By K.N. Pandita

Indian Army estimates that 200 armed jihadis are waiting along the Line of Control (LoC) to sneak into Indian Territory, 31 of these have already managed to infiltrate.

Even when the valley was reeling under the ravages of unprecedented floods, jihadis made several bids to push many of them across the line. These bids were however, neutralized. The infiltration bids increased soon after the BJP led NDA government took oath of office. At the swearing in ceremony, where SAARC leaders including Pakistan’s Prime minister Nawaz Sharif participated,  the prime ministers of India and Pakistan jointly spoke of containing terrorism in the region.

A gradual change in the idiom of General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi could be discerned when perfunctory hints emanated from Islamabad that bilateral talks with India would be resumed.

To offset any talks, non-state actors in Pakistan revived Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) orchestration and its reverberations were felt along the LoC. Unprovoked firing in some sensitive sectors along the LoC and even across International Border (IB) in RS Pora sector assumed threatening proportions.

Pak agencies subtly scuttled foreign secretary-level meet by predicating it with Pak High Commissioner’s invitation to the separatists and secessionists for a meeting in Delhi, thereby scoring a point against Islamabad.

The Pakistan Army, alarmed by the insistence of new government in Delhi to meaningfully pursue bilateral talks with the democratically elected government in Islamabad enfolding 26/11 culprits and the new approach theory to bilateral relations, decided to settle its score with the bugbear of Pak democracy.  Military coup was out of question as neither Americans nor the Saudis would take it.

The Army was already peeved with Nawaz Sharif for treating Musharraf, its former Chief with disdain. Hence it pressed into service the option of mobocracy. Logjam continues around the seat of the government.

Allowing the stalemate to linger on, the Army, which had been making serious efforts for quite some time to draw a wedge between the Punjabi and Pushtun ethnic groups of Tehreek-i-Taliban-i-Pakistan (TTP), succeeded in the time-tested mantra of divide and rule.  A statement from the chief of Punjabi chapter of TTP, Asmatullah Muawiya on September 5, 2014 declared that his group would no longer operate in Pakistan but would actively join hands with Afghan Taliban and fight against the American propelled government in Kabul and the American presence in Afghanistan. TTP Commander, Abu Baseer denigrated Muawiya by asserting that he always had links with Pak agencies.

Before joining TTP, Muawiya was a commander of Maulana Masood Azhar’s terrorist group, Jaish-i-Muhammad. Following differences with Jaish in the aftermath of Lal Masjid operation of 2007, Muawiya parted ways with Azhar and went to the tribal areas with dozens of his comrades.

He formed his faction of terrorists claiming that he wanted to avenge the killing of jihadis in Lal Masjid operation by Pakistani security men. He named his faction Jundu’l-Hafsa after the name of girls’ seminary Jame’ul Hafsa attached to Lal Masjid.

Jundul-Hafsa carried out many terrorist attacks independently, which included attack on foreign mountaineers at the base camp of Nanga Parbat at an altitude of 4200 m, on June 22, 2013 and an attack in September 2013 on a church in Peshawar killing 80 Christians, while offering mass.

After becoming part of TTP, Muawiyeh had become the chief of its Punjabi chapter. In 2003-4, General Musharraf, the then President of Pakistan, directed the Punjabi Taliban conducting jihadi activities in Punjab to wind up. The Punjabi Taliban, comprising mostly the youth from Punjab and POJK split into two. One group migrated to Waziristan where it raised the banner against Pakistani army.

It is noteworthy that in the initial stage of drone attacks, Americans avoided attacking TTP groups in Waziristan, in the hope that they would not make a common cause with Afghan Taliban. But when Pakistan declared that all members of TTP were the enemies of Pakistan, American drone attacks started targeting the hideouts of Punjabi Taliban as well.

But before the American drones could pound TTP, Pakistani ISI had relocated the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements in TTP from Waziristan to Kurram Agency where they enjoyed security.

The simple objective of Pakistan in categorizing all TTP as its enemy was to help disperse the Afghan Taliban either to Kurram or to safe havens in Afghanistan wherever they could find it. Then after the purge it could take on the remnants of TTP easily and hunt them down one by one.

Obviously, Kabul government took care of those elements that were forced to withdraw to Afghan territory in the face of Pakistan army’s heavy attacks on TTP which ultimately reduced it to shambles.

Having finished the TTP in Waziristan, without causing harm to much of the Afghan Taliban, which had taken refuge in Waziristan against the NATO attacks, Pakistan army achieved the twin objectives of liquidating anti-army TTP, and retaining anti-Kabul lever in its hands in the shape of Kurram-based Afghan Taliban.

On the other hand, this strategy found replication in the shape of Maulvi Fazlullah, the commander of TTP, who having positioned himself in Kabul is patronizing the anti-Pakistan army elements that are temporarily located or concentrated in Afghanistan.

Until Aug 13, 2013 Punjabi chapter of TTP remained under TTP. During that period Asmatullah Muawiyeh had twice come to Indian part of J&K clandestinely and also travelled to Afghanistan to take stock of the ground situation there. The dream of Islamic Caliphate is very much alive in the heads of these jihadis.

Last year, TTP expelled Muawiyeh after he had issued statement regarding PML-N government’s proposal for peace talks without prior approval from the central leadership. He had welcomed Nawaz Sharif’s proposal for dialogue after urging Pak militants to respond to the offer.

In all probability, the inference is that Pakistan Army will, in slow degrees, induct its protected and patronized hordes of Afghan Taliban into J&K and thus give a new turn to jihad in J&K. Border violations and unprovoked firing could be a precursor to that scenario.

In this broad and rather grossly intertwined regional strategic scenario, ISI has played the master card by winning over Muawiya and through him declaring the end of hostilities against Pakistan by Punjabi Taliban. However, the story does not end there. In his statement, Muawiya said that while he would work in the interests of Islam and in propagating its true teachings, he would join in fight against Kabul regime and the Americans now sitting in Kabul.

Reports indicate that through the instrumentality of Haqqani network, Muawiya’s group will move to Afghanistan and join hands with the Afghan Taliban in bringing down the Kabul regime and throwing out the Americans and finally giving proper shape to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan or the Caliphate of Khurasan.

Haqqani is an old time stooge of ISI and for long has been acting as per its commands.

Professor KN Pandita is the former Director of the Centre for Central Asian Studies at Kashmir University, Srinagar. The views expressed are his own.

~ By Sudarshan Ramabadran

The Indian Armed Forces have killed two terrorists in Machchil Sector, North Kashmir on September 17 and all this while without in any way slackening their vigil, as on date they have simultaneously distributed food to over 1.2 lakh persons in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K)  and ensured treatment to over 75,000 people through various medical teams.

At a time when The Indian Armed Forces and National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have earned appreciation internationally for carrying out relentless humanitarian tasks in J&K, nefarious designs have emerged to pull out all stops to ensure that the people of J&K, in no way identify with India and its armed forces. These designs have been carefully timed and unleashed by the selfish separatists who under the false garb of “azadi” seek to please their handlers from across the border.

Hafeez Saeed’s tweet attack

To begin with Hafiz Saeed, an evil mind who enjoys absolute patronage from Pakistan never leaves an opportunity to unleash an attack on India through words or arms. As soon as the unfortunate floods struck J&K, Saeed launched his tweet attack. In a series of tweets, the 26/11 Mumbai attacksmaster mind Saeed made bizarre accusations against India. He tweeted, “India has used water to attack Pakistan, we are in a state of war. India’s water aggression must be taken to the UN Security Council. If India’s Ladakh dam project is completed, even Islamabad will become unsafe. Indian water terrorism is more lethal than its Line of Control (LOC) violations.” The opportunist Saeed wasted no time to reiterate the Azad Kashmir stand in a subsequent tweet which was carefully worded as an attack on the Indian Government, “Occupied Kashmir cannot be looked after by the Modi-led government, what it can do for those in Azad Kashmir? Give them Freedom if you may”

Though Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif did acknowledge and offer his support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to jointly rehabilitate those affected in Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJ&K), there was not a single step from the Pakistani dispensation to come down hard on Saeed or even a gag order against himfor provoking India during such a calamity. In fact, Pakistan’s envoy Abdul Basit’s recently stated that Saeed enjoys the complete support of Pakistan and is a free citizen,“Hafiz Saeed is a Pakistani national so he is free to roam around. So what is the problem…he is a free citizen so there is no issue as far as Pakistan is concerned. Courts have already exonerated him. There is no case pending against him.”

This despite India’s countless dossiers to Pakistan on 26/11 attacks as well as US’ bounty of $10mn on Saeed.

Geelani’s appeal to Pakistan

Taking cue from Saeed was none other than Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.Take this for a partnership, Geelani and Saeed appeared in the same debate on a Pakistani news channel, where Geelani began spewing venom, “Armed forces are busy rescuing their own personnel, tourists and only a few Kashmiris, in that order”. He added that, “Indian Army and media are insulting Kashmiris by taunting them about being saved by those whom they pelted stones at once.”

Hang on; Geelani did not stop here, he further explained, “Indian Army men were moving around in boats with TV crews only to stage an act of rescuing a few locals for the purpose of publicity and propaganda”

When we just thought where was Geelani headed, here comes his appeal for help from across the border, where he asked Pakistan to take out time from its internal strife and contribute to the ongoing rescue efforts in J&K, “Pakistan must showcase the cause of floods to the UN as well as other Islamic countries”. Citing this he asked Pakistan to mobilize funds for J&K.

Yasin Malik joins the bandwagon

Next up, we had the man who hadpreviously shared the dais with Hafiz Saeed. Yasin Malik led a gang of crooked elements and forced ailing lady patients to get off an Army relief boat despite strong criticism of the shocking move by women in the area. Malik told the Army patrol to leave the patients and withdraw from the area. When the Army patrol boat returned, Malik told the boat patrol to get the patients off and leave. He claimed the Kashmiris do not want the Army rescue efforts to continue. Women in the boat and in the vicinity protested loudly at this insane act by a bunch of goons even as Mir, an aide of Yasin Malik, shouted at the ladies in Kashmiri and forced them to be silent.

Irony has it, this is the same Yasin Malik who is accused of killing four Indian Air Force Officers in J&K in the 90s and come the floods, he is rescued by the Air Force personnel!

If this is not enough, desperate separatists have also ensured to instigate people to take to stone pelting. Reports have emerged that aircrafts and helicopters flying across J&K have suffered damages due to stone pelting.

The nefarious design is clear; separatists are pawns in the hands of their handlers from Pakistan. Under the false garb “azadi”, they will go to any extent to destabilize J&K for the benefit of their vested interests. Anti India disruption is their sole aim. Negating these nefarious designs and facing innumerable hurdles of disruption, the Armed forces have not till this second brought the rescue efforts to even a mini pause. So much so, nationals from Pakistan have expressed their gratitude to the Indian Armed forces for restoring a bridge in their ongoing rescue efforts.

While a lot of criticism has come the Indian Army’s way with respect to Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), countless men continue to put their lives in danger to ensure relentless rescue efforts continue with an objective that they will reach every single individual stranded. All of India wishes and prays that anti national elements like the separatists continue to be kept at bay and J&K bounces back to normalcy soon!

Sudarshan Ramabadran is a Research Assistant with India Foundation. The views expressed are his own. 

– By Alok Bansal 

The attack on Pakistan’s Naval Dockyard on September 6, which is celebrated as Pakistan’s Defence Day, was a landmark event. The naval dockyard is a highly sensitive security zone, where naval ships, submarines and auxiliaries are not only berthed, but also repaired and built. It undertakes all indigenous construction projects like Missiles Boats, Mines Counter Measure Vessel and Agosta 90-B Submarine. So shocked was the Pakistan’s security establishment with the attack that the whole news was kept under wraps for two days and even today the details of the attack have not been made clear.Little news that has trickled out reveals that the terrorists had not only infiltrated through the dockyard, but also targeted PNS Zulfiqar, a Chinese built frigate of the Pakistan Navy (PN). The involvement of many naval personnel and claim by newly created Qaedat-ul Jihad or Al Qaida in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), as well as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) of involvement,has raised suspicion that the terrorists wanted to hijack the ship and take it out to sea.  A fully armed warship with terrorists at sea can be an extremely potent weapon that can be used to target any unsuspecting ship at sea including the US warships in Gulf. AQIS has subsequently claimed that a US supply ship was the target.

Fortunately, for Pakistan, the naval commandos responded promptly and in the ensuing encounter killed three terrorists while apprehending seven terrorists alive, while one petty officer of the navy was killed and six others sustained serious injuries.  Five 9mm pistols, three intercoms, four suicide jackets, two detonators, handcuffs and other ammunition was recovered. The main accused is believed to be Owais Jahhrani, a former naval officer, who wasexpelled from the force in 2013 for his rigid religious views. He died during the attack and is the son of an Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police from Karachi. Subsequently, three other naval officers were arrested at Mastung in Balochistan enroute to Quetta, from where they were planning to escape to Afghanistan. The arrests have also been made at the Ormara Airbase. Accomplices were also arrested from Swabi, south Punjab and interior Sindh.  The whole investigation process has been kept under wraps as the security forces do not want the international community to know that radical virus has afflicted Pakistani Armed Forces. The security establishment  has been so sensitive about propagation of such facts that investigative journalist Syed Saleem Shehzad was brutally killed in 2011 for publishing a story which highlighted the presence of Al Qaeda cells within the PN.

However, despite the attempts to brush aside such acts under the carpet, the attack on PN Dockyard has not been a one off act, but just one incident in a series of terrorist attacks where members of the armed forces were involved. Every single attack on a military installation bore clear marks of collusion by elements from within.  Many Pakistani Air Force (PAF) and army personnel including six officers were convicted for attempts on General Pervez Musharraf in December 2003.  An army soldier, Abdul Islam Siddiqui, was hanged on August 20, 2005 after an in camera Court Martial for triggering an explosion to target Musharraf in Rawalpindi.  On another occasion, an anti-aircraft gun was discovered on the flight path of General Musharraf’s plane, when he was taking off from Rawalpindi Air base on a pitch dark night.  There were also occasions when Army and Air Force officers preferred being court martialed than to fight the Taliban.  In one of the most bizarre case, 200 armed security personnel were taken captive by 20 militants in Federally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA).  There have also been numerous instances of sabotage in the PAF to prevent aircraft from being deployed against the militants.  In one of the many attempts on Musharraf, over 100 Air Force personnel were convicted and three were sentenced to death. One of those sentenced to death was Adnan Rasheed, who was housed in Bannu Jail, till TTP decided to break open the jail and release all the prisoners.  Immediately after his release Adnan led attack on PAF station at Kamra.

Former army personnel were also involved in the attacks on GHQ, with the possible collusion of insiders. In 2010, two former army officers along with two serving officers including a colonel were convicted by a court martial for planning an attack on the Shamsi airbase, which was being used by the Americans to fly their drones.   The attack on PNS Mehran was another case of collusion by serving personnel.  Kamran Ahmed, a former naval commando and his brother Zaman Ahmed were arrested for aiding the attackers.  Another marine commando from Waziristan, who had been posted at PNS Mehran, was arrested in January 2011 for having links with Al Qaeda and Taliban. During an in-camera briefing, the parliamentary committee on defence was informed that three Navy officers, one sailor and four other personnel had assisted the terrorists.In fact in order to identify the personnel with terrorist links within the Navy, the Navy has decided to re-interrogate those Naval officers who had been arrested for their alleged involvement in Mehran.

The growing radicalisation of the Armed Forces is nothing but a manifestation of the growing extremism in Pakistani society. As radical militant outfits thrive in Pakistan, they share their recruitment base with the armed forces. Consequently, most of the inductees into the armed forces are already imbued with the radical hue and as they live in the same society, the radicalisation further increases.   Various religious organisations with puritanical zeal like the Tableeghi Jamaat or Al Huda have liberal access to military personnel and their families. Similarly, pan Islamic outfits like Hizb-ut Tehrir, which do not believe in Westphalian concept of a nation state, have also made deep inroads into Armed Forces. Once a person has been moulded in a particular ideology by these organisations, it is not very difficult for the militant organisations to recruit him for their cause. There has been large number of cases, where officers and men from the military have resigned to join the radical outfits.Although all the three armed forces have been affected by the menace of radicalisation, the impact is more pronounced in PN and PAF, probably the regimental system of the army has succeeded in mitigating the impact of radicalisation to some extent.

Though the military leadership in the last decade has tried to cleanse the forces of radical elements and has succeeded in purging overtly religious generals.  However, the junior officers and other ranks by and large reflect the prevailing views of rapidly radicalising society.  Many of them still believe that the war against Taliban is America’s war and have serious reservations about fighting them.This is bound to create rifts within the military,which is the glue that binds a fissiparous state like Pakistan. However, the immediate concern for the international community is the prospect that there could be some closeted militants in Strategic Planning Directorate (SPD) of Pakistani Army, which is tasked with guarding Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile.

Alok Bansal is the Director Centre for Security and Strategy, India foundation. The views expressed are his own.

There are many ways of travelling from India to America. One of them is via Japan. That indeed is the quickest way to the richest parts of USA, the west coast; and the only option if you are headed towards the heart of America’s strategic presence in the Pacific, Hawaii.

The Pacific, overlapping the Indian Ocean, is far closer to us than the Mediterranean or the Atlantic. Our popular, and policy, reflexes so far have been so embedded in attitudes formed during the British Raj that we have stopped thinking of the Pacific as the bridgehead to anywhere. Japan, China, Australia and America are Pacific mercantile and military powers.

This quadrilateral is at the top of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy. September 2014 will sparkle in the history of Indian diplomacy. Modi began the month with a triumph in Japan. He returned to welcome Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, with whom he signed a significant civil nuclear deal that will permit the sale of Australian uranium to India. Within two days the leaders built a rapport that will prompt a quick return visit to cement a vital relationship. In the third week of September, Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in Delhi to add important building blocks to investment as well as security cooperation.

When in the last week of September Prime Minister Modi goes to the White House, India will not be a supplicant nation. America will converse with an empowered India.

All sides are never equal in any multilateral partnership, but harmony is essential for the careful construct to hold. India and Japan may have stronger bonds than India and China, but the three Asian giants know that they have much to gain by maximising complementary strengths and minimising conflict zones. It is this matrix that can turn the 21st into an Asian century. This is the rationale and objective of India’s “Look East” policy; and if you look far enough into the east, across the Pacific, you can see America.

For those few in Delhi who also want to “Look West”, my suggestion is: Don’t. Unless you are looking for trouble. If the east is vast with economic opportunity, the immediate west, beginning with Pakistan, has become a wasteland bloodied by multiple civilian wars, and a base to terrorist clans that have only one mission: to spread chaos within the civilised world in the name of frenzied theocracy. Terror is Pakistan’s principal export; and now there are other forces in borderless countries itching to compete in the violence stakes.

For decades Pakistan has done everything it could to smother economic cooperation with India, even as it fortifies a wall that blocks India from Afghanistan and central Asia. India no longer has time to fritter on a catastrophe disguised as a country.

India may not be alone in reaching such a conclusion. Pakistan’s oldest ally, China, has delinked India from Pakistan. Xi Jinping has cancelled the Pakistan part of his south Asia tour because of the  “security situation”. Left unsaid is that this threat is seeping into China through its Muslim-majority Xinjiang province. China has a future to build for its people, and Pakistan is not present on such a
route map.

Modi will carry some news from the immediate west of India when he talks to Obama: bad news. Al Qaeda, which did not die along with its founding father Osama bin Laden, has declared formal jihad against India, along with a host of other nations. Those who provided sanctuary to Osama continue to provide a safe haven for his remnant disciples, so it would be unwise to dismiss this threat as a gesture from a desperate maverick in search of rhetorical relevance. Al Qaeda feels sufficiently reinvigorated to open yet another front in the multi-pronged proxy war that has been waged against India ever since 1947. The malevolence and intensity of this proxy war varies, but never its purpose.

Obama might seek passing comfort in distance; he leads a nation that is tired of carrying the international military burden, after having secured its frontiers. India does not have that luxury. The interesting variable is that Beijing has sat up to think. The Chinese do not reveal their worries readily, but they cannot hide the growing fret-lines anymore. When Prime Minister Modi’s National Security
Advisor Ajit Doval visits Beijing in the coming days for preparatory talks, he will — hopefully — be discussing more than tensions along the Himalayan border between India and China. Al Qaeda might, in fact, be the weak link in terrorist chains nurtured within the homeland of terror. Other, stronger, and even more vicious groups have emerged within the Sunni south-west and west Asia.

The message from India, Japan, Australia and hopefully China is that we will not permit the commanders of chaos to prevail. We want the joy of a garden, not the ghosts of a graveyard.

The article is written by M J Akbar. He is the national spokesperson of Bhartiya Janata Party. The views expressed are his own. 

In his first address to the members of both houses of the 16^th Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, President Pranab Mukherjee outlined the BJP led NDA Government’s commitment of eliminating poverty. This was followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to both the houses who reiterated that the, “the poor have the first right to the government’s resources”. Unlike the previous Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, who stated that the government’s resources first belong to a specific community.

Cut to 2014, after the election of a stable government, the nation witnessed the synergized vision of both the President and the Prime Minister through their respective speeches. Having observed Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Chief Ministership in Gujarat as well as during his election campaign, a discernable factor that comes across strongly is that his eyes are strongly set on the future while shaping the present. In order to drive towards his long term vision, short term goals are envisaged and designed.

Completing 100 days in office, the BJP led NDA Government has taken effective strides with an impetus on rural development to eliminate poverty.

Swachch Bharat by 2019

For the first time from the ramparts of Red fort on August 15, we witnessed a Prime Minister making sanitation a national issue. Ending open defecation is the first and the most essential step to fight and eliminate poverty. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over Gujarat in 2001, one of the decisive steps he took was to ensure adequate toilets were built specifically for girls in schools. Therefore it does not come as a surprise that the Prime Minister has urged MPs to contribute to building toilets for school girls through their Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds.

Health experts will agree that cleanliness will not only contribute to end innumerable diseases but also to tackle the silent epidemic of malnutrition. Notably, the mission to end open defecation for a clean India by 2019 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi found an unusual backer in Jairam Ramesh, former Rajya Sabha MP from the Congress and Rural Development Minister, who said “I have been saying that making India open defecation free should be a national junoon, a national obsession, now Mr. Modi is taking that forward with his Swachch Bharat Mission.”

Sansad Adarsh Gaon Yojana

Apart from contributing to policy making through legislations, MPs now have an important responsibility, i.e., to develop one village in his or her constituency into a model village. Though complete details of this programme is awaited on October 11, Jai Prakash Narayan’s birthday, the vision behind the programme is that MPs have to develop one village a year, or five during a full parliamentary term. The scheme, though launched this year, will be fully operational only in fiscal 2015-16, and after 2016, “a parliamentarian should develop two more villages by 2019.” Clearly the programme is envisioned to ensure MPs are rooted to their constituencies. In the socio-political set up in India, examples are galore of those leaders who were not rooted to their constituencies being uprooted by the people. In that sense, Sansad Adarsh Gaon Yojana is a welcome move.

Reinventing MGNREGA

Reinventing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as a productive programme reiterates the government’s commitment to the poor. The UPA government initiated MGNREGA in order to provide 100 days of employment per person in rural areas. Instead of disbanding the programme, the BJP led NDA government came out with guidelines and budgetary provisions to reinvent the programme. The government has reinvented MGNREGA with two key objectives; one is to provide employment as promised, and two is to ensure that the programme enables creation of assets which the villages can later acquire. Anyone nuanced with rural development will know this is an incredible value addition and a big plus.

 ‘Poor first’ at WTO

In his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Prime Minister Modi stated that one of the biggest challenges in front of his government was to tackle poverty and he believed that it’s the Governments’ duty to address the problems faced by the people belonging to deprived sections. These words to John Kerry came soon after India vetoed the passage of the World Trade Organization’s first trade facilitation agreement. At the very outset, the Government was clear that ensuring food for its people is a priority. True to this, the Indian government sought permanent protection to its food subsidies from WTO caps, which incidentally found no takers. This was after; India reiterated that the grains procured to fight hunger shouldn’t be included under WTO restricted subsidies.

And guess what, surprisingly, India’s decision was vindicated when a UN body, the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) backed its decision. IFAD maintained that ensuring food for its people is of significant importance to a nation.

Ensuring Purchasing Power through Jan Dhan Yojana

During his campaign prior to Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphasized that one of the most vital duties of his government will be to ensure purchasing power to the poor. Yes purchasing power to the poor, and this was rarely highlighted or for that matter discussed or debated by the media.

Successive governments have promised financial inclusion, but till date none have translated their words into action. Banks have just not been able to expand their facilities in rural areas; there are numerous cases where women have to travel close to 80-90 kms to reach their banks from their villages.

Jan Dhan Yojana is an apt of example of not just financial inclusion of the deprived sections of the society but also ensuring these sections have access to banking facilities as well. Broadly, Jan Dhan Yojana aims to ensure purchasing power to the poor, imbibe the habit of savings, and lastly weed out corruption, as there will be no intermediaries involved.

Empowering villages through Digital India

Some of the words which come to our mind when we ask someone about infrastructure development include development of roads, ports, and airports to name a few. But rare are the governments which have been focused at connecting every village with optical fibre networks. ‘Move from High ways to Information ways’, this is the precise vision with which the BJP led Government has embarked on the much acclaimed Digital India programme. The programme seeks to prepare India for a knowledge future.

The aims of the programme include, developing a digital infrastructure which can deliver can government services, a real time financial transaction platform for citizens, and to digitize all documents. The Government has enlisted specific targets, which is to ensure broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh villages and making as many schools Wi-Fi enabled by 2019. With the Government’s intentions being to develop states in order to develop India, the ambitious goal of delivering all government services in less than four years seems prospective and definitely achievable.

In one of his notes left behind in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi said, “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man or woman whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him or her. Will he or she gain anything by it? Will it restore him or her to a control over his or her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to freedom for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and yourself melt away.” In these 100 days, what is clearly discernible is the BJP led NDA Government under Prime Minister Modi has thought through the aforesaid test to design and reinvent programmes to eliminate the menace of poverty.

 The article is written by Sudarshan Ramabadran. He is a Research Assistant at India Foundation. The views expressed are his own. 

The Pakistani military operation Zarb-e-Azb, launched against the Taliban in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) is now in its third month.The Pakistan Army is committed to take on militants of all hues, particularly the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its foreign allies such as al Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The US is hoping that they will also dismantle the Haqqani network and other Afghan based groups operating from NWA against Afghanistan. Public support for the operation remains high, but militarily, much remains to be done. Despite claims of success by the Pakistan military, the ground reality is more sobering.

In spite of the fact that ground troops have been operating in the area for quite some time now, the Pakistan Army’s reliance on aerial strikes remains paramount. The Army continues to claim success through aerial attacks using fighter jet aircraft, but no such success has been claimed by ground troops. High-speed aircraft have great relevance in conventional conflict but have limited application in confronting small groups of insurgents. The claims of the Army are hence suspect and in all probability are highly exaggerated. In any event, no leader of consequence has either been captured or killed in the army operation. All that has happened is that the militants have been displaced for the time being from the territory they were holding.

Having a safe territorial base to operate from is certainly an advantage for the militants. It permits them safe bases for recruitment, planning, training and execution of operations against the state. To that extent, the loss of a sophisticated physical terror infrastructure, where they enjoyed facilities to make bombs, manufacture weapons and train recruits is a serious setback to the militant groups that were operating out of NWA. However, the loss is by no means crippling. Dispersal of militants has not affected their core strength, which remains intact. Regrouping to a different area is simply a matter of time. As an example, the TTP reconstituted itself in NWA after being ejected from their strongholds and ancestral homeland in the Mehsud tribal areas of South Waziristan in 2009. In the instant case, Taliban fighters have moved into the Shawal Valley and to areas such asDattaKhel sub-district, home to the Hafiz GulBahadur Taliban faction with which the Pakistani government has maintained a long-standing truce. It is not clear whether the Army will open yet another front to hunt down the displaced TTP, IMU and al Qaeda fighters. Many militants have also fled further west into Afghanistan, where the Pakistan military will not be able to reach. The Afghanistan government is embroiled in its own battles and has neither the capacity nor the desire to look into Pakistani concerns with respect to such fighters.

How Pakistan deals with the Haqqani network will indicate its sincerity in eradicating terrorism from its soil. However, Pakistan is unlikely to target the Haqqani network as they view the group as their strategic assets in Afghanistan.It is no secret that since the start of Zarb-e-Azb, no Haqqani fighter has been killed or captured over the course of the operations.Reports indicate that the Haqqani network had relocated to Parachinar in Kurram Agency, even before the start of Zarb-e-Azb, sometime in May this year. Kurram Agency is surrounded by Afghanistan from three sides and is closest to Kabul. It makes sense for Pakistan to support the Haqqani network, as they would be valuable assets in any Afghanistan configuration, post the withdrawal of US forces by end of 2014. Officially, the Haqqani network is part of the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Omar. However, the group maintains distinct command and control systems and has close ties with the Al Qaeda and other foreign extremists in Pakistan.

North Waziristan, where operations are currently underway, is but one base of the militants. As of now, the networks of various militant groups such as the TTP, al Qaida and Haqqani, has spread far beyond North Waziristan to tribal areas such as Mohmand and to Kunar and Nuristan provinces in Afghanistan. Metropolises like Karachi too are severely affected. For the Pakistan state to win its war against terror, it will have to pursue these groups throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan, where they have support.

Pakistan’s counterinsurgency doctrine advocates the use of aerial strikes, artillery bombardment and employment of armour for conduct of operations. The mass evacuation of local populations therefore takes place to facilitate military operations. The Pakistan Army did this earlier in the Swat Valley and in South Waziristan Agency (SWA). However, success of any counterinsurgency operation has to have the support of the local population. A displaced population whose homes have been ravaged, looted and reduced to rubble is unlikely to extend any form of support to the Pakistan military when they return. In NWA, the conflict has forced a million people from their homes as recorded by the Pakistani authorities. The number of internally displaced persons (IDP) is possibly even higher, as the figures from the camps established by the Pakistan government do not take into account those that fled west to Afghanistan. More importantly, most Taliban fighters from all groups left the area well before the launch of operations by the Pakistan Army. Many also slipped through with the fleeing IDPs.

The long-term prognosis for the region is therefore bleak. The Pakistan military will perforce have to remain deployed in the areas they have cleared of militants, to prevent the return of militants. In the earlier operations conducted in the Swat Valley and SWA, the Pakistani Army continues to maintain a heavy deployment of troops. The Pakistan Army lacks the capacity to deploy in each and every area where militants are operating. To do so, they would have to raise a very large counterinsurgency force to combat terrorist activity, but the Pakistani economy, already at the break point, will not be able to absorb such expenses. The future hence looks bleak. The war is far from over. It has perhaps only just begun.

The article is written by Major General Dhruv C Katoch (Retd) who is the Director of Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS). The views expressed are his own.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, immediately after coming to power had made better relations with neighbours one of the key pillars of his foreign policy and in one of the boldest initiative he went out of his way to invite the heads of states or the heads of government of all SAARC states and Mauritius for the swearing in ceremony. Accordingly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was invited for the swearing in ceremony and he rightfully responded by attending the ceremony and gave a positive stimulus to the emerging bonhomie by rejecting a call by The Kashmiri separatists to meet them during his visit. Subsequently, the prime minister further expressed his intentions to take all the neighbours along and even offered to launch a SAARC satellite for them. In keeping with this prevailing atmosphere of trust, it was decided that the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan should meet in Islamabad on 25 August 2014, to lay a platform for reviving the composite dialogue process, which had been stalled for two years.
However, this whole progress towards peace was vitiated, when Pakistan’s envoy decided to meet the separatist leaders of ‘Hurriyat Conference’ despite Indian Foreign secretary’s directive against it. After exhibiting blatant insensitivity towards the host country’s concerns and having violated the diplomatic niceties, it was imperative for Indian government to act and it acted suitably. Its action was just and appropriate. The excuse that previous Indian governments had allowed Pakistani envoys and visiting dignitaries to meet the Hurriyat, does not indemnify Pakistani diplomat’s action especially as it was done after having been specifically told against it by the Indian Foreign secretary. This transgression becomes even more acute, when one looked at in the context of Indian conduct in Islamabad. No Indian envoy or visiting Indian official has ever visited any nationalist leader from Pakistan occupied Kashmir, though many anti-Pakistan movements are flourishing there. It is well known that one nationalist leader from Gilgit-Baltistan, who had visited India in the past and has been extremely critical of Pakistani occupation, is suffering from grave medical problems, but has been prevented from seeking medical treatment abroad by the Pakistan government, which has impounded his passport and placed his name on the Exit Control List. Although the individual concerned is slowly inching towards his end, no one from the Indian government or its envoys have met him or provided him much needed medical aid as they do not want to offend Pakistan, even though this could qualify as genuine humanitarian aid.
The current action of cancelling the talks will ensure that at the very least, as long as this government is in power, no visiting Pakistani official will dare to meet these separatist leaders. Many ‘learned’ Indian analysts believe that the government should have stopped the Hurriyat leaders from meeting the Pakistani envoy rather than cancelling the talks.It would however, have been the wrong approach, as the separatists despite being used by external agencies, are citizens of a democratic country, and should have the freedom to go wherever they want. More significantly, any action to stop them or arrest them would have given them undue publicity as almost all of them are spent forces, with absolutely no credibility or support base. On the other hand, the Pakistani envoy is expected to remain within the diplomatic norms and therefore should have avoided meeting them, when specifically directed by Indian government.
Does the calling off of Foreign Secretary level talks, a big setback to India-Pak relations and peace process? Not the least, as the talks were scheduled at a time, when Pakistan is going through extreme turbulence and the situation in Islamabad appears most fluid. It would have been extremely futile to talk to a government , whose sustenance and support is questionable. More significantly, the two prime ministers could still meet in New York on the side lines of UN General Assembly meeting, if Nawaz manages to remain in office and Pakistan does not indulge in any further acts of provocation. This also raises another question, as to why did Pakistan’s envoy meet the Hurriyat leaders, when his own Prime Minister had refused to meet them just three months ago. The possible reason is that the high commissioner was acting at the behest of General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi rather than the Foreign Office in Islamabad. Probably his action was guided by a sense of self preservation, considering the tenuous state of Nawaz Sharif’s government. The recent increase in cases of ceasefire violations across the Line of Control also indicates that the GHQ has decided to increase the tensions between the two countries, possibly with an attempt to divert attention of its citizens from the internal turmoil.
This raises the important question, should India be talking to Pakistan, especially at this point of time, when Pakistan has still not acted against the planners and collaborators of Mumbai attack. There is a need to put pressure on Pakistan to deliver on the terrorism front, but in the long term talks with Pakistan are essential to show to the international community and Pakistan’s populace that India wants peace. This would go a long way in weakening Pakistan Army’s influence in state’s polity, as it thrives on anti-India sentiments. However, the current time frame, when Pakistan is undergoing serious instability is certainly not the best time for talks, while India must do everything that could strengthen democracy in Pakistan, without in any way compromising India’s core interests; it may be prudent to avoid talks till some clarity emerges about the future of Pakistan’s government.

Alok Bansal is Director, Centre for Security & Strategy, India Foundation. The views expressed are his own.

One of the most widely spoken about moves of the BJP led NDA Government as it took power on May 26, 2014 and also the one that was on every one’s mind was – “What was the Government going to do with the Planning Commission?”. Innumerable stories and editorials made its way, some citing probable suggestions to reinvent the Commission and some even naming probable candidates who are expected to take on the mantle of the Commission.

While many media houses both mainstream and social, ran campaigns on what should Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak during his Independence Day speech, none predicted that the decision on Planning Commission could feature or at least a decision in this regard could be possible in his speech.

Inference, yet again Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proved he is faster than the media and is known for setting the agenda for their reportage.

On the ramparts of the Red Fort during his maiden speech, Prime Minister Modi elucidated that the Planning Commission had outlived its use and quite rightly, lost its relevance in today’s social political scene in India, and that there is a need to disband it. The import of the decision comes from Prime Minister’s own words ‘Co-operative Federalism’. In his maiden speeches in both the houses of the Parliament, PM Modi made it clear that states must develop for India to develop.

One of the hurdles in the way to attain the aforesaid objective was the very existence of Planning Commission and its powers. The Commission as such was set up by Nehru in the 1950s and was primarily tasked to develop five year plans. Over time, the commission evolved to allocate funds and most notably grew as a centre of political power. As on date, the main role of the Planning Commission is to allocate funds for projects and schemes, whose underlying aim is to help in the developmental process and to promote a rapid rise in the standard of living of Indians. This is done by exploitation of the resources of the country to promote inclusive development via the delivery of public goods and services. From planning of roads to figuring out how much to fund for programmes like NREGA, decisions need to be taken in order to allocate public funds to States, along with blueprints for implementation and monitoring.

The major flaw with the conception of the Commission was that it was not visionary and far-sighted. The scene in India today is such that coalition governments and regional parties have decentralised the political structure and therefore there is further need now for more devolution of planning to state and local levels. One of the biggest casualties of the Planning Commission was that states and local bodies were excluded. They were never given the opportunity to have a say in formulating an economic or project oriented blue print, leave alone implementation.

Another major criticism which the Commission faced from the likes of many experts is that it gets into allocation of both planned and non-planned expenditure as well as controlling them. Several governments came and went, but none could effectively enumerate steps for the Commission to reinvent.

The Commission drew up economic plans on its own and in turn expected the state governments to be inspired by them. With the economy opening up, large number of private players entering the scene and with zero involvement of the state governments and local bodies, the Commission was cut off from the grass roots.

All said and done, till date there have been no concrete solutions from the Commission to actually end poverty. Since its inception, there have been many attempts to reinvent and redefine the Planning Commission but none have fructified.

With so much criticism coming its way, the next logical step was to reinvent the Commission to be a body which can provide expertise on developmental reforms. This is exactly what Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP led NDA government have embarked upon. As per reports, the Planning Commission is set to be disbanded and replaced with the National Development and Reforms Commission. The new Commission is set to be headed by the Prime Minister, the deputy head will be the Finance Minister and most importantly the body will also include three state finance ministers and three industrialists.

In sync with Co-operative federalism, the inclusion of state finance ministers signifies the intent of the Central government to take states along at the policy formulation and at the implementation levels. In addition, as soon as he took charge Prime Minister Modi directed the Finance Minister to deal with the states directly in terms of allocation and regulation of funds and the Prime Minister’s Office to attend to grievances from the states on a priority basis. The inclusion of industrialists signals that the Government is aware of the role that private sector plays in the nation’s economic growth.

Having governed a state for 13 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is acutely aware of the federal structure and the changing times in which states have to be given maximum impetus. What is most certainly happening under Narendra Modi is that States are becoming more relevant having been included in the process of nation building.

The article is written by Sudarshan Ramabadran who is a Research Scholar at India Foundation. The views expressed are his own. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s path breaking speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 68^th Independence Day, aims to take India to a new strata. After a long time, common man was allowed to attend the function and the Prime Minister breaking from the norms established by his predecessors spoke extempore and without security of a Bullet proof enclosure. Field Marshal Manekshaw had once remarked that fear is natural to men, but a good leader must never exhibit fear. By addressing his countrymen without the security of a bullet proof jacket or enclosure, the Prime Minister has exhibited fearlessness and true leadership qualities. In also what should rank as a first,rising above petty politics, he acknowledged the contribution of previous Prime Ministers and governments;in bringing India to current level of Development. He also categorically stated that he was addressing his countrymen not as Pradhan Mantri(Prime Minister) but as Pradhan Sevak(Prime Servant), thereby reemphasising his focus on ‘Maximum Governance, Minimum Government’.

In a statesman like speech, the Prime Minister unveiled his agenda for growth and development asking his countrymen to rise above caste and communal identities and to impose a ten year moratorium on such sectarian violence. Taking a leaf out of his speech to the Constituent Assembly of Nepal, the Prime Minister asked the ‘misguided’ youth to shun the path of terrorism and Naxalism and to replace guns with plough to usher in peace and prosperity. Continuing his emphasis on farming he reiterated La lBahadur Shashtri’s slogan of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’. At the same time realising the fact that over dependence on agriculture for employment had contributed to thefragmentation of land holdings and has consequently, reduced agricultural productivity, he emphasised on the need to promote manufacturing. He exhorted his countrymen as well as international industries to make India a global manufacturing hub for quality products without impacting the environment adversely.In a significant move, he emphasised on the need for skill development and manufacturing of electronic goods, which have become a major component of India’s import.He urged the industrialists to take a pledge to manufacture at least one item that was being imported, so that India not only stops importing it, butalso starts exporting it.

In one of the most revolutionary scheme with far reaching consequences, the Prime Minister announced Jan Dhan Yojna, which will enable each Indian including the poorest of the poor, to have a bank account with a debit card, overdraft facility and an insurance ofRupees one lakh. This will in times to come, enable the government to transfer subsidies directly to the needy, thereby eliminating unnecessary government expenditure in giving subsidies to all including those, who do not deserve it.  In addition, it will also provide the poor citizens of India cheap credit as well as much needed social security.

On social front, the Prime Minister, asked the society to shun its preference of male child and exhorted it to improve the sex ratio and the treatment of women. As in the past and following up from the President’s speech on the eve of Independence Day, he emphasised on the pressing need for sanitation and cleanliness.  He stated that a clean India would be the most fitting tribute toGandhijion his 150^th birth anniversary in 2019. The emphasis on cleanliness is not only likely to reduce diseases and the health problems of the population;but also the cleaner environment will give a fillip to the tourism, which has enormous capacity to generate employment across social, skill and economic spectrum. He lamented the absence of toilet facilities for women andurged building of toilets, so that women could feel secure.Heurged the corporate houses to set up separate toilets for boys and girls in schools, as part of their ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’. He unveiled Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna, whereby each Member of Parliament including members of Rajya Sabha and those elected from urban constituencies could identify at least five villages by 2019, to be built as model villages. He also requested the state governments to extend similar schemes for the members of legislative assemblies and councils.

In the field of governance, the Prime Minister lamented the fact that his insistence on punctuality in the government offices, which should have been the norm, was making the headlines. He regretted the fact that various departments within the government were functioning as independent entities, often bickering with one another, to the extent that the disputes were being resolved through judicial interventions. He stated that he wanted the government to function as a unified entity rather than as an assemblage of disparate entities. Emphasising on E-Governance, he said that India had surprised the world with its IT skills and there was a need to move towards a ‘Digital India’.  He stated that the government was committed to good governance through E-Governance, which enables easy governance and effective governance.Planning Commission, which has outlived its utility and has been a vestige of controlled economy, was often perceived as a huge impediment by the state for their developmental plans and accordingly the Prime Minister announced its scrapping and replacement by a Think Tank to advise the central and state governments.

The Prime Minister’s speech was significant in the way that unlike in the past it did not talk about the external powers and on the contrary, exhibiting his vision he talked about taking all the SAARC countries on the path of growth and prosperity.  There is no doubt that many of South Asia’s problems stem from artificial borders often created by colonial powers and consequent disruption of inter dependent economies.  Having invited all the SAARC leaders for his swearing in ceremony and having started his bilateral foreign visits with SAARC countries, the Prime Minister has possibly hinted towards a vision of taking South Asia towards South Asian Economic Union and possibly South Asian Union.

This article is written by Capt. Alok Bansal. He is the Director of Centre for Security and Strategy, India Foundation.  The views expressed are his own.