Nasheman News :Congress on Wednesday said that China blocking designation of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist was a sad day in the global fight against terrorism and slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his foreign policy.

Party’s communications incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala said that China blocking JeM chief Masood Azhar’s designation as global terrorist reaffirms its position of being an inseparable ally of terrorism’s breeding ground-Pakistan.

“A sad day in the global fight against terrorism! China blocking Masood Azhar’s designation as global terrorist reaffirms Chinese position of being an inseparable ally of terrorism’s breeding ground-Pakistan Sadly, Modiji’s foreign policy has been a series of diplomatic disasters,” he said in a tweet.

China kept chief Masood Azhar, the chief of the terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), under its protective wings, vetoing a fourth attempt to declare him a global terrorist and sanction him.

JeM has claimed responsibility for Pulwama attack.

Nasheman News : India and the US have called on Pakistan to address terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale held consultations on March 12 in Washington D.C., the Ministry said in a statement. 

They reaffirmed their commitment to an Indo-US strategic partnership, reviewed the progress made since the Ministerial 2+2 meet, and discussed ways to further expand cooperation.

The countries also exchanged views on building convergences in the Indo-Pacific region and agreed to promote inclusivity, stability, peace and prosperity in the region.

The Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council held a special meeting on September 28, 2011, to mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1373 and urged “all Member States to ensure zero tolerance towards terrorism and take urgent action to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”. As the chair of the committee, I presided over this special session in which the “zero-tolerance” norm was adopted.

Two developments helped change that narrative: reaction to 9/11, and the use of military force in Iraq in 2003 and Libya in 2011.

It became abundantly clear that organised terror outfits or non-state military actors cannot exist without the active arming and funding by some states, or at the very least acquiescence by them. Isalmic State (IS), for example, is the unwanted child of a failed, incompetently handled and neglected occupation (in Iraq).

There is a widespread tendency to underestimate the deep emotional and ideological reasons that prompt young men and women to take up arms and even lay down their lives for a cause they believe in, or have been persuaded to embrace. Radicalisation and violent extremism need to be understood if they are to be countered effectively. Locking up unemployed and radicalised youths only helps incubate Al Qaeda in jails.

Much of the global counterterrorism effort is delusional. It is laying the foundation for deeper polarisation and radicalisation that will make the world less safe than it already is. 

Why do I make this claim? Well a closer look at the two approaches used in the war against terror reveals that they both fit the delusional category.

First, erosion of the rule of law. It is now widely accepted that the American-led invasion of Iraq was illegal. There were no weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), and despite Saddam Hussain’s violently dictatorial regime, many more lives were lost as a result of the US invasion of the country. 

By disregarding international law and without giving due consideration to the international ramifications of such an invasion (the UN Security Council was largely ignored prior to the misadventure) the US and its allies created the monster that we today refer to as the IS. 

My previous book was on this very subject and studied the cases of Libya, Syria, Yemen, Crimea and Sri Lanka. It was aptly titled “Perilous Interventions”.

The second approach, a spectacular failure, is that of arming terror outfits. Often done under the garb of promoting democracy, the real motivation here is regime change for geopolitical gains. 

The American-led support to militant political Islamic organisations is well documented, with its crowning glory being Al Qaeda.

As General William Odom, director of the National Security Agency under President Ronald Reagan, said: “By any measure the US has long used terrorism. In 1978-79 the Senate was trying to pass a law against international terrorism — in every version they produced, the lawyers said the US would be in violation.”

And it is not just Western nations which are complicit. Other countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Iran and Turkey have also played their part. Turkey is known to provide a safe haven to the IS fighters, particularly those joining the terror organisation from Europe and the UK. And the rise of Pakistan’s ISI (the mastermind behind terror attacks in India) is predicated on importing Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabism, along with a large helping of financial and technical resources.

Moving forward, violent extremism and terrorism can be better countered if it is approached through the prism of dialogue and discourse, and state responsibility.

The war on global terror can only be won through a process of dialogue among nations where the discourse is focused on the international repercussions of what is an international security threat. Such a discourse, which is anchored in human rights, but not constrained by it, must transcend national interest and look at terrorism for what is — a threat to delicately balanced peace and security architecture, effectively established post the devastation of World War II.

In the absence of an agreement over the definition of “terrorism”, what must be made clear is that there is no such thing as a “good” terrorist, and responsibility for the tragic loss of life and property as a result of this “good” theory must be affixed on states supporting these claims. 

Terror plots only come to fruition with the help of governments/agencies that, under the garb of ‘non-state’ actors, propagate proxy wars and use terror as a tool for achieving their geostrategic goals. Just as no terror plot would be successful without this government support, no Countering Violent Extremism strategy will be successful without state responsibility. 

Name and shame is, in the words of Victor Hugo, an idea whose time has come.

India is no longer the world’s largest importer of weapons, a position it held for over a decade, with Saudi Arabia topping the global share of arms imports between 2014 and 2018, a leading Stockholm-based think tank that measures weapons imports over five-year periods said in a new report on Monday.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 12% of the global share of arms imports in that period, followed by India in second place with a 9.5% share, reveals the new data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). With imports pegged at 4.2% of the global share, China is the world’s sixth-largest buyer of weapons.

Indian arms imports fell 24% between 2009-13 and 2014-18, the report said, adding that this was partly because of delays in deliveries of fighter jets and submarines produced under licence from Russian and French original equipment manufacturers.

While India has been trying to reduce its reliance on imported weapons, experts said the development could be considered noteworthy only if India stopped importing a particular weapon system because it was being manufactured locally under the Make in India initiative.

“The rider that imports may have fallen due to delayed deliveries can’t be ignored. It will be a little premature to start believing that the indigenous defence manufacturing activity has taken off,” said Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd), additional director general, Centre for Air Power Studies.

Russia’s arms exports to India fell 42% between 2009-13 and 2014-18, the report said. Russia, the country’s top arms supplier, accounted for 58% of India’s arms imports during the last five years, compared to 76% in the previous five-year period (2009-13), according to the report. Russia accounted for 70% of Chinese arms imports in 2014-18.

Russia’s arms sales to India have fallen in recent years with India looking to diversify its arms purchases and also seeking specialised weaponry. India has also started buying more from the US as strategic relationships between the two countries have improved.

Sipri said the US, Israel and France increased their arms exports to India in 2014-18.

Pakistan recorded a 39% dip in arms imports in 2014-18 compared to 2009-13, with the US becoming “increasingly reluctant” to provide military aid or sell arms to Pakistan, the report said. “US arms exports to Pakistan fell 81% between 2009-13 and 2014-18. Pakistan has instead turned to other suppliers. For example, in 2018 it ordered four frigates and 30 combat helicopters from Turkey,” it said, adding that Pakistan was the main recipient (37%) of arms from China during the last five years. China has become the primary exporter of unmanned combat aerial vehicles, it said.

Agencies

[Nasheman news] New Delhi Google on Tuesday celebrated 30 years of World Wide Web (WWW) with a doodle. English scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the WWW in 1989 and wrote the first web browser in 1990.

Working at CERN, Switzerland, Berners-Lee laid out the basic concepts of the WWW in a proposal which included ideas like HTML, URL and HTTP.

In a document titled “Information management: a proposal”, he envisioned the use of hypertext to link documents.

The WWW, commonly known as the Web, is an information space where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).

The first web browser was released in 1991 — first to the research institutions and then to the general public on the Internet in the same year.

The WWW is the primary tool billions of people today use to interact on the Internet.

In addition to text, web pages may contain images, video, audio and software components that are rendered in the user’s web browser as coherent pages of multimedia content.

Before the WWW, remote computers communicated directly for the first time in 1969 and in 1983, TCP/IP standard was adopted.

By Arul Louis (10:06) 

[Nasheman news] New York The US stands with India in fighting terrorism, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale during their discussions on the “urgency” of Pakistan taking action against terror groups, according to an official.

In the first high-level face-to-face India-US encounter after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, Pompeo “affirmed that the US stands with the people and government of India in the fight against terrorism”, State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said on Monday after the talks in Washington.

He said that they discussed “the importance of bringing those responsible for the attack to justice and the urgency of Pakistan taking meaningful action against terrorist groups operating on its soil”.

Gokhale is on a three-day visit to Washington for diplomatic consultations and strategic security dialogue with the US. He is scheduled to meet Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson. He will also hold talks with other US lawmakers.

The Indian Embassy in Washington said in a statement: “Pompeo expressed his understanding of India’s concerns regarding cross-border terrorism. They agreed that Pakistan needs to take concerted action to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and to deny safe haven to all terrorist groups in its territory.

“They also agreed that those who support or abet terrorism in any form should be held accountable.”

Gokhale “conveyed appreciation to the US government and to Secretary Pompeo personally for the firm support that India received from the US in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Pulwama”, the statement added.

The two leaders appreciated “the significant progress and the quality of the India-US Strategic Partnership”, following Pompeo’s visit to India last September for the first Ministerial 2+2 Dialogue of the foreign policy and defence leaders. 

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Seetharaman and then-US Defence Secretary James Mattis were at the meeting.

He also apprised Pompeo about the recent developments in the region, it said.

Last month, the Pulwama terror attack carried out by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel. 

India launched an attack on terrorist camp in Pakistan and an air skirmish between the two neighbours followed during which an Indian MiG-21 was shot down and its pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured by Pakistan. He was later released after Pompeo’s intense diplomacy.

Through the crisis, US President Donald Trump, Pompeo and US National Security Adviser John Bolton backed India’s opposition to cross-border terrorism.

Later on Monday evening, Pompeo said at a news conference that during their talks he had asked India to join the US-led boycott of Venezuela’s oil.

“I’m confident that they too understand the real threat to the Venezuelan people.

“We’re asking the same thing of India as we are of every country: Do not be the economic lifeline for the Maduro regime,” he said.

He declined to say what Gokhale’s reaction was. “I certainly won’t characterise the conversations; they’re private conversations.”

The US and its allies have derecognised Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s President following the nation’s upheaval over last year’s elections that the National Assembly has declare invalid and recognised Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself as the country’s interim President in Jnauary, as the country’s leader.

Palladino said that Gokhale and Pompeo “noted the strength of our partnership and discussed ways to further enhance cooperation, including on counter-terrorism”.

Gokhale and Pompeo “discussed our complementary visions for the Indo-Pacific, US-India defence cooperation, and the growing US-India economic partnership, including joint efforts to expand bilateral trade in a balanced and reciprocal manner”, he said.

Responding to Pompeo’s reference to bilateral trade matters, Gokhale “underscored the significant reduction in trade deficit in the last three years and conveyed India’s willingness to remain engaged with the US for a meaningful and mutually acceptable package on trade issues” the embassy said.

The Gokhale-Pompeo meeting took place against the backdrop of Trump ending tariff concessions worth $5.6 billion top India last week under the General Scheme of Preferences citing what he called New Delhi’s failure to provide “equitable and reasonable access” for US to its markets.

The embassy said that Afghanistan also figured in their talks.

At the height of the tensions between India and Pakistan last month, Pompeo had spoken by phone with Swaraj and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in an effort to tamp down the rising hostility.

[Nasheman news] Washington US President Donald Trump’s administration said that it intends to implement a ban on transgender people serving in the military after a federal court struck down the last injunction against the policy.

Friday’s announcement comes a day after US District Judge George Russell III said he was striking down the last of four injunctions against the transgender service member ban, reports The Hill magazine.

Russell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who serves on the US District Court for the District of Maryland, cited in his ruling the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in January to stay two of the injunctions.

Obama declared in 2016 that transgender service members would be allowed to serve openly, but Trump announced a reversal to that policy in 2017, saying that transgender troops would be prohibited from serving “in any capacity” .

Four lawsuits were filed against the policy, and lower courts in all four cases issued injunctions to the rule as the cases made their way through various courts. 

Former Defence Secretary James Mattis laid out a policy in March 2018 that would allow transgender people to serve if they do so “in their biological sex”.

Advocacy groups have repeatedly slammed the policy as discriminatory against transgender people who simply seek to serve their country. 

Pakistan on Thursday claimed that it has taken control of 182 seminaries and detained more than 100 people in a crackdown on banned terrorist organisations.

“Law enforcement agencies have taken 121 people under preventive detention as of today,” the ministry said in a statement,” the interior ministry said in a statement. 

The religious schools, hospitals and ambulances of the terror outfits were also placed under the control of the Pakistan government.

Islamabad’s move comes amid growing international pressure in the wake of a bombing in Pulwama by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist group based in Pakistan.

New Delhi on Tuesday expressed skepticism over reports that Pakistan was cracking down on terrorist outfits and that Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar’s brother Mufti Abdul Rauf was among 44 members of banned outfits who were taken into ‘preventive detention.’

A day after promulgating a law which apparently allowed the government to take over all assets of banned outfits operating in the country, the Pakistan government said, “It was decided to speed up action against all proscribed organisations, and in compliance, 44 under-observation members of proscribed organisations, including Mufti Abdul Rauf and Hammad Azhar, have been taken in preventive detention for investigation.”

Minister of State for the Interior Sheryar Khan Afridi was quoted as saying that the names of Mufti Abdul Rauf and Hammad Azhar were mentioned in a dossier shared by India last week.

However, describing Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s repeated claims that Pakistan would not allow terrorists to operate from its soil as “old wine in a new bottle,” Indian sources said, “These are words we have heard several times. We have exactly the same statement by President Pervez Musharraf in January 2004. Our effort now will be to see demonstrable action. Pakistan is trying to divert attention from our concern over terrorism to their concern over a so-called threat from India.”

A source further warned that “all options were on the table” in case of another terrorist attack.

“If there is a naya Pakistan with a naya soch, we expect to see action on the ground. There is still a discrepancy between what they are saying and doing. Mere statements from various sources saying that the Pakistan army has done its bit and that the civilian government has not is not enough,” the source added.

For instance, “there was the strange phenomenon yesterday of the Pakistan ambassador to the US, while talking at the Institute for Peace,  claiming that there is no organized terror group in Pakistan. This is at variance with their own listings, starting with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and going down, of terror groups in Pakistan.”

“While we are being told that hard action is being taken against the JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, all that has been done is that they are only on the watchlist. The objective of the Pakistan government is to pretend to the international community that it is taking steps,” the source said.

The source contended that “Pakistan is trying to deflect attention by issuing various statements suggesting that India still continues to threaten Pakistan militarily.” 

Agencies

[Nasheman news] New Delhi The UKs National Security Advisor (NSA) Mark Sedwill spoke to his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Thursday and expressed solidarity with India in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

Sources said Sedwill conveyed that all assistance will be extended to India bilaterally in dealing with any form of terrorism through counter-terrorism cooperation, intelligence sharing and by bringing the perpetrators of terrorist attacks to justice.

Earlier in the week, US NSA John Bolton had spoken to Doval over the prevailing situation between India and Pakistan following the February 14 Pulwama attack and the retaliatory Indian air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan.

Nasheman News : Downplaying the likely effects of the US withdrawal of benefits for Indian exports under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan has said the decision will not have any major impact on overall Indian exports to the US as the concessions availed under the scheme were “minimal”.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Wadhawan said: “Total GSP benefits availed by India under the GSP programme were to the tune of $190 million on a trade $5.6 billion. So, the benefits both in an absolute sense, and as a percentage of the trade involved, are very minimal and moderate.”

US President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he was ending India’s trade concessions under the GSP programme accusing New Delhi of not providing Washington “equitable and reasonable access” to its markets.

Trump, who is on a mission to expand market access abroad and end US trade deficits, made the announcement in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence in his capacity as the Senate President.

The US Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) said that the preferences will end in 60 days after the notification to the Congress and the Indian government.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) sources said the government will continue to talk to the US during the 60-day period. They said that efforts were being made to find a reasonable package and said the problem was not systemic.

Noting that there were a number of areas where India was willing to show flexibility, they said that it did not meet the US requirement.

There were genuine cultural concerns such as in case of dairy products, they said, adding that it was second year when US imports have grown.

The Commerce Secretary also said the US went ahead with the withdrawal of benefits despite the Indian government working out on an “extensive, reasonable, meaningful package which covered almost all the US concerns”.

“Of course there were some additional requests beyond that, which could not be accepted at this time,” he said.