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Thanks to Thaksin More noise than light |
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More the merrier
Dangerous compromises
What’s your last name?
Stalemate in Bangladesh US policy on Iran evolves toward diplomacy Using TADA, POTA to check terrorism
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Thanks to Thaksin Political instability in Thailand has led to an army coup without the least resistance from anywhere. That the people in general are welcoming the change of government in Bangkok shows the extent of unpopularity of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He was accused of abuse of power and corruption. The army takeover occurred a day before the People’s Alliance for Democracy was to hold a rally in the Thai capital to force Mr Thaksin to resign and allow the holding of fresh elections by a reconstituted election commission. Ultimately, he has been thrown out of power for which the opposition had been fighting for some time. But this is a remedy worse than the disease. No doubt, Mr Thaksin’s continuance as a “caretaker” prime minister was in violation of all canons of law. The April 2 general election, which went in favour of his party, Thai Rak Thai, under controversial circumstances, was nullified by the courts in Thailand. The Supreme Court Chief Justice had asked for holding of fresh elections, but only under the guidance of a new election commission, as he had no confidence in the capacity of the old election commissioners to do their job in a free and fair manner. Mr Thaksin, however, continued to hold on to power and shamelessly planned to secure a fresh mandate of the people on October 22 without bothering about the court ruling. This led to large-scale protests throughout Thailand, causing a grave political crisis in the country. The army chief, Gen Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, has taken advantage of the state of instability and people’s disenchantment with the Thaksin government and seized power while the prime minister was busy attending the UN General Assembly session in New York. The ruling general, who is sympathetic to King Bhumibol Adulyatej, has declared that the martial law is a temporary development and will be replaced by a government of the people’s elected representatives. However, only the naïve thinks that the 16th military coup in Thailand will be as short-lived as the army wants the people to believe it to be. The army is not known for going back to the barracks so easily after capturing political power.
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More noise than light The 12th Punjab Assembly has virtually completed its term. It is all set to be dissolved for fresh elections early next year. An outstanding feature of this Assembly as also of the 11th House has been the near absence of any meaningful debate. It is the familiar story of walkouts, acrimonious exchanges and suspension of unruly members. Laws of far-reaching consequences are passed in a hurry. For instance, seven Bills were introduced and passed on the last day of the session—Tuesday—without any discussion. The members get no time to read the Bills and prepare for debate. Since the Opposition was suspended, its members sat outside to protest over the City Centre scam. The most significant Bill passed by the Amarinder Singh government was to terminate the inter-state waters agreement. With their questionable conduct inside and outside the House, some of the members of both the Opposition and the ruling party have lowered their own image as also of the Assembly. Healthy democratic practices have almost disappeared. Representatives of the people fight their battles through the media or at religious conferences. The use of indecent language is frequent. The media, too, focusses more on protests than on the legislative work done since that requires considerable homework. The only time the members unite is to vote for themselves higher pay and perks. One MLA costs the government Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000 a month. The Assembly meets very infrequently and the number of sittings is very small. Opposition and ruling party members do not use the floor of the House for any healthy debate on matters of public importance. On an average, the Assembly had 14 to 16 sittings and the House had only two sessions a year. The members of the outgoing House need to ponder over their conduct. The public needs to be more watchful. Those who did not raise public issues and problems in the House or behaved in an unbecoming manner should not be re-elected.
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More the merrier The education scene in Haryana today is none too encouraging. There are far too many meritorious students chasing very few seats in institutions of higher learning. The bitter consequence is that at times even those securing 90 per cent marks find it difficult to get admission in courses of their choice. The problem is bound to become more acute with the increase in population. Under the circumstances, the entry of private players in the field is necessary. Haryana has now followed Punjab in seeking to allow private universities in the state. The move will, hopefully, ease the problems of students. Inevitable that the private institutions’ entry is, there is need for regulation to make sure that there is no commercialisation of education, as some fear. That can be ensured only if the government plays its regulatory role firmly and thoroughly. The Haryana government has to learn from the experience of states like Chhattisgarh where the mushrooming of private universities had reduced them to the level of teaching shops being run from buildings which were not fit enough to accommodate even a school. It is the government’s duty to ensure that only those private players enter the field who have a proven track record and social and educational development as goal. It will have to go much beyond enforcing the rule that the sponsoring body will have to have 20 acres outside the municipal limits or 10 acres within the municipal limits. The state is also set to have the first women’s university. All officers of the university, barring those who would be ex-officio like the Chancellor, would be women. Tradition-bound Haryana still has women in purdah in rural areas. It is a state where a large number of girls in the 6-14 age-group have never seen the inside of a school. While a social attempt is on to bring them out of the veil into the mainstream, there is need to respect their values and give them modern education in an environment which is conducive to their social mores. An all-women university can encourage more women to pursue higher education.
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At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely. — W. Somerset Maugham
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Dangerous compromises Speaking to a cheering audience primarily of his supporters from Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on September 12 in Brussels, an impassioned General Musharraf thundered: “Kashmir runs in the blood of every Pakistani”. This was in tune with what he said earlier this year: “Kashmir runs in Pakistan’s veins and in my veins”. He had also proclaimed on February 5: “Our agenda is same as before — the right to self-determination and plebiscite for the Kashmiri people”. In Brussels, in response to questions on whether he had given up on his hackneyed clichés on self-determination because of his new proposals for “self-governance” and “demilitarisation”, General Musharraf vowed: “Freedom and self-determination of people cannot be put aside”. He made it clear that there was no change in his approach to J&K and that his statements on “self-governance” and “demilitarisation” were merely “ideas” he had put forward. What the General said in Brussels (where I was present) on terrorism revealed the true state of his thinking. Responding to a question on whether he would favour a “ceasefire” by militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir, General Musharraf retorted: “I don’t hold a whistle to control them. There are a lot of freelance terrorists operating (in J&K). One can try and influence them. A total ceasefire is impossible. I am against such attempts without moving forward (on Jammu and Kashmir) and then everything will fall in line. They will fall in place once the Kashmir issue is resolved”. Thus, while on the one hand General Musharraf was now claiming that terrorism against India, sponsored on Pakistani controlled soil, was a “free- lance” affair, he was also not too subtly indulging in blackmail by insisting that terrorism would end only when the Kashmir issue was resolved to his satisfaction. More importantly, he was effectively repudiating the solemn assurance he gave to Mr Vajpayee on January 6, 2004, that he would not allow territory under Pakistan’s control to be used for terrorism. Sadly, one cannot help getting the impression that there are some in India, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself, who are just too eager to let General Musharraf off the hook, by agreeing that he has no control over the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan and PoK. This is going to have serious and indeed dangerous consequences for our efforts to focus international attention on Pakistan sponsored-terrorism. Over the past two years, the Manmohan Singh government has appeared both inactive and hesitant in exposing the involvement of Pakistan-based groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba in terrorism not just in India, but also in Afghanistan and countries of the western world, like the US, the UK and Australia. But the decision in Havana to set up an “anti-terrorism institutional mechanism“ to “identify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives and investigations” defies all logic and comprehension. If Pakistan is to join us in investigating terrorist acts on our soil, it will demand a role in the investigation of such acts. Are we proposing to let Pakistan have access to our information and investigative techniques and capabilities? Agreeing to such a “mechanism” would be akin to setting up a Joint Investigative Team of Dawood Ebrahim and the CBI to investigate the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, or setting up yet another “task force” of Maulana Masood Azhar of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the CBI to investigate the IC 814 hijacking, or the December 13, 2001, attack on our Parliament. Have we forgotten that despite substantial evidence provided by us, Dawood Ebrahim continues to enjoy General Musharraf’s protection and terrorists from the Babbar Khalsa linked to the assassination of Chief Minister Beant Singh still roam around Dera Sahib Gurdwara in Lahore. Dr Manmohan Singh seems to have fallen into the trap of buying the assertion by General Musharraf and his apologists that Pakistan, like India, is a victim of terrorism. In this he is not alone. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, for their own reasons, routinely refer to the terrorist threat that General Musharraf himself faces. But one should never lose sight of the fact that the terrorist threat to General Musharraf is limited to fringe elements of groups like the Jaish-e- Mohammed, who turned against General Musharraf for his earlier support to the Americans against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. This threat has receded after General Musharraf’s deal with pro-Taliban elements in Waziristan and the free hand that the Taliban now has to attack NATO and Karzai government forces in Afghanistan. Thus, the so-called terrorist threat that General Musharraf faces is from extremist Islamist and sectarian groups that have received ISI support. The threat, however, that India faces is from groups backed by the ISI, with the full knowledge and approval of General Musharraf. This distinction is now blurred, by the ill-advised proposal for a joint “mechanism” of issues of terrorism. As a result, following any future terrorist attack on Indian soil, we will be advised by the international community and Pakistan to sort out matters through this so-called joint mechanism. We have thus undermined our position of independently exposing Pakistani involvement in terrorism. In Brussels, General Musharraf described the Kargil conflict as a “skirmish”, showed his clenched fist and proclaimed that he knew the topography of the Kargil like the palm of his hand. He also said that when India deployed troops on his borders after the attack on its Parliament he took counter-measures and forced India to withdraw. He made it clear that he would not stop cross-border terrorism. Despite this, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed his Foreign Secretary to find an early solution to the Siachen issue. Given the propensity for double-speak by General Musharraf, what is to prevent him from taking over the heights in the Saltoro Range after we withdraw and thereafter claiming, as he had done during the Kargil conflict, that all this was the doing of the “mujahideen” or “freelance terrorists,” over whom he had no control? Further, what is India to get in return for such a withdrawal? Will we not lose an important tool for bargaining in any future Kashmir negotiations by such withdrawal? An important question now being frequently asked is whether Indian security policies today are being made in New Delhi or Washington, which has been pressing for an early Siachen “settlement”. Within six months of the unprepared visit of General Musharraf to Agra, India and Pakistan nearly went to war following the attack on the Indian Parliament by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists from Pakistan. One hopes that this will be borne in mind as plans are made for the Prime Minister to visit Islamabad and Chakwal
also.
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What’s your last name? I have a short name. One word of six letters, that is. In the heydays of Nehruvian Socialism when it was fashionable to talk of a classless and casteless society, my historian father wished his children to be known by one-word names, sans suffix or surname. To a sceptic, he would inform how the characters of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata down to the rulers of ancient and medieval India, were identified by their one-word name. It is a different matter that I occasionally encounter many a kindred spirit who would greet me with, “Achchha, Anurag, aage kya?” But the western world would have none of it. If you don’t have a surname they would invent one. They have a knack for innovation. Despite my passport bearing no surname, I stood re-christened as Anurag, Anurag in the visa endorsed by two European countries whereas I re - incarnated as FNU, Anurag in the visa given by the third country. More was in store. On the day I was to fly out of New Delhi, a colleague delivered me a bunch of air tickets. I casually opened the envelope to see if the papers were in order. I gasped for air to see my name typed as Anurag/MR! Someone had mistaken Mr Anurag for M.R. Anurag. Throughout my journey of Europe and the US, my boarding passes identified me as Anurag/MR. It was in the last week of June this year that the east coast of the US was in the grip of heavy thunderstorms and incessant rains causing flooding of residential and commercial areas. Frequent flight delays and cancellations stared me in the face. I had booked my ticket from Omaha to San Jose in the west coast via Phoenix where I missed the connecting flight due to bad weather at Miami, the airlines said, having a multiplier effect at all the airports across the US. Faced with no other option, but to spend that night at Phoenix and catch the morning flight to San Jose, I checked in a hotel. The front desk fellow carefully examined my passport and demanded to know my last name. Told that I had none, he gleaned some information from my passport and handed me a bill, which identified me as Anurag, Jaipur. Suffixed with my birthplace, I stood amused. Perhaps he was right in as much as the tradition of suffixing one’s village name lives on in various parts of India even today. “What’s in a name”, the bard famously said. There may or may not be much in your first name, but remember that your last name, if missing, can flutter the dovecots manning the front desks at airports, hotels et al
abroad.
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Stalemate in Bangladesh The
political situation in Bangladesh seems to be inexorably moving towards a serious crisis with the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the main opposition Awami League taking a diametrically opposite position on the coming national
elections, which now hang in the balance. Voting for parliament must take place under the Constitution by January, 2007, after the present four-party ruling alliance government hands over power to a non-partisan caretaker government latest by October 28 this year and the interim administration is to hold the poll within three months. But the entire process now appears uncertain because of the political complications. Concern and anxiety of the people have clearly heightened over the shape of things to come. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia,who is the chief of the BNP and the ruling alliance, has stated categorically that elections will take place on schedule and made it clear that the immediate past Chief Justice of the country will head the caretaker government as per the Constitution. But main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina has also made it known that the Opposition will not accept Chief Justice K.M. Hasan as the head of the non-party government and is demanding reforms in the existing system of caretaker administration. She alleges that justice Hasan was once an office-bearer of the BNP of Khaleda Zia before he joined the judiciary and hence he is not a non-party person. Besides, he is also a relative of one of the self-confessed killers of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. “How can you expect impartial elections under him ?” Hasina asks and adds that no poll will be allowed under Justice Hasan. On the other hand, the Prime Minister duing the last few days emphatically mentioned that Justice Hasan will head the caretaker government regardless of objections by any party or individual. She says the present system worked effectively earlier and this will continue. Clearly, Khaleda is not paying heed to the opposition demand for reforms in the present system.Consequently,the already tricky political situation is getting trickier with the stances adopted by the two key figures of the country’s political arena. Besides, the 14-party Opposition alliance led by Hasina’s Awami League is also demanding reorganisation of the Election Commission alleging that the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners are partisan and no free voting is possible under them.The government denies the charge and a stalemate continues.The opposition alliance the other day laid a siege to the Election Commission office at Sher-e-Banglanagararea when violence erupted. Activists sought to reach the commission office and then followed pitched batttles with the police. With the election date drawing nearer and the tenure of the present government coming to an end late next month, the taking over of power by a caretaker government and the process of the polls clearly have run into rough weather. The situation is further complicated by the stubborness being demonstrated by both sides when the Prime Minister says that elections will definitely take place no matter who participates and who does not. This is evidently in reference to Sheikh Hasina’s position that any poll without reforms of a caretaker government and changes in the elections commission will not only be boycotted by the opposition, but also be resisted. Obviously,the conflicting positions on the key issue of national elections has made the political situation in Bangladesh uncertain. Earlier, efforts were made for a dialogue between the two sides for a settlement of the problem, but such attempts made no headway and the talks could not finally take off much to the dismay and frustration of the people. The apex business forum and others,concerned at the stalemate, are asking for dialogue,but such appeals seem to be falling on deaf ears as both sides appear hell-bent on sticking to their respective positions.
***** The writer is an eminent journalist of Bangladesh
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US policy on Iran evolves toward diplomacy Before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, U.S. officials confidently predicted that the toppling of Saddam Hussein would lead to renewed momentum on the Israeli-Palestinian peace track. “The road to Jerusalem leads through Baghdad” was a common refrain. President Bush’s speech Tuesday to the U.N. General Assembly showed how much that diplomatic calculation has changed in Bush’s second term. With the United States ensnarled in an increasingly difficult campaign in Iraq, war is no longer a viable option. Instead, the administration is struggling with the difficult and messy business of diplomacy. That often means accommodating the interests and demands of other countries, even backtracking on what had been firm positions. Slowly but surely, the White House has muddied what were once clear lines in pursuit of diplomacy. As recently as a month ago the administration firmly demanded that Iran must first suspend its nuclear activities before the United States would join negotiations on the nuclear programs, but now U.S. officials have quietly acquiesced in a European-led effort to find a face-saving way for the talks to begin. U.S. officials are still pursuing the possibility of sanctions, and in fact have drafted a sanctions resolution to be offered at the U.N. Security Council. But with allies balking, negotiations appear more likely than punishment. Bush, in his speech, used notably mild language when he discussed Iran, suggesting that the two countries one day will “be good friends and close partners in the cause of peace.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hosted a dinner Tuesday night at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel with her counterparts from Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and Italy. Under the original schedule, the session was supposed to reach decisions on a sanctions resolution. But before the meeting U.S. officials said the foreign ministers, besides examining the terms of a draft resolution, planned to review the state of talks between the European Union and Iran. Bush, in his speech, also emphasized that U.S. officials “have no objection to Iran’s pursuit of a truly peaceful nuclear power program.” This is a reversal from the policy in the first term, when U.S. officials loudly proclaimed that a country with such vast oil and gas reserves had no need for a nuclear program. Under pressure from Europeans, the administration dropped that argument late last year. On the Middle East, Bush pushed his notion that greater democracy will bring stability to the region. But many foreign officials instead argue that stability can only be achieved if there is peace between Israelis and Palestinians. To that end, Bush appeared to announce a new initiative, saying he had “directed Secretary of State Rice to lead a diplomatic effort to engage moderate leaders across the region, to help the Palestinians reform their security services and support Israeli and Palestinian leaders in their efforts” to resolve differences. But U.S. officials said Bush was not announcing something new, rather he was highlighting an evolving effort to take advantage of growing anger among Palestinians at the Hamas-led government. The militant group won legislative elections earlier this year, leading to a broad cutoff of international aid because Hamas refuses to renounce its stated goal of destroying Israel.
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Using TADA, POTA to check terrorism The views of Prakash Singh (The Tribune, September 2, 2006) so far as these pertain to the fact that the State should have a clear policy on counter-terrorism are commendable. Prakash Singh comments that the State should go all out in search of terrorists but even in saying so he realises that ours is a different culture- a culture of tolerance and forgiveness, a culture which beckons us to search for reason. It is a known fact that untreated grievances pile up and take the form of a full-fledged terrorist movement. The denial of rights of individuals leads to the horizontal and vertical growth of the mountain and this goes to the extent of a movement of insurgency as in case of Sri Lanka. All this is the result of untreated and “spoiled” grievances of individuals and small groups. Inaction on the part of a legislature, gaps in policy, lackadaisical attitude of courts, high-handedness of the police and evasion by the media combine together to prevent the mountain from dismantling. TADA and POTA are retrogressive laws, which Prakash Singh and people like him want to strengthen further. By implementing TADA and POTA for the treatment of the few members of society we are to let loose a “mad dog” to pounce upon other “mad dogs” with no guarantee that these will not pounce upon innocent people. TADA/POTA is only a way out for the police department to throw the heap of their ego, negligence and sluggishness on society at large. These laws are no more than a disguise for the high-handed police behaviour. Implementing them means or implies giving the police unlimited and arbitrary discretionary powers. In a society where politicians, judges and doctors are known for the contempt of their own professions, how can we expect a policemen — who are already notorious for their third-degree methods — to be judicious. Why talk of POTA when negligence of our own and National Security Guards (NSGs) and Crisis Management Group (CMG) leads to the hijacking of IC 189 and later release of the dreaded terrorist of the make of Azhar Mahmood. Is it this negligence of our own officials that we wish to conceal? The attitude of evasiveness is the hallmark of government departments and it proves too costly for the nation if the same is exhibited by the intelligence and police agencies. If anything is to be done, that should be done with a delaying procedure in the Indian way of life. From hospitals to police stations to courts; from clerks’ office to the Secretary’s chamber; from the panchayats to Parliament what we find is slackness/ sluggishness. We “look and look”only to “overlook” our own movements and then at last try to transfer our responsibilities to others. It is in order to do away with this laziness that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is trying to initiate the Public Services Bill, 2006 and a professional management system for the purpose of fixing responsibility on the person whosoever is found wanting in the discharge of his responsibilities. It is high time for the policemen to stop talking with the baton in hand. It must be realised that war against terror in Punjab was not won by bullets but with the help of people who not only provided timely information to the police but also showed stiff resistance to the terrorists. Besides Punjab, the figures of other states, including Gujarat, are sufficient to speak on the corruptibility of the provisions of POTA and other related Acts.
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From the pages of Haryana’s disgrace
If Chief Ministers in India could be persuaded to give up their posts for grave personal lapses or serious administrative failures, at least three dignitaries of this class would have been out of office in the past five months. Mr V.P. Singh of U.P. would have gone in August or September for his proven incapacity to put a stop to communal and other forms of violence in his State. Dr Jagannath Mishra would have been thrown out for the blinding of prisoners in Bhagalpur and, furthermore, for his indefensible defence of the police force. In Haryana, which has to its discredit two successive series of deaths from drinking hooch purchased from licensed vendors at Kalanwali and Narwana during a period of three weeks, Mr Bhajan Lal would have withdrawn from Chief Ministership even if the incidents of rape and murder at Dabwali five months earlier were to be overlooked as a fairly common occurrence of police excesses not only in this State but also in several other parts of the country. But neither Mr V.P. Singh nor Dr Jagannath Mishra nor, for that matter, Mr Bhajan Lal has renounced his office.
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The wise man is balanced and calm. He meditates over all aspects of a question before speaking. His words are the words of rationality. Objects of pleasure may be short-lived but they can certainly dissipate Man’s strength. Greed is a human fraility and kings are subject to it as much as poor people. Why else would a king; tribute and jewels; Try to steal the cattle of another king?
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