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Saturday,
April 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Iraq after war Against the federal spirit Problem of plenty |
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Dealing with cross-border terror
Laila’s fingers and Majnoo’s ribs
The king of flowers — the rose sublime
Worse than Doordarshan
The ‘birthday boy’ Manekshaw
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Iraq after war Whatever the US officials may say now, they had never thought while starting the Iraqi operation that it would go into the second fortnight. Their calculation was that once the US soldiers entered the territory, the oppressed Iraqi people would rise in revolt against the Saddam Hussein regime and welcome them with garlands. Quite the opposite has happened. In their smug belief, they did not even watch their back while marching towards Baghdad and the consequences are there for all to see. Although every single day that Mr Saddam Hussein withstands the US might adds to his cult status in the Arab world, it is quite obvious that these days cannot add up to weeks or months. Soon enough it would be necessary to focus on the post-war reality. The coalition (read US-UK) has made it clear that the UN will not have much of a role to play. Although most neutral experts have advised the US not to wield direct control, it seems determined to do exactly that. The blueprint of a military occupation under the overall control of Jay Garner, a former General, is ready. It will be quite some time before it hands over reins to a transition civilian government. That too is only going to be a puppet regime, any way. The functioning of the belligerent occupying power will be watched with keen interest. Traditional laws of occupation codified in Article 43 of the Hague Regulation and the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 will be applicable to it. But since the US has shown scant respect for UN norms so far, it is unlikely that it will go by the rulebook. Its main job will be to maintain order and to administer the resources of the country to meet the needs of the people and the requirement of the occupying forces. It is the last item which is going to be a tremendous drain on the Iraqi economy. Post-war cost of military occupation is going to be between $50 billion and $100 billion per year. This will come from the Iraqi pockets. The fate of existing oil contracts awarded to foreign companies hangs in the balance. If these are annulled, the reverberations will be felt all over the world. Current indications are that not all contracts are going to be dumped, but countries like France will have a substantial price to pay for their independent stand because their hard-won oil concessions may be taken away. The task of rebuilding Iraq will remain mostly in US hands. In fact, there is already heart-burn in the UK on that count. But the sub-contracts are going to be spread out widely and Indian firms stand to gain substantially. |
Against the federal spirit IT would be difficult for one to endorse the Union Cabinet’s decision to amend the Representation of People Act on Rajya Sabha elections. Its move to dispense with the domicile rule for the contestants and the replacement of secret voting with open ballot is not in conformity with the federal spirit of the Constitution and the democratic ethos of the polity. Undoubtedly, if the domicile rule goes, the Upper House will lose its unique federal character and composition. The Rajya Sabha is not only the House of Elders but also the Council of States. While drafting the Constitution, the founding fathers were fully convinced that this House would reflect the true federal character of the polity only if the domicile rule is enforced. More important, it was felt that if the candidates were residents of a particular State (technically, electors of a Lok Sabha constituency in the State from which they intend to contest for the Rajya Sabha), they would be in a better position to champion the causes of the State than those in the Lok Sabha who are directly elected by the people. In other words, while a member of the Lok Sabha represents a particular constituency, the one in the Rajya Sabha represents a State or a Union Territory. However, over the years, this rule has been followed more in its breach than in practice. To gain entry into the Rajya Sabha, candidates have been filing false residential certificates. Even people such as Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr Arun Shourie, Mr Arun Jaitley and Mr Ram Jethmalani are not absolved of the blame. The late jurist Nani Palkhivala had succinctly called the practice “a fraud on the Constitution”. The best course for the Vajpayee Government should have been to take all possible measures to enforce the law and the Constitution by making political parties accountable for their acts of omission and commission rather than seek an amendment to the RP Act and thereby short-circuit the Constitution to suit its partisan ends. The same is the case with the attempt to introduce open ballot for the Rajya Sabha elections. Secrecy is the sine qua non of a free and fair election. Surely, open ballot will infringe upon the representatives’ sacred right to exercise their franchise in a free and fair manner. Apparently, the Vajpayee Government has taken recourse to this with a view to preventing cross-voting as witnessed in the last Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. |
| Problem of plenty On Thursday when the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, was trying to sell the idea of crop diversification and contract farming to seek financial support from the RBI and investment support from private companies in Mumbai, back home the farmers who had chosen to grow potato were regretting their decision. Once again, there is a problem of plenty. And once again, the government has been caught unawares. No state agency has intervened to rescue the harried farmers. Markfed, which goes to the Press and talks of big plans every time it exports some small quantity of potato or other vegetable, is helplessly watching the situation. In the absence of the Chief Minister, no state minister or official has taken any corrective step despite reports in the media highlighting the potato-growers’ plight. The situation is not entirely the creation of the forces of demand and supply. As press reports suggest, traders have formed a cartel to depress the prices. The growers, mostly small farmers, lack the means of hiring or having their own storage facilities. The cold store owners too have jacked up the charges to take advantage of the situation. It is such exploitation which warrants immediate state intervention. The farmers in Doaba have threatened to dump potatoes on roads in protest as they did two years ago, the painful memories of which are still fresh. The potato prices, which had ruled at Rs 600 a quintal in December last on expectations of a poor crop, crashed to about Rs 80 a quintal in March as the early January rain brightened the crop prospects. A good crop has upset the calculations of many. Those who had bought potato in December in the hope of a further price rise have suffered heavy losses. It is clear by now, the government in Punjab — whether the so-called farmer-friendly previous one by the Akalis and the BJP or the present one by the Congress — is not geared to meet a glut situation. The state has no administrative and infrastructural back-up to foresee and deal well in time with a situation of plenty. The absence of such a support system had been acutely felt in the past during the procurement of wheat and paddy. The state government usually washes its hands of the problem by blaming either the FCI or the Centre. The need for creating sufficient cold storage capacity and promoting food processing industries can hardly be over-emphasised. What can be more ironic and more distressing than potato selling at Re1 or so a kg and potato chips selling at about 20 times of that price? |
Dealing with cross-border terror Why is anti-Pakistan protest of the Government of India so muted on Nadimarg as compared to its reaction on Kaluchak; though Pakistan was held responsible for both the terrorist acts? After the Kaluchak massacre last year, the Government of India gave “Aar Paar” threat to Pakistan, the movement and deployment of the army all along the border was stepped up, naval forces were moved from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea, near the shores of Pakistan and other measures of what was called coercive diplomacy were made more strident. What new weapon is now left in our armoury after a quiet return to the status quo without any single demand being conceded by Pakistan? As Gen V.P. Malik, former Chief of the Army Staff observed in his article in The Tribune on March 22, “the 10-month-long border deployment and coercive diplomacy resulted in Pakistan getting away with the impression that it was able to defeat the enemy without fighting a war and feeling that India is unlikely to repeat Parakaram type strategy and deployment in the immediate future.” The measures that were meant to demonstrate India’s strength exposed its weakness and helplessness. Instead of being deterred by those measures, the terrorists based in Pakistan were emboldened in attacking the innocents with greater frequency. It is time India’s strategic experts realised how seriously its defences were undermined by the nuclear explosion in 1998. It was almost entirely defended in terms of the threat Pakistan posed to the internal security of the country, in particular in Jammu and Kashmir. The incontrovertible empirical evidence proved otherwise. For, the series of mass killings of innocent civilians started precisely after Pokhran II, starting from Wandhama in 1998 in Kashmir region, to Prankote in Udhampur district, Champnari in Doda district, Kalakote in Rajouri district, Kaluchak and Rajiv Nagar near Jammu city in 2002 are the major milestones of the march of terror in the state; apart from provocative attacks on Raghunath temple in the heart of Jammu city twice in less than one year. Human toll of men, women and children, in each incident ranged between 20 and 30. Mr P.R. Chari, Director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, therefore, rightly concludes in the book edited by him on Kargil Conflict, with the following pertinent observations: “Nuclear weapons could not deter limited conventional conflicts or sub-conventional conflicts like proxy wars, or support to cross-border militancy and terrorism. On the contrary, the presence of nuclear weapons seems to have encouraged Pakistan that it could, with impunity, indulge in ‘salami slicing’ to capture small pieces of territory... and in the confidence that India would not find it possible to escalate the conflict lest it approach the nuclear level. Comforted by this logic, Pakistan could have been emboldened to undertake its intrusions in the LoC in Kargil.” Thus the bravado displayed by nuclear explosion and border deployment betrays a weak and nervous mind and lack of awareness of superior sources of India’s actual and potential strength. That its anti-terror policy is not based on a strong political will was eloquently demonstrated by the humiliating and inapt manner in which the hijacking of Indian Airlines plane from Kathmandu was dealt with and the Foreign Minister personally escorted the dreaded terrorists, after releasing them, to Kandahar. The only method we have learnt in dealing with Pakistan in recent years is to promptly file an appeal to the USA whenever it creates any mischief in Kashmir or is suspected to have created it in any other part of the country. No doubt there has been a marked improvement in India’s relations with America. So has been in its own stature as an economic and political power. But when we repeatedly tried to distract America’s attention during Afghanistan war and its current war against Iraq by seeking its intervention against Pakistan’s acts of perfidy; we failed to dislodge Pakistan from its status of the staunchest ally of America, the only super power of the world. It did invite many visits of American leaders to the subcontinent during which they offered the role of a facilitator. We were certainly pleased when the USA unequivocally condemned the massacre at Nadimarg. But we were piqued when we were equated with Pakistan and advised “to consider immediately implementing a ceasefire and taking other active steps to reduce tension.” It offered “help to both countries to start a process aimed at building confidence, normalising bilateral relations and resolving outstanding differences, including Kashmir.” It is a plea neither for pacifism nor rejecting American support in war against terror. Military option may not be ruled out. But the choice should not be limited to total war and inaction. Effectiveness in dealing with terrorists like fidayeens does not depend on size of the army and weapons of mass destruction. At some places, the terrorists are equipped with more sophisticated small arms than our forces. Again, use of army for police duties proves counter-productive in some cases as it does not know local situation and people. Moreover, surveillance technology to check infiltration from Pakistan and border fencing in Jammu and Kashmir which are more important requirements of checking cross-border terror have not received the priority they deserved. Similarly, India’s exclusive dependence on the USA in dealing with Pakistan landed both of them in a competitive race with each other in winning the loyalty of the super power of the world. It was clearly demonstrated in their Iraq policy. Even though governments and peoples of both countries were strongly critical of the US led attack on Iraq, none could afford to use strong words to condemn it lest the other should get closer to the USA. India could have served its national interest far better and have a friendly relations with America as an equal if it could reduce its tension with Pakistan; without compromising its stand on “cross-border terrorism”. First, we should learn to draw a distinction between the Pakistan government and its people; just as the USA did in the case of Taliban and Afghan people and is now doing in the case of Saddam Hussein and Iraqi people. Second, we need not write off a very vocal and liberal element in Pakistan which is convinced that terrorism is as much a threat to Pakistan as to India. A typical reaction of such elements to official Kashmir policy of Pakistan is by Nain Sadiq who observed in Daily Times of Lahore: “Our desire to rule Kashmir must be completely set aside. Countries that cannot govern their existing boundaries should have little reason to look for more territory.” Third, we should also take notice of the offer of the so-called fundamentalist alliance, Muttahida Majlis Action (MMA) which has emerged as a big force in the NWFP and Baluchistan, to mend fences with India as the USA is the greater enemy.” Fourth, we should be willing to test the bonafides of General Musharraf who claims that the terrorists operating in Kashmir are not under his control. We should offer services of our intelligence agencies to cooperate with the ISI to trace these “rogue” terrorist groups and find out how far the Pakistan government cooperates with our efforts to end the killing of innocent civilians. Finally we should withdraw the fresh visa restrictions on visitors from Pakistan and the recent ban on the visits of literary and cultural personalities, human rights activists and academicians from Pakistan to participate in gatherings of their counterparts in India. The government decision making it obligatory for all organisations holding seminars on a wide variety of subjects to get the list of invitees cleared with the Ministry of Home Affairs betrayed a pathetic lack of faith in the intellectuals and writers of India. In fact, India and Indian institutions have always been a source of inspiration and admiration for intellectuals of Pakistan. To cut off normal people to people links between the two countries only weakens India’s healthy ideological influence on Pakistan. In short India’s official Pakistan policy is too much obsessed with a fear and inferiority complex; which does not behove a country which is aspiring to be a world power. Above all there is absolutely no substitute for political measures to improve the internal situation in the terror-hit state of Jammu and Kashmir and to win the support of its people in the war against terror. |
Laila’s fingers and Majnoo’s ribs Slender fingers are dear, and dearer still are those belonging to marriageable maidens. But to call all ladies’ fingers dearest seemed to me to be going too far. This was the caption of a news item appearing in Chandigarh Tribune sometime back. I immediately read the news report which was based on a survey of price fluctuation in the vegetable and fruit market. It was the lowly “bhindi” that had secured the first place among the costliest of vegetables. The “bhindi” is too humble a vegetable to excite romantic poetry, but its close cousin the “kakri” — which is arriving in cartloads these days in the market and is easy on the pockets of all consumers — did stir a Lucknow vegetable vendor to describe it in the most poetic way as he sang “Laila ki unglian hain, Majnoo ki paslian hain, kya khoob kakrian hain”. The comparison with Laila’s fingers may be apt but the shrivelled rib of Majnoo could hardly provide an adequate simile unless a reference is made to the missing rib of Adam as he slept in the Garden of Eden and woke up to find a lovely Eve shaped out of it. Eve’s slender fingers as they held the forbidden fruit did cost him very dear as he wended his way out of the garden and into this world where lady’s fingers vary from being the cheapest to the dearest. They say “paanchon unglian barabar nahin hotin” and the question arises as to which of the five is the dearest. The answer is obviously the ring finger since this is the digit that can carry the weight of the costliest of precious stones, and also bear testimony to marriage vows — the wedding ring being the Western equivalent of the Eastern “mangal sutra”. It is the ring that brings to my mind the sparkle of a faded memory. A lady who was asked to choose between a diamond ring and a Maruti car as a gift on her birthday by her immensely rich family. She chose the diamond ring! Exquisitely sculpted in gold with a mythical figure carved in it, the diamond would sparkle and attract attention. When asked what was it that she was wearing, pat would come her reply “a Maruti car”! She had an exquisite dress sense and what she wore for each season could easily set the fashion trend. This made a deadly combination with her beautiful face and figure and a matching intellectual competence. Everyone agreed that she would go very far. This she did by going far away to the USA. Maybe she married into a still more wealthy family and her ring finger now carries the burden of a Mercedes instead of a Maruti. It is even possible that she has a Rolls Royce rolled round her “dearest” lady’s finger. After all, Laila’s fingers with Majnoo’s ribs also make a deadly combination! |
The king of flowers — the rose sublime From time to time, I have touched upon the nature of the sublime manifest in the awesome grandeur and opulence of nature, ranging from the snow-clad mountains and the heave and swell of oceans to such breath-taking waterfalls as the Niagras or the Victoria Falls. And their mystic appeal remains enshrined in the world scriptures, in songs and stories. I write this little ode by way of a prelude to the perennial theme of nature’s bounties in the form of gorgeous flora and fauna. And it’s in that context that I fasten upon the king of flowers — the rose sublime. My own poetic dalliance with roses began some years ago, as I was wheeled into the famed Chandigarh Rose Garden in my stricken, afflicted state. Since then, I have sought to pursue the mystical rose almost in the manner of “the Holy Grail”. Of course, my own limited quest is chiefly through “the realms of gold”, to recall the Keatsian idiom. However, before I turn to the literary examples, I wish to add a work or two on the integral link between personality and the rose as a symbol of the royalty of the spirit, and as a mark of the aristocracy of the mind. No wonder, great aristocratic, feudal houses used it as a dynastic emblem. In India too, the rose, as such, has had a fascinating passage through history. The Indian nobility cultivated it, and had all manner of varieties brought to this country. The Moghul Emperors, in particular, had made it at once a symbol of power and beauty, a “mystic” marriage of the two strongest human attractions. For instance, Akbar always figures to the imagination as a monarch sporting a stem of roses, seated on the throne — an aspect of his rich personality as caught on the canvas by his court painters. Similarly, Jawaharlal Nehru, “a prince among politicians”, had a lover’s romance with roses. His highly developed sense of aesthetics was visible in so many ways, and one of these was his perennial use of the red rose in his achkan button-hole. I had, on a December morning of 1960, the pleasure of watching such a scene, as the Prime Minister walked down the stairs to see me and my two young children. A photograph still adorns my writing table to remind me of that glorious hour. It may perhaps be fanciful to draw a moral from this tale of roses, but I do tend to believe that there is a strong link between the richness of personality and the ineffable appeals of the rose, that monarch of the flower-garden. Certain magnanimities of thought and conduct associated with persons like Nehru make the rose a constitutive indulgence and passion. It’s not as though only men of his sterling qualities, and vision carry the rose in the buttonhole, for it’s a common sight amongst all manner of gallants. However, in the case of the lower orders of rulers and masters, the same symbol makes a travesty of the rose’s embedded truth. That’s how people saw Giani Zail Singh as President of India, thanks to Indira Gandhi’s patronage extended to her toadies and sycophants. The Giani in aping Nehru and flirting with the buttonhole rose had indeed become “a mimic man”, to recall V.S. Naipaul’s phrase. Turning, finally, to the celebration of the rose in song and story, in fables and allegories, one could cite examples from almost each culture and nation. I mean, however, to confine my cryptic comments only to British writers. From Chaucer through Shakespeare to the Scottish Burns and the Irish Yeats, there’s a case for a fascinating study. Burn’s love-lyric, “My love’s like a red, red rose”, and Yeat’s volume, “The Rose”, keep the mystic rose an abiding food for the muses. Here are a couple of lines from one of Yeats’s poems: Far-off, most secret, and inviolate Rose, Enfold me in my hour of hours; when those Who sought them in the Holy Sepulcher; Remember, then, T.S. Eliot’s swan song, Four Quartets, and the resonance of the roses in a life of quest and affirmations. My own quest in this regard has plunged me often into the arcane, emblematic and mystic aspects of the theme in question. I quote the concluding lines of one of my poems, “The Rose-Garden Revisited” when my last poetry volume, “The Far Horizons” (2002), carried: And if the mystic rose that Is the enfolded word within the Word, The petal upon petal, the rose sublime, We feel, then, as close to the Heavens As when some music enchants the ear. |
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Worse than Doordarshan Some years ago, some of DD's anchors and announcers made a guest appearance in another channel's Antakshari programme. All hell broke loose and they were duly punished, but only temporarily. Soon they reappeared in their usual slots on DD. Indeed DD has acted fairly independently in its coverage of the Iraq war. Thanks, I am sure to Saeed Naqvi, whose outfit Third Eye carried out the assignment. Saeed never lowers his standards of professional integrity and credibility nor does ex-BBC man Satish Jacob, whose professional standards are equally high. And all this is in contrast to DD's former treatment of Saeed Naqvi's World Report, the only independent Indian producer-anchor to do world coverage on a permanent basis. But DD used to tuck away in insignificant early morning and late night slots his world class interviews of world leaders in their own countries and such specialised spot reporting as the great work done by India's peace-keeping forces with the UN in many parts of the world. I think both my old friend and colleague M V Kamath and DD's present enlightend DG Mr Qureishi have at last instilled some professionalism and credibility into DD News, and erased some of that “sarkari chamcha” image. Now let us revert to the ideas of Press freedom followed by the world's “greatest democracy”. One was not surprised that CNN, whose “chamchagiri” this time of the US government and faithful retailing of government handouts led to its justifiably being thrown out of Iraq. It is therefore more than ironic that CNN's Peter Arnott, who is still recognised all over the world as the star of CNN who covered the Gulf War from Baghdad and got an exclusive interview with President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad at the height of the Gulf war was summarily sacked by CNN and National Geographic last week for what was technically professional misdemeanour, for which he made an apology during his last appearance on NBC. But everone knows that the real reason for his sacking was telling the truth on Iraqi TV about the faulty conduct of the present war by the Americans. Peter Arnott has been in controversies before but has always landed on his feet. Other channels are already snapping him up. So the loser in this case is not Arnott but the CNN. However, the normally splendid traditions of the best American reporters have been upheld by the
Washington Post correspondent who was present when that unfortunate Toyota carrying women and children was blown to bits with the loss of seven Iraqi lives — children and women. Contrary to the claims of the US military that they had every right to shoot anyway in self-defence after due warning, he stated that no warning shot was fired and that when the Toyota continued on its course, a panicky soldier gave the order to shoot without warning and that their horrified local commander, seeing what had happened, said to the trigger-happy soldier, “You have killed a whole family”. However, in addition to a few unbiased American and British reporters with a conscience, like the Washington Post correspondent, I think the supreme media achievement of this war is the rapid rise of independent Arabic language channels such as the intrepid Al Jazeera which have broken the Western monopoly of war and other international coverage, particularly of Afghanistan, West Asia, Palestine and Israel. Their ratings have risen by the million in this war even in the West. They have won local and international appreciation for their unbiased and highly professional coverage. Pity they do not yet have a fullfledged international English channel. We shall wait for that day and meanwhile be grateful for what little Al Jazeera titbits we are given by the BBC which, finding its credibility was also being doubted by government handouts, has broken away and is giving its own better spot reporting. In fact, the Washington Times story came to us via the BBC. I have little space to comment on the flood of new news channels which came aptly on April 1. Star's Hindi News channel is a disaster, very poor technical quality, far too jazzy backdrops and reporting style, in fact, it seems to be out-Aajj-taking Aaj Tak with poor result. Aaj Tak's few test programme of its English news had too many amateurish sweet young things bouncing and gushing their way through the news. Curiously enough. I have so far liked Sahara the best for several reasons. The welcome return of Anup Ghosh and Shireen as a team. That Sahara has shed its silly “parivar” image with uniformly ugly saris and suits earlier for its anchors. They are now dressing fairly smartly with the exception of one anchor, who wore a white dog collar with his galabandh and looked more like a Christian padre than an anchor. But I miss horribly the NDTV news channel, whose experimental transmissions are not available through Spectranet, my cable operator. NDTV, come back soon! |
The ‘birthday boy’ Manekshaw Walking with a slight stoop but looking dapper in a dark suit, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw clearly enjoyed the attention heaped on him as he entered his 90th year. “Your life and your work is the message (for the youth of today),” said George. “It was a great war (1971) that you fought and created history. In fact, you created a new nation.” A film, “In War and Peace — The Life of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw”, made as part of a Unesco-sponsored programme to record the culture of the Parsis, was premiered at the function. Despite several requests from the organisers, Manekshaw, known to be an intensely private person, refused to address the gathering. “I have nothing to say,” he remarked. The film directed by Jessica Gupta, however, more than made up for his silence. Manekshaw candidly recounts how Indira Gandhi once summoned him to tell him that she had been warned he might use his growing popularity to overthrow her government. And how he told her that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had “made a monkey” of her after she did not use the 93,000 Pakistani prisoners taken during the 1971 war to press for a solution of the Kashmir problem. In the film Manekshaw also speaks about more private aspects of his life such as his meetings with his first girlfriend and notes that his greatest achievement in his military career was the act that he never punished a subordinate officer. Despite his high profile, Manekshaw has remained aloof from the media, never recording his experiences. Only recently was he persuaded to share his memories and achievements for Gupta’s film. After his retirement, Manekshaw settled at Coonoor in the Nilgiri hills in south India and went on to serve on the boards of several companies.
IANS |
Bhagavan Keshava is pleased with that great soul who does no act inflicting pain on others and who feels kinship with all beings. —Vishnudharamottara I.58
*** Give charity to the deserving. Observe the precepts of morality. Cultivate and develop good thoughts. Render service and attend on others. Honour and nurse parents and elders. Give a share of your merits to others. Accept the merits that others give you. Hear the doctrine of righteousness. Preach the doctrine of righteousness. Rectify your faults. —Acts of Merit. From Thus Spake the Buddha. |
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Using a khukri knife made of silver, the frail-looking man standing at the centre of the stage cut a huge cake at celebrations in Delhi on Thursday to mark his 89th birthday as an audience comprising Defence Minister George Fernandes and the top brass of India’s armed forces looked on.