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Patently disgraceful Focus now on the real issues The irony of a report on patents, which is about intellectual property rights (IPR), being withdrawn because of plagiarism, which is a clear IPR violation, should set us thinking. The R.A. Mashelkar Committee’s report on Patent Law, submitted last December by the Technical Expert Group included four other experts.
China’s insecure rulers
When cupid strikes
Readying for Iraq’s oil Shoot pain, not bullets Inside Pakistan
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Politics of prices Though known more for his economic acumen than his political skills, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has deftly roped in the states in the fight against inflation. Now the states, too, have to share the responsibility and criticism for the politically sensitive issue. By asking the states to monitor prices and curb hoarding and profiteering, the PM has pointed a finger at the states’ inaction in these areas. The Budget session of Parliament, which began on Friday, is expected to see the Opposition turning the heat on the government over the sharp rise in the prices of food items. Since the BJP and other opposition parties are in power in some of the states, the PM’s letter is well timed to deflect part of the heat. Union finance minister P. Chidambaram, however, has displayed unusual political naivety by announcing that there is “ no magic wand to reduce prices” in the near future. Such an expression of helplessness is unwarranted and politically unwise. If the UPA government takes credit for the 9 per cent growth, it should also gracefully accept the blame for inflation touching 6.73 per cent. Inflation, like taxes, affects everyone, but the vast majority of people who have been bypassed by the growth bandwagon are the worst sufferers. The government cannot turn its back on them. The PM’s letter did not fail to mention what the Centre had done to control prices: Ban on wheat and milk powder exports, zero duty on the import of pulses, cut in the import levies on cement and non-ferrous metals, reduction in oil prices, hikes in the repo rate and the CRR. Few states, on the other hand, have anything worthwhile to show in this fight against inflation. The days ahead are not very cheerful. While how much the recent rain enhances wheat output remains to be seen, the poor crop in Myanmar and Turkey may not let pulse prices fall. The government remains divided on banning futures trading in farm produce. However, there is scope for slashing the state and central taxes on oil and it will have to be ensured that the truckers, too, cut their rates accordingly.
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Jobs on compassion The
Supreme Court judgement that dependents of employees who died in harness cannot claim jobs on compassionate grounds as a matter of right and that such benefit can be extended by the authorities only in the case of penury is legally correct and morally sound. Clearly, in a country wedded to the concept of a welfare state, the employer — be it the government, public or private sector — cannot impose a blanket ban on such appointment. The authorities concerned must show compassion and provide relief to the victims on a case to case basis. There are also necessary rules, regulations and administrative instructions governing such appointments at the Centre and in the states, and the public and private sector. The latest ruling, given by a Bench consisting of Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Justice Altamas Kabir, directed the authorities to follow an objective criteria regarding the financial condition of the deceased employee’s kin while considering appointment. This can be determined by examining factors like family pension, gratuity, employee’s/employer’s contribution to the provident fund, any compensation paid, proceeds of LIC policy and other investments of the deceased employee, the family’s income from other sources and employment of the family’s other members. This will help authorities ensure that such jobs are given only to really deserving ones, the Bench ruled. In the case in question, the Bench rejected a widow’s petition for a job after her husband, an employee of the State Bank of India, Amritsar, died in harness. It considered all the benefits being extended to her by the bank and set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s impugned order which allowed her appeal. The latest ruling is a reiteration of the apex court’s earlier order that appointment on compassionate grounds cannot be considered as a source of recruitment. It is merely an exception to the law of recruitment keeping in view the fact of the employee’s death while in service, leaving his family without any means of livelihood. Significantly, it ruled that that any violation of the set criteria would not only lead to the violation of the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution but also compromise the cardinal principle of appointments in public services on the basis of “open invitation and merit”.
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Patently disgraceful The irony of a report on patents, which is about intellectual property rights (IPR), being withdrawn because of plagiarism, which is a clear IPR violation, should set us thinking. The R.A. Mashelkar Committee’s report on Patent Law, submitted last December by the Technical Expert Group included four other experts. The group was set up in April 2005, to examine critical issues following the debate in Parliament, after the Patents (Amendment) Bill 2005 was introduced. The issues concerned the grant of patents to pharmaceutical substances that had only been modified and were not new, and whether micro-organisms should be out of its ambit. Much before the plagiarised portion of the report came to light, the report had become controversial. With its recommendations for widening the scope of what can be patentable, in order that the Act be TRIPS compliant, the report was immediately seen as being too MNC and pharma-company friendly. Media reports quoted ministry officials as being opposed to it on the grounds that it did not fully go into the issue, and “failed to differentiate between incremental inventions and ever-greening tactics.” The latter refers to patent-holders attempting to extend the tenure of a patent by minor modifications rather than genuinely inventive steps, that take the substance’s capabilities forward. The plagiarised section, in the report’s conclusion, were taken from a paper with research reportedly funded by pharma companies. And when pharma companies began to gloat about the report’s conclusions being in line with concerns expressed by them, the fat was truly in the fire. Letting go such a slip in the report does reflect badly on the committee, which more than any other body should have held its work to the strictest academic and scientific standards. Accusations of lack of depth and failure to define terms properly make the whole affair all the more worrying. The committee should now do its best to salvage the report, and the government should also clarify its stand. The first step should be to make known the full contents of the report and throw it open for an informed debate.
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Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. — David Frost
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China’s insecure rulers
Lately, one detects some nervousness among China’s rulers. The increased level of repression in the country is an important indication of this. There are reports of all kinds of people being put behind bars or being simply picked up by the authorities for salutary beating. And many of them do not even challenge the regime but simply go about doing their jobs as lawyers, journalists and a host of other everyday activities. The government has further tightened media control by putting new restrictions on foreign news agencies; subjecting them to prior Xinhua (state news-agency) approval to distribute their material within China. It has also put in place a punitive system of fines for media within the country if they were to report disasters and protests without permission. The authorities have launched an investigation of charity organisations and environmental bodies, with even a whiff of foreign funding. In a relatively mild criticism of increased official repression, the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders has said that: “Some activists have disappeared. Several have been subjected to unfair trials or harsh sentences in local Chinese courts.” China’s rulers are becoming increasingly paranoid that there are internal and external forces seeking to destabilise the country and overthrow the regime. Inside the country, they have apparently been shaken by an increasing number of protests and demonstrations over a whole host of issues. According to official statistics, there were 87,000 “public order disturbances” in 2005, up 6.6 per cent over 2004. In reality, it would be much worse. Much of the time these are spontaneous protests, without any organisation behind them. They mostly arise from local grievances like rural land seizures, party-level corruption, local taxes and so on. But they do have a common theme of frustration and anger over the arbitrary and corrupt behavior of the Party elites at different levels. The situation is much worse in the rural areas as testified recently by Premier Wen Jiabao. He said in a speech, “Some locals are unlawfully occupying farmers’ land and not offering reasonable economic compensation and arrangements for livelihoods, and this is sparking mass incidents in the countryside.” He cautioned, “We absolutely cannot commit a historical error over land problems” — apparently referring to China’s history of peasant uprisings. By and large, local people do not seem to blame the central leadership for the excesses of their local bosses, believing that they are simply not aware of the rot that has set in at the local levels. Wen’s speech, though, would suggest that the central leadership is fully aware, but is not doing much about it. Some have even gone to Beijing to petition the authorities for corrective action, but have ended up in trouble for their boldness. It would be fair to say that the local level frustration is gradually building up to tarnish the entire system. There is a growing sense of helplessness all around at the state of affairs where ordinary citizens (without connections and money to bribe) have nowhere to go. So far there is no organised opposition to the Party because of the state’s coercive and punitive apparatus. But as the Party would know from Premier Wen’s speech it doesn’t take long for the prairie fire to ignite and then get out of control. The Communist Party counts on rapid economic growth as the main source of its legitimacy. And hence it is terrified if the growth were to weaken along the way. But much of the growth is export based. China’s burgeoning exports to the United States and Europe are increasingly creating protectionist sentiments in those countries. Its growing trade surpluses are causing problems, particularly in the United States. There is pressure on China to revalue its currency to correct trade distortions. But Beijing is resisting any meaningful action in this regard. Some commentators even fear an economic crash. Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Jonathan Watts and Larry Elliott opined, “The trigger for a crash could be a period of weakness in the US, the main customer for low-priced goods from Chinese factories.” They add, “Exports and fixed investment account for more than 80 per cent of China’s GDP, and any sudden fall in US demand would feed through into factory closures and higher unemployment in China.” Any growth strategy based largely on exports with cheap labour is simply storing trouble for the future. The depressed wages, with labour under tight and coercive control, is not conducive to a “harmonious society” — the buzzword in the ruling party’s lexicon. The workers’ conditions are generally bad in China but they are even worse in the case of rural migrants working in the cities. They have virtually no rights because they don’t have the residency permits to avail of rudimentary services meant only for residents. The gross injustice of this situation is reflected in the fact that these rural workers constitute nearly 80 per cent of the urban construction force, 68 per cent of jobs in electronic manufacturing, 58 per cent of the catering jobs and so on. As George J. Gilboy and Eric Heginbotham have written in Current History, “Migrant workers without municipal hukou (registration) cannot participate in regular job markets. When they do find work, their rights under Chinese labour law are frequently violated. Their wages are withheld for months or years. The government estimates that (as of 2004) China’s 100 million migrant workers are owed $12 billion back pay.” All this and other inequities are creating frustration and anger. According to Study Times, a journal of the Communist Party: “The amber light is on and the red alert level could be passed within the next five years.” The strategy of growth at any cost is counterproductive. As Lu Ming, a researcher at Fudan University in Shanghai, has pointed out, “Whether you look at it from a political point of view — “building a harmonious society” or from an economic one —we have to develop the internal market (as against export-based growth) and protect workers to guarantee stability and development.” The country is faced with so many unresolved social, economic and political issues. But in the absence of alternative avenues and mediation through a pluralist political process, these tensions and contradictions are simply piling up. Even where the authorities sometimes seemingly seek to tackle issues, like corruption, popular cynicism (and rightly so) is so rampant that nobody believes it. For instance, the sacking of Shanghai party boss for siphoning off workers’ pension funds to finance real estate and other shady deals, is clearly a case of political witch-hunt by President Hu Jintao against his predecessor Jiang Zemin’s political base. Hu is clearing the decks to firmly entrench his political primacy at the forthcoming Party congress. And as for the new crackdown on journalists, lawyers, social activists and others, the regime is simply locking them away for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It also reflects paranoia from “colour revolutions” which swept some of the former Soviet republics, as in Georgia and Ukraine. China fears that some such movement might spring up with help from outside forces. The Chinese communist leadership lives with this constant fear of an implosion like the one that happened in the Soviet Union and its satellite regimes. It would like to believe that by concentrating on rapid economic growth it has won legitimacy of sorts and hence might have some immunity against the Soviet-type infection. But its non-stop obsession with pre-emptive strikes against even a whiff of dissent or protest is indicative of how insecure China’s ruling oligarchs
are.
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When cupid strikes I went down the memory lane on Valentine’s Day. When did I have the first feel of love for some one? It was the winter of 1964. I was just 18. Bitten by the cricket bug, we had formed a cricket club in our colony in Lucknow. With two of my elder brothers Ranji Trophy cricketers, I was determined to make a mark at least at the inter-club level. The first match being against the Singar Nagar Club, I was out in my white flannels opening the innings. The very first ball saw me hit a square cut. Egged on by jubilant club members, I stepped out and went for a big hit. As the ball sailed over the bowler’s head, I saw two eyes focussed on me from the rooftop. Two overs later I went for another lusty stroke. Mid-on had become the focus of all my shots. The ball hit the wall. Yes, it was a small six. She clapped and threw me a smile. I went on for some more lofty hits. I remained unbeaten on 85, my career-best score, as the team folded at 150. We managed to bundle out the rivals for just 117. Our unspoken feelings continued to blossom. She made it a point to be on the roof every evening during our net practice. My interest started shifting from cricket to her. After a month I decided to strike. I poured out my feelings on paper, and drafted and redrafted my first love letter. Delete your name, advised one of my friends. Armed with the revised love letter, sans my name, I headed for the window, overlooking the park, where she studied after dusk. A slight breeze made her get up. She saw me and opened the other window also. As she sat down, I threw the letter inside. A sudden gush of wind did the rest. I returned home, having accomplished my mission. I had fixed our date outside her gate at 9 pm. As I walked down to her house whistling a particular tune, I saw the gate open. But then, I froze in my steps. It was her father with a torch and a stick. I ran into the open field. Her father followed me. A little distance ahead, I instinctively did what two other persons were doing. I pulled down my pants and sat down on my haunches. “Kya kar rahe ho? Bund karo roshni!” shouted one of the two men, forcing him to beat a hasty retreat. It was two months later that Mohini (name changed) told me that the letter had landed on her father’s lap in the verandah on that windy
day.
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Readying for Iraq’s oil We are about to find out if the invasion of Iraq really was a war for oil. The Iraqi government is on the verge of passing a petroleum law, which will set down rules for investing in its oil industry. That will set off a race among the foreign oil giants, scrambling for their slice of Iraq’s vast oil riches. Britain’s two world-leading oil companies, BP and Shell, both say they want to enter Iraq. Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Total, Russia’s Lukoil and the Chinese will also form part of the rush. Even while the security situation in Iraq remains dire, it seems the prize will be just too great for the oil majors to resist. The country has proven reserves of 115 billion barrels of oil, around the same as Iran, but it is thought that its actual reserves could be anywhere up to 300 billion barrels - which would make it bigger than Saudi Arabia. Much of the west of Iraq remains unexplored. John Teeling, chairman of Petrel Resources, the explorer listed on London’s AIM market which has had interests in Iraq since 1997, says: “Iraq has 70 discovered, undeveloped fields. You’d die for any one of them. Even the small ones have a billion barrels. If this isn’t the holy grail, it’s right next door to it.” It is hard to exaggerate the scale of the opportunity in Iraq, especially given the fact that foreign companies are, essentially, shut out of the rest of the Middle East and Russia is increasingly hostile to international players. “It costs $1 a barrel to get oil out in Iraq. If you’re getting $60 for it, that’s good economics. You don’t have to go to Harvard to figure that out,” Mr Teeling says. War-torn Iraq is currently producing less than 2 million barrels a day, well down on the 2.8 million barrels before the 2003 invasion by the US and Britain. Tariq Shafiq, a former executive in the Iraq National Oil company and one of the experts called in to draft the country’s petroleum law, says Iraq could “very easily” get to 3.5 million barrels a day. He says it is “physically” capable of producing 10 million barrels a day - around the current output levels of Saudi Arabia, the pre-eminent producer today. Mr Shafiq, who now works for the consultants Petrolog & Associates, says that foreign involvement in Iraq’s oil industry is needed for its technical knowledge, not capital - given the high price of oil, investment is pretty much self-financing. “Iraq has been left behind,” he says. The former president Saddam Hussein cut Iraq off from foreign oil technology, first by pursuing the war with Iran in the 1980s, then the international sanctions of the 1990s. Advanced oil recovery techniques, such as water injection, passed the country by. The petroleum law, which is now in its third draft and is expected to go before the Iraqi parliament soon, allows wide-ranging and deep involvement in the sector. It envisages three type of international contract – buy-backs, production-sharing agreements (PSAs) and service contracts. The PSAs are the deals most favoured by big oil, as they allow the foreign company to book the reserves. Buy-back contracts typically require upfront investment from the international company, with a guaranteed rate of return to repay the money. Mr Shafiq says that the draft law does not specify a figure for the permitted rate of return, it talks of a “fair” return. This he interprets as being no more than 20 per cent. The law awards much power to the regions for negotiating contracts, with the central government given an oversight role, a feature that did not exist in the Mr Shafiq’s original draft and one that he believes will play into the fracturing of Iraq. However, the oil revenues will be shared between the provinces, according to their populations, not their oil resources - that gives the oil-poor Sunni areas a big stake in the success of the industry. While the oil industry’s majors and super-majors are not currently in Iraq, the minnows such as Petrel and the Norwegian group DNO, which is actually producing oil in the relatively safe Kurdish north, have shown that it is possible to operate in the country. The lack of a law setting out the rules for the oil industry and the extreme security problems have kept the big operators formally away. But they have been active behind the scenes and, once the petroleum law is enacted, it is expected that all of them will rush to the Iraq oil ministry’s negotiating table. Shell and BP, for instance, have obtained precious knowledge of two of Iraq’s biggest oilfields by providing free assistance. These projects do not involve having company personnel on the ground in Iraq. BP has studied the reservoir data from the Rumaila field in the south, to advise on how to maximise future production. BP says: “Once the security situation permits, and the Iraqis seek assistance, we would consider opportunities there, as we would elsewhere in the world.” Shell is currently undertaking a reservoir study of the Kirkuk field, in the north, “in order to assist the Ministry of Oil to enhance production from this field”. Shell is more forthright. It says: “Shell has a very long history of working in Iraq. We would welcome the opportunity to help Iraq re-build its energy industry, but we will only enter the country once security, living and working conditions are improved.” The Western oil majors will almost certainly have to wait until the security situation in Iraq improves before they are prepared to put their people on the ground. However, they are likely to tie up the Ministry of Oil in negotiations over projects until that happens - assuming that Iraq does not simply dissolve into all-out civil war. And, as the south and the north of the country, where most of the oil lies, are relatively less violent, it may be possible to operate in the country even while the central region around Baghdad continues to be a bloodbath. The Russians and Chinese are almost certain to send their people in, no matter what the risks. Here the US group ConocoPhillips has pulled off a clever arrangement. Lukoil negotiated with the regime of Saddam Hussein for rights to the giant undeveloped West Qurna field. ConocoPhillips has taken a 20 per cent equity stake in Lukoil – a deal approved by the Kremlin – and it has apparently negotiated a 50 per cent share in Lukoil’s West Qurna interest. So the Russian personnel would take the risks but Americans would still benefit. Iraq’s oil wealth is just too great for the majors to miss. The question is not if they will go in, but when.
By arrangement with The Independent
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Shoot pain, not bullets If
you’re worried about terrorism, upset about the war in Iraq, and depressed by global chaos, violence and death, cheer up. The US military just invented a weapon that fires a beam of searing pain. Three weeks ago, it was tested on volunteers at an Air Force base in Georgia. You can watch the video on a military Web site (https://www.jnlwp.com/ActiveDenialSystem.asp). Three colonels get zapped, along with an Associated Press (AP) reporter. The beam is invisible, but its effects are vivid. Two dozen airmen scatter. The AP guy shrieks and bolts out of the target zone. He says it felt like heat all over his body, as though his jacket were on fire. The feeling is an illusion. No one is harmed. The beam’s energy waves penetrate just 1/64 of an inch into your body, heating your skin like microwaves. They inflame your nerve endings without burning you. This could be the future of warfare: less bloodshed, more pain. It can spare civilians and even the enemy. Precision isn’t just the ability to kill. Sometimes, it’s the ability to disperse and deter without killing. That kind of precision is becoming more important. The US Defense Department (DOD) observed 12 years ago that the armed forces were increasingly being used for peacekeeping, humanitarian aid and protection of civil society. The enemies were blending in with, or disguising themselves as, civilians. Through the media, more eyeballs, hearts and minds could see the infrastructure we destroyed. DOD proposed the development of weapons “to incapacitate personnel or materiel, while minimizing fatalities, permanent injury to personnel, and undesired damage to property and the environment.” Like lethal weapons, nonlethal weapons have evolved from short to long range. Batons and pepper spray required hand-to-hand combat. Water cannons, rubber bullets, beanbag rounds and stingball grenades have extended our reach, but not far enough to keep troops clear of rocks or small-arms fire. Some of those nonlethal weapons are insufficiently discriminate. Tear gas torments a whole crowd, not just the miscreants using the crowd for cover. Projectiles are also unpredictable. At long range, particularly in crosswinds, rubber bullets can hit the wrong people, or the right people in the wrong places. At close range, they can kill. Look at the absurdly named “FN303 less lethal launcher.” It’s supposed to fire “nonlethal projectiles at established nonlethal ranges.” But when launching things, less lethal is the best you can do. That’s where the pain beam comes in. Unlike projectiles, beams are “directed energy.” They travel in a straight line over long distances, ignoring gravity and wind. They cause no more damage at 10 feet than at 1,000. Unlike gas, they discriminate. Raytheon, the pain beam’s manufacturer, points out that the weapon “allows precise targeting of specific individuals” and that the pain “ceases immediately” when the beam is diverted or the target flees. The shift from hardware to software, from matter to energy, can do more than control the unpredictability of weapons. It can control the unpredictability of the people who fire them. Early nonlethal devices, such as rubber bullets and Mace, often caused injuries because of abuse by hotheads. When the pain beam was being developed, somebody accidentally fired it on a high setting, inflicting a second-degree burn. The designers responded by programming limits on the beam’s power and duration. Years of work have gone into making the beam safe. It has been tested thousands of times on 600 volunteers. It has been reviewed and revised by the military’s Human Effects Review Board, a Human Effects Advisory Panel made up of nonmilitary experts in the field and military surgeons general. It has been tested for effects on skin cancer, fertility, jewelry and drunks. The results have been published in peer-reviewed journals. Never has an organization that is licensed to kill jumped through so many hoops to make sure nobody gets injured. The DOD’s nonlethal weapons program is a pacifist’s dream. Its “vehicle lightweight arresting devices” are built to stop cars with minimal damage, allowing minor injuries only if you’re “not wearing a seat belt.” But the ability to inflict pain without injury doesn’t just make injury less necessary. It makes pain more essential to military operations--and easier to inflict. To achieve the desired “repel effect,” I have to make you suffer. Knowing that your agony will be brief and leave no physical damage makes the weapon easier to fire. Two weeks from now, military leaders will convene in London to discuss the pain beam and the next generation of directed-energy weapons, including microwaves and lasers. Law enforcement agencies are interested. Raytheon is already advertising the technology for commercial applications. The military is even developing a “personnel halting and stimulation response” system – yes, a PHaSR – to stun targets instead of killing them. But don’t worry, nobody will get hurt. Sort of.
By arrangement with
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Inside Pakistan Despite protests by human rights organisations and women rights activists, karo-kari cases (victimisation of members of the female sex, including honour killings) are on the rise, particularly in Sindh. This is mainly because of the tribal jirga system, promoted by feudal lords, politicians and others in spite of a ban imposed on it by the Sindh High Court (Sukkur Bench) in 2004. A Sukkur-datelined report in the February 22 issue of The News says that increasing incidents of honour killings and raging tribal feuds continue to plague the peace in Upper Sindh. The Friday Times of February 16-22 carried an in-depth study of this social crisis. The study by Hamza Shaheryar says: “Incidents of brutality in Sindh and southern Punjab clearly raise questions about the efficacy of the Women’s Protection Bill. Rights activists now want aggressive legislation to counter these brutalities effectively... “The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) points out in its 2006 report that despite a ban on jirgas, at least 53 jirgas were conducted in Sindh last year; and not only local feudal lords but also government officials and elected representatives were present at these gatherings. “The Sindh Chief Minister, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, also held a jirga at Circuit House, Sukkur, to settle a Maher-Jatoi tribal feud in which 37 people were killed,” Shaheryar mentions. He quotes a SPARC representative to highlight the primary factor behind the atrocities against the weaker sex: “Unfortunately, within the confines of the tribal psyche, women are perceived as commodities and young girls as precious currency. Thus, the jirga often orders girls and women to be handed over in addition to livestock and money to settle disputes.” However, an Aurat Foundation member says, “The jirga system stays because of the inefficiencies of the existing justice system, which takes years to decide disputes and criminal cases. Speedy justice and political will are most important in getting rid of the jirga system and ensuring the protection of women and children.” Taliban’s new targets The security agencies in Pakistan are having sleepless nights these days. The cause is a threat by the Taliban to launch suicide attacks in Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Sargodha any time now. Islamabad, Dera Ismail Khan, Quetta and Peshawar were targeted in the recent past. Daily Times carried a report on February 22 giving the names of the suicide bombers who have been assigned the unholy task. The paper quoted intelligence reports submitted to the Interior Ministry to say that suicide attacks had been on the increase since the recent army raid on a suspected Al-Qaida hideout in South Waziristan, klling at least 80 persons. In this context it is interesting to read what Mr Ghayur Ahmed, a former ambassador, says in an article carried in Dawn: “Suicide attacks on innocent civilians are a violation of the fundamental human rights, a breach of the Geneva Conventions and war crimes against humanity. These attacks are a kind of tactic and are carried out to attain specific strategic goals. Islam specifically prohibits the killing of innocent persons, non-combatants, women and children, and even forbids the destruction of trees, killing of livestock and poisoning of water resources.” Yet terrorist outfits continue to misuse the name of religion to snuff out innocent lives. “The government should wake up from its slumber because Talibanisation is now knocking on its very doors and has, in fact, reached the federal capital in the guise of the occupation of a children’s library by female students of Jamia Hafsa (a religious school)”, as The News editorially commented on February 21. Price rise worries The rising prices of essential commodities have not only made life difficult for the common man, but also upset President Gen Pervez Musharraf. After all, he has to approach people by the year-end to ensure that the candidates to be fielded by his party, the ruling Muslim League, are successful in the coming elections. According to the Business Recorder of February 22, he has directed his government to bring down the prices considerably. That is not all. He wants a regular monitoring of the price situation. He has directed the authorities “to sustain the momentum for transferring the economic gains at the grassroots level”. There is, no doubt, an increase in the availability of items like onions, potatoes, tomatoes and pulses, and their prices are showing a downward movement. But that is not enough. The General has asked “the Finance Ministry to prepare a comprehensive 10-year economic development plan and directed it for sustaining the growth rate at about 8 per cent in the next decade.” The people are, however, unlikely to take his words seriously so long as the results are not delivered. They know that there was little change at the ground level after the high-sounding promises he made soon after he came to power through a military coup. |
God, the one, Himself creates and performs all. The so-called Brahma (creator), Vishnu (sustainer) and Shiva (destroyer) are also contained in him. — Guru Nanak But they obey the rein like trained horses when one has discrimination and has made. — The Katha Upanishads Let your mind be washed in the pool of truth and become the abode of God. Make then, as leaf-offerings, your devotion to please him. Serve him thereafter by dedicating to him your life. You will then be able to enjoy your union with him. — Guru Nanak
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