggs, sausages, salami, ham… I’m completely carnivorous,” he smiles. More recently (“I’m touching 50!”) he has switched to one vegetarian meal (lunch) and one non-vegetarian one (dinner). Despite an incurable sweet tooth, he has given up desserts to maintain his weight! A healthy start with fruit for breakfast, after a workout, sets him up for the day. His fitness drill is self-improvised, with yoga, crunches, and free-hand exercises done in the privacy of his home. “I used to go to a gym, but simply ended up listening to people and sorting out their grievances!” grimaces the top cop.The thrill of his job, he avers, more than compensates. Born to a father who came to Bombay from Punjab, to join the movies in 1950, he grew up in Bandra.

After graduating from St. Xavier’s, he applied for the common entrance test to the services. When asked to list his options (IAS/IFS/IPS etc.) in order of preference, he listed IPS five times! Clearing with flying colours, he began a glorious career that has taken him from early postings like A.S.P. Khamgao (rural Maharashtra) and Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone IV (Mumbai), to S.P. Raigad, D.C.P Traffic (Mumbai) and D.C.P. – Crime, Mumbai (he was the first D.C.P in the Crime Branch), to Commissioner of Police – Railways, D.C.P. Detection (he investigated the Mumbai Bomb Blasts), to A.I.G. Law and Order, I.G. Anti-Corruption, I.G. Training (he introduced the constabulatory to psychological profiling and life skills like swimming, driving, and speaking English), to his current plum assignment as Jt. Commissioner, Crime.

“I’m inspired by the discipline and dignity of the police service. The thrill of cracking a case, and ensuring justice to the aggrieved, cannot be matched,” he stresses.

Through it all, especially the inevitable trials and tribulations, he has been lucky to have the support of his wife, Priti, who was studying in Hanover, Germany, when their marriage was arranged, and came down for their wedding, only to discover it had to be called off. Mr. Maria explains, “I took my wedding card to my senior, requesting leave. He said, did you ask me before fixing your marriage? There was major bandobast happening and I couldn’t be spared. The cards had to be torn and the wedding postponed, until I could be spared for two days to go to Delhi and get married.”

Since then, though, an annual family holiday has become a given. They were in London last year for a fortnight, and have visited Vietnam, Australia, Europe, Egypt, and the Far East, including Japan. This year, they’re heading to Turkey and Greece. “We love going to new places. And I really enjoy spending uninterrupted time with the kids!”

He filters his Sundays to ensure as much. A sports buff (he has played football, hockey and cricket in school/college and represented Maharashtra in the 1979 National Games in karate), he joins both his boys in their games and matches. The family dinner is generally at a restaurant of choice: Thai Pavilion, India Jones, Ling’s Pavilion, Kebabs & Kurries, Don Giovanni at Atria Mall. One thing he doesn’t enjoy is Bombay’s Page 3 circuit. “I’m petrified of parties,” he confesses. “Crowds of 30-40 people frighten me. I think hosts should do full justice to their guest and call only as many people as they can personally attend to.”

The last decade saw the world’s largest and strongest democracies – India and USA – getting closer after a tumultuous period of bilateral relationship during the Cold War. The bonhomie between the two countries started with the dialogue between Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbot during the Clinton administration. However, it was the Presidency of George W. Bush that saw the relationship blooming to its fullest; President Bush was the one who called India and US as “natural partners”. Such has been the legacy of India-US ties during the Bush era that even President Obama has found it difficult to fit in the shoes of his predecessor. In fact, it is because of the momentum generated during the Bush regime that the new Democratic administration could not change the direction of the Indo-US strategic partnership.

However, the continuing saga of US-India relationship is not without contradictions. These contradictions are most evident in India’s foreign policy vis-à-vis USA. On one hand India seems to use the USA’s global clout to its advantage. Whether it is the permanent seat for India of the United Nations Security Council or Indian membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), India has been constantly entreating the USA for its support. On the other hand, India is also trying to softly balance American hegemony by challenging America’s approach on democracy and human rights as well as ganging up with other rising powers to lobby for a multi-polar world. Therefore, leaving aside the rhetoric of US-India strategic partnership, it is important not to overlook the contradictions that beset India’s relations with the USA.

Strategy of Bandwagoning

During his visit to New Delhi last year, President Obama hailed the India-US partnership as “the most defining and indispensable relationship of 21st century”. It was also during this visit that the USA for the first time openly supported India’s bid for permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council. On India’s persistence, it also agreed to help India obtain the membership of four important instruments of the non-proliferation regime – the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group. Finally, India also successfully lobbied for removal of technology restrictions on its space and defence establishments.

Clearly, India’s relations with the USA are in tune with the phenomenon of “bandwagoning the powerful”. Rising powers often piggyback on strong states to smoothen their rise in the global order. The most crucial evidence of India’s bandwagoning strategy is the India-US Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement of 2008. Having decided not to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, for more than four decades India remained on the margins of the global nuclear order. It was President Bush who initiated the dialogue on bringing India back into the mainstream of international nuclear politics. And when push came to shove at the Nuclear Suppliers Group and International Atomic Energy Agency, the USA ensured India’s accommodation into the non-proliferation regime which it had so assiduously built during the Cold War. France and Russia – the so called other great powers – always wanted to do nuclear business with India, but it was only the USA that who could bring India out of its nuclear exile. The very reason why the nuclear deal was perceived as the cornerstone of a rising India was the fact that the USA, the world hegemon, had accepted India’s candidature in the great power club. Simply put, beyond the rising state’s power capabilities, the perception of its rise by other Great Powers, especially the hegemon, is what matters in global politics.

The Balancing Game

India’s foreign policy, vis-à-vis the USA, however, appears to be, to borrow a phrase from Robert Kaplan’s Monsoon, an “ultimate paradox”. A number of recent incidents indicate that India is trying to softly balance America’s global hegemony while simultaneously bandwagoning with it. India, for instance, refused to vote in support of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 and thereby implicitly supported the murderous regime of Col. Gaddafi in Libya. Though its anxieties about Kashmir are obvious, it is far too apparent, given India’s stature and power capabilities, that external intervention in Kashmir is just not possible. When seen in combination with India’s decision to support Syria in its candidature for the United Nations Human Rights Council even in the light of serious human rights violations by the Assad regime, it is amply clear that India is uncomfortable with the American discourse on democracy and the promotion of democracy.

India also vehemently supports the idea of a multi-polar world order, most evident in the proceedings of multilateral settings such as the BRICS. Interestingly, neither is India a pole in global politics since its power capabilities are limited, nor has there been any thorough appraisal in New Delhi of the consequences of multi-polarity on global stability and peace. India seems to have taken for granted the advantages of an anti-hegemonic alliance even though its own rise partially depends on America’s continued hegemony.

Lastly, even after the personal exhortations of President Obama, India did not consider the bids of two US aviation giants for providing the Medium Multiple-Role Combat Aircraft to the Indian Air Force. Many prominent strategic analysts such as Ashley Tellis had called the successful fruition of such a deal, worth more than $10 billion, as the next important step in bilateral relations. The official response from the Indian side for the rejection of these bids has been that the aircraft offered by Lockheed Martin and Boeing fall short of the criteria set by the IAF and, therefore, on purely technical grounds the bids of these two companies was rejected.

However, in all these foreign policy decisions of India, the attributes of a soft balancing strategy are quite evident. First, at least in principle, India does admit that the promotion of democracy is good for peace and stability. Its constant complaints about authoritarian governance in Pakistan and the role of the Pakistan military in fomenting trouble against India is a case in point. Further, India’s peaceful rise on the global stage has been attributed to India’s democratic credentials and India is gung-ho about it. Clearly, therefore, India’s uncooperative attitude on the issues of Libya and Syria is not based on principles but basically aims at balancing the influence of those states, especially the USA, which currently control the dynamics of global politics.

Second, even though India’s continued rise in global politics is contingent upon America’s global primacy, it openly sides with the other rising powers when it comes to extolling the virtues of multi-polarity. For instance, most of India’s immediate objectives on the world stage – a permanent seat in the UN Security Council or membership of multilateral groups like NSG – very much depend upon the support of the USA and the latter’s ability to play a global leadership role. But, India’s rhetoric on multi-polarity dents the legitimacy of US global hegemony.

Lastly, as far as India’s arms procurement policy is concerned, India has often purchased weapons based on shrewd political calculations rather than on technical capabilities alone. India’s decision to buy weapons from the Soviet Union during the Cold War and its attempts to diversify its arm supplies after the Cold War were both motivated by politics and what suited India’s national interests, and not particularly the requirements of its defence forces in that particular global context. Therefore, the argument that technical specifications determined the course of the MMRCA decision is a non-starter. Therefore, what can be inferred from the decision is the presence of latent scepticism in India about the United States as well as the imperative of not becoming overly dependent upon the USA.

Conclusion

Locating the irony of abysmally low living standards in a huge economy, Martin Wolf calls India a “premature superpower”. However, the metaphor is equally befitting for the strategic thought presently ruling the roost in India’s approach towards the USA. This simultaneous bandwagoning-balancing game reflects nothing more than overconfidence in India’s strategic elites that India has already arrived on the global stage and that it is far too important for the USA. Another factor which may explain this paradoxical foreign policy is India’s unhappiness with certain American policies especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which it considers inimical to its national interests. However, if India wants the USA to be more sensitive to its regional concerns, positive engagement is the only way forward; India cannot influence American policies by working against US interests.

In Politics among Nations, Hans Morgenthau noted that the most rational foreign policy is the one defined by national interests and dispassionate assessment of national power; and not a policy defined on the basis of how states perceive themselves or their value judgements. In a world where US primacy will remain a distinctive feature for a considerable time to come, India will require American global leadership to realise its own national interests. For that to happen, Indian foreign policy should remain sensitive to US interests and concerns.

Over the last week, many Americans (and not a few Indians) have asked me why India does not “do a Gaza” on Pakistan, referring, of course, to an emulation of Israel’s punitive use of force against Hamas-run Palestine, a territory from which rockets rain down on Israeli soil with reliable frequency (if not reliable destructiveness … but that is not for want of Hamas intent).

My answer, given with the heavy heart that comes always with a painful grip on reality, is simple: India does not because it cannot.

Here are five reasons why:

1. India is not a military goliath in relation to Pakistan in the way Israel is to the Palestinian territories. India does not have the immunity, the confidence and the military free hand that result from an overwhelming military superiority over an opponent. Israel’s foe is a non-sovereign entity that enjoys the most precarious form of self-governance. Pakistan, for all its dysfunction, is a proper country with a proper army, superior by far to the tin-pot Arab forces that Israel has had to combat over time. Pakistan has nukes, to boot. Any assault on Pakistani territory carries with it an apocalyptic risk for India. This is, in fact, Pakistan’s trump card. (This explains, also, why Israel is determined to prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran.)

2. Even if India could attack Pakistan without fear of nuclear retaliation, the rationale for “doing a Gaza” is, arguably, not fully present: Israel had been attacked consistently by the very force–Hamas–that was in political control of the territory from which the attacks occurred. By contrast, terrorist attacks on India, while originating in Pakistan, are not authored by the Pakistani government. India can– and does–contend that Pakistan’s government should shut down the terrorist training camps on Pakistani soil. (In this insistence, India has unequivocal support from Washington.) Yet only a consistent and demonstrable pattern of dereliction by Pakistani authorities– which would need to be dereliction verging on complicity with the terrorists–would furnish India with sufficient grounds to hold the Pakistani state culpable.

3. As our columnist, Karlyn Bowman, writes Israel enjoys impressive support from the American people, in contrast to the Palestinians. No other state–apart, perhaps, from Britain–evokes as much favor in American public opinion as does Israel. This is not merely the result of the much-vaunted “Israel lobby” (to use a label deployed by its detractors), but also because of the very real depth of cultural interpenetration between American and Israeli society. This fraternal feeling buys Israel an enviable immunity in the conduct of its strategic defense. India, by contrast–while considerably more admired and favored in American public opinion than Pakistan–enjoys scarcely a fraction of Israel’s “pull” in Washington when it comes to questions of the use of force beyond its borders.

4. Pakistan is strategically significant to the United States; the Palestinians are not. This gives Washington scant incentive to rein in the Israelis, but a major incentive to rein in any Indian impulse to strike at Pakistan. However justified the Indian anger against Pakistan over the recent invasion of Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists, the last thing that the U.S. wants right now is an attack–no matter how surgical–by India against Pakistan-based terror camps. This would almost certainly result in a wholesale shift of Pakistani troops away from their western, Afghan front toward the eastern boundary with India–and would leave the American Afghan campaign in some considerable disarray, at least in the short term. So Washington has asked for, and received, the gift of Indian patience. And although India recognizes that it is not wholly without options to mobilize quickly for punitive, surgical strikes in a “strategic space,” it would–right now–settle for a trial of the accused terrorist leaders in U.S. courts. (Seven U.S. citizens were killed in Mumbai: Under U.S. law, those responsible–and this should include Pakistani intelligence masterminds–have to be brought to justice.)

5. My last, and meta-, point: Israel has the privilege of an international pariah to ignore international public opinion in its use of force against the Palestinians. A state with which few others have diplomatic relations can turn the tables on those that would anathematize it by saying, Hang diplomacy. India, by contrast, has no such luxury. It is a prisoner of its own global aspirations–and pretensions.

Tunku Varadarajan, a professor at the Stern Business School at NYU and research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, is opinions editor at Forbes.com, where he writes a weekly column.

“Bilaterally, India-China relations today have elements of cooperation and competition at the same time,” Menon said while singling out the rise of China in Asia as one of the key factors that will impinge on India’s quest for transformation and its emergence as a power in the world.

“We have a boundary dispute, and our overlapping peripheries in our extended neighbourhood which is also China’s extended neighbourhood,” said Menon, also a former ambassador to China.

“So long as both of use continue to be primarily concerned with our internal transformations, cooperate in the international arena on our common interests, and do not see the other affecting our core interests, we can expect the present relationship to continue as it is,” he said.

Menon, however, cautioned that in order to have harmonious relationship with China, it will require much “better communication between each other and no misunderstanding of each other’s actions and motives”.

 The Russian MiG Aircraft Corporation has delivered the second batch of five MiG-29K fighter jets to the navy, to add to its four, for which it has raised the new “Black Panthers” squadron. India along with Russia, the manufacturer of the naval fighter, are the only countries to have acquired these fighters, which will be deployed on the INS Vikramaditya (former Gorshkov) aircraft carrier, under re-fit in Russia.

 The newly acquired Russian carrier-operated MiGs are considered to be far superior to Indian Navy’s current Sea harrier jump jets. Under the Gorshkov aircraft deal inked between the two countries in 2004, Russia is to supply 12 single-seater MiG-29K fighters and four two-seater MiG-29KUB trainer-cum-combat jets.

The trial was conducted in Pokhran in the Thar desert region of Rajasthan.

The test met all the mission parameters, said the sources.

The launch was the 25th launch of BrahMos missile for the Indian Army. The version of BrahMos that was tested can be guided through mountainous terrain to hit the targets that may be located in hillocks.

It is a stealth supersonic cruise missile that can be launched for ground targets from a very low height – as low as 10 metres. It is believed to be best for surgical operations as it has a very low radar signature.

The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 km and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg.

It has a top speed of Mach 2.8, which is about three times faster than the US subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile. This makes BrahMos one of the fastest cruise missiles in the world.

BrahMos Aerospace Ltd, set up in 1998 as a joint venture of India and Russia, manufactures supersonic cruise missiles based on the Russian-designed NPO Mashinostroyenie 3M55 Yakhont.

It can be launched from submarines, ships and aircraft. Sea- and ground-launched versions of the missile have been successfully tested and put into service with the Indian Army and navy.

In the course of the trials in the Sea of Japan under the supervision of the Russian naval personnel and experts of the manufacturer, Indian crew is honing the skill to handle the deadly weapon platform before sailing for home port some time in autumn (September-November), according to state-run ITAR-TASS news agency.

“The Indian crew is giving a kind of proficiency test to the Russian experts. After the completion of trials in the end of August, the process of transfer of the nuclear submarine to the Indian Navy will commence,” the agency reported quoting unnamed officials of Amur Shipyard – the manufacturer of the Nerpa.

“The Indian side has no complaints about the boat,” the shipyard officials said.

The Indian crew underwent almost a two-year-long training course including a six month crash course in Russian language in India and about 18 month training in St Petersburg to sail and operate the weapon system of “Shchuka-B” class (NATO codename Akula-II) of Project 971.

The Indian crew will take the vessel from Vladivostok to India and a group of Russian submariners will accompany it “just in any case”, who will then return to Vladivostok.

The Nerpa designed by St Petersburg-based “Malachite” and “NPO Avrora” is a third generation nuclear submarine, which was laid at Amur Shipyard in 1991 just before the Soviet collapse and its construction was frozen in mid-1990s due to cash crunch.

India had financed its completion under a USD 650-800 million deal according to various Russian media reports.

The Nerpa was commissioned by the Russian Navy in December 2009 after several delays, including the delay caused by the deadly release of toxic mixture of Freon gas in the sleeping quarters during trails in November 2008, when 20 sailors and technical staff of the shipyard were killed.

Like the earlier, Charlie class nuclear submarine leased by the Indian Navy from the erstwhile USSR in early 1980s, the Nerpa will also be christened INS Chakra.

Putin had previously warned the United States against its planned adoption of Communism during his January, 2009 speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland upon Obama taking office, and had stated:

“The concentration of surplus assets in the hands of the state is a negative aspect of anti-crisis measures in virtually every nation. In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

Unfortunately though, Obama, and those Communist forces backing him, do want to see this monster of a system repeated and have in the past year accelerated the United States descent into the abyss of total state control over all aspects of Americans lives and have created one of the most all encompassing “surveillance societies” our World has ever seen.

So dire has the situation become in the United States that one of their most dissident lawmakers, US Congressman Ron Paul, took to the floor of their House of Representatives this past week and warned that Obama’s forces were now openly stating that they have the power to assassinate any American citizen they deem to be a terrorist threat against them.

And not just from the right are these warnings against Obama coming, but also from their furthest left-wing ones too as the powerful black-Muslim leader and Obama ally, Louis Farrakhan, of Chicago’s Nation of Islam warned his followers this week that America is facing “imminent disaster” and they all must start “preparing for the worst”.

Obama, however, has chosen not to listen to these warnings and this past week accelerated his Communist takeover of America by appointing the powerful head of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and avowed Communist, Andy Stern, to the top US government commission to oversee its economy.

Victims of Communism

Though most Americans have never heard of Stern it was recently discovered that he has been Obama’s top visitor to the White House and is described as the President’s “right hand man”. But what should strike fear into all of them is Stern’s calling for the “workers of the world to unite” and destroy the United States to remake it as a Communist Nation. To Obama’s planned remaking of America into a Communist state Stern has further warned that if the “power of persuasion” doesn’t work, “the persuasion of power will”.

Not being understood by the American people is that their economic collapse has been long planned by their Communist elite leaders who know that the success of their takeover of the United States lays it its destruction from which their new “peoples utopian paradise” will arise from its ashes.

And to how successful the Communists have been in destroying America there remains no doubt as since upon Obama’s taking office, and for the first time in the history of the United States, more of their citizens are working for their government than in either their manufacturing or construction industries, and when combined with the 22% of their unemployed means that over 40% of Americans are now beholden upon their Communist leaders for economic support and are dependant upon the other 60% of their citizens to support them in what is the largest transfer of wealth in US history.

Worse still for those 60% of Americans desperately trying to keep from becoming wards of their new Communist government are the plans to throw millions of them from their homes by bankrupting them with catastrophic tax increases and making them dependent too, and as we had previously reported on in our February 16th report “Obama Plot To Throw Millions Of Americans From Homes Uncovered”.

Interesting to note is that a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released this past Friday shows that 56% of Americans think their federal government has become so large and powerful that it “poses an immediate threat to their rights and freedoms”, but contrasts sharply with the fact, and as reported by the Washington Times News Service, that “for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans took more aid from the government than they paid in taxes.”

To those Americans knowing of the Communist takeover of their government, and as reported by the New York Times, they are currently banding under the banner of the so called “Tea Party” movement which some of their politicians by alluding to Patriot dogma.

This New York Times article further states about this movement, “At a Tea Party protest in Las Vegas, Joe Heck, a Republican running for Congress, blamed both the Democratic and Republican Parties for moving the country toward “socialistic tyranny.” In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican seeking re-election, threw his support behind the state sovereignty movement. And in Indiana, Richard Behney, a Republican Senate candidate, told Tea Party supporters what he would do if the 2010 elections did not produce results to his liking: “I’m cleaning my guns and getting ready for the big show. And I’m serious about that, and I bet you are, too.”

And to how dangerous this “big show” will be that candidate Behney is warning his fellow American citizens about was further echoed by the renowned economist Dr. Marc Farber before a gathering of 700 pension and sovereign wealth fund managers in Tokyo last week where he warned that the situation in the US had become so dire that he was advising all of his clients to buy farmland and gold and to be prepared to evacuate their cities at a moments notice.

Not known at this time, and as Obama’s Communist forces continue to gather strength in their destruction of the United States, is if the US Military will come to defense of their citizens, but it is worth noting that their Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, who was appointed by the former President Bush, is still in firm control of Americas military might and has continually rebuffed Obama’s attempts to change their war fighting strategy.

The same, and sadly, cannot be said for America’s over 800,000 federal, state and local police forces who were given new powers by Obama this past week when in the middle of the night he signed the dreaded Patriot Act extension into law that has destroyed more freedoms for these people than any other legislation in US history in a “Yes We Can” slam against the Bill of Rights these people had so long enjoyed.

Even worse for these Americans is that their ability to defend themselves is soon to be lost as their Supreme Court is set to rule in a 2nd Amendment (gun rights) case that will outlaw their being able to own any type of firearm and that Obama’s recent appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayar [backed by the Communist Party in her nomination as a “way to end “right-wing” terrorism in the U.S.”] , who is firmly opposed to gun rights, holds the key “swing vote” on.

Unknown to virtually all of the American people is that last years US Supreme Court ruling upholding the 2nd Amendment gun rights of residents of Washington D.C. ONLY applies to those citizens, and NOT to the citizens of the individual States, and as quoted about the current case to be heard this week by the court by the New York Times News Service: “Under the doctrine of “selective incorporation,” the Supreme Court has ruled on a case-by-case basis that most, but so far not quite all, of the Bill of Rights applies to states and cities. The court should dispense with the selectivity and make clear that states and cities must respect the Bill of Rights.”

Sadly for the American people (and Obama’s Communist “fellow traveler” Justice Sotomayar will make sure of it) they are not now, nor will they ever be afforded the full protection of the Bill of Rights given to them by their Founding Fathers and their descent into the darkness will continue.

Putin in his aforementioned remarks stated that he never would have believed that the United States would take the Iron Curtain surrounding the former Soviet Union they had helped to destroy, pack it up, and the re-erect it around America, but that is exactly what they done. And if any American today wants to know what it was really like living under the tyrannical rule of the Soviet Communists they need only look around them at what their Nation is becoming, and then get very prepared for what is to come.

“We will hand this submarine to the client by the year end,” Naval Chief Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

“The Indian crew is absolutely prepared for operating the submarine,” he said.

Earlier last month a top official of the defence cooperation service said the Indian naval crew was already on board the K-152 Nerpa nuclear submarine and was carrying out pre-delivery trails on the high seas.

Under the lease contract, estimated to be between USD 650-900 million, India had funded the completion of the Nerpa nuclear submarine at Amur Shipyard before the Soviet collapse.

The Nerpa was to be inducted into the Indian Navy like INS Chakra by mid-2008 but on November 8, 2008, shortly after the sea trials commenced, as many as 20 sailors and technical workers were killed onboard, while they were asleep, due to the release of toxic
Freon gas following a technical problem in the automatic fire suppression system in the vessel.

The Pacific Fleet’s Naval Court currently hearing the case has established that a seaman pressed the button of fire suppression system “out of curiosity”.

Captain of the submarine has also been charged for “abuse of authority” by allowing the use of a cheaper toxic mixture of Freon gas in the fire suppression system.

The officers in Army informed TSI that the inaugural batch will be comprised of cadets joining through Technical Entry Scheme (TES) and Special Commission Officers (SCO). Both the entries are meant for Permanent Commissions.

The TES cadets were earlier training 1 Year at IMA Dehradun for the basic military training and then they used to get divided into three parts as per the merit and used to go for a three year Degree Course at CME Pune, MCTE Mhow and MCEME Secunderabad.

The SCOs are the soldiers serving as Other Ranks and are given opportunity to become PC on the recommendation of the Commanding Officers, Brigade Commanders and the Division Commanders. They appear for Selection Board and then go to IMA for their training. But this year these two batches will be the inaugural batch of OTA Gaya.

“The first batch of trainee cadets reporting on July 15 will be of 135 cadets. The second batch will be twice as that of the first batch and will have 270 trainee cadets,” Officers informed. As per the sources this arrangement to train the PC officers is planned for the first two batches and subsequently the cadets for SSC will start training.

The 1.13 million strong Indian Army has sanctioned officer strength of 47,864. But the shortage of 12,510 officers in its current strength has affected the functioning as the shortage is at the operational level of captain, major and lieutenant colonels who lead troops.

The proposal to start a second OTA to supplement the army intake was given in 2008. The approval from Cabinet Committee on Security came in December 2009.

The capacity of the academy is to train 750 cadets a year and the fund requirement would be to the tune of Rupees 364 crore for non-recurring expenditure and Rupees 44.75 crore recurring expenses every year. Apart from this, the army gets a maximum of 600 SSC officers from the Chennai OTA and another 1,100 PC officers from IMA annually.

OTA Gaya has an important role in the future planning of Indian Army force restructuring as Armed forces want to gradually increase the number of SSC officers in their ranks to maintain a youthful profile of its troop commanders. The SSC officers will leave after serving either for 10 or at maximum 14 years with the Army hence the profile will remain young. The plan is to finally have a ration of two SSC officers to every PC officer (2:1 ratio).

The extent of shortage of officers is around 1,818 in the Navy and 837 in the Air Force. Air Force has a Shortage of about 426 fighter pilots.

‘The army is not there to fight against Naxalism (Maoists). But at the same time the government gave them some standard operating procedures for their self-defence, that is all,’ Antony told reporters here on the sidelines of a seminar.

An army officer said: ‘The changes in the rules of engagement entails that troops can fire back if fired upon.’

The army had early this year requested the government to change the rules of engagement for it in Chhattisgarh, where it is setting up a training centre. The army wanted to defend itself if fired upon by the Maoist rebels.

The changed standard operating procedures for the troops was for the less-than-a-brigade sized force of about 3,000 soldiers sanitising a 75-km stretch of highway in Bastar’s Kondagaon in Chattisgarh.

The force is headed to Narayanpur, also in the central Indian state, where the army has been allotted a 750-sq km area of land as a ‘manoeuvre range’ for training in jungle warfare.

The changes in the rules of engagement comes at a time when the Indian Army’s top seven commanders, led by its chief General V.K. Singh, recently met in Lucknow to brainstorm the red terror issue and voted to leave the fight against the Maoist for the state and central police forces.

Antony acknowledged that the army commanders did meet to discuss the Maoists threat, as the army troops were now moving into areas where the Maoists operate.

1   U.S.A.
2   China
3   Russia
4   India
5   U.K.
6   France
7   Germany
8   Brazil
9   Japan
10  Turkey
11  Israel
12  South Korea
13  Italy
14  Indonesia
15  Pakistan
16  Taiwan
17  Egypt
18  Iran
19  Mexico
20  North Korea
21  Sweden
22  Greece
23  Canada
24  Saudi Arabia
25  Ukraine
26  Australia
27  Spain
28  Thailand
29  Denmark
30  Poland
31  Philippines
32  South Africa
33  Argentina
34  Syria
35  Norway
36  Georgia
37  Iraq
38  Venezuela
39  Libya
40  Afghanistan
41  Nepal
42  Lebanon

If we all decide and vote on a dollar bill and print system to use over USD we will win. We create our own banks and use the power to vote the way it should be used. To over throw a government we need to create our own. There are other ways to over throw the government.

Never give up never surrender. Ridicule is the first step to truth being reconized. Its the asleeps defense mechanism to seeing the real evil in the world. It takes a min to wake them. Surround yourself with those whom are awake and spread truth to those awake and show them how to prepare because we are close to the end game. Stay strong.

The article is reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

The contract has been awarded to Raytheon by Tata Power Strategic Electronic Systems to provide automated air traffic management systems to the Indian Air Force.

The Tata Power Strategic Electronic Systems is the main contractor of the project. The contract is part of the IAF’s Modernisation of Airfield Infrastructure (MAFI) project.

MAFI is being undertaken to make all IAF air bases capable of handling all types of modern transport and fighter aircraft at all times.

Raytheon officials said under the first phase of the programme, 30 airbases across the country will be upgraded to make them capable of handling all types of modern transport and combat jets at all times.

Raytheon Network Centric Systems (NCS) will supply a variant of its globally deployed AutoTrac family of air traffic management systems under the project to make the air traffic systems of of the best in the world, Raytheon officials said.

“Raytheon’s AutoTrac system will provide the IAF a modern automated systems backbone that will allow for easy and rapid incorporation of new tools and functionality as they become available,” said Andy Zogg, vice-president, Raytheon NCS Command and Control Systems.

IAF has asked the defence ministry(MoD) to appoint one of its three-star officers, instead of a bureaucrat, as the chairman and managing director of HAL once the present incumbent Ashok Nayakretires on October 31.

MoD sources confirmed IAF had even proposed the name of present assistant chief of air staff (operations & space), Air Vice Marshal M Matheswaran, a top-notch fighter pilot now approved for the air marshal rank, for the HAL post.
 
“The matter is being examined…no final decision has been taken,” said a source. Simultaneously, a panel of names has also been drawn up to include Pawan Hans chief R K Tyagi, a defence accounts service officer S N Mishra, who earlier was joint secretary (aerospace) in MoD, and MSTC chairman S K Tripathi, among others.

IAF’s revolutionary proposal, on the face of it, makes a lot of sense. As HAL’s biggest customer, it has every reason to be worried that most projects being handled by the PSU, which has a sales turnover of over Rs 13,000 crore, have been plagued by time and cost overruns.

IAF contends the HAL chief should be someone who “understands aerospace concepts” and can “transform” HAL into a cutting-edge company, capable of delivering on time, to stem its fast-eroding combat edge. The force is down to just about 32 fighter squadrons from a “sanctioned strength” of 39.5 squadrons.

Most ongoing HAL projects like the ones for the Tejas light combat aircraft, Dhruv advanced light helicopters and indigenous production of Sukhoi-30MKI fighters as well as Hawk AJTs (advanced jet trainers) are all running behind schedule.

Moreover, HAL is also going to handle new programmes worth billions of dollars with foreign collaborators in the near future. They range from the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) and fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) to light utility helicopters and multi-role transport aircraft (MTA).

The $10.4 billion MMRCA project to acquire 126 fighters, for instance, is all set to be sealed by December. With just two contenders now left in contention, Eurofighter Typhoon and French Rafale, the project will see only the first 18 jets come in “fly-away condition”, while the rest will be manufactured by HAL after transfer of technology.

An even bigger project will be the joint development of the stealth FGFA with Russia for which the $295 million preliminary design contract was inked last December. The cost of designing, infrastructure build-up, prototype development and flight testing of FGFA is pegged at $11 billion. India and Russia will chip in $5.5 billion each.

Moreover, each of the 250-300 FGFA India hopes to begin inducting from 2020 onwards will cost around $100 million each. Consequently, India will spend upwards of $35 billion over the next two decades on the FGFA.

Here’s his conversation with NDTV’s Security & Strategic Affairs Editor Nitin Gokhale.  

NDTV: Let me start by asking you what are the changes that are being done in the Air Force for the past 3-4 years and what do you think is going to happen in the next 3-4 years?

PV Naik: The process of change started seven or eight years back but it is materialising now, which is a very very exciting thing. Over the next 3-4 years, I expect the IAF to become one of the most modern air forces in the world. There are lots of things in the offing – we have aircrafts, equipment, missiles, radars actually we have a very long list.

The DAE signed the MOU with M/s Rosatom of Russia at Vienna on the sidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Ministerial meeting on Safety which began on Monday, a DAE release said on Tuesday.

The GCNEP will consist of four schools on advanced nuclear energy systems studies, nuclear security studies, radiological safety studies and studies on applications of radioisotopes and radiation technologies, the release said.

The MoU was signed by Dr Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India and S V Kirienko, DG, Rosatom, Russia

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s office was bugged and whoever did it was well-versed with electronic surveillance, a former ministry official was quoted as saying by Times Now television channel.

Kornev also said that India will be supplied by highly modified cars. According to the wishes of customers’ development efforts were finally actually increased. “

As previously reported, “Rosoboronexport” and the command of U.S. Army May 26, 2011 signed a contract to supply Afghan Air Force 21 multi-purpose military transport helicopter Mi-17V5, totaling 367.5 million dollars.

In addition, the two countries agreed to establish a center in Afghanistan maintenance of these machines.

Mi-17 in various versions is a modernized version of deeply Mi-8 helicopter, well proven over years of use in a variety of conditions. In particular, due to its characteristics, the Mi-8 and Mi-17 is much better and easier to manage in the high altitude than most of western counterparts.

Having displacement of 45,000 tons and length of 283 meters, the aircraft carrier is being presently outfitted at JSC Sevmash shipyard (Severodvinsk). According to India’s requirement, the ship will be specially redesigned for deck-based fighters MiG-29 stationed at Goa air base.

Part of the carrier’s crew is currently trained in St. Petersburg. Expectedly, they will arrive in Sevmash to attend the sea trials.

As was earlier reported, the ship’s mooring trials started in March 2011. Operation of all onboard systems including Russian/Indian-built electronics and air-technical facilities were tested then.

The delivery contract for Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov was signed in 2004. According to the document, Russia handed over the carrier’s hull to India for free providing that the ship would be modernized by Sevmash. Besides, the Indian party was obliged to equip the carrier with Russian-built aircrafts.

The contract cost $1.5 bln. However, in 2008 India suspended payments and Russia demanded to revise scope of works and increase costs. New agreement was signed in March 2010, and the contract cost increased up to $2.3 bln.

Admiral Gorshkov will not be the first aircraft carrier in Indian Navy. At present, it operates INS Viraat and builds domestically designed INS Vikrant.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told a mammoth gathering at the historic Gandhi Maidan that the day was being observed to ‘arouse Bihari pride among the people of all castes and religions’. He said, ‘it is time to stand up for the state’s rich history and culture so never again one could feel ashamed to admit he or she is from the glorious state of Bihar.

A beaming and confident Nitish Kumar said: “Bihar is growing and with active participation of every Bihari, the state will become a developed state with a GDP rate of 15 per cent by 2015”. Presently whatever identity Biharis have, pertains to either their caste or religions but such occasions would definitely help create a Bihari identity, he said and added, “Caste identity breaks the society, Bihari-ism unites.”

Brushing aside the RJD criticism of the celebration, Nitish Kumar, amidst pomp and show, kicked off the first ever cultural fête in a carnival-like atmosphere at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. (Lalu Prasad’s RJD said that ‘such pomp and show is a cruel joke on the starving people of Bihar’). The Chief Minister also referred to the latest Bihar economic survey for 2009-10, which has said that the state’s economy registered an annual growth rate of 11.35 per cent over a five-year period from 2004-05 to 2008-09. It was only 3.5 per cent per year in the previous five years, he said.

The Chief Minister announced that the state government would provide karate training to 16 lakh girl students. He also promised to give free bicycles to boy students, as were given to girl students earlier. “Once fully trained, these students would be hired as trainers and would be paid Rs. 2,000 per month for their services”, he said and added the government was committed to provide quality education to the students of Bihar. Targeting the youths, he said, “Bihar’s culture and history is too rich to ignore. What is required is to connect the newer generation with this past”. A number of NDA leaders, artists, litterateurs, academicians and bureaucrats attended the Gandhi Maidan function.

Nitish Kumar said that Bihar had been known for its caste-based politics that had proven detrimental to the growth of the state for too long and the time had come to break this mould and aggressively promote progressive agendas. Hundreds of thousands of people of all ages from across the state attended the ceremony and enjoyed impressive cultural shows, including folk songs, dances, short plays, and seminars on various topics depicting the glorious past of the land of Buddha and Ashoka.

All educational and private institutions celebrated the day at separate functions. Bihar Day is also being celebrated in the USA, the UK, Dubai, Doha, Qatar and Singapore, among other places, where a good number of Bihar born people live. The New Delhi celebrations attracted a large number of people, including Bihari residents.

Bihar is no more a dreaded place for the new entrants to the country’s elite cadre of IPS. The image of the Wild West has yielded place to cool breeze of tranquillity. They are no more averse to working in Bihar. At least seven newly recruited IPS officers of 2009 batch have opted for Bihar cadre. Till five years ago on an average one IPS man had been coming to this more sinned than sinning state.

With seven more IPS (probationer) officers opting for Bihar cadre, the shortfall of directly recruited IPS officers in SP rank would come down drastically. On an average, six directly recruited IPS offices have been opting for Bihar cadre after Nitish Kumar-led NDA government came to power in November, 2005.

The figures available with the state police headquarters say that seven directly recruited IPS officers of 2008 batch had opted for Bihar cadre. They joined in January last year after undergoing rigorous training at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad. In 2008, four IPS officers of 2007 batch had joined Bihar. A year ago, six IPS officers each of 2005 and 2006 batch, respectively, had opted for Bihar cadre.

The scene was quite different six years ago. While 30 directly recruited IPS officers opted for Bihar cadre after Nitish Kumar came to power, only five officers had joined Bihar between 2001 and 2004-05. Bihar was allotted only one IPS officer each in 2001 (2000 batch), 2002 (2001 batch), 2003 (2002 batch) and 2005 (2004 batch). Two IPS officers of 2003 batch were allotted Bihar cadre, who joined in December 2004. In 2006, Bihar did not get any directly recruited IPS officer despite a severe dearth of such officers. The top brass of the state administration, however, blamed the previous Lalu-Rabri government for paucity of directly recruited IPS officers in the state.

A senior police officer said: “Earlier, the state’s priority was different. Instead of exerting pressure on the ministry of Home Affairs for sending direct recruited IPS officers to Bihar, it believed in promoting state cadre officers only. Moreover, many IPS officers were not interested in joining Bihar because of deteriorating law and order situation and political interference in day-to-day functioning. Had the earlier government demanded its due quota from the Centre, the situation would have been different today”.

After pressure was put on the Centre, the Home ministry increased the state quota of IPS officers. The strength of the Bihar cadre IPS officers in different ranks has been increased to 231 from 190. Of them, 161 posts are to be filled with directly recruited IPS officers. The remaining 70 posts will have officers of the state police cadre. Recently, the Union Public Service Commission cleared the names of 19 Bihar Police Service (BPS) officers for promotion to IPS cadre. Still 13 posts have to be filled up with the officers of the state police service.

The group is assembling assassination targets in Britain, the US and France, the Daily Star reports.

US President Barack Obama top’s the list.

The list also includes British Defence Secretary Liam Fox, MI5 director general Jonathan Evans, Army chief Sir David Richards and Labour Party politician Lord Mandelson.

Author Salman Rushdie and Bank of England governor Mervyn King are also on the hit list.

The working group is believed to have been formed to collect personal information on prominent people who supported the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

India rarely turns down UN deployment requests but the air force has informed the government that the logistics of maintaining its assets in Africa, combined with an increasing domestic demand, was making the deployment untenable. The contract with the UN’s Congo mission expires on July 4.

The last four helicopters to be withdrawn are Russian-origin Mi 35 helicopters, basically for use as close air support during assault operations on ground targets.

Originally, India had 17 helicopters in Congo and Sudan, of which eight were Mi 25 and Mi 35 gunships and the others were Mi 17 multi-utility transport helicopters. All the helicopters, barring the last four Mi 35s, have been brought back.

Mi 17s are also used in support of central and state police forces in counter Maoist operations as well as in maintenance of army positions in the Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.

For counter-Maoist operations, the IAF has armed Mi 17s. There is no known request from the home ministry for helicopter gunships. But the ministry’s repeated requests for Mi 17s, too, has not elicited a positive response. The ministry has now decided to wet-lease six helicopters.

The air force has also informed the defence ministry that maintaining the Mi 35s and Mi 25s in Africa, in failsafe conditions, required cannibalising parts from the other helicopters. This means the IAF had to probably ground helicopters here because spares from them were needed to keep the machines flying in Africa.

“I am obliged to note that (the United Nations’) military operations are being negatively impacted by the shortage of military helicopters,” Roger Meece, the UN special representative, warned the Security Council last week, according to a UN statement. The US and western nations have typically shied away from deploying costly military assets in UN peace missions.

The Navy chief will meet the top military leadership of Russia and discuss ongoing military projects such as the retrofit of Admiral Gorshkov and construction of the three Talwar class frigates there, officials said here.

The two sides are also likely to discuss the last-minute decision by Russian Navy not to hold an exercise with Indian Navy ships, which had gone there for a joint drill, they said.

The Navy chief had expressed “element of disappointment” after the exercises were not held at the final stages.

The Navy chief is also likely to discuss the delivery schedule of the Akula Class Nerpa nuclear submarines and the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.

Under a confidential pact, India is leasing an Akula Class submarine from Russia, which is expected to be delivered by the end of this year.

At present, Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar along with Defence Production Secretary Rajkumar Singh are in Russia to discuss the bilateral defence ties.

Officials said there will be a number of visits by senior Indian officials to Russia before the summit-level meeting between the heads of states in December.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal PV Naik, told India Strategic defence magazine (www.indiastrategic.in) that the commercial bids of the two finalists in the race for 126-plus Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) would be opened this month, and those for the combat, heavy-lift and utility helicopters and the basic trainer aircraft “any time between the next few days to few weeks”.

The air chief did not give any figures, but a rough calculation shows that IAF could be announcing deals worth $30 billion, or more, by the end of 2011.

A $4.1 billion deal for 10 C-17 Globemaster III heavy airlifters was signed on Tuesday and there is a possibility of more such aircraft being acquired. This apart, the MMRCA deal, for which only the Eurofighter and Rafale remain in the fray, could touch or exceed $15 billion if the option for an additional 63 aircraft is exercised in addition to the 126 units given in the tender. The 3 helicopter variants and the trainer aircraft, along with support and training packages, could cost another $5 billion.

In an interview for India Strategic’s Paris Air Show edition, the air chief said the IAF had already finalised its choice for the combat helicopter while that of the utility helicopter had also been through with the Indian Army, which is the lead buyer in this case. The IAF will buy the same helicopter.

As for the heavy-lift helicopter, “the final report can be expected within the next few days,” he said.

All the required reports were either already with the defence ministry or just about to be submitted, Naik said, pointing out the IAF was well on its way towards transformation by 2022 or 2025.

Boeing’s Apache AH 64D and the Russian Mi 28NE are the two contenders in the race for combat helicopters while Boeing’s Chinook – the only helicopter which can float on water – and Russian Rosoboronexport’s Mi-26 are in the fray for the heavy-lift role. The utility helicopter race for the Indian Army and the IAF has the EADS Eurocopter and the Russian Kamov in the race.

India is building a credible minimal deterrence to pre-empt any attack from adversaries as part of its nuclear doctrine based on no-first-use with a second strike capability, a top defence official said Friday.

“There is a huge amount of work going on towards creating a credible minimal deterrence to ensure our adversaries don’t take us by surprise. We are way up and ahead of what we need to do in protecting the country,” Air Vice Marshal K.J. Mathews, commander-in-chief of the Strategic Forces Command, said at a function in this aerospace hub.

Operating independently, the command is responsible for nuclear arsenal from preparation to delivery to the armed forces. “As an independent agency, fortunately, we have greater amount of operational freedom and we report to the prime minister directly on strategic issues,” Mathews said.

Mathews, who assumed the command post in January, made the remark during his address at the golden jubilee celebrations of the maiden flight of the first indigenous fighter bomber Marut (HF-24), designed and developed by the state-run defence behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) here Friday.

Exhorting HAL to leverage its expertise to meet the emerging needs of the country, Mathews said the aerospace and defence communities should introspect on what they can do to strengthen national security.

“We need to focus on our future requirements by making best use of our resources that were built over the last five-six decades. Increasing self-reliance and innovation will help face security challenges,” Mathews asserted.

Set up in 2003 by the then National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee, the Strategic Command is tasked with the use of nuclear weapons under the eight-point nuclear doctrine, which is committed to no-first strike or use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear nations.

“Fast jet pilot training is now more representative of flying front line aircraft than ever before,” the company said in a statement on the software upgrade now being installed on the Hawk TMk2 of the Royal Air Force (RAF).

The upgrade, referred to as “Operational Capability 2 (OC2)”, is “a significant and sophisticated enhancement to the existing software on the RAF’s Hawk TMk2. Designed and developed by BAE Systems, work to install the new software upgrades on the Hawk TMk2 has commenced at RAF Valley, Anglesey”, the statement said.

The software provides the Hawk with simulated radar and sensor capability including a radar warning receiver, defensive aids, and an enhanced weapons suite including medium range air-to-air missiles.

The shelter design is modular and all the services like HVAC, electrical, plumbing and water supply, sewage disposal, kerosene gensets and solar power are well integrated within the shelter.The shelters have been designed to withstand seismic activities upto a level of zone 5, wind velocities upto 55 m/sec and sub-zero temperature upto – 35 degree Celsius. The Carbon Dioxide level inside the shelter is closely monitored and maintained within the safe limits. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Saraswat thanked the GOC 14 Corps for his wholehearted support to DRDO, particularly the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR).

 He also assured DRDO’s continued support and cooperation to the armed forces present in the region. Dr. Saraswat also thanked the local authorities and farmers in the region for their support to DIHAR.He stressed on the large scale utilization of solar and other non-conventional energy resources to meet the energy requirements at high altitude regions.
Dr. Selvamurthy apprised the soldiers and officers present during the occasion on the life support systems developed by various DRDO labs.He particularly appreciated DIHAR’s contribution in development of agro-animal technology which had led to an annual production of 5,000 metric tonnes of fresh vegetables.In addition, over 25 percent of requirement of milk and over 15 percent of the requirement of meat is being met locally. Later, Dr. Saraswat visited the DIHAR where he launched a herbal adaptogenic appetizer developed by DIHAR, which has high antioxidant and adaptogenic properties.

 The formulation is effective in ameliorating hypoxia induced decrease in appetite. Since the extreme climatic conditions and low “oxygen partial pressure” at high altitude adversely affects several physiological processes and leads to loss of appetite, the herbal appetizer will improve the endurance to high altitude and augment the performance of our troops in the high altitude regions.Dr. Saraswat appreciated the research initiatives and efforts taken by the scientists of DIHAR and released the 50 years logo of DIHAR during the occasion.

The first batch of 200 cadets will begin training soon at the Gaya Officers Training Academy (OTA), where they will be moulded into fine young officers.

With training infrastructure development complete and staff requirements met, the government has sanctioned the inauguration of the Gaya OTA on the lines of the existing Chennai-based OTA for short-service officers, senior defence ministry officials told IANS.

“The government has given its nod to open the new OTA at Gaya and it will happen within a month’s time. The first batch of 200 cadets too will join the Gaya OTA soon,” officials said.

The 1.13-million-strong Indian Army has a sanctioned officer strength of 47,864. But the shortage of 12,510 officers in its current strength is crippling, particularly in the ranks of captain, major and lieutenant colonels who lead troops.

As a result, the army’s fighting battalions such as infantry and artillery have to make do with just a third of their sanctioned strength of 28 officers.

It is to bridge this gap that the army had in 2008 made the proposal to start a second OTA to supplement the army intake of Short Service Commissioned (SSC) officers from the existing Chennai-based OTA and Permanent Commissioned (PC) officers from the Dehradun-based Indian Military Academy (IMA).

Another proposal from the army, then, was to increase the number of seats in Chennai OTA and Dehradun IMA with improvement and upgrade of these institutions’ infrastructure and staff requirements.

The Cabinet Committee on Security , in December 2009, formally approved the Gaya OTA project.

As per the government orders, the Gaya OTA will be housed in the existing premises of the Army Service Corps Centre (North), which is being moved to Bangalore.

With a capacity to train 750 cadets a year, the OTA’s fund requirement would be to the tune of Rs.364 crore for non-recurring expenditure and Rs.44.75 crore recurring expenses annually.

The Gaya OTA will begin with 200 SSC cadets first and then eventually increase its annual, two-batch intake to 750 cadets. This 750 cadets will be the additional recruitment of officers by the army to bridge the shortage in its cadre every year from 2011.

This apart, the army gets a maximum of 600 SSC officers from the Chennai OTA and another 1,100 PC officers from IMA annually.

The army’s second proposal to increase the intake in Chennai OTA to 650 and IMA 1,450 per year, to add another 400 officers to the army’s cadre, is under the consideration of the defence ministry, the officials said.

IMA gets its cadets from the tri-service Khadakwasla-based National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune, open to youngsters after Class 12, and through the ‘direct entry scheme’ for college graduates. The OTA is open to college graduates only.

Armed forces want to gradually, but substantially, increase the number of SSC officers in their ranks, as part of force-restructuring to maintain a youthful profile of its troop commanders. The eventual plan is to have two SSC officers to every PC officer (2:1 ratio) in its cadre.

WASHINGTON: US intelligence officials have twice handed Islamabad tips about insurgent bomb-making factories, only to find them abandoned before Pakistani troops arrived, The Washington Post reported Friday.
The vacated factories have led US officials to question whether the information had been mistakenly leaked in recent weeks or whether the insurgents had been directly warned by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, according to the report….

The United States has been trying to bolster its relationship with Pakistan since the May 2 raid, and the information sharing with Islamabad is part of that effort.
The history of U.S./Pakistan relations since 9/11 is idiotic enough as it is, and it just keeps getting worse. “The United States has been trying to bolster its relationship with Pakistan since the May 2 raid”? Pakistan should be trying to bolster its relationship with the U.S. But of course it is always the role of the non-Muslim side to make all the apologies, all the accommodations, all the concessions.

The Post said Pakistani officials were given surveillance video in mid-May that located two bomb-making plants in the remote tribal areas of North and South Waziristan.
But by the time Pakistani troops arrived on June 4, the sites had been vacated.

A senior Pakistani military official said the United States had shared information about weapons storage facilities as well, but these had also been found empty.

“There is a suspicion that perhaps there was a tip-off,” the official told the newspaper….

No kidding, really?

The United States’ attempts to regain trust in Pakistan’s intelligence service suffered a blow in the last few weeks when the CIA gathered evidence that U.S. officials believe shows collusion between militants and Pakistani security officials.

During a visit to Islamabad on Friday, CIA Director Leon Panetta confronted the head of Pakistan’s intelligence service, showing him satellite and other intelligence that the CIA believes is evidence of Pakistani security’s efforts to help Islamic militants based in Pakistan, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.

According to the officials, Panetta revealed overhead imagery that showed two facilities where militants manufactured improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs, which are commonly used by militants fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The “IED factories” were located in North and South Waziristan, where many militants are based.

The CIA passed intelligence in the past several weeks to their Pakistani counterparts, alerting them to the two facilities, but when Pakistani forces raided the facilities, the militants had disappeared.

In his meetings Friday, Panetta conveyed the CIA’s belief that the militants had been warned by Pakistani security officials prior to the raids.

Panetta traveled to Islamabad just hours after his Congressional hearing to become secretary of defense, an unannounced trip that U.S. officials publicly described as a way to “discuss ways to improve cooperation.” But behind the scenes, Panetta’s visit — expected to be his last as CIA chief — underscored the lack of trust that U.S. officials continue to have in their Pakistani counterparts.

Since Osama bin Laden’s death, senior U.S. officials have demanded that Pakistan prove that it intends to help crack down on terror networks within its own borders with concrete, specific steps.

Today, U.S. and Pakistani officials both admitted that the escape of militants making bombs for use against Americans in Afghanistan was a setback.

Pakistani officials made a rare admission that some kind of collusion was possible.

“There is a suspicion that perhaps there was a tip-off,” a senior Pakistani official told the Washington Post. “It’s being looked into by our people, and certainly anybody involved will be taken to task.”

Pakistani officials contend that they are walking a thin line after the U.S. decided to launch a unilateral raid to kill bin Laden, balancing U.S. demands with a military rank and file that is furious and want their leaders to break with the U.S.

In a sign of just how angry the military is with the U.S., army officials have asked all but “a handful” of U.S. special operations soldiers who have been training Pakistani forces near the Afghan border for the last two years, according to two U.S. officials. The number was as high as a few dozen in the past.

Between 200 and 300 US military personnel remain in Pakistan, said a US military spokesman, who asked not to be identified. It’s not known what the previous number was but an official US statement said the reduction was in line with a request from the Pakistani government.

Panetta met the chiefs of Pakistan’s military and top spy agency on Friday to discuss the Pak-US partnership strained by disputes about how to pursue counter-terrorism efforts.

Panetta’s unannounced visit was the latest in a series of such visits by US officials — among them, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen and Sen John Kerry — in efforts to smooth things over after Osama bin Laden was killed in a Navy SEALs raid in early May.

Panetta insisted that Pakistan launch a military operation in North Waziristan, a rugged mountainous region rife with militants, according to a senior Pakistani official who asked to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Kayani agreed with Panetta in principle but said that Pakistani troops are already stretched thin.

Panetta and his Pakistani counterparts agreed to form a joint intelligence team to track militant targets inside Pakistan, a US media report said.

US officials believe Pakistan is not doing enough to go after al-Qaeda and other extremists, while the Pakistanis are upset with what they consider to be unilateral steps taken by the US within their borders, a reference to the raid on bin Laden’s compound. —INP

Reuters adds: Leon Panetta told Pakistan’s army and intelligence chiefs that he was concerned about a reduction of US troops allowed in the country, but was bluntly told by Pakistani military officials that no American boots would be allowed on Pakistani soil.

During an unannounced trip to Pakistan’s capital on Friday, Mr. Panetta met with the leader of the Pakistani intelligence service, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and showed him satellite photographs and other evidence of what the C.I.A. believes to be two facilities for the manufacture of bombs used by militants based in Pakistan against American forces in Afghanistan, the official said. The bomb facilities were in the northwestern districts of North and South Waziristan, both havens for militants.

The official said Mr. Panetta was compelled to confront General Pasha after the C.I.A. alerted the Pakistanis about the existence of the bomb-making facilities several weeks ago and asked them to raid the locations. But when the Pakistani Army showed up, the militants were gone, making the C.I.A. suspicious that the militants had warning from someone on the Pakistani side.

“The targets seem to have been tipped off,” the American official said, adding, “There are indications that some senior Pakistani officials aren’t happy about it, and neither are we, of course.”

A senior Pakistani official said Saturday that at first there was no reason for Pakistan to be suspicious that the bomb makers had disappeared. “Extremist groups often move locations,” the official said. But, the official said, “now that the U.S. side has drawn our attention to the possibility of the Taliban being tipped off between the day the intelligence was shared and the day of our military action, we will work on finding out what happened.”

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

Mr. Panetta’s meeting with General Pasha and the theory that there was a tip-off about the bomb-making facilities were first reported by Time magazine.

Tensions between the United States and Pakistan have worsened since the American military raid that killed Osama bin Laden near the Pakistani capital last month. American officials say they have uncovered no evidence that anyone in Pakistan’s senior leadership knew about Bin Laden’s hiding place, although the departing defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, said recently that he thought “somebody” in Pakistan knew.

American officials did not tell Pakistan about the raid until afterward.

American intelligence and military officials have long said that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence service have close links to Pakistani insurgents and the Pakistani Taliban. American officials say Pakistan supports the insurgents as a proxy force in Afghanistan, preparing for influence after American soldiers leave.

Mr. Panetta, who is due to replace Mr. Gates as defense secretary on July 1, said during his confirmation hearing last week that Pakistan, an important American ally, also remained a serious problem.

He told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the relationship with Pakistan was “one of the most critical, and yet one of the most complicated and frustrating relationships that we have.” Mr. Panetta added that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons remained a concern because of “the danger that those nukes could wind up in the wrong hands.”

Deadly Bombings in Peshawar

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Two explosions took place minutes apart in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar on Sunday, killing at least 34 people and wounding nearly 100 in one of the deadliest attacks since the Navy Seal raid that killed Osama bin Laden last month, officials said.

The blasts, one of which was caused by a suicide bomber, occurred just after midnight in an area of the city that is home to political offices and army housing.

The first explosion was relatively small and drew police officers and rescue workers to the site, said Dost Mohammed, a senior local police official. A few minutes later, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle set off a large bomb, causing the fatalities and wounding 98 people, 18 critically, said Rahim Jan, a doctor nearby.

A new research has warned that the planet’s soils are under a greater threat than ever before.

Professor Steve Banwart from the University’s Kroto Research Institute says that in some parts of the world, losses due to erosion are greatly outstripping the natural rate of soil formation; and the intensity of human activity is impacting the ability of soil to produce food, store carbon from the atmosphere, filter contamination from water supplies and maintain necessary biodiversity.
Because of growing demand for food, intensification of agriculture alone will put a huge strain on soils over the next few decades, and climate change adds to the challenge, Steve said. Soils are at the heart of the earth’s ‘critical zone’, the life-supporting veneer of the planet from the top of tree canopies to the bottom of drinking water aquifers that support much of humankind, the Sheffield release said.

CZOs are international magnets that draw together multidisciplinary experts from around the world, to focus their combined efforts to solve this soils challenge. “The challenge is clear,” Banwart said. “We need rigorous forecasting methods to quantify and best utilize soil’s natural capital, to assess options for maintaining or extending it, and to determine how declines can be reversed.

“And we need these things well within a decade,” he added. The study has been published in the journal Nature.

Defense ministers from NATO and other countries fighting in Afghanistan were discussing the war before a decision by the Obama administration on how many of the 100,000 American troops to pull out of the war in July.

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere urged restraint.

Germany understands the U.S. move, but “we have some concerns that if it is too much then the (Afghanistan) strategy cannot be implemented as agreed. We hope for a moderate step by the American president,” De Maiziere said.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, briefed ministers from NATO and other countries at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels. He is slated to deliver options for troop reductions to President Barack Obama in the coming days.

Despite the looming American troop reduction, NATO Secretary–General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the meeting the alliance is on track to hand over responsibility for security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

And he told Taliban insurgents to renounce violence and cut links with terror networks.

“The successful operation against Osama bin Laden sent a clear message — extremism has no future,” Rasmussen told a meeting of defense ministers focussed on the 10–year Afghanistan conflict. “It is time for the Taliban to make a choice: Cut links with al Qaida and terror networks, renounce violence and respect the democratic Afghan constitution.”

Thursday’s meeting was U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ last gathering at the alliance’s headquarters before he retires at the end of the month.

On Wednesday, Gates challenged five key military allies to take on a greater share of the NATO–led air campaign against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces in Libya, but none of the countries pledged to do more.

The pressure on Germany, Poland, Spain, Turkey and Netherlands came as the alliance continued with intensified airstrikes on Libya’s capital, Tripoli. Seven thunderous strikes shook the city again Thursday morning.

The alliance also announced Thursday it is cutting some 4,200 posts in a streamlining of its command structure that involves closing four of its 11 command bases.

The new NATO command structure will be “effective, leaner and affordable,” the alliance said in a statement.