Congress accuses Nirmala Sitharaman of lying on Rafale, wants JPC
New Delhi, Sep 13: Firing a fresh salvo against the Modi government over the Rafale deal, the Congress on Thursday accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of "lying" again" about the number of the France-built jets and demanded her and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to submit to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe.
"Defence Minister is caught lying again on the number of fighter aircraft required by Indian Air Force (IAF)," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told the media. "Her claim that IAF does not have the infrastructure like parking place, maintenance facility to fly 126 Fighter aircraft is preposterous and goes against the grain of national security requirements," he said.
He said Modi's decision to "arbitrarily" reduce requirement of 126 fighter aircraft to 36 was "unexplainable".
His remarks were in reference to Sitharaman's interview to a national daily wherein she has said that the "government chose to procure only 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France in 2015, instead of the 126 being negotiated by the previous government, as infrastructure and other technical requirements of the IAF do not allow greater induction".
Dismissing Sitharaman's argument as "obnoxious" the Congress leader asked: "Can the government and IAF not create parking space/maintenance facility in 6-8 years period during which the aircraft will be delivered?
"Can creation of parking space/maintenance facility be a ground for compromising air superiority and national security?"
Surjewala also held Sitharaman "guilty" of not disclosing the fact that mandatory ‘Fast Track Procedure' for affecting ‘emergency purchase' was never followed by Modi at the time of announcement of purchase of 36 Rafale on 10th April, 2015".
"She has also failed to point out that no such ‘emergency purchase' was approved either by the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar or Cabinet Committee on Security. How does she now explain the fact that despite the ‘emergency purchase' in April 2015, aircraft will not be delivered up to the year 2022 and that also without ‘India specific enhancements'," said the Congress leader.
He also indicted Sitharaman of "lying on the non-disclosure of price of Rafale" which she had agreed to publicly disclose in a press conference on Nov 17 2017.
"Let the Prime Minister and Defence Minister own accountability and submit to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe instead of lying to the nation," added Surjewala.
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Around 70 people killed in attack on hospital in Sudan's Darfur region: WHO chief
El Fasher (AP): Some 70 people were killed in an attack on the only functional hospital in the besieged city of El Fasher in Sudan, the chief of the World Health Organisation said on Sunday, part of a series of attacks coming as the African nation's civil war escalated in recent days.
The attack on the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital, which local officials blamed on the rebel Rapid Support Forces, came as the group has seen apparent battlefield losses to the Sudanese military and allied forces under the command of army chief Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan. That includes Burhan appearing near a burning oil refinery north of Khartoum on Saturday that his forces said they seized from the RSF.
International mediation attempts and pressure tactics, including a US assessment that the RSF and its proxies are committing genocide and sanctions targeting Burhan, have not halted the fighting.
In the Saudi hospital attack in El Fasher, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus offered the death toll in a post on the social platform X.
Officials and others in the capital of North Darfur province had cited a similar figure Saturday, but Ghebreyesus is the first international source to provide a casualty number. Reporting on Sudan is incredibly difficult given communication challenges and exaggerations by both the RSF and the Sudanese military.
“The appalling attack on Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, led to 19 injuries and 70 deaths among patients and companions,” Ghebreyesus wrote. “At the time of the attack, the hospital was packed with patients receiving care.”
Another health facility in Al Malha also was attacked Saturday, he added.
“We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan, and to allow full access for the swift restoration of the facilities that have been damaged,” he wrote. “Above all, Sudan's people need peace. The best medicine is peace.”
Ghebreyesus did not identify who launched the attack, though local officials had blamed the RSF for the assault.
The RSF and Sudan's military began fighting each other in April 2023. Their conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.
Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll in the civil war.
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