Newsletter 16 April

April 16, 2021
 Team

National

Sino-Indian Standoff: (an ongoing story, for more, see the last letter)

Backed by disruptive tech, China tried to push & shove tactics but India stood firm: CDS Rawat

At the Raisina Dialogue, Chief of Defense Staff (CDS.) Gen Bipin Rawat said on Thu, stopping short of terming Beijing a bully some countries seek to reshape rules that govern global order via geopolitics coupled with geo-economics.

What CDS Said

Backed by its “disruptive technology”, China thought it could compel India to yield to its demands through push and shove, but New Delhi stood firm and prevented a change of status quo, he referred to the border tensions with China.

While he didn’t specify the disruptive technology he was referring to but added it could paralyze the network of systems like banking, power grids, communication to name just a few and adversaries may get embroiled in conflicts in which one of the two warring nations could even be unaware of the conflict at hand.

  • Taking a more firm stand, CDS said China feels it has arrived because of superior armed forces and technological advances.
  • The international community has come to us say that there is an international rule-based order which every nation must follow.
  • The CDS remarks come in the background of a report by the New York Times in Feb this year, which said that Oct 2020 massive power outage in Mumbai was caused by hackers linked to China.

Gen. Rawat was on a panel that discussed: “Future of Conflict: How will democracies respond”.

The panel also featured Gen. Angus Campbell, Chief of Australian Defense Force, and Gen. Koji Yamazaki, Japanese Chief of Staff Tim Cahill, and senior vice-president of US aviation firm Lockheed Martin was also present during the virtual event.

Countries want to reshape the Global Order

  • In a reference to China, Gen. Rawat said some countries are seeking to reshape the rules that govern the global order via geopolitics coupled with geo-economics.
  • Talking about the changing security scenario, he said the world is witnessing changes in geopolitics shaped by a nation-first approach.

Briefly speaking about Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet, Gen. Rawat termed it as a “state of art system” and ruled that the US has offered a lower version of the F series — F-21 to — India.

NIA organized BRICS Seminar on 'Misuse of Internet by Terrorists'

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) organized a two-day Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa (BRICS) Seminar (through virtual mode) on “Misuse of Internet for Terrorist Purposes and Role of Digital Forensics in Terrorist Investigations” on 13-14 April 2021.

In the seminar, 40 experts from the 5-member countries deliberated upon technical sessions including ‘Exploitation of Social Media as an Arsenal’, ‘Dark web and Anonymizers’, ‘Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence’, ‘Cryptocurrency and Virtual Assets: Vulnerability of Privacy and Online Stealth’, Equipping Law Enforcement Agencies: CT Investigations and Digital Forensics to deal with such challenges.

Top IAF commanders begin 3-day conference, review India’s security challenges

The bi-annual commanders’ conference was inaugurated by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh at the Air Headquarters in Delhi, which is attended by the Air Officers Commanding-in-Chief of all commands of the IAF, all principal staff officers, and all director generals posted at the Air Headquarters in Delhi.

  • The commanders will also deliberate on various welfare and human resource measures to improve administrative efficiency in the force.
  • The Indian and Chinese armies have been engaged in negotiating disengagement from the remaining friction points in the region after completing the withdrawal of troops and weapons in the north and south banks of the Pangong Lake in mid-Feb.

In the inaugural address, Singh asked the IAF to prepare a long-term plan to counter future threats on Thu asked top commanders of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to prepare a long-term plan and strategies for capability enhancement to counter future threats.

  • Singh stressed the critical focus of IAF towards reorienting for the future, referring to changing international geopolitics, he observed that the perceptible shift of focus from Trans-Atlantic to Trans-Pacific has become more obvious in the recent past.
  • Changing dimensions of war would now include advanced technologies, asymmetric capabilities, and info-dominance, and the IAF’s preparations for the future must include these aspects,” he added.
  • The defense ministry is working on a plan to set up joint theatre commands for land, sea, and air operations.

Army soldiers have been equipped with the latest weapons including Sig Sauer assault rifles and Galil sniper rifles to take on counter-infiltration, counterterrorist operations along LoC. The more lethal weapons along with Pika machine guns have strengthened troops’ firepower: Indian Army officials

Kumbh Mela to be suspended? Akharas in talks as Covid tally rises, top seer dies, BJP ‘nudges’

  • Niranjani Akhara, an influential sect of Hindu saints part of Kumbh Mela, has decided to conclude their activities, could see other sects follow suit, but consensus unlikely.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a comprehensive review meeting to ensure adequate medical oxygen supply in the country. PM stresses that it is important to ensure synergy across ministries and state Govts to ensure the availability of oxygen.
  • India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeds 11.72 crores
  • Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah hold a roadshow in Krishnanagar.
  • Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa tests COVID-19 positive for the second time

National

Social media access partially restored in Pakistan after blockage to ‘maintain public order’ after Ban on SM

The Ministry of Interior on Fri directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to temporarily block access to social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Telegram from 11 am to 4 pm.

Pak forces expect massive violent protests after Fri prayers this afternoon by the TLP.

  • “It is requested that immediate action may be taken on the subject matter,” the ministry directed the PTA chairman.
  • Following the interior ministry’s directives, Nayatel — an internet service provider — said in a message to its customers that social media platforms had been blocked on the directions of the PTA.
  • Although the ministry did not mention any reason for the suspension, the development comes after several days of unrest in the country due to protests by the recently proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan.
  • Detained TLP chief Saad Rizvi, in a purported handwritten note shared by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill late on Thu, had urged his followers to maintain law and order and avoid blocking roads and highways.
  • Meanwhile, some rights activists criticized Friday’s social media blackout, warning it could lead to more severe curbs on freedoms.
  • Dawn has written an Editorial “A blanket ban on the TLP is a futile attempt to solve a complex problem”

Government bans TLP under the anti-terrorism law

On Thu, the Pak had slapped a ban on the TLP.

A notification declaring TLP as a proscribed organization was issued by the Ministry of Interior shortly after the federal cabinet approved a summary to ban the party.

The National Counter Terrorism Authority had also swiftly added the TLP to the list of banned terrorist organizations taking the total number of such outfits to 79.

China Raises Concerns Over US Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan, Slams 'zero Sum Mindset'

China on April 15 raised concerns over the US decision to pull out its remaining 2,500 troops from war-stricken Afghanistan by the 9/11 terror attacks anniversary.

Beijing said that Washington should accommodate the legitimate security concerns of the regional nations to prevent “terrorist forces” from taking advantage of the crisis in Afghanistan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian also slammed the US for linking US troop withdrawal with enhancing focus on the ‘threats’ posed by China. Lijian told a press briefing that the battle against terrorism is in the common interest of all parties including the US and China. 

China slammed ‘zero-sum mindset’ of US

Further, while answering questions about the US mentioning China’s threats as one of the reasons for the pullout of troops from Afghanistan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the reasoning reflects Washington’s ‘zero-sum mindset’.

“We have to emphasize that the political solution to Afghanistan and early realization of peace and stability in the country and the fight against terrorism are in the common interest of all parties concerned, including China and the US, and are also common aspiration of the international community,” he said.

The US seeks a greater but vaguely-defined role for India in Afghanistan

Acknowledging that India among other countries in the region has a significant stake in Afghanistan, the Biden administration has pledged to ask regional nations to do more to support Kabul even as Washington packs up from the strife-torn country by Sept 11 after a failed 20-year effort to defeat the Taliban.

Concerns for India

In the aftermath of the US and the NATO withdrawal, however, India will have a tremendous concern about the resurgence of the Taliban and its territory being used as a haven for terrorists, experts said.

When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan in the late 1990s, many of those militants, including the L-e-T and J-e-M, trained for operations in India, such as the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, Lisa Curtis, who was Dy Asstt to the President and NSC Senior Director for South and Central Asia from 2017-21 under the previous Trump administration, told PTI.

  • An eminent foreign policy and national security expert with over 20 years of service in the US government, Curtis now is a senior fellow and director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think-tank.
  • Indian officials also remember the close cooperation between the Taliban and militants who in December 1999 hijacked an Indian airliner. India may seek to use its role in regional efforts to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan, like the recent UN effort, to press its goal of ensuring Afghan territory cannot be used by anti-India militants, Curtis said.

India will worry about Taliban-controlled territory being a haven for terrorists again.

  • The real question now is whether after withdrawing its troops, the US will continue to help Kabul and will the Afghan people be able to keep the Taliban at bay, Pak’s Envoy to the US, Husain Haqqani said told PTI.
  • Because the Taliban have shown no interest in peace and the Doha process only reinforced their belief that the US eagerness to leave Afghanistan outweighed its concerns about that country’s future.
  • Pakistan is too deeply tied to the Taliban to stop supporting them now though it should be concerned about the adverse impact Taliban ideology would further have on Pakistan, Haqqani said in response to a question.
  • The Washington Post in a lead editorial asserted that the plans of Biden to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan will lead to disaster in the region.
  • The New York Times said that stopping terrorism groups over the long term could be harder, an opinion also echoed by The Wall Street Journal, “History suggests US interests will suffer”. Adding that president’s exit means he will have to take responsibility for what happens next.
  • The US and the Taliban signed a landmark deal in Doha on Feb 29, 2020, to bring lasting peace to Afghanistan and allow US troops to return from the US’ longest war.
  • Under the US-Taliban pact signed in Doha, the US agreed to withdraw all its soldiers from Afghanistan in 14 months.
  • Since the US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban after the Sept 11th, 2001 attacks, America has spent more than $1 trillion in fighting and rebuilding, while 2400 US plus 10K of Afghan troops, killed in Taliban insurgents and Afghan civilians.

Imran receives a call from Erdogan

Prime Minister Imran Khan received a telephone call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thu, which said to be for the felicitations on the advent of the holy month of Ramazan.

In the regional context, the PM stressed the importance of a negotiated political settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan ahead of the recently announced planned US withdrawal.

He said Pakistan had fully supported and facilitated the US-Taliban peace agreement and the subsequent initiation of intra-Afghan negotiations, which provided a historic opportunity that must be seized by the Afghan leadership to achieve an inclusive, broad-based, and comprehensive political settlement.

China poses the single biggest geopolitical test for the US in the 21st century, says CIA Director

China poses the single biggest geopolitical test for the US in the 21st century, CIA Director William Burns has made the remarks to members of the House Select Committee on Intelligence during a Congressional hearing on ‘worldwide threats’ on Thu, stressing that this threat is more serious than those from Russia during the Cold War.

  • The US and China are at odds over a range of issues from trade to human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong, and China’s western Xinjiang region, as well as over Taiwan, Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea, and the coronavirus pandemic, except Climate change and nuclear nonproliferation are a few of those areas.
  • During the hearing Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, the only Indian-American in the House Intelligence Committee said China possesses substantial cyber-attack capabilities that have been identified with localized infrastructure disruptions in different countries, for instance, following the clashes between China and India on the Line of Actual Control.
  • Congressman and Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said that China and Russia have different capabilities and intentions, but both seek to challenge and disrupt and supplant the liberal democratic order built by the United States.
  • An executive order issued by President Joe Biden this morning makes clear that the US will no longer sit on its hands in the face of Russian aggression, Schiff said.
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