[sacw] [ACT] South Asians Against Nukes Post (9 Feb 00)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asians Against Nukes Post
9 February 2000
-------------------------------------------
#1. Japanese Peace activists in Delhi with Indian Peace Activists
#2. India Pakistan Arms Race & Militarisation Watch (IPARMW) No.13
-------------------------------------------

#1.
9 Feb 2000

Dear Friends,

A Japanese anti-nuclear peace group from Hiroshima will be in Delhi for a
few days from Feb. 11 to 14th. Members of MIND and of th Pakistan-India
=46orum for Peace and Democracy are holding a meeting for our japanese
friends led by Haruko Moritaki (a second-generation hibakusha and daughter
of one of Japan's most famous surviors of the Hiroshima bomb attack)on Feb.
12th at the Indian Social Institute, Institutional Area, near Lodhi Road
[New Delhi]
from 3.00pm to 5.30pm. this is followed by a 9.00pm meeting for them at
Periyar hostel in Jawahal Nehru University (JNU) campus [New delhi]. They
will be showing slides and speaking on
the nuclear issue. Please do come and pass the news around to friends who
may be interested in coming.
Achin Vanaik
Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament (MIND)
----------------------

#2.

INDIA PAK ARMS RACE & MILITARISATION WATCH (IPARMW) NO.13
(7 December 1999)

[information & news for peace activists on Arms sales to the region,
defence budget figures, acquisitions & updgrades of weapons systems,
development and deployment of new weapons, implications of militarisation;
the developments on the Nuclearisation front and the doings of the
'intelligence' agencies. Bringing this information to wide public knowledge
is our goal here. No to secretive & exclusive control of this information
by technocrats, planners who plot national security hidden from public
scrutiny.
Please help us in the information gathering work for wide public
dissemination in South Asia.
Send Information via e-mail for IPARMW series to: aiindex@m... for
inclusion in the Emailings]

[There are no postings below from Peace activists ... its all the
establishment news which we need to figure & track.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[1.]
Pakistan:

VOA
7 February 2000
Correspondent Report

PAK MISSILE TEST
by Jim Teeple

ISLAMABAD
Pakistan says it has successfully test-fired a new short-range ballistic
missile capable of hitting targets up to a distance of 100-kilometers.
Correspondent Jim Teeple reports from Islamabad, the missile firing
(Monday) is just the latest in a series of weapons tests by hostile
neighbors India and Pakistan.

Text: A government statement issued in Islamabad says the new
surface-to-surface missile has a greater payload capacity and better
accuracy than present Pakistani missiles. The statement says the missile
can carry a variety of warheads, but does not say if the missile is
nuclear-capable.

The statement also says prior notification of the test was given to all of
Pakistan's neighbors.

In 1998 both India and Pakistan carried out nuclear weapons tests, and
last year both countries tested mid-range ballistic missiles believed to
have a range of nearly two-thousand-kilometers.

Pakistan's missile test comes as tensions between the two neighbors are
high, following the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane by Kashmiri
separatist militants in December. India accuses Pakistan of involvement- a
charge Pakistan vehemently denies.

In recent weeks and days both countries have exchanged artillery and
mortar fire across the "line of control", which divides Kashmir into
Indian and Pakistani governed regions. (SIGNED)
NEB/JLT/RAE
07-Feb-2000 09:08 AM EDT (07-Feb-2000 1408 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
_______

[2.]

India:

The India Express
6 February 2000

CVC to probe all major defence deals
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 5: The Government today ordered investigations into
all important defence deals since 1985-86 by the Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC). The probe would be carried out by the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
simultaneously.

Defence Minister George Fernandes today announced the probe after speaking
to CVC chairman N Vittal. The move comes in the wake of speculation that
several crores had been spent in emergency purchases during the Kargil war
and also allegations levelled by a senior navy officer Rear Admiral Suhas
Purohit that the Government was losing several crores due to excessive and
wrong purchases of spares over the last 15 years.

The Government has also directed the CAG to carry out a special audit for
the emergency purchase of items for the recent Kargil operations, a
Defence Ministry spokesman said. The probe comes just when the three
services are gearing up for major purchases. The Air Force is desperate
for Advanced JetTrainers (AJTs), the deal of which has been hanging fire
for over a decade.

The Navy has been pressing for the purchase of an aircraft carrier and
several meetings have been held with the Russians for the purchase of
Admiral Gorshkov, the Russian aircraft carrier. The Army, too, has been
pressing for the purchase of almost 300 T-90 tanks.

The Ministry also asked the CAG to investigate the transfer of technology
aspect in all major procurement decisions during the last 15 years where
it was contracted, paid for but did not actually occur. This in turn has
hindered indigenous production. ``A special group has been constituted in
the ministry to be headed by a joint secretary (equivalent to a Major
General) to scrutinise all important observations and findings of the new
CAG probe and to fix responsibility for lapses, delays and corrupt
practices,'' a defence ministry spokesman said.

``The group will also initiate further administrative, disciplinary or
legal action as required,'' he added. The MoD isalso considering a
standard mechanism for mandatory and time-bound scrutiny by CVC and CAG of
all identified and major defence-related purchase decisions to be taken
henceforth.

The spokesman also said that the allegations levelled by Rear Admiral
Purohit in his petition to the court will also come under the purview of
the new probe. Allegations placed before the court would also be handed
over to the CVC to be probed by the CBI, he said.

``While on the one hand, the government was being criticised for not
expediting decisions on vital projects, like the AJT, Admiral Gorshkov and
the T-90 tanks, which have been pending for over a decade, completely
unsubstantiated allegations and insinuations are being levelled even
though final decisions are yet to be taken,'' he said.

The major deals which are likely to come under this probe include the
latest acquisitions in the IAF the versatile Su-30 long range aircraft,
the Mirage 2000 and the MiG 29s. Secondly the purchase of spares worth
several billions ofdollars from the countries of former Soviet Union-
spares for Russian armament in all the three services-will also come under
the microscope, an official said.
Copyright =A9 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
________

[3.]

The Asian Age
8 February 2000

Politicians help paper firms fleece India
By Seema Mustafa

New Delhi: A deep nexus bet-ween politicians, officials and all the
organisations dealing with "raising of demands, indenting, procurement,
capacity assessment and inspection" has led to the setting up of paper
firms and reportedly "large-scale" tampering and forging of defence
documents. The politicians, while not openly involved, acted as
facilitators, signing letters to seek the transfer of officers trying to
put a stop to the malpractice. The paper firms were given unwarranted
capacity verification certificates to justify the initial import of items
for indigenisation on a one-time basis. The indents for naval spares were
reportedly raised after it was clear that there were no indigenous
supplies and the only recommended sources were, thus, the "bogusly created
firms." Rear Admiral S.V. Purohit has pointed out in his detailed petition
before the Delhi high court that "as no other Indian firm could tender for
these items, the prices could and were manipulated to reap windfall
profits." Rear Admiral Purohit has put on record the fact that large stocks
of various equipment not used for the refit of naval vessel Deepak were
found in the store houses. And indents worth over Rs 10 crores were
stopped only after he wrote personal notes to the director of logistics
support, the assistant chief of logistics and the chief of logistics.
Despite this it was too late to stop indents worth several crores of
rupees, and spares purchased at exorbitant costs continue to fill the
storehouses. The rear admiral has pointed out in the petition that his
insistence to stop irregularities made "commercial sources used to making
money by other than fair means" try all kinds of methods to transfer him.
He said that a campaign was unleashed against him resulting in letters
"signed by as many as seven MPs, including one minister of state." This
was all done in the name of indigenisation. Significantly, Naval
Headquar-ters exonerated him but even then the issue was referred to the
Central Vigi-lance Commission with the defence minister approving his
removal from the post of material superintendent (Mumbai) at the time. The
Metropolitan Group of Indus-tries, with deep connections, established a
monopoly on defence spares and, according to the petition, "enjoyed
considerable influence in political circles." To the extent that the
ministry of defence intervened several times seeking explanations as to
why certain orders had not been placed with M/s Sea King Marine Industries
Limited. Several MPs also complained that certain naval officers had shown
favour to rival companies instead. Significantly, a large number of retired
officers from the Navy and civilians from the technical and logistic
cadres were employed by the Metropolitan Group of Industries which
reportedly made good use of their extensive contacts within the services.
A board of inquiry recorded that valuable information was leaked out to
the firms belonging to the MGI. The writ petition also points out that the
director of quality assurance (warship project), responsible for capacity
assessment and inspection, had issued false certificates and treated MOUs
"which appear to be forged" submitted by these firms as collaboration
agreements. Apparently, at this stage of inspection, imported items were
accepted in lieu of indigenously manufactured items without even an
attempt to carry out an in-process inspection. Rear Admiral Purohit has
also recorded the fact that at the Directorate of Logistics Support
"letters were planted to show that this group of companies had technical
collaboration with principals overseas, based on which only one or more
firms belonging to the MGI was shown as a likely supplier of the indent."
These indents, interestingly, were not sent by registered post but
received by the procurement agency by hand. Also the normal procedure for
raising indents was not followed to avoid scrutiny by professional naval
officers. A board of inquiry found that "a large number of documents have
been tampered with, forged and planted in the official records resulting a
series of irregularities in processing of indents and placement of orders
and leading to various unknown and non-capacity assessed firms of MGI
securing orders at exorbitant prices." It also stated that the "firms of
MGI have used dubious and fraudulent means to obtain orders." (Concluded)

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////=
///
'India Pak Arms Race & Militarisation Watch' (IPARMW)
is a joint initiative of South Asia Citizens Web and
South Asians Against Nukes
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////=
//
=00