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Crossing the hurdle Tigers are terrorists |
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On the fast track
Engage with open eyes
A brush with the police
Voting on N-deal A glimmer of hope in Dehradun jail Siachen talks
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Crossing the hurdle IT is great relief for both India and the US administration as the civilian nuclear deal between the two has crossed the first major hurdle after powerful House International Relations Committee has accorded its approval to it. The legislation is likely to get a similar treatment from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee too. This shows that the Bill seeking to amend the 1954 US Atomic Energy Act will hopefully get a majority vote when it is finally taken up by Congress. The US House of Representatives is expected to debate and adopt it by July-end. The massive support the legislation has got in the International Relations Committee is acceptance of India’s record as a non-NPT country despite having chosen to develop its own nuclear weapons. It is not a small gain that six amendments aimed at derailing the deal have been rejected. Many law-makers have justifiably pointed out that those criticising the exception in the case of India should have a closer look at its functioning as a responsible nuclear power. “India has no A.Q. Khan”, Congressman Tom Lantos pointed out to stress the point that India definitely falls in a different category. Its contribution to nuclear non-proliferation has been far greater than many of those countries which have signed the NPT. No doubt, the victory has come after considerable efforts by the US administration to get the deal-breaking clauses removed from what will be called the United States and India Nuclear Cooperation Promotion Act of 2006. Yet the “mark-up” or fine-tuning of the legislation was over without an avoidable clause embarrassing for India getting removed. It is a non-binding clause, but asks the US administration to “secure” India’s cooperation to isolate Iran and get UN sanctions imposed on it for its violation of the NPT. This may evoke criticism from opposition parties. They may also object to the clause which says that the Presidential waiver allowing civilian nuclear business with India will “cease to be effective” if New Delhi goes in for a fresh nuclear test. This clause as well as the criticism on this account are unnecessary in view of the July 2005 Joint Statement signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W. Bush. Actually, India has already declared unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests. What is of essence is that the nuclear deal after its passage by both Houses of Congress will enable India to get access to nuclear fuel for its reactors and high technology from the US and the Nuclear Suppliers Group in various spheres of critical importance to India.
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Tigers are terrorists THE LTTE’s so-called expression of regret for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi can be treated only with cynicism and contempt. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam planned, plotted and carried out a dry run – which was filmed – before they killed Rajiv Gandhi in a suicide bomb attack in May 1991. Long before they owned up to the terrorist attack, as ideologue Anton Balasingham did in his television interview yesterday, the world knew that the LTTE was the perpetrator of the crime. The fact that the LTTE has a ‘policy’ of not showing its hand after its terrorist acts has never fooled anyone. Its signature has been all too evident in the many assassinations of Sri Lankans – top Tamil and Sinhala leaders and army figures – it has carried out over the last two decades. At his press conference in 2002, LTTE supremo V Prabakaran referred to the assassination as a “tragic incident” that “We don’t want to comment on”. Mr Balasingham’s owning up of responsibility for the killing as a “monumental historical tragedy which we deeply regret”, does not in anyway minimise the gravity of the terrorist act nor provide ground for exoneration of the criminals. Therefore, the Government of India’s forthright rejection of a sham apology is as it should be. The LTTE remains a terrorist organisation and its leaders are wanted criminals under Indian law, and in the circumstances India can have no truck with the separatist rebels nor give them any quarter. It is audacious presumption on the LTTE’s part to even suggest that India “put the past behind” to look at the ethnic question in a different perspective. No state can afford to “forgive and forget” such an outrage against a nation. Yet if the LTTE has made bold to suggest thus, it is because of the respectability it gained when the international community, especially Norway, engaged them in talks. The continuing terrorist offensives of the LTTE leave no doubt that the Tigers have not changed their stripes. They are terrorists and should be isolated and treated as such by India as well as the world community.
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On the fast track PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh’s call to the state governments to assess the urban infrastructure needs for the next two decades and improve the quality of life in cities is timely. Laying the foundation stones for two major projects in Bangalore the other day, he said if this city’s image had suffered today it was because of the lack of adequate infrastructure. The Prime Minister was convinced that rapid public transport held the key to easing congestion in major cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Ahmedabad. With population growth, cities have also tended to sprawl and increased travel distances have made non-motorised modes impossible to use. This has made access to livelihood difficult. As poor mobility can hinder economic growth, the Centre has announced a new national urban transport policy to strengthen the transport infrastructure in the country. Delhi Metro has already shown how people can commute fast and comfortably in air-conditioned coaches for a reasonable fare. Bangalore and Mumbai are expected to follow suit when the metro projects there get ready. A lot, however, depends upon the implementing agencies. The projects must be executed within a timeframe. Otherwise, these would be bogged down by cost overruns. Funds are no cause for worry as the Centre has decided to invest in these projects. It is exploring alternative methods of financing like the levy of dedicated taxes for an urban transport fund. However, no system can succeed without the people’s whole-hearted cooperation. The Prime Minister’s reference to road rage and appeal to motorists to follow road manners and traffic discipline are relevant in this context.
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It is the first law of friendship that it has to be cultivated. The second is to be indulgent when the first law is neglected. — Voltaire
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Engage with open eyes
Nothing symbolises the confusion and ambivalence in our approach to relations with China more than the contradictory statements about Sino-Indian relations that have emanated from our Defence and External Affairs Ministries over the past year. Barely a year ago the Defence Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee, categorically asserted in Mumbai that India should never forget that it had been invaded by China in 1962. Shortly after his visit to Japan and China in May 2006, where he signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” on Defence Cooperation with his Chinese counterpart Cao Gangchuan, Mr Mukherjee proclaimed in New Delhi on June 13: “We do consider that India is no threat to China and they are no threat to us…There is enough (strategic) space for both of us”. The annual report of the Ministry of Defence presented this year to Parliament states: “China’s military modernisation, with sustained double digit growth in its defence budget for over a decade, as also the development of infrastructure in the India-China border areas continues to be monitored. Close defence exchanges and nuclear and missile cooperation between China and Pakistan continue to elicit our concern”. Despite this stated unease about China’s military buildup, the China Daily, which is a Chinese Government mouthpiece, quoted Mr Mukherjee as having responded to Japan’s concerns on China’s military buildup by telling his hosts in Japan: “We are fully aware of it (China’s feverish military modernisation). But every country has its own perception of the development and modernisation of its armed forces”. There is also nothing to suggest that during his visit to China, Mr Mukherjee took up the issue of China’s massive military, nuclear weapons and missile assistance to Pakistan- assistance that today poses the greatest threat to both conventional and nuclear security for India. Why are we so inhibited in even bringing such concerns to the notice of the Chinese Government at high political levels? What has transpired in the time that elapsed between what Mr Mukherjee proclaimed last year about our never forgetting China’s 1962 invasion and what is now being said? On the positive side, trade and economic relations between India and China are booming, with bilateral trade reaching $ 18.7 billion last year. The Sino-Indian border has been tension free. Over the last three years the navies of India and China have held joint exercises in the East China Sea and at Kochi and India’s Army Chief visited China 2004. The Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation that Mr Mukherjee inked in Beijing provides for enhanced cooperation and contacts between the Defence Ministries and Armed Forces of the two countries. India and China have agreed to hold training programmes in the fields of search and rescue, antipiracy, counter terrorism and other areas of mutual interest. Border trade between Tibet and Sikkim through the 15000-foot high Nathu La Pass is set to resume next month after over four decades There is thus an environment of peace and tranquility along the Sino-Indian border and growing economic and cultural cooperation. Despite these developments, China remains the most destabilising factor for Indian national security. It has consistently sought to undermine India’s influence in Asia and indeed across the world. The most dangerous manifestation of this Chinese role has been its continuing nuclear and missile cooperation with Pakistan. After having provided Pakistan with nuclear weapons designs, enrichment technology, unsafeguarded Plutonium facilities for developing thermonuclear weapons capabilities and nuclear capable ballistic missiles that can strike at virtually every Indian city, China has recently transferred Cruise Missile technology, enabling Pakistan to test Cruise missiles that can endanger our land and maritime security. The nuclear-capable 500-km range “Babur” Cruise Missile tested by Pakistan on August 12 was a product of the China Aerospace and Industry Corporation. This missile transfer violated China’s commitments under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). China is also in the process of transferring four F 22 naval frigates and 150 JF 17 fighters to Pakistan. It is reported to be developing a fighter comparable to the Russian SU 27 for the Pakistan Air Force. The Pakistan Al Khalid tank is being built with Chinese collaboration. China also took the unprecedented step of joining Pakistan in providing military supplies to the beleaguered and unpopular King Gyanendra in Nepal, at a time when India and the international community were trying to promote political reconciliation and democracy in the mountain kingdom. In these circumstances, one wonders how New Delhi can blandly state that China poses no “threat” to India. During the past year, China has effectively lobbied against our efforts to seek permanent membership of the UN Security Council. Both in Washington and in other capitals of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, China is, behind the scenes, seeking to undermine the Indo-US nuclear deal that is designed to end global nuclear sanctions against India. While Pakistan has crudely spent a lot of money in Washington to undermine the India-US nuclear deal, the Chinese effort on this score has been low key and sophisticated. In maritime terms, there are disturbing signs to indicate that China is seeking naval and monitoring facilities across the Indian Ocean from Myanmar to Pakistan, in a bid to challenge India’s maritime security interests. General Musharraf has indicated that in moments of crisis he would not hesitate to provide base facilities to the Chinese navy in the Gwadar Port, now being built with Chinese assistance. A Chinese naval presence in Gwadar can seriously challenge the security of oil supplies from the Persian Gulf to India. On the border issue, China has laid claim to the monastery town of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh — a demand India cannot possibly accede to. It is evident that while India and China have inked a high sounding agreement to establish a “Strategic and Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Prosperity” during the visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to India in 2005, it would be ludicrous to speak of our relationship with China as being a “strategic partnership” given China’s attempts at “strategic containment” of India through its relationship with Pakistan and its sustained efforts to undermine India’s quest for a larger role within South Asia and beyond. While China professes concern about India’s growing relationship with the US it has not hesitated in the past to join the US to condemn us after our nuclear tests in 1998, or undermine our quest for permanent membership of the Security Council. India has to learn to engage and expand cooperation with China without any illusions about the Middle Kingdom’s larger strategic
thinking.
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A brush with the police THE late 1980s were the times when militancy in Punjab was at its peak. The diktat of the militants was like the final word and the Punjab Police, pushed to a corner, was facing criticism besides the “boys” – that was the name for militants. I had just passed my matriculation. My parents put me to learn some vocational skill. I started off as an apprentice at a huge TV sales centre at Ludhiana. The industrial hub of Ludhiana was almost 60 km away from my then home at Dhuri. Thus started a vicious cycle of leaving for Ludhiana on board a passenger train in the morning and scurrying back home before nightfall when roads fell silent. After two years of learning the trade, I decided to do some practical work by marketing and also repairing television sets around November, 1990. This meant I had to go home on board the evening train and not the usual one in the afternoon. On the fateful day, I missed the last train to Dhuri at 6 pm. With no other option I boarded a tempo up to Malerkotla. I hoped to get some transport till Dhuri from there. That was, however, not to be. I wasted another two hours waving at passing vehicles to stop. Those were the times of an uneasy rift between the Hindus and Sikhs. I am bearded and wear a turban. No one stopped. It was about 9: 30 pm when I took a decision to walk the 18-km distance to Dhuri. Just a couple of kilometres into my courageous walk, I saw a Maruti Gypsy coming my way. I tried to stop it, but as the others, it too passed. However, the gypsy rolled back after a few minutes. A police official and three constables were its occupants. Two of them hauled me into the jeep. After a few tense moments, one of the cops sternly asked,
"kithon aaya hain, te kithe challan ain. Koi kara tan nahin karan wala?’’ (From where have you come and where do you want to go? Hope you don’t intend to do something”? In a trembling voice I told the cops about my job at Ludhiana and narrated my ordeal. The officer then roared,
"Talaashi lao aidi.’’ (Check him). They found a register, some TV related literature, implements and my lunch box. For 15 minutes there was dead silence. It was broken when the officer said: “Take him to Ladda Koth.” The hair on my neck rose as Ladda Kothi ( near Sangrur) was then the detention centre created by the police where hardcore terrorists were grilled – or rather made to speak up. Though I did not have physique to compete with a militant and neither had those fiery looks, but I was sure of being beaten up or worse get a bullet in my head. The speed of the vehicle increased when it reached Dhuri. I silently bid adieu to my parents and siblings. A couple of kms outside of Dhuri the Gypsy came to a sudden halt and the officer said: “ I am leaving you. If you had missed the train you should have stayed back at Ludhiana” and added:
“Aaj kaal time theek nahin” (the times were not okay). Sixteen years later, those times are distance memories, but that foolhardy decision to walk and the Gypsy ride still raises goose
pimples.
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Voting on N-deal President Franklin Roosevelt, as soon as he took over as President at the darkest hour of US history – the Great Depression – spoke to his countrymen in his inaugural address and told them “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Those wise words need to be recalled at this stage in the light of the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee approving and marking up the bill on Indo-US nuclear cooperation with an impressive 37 to 5 vote majority. Instead of being gratified at this development, a section of our elite are afraid of various contingencies in which the US will apply pressure on India using this enactment. Particular attention is drawn to the section in the bill on US policy, which expects Indian foreign policy to be congruent with US policy, India to cooperate in containing Iranian nuclear ambitions and if necessary on sanctioning that country. The language used is as though the US Congress is in a position to legislate for the entire world. It is the language of a hegemonic power. The United States used similar language in respect to China and made worse demands such as cultural autonomy of Tibet, prison labour reforms, fairness of Chinese wages, etc. while extending the most favoured nation treatment to that country. The Chinese kept their cool, bent on securing the trade with the US and foreign direct investments. Some 12 years later China has a 200 billion dollar trade surplus in their favour. They have invested more than 250 billion dollars in US bonds and bank deposits. As Henry Kissinger once remarked, the Chinese are extremely pragmatic people. What is at stake is not just the US exempting India from the NPT. The rest of the world has left the initiative to the US to liberate India from high technology apartheid imposed on this country during the height of the cold war. Barring some four or five nations, all other nations of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) have already indicated their concurrence to the US to accommodate India on the NSG guidelines. Apart from the NSG, India came under technology denial by being excluded from the Waassenar arrangement, the Australia Group and MTCR as this country was considered an ally of the Soviet Union. Therefore the present invitation to India to join all these groups is the result of the recognition that the Cold War is over and there is no justification in keeping India out of these arrangements. Without breaking out of this apartheid, India would have problems in access to other high technologies, including nanotechnology. What is happening through US Congressional action is a global opening up to India and not only an enhancement of the Indo-US relationship. Unfortunately in some Indian minds, there is still a lingering obsession about the Cold War days when the major powers were adversaries. Today they are often partners, sometimes competitors and rivals, but certainly not adversaries. Those who are fearful of the US are equally fearful of China and Iran. They do not understand that our joining ranks with the US, Russia and European Union has mostly improved our bargaining capability with China and helped us in improving our relationship with Japan. The essence of balance of power is to use the improving relationship with one power to leverage better bargains with others. This has already happened. In spite of our relationship with the Soviet Union as to the sole supplier of weapons during the Cold War, we did not dare to have joint exercises with them. Today after our exercises with the US, we shall be having similar exercises with other major powers, including China. Our political parties are, with an exception or two, not interested in external politics. They treat our domestic political scene as an anarchic one in which they exercise all their talents for realpolitik. Our academia is still by and large stuck on Cold War and nonalignment and unable to come to terms with globalisation and the new world where knowledge is the currency of power. That is why our political class could not comprehend the silent but extremely effective role played by our business community, the NRIs in the US and the Indo-US Business
Council. While they were wringing their hands and predicting the failure of the passage of the Nuclear cooperation bill at the Committee stage the latter effectively lobbied the legislators. There is a disconnect between the world outside changing fast and the leaderships of our political parties, who, with a few exceptions, are mired in the politics of a bygone era. In the Indian psyche, the fear of the outsider and the new has always played a role, to our disadvantage. One can recall the days when the Green Revolution was opposed on the grounds it would inevitably lead to a red revolution. There was opposition to nuclear energy and computerisation. While economic reforms were introduced, there were assertions that it would lead to greater unemployment, that import liberalisation would result in our industrialists being handicapped by being denied level playing fields and foreign participation would reintroduce the East India Company. Now those very people and others of that mindset are arguing that India’s liberation from technology denial will lead to India becoming a subaltern ally to the US. Such prophecies should not be given any more weight than the earlier ones cited above. The globalising and fast changing world, relentlessly moving towards a knowledge-based society, is not going to leave India alone just because our dinosaur-like politicians and bureaucracy prefer to bury their heads in the sands of time. If India does not rise to the challenge of incorporating itself in the world of new technologies, our knowledge potential will be exploited to the advantage of others. Our talents will leave this country. The US, Russia and the European Union are not doing this out of charity but in their own interests. Do we understand our interests?
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A glimmer of hope in Dehradun jail IT appears that the high walls of Dehradun jail have imprisoned not just Bala but also all her hopes and aspirations. Her husband died at a young age. Bala was illiterate. When she was asked to put her thumb impressions on a few papers, she obliged willingly. It was much later when she learnt that she had unwittingly helped to prepare the ground for her own imprisonment. “When this realisation dawned on me I kept saying to myself — if only I knew how to read those papers I could not have been duped so badly.” Bala was now eager to acquire literacy and when she learnt that a literacy programme was being launched in the jail, she became one of the most enthusiastic learners. “This has come like a ray of new hope”, she says. A large part of the credit for bringing this hope to Bala and 100 other inmates of Dehradun jail goes to its reformist jailor Mr B.P. Pandey and the State Resource Centre Uttaranchal (officially responsible for literacy work in this state). Ever since he assumed charge of this jail of some historical importance (Jawaharlal Nehru was imprisoned here several times during the freedom movement and the cell where he was kept is carefully preserved here), Pandey encouraged educated jail inmates to teach those who had been deprived of literacy in their life. He also encouraged imparting vocational skills as diverse as sculpture house, wiring and computer-literacy to encourage creativity and increase post-jail employment possibilities for jail inmates. These sporadic efforts get a big boost recently when an organised effort was launched by the State Resource Centre and the jail administration for imparting literacy to all illiterate inmates of this jail. To cover all 100 illiterates 11 volunteers were selected from among the jail inmates. The volunteers also get a modest honorarium. A library has been set up in the jail premises for the neo-literates. Sandeep Sharma, a volunteer, has a B.Sc. degree as well as a M.A. degree. “This literacy work has given us an opportunity to atone for our mistakes in the past”, he says philosophically. “Keeping in view these feelings, legal literacy is being added to this literacy programme”, says Anju Joshi Deputy Director of State Resource Centre. Champak Chatterjee, Secretary, Dept. of Education, Govt. of India, said that many great works of literature are based on prison — experiences. In this context it is encouraging that some neo-literate prisoners are already trying to pen down their experiences. Vandana Jena, Director General, National Literacy Mission, praised the programme as a model programme and promised to send more books from Delhi for its library. What is particularly heartening is that the Uttaranchal Education Minister Mr Narendra Singh Bhandari has given a call to extend such a literacy programme to other district jails. If this call is heeded, then such efforts may well spread to other jails, at least in Uttaranchal. Several other jails in India such as Amritsar and Bilaspur jails have seen commendable reform work in recent times. In Bilaspur jail (Chhattisgarh) an effort has been made to bring out small children residing with their mothers (women prisoners) in jail every day so that they can spend a few hours outside the jail walls in various learning and play activities. Such efforts need to be replicated on a larger
scale.
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Siachen talks AN agreement for mutual withdrawal of troops from the Siachen area could not be reached due to Pakistan’s intransigence in authenticating the positions physically held by Indian troops. As and when an agreement is reached, however, we must be extremely careful while drafting the accord, to avoid the pit falls of previous agreements with Pakistan. It is a sad fact that the gains made by the troops were squandered away at the negotiating table by our negotiators. The agreements signed after the Kashmir War 1947 – 48, the Indo-Pak War of 1965, the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 and the Kargil War of 1999 are testimony to it. Another facet that needs attention is that Pakistan is ‘Punjab Centric’ with regard to Pakistani Punjab. In fact, during the on-going ‘People to People’ contacts, during one of their visits to Chandigarh, one Pak delegate even went to the extent of remarking that. “Punjab is Pakistan”. With about 60 per cent of Pakistani population being in (their) Punjab, and the almost near total domination by the Punjabis in politico/bureaucratic/military/business spheres, that claim is not far fetched. The corollary is that what hurts Punjab hurts Pakistan as a whole. The Siachen Agreement must include provisions to the effect that in case of a violation, all previous treaties and accords including the ‘Indus Waters Treaty’ and the instrument under which British India was partitioned would automatically lapse and be ‘Null and Void’. It must be made absolutely clear to Pakistan, in writing. Pakistan must not be left in any doubt that in the event of any infringement of the said agreement, India would reserve the right to take any punitive action, including dismemberment of Pakistan, by supporting the ongoing freedom struggles in Balochistan, Wazirstan, Batilstan and Gilgit. Any agreement is as good as the ability of the contracting parties’ to enforce it. Hence we must create ‘Credible Capability’ to penalize Pak for any violation. This capability must be over and above our military strength, which is subject to nuclear black mail as was evident during the Indo –Pak stand off of 2001-02.Though some space does exist for conventional military action before the nuclear threshold is reached, yet major military action, may be ruled out. What will hurt Pakistani Punjab short of major military action? It is water. West Punjab is dependent on Rivers Chenab, Jhehlum and Indus for all its water requirements, be they for irrigation, drinking, industrial or any other use. A major tributary of Chenab called Chander Bhaga, flows through HP close to the Rohtang Pass and is the source of River Beas. If we construct a tunnel under the Rohtang Pass, then Chander Bhaga can be drained in to River Beas thus greatly reducing the quantity of water in Chenab. It may be possible to redesign the projected Rohtang Tunnel to make it a ‘Road cum Canal’ tunnel to fulfill the stated objective. With some dredging of Chander Bhaga and by deepening the suggested Tunnel-Canal sufficiently, it is possible to divert the other channel of Chenab that emanates from Banihal as well. We need not divert a single drop of water but create a ‘Capability’ to ‘Open the Gates’ if Pakistan misbehaves. As regarding Rivers Jhehlum and Indus, it is not possible to divert them, but it is possible to block them with artificially triggered landslides, thus choking supply in lean season and causing massive floods during the monsoons to hurt West Punjab. These suggestions may look bizarre, far-fetched and undiplomatic, but one must remember that we are facing a Pakistani strategy to “bleed India with a thousands cuts.”
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From the pages of Master Tara Singh’s fast Mr K.G. Jodh, who has completely identified himself with the Akali demand for the Punjabi Suba, announced that an all-Punjabi Hindu-Sikh Convention would be held in Delhi on August 1 to consider the situation arising from Master Tara Singh’s decision to go on fast and to devise ways and means to resolve the tangle. Who will be the invitees to this convention? Perhaps the policy of pick and choose will be followed and those who really count will be excluded. A convention of this kind will not serve any purpose. Mr Jodh has no representative character and the Hindus and non-Akali Sikhs have absolutely no faith in him. That is because he himself is not open to conviction and his intervention will further complicate the situation, particularly because he will insist on the convention endorsing the Punjabi Suba demand.
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There are many who do not believe either in the goal or in the path. Their lives are marked by self-indulgence and voluptuousness. Both lead ultimately to dissipation. The human life which is most precious goes to ruin. — The Bhagvad Gita Truth alone will endure; all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time. — Mahatma Gandhi
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