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Rights and wrongs in J&K Price rise is worrying |
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The Mecca deal
Arabs against Iran’s N-plan
The poetry of human relationship
Conspiracy
of silence in the Arab world Fight
greenhouse gases, win $ 25 m Chatterati
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Rights and wrongs in J&K The
J and K Chief Minister’s statement in the State Assembly that his government will investigate all incidents of human rights violations since 1990, when terrorism started, has not come a day too soon and is welcome. In the absence of a free and fair mechanism to punish the guilty, such incidents are not only providing grist to the rumour mill, they are also alienating the people, as the current furore over the death of innocent citizens in fake encounters proves. There have been enquiries in some cases, but these have been wishy-washy at best. Official agencies tend to be generally in a denial mode. Supervisors and colleagues of those found to be violating human rights tend to help them get off the hook somehow rather than seeing the wrong they do to the society. That is why the public has lost faith in the sincerity of successive governments and takes recourse to violent protests at every provocation. The investigation in human rights violations must be swift and totally impartial. Only if the guilty are handed down exemplary punishment in the shortest possible time can the confidence of the people in the state be restored. What has to be established is that the security forces are by and large upright and ever ready to weed out the few rotten eggs that they have. Papering over the excesses makes it appear as if innocent citizens are being targeted for no fault of theirs by the authorities who are supposed to provide them protection. If it is wrong to claim that there are no human rights violations, it is equally wrong to discredit the whole force. The security men are fighting a tough battle in which the enemies of the country indulge in every sort of inhuman activities. Some of these are so provocative that the inclination to repay in kind must be strong. Yet, a disciplined force is supposed to respond in a manner that an innocent does not become a victim. It is the government’s responsibility to tackle them effectively. Many armymen stand convicted. It is time the same sense of firmness was shown in the case of policemen, politicians and bureaucrats as well. The inquiry ordered by the Chief Minister would itself prove a check on those who take human rights lightly. |
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Price rise is worrying On
the eve of assembly elections, inflation has touched a two-year high of 6.58 per cent. Its political implications are not hard to imagine. The BJP is exploiting the situation to its advantage. In Punjab the Akali Dal (Badal) has promised the poor wheat flour at Rs 4 a kg and pulses at Rs 20 a kg if voted to power. The Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the RBI are seized of the issue, but without results. The RBI has hiked the lending rates, forcing banks to push up interest rates. But these have had hardly any impact on the surging inflation. Rather these might hit industrial growth if pushed beyond a limit. Last month the government had slashed import duties on industrial raw materials like cement, steel, copper and aluminium in addition to palm and sunflower oils. These have had only a marginal effect, if any. There have been suggestions to cut the state and Central taxes on petrol and diesel so that at least the cost of transportation is brought down, but the government has been hesitant lest the oil prices should shoot up again. Apologists for the government want more time to tame the prices and have pinned hopes on the coming Budget. The problem is plain and simple: there are not enough supplies of wheat flour, pulses, edible oils, fruits, vegetables and milk. Fresh arrivals will take time. To add to the government’s woes, onion prices too are on the rise. High onion prices had led citizens to vote out the Janata Party government at the Centre in 1980 and the BJP government in Delhi in 1998. Price rise is a very emotive issue and often drives people to seek a change in government. All the good work that the Manmohan Singh government has done will come to naught if prices are not reined in. While supplies will have to be arranged in the short run, ultimately it all boils down to reviving agriculture and ensuring remunerative returns to farmers. |
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The Mecca deal At
a time when West Asia had little to cheer up came a declaration from Mecca last weekend about a deal between Palestinian groups Fateh and Hamas to form a “national unity” government within a week. The deal, finalised with the backing of Saudi King Abdullah, is aimed at achieving two main objectives: averting an imminent civil war in the Palestinian Authority areas and ending the US-led international boycott of the government formed recently by the Hamas, a terrorist organization, as Washington and others see it. The effort to ensure peace may succeed, but it is difficult to say at this stage whether the development will also end the financial boycott of the Ismail Haniya administration. The deal has it that six portfolios, including the post of Deputy Prime Minister, will go to the Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas whereas nine portfolios will remain with the Hamas of Prime Minister Haniya. Three key ministries —Interior, Foreign Affairs and Finance — will be headed by Independents. This means that the complexion of the government will undergo a drastic change. Selecting a former IMF representative as Finance Minister-designate and an influential academic respected in the US as Foreign Minister-designate shows a serious attempt to change the image of the Palestinian administration. The choice of an Independent as the Interior Minister, too, has evoked appreciation as it may help restore the credibility of the Palestinian police. But this may not be considered enough by the countries like the US which have stopped their much-needed aid to the Palestinians. The Mecca declaration appears to have very little to fulfil the three basic conditions which the Quartet of the West Asian negotiations — the UN, the European Union, the US and Russia -— had set for the release of foreign aid. These conditions — Israel’s right to exist, a commitment to honour the Palestinian-Israeli peace deals signed in the past and a declaration to renounce violence — have their own significance. The Hamas leadership has only agreed to “respect” the previous agreements with Israel. However, there is an immediate gain for the Palestinians — Saudi Arabia has announced an aid of $ 500 million, which may be increased if there is no resort to violence. |
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Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrranical; it is not a law at all. — M. Robespierre |
Arabs against Iran’s N-plan
External
Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Iran has reaffirmed the continuity in the Indian policy on Iranian nuclear issue. India’s advice to Iran is that it should settle the issue through negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). India believes that only negotiations and not military action can find a solution to the problem. India accepts, as do other countries like the US, that Iran is entitled to pursue its nuclear R&D programme for civilian purposes as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The problem today is that Iran is not able to convince the IAEA that all its activities are for civilian purposes and it has no clandestine military programme. This doubt arises from Iran’s past conduct of pursuing a clandestine uranium enrichment programme with the help of that arch proliferator, Dr A.Q. Khan, and hiding it from the IAEA. Secondly, the Iranian plea for the need for uranium enrichment does not evoke much credibility. Iran’s sole light water reactor at Busher built by Russia has guaranteed Russian fuel supply. If Iran is going to have more enriched uranium-light water reactors it has to purchase fuel from an industrial power since for decades it has not been in a position to develop its own reactor. When it gets a reactor it will come only with guaranteed fuel supply and the condition to take back irradiated file. Therefore, what is the urgent need for uranium enrichment? The present argument recalls that put forward by Gen Zia-ul-Haq that his uranium enrichment was for civilian purposes, and 25 years later we knew that enriched uranium was for the bomb; there is no domestically designed enriched uranium reactor in sight in Pakistan. Therefore, Iran has to persuade the IAEA of its credibility. This is not just a US demand but has been endorsed by the international community, including Russia and China, which joined in the unanimous vote to impose limited sanctions on Iran under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Iran argues that it is prepared to negotiate but will not accept pre-conditions. While insisting on no pre-conditions Iran is expanding its uranium enrichment capacity by adding new cascades of centrifuges. The IAEA Director-General has called for “time out” by which he means that both sides should freeze their activities. In other words, even if Iran is not stopping its present enrichment it should not provocatively add new enrichment capacity on an industrial scale. That would be beyond R&D, calling for an explanation why it has become necessary. Till now Iran has not come out with a credible explanation linking up its uranium enrichment with its future civilian nuclear plans. The Iranian nuclear programme is not only resisted by Israel and the US but also by Sunni Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Arab emirates. It may be recalled that Egypt and Yemen voted to refer the Iranian issue to the Security Council in February 2006 and the other three Islamic states —Algeria, Libya and Indonesia — abstained and did not support Iran. Teheran has also rejected the Russian offer to conduct uranium enrichment with Iranian participation on Russian soil. The Iranian strategy on enrichment has alienated both Russia and China to the extent that they joined the US in the Security Council in imposing sanctions, though in a diluted form. There are reports emanating from Teheran that influential quarters within Iran have raised serious objections to President Ahmadinejad’s nuclear strategy, saying whether it will not be counter-productive for Iranian interests. Iran’s support to the Hamas led to fratricidal strife between this organization of Palestinians and Fatah. One hundred Palestinians have been killed in clashes. Now the Saudi monarch has managed to mediate between the two factions. What should not be overlooked in India is the history of West Asia. All Sunni Arab states supported Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran. It was not just political support but also involved financial and military aid. It was largely the intervention of Saudi Arabia that prevented Saddam from being toppled in 1991 at the end of the first Gulf war. The Saudis were for a Sunni ruler as a buffer against Iran in spite of his aggression against Kuwait. The recent suggestion in the US Congress that Washington should consider withdrawing from Iraq at an early date has been opposed by all Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia. In these circumstances it is not necessary to be an admirer and supporter of the US strategy to come to the conclusion that Iran’s persistence with its uranium enrichment and scaling it up to the industrial scale will destabilise West Asia. The extent of sectarian animosity in the region was evident from blowing up the dome of the Holy Samarrah Mosque (a Shia shrine) and the mass killing of the Shias on the day of Ashura in Bagdad. Through its thoughtless invasion of Iraq the US has destabilised the region and struck at the fault-line of the sectarian divide there. The Iranian nuclear policy, if persisted in, is bound to exacerbate that divide. In India, therefore, there is need for our elite to analyse why Russia and China joined the US in the Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran, and why Egypt and Yemen at an IAEA Board of Governors meeting voted to refer the Iran issue to the Council. In the forthcoming three-nation summit involving India, Russia and China there will be an opportunity to discuss the consequences of the Iranian nuclear strategy for the West Asian region. From all reports received from Teheran and elsewhere there appears to be time available to persuade Iran away from its counterproductive course. Therefore, it will be simplistic to treat this issue as the US vs Iran, or the US vs Islam. India has to look at the issue from the point of view of grave animosities within the region and the inability of the Iranians to present a credible case on uranium
enrichment.
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The poetry of human relationship
There
was a time when Harold Robins exclaimed. “where love has gone!” In that novel he told that lust had overpowered the human mind, as a result of which love had taken wings. Shortly afterwards, there emerged curiosity in the human mind as to where romance had gone. Romance, of course, is a misunderstood word that opens up many vistas of thoughts in different minds. Etymologically it simply evokes the sense of awe and wonder. The human mind is thrilled to discover the unknown and the unexpected. The other aspect is that of romantic agony and “the pain of finite heart that yearns for the infinite passion.” Now poetry has receded from the shores of human life, leaving behind “pebbles and shingles”. There is too much of fun, without frolic, and too much of movement, without rhythm. The expectations are running high and the graph of achievements is nosediving. In the field of science, indeed, human mind has taken big strides. What Dr Mohammad Iqbal had said casually a century ago, Sitaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain (There are other worlds beyond the galaxy of stars.) is no more an uncertainty. When I happen to meet learned persons in seminars, I have a feeling that information has blocked the way of knowledge. Otherwise, the knowledgeable persons seldom disclose the harsh demeanour of their personalities. They never lose their temper when someone contradicts their point of view. Open-minded they are to suggestions and proposals. There is something in the make-up of their minds that endears them to others. That something undoubtedly is the element of poetry in their outlook to life. This element saves them from being conservative in their dealings with others. The romance of life is gone when someone adheres to his viewpoint while on a slippery ground. The vistas of ideas must open up into the valley of understanding. Poetry is missing in human relationship in all walks of life. The reason is not far to seek. To be engrossed in oneself and to consider others as lesser mortals is the obvious reason. In social gatherings ego comes to the forefront and it relegates the person-to-person equation to the background. There is no expansion of the mind and no exaltation of the spirit. No conversation in a light mood and no witty remarks or ironic comments. It does not mean that one should always be in search of a laughing matter. Laughter is the result of a funny situation and not the other way round. The purpose is to be poetic in a prosaic atmosphere. The other day I happened to come across a bevy of beauties in a literary function. On a sunny day in winter, one relishes the coziness of environment and is in an expansive mood. In that blessed moment, I bade goodmorning to a bright-looking person at 12.30 p.m. There was instant laughter, which I too joined heartily. When the waves of laughter receded, I told them that the poets compare a bright face with the morning and the dark tresses with the night. Moreover, Faiz Ahmed Faiz is of the view that sunrise is associated with the meeting of the desired person after a long period of separation — Na tum aaye ho, na shab-e-intizar guzri hai Talash mein hai sahar, baar baar guzri
hai. |
Conspiracy of silence
in the Arab world Could
Rifaat al-Assad’s day in court be growing closer? Yes, Rifaat – or Uncle Rifaat to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria – the man whose brother Hafez hurled him from Damascus after he tried to use his Special Forces troops to stage a coup. They were the same special forces who crushed the Islamist rebellion in Hama in February 1982, slaughtering up to – well, a few thousand, according to the regime, at least 10,000 according to Fisk (who was there) and up 20,000 if you believe The New York Times (which I generally don’t). Either way, I’ve always regarded it as a war crime, along with the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila camps in Beirut by Israel’s Lebanese militia allies a few months later. Ariel Sharon, who was held personally responsible by Israel’s own court of enquiry, is an unindicted war criminal. So is Rifaat. That’s why the faintest breeze blew through my fax machine this week when I received a letter sent to the UN Secretary General by Malik al-Abdeh, head of the London-based Movement for Justice and Development in Syria. Abdeh left his Syrian town of Zabadani before the Hama massacres – he works now as an IT consultant for a multinational – so he’s hardly able to breathe the air of Sister Syria. But then again nor can Rifaat, who languishes – complete with bodyguards – in that nice EU island of refuge called Marbella. And refuge he probably needs. Because Abdeh is asking the UN to institute an enquiry into the Hama bloodbath in the same way that it is powering along with its tribunal into the murder almost two years ago of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri. Ouch. In the letter Abdeh describes how “warplanes and tanks levelled whole districts of the city (of Hama) ... the evidence clearly suggests that government forces made no distinction between armed insurgents and unarmed civilians ... the assault on the city represents a clear act of war crimes and murder on a mass scale”. The letter has now been passed to the UN’s legal head, Nicolas Michel, who is also involved in the Hariri murder case. The sacred name of Rifaat has not been mentioned in the letter but it specifically demands that “those who are responsible should be held accountable and charged...” Now, of course, there are a few discrepancies in the facts. The Syrians did not use poison gas in Hama, as Abdeh claims. They certainly did level whole areas of the city – they are still level today, although a hotel has been built over one devastated district – and when Rifaat’s thugs combed through the ruins later, they executed any civilians who couldn’t account for their presence. But of course, the Hama uprising was also a Sunni Muslim insurrection and the insurgents had murdered entire families of Baath party officials, sometimes by chopping off their heads. In underground tunnels, Muslim girls had exploded themselves among Syrian troops – they were among the Middle East’s first suicide bombers although we didn’t appreciate that then. And the Americans were not at all unhappy that this Islamist insurgency had been crushed by Uncle Rifaat. Readers will not need any allusion to modern and equally terrible events involving Sunni insurgents to the east of Syria. And since the Americans are getting pretty efficient at killing civilians along with gunmen, I have a dark suspicion that there won’t be any great enthusiasm in Washington for a prosecution over Hama. But still... What strikes me is not so much the force of Abdeh’s letter but that it was written at all. When the Hama massacre occurred, neighbouring Arab states were silent. Although the Sunni prelates of the city called for a religious war, their fellow clerics in Damascus – and, indeed, in Beirut – were silent. Just as the imams and scholars of Islam were silent when the Algerians began to slaughter each other in a welter of head-chopping and security force executions in the 1990s. Just as they are silent now over the mutual killings in Iraq. Sure, the mass killings of Iraq would not have occurred if we hadn’t invaded the country. And I do suspect a few “hidden hands” behind the civil conflict in a nation which never before broke apart. In Algeria, the French spent a lot of time in the early 1960s persuading – quite successfully – their FLN and ALN enemies to murder each other. But where are the sheikhs of Al-Azhar and the great Arabian kingdoms when the Iraqi dead are fished out of the Tigris and cut down in their thousands in Baghdad, Kerbala, Baquba? They, too, are silent. Not a word of criticism. Not a hint of concern. Not a scintilla (an Enoch Powell word, this) of sympathy. An Israeli bombardment of Lebanon? Even an Israeli invasion? That’s a war crime – and the Arabs are right, the Israelis do commit war crimes. I saw the evidence of quite a few last summer. But when does Arab blood become less sacred? Why, when it is shed by Arabs. It’s not just a failure of self-criticism in the Arab world. In a landscape ruled by monsters whom we in the West have long supported, criticism of any kind is a dodgy undertaking. But can there not be one small sermon of reprobation for what Iraqi Muslims are doing to Iraqi Muslims? Of course, but the real problem the Arabs now face is that their lands have been overrun and effectively occupied by Western armies. I worked out a few weeks ago that, per head of population – and the world was smaller in the 12th century – there are now about 22 times more Western soldiers in Muslim lands than there were at the time of the Crusades. How do you strike back at these legions and drive them out? Brutally and most terribly, the Iraqis have shown how. I used to say the future of the Bush administration will be decided in Iraq, not in Washington. And this now appears to be true. So what should we do? Allow the Rifaats of this world to go on enjoying Marbella? And the killers of Hariri go free? And the Arabs remain silent in the face of the shameful atrocities which their brother Muslims have also committed? We are all Rifaats now. By arrangement with
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Fight greenhouse gases, win $ 25 m British
billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, with former US vice president Al Gore at his side, offered a $25 million prize Friday for anyone who can come up with a way to blunt global climate change by removing at least a billion tons of carbon dioxide a year from the Earth’s atmosphere. Branson, saying that the “survival of our species” is imperiled by current environmental trends, said the prize was similar to cash inducements that led to some of history’s most notable achievements in navigation, exploration and industry. “I believe in our resourcefulness and in our capacity to invent solutions to the problems we have ourselves created,” said Branson, who has already pledged to invest $3 billion in profits from his transportation companies, including Virgin Atlantic Airlines and Virgin Trains, to fighting global warming. “We are now facing a planetary emergency,” said Gore, who has become one of the world’s leading voices on climate change issues, most lately with his documentary film, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Gore, who will serve as a judge in the Virgin Earth Challenge, said he hoped the contest would spur scientific innovation without distracting from more practical steps people can take to battle global warming, such as using energy-efficient light bulbs or pressuring politicians to confront “the crisis of our time.” “It’s a challenge to the moral imagination of humankind,” Gore said at a packed news conference, where several noted climate scientists and authors attended, provided videotaped endorsements or appeared by live video-link. Gore and Branson said that although scientists are working on technologies to capture carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases at power plants and other industrial sources, no one has developed a strategy to remove gases already released into the atmosphere. Those gases are contributing to a dramatic increase in global temperatures that could have catastrophic results in the coming decades, they said. The winner of the award must devise a plan to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere without creating adverse effects. The first $5 million would be paid up front, and the remainder of the money would be paid only after the program had worked successfully for ten years. “We’re nowhere,” on technologies to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, Gore said. But he said he hoped innovators might be spurred not simply by the cash prize offered by Branson, but by passion for working on what he called “a moral issue.” Gore cited the example of telegraph pioneer Samuel Morse, whose work was motivated by the death of his wife. “The telegraph came from his efforts to spare others the sense of loss,” Gore said. “There are many other examples of new technologies and innovations we have discovered that did not come in the first instance from the head but came from the heart.” Other judges in the competition are James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies; British environmentalists and authors James Lovelock and Crispin Tickell and Australian conservationist and author Tim Flannery. Gore, Branson and the other panelists referred repeatedly to a study released last week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of hundreds of scientists from 113 countries, that concluded human activity is warming the planet at a potentially disastrous and irreversible rate. Gore dismissed critics who claim the potential effects of climate change have been exaggerated. He said the overwhelming scientific evidence is that “the planet has a fever.” He likened the situation to parents told by a doctor that their child needs medical care, saying those parents shouldn’t listen to “some science fiction expert who tells you it isn’t real--you listen to the doctor.” Gore said he believed public interest in climate change was growing in the United States. But asked if he thought Americans were ready for a presidential campaign in which global warming was the central issue, he said, “We’re not there yet.” Branson and Gore said they hoped to ask the governments of the United States, Britain and other countries to contribute to the prize money, or match the $25 million pledged by Branson. “I don’t have much influence with this administration,” Gore joked. Gore, who barely lost the 2000 presidential election to President Bush, has had a resurgence in popularity among many Democrats and is still viewed as a potential dark horse candidate in the 2008 election. Gore on Friday said he would not categorically rule out another run , but he said he “can’t foresee” the circumstances. By arrangement with
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Chatterati This
business of ladies’ golf is a bit like an extended kitty party, but instead of the old tambola making the rounds, there is usually a lucky draw. This time it was designer jewellery. And to add a little spice to the do, several models and women golfers from all walks of life turned up at the Delhi Golf Club, to inaugurate the All India Ladies Amateur Golf Championship. Women golfers like Neelam Pratap Rudy and Meher Gupta were in attendance, as were models Shivani Wazir and Simar Duggal, who are now golfers in their own right. While the Indian women golfers had a field day in their bright, bold saris, their counterparts from Zimbabwe kept it simple with black trousers and T-shirt, teamed with a heavy dupatta. The earrings, neckpieces and anklets had a tribal jewellery touch and there were some delectable pieces from Himachal Pradesh and Orissa. Adding a dash of glamour to the gig was actor Kiron Kher. Kher, who is not much of a golfer herself, admits that the sport is great relaxation. No wonder that cricketers like Kapil Dev have taken up this sport, not just for the fun of it, but as a serious, alternate sport. Golf is the next big Indian game after cricket. And we have champions coming up now from golf, which wasn’t the case earlier. Well, we can see here now that golf is fast catching up with Indian women. Young girls from the age of 3 are playing here at the Delhi Golf Course. By the time they are eight or nine years old, their swings will be as good as those of the professionals. Path of roses December to March is a good time for flower producers in India as roses grow only in temperatures above 12 degrees centigrade. European countries with their chilly winters depend on flowers produced outside. Declared the country’s first agri-export zone for cut flowers, Amudhagundapalli, near Hosur in north Tamil Nadu, not far from Bangalore, is getting ready for Valentine’s Day. Bunches of Passion, Red Horizon, Red Giant, Red Palace and Happy Hour - all gorgeous varieties of roses, will head out for shops in UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and West Asia. The park’s contribution eventually will be about one-fifth of the country’s total production. So, the Shiv Sainiks and the Bajrang Dal fellows may not allow the younger generation to celebrate Valentine’s Day in their turf. But Indian roses are helping many relationships flower abroad. Latino lagan Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor at weddings are passé. At a big-ticket wedding in Jaipur, Latin pop star Ricky Martin is the treat for the guests. And don’t expect a Mittal or a Birla to be behind this - the pop star is here for the wedding of a not-so-known richie rich couple. The wedding was of Kanika who is the niece of politician Kamal Nath. Ricky has been invited to India by DJ Aqeel, who is Ricky’s old friend. Well, this is the latest way to go global.
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Do not suppose of those who rejoice at what they have brought about and love to be praised for what they have not done, do not suppose that they have escaped torment; for theirs is a painful chastisement. For to God belongs the dominion over the heavens and the earth, and God has power over everything. — The Koran God himself knows our needs. And bestows his gifts accordingly. — Guru Nanak
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