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Regrouping of Taliban Lost childhood |
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New wave of reforms Let states take the initiative THE UPA leadership now finds the 8-10 per cent GDP growth rate within the realm of possibility. To make that happen, as Dr Manmohan Singh has indicated in an interview to The Financial Times of London before his departure for Britain, massive investments are required in infrastructure.
Tremors from the blast
Deference to the difference
Pakistan aiding Taliban resurgence Sexual harassment in health sector Murder
in Moscow Defence notes
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Regrouping of Taliban Despite the US-led multinational drive against the Taliban in Afghanistan for over five years, the Hamid Karzai government finds that its writ run does not beyond the country’s capital, Kabul. The government has been surviving only because of the support it gets from the NATO forces stationed there. Even the NATO fighters have started feeling uncomfortable with suicide attacks by Taliban insurgents increasing for some time. The extent of the NATO uneasiness can be gauged from the fact that its commanders in Afghanistan belonging to the US, Britain, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands have asked their respective countries to prevail upon Pakistan to stop playing spoilsport if the war against terrorism is to be won. Pakistan’s ISI has been busy frustrating the international efforts to eliminate Taliban remnants, Gen Pervez Musharraf’s denials notwithstanding. NATO has proof with photographs that the ISI has been running training camps for the Taliban in Quetta (Balochistan) and some other places in Pakistan. There are reports that the Taliban has set up its headquarters in Quetta. Its sizable presence in the Waziristan Agency in the NWFP is well known since the Musharraf regime entered into an agreement with the extremists in North Waziristan recently. Yet, the international community (read the Bush administration) heaps praise on General Musharraf for his contribution to the war against terrorism. It is, indeed, a very disturbing scenario. Before the NATO commanders wrote to their respective governments President Karzai had pointed out that the regrouping of the Taliban in the Pashtun-speaking areas in Afghanistan was possible because of Pakistan’s clandestine support. But the world community did not take it as seriously as it ought to have. Mr Karzai’s cry was lost in General Musharraf’s cacophony that the problem was “home grown”. The tribes forming the support base of the Taliban may be unhappy with the Kabul regime. But the firepower displayed by the Taliban insurgents in recent weeks tells a different story. Some of those captured by NATO troops have admitted to having been trained by the ISI. It is time Pakistan’s role in training and arming the Taliban was exposed to allow peace to prevail in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region.
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Lost childhood Numerous generations of poor persons have come and gone by in India, not knowing what real childhood is. At an age when they should have been in school, these children of a lesser god were toiling on menial chores in dhabas or houses. Leave alone the luxury of schooling, they did not even have the privilege of a carefree environment so necessary for proper development. Untold misery and abuse would be their constant companion. With pre-teenagers being made to work like galley slaves, adults responsible for their upkeep would take it easy. The pernicious practice had become so widespread that it was inevitable that it should be banned, as the government has finally done. The onus of ensuring that no child below 14 is employed on his premises would be on the employer. Government servants are particularly liable to penal as well as departmental action. The fear of the law will, hopefully, make them mend their ways. But much will depend on the implementation of the child labour ban provisions. Only strict enforcement will make it meaningful. As far as having a rule on the statute book is concerned, there is already provision for ensuring that children are not employed in hazardous activities like construction and mining. Yet, the practice goes on putting children to grave risk. Detecting the employment of children in houses and eateries will be even more difficult. Corrupt enforcers will have to be ruthlessly weeded out. At the same time, there is need for a proper rehabilitation package. Many children are made to work because there are no adult earning members in their household or the family income is so meagre that even food cannot be arranged. Others have no home at all. The plight of such children will have to be monitored closely. There is a possibility that deprived of an honest living, they may fall a prey to beggary and other such vices. The crime world is always on the lookout for drifters. In the absence of a safety net, these children might be devoured by these demons.
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New wave of reforms THE UPA leadership now finds the 8-10 per cent GDP growth rate within the realm of possibility. To make that happen, as Dr Manmohan Singh has indicated in an interview to The Financial Times of London before his departure for Britain, massive investments are required in infrastructure. Besides, the financial sector needs urgent reforms. A Planning Commission estimate puts the amount required for building infrastructure at Rs 14.5 lakh crore by 2012. To achieve this target, the Prime Minister hopes to put in place a new investor-friendly infrastructure policy soon. Reforms may have slowed down, but, happily, the process is on. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has been pitching in for financial reforms and claims “the PM has put his weight behind the need for reforms in pension, insurance and banking”. The Left is opposed to raising the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in insurance from the present 26 per cent. Retail has not been opened to FDI for fear of loss of jobs in indigenous shopping centres. The pension Bill has been pending for quite some time thanks to Leftist opposition. Banks cannot grow to global levels unless controls are eased. To push the reforms, the coalition government needs wider political support. It is in this context that Mr Chidambaram has asked for more “political space”. That may not be possible. Opposition to reforms comes not just from the Leftist allies, but also from within the Congress. With states like UP and Punjab going to the polls shortly, controversial bits of reform will have to wait. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has intervened to voice farmers’ concerns at being deprived of their prime land and paid below-market prices while setting up special economic zones. Defending SEZs, the PM has clarified that in states like Punjab where barren land is limited, prime land may have to be used. Instead of making instant announcements, the coalition partners should work out their differences before policy changes are made public. As the Centre has its limitations, states can take the lead in reforms.
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I teach you the superman. Man is something to be surpassed. — Friedrich Nietzche
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Tremors from the blast
DO
you think North Korea will explode a nuclear bomb this time?” I
asked Singapore Prime Minister last Friday on the sidelines of
a Conference of Asian and European Editors. Prime Minister Lee did not seem to think North Korea would go in for a blast. “He (North Korean Leader Kim Jong il) is perhaps
bargaining, if not bluffing”. This was only two days after North Korea made it known that it intended to go ahead with its plans to do so. On Monday when President George W. Bush and the West were sleeping, North Korea announced it had carried out an underground nuclear test. It wasn’t a bluff this time. Kim Jong il had indeed been telling the truth, believing perhaps: Tell the truth again and again until the time comes when no one believes you and then simply get away by just doing it. The Singapore Prime Minister was not alone in believing that the North Koreans would not have the audacity to explode a nuclear bomb in the face of opposition of the rest of the international community. The theory that Kim Jong il was talking about the bomb only to strike a better bargain with the United States was also being adhered to by the US and most Western nations. The Chinese who had earlier warned the North Koreans against crossing the nuclear threshold had also been assuring the West until recently that North Korea could be brought round by patience and talks, howsoever long the process may take. Similar assessments had come from the Russians who were part of the six-nation talks that included the US, China, Japan and South Korea. By carrying out the nuclear blast in defiance of the world opinion, North Korea in one stroke has drastically changed the geopolitical landscape in North-Eastern Asia, cocked a snook at President Bush, shaken Japan out of its pacifist beliefs and in a way challenged Chinese assumptions that it was the dominant power of the region. Americans are debating how small is the size of the bomb North Koreans have chosen to explode to mark their arrival as the ninth nuclear power in the world — after the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel. But howsoever small is the size of the bomb, it has sent enough tremors around the world, changing in the process a few easy assumptions of political seismology the high and mighty of the nations choose to indulge in. For President Bush both the harsh truth of the blast and its timing must have come as a serious jolt. It was President Bush who in his super power hubris had described Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an “Axis of Evil”. He took on Iraq on the moral plea that Saddam Hussein had in his possession weapons of mass destruction and succeeded in toppling Saddam, but came to find himself bogged down in Iraq. He has been able to do little to change the regime in Iran. And now he sees Kim Jong il – leader of a nation of just 23 million-odd people, smoking the nuclear pipe in his face towards the end of his presidency. The timing must be galling for President Bush when the Republican Party is to face Congressional elections and his own ratings are slipping. And if the Republicans lose the Congressional elections next month and Presidential polls later to Democrats, Kim Jong il will have the last laugh on the contribution he will have made to bring about a regime change in Washington. The Democrats have already begun rubbing in salt by pointing out that what Pyongyang had done had only marked the utter failure of President Bush’s non-proliferation diplomacy. The most serious impact of the North Korean nuclear blast will be on Japan, just a little stretch of water away and not far away from North Korea’s missiles. Koreans have been living under the bitter memory of Japanese occupation of their country just a hundred year ago and have also been jealous of Japan’s emergence as a major
economic power. Reports from Tokyo after the blast reflect its worry over the emergence of another nuclear power in its neighbourhood and also feeling that it should not have chosen to deny itself the right to develop its own nuclear weapons all these years. There has been a tradition of Japanese militarism that suffered a defeat in World War II after the first two nuclear bombs were dropped by US aircraft over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, Japan opted for a pacifist and non-nuclear path. Although it has concentrated on its growth as a major economic power, for security it chose to live under the US nuclear umbrella, although somewhat uneasily with China’s emergence as a major power. Tokyo is no longer going to feel comfortable with Pyongyang becoming nuclear and China increasingly acquiring more muscle as an economic and military power. There is indeed a strong likelihood now of revival of Japan’s militarism and its people demanding that it should spend more on defence and even developing its own nuclear weapons. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is just a few days old in office, has been elected on a nationalist platform and it will not be difficult for him to win the people’s support to add a military muscle to Japan’s economic power. For China, for whom North Korea has been a natural ally, the nuclear blast has come as a “brazen act” and has punctured its claim as an emerging Super Power that could sit on the world’s high tables as an equal partner. How will the world take Beijing seriously when someone is showing the thumb to it in its own backyard? Beijing may also not like Japan’s choosing the nuclear path changing altogether the calculus of the Pacific Ocean geopolitics. Understandably, the new Japanese Prime Minister’s first visit abroad was to Beijing but that was a day before the blast. Maybe the Japanese and the Chinese leaders will have to meet again several times lest the situation in the North-Eastern Asia should go out of hand. South Korea has lately not been unduly critical of North Korea, hoping that better days will come for the Korean peninsula. What if the South Koreans also decide to opt for the nuclear path in the name of its security and acquiring parity with North Korea? How will North Korea react to it? And China? And Japan? And how will the US, whose troops are still present in South Korea? If nothing else, North Korea has by one blast changed much in North-Eastern Asia and opened up the area for many sensitive possibilities. What needs to be watched is how the US reacts and what kind of punitive measures it can work out in concert with other nuclear powers in and outside the United Nations. President Bush — whose pride must have been hurt — has already said North Korea’s nuclear explosion will be unacceptable. Will the US — and the coalition of the willing he may have to forge — decide on UN sanctions that generally don’t work, or a naval blockade to choke North Korea, or much worse? A military strike against North Korea is unlikely — at least for some
time.
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Deference to the difference
THE airline looked after the passengers. Smiling hostesses. A variety of beverages. Sumptuous meals. All combined to make the flight smooth. And the hours passed faster than I had expected. Finally, we were in Zurich. A man in uniform. On the aero-bridge. He checked every passport. Scanned every passenger from head to toe. But with a smile. And when he saw me with seven passports and the two grand-children, he just asked: “Family on a holiday? Have a good time Sir!” In less than 15 minutes, all of about 300 passengers were out. And then an underground train. The baggage lounge. The bags. Immigration. We were out of the airport in less than half an hour of the landing. Amazing? A drizzle. Also a nip in the air. We got into the coach. The drive through the town was interesting. Also fast. In fact, after having seen the movement of traffic in Delhi, it seemed too fast. And soon, we were in the hotel. The driver took out the bags. The lady at the reception delivered the room keys and gave directions. Everyone carried a bag or even two. Thereafter, the seven days in Switzerland were splendid. The snow-covered Alps, thick forests, lakes and waterfalls provide a feast for the eyes. The country is a continuing postcard. Adding to the scenic splendour is the aroma in the air. The elements combine to make the country a health resort. The country gives the visitor a happy holiday. True, nature has been kind. But the best part is the people. They have preserved the gift of God. Nobody throws a piece of paper or plastic in the park or any public place. And yet they scrub the roads. Still more, the people are disciplined. I did not hear a driver honk. Despite the fact that the people drive the machines really fast. Nor did I see a single cop in seven days. On the road or off it. And then, they are efficient. We had gone to a place called Jungfraujoch. It is described as the “Top of Europe”. It has “Bollywood” — an Indian restaurant. It gave us a good lunch. And just then, the cog train for our return journey was announced. In the hurry, I forgot my spectacles somewhere in the complex. I realised this only after we had got down at the next station. I went to the nearest office. I was not sure if the man had understood me. But next morning the hotel reception informed me about a packet. My pen, pencil and spectacles. Everything, as it was. Delivered at a distance of about 300 km. Sometime during the night. In less than 12 hours. The Swiss are really different. And we need to show some deference to the
difference.
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Pakistan aiding Taliban resurgence THE volte face by the Pakistani army in Waziristan will have long-term adverse effects for peace in our region in general and stability in Afghanistan in particular. The Pakistani army, under pressure from the United States, had been conducting military operations in Waziristan for the last three years and had nearly 80,000 troops deployed in Waziristan and adjoining areas in recent months. The operations were designed to flush out Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists who had taken shelter there after the American-led operations in Afghanistan in 2002. The insurgents were hiding in this comparatively safe tribal border region, crossing and re-crossing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as the pressure of the security forces developed from one side or the other. These terrorists / insurgents had a fair degree of local support from some of the tribes, if not all, which inhabit this volatile region. There are many tribes inhabiting this rugged mountainous region and there are perpetual inter-tribal rivalries amongst them. The tribes are fiercely independent and have resisted attempts to govern them in the traditional sense. This culture is not of recent origin but has existed for centuries and successive governments have only had a loose central control over the region. This was so during the British colonial era and has continued after Pakistan emerged as a nation in 1947. All the tribes love a good fight and are immensely proud of their weapons, as well as their tradition of giving shelter to those outlaws with whom they have a religious or ethnic affinity. Anyone given such shelter is then fully protected. As was expected, it was heavy going for the Pakistani army, as they were fiercely opposed by the tribals. Despite the use of heavy weapons, including artillery and air power, which resulted in massive collateral damage, the tribals had the better of the Pakistani army. Their casualties were excessively high and there was widespread alienation of the tribals of the area, including amongst those tribes which were pro-government. As far as neutralizing the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists / insurgents was concerned, the results were minimal, but in an effort to please the Americans, many boastful statistics about insurgents killed, wounded or captured were made. A few small-time operatives were also handed over to the Americans, with a view to show that progress was being made. Militarily, this was a losing proposition. There were also other good reasons - military, political and strategic - for a change of strategy in Waziristan. The military aspect of this analysis is not confined to the heavy going of the Pakistani army in Waziristan. We also need to take a broad look at various other tasks of the Pakistani military. Simultaneous operations by the Pakistani army were going on to quell a major rebellion in the adjoining province of Baluchistan. The major deployment on the LoC in J&K was continuing, along with the military earmarked for the requirements of internal security within the country, where sectarian violence continues unabated. We have to also factor in the military needed for ensuring that a coup or counter-coup did not take place, an occupational hazard in any military dictatorship! Finally, we must include the involvement of the Pakistani military in myriad civil governing institutions and agencies, which continue to block a fair chunk of the military, particularly the army. All these commitments had stretched the Pakistani army inordinately. We also need to have a brief look at the political factors. There is continued widespread antipathy towards the United States in Pakistan. There is also a popular belief that the Musharraf regime is dancing to the tunes of the United States unabashedly. The religious parties, represented by the umbrella organisation, MMA, are highly critical of military operations against their co-religionists, as they see them as unnecessary and being conducted only at the behest of the United States. Since Musharraf’s personal and political survival is at stake, especially with the coming elections in 2007, his policies shift radically with the changes in direction of the political winds. Having failed in wooing either of the two main political parties, PPP and PML (N), he is now at the mercy of the religious parties and cannot afford to annoy them. Finally and perhaps most importantly, there is the strategic consideration of Pakistan always ensuring a cooperative if not a subservient regime in Afghanistan. In fact, a destabilized and chaotic Afghanistan, provided it is controlled by a ‘friendly’ regime, suits Pakistan the best from the strategic point of view. All the above point to giving a free run to the Taliban to strengthen itself, reorganize, re-arm and re-train its cadres and gradually penetrate deeper into Afghanistan. The Pakistani ISI continues to spearhead this policy. They not only have the expertise but also the motivation for financing, arming and training the new Taliban. The enigma, however, is that despite presumably figuring out the above, the United States continues to mollycoddle Musharraf. They will pay heavily for their inadequate response, just as they did earlier when they assisted Pakistan to form the former Taliban and gave it all possible material support. Earlier, Pakistan was merely the conduit, but now Pakistan has become the main player bent on destabilizing Afghanistan and the United States is helplessly watching from the sidelines, ostrich-like, while continuing to play footsie with Musharraf. Can we afford to see the Taliban again calling the shots in Afghanistan, with Pakistan preening itself and India out on a limb?
The writer is a former Vice Chief of Army Staff and currently heads the Centre for Land Warfare Studies.
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Sexual harassment in health sector A recent study shows that sexual harassment in a health facility is seen as normal and harmless. It is considered a natural part of a working woman’s life and rarely an issue requiring complaint or action. This study comes nine years after the Supreme Court guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace. The Court recognizes that sexual harassment is not just a personal injury to the affected woman but violates her right to equality in the workplace. Yet, as the study shows, doctors and nurses, senior and junior staff alike agree that sexual harassment is an occupational hazard for working women. A 30-year-old government doctor said “women will study and enter various professions. And then men will behave in this manner. We have accepted this is how things will continue.” A 35-year-old government nurse said “saying bad things when they see a woman is natural. Given an opportunity, no man will let go of a chance to make jokes about women. It doesn’t matter if the man is a doctor or a non-medical staff”. The study, ‘sexual harassment in the workplace, experiences of women in the health sector’ will be presented at a two-day Population Council meeting in New Delhi on October 12 and 13 on ‘New Evidence on Young People’s Situation and Needs.’ The study, conducted in Kolkata, West Bengal, with 135 indepth interviews with women employees in two government and two private hospitals over 11 months, finds that reluctance to discuss sexual harassment stems from the fear of those on daily wage employment or on contracts that they will lose their jobs if they go public. Many fear they will be blamed for provoking an incident. Others fear loss of reputation after complaining. So the culture of silence and denial continues. By and large doctors and nurses in government hospitals are permanent employees and those in private hospitals tend to work as consultants. Nurses in private hospitals, although confirmed after three months of employment, can be dismissed at any time and therefore have less job security than those in government hospitals. Health care attendants are employed by patients on a temporary basis and have the least job security. Of the 135 interviewed, 77 admitted sexual harassment but 50 did not complain. Forty-five reported psychological harassment, 41 verbal harassment, 27 unwanted touch and 16 sexual gestures and exhibitionism. There was no report of rape. However, five reported cases of others being raped, or attempt to rape. Of the 45 doctors interviewed, 24 were harassed; of the 50 nurses, 31 were harassed. The biggest perpetrators of abuse are patients and their families (42), doctors (41) and non-medical staff 24. “Nurses are the only group harassed by everyone-doctors, non-medical staff, patients and their relatives and outsiders,” a 29-year old doctor in a private hospital admitted. Paramita Chaudhary, a fellow of the Health and Population Innovation Fellowship Programme, who has done the report, says “power imbalances characterized many of the incidents of sexual harassment.” The perpetrators were frequently persons in authority and victims were often those in a relatively subordinate position. Doctors and administrators in positions of authority were described as harassing other doctors, nurses and other non-medical lower level. Even patients are seen to be in positions of authority because their complaint could lead to dismissal.
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AT the time of her murder in Moscow last week, Anna Politkovskaya was at the pinnacle of her influence. One of the best-known journalists in Russia and one of the best-known Russian journalists in the world, she was proof – and more is always needed – that there is still nothing quite so powerful as the written word. The subject of Politkovskaya’s writing was Russia itself, and in particular what she called Russia’s “dirty war” in Chechnya. Over the years Politkovskaya won scores of international prizes. At home she was threatened, arrested and once nearly poisoned by the same Russian authorities who refused to respond to her questions. Politkovskaya was not, it is true, the first Russian journalist to be murdered in murky circumstances since 2000, when President Vladimir Putin came to power. Among the worst crimes – all, of course, unsolved – were the murders of two provincial journalists from the city of
Togliatti, probably for investigating local mafia; of Paul Klebnikov, the American editor of Forbes magazine’s Russian edition, probably for knowing too much about Russia’s oligarchs; and of a Murmansk television reporter who was critical of local politicians. Nevertheless, Politkovskaya’s murder marks a distinct turning point. There was no attempt to disguise the murder as a theft or an accident: Her assassin not only shot her in broad daylight, but he left her body in the elevator of her apartment building alongside the gun he used to kill her—standard practice for Moscow’s arrogant hit men. Local businessmen had no motivation to kill her—but officials of the army, the police and even the Kremlin did. Whereas local thieves might have tried to cover their tracks, Politkovskaya’s assassin, like so many Russian assassins, did not seem to fear the law. Of course if this murder follows the usual pattern in Russia, no suspect will ever be found and no assassin will ever come to trial. There are jitters already: A few hours after news of Politkovskaya’s death became public, a worried friend sent me a link to an eerie Russian Web site that displays photographs of “enemies of the people” – all Russian journalists and human rights activists, some quite well known. Above the pictures is each person’s birth date and a blank space where, it is implied, the dates of their deaths will soon be marked.
— By arrangement with
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THE Indian Army has long felt the need to have a dedicated helicopter squadron, specially trained to operate with its Special Forces. This is soon going to come true. The Special Forces will fly in their own state-of-the-art ALH helicopters, with their own men in olive green in the cockpit. This matters as the Army and the Air Force have had problems with joint operations in the past, though whether this can be an excuse in these days of joint force doctrines is a moot point. This specialist squadron will be from the Army’s own aviation corps, and will soon be deployed in the Kashmir valley to support the para-teams serving there. This is the first small step in the development of the Indian Special Forces from a tactical force to one which would give the Army a truly strategic strike option. Nursery of terrorism Even as India and Pakistan recently agreed to set up a joint mechanism to tackle terrorism, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, during his recent visit to the US for the UN General Assembly meeting, said that our neighbour actually remains a nursery for global terrorism. He highlighted cross-border terrorism, proxy war and the fragile political fabric of states in India’s neighbourhood as some of the major challenges before the country. Addressing the faculty and students of Harvard University, he stressed that Pakistan had done precious little to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism. IAF website The Indian Air Force recently launched its redesigned and upgraded website. The web portal, www,indianairforce.nic.in, provides a platform for aviation enthusiasts across the globe to learn about the IAF. It has a section where interested visitors can obtain information on issues such as careers in the IAF, welfare matters and news updates. Due recognition has been given to air warriors who have won honours and awards and those who have made the supreme sacrifice for the nation.
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Envy becomes the whole-time companion of the man who desires material satisfaction. Whenever he cannot get the things he wants he is envious of those who have them. His jealousy binds him to the efforts that others may have put in or the costs they may
have borne. Man amasses gold and silver; but such wealth is like poison and dust. While gathering wealth, he is happy to be called a banker. But he is mistaken, as caught up in duality, he will stand humiliated. We should not play the game of life in such a way that we lose credit in the court of God.
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