E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

All aboard peace wagon 
AS they say, it takes two for a tango. In the case of Kashmir, it takes three to strike a deal. For the first time all parties have boarded the peace train, no matter with what degree of conviction and commitment. The solution lies in finding something that serves the interests of the Indian government and the Kashmiris.

Avoidable postal strike 
THE countrywide strike by postal employees that began at 6 a.m. yesterday shows that both the government and its employees are not bothered about the difficulties the public suffers because of their actions and inactions. In the present case, it is the government which is mainly to blame. It refuses to view the problems of the postal staff with utmost seriousness. Afterall, they are manning the world's largest postal network. 

Patch-up in HP, for now!
THE 10-day-old dark clouds over the political horizon of Himachal Pradesh seem to have blown over, with only a lot of thunder and hardly any showers. According to the compromise formula hammered into shape after endless rounds of deliberations at unearthly hours, the controversial Public Works Minister, Mr Mohinder Singh, is out and so is the Officer on Special Duty in the Chief Minister's secretariat, Mr Onkar Thakur, who had earned the ire of the dissidents.

opinion

THE VEERAPPAN SAGA
Will the drama ever end?
by T. V. Rajeswar
THE Veerappan story has taken so many twists and turns all these years that it may be presumptuous to call the latest phase as final. But one hopes that it will be. Cutting sandalwood in the forests of Satyamangalam-Thalavadi, overlapping the three states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, was only his part-time brigandage. He had also killed a large number of elephants for their tusks since the ivory trade was far more lucrative. 

Racial prejudice entrenched in Australia
by S. P. Seth
THE recent Olympics in Australia were celebrated with great gusto. And there was much happiness at the testimonial from Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympics Committee, that the Sydney Games were the best ever. Before the Olympics, there was a feeling in the country that Australia would somehow, somewhere along the line, stuff up the 2000 Games.

On Record

“I made ‘spectacular’ difference”
Delhi Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma insists that there is a “spectacular” difference in the attitude of police personnel as well as their output compared to what it was when he assumed stewardship of the law and order machinery in the national capital. At the same time he is candid in admitting that there is an increase in crime under certain heads like rape, robbery and kidnapping.

analyses

Burning conscience
By Abu Abraham
PRESIDENT Harry Truman was reported to have said, when asked if he had felt any remorse about dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki: “I haven’t lost any sleep over it.”

A symbol of times past
From David Hearst in Warsaw
IT DWARFS everything around it. In its shadow lies the old city, reconstructed brick by brick as a monument to the 1944 Warsaw uprising, and the Marriott hotel. But it is neither a monument to Polish heroism against the Nazi occupiers, nor an icon to Poland’s western future. It is the Palace of Culture and Science - all 30 floors, 3,000 rooms, 817,000 cubic metres of it.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

All aboard peace wagon 

AS they say, it takes two for a tango. In the case of Kashmir, it takes three to strike a deal. For the first time all parties have boarded the peace train, no matter with what degree of conviction and commitment. The solution lies in finding something that serves the interests of the Indian government and the Kashmiris. Pakistan and its militant outfits may not want to see the end of senseless violence but they cannot oppose efforts in that direction either. So powerful has been the demonstrated sense of relief over the Ramzan ceasefire. The Indian initiative is a two-edged weapon aimed at the Hurriyat and the neighbour. Ramzan is a holy month and it would not pay to encourage killing of civilians, including Muslims, in the valley. Two, like in July when Hizbul Mujahideen declared unilateral ceasefire, the people grabbed the latest offering and clutched it to their bosom as never before. The giant tide of welcome devoured all old hawkish beliefs and postures and, as it appears right now, never to surface again. This jumps out of the reaction of both the Hurriyat and Pakistan. The first has not only warmed up to the move but two of its leaders are camping in New Delhi ostensibly to attend an iftar party at the Pakistan High Commission but to open tentative talks with any representative of the Indian government. Hurriyat chief Abdul Ghani Bhat says he and his colleagues are ready to start negotiations without insisting on the old precondition of Pakistan being a party. Another Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq is more enthusiastic as his youth warrants: “Things are moving very speedily on Kashmir.” The surprising change of heart, howsoever, is of Pakistan. Until now it routinely denounced any peace offer from India as a dirty trick. Now it says it does not mind if the proposed talks are broken into phases and held on a bilateral basis. It has named the Hurriyat as the spokesman of the people of the valley, instead of demanding a prominent seat for the jehadis. It is a dramatic change and Prime Minister Vajpayee’s cautious and qualified welcome says it all. More, the Musharraf regime has promised maximum restraint along the line of control, meaning there will be no firing across the line.

As one newspaper tells it, a thick blanket of peace has enveloped the valley and its effect is palpable. On Monday there was a landmine blast killing two jawans and the escort party opened fire. But just a few nervous and knee-jerk rounds and normalcy returned almost immediately. Previously local residents would have shut themselves inside their house fearing a ferocious shootout. This return of confidence is as much a proof of the overwhelming hold of a desire for peace as a welcome response to the exemplary restraint being shown by the security forces. This is a massive factor to build on as far as India is concerned and an irresistible force as far as the other two parties are concerned. The Hurriyat will not like to be cast aside by being irrationally hostile. More, if its ageing and young leaders see in early normalcy a chance to ride to power, they would cooperate with the government even if Pakistan were to block their way. Islamabad’s interest is to ensure that it is not sidelined nor its people feel cheated out of the Kashmir deal. It is possible to draw it into broad negotiations but keep Kashmir forever out of its grips. India is thus the key player and its peace intentions are both genuine and it is the only party that can work for and sustain peace. But a word of caution. Ministers and officials have to be in the background till an agreement is stitched together. A group of respected leaders from the valley can take the first difficult steps, modifying a demand here and inserting an assurance there. They will, if they succeed, run away with some accolade and vie for a slice of political power. No harm there. Democracy is all about competition for popular trust.

Avoidable postal strike 

THE countrywide strike by postal employees that began at 6 a.m. yesterday shows that both the government and its employees are not bothered about the difficulties the public suffers because of their actions and inactions. In the present case, it is the government which is mainly to blame. It refuses to view the problems of the postal staff with utmost seriousness. Afterall, they are manning the world's largest postal network. Crores of Indians still depend on it for the delivery of their messages, money orders, etc, particularly in the rural and hill areas. The revolution in the field of communications, leading to the advent of the Internet and courier services, is yet to benefit the real India that lives in its villages. Moreover, even in this age and time economic activity can get crippled if the postal strike prolongs. If this is the reality, why has the Communications Minister, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, failed to convince the representatives of the postal staff that the assurances given to them on May 1 this year, which led to the withdrawal of the threatened strike then, will be implemented in the larger interest of the nation? What is the meaning of a commitment that the government makes when it has no guts to translate them into a reality? Reports suggest that the Minister has expressed his willingness to accept only three minor demands which form a part of the charter of grievances submitted by the Joint Action Committee of these employees. For the rest he gave some explanation which forced the committee to go ahead with its planned agitation programme. Now the postal employees are determined to continue their strike so long as the government does not decide to implement the Talwar Committee report relating to a wage revision, regularisation of over three lakh extra-departmental (ED) workers mostly deployed in the rural areas and certain other benefits.

The committee, constituted under the chairmanship of Justice Talwar, submitted its report to the government on April 30, 1997. But the Communications Ministry is yet to take any decision on it despite the fact that the whole exercise was the result of a prolonged struggle to remove some of the genuine grievances of the postal employees. The case of the ED workers is quite pitiable. They are paid a paltry sum of Rs 420 per month — which comes to Rs 14 a day — whereas the entire rural postal service largely depends on them! They get no other benefit as available to the regular staff. Their plight does not end there. When they go on leave even on medical grounds they are supposed to make an alternative arrangement — which means paying from their own pocket to their replacements. At many places they have to shell out as much as Rs 60 a day to their replacements to save their job. This is exploitation of the worst kind which the Talwar Committee wanted to end. But the tragedy is that the government remains unmoved to either end the system of ED workers or improve their working condition. In fact, Mr Paswan could have saved the nation from facing yet another strike by these key employees if he had accepted the demand relating to the ED workers plus the three for which he had given his nod and devised some formula to take care of the rest during a fixed period. Strikes tar the image of the country in the Internet era. All efforts should be made to prevent such an ugly development. 

Patch-up in HP, for now!

THE 10-day-old dark clouds over the political horizon of Himachal Pradesh seem to have blown over, with only a lot of thunder and hardly any showers. According to the compromise formula hammered into shape after endless rounds of deliberations at unearthly hours, the controversial Public Works Minister, Mr Mohinder Singh, is out and so is the Officer on Special Duty in the Chief Minister's secretariat, Mr Onkar Thakur, who had earned the ire of the dissidents. The two sides have smoked the peace pipe for public consumption, but will they live happily ever after? No chance. It is a temporary reprieve at best and the factional fissures are as big as those on the tracks which caused last Saturday's railway accident in the neighbouring Punjab. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has predictably announced that all concerned will work together to strengthen the party but that is a task well beyond their impaired capacity. Mr Dhumal himself emerges badly scarred and weakened from the ugly episode. The party's image has received a severe beating and the next time someone says that the BJP is a disciplined party will evoke derisive laughter. That the Shanta Kumar group is alienated from the ruling faction was known to everyone all along. Now the fratricidal war is a matter of roadside discussions. Leave alone real unity, it will be quite a task to maintain even a façade of unity. Mr Dhumal has to effect a "balance" not only in the party but also in the ministry, following the ouster of Mr Mohinder Singh.

Mr Dhumal has forwarded a weak excuse that he was sitting over the minister's resignation letter only because his daughter was to get married on December 11. But nobody is convinced. Why did he try to shield him all along when there were serious allegations of irregularities against him? What is even more unpalatable for the BJP is the fact that the dissidents washed the dirty party linen in public. And was the linen dirty! It will be quite a task to live down the allegations made by its own party members. The Congress is all set to gleefully use these as cue cards during the panchayat and urban bodies elections. Ironically, the concerted drive by the Congress might have dissuaded some BJP men from actually pulling the rug from under the feet of Mr Dhumal. The party general secretary in charge of the state, Mr Narendra Modi, has also gotten duly tarred. Mr Dhumal may call it an inter-party affair which does not call for the intervention of the central party leaders but that is exactly what may have to be done to ensure that a similar situation does not develop again. What has just happened ought to be taken as the final warning signal. The BJP is not in the pink of health in the rest of the states where it is in power. It cannot withstand such rumblings in the hill state. 

THE VEERAPPAN SAGA
Will the drama ever end?
by T. V. Rajeswar

THE Veerappan story has taken so many twists and turns all these years that it may be presumptuous to call the latest phase as final. But one hopes that it will be. Cutting sandalwood in the forests of Satyamangalam-Thalavadi, overlapping the three states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, was only his part-time brigandage. He had also killed a large number of elephants for their tusks since the ivory trade was far more lucrative. The illicit sandalwood and elephant tusks were smuggled through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with the connivance of forest officials and police officers. It was not unlikely that some politicians were also involved in protecting him in the illicit trade. Veerappan was utterly ruthless and cruel in dealing with forest and police officers who challenged his activities, and he shot and killed them without compunction and in a few cases even beheaded the victims and exhibited them as warning to others.

The Special Task Forces from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had been mounting operations since 1983. Walter Dawaram was something of a super cop from Tamil Nadu and he claims that between his Karnataka counterpart Shankar Bidry and himself they had eliminated over a 100 of Veerappan’s gang and brought the number to just five. Dawaram contends that if only he had been allowed to continue he would have eliminated the Veerappan gang altogether. This was not possible because of the change of government and the replacement of Ms Jayalalitha by Mr M. Karunanidhi. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister cynically exploited the Veerappan factor during the last parliamentary and assembly elections through Sun TV which is owned by Mr Kalanidhi Maran, son of Mr Murasoli Maran, a nephew of Mr Karunanidhi. Sun TV showed at prime time an interview with Veerappan. During his rambling interview, which was extended and shown two or three days, Veerappan had heaped praise on Mr Karunanidhi and condemned Ms Jayalalitha and her foster sister, Sashikala.

Apart from maintaining police posts at the entry points of the forests, neither Tamil Nadu nor Karnataka took any steps to apprehend Veerappan and his gang during the past three or four years. Certain serious developments had taken place during the past two years in the forest area falling within Tamil Nadu as it became home to certain secessionist militants. The secessionists had set up organisations named the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army and the Tamil Nadu Retrieval Force. The secessionists were partly militants and partly ideologues and did not hesitate to rob banks and kill colleagues suspected of betrayal. Che Guevera, the Bolivian who inspired a generation of young people in Latin America and elsewhere, was their hero and so has been the LTTE supremo, Prabhakaran, purportedly fighting for the liberation of the Tamils of Sri Lanka and setting up of an independent nation of Eelam. There was much intercourse between the LTTE and the Tamil Nadu secessionists and some of them had undergone military training there. After several encounters with the Tamil Nadu police the hardcore elements of these groups were reduced to five who were apprehended and jailed. A few of the escaped militants made their way to Veerappan’s hideout primarily to protect themselves from being apprehended by the police. During their long stay in the forests with Veerappan they seem to have “educated” him on the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka. The shrewd Veerappan decided to emerge as a fighter for the Tamil cause.

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had more or less forgotten Veerappan, but he and his new friends were planning ways and means of getting their jailed colleagues out. The list of the jailed included apart from the five in Tamil Nadu, 121 TADA detainees in Karnataka. Rajkumar, the popular film hero of Karnataka, emerged as an obvious choice for kidnapping since he was regularly visiting his farmhouse at the edge of the forest falling within Tamil Nadu. Veerappan’s plan to kidnap was known to the Tamil Nadu police and it was duly conveyed to the Karnataka police. Even the Chief Ministers of the two states were aware of this. Yet neither the Karnataka police informed the Tamil Nadu police in July last week when Rajkumar went to his farmhouse nor did the Tamil Nadu police provide him with a guard suo motu. So it was quite easy for Veerappan, accompanied by three or four of his gang, to walk into the farmhouse and kidnap Rajkumar.

Now the drama unfolded with the old emissary Gopal being sent to the forests. Veerappan’s initial demands included release of the five militants belonging to the TNLF and the TNRF held in Tamil Nadu jail, 121 TADA detenus held in Karnataka, compensation for the victims of the 1991 Cauvery riots in Karnataka, installation of a statue of Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore, an increase in the procurement price of tea, award of higher wages for estate labour, etc. This was the first time that Veerappan had come up with political demands with far-reaching implications. The unprecedented unrest and disturbances in Bangalore over the kidnapping of Rajkumar unnerved both Chief Ministers, who promptly announced their willingness to consider the demands of Veerappan favourably.

Both governments would have gone ahead and released all the prisoners, had not the father of a Karnataka police officer, who was brutally killed by Veerappan, filed a petition in the High Court at Bangalore. This was dismissed but he went to the Supreme Court which stayed their release and asked for an explanation from the state governments. When they were submitted, the Supreme Court Bench passed severe strictures: It asked the Chief Ministers why they failed to nab Veerappan during the past three years and bluntly said that they should quit if they were unable to rule. Meanwhile, Gopal undertook three more trips to the forests. Suddenly P. Nedumaran emerged as the chosen negotiator for Veerappan, who also named two others who were suggested to him by LTTE-TLA-TLRF contacts. Nedumaran was once a close follower of Kamaraj, but later he drifted away and became a strong votary of the Tamil cause, both in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu. He also developed close links with the LTTE and Prabhakaran. Though he has not openly said that he stands for an independent Tamil Nadu, that is indeed his unspoken objective. The first trip of Nedumaran failed to produce any results and when his choice as a mediator was severely criticised by the Congress and others, he declined to go a second time but he was prevailed upon by the pleadings of Rajkumar’s two sons. Nedumaran claimed that Defence Minister George Fernandes also, among others, requested him to go.

By the time Nedumaran went in a second time, the Supreme Court had finally decided against the release of the militants held in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. During the final negotiations by Nedumaran, three persons from Karnataka, including Dr Banu, a non-practising doctor but doing granite trade, arrived there without the knowledge of the Karnataka police. The significant pointer was that the old emissary Gopal was quietly left behind. What actually transpired in the negotiations are not known, but Rajkumar was let off and Veerappan and his gang took to the deep forest. Rajkumar made some incoherent and contradictory statements after his release. More importantly, everyone denies that any ransom amount was paid to Veerappan though rumours persist that a few crores were paid to him. On return from the forests, Nedumaran released to the press a statement given to him by the TNLA and TNRF militants claiming that their fight for ‘‘the liberation of the Tamil nation” would continue. Nedumaran, on his own part, pleaded that Veerappan was a humane person and should not be pursued by police forces.

A recent report suggests that it was Prabhakaran who had a final say on the release of Rajkumar. Mr V. Gopalaswamy (Vaiko) was reportedly requested by Mr George Fernandes to see that something was done to get Rajkumar released. The obvious suggestion was that Vaiko should contact his good friend Prabhakaran. All this does not augur well for the country and Tamil Nadu in particular. The DMK, the MDMK and the PMK, the three political parties of Tamil Nadu which are partners in the NDA government, have their ill-conceived sympathies for the LTTE movement. The Centre seems incapable of disciplining them.

Ms Jayalalitha, the irrepressible opponent of Mr Karunanidhi, recently posed 31 questions on the Veerappan affair, and one of them was if Veerappan was given a promise of safe passage to the LTTE territory. This was not an entirely unfounded poser and it remains to be seen whether Veerappan and his militant friends will ever be caught or eliminated.

The writer is a former Governor of West Bengal and Sikkim. 

Racial prejudice entrenched in Australia
by S. P. Seth

THE recent Olympics in Australia were celebrated with great gusto. And there was much happiness at the testimonial from Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympics Committee, that the Sydney Games were the best ever. Before the Olympics, there was a feeling in the country that Australia would somehow, somewhere along the line, stuff up the 2000 Games. There were a number of glitches and controversies leading up to the Games. Therefore, when everything finally happened according to the plan (even better), there was understandably great rejoicing and self-congratulation. More so because, for a country of about 20 million people, Australia’s medal tally was in the top league.

The writer is based in Sydney, Australia.

“I made ‘spectacular’ difference”

Delhi Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma insists that there is a “spectacular” difference in the attitude of police personnel as well as their output compared to what it was when he assumed stewardship of the law and order machinery in the national capital. At the same time he is candid in admitting that there is an increase in crime under certain heads like rape, robbery and kidnapping.

Mr Sharma, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the UP cadre, who joined as the chief of the Delhi police last year, dismissed the suggestion that the metropolis had become the country’s crime capital. Emphasising that no society was crime free, he claimed that crime in Delhi was far less than in many other places.

In a freewheeling interview, Mr Sharma said he has trying to change the behaviour of the Delhi police to a people friendly one. He acknowledged he had not been able to rid the force of corruption but assured that the situation would improve in the next few months.

Following are the excerpts from the interview:

Q: It has been quite an eventful stint for you as the chief of the Delhi police since June last year. What do you consider your biggest achievement?

A: Mr Sharma: After taking over as Police Commissioner, my main achievement has been motivating the Delhi police. When I took charge I found that Delhi police officials and men were quiet hesitant in taking action in certain matters. Right from the beginning I motivated them to enforce law to the maximum possible extent without fear or favour, be it notorious criminals or important people who had taken law into their own hands. I had warned them that while enforcing law they themselves must remain within the limits of law and take action as per legal procedures laid down. I had given them an assurance that I shall stand by all policemen who had enforced law in letter and spirit and in the correct manner. I had also made it clear that those policemen functioning outside the ambit of the law will never get my support and, in fact, I shall myself take action against them. There is a spectacular difference in the present attitude of the Delhi police as well as their output as compared to what it was when I took over.

Q: In what sphere do you think you have not been able to make a significant dent?

A: One of the most important targets set by me was to change the behaviour of the Delhi police and make it public friendly. This, of course, is the most difficult objective. Even though I have managed to achieve it to some extent, a lot still remains to be done.

Q: Delhi is increasingly being called the country’s crime capital. What are you doing to control it?

A: It is wrong to call Delhi the crime capital. The crime rate of Delhi is far less than that of many other places. It is also wrong to say there is an increase of crime though there is a slight increase in cases of robbery, rape and kidnapping. Overall, there is a drop in crime compared to the previous year. There is no society which can be absolutely free of crime. What the police is required to do is to limit crime to the extent possible by taking strong action against criminals and keeping a close watch on their activities. Ever since I took over as Police Commissioner, the Delhi police has taken very strong action against notorious gangs of criminals by either liquidating or arresting them. It is our constant endeavour to control crimes. The drive against robbery and kidnapping will be intensified further.

Q: How do you propose to deal with cases of high-handedness on the part of some Delhi police officials, especially at the grassroots level to restore confidence among the masses?

A: One such case of police high-handedness was reported from the Usmanpur area in North-East Delhi. I have taken strong action in this case by registering a case of murder against the policemen concerned. One sub-inspector and one constable were arrested and sent to jail and two other constables who are absconding have already been placed under suspension. Efforts are on to arrest them. The entire police force in Delhi has been strictly instructed to ensure that such incidents did not recur.

Q: Is there any accountability on the part of Deputy Commissioners of Police for major crimes taking place in their districts?

A: This is not correct. Some of the Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) who were not found up to the mark have been transferred to non-district force. Mere commission of crime cannot become a cause of action against a DCP. His overall performance and efforts to control crime in the area of his jurisdiction are what matter. I am satisfied with the performance of the present DCPs posted in districts. They are trying hard to control criminal activity in their respective jurisdiction and, therefore, need to be encouraged.

Q: With 58 murders being reported in October, do you think there was some laxity on the part of the law and order machinery to prevent crime?

A: The figure quoted is incorrect. There were lesser number of murders in October. The number of murders in October are less compared to the corresponding month in 1999 and 1998. In fact, the offence of murder has declined substantially in Delhi during the current year.

Q: You had promised to rid the Delhi police of corruption and increase convictions through scientific investigations when you assumed charge as Commissioner. Your comment?

A: Corruption is a social evil. It is almost impossible to control it completely. Whenever cases of corruption come to light very severe action has been taken. As far as conviction of cases is concerned a lot of importance is being attached to it. A legal cell has been established in police headquarters to monitor all cases of acquittal. When police officers are found responsible for the acquittal of a case on account of poor investigation or lack of pairavi, severe action has been taken against them also. Improvement in this regard is expected in the next few months.

— Syed Ali Ahmed

Burning conscience
By Abu Abraham

PRESIDENT Harry Truman was reported to have said, when asked if he had felt any remorse about dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki: “I haven’t lost any sleep over it.”

Now I find that one of the pilots of that bomber that took the bomb to Hiroshima is equally without regret. “I’d do it again, says Hiroshima bomber’s American pilot” ran the headline over a recent news item in the Times of India. It’s about Paul Tibbets, the man who was the pilot of Enola Gay, the plane used to drop the atom bomb. He is now, at 85, “an amiable old man with a thick crop of white hair.” Over 1,40,000 people were killed in the atomic blast and thousands of others died from the after effects of radiation. “I didn’t realise at the time what effect dropping the atom bomb would have, he told a convention of teachers in Dallas, Texas, who had invited him to share his memories of that fateful day, August 6, 1945. But he added that he would do it again if the war situation demanded it. He received a “thunderous applause.”

Doomsday seems to have enthusiastic supporters — in many parts of the world, not only America. American citizens have so far never experienced bombs falling on them. So one can understand their complacency about nuclear war.

But the case of Claude Eatherly, a fellow pilot on the same mission to Hiroshima, is different. It became a celebrated case attracting international attention. It invited the intervention of Bertrand Russell who wrote (in a preface to a collection of letters written by Eatherly to a Vienna philosopher, Gunther Anders, who first contacted him) “the case of Claude Eatherly is not only one of appalling and prolonged injustice to an individual, but is also symbolic of the suicidal madness of our time. No civilised person, after reading Eatherly’s letters can honestly doubt his sanity, and I find it very difficult to believe that the doctors who pronounced him insane were persuaded of the accuracy of their own testimony. He has been punished solely because he repented of his comparatively innocent participation in a wanton act of mass destruction. The steps that he took to awaken men’s conscience to our present insanity were perhaps not always the wisest that could have been taken, but they were actuated by motives which deserve the admiration of all who are capable of feelings of humanity. The world was prepared to honour him for his part in the massacre, but when he repented, it turned against him, seeing in his act of repentance its own condemnation.” (The book is titled Burning Conscience and published in 1961 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London).

According to Robert Jungk who wrote the foreword to the book, there is what is called the “delayed reaction effect” of the use of nuclear weapons. This is something that the case of Eatherly brought out for the first time. It is not of a physical, but rather of a moral and mental nature.

It is said that after the shattering experience of Hiroshima, Major Eatherly spoke to no one for days on end. This, however, was not taken seriously by his comrades and senior officers in his base camp on Tinian Island in the Pacific. They called this symptom “battle fatigue”. Among all the participants in the raids over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Eatherly was the only one who, in the post-war months, refused to be fated as a hero. His fellow citizens in his hometown of Van Alstyne showed considerable understanding and sympathy. At that time, there was in America, considerable consternation over the horrors of Hiroshima, and public opinion was almost unanimous in demanding the outlawing of nuclear weapons, and many people of diverse political affiliations even insisted that America should voluntarily renounce her atomic monopoly.

But the mood soon changed as the Russians did not welcome the American proposal for arms control and the cold war began to influence all political thinking. The nuclear arms race was off to a good start.

Robert Jungk concludes his foreword with these remarks: “We are now living in an age in which goodness is regarded as naivete, integrity as stupidity, sympathy as weakness and Christian charity as sheer foolishness. Convention alone still pays lip service to the virtues, but in practical everyday life they are no longer taken very seriously.... A man who mentions ethics is dismissed as a pompous busybody, a hypocrite or, at best, an old-fashioned and laughable figure. For the sceptics and cynics, who call themselves “realists”, believe that at long last they have grasped what the game is and are deliberately taking a hand in it even though the game is going against them.”

Eatherly died in 1978.

A symbol of times past
From David Hearst in Warsaw

IT DWARFS everything around it. In its shadow lies the old city, reconstructed brick by brick as a monument to the 1944 Warsaw uprising, and the Marriott hotel. But it is neither a monument to Polish heroism against the Nazi occupiers, nor an icon to Poland’s western future. It is the Palace of Culture and Science - all 30 floors, 3,000 rooms, 817,000 cubic metres of it.

This building is Poland’s Eiffel Tower, with a spire 231 metres high. While Minsk, Kiev, even Baku, got a metro system from “big brother” in Moscow, Warsaw drew the short straw and commuters to this day curse as they clunk around Uncle Joe’s Christmas cake in trams.

Poles suffer from an attack of collective amnesia when it comes to speaking Russian. “I studied for nine years in school and not a word seems to have stuck,’’ says a 26-year-old, whose English is fluent. So what does Poland now do with the most prominent symbol of its former occupier?

Coca-Cola has its local office there, for one thing, and there is also a casino. For one woman, perched on the 15th floor, the building’s present cultural predicament presents a special irony. Hanna Szczubelek has worked as the palace’s official chronicler for 40 years.

She accompanied the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin to the viewing tower on the 30th floor. “He was nice and had a sense of humour, not like the others,’’ she remembers. ``He leaned over and said: “How far to the Earth it is from here’.’’

It was mostly Ms Szczubelek’s hand that recorded the list of official greetings in the leather bound book. In it, Josef Cyronkiewicz, wrote as Prime Minister in July, 1955: “The Polish nation with happiness receives today this beautiful and noble gift from our brother nation of Russian workers ... a high symbol of untouched friendship between our two nations.’’

Other correspondence is vaguely addressed to “the cordial government’’, or “Eduard Gerek’’, Poland’s former communist leader. To children, the palace was the imagined home of Father Christmas. Workers thought it was where Gerek lived. Everyone believed it was the ultimate seat of power, which made the book a place to lodge pleas for official help.

“Dear government’’, wrote a farmer from Ostrowka, a village south of Warsaw, ``I can’t live any more. My neighbour Cyril took my land. When I was building my house, he and his wife put salt and sugar in my wet concrete. I don’t have any money for the courts and I don’t know how to fight for my rights, and he does it because my sheep ate a little of his grass. What can I do?’’

The building radiated more than just power. One supplicant complained: “I live on the eastern side of the palace of culture and every night I get this electric feeling caused by radiation from the television antenna [on top of the palace]. This worries me very much. I have a request for the technical department to cover this antenna.’’

Another child wrote simply: “Dear palace of culture, get my dad out of jail.’’

The building was luxury on show to a proletariat to whom colonnaded corridors, candelabra and window sills made of real oak were the stuff of Hollywood. “You could see the beautiful corridors and stairs. You could indulge yourself in luxury and go quietly without any hurry and always find something new,’’ wrote one woman admirer.

Ms Szczubelek leans over conspiratorially: “There are 25 cats living officially in the second level of the basement. Every one has a name. There is even a budget for their food. You know, they are fed livers.’’ One of the cats, Ozi, is not satisfied. He crosses the six-lane highway every day to the kitchen of the Holiday Inn.

On the building’s roofs and turrets, the academy of sciences found 117 species of plants growing, including apple trees and tomato plants. Rare grasses are trapped in its concrete cracks.

The mayor is putting a millennium clock atop the building to reclaim it for modern Poland. But Hanna Szczubelek cannot forget the early days.

A park is named after her father, who died fighting the Nazis while the Russians waited across the Vistula in 1944 for the Nazis to finish off his ilk. “What do you think? I always hated the Soviets,’’ she says.

— By arrangement with The Guardian

Spiritual Nuggets

Who is blessed by the Lord?

He who does not revile or speak evil of others and never tells a lie and who makes it a point not to utter a word which may cause annoyance to others is surely able to please God.

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He who does not covet other's wife and property and who does not take delight in committing violence on others wins the favour of the Lord.

He who does not inflict pain on any living creature or embodied being (a tree, for instance) much less kill or destroy anyone ingratiates himself into divine favours.

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He who is always engaged in serving gods, brahmins (realised souls) and his elders makes himself a favourite of the Lord.

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He who wishes well of all creatures like himself and his own sons is easily able to please God.

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He whose mind is not tainted by faults like attachment, repulsion and so on is always liked by the Lord.

—The Vishnu Purana, vide The Kalyan Kalpataru, Vol I, No 8, August 1934.

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Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

—The Holy Bible, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, 7:14

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Salvation is the purification of the soul from all dross that makes a man attain the goal, and its corruption by indulging in evil that makes him fail in attaining the true objects of life.

—Maulvi Muhammad Ali, The Holy Quran, footnote 2746