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A military habit Naxal
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Godmothers They have moved beyond being good fairies Groucho Marx in his inimitable style once said that behind every successful man is a woman, behind whom is his wife. A tidy number of Tamil Nadu cops would privately testify that there is more than an iota of truth in it. But under oath, they may deny having had any liaison with Jayalakshmi.
Of Bangladesh and
Nepal
Uncle’s feats
Washington
Diary From
Pakistan
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A military habit Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has been hinting for some time that he will not relinquish the top Army post by December-end as required under an agreement with the powerful conglomerate of six religious parties, the Muttahida Majli-e-Amal (MMA). The General had reached the accord to ensure the passage of his controversial Legal Framework Order (LFO) in Pakistan’s Parliament (National Assembly). Now he says that there is no compulsion for him under the law to leave the post of Chief of Army Staff and remain only the President of Pakistan. He claims the MMA chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, knew this fact but had been keeping quiet for some tactical reasons. Whatever his claims and whatever the law says, he is on record having stated last year that he would not hold on to the post of Army chief after December 2004, and would be satisfied with the Presidency that he got ratified through a national referendum in 2002. But he was obviously telling a lie to his own people as well as to the outside world. The lie was finally exposed when he told a local TV channel the other day that 96 per cent people wanted him not to take off his uniform. On Monday he also got a resolution passed by the Punjab Assembly urging him not to quit the top Army post. A similar resolution is likely to be adopted by the Sindh Assembly too. In both legislatures, the ruling PML (Q), derisively called the King’s Party, is in majority. All this is part of his tactics to continue to occupy the two top positions. There are reports that he may issue a Presidential Ordinance, saying that he is not honouring the promise he had made in the larger interest of Pakistan. But the truth is that he is not sure whether he will survive in his present position without his military uniform. How he will tackle the threatened agitation over the issue by the MMA and other political groups remains to be seen. |
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Naxal menace THE Union Government seems to be in a piquant position on the issue of handling the problem of Naxalites in states like Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has convened a conference of chief ministers in Hyderabad on September 21. Even though the Centre has asked the People’s War Group of Naxalites to lay down arms, ahead of the talks with the Andhra Pradesh government, the Naxalites are in no mood to listen. The Home Ministry is firm in its stand that Clause 7 of the ceasefire agreement between the Andhra Pradesh government and the PWG, which places a ban on carrying weapons by the Naxalites during the ceasefire, will have to be honoured. The PWG activists, however, ask: where would we store our arms (during the ceasefire) if we are barred from carrying them? The Centre, instead of wasting precious time in legal semantics, should find a way out to tackle the Naxalite problem in close cooperation with the state governments concerned. Belated action, as it demonstrated in the case of Manipur, won’t do. The Centre has hardly played any role in resolving the Naxalite problem. Its attitude has all along been characterised by apathy and inaction. In Orissa, the Naxalites organised a huge rally in Bhubaneshwar on Tuesday. Naxalite leaders like Varavara Rao met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, but were unhappy over the outcome. What has added urgency to the issue is the serious security threat from Nepal’s Maoists who have reportedly sneaked into Uttaranchal. While they should be rooted out of the state firmly and expeditiously, the Centre should intensify efforts to prevent their spread to other states. There are also apprehensions that the Maoists could link up with the PWG to create more trouble. The states should also tighten security measures to prevent the spread of the “red corridor”. At the same time, they should solve the socio-economic problems which give rise to the Naxalite menace. They must speed up land reforms and concentrate on the development of the poor and depressed sections of society. |
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Godmothers Groucho Marx in his inimitable style once said that behind every successful man is a woman, behind whom is his wife. A tidy number of Tamil Nadu cops would privately testify that there is more than an iota of truth in it. But under oath, they may deny having had any liaison with Jayalakshmi. However, if she cannot get the 21 policemen, including middle-level officers, punished for having physically exploited her for over 10 years, her former husband may come to her aid. He divorced her in 1993 because he suspected she was hopping into beds of police officers for promoting her “multi-level marketing” enterprise. When did godmothers stop being good fairies is not clear. In their new avatar they have effectively broken the monopoly of godfathers. For every don there are at least two con women waiting to be discovered. They answer to the name of Jayalakshmi in Chennai and Kamala in Chandigarh. The secret of their success can be discovered in the local thanedar’s outhouse. The mother of all godmothers is, of course, Santokhben, immortalised by Shabana Azmi as Rambhi Bai. In the global village, the deeds of Jayalakshmi, Kamala and Santokhben would be dismissed as trivial. A woman’s worth lies in her ability to shake the system and make the mightiest mortals look vulnerable. Recent history would include the name of Christine Keeler who destroyed the political career of John Profumo and had Ayub Khan ducking for cover. The Monica-Clinton tale, of course, provided weeks of entertainment to global couch potatoes. Even those who found television a tad boring sat through the live investigation of the case that shook the most powerful office by its roots. The only Indian who managed an entry in this dubious list of movers and shakers was Pamela Bordes. After finishing the careers of a politician and an editor, she has now donned the robe of a professional photojournalist! |
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All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
— Mark Twain |
Of Bangladesh and Nepal FOR over a week talks between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan, Mr K Natwar Singh and Mr Mahmood Kasuri, had unsurprisingly hogged the headlines and kept South Block busy. Somewhat surprising, however, has been the attention that New Delhi has since been paying to two other neighbours, Bangladesh and Nepal, even while preparing for the forthcoming summit meeting between the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, in New York. This is a departure from the norm of excessive focus on Pakistan and relative neglect of other neighbours though it has clearly come about more because of unpleasant developments in the neighbouring countries concerned than for any other reason. In the case of Bangladesh, with which India’s complex relationship has been contentious even at the best of times, its Foreign Minister, Mr Morshed Khan, used the visit of a group of Indian media persons to embark on an anti-India tirade of rare, indeed incredible, virulence. No wonder, the very next day the Indian Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, was constrained to summon the Bangladeshi High Commissioner to tell him bluntly that Mr Khan’s conduct was “unacceptable” and could not but have a “negative impact” on Delhi-Dhaka relations, such as they are. The Ministry of External Affairs has denied newspaper reports that this country might postpone the annual meeting of Foreign Secretaries and even stay away from the SAARC summit in Dhaka due later in the year. But it is noteworthy that until the time of writing on Monday, Bangladesh hasn’t uttered a word of regret or even explanation for Mr Khan’s “objectionable” remarks. As for Nepal, the visit of its Prime Minister, Mr Sher Bahadur Deuba, naturally brought to the fore the high level of worry over the continuing, indeed escalating, sway of the Maoists in the Himalayan kingdom. As the joint statement issued by the two Prime Ministers makes it clear, Dr Manmohan Singh promised Mr Deuba all help, in addition to that already being given, as part of their “joint determination” to combat “terrorism” and curb “extremism”. But it would be no exaggeration to say that there is little scope for optimism about the Deuba government’s or even the Royal Nepal Army’s ability to put down the Maoist monster. In the first place, the political base of the government of Mr Deuba — who has been appointed Prime Minister for the second time by the King — is dangerously narrow. For, other parties, particularly the Nepali Congress, headed by Mr Girija Prasad Koirala, absolutely refuse to cooperate with him. This is a self-defeating approach but such is the state of rivalry and enmity among Nepalese politicians that even the good offices of the former Indian Prime Minister, Mr Chandra Shekhar, failed to bring the squabbling leaders together. Consequently, the multi-party system — one of the two pillars propping up Nepal, the other being the monarchy — has practically collapsed. And that is where the other major difficulty comes in. King Gyanendra, sitting in his palace, has his own ideas about how to fight the Maoists that are out of sync with what the politicians want. No wonder then that the Maoists are said to be in control of nearly two-thirds of Nepal, that they were able to hold Kathmandu to ransom, and that they have forced the closure of three dozen flourishing business undertakings in which Indians and other foreigners are partners. No one seems able to say boo to them. What impact this can have on the activities of the numerous Maoist groups that dot the landscape in this country in an almost unbroken chain — right from the border with Nepal up to the seashore of Andhra via Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra — should not be hard to imagine. Bangladesh is very relevant to the trouble the Maoist movement in Nepal spells out for us because it has become a virtual highway for the smuggling of arms to every insurgent and secessionist group afflicting India and Nepal. Most of the arms supplies flow freely from Thailand to Cox’s Bazar by sea and then overland to destinations in India. In April last, however, 10 truckloads of arms meant for insurgents in the North-East were seized on the Bangladesh government-owned jetty at Chittagong port. Not only has Dhaka done little beyond arresting a few truck drivers and cleaners but also it refuses to give New Delhi any information about the identity of the key suspects, their modus operandi and the international nexus behind them. Even against this backdrop, the performance of the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister the other day has been both extraordinary and intriguing. Mr Morshed Khan is a super-rich businessman, not a professional politician, and is usually polite. Reports that he was being terribly intemperate “only under instructions” have, therefore, gained credence. Ironically, this seems to be a result of the dreadfully inflamed domestic discord within Bangladesh, not of anything done or said by India. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia — whose regime has been consistently anti-India and pro-Pakistan, partly because Islamic parties are her coalition partners and partly because she has always been surrounded by elements that had opposed the liberation struggle and collaborated with Pakistan — is said to be “incensed”. Why? Because after the recent dastardly attempt to assassinate Sheikh Hasina, the Awami League leader and a former Prime Minister of her country, Dr Manmohan Singh telephoned the victim but not her. The implacable hatred between the two women is too well known to need stressing. Begum Khaleda has other grievances, too. The trust between the leaders of the two countries, she complains, is lacking completely. Those in a position to speak on her behalf say that in the absence of mutual trust Bangladesh would go on denying the existence of problems that even the naked eye can easily discern. These include, of course, illegal immigration from Bangladesh, the presence of ULFA insurgents and the anti-India activities of the Bangladesh-based ISI agents. In this context it is something of a joke that Mr Khan should have ranted against “Indian inaction against Bangladeshi insurgent camps” on Indian soil. But this was not the only outlandish statement he made. He “warned” of the steps he would take against Indian exports and declared that India’s sensitive north-eastern states were “Bangladesh-locked”, whatever that might mean. To deal with such a difficult and petulant neighbour is not easy, but New Delhi has got to work out a clear, cogent and viable strategy to undo the present
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Uncle’s feats His figure looms up through the mists of time — tall and swarthy with bulging biceps and a ripple of muscles. His very strength gave credibility to stories of his feats of strength. We had listened as children, mouth agape, about the wonderous triumphs my uncle had achieved on and off the field. I was reminded of his tall figure and his yet taller talk when I read that the Indian hockey contingent at Athens was not amongst the medal winners. I wish I could have persuaded the selectors to include my uncle in the Indian hockey team and then we would not have allowed our men to return beaten and without the gold. I remember the account he had given to us of what he did in a hockey match — and this was only one example out of many — before going on to cricket. His college team was already down by four goals in the first half. The Principal rushed to him at the halftime break and asked him the reason for his not scoring any goals for his side. My uncle pointed to his stomach and said that he had not had adequate food in the mess for days together. You see, they served the boys only as single eaters while my uncle was two in one. The Principal promised him a full tin of “desi ghee”. Then with resounding shouts of “Mooky, Mooky” ringing in his ears, he went on not only to equalise but scored several additional goals. No opponent could mark him as he moved panther-like from left out to centre forward and right out in a flash, dribbling through the bewildered line of defenders and on to the goalmouth. It would have been nothing more than a mere snap of the fingers for him to score the goals needed to put opposite teams into the shade in the Olympics at Athens, if he had been in the Indian team, and prove that his country has lost nothing of the wizardry of Dhyan Chand or Balbir Singh. In the cricket field too his performance was amazing. It was a match against a visiting team and the wickets had been falling like ninepins when my uncle went out to bat. He hit the very first ball so high that no one knew where it had gone for a six. It had not landed in the pavilion or beyond it across the road. My uncle sat down on the pitch waiting for the outcome while the eyes of the fielders scanned the skies. Suddenly a fielder saw the ball hurting down to earth. It was a brave but foolhardy attempt and the best bowler of the opposing team had to be carried to the hospital with multiple fractures in a vain bid to hold the catch. Had he been a member of the Indian cricket team, India would have definitely clinched the Natwest Trophy recently concluded at
“Lord’s”.
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Washington Diary
The
world of journalism here is far whiter than the world it represents. America has 31 per cent people who are either black, Hispanics or from Asia. These minorities only make up 12.9 per cent of newspaper staff across the country. Only one in 10 writers, editors and bureau chiefs in the Washington daily newspaper press corps are journalists of colour, according to a study by Journalists of Colour, Inc. and the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. The study also found that: Only three of the 36 daily newspapers and newspaper groups with multiple-person news operations covering Washington have non-white bureau chiefs — Gannett News Service, the Chicago Tribune and The Detroit News; Most of the nation’s largest daily newspapers have substantially lower percentages of journalists of colour in Washington than in their home newsrooms; Some Washington bureaus of the large newspaper chains (including Knight Rider, Gannett News Service, Newhouse News Service) have the most diverse newsrooms, but other chain bureaus (including Scripps Howard, Hearst, Copley, McClatchy, Belo) have either few or no journalists of colour covering Washington; More than nine in 10 of the journalists of colour surveyed believe the Washington press corps is at least somewhat out of touch with its home audiences, and most believe that the lack of diversity in the Washington bureaus is part of the problem; and of those surveyed, only 13 per cent say that the capital press corps coverage of race-related issues is just good, and none believe that coverage is very good or excellent. There has been serious protest over the years and many newspapers had been promising to match the intake with the population percentage. Last month a powerful body of journalists gathered in Washington and urged for corrective action. The trend not to recruit journalists other than white despite their known talent has been more in evidence. “The increase is at snail’s pace. The overall total is woefully low,” feels Peter Bhatia, president of the American Society of News Editors. Earnest Sotomayer, president of the Journalism of Colour Inc, is angry at the pace.” We have been declaring it as a crisis situation. Diversifying newsrooms is an obligation of the industry. But it just has not responded. This seriously prejudices the writing and comment on minorities by many a mainline media,” Sotomayer adds angrily. Situation is worse in case of television and radio. Another study noted that from 2001 to 2003 the percentage of journalists of colour declined from 21.6 per cent to 16.7 per cent. During 2002, the presence of Asian-American journalists dropped to a mere 2.2 per cent — the same level as it was in 1995. There was only marginal increase in case of Hispanics. “Another day another survey. Picture either remains the same or gets worse. How can you expect real attention from the media and an egalitarian approach if there are such strong prejudices and that too in a country that claims to be the leader in the world? One could also understand the support for war mongers in many a newspapers,” concludes Deborah Mathis, well-known columnist and a provocative writer of “Yet Stranger. Why Black Americans Still don’t Feel at Home. In a long chat with The Tribune, she urged that all minorities must join hands and defeat this apartheid. People across the world should lend their voice to this discrimination. *
* * At the New York convention, the Great Party of America or the Republicans tried hard to present an image that it represented all Americans, irrespective of race and colour. It is a party, which could spend $ 200 billion and push 1.4 lakh soldiers for the sake of “establishing democracy” in Iraq. But a well-researched book, The Great Divide: Retro versus Metro America by John Sperling has taken the wind out of its claims. Retro America is the Republican base and its whiteness and maleness is mirrored by the Republican lawmakers in the state assemblies and in the Congress. It is 98.8 per cent white. In fact, Texas, the state to which President George W. Bush belongs, has neither any black nor hispanic, much less an Asian on its benches in the state legislature. Republicans have no minority representation in 25 out of 51 states against five states where Democrats have no minority representation. Republican representation in the Congress, both Senate and House of Representatives, is far less than the 31 per cent population of minorities. But compared to Republicans, Democrats representing Metro America are far better off. The percentages are considerably different. 20 per cent of minorities hold seats in the state legislatures on the Democratic Party benches 28 per cent in the Congress. In other words while 99 per cent of whites hold a complete sway on the Republican side, on the Democrats side, they are 80 per cent in state legislatures and 72 per cent at the national level. So one Bobby Jindal is like a single swallow that does not make a summer for the minorities. The “Great Divide” is a geopolitical concept to discuss the American politics. It views the geographical distribution of political power as a determining factor in shaping the electorate and the two major political parties. “Geopolitically, America is two nations. We call these two nations Retro and Metro America. The South, the Midwest, and the Rocky Mountain states define Retro America; Metro America comprisesthe two coasts and the Great Lakes states. The existence of these two nations was dramatically thrust onto the American consciousness by the election of 2000; since that time there has been common reference to “Red states,” which went to George W. Bush, and “Blue states,” which went to Al Gore. It has become an iconic portrait of the political divide at the presidential level,” says the author. More poor and the unprivileged live in America’s Metro than in Retro. But a closer analysis of this divide — the purpose of “The Great Divide” inquiry — reveals that the divide is not only geopolitical but also economic, religious, cultural, and social, both historically and in the present day. It is the profundity of these divisions that makes the totality of the Red-Blue Divide; or, as we call it, the Metro-Retro Divide. Retro represents 35 per cent of the population against 65 per cent with the Metro states. Geographically it is located in the South, the Great Plains, the Mountain West and Appalachia and Metro has the Northern Coast, the West Coast and the Great Lakes. Population spread also marks these out. Retro has 52 per cent on the non-metropolitan population and 70 per cent of the metropolitans live in metro states. What really mark out are the attitudes. Retro is more strong on religion or what is popularly called in America-God, Family and Flag. In other words, more fundamental Christians, Protestants and evangelical live here. Those who believe that Bush is leading a holy Crusade opposed to Jihad. Metro are for Inclusion, Science and Security This is also the economic engine of the country with manufacturing, financial and information services and thus pays out more than it receives in federal funds. |
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From Pakistan PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said that the government has no plan to present a resolution in the NWFP Assembly on the issue of the President’s uniform. Talking to newsmen at a function of Dastarbandi at Darul Uloom-i-Sarhad here on Tuesday, Mr Durrani said that the provincial assemblies should avoid resolutions on the issue of Gen Pervez Musharraf’s uniform. The provincial assemblies should follow the 17th Amendment, which had already cleared the ambiguity on the issue of the President’s uniform and that was why the MMA had decided not to raise the issue here, he said. Without mentioning the Punjab Assembly, which on Monday passed a resolution asking President Musharraf not to shed uniform even after December, the Chief Minister said that the provincial government should respect the constitution and avoid raising any issue which could create ambiguity.
— The Dawn
Plight of women
highlighted
PESHAWAR: A video based on a song was screened by the Aurat Foundation to depict the plight of women in the male-dominated society at the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday. Bibi Sheernay is a famous folk song picturised in the mountainous areas of the province. It depicts women as hard workers who get nothing in terms of respect from the men who rule society. A social worker, Samar Minnallah, who has produced the song, said she was shocked by the ill-treatment meted out to women in a society which is dominated by cultural considerations. “From dawn to dusk, women work in homes, doing both heavy and light work, but do not get any reward for what they do. There is no recognition of her hard work, which is against religious injunctions as well as social norms,” she said.
— The Dawn
Missing status
of the teacher
LAHORE: Punjab Education Minister Mian Imran Masood has said that 32 EDOs (education) in the province were transferred recently in Punjab to make administration in the education sector more transparent and effective. He was addressing a seminar on “the need for revolutionary steps in the promotion of education” organised by Ibne Sina Education Movement at Alhamra on Tuesday. Mian Imran Masood said that massive endeavors are being made to revamp the education sector and restore confidence of the people on the public sector institutions. The government was working on various aspects to achieve the goal viz-a-viz increase in the 3-year budget from Rs. 21 billion to Rs. 43 billion, training of teachers, improvement in class room instructions and provision of missing facilities. Everything circles round the teacher who is the key figure behind quality education and training of students. As such, there is need to restore the missing status of the teacher, he added.
— The Nation
Bill to end
Karo-Kari
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday referred several private members Bills of the Opposition, including repealing of Hudood Ordinance and elimination of Karo-Kari, to the standing committees. The government did not oppose the Bills. However, the government opposed Sherry Rehman’s Bill on the access to information. The discussion on moving the Freedom of Information Bill will be held in next private members’ day. Sherry has also moved Bills on elimination of gender discrimination, empowerment of women and severe punishments for honour killing.
— The News |
The year and the day of my wedding is fixed. Come my mates, pour oil on the threshold and bless me that I may attain union with my Lord.
— Guru Nanak No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. — Jesus Christ While there was the darkness of ignorance, I saw the whole universe as a reality. But when the sun of knowledge has risen, I see nothing at all. This is wonderful indeed! — Sri Adi Sankaracharya The fruit derived from labour is the sweetest of all pleasures. — Vauvenargues Morality is religion in practice; religion is morality in principle. — Wardlaw
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