Kamal Nath’s plan to fast-track trial of politicians criticized

NEW DELHI: In what is like to further exacerbate the growing disconnect between the civil society and government, political parties have opposed parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath's contention that fast track courts be set up for trial of politicians accused of heinous crimes like rape and murder. This was even as RTI activists and other civil rights groups endorsed the idea.

Nath had said that the public should be able to look up to politicians instead of looking down upon them. However, his proposal failed to enthuse his own party. "Cases are against an accused not against a politician or any other category. What's important is the nature of crime. There cannot be a discrimination between people. Such crimes (sexual assault) should be tried fast, irrespective of who is accused," said Congress party spokesman P C Chacko.

The BJP reacted to Nath's prescription by saying that there is no point in creating categories of criminals or criminal cases to be fast tracked. "It is unfortunate that our legal system takes so long. In fact, I am planning to bring a private members bill in the next session whereby one court will have to get over with a single case within one years time," said spokesperson Prakash Javdekar.

Left leaders said there is a need to speed up the justice delivery system. "Justice must be delivered expeditiously in all cases," said CPI leader A B Bardhan.

A politician accused in a criminal offence is a criminal and should be treated like one. Why should there be a distinction between criminals, he said.

According to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, "We have said that there should be fast track courts to try all rape cases without distinction if the accused is a politician. We will welcome it if the Congress or the UPA government sets up fast track courts for graft cases."

However, Association for Democratic Reforms, which has spearheaded the campaign for making election affidavits public, demanded that not only should courts be set up but also that if found guilty the candidate should be disqualified. ADR's Anil Bairwal said, "The National Commission for Working of Review of Constitution and the Law Commission report have recommended that cases pending against elected representatives should be investigated and brought to a close within six months. If found guilty, the candidate should be disqualified."

He added that political parties should take cognizance but despite growing public opinion against the move, every election saw a number of elected representatives getting tickets. ADR has pointed out that MPs with criminal records had increased from 128 in 2004 to 162 in 2009. Their criminal offences had become more heinous too, including murder, rape and dacoity.

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal said, "We had raised the demand for fast-track courts to hear cases against the 162 MPs in July, 2012. In additional political parties should not give tickets to any candidates who have charges of crimes of moral turpitude against them. We in AAP have resolved not give tickets to such people."

RTI activist Nikhil Dey said, "It is an unpopular view but I believe that it is unfair to say that political parties should not give tickets to people who have charges against them. We know that on several occasions the charges are politically motivated and it is a convenient way to exclude people from the political process. However, it is important that fast-track courts be set up and resources prioritized because this is a sensitive issue: either clear the candidate or put the matter to an end."

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James Holmes' Elaborate Booby Trap Plan Revealed

A gasoline-soaked carpet, loud music and a remote control car were part of an elaborate plan by accused Aurora gunman James Holmes' to trick someone into triggering a blast that would destroy his apartment and lure police to the explosion while he shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., according to court testimony today.

FBI agent Garrett Gumbinner told a Colorado court about Holmes' complex plans to booby trap his apartment. Gumbinner said he interviewed Holmes on July 20, hours after he killed 12 and wounded 58 during the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

"He said he rigged the apartment to explode to get law enforcement to send resources to his apartment instead of the theater," Gumbinner said.

Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.

His plan failed to prompt someone into triggering the bombs.

Gumbinner said Holmes had created two traps that would have set off the blast.

The apartment was rigged with a tripwire at the front door connected to a mixture of chemicals that would create heat, sparks and flame. Holmes had soaked the carpet with a gasoline mixture that was designed to be ignited by the tripwire, Gumbinner said.

"It would have caused fire and sparks," the agent said, and "would have made the entire apartment explode or catch fire."

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Holmes had set his computer to play 25 minutes of silence followed by loud music that he hoped would cause a disturbance loud enough that someone would call police, who would then respond and set off the explosion by entering the apartment.

Gumbinner said Holmes also told him he rigged a fuse between three glass jars that would explode. He filled the jars with a deadly homemade chemical mixture that would burn so hot it could not be extinguished with water.

Holmes set a second detonation system outside the building, the agent said.

Holmes, Gumbinner said, rigged one of the triggering devices, called a "pyro trip box" with a remote control. He then took the remote control outside and placed it on top of a white trash bag near the apartment building.

Next to the remote, Holmes placed a remote control car. Inside the trash bag, he put a portable stereo set to play 40 minutes of silence, followed by loud music, the agent said.

The plan, Gumbinner explained, was for someone to hear the music and be drawn to the remote control car with what appeared to be the remote control lying next to it. When that person picked up the remote to activate the car, he or she would have unknowingly triggered the explosion in the apartment.

Holmes also left rows of white powder on the floor, which Gumbinner said was ammonium chloride. The powder, Gumbinner believes, was meant "to scare us" and would have created a large amount of smoke if it had ignited.

Prosecutors showed several photographs of the devices in court.

Holmes legally bought thousands of bullets, four guns and chemicals, months before prosecutors say he opened fire on a crowded movie theater, an ATF agent testified today.

Click here for more details on his deadly arsenal.

Earlier in the day, prosecutors played two 911 calls in court, including the very first call from movie goer Kevin Quinonez as the shooting was still underway.

At least 30 rapid-fire gunshots could be heard in the background of the 27-second call, along with screaming.

"Gunshots?" Quinonez can be heard saying.

The dispatcher pleads with Quinonez to give the theater address, but the sound of gunshots and chaos drowns him out.

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Pictures: Wildfires Scorch Australia Amid Record Heat

Photograph by Jo Giuliani, European Pressphoto Agency

Smoke from a wildfire mushrooms over a beach in Forcett, Tasmania, on January 4. (See more wildfire pictures.)

Wildfires have engulfed southeastern Australia, including the island state of Tasmania, in recent days, fueled by dry conditions and temperatures as high as 113ºF (45ºC), the Associated Press reported. (Read "Australia's Dry Run" inNational Geographic magazine.)

No deaths have been reported, though a hundred people are unaccounted for in the town of Dunalley, where the blazes destroyed 90 homes.

"You don't get conditions worse than this," New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told the AP.

"We are at the catastrophic level, and clearly in those areas leaving early is your safest option."

Published January 8, 2013

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'Gun Appreciation Day' to be held in US

WASHINGTON: American gun enthusiasts can express their zeal on an upcoming "Gun Appreciation Day" right before Barack Obama is sworn in for a second term as president.

A new coalition of gun rights and conservative groups is urging Americans to show support for the right to carry firearms by turning out in large numbers on January 19 at gun stores and firing ranges. Obama's swearing in is to be take place two days later.

"The Obama administration has shown that it is more than willing to trample the Constitution to impose its dictates upon the American people," said Gun Appreciation Day chairman Larry Ward.

In the wake of the shooting last month in Connecticut which claimed the lives of 20 small children and six elementary school workers, Obama said he will support a new bill to restore a ban on military-style assault weapons.

Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said: "We need to ban politicians who assault our rights, not firearms that are used thousands of times a day to protect lives and property from criminal attack."

The second amendment to the US constitution guarantees the right to bear arms.

The pro-gun day is the initiative of a dozen or so associations which say they expect support from some 50 million Americans. The country's most powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, is not among the organisers.

- AFP/jc

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Alagiri men in shock, but silent on Stalin elevation

CHENNAI: As bouquets and greetings poured in for M K Stalin a day after DMK chief M Karunanidhi's dramatic announcement that his younger son would inherit the throne, there was a tell-tale silence on the Madurai turf of his older brother M K Alagiri on Monday. Sources said the mood in the Union minister's camp was one of shock, disappointment and despondency rather than anger.

If silence in the opposite camp can be considered a tacit acceptance of Stalin as the next DMK chief, one could say Karunanidhi has ended the succession war with a single, calculated stroke. There have been no voices of dissent following the announcement by Karunanidhi which effectively sidelined Alagiri, the party's south zone organizing secretary and perceived for the past few years as one of the contenders for the top post.

"Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) is the final authority and we abide by his decision. All we ask is due respect for Annan (Alagiri)," said a veteran DMK functionary and Alagiri supporter. So subdued have been the reactions that the Alagiri camp is now uncertain whether his supporters, who were gearing up to put up a gala show on January 30, which happens to be his birthday, would go ahead with the celebrations.

Alagiri, once the unquestioned strongman of Madurai, preferred not to react on Monday even as some leaders and cadres who have been his ardent supporters tried to come to terms with the DMK patriarch's verdict. But none was ready to make a comment, fearing disciplinary action. At a meeting of the DMK district secretaries on Sunday, Karunanidhi had openly lambasted Alagiri loyalist Murthi, indirectly sending out a warning that any rebellion would be quelled.

A report from Madurai said the Alagiri camp had virtually thrown in the towel seeing the writing on the wall. "Alagiri was made the pointman in southern Tamil Nadu by Karunanidhi and the leaders and cadres owing loyalty to the Kalaignar had naturally gravitated towards the elder son. So if Karunanidhi today has chosen to name Stalin as his successor, then these sections have already deserted Alagiri and rallied around the prince-in-waiting," a senior DMK leader observed.

The balance has been steadily tipping in Stalin's favour despite the DMK's dismal performance in the 2011 state assembly elections as he made a conscious effort to reach out to Alagiri's supporters, some of them in jail for alleged land grabbing, and recruit members for the youth wing by keeping out kin of senior leaders owing allegiance to his elder brother. 'Stalin's formula' as it has come to be known had also ensured that age limits were adhered to while picking organizers and deputy organizers for the youth wing. After the recent death of Alagiri supporter Veerapandi Arumugam, who dominated the western belt, Stalin has made huge inroads and weaned away the rest of the local leaders.

While Karunanidhi has seemingly suppressed any kind of dissent with his categorical announcement that Stalin would succeed him, it is early days yet. It remains to be seen if Stalin can marshal together the support of all the family members, particularly his belligerent brother Alagiri, who has always opposed his elevation within the party when his father was still in charge. Party seniors are waiting with fingers crossed to see what happens on January 19 when Stalin will be in Kanyakumari, technically an Alagiri stronghold, to take part in a protest. Sources said Alagiri's faithful followers may keep away from the event, just like their leader.

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Cops Break Down as They Describe Aurora Horror

Two veteran police officers broke down on the stand today during a preliminary hearing for accused movie theater gunman James Holmes, with one officer choking up when he described finding the body of a 6-year-old girl inside the theater.

Sgt. Gerald Jonsgaard needed a moment to compose himself as he described finding the little girl, Veronica Moser Sullivan, in the blood splattered theater in Aurora, Colo.

An officer felt for a pulse and thought Veronica was still alive, Jonsgaard said, but the officer then realized he was feeling his own pulse.

A preliminary hearing for Holmes began today in Colorado, with victims and families present. He is accused of killing 12 people and wounded dozens more in the movie theater massacre. One of Veronica's relatives likened attending the hearing to having to "face the devil."

The officers wiped away tears as they described the horror they found inside of theater nine.

Officer Justin Grizzle recounted seeing bodies lying motionless on the floor, surrounded by so much blood he nearly slipped and fell.

Grizzle, a former paramedic, says ambulances had not yet made it to the theater, so he began loading victims into his patrol car and driving to the hospital.

"I knew I needed to get them to the hospital now, " Grizzle said, tearing up. "I didn't want anyone else to die."

Arapahoe County Sheriff/AP Photo

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Grizzle drove six victims in four trips, saying that by the end there was so much blood in his patrol car he could hear it "sloshing around."

Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.

An officer who took the stand earlier today described Holmes as "relaxed" and "detached" when police confronted him just moments after the shooting stopped.

The first two officers to testify today described responding to the theater and spotting Holmes standing by his car at the rear of the theater on July 20, 2012. He allegedly opened fire in the crowded theater during the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Officer Jason Oviatt said he first thought Holmes was a cop because he was wearing a gas mask and helmet, but as he got closer realized he was not an officer and held Holmes at gunpoint.

Throughout the search and arrest, Holes was extremely compliant, the officer said.

"He was very, very relaxed," Oviatt said. "These were not normal reactions to anything. He seemed very detached from it all."

Oviatt said Holmes had extremely dilated pupils and smelled badly when he was arrested.

Officer Aaron Blue testified that Holmes volunteered that he had four guns and that there were "improvised explosive devices" in his apartment and that they would go off if the police triggered them.

Holmes was dressed for the court hearing in a red jumpsuit and has brown hair and a full beard. He did not show any reaction when the officers pointed him out in the courtroom.

This is the most important court hearing in the case so far, essentially a mini-trial as prosecutors present witness testimony and evidence—some never before heard—to outline their case against the former neuroscience student.

The hearing at the Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Colo., could last all week. At the end, Judge William Sylvester will decide whether the case will go to trial.

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Wasp Larvae Practice Food Safety

From refrigeration and pasteurization to hand washing and health inspections, humans go to great lengths to prevent foodborne illnesses—and it turns out we're not alone. A new study reveals that the parasitic emerald cockroach wasp (Ampulex compressa) has developed its own food hygiene technique, cleansing its cockroach victim using a cocktail of antimicrobial liquids.

(Read a related article on food safety in National Geographic magazine.)

When reproducing, emerald cockroach wasp mothers attach one egg to the leg of an American cockroach (Periplaneta americana). Once the egg hatches, the larva bores a hole in the insect and moves inside. There, it feeds on the roach's internal organs before spinning a cocoon within the carcass and eventually emerging as an adult wasp. (Watch a related video on the parasitic black wasp.)

However, due to the cockroach's unsanitary living conditions, many bacteria, viruses, and fungi also make their home on the cockroach, infecting the young wasp's only food source and threatening its survival.

"It was clear that a species that feeds on these cockroaches had to protect its food and ... itself from foodborne illnesses," said Gudrun Herzner, an entomologist at the Institute of Zoology at the University of Regensburg in Germany and lead author on the study. "This [environment] was a good place to look for antimicrobial defense mechanisms." (Related: "Cockroach Brains May Hold New Antibiotics?")

A Potent Combination

Herzner and her team wanted to investigate just how these wasp larvae were protecting themselves from the microbes in their contaminated food source. So the team began collecting droplets of a liquid secreted by the larvae when inhabiting their hosts.

Analysis revealed that the two most prevalent chemicals in the secretion—mullein and micromolide—in combination were effective antimicrobial agents against bacteria commonly found on American cockroaches.

Though both compounds had been previously identified in other organisms, Herzner's study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was the first to find this specific combination of chemicals in the same source. "It seems that it's exactly this mixture [that gives] broad-spectrum protection from different kinds of bacteria," Herzner said.

This broad-spectrum strategy also prevents the development of bacterial resistance, similar to combination antibiotic therapy in humans. "[The wasps] virtually soak their cockroaches with these antimicrobial secretions, and in this way, they sanitize the cockroach," said Herzner.

An Ugly World

Parasitization, such as what the emerald cockroach wasp does to cockroaches, is very common in the insect world, said Jim Whitfield, professor of entomology at the University of Illinois, who was not involved with the study. "Almost every species of insect larva has some kind of parasite that attacks it ... It's a pretty ugly world out there if you're an insect larva," he said.

However, this wasp larva's specific method of defense is quite unique, Whitfield added.  "Normally the adult female wasp produces the compounds that protect the offspring, and not the larva itself. In this case, it sounds like it's the larva that produces it," he said.

The discovery of this antimicrobial combination could one day even be used in food safety techniques or antibiotic therapies for humans. In fact micromolide has been a promising lead compound against the microbe that causes tuberculosis, Herzner said.

She added that there could be other compounds, more potent and powerful than what the wasp larvae employ, out there right now. "Evolution might still be working to make an even better combination [for defense]," Herzner said. (Related: "Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found in 4-Million-Year-Old Cave.")

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Obama to nominate Chuck Hagel for defense secretary

President Obama plans to nominate former senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and Vietnam veteran, to be secretary of defense on Monday, according to a person close to the process and a senior administration official.

The White House informed the Hagel camp over the weekend that Obama intends to announce the nomination at the White House on Monday.

The two people with knowledge of the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the nomination before Obama does, said key members of Congress were being being notified Sunday afternoon about the decision.

Hagel would add a well-known Republican to the president’s second-term Cabinet at a time when Obama, after a bitter presidential campaign, is looking to better bridge the partisan divide.

But Hagel’s expected nomination has drawn sharp criticism in recent weeks, particularly from Republicans who have questioned his commitment to Israel’s security.

The choice sets up a nomination fight Obama appeared unwilling to have over his preferred pick for secretary of state, Susan Rice, who pulled out of consideration for that job last month amid Republican complaints over her role in explaining the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, last year that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

In an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called Hagel’s selection “an in-your-face nomination.”

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that Hagel’s record would be given a fair shake in the Senate if he is nominated. McConnell stopped short of saying whether he was prepared to support or oppose his former colleague.

“He’s certainly been outspoken in foreign policy and defense over the years,” McConnell said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.” “The question we’ll be answering if he’s the nominee is: Do his views make sense for that particular job? I think he ought to be given a fair hearing, like any other nominee. And he will be.”

The Hagel announcement will begin what White House officials have said will probably be a busy week of announcements regarding who will fill out Obama’s second-term Cabinet and senior staff.

The president returned from a curtailed holiday in Hawaii on Sunday and will begin making a series of final personnel decisions delayed by the year-end negotiations with Congress over taxes and spending cuts.

Concerning the opposition that has arisen on the Hill before Hagel’s formal nomination, a senior administration official said Sunday that the White House expects Democrats to support the choice, as well as many Republicans who served with Hagel.

“Having a name floated and having one officially put forward are two different things,” the official said.

Hagel, who twice received the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in Vietnam, served in the U.S. Senate for two terms ending in 2009.

He was an outspoken and often-independent voice as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, breaking with many in his party to sharply criticize the management of the Iraq war after he initially supported the invasion.

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Obama set to nominate Hagel as defence secretary

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama is poised to nominate Chuck Hagel as his new defence secretary on Monday, but Republicans are signalling a fierce confirmation fight even though he is one of their own.

Obama has decided he wants the 66-year-old former Republican senator to succeed Leon Panetta at the Pentagon and will make his announcement on Monday, an administration source told AFP, confirming US media reports.

Obama is also expected to announce who he has chosen to replace David Petraeus at the helm of the CIA, with acting director Michael Morell and counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan seen as the frontrunners, CNN said.

Despite the fact that Hagel is a fellow Republican, party heavyweights scenting blood in bitterly-divided Washington have accused him of hostility toward Israel and naivety on Iran, auguring a tough nomination process ahead.

The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, praised Hagel when he left his Nebraska seat in 2009 for his "clear voice and stature on national security and foreign policy," but his tone was markedly different on Sunday.

"He ought to be given a fair hearing like any other nominee, and he will be," McConnell told ABC. "I'm going to wait and see how the hearings go and whether Chuck's views square with the job he would be nominated to do."

But over on CNN, leading Republican Senator Lindsey Graham did not shy away from a full-frontal attack, saying Hagel would be "the most antagonistic defence secretary towards the state of Israel in our nation's history.

"Not only has he said you should directly negotiate with Iran, sanctions won't work, that Israel must negotiate with Hamas, an organisation, terrorist group, that lobs thousands of rockets into Israel.

"He also was one of 12 senators who refused to sign a letter to the European Union trying to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation," Graham said.

Hagel would be an "in-your-face" and "incredibly controversial choice" by Obama that would probably represent a "bridge too far" for him and a lot of other Republicans, he said, before adding that the hearings would provide the expected nominee with a chance to "set some of this straight."

Hagel, a decorated Vietnam veteran, is known for a fiercely independent streak and a tendency to speak bluntly. Some Republicans have never forgiven him for his outspoken criticism of ex-president George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war.

If confirmed by the Senate as Pentagon chief, Hagel will have to manage major cuts to military spending while wrapping up the US war effort in Afghanistan and preparing for worst-case scenarios in Iran or Syria.

Administration appointments are often tense affairs in the United States as the confirmation hearings provide senators with opportunities to turn away unwanted candidates or score cheap political points, or both.

Unyielding opposition from Graham and two other top Republicans, senators Kelly Ayotte and John McCain, last month derailed the ambition of US envoy to the United Nations Susan Rice to become the next secretary of state.

Rice, a longtime member of Obama's inner circle, had been a favourite to succeed Hillary Clinton as the nation's top diplomat.

But her role as administration defender over the attack that killed the US ambassador to Libya in Benghazi on September 11 drew her into a furious row with Republicans keen to dent Obama after his re-election victory.

Rice folded her bid on December 13 and asked Obama not to pick her. A week later the president nominated Senator John Kerry, who is expected to face little Republican resistance, not least because his Senate seat in Massachusetts will now be up for grabs.

Seen as having come off second-best against Obama in the New Year fight over the "fiscal cliff," after being forced to agree to tax hikes on the richest Americans, Republicans appear to be girding for another fight.

However, it is unusual for presidential nominees for cabinet posts to be voted down by the Senate, and Obama's Democrats currently hold the potentially decisive majority in the upper house.

Should Republicans choose to use an obstructive tactic known as the filibuster to prevent the matter from being brought to a vote, Obama would only need to woo a handful of their number to see his nominee confirmed.

- AFP/jc

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J&K police do a U-turn after blaming Army for encounter

SRINAGAR: According to the Chinese calender, 2013 is the year of the snake, denoting peace and prosperity. In Kashmir, though, the new year has dawned with the Indian Army and the J&K police spitting venom at each other. As the latest border clashes show, the peace and camaraderie spoken about in Delhi and Islamabad hasn't made much of a change in the attempts to send in militants from POK. But the skirmishes between the men in olive and khaki, even if not bloody, are just as intense.

The December 27 encounter in Pulwama that resulted in five civilians being shot and wounded during the firefight between the Army and Lashkar-e-Taiba militants is just the latest flashpoint. Even though it was a joint operation between the police and the Army, both parties came out with different versions of what happened.

The Army was vehement that its men had not fired at protesters, that occurred when an injured major was being evacuated. The police, on the other hand, blamed the Army and filed an FIR against the troops. For a few days, as some of the injured protesters were in hospital, both 15 Corps and Police HQ were monitoring their health hourly. The improvement in their health had a direct impact on the police's assaults on the Army. Five days later, the issue has vanished.

Enraged Army men point this out as yet another instance of Kashmir Police's political games. They say that the entire issue was blamed on the Army so as to insulate the government from public anger in case a protester died. To buttress their case, the Army says the Pulwama encounter nailed just one such police lie.

On July 28 last year, four tourists from Maharashtra were killed in a militant attack on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. The police brass had then claimed that the deaths were caused by an LPG cylinder blast. Five months later, the police did a u-turn, accepting that one of the militants killed in Pulwama was responsible for a grenade attack that killed the tourists.

"We had to save the tourist season, so we lied," said a senior police officer.

At the heart of this bickering is a personality clash between the new man in charge of 15 Corps, Lt-Gen OP Singh, and the police top brass. Considered a soldier's soldier by his men, Lt-Gen Singh has been unable to build a working relationship with his police counterparts. Security meetings are fraught with each side accusing the other of mishandling situations.

For almost all of 2012, both sides have bickered over exactly how many militants have come into Kashmir. Even today, there's no consensus, but the Army has accused the police of downplaying the scale of militant ingress to please the National Conference. The unmasking of police sources within militant groups as double agents last summer is often quoted by the Army as proof of the police being at sea when it comes to intelligence.

So deep is the distrust that after a police tip-off led encounter carried out by the Army a few months ago, the corps commander ordered an internal inquiry to assess whether the men killed were indeed militants.

Part of the problem is the stark difference in the style of functioning of Lt-Gen Singh and his predecessor Lt-Gen Hasnain. In Kashmir, the latter's reputation as a "politically savvy" commander is often compared unfavourably with the man in charge. Lt Gen Singh's attempts to engage with the local media, including holding an iftaar dinner, have been seen as PR disasters.

The police brass, too, are vocal on how easy it was when Lt-Gen Hasnain was in charge - statements that do little to endear them to the current Army set up. All this is disturbing because 2013 is a crucial year in Kashmir. If this year is as calm as the past two years, then, in the words of a political commentator, "Omar Abdullah will be the most successful CM since 1987."

Within the security community, though, there is marked nervousness. Increased infiltration, elections in 2014 and the looming faceoff with Islamist Syed Ali Shah Geelani over implementing Supreme Court orders on the Amarnath yatra are factors that make for a combustible mix.

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