PERSPECTIVE

ANTI-VIEW
What price this cricket victory frenzy?
V. Gangadhar

As gifted Indian batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, began his onslaught of the Pakistan bowlers in the Cricket World Cap on March 1, Indian admirers began to unpack their fireworks packets. They did not have to wait for long. As soon as Rahul Dravid made the winning hit, the fireworks all over the country went off. It was a Diwali of sorts. The entire nation was engulfed in joyful madness. The frenzy made one wonder if India had actually won the prestigious World Cup. To most Indians, the victory over Pakistan was greater than bagging the Cup. Near my home in Mumbai, some cricket “lovers” got fully drunk and marched on the roads shouting anti-Pakistan slogans before they were shooed away by the police.

That the India vs Pak match was more than a game of cricket was made obvious by many factors. In riot-hit areas of Gujarat, Muslims closed their doors in a hurry and did not come out during the duration of match. Of course, they also rooted for an Indian victory but were aware of the rampaging mobs which were ready to misinterpret the situation. Yet, people did clash in Ahmedabad and there were some deaths. The death of a Muslim boy was justified on the grounds that someone in his area cheered when Sachin Tendulkar got out. This was not confirmed at all, but then people were ready to set off rumours. The media, even the more responsible sections of it, joined in the fun.

Shall we ever learn that this match between India and Pakistan was just another one at the qualifying rounds of the Cricket World Cup and that a lot of hard work lay ahead before India or anyone else bagged the Cup. But it has become a habit for everyone, from political leaders to the man in the street, from TV channels to tabloid newspapers to depict the match as something special. This attitude only aggravated the communal tension.

From the simple cricketing point of view, beating this rag-tag Pak team was no big deal. Our neighbour had been having a torrid time in the world of international cricket, having performed below par against Australia, South Africa, England and even Sri Lanka. The players never played as a team, the captain, Waquar Younis did not deserve a place in the team and the dissentions in the team were palpably clear. India, on the other hand, was brimming with confidence. Its reputed batting strength had struck gold and everything went right on that fateful Saturday. Pakistan has now been eliminated from the contest before the Super Six stage. A victory over Australia, at any stage of the World Cup, would have been worth celebrating.

Had Pakistan won the match, the reactions would have been the same across the border. Former Pakistan cricket captain, Imran Khan, was absolutely right, when he observed that such cricket frenzy was exhibited by mobs on either side which did not understand the finer points of the game. It was always sackcloth and ashes for the losers, the sky was the limit for the winners. How justified was Union Finance Minister in exempting the World Cup earnings of the Indian team from income tax. It was entirely uncalled for but that was how the Indian mind worked.

Strangely, a sporting event called for extra security and raised issues of pseudo patriotism. No Muslim citizen of India would ever raise pro-Pak slogans. After all, what has Pakistan got to offer him? Why should such slogans raised by a handful of mischief mongers lead to a blanket allegation that Muslims were disloyal? When India played England at centres like Birmingham with a large coloured population or the West Indies in Trinidad, thousands of resident Indians, despite being well settled in their new environment, did cheer for their motherland. Were they branded traitors by the local media or political parties? Indian Muslims did not even belong to this category. For centuries India had been their motherland, they were born, raised and would die here and they need not prove their patriotism to any rabble rousers. Particularly regarding a cricket match!

Such an attitude was appalling particularly when cricketers from both countries had high regard and affection for each other. “Sunil Gavaskar was my bitter opponent on the field, during the course of play,: admitted Imran Khan. But once the game was over, we were the best of friends and that relationship continued to this day." Pakistani players liked nothing better than touring India, visiting Bollywood studios, meeting film stars and shopping for Indian goodies. Similarly, cricketers from North India, had sentimental attachment for Pakistan which had been the home of stalwarts like Lala Amarnath. Most of the players did not understand why there was so much tension and possible violence when they met on the cricket field.

India had taken the lead in curtailing sporting and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Cricket was the major victim. The South African clash between the two countries came after nearly three years. Former Sports Minister Uma Bharati had often said that Indo-Pak cricket exchanges were rather “special” and the time had not come to resume normal schedules. Who knows, one generation of cricketers from both countries may retire without ever having played against each other in test series and one-day clashes. This would be a pity for the game.

As things stand today, any mention of Pakistan, aroused visions of Kashmir, the Line of control and the incursions over it, state-sponsored terrorism and so on. Both countries continued to repeat these charges parrot like. Both India and Pakistan forgotten that during the bitter Cold War era, Soviet Union and the USA continued to meet on the fields of sports, participated in the Olympics and encouraged cultural exchanges. This showed a higher level of maturity.

We tend to blame Pakistan more for the current impasse. Perhaps, we are right. Our leaders made it clear that once Pakistan dealt with cross-border terrorism sternly, relations could improve while the leaders on the other side insisted the issue did not exist at all. There had been no meeting ground which could lead to some sort of a solution. Perhaps, sports could help. When India and Pakistan meet more often on the fields of hockey or for indoor games like table tennis and badminton, it is hard to understand the existence of an iron curtain for cricket.

Goodwill gestures from both sides would improve sporting relations. Just before the final of the 1996 World Cup at Lahore, the irrepressible Pakistani cricketer, Javed Miandad, invited Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray, an implacable foe of Indo-Pak cricket, to visit Lahore for the match. How I wish Balasaheb had accepted the invitation.

More frequent cricket matches between the two nations would remove much of the tension. It was only when the teams meet once in two or three years, such hype was created. Finally, the media would do well to limit its comments on the “special” nature of Indo-Pak cricketing events. 

GUEST COLUMN
Does ethnic mix work? — a case study of Malaysia
Chanchal Sarkar

Strapped in as we now are with our very own tight seat belts of religion, caste and derogated secularism we can scarcely swivel our necks to see how other countries are handling problems similar to those pinching us.

From the vantage of Babri Masjid and Gujarat, it’s interesting to look at Malaysia. Its Twin Towers, tallest still in the world, can be seen from anywhere in Kaula Lumpur. With two million foreign workers, half of them illegal, there seems no shortage of jobs but there are sizeable lay offs. On the roads there are hardly any cars more than three years old. Swishing past are Daimlers, Lambroghinis, Souped up Carlsson Mercedes, Ferraris, Proton Perdanas, BMWs, Rolls Royces, Alfa Romeos, S320 Mercedes, vintage Royal Bugattis, reconstructed Beetles and, of course, all the run-of the-mail cars. The shopping malls, often Japanese and Chinese owned, and the restaurants make a brave show.

On the heels of the traditional plantations came oil and now electronics. Malaysia doesn’t lack resources. After May 1969, the Chinese (32 per cent of the population) learnt that it was futile to aim at political power, which will always be the Malays’. The Chinese can make all the money in the world with the economy in their grasp, with a dozing Malay partner when necessary. And the grumbling Indians, way down third and shrinking, will also not be a major curve in Malaysia's profile. They are disunited, blundered, and not overly concerned with their own disadvantaged like the people displaced from the redeveloping plantations. The Chinese with money, of whom there are many, and the padded Indians, mainly professionals, prefer to plan careers for their children in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, to study there and stay. With only 6.8 per cent of the people below the poverty line there is a patina of prosperity over worrisome race relations.

It was a physician from remote Alor Star, Dr Mohammad Mahathir, (an immigrant whose grandfather came to Malaysia from Kerala, a fact mentioned at one’s peril) who began a tirade against the Tunku after the riots, who was expelled from the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) and bounced back to public view in 1970 with his book “The Malay Dilemma”. The book was banned but became the primer for the Malays. Dr Mahathir, the first Malay Prime Minister not to have gone overseas for education and not to have studied law, has now been Prime Minister for 24 years. He says he will lay down the crown in October 2003 at 77 having shaped Malaysia into a Malay land, where there are less than 3 per cent non-Malays in the Army and police and where the civil service too is dominated by the Malays. The country is tri-racial but not a happy blend, which Dr Mahathir and some of his colleagues have now begun to recognise. A distinguished and gutsy activist in women’s affairs felt that, in the last 20 years, the separateness between the races had grown wider, due, she thought to “Bumiputra politics”. Dr Mahathir has shown his penchant for independent thinking by lashing out at America and Britain over Iraq. The most spectacular accusations were made when he took over the leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) at Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia was not declared an Islamic State but Dr Mahathir by a sleight of hand has called it an “Islamic State” without putting that in the Constitution. Ahead of the NAM summit, his last hurrah before he retires in October, Dr Mahathir now describes Malaysia as an “ideal” Islamic State. All the debates about Islamic State; about sharia justice, polygamy, apostasy and so on are taken place within eye-sight range of the biggest Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, with fundamentalist elements but as yet liberal.

There are, as I said, twinges of apprehension. The Malaysian Government is an acrobatic motorcycle act with 14 parties hanging from the central figure of the UMNO. Dr Mahathir is the founder of the National School idea in preference to the Islamic School (Sekola Agama Rakyat) and the Chinese and Indian schools teaching in their own languages. Now he says that the National School concept meant to produce Malaysian and not Islamic Malays, Chinese and Indians has failed and produces Islam-learning miscontent. He has asked more non-Malays to apply for the military services and is planning a year’s compulsory national service.

“We never mix”, said a management expert Indian friend, three generations removed from Rajasthan. His wife is a charmer speckled with Burmese and Anglo-Indian blood, seasoned with the speaking of many languages including Chinese while living in Borneo. Her husband was referring to dinners at their home where there never was a Malay and rarely a Chinese. I was delighted to see a Chinese couple, he is computer engineer and she a lawyer at an Indian friend’s birthday party. The husband told me of the Chinese worries about interference with lifestyle and customs once the various “Islamic States” came about.

Indians, especially those displaced from the plantations, have the highest drop-out rate from the schools. “Education”, said Veena Sikry, the Indian High Commissioner, over samosas and cheese toast in her attractive drawing room, “is the key to the upward rise of the Indian”. The Indians are second in infant morality, have the lowest life expectancy, are the highest in alcoholism, and control the largest number of gangs who commit 60 per cent of the serious crimes. No migration to Canada or Australia for them. In fact, said a social scientist working for the Malay Indian Congress, urban squatters were about equal in number among the displaced among the Indians and the Malays though the Malay would probably get much better opportunities, getting more of law cost houses and not being pressed to repay loans. The displaced Malay is also an abandoned class and the government has sought to assuage their discontent by building mosques.

After a few weeks in Malaysia, I feel it would be an excellent exercise for RSS-VHP-BJP Hindutva missionaries from India to spend a little time discussing the Islamic State with the PAS. They would be welcomed hospitably, as I was, by the PAS think-tanks and media heads in up-market Kuala Lumpur, but might find themselves pensive after the gentle insistence of the PAS intellectuals that religion and the state cannot be kept apart. Watching the fight for a separate Muslim State in South Philippines the Indian visitors might be reminded of the Jemaah Islamiyah in Malaysia who want a pan-Islamic State consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Southern Philippines and Brunei.

Talking to the “Indians” they might find different voices, loud and separate, from Malayalees, Tamils (the largest majority) Punjabis, Mar Thomites, Sri Lankans (Jaffna Tamils), Bengalis and others. Tamils are doing menial jobs. Let’s not forget the minorities in Bangladesh and the tribes in Burma. No, the meld of races in South and South East Asia is not working well and it would be unwise for us Indians to release more inflammable oil on already troubled waters.

The writer, a veteran journalist, was in Malaysia recently.

ON RECORD
Cooperation must to root out terrorism: CBI chief
S. Satyanarayanan

The Central Bureau of Investigation recently suffered a jolt when it failed to secure the extradition of Italian businessman Otavio Quatrocchi from Malaysia and underworld don Anees Ibrahim from Dubai. In an interview with The Tribune, CBI Director P.C.Sharma defended the sincere efforts made by the agency in securing those wanted in the cases and underlined the need for international cooperation in fighting terrorism.

Excerpts:

Q: The CBI recently had to face dual blows pertaining to the extradition of Quatrocchi and Anees Ibrahim. What went wrong?

A: I do agree that the orders by the Malaysian Court and Dubai authorities have upset us, but these cannot be attributed to any lapse on our part. A well structured request conforming to the laws of that country was made for Quatrocchi’s extradition and it was accepted by them after extensive scrutiny. The decision to arrest Anees Ibrahim and subsequently to let him off was that of Dubai authorities. It was not for lack of any information asked for from the CBI. As desired by the UAE authorities, our extradition request was prepared and ready for despatch, but before it could be transmitted it was learnt through newspapers that he had been let off. Since Anees Ibrahim is an accused wanted in the serial Mumbai blast case we will pursue it through all available channels — Interpol as well as diplomatic. I, therefore, make it clear that CBI cannot be faulted on both the cases.

Q: Are you satisfied with the cooperation from the west?

A: The September 11 attack has dramatically enhanced the need for global cooperation to fight terrorism. In certain cases wanted fugitives were deported and in others extradition proceedings are on. It would be difficult to say that we are satisfied with the cooperation as a number of requests are still pending. But I am hopeful that the countries would cooperate.

Q: The CBI has sought the help of the USA in the hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahaar. What is the current status?

A: In this case we have requested the USA to share information gathered by them from the interrogation of Afghans arrested by them because this case is also being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as one of the US nationals was on board the hijacked plane. Whenever FBI officers visited India, we have been reiterating our request We are hopeful that when their investigation is over relevant information will be shared.

Q: Globalisation of the economy has posed a new challenge. How do you plan to face this ?

A: The CBI has so far not been entrusted with any case in this regard. I do visualise that a criminal case connected with globalisation will not be easy to investigate as it will depend on the cooperation of the countries and trade practices involved.

Q: The CBI said that it will do a detailed investigation into the nexus between the underworld gangsters and cricketers. Any progress?

A: In the inquiry report submitted to the Government, the CBI had assured that it would look into the alleged nexus. Accordingly, the second phase of investigation was conducted. Several persons and documents were examined, but no clinching evidence to link cricketers with the underworld has been found.

Q: In many corruption cases involving top officials, the CBI either failed to file the chargesheet before the stipulated time or the witnesses turned hostile resulting in the accused escaping from the clutches of law.

A: This is an erroneous impression. There is no doubt in a few instances where witnesses turned hostile on account of pressure/ intimidation exercised by the accused. However, in most cases we have successfully presented our stand against the accused.

Q: The CBI has been claiming 70 per cent conviction rate. However, the success is predominantly small in corruption cases.

A: I don’t agree. There are any number of cases in which persons in high position have also been convicted. For example, recent convictions awarded in bank security scam cases prove that the agency has succeeded in securing conviction against well placed persons.

Q: Is the CBI overburdened and suffering from shortage of manpower?

A: CBI’s workload is increasing every year, in terms of cases and complexities of the crime. Today, we have 105 vacancies in the rank of Deputy SPs which forms the core group of investigators. Similarly, in the rank of Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors there are 95 and 88 vacancies respectively. We have 155 prosecutors against the sanctioned strength of 230. This slows down the pace of trial in the courts.

Q: What is the progress made in the Malta boat tragedy case and former SGPC President Bibi Jagir Kaur case? Do you think the prosecution’s case against Jagir Kaur is strong enough to secure conviction?

A: The charge-sheet has been filed in the Malta case in CMM’s court, Delhi. The Delhi High Court has ordered transfer of all cases registered by the Punjab Police to the CMM’s court. Charges are yet to be framed by the court. The delay has mainly been due to adjournments sought by the accused and the defence counsel. A case was registered by the CBI in the Harpreet Kaur murder case in October, 2000, and the chargesheet was filed in Patiala’s Special Magistrate’s court in January, 2001. The court framed charges on March 20, 2002. Trial is on.

COMMENTARY
Redefining the ethos of NAM
M.S.N. Menon

Is the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) irrelevant? No, says Prime Minister Vajpayee. He says NAM’s developmental agenda has lost none of its relevance. But do we know the true nature of our commitment? I doubt it. Nehru says of NAM: “It is a policy inherent in the circumstances of India, inherent in the past thinking of India, inherent in the whole mental outlook of India....” That is truly said. We choose to remain non-aligned to both the West and the East. That is our way. It gave us freedom to evolve, think and choose. And we were right. The world was full of hope when the Cold War was over. But see what has come about. The world is in a mess.

Very few Indians, however, know what it is that impels us forward. That is why some of our worthies say that NAM has become irrelevant. It has not. And it will never be irrelevant as long as we adhere to our civilisation. With us, non-alignment is not a policy. It is a way of life.

Individuals pursue their personal interests. So do nations. But who looks after the interests of the humanity? There was none. That is why the UN was created. But has the UN served the purpose for which it was created? No. More often, it has served the interests of the great powers — of America in particular.

Today the major challenge before mankind is terrorism. It is a challenge to democracy. Ethnic assertion is equally calamitous. These new concerns were reflected in the declaration of the UN at its 50th anniversary. It was endorsed by 185 nations — by the entire humanity. Thus, it is more democratic. It placed before mankind the goals of peace, development, equality of nations, justice and rule of law. And it called on the UN members to reform the UN to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Peace is, of course, our first concern. It is threatened today by ethnic assertions, particularly in countries which are multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural. The UN declaration was clear and specific on this when it said: the principle of self-determination does not encourage or authorise any action that would dismember or impair totally or in part the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent states.

Why was the UN so much concerned about this ethnic assertion? Because if the world is to concede all the ethnic demands for freedom, we will have to create 8,000 independent states! This is the road to anarchy. Similarly, the declaration called on the global community to defeat common threats like terrorism in all its forms, organised transnational crimes, illicit trade in arms, and the production, consumption and trafficking in narcotics. These are our current concerns.

But one failed to see all these concerns at Kuala Lampur. The 13th NAM summit was preoccupied with the US threat to Iraq. No doubt Iraq is important. But what has NAM contributed to stamp our terrorism? There has been no initiative. Not even a strong resolution.

The 13th summit was well attended. There were 116 leaders from NAM countries. But they, says the Guardian correspondent, “cannot walk in a straight line in any direction, have trouble expressing any sort of definitive opinion and probably NAM is at death’s door.” It is true they could not walk straight nor could they voice their views as one. But certainly NAM is not at death's door. It has a long life.

Much of these maladies can be traced back to the role of the USA in the UN system. Being the largest donor to UN funds, it can have a say on how the money is spent. This has distorted the UN functioning. The world community has to overcome them. And when it finds a solution to the funds, it must shift the UN HQ to a more central place like India. It is more qualified to preserve and fight for the UN ideals.

Mr Vajpayee wants NAM to position itself as a “major pole” in the multipolar global configuration. I endorse it. But do we need this ineffective membership to make the point? NAM should reduce its members and make entry onerous. Peace is not part of the manifesto of political parties around the world. Bread and butter is. This is a disadvantage. We have no way to know the strength of the peace constituency. The UN must find out.

Mr Mahathir Mohammed, the Malaysian Prime Minister, wanted war to be outlawed. Noble thoughts. But war has become technical. It costs fewer lives. Has Mohammed a way to raise the body count? Politicians have politicised NAM. There is more rhetoric and less willingness to act. What is needed is first of all a re-definition, a new sense of priorities. Our focus should be on development. There should be more South-South cooperation. This is the only way. Once this gains momentum, the north will see reason. What stands in the way is want of will. Being too prone to the West.

A VIEWPOINT
Tourism: Destination India
Shyam Ratna Gupta

India has what tourists from the developed countries look for — sea, surf, sand and sunshine. The rich flora and fauna, the Himalayan ranges from north to east, the hills, hillocks, dales and valleys of India are well known and well depicted with illustrations in excellent books published in foreign languages in Europe, the United Kingdom and the Americas. Tourists also generally know that the memorials, monuments and other symbols of Indian culture and civilisations are scattered all over the country.

All these attractions suggest that there is no need of tourist offices in developed or developing countries. These were established mainly to provide assignments to educated women, gifted with charm, grace and pleasant manners. The symbolic Namaste by sariclad Indian women adorning the tourist offices are now well-worn cliches, which are ignored by tourists. In almost all major languages of the world, especially in English, French and Italian, guide books, superbly illustrative, are available in bookstalls in the West. The cardboard replicas of Indian attraction are looked down upon by most intelligent tourists. Further, the tourist offices dotting the European and American countries are today an eyesore and should be abolished.

There are other essential leads which should be considered by the authorities concerned. For instance, all diplomatic missions, foreign and Indian airlines, and entry and arrival points of tourists should be provided with a short questionnaire to ascertain the tourists’ tastes, inclination and points of interests. A kit containing brochures, folders, and maps could be distributed freely to those who obtain tourist visas from our diplomatic missions.

At Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chandigarh, comprehensive road maps updated at least once a year should be provided to both foreign and domestic tourists. The metros are expanding exponentially and suburbia around them should be depicted in such maps. Government or voluntary agencies could establish small museums to guide and educate tourists. Almost all state capitals and historic sites in India have varied cultural and natural gifts, and tourists, foreign and domestic, should be “educated” on this.

To pursue foreign tourists, suspected of pilferage of Indian artefacts, is futile if only because every stone statue or rock, crude or re-fashioned by human hand, may have some significance, though they would have no value as antiques, to be auctioned by the art collectors in the West. Buddhist and Jain statues are replicated now in Europe and the Americas. Why persecute archaeologists if they try to to reconstruct decaying monuments in the far-flung regions of India?

The tourist infrastructure in India should be strengthened. Tourists want clean hostels, reliable transport system and affordable shopping centres. These will specially help those on a shoe-string budget. Sex and drug tourist centres should be screened periodically because these could be dens of vice, drugs and crime.

Is it inconceivable to think of museums in small towns, maintained by local bodies including civic centres and panchayats? Tourists will be attracted by the slogan Destination India, not merely Destination Delhi or some other metro.

The author is former Chief Editor, Indian and Foreign Review, New Delhi.

REFLECTIONS

Where is my country?
Kiran Bedi

While in America I neither hear of my country nor see it projected in any complementary way that makes me feel comfortable or proud of. I even search for it on the radio and cannot get my All India Radio, as clearly, as I can get others on my radio or the transistors. Over the television there are some Indian channels which focus, almost only, on entertainment, which to me is a make belief word beyond a point and leaves hardly any time for intellectual debates and discussions on national and international issues which could least enable our overseas Indians and others better informed... as we do, and so well, daily, in India (back home).

The kind of discussions and brainstorming we have on our channels, such as Star News, Aaj Tak, Doordarshan, Zee, Sahara and many others, are almost missing here, even on our Hindi or Hinglish speaking channels...which I think is not fair for our next generation growing up here. Interestingly even the famous BBC Channel comes here, on the cable, only for half an hour in the morning... while it beams all day as free channel in its Asia Today. Of course it is so very clear on the radio. Why cannot the AIR be like it?

I see the USA flooded with market-oriented entertainment channels. Also I find them almost propagandist and promotional to some extent in content...No wonder so little is known in substance, about the world outside the USA, for an America based watcher. We in are a space power in the world. We send out satellites in the orbit and are not even strongly audible, to the opinion making world even on the short waves over the radio? Is that too much to expect? I easily catch Radio Netherlands or Radio Japan but why not my own? Whose duty is it to see that we do...to be heard and seen?

What is it that is holding us back, I want to know as an Indian, for I feel left out, here in the foreign land? I am convinced we have so much to offer to the world to be a better place to live. I feel with this self created deprivation and drought of credible information we are being unfair even to our entire Indian Diaspora around the world. And I wonder to myself why they did not raise this issue when they were all in Delhi for the Millennium meet? Why did they not place this as a national priority and think together to address it? Why did they let this opportunity slip out of their hands? What better way would there have been to instill national pride and contribute internationally.

The newspapers in this part of the world mention India only in relation to poverty; deprivation; over population; border disputes; or religious divide, etc. The TV ignores it. For it has almost little or no meaning for the West...No wonder India continues to be in the backyards and not understood by a common Westerner.

The other day, while in taxi, the American driver had the audacity to remark (despite knowing that I am an Indian), that Indians can be bought with just a few dollars and that there was so much corruption there. His statement was an indicator of what an average American thought of us.

The fact is that corruption is not an Indian monopoly. But for them, out here, it begins and ends there...unless you give people alternative information. And whose duty is it to do it?

Prosperous and educated Indians in the west are respected in their individual capacities...Which are never the same, than being respected, from where one comes from. And to do so will only be possible when we present ourselves more holistically via a quality media and through its enlightened debates, which are impacting and influencing and which make a place for themselves in minds and hearts of the people...

Let's not shut our eyes to what is going on. Let's wake up and make our own place in this hard competitive world but which is yearning for peace but does not know how. It’s time to be here...

PROFILE

The biggest catch in US net
Harihar Swarup

The record of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, suspect in September 11, 2001 bombing of the World Trade Center towers, is horrifying. Arrested in Pakistan, and now believed to be in the US custody, he is known to be an al-Qaeda kingpin, self-proclaimed head of the network’s military committee. His career graph is a curious study of the making of a terrorist, particularly how and why youth become extremists? In his late thirties, Khalid was privileged to get the type of education only a very few lucky ones from the Asian region gain. He studied in the USA, at a Baptist college in North Caroline as the institute was quite popular with the students from the Middle East. Enrolled in a pre-engineering course, he was known to be a good student and his ratings were above average. He later shifted to the North Caroline Agriculture and Technical State University from where he graduated in 1986. So meticulous was Khalid that besides English, he became proficient in Arabic, Urdu and Baluchi too.

Carrying a reward of $25 million on his head and FBI putting him on its “most wanted” list of 22 terror suspects, Khalid is said to be biggest catch yet in the global hunt for al-Qaeda suspects. “Newsweek” quoted a US intelligence report as saying that Sheikh Mohammed had “directed operatives to target bridges, gas stations, and power plants in a number of locations, including New York city”. 

DELHI DURBAR

Vajpayee’s irrepressible wit

It was an interesting case of one VVIP bachelor taking on another VVIP bachelor. 

Bachelor President APJ Abdul Kalam was at the receiving end of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s irrepressible wit in Rajya Sabha this week during the latter’s reply to the motion of thanks on the President’s address. 

Starting off from his visit to Kuala Lumpur for the NAM summit, the bachelor Prime Minister turned to the President’s address midway through his reply. 

In his tongue-in-cheek style, Vajpayee asked whether the President’s address could be called “maiden”. 

His one-liner poser to the House was: “Kya President ki speech ko maiden kaha ja sakta hai ki nahin” (Can President’s speech be called maiden?). Needless to say his emphasis was on the word “maiden”. He quickly added that every new President’s speech has to be called the maiden speech. 

“Ab naye President baasi speech to denge nahin” (After all, new President would not be giving old speech).

Laloo’s Taj Mahal

As Vajpayee broached the issue of women’s reservation in Parliament and pointed out that there was consensus among the political parties, the vociferous women members stood up wanting to know when the Government was finally willing to bring forth the bill. In the midst of all the commotion, the inimitable RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav got up. The entire House reverberated with peels of laughter when Laloo, with his finger pointed to Vajpayee, told the women members that they were seeking reservation from the man who had not even married. He argued, jokingly, that since the Prime Minister had never married, he was naturally against women. Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah, who was in the chair, was one up with her remark that Lalooji was in fact so much in favour of women that he had made his wife the Chief Minister in Bihar. Unnerved by Najma’s googly, Yadav said that while Shahjahan had made Taj Mahal for his wife after her death, he had already given a Taj Mahal to his wife in the form of Bihar.

Virbhadra’s march

As Parliament is in session, meeting Sonia Gandhi has become a wee bit difficult even for party Chief Ministers. On Tuesday last, it was Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh who had to wait for Madam for hours along with his cabinet colleagues, MLAs and party leaders before being able to meet her on the Congress victory in Himachal Pradesh. On Wednesday, a day before his swearing in as the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh had to wait for getting a ‘darshan’ of the Congress President. Sonia was apparently not keen to meet Virbhadra Singh in her Parliament House office over an issue as important as the formation of the state cabinet and the meeting eventually took place in the evening at her residence. Virbhadra left Shimla early Wednesday morning by road to reach New Delhi by about 10 am. The swearing-in had been scheduled the next morning and Virbhadra must have hoped to reach Shimla by Wednesday night to be able to catch some sleep before the oath ceremony. By the time he left New Delhi for Shimla, again by car, it was past 9 pm. Do leaders possess an extraordinary stamina or is it their success which does the trick?

Sahib’s lesson

Politicians these days are fitness freaks and Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma is no exception. He gets up everyday before dawn, takes a walk and is more careful about his diet than most politicians. Few people would know that the non-smoker, teetotaller Sahib Singh does not take dinner. And given his busy schedule, he invariably gets late for lunch, his only meal of the day. But the other day he got late for his lunch for health reasons only. He had an interesting visitor, a young and beautiful naturopath, Kalpana Shree. The 33-year-old former model, who is also a yoga expert and runs a nature-cure clinic “Return to Nature” in Ashok Vihar, gave some useful tips on the art of walking. Sahib Singh listened with rapt attention as Kalpana reeled out her well-researched facts.

A healthy person should inhale from the left nostril during summer and from the right nostril during winters to prevent himself from seasonal diseases. The stomach muscles should be kept very tight while walking, not unlike birds while in flight. Kalpana Shree’s logic is that because birds’ stomach is stretched inwards during flight they do not normally fall ill. She also stressed on an obvious but usually forgotten fact: one must be empty stomach before going for the walk.

Sahib later told Kalpana on the lunch table that the delay in his lunch was justified. Food for thought, you said.

Women’s man

The Prime Minister has been advised to woo women for the party as was evident at the all-party meeting convened by him on Friday for evolving a consensus on women reservation issue. Vajpayee categorically told leaders, opposed to reservation for women in State Assemblies and Parliament, that the Government was determined to ensure reservation to the fair sex in this session of Parliament. Vajpayee said in a democracy, the majority view has to prevail, though dissent is permitted. He also emphasised that difference of opinion should not be displayed in violent terms. After the meeting, a leader commented on Vajpayee’s commitment saying that “a bachelor appears to be wooing women of the country”.

Contributed by Girja Shankar Kaura, T.V.Lakshminarayan, Prashant Sood, S. Satyanarayanan, Satish Misra and Rajeev Sharma.

DIVERSITIES — DELHI LETTER

Women’s day functions pointless
Humra Quraishi

Though today stands lined up with many functions to mark the International Women’s Day, I am not attending any one of them. As they are being organised on VVIP lawns or in air-conditioned environs, they seem pointless.

Why should I drape myself in silk, stuff a couple of samosas down the mouth and hear those throaty speeches because I’m a woman? That’s about all that happens in these Alice in wonderland-type of tea parties.

In the afternoon, I will hear two historians — Professor Shrimali and Professor Irfan Habib at the Constitution Club on the new turn the Ayodhya crisis might take after the Supreme Court’s excavation orders. It wouldn’t be amiss if a panel of historians would be set up to ascertain the facts but here again there could be the mix and match of the apolitical scholars with those swaying with the beat of today's politics.

Last evening, Radhika Hoon, a prominent disciple of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar got in touch with me to say that he has come up with a formula to diffuse the Ayodhya crisis. She sent me details, but the big question is whether in this charged atmosphere any formula would be accepted by community leaders on both sides.

Of Sufism

There couldn't have been greater focus on Sufism and Sufi music — Muzaffar Ali’s, MK and Sita Raina’s, ICCR’s…and now comes an invite from a Karnal-based organisation HIFA for a festival meet on Sufism this weekend. But sadly, none of them thought of holding these events in the place of its origin, Srinagar, and the other parts of the Valley. Even ICCR couldn’t think of organising it in the only school of Sufism — Pari Mahal that Aurangzeb’s son Dara Shikoh had set up in Srinagar. It still stands overlooking the Dal lake, and looks impressive…

UNESCO in focus

UNESCO's Assistant D-G (Education) Sir John Daniel visited India very recently. He enjoys walking and as a Reader in the Anglican Church, he was the first to preach in Westminster Abbey from a laptop computer. He once had academic oversight of the world’s smallest university — Ontario’s college universitaire de Hearst (30 students) and then became responsible for the 200,000 students of the Open University, 25,000 of whom live outside the UK.

At the press conference, he told me in response to a query that the UNESCO’s thrust is on creating a harmonious cultural relationship through education. Wherever governments have used education and textbooks to spread anti-sentiments, they have been short-sighted, for a nation can survive on harmony alone. With UNESCO grants to many of our literacy and educational projects (India is one of the E-9 countries in UNESCO's list), they could keep a check on the quality and text of education reaching the grassroots level.

BOLLYWOOD

Kareena to keep off two-heroine projects
Subhash K. Jha

Kareena Kapoor has decided to stay away from all two-heroine projects. “Unless it’s a film like “Devdas” where two heroines aren’t just inevitable, but complementary,” she won’t act with female co-stars, Kareena told IANS. Though she got along famously with Rani Mukherjee during “Mujhse Dosti Karoge”, she had clashed with Bipasha Basu during the shooting of “Ajnabee”.

Kareena has joined a long line of actresses who have had serious compatibility problems with their female co-stars. In the mid-1960s when actor Joy Mukherjee directed “Humsaya”, tension was palpable on the sets every time Mala Ainha and Sharmila Tagore came together. Mala reportedly planted a slap on Sharmila’s cheek. Joy never directed a film after that.

Almost a decade later, Sharmila again clashed with Raakhee, when they worked together in Yash Chopra’s “Daag”. So high was the insecurity level on the sets that Sharmila apparently asked the director to re-shoot a key confrontation sequence between the two leading ladies.

In the 1980s, Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil fought during Mahesh Bhatt’s “Arth”. Sridevi and Jaya Prada didn’t exchange a word during the shooting of the eight or nine films they co-starred in. While shooting “Maqsad”, their co-stars Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra apparently locked the two women up in the same room. An hour later when they peeped in, they saw Jaya Prada and Sridevi sitting quietly in two corners of the room.

The story of warring actresses continues in the new millennium. During the making of Meghna Gulzar’s “Filhaal”, there were constant tensions on the sets between Tabu and Sushmita Sen.

Sometimes the Press is also to blame for bad blood between actresses. Says Rani Mukherjee: “So much was made of my friendship with Preity Zinta during the making of “Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega”, almost as though we were Siamese twins. We were friendly but not that friendly!” During “Devdas”, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit did seem to be cordial to each other. But neither was seen chatting up the other between shots.

Camaraderie between two female co-stars has been rare but not entirely absent though. A good chemistry was evident between former Miss World Priyanka Chopra and former Miss Universe Lara Dutta during the shooting of “Andaz”. Many say it’s rare for friendships to survive in the industry due to the pressures of showbiz. Two actresses to have remained friends over the years are Poonam Dhillon and Padmini Kolhapure. IANS