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Wednesday,
May 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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An act of revenge Woes of oustees Ameena revisited |
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Looking at India’s security concern
A lesson in positive living
Hurriyat leader who died for dialogue
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An act of revenge THE Jaish-e-Mohammad has provided chilling evidence that militants do not belong to any faith. They are beasts in human garb. How else should one react to the beheading of four women and two infants of a single family by Jaish militants in a village in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir late on Sunday night? The militants stormed the house of Mohammad Bakerwal, because one of his sons is in the Army and another a member of the Special Operation Group of the state police. The male members had gone out for the wedding of a relative in another village when the blood curdling incident was enacted with the clinical proficiency of butchers. The ostensible reason for the act of bestiality was the killing of two senior Jaish men by the security forces when they visited Bakerwal’s home a few days ago looking for his son. The incident provided one more example that the concern of the Pakistan-trained militant outfits for the Kashmiri Muslims is phoney. They have in the past killed Pandits and Sikhs for the purpose of provoking an anti-Muslim backlash in the country. It is a tribute to the native genius of ordinary citizens that they have instinctively seen through the game of the militants and have held their peace in spite of grave acts of provocation. It is clear that mere words of comfort cannot make the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir feel secure. The only ray of hope is the warm Pakistani response to the hand of friendship offered by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from Srinagar last month. But the road to peace is not easy to traverse. Each step that India and Pakistan take in the direction of regional friendship will provoke the mercenaries into stepping up the scale of violence and bestiality. Sunday night’s episode was part of this project of the anti-India elements in Kashmir. One should not read too much into the report that Pakistan has decided to treat the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant outfit on a par with the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. It should be read along with the thundering assertion by the Hizb chief, Syed Salahuddin, that no training camps were operating in PoK and that it was part of the Indian propaganda to give the “Jihad in Kashmir” and bad name. Jihad? Was the beheading of women and children in Rajouri part of the Jihad that Salahuddin spoke so eloquently about at a press conference in Rawalpindi? It goes without saying that purposeful dialogue between the two countries can take place only after the marginalisation of venom-spitting leaders like Maulana Masood Azhar and
Salahuddin. |
| Woes of oustees THE Kutch region is going ga ga over the Narmada waters entering it the other day. This is understandable, given the geographical limitations of the region. But what is distressing is the slow pace of relief and rehabilitation work. The governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh seem to have abdicated their responsibility to rehabilitate the
oustees. This is in gross violation of the Supreme Court’s directive as also the award of the Narmada Water Disputes Authority
(NWDA). Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have expressed their helplessness to come to the rescue of the displaced. A Task Force set up by the Maharashtra government as also the Grievance Redressal Committee have found fault with the rehabilitation and resettlement of the victims. Madhya Pradesh, on the other hand, has started disbursing compensation in cash, maintaining that it had no land to spare. At the other end of the spectrum is the attitude of the Gujarat government. While celebrating the arrival of the Narmada waters in the Kutch region, Chief Minister Narendra Modi vowed to bring the Narmada water to the entire region. But he too has failed to address the problem of the displaced. Under the NWDA award, if Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have no land, Gujarat will have to provide land. It is indeed doubtful whether Gujarat will rise to the occasion. A corollary to the problem is the decision of the Narmada Control Authority
(NCA) to increase the Narmada dam’s height from 95 to 100 metres. It is not known on what basis the NCA has given clearance to the move. For, it is in direct contravention of the NWDA’s award that the vulnerable families will have to be rehabilitated, at least six months before every increase in the height of the dam. As submergence is expected in the monsoon, their plight will only worsen. The displaced families, mainly tribals and peasant communities, have been passing through a harrowing time. As many as 200,000 families over a 250-km stretch of the Narmada river valley stand to lose their livelihood resources due to submergence of their homes, farms and forests. Repeated appeals by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) have failed to evoke a favourable response from the
NCA. Of the 45,000 families to be displaced, as officially recognised, there is no plan to allocate alternative land for over 35,000 families. True, the record of most state governments in the rehabilitation of those affected by several mega projects has been shoddy. However, it is amazing to see state governments so brazenly violating the spirit of the Supreme Court’s October 2000 ruling. There is a need to address the issue expeditiously from a humanitarian angle. The Prime Minister is said to be the “final arbiter” on this issue. Can’t he intervene and take timely action to bail out the
oustees? |
Ameena revisited TWELVE years ago, child-bride Ameena Begum plucked the heart-strings of the entire nation. The 11-year-old girl from Hyderabad had been married off to an Arab sheikh old enough to be her grandfather. It was just a euphemism for being sold for Rs 10,000 to a man who would treat her as a sex slave. Fate intervened through an airhostess who found her sobbing in the airplane by which she was being taken out of the country. She was offloaded and the sheikh arrested. After a few months of intense media coverage, she fell out of the headlines. And now, she is again in the news, as a 23-year-old bride who got married last Sunday. Seeing her present photo along with another clicked in 1991 gives one an eerie feeling: her face has hardly changed. Ironically, her fate too has remained quite the same. Even now, she has got married to a middle-aged widower with three children whom she will have to bring up. Her resigned response to the wedding which should have been the biggest turning point in her life in a way symbolises the tragedy of thousands of Ameenas of this world: “Khushi-wushi kuchh nahin
hai. Bas shaadi ho ja rahi hai. Kya maloom kismet mein kya hai?” (There is no happiness. I am just getting married. God knows what fate has ordained for me.) She knows that a prince saves a damsel in distress only in fantasies. In real life, the prince is replaced by a middle-aged auto rickshaw driver with children. But for her, it is a considerable improvement on going out of the country with a sheikh many times older than her. The whole episode is a sad commentary on the hide-bound social milieu which cannot be pierced by any reformist zeal. The system has grown so strong that it is almost impossible to break it. The airhostess who rescued Ameena wanted to adopt her. She could not. Many persons and organisations came to her help when the story broke out. The money that they sent to her family was misappropriated by certain community leaders. And the organisations that wanted to teach her some skills so that she could stand on her own also had to face frustration. As far as the media is concerned, it only treats a human interest story as a “box item”. All this is happening because the account of Ameena is no different from what happens to girls in so many low-income families day in and day out. Saving one Ameena will not serve the purpose. Saving the society from the clutches of the people who perpetuate its backwardness and poverty will. |
Looking at India’s security concern THE need for India to go nuclear became apparent as early as 1964 when China emerged as a nuclear weapon state that year. According to experts, India then had the capability to develop a nuclear weapon in about 18 months. Initially, there was considerable opposition within the Indian government against going nuclear. However, the more pertinent and compelling issue was that India’s nuclear security concerns were directly related to the Chinese nuclear test and consequently this had to be factored into Indian security calculus. Though China had proclaimed “no first use” policy, our experience of dealing with Beijing during that period had unfortunately created a credibility gap. There was also no response from Britain to the Indian request for an extended nuclear deterrence and, at the same time, there was a perceptible, though gradual, shift in the political thinking in the country towards developing nuclear capability. While India debated the nuclear issue, certain developments in 1971 tended to hasten the decision and provided a compelling reason for this step. It was the dispatch of Task Force 74 of the US Navy into the Bay of Bengal with the nuclear aircraft carrier Enterprise which had nuclear weapons on board to intercede in the Indian Army’s operations against East Pakistan or at least act as a nuclear intimidation. Even so, it took another three years to resolve this internal dilemma. Finally, India opted for a “Subterranean Nuclear Explosion Project” (SNEP) and consequently exploded a nuclear device in May, 1974. It was to develop capabilities to harness nuclear power for civil use such as civil engineering purposes that the experiment was undertaken. It was, however, acknowledged that the technology for peaceful explosion was no different than the one for weapons grade. Thus the nuclear test in 1974 was the result of the Chinese factor and American nuclear intimidation. Soon after the Indian nuclear explosion, Pakistan embarked on a nuclear programme for which it initially took the uranium enrichment route and then acquired a plutonium reprocessing plant from France. Though France had to cancel the contract under US pressure, by then 90 per cent of the drawings and bulk of the plant and equipment needed had reached Pakistan. At the same time Z.A. Bhutto after prolonged negotiations had entered into a treaty with China for collaboration in the development of nuclear weapons. This fact came to light during Bhutto’s death cell testimony. By 1983-84 US intelligence had come to know the full extent of China-Pakistan nuclear cooperation. General Arif in his book, “Working with Zia”, notes that in 1981 US Secretary of State Alexander Haig had assured Pakistan that the US would not interfere with Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Thus the US on the one hand, was overlooking the violation of the NTP by China and on the other encouraging Pakistan to develop nuclear capability. K. Subrahmanyam records that “the American approach to the nuclear issue in the subcontinent displayed an amazing gullibility and ignorance of the basic issues involved. For India nuclear security issue was more China-related than Pakistan. This had to be seen against the backdrop of the Indian sense of insecurity vis-a-vis China and the Chinese-Pakistan nuclear collaboration”. Chinese policy here appears to countervail India and embroil it with Pakistan in a mutually deterrent relationship, leaving China to work for a global role. Professor Cohen in 1980 recorded the views of Pakistani Generals that “it would provide the umbrella under which Pakistan could reopen the Kashmir issue: a Pakistani nuclear capability paralyses not only the Indian nuclear decision but also Indian conventional forces and a brash, bold, Pakistani strike to liberate Kashmir might go unchallenged if Indian leadership was weak or indecisive.” By 1987 it was known that Pakistan had assembled a nuclear weapon. Besides this, from 1987 till 1998 Pakistan periodically brandished its nuclear weapons. Mr Nawaz Sharif in his speech in Nila Bhat on August 24, 1994, talked of using nuclear weapons against any Indian attempt to seize Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. These developments, the arrival of the M-11 missiles in Pakistan and the American benign approach to nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan put greater pressure on the Indian establishment to develop nuclear weapons capability. During the eighties the Indian government had given clearance to its scientific establishment to embark on two related projects. One was the Integrated Missile Development Programme (IMDP) and the other being to secretly develop nuclear weapons capability. In 1995 with the unconditional and indefinite extension of the NTP, India was compelled to go in for overt nuclear weaponisation. The Indian attempt to hold tests in 1995 was discovered by the Americans and, therefore, under intense pressure from that country the tests were called off. In 1997 more evidence surfaced on the China-Pakistan proliferation linkages, both in the nuclear field and missile technology and the US permissiveness. What finally triggered the Indian nuclear tests in May, 1998, was the test-firing of the Ghauri missile on April 6, 1998. Indian nuclear tests were soon followed by Pakistan, thus bringing into the open the Pakistani nuclear weapons capability, which had been covert for close to 11 years. It is more or less acknowledged that nuclear war cannot be won and, therefore, must never be fought. It is also clear that nuclear weapons are more suitable for politics than for military purposes. There is another purpose these weapons had came to serve and that has been nuclear coercion. There are at least 47 known incidents where nuclear weapons and forces were alerted for use or were threatened to be used. There was a key factor in these incidents and that was asymmetry on nuclear weapons capability. The threatened country had no nuclear capability or significantly lower capability to retaliate. Of these 47 incidents, one pertains to Pakistan which threatened to use nuclear weapons against India in 1990 in the event of an Indian offensive against PoK. That was when Pakistan backed cross-border terrorism in Kashmir was at its peak. There have been many shades of opinion on the issue of India developing nuclear weapons. Some of the extreme views aired are that the development of these weapons has in no way lessened the security concerns of the country. In fact, it is argued that an element of instability has been brought into the region because of the nuclear factor. This viewpoint is the result of inadequate grasp of issues of nuclear blackmail or nuclear coercion in a situation of asymmetry. The fact that since the advent of nuclear weapons no two states with such a capability have gone to war against each other affirms the stability factor in a situation where both sides have these weapons. The “no first use” doctrine of India further reinforces the stability factor because it acts as a strong deterrent against the use of these weapons by an adversary. It is also argued that India can ill-afford to develop nuclear capability. As per the assessment of a study group ordered by the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, the cost of developing a balanced nuclear deterrence programme would be Rs 7000 crore spread over 10 years. General Sundarji as Commandant, College of Combat, held a series of discussions to which he invited this writer also and published a paper in which a realistic view of the nature of the Pakistani nuclear threat, Pakistani tolerance limits and the likely use of such weapons was articulated. The paper attempts to put at rest the apocalyptic and horrendous scenario depicted in the publications appearing in the West. Finally, instability may be experienced more due to asymmetry in the nuclear status than both being nuclear powers. It is the deterioration of the security environment in the region, the Indian experience of being subjected to nuclear coercion and the very deliberate and considered evaluation of the issues involved that compelled India to develop the nuclear deterrence capability. The writer is a former Deputy Chief of Army Staff |
A lesson in positive living AIDS, we all know, spells dread. However, there are many misconceptions and misgivings about the fearful disease, especially about its victims. My experience of living with AIDS victims dispelled many of my fears. We were in Spain for our summer vacations and spent some days in an institution called “Basida”. “Basida” is a rehabilitation centre for the AIDS victims run by a group of young volunteers. There are three “Basidas” in Spain. The one where we stayed is 1½ hours from the capital Madrid by bus. We got this chance because our daughter Tulika who was in Spain for a cultural exchange programme, opted to work there as a volunteer for a few months. The above mentioned Basida is far from the maddening crowd, housed in a huge and old, but well maintained, building situated on a hill. It has a sprawling campus with a kitchen garden, lots of fruit trees, shrubs and flowers. There are separate wings, one for the patients and volunteers, and the other for the visitors, where the patients’ relatives could stay. The building also has a small church, lounge, big kitchen, dining hall and a big verandah. What impressed us greatly was the dedication of the young men and women who managed everything. I must admit that initially, I was rather apprehensive of living in the institution. But soon we overcame our doubts. The AIDS victims, about 15 of them, were normal people like us, except that they were given medicine regularly. Everyone of them was assigned to do some job, in the kitchen, in the laundary, or in the garden. There were fixed meal times, and also fixed times for work, sleep and relaxation. Being summer, we would all gather in the verandah for the meals. From there we could have a view of the garden, and a tiny country town, Novandiah. We all ate, talked, joked, laughed, and watched TV together, and thus we enjoyed with them without being conscious of their disease. It was like one big family. As everyone worked there, I too offered to help in the kitchen and my husband worked in the garden. It was an experience of a lifetime which has left a great impact on us. It was a lesson in positive living as well as living in harmony. The men and women, patients and volunteers, were all very friendly to us. Although we did not know any Spanish, and they did not know any English, we could somehow communicate with each other. Our daughter could talk, read and write Spanish fluently. So at times she was the interpreter. After spending about a month there we had become good friends. These people are allowed to go out of the institution sometimes, but accompanied by some volunteers. They go out for picnics, fishing and sightseeing. Food and medicines are provided to them by the Basida people. Many of the things like clothes, shoes, food items etc are usually donated by people. The AIDS victims are also given some grant by the Spain government. They enjoy and celebrate occasions like birthdays and Christmas. The people of Spain are crazy about the game of football and bullfighting. The Basida residents would remain glued to the TV whenever any of these two events was there on the small screen. They also enjoy watching movies and other programmes, and listening to the music. The disease took the back seat. The patients and volunteers also visit other Basidas and change places with others. Seeing them and living with them was a great experience and we learnt that the people suffering from this disease are not to be condemned or segregated. They are people like us, with their likes and dislikes, joys and sorrows. Working with them or living with them in the same building does not involve any risk. Except two old patients who needed care, most of the AIDS victims were full of life.
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Should women do seva at Golden Temple? Seva not a right THE issue of allowing women to perform seva inside Sri Darbar Sahib has given rise to an unnecessary controversy, which sociologically can be called a “cultural lag.” The issue of gender equality is a social issue, which remains debatable. Even at home, for a healthy atmosphere, we maintain a respectable distance between father and daughter, brother and sister, and mother and son, and the human instinct, known as libido in Freudian terms, is kept under control. So when we maintain it at home, how can we violate it at such a religious place. While in seva one has to work together even with others which require the “sevadar” to be in his kurta and kachhehra ( underwear), it may not be feasible for a woman in such an atmosphere. The question of Palki Sahib (palanquin) seva by women is also out of question as the Palki Sahib is too heavy even for 20 women to a carry it. Physically, women are not as strong as men. They are made so by God. Will these women fight with God for such a discrimination? To ask for seva rights inside Sri Darbar Sahib is just an attempt to create chaos intentionally. If one wishes to do seva, one can do it in many other ways. Social duties are the most prestigious duties as the Gurus themselves had given much importance to “sangat”. Seva is not an authority or a right, but a duty which has to be performed and not to be snatched. Seva either at the jorraghar ( shoe store ), langar, cleaning and dusting the parikarma at gurdwaras or in the family and society is as sacred as doing “seva” in Sri Darbar Sahib. Are these women performing their duties towards there in-laws properly? Are their in-laws ( elders) properly and honourably looked after? This is the greatest problem of our society these days. Then, why seva at Sri Darbar Sahib? The writer is the Principal of Trai-Shatabdi Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College for Women, Amritsar. |
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My Sikhi is hurt IT was 10 p.m. on 13 February 2003 and I had checked into Guru Hargobind Nivas an hour earlier. I was tired, but I wanted a quiet word with Vaheguru as things had gone horribly wrong on my journey to Darbar Sahib. I asked Lakhbir Kaur if she would like to come along to the Darbar Sahib. She and I had some catching up to do. I was in Punjab to help organise a United Sikhs’ summer camp and I needed some feedback from the pilot camp she had attended. She agreed as she was leaving the next day. I knew not that my day’s challenge was not over. When the SGPC sevadar pushed us out of the queue and said “you can’t do this seva and you will have to leave...”, I felt hurt... . But my pain was not from physical force the sevadars had used. Instead, I felt that “my Sikhi” had been hurt. I remembered Sikhi that February night as I closed my eyes and cried tears for my Guru. I felt that Guru Nanak had been betrayed. I had been brought up on Sikhi which preached equality. But what was this Sikhi that was being practised at Darbar Sahib? I could not stand by and let this go unchecked. I found myself sitting in the outer parkarma of the Darbar Sahib pondering on the next move, after having been unceremoniously removed from the Sukhasan procession by the sevadars. There had been no plans for a campaign. But I had with me all the tools of a campaign. Two months earlier in London, I had been involved in organising with “Voices For Freedom”, an interview of the Jathedar of Akal Takht, Joginder Singh. I had carried with me to Amritsar, a VCD of the interview, to present to the Jathedar. One of the 10 questions he was asked in the interview was: Do Sikh women have a right to undertake seva at Darbar Sahib and to participate as one of the Panj Pyare during amrit sanchar? His answer was: “Sikh women have an unequivocal right to undertake seva at Darbar Sahib and to participate in the seva of the Panj Pyare”. I had asked him during the pre-interview why then was there talk about Sikh women not being allowed to do seva. I reminded him about the signature campaign started by Bhenji Kiran Kaur from Canada. His response to me was: “I have never received a complaint” That cold
February night as I sat and stared at the sky above the serene sarovar surrounding the Darbar Sahib, I decided that I had to give the Jathedar his first complaint. The next day we submitted letters of complaints to the Jathedar’s and SGPC’s offices. We asked for the immediate restoration of Sikh women’s right to undertake all forms of seva. For the last three months, our campaign has taken us to villages and cities. We spoke to Sikh women who felt inspired by reminders of Mai Bhago. And we have received tremendous support from Sikh organisations.
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There are other forms of seva too THE petition dated February 21, 2003, seeking the enforcement of Sikh women’s right to do seva at Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, routed through help: www.voicesforfreedom.org does not appear to express the yearnings of a devout Gursikh woman. It is more or less like a claim for a right justifiable before a law court and not a prayer before a religious authority. The petition presents an arrogant fight for a right and expresses a motivated desire to become a pioneer of a movement by playing to the media gallery. There is no gender discrimination for seva at Sri Darbar Sahib. The petition is for a futile exercise on a non-issue. As per our culture, we do not consider it desirable that our daughters and sisters should jostle in a crowd of men even at a religious gathering. It will be immodest for a girl and disparaging for her father, brother or husband if she unashamedly subjects herself to pushes and pulls in a crowd of men, may it be for the shouldering of the Palki at Sri Darbar Sahib. Even though, there is no restriction on women to sit separately in the sanctum sanctorum of Sri Darbar Sahib, but out of modesty and respect for their feelings, they always sit separately in all congregations before Guru Granth Sahib. They prefer to make a separate queue while paying their obeisance before Guru Granth Sahib. As for kirtan in Sri Darbar Sahib, there should be no restriction on women. The only requirement is that the women should be trained or be capable of performing kirtan in accordance with the Maryada at Sri Darbar Sahib. The seva before the Parkash ceremony and after Sukhasan cannot be done by women as it will not be desirable for women to come to Sri Darbar Sahib from their home unguarded at odd hours of the night. Sri Darbar Sahib is the mecca of the community and there are some fixed norms of discipline under the SGPC. Only trained people should perform the seva. All people desiring for seva at Sri Darbar Sahib do not know the set system to arrange romalas at Parkash or during Sukhasan. Bibi Mejindarpal Kaur and her companion should not waste their energy on a non-issue. There are many more aspects of seva needing the attention of energetic persons like Bibi Mejindarpal Kaur. Bibi Mejindarpal Kaur as a sevak from abroad may give a better motivation to the apostate Sikh women and men to desist from non-Sikh practices. I will implore upon Bibi Mejindarpal Kaur and Bibi Lakhbir Kaur to raise the banner of movement against apostasy, the use of intoxicants and prevail upon their Sikh sisters to marry only Gursikh boys and shed their craze for clean-shaven (sehajdhari) grooms. The writer, a lawyer, made this representation before the sub-committee of the Dharam Parchar Committee of the SGPC.
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Hurriyat leader who died for dialogue Lone’s Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference became a part of the Hurriyat in 1993, but he continued to hold views on different issues contrary to those of the amalgam’s collective leadership. Personally, he stood for participating in last year’s assembly elections though the Hurriyat kept itself away from the democratic process. Perhaps he thought that by jumping into the electoral fray the Hurriyat would be in a better position to argue its case. He was not afraid of losing the poll. The Hurriyat participation, in his opinion, would support the claim that it represented a significant section of the Kashmiris. Whether that section constituted the majority or not was a different matter. Though the Hurriyat then did not go the whole hog with Lone in his advocacy for sidelining the merchants of militancy with a view to pursuing the path of dialogue, the conglomerate’s leaders seem to realise today that Lone was right. This inference can be drawn from the latest statement of the Hurriyat chairman, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, that nothing should be done “to vitiate the propitious climate that has been generated in the subcontinent”. Mr Bhat is hopeful of “an era of peace and prosperity”in the militancy-hit state if India and Pakistan finally start talking to each other. Had Lone been in our midst he would be the happiest man today. The opponents of Lone, particularly those who stand for militant jihad, are bound to be desperate because they are fighting a losing battle. The spurt in killings at the hands of their agents indicates two things. One, they somehow want to prove their presence in the valley when their local support base is dwindling and their number declining fast. Going by the figures released by the Army, the lowering of the political temperature has affected cross-border militant infiltration considerably. Two, the increase in terrorist violence may be the militant leadership’s way of putting pressure on India to involve the extremists too in the dialogue process as and when it gets going. There is no harm in allowing anyone to participate in talks. But militant activity should not force India and Pakistan to abandon the path they have chosen. Any decision which goes against this approach will amount to falling into the trap of the militants. |
The mind must be kept in repose and balance. Work done with a disturbed mind under nervous tension or forced rest taken in a nervous state of mind are both harmful for health and ultimately lead to disease. Physical work becomes less tiring if it is done with a mind at ease. Relaxation with a peaceful mind overcomes fatigue soon. — Sudarshan Kumar Biala, Yoga for Better Living and Self Realisation. |
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The issue of allowing women to perform seva inside Sri Darbar Sahib is a complex one. In Sikhism, woman is considered equal to man and she is given honour, prestige and status by our Gurus. Women are given equal rights to perform seva but have never been given the right to hold any religious chair. For instance, Bibi Bhani, the daughter of Guru Amardas, gave her whole life in dedicated service to her father. And she was blessed to ask anything in return. She asked for Gurgadi, not for herself, but for her husband, so that the Maryada of Gurughar could be maintained. 
ON this day last year Jammu and Kashmir lost a brilliant advocate of the dialogue process. He was
Abdul Ghani Lone, a senior leader of the Hurriyat Conference. He demonstrated exemplary courage of conviction by opposing militant jihad and paid the ultimate price for it. He was gunned down by militants in Srinagar before Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee could reach the valley. He might have known that his boldness, which reflected far-sightedness, would not be tolerated. Anyway, Lone’s viewpoint has been upheld by both India and Pakistan now when the two neighbours are moving towards the negotiating table to end the tension in the subcontinent.