Pakistan’s permanent envoy to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, on Sunday said India will never be able to secure a permanent seat at the UN Security Council unless China and Russia back it. “Without veto power, India will not be of any threat to Pakistan even if it manages to enter UNSC as a permanent member,” Mr Haroon told reporters at Hyderabad in Sindh province.
US President Barack Obama’s support to India’s right to get a UN Security Council seat has not gone down well in Pakistan. Many Pakistanis feel that India would ride roughshod over Islamabad if it got veto rights — like the other five permanent Security Council members. Mr Haroon called for “judicious use of resources” to achieve financial stability in Pakistan, cautioning that China and India were the emerging powers in the region who would control and influence the decision-making processes in future.
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IAF to provide protection to major cities
New Delhi, Nov. 21: Aiming to prevent any 9/11 type attack in the country, the Indian Air Force is planning deploying detachments of fighter aircraft close to major cities to thwart any such attempts of terrorists by using the aerial route.
Under its plan, a small detachment of three to four dedicated aircraft would be deployed close to major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune to provide cover against any threats from hijacked aircraft, low speed and high speed aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), micro-light aircraft, paragliders, balloons and remote-controlled aero-models. “At present also, the IAF provides aerial protection to these cities but under the new plan, it will have dedicated aircraft round-the-clock for carrying out these responsibilities,” senior defence ministry officials said.
The protection provided to these cities would be same as that provided to the national capital during the Commonwealth Games and the Republic Day parade, they added. During the Republic Day and the Independence Day, the IAF deploys fighter aircraft at Hindon airbase and frontline fighters like Su-30 MKI, MiG-21 “Bison” and MiG-29 are kept on operational readiness mode.
at air bases. —PTI