Patrol Vehicle

Myanmar received in March the first of 20 RSK MiG-29s ordered under a roughly €400 million ($553 million) deal, with their introduction to more than double the country's MiG-29 fleet.

Ordered in November 2009, the aircraft will be delivered in three configurations, comprising 10 MiG-29B and six MiG-29SE single-seat fighters and four MiG-29UB twin-seat operational trainers.
The acquisition effectively clears the remaining MiG-29B/SE stock at RSK MiG's Lukhovitsy plant, with the airframe parts having been manufactured in the Soviet and Perestroika eras. Myanmar's aircraft will be delivered in an original export configuration, with analogue instruments and Phazotron N-019 radars.


Myanmar previously bought used MiG-29s from Belarus, but approached the type's manufacturer and Russian arms export company Rosoboronexport for help after encountering a high attrition rate. Moscow responded with help on weapons, spare parts and training, including the installation of a simulator at one of its air bases.

Acquiring an additional batch of fighters directly from RSK MiG should radically improve the combat readiness and effectiveness of Myanmar's fleet, sources say. Its air force now has 32 MiG-29s.

Meanwhile, RSK MiG says a new logistics support system to be established in co-operation with Indian companies will enable it to provide increased customer support for the nation's MiG-29s, plus those flown by the air forces of Malaysia and Myanmar.

SOME people hate me a lot in Pakistan. They hate me because I said sorry to Bengalis two years ago in Islamabad Press Club for the atrocities committed by Pakistan Army in 1971.They hate me because I also demanded an official apology from the government of Pakistan to the people of Bangladesh for the genocide of March 1971.They say I don't know anything. They say I am not a good Pakistani.
They say I was very young in 1971 and I am not aware about the truth. When I say yes I was only a young schoolgoing boy in 1971 but I heard and read a lot about the genocide. How can I deny my late father, Professor Waris Mir, who visited Dhaka in October 1971 with a delegation of Punjab University students? My father was a teacher of journalism in Punjab University, Lahore. He was asked by the University administration to organise a visit of the student's union office bearers to Turkey, but he took the boys to Dhaka with their consent. They wanted to know what was actually going on in Dhaka.
I still remember that when my father came back from Dhaka he wept for many days. He told us stories of bloodshed. These stories were similar to the story of my mother. My mother lost her whole family during migration from Jammu to Pakistan in 1947.Her brothers were killed by the Hindus and Sikhs in front of her eyes. Her mother was kidnapped. She saved her life by hiding under the dead bodies of her own relatives. I remember that my mother cried a lot when my father told her that Pakistan army officers raped many Bengali women. My mother said: "We made sacrifices for the safety of our honour but why we are dishonouring each other today?"
My father always said that Bengalis made Pakistan and we Punjabis broke Pakistan. Once he said that March 23rd was Pakistan Day, March 26th should be the apology day and December 16th should be the accountability day. I started understanding the thoughts of my late father when I became a journalist in 1987.




When I first read the Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report I felt ashamed. This report of a Pakistani commission admitted murder and rape but, despite this documentary evidence, many people still live in a state of denial. They say Sheikh Mujib was a traitor who created Mukti Bahini with the help of India and killed many innocent Punjabis and Beharis. I say that Sheikh Mujib was a worker of the Pakistan movement, he was a supporter of Fatima Jinnah (sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah) till 1966.He only demanded provincial autonomy but military rulers declared him a traitor. In fact, these military rulers were traitors because their troops raped their own mothers and sisters. They say I am a liar and an enemy of Pakistan. How could I be an enemy of Pakistan? My mother sacrificed her whole family for Pakistan. My problem is that I cannot deny truth.
A senior colleague of mine, Afzal Khan, is still alive. He is 73 years old. He worked with Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), and was secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) from 1980 to 1985. He was sent to Dhaka on March 28, 1971 for the coverage of the army operation. He told me many times that yes Mukti Bahini killed a lot of innocent people but what the Pakistan army did was not the job of a national army. Once he was staying in Ispahani House in Khulna. An army major once offered him a girl to spend a night with. When Afzal Khan asked who the girl was, the major said that she was the daughter of a local police officer and she could come to Ispahani House at gun-point. After this incident Afzal Khan came back to Lahore in May 1971. He says that all those who were responsible for the rape and genocide of Bengalis never enjoyed any respect in Pakistan.
The name of General Yahya Khan is still like an abuse in Pakistan. His son Ali Yahya always tries to hide from people. General Tikka Khan is still remembered as the "butcher of Bengal." General A.A.K. Niazi wanted to become "tiger of Bengal" but is remembered as "jackal of Bengal." The majority of Pakistanis hate all those who were responsible for the genocide of their Bengali brothers. That is the reason the family members of these army officers don't even mention publicly that who their fathers were.
But still there are some people who are not ready to admit their blunders. These people are a minority but they are powerful. I consider them enemies of the Pakistan for which my mother sacrificed her family. Why should we defend these enemies? Why doesn't our democratic government officially apologise to Bengalis? This apology will not weaken Pakistan. It will strengthen Pakistan.
I am sure that Pakistan is changing fast. A day will come very soon when the government of Pakistan will officially say sorry to Bengalis and March 26th will become an apology day for patriotic Pakistanis. I want this apology because Bengalis created Pakistan. I want this apology because Bengalis supported the sister of Jinnah against General Ayub Khan. I wants this apology because I want to make a new relationship with the people of Bangladesh. I don't want to live with my dirty past. I want to live in a neat and clean future. I want a bright future not only for Pakistan but also for Bangladesh. I want this apology because I love Pakistan and I love Bangladesh. Happy Independence Day to my Bangladeshi brothers and sisters.

Hamid Mir is Executive Editor of Geo TV in Islamabad. He will receive Saarc Lifetime Achievement Award on March 26th in the Saarc Writers' Conference in Delhi. Email: [email protected]

After a break of three years, the Bangladeshi and Pakistani foreign secretaries will hold talks on bilateral relations at a two-day annual consultation to be held in Islamabad on November 1-2.
Bangladesh will dominate the talks with its three vital issues including Pakistan's apology for the 1971 genocide. It will officially raise the issue of its continual demand for repatriation of stranded Pakistanis and division of assets at the two days talks.
Official sources said Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes would lead an eight-member Bangladesh delegation at the upcoming consultation with his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir.
“This will be an ice-melting session in the bilateral relations between the two countries as no such meeting was held for long since the last Foreign Secretary-level consultation in Dhaka in August 2007," said a foreign ministry official.
He said both the countries are now keen to reinvigorate the bilateral ties and to suggest their present leaderships to undertake bold steps to take the bilateral relations to a genuinely meaningful level.
Sources said, at the upcoming talks, Pakistan would be asked to officially seek apology from Bangladesh for the genocide in 1971.
This would be helpful in strengthening the bilateral ties and in carrying out the current trial of the local collaborators of the Pakistani occupation forces in Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971, sources said.
Since independence, two major areas of disagreement remained between Bangladesh and Pakistan. The first issue concerned the finances of united Pakistan.
After getting independence in 1971, Bangladesh claimed that it deserved a share of the US$ 4 billion worth of pre-independence exchange, bank credit, and movable assets, which were protected in West Pakistan during the war.
In a 1975 agreement, Bangladesh accepted half of Pakistan's pre-1971 external debts, but the asset-sharing issue remained unresolved.
The second issue tangling between the two countries concerned the immigration of large number of people, mostly Biharis (non-Bengali Muslims), to Pakistan.
The International Red Cross registered nearly 540,000 people who wanted to immigrate to Pakistan after independence. By 1982, about 127,000 had been repatriated, leaving another 250,000 people still demanding repatriation.
Bangladesh also wants settlement of US$ 200 million, which Pakistan received from the international community as donation for the 1970 cyclone victims of the then East Pakistan.
Bangladesh is optimistic that Pakistan, which earlier gave Bangladeshi jute and tea duty-free access to its market, is likely to give such access to more Bangladeshi items in furture.
The Islamabad meeting is expected to culminate with the signing of two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) on exchange of cultural programmes and activists, and visa free entry of the officials of both countries.
Besides, Bangladesh will ask Pakistan to prune the negative list of goods under South Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta), to establish the Karachi-Chittagong direct sea link and to increase the frequency of flights between the two.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary is expected to meet Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Ahead of the Islamabad meeting, an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by the foreign secretary was held at the foreign ministry where it was emphasized to pursue duty-free access of Bangladeshi products in Pakistan

One of the issues that may be taken up during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Bangladesh visit is closer defence ties between the two countries.

India is, for the first time, open to even supplying military hardware and spares to its eastern neighbour. Government sources said
apart from closer army-to-army contacts, India may supply spares and undertake repairs of armoured corps' equipment.

India has never supplied weapons to Bangladesh - as Dhaka has not made any queries recently - since its independence war of 1971. But Dhaka recently hinted that they needed spares and ammunition for their artillery guns and tanks.
The Bangladesh government largely purchases small weapons, mortar, air defence artillery, artillery guns, main battle tanks, F-7 fighters and frigates from China.
The other major suppliers are Russia (MiG-29 fighters), the United States (helicopters), the UK and even Pakistan.
Dhaka also wanted closer cooperation in training and increase in bilateral contacts.
During Indian army chief General VK Singh's five-day visit to Dhaka last June, the Bangladesh military leadership said the reciprocation from the Indian side to training courses in Dhaka was less than that of Bangladesh's in Indian defence colleges.


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