Is defence ministry stolen?
Referring to the developments on the India-Pakistan border after Pulwama attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remembered Rafale jets. In full glare of public, he said if he had Rafale jets, he could have answered Pakistan in its own language. He also claimed the opposition parties are conspiring against Rafale.
The whole process of Rafale agreement started during the UPA time. That government was very committed to getting Rafale for our armed forces. In some way, Modi is responsible for the delay in procuring Rafale because he wanted to remove HAL from the partner agreement and add his friend Ambani’s company Reliance. This was illegal. Today, this whole point has stopped Rafale from being handed over. Modi says there is nothing illegal in this, and ensured that SC had emphasized that this need not be probed. But the same Supreme Court has taken this up for hearing now.
If there is nothing illegal in this deal, why is the PM against a probe or investigation into this? It is his need as well to retain the trustworthiness in the matter that pertains to defence sector. Senior leader L K Advani had resigned from his post to facilitate inquiry when Hawala issue had surfaced. It is Modi’s prerogative as well that he orders an inquiry and proves his innocence through that in Rafale issue. But forget ordering an inquiry, he is deeply interested in destabilizing the CBI, by meddling with it. Now another major aspect has come to light regarding Rafale. The government has said to the Supreme Court that the Rafale agreement documents have been stolen from the defence ministry.
This statement is so steeped in irresponsibility that it is a terrible indication of how the government poorly perceives national security issues. On one hand, the government is arguing that The Hindu paper published the top secret and confidential documents compromising national security and hence the court has to act against this. But at the same time, can we hope that the defence ministry that is unable to safeguard documents can ever be able to protect the country?
Narendra Modi had said recently that the country is in ‘safe hands’. If this is true, how did such important documents go missing? How can the government that is favouring thieves within the defence ministry, even protect the country? And who is being benefited from such important documents going missing? If one understands who stands to be benefited from lost documents, we’d know who stole them.
The Hindu paper published series of reports based on the important documents. This proved the illegality in Rafale deal beyond doubt. Hence these are against the PM and his most favoured friend Ambani. What would the government’s response be, when it kept crying hoarse that the deal is clean and has no illegalities? Modi government has to answer these questions raised by the documents. Unfortunately, the government is playing petty by pointing fingers at The Hindu paper claiming this matter is for the opponents to argue since they procured the documents amounting to violation of confidentiality agreement.
If The Hindu hadn’t published these documents, the government would have kept the aspect of documents being stolen a secret from the Supreme Court. Since these documents are speaking against the PM, the benefit of doubt of their missing would help him. Hence it is natural to suspect who would have helped them go missing.
The fact that documents have gone missing from the defence sector has dealt a big blow to the defence ministry. Defence minister should have resigned from her post when hundreds of soldiers were killed during Pulwama attack as a matter of intelligence failure. No one owned the moral responsibility. After this, the capturing of our airforce pilot by Pakistan and his subsequent release left a huge dent on the internal security of the country. Now the government seems to have admitted somewhat surreptitiously that there have been illegalities in the Rafale deal by stating the documents are stolen. PM Modi has to take the moral responsibility and resign because he had taken the lead in this. He is directly being part of this deal which stole our defence ministry, nothing less.
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London, Nov 22: A bomb disposal squad deployed as a “precaution” to the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport concluded an investigation into a "security incident" on Friday after making a “suspect package” safe.
The South Terminal of Gatwick Airport, the UK's second busiest airport after Heathrow, which was briefly shut owing to the incident reopened following the incident.
The Gatwick is around 45 km south of London.
Two people detained during the enquiries have since been allowed to continue their journey as the airport was opened.
“Police have concluded their investigation into a report of a suspect package at Gatwick Airport. Officers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team made the package safe, and the airport has been handed back to its operator,” Sussex Police said in an updated statement.
“Two people detained while enquiries were ongoing have subsequently been allowed to continue their journeys. There will remain an increased police presence in the area to assist with passengers accessing the South Terminal for onward travel,” the statement added.
Earlier on Friday, the incident caused severe disruption at the busy airport’s South Terminal, while the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport remained unaffected.
“Police were called to the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport at 8.20 am on Friday (November 22) following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage,” a Sussex Police statement said.
“To ensure the safety of the public, staff and other airport users, a security cordon has been put in place whilst the matter is dealt with. As a precaution, an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team is being deployed to the airport. This is causing significant disruption and some roads around the South Terminal have been closed. We’d advise the public to avoid the area where possible,” it said.
Footage on social media taken outside the airport showed crowds of frustrated travellers being moved away from the terminal building.
Gatwick said it was working hard to resolve the issue.
“A large part of the South Terminal has been evacuated as a precaution while we continue to investigate a security incident," the airport said in a social media post.
“Passengers will not be able to enter the South Terminal while this is ongoing. The safety and security of our passengers and staff remain our top priority. We are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Train and bus services that serve the airport were also impacted while the police carried out their inquiries.
In an unrelated incident in south London on Friday morning, the US Embassy area in Nine Elms by the River Thames was the scene of a controlled explosion by Scotland Yard dealing with what they believe may have been a “hoax device”.
“We can confirm the 'loud bang' reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers,” the Metropolitan Police said in a post on X.
“Initial indications are that the item was a hoax device. An investigation will now follow. Some cordons will remain in place for the time being but the majority of the police response will now be stood down,” it added.
