Rich terms for WTO
FROM Aukland in New Zealand, the venue of the APEC summit, it is a direct dash to Seattle in the USA, where the next round of talks is to be held under the aegis of the WTO.

The LoC-crossing stunt
THE Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front’s move to cross the Line of Control from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir into the Jammu region is nothing to rejoice about in this country.

Cricket and match-fixing
THERE is both good news and bad news for cricket buffs. The good news is that Wasim Akram, Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed have been found not guilty of the charge of match-fixing levelled against them by fellow-players.

EAST TIMOR AND OUTSIDE WORLD
Grim and bizarre realities
by Inder Malhotra
SO President Habibie of Indonesia has bowed to the inevitable and agreed to the stationing of a UN peacekeeping force in East Timor, a tiny territory of 80,000 people engulfed in the most vicious violence following its overwhelming verdict for independence in a referendum a fortnight ago.

Pakistan’s terrorism network
by Vijai K. Nair
A CONFIDENTIAL report prepared by the Deputy Commissioner of Sheikhupura on behalf of the Government of Pakistan, submitted to the former Prime Minister, Mrs Benazir Bhutto, affirmed the existence of 38 terrorist training centres from where recruits were regularly sent on “jehad” missions to Kashmir and other parts of the world.

Withering memory of Deorala sati
SIKAR (Rajasthan): Draped in a red chunri, a trishul is cemented in the middle of a platform raised at Deorala village in this district. This is the place where a 20-year-young Roop Kanwar had committed sati 12 years ago on the pyre of her 26-year-old husband, Maal Singh. The chunri flutters in the air. Its colour has withered away. The utensils strewn on the platform have already rusted. So have a conch and a bead placed there.

Nanny then and now
by Anjali Majumdar
NOT long ago I had written about nannies, murderous nannies and expensive nannies. And as so often happens, I have since read a tearful plaint by Victoria Mather in the Spectator who asks what has become of the old-fashioned English nanny.

75 Years Ago

September 15, 1924
Land Revenue System
AT a recent meeting of the Council of State, Sir B.N. Sarma, replying to a question on the reform of the land revenue system in India, stated that the Government of India had received the reports of the committees appointed by the Governments of Madras, the Punjab and UP and that some of these suggested the revision of the standard of assessment and an extension of the period of resettlement.

Rich terms for WTO

FROM Aukland in New Zealand, the venue of the APEC summit, it is a direct dash to Seattle in the USA, where the next round of talks is to be held under the aegis of the WTO. The 21 APEC countries, with the super rich USA and Japan to the very poor Laos and Vietnam as members, have cleared their terms of discussion at Seattle in November and the Third World countries have much to worry about these. Unfortunately the underdeveloped sector is too mired in its own problems, or is disunited and weak or plain short-sighted to be alert to safeguard its interests. In the run-up to the summit, which ended on Tuesday, the G-8 industrialised nations have come close to a consensus on two items. It will not fight to keep genetically modified (GM) plant seed outside the ambit of the WTO. Europe will protect its agriculture sector by invoking foolproof local laws. This is a concession to five US giants who control research and development of the new seed which promises a worldwide trade turnover running into billions and billions of dollars. These countries do not need additional legal measures to block GM seed or food items made from such plants. But the Third World is helpless; it is vulnerable to pressure, needs high-yielding varieties to feed the growing population and the scientific base is often too narrow to counter the new threat. There is one bright hope though. Some consumer organisations are planning a massive anti-trust suit against the five US majors and that effort may cast a benevolent shadow across the Seattle talks.

The second worrisome issue is investment. The rich nations are insisting on a multilateral agreement on investment which will make a potential (as against a real) investor a sovereign entity in the host country. From the moment a decision is taken to bring in money either to start an industry or business (FDI), or buy shares or do whatever, the “capitalist” will begin to enjoy all rights and powers which a local counterpart enjoys. This is dramatically different from the present practice. The host country retains powers to impose certain restrictions on the incoming capital and gives full rights only after a new unit comes up. If the Seattle meeting clears the proposal, not only will the developing countries lose vital decision-making roles but also the volume of foreign capital may shrink in the case of countries like India for a variety of reasons. This insidious proposal has to be fought and defeated, but going by the indifferent attitude of the developing nations, India included, the G-8 may push it through. The Third World is relying too much on the sharp differences of opinion within the rich nations’ club. For instance, the USA wants an end to all forms of subsidy on agricultural exports and Europe, in turn, wants talks to go on for three years to yield a single well-integrated package. Then there are open and long-running quarrels over unrestricted import of and investment in television and publishing fields. There are particular to the trans-Atlantic region and are not relevant to the rest of the world. To bank on these skirmishes to pommel the negotiations in favour of the Third World is being over-optimistic.

The LoC-crossing stunt

THE Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front’s move to cross the Line of Control from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir into the Jammu region is nothing to rejoice about in this country. If B.B. Yaser Kashmiri alias Haider Hijazi, the so-called secretary-general of the JKLF headed by Amanullah Khan (the notoriously inconsistent head of his faction of the front) is to be believed, gates will be opened for Pakistan’s mercenaries and other transgressors whose number will be in thousands. They will supposedly be unarmed and peaceful. The proposed en masse LoC crossing stunt is nothing new. The JKLF (A) made similar attempts on October 24, 1992, and on February 11, 1996. The second bid was area-specific. It was made from Chakrodi in PoK facing the Uri sector in North Kashmir. Pakistani soldiers fired at the crossing groups; “many JKLF volunteers” were reported killed. Hijazi changes his stand as he changes his internationally shifting fugitive addresses. He was born in Anantnag and had good schooling in India. When he crossed the LoC from Kupwara in 1990, he roamed all over Europe and in parts of the USA, describing himself as the propaganda secretary of the JKLF (A). His activities, particularly in the UK, were directed against Indian sovereignty. Whenever he spoke of the PoK, he spoke of “aazadi”. There is evidence to prove his liaison with the ISI and anti-India groups in Britain and elsewhere. Now he has clandestinely entered India. Where was he in recent years? In PoK! Nobody should be taken in by his condemnation of ultra-militant Islamic groups like the Jamaat-e-Islami in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-sponsored outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al Badr and Teherik-ul-Jehad.

This self-styled messiah of Kashmiriyat is a charlatan. He condemns the recent violation of the LoC by Pakistani troops and mercenaries and finds people clapping in New Delhi. He also keeps a few epithets in his rhetorical vocabulary to oppose the “proxy war between India and Pakistan”. But discerning Kashmir-watchers do note his open equation of India with Pakistan and his stress on “aazadi”. The LoC-crossing move from the PoK side is a vicious plot, intended to get more Pakistanis into India in the garb of “freedom-seeking people of Kashmir”. To treat him without contempt will be an error. The Harkat, the Laskar, the Tehrik and the Al-Badr are better than the JKLF (A). These Pakistani organisations are clearly marked. The JKLF (A) falls in the category of the enemy within. October 4 will demand great vigilance and protective resolve. Hijazi has spoken disparagingly of Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah. He will do so in respect of the Indian state soon after the day of the “non-violent” intrusion. Let us not forget that the election process will be continuing even then and our security needs outside Jammu and Kashmir will not be reduced. Hijazi should be unmasked and seen in full and real view. His intention is to further Pakistani interests.

Cricket and match-fixing

THERE is both good news and bad news for cricket buffs. The good news is that Wasim Akram, Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed have been found not guilty of the charge of match-fixing levelled against them by fellow-players. Although the findings of the one-man judicial commission have yet to be made officially public, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) evidently wanted not only to be fair but appear to be fair to Wasim Akram and his colleagues and, therefore, lifted the suspension, slapped rather unfairly on them on their return from England. Akram has been included in the squad for the three one-day games against the West Indies to be played in Toronto and the other two players are now technically available for selection on merit. The match-fixing controversy was started by Shane Warne and Tim May of Australia and the refrain was picked up by seemingly disgruntled Pakistani cricketers. A similar attempt to implicate Indian players in the match-fixing controversy was made by Manoj Prabhakar. On hindsight it can be said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India was right in not over-reacting to the allegations of match-fixing and betting levelled by Prabhakar against players whom he was not willing to name. It merely ordered an unofficial enquiry to clear the air as it were. In the case of Akram and his colleagues the PCB, perhaps, placed them under suspension in their own interest. After stunning performances in the World Cup Pakistan virtually handed over the trophy of cricketing supremacy on a platter to Australia in one of the most one-sided finals in the history of the tournament.In Pakistan the game of cricket has almost become a new religion. The players are expected to uphold the basic tenets of the new faith by winning every game they play. If they beat other teams, it is “umra” (off season Haj). But if they beat India, it is like performing a “cricket Haj”.

Akram’s team committed the “double sin” of losing a Super Six game to India and the final to Australia. The followers of the new faith were understandably livid with rage. Cricket-crazy Pakistan may have forgiven Akram for losing the final had his team won the game against India. Now that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is the prime target of politically motivated public ire the PCB decided that it would be safe to lift the suspension and allow Akram to play in Toronto. But the bad news for international cricket is that the match-fixing and betting controversies are not exactly dead. Scotland Yard has been asked to investigate reports that the bookies had offered a bribe of over Rs 7 crore to two English players for “helping” their team lose a Test match to New Zealand. Both New Zealand and England have named an Indian betting syndicate as the source of the attempt to bribe players. It is not that the International Cricket Council under Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya is not aware of the attempts of bookies to turn the game of cricket into a dirty sport by offering bribes to players for throwing away matches. It is acting far too slowly in the matter of appointing a body, with the consent and cooperation of the Test and one-day playing countries, with powers to investigate charges of match-fixing and award punishment to players found guilty after a fair trial. The proposed body should also have the power to stop spiteful board members from victimising players under the pretext of investigating charges of corruption and wrong-doing against the players.

EAST TIMOR AND OUTSIDE WORLD
Grim and bizarre realities
by Inder Malhotra

SO President Habibie of Indonesia has bowed to the inevitable and agreed to the stationing of a UN peacekeeping force in East Timor, a tiny territory of 80,000 people engulfed in the most vicious violence following its overwhelming verdict for independence in a referendum a fortnight ago. It is somewhat reassuring that military leaders of the country, who really call the shots, have publicly backed the President’s decision.

Although the Indonesian military is generally perceived to have orchestrated the savage killings by anti-independence militias in East Timor, it was the Army Chief, General Wiranto, who had given the first indication of Jakarta’s belated willingness to allow foreign troops, under the UN banner, into the chronically troubled East Timor that was once ruled by the Portuguese, as against the rest of Indonesia that was governed by the Dutch.

However, the devil is always in the detail, and the details about the composition of the UN forces, their terms of reference and the time-schedule for their arrival have yet to be worked out. For this purpose, the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Mr Alitas, is at the UN headquarters in New York. Australia, which took the lead in the clamour for an international force to end the carnage in East Timor, has its troops on alert. But evidently they cannot land at their destination until Mr Alitas and the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, have agreed on a framework.

Why Mr Habibie has agreed to what he was resisting earlier, evidently under pressure from the inflamed public opinion and even the military, is obvious enough. He and his generals could not shut their eyes to stark realities. Indonesia continues to reel under the impact of the South-East Asian economic meltdown. Its dependence, economic, military and strategic, on the western countries, principally the US, is immense.

It was, therefore, in no position to go on defying international opinion, especially when led by America. What made the Indonesian position even more untenable was that the referendum was held with the full consent of Mr Habibie’s government. His reluctance to honour the verdict, accompanied by the Indonesian military’s alleged collusion with the thugs and goons determined to drown East Timorese independence in a river of blood, simply could not pass muster.

The other side of the coin was equally manifest. No international force, no matter how powerful, could possibly set foot into East Timor without Jakarta’s consent. Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country and for more than three decades has been firmly in the western camp. It, therefore, is no Serbia. Nor can East Timor be converted into a Kosovo. Now that Indonesia’s consent to a UN force has been obtained, one can only await the future course of events. But there are several important aspects of the East Timor issue which need to be carefully considered in the meantime.

In the first place, East Timor is a distant land of which most people, including those understandably hopping mad over the current savagery there, know very little. Nor are the complexities of the problem, which is a legacy of both colonialism and the Cold War, generally understood. Hence the need to come to grips with some basic facts.

East Timor is only half an island among several thousands that comprise the Indonesian archipelago. It was the only Indonesian territory ruled by the Portuguese. The Dutch, the colonial rulers of the rest of Indonesia, departed in the forties. As elsewhere, the Portuguese stuck on and on. When they finally left in the seventies, they promised the East Timorese independence. This was unacceptable to Indonesia, obviously worried about its own fragile unity. Moreover, independence only for East Timorese made little sense when a large number of Timorese live in West Timor which is integrated into Indonesia, and elsewhere.

However, instead of winning over East Timorese or at least talking to them, Indonesia, under Mr Suharto, took the easy way out. It simply annexed East Timor in 1975, causing great resentment among the local population which slowly festered and later exploded.

And herein comes the second and bizarre reality which makes a mockery of the present self-righteousness of those who are pronouncing anathema on Indonesia. The United States and its allies quietly connived at the Indonesian annexation of East Timor. In any case, they did absolutely nothing to prevent it.

Australia, which is shouting the loudest today, went a long step ahead, and actually recognised that East Timor was a part of Indonesia. It conveniently forgot then what it is pleading today, that it cannot “let down” the East Timorese who had fought valiantly in its defence against Japan during World War II.

And pray how did the East Timor issue land up in the lap of the UN? simply because of the Cold War. It was the late, unlamented Soviet Union that took the matter to Turtle Bay only in order to embarrass the West for its support to Indonesia!

In short, nations take a stand on any issue not on high principle or because of their concern for human rights and other values but in pursuit of their interests at any given time.

An altogether different dimension is added to the East Timor issue in our part of the world. This was best underscored on the morrow of the East Timorese referendum when the Pakistani Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, gleefully seized upon it as a “precedent” useful to him.

In a speech at Neela Bhatt — the self-same village in the Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (PoK) where he had first rattled the nuclear bomb at us in the early nineties — he called upon the international community to hold that a similar referendum in Kashmir.

As was only to be expected, the world at large has either ignored Mr Sharif’s plea or rejected it. No one has done so more contemptuously than the official spokesman of the US State Department, Mr James Rubin.

From all accounts Mr Sharif is not in the habit of letting his mind be cluttered by facts. However, someone in his entourage might show him the UN documents — including those written by Josef Korbal, chairman of the UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP), and father of the US Secretary of State, Mrs Madaleine Albright — that, whatever the dispute between India and Pakistan, “constitutionally Kashmir is a part of India”.

Korbal and other people’s understanding of the situation is based on the fact that the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India under the Indian Independence Act, passed by the British House of Commons to pave the way for independence and partition. Unlike East Timor, it was not annexed. The attempt at annexation was made by Pakistan, under the leadership of the then serving General Akbar Khan.

All that can be allowed to pass. But soon enough New Delhi will have to take a decision on a key question: Indian participation in the peacekeeping force for East Timor. Interestingly, the idea of India being asked to join the force initially came from Indonesia which naturally wants the peace keepers to be from “friendly” and “independent-minded” countries, not from the former colonial or currently dominant powers.

The implied compliment to this country is welcome. Some in New Delhi, always anxious to look for a role in world affairs, may even be tempted to jump at the opportunity. However, it will be unwise to get involved in the can of worms that East Timor seems to have become. Let those who have created the problem handle it as best they can.

Pakistan’s terrorism network
by Vijai K. Nair

A CONFIDENTIAL report prepared by the Deputy Commissioner of Sheikhupura on behalf of the Government of Pakistan, submitted to the former Prime Minister, Mrs Benazir Bhutto, affirmed the existence of 38 terrorist training centres from where recruits were regularly sent on “jehad” missions to Kashmir and other parts of the world.

Facts and figures about Pakistan’s role in fostering terrorism in India compiled by Indian security forces are as follows: Number of terrorist camps in Pakistan 37; number of terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 49; number of Pakistan-run terrorist camps in Afghanistan: 22; total number of hardcore terrorists operating in Jammu and Kashmir: 2300; total number of foreign mercenaries operating in Jammu and Kashmir: 900; number of Pakistan terrorists killed by Indian security forces: 291; number of Indian civilians killed by Pakistan terrorists: over 29,000.

Number of firearms recovered from Pakistan-trained terrorists in India: 47,000; amount of explosives recovered from Pakistan-trained terrorists in India: 60 tons (3,000 kg); number of explosions carried out by Pakistan-trained terrorist in India: 4,730; nationalities of foreign mercenaries operating in Jammu and Kashmir: Pakistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Afghanistan, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq.

Number of people in Jammu and Kashmir killed in violence waged by Pakistan-supported terrorists over the last decade: over 20,000.

Ethnic cleansing in Kashmir: Nearly 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits (original Hindu inhabitants of Kashmir Valley) driven out of their ancestral homeland by Pakistan-supported terrorists.

Pakistan’s response to charges of aiding and abetting terrorism: “It only provides diplomatic and moral support to the terrorists”. This is refuted in “credible reports of official Pakistani support to Kashmir terrorist groups...’’ in the US State Department 1997 report on global terrorism.

Seventy per cent of Pakistan’s budget goes to support the military and debt servicing. A large portion of the military spending goes towards its operations in J&K, including underwriting Kashmiri terrorists. (NY Times, Aug 30; The Tribune, Oct 10, 1998).

Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) is an Islamic militant group, based in Muzaffarabad Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, that seeks Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. It was formed in October, 1993, when two Pakistani political activist groups, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al -Islam and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, merged. According to the leader of the alliance Maulana Saadatullah Khan, the group’s objective is to continue the armed struggle against non-believers and anti-Islamic forces. The HuA uses light and heavy machine guns, assault rifles, mortars, explosives and rockets and is open to all who support the HuA’s objectives and are willing to take the group’s 40-day training course. It has a core militant group of about 300, mostly Pakistani and Kashmiri but includes veterans of the Afghan war.

The US State Department warned Pakistan, in January, 1993, that on account of its alleged support of terrorist activities in Kashmir and Punjab it was being put under “active continuing review” in order to determine whether it should be placed on the terrorist State list. In July, 1993, Pakistan was removed from the informal terrorist “watch list” when the State Department determined that Pakistan had implemented “a policy of ending official support for terrorists in India” However, the 1994 State Department terrorism report, released in April, 1995, stated; “There were credible reports in 1994 of official Pakistani support to Kashmiri militants who undertook attacks of terrorism in India-controlled Kashmir.”

After six years of official silence on Pakistani support for terrorism in Kashmir, the Clinton administration is finally recognising the long-standing Pakistani threat to the region. US President Clinton called Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and asked him to withdraw the invaders from Jammu and Kashmir State of India.

On June 22, 1999 CNN pointed out that the invaders occupying the heights above Dras “had been directing Pakistani artillery until yesterday, forcing the town’s residents to flee.” This underscores the synergetic relationship between the Pakistani military and the invading force in the Kargil-Dras-Batalik regions. CNN elaborated that “the invaders consist of Pakistani soldiers supported by mercenaries belonging to some of the most deadly terrorist organisations in the world today: Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al-Badr, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, all associated with terrorist financier Osama bin Laden.

This was followed by a newspaper article by Pakistani fundamentalist group Jamaat-e-Islam calling on the Pakistani Government to end its hypocrisy and admit the close support its army provides to the Islamic mercenaries in Kashmir.

Finally, in the last week of June, 1999, the USA came out openly holding Pakistan responsible for the fighting in Kargil. It accused Pakistan for exporting Talibanisation to Kashmir, and rejected Pakistani lies about the invaders being “Kashmiri freedom fighters”. Most recently the conferring by the Pakistan Government of gallantry awards to men of the Northern Light Infantry who had led the intrusion into the Dras-Kargil sector finally nailed the Pakistani lie about its direct involvement in promoting terrorism. — (ADNI)

(The writer is a retired Brigadier)

Nanny then and now
by Anjali Majumdar

NOT long ago I had written about nannies, murderous nannies and expensive nannies. And as so often happens, I have since read a tearful plaint by Victoria Mather in the Spectator who asks what has become of the old-fashioned English nanny.

Once upon a time nanny knew best (she says); now the hand that rocks the cradle is wearing blue Chanel nail varnish and clutching the keys to a BMW in order to roar off to the disco. After paens of praise showered on the old nannies (who really deserved it), she concludes that being a nanny is now a career, not a vocation. Certainly no nanny wants to live in these days; they don’t like babies (“I don’t do new-born, only toddlers”), and they certainly know what they like to have provided by their employers.

The following week brought a withering letter to the editor by Mark Tinney: Have Victoria Mather and her friends ever considered bringing up their children themselves? If these ladies are so desperate to continue their highly paid jobs, I would recommend acquiring a puppy instead. (He ends with) Come on, Mrs Mather, if you have children, do them the courtesy of spending some of your valuable time with them.

Hear, hear, Mr Mark Tinney; that’s what I have always believed. If you wives want a career, then do not have babies; it’s as simple as that. I refused to work even though we lived on the campus of the residential school where my sons studied and my husband worked. (Mr Hari Dang, the head, simply couldn’t believe it when I turned down his offer of a permanent teaching job even though we were not exactly in clover at the time.)

And now the servant bug — and not just nannies — has hit America judging from an article in the Wall Street Journal. It quotes a history professor, a confessed leftist, as saying that when he was young he didn’t think that he “would be a landlord and employing servants”. He and his wife, who both work, have a live-in maid, a part-time gardener and a pool cleaner. And listen to this: his wife has now hired a woman to drive her from the station to her place of work.

And it is not only the rich who have help in the house; they have always had this. But how about a pizza outlet manager and a cashier at a store and a plumber are all clients of Maria America, a Southern California agency. But it is not only the rise in incomes which has been responsible for this phenomenon. It is also the cheap labour of Mexican immigrants, many of them illegal. And don’t forget the social status bit as a final add on.

Another professor, who has a nanny alright, refuses to take on a part-time gardener. Mowing your own lawn used to be a requisite for house proud Americans; now he is the only on the street to do so.

So you seniors out in Silicon Valley to help your children, perhaps you can switch to looking after other people’s children — and earn handsomely in the bargain, never mind your status. It would help to be able to drive, and for the man to be willing to clean the pool and mow the lawn.

Awaiting judgement

Withering memory of Deorala sati

SIKAR (Rajasthan): Draped in a red chunri, a trishul is cemented in the middle of a platform raised at Deorala village in this district. This is the place where a 20-year-young Roop Kanwar had committed sati 12 years ago on the pyre of her 26-year-old husband, Maal Singh. The chunri flutters in the air. Its colour has withered away. The utensils strewn on the platform have already rusted. So have a conch and a bead placed there.

A posse of six erect Rajasthan Armed Police constables stand guard at the 5’x5’ platform. If they see anyone approaching the satisthal, their eyes bulge out in anger: “How dare you trespass here? Don’t you know it is a prohibited area. Go and see the prohibitory orders promulgated by the District Magistrate.” The orders are pasted on the wall of an old mosque under a pipal tree nearby.

The constables warn: “If you click your camera for taking a photograph of the sati site, it will be smashed. You will be arrested and thrown in jail for flouting the prohibitory orders.”

A police post has sprung up at a stone’s throw to assist the constables standing guard. Cop Ramesh Lamba, who mans the post, says that the entire satisthal spread over a few acres of land has been acquired by the government. No one, not even the family members of Roop Kanwar, is allowed either to visit or perform pooja at the sati site.

A few hundred yards away is the sprawling old-fashioned house where Roop Kanwar had come as a bride on January 19, 1987, only to become a sati in less than nine months. A 70-year-old Mangesh Singh, elder brother of the Roop Kanwar’s father-in-law, and other members of the family sit in the verandah.

They are completely engrossed in discussing the political scenario in Rajasthan. A mention of Roop Kanwar sends them into a rage. “Our life has been made hell by the media. Scribes and lensmen not only from India but also from foreign lands go on tormenting us even 12 years after she committed sati.”

Singh adds: “You must know Rajasthan is known for chivalry and sacrifice. If our young men lay down their lives in defending our motherland, our women bravely commit sati as they feel that their life has no meaning after the death of their husbands.”

He says that it is not only Rajput women but also those belonging to other castes who commit sati. And he names a few of them. They are a Bania girl, a Yadav girl and a goldsmith girl of Jhunjuno, Kriri and Kotri villages, respectively. A potter girl of Kathu Shamji village, he reveals, had committed sati even before marriage after her engagement. Such are the “high traditions” of Rajasthan. He, admits, however, that all these sati deaths took place years before September 4, 1987. Roop Kanwar was the last to commit sati in the region.

It was the afternoon of September 3. A company of 60 more constables descended on the village. On seeing them one got the impression that they had been sent here for the September 5 parliamentary elections . But it was not so. They had been deputed to man all entries to the village to effectively prevent activists of various women organisations from sneaking into Deorala and reaching the satisthal on the 13th death anniversary of Roop Kanwar which fell on September 4.

Roop Kanwar’s father has since passed away. Her elder brother, Narain Singh, who is settled at Himmat Nagar ( a part of Jaipur) and runs a transport business, betrays no remorse over the sati of his sister. On the contrary, he eulogises her “brave” action. She was not coerced into committing sati by any of her in-laws, he claims. It was her own voluntary action.

Asked why none of his family members attended her funeral, he quipped: “We had gone to Ranchi where our father lived. Therefore, we did not get the message.” Asked whether anyone of them ever visited Deorala village after September 4, 1987, he casually remarked: “Once or twice.” He was reluctant to talk beyond this.

Notwithstanding what the in-laws and the family of Roop Kanwar might say, there is a clear social stand-off on the sati issue. Various social and women organisations continue to agitate the matter at different forums. They seem determined to take it to some logical conclusion.

Kavita Srivastava, a spirited social worker and Secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties who championed the anti-sati movement in Rajasthan, for example, says that Rajputs of the region assembled under the banner of the Sati Dharam Raksha Samiti to counter the agitation launched by the Sati Vidhva Dahan Virodhi Organisation formed by women activists.

While the Sati Dharam Raksha Samiti made the preservation of the sati system a question of its “Aan, baan and shan”, the Sati Vidhva Dahan Virodhi Organisation raised the slogan of “Sawal hai nari ki pehchan ka, sawal hai nari ke samman ka.”

Women were so agitated, adds Srivastava, that they preferred a petition in the Rajasthan High Court for restraining the in-laws of Roop Kanwar from performing the “Chunri Mahotsav”. The High Court granted their request. “But you see the audacity of these people, they went ahead with the chunri mahotsav. Thousands, if not lakhs, assembled at the sati site on September 16, 1987, and the entire district administration remained helpless and mute spectators. Offerings running into lakhs of rupees were made. And until the mahotsav was over, sword-wielding Rajputs guarded the sati site.”

Not discouraged, the Sati Vidhva Dahan Virodhi Organisation intensified its agitation. It held demonstrations in villages, towns and cities to create a public awakening against the sati system. The organisation finally prevailed upon the government to enact the Sati Prevention Act.

Roop Kanwar was the ninth sati in the Shekhawat region and 26th in Rajasthan. Before the enactment of the Sati Prevention Act, there was no provision of law under which abettor of the crime could be prosecuted.

It was the sustained women’s agitation that compelled the government to register a case under Sections 302, 149, 120 and 201, I.P.C, and arrest 32 persons, including in-laws of Roop Kanwar, between September and October, 1987. Among the arrested were three minors, including Pushpinder Singh, younger brother of Roop Kanwar’s husband who had lit the pyre. He was charged with the offence of murder.

Statements of all the accused were recorded by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Jaipur, Ms Chander Kala, under Section 164, Cr P.C. By November, 1987 all suspects were, however, enlarged on bail.

After the case was committed for trial to the Additional Sessions Judge of Neem Ka Thana, the Public Prosecutor preferred an application before the Sikar Sessions Judge and the Secretary for Law and Justice of Rajasthan for the transfer of this case to the court of Additional Sessions Judge at Bharatpur. He apprehended that Neem Ka Thana was a predominantly a Rajput area and, therefore, the witnesses were vulnerable to influence.

This plea of the Public Prosecutor was, however, turned down both by the Sessions Judge and the Secretary for Law and Justice.

At the time of framing charges, the Additional Sessions Judge directed the prosecution to charge the accused persons under Section 147, IPC, as well. The defence contested this order before the High Court. In its verdict pronounced in 1990 the High Court upheld the order of the trial court.

The trial, which took off three years after the incident, continued for seven years. During this period as many as nine Additional Sessions Judges came and went. And as feared by the Public Prosecutor, all the eye-witnesses — Pandit Babu Lal, who had performed the last rites of Roop Kanwar and her husband, Bodh Khati, who had supplied wood for the pyre and Bansi, a barber, turned hostile.

Similarly, other prosecution witnesses — Head Constable Chander Ram Rathi, who had recorded the FIR at the Ajitgarh police station, Kalyan Mal, Tehsildar and Constable Ram Avtar Singh — retracted from their earlier statements and told the court that when they reached Deorala village the pyre was already burning. They denied that they saw Roop Kanwar being taken to the cremation ground by her in-laws.

The failure of the prosecution to get its version corroborated by any independent witness led to the acquittal of all suspects on October 12, 1996, by the Additional Sessions Judge, Mr Om Parkash Gupta.

As for the trial of three minor suspects, their case is still pending before the Juvenile Court at Jaipur.

While the judgement was hailed by the Rajputs, the acquittal of the accused fuelled a fresh agitation by women organisations. Hundreds of activists from 40 odd organisations laid a siege to the Rajasthan Secretariat on October 24, 1996. The processionists were led by the Mahila Atyachar Virodhi Jan Andolan. They waved black flags and shouted slogans.

Following a public outcry against the acquittal, the State government filed on November 8, 1996, an appeal in the High Court against the judgement of the Additional Sessions Judge.

Mr Abhay Bhandari, former Additional Advocate-General, who preferred the appeal, says that the judgement of the trial court has been contested inter alia on the ground that it did not consider the statements of witnesses recorded by the Chief Judicial Magistrate under Section 164, Cr PC.

Mr Bhandari also challenged the finding of the trial court that there had been no eyewitness account of the burning of Roop Kanwar on the pyre of h0-er deceased husband. “There was enough circumstantial evidence to prove that force was used to make her sit on the pyre,” he adds.

The trial court (he pointed out) stated that none of the eyewitnesses proved the prosecution story. They did not see Roop Kanwar either on the pyre or being burnt alive on it and as such their evidence did not substantiate any material aspects of the charges of murder or criminal conspiracy.

Mr Bhandari maintains that the Additional Sessions Judge completely disregarded the circumstantial evidence. For instance, the parents of Roop Kanwar were not informed about the death of Maal Singh. They learnt about it and the burning of Roop Kanwar only through newspaper reports.

Again, Roop Kanwar was dressed up as a bride and this could have been possible only if the family members had decked her up in the bridal finery, including jewellery and mehendi.

The appeal argues that the family members of Maal Singh did not inform the police about the chances of sati taking place. If they wanted to prevent it, they could have at least attempted to stop her.

Mr Bhandari says that even Babu Lal Pandit, in his cross-examination, stated: “I was leading the funeral procession of Maal Singh which had about sixty to 65 persons. I saw Roop Kanwar when we were going through the market. She had done ‘Shringar’. People in the funeral procession were chanting: “Sati Mata Roop Kanwar ki jai”.

Thus even this statement proves that the in-laws of Roop Kanwar abetted her to commit sati.

The High Court admitted the appeal on August 2, 1997, and summoned the entire record of the case from the court of the Additional Sessions Judge.

Now the case is in the queue. No one knows when it will be heard and decided.

75 YEARS AGO

September 15, 1924
Land Revenue System

AT a recent meeting of the Council of State, Sir B.N. Sarma, replying to a question on the reform of the land revenue system in India, stated that the Government of India had received the reports of the committees appointed by the Governments of Madras, the Punjab and UP and that some of these suggested the revision of the standard of assessment and an extension of the period of resettlement.

He did not say when the reports of the committees from other provinces would be received, but stated that the suggestions made could be discussed in the Assembly.

In the first place, the inordinate delay in the settlement of this important question is to be deprecated. The Government of India should do something to hurry up the matter.

Secondly, the serious discontent among the agricultural population arising out of the present land revenue system should be fully realised by the government .

The only ostensible reason for the Government’s adhering to the old system is that it is based on the traditional method of taxation in India. But it is forgotten that the economic conditions of those days have entirely changed and have rendered this primitive method unworkable.

It is hoped that the present system, cumbrous and costly as it is, will be wiped out with the least regret and an up-to-date, simple and equitable method will be adopted as soon as possible.