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FOLLOW UP PROFILE DIVERSITIES — DELHI LETTER
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War on terror INDIA, like most other secular democracies, is being targeted by terrorist organisations, primarily Islamic fundamentalists, who are generally sponsored by Pakistan’s ISI and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda. Ironically, our neighbours like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and even Mayanmar are being used as bases for terrorist activity against India. Paradoxically, the peace process between India and Pakistan was reactivated after many years on the US’ initiative and diplomatic coercion. Pakistan has been blatantly violating our call for the dismantling of all terrorist camps and training centres on its side of the LoC time and again, causing death and destruction in India. Are we exhibiting a sense of helplessness by only issuing stern warnings to a belligerent Pakistan? Why are we not taking assertive action or retaliating by a decisive campaign to destroy terrorist camps across the LoC? India has to wake up to the reality of rising Islamic fundamentalism and a jehadi colour to its war by terror. The harsh truth is that we have had two major wars with Pakistan, two major military operations in Kashmir in 1947 and 1998 (Kargil) and we remain two separate countries with distrust writ large on every Pakistani face. It was precisely the two-nation theory of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, strongly encouraged by the British, that resulted in the formation of Pakistan. Pakistan was “conceived in hatred, born in hatred and continues to live in hatred”. Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf cannot forget the humiliation of 1971, when India inflicted a crushing defeat on Pakistan, took approximately 95,000 Pakistani soldiers as Prisoners of War, forced Lt-Gen A.A.K. Niazi to sign the instrument of surrender and thus liberated Bangladesh by dismembering Pakistan. His misadventure in Kargil was a manifestation of his deep-rooted hatred of India and his burning desire for revenge. It was the Indian Army that once again did the nation proud and thwarted his evil designs. Let us not underestimate him or be taken in by his shrewd and cunning manipulations. Those who say that General Musharraf is our best bet against Islamic fundamentalism and that he should not be pushed too far (this is also the US’ argument) are reading him wrong. He is arrogant, scheming, highly ambitious and utterly ruthless. A formidable adversary for any Indian leader. What India needs to do is to press home the advantage of Baluchistan. After the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti by the Pakistan Army, the Baluchis are cutting across party lines to unite for the cause of a Baluchistan separate from Pakistan. This issue, therefore, must now become central to all future talks and discussions regarding resolution of the Kashmir problem. Peace cannot be achieved by appeasement, but by assertion of a nation’s sovereign authority. John F. Kennedy’s words are apt: “Let us not fear to negotiate, but let us not negotiate through fear”. After the Mumbai bomb blasts and carnage, an impression is gaining ground that an element of fear lurks in Indians’ minds. The terrorists strike anywhere and everywhere, the killings are innumerable, they can paralyse us, maul us, petrify us while all we can do is show restraint in the face of extreme intimidation and provocation. Clearly, each life is precious and nobody has the right to kill. A country can only qualify to be called a nation when it can guarantee to protect the life and property of those who constitute the nation. India must not slip into a state of inertia and passive resignation. No country can become a global power or emerge an economic giant without first becoming a military force. Consider the US and China with whom India is trying to catch up. Both the US and China have attained their position of pre-eminence as super powers because of their indisputable and unmatched military might that encompasses their nuclear capability, conventional and non-conventional weapon strength, their strike power on land, sea and air and their unlimited resource. There is no reason for India to behave like a shy bride and be apologetic about its drive to build a massive stockpile of weaponry system enhanced by matching number of armed manpower as that of China. A study of history will reveal that China owes its present superpower status to Mao Tze Tung’s doctrine of political power comes from the barrel of a gun. Also the US’ ascendancy to the number one position as a world power from its unparalleled military might. Our history has seen us being subjugated, enslaved and ruled over by innumerable aggressors and invaders. Many accepted domination and humiliation for material expediency and profit, compromised the honour, dignity and pride of the country for patronage and selfish gain. The saga of Mangal Pandey, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Chandrashekhar Azad and countless heroes and martyr’s whose patriotism and courage blazed the trial of our freedom is a source of great inspiration to the nationalist elements in this country. However, the electric media is impacting minds across the nation and multinationals are beginning to become powerful like the East India Company. The giants of Indian industry and those listed in Fortune 500 are the new Czars of dispensation. While we would like to bask in the emerging new order, the alarm bells warn us, “do not forget the attacks on Akshardham, Red Fort, Parliament House, Ayodhya, Benaras, the killing fields of Kashmir Valley, the Mumbai riots and the recent Mumbai bomb blasts. Do not forget underworld don Dawood Ibrahim living in Pakistan, Maulama Masood Azhar, Sayeed Salauhdin, Abdul Karim nor their outfits, The Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Hizbul Mujahadeen, the arkat-ul-Mujahadeen or Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. All of them are linked to Pakistan. The growing militancy and the threat of the Maoists and Naxalites is cause for serious concern to every Indian. India should stand up and meet the challenge to fight terrorism to the finish. Cross-border terrorism and infiltration is not the sole prerogative of Pakistan. The art of war has many facets, as Sun Tzu, Clauswitz, Chanakya etc. would affirm. War today is not the clashing of two armies in the battlefields. Some wars are finished even before the world gets to know that they started. Nuclear weapons and warheads make such situations possible. The war on terror demands totally different strategies like those adopted by Pakistan. General Musharraf has mastered the art of proxy war. There is an opportunity to beat him at his own game. He conforms to no rules. He believes in outwitting his opponents by means fair or foul. The peace process that he claims to be committed to pursue is nothing but façade. It’s time his bluff was called.
The author is a sitting MLA and former Minister of Himachal Pradesh
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Reforming the SGPC THERE seems to be a concerted move for reforming the prestigious Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). It had come into being after the Sikh community won against the British in the third Anglo-Sikh war. The government was forced to pass the Gurdwara Act, 1925 by the gurdwara reform agitation that had Mahatma Gandhi’s blessings. This Act was drafted under the guidance of Sir Malcolm Hailey, the Punjab Governor, who wanted to end the confrontation between the Sikhs and the British. Though most Sikh leaders were in jail, Hailey ensured that all shades of Sikh opinion and interests were consulted before the Gurdwara Bill went to the legislature. It is generally agreed that the final draft represented a wide consensus among the Sikh community. The most intriguing part of this chapter is that the English Westminster model or the universal Sikh adult suffrage was accepted for constituting the SGPC, i.e. all adult Sikhs who qualified to call themselves as Sikhs were entitled to vote to constitute the body called the SGPC. This writer is not aware if any Sikh leader at that time stood for a body constituted in accordance with the Sikh tenets and tradition. A quick glance at the Sikh history would show that the Sikh community either went for a leadership that was nominated by the Gurus or the existing accepted leaders of the community who resorted to a selection through consensus. The concept of soliciting votes for an elected office went against a basic Sikh tenet of transcending haunmain as an object of spiritual endeavour. A true Sikh could not offer himself for election as a leader. The pristine Sikh leadership emerged from among gurmukhs or the Guru-centered ones in a competition for selfless service as was the case of Nawab Kapur Singh. The SGPC leadership has to come through soliciting votes from all the registered voters claiming to be Sikhs. The leadership cannot but be a replica of the average of the community and not of the best. A look at the profile of the leaders advocating gurdwara reform indicates that reasons for advocating a reform are either frustration emanating from their failure in their bid for leadership of the Sikhs or their inability to mobilise the community on other secular issues. The ills of the present SGPC can be ascribed to the ills of the SGPC’s basic structure. The remedies suggested by the reformers are equally for a symptomatic treatment which would take the community nowhere. It is said that Guru Gobind Singh before evacuating Anandpur Saheb consigned his material wealth in cash holdings and other valuables to the flowing current of a river instead of distributing it among his followers as he said that such money as came from the devotees would prove to be a poison for his Sikhs. One wonders if the SGPC’s ills and shortcomings as are ascribed in its working are due to the working out of what Guru Gobind Singh is said to have prophesised or due to the initial structural deficiencies. n The writer is a former Chief Secretary of Punjab
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ON
RECORD
WITH terrorist outfits striking at their will and the Naxalites widening their presence, the challenges to internal security has increased manifold. How is the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which has been entrusted with the responsibility of counter-insurgency and anti-Naxalite operations in the country, taking up the challenge? In an interview to The Sunday Tribune, CRPF Director-General Jyoti Kumar Sinha speaks at length on various issues relating to the largest paramilitary force. Excerpts: Q: The CRPF is yet to take over from the BSF complete responsibility of counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Why the delay? A: The phase-wise replacement process is on as per the GOI plan. Of the 15 CRPF battalions undergoing basic training, 10 will replace the BSF by March 2007 in Jammu and Kashmir. Five more will be replaced during 2008 after raising of more CRPF battalions. Q: Is the spurt in grenade attacks in Kashmir a reflection on the CRPF’s ability to handle counter-terrorist operations in the Valley? A: The initiative always lies with the militants as they are changing their tactics. Thus, it is not always a win-win situation for the security forces. The militants were earlier resorting to fidayeen attacks, then shifted to lobbing grenades and suddenly in recent times resorted to some close quarter shoot outs in which both the CRPF and other security forces suffered initial losses. However, the CRPF too has adapted to the new tactics and geared up to counter it effectively. We have apprehended and neutralised those involved in lobbing grenades. The militants have been employing civilians on payment for lobbing grenades. The CRPF is using all its resources and with the help of the State Police, it has managed to contain the situation. The recent arrest of Mohd Mudasar, LeT area commander who was the mastermind in the Srinagar grenade blasts, has brought about a reduction in these incidents. In terms of attrition ratio, the CRPF has an impressive record of 1:22 against the militants. Q: Is the CRPF ill-equipped to fight naxals? A: Ours is a time-tested paramilitary force. We are deployed in a new area coupled with different dimensions of insurgency. This was the case when the CRPF was inducted in the interior of Naxalite areas. We did well in tackling the intense Naxalite problem. We have achieved a lot of success in the last two months in busting the Naxalite hideouts, protecting camps, apprehending and neutralising the hard core extremists. The state governments are quite happy with our performance. Q: Are there plans to carve out a special combat force within the CRPF to specially tackle the Naxalite problem? A: We do not have any such plan now. But all our personnel deployed in the Naxalite areas are being trained in guerilla warfare at our CIAT school to face the challenge effectively. We have formed Quick Reaction Teams of these personnel who have already received such training and kept them for carrying out surgical strikes as and when required. Q: Law and Order is a state subject and the CRPF is deployed to support and supplement the efforts of local police. Are you happy with the deployment policy followed by the states worst affected by the Naxalite menace? A: The insurgency situation goes beyond law and order. This enables the Centre to play an important role in containing it. As the Centre’s strong arm, the CRPF is deployed in the Naxalite affected areas. It has been working in close coordination with the state authorities. There has been no problem regarding deployment, planning and joint operations. Q: Modernisation of the force is key to tackling new challenges posed to internal security. What are your strategies? A: Modernisation of the CRPF is taking place in a phased manner in terms of introducing modern weaponry and equipment such as AGL, CGRL, MMG, Snipper Rifles, NVD, DSMD, Bomb Disposal Dog Squads, EVD 3000, Anti-mine vehicles, etc. The modernisation plan includes improving communication and training with new methods and tools to improve the skills. The CRPF has recently set up an Intelligence Wing pulling out men from within the existing strength. We hope the modernisation will help improve the operational efficiency of the force to meet the challenges, current and future, effectively. Q: What steps are you taking to prevent the spread of AIDS/HIV among CRPF jawans? A: The CRPF has prepared an action plan on HIV/AIDS awareness. We have set up AIDS Control Centres at Force HQs, GC and Unit levels. STIs Syndromic Management training is being organised for medical officers and paramedical staff, for which technical assistance is being provided by the Research Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS (RCSHA). Besides, the force will conduct Behavioural Surveillance Survey to intervene where required. |
FOLLOW UP THIS is the amazing life story of a Punjabi entrepreneur. Starting his career as a wine waiter 28 years ago, he is now the owner of 14 five-star hotels in England.
Born in Sultanpur Lodhi to Sheela Arora, a humble mid-wife, Surinder Arora had humble beginnings. The gene of entrepreneurship surfaced first in his mother who dared to reach England in 1965 without any support structure. She established herself in a year and sponsored her husband to the UK. After another year, their elder son joined them. Surinder had to stay on with his maternal aunt (massi) in Punjab. By 1972, when he passed out his Class VIII at the age of 14, he reached England. The challenges of life began there. As he had no knowledge of English, he had to study in an English school. He also had to work in a local market for 1.50 pound a day. Surinder’s dream was to become a pilot. He joined British Airways as a junior assistant. “My mother motivated me and supported me financially to seek my pilot’s license by 1978. In the West, parents don’t pay for the education of adult children. I revere this built-in trait of selflessness among Indian parents”, he says. Even though he acquired pilot’s license, he could not become a pilot due to recession. As pilots were surplus in the UK, he joined a hotel as a wine waiter, in addition to his British Airways job. He was working 14 hours a day to save some money to buy a small house. “My mother was once again the motivating force for this dream”, Surinder recalls, sitting in his posh office. The first house that Surinder Arora bought with his earnings turned out to be the first step towards his phenomenal success. He sold that house within a year, earning a handsome premium which he promptly invested in a bigger house. This started a chain reaction. Within next eight years, he bought four houses close to each other. Then he converted them into a guest house for the British Airways crew. It was a successful venture. He bought another four houses in the row along with a car garage and petrol pump. As he had a large chunk of land with him, he erected a hotel for the British Airways staff. “It was the most suited location because of the proximity to the Heathrow airport”. Ever smiling and extremely warm, Surinder Arora is a down-to-earth man. He supervised brick by brick the construction of his first hotel. No wonder, this helped him own 14 hotels. While he runs five of them, nine have been leased out to Hilton, Holiday Inn, Paddy etc. His hotel in Manchester is in partnership with famous singer Cliff Richard. Surinder’s typical Punjabi warmth has won over Cliff Richard; he is now like a brother and part of the Arora family. One thing that strikes you instantly about Surinder Arora is that he is a family man of strong bonds. He shares with a sense of pride that his wife Sunita has been a great support to him. “Sunita devotedly looked after my parents till they passed away. This allowed me all the time to concentrate to expand our chain of hotels”. His sister Krishna Kashyap who is settled in Pune, is running the Punayedham Ashram. Surinder helps her in running this ashram. Even though Heathrow is the world’s biggest airport, the British government decided to make terminal five in an expansion plan. A major hotel was part of the plan. Surinder Arora wanted to win over this contract to build this hotel. He owns 14 hotels and runs them successfully, but he wasn’t being encouraged to take yet another venture. Apparently, they only wanted names like Hilton, Marriott, Intercontinental, Sheraton etc. to take on the project. Luckily, Surinder’s presentation helped him bag the contract. “For this hotel, I convinced Sofitel to join me. Sofitel has 4,50,000 hotels all over the world. Though they have never given franchise to anyone in Europe, they have agreed to give me one in this area”, discloses Surinder. The passion of marching ahead is writ so large on Surinder’s glowing face that one is left with respect and veneration. What is his secret of managing his staff in all the 14 hotels? “I tell them that committing mistakes is human and natural. Learn from them and march ahead. But if you repeat them, don’t expect to rise. Commit a mistake, learn from it and never repeat it but do make new mistakes to continue the chain of learning”. How much is Surinder’s annual turnover? Well, a conservative 15 million pounds is the catch of the flight without any technical licence.  |
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PROFILE She had indeed been a forceful critic of religious extremism. What made her different was her sincerity and commitment to fight a social evil. One could make out from the press gallery “the fire of life” in her. In a face-to-face interaction in the Central Hall of Parliament, she reflected the same genuineness but looked an ordinary woman, an innocent but charming talker, not matching her icon of a glamorous actress of Bollywood. It was her social activism that attracted the attention of the London-based Gandhi Foundation and she was chosen for the prestigious International Gandhi Peace Prize, the first Indian to get the honour. Other recipients included eminent persons like the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Are Gandhian values being revived? Shabana says, “Gandhian values of non-violence as a means of conflict resolution have gained greater significance. Gandhi had an all-pervading influence on our lives and his fragrance seems to be in the air now”. As her personality as an actress comes to the fore, she adds, “nowadays, people talk about Gandhigiri, thanks to the film Lage Raho Munnabhai. After she was given the award at a ceremony in the Committee Room of the British House of Commons, she has been invited to deliver a lecture on “the significance of Gandhian values in today’s strife-torn world”. Guess what she is going to say? On her part, Shabana has emerged as modern India’s resurgent face of feminism, apart from her brilliance on the celluloid. She says: “My father Kaifi Azmi was one of the biggest feminist I had known. My husband, Javed Akhtar, is also a feminist”. Her social activism and the courage to call a spade a spade has made her taller than the usual Bollywood stars. She firmly believes that nations cannot function on the sole basis of religion and quoted as saying: “I believe the fight today is not between Hindus and Muslims but between peoples who have two different world views — the extremists and the liberals. The extremists will not give up easily as it will mean they will have to surrender their power. So, the liberals will have to keep fighting the ideological war till its logical end”. India and Pakistan, she feels, should first work out commonalities between them rather than the differences. Many images of Shabana conjure up as she prepares to receive the Gandhi Foundation award in London next month. She steadfastly scorned at the wrath of mullahs in Hyderabad because she had tonsured her head for her role in the controversial film, Water. Seminaries termed her action as a “violation of the Islamic doctrine” and wanted her to renew her faith. Participation in demonstrations denouncing communalism and joining Swami Agnivesh and Asghar Ali Engineer in the four-day march for communal harmony from New Delhi to Meerut in 1984 raised her stature as a social activist. It is difficult to erase the image of her campaign against ostracisation of AIDS victims. When an HIV positive cuddled in her arms, Shabana said: “she does not need your rejection, she needs your love”. She was always seen by the side of Medha Patkar in the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Shabana is 55 now. Her father Kaifi Azmi was a renowned Urdu poet and writer. Her mother Shaukat was a stage artist. Her parents had an active social life, their home always throbbing with people and activities. Early in childhood, the environment in her home inculcated into her a respect for family ties, social and human values. Her parents always supported her to develop a passion for intellectual stimulation and growth. She completed a degree in Psychology from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, followed by a course in acting from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). She topped the list of successful candidates of 1972. In the initial stage of her career, she was linked to noted film director Shekhar Kapur, but in 1984 married Javed Akhtar, a famed lyricist, poet and scriptwriter of Bollywood. It was Akhtar’s second marriage, the first being with the scriptwriter, Honey Irani. The Gandhi Foundation Prize is Shabana’s fourth international award for social justice and human rights. At the bi-centennial celebrations of International Human Rights in Paris in 1989, French President Francois Mitterand honoured her along with Mother Teresa and another Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu. In 2000, the acclaimed actress was conferred the Martin Luther King Award by the State of Michigan in the United States. She also won an award at the World Economic Forum in
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DIVERSITIES —
DELHI LETTER A NATIONAL Youth Convention is set to take off early next month.
Organised by the Delhi-based Anhad, during this convention (October 5-8), various issues will be discussed by the country’s youth coming from the different sectors.
There will be sessions on Indian Secularism: Theory and Practice, Relevance of Gandhi in Contemporary India, Legacy of the Freedom Struggle, Scientific Temper and Obscurantism. There will also be discussions on Kashmir, Ayodhya and Gujarat situations. I really don’t know what the young of the country feel about matters related to the political and administrative system of the country. A system which seems to be going from bad to worse. There seems little accountability. Whether it is the human rights violations going on in the Kashmir valley as the Human Rights Watch’s latest report, “Impunity fuels conflict in Jammu and Kashmir” details out. Or the manner in which the unemployed youth are thrashed in open public. Today the situation is such that even peaceful and unarmed demonstrators are treated in the most violent manner by the state machinery. On the one hand, in those long winding, well crafted speeches politicians talk of adopting non-violence. Yet, ironically, the state uses the brutal police machinery at its disposal to curb any voice of dissent. Yes, only about in those seminar sessions that one can speak out. Going by what is lined up in the form of seminars and talks in the coming days, one would expect a greatly enlightened New Delhi. Alas, it is the same set of speakers who would be addressing the set faces in the audience. World Alzheimer’s
Day on Sept 21 September 21 focuses attention on the Alzheimer’s disorder. New Delhi does hold Alzheimer’s meets on this day. My father suffered eight long years with it. So somehow I can’t bypass even an indirect mention of this baffling disorder. Baffling in the sense that till date there seems no cure Though Alzheimer’s disorder is said to trigger off by the shrinkage of memory cells, and with that the affected person slowly loses his or her memory, there is a degeneration in just about any activity. In a country like ours in several setups, it was mixed up with madness. However, slowly, people have begun to realise that it is a case of disorder that needs to be handled with great sensitivity by the family members. In fact, the two prime factors in the upkeep of the affected person is that he or she should not be removed from familiar surroundings (home and even in the particular room which he or she is accustomed to living in). The affected person should be given a lot of emotional care and support. But then, isn’t it a much known formula that with emotional bonding and intense feelings, any disease or disorder can be treated. Lecture on
Buddhism What could be termed as interesting (yes even before the take off) is the scheduled talk by Venerable Tenzin Palmo. She would be speaking on September 21 as the so-called “the emerging female voice in Buddhism.” She has gone through some very definite turns in her life. She was raised in London and she became a Buddhist in 1964 whilst she was still a teenager. Around the same time, she decided to come down to Himachal Pradesh where she met her guru, the eighth Khamtrul Rinpoche. After living in Himachal Pradesh for six years, on the directions of Khamtrul Rinpoche, she left for a monastery in Lahaulin. Retreating still further into a cave, she lived there for many years. She has already written her experiences in her book, Cave in the snow. Ecological menu
at IIC Come October 2 and there is a treat awaiting at the India International Centre. The little note carries forth details of the “ecological menu” thus: “we are experiencing climate change in our daily life. The climate behaviour is becoming erratic throughout the world. The ecological menu has been designed offering dishes made from water prudent crops as well as saline and flood resistant aromatic rice”. Some of the foodie names do attract Amarnath cutlet, Buckwheat kachori, Jhangora idli. Whilst on food, let me also mention that the Seventh Howard Memorial Lecture will take place on October 2. The theme is, “Women shaping the Future of Food”. Navdanya celebrates Gandhiji’s birth anniversary on October 2 by organising the Albert Howard Memorial Lecture. This year, this forum, which has Vandana Shiva as its managing trustee, would also be releasing the book titled, Biodiversity Based Organic Farming: A New Paradigm for Food Security
and Food Safety. |
One whose guest lives without food and drink loses all goodwill. It is said by the wise men of yore that fortune brings no good to mortals who win by wicked wile. And equally, sorrow and deprivation bring no shame to those who are free from sin and guile. His words are the Vedas, for they are inspired by the spirit of God. The thirst of a thoughtless man grows like a creeper. For him who conquers the thirst sufferings fall off like water from the lotus leaf. This is the thirst of desires, of wanting more and more. |
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SHABANA
AZMI looked different than other members whenever she raised an issue or participated in a debate in the Rajya Sabha. Though the filmdom was her forte, her personality as a social activist stood out distinctly as she talked of the plight of many neglected social groups which included AIDS patients, slum dwellers, displaced Kashmiri migrants and victims of 1993 Mumbai riots.