 |
|
Terror in London Back to the fold |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Official bandh
The US partnership offer
An exact art
News Analysis EU to deport illegal immigrants Delhi Durbar
|
Terror in London THURSDAY’S serial blasts in London are one of the worst terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001, when the Al-Qaeda operatives rammed two hijacked aircraft into the WTC towers in New York. The blasts are quite similar to last year’s explosions in commuter trains in Madrid that killed 191 people. It is just providential that the casualty figure in London is not that high, though a large number of people have been injured. Whether the claim that the attack was the handiwork of Osama bin Laden’s organisation is true or not, it definitely has the imprint of a global terrorist network. The Blair Government has been at the receiving end of such outfits which have not taken kindly to its support to the Bush administration in its so-called “war on terror”. Given the extent of resentment even in Britain over its participation in the Iraq war, the possibility of a local group with international connections masterminding the attack cannot also be ruled out. It is doubtful whether the blasts would have aroused so much concern if they had not occurred in a Western nation. For we Indians, what happened in London is nothing extraordinary. In terms of the enormity of what we have been experiencing for the last one and a half decade, the London blasts are, perhaps, a routine. It was just two days ago that terrorists tried to destroy the disputed Ayodhya shrine and cause a communal conflagration. In 1993 Mumbai was the first city in the world to know how deadly serial blasts could be. But few Western nations could understand the problem India faced, let alone empathise with her. They thought terrorism was a problem endemic to India even as they paid no heed to India’s entreaties to them to put pressure on Pakistan to stop sending trained terrorists into India. It can verily be said that the world woke up to the menace of terrorism only when 9/11 occurred. For the first time, countries like the US and the UK realised that terrorism was not peculiar to South Asia and no country – even the mightiest – was safe from it. The London blasts are a reminder that the world has to unite in its fight against terrorism. In Britain’s hour of tragedy, India can empathise with her because it knows from experience how painful terrorism is. |
|
Back to the fold MISFORTUNE never comes alone. Under flak from the Sangh Parivar for calling Mohammad Ali Jinnah a “secularist”, Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Krishna Advani finds himself back in the company of those who relished the slogan, “Ek dhakka aur do, Babri Masjid tor do”. The reprieve he got from the Special Court at Rae Bareli in February 2003 when his name was dropped from among the Parivar leaders against whom the CBI had filed a chargesheet for conspiring to demolish the centuries-old masjid turned out to be short-lived. The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has now asked Mr Advani to appear before the Rae Bareli court on July 28 along with others like Mr Murli Manohar Joshi, Ms Uma Bharati and Mr Vinay Katiyar for the framing of a chargesheet. In other words, all the help that he got from his colleague in the NDA Ministry, Mr Arun Jaitley, has come to naught. When the Special Court at Rae Bareli virtually gave Mr Advani a clean chit while going ahead with the chargesheet filed against the other Parivar leaders, it gave a distinct impression that there was a miscarriage of justice, a point underscored by the Lucknow bench. This is because Mr Advani was the leader of the controversial Ramajanambhoomi movement launched by the BJP, which ultimately resulted in the demolition of the mosque. He, like the others whose names figure in the chargesheet, was present at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, when the frenzied karsevaks brought down the disputed structure and erected a makeshift temple there. There is no evidence –audio or video – to suggest that Mr Advani tried to restrain the karsevaks from demolishing what many considered was a symbol of secularism. This means he is as guilty or innocent as the others. As leader of the party which gave a solemn undertaking to the Supreme Court that no harm would be done to the disputed structure, he could not escape responsibility for what ultimately happened in Ayodhya. It is a measure of political interference and the dilatory nature of the criminal justice system that even 13 years after the incident, the case is in the framing-of-charges stage. It can only be presumed that hereafter the case would have a speedy trial and the guilty would be duly punished. But this is possible only if, to use a cliché, the law is allowed to take its own course. |
|
Official bandh IF the terrorist attack in Ayodhya was not reprehensible enough, the reaction of some outfits is filling in the gap. In the competitive chest-beating, the cake has gone to Rajasthan. When the Bharatiya Janata Party announced a bandh for Thursday there, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje conveniently chipped in ordering closure of all its offices for the day. Her partymen may find nothing amiss in that. They may even laud her attitude. But anybody else cannot defend the decision. This kind of official sanction to an agitation is wrong on all counts. The party’s “statewide” bandh might have been only as “successful” as those in some other states, but the state sponsorship has made it far more effective. The arguments given in favour of the Chief Minister’s action sound hollow. Government servants are always game for such a paid holiday. The inconvenience caused to the public can be imagined. One wonders what the judiciary, which has come down heavily on such agitations of late, will have to say on this issue. Leave alone granting an official sanction to the agitation, the very logic of organising such a bandh is faulty. The security forces gunned down all terrorists who tried to intrude into the Ramajanambhoomi complex. So, where is the question of the so-called failure to provide adequate security cover to the sensitive locality? Apparently, an attempt is being made to make political capital out of the incident, with the Rajasthan unit president of the BJP even demanding resignation of the Prime Minister and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. What the BJP and other saffron parties are forgetting is that a terrorist attack on any place in India is a concern for every Indian. By trying to appropriate it to party ends, they are reducing it into an attack on a particular party or community. That will only lead to polarisation and spread communal venom. They must desist from playing such a dangerous game because by doing so they will only be furthering the cause of the terrorists who are out to spread mayhem in the country. |
|
A majority is always the best repartee. — Benjamin Disraeli |
The US partnership offer
Following the US offer to help in building India as a world class power in the 21st century, there is a two-line struggle among the Indian political class and bureaucracy. One line is in favour of accepting the US help and build India faster at an 8-10 per cent growth rate as China did taking the US help. The other line is to be cautious about the US offer and keep a healthy distance away and be content with the neo-Hindu growth rate of 6 per cent. The former line holds that the US as an economic power is likely to face an increasing challenge from a fast growing China. It is getting isolated from Europe following the end of the Cold War. The limitations on its military power are evident from what has happened in Iraq. Instead of its being sole super power, it is today in need of friends among major powers. It has concluded that it needs Indian brain power, India as a partner market and as an Asian stabiliser. Therefore, it is offering to help India in building itself as a world power. This line looks at the future, is in favour of globalisation and is confident of Indian ability to compete in the world market. It feels that it is already a polycentric world and there is no need to fear the US as the sole super power. The second line, looks at the past, is fearful of the US throwing its weight about as the sole super power, not confident about competing in the world market, more comfortable with a slower pace of reform and more leisurely attenuation of poverty. It resists any future-oriented assessment and would like to base its policies on past experience rather than future expectations. The first line focuses on the changing circumstances in the international system and looks to the opportunities to be exploited. The second line does not pay much attention to the changes that are taking place fast and is very cautious about probing for opportunities. This is not unusual and this type of two-line struggle also happened in China when the US took the initiative to befriend Beijing in 1971. While Mao and Zhou en Lai took the risk and responded to US overtures, Lin Biao opposed it. The issue was decided when Lin Biao after an unsuccessful attempt at a coup, tried to flee and got killed in an air crash. The Chinese leadership took the risk of responding to US overtures in spite of having fought a war with the US only 18 years earlier and having conducted “hate America” campaigns in the previous decade.. The risk takers proved successful and China used US help to grow at 10 per cent and became an economic challenger of the US itself. The reluctance to trust the US arises because in the absence of a future-oriented assessment and an understanding of US vulnerabilities and long-term apprehensions there is an enormous fear of US power and lack of understanding that in future the US is likely to need India as much as the latter will need the former. This in turn is to be traced to an undue emphasis on the military aspects of power in international relations and overlooking the basic fact that war is no longer a viable option vis-a-vis each other among the major powers. What the US is worried about is its losing economic pre-eminence to China. This factor comes out clearly in President George Bush refusing any compromise on the Kyoto protocol as it would affect the US economy. Dr Condoleezza Rice’s explanation for US interest in India was wholly economic. While the Americans who carry out long-term future assessments all the time worry about their future economic prospects under long-term Chinese challenge, in India, totally alien to long-term assessments, there is no understanding of the US sense of vulnerability and eagerness to nurture India as an economic and technological partner. The Americans have taken the initiative after having concluded that India has no strategic tradition. The optimists have no way to demonstrate that it is worth taking the risk, and the advantages in accepting the US initiative far outweigh the risks. Nor is there any way of proving the cautious and timid wrong. It is ultimately a matter of judgement for the political leadership. Zhou and Deng proved that they had the right judgement in trusting the United States not because of any innate good nature of the Americans but because they were convinced that circumstances favoured China. They did it though at that time the Americans were fighting in Vietnam, a Chinese ally at that time. They did not confuse between American aggression in Vietnam and the US compulsions to befriend China. In Mahabharata, Bhishma advised the Pandavas that for kings (read states) there were no friends or enemies. Circumstances decided that. The Chinese leadership apparently followed Bhishma’s advice and did not spurn the US offer to help them. Unfortunately, in India there appears to be a strong conviction that friends and enemies are for permanence though our own politicians accept the Bhishma’s advice in making coalition alignments and realignments all the time. There are many in India who think that if we had been bolder and initiated our reforms some 10 years earlier India would have been better off and our poverty would have been alleviated to a greater extent. We were timid and India’s poor are paying the price. There is no way in which China’s economic challenge to the US, Washington’s need for India’s partnership, polycentrism of the world and weakening of the US clout as a military power will get reversed. If India does not seize the present US initiative, sooner or later, it will have to accept another one, but that delay will cost us significantly as our delay in starting economic reforms has done. The next two weeks will decide whether India makes the right
choice. |
An exact art MY tryst with mathematic-arithmetic combine starts everyday with the uncanny calculating proficiency of the “sabziwallas” — the vegetable vendors. Usually the chaps are quick in their computation up to fractions. I am so awed by their mathematical wizardry that I accept their versions meekly but with a casual “Accha! Achha! Theek hai” as if to show my disdain or casual approach to the extra pennies expended. Back home I engage in a proper pen and pencil exercise only to find the illiterate man’s calculation almost exact. Mathematics, they say, is an exact art. What is so exact about it, I fail to understand. But I am aware of this much that if you do not know mathematics, you are a doomed soul. Down from cookbook recipes right up to the medicinal dosages you are supposed to know weight and measures, be conversant with litres and kilograms, miles and kilometres and their conversions. All that jugglery with figures, eh! Take for example, my case. Just the other day, tempted by the visual on the TV of some mouth-watering recipe, I embarked on the idea of preparing it. Unfortunately I got stuck up when it came to measurement. The “Illaichi” that was to be added was in the traditional “Tola-Ratti-Masha” measurement. Taking up paper and pen I started the laborious conversion process and I found myself deep inside the labyrinth, the figures increasing with every subtraction and addition. My mother smiled at my naivety and added: “Your entire month’s salary will not be enough to buy that much of “illaichi”, darling. All one needs in an Andaz”. The entire commercial world seems to be out to make you a mathematical wizard. Take out a bottle of “chooran” and the dosage will be in tola-ratti or grams-milligrams. You may need a “magic slate” to calculate how much it would be. Measuring in spoonful is relatively easier. I am led to believe in the power of mathematics very late in life, particularly when it came to buying a house. Fumbling on terms like proportionate versus equal, stumbling over square-foot and square-metre, and completely befuddled, I miscalculated and mishandled the entire deal to the advantage of a scheming neighbour. With frustration I ask why study literature when it makes you inadequate to face facts? For Shelley the rainbow is the “myriad coloured bow,” not seven coloured; and Wordsworth took liberties with his numerical specifics when he uttered, “ten thousand saw I at a glance.” One of my students asked me once, if he really had counted the daffodils. I could barely suppress a smile before I answered that innocent question. Coming again to the starting point, I wonder why the benevolent souls, the manufacturers of medicines and writers of cookbooks do not give measurement in “spoons”. Perhaps because the poor innocuous “spoon”, the “chamcha” has acquired derogatory connotation in our
language!
|
News Analysis by Shiv Kumar Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray capped a long career intimidating South Indians, Muslims, Dalits and assorted others by virtually pleading with friend-turned-foe Narayan Rane to resign from the Maharashtra assembly. Only two days earlier last Friday, Thackeray and his son Uddhav were regally lording over Rane’s close supporters in a bid to lure them away from the former Chief Minister. The Thackerays’ bravado dissipated by Sunday afternoon when 22 of the 63 Shiv Sena MLAs stayed away from their show of strength. Nine of them quietly surfaced at Rane’s bungalow while the rest sought to play it safe and stayed away from the public glare. That evening Thackeray formally expelled Rane from the Shiv Sena and asked him to quit the state legislature “if he had any shame”. Narayan Rane (55) a street fighter known for his ferocity towards his opponents, has come full circle. A notorious goonda in his youth at Mumbai’s Chembur suburb, Rane began his career as a ‘bodyguard’ of Bal Thackeray in the 1970s. Despite his lack of educational qualifications, Rane was a quick learner and made it to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as a corporator. He was quick to see the potential of Mumbai’s textile strike which forced workers to return to their villages in their hundreds. Rane took the Shiv Sena to their villages in the Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts of Konkan bordering Goa. By the time he made to the state legislature in 1985, Rane was on his way to earning the nickname ‘Konkanchya Raja’. The Congress party was simply wiped out from its former stronghold and its workers moved away afraid for their lives. Satyavijay Bhise, who gave a tough fight to Rane in the 1999 elections, was brutally blinded before being hacked to death two years ago. Rane’s relations with the Thackerays soured before last year’s assembly elections in Maharashtra. Egged on by Thackeray’s nephew Raj, Rane vocally opposed Thackeray’s desire to project Uddhav as the Shiv Sena-BJP combine’s Chief Ministerial candidate. The Thackerays got back at Rane by denying the ticket to his men. In turn, Rane’s men contested against the official Shiv Sena candidates, gifting nearly 30 seats and victory to the Congress-NCP combine. With Raj Thackeray backing him, Rane managed to bounce back and even got elected as the Leader of the Opposition in the state legislature. But relations with Uddhav soured and Rane played a major role in portraying Bal Thackeray’s heir as an aloof introvert cut off from the party cadre. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, who has been waiting in the wings for just such an opportunity, drove a wedge between Rane and the Thackerays and finally prised them apart last weekend. Pawar’s game plan is to have his Nationalist Congress Party replace the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra so as to have a greater say at the national level. With Bal Thackeray’s charisma waning, the BJP is scouting for fresh allies and observers say Pawar wants to play the saffron party against the Congress in Maharashtra. Rane’s promise to bring along a few Shiv Sena members in the Lok Sabha is also sweet music to Sharad Pawar, who is looking for numbers in case attempts to form a third front at the national level bears fruit. Clearly Rane and Pawar cannot wait till the next elections and hence the rush to swallow the Shiv Sena in its entirety. For the past several weeks Rane and Pawar have been working on the dynamics of splitting the Shiv Sena. Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly Babasaheb Kupekar is a Pawar loyalist and has already begun to play a major role in Maharashtra’s latest political crisis. On Monday he recognised Rane’s man Vinayak Nimhan as the Shiv Sena’s whip, thereby handing over control of the party to the dissident. The Shiv Sena will now approach the courts to reverse Kupekar’s orders since its MLAs are liable for disqualification under the anti-defection law should they defy the whip and vote against Rane. The party wants to remove Rane as Leader of the Opposition when the Maharashtra assembly meets on Monday for the monsoon session. Sources say Rane has been receiving legal advice about merging the Shiv Sena legislative party with the NCP and failing which separate seating arrangements for his group without having to resign their seats in the assembly. The Thackerays themselves have been outmaneuvered at the political and constitutional levels. For once, the family has come to realise that its remote control does not work in an elected legislature. Rane laughed away attempts by Uddhav Thackeray to sack him as Leader of the Opposition. “Uddhav does not know that it is the party legislators and not the party chief who ultimately decide on the Leader of Opposition,” Rane said. Having tasted blood, Rane and Pawar are working at Raj Thackeray who has openly criticised the anointment of Uddhav as Executive President of the Shiv Sena. Though Raj Thackeray expressed his solidarity with his uncle and cousin, Rane has sown doubts on the minds of party cadres by saying that Bal Thackeray’s nephew himself is stifled within the party. Raj Thackeray is more popular among party cadres and the demand that he take over the reins of the party is likely to get shriller in the days to come. |
|
EU to deport illegal immigrants Britain and four other large EU countries will organise joint charter flights to return illegal immigrants to their home countries. The idea — suggested by Spain — was accepted by Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, and France, Italy and Germany, at a meeting at Evian on the French shore of Lake Geneva on Wednesday. “The five largest EU countries are going to organise planes to take illegal immigrants home,” said the French Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who chaired the meeting. Giuseppe Pisanu, the Italian Interior Minister, said planes would tour the five countries picking up citizens from a single country of origin. Police from the five countries would join the flight. The first charter would leave “in a matter of days”, Mr Pisanu said. The idea is not completely new. Individual EU countries have chartered planes to remove illegal migrants in the past. Italy and Germany have co-operated in joint flights. But this is the first time that five have agreed to a single repatriation programme. The idea is partly to save money, but also to share the political responsibility for repatriation, and to show that the EU is capable of acting together against illegal immigration. At the end of the two-day meeting of the “Group of Five” largest EU countries, M. Sarkozy said he had also proposed an annual ceiling on the number of legal immigrants accepted by the five. At his suggestion, the so-called G5 will also study ways of harmonising rules for allowing legal immigrants to bring family members to join them. M. Sarkozy said France had increased expulsions of illegal migrants by half in the past year. He said a strong message should go out from the Evian meeting that “only those with valid papers have a right to enter our countries. Anyone else, who tries to stay on in contravention of our laws, will be sent home.” The ministers also agreed a range of other measures to fight illegal immigration. There will be joint naval patrols in the Mediterranean and joint missions by two or three EU countries to countries such as Romania and Albania to try to discourage people from leaving without visas or work permits. The five countries also agreed in principle to harmonise future requirements on “biometric” identity cards, to make them easier to read by police across the EU and more difficult to forge. The principle of “bio-metric” reading of documents should perhaps be extended to driving licences across the EU, they said. M. Sarkozy suggested that Poland be invited to join the group to encourage co-operation on crime, terrorism and immigration within the EU. Britain and four other large EU countries will organise joint charter flights to return illegal immigrants to their home countries. The idea - suggested by Spain - was accepted by Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, and France, Italy and Germany, at a meeting at Evian on the French shore of Lake Geneva yesterday. —The Independent |
|
New Defence Secretary WITH
Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh due for retirement later this month, the government is set to announce the name of his successor. While the race has been on for some time, the buzz is that the post may finally go to one of the candidates from within the Defence Ministry itself. Knowledgeable sources say four names have been short-listed and forwarded to the PMO for clearance by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The name of Secretary, Defence Production and Supplies Shekhar Dutt has been given the final go-ahead. The others in the race are Pratyush Sinha,
Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Adarsh Kishore, Expenditure Secretary, and D P Singh, Secretray, Food Processing. Getting rid of
Kulkarni It is still a mystery how Kulkarni’s e-mail to L.K. Advani on his personal e-mail ID advising him to ignore the RSS got leaked as only a core group has access to it. Everyone is wondering who the insider might be. Or was it part of a calculated strategy to get rid of Kulkarni, who was wanting the BJP to assert its prerogative in shifting gears from the Hindutva ideology vis-a-vis the powerful Sangh Parivar? Rift in UP
Congress The relationship between UPCC chief Salman Khursheed and the AICC general secretary in charge of UP has hit a rough spot. Even Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s attempts to broker a peace between the two appears to have failed. The talk in Congress circles is that instead of taking on SP leader and UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, faction fights in the party are becoming more intense. Cautious NCP
response On the decision to disinvest the 10 per cent government stake in BHEL the NCP leadership wanted to back the Left parties, but one section of the party wanted to back the government. Ultimately, the NCP came out with a carefully calibrated response in which it backed the government decision while appreciating the concerns of the Left. NCP insiders say Civil
Aviation Minister Praful Patel did not want the party to take a stand which could embarrass him over the move to privatise the Delhi and Mumbai airports. An outsider
in MEA Is the high-profile Ministry of External Affairs saddled with an outsider in Sonia Gandhi loyalist Anil Mathrani? That is what it seems like as Mathrani, a former secretary of the Congress foreign affairs cell, has been asked to liaison between the UPA and the MEA. The career diplomats in the foreign office are at a loss where to fit in Mathrani. Last year Mathrani was made India’s Ambassador to Croatia and curiously he has bounced back to the Capital within a year. Contributed by Girja Shankar Kaura, S Satyanarayanan, Prashant Sood and Gaurav Choudhury |
|
From the pages of “Philanthropy”
Philanthropy of a very disinterested kind must be at the root of the Secretary of State’s despatch on mining legislation in India. Lancashire philanthropy urged on factory legislation for India until it became an accomplished fact, and mining interests must be at the back of the Secretary of State’s attitude towards mining legislation in India. The Government of India after a careful inquiry came to the conclusion that legislation was not yet necessary for mines in India. Accidents were not numerous, the mortality was not abnormal and there was no complaint either on the part of the employers or the employed. But the conditions of Indian labour are to be determined by the Berlin Conference. Lord Cross was of opinion that the recommendation of the Conference that children under 11 should not be employed in mines and Lord Kimberley concurs in this view. In India there is no legal bar but it is not stated whether children under 11 are actually employed in mines or not. The Secretary of State does not press for immediate legislation but he will send out an Inspector who will recommend what regulations he considers necessary.
|
God will make a joke of them, amplifying their outrages as they wander astray. — Book of quotations on Islam Rarer still is the man who can face the truth with courage. — The Upanishads People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost. — Book of quotations on Happiness They are the ones who have bartered guidance for error: thus their trade does not profit and they are not guided. — Book of quotations on Islam Are you one who continuously looks for faults and weaknesses in others? How much time have you spent in looking at your own faults and weaknesses? — The Buddha  |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
