Newsletter 8 January

Sino-Indian Standoff: An overhaul of an Indian strike corps' operational role constitutes a strategic signal that will resonate equally in Beijing and Rawalpindi

Sizable Indian soldiers move to China border: Analyst

The Indian Army’s shift of two infantry divisions from the Pakistan border to the China border is a major strategic signal. Yet, most of the army’s 38 divisions will continue to face Pakistan:

China: 14 divisions
Pakistan: 22 divisions
Army HQ reserve: 2 divisions

‘China is now primary front. Rules of game have changed,’ Indian army chief tells magazine editor.
An unspecified number of Indian soldiers deployed in Kashmir to fight the popular armed insurgency has been shifted to the border with China in Ladakh province, a reputed defense analyst said.
“I can’t reveal the numbers but a sizable number of Rashtriya Rifles soldiers have been moved to the Line of Actual Control (LAC),” Pravin Sawhney, a former Indian army officer and editor of defense magazine, FORCE, told Anadolu Agency.
“The fact that they have been shifted to the LAC should be an indicator enough for the reason behind the move,” Sawhney added when asked what prompted the withdrawal and redeployment.
Sawhney has been advocating the withdrawal of the army from counterinsurgency operations in Kashmir so they could focus on border security and what he considers the bigger threat — the People’s Liberation Army. He has called for “making peace with Pakistan and seeking areas of cooperation with China.”
The Rashtriya Rifles (RR) is the name given to the Indian army’s battalions that have been deployed in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990 to counter the popular anti-India insurgency that erupted the same year.
The 67,000-strong force is the largest counter-insurgency force in world, as per to FORCE magazine. For comparison, Australia has only 57,050 active military personnel.
The RR troops are deployed in the entire Kashmiri rural hinterland. The number of poorly-armed militants tied against this force hovers between 200 and 300, according to the police data for the past few years.
Human rights and pro-freedom groups have accused the RR of committing grave human rights abuses, like torture, extra-judicial killings, and enforced disappearances of civilians.
Recently, the Indian army initiated proceedings against a RR captain charged with killing 3 laborers and passing them off as “terrorists” on July 18 last year.
Sawhney also tweeted that India’s Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane told him in an interview that “China is (now) the primary front. Rules of the game have changed.”
Besides the redeployment of RR troops to Ladakh, Sawhney tweeted that the “overall RR headquarters are being moved from Delhi to Udhampur.”
Indian army’s Northern Command is headquartered in Udhampur district of JnK.
During the Kargil war in 1999, some RR troops participated in action against the Pakistani troops and the militants who had intruded into the Indian side in the Ladakh region.
“Most of the RR soldiers have been withdrawn from northern Kashmir. The situation in south Kashmir is not conducive for any withdrawal at the moment,” a police officer involved in counterinsurgency told Anadolu Agency on the condition of anonymity.
“Whether this shifting is temporary or permanent depends upon how the situation in Ladakh unfolds,” he said and added that the withdrawal has been going on for some time now.
A major offset that would accrue from the diversion of 1 Corps to a mountain strike corps role in Ladakh is that, for the first time, there will be clarity on the role of 17 Corps.
This was raised almost a decade ago as the first mountain strike corps for the north-eastern border with China but, given the troop and funding shortfalls, it was charged with a role in both the eastern and western sectors.
Now, with 1 Corps responsible for a strike role in Ladakh, 17 Corps will be free to focus on striking key Chinese vulnerabilities in the eastern sector, such as the Chumbi Valley opposite Sikkim.
Meanwhile, 1 Corps can focus on creating deterrence in Ladakh, where – from Depsang to Demchok – there have been clear Chinese targets to strike, but not enough troops to do this.

Army, LAHDC Kargil sign MoU to evacuate Kargil Lower Plateau

In a historic development, a MoU was signed between the LAHDC Kargil and the Army to evacuate the Kargil Lower Plateau.
As per the MoU, substitute land shall be provided to Army near Maratha Unit Kurbathang & Mulbekh area.
The MoU also outlines that the Army shall complete the process of evacuation within 6 months’ time.
The CEC, LAHDC, Kargil and the GOC, 8 Mountain Division said that it is a land mark decision which was a long pending demand of the people of Kargil and will pave way for the establishment of a new and well planned township in Kargil with all modern amenities under Smart City Project.

NIA asks JnK govt for details about PDP youth prez Waheed Parra’s properties in Srinagar

Parra was arrested by NIA, a day after he had filed his nomination papers from Pulwama in November
The JnK Govt has started gathering details about the properties of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) youth president and recently elected District Development Council (DDC) member Waheed ur Rehman Parra in Srinagar on the instructions of National Investigative Agency (NIA).
NIA alleged that Parra had paid money through suspended Deputy SP of Jammu and Kashmir Police Davinder Singh, who has already been arrested for ferrying terrorists from Srinagar to Jammu.

Retired Army personnel, Sourabh Sharma, arrested in a joint operation of the military intelligence and the UP Anti-Terrorist Squads for allegedly sharing classified information after he was trapped by a woman who posed as a defense journalist on social media.

India to chair UNSC’s crucial Taliban and Libya sanctions committees, panel on counter-terrorism

UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti will chair the CTC in 2022, the year in which India will commemorate the 75^th anniversary of its independence
India will chair the crucial Taliban and Libya sanctions committees and the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council during its tenure as non-permanent member of the powerful 15-nation UN body.
India, which has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the UNSC, began its two-year tenure at the Council on Fri last.
The 3 committees are highly significant subsidiary bodies of the UNSC and India chairing them is a ringing endorsement of the country’s leadership to steer the panels.
India is a leading voice at the UN in the fight against the global scourge of terrorism, particularly the threat posed in the region by cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
India has underscored that the fight against terrorism will be a key priority for it as it sits at the UN high-table for the 2021-22 term.
In 2021, India, Norway, Kenya, Ireland and Mexico join non-permanent members Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam and the five permanent members China, France, Russia, UK and the US in the Council.
It is the 8^th time that the country has had a seat on the powerful horseshoe table.

Emmanuel Bonne called on PM Narendra Modi

‘France is not letting China play anti-India games at UNSC’, says Emmanuel Bonne Diplomatic Advisor to the President of France Emmanuel Macron,
France has been very supportive of India at the UNSC on the Kashmir issue, not allowing China to play any “procedural games”, a visiting senior French official said on Thu.
Emmanuel Bonne, the diplomatic advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron, was here for the annual India-France strategic dialogue with NSA Ajit Doval.
“When it comes to the Himalayas, just check our statements, we are perfectly clear. What we say publicly, we say to the Chinese also privately, there is no ambiguity,” said Bonne, speaking at a public event after the meeting with Doval.
France has also in the past helped India get JeM leader Masood Azhar designated global terrorist by the UN.
“When China breaks the rules, we have to be very robust and very clear and this is the sense of our naval presence in the Indian Ocean,” he said, while delivering a lecture on “France and India: Partners for a Stable and Prosperous Indo-Pacific”

Jammu and Kashmir cadre of IAS, IPS and IFoS officers merged with AGMUT

The Jammu and Kashmir cadre of IPS, IAS and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) was merged with the AGMUT cadre on Thursday and its officers will now be posted by the central government. Now, the officers of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir cadre can be posted to Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and any union territory.

To stall his extradition, NiMo cites Assange case

Absconding billionaire jeweler Nirav Modi brought up the Julian Assange case at the closing submissions of his extradition hearing in London, arguing that in the same way a UK judge ruled it was “unjust and oppressive” to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the US, it would also be the same to extradite him to India owing to his serious mental illness and high risk of suicide.

No kids under 15, no standing spectators, shorter parade - Covid forces a ‘different’ R-Day

The 2021 Republic Day parade on 26 January will come just days before India completes a year of its battle against Covid-19.
The 2021 Republic Day parade on 26 Jan will come just days before India completes a year of its battle against Covid-19 – the first coronavirus case in the country was reported last Jan, and the first fatality recorded in Mar.
ThePrint reported quoting a senior Govt officials, the 2021 Republic Day parade will be a low-key affair with 25,000 spectators, as compared to 1.15 lakh last yr.

Farmer Protest Row

Round 8 of Kisan-Centre talks: ‘Repealing the laws is the only way forward’, farmer unions tell Agriculture Minister NS Tomar.

Centre, farmers’ unions leaders 8th round of talks going on

Before the meeting, both farmers’ union leaders and Union agriculture minister NS Tomar on Fri expressed hope that a solution to the issues will be found.
So far, 7 rounds of talks between the two sides have failed to resolve the deadlock, with the Govt firm the laws won’t be repealed, while the farmers are adamant on a complete rollback.
Congress MPs and leaders who are protesting against Centre’s 3 farm laws at Jantar Mantar meet party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Rahul Gandhi’s residence

BJP issues ultimatum to Jagan govt over temple, idol desecrations

The recent incidents where temples came under attack in Andhra Pradesh has led to a political war of words and the BJP has said that the fight against the Govt will not stop till justice is met.
BJP plans state wide agitation against Temple attacks in Andhra Pradesh
Can the AP government crack the case around the temple attacks mystery?

Rajdhani superfast special train between Mumbai-Delhi to speed up from Jan 9

The Central Railway on Thu announced that the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani superfast special train will speed up and have an additional halt at Gwalior from Jan 9 onwards.
Similarly, the train will depart from Hazrat Nizamuddin at 4.55 pm every Tue, Thu, Sat and Sun and reach at CSMT at 11.15 am the next day, the Rail Ministry said.
A 1537 km distance will be covered with 18.20 hrs

NEIGHBORHOOD/ WORLD

Pakistan court sentences Mumbai attack mastermind and LeT commander Lakhvi to 15 years for terrorism financing

Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi was sentenced to 15 yrs concurrently on 3 separate counts of the offence, with a fine of 100,000 rupees on each count, an order from the court said.

Global terrorist Masood Azhar is finally a wanted man in Pak. Dawood next?

The arrest warrant issued against Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), is the first small step against the global terrorist who was claimed by Islamabad to have disappeared.
Pakistani diplomats last year told the global anti-terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that it hadn’t been able to take action against Masood Azhar because he was missing.
Indian officials had then rebutted Pakistan, pointing that he was still holed up in his bomb-proof house behind the terror group’s Bahawalpur headquarters at Markaz-e-Usman-o-Ali, Railway Link Road, in Pakistan.
The FATF kept Islamabad in its ‘grey list’ that continued to make it difficult for Khan’s Govt to get financial aid from international lending agencies such as the IMF.
As he faces the most serious challenge from a combined opposition that has been mobilizing public opinion against him, Pakistan watchers say that Imran Khan’s best chance to hold power is to get the economy back on rails to ensure that the opposition campaign doesn’t find traction with the people. By most accounts, it isn’t easy.
Indian officials explain Pakistan’s recent steps – a warrant against Azhar who had been shielded for a decade at UN Security Council meetings by Islamabad as well as Beijing and the arrest of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi – to Islamabad’s desperation to get off the ‘grey list’.

US to pay ‘heavy price’ if UN ambassador goes to Taiwan: China

China “firmly opposes” the visit and demands the US cancel its plans, the statement added, and reiterating Beijing’s one-China policy that maintains Taiwan is a province of the nation.
the Chinese mission to the UN said on Thu threatened that the United States would pay a “heavy price” if its United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft kept plans announced by the State Department to travel to Taiwan next week.
“China strongly urges the US to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-US relations and the two countries’ cooperation in the UN, and stop going further on the wrong path.”
The American UN mission said Thu evening that Craft would be in Taipei from Jan 13 -15^th, meeting with Taiwanese officials and other members of the diplomatic community.
“During her trip, the Ambassador will reinforce the U.S. Govt’s strong and ongoing support for Taiwan’s international space,” the American statement said.

Administration officials under President Donald Trump already visited Taiwan last year, despite opposition from Beijing, amid US-Chinese tensions over trade, security and human rights.

Another Wuhan awaits China at Hebei following surge in COVID-19 infections ANI

Amid the Chinese claims of COVID-19 containment, another Wuhan awaits in Hebei province, a geographical buffer zone around the capital Beijing, reported Asia Times.

COVID-19

Three-day nationwide polio immunization drive to begin on Jan 17^th: Dr Harsh Vardhan

A 3-day national immunization drive for polio will begin in the country on Jan 17, said Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Fri.
The minister is on a visit to Tamil Nadu to oversee the dry run drill for coronavirus vaccination.
The second nationwide mock drill on the COVID-19 vaccination is being held at 3-session sites of 736 districts across 33 states/UTs today.
The dry run is aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system.
It will also help to assess operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in a field environment for planning, implementation and reporting at the block, district and state level.