monday, august 24, 2015 (page 16) daily excelsior,...

NEW DELHI, Aug 23:

Congress today charged theNDA Government with havingplayed into the hands ofPakistan on the NSA-level talksissue and giving the neighbour-ing country an opportunity towriggle out of a dialogue on ter-ror.

“Unfortunately, the Govern-ment of India has played into its(Pakistan’s) hands by beingimprecise, by being unprepared,by lacking focus, by beingadhoc, by not doing sufficienthard-nosed groundwork, goodold-fashioned diplomacy andpreparation.

“We are very sad that all thegains of the last 10-odd years onIndo-Pak settlement of at leastsome issues, are given a setbackby such aborted talks. No suchopportunity should have beengiven to Pakistan to wriggle outof as serious an issue as terror,”Congress spokespersonAbhishek Singhvi said.

He said with people scoringdebating points across the bor-der after NSA-level talks wereaborted by Pakistan last night, itwas not a good sight for thesolidity of Indian foreign policy,which is based on coherence,continuity and consistency.

“I think the Governmentneeds to get its house in order. Itneeds to make sure that multipleagencies which suddenly appearto have started making Indianforeign policy, either the multi-plicity is eliminated or completeunity and coherence are intro-

duced in all those multiple agen-cies to speak through oneagency and in one voice,” hesaid.

He lamented that the vissisi-tudes of Indian domestic policyshould not have allowed tomake a mockery of India’s sta-tus in the world due to its prouddemocratic status and itshumongous economic power.

“We depricate the ham-handed manner in which severalaspects which I have elaboratedhave been handled by the gov-ernment,” Singhvi said.

Attacking Pakistan, he said itis clear and certain that it wantsto run away from all issues relat-ing to terrorism as it does notwant any discussion on anyissue or exchange of informa-tion, particularly on those seri-ous matters on which it can becornered.

He said it is also certain thatPakistan is again trying todivert, bring new issues as it hasbeen doing so in the past and ithas done so now too.

“Certainly, Pakistan’s goal isvery clear. We condemn it,” the

Congress leader said, addingthat Pakistan is clearly using therefuge of technicalities to avoidtalk on terror.

Singhvi also criticisedPakistan for using certain wordsin its statement last night whichwere not part of internationaldiplomacy or foreign policy.

“The use of language byPakistan in yesterday’s state-ment, words like ‘fake’ and‘concocted’, I don’t feel anyonehas seen the use of such wordsin international diplomacy.These are not words in diploma-cy, foreign policy or internation-al diplomacy,” he said.

He said it was “very unfortu-nate” that the IndianGovernment due to less prepara-tion and research and withoutsolid plans, allowed Pakistan’splot to succeed.

“They should have been alerton this and should have hadprior planning on Pakistan’spossible response. Therefore,such a plan should have been putin place so that Pakistan couldnot have said no to talks on ter-ror,” he said. (PTI)

MUMBAI, Aug 23:

As onion prices hit the roof,robbers targeted a shop in subur-ban Mumbai and fled with 700kg of kitchen staple worth aboutRs 50,000, leaving the shockedowner in tears.

Fourteen sacks of onionwere stolen from a shop of 55-year-old vegetable vendor AnantNaik at Prateeksha Nagar inWadala apparently betweenFriday night and Saturday morn-ing, police said.

"The sacks containing about700 kgs of onions got stolen,"Deputy Commissioner of Police(Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarnisaid.

"Naik had covered his stockof onions at around 9.30pm onFriday and left for home. Whenhe returned on Saturday morn-ing, 700 kg of onions kept in 14sacks were missing," he told thepolice.

The stolen onion stock wasestimated to be worth Rs 50,000,police said.

A case has been registered inthis regard under IPC section379 (theft) at Wadala TT policestation, they added.

The wholesale onion pricesyesterday touched Rs 57 per kgat Lasalgaon in Maharashtra,Asia's biggest onion market,raising the possibility of furtherspike in retail prices in mostparts of the country adding toconsumers' woes.

In the price-sensitive Delhi

market and some other parts ofthe country, retail onion priceshave already gone up to Rs 80per kg depending on the qualityof the crop.

In spite of severalGovernment measures, theprices of onion have increasedunabated both in the wholesale

and retail markets in the last fewweeks due to tight supply fol-lowing shortfall in domestic out-put.

Also, the likely fall in thisyear's kharif (summer) crop dueto deficit rainfall has furtheradded fuel to the price rise.(PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 23:

The daughter of Union min-ister and former Army chief GenV K Singh today joined theongoing agitation of ex-service-men seeking immediate imple-mentation of the long-pending'One Rank One Pension(OROP)' scheme.

Describing the demands ofthe ex-servicemen as "just",Mrinalini, who is wife of a serv-ing Army officer, joined theprotest at Jantar Mantar here thismorning.

"This is a just cause and thematter has been pending formany years. I have come here asthe daughter of an ex-service-man to give support to the veter-ans who have served the countrybut are now protesting for theirrights for over two months," shesaid.

Asked if her father, Ministerof State for External AffairsSingh, approves her joining theprotest since he is serving in the

Narendra Modi government, shesaid, "I have not sought his per-mission and neither do I needhis permission. I have comestraight from Hisar because Ifeel for the cause. A few yearsdown the line, I will alsobecome the wife of an ex-serv-iceman."

She added that she has fullfaith in Prime Minister NarendraModi who has promised theOROP.

Representatives of ex-ser-vicemen have been protestingfor the implementation of 'OneRank, One Pension' schemefor the last over two monthsand are likely to meet PrimeMinister Narendra Modi nextweek to press for early imple-mentation of their demand.(PTI)

OROP: V K Singh's daughterjoins protest at Jantar Mantar

Union Minister’s daughter during protest for OROP at JantarMantar.

MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2015 (PAGE 16) DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU

BORDER ROADS ORGANISATIONNOTICE INVITING TENDERS

(NATIONAL COMPETITIVE BIDDING)1. Commander 32 Border Road Task Force, C/o 56 APO invitestender single stage two bid system from the eligible contractorsfor the following works:-

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No. 02(37)/15-Prov/BSF/7154-58

E-PROCUREMENT TENDER NOTICE1. On behalf of the President of India, Inspector

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Robbers eye pricey onion, 700 kg stolen in Mumbai

NDA played into hands of Pak: CongUS says ‘disappointed’ that India-Pak talks called off

WASHINGTON, Aug 23:

The US has said it was “disappointed” thatthe proposed talks between the National SecurityAdvisors of India and Pakistan have been calledoff.

“We are disappointed the talks will not happenthis weekend and encourage India and Pakistan toresume formal dialogue soon,” State Departmentspokesman John Kirby said.

The spokesperson, however, said the “con-structive” interaction between Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Pakistan Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif in Ufa, Russia, was encouraging.

“We were encouraged by the constructiveinteraction between the leaders of India andPakistan earlier this year at Ufa, particularlythe announcement of dialogue between thecountries’ National Security Advisors,” Kirbysaid.

Meanwhile South Asia experts in the USblamed Pakistan for the cancellation of NSA-level talks between India and Pakistan.

“The Pakistanis torpedoed the talks by issu-ing an ill-fated invite to the Hurriyat leader-ship. But then again, the Indians must haveseen that invitation coming, and they couldhave responded in a more measured way,” saidMichael Kugelman, South Asia Associate at theWoodrow Wilson International Center, a topAmerican think-tank.

“As the larger country, there’s something to besaid for India acting more responsibly. It’s ashame these talks were cancelled. They wouldn’thave yielded anything remotely substantive, butat least they would have brought some breathingroom,” he said.

Hussain Haqqani, the former PakistanAmbassador to the US who is now director ofSouth and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute,said Pakistan’s behaviour follows a well-wornpattern of trying to seek international attention forKashmir.

“But India under Modi is breaking past pat-terns. There is definitely greater likelihood ofescalation in an environment that is less pre-

dictable than the past cycles of terrorist attacks inIndia, firing on the LoC, Public recrimination,troop mobilisation and finally, standing downunder international pressure. Modi does not wantto play that game,” Haqqani said.

“Posturing on Kashmir gets Pakistannowhere but its leaders feel they need to do itany way. Pakistan has serious internal issues,”he said.

“We need to face them instead of insisting onresolution of a dispute that hasn’t been resolvedfor so long and can wait a bit longer. Pakistanshould focus on building prosperity for its peo-ple,” Haqqani said.

“A one-topic agenda was understandable fromNew Delhi’s perspective but posed great difficul-ties for the government of Pakistan. The usualmaneuvers followed with completely predictableresults,” said Michael Krepon of the StimsonCenter, another American think-tank.

Meanwhile, the India-Pakistan standoff waswidely covered by the US media.

“Pakistan cancels talks with India, citingrestrictions,” headlined The New York Times.“The decision came as the two countries tradedbarbs over Pakistan’s plans to meet with Kashmiriseparatist leaders while in India,” it said.

“The disagreement weighed heavily on bothsides as each positioned itself to blame the otherfor the failure to hold the talks. India had alsostressed that it wanted terrorism to be the onlyitem on the agenda while Pakistan wanted to dis-cuss the dispute over the Kashmir region, whichis claimed by both sides,” the daily said.

The Wall Street Journal said both sidesaccused each other of trying to scuttle talks.

“India said Pakistan was attempting to pro-voke New Delhi into pulling out, citing a sharppickup in cross-border firing and two militantattacks in India which it said were connected toterrorist groups in Pakistan,” the daily reported.

According to The Los Angeles Times,Pakistan’s powerful military has shown signs ofsidelining Nawaz Sharif, leaving some inNarendra Modi’s government skeptical of engag-ing in talks. (PTI)