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  • Don’t know why India is ‘hiding its losses’, says Pakistan

    The ISPR chief said the military responded “befittingly” to Indian firing across the Line of Control (LoC). He said however, that a “war is not in anybody”s interest”.

    The Pakistan Army is certain it caused casualties on the Indian side of the border in response to the cross-border firing by Indian troops which killed two Pakistani soldiers, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Asim Bajwa said on Saturday.

    Briefing journalists in Baghsar area of Azad Kashmir, Bajwa said it was not clear why India is “hiding its losses”, Radio Pakistan reported.

    The ISPR chief said the military responded “befittingly” to Indian firing across the Line of Control (LoC). He said however, that a “war is not in anybody’s interest”.
    “We have defended our homeland and we are committed to do so in the future.” Referring to reports of an Indian soldier having entered into Pakistani territory “inadvertently”, Bajwa said the military is “looking into the matter”.
    While the Indian side maintained its soldier “inadvertently crossed into Pakistan and should be returned as per existing mechanisms”, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi has said he was captured “while trying to enter into Pakistani territory”. (Dawn)

  • Democracy has not been tailored to Pak environment: Musharraf

    “Army has always had a role since our independence. It has played a very prominent role in the governance of Pakistan, mainly because of misgovernance by all the so-called democratically-elected governments,” Musharraf said in an interview at the Washington Ideas Forum here on Thursday.

    The army has often played a prominent role in the governance of Pakistan as democracy has not been tailored to its environment, the country’s former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf has said.
    “Army has always had a role since our independence. It has played a very prominent role in the governance of Pakistan, mainly because of misgovernance by all the so-called democratically-elected governments,” Musharraf said in an interview at the Washington Ideas Forum here on Thursday.

    He said the “inherent weakness” of Pakistan is that democracy in the country has not been tailored in accordance with the dictates of the environment. “There are no checks and balances within the system. The constitution doesn’t provide those checks and balances.”
    “Therefore, the military is forced and pulled, sucked into the political environment, especially when misgovernance is going on and Pakistan is going down in all socioeconomic indicators. The public and the people massively run towards the army chief, and that is how the army gets involved,” Musharraf said, justifying the frequent military coups in the country.
    He said this was the reason for Pakistan having military governments and the army enjoying high stature.

    “The people of Pakistan love the army and demand a lot from it. So I’m very proud of the fact that army has backed me because I’ve been with them for over 40 years. I fought wars with them, I’ve fought two wars and I’ve fought a number of actions with them. So I know they are my constituency,” he said in response to a question.
    “So, therefore, we have to maybe tailor the political structure in accordance with the dictates of Pakistan, introduce checks and balances so that misgovernance does not take place and the army does not have to come into politics,” Musharraf said.
    He also alleged that the United States has used his country at its convenience and ditched it.
    Musharraf said he has plans to return to his country. “I know that the trial is all politicised. One has to face it. And no risk, no gain, as they say,” he said, adding that he would not go back if the government in Pakistan was performing well. I have no such ambition of going back and ruling again. I just want people to run Pakistan well, because Pakistan is my passion,” he said.
    However, the former president put forth conditions for his return.
    “I’m not that foolhardy. So therefore, I would like to see the correct environment where a political change, the third political force is a possibility. I would like to see that the cases are to a degree at a level where my movements are not restricted, the cases can continue, I’ll face them,” he said.
    “I want my movement not to be restricted because I realise that unless I lead from the front, I wouldn’t be able to generate the public support that I would require to create the third front,” he argued.
    Claiming that he did not knew that Osama bin Laden was living in Pakistan, Musharraf objected to his hideout being called a palace.
    Constructing a wall outside one home, he said, is a “normal thing” in that part of his country, so bin Laden living in a house fenced with a high wall was nothing that could have been thought of as unusual.
    Musharraf said he had doubts whether bin Laden had indeed lived at his Abbottabad house for five years.
    “Maybe he was going and coming, I still believe that. And if he was there in one of the — in one of the public gatherings where I was being grilled on this aspect, I finally said that the man living for five years in one room with three wives and 18 children, I think he must have rang up CIA himself and declared that he’s there,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience. Musharraf also said that if he was in power, he would be “counter-threatening” India in the wake of the recent surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
    “…They are threatening us that they are going to strike us at the time and place of their choosing. Now, this has been said by nobody less than Prime Minister, defence minister and the director general of military operations. This is a very serious matter,” he said.
    “I think the war hysteria that is being created in India, I repeat, India, not in Pakistan, is an issue. They do that always. This is not the only time. Every time they do that,” Musharraf said.

  • China blocks India again on Jaish chief Masood Azhar

    The Chinese technical hold was set to lapse on Monday, and had China not raised further objection, the resolution designating Azhar as a terrorist would have been passed automatically. The hold has now been extended for another six months.

    Refusing to yield on its all-weather ally, China today announced the extension of its “technical hold” on India’s bid to get Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist by the UN, days before it was to expire.
    The Chinese technical hold was set to lapse on Monday, and had China not raised further objection, the resolution designating Azhar as a terrorist would have been passed automatically. The hold has now been extended for another six months.
    “The technical hold on India’s listing application submitted to the 1267 committee in March, 2016 has already been extended,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told PTI here.
    “There are still different views on India’s listing application. The extended technical hold on it will allow more time for the Committee to deliberate on the matter and for relevant parties to have further consultations,” Geng said.
    On March 31 this year, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, had blocked India’s move to put a ban on the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader and Pathankot terror attack mastermind under the Sanctions Committee of the Council.
    China was the only member in the 15-nation UN organ to put a hold on India’s application with all other 14 members of the Council supporting New Delhi’s bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.
    Geng said the 1267 Committee of the UNSC “organises its work as mandated by relevant resolutions of the Security Council.”
    “China always maintains that on the listing matter, the 1267 Committee should stick to the main principles of objectivity, impartiality and professionalism, base its judgments on solid evidence and decide upon consensus among the members of the Security Council,” he said in a written reply to a question.
    Following the decision, the hold now has been extended in the midst of Indo-Pak tensions over the Uri terrorist attack, which was blamed on the JeM group..
    China’s technical hold coupled with its move to block India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) cast a shadow on the Sino-India ties. Both the countries have held several rounds of talks on the issues in recent months.
    China’s move to extend the technical hold comes ahead of the expected meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Goa during the BRICS Summit on October 15-16.
    In June last year, China had blocked India’s demand for taking action under the Council’s anti-terrorism resolutions against Pakistan for releasing Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur-Lakhvi.
    India had raised the issue of blocking by China of Azhar’s designation as a terrorist at various levels with Prime Minister Narendra Modi also taking up the matter with the Chinese leadership at different fora. PTI

  • Pakistan still ‘in anaesthesia’ after surgery: Parrikar

    India loves peace and does not believe in unprovoked aggression but it won”t take terror lying down, he said, adding that the strikes were also meant to give a message to Pakistan that Indian troops knew how to retaliate.

    India’s Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday compared Pakistan’s condition to an “anaesthetised patient” after a surgery and said “like Hanuman Indian Army has recognised its prowess.”
    “Pakistan’s condition after the surgical strikes is like that of an anaesthetised patient after a surgery who doesn’t know that the surgery has already been performed on him. Even two days after the surgical strikes, Pakistan has no idea what has happened,” Parrikar said.

    India loves peace and does not believe in unprovoked aggression but it won’t take terror lying down, he said, adding that the strikes were also meant to give a message to Pakistan that Indian troops knew how to retaliate.
    Comparing the Army to Hanuman, he made a reference to the Ramayana in which the monkey god crossed an ocean in a single stride after he was reminded about his extraordinary powers by Jamwant.
    “Indian troops were like Hanuman who did not quite know their prowess before the surgical strikes,” Parrikar said.

    Congratulating the troops for the precision and efficacy of the strikes, the Minister said he greeted all its members for their extraordinary feat.
    “The surgical strikes gave our forces an idea of what they were capable of doing. Pakistan is bewildered following the strikes, not quite knowing how to react,” Parrikar said in his first public reaction after the reported strikes.
    “Indian troops caught Pakistan unawares as our commandos did what they had to without Pakistani authorities getting a wind of it,” he said addressing a gathering at Peethsain in Pauri district.
    The Defence Minister was addressing the gathering after unveiling a statue of noted freedom fighter from Uttarakhand Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali in his ancestral village Peethsain.
    India claimed to have carried out surgical strikes on seven militant launch pads across the LoC on the intervening night of September 28 and 29, inflicting “significant casualties on militants preparing to infiltrate from PaK.”

  • Avoid war, hold dialogue to resolve disputes: Muslim body to Govt

    The also hit out at the BJP government in Assam over its anti-illegal immigrant drive, alleging that the members of the Muslim community there are being harassed in the name of the initiative.

    Condemning the Uri attack, an Islamic body today urged the Centre to take all possible steps to avoid war with Pakistan and suggested that the two sides hold dialogue to resolve the disputes.
    Addressing a press conference here, office-bearers of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) also flagged concerns over alleged slow pace of probe in the Mewat double murder and gangrape incident as it claimed that the handling of the case indicates the Haryana government is “shielding” culprits.

    The also hit out at the BJP government in Assam over its anti-illegal immigrant drive, alleging that the members of the Muslim community there are being harassed in the name of the initiative.
    “We strongly condemn the (Uri) terror attack and death of the soldiers. (But) both India and Pakistan must show wisdom and sincerity using path of dialogue and consultation in order to resolve their issues.
    “War is not a panacea for our problems. India must take all steps to avoid war with Pakistan,” JIH president Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari told reporters, according to a statement.

    He also asked the government to devise ways to curb breach of security “like it happened in the Uri incident”.
    Haryana government had on September 20 handed over to CBI the probe into the murder case of a couple and alleged gangrape of two girls in Mewat on the intervening night of August 24 and 25 in which their kin had suspected the role of cow vigilantes.
    JIH secretary general Muhammad Salim Engineer, who also briefed the press, voiced concerns over Assam government’s anti-illegal immigrant drive and claimed many community members have been put in jail without proper probe.

  • Go to Pakistan and work there, Raj Thackeray to Salman Khan

    “I am also an artiste and artistes don’t fall from the sky. Pakistani artistes have refused to condemn Uri terror attack. Why should our artists speak up for them?,” Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief told reporters here.

    Stepping up his attack on Bollywood superstar Salman Khan for opposing the ban on Pakistani artistes in India, MNS chief Raj Thackeray today asked him to go and work there.
    “Our soldiers don’t have any personal animosity with Pakistani soldiers. The bullets our soldiers face are not filmy. Salman gets up after being hit by a bullet,” Raj said, reacting to Salman’s remarks, adding “I have seen his tubelight blinker many a time.”

    “I am also an artiste and artistes don’t fall from the sky. Pakistani artistes have refused to condemn Uri terror attack. Why should our artists speak up for them?,” Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief told reporters here.
    Raj said the 50-year-old actor should work in Pakistan if he has so much love for artistes of the neighbouring country.
    “Artistes should know its always ‘nation first’. Artistes are not inseparable from society. Is there a dearth of talent in our country?,” he said, adding those supporting Pakistani artists will face opposition from his party.

    Raj said he does not buy the argument that there is no justification in banning Pakistani artists since they are not terrorists.
    “How does that concern me if the people are good. I am seeing only terrorists who come to kill our people,” he said, adding film industry was only concerned about the business of their films.
    Raj said what would happen if Indian soldiers keep aside their arms to hear a Ghulam Ali concert. “What will happen then. Are soldiers our servants? …They are protecting us.”
    Interestingly, Raj is on good terms with Salman and is a regular visitor to the actor’s home during the Ganpati festival.
    Salman had yesterday said artistes from Pakistan should not be treated like terrorists and art and terrorism should not be mixed.
    Also the Shiv Sena slammed Salman Khan for coming out in support of Pakistani actors working in India, saying the actor keeps on talking “nonsense” as none from his family had laid their lives down for the country.
    “No one from his (Salman’s) family has died for the country and hence, he keeps on talking nonsense. Even if you take a protest march to his house, it will not work and he will continue to talk so,” Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told a press conference here.
    He said the actor should be “kept in confinement” in his house so that he “does not speak his mind”.
    “When the country is against terrorism and there are possibilities of a war with Pakistan, Salim Khan should keep his son locked in his house, because you never know what will he say and insult him (Salim),” Raut said, adding that Salman’s statement was “in contradiction” to his father’s “firm stance” against Pakistan.
    The 50-year-old actor had yesterday said in Delhi that artistes from Pakistan “should not be treated like terrorists” and “art and terrorism should not be mixed”.
    Mumbai-based Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association has passed a resolution to ban Pakistani actors from the industry in the wake of the Uri terror attack in Kashmir which left 19 soldiers of the Indian Army dead.

  • Dozens of BSNL towers in Budgam non functional

    BSNL customers from dozens of villages of this central Kashmir district have complained of poor or no service due to malfunctioning of the cellular network’s mobile towers.
    Around a dozen towers in various areas of the district Budgam are out of service, a delegation of customers told.

    The towers that remain mostly out of services are at Khag, Aripanthan, Hanjura, Gojethaji, Dodekhatoo, Nasurallahpora, Gondipora, Chill Arizal, Nagam villages of the district. “These towers are of no use as most of the time they are out of order and we are not able to get any network,” said a member of the delegation. “These towers have become the money minting machines for their operators as the diesel meant for the gen sets to run the towers is being misappropriated, and it seems there is no accountability of these tower operators from BSNL higher ups.”
    “Whenever the electricity in the area goes off, the mobile network automatically shuts down, makes us to wait for hours during load shedding period to make a call,” said a BSNL subscriber from Gondipora area.
    When contacted, General Manager BSNL Muhammad Salim Beigh, while accepting malfunctioning of BSNL towers said, “ We trying our best to get these towers back into service. There is shortage of fuel as we are not able to supply the diesel to all the sites due to ongoing circumstances.”

  • Hours After the ‘Surgical Strike’, Shells Landed in Botengo

    BOTENGO: Three shells that rained on two residential houses in Batengo Sopore Thursday night not only freaked out the villagers, but also set off a sense that Indo-Pak war has begun. 20160930_082254

    What made villagers certain about the outbreak of the war in this sleepy village—5 km from Sopore town—was its timing and peaked hostility between nuclear armed neighbours India and Pakistan.

    Earlier that morning, Sept 29, army in a first from New Delhi stated that Indian army’s Ghatak forces had carried out “surgical strikes” on militant launching pads inside Pakistan-administrated Kashmir. Though Pakistan immediately rubbished the claims, but the war discourse instantly gripped the valley.

    “It was around 11:30 in the night when two loud thuds rattled us,” Altaf Malla of Batengo’s Bhat Mohalla told Kashmir Life. “Before we could make any sense of the strike, two shells tearing down our rooftop exploded inside my house.” Luckily, he and his family escaped unhurt.

    In nearby Herpora Mohalla, another shell rained on Ghulam Hassan Malla’s house, driving his shrieking family on streets. “We thought,” Hassan said, “the war has started between India and Pakistan.”

    Three shells at the drop of a hat ended Batengo’s sleep as everyone anticipated further shelling. “It was a painful night,” Hassan said. “Everyone was expecting worse and shivering in fear.”

    Earlier in the day, villagers had seen a mysterious flying object trailed with a long, white smoke in sky. People from Srinagar, Islamabad and other major towns immediately reported the flying object. Many even confused it with rocket or drone; others said it was a shooting star.

    What happened at Batengo hours later made the villagers sure that it was indeed the same object they had spotted on skies.

    Next day, the villagers were told by army’s 22 RR regiment camped in Botengo that the nocturnal shelling was done by them after “sensing some suspicious movements” in the village. “Those shells were harmless and were fired on trail basis,” the villagers quoting a senior army officer as having said.

    The Srinagar-based army PRO couldn’t be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

    But the fact it was first of its kind of shelling in Botengo — and that too, when Indo-Pak war “rumours” are flying thick, it was only apparently natural for Botengo to confuse it with the beginning of the war. (Kashmir Life)

  • Situation remained peaceful today: DGP

    Says need cooperation from people at every level

    Srinagar: Director General of Police (DGP, K Rajendra said that situation by and large across the Kashmir remained peaceful.
    “Barring few minor stone pelting incidents, the situation remained peaceful. It is due to cooperation of people that situation is improving,” he told KNS.
    He appealed parents to provide proper counseling to their wards so that they are not misled.
    “We are continuously holding review meetings regarding security and law and order situation. We are at the service of public. We need cooperation from general public at every level and in every situation,” he added. (KNS)

  • As India mulls scrapping of Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, China blocks tributary of Brahmaputra in Tibet to build dam

    BEIJING: China has blocked a tributary of the Brahmaputra river in Tibet as part of the construction of its “most expensive” hydro project+ , which could cause concern in India as it may impact water flows into the lower riparian countries.

    The Lalho project on the Xiabuqu river+ , a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo (the Tibetan name for Brahmaputra), in Xigaze in Tibet involves an investment of 4.95 billion yuan ($740 million), Zhang Yunbao, head of the project’s administration bureau was quoted as saying by Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency on Saturday.

    Xigaze also known as Shigatse is closely located to Sikkim. From Xigaze, the Brahmaputra flows into Arunachal Pradesh.

    Terming it as the “most expensive project”, the report said the project, whose construction began in June 2014, was scheduled to be completed in 2019.

    It is not clear yet what impact the blockade of the river+ will have on the flow of water from the Brahmaputra into the lower riparian countries like India and Bangladesh as a result, it said.

    Last year, China had operationalised the $1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet, built on the Brahmaputra river, which has raised concerns in India.

    But China has been maintaining that it has taken into consideration India’s concerns and allays apprehensions of restricting the flow of water, saying its dams are not designed to hold water.

    The outline of China’s 12th Five Year Plan indicates that three more hydropower projects on the mainstream of the Brahmaputra river in Tibet Autonomous Region have been approved for implementation.

    In March, Union minister of state for water resources Sanwar Lal Jat said in a statement that India had expressed its concerns to China about the likely impact of the dams.

    While there is no water treaty between the countries, India and China established an Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) on trans-border rivers and in October 2013 the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding on strengthening cooperation on trans-border rivers under which Beijing provides data to India on the water flows.

    The blockade of the Brahmaputra river tributary comes at a time when India’s reported decision to suspend talks with Pakistan under Indus Water Treaty as part of its efforts to hit back at Pakistan in the aftermath of the Uri attack.

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang gave a guarded reply when asked on September 27 about India’s reported move
    “As a friendly neighbour to both India and Pakistan, China hopes that India and Pakistan can properly address disputes and improve relations through dialogue and consultation, maintain and enhance all-round cooperation and join hands to promote regional peace, stability and development,” Shuang told PTI.
    Some of the rivers under the Indus water treaty originate in China. PTI