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Slap for CBI Broader Asia |
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Adieu, Ainie Apa
Deal with the US
Just friends
Drugs trade undermines global security Dateline Washington Punjab pensioners seek parity
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Slap for CBI THE acquittal of the former Union Coal Minister, Mr Shibu
Soren, and four others by the Delhi High Court in the Shashi Nath Jha murder case once again brings to the fore the glaring inadequacies in the criminal justice system. In particular, the acquittals are an example of the shoddy manner in which the Central Bureau of Investigation had investigated the case from the very beginning. Incidentally, the ruling is among a series of setbacks suffered by the CBI recently — its failure in the Argentine court to extradite Bofors kingpin Ottavio Quottrocchi to India for trial and its poor handling of the Taj Corridor case involving the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Miss
Mayawati, being two specific examples. The High Court Bench consisting of Mr Justice
R.S. Sodhi and Mr Justice H.R. Malhotra has not only slammed the CBI for its “miserable” failure to prove the case but also ruled that Mr Soren’s conviction by the trial court was “far from convincing”. In December last, a Delhi trial court had convicted the JMM leader to life imprisonment for Mr Jha’s abduction and murder. Mr Jha was allegedly murdered in May 1994 as he had knowledge about the money reportedly received by the JMM MPs, including Mr
Soren, from the ruling Congress party to vote in favour of its minority government in Parliament in 1993. Mr Soren had challenged the verdict in the High Court claiming that there was no evidence that the body recovered by the CBI from the crime spot was that of Mr
Jha. Interestingly, Mr Soren was denied bail following the Additional Solicitor-General’s observation that “the criminal traits in him cannot be completely ignored”. The High Court ruling raises serious questions about the CBI’s professional competence and commitment to probe high-profile cases thoroughly and fairly. Clearly, there was no effective coordination between the prosecution and the investigation wings during Mr Soren’s trial. To ensure a more effective curative mechanism, the Centre should bifurcate prosecution from investigation. The recommendation for a Director of Public Prosecution, completely independent of political and bureaucratic control, also merits attention. The criminal justice system should ensure that the trial of an accused is swift and punishment for a criminal is certain. Mr Soren’s case dragged on in the courts for 13 years. And, yet, the case failed in the High Court. What a pity! |
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Broader Asia IF Japan, a key member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG), says that it will “participate positively” during the coming discussions among the NSG members on the Indo-US nuclear deal, this should not be viewed with pessimism. No Japanese leader can afford to be categorical in his offer of help to India at the powerful grouping because of the sensitivity of the Japanese with regard to nuclear matters. It is, therefore, not surprising that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not shed light on the nuclear deal when he addressed MPs in the Central Hall of Parliament on Wednesday. But he expressed his keenness on taking Indo-Japanese relations to a new high through his vision for a “broader Asia”. Despite the Japanese difficulty in striking a balance between India’s need for nuclear energy to meet its increasing demand for power and the Japanese reservations for anything that is nuclear, some of the business representatives accompanying Mr Abe are senior executives of companies dealing in nuclear energy technology. The Japanese companies are known for their “cutting edge” nuclear know-how, far superior than that developed by the US. Statements made by senior Japanese officials indicate that Tokyo may not be averse to doing civilian nuclear business with India once the India-US nuclear deal becomes a reality. The matter may come up for discussion in the Japanese parliament in the near future. The Japanese Prime Minister wants to develop a closer relationship with India encompassing a number of areas, including infrastructure development, as he mentioned while launching the India-Japan Partnership Forum in New Delhi on Tuesday. He expressed the hope that the Forum would facilitate an early signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement being negotiated by the two countries. Japan’s immediate interest is in investing in the
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and other such mega projects. Japan is the fifth major investor in India. The number of Japanese companies — as many as 480 — having set up shop in India has gone up by 50 per cent in just one year. Mr Abe rightly said that the speed of improvement in the relations between the two Asian giants had been “unprecedented”. The two countries can gain enormously from each other as Japan is in search of investment destinations for expanding its overseas business and India needs latest technology and investment from wherever possible.
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Adieu, Ainie Apa THERE are some three generations of literature lovers who have read and admired Quarratulain Haider’s Urdu novels and short stories. In fact, many of them are convinced that the modern age of Urdu novel started with her magnum opus, Aag ka
Darya. For all these fans and admirers, her death at the age of 80 comes as a personal loss because hardly anyone can step into the oversized shoes of this grand old, erudite dame. Ainie
Apa, as she was known widely, exuded the old-world charm of Muslim aristocracy, although she would have hated to be identified with any religion. She was far too cosmopolitan to be confined to any one religion, country or even culture. If her magic worked on several generations of readers, her characters too spanned several centuries, none more than Aag ka
Darya, which straddled the period right from the BC era to modern times with consummate ease. The Jnanpeeth Award winner was one of the few writers who used the historical backdrop so extensively. Accurate detailing and research that went into her work were remarkable. Partition was one event which touched her sensitive psyche deeply and figures in her writing prominently. The theme of inclusive, composite cultures, too, occurs repeatedly. Another leitmotif is the predicament and poignant fate of her characters. The intricate detailing of their inner landscape put her in a class of her own as a writer. Since many of these characters were strong, independent and outspoken like the author, many thought that it was her personality that was reflected in these, although she denied this stoutly. What was remarkable in her case was that she was a perfectionist to the core. That is why when it came to translating Aag ka
Darya, she did not leave the job to any translator, but did it herself, in the process trans-creating this remarkable novel. The translated work is a modern classic in itself. Awards she won aplenty. Criticism also came her way constantly, because the thoughts she expressed were unpalatable to the traditionalists. She pressed on regardless, for as long as she had the physical strength.
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It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,/ And left thee all her lovely hues. —
W. H. Davies |
Deal with the US
Never
in independent India's history has a foreign policy issue been so heatedly and comprehensively debated as the July 2005 Indo-US Agreement that seeks to end not just American but also global nuclear sanctions against India. The acrimonious exchanges between supporters and detractors of the 2005 agreement precipitated a political crisis with the Left parties voicing concern over the Hyde Act passed by the US Congress that legislates an end to the existing sanctions against India and about what the Left refers to as a "strategic alliance" with the US. Why is it important to sign an agreement with the US on nuclear cooperation, given the manner in which the US unilaterally abrogated a solemn agreement with us to supply nuclear fuel for the Tarapur power plant, because we were unwilling to give up our nuclear option? The answer to this question lies in the fact that since the Pokhran nuclear test of 1974 successive US administrations have pursued a concerted effort to coerce us to "cap, roll-back and eliminate" our nuclear weapons programme. This effort included putting together a cartel of 45 countries in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to join the US in denying us access to nuclear technology for power generation. Despite this, we have built our own nuclear reactors and are on the way to developing the capabilities to build indigenous fast breeder reactors using indigenous resources of Thorium ore. This process will be facilitated and made self-sustaining if we have large resources of plutonium from power reactors. Unfortunately, our capabilities to develop nuclear energy are seriously constrained by the shortage of indigenous resources of uranium ore. Moreover, is it desirable for a country like India to face the international odium of being subject to sanctions by 45 countries? What India is attempting is not merely an end to American but global sanctions which partners like Russia and France would like to end. Over the past few years it has been evident that international sanctions against us will not end unless, in the first instance, the United States withdraws these sanctions. This has been conveyed to us by good friends like Russia and France. Therefore, when President George Bush took the decision to move to end US sanctions, following consultations with countries like France, it was only natural for us to grab the opportunity. Opposition to the July 2005 Agreement on peaceful uses of nuclear energy is as strong in the US as it is in India. But even if there are shortcomings in the so-called 123 Agreement, it is the only key to ending nuclear sanctions against India imposed by 45 countries. NSG members are not bound by US law on their nuclear policies and will not adopt every measure the Americans adopt under the Hyde Act. India has held extensive consultations with NSG members. The country most actively lobbying against the end of NSG sanctions on India is China, with its faithful partner in nuclear proliferation, Pakistan, echoing Chinese objections. There are three issues that need to be considered in any agreement we sign on nuclear energy cooperation. Does the agreement contain guarantees for uninterrupted supply of fuel for the lifetime of imported reactors? Can we reprocess the spent fuel for use in future fast-breeder reactors? Does the agreement in any way constrain our strategic nuclear weapons programme, including our right and freedom to test nuclear weapons, should the need arise? The State Department spokesman asserted: "The proposed agreement has provisions in it that in the event of a nuclear test by India then all cooperation is terminated.” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted: "The agreement does not in any way affect India's right to undertake future nuclear tests if necessary.” The US spokesman soon had to backtrack, as his assertion was not entirely correct. Under Article 14 the US could seek termination of the agreement and return of nuclear fuel in the event of a nuclear test by India. But the entire process would involve detailed consultations with the US giving due consideration to India's security imperatives. Thus, if India was to carry out a nuclear test in response to actions by nuclear armed neighbours, the US would find it difficult to justify or implement sanctions. India will, however, not be able to internationally justify any nuclear test and avoid worldwide condemnation and sanctions with or without the 123 Agreement, if it unilaterally and suddenly conducts a nuclear test at a time when every other country in the world is eschewing nuclear testing. Nuclear sanctions will go only after India concludes a safeguards agreement with the IAEA, the NSG ends global sanctions on India and the US Congress approves the 123 Agreement. It is at that stage that Parliament has to exercise maximum vigilance on how future imports for nuclear energy are undertaken. Section 5.6 of the 123 Agreement provides for India to maintain stockpiles of nuclear fuel that can meet the lifetime requirements of imported reactors in the event of termination of US supplies. An action plan for the maintenance of reserve stockpiles has to be drawn up. Any agreement for the import of reactors from the US should contain specific provisions that we reserve the right to import fuel for US-supplied reactors from countries other than the US. As a further safeguard, the Atomic Energy Act could be amended to provide for foreign equity participation in any imported nuclear power plant. No reactors should be imported from the US till procedures for reprocessing spent fuel are approved by the US Congress. Contrary to claims by government functionaries, we do not have an unfettered "right" to reprocessing under the 123 Agreement. The end of sanctions should not be construed as an open licence for excessive imports. Parliament will have to ensure that a substantial proportion of our reactors are indigenous even though they may be run on imported uranium ore. Indigenous reactors are more cost-efficient than imported ones. Energy security will be enhanced only when we serialise the production of indigenous fast-breeder thorium-fuelled reactors. But, at the same time we have to realise that any future administration in the US will not be as forthcoming as that of President George Bush in ending nuclear sanctions. International sanctions will end only after we negotiate an India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA, and the NSG decides to withdraw sanctions, overcoming China's opposition. Parliament should finally accept or reject the terms set by the US and the NSG only after the entire process of ending sanctions is completed. It makes little sense to halt or delay the process at this
stage.
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Just friends
IT was 1981. The Brigade Commander was angry: “Give me an explanation as to what sort of a ‘youngster’ you have sent to Republic Day camp”. The officer was alleged to be “pestering” a college girl in an NCC contingent. This was against armed forces’ orders regarding “fraternisation” with locals. She was a Muslim from J&K and had complained! As CO, I got two days to sort out. I had 2 Lt Boota “marched up” to me. The simple fellow said in his defence that during rehearsals, she used to smile and had even given him a chit with her name! I saw it too, but will just refer to her as: “D.A.”. Boota had gone to the Visitors Tent twice and spoken to her also! He suggested I follow him that evening in civvies like any visiting “parent”, and watch how she smiled and spoke to him! If I still found him guilty, I could punish him! Uncommon method but my hunch told me to follow it. As I watched, they spoke nicely to each other! After he left, as “a waiting parent”, I spoke to her for a while: then about Boota. She said they were just friends. I told her my identity and suggested if she could withdraw her complaint as she had told me, they were just friends! She agreed. I rushed to Additional DG (NCC), so that the matter did not escalate! But there was a shock: a “love letter” from Boota, which the General, an old friend, showed me! I gave him a gist of my visit and said that probably, after teasing by other girls, she may have complained! We agreed the case be dropped provided: Boota is withdrawn and does NOT visit the camp or call/meet/write to her again; and the girl writes to her Commandant that they are just friends and that the complaint be treated as withdrawn! And, most important for me: ADG immediately gives a letter for my Brigade Commander that the case is closed! Thus it was that love at first sight got nipped! Boota is married and waiting to be a Brigadier! Seven years later, I saw “D.A.” by chance, when I was outside Nishat Baug, Srinagar! It was she who recognised me and smiled! I was careful; I just nodded and did not even
smile! |
Drugs trade undermines global security Despite the presence of 35,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, the drug trade there is going gangbusters. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Afghan opium production in 2006 rose a staggering 57 percent over the previous year. Next month, the United Nations is expected to release a report showing an additional 15 per cent jump in opium production this year while highlighting the sobering fact that Afghanistan now accounts for 95 percent of the world’s poppy crop. But the success of the illegal narcotics industry isn’t confined to Afghanistan. Business is booming in South America, the Middle East, Africa and across the United States. Consumers worldwide are taking more narcotics and criminals are making fatter profits than ever before. The syndicates that control narcotics production and distribution reap the profits from an annual turnover of $400 billion to $500 billion. And terrorist organisations such as the Taliban are using this money to expand their operations and buy ever more sophisticated weapons, threatening Western security. In the past two years, the drug war has become the Taliban’s most effective recruiter in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s Muslim extremists have reinvigorated themselves by supporting and taxing the countless peasants who are dependent one way or another on the opium trade, their only reliable source of income. The Taliban is becoming richer and stronger by the day, especially in the east and south of the country. The “War on Drugs” is defeating the “war on terror.” For the past three years, I have been traveling the world researching a book on the jaw-dropping rise of transnational organised crime since the collapse of communism and the advent of globalisation. I have witnessed how a ferocious drug gang mounted an assault on Sao Paolo, closing the city for three days as citizens cowered at home. I have watched Bedouins shift hundreds of kilos of cocaine across the Egyptian-Israeli border on the backs of camels, and observed how South Africa and West Africa have become an international narcotics distribution hub. The trade in illegal narcotics begets violence, poverty and tragedy. And wherever I went around the world, gangsters, cops, victims, academics and politicians delivered the same message: The war on drugs is the underlying cause of the misery. Everywhere, that is, except Washington, where a powerful bipartisan consensus has turned the issue into a political third rail. The problem starts with prohibition, the basis of the war on drugs. The theory is that if you hurt the producers and consumers of drugs badly enough, they’ll stop doing what they’re doing. But instead, the trade goes underground, which means that the state’s only contact with it is through law enforcement, i.e. busting those involved, whether producers, distributors or users. So vast is the demand for drugs in the United States, the European Union and the Far East that nobody has anything approaching the ability to police the trade. Prohibition gives narcotics huge added value as a commodity. Once traffickers get around the business risks – getting busted or being shot by competitors – they stand to make vast profits. A confidential strategy report prepared in 2005 for British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s cabinet and later leaked to the media offered one of the most damning indictments of the efficacy of the drug war. Law enforcement agencies seize less than 20 percent of the 700 tons of cocaine and 550 tons of heroin produced annually. According to the report, they would have to seize 60 to 80 percent to make the industry unprofitable for the traffickers. Supply is so plentiful that the price of a gram of heroin is plummeting in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom. According to the UNODC, the street price of a gram of cocaine in the United States is now less than $70, compared with $184 in 1990. Adjusted for inflation, that’s a threefold drop. International mobsters, unlike terrorists, don’t seek to bring down the West; they just want to make a buck. But these two distinct species breed in the same swamps. In areas notorious for crime, such as the tri-border region connecting Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, or in the blood-diamond conflict zones such as Sierra Leone and Liberia, gangsters and terrorists habitually cooperate and work alongside one another. British Columbia is now home to the greatest number of organised-crime syndicates anywhere in the world. Could anything replace the war on drugs? There’s no easy answer. In May, the Senlis Council, a group that works on the opium issue in Afghanistan, argued that “current counter-narcotics policies ... have focused on poppy eradication, without providing farmers with viable alternatives.” Instead of eradication, the council, which is made up of senior politicians and law enforcement officials from Canada and Europe, concludes that Afghan farmers should be permitted to grow opium that can then be refined and distributed for medical purposes. (That’s not going to happen, as the United States has recently reiterated its commitment to poppy eradication.) Others argue that the only way to minimise the criminality and social distress that drugs cause is to legalise narcotics so that the state may exert proper control over the industry. It needs to be taxed and controlled, they insist. The writer is a former BBC correspondent
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Dateline Washington A consummate diplomat who has held key postings through successive governments with varying political ideologies, Sen has always weighed his words carefully when speaking to the press on sensitive diplomatic issues. In a recent interaction with this correspondent, he went to great pains to ensure that the transcript of our conversation was accurate and uncontroversial right down to the final punctuation. So it was with some surprise that I read about his purported criticism of the Left party leaders as running round like headless chicken looking for a comment here or comment there. Sen had apparently made those comments to a news portal in Washington over the weekend. As the Left and BJP pounced on these remarks, he clarified that it was the press he had described as running around in search of comments on the US-India nuclear deal. This would not be the first time that Sen has expressed dismay at the press for foraging for a juicy quote just to make headlines. A protagonist in the arduous negotiations over the civilian nuclear debate Sen has been a frequent focus of requests for interviews. Many of these requests, even those from his close journalist friends, he has firmly turned down. In his interaction with this correspondent he made it a point to note that he had shunned past interview requests and would not start making any exceptions now. Ours was merely an interaction, not an interview, he emphasised. During the course of our conversation he noted with dismay that the press unrealistically expected news to break at every turn in the nuclear negotiations. This deal was unusual in the fact that it was the first time an agreement of this magnitude had been negotiated in the glare of public opinion, which made the negotiators’ job even harder. The press is running around looking for comments at every step, Sen complained at the time. Little did he know that a few weeks later similar comments, purportedly taken out of context, would return to haunt him. Sen’s critics have begun sharpening their knives and soon after the controversy erupted started gathering past comments by the envoy they viewed as being irresponsible. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told angry members of Parliament on Tuesday that Sen assured him that certain comments, either deliberately or through misunderstanding, were published by the correspondent. Sen sent a rejoinder to Rediff.com saying he had had an off-the-record conversation with the correspondent giving him some assessments on the nuclear deal. “A number of the comments were, however, either misunderstood or misquoted or quoted out of context. For instance, I did not say that the Hyde Act could not be renegotiated, but said that the bilateral agreement could not, in my view, be renegotiated. With reference to the Hyde Act, I had expressed my assessment it would not be amended in the foreseeable future,” he said. He said that some of the comments attributed to him were “made by me in my personal capacity and do not reflect the positions of the government. I fully recognize that such personal views, even in a private conversation, should have been expressed with better judgement and due decorum.” Rediff India Abroad Managing Editor Aziz Haniffa, who interviewed Sen, stood by his story. At no point of the conversation did the ambassador specify that it was off-the-record or even on background, he said. Officials in New Delhi and Washington have both invested numerous hours of their lives debating the finer points of the historic U.S.-India nuclear deal. As criticism from the Left in New Delhi threatens to undo this hard work it is only natural that nerves may fray and officials on both sides have vented their frustrations – with the crucial caveat: off the record. Sen cited his headless chicken comment, calling it “a tactless observation on some of my media friends, and most certainly not with reference to any Hon'ble Member of Parliament.” |
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Punjab pensioners seek parity Though the fifth Punjab Pay Commission was constituted by the Punjab Government in December 2006, its terms of reference have not been notified so far. Presuming that this would include pension and other retirements of new and old pensioners, like in the case of the fourth commission, a few suggestions can be put forth for consideration. Pension should be commuted at 60 per cent instead of the present rate of 50 per cent. It should be based on the emoluments last drawn or the last 10 months average, whichever is more, as in the case of states like Karnataka, Orissa, Tripura, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Studies have calculated that post-retirement income requirement would be about 65 per cent of pre-retirement income. Full pension should be allowed for service of 30 years as in the case of Tamil Nadu, as against the prevailing 33 years. Because of the tendency to acquire higher qualifications before joining service, and age relaxation to certain classes, many categories of employees do not complete 33 years of service before retirement on superannuation. Additional pension at the rate of 0.5 per cent for each completed half year of service beyond 30 years, should also be allowed, as already recommended by the fifth central pay commission and the fourth Punjab pay commission. Family pension should be revised with the enhanced rate at 60 per cent of pay and the normal rate at 50 per cent of pay. Unmarried daughters should be eligible for family pension beyond the age of 25 years as in the case of widowed/divorced daughters. MLA pensioners have been allowed old age increase in pension at five per cent and 10 per cent of pension on attaining the age of 65 years and 75 years respectively, and 15 per cent at 80 years. The same should be extended to government civil pensioners on their attaining 80 years. The case for parity in this matter is glaring because the inexorable march of time spares neither babu nor MLA. The decision of the government that the element of the dearness pension would not count for grant of travel concession in the case of pre-01.04.2004 pensioners has created an anomaly. Two government employees drawing the same rate of pay, one retiring before 01.04.2004 and the other retiring after, would receive the travel concession at different rates, with the latter receiving more. The different dispensation is indefensible. Travel concession should also be allowed to family pensioners as recommended by the third Punjab pay commission. The amount being allowed at present as travel concession, equal to one month’s basic pension after every two years, is too meagre to enable aged pensioners to travel in comfort. It is just a fraction of what is allowed to serving employees. It should be raised to two months’ pension after every block of two years. The writer is president of the Government Pensioners Association, Chandigarh
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