E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Trek to Camp David
Get goodies by all means but stop terrorism
THE picture of the first couples of the US and Pakistan sharing a light moment at Camp David is deceptive. If reports of what transpired at the American presidential retreat in the Maryland highlands are any indication, there was nothing to cheer either US President George W. Bush or Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf.

A welcome assurance
But will Sangh Parivar play ball?
One abiding fear in the mind of the Muslims has been that the clamour for a Ram temple at Ayodhya is not a one-off demand but presages similar upheavals at Kashi and Mathura. Under the circumstances, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan has done well to reiterate that Kashi and Mathura were never on its agenda. 

What others say
Mahathir's legacy
Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian prime minister, has always enjoyed needling his western allies. In his latest outburst, he accused "Anglo-Saxon Europeans" - including Americans and Australians - of attacking innocent Muslims, killing children and espousing the right to sodomy and free sex.

• Stimulus options dwindle

• Campbell toughs it out

OPINION

Nation’s growing security headaches
States cannot avoid their responsibility
N.N. Vohra
India’s internal security problems are influenced by a host of factors: its history, geography, colonial legacy, a burgeoning population, economic disparities and complex socio-cultural and ethno-religious traditions which interplay freely in our secular democracy. As developments in the past five decades have shown, regional and global factors impact significantly our security interests.

MIDDLE

The world of Harry Potter
Madhav Tankha
I have just finished reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and right now I am cursing myself for having read it so fast, because it is silly to finish a book that you have been eagerly awaiting for three years in less than two days. However, I must say that it was worth the wait. 

The mentally challenged still kept in chains
Prabhjot Singh
Various state governments, including those of Punjab and Haryana, had perhaps not taken into consideration individual cases while furnishing an affidavit in the Supreme Court in July last year about the number of mentally challenged persons who were kept in chains.

Eating as a family
John Briffa
While I am enthusiastic about the potential for a healthy diet to promote vibrant health and well-being, I am also of the opinion that there are other reasons for consuming food that go way beyond its nutritional merits.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Trek to Camp David
Get goodies by all means but stop terrorism

THE picture of the first couples of the US and Pakistan sharing a light moment at Camp David is deceptive. If reports of what transpired at the American presidential retreat in the Maryland highlands are any indication, there was nothing to cheer either US President George W. Bush or Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf. The General agreed to send his troops to Iraq only if it had the mandate of the UN or the Organisation of Islamic Countries or the Gulf Cooperation Council. Needless to say, this put cold water on Bush’s plans for post-war Iraq. Ordinarily, it should have been a matter of great satisfaction for the Pakistan President that he could get an aid package of $3 billion, though spread over five years. However, his sense of accomplishment has been dented by the conditions the Bush administration has imposed on Pakistan for receiving the funds. The general has to prove his credentials on fighting terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation and restoring democracy in Pakistan. The aid flow will stop if he is found wanting.

The conditional nature of the aid package will expose Musharraf to ridicule both within and without Pakistan. The armed forces will take umbrage at the fact that he could not manage to get the F-16 aircraft that they fancy the most. The only promise that he could extract from Bush is the upgrading of the F-16 aircraft already in Pakistan’s fleet. This is a poor consolation for the greedy marshals and generals who are simply paranoic about the superiority the Indian Air Force enjoys. Given Pakistan’s obsession about F-16, it would not be surprising if it tries to obtain F-16 aircraft from a third country with US consent. But for the present, the General has got nothing in hand to convince his core constituents in Pakistan. What’s more, he has also committed himself to “a 100 per cent effort to end cross-border incidents” against India. This can be seen as a loss of face for the General.

Musharraf, who may gloat over the fact that Pakistan has emerged as the third largest recipient of American aid, should have realised that humiliation is the price a supplicant nation has to pay at all times. Pakistan is important for the US as it perceives it as an important ally in its fight against terrorism. That is why the US has been conveniently turning a blind eye to the support, both overt and covert, Pakistan has been extending to the jehadis operating from its soil. India knows only too well that Musharraf’s promises to end terrorism are as easily forgotten as they are made. The goodies Pakistan gets from the US are of no concern to India provided they do not encourage it to continue the proxy war against India. Unfortunately, experience with Pakistan on this account has been disappointing for India.

A welcome assurance
But will Sangh Parivar play ball?

One abiding fear in the mind of the Muslims has been that the clamour for a Ram temple at Ayodhya is not a one-off demand but presages similar upheavals at Kashi and Mathura. Under the circumstances, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan has done well to reiterate that Kashi and Mathura were never on its agenda. That stance is in line with the resolution passed at its 1989 Palampur conclave on the construction of the Ram temple. But this statement is likely to cause trouble in the Sangh Parivar, what with RSS chief K.S. Sudershan having asserted only this week that “Hindus” cannot bargain away Kashi and Mathura. For men like him the most pressing task before the country is to demolish mosques constructed after pulling down temples centuries ago. There are people within the BJP who have come to realise that undoing “historical wrongs” will open a Pandora’s box. But the fact that they have often proved ineffective within the Sangh Parivar bodes ill for the country.

Whether a solution to the Ayodhya imbroglio is found through dialogue or a court verdict, it may be necessary for the government to reassure the minorities that the Places of Worship Act provides sufficient statutory guarantee that the status quo at Kashi and Mathura will not be disturbed. The Act enacted by the Narasimha Rao Government places the Kashi and Mathura issues out of the purview of courts and their current status cannot be disputed legally. But then, those bent on defying the law of the land when it comes in conflict with a matter of faith can overrun any legal hurdle. The ruling party and its sister organisations have gone back on their promises in the past. They will have to give a commitment to the nation that the Ayodhya history will not be allowed to repeat itself elsewhere and stick to it. Ayodhya has already caused enough turbulence and the country cannot risk any more trouble.

Mr Mahajan’s statement is also an indirect confirmation that the talks between Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati and the Muslim Personal Law Board are at an advanced stage. The litmus test of the agreement will not just be the construction of a temple or mosque at the disputed site but the restoration of trust between the Hindus and the Muslims.

What others say Mahathir's legacy

Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian prime minister, has always enjoyed needling his western allies. In his latest outburst, he accused "Anglo-Saxon Europeans" - including Americans and Australians - of attacking innocent Muslims, killing children and espousing the right to sodomy and free sex.

Colourful stuff - but not particularly unusual. The 77-year-old Dr Mahathir, who has led Malaysia for more than two decades and plans to retire in October, is an expert at this kind of rhetoric. Those familiar with his leadership style see him as a pragmatist and believe he should be judged on his actions, not his words. He strongly opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq and publicly accused the West of using the terror attacks of September 11 2001 as a pretext for assaulting Muslims. But in Malaysia, he has himself cunningly exploited the post-September 11 backlash against extremism to crack down further on home-grown Muslim fundamentalists.

— The Financial Times

Stimulus options dwindle

In little more than a decade, Japan has gone from the country that could do no wrong to the country that could do no right. U.S. leaders, who once marveled at the Toyotas and Toshibas flooding the U.S. market, spent the 1990s smugly boasting that Japan could never export its deflationary funk to these shores. After all, American economists argued, Japan's ills stemmed from woes the U.S. had avoided: a sick banking system, excessive regulation, an aging population and a political system unable to turn things around.

— USA Today

Campbell toughs it out

To the public, Alastair Campbell is an almost mythic figure - Tony Blair's dark side alter ego, ruthless consigliere to the smiling Don of Downing Street, austere grey eminence behind the glitter of the New Labour throne, the Darth Vader of the universe of secret spin. So it was good to see him plain and clear in the light of day on a public stage at last yesterday, answering questions on Iraq from the foreign affairs select committee.

Not before time too, one might add, bearing in mind his actual power, never mind his legend. It was high time that the man who is widely assumed to be the real deputy prime minister was actually held to some proper account for the web he weaves. In that sense, the important thing about Mr Campbell's session with the MPs was the fact that it took place, rather than the detail of what he said. It is an important precedent, and it is important that it is followed up by other sessions, as appropriate, involving not just Mr Campbell but other key players in the secret political world.

— The Guardian

OPINION

Nation’s growing security headaches
States cannot avoid their responsibility
N.N. Vohra

India’s internal security problems are influenced by a host of factors: its history, geography, colonial legacy, a burgeoning population, economic disparities and complex socio-cultural and ethno-religious traditions which interplay freely in our secular democracy. As developments in the past five decades have shown, regional and global factors impact significantly our security interests.

Several years ago the Ministry of Home Affairs had pointed out in its 43rd Report to the Standing Parliamentary Committee that about 40% of the districts in the country were affected by grave public disorders of militancy, insurgency and ethnic strife. While it is the constitutional responsibility of the states to maintain peace and public order, the ground realities have changed most significantly over the years. Unlike in the initial period after 1947, the state police forces have, for well over two decades now, been called upon to deal with serious disturbances created by highly trained and motivated insurgent and terrorist groups possessing enormous resources, sophisticated weaponry and communication systems. This factor would require to be kept in view while undertaking any assessment of the manner in which the states have been discharging their constitutional responsibility to maintain law and order.

Taking an overall view, it may be stated that almost all the states have defaulted in their crucial obligation to progressively expand and maintain fully trained and equipped police forces, in adequate strength, to meet the arising challenges to the maintenance of internal security.

In any case, it may be said that a large majority of the serious threats to the country’s internal security have emanated from Pakistan’s unceasing attempts to seize J&K and pursuing a sustained strategy to launch varied subversive activities to create chaos and disorder in several parts of the country.

From the experience gained in combating insurgencies, specially in the North-Eastern region, it would be an unsound approach to assume that the ultimate resolution of serious breakdowns of the public order would relate merely to the speed and efficiency with which the state police and, as necessary, the Central armed forces carry out operations to contain and control a given disorder. In this regard it must also be kept in mind that, contrary to the mistaken belief in certain quarters, the ultimate responsibility of dealing with an internal security problem cannot be “handed over” to any of the armed forces of the Union, under any circumstances. The constitutional responsibility to run the administration in accordance with the terms of the Constitution cannot be abdicated by the state government.

The prolonged deployment of Central police forces or the Army to carry out counter-insurgency operations may not invariably result in restoring normalcy unless the Chief Ministers, their Cabinets and the entire administrative apparatus which functions under their control devote prompt and simultaneous attention to providing effective governance and pay particular heed to ending the day-to-day difficulties faced by the common man on account of the disruption of normal functioning caused by an ongoing insurgent situation.

Experience has shown that the lack of timely concern or failure to deal with the demands of the aggrieved elements invariably leads to enhanced estrangements and the latter resorting to violence. When such situations get out of hand, the traditional approach is to deal with them merely as law and order problems. In many such cases the disgruntled elements, abetted and supported by adversary external agencies, are easily persuaded to adopt the gun culture. And when such developments take place, we see the beginning of militancies and insurgencies. In this context it is necessary to ensure that the coercive powers of the state are applied only after due deliberation. While dealing effectively with an arising disorder, the states must remain equally responsible for taking timely measures to identify and deal with the root causes of any situation which is likely to generate an internal security problem. The achievement of such an objective would call for timely and systematic attention in dealing with the socio-economic problems of the masses and also showing due concern for their political demands and aspirations.

Another factor which contributes to despair and anger among the under-privileged and economically disadvantaged segments of the population arises from the failure of the states to efficiently execute even the poverty alleviation schemes and programmes. The large financial outlays and outright grants provided to the states by the Centre for such programmes are not utilised in time. These are illegitimately diverted to ease the ways and means position of the states' exchequers, and, in many cases, the grants are even embezzled. Needless to say, such gross failures result only in creating hopelessness, cynicism and alienation among the poorest segments of society.

The problems arising from the failure of governance have been compounded by the determined efforts of foreign agencies to destabilise the country by investing enormous resources for spreading religious fundamentalism, generating conflicts and perpetrating violence and subversion. The result is that today we face an extremely worrying situation in which our internal security concerns have got inextricably interwoven with the management of external security.

The internal security problem of the country cannot be effectively managed if the states fail to discharge their constitutional duty of maintaining peace and public order in their realms and, instead, cast this crucial responsibility on the Centre, as has been the general trend in the past.

It is also relevant to emphasise that a stable security environment cannot be engendered merely by promulgating new laws. In the ultimate analysis, every citizen must discharge his duty to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the country.

It has also to be noted that lawlessness cannot be controlled and internal security maintained unless the entire framework of the criminal justice system functions with speed, fairness and transparent honesty.

Another cause for serious concern is that while we continue to have hundreds of altogether obsolete and irrelevant laws, most of which were enacted during the colonial period, we do not have any adequately stringent laws, applicable all over the country, which can meet the requirements of effectively dealing with terrorist offences, cyber crimes and the fast growing areas of organised criminality which pose a grave threat to the nation's unity and integrity. We also do not have a federal crime agency which can deal with serious offences committed by criminal networks whose activities spread across several states or even the entire country.

We also need a comprehensive law for dealing with serious economic offences which, if not checked in time, have the potential of disrupting the national economy. Today, terrorist and criminal networks operate in a borderless world and, needless to say, the grave challenges posed by their activities cannot be tackled if the various concerned law enforcing agencies continue to operate within their respective limited jurisdictions. What is urgently required is an appropriate legal framework and a well-planned strategy which is executed in effective coordination between the Centre and the states to deal with each and every aspect of internal security management.

The article has been excerpted from the Brig Rajinder Singh Memorial Lecture the writer delivered at Jammu recently.

MIDDLE

The world of Harry Potter
Madhav Tankha

I have just finished reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and right now I am cursing myself for having read it so fast, because it is silly to finish a book that you have been eagerly awaiting for three years in less than two days. However, I must say that it was worth the wait. The latest Harry Potter is even longer than the last book, The Goblet of Fire, and, in my opinion, much better.

Harry Potter’s fifth year starts off very eventfully with him and his cousin being attacked by creatures which are supposed to be allied to the wizarding world. However, the rest of the year is no less eventful. Many new and interesting characters are introduced.

The last book, the fourth in the series, left off with the most evil and dangerous of dark wizards, Lord Voldemort, returning from his state of incapacitation. Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic, however, refused to believe it, denying the fact that the wizard community was in grave danger. Nor did he realise that he must take radical action to deal with this threat.

I once read somewhere that Harry’s whole world was about to be turned upside down in this book. This is clearly an understatement, a more accurate observation would be that his whole world would be kicked in the gut and thrown off a cliff, because Rowling has brought about such unexpected and dramatic changes that it starts showing on Harry himself: he becomes increasingly angrier and more irritable, and his love life becomes as erratic as his fortune is throughout the book. He also finds out what his father was like when he was as old as he is now. To his shock, he finds that his father wasn’t the golden boy Harry always thought he had been. Rowling has captured with sensitivity the pangs of growing up and encountering the real world.

And as for the much-talked-about death in the book, I am sorry to say that there is one, though it did not affect me much. It is doubtful that many people will mourn the death of this character, though undoubtedly some will; it’s one of the blacker parts of the plot. One last warning to extremely fast readers like myself who will not be able to put the book down: if you read it too fast, give a gap of about two days, and read it again. I could not even open the book after I’d finished it, which was strange because it was a very good book, though tinged with tragedy. Now the wait for the next book begins.

The mentally challenged still kept in chains
Prabhjot Singh

Various state governments, including those of Punjab and Haryana, had perhaps not taken into consideration individual cases while furnishing an affidavit in the Supreme Court in July last year about the number of mentally challenged persons who were kept in chains. Both the Punjab and Haryana govts had maintained that no person with psychiatric illness was chained in their respective States.

In realty there have been a number of cases reported from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh during the past few months of mentally challenged persons chained to beds, trees or confined in cages not only for months but for years together. Such reports come as a horror to many who wonder if such things can still happen in a so-called civilised society like ours. This is all the more serious as the apex court had taken a serious view of the death of 25 chained inmates in an asylum fire in Tamil Nadu in 2001.

The apex court had issued directions to the state governments and the Union Territories to conduct a need assessment survey and file an affidavit whether any mentally challenged person was kept in chains in any part of the State or a Union Territory. The state governments apparently filed affidavits on the basis of the reports they got from their field staff without even conducting an extensive survey in their respective territories. Otherwise, there could be no explanation for such a large number of cases of not only blatant abuse of human rights of the mentally challenged but also denial of proper care and treatment to them.

In one case reported from Pona village, near Jagraon, an ex- government woman school teacher, Kirpal Kaur, continues to be chained to a tree for almost three decades now. In another case, a former national player of Bhamipura — Kuldip Singh, alias Keepa — was released in April this year after he remained chained to a tree in the compound of his house for seven years. Similar cases have been reported from Machhiwara and Pathankot in Punjab and one from Himachal Pradesh also.

In November last year, the Union Government admitted in Parliament that the number of persons with mental illness was increasing due to changes in demographics such aa an increase in the population and an overall increase in depression world wide. Epidemiological studies have revealed that 1 to 2 per cent of the population have major mental disorders and 5 to 10 per cent suffer from minor mental disorders.

In Punjab the N.N. Wig Committee in its 2002 report has estimated that with a population of 2.43 crores ( 2001 census), and with conservative prevalence figure of one per cent approximately, there are 2.43 lakh persons suffering from psychiatric illnesses — psychosis, epilepsy, dementia, severe depression, attempted suicide, alcohol and drug problems. Another 10 lakh Punjabis suffer from less severe psychical disorders like anxiety, depression, phobia, somatisation, adjustment and stress disorder. Ten thousand new cases are added every year. The committee estimated that the state requires outpatient services for five to 10 lakh persons per year. But the availability of services is just rudimentary.

Treatment facilities for such patients are available in the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar. Outpatient services are available at 60 centres of which 13 are in the government sector and the rest in the private sector. A total of 847 beds for psychiatric patients are available in the state of which 580 are in the government sector and of these 450 are at the mental hospital in Amritsar. The rest are in the state medical colleges.

The Government Mental Hospital, Amritsar, has been the prime institution for the treatment of mentally challenged persons since 1948. Before partition, there was one mental hospital in Lahore. The Amritsar hospital had its golden period in the service of mentally challenged persons between 1950 and 1960 when it was headed by Dr Vidya Sagar. Afterwards, its condition started deteriorating. A couple of years ago, on the recommendation of a high-powered committee headed by Mr B.K. Sharma, the then Director of the PGI, the state decided to build a new 450-bed institute of mental health, which has been transferred to the Punjab Health Services Corporation.

Six districts in Punjab — Ferozepore, Fatehgarh Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Mansa and Ropar — do not have any in-patient psychiatric facilities. In Ropar, there is no out-patient facility available.

Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh owe crores of rupees to the mental hospital at Amritsar, which was declared a common institute under the Reorganisation Act of 1966. Each partner state and the UT were expected to make contributions to the Amritsar hospital in proportion of the population. Until last year Haryana owed Rs 13.54 crore, Himachal Pradesh Rs 2.6 crore and Chandigarh Rs 21.35 lakh to the Amritsar hospital.

Himachal Pradesh, while refusing to pay the arrears, has now decided to go in for its own state mental hospital. Cases from Haryana and Chandigarh, however, continue to be referred to Amritsar, where the actual intake strength is only 450 mentally-challenged persons.

Though one district each in Punjab (Muktsar), Haryana (Kurukshetra) and Himachal Pradesh (Bilaspur) are covered under the National Mental Health Programme launched in 1996-97 on a pilot basis, the launch of the Punjab component on June 20 has been postponed for the time being. The programme is to identify persons suffering from mental disorders and epilepsy and manage them at primary health care centres by trained doctors with the active support of the families and the community in which the patient lives.

Eating as a family
John Briffa

While I am enthusiastic about the potential for a healthy diet to promote vibrant health and well-being, I am also of the opinion that there are other reasons for consuming food that go way beyond its nutritional merits. Eating can be intensely pleasurable, which is something even I am keen to bear in mind when dispensing dietary advice. Food can act as a social glue, too: a shared meal is an ideal opportunity to chew the cud with others, which I reckon can be no bad thing in a society where early-morning solo breakfasts, brown-bagging it and TV dinners are so often the orders of the day.

— The Guardian

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid that shall not be known.

— Bible. Matthew 10. 26 and Luke 12. 2

With a cry you come into the world

But so live that you leave it with a laugh.

— Estonian proverb