The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDITORIALS

Intelligence chaos

AS the USA recovers from the incapacitating shock of Black Tuesday's airborne terror, there is a sense of disbelief and disorientation. While the disaster management is being carried out with clockwork precision and efficiency, the question on many American lips is how it could happen to the most powerful nation in the world. Apparently, the terrorists managed to find its Achilles' heel and how! Fingers are being raised at its intelligence and security agencies. It is indeed strange that long-haul jets were hijacked and nobody on the ground knew anything about this for as many as 40 minutes. Moreover, a diabolical plan of such dimensions could not have been hatched without elaborate planning. Apparently, the intelligence agencies got no wind of it. There were warnings that terrorists were planning to target the USA but these were of general nature. Now it has come out that some members of the suicide squad that boarded the planes that were later used to target the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were trained pilots and even received their training in the USA itself. Counter-espionage sources allege that funds and facilities for them had been drying up for long and their warnings in this regard were ignored. Whether it is just an excuse or not, the security system is indeed in need of a thorough revamping.

It is rather harsh to say at this stage, but the technology-driven America had become rather over-confident of its capabilities. It could never convince itself that someone could target a country with the world's most awesome weaponry through the backdoor. The old-fashioned wisdom of keeping one's ear to the ground was apparently forgotten. While it focussed on missile shields and other cutting-edge gadgetry, the terrorists found a ridiculously simple method to target its underbelly, unfortunately with consequences as calamitous as could have been achieved by, say, a nuclear attack. Part of the blame also lies with the American standoffish attitude. It could never appreciate the full gravity of the threat that was looming large over the head of the rest of the world, just because most massacres were taking place away from its shores. For instance, India had been pleading for action against the Lashkar-e-Toiba citing specific instances about the depredations caused by it, but the USA did not move, although England had put it on the banned list. This apathy let several Frankensteins grow and grow. Because of the American affluence, aeroplanes had become no more than flying buses and it learnt no lessons from the repeated hijackings of planes elsewhere. How one wishes the action that it is planning now was initiated a few years earlier! The unthinkable has happened. The USA is rich and powerful enough to make amends. But warning bells are ringing even louder for others. The "success" that the terrorists have achieved in New York and Washington is likely to make them bolder. There are credible reports that India is very much on the hit list. One shudders to think of what a determined group can do to the country's nuclear and other vital installations. We have had enough of sham "red alerts". Now is the time for some real security measures that can deter even the most determined enemies of humanity.

A grim picture of literacy

THE well-meant efforts at presenting a paradigmatic model of social growth through the eradication of illiteracy or, conversely, by spreading literacy was a big leap forward mainly due to NGOs in the final decade of the last century. The new millennium is too nascent to review the work done in the field of largely voluntary education but the daunting 100-crore-plus population figure presents itself with an urgent cause for stocktaking in one of the crucial areas of development. When Kerala came up with a 100 per cent claim of literacy and gave us the slogan "Sakshara Keralam", lamps of hope were lit elsewhere too. In the rest of the South, Andhra Pradesh made strides. But Tamil Nadu, with a splendid record in higher education, left much to be desired. The coastal areas remained relatively in gloom. In central India, Madhya Pradesh explained its "limitations" by taking us into ravines and valleys, without putting forth the figures of the stunted growth of literacy in urban and semi-urban areas, besides villages without resource crunch. Rajasthan followed the MP model of evasiveness with camel-like hardihood. Looking upwards, one finds UP and Bihar full of pockets of the unlettered. Women and children forced into slaving for their families away from home compound the evil and mark a decrease per thousand of the population in the number of the literate. In fact, many neo-literate persons have gone into the circle of darkness again.

The picture in Punjab became grim and remains so. A Tribune report has this to say: Punjab has achieved prosperity in many spheres but it lags behind in the field of literacy. The majority of children do not go to school (many of them after doing so for some time). And about 45 lakh persons in the age group of 15 to 45 are literate. Himachal Pradesh and Haryana are far behind Chandigarh, which is a model not because of its being a beautiful city but because of a thought being spared by voluntary organisations and people in educated neighbourhoods. Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, the Human Resource Development Minister, takes undue credit when he says that the country has made a remarkable achievement in literacy. What is the basis of his observation? The census of 2001 which reflects the work done in 2000? "The impressive jump of 13.7 per cent" is a figure taken from a page of history. The reduction of the number of the illiterate by 32 million" is by no means a current and continuing fact. The NGOs and Dr Joshi's HRD Ministry have to start anew even in Delhi and Mumbai (or Maharashtra) where the spoken word prepares fertile ground for the written word. The rising population is showing a falling literacy figure. In this age of electronic media, the smallest per cent dent on illiteracy will mean millions of new literates and this will be a revolution in itself.

FRANKLY SPEAKING

Crushing terrorism globally
Importance of Indo-American cooperation
Hari Jaisingh

THE world on Tuesday saw a new horrifying face of terrorism in the USA. The sight was chilling beyond words. The television pictures of New York's once spectacular skyscraper World Trade Center lying in debris and Washington's Pentagon complex in flames looked like shots straight from a horror movie.

The scenes were too shocking and terrifying for the people the world over. The anger of the Americans is well pronounced. The mood is one of retribution against those who engineered and sponsored this dastardly act.

Perhaps this terrifying spectacle will dramatically change the global response to terrorism and its patrons whatever be their cause and justification. Already there are signs of change. In this setting, the American war against terrorism is likely to be total and unsparing. President George W. Bush has given enough indications in this regard.

Looking ahead, the new public mood should be seen as an opportunity by Indian leaders to strike hard at the foreign mercenaries and vairous terrorist groups operating from across the border and in Jammu and Kashmir.

Tuesday's was a well-planned and coordinated action. It was executed mercilessly in the commercial heartland of the sole superpower. If the world's most powerful nation could be so vulnerable to terrorist onslaught, what could be the plight of countries like India which have neither resources nor the political will to take on terrorism head-on?

India's is actually a classical example of a democratic polity that has suffered the most at the hands of militant groups during the past two decades or so. It could not do much since its leaders lack guts and determination to launch a full-fledged offensive against them in the absence of American support. Nor could they knock out the training camps run by dreaded terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in close cooperation with the Pakistani military establishment.

Ironically, the rise of terrorism in the subcontinent can be attributed to the support the Americans extended to Pakistan against the then Soviet presence in the rugged mountanous country of Afghanistan in the eighties. What followed is part of history. But then everything became complex subsequently.

The induction of sophisticated weapons, the trafficking in narcotics and freewheeling Talibanisation of Afghanistan changed everything — from geopolitics to economics and the old mindset. No wonder, even simple matters of culture, human relations and politics got complicated in the process.

Pakistan today is one of the major merchants of illicit drugs and supplies a fifth of all heroin consumed in the USA. According to an earlier CIA study, the top brass of Pakistan's armed forces and bureaucracy and political leadership are involved in drug trafficking.

This unholy nexus and the active role played by Osama bin Laden have aided and abetted the forces of Islamic fundamentalist in Kashmir. The crossborder terrorism in the valley and beyond has now become a major threat to peace, stability and tranquillity in the subcontinent.

It is no secret that Pakistan has a number of terrorist camps which, at one stage, were used to train Khalistanis. Once peace returned to Punjab, Pakistan stepped up its terrorist activities in Kashmir.

It is worth remembering that the warlords of Afghanistan and their Pakistani friends have been enjoying the benefits of billions of dollars of drug money for over a decade. They are in no mood to give up these benefits and allow Afghanistan to settle down in peace. However, they have cleverly disguised their nefarious objectives with calls for jehad. Terrorism in Kashmir is financed largely by the money provided by the drug lords of Pakistan — and all in the name of Islamic fundamentalism!

The imposition of the diktat for compulsory wearing of burqa by the little known Lashkar-e-Jabbar is the latest example of Islamic terrorists' unholy plans in the valley. This is against the cultural and secular ethos of Kashmiri society. This is nothing but a gross violation of human rights.

A number of questions can be asked as to why the Indian authorities have failed to tackle terrorism effectively. The reasons for Indian failures on this front can easily be listed.

One, the Indian leadership has never been sure of its objectives. It has failed to put Pakistan in its place, though it has had several opportunities for this purpose.

Second, the central and state authorities have often been working at cross-purposes with the result the desired goal of freeing the valley from the clutches of militants could never be achieved.

Three, the security forces engaged in anti-terrorist operations have never acted in a coordinated manner. The lack of coordinated thinking and action plan has often created more problems than solving them.

Four, even the intelligence agencies have failed to do their job professionally. There have of late been some coordinated efforts which are yet to show results. Considerable damage has already been done. But for this intelligence failure, the Kargil disaster could have been averted. It is only after the Kargil shock that some serious thinking has been given to the whole matter.

Five, poor house-keeping by the state government and corrupt practices have only made matters worse. This has also given a boost to the different terrorist groups.

Six, the unchecked flow of foreign money and the mushroom growth of madarsas in the valley have also added to the complication. It must be said that the Central and state leaders could hardly visualise the disastrous fallout of their soft policies towards the various foreign Islamic groups.

Take the latest burqa issue. The state authorities have failed to identify the mischief-makers, notwithstanding the fact that a number of known Kashmiri leaders like Mr Shabir Shah and others have decried the burqa move involving coercive tactics as anti-Islamic and against the Kashmiri culture. It is rather surprising that Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has not been able to mobilise public opinion and launch a drive against a handful of mischief-makers.

In my "Frankly Speaking" column of August 28, 1998, I stated categorically:

"Terrorism has to be fought tooth and nail. Unfortunately, there has been no proper appreciation of the Indian suffering on the part of the USA. India has repeatedly told the USA that unstinted support to Islamic terrorist nurseries in Pakistan and Afghanistan is bound to be counter-productive. New Delhi has proved right. Therefore, all that is necessary now is to give a logical thrust to global cooperation.

"The USA has to have better appreciation of India's case against Pakistan's sustained role in organising terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir — a complaint which Washington has been ignoring because of its continued pro-Pakistan stance on Kashmir....

"It will, however, be in the interest of the USA to understand India's viewpoint, not as a gang-up operation against Pakistan but to reason out with the military establishment in Islamabad that terrorism is nobody's ally and it does not pay to cosy up with terrorists and their patrons in the long run."

General Pervez Musharraf is already shaky at the turn of events in the USA. He may be fearing American retaliation against the Taliban regime in Kabul where Osama bin Laden has been camping with the help of Pakistan's military establishment.

The General has now adopted an anti-terrorism tone to ward off an American strike. But it is doubtful if there is any genuine change of heart in him. From India's point of view, he must be made to realise that the so-called jehadis ( whom he calls freedom-fighters) are part of the dreaded species of terrorism coming from across the border and are now operating in Kashmir. Most of these terrorists are foreign mercenaries. They have to be eliminated along with the training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Perhaps we should expect better understanding and cooperation from President Bush and his administration. All the same, a lot will depend on our political will and ability to translate it into action. The tragedy of the leadership in New Delhi is that it lacks guts even when vital national interests are at stake. This is a pity.

Enough is enough. Empty words and soft options will not do. We will have to strike at the root of terrorism while the world opinion is against fanaticism-driven acts of terrorism against humanity that destabilises the established democratic and civilised order. Over to Prime Minister Vajpayee, President Bush and other democratic world leaders.

It is time to call a spade a spade. It is wrong to entertain the hope that time will resolve the problem. Time cannot resolve such problems. Only political will can.

MIDDLE

The rise and fall of Sula
K.J.S. Chatrath

I was back in India after a rewarding stay of over a year in France, which included a month spent in the world famous mineral water town of Vichy. I was naturally full of stories of my stay in France, much to the annoyance of some. At one such session, on my mentioning the mineral water of Vichy, a friend informed me, quite patriotically, that an excellent source of natural mineral water having curative properties had been discovered in some place in Palampur district of Himachal Pradesh. By then India had not yet entered the bottle-tap-water-called-mineral-water age and one had to go to the source to take mineral water. Then somehow the conversation took a totally different turn. Years passed by. It was after about five years that I had a chance of visiting Palampur.

I was really impressed by the majestic beauty of the Dhauladhar ranges. I told my host while returning in taxi to Palampur after a visit to a distant spot that I had heard about a mineral water source in Palampur and that I would very much like to visit it. Ah, no problem, he said, we will take a route that goes through the mineral water village of Sula and he gave necessary instructions to the driver.

The taxi driver was an old Himachali, who, from his getup and impressive moustaches, appeared to be an ex-army personnel. Those were the days when I too was nursing a massive set of moustaches. We glanced appreciatively at each other’s moustaches and an invisible rapport was created instantly. “Driver Sahib, aap kya fauj mein they?” (Driver Sahib, were you in the army), I asked. He very proudly said yes and put me a counter question asking if I too had been in the army. Unfortunately no, I replied regretfully, being a solid admirer of army’s discipline I was very keen but I had weak eyesight right from the school days. He nodded, I thought quite sympathetically. The ice having been broken, a wonderful conversation followed. For the rest of the journey, I dropped the word “driver” and addressed him as “Sahib” only. He reciprocated and called me a respectful but affectionate “Sir ji” all through the journey.

Please tell me about the geography and history of Sula’s mineral water, I requested him. Sir ji, I will tell you not only the history and geography but also the politics, he chuckled with a mischievous smile.

He turned out to be a remarkable story teller. Sir ji, once the news about the curative properties of the water spread, there was no stopping Sula, he started. It became the hottest topic of discussion in an otherwise very calm and peaceful State. Soon all kinds of incredible stories of people having been cured of dangerous diseases after having taken Sula water spread. Business and economy of Sula started booming with large hordes of people arriving every day from all parts of the State and even from outside the State for getting cured. It had its impact in the socio-domestic fields too. One started getting messages from long forgotton relatives requesting for sending a few bottles of the by now famous Sula Water. The final sign that the place had “arrived” was that the government servants started using pulls and pushes to get a posting as near Sula as possible. Transport department became especially important. Sir ji, you won’t believe me, smiled the driver, the rooftops of the buses became overloaded with jerrycans of mineral water being transported by the transport department staff for their bosses, colleagues, relatives etc. Mineral water had its political fallout too. People’s representatives elected from that region became very influential. “But then what went wrong”, I interrupted.

Sir ji, ultimately the reason, which led to its fame and rise, also became the cause of its fall from grace — the mineral water. It started with the installation of two plastic tanks where the spring water would drip in and could be taken out through taps. By then the polite people of Sula had became tired of looking after an unending queue of near and dear, and not so near and not so dear relations. It had its impact on the politics of the State too — there was pressure on other MLAs to discover similar sources in their constituencies. A whisper campaign started that the water was not really that good and that the natural properties of the water had been lost because instead of letting it flow in the natural way, it was first getting collected in plastic tanks, said the rumour mills. Stories of some sources of better mineral water, having even more miraculous properties having been discovered in some other districts/constituencies also started floating in the air. And suddenly after a sharp curve the taxi stopped and the driver announced that we had reached Sula. Sir ji, after drinking the water you tell us whether it is good or not, said the driver very impartially.

It was dark by then and a fairly dim bulb was providing some lazy rays of light. We filled our bottles with the magical water and I sat back in the taxi feeling totally tired by then. On the journey back to Palampur, I slowly and very gradually finished a bottle of Sula water, sipping it in the tradition of the best wines, letting it roll over my tongue. It tasted really good. And a littler later we reached Palampur. I went straight to the loo and felt remarkably light and nice after relieving myself, and wondered how much of driver’s tale was true!

‘I am alive & I’ve got second birth’

Indian software engineer Kathiresan Muralidharan sprinted out of a building opposite the World Trade Center (WTC) the moment he heard a loud crash.

He saw, to his horror, people jumping out of high-rise floors of the WTC after a hijacked plane smashed into it in the first of a series of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington Tuesday.

It was a sight he would not forget for a long, long time. Collecting his wits, he e-mailed his family in India: “I am alive and I have got a second birth today.”

After rushing down nine floors of his building, he tried to contact his friends and cousins who worked in the twin towers. His roommate, who worked on the 76th floor of the WTC, miraculously came out moments before the building collapsed.

“I am not sure if I should be happy for coming out alive or sad for those thousands of people who died,” Muralidharan said. “There might be many friends who are trapped in it.”

Murlidharan’s family is still lucky.

‘Thank God for being late’

IFor Indian American Amit Varshney, Tuesday was one of the rare days when he could not make it to work on time. He now believes his tardiness was god-send.

“I shudder to think what would have happened if I had reached work as usual,” said a shocked Varshney who has to pass through the WTC towers to reach his office at Wall Street.

Indian American Sangeeta Bhowmik, who worked on the 82nd floor of the first tower, was about to enter the elevator at around 9 a.m. when a policewoman stopped her.

“I was told that there had been some explosion on top of the building, and ordered to leave,” she recalls.

Bhowmik exited the WTC and was heading for the railroad station, when a thunderclap of sound was heard, signalling the collapse of what were the tallest towers in New York city.

“I could not believe what I was seeing,” said Indian American Santosh Tamhane. The computer programmer witnessed the incident from a building across the street. “One of the towers melted away like an ice-cream cone. I saw people jumping out of the 20th, 30th floors.”

The likes of Santosh and Varshney believe the tragedy could have been much greater had the terrorists struck half-an-hour later.

“Many people who work in the WTC have flexible timings and come in well after 9 in the morning,” says computer programmer Vimal Patel, a resident of Piscataway in central New Jersey.

In the aftermath of the terrorist strikes, Patel took the ferry from the WTC and walked a mile after that to reach Jersey City.

All the subways in New Jersey and New York were shut down less than an hour after the attack and remained closed for the better part of the day, forcing thousands of office goers to swarm the streets in search of public transport for New York and elsewhere.

Harrowing 24 hours

Rajeev Tyagi spent a harrowing 24 hours before he could locate his wife and son who were flying from India to the USA Tuesday when terrorists struck.

A software consultant, Tyagi finally located his wife, Rashmi, and their two-and-a-half-year-old son Chinmay, in a Red Cross office near Gander International Airport in New Foundland in Canada.

Their Lufthansa flight had been diverted to Canada following the attacks in New York and Washington. “I had never heard of such a place (Gander), but finally found it on the Internet,” said Tyagi.

Tyagi came to the USA only six months ago. And he was all eager and excited about his wife’s arrival along with their son. The duo, who were taking their first international flight, had boarded a Lufthansa flight from Mumbai airport were to arrive at Dallas that fateful day.

The news of diversion left Rajeev in a state of panic. Add to that Rashmi’s parents back home in India too were anxious and with phones between India and U.S. functioning erratically on the first day, it was a nightmare for both sides of the distraught family separated by more than 10,000 miles.

“I was on the phone continuously for six hours calling Lufthansa every few minutes. And every time a different person gave me different information,” said Tyagi.

Still, Rajeev kept calling the Red Cross number and to his surprise he got through and finally even managed to speak to his wife, who is still in Gander. “I am very lucky at least I know my wife and son are okay, I thought about all those families whose relatives where stranded in the rubble of the WTC disaster.”

Meghna, a resident of New Jersey, still has no idea of where her husband. He worked on the 97th floor of the World Trade Centre.

She received news Tuesday that he was safe, but has been waiting for more calls from him.

I am jumping out

The Noida-based family of a 26-year-old stockbroker who worked on the 105th floor of the WTC and was horrified when they read his frantic e-mail on Tuesday.

“The building is on fire and I don’t think there is a way out. So I am jumping out,” he said. The family is feverishly hoping it is not true — that their son may still be alive.

It is a nerve-wracking wait for many Indians here anxious about loved ones who they fondly sent off to America — the land of opportunities — not long ago. Hours are turning into days, and the suspense is nothing less than torture.

They hope it is just the jammed phone lines or clogged e-mails.

“Wherever you are, please leave a message or try to inform us you are ok. Waiting for your response badly,” is the refrain of scores of e-mail messages going out of India.

Relatives here respond with a strange mix of hope and dread when they read horror stories from New York.

Parents of Sanjeev Ohri, a senior manager with Morgan Stanley (one of the offices in the World Trade Center), have made several failed attempts to get in touch with him. From their residence in North Delhi’s Rajouri Garden, the New York tragedy seems terrifyingly close and all too real.

Ohri and his wife Mona, who also worked in Morgan Stanley, are untraceable.According to reports, there has been no news of some 3,000 employees of the firm who may have been in WTC moments before it imploded.

But the news is not all bad. Indians who were able to get in touch with their families here have spoken of miraculous escapes.

An employee of Goldman Sachs at the same building wrote to her family how she was glad to be late to work that day. She usually reached office by 8.30 a.m, but that day arrived outside the WTC at 9.10 a.m. and saw all hell break loose. IANS

Actress’ providential escape

Prominent Bengali film actress Rituparna Sengupta had a miraculous escape when she cancelled her trip by the American Airlines’ 757 Washington-Los Angeles flight that crashed into the WTC.

“I and my husband were to travel by Tuesday morning’s Dulles (international airport)-Los Angeles flight, but we decided against it and thought we would take the Dulles-San Diego flight that afternoon. It is sheer divine intervention that we are alive today,” Sengupta told her parents in Kolkata on the phone from the US on Wednesday.

Sengupta is currently on a holiday in the USA where her husband Sanjay Chakraborty works. The acclaimed actress has won several national awards. IANS

Punjab feels heat of terror in USA
Satinder Bains

Punjab is in the grip of uncertainty following Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington as a large number of Punjabis are feared to be among the victims.

“Hundreds of NRIs belonging to Punjab, especially the districts of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahar and Ludhiana, were working in New York”, said Resham Singh, president of the NRI Sabha of Punjab.

At least 50 Punjabi professionals out of nearly 100 working in the twin WTC towers are reported missing, according to Tanya, an information technology (IT) administrator with Lehman Brothers at WTC-2 who today spoke from New York to her relatives in Chandigarh. She managed to get out of the tower minutes before it collapsed.

Terrorists rammed the two WTC towers with hijacked passenger airliners 18 minutes apart on Tuesday morning, triggering their collapse.

Deutsche Bank President Vikas Kapur, who was on a first floor office in the WTC, is among the lucky few who managed to escape. He called his brother on Wednesday evening and said he feared that many Punjabis working on the higher floors had been killed.

Some NRIs who had come to visit their families in India a few days ago are worried as they have been unable to contact their relatives and friends back in the USA.

“Our return to the USA has been delayed due to the cancellation of international flights,” said Chicago-based cab driver Jorowar Singh. He said he has not yet found out the fate of several of his acquaintances who live in the heart of New York.

R.K. Sethi, a retired government official in Chandigarh who returned from the USA recently after visiting his IT professional son Atul, who works in the WTC, said the tower’s second floor had an Indian market full of priceless artefacts, antiques and handicrafts. A number of Punjabis run the businesses there, he said.

Atul Sethi, who ran out of the WTC along with his colleague wife, informed his father over the telephone that not many people were able to leave the collapsing buildings on time.

A large number of people from rural Punjab whose relatives are settled in the USA have been thronging public telephone booths in a desperate bid to contact their kin. Anxiety and confusion reigns even 40 hours after the tragedy.

A resident of Vadala Kalan village near Jalandhar, Ajit Singh’s daughters were married into families in Canada and the USA. “I am unable to contact my daughter in New York and have asked my other daughter in Canada to find out her whereabouts,” she said.

The anxious relatives in Punjab haven’t slept a wink since the terrorist strike Tuesday, glued to their television sets watching images of the disaster.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

To give happiness to others is a great act of charity.

***

A smile can make short of any difficulty.

***

To taste the sweetness of life you must have the power to forget the past.

***

Contentment and bliss go hand in hand.

***

To have balance in all situations is the key to happiness.

***

True victory means complete control over the sense organs.

— Thought for Today (A Brahmakumari Publication)

***

I am non-existent, and the meaning of existence

I cannot comprehend.

I am a flame, burning smokelessly.

My heart and soul I have offered

at the altar of love.

Methinks it is a fair exchange,

what care I for the return.

— Sarmad. From Bankey Bihari, Sufis, Mystics and Yogis of India.

***

Women must be honoured and adorned by fathers, brothers, husbands and brothers-in-law, desiring welfare.

***

Where women are honoured, there verily the Devas rejoice; Where they are not honoured, there indeed all rites are fruitless.

***

Where the female relatives grieve, there the family quickly perishes;

Where they do not grieve, that family always prospers.

***

In the family where the husband is contented with his wife and the wife with her husband, there happiness is ever sure.

— Manu Smriti, III, 55-57