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A sanyasin’s anger Waking up late Party culture |
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Terrorism on the rise
Foredoomed
Earthquake survivor Shaoor Ahmed, who lost 11 family members in the earthquake, sits on the rubble of his home in Balakot, Pakistan. — Reuters
photo Living with IED threat Delhi Durbar
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A sanyasin’s anger
SIGNALS from Bhopal suggest that Ms Uma Bharati is no pushover. Even if the assertion that 80-85 BJP legislators have written to party chief L.K. Advani to requisition a meeting of the state legislature party to elect a new leader is exaggerated, her supporters are certainly in a defiant mood. Her recent letter to RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan was proof that she had picked up the gauntlet flung at her by her detractors. What all this means is her desperation to come back to power. Why this urgency when it is a year since she resigned from the post of chief minister? She knows only too well that the BJP leadership is in for a change once the Bihar elections are over. Although Ms Bharati is no great admirer of Mr Advani, there is no certainty that his successor will be favourably inclined towards her. After all, she believes that some of the middle-rung leaders, who have ambitions of stepping into Mr Advani’s shoes, are responsible for her downfall. She nurses the grievance that a court order for her arrest was used to deprive her of power that rightfully belonged to her. All she expected from Mr Babulal Gaur, whom she nominated for the post, was to keep the chief ministerial chair warm for her. Like all politicians who have tasted power, Mr Gaur found it too adhesive to leave it on his own. Since he has powerful backers at the Centre, she could only fret and fume all this while. She now seems to have reached the end of her tether. The happenings in Madhya Pradesh are a poor reflection on the party leadership. What is significant in all this is that the opinion of the BJP legislators has not been considered. The leadership has only itself to blame for creating a situation whereby the MLAs themselves have to requisition a meeting of the state legislature party. If anything, it is a pointer to the lack of internal democracy in the BJP, which prides itself on claiming to be a party with a difference. Busy as the party president himself is in guarding his flanks, he, perhaps, has no time to attend to the nitty-gritty of running the organisation. In short, Ms Uma Bharati is actually a symptom more of disarray than indiscipline afflicting the party. |
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Waking up late
It has happened many times in the past. The administration makes tall claims about its preparedness to meet any eventuality, which are duly highlighted in the media, but when it comes to the crunch, it is found wanting. This sickening history has repeated itself in Mau, an Uttar Pradesh town on the boil due to widespread communal violence since Friday and subsequent police firing. The death too has been mounting. The handling of the situation has been so inept that the government has had to suspend five senior officials, including the Divisional Commissioner, the DIG, the District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police. It is an extreme step no doubt but happens to be a case of beating the bush after the snake has escaped. The officials cannot even claim that they were caught unawares. Mau is considered Eastern Uttar Pradesh’s most communally sensitive area. It has witnessed many such conflagrations in the past. The administration was expected to be alive to the sensitivities of the situation, particularly in the light of the religious functions of the two communities overlapping this year. But precious little was done by way of preventive action. By the time the much touted Rapid Action Force was galvanised into action, it was already too late. Somebody has to pay for the lapse, and fast. As we are well past medieval times, one expects political and community leaders to pour water over such fires. It is a matter of shame that many of them have been carrying inflammatory material instead. While the first priority of the government is that the situation in Mau is brought under control, it will also have to see to it that there are no repercussions in the rest of the state. Reports from Uttar Pradesh already speak of mischief-mongers itching for trouble. They can very well carry out their ugly agenda if the administration does not nip the nuisance in the bud. The Mulayam Singh Yadav government must take all steps to ensure that law and order is not disturbed in the state. |
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Party culture
Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s directive to party leaders to eschew ostentation and conspicuous show of power is commendable, and has not come a day too soon. This is not the first time that a Congress chief has asked partymen to stay simple and be austere in their public behaviour. In the past, intent has not been backed by implementation. Hence, the question in public minds is whether this time, too, the code of ethics would be forgotten after the first flush of publicity. Therefore, it is imperative that Mrs Gandhi follows up her directive by ensuring compliance and makes examples of errant Congress leaders. There can be no gainsaying the fact that in recent years the functionaries of many political parties, ministers and chief ministers have had their heads turned by television exposure and see themselves as celebrities of a different kind. Their public persona has also undergone a change for the worse with overwhelming influence of a partying culture. They are seen more in the company of the wining and dining crowd, and fixated on glamorous events rather than applying themselves to the hard grind of administrative and party work. Power and office are seen as a badge for social climbing and not a responsibility for public work. In fairness, it must be said that this socialising culture that alienates political functionaries from the larger public is not confined to the Congress party alone. All parties, barring a few, are guilty of letting their members use their public office, profile and resources for ugly displays of power, especially on festive occasions. Mrs Gandhi’s 18-point code of austerity and ethics for Congressmen is a necessary set of lessons that partymen must be compelled to adopt and rigorously stick to. The party is fortunate in having a Prime Minister such as Dr Manmohan Singh who is a model of honesty and rectitude, and simple and modest in his personal and public life. Congressmen don’t have to look far to find an example to follow. |
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Subdue your appetites my dears, and you’ve conquered human nature. — Charles Dickens |
Terrorism on the rise
In connection with the Kashmir imbroglio, the most serious issue which deserves to be attended to on top priority is not the withdrawal of Indian troops from two districts of the valley — Kupwara and Baramula — as asked for by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf during his recent meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York, but the issue of international terrorism with which Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir is linked. The soft underbelly of the Indian state, its partisan politics and its disposition to live in the world of make-belief have facilitated the task of the ISI. Further, the US and other western countries, instead of outright condemnation of militants’ activities, placed disproportionate emphasis on alleged human rights violations and provided a massive puff of oxygen to them by way of publicity. As noted by Stephen Emerson, a specialist on terrorism, neither the US nor its European allies took serious notice of the menace of terrorism till it affected its own citizens. They took practically no notice of India’s repeated warning that Pakistan had become a hotbed of militancy which was being served, in diverse ways, by the ISI as well as by the private sectarian armies the number of which was daily increasing. By not going all out to nip the evil of terrorism in the bud, the US and its allies committed a lapse of truly historic proportion. It ignored the stark reality that the so-called “freedom fighters” of Kashmir were a part and parcel of the network of terror that was emerging all over the globe to destroy the “enemies” wherever they existed. By the time the US and other western countries woke up to the reality, the menace had spread far and wide. The militants could strike anywhere they chose, be it in New York, New Delhi, Madrid, Bali, Egypt or London. According to a research study (2004) by the London Institute of International Security, about 18000 potential terrorists are functioning in about 60 countries, and “there has been terrifying jump in terrorist incidents — 175 in 2003 to 651 in 2004”. Terrorism is becoming mega-terrorism. Even “cyber warriors” and “computer hackers” are being trained. There are thousands of religious schools which are virtually serving as a continuous supply-line for the militant organisations. According to a study undertaken by the Strategic Foresight Group, there are 40,000 - 50,000 madarsas, with two million students on their rolls, which are being run in Pakistan. The number of young men recruited per year by the militant outfits is about 15,000. With regard to the role of the madarsas in Pakistan, the International Crisis Group has significantly observed: “Education that creates barriers to modern knowledge, stifling creativity and breeding bigotry has become the madarsas’ defining feature. It is the foundation on which fundamentalism — militant or otherwise — is built.” The 9/11 Commission Report has come to a similar conclusion: “Some of the madarsas have been used as incubators for violent extremism.” Consequent to the pressure now being put by the US and the UK on Gen Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan government has taken a few measures to curb the forces of fundamentalism and fanaticism. An ordinance requiring all madarsas to get themselves registered under the Societies Registration Act and keep an account of the donations received has been issued. Foreign pupils of the seminaries and madarsas, who do not fulfil the prescribed conditions, have been asked to leave the Country. Under the latest anti-terror resolution (September 2005) of the United Nations Security Council, Pakistan has committed itself to adopt tighter measures to check terrorism. But, as has been a characteristic of President Musharraf’s regime, all these measures have turned out to be half measures. Their ineffectiveness has been exposed by the independent media reports in Pakistan itself. For example, a prestigious magazine, Herald, in its issue of August 2005, has published the list of training camps that are still functioning in Manshera. The international Crisis Group, too, has remarked: “It is doubtful whether the military government has the intent or the will to set Pakistan society on a sustainable course that would lead to political pluralism and religious tolerance.” In any case, militancy against India is being retained, oral promises and declarations to the contrary notwithstanding. Five major groups — the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Hizbul Mujahideen, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Al-Badr — are active in the field. So far, this year, about 700 persons have died in Jammu and Kashmir on account of militant violence. In a recent interview to Herald (September issue), Maulana Fazlur Rahman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said, “The Pakistani youth who support the cause of Kashmir go there to fight. Providing them with training, money, weapons and transportation is not a task which is cut out for you and me. In fact, it cannot happen without the government’s support.” It is also noteworthy that no militant has ever been intercepted by Pakistan’s military while crossing the Line of Control. Some of the militant outfits, moreover, have become too powerful to care for the state laws, rules and regulations. In this connection, Khalid Ahmed of Friday Times has underlined: “Jihad and consequent weaponisation of Islam have inflicted permanent damage on civil society and state institutions in Pakistan.” In the context of these facts, the priority area for action on the part of all concerned has to be an all-out effort to stamp out militancy in all its forms and also eliminate the forces which breed it. The international community need to put stronger pressure on Pakistan whose unity and well-being themselves demand that the Frankenstein that it has created during the last three decades or so should be eliminated. As advised by President Clinton, in his television and radio address to the people during the course of his five-hour visit to the country on March 25, 2000, Pakistan should understand: “The era does not reward those who struggle in vain; who redraw the border with blood ..... There is a danger that Pakistan may grow even more isolated, draining even more resources away from the needs of the people, moving even closer to a conflict no one can win.” Once the militancy and the accompanying bloodshed end, a congenial atmosphere will emerge. The borders can become virtually non-existent. Tourism and cultural exchanges can replace terrorism and exchanges of gun-fire. The economy on both sides may get a big boost. Unemployment can abate. Instead of being among the 15 largest spenders on defence, India and Pakistan may become the biggest investors of the world in programmes for poverty removal. They may join hands to secure a better deal for their people. Mutual give and take will be the natural byproduct of such an order. And all differences can be sorted out. The writer is a former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and former Union Minister.
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Foredoomed
One of the paradoxes of enlightened media behaviour is the fact that while they make fun of astrology as sheer “mumbo-jumbo” they keep on publishing regular columns like “What the Stars Foretell”, “This Day and You” or some other catchy label. This makes me hesitate to write on issues of human behaviour for fear of inviting another “regret slip” from the editor. Let me illustrate by a moving tragedy that occurred the other day. Vikram—who joined service as a fresh young man and worked as my PA for most of the three decades. I served a New Delhi college, rang me up last Friday. “My son met with an accident, the previous Friday” he said. He has not recovered consciousness so far. He is in a private hospital which is very expensive. Can I be helped in getting him admitted to A.I.I.M.S? “Unconscious for a whole week,” I sputtered in amazement,” What, how where….”, I asked in one breath. “He was on his scooter and it got locked in motion. The rider’s fall pushed him into coma.” Efforts to arrange the boy’s transfer got on way but had to be given up. He expired on Sunday itself. I felt impelled to attend the cremation. College staff, teachers and others, were there. Vikram was a picture of composure. I tried to say the usual words of condolence to him. The boy had returned from his school at about half past one, I was told. He asked what was there for lunch. Since the vegetable was not to his taste, saying he would get something from the restaurant, a hundred metres away, he kickstarted scooter, adding he would be back in five minutes. Alas, that turned out to be his last journey! The scooter’s lock was not in order and he had mentioned that it was to be taken to the mechanic but destiny denied him that chance. Sometimes the lock had failed to click; on this occasion it clicked by itself. He was thrown on the road! Knocked unconscious he was taken to DDO hospital where the doctors decided to admit him since the “case was too serious”. Members of college staff, Vikram’s long time colleagues, were there. I could not help remarking how calm and composed he was after a heart-rending tragedy. At this Ved Vohra, the former office-in-charge, said: “He had reconciled to this”. “What do you mean?” “I had told him when this boy was born that he would not survive!...” “How? Some astrological assessment?” “Yes, the horoscope said he would be Alpayoo (short-living)… I reminded him of that yesterday”. “Has the foreboding come?” he asked me and I said, “possibly”. “The boy’s mother began crying. I told them not to shed tears for a living person…but strive to save him.” Leaving aside if astrology is right or not, I was left with the question: Is prior awareness of such a destiny really a boon? While a prediction may sometimes serve to wake one up and urge to pre-empt a problem, but does it ease the impact of the shock or turn it into a perpetual torture? I cannot attempt an impromptu answer. |
Dateline Washington
There aren’t many women and children left alive in Balakot. The adult male residents of this small Pakistani town were out at work on the morning the deadly earthquake struck; their womenfolk and children were indoors — at home or in school. “As I look around I hardly see any women. There are more men left in this town now,” said Laila Khan. The manager of a homeless empowerment project run by the International Rescue Committee, one of the largest aid organisations in Pakistan, Ms Khan estimates at least 95 per cent of the town’s population has been affected by the magnitude 7.6 earthquake. “When you get close the Balakot the stench (of death) hits you. Each and every family has had a death,” she said in a phone interview from the earthquake-stricken region. Balakot, a town dominated by its bazaar, sits at the entrance to the Kaghan Valley. In winter, the night time temperature plummets to chilly depths. “We desperately need blankets. Blankets and tents,” said Ms Khan. Survivors of the earthquake have been forced to shelter themselves behind walls constructed from corrugated metal sheets retrieved from the debris of destroyed buildings. Three IRC teams, including emergency shelter, water, sanitation and trauma specialists, are working in the districts of Abottabad, Manshera, Shangla and Batagram. “In Abottabad and Manshera, IRC staff members were so stunned by the scale of the disaster they paused to donate their own blood for survivors needing transfusions,” said Heng Djin Tik, the IRC’s deputy director of programmes in Pakistan. Mudslides blocked access and slowed aid to disaster-hit Batagram. “The situation in Batagram is horrifying, with dead bodies lying unburied,” said Ms Djin Tik. “There is dire need for more rescue teams, medical aid and shelter materials.” Ayesha Haq was on her way to Hunza with a friend from Germany when the earthquake struck. A development consultant based in Karachi, she rushed to Manshera to help with relief work. “There was a complete lack of leadership... absolutely no coordination,” she recalled. On the other hand, she said, residents of Karachi started a relief drive after a few messages were sent out on cell phones. “They came in rickshaws, cars, taxis, vans, trucks. They gave quietly, without fanfare,” she said. In Balakot, Miss Haq says the roads are open but in some places only for single-lane traffic so a 20-minute journey can take over four hours. “Most of the people in Balakot live up in the mountains. And while there are hundreds of trucks carrying tonnes of relief goods there, they are not getting to the people in the mountains who are totally cut off,” she said. Ms Khan of the IRC says people in the Kaghan Valley are cut off from aid supplies. “We know they’re there. But we can’t reach them,” she said. The only way to help them is by helicopters of which there is a shortage. Aid workers say residents are turning angry in regions that have been untouched by relief efforts. At least 35,000 people are thought to have died and some 70,000 injured in the earthquake. The death toll is expected to rise. As many as two million people have lost their homes. Relief efforts have been hampered by bad weather and scarcity of resources, particularly in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The greatest threat to human rights often arises in crisis situations, says New York-based Human Rights Watch, which has called on the governments of India and Pakistan to adhere to international human rights standards in the organisation and provision of relief. The group emphasises the need to respect principles of non-discrimination in the distribution of humanitarian assistance; ensure that persons are protected from discrimination based on their status as refugees from the ongoing conflict in Kashmir or displaced persons after the earthquake; protect the rights of all persons to freedom of movement, family unity and freedom from arbitrary detention; and ensure that the needs of the vulnerable, particularly women, children and the disabled, are adequately met. |
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Living with IED threat
After pouring billions of dollars into systems that defeat high-technology weapons, the U.S. military is striving to combat a far less sophisticated threat; I.E.Ds (improvised explosive devices) or roadside bombs. In Iraq, no weapon has been as deadly as these bombs, which cause roughly 90 per cent of the Army’s casualties there each month. Between 500 and 600 of these I.E.Ds go off each month in Iraq. As the operations in Iraq have lingered on, insurgents in Iraq have altered the bombs and their tactics for employing them, adapting quickly to some of the countermeasures and changes in U.S strategy. The threat has grabbed the attention of the Pentagons top leaders who started a joint task force to study and defeat I.E.Ds. The task force is essentially launching a widespread “campaign against the I.E.D threat”. The goal is to “identify and neutralise” enemy leaders, suppliers, trainers, enablers and others responsible for using I.E.Ds against coalition forces in Iraq. At the same time, taskforce members are identifying material and nonmaterial solutions to counter I.E.Ds. Initially, I.E.Ds in Iraq were small charges made from individual 60mm and 81mm mortar rounds. In response to the up-armouring of American Humvees, the military’s primary tactical vehicles, insurgents increased the size of the bombs, using 122mm and 152mm artillery shells. They then began using multiple stacks of heavy artillery shells, or multiple launch rocket warheads. Insurgents have buried 500 and 1000 pound aircraft bombs to target heavy armoured vehicles such as tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. The bombs are buried vertically, pointing upward, with the weapons nose just below the surface. The hard packed dirt around the bomb focuses the explosion upwards and against the underside of the vehicle. A bomb of that size can generate a blast equivalent to 10 large antitank mines. A vehicle borne I.E.D, or VBIED containing 18 x155mm projectiles can vaporise the vehicle and other vehicles parked nearby. The very simplicity of I.E.D construction foils efforts to develop a technological solution. The only vulnerable point is the remote triggering mechanism — often a radio, cell phone or garage-door opener. The most successful technologies have been electronic countermeasures that jam the signals. It is not sure whether all radio frequencies can be jammed. In India, even the Naxalites are gradually acquiring the expertise for manufacturing and using I.E.Ds. There is no dearth of availability of raw material i.e. explosives, artillery shells (declared obsolete) etc with armed forces and on being declared obsolete finding its way to scrap dealers. The authorities have to ensure that accounting of explosive material within India is meticulous. The checking of containers containing imported war zone scrap assumes added importance considering the number of accidents which have taken place with this scrap confirming the fact that number of explosive artillery shells get imported with the scrap since the exporting countries are keen to get rid of obsolete artillery shells(ideal raw material for I.E.Ds). All the agencies concerned need to peruse internet, read defence journals like Defence News which regularly highlight the use of I.E.Ds in conflict prone areas to derive lessons in our context. The I.E.D threat is looming — let us be ready. |
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Delhi
Durbar Bihar Governor Buta Singh who was in the capital recently found that the heat was directed against him for having recommended dissolution of the Bihar Assembly. With the Supreme Court having declared the dissolution of the Assembly as malafide, the apex court’s detailed order is awaited. At least till then, Buta Singh appears to have earned a reprieve. In a last-ditch attempt, he tried his best before the media to clear his role that he had no malafide intentions in recommending dissolution of the Assembly considering the ground The BJP-led NDA wants the recall of Governor Buta Singh. The constitutional head of Bihar is also believed to have approached CPM leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet to bail him out of the self-created mess.
Soli Sorabjee’s success Noted lawyer and former Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee is in a buoyant mood these days for achieving a rare feat of getting favourable verdict on the issue of Article 356 from the Supreme Court in the Bihar Assembly dissolution case. It was but natural for him to be on a high as everyone who attended the proceedings in the apex court and heard him arguing the case of four former NDA MLAs against the Centre’s dissolution order for hours, was convinced why success comes his way so frequently as he had shown sheer brilliance and proved to be a heavyweight for the Government counsel.
Left wants a say The Left wants to have a forceful say in the appointment of persons to academic bodies. They are highly touchy on the subject and unwilling to throw in the towel especially if they are convinced the appointees have linkages to the saffron brigade. The Left leaders do not want anyone appointed to key institutions who had been picked by the previous NDA regime. But that logic went for a toss in the case of Ved Prakash’s appointment as the Director of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). Prakash was brought in by Murli Manohar Joshi during his avatar as the Union HRD Minister. These are glaring double standards, according to sources in the Congress-led UPA government.
Lalu and Rahul Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi’s interview appears to have touched a raw nerve with RJD supremo and Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. The reason — Rahul Gandhi was critical of Lalu’s home state of Bihar. Congress trouble shooters immediately swung into action with several of them close to the RJD strongman trying to soothe ruffled feathers. He was assured that the Congress will issue a clarification and put the record straight. Contributed by R Suryamurthy, S Sathyanarayanan, Prashant Sood and S S Negi. |
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From the pages of Land settlement in Punjab
The question of land settlement has again come to the fore in the Punjab. There is nothing of more vital importance to the immense majority of the population than the term of settlement and the assessment of land. Year in and year out settlement operations are in progress in some district or other and assessment is under revision. Reports of the revised settlement and assessments are periodically issued. It is the duty of the publicist and the man who claims to be a representative to examine these reports carefully, to analyse the figures and to base constructive criticism on them. The Government has been busy looking for sedition and revolutionary propaganda; the people have been busy in repeating the soft word that turns away wrath. But the real safety and the real danger lie in the agrarian policy of the Government. So long as it is just and the incidence of taxation is not oppressively heavy the occupation of the seditionist and the revolutionist will be a barren one. But if it become intolerable and productive of disaffection, then will come the opportunity of the enemy. |
All the evil karma ever committed by me since old, on account of greed, anger, and folly, which have no beginning, born on my body, mouth, and thought I now make full open confession of it. — The Buddha I believe in the divinity of the Vedas, the world’s most ancient scripture, and venerate the Agamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns are God’s word and the bedrock of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion which has neither beginning nor end. —
Book of quotations on Hinduism Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the feeling of a heartless world and the soul of soulless circumstances. It is the opium of the people. —
Book of quotations on religion People are divided into various groups (religions) and that’s how the whole world is misguided. One who performs devotion to the Almighty God, being impartial to worldly groups (religions), is the true saint. — Kabir |
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