‘If Kashmiris want to stay with India, we have no issues’

Pakistan Kashmir Affairs minister Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo tells Kunal Majumder that only talks can resolve the vexed issue: “In the Shimla agreement, both countries had decided that the Kashmir issue will be resolved through dialogue, not through any form of aggression. Pakistan has always maintained that the issue can be resolved when the Indian, Pakistani and Kashmiri leadership sit together and talk. Gilani’s statement should be welcomed. During their meetings, both the prime ministers have agreed on the need to continue talking. The ongoing composite dialogues are the result. Manmohan Singh has himself accepted that Kashmir will be a part of these composite dialogues. This is a victory for both sides and shows their seriousness in resolving the Kashmir issue as well as others.”

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‘China provokes us but we still don’t know how to fight it’

THIS NEW book is a detailed critique of the military strategy of India. NC Asthana, a top IPS officer, and Anjali Nirmal, who has a doctorate in police administration, examine India’s preparedness in case of a war. Ranging across war doctrines, strategies, perceived threats and military capacity, they study what is wrong with Indian military. In a conversation with Kunal Majumder, the authors outline the reasons our strategies are often Pakistan-centric and why we are scared of China.

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Splinter cells and the Chaos Theory

Renegade Maoist groups wreak havoc in Jharkhand, often with the tacit support of the state police. Last year on 7 April, after the murder of Reliance Power general manager Manoj Ojha by a Maoist renegade group in Chatra district, Jharkhand IG RK Malik made an unusually candid admission. He accepted that the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC), a renegade group believed to be responsible for Ojha’s death, was once an ally of the state police. Malik went on to add that the group was no longer under police control after turning criminal. And that the police has been instructed to take action against TPC operatives.

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Villagers die in protest over power plant in coastal Andhra

On 28 February, police fired teargas shells setting fire to nearly a hundred huts of fisherfolk in the Vadditandra village of Srikakulam district inciting people’s anger. The police provoked the villagers and then opened fire with live ammunition killing and injuring in the process, local activists claimed. The police claim they used rubber bullets. So how did 30-year-old C Erraiah and 36-year-old Giri Nageswar Rao die?

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