 |
Thursday,
September 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Crime most foul Assertive Annan Rot in the judiciary |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Saudi-Pakistani nexus on terrorism
No problem
Teaching doesn’t tempt engg graduates
MMA rejects govt package
|
Crime most foul THE judiciary and the Press have once again proved to be the saviours of the downtrodden. Within a few hours of the publication of a report on the front page of The Tribune about the plight of a gangrape victim child on Wednesday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu notice of the ghastly incident and initiated appropriate action. The Punjab State Women Commission has also taken a similar step. Six beasts masquerading as human beings gangraped a four-year-old girl in Ludhiana more than a month ago and left her a wreck. The innocent child has even lost her voice. There have been instances of child rape in the past also but a gangrape of this kind was unheard of. Calling these offenders beasts may be an insult to the animal kingdom because such crimes never take place there. It is a matter of shame for entire humanity that the suspected culprits, despite being identified, not only moved about freely all this while but even threatened the mother of the hapless girl, who is a migrant labourer, to leave the place. Could there be a more heinous crime? Yes, and that was committed by the policemen who refused to even register a complaint against the culprits, leave alone taking action against them. Some unfortunate conclusions are unavoidable. One, that the fear of law has vanished from the thoughts of some people. These six depraved men could not have been unaware that raping a child could attract the severest punishment. And yet they did the unthinkable. Why? Because they were somehow convinced that they would not be caught. Are enforcement agencies so impotent that they have stopped being a deterrent? Seems so, otherwise children up to 16 years would not have constituted as high as 15 per cent of the total rape victims in the country in 2000-01! Two, the policemen are there only to draw salaries, protect VIPs and do the bidding of the rich and the powerful. As far as the common men are concerned, they can accept only harassment from the men in khaki. The policemen who neglected the entreaties of the mother of the rape victim were either too insensitive or were hands in glove with the criminals. Either way, they have no business to be in the police force. And three, society seems to have lost its basic values. By making the poor mother run from pillar to post all alone, it has shown that the fellow-feeling has all but vanished. We protest only when we ourselves become victims. Otherwise, we are content saying “sanu ki” (what has that got to do with me). That is why enemies of society thrive. |
|
Assertive Annan THE 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly opened with Secretary-General Kofi Annan making no secret of his displeasure over the invasion of Iraq without UN authorisation. He unfolded before the envoys of the 191-member states a comprehensive roadmap for reinventing the UN as a competent international peacekeeper. For once he appeared to be in complete command. He certainly was not the same Mr Annan who watched helplessly the spectacle of American President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair trying to browbeat the Security Council into accepting their irrational and insane agenda and later unilaterally invading Iraq in the "interest of world peace". Mr Annan's firm diplomatic overtures should be seen in the context of the UN being under physical attack by terrorists in Iraq and rhetorical assault by those who question its relevance. President Bush for once must have felt the heat of the demonstrations against him outside the UN building and the changed mood of most members over the mess he has created in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was Mr Annan's show all the way with Mr Jacques Chirac of France playing an effective supporting role. President Chirac insisted that only a multipolar world order could be effective in combating terrorism and ensuring global peace. The French President built his case on the foundations laid by the Secretary-General himself when he questioned the ethical and moral basis of the doctrine of pre-emptive strike. This doctrine is as questionable as the one about the right to hot pursuit that India has consistently rejected as an option for dealing with the Pak-sponsored proxy war in Kashmir. The series of announcements that Mr Annan made left no scope for doubt that he was determined to stop the big nations from bullying the UN into accepting their superiority. A high-level panel of eminent personalities will now look into the challenges faced by the UN in maintaining global peace and security. The committee will also recommend ways to strengthen the world body through reforms. The doctrine of use of pre-emptive force against another nation indeed poses a fundamental challenge to the UN's principle of collective security. Certain crucial questions remain to be answered for the global community to feel secure. Will President Bush hand over the administration of Iraq to the UN for facilitating the deployment of an international peacekeeping force? Will he accept the validity of the principle of collective security as the foundation for international peace? Will he accept that acts of terrorism against any nation deserve the same response by the global community as 9/11? |
|
Rot in the judiciary THE Supreme Court's directive to the High Courts to have periodic evaluation of the judges in the subordinate courts with a view to weeding out the deadwood and the corrupt is timely. Nobody can claim that the judiciary is free from corruption. Nor is the ugly phenomenon confined to the lower courts. In fact, not a day passes without reports of involvement of some judge or court official in acts unbecoming of the high office he holds. If the arrest of Delhi High Court Judge Shamit Mukherjee in the multi-crore Delhi Development Authority land allotment scandal hit international headlines five months ago, Tuesday's suspension of the Registrar (Additional) of the Punjab and Haryana High Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act strengthens the belief that the malaise is deep-rooted. This officer has reportedly amassed huge wealth and property in the form of large plots and flats in Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Kurukshetra and Faridabad. Such an official is indeed a blot on the system and, if not weeded out, will inflict a great damage on the noble institution of courts. The Supreme Court has rightly said that the judges are not merely career professionals as it is through them that the state exercises its sovereign judicial power. How credible and legitimate their rulings will be if they are influenced by illegal gratification or extraneous considerations can easily be imagined. Surely, people will lose their faith in the system if this disturbing trend is not reversed. Of all the major institutions of the state, the judiciary still retains the pride of place in terms of credibility, respect and integrity. True, the recent period has seen some disquieting trends in the functioning of the judiciary. A former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has even gone to the extent of saying that a quarter of the subordinate judiciary is corrupt. Nonetheless, it is time the issue of judicial rot was addressed with a sense of urgency and, more important, for restoring the people's faith in the justice-dispensation system of the country. More than the Supreme Court's prescription for a review of the judges' performance, a closer look at the recruitment system which allows characters like Shamit Mukherjee to get in will be in order. The judicial appointments should be made foolproof and transparent with stress on merit, integrity, character and experience. If judges are arraigned for grave delinquencies, the administration of law and justice will become a farce. This should never be allowed to happen. Thought for the day Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; — Alexander Pope
|
Saudi-Pakistani nexus on terrorism FOR over four decades the United States and Saudi Arabia have used the promotion of Wahabi fundamentalism as a tool to undermine secular regimes in the Islamic world. But what struck me most during a recent visit to the US was the extent of American anger at the manner in which its erstwhile ally Saudi Arabia continues to support and fund radical and fundamentalist groups, including elements linked to Al-Qaeda, across the world. Evidence is also emerging about how Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have worked hand in hand to support international terrorism by Al-Qaeda. Rather than acknowledge this reality, the Bush administration continues to chase shadows and blame Iran for allegedly supporting terrorism, as it had done earlier with the Saddam Hussein dispensation in Iraq. Jordan’s young and enlightened ruler King Abdullah recently remarked: “Wahabi-Salafism is as much a threat to Iran as it is to the rest of us Muslims and the international community. And here’s common ground that they (Iranians) want to work with all of us on.” King Abdullah should know better than most others about the dangers that the Saudi-Pakistan nexus poses to moderate Islamic regimes and secular, pluralistic societies like India. Osama bin Laden had, after all, designated Al-Qaeda terrorist Abu Zubaydah, who is a Saudi national, to blow up the Radisson Hotel in Amman on January 1, 2000 — a plot foiled by Jordanian intelligence. Zubaydah, who is now in American custody, has reportedly made some astonishing disclosures to the Americans. He provided the Americans with the names of three members of the Saudi royal family who regularly funded Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He is also reported to have revealed that after Bin Laden established the “International Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews (Israel) and Crusaders” in 1998, the head of Saudi intelligence Prince Turki Al Faysal struck a deal with the Taliban and Bin Laden assuring them that Saudi Arabia would give more economic assistance to the Taliban and not seek the extradition of Bin Laden, as long as Al-Qaeda kept its long-standing promise of directing terrorism away from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia extensively funded both Pakistan and the Taliban and supplied them 1,50,000 barrels of oil daily at an annual cost of $ 1.5 billion, virtually free of charge. It continues to provide Pakistan oil virtually free of cost. In return, Saudi Defence Minister Prince Sultan was granted unprecedented access to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities in Kahuta — access that has thus far not been given to even Prime Minister Jamali. Abu Zuibaydah is also reported to have revealed to American interrogators that in 1996 Bin Laden reached an agreement with Air Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, a Pakistan Air Force officer with strong Islamist leanings. Pakistan then agreed to provide Al-Qaeda with weapons, protection and supplies. Both Air Marshal Mir and the Saudis had been told by Bin Laden in advance of an impending terrorist strike against the United States on September 11, 2001. There is now no shortage of Americans who are furious with both the Saudis and the Pakistanis over these developments. But the Bush administration finds it expedient to remain silent or obfuscate when issues of continuing Pakistani and Saudi links with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban emerge. It is, after all, difficult to chastise or disown errant proteges. Within weeks of Abu Zubaydah revealing the links of three Saudi Princes and Mushaf Ali Mir with Al-Qaeda early in 2002, all three Saudi Princes died in mysterious circumstances. The relatively young Prince Ahmed bin Salman was reported to have died of a “heart attack”, Prince Sultan bin Faisal was said to have died in a “car accident” the next day. One week later it was claimed that the 25-year-old Prince Fahd died of “thirst” when driving from Riyadh to Jeddah. General Musharraf superseded five senior Air Force officers to appoint Mushaf Ali Mir as Pakistan’s Air Force Chief. Mir perished in equally mysterious circumstances last year while flying in a VIP Squadron Pakistan Air Force aircraft that had recently passed a fitness and maintenance inspection. One should not be surprised if Omar Sheikh, who has been found guilty of killing American journalist Daniel Pearl, also “disappears” in similar circumstances. Like Mushaf Mir, Sheikh knows too much of the links of the ISI and General Musharraf with Jihadi terrorism worldwide. It is now widely acknowledged that there are divisions within the Saudi royal family on the issue of using the so-called “charities” to globally fund Wahabi fundamentalist causes. While Crown Prince Abdullah is regarded as a voice of moderation, others like Interior Minister Naif and the Governor of Riyadh, Prince Salman, are reportedly reluctant to give up their old ways. Americans allege that hundreds of jihadis have crossed the Saudi-Iraqi border to wage war against their forces in Iraq. The strains in the US-Saudi relationship are now clearly visible and Russian President Putin has stepped in to take advantage of the situation. For over a decade now, the Saudis and the Pakistanis have supported the so-called jihad in Chechnya, financially, politically and militarily. But things now seem to be changing, with Prince Abdullah undertaking the first ever high- level visit by a Saudi ruler to Moscow. There are indications that Saudi support for the Chechen rebels is likely to become a thing of the past, and as two of the most important oil producers in the world, Russia and Saudi Arabia would work together to sustain oil prices at levels they consider opportune. Pakistan is likely to follow the Saudi lead on curbing support to jihadis in Chechnya. Saudi Arabia may also support Moscow’s ambitions to join the OIC — a move Pakistan will not welcome, as it could set a precedent for Indian membership of that Islamic body. These developments are inevitably having an impact on American thinking on its policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are voices in the US that advocate stronger action to make Saudi Arabia end its support for extremist and separatist Islamic causes. Given the political uncertainties in Saudi Arabia, the US would evidently like to see Iraq soon emerge as a major exporter of oil, with oil production levels akin to that of Saudi Arabia. A strong lobby within the Pentagon appears to favour granting more powers to representative bodies that would effectively empower the Shia majority in Iraq. This would cause concern in Saudi Arabia where the Shia population has long been dispossessed and suppressed, like in Pakistan. Shia doctors, for example, have been systematically targeted and killed in Karachi by fundamentalist groups that have links in Saudi Arabia. There is also emerging evidence that persons involved in bomb blasts in Mumbai and elsewhere have links in Saudi Arabia with supporters of groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba. It is also inconceivable that a pro-Pakistani Islamist leader like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who was forced out of the Hurriyat Conference, can receive an invitation from the OIC, without Saudi Arabian backing. New Delhi would have to bear these factors in mind in dealing with emerging developments in its western
neighbourhood. |
No problem IT was a gathering of many from different walks of life. A lecturer introduced me to his retired Principal and said that he was a great boss. Whenever we used to go to his office with a problem, he would reply back, “It is no problem.” We started calling him ‘No Problem Sir’. A medico from the Department of Psychiatry wished that Principal Sahib could be a member of his department because there he faced people with strange problems. He narrated an instance that once a patient came to him and said that he thought he was a dog. He told us that he took him lightly and had told him that that was no problem; the problem would be when he started thinking that he was God. The patient lost all control, “I feel like unbuttoning my pants near every tree, every lamp-post and every woman in the town looks a bitch to me. Bow-Wow. You say it is No Problem.” He said that then he thought that the man suffered from a serious problem and asked him politely that how long had he been thinking that he was a dog. He replied, “Ever since I was a puppy.” ‘No Problem’ formula does not work everywhere was what he wanted to convey to us. I shared with them another “No Problem” incident. I was posted at Jogindernagar and had come to Mandi on tour. There used to be a Maharashtrian Assistant Commissioner then. He preferred speaking in English. “No Problem” was his catchword. Once when I was sitting with him, a clerk came to his office and said: “Sir, I have just received a telegram from my home and my mother has expired.” The AC said, “No Problem.” I could read the anger on the face of the clerk but he maintained his poise because he knew the habit of his boss. He added, “Sir, I want a month’s leave.” By this time the AC had gathered himself and said, “Look here gentleman, the first one is a Problem but the second one is No Problem. Consider your leave as sanctioned.” Dr Bansi Ram Sharma, a known literary figure of Shimla, then butted in and said that No Problem had become such an accepted term that a gentleman had started a “No Problem Dhaba” at Ghumarwin near Bilaspur. One of the gathering said that his non-vegetarian preparations were really “No Problem type” but veg preparations were problematic. He said that when he told him about it, the dhaba walla said, “Problems are opportunities to improve upon. On your next visit you will find No Problem here, Sir.” |
|
Teaching doesn’t tempt engg graduates THERE
has been an unprecedented increase in the sanctioned intake of engineering students.
Their number now stands at 3,59,721 and the requirement of faculty has increased to 95, 924. But we have a shortfall of over 26,000 Ph.D.s and 30,000 M.Techs for meeting the teaching requirement in the engineering institutions. Experts say that even if the teacher-to-student ratio is relaxed to 1:20, the shortfall in Ph.D.s would still be 18,000 and in M.Tech it is 20,000. Why the shortage? Obviously, the youngsters do not find the teaching job attractive enough. The pull of lucrative employment in multinationals is too attractive for the bright students and teaching jobs in comparison are lacklustre. Ask your child or friend's child doing his engineering if he wants to be a teacher. "Rubbish” is what will be the probable answer. One AICTE officer recounted how his son ridiculed him for even daring to ask him if he wanted to do Ph.D. “Why should I do Ph.D.? To become a teacher? No, thank you”, said the son despite the father's offer that after Ph.D. he could use his goodwill to get him a good teaching job in a reputed institution. This just reflects what fresh engineering graduates think of teaching as a career. How are then we to get good teachers who can ensure quality learning? It is now fairly clear that the faculty shortage virus has hit not just engineering education but management, pharmacy and architecture education as well. "Leave IIMs out, the remaining business schools have less than four teachers per institution on an average" say experts. The 930 management institutions have only about 4,000 teachers. This puts the teacher-to-student ratio at 1:32. Of course, these institutions make do with academicians and other industry experts who come for part-time lectures, but this situation is highly unsatisfactory. And perhaps this is one reason why big companies seem to be concentrating on direct recruitment from the campus so that they have the feeling of having selected the best of what is available. For quite some time now, placement cells and employment agencies have been pushed into the corner and in vogue is campus recruitment. Such is the demand for technical graduates from reputed institutions that top-notch companies decide upon their next line of managers from among the final year students of IITs and IIMs and other top engineering institutions in what are popularly known as campus interviews. And the figures of campus recruitment are happily touted by these institutions to attract the next lot of brilliant students who they know would make the institutes further proud. Obviously, quality products get lapped up very fast. Till last year. But this year one heard that till the fresh batch joined in July-August many of the promising technical lords of the future were still waiting in the wings keenly looking for the now seemingly magical sums offered to their previous batches. Latest estimates say that the employment scene for technical graduates is not all that rosy. The reason — the supply is outstripping the demand. In short, there are more aspirants for the same number of jobs. The excess supply is from prestigious institutions, from established universities and from all kinds of teaching shops which have proliferated in different cities. Education, also technical education, is like any other business. Commercial interests have quickly jumped onto the bandwagon lured by money and power associated with managing technical institutions to which aspirants make a beeline. In the absence of strict laws and regulations making it mandatory for an institution to get recognition first and to have a minimum level of infrastructural facilities, most institutions open up and gradually develop facilities depending on the pressure they face. Obviously, wherever this business has managed to get away with minimum facilities, it has done so. On paper, if you want to start a technical institution you need an approval from the AICTE — All India Council for Technical Education. But the fact remains that thousands of institutions are run under different garbs without the AICTE's approval. The AICTE lacks the necessary teeth to take action against such institutes. One way to ensure quality is mandatory approval by a body like the AICTE — in both letter and in spirit. No technical institution should be allowed to function without approvals, otherwise any quality initiatives to help technical institutions achieve quality will not really be fruitful. For instance, one quality initiative is the performance appraisal system, which is applicable for assessing the performance of technical institutions which are not yet ready for accreditation. Inherent in this system is the assumption that all the institutions are approved as only then can a performance appraisal be done. Accreditation is now seen as an effective tool to monitor quality. A national board of accreditation was set up in 1994 and the accreditation process, it is hoped, will clearly assess the strengths and weaknesses of the programmes and institutions, including the mission and goal of the organisation, its financial status, the quality of its faculty, its curricula and teaching, learning process, research and development facilities and the industry-institute relationship. The evaluation of accreditation is being done on a 1,000-point scale and a two-part grading system has been adopted. For instance, those programmes scoring over 650 marks are accreditated for three years and those securing over 750 marks can get automatic accreditation for five years. So far only 100 institutions have come forward to get accreditated. More institutions should have by now volunteered to get accreditated. This is a reflection on the quality consciousness of institutions. |
MMA rejects govt package
ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA)
on Tuesday constituted a three-member delegation to hand over its own constitutional package to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali despite a categorical refusal of the government to accommodate the religious alliance’s key demands. Contrary to expectations, the MMA proved to be amply flexible towards the government as its delegation led by Chaudhry Shujat Hussain conveyed its clear stand not to accept the Majlis’s major demand of separating two offices by General Pervez Musharraf before December 31, 2004.
—
The Nation
Army cantts
QUETTA: The Balochistan Assembly on Tuesday unanimously demanded that the military cantonments in Dera Bugti, Kohlu and Gwadar should not be established and called for withdrawing the Army from Zhob to the Taftan border. The assembly also demanded an end to the “harassment” of the local people in the name of operation against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
—
The News International
Cotton production
KARACHI: No deal of contamination-free cotton was reported this season as ginners dropped their efforts due to a high labour cost and lower return. A noted ginner said that there was no deal of contamination-free cotton this year and no body was expecting such deals during this cotton season. The government had failed to develop the culture of contamination-free cotton despite several efforts at its level.
—
The News International
MMA splits
PESHAWAR: The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam faction of Maulana Sami-ul-Haq dissociated itself from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal in the NWFP on Tuesday, giving the first setback to the six-party alliance. “We have waited for 10 long months. We have been treated like pariahs. This cannot go on,” Qazi Abdul Lateef said after presiding over the JUI-S executive council meeting here. “The decision needs to be endorsed by the party's provincial and central Shuras,” he said. The party has convened provincial Shura meeting in Abbottabad on Oct 5 to see whether to ratify the decision of the provincial executive council. The JUI-S has been demanding a Cabinet slot for its MPA and more development funds for its members. It has two members, including the Deputy Speaker, in the provincial assembly and two members in the federal legislature. The MMA has a total of 69 members in a House of 124. The decision by the JUI-S to dissociate itself from the alliance could further narrow down the MMA's majority.
—
The Dawn
Border monitoring
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to establish a Rs 501 million hi-tech border monitoring system to link up Pakistan's 20 border entry and exit points with a centralized system. To be called the Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (Pisces), the project is expected to be approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Sept 27. The Pisces project will enable the linking of all the 20 entry/exit points under real time networking environment and provide smooth working coordination and standardisation among different law enforcement agencies in the area of immigration control. In this connection, the system has provisions to accommodate information on suspects from all law-enforcement agencies like immigration, police, narcotics control, anti-smuggling and Intelligence services. In future, the machine readable passport (MRP) project will be integrated with the Pisces project and the authenticity of travellers' documents will also be checked with MRP database.
—
The Dawn |
Know that work is born of Brahma and Brahma is born from the Impoverishable; therefore, Brahman, who comprehends all is ever firmly fixed in sacrifice. — The Bhagavad Gita Man is instructed according to the understanding that God gives him; he is directed as it pleases God. — Guru Nanak What fear have I when You are my Master, Who else shall I worship? If I have You I have everything, I look to no other. — Guru Arjan Dev Place yourself as an instrument in the hands of God who does his own work in his own way. — Swami Ramdas God is the only Master, but there are two ways (one of Devotion and the other of Maya)... in His will, he makes all walk in these two ways. — Guru Nanak A man who invokes your name, Lord, Is freed of misery, evil and pain. — Guru Gobind Singh |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
