Admitting that “some compromises” have to be made in managing a coalition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that his government will bring the wrongdoers in scams to book, but ruled out quitting from his post. In his opening remarks Dr Singh said, “An impression has gone around that we are a scam driven country.” He added “This is weakening the self confidence of the people of India, and denting the image of the country. We owe it to our country that at least in dealing with facts, we should be as objective as possible.”
“I wish to assure the country as a whole that our government is dead serious about bringing to book all wrongdoers regardless of the position they occupy,” he said. less of the position they occupy,” he said.He asserted that his government was not lame duck nor was he a lame duck Prime Minister and it was a functioning government that would go after the scamsters.
“I have never felt like quitting, I will stay the course,” the Prime Minister told television editors and bureau chiefs at a media interaction at 7 Race Course Road, his official residence. “I never felt like resigning because I had a job to do,” Manmohan Singh said in response to a question on whether he felt like quitting over the many allegations of corruption against his government. (Read: Never felt like quitting as I have a job to do, says PM) “In a coalition government, there is a coalition dharma,” he stated. Manmohan Singh said he was not afraid of appearing before any committee, including a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). There is, he said, an “entirely wrong impression that I was blocking the agreement on a JPC. I have always said my conduct should be, like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion”.
During the 70-minute interaction, the Prime Minister fielded a wide range of questions covering mainly issues of corruption including the ISRO’s deal on S band spectrum, governance deficit, economy and Parliament stand off. “I don’t deny that we need to improve quality of governance, ” said the Prime Minister, admitting, ” I don’t say I have never made any mistake. But I am not that big a culprit as being made out to be.” To a question what was his biggest regret in UPA-II, Singh said that “these irregularities have happened. They should not have happened. I am not very happy about these developments”.
– OE News Bureau
Hosni Mubarak military council, leading to widespread celebrations in the streets of the country on Friday.
“The people have toppled the regime,” chanted protesters, whose 18 days of swelling protests forced the 30-year-long autocratic government to quit.At the presidential palace in Cairo, where demonstrators had gathered in the thousands, people flashed the V-for-victory sign and shouted, “Be happy, Egyptians, today is a feast” and “He stepped down.”
They handed out candy. Many prayed and declared: “God is great.” Crowds packed Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the scene of massive protests against Mubarak that began on January 25. The celebrations continued early Saturday, with throngs of people milling around in downtown Cairo.”Egypt is free. We are a great people and we did something great. This is the expected end for every dictator,” said one demonstrator.Others warned that Egypt still faces many challenges, including how to go about ensuring a peaceful transition to free elections and a full democracy. Some soldiers joined the crowd in the square to celebrate. Protesters lifted them onto their shoulders. Other troops stayed Some soldiers joined the crowd in the square to celebrate. Protesters lifted them onto their shoulders. Other troops stayed at their posts, watching the scene in awe. People posed with them for photo- graphs in front of tanks. Flag-waving children climbed onto the vehicles.
The protesters’ barricades that had controlled entry to the square were dismantled, and security checkpoints at which demonstrators showed identification and had their bags searched were also gone. Several hundred thousand protesters cheered outside the presidential palace of Rasel-Tin in coastal Alexandria.They also waved flags, whistled and danced.
People in the southern city of Assiut fired guns in the air as they roamed the streets on motorcycles or pickup trucks. Coffee houses distributed free sweet drinks to anyone who walked by.
Mubarak resignation creates political vacuum for US in Middle East
President Hosni Mubarak’s decision to step down after three decades in power presents the Obama administration with a political vacuum in the Middle East.According to the Washington Post, the Obama administration will be compelled to shift roles from managing a volatile political standoff that paralyzed a regional ally to ensuring that Egypt’s commanding generals, many of them trained in the United States, carry out the political and legal changes necessary to guarantee fair elections later this year.
According to the paper, Washington is now looking beyond on the ground situations in Cairo, Tunis and Amman.It is looking at how to encourage the election of governments that are responsive to their electorates and to U.S. interests.Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, said the administration had reached out by phone to officials across the Arab world in recent days to assure them that the United States intends “to keep its commitments.”But a senior Republican member of Congress who has access to intelligence reports said U.S. spy agencies have seen recent indications that other Middle East leaders were dismayed by the United States’ treatment of Mubarak. An expert on terrorism, Middle East politics and Homeland Security issues has said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s exit will usher a new political process in Egypt.Institute for Advanced Computer Studies Researcher Aaron Mannes of the University of Maryland said it could be the beginning of an Egyptian renaissance, or even an era of far greater tyranny and in stability in the region.He also said the Egyptian leadership military or civilian, would be ” hard- pressed” to tackle the country’s innumerable social, economic, and political problems.”There are no instant solutions to these problems. So far, the Egyptian protesters have appeared moderate in tone and action. But a new government that has difficulty coping with its challenges may turn to radicalism or repression,” Mannes added.Turning the economy around would be the primary concern of Egypt.”Although Egypt was liberalizing its economy and the overall macro-economic numbers were strong, most Egyptians were not benefiting. Unfortunately two of Egypt’s leading sources of income, tourism and tolls on the Suez Canal, will be adversely affected by ongoing turmoil, reducing the Egyptian government’s options for addressing the national challenges,” Manas said.
Israel has reacted with quiet and deep concern over the exit of long-term ally Hosni Mubarak as the president of Egypt.The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained the same studied silence on the assumption that nothing it said could serve its interests.
Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were worried that a post Mubarak regime could be less friendly to Israel.”We don’t know who will be running things in the coming months in Egypt, but we have to keep two things in mind.
The first is that the only example we have of this kind of thing in the region is Iran in 1979. You can’t take that out of your mind. The second is that if Egypt pulls back in any way from its peace with Israel, it will discourage anyone else in the region, including the Palestinians, from stepping forward. So the regional implications for us are significant,” the New York Times quoted one official, as saying.
The official said it was more likely than not that Egypt would maintain its peace treaty with Israel and added that, in any case, relations with Israel would probably not be among the first concerns of the incoming Egyptian authorities.
Prime Minister Netanyahu laid out three possible situations after Mubarak resigned. He said: “First, Egyptians may choose to embrace the model of a secular reformist state with a prominent role for the military.
There is a second possibility that the Islamists exploit the influence to gradually take the country into a reverse direction – not towards modernity and reform but backward.”And there’s still a third possibility that Egypt would go the way of Iran, where calls for progress would be silenced by a dark and violent despotism that subjugates its own people and threatens everyone else.”Mubarak is reported to have told close friend and former Israeli defense minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer that he saw great peril ahead for Egypt.”He spoke about a snowball that was starting to roll, which would not leave a single Arab state untouched in either the Middle East or North Africa,” the NYT quoted Ben-Eliezer, as saying.”He spoke of his disappointment with the Americans,” he added.Across the border, in Palestine, marches were held in the Gaza Strip on Friday. The marchers chanted against Mubarak and also against President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, whom they consider a traitor.Hamas officials are calling on Egypt to open its border with Gaza completely.
– OE News Bureau
CORRUPTION CASES SPIRAL, LEADING TO MORE POLICY PARALYSIS
The prime minister is facing a slew of corruption scandals, including accusations that his Congress party-led government lost up to $39 billion after telecom licences were sold to companies at rock-bottom prices in return for kickbacks.There could be a repeat of 1989, when Congress lost a general election due to the Bofors scandal over gun contracts involving close associates of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who were accused of taking bribes.
Given that a general election is not due until 2014, Singh may have hoped the current scandals would ebb. But an aggressive media, an assertive Supreme Court and an opposition tasting political blood means momentum into probes has grown.More graft probes could also increase tensions between the Congress Party and its regional DMK ally, accused by federal police of being linked to the telecoms scam.
The government appears close to agreeing to a parliamentary probe in return for the opposition allowing the parliamentary budget session to operate unhindered from late February.That probe could see months, even years, of ministers being called to give evidence, overshadowing Singh’s second term.That could halt any reform bills, including land acquisition reform, which attempts to reconcile the interests of farmers and corporate India in a country where tussles over ownership can scupper billion-dollar project.
That may compound investor problems in India. Foreign direct investment has fallen for three consecutive years, from 2.9 per- cent of GDP in 2008/09 to around 1.8 percent of GDP in 2010/11. Some of this has to do with the global economic slow- down, but regulatory uncertainty is also a factor.
The Congress Party is unlikely to move faster on long-pending economic reforms such as opening up supermarket or financial sectors to foreign investors. The government may introduce changes to the telecoms sector, such as giving more muscle to the telecoms regulator.
If those scandals were not bad enough, the Congress government faces a host of state elections this year that will take the political temperature of an electorate ahead of the 2014 general election.These include West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, two crucial states that help give Congress a majority in parliament. If Congress does badly in these elections, it could convince coalition partners it is time to jump ship or at least distance them- selves from the government, meaning further policy paralysis.Congress has a rough 18 seat majority in parliament. If the ruling Congress ally, the DMK, loses the Tamil Nadu election, it saps strength from the coalition.
Many commentators expect a more populist budget on Feb 28, to give the government some chance of doing well in the elections. But more spending on Congress’s main social welfare programmes would come amid high inflation and signs of fiscal strains. That could mean the government failing to deal with fuel subsidies, more cash for food programs as well as education and health. The government bases its plans on jumps in tax collections on high economic growth.
Unlikely, but possible. The 78-year-old Singh is widely seen as an honest elder statesman who plays second fiddle to Congress head Sonia Gandhi, the real power behind the throne. But the scandals may have taken a heavy toll on the prime minister, concerned his legacy is transforming from one of being the founders of India’s economic boom to someone who did nothing to stop corruption or policy paralysis.
Singh, who underwent a second heart operation in 2009, could step down some time before the 2014 election to make way for a successor. Sonia Gandhi could also push him out. While family scion Rahul Gandhi is seen as prime minister in waiting, he is still young and has rejected ministerial jobs in Singh’s government – instead focusing on the youth wing of the Congress Party. Some say he is too inexperienced to run India.That may mean Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee or Defence Minister A.K. Antony could become prime minister, perhaps on an interim basis.
It may be too early to count out the Congress Party, especially with three years to the next general election. It is still the biggest national party and has the Gandhi family name and an extensive network of political influence.
One thing that could bolster the government this year would be a good performance in state elections and there are signs the party or its regional coalition allies could do well, mainly because it is fighting some unpopular incumbents.Congress is likely to do well in Assam, Kerala and West Bengal states. The latter state election could see the end of the world’s longest ruling democratically elected communist government. The opposition is Trinamool Congress, a Congress ally.It could do well in Tamil Nadu, where its regional DMK ally is under pressure from the opposition but still may win.Congress can also spend more money on social welfare schemes, such as the rural employment scheme that is seen as helping the party win re-election in 2004. It could also start new schemes such as one giving cheap food grains to the poor. The government agreeing to a joint parliamentary probe may also take the wind out of the opposition’s sails.”If the elections come off reasonably well and the BJP is robbed of an issue, the Congress can cover some ground. But it has to work quickly. Fast track investigations, convictions that will send out a positive mes- sage,” said political analyst Amulya Ganguli.
One of the biggest advantages for the government may be the poor quality of the opposition, led by the Hindu nationaist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).While the party has been vocal in its condemnation of corruption, it straddles uneasily between its modern focus and grassroots Hindu nationalism. A failed march by the BJP to place an Indian flag in disputed Kashmir, for example, was widely seen as a political mistake that alienated middle class voters.Remarks by former BJP telecoms minister Arun Shourie on Monday, which accused senior party leaders Arun Jaitleyand Sushma Swaraj of not doing enough to make publicize the scandal, exposed further cracks in the opposition.The BJP also has its own corruption scandals to tackle in the southern state of Karnataka, where the party is in pow-er. And some of its leaders, like Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat state, are also highly controversial for their alleged role in fomenting religious violence against Muslims.
The prime minister is facing a slew of corruption scandals, including accusations that his Congress party led government lost up to $39 billion after telecom licenses were sold to companies at rock-bottom prices in return for kickbacks.There could be a repeat of 1989, when Congress lost a general election due to the Bofors scandal over gun contracts involving close associates of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who were accused of taking bribes.
Given that a general election is not due until 2014, Singh may have hoped the current scandals would ebb. But an aggressive media, an assertive Supreme Court and an opposition tasting political blood means momentum into probes has grown.More graft probes could also increase tensions between the Congress Party and its regional DMK ally, accused by federal police of being linked to the telecom scam.
The government appears close to agreeing to a parliamentary probe in return for the opposition allowing the parliamentary budget session to operate unhindered from late February.That probe could see months, even years, of ministers being called to give evidence, overshadowing Singh’s second term.That could halt any reform bills, including land acquisition reform, which attempts to reconcile the interests of farmers and corporate India in a country where tussles over ownership can scupper billion-dollar project.
That may compound investor problems in India. Foreign direct investment has fallen for three consecutive years, from 2.9 percent of GDP in 2008/09 to around 1.8 percent of GDP in 2010/11. Some of this has to do with the global economic slow- down, but regulatory uncertainty is also a factor. The Congress Party is unlikely to move faster on long pending economic reforms such as opening up supermarket or financial sectors to foreign investors. The government may introduce changes to the telecom sector, such as giving more muscle to the telecom regulator.
If those scandals were not bad enough, the Congress government faces a host of state elections this year that will take the political temperature of an electorate ahead of the 2014 general election.These include West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, two crucial states that help give Congress a majority in parliament.
If Congress does badly in these elections, it could convince coalition partners it is time to jump ship or at least distance them- selves from the government, meaning further policy paralysis.Congress has a rough 18 seat majority in parliament. If the ruling Congress ally, the DMK, loses the Tamil Nadu election, it saps strength from the coalition. Many commentators expect a more populist budget on Feb 28, to give the government some chance of doing well in the elections. But more spending on Congress’s main social welfare programs would come amid high inflation and signs of fiscal strains. That could mean the government failing to deal with fuel subsidies, more cash for food programs as well as education and health. The government bases its plans on jumps in tax collections on high economic growth.
Unlikely, but possible. The 78-year old Singh is widely seen as an honest elder statesman who plays second fiddle to Congress head Sonia Gandhi, the real power behind the throne. But the scandals may have taken a heavy toll on the prime minister, concerned his legacy is transforming from one of being the founders of India’s economic boom to someone who did nothing to stop corruption or policy paralysis.
Singh, who underwent a second heart operation in 2009, could step down some time before the 2014 election to make way for a successor. Sonia Gandhi could also push him out. While family scion Rahul Gandhi is seen as prime minister in waiting, he is still young and has rejected ministerial jobs in Singh’s government instead focusing on the youth wing of the Congress Party. Some say he is too inexperienced to run India.That may mean Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee or Defense Minister A.K. Antony could become prime minister, perhaps on an interim basis.
It may be too early to count out the Congress Party, especially with three years to the next general election. It is still the biggest national party and has the Gandhi family name and an extensive network of political influence. One thing that could bolster the government this year would be a good performance in state elections and there are signs the party or its regional coalition allies could do well, mainly because it is fighting some unpopular incumbents.
Congress is likely to do well in Assam, Kerala and West Bengal states. The latter state election could see the end of the world’s longest ruling democratically elect- ed communist government. The opposition is Trinamool Congress, a Congress ally .It could do well in Tamil Nadu, where its regional DMK ally is under pressure from the opposition but still may win.
Congress can also spend more money on social welfare schemes, such as the rural employment scheme that is seen as helping the party win re-election in 2004. It could also start new schemes such as one giving cheap food grains to the poor. The government agreeing to a joint parliamentary probe may also take the wind out of the opposition’s sails.”If the elections come off reasonably well and the BJP is robbed of an issue, the Congress can cover some ground. But it has to work quickly. Fast track investigations, convictions that will send out a positive mes- sage,” said political analyst Amulya Ganguli.
One of the biggest advantages for the government may be the poor quality of the opposition, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While the party has been vocal in its condemnation of corruption, it straddles uneasily between its modern focus and grassroots Hindu nationalism. A failed march by the BJP to place an Indian flag in disputed Kashmir, for example, was widely seen as a political mistake that alienated middle class voters. The BJP also has its own corruption scandals to tackle in the southern state of Karnataka, where the party is in power. And some of its leaders, like Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat state, are also highly controversial for their alleged role in fomenting religious violence against Muslims.
– OE News Bureau
She can talk casually about a designer gown she hasn’t found an occasion to wear with industrialist Ratan Tata and chat up with the same ease with some of the most powerful people in politics, business and media to allegedly fix the telecom ministry for A. Raja Kenya-born and London educated Niira Radia was perhaps destined to fly high, but little did she know that she would be trapped by tell-tale tapes one day and be come the face of a multi-billion dollar scam.
Not many knew about her till Open magazine three weeks ago blew the cover off 5,800 reported taped conversations from Radia’s phone over a six- month period in 2009 that stunned the nation with intimate disclosures about the incestuous world of the powerful and power-mongers.
The tapes show the chameleon lobbyist talking with top industrialists and star journalists, hard-selling DMK politician A. Raja’s bid for the second stint at telecom ministry. Even as more skeletons tumble out of the closet and insinuations are being made about her being an agent of a foreign intelligence agency, there is very little known about her background and her meteoric rise to fame. Radia, said to be in her fifties, movedto London from Kenya in the 1970s and schooled at the elite school Haberdashers’ Aske’s in northern London. She graduated from the University of Warwick and got married to UK businessman Janak Radia, a Gujarati. The marriage did not click and the divorced Radia moved to India in midnineties. She started off as Sahara liaison officer and soon became India representative of Singapore Airlines, KLM, UK Air.
It is during this time she forged her powerful contacts in the civil aviation ministry, the government and the media. By this time, Radia’s sprawling Chhattarpur farmhouse was generating much buzz among New Delhi’s bold and beautiful.Some of her prized contacts included Ananth Kumar, civil aviation minister during NDA’s tenure in 1998-99, and Ranjan Bhattacharya, foster son-in-law of then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. She tried to float an airline, Crown Air, in 2000, but the plan did not take off. In 2001, she set up Vaishnavi Communications, followed by Noesis, Victom and Neucom Consulting. Radia’s big-ticket break came when she bagged all 90 Tata group accounts in 2001. She is rumored to have such an influence over Ratan Tata that the top industrialist does not tolerate anyone speaking ill of her to his face. Another crowing moment was when Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited joined her clients’ list in 2008.
“She was leveraging the power of her clients who are some of the most powerful businessmen in the country,” Prashant Bhushan, a senior lawyer who filed a public interest litigation seeking the prosecution of Raja on the basis of the taped conversations of Radia, told IANS. In 2009, her ambitions soared further as she moved from corporate lobbying to fixing the lucrative telecom ministry, resulting in a scam that depleted the national exchequer by billions of rupees. Her overarching ambition perhaps became her nemesis when a suspicious IT department taped her conversations at the time of cabinet formation last year in UPA-II. Those tapes have now become part of the national conversation, showing a small elite subverting the system with impunity.
Fresh tapes of Radia’s conversations released by Outlook magazine reveal her telling Tarun Das, then chief mentor of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), that DMK chief M. Karunanidhi was insistent party member Raja retain his portfolio, despite questions over the manner in which airwaves were allotted to telecom firms. The government has told the Supreme Court that it authorized the tapping of PR executive Niira Radia’s phone.The government’s response was filed by the Ministry of Finance.
It said that the process of tapping Radia’s phone began on August 19, 2008 after a complaint received by the Finance Minister on November 16, 2007. The complaint had alleged that Radia in a span of just nine years built up a business empire worth Rs. 300 crore.It also alleged Radia was an agent of foreign intelligence agencies and she was indulging in anti-national activities.The affidavit states, “15 telephone lines including cell phone and SMSs of Radia and her associates were intercepted after the finance minister in November 2007 had received a complaint that the lobbyist had within a short span of nine years built up a business empire worth Rs. 300 crore and she was an agent of foreign intelligence agencies and was indulging in anti-national activities.”
The Finance Ministry then sought the Home Ministry’s clearance to tap Radia’s phone lines. 5800 phone calls were tapped during two periods: 120 days in 2008 and 60 days during 2009. A spokesperson of Radia’s firm, Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, has denied these allegations, saying she has never indulged in anti-national activities. The statement says, “There are queries arising from a case which is subjudice before the Honorable Supreme Court to which we are not a party. Therefore it is not within our knowledge and we cannot comment on the veracity of this. There are corporate vested interests which circulated an inadmissible and forged letter with malicious, baseless and derogatory content in November 2007. We had reached out to the media then and denied the same. We have complete faith in the investigative agencies. We hope that the forces working over time to harm us will be duly identified and punished. As responsible corporate neither we nor our promoter have ever indulged in any anti national activities.”
The affidavit also states that the tapes were not leaked by the Income Tax Department. The government has also said that while the leak should be investigated, it cannot stop the media from publishing transcripts of the conversations on the leaked tapes.
Some of those conversations with politicians, industrialists and others have been leaked to the media and have been reported on widely. Rata Tata, who is one of Radia’s biggest clients and was on the leaked tapes, had last month filed a case against the government in the Supreme Court on the grounds that the leaked tapes encroached upon his right to privacy. Tata said that while he had no objection to any investigation by the government, his conversations with Radia that were made available to the public were of a personal nature and are irrelevant to charges like tax evasion and foreign exchange violations, which are among the reasons why Radia’s phone was allegedly tapped from 2008-2009.
The tapes are also being used by the CBI to investigate the details of the 2G scam. Believed to be India’s largest-ever scam, it saw 2G spectrum being given at what are described as inexplicably low prices by former Telecom Minister A Raja to companies who were later found to be ineligible by experts. CBI raided Niira Radia and former TRAI chief Pradeep Baijal in the on going investigation of 2G scam that rocked the nation. The Raja Radia saga led the team to DMK doors wherein high profile Kanjimori connections are getting investigated.
-BY J GOPIKRISHNAN for OPINION EXPRESS
Cappt Vinay Goyal report for OEMCL from New Delhi
French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his country’s full support to development of India’s civil nuclear programme but felt access to this industry was “restricted”. Sarkozy backed India’s entry into Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and its case for a permanent membership of the expanded United Nations Security Council, saying it was “unthinkable” to keep a country of over one billion out. French President visit may not have created buzz that US President Obama visit impacted India but in terms of pure government prospective, it was a great success.
“France is a friend of India. It will stand with it in its efforts in developing non polluting energy and nuclear industry,” the French President said addressing scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). “We need to put an end to nuclear isolation of India. It was injustice done to India challenging your right to access to civil nuclear energy,” India is now going to be a full fledged member of the multilateral groups over seeing non proliferation regimes, he said adding France would support India’s application for candidacy of NSG. Sarkozy noted with “delight” that a French company Areva would be setting up nuclear plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra that would go on to produce 10,000 MWE of “non-polluting” energy.
He, however, noted there was certain “inconsistency” in India’s approach as while it wanted development of clean energy on one hand, at the same time “restricting access”. “We cannot force upon India obligations without giving it the means to meet the obligations,” he said. Speaking of France’s relationship with India, Sarkozy said that his country has been a good friend of India. “We don’t speak in two languages. We mean what we say.” Condemning the 26/11 attacks, he said any such strike on India was an attack on democracy and all democracies stand by India. “When India is attacked, it is democracy attacked,” he said.
He observed that terrorism emanating from Pakistan and Afghanistan is a “major source of instability” in the world. Talking about Afghanistan, he praised India’s role and said the world cannot afford to lose the war against Taliban.
“We cannot afford to allow Taliban to comeback. No one stand benefited if civil war raises its ugly head…we must succeed,” he said. Noting that one cannot stand still if India wants to move ahead in 21st century, he said, “India, Brazil, Germany, Japan, some representatives of Africa and Arab world must be in UN Security Council.”
Sarkozy showered praise on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying the Indian leader was obsessed with peace through development and eradication of poverty. “I have great admiration for Prime Minister Singh. I value his friendship. He is right in believing in peace and stability. India’s challenge is that if you succeed through peace, it will have a huge knock-out effect on the world,” he said.
India and France are united by common values and believe that international relations should not be governed by brutality or force and it should be based on dialogue and rule of law, Sarkozy said adding the relationship between the two countries should go much further.
Appreciating India’s growth, he said its voice has to be heard in the global level. “We need India to regulate the world monetary order. I believe Indian currency will be counted as one of major currencies,” he said.
On education sector, Sarkozy said he expected a three fold growth in the number of Indian students going to France. “We want to train young Indians in our universities and open our research facilities for them. I very much hope that the reverse will also be true,” he said.
The Indian diplomatic establishment has ample reasons to feel happy and satisfied with French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s just concluded visit to India this week.
Sarkozy deftly used diplomatic symbolism by choosing India as his first foreign destination after France recently assumed the rotational Presidency of the G20 for one year. After a long hiatus, India is starting on January 1, 2011 a two year tenure as one of the 12 non permanent members of the United
Sarkozy said what the Indians wanted to hear by reiterating his support to India’s candidacy for permanent seat of the to be reformed UNSC something that Obama also did during his India visit last month. Sarkozy posed a rhetorical question: “It is not just an important matter for India but for the equilibrium of the world that after its two year term, are we going to ask India to simply stand down?”
Nations Security Council. This means that India can now expect to wield better clout at the G20 as well as the UNSC. France has been one of the staunchest India supporters in the world for quite some time as the two countries have entered into the 12th year of their strategic partnership.
Sarkozy said what the Indians wanted to hear by reiterating his support to India’s candidacy for permanent seat of the to be reformed UNSC something that Obama also did during his India visit last month. Sarkozy posed a rhetorical question: “It is not just an important matter for India but for the equilibrium of the world that after its two-year term, are we going to ask India to simply stand down?”
Sarkozy also enthralled the Indians by taking Pakistan to task on the terror front. He slammed Pakistan for allowing safe havens to terrorists in its tribal border areas. He reserved his fierce attack on Pakistan for the last leg of his trip in Mumbai on December 7, some three hours before the terror attack in Varanasi. He was unsparing, unambiguous and unrelenting when he remarked: “It is unacceptable for the world that terrorist acts should be masterminded and carried out by terrorist groups in Pakistan.” His advice to Pakistani authorities was to “step up their efforts and show that they are resolute in combating these criminals.” As for India, he pledged unlimited counter terrorist cooperation. Significantly, like Obama, Sarkozy did not visit Pakistan.
Though Sarkozy’s India visit was not historic, just as Obama’s trip wasn’t, such visits are essential for taking bilateral ties from strength to strength. Seven agreements were signed during Sarkozy’s visit, the most important of these a “general framework agreement” for constructing two nuclear reactors in Jaitapur (Maharashtra). Jaitapur is an ambitious project that will have six reactors which together will generate 10,000 MW power after completion in 2018. Generation of 10,000 MW from one single plant is indeed impressive considering that India currently produces just about 4000 MW, or less than three percent of total power generation.
India will have to tread carefully on the Jaitapur plant and will have to ensure that the cost of power per unit is not too high or else India will be breeding another Enron, this time again in Maharashtra. For the state of Maharashtra, Jaitapur means happy tidings as it will generate substantial employment for the locals. But it is the long-term risk that has to be guarded against because the Government of India will be spending a hefty $9.3 billion on the Jaitapur plant. Another important area of concern in context of the Jaitapur plant is that it is going to have European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs), the first of which is yet to be built, and therefore, the technology remains untested. The twin risks pricing of power produced which is yet to be worked out and the very high capital investment makes Jaitapur a high stakes gamble for the government.
Sarkozy pledged a more robust, intense and wide ranging cooperation with India, especially in such key areas as defense, space, nuclear energy, education and trade. It is a happy development for India, especially as it comes from a P5 power and the world’s fifth largest economy that is a powerhouse of advanced technology. The seven agreements that were signed during Sarkozy’s visit and the coming together of France and India in as diverse fields as satellite launches and construction of two nuclear reactors in Jaitapur signify that the Indo French strategic partnership is ready for the next phase of growth.
Another rosy picture for Indo French bilateral relations is the French announcement that its companies will invest $12 billion in India by 2012. Paris has dangled a carrot before New Delhi saying that the French FDI investments in India could be even dramatically higher if India opened up sectors like insurance and retail, particularly multi-brand retail. This is a contentious and sensitive political issue in India, considering the Left parties’ strident opposition.
India for its part has been treading cautiously on this issue. India maintains that the liberalization of insurance and retail sectors is “very much” on the government’s agenda but the policy has to be calibrated. “…(Relaxation of) FDI cap on insurance and multi-brand retail is very much on the agenda,” Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said in the presence of French Minister of Economy and Finance Christine Lagarde who was part of the delegation accompanying Sarkozy.
Sarkozy’s visit is a demonstration of India’s growing influence, which is projected to be the world’s third largest economy by 2030 after the U.S. and China. Sarkozy is the third P5 leader to have visited India this year after British Prime Minister David Cameron in July and U.S. President Barack Obama in November. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are scheduled to visit later this month, the former from December 15 to 17, and the latter a week later. This means that before 2010 rings out India would have received all five heads of the permanent members of the UNSC.
Courtesy Diplomatic Courier Inputs and written by Rajeev Sharma
India’s next general election is almost three years away, but the race for prime minister ship may have already begun. Narendra Modi, the controversial chief minister of Gujarat, staged a three day fast on his 61st birthday purportedly to bring peace, prosperity and harmony to a state he has ruled for nearly a decade. Recently, the Supreme Court referred a case related to the death of Congress member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri during the riots to a trial court in Gujarat. This served as the cue for Modi to launch his fast. He said the apex court order vindicated his stand that he never supported the rioters, and promptly announced his fast for harmony. But the manner in which the fast has been played up as a national event reflects its larger political significance. Many top leaders of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is India’s main opposition party, attended the launch of the fast in Ahmedabad. Some other parties in the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) also sent representatives.
The fast, analysts say, is Modi’s spring board from which he is launching himself as the BJP’s, and possibly the NDA’s, prime ministerial candidate at a time when the ruling Congress party led United time when the ruling Congress party led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is battling a spate of corruption scandals and a leadership crisis. Using the fast as a launch vehicle has symbolic value. the UPA recently buckled under the pressure of an indefinite fast by activist Anna Hazare to bring crucial changes to a proposed corruption law.
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is eying a bigger national leadership role and is positioning himself for a power struggle in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), say US diplomatic cables made public by online whistle blower WikiLeaks. “Modi is using his strong base in Gujarat to position himself for the BJP power struggle and to crow about Gujarat’s investment friendly (but certainly not minority-friendly) record,” says one of the cables which were uploaded earlier this week by Wikileaks. The cables sent by US diplomats in New Delhi focus on Modi’s rising stature in the BJP and claim that “Modi has his eyes on bigger things”.
Within six months of Modi taking over as chief minister in October 2001, Gujarat faced its worst hour. More than 1,000 people were killed in months long communal riots that started after the burning of a train carrying Hindu devotees at the Godhra station in February 2002. Many victims of the riots were Muslims,2002.
Many victims of the riots were Muslims, and critics accused the Modi government of not just failing to keep them safe but also of tacitly supporting Hindu rioters in an attempt to polarize the electorate and win state assembly elections due later that year.
Whether the polarization was intentional or incidental, Modi then reaped its rewards. The BJP won by a handsome margin, and he became the poster boy of its hardliners, or the supporters of its right wing Hindutva ideology.
Road to the top: Narendra Modi with other BJP leaders during a campaign in September 2002. For political opponents as well as civil society groups and minority organizations, though, he became the biggest threat to India’s secular ethos. It’s an image he is yet to shed. And as he looks to broaden his appeal beyond Gujarat, and beyond Hindus, undoing the polarization of 2002 is now the aspiring prime minister’s aspiring prime minister’s biggest challenge.
Political opponents, too, find it easiest to target his divisive politics. Even some allies of the BJP, such as the Janata Dal (United) with which it shares power in Bihar, have not been on good terms with Modi fearful that this may cost them crucial Muslim votes. Ahead of assembly elections in Bihar last year, chief minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar returned the Rs. 5 crore flood relief that Gujarat had provided his government two years earlier. A number of petitions have been filed by riot victims and social activists alleging Modi’s complicity in the 2002 post Godhra riots.
Pro-development image While faltering on the social harmony front, Modi has keenly cultivated the image of an efficient and pro-business administrator. Gujarat’s gross domestic product has been growing at 11%, higher than the national average of 8-9%, and it has attracted thousands of crores of rupees in investment, mostly through the showpiece Vibrant Gujarat summit, a biennial congregation of industrialists from around the world launched by Modi.
The state has signed memorandums of understanding worth more than Rs. 40 trillion since 2003. More companies have firmed up investments in Gujarat than in most other states of the country. The state is on its way to become an auto hub, with Tata Motors, Ford, Peugeot and Maruti Suzuki eyeing investments.
Many important projects started before Modi was sworn in as chief minister have also materialized in his tenure. The project to build a dam on the Narmada river is an example. The state government’s rural electrification mission lit up even remote parts of Gujarat. With an aim to promote clean energy, Gujarat hopes to produce 200-300 megawatts of solar power by the year end, making it the solar capital of the country. “You are foolish if you are not in Gujarat,” Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata group, once said. Industrialists Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal said he was a prime ministerial candidate ahead of the 2009 general elections.
Group, once said. Industrialists Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal said he was a prime ministerial candidate ahead of the 2009 general elections. International recognition has also been forthcoming. In December 2008, members of the lower house of the British parliament passed a motion to support Vibrant Gujarat.
The US declined him a visa on account of the 2002 riots. But recently, a US Congressional Research Service report lauded his governance abilities and said Gujarat was perhaps India’s best example of “effective governance and impressive development”.
Rise in politics Modi’s stint in politics began with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the BJP’s student wing. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological parent, as sangh pracharak and entered mainstream politics by joining the BJP in 1987. His rise through the ranks was brisk. Modi was made general secretary of the Gujarat unit within a year. Zealously building the party in the state, he aimed at creating a strong mass cadre and assumed the role of a strategist. In 2001, he got his big break when he was chosen by the party to replace Keshubhai Patel as Gujarat chief minister. His proximity to senior party leaders and his contribution to building the party’s base in the state were the key factors behind his choice.
Although Modi was victorious the 2002 assembly elections because of communal polarization, the election five years later was fought, and won, on the plank of good governance and development. Now, with the fast for harmony, he is hoping to move a step further.
Modi’s clout in the state cannot be ignored. Be it his effort to bring in industries to the state, his oratory skills or his dressing style, Modi has managed to catch the imagination of the masses, while building a huge popularity among women Voters have turned up in significant numbers in both assembly elections that Modi won.
Voter turnout in the 2002 state assembly election was a healthy 62% and the turnout of women voters was 58%. The corresponding figures for the 2007 assembly election were 60% and 57%. Contrast this with the voter turnout in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, which was 58.13% while the turnout for women was just 48%.
– OE News Bureau
The day of the psychologist is over. It is time for the political analyst. The election results are not just numbers; they define a nation’s ideological contours. Much of the post-poll discussion has been focused on personalities. Its time to reflect on policies. The verdict of the 2009 general election has once again brought the ‘centre’ in Indian politics to centre stage. India has returned to an even keel, I learnt the ABC of Indian politics from a Communist ideologue called Mohit Sen in his Narayanaguda flat in Hyderabad in the early 1970s. The one thing he kept drilling into my teenage mind all the time was the idea that India can only be ruled from the ‘political centre.’ That is how he justified the Communist Par ty of India’s support t to Indira Gandhi and that is why he was finally excommunicated by the Communists.
Analyzing Indian policies and politics over the past two decades, watching these being shaped in the Prime Minister’s Office for over four years, and writing speeches for the prime minister, I often recalled Mohit Sen’s wise words. India can not be governed either from the ‘right’ or the ‘left’. India can only be governed from the ‘centre’. Individual states could lurch in one direction and remain there for long periods of time, like West Bengal on the left and Gujarat on the right. But this sub- continental, civilizational republic can only be governed from the political ‘centre’. That political centre has been empowered once again by the results of the 2009 general election. The Indian National Congress always occupied the political centre. It may have lurched to the left at times and to the right at times, but its destiny was in the centre because it emerged as the consensual voice of a plural nation. All those political scientists who theorized about the so-called ‘era of coalitions’ in the post-Emergency period forgot that the Congress party was always a coalition. Its success is defined by remaining so.
The Congress entered the 2004 campaign on a weak wicket because Atal Bihari Vajpayee had tried, fairly success- fully, to usurp that centre space from the Congress. I was pilloried by many in the Congress and on the left for writing an editorial entitled ‘Atal Bihari Nehru.’ But that precisely was Vajpayee’s project, and that is why he became the first non- Congress prime minister to serve a full term in office.
Because the BJP grabbed a bit of that centre space, the Congress was forced to turn left to regain ground. The problem with the 2004 verdict was that the Left Front, and some in the Congress, actually interpreted the result to mean India had moved left. The Left’s ’60’ in 2004 came from a pro Achutanandan wave in Kerala, after he was initially denied a ticket by the par ty bosses in Delhi, and a pro Buddhadev wave in Bengal. Recall those T-shirts Thiruvanantpuram’s teenagers wore with ‘VS’ emblazoned on them?
The ideologues of the left however interpreted this ‘regional’ result as an endorsement of their political platform, and tried to impose this on the Congress through the National Common Minimum Programme. Many in the Congress happily walked into this trap because they were so dazed by the result and were so happy to return to government after almost a decade. In a classic Communist party man oeuvre Prakash Karat took charge of the Communist Party of India-Marxist by staging a virtual coup at the Party Congress in 2005 and tried to push the entire United Progressive Alliance leftwards. He tried to put the Congress on the defensive by charging it of abandoning the nationalist platform on foreign policy. The Left painted Manmohan Singh as a ‘neo-liberal’ economist, knowing full well that he was and has always been a ‘Keynesian’ liberal, and charged him of a pro-US bias.
Some in the Congress, like Mani Shankar Aiyar, seemed to fall into this trap and echoed the Left view that the 2004 verdict was in favor of pro-left policies. This created an ideological con- fusion within the Congress that the Left exploited by seeking to drive a wedge between the party and the government. The India- US civil nuclear cooperation agreement was used as an instrument to stage that coup.
In the meanwhile, the BJP dumped Vajpayee’s centrism and moved right without reflecting on why Vajpayee had tried to take the par ty away from its core ideology. Vajpayee was trying to ‘Congresses’ the BJP. Once the BJP abandoned that project under the leadership of Lal Kishen Advani] and Narendra Modi] it lost ‘middle India’. So what contributed to the revival of the Congress? I believe it was the Congress’ decision to strike out on its own, unencumbered by the ideological prejudices of the Left and the caste-based and regional parties. The Congress re- asserted its independent centrist identity. It remembered that it was in fact the original political coalition in India.?Early in the election campaign Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hit out at casteism and regionalism and identified these as equally damaging as communalism to the future of our Republic. Further, by rejecting the Third Front’s attempts to give the Congress a character certificate on nationalism, the Congress regained the centre space that they were trying to take away. The Left’s stance on the India-US nuclear deal was motivated by a Bolshevik instinct to hijack the Congress agenda. By guilt tripping the Congress and accusing the prime minister of abandoning ‘an independent foreign policy’ they were hoping to shape Indian foreign policy in the manner they sought to shape economic policy in the past.?If the Congress had gone along with the Left and dumped the nuclear deal it would have once again surrendered ‘its’ political space to the Left. Wisdom lay in asserting its own independence and, above all, in reclaiming the center space of Indian political life for itself. That is precisely what the Congress did in 2009. Returning to the ideological center, enabled the Congress to return to the Centre.
– Sanjaya Baru (Sanjaya Baru served as media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, from 2004 to 2008)
Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, is the head of the organized crime and terror syndicate D-Company in Mumbai. Dawood’s D- Company has been identified as a criminal terrorism syndicate by the US Congress.
Dawood is currently on the wanted list of Interpol for organised crime and counterfeiting, besides association with Al- Qaeda as identified in UN Security Council resolutions 1822 (2008) and 1267 (1999).He was No. 4 on the Forbes 2008 list of The World’s 10 Most Wanted criminals, and no. 50 on the Forbes 2009 list of The World’s Most Powerful People.
He is said to have begun his real criminal career in Mumbai working for the Karim Lala gang (which later became his own gang’s rival) exploiting the rapid expansion in the Bombay (now Mumbai) textiles industry to his advantage, though another version says that he began his criminal career working as a career for smuggler Haji Mastan.
In either case, he eventually split from both of them and started his own gang, D- Company. He soon moved his residence to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he has business interests along side India. He established chains of businesses in partnership with local Sheikhs. He rubbed shoulders with kings and princes of the Gulf emirates and acquired more power, which at later stages saved him from being extradited to India.
Dawood leapfrogged into big time once he came into contact with the Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) wing. The twoshared a couple of interests.The ISI wanted a person whofelt strongly for his community.In other words, someone whocould foment communal trouble whenever the need arose.Two, Pakistan’s territorial waters were a haven for gold smugglers. Dawood wantedhis piece of action in that territory and an understanding was therefore reached. The ISI allegedly helped Dawood to flourish. The gold runner became a mafia don and his gang came to be known as D-company in Mumbai. His net worth is said to be in billions and his ‘business interests’ are spread in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Dubai, Germany, France, the UK and several Muslim countries in Africa.
Ibrahim is widely believed to have masterminded the 1993 Bombay Bombings, a series of terrorist attacks carried out in the city on March 12 of the year. In 2003, the Indian and United States governments declared Ibrahim a “Global Terrorist”. The then Deputy Prime Minister, described it as a major development and that India stands “vindicated”. Ibrahim is currently on India’s “Most wanted List”.
The United States Department of Treasury has also designated Ibrahim as a terrorist as part of its international sanctions program effectively forbidding U.S. financial entities from working with him and seizing assets believed to be under his control. The Department of Treasury keeps a fact sheet on Ibrahim which contains reports of his syndicate having smuggling routes from South Asia, the Middle East and Africa shared with and used by terrorist organisation al-Qaeda. The fact sheet also said that Ibrahim’s syndicate is involved in large scale shipment of narcotics in the United Kingdom and Western Europe. He is also believed to have contacts with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden. In the late 1990s, Ibrahim traveled in Afghanistan under the Taliban’s protection. The syndicate has consistently aimed to destabilize the Indian government through riots, terrorism and civil disobedience.
Washington added that they will request the United Nations to list Ibrahim “in pursuance of relevant Security Council resolutions”. The UN listing will require that all UN member states freeze Ibrahim’s assets and impose a travel ban. Juan Zarate, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, said that they are committed to identifying and attacking financial ties between terrorism and the underworld. Ibrahim is also suspected to have connections with terrorist organisations, and in 2002 was linked to the financing of increasing attacks in Gujarat by Lashkar-e-Toiba. New Delhi handed over to Islamabad a list of 38 most wanted criminals, including Ibrahim.
In a major blow to Ibrahim, ten members of his gang were arrested by Mumbai Crime Branch on November 21, 2006. They were extradited from the United Arab Emirates, from where they had been deported. Sources reported in India Today indicate that Dawood Ibrahim provided the logistics for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.
United States Deportation Resistance, In January 2002, a month after the Parliament attack, Indian officials visited the US, where they had meetings with ColinPowell and Condoleezza Rice. A list of the Top 20 most-wanted terrorists in Pakistan was handed to the US. Ibrahim was wanted in connection with the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Ajmal Amir Kasab, a gunman arrested for participation in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 173(164 civilians and security personnel and9 terrorists), has confessed to authorities according to reports that Ibrahim’s organization provided arms and explosivesto the Lashkar-e-Toiba group that wereused to carry out the attacks.
Pakistan denies any knowledge of his existence. Indian intelligence agencies,such as Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), believe that some of his addresses include House No. 37, 30th street, DHA, Karachi and White House, Near Saudi Mosque, Clifton, Karachi, Pakistan, and is provided protection by Pakistani intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). The issue of extradition of Dawood Ibrahim is one of the major hurdles in the frosty relations between India and Pakistan. Despite hectic efforts during the past many years, the government has failed to bring him back. The mere existence of Dawood proved a point that India is a soft state hence targeted repeatedly by terrorists across the borders. Indian security agencies may have achieved some success in apprehending a few terrorists planning attacks in Mumbai recently, but investigators say the arrests are just a tip of the iceberg.
”The ISI has brought together underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon, and elements of the LeT, Jaish-e- Mohammad and Indian Mujahideen operatives such as Amir Reza Khan to create terror and mayhem throughout the country,” an investigator said. The officer added the information was gleaned from inputs from central intelligence agencies and also through those involved in planning the terror attacks.
”Abdul Latif, who has been arrested, is a relative of Bashir Khan. The latter was involved in planting explosives in the first serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993. Since the 1993 bomb blasts had a bigger involvement of Tiger than Dawood, we believe Tiger has once again been roped in to create terror,” the officer said.
Life isn’t trigger happy for Dawood Ibrahim any more. Once comfortably ensconced in Karachi, and enjoying the hospitality of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), his enemies are now ensuring he doesn’t have a settled existence. Following the ISI’s interception of a ‘Get Bhai Plan’ by his RAW-sponsored enemies to sneak into the port city and target him, the underworld don has been made to relocate his family to Islamabad where he now lives in a high security zone under the ISI’s covert protection. The ‘Get Bhai Plan’ was masterminded by Indian intelligence in collaboration with Dawood’s main business rival and former right hand man, Rajender Sadashiv Nikhalje alias Chhota Rajan.
His inclusion in the list came as an embarrassment to Islamabad, especially as the US department in its reasons for doing so cited intelligence reports of his connection with global outlaws Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Toiba. The department’s fact sheet on Dawood stated: “Dawood Ibrahim, son of a police constable, has financially supported Islamic militant groups working against India such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Information as recent as fall 2002 indicates that Ibrahim had been helping finance terrorist attacks in the Indian state of Gujarat by Lashkar-e-Toiba, the armed wing of Markaz Dawa Wal Irshad.
But the Bhai under protective umbrella of ISI is going strong, he is extensively used by ISI to plan all major nefarious operations in India. India is agrowing economy with massive global attention and business interest hence the divisive forces will be proactive to derail thegrowth story. It is note worthy to mention that the nexus of ISI and D Company is patronized by all anti India forces indirectly toensure that India remains a hot spot of terror activities to limit its growing stature at the global forum. India is presently servedby the most efficient Home Minister in recent times. Mr P Chidambaram is managing the internal security with extreme clinical output though the Naxal front is looking quite gloomy. Indian naxal problem is related to the comprehensive systemic failure rather than the administrative failure but certainly India has witnessed better coordination between intel agencies and police network in the past few months. A nation of billion inhabitants are looking at the present security apparatus to bring and book India’s most wanted criminal, surely the time lost in the process will deplete already receding hope of many countrymen in the efficiency and credibility of our national approach towards terrorism.
(With inputs from Air Marshal R C Bajpai, Mr Ashoka Kumar Thakur – Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Prakhar Misra – Political Editor, Veelaas Kengale – Mumbai)
The US Congressional Research Service has is- sued a solid report on the nexus between criminal syndicates and terrorist groups.Entitled “International Terrorismand Transnational Crime:Security Threats, U.S. Policy, and Considerations for Congress,” there port has a section devoted to Dawood Ibrahim, the criminal don of South Asia. The report acknowledges that Dawood is aligned with al Qaeda, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company Over time, a purely criminal group may transform, adopting political goals and new operational objectives. These organizations can form alliances with existing terrorist organizations or foreign governments to help achieve their strategic aspirations. Or they can initiate,direct, and perpetrate terrorist attacks without external assistance,resulting in the group becomin glabeled a terrorist organization.Criminal syndicates often already possess the operational expertise needed to engage in terroristacts. They may already employ terrorist specialists to conduct surveillance, transfer money, purchase weapons, build bombs, and eliminaterivals. A criminal organization can easily transfer this apparatus toward politically motivated ends. The result is either a truly evolved criminal turned terrorist group or a “fused” criminal terrorist organization that seeks to develop ties with like minded ideological movements. The use of criminal skills for terrorist ends raises the concern among some experts that terrorists may seek out criminals for recruitment or radicalization, believing them to be a higher skilled partner than non criminals. A criminal’s participation in terrorist activity, however, brings greater scrutiny from law enforcemen tagencies and politicians. Furthermore, a concentration on terrorist attacks could divert resources away from criminal endeavors, producing disillusionment and desertion among members who join edstrictly for monetary reasons.
Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company, a5,000 member criminal syndicate operating mostly in Pakistan, India, and the United Arab Emirates, provides an example of the criminal terrorism “fusion” model. The U.S. Department of Treasury designated Ibrahim as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order 13224 in October 2003. In June 2006, President George W. Bush designated him, as well as his D-Company organization, as a Significant Foreign Narcotics Trafficker under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (hereafter “Kingpin Act”).D-Company is reportedly involved in several criminal activities, including extortion, smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and contract killing. The organization has also reportedly infiltrated the Indian film making industry, extorting producers, assassinating directors, distributing movies, and pirating films.
Ibrahim began as a criminal specialist in Mumbai , India, first as a low-level smuggler in the 1970s and later as the leader of a poly-crime syndicate. He formed a thriving criminal enterprise throughout the 1980s and became radicalized in the 1990s, forging relationships with Islamists, including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Al Qaeda. D- Company’s evolution into a true criminal- terrorist group began in response to the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Uttar Pradesh, India, in December 1992, and the subsequent riots that killed hundreds of Muslims. Outraged by the attacks on fellow Muslims and believing the Indian government acted indifferently to their plight, Ibrahim decided to retaliate. A heretofore secular organization with a sizable Hindu membership now assumed the objective of protecting India’s Muslim minority. Reportedly with assistance from the Pakistan government’s intelligence branch, the Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI), D-Company launched a series of bombing attacks on March 12, 1993, killing 257 people. Following the attacks, Ibrahim moved his organization’s headquarters to Karachi, Pakistan.
There, D-Company is believed to have both deepened its strategic alliance with the ISI and developed links to Lashkar- e-Tayyiba (LeT), which was designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in2001. During this time period, some say D-Company began to finance LeT’s activities,use its companies to lure recruits to LeTtraining camps, and give LeT operatives useof its smuggling routes and contacts.66Press accounts have reported thatIbrahim’s network might have provided aboat to the 10 terrorists who killed 173 peo-ple in Mumbai in November 2008. The U.S.government contends that D-Company hasfound common cause with Al Qaeda andshares its smuggling routes with that ter-rorist group. The United Nations has addedIbrahim to its list of individuals associatedwith Al Qaeda.
D-Company’s seeming transformationfrom a profit-motivated criminal syndicatedto a fusion crime-terror organization also al-tered its composition. Many of the Hindumembers left the group after the 1993bombings, with some forming a competinggang. While the organization reportedly col-laborates with LeT and Al Qaeda, the more secular orientation of D-Company’s leadership makes it unlikely that it will formally merge with those terrorist groups, analysts believe. Regardless, D-Company’s own terrorist endeavors, its deep pockets, and its reported cooperation with LeT and Al Qaeda, present a credible a threat to U.S. interests in South Asia, security experts assess. Lending his criminal expertise and net- works to such terrorist groups, he is capable of smuggling ter- rorists across national borders, trafficking in weapons and drugs, controlling extortion and protec- tion rackets, and laundering ill-gotten proceeds, including through the abuse of traditional value transfer methods, like hawala. By providing those organizations with funding, contacts, and logistical sup- port, it amplifies their capabilities and durability.
Dawood Ibrahim’s gang merger withthe Lashkar-e-Toiba: Two IslamicTerrorist Organizations come together forJihad against India – ISI reach will expandwith D-Company merger’. The merger ofDawood Ibrahim’s gang with theLashkar-e-Toiba at the behest ofPakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence(ISI) has Indian security agencies worriedsince the underworld gang will expandthe ISI’s reach in the country. “Manymembers of Dawood’s gang have beenindoctrinated and trained in the use ofweapons in the Bahawalpur centre of theLeT near Lahore. Funds are being raisedby investments in real estate and SRA projects in Mumbai and through smuggling of diesel and other essential commodities through the western coast spanning from Raigad to Mangalore along the Arabian Sea. We have warned Delhi about the smug- gling being carried out by the Dawood gang with impunity,” a security official said.
Asked why the ISI had roped in the D- Company in LeT activities, the official said, “The underworld’s penetration in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu is very deep. By synergizing the D- gang with the LeT, the ISI’s reach has increased manifold. An out fit like the Students’ Islamic Movement of India could not have provided the kind of reach which Dawood’s gang can provide.”
Government sources brushed aside the hope in certain quarters that the installation of a democratically elected government in Pakistan would result in a decrease in LeT inspired violence since the ISI, which is heavily infiltrated by fundamentalist elements, is known to pursue its own agenda. D Company’ is now officially part of the Lashkar-e-Toiba’s terror network, with Pakistan’s notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) getting Dawood Ibrahim to merge his gang with the fundamentalist terror organisation as part of a game-plan to crank up its anti India campaign.
Sources in Indian agencies tracking ISI’s moves confirmed the coming together of the two outfits and the danger that it poses to India. “The underworld gang and the Lashkar jihadis have been knocked into a single entity and this has serious implications for India’s internal security,” a senior intelligence official. ISI’s links with D-Company are old, going back to 1993 when Pakistan’s external intelligence agency used Dawood and his henchmen to execute the March 12 terror attack on Mumbai in what marked the first instance anywhere of serial bombings. There has since been a shift in the dynamics of ISI-Dawood equations, reducing D-Company from being a useful ally to a group of individuals dependent on ISI to escape international law agencies.
Following the Mumbai blasts, Dawood along with his accomplices Chhota Shakeel and Tiger Memon fled to Pakistan. Pakistan has since shielded them from India and the new anti-terrorism sensitivities post-9/11 which saw Dawood being branded a global terrorist by the US. But the hospitality has a tag attached to it: complete dependence for survival on ISI, which does not mind displaying its leverage visa-vis the once ruthless gang. The merger will, inevitably, transform the character of Dawood’s gang, which did not display any communal tendency before the serial bombings aimed against members of a particular community.
In fact, many of their business partners were non-Muslims like Raj Shetty. Chhota Rajan was also a senior member of the gang before splitting in protest against the serial blasts triggered by Dawood, Shakeel and the Memons. “The serial blasts were essentially a retaliation for the January 1993 communal riots. But now there is a qualitative change with D-Company becoming part of a jihadi organisation like the LeT. Earlier, this gang’s members were not religiously indoctrinated, but now they are. The motivation now is not money, but religion,” a senior official said.
The joining of ranks with Lashkar, one of the most dangerous terrorist outfits which treats “liberation” of large tracts of India from “Hindu domination” as its religious obligation, can help ISI to further its subversive agenda. Stints with Lashkar camps can morph Dawood’s band of urban gangsters into well-armed and jihad-driven terrorists. On the other hand, Lashkar benefits immensely from collaboration with D-Company which continues to attract recruits and has acquired financial muscle by venturing into mainstream commercial enterprises without letting go of its original money spinner, smuggling.
— OEMCL New Services with inputs from our Dubai Bureau
2G scam has reached phase II, with the Supreme Court ordering DMK heiress and Member of Parliament Kanimozhi’s arrest in the 2G spectrum scam, the burning question now is: What next? Will corporate chieftains Anil Ambani, Prashant Ruia and Ratan Tata be prosecuted too?
The answer to this million-dollar question may lie behind certain recent developments. Shahid Usman Balwa, Swan Telecom promoter and an accused in the 2G scam case, on May 18 took objection to the Central Bureau of Investigation naming Ratan Tata as a ‘victim’ in the scam thus granting him the benefit of the doubt. Balwa alleged before the trial court that the Tata Group chairman was one of the biggest beneficiaries in the allocation of radio waves and came forward with many arguments and produced correspondence between Tata and the prime accused and former telecom minister A Raja in support of this claim. This is a very interesting development, according to legal eagles handling the case on be half of the various accused in the case.
Already, last month in the Supreme Court, petitioner Prashant Bhushan pre- sented a note on the direct involvement of Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani, Tata Teleservices chairman Ratan Tata, and Loop Telecom chief Prashant Ruia. If the other accused too, like Balwa, start pressing for Ambani, Tata and Ruia’s prosecution, the buck will have to stop somewhere and some- one will have to answer why they should not be prosecuted and arrested, says a senior lawyer appearing for the arrested accused in the 2G scam.
It is when lawyer Prashant Bhushan and politician Subramanyam Swamy took the case vigorously in the apex court and into the media, things moved. There is no doubt that the rejection of Kanimozhi’s bail application was one of the great newsy moments that rarely comes. In fact, Swamy is confident that both Anil Ambani & Ratan Tata will be prosecuted very soon for the serious crime.
In rarest of rare cases we see, in this corruption-ridden country, a powerful person’s daughter going to Tihar jail. Moreover, the charge is also so fantastic that the millions of middle-class people can never fathom it, properly. Most Indians believe that powerful people are not fined even for traffic violations so Kanimozi’s imprisonment is a phenomenon. One is gasping for words to describe that the person who is able to take Rs 200 crore bribe can, really became so powerless that nothing could help her to avoid going jail. That’s the might of the law.
If after detection of the 2G spectrum case, the system is not changed to ensure that public property is not looted in favour of a selected few then what’s the use of this tamasha of a powerful politician’s daughter going to jail? And, equally importantly, if the charges of corruption against Raja and Kanimozhi are not proved in the court of law then this moment will end up in a national tragedy. Many lawyers are privately saying that it’s possible that this case may face the fate of the the Jain Hawala case, in which the prime accused was not convicted.
As of today, the CBI is not totally independent. Until the Jan Lokpal bill comes and prepares the case for a totally independent CBI, the 2G spectrum case will remain in realm of danger of going the Jain Hawala way. At the end of day, let us accept that it’s too early to say that, in the India of 2011, the system can humble the rich and powerful. Bhushan argued before the court that the expert panel is required to nail the real bigwigs involved in the case.
Explaining why Anil Ambani should be prosecuted by the CBI, Bhushan’s note to the Supreme Court pleads that ‘the CBI has filed two charge sheets in the 2G scam case. The first charge sheet established the criminal culpability of Reliance Communications and Swan Telecom. The said charge sheet states that the accused, former telecom minister A Raja,entered into criminal conspiracy with the accused Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka (of D B Realty) for favouring Swan Telecom.’
Bhushan argued further before the two judge bench that the CBI chargesheet ‘also states that the accused Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair (who are all employees of the Anil Ambani controlled Reliance and now arrested) in furtherance of their intention to cheat, created Swan Telecom out of funds arranged from Reliance Communications for applying for licenses in 13 circles where Reliance Communications did not have GSM spectrum.’ ‘The CBI has contented that Swan Telecom was held by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group companies through the funds raised by Anil Ambani- controlled businesses,’ Bhushan’s note says.
‘The CBI, in its first chargesheet of April 2, 2011, details the complex web of structuring that was done by the said Reliance employees to hide the fact that Swan was fully a RAGAG company. These people (arrested and jailed officers) are just the professional employees of the ADAG, and are not the beneficiaries of this scam. The real beneficiary is Anil Ambani, who holds a majority stake and is chairman of the group. The CBI has tried to shield him and has only charge sheeted the employees,’ argues Bhushan.
Giving more ‘details’ of Ambani’s alleged culpability in the scam, Bhushan wrote to the Supreme Court: ‘At the time of application for UAS licence, Swan had about 9.9 per cent equity in Swan, while the remaining 90.1 per cent equity was held by Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd, in which the above stated three persons (employees of R-ADAG) were the directors, fronting for Reliance ADAG. The entire money was provided by RADAG.’
The CBI has stated, ‘Investigation regarding M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd has also disclosed that the source of funds to raise equity and also to subscribe to shares of other companies has also come from group companies of Reliance-ADAG. Further, the source of funds, i.e., Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) during January 2007 and Rs 95.51 crore (Rs 955.1 million) during March 2007, utilised by TTPL to subscribe to majority shares of M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, has been arranged through the group companies of Reliance ADAG. Moreover, a sum of Rs 992 crore (Rs 9.92 billion), which constituted bulk of the net worth of Swan Telecom, was also paid by Reliance….’
However, the CBI has wrongly stated that Gautam Doshi (arrested and jailed) took all the commercial decisions, insists Bhushan to the Supreme Court. In fact, the CBI is currently investigating the sequence of events and chronology of cash payments done by Reliance. The CBI believes that, ‘Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, who is the chief executive officer of Reliance Capital Limited and also group managing director at Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, would have more knowledge (about the goings on) than the three officers who have been arrested and are now in Tihar jail.’
Arguing further his case against Anil Ambani, Bhushan says, ‘A senior official of the ICICI Bank has stated to the CBI that only Anil Ambani or his wife Tina Ambani were authorised to make payments of Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) and above. There is no possibility of an employee of the company having taken such an important decision of massive investments running into hundreds of crore of rupees. Therefore, the payment made of over Rs 100 crore (Rs 10 billion) from Reliance account on October 19, 2007 to Swan (the same day Reliance got the dual- tech license), could not have been made without the concurrence of Ambani.’
‘Moreover, the benefit of dual technology spectrum was accrued to Ambani, as the majority shareholder, whereas the employees had no financial benefit at all. In the second charge sheet the CBI has established the money trail that establishes serious offences of bribery, corruption, fraud, cheating and conspiracy. ‘
It is only the dominant shareholder of the ADAG that stood to benefit the most. Most important, it was not possible for an employee to divert Rs 990 crore (Rs 9.90 billion) of public listed company Reliance Communications through its subsidiary Reliance Tele to Swan Telecom and subscribe to Re 1 preference shares bearing 8 per cent interest at a premium of Rs 999.’
‘It had to be done by the board and the executive director, the chief executive officer and the majority shareholder. Naming three employees of Reliance-ADAG as the accused without naming Anil Ambani is a serious and deliberate omission,’ he alleged.
‘The transfer of Swan Telecom could not have taken place without the consent of Ambani who had the foreknowledge that his application for dual technology would be granted. If the dominant shareholder, who is also the CEO, is allowed to escape accountability, then it will seta new benchmark to evade corporate criminality,’ argued Bhushan.
Bhushan, while talking about Ratan Tata’s culpability the in 2G scam, told the Supreme Court that ‘the CBI in its first charge sheet goes on for several pages as to how Tata Teleservices is a victim in the entire 2G spectrumscam. As per the CBI,since Tata was an existing operator, it had preference over all new applicants,and therefore since it was not given licence before applicants like Swan, it was a victim.’
‘The CBI disregards that DoT was following a procedure of FCFS (first come first served) and an application of Tata for the same GSM spectrum came in at the end, on 19/22.10.2007, i.e., after 575 applications were pending, and three weeks after the original cut-off date of 01.10.2007.’
‘The CBI disregards that as per policy, new operators were encouraged to increase competition and were assured a level playing field. Hence, there is no question of the existence of any policy that states that an existing operator would be given preference. In fact, the policy stated to being followed was of FCFS. On 10.01.2008, Tatas got GSM spectrum in 20 circles and were a major beneficiary of the policies followed by accused A Raja.’
Bhushan tells the court that ‘the CBI ignores the clear evidence of quid pro quo between Tata and A Raja’s party the DMK. The above has to be considered along with the conversation Niira Radia (Tata’s lobbyist) had with Rajathiammal (wife of former chief minister of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi) where in the name of the Tatas is clearly mentioned.’
‘The transcript of the said conversation is already on record as A1 of the additional affidavit. It has also come in the public domain as to how a big land in Chennai worth Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) was given by Tatas to the family of the (former) Tamil Nadu chief minister. A letter written by Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata to then Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi has also come into the public domain wherein he praised the spectrum allocation policies of former telecom minister A Raja.
Bhushan argues that it ‘shows that the Tatas were one of the biggest beneficiaries of the actions of Mr Raja during his stint as telecom minister. The above has to be seen with the fact that Niira Radia lobbied heavily to ensure the return of the accused Raja as telecom minister and in one of the conversations she clearly states that her client Tatas were a beneficiary of the tenure of accused Raja.’
Bhushan has also alleged in his note to the judges that ‘the petitioners have now learnt that the CBI is sitting over a crucial lead wherein telecom companies who got 2G licences made payments to a Tamil cultural NGO of which Kanimozhi (accused) is a director. The said NGO received payments from telecom companies including Tata just before the licences were awarded on 10.01.2008.
‘Arguing the case against Prashant Ruia’s involvement in the 2G scam Bhushan said, ‘Petitioners have learnt that while the CBI might be following the case of Loop Telecom which made huge benefits, the investigation has gone cold over the involvement of Prashant Ruia andhis family members whothrough a complex web of transactions setup LoopTelecom to defraud and cheat the government for the award of 2G spectrum and licences.
‘Prashant Ruia is the CEO of Essar Group Ltd.The group is part of theVo d a f o n e – E s s a r – H u t c h Telecom service provider.Bhushan told the court that’the telecom watch dog, one of the petitioners here in, had made a detailed complaint as to how Ruia is the real face of Loop. Now the Enforcement Directorate and the Reserve Bank of India have already confirmed this,’ said Bhushan.
The CBI officers who want to go by the rule book argue: ‘Who can do business of more than Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) in a matter of two-three days without directions from the highest level? We know these so-called living legends of the corporate world are neck-deep in the issue. As of today the 2G spectrum case is handled by many agencies and institutions. We hope the Income-Tax Department, the Enforcement Directorate, the Supreme Court, the lower court, the Joint Parliamentary Committee or our own agency, at the highest level and at an appropriate time, will debate threadbare the issue of Anil Ambani and Ratan Tata’s actual involvement in the 2G scam.’
CAG is sticking to its guns that country has suffered a loss of Rs 1,76,000 crore revenue in its testimony before JPC hence the problems for India’s best known business leaders are just about to start. The outcome of the 2G scam can be a bench mark for governance pattern in India, and fair trail leading to punishment to guilty people will boost the confidence of common person on the rule of law.
-J GOPIKRSHNAN for Opinion Express
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