6 MARCH 2015

Ø  India, Iran and Russia should be included in the talks with the Taliban, says former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who said that the current talks among the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) were Afghanistan’s “only hope for peace” despite the fact that the talks were being held in Pakistan. We have no other hope for peace. Which is what forces us to accept a condition we are unhappy with (on the venue for talks in Pakistan). Of course, we aren’t happy that these talks aren’t being held in Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai’s comments came as there was uncertainty in Islamabad over just when the next round of QCG talks that include representatives from the U.S., China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, would be scheduled. The group had met twice, in February in Islamabad on February 6 and Kabul on February 23, expressing the hope that the direct talks between the Afghan government and Taliban representatives would be scheduled in early March, after which the QCG had met. However, in a statement on Saturday, the Taliban said it would not attend the talks until all the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces had left the country. “We reject all such rumours and unequivocally state that the leader of Islamic emirate has not authorised anyone to participate in this meeting”, the statement reported on by agencies in Kabul said. “(Islamic emirate) once again reiterates that unless the occupation of Afghanistan is ended, blacklists eliminated and innocent prisoners freed, such futile misleading negotiations will not bear any results”. Afghan analysts have also been worried that the presence of the U.S. and China in the QCG would push President Ghani to accept more and more concessions toward the Taliban, even though they have been unable to bring enough pressure to bear on Pakistan to use those “levers”. “We believe China has an influence on Pakistan, and we hope it will exercise that influence to bring peace in Afghanistan”, Mr. Karzai said, adding, “Let’s look at it this way… this quadrilateral dialogue implies that the problem for Afghanistan is external, then there are other external players as well who are important. Iran is the first, then India and Russia. They are all friends and neighbours, so I hope the talks would include them too”. India has stayed disengaged from the process, saying that it would support any initiative that is “Afghan-owned and Afghan-led”.

Ø  Days after a top U.S. Admiral expressed keenness in co-ordinated patrols between India and U.S,, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Friday that there was no scope for such patrols at this point of time. As of now India has not taken part in joint patrols but we do participate in joint exercises. So the issue of joint patrols at this time does not arise. Earlier this week Admiral Harry Harris, U.S. Pacific Commander speaking at a seminar here called for turning exercises into coordinated patrols and pitched for quadrilateral cooperation between India, Japan, Australia and the U.S. He said that if such a decision was taken “we will brief the media that we have taken this in the interest of the country.” Responding to a question from The Hindu if the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), one of the three foundational agreements, would be signed with the U.S., Mr. Parrikar said any decision would depend on national interest. U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter is scheduled to visit India in April during which the agreements are expected to be discussed. The Defence Ministry had not returned Rs. 11,000 crore from the budget but had indeed saved the amount by utilising funds locked in the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) account. There is an account for paying the U.S. for defence procurements under the FMS route. The amount is paid to the U.S. government which further pays the companies concerned. For the first time, the Defence Ministry took stock of the FMS. There is an account for managing them... Due to mismanagement, we had slightly less than $3 billion piled up in the account without any interest. Last year, India paid Rs. 6,000 crore for committed liabilities from this account. “We have recalibrated the full management of the account from $3 billion and got down to $1.7 billion”

Ø  China has slammed the ‘Pivot to Asia’ doctrine of the United States, blaming it for the growing tensions the South China Sea, where a trilateral exercise involving New Delhi, Washington, and Tokyo is scheduled later this year. On Friday, the war of words between China and the U.S. escalated when Fu Ying, the spokesperson for the National People’s Conference (NPC), countered the U.S. assertion that China was responsible for the militarisation of the South China Sea. She pointed out that instead, it was Washington’s naval build up under the ‘Pivot to Asia’ doctrine, which was the root cause of tensions in the Asia-Pacific. Talking about militarisation, if we look at those advance ships and aircraft exiting from and entering into the South China Sea, aren’t the majority of them from the United States?

Ø  Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on Tuesday found an abandoned Pakistani fishing boat with a gun on board near Harami Nala area in Kutch district along the Indo-Pak border. As per the primary information available, a boat of Pakistani origin has been found near Harami Nala. We were also informed by the patrolling personnel that a gun was found on board. Further investigation are on. The gun found in the boat appears to be used for poaching.

Ø  Gujarat and the national capital were on high alert with several teams of National Security Guard commandos on standby in the wake of intelligence inputs suggesting that a group of 8 to 10 terrorists may have sneaked into India from Pakistan. The alert came on the eve of Shivratri festival on Monday. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval told the Gujarat police top brass on Saturday about the input on a team of 10 terrorists sneaking into the State to carry out terror strikes. Senior officials in the State claimed that Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Naseer Khan Janjua informed his Indian counterpart about the group of fidayeen from the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e Muhammed on a major mission in the State.

Ø  The banks of the Tungabhadra in Karnataka’s Sirguppa taluk have provided a ray of hope for the revival of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB).  a group of nature enthusiasts and avid birdwatchers sighted three GIBs — two adults and a chick — in interior Sirguppa taluk. The presence of the chick is evidence that the vast grasslands there are a breeding ground for the species that is on the verge of extinction. The team comprised Santosh Martin, president of Sloth Bear Foundation, Abdul Samad Kottur, president of Society for Wildlife and Nature Conservation (SwAN), Sonia Martin and Anand Kundargi. They were among the first to spot the species here in 2006. In the years preceding that, it was assumed that the GIB had been wiped out from Karnataka. The semi-arid and arid grasslands in the interiors of Sirguppa taluk could potentially be a perfect habitat for the Bustard. However, the expanse of irrigation networks has seen the habitat shrinking through the years.