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Would
President Chirac refuse to meet Dr Manmohan Singh? Children
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Befitting
package Make Amritsar a model city The occasion was grand and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a package to match. The 400th Parkash Utsav of Sri Guru Granth Sahib saw the first Sikh Prime Minister of the country in an expansive mood, who went out of his way to fulfil the wishes and demands of the sangat gathered at Amritsar. The special facilities that he announced were badly needed and richly deserved.
Should death
penalty die?
The Olympics
according to Zeus
Crucial Afghan
presidential poll Delhi
Durbar
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Would President Chirac refuse to meet Dr Manmohan Singh? Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's announcement, on Wednesday, that he was "hopeful of a positive outcome" for turban-wearing Sikhs in France is welcome. The French government's ban on all visible religious symbols, including headscarves, large crosses and turbans, has been objected to not only by the Sikhs, but has also created a worldwide controversy. National Security Adviser J. N. Dixit, who interacted at the highest levels of the French government during his visit last month, reportedly received positive assurances from the French, although Paris has yet to come out with a specific decision on a vital issue for all Indians. The ban has evoked strong reactions from many communities within France too, since it prohibits all visible religious symbols and affects all religious groups. From various reports, it is clear that the turban was not even considered by the committee that originally examined the issue of French nationals conforming to the "secularity law," which is based on a narrow but aggressive interpretation of the principle of separating religion from the state. The French insistence on "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" has been a beacon for many a democracy. Surely, its secular laws should not be sectarian, but they should at the same time respect cultural sensitivities of all sections of society. The French suggestion that students wear hairnets has not been accepted by the community. Various Sikh organisations have been petitioning the French government to ease the ban. They have pointed out that, historically, turban-wearing Sikhs fought for France during the World Wars. Nowadays, 10,000 Sikhs live in France. The world over, Sikhs wear turbans and there has never been any ban on their children wearing it. The French ban, if applied on turban-wearing Sikhs, is certainly an assault on the fundamental cultural rights of the community; it also shows the French as being insensitive to the rights of the minorities. The French government needs to urgently find a way to sort out this issue, which has now become contentious and can create an avoidable misunderstanding with India. The French need to answer a question: would President Jacques Chirac refuse to meet the Prime Minister of India in Paris simply because he wears a turban? |
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Children as hostages The Chechen separatists who took 400 people, including 200 schoolchildren, as hostages on Wednesday in Beslan town in the volatile republic of North Ossetia might have succeeded in re-focusing the world attention on the crisis in Russia's rebel state, but their act must be condemned by every country. There can be no justification for targeting innocent people, that too schoolchildren. No religion, including Islam by which the militants swear, can approve of a barbaric behaviour. They displayed such behaviour in the past also when they held hostage the sick in hospitals, theatre-goers and others. The latest incident has come soon after a woman suicide-bomber killed 11 people outside a Moscow metro station, and two Russian airliners with 90 passengers aboard were blown up. The militants are demanding the impossible: withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. Accepting their demand will amount to allowing Chechnya to secede. That is why President Vladimir Putin has ignored it and sought an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council in view of the spurt in terrorist attacks in Russia. Although terrorism is now an international phenomenon, it is difficult to understand how the Security Council is going to help in handling such a crisis. Fighting terrorism is certainly a joint effort by the international community. Mr Putin has been accused of using excessive force in controlling the situation in Chechnya, but he has not ignored the political route. On August 30 he got elected a pro-Moscow man, Mr Alu Alkahnov, as Chechnya's President, though the poll was denounced by the rebels and human rights activists as "pre-determined". The new ruler in Grozny has promised to contain the rebellion in a few months, but that can be possible only when he survives the onslaught of the anti-Moscow forces. The previous President of Chechnya, Akhmed Kadyrov, too had vowed to implement Moscow's agenda but before he could achieve substantive results, he was gunned down by separatists in May. While Moscow ultimately has to find a political solution of the Chechnya question, for the time being its main concern has to be the well-being of the people being held as hostages. |
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Befitting package The occasion was grand and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a package to match. The 400th Parkash Utsav of Sri Guru Granth Sahib saw the first Sikh Prime Minister of the country in an expansive mood, who went out of his way to fulfil the wishes and demands of the sangat gathered at Amritsar. The special facilities that he announced were badly needed and richly deserved. The galiara project for which he announced Rs 70 crore has been hanging fire for nearly two decades. While there have been several stumbling blocks, money is said to have been a major constraint. The grant will ensure that it is again put on the rails. Similarly, the Prime Minister has promised to clear the proposal for a Rs 1,100-crore special economic zone for Amritsar. The city has been a roaring business centre for centuries but its status has diminished since the time of Partition because of its proximity to the border. Now that there are some chances of border trade reviving in a big way, the development of Amritsar as a business hub is the need of the hour. What is even more important is the fact that the special zone will generate badly needed employment opportunities in the region. The overall emphasis of the package is on upgrading the status of Amritsar as a city. There is need for sprucing up not only the immediate surroundings of Darbar Sahib, but the entire city. What the package offers can only provide the impetus. It is now for the state government, and the people of Amritsar, to develop it into a model for the rest of the country. There is worldwide interest in the tenets of Sikhism. Its secular and universal philosophy attracts inquisitive attention. This status will go up even further once the Golden Temple becomes a world heritage site with UNESCO’s help. Amritsar can become a mandatory destination not only for the devout but also for tourists if its civic amenities shed their medieval tag. The city housing the holiest shrine of the Sikhs deserves to be regarded as a
Heritage City. |
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There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.
— George Bernard Shaw |
Should death penalty die? DHANANJOY Chatterjee died on the gallows leaving behind one worthwhile bequest — an intense debate whether it was not time India too joined the majority of the countries of the world in abolishing capital punishment. Dhananjoy’s case opened the widest scope for arguments to flow for or against. All tribunals up to the Supreme Court, a state Governor and two Presidents of India agreed that this man’s offence was too heinous to deserve any leniency or mercy. This then was one of the “rarest of rare” cases in the Supreme Court’s measuring scale for the award of the death sentence. Dhananjoy was hanged in Kolkata on August 14 for raping and killing a minor school girl whom he, as a security guard, was duty-bound to protect. No non-political execution in India has attracted so much media attention or provoked so many comments as Dhananjoy’s. His long fight to stay alive, the many appeals and mercy petitions and their rejection one after another attracted some sympathetic attention and considerable competent legal assistance towards the end. The execution 14 years after the sentencing by the trial court raised in many minds the question whether the man had not been punished twice for his crime — first by life imprisonment and then by hanging. Precedents have been cited of long delays in execution considered reason enough for commutation. Dhananjoy’s fate has set off what may turn out to be the first national debate in India about the desirability or otherwise of retaining capital punishment in the penal law of the land. Except perhaps for a few years when Maurya emperor Asoka, inspired by Buddha’s teachings, practised harmlessness towards living beings, India has never in its long history questioned punishment by death for certain offences as something beyond the social desiderata. Manu, India’s hoariest lawgiver, recommended death even for theft of grains if it was more than 10 sacks. His concession was only for priests for whom he prescribed banishment as the maximum penalty whatever their transgression. In our times Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were punished for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi by un-Gandhian capital punishment. Jawaharlal Nehru did not pause to think about his Bapu’s view on crime and punishment: “I cannot in all conscience agree to anyone being sent to the gallows.” Independent India retained the penal code the British had enacted after the Great Mutiny, with the death penalty awardable for offences against the State, mutiny in the armed forces and murder. India has refused to sign the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1989. The Covenant recommends the abolition of death penalty and the Optional Protocol makes sure: “No one within the jurisdiction of a State Party to the present Protocol shall be executed.” India’s official representative keeps on repeating at all relevant international meetings the argument that the imposition of legal penalties is the responsibility of the State and no limitation is acceptable. Facts and figures compiled by Amnesty International show that till the middle of this year 80 countries had formally abolished capital punishment for all crimes, 23 others de facto and 15 retained it for only crimes under military law or crimes committed in exceptional circumstances. All these countries together make about three-fifths of the UN’s membership. On the other side, those who have kept capital punishment still available for ordinary crimes add up to 78. Of them too. only four countries make frequent use of death by shooting or hanging or lethal injection or the electric chair. China is the most prolific judicial killer. In 2003, at least 64 people were executed in Vietnam, 65 in the US, 108 in Iran and 489 in China. The real figure for China, according to an Amnesty source, might be even more than tenfold. India and Japan are in the category of countries which execute people from time to time. The main argument of the abolitionists had been for many years the doubt about the unerringness of the irrevocable justice meted out. That this reason still remains very powerful was shown up in America recently by Mr George Ryan, who as Governor of Illinois, commuted all death sentences in his state after it was discovered that in as many as 13 cases, the trials had been unjust. For an American Governor Mr Ryan also made a startling admission: “Seldom are people with money or prestige convicted of capital offences, even more seldom are they executed.” In India too some way would have been found to save Dhananjoy had he been rich or with some weight politically The spread of the fight for human rights has added force to the demand for total abolition of capital punishment. As the South African constitution put it aphoristically, taking a life even by the judicial process is incompatible with the culture of human rights. Europe is now free from capital punishment. A member of the European Community will not even extradite any person to any country where he may be punished by death. The European countries are now agreed that capital punishment is unnecessary and inhumane, no matter how cruel the crime committed, since it is against the ideal of punishment with scope kept wide open for reform and resocialisation. The new European philosophy says that the justice system should not be seen as a means of private revenge. The issue of sensitivity towards the victim’s rights and interests is, of course, a valid one and Europe is confident that this will be taken care of by specially designed assistance agencies and programmes The European Union formally asked India for the commutation of Dhananjoy’s death sentence but the plea was turned down. The candlelight vigil by some citizens of Kolkata near the high walls of Alipur jail during the last dark hours of Dhananjoy’s life was a demonstration, even though on a small scale, that Indian public opinion has also begun stirring for the abolition of death
penalty. |
The Olympics according to Zeus The Olympics are over, and it’s time for a roundup. Many journalists would be doing that, making extravagant use of Greek phrases, but even all of them put together cannot match my experience, objectivity and vocabulary. After all, I am the “father of gods and men”, in whose honour the games were originally held. It was with open arms that I welcomed their return to their cradle after a global odyssey. Gripped by nostalgia, I recalled the glorious moments of the ancient games — the thrilling chariot races, the ultra-violent wrestling bouts, the athletes in all their naked splendour. I missed all this in Athens 2004, even though those beach volleyball nymphets delighted me by wearing next to nothing. The thing that I found had remained unchanged over the ages was the athletes’ desire to win at all costs. Now if you think cheating in sports is a modern phenomenon, you are terribly mistaken. In fact, the Olympics owe their origin to an unfair means case. My grandson, Pelops, won the beautiful Hippodameia from her father, King Oenomaus, by beating him deceitfully in a chariot race. He replaced the bronze linchpin that held the king’s chariot wheels with one of wax. During the race, the wax melted and the king was thrown off. To commemorate his win, Pelops instituted the games and dedicated them to me. With the tradition of dishonesty thus established, the ancient games saw competitors bribing judges or rivals to ensure victory, or declaring their age falsely to compete in a certain age group. To top it all, some tried to boost their performance by consuming sheep’s testicles! However, cheating did not go unpunished. It was regarded as an affront to the gods, and those caught were fined or whipped. In my view, public whipping should be revived to teach today’s dope cheats a lesson. I can easily punish them myself, by unleashing my dreaded thunderbolts, but it is not my business to interfere in human affairs. It’s up to the anti-doping agency to deal with the hydra-headed problem and clean the Augean stables of the sporting world. Come what may, I will remain as impartial as I was during the Trojan War, when I didn’t try to save even my son Sarpedon despite having the power to do so. Similarly, it would’ve been child’s play for me to put the host nation on top of the medals tally, but I chose to leave Greek athletes to their own fate. Sadly, in spite of all my blessings, they made news mostly for the wrong reasons. Another country whose success I wished for was India. Why India, you may ask. Primarily for two reasons. First, I love their “Rural Olympics” in Kila Raipur, which are reminiscent of the games in ancient Greece. Second, their tennis ace is the namesake of one of our legendary lovers, Leander, who drowned in the sea while trying to swim across to meet his beloved. The Indian Leander’s fate was no less tragic. He and his partner gelled very well, reminding me of my twin sons Castor and Pollux, but they tumbled downhill like the rock of Sisyphus just when the summit was tantalisingly close. Most of the country’s other competitors, however, came nowhere near. The prospect of defeat hung over their heads all the time like the sword of Hercules, I’m sorry, Damocles. Ultimately, the Damoclean, I’m really sorry, Herculean task of winning a medal for India was accomplished by Major Rathore. The day he shot a historic silver, I congratulated my counterpart Brahma, who exclaimed that Indians had found a new god in human form. On the whole, barring the doping and judging scandals, the Athens Olympics were an exhilarating affair. Much to everybody’s relief, the proceedings were not disrupted by terrorists. Perhaps it was the fear of my lightning bolts that made them chicken out. Or maybe they were charmed and disarmed by the cute mascots Athena and Phoebus, symbols of wisdom, beauty and culture in a world torn apart by
conflict.
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Crucial Afghan presidential poll
The Afghan Presidential elections are fixed for October 9, 2004. It was earlier postponed twice and it is hoped that this time the security situation in the country would not be so badly disruptive as to call for yet another postponement. Unlike the two earlier occasions, candidates for the election have filed their nominations. There are six million voters who have registered themselves out of available 10 millions. This is the first time Afghanistan will see an election on secret ballot. The electoral registration was attempted to be disrupted by the Taliban elements which are understandably opposed to an election. The International Security force composed of NATO forces and the US forces which operate independently provided protection during the electoral registration. There were large number of complaints about the adequacy of these forces and their effectiveness in ensuring protection during the electoral registration. During the actual polling too, there are likely to be disruption from two forces. First will be from the pro-Taliban elements. Secondly, there are large militias which are loyal to various warlords. Though it was meant to disarm the militias using the International Security force and National Afghan Army that has not been possible. Some of these militias were armed and financed earlier by the Americans when they initiated the war against the Taliban in October, 2001. The training of the National Afghan Army has been painfully slow. The NATO forces are not adequate to disarm all the militias of the warlords. While the US favours Hamid Karzai, the present interim president, for reelection he is being opposed by more than a dozen candidates, including one woman candidate, a paediatrician. Not all the candidates are serious ones. But there are some who pose serious challenge to Hamid Karzai. Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic country, consisting of Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras and other smaller groups. Pashtuns constitute the majority and Tajiks are about a third. While the Uzbeks are smaller in number, their militia under the command of General Dostum is very powerful. When the US initiated the war against the Taliban, dominated by the Pashtuns, in October 2001, they supported the Northern Alliance, mostly Tajik forces, commanded by Ahmed Shah Massoud, the lion of Panjshir. Commander Massoud was assassinated by Al-Qaeda two days before the 9/11 attack. It was the Northern Alliance, supported by the US which swept through Kabul and large portions of Afghanistan and cleaned the Taliban cadres. In the post-war government at Kabul headed by Karzai, a Pashtun, the Tajiks got many of the powerful portfolios in the Cabinet-Defence, Foreign Affairs, education etc. In Pashtun areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan there was grievance that the Tajiks had acquired disproportionate influence in the government. General Fahim, a lieutenant of assassinated Ahmed Shah Massoud became the Defence Minister and kept the large Tajik militia operational. The remnants of the Taliban which escaped into Pakistan and found safe haven there were determined to overthrow Karzai since he was a collaborator of the US. The Taliban propagated among the Pashtuns both in the Afghanistan and the Pashtun inhabited areas of Pakistan that US has no staying power and the Taliban would come back. The Taliban was originally established in power in Afghanistan by Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistani Army considered Afghanistan under Taliban as their strategic depth vis-a-vis India and spring board for their future expansion into Central Asia using Jehadis as their instrument. Even while cooperating with the US in the war on terror against Al-Qaeda (even in that respect there are a lot of reservations about Pakistan's sincerity) the Pakistanis have avoided taking action against the Taliban. This charge has been frequently levelled against them by US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad. The Pakistani denials have not evoked much credibility among the US military establishment. Earlier it was expected that Hamid Karzai would accept General Fahim as his running mate for the election. But General Fahim refused to resign as defence minister and give up control over the Tajik militia. In such circumstances, Hamid Karzai has nominated Ahmed Zia Massoud, the younger brother of the late Ahmed Shah Massoud as Vice President on his ticket. The Tajiks have fielded Yunus Quanooni, the former education minister, to oppose Karzai and he in turn has taken another brother of the late Ahmed Shah Massoud as his running mate. While Karzai ticket has the appearance of being composite having both a Pashtun and a Tajik the Quanooni ticket is wholly Tajik. There are other challengers fielded by religious right, Hazaras and monarchists. However, the main contest is between Karzai and Quanooni — between Pashtuns and Tajiks. If one goes by numbers Karzai, the Pashtun must win. But the Pashtun warlords are notoriously fickle and dollars have enormous persuasive power. With all efforts that the International Security force and National Afghan Army can put in, the warlords are expected to have significant influence in the voting in their respective areas of dominance. Hamid Karzai paid a visit to Islamabad to persuade General Musharraf not to interfere in the Afghan elections either through Taliban or the ISI. General Musharraf is in a very difficult situation. Karzai is the US candidate. A victory for the Tajik candidate will not be considered to be in Pakistan's interest by General Musharraf. Election of any other candidate will increase US concerns about the situation in Afghanistan and would lead to more intensified US and NATO presence in Afghanistan and US activity in Pakistan. A victory for Karzai would bring down the Pakistani influence among the remnant Taliban cadres and increase the pressure on Pak-Afghan border. One cannot rule out the possibility of an attempt on Hamid Karzai in order to disrupt the elections. There have already been a number of attempts on his life. If that were to happen it may even have an effect on US presidential elections of November 2. Yet another possibility is to step up Taliban attacks within Afghanistan to have the elections further postponed. A more unsettled Afghanistan may justify General Musharraf to keep his uniform beyond December. At the same time, it is difficult to predict what Osama Bin Laden's plans are. |
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Delhi Durbar The RSS wants a low key leader to take over the reins of the BJP from M. Venkaiah Naidu. The names doing the rounds for the BJP president's post are primarily that of trouble shooters Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj whose charm with sound bytes and photo opportunities rarely go unnoticed. However, the RSS as the main ideologue has other ideas. It does not want a very high profile personality as the BJP president as Hindutva and ideology cannot be bartered away for populism. The RSS believes that former Union Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh is a good choice to succeed Venkaiah Naidu. Rajnath Singh's advantages are his homespun style and his Uttar Pradesh origin.
No room yet
for Vajpayee Is former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a difficult man to please these days? It would definitely appear to be so as no official space in the Parliament House complex appears to have appealed to Vajpayee. He was offered and shown several rooms with the BJP-led NDA alliance partner JD (U) expressing its willingness to give up its parliamentary party office to accommodate him. Vajpayee went round trying to select a room but it turned out to be in vain. BJP sources said Vajpayee was looking for a room near one of the exits in Parliament. However, the question doing the rounds in political circles is whether Vajpayee as a former Prime Minister or for that matter Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi entitled to a room in Parliament?
Lalu curses proteges Just the other day, Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was riled by the fact that Union Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had turned his foe. Apparently, Paswan has his eyes set on the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections even as he continues to smart under the blow that Yadav scampered away with the Railway portfolio. Yadav raved and ranted the other day that everyone he had taken under his wings and made big in politics has ditched him and bad mouthed him no end. He rattled the names of Paswan, Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav and so on.
A breed by themselves The private secretaries of Union Ministers are a breed by themselves. They enjoy the trappings of power along with their masters, acting as their eyes and ears. Therefore, it is not unusual that once the government changes at the Centre, these busybodies go into oblivion. Some of them manage to worm their way into the new establishment and in certain cases the fact that they hail from the some state as the minister facilitates their cause. It is believed that several do's and don'ts have been handed down to the private secretaries in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government. The private secretaries have been warned not to cosy up to representatives of industrial houses, avoid dos at farm houses by business interests and not to use cars and other facilities provided by PSUs.
BJP’s problem
in Haryana The BJP is regretting the blunder it had committed by breaking its alliance with Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal. They drew a blank in Haryana in the general elections. Interestingly, now there is talk in the higher echelons of the BJP that Bansi Lal should be projected as the BJP's chief ministerial candidate. The Haryana BJP, in a state of flux, is unlikely to accept a traditional enemy being foisted on them instead of one of their ilk. However, the common refrain in the BJP is that the party does not have a senior leader in its ranks from Haryana. Contributed by Gaurav Choudhury, S. Satyanarayanan and Prashant Sood |
The true way to gain much, is never to desire to gain too much. He is not rich that possesses much, but he that covets no more; and he is not poor that enjoys little, but he that wants too much. — Beaumont Be the change you want to see in the world. —
Mahatma Gandhi I meditated on God and contemplated Him with love and devotion. — Guru Nanak That soul is strong that has become one with the Lord; none else is strong. —
Swami Vivekananda It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable. — Moliere |
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