MuSiNgS

Striking facts - China's Dam Frenzy

2011-12-19T23:58:00.000-08:00

#China boasts more dams than the rest of the world combined.

Before the Communists came to power in 1949, there were only 22 dams of any significant size in China. But now China has more than half of the world’s almost 50,000 large dams.

This feat means that China has completed on average at least one large dam per day since 1949. If dams of all sizes are counted, the number in China surpasses 85,000.

According to Wen Jiabao, China has relocated a total of 22.9 million citizens since 1949 to make way for water projects. So, by official count alone, 1,035 citizens on average have been forcibly evicted daily in the past 62 years for water projects.

China is also the global leader in exporting dams. Its state-run companies today are building more dams overseas than the other international dam builders put together.

BY Brahma Chellaney -

China’s frenzied dam-building hit a wall recently in Burma (Myanmar), where the government’s bold decision to halt a controversial Chinese-led dam project helped to ease the path to the first visit by a US secretary of state to that country in more than a half-century.

The now-stalled $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam, located at the headwaters of Burma’s largest river, the Irrawaddy, was designed to pump electricity exclusively into China’s power grid, despite the fact that Burma suffers daily power outages. The State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of China’s State Council hailed Myitsone as a model overseas project serving Chinese interests. The Burmese decision thus shocked China’s government, which had begun treating Burma as a reliable client state (one where it still has significant interests, including the ongoing construction of a multibillion-dollar oil and natural-gas pipeline).

Despite that setback, China remains the world’s biggest dam builder at home and abroad. Indeed, no country in history has built more dams than China, which boasts more dams than the rest of the world combined.

Before the Communists came to power in 1949, China had only 22 dams of any significant size. Now the country has more than half of the world’s roughly 50,000 large dams, defined as having a height of at least 15 meters, or a storage capacity of more than three million cubic meters. Thus, China has completed, on average, at least one large dam per day since 1949. If dams of all sizes are counted, China’s total surpasses 85,000.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, China’s dams had the capacity to store 562.4 cubic kilometers of water in 2005, or 20% of the country’s total renewable water resources. Since then, China has built scores of new dams, including the world’s largest: the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.

China is also the global leader in exporting dams. Its state-run companies are building more dams overseas than all other international dam builders put together. Thirty-seven Chinese financial and corporate entities are involved in more than 100 major dam projects in the developing world. Some of these entities are very large and have multiple subsidiaries. For instance, Sinohydro Corporation – the world’s largest hydroelectric company – boasts 59 overseas branches.

Both the profit motive and a diplomatic effort to showcase its engineering prowess drive China’s overseas dam-building efforts. China’s declared policy of “noninterference in domestic affairs” actually serves as a virtual license to pursue dam projects that flood lands and forcibly uproot people – including, as with Myitsone, ethnic minorities – in other countries. But it is doing the same at home by shifting its focus from dam-saturated internal rivers to the international rivers that originate in the Tibetan plateau, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Manchuria.

China contends that its role as the global leader in exporting dams has created a “win-win” situation for host countries and its own companies. But evidence from a number of project sites shows that the dams are exacting a serious environmental toll on those hosts.

As a result, the overseas projects often serve to inflame anti-Chinese sentiment, reflected in grassroots protests at several sites in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Moreover, by using a Chinese workforce to build dams and other projects abroad – a practice that runs counter to its own “localization” requirement, adopted in 2006 – China reinforces a perception that it is engaged in exploitative practices.

As the world’s most dammed country, China is already the largest producer of hydropower globally, with a generating capacity of more than 170 gigawatts. Yet ambitious plans to boost its hydro-generating capacity significantly by damming international rivers have embroiled the country in water disputes with most neighbors, even North Korea.

More broadly, China’s dam-building passion has spawned two key developments. First, Chinese companies now dominate the global hydropower-equipment export market. Sinohydro alone, having eclipsed Western equipment suppliers like ABB, Alstom, General Electric, and Siemens, claims to control half the market.

Second, the state-run hydropower industry’s growing clout within China has led the government to campaign aggressively for overseas dam projects by offering low-interest loans to other governments. At home, it recently unveiled a mammoth new $635 billion investment program in water infrastructure over the next decade, more than a third of which will be channeled into building dams, reservoirs, and other supply structures.

China’s over-damming of rivers and its inter-river and inter-basin water transfers have already wreaked havoc on natural ecosystems, causing river fragmentation and depletion and promoting groundwater exploitation beyond the natural replenishment capacity.

The social costs have been even higher, a fact reflected in Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s stunning admission in 2007 that, since 1949, China has relocated a total of 22.9 million Chinese to make way for water projects – a figure larger than the populations of Australia, Romania, or Chile. Since then, another 350,000 residents – mostly poor villagers – have been uprooted.

So, by official count alone, 1,035 citizens on average have been forcibly evicted for water projects every day for more than six decades. With China now increasingly damming transnational rivers such as the Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra, Irtysh, Illy, and Amur, the new projects threaten to “export” the serious degradation haunting China’s internal rivers to those rivers. The time has come to exert concerted external pressure on China to rein in its dam frenzy and embrace international environmental standards.

Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research, is the author of Asian Juggernaut and the newly released Water: Asia’s New Battleground.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2011.
www.project-syndicate.org

Al Qaeda in Africa

2011-12-07T23:27:00.000-08:00

The first time the members of al-Qaeda emerged from the forest, they politely said hello. Then the men carrying automatic weapons asked the frightened villagers if they could please take water from the well.

Before leaving, they rolled down the windows of their pickup truck and called over the children to give them chocolate.

That was 18 months ago, and since then, the bearded men in outfits like those worn by Osama bin Laden have returned for water every week. Each time they go to lengths to exchange greetings, ask for permission and act neighbourly, according to locals, in the first intimate look at how al-Qaeda tries to win over a village.

Besides candy, the men hand out cash. If a child is born, they bring baby clothes. If someone is ill, they prescribe medicine. When a boy was hospitalised, they dropped off plates of food and picked up the tab.

With almost no resistance, al-Qaeda has implanted itself in Africa’s soft tissue, choosing as its host one of the poorest nations on earth. The terrorist group has created a refuge in this remote land through a strategy of winning hearts and minds, described in rare detail by seven locals in regular contact with the cell. The villagers agreed to speak for the first time to an Associated Press team in the “red zone,” deemed by most embassies to be too dangerous for foreigners to visit.

While al-Qaeda’s central command is in disarray and its leaders on the run following bin Laden’s death six months ago, security experts say, the group’s five-year-old branch in Africa is flourishing. From bases like the one in the forest just north of here, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is infiltrating local communities, recruiting fighters, running training camps and planning suicide attacks, according to diplomats and government officials.

Even as the mother franchise struggles financially, its African offshoot has raised an estimated $130 million in under a decade by kidnapping at least 50 Westerners in neighbouring countries and holding them in camps in Mali for ransom. It has tripled in size from 100 combatants in 2006 to at least 300 today, say security experts. And its growing footprint, once limited to Algeria, now stretches from one end of the Sahara desert to the other, from Mauritania in the west to Mali in the east.

The group’s stated aim is to become a player in global jihad, and suspected collaborators have been arrested throughout Europe, including in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, England and France. In September, the general responsible for US military operations in Africa, Army Gen. Carter Ham, said AQIM now also poses a “significant threat” to the United States.

The answer to why the group has thrived can be found in this speck of a town, where homes are made of mud mixed with straw and families eke out a living either in the fields of rice to the south or in the immense forest of short, stout trees to its north.

It’s here, under a canopy stretching over an area three times larger than the city of New York, that Sokolo’s herders take their cattle. They avoid overgrasing by organising themselves into eight units linked to each of the eight wells, labelled N1 through N8, along the 50-mile-long perimeter of the Wagadou forest. They pay $5 per year per head of cattle, and $3 per head of sheep, for the right to water their animals.

When the al-Qaeda fighters showed up with four to five jerry cans and asked for water, they signalled that they did not intend to plunder resources.

“From the moment you lay eyes on them, you know that they’re not Malian,” said 45-year-old herder Amadou Maiga.

They started to come every four or five days in Land Cruisers, with Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders. At first they stayed for no more than 15 to 20 minutes, said the villagers, including herders, a hunter and employees of the Malian Ministry of Husbandry who travel to the area to vaccinate animals and repair broken pumps. If on Monday they took water from one well, on Wednesday they would go to another, always varying their path.

Fousseyni Diakite, 51, a pump technician who travels twice a month to the forest to check the generators used to run the wells, first ran into the cell in May 2010, when he saw four men in Arab dress inside a Toyota Hilux truck, all with AK-47s at their feet.

He said the men come with medical supplies and try to find out if anyone is sick.

“There is one who is tall with a big chest _ he’s Arab, possibly Algerian. He’s known for having an ambulatory pharmacy. He goes from place to place giving treatment for free,” Diakite said.

They venture into the camps where the herders sleep at dusk and hand out cash to villagers who join them for prayers, he said _ bills of 10,000 West African francs (about $20), equal to nearly half the average monthly salary in Mali.

Most of the herders sleep in lean-to’s in camps at the forest’s edge. Because these are temporary settlements, they do not have mosques, unlike most villages in this nation twice the size of France that is 90 percent Muslim.

In Boulker, a hamlet near the forest, the fighters left 100,000 francs (around $200), instructing locals to buy supplies and build an adobe mosque, Diakite said.

“They said that for every population center with at least 10 people, there should be a mosque,” he said.

Along with its poverty, Mali has an enormous geography and a weak central government — not unlike Afghanistan, where bin Laden first used the charm offensive to secure the loyalty of the local people, said Noman Benotman, a former jihadist with links to al-Qaida, now an analyst at the London-based Quilliam Foundation.

“We used to teach our people about this. It’s part of the military plan — how to treat locals. This is the environment that keeps them alive,” said Benotman, who first met bin Laden in Sudan and who spent years fighting alongside al-Qaida in Afghanistan. He said bin Laden gave his fighters specific instructions on how to conduct themselves: Don’t argue about the price, just make the locals happy. Become “like oxygen” to them.

AQIM is taking the lesson to heart. Soon after they began taking water, one of the bearded fighters approached a shepherd at the pump to buy a ram. The fighters were looking to slaughter it to feed themselves. The shepherd offered it to him for free — too afraid to ask for money, said Maiga, the man’s friend.

But the stranger refused to take the ram without payment, and immediately handed over a generous sum.

“They seem to know all the prices ahead of time. They point to a ram and say, `I’ll buy that one for 30,000 cfa ($60),’” said Maiga, quoting the highest sum a herder could expect to get for a ram in these parts. “They never bargain.”

AQIM grew out of the groups fighting the Algerian government in the 1990s, after the military canceled elections to stave off victory for an Islamist party. Over the next decade, they left a trail of destruction in Algeria. Around 2003, they sent an emissary to Iraq to meet an al-Qaida intermediary, according to Benotman. Three years later, the insurgents joined the terror family, in what second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri called “a blessed union.”

Since then, their attacks have taken on the hallmarks of al-Qaida. A pair of explosions this August killed 18 people as they tore through the mess hall of Algeria’s military academy, with the second bomb timed to hit emergency responders.

Al-Qaida in turn appears to be learning from its affiliates, which have used kidnappings for ransom in Algeria, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. After bin Laden’s death in May, investigators found files on his hard drive showing plans to turn to kidnapping to compensate for a decline in donations.

AQIM in particular has perfected what analysts call a “kidnap economy,” drawing on its refuge in Mali, according to diplomats, hostage negotiators and government officials. In 2003, the group kidnapped and transported 32 mostly German tourists from southern Algeria to Mali, where, according to a member of Mali’s parliament, they struck a deal with local authorities that is still in effect today.

“The agreement was, `You don’t hurt us, we won’t hurt you,’” said the parliament member, formerly involved in hostage negotiations, who asked not to be identified because of the danger involved.

The government of Mali denies these accusations, but officials cited in diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks make the same assertion. The president of neighboring Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, told his American counterparts in 2009 that Mali is “at peace with AQIM to avoid attacks on its territory.” Whereas the al-Qaida cell has captured more than 50 foreigners in Algeria, Niger and Mauritania, hardly any of the violence has touched Mali.

The cell has also managed to recruit local fighters, including 60 to 80 Tuaregs, the olive-skinned nomads who live in the Sahara desert, according to a security expert. And villagers say they have seen black-skinned sub-Saharan Africans in the pickups speaking the languages of Mali, Guinea and Nigeria.

“The situation in Mali is they have become locals — they are not foreigners,” said Benotman. “This is really, really very, very difficult to do, and it makes it very hard to get rid of them.”

One thing still stands in al-Qaida’s way: Its hardcore ideology does not gel with the moderate Islam practiced by Mali’s nomads. Most of them said they were afraid, caught between need for the money al-Qaida offers and wariness of its extremist beliefs.

When bin Laden died, the members of the local cell went from well to well to ask people to pray for his soul, according to Amaye ag Ali Cisse, an employee of the Ministry of Husbandry who travels twice a month to the wells to oversee the vaccination of animals.

“Everyone is uncomfortable,” he said. “This is a religion that doesn’t belong to us.”

The herders say the fighters have not tried to impose their ideology by force. Instead, they say that the AQIM members wait until they have seen a herder at least a few times before broaching the subject.

“It was the third time that I saw them that they started preaching to me,” said Maiga. “They said that everything they do is in order to seek out God.”

Herder Baba Ould Momo, 29, said he tries to come up with an excuse to leave when the pickup trucks arrive at the well, because he’s afraid the terror cell will pull him in. He said they backed off when they noticed he wasn’t interested.

“The first thing they try to do is invite people to join them in the forest. If they see that the person is wavering, it’s then that they start preaching — saying everything is transitory,” said Momo, who like most of the herders wears plastic flip-flops, with a robe of wrinkled cloth. “But if the person is categorical in saying `No,’ they leave them alone.”

In June, Mauritania and Mali led a rare joint attack on the al-Qaeda cell in the Wagadou Forest. However, herders say that a week earlier, the al-Qaeda fighters told them that an attack was imminent and that they had laid down land mines in the forest. Mauritania blames Malian officials for tipping off AQIM.

The herders said that for around two weeks, they didn’t see the bearded fighters. Then they returned with a new fleet of Hilux pickup trucks, and with more men. Since then, the fighters’ tracks have been all over the forest floor, in a map of constant movement, said 60-year-old hunter Cheickana Cisse. They no longer sleep in the same place.

Just as Cisse was taking a drink of water at the N7 pump on a recent evening, two pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft cannons and loaded with combatants drove up. The men had chains of ammunition strapped across their chests, and belts loaded with cartridges.

They laid their AK-47s in a circle on the ground to create a space to pray, like a symbolic mosque. One of them asked Cisse if he had heard of bin Laden.

“He said, `We’re like this with bin Laden,’” Cisse explained, intertwining his right and left index fingers like a link in a chain. “He said, `We’re al-Qaeda.’”

The elderly hunter tried to slip away just as one of the fighters made the call to prayer.

“And they said, `You? Aren’t you going to pray?’ They told me to come into the circle. I could feel them watching me,” he said.

The men kneeled inside the circle of weapons. Four others guarded them, including one who climbed on the roof of the truck. Cisse tiptoed inside and began going through the prayer. “I kept stealing glances to see if they were doing the same moves as me,” he said. “I know the words, but I was scared.”

When the group had finished, the four who had kept vigil took their turn inside the circle. Cisse quietly walked away.

They didn’t try to stop him.

Airforce defence

2011-10-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

The air base at Kalaikunda will now play an extremely crucial role in the country's defences.

Aircraft based here will be involved in air defence over the strategic Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Bay of Bengal. The tri-services command at the A&N Islands will be in charge of the squadrons of Su-30 MKIs and other advanced aircraft based at Kalaikunda for this specific purpose. This decision was taken when plans for basing Sukhois in the Andamans got scuttled after the 2004 tsunami in which the IAF lost assets. "Till now, Kalaikunda - while performing several other duties - has been a bridge with the Andamans. The role of the base will grow and aircraft based here will play a vital role in patrolling the skies over the Andamans and the Bay of Bengal. Kalaikunda will play several roles that include air defence, training and building better co-operation in the region for a possible Nato-like alliance with India playing the pivotal role," an official said.

The Kalaikunda airbase is nestled among forests of Sal in the Maoist badlands of West Midnapore. Set up by the Americans for its Superfortress bombers operating during the Burma campaign, the facility has grown steadily in importance over the years. "A large area falls within the responsibility of this base. There are several bases in the northeast but along the eastern coast, the closest one is in Chennai. It is our job to handle the defences along the coast and the Bay of Bengal region. We play host to several foreign air forces interested in joint exercises with the IAF," the official added.

"This is a very compact base built in classical American style. The Americans used to operate flights from Kalaikunda, Dudhkundi and Salua. Today, we have a radar station at Salua and Dudhkundi has been converted into an air-to-ground firing range. Over the years, Kalaikunda has developed into a major location for international air exercises. Soon, we shall have the Republic of Singapore Air Force visiting Kalaikunda. The base is close to Bay of Bengal where air-to-air firing can take place," says Air Commodore R Radhish, AOC, Air Force Station, Kalaikunda.

But Kalaikunda goes well beyond an exercise hub. Apart from the MiG-27 ground attack aircraft and MiG-21 Fn fighters of the OCU, squadrons of Su-30 MKIs and other advanced varieties from the IAF's fleet call on Kalaikunda on a regular basis. A squadron of Su-30 MKIs is now at the base.

Over the last few years, Delhi has started to realize that China is as great a threat as Pakistan and there has been a rush to upgrade facilities in the eastern and northeastern sector. Fighters from Kalaikunda can fly to the Andamans and beyond for longrange patrols. Unlike older aircraft, the Su-30 MKIs can fly at very slow speeds (nearly that of a helicopter) and carry out surveillance before zooming away at twice the speed of sound.

"In case of some mischief by our northern neighbour, this is the place where our defences can fall back to. Also this base is playing a crucial role in developing regional cooperation. There may come a time when a Nato-like organization develops here with India playing the role of the US. If this happens, our assets would no longer have to be on their toes for 365 days a year. Pilots of the Nato countries have to be on active duty for only 90 days at a stretch," an IAF official said.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to acquire six more C-130J Super Hercules special operations aircraft from the United States in addition to the six already ordered.

The IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne, said that the aircraft had performed well in the recent earthquake relief operations in north-eastern India and that the IAF would utilize the multi-role capability of the aircraft as required.

The C-130J can land and take off from unpaved, grassy fields the size of a football ground and can be a big support in both peace and war to drop or pick up equipment, soldiers and those hit by calamities.

The IAF had signed a deal for six C-130J aircraft for about $1.1 billion with the US military systems giant Lockheed Martin on January 31, 2008, and five of these aircraft have been delivered within 2011 as contacted, before their scheduled delivery time.

Augmenting its chopper fleet, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will induct the first batch of Russian-origin Mi-17 V5 helicopters by mid-October.

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.

India's counter-terrorism record: An open letter to Fareed Zakaria

2011-09-21T05:23:00.000-07:00

BY - B.RAMAN

Dear Mr.Fareed Zakaria,

I read with considerable interest extracts from your interview to the CNN-IBN on counter-terrorism in which, inter alia, you have compared the track record of the Indian counter-terrorism community with that of the US.

2. Rediff.com has reported on your CNN-IBN interview as follows: “

“ When looking at the capacity and talents of intelligence agencies around the world, I don't think anyone has spoken highly about the Indian intelligence agencies.

“As a matter of reporting, India's counter-terrorism operations are not regarded very high. This is an area India has not focused on a great deal.

“India has not done good because as it has a large Muslim population, but again India's police force is pathetic. Look at Mumbai -- India's police force is not a police force -- it is a patronage job that is given to people to support communities, they don't know how to police.”

3. Before I comment substantively on your observations, I must introduce myself: I was an officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS). I joined the IPS in 1961 and retired in August,1994, after having served for about four years in the Madhya Pradesh Police, one year in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) of the Government of India and 26 years in the Research & Analysis Wing ( R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency. When I was in service, the R&AW had two divisions dealing with terrorism----one with indigenous terrorism --- what many now call home-grown terrorism--- and the other with international terrorism. I headed the Division dealing with indigenous terrorism from 1981 to 1985 and headed both the Divisions from 1988 till my retirement in 1994. Between 1991 and 1994, I used to wear a second hat as the head of the division responsible for intelligence liaison with foreign intelligence agencies. In that capacity, I had interacted closely with the intelligence agencies of the US and the UK----particularly in matters relating to counter-terrorism.”

4. The Indian track-record in counter-terrorism is not one of abysmal failure. We have had remarkable success stories particularly against Khalistani terrorism in Punjab and against the terrorism of Al Umma in Tamil Nadu. In both these instances, it was the local police force which led the counter-terrorism operations and won final victory despite all the handicaps suffered by it. In Jammu and Kashmir too--- though final victory has not yet been won--- the Indian counter-terrorism forces led by the Army have succeeded remarkably in bringing what we call cross-border terrorism under control.

5. The poor track-record of the Indian counter-terrorism community has been mainly against jihadi terrorism in North India.

6. We have had instances of jihadi terrorism in the South too in places such as Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and Bengaluru. In the 1990s, we had the Al Umma phenomenon in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

7.The police in South India has generally done better against terrorism emanating from the Muslim community than the Police in North/West India because the political class and the media in the South have generally refrained from demonising the Police and the intelligence agencies whenever they have acted against Muslims who have taken to terrorism. The Police in the South has, therefore, the confidence that it can do whatever is legally permissible in order to bring terrorism involving the participation of some Muslims under control.

8. Thankfully, in the South, there has been no politicisation till now of counter-terrorism which affected some members of the Muslim community. Unfortunately, there was politicisation of counter-terrorism directed against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). We paid a heavy price for it in May 1991, when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE in Chennai. Since then, this politicisation too has come down.

9. In North and West India, the admittedly poor record of the counter-terrorism community against jihadi terrorism---whether of the home-grown or Pakistani variety--- has been considerably due to the reluctance of the political class to act against the terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan and its equal reluctance to act against those members of the Muslim community who take to terrorism.

10. It is very unfair on your part to have compared the track-record of the Indian counter-terrorism community with that of the US. Many things which are permitted against Muslims in the US will not be permitted in India and we in the counter-terrorism community feel should not be permitted by the political leadership. Examples of what we in India do not do and will never do are:
• Treating a Muslim as a suspect by virtue of his religion and appearance unless proved otherwise. Shah Rukh Khan, the famous Indian film actor, was treated as a suspect in the US. Such things will not happen in India.
• Treating jihadi suspects as “war criminals” and keeping them in a military camp (Guantanamo Bay) and subjecting them to trials by military tribunals.
• Use of air strikes against terrorists and their sanctuaries, killing a large number of innocent Muslims. Since India became independent in 1947, we have used the Air Force only once in Mizoram in 1966 when the Mizo insurgents over-ran almost the entire State.
• The so-called rendition flights by which the US counter-terrorism agencies kept flying Muslim suspects arrested abroad from country to country in order to avoid having to produce them before a court of law.
• The extraordinary methods of torture sanctified by the US Justice department that were used against Muslim suspects---whether in Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere.

11. I am proud to say that neither the Indian political class nor the Indian counter-terrorism community would ever think of resorting to such diabolical methods. Even if we thought of them, the Indian media would have been the first to start a campaign against them.

12.Mr.Zakaria, how many of you in the US media world raised your voice against these methods when these were being used in the years after 9/11. Did you raise your voice against them, Mr.Zakaria? You all believed that any method is a good method against Muslim suspects till Al Qaeda is brought under control.

13. We have a self-denying counter-terrorism policy. We consciously deny to ourselves many practices which you in the US permit to yourselves in your counter-terrorism against Muslim suspects. We are proud of such self-denying provisions in our counter-terrorism policy.

14.One last point, I should make. India is next door neighbour to Pakistan. Much of our jihadi terrorism emanates from Pakistan. The US is thousands of KMs away from Pakistan. We face a terrorist threat from Pakistan every day. You face a threat sporadically. And yet, the kind of methods that you have used against Pakistan we have never used. We fight against terrorism emanating from Pakistan with one hand tied in the back.

15. It is not only because our political leadership will not permit it, but it is also because of the hypocrisy of the US Government which will use any methods against Pakistan in order to protect the US Homeland and American lives, but never hesitates to come in the way of India following a similar policy to protect the Indian Homeland and Indian lives.

With regards,
B.Raman

Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com. Twitter” @SORBONNE75 .

Mr.Fareed Zakaria,
Editor-at-large,
Time Magazine,
New York

Chinese String of Pearl around India

2011-08-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

Every country reserves the right to develop its strategic relations in the neighborhood as well as in geostrategic areas. China is not a South and South Asian power. However, for strategic reasons China has adopted an aggressive policy of establishing itself as stable and trusted friends of countries around India. Initially Pakistan was the fertile ground for China to develop strategic stranglehold around India. Over years China has pumped in pumped in over $ 100 billion in Pakistan. It is involved in mining operations in Balochistan and Punjab, port upgradation at Gwadar, oil and gas exploration, hydro-power projects in Kashmir’s northern areas, telecommunication in FATA region and Punjab. After completion of the Karakoram Road connecting Pakistan and China it is now negotiating expansion of railway connectivity with the Pakistan authorities. Over 15,000 PLA personnel are present in Pakistan on ostensive construction activities. While Pakistan has removed the US trainers, there are reliable reports that the PLA are working as instructors with the SSG and high altitude warfare commandos in the Northern Areas of Pak-occupied Kashmir. Supply of missiles, aircrafts, reactors and other sophisticated weaponries are well known facts. Pakistan’s rocket technology has been developed with North Korean and Chinese helps. Certain forward airbases have also been upgraded with Chinese help. China is likely to invest in Iran-Pakistan gas pipe line that will be extended to the Chinese border. In short, China is an all-weather partner of Pakistan.

To elaborate, Pakistan is the main target of geopolitical satellite fabrication by China in India’s neighborhood. Chinese collaboration in completing the Gwadar Port in southern Balochistan is well known. Though completed, the port is sparsely used for commercial purposes as the security situation in Balochistan is fragile. In Balochistan the Chinese are also present in developing the Saindak copper-gold mine. China is not keen on operating in Baloch area as some of their workers were kidnapped by Baloch rebels.

Pakistan has given contract to China to establish mobile phone network in FATA area. Pakistan has proposal to give similar contract to Chinese companies for Waziristan and Northern Areas (POK). Pakistan is wooing China to agree to join the proposed Iran-Pakistan-Xinxiang gas pipeline. Earlier India was supposed to be a partner in the venture. Prohibitive cost and security problems made India to back out from the proposed gas pipeline. China has not yet agreed to the Pakistani proposal.

The Karakoram highway was built by China and Pakistan connecting both the countries. The deployment of Chinese troops in this region even though for the ostensible purposes of infrastructural improvements of the ‘Karakoram Corridor’ heralds a new phase of China flexing its muscles not only against India but more significantly against United States in the wider global context. According to Dr. Subhash Kapila, “Ominously, China’s up gradation of the Karakoram Corridor on Pakistan’s behalf enables China’s strategic outreach to the North Arabian Sea and the Gulf. Building oil and gas pipelines through this Corridor significantly improve China’s military postures in Western Tibet and Xingjian both against India and countering the NATO’s Eastward creep towards China’s peripheries. Notwithstanding that, the Karakoram Corridor initially passes through disputed territory, China has gone ahead with this major project as the major portion traversing Pakistan gives a strategic advantage to China in not only in outflanking US embedment in Afghanistan but also places a strong ‘strategic pressure point’ in China’s hand against the United States when coupled with Chinese naval presence at Gwadar Port in proximity of the Hormuz Straits.”

Recently President Asif Ali Zardari pleaded with China in August 2010 about Chinese help in developing hydro, thermal and solar energy in Pakistan, especially in the Gilgit-Skardu-Baltistan areas. Signing of MOU for construction of dam at Bunji in the Astore district of Northern Area with Pakistani ministry of water & power and China’s Three Gorges Project Corporation has not been taken kindly by India. This is one of the 8 projects that would produce 7000 mw electricity; part of which would be exported to China.

Tensions between India and China stepped up in October 2010 after reports that thousands of Chinese troops were in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir near the border with China. The controversy was sparked by an inflammatory article by Selig Harrison in the New York Times on August 26 declaring that Islamabad was “handing over de facto control” of the strategic region to China by allowing the entry of between 7,000 and 11,000 Chinese soldiers. His article was based on “foreign intelligence sources, Pakistani journalists and Pakistani human rights workers”.
Harrison acknowledged that many of the “troops” were involved in construction work on road and rail links between China and Pakistan. He suspected that 22 tunnels could be used by China and Pakistan for storing missiles. Commenting on the land routes from China via Gilgit-Baltistan to Chinese-built ports in southern Pakistan, Harrison declared: “Coupled with its support for the Taliban, Islamabad’s collusion in facilitating Chinese access to the [Persian] Gulf makes clear that Pakistan is not a US ‘ally’.”

While Pakistani Establishment and media denounced Harrison’s comments and claimed that the Chinese troops were present for repair work of the Karakoram highway and China-Pakistan rail link, the Indian reaction was sharp. In response to the New York Times article, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh briefed various Indian newspapers on the dangers of China’s alleged military presence in Gilgit-Baltistan. As reported in the Times of India on September 7, Singh declared: “China would like to have a foothold in South Asia and we have to reflect on this reality.” He went on to warn of a “new assertiveness among the Chinese”. Singh said China could use India’s “soft underbelly” of Kashmir “to keep India in low-level equilibrium”.

On September 13, India’s defense minister A.K. Antony told a military conference that “we cannot afford to drop our guard” in relation to China. “We want to develop friendly relations with China … However; we cannot lose sight of the fact that China has been improving its military and physical infrastructure. In fact, there has been an increasing assertiveness on the part of China,” he said.

A protagonist of “Balawaristan” (independent Northern Area and POK) now in exile, shared with the author that besides working in Bunji dam project Pakistan has invited Chinese experts to teach Pakistanis in river fish cultivation and development of inland fishery industry. Including Karakoram Highway and the railway project there are about 20, 000 Chinese uniformed men in Gilgit-Baltistan area, in addition to huge Pakistani army and Northern Light Infantry and ISI operative presence. Despite inauguration of a facade of self-rule structure combined Chinese and Pakistani presence and planned induction of Sunni Punjabi and tribal Muslims in the area have created conditions of insecurity amongst the “Balawaris.”

Chinese presence in the Northern Area and shifting stand of China on Kashmir has added new breather to the separatists inspired and instigated by Pakistan. China now has sided with Pakistan and accepts Kashmir as a disputed territory and not as an integral part of India. It issues stapled visa to the Kashmiris and even declined to issue visa to a senior army officer because of his alleged posting in Kashmir. China invited Mirwaiz Farooq to China for discussion on the Kashmir issue. Gradually China is trying to emerge as the third party in the Kashmir tangle between India and Pakistan. Why not? Pakistan had transferred a huge part of Indian Kashmir to China back in 1966. Obviously Aksai Chin issue is there. So, how can India exclude China from any future talk?

Militarily India has slowly reacted to Chinese belligerence. It has increased troops, air force and missile capability in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. New air landing facilities are being developed in Ladakh and border roads from Arunachal to Kashmir are being developed. It is expected that the pace of construction would be hastened up. The question of counter-military response in Kashmir-Ladakh region is being actively considered. Besides India the USA has a big stake in gradual but steady Chinese built up in Pakistan. Even if the USA and the NATO gradually withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014/15 Pakistan is not likely to cut its umbilical connection with Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda. Unless the state of Pakistan is overtaken by internal insurgent forces in the name of Islam the Army, Establishment and the ISI are not likely to abandon their ambidextrous policies and keep vast spaces open in Afghanistan open to be filled up by its friendly forces and the USA to be replaced by China. America would cease to be a regional power in this smoldering Islamist triangle and its strategic presence would be replaced by China. Strategic planners in Pakistan are actively weighing these probabilities. What should the USA and India do in these circumstances?

It is understood that the Indian strategists and military experts have taken into account the security ambiance arising out of Pak-China entente in the region. No doubt clouds the perception of Indian strategists that Sino-Pak liaison is not merely development oriented. It has definite military orientation aimed at the high priority target-India. Pakistan’s India-centric policy craves for upgraded Chinese collaboration, in the background of the facts that USA and other powers are not provide Pakistan with most sophisticated weaponry systems, aircrafts and other sinuses of warfare.

The Indian media occasionally hype the Sino-Pak collaboration without focusing on darker aspects of understanding that in the event of Indo-Pak war China is definitely going to join shoulders and confront India over the unresolved border disputes. Better media coverage and satellite and electronic intelligence gathering are, therefore, of cardinal importance.

India has not been paying adequate attention to increasing Chinese incursions in Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka and strengthening its footholds on Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean zone. These aspects require diplomatic, military and strategic study keeping in view India’s long term interest in South and South East Asia and the Indian Ocean zone.

China has made deep inroads in Myammar. A China-South Korea consortium is on the verge of constructing a mega energy deal in Myanmar. The energy mega-deal actually involves several separate projects: offshore gas development, a deep-sea port, gas and oil terminals, roads, and other infrastructure. The pipelines, however, are the vital element. Operated by the state-owned Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), in collaboration with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the oil pipeline will enable China’s crude shipments from the Middle East to circumvent the vulnerable Strait of Malacca, a narrow shipping chokepoint controlled by the U.S. It will also conveniently avoid the South China Sea, where China and its neighbor Vietnam are feuding over oil-rich territories claimed by both countries. The gas line will likewise follow the same overland route as the oil pipeline, under the control of CNPC and South Korea’s Daweoo International, together with the Gas Authority of India, Korea Gas Corporation and ONGC Videsh (India). All told, more than $10 billion in new oil and gas investments poured into Burma last year alone, according to the country’s official figures.

South Korea is involved in pumping weapons to Myanmar. From 2002-2006, executives from Daewoo International and other companies sold military equipment as well as blueprints for weapons technology to Burma in violation of Korean trade law, which restricts the export of strategic materials to countries deemed a potential obstruction “to world peace and regional security.” In 2004, the law was amended to label Burma a “limited export area.” Senior Daewoo executives and their associates code-named their weapons supply scheme the “Axle Project” because they considered it the key lever to keep the gas wheel turning with Burma’s notorious difficult military leaders, according to prosecutors in the case.

Fourteen Korean executives, including six from Daewoo, were ultimately convicted in trial court, appellate court, and then again at the Supreme Court on charges of conspiracy and failure to obtain government approval for exporting strategic materials. The prosecution argued that the company used various ploys to obscure the initiative: The Burmese Directorate of Defense Industries was code-named the “landlord’s house”; a weapons factory constructed by the group in Burma was the “rice bowl”; and financial exchanges between the parties were conducted through personal bank accounts.
Daewoo’s Executive Director Lee Tae-yong was alleged to have personally overseen the export of 480 different types of military equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

One 55-year old employee of the Korean government-affiliated Agency for Defense Development was charged with stealing more than 850 pages of blueprints for weapons technologies, and providing them for use in Axle. A Daewoo-led secret team also quietly trained Burmese officials in weapons manufacturing in Burma and Korea, court documents show. The ultimate goal of the Axle Project was to help the military junta construct a fully functioning weapons factory in central Burma, according to facts recognized by the trial court. The now complete factory was designed to produce tens of thousands of six different artillery shells annually, including 120mm artillery shells and 105mm howitzer high-explosive shells. “The 120mm mortar is the standard heavy mortar shell that the Burma army has used for years in attacking the resistance and villagers,” wrote David Eubank, director of the Free Burma Rangers in an email to CorpWatch. Eubank is a former U.S. Army Ranger and Special Forces officer. “The 105 is also used against some ethnic groups,” Eubank added.

According to Inhong Kim, a member of the Korea University international human rights clinic, sentences for the 14 executives varied from suspended jail time to fines. Daewoo’s Executive Director Lee Tae-yong was fined just $54,550. In an email response to CorpWatch dated June 28, Daewoo noted that “only certain individual employees of the Company were sentenced to punishment…for violation of Korea laws” and that “the violation of the individuals was irrelevant to the Company.”

China, building on its warm relations with Myanmar, has become the Southwest Asia country’s largest foreign investor, a report said Monday. The Myanmar-language Weekly Eleven says that China poured more than $3 billion into Myanmar from November last year through January this year. The increased investment has brought China’s cumulative investment in Myanmar since 1988 to $9.6 billion, as compared to Thailand’s $9.56 billion, the Weekly Eleven said. The news report, citing an unnamed official from the Union of Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said China’s major new investments were in hydropower, natural gas and infrastructure projects to lay a solid foundation for an economic take-off in one of the least developed ASEAN countries. There have been no major new Western investments in recent years in Myanmar because of tough economic sanctions imposed by the United States, reports said.

On May 1st 2007, exactly a year before the cyclone Nargis first struck, the Myanmar’s Ministry of Electric Power and China Power Investment Cooperation (CPI) held an inaugural ceremony for the construction of a dam: according to the project a 152-meter dam generating 3.600 MW, most of which intended for China thus bringing in annual earnings of about 500 million dollars. This was just one of a series of dams projected by the junta with the aim of producing hydroelectric energy to sell at a low cost to neighboring countries. More specifically, the sum total of seven dams was planned along the Irrawaddy and all of them Chinese. The ever increasing demand for electric power in the cities of eastern China drives the Red Dragon Country to adopt a policy of “transmission of power from West to East” and in this sense investments in the hydroelectric sector in Burma represents one aspect of the close economic and political collaboration between the two nations.

It’s interesting to point out that, even with the other dams, the energy produced is in any case reserved for exportation or the military and just a minimal part for the local population, who are quite happily left in the dark when the need arises.

21st May of the same year, many residents of the area concerned about the consequences of the construction of the dam (which by the way is 100km from the Sagaing fault, a high seismic risk area) sent protest letters directly to general Than Shwe asking to stop the project. Of course they never received any answer.

Just a few months later, in October, a few activists revealed that tens of thousands of people were being threatened with eviction. In fact, in a detailed report of Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) we read that at least 47 villages have been eliminated, that the dam has also had a heavy impact on the environment, on communications, on transportation and on means of subsistence, and furthermore, that there has been an increase in abuse, violations of human rights, rape and sexual violence committed by the military. And that’s not all: the activists anticipated that even the population downstream, the over 3 million inhabitants of the delta area, would have had huge problems and that the area would no longer be “Burma’s rice bowl”.

It is practically the same scenario which we were faced with after the Nargis swept through and which seemed only to have accidentally opened and smoothed out the way for the government’s profit-making projects. A great opportunity to once more avoid being answerable to the defenseless people, to get rid of the survivors and with them their protests which are, as always, indigestible to the Generals. What’s the big deal if there are less farmers and fishermen to exploit, there’s all that environmental butchery to feed from and fatten the junta, of course, always with support coming from China.

China announced on May 28, plans to build a railway line between Chinese city of Ruili and Myanmar”s port city Kyaukphyu, not far from Kolkata, while Yangon secured a USD 763 million line of credit from Beijing to deepen economic cooperation between the two close allies. China Railway announced that it signed an agreement with Myanmar to jointly build the 810-km long rail line from Ruili in southwestern Yunnan Province to Kyaukphyu via Muse. The agreements was signed during the landmark three-day visit of Myanmar President Thein Sein that ended today during which Yangon secured a USD 763 million line of credit from the China Development Bank. Under the MOU to connect China with Myanmar”s Kyaukphyu port, China Railway Group Limited (China Railway) would be in charge of building the rail line. China Railway said the project, expected to be completed within three years, would help deepen China-Myanmar economic ties and boost the economic growth of Myanmar. Kyaukpyu, according to previous reports, was envisaged as terminus for Middle East and African tankers supplying oil to China from where it was expected to be transported by pipelines. The bilateral agreement for a USD 763 million line of credit was signed along with raft of financial pacts last night after talks between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his counterpart from Myanmar.

China involved in mining copper, iron and other minerals in Myanmar. The Myanmar Taguang Taung Nickel Ore Project Mining System, with joint investment from China Nonferrous Group and Taiyuan Iron and Steel (Group) Co. Ltd. (TISCO), has been put into operation, authorities said Friday. The project’s smelting system will be put into operation within the year, said Yang Haigui, secretary of the Communist Party Committee of TISCO. The project is the biggest cooperative mining project between China and Myanmar and is expected to provide 85,000 tonnes of high grade ferro-nickel annually upon completion. Located on the bank of the Fenhe River in Taiyuan, a city in north China’s Shanxi Province, TISCO is the world’s largest stainless steel enterprise with an annual output of 10 million tons of steel. The company’s products include stainless steel, cold rolled silicon steel and high strength and toughness steel.
It is also reported that China proposes to build a deep water port in southern Myanmar at Hianggyi Island, at the mouth of the Bassein River delta, on the understanding that it could be used by the Chinese Navy. Although it is believed, that when finally completed, the Hianggyi base will be too small to host Chinese surface warships of the size required for effective operations in the Indian Ocean.12 However, China will still be able to berth smaller vessels, which could help monitor Indian naval activity in the area. China is also believed to be modernizing the existing naval facilities in Myanmar’s ports of Akyab and Mergui. India remains wary of all these developments.
Indian sources report that China is building a signal intelligence station on Great Cocos Islands which could help China monitor Indian naval communications at sea, as well as observe and track Indian missile bases in the Indian state of Orissa. The Great Cocos islands are only at a distance of some 30 nautical miles from the Indian Andaman chain of islands and, therefore, the reports of establishment of such facilities are of particular concern to India.
It is also reported that in the renewed hostility between the Junta in Myanmar and Shan and Kachin rebels the Chinese are providing arms and other assistance to the military regime.

On the other hand Thailand is engaged in constructing a deep sea port in Myanmar. When complete, the Dawei port in southwestern Burma will be able to take ships of 300,000 tones, says Sing Tangcharoenchaichana, president of the industrial council of the Thai central region. Road connectivity to the port will be provided to China border and to Vietnam. This port is supposed to cut the cost of carrying oil and other merchandise to the South China Seas and the Gulf of Thailand through the Straits of Malacca.

India, for whatever reason, mostly because of foreign policy inertia and lack of forward vision has pushed Myanmar to the orbit of China. It is no Indian concern if Myanmar is ruled by military junta or democratic government. India blindly toed the American line and ignored forward policy in Myanmar. India’s proposal to open up the Mizoram to Sitwe port in Mynamar is still languishing in political and bureaucratic wrangle. In case the Sitwe gateway is opened India can stop depending on Bangladesh for its exports imports to the Northeast states.

China has also made deep inroads in Sri Lanka. The Chinese Government endeavors to develop its friendship and cooperation with Sri Lanka on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence. Chinese enterprises are contracted to build the Hambantota port.

The foundation for the construction of a modern port with Chinese assistance at Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka was formally laid in October, 2007. The construction actually started in January, 2008.

It is a 15-year project to be completed in stages. The entire project is estimated to cost US $ one billion. The present Chinese commitment is for the construction of the first stage only, which is estimated to cost US $ 360 million. China has agreed to give 85 per cent of this amount at concessional interest. The balance is being contributed by the Government of Sri Lanka.

The first stage of the 15-year (2008-2023) project is expected to be completed by the end of 2010. This stage envisages the construction of a 1000-metre jetty, which will enable the harbor to function as an industrial port for the import and export of industrial chemicals, fuel and heavy machinery. By 2023, Hambantota is projected to have a liquefied natural gas refinery, aviation fuel storage facilities, three separate docks giving the port a transshipment capacity and dry docks for ship repair and construction. The project also envisages that when completed the port will serve as a base for bunkering and refueling.

The draught (depth) of the new harbour will be 16 metres against 15 metres in Colombo. A 230 metre passage-entrance channel will be created at the breakwater which is 988 metres long on the west end and 311 metres long on the east end.

The Government hopes that as a refueling location Hambantota will have many advantages over the Colombo port or ports in South India. The construction has been undertaken by a consortium of Chinese companies headed by the China Harbour Engineering Company and the Sino Hydro Corporation.

The project doesn’t have a separate consultant. The Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) is functioning as the client-cum-consultant while the China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd is the contractor. In September, 2008, there were 328 Sri Lankans and 235 Chinese working at the site-engineers, administrative personnel and others. The present number is not known.

The first stage due to be ready by end 2010 will allow three ships to berth. The final stage, for which there is no offer of funding yet from China, is planned to accommodate more than 30 ships, which is the present capacity at Colombo.

Reliable reports say that while the Sri Lankan authorities want Hambantota to emerge as a modern port with better facilities and efficiency than any of the ports in South India, they do not want the present importance of the Colombo port to be reduced. Colombo presently has the reputation of being the most modern and most efficient port in South Asia. They want this reputation to be maintained. There is no proposal at present to set up container yards and cater to container ships at Hambantota.

The present Chinese interest is in the use of the docking and refueling facilities that would come up in Hambantota for their commercial and naval ships. There is no proposal at present for a Chinese naval base at Hambantota.

Chinese port operator China Merchants Holdings (International) is negotiating with the Sri Lankan authorities a contract for the construction of a new container terminal at Colombo. The company has bid for the contract jointly with a Sri Lankan company Aitken Spence.

On November 27, 2009, Rajapaksa inaugurated the construction of Sri Lanka’s second international airport at Maththala in Hambantota. The new airport will be constructed on a plot of 2,000 hectares in Hambantota district at a cost of US$ 190 million. The Government of the People’s Republic of China will provide financial assistance for the project with a soft loan through its Ex-Im Bank.. According to the Ports and Aviation Ministry, the construction of the airport will be completed in two phases. All basic facilities including runways, taxiways and parking facilities will be completed in the first phase to be completed by 2011. All other airport and aviation related facilities will be completed in the second phase. These include servicing and repairing centre for aircraft, hotels, pilot training centre, maintenance hub, private jet parking, and technical training centers. The Government hopes to commission the airport by the end of 2011 and land the first flight by December 2011.

Other Chinese activities in Lanka include: the construction of the Colombo–Katunayake Expressway.( US $ 248 million), improvement of the railways—US $ 100 million to be given by China’s Ex-Im Bank. Agreement signed on March 10, 2010. Norochcholai Coal Power Plant (US$855 million), a flood protection system for Colombo suburbs of Kotte, Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia, Maharagama, Kesbewa and Moratuwa. (US $ 59 million) To be given by China Construction Bank, National Theatre of Performing Arts in Colombo (US $ 21 million). Sri Lanka’s investment promotion agency, the Board of Investment, announced in July, 2009, it has signed a deal with China’s Huichen Investment to manage a special economic zone dedicated to Chinese investors. Huichen will invest US $28 million in the zone in Mirigama, north of Colombo, to improve infrastructure in the first phase over three years. The company, a conglomerate that specializes in infrastructure development and does coal and iron ore mining, will also market the zone and attract Chinese investors.

More than 50 per cent of the funding received by Sri Lanka from abroad for construction and development projects since Rajapaksa came to power came from China.

Since 2007, Sri Lanka has been trying to launch a communication satellite. China has agreed to provide financial and technical assistance, “Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies, Dr. Saman Kelegama was quoted as saying in November 2009. In May 2009, Priyantha Kariyapperuma, Director-General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, had said that the Government had begun work on a space programme hoping to launch two communication satellites. “The University of Surrey specializes in satellite technology having created about 35 satellites. They have made a presentation to President Mahindra Rajapakse and have entered into an agreement to transfer technology and knowledge to our universities, “he told the Island Financial Review. Kariyapperuma said a consortium of vice chancellors from universities with engineering faculties had been formed for this purpose. He said the Government planned to launch two communication satellites—a lower earth orbit satellite used mainly for images and a geo stationary communication satellite. The two satellites will be used not only for communication purposes but also for disaster management, agriculture planning, irrigation planning, town/urban planning and coastal conservation. He said the low earth orbiting satellite could be financed with domestic funds particularly from the Telecommunication Development Fund. The private sector would also be called to contribute to the development of the two satellites.
Burgeoning Chinese presence in Nepal is marked by construction of a road linking China and Nepal and project to connect Nepal with the main rail routes of China. China has committed $3 billion aid to Nepal for joint venture development of Lumbini on Indian border, the birth place of Lord Buddha. This will be place of global tourist attraction. India failed to link up development of Nalanda and Saranath with Lumbini. If India had undertaken that project with Japanese, Korean, Taiwan and Thai assistance Lumbini would have not been grabbed by China. It is a clear failure of Indian diplomacy.

Global collaboration of Chinese companies are involved in internal road construction and the two governments are negotiating on the aspects of Construction of several hydro electric projects on rivers flowing from Nepal to India. This may pose serious problems for India. Defying limitations of Indo-Nepal agreement Nepal received several consignments of weapons systems from China. With the rise of Maoists parties in Nepal India is likely to face increasing hostile attitude from sections of Nepalese leaders.

China has already started investing in the tourism industry of the Maldives and Maldivian students are encouraged tom study in Chinese universities. India’s relationship with Male is warm. But Delhi requires paying better attention to Maldives. Similarly, India should overcome the impasse caused by its Tamil sensitivities. The Indian Tamils should also understand that sympathy with a Diaspora cannot be poised against the country’s international relations. The war against the LTTE was fully exploited by Pakistan and China. That passivism phase should be discarded by India. It should encourage Sri Lankan students to study in India on scholarship, allow liberal export from Colombo and get involved in Lanka’s quest for development. In international cooperation money spent is money earned.

It is time to wake up and extend hands of cooperation towards Myanmar, Lanka, Nepal and other ASEAN countries. India needs reorientation of its foreign policy and expansion of its sphere of influence in the region.

Courtesy - http://maloykrishnadhar.com/

India - The cradle of civilisation

2011-07-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

janani janmabhumischa swargadapi gariyasi(Sanskrit).It Means Mother and Motherland are greater than any pleasures of heaven.

# Mark Twain: "India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire."

# Colonel James Todd: "Where can we look for sages like those whose systems of philosophy were prototypes of those of Greece: to whose works Plato, Thales and Pythagorus were disciples? Where do I find astronomers whose knowledge of planetary systems yet excites wonder in Europe as well as the architects and sculptors whose works claim our admiration, and the musicians who could make the mind oscillate from joy to sorrow, from tears to smile with the change of modes and varied intonation?"

# Lancelot Hogben: "There has been no more revolutionary contribution than the one which the Hindus (Indians) made when they invented ZERO." ('Mathematics for the Millions')

# Wheeler Wilcox: "India - The land of Vedas, the remarkable works contain not only religious ideas for a perfect life, but also facts which science has proved true. Electricity, radium, electronics, airship, all were known to the seers who founded the Vedas."

# W. Heisenberg, German Physicist: "After the conversations about Indian philosophy, some of the ideas of Quantum Physics that had seemed so crazy suddenly made much more sense."

# Sir W. Hunter, British Surgeon: "The surgery of the ancient Indian physicians was bold and skilful. A special branch of surgery was dedicated to rhinoplasty or operations for improving deformed ears, noses and forming new ones, which European surgeons have now borrowed."

# Sir John Woodroffe: "An examination of Indian Vedic doctrines shows that it is in tune with the most advanced scientific and philosophical thought of the West."

# B.G. Rele: "Our present knowledge of the nervous system fits in so accurately with the internal description of the human body given in the Vedas (5000 years ago). Then the question arises whether the Vedas are really religious books or books on anatomy of the nervous system and medicine." ('The Vedic Gods')

# Adolf Seilachar & P.K. Bose, scientists: "One Billion-Year-Old fossil prove life began in India: AFP Washington reports in Science Magazine that German Scientist Adolf Seilachar and Indian Scientist P.K. Bose have unearthed fossil in Churhat a town in Madhya Pradesh, India which is 1.1 billion years old and has rolled back the evolutionary clock by more than 500 million years."

# Will Durant, American Historian: "It is true that even across the Himalayan barrier India has sent to the west, such gifts as grammar and logic, philosophy and fables, hypnotism and chess, and above all numerals and the decimal system."

# Will Durant, American historian: "India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all".

# Mark Twain, American author: "India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only."

# Albert Einstein, American scientist: "We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made."

# Max Mueller, German scholar: If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point to India

# Romain Rolland, French scholar : "If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India."

# Henry David Thoreau, American Thinker & Author: Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climbs, and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge. When I read it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night.

# R.W. Emerson, American Author: In the great books of India, an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence, which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the questions that exercise us.

# Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA: "India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border."

# Keith Bellows, National Geographic Society : "There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won't go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds... I had been seeing the world in black & white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor."

# Mark Twain: "So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked."
# Will Durant, American Historian: "India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of mature mind, understanding spirit and a unifying, pacifying love for all human beings."

# William James, American Author: "From the Vedas we learn a practical art of surgery, medicine, music, house building under which mechanized art is included. They are encyclopedia of every aspect of life, culture, religion, science, ethics, law, cosmology and meteorology."

# Max Muller, German Scholar: "There is no book in the world that is so thrilling, stirring and inspiring as the Upanishads." ('Sacred Books of the East')

# Dr Arnold Toynbee, British Historian: "It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in the self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in history, the only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian way."

# Sir William Jones, British Orientalist: "The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity is of wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin and more exquisitely refined than either."

# P. Johnstone: "Gravitation was known to the Hindus (Indians) before the birth of Newton. The system of blood circulation was discovered by them centuries before Harvey was heard of."

# Emmelin Plunret: "They were very advanced Hindu astronomers in 6000 BC. Vedas contain an account of the dimension of Earth, Sun, Moon, Planets and Galaxies." ('Calendars and Constellations')

# Sylvia Levi: "She (India) has left indelible imprints on one fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim ... her place amongst the great nations summarizing and symbolizing the spirit of humanity. From Persia to the Chinese sea, from the icy regions of Siberia to Islands of Java and Borneo, India has propagated her beliefs, her tales, and her civilization!"

# Schopenhauer: "Vedas are the most rewarding and the most elevating book which can be possible in the world." (Works VI p.427)

Interesting Facts -

India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
Chess was invented in India.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.
The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).
Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world
(Source: Gemological Institute of America).
The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
India exports software to 90 countries.
The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.
There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively
The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

Chinese companies 'rent' white foreigners

2011-07-21T03:15:00.000-07:00

By Lara Farrar, for CNN

Beijing, China (CNN) -- In China, white people can be rented.

For a day, a weekend, a week, up to even a month or two, Chinese companies are willing to pay high prices for fair-faced foreigners to join them as fake employees or business partners.

Some call it "White Guy Window Dressing." To others, it's known as the "White Guy in a Tie" events, "The Token White Guy Gig," or, simply, a "Face Job."

And it is, essentially, all about the age-old Chinese concept of face. To have a few foreigners hanging around means a company has prestige, money and the increasingly crucial connections -- real or not -- to businesses abroad.

"Face, we say in China, is more important than life itself," said Zhang Haihua, author of "Think Like Chinese." "Because Western countries are so developed, people think they are more well off, so people think that if a company can hire foreigners, it must have a lot of money and have very important connections overseas. So when they really want to impress someone, they may roll out a foreigner."

Or rent one.

Last year, Jonathan Zatkin, an American actor who lives in Beijing, posed as the vice president of an Italian jewelry company that had, allegedly, been in a partnership with a Chinese jewelry chain for a decade.

When is being foreign a career advantage?

Zatkin was paid 2,000 yuan (about $300) to fly, along with a couple of Russian models, to a small city in the central province of Henan where he delivered a speech for the grand opening ceremony of a jewelry store there.
"I was up on stage with the mayor of the town, and I made a speech about how wonderful it was to work with the company for 10 years and how we were so proud of all of the work they had done for us in China," Zatkin said. "They put up a big bandstand and the whole town was there and some other local muckety-mucks."

The requirements for these jobs are simple. 1. Be white. 2. Do not speak any Chinese, or really speak at all, unless asked. 3. Pretend like you just got off of an airplane yesterday.

Those who go for such gigs tend to be unemployed actors or models, part-time English teachers or other expats looking to earn a few extra bucks. Often they are jobs at a second- or third-tier city, where the presence of pale-faced foreigners is needed to impress local officials, secure a contract or simply to fulfill a claim of being international.

"Occasionally companies want a foreign face to go to meetings and conferences or to go to dinners and lunches and smile at the clients and shake people's hands," read an ad posted by a company called Rent A Laowai (Chinese for "foreigner") on the online classified site thebeijinger.com.

It continued: "There are job opportunities for girls who are pretty and for men who can look good in a suit."

People like Brad Smith. When Smith -- the nom de plume of the Beijing-based American actor -- answered CNN's phone call on a recent morning, he was standing outside a meeting room at a Ramada Inn in Hangzhou, a city about 100 miles outside of Shanghai. Today's job: Pretend to be an architect from New York and give design plans for a new museum to local officials.

"They have not told me what my name is today. I think it is Lawrence or something," said Smith -- unlike some jobs, no fake business cards were given to hand out.

Earlier that morning he went over his script with his Chinese "business partners" at a Kentucky Fried Chicken. "It says, 'Good morning distinguished leaders. It is my privilege to participate in this program'," said Smith, who asked that his real name not be used for fear it could jeopardize future jobs.

If Smith is asked a question, he is told to pretend to answer as his "translator" pretends to understand.

Occasionally, these jobs can go awry. Smith said 18 months ago Beijing police showed up at his apartment after a financial company he worked at for a couple of months in Xi'an, a city in western China, allegedly swindled millions of yuan out of clients.

"That company said I was the guy in charge," he said. "I didn't even remember the company's name. After that, I decided I was never going to use my passport again with these fake companies. The small gigs are much less dangerous." Sometimes companies will hire Caucasians simply to sit in the office a few hours a day near the window where clients and customers can see them.

White women are also a hot commodity, sometimes to pose as phony foreign girlfriends, or, in the case of Vicky Mohieddeen, to pretend to be an oil tycoon.

Mohieddeen, who is Scottish, took a job in 2008 to attend what she describes as some sort of "oil drilling conference" in Shandong province for 300 yuan ($44). Several busloads of foreigners, with nationalities ranging from Pakistani to Nigerian, were trucked to the event, she said. They were greeted by brass bands and feted with a sumptuous dinner.

"I was like, 'Yeah, we have a lot of oil in Scotland.' I didn't know what to say. It was a bit nerve-racking. We were guests of honor of the vice mayor. We were put in a nice hotel. It was quite fancy."

For Mohieddeen, who had just arrived in Beijing at the time, the experience, albeit bizarre, was an introduction to a side of China most foreigners will never see.

"It is part of what China is all about, you know," Mohieddeen said. "There is quite an elaborate fantasy world going on here where if everyone buys into it, it does not matter if it is the truth. Those kinds of experiences give me a fuller understanding of the way the culture works."

Dawood Emerges As a Global Terrorist

2011-07-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

Dawood Ibrahim has evolved from a Mumbai bomber to a full-blown global terrorist. Intelligence agencies in New Delhi believe in the complete radicalization of the D-company boss , as he finds ways to further his terror network, aided by the ISI, and emerge truly as a global threat.

Dawood's relations with ISI date back to 1993 when he executed the blasts in Mumbai but until a few years ago he was viewed as a logistics man for ISI by Indian agencies. LeT, the other arm of ISI, played the role of the main aggressor. The first Mumbai attack appeared to be one-off terrorist crime by a man focused on his smuggling and extortion operations.

'' In the past he was looked upon mainly as a mercenary. LeT was more ideology driven but Dawood and his gang now seem to have merged into LeT,'' said an official, adding that Dawood now presents as much a danger to India as to the US or any other target country of the jihadis.

The transformation has happened because of his dependence on ISI for his own security as well as his desire for respectability as a jehadi as a protection mechanism. Initially ISI is said to have used him for pumping fake currency into India but as his links with LeT grew, he helped LeT find new recruits in India, mainly in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

His well-documented links with LeT have taken on a menacing proportion because of the growing collaboration between LeT and al-Qaida . LeT, so far focused on J&K and India , has grown in ambition and reach, with evidence piling of its attempts to attack targets in the West.

It was his growing link with al-Qaida which led finally , in 2003, to the US Treasury Department declaring him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGP). As late as January 2010, a US Congressional report warned that Dawood and his gang posed a direct threat to US interests in South Asia.

Post-Osama bin Laden's killing, al-Qaida's dependence on LeT may increase, leading Dawood to use his vast network stretching from South Asia to Middle East to Africa for terror activities. '' That is something the Americans need to factor in,'' said an intel officer.

While calling him a global terrorist, the US said in a press release that Dawood's smuggling routes from South Asia, the Middle East and Africa are shared with bin Laden and his terrorist network.

'' Successful routes established over recent years by (Dawood) Ibrahim's syndicate have been subsequently utilised by bin Laden. A financial arrangement was brokered to facilitate the latter's usage of these routes. In the late 1990s, Ibrahim travelled in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban,'' it said.

Dawood's international infamy grew further in 2010 when it was reported by Germany's 'Der Spiegel' magazine that he had helped efforts to smuggle a group of terrorists linked to al-Qaida into Europe for Mumbai-sytle attacks in Germany. The report said al-Qaida and associated groups were planning to attack Germany's Parliament, Reichstag.

An intelligence source recalls a report from a UN official a few years ago sent to Indian agencies saying that it was Dawood who helped al-Qaida make a huge amount of money through diamond trade. Dawood as a key player in narcotitcs smuggling can also be an asset for the terrorist groups like Taliban who have used the proceeds of opium cultivation to finance their operations.

It is well known that after the US froze al-Qaida related bank accounts in 1999, the terror group bought up diamonds in Africa and used them to launder terror funds. The UN official informed Indian agencies that many of these diamonds were sent to Dawood who got them polished before sending them back to al-Qaida operatives. Experts don't deny that some of the money generated through this trade could have been used to finance 9/11.

Dawood's gang was caught taking arms to Mombasa at the behest of ISI. In India, apart from LeT, Dawood is also said to have financed terror group SIMI. In 2008, it was revealed by government agencies that Dawood had been routing funds to SIMI through an aeronautical engineer, CAM Basheer, from Kerala.

While Dawood is not a named accused in 26/11, the fact that the explosives used during the Mumbai attacks were similar to that of 1993 blasts did not go unnoticed among investigating agencies. Some of the SIM cards seized from the perpetrators were also said to have been traced to the posh Karachi locality where he is said to have lived for many years.

Dawood has shown unflinching loyalty for Pakistan since he escaped to that country in 1993. So much so that many believe he helped finance Pakistan's nuclear programme by working closely with scientist A Q Khan. It is believed by Indian agencies that he helped Pakistan in the procurement of military nuclear material abroad and its passage to Pakistan. He is also said to have set up a factory in Malaysia for manufacturing centrifuges needed for uranium enrichment.

The US needs to seriously rethink its approach to the war on terror given the growing evidence of links between Dawood and global terror outfits. The US attitude in practice has been to focus on groups like the al-Qaida while going soft on those more focused on India. This is a seriously flawed position. The fight against terror must encompass all terror groups. Notions like '' my terrorist'' and '' your terrorist'' are misplaced. Terror is today globalized. And there is enough evidence to show deep links between criminals like Dawood and terror groups like al-Qaida . The US must also give up the belief that it alone has a right to strike against terrorists on foreign soil and stop counselling India against such an option. India may choose for good reasons not to exercise that option, but the US has no right to suggest that it should not have the option.

India and Nuclear Power

2011-07-18T22:19:00.000-07:00

India could soon join a select group of countries like US, China and France which export nuclear reactors, a Congressional report has said.

"Only Canada, China, France, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States export nuclear reactors. India may join this group in the near term," the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its latest report 'Nuclear Energy Cooperation with Foreign Countries Issue for Congress.'

CRS is the independent and bipartisan research wing of the US Congress, which prepares periodic report on issues of interest to the lawmakers.

According to World Nuclear Association, India is offering its indigenous 220 and 540 megawatt heavy water reactor designs for export, although no specific customers have been identified.

The CRS report said only a limited number of countries conduct commercial enrichment and reprocessing of fissile materials and can supply this technology.

At present, supplier states are not planning any transfers of enrichment or reprocessing technology. The Nuclear Suppliers Group recently added criteria to its guidelines for the supply of fuel cycle technologies.

"Commercial reprocessing is now being done in France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, and India."

China has a pilot plant and is "considering a large-scale facility... South Korea is pursuing a research and development program on pyro-processing," the report said.

"Some countries with few natural energy resources, such as Japan, argue that they want to reprocess their spent fuel to reduce dependence on foreign energy sources. Reprocessing proponents in those countries prefer a closed fuel cycle, in which spent nuclear fuel from reactors is used to make fuel for other reactors; opponents raise questions about proliferation risks and high economic costs," it said.

India`s nuclear power aspirations just got a boost thanks to a lucky find. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has discovered that the upcoming uranium mine in Andhra Pradesh's Tumalapalli has close to 49,000 tonnes of uranium — three times the original estimate of the area`s deposits. In fact, there are indications that the total quantity could go up to 1.5 lakh tonnes, which would make it among the largest uranium mines in the world.

The quantity is sufficient for supporting a nuclear power plant of 8,000 MW capacity for 40 years. Production will start in six months. Srikumar Banerjee, secretray of DAE and chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, announced the discovery during the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the seventh and eighth units of the Rawatbhata atomic power project.

"It`s confirmed that the mine has 49,000 tonnes of ore, and there are indications that the total quantity could be three times of that amount. If that be the case, it will become the largest uranium mine in the world. The plant is ready, and will begin production by the end of this year," Banerjee said.

Now, India has two functioning uranium mines — both in Jharkhand. The total reserves are estimated to be in the range of 1,70,000 tonnes. The discovery of the Tumalapalli deposit has at one stroke boosted the availability of uranium, lowering the country`s dependence on foreign supplies.

India has been procuring uranium on various terms from countries like France and Kazakhstan but does not yet have a long-term supply contract.

India continues to fancy nuclear energy as a possible solution for its energy needs. Unlike some other countries which have been forced to temper their enthusiasm for nuclear energy post-Fukushima, the UPA government is persisting with its push for what is considered to be the cleanest source of energy.

The fact that Tumalapalli may have uranium reserves has been known for a while, but it took four years for the estimate to come to the present level from 15,000 tonnes in 2007. A 220-MW plant requires 45 tonnes of uranium per year, a 540-MW plant needs 80 tonnes and a 700-MW plant requires 100 tonnes per year.

Banerjee said that the fact that the usual acidic method of leaching would not have worked in Tumalapalli took some time for a full exploration of the reserves. "We developed the method of acidic leaching in the Jadugoda mines in Jharkhand. Subsequent exploration showed that reserves are spread across a 35-km radius," he said.

The countdown has started for the seventh and eighth units of the Rawatbhata power project, which is all set to have two indigenously built 700 MW capacity plants — the biggest in the country. The plants, being built at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore, are likely to be ready by 2016. As per the revised policy, 50% of the energy output will be for consumption in Rajasthan, and the rest will be given to the Northern Grid.

S K Jain, CMD of the Nuclear Power Corporation India Limited, announced plans of constructing 14 plants of 700 MW capacity each over the next few years.

A number of uranium mines are proposed to come up along the 160 km belt in southern Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and other states, according to chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Srikumar Bannerjee .

Delivering the 33rd annual convocation at the Indian School of Mines (ISM) here, Banerjee said although mining for uranium in India commissioned in 1968, no uranium mine has been closed so far. The Uranium Corporation of India Limited, a public sector undertaking under the department of atomic energy with its headquarters at Jaduguda, has been operating five underground mines (Jaduguda, Narwarpahar, Turamdih, Bhatin and Bagiara) and one open cast mine at Banduhurang and two ore processing plants in East Singhbhum district, more mines will be opened shortly.

Banerjee said all these units were located in strategically significant places, Singhbhum Shear Zone, known for its uranium-copper resources. Two uranium mines and a processing plant are being constructed at Timmalapalle in AP and Gogi in Karnataka.

AEC chief also said that since fossil fuels would not be able to meet the energy requirements, innovative technologies for clean and efficient combustion and for carbon dioxide sequestration were required. This is to control carbon dioxide emission. Most of the uranium deposits are of good quality. "Today, we are witnessing the disastrous effects of carbon-based energy coal, oil and natural gas on environment. There has to be a paradigm shift in the entire philosphy of enery utilisation. In future, energy will have to come from burning of atoms in fission reactions in a critical or sub-critical nuclear reactor and in fusion reactions in a thermonuclear reactor on the Earth or from that of the Sun," said Banerjee.

Nuclear energy is a primary source of energy with a large growth potential and therefore any India specific energy strategy must consider nuclear energy as a major alternative. "While our known urnanium resources are low, we have extremely rich reserves of thorium ,which can be converted into fissile form for generating nuclear energy. "The current share of nuclear power in India is three per cent , but it is poised to grow steadily. India has already developed adequate core competence in all aspects of nuclear energy and its roadmap for the three stage nuclear programmes provides a blueprint for achieving sustainable energy security," the nuclear scientist said.

[The first stage of pressurised heavy water reactor has been developed indigenously. India is now self-sufficent and the second stage of nuclear energy programme is based on fast breeder reactors, which are fuelled by plutonium obtained from reprocessing of spent fuel of the thermal reactors. The fast breeder test reactor at Kalpakkam, operating with indigenously developed mixed uranium-plutonium carbide fuel has achieved burn up of 155,000 MWd tonne. The prototype fast breeder reactor of 500 MW capacity is currently under construction at Kalpakkam. The third stage will be based on thorium U 233 cycle.Many of these technologies have to be developed for the first time and independetly in India, since no other country is as much dependent on the early implementation of the thorium fuel cycle as India is, Dr Banerjee said in his convocation speech.

Scientists at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research have successfully extended the life of the 25-year-old 'workhorse' among India's fast breeders -- Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR)-- by another 20 years.

"We have extended the life of the FBTR for another 20 years up to 2030 at 50% operational capacity," said Baldev Raj, director of IGCAR, Kalpakkam.

"The workhorse reactor has completed 25 successful years. It has given confidence to the Indian scientists to go ahead and build the first 500 MW (electrical) Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) which is under advanced stage of construction; and at least four more fast breeder reactors (FBRs) by 2020," he said.

FBTR is also a training ground for the operation and maintenance staff of PFBR and will be the cradle for trained manpower of India's fast Breeder Reactor programme.

"FBTR uses Plutonium-carbide fuel while the PFBR will be using mixed oxide (Plutonium-uranium oxide) fuel. But the future fast breeders will use Uranium-Plutonium alloy or Uranium-Plutonium-Zirconium," he said.

In the coming years, the major thrust of FBTR will be large-scale irradiation of the advanced metallic fuels and core structural materials required for the next generation fast reactors with high breeding ratios, Raj said.

For this, a programme for the fabrication of metallic fuel pins, their irradiation in FBTR, and closing the fuel cycle by pyro-reprocessing was in place.

Once this is successfully done, FBTR would have fulfilled its major mission in the Indian fast breeder reactor programme.

IGCAR is also exploring other applications like production of medical isotopes in FBTR.

"We expect to complete all these tests by 2020 so that we can build a metallic test reactor as a successor to FBTR," Raj said.

The designing of the 300 MW (thermal) metallic fast breeder test reactor will be completed by the end of 12th five-year plan and thereafter both FBTR and the new metallic test reactor will be operational simultaneously for a few years, Raj said, adding FBTR will be later shut down.

IGCAR's vast experience in the fast breeder technologies was also being used to contribute to many issues of designing and materials for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), he said.

"After 2030 India would not need any uranium as the nuclear fuel as by then it would be able to use thorium as the nuclear fuel, research for which is being carried on for the past 25 years. The deal would help the country bridge the gap of uranium, needed for nuclear power generation after 2020." He added that since India has the biggest Thorium deposits in the black sands of Kerala coast, we would become self-reliant in producing nuclear power.

How could you match the GDP growth, as predicted by the government, without having the needed power and if the country goes with thermal energy, it will again result in increasing the carbon emission, Prof Mittal said.

About the recent controversy regarding the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra, Prof Mittal said nuclear power plants are located at least 200 miles away from the coal mines and the potential areas are not just picked up randomly. There is a site selection committee which suggests names of a place after taking into account various factors like flora and fauna, number of people that would be displaced, etc. The same was done in terms of Jaitapur, which is a new proposed 9900 MW power project of Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) at Madban village of Ratnagiri district where six nuclear reactors would come up with the help of France. It will be the largest nuclear power generating station in the world by net electrical power rating once completed, he added.

French energy major Areva, which is supplying nuclear fuel for Indian reactors, has offered partnership stakes to the state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) in its uranium producing mines abroad. "We have offered to NPCIL and the Atomic Energy Commission to invest with us in our new and existing uranium mining projects," chairman and managing director, Areva India, Arthur de Montalembert told HT in an exclusive chat. "NPCIL has shown interest and talks are progressing for a stake in some uranium mines in Africa."

Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) would soon sign an agreement with Uranium Corporation of India (UCI), both state-run companies, for a joint venture to acquire mining assets abroad to procure uranium. They're looking at mining assets in Nigeria , Namibia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. The JV would also focus on the procurement of uranium from these assets, as well as other sources.
NPC's chairman and managing director, S K Jain, told Business Standard; "UCI has domain knowledge in uranium mining, while NPC has the necessary funds for the proposed investments. NPC will have a majority stake of 74 per cent, while 26 per cent would be held by UCI in the proposed JV. The JV would have a working capital of Rs 15 billion [US$ 336 million] and it expects to invest Rs 50 billion [US$ 1.12 billion] over the next five years in the acquisition of mining assets in the four shortlisted countries."

Around 60 tonnes of natural uranium from French company AREVA is expected to arrive at Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad in a day or two and around the same quantity from Russian company TVEL in a week's time, sources in the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) said on Monday.

French energy firm Areva has signed an agreement with government-run monopoly Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) to supply about 300 tonnes of uranium annually. This is the first major nuclear fuel supply agreement by the Indian firm after the approval of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

The United States is keen to share technical expertise with India on uranium mining, US Consul General Beth A Payne said here today. "We can certainly explore options and opportunities available. Maybe we can partner with the government and share our experience and expertise on how to mine uranium safely," Payne, who is on three day visit to Meghalaya, said. The uranium mining project in the state was yet to start due to opposition from organisations apprehending health and environmental hazards.

India is expected to achieve self-sufficiency in uranium production to feed its existing nuclear power projects and proposed plants by 2013, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said. With the Jadugoda Uranium mill in Jharkhand expanded and the proposed expansion of Turamdih mill expected to be over next year, uranium production would go up. Besides, exploration of uranium is underway at Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh and it is expected to go on stream by 2013, he told reporters here. "We are also working to explore uranium at Gogi near Gulbarga in Karnataka," he said and expressed the hope that a proposed project at Meghalaya would also be cleared soon.

India's BARC and France's CEA cooperate on development of uranium recovery from desalination plant brines

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) external link and the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) external link, France, are collaborating to develop three innovative and efficient methods of uranium extraction from the concentrated brine rejected by integrated nuclear desalination systems, which both partners are currently developing.
The first method uses resin-grafted with calixarene (a synthetic material, indecently expensive!); magnetic separation is the second method and the third uses a canal system using absorbents. These methods are highly selective but need further research and development. (The Hindu 12 Nov 2009)

India tests new method to extract uranium from sea water
Japan developed a technology by using plastic sheets to which amidoxime, which is capable of selectively absorbing uranium from seawater, is grafted by high energy electron beam irradiation. Scientists from the Desalination Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre recovered uranium at milligram levels from sea water using electron beam grafted amidoxime. They developed a semi pilot scale facility to produce radiation grafted sheets of 1 metre x 1 metre size. They collected about 800 microgrammes of uranium in five campaigns from CIRUS Jettyhead; about 1.8 milligrammes from the seawater intake and outfall canals at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station and around 200 microgrammes from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Though these amounts are trivial, it gives confidence in the technology. Field trials carried out at the three locations gave concentration factors of 300, 600 and 700 for the submergence of the absorbent material for 12, 14 and 23 days respectively. (The Hindu 12 Nov 2009)

The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) external link has reported "significant progress" in its attempts to bio-recover uranium from sea water and dilute nuclear waste using natural and genetically-engineered microbes. BARC's attempts to viably extricate uranium from sea water have also begun yielding "very positive" results, according to officials. Sea water is known to contain uranium but the low concentration of the nuclear fuel and high cost of its extraction has traditionally inhibited the option of commercial sourcing of uranium from the seas. The BARC method involves passing sea water through a specially made polymer that will absorb uranium selectively. According to estimates, nearly 4.6 billion tonnes of uranium are estimated to be present in sea water, with Japanese scientists in the 1980s having demonstrated that extraction of uranium from sea water using ion-exchangers was feasible. (The Hindu June 30, 2008)

The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) external link in Mumbai has developed a method for extracting uranium from sea water, according to the BARC annual report. The BARC method involves passing sea water through a specially made radiation induced polymer that will selectively absorb uranium. Laboratory studies showed that the material could absorb as much as 45 per cent of uranium present in sea water. The report said that on the basis of laboratory data, BARC is getting ready to build, in the first step, a bench scale plant that will produce 100 grams of uranium per year from sea water. Bigger plants will be decided after working out the cost benefit analysis.

On April 16, 2011, India and Kazakhstan signed an inter-governmental agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, that envisages a legal framework for supply of fuel, construction and operation of atomic power plants, exploration and joint mining of uranium, exchange of scientific and research information, reactor safety mechanisms and use of radiation technologies for healthcare.
After the talks, the Kazakh President announced that his country would supply India with 2100 tonnes of uranium and was ready to do more.
India and Kazakhstan already have civil nuclear cooperation since January 2009 when Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Kazakh nuclear company KazAtomProm signed an MoU during the visit of Nazarbaev to Delhi. Under the contract, KazAtomProm supplies uranium which is used by Indian reactors.

Canada's uranium exports to India
Ontario ready to supply uranium to India
Ontario, one of Canada's most important provinces, has said it is ready to supply nuclear fuel uranium along with cobalt to India. "From uranium and nickel to cobalt and potash, Ontario and the rest of Canada stand ready to supply India during its next industrial surge forward," Ontario Minister for Government Services, Harinder Takhar said on the occasion of signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and Ontario.

Canada, India sign nuclear agreement allowing uranium exports to India
India and Canada on Sunday (June 27) signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement that will provide for cooperation in civil nuclear energy including import of uranium and equipment from Canada.

Canada, India ink nuclear agreement
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced over the weekend Ottawa and Delhi have reached a nuclear agreement. Harper and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inked the deal in Trinidad and Tobago. Under the agreement, Canadian firms could resume sales of nuclear and uranium technologies to India which was stopped in the middle of the 1970s. Harper said Ottawa will release the text of the nuclear agreement with India after the implementing legislation is table in Canada's Parliament.Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrapped up a three-day visit to India confirming Canadian companies may be allowed to start selling uranium and other nuclear material and technology to India before Christmas.

India to mine uranium in Mongolia
India and Mongolia on Wednesday (Jan. 13) decided to operationalise their pact on civil nuclear cooperation by assisting in capacity creation for Ulan Bator's nuclear sector and considering the manner in which India would begin uranium mining in Mongolia. India Monday (Sep. 14) signed a uranium supply agreement with Mongolia, the fifth country to seal a civil nuclear pact with New Delhi, and announced a soft loan of $25 million to rejuvenate the economy of the resource-rich Central Asian country.

Gabon willing to supply uranium to non-NPT signatory India
Gabon has conveyed that it will not be averse to supplying uranium to India. Sources tracking India's engagement of Africa told this newspaper that Gabon is willing to enter into a commercial transaction with India. New Delhi is studying the possibility of reciprocating by enhancing its civil and military cooperation with Gabon, a source said, adding that the Mumbai-based Taurian Resources has made a foray into Niger's uranium mining industry.

Further Indian company granted uranium exploration permits in Niger
The Earthstone group external link, a diversified multinational group headed by non-resident Indian Pankaj Shah, has, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Earthstone Uranium FZE, entered into an agreement with the Government of the Republic of Niger, whereby the Republic of Niger will grant Earthstone Uranium four exploration permits for uranium and associated elements. The four permits totalling about 2,000 sq. km. are part of the Tim Mersoi sedimentary basin. These permits in Niger are in regions now producing uranium, including the Akouta underground mine and Arlit open pit mine operated by Areva.

Indian company granted uranium exploration and mining permit in Niger
Taurian Resources Pvt Ltd. external link has recently won a contract which gives it exclusive rights over 3,000 sq. km. of the Sahara Desert known to be rich in deposits of uranium. According to the estimates of the Managing Director of the company, Sachin Bajla, the area in the Arlit region is likely to hold at least 30,000 tonnes of uranium.

Nuclear power stations of 1000 megawatt electrical generation capacity (1000 MWe or 1 gigawatt electrical = 1GWe) require around 200 tonnes (440×103 lb) of uranium per year. For example, the United States has 103 operating reactors with an average generation capacity of 950 MWe demanded over 22 kilotonnes (49×106 lb) of uranium in 2005. As population and industrialization increases, more nuclear power plants will be built. As the number of nuclear power plants increase, so does the demand for uranium.

The largest energy-consuming class in the history of earth is being produced in world’s most populated countries, China and India. Both plan massive nuclear energy expansion programs. China intends to build 32 nuclear plants with 40,000 MWe capacity by 2020.According to the World Nuclear Association, India plans on bringing 20,000 MWe nuclear capacity on line by 2020, and aims to supply 25% of electricity from nuclear power by 2050. The World Nuclear Association believes nuclear energy could reduce the fossil fuel burden of generating the new demand for electricity.

THORIUM

Present knowledge of the distribution of thorium resources is poor because of the relatively low-key exploration efforts arising out of insignificant demand. There are two sets of estimates that define world thorium reserves, one set by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the other supported by reports from the OECD and the International Atomic Energy Agency (the IAEA). Under the USGS estimate, USA, Australia and India have particularly large reserves of thorium.

Both the IAEA and OECD appear to conclude that India may actually possess the lion's share of world's thorium deposits.

India and Australia are believed to possess about 300,000 tonnes each; i.e. each country possessing 25% of the world's thorium reserves. However, in the OECD reports, estimates of Australian's Reasonably Assured Reserves (RAR) of thorium indicate only 19,000 tonnes and not 300,000 tonnes as indicated by USGS. The two sources vary wildly for countries such as Brazil, Turkey, and Australia. However, both reports appear to show some consistency with respect to India's thorium reserve figures, with 290,000 tonnes (USGS) and 319,000 tonnes (OECD/IAEA).

Furthermore the IAEA report mentions that India possesses two thirds (67%) of global reserves of monazite, the primary thorium ore. The IAEA also states that recent reports have upgraded India's thorium deposits up from approximately 300,000 tonnes to 650,000 tonnes.

Thorium fuel cycle development in India

The long-term goal of India's nuclear program has been to develop an advanced heavy-water thorium cycle.The first stage of this employs the PHWRs fuelled by natural uranium, and light water reactors, to produce plutonium.

Stage 2 uses fast neutron reactors burning the plutonium to breed U-233 from thorium. The blanket around the core will have uranium as well as thorium, so that further plutonium (ideally high-fissile Pu) is produced as well as the U-233.

Then in stage 3, Advanced Heavy Water Reactors (AHWRs) burn the U-233 from stage 2 and this plutonium with thorium, getting about two thirds of their power from the thorium.

In 2002 the regulatory authority issued approval to start construction of a 500 MWe prototype fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam and this is now under construction by BHAVINI. It is expected to be operating in 2012, fuelled with uranium-plutonium oxide (the reactor-grade Pu being from its existing PHWRs). It will have a blanket with thorium and uranium to breed fissile U-233 and plutonium respectively. This will take India's ambitious thorium program to stage 2, and set the scene for eventual full utilisation of the country's abundant thorium to fuel reactors. Six more such 500 MWe fast reactors have been announced for construction, four of them by 2020.

So far about one tonne of thorium oxide fuel has been irradiated experimentally in PHWR reactors and has reprocessed and some of this has been reprocessed, according to BARC. A reprocessing centre for thorium fuels is being set up at Kalpakkam.

Design is largely complete for the first 300 MWe AHWR, which was intended to be built in the 11th plan period to 2012, though no site has yet been announced. It will have vertical pressure tubes in which the light water coolant under high pressure will boil, circulation being by convection. A large heat sink - "Gravity-driven water pool" - with 7000 cubic metres of water is near the top of the reactor building. In April 2008 an AHWR critical facility was commissioned at BARC “to conduct a wide range of experiments, to help validate the reactor physics of the AHWR through computer codes and in generating nuclear data about materials, such as thorium-uranium 233 based fuel, which have not been extensively used in the past.” It has all the components of the AHWR’s core including fuel and moderator, and can be operated in different modes with various kinds of fuel in different configurations.

In 2009 the AEC announced some features of the 300 MWe AHWR: It is mainly a thorium-fuelled reactor with several advanced passive safety features to enable meeting next-generation safety requirements such as three days grace period for operator response, elimination of the need for exclusion zone beyond the plant boundary, 100-year design life, and high level of fault tolerance. The advanced safety characteristics have been verified in a series of experiments carried out in full-scale test facilities. Also, per unit of energy produced, the amount of long-lived minor actinides generated is nearly half of that produced in current generation Light Water Reactors. Importantly, a high level of radioactivity in the fissile and fertile materials recovered from the used fuel of AHWR, and their isotopic composition, preclude the use of these materials for nuclear weapons. In mid 2010 a pre-licensing safety appraisal had been completed by the AERB and site selection was in progress. The AHWR can be configured to accept a range of fuel types including enriched U, U-Pu MOX, Th-Pu MOX, and U-233-Th MOX in full core.

At the same time the AEC announced an LEU version of the AHWR. This will use low-enriched uranium plus thorium as a fuel, dispensing with the plutonium input. About 39% of the power will come from thorium (via in situ conversion to U-233, cf two thirds in AHWR), and burn-up will be 64 GWd/t. Uranium enrichment level will be 19.75%, giving 4.21% average fissile content of the U-Th fuel. While designed for closed fuel cycle, this is not required. Plutonium production will be less than in light water reactors, and the fissile proportion will be less and the Pu-238 portion three times as high, giving inherent proliferation resistance. The design is intended for overseas sales, and the AEC says that "the reactor is manageable with modest industrial infrastructure within the reach of developing countries".

Uranium imports

By December 2008, Russia's Rosatom and Areva from France had contracted to supply uranium for power generation, while Kazakhstan, Brazil and South Africa were preparing to do so. The Russian agreement was to provide fuel for PHWRs as well as the two small Tarapur reactors, the Areva agreement was to supply 300 tU.

In February 2009 the actual Russian contract was signed with TVEL to supply 2000 tonnes of natural uranium fuel pellets for PHWRs over ten years, costing $780 million, and 58 tonnes of low-enriched fuel pellets for the Tarapur reactors. The Areva shipment arrived in June 2009. RAPS-2 became the first PHWR to be fuelled with imported uranium, followed by units 5 & 6 there.

In January 2009 NPCIL signed a memorandum of understanding with Kazatomprom for supply of 2100 tonnes of uranium concentrate over six years and a feasibility study on building Indian PHWR reactors in Kazakhstan. NPCIL said that it represented "a mutual commitment to begin thorough discussions on long-term strategic relationship." Under this agreement, 300 tonnes of natural uranium will come from Kazakhstan in the 2010-11 year. Another 210 t will come from Russia. A further agreement in April 2011 covered 2100 tonnes by 2014.

In September 2009 India signed uranium supply and nuclear cooperation agreements with Namibia and Mongolia. In March 2010 Russia offered India a stake in the Elkon uranium mining development in its Sakha Republic, and agreed on a joint venture with ARMZ Uranium Holding Co.

In July 2010 the Minister for Science & Technology reported that India had received 868 tU from France, Russia & Kazakhstan in the year to date: 300 tU natural uranium concentrate from Areva, 58 tU as enriched UO2 pellets from Areva, 210 tU as natural uranium oxide pellets from TVEL and 300 tU as natural uranium from Kazatomprom.

As of August 2010 the DAE said that seven reactors (1400 MWe) were using imported fuel and working at full power, nine reactors (2630 MWe) used domestic uranium.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf53.html

Kashmir : The War of Arms and Hearts

2011-07-15T00:35:00.000-07:00

Most wars are uncertain, some leading to victory, some in defeat. But sustained trans-border proxy war and jihad thrusts are more uncertain. It is possible to find our lasting solution to ethnic unrest, which is political in nature, but it is difficult to vanquish the enemy which directs the proxy war sitting in comfort of war rooms. The jihadis and terrorists bred by them taking advantage of certain unsolved legacy of history and religious susceptibilities are also mushrooming enemies, who are mostly invisible and rarely come under the hairpin of the guns of the defending soldiers. There is another war to win besides the military engagement; the war of minds.

So much has been written on Kashmir problem and Pakistan inspired and engineered jihad thrusts and terrorists actions that no new furrow can be cut by following the old grounds. It is better to focus on the players and the end results they expect and portray what the people of Indian Kashmir aspire for. Before we look into the dark areas of jihad campaign and internal failures let us have a look at the physical status of Kashmir, as it was thrown in the tailspin of partition and deceitful occupation by Pakistan.

In India there exist some misperceptions that Abdullah and Nehru’s Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Leh constitute the geopolitical status of Kashmir. Historically speaking the entire Northern Area of J&K ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh was annexed by Pakistan in collaboration with the British officers posted there as administrative and military heads. The area known as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) or Azad Kashmir was annexed by Pakistan as Sheikh Abdullah and Nehru were not determined to allow the Indian army to chase away the Pakistani aggressors beyond Muzaffarabad. The sordid history of that episode has been bleeding India incessantly since 1948. This is an instance of effeminate foreign policy and inexcusable intervention in the war plan of the Indian army; a greater colossal blunder than emasculation of the armed forces between 1950 and 1962 that encouraged China to humiliate India and encouraged Pakistan to attack India again in 1965. Leadership failure has chained the country almost permanently to the Kashmir quagmire and possible future wars with China and Pakistan.

When India talks of Composite dialogue it probably means a fresh legalized partition of Kashmir along the Line of Control. When Pakistan talks about Comprehensive dialogue it means total vacation of Kashmir by India-ultimate fulfillment of the agenda of partition. When the Indian Kashmiri separatists talk about solution, some insist on merger with Pakistan and some others talk of independence-sans Indian and Pakistani interference; a South Asian Switzerland. Some politicians in India (including the Congress and Sangh Parivar Brigade) talk in term of restoration of the entire Kashmir to India. In the case of Congress this is a mere populist posture; not even a diplomatic approach and strategic formulation. The Sangh Parivar reflects common Indian sentiment but even during the BJP rule it did not make headway diplomatically, least to speak of strategically. The other political forces are busy with bread and butter and pocketfuls of people’s money. Existence of live contradiction in perception in India has contributed to the failure of structuring a broader bilateral and international diplomatic policy. Since military solution is not on the anvil the Indian forces are busy with containing the jihadi thrusts from Pakistan, which has often spilled over the borders of Kashmir and affected various parts of India. India’s failure on diplomatic as well as military fronts has given excessive leeway to the Pakistani Establishment and certain disgruntled elements in Indian Kashmir to intensify the jihad campaign. Let us examine the intricate machinery that Pakistan employ to bleed India.

It is necessary to analyze how Pakistan views and treats the occupied portions of Jammu and Kashmir. The so-called Azad Kashmir is totally under the control of Pakistan and ISI and Islambad’s will determine all the parameters of election to the legislative assembly, appointment of Governor and ministers. Most key officers are exported from Punjab and few key departments are held by serving or retired officers of the armed forces. In all practical considerations Azad Kashmir is an extended part of Pakistani Punjab, acting as a buffer and geostrategic depth for key cities of Pakistan which are at a vulnerable distance from Indian borders and even short range missile strike.

Before we proceed further it is necessary to discuss with the readers two important aspects concerning the Kashmir and general proxy war conducted by Pakistan. India is the only nation against whom hostile neighbours engage in proxy war by supporting the ethnic and ideological insurgents and the jihadi groups inspired by religious fanaticism which has become an integral part of the state policy of Pakistan.

At the root of the proxy war problem is the psyche of the leaders and elites of Pakistan now embodied in the highest command of Pakistan army, considered as the soul of Pakistan. It is like the fabled witch: whose soul live in a parrot or a maynah. Till that bird is killed the evil soul cannot be subdued. India achieved that goal once but allowed the opportunity to emasculate the Pakistan army through the instrument of Simla Agreement 1972, which made the LoC permanent.

The controls the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Joint Intelligence North (JIN) conducts proxy war in Kashmir and the Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous (JIM) jointly with the JIN and JIX conduct jihad warfare in rest of India.

At present the main tool of operation is the Markaz- ud- Dawa al Irshad, the master terrorist organization located at Muridke near Lahore. The main operational tool of the Markaz and the ISI is Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami (HuJI). The Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Allah) was established by Hafiz Mohammad Ibrahim and Zafar Iqbal in May 1990 under patronage of the ISI. Initially the volunteers were trained in NWFP and Afghanistan. Later the training facilities were shifted by the ISI in PoK. The head quarter of the Lashkar (Markaz-e-Lashkar) is situated at Muridke. This force, armed to the teeth by Pakistan army, and numbering about 3500 recruits (figure varies) is now totally under control of the ISI and Pakistan army. The Lashkar has not been allowed to mingle with Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan and Al Qaeda factions. However, the Lashkar is utilized mainly in Indian Kashmir, other parts of India on its own or in tandem with United Jihad Council of Syed Salahuddin and a major faction of the HuJI.

HuJI was formed in 1984 by Fazalur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Akhtar, as the first Pakistan-based jihadist – Islamic terrorist – outfit to fight alongside the Afghan mujahideens against the USSR. Khalil later broke away to form his own group Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA), which later emerged as the most feared militant organization in Kashmir. After the Afghan war this group was reassembled as Harkat-ul-Mujahideen after HuA was banned by the USA. The HuJI was directed by the ISI to export jihad to the Indian state of J & K. HuJI’s footprint was extended to Bangladesh when the Bangladesh unit was established in 1992, with direct assistance from Osama bin Laden. Illyas Kashmiri group of the HuJI is aligned with both Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al Qaeda. Both HuJI and Lashkar are encouraged to expand operation in Chechnya, Dagestan and other parts of the Russian federation.

The United Jihad Council or Muttahida Jihad Council was formed in 1994 of which Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is the largest and dominating component consisting members from Indian Kashmir and Pakistan. At present the ration of Indian and Pakistani component is 35%-55%. Headquarter of the Council is located near Muzaffarabad and all logistics are supplied by Pakistan army and the ISI. The member components are: Harakat-ul-Ansar, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Jihad, Al-Barq, Al-Badr, Ikhwan-ul-Mussalmin, Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen. Around 1999, as many as fifteen organizations were affiliated with the Council. However, the most important components are Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Badr and Tehrik-e-Jihad. Most of these are recognized as terrorist organizations by the US and the UN. The US recently urged Pakistan to eliminate the Lashkar as the high profile attack on Mumbai (26/11) was jointly organized by Pakistan army, ISI, Markaz ud Dawa and the Lashkar. David Coleman Headly Tahawwur Rana now under trial in USA is also connected with Lashkar and Illiyas Kashmiri. Their links with serving Pakistan army officers have been well established by the US investigators.

Osama bin Laden’s Taliban and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan have so far not directly operated in Kashmir. However, Illyas Kashmiri, a Mirpuri PoK national had joined the Special Services group (SSG), a commando force of Pakistan. He later, under ISI direction trained the HuJI and the Afghan mujahideen. Later he broke away with the parent body of HuJI and floated his own outfit Brigade 313. It is affiliated to Al Qaeda and he often directs some of the Lashkar operations. Once he was arrested in India but escaped from jail. Later he was arrested on suspicion of attempt on life of President Musharraf for attack on the Lal Masjid. Kashmiri’s force often independently operates in Indian Kashmir and he was one of the masterminds of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai.

There are satellite images and other ground inputs about patronization of the jihad forces by Pakistan. Till 3 months back Brigadier Rathore was in charge of the Jihad formations and training and arming them with assistance from retired army and ISI officers. It is understood that a new brigadier is in charge of Pakistan’s Kashmir and India operations. Earlier nearly 18 camps were located in NWFP and Punjab. These camps have now been shifted to PoK. According to Indian sources there are 42 live camps in PoK where about 2500 terrorists are undergoing training.

Having discussed the basics let us understand what is Pakistan doing with the PoK and Northern Areas, comprising Gilgit, Baltistan, Skardu etc areas. Understanding POK and Northern Area’s problems would require a brief journey through the pages of history between 1935 and 1947. Sheikh Abdullah and Chaudhri Ghulam Abbas of Muslim Conference had spearheaded the movement for greater devolution of power to the subjects through elected representatives. The vortex of One Nation independence movement spearheaded by the Congress and the creation of Pakistan on the basis of presumed Two Nation theory had also affected the leadership of the Muslim Conference. Sheikh Abdullah charmed Nehru and Newton’s 3rd Law propelled Ghulam Abbas to the lap of Jinnah. These two leaders were willing to arrive at a compromise with Sir Gopalswami Ayeangar, than PM of J&K. The two Kashmiri rivals were united on the issue of opposition to the Maharaja but disunited on most other issues. Their ego bags had no space in a common political geography. In Nehru’s perception Sheikh wielded the key to Kashmir problem. Congress did not consider it necessary to tackle the Maharaja soon after 1940, when it was clear that Jinnah would not stop at anything but partition of India. He wanted his roast to be cooked according to his specifications with Kashmir thrown in as top dressing. Pakistan had not left anything to be decided by the departing British power.

Pakistan Occupied Kashmir comprises of the Muzaffarabad region, adjacent to Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Murree, Manshera and Gujrat etc strategic border areas of Pakistan. By grabbing these areas in 1948 Pakistan acquired a strategic depth against India’s conventional war thrusts. By technically integrating the POK areas with its main territory Pakistan had flagrantly violated the UN resolutions, Tashkent and Simla Agreements. Pundits have elaborated these aspects of Pakistan’s perfidious activities.

Indian mind is not trained to think in terms of understanding that vast areas of the kingdom of Kashmir, besides the Muzaffarabad region described by Pakistan as Azad Kashmir, are under Pakistani and Chinese occupation. These territories of the kingdom of Kashmir, which merged into India, have almost disappeared from Indian memory and are considered as ‘technical cartographic definition.’

The political class and the governments in India have so far not made average Indians aware of the fact that Pakistan had ceded 1/3rd of J&K to China on the strength of assumed parameter ‘the defence of which (the ceded area) is under the actual control of Pakistan.’ What follows from this assumption? Pakistan reserves the right to cede the Gilgit and Baltistan areas of Northern Areas of J&K to China or America on some other strategic consideration on the same plea of de facto military presence in the area. It’s as bad in international law as is the forcible amalgamation of parts of Gaza strip, Western Bank and Golan Heights by Israel. While Pakistan joins voice with other Arab governments to condemn Israel, it has no explanation to give to the people of J&K and India; the legal inheritor of the territories of the Maharaja of J&K. India has also not kept the item on diplomatic dinner plates in Agra, Delhi and Islamabad. The present foreign office diplomats and Track II and III diplomats are also not adding the POK and the Northern Areas including Areas Ceded to China to the menu card.

A detailed reading of the land mass transferred to China in 1963 indicate that Pakistan was preparing the grounds for a decisive round of war against India in 1965 with tacit Chinese help and silent nod from America, which was using Pakistan to build a bridge with China. After the devastating defeat in 1962 a stupefied India could do very little to stop China from grabbing a territory through deceit. Article Two of the treaty delineates the ceded area, which include important Passes like Mintake Daban, Parpik, Yutr Daban, Muztagh, and Karakoram.

The Gilgit and Baltistan tracts of the kingdom of Kashmir are known as Northern Areas. Maharaja of Kashmir occupied the territory in 1842 and the British recognized his sovereignty in 1846. Through a recorded history of turmoil, finally, in 1935 the British Crown assumed firm control of Gilgit Agency through a lease agreement. However, the lease did not terminate sovereignty of the Maharaja. During transfer of power, The British did not consider either India or Pakistan as legal claimants of this territory. Paramountcy was reverted to Srinagar durbar and only the Maharaja had legal rights to transfer that territory either to India or Pakistan.

Pakistan repeated the show it staged by stoking rebellion in Poonch, Mirpur and Kotli. It started negotiating with the figurehead rulers of the area and the Sirdars. Mostly Muslims, the Gilgit Scout was also influenced by Pakistan through local religious leaders, Sirdars and potentates. Like the ‘Provisional Government of POK’ a move was mooted by Shah Rias Khan to set up ‘The Gilgit Republic.’ History bears evidence of Pakistani connectivity of Rias Khan. Delhi or Srinagar could do precious little to intervene decisively as pro-Pakistani British officers controlled military balance. William Brown, the British major in charge of the forces of the Maharaja in his memoir ‘The Gilgit Rebellion’ mentioned that taking advantage of the withdrawal of the British the Pakistani authorities incited the Muslim tribesmen and arranged their congregation in Gilgit town. They were incited to kill Hindu and Sikh officials and other J&K citizen. Absence of authority, especially inability and helplessness of the circumstances of India allured Pakistan to incite Poonch, Mirpur type rebellion under leaders like Rais Khan.

Major Brown was the only military authority in Gilgit and his colleague Captain Mathieson was in Chilas. Brown put the Crown representative Ghansara Singh and his associates under house arrest on the ruse of protecting them. Major Brown came under severe pressure from his superior Col. Bacon at Peshawar and Col. Iskander Mirza, Defence Secretary of Pakistan to declare merger of Gilgit Agency with Pakistan. On the morning of 4th November, he raised Pakistan flag over his headquarters.

The area is divided into five administrative units: Gilgit, Baltistan, Diamir, Ghizer and Ghanche. A population of nearly 2 million inhabits the 72,495 square kilometer geographical spread. The main ethnic groups are Baltis (Balawaris), Yashkuns, Mughals, Kashmiris, Pathans, Ladakhis, Tajik, Uzbek, Mongol, Turkmen and population of Greek origin. Though Pakistan is trying to impose Urdu in the Northern Areas the main languages spoken are, Balti, Shina, Brushaski, Khawer, Wakhi, Turki, Tibeti, and Pushto.

Religious sect-wise breakdown of population in the Northern Areas is:
Gilgit – 60% Shia, 40% Sunni (imported from Pakistan); Nagar- 100% Shia, Hunza, Yasin, Punial, Ishkoman, Gupis- 100% Ismaili (Aghakhani), Chilas, Darel, 100% Sunni, Astor- 90% Sunni and 10% Shia and Baltistan- 98% Shia and 2 % Sunni. There are about 10% Nurbakshis in the Northern Areas. The Sunnis are predominantly Hanafi with sprinkles of Maliki and Hanbali sects.

While the PoK was granted some charade of self rule the Northern Areas were so far directly administered by Islamabad. Discontent at growing Punjabi domination and lack of any kind of self-rule had given rise to the demand of independent Balawaristan by some of the protagonists.

The Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order 2009, replaces the Northern Areas Legal Framework Order of 1994. Under the order, Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly will formulate its own Rules of Procedures, while legislation on 61 subjects will be done by a council and an assembly in their respective jurisdictions. The region will not be regarded as a province, as the self-rule has been granted on the pattern of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The self-governance to Gilgit-Baltistan will have no impact on the future of Kashmir. The Legislative Assembly will elect its own Chief Minister; however, the Legislative Assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan would have no control over defence and treasury. The elections in the areas would be held in October this year. Out of 36 assembly members, 24 would be elected directly whereas seven seats each would be reserved for the technocrats.

Pakistan views this as a landmark step towards integration of the occupied Northern Areas with rest of the country. In their view: The declaration of “Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009” has not only fulfilled the longstanding demand of the people of Northern Areas for self-rule on the lines of AJK type of governance, it will also frustrate the nefarious designs of Indian external strike in Northern Areas. It is beyond doubt that the Northern Areas of Pakistan lag behind the rest of the provinces of the country. Sectarianism, poverty, Indian connection, weak judicial system, burgeoning of small arms, and separatist forces like Balawaristan National Front (BNF), Karakoram National Movement (KNM), are some of the major concerns that had alarmed the NA Administration. Some of the demands put across by the people of Pakistan’s mountainous Northern Areas were: (1) Self-governance like that of AJK or as a province. (2) Fully autonomous Legislative Assembly with Chief Minister. (3) Set up an independent High Court and Supreme Court. (4) The reforms in education set-up, e.g., affairs of Karakoram International University to be straightened, quota for Gilgit Baltistan be separated from FATA, setting-up of Medical College and Engineering College. (5) The Land allotment to non-locals, NGOs and foreign Govts should be banned. (6) Economic Developmental Package for the uplift of common people. (7) Control over the sectarianism. This is far from the truth prevailing on the grounds. Discontent and preparations for armed conflict with Pakistan are growing in the Northern Areas which prompted Islamabad to depute two additional brigades and a large contingent of the ISI and the SSG.

Another issue that is disturbing India is Chinese intrusion both in PoK and the Northern Areas for execution of certain hydroelectric and other infrastructural projects. Pakistan and China signed a memorandum of understanding for construction of Bunji dam in Northern Areas in August 2009. The agreement was signed on behalf of Pakistan’s ministry of water and power and China’s Three Gorges Project Corporation by the Chairman, Board of Investment, Saleem Mandviwala, and Li Yang’an. The ceremony was attended by President Asif Zardari.

“Political and administrative reforms recently announced by Pakistan for its Northern Areas, known officially as Gilgit Baltistan, are basically aimed at providing better security cover for the rapidly growing Chinese interests in the territory. Gilgit, the Northern Areas capital, has acquired the status of a gateway to Central Asia in the wake of a Pakistan-China barter trade agreement and accords with Central Asian states. China has invested heavily in a range of projects in the Northern Areas and is poised to launch several new projects, particularly in power sector, costing billions of dollars. In August 2009, during a visit by Zardari to China, the countries signed a memorandum of understanding on construction of a hydro-power station at Bunji, in Gilgit Baltistan. The countries also agreed in June to allow market access for bilateral trade in 11 services sectors and to intensify their efforts to increase border trade, which constitutes merely 5% of their overall trade, and takes place through the Karakoram Highway (KKH), whose repair and upgrade is likely to be completed by 2012.” Syed Fazl-e-Hyder, in Pakistan acts to guard Chinese interests; Asia Times, September 4, 2009.

India has recently lodged protest with China for undertaking works in the Northern Areas and PoK as these areas are legally parts of India and Pakistan has no right to invite China to carry out development works in Indian Territory without Delhi’s concurrence. The Indian foreign minister is likely to take up this issue with his Chinese counterparts during his forthcoming visit to Beijing.

Having surveyed the panorama of geopolitical status let us examine if India can minimize or prevent Pakistan from launching jihad attacks from its soil against Kashmir in particular and India in General.

Militarily it is not impossible to make precision strike against the terrorist camps in PoK and Punjab. India has the technology to gather intelligence data about these camps. The moot point is can India be determined to launch Israeli like attack and US like strikes? There are risks of a limited war between India and Pakistan that may not turn nuclear. Would the USA support India against the known proclivity of China and Pakistan to internationalize the issue. India does not have sufficient drones to mount precision attack. Conventional advanced bombers and warhorses are not suitable for such attack. Moreover, India, at the 62nd year of proxy war must also evolve a policy to hit Pakistan decisively. This would require a comprehensive policy. Some political parties, which depend on Muslim vote, may not agree for a Bangladesh like operation. However, forward proactive policy remains the best option provided the political policy makers are committed to the cause and the armed forces are given appropriate mandate.

In the face of such impasse India can at best do firefighting in Kashmir and other places. Prolonged fire fighting generates big problem. Such operations alienate the people, allegation of human rights violation are pitted on flimsiest ground. Often excesses are committed by security personnel under conditions of severe stress. This is an intractable situation in an operational theatre. The militants try to terrorize the people to submission and in the process attack vulnerable targets. The security forces are compelled to operate in the populated villages that create hatred and aversion amongst the people. A defensive anti-guerrilla warfare suffers from such inbuilt disadvantages. However, record of the Indian security forces is more on the brighter side that than any isolated dark spots are left by rare acts of callousness.

India has managed to maintain a democratic political structure in the state. Despite Pakistan inspired election boycott by the militants and the separatist Hurriyat Conference etc the people of the state exhibited indomitable courage to turn up to cast vote; nearly 45-60% in different booths. It may be recalled that 40% voting is considered moderately high in disturbed situation. The common Kashmiri pine for peace and stability. They have understood that Pakistan is using them for scoring geostrategic and geopolitical victory over India. By involving China Pakistan is adding international dimension to the conflict. However, there is no organized political platform that can focus on the aversion of the people towards Pakistani interference. Even the leaders of certain parties which talk in ambivalent manner understand that their future is tied up to India and they cannot enjoy freedom in Pakistan. Most of them use shrill anti-India campaign to remain politically relevant.

orruption in public offices has affected the common people adversely. No job can be done without paying the local officers and political leaders. Even for agricultural loan and loans for fruit orchards are available against a premium cut. High cost of implements, pesticide and other inputs has impeded agricultural growth. On top of it the campaign for potato cultivation and cultivation of green vegetables has not been well accepted by villagers. Crop insurance against adverse weather is not available as yet. Introduction of terrace cultivation with adequate irrigation facility is yet to pick up in the lower reach hill areas.
Because of lack of industrial activity and other job opportunities the youth mostly remain unemployed and some of them migrate to other states for running carpet and handloom business. The handloom and handicraft industry are in shambles because of high cost of inputs and paucity of subsidy and grant. There is high potential for sheep breeding and wool harvesting industry, poultry and dairy projects. If properly encouraged by importing high yielding cows and introducing mechanized process Kashmir can emerge as the cheese capital of India. The NABARD has recently opened a one-man office in Srinagar which is neither in a position to conceive projects conducive to Kashmir and Jammu region and offering financial assistance. Economic and administrative neglect has also disappointed the surrendered militants as they have no means of viable livelihood. The degree of disillusionment is on the rise.

Talks with common Kashmiris indicate that they are tired of continuous military operations and violation of human rights. Security of life, women and property are main concerns. A good percentage of them understand the catch 22 situation created by Pakistan sponsored proxy war and jihad and India’s law and order response. They pine for peace and stability and economic advancement. The developmental administration has failed the state almost in every sector. The emphasis of the state and the central administration should be on the battle of winning over hearts of the people. Hopefully, multipronged offensive and defensive military actions would be accompanied by sustained and corruption free developmental activities. War for winning the heart of the people is more important than defensive war against jihadi guerrillas operating from Pakistan.

http://maloykrishnadhar.com/kashmir-the-war-of-arms-and-hearts#comment-8240

List of Scams in India

2011-07-14T04:26:00.000-07:00

I was not surprised when at the Regional Passport office I had to grease the palm of a tout to expedite issue of a new pamphlet. When asked, the tout tersely asked: Sir, are you from the Mars? This is India. The Mother of corruption rules the country. The riddle was complicated. To my pleasant surprise he rattled out that Janpath to Rajpath, Ballimaran to Bhindi bazaar everyone is required to be pleased with graft money. How can you get the black money back from abroad? The Mother of corruption has stashed away billions herself.

It was a great moment of education. I retreated as a wiser person.

Prominent Scams Before 2005

Harshad Mehta Big Bull Scam – 4000 crore
Lalu’s Chara Ghotala – 950 crores – July 2008 IAS officer Sajjal gets four-yr RI for 39 crore scam
Hawala Scandal – 5000 crores
Bofors Scandal – 64 crores (Also Read: 1 2 3)
Narendra Rastogi serial scammer – more than 43 crores (Read more 1)
Dalmia Scandal – 595 crores
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel fraud case-50 crores
UTI Scam – 32 crores
Mutual Fund Scam – 1350 crores
Bansali Scam – 1200 crores
Ketan Parekh’s Sebi Scam- 888 crores – June 08 – SC issues arrest warrant against Ketan Parekh
Cobbler Scam – 1000 crores
Bribe to allot petrol pumps scam-1000 crores
Churhat lottery scam – 5000 crores
Anantnag transport subsidy scam – 80 crores
Bangalore – Mysore Infrastructure Corridor – 200 crores
Kerala SNC Lavalin power scandal – 374.5 crore loss – Dec 09 – Accused CPM leader Vijayan gets bail in graft case.
Telgi Scam – 171 crores – Telgi was sentenced 13 yrs RI and 100 cr fine.
Mayawati’s Taj Corridor- 175 crores alleged scam – Case was dropped in 2007 by the special designated court due to insufficient evidence. 2 May 2008 -Mayawati attempts to stop CBI investigation.
Motilal Goel Scam – 1000 crore
West Bengal Telecom Scam – 400 crores
India’s unchecked textbooks racket – estimated 225 crores
Urea Scam – 133 crores
Meghalaya lottery scam – 25000 crore
Ration Card Scam – 3 crore
Car Financing Scam – 500 crore
Flood Relief Scam – 13 crores
Temple Lands Scam – 30 crores
Franking Scam – 30 crores
Volkswagon Equity Scam – 11 crores – Sep 10 – CBI names 6 accused
National Slum Development Programme – 1.52 crores (Same guy of Flood Relief Scam May 05 who said “Victims can eat plastic bags”)
Kerala State Electricity Board – 89.32 crores (alleged corruption worth Rs. 100 crores was also involved in the drinking water project)
Indian Oil Corporation Scam – 3000 crores. Mere reports of likely investigation of the scam shaved off 89000 crores from the market capital
CBI nets 70 officials in all-India anti-corruption drive
Nagmani Scam – 1.5crore
Stamp Scam (Goa) – 30.19 crore
Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) land scam – 2050 crore
Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) Scam- 9.1 crore
Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) Scam – 2000 crores
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) Scam – 250 crores – Sep 2007 – HC pulls up CBI for not registering case

“I am pained to observe that the law in this country punishes very harshly the small offenders involved in offences of stealing of small amounts to the tune of few hundred or few thousands. ”Such accused are often sent to jail by the big fishes who defraud the exchequer of crores of rupees…they are dealt with by investigating agencies in a different manner and the law does not act with the same harshness to these offenders,” Justice Dhingra observed in a recent order. ”This attitude of the investigating agencies is beyond comprehension,” he said while directing the CBI to register a case against Pankaj Aggarwal, the alleged mastermind in the scam. Aggarwal has his business in Dubai.

Election Fund Scam – 5000 Crores
Operation Blackboard scam – 1000 crores
Oil for Food Scam – 400 crores

Some 2006 scams

Rice Scam – 320 crores
Benami Demat Scam – 30 crores (Sanjay Pandey the same guy in cobbler scam pre 2005)
February 2006
Benami IPO Scam – 32 crores
Liquor Scam – 3600 crores
The controversial Scorpion Deal – 980 crores
MTNL GSM Scam – 450 crore
Chautala Scam – 1400 crores
BPL Red Cards Scam – 1400 crores
The Great Wheat Scam – 4000 crores
UTI Franchisee forgery – 1000 crores
Punjab State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) Scam – more than 3 crores
BPO Scam – more than 3 crore
Bellary iron ore mine bribe – 150 crore
Duty Exemption Pass Book (DEPB) scheme Scam – 10 crore
Unaccounted money on sale of petrol pumps – 18 crores
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh goes on a multi-crore holiday extravaganza – 2.5 crores
Top Punjab cops booked for wireless sets scam – 5 crores
Koda Scandal – 2500 crores – Nov 09 – First arrest made Feb 10 – 1 crore seized , Ujjawal Chaudhary, senior Income Tax (I-T) officer who was going to reveal connections with politicians and hawala traders abruptly shifted.
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in real estate fraud – more than 2100 crores.
Earlier, all of them had got anticipatory bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Later they moved regular bail applications. A senior counsel of the Supreme Court appearing on behalf of Captain Amarinder Singh had stressed before the court that his client be granted regular bail till the conclusion of the trial.
“We are discussing legal recourse to be taken in the Apex Court. We may even file public interest litigation before the Supreme Court asking for intervention in the case. It is a mockery of the law we are witnessing in the case. Scores of witnesses are going back on their words. We may even demand the CBI inquiry into the change of stance by the witnesses,” – Report of Jan 2008
West Bengal State Consumer’s Federation Ltd (CONFED) Paddy Scam – 500 crore
SEZ Controversies – RBI fears of a revenue loss — some Rs. 170,000 crore over the next five years by way of income tax, excise and customs duties foregone (based on a NIPF study).
Dharmesh Doshi, Madhavpura Cooperative Bank scam – 1030 crores
Barak Missile Deal – 400 crore – The CBI case alleges that Rs 2 crore were paid to the president of a political party (Jaya Jaitley), who functioned from the residence of the then Defence Minister (George Fernandez). March 2008 Nandas claim innocence
Blood Test Kit Scam – 50 crores
Bangalore Development Authority and Bangalore Mahanagara Palika on illegal constructions – 180 crore
NSDL and CDSL bags illegitimate profits in an IPO manipulation scam – 116 crore
SMS Con – 40-100 crore
Agrofed job scam – 60 crore
Haj Quota scam- bribes taken to illegally procure seats from the Government’s subsidised Haj quota for 1 lakh muslims- 98 crores

Some 2007 scams

Illegal Telephone Exchanges Scam – 1000 crores
Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) Scam – swindled 12,000 crores of small investors before leaving the state
Karnataka State Government to award a meager cash prize (Rs. 2,000) to Jayant Tinaikar, who reportedly exposed the fake stamp paper scam 12 years ago.
Uranium Corporation of India Limited Scam – 20 crores
Oriental Bank Scam – 596.44 crores
Mandankumar Scam – 3.5 crores
Pune Hassan Ali Khan Scam – 50 crores – I-T department, ED, and IB estimates that several thousand crore rupees were routed out of India(possibly Swiss banks) through havala and banking channels. The rea; estimate of Hassan Ali’s scams are yet to be gauged. He was protected by Cong/NCP stalwarts.
Congress MP Moni Kumar Subba from Tezpur, lied about his Indian nationality for 16 years manages to scam the country off by 25000 crores
There is little chance of recovery in most of these cases as there are not many assets to recover the arrears, officials claimed.
Air Ticket Booking Scam – 13 crores
The Royapettah Benefit Fund (RBF) in Chennai went bust drowning Rs 450 crore and leaving investors and depositors in the lurch a company allowed to operate by RBI.
Fertilizers Subsidies Scam – 300 crores
Arunachal Pradesh’s corrupt governance: 1000 crores .Misappropriation under former CM Gegong Apang and present incumbent Dorjee Khandu) Aug 10 – Apang arrested
There were a number of cases regarding mismanagement in the Public Distribution System. People in the villages were not getting enough food allotted by the Centre. Cooperative rural banking scams affected small depositors like laborers and teachers. The hydro power sector was also in doldrums.
Sampoorn Gramin Rojgar Yogana Scam – 457 crores . Dec 07 – Scam referred to CBI.
A muti-crore scam under which the poor were deprived of food grains under the state scheme. A systematic loot was taking place in the state and the government was not willing to give permission for holding a CBI probe into the scam running into crores of rupees.
Warehouse Receipts Scandal – 500 crores
Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) Scam – 2580 crores.
Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) Scam – 50 crores
Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) recruitment scam – 8 crores
Three judges of the High Court were found taking favors from Ravi Sidhu, former PPSC chairman. On April 19, 2004, 25 sitting judges of the High Court had gone on mass leave protesting Chief Justice B K Roy’s move to seek an explanation from two judges, Justice Vinay Mittal and Varinder Singh, who had allegedly applied for membership of a private golf course, Forest Hill Resort Club. The club was involved in litigation and was later demolished on the orders of the High Court. The club was illegally constructed in complete violation of Forest and Environment laws. Honorary memberships were given to IAS officers and the two judges to legitimize the illegalities.
Delhi Development Authority canteen owner Ashok Malhotra owned more than 50 cars and 10 motorcycles were recovered, all bearing special VIP number plates. Raid unearthed 5000 land documents, and other assets worth 7000 crores
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice YK Sabharwal was involved in dubious judicial deal-making that earned his sons huge profits. – estimated 58 crores
Kerala State Cooperative Bank Scam – 2000 crores
Aircraft Import Scam – 1059 crores
Leave Travel Concession (LTC) Scam – loss of Rs 200 crore to Government and PSUs.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Land Scam – 900 crores
‘ISRO comes directly under the prime minister and it is they who have to launch an inquiry and not us. If they are ready for it, then the state government will provide all necessary help,’ – Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan
Filing of petition challenging the actions of the banks in waiving of around Rs 2,300 crore of public money arbitrarily without any valid reason, describing this as the largest single waiver in the history of Indian banking industry.
Fake- housing projects in north India – 500 crores – Y S Rana from Delhi. Rana was the owner of PS&G Developers and Engineers Ltd arrested by EOW.
Kidney Transplant Racket – 150 crores more than a 1000 victims.
Many innocent laborers lost their kidney in lure of money and job. The racket is believed to be spread in various states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Maharashtra.
Coal India Ltd illegally diverted at least Rs10 crore from the funds it had collected for over a decade and meant for the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).
Part of the funds collected at the time of the Kargil war for the NDF has been transmitted as late as 27 August 2007, after the initiation of this inquiry.” The Kargil war happened in 1999.
Funds collected for victims of the Kargil war, Orissa cyclone and Gujarat earthquake were misused by top IAS officers in Punjab – the documents prove that officers posted as deputy commissioners in Ludhiana, Patiala and Sangrur misappropriated and misused crores of money while heading the Red Cross societies in their districts.
Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) Land Scam – 6 crores

Some 2008 scams

Punjab Vigilance Branch arrests whistle-blower
Punjab vigilance bureau is penny wise and pound foolish. A sub-divisional officer (SDO) who blew the whistle on a scam worth crores was arrested by the bureau in an alleged graft case. While the SDO has been suspended, his own report on the utilization of border area funds — exposing what is probably the tip of the iceberg — is gathering dust.
Kolkata Museum Scam – 18 crores
One of the biggest repositories of the country’s cultural and historical heritage has been siphoning off crores of rupees under the pretext of preserving priceless artifacts, a probe has found.
Senior Punjab IAS officer suspended for going out of his way to help a company by hiring it without inviting tenders and extending advances without proper bank guarantees. The company failed to repay, causing loss of Rs 20 crore to the corporation.
KPMG – India is “fraud haven”
BCCI Dalmiya Scam – 60 crores
Illegal export of sandalwood – 5 crores
Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Ajay Vishnoi quits after Income Tax raid on brother’s premises – 500 crore
Ghaziabad Provident Fund scam – 23 crores – involved 83 accused included 36 judges, including one sitting Supreme Court judge, 11 High Court judges and 24 judges of subordinate judiciary. Beneficiaries of the ill-gotten money which was siphoned off fraudulently on the basis of fake documents and fictitious government servants and withdrawal of crores of rupees from the provident fund account of third and fourth-grade employees in Ghaziabad region between 2001 and 2008.(Read more 1) Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan denied heading the bench hearing (Read more 1) Dec 08 – CBI says it would seek permission to interrogate the judges. Oct – 09 – Key accused dies of heart attack while in custody Jul 10 No evidence against 17 out 41 judges and 24 remaining judges

Ghaziabad police sought permission from the Chief Justice of India and Allahabad Court to initiate a probe against the judges accused in this scam. While the Allahabad High Court dismissed the petition summarily, at the Supreme Court, Chief Justice K. Balakrishnan handled the request with remarkable astuteness and ordered a novel method of investigation that would protect the prestige and the reputation of the judiciary as far as possible.
Fake Currency Scam in Uttar Pradesh Bank – 1.5 crores
Fake RBI Cheques Scam – 14 crores
Shirdi Ghat Repair – 40 crores
Mid Day Meal Scam – 15.37 crores
2G Spectrum Scam – 1, 76,000 crores Dec 08 – Center claimed that charges are baseless
Satyam Computer’s Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI) Ambulance Services Scam – 5600 crores
E-ticketing fraud – 5 crores

Some 2009 scams

11 Directors of National Agricultural Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) face criminal action in an Rs3, 700 crore fraud.
Satyam Fraud – 7 to 14000 crores – Price Waterhouse Coopers saw no fraud in Satyam – Nov 09 CBI arrested Satyam’s internal audit head V S Prabhakar Gupta for allegedly fabricating account books, just days before it is due to file a second charge sheet in the multi-crore fraud at the IT firm. Jul 10 – Promoters wrongfully gained 2643 crores (Read more 1 2 3 4 5 6 7)
Reports said that investors like DSP Merrill Lynch, DSP Blackrock, ILFS Financial Services and Deutsche Bank offloaded their shares days before Satyam fraud came out in open.
Computer Purchasing Fraud – 1.53 crores
Divine Homeopath Investment Manager – 1600 crore
Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) arms deal scam – 500 crores – Jul 10 – 6 firms get blacklisted
Dr A S Bindra father of ace shooter Abhinav Bindra and managing director of Punjab Meats Limited, Dera Bassion had charges of cheating, fraud and forgery. He committed fraud with a Delhi-based private financial company, Apple India, to the tune of Rs 4.31 crore and with the IndusInd Bank to the tune of Rs 5 crore.
Ashok Jadeja Divine Ayurved and Money Multiplier – 100 to 1600 crores
MCD 45000 Fake Employees Scam – 500-1000 crores annually
Bitumen Scam – more than 100 crores
Chhattisgarh Paddy Scam – 4000 crores
All India Council of Technical Education bribery scam – ? crores – Chairman R.A. Yadav, who drew a monthly salary of about Rs 80,000, had amassed property worth crores.
Metal Scrap Scam – 100 crores
SBI Kanpur – 52 crores – Assistant General Manager, 2 Chief Managers and some senior managers, who were suspected to be directly involved in pilfering the bank by crediting fake cheques into select accounts.
Austra Coke – 1000 crores
Bollywood star Nasir Khan figured in multi crore rupee chit fund scam – 191 crore
Gold Quest Scam – 1100 crore
Dr Suresh Dhotre medicine fraud – 47 crores

Some 2010 scams

IAS officer Pradeep Sharma Bheed Bazaar Land allotment scam – 70 crores
Railways and LIC Scam – 400 crores
Bhopal Home Loan Scam – 2 crores
MP IAS couple scam 7000 crores.
Wipro Embezzlement Fraud – 180 crores
Chak De India Scam – 60 crores
PAN Card Scam – 3 crores
Kandla Port Trust (KPT) Scam – 100 crores – 16000 acres of land was leased out to few parties at nominal rates.
Fake Income Tax Returns Scam – 6 crores
President of the Medical Council of India (MCI), Dr Ketan Desai in college scam – 500 crores – Demanded Rs 40 lakh from students seeking admission in a capitation fee racket and money for allotting seat as a management quota student.
Financial Fraud hits 87% of Indian companies
Canara Bank defrauded – 9.14 crore
Railway Recruitment Board Paper Leak – 15.5 crore
Lalit Modi Indian Premier League (IPL) Scam – 1200 crores
Commonwealth Games Scam – 8000 crores
Senior citizen savings scheme (SCSS) Post Office Scam – 2 crores
International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Infrastructure creation Scam in Goa – 80 crores
Adarsh Society Scam – 1000 crores
State-owned Mineral Scrap Trading Corporation (MSTC) was defrauded by jewelry traders – 1400 crores
Citibank swindle – 300 crores.

These are few landmark scams.

Narsimha Rao - One of the best PM's

2011-07-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

Twenty years ago, Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister and initiated economic reforms that transformed India. The Congress party doesn’t want to remember him: it is based entirely on loyalty to the Gandhi family, and Rao was not a family member. But the nation should remember Rao as the man who changed India, and the world too.

In June 1991, India was seen globally as a bottomless pit for foreign aid. It had exhausted an IMF loan taken six months earlier and so was desperate. Nobody imagined that, 20 years later, India would be called an emerging superpower, backed by the US to join the UN Security Council, and poised to overtake China as the world’s fastest growing economy.

For three decades after Independence, India followed inward looking socialist policies aiming at public sector dominance. The licence-permit raj mandated government clearance to produce, import or innovate. If you were productive enough to create something new or produce more from existing machinery, you faced imprisonment for the dreadful crime of exceeding licensed capacity.

Socialism reached its zenith in the garibi hatao phase of Indira Gandhi (1969-77), when several industries were nationalized and income tax went up to 97.75%. This produced neither fast growth nor social justice. GDP growth remained stuck at 3.5% per year, half the rate in Japan and the Asian tigers. India’s social indicators were dismal, often worse than in Africa. Poverty did not fall at all despite three decades of independence.

In the 1980s, creeping economic liberalization plus a government-spending spree saw GDP growth rise to 5.5%. But the spending spree was based on unsustainable foreign borrowing, and ended in tears in 1991.

When Rao assumed office, the once-admired Soviet model was collapsing. Meanwhile, Deng had transformed China through market-oriented reforms. Rao opted for market reforms too. He was no free market ideologue like Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher: he talked of the middle path. His model was Willy Brandt of Germany.

His master stroke was to appoint Manmohan Singh as finance minister. Rao wanted a non-political reformer at the centre of decision-making, who could be backed or dumped as required. He presented Singh as the spearhead of reform while he himself advocated a middle path. Yet, ultimately, it was his vision that Singh executed.

In his first month in office, the rupee was devalued. There followed the virtual abolition of industrial licensing and MRTP clearance. At one stroke, the biggest hurdles to industrial expansion disappeared. Who was the industry minister who initiated these revolutionary reforms? Narasimha Rao himself! He held the industry portfolio too.

Yet he did not want draw attention to himself. So he ingeniously made the delicensing announcement on the morning of the day Manmohan Singh was presenting his first Budget. The media clubbed the Budget and delicensing stories together as one composite reform story. In the public mind, Manmohan Singh was seen as the liberalizer, while Rao stayed in the background.

Singh initiated the gradual reduction of import duties, income tax and corporate tax. Foreign investment was gradually liberalized. Imports of technology were freed. Yet the overall government approach was anything but radically reformist. When bank staff threatened to go on strike, Rao assured them that there would be no bank privatization or staff reforms. When farmers threatened to take to the streets, Rao assured them there would be no opening up of Indian agriculture.

The IMF and World Bank believed that when a country went bust, that was the best time for painful reforms like labour reforms. However, Rao took the very opposite line. He focused on reforms that would produce the least mass losers (such as industrial delicensing) and yet produced 7.5% growth in the mid-1990s. These gave reforms a good name, and ensured their continuance even when Opposition parties later came to power.

In the 2000s, the cumulative effect of gradual reform finally made India an 8.5% miracle growth economy. Rao got no glory for this. He had lost the 1996 election amidst charges of buying the support of JMM legislators. This led to his exit as Congress chief. Although he was eventually exonerated by the courts, he died a political nobody.

How unjust! He deserves a high place in economic history for challenging the Bank-IMF approach on painful austerity, and focusing instead on a few key changes that produced fast growth with minimum pain. The World Bank itself later changed its policy and started targeting “binding constraints” (like industrial licensing)

Manmohan Singh said repeatedly that he could have achieved nothing without Rao’s backing. Today, 20 years after the start of India’s economic miracle, let us toast India’s most underrated Prime Minister — Narasimha Rao

Map of Tibet- Historical buffer between India and China

2011-07-08T03:25:00.001-07:00

From Birth to Exile- The Dalai Lama

2011-07-08T02:42:00.000-07:00

His Holiness the Dalai Lama was born on 6 July 1935, and named Lhamo Thondup, to a poor family in the small village of Taktser in the province of Amdo. The name, Lhamo Thondup, literally means Wish-Fulfilling Goddess. Taktser (Roaring Tiger) was a small and poor settlement that stood on a hill overlooking a broad valley. Its pastures had not been settled or farmed for long, only grazed by nomads. The reason for this was the unpredictability of the weather in that area, His Holiness writes in his autobiography Freedom in Exile. During my early childhood, my family was one of twenty or so making a precarious living from the land there.

His Holiness' parents were small farmers who mostly grew barley, buckwheat and potatoes. His father was a man of medium height with a very quick temper. I remember pulling at his moustache once and being hit hard for my trouble, recalls His Holiness. Yet he was a kind man too and he never bore grudges. His Holiness recalls his mother as undoubtedly one of the kindest people I have ever known. She had a total of sixteen children, of whom seven lived.
His Holiness had two sisters and four brothers who survived their infancy. Tsering Dolma, the eldest child, was eighteen years older than His Holiness. At the time of my birth she helped my mother run the house and acted as my midwife. When she delivered me, she noticed that one of my eyes was not properly open. Without hesitation she put her thumb on the reluctant lid and forced it wide fortunately without any ill effect, His Holiness writes. His Holiness' three elder brothers were Thupten Jigme Norbu - the eldest, who was recognised as the reincarnation of a high lama, Taktser Rinpoche - Gyalo Thondup and Lobsang Samten. The youngest brother, Tenzin Cheogyal was also recognised as the reincarnation of another high lama, Ngari Rinpoche.

Of course, no one had any idea that I might be anything other than an ordinary baby. It was almost unthinkable that more than one tulku (reincarnation) could be born into the same family and certainly my parents had no idea that I would be proclaimed Dalai Lama, His Holiness writes. Though the remarkable recovery made by His Holiness' father from his critical illness at the time of His Holiness' birth was auspicious, it was not taken to be of great significance. I myself likewise had no particular intimation of what lay ahead. My earliest memories are very ordinary. His Holiness recollects his earliest memory, among others, of observing a group of children fighting and running to join in with the weaker side.
One thing that I remember enjoying particularly as a very young boy was going into the chicken coop to collect the eggs with my mother and then staying behind. I liked to sit in the hens' nest and make clucking noises. Another favourite occupation of mine as an infant was to pack things in a bag as if I was about to go on a long journey. I'm going to Lhasa, I'm going to Lhasa, I would say. This, coupled with my insistence that I be allowed always to sit at the head of the table, was later said to be an indication that I must have known that I was destined for greater things.

His Holiness is held to be the reincarnation of each of the previous thirteen Dalai Lamas of Tibet (the first having been born in 1391 AD), who are in turn considered to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, or Chenrezig, Bodhisattva of Compassion, holder of the White Lotus. Thus His Holiness is also believed to be a manifestation of Chenrezig, in fact the seventy-fourth in a lineage that can be traced back to a Brahmin boy who lived in the time of Buddha Shakyamuni. I am often asked whether I truly believe this. The answer is not simple to give. But as a fifty-six year old, when I consider my experience during this present life, and given my Buddhist beliefs, I have no difficulty accepting that I am spiritually connected both to the thirteen previous Dalai Lamas, to Chenrezig and to the Buddha himself.

Discovery as Dalai Lama
When Lhamo Thondup was barely three years old, a search party that had been sent out by the Tibetan government to find the new incarnation of the Dalai Lama arrived at Kumbum monastery. It had been led there by a number of signs. One of these concerned the embalmed body of his predecessor, Thupten Gyatso, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, who had died aged fifty-seven in 1933. During its period of sitting in state, the head was discovered to have turned from facing south to northeast. Shortly after that the Regent, himself a senior lama, had a vision. Looking into the waters of the sacred lake, Lhamo Lhatso, in southern Tibet, he clearly saw the Tibetan letters Ah, Ka and Ma float into view. These were followed by the image of a three-storied monastery with a turquoise and gold roof and a path running from it to a hill. Finally, he saw a small house with strangely shaped guttering. He was sure that the letter Ah referred to Amdo, the northeastern province, so it was there that the search party was sent.

By the time they reached Kumbum, the members of the search party felt that they were on the right track. It seemed likely that if the letter Ah referred to Amdo, then Ka must indicate the monastery at Kumbum, which was indeed three-storied and turquoise-roofed. They now only needed to locate a hill and a house with peculiar guttering. So they began to search the neighbouring villages. When they saw the gnarled branches of juniper wood on the roof of the His Holiness' parent's house, they were certain that the new Dalai Lama would not be far away. Nevertheless, rather than reveal the purpose of their visit, the group asked only to stay the night. The leader of the party, Kewtsang Rinpoche, then pretended to be a servant and spent much of the evening observing and playing with the youngest child in the house.

The child recognised him and called out 'Sera lama, Sera lama'. Sera was Kewtsang Rinpoche's monastery. The next day they left only to return a few days later as a formal deputation. This time they brought with them a number of things that had belonged to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, together with several similar items that did not. In every case, the infant correctly identified those belonging to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama saying, It's mine. It's mine. This more or less convinced the search party that they had found the new incarnation. It was not long before the boy from Taktser was acknowledged to be the new Dalai Lama. The boy Lhamo Thondup was first taken to Kumbum monastery. There now began a somewhat unhappy period of my life, His Holiness was to write later, reflecting on his separation from his parents and the unfamiliar surroundings. However, there were two consolations to life at the monastery. First, His Holiness' immediate elder brother Lobsang Samten was already there. The second consolation was the fact that his teacher was a very kind old monk, who often held his young disciple inside his gown.

Lhamo Thondup was eventually to be reunited with his parents and together they were to journey to Lhasa. This did not come about for some eighteen months, however, because Ma Bufeng, the local Chinese Muslim warlord, refused to let the boy-incarnate be taken to Lhasa without payment of a large ransom. It was not until the summer of 1939 that he left for the capital, Lhasa, in a large party consisting of his parents, his brother Lobsang Samten, members of the search party and other pilgrims.

The journey to Lhasa took three months. I remember very little detail apart from a great sense of wonder at everything I saw: the vast herds of drong (wild yaks) ranging across the plains, the smaller groups of kyang (wild asses) and occasionally a shimmer of gowa and nawa, small deer which were so light and fast they might have been ghosts. I also loved the huge flocks of hooting geese we saw from time to time.

Lhamo Thondup's party was received by a group of senior government officials and escorted to Doeguthang plain, two miles outside the gates of the capital. The next day, a ceremony was held in which Lhamo Thondup was conferred the spiritual leadership of his people. Following this, he was taken off with Lobsang Samten to the Norbulingka, the summer palace of His Holiness, which lay just to the west of Lhasa.

During the winter of 1940, Lhamo Thondup was taken to the Potala Palace, where he was officially installed as the spiritual leader of Tibet. Soon after, the newly recognised Dalai Lama was taken to Jokhang temple where His Holiness was inducted as a novice monk in a ceremony known as taphue, meaning cutting of the hair. From now on, I was to be shaven-headed and attired in maroon monk's robes. In accordance with ancient custom, His Holiness forfeited his name Lhamo Thondup and assumed his new name, Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso.

His Holiness then began to receive his primary education. The curriculum - same as that for all monks pursuing a doctorate in Buddhist studies - included logic, Tibetan art and culture, Sanskrit, medicine and Buddhist philosophy. The last and the most important (and most difficult) was subdivided into further five categories: Prajnaparamita, the perfection of wisdom; Madhyamika, the philosophy of the Middle Way; Vinaya, the canon of monastic discipline; Abidharma, metaphysics; and Pramana, logic and epistemology.

Dalai Lama in His Youth

On the day before the opera festival in the summer of 1950, His Holiness was just coming out of the bathroom at the Norbulingka when he felt the earth beneath begin to move. As the scale of this natural phenomenon began to sink in, people naturally began to say that this was more than a simple earthquake: it was an omen.

Two days later, Regent Tathag received a telegram from the Governor of Kham, based in Chamdo, reporting a raid on a Tibetan post by Chinese soldiers. Already the previous autumn there had been cross-border incursions by Chinese Communists, who stated their intention of liberating Tibet from the hands of imperialist aggressors. It now looked as if the Chinese were making good their threat. If that were so, I was well aware that Tibet was in grave danger for our army mustered no more than 8,500 officers and men. It would be no match for the recently victorious People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Two months later, in October, news reached Lhasa that an army of 80,000 soldiers of the PLA had crossed the Drichu river east of Chamdo. So the axe had fallen. And soon, Lhasa must fall. As the winter drew on and the news got worse, people began to advocate that His Holiness be given his majority, his full temporal power. The Government consulted the Nechung Oracle, a very tense moment, who came over to where His Holiness was seated and laid a kata, a white offering scarf, on His Holiness's lap with the words 'Thu-la bap', His time has come. At the young age of fifteen, His Holiness was on 17 November 1950 officially enthroned as the temporal leader of Tibet in a ceremony held at the Norbulingka Palace.

At the beginning of November, about a fortnight before the day of His Holiness's investiture, his eldest brother arrived in Lhasa. As soon as I set eyes on him, I knew that he had suffered greatly. Because Amdo, the province where we were both born, and in which Kumbum is situated, lies so close to China, it had quickly fallen under control of the Communists. He himself was kept virtual prisoner in his monastery. At the same time, the Chinese endeavoured to indoctrinate him in the new Communist way of thinking and try to subvert him. They had a plan whereby they would set him free to go to Lhasa if he would undertake to persuade me to accept Chinese rule. If I resisted, he was to kill me. They would then reward him.

To mark the occasion of his ascension to power, His Holiness granted general amnesty whereby all the prisoners were set free. I was pleased to have this opportunity, although there were times that I regretted it. When I trained my telescope on the compound, it was empty save for a few dogs scavenging for scraps. It was as if something was missing from my life.

Shortly after the 15-year-old Dalai Lama found himself the undisputed leader of six million people facing the threat of a full-scale war, His Holiness appointed two new Prime Ministers. Lobsang Tashi became the monk Prime Minister and an experienced lay administrator, Lukhangwa, the lay Prime Minister.

That done, I decided in consultation with them and the Kashag to send delegations abroad to America, Great Britain and Nepal in the hope of persuading these countries to intervene on our behalf. Another was to go to China in the hope of negotiating a withdrawal. These missions left towards the end of the year. Shortly afterwards, with the Chinese consolidating their forces in the east, we decided that I should move to southern Tibet with the most senior members of the Government. That way, if the situation deteriorated, I could easily seek exile across the border with India. Meanwhile, Lobsang Tashi and Lunkhangwa were to remain in an acting capacity.
While His Holiness was in Dromo, which lay just inside the border with Sikkim, His Holiness received the news that while the delegation to China had reached its destination, each of the others had been turned back. So it was almost impossible to believe that the British Government was now agreeing that China had some claim to authority over Tibet. His Holiness was equally saddened by America's reluctance to help. I remember feeling great sorrow when I realised what this really meant: Tibet must expect to face the entire might of Communist China alone.

Frustrated by the indifference showed to Tibet's case by Great Britain and America, His Holiness, in his last bid to avoid a full-scale Chinese invasion, sent Ngabo Ngawang Jigme, governor of Kham, to Beijing to open a dialogue with the Chinese. The delegation hadn't been given the power to reach at any settlement, apart from its entrusted task of convincing the Chinese leadership against invading Tibet. However, one evening, as I sat alone A harsh, crackling voice announced that a Seventeen-Point 'Agreement' for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet had that day (May 23, 1951) been signed by representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China and what they called the Local Government of Tibet. As it turned out, the Chinese who even forged the Tibetan seal had forced the delegation headed by Ngabo into signing the agreement. The Chinese had in effect secured a major coup by winning Tibetan compliance, albeit at gunpoint, to their terms of returning Tibet to the fold of the motherland. His Holiness returned to Lhasa in the middle of August 1951

Countdown to Escape
The next nine years saw His Holiness trying to evade a full-scale military takeover of Tibet by China on one hand and placating the growing resentment among Tibetan resistance fighters against the Chinese aggressors on the other. His Holiness made a historic visit to China from July 1954 to June 1955 for peace talks and met with Mao Zadong and other Chinese leaders, including Chou En-lai, Chu Teh and Deng Xiaoping. From November 1956 to March 1957 His Holiness visited India to participate in the 2500th Buddha Jayanti celebrations. But disheartening reports of increasing brutality towards his own people continued to pour in when the young Dalai Lama was giving his final monastic examinations in Lhasa in the winter of 1958/59.

Escape into Exile

One winter day of 1959 (March 10) General Chiang Chin-wu of Communist China extended a seemingly innocent invitation to the Tibetan leader to attend a theatrical show by a Chinese dance troupe. When the invitation was repeated with new conditions that no Tibetan soldiers was to accompany the Dalai Lama and that his bodyguards be unarmed, an acute anxiety befell the Lhasa populace. Soon a crowd of tens of thousands of Tibetans gathered around the Norbulingka Palace, determined to thwart any threat to their young leader's life.

On 17 March 1959 during a consultation with Nechung Oracle, His Holiness was given an explicit instruction to leave the country. The Oracle's decision was further confirmed when a divinity performed by His Holiness produced the same answer, even though the odds against making a successful break seemed terrifyingly high.

A few minutes before ten o'clock His Holiness, now disguised as a common soldier, slipped past the massive throng of people along with a small escort and proceeded towards Kyichu river, where He was joined by the rest of the entourage, including his immediate family members.

In Exile

Three weeks after leaving Lhasa, His Holiness and his entourage reached the Indian border from where they were escorted by Indian guards to Bomdila. The Indian government had already agreed to provide asylum to His Holiness and his followers in India. It was in Mussoorie that His Holiness met with the Indian Prime Minister and the two talked about rehabilitating the Tibetan refugees.

Realising the importance of modern education for the children of Tibetan refugees, His Holiness impressed upon Nehru to undertake the formation of an independent Society for Tibetan Education within the Indian Ministry of Education. The Indian Government was to bear all the expenses for setting up the schools for the Tibetan children.

Thinking the time is ripe for me to break my elected silence', His Holiness called a press conference on 20 June 1959 when His Holiness formally repudiated the Seventeen-Point Agreement. In the field of administration, too, I was able to make radical changes. For example, His Holiness saw the creation of various new Tibetan government departments. These included Departments of Information, Education, Home, Security, Religious Affairs and Economic Affairs. Most of the Tibetan refugees, whose number had grown to almost 30,000, were moved to road camps in the hills of northern India.

On 10 March 1960 just before leaving for Dharamsala with the eighty or so officials who comprised the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, His Holiness began what is now a tradition by making a statement on the anniversary of the Tibetan People's Uprising. On this first occasion, I stressed the need for my people to take a long-term view of the situation in Tibet. For those of us in exile, I said that our priority must be resettlement and the continuity of our cultural traditions. As to the future, I stated my belief that, with Truth, Justice and Courage as our weapons, we Tibetans would eventually prevail in regaining freedom for Tibet.

Credit : http://www.dalailama.com/

Lhasa-Barren throne in Potala Palace awaiting return of The Dalai Lama

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Indo-Tibetian border original in 1919

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Original Boundaries of the Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir

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Kashmir dispute - Situation on Ground

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Callous Nehru and Kashmir accession

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Sam Manekshaw, the first field marshal in the Indian army, was at the ringside of events when Independent India was being formed. Then a colonel, he was chosen to accompany V P Menon on his historic mission to Kashmir. This is his version of that journey and its aftermath, as recorded in an interview with Prem Shankar Jha.

At about 2.30 in the afternoon, General Sir Roy Bucher walked into my room and said, 'Eh, you, go and pick up your toothbrush. You are going to Srinagar with V P Menon. The flight will take off at about 4 o'clock'. I said, 'why me, sir?'

'Because we are worried about the military situation. V P Menon is going there to get the accession from the Maharaja and Mahajan.' I flew in with V P Menon in a Dakota. Wing Commander Dewan, who was then squadron leader Dewan, was also there. But his job did not have anything to with assessing the military situation. He was sent by the Air Force because it was the Air Force which was flying us in.'

Since I was in the Directorate of Military Operations, and was responsible for current operations all over India, West Frontier, the Punjab, and elsewhere, I knew what the situation in Kashmir was. I knew that the tribesmen had come in - initially only the tribesmen - supported by the Pakistanis.

Fortunately for us, and for Kashmir, they were busy raiding, raping all along. In Baramulla they killed Colonel D O T Dykes. Dykes and I were of the same seniority. We did our first year's attachment with the Royal Scots in Lahore, way back in 1934-5. Tom went to the Sikh regiment. I went to the Frontier Force regiment. We'd lost contact with each other. He'd become a lieutenant colonel. I'd become a full colonel.

Tom and his wife were holidaying in Baramulla when the tribesmen killed them.

The Maharaja's forces were 50 per cent Muslim and 50 per cent Dogra.

The Muslim elements had revolted and joined the Pakistani forces. This was the broad military situation. The tribesmen were believed to be about 7 to 9 kilometers from Srinagar. I was sent into get the precise military situation. The army knew that if we had to send soldiers, we would have to fly them in. Therefore, a few days before, we had made arrangements for aircraft and for soldiers to be ready.

But we couldn't fly them in until the state of Kashmir had acceded to India. From the political side, Sardar Patel and V P Menon had been dealing with Mahajan and the Maharaja, and the idea was that V.P Menon would get the Accession, I would bring back the military appreciation and report to the government. The troops were already at the airport, ready to be flown in. Air Chief Marshall Elmhurst was the air chief and he had made arrangements for the aircraft from civil and military sources.

Anyway, we were flown in. We went to Srinagar. We went to the palace. I have never seen such disorganisation in my life. The Maharaja was running about from one room to the other. I have never seen so much jewellery in my life --- pearl necklaces, ruby things, lying in one room; packing here, there, everywhere. There was a convoy of vehicles.
The Maharaja was coming out of one room, and going into another saying, 'Alright, if India doesn't help, I will go and join my troops and fight (it) out'.

I couldn't restrain myself, and said, 'That will raise their morale sir'. Eventually, I also got the military situation from everybody around us, asking what the hell was happening, and discovered that the tribesmen were about seven or nine kilometres from what was then that horrible little airfield.

V P Menon was in the meantime discussing with Mahajan and the Maharaja. Eventually the Maharaja signed the accession papers and we flew back in the Dakota late at night. There were no night facilities, and the people who were helping us to fly back, to light the airfield, were Sheikh Abdullah, Kasimsahib, Sadiqsahib, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, D P Dhar with pine torches, and we flew back to Delhi. I can't remember the exact time. It must have been 3 o'clock or 4 o'clock in the morning.

(On arriving at Delhi) the first thing I did was to go and report to Sir Roy Bucher. He said, 'Eh, you, go and shave and clean up. There is a cabinet meeting at 9 o'clock. I will pick you up and take you there.' So I went home, shaved, dressed, etc. and Roy Bucher picked me up, and we went to the cabinet meeting.

The cabinet meeting was presided by Mountbatten. There was Jawaharlal Nehru, there was Sardar Patel, there was Sardar Baldev Singh. There were other ministers whom I did not know and did not want to know, because I had nothing to do with them. Sardar Baldev Singh I knew because he was the minister for defence, and I knew Sardar Patel, because Patel would insist that V P Menon take me with him to the various states.
Almost every morning the Sardar would sent for V P, H M Patel and myself. While Maniben (Patel's daughter and de facto secretary) would sit cross-legged with a Parker fountain pen taking notes, Patel would say, 'V P, I want Baroda. Take him with you.' I was the bogeyman. So I got to know the Sardar very well.

At the morning meeting he handed over the (Accession) thing. Mountbatten turned around and said, ' come on Manekji (He called me Manekji instead of Manekshaw), what is the military situation?' I gave him the military situation, and told him that unless we flew in troops immediately, we would have lost Srinagar, because going by road would take days, and once the tribesmen got to the airport and Srinagar, we couldn't fly troops in. Everything was ready at the airport.

As usual Nehru talked about the United Nations, Russia, Africa, God almighty, everybody, until Sardar Patel lost his temper. He said, 'Jawaharlal, do you want Kashmir, or do you want to give it away'. He (Nehru) said,' Of course, I want Kashmir (emphasis in original). Then he (Patel) said 'Please give your orders'. And before he could say anything Sardar Patel turned to me and said, 'You have got your orders'.

I walked out, and we started flying in troops at about 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock. I think it was the Sikh regiment under Ranjit Rai that was the first lot to be flown in. And then we continued flying troops in. That is all I know about what happened. Then all the fighting took place. I became a brigadier, and became director of military operations and also if you will see the first signal to be signed ordering the cease-fire on 1 January (1949) had been signed by Colonel Manekshaw on behalf of C-in-C India, General Sir Roy Bucher. That must be lying in the Military Operations Directorate.
Excerpted from Kashmir 1947, Rival Versions of History, by Prem Shankar Jha, Oxford University Press, 1996

A Map Of India During 1700 AD to 1793 AD

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Mughal Empire (green) during its greatest territorial extent, c. 1700

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Maurya Empire at its maximum extent (Dark Blue), including its vassals (Light Blue)

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Chola territories during Rajendra Chola I, c. 1030

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Mir Jaffar and historic importance of The Battle of Plassey for Indian Subcontinent

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The Battle of Plassey, 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years. The battle took place at Palashi, Bengal, on the river banks of the Bhagirathi River, about 150 km north of Calcutta, near Murshidabad, then capital of undivided Bengal. The belligerents were Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, and the British East India Company.

The battle was preceded by the attack and plunder of Calcutta by Siraj-ud-daulah and the Black Hole tragedy. The British sent reinforcements under Colonel Robert Clive and Admiral Charles Watson from Madras to Bengal and recaptured Calcutta. Clive then seized the initiative to capture the French fort of Chandernagar. Tensions and suspicions between Siraj-ud-daulah and the British culminated in the Battle of Plassey. The battle was waged during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) and in a mirror of their European rivalry, the French East India Company sent a small contingent to fight against the British. Siraj-ud-Daulah had a numerically superior force and made his stand at Plassey. The British, worried about being outnumbered, formed a conspiracy with Siraj-ud-Daulah's demoted army chief Mir Jafar, along with others such as Yar Lutuf Khan, Jagat Seths (Mahtab Chand and Swarup Chand), Omichund and Rai Durlabh. Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutuf Khan thus assembled their troops near the battlefield but made no move to actually join the battle. Siraj-ud-Daulah's army was defeated by roughly 3,000 soldiers of Col. Robert Clive, owing to the inactivity and treachery of the conspirators.

This is judged to be one of the pivotal battles in the control of South Asia by the colonial powers. The British now wielded enormous influence over the Nawab and consequently acquired large amounts of concession for previous losses and revenue from trade. The British further used this revenue to increase their military might and push the other European colonial powers such as the Dutch and the French out of South Asia, thus expanding the British Empire in Asia.

Alivardi Khan

Alivardi Khan ascended to the throne of the Nawab of Bengal after his army attacked and captured the capital of Bengal, Murshidabad. Alivardi’s attitude to the Europeans in Bengal is said to be strict. During his wars with the Marathas, he allowed the strengthening of fortifications by the Europeans and the construction of the Maratha Ditch in Calcutta by the British. On the other hand, he collected large amounts of money from them for the upkeep of his war. He was well-informed of the situation in southern India, where the British and the French had started a proxy war using the local princes and rulers. Alivardi did not wish such a situation to transpire in his province and thus exercised caution in his dealings with the Europeans. However, there was continual friction; the British always complained that they were prevented from the full enjoyment of the farman of 1717 issued by Farrukhsiyar. The British, however, protected subjects of the Nawab, gave passes to native traders to trade custom-free and levied large duties on goods coming to their districts – actions which were detrimental to the Nawab’s revenue.

Mir Jafar

Mir Muhammed Jafar Ali Khan is also known by Indians as Gaddar-e-Abrar (which translates in English as 'The Traitor of Faith'). He succeeded Siraj-Ud-Daulah as the eighth Nawab of Bengal, and the first of the Najafi dynasty after deceiving Nawab Siraj-Ud-Daulah and surrendering his army in battle field against Robert Clive. His rule is widely considered the start of British rule in India and was a key step in eventual British domination of the country. His greed of becoming Nawab of Bengal, led him to make a secret pact with Robert Clive and surrender & slaughter of Army of Bengal in Battle of Plassey, without fighting, which led to foundation of British rule in India. For this act of treachery, he has been infamously called Gaddar-e-Abrar. Gaddar means a traitor & Abrar means faith in Urdu. He is sometimes known in some places around India as the "Faith Traitor".

Mir Jafar came to Bengal as a penniless barbarian. He was a son of Arab immigrants from the region known as Najaf in modern day Iraq. He took up a job in Nawab's army and slowly promoted himself to higher class sweeper. Although he had good reputation in the history books but in fact, he was traitor who deceived his own country men for the sake of money and empire of Bengal. Because of him English army took over the well build Muslim Empire in Masoor which was a welfare state.

Mir Jafar's initial military career was not without glory. His opportunity came when he rescued Ali Vardi Khan's nephew, the hapless Sauqat Jung, from the clutches of Mirza Baqir at Cuttack. He parlayed this success into a prominent role in Ali Vardi Khan's many military campaigns, specially against the grandson of the earlier nawab Murshid Quli Khan, and the Marathas. Nawab Ali Vardi Khan then gave him the hand of his half-sister (Shah Khanam) and seven thousand horses to command.

However, Mir Jafar had higher ambitions. Arrogant in his position he took advantage of an Ali Vardi Khan weakened by a decade of fighting with Marathas to enter into a conspiracy with Ataullah (the faujdar of Rajmahal) to overthrow and murder the Nawab. However, the conspiracy was unearthed and he was stripped of most of his powers. He returned to Murshidabad, where he regained the trust of the Nawab's grandson, Siraj-Ud-Daulah, and slowly returned to power and prominence.

Soon after Ali Vardi Khan's natural death, Siraj Ud Daulah became the Nawab of Bengal at Murshidabad. On ascending the throne, he made the controversial decision of elevating a Kayastha named Mohanlal as his supreme Diwan. This elevation of a Hindu to such a prominent position caused the established nobility, and in particular Mir Jafar, great offense. He was then the bakshi or head of the armed forces, second only to the Nawab, and the elevation of Mohanlal to a post above him was taken almost as a personal insult. He became determined to overthrow Siraj-Ud-Daulah and gain the Nawabi for himself.

His opportunity came when Siraj-Ud-Daulah was distracted in his campaign against the British. This was the time when the British contacted him (along with others in the Nawab's court) and offered him the throne if he betrayed Siraj-Ud-Daulah. However, Siraj-Ud-Daulah returned victorious from Kolkata and discovered the conspiracy; he demoted Mir Jafar and appointed Mir Madan, who was loyal to the Nawab, the new bakshi. Ghulam Husain says "Sirāju-d-daulah placing large batteries in front of Mīr Jafar’s palace was ready to blow him up, and ordered him to quit the City." There is some question here as to why Mir Jafar was not more severely reprimanded, but its probable that Siraj-Ud-Daulah was wary of going too far given Mir Jafar's influence in his court at that time.

Mir Jafar was left smarting under this new insult while Siraj-Ud-Daulah was busy with his campaign against the British.Influenced nobles and other officials who joined hands were Mir bakshi,Manickchand and khadim khan On 1 May 1757, the British Calcutta Council made a secret treaty with Mir Jafar, promising to place him on the throne of Bengal. William Watts, the chief of the British factory at Cossimbazar conducted the conspiracy with remarkable diplomatic skill and secrecy. On 5 June 1757, he personally visited Mir Jafar and obtained his oath of allegiance.

Siraj-Ud-Daulah then attempted to win back the support of Mir Jafar, and apparently thought he had successfully obtained the backing of the considerable military force still under Jafar's command (though no longer Bakshi, Mir Jafar retained a substantial number of foot soldiers and cavalry). Mir Jafar, it is recorded, was not particularly impressed by the promises of Siraj-Ud-Daulah but with some duplicity agreed to support him while continuing to encourage the British in their advances. Siraj-Ud-Daulah finally met the British forces at Plassey for the definitive stand. On the day of the Battle of Plassey, Siraj-Ud-Daulah had the advantage of overwhelming force, but at the critical time Mir Jafar's men stood watching passively rather than engage the enemy. This wiped out much of the numerical superiority that Siraj-Ud-Daulah enjoyed, and the soldiers of Siraj-Ud-Daula were decimated by the smaller but much better armed and trained British forces. Siraj-Ud-Daulah fled but was eventually captured and executed.

After Siraj Ud Daulah’s defeat and subsequent execution, Mir Jafar achieved his long-pursued dream of gaining the throne, and was propped up by the British as puppet Nawab.Mir Jafar paid a sum of Rs.17,700,000 as compensation for the attack on Calcutta to the company and the traders of the city. In addition, he paid large sums as gifts or bribes to the officials of the company. Clive, for example received over two million rupees, Watts over one million. Soon, however, he realised that British expectations were boundless and tried to wriggle out from under them; this time with the help of the Dutch. However, the British defeated the Dutch at the Battle of Chinsurah in November 1759 and retaliated by forcing him to abdicate in favor of his son-in-law Mir Qasim. However, Mir Qasim proved to be both able and independent, willing to live with but not bow to the British. The Company soon went to war with him, and he was eventually overthrown. Mir Jafar managed to regain the good graces of the British; he was again appointed Nawab in 1763 and held the position until his death in 1765.

Mir Jafar probably was the last ruler of Bengal. After him the British ruled Bengal for next 200 years. Mir Jafar is widely reviled by the people of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The word "mirjafar" in Bengali and the phrase "meer jafar" in Urdu, are used much as quisling is used in English. Nevertheless, after 200 years, when the British left the region, and upon the formation of Pakistan, Mir Jafar's direct descendent Iskandar Mirza, was appointed as the first president of Pakistan

Pashtunistan

2011-06-17T00:39:00.000-07:00

There are some elements in the State Department and Afghan minorities who insist that America may be engaged in a war against Pashtun nationalism rather than a religious movement espousing religious fundamentalism. As with all things South Asian, its not that simple but a warlord must understand the true self-interest of his enemy to bring peace and stability to a turbulent region.

It’s convenient for Westerners to view a conflict along lines drawn in their atlases. We rarely reshape countries’ borders but have no problem reshaping the power structures within those geographic lines. Kosova, Kurdistan, Israel and perhaps even America’s own Indian reservations are benefactors of America’s blind spot to unfair treaties, occupations and racist endeavors. Although Afghanistan has existed as a nation since the 1700′s, Pakistan’s uneasy alliance of ethnicities emerged only six decades ago. If one looks closely the simmering insurgencies in Baluchistan, Kashmir and the tribal areas along the Afghan border the more pessimistic might be tempted to hold off on granting Pakistan full nation status. Or more productively full partnership status in America’s war against terrorist groups.

America is fighting a war in Afghanistan that after eight years now finally includes killing enemies inside Pakistan. The world doesn’t seem to mind the targeted assassination campaign against our enemies and Pakistan bleats only when the civilian ratio to target creeps up. Legally the DoD can only operate in Afghanistan, leaving the CIA to conduct kinetic and intelligence activities in alliance with the Pakistani military and ISI. Quiet operations based in Bagram direct much of the Predator and covert operations, but officially America has no military presence in Pakistan. This is untrue, America has robust proxy, trainers, supporters and equipment inside Pakistan and is working directly with the Pakistanis to kill insurgent and terrorist targets. Targets that are simultaneously condoned and supported by Pakistan in their efforts against the United States in Afghanistan.

America’s enemy plays no such games, they freely use Pakistan as both operational funding, training and recruiting. Al Qaeda, Haqqanis, Hekmatyar’s Hizbi Islami, the Talban and the Tehrik Taliban are not shy about their overt presence and affiliation with the Islamic nation of Pakistan. Pakistan walks the razor edge by promoting and punishing these groups as it sees its national interests promoted or damaged. These groups will be long after we have turned to other wars and regions…and Pakistan knows it.

Pakistan is the second largest Islamic nation, a militant supporter of Islamic groups and a divisive impoverished nation wracked by violence since its birth in 1947. Pakistan was born from violence and continues to be a militant defender of Islam and proxy player using terrorist tactics.

Pakistan is comprised of many ethnic groups primarily Punjabi (44%) with Pashtuns (15%), Sindhis (14) and Seraikis (11%) forming the bulk of their population. These figures no not accurately portray the influence of Afghan Pashtun refugees or the territorial areas controlled by these ethnic groups. Kashmiris, Baluch and Afghans have far more influence on Pakistani foreign policy than their numbers would belie. The Baluch control a disproportionate amount of territory and the Pashtuns could lay claim to half of Pakistan’s land. If these two tribes were to unite with their brothers in Afghanistan along historical ethnic lines, Pakistan would become a tiny sliver of Punjabis, Seraikis and Sindhi’s. It is for that reason that Pakistan takes such great interest in the affairs of the Pashtun and the Sind. There has been a history of bellicose support of these groups and typically among the most orthodox Islamic leaders of these groups.

Those who have more than a cursory view of the conflict also understand that the war is not contained within the imaginary lines drawn on maps. It is educational to understand that ISAF offices rarely contained a map other than Afghanistan until the last few months. The term “AfPak” has just come into fashion in the last year but it artificially welds these two nations together to the detriment of a massive singular nation that straddles both countries.

The reality is that there is no “AfPak.” It’s a convenient extension of American interest that ignores the regional influence of Iran, Central Asia, India and the Gulf regions in the Afghan conflict and more disturbingly ignores the engine that maintains instability in the region.

At its simplest, the war in Afghanistan is driven by Pashtunistan and specifically the line that divides Pashtuns into two countries. Pashtuns are a race who consider themselves unique and united through history, shared experience, tribal structure and marriage. They consider themselves the original Afghans and their view of their domain is both territorial and nomadic. This creates a greater bond between races of both countries and confounds foreigners who work diligently to prevent this ease of movement. It is not unusual for Britain, America and Russia to respect or uphold borders in their international game of chess and checkmate, but it is that arrogance that has led to their defeat each time. Unable to deal with the transnational nature of the enemy they insist on centralizing, westernizing and replicating European concepts in this ancient part of the world.

The November 12, 1893 Durand Line Agreement was created to arbitrarily mark off areas of influence and sprung by the then obsessive need of the British to map and divide regions. Constant movement between warmer lowlands of Pakistan and the need for trade along with a very fixed view of land control typified in the large fortified compounds favored by Pashtuns are hallmarks of the race. How can a race be xenophobic and nomadic at the same time? It is more common to find villagers who work in Iran, Dubai and Pakistan inside Afghanistan than it is to find a rural American who has traveled to these regions. Protection of their culture through marriage to cousins, the extended family and the tribal structure are also ways to preserve their cultural and keep families strong. Alignment to power brokers, the ability to quickly raise lashgars or small, loosely aligned fighting groups and the ability to make, split or break allegiances is also a hallmark of the “wiley pathan.” This is something Americans understood during the Revolutionary War, but have seem to forgotten when fighting in Afghanistan. The tribal areas are analagus to the U.S. – Canadian border pre World War Two where border control was a casual formality and people could cross freely. Canadians and Americans linked through common immigration also quickly banded together to fight threats in major wars even up to Afghanistan.

At its simplest the Durand Line was created to demarcate the limits of the then warring Afghans under Abdur Rahman Khan and the British Empire in India. The Agreement effectively faced the Pashtun nation towards Pakistan since previous rulers had actually favored Persia as their cultural partners. Dari was introduced by the Durranis as the educated language replacing Pashto as the official language of the country.

The real reason was that the Afghan ruler knew that the Russians were moving southward towards his north border and the British had shown they had every reason to expand their Indian empire westward. The Durand Line conceded massive swaths of Pashtun homeland and remains as a Western inspired boundary, but it was actually an Afghan (who was a Barakzai pashtun) solution. The tribes were given unusual freedom of movement across the border and with in the tribal areas in Pakistan effectively aligning the Pashtun tribes in Pakistan with Afghanistan rather than towards the Punjabi areas of Pakistan. The Durand Line also ended the development and structures that the British normally delivered to their colonies. A legacy of isolation and tribal infighting that exists to this day.

After World War Two, the partition of India to create Pakistan put additional focus on this oft ignored boundary and pushed the Pushtunistan issue into the forefront. During the 50′s and 60′s the concept of Pashtunistan became a vigorous debate. The surkh post or Red Shirt movement was formalized as the Awami Party and was only hindered by the inability of the Pashtun tribes in reaching a concensus. The poorest and most brutally divided tribes in Waziristan were a flash point for this movement ( just as the modern Tehrik i Taliban is today) and the Pakistani government responded with eerily similar vigor in crushing this movement. Along with “Azad Pashtunistan” or “Free Pashtunistan,” Baluchistan and Kashmir are similar movements to unite ethnically pure regions away from the splits created by former colonial masters. They are also ignition points for outside interlopers who seek to support underpowered race inspired movements. Russia exploited the Pashtun demand for a homeland positioning Pakistan as a violator of Pashtun’s rights. America, through the ISI, funded primarily Pashtun fundamentalists to fight the Russians and Pakistan again supported the Pashtun Taliban in the mid 90′s. Although the U.S. found little to no support from Pashtuns against the Taliban, they promoted Hamid Karzai to his current position. Pashtuns are only around half of Afghanistan’s population and there is no unwritten rule that a Pashtun must rule just as there is no law that a middle-aged white man must rule America.

Afghanistan, even up to President Karzai, has supported the concept of Pashtunistan obliquely by denigrating the Durand Line and the separation of tribes aka families. One of the safety valves has been the Pashtun focus of Russia and the United States which has always insisted that a Pashtun be a ruler of the country and specific tribes be involved in resolving conflicts. President Karzai is a living example of un-entitled leaders artificially promoted by outside forces into an elected official.

More importantly, the Durand Line has been used by the United States and Pakistan to their advantage. During the Soviet times, Pakistan based refugees found safe harbor in Pakistan while fighting the Russians. The millions of refugees that flooded across the border found relief from the war and continue to be a well of recruits for the current jihadi groups.

Pakistan has used the Durand Line to both justify its territory and also debate its territory in Kashmir. Their manipulation of the Pashtuns’ hostility along the border was always the “poison pill” that would prevent India from launching a serious war in the region. America finds itself fighting the Pashtun Taliban which began in Pakistan and the Pakistanis find themselves fighting the Pakistani Taliban along the same border. Afghan minorities found themselves fighting Pashtun Taliban and modern Afghanistan still finds itself divided along Pashtun and non-Pashtun political groups.

When the Taliban were in power they did not officially seek a Pashtun state but intuitively viewed the tribes and camps as their supporters. Their banner of jihad under a tribal form of sharia carried with an implicit understanding that this was a retrograde (Sunni whahabist) Pashtun, tribal movement and was rooted in the diaspora experience of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Soviet occupation and Pakistani prejudice to the Afghan refugees. In a word “Sunni Pashtun homeland” was never printed on the white Taliban flag but established an implicit understanding and resonance. The Taliban continue to use the distorted lens of madrassah training, foreign occupation and orthodox Sunni interpretation of their tribal system that automatically filters out other groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan. When the Taliban ventured into Kabul and then the north, the true brutal nature of conquest and domination began to appear. In other words, the Taliban movement resonates in Pashtunistan and Pashtun pockets but only if controlled by Pakistan and only if the Taliban do not formally confess the underpinnings of their movement.

What does this mean to the warlords of Afghanistan? It means that General McChrystal must understand this dynamic when “defeating the Taliban” since he is also defeating the dream of a Pashtun homeland in the eyes of many Pashtuns. He must also see that the ethnic warlords from the Hazara, Tajik, Uzbek and other minorities see the Taliban movement for what it is and have the thousands of dead compatriots in mass graves to prove it. Pakistan’s covert support of the Pashtuns has backfired creating a flare up in tribal areas that it now must defeat or risk losing both Pashtunistan and Balochistan. The recent degradation of the Taliban in Karachi, with the CIA and DoD’s help, is a direct attempt to find a safety valve to hinder the Pashtun group spreading from infection to epidemic inside their own country.

Underlying all these conflicts is a sense of racial not national unity. There is no liberation, no rights, no grievances to right but these groups are being used to leverage control by agitators. Any attempts to “negotiate” with the Taliban should be viewed no differently as supporting racially pure movements that have spawned even more conflict when they were given special treatment or territory.

Memo to US Deptt. of State by Indian American Intellectual Forum-Declare Pak a terrorist State

2011-06-17T00:34:00.000-07:00

INDIAN AMERICAN INTELLECTUALS FORUM

41-67 Judge Street, Suite 5P

Elmhurst, New York 11373

(718) 478-5735/(718) 271-0453

Katarian@aol.com

MEMORANDUM TO U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

2201 C Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20520

Attn: Mr. Donn Titus

Sub: (1) Declare Pakistan a Terrorist State

(2) Seize Pakistan ’s Nuclear Facilities immediately

(3) Break up Pakistan into four Independent States

Dear Mr. Titus:

On behalf of Indian American Intellectuals Forum (IAIF), I am very happy to present this Memorandum to you. IAIF is an advocacy group organized and established under the laws of the State of New York since 1999. Our objectives are to strengthen the Indo-American relations and create awareness among our citizens about the menace of terrorism.

In this connection, we would like to state that in 1999, we were given an opportunity by the State Department to meet their staff and present our viewpoint about what action should be taken against Pakistan to save the globe from the curse of terrorism. In the past eleven years since then, the world situation has not just gone from bad to worse but it has actually assumed alarmingly dangerous proportions.

In that period of time, Pakistan has literally become a hub of Islamic fundamentalists. There are more than one million Taliban studying in Pakistani Madrasas (Islamic religious schools). Pakistani society by now has been completely radicalized. Pakistan has become not only a nuclear power but also a nuclear proliferating country. Since no serious attention was paid to our similar plea in 1999 regarding declaring Pakistan a terrorist state then, the world had to pay a very heavy price for creating this Frankenstein.

Pakistan is using terrorism as a tool for its foreign policy to accomplish its political objectives. Notorious terrorists – Syed Salahuddin, the head of United Jihad Council, Hafiz Abdur Rahman Makki, the leader of terror amalgam Jamaat-ul-Dawah and brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed; Dowd Ibrahim, chief of the dreaded Company D; Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar; LeT terrorists Azam Cheema, chief Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, Ilyas Kashmiri – and other terror groups are working at the beck and call of Pakistan. All the above individuals and groups are notorious for ruthlessly murdering innocent people in the name of Allah. The dastardly beheading of two Sikhs in Pakistan by Taliban is the latest instance of that policy.

Most terror training camps in Pakistan are running under the nose of and in close collaboration with Pakistan ’s spy agency ISI. Pakistan authorities have turned a blind eye to the 6.5 acre terror training base, in the south of Punjab province. Here, the outlawed terror group Jaishe-e-Mohammad, linked with 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament and then beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl, is setting up a large new base just outside the Bahawalpur town in Pakistan 's Punjab province with anti-India inscriptions on its walls, The Sunday Telegraph had reported.

It is alleged that massacre of seven CIA agents at a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan was masterminded by Ilyas Kashmiri, a Pakistani commando-turned-jihadist. Again, this is the same Ilyas Kashmiri, the Commander of another terror outfit HuJi, who has issued a global warning to the Cricket players against visiting and playing in India .

Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Alami, an unknown terrorist group which has claimed responsibility for the Pune blasts near Mumbai (in India ) in which 17 people were killed is following an al-Qaida agenda of targeting the US and its allies, such as Israel and India .

It is reported that David Coleman Headley (Daood Gilani) and Mohammad Amjad Khwaja who were arrested by the FBI in Chicago in October last year have told their American interrogators that ISI in collaboration with HuJi and Lashkar-e-Toiba has put together a team of Indian Jihadists in Karachi for sending them back into India on another terror project.

In an interview to Indian Express dated Feb. 5, 2010, Pulitzer Prize-winner Steve Coll who is the author of two defining books: Ghost Wars and The Bin Ladens,said that “ India ’s security problems are graver than America ’s in relation to the Jihadi terrorism.”

Ironically, the US has given Pakistan $15 billion dollars to fight the Al Qaida in Pakistan . In the meantime, Pakistan has only been dilly dallying and fooling us; many Taliban groups actually provide shelter to Al Qaida. US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair has said that “ Islamabad ’s conviction that militant groups are an important part of its strategic arsenal to counter India ’s military and economic advantages will continue to limit Pakistan ’s incentive to pursue an across-the-board effort against extremism.”

One biggest difficulty we face is our ignorance of the tenets of Koran, Hadith and Sira. As such we formulate our policies on assumption that there are two sets of Muslims: moderates and radicals. In reality, contrary to the popular perception, every mainstream Islamic school teaches the necessity to subjugate unbelievers, by force or by any means and bring them under the hegemony of Islamic law.

Last Month, US Vice President Joe Biden said in Washington that his greatest concern was not Afghanistan nor threat of Iran turning nuclear. His biggest worry was Pakistan , which he said had a significant radicalized population and only a “functional democracy.” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has also stated that Iran was not as great a threat to the global security as other nuclear-proliferating countries such as North Korea and Pakistan .

Expressing concern over the increasing Taliban threat in Pakistan , Israel ’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel considers Pakistan as its biggest strategic threat than Iran . U.S. intelligence officials also believe that the homicide bomb attack that killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan last month was planned with the help of Osama bin Laden's close allies. It is well to remember that Al Qaida jihadists are fully protected by Taliban who in turn are hands in glove with Pakistan .

Intelligence inputs received by Indian officials indicate that Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba has acquired as many as 50 para-gliding equipments from China for the potential use to launch suicide attacks in India . This, obviously, could not be accomplished without Pakistan ’s active connivance, complicity and tactical support.

Amid political turbulence in Pakistan , and heightened fears about the Taliban and other extremist groups seizing the country’s nuclear assets, there has been a rapid expansion of Islamabad ’s nuclear armaments. US Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, in a confidential briefing, told members of Congress that some reports have confirmed that Islamabad is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal. President of the Institute for Science and International Security, David Albright has said that Pakistan was scaling up its centrifuge facilities. This could destabilize the entire South Asia .

Even though it is clearly acknowledged that Pakistan has become an epicenter of terrorism, the US Congress is still considering proposals to spend 3 billion dollars over the next five years to train and equip Pakistan ’s military for counter-insurgency warfare. This is in addition to 7.5 billion dollars that the Capitol Hill has already promised in civilian assistance.

We should also take a serious note of Pakistan’s disgraced scientist A.Q. Khan’s statement that Pakistan helped Iran acquire the nuclear technology with an objective to jointly emerge as a “strong block” in the region so that they can effectively counter the international pressure and ‘neutralize’ Israel’s power. Imagine the situation when the Islamic Pakistan and Islamic Iran will jointly challenge and blackmail the civilized world.

It is also a well known fact that Dawood Ibrahim’s D Company is a “5,000-member criminal syndicate operating mostly in Pakistan , India , and the United Arab Emirate.” This company has a “strategic alliance” with Pakistan ’s ISI and has “forged relationships with Islamists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and al-Qaida.”

Some press accounts further report that Ibrahim’s underworld network may have provided a boat to the 10 terrorists who killed 178 people in Mumbai (India) on 26/11 and record that the “US government contends that D-Company has found common cause with Al Qaida and shares its smuggling routes with that terrorist group.”

The US Department of Treasury has already designated Ibrahim as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2006 and President Bush designated him as a Significant Foreign Narcotics Trafficker under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. It is a matter of disgust and shame that Pakistan shelters Dawood Ibrahim but denies his presence in the country in order to prevent his prosecution or extradition to India or US.

According to India 's National Security Advisor, there are over 800 terror cells operating in India with "external support." Nuclear physicist and author Dr. Moorthy Muthuswamy has elucidated in his new book how passionately this jihadist infrastructure was developed in a span of over twenty years, aided by funding from the Middle East . The desire to conquer India violently for Islam is an aspiration of many nations and is seen in many a Muslim quarter as a must for creating an Islamic caliphate.

Instead of penalizing Pakistan for its support to the notorious terrorists and spreading global terrorism, US, unfortunately, is rewarding this country with the deadly weapons and billions of dollars of hard cash. We believe it is inappropriate for US to prop up Pakistan and balance its strategic partnership with India by selling deadly F-16 to Pakistan Air Force (the total number of F-16 in 2010 will be 54 as per Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses) together with other advanced weapons and avionics for air-to-air combat that appear to us unnecessary for counter-insurgency operations in mountainous area against Taliban. This is being done in spite of the admission by General Musharraf’s that Pakistan is modifying the arms, which are meant to fight the terrorists, for use against India.

Let us understand and recognize that Pakistan is a failed state. Its economy is in shambles. Fissiparous forces are pulling the country in different directions to tear it apart. Nationalist movements in Balochistan, Sind and Baltistan are gaining momentum. In Karachi , Sunni and Shi’a, Mohajirs and Sindhis, Pathans and Mohajirs are flying at each other’s throat. Murder and mayhem is the order of the day all around. Thousands of young Sindhi Muslims are joining Jiye Sind movement. Balochisthan Liberation Army is working strenuously to gain freedom from the Punjabi domination. Minority Balti Shi’a in Baltistan feel suffocated and subjugated under Punjabi army in Pakistan . In nutshell, there is turmoil all over Pakistan .

We should recognize in unambiguous terms that Pakistan is the root cause of terror and instability in that region. In order to win the war in Afghanistan it is essential that American war strategy should be focused on Pakistan . In the next 18 months, American troops will be leaving Af-Pak region. Hence, it is incumbent on us to divide Pakistan into four states before Pakistani army and Islamic fundamentalists take over Afghanistan again.

In view of the above, we believe, it is absolutely necessary that US devise appropriate measures to: (a) Declare Pakistan a terrorist state, (bi) Seize Pakistan ’s nuclear facilities immediately, and (c) Break up Pakistan into four Independent States to weaken its terror-producing capacity.

Very truly yours,

Narain Kataria

should pakistan be broken up?

2011-06-17T00:27:00.000-07:00

Gul A. Agha

The 20th century was a time of the collapse of colonialism -- perhaps no event marked the collapse more than the end of British rule in the Indian subcontinent in 1947. A large number of new states were created in this period and the concept of international law was conceived. International law represented a compromise between powerful countries and their interests, and the fears of newly decolonized countries. Unfortunately, the idea of protecting existing boundaries between states -- viewed as the principal means to maintain peace -- took primacy over individual human rights as well as the cultural and historic rights of different nations. Since the end of the cold war, fortunately the idea of using international law to promote human rights has been gaining strength.

The borders of many new states were drawn arbitrarily -- ignoring the history, language and culture of the peoples affected. Pakistan is one such state -- created by a colonial power, it is a state devoid of any historical or cultural basis. The current premise of policy makers in many countries is predicated on the notion that the continued existence of Pakistan can contribute to regional stability and promote global security. It is a premise that needs to be carefully examined.

History of Pakistan

In the 1930s, the Indian movement for independence had gained considerable momentum. As a means of postponing their day of departure, British colonialists promoted a Muslim leadership which encouraged religious divisions in the subcontinent. Later the British found it expedient -- and apparently beneficial to their geostrategic interests -- to create an oddly shaped Muslim majority state, separated into two "wings" more than a thousand miles apart.

Pakistan had problems since its inception. One small ethnic group of migrants, Urdu speakers from Northern India who call themselves 'Mohajirs', initially dominated its bureaucracy and government. Another ethnic group, Punjabi speakers representing about 20% of the population, dominated its Military, while a third, Bengali speakers, constituted its majority. Power resided in the first two ethnic groups and their control of the state led to a rebellion among the majority Bengali speakers. After a quarter century of strife and ruthless attempts to suppress the Bengali majority, including a genocide, Bangladesh was created. Thus Pakistan was partitioned into two separate states, one of which retained the name.

Pakistan's Ethnic Groups

The truncated borders of Pakistan consist of four major ethnic groups -- Punjabis, Sindhis, Pushtuns, and Baluchis -- and several other ethnic groups, Mohajirs in southern cities of Karachi and Hyderabad, Kashmiris in the North, and Seraiki speaking groups in the middle.

Pakistan borders four countries, Afghanistan, Iran, China and India. The border with each of these countries is problematic. The border with Afghanistan is based on the so-called Durand Line -- arbitrarily demarcated by the British in the 19th century. Pushtuns, who were historically united, live on both sides of this mountainous border. The border with Iran is mostly populated by Baluch tribes who live in a large sparsely populated desert on both sides of the border. The Baluchis in Pakistan demanded autonomy in the 1970s and thousands were massacred by the Pakistan military.

The border with India runs through three distinct regions. To the north is the former kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir, a focus of much contention and dispute. The division of Kashmiris between India and Pakistan is against their will. The Pakistani-occupied part of Kashmir borders not only India, but also the Chinese occupied region of Uighurs. On the Pakistani side of the Kashmir border, there are also several other ethnic groups besides the Kashmiris, such as the Gilgitis and Baltistanis.

In the middle of Pakistan are Punjabis, who now represent about 40% of the population, and constitute 90% of the military. Punjab was partitioned on the basis of religion, and Punjabis seem quite satisfied with this division. It is an area which saw many massacres on the basis of creed -- and the bloodletting resulted in 'ethnic' cleansing on both sides of the border. South of the Punjabis live Seraiki speaking people, some of whom bear greater affinity to Sindhis.

The southern border with India runs through Sindh. The majority of Sindh's over 30 million people live in the valley carved by the once mighty Indus river. Sindh's western region is part of the Great Indian Desert of Thar, through which a border was drawn more or less arbitrarily. Sindh's southern boundary is marked by the Indian Ocean and Kutch, a region that has close linguistic and cultural affinity to Sindh, but is now a part of India.

The Aspirations of the Sindhis

Sindhis are predominantly sufis who believe in harmony and tolerance in the matter of religion. Before the partition of India, the majority of Sindhis consistently voted against candidates supporting Pakistan. Although the British colonialists used their considerable power and influence to support the pro-Pakistan candidates in 1946, such candidates succeeded in obtaining only about 40% of the popular vote.

By gerrymandering the electorate, the colonialists managed the election of a majority in the Sindh Assembly which favored joining Pakistan. The Sindhi vote for Pakistan was also facilitated by the now famous 'Lahore Resolution' passed by the Muslim League -- this resolution promised "autonomy and sovereignty of constituent units" and "protection of religious minorities". Sindhis have strongly resented Pakistan, whose policies since inception have been the very anti-thesis of both these principles.

The Current Situation

Pakistan today is held together by a powerful military which directly consumes 70% of the its budget after debt payments. The military has gained strength by opportunistically aligning itself with the United States, China and Saudi Arabia. It has directly ruled the country for most of its history and has cultivated relations with the fundamentalist Islamist clergy to strengthen its hold on power. In fact, the military is a bastion of Islamists who are influenced by fundamentalist movements such as Wahabism and Deobandism -- the same movements which hold sway among large numbers of Pakistani Punjabis.

In fact, the Pakistan military is a key source of instability in the region. Internally, it has repeatedly destabilized elected governments. It was the primary supporter of the Taliban in Afghanistan, responsible for bringing them into power. Recently, an American official was quoted as saying that the U.S. did not realize how critical the Pakistanis were in propping up the Taliban -- when that support was finally withdrawn four weeks after the start of the American bombing, the Taliban regime collapsed. ISI, Pakistan military's intelligence service is believed to have been deeply involved in heroin smuggling operations -- with such operations providing the bulk of its operating budget. And the ISI continues to sponsor terrorism against neighboring India.

The Future of Pakistan

Despite the diabolical role of the Pakistan military, it has been an axiom of faith among policy makers in the U.S., and even in arch rival India, that the continuation of Pakistan is desirable, even necessary, for stability in the region. Several reasons are commonly advanced for this position: the dissolution of Pakistan would encourage divisions within India; it would result in an uncertain future for nuclear weapons now in the hands of the stable Pakistan military, and a view among the U.S. policymakers that the Pakistani state can serve as a useful client or proxy in the war against terrorism. None of these reasons stands up to closer scrutiny.

India has largely succeeded in its national integration through democracy, federalism, and building of strong independent institutions such as the judiciary and the media. Its future will depend on the continuing strength of these internal institutions in addressing its needs. No doubt these needs are many, some visible ones such as increased economic growth and improved efficiency in the distribution of goods, and some less visible ones such as cultural and linguistic protection for smaller ethnic groups.

Nuclear weapons in the hands of Pakistan pose a danger to peace, not only in South Asia but elsewhere. Policy makers are lulled into complacency by the experience of the cold war where the doctrine of 'Mutually Assured Destruction' kept the superpowers from directly waging war. In fact, such analogizing fails to appreciate the psychology of the forces at work in the Pakistan military. During the cold war, the superpowers -- fearful of a nuclear holocaust -- avoided direct conflict with each other. On the other hand, emboldened by its possession of nuclear weapons, the Pakistan military not only increased its support for terrorism against India, it directly attacked India in Kargil -- gambling that India will not want to escalate the fight by employing its conventional superiority in new theaters of war.

It may seem far fetched to the rational mind that some Islamist faction within the military could seize and smuggle nuclear weapons or materials for use in 'jihad' against India, Israel or a Western power. In fact, given an understanding of the type of religious fanaticism common in the Pakistan military at all levels, it is likely not a question of 'if' but 'when', left unchecked, such a scenario will unfold. The moral barometer of the military can be appreciated by observing that it is the very same unreconstructed and unrepentant military that massacred millions of people in Bangladesh and provided logistic support to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan.

Those who believe that it is possible to bribe or browbeat Pakistan into a compliant client state have been missing the elaborate game of charade played for long by the Pakistani military. While it is a state that chose to support the international coalition against terrorism when and where it had no choice, in the long run the prejudices of its dominant ethnic group will be reflected in its covert policies. Sure, the Pakistan military provided visible support to the coalition -- but in all likelihood, the military also covertly organized pro-Taliban, anti-U.S. demonstration to exaggerate its own role. And the Pakistani dictator General Musharaf, justifying his decision to support the coalition, implied that it was a tactical compromise on the way to securing an eventual 'victory against the infidels and the Jews.' It should be clear where the real goals of Pakistan lie, despite protestations to get increased aid from the West and strengthen its own institution while continuing to build Islamist proxy forces.

What Replaces Pakistan?

Dissolution of Pakistan will largely bring things back into their natural national and ethnic boundaries. The Pushtun areas of Pakistan belong with the newly liberated Afghanistan. Kashmiris in India already enjoy numerous unique protections, e.g. against encroachment by migration from other parts of India. A unified Kashmir will be able to negotiate ways of maintaining its identity in India. Distinct ethnic regions in the Pakistani occupied part of the former kingdom of Kashmir, such as Baltistan and Gilgit, could enjoy greater autonomy.

A successor Pakistani Punjabi state would be far easier to contain. Bounded within plains that are easy to penetrate and police, stripped of 80% of the resources now consumed by its military, it would be far less menacing. Ironically, freed of its militaristic pretensions, it could enjoy greater economic growth and prosperity in the long run by embracing a more peaceful ideology.

The Future of Sindh

What about the future of Sindh and Pakistan-occupied Baluchistan? Baluchistan is a desert area, though rich in some mineral deposits. The bulk of Baluchi population lives on the border of Sindh and has enjoyed free movement and interchange with the Sindhi people. It is likely that the fate of these two regions is tied together, as it was in older times.

Sindh is rich in agriculture, has deposits of oil, coal and gas, and a well-developed port. It is the most industrialized region in the neighborhood. Shorn of the huge subsidy claimed by Punjab and its military, Sindh is likely to see rapid economic growth. This growth will be aided and abetted by the large number of expatriate Sindhi entrepreneurs and industrialists, including some billionaires. Sindhis have an ancient mercantile tradition, and their emphasis on pragmatism, tolerance and harmony are all useful attributes in a modern economy.

Should Sindh be a Part of India?

There are a number of arguments in favor of Sindh joining the Indian union. India is a secular, democratic country which is well-suited to the psyche of the sufi-minded Sindhis. Four months after the creation of Pakistan, 20% of the population of Sindhis was forced to migrate to India when hordes of refugees were encouraged by the Pakistani government to riot in hitherto peaceful Sindhi cities. Many of these Sindhis have settled in India and, after a long arduous struggle, they have prospered. While the diaspora Sindhis no doubt enjoy the moral and legal right of return, it is unlikely that a majority of them would now opt to migrate back to their ancestral homes. Under the circumstances, the unification of Sindh with India would allow the two groups of Sindhis to easily interact and support each other.

Unfortunately, Sindh cannot afford to unify with India in the near future. The greatest threat to Sindhis is demographic -- up to a quarter of those living in Sindh are Mohajirs, Muslims who migrated from Northern Indian provinces such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The population of areas where they immigrated from continues to increase rapidly while the economic growth of those areas remains stunted. The linguistic, cultural and religious affinity of Mohajirs with their brethren in North India could make Sindh a magnet for further immigration unless Sindh is able to exercise vigorous control of its borders.

An independent Sindh will serve as a natural conduit for oil and gas pipelines from energy rich Central Asia to energy starved South Asia. Without an entrenched bureaucracy, Sindh will rapidly lead the way to economic expansion in South Asia. Most significantly for the rest of the world, given its long peaceful sufi tradition, an independent Sindh will provide a bulwark against fanaticism and promote peace and prosperity.

Policy makers would do well to focus their energy on the unenviable but inevitable task of dismantling Pakistan as expeditiously as possible.

Insecurity among Hindus in Balochistan

2011-06-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

By Malik Siraj Akbar

A few years ago, my friend Basant Lal Gulshan, a reputed political representative of the Hindu community in Balochistan and currently a minister in Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani’s cabinet, visited me at my Daily Times bureau office inside Universal Complex on Jinnah Road, Quetta. We discussed over a cup of coffee amid irritating load-shedding in a July noon about the social, political and economic state of the Hindus, the largest religious minority in Balochistan.

“Basant, tell me one thing,” I said as he glanced at an Urdu newspaper lying on the large wooden table.

“What? Are you also trying to convert me into Islam?” he laughed and wittingly referred to one such question that he, and surely several other Hindus, had to grow up with in a Muslim-majority society.

“Aray no,” I immediately interrupted, “Just tell me, when did the Hindus first come to Balochistan and Where did they come from?”

Basant laughed loudly at what I subsequently realized was an absurd question.

“What do you mean that when and from where the Hindus came?” he explained, “Hindus are in fact the original inhabitants of this place. They were very much here even before the arrival of anyone else in Balochistan. Hindus have been living in Balochistan since time immemorial.”

Basant had a valid point. Hindus have lived in Balochistan for centuries. They have loved Balochistan for its secular and religiously tolerant culture. While millions of non-Muslims left for India at the time of Partition in 1947 from all three provinces of Pakistan, the Hindus of Balochistan, on the other hand, did not emulate their compatriots. They have not only lived in Balochistan with much respect and tranquility but also possessed exorbitant businesses in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, and many other districts of the gas-rich province. One finds a sizeable number of Hindus running impressive businesses and offering laudable social services in the districts of Jaffarabad, Naseerabad, Bolan, Jhal Magsi, Sibi, Khuzdar, Kalat, Dera Bugti, Mastung, Quetta, Lasbela and other districts.

My journalistic mentor Siddiq Baluch often jokingly reminds me that if you pick up the telephone directory of one of these Baloch districts, you will find so many (Hinud surnames) Kumars, Kapoors and Sharmas that you will start believing for a while that you are searching the telephone directory of Mumbai or New Delhi.

The behavior of secular Baloch tribal chiefs has historically been friendlier than the State towards the Hindus minorities. For example, prominent Baloch leader Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti, who was killed by Pervez Musharraf regime in a military operation, used to keep the Hindu population very close to his legendary fort in order to safeguard the religious minorities from the criminal elements present in the area. It was this reason that when the fort of Nawab Bugti was attacked by the Frontier Corps (FC) on March 17, 2005, a lot of Hindus, mainly women and children, were killed in the assault which was directed at the Baloch tribal chief and a former chief minister of the gas-rich province.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the country’s foremost credible human rights watchdog, in its 2005 report “Conflict in Balochistan” issued the list of 31 Hindus, including 19 children, 3 women and 11 men, who were killed by the security forces in the attack on Nawab Bugti’s fort.

Another 24 Hindus were injured in the same attack. No investigation was ever carried out against the killing of innocent Hindus by the security forces nor was any one punished for this grave violation of human, more importantly minority, rights. Unapologetic about their actions, the security forces further intensified their war against democratic Balochs until it culminated in the state-sponsored murder of a former Baloch chief minister Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, 79.

Even in the most turbulent times, the Baloch leaders endeavored to ensure the safety and security of the Hindus. They were offered a sense of ownership and equal status in the society because of their peaceful nature, loyalty with their historic land and enormous contributions in the local businesses. They were never discriminated against on the basis of religion in the Baloch society where ethnic identity is still given preference over the religious identity.

Unfortunately, Balochistan has recently witnessed the surge of violence against Hindus with the rise of criminal activities. The provincial government, headed by the Pakistan People’s Party, has entirely failed to guard the life and property of the people living in the province. The presence of an incompetent government that has remained unable to maintain its writ in the province, several criminal groups have been encouraged to take the whole society hostage. These groups particularly target the Hindu businessmen in cases of kidnapping for ransom.

Since the Hindus are actively involved in local businesses and lack considerable representation in the local politics, media and the civil society, they have become a very soft target of the criminal groups. Dozens of Hindus have been kidnapped by these criminal groups from time to time in different parts of Balochistan. The provincial government has not taken tangible measures to immediately address this pressing issue.

The killing of Hamesh Kumar, a Hindu trader, in Quetta city and the kidnapping of his son, Rajesh, earlier this week is a graver reminder of an opening chapter of violence against religious minorities. No matter what the motives behind such desperate actions are, they lead to more insecurity among the members of the Hindu community. Insecure and terrorized Hindus bring shame to secular Balochistan. Therefore, Baloch tribal elders and nationalist parties should also rise to reiterate their commitment to minority rights.

Members of the Balochistan Assembly hailing from the minority community, including my friend Basant Lal Gulshan, staged a walk out during the previous session to vent their anger over the increasing violence directed at the Hindu community in Balochistan. The minority MPAs must not have walked out of the BA happily as all of them are already a part of the provincial government. They must not have done so to offend the provincial chief minister. In fact they did so as a last resort to draw the attention of the chief minister and the top officials of the provincial government towards the kidnapping and killing of Hindu traders.

It is, I admit, unfair to ask for selective justice from the government. After all, the responsibility of the government is to safeguard all members of the society irrespective of their religious and ethnic affiliations. On the other hand, one would hardly expect any improvement in the state of insecurity that has engulfed the Hindus of Balochistan for the reason that the province is already undergoing an anarchic phase of its history. Teasing tactics and violent behavior with the religious minorities is not the hallmark of the Baloch society and the current cycle of violence should be reversed.

The writer is the editor of The Baloch Hal: editor@thebalochhal.com

China's Discreet Hold on Pakistan's Northern Borderlands

2011-06-17T00:13:00.000-07:00

By SELIG S. HARRISON

While the world focuses on the flood-ravaged Indus River valley, a quiet geopolitical crisis is unfolding in the Himalayan borderlands of northern Pakistan, where Islamabad is handing over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the northwest corner of disputed Kashmir to China.

The entire Pakistan-occupied western portion of Kashmir stretching from Gilgit in the north to Azad (Free) Kashmir in the south is closed to the world, in contrast to the media access that India permits in the eastern part, where it is combating a Pakistan-backed insurgency. But reports from a variety of foreign intelligence sources, Pakistani journalists and Pakistani human rights workers reveal two important new developments in Gilgit-Baltistan: a simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army.

China wants a grip on the region to assure unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf through Pakistan. It takes 16 to 25 days for Chinese oil tankers to reach the Gulf. When high-speed rail and road links through Gilgit and Baltistan are completed, China will be able to transport cargo from Eastern China to the new Chinese-built Pakistani naval bases at Gwadar, Pasni and Ormara, just east of the Gulf, within 48 hours.

Many of the P.L.A. soldiers entering Gilgit-Baltistan are expected to work on the railroad. Some are extending the Karakoram Highway, built to link China’s Sinkiang Province with Pakistan. Others are working on dams, expressways and other projects.

Mystery surrounds the construction of 22 tunnels in secret locations where Pakistanis are barred. Tunnels would be necessary for a projected gas pipeline from Iran to China that would cross the Himalayas through Gilgit. But they could also be used for missile storage sites.

Until recently, the P.L.A. construction crews lived in temporary encampments and went home after completing their assignments. Now they are building big residential enclaves clearly designed for a long-term presence.

What is happening in the region matters to Washington for two reasons. Coupled with its support for the Taliban, Islamabad’s collusion in facilitating China’s access to the Gulf makes clear that Pakistan is not a U.S. “ally.” Equally important, the nascent revolt in the Gilgit-Baltistan region is a reminder that Kashmiri demands for autonomy on both sides of the cease-fire line would have to be addressed in a settlement.

Media attention has exposed the repression of the insurgency in the Indian-ruled Kashmir Valley. But if reporters could get into the Gilgit-Baltistan region and Azad Kashmir, they would find widespread, brutally-suppressed local movements for democratic rights and regional autonomy.

When the British partitioned South Asia in 1947, the maharajah who ruled Kashmir, including Gilgit and Baltistan, acceded to India. This set off intermittent conflict that ended with Indian control of the Kashmir Valley, the establishment of Pakistan-sponsored Free Kashmir in western Kashmir, and Pakistan’s occupation of Gilgit and Baltistan, where Sunni jihadi groups allied with the Pakistan Army have systematically terrorized the local Shiite Muslims.

Gilgit and Baltistan are in effect under military rule. Democratic activists there want a legislature and other institutions without restrictions like the ones imposed on Free Kashmir, where the elected legislature controls only 4 out of 56 subjects covered in the state constitution. The rest are under the jurisdiction of a “Kashmir Council” appointed by the president of Pakistan.

India gives more power to the state government in Srinagar; elections there are widely regarded as fair, and open discussion of demands for autonomy is permitted. But the Pakistan-abetted insurgency in the Kashmir Valley has added to tensions between Indian occupation forces and an assertive population seeking greater of local autonomy.

The United States is uniquely situated to play a moderating role in Kashmir, given its growing economic and military ties with India and Pakistan’s aid dependence on Washington. Such a role should be limited to quiet diplomacy. Washington should press New Delhi to resume autonomy negotiations with Kashmiri separatists. Success would put pressure on Islamabad for comparable concessions in Free Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. In Pakistan, Washington should focus on getting Islamabad to stop aiding the insurgency in the Kashmir Valley and to give New Delhi a formal commitment that it will not annex Gilgit and Baltistan.

Precisely because the Gilgit-Baltistan region is so important to China, the United States, India and Pakistan should work together to make sure that it is not overwhelmed, like Tibet, by the Chinese behemoth.

Selig S. Harrison is director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy and a former South Asia bureau chief of The Washington Post.

Ps- Despite the strong Chinese denial, Indian authorities have now acquired "independent" confirmation about the increasing presence of Chinese troops along the line of control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from none other than US security agencies.

Highly placed sources in the government told TOI on Saturday that US intelligence agencies have confirmed to Indian authorities about the increasing presence of Chinese troops all along the LoC.

The chief of the Northern Command, Lieutenant General K T Parnaik, had last week come out in the open with the disclosure about Chinese soldiers being based in PoK. The Chinese foreign ministry, however, denied this even describing these reports as baseless and ridiculous.

Pakistan - The State Of The Union

2011-06-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

The United States should support the implementation of the provincial autonomy provisions of the 1973 Constitution to reduce the dangerous growth of ethnic tensions that threaten Pakistan’s survival, and should condition future aid on action to disarm Lashkar-e-Taiba to prevent a new attack on India, recommended Selig Harrison, director of the Asia program at the Center for International Policy. In a session moderated by George Perkovich, Harrison discussed his latest report, “Pakistan: The State of the Union,” which highlights the dangers of ethnic tensions in Pakistan.

Harrison explained that Pakistan is an artificial political entity which consists of four ethnic groups—Punjabis, Pashtuns, Baluch, and Sindhis—that have historically never co-existed in the same body politic. Punjabis, with 45 percent of the population, dominate the Army and the state, and treat the minorities, collectively constituting 33 percent of the population, as pariahs, even though the minorities regard 72 percent of Pakistan territory as their ancestral homelands.

All of the minorities oppose Punjabi domination, and the Baluch have waged a non-stop insurgency since their forcible incorporation into Pakistan. The Pashtuns have been radicalized and many driven into the arms of Al Qaeda and the Taliban by the civilian casualties resulting from U.S. drone aircraft attacks.

Accommodate the Baluch, Return to the 1973 Constitution

The Baluch insurgency is fueled by Punjabi economic exploitation of Baluchistan. Forcibly incorporated into Pakistan by the Army in 1958, Baluchistan has never received a fair proportion of the revenues generated by its gas supply to other parts of the country. These tensions have created political instability:

• The Pakistani Army and the ISI have tried to divide the Baluch by buying them off, assassinating their leaders and incarcerating 900 Baluchi and Sindhi activists without access to lawyers or courts.

• The Baluch have begun to form alliances with the Sindhis to pursue the goal of a sovereign Baluch-Sindhi federation stretching from India to Iran. This goal is not likely to be achieved unless Lashkar-e-Taiba stages another attack on India, a new India-Pakistan war erupts, and India abandons its present policy of supporting a stable Pakistan and adopts a new policy of support for separatist policies there.

• Although Pakistan has accused India of supplying arms to the Baluch for years, these accusations are not credible because Baluch insurgent groups use ineffectual small arms. However, India could easily supply large-scale sophisticated weaponry and funds. Even without Indian assistance, the insurgents’ paramilitary capabilities are likely to increase in the future.

• Pakistan needs to implement the 1973 constitution and devolve power to the provinces to prevent the Baluch insurgency from derailing its economic development.

Prevent the Merger of Taliban and Pashtun Nationalism

Harrison pointed out that only 50.5 percent of the Pashtun electorate had voted to become part of Pakistan in 1947, in a referendum which did not provide the option of an independent “Pashtunistan” proposed by the elected Pashtun leadership of the Northwest Frontier Province. Post-1947, Pakistan’s right to rule over Pashtun areas has been challenged by all the regimes in Afghanistan, including the Pakistan-supported Taliban. Pashtun resentment against Pakistan has only grown in the last few years:

• The sense of Pashtun victimization at the hands of outside forces resulting from the drone attacks has allowed the Taliban to pose as a champion of both Pashtun nationalism and Islam.

• If the merging of Pashtun nationalism and Taliban is to be reversed, the United States must stop drone attacks and focus on encouraging local peace deals. It must also support the political goals of the FATA Pashtuns, who do not want to be ruled by the Punjabi dominated central government, and push for the integration of Punjab FATA and NWFP.

• The United States should encourage the creation within Pakistan of “Pakhtunkhwa,” a unified Pashtun province which would bring together FATA, NWFP and the Pashtun areas of Punjab and Baluchistan. Such support for the Pashtun desire to be politically united would improve the psychological climate necessary for Pashtun cooperation in the campaign against al Qaeda.

Restructure U.S. Aid to Pakistan

Harrison concluded by outlining immediate steps that the U.S. should take to reduce ethnic tensions in Pakistan and to focus its attention on Punjabi Islamist groups.

• Implement the provincial autonomy provisions of the 1973 Constitution.

• Reduce military aid for Pakistan substantially because it is used mainly on the India front, not the Afghan border, and the Army is the main obstacle blocking the constitutional reforms necessary to stabilize the federation.

• Condition aid to Pakistan to disarming Lashkar-e-Taiba, which poses a greater threat to Pakistan than the Taliban. Another attack on India by Lashkar-e-Taiba could lead to Indian retaliation or support for the Baluch cause, which could lead to a break up of Pakistan.

In the Q&A session, Harrison argued that the Al-Qaeda threat should be managed by covert operations rather than drone strikes, in order to minimize civilian casualties and radicalization of the Pashtuns.

Full Report Here- http://www.ciponline.org/asia/reports/pakistan_the_state_of_the_union.pdf

By -George Perkovich, Selig Harrison

Indian Conspiracy to destroy pakistan through export of BeetleNut!! REALLY ;-)

2011-05-19T02:25:00.000-07:00

All credits to official Pakistani ''news report'' http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=159945

India appears to have finally cracked the code on how to completely cripple Pakistan.

India has evolved a master plan to cause severe damage to Pakistan economy under the garb of talks and assigned an important target to its intelligence agency RAW to provide over one trillion rupees to anti Pakistan Taliban through Afghan transit.

Well placed sources told Online Saturday that Indian intelligence agency RAW has started providing financial assistance to Taliban through alcohol and beetle nut (chalia) under Afghan trade to use them to serve its nefarious designs while they were earlier being assisted through drug trafficking.

Sources told RAW at present was supplying over two hundreds containers of alcohol and beetle nut illegally to anti Pakistan Taliban every month in the name of different companies through Afghan transit. This way billion of rupees are being distributed among Taliban so that on one side Pakistan economy could be undermined and on the other side Afghan Taliban could be strengthened financially in order to use them for fulfillment of its vicious designs.

Sources further told during the recent visit of foreign secretary Suleman Bashir to India and Afghan president Hamid Karzai both India and Afghanistan demanded of Pakistan to allow them transit trade through Wahga border. While the security agencies were of the opinion if transit trade was allowed through Wahga border to Afghanistan and India, this will deliver a serious blow to Pakistan economy.

On the condition of anonymity, a senior officer of Custom Intelligence confirmed to Online Bhattia traders, M.H International, Troob well traders and other companies were supplying containers of alcohol and beetle nut in large number to Afghanistan while Afghan people neither use beetle nut nor drink alcohol, therefore he was much concerned over export of beetle nut and alcohol in such huge quantity to Afghanistan by Indian companies. "I am helpless to take any action in this regard due to pressure of some influential figures", he added.

The Customs Intelligence Officer further told that top figures of customs, NLC and Saif transporters were involved in illegal supply of these containers. These containers were handed over to Taliban near Pak-Afghan borders instead of transporting them to Afghanistan, he pointed out. Online tried to contact FBR chairman on many occasions to ascertain his stance as to what extent Pakistan was suffering financial loss due to illegal trade of containers and non payment of taxes but it could not contact him.

Osama bin Who?-Pakistan caught in a web of lies

2011-05-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

A decade of denials and downplaying from Pakistani leaders.
BY CHARLES HOMANS, JOSHUA KEATING, DAVID KENNER

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces on Sunday in the resort town of Abbottabad, just two hours from the Pakistani capital. This ended a nearly decade-long manhunt for the 9/11 mastermind as well a decade of dubious denials from Pakistani leaders that he could possibly be in their country.

Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States

"Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani rejected a NATO official's claim on Monday that al Qaeda Chief Osama bin Laden is living comfortably in a house in the northwest of Pakistan, saying there was no basis to it. 'This is speculation because if he knew it, it would be actionable intelligence and we would act on it.'"

Speaking to CNN on Oct. 20, 2010, Ambassador Haqqani also slammed those insinuating that there might be some link between Pakistan's intelligence services and al Qaeda: "If anybody who thinks that Pakistan or any other state, for that matter, has any interest in protecting bin Laden, who has brought nothing but mayhem to the world, is smoking something they shouldn't be smoking."

Following the news of bin Laden's capture, Haqqani defended Pakistan's inability to locate the terror chief, even as he resided right under its military's nose, by referring to one of the United States' most notorious law enforcement failures: "If Whitey Bulger can live undetected by American police for so long, why can't Osama bin Laden live undetected by Pakistani authorities?" he wondered.

Asif Ali Zardari, president of Pakistan

"The Americans tell me they don't know, and they are much more equipped than us to trace him. And our own intelligence services obviously think that he does not exist any more, that he is dead.... The question is whether he is alive or dead. There is no trace of him." - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to reporters, April 28, 2009.

President Zardari often downplayed the existence of Osama bin Laden, claiming that his country had no information regarding the whereabouts of the al Qaeda leader. And it appears that even when U.S. intelligence assets finally did amass information regarding bin Laden, they weren't inclined to share: Though in his late-night speech President Barack Obama thanked the government of Pakistan for their assistance in the killing of Osama bin Laden, Pakistan's intelligence services were not kept in the loop regarding the impending operation. Obama telephoned Zardari shortly after the operation was completed, but the president has not yet commented publicly on bin Laden's killing.

Yousuf Raza Gilani, prime minister of Pakistan

"I doubt the information which you are giving is correct because I don't think Osama bin Laden is in Pakistan." - Press conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Dec. 3, 2009

Gilani's statement came in response to a suggestion by Brown that Pakistan's government was not doing enough to hunt down senior al Qaeda leaders. Gilani followed up on the remarks in an interview with the Guardian saying, "If they [the U.S. and British intelligence services] have any credible or actionable information, they can share it and we can act on it." Gilani, however now seems happy to jump on the bandwagon, called bin Laden's killing a "great victory" for Pakistan. "We will not allow our soil to be used against any other country for terrorism," said Gilani.

Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistani army chief

"[U.S. Sen. Joe] Lieberman then asked about the status of the search for Osama bin Laden and [Ayman] al-Zawahiri. It was unjust to criticize Pakistan for not locating these men, asserted Kayani, and he would place Pakistan's track record in pursuing and capturing al-Qaida operatives up against any other country's." - State Department cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad on Jan. 11, 2008, obtained by WikiLeaks.

Since Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) falls under the authority of the country's military leaders, top army official Ashfaq Parvez Kayani presumably would have known as much about bin Laden's whereabouts as anyone in the Pakistani government. But if he did have an inkling as to where the terrorist leader was hiding, he wasn't telling anyone in the U.S. government, preferring instead to talk loosely about the army's "successes" against al Qaeda. Adding to the embarrassment, the New York Times reports that just last month, Kayani had visited a military academy in Abbottabad, the town in which bin Laden was found and killed on May 1. There, Kayani "proclaimed that Pakistan had 'cracked' the forces of terrorism, an assessment that was greeted with skepticism in Washington."

Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan

"I think now, frankly, he is dead for the reason he is a ... kidney patient.... I don't know if he has been getting all that treatment in Afghanistan now. And the photographs that have been shown of him on television show him extremely weak.... I would give the first priority that he is dead and the second priority that he is alive somewhere in Afghanistan." -Interview with CNN. January 18, 2002

Throughout his tenure, the former Pakistani president repeatedly denied or downplayed reports that bin Laden was hiding in his country. Musharraf's oft-stated opinion was that whether or not bin Laden was still at large "doesn't mean much" -- the threat to his regime from Taliban-linked militants in the country's northwest was much greater. In a 2010 interview after he had left office, Musharraf wouldn't say for sure whether he would have handed bin Laden over to the United States, calling it a "difficult question of answer" because of the "great sensitivities" surrounding the al Qaeda leader.

Responding today to the news of bin Laden's death, the former president called it a "positive step," but criticized the United States for violating Pakistani sovereignty in the operation. "It's a violation to have crossed Pakistan's borders," he said.

Rehman Malik, interior minister of Pakistan

"Representative Giffords asked Malik whether he had information about the whereabouts of Osama [b]in Laden. Malik responded that he ‘had no clue,' but added that he did not believe that [b]in Laden is in the area. Bin Laden sent his family to Iran, so it makes sense that he might have gone there himself, Malik argued. Alternatively, he might be hiding in Saudi Arabia or Yemen, or perhaps he is already dead, he added."- State Department cable, Sept. 7, 2009, meeting between Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik and U.S. congressional delegation.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who would herself become the victim of a brutal shooting in January, tried to pin down Pakistan's interior minister about bin Laden's whereabouts in a September 2009 meeting, according to a State Department cable released by WikiLeaks. Malik deflected the inquiry, suggesting that bin Laden might have moved on or was already dead.

But that's not the only time that Malik shot his mouth off about bin Laden. "I categorically deny the presence of Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, and even Mullah Omar in any part of Pakistan," he also said.

Farhatullah Babar, Zardari spokesman:

"If there were officials who knew where bin Laden was, I can assure you that he would not be a free man. The fact is that at the moment we don't even know if he's alive or dead." - The Daily Telegraph, May 11, 2010

Babar was responding to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's claim that the Pakistanis knew more about bin Laden's whereabouts than they were letting on: "I'm not saying that they're at the highest levels," said Clinton in a CBS News interview, "but I believe that somewhere in this government are people who know where Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda is, where Mullah Omar and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban is, and we expect more cooperation to help us bring to justice, capture or kill those who attacked us on 9/11."

Pakistan caught in a web of lies
By Arif Rafiq, May 2, 2011

With great passion last year, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said, "I categorically deny the presence of Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, and even Mullah Omar in any part of Pakistan."

Now, with the capture of bin Laden in Pakistan -- only 40 miles from Malik's office - it's more difficult than ever to consider his statements, and those of his civil and military counterparts, credible. Since 9/11, Pakistan's leaders have been lying to the United States, neighboring countries, their own people, and even to one another about fundamental elements of the war on terror.

On 9/11, Washington told Islamabad it was faced with a choice: you're either with us or with the terrorists. Islamabad hedged its bets and basically chose both. Pakistan's military and intelligence services remain allied with Afghanistan's three major insurgent groups: Mullah Omar's Quetta Shura Taliban, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami, and the network of longtime militant Jalaluddin Haqqani. Yet the same military and intelligence services have played an essential role in preventing major attacks on Western targets since 9/11, saving the lives of countless non-Pakistanis.

Pakistani troops have fought valiantly in their own war on terror -- a civil war that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Pakistanis, security personnel, innocent civilians, as well as militants and terrorists.

Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani commemorated his military servicemen's sacrifices at the third annual martyrs' day this weekend. As he supplicated for the thousands of fallen Pakistani servicemen, the usually emotionless Kayani fought back his tears. Kayani told the audience that Pakistan would not sell its national integrity -- by inference, to the United States -- for prosperity. But the real focus of his address was this: Pakistan faces a long-term fight against terrorists from within.

Since the launch of major counterinsurgency operations in Swat in 2009, the Pakistan Army has launched a persistent information operations campaign to pit its populace against the set of militants it fights. But it is dependent on stoking anti-American, not anti-al-Qaeda, sentiments. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allies -- in the language of the army and its allies in the Pakistani media -- were not waging jihad, but fasad (mischief). They were fighting the Pakistan army not for its support of the United States in the war on terror, but because of an outside campaign to destabilize Pakistan, legitimize the seizure of its nuclear weapons, and potentially even break up the country. And the terrorists were not simply sons of the soil motivated by revenge and poisoned by a bastardization of their religion - no, they were witting or unwitting agents of a CIA-Mossad-RAW [Indian intelligence] nexus aimed at destroying Pakistan. Al-Qaeda, an organization whose leaders have openly declared war on the Pakistani state, was rarely mentioned.

And so today it remains unclear what exactly happened during the fatal raid yesterday. Were some elements of Pakistan's military-intelligence apparatus aware of the operation? Did they give their consent? Did they even cooperate? Reports that the U.S. helicopters took off from the Ghazi airbase in Tarbela, where American Special Operations Forces have been training their Pakistani counterparts, suggests that there was some Pakistani involvement in the operation that captured and killed bin Laden.

However, U.S. officials state that no other country was aware of the operations (a position now backed up by Pakistan's military), in which bin Laden was caught hiding less than a mile away from Pakistan's West Point and a short flight away from the capital. And so it's possible that Pakistan was caught with its pants down, having failed to stop or even spot the American incursion.

Publicly, U.S. officials are not aggressively putting pressure on Pakistan, though it will face tough questions from Congress and the media about how the world's most wanted terrorist could live for years in the shadow of major Pakistani army institutions, in what is essentially an army garrison town. Privately, one can expect greater pressure from Washington on Islamabad and Rawalpindi to "do more." Will Pakistan be able to continue its dual policy of supporting some militants and also partnering with the United States?

Inside the Pakistan Army's ranks, one can expect greater pressure on Kayani, Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and possibly even Air Force Chief Marshall Rao Qamar Suleman. Kayani has already been lambasted since the mid-March release of Raymond Davis, a Central Intelligence Agency contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis in Lahore in January. Given the record of attacks by radical serving and retired officers against the military leadership and other officers since 9/11, it's highly likely that threats against the military from within will rise. And al-Qaeda and its affiliates -- including the TTP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi -- are certain to lash out in anger against the Pakistani state and civilians.

Irrespective of whether it helped capture bin Laden, having both aided and worked against the United States and Islamic militants, and with the killing of bin Laden in mainland Pakistan, the Pakistani military-intelligence apparatus is now caught in its own web of lies. Getting out of it won't be pretty.

Arif Rafiq is president of Vizier Consulting, LLC, which provides strategic guidance on Middle East and South Asian political and security issues. He writes at the Pakistan Policy Blog (www.pakistanpolicy.com).

Today's energy giant, tomorrow's Walmart for digital services: RIL Chairman, Mukesh Ambani

2011-05-04T23:55:00.000-07:00

The Economic Times

The best way to understand Mukesh Ambani's mind is to think of Reliance as a company with two businesses: energy and consumer. In a conversation with Bodhisatva Ganguli & Himangshu Watts, Ambani says RIL will find more hydrocarbons and build a new-age digital and consumer business from scratch.

The tie-up with BP is a paradigm shift for RIL. Historically, you have controlled 100% of your core assets. So, what is the thinking behind this? And is this also the way forward in future?

Well, if you have followed Reliance, you should have noticed that Reliance now has over 50 JVs. The general principle of business is that once you achieve critical mass and size in any market, then to expand the domain or the market you need partnerships. The whole idea behind doing the BP piece is that we are determined to grow faster than before. It's general industry practice. If you look at the E&P industry globally, nobody holds 100% of a basin forever, including a Chevron or an Exxon .

The 50:50 JV that you are planning with BP for city gas distribution is a bit unusual as you don't have a majority control in that?

We, in fact, now have a lot of 50:50 JVs, we have 51:49 and 49:51. Our logic is wherever you are building new competencies - (and) in my view, gas distribution , marketing and sourcing is completely new - (in such cases) it's much better whenever both people bring equal value to the table. (Then) you are better off doing 50:50 so that there is so much more skin in the game. You are putting the reputations of both names on the line. Then there are absolutely critical businesses in which you need to keep a majority stake, like in our E&P business. Here we have given BP only 30%. E&P is our core, it will stay our core, but we needed to bring in a partner with critical technology capabilities.

So you will be looking at building an LNG import terminal?

We will, once the venture fructifies. We will go through a feasibility phase... but the potential in India exists in terms of integrating world gas markets with the Indian gas markets.

What is the state of play in KG-D 6?

The project has 3-4 distinct areas. One, how well you have designed it, and two, how well you have executed it. Both are 100% in your control. In my view, we have beaten industry standards in both these areas. If you take the last three major gas developments in the world, they have taken anywhere between 3 and 5 years to stabilise . We stabilised in 30 days. There we have outperformed. The third factor is geology, which is natural and completely out of your control. Prasad (PMS Prasad, the RIL director in charge of E&P ) will explain to you all the complex models that we go through in evaluating the geological parameters. This requires reasonable time and data. Basically, KG is a thin sand reservoir which is unique in the world. In a normal reservoir, you can put one well and take everything out. In thin sands, the gas is segregated by sands in between. Think about it like an aquifer or an underground water reservoir, which has multiple levels and is spread over a large area. You just can't drill one well and take the water out. Now, there is technology available today, but we need just enough data to figure out whether you need a horizontal well or a vertical well. You need to approach it patiently and carefully to get the right solution at the right cost. It is not like what Saudi Arabia has or Gulf of Mexico has. That's why we brought in BP. Let's be clear - this is the largest deep water gas facility in the world today. We have to be patient. The good news is all of the gas is there and can be tapped.

What is BP's role?

They are double-validating all our data. They are looking at exactly the same things that we are looking at. It's like the diagnosis of a problem - two docs look at the same X-rays for a second opinion. The teams are already integrated.

Do you think the regulator is receptive to your concerns?

I think so. We understand that the government's framework is different. They have to do their due diligence. We respect their framework, and have always cooperated with them. They understand our point of view also. Fundamentally, this was Reliance's risk money that was invested in KGD 6. If we had not found anything, no customer or regulator would have come, and we would have had to write off this investment.

Because of circumstances all of us are aware... a cap has been introduced on gas pricing at $4.2? Should it be scrapped or lifted?

I think that, ultimately, all gas price in future, even in D6, has to be market-determined . That is what the government's own Production-Sharing Contract (PSC) says. That's what the Supreme Court says. If you have read the Supreme Court judgment, it's fairly clear that the PSC has to be honoured by both sides. It says the government is the owner of gas and should get the highest price for the gas. You cannot underprice. Since it is a government-owned resource, people in the government have to justify very strongly why they would subsidise private sector power and fertiliser plants and, thereby, forgo its own significant revenue that can be better used for common people's welfare. Sooner or later, they will have to follow the PSC, which will be marketrelated pricing.

RIL has big investment plans. Are you looking at strategic alliances in other businesses like telecom?

Right now, what we are thinking is two major areas . One is energy, and the other is consumer. We include technology in the consumer vertical. Within energy, we will continue to invest. We have the KG basin, we have the Mahanadi basin, where we think we have more than half-a-billion barrels of oil potential, and we have just announced in the Kaveri basin. These three basins will require large amounts of investment. The good news is that these three basins are prospective . Obviously, we will invest there with BP. The other piece where we see big growth potential and are willing to commit big investments is what I call technology. Really, all of shale in the US is technology business. So, fundamentally , the whole directional shift in Reliance is that we are really, really focusing on creating value for our shareholders. That's basically where we think that we now have the capability and the opportunity - not to mention, a responsibility to contribute to India's prosperity and development. Reliance is proud of its irrefutable contribution to India's energy security , which is today an important aspect of national security. We will now get the best technological help. It will be difficult, but we will get there. Nothing is easy. As soon as we understand this geology, I think the engineering solutions, in which we are very good at, will extract all the gas at KG-D 6 in a sustainable way. I think we are among the best in the world in E&P , primarily because in the Indian gene pool, the DNA of problem-solving exists. We are even helping our counterparts in the US in shale gas. Because what is shale gas? It's horizontal drilling and taking the gas out. In technological innovation, we will see a lot of potential in what I call value-added chemicals. The quality of life is improving in India, so we see a lot of growth in polyester and plastics. Therefore, we are reinvesting in these traditional businesses of RIL. We are developing a whole new rubber business. We will make RIL one of the world's largest players in rubber as the whole tyre industry moves to Asia. The big trend is that if you look at the next 10 years, the projections for automobile growth are all China, India and Asia-focused .

When you say very large, what do you mean exactly?

It will be of a significant scale and size to cater to Asia's needs for the next 10 years.

Where will it be located? At Jamnagar?

It will be located at all our three sites depending on where we have the feedstock. So it will be at Hazira, Jamnagar, some at Baroda.

Is there any plan to enter the tyre industry?

No, we will be suppliers to the tyre industry.

What are the big things in chemicals?

We believe that hygiene will be a very big market in a rapidly prospering India where people's aspirations are rising. You look at diapers, female hygiene - most of the super absorbents come from our industry. So we can integrate and really think about low-cost hygiene to improve the quality of life for the masses. Personal care and home care is the other big piece, because the market for these products is booming in India due to our demographics. Most of it is unique to us, with such a large exposure on the refinery side. Most of the chemical industry depends on feedstock. We can become the largest supplier to private-label players. That is an integrated energy play based on innovation and technology. Only two or three people in the world understand how to convert fatty oil into cosmetics cream, which could soon be used by over 300 million women in India. How can you really , really get that market cracked to a quality level that is better than everybody in the world and to a cost level that is one-tenth of the world? That's what attracts us.

What are the investments in the chemical business?

These are $10-12 billion.

Many speculate you will make a big-ticket acquisition and in your last AGM, you had said that you will plant the tricolour in many parts of the world. Any progress on that front?

We look at these things on an ongoing basis. There will be a lot of volatility and uncertainty in this world. But, I'm a wildlife fan. I love the leopard. The leopard sits on top of a tree. It doesn't take any great risks. Whenever it sees that it can make a kill, it's in no hurry whatsoever to make a kill. It makes the kill so rapidly, you don't even know. And I've actually sat with leopards for hours in lots of forests. It just happens in a flash. And, again, the leopard goes back and sits there aaram se. So, as I tell all our guys, let's not get too much carried away. It's important to keep the balance sheet capability to do this stuff but we shouldn't be in a hurry. We should be watching , we shouldn't be ignoring anything. But unless we feel absolutely safe that we are not going to hurt ourselves, and we are going to go down there, kill 100% and bring it back, we won't do anything funny. We are in no hurry. And we'll never do it for ego's sake. Our watchword is: does it generate value for our shareholders on a sustainable and long-term basis?

Would you say that is a change from the mindset RIL had, say 10 years ago?

I will say that we have evolved, just as any dynamic and future-focused business entity must, in response to the changing national and international environment. We are doing what is appropriate at every stage of our evolution.

In telecom, will there be a partial roll-out this fiscal?

We said we are investing in the future. We are still in the conceptualisation phase. In our mind it's integrated with our consumer vision. We know where the telecom and Internet technologies are moving. We know how they are fundamentally changing the world, and they can be the biggest change agent in India, too. We know the aspirations of the Indian customers. This is not an unfamiliar area for us. Right now, I believe that the better and more integrated our plan is, the more guaranteed is its success.

New-age telecom anywhere else in the world, especially in the US, integrates internet, entertainment, etc. So is that the plan for your foray in telecom?

It's even beyond that. It's education, health, agriculture , food security, environment protection, sustainable employment creation. In my mind, it's very early days in setting standards for technology . We don't need to make a rash move. We don't see it as a telecom play. It's value-added data services. Data is still nascent. We want to integrate our society's diverse needs and aspirations in an integrated, innovative and affordable delivery platform.

So, where do you see telecom and retail fitting in this consumer space?

We are betting the whole company on technology innovation culture. Within energy, we will be looking at the next new forms of energy. Innovation is also the key to growing in the consumer space. India is bound to become a huge market for consumer products. People's aspirations for a better quality of life must be respected. At the same time, we cannot replicate the western model here. The challenge is: how do we ensure a better quality of life for our one billionplus people within the parameters of sustainable development? Reliance will rise to this challenge. In the same way that we rose to the challenge in the energy space over a decade ago. I believe that India will be a $5-trillion economy well before 2025, and it will have a $2.5-trillion consumption market. What is this consumption? The way I look at it, there is physical consumption which will never go away - the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear. Not many people recognise it, but RIL is today the country's largest food retailer as we speak.

This is all led by Reliance Fresh?

Yes, Reliance Fresh and all our value formats. I see food more and more in retail. We see the same in apparel. As Reliance Trends, we will be the largest soon. We think there will be huge growth in all the appliances you have at home and, not to forget, jewellery. So these are all individual pieces but also combined in our value format. As I see in the next 10 years, the other piece where we can bring that revolution to India is the whole digital revolution. Each one of us will consume services digitally. We want to be the Walmart of digital distribution. There is a fantastic opportunity to provide affordable videoenabled digital services to crores of people in healthcare, agriculture, urban-rural market linkages, government-citizen interfaces, and also to increase productivity and employment potential in the informal sector of the economy which provides livelihood to more than 90% of the labour force, etc. So, you see, RIL's future plans are, as always, closely aligned to India's national goals. All this depends on technology and innovation, which is our new mantra.

For all these new ventures, will you be looking at getting talent from outside?

Yes. Continuously. At RIL, we are doing three things. Most of our money is going into the technology space - innovation, generation of value either in the energy or the consumer space. This, then, is our continuous vision for the next 5 to10 years. We look at the global space from an opportunistic standpoint. We have appetite at all times to do something unique in the technology and innovation space. We think our shale gas initiatives in USA are more in technology and innovation space because we know that we can generate a reasonable economic return through technology innovation. We know we can bring those drilling costs down. Even if gas prices don't improve in the US, we will get our returns. Then there is a separate piece where we are focusing on how to cater to these new evolutions, how to create and sustain and enhance our overall talent.

Are you looking at grooming talent in-house ? Or getting new fresh talent?

We are doing a combination of everything. Fundamentally, we think it requires re-engineering or regenerating the whole human resources architecture. It's very difficult to do. When you think about performance, it's not only people architecture or talent but people performing in a growth-nurturing ecology. You really have to regenerate the environment. It's like colleges. I have been on the advisory board of Stanford and a few other colleges where we change the environment every 10 years. At this stage, we are going through a project where we will have a process whereby we will take everything we have learnt and really mentor and train our 30-34-year-old guys to be better than us. It's a regeneration of the 4-5 pillars we stand on...and not only our existing talent but also welcoming fresh talent. We want our people to be internally happy, because happiness and success should go together. I want everybody at RIL to achieve their true potential . We want to create a new culture in which you will be reasonably transparent to yourself, your peers and your team. That, in my mind, will lead to true innovation . This is the most important and exciting project of my life: How do you really transform and reengineer 40,000-50 ,000 people, most of them professionals, most of them ambitious, most of them very successful, and then tell them to mentor and train 30-34-year-olds and make them better than us. This, according to me, is the sign of a truly New Age business organisation.

This is very interesting. Who else is working with you and what are the broad contours of this business transformation ? What exactly are you putting in place? Where do you see this exercise in the next 5 years?

What we are putting in place is what I call the Next Generation Reliance. Clearly, creating a foundation for the future growth of Reliance to make sure that we not only can retain our existing talent and at all times make sure that we can attract right talent in our businesses. And the right way to think about is what you build is an architecture, a path of evolution . I believe nothing is static in life. What we are doing now is based on our knowledge and putting down a 2012-15 architecture, which will evolve.

So, are you aggressively hiring from B-school campuses and other professional colleges? What has the response been?

The response has been very good. Our own hiring standards are very different. At this stage, we are creating an architecture. Most of what was in our head has been put down in place. We have pretty much finished that exercise. We have virtually all the top-5 consult-ants in the world working with us globally.

What will the Reliance organisational structure look like?

The easiest way to think about is that we create an operating model. Within that we create the business model architecture, the organisational architecture . And then there is the financial architecture : how do we create shareholder return? Within that there is the regulatory architecture. And then there is the consumer architecture - how do we maximise the value proposition to the consumer ? When you put all this together, they actually have to gel. And then there is the employee piece. How do you take an employee, fresh out of college and help him navigate through Reliance? How do you give him a 15-20 year view? And how do you add value? Like we have a customer value, we now say that we have an employee value proposition.

Are there 5 or 6 people who are future leaders of Reliance, who we do not know about now?

There are between 80-100 people.

Would you look at listing other businesses like chemicals , rubber?

There has to be a rationale. We have done dual listings . We don't see a compelling reason to do it in a hurry.

What do you think can spoil the growth story?

I think the India growth story is unstoppable. I look at it as an opportunity in the acceleration mode. What it needs is a supportive governance environment at all levels.

What are the key reforms you are looking forward to?

More than reforms, we should recognise that we are at the crossroads. We shouldn't celebrate too early. We have a long way to go. Along with reforms , we have to have a collective resolve to solve problems in areas like education. Our education sector needs to be liberated urgently, without a day's further delay. If we want to fulfil our young people's dreams, we must create capacity and quality on a massive scale. We can create a revolution simply by freeing our universities from government control and by allowing new private universities to be set up. If that happens, I can visualise India becoming a hub of higher education globally within the next 10 years.

Aren't you disappointed with the level of corruption with a clean PM in charge?

We have a vibrant society, a vigilant media and an independent judiciary. We are dealing with our problems in a mature way. We shouldn't really deprecate ourselves. I strongly believe that India needs systemic reforms to reduce corruption.

One big societal opportunity in India?

The big societal opportunity - and an equally big need - in India is housing. When I went to the US in 1980, I was surprised - Kya desh hai yeh! Everybody had a decent house. Is that a societal opportunity ? Yes it is.

Would you be interested in a banking licence?

We will see when it happens.

What do you think of the giving pledge?

There are different points of view. My own view is that it's important that one should create sustainability and compassion. My view is that giving must be anonymous. Even if I did whatever I did, I wouldn't brag about it. I would do it for my own satisfaction . It is important you do it straight off your heart you don't talk about it.

Are you writing a book?

Lots of people approached me but I am not.

(Additional reporting by TV Mahalingam & Shuchi Srivastava)

Next-generation security and disaster management business seems to be next on the radar of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, which will utilise its 4G telecom services for this new initiative.

Besides, RIL also plans to partner a global major for this new business and is roping in Vivek Lall, formerly a top Indian executive of global defence major Boeing, to head this venture, sources said.

"Reliance sees strong synergies in our rolling out 4G Broadband Wireless services and their use for enabling Homeland Security, Safe, Secure & Smart Cities as well as Disaster Management preparedness," a person in the know of the matter said.

"RIL plans to partner with global leaders in this domain to bring the latest technologies and innovation," he said, adding that Vivek Lall will be joining to drive these efforts.

An RIL spokesperson did not offer any comments. Lall, who was Vice President and India Country Head of Boeing for defence, space and security businesses, recently left the US-based global aircraft and aerospace major.

Earlier, he has also served as managing director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes in India.

The new initiative of RIL would involve significant investments and details are being finalised, sources said.

The group plans to invest USD 4.5-4.7 billion in telecom business over the next five years. It has already spent USD 2.8 billion on acquiring 4G licences and spectrum, which it got last year through acquisition of Infotel.

Infotel was the only entity to get pan-India licence in the auction of Broadband Wireless Access spectrum conducted by the government last year.

Telecom is among the five main businesses and RIL group expects to focus on in the next 5-10 years.

The group is present in energy and retail sectors, while mega plans are underway for telecom and finance sectors. Besides, it has also acquired a strategic stake in a cargo airline founded by aviation entrepreneur Captain Gopinath.

RIL is currently in the process of finalising arrangement with leading global technology players, service providers, infrastructure providers, application developers, device manufacturers and others for its 4G telecom service offerings.

Globally, also the countries are gearing up to utilise 4G (fourth generation) broadband technology in their homeland security and disaster management practices.

In February, the US President Barack Obama announced that his government would spend USD 10.7 billion to build a nationwide 4G broadband network for public safety agencies, including police and fire departments.

The US has felt the need for a national broadband network ever since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

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2011-05-04T00:16:00.001-07:00