In New York, India to flag external source of terror

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the U.S. to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), India is likely to tell the international forum that there are hardly any cases of Indians joining the violent “pan-Islamist groups.”

Though a direct reference to the militant organisation, the Islamic State (IS), will be avoided, sources said India is likely to highlight the fact that “the source of terrorism faced by India is often outside the country.”

Mr. Modi will address the Sustainable Development Summit at the UNGA on September 25. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is already in the U.S. and she will deliver India’s statement in the General Debate in the morning session of the UNGA on October 1.

India also wants the draft on Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism to be finalised. “India has adopted a calibrated response to violent extremism that prevents disproportionate use of force by the government. There are only a few instances of Indians joining extremist groups like the Islamic State,” said a senior government official.

India will put across the point that it has never used “air power” against violent extremists.

India’s strength as a “liberal and plural democracy” would be highlighted, as would the government’s affirmative actions in strengthening the bond between different communities.

The government has been extremely cautious in dealing with the threat posed by the IS and has at all forums said that the group was not a threat to India.

Going by available records, 19 persons of Indian origin are understood to have joined the IS so far.

On Monday, the case of a woman intending to join the IS was detected. The Delhi University graduate and daughter of an Army man is presently being counselled by agencies. She was apparently attracted to the IS during her stay in Australia.

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Army destroys papers on V.K. Singh’s intel unit a few days before his retirement

When present Union Minister Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd.).was just days away from retiring as Army Chief in 2012, the Army destroyed dozens of documents on a military intelligence unit that he had created and whose activities and funding had attracted widespread scrutiny.

According to documents perused by The Hindu, between May 22 and May 25, 2012, the Southern Army Command based in Pune moved very quickly to assemble two different boards of officers to carry out the complete destruction of all documents in its custody on Technical Services Division (TSD) — the controversial military intelligence unit Gen. Singh had set up in 2010. He retired on May 31, 2012 and later plunged into a political career with the BJP, and is now Minister of State for External Affairs in the Narendra Modi government.

The destroyed files included payments of military intelligence funds by TSD for several months of 2010 and 2011. One file contains a detailed month-wise bank statement of the unit. Another is on the claims by Colonel Hunny Bakshi, who was heading TSD. It also contains a file on temporary duty and claims of Col. Bakshi, and a separate file on the claims of Lt. Col. Servesh Dhadwal, who, too, was part of TSD. One of the files deals with foreign visits, presumably of TSD officers.

Also destroyed were a “statement of case for raising of Technical Services Division (TSD)”; details of the operational role, tasks, and charter of TSD; the channel of reporting of TSD; a request on policy for spending the secret fund; policy on usage of post-paid mobile connection; and some intelligence inputs.

According to a report by The Indian Express on August 4, 2014, an internal inquiry by Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia, the then Director General of Military Operations, found that TSD had misused secret service funds to buy mobile phone interceptors without authorisation, to fund activities to destabilise the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir, to fund an NGO that tried to scuttle the chances of General Bikram Singh succeeding Gen. V. K. Singh as Army chief, and for foreign travel of its officers on their personal passports

The then Defence Secretary, S.K. Sharma, had refused to give his mandatory approval to the military intelligence budget, because of an abnormal increase in its spending, primarily caused by TSD activities.

Against this background, the conduct of the Army in the days running up to Gen.V.K. Singh’s retirement raises serious questions of impropriety.

More importantly, the actions could be in violation of Army regulations as well as the rules governing the classification and handling of classified documents.

The entire data on TSD, including money spent on its supposed purported sources and reimbursement to its officers for travel and other activities, came into the custody of the Southern Army Command after TSD’s havildar-clerk, Sham Das D, mysteriously appeared in Kerala to hand over a CD containing all the details to an official of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). The DRI official claimed that he was contacted by sources based abroad, offering to sell highly sensitive military secrets.

The DRI passed on the documents to a Major heading the detachment of the Southern Army Command liaison unit in Thiruvananthapuram. These files were written into a CD and sent to Pune, and further to the Army headquarters.

On May 22, Brigadier V.K.K. Chavan, BGS (Intelligence) of the Southern Command “for GOC-in-C” (general officer commanding-in-chief), told Col. Anoop Kumar, the commanding officer of the liaison unit: “Request destroy all the letters mentioned in Para 1 above and all connected corres/docu related to this sensitive case at your HQ and also at 2/4 Det loc Trivendrum to eradicate any chances of leakage of info.”

However, there seemed to have no such effort to reach out to the DRI to eradicate details that may have been in its custody.

The very next day, Col. Kumar convened two different boards of officers: one for destroying all documents that were held in Thiruvananthapuram, and the other for documents in Pune. They were told to “assemble at place, date and time to be fixed by the presiding Offr to recommend and destroy” office copy of the southern command liaison unit letter dated May 17, and two letters dated May 18. The boards will also destroy “all connected corres/docu related to the sensitive case,” the order said.

On May 25, the two boards met and decided on destroying all documents, including official communication between the liaison unit and the Southern Army Command. The documents destroyed by the two boards were identical and numbered up to 62 items by the boards. Most of them were documents from a TSD computer.

On May 25, Col. Anoop Kumar commanding officer of the southern command liaison unit, approved the “destruction of documents as instructed” by the southern command. He quoted relevant paragraphs from the Regulations for the Army 1987 and CHCD-2001 (Classification and Handling of Classified Documents) to approve the decisions of the boards held on the same day.

“However, it will be ensured that no documents are destroyed which may be of interest from historical, financial, statistical, instructional, legal or general points of view,” he said.

Col. Kumar’s claim runs contrary to the fact that the entire set of documents were recovered from a soldier who was under a court of inquiry for leaking them and they were the most important exhibit against him. And that the documents related to the financial dealings of a unit that was already under scrutiny at the highest levels.

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50 top CEOs to dine with Modi

Around 50 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have confirmed participation at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York on September 24, and the numbers may go up further. Mr. Modi will also host another dinner for CEOs of digital companies in the Silicon Valley when he visits the West Coast of the U.S. on September 26 and 27.

A Townhall Q&A at the Facebook headquarters along with its founder Mark Zuckerberg — something, according to Mr. Modi, “you shouldn’t miss” — is billed to be the high-profile event during his five-day visit to the U.S., but an interactive session that put together 30 Indian start-ups and 17 Silicon Valley start-ups will be of great significance, say diplomats involved in the planning.

“This visit seeks to build on the substantial ground covered during my last visit to USA and President Obama’s visit to India early this year,” Mr. Modi said in one of his several Facebook posts. Mr. Modi and Mr. Obama will meet in New York on September 28. Mr. Modi will also visit Ireland on his way to the U.S.

Mr. Modi said he and Mr. Zuckerberg would “discuss some global issues and issues relating to India, particularly on the economy and society.”

He said: “An event that I am enthusiastic about is the ‘India-US Start-up Konnect.’ India is emerging as a hub of start-ups in a wide range of areas and we aspire to take this further. We want the world to see our innovation capabilities in the start-up sector. At this event, a group of Indian start-ups will showcase their innovations and forge partnerships with the vibrant American start-up industry.”

At the U.N., Mr. Modi would address the U.N. Sustainable Development Summit for formal adoption of the post-2015 new sustainable development agenda and attend the summit on U.N. peacekeeping hosted by Mr. Obama. The Prime Minister said India attached great importance to the U.N., and reiterated India’s vision for U.N. reforms. He said India would host a summit of G-4 leaders — of India, Brazil, Japan and Germany that support the expansion of the U.N. Security Council and demand permanent positions for themselves — in New York where the main agenda would be the U.N. Security Council reforms.

“This year, the 70th anniversary of the U.N. is an appropriate moment for reform discussions to be accelerated. Recently, the UN General Assembly finally adopted a document after over 20 years that would form the basis of formal discussions on this matter,” Mr. Modi said.

Talking of the Sustainable Development Summit, Mr. Modi said: “Coming from a culture that regards harmony as central to its ethos, I am glad to have an opportunity to address this forum. The new goals are closely aligned with India’s vision for sustainable development and our flagship programs for the same.”

Mr. Modi plans to meet several other world leaders on the sidelines on the General Assembly, but details are not yet available. Mr. Modi will also address a Renewable Energy Roundtable with USDOC and Stanford University and interact with the Indian community in San Jose on September 27.

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Kashmir is never going to be part of Pakistan: Farooq Abdullah

National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah has rejected the notion that the threat of a nuclear war would solve the Kashmir issue, asserting that the region would never be a part of Pakistan and dialogue is the best way to “move forward”.

Admitting that Kashmir has been the main agenda as far as India and Pakistan are concerned, Mr. Abdullah said: “What is important is dialogue between the two nations to get to some point of understanding.

“There is no way, by threats of war or using atom bomb and saying we have nuclear weapon, that does not solve the problem. What we have to do is find ways and means, whether it is Track II or III, to get to some position of understanding.

“One thing is absolutely clear: borders won’t change how much countries want to change it, borders will not change.”

Mr. Abdullah said this while participating in a programme titled ‘A Conversation on Jammu and Kashmir’ with former R&AW chief A.S. Dulat, who has also authored a book titled ‘Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years’ nlast night.

The programme was anchored by journalist Ashis Ray.

Mr. Abdullah said, “They (Pakistan) are not going to get Kashmir even if they try over the sky. That is not going to happen. So why cause further miseries for nothing. Why don’t they realise it is the Muslim population dying this side and Muslim population that is dying that side.

“They bomb us and we bomb them. It is innocent people who dies. How long, 65 years. Enough. I would like to tell both India and Pakistan: For God’s sake. Enough is enough. Let us get together and move forward rather than live in tragedies.”

Following the cancellation of NSA-level talks between India and Pakistan last month, Pakistan’s National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz accused India of considering itself a regional power, forgetting that Pakistan is “nuclear power”.

“(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s India acts as if they are a regional superpower, but we are also a nuclear-armed country and we know how to defend ourselves,” Mr. Aziz had said.

Earlier this month, Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif termed Kashmir an “unfinished agenda” and warned India of “unbearable damage” in case of a “long or short” war.

“If the enemy ever resorts to any misadventure, regardless of its size and scale - short or long - it will have to pay an unbearable cost,” he had said in his address to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war with India on September 7.

But answering questions, Mr. Abdullah said “the truth is, Kashmir is never going to be part of Pakistan, whether Farooq Abdullah lives or dies. It is never going to happen in many centuries to come. So let us draw a different friendship. Come and enjoy Gulmarg, Pehlgam and the gardens Mughals made. Come and enjoy the Kashmiri dishes we cook. Give something to us as tourists.

“I would love to see the day I can drive right through to Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. My grandfather, my uncle are buried in Lahore. I cannot go there. When I die you can not stop my soul from going there.”

Referring to partition, Mr. Abdullah said that a number of innocent people had died on both sides.

“They had nothing to do with it but they got caught into it. We don’t want another holocaust of that nature. Forget please, innocent people will die if anything happens.

“We had four wars between the two nations, the line (border) still stands there and we continue to suffer.”

He also made a case for boosting tourism in Jammu and Kashmir which has been troubled by the tension between the two countries, saying the state has been bestowed with the “beauty of the land.”

“Basically we have no industry (in Kashmir). The only industry God has given is the beauty of the land. That needs tourists to come so that they could come and enjoy the beauty.

At the same time our handicrafts are known all over the world.

They would make some forward movement (if there is peace).

“But when you have troubles and tragedies and innocent people are dying then who will come.”

Mr. Abdullah told the gathering which included journalists from Pakistan that even though the Nawaz Sharif may be the Prime Minister of Pakistan “the real rulers are the Pakistani Army.”

“They are fundamental and unless you have an Army General in Command there I don’t think you will be able to move forward.

“I don’t believe America is going to be any help to us because they sell their guns to Pakistan as well as to India.

They sell their helicopters, their military weapons and they will continue to do so. We will kill each other, they make the money. We face tragedy every day. Let’s call it a day. Why can not India and Pakistan live together.”

Dulat, who headed the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) till 2000 and later became special adviser to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Kashmir, claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had lost a window of opportunity during Musharraf’s regime to reach a settlement on Kashmir.

“I don’t think there has been a leader in Pakistan who has been as reasonable on Kashmir as Gen. Musharraf was,” said the IPS officer of 1965 batch of Rajasthan cadre.

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IIT-Kharagpur campus served as an American airbase during World War II

As the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur on Wednesday paid homage to the inmates of the infamous Hijli detention camp, who were killed in police firing on September 16, 1931, the discovery of a box of negatives in Illinois, U.S., shed more light on the history of the area.

Though it is well known that the IIT campus used to house the notorious Hijli prison where many freedom fighters, including women, were kept, many are not aware that it served as a base for the American Air Force during World War II.

Allan Teller and Jerry Zbrail, a couple from Evanston, Illinois, chanced upon a box containing 127 negatives of the photographs of the region taken around 1945.

Speaking to The Hindu from Illinois, Alan Teller, a teacher of anthropology and photography, said: “During World War II, the U.S. was planning an attack on Japan and set up bases in the Kharagpur and Hijli region. The American troops were stationed there between 1943 and 1945. The photographs we found were taken in 1945.”

According to Mr. Teller, the decision to open strategic bases in Hijli, Kalaikunda and Piardoba might have helped to shorten the war by six months.

Under their project ‘Following the Box,’ Mr. Teller and Ms. Zbrail visited most of the locations depicted in the photographs taken by American soldiers: temples, rivers and villages. “At the IIT-Kharagpur, we located a dark room and we believe that the photographs were developed here,” Mr. Teller said. The Hijli camp was the central point of activity for American troops. The photographs of American soldiers in front of the Hijli tower could be seen at Maxwell Airforce Base in Huntsville, U.S.

The couple will return to India in December to hold an exhibition of the photographs at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi in January.

The place where the Hijli camp stood is now the Nehru Museum of the IIT-Kharagpur. “The IIT-Kharagpur has grand plans for the Nehru Museum, and we hope the endeavour of Allan Teller and Jerry Zbrail will enrich the history of the place. We requested them to hold an exhibition of the photographs at the institute,” said Dhrubojyoti Sen, Professor of Civil Engineering and Faculty in charge of the Nehru Museum.

Though the couple have located the region depicted in the photographs, only half of the mystery has been solved because they are yet to find out who the photographer was.

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Saudi Diplomat’s wife, daughter abused Gurgaon police

The Gurgaon Police, in a report to the Ministry of External Affairs, said the wife and daughter of the Saudi diplomat abused them while trying to rescue the two Nepalese women, who have alleged rape by the diplomat.

As per the report, the team managed to rescue the victims “after a great deal of persuasion.” It said, while the investigation team and others accompanying them were waiting in the lobby, the women started beating up the Nepalese women to desist them from leaving the residence.

The police also mention that the diplomat’s daughter was the only person whom the victims knew by name.

The Nepalese women alleged that the diplomat used to rape, sodomise and assault them, while his wife often threatened them. The victims also told the police that the diplomat’s daughter never assaulted them.

Gurgaon Police also mentioned that they were unaware about the identities of the occupants of the apartment when they went there to rescue the two Nepalese women.

“We later realized that the residents could be Saudi Arabian nationals who may be holding diplomatic status in India. Their names could not be confirmed on spot but the male member is believed to be Mr. Majid, who is believed to be the First Secretary with the Saudi Arabian Embassy in New Delhi,” reads the report.

The report said the Gurgaon Police had received a letter < followed by a phone call >from the Nepal embassy asking the Commissioner to “rescue and repatriate” the Nepalese women.

Senior police officials said they were awaiting the Ministry’s response to the detailed report before taking any further action in connection with the case.

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Explosion kills 82 at Petlwad town in MP

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The blast site at Petlwad town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday

Eighty-two people were killed and many injured when explosives kept inside a building went off at Petlwad town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

Earlier, police said the explosion was caused by a cooking gas cylinder kept in the adjacent three-storeyed building housing a hotel.

Both the buildings were extensively damaged in the high-impact explosion compounding the tragedy.

According to Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP), Petlawad, A.R. Khan, the explosion took place around 8.30 a.m. at a store in the building where huge piles of explosive material used for mines were kept.

Also, 35 people have been pulled out of the debris and referred to a nearby hospital, Ms. Gupta said.

Many others are suspected to be trapped in the debris, she said, adding that the exact number of casualties will be known once the rescue operations are over.

Senior officials from Jhabua including Superintendent of Police G.G. Pandey besides State Tribal Welfare Minister Antar Singh Arya have rushed to the spot.

State Home Minister Babulal Gaur said a high-level inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each to kin of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 for those injured.

Meanwhile, a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been dispatched to Jhabua to help in the salvage operations of the collapsed building.

“A team equipped with gadgets to operate in collapsed structures has been sent to the accident site in Jhabua from Vadodara in Gujarat.The team will assist local administration in retrieval operations,” NDRF director-general O.P. Singh told PTI in Delhi.

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