Five killed, scores hurt as rebels bomb buses in India's northeast
US lists military deals, special ties with India
Five killed, scores hurt as rebels bomb buses in India's northeast
Posted: 27 August 2004 0139 hrs
GUWAHATI, India : Five people were killed and scores wounded in northeast India when militants blew up two buses, threw a grenade into a market and triggered twin blasts on a railway track, officials said.
The attacks in Assam state, and two others on Wednesday, were blamed on the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) which is fighting for an independent homeland.
Two people were killed and 33 wounded, some critically, when explosives concealed in a sack blew apart a crowded bus in the town of Gossaigaon, 270 kilometres (167 miles) west of Assam's main city of Guwahati, officials said.
"Passengers spotted an unidentified sack inside the bus and as they were trying to disembark, the explosion took place, blowing apart the vehicle," Kokrajhar district magistrate Asish Bhutani told AFP.
An hour later a bus belonging to the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) and carrying soldiers and their families hit a landmine in Paikan, 140 kilometres west of Guwahati.
Two soldiers and a six-year-old girl, the daughter of a trooper going on holiday, were killed, police Inspector General Khagen Sharma said. Nine people were wounded.
Later Thursday a suspected ULFA militant on a motorbike threw a grenade into a busy market in Tangla, 60 kilometres north of Guwahati, police chief Khagen Sharma said.
"At least seven shoppers were critically wounded," said Sharma. The militant escaped.
Suspected ULFA militants also triggered two explosions late Thursday which injured three people and ripped up a railway track near an oil refinery in the heart of Guwahati's Noonmati area.
The first explosion ripped up seven metres (23 feet) of track, said Guwahati district magistrate Adsar Hazarika.
"An hour later a crowd had gathered at the railway blast site when a second bomb went off 20 metres (66 feet) away. A policeman, a photo journalist and a civilian were seriously injured," he added.
Sharma said the ULFA militants had planned the attacks and others in a desperate attempt to stay in the news. "The ULFA has rocked Assam with three blasts and two grenade attacks in the last 24 hours to grab headlines," he said.
"We have intercepted messages from ULFA militants regarding their plans to unleash terror in the state," he said.
On Wednesday suspected ULFA rebels threw a grenade outside a cinema in Dibrugarh, killing one person and wounding a dozen more.
They are also blamed for a blast on a railway track in Kokhrajhar district Wednesday which narrowly missed a goods train that had passed minutes before.
In the most deadly recent attack by suspected ULFA militants, 15 people were killed by a landmine on August 15, India's Independence Day.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Thursday called for peace talks with ULFA and accused neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar of harbouring cadres of the group.
"The people of Assam want the ULFA to stop these barbaric attacks on civilians and come for negotiations," Gogoi said, adding, however, the rebels did not appear to be ready to talk.
"The ULFA it seems does not want to come for talks and the violent attacks are a pointer ... The ULFA has declared a war on the people of Assam and we cannot tolerate such cowardly attacks," he said.
"We want the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to crack down on ULFA camps located in their countries ... We have definite reports of the ULFA having bases inside these two neighbouring countries."
Bangladesh has denied the presence of Indian rebel groups in its territory. Myanmar has assured New Delhi that it will expel any Indian insurgents it finds.
Some 30 rebel outfits, including the ULFA, are waging insurgencies in India's northeast as they seek greater autonomy or independence. They say New Delhi exploits the region which is rich in oil, tea and timber.
More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency violence in the northeast since India's independence in 1947.
NEW DELHI, Aug 23: The United States said on Monday that new military ties with India was a key plank of its emerging policy in South Asia and listed an impressive catalogue of arms deals with New Delhi that would inevitably , even if apparently unintentionally, trigger a fresh round of concerns in Islamabad.
Speaking at the Army War College in Indore, US Charge d'Affaires Robert Blake said recent military cooperation with India included joint training in jungle and mountain warfare, and an offer to sell to New Delhi chemical and biological protection equipment.
Their common quarry was terrorism. "Those who attack our societies, be it in New York, in Washington, in Mumbai, in New Delhi, or in Jammu & Kashmir, must be stopped. We condemn all terrorist violence, and let there be no doubt, we are with you 100 per cent on this issue," Mr Blake declared.
To help promote regional stability in South Asia, the US and India meet regularly to discuss "mutual concerns" in Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.
"The US also supports continued efforts by India and Pakistan to better their relations," Mr Blake added. A copy of his remarks was made available by the US embassy.
"The relationship between our two countries transcends domestic politics, just as it did during the Clinton-Bush transition in 2001 and the BJP-Congress transition earlier this year," Mr Blake said, signalling a continuity of stable ties with New Delhi regardless of the party in power.
"Without doubt, military cooperation remains one of the most vibrant, visible, and proactive legs powering the transformation of US-India relations. This cooperation succeeds because of the Indian and US military establishments' mutual desire to move our relationship forward," the envoy said.
On the Indian side, there has been a tremendous effort to look to expand areas of mutual benefit, to look for partnerships, not antagonisms, and to look for regional collaboration, he observed. Mr Blake's list of military hardware - both sold and in the pipeline - was impressive.
In July 2003, two AN-TPQ/37 Firefinder counter-battery radars arrived and have been deployed in India. Two more radars, part of a 12 unit $190 million sales agreement under Washington's foreign military sales policy, will soon be deployed, having just completed their final quality testing.
The second major deal under negotiation is for the P-3 Orion naval reconnaissance plane. "US officials describe it as a "3C-plus" meaning the version that would be sold to India would be equipped with the latest avionics, including sensors and computerized command and control and weapons systems," Mr Blake said.
He added that India also plans to buy into the deep submersible rescue vessel (DSRV) system. Meanwhile, GE-404 engines for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) have already made their way here.
India will also buy $29 million worth of unique and special equipment to enhance the counter-terrorism capabilities of its special forces. They may also purchase chemical and biological protection equipment, he said.
He described as an area of great promise - and one that is of great strategic and commercial importance - the US-India Next Steps in Strategic Partnership initiative, or NSSP launched in January of this year.
This initiative will include expanded engagement on nuclear regulatory and safety issues and missile defence, ways to enhance cooperation in peaceful uses of space technology, and steps to create the appropriate environment for successful high technology commerce.
Note: China is also exerting influence in Myanmar which is Burma on the map.
Given that the United States desires control of the Malacca Straits which would give them command of not only a third of global trade but half the world’s oil supplies which would include oil shipped from Saudi to China and that China with well over 80 percent of their imports being shipped through the narrow strait is considering a pipeline in Myanmar as a lifeline or alternative route I would look for the United States to instigate major upheavals in Myanmar. #msg-3415458 #msg-4103878
Excellent analysis.
-Am
October 04, 2004
Deng Xiaoping used to say that it 'does not matter if a cat is white and black as long it catches mice.' So whether Jiang Xemin or Hu Jintao is in full control of the Communist Party's machinery (including the People's Liberation Army), Beijing's attitude towards Delhi will remain the same (even if today the cat calls itself a 'peaceful cat'). In early 1950, a few weeks after India decided to be the 'first nation' outside the Communist World to recognise Red China, a young Bombay journalist running a magazine called Mother India prophesised the invasion of Tibet. It was several months before Mao's troops walked on the Roof of the World.
He wrote: 'It is quite on the cards that soon she [Tibet] will be added to Mao's territorial possessions. But the story is different with Nepal. Mao will perhaps wish to reach out through Tibet and interfere with Nepal's present status. Nepal has good defence resources, though an out-of-date political structure, and India will be particularly interested in the security of this neighbour of hers, since there are sixteen railroads leading from the Nepalese border into our country and the Gurkha soldiers are an important part of our own army. An extension of Mao's rule to Nepal will lay India open to easy attack by him and consequently cannot under any circumstances be tolerated. It will mean definitely a prelude to a war between China and India.'
There are several interesting features in this article, the first one being that the journalist, K D Sethna, was a disciple of the great Rishi Sri Aurobindo and that all his articles were vetted by the master who several times pointed out at the danger of Communist China reaching India's doorsteps and engulfing what Mao named the palm (Tibet) and the five fingers (NEFA, Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal and Kashmir).
Another remarkable feature of Sethna's piece is that 54 years later, the situation does not appears to have improved and the threat over India remain the same.
In the same article, Sethna stated: 'What the alarmists declare is that if we did not recognise Mao he would precipitate a military clash with us.'
However, today the position is poles apart: nobody is alarmed either in the corridors of South Block or the media. Particularly after Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit last year to Beijing, India is again becoming a friend (if not yet a brother) with China and the new government (like its predecessor) is actively 'engaging' China.
Nevertheless, it remains that the situation today in Nepal, as was 55 years ago, is very worrying and the ascendancy of the Maoists, whether they are supported by Beijing or not, is not a good omen for India. One can only hope that the new foreign secretary, who has been posted in Kathmandu and should have some knowledge of the situation, will do something to 'engage' the king and his government and encourage the creation of conditions to have the populace with them and not against it.
In the meantime Beijing is more and more 'engaged in Nepal. An agency report mentioned: 'Nepal's Crown Prince Paras' first visit to China resulted in the establishment of a series of aid projects for Nepal. China has agreed to provide nearly Nepali Rs 450 million (US $6,250,000) to Nepal this fiscal year to support ongoing projects as well as to initiate new ones.' During his visit, Paras met Chinese President Hu Jintao and invited him to visit Nepal.
Another difference from the early fifties is that today China is a power to reckon with. Remember when Tibet was invaded in 1950 China was nothing. She was recognized only by a few 'fraternal Communist nations.' During his stay in Moscow in 1949-1950 for several months, Mao had had to literarily crawl in front of Stalin to get material support for his country. At that time, India pushed hard for the new Beijing regime's recognition, but very few cared for what India believed and Beijing remained isolated.
In 2004, though Red China is dead and gone, under the banner of 'the peaceful rise of China,' the Forth Generation's leadership has transformed the Middle Kingdom into an Eden of wild capitalism. China today is on top of the world or to put it more correctly, on the top of Olympus. In August, when Dora Bakoyannis, the mayor of Athens, handed over the Olympic flame to Wang Qishan, her Beijing counterpart, China was indeed triumphant. New China was perhaps not able to get the better of the United States (they just had won 32 golds, three less than the US), but as an Indian newspaper puts it: 'Western sports officials and journalists no longer talk of China taking over the US supremacy of world sport -- unchallenged for a century -- as a possibility. Rather, it is an inevitability. When Chinese officials boast of 'winning 50 gold medals in Beijing,' nobody sniggers.'
This has not come by wishful thinking or prayers, China has work hard and invested much for this: their sports budget is astronomical. The PLA Daily reported that Beijing spent $720 million a year of their Olympic sports programme alone.
At Athens, China took part in 26 of 28 disciplines. Many, at least in China, feel the investment was worthwhile: $20 million for one gold medal. It is a good return not only because China can now await 2008 with regained confidence. In the Chinese psyche, 'face' is most important and the leadership knows that in four years time, the Middle Kingdom will be able to find its true place at the centre of the world.
In an essay published recently in Foreign Affairs magazine, Peter G Peterson, secretary of commerce in the Nixon administration prophesised that the US are 'riding for a fall.' More and more analysts feel that one of the consequences of the US decline will see China taking the lead in the world during the 21st century. Hu Jintao and his colleagues in Beijing firmly believe this. The 'peaceful rise of China' means that Beijing will do everything to keep the image of a peaceful nation till China rises to the top in 2008. The date of the Olympics is not just symbolic. It is a long planned programme and the investment in gold medals is only a tiny aspect.
Till then, it does not mean that Beijing will do nothing and merely watch the world. In recent months her foreign policy has never been so assertive, especially against an India (with its one and only silver) considered very weak. It is not only in Nepal that China is keeping the pressure on India, it is in all her neighbourhood.
I had written earlier about the mysterious lake in Tibet. Beijing has managed to keep the state of Himachal Pradesh on tenterhooks for several weeks, causing tens of crores of rupees expenses to the exchequer, just because, the leadership in Beijing refused to allow an Indian team to access the danger. Road construction to the Indian border was probably the reason for the landslides and China was obviously not keen to inform Delhi about it.
In Manipur, where the agitation is linked to the murder and rape of Thangjam Manorama, a militant, by the Assam Rifles, a deeper angle has recently come to light. The web site Indiareacts.com reported: 'Raids on Manipur university professors and at least seven students unearthed details of telephone calls made to Hong Kong and visits to meet Chinese MID or military-intelligence department agents.'
'During questioning, one of the professors broke down and confessed to visiting Hong Kong nine times in the past six months. A proposal was recovered in the raid for Chinese mediation of the Manipur issue. A further trail led to five Manipuri insurgent leaders who had regular meetings with MID agents based in Myanmar, who were presumably road mapping the agitation.'
We know about Myanmar and Beijing's support to the military junta (and its aversion to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Laureate who, let us not forget, studied at the Institute of Advance Studies in Simla for years and is considered close to India).
Beijing provides important economic assistance to Rangoon and since the coup in 1988, China has built important infrastructures (roads, bridges, power plants, harbour facilities), which in turn serve Beijing own strategic interests.
Official Chinese figures tell us that 1 million Chinese people live in Burma, but the real figure is probably around 3 million. Isn't this one more subtle pressure on India's borders?
Another worrying incident is the rising harassment and persecution of Buddhist tribals by militants of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM) and NSCN (K) in remote parts of Arunachal Pradesh. The militant outfits have demanded annexation of land from the Buddhist and issued a decree for their conversion to Christianity. The villagers were given two options only -- embrace Christianity or face capital punishment.
The objectives of the NSCN (IM) is to establish a 'Greater Nagaland' based on Mao Tse Tung's ideology. Its manifesto is based on the principle of socialism for economic development with a religion addition 'Nagaland for Christ.' A powerful cocktail!
We could continue the list with the supply of arms to Bangladesh; or the Beijing orchestrated saga of Dr A Q Khan in Pakistan, the enhanced Han presence in Central Asia, particularly in Kyrgyzstan where President Akaev has leased 125,000 hectares of the most valuable Kyrgyz land to China 'with glaciers full of fresh water and with a uniquely designed border outpost.' Though Kyrgyzstan has not direct borders with India, the encirclement is getting tighter by the day.
The rise of China, whether peaceful or not, should be of great concern to India. A leadership change in Beijing will not change this basic fact because, today as yesterday, Delhi is Beijing's only economic and geostrategic rival in Asia.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
