Big Deal: India gets Rafale advantage over Pakistan
Ending year of visions and revisions, India finally signed one of its biggest defence deals with France to acquire 36 Rafale fighter jets, which promise to give the country a decisive edge vis-à-vis its adversary Pakistan in a conflict situation.
The 7.87-billion euro deal was inked by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart Jean Yves Le Drian in New Delhi on September 23, capping years of hard-fought negotiations which has saved the nation around 750 million Euros.
The deal to buy 36 fighter aircraft in fly-away condition was unveiled during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France in April 2015, but the price negotiations dragged on for months resulting in a win-win deal. The Modi government and its negotiators have much to crow about as the final deal has not only saved India 750 million euros compared to the deal negotiated under the previous government, but also comes with a 50 per cent offset clause, which effectively means business of around 3 billion euros for Indian companies.
Rafale jets, considered the most advanced in the world, will bolster India’s defence as they are equipped with latest missiles and weapon system. The India-specific modifications and the integration of state-of-the-art missiles like ‘Meteor’ and ‘Scalp,’ will give the Indian Air Force the much-needed strike capability against adversaries like Pakistan.
The Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Meteor air-to-air missile with a range in excess of 150 km will enable IAF to, if such a situation arises, to strike inside both Pakistan and across the northern and eastern borders while staying well within within India’s territorial boundary.
India debunks Sharif’s Kashmir tune: Shun Pakistan, Ivy League of Terrorism
India fielded a young diplomat to trash Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s staccato speech at UN, in which he drummed the Kashmir cause in a formulaic manner and sought to glorify the leader of a proscribed terrorist organization. It was a stinging rebuttal of the Pakistani leader’s speech, who invested 80 per cent of his time in orchestrating the Kashmir cause, with hardly any resonance among world leaders.
“The land of Taxila, one of the greatest learning centres of ancient times, is now host to the Ivy League of terrorism. It attracts aspirants and apprentices from all over the world,” said Eenam Gambhir, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN. Ms Gambhir was deployed to exercise India’s Right of Reply during the General Debate of the 71st session UN General Assembly on September 21.
Condensed in just 510 words, India’s rebuttal was a model of precision and the most devastating indictment of Pakistan’s continuing use of terrorism as a state policy.
In a rebuff to Pakistan, the leaders of more than 25 countries have spoken at the UNGA, but no one even alluded to Kashmir and everybody spoke about the need to fight terror unitedly, underscoring Pakistan’s growing international isolation.