1. It’s Spy Vs Spy: India, Pakistan Expel a Mission Staffer Each Within Hours
The already strained ties between India and Pakistan dipped further on Thursday when New Delhi and Islamabad expelled a staffer each at their High Commissions, declaring them ‘persona non-grata’ in a tit-for-tat action, after Delhi Police said it had uncovered a spy ring involving an employee of the Pakistani mission. Both staffers were given identical deadlines to leave – by 29 October.
In Delhi, police arrested two Indians – a third was arrested later – and accused a Pakistan High Commission staffer, Mehmood Akhtar, of receiving “sensitive” defence documents, including details of BSF deployment on the border, from them. While Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir were sent to police custody, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar called Pakistan’s High Commissioner Abdul Basit and declared Akhtar a ‘persona non grata’ for spying.
Hours later, in a retaliatory move, Pakistan declared Surjeet Singh, an Indian official at the High Commission in Islamabad, as ‘persona non grata’ but did not spell out any charge.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. We’ll Prove to the Public Mistry’s Lying: Tata Sons
Dismissed Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry took his gloves off in his widely-leaked 2,100-word mail to the board targeting Ratan Tata and people close to him with a string of allegations of bad business bets and questionable deals. On Thursday , Tata Sons kept its gloves on in its response through a press release that steered clear of specifics, but made it amply clear that it wouldn't hesitate to bare its knuckles.
Even while professing that it was “beneath the dignity of Tata Sons to engage in a public spat”, it issued a thinly-veiled threat that it was prepared to abandon strategic restraint and strike back at a time and place of its choosing: “The record, as and when made public, will prove things to the contrary.”
Pointing out that Mistry had been on board since 2006 and deputy chairman for a year till he formally replaced Ratan Tata in December-end 2012, it said, “It is unfortunate that it is only on his removal“ that “malicious allegations“ and “unsubstantiated claims“ were being made about “business decisions that the former chairman was party to for over a decade in different capacities”.
(Source: The Times of India)
3. Military’s Hopes Dashed as Government Retains Rank Equation
The government on Thursday decided to stick to a controversial Army rank structure that has allegedly led to disparity between military and civilian grades and fanned resentment in the armed forces.
A defence ministry statement said, “There has been no downgrade or any change in the existing equivalence of the service ranks whatsoever”, though a section of Army officers are citing an 18 October letter to allege discrepancy in rank parity with civilian officials.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar too had said on Tuesday that any discrepancy would be corrected in a week.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Wanted to Hit LeT Camps in Pakistan After 26/11 Strike: Shivshankar Menon
When Mumbai was attacked on 26/11, Shivshankar Menon, the then Foreign Secretary who went on to become National Security Advisor to the UPA government, pressed for immediate military retaliation “either against the LeT in Muridke, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, or their camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, or against the ISI, which was clearly complicit” because it “would have been emotionally satisfying”.
At that point in 2008, Menon believed that a military retaliation would have “gone a long way in erasing the shame of the incompetence that India’s police and security agencies displayed in the glare of the world’s television lights for full three days”.
“On sober reflection and in hindsight… the decision not to retaliate militarily and to concentrate on diplomatic, covert, and other means was the right one for that time and place,” Menon writes in the chapter titled ‘Restraint or Riposte: The Mumbai Attack and Cross-Border Terrorism from Pakistan’ in his book ‘Choices: Inside the making of India’s Foreign Policy’, released in the United States and United Kingdom.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Son Missing, a Mom’s Piercing Wail
The mother of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, missing since 15 October after a clash with ABVP members, broke down at a news conference in New Delhi on Thursday and begged for her son to be "set free".
“What have the police done; what has the university done to the boys who beat up my son? He is with them, please act against them,” Fatima Nafees said between sobs. “Every day when I wake up, I wonder if I would see him today. Those holding him captive, please set him free.”
There is no proof yet that Najeeb has been kidnapped. Police sources said in private that they were probing all possibilities, including whether someone with vested interests had deliberately kept him captive to foment mischief. Even the relatives of the students are being kept under surveillance, the sources said. Till now, all these approaches have led the police to dead-ends.
(Source: The Telegraph)
6. Kashmir: One Jawan Killed, Another Injured as Army Foils Infiltration Bid
A jawan was killed and another injured on Thursday as Army foiled an infiltration bid in Tangdhar sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. “An infiltration bid was foiled in Tangdhar as troops intercepted a group of terrorists attempting to infiltrate,” an Army official said. He said in the ensuing gunfight, one soldier was killed while another was injured. “The injured soldier has been evacuated,” he said.
The official said the operation was in progress and further details were awaited. This development comes hours after two ceasefire violations by Pakistan, one in RS Pura and Arnia sectors in Jammu and the other in KG Sector of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir. The Army said that it is responding effectively.
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. Ministry to Move Cabinet For Ban on Naik’s NGO
The Home Ministry is all set to move a Cabinet note for a ban on an NGO run by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, under the anti-terror law, a senior official has said.
Banning an organisation under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) requires an approval by the Cabinet and the Home Ministry is now preparing a robust proposal.
The NGO, Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), will be declared an “unlawful association,” primarily on the basis of four key points – criminal cases against Naik, his provocative speeches, the NGO’s dubious relationship with the banned Peace TV and transfer of the NGO’s money to Peace TV. The key points have been pieced together by the Maharashtra Police and intelligence agencies. “We have a good case against him,” said the official.
(Source: The Hindu)
8. China Returns Boycott Salvo
China on Thursday cautioned that even an informal “boycott” of the country's goods in India could hit future investments and hurt Indian interests more than its own, amid social media campaigns urging Diwali shoppers not to buy products from that country.
The campaigns, and China's response, follow a sharpening of differences between the two countries over Pakistan-backed terrorism, a transit corridor China is building through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, and Beijing's opposition to India joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
The campaigns for a boycott of Chinese goods come amid growing tensions between the neighbours. Earlier this week, China protested a visit by the US ambassador in India, Richard Verma, to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of its territory. The Arunachal government had earlier this month also invited the Dalai Lama to visit the state next April, an invitation the Buddhist leader has accepted.
(Source: The Telegraph)
9. BJP States to SC: Religion Part of Society, Can’t Spell Out Dos and Don’ts of Poll Manifestos
Three BJP-ruled states told the Supreme Court on Thursday that “religion is not an anathema to the Constitution” but “a part of society”, so the courts should refrain from laying down any “straitjacket standard” on what an election manifesto can or cannot contain.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, arguing for the state governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, submitted before a seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur that it was not possible to separate religion from society, and hence it was “impossible” for the courts to define yardsticks in this regard.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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