The Congress during its duel with the BJP in Parliament argued that the Chinese incursion in Arunachal Pradesh on Dec 9 was symptomatic of  the larger problem of continuing Chinese threat on the borders and Beijing’s evil designs against New Delhi, writes Amit Agnihotri

 The Congress picked up a major issue with the Centre over the latest Chinese incursion in the Tawang region of Arunachal Pradesh and demanded that the government’s China policy be debated threadbare during the Winter Session of Parliament that ended on December 23.

Though the government cited lack of legislative business as the reason to curtail the Parliament session before the scheduled date Dec 29, the Congress claimed it was done to avoid a debate on the Chinese threat on the borders as well as on the other burning issues like price rise and unemployment.

The main argument of the Congress party was that the Chinese incursion in Arunachal Pradesh on Dec 9, during which troops of the two countries clashed at a checkpoint along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border, was reminiscent of the larger problem of Chinese threat on the borders and Beijing’s evil designs against New Delhi.

The Congress, backed by several other opposition parties, harped on PM Modi’s 2020 statement “no one had entered the Indian territory” that was made at an all-party meeting held soon after the Chinese troops violated the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

The Congress accused the PM of having given a clean chit to the Chinese, which further emboldened Beijing to not only grab territory where Indian troops used to patrol till April 2020, but also claim the parts as its own.

The Congress also accused that the Chinese had pursued similar incursions in another border state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as its own.

Pressed for a debate, the government fielded Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who told the House that Indian troops had repulsed a Chinese intrusion attempt at the LAC on Dec 9 but noted that neither any territory was lost nor was any soldier seriously injured.

The minister then left the House without taking any questions from the opposition members, provoking the Congress and several other parties to stage a walk out in protest.

“We had asked for a debate not a statement and that too without any clarifications,” Rajya Sabha member Syed Naseer Hussain said.

As the Congress accused the government of hiding facts about land grabs by China, the Centre alleged that the country had lost a big chunk of territory to China in the 1962 war when the grand old party was in power and stressed that a befitting response would be given if the neighbour dared to attack India now.

To this the Congress argument was that then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had valued parliamentary norms and allowed a debate demanded by then BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee even as the Chinese aggression was on, instead of hiding behind the cover of national security concerns.

Rahul vs foreign minister

As the Congress locked horns with the Centre over the China issue inside Parliament, Rahul Gandhi slammed the government during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan saying the Asian Dragon was preparing for a war against India but the Centre was ignoring the threat. He also said the Indian soldiers had been thrashed by the Chinese troops on Dec 9 and that Foreign Affairs minister S Jaishankar needed to study the matter in depth.

A few days later, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar acknowledged in Parliament that India’s relations with China were “not normal”, but targeted Rahul over his remarks ‘against’ the Indian soldiers.

Congress Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh hit back at the minister saying if that was the case why he did not call the Chinese Ambassador and issue a demarche as he had done with the Pakistan High Commissioner.

The Congress leader also wondered if India-China relations were not normal, why was China allowed to have an advantage in bilateral trade and why did the Indian troops conduct joint exercises with the Chinese soldiers in Russia.

“Why is our trade dependence on China at a record high with imports at $95 billion in 2021-22 and the trade deficit at $74 billion? Why did our troops conduct military exercises with Chinese troops at Russia’s Vostok-22 exercise in September 2022,” asked Ramesh.

“We agree with the external affairs minister that our jawans should be “respected, honoured and appreciated” as they stand strong against our adversaries. Was it this respect that led PM Modi to say “no one has entered our territory” on June 19, 2020, days after 20 soldiers laid down their lives defending our borders,” he said.

The bloody clashes at Galwan Valley resulted in the India-China relations taking a plunge and have yet not reached normalcy yet.

According to Ramesh, the minister claimed that “we will not let China change the status of the LAC unilaterally” but his statement was not true.

“Has the status quo at the LAC not been altered by Chinese troops reaching 18 km deep in Depsang for the last two years? Is it not altered by the fact that our troops are unable to access 1,000 sq km of territory in eastern Ladakh that they earlier patrolled? Is it not altered by the fact that we have agreed to buffer zones that prevent our patrols from going to areas they previously could go to? When will the minister unequivocally declare that restoration of the pre-2020 status quo is our objective,” said Ramesh.

Congress questions foreign policy

Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi slammed the Centre over its China policy saying the PM’s clean chit “emboldened the Chinese further and led to the latest incursion in Arunachal Pradesh. BJP leader Tapir Gao too had been highlighting the Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh but the government simply ignored it.”

The Congress Lok Sabha member alleged that China was exploiting the weakness of the PM. “When the PM gave a clean chit to the Chinese in 2020, they understood that he only cares about his image. Hence, they keep violating the LAC. They are building infrastructure like 5G networks and roads there to conduct military exercises there. We must be alert and counter them. The government should tell the nation what it plans to do to defend our borders,” said Gogoi.

He said the Congress was asking questions as it was concerned over national security. “We are asking these questions because we are concerned over the safety of the nation. Instead of attacking China, the Centre attacks us. Mere banning 59 Chinese apps is nothing when the government has allowed China to benefit in bilateral trade,” Gogoi said.

The Congress leader alleged that various incursions along the China border showed that Indian foreign policy was failing somewhere.

“We do not know who is deciding the foreign policy, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh or NSA Ajit Doval. The FM makes some strong statements abroad and thinks the job is done. The PM hides behind his ministers and does not come out to explain what is happening,” said Gogoi.

The Congress leader said the response of South Asian nations like Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan on the latest Chinese incursion in Arunachal Pradesh shows that India’s allies were doing a balancing act instead of condemning the aggressor.

Cong vs Home Minister

Amid the war of words between the treasury and the opposition benches during the Parliament session, Union Home Minister Amit Shah targeted the Congress by saying that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had received donations from the Chinese embassy.

“If they would have allowed it, I would have given an answer in Parliament that Rajiv Gandhi Foundation received a grant of Rs 1.35 crore from the Chinese embassy during 2005-06 and 2006-07, which was not appropriate as per the FCRA. So as per the rules, the Home Ministry cancelled its registration,” Shah said.

The Congress in turn questioned the Centre over Chinese donations to the PM Cares fund, the Vivekananda Foundation, contracts to Chinese companies and BJP’s contacts with the Chinese Communist Party.

“We have nothing to hide in the funding of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation…it is transparent. But we would like to know why the Chinese embassy has been funding the India Foundation and the Vivekananda Foundation since 2016 and why the BJP partners with the Chinese Communist Party,” Congress media head Pawan Khera said.

Khera alleged that various Chinese companies had donated money to the PM CARES fund. A Chinese company Dong Feng, which was blacklisted by the World Bank, the US and the European Union, had been given a contract to install smart electricity metres in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

Khera further alleged the government had signed an MoU worth Rs 43,000 cr with a Chinese company in Gujarat’s Dholera. He also charged that the BJP had taken help from Chinese companies like UC web mobile and Share IT in 2019 for poll purposes. According to Khera, the saffron party had sent its legislators to take lessons from the Chinese Communist Party and had even suggested to them that the two should form a global partnership as they were the big parties of their respective countries.

SAD president Sukhbir Badal met UP CM Yogi Adityanath after the Allahabad High Court commuted the life sentence awarded to 47 UP policemen by a CBI court for extra-judicial killing of 10 Sikh men in UP in 1991, to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment, writes Mudit Mathur

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court commuted the life sentence to seven years of rigorous imprisonment awarded to 47 UP policemen by a CBI court for extra-judicial killing 10 Sikh men in three fake encounters in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh, in 1991 in the same night of 12 July. The policemen allegedly gunned down the Sikh men in three separate encounters in the thickets falling under three different police station areas— Bilsanda, Niuria and Pooranpur— in Pilibhit. These Sikh youths have gone there on a pilgrimage tour from Gurdaspur (Punjab) including some of them accompanying their wives and parents.

The High Court judgement came as shock to many who believe in rule of law and justice. Soon after the judgement delivered by High Court on 16th December,2022, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal rushed to Lucknow the very next day along with SAD- Sri Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee  (SGPC) delegation and met UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

After the meeting with Yogi Adityanath, Badal tweeted on his handle, “CM @myogiofficealso agreed to look into SAD plea to file appeal in SC against Allahabad high court order overturning life sentence given to 43 cops for killing 10 Sikhs in fake encounters in Pilibhit in 1991. Delegation called for exemplary punishment to killers of innocents.” The lone Sikh Minister in UP cabinet Balwant Singh Aulakh was also present during talks but when “Tehelka” approached him to know further progress of the matter he replied, “I will inform after enquiring from concerned officers.” Later he did not respond.

Setting aside the trial court’s verdict which convicted the policemen of murder and criminal conspiracy, the High Court convicted them of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. “It is not the duty of the police officers to kill the accused merely because he/she is a dreaded criminal. Undoubtedly, the police have to arrest the accused and put them up for a trial,” the bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Saroj Yadav held in its 179-page order commuting lifeterm of 43 cops/appellants from Section 302 IPC to Section 304 Part I IPC.

The court convicted the 43 Policemen under Section 304 Part I of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment along with fine of Rs 10,000, which the High Court considers adequate in the circumstances of the case.

The Court was hearing the appeals moved by 43 appellants/cops challenging the order passed by Special Judge, C.B.I. /Additional District Judge, Lucknow in April 2016 convicting them for life imprisonment under Sections 120-B, 302, 364, 365, 218, 117 IPC. A total of 57 policemen were charge-sheeted in the case, of which 14 are now dead.

“The case of the appellants is that they killed ten terrorist persons as they eliminated them in self-defence because when they saw the terrorists came out from the forest area, then, they challenged them and all of a sudden, the terrorists opened fire and in retaliation and in self-defence, the appellants had opened fire and in that way, ten terrorist persons were killed in the firing…The claim of the appellants that they killed ten terrorist persons in self-defence does not corroborate with the medical evidence,” the Bench observed.

Setting aside the trial court’s verdict which convicted the policemen of murder and criminal conspiracy, the High Court convicted them of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, observing that their case would be covered by Exception 3 to Section 300 of the IPC, the Court held that the appellants, being police officers, exceeded the powers given to them by law, and they caused the death of the deceased by doing an act that they, in good faith, believed to be lawful and necessary for the due discharge of their duty.

The ordeal of police encounters still traumatises

Balwinderjeet Kaur, 51, who hails from Arjanpur village of Gurdaspur Punjab.“I was seven month pregnant and went for bowing our head at the holy Sikh shrines, including Patna Sahib in Bihar, Gurudwara Nanakmatta Sahib in Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand (then in Uttar Pradesh), Hazur Sahib in Nanded, Maharashtra in a hired luxury bus with other Sikh pilgrims from Pilibhit district of UP where we came to visit our relatives. We were returning home after visiting these places when we were intercepted and stopped by U.P. police teams.They checked our bus and targeted all Sikh youths and dragged them down and loaded them in police vehicles and left behind shocking screaming ladies behind,” recalled Kaur who was prime eyewitness to expose police plot before the trial court.

However, the High Court held her testimony doubtful and commuted life term into seven years rigorous imprisonment along with fine of Rs 10,000. The victims’ families are now planning to go in appeal against the judgement before Supreme Court, which they feel is unjustified and inconsistent with law.

Chinese President Xi Jinping after having been re-elected for an unprecedented third term in power is back to his agenda to assert global ambitions. For this he, perhaps, is keen to repeat the strategy of using Covid-19 pandemic, this time with new variants, writes Gopal Misra

Now firmly saddled in China’s unpredictable murky politics, a confident President Xi Jinping by getting a third term, violating the country’s constitution and after dumping his peers in the polit bureau, is back to his agenda for asserting Dragon’s global ambitions, perhaps, outshining, Sun Yat-sen or Mao Zedong, the legendary leaders of China. For this he, perhaps, is keen to repeat the strategy of using Covid-19 pandemic, this time with new variants, accompanied by the belligerence of the People Liberation Army (PLA) supported by ‘hawks’ serving various think tanks of Shanghai’s academic circles etc.

The spread of pandemic is not just a health issue, but it has become a part of geo-economics and finally the Chinese assertion of a superpower.

Further emboldened by more than three-hour long US President Biden-Jinping summit at Bali in November 2022, the two leaders appear to be catering to their respective domestic constituencies. Therefore, it is not surprising that his political opponents, especially of the Republican Party leaders, accuse the octogenarian American president of indulging in the public relations exercise, which could also be ‘serving his family’s ‘financial interests’ instead of restoring peace between Ukraine and Russia. Irritated by his ambivalent attitudes, there are echoes of initiating impeachment proceedings against Biden in 2023. All these developments are taking place amidst the reports of new variants of Corona-19 being spread again from China.

In spite of the rhetoric of curtailing China’s economic power, the Biden administration, the USA’s allies in NATO, especially France and Germany, accuse him of serving the financial interests of his country’s military-industrial establishment at their cost. In European media, the last minute nuclear sub-marine deal with Australia in 2022 is being frequently cited as an American greed at the cost of France, its NATO ally, which had almost finalized a massive  submarine deal with the Kangaroo country. Also, his administration has shelved the international investigation regarding the spread of the Covid-19 virus demanded by the Trump administration.

The apprehension among democratic countries is quite natural across the continents that the Biden administration appears to be in no mood to tell China to see reason and adhere to the international protocol. The reason, perhaps, is that the production units of the American corporate in China are having liberal supply of Russian gas, while the rest of Europe is being deprived of the precious energy supply this bitter winter.

The democratic world is rightly apprehensive that China would repeat a new aggressive posture. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, China had ended the concept of two systems within a country in Hong Kong. The then US President, Donald Trump, had decided to ‘punish’ China for its mischief, but the American corporate prevented any substantive action against China. The Indian PM, Narendra Modi, too had played the role of a peace-maker on the reported advice of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Xi Jinping had promptly reciprocated the Indian peace initiative with the PLA’s aggression on the India-Tibet borders in the Galwan valley of Ladakh. Similarly, the Chinese have reignited a new confrontation with India, this time, in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Implications of the New Virus

It is quite reassuring that in India, while the protocols needed  for tackling this new menace are being worked out, that there is a caution but no panic. In recent weeks, the Indian social media, and now the mainline newspapers are abuzz with the reports regarding the re-emergence of the deadly man-made Corona Virus, but most of the scientists in India consider it just a rumour, as part of a bid to create Panic in the country, However, the Union Health Ministry and the related organizations such as Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are keeping a vigil on the reported spread of a  new strain of this deadly virus, again originating from China.

Interestingly, the democratic world is also being hit by the  Chinese proxies in America. It is quite known that China has already established about 100 Confucius Institutes, thus penetrating the American universities. Similarly, through liberal doses of advertisements and even by buying shares in American newspapers and channels, Chinese have strong lobby in America. With this soft power, China could pressurise the American media without any difficulty.

They frequently publish the emergence of new variants of the  Covid-19, but they seldom publish about the alliance of the international pharmaceutical giants and the laboratories engaged in creating treatments as well as new strains. With the earth’s population crossing the eight billion mark, it could be a part of some American corporate agenda to contain the population with new variants of man-made viruses.

American funds and tycoons like Bill Gates, in an interview on a video channel had indicated, but later he denied having ever said to use viruses for containing the population. However, the emergence of the new variants might enable international pharmaceutical giants to make huge profits by developing and selling vaccines.

In India, the worry is that any lockdown might hit the countri’s economy as well as she has to take further precautions against any Chinese aggression. India being a frontline state having nearly 300 kilometres of her borders with Tibet, now under the Chinese occupation, has to be cautious and alert.

Could it be just a repeat of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had a new strain Alpha initially detected  in the United Kingdom? Later, it had spread to 192  locations worldwide. It contains several key mutations in the spike protein – the key the virus uses to gain entry to human cells – that mark it out from the original Wuhan strain. Another is N501Y mutation, which is more contagious.

The COVID-19 vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments remain highly effective against these new variants, because they could slip past the body’s immune defences by evading neutralising antibodies generated through vaccination or previous infection.

The government faces a tricky situation because if it gives in to the demand, it would defeat the very purpose of giving Kashmiri Pandits an employment in the valley, which was meant to incentivize their return to their homeland, writes Riaz Wani

  It is for many months now that Kashmiri Pandit employees posted in Kashmir Valley are demanding their transfer to Jammu following the killings of a few of them by the militants. But the administration has refused to budge and insisted that the employees who have fled to Jammu should rejoin their duties. The matters came to a head recently when the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha asked the protesting employees to return to Kashmir, failing which their salaries will not be disbursed.

Talking to the media persons in Jammu, the LG said that almost all migrant Kashmiri Pandits have been posted at various district headquarters and there may be some whose issues are being resolved.

“We have a nodal officer who is monitoring the grievances of migrant Kashmiri Pandits. All measures are being taken to resolve their issues,” Sinha said. “But one can’t sit at home and enjoy the salary and other perks.”

He, however, said that some targeted killings of Pandits took place after which the community raised some concerns. “The administration took swift action and resolved the issues confronting the Kashmiri Pandit employees working under PMRP (Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package),” the LG said.

Pandits are up in arms ever since the militants shot dead Rahul Bhat— a Kashmiri Pandit employee posted at the Revenue Department office in Budgam district – in May. Subsequently, the Resistance Front (TRF), said to be a shadow organisation of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), threatened the valley’s Hindus to leave the region.

The TRF released a list of Kashmiri Pandits saying that non-locals and Kashmiri Hindus were taking away their jobs and land in Kashmir. In fact, the list of Kashmiri Hindus TRF planned to target was the same one that the government had employed under a prime minister’s package.

This has been a cause of concern for security agencies. The disclosure of names is being seen as a big breach of security as questions are being raised as to how the TRF got access to this confidential document.

There are around 4,000 Pandit employees recruited under a special package and all of them are seeking posting away from the Valley. Similarly, nearly 8,000 employees from different districts of the Jammu division are working in Kashmir under an inter-district transfer policy and a predominant majority of them are non-Muslims.

Twenty four people have been killed in Kashmir over the last year, the victims include migrant labourers and security personnel returning for holidays to their homes.

Pandit employees are demanding that the government waive off the bond requiring them to remain permanently posted in Kashmir. The government’s quandary is that if it gave in to their demand, it would defeat the very purpose of the Pandits’ employment in Kashmir, and which is to somehow incentivize the return of Pandits to their homeland.

This is, thus, a very tricky situation and the government is doing a tightrope walk to ensure both of its ends are served: killings and threats stop altogether and Pandits also don’t leave, and go to their duties.

Hence, the warning from LG Sinha to Pandit employees to return to their duties. But this has further riled Kashmiri Pandits who see returning to the Valley and attending duties as risking their lives. Union Minister Jitendra Singh has, however, come to the rescue of Pandits. Taking a direct dig at the LG Sinha, Singh said that he personally believed that nothing is more important than a life.

“I would say that if there is a threat to even one life, even a dozen offices could be shut,” Dr Jitendra Singh told the media in Jammu.

But this has brought the Kashmiri Pandit issue nowhere close to resolution. Meanwhile, Pandits continue to protest in Jammu seeking their transfer from the Valley.