E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

IPS officer in police net
FINALLY, suspended Haryana cadre IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma has surrendered before the law. A primary suspect in the journalist Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, he has been evading arrest since August 3. He was posted at the PMO when the sensational crime was committed.

Such a gory end!
SEEN superficially, Saturday’s stampede at the Lucknow railway station after the “Dhikkar” rally of Chief Minister Mayawati, in which 16 persons lost their lives, was only a freak accident. Go a bit deeper and it strikes you as symptomatic of the frequent exploitation of the masses by politicians.

OPINION

Serious threat to world order
Say ‘no’ to war on Iraq to avoid chaos
Praful Bidwai
AFTER President George W.Bush imperiously taunted the United Nations either to show “some backbone” — that is, fall in line with Washington — or become “irrelevant” like the League of Nations, the USA is set to move a new Security Council resolution on Iraq.

MIDDLE

Pet for pat’s sake
I.M. Soni
IT is a woman’s right and privilege to attract and retain friends and fans, and loony lovers, if any. But if she fails on this count or that, should she condemn herself as a precious ruin? She need not.

ANALYSIS

Unravelling the plot behind the attack on Akshardham temple
Tripti Nath
GANDHINAGAR:The un-swept trail of blood on white marble floor, unpicked turbans, handbags, shards of black glasses and a grenade hole in front of Hall number 1 and encircled bullet marks...These are enough in the revered Akshardham temple here to reconstruct the terror unleashed on innocent devotees on Sept.24.

A POINT OF VIEW

J&K elections: a qualitative change in voting pattern
Balraj Puri
POLLING in the first two phases of election in Jammu and Kashmir has been very uneven. The first phase covered Kupwara and Baramulla districts in Kashmir region and Muslim majority districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region and Kargil in Ladakh region.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

IPS officer in police net

FINALLY, suspended Haryana cadre IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma has surrendered before the law. A primary suspect in the journalist Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, he has been evading arrest since August 3. He was posted at the PMO when the sensational crime was committed. The Delhi Police, which launched legal proceedings against him, must be heaving a sigh of relief. Now that the prime accused has been produced in a Delhi court, the law should be allowed to take its own course. But certain questions which cropped up between August 3 and September 27 when he ultimately gave up deserve to be debated seriously in the interest of keeping people’s faith in the system intact. India is a democracy and the system is supposed to treat everybody equally. But what followed in the process of the disgraced police officer being presented in a court of law showed that some people are treated differently.

The person accused of being the architect of the Delhi journalist’s murder refused to submit himself to the process of law for nearly two months with his wife mentioning the names of political big guns in connection with the case. But when he ultimately allowed himself to be subjected to legal proceedings, he got the treatment at the hands of the authorities as if he was not a suspected criminal. What was the compulsion to treat a primary suspect in a gruesome murder case in a manner as if he was a prince? This is not expected in a democracy. Could this happen if the accused came from a different background? Another IPS officer, incidentally having the same name, arrested in Uttaranchal on a rape charge was treated entirely differently. The mystery surrounding the suspended Haryana officer deserves to be unravelled. The suspended Haryana IG (Prisons) was taken from Ambala to Delhi with a convoy of vehicles following the newly acquired airconditioned Tata Safari of the Delhi Police in which he was seated. The convoy stopped at certain places and the accused was able to communicate with his family members. This was a surprising development, giving the impression as if the arrested officer was a political prisoner. Were there instructions from high-ups to take care of the accused, who remained a fugitive from the law for weeks, forcing the Delhi Police to announce a Rs 50,000 reward for his arrest? Whatever the truth, it must be made public. Ideally, the crime of a person holding a senior position in the law-enforcing machinery should be taken more seriously. But in the present case, the opposite has been noticed. It is bound to send a wrong signal to the common man.

Such a gory end!

SEEN superficially, Saturday’s stampede at the Lucknow railway station after the “Dhikkar” rally of Chief Minister Mayawati, in which 16 persons lost their lives, was only a freak accident. Go a bit deeper and it strikes you as symptomatic of the frequent exploitation of the masses by politicians. The success of every rally or agitation is measured in terms of the crowds that they can gather. Crowd pulling is their business, crowd management is not. That is why it is common to see thousands of persons running from the proverbial pillar to post once they have swelled the crowds at a leader’s function and are no longer useful for the bosses. Water, sanitation, food, etc, are luxuries which they do not deserve. Even going back to the places from where they came becomes an ordeal. All that happens because everyone knows that a modern-day rally is not a spontaneous convergence of like-minded people but an event-management exercise. Quite a few are coerced to a meeting while the lucky few are even paid for it. Others just hop onto the bandwagon with the intention of a picnic. Very few come because of their sympathy and commitment to a particular cause. That is why the leaders also use them as nothing more than cannon fodder. It is about time the public stopped accepting the role of an extra in the political plays staged by one or the other party every now and then. Mercifully, the gory tradition of supporters committing suicide not only at the death of their leader but even to protest against his or her arrest started by the South has not spread far and wide. But even otherwise, the aftermath of a rally always presents a disorderly site. It is common to see supporters of even disciplined parties making a nuisance of themselves while dispersing.

Coming back to the Lucknow rally, its real aim might have been only the flexing of muscles by the Bahujan Samaj Party against Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, but it gained additional significance following the decision of the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, to share the dais with Mr Kanshi Ram and Ms Mayawati. The state leadership of the BJP was none too happy about it, but the Central leaders always have wider calculations in mind. It was the coming together of the Ambedkar and Akshardham issues. That made a formidable combination and both parties hope to benefit from it. Speeches were shrill and ominous. The shock of the stampede deaths might, just might, force the leaders to lower the temperature for the time being.

OPINION

Serious threat to world order
Say ‘no’ to war on Iraq to avoid chaos
Praful Bidwai

AFTER President George W.Bush imperiously taunted the United Nations either to show “some backbone” — that is, fall in line with Washington — or become “irrelevant” like the League of Nations, the USA is set to move a new Security Council resolution on Iraq. This is likely to contain unreasonable conditions which Baghdad might find impossible to comply with — despite its decision to welcome UN weapons inspectors. But Iraq’s non-compliance is exactly what Washington wants! Because then it can get the Security Council to authorise an armed attack on Iraq on which it has already set its mind. Washington is going through the Security Council not because it respects it, but because its key allies, including France and Germany, and China and Russia, are reluctant to act without a UN mandate. A UN Security Council resolution is a fig-leaf for what America has already decided on: a “regime change” in Iraq.

The US/UNSC would be disastrously ill-advised to make war on Iraq. To start with, there exists no legal mandate for this. Under international law, there can be only two arguments for an armed attack: self-defence, and Security Council resolutions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter in the event of “threats to” or “breach of” the peace. Neither applies to the present case. Iraq is not about to attack the USA its allies or any other state. Nor was it recently involved in “terrorism” or in September 11. Terms such as “threats to” the peace cannot apply to a state that has not attacked another since 1990.

Iraq is being wrongly accused of “defying” UNSC resolutions. In reality, it has complied with them, in particular the all-pervasive Resolution 687 (of 1991), which mandates the destruction of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) under international supervision. Yet US Vice-President Dick Cheney claims with Supreme confidence. “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has WMDs... he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us... The risks of inaction are far greater than the risk of action.”

This flies in the face of reports of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the International Atomic Energy Agency. They carried out thousands of intrusive inspections based on the toughest-ever multilateral sanctions imposed in modern history. The IAEA verified in 1998 that Iraq had compiled a “full, final and complete” account of its nuclear projects and there was no evidence of prohibited activity. UNSCOM too has endorsed this view through its present chief Hans Blix. The sanctions regime was used to supply intelligence to the CIA. Former UNSCOM chief Rolf Ekeus confirms this. As does US marine Scott Ritter, formerly with UNSCOM, who says Iraq now has no WMD programme. To say this is neither to endorse Mr Hussein’s tyrannical regime nor his intentions to acquire WMDs. He had WMD-acquisition programmes and actually possessed chemical weapons decades ago. Indeed, he used them in the late 1980s against Iran. Then, the USA obsessed with defeating Iran, turned a blind eye. But after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, it accused him of having used chemical arms against his own Kurdish citizens, at Halabjah. There is new evidence that the party responsible for bombarding the Kurds was Iran, not Iraq!

The USA’s anti-WMD tirade would have sounded less hypocritical if it were not the world’s biggest possessor of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, with their unacceptably gruesome human and environmental consequences. The USA, in fact, is guilty of tearing up or opposing treaty after arms control treaty, including the Biological Weapons Protocol, Landmines Ban, Anti-Ballistic Missiles Treaty, the International Criminal Court, not to speak of the CTBT. It not only wants to maintain its WMD arsenals but also build and test new nuclear weapons. The new, aggressive policies outlined in the recent Nuclear Posture Review contradict the US international legal obligation under the NPT to abolish nuclear weapons.

The USA condones de facto WMD possession by many states, including Russia, France, Britain, China, Israel, India and Pakistan. So long as they continue to possess WMDs,others will seek to do likewise. The USA’s singling out of Iraq has less to do with its now de-fanged WMD programmes — which can be neutralised by reasonable multilateral inspections — than with other, US-centred, causes.

First and foremost, this is an election year in the USA, with the entire House of Representatives and a sixth of the Senate up for contest. Post-September 11, war is more popular than Mr Bush’s domestic policies, which have little to show for themselves. The nationalist Hard Right knows the Democrats are reluctant to be seen opposing the administration on “national security” and be branded “appeasers”. Electorally, the Republicans are evenly poised against the Democrats. War could tilt the balance, completing the Hard Right’s takeover of America.

Second, Mr Bush’s one-year-long war against “terrorism” has produced few results barring a “regime change” in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s welcome ouster. To this day, 80 per cent of Al-Qaeda/Taliban top leaders remain unaccounted for. Afghanistan is in an extremely volatile state, with the Karzai regime lacking military muscle and moral-political authority. Mr Bush has to show some kind of “victory” in the so-called “historic” war against “global terror”. Hence Iraq, not because Mr Hussein has any connection with September 11 but because 9/11 can be exploited to target him.

Closely tied to America’s Iraq plans are grander designs to restructure the entire West Asian region by installing slavishly pro-Western regimes in key states. Vice-President Cheney has spelt out the purpose of a “regime change” in Iraq: “Extremists in the region would have to rethink their strategy of jehad. Moderates... would take heart. And out ability to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process would be enhanced.” This would tell the Middle East’s people that “they have a friend and ally in the US...”

The third factor at work is Black Gold — the US interest in oil. US energy companies have reacted sharply to a recent RAND Corporation report terming Saudi Arabia “the kennel of evil”, a likely prey to Islamic extremism, which cannot responsibly perform its role as the world’s biggest oil producer. They want Iraq’s huge reserves — 112 billion barrels, second largest in the world — to be opened up. Once “Evil Saddam” is displaced, production can also crank up from the present 2.4 million barrels/day to 4 mbd. Oil is all-important. No US Cabinet has been closer to the energy industry than Bush Jr’s.

Driven by these questionable motives, the USA is likely to lead an all-out attack on Iraq. To get UNSC sanction, it will twist the arms of the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council. Neither Russia nor China, leave alone France, will probably exercise their veto once they know Washington’s mind. But two things are clear. The USA’s NATO allies will support the war only with reservations — unlike 1991, after Iraq invaded Kuwait and “collective self-defence” could be invoked. Second, the USA today has no significant Arab allies who are willing to contribute troops.

Bush Jr lacks a clear plan for a post-Saddam Iraq. There are at least a dozen anti-Saddam parties/factions in Iraq. But they are too weak, divided and mutually hostile to provide a viable alternative. That is one reason why the US-led coalition decided to leave Mr Hussein in power in 1991. A post-Saddam Iraq could well break up into a northern Kurd-dominated state, a southern largely-Shia country, and a Sunni Arab centre. That would be worse than the status quo — even for US oil interests.

The regional and global repercussions of an attack on Iraq will be grim. War will unleash powerful resentment from Iraq’s neighbours, and strengthen the USA’s enemies. It will negate whatever gains have been achieved in the so-called “war on terror”, convincing many that America is invading Iraq without a casus belli or provocation. The Palestinian crisis will further worsen (if that’s still possible). West Asia could plunge into unprecedented turmoil and violence. Zionist and Islamic fundamentalist will be the principal beneficiaries — and soon their rivals from other religions. The USA will have established that “Might is Right”, with unspeakable consequences for the structure of multilateral institutions. This structure has evolved over two centuries through nation-states voluntarily abridging absolute sovereignty. The undermining of multilateralism spells anarchy, chaos and brigandage.

This confronts India with a serious dilemma. New Delhi has good relations with Iraq, its single biggest oil supplier. There are 3.1 million Indians in the Gulf whose remittances are much greater than all the FDI flows put together. War also spells instability in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan — an unpleasant prospect for India. New Delhi has been cautioning against war. But this is now yielding to ambiguity — because India wants a “strategic partnership” with the USA! Thus, Mr Vajpayee kept silent on Iraq during his UN speech. As America cranks up war preparations, India will find it hard to take an independent stand. Like with the 1991 refuelling, it will be asked to fall in line. That bodes ill for our future.

MIDDLE

Pet for pat’s sake
I.M. Soni

IT is a woman’s right and privilege to attract and retain friends and fans, and loony lovers, if any. But if she fails on this count or that, should she condemn herself as a precious ruin? She need not.

She is lonely but not alone. What about affection that can be showered upon, and also got from pets? Maybe you have given a passing thought to getting a pet but put off by the barking, snapping “darling” owned by the snarling lady from next door.

Or you were cooled off by the weird tales of cats and dogs making meal of the feathered beauties.

Or, you had been heart-broken ever since a pet was crushed under a wayward vehicle. Or it died of paralysis. The poor thing. How pathetic!

You tell yourself that you are not going to suffer this agony again.

This is looking at the darker side. Why not recall the hilarious and happy moments you experienced with the pet.

This is reason enough to throw your home and heart wide open to another episode of happiness.

Pets are not petty-minded like human beings in the matter of giving love and happiness! They are not close-fisted because they do not have a fist!

A pet is a perfect companion, a shatterer of silences. A woman may love her own loneliness but her pet will not let her dwell on it.

There will be countless intrusions, forcing her to shoo the pet away. This means her own shell is shattered.

The dog is devoted. Its whole existence depends on you. That means a big responsibility and a deep involvement with something outside of your ownself. The prison of the self is demolished.

Think of how much a pet is capable of giving. How much of emotional vacuum it fills in your life without expecting anything in return. How much feeling it showers upon you without pride or prejudice.

Your dumb friend proves its loyalty in stress times. I am not referring to dramatic stories we read in newspapers and magazines like the one about the dog that saved 10,000 lives. I am referring to minor ones of pets that shed tears, comfort and console their owners in their sorrowing days. One can see the mist in their eyes.

The body language speaks clearly and unmistakenly. The tail is turned inside the legs when it is feeling guilty. It is upright otherwise. Eyes speak a soft or hard message. The bark is soft or harsh depending on what is meant to be conveyed — appreciation or disapproval. “Bittu uncle ke liye pen layo.”

They pay a compliment to you which is proved from their drooping, depressive looks when you leave them at home while you are going out. If the absence is long they refuse to eat. When you return, it is joy abounding.

They are more humane than human beings.

ANALYSIS

Unravelling the plot behind the attack on Akshardham temple
Tripti Nath
Tribune News Service

GANDHINAGAR:The un-swept trail of blood on white marble floor, unpicked turbans, handbags, shards of black glasses and a grenade hole in front of Hall number 1 and encircled bullet marks...These are enough in the revered Akshardham temple here to reconstruct the terror unleashed on innocent devotees on Sept.24.

The personal belongings scattered at the entrance of an exhibition hall are now being scrutinised by forensic experts for more conclusive clues. Men of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) are deployed at the VIP gate number 4 of the temple. The proof of identity is imperative at the gate and visitors are allowed after consultation with temple volunteers.

The temple is closed until further orders. Volunteers at Akshardham have had to cope with visits of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister and Lok Sabha MP (Gandhinagar) L.K.Advani, Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister George Fernandes and others.

The monument dedicated to the founder of Swaminarayan Samparaday, Lord Swaminarayan is located in Sector 20 and is very close to the ministerial enclave. Akshardham means the “Abode of God”. It attracts more than two million visitors annually.

The cultural complex combines an intricately carved 6000-ton traditional monument of pink sandstone and exhibition halls. Pujya Pramukh Swami Ji Maharaj is the fifth spiritual successor of Bhagwan Swaminarayana and the present leader of Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). The 80-year-old Swami is credited with creating an international spiritual empire of hundreds of mandirs, thousands of centres and over a million followers.

The Akshardham headquarters are in Shahibaugh in Ahmedabad. Besides temples in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, Swaminarayan mandirs are located in various places in Europe including London, Lisbon, Milano and Paris. It also has temples in North America, Toronto and Far East. The Swaminarayan followers round the globe are close to 1,000,000. They begin their day with puja and meditation. Their five lifetime vows are no alcohol, no addictions, no adultery, no meat and no impurity of body and mind.

Volunteers take pride in the fact that BAPS is the only socio-spiritual Hindu organisation in the world whose saints practice total celibacy. They are not allowed to look at women intentionally or keep any money. At present, 650 saints are working in various Swaminarayan mandirs throughout India. Aspiring saints have to be above 18 years of age. They are trained for two years at Sarangpur before they get the title of saint.

The two-day bandh forced shopkeepers in most sectors. Hoteliers are apprehensive that the attack may affect their business. Deepak Kulkarni, Restaurant Manager of Hotel Haveli, a three-star hotel in Sector 11, 3 km from Akshardham, said that they had to cancel bookings of 40 rooms (each with a tariff of Rs.1,840).

Gujarat Director-General of Police K. Chakravarty who is heading the committee to probe the attack said that the team is likely to complete investigation soon. Mr Brahm Bhatt, SP, said that they are looking for clues.

Business is back to normal, but speculation about the identity of the militants continues. Security experts believe that the modus operandi of the militants indicates that they belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammed or Lashkar-e-Toiba. The findings of the committee are keenly awaited. Fed up with the vicious cycle of violent action and reaction, people feel that Chief Minister Narendra Modi should exercise restraint and not invite trouble by making provocative speeches as he did in the initial phase of the Gaurav Yatra.

A POINT OF VIEW

J&K elections: a qualitative change in voting pattern
Balraj Puri

POLLING in the first two phases of election in Jammu and Kashmir has been very uneven. The first phase covered Kupwara and Baramulla districts in Kashmir region and Muslim majority districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region and Kargil in Ladakh region. The polling percentage in these assembly segments ranged from 24.06 per cent in Baramulla to 78.74 per cent in Zanskar segment of Kargil. Within Kashmir region it was highest in Karnah at 70.98 per cent.

In the second phase the range of variation in polling was much larger. It varied from as low as 5 per cent in Srinagar district to 70 per cent in the border constituency in Jammu district. In Kashmir Valley it averaged 50 per cent. The overall percentage in the first and second phases is 48 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.

More significant than the percentage of voters turn out is the fact that none of the major contesting parties has alleged rigging in any constituency or accused the Election Commission and its local machinery of partiality. Not that there were no complaints. But most of them related to constituencies where polling was low and did not materially affect the poll percentage.

The same is true of allegations of coercion by the security forces. Some personnel of the forces might have thought that low percentage of polling was not in the national interest and that it was their “patriotic” duty to use their influence to increase it. But in most cases the effect was exactly opposite to that was intended. Moreover nowhere any body has accused the forces of asking the people to vote for any particular party or candidate. Further one must not dismiss the explanation of Chief Election Commissioner Lyngdoh that “the people use coercion (by the army) as an excuse if they are questioned by militants for voting”.

In no case coercion of the army is even a fraction of the violence that has been used by the militants to prevent people from voting. They have killed two candidates and scores of political workers and their relatives. They threatened any body who dared cast a vote.

However, all those who voted are not pro-India. Nor all those who abstained are pro-Azadi. Those who took the courage to participate in the election process have clearly voted for democracy and against the use of violence for achieving whatever objective they had in mind. Even those who are still committed for azadi have realised that the role of gun for its achievement is over. In fact this realisation is widely shared by the people and pro-azadi leaders.

The Pakistan government did not read the current popular thinking on the subject when it condemned the election in advance as farce and after first phase declared it as sham. The militant groups too were out of tune with the reality in Kashmir when they exhorted the Hurriyat to boycott the election. The Hurriyat leaders were forced to retort that they would not accept outside diktates. Eventually they did decide against participation but did not effectively campaign for boycott. In fact most of the time during election campaign, they were outside the state. They and Shabir Shah also remained engaged in talks with official and non-official interlocutors from Delhi on possible terms for participation in election. But these talks remained inconclusive.

If the talks were really intended to involve all separatist groups in the elections, there must have been started much earlier. Or these groups should have plunged into elections without any talks and understanding with the Government of India and without giving up their objective. As the option of gun is closing, due to changes in international situation and compulsion of General Musharraf, and in any case the gun is no longer under the control of the political leaders, their only option was democratic political struggle of which election could be an important part. After all Congress party contested elections in 1937 and formed government in seven provinces without giving up its objective of freedom. The pro-azadi sections of the people have taken a more realistic view of the situation than their leaders. To that extent the separatist leadership stands isolated from the people.

Others who opted for participation in election are those who are convinced that its day-to-day problems — administrative injustices and excesses, unemployment, corruption, nepotism and unaccountable governance — are no less, if not more, important than azadi. They would not like to wait — God knows for how long — for the final solution of the Kashmir problem, that, too, through violent means, for the solution of these current problems. Nor are they sure if they will be able to rid of these problems when and if they get azadi. The attack on election is thus perceived by them as an attack on their right to choose their representatives to deal with the immediate problems or to raise their voice against the manner in which they are being dealt with.

Another section of the people is convinced that call for boycott to vote in fact implies a vote for perpetuation of the present regime. Those who are fed up with the way they have been governed and want to change their rulers or at least some checks on their absolute powers are prepared to take any risk for casting their votes. They are equally disillusioned with the “boycott” leadership who according to them indirectly ensures the continuation of the present rulers to be in power.

Finally there is indeed a hard core of committed Indians in Kashmir who are genuinely convinced that the best interests of the state lies in continuation of its relations with India. Thus election has brought together those who want azadi through democratic means, those who are more concerned with day-to-day problems and those who are against perpetuation of the present regime and the genuine Indian patriots in Kashmir. They have got an opportunity to interact or confront one another but in a democratic framework. They will also share the assembly forum with the emerging forces from Jammu and Ladakh who include voices of protest. The ruling National Conference, for instance, faces complete rout in Ladakh and is expected to be cut to size in Jammu also. This internal dialogue is a pre-requisite for the success of any bilateral — between separatist leaders and the Government of India — or trilateral — which includes Pakistan — that is often proposed for the final and lasting solution of Kashmir problem.

However, this process of dialogue should not exclude those who have not participated in the election. They certainly include those who do not believe in democratic methods to achieve azadi. But let them not delude themselves by believing that all those who did not vote belong to the azadi camp. For there is no election in which polling is cent per cent; except in totalitarian societies. For a variety of reasons people are unable or unwilling to vote. There are also a large number of people who believed that security of life was more important than exercising their right to vote. The fate of those who had defied the directive of the militants was enough to deter most of the people with normal courage.

Some boycotted because they believed, on experience, that elections could not be fair under the National Conference regime. Then there are people who regard poll boycott as a legitimate means of protest. A number of Kashmiri Pandit organisations boycotted the polling to register their protest against the way they had been treated ever since they had to migrate from Kashmri in 1990. In many parts of the state, people are reported to have said “why should we vote? Our lot has not improved since independence”. None of them wanted azadi.

Thus, both the camps — participants and non-participants in the election — include a mixed bag. Of course a significant increase in the number of former marks a qualitative change in the situation.

The writer is a veteran political analyst based in Jammu.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Touch the earth, love the earth, honour the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places.

— Henry Beston, The Outermost House

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The earth is like the breasts of a woman — useful as well as pleasing.

— Friedrich (Wilhelm) Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra

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Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God.

— S.T. Coleridge, Hymn Before Sunrise

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Just as there are seven heavens one above another, so there are seven earths, one beneath another; the distance between each of these regions being five hundred years’ journey.

— Hazrat Mohammed

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— Persian proverb