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Killer cops Jawans’ due |
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Message from Palestine
Peace process at risk
Standard of courtesy
Federation for Lanka US must not give nukes
to India Delhi
Durbar
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Killer cops Despite widespread condemnation and even stinging court injunctions, the menace of custodial deaths holds forth regardless. If such a sad story does not emanate from place A, it certainly does from place B, with an eerie regularity. The latest horror tale comes from Ferozepore, where a 20-year-old Dalit youth was allegedly done to death in a police station on Wednesday. The police on its part says that the youth hung himself in the toilet using his shirt. While the very idea of someone committing suicide by using his shirt as a rope stretches credulity — even if it is true — the police has to admit that the youth accused of theft would have taken the extreme step only because of the extreme torture that he underwent at its hands. This is the kind of treatment they reserve for most poor and downtrodden people brought to police stations. His being a Dalit perhaps made matters worse for him. Amritsar policemen are also in the dock for a similar act of inhumanity. They have been accused of thrashing a Dalit woman in labour, killing the baby. As it generally happens, they are totally denying the story, accusing the NGO taking up the cause of the victim to gain publicity. But because of many past deeds of barbarity, the credibility of the police is low and nobody is buying their story, leading to agitations. In place of protecting the guilty, the higher-ups should conduct a thorough investigation and ensure that the accused get punished suitably. Policemen persist with their violent ways only because they are able to hoodwink the law thanks to their clout. Only if the message goes out to them loud and clear that their recourse to third-degree violence will not be tolerated, will the police stations stop being dreaded venues of death and torture. Will Captain Amarinder Singh tell his police to start respecting human life and dignity? |
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Jawans’ due The one-rank, one-pension demand has been one of the most long-standing on the soldier community’s wish list. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s announcement that the demand had been “substantially” met and the pension of those up to the rank of Havildar will be raised by Rs 400 to Rs 500 is thus most welcome, and will provide relief to many a retired jawan. The spotlight on the benefits that the Service community receives has sometimes missed the simple fact that many retired soldiers of non-commissioned ranks receive ludicrously low amounts as pension. It is this anomaly that is sought to be corrected. An estimated 60,000 people retire from the armed forces every year, of which 80 per cent are non-commissioned ranks of sepoys, naiks and havildars. After years of back-breaking toil, not to mention the rigours of life in hostile terrain, these men must be given their due. Retired soldiers need support at other levels as well. Service life means frequent dislocation and being away from family for extended periods of time, and often this takes its toll on children’s education. The initiative to launch a new “ Prime Minister’s Scholarship” scheme for children of retired personnel, paying Rs 1500 for girls and Rs 1200 for boys, is thus laudable. Productive reemployment is a key issue, and both the Centre and state governments can do a lot more to facilitate this. Variation in pension between those retiring at different periods affects officers as well. The Defence Minister has indicated that the proposed increase in pension upto Havildar rank will cost the government about Rs 460 crore a year. A complete implementation of the one-rank, one- pension norm will indeed impose a major burden on the exchequer. But some way of rationalisation of benefits can certainly be found, to ensure that no injustice is done to anyone. With some effort, an acceptable parity package can be arrived at. Our soldiers deserve it. |
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Message from Palestine An important development concerning the Israelis and the Palestinians has failed to get the attention it deserves because of the latest Israeli action in the Gaza Strip. The dreaded Palestinian extremist outfit, the Hamas, has accepted, though indirectly, Israel’s right to exist along with a Palestinian homeland. This is the result of concerted efforts by moderate Palestinian Authority President, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, who has been working hard for the purpose. It is a different matter that his primary objective has been how to ensure that the funds supply to the Palestinians from international sources, discontinued after the formation of a Hamas government, gets resumed. Though Israel described the change in the Hamas stand as meaningless because the ruling outfit did not renounce violence to achieve its objectives, the development could have led to resumption of the stalled peace process involving the Israelis and the Palestinians. The atmosphere has been spoiled by the entry of Israeli troops into the Palestinian Authority areas on the pretext of getting the release of a kidnapped soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit. President Abbas, whose Fateh group had been engaged in a power struggle with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s Hamas, finds himself in a far more difficult situation today. His efforts may go waste if the Hamas leadership wriggles out of the agreement it signed over a controversial manifesto prepared by some jailed Palestinian leaders, leading to the tacit acceptance of the theory of Israel and Palestine co-existing in the interest of peace. It is surprising why Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ignored the US advice to use diplomacy to seek the release of Corporal Shalit, kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in a cross-border raid recently. His life remains in danger despite the avoidable Israeli action. There were better chances of his getting freed by putting diplomatic pressure on the Hamas government, which could not afford to take international appeals lightly. Now there is the danger of a large-scale armed clash between the two sides, which will be most unfortunate and must be avoided. |
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Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead. — Aldous Huxley
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Peace process at risk
NO one, except those with eyes widely shut, can fail to be alarmed at the sudden and sustained spurt in the acts of terror in Jammu and Kashmir. Not a day passes when the merchants of hate and death do not lob grenades at the security forces or try to ambush them. Despicably, they also go for soft targets and shoot in cold blood defenceless innocent civilians. In places like Doda in the Jammu region, they selectively kill Hindus with the diabolical, but mercifully unsuccessful, design to provoke Hindu-Muslim riots. Infiltration of foreign terrorists into the valley, from across the Line of Control (LoC), has shot up. This is the backdrop to the recent happenings, especially since May 22 when there was an attack on a Youth Congress rally that was observing Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary, killing seven persons. The purpose behind the unending chain of monstrous acts, masterminded by Pakistan’s notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is underscored also by the attacks on tourists, Bihari and Nepali labourers trying to eke out a living in Kashmir, and pilgrims to Amarnath. Under these circumstances, the India-Pakistan peace process — now in its third year — is bound to become an arid exercise, notwithstanding Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf’s bland and repeated declarations about
“demilitarisation”, “self-rule” and “joint management” constituting the “final solution” of the Kashmir issue. To be sure, both the peace process and the cease-fire need to be preserved. But, as Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has candidly told Islamabad, even the talk of “demilitarisation” is untenable until cross-border terrorism ceases and the “infrastructure of terrorism” in Pakistan as well as Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) is dismantled. However, that is precisely where the rub lies. As any apologist of General Musharraf, Pakistani or Indian, would tell you, he is surely committed to ending cross-border terrorism “fully and demonstrably”, but is unable to translate his words into deeds because of his “compulsions”. These, interestingly, include his “need” to “placate” jehadi elements even while being opposed to terrorism. He needs their support, the argument runs, if only to seek a second term from the existing national and provincial assemblies with the right to wear his uniform that he has described as his “second skin”. Those beholden to him also assert that General Musharraf is “hemmed in” by the resentment against the Pakistani military action in
Waziristan, and there is a point beyond which he cannot annoy the jehadis. And they add that the infrastructure of terrorism cannot be dismantled because this would deprive Pakistan of the “only leverage” it has in case the efforts to find a Kashmir settlement, “unproductive so far”, finally collapse. Indian hopes of the US “persuading” General Musharraf to make good his promise to end cross-border terrorism were exaggerated even at the best of times. For, Washington then needed Pakistani cooperation in Afghanistan and did not want to “pressurise” Islamabad beyond a point over terrorism in Kashmir. Now the situation has taken a bizarre turn. America’s own displeasure over Pakistan’s brazen assistance to the Taliban in their revival in Afghanistan is manifest. And yet Washington goes on hailing the Pakistani military ruler as a “key ally” in the “war on terrorism”! India will have to fight its battles against terrorism on its own, as it has done so far. More than a decade and a half of relentless terrorism in Kashmir has got Pakistan nowhere, and this situation would remain unchanged no matter how far it prolongs the senseless violence that has caused so much pain and sorrow to the very people whose cause Pakistan professes to serve. Moreover, and more importantly, it is India’s pride that it has fought terrorism as humanely as possible, notwithstanding frequent complaints of excesses and suppression of human rights. Artillery and helicopter gunships have never been used in Jammu and Kashmir though Pakistan is employing them routinely in
Balochistan. The Indian media and NGOs are vigilant and vocal enough whenever deviations from the norms take place or are suspected. Even so, there is considerable scope for improvement in the security forces’ performance, as is indicated by some rather unfortunate episodes that have taken place during the period under discussion, amidst the mounting terrorist activity, partly aimed at triggering just this kind of incidents. For instance, the Navy divers, assigned to the Wullar Lake, took schoolchildren for a joyride on their boats so clumsily that 22 children were drowned. Angry protests inevitably followed. It is possible, indeed probable, that those anxious to exploit every opportunity to defame the security forces got into the act. But the ire of the bereaved parents and others was understandable and should have been handled sympathetically. Instead, two civilians were killed the next day when the Army thought it necessary to fire at villagers protesting against the watery tragedy. There is, of course, some complexity in most such situations, as is exemplified by the incident in a village near Kupwara where the Army fired yet again on a crowd protesting the alleged desecration by it of a mosque. The Army insists that the desecration never took place. But there is no mistaking the strong feelings in the region. Even more troublesome and confusing is the issue of innocent civilians getting killed in the crossfire between the terrorists and the security forces. Kashmir must be the only place where, on such occasions, it is taken for granted that the poor civilians fall victim only to the bullets of the Army and the para-military forces, never to those of the trigger-happy marauders. However, having said this, one must take note of the sorrowful events at Pattan. In this small town, a boy of 17 and of a woman, reportedly his mother, got killed while the security forces were retaliating against the terrorists that had attacked them. For days the town remained tense because of the chain of violent protests and further deaths in firing on such protest marches, usually ending up in attacks on local police stations. Add to all this the statewide fury — at least partly intensified by motivated elements, including terrorist groups, for their own ends — against the unspeakable sex abuse scandal in Srinagar that was sought to be suppressed because it involved the high and mighty, with a lot of money and muscle at their disposal, and the acute problem facing the country becomes clear. Meting out exemplary punishment to the monsters that have sexually abused minor and helpless girls might help clear the
air.
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Standard of courtesy
It was early 1965 and I was a young Second Lieutenant (2/Lt) when I had a very pleasant encounter with the pillar of civil administration, the Deputy Commissioner (DC). One fine afternoon as I was strolling near the Distt Courts, Sangrur (Punjab), I was met by the members of our village panchayat. They asked me to go with them to DC to resolve a “big problem” of theirs. They explained that there was a new government scheme, wherein, if the villagers provided free labour, the government would construct a black top link road to a village on the existing cart track. They said that they had completed all the formalities and had levelled the entire stretch of the road from the main highway and it was ready for construction as a black top road but the government was not starting the work because Chhajla village (Distt Sangrur) from where it was to take off was creating problems. That village was acting out of sheer inter-village rivalry as also the road did not benefit them as it was leading away from it and they were already on the other side of the main highway. My villagers Panchayat wanted me to meets the DC and have the issue resolved. For further effect, one of them told me: “You are equally ‘Burrha Sahib’ (big officer), how can DC say no to you.” Before I could say anything I was almost physically dragged to the DC’s office by the elders, some thrice my age (then under 22). Those days government offices used to have curtains called “Chikk”, made out of slashed bamboo sticks through which one could easily see the ongoing proceedings inside. It was customary in those good old days for the Army officers to be impeccably dressed in public, preferably in lounge suit or at least a combination suit and my being thus attired earned the deference of the large number of people waiting to meet the DC. As I was writing my name on a piece of paper in my miserable handwriting, one of the panchayat members loudly said “Leftinent Sahib Bahadur” for the benefit of the peon so that the latter did not cause any delay to which they were amply used to in all government offices. We could see the DC sitting on a dais with a wooden enclosure and perhaps conducting “court”. The moment he saw the chit he dismissed the ongoing proceedings and the peon ushered us in. As I introduced myself, the DC invited me to sit in the chair next to him on his right on that dais and asked what he could do for me. I told him in English that the case pertained to the construction of a road and that I did not know much about that and he should ask the panchayat and that if there was any merit in case resolve it and otherwise tell the villagers accordingly. He asked the villagers to state the case, which they did, all speaking at the same time. After hearing them, the DC wrote something on a piece of paper, gave to the one who spoke the most and told him that to should be given to Tehsildar Sunam for mutation of the affected portion of the track. When someone said that the chit should have his office seal (villagers know that nothing moves in a government office without a “Mohur” (office seal/stamp) the DC said: “The tehsildar recognises my handwriting: I thanked him, took his leave saying, “Nice having met you”. The DC was Mr Tejinder Khanna, who later rose to be the Lt Governor of Delhi. The very next day the “mutation” was done and I became an instant hero in the entire area and remained so long I had any link with my village. Will today’s DCs please extend half as much courtesy to a
Lieutenant?
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Federation for Lanka
I do not accept all of what the LTTE spokesman, Dr Anton Balasingam, has said in his interview to an Indian television network. But he is speaking the truth when he says that New Delhi helped the LTTE by giving it arms, training and shelter. In fact, India is responsible for the birth and the nurturing of the Tamil Tigers. This was the centre piece of our foreign policy structure on Sri Lanka. Our foreign office mandarins thought that they were helping the Sri Lankan Tamils by doing so. At one time, even the DMK was sympathetic to what the LTTE was doing. The Jain Commission which probed Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination found the needle of suspicion directed towards the DMK. The Congress withdrew support from the I.K. Gujral government when it did not drop the DMK from among the coalition partners. True, the Congress had its own compulsions for ousting the Gujral government but the suspicions about the DMK came in handy, although by that time K Karunanidhi had realised that the LTTE was the wrong horse to back. He had openly denounced the LTTE for exploiting the Tamil sentiment. That Karunanidhi was firmly against the LTTE came to my personal knowledge when I was India’s High Commissioner at London in 1990. I was approached by a British think tank to seek Karunanidhi’s help to solve the Sri Lanka problem. I found him hostile to the LTTE. He felt as if the organisation had betrayed him. I never came to know the reason. But Karunanidhi did not suspect that the LTTE, after building its base, would become dictatorial and ruthless in its governance of the north under it. What surprises me is Dr Balasingam’s admission of sorts that the LTTE was responsible for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Dr Balasingam’s apology is too abject and too persistent to be taken without a pinch of salt. I agree with K Karthikeyan that Dr Balasingam’s observation amounted to a confession. Karthikeyan, then CBI director general, has been vindicated and India should be grateful for the tremendous work he put in to reach the truth and get the punishment for the LTTE men endorsed by the Supreme Court. I can appreciate New Delhi’s viewpoint that the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi is not something India should forget or forgive. But if the peace process, already on, can culminate in a settlement, there is no reason to stall it. However, there is no evidence yet that the LTTE has changed. Still New Delhi has to go forward if the situation so develops. Rajiv Gandhi would himself have wanted us to do so. The first and foremost thing is the cessation of hostilities. The manner in which the LTTE has begun hitting at the top brass in the Sri Lankan army does not indicate any change of tactics. It is the LTTE’s policy of violence or, more aptly terrorism, which has forced not only India but also many other countries to ban the LTTE. The problem which requires an answer is whether the LTTE would surrender arms when it reaches an agreement with Colombo. In any settlement, I do not see the Sinhalese, nearly two-thirds in Sri Lanka, agreeing to the LTTE keeping its military intact. Even otherwise, Sri Lanka is one country; there cannot be two authorities for the armed forces. A separate police force is different as they can function in a federal structure just as they function under a state in India. Dr Balasingam’s willingness to accept a federal structure may well form the basis for further negotiations between the two sides. India may be willing to give a helping hand if federation is what is envisaged. New Delhi has tried for such a proposition in the past. All relevant papers can be retrieved by our foreign office, including the one known as Annexure C, which spelt out a federal structure. The opposition to federation is from the Sinhalese because most of them have come to see in it the beginning of secession. Their basis for suspicion is the perfidy of the LTTE, using one agreement after another for building its own strength. Colombo will have to be persuaded — it means New Delhi’s assurance — that there is no alternative to federation. But India will have to be doubly sure that the LTTE does not use a federal structure for furthering the concept of Eelam. In a federation, the LTTE will enjoy provincial autonomy. The unity of Sri Lanka will not be disturbed in any way. When I was at Colombo a couple of months ago, I found a lot of Sinhalese supporting the case of federation provided the LTTE gives up its demand for independence and accepts Sri Lanka as its country in letter and spirit. I was recently in the US and the UK where I met many Tamils from Sri Lanka. They are leading doctors, engineers or academicians. They wished Sri Lanka to stay united and as one country. One of them wrote a letter to me to say: “The solution as we discussed should have the Tamils security at the centre of other features. The kinds of events that took place and are taking place confirm that there is no hope of ever leaving the security of Tamils in anyone else’s hand. As you rightly questioned, why cannot we put the blame where it rightly belongs?” The fears expressed have a familiar ring. This is what the Kashmiris arguing for an independent state say. Both Kashmir and the LTTE areas have the same solution: Article 370 of the Indian constitution, a special status – Foreign Affairs, Defence and Communications vesting with the Centre and the rest staying with the state or the unit. The Sinhalese can probably be brought round to accepting a special status for the Tamil areas provided the LTTE gives up arms and agrees to the new dispensation whole heartedly. India should put pressure on the LTTE to do so. Dr Balasingam’s interview provides an opening. |
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US must not give nukes
to India The Indians have developed the Prithvi short-range missile, which has been developed to fall on a target with more precision and accuracy than its predecessors. It has a range of 150 kms or a little more and is armed with a nuclear warhead. These precision missiles have been placed all over the Panjab, from where all cities of Pakistan within 10 kms radius are within the nuclear destruction power of India. The Shiromani Akali Dal (A) is very worried and concerned about these missiles in Panjab because all the major cities of Panjab, which is the homeland of the Sikhs, will come within the firing range of Pakistan when it retaliates against an Indian attack of these nuclear missiles. If we become the object of a nuclear attack, we as a race and a religion will be totally wiped out from the face of this earth. As India has become a country dominated by the Hindus and Pakistan is overwhelmingly Muslim, and both have deadly weapons of nuclear destruction, we Sikhs are very apprehensive of a nuclear holocaust in our region. If the Americans, their President Bush supported by Prime Minister Blair of UK, give nuclear technology to India, which has not signed the NPT or any other humanitarian treaty of the United Nations, we the Sikhs feel that we, who are geographically wedged between nuclear powered Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan, will suffer the greatest damage if these two historically inimical civilisations let loose their nuclear weaponry. If the Americans are bent upon giving India nuclear technology and freeing the NSG from its restraint in supplying nuclear necessities to India, then whatever nuclear reactors India has on its territory, whether civilian or military, should be placed under UN control. The territory in which all nuclear reactors produce energy must become sovereign territory of United Nations. Some defence analysts are of the opinion that if India is given nuclear technology and made a deadly nuclear power, it will counterbalance the nuclear might of China. Our party does not think this way as we see that on India’s borders with China the inhabitants of these territories are invariably the minorities — Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and non-Hindu tribals, who are all struggling for the right to self-determination and want to free themselves of Hindu rule from Delhi. They are unlikely to support Indian military forces in the event of war. Just like the American forces with their superior military force got bogged down in Vietnam and now face a similar situation in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Indian military machine with American help could become a nuclear force to contend with against the Chinese forces. But with the hostile minority population on its borders with China, the Indian armed forces would never be able to hold on to captured Chinese territory, or for that matter operate north of the Jamuna, Ganga and Brahmputra rivers. Ethically, morally and militarily it would be wrong for America to further arm India with weapons of mass destruction as it will win the hostility of India’s minorities and be unable to check China military. The Communist parties of India who support the Congress party government in the Union and have a very strong base in the north-east, pockets of influence in the Panjab, Kashmir and Uttaranchal will be equally opposed to such a policy. |
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Delhi
Durbar Of late Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi has become “consultant CM” for other BJP chief ministers. If sources in the BJP are to be believed, saffron party CMs are in regular touch with Modi to seek tips on administrative and economic reforms initiated in Gujarat so that they can be emulated in their own states. The junior most among the BJP Chief Ministers – Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan – is understood to be in touch with Modi more than the others. He is also understood to be seeking Modi’s help in tackling the controversial rehabilitation issue linked to the Narmada Dam. Key interlocutor Minister of State without portfolio Oscar Fernandes is being seen by Congressmen as the key link between the party and the government. The Minister, who keeps a low profile, was the government’s trouble-shooter during the recent anti-quota protests. Congress Chief Ministers and PCC chiefs, especially in the states where party units have to be reconstituted, make it a point to keep him informed of their choices. Those keen on gubernatorial assignments have also been meeting him. The AICC leader, who dabbles in areas as varied as music, art and sports, had a major role to play in the finalisation of the PCCs of Punjab and Haryana which were announced recently. Oscar heads the Congress Central Election Authority and spends time both at the party office and his ministerial office.
Yes and no The UPA government’s move to disinvest 10 per cent stake in NALCO and NLC has run into a controversy with the Left parties opposing it. The stand of the Communists is being supported by coalition allies DMK too. Finance Minister P Chidambaram justified disinvestment in these two profit making PSUs and added the punch line that the Left parties have objections only to disinvestment in navratnas and this has been agreed to in the UPA-Left Coordination Committee meet. The Communists however claim that they have not agreed to any such thing.
Advani isolated Leader of the Opposition and former BJP President L K Advani is getting increasingly isolated in the party as is evident in the emerging equations within the saffron party. New party chief Rajnath Singh is becoming closer to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Realising the next political battle has to be fought in the Hindi heartland and the fortunes of the party in the biggest state of Uttar Pradesh are very low, Singh is depending on not only the RSS but also on the counsel of Vajpayee. Advani’s loyalists are not being taken in confidence because of which many of them are either thinking of deserting the former party president or leaving the saffron brigade for greener pastures.
ONGC stymied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was expected to lay the foundation stone of ONGC’s petrochemicals plant on June 23 at Mangalore in Karnataka, could not land there due to heavy rains. The event had to be cancelled. The mega company’s CMD R S Sharma had to use all his persuasive skills to convince the local BJP leaders, who sat on dharna protesting the deferring of the event. ONGC is believed to have spent several crore on the arrangements. The Congress at the Centre and Janata Dal (S) and BJP coalition in the state are struggling to take credit for this Rs 5000 crore mega-project. ——
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From the pages of Liberation of Goa
The operations for the liberation of Goa, Diu and Daman have begun. The Indian armed forces have crossed into the Portuguese possessions and are advancing according to plan. The Government of India had to take the final and crucial decision because of Portugal’s obduracy and provocative acts. In spite of the great pressure exerted on him from all quarters, Prime Minister Nehru resisted the use of force as far as he possibly could. As he himself stated recently, his soul “reacts against war anywhere,” and therefore he was most reluctantly to order armed operations for the liberation of Goa and other Portuguese pockets. But in the extraordinary circumstances created by the Portuguese rulers Mr Nehru was literally compelled to take the fateful step and ask the armed forces to march into Goa. |
You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are not stars in the heavens during the day? O man, because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not there is not God. One cannot live by giving up all material objects. But certainly one can try to give up attachment and craving for material objects. It is a hard task but others have achieved it. There is no reason why one more person cannot. Who are the ones to be blessed with Nirvana? Neither evil doers nor good doers. The evil doer will go to hell. The righteous one will go to heaven. Those who are free from all worldly desires will attain Nirvana.
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