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Muddied waters A bit of realism Celestial delight |
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Pakistan’s all-powerful Army
Driving in India
Human Rights Diary From Pakistan
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Muddied waters PUNJAB Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has received a rap over the knuckles for his inaction on the Supreme Court's order to complete the Sutlaj-Yamuna Link canal in time. It came down heavily on him for behaving "as a super-judicial body over this court" and causing contempt of court. No other chief minister, save Mr Narendra Modi of Gujarat, has in recent times evoked such harsh judicial comments. The court's exasperation is understandable as the Punjab Government has been sitting tight on the matter. The apex court has paid no heed to its plea that construction of the link canal would fuel militancy in Punjab. While impressing upon the state that political reasons cannot be cited to delay national projects, it also reminded all concerned that Article 131 empowers the court to adjudicate on such inter-state disputes. Few can find fault with the court's orders. It also needs to be admitted that by the very nature of such disputes, it is not possible for the court to please all the parties concerned. In fact, the judicial system has been found wanting in solving them. The controversy over the sharing of the Sutlej water began with the vivisection of what was known as the land of five rivers. Mr Amarinder Singh can be faulted for delaying the construction for the last two years but the problem has been hanging fire in the courts for as long as one can remember. The SYL case is not an exception. The judicial system has found itself unequal to the task of solving disputes like Cauvery and Narmada. If anything, this underlines the need to evolve a national policy on sharing of river waters. Ideally, rivers should be seen as a national asset to which every state is entitled to an equitable share. Faced with the disagreement between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over Cauvery waters, the previous National Democratic Alliance government had hit upon the idea of linking all the major rivers of the state, a project which the present government is committed to review in view of the enormity of the cost involved and the environmental concerns expressed by knowledgeable people. A far simpler option would be to evolve a national consensus on utilising river waters. All states and political parties should abide by such a policy so that the court's intervention is unnecessary. |
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A bit of realism With the Budget making cement, travel, cigarettes and cotton yarn slightly costlier in Himachal Pradesh, the common man is bound to feel the pinch. But this is one bitter pill which had perhaps become inevitable, given the precarious financial health of the state. As usual, the present government is blaming its predecessor for the difficulties in which it finds itself, while the Opposition is denouncing the Budget as "anti-people, anti-farmer and anti-employees", but the fact is that the financial exigencies are the accumulated result of passing the buck by successive governments. To appease the people, every government tries to postpone taking tough decisions. This might have passed muster if the expenditure was being curtailed at the same time but quite the opposite is true. There is not exactly profligacy but something quite close in operation. If you are spending more than what you are earning, bankruptcy has to catch up with you sooner or later. Himachal Pradesh is in a difficult situation and could not have afforded to delay the inevitable any further. That is why it has been forced to sign an MoU with the Centre under which it can get badly needed grants only if it carries out certain reforms before a firm deadline. So, there is a virtual ban on new recruitments, reduction in subsidies and farewell to tax concessions. If implemented honestly, these steps can help the state mobilise resources and reduce revenue deficit considerably. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh says the reforms will have a human face and the social sector will remain the top priority. To prove this point, he has slightly expanded the social security net by granting pensions for the aged, widows and the handicapped. That was the relatively easy part. More difficult will be to stick to his promise of creating over one lakh new jobs. |
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Celestial delight Tuesday's celestial extravaganza must have made even a super power realise that it has no control over the movement of the planetary bodies. Most of the world celebrated the sighting of Venus as a small beauty spot on the face of the sun for as long as six hours. What a show it was! Children literally went over the moon on seeing Venus gently move across the mighty sun. Even the mighty and the arrogant must have come to know how insignificant they are in what makes the Universe. In India Prof Yashpal, the venerable Uncle Science, was seen battling ignorance and superstition in a television studio. He tried to explain the celestial phenomenon to online viewers. However, life would not be half as interesting without the spice of irrational beliefs. The transit of Venus provided the astrologers and tantriks the opportunity to sell potions and mantras for "warding off the evil influence" of the cosmic drama on human life. No one bothered to ask how about placing ourselves on the other side of the sun to witness the unique spectacle of Venus flirting with the earth. For those who use their heart the global village provides so many opportunities. Cupid is now part of the daily love routine of most Indians. So is St Valentine. There is more revelry on St Valentine's Day than on Holi, the traditional festival of colour that provides the young, and the not so young, the opportunity to indulge in tomfoolery. However, the goddess of love does not offer much opportunity for her commercial exploitation. Who would like to invest in marketing an event that for the first time comes after eight years and thereafter 22 years into the next century? |
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Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies. —John Donne |
Pakistan’s all-powerful Army IN keeping with the subcontinent’s long tradition, India and Pakistan have spent too much time and energy on rhetorical exchanges between the Foreign Minister in the new Congress-led government, Mr K. Natwar Singh, and various Pakistani dignitaries, headed by the President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, himself. Mercifully, this phase is now over. Let us turn our attention, therefore, to a curious development of much import in Pakistan that has been generally ignored so far. Around the time Mr Natwar Singh was speaking about the centrality of the Shimla Agreement to the Indo-Pakistani composite dialogue, General Musharraf made an extraordinary confession to a privately owned Pakistani TV channel. Those who had tried to assassinate him in December last, he said, included members of the armed forces of Pakistan some of whom were acting under the influence of the “religious extremists” and others for “money”. He emphasised, however, that the military men involved were of junior rank. His chief spin-doctor, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, hastened to add that not a single of the “conspirators” was an officer; all belonged to Other Ranks. But that can be allowed to pass. The main point about the whole affair is that even when the two attempts on General Musharraf’s life took place within a span of eight days, anybody who knew anything about Pakistan knew that these were “inside jobs”. In both cases, the General was attacked in the most sensitive hub of the areas controlled by the Army. Without the connivance and collusion of those within the armed forces that were disaffected with him, his policies or both, no Islamic militant could have set foot there. At that time, the General, the GHQ, and the civilian government such as it is had maintained deafening silence. Why then has the Pakistan President found it necessary to speak out five months later apparently without any obvious provocation? The most plausible answer to the question seems to be that General Musharraf is impaled on the horns of not one dilemma but two. Domestically, the contradictions of the military-mullah alliance are coming to the fore. There is little doubt that the General’s alliance with the six-party combination of Islamist parties, the Muttahida Majlist-e-Amal (MMA), has proved useful to him. Without the MMA’s help he could not have got the requisite two-thirds majority in the National Assembly to get himself confirmed as President until 2007. In return he has so manipulated things as to name the MMA chief, Maulana Fazalur Rahman, as a member of the National Security Council that would act a super-Cabinet in Pakistan. In the process, the General has denied the PPP and the Muslim League (Nawaz) of their legitimate right to represent the Opposition on the NSC. But this has in no way diminished the anger against the Musharraf regime among the MMA ranks and even leadership over the Pakistani military’s cooperation with the US troops in Afghanistan in targeting the Taliban and Al-Qaida, especially inside Pakistani tribal territory. In fact, the Maulana personally has made a very strong statement against the General. Ironically, this very issue has become the cause of General Musharraf being in a cleft-stick vis-à-vis his main benefactor, the United States. Washington believes that he is not doing enough to fight the Taliban and Al-Qaida. The General’s public hint that he is encountering opposition within the armed forces also is clearly intended to tell the US that it must not push him too hard. It is noteworthy that recently when US troops entered Pakistani territory in South Waziristan in hot pursuit of the Taliban, Pakistan had found it necessary to protest. The Pakistani Foreign Minister, Mr Khursheed Mahmud Kasuri, was in Washington on that day and was constrained to join issue with his hosts. However, the South Waziristan issue is refusing to die down. On the contrary, things are hotting up because General Musharraf has imposed collective fines and punishment on a number of villages there for harbouring Al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives. Anger against this has spilled over into not just Baluchistan and the NWFP but also Punjab. The General’s main worry now is that the resentment might come to boil also in the Army because the Pushtuns constitute the second largest proportion of the Army, next only to the Punjabis. The Pakistani Army has ruled the country for nearly 30 of the 57 years of its existence (and it has been the power behind the throne even when civilian prime ministers are supposed to be ruling). No wonder, the impression has grown that it is a highly disciplined, cohesive and purposeful entity with few parallels. This is clearly a much-hyped myth. The reality, it ought to be clear, is quite different and rather unflattering. Doubtless, the Army officer corps — the Corps Commanders, sometimes called “Crore Commanders, are the apex of the power structure — manages to maintain a unity of sorts in their collective interest of being Pakistan’s real rulers. The top brass knows that they must hang together or each of them would be hanged separately. But beyond that the unity and fidelity of the Army remains a myth that flies in the face of facts. Mr Brian Cloughley is a former Australian military attache in Pakistan. He also served on the United Nations Military Observers Group on what was then called the Cease-Fire Line in Jammu and Kashmir. He makes no bones about his intimate links with, and deep sympathy for, the Pakistan Army. Even so he is candid enough to record in his book, published a few years ago, that by his reckoning there had been at least 28 attempts at a coup against the successive military governments from within the armed forces. The Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case was the first to burst into the open. Its mastermind was Major-General Akbar Khan, a “hero” of the Pakistani invasion of Kashmir in 1947. His collaborators included Air-Commodore Janjua and the famous poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz. There is hardly a Pakistani who doubts that Gen Zia-ul-Haq’s death in the mysterious plane crash was the handiwork of angry Shia officers of the Army and the Air Force, possibly with some help from the Americans. Surely, General Musharraf knows that what happened in the past could take place in future too. The only difference in the situation is that Zia had angered the Shias and the present military ruler has alienated the
Sunnis. |
Driving in India For the benefit of people visiting India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I offer a few hints for survival. This is applicable to every place in India except Bihar, where life outside a vehicle is only marginally safer. Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where you do your best and leave the results to your insurance company. The hints are as follows: Do we drive on the left or right of the road? The answer is “both”. Basically you start on the left side of the road, unless it is occupied. In that case, go to the right, unless that is also occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed. Most drivers don’t drive, but just aim their vehicles in the intended direction. Don’t you get discouraged or underestimate yourself. Except for a belief in reincarnation, the other drivers are not in any better position. Don’t stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in town. Still, some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us not talk ill of the dead. Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries where we honk to express joy, romance or just bare lust (two brisk blasts). Here, it may be to show your resentment, frustration, or just to mobilise a dozing cow in the middle of the bazaar. Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may read them during traffic jams, while awaiting the Chief Minister’s motorcade, or waiting for the rain waters to recede. Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience. The roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India and are licensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about six feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approaching you with a single light on; usually the left one. It could be the right one, but never get too close to investigate. You may prove your point posthumously. During the daytime, trucks are more visible, except that the drivers will never signal. Often you will observe that the cleaner who sits next to the driver, will project his hand and wave hysterically. Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking coloured lights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminated bus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go at breakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty and often meeting with success. I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast driving in residential areas has been prevented by providing a “speed breaker” which is two for each house. This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that residence and is left untraced for easy identification by the corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting. Good Luck. The writer is a visitor from the Netherlands
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Human Rights Diary
The National Human Rights Commission is not a government department which should be busy pushing files or doing paper work. True, it has to deal with the hundreds of complaints which it receives from the different parts of the country. But its real job is to act suo motu, taking notice of flagrant violations of human rights wherever they take place. I am referring to the suicide of hundreds of farmers all over the countryside, particularly Andhra Pradesh where 3,000 farmers have committed suicide. Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was ousted from power primarily because of his failure to stop the suicides. But the present government is no better because the incidence of suicide has not abated. I would have imagined that some members of the commission, if not the chairman himself, would have gone to Hydrabad and to the spots where suicides are taking place to register the commission’s concern in government circles and other places. The commission should at least prepare a report to tell the nation how hundreds of farmers took their life for not being able to pay back the debt accumulated after years of drought. The commission should have suggested to the state to take over all the loans and see if some of them could be written off or deferred indefinitely. The state’s failure is obvious but a body created to protect the rights of human beings cannot shrug its shoulders. A bigger crisis, more political in character, is brewing up in Punjab. The Supreme Court has ordered the construction of the unfinished Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal in the Punjab territory in four weeks. The problem has been hanging fire for years. The Supreme Court has done well to ubraid the Punjab government. But the question is not legal. It has got linked with the livelihood of thousands of farmers in Punjab. Robbing one set of farmers in a state and benefiting another in some other state is not going to help. What will Punjab farmers do? From where will they get water? The underground water is available at 300 feet. I fear that Punjab farmers will be up in arms once the fields turn dry following the diversion of water to Haryana, however legally justified. The two states and the Centre have to examine the matter as an integrated region and come to some settlement. Both the Congress and the Akali Dal should constitute a high-level people’s committee to consider the problem since it affects the entire state. However, it is strange that the Centre has implemented only one of clauses of the Rajiv-Gandhi Longowal accord. The amalgamation of Chandigarh with Punjab is pending and so is the transfer of Punjabi-speaking areas in Haryana to Punjab and Hindi-speaking areas in Haryana to Punjab.
*** Once again I may bring up the case of recently appointed member of the Human Rights Commission, Mr P.C.Sharma, former CBI Director. I have received a letter which gives additional information about him. I do not know how far it will influence the powers that may be. But I reproduce what a person has conveyed to me: “I would like to inform you that for fulfilling the prerequisite for his present post in Interpol, he (Sharma) forced the government to give certificate for him that he had two years left for retirement, which was not correct at that point of time.” I have received a copy of letter which Lt-Gen A.M. Sethna (retd), member of the National Commission for Minorities, has sent to the Governor of Maharashtra. Sethna talks about the damage to the well at Cross Maidan near Flora Fountain, Mumbai. I believe Mrs Pheroza J. Godrej wrote to the President of India about the earlier damage. She enclosed a list of many hundred signatories from all communities and walks of life. Sethna says disapprovingly: “No results have ensured. Nor can much be expected from a law and order approach”. The challenge is the preservation not merely of the tangible heritage of the well but even more the intangible heritage, which is being eroded, of the brotherhood of man, in the country and Mumbai in particular.
*** President General Musharraf has once again said that what is happening in Kashmir is part of “freedom struggle”. That the observation came after 32 BSF men, their wives and children, were killed in a mine explosion is unfortunate. It must be a novel type of freedom struggle where women and children pay the toll. Encounters between the security forces and terrorists is understandable but not killings of innocent civilians? How do human rights activists defend those who claim to fight for freedom but indulge in pre-mediated mass murders. That human rights violations are still going on in Kashmir goes without saying. Amnesty International, in it latest report, which seldom finds space in the Indian Press, says: “Torture, rape, deaths in custody, extra-judicial executions and disappearances have been perpetrated by agents of the state with impunity. We should condemn terrorists with all the force at our command. But a report like the one Amnesty International has published weakens the case of Human Right activists. The Indian soldiers can only be prosecuted for human rights violations with permission from the Home Ministry in New Delhi but such permissions are rarely forthcoming. Authorities use preventive detention to stifle political dissent. Many detainees have not committed any recognisable criminal offence and have not used or advocated violence. Under the provision of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, people may be detained for up to two years without charge or trial on broadly defined grounds of state security. The civilian population of Jammu and Kashmir has paid a high price for the conflict”. |
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From Pakistan ISLAMABAD: In a bizarre attempt to show reduced figures of poverty incidence in the country the government has conducted a survey about ‘poverty reduction,’ which will be made public this week, sources told The Nation on Tuesday. The recent government-sponsored survey is set to register an estimated 2 per cent reduction in the existing 32.1 per cent poverty level on the basis of a data obtained from 5,000 houses throughout the country and the findings of the survey will be announced on the eve of Economic Survey 2003-04 or upcoming budget 2004-05, the sources said. A short sample Household Consumption Expenditure Survey of almost 5,000 household will show a decreasing trend in the incidence of poverty by 2 per cent as the government is claiming increasing economic activities in the rural parts of the country despite achieving a lower level of agricultural growth than the envisaged target during the outgoing fiscal.
— The Nation
FATA members leave govt
ISLAMABAD: In a significant political development, all the five treasury FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) MNAs onTuesday withdrew their support to the Jamali government and filed a joint application before the Speaker of the National Assembly seeking separate benches in the House. The FATA members charged that the Jamali government had never taken them into confidence over the issues whether it was military operation in tribal areas or the budget proposals. “We are not part of the government from today as the government never took us into confidence on any issue since it was established with our support,” treasury FATA MNA Muneer Khan Orakzai announced on the floor of the National Assembly.
— The Nation
Punjab says no to water cut
LAHORE: Punjab on Tuesday rejected a 6,000 cusecs cut in its water share by the Indus River System Authority (IRSA). In a letter to the federal government, it sought ‘immediate intervention’ to avoid a possible law and order problem in the province. According to Punjab Irrigation Minister Aamir Sultan Cheema, IRSA has unilaterally reduced Punjab's water share by 6,000 cusecs from the Indus during the first week of June. “This is unacceptable to the province because of its economic and social cost,” he said. The Jhelum and Chenab river supplies are totally committed to the Mangla command canals under the provisions of the Indus Water Treaty. These are replacement supplies and cannot be shared with the Indus zone canals.
— The Dawn
Bill on women’s
empowerment
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday deferred a debate on a Bill on the empowerment of women till evolving a consensus on it. The Elimination of Gender Discrimination and the Protection and Empowerment of Women Bill 2004 was moved by the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian’s Sherry Rehman. The Bill seeks empowerment of women, repealing of Hadood laws and severe punishments for honour killing. The Adviser to the Prime Minister, Ms Nilofar Bakhtiar, asked the Deputy Speaker to defer the Bill because most of the movers, including Ms Sherry Rehman, were not present in the House. She said she was not opposing the Bill but it should be deferred as it needed consensus among all the parties.
— The News |
Renounce, O fool, your ceaseless thirst For hoarding gold and precious gems; Content yourself with what may come Through deeds performed in earlier lives; Devote your mind to righteousness And let dispassion be your law. — Sri Adi Sankaracharya The easiest and best way of solving the problems of life is to take the name of God, of Sri Ramakrishna, in silence. — Sri Sarada Devi God has His seats and stores everywhere. — Guru Nanak The holy teachings that come from the mouths of godly men seem to be uttered by those men themselves, while in reality they proceed from God. — Sri Ramakrishna |
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