The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

Taming the Taliban?
The UN Security Council's decision to impose fresh sanctions is not likely to force the Taliban to mend their ways. Saddam Hussein could not be harmed in spite of the pummeling of Iraq by US bombers in 1992. The US has moved from one George Bush to another George Bush since the Gulf War, but "that man Saddam" has survived the crippling economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council under American pressure.

OPINION

RAMZAN IN HYDERABAD
Cyber world and reality
by T. V. Rajeswar
THE Ramzan season in Hyderabad brings about a unique social transformation. A little past five in the morning loudspeakers blare out from masjids throughout the twin city calling the faithful to get ready for morning prayers. In the late afternoon loudspeakers again announce the commencement of the Iftar. There are more masjids in Hyderabad now and there is more attendance of the faithful and one could see even children and youngsters going to the masjids for prayer. The Hindus and Muslims live in mixed colonies and there is a healthy sense of co-existence.

Railways: distressing financial crunch
by C. V. Krishnamurthi
Railway finances have been wobbly in recent decades. Accolades from foreign observers apart, it would seem that internal management needs to be spruced up. Often Railways bemoan plummeting budgetary allocation to around 17 per cent compared to a high 80 plus. It cannot be denied that past decades of over-capitalisation, time and cost overrun of projects have contributed to lop-sided management of available resources. It was one of the former Railway Ministers, Mr C.M. Poonacha, who had cautioned against over-capitalisation. Railways have inherited resource mismatch. It may be further emphasised that works programmed year after year could not be executed on time.

MIDDLE

On the wings of winter
by Rajnish Wattas
HELLO, dear winged friends! A big bow to you for flying thousands of miles to come and grace our City Beautiful. Though, I don’t know your names well; I do make an earnest effort to do so, and be on more intimate first name terms — even if you find that a nuisance disturbing your quiet, winter sojourn in Chandigarh. In fact, my ignorance even makes me mix up between you — the long distance travellers — and the resident birds. But never mind, you are all equally beautiful in my eyes as God’s winged wonders.

Window on Pakistan

Musharraf’s unconvincing arguments
by Gobind Thukral
AN exiled Nawaz Sharif is proving a bigger threat to the ruling establishment in Pakistan than the one who was languishing in jail. In one compromising action, military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf has lost more shine than possibly he had bargained for. Public opinion across the political spectrum, except those who are still loyal to the ousted Prime Minister, has been hostile. There is no newspaper worth its salt that has not criticised sharply the release of Mr Nawaz Sharif from jail and his exile to Saudi Arabia. For the past nearly two weeks, newspapers like Dawn, The Muslim, The News, The Frontier Post, The Nation and Nawa-e-Waqt have published editorials and articles lambasting the military ruler.

On the spot

Does RSS have an answer?
by Tavleen Singh
ON a sunny winter morning in Delhi last week three gentlemen from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) came to see me. Anyone who reads this column knows that I am not an admirer of the RSS. I see it as a retrograde, paranoid, narrow-minded organisation that serves mainly to bring out an inferiority complex among Hindus by spreading paranoia. I have never hesitated to make my views clear so the call from RSS headquarters surprised me. This is Kishore Kant, the voice on the telephone said in Hindi, and I am the Delhi Prant Prachar Pramukh. Could I call on you, he asked politely, and I willingly agreed. Having read many reports about the RSS door-to-door, nationwide, campaign to awaken India (Rashtra Jagran Abhiyan) I was curious to experience it first hand.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Slap and Samba case

IT was a resounding slap that the Army received for its persistence with the Samba spy case. And well deserved too. The Delhi High Court took three years to write its order but when it became public on Thursday, it was a stinging rebuke of the way the armed forces function when it comes to spotting and sacking spies. The nine officers, some in the rank of Major and some Captain, were totally innocent. They wasted 20 years of their life simply because some officer in the Directorate of Military Intelligence panicked and decided to see an extensive espionage network. All he had to go by was the statement of two havildars with alleged contacts with agents across the border. For long many suspected that jawans and junior officers who are caught inside Pakistani border were not innocent men who strayed into that land but were lured there to be forced to act as informers. Often what Pakistan wanted was the identity of units deployed in sensitive areas. That explains why it was content to enlist jawans and Captains. This fear and the failure to set up an airtight counter-intelligence network made somebody press the panic button and before senior officers could halt the process, more than 50 army personnel had been sacked. The token court martial did not fool the court. The two-Judge Bench not only threw out the Army order but found no evidence to punish the nine men, the procedure was illegal and its actions are no more outside the ambit of judiciary. Harsh words these but fully in order. That the victims fought their way out goes to their credit but does not in any way condone the insensitive and mulish prosecution of the case. The Army had an excellent chance to redeem itself when RAW and the Intelligence Bureau gave them a clean chit within months of their dismissal in the middle of 1980. But military intelligence men thought they knew better and overtaken by bureaucratic arrogance, pushed to vindicate themselves. And as the cliche goes, the law has taken its course even if the Army has several eggs on the face.

There is still something the Army can do to partially reclaim its honour and fair name. One, it should not go on appeal to the Supreme Court. A close reading of the High Court verdict and an earlier ruling by the apex court on the judiciary’s power to decide on the theory of presidential pleasure should indicate the intentions of the court. An appeal will harass the cashiered officers some more but will also lead to its greater ridicule. As they say, enough is enough. Two, it should not only pay their dues but also explore ways of restoring their rank and employing them for some time till they feel that they have their honour back. This is not difficult since the whole and elaborate edifice of the defence forces is built on honour. For heaven’s sake, restore it to them. Three, one officer seems to have been decorated for handling this case. The High Court verdict ordains that he loses this honour and publicly. Nothing will restore the image of the Army as this one gesture. Also, tighten the court martial procedure and learn to be relaxed to the threat of spies. Samba became the imagined centre of a major spy network because it is just eight kilometres from the border and there had been cases of a few JCOs hobnobbing with those with friendly feelings towards Pakistan. In a million-strong force there will be a few black sheep. The white ones will weed them out in due course of time. Finally Samba is a milestone. The Army will like to forget it in double quick time. It should not. It is a wake up call and the top brass should spend time and do public relations job to convince youngsters that the Army is not a trap which shreds their self-esteem. Remember, bright youngmen are not queueing up to join the Army and proudly wear the uniform and the pips. Samba is an enormous opportunity to rebuild the Army and the people’s faith in and respect for it.

Taming the Taliban?

The UN Security Council's decision to impose fresh sanctions is not likely to force the Taliban to mend their ways. Saddam Hussein could not be harmed in spite of the pummeling of Iraq by US bombers in 1992. The US has moved from one George Bush to another George Bush since the Gulf War, but "that man Saddam" has survived the crippling economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council under American pressure. It is the poor and impoverished people of Iraq who continue to bear the brunt of the sanctions. The US has consistently ignored humanitarian concerns and global pressure for revising its Iraq policy. The sanctions against the Taliban regime too have not worked and renewed pressure through fresh sanctions is going to meet the same fate. The Taliban has been training terrorist groups for waging "holy wars" from the Afghan territory under its control, primarily against India as an expression of Islamic brotherhood with Pakistan. The regime will continue to do so and neither is it going to hand over international terrorist Osama Bin Laden to the US for facing trial in the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Of course India supported the slapping of fresh sanctions because of political compulsions and its support to the universally accepted position on global acts of terrorism. Most of the terrorist groups active in Jammu and Kashmir have received training in camps run by the Taliban. The Security Council has given them 30 days to pack up the camps and hand over Osama to UN officials. The Russians too have backed the US-sponsored sanctions because it too suspects Taliban hand in the Chechen, Uzbek, Tajik and Uighur crisis. In anticipation of the Security Council's action the UN withdrew its relief teams from Afghanistan fearing a bloody backlash.

Whether it is Afghanistan or Iraq, the fact of the matter is that the global community has failed to find an effective antidote for stopping terrorism from spreading to virtually all parts of the world. Much of the blame for the spread of the culture of terrorism will have to be taken by the US. Whether it was South America or the Indian sub-continent the shortsighted policy of adopting any means for protecting what it perceived to be " American interests" resulted in terrorist groups receiving overt and covert support of the US Administration. Of course, it is pointless opening up old wounds because even the militarily strong powers have come to realise their mistake in backing and funding terrorist activities as part of their lopsided foreign policy. But they must also realise that what they have created cannot be destroyed by merely slapping sanctions on the rogue regimes. Sanctions only add to the misery of those already suffering the consequences of repressive policies of the rulers. The Indian compulsion for supporting sanctions is understandable, specially after it has set up joint working groups both with Russia and the US for containing global terrorism. But those who opposed the sanctions, including UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at the Security Council pointed out that the measure would only harm the ordinary Afghans, caught in a 20-year-old war and the worst drought in recent memory. They too seem to have a point.

RAMZAN IN HYDERABAD
Cyber world and reality
by T. V. Rajeswar

THE Ramzan season in Hyderabad brings about a unique social transformation. A little past five in the morning loudspeakers blare out from masjids throughout the twin city calling the faithful to get ready for morning prayers. In the late afternoon loudspeakers again announce the commencement of the Iftar. There are more masjids in Hyderabad now and there is more attendance of the faithful and one could see even children and youngsters going to the masjids for prayer. The Hindus and Muslims live in mixed colonies and there is a healthy sense of co-existence.

On the anniversary of the Babri masjid demolition, there was an attempt to take out a procession from a masjid in the old city and some also raised provocative slogans. More shocking was the sight of urchins wielding toy AK-47 rifles and revolvers at some places in the old city which is predominantly Muslim. However, better sense prevailed and the day passed off peacefully. The Iftar is marked by hundreds of stalls selling halim on the roadside. Halim is a pasty dish made of meat and wheat and is said to be smooth on the fasting stomach. Ramzan is traditionally observed by distributing free food to the poor and needy and this practice continues in several masjids.

The announcement of the suspension for life of the cricket hero of Hyderabad, Mohammad Azharuddin, a poor boy from the alleys of the old city who rose to prominence when he successively scored three centuries in 1985 came as a rude shock to Hyderabadis. People still remember the memorable reception given to him when he arrived at the Hyderabad airport. There was more sorrow than anger or bitterness over what Azharuddin did and it will be a long time before another Hyderabadi cricket hero is discovered.

The sorrow of Hyderabad over Azharuddin’s fall was partly compensated by the success of Diya Mirza as Miss Asia Pacific. A quintessential Hyderabadi beauty, Diya Mirza seems to represent the grace and charm of old Hyderabad. She kept a low profile and did not try to get herself over-publicised. However, the Hyderabad newspapers were angry over the scant attention given by the national press: “why has Diya’s win been sidelined?” screamed a leading English daily of Hyderabad.

Before going to more serious topics a reference to the Kohinoor diamond and the fabulous Nizam jewellery is called for. There is now an attempt to get back the fabulous Kohinoor diamond, which adorns the crown of British Queen. It is not generally known that the Kohinoor diamond was found in the shallow diamond mines of Golconda on the banks of the Krishna river about three centuries ago. The Krishna District Gazetteer published by the British at the turn of the century makes a reference to the Golconda diamond mines. A proposal was mooted sometime back to take up the area for the mining of diamonds but it was abandoned later for reasons not known. If Elgin Marbles are to be returned to Greece by the United Kingdom because of the persistent diplomatic pressure from Greece there is no reason why the precious Kohinoor cannot be returned to India. If Kohinoor is ever brought back, I am sure, Andhra Pradesh will claim it and ask for its location in Hyderabad city, probably in the Salarjung Museum. This museum is scheduled to exhibit early next year Nizam’s fabulous jewels which were bought by the Government of India for Rs 218 crore. The rare collection is believed to be worth $500 million in the international market and it consists of 173 items of rare diamonds, emeralds, pearls, etc.

Andhra Pradesh was recently struck by the farms crisis, which threatened to assume serious proportions. The rice production by the farmers was not purchased by the Food Corporation of India and there was no indication that procurement would begin sooner or later. This led to the farmers disposing of their stock for prices much lower than the minimum support price fixed by the State and the Centre for procurement and the middlemen and millers making huge profits at the expense of the farmers. The distress of the farmers forced Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to take a tough stance towards the Centre. He wanted the Centre to extend the same dispensation which it had for Punjab and Haryana. He put a series of telephone calls to the Prime Minister and the Food Minister and asked his 29 TDP MPs at Delhi to take up the matter consistently and strongly. He made a series of helicopter hops to the various mandis in the state and the more he saw of the plight of farmers the more he was outraged. The TDP MPs were directed to demonstrate outside Parliament House near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Ms Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress also lent moral support by joining them. This led to some smart footwork by the Centre by announcing the immediate purchase of 40 lakh tonnes of rice from the state by the FCI. This was followed by a visit of Food Minister Shanta Kumar to Hyderabad along with his officials to assure the Chief Minister personally about the steps being taken by the Centre to ease the farmers’ distress. However, the problem remained by the FCI’s alleged intransigence, which led to the TDP MPs demonstrating inside the Lok Sabha on December 18.

It is strange that more than 50 years after the Planning Commission came into being and more than 30 years after the Green Revolution, India still does not have a plan to deal with the farm output of rice and wheat. Estimates are made every year regarding the likely yield of rice and wheat from the states and minimum support prices are announced for procurement. If the FCI is already overburdened with too much of stocks and suffers from lack of space for additional foodgrains, it is the Centre’s responsibility to liaise with the states to work out the procurement targets for the various states. The surplus stocks have to be disposed off in various ways, including exports to other states. Is it not cruel irony that the very poor in Kalahandi, Orissa starve to death while India is unable to decide what to do with its huge stock of foodgrains?

The Ram Mandir controversy, which came to occupy the Centre stage, aroused strong emotions in the TDP. Chief Minister Naidu promptly came out strongly against Prime Minister Vajpayee’s remarks. He deplored the exploitation of the Ayodhya dispute for political ends. This was not the time for politicking as major issues affecting people’s interests should be attended to, Mr Naidu remarked. However, the TDP MPs did not support the Congress onslaught in the Lok Sabha and supported the government by voting against the motion.

The reputation of Hyderabad as the cyber capital of India is amply justified. Mr Naidu took pride recently by claiming that 30 per cent of all the software professionals in the USA were from Andhra. It is indeed remarkable how hundreds of computer training centres and thousands of cybercafes have cropped up all over the twin city. It is estimated that there are at least 10-15 thousand cybercafes in the twin city and most of them function round the clock. The average cybercafe has anything from 6 to18 PCs with permanent internet connection. The rates for using the computer and tapping the internet ranges from Rs 15 to Rs 30 per hour. The more sophisticated cafes with ISDN connection charge Rs 30 per hour since the downloading is quicker and undisturbed. I visited one such centre and was surprised to find a printed announcement that telephone calls to the USA would be charged Rs 4 per minute. Undisturbed phone conversations are possible thanks to the ISDN cable and several US internet connection providers.

Chief Minister Naidu launched on December 13 “Internet Revolution through Cable Technology” which provided 100 per cent digital access to internet at the instance of a private company, MACINFO, which charges Rs 5000 for installation of the cable and Rs 1500 per mensem for providing 24-hour cable facility. The thousands of cybercafes would grab the offer as they are spending anything between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 per mensem on telephone bills. It is a matter of time before similar cable facilities are provided throughout the country. The announcement of Mr Pramod Mahajan, Union Minister for Information Technology, that the Government had decided to introduce the Convergence Act which would allow telephone calls through internet, therefore, did not come a day too late. Hopefully this facility would be available for international calls also.

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

Railways: distressing financial crunch
by C. V. Krishnamurthi

Railway finances have been wobbly in recent decades. Accolades from foreign observers apart, it would seem that internal management needs to be spruced up. Often Railways bemoan plummeting budgetary allocation to around 17 per cent compared to a high 80 plus. It cannot be denied that past decades of over-capitalisation, time and cost overrun of projects have contributed to lop-sided management of available resources. It was one of the former Railway Ministers, Mr C.M. Poonacha, who had cautioned against over-capitalisation. Railways have inherited resource mismatch. It may be further emphasised that works programmed year after year could not be executed on time.

Maintenance of punctuality of freighters, besides passenger operation, have faulted more often. Thus the gross traffic receipts have caused upsets in a manner that the railways have often encountered complaints from the rail users. That the traffic is not offering as much as the railway’s capacity available is not the right assessment. Freighter computerisation launched nearly two decades ago, is not yet complete except for the northern railway’s pilot experiment for rake loads.

The long and short of the matter is that road competition — for that matter, any other competition to rail movement — should be curbed. It must be admitted that a large country like the sub-continent has good scope for competitive modes of transport. Railroad coordination should have proper evaluation. Not in terms of competition, but coordination and mutual adjustment. The World Bank in earlier reports stressed this type of coordination. The crunch in fiscal scenario has to be viewed in this backdrop.

Railway Convention Committee’s report placed in Parliament in the monsoon session has commented on near stagnation in freight traffic with cascading effects. Not to speak of project allocations, even allocations for special projects are cancelled and appropriated to some other projects. Thus Signal department allocation of Rs 110 crore was diverted when Mr Jaffer Sherief held the portfolio. The essential signalling improvement was stalled. Backlog in project implementation resourcing is thus distorted. It is poignant to recall ECAFE’s report in the seventies that a “judicious mix” of transport modes is within the ken of transport economics. It is no use lamenting that other modes restrict the scope of railway budgeting.

The Indian Railways has already a wasteful head load of uneconomic railway lines for which the ministry provides as much as Rs 200 crore budget. Several of the restored projects continue to be uneconomical even now. Increased provision continues to be made in the budget for this purpose.

There can be a useful suggestion for using the hill-railway lines, or perhaps lines to places of tourist or pilgrim interest (even extending the lines if need be) to make the assets lucrative. A suggestion was made in early fifties that it would be more expedient to refurbish the wasteful lines to become viable, if such places of interest were linked effectively. “Auction these assets of routes” — ran another suggestion. The recent committee has stressed the obvious, namely bringing down expenditure (capital or revenue).

It may be galling to politicians if the subsidies, including cross-subsidisation, should be resorted to. The economic rationale is that subsidy results in cost-push syndrome as far as the consumer is concerned. Suburban traffic consists of a hefty subsidy of nearly 60 per cent in fares. True, such cut in subsidy would cause tears to the commuters, but better give a reasonable provision in the budget, as the cost-push would increase the workers’ emoluments.

The convention committee has recommended the setting up of Traffic Regulatory Authority of Indian Railways with the mandate to fix tariffs on a rational basis with an automatic adjustment based on the cost of inputs, including fuel and electricity. It may not be out of place to refer to the Paranjape Committee which had earlier elaborated on the basics of tariff adjustments, including, of course, regulating high rated and low rated traffic. Once again, perhaps, ad nauseum, subsidised rates on foodgrains and some essential commodities should be reviewed. Agricultural commodities need not always be subsidised. Farm sector gets a lot of subsidies. Railway tariff need to view the subsidy for freight on agricultural commodities. Surely, the leftists and vested interests would abhor this step!

The question of dividend was under controversy for the last few years. One cannot help but concede 7 per cent, as the committee has decided on the entire capital invested on Railways from the General Revenues irrespective of the year of investment, inclusive of the amount that was payable by the railways to the general revenues for payment to states as grant in lieu of passenger fare tax and contribution for assisting the states for financing safety works during the year 1999-2000.

It stands to reason that the committee should consider social obligations with respect, at the same time not forgetting the fact that society has its own obligations to the government for mutual benefits. Social obligations can’t be one-way traffic. It is against this backdrop that the pre-eminent fact comes into focus, namely, society should not resist compensating the exchequer.

On the wings of winter
by Rajnish Wattas

HELLO, dear winged friends! A big bow to you for flying thousands of miles to come and grace our City Beautiful. Though, I don’t know your names well; I do make an earnest effort to do so, and be on more intimate first name terms — even if you find that a nuisance disturbing your quiet, winter sojourn in Chandigarh. In fact, my ignorance even makes me mix up between you — the long distance travellers — and the resident birds. But never mind, you are all equally beautiful in my eyes as God’s winged wonders.

This ode to the city’s migratory birds — is borne out of a walk along the Sukhna Lake that I and another bird-watching friend undertook recently one afternoon, to indulge in our flights of fancy. Winter is not just another season in Chandigarh; it’s a mood, when the afternoon sun is a golden orb in the sky radiating shafts of snug, warm rays, and its streamers dance upon the lake waters like shimmering confetti. It’s a golden-honey season — a winter of content.

As you enter the lake promenade a display board — most thoughtfully, shows illustrations of some of the frequently noticed birds at the lake consisting of Pintail, Wigeon, Tufted Pochard, Common Pochard, Mallard and Shoveller. We immediately take down notes and are on the lookout for them. However, our first tryst with the lake birds is to sight a “mama duck” along with her ducklings, merrily waddling past a thundering applause from wonder-struck onlookers. A happy family out for a bracing swim in the afternoon sun; and perchance also to feast on whatever that ducks eat for a Sunday lunch! Not very different from what most of the picnickers on the lake do.

But no such avian surprises after that for quite a distance. It’s only when we have trudged up to the fag end of the walkway and are approaching a group of islands and marshlands, that we espy a large flock of birds, that initially looks like a vast spread of black dots bobbing up and down with the waves and ripples of the lake waters. But as we come closer and have a better view — it’s flocks and flocks of migratory birds dotting the horizon.

And then quite dramatically to break this spell of a feathery expanse; a wildly fluttering, black and white, mottled, long beaked bird suddenly swoops down on the water below and strikes its prey with precision. While one can only say a requiem for the poor prey; the admiration for the hunter from the sky is salutary! We fondly nickname him “Harrier” — after the acrobatic jet-fighters seen aboard aircraft carriers! But our guidebook on birds tells us that it’s most probably a Common Pochard, known for such diving prowess. Would a local “Salim Ali” please help us out?

As we reach close to the islands, the most visible birds are flocks of — what we guess from our book — black feathered Ferruginous Ducks. And in the centre of these blackish beauties is standing debonair-like, a snow-white Egret or perhaps a Stork; like a dashing star surrounded by a fan club of admirers! And quite akin to this romantic avian scenario; there are real life Cupid-struck couples also dotting the lakeside! These cosy twosomes, muttering sweet-nothings, too, are also soaring high on love and fresh air. Anything is possible on such an afternoon.

Winter has a way of winging its way into one’s heart in Chandigarh.

Window on Pakistan
Musharraf’s unconvincing arguments
By Gobind Thukral

AN exiled Nawaz Sharif is proving a bigger threat to the ruling establishment in Pakistan than the one who was languishing in jail. In one compromising action, military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf has lost more shine than possibly he had bargained for. Public opinion across the political spectrum, except those who are still loyal to the ousted Prime Minister, has been hostile. There is no newspaper worth its salt that has not criticised sharply the release of Mr Nawaz Sharif from jail and his exile to Saudi Arabia. For the past nearly two weeks, newspapers like Dawn, The Muslim, The News, The Frontier Post, The Nation and Nawa-e-Waqt have published editorials and articles lambasting the military ruler.

One main argument has been that the former Prime Minister has been allowed to escape punishment (which he should have rightly suffered) for looting the public exchequer to the tune of perhaps $ 500 or 5000 million. Just one action has made the much-touted accountability slogan look a sham. This pardon and the exile of the leader who had been sentenced to 25 years in prison have earned the ruler only a ridicule. In fact, Mr Nawaz Sharif, who had been charged with terrorism, could have lost his life at the gallows.

A General who only a few months back was rising high in people’s esteem is looking puny. On Wednesday, General Musharraf explained to the people of Pakistan his compulsions. His arguments as he spoke to meet the challenge thrown up by the public outrage on Pakistan TV ran like this: “People say accountability is dead. That is an unfair comment. Accountability will continue as in the past. There is a difference between a popular decision and a right decision. This decision will usher in a new era in our politics. It will end hatred, promote politics of reconciliation, create money-free politics and bring political stability and harmony”. Two, it was the request of the Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah which he could not ignore. Third, his commitment first to hold and complete local bodies elections by August next year was total. Later he will hold provincial elections and then, to honour the verdict of the Supreme Court, hold a general election by the end of 2002 and hand over the command to a mature and honest political leadership. This is what the General, speaking in Urdu, wearing a camouflage military uniform, told eager Pakistani citizens who had been trying to guess why Mr Sharif, who was ousted in a bloodless coup in October, 1999, and later charged with the treason, had to be freed.

What exactly an average Pakistani, as one can discern from media reports, makes out of all this. Some leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League headed by Sharif assert that some five thousand million US dollars had been promised and partly given to the Pakistan government in the deal. Others lower down the figure to just 5000 crore Pakistani rupees. Yet another set of people strongly believe that Mr Sharif who along with 18 members of his family is now in Saudi Arabia, allowed some wealth to be taken over by the military government and has bribed his way to safety. He has no dearth of money, kept in foreign banks, and can start his business career right now and a political career later. There is also open talk of the USA having played to big role in getting freed the former Prime Minister from the clutches of the army, and the Saudi Arabian Prince was used to achieve that purpose. In fact, the US State Department has openly rejoiced at the amnesty granted to Mr Sharif. Clearly, the General was under huge pressure and money could have played its own role.

Right now three major Pakistani politicians — Mr Sharif, Ms Benazir Bhutto, a former Prime Minister and leader of the Pakistan’s People’s Party, and MQM leader Altaf Hussain — are in “exile” to run their shows. There are other middle-level politicians in many countries. What Ms Bhutto, who could draw some political mileage from the deal, is saying has many takers in Pakistan. “The secret deal between Nawaz Sharif and the General is either part of the political gameplan or a corrupt act,” she declared. There are some to support this charge as reports in the media suggest. The former Prime Minister, who too was ousted from power with the help of the army, has her husband Asif Ali Zardari, a member of the Pakistani Senate, in jail for much lesser crime, is surprised why Mr Sharif has been allowed to buy peace. She also feels that the departure of Mr Sharif could just be a momentary setback to the opposition’s grand alliance. In one way, it might be finally a blessing for Ms Bhutto. She is an articulate leader and her open declaration of support to the peace process now underway in Kashmir is calculated to gain support. Also, any loss of credibility of the military ruler would be a gain for the ones seeking the establishment of democracy. This has also given rise to the speculation that Ms Bhutto might return to Pakistan this spring itself. According to The News, this was just possible and could galvanise the opposition parties in Pakistan.

Whether five trillion rupees has been paid for the release of Mr Sharif or the whole episode is a part of any political design or, as General Musharraf said, it is meant to bring some sanity to Pakistan’s strife-torn civil society would be known in due course. In politics nothing can remain under wraps for an indefinite period.

On the spot
Does RSS have an answer?
by Tavleen Singh

ON a sunny winter morning in Delhi last week three gentlemen from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) came to see me. Anyone who reads this column knows that I am not an admirer of the RSS. I see it as a retrograde, paranoid, narrow-minded organisation that serves mainly to bring out an inferiority complex among Hindus by spreading paranoia. I have never hesitated to make my views clear so the call from RSS headquarters surprised me. This is Kishore Kant, the voice on the telephone said in Hindi, and I am the Delhi Prant Prachar Pramukh. Could I call on you, he asked politely, and I willingly agreed. Having read many reports about the RSS door-to-door, nationwide, campaign to awaken India (Rashtra Jagran Abhiyan) I was curious to experience it first hand.

Kishore Kant duly arrived on the said sunny, winter morning with RSS spokesman, Madhav Govind Vaidya, and the Zonal Organising Secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Gopal Arya, in tow. We settled ourselves in my drawing room and began our discourse over tea and some suitably Indian snacks: namkeen.

Mr Vaidya, who spoke English and said he was from Nagpur, began the conversation. He said that they had read some of my writings and noticed that I was not favourably disposed to the RSS. I admitted that I was not and said that, perhaps, it would be best for me to first explain why I was not so that they could attempt to answer some of my questions. These are the questions I put to them: why did they think they had the right to define Indian civilisation and culture, what did they think this culture was. And why, as a social organisation, did they not spend more time cleaning up our sacred rivers, cities, pilgrim spots and temples instead of interfering in political and economic matters.

Mr Kant glowered coldly, Mr Arya laughed nervously and Mr Vaidya responded with an eager smile. Indian culture, he said, was based on certain Hindu values. What were these? He then articulated the usual universal values of truth and integrity and I pointed out that these were universal values. Unfazed he went on to explain that in the RSS worldview there was nothing more important than love of the Motherland. Who was to judge this, I asked adding that this sounded suspiciously like an attempt to target Muslims and Christians on the specious grounds that their religion was not indigenous. He did not pursue this point so I went on to ask why the RSS, such a proud Hindu organisation, was not offended by the fact that the Ganga was now a polluted river and that the Yamuna was in such bad shape that it had virtually become a sewer. He said that the RSS would like to do this but there was only so much one organisation could do.

Fine, but there would be a lot more time to do these things, I pointed out, if the RSS was not interfering in political and economic matters that they had absolutely no understanding of. “But, politics and economics are part of society”, he said “so why should we not take a view on these things as well”. At this point a businessman friend strolled into the discourse and started asking a few questions of his own. The RSS opposed foreign investment, he said, but did this mean that they also opposed Indian exports. There was a moment of dead silence. The three gentlemen from the RSS chomped on their namkeen and sipped their tea as if seeking resuscitation in food then Mr Vaidya admitted that they did not oppose exports but wanted to control imports. The businessman explained that this was really not possible and that they were misguided in their economic ideology because it sounded very much like the one we had followed for 50 years.

More nervous laughter from the ABVP representative, more glowering from the Delhi Prachar Pramukh and protest from Mr Vaidya.

No, no, no, he said emphatically, they were opposed to Nehruvian economics because it did not permit competition. The RSS believed in allowing competition within India, lots of competition. But, the businessman pointed out India needed massive investment in infrastructure if prosperity was ever to come and since we did not have the money should we not try and get it from foreign investors. At this point the conversation turned away from business, somehow, and we were back to discussing why the proud Hindu blood of the RSS did not boil when they saw the condition of the Ganga and Yamuna, of pilgrimage towns like Benares.

Emboldened now by the polite tones of our discourse I said it was extremely puzzling that the RSS was constantly teaching Muslims and Christians patriotism when their own “patriotic” blood did not boil at the appalling condition Bharatmata was in. Did they know, I asked, that Bharatmata looked almost worse than any other country in the world? This puzzled them so I explained that other countries had tackled their environmental problems and succeeded in providing a reasonably decent standard of living to their people. The word environment seemed to click and Mr Vaidya asked one of his colleagues to hand me their pamphlet on environment. It was green and white in colour and called Hindu Sanskriti and Environment. I read it and found not one single mention of either the Ganga or the Yamuna and their sad condition. Instead, the booklet concentrated on the tirade against the West and its consumer society and tried to make the case that the Hindu way would save the environment because it believed in “tyaga but not bhoga”.

Hence, reduced consumption is an obvious outcome of this philosophy. When people at large opt for a controlled way of life, their consumption reduces. There emerges thus, a pattern that is eco-friendly and sustainable. Clearly, the “saffron thinking” results in “green living!” In ancient symbolism “saffron signifies “tyaga (renunciation)”.

The truth is that the Ganga is polluted mainly because untreated sewage from towns along it pours into it in millions of tonnes. And, good Hindu businessmen allow industrial effluent to pour into their most sacred river without a care. But, RSS answers as I discovered from the other pamphlets I was given are not answers unless they can find some connection with ancient Hindu society and there are no answers for polluted rivers because they must have been clean in those days.

There was clearly much information available on cows, though, because “Protection of Cow-Clan” merits a separate pamphlet from the RSS national awakening campaign. Its message: “we strongly believe that not only cow mother but whole cow clan population be protected..... our concept of cow clan life is different from that of West”.

True. But, Bharatmata is a place of hideous poverty, filthy villages, polluted cities and enormous problems. By comparison the poorest Western country looks good. Does the RSS have an answer? No, because ancient India may not have had one either.

Spiritual Nuggets

When I was,

The Master was not;

Now only the Master is -

'I' am no more.

Narrow indeed

is love's lane, O friend,

where two cannot be.

***

Where there is love

There is no, law;

Love knows not ritual

Or reason;

When the mind is absorbed

in love,

who will keep count of

days and dates.

***

If fell in love with him,

Him love like sugar dissolved

To fill my soul, my heart;

My body's every pore

Cries "beloved", "beloved"-

Mouth is required no more.

***

When my soul involved itself

Only with the beloved,

The Beloved took me

In his embrace;

The written merged

into the unwritten -

Nothing is left to say.

***

A body empty of love

Is like a cemetery-dead

It is like the bellows

Of the blacksmith,

Which breathe

But have no life.

***

Kabir, I tried many

alchemical recipes

But found not one

Like the Lord's love;

If even one drop enters the body,

Your entire being

turns into gold.

— From Kabir Sakhi Sangraha and Kabir Grauthavali