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Generational
change De-escalation
yes |
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In
search of harmony
Tame the
Taliban
To a new
end
Rich
people, poor state VIP security West Asian crisis
explained
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De-escalation yes
After
creating war hysteria and amassing troops near its borders with India, Pakistan is now talking of de-escalation. Even Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaque Parvez Kiyani has emphasised the need to avoid a military conflict with India “in the interest of peace and security” in South Asia. This change in posturing has come about with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani now underlining Islamabad’s obligation to ensure that Pakistani territory is not allowed to be used by terrorists. He has stressed the significance of good relations with neighbours (which obviously includes India) for stability and development in the region. Perhaps, there is belated realisation in Islamabad that the way it had reacted after the Mumbai mayhem by Pakistan-based terrorists amounted to inviting trouble for the people of Pakistan, or this is because of the pressure from the international community. India never talked of war despite the Mumbai terrorist strike and the provocation from Pakistan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh categorically stated that “nobody wants war”, but the so-called “non-state actors” in Pakistan, aided and abetted by the establishment there, could not be allowed to prevent India from growing into a global economic power, which is what the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack had aimed at. Defence Minister A. K. Antony, too, never hinted at India’s readiness for finding a military solution to the post-Mumbai situation. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who did much of the tough talking from the Indian side, did not go beyond saying that India was keeping all its options open. India concentrated mostly on bringing as much diplomatic pressure to bear on Pakistan as could be possible to force Islamabad to fight the terrorist menace with the sincerity expected of a neighbour. Public statements from Pakistan apart, it is evident that Islamabad has done little so far to eliminate terrorism, which has been prospering on its soil for a long time. Most of the outfits run by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa continue to function despite the UN Security Council’s resolution. There is no guarantee that the banned Lashkar-e-Taiyaba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed will not start operating under a new umbrella organisation. Taliban commanders like Baitullah Mehsud and Maulvi Fazlullah are believed to have entered into a secret deal with the Pakistan Army. Thus, Pakistan-sponsored terrorism remains as potent a threat as it has been for some time. India and the international community have to find a credible answer to the problem before it creates a crisis worse than what it did on November 26.
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In search of harmony
After
battling coma for three years, one of India’s celebrated artists, Manjit Bawa, breathed his last. In most of his life, like a true Sufi, he sang, he danced and, above all, rejoiced through his art, which gave a meaning to his life. He would be best remembered for capturing the Indian tradition in the hues of contemporary visual language. The artist who believed “to be different means doing something you have never done before” leaves behind a legacy, rich in colours and pioneering in content. Even as a child his ability to draw impressed others. Encouraged by his brothers, he found himself refining his drawing and later learning art at the School of Art, New Delhi. However, Bawa considered Abani Sen, who played a major part in his artistic journey, as his real mentor. To begin with, Bawa’s unconventional use of bold colours drew censure but soon it gained acceptance and began influencing many fledgling artists. His colours and his unique technique all coalesced to create a harmony that he was searching for. Peace and coexistence defined his imagery that at once straddled different worlds. Folklore, miniature tradition, Sufi wisdom and, of course, Indian mythology shaped his aesthetic sensibility. The only time anguish crept into his canvass was four years ago when 20 years after the anti-Sikh riots his frames alluded to the gory events of those riotous times. But even then the overriding message was of peace and harmony in society. He tasted success and exhibited widely in India and abroad. Well-known director Budhadeb Dasgupta made a documentary, “Meeting Manjit”, on him, and his works attracted the connoisseurs and rich buyers. Even this year when most of the collectors were hoarding his works, one of his canvasses sold for a whopping Rs 47 lakh. But a maverick of sorts, he lived life on his own terms. The effervescence of Bawa’s being will reverberate in the vibrant luminosity of his paintings.
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Better by far you should forget and smile/ Than that you should remember and be sad. — Christina Rossetti
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Tame the Taliban Though
the Taliban regime was cleared out of Afghanistan by the end of 2001 through the combined efforts of the Northern Alliance of that country and US air power and special forces, the Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaderships were able to obtain safe havens in neighbouring Pakistan. Islamabad has received $10 billion US aid as a presumed frontline state in the war against terrorism in the last seven years. Yet Al-Qaeda and the Taliban have not only been able to function effectively in their safe havens, the Taliban has also grown in strength and combat capability. During these seven years the Pakistan Army has not trained its troops to deal with the Taliban in counter-insurgency operations, but, as President-elect Obama has pointed out, a lot of military aid given to Pakistan was spent on equipping itself for a war against India. In 2002, religious extremist parties were helped to win the elections in the North-West Frontier Province which were widely perceived to have been rigged by the Army, employing the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In spite of the commitments made by General Musharraf to the international community to steer Pakistan towards a moderate Islamic status in 2002, the next five years saw a steady increase in Talibanisation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the adjoining areas in the NWFP and outside. Islamabad itself got Talibanised and the Lal Masjid complex had to be stormed by Pakistan security forces. The Taliban was a creation of the Pakistan Army and the ISI. In the years since its creation in 1994 till 2001 the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was run with the help of Pakistani personnel. A large number of them were allowed to be evacuated out of Kunduz when that town was taken during “Operation Enduring Freedom”. Surely, General Musharraf did not join the war on terrorism out of any ideological commitment. His record clearly shows that even while Pakistan was obtaining large aid from the US as compensation, extremist militias gained in strength and Mullah Omar was operating openly in Quetta, and the Al-Qaeda leadership continued to exercise ideological leadership from the safe-havens in Pakistan. President Karzai of Afghanistan had been continuously complaining of the ease with which the Taliban was able to use the Pakistani territory to launch attacks on Afghan territory and forces. A number of ceasefire agreements were arrived at by the Pakistan Army with local chieftains which permitted the consolidation of Taliban militias in the tribal areas and gave them time to re-equip themselves and extend their sway over the local population which often led to burning down of girls schools in these areas. Recently the convoys carrying supplies to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan were attacked and burnt down on successive occasions within a fortnight. As a response to the Indian charge of elements from Pakistan having launched the terrorist attack on Mumbai on November 26, the Islamabad government had attributed it to stateless actors and have pleaded that they are themselves victims of terrorism. It is a widely accepted fact that a number of terrorist organisations are operating within Pakistan and inflicting casualties on innocent civilians as well as the Pakistan Army and paramilitary forces. Terrorism has been steadily on the increase. The US and its NATO allies are considering a new strategy for Afghanistan and it is to be expected that there will be an intensification of operations against the Taliban on the Afghan side and steps to prevent incursions of the Pakistani Taliban into Afghan territory against US forces and ISAF. That is bound to call for increased Predator strikes into Pakistani tribal territory. What are the prospects of such operations leading to retaliatory actions against supply convoys to Kabul and by way of other terrorist outrages? The reluctance of the Pakistan government to act against Mullah Omar and other leaders heading various terrorist organisations continuously changing their names has been well established. In 2001 as the Operation Enduring Freedom was coming to a close, the Indian Parliament was attacked by terrorists with links with elements in Pakistan and the follow-up Indian mobilisation of forces was used as an alibi for not guarding the Afghan-Pakistan border effectively and permitting the Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaderships to find safe havens in Pakistani territory. Presently the Mumbai terrorist outrage and the following war hysteria deliberately whipped up are being used to withdraw the Pakistan Army from the Afghan border. Such withdrawal will facilitate the penetration of the Taliban and other terrorist forces into Afghan territory against the US forces and ISAF. An intensification of operations by the US and Allied Forces is likely to be cited as justification for possible increased strikes against the convoys to Kabul. The refusal of the civilian government to investigate on its own the terrorist attack on Mumbai when details about the one captured and nine killed terrorists have been publicised and the transcripts of satellite telephone conversations between the terrorists during their operation and their handlers in Pakistan are available independently to a number of intelligence agencies casts doubts on the commitment of the present civilian government to act against terrorism in which the ISI is suspected to be involved. Given this background and the record of the last seven years of the Pakistan Army and the ISI, it would appear necessary to re-examine the viability of a military strategy against the Taliban, which relies heavily on Pakistani cooperation to sustain its supply lines. The Army has been using as instrumentalities of its long-term strategic policies the various militias and terrorist organisations it earlier created. There has been widespread speculation among defence specialists and media persons whether the Taliban and the various terrorist organisations operating in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region will not be able to out-endure the US forces and ISAF. Another category of analyses also deal with the potential threats to the territorial integrity of Pakistan if the Taliban on both sides of the Durand Line gain the upper hand in the insurgency. A failure to secure a victory against the Taliban will result in a disastrous destabilisation of the entire South-West Asian and Central Asian regions and further the terrorism arising out of the triumph of the jihadis. That is a far greater danger to international peace and security than various other issues which get listed in the global agenda. Therefore, the strategy of war against the Taliban and terrorism needs to be carefully re-evaluated in the light of the ground realities of the last seven years and the crisis that is sought to be created to wreck the proposed strategy of the US and its allies in
Afghanistan.
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To a new end Another
year gets ready to slip into the backyard of our lives. A year, that was just a drop in the ocean of time, but a strong pillar in the edifice of an individual’s life. Jostling with year-enders and sifting through piles of pictures to select a handful of momentous moments of the past year, my mind inadvertently takes an audit check of the personal gains and losses (not of the material kind though) of the year. The tragedies of the outer world merge and mingle with the inner trauma to create a landscape of sorrow. Images of earthquakes, hurricanes and floods that had spread misery in many parts of the world, heighten the personal tsunamis faced making one empathise with the agony and sorrow of the victims of Nature’s fury. The bloody trail of terror strikes also bares the selfish and self-centred side of human nature and of all the hurt caused in the name of love. Swimming in the swirls of these images is a tough task. For me, at least, the mood becomes somber and reflective during this time irrespective of the din of festivities and party fervor all around. Letting go has never been easy and to let go of a whole year is all the more difficult. Each memory, good or bad, is replayed bringing with it the surge of emotions felt at that particular point of time. The fading year also brightens the memories of the past several years reminding one of the great promises and greater letdowns, of the lessons learnt in the classroom of life and of friends lost in the mists of mistrust. In a queer cocktail of memory and desire the happiness of seeing oneself on the threshold of a new year surrounded by familiar loving faces is laced with the sorrow of being alone by the end of December. A journey well begun does not necessarily remain so forever as life is a caravan of change. But should this deter the traveller? A new year, a new beginning stares in the face. There is no choice but to move ahead and continue surfing the tide of time and go on collecting more bitter-sweet memories and experiences, to unlearn and learn yet again. So embrace the new and let go of the old and get ready for another trip along the unknown and drink another drop from the ocean of time as I have “miles to go before I
sleep”.
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Rich people, poor state
Punjab’s economy presents two distinct faces, which are not in conformity with each other. On the one hand, the economy of the Punjab government presents a grim spectacle. On the other, the economy of the people that live within the state presents a rosy scenario. The people of Punjab are vibrant, upbeat and flamboyant. This is not without the existence of actual, hidden or declared wealth to support such tendencies. Nowhere in this world, such a show of wealth can go on without the backing of actual resources. The state government is surprisingly reeling under a colossal debt of at least 58,000 crore. The successive governments, instead of worrying about the symptoms of a grim fiscal crisis and trying to reverse this suicidal trend, have acted like spectators completely unperturbed and naïve to the aggravating economic crisis. As a year or two-year event, small budgetary deficits can be understandable, but persisting with a heavy debt year after year amounts to an unacceptable fiscal behaviour. As far as the people of Punjab are concerned, they on an average spend more money on consumer items than their counterparts in the rest of India. Whereas an average household in the rest of India spends between 50 and 55 per cent of its monthly income on consumer items, in Punjab people spend in excess of 60 per cent. The figures for Jalandhar are still higher at about 80 per cent. That means, in real terms, the Punjabis earn more income than for which they pay taxes to the state government. Compared to the Punjab government, the Central government is extracting a higher share of taxes from the well-to-do Punjabis. The tax collection of the Central government’s two offices of income tax at Ludhiana and Amritsar is more impressive than that of Punjab’s VAT collection. The Central government is tough in collecting its dues and the Punjab government, unfortunately, is not. If the Punjab government earns less money, or it does not have the will to collect more revenue, in such a case it should be prepared to slash its expenditure too. That is what the successive elected governments have been unprepared to do. Everyday new development schemes are launched without having a look at the availability of funds. Some of the works don’t proceed beyond the stage of laying the foundation stone, others are stopped at the foundation level. Some other works remain half built. Abandoning unfinished projects has the worst effect on the economy of the state. Such unfinished projects are neither useful to the public nor they generate any revenue for the expending authority. Punjab suffers from the absence of a well-meaning tax policy. We hardly have a significant house tax or property tax. The tax collection regime is quite bad in the urban areas, but in the rural areas no one pays any tax at all to the state government. Water supply charges are much less than the cost of providing potable water to the people in rural and urban Punjab alike. Very few people pay sewer tax in Punjab. Sewerage is the most expensive civic amenity to build in older built-up areas, but there is hardly any realisation of tax revenue from the already laid sewerage lines. Octroi, first introduced by the British, has been one of the oldest civic body taxes in urban Punjab. For more than half a century this tax has been a major source of revenue for Punjab’s municipal governments. But a few years ago, with one stroke of pen, the Punjab government abolished it. Again this big step was taken without making any arrangement to compensate the municipal bodies for their loss. After coming to power in 2007, the present government abolished the stamp duty on the transfer of land within family members. This move may have become very popular with the landed aristocracy, but it resulted in an annual revenue loss worth crores of rupees. The auction of liquor vends is one of the biggest sources of Punjab’s income. Since the consumption of liquor is increasing every year, there should be a proportionate increase in the liquor revenue. But the government has adopted a policy of allotting liquor vends by a draw of lots rather than by conducting nationally advertised open auctions. This policy of allotting the liquor vends after a draw of lots has resulted in a loss of revenue worth hundreds of crores. The cinema industry in Punjab was experiencing financial strain and it wanted some kind of tax relief. Instead of reducing the entertainment tax gradually, the Punjab government abolished it totally. We all know that more money is required each year to maintain the canal system, but the Punjab government, in order to please the landlord lobby, abolished the irrigation charges altogether. Often the present leadership of Punjab pleads for transferring its powers of taxation to the states. A state which has given up its own legitimate sources of revenue by offering freebies to its population on the eve of every election may also squander away the newly transferred taxes. As long as the Centre collects the taxes, Punjab gets its share based on the formula of sharing of federally collected taxes. The situation would be a lot worse if the present leadership or a similar one in future collects the centrally collected taxes. Punjab Roadways and the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation are losing money. The government should have taken cost-cutting and corruption-reducing steps to make them profitable. But it has taken steps to increase the losses. A lot of air-conditioned buses have been inducted into the fleet of both these undertakings, but the fare has been fixed only 10 per cent higher than the economy class fare. It is about time for Punjab to get out of its financial quagmire. We are transferring our own liabilities to the unborn generations, which is not right.
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VIP security Public
annoyance on the diversion of thousands of policemen on guarding VIPs and their progeny and smoothen the passage of their car-convoys on our crowded roads was well known. What came as a total surprise during the recent Mumbai carnage was that even our small 7,500-strong NSG had not escaped the VIP incursion. As many as 1,700 plus had been drafted for VIP security. Built as we are, VIP security could not have been planned in the creation of the NSG and must have crept in as an after-thought. In the decade of Punjab’s terrorism, Punjab Tractors, which I then headed, was perhaps its worst “institutional” victim. On 21st, March 1991, a bus carrying all the management and supervisors of our foundry division in a village, 25 km away from Chandigarh, was hijacked from its gates at the end of their shift. Driven to a remote paddy field, 28 non-turban wearing Sikh staff from the General Manager down the line, were forced to get down, squat in the paddy field and shot point-blank one by one. Any one who showed any sign of life was shot again. Only four poor souls were let out and made to run away. It was they who trudged back and brought the news to us at 2100 hrs; the magnitude of disaster was not known. It was only by midnight that the police and our factory staff could locate the site and know of the carnage that had been perpetrated. A whole host of anxious families gathered at a midway civil hospital as the news spread. The grim reality that no one had survived unfolded gradually as bodies were brought in by the police. Another’s marriage had been fixed for the coming Baisakhi on 13th April. The General Manager was only 40, having young children 8 and 6. The queue in the crematorium next day was endless. The total group had come to a standstill by 7th April. The future of 4,000 direct and 16,000 indirect workers in the ancillaries and their families was in peril. There was no question; the foundry must be brought back on line and fast. With a bit of persuasion, workers agreed to get back after the kirya ceremonies on 13th provided adequate security was organised. But no amount of persuasion could make the managers and supervisors relent. For me the decision was clear: self running the foundry directly with 300 plus workmen: No managers or supervisors. KPS Gill, the then police boss, was phenomenal in response. A 24X7 turret-mounted machine gun-post was set up on top of the factory building. Two armoured-carriers with gun-bearing policemen escorted our bus convoy for the last 7 km off-the highway immediately. Running a large plant with zero supervisors is not so finely predictable and I hated wasting my time or making people wait. A few days later, the doctor son of his Dy. DG Mangat was shot dead by terrorists in broad daylight opposite the railway station in Patiala, its busiest area. Not a single soul, policemen included, was prepared to bear witness. A terrorist had even dared to scale the walls of the fortress PAP Lines in Jalandhar and taken potshots at DG Julio Robeiro while he was taking his morning constitutional in its lawns. Since the widowed daughter-in-law was dear to us, we had also gone to Jalandhar for his last rites in the crematorium adjoining the PAP Lines. With Governor Siddharth Ray and DG Ribeiro both attending, there were black cats on every roof top and milling among the mourners. But their guns were all slung down. I realised that to a committed shooter, anyone, including Ray and Ribeiro, was a sitting duck. A terrorist had the gumption to chase Ribeiro to super-policed Bucharest after his appointment as Ambassador to Romania. The recall of these incidents made it clear that a determined killer could always have a potshot at you, whatever the degree of security. Didn’t someone kill Kennedy or have a potshot at Ragan. An escape from the “suicide bomber” is just impossible. The decision for me was clear: forget security and live a free man. With security becoming a status symbol, wails of “threat to life” keep mounting all the time. The merciful decision-makers that we have, they accede after a few cries. Categories of security have also multiplied over the years. The numbers for ZZ run into hundreds. The net result is diversion of 30 per cent police force to VIP security. Since the public outcry against the demon of VIP security after the Mumbai carnage has forced the downsizing of this colossal waste and singling out of individuals to exclude is impossible, I, as a seasoned manager, suggest a universal downgrade of category by one step. It will eliminate all heart-burns.
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West Asian crisis explained The
violence in West Asia continues to grow more deadly, creating political concerns throughout the region and the rest of the world. Here are some of the key questions in the crisis: Question: How did the latest round of violence begin? Answer: Over the weekend, Israel began airstrikes against the Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, in response to rocket attacks against nearby Israeli communities. Israel is massing troops in preparation for a possible ground assault. Q: Why is Israel attacking Hamas? A: Israel argues that it was forced to act to curb the Hamas rocket attacks. Q: What is Hamas? A: “Hamas” is an acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement, a fundamentalist group founded in 1987 with the goal of destroying Israel. The group runs social service programs in Gaza and is a political party that won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006. Western governments consider Hamas a terrorist organization and have shunned the group because it has refused to accept Israel’s right to exist. Q: Does Hamas speak for all A: No. Hamas gunmen took control of Gaza in the summer of 2007, causing the unity government with the secularist Fatah faction to collapse. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas controls the West Bank, the larger Palestinian area. The West would prefer to deal with Abbas, who has shown a willingness to negotiate with Israel, and has tried to topple Hamas with economic and political sanctions. Q: If Hamas is so opposed to Israel, why did it agree to a truce? A: Hamas had hoped to put an end to the crippling blockade, but the cease-fire collapsed in November and expired Dec. 19. Abbas has blamed Hamas for prompting the Israel attack by refusing to extend the cease-fire negotiated with Egypt’s help. Q: What has been the response to the Israeli attacks in the Arab world? A: Anti-Israel demonstrations have been held in several countries, including Britain, France and Saudi Arabia. Syria and Iran are strong supporters of Hamas, and Syria has broken off indirect talks with Israel mediated by Turkey and aimed at resolving border issues stemming from past wars. Q: What about Egypt? A: Egypt has opposed fundamentalist Islamic groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, which helped give birth to Hamas. Egypt has a difficult relationship with Hamas-controlled Gaza because they share a border. In the current conflict, Egypt has sought to prevent refugees fleeing the Israeli attacks from crossing into its territory. Clashes have been reported between Palestinians and Egyptian security forces at the border crossing. Q: How do Israeli politics figure in the equation? A: Israel is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections Feb. 10, with hawkish former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a favorite to return to that post, according to some polls. An Israeli television poll showed 81 percent of respondents backed the weekend attacks. — By arrangement with
LA Times-Washington Post
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