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Life and Death Munnabhai goes to jail Growth under siege |
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After Potter, pots
Aim for nuclear fuel,
not technology Azim Husain, a champion of India Defence Notes
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Life and Death Pronouncing
the quantum of sentence in a murder case, that too a high-profile one like the Beant Singh assassination case, can be a highly ticklish exercise. In his 1022-page judgement the special court of R.K.Sondhi has delineated on this subject extensively as to why it has sentenced Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh to death and Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh to life imprisonment. Acting on the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the State of Tamil Nadu vs Nalini case involving Rajiv Gandhi’s murder, he divided the convicts into two categories. The first comprised those who formed the hardcore nucleus which took the decision to assassinate the then Chief Minister and masterminded and coordinated it. They got the death sentence, because they deserved “only and only extreme punishment”. Those who joined the conspiracy by inducement or instigation etc, whether through indoctrination or otherwise, were placed in the second category and were given the lesser life imprisonment. There were other aggravating circumstances against Balwant Singh and Hawara. The most clinching was that they did not give thought to the fact that the explosives like RDX and PETN would kill many other innocent persons in a brutal and gruesome manner. Seventeen persons lost their lives. Two, Hawara planed a successful escape from the Burail jail and on escaping was involved in several serious cases in Delhi. That made him a continuing threat to society. There was no sense of regret or remorse in them either. The court has let off Naseeb Singh, who had been held guilty under the Explosive Substances Act, since he had already spent 10 years in jail. But it has shown no mercy to others because the gravity of the crime conceived by them in a pre-planned and meticulous manner had the potential of “causing enormous casualties and dislocating the functioning of the government as well as disrupting normal life of the people of the state”. |
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Munnabhai goes to jail FEW would be surprised by the six years of rigorous imprisonment awarded to film star Sanjay Dutt. Special TADA court judge P.D. Kode’s decision conforms to the series of judgments he has been giving since September 12 last in the Mumbai blast case. It would have shocked millions of the actor’s well-wishers and fans who had been hoping against hope that the judge would be sympathetic to the man whose role in Munnabhai Lage Raho rekindled national interest in Gandhism. But the judge was not swayed by either his stardom or the good work he has been doing ever since he came out of jail. He found the charges against him — possessing a 9 mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle and attempting to destroy evidence — too serious to let him off on probation. Otherwise, it would have amounted to partiality. Given the fact that the judge has been absolutely impartial, few will dare to question his bona fides. He has, wherever it warranted, tempered justice with mercy, the leniency shown to an accused old man while punishing Sanjay Dutt being a case in point. However, he did not consider the actor deserving of any leniency as his “was an eminently dangerous act. With the punishment of a minimum of five years and a maximum of 10 years, it can in no way be a minor offence or of a less grave nature”. Since Sanjay Dutt has already spent 16 years as an undertrial, he needs to spend only four and a half years in jail. Of course, it is a long period for a person who is at the peak of his career. But then he was not a child when he procured the dangerous weapons from suspicious characters. While Judge Kode deserves encomiums for the meticulous manner in which he conducted the epic trial in which 100 were convicted, 12 of whom were given death penalty, many would wish if there was a similar mechanism to punish those guilty of the Mumbai riots that preceded the blasts. The report of the Srikrishna Commission, which did painstaking work, has been gathering dust while many it had found guilty of planning and perpetrating the pogrom are roaming free. In retrospect, one can only wish that Justice Srikrishna had enjoyed the power to punish. Justice demands that terrorists of all hues deserve the kind of punishment Judge P.D. Kode awarded to those whom he found guilty. Better late than never, the Maharashtra government should take the Srikrishna Commission findings to their logical culmination. |
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Growth under siege Mega
industrial, commercial and housing projects promising a total investment of about Rs 1 lakh crore are awaiting approval in Punjab. First, the cancellation of no-objection certificates soon after the new government took charge stalled housing projects and property prices went in a tailspin. Then the Punjab State Electricity Department withdrew the exemption from advance consumption deposits granted under the previous government to 23 mega projects. Some projects are held up for want of environment clearance from the Centre. That is because the state government has not formed an environment impact assessment authority as required by the Centre. Projects involving an investment of more than Rs 50 crore are to be cleared by this authority. Punjab is a known laggard in attracting private investment — domestic as well as foreign — and that is why its economic growth rate has plummeted below the national average. Since agriculture cannot sustain a growing population, the shift to industry has been painfully slow. This is due to lack of a visionary political leadership, bureaucratic hurdles and infrastructural bottlenecks. A project as important as the Bathinda refinery had remained stuck for so many years, resulting in huge cost escalation, while both the Akali Dal as well as the Congress drew maximum political mileage out of it. It has to be recognised that industry alone can provide much-needed employment and halt the exodus of Punjabi youth to other states and abroad. It is, therefore, necessary to create a congenial environment for industrial growth. The shortage of power is a major crippling factor. The state government plans to take up more thermal projects, but these push up the cost of power. The political leadership has reservations about nuclear power. Joint hydroelectric power projects with the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh are possible, but inter-state disputes come in the way. More than loud talk, political will and determined action are required to overcome developmental hurdles. |
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The name of a man is a numbing blow from which he never recovers. —
Marshall McLuhan |
Limited options
The
historical verdict of the Pakistan Supreme Court on the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Choudhry has not only re-established the independence and strength of the judiciary but also sent a strong signal on its vital role in national politics. Chief Justice Chaudhry and his supporters, mostly lawyers and representatives of civil society, now represent the strongest civil opposition to the authoritarian military rule in Pakistan. During the four-month-old agitation their focus was mainly on the independence of the judiciary, rule of law, removal of the top brass of the military from active politics and restoration of democracy — a widely shared mainstream political agenda. From now on, the reinstated Chief Justice is unlikely to play any personal role. His institution, however, has a major role of dispensing justice in support of a more open political system for the people of Pakistan. If the post-verdict jubilation and accompanying slogans of “Go Musharraf Go” and “Go Fauj Go” are any indication, General Musharraf’s cup of woe appears to have run over. General Musharraf made his first error of political judgment during elections in 2002 when he supported religious parties and rigged polls. In 2004, he declined to honour his word and rid the country of his uniform, claiming that the geo-strategic environment required that he retain the office of President as well as Army Chief. On his much-touted counter-terrorism policies, General Musharraf has run with the hare and hunted with the hounds. He seldom respected his commitments to the war on terror. No action was ever taken against radical madarasas or well-known terrorist training camps. In 2006, he signed a peace treaty with tribal leaders in Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan. Reports indicate that the Pakistani Taliban now runs the writ in the area and talk of it as Islamic emirates. The tribal leaders have accused General Musharraf of double-speak. The peace treaty, always suspected in and outside Pakistan, stands buried. Ever since public demonstrations started in protest of the dismissal of Chief Justice Chaudhry on March 9 this year, General Musharraf and his regime have been jittery. The military government made mistake after mistake, often exposing its true dictatorial nature and weaknesses. There were overt and covert attempts to put down the protests and place curbs on civil liberties. More than 40 people were killed in Karachi, for which pro-Musharraf Muttahida Qaumi Movement was held responsible by the majority in the Pakistani media. The government tried to stifle the movement with Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance (Amendment) 2007, only to withdraw it later in the face of strong national and international condemnation. On May 7, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz openly spoke of constitutional provisions for imposing an emergency. To add fuel to the fire, Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, well-known Pakistani strategic analyst, launched an authentic research titled “Military Inc. Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy” on May 31. This book has caused permanent damage to the Pakistani military image. Loss of General Musharraf’s swagger and confidence became evident on June 2 when he sought and obtained “unstinted support” of his Corps Commanders and made that public immediately. The Lal Masjid encounter was a culmination of all the compromises resorted to by the military and some political parties with Islamic radicals. Till date, there are no answers to the questions being asked in Pakistan and abroad. Why did General Musharraf tolerate these radicals for so long before deciding to move against them? How could such a crisis occur in the middle of the capital, about half a mile from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) headquarters? Why did it occur right after the judicial crisis? In the post-event review, at best General Musharraf appears incompetent and at worst, complicit of attempting to divert public opinion from current political issues. This encounter, however, makes the divide between General Musharraf and the Islamic radicals quite unbridgeable. Sensing the adverse Supreme Court verdict, General Musharraf articulated the necessity of “unity of command” to weed out militancy in Pakistan. This is unlikely to cut ice. “Unity of command” for the nation under a General is not a workable strategy, especially when the military lacks majority civilian support and trust. This essentially military approach will cause more violence and widen the social and political divide. The Supreme Court verdict has made it extremely difficult for General Musharraf to apply the “Doctrine of Necessity” or avoid a more open political system and free and fair elections. He has no option but to adopt a conciliatory approach to the political parties, currently grouped against him but divided into Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif camps. General Musharraf may offer to withdraw criminal charges against the two leaders, allow their re-entry in Pakistan and participation in the forthcoming elections. Rumors are that a deal has been worked out with Ms Bhutto. Any deal will be perilous for these leaders unless General Musharraf and the military regime are defanged and can no longer usurp the civilian authority. The compromise will also affect the image and popularity of political parties and their leaders adversely. How will General Musharraf react to the emerging political situation in Pakistan? Here are three possible scenarios: One, the Supreme Court verdict and public reaction give the hope that Pakistan will return to a more open political system. This would be facilitated if General Musharraf manages to give a democratic face to his uniform and allows free and fair elections. It would mean partial withdrawal of the Army from politics and a continued role through the National Security Council. Senior Pakistan Army officers may go along with this because involvement of the Army in civilian affairs is gradually eroding its professionalism and public support. Political leaders like Ms Bhutto in their self-interest may allow General Musharraf minus his uniform to remain President and to stand for the Presidential election later. If he persists in holding on to his uniform, he will face strong legal scrutiny, which could further embarrass the Army. Two, General Musharraf and his colleagues impose an emergency on the excuse of a deteriorating law and order situation in the country. Ever since the Lal Masjid raid, there have been several suicide bombing incidents in which over 250 people have been killed. This course will most certainly alienate the civilian society further as they now see General Musharraf and the Pakistan Army as the primary cause for the current socio-political mess. Three, if General Musharraf becomes too much of a burden, he may be replaced in an in-house Army shuffle. The new Army Chief will then have two choices (a) to impose an emergency and continue Army rule, or (b) form an interim government with civilian participation with a view to holding free and fair elections and restoration of democracy. My hunch is that the new incumbent is likely to choose the latter course. That reminds us of the graffiti
which appeared on a Karachi wall in 1990, “We apologise for this temporary democratic interruption. Normal martial law will be resumed shortly.” One hopes that in the interest of Pakistani society and stability in the region, the next interruption will be permanent and not temporary!n The writer, a former Chief of Army Staf, is currently President, ORF Institute of Security Studies, New Delhi.
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After Potter, pots
Around
the time bibliophiles had grabbed their copies of the latest Potter, other residents were making a grab for things more real than surreal — pots. Whilst the speed-readers were hastily turning the leaves of the bestseller, the latter displayed briskness in making a go for actual leaves. It was the recent demolitions of nurseries around our city that afforded them a free run of green wealth. Thankfully though, their free-for-all didn’t involve an element of stealth. Else, they’d have given some Norfolk bulb thieves a run for their money. For, the more enterprising ones in this British hotbed of plant lifting are known to uproot over a 1000 flower bulbs in a go and some have even scooped up as many as 18 crates of budding booty. Our local lushness-lusting populace can actually count itself lucky, or unlucky, that it made its way to the verdant terra firma and not to the virtual soil of YouTube, where an unsuspecting guy taking away plants from a Wal-Mart store landed. Of course, our home-grown plant lovers came with all the trappings of respectability, if not restraint, going by the convoy of luxury cars that converged at the razed spots. That the well-heeled as much as the pedestrians were the ones to scoot with the green loot may not have made it a class act. But then the fact that they were all in such a rush to get their homes lush pointed to a ground reality: Their latent drive for greening. Ah, that should send the greening gurus into overdrive. Organising more plantation drives. Or even driving plants right to the doorstep of the ecologically inclined. There, environmentalists are getting all heated up about depleting green cover and global warming, and here, practically a whole town was trudging to grab a slice of greenery. All it took to make these botanical booty-builders go green with envy was the potted excess amassed by fellow loaders. Therein perhaps lies the message of this horticultural rampage: Gimme Green. Sow, shall the wish be
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Aim for nuclear fuel,
not technology One
of the major reasons cited for India’s pursuance of the nuclear deal with the US is that of the technology needed to expand India’s nuclear programme to meet growing energy demands. There has, however, been very little discussion in the public domain on the merits of the technologies that India should use and what our strategy should be to expand our nuclear power generation capacity. There have been two routes developed for nuclear power generation. The Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR), which use natural uranium as fuel with heavy water as moderator, and the Light Water Reactor (LWR) using enriched uranium as fuel with ordinary water as the moderator. In view of the technological and manufacturing capabilities available in India today, there is a strong case to continue with our PHWR power generation plants and our three-phase programme. If we see the situation in the US post-World War II, two major factors influenced the US choice of LWRs. The first was the existence of large facilities for the enrichment of uranium, which had been constructed during the war for weapons purposes. The second major factor was the US Navy’s decision to develop light water-moderated enriched uranium reactors for submarine propulsion. Canada did not possess facilities for enrichment of U-235 and did not plan to construct such facilities for nuclear weapon purposes. There was thus a major incentive to develop a nuclear power system which could utilise natural, un-enriched uranium. Canada has since continued with the basic CANDU (Canada deuterium uranium) design. With time the Canadians have successfully increased fuel efficiency and the further broadening of fuel resources including MOX and Thorium. India’s situation today is very much like the Canadian case of developing a programme optimised for energy generation with limited uranium reserves, and moving towards a closed cycle based on thorium, a resource we hold in large quantities. There seems to be no rationale to deviate from this programme. We have today overcome the teething problems associated with this technology, with capacity factors of 80 per cent or so during recent years, an excellent performance even with respect to international standards. The designs of these reactors have progressively improved with our own operating experience and that abroad. The PHWR is the most efficient of all reactors using uranium. It uses about 15 per cent less uranium than the Pressurised LWRs for each MW of electricity produced. Use of natural uranium widens the source of supply and makes fuel fabrication easier. They can be fuelled with a number of other low fissile content fuels, including spent fuel from LWRs. This reduces dependency on uranium in the event of future supply shortages and price increases. The fuel getting most attention today is the MOX fuel (Mixed Oxide fuel) – a mixture of natural uranium and plutonium. A study in the US recommended, for overwhelming technical reasons, adoption of PHWR technology for power generation – but the pressure from the US Navy and the enriched-uranium mid-seventies lobby scuttled this change. India has with great clarity adopted PHWR reactors in the first phase and is moving on to the Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) using plutonium-based fuels; and finally, in the third phase, towards advanced nuclear power systems for utilising thorium. There is another technology aspect of the Indo-US Nuclear deal, which is to do with “reprocessing”. To sustain the FBR programme, availability of plutonium-based fuels is critical. Plutonium is produced by the nuclear reactor itself, so that any power generation reactor that India invests in must provide for the separation of plutonium from the spent fuel. At Tarapur, reprocessing was denied. While Plutonium has been used to date essentially for bomb-making, India requires it for the second stage FBR Programme for power generation. India requires refined plutonium for the purpose. This will necessitate “reprocessing” to be under full sovereign control to enable production of refined plutonium to the desired quality. Any suggestion for producing plutonium contaminated with nuclear poisons should be unacceptable to India. For our indigenous PHWRs, reprocessing technology has been well established and the required plutonium based fuel produced indigenously will feed the 500 MW prototype FBR now under construction. Considerable effort has gone into the resolution of differences in respect of reprocessing though the details of the agreed draft are as yet not known. We must, however, undertake a cost-benefit analysis to determine if we should enter this field of uncertainty at all. As far as power generation is concerned, then, uranium is our Achilles heel and not power generation reactor technology, or, for that matter, ‘capacity’, which should be easily upscalable. The Indo-US nuclear deal should, thus, be viewed only as a relationship to obtain uranium. We don’t need a technological shift to a situation where we become dependant on enriched uranium. In any case, whatever be the fate of the Indo-US Nuclear deal, we should redouble our efforts to mine the vastly superior uranium deposits available in Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh, whatever be the cost in terms of arriving at a compensation package for resettling affected people in these states. It is possible to meet all environmental concerns and we should not allow motivated propaganda to come in the way of our national energy security concerns. |
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Azim Husain, a champion of India
LONDON – Azim Husain was a remarkable Indian. He took his opposition to the partition of India to an incredible, selfless level. As the British withdrew from the sub-continent, he opted for India, despite his family assets and most of his relatives being located at Lahore. Till his last breath, he remained steadfast in his belief that the creation of Pakistan was wrong. He passed away in London at the age of 93 on 21 July after a brief illness. Husain was the third son of Sir Fazli Husain, leader of the Unionist party and chief minister of united Punjab, who was an uncompromising opponent of the vivisection of India. But Sir Fazli died young; and as the carving up of the country approached, Azim was in a dilemma. Like his father, he graduated from Cambridge University. He was also called to the bar from Lincoln’s Inn. Finally, he was selected for the then much sought after Indian Civil Service at the age of 23. In 1947, while fellow Muslims overwhelmingly joined Pakistan, Husain was anxious to do just the opposite, as he was convinced his father would have wanted him to. He approached Jawaharlal Nehru, whom he knew personally and who was already prime minister in the interim government established in 1946. The Pundit in his philosophical style elaborated on the pros and cons, but left the decision to Husain. Vallabbhai Patel, was, however, more emphatic. As home minister, he was Husain’s ultimate boss, for he was, then, posted at the information ministry, over which the former had additional charge. Patel conveyed in no uncertain terms that the question of him going over to Pakistan did not arise and gave him his personal assurance of protection in India. Husain, who was posted in Jammu & Kashmir and worked closely with Sheikh Abdullah, generally refuted criticism of Nehru about the latter’s offer of a ceasefire and plebiscite at the United Nations after the Indian army had repulsed Pakistan’s infiltration of the state in 1947-48. His contention was India at that juncture would have won a referendum hands down, given the outstanding popularity of Abdullah at the time. Pakistan knew this, he claimed, and, therefore, deliberately did not withdraw its armed forces from the province – a pre-condition to the proposed ascertaining of public opinion. After independence, Husain was assigned to the Indian Foreign Service. When Deputy High Commissioner in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he settled the contentious division of priceless India Library books, records and resources in London with a sister’s husband, Manzoor Qadir, then foreign minister of Pakistan. Later, serving at the Ministry of External Affairs, he signed the Rann of Kutch agreement with another brother-in-law, Arshad Hussain, who was then the Pakistani High Commissioner in India. When he was India’s ambassador in Egypt in the 1960s and concurrently accredited to Lebanon, his brother, Naseem happened to be Pakistan’s head of mission at Beirut. His transfer to Cairo occurred after he was a little tired of his long stint in London. Once seeing off Nehru at the airport, he requested a change. Within days, this was approved, but Vijaylakhsmi Pandit, the prime minister’s sister and then High Commissioner, was displeased Husain had sought the move. Her whimsical ways was a reason for his application. His efforts for India included arguing India’s opposition to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty at the United Nations. In 1970, after having served as Secretary in the MEA, he became Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth for eight years. Thereafter, he retired to the British capital’s leafy Hampstead Garden suburb with his charming wife, companion and source of strength for 63 years, Nusrat ever beside him. But he would get frequently agitated about India not sending out forceful enough signals on Kashmir. His advocated that Muslim legislators in India should pass a resolution to declare that people of their faith in J & K were nothing but part and parcel of Indian Muslims . He would insist upon this to Indians who called on him. Natwar Singh was the last External Affairs Minister to visit him. Husain was a pessimist regarding peace between India and Pakistan. He refused to believe that the Pakistani military will ever reach a settlement with India as this would render it redundant. In adherence to his wishes, he was laid to rest at a military cemetery in Surrey, created at the time of World War II. |
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Defence Notes To
help reduce the pressure on the civil aviation sector due to increased number of flights and operators, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has opened up five air routes for civilian over-flights and has offered all its airfields for joint use. The IAF has accorded its clearance for five international ATS (air traffic service) routes to pass through its area of operations, so that the flight times are shortened, leading to savings in time and fuel. According to Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major, this had been done keeping in mind the ‘open sky policy’. Watch hours at some airfields have been extended beyond normal timings to meet the demands of scheduled civil flights, he said in an interview to a defence magazine. Currently, there are 19 IAF airfields from where scheduled civil flights operate.
Sappers’ saga With an aim to create a pictorial document of the trials and tribulations of the corps of engineers, two coffee table books – Sappers’ Contribution in Nation Building and Sappers in Disaster Mitigation – have been compiled under the patronage of the engineer-in-chief and senior Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Engineers, Lt Gen B S Dhaliwal. These two books were released recently by the senior-most sapper officer – and erstwhile engineer-in-chief – Lt Gen K N Dubey and junior-most sapper officer Lt Prabha Shankar Ojha, at a function attended by a large number of corps of engineer officers, both retired and serving.
Literacy mission The National Cadet Corps (NCC) has embarked on a mission to spread literacy in collaboration with UNICEF and the Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry, through the youth literacy programme ‘Each One Teach One’. The aim of the mission is to augment the national flagship education programme ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ and ensure that illiterate youngsters, girls in particular, reach functional literacy, by utilising NCC cadet facilitators with teaching and community contact skills. As a pilot programme, NCC would mobilise senior division and senior wing cadets as facilitators and target 4,000 illiterate youngsters in four states. This would later be extended to other states across the country. UNICEF would provide funds to the HRD Ministry for study materials and technical support and training to the facilitators.
Games torch The torch of the Military World Games was lit at Leh earlier in the week by Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju and was handed over to the leader of EME Cycle Rally Team, which will carry it right up to Kanyakumari. The cycling expedition carrying the flame will cover a distance of 4249 kms in just 20 days. The torch will reach Delhi on August 5. The 4th CISM Military World Games will be held in Hyderabad and Mumbai between October 14 and 21. Nearly 100 countries are expected to participate. |
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