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| Saturday, February
17, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Benazir may be
right V for VRS victory T-90 tank deal with
Russia |
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Disaster management in India Annan keeps the UN guessing over a second
term
Benazir’s appeal: a tough job for S.C.
Wrong kind of people making decisions on our behalf
Israeli troops “using” poison
gas
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MS Benazir Bhutto has spoken of the possibility of the growth of a “parallel army” in Pakistan with remarkable clarity. What she has said should not be taken as the ranting of a frustrated politician. She is living in self-imposed exile in Dubai/London after the “October military coup” in Pakistan. Mr Altaf Hussain is in the same boat. So is Mian Nawaz Sharif following a deal with the military ruler. All of them have personal reasons to feel bitter about the turn of events in Pakistan. However, a close reading of the exclusive report, carried by The Tribune, based on the television interview Ms Bhutto gave to ANI would show that she has not allowed personal frustration to cloud her assessment of the developments in Islamabad. The former Prime Minister of Pakistan has evidently kept track of developments in her country. She has spoken of a Taliban-type movement ultimately replacing General Musharraf. It is not that the self-appointed Chief Executive is not aware of the threat to his illegal rule from Islamic fundamentalists . In January they issued a fatwa directing the General to establish Islamic rule in Pakistan by March 7. He has three weeks to comply. The Islamic groups represent a cross section of Pakistani society, including retired soldiers and madarsa-trained jehad-ready youths. In the event of an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation the Pakistan army may run out of ammunition but the jehadis are unlikely to have dearth of volunteers for continuing the battle for establishing a Taliban-type Islamic rule. The primary reason why most young men and boys are attracted to the madarsas is abject poverty. If General Musharraf could provide them bread today and promise a hefty compensation to their families in the event of their death tomorrow, they would as gladly take up arms on his behalf. But corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and military officers have combined to turn Pakistan into a bankrupt state. The General is putting up a brave front and has even directed Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider to issue a warning to the people not to donate money to any Islamic group for conducting jehad. It would be a grave error if India were to read too much into the so-called directive against the funding of jehad in Pakistan. In real terms General Musharraf is today’s myth dressed up as reality. Self-seeking politicians and military rulers have inadvertently allowed Islamic groups to become parallel centres of power. India should take note of the points raised by Ms Bhutto. A half-Talibanised Pakistan means big trouble, but a fully Talibanised Pakistan would be like catastrophe knocking at the door. |
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From banks to government offices the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) is winning new fans. Its massive success in banks has helped the government and employees in different but positive ways. The government has shed its hesitation in offering a generous package and finds the economics of buying its way to a leaner administration a worthwhile proposal. Simultaneously, it is also withdrawing from several industrial, commercial and service sectors, which will mean a concomitant reduction in the strength of administrative staff. Of course the advent of computers has helped in a big way not only in making bulky files obsolete but also in many jobs becoming redundant. All this finds a mention in the bulky but eminently reasonable report of the Fifth Pay Commission which has recommended a 30 per cent downsizing within 10 years. As for the employees, they see the VRS not as a threat of unemployment but as a lucrative way of getting out and starting life afresh. Suddenly there is a realisation that a government job does not make one an expert in any field which can be traded for a higher income. It merely creates a mindset which is not always open. Punjab, still a progressive state, has joined the bandwagon with its own version which is not very different from that of the banks or the central government. Initial reaction of the employees has been positive but the trade unions have not spoken out and going by those of the central government employees, there is bound to be disturbing questions and challenges. The experience so far warrants a model VRS to cover the entire country. It is irksome for each state and public sector undertaking (PSU) to frame its own scheme. Not only is this a waste of time but will create problems and heartburn among employees of different states and PSUs. It is better to do this quickly. Coming back to the Punjab model, it is good that medical men and teachers will be out of it since the state is acutely short of them in government institutions. But it should improve the salary and working conditions of these two wings of vital social security; otherwise the employees will feel that they are victims of their importance. Also, the scheme, as skimpily reported in newspapers, is tilted against younger officials and very experienced ones. This should be set right to make it fair to all. There is one more point that Finance Minister Kanwaljit Singh should take care of. As the brain behind the scheme, he should quietly prepare a rehabilitation scheme through a refresher course or a retraining programme. Former government servants going out through the VRS doors should feel grateful that their employer did not just abandon them to their fate but helped them shape it. |
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AS expected, Defence Ministry spokesmen are singing a paean to the T-90 tanks which the country is acquiring from Russia at a cost of more than $ 600 million. This fulthroated praise will hopefully camouflage the odour of controversy caused by the allegation made by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda that these were being imported for the sake of hefty cutbacks. The 310 tanks that will be joining the Indian army are supposed to have superior mobility, better communication, firepower and night vision capability than those already in service with it. That should go without saying because an upgradation is meant to be superior. It is hoped that the serious flaws noticed in their performance during field trials in Thar desert during the Shiv Shakti exercise in December, 1998, have been removed because these are going to be the mainstay of India's armoured fleet for a long time. This tank ought to be good enough to offset the advantage that Pakistan has gained by acquiring about 300 T-80 tanks from Ukraine. Apprehensions arise not only because of the remarks of the former Prime Minister but also because India will be the first country to be inducting these particular tanks. Even the Russian army has not used them. No doubt these have been purchased after protracted bargaining but in defence deals quality is as important as the pricing. What is obvious is that these come as part of a larger deal with lots of give and take and, hopefully, no compromises. The agreement also envisages the manufacture of these tanks, including their key weapons, in India under a Russian licence. But the need for having state-of-the art tanks is unexceptionable. Defence experts are almost unanimous that future wars are going to be of exceptionally short duration because of the tremendous international pressure and should be preferably fought in the deserts rather than the mountains of Kashmir or the riverine terrain of Punjab. Of the 310 tanks that India will be buying, 124 will be transferred to it off the shelf very soon while the other 186 will be assembled in India. This large-scale induction means that the much-trumpeted Arjun battle tank has been relegated to the background. Although the Army has asked for the production of 124 of these too, but it dreads to use them in battle. The fate of the hot potato is a sad commentary on the efficiency of the indigenous R and D. |
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Disaster management in India The recent earthquake in Gujarat has once again exposed our inability to effectively respond to disasters. In the past also, we were found wanting when calamities like the Bhopal gas tragedy, Bombay bomb blasts, Latur earthquake etc struck. In recorded history, danger had been an integral part of human existence and societies attempted to anticipate the unexpected and devised measures to reduce the losses. Disasters of various kinds afflict all countries. Compared to some, India is spared of tidal waves, typhoons, volcanoes, tornadoes and the like. Our natural calamities, other than earthquakes, have almost a set pattern and chronological sequence of occurrence. Examples are Andhra cyclones, floods in Assam, cold and heat waves, monsoon floods etc. In modern times, technology, environmental pollution, political violence and organised crime have become the generators of disasters. Yet, when these occur, we are not ready to meet them and there is avoidable loss of life and property. At present, we deal with emergencies from the “crisis-reactive” mode, i.e. we wait till the disaster strikes and tackle the losses as they occur. Only a ‘crisis-proactive’ attitude will help in reducing loss of lives and property. To contain the damages caused by disasters and to reduce the loss of lives and properties, a well-planned strategy of risk identification, risk reduction and risk management has to be evolved to marshal all available resources and their deployment within the shortest possible time in an emergency. We must learn from countries like Japan, which is living constantly with the threat of earthquakes and has a wonderful system of responses to minimise damage to life and property. The difference between a country well prepared to meet the disasters and the one ill prepared, can be judged when we compare the casualties that occurred in the USA and India during earthquakes. The Californian earthquake, which measured 6.5 on Richter scale, resulted in a loss of only 65 lives, whereas the earthquake in Latur, which measured 6 on the Richter scale, took a toll of over 15,000 lives, notwithstanding the fact that Latur is in a rural area and there were hardly any big buildings. Management of disasters is like managing a war. One should be prepared always to meet it and do well to survive. It calls for well-formulated and coordinated responses and not kneejerk reactions. Entire country should know what to do in an emergency. Management of disaster should be approached from two angles — administrative response and mobilisation of citizens’ help. To direct the administrative response, there should be a standing committees for disaster management at the Union and State Cabinet level, consisting of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister as the chairman, and Ministers of Home, Finance, Health, Transport and Defence (in the case of Union Government). These committees should automatically meet as soon as news of any disaster is received and implement the plans earlier approved for action. Orders of these committees should be deemed to be the orders of the government for all actions, including release of funds. To assist these committees there should be statutory “national disaster management authority” and “state disaster management authority”. These authorities should have the benefit of the advice of experts for various types of disasters on continual basis. To mobilise the citizens assistance, there should be a “national committee of citizens for disaster relief” with the President of India and the Governor of the State as chairman, and the leaders of all political parties represented in Parliament and State legislatures and of non-governmental organisations as members. This committee will concentrate on mobilising the public assistance to supplement the relief work done by the government and also act as the watchdog to ensure that the government schemes for relief are properly implemented. To enable this committee to maintain its independence and from deteriorating into another arm of bureaucracy and to act badly, no official should be allowed to be a member of this committee. In disaster-prone areas, there could be regional committees appropriately constituted. The national disaster management authority should commence its work first by identifying the risks. For example, the presence of a nuclear or a dangerous chemical plant near highly populated areas or a big town just on the shores of the sea, prone to cyclones or population on the banks of rivers prone to change of course during floods etc. Competent experts should survey entire country and disaster-prone areas are to be identified. Worst possible scenario should be created and studied in depth. This exercise should be completed within a period of 12 months. Having identified the risks, steps should be taken to reduce the impact on the population if the risk materialises. For example, it should be prudent to move the population away from nuclear power plants, dangerous chemical plants and ammunition dumps. In earthquake prone areas building safety codes are to be rigorously implemented and unstable buildings are to be pulled down. Similarly, in flood and cyclone prone areas, steps should be taken to realign the national highway and railway tracks to prevent loss of life and breakdown of communications. People should be permanently moved out from lowlying areas and seashores to higher elevations. This is the most important part of the exercise consisting of: Identification of resources: The resources needed for tackling various types of disasters are to be identified and of these, what are locally or in the nearby areas available are to be tabulated. For example, list of all available medical facilities including private ones, heavy earthmoving equipment, cranes, ambulances etc should be tabulated and all concerned should know where to look for them in an emergency. What is not locally available should be procured and kept ready. Stockpiling: There are certain basic requirements common to all disaster situations like, emergency communication equipment, clean drinking water, pre-cooked and ready to eat food, temporary shelters-tarpaulins and tents, common medicines and bandages, disinfectants, blankets, matchboxes, candles, torch lights, light implements like chain saws, crow bars, sickles, shovels etc. These are to be kept ready and perishables are to be constantly renewed. Distribution of relief and assistance: This is a grey area, where officials in India generally lack probity and impartiality. These are to be supervised and if possible handled by the representatives of the national committee of the citizens for relief. Every state should have a compact group of personnel trained to deal with a particular type of disaster and located in disaster prone areas. This task should be entrusted to the central police organisations and the state armed police formations. These units should consist of volunteer personnel, who should work for two/three years in an area and later move on to different locations. Such units will not only render immediate assistance but also provide the leadership for the general public, who are ever ready to help in emergency situations their fellow citizens but do not know what to do. In advanced countries, NGOs take an active part in organising relief and succour to the affected. Many of them have acquired expertise in specified area of emergency relief. Indian NGOs should also think in terms of specialising in relief work required in different areas of the country. None of these suggestions are difficult to implement if we have the political will and the public opinion to back them. Let us not lapse into collective amnesia till the next disaster strikes.
The author is a former Director General of CRPF and NSG. |
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Annan keeps the UN guessing over a second
term With less than a year to go before his current five-year term as Secretary-General of the United Nations ends, Mr Kofi Annan faces these days one stock question from the international media: what about a second term? Mr Annan’s stock answer has been that it is a difficult decision and that “I need to think it through.” He has promised to give an answer in March when he will give a signal how he will react, if the member states were to wish him to continue. “After all, the decision is theirs.” There have been reports that Mrs Nane Annan, a Swedish national, is less than enthusiastic about a second term for her husband since the job involves endless travelling across the globe and he should call it a day. Mr Annan will no doubt be inclined to respect her feelings, but that does not necessarily mean he will be disinclined to accept a second term to the prestigious office that eluded his predecessor Boutros Boutros Ghali because of a US veto. It is too early to conjecture as to what new republican administration headed by George W. Bush feels about a second term for Mr Annan, but the American stand in this regard will be crucial, although equally, the opinion of the other four permanent members of the Security Council will be important, since any one of them can use the veto. It is the General Assembly that finally decides the matter by a two-thirds majority, but once the Security Council makes a unanimous recommendation, approval by the General Assembly is invariably a formality. There may be many candidates waiting in the wings for the coveted international assignment, but if Mr Annan decides to seek a second term, the chances for the outsiders are slim unless one or more permanent members of the Security Council have a special reason not to back Mr Annan. At the historic World Millennium Summit in September last year, the Secretary-General won fulsome praise from the assembled heads of state or government for his leadership of the world organisation. Even assuming that the occasion warranted warm compliments for the work of the Secretary-General, no objective observer will deny the fact that during his last four years of stewardship of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan has tackled several delicate political situations with equanimity. These included an attempt to gain Iraq’s compliance with security council resolutions, a mission in 1998 to help promote the transition to civilian rule in Nigeria, an agreement in 1999 to resolve the stalemate between Libya and the Security Council over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, diplomacy in 1999 to forge an international response to violence in East Timor, and efforts in 2000 to certify Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon and then try and halt the violence between Israel and the Palestinians. It is, however, pertinent to point out that Mr Annan’s mission to Baghdad did not please the USA especially his statement on his return that he had “a good human rapport” with Saddam Hussein. According to a Time magazine report, the White House “shrieked”, while others said he sounded like Neville Chamberlain praising Hitler. “Annan’s very decency, some believe, stands in the way of his preventing the indecent acts he so badly wants to stop”, the magazine said. Mr Annan will be the first to concede that his term as Secretary-General has not entirely been a success story. He has admitted that last year was a difficult year, and there had been a lot of pressures. He had had to deal with crises in Sierra Leone, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in East Timor. Mr Annan describes himself as “a happy fool” who jumped into a quagmire like West Asia oblivious of the risks and dangers, “but feels it has to be done.” After a long effort, he has succeeded in persuading the US Congress to pay up Washington’s long pending dues to the UN. His first major initiative after taking over as Secretary-General was his plan for reform, “Renewing the UN”, which was presented to the member states in July, 1997. In April 2000, Mr Annan issued a Millennium Report entitled “We the Peoples: The role of the UN in the 21st century” calling on member-states to commit themselves to an action plan for ending poverty and inequality, improving education, reducing HIV/AIDS, safeguarding environment and protecting peoples from deadly conflicts and violence. The Millennium Declaration adopted by the summit virtually encompassed the action plan detailed in the Secretary-General’s report. In many interviews he has given to the international media, Mr Annan has said that he has sought to make the office of the Secretary-General a “pulpit” “From New York to Teheran, to Harare and Shanghai, I have sought, without attacking specific regimes or individuals, to use it as a vehicle to promote the values of tolerance, democracy, human rights and good governance that I believe are universal.” He has frequently stressed that a Secretary-General must be judged by his fidelity to the principles of the charter and his advancement of the ideals they embody. Mr Kofi Annan has been described variously as “a diplomat’s diplomat”, “an effective consensus builder”, and “an epitome of charm and serenity.” But his quiet and softspoken demeanour is not to be misconstrued as weakness. Mr Annan has not forgotten his father’s advice: Don’t crawl. He follows the Panch Sheel of his tribe in Ghana dignity, confidence, courage, compassion and faith, Secretary of State in the Clinton administration, Mrs Madeleine Albright, though annoyed with him over his 1998 mission to Baghdad, once described him as “a renowned international statesman who has made his mark in history. Critics are apt to fault him for the slow pace of UN reform and for his idealistic world view. His response is that reforms are an ongoing process and searches for excellence are constant. His advice to the media is what his school teacher advised his students. Don’t go through life focussing on the minor issue, not the black dot on the white, broad sheet. See the total picture. The Secretary-General has expressed the hope that 2001 will be the year when things really start to change and when the world sees the Millennium Declaration “not just as words.” It will not be a surprise if member states decide later this year to give Mr Kofi Annan a second term to enable him to implement many of the initiatives he has undertaken in the last four years. |
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Benazir’s appeal: a tough job for S.C. When the Pakistan’s Supreme Court begins hearing the appeal filed by Ms Benazir Bhutto on February 26, it will have in its hand a tough job. One of the brother judges who pandered to the wishes of the then Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, and sentenced the ousted Prime Minister to five years imprisonment in absentia, will certainly be the subject of animated discussion. The entire Pakistani media will be there to watch this new twist to the famous kickback case that forced Benazir into self exile and her husband Asif Ali Zardari to prison. There has been a lot of speculation ever since London Times ran the story on the alleged tape conversation between Mr Justice Malik Qayyum and the then Federal Law Minister, Khalid Anwar, the chairman of the then Accountability Bureau, Saifur Rehman, and the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Mr Rashid Aziz. Most of the mainline newspapers have run stories, the juicy stuff on the main characters. Right now the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, its military ruler and Chief Executive, Gen Parvez Musharraf, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court have with them a one-hour conversation that tells the entire story how Benazir was fixed by the then Prime Minister, Mr Sharif. This is courtesy, Mr Abdul Rahim, a deputy director of Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau. In his letter to the President, Mr Rahim said he was ordered to monitor the telephones of Justice Qayyum and was shocked to listen to the tapes. This
happend in 1999. The Judge was threatened and he did what he was asked to do. The poor man now says he does not remember anything. But Mr Jehangir Badar, Secretary-General of the People’s Party, is clear that the court would have little choice but to believe what the Intelligence Officer and the tapes have to say. The timing of the letter to the President could be interesting and cannot happen without the active involvement of the government of the day. How come the officer suddenly recollected and responded to the call of his conscience. Benazir has been waiting in the wings. Right now she is in second or third home Dubai. Gen Musharraf has already pardoned the Prime Minister he ousted in the bloodless army coup in October, 1999. Sharif and his family is in exile in the Saudi Arabia and he has clearly escaped the gallows as most newspapers like “Dawn” and “Nawa-E-Waqt” have written tomorrow there could be tapes revealing how the deal was struck between the military ruler and Nawaz Sharif. And as Benazir, the lady in distress, says: “There are several intelligence outfits that function at times without any controls. These at times are master to themselves.” An interesting interview has appeared in “Herald Annual” and is recorded by journalist Syed Ali Dayan Hasan. Some portions reveal in detail the murky side of Pakistan’s no holds barred politics. Hear to the former minister who has won two elections and lost another. Although Benazir has made enough wealth to last for generations, yet she claims she is a victim of conspiracies and her heart bleeds for the hapless people of Pakistan who had been cheated by whom they elected by a massive mandate or who usurped power and ruled ruthlessly. She seems to be telling the West that in the given circumstances she was the best bet for a civil rule. How many takers she has in her own country could be any guess. But some extracts could be useful in the understanding of her strategy. Will you validate General Musharraf’s amendments to the constitution? It depends on what the amendments are. My party is opposed to validating Musharraf’s amendments but if Musharraf announces the repeal of the separate electorate (imposed by Zia), I will validate it. Your question is general, if there is a reformist agenda, in keeping with the liberal aspirations, yes, I will validate it. But if an amendment creates a National Security Council through which the military can get rid of political governments that fail to toe the line. I will oppose it. When I use the term ‘military’. I do not mean the armed forces as such. I think the security apparatus has run amok. I think a different kind of NSC is needed to bring the security apparatus under the rule of law — not under the rule of a prime minister but under the rule of law. Let me give you an example. When I became Prime Minister, they came to me and said they wanted to increase the intelligence corps but I rejected the proposal. But when I was overthrown in 1990, the same proposal was approved by Mr Mustafa Jatoi. And now we have seven different intelligence agencies playing politics right down to the tehsil level. Q: Can you provide further examples of how the military establishment and the intelligence agencies operated to destabilise democracy during your first tenure? I have two witnesses who tell me that they attended two similar meetings arranged by a then-serving corps commander during my first term. In these meetings, the corps commander, Nawaz Sharif, and Osama Bin Laden were present. Osama Bin Lader was told that a woman in this position was against Islam so he should give them money to overthrow me and then Nawaz said that he would bring Islam to Pakistan. Does the public think these things need to be investigated independently or not? No one had heard of Osama Bin Laden then. I had not either. He is famous now. In those days, he was unknown but he was sitting there and interfering in my government. Q: As a popularly, elected leader, why did you not see it fit to share this information with the people of Pakistan while you were in power? I believe I won four elections. Twice the governments were destabilised, and twice, partisan administration conducted elections and ensured the defeat of the PPP. The DG ,ISI, Hameed Gul, admitted to influencing the 1988 elections. The DG, ISI, Asad Durrani, admitted to influencing the 1990 elections. In the 1997 elections, 150 computers were bought from a man. I wrote a letter to the President saying the election will be rigged. The computers were installed. The returning officers (the presiding officers) were given lists with 50 to 100 names missing on each. After the elections, the election commission computers were hacked and the additional votes in those polling stations were added to the tally. I made mistakes and I am prepared to admit them but so must others. Others also owe it; they owe it to their armed forces, to the people of Pakistan and to the Muslim world. We call the last decade to decade of dirty democracy. I see it as one when we pretended democracy but principally conspired against a democratically elected leader and her government. Secondly, my agenda was not to fight with the military and the security apparatus. My agenda was to change the destiny of the people of Pakistan. And I am proud of my efforts in that respect. Will the generals be required to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission you are proposing? We need a figure like Mandela or Bishop Tutu, someone with great moral authority to preside over it. Then, we need the victims to start coming first. Not the serving generals but the victims must be called first. Once we start with the tortured and the coerced, we will get a paper trail back to those responsible. |
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Wrong kind of people making decisions on our behalf On an evening stroll, last week, I stumbled upon the police making a Valentine’s Day arrest. I would have minded my own business had I not noticed a frightened, young girl standing beside a police van. She was staring into the van and seemed to be in conversation with two grim faced policemen who sat inside. On closer inspection I noticed that she was talking not to them but to a young man who sat opposite them and looked as frightened as she did. It was too intriguing a situation for me to continue minding my own business so I asked the girl if she were being arrested “No not me”, she said in a frightened whisper “my boyfriend.” It turned out that the couple had been spotted by our hawk-eyed policemen in a compromising position and in an area that aroused suspicion so an arrest was made. It should have been clear to even the stupidest of policemen that the couple were lovers not terrorists but clearly was not since it required considerable persuasion before they agreed to release the young man. Despite the eventual cooperation from the police the incident set me thinking of the uglier facets of our fair and wondrous land. What kind of country are we if lovers get arrested and terrorists go free? What kind of country are we if Valentine’s Day constitutes such a threat to our culture that self-appointed culture thugs are allowed to roam the streets breaking up shops selling Valentine cards? What kind of country are we if the Minister of Information and Broadcasting can spend more time banning Fashion TV than on trying to improve the abysmal quality of Doordarshan programming? Would you say a sad, sick country that is increasingly allowing the wrong kind of people to make decisions on our behalf? How else can we explain the fact that Bal Thackeray can openly urge his thugs to attack anything to do with Valentine’s Day and nobody dares arrest him? Incitement to violence is a crime under Indian law but Thackeray not only goes free but he even evokes words of praise from the RSS. It was merely an “extreme reaction” to an extreme situation’ says RSS spokesman, M.G. Vaidya. The Asian Age newspaper allowed Mr Vaidya to explain his own organisation’s animosity to Valentine’s Day and this is how he did it. He saw it as a conspiracy by multi-national companies to sell their products to unsuspecting Indians. Puzzlingly he also saw in it the possibility of India being re-conquered by foreigners, “(If) Indians adopt Western culture, the country would become and (sic) could be easily conquered? The RSS is allergic to history or Mr Vaidya would have known that India was conquered by foreigners at a time when it was completely untouched by foreign influence. The more important point that the RSS misses, though, is that they insult Indian culture if they believe it is fragile that it can be destroyed by Valentine’s Day. They also insult India as a country if they think that a few multi-national companies can overwhelm it. They are entitled to their bizarre ideas, though, as long as they merely articulate them. But, they do not merely do this. They launch campaigns of the kind that prevented Deepa Mehta from making Water. Like the Shiv Sena they also breed their own culture policemen who last year made enough noise in the streets of Varanasi to bring all shooting to a halt. Deepa was reviled for denigrating Indian culture through her films and was driven out of town along with her crew. She tried her best to persuade the culture policemen that the film was, in fact, a powerful argument against the evil way in which we treat our widows. She submitted her script to local mahants who read it and pronounced that there was nothing anti-Hindu about the film but their words went unheard because culture thugs are not very good at listening. As one of the few Indians who read the script allow me to add that it is, without question, one of the most beautiful scripts on the subjects of widowhood. It tells the story of a seven-year-old widow who is abandoned by her family in a widow’s home in Varanasi and who through her innocent questions about why she can no longer wear coloured clothes or eat sweets makes the older widows in the home realise that they need to start asking some questions themselves. Had the film been allowed to be made it would have provoked many more questions but this is exactly what our guardians of Hindu culture do not want. They have no answers to the questions and, in any case, want to preserve their version of Hindutva with all its evils. Why should they abandon superstition and obscurantism when Muslims — the ultimate enemy — show no signs of doing so either? Look at the fact that in Gujarat we saw people bringing their TV sets into the street and breaking them up because some maulvi persuaded them that the earthquake was caused by society becoming evil and the root of all evil, this learned man of religion said, was television. Ordinary, semi-literate people can be forgiven their idiocies, though, what is much more worrying is when you see the virus of intolerance infect senior ministers in the Vajpayee Government. Surely the Prime Minister needs to restrain Sushma Swaraj when she uses the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to ban a television channel that she personally considers vulgar. FTV consists of nothing more than models walking endlessly down catwalks so not many people watch it but the Minister is of prudish bent and has put several of her ministry’s clerks on the job of watching FTV for hours and hours in the hope that she can come up with a good enough reason to ban the channel. Should she have the right to do this? No. For a start the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should have ceased to exist many years ago but if it is still around it cannot waste taxpayers money on this kind of foolish activity. If it feels it has a role to play then that role has to be a more serious attempt to either sell off Doordarshan or ensure that it stops being a constant drain on our resources. If the Minister has time to spare she should spend it finding other ways to stop her ministry wasting our money on useless projects like the Department for Audio & Visual Publicity, completely irrelevant now, and Films Division that continues to make bad propaganda films that nobody watches. She could also ponder the consequences of intolerance infecting the government. If it’s FTV today it could be another channel tomorrow. How long are the people of India going to have to put up with this kind of nonsense? |
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Israeli troops “using” poison gas The PLO has asked foreign medical labs to investigate its claims — renewed this week by Mr Yasser Arafat and strenuously denied by Israel — that Israeli troops are using “poison gas” on Palestinian civilians. The Israeli Army denied the charges, saying that its soldiers use “standard tear gas” and smoke bombs against Palestinians. Army spokesman Brig Gen Ron Kitrey accused the Palestinians of fabricating the symptoms. After viewing footage of Palestinians treated for gas inhalation, former Israeli Army Surgeon-General Eran Dolev said he saw no signs of perspiration, vomiting or skin burns, symptoms of exposure to nerve or mustard gas. The charges — a renewal of accusations made by the Palestinians in the past — emerged this week after Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen battled for two nights in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis. The Israeli Army said troops fired smoke bombs to drive out gunmen. However, about 60 Palestinians treated at Nasser Hospital for gas inhalation showed symptoms such as spasms, fainting and severe burning in the eyes and throat, said Dr Yasser Sheikh Ali. “We do believe it’s a poisonous gas and we sought help from Egypt and Jordan to identify the gas,” Sheikh Ali said. Their blood samples, chest and stomach x-rays, as well as ramnants of gas canisters, were sent to foreign medical labs, Palestinian medical officers said. — AP |
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Physical and monetary service is easy to perform, and hundreds of people can afford to do so. Mental service is difficult to perform and there are very few people who are capable of performing it. But service by the soul is much more difficult to perform and rare to achieve. *** One who loves the Lord also loves His creation. Thus the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man are realised, and in this manner love is developed in us not only for God but also for His creation.
—Huzur Maharaj Sawan Singh, Philosophy of the Masters, Series One.
*** Life is not for making merry. Rather it is for the realisation of the Creator and for the service of the creation. *** If life is intended only for the service of humanity and for the realisation of God, then it becomes our duty to keep it pure and abstemious.
—From the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 80.
*** Have constructvie thoughts; consoling words; compassionate acts. Be on the look-out for eyes filled with tears, hearts hearing in sighs.... Be centres of love, compassion, service, mutual tolerance.
— Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 7 chapter 86.
*** Thou alone art Do not keep your 'self' in anything. When you have rendered everything to God, then everything is He and you are also He.... Then you attend to your wordly work... but always feel in your mind that 'I' am not doing anything. 'I' simply am not. Whatever pleasure or pain comes accept it cheerfully. Always realise That the Satguru is everything. 'I' am nothing. 'I' am not. Thou art. Thou alone art.
—Spiritual Letters from Baba Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj (1896-1903), No 5. |
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