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Air India asked to disclose PM Narendra Modi’s foreign visit bills

The CIC has directed the Air India to disclose complete records related to bills raised for the foreign visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, underlining that since the expenditure is from the public exchequer it cannot be withheld under the “cloak” of commercial confidence and fiduciary capacity.

The CIC’s order comes two years after RTI activist Commodore (retd) Lokesh Batra filed an application, seeking information on bills raised during the PM’s international travels. Batra had sought to know dates, durations, places visited and the date-wise copies of bills raised by Air India to the PMO for 2016-17.

In an e-mail, sent to an Air India official on December 26, 2016, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had said, “Records pertaining to PM’s flight have certain information which may have security implications and are, hence, exempted from disclosure under clause (g) of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, 2005.”

In an order dated 8 May, the CIC rejected the submission made by Air India’s Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) that the details sought by Batra were exempt under the cloak of commercial confidence and fiduciary relationship with the client concerned, which in this case is another wing of the government.

In his second appeal, Batra had stressed that Air India is a public sector authority working under the control of government, which is performing its statutory function of loaning its aircrafts to other government bodies. Hence, this loaning of its chartered flights to various government departments/agencies cannot be stated to be a matter of commercial confidence.

 

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Suspended security assistance as Pakistan failed to act on militant safe havens: White House

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Washington | The US has made it clear to Pakistani leaders that it expects them to constructively address the problem of militant safe havens in the country, the White House said after President Donald Trump and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan faced off over the issue that has impacted bilateral ties.

Trump on Sunday accused Pakistan of not doing “a damn thing” for the US. He cited Osama bin Laden and the Taliban resurgence in neighbouring Afghanistan as examples of how Pakistan would “take our money and do nothing for us”. Khan reacted angrily by saying that his country had suffered enough by fighting terrorism on behalf of the United States. “Now we will do what is best for our people and our interests,” the cricketer-turned politician said on Twitter.

The White House defended Trump’s decision to suspend security assistance to Pakistan. “The (Trump) Administration has been clear to Pakistani leaders that it expects them to constructively address the problem of militant safe havens in Pakistan,” an official from the National Security Council, the White House, told PTI.

“Because Pakistan failed to address the problem, the Administration suspended security assistance,” the official said, requesting anonymity. “We remain hopeful that Pakistan will realise it is in its own interest to cooperate with the US strategy in Afghanistan,” said the official responding Khan accusing President Trump of false assertion in his country’s fight against terror.

The US and others have long complained that Pakistan provides a safe haven to militant networks, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan, a charge that Islamabad denies. Trump while announcing his new South Asia policy in August last year accused Pakistan of failing to do enough against terrorist groups inside the country.

The relationship between the US and Pakistan has always been tenuous, but tensions have increased since Trump’s election. In January this year, the US government announced it was cutting almost all security aid to the country.

In September, the Trump administration cancelled USD 300 million in military aid to Islamabad for its failure to act against terror groups like the Haqqani Network and Taliban active on its soil Trump in his latest tirade against Islamabad alleged that Pakistan knew that bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader, was living in a mansion on the outskirts of its garrison city of Abbottabad and all the aid being given to Pakistan, which is USD 1.3 billion per annum, was a waste.

Trump’s latest criticism has further deteriorated the US-Pak relationship. Senator Rand Paul, who has for the last several years sought to cut all assistance to Pakistan, supported Trump’s decision.

“I agree completely. That’s why we should push hard on Pakistan to let persecuted Christian Asia Bibi find asylum in America,” he said retweeting Trump’s posts.

Bibi was recently released from a Pakistani jail after her blasphemy conviction was overturned. “During my time in Congress, I have introduced legislation to directly go after Pakistan’s foreign aid and turn up the pressure on them to release Asia Bibi and stop persecuting religious minorities,” he said.

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