Rs33bn tax evaded in 2010-11

http://dawn.com/2012/06/19/rs33bn-tax-evaded-in-2010-11/

ISLAMABAD: While the government is struggling to reduce the spiralling budget deficit, auditors have unearthed tax evasion and irregularities of more than Rs33 billion in 9,632 cases in 2010-11.

As a result of these irregularities and tax evasion, the FBR had failed to achieve the revenue collection target of Rs1,588 billion for the year.

The shortfall in the revenue collection that the tax machinery had reported in the audit year 2010-11 was over Rs35 billion, which was almost the same amount detected by the auditors. If the FBR officials had plugged in the tax evasion, the revenue target for 2010-11 could be achieved.

Taking clue from this, the FBR is facing a similar revenue shortfall in the outgoing fiscal year as well.

Tax experts say the dodging of such a huge amount is not possible without the connivance of FBR officials.

They believe that officials tasked with generating revenue have instead aided a large number of people to evade duty and taxes by allowing use of non-assessment and short-assessment.

Besides delay in adjudication proceedings, non-recovery of adjudged revenue and inadmissible tax adjustment have been allowed there to get away with evasion.

The office of the Auditor General of Pakistan in its audit report for the year 2011-12 for FBR taxes has unearthed irregularities of Rs33.202 billion. The bulk of tax evasion was recorded in the customs department.

This amount includes Rs4.185 billion audit observation in respect of inadmissible exemption/concessions in customs duties in 1,906 cases in the year 2010-11.

An amount of Rs 9.387 billion was detected because of non-disposal of confiscated goods/vehicles in 3,089 cases.

The report for the year 2011-12 unearthed an irregularities of an amount of Rs14.490 billion because of procedural and financial irregularities in audit of focused areas — bank guarantee, indemnity bonds, bonded warehouses and e-customs.

At the same time, an amount of Rs2.652 billion non/short realisation of advance tax on imports was observed in 3,374 cases.

The audit report shows inadmissible payment of rebate in 81 cases to the tune of Rs242 million; non-realisation of government revenue of Rs554 million in 188 cases due to non-encashment of bank guarantees/post-dated cheques; a revenue loss of Rs134 million because of short realisation of revenue due to under valuation of imported goods.

The report also shows the non-realisation of government revenue on failure to submit re-warehousing certificate to the tune of Rs3.074 billion in 2010-11. Another amount of Rs447 million has been detected to have not been realized on import, export without analysis certificate in 83 cases.It was observed that an amount of Rs142 million revenue loss occurred to exchequer due to un-lawful permission to avail the facility of two manufacturing bond licenses; irregularities of an amount of Rs802 million in six customs offices detected in advance collection/adjustments of customs duties; and non-realisation of surcharge in 43 cases to the tune of Rs29 million.

An mount of Rs116 million has not been collected in 65 cases of sales tax; an amount of Rs17.570 million loss to exchequer because of inadmissible exemption of sales tax to pharmaceutical manufacturers; Rs1.2 million because of un-authorised expenditure on account of POL in excess of ceiling.

The report also points out that Rs2.3 million because of non-short deposit of income tax in government exchequer by eight tax offices.

MPs to get 100pc hike in travel expenses from July 1

http://images.thenews.com.pk/19-06-2012/ethenews/t-15474.htm

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

ISLAMABAD: Through the Finance Bill 2012 passed by the National Assembly in a historic haste and likely to be enacted this week with the signatures of the president, the amount of annual travel vouchers for a parliamentarian will be increased by 100 percent from Rs150,000 to Rs300,000 effective from July 1, 2012.

According to the parliamentary sources, the parliamentarians, as a bonus of the protest by the opposition during first, second and third reading of the budget, passed an amendment to the Finance Bill 2012, which has provided them extra monetary benefit. With this amendment, the TA/DA to each member will be allowed even the respective house is summoned again after three days of its adjournment.

The existing law permitted them second TA/DA only when the president reconvened the house after adjournment for seven days. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the notification regarding the provision of lifelong security to all former presidents, prime ministers as well as all former speakers of National Assembly and chairpersons of Senate would be issued shortly.

Memo report says Haqqani feared arrest in US

http://images.thenews.com.pk/19-06-2012/ethenews/t-15468.htm

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

ISLAMABAD: The Memogate Commission report has made a stunning revelation, which has gone unnoticed so far, wherein it states that former ambassador Husain Haqqani “may have feared to be prosecuted, arrested and convicted in America, diplomatic immunity notwithstanding.”

This opinion of the commission is contained on Page 89 of its report and concerns the secret fund given to the Pakistan Embassy in Washington.The three respected members of the commission wrote: “Mr. Haqqani’s failure to disclose any payment [utilisation of the SSF (Secret Service Fund)] was telling.

During his tenure as ambassador to USA, he received US$2 million [$2,000,000] annually four times, i.e. a total of US$ 8 million [$8,000,000], but refused to submit any information with regard to the utilisation thereof for the reason (according to him [Haqqani]) that the SSF rules did not permit disclosure and because: ‘they [secret funds] are also used for payments that involve circumvention of strict US laws...”

This admission that these funds are used in violation of US laws is the key fact which can trigger an intense investigation by the US authorities and could lead to questioning and probe of Haqqani, as he no longer enjoys diplomatic immunity, a known lawyer who knows the US system told The News on condition of not giving his name.

The report also quoted Haqqani telling the Commission in the same context: “The commission may be familiar with the case of Kashmir American Council (KAC) official Ghulam Nabi Fai, who has been imprisoned in the US for accepting secret funds from the ISI. Any revelation ... would have similar adverse implications...”

FBI arrested Fai for receiving funds allegedly from ISI. He pleaded guilty in a US court and is now serving jail sentence.The report commented on the statements of Husain Haqqani in these words: ‘In other words Mr. Haqqani may have feared to be prosecuted, arrested and convicted in America, diplomatic immunity notwithstanding.”

The report also reveals that a lot more money was given to the Pakistan Embassy than had earlier been speculated. Eight million dollars is a huge amount, not given to any embassy of Pakistan anywhere.

The report also stated: “The grant of secret funds for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC was in apparent violation of Article 84 of the Constitution of Pakistan [that governs supplementary or excess grants such as SSF represented].”

The senior lawyer said such a big amount, more than double of what is involved in Dr Arsalan Chaudhry case, was not authorised by Parliament and a probe has to be carried out to determine who gave the go ahead for such huge funds to be dispersed secretly in America. He asked whether these funds were used to circumvent the US law Foreign Agent’s Registration Act, by making illegal payments to those who appeared independent on the surface but were being paid under the table? Did American politicians receive illegal donations from Pakistani-Americans who in turn were pocketing cash withdrawn surreptitiously in increments of just under $10,000 per withdrawal from the National Bank of Pakistan in Washington DC?

Britain stops Russian ship carrying attack helicopters for Syria

By Richard Spencer, Adrian Blomfield and David Millward
8:34PM BST 18 Jun 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9339933/Britain-stops-Russian-ship-carrying-attack-helicopters-for-Syria.html

The British marine insurer Standard Club said it had withdrawn cover from all the ships owned by Femco, a Russian cargo line, including the MV Alaed.

"We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria," the company said in a statement. "We have already informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage."

British security officials confirmed they had told Standard Club that providing insurance to the shipment was likely to be a breach of European Union sanctions against the Syrian regime.

They said they were continuing to monitor the ship, which has been the subject of a fierce international row since US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week revealed it was adding to the arsenal of weaponry available for Mr Assad to use against rebellious Syrian towns.

"We have various ways of keeping track of this ship and that is what we are doing," a source told The Daily Telegraph.

The MV Alaed picked up its cargo of Mi25 helicopters – known as "flying tanks" – from the Russian port of Kaliningrad, where they had been sent to the state-owned manufacturer Mil's "Factory 150" for servicing and repairs.

They were originally sold to the Syrian government by Moscow, its major arms supplier, at the end of the Soviet era.

The ship headed south through the North Sea towards the English Channel on its way to the Mediterranean and, most likely, the Syrian port of Tartous, also home to a Russian naval base.

But under sanctions announced last year, the EU has banned not only exporting arms to Syria but also providing related services such as insurance.

As first revealed by The Sunday Telegraph at the weekend, the US notified the UK government that the insurance was British last week.

As it neared the Dutch coast, the authorities there also hailed the ship, the security sources said, and it made an abrupt turn, heading towards Scotland. It was last night now off the coast of the Hebrides but with no insurance covering the ship security sources say it may now have to return to port.

In their attempts to bombard rebel towns into submission, Assad regime forces have increasingly brought up helicopters, strafing the towns of Haffa and Rastan last week.

Their use, condemned by Kofi Annan, the UN peace envoy, has not stopped Russia's continued insistence on providing arms to the Syrians. Moscow is continuing with a 2007 contract to provide more than 20 MiG-29 M2 fighter aircraft, according to the Americans.

Russia also announced it was preparing to send an elite unit of marines to Tartous, a move which a Western defence source said was intended as a powerful signal that Russia would not tolerate foreign military intervention.

Classified US satellite images last week indicated that loading work had begun on two amphibious landing vessels, the Nikolai Filchenkov and the Caesar Kunikov, at the Crimean naval base of Sebastopol.

A Russian officer quoted by the Interfax news agency said they would carry marines charged with protecting the security of Russian citizens and evacuating a part of the base, marking the first time Moscow has sent troops to Syria since the uprising against Mr Assad began more than 15 months ago.

If fully loaded, the two vessels could carry as many as 600 troops and 24 tanks.

Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta, citing anonymous military sources, suggested that the soldiers would be drawn from the elite Pskov airborne brigades and special forces units stationed in Chechnya.

Russia was particularly unnerved after William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, and other Western officials compared the slaughter in Syria to the civil war in Bosnia in the 1990s, the Western defence source said.

They believed the comparisons amounted to a coded signal that the West was preparing to authorise a Nato mission to Syria similar to the peacekeeping operation mounted in Bosnia and later in Kosovo.

But the deployment also signalled that Russia was hedging its bets, according to the source.

"The purpose is threefold," he said. "First, they want to send a signal to the West about military intervention. Second, they want to demonstrate support for Assad.

"But they are also preparing for the worst and realise that the worsening situation may leave them no choice but to evacuate their nationals as a last resort. If that happens, it is game over for the Russians.

"They project strength, but know their position in Syria is actually a weak one. It may be this is a last throw of the dice."

At a meeting on the sides of the G20 summit in Mexico, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, agreed a political process was needed to "stop the bloodshed in Syria", according to a joint statement.

Global weight gain more damaging than population growth

Agencies : London, Tue Jun 19 2012, 11:01 hrs

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/global-weight-gain-more-damaging-than-population-growth/963889/0

Increasing levels of fatness around the world could have the same impact on global resources as adding an extra billion people to the planet, say researchers.

The team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated the total weight of people on the planet and found that North America had the highest average.

Although only 6 percent of the global population live there, it is responsible for more than a third of the obesity.

In their report, published in the journal BMC Public Health, the researchers calculated the weight of the global population at 287 million tonnes.

They estimated that 15 million tonnes of this mass is due to people being overweight, and 3.5 million tonnes due to obesity.

Using World Health Organization data from 2005, the scientists worked out that the average global body weight was 62kg (137lb). But there were huge regional differences. In North America, the average was 80.7kg (178lb), while in Asia it was 57.7kg (127lb).

While Asia accounts for 61percent of the global population, it only accounts for 13 percent of the weight of the world due to obesity.

“When people think about environmental sustainability, they immediately focus on population. Actually, when it comes down to it - it’s not how many mouths there are to feed, it’s how much flesh there is on the planet,” said Prof Ian Roberts, one of the authors of the paper.

The researchers argued that just focussing on obesity is divisive and unhelpful.

“One of the problems with definitions of obesity is that it fosters a ‘them and us’ ideal. Actually, we’re all getting fatter,” Prof Roberts told BBC News.

The scientists also compiled tables of the heaviest and lightest countries according to their estimates.

The US, with its well documented problems with weight, is top of the list. If the rest of the world were to emulate the Americans, Prof Roberts says, it would have dramatic implications for the planet.

“Japanese people have a low average BMI but high standards of living.

“If every country in the world had the same level of fatness that we see in the USA, in weight terms that would be like an extra billion people of world average body mass,” he explained.

While countries like Eritrea, Vietnam and Ethiopia are at the other end of the scale from the US, the researchers argue it is not sufficient to say that being skinny is just a factor of poverty. The researchers point to a country like Japan which, according to Professor Roberts, could be a model for others.

“The Japanese example is quite strong. Average BMI (Body Mass Index) in USA in 2005 was 28.7. In Japan, it was 22. You can be lean without being really poor, and Japan seems to have pulled that off,” he sttaed.

Kuwait, Croatia, Qatar and Egypt are also listed among other countries in the top 10 most weighty.

Prof Roberts said that the high number of Arab countries is due to the impact of the automobile.

“One of the most important determinants of average body mass index is motor vehicle gas consumption per capita. So, it is no surprise to see many of the Arab countries in the list - people eat but they move very little because they drive everywhere,” he said.

Cash-for-bail scam: ACB grills suspended CBI Judge Pattabhirama Rao

Agencies : Hyderabad, Tue Jun 19 2012, 10:37 hrs

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cashforbail-scam-acb-grills-suspended-cbi-judge-pattabhirama-rao/963883/0

Anti-Corruption Bureau officials today questioned suspended CBI Judge T Pattabhirama Rao, accused of taking bribe to grant bail to former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy in the Obulapuram Mining Company case.

A team of ACB officials reached Rao's house here this morning and took him to their office, where his interrogation is underway.

ACB Director-General B Prasada Rao said, “He (Pattabhirama Rao) is being questioned by ACB officials.”

The ACB has already arrested retired Judge P V Chalapathi Rao and Pattabhirama Rao's son T Ravi Chandra in the cash-for-bail-scam.

Amid allegations of illegal gratification and corruption against Pattabhirama Rao, the Andhra Pradesh High Court suspended him on May 31 while transferring the case to ACB which registered a case against Pattabhirama and seven others including Chalapathi Rao and Janardhan Reddy's elder brother and Bellary city MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy.

On a tip off that a deal was allegedly struck between Janardhan Reddy, the judge and others, the CBI had recovered cash of nearly Rs 1.60 crore from five lockers here, the keys of which were allegedly in possession of Pattabhirama's son Ravi Chandra.

CBI had also seized Rs 1.14 crore from the possession of T Balaji Rao, brother of Chalapathi Rao.

The CBI had earlier told ACB that Gali Janardhan Reddy's elder brother and Bellary city MLA Gali Somashekhar Reddy, G Dasaratha Ram Reddy, Suresh Babu, an advocate T Aditya and Chalapathi Rao and Pattabhirama Rao and others had allegedly entered into a conspiracy for showing official favour and granting bail to Janardhan Reddy and committed criminal conduct.

The CBI had handed over documents pertaining to the matter to ACB including mobile and land phone numbers allegedly used during finalisation of the alleged deal and duration of conversations

Disrupting Life and Economy: The Maoist way

P. V. Ramana
May 31, 2012
http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/DisruptingLifeandEconomyTheMaoistway_pvramana_300512

Naxalites of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), or Maoists, have issued a call for a week-long protest in the Dandakaranya forests (Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee [DKSZC] area) beginning June 1, 2012 and a day-long general shut-down (chakka jam) on June 7.

In a statement signed by Gudsa Unsendi, spokesperson of the DKSZC, the rebels said that the protest week was meant to chiefly air two demands:

      (a) halt to Operation Green Hunt, which, the Union   Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) holds was never launched; and

        (b) wind-up the Indian Army’s training camp in Bastar and withdraw troops from there.

During the protest week the Maoists plan to hold public meetings, stage demonstrations, take out rallies and organise road blocks. It is not unusual for the Maoists to hold protest weeks/days. Every year, they have routinely been giving such calls on January 26 (Republic Day), August 15 (Independence Day), and December 6 (day of destruction of the Babri Masjid).

Moreover, they also mark some other days/weeks that are significant to their outfit. These include: International Women’s Day (March 8); Day of martyrdom of Bhagat Singh (March 23); International Lenin Day (April 22); Martyr’s memorial week and death anniversary of Charu Majumdar (July 28 to August 3); Founding Day (September 21); and PLGA founding week (December 2 to 8).

During an interview conducted in April 2009, a senior IPS officer from Bihar told this author that “The Maoists give bandh (general shut down) calls on these days and several violent incidents occur on these days. They also give similar calls on the arrest of their important cadres and attempt to damage public property.” Certainly, the destruction of public property is not limited to these days alone and happens the year round.

Railways, telephone exchanges and towers, school buildings, and forest roads and culverts have borne the brunt of the destruction campaign of the Maoists. As the following Table illustrates, during the past five years and four months, 207 school buildings have been blasted by the Maoists across the country, 590 forest roads and culverts have been blown-up and 228 telephone exchanges and towers destroyed. At the same time, railway property, including engines, wagons, tracks and stations have fallen victim to the Maoists’ mindless destruction on 208 occasions. Moreover, 76 Panchayat buildings have been blown-up by the rebels.

 

Table: Infrastructure Attacks by CPI (Maoist), 2007-2012

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Total
Economic Targets	8	5	17	24	18	1	73
Railways	47	27	46	54	31	3	208
Telephone Exchange/Tower	6	46	67	45	51	13	228
Power Plants	3	1	2	3	0	0	9
Mining	6	6	3	9	6	0	30
Transmission poles/lines	10	24	7	2	3	0	46
Panchayat Buildings	4	7	23	31	10	1	76
School Buildings	43	25	71	39	27	2	207
Forest Roads, Culverts, etc	63	41	126	158	147	55	590
Total	190	182	362	365	293	75	1467

Note: Data till April 24, 2012
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi

 

Chart: Maoists’ Infrastructure Attacks by Category, 2007-2012

Note: Data till April 24, 2012
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi

The destruction of each of these targets has certain significance and clearly demonstrates the Maoists’ sinister designs and their game-plan. This fits-in quite well with the ideology of the rebels and their ultimate objective of capturing/seizing state/political power through violence.

Panchayats are institutions of the state and represent democratic governance at the grassroots-level. The Maoists have avowedly held that parliamentary democracy is a sham and have consistently stayed away from participating in elections at all levels. By blasting Panchayat buildings (offices) the Maoists seem to be conveying the message that they are challenging Indian democracy and in its institutions.

Further, the Maoists have blasted telephone exchanges and destroyed telecommunication towers. The objective here seems to be to paralyse communications among security forces personnel and, thus, hinder their operations.

Surely, during the forthcoming protest week too, one would witness a certain degree of violence and destruction of public property. Moreover, during the chakka jam, normal life is hampered and commerce and mining activity are hit. In the past, for instance, during a similar general shut down in June 2009, in Jharkhand, the financial loss suffered was Rs. 140 crore.

Besides, when the Maoists blasted three High Tension towers in Narayanpur district of Bastar on May 31, 2007, “the total loss suffered in Bastar was Rs 2,500 crore,” as Giridhari Nayak, Additional Director General of Police, Chhattisgarh, told this author in an interview in July 2007. On that occasion, the National Mineral Development Corporation’s (NMDC) Bailadila mines—from where high quality iron ore is extracted for export and internal use—incurred a loss of Rs 9 crore per day. The resultant loss was nearly Rs 150 crore. Similarly, work in the privately owned Essar Steels, too, was hit resulting in a loss of Rs 1.5 crore per day. Further, iron ore supplies to Ispat and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant were also affected. That is not all. All industrial activities and an overwhelming part of commercial activities were severely affected, if not came to a grinding halt, in Bastar.

These repeated acts of targeting infrastructure speak of Maoist intentions: paralyse normal life, sabotage economic activity, dictate terms and allow life and economic activity only on their “terms and conditions.”

Thus, in future, too, infrastructure and several proposed big industries are vulnerable to potential Maoist attacks. At stake is a proposed investment of Rs 2,639 billion in a slew of steel plants and power projects in Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

Also, many vital and economic installations and railway assets across the country are equally vulnerable. The threat assumes greater significance in the wake of the Maoists having established a continuous string of presence across the country along both the north-south and east-west axes.

The Maoists have unambiguously articulated the objective their violent campaign: the destruction of the Indian state. Therefore, the Indian state needs to suitably fashion its response to comprehensively defeat the Maoist challenge.

'Pak could launch N-strike on India in 8 secs'

Agencies : London, Fri Jun 15 2012, 17:42 hrs

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pak-could-launch-nstrike-on-india-in-8-secs/962439/0

Pakistan could launch a nuclear strike on India within eight seconds, claimed an army general in Islamabad in 2001, a warning that is described in the latest volume of diaries by a key aide of former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The general asked Blair's former communications director, Alistair Campbell, to remind India of Pakistan's nuclear capability amid fears in Islamabad that Delhi was "determined to take them out".

Britain became so concerned about Pakistan's threat that Blair's senior foreign policy adviser, Sir David Manning, later warned in a paper that Pakistan was prepared to "go nuclear".

The warnings are relayed by Campbell in a section in his latest diaries, The Burden of Power, which are being serialised in the Guardian on Saturday and Monday.

The diaries start on the day of the 9/11 attacks and end with Campbell's decision to stand down in August 2003 after the Iraq war.

The nuclear warnings came during a visit by Blair to the Indian subcontinent after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Campbell was told about the eight-second threat over a dinner in Islamabad on October 5, 2001 hosted by Pervez Musharraf, then Pakistan's president.

Campbell writes: "At dinner I was between two five-star generals who spent most of the time listing atrocities for which they held the Indians responsible, killing their own people and trying to blame 'freedom fighters'.

"They were pretty convinced that one day there would be a nuclear war because India, despite its vast population and despite being seven times bigger, was unstable and determined to take them out".

He adds: "When the time came to leave, the livelier of the two generals asked me to remind the Indians: 'It takes us eight seconds to get the missiles over,' then flashed a huge toothy grin".

Blair visited Pakistan less than a month after the 9/11 attacks as Britain and the US attempted to shore up support in Islamabad before the bombing of Afghanistan, which started on October 7, 2001.

Campbell writes that the Pakistani leadership seemed to be keen for Britain and the US to capture Osama bin Laden, though he added it was difficult to be sure.

The Guardian notes that relations between Islamabad and New Delhi plummeted after the Blair visit when terrorists attacked the Indian parliament on December 13, 2001, killing seven people. Five of the attackers died.

India blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terror groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir militants, for the attack.

The tensions became so great that Richard Armitage, the US deputy secretary of state, was sent to the region in May 2002.

Blair returned to the Indian subcontinent in January 2002, shortly after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, amid one of the tensest nuclear standoffs between Indian and Pakistan since independence in 1947.

In the preparations for the visit, Manning prepared a paper for Blair that warned of the real threat of a nuclear conflict.

In an extract from his diaries for January 4, 2002, Campbell wrote: "DM had a paper, making clear our belief that the Pakistanis would 'go nuclear' and if they did, that they wouldn't be averse to unleashing them on a big scale".

"TB was genuinely alarmed by it and said to David 'They wouldn't really be prepared to go for nuclear weapons over Kashmir would they?' DM said the problem was there wasn't a clear understanding of strategy and so situations tended to develop and escalate quickly, and you couldn't really rule anything out".

A few days after the visit, the India-Pakistan standoff was discussed by the British war cabinet.

In an extract for his diaries on January 10, 2002, Campbell wrote: "CDS (chief of the defence staff Admiral Sir Michael Boyce) said if India and Pakistan go to war, we will be up the creek without a paddle.

"Geoff (Hoon) said there may have to be limited compulsory call-up of Territorial Army reserves. TB gave a pretty gloomy assessment re India/Pakistan, said (the Indian prime minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee was really upset at the way (Pakistan's president) Musharraf treated him.

"Military dispositions remained the same, with more than a million troops there (in Kashmir). He assessed that the Indians believed that they could absorb 500,000 deaths. Pakistani capability was far greater than the Indians believed".

Must read "Final Solution for Pakistan"

ByTariq Saeedi

With Sergi Pyatakov in Moscow, Mark Davidson in Washington, Qasim Jan in Kandahar and Rupa Kival in New Delhi

(nCa) — The components of the ‘Final Solution’ for Pakistan are known, and almost ready. The exact shape those components will take when put together is not so clear. The expected outcome is recognizable; the degree to which the actual outcome would resemble the expectations is still in the dark.

This report is based on our legwork in the field and the expert opinion of our consultants in Moscow, Washington and New Delhi. There is unanimity in the field findings and the expert opinion that the United States could be on the verge of doing something drastic and desperate in the region.

The main frustration for the American policymakers is that when they move with their own plans, everything else also moves, not necessarily in the same direction. The inability to anticipate the complex dynamics has rendered many of their moves not only ineffective but counterproductive.

One of the important new developments is that India, till now an enthusiastic partner of Gates-Vickers duo in destabilizing Pakistan, is fast losing appetite for such adventures.

There are three main pillars of the ‘Final Solution’:

* Cut the western half of Balochistan from the rest of Pakistan and declare it ‘international strategic corridor’;

* Topple the sitting government in Iran; and

* Create an Ismaili state, joining the Gorno-Badakhshan oblast of Tajikistan, Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan province of Pakistan.

The benefits that the Americans expect to derive from this triple-decker ambition would be discussed in one of the later reports.

In the present report we shall deal with the components of the ‘Final Solution’ as they relate to Pakistan.

The mock operations in Helmand and Kandahar

The DoD-CIA and their embedded journalists painstakingly spun a tale that Helmand was a stronghold of Taliban. That was their justification for Operation Moshtarak.

In fact, half of Helmand was already in the hands of the US forces. The other half, sparingly populated, was not important for the ongoing operations in Afghanistan.

As the operation Moshtarak unfolded, we were in touch with our sources in Helmand. We know from first-hand accounts that:

1. The operation was conducted mainly by the US forces although the reporting gave the impression that the NATO was equally in the forefront.

   2. One of the main reasons given for the operation was that Taliban were benefiting from poppy crops and they must be denied this source of income. We know for sure that not a single poppy bulb was destroyed during the operation.

3. The village elders that were shown meeting the US force commanders were the middlemen for poppy, and the Americans fully knew it.

4. We are still in touch with our Helmand sources and we know that the Americans don’t dare go far beyond their camps.

5. Roughly five percent of the US forces were busy in keeping an eye on the newly trained Afghan police because the policemen had the tendency to desert and join the enemy whenever they found a chance.

After the mock operation in Helmand, the US forces are now planning a bigger offensive in Kandahar, an area that is billed ad nauseam as the spiritual capital of the Taliban.

Based solely on the media hype and DoD-CIA statements, one gets the impression that not even a mosquito can fly in Kandahar without the consent of Taliban.

The actual fact is that the Kandahar airport is the busiest single-runway airport in the world. More than 700 American and NATO flights land or take off every day at Kandahar airfield. Had Taliban been in control of the whole of Kandahar, it would not have been possible for so many American and NATO warplanes to land and take off in that province. Also, there are two American bases in Kandahar.

Therefore, the impression that Helmand and Kandahar were, or are, out of bounds for Americans and NATO is based on manufactured ‘truth.’

In search of an explanation for the American fascination with Helmand and Kandahar and the operations that are not what they are said to be, we consulted some experts in Moscow and Washington.

Oleg in Moscow and Simon in Washington (not their real names) are military strategists with access to information not available to the media or public.

Oleg said, “One way to understand the operations in Helmand and Kandahar is to see where the operation begins and where it ends. At the end of the operation, do you find more American forces near the border with Pakistan?”

Simon in Washington agreed. “Yes, the objective is apparently to put large number of troops along the border with Pakistan,” he said.
When asked for the reasons for this move, Simon said, “The bipartisan thinking here is that Pakistan is the problem. —– If you find a boulder in your path, either you remove it or you try to go around it. The inclination here is to go around this boulder.”

This cryptic remark of Simon reminded us of a Russian expert we sometimes consult for our investigative reports. The keywords in his remark were ‘boulder’ and ‘go around.’

In what way is Pakistan a boulder and how would one ‘go around’ it, we asked.

Simon said, “Everyone in Washington considers China the main threat. If unchecked for another decade or so, China would be a superpower, probably replacing the USA as the only superpower of any consequence. It is not possible to contain China without cutting a free path across Pakistan and Afghanistan, right up to the borders of China.”

“Cutting a path through Pakistan? Are you talking of Greater Balochistan?” we asked.

“Yes,” Simon said, “But now it is not Greater Balochistan, at least for now. The gossip here is that the hawks in the establishment would now be content with half of the Pakistani Balochistan. They call it international strategic corridor.”

We returned to Oleg in Moscow to ask whether the American forces that would end up near the borders of Pakistan on completion of Kandahar operation would be enough to sever half of Balochistan from the rest of Pakistan.

“First, you have to see what is happening in Helmand where the operation Moshtarak has been completed already. Whatever they do in Helmand would be repeated on larger scale in Kandahar,” said Oleg.

We already had this information. Soon after the completion of operation Moshtarak, the American forces started building forward bases and depots at four points in Helmand, the first of them at Gereshk and the last at a location southward of Malik Rokand, practically at the border with Pakistan.

We told this to Oleg. He said, “You see, this is systematic deployment of forces at the Pakistan border, with a semi-permanent logistics support system for prolonged presence.”


Some new questions arose: Would the American forces, at some convenient time, try to rush into Pakistan in order to create the ‘international strategic corridor’ they want? What will be the size and geographical scope of such a corridor? What would be the likely strength of US troops at the border of Pakistan at the end of the planned operation in Kandahar? Would the US troops at Pakistan border be enough for cutting off half of Balochistan considering that Pakistan is likely to offer some tough resistance?

The other jaw of pincer


“The pincer must have two jaws,” said Simon.

He explained, “The US Navy would be in a position after July 2010 to station some landing ships, probably four, near the territorial waters of Pakistan. They would be able to land and support more than 30000 troops, complete with transport units and fighting gear, anywhere at the Pakistan coastline between Pasni and Gawadar. There would be aircraft carriers with more than enough warplanes to overwhelm the Pakistan Airforce. This is the other jaw of the pincer.”
The picture thus emerging was that after July 2010, the US would have substantial number of troops at the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan. This is the area where the Chagai district of Pakistani Balochistan meets the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar in Afghanistan.

The total number of these troops, Oleg in Moscow estimated, would be more than 35000.
Simultaneously, as Simon told us, there would be some 30000 soldiers and marines waiting to land at the beaches of Balochistan. This makes military sense, especially in the face of the fact that the part of Balochistan that lies between these two pressure points does not have any significant presence or support system of Pakistan army.

International strategic corridor

The international strategic corridor, the clipped version of the former plan to create Greater Balochistan, was of great interest from the point of view of our report.

To get a clutch-hold on this question we consulted Oleg. We asked him that as a military strategist how he would draw such a corridor on the map.

“First, you need to define our military goals and then you look at the terrain. Match the two in the most efficient manner,” said Oleg.

He said that Chagai district of Pakistan Balochistan runs for about 500 km along the border with Afghanistan. This, he said, represents nearly 30% of the total Pak-Afghan border and the easiest terrain from the military point of view.
“If I were to draw such a border, I would take Nushki as the starting point and draw a north-south line, connecting it with Ras Malan. All the area west of the line up to Iranian border would be the strategic corridor,” said Oleg.
We took this hypothetical corridor to Simon and asked for his comments.

Simon said, “Yes, this is about the size of the thing. DoD-CIA brains are also thinking along the same lines.”

Trigger point

Theoretically it looks neat and orderly to draw a corridor on the map and cut it off from a sovereign country on the military strength alone. However, in real life one needs some excuse, even the size of a fig leaf, to undertake such an enterprise.

We asked Oleg and Simon as to what could be the trigger point for the American forces to justify such an audacious undertaking.

Oleg said, “The excuses are not hard to fine. There can be the civil war in Pakistan, which they are trying hard to start. There can also be a political assassination in Pakistan to start unrest at such a scale that the USA would be able to convince the international community that ‘humanitarian’ intervention had become necessary.”
Simon in Washington added, “An international incident can easily be linked to Pakistan and that would be a good enough reason for invasion. It can be as big as assassination of Obama and as small as bombing of a refinery in the UK. In fact, the latest amendment to the NATO charter seems designed to add this kind of hair trigger in the NATO mechanism. Justification, in any case, is no big deal when you don’t really need to justify it to anyone.”

Simon said that the recent history was full of false flag operations. He cited the 1954 firebomb and unrest in Alexandria (Egypt) by Israel, to make Egypt look unstable and delay the withdrawal of British troops from Suez Canal, the CIA murder of Mehdi Ben Barka of Morocco to foil communists from coming to power, the murder of Patrice Lumumba by CIA in 1965, the JFK plan to shoot down American civilian plane and blame it on Cuba as some of the examples.
Self financed war and civilian surge

A chance remark by Oleg opened a new path for investigation.

He said, “Goals are layered in the military strategy. If you go for a single goal and you fail in that, you are a skunk. However, if you go out there with seven goals and achieve just two, there are ways to make you look good despite overall failure.”

We started thinking of what other goals could be found in the US intention of cutting off half of Balochistan from the rest of Pakistan in addition to the obvious advantage of getting a direct supply route to Afghanistan, easy access to Central Asia, and curtailment of China.

Although these are three major goals, each one of them enough to justify an ambitious expedition, and all of them would be achieved if the US manages to create its international strategic corridor, could there be something else that we had missed?

While we were pondering this question, our sources in Helmand told that the Americans were planning a major ‘civilian surge.’ The sources told us that thousands of civilian professionals were being trained in the US in conditions resembling the terrain, town and country life, and unrest in Afghanistan.
We asked Oleg if the civilian surge in Afghanistan could have any connections with the international strategic corridor the American might try to create before the end of this year.

“Look at the corridor area and see if there is anything of economic or strategic importance,” he said.

Sure enough, as if our eyes had opened for the first time, we saw on the map Saindak and Reko Dig mines, rich in gold, silver and other precious metals and minerals. There is also a mountain in the area that is of interest to Americans because they believe it houses some of the atomic facilities of Pakistan.
e took this hunch to Simon. He took a few days to get back.

In our next session Simon told that about 38 mining engineers and nine nuclear scientists were among the professionals who were being trained under the civilian surge programme and they would be ready to arrive in Afghanistan near the end of July 2010.

Simon conjectured that the mining engineers could be used to assess the potential of Saindak and Reko Dig mines. The general estimates are that these mines hold more than US $ 200 billion worth of wealth. If the civilian surge engineers can confirm these estimates, it would be all the more reason to create the international strategic corridor and get hold of these assets. After all, it could be the ticket to make this war pay its own expenses, and give some profit at the side.
Nuclear bonus

Simon also said that a certain mountain in the general area of the anticipated corridor was of great interest to Washington bigwigs. It is a mountain where some in Washington believe that Pakistan maintains some of its nuclear facilities.

“If this mountain falls in our hands, it would be a definite way to not only to be sure of the exact nuclear capability and expertise of Pakistan, but also to cut it back to an acceptable level,” said Simon.

“It would be a big bonus for Americans,” said Oleg.

Both Simon and Oleg pointed out that one must not underestimate the importance of Gawadar and Pasni ports, both of them in the expected area of the international strategic corridor. The ports, and the infrastructure, transportation and communication network connected to them, could of immense value to the USA.

Role of India

The creation of an international strategic corridor – a euphemism for the downsized independent Balochistan – is a big American enterprise and there are several sidekicks on the show, most notably India.

India, till now, was an enthusiastic player, in the hope that it would get to police Afghanistan after the Americans leave. However, it appears that the Indian appetite for meddling in Pakistan and Afghanistan has dampened of late. We are not sure whether it is a simulated effect or the real thing.
Because of the recent reshuffling in the Indian power agencies, our ability to understand the Indian plans and mindset has been reduced to a third hand access, that too not very reliable.

What we have been able to gather is that the Indian intelligence community is split between hawks and realists – doves are not employable in this profession. Hawks want to keep pushing on the current plans and realists are advocating a wait and see policy.
Nonetheless, we found that India has increased its support for the movement to create an independent Ismaili state in the northern areas, now re-designated Gilgit-Baltistan province. The supposed leadership of the movement is sitting in India. We also learned that the takeover of the Swat valley by the so-called Pakistani Taliban was a dry run to cut off Pakistan from northern areas when a real attempt is made to create the Ismaili state.

Our sources in Afghanistan also told that India recently staged fights in some provinces of Afghanistan not far from the Central Asian states to convince them of the usefulness of allowing Indian military bases on their soil. Their main aim was to intimidate Tajikistan where India has vacated a base it once had. The recent skirmishes in Badghis and Fariab provinces were in this category.
We also found that the Indian embassy in Kabul has thwarted negotiations between Brahmdagh Bugti, the grandson of late Akbar Bugti, and the Pakistan authorities. A Baloch, who is a lawyer by profession, was acting as middleman in these talks.

Pakistan Media

One sidekick is India, the other is the Pakistani electronic media, especially the 150 or so TV hosts who prefer to call themselves ‘anchors.’

We talked to an American diplomat whose job requires frequent interaction with the Pakistani media. This report will not assign a pseudonym, or declare the gender of the American diplomat because that was the condition of cooperation. We will not tell whether the diplomat is still in Pakistan or has moved out.

“Pakistani TV journalists are some of the easiest to buy or manipulate,” said the American diplomat.

“Their price is ridiculously small. A drink, a lunch with a second or first secretary in a place where they can be seen by their admirers, invitations to official receptions, or at most, a trip to the states, is all you need to buy their loyalty,” said the diplomat.
“My dog is usually fussier,” the diplomat added in disgust.

“There was a drive,” the diplomat explained, “very obvious and crude, in some selected countries, to make the educated people feel ashamed of being Muslims.”

“The Pakistani TV journalists swallowed it hook, line and sinker,” said the diplomat.

“Except for an incorruptible handful, they are a sorry lot,” the American diplomat said with an undisguised revulsion.

The next report in this series will deal with the ‘Final Solution’ for Iran. We hope to release it within the next ten days or so.

Source:

http://www.defence.pk/forums/strategic-geopolitical-issues/71593-must-read-final-solution-pakistan.html#ixzz1xsOKTZAh

India slips to 46th rank in logistics performance index

Our Bureau

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/article3519542.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

Chennai, June 12: 

India's logistics performance index reflects some weaknesses in the logistics system.

In the index, which was prepared by the World Bank, India slipped in ranking, said the Union Shipping Minister, Mr G.K. Vasan.

In 2012, India was ranked 46th compared to 39th five years ago.

“We should strive to improve the LPI through a systematic intervention on key issues,” he said at a seminar.

Logistics cost in India is at 13-14 per cent of the gross domestic product compared to 7-8 per cent in developed countries, he said.

The pace, at which infrastructure development has happened, compared to the growth in freight traffic, has been rather slow. This acts as a bottleneck and drags growth.

“We must hasten the pace,” he told in his inaugural address at Logistics Summit 2012 organised by the CII Institute of Logistics.

Mr Vasan said that the government has allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment in the logistics sector, has eliminated the CST, introduced value-added tax, improved multi-modal transportation and is aggressively promoting public-private-partnerships (PPP).

 In the current financial year, 42 projects have been identified for capacity addition in ports.

Of this, 29 projects will be on PPP mode. This will enhance the capacity by 244 million tonnes at an estimated cost of Rs 14,500 crore, he said.

The need of the hour is massive investment to build better logistical infrastructure and additional handling capacity, he said.

The industry is also laying focus in making logistics activities leaner and greener by reducing and compensating the carbon footprint they leave on the environment. This should be encouraged.

About 70 per cent of domestic cargo movement in India for the last mile delivery of goods happens through roads.

This leaves more of a carbon footprint.

“We must consider adopting sea routes, which are cost-effective and environment-friendly. On the same lines, inland-water transport is also a focus area, he said.

raja@thehindu.co.in