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Cadres turn criminals Vote at gunpoint |
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Corruption as crime
Tiger terrorism
Racing for life
The
losing battle of a dictator China
miscalculating on Taiwan Delhi Durbar
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Cadres turn criminals IF what has been done by the CPM cadres during the past few days to grab Nandigarm from the Trinamool Congress-backed Bhumi Ucchhed Pratirodh Committee had been done by any other party, the communists would have been shouting blue murder from rooftops and demanding the government’s resignation. But then, having one set of rules for themselves and another for the rest of the world is nothing new for the leftists. CPM cadres backed by hired goons killed and raped with impunity to recapture the area which was out of bounds for them for the past 11 months. The “red terror” supplanted the “white terror” because it was backed all the way by the district administration and the police. Criminal elements were given a free hand during the reign of terror. But this time the CPM seems to have bitten far more than what it can chew. It is not only the firebrand Mamata Banerjee who is protesting vehemently saying that there is no law and order in the state, but even the CPM’s partners — the RSP, the Forward Block and the CPI — are horrified by the carnage and have washed their hands of its dark deeds and formed a front against it. There may not be a clean break but the fissures are too wide for comfort. The West Bengal Governor has already expressed his strong resentment over the bloodbath. Interestingly, many intellectuals, too, have come out openly against the terror let loose by the CPM. The dividing line between the party and the government is virtually non-existent in West Bengal. But this time the blame cannot be put at the door of the Chief Minister alone. Central leaders of the CPM have also been making statements which clearly show that the action had their active support. What has happened is totally unacceptable. The Prime Minister must step in, unmindful of the fact that his government survives because of the support of the CPM. There comes a stage when principles become far more important than prudence.
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Vote at gunpoint THE
internal and external pressures (mostly from the US) on Gen Pervez Musharraf
have forced him to declare that the general elections in Pakistan will be held
by January 9. This is, no doubt, a welcome development as the polls will be
held as originally scheduled. The tenure of Pakistan's National Assembly will conclude on November 15 and that of the Provincial Assemblies on November 20. As he has promised, the caretaker government will also be set up soon. Thus, the fear of the elections getting postponed after the declaration of the emergency seems to have waned. The announcement by the General has come without any specific date fixed for the withdrawal of the emergency and the restoration of the constitution, replaced by the Provisional Constitutional Order. The polls will have no credibility if they are held with the state of emergency remaining intact. It will be a farcical exercise. There can be no level-playing field in such a situation. In the interest of fair play, the General must end the emergency, withdraw the curbs imposed on the media and restore the original position of the Supreme Court and the High Courts before holding the elections. He should release all the arrested political leaders, lawyers, journalists, human rights activists and other members of civil society. The General’s intentions do not appear to be pious. While reiterating his so-called promise to take off his uniform after the validation of his election as President for another term by the apex court, he blamed the higher judiciary, particularly then Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, for creating a condition for keeping the constitution in "abeyance" and the imposition of the emergency. This means it is futile to hope for an independent judiciary under the circumstances. After all, the General needs both a loyal judiciary and an emergency dispensation to perpetuate his rule. The emergency will help him ensure that the ruling PML (Q), or the King's Party as it is derisively called, is able to win enough seats to remain in power at the federal level as well as in the provinces. It is difficult to believe that General Musharraf's scheme of things will be acceptable to the Opposition parties.
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Corruption as crime WHILE refusing to suspend the sentence of an accused who was awarded a five-year imprisonment by a trial court in a corruption case last week, the Delhi High Court made a very pithy observation that corruption could not be considered an ordinary crime. The comment implied that it was a very serious crime indeed. It is now for the nation to ponder over the fact why this serious crime is not being properly tackled. The reasons are not far to seek. First, far too many corrupt people have perfected the art of slipping past the vigilance net. Ironically, most of them are either themselves in the legislative or the executive wings or are armed with their proximity to men in these hallowed precincts. The investigating agencies have also become tools in their hands and prefer to go after only those who are not in the good books of the government. That is why corruption has become endemic. The old wisdom is that what cannot be cured must be ignored. Since there is a general feeling of helplessness, there is also a grudging bit of acceptance. In fact, the very definition of corruption is changing. The government servant who takes money for doing his work is not considered corrupt. The corrupt one is the one who takes the bribe and still does nothing. Ironically, some of the blame falls on the judiciary too. Since far too many criminals either go scot-free or get only nominal punishment, they are being further emboldened. The courts have to do serious introspection as to why this is happening and what can be done to apply correctives. It won’t do to lament that the laws of the land are lax. In that case, the legislature and the executive will also say that their hands are tied. Only a few days ago, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Justice A.P Shah said that a corrupt judicial system works not only to deny constitutional safeguards against basic human rights but also discriminates in the implementation of laws. Such candid talk should spur a cleansing in the judicial field also.
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We all labour against our own cure, for death is the cure of all diseases. — Thomas Browne
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Tiger terrorism THE targeted killing by the Sri Lankan Air
Force (SLAF) of S.P. Tamilchelvan, head of the political wing of the LTTE and the international face of the botched peace process, signals the virtual end of any prospect for a negotiated solution to the ethnic conflict. That is why there is much clarity today in Sri Lanka about the intentions and capabilities of the two warring sides. The Sri Lankan Government (SLG) is making no bones about the pursuit of a military solution while posturing with a political package to be offered once the Tigers have been weakened. High on morale and motivation, the deeply depleted Tigers are firmly resolved to securing Eelam. When the history of the Tigers is written it is they who will be blamed for two missed opportunities: for failing in 2000 after capturing the Elephant Pass to press home the attack on Jaffna which was up for grabs; and in 2002 to cash in on the peace process. There is one constant: Sinhalese competitive politics and lack of any southern consensus on power sharing. Since President Mahinda Rajapakse took charge two years ago, there is a rare unity of command between the government and the armed forces. The President’s brother and Defence Secretary, Mr Gothabaya Rajapakse, has turned the military around by impressive salary hikes and providing new respect and dignity to the services which has lowered desertion rates. The induction of two new Infantry Divisions and military hardware while doubling defence spending this year has given the military a renewed sense of confidence and morale reflected in the recent victories in the East. Through active diplomacy, the SLG has successfully isolated the Tigers internationally and seriously disrupted their diaspora network which shores up the flourishing business empire, the backbone of their enviable logistics chain to the North-East. By discreetly shifting the focus from the ethnic conflict to Tiger terrorism and giving it a global dimension, the SLG has secured considerable international sympathy and support. The war in the East was being described as humanitarian operations to liberate the people from the clutches of the Tigers. The establishment has convinced itself that, as in the East, terrorism can be defeated in the North as well with coordinated operations. While many foreign experts still accept the LTTE as the world’s most deadly and sophisticated terrorist group, the SLG believes it can and must be crushed. French counter-terrorism expert Gerard Chaliand has had to point out that this was not achievable. The government is citing its impressive 7.4 per cent economic growth rate to assert that it is possible both to fight terrorism and build the economy. Eliminating terrorism is the new buzzword, which echoed during the Track one and a half international conference on terrorism held last month in Colombo. The world’s who’s who on terrorism was invited. Not everyone agreed that the Tigers were a terrorist group. Predictably, there was no agreement over the definition of and the term “war” against terrorism. Awkward issues like human rights, torture, disappearances, and the need for military operations to be compatible with humanitarian law were skirted. Recently, a host of visiting senior UN officials have made adverse comments on the security of aid workers, the human rights record and the rule of law and justice in Sri Lanka. In some conferences on Sri Lanka, the Tigers are represented by proxy. Not in this one where they were at the receiving end. A few days before the conference, the Tigers had routed a military post at Yala, deep south in the country. The coup de grace was delivered in a daring ground and air assault on the second largest airbase at Anuradhapura within hours of the end of the conference — a Tiger riposte to the deliberations which showcased them as weak and shrivelled. The sheer audacity of the attack and its stunning execution devastated the base and, according to an authoritative account, destroyed or damaged 21 of the 24 aircraft, the biggest loss of the SLAF. Of the 20 Black Tigers, three were shot dead and 17 blew themselves up. The two Zlin 143 aircraft flew back safely to base, scoring their fourth air strike in seven months without losing an aircraft. The bold raid, which the establishment called an act of desperation, revealed serious holes in the low-level air defence and quick reaction capability. The precision bombing to take out Tamilchelvan was the SLAF’s revenge attack. The Navy has scored incredible successes against the Sea Tigers and destroyed all their big vessels. The Army has made the seizure on Thoppigala, the centerpiece of its victory in the East. The SLAF is out on daily bombing missions on land and at sea. The combined operations of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force have severely degraded the fighting capability of the Tigers. Their control of territory and operational capacities have diminished considerably. The LTTE’s elaborate local and international network of resource mobilisation yields nearly $400 million annually of which $8 million goes towards operational costs. Mr Shanaka Jayasekara from the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counterterrorism, MacQuarie University, Australia, has said that the government’s coordinated politico-military diplomatic offensive has reduced the LTTE’s resource mobilisation and supply chain capability by 60 to 75 per cent and that the Tigers would require 12 months to restore it to 50 per cent capacity. According to him, this gives the government a 12-to-18-month window of opportunity for reviving the political process, the last priority for the government. The government is fixated on militarily defeating the LTTE and squeezing it out of the two and half districts — Mannar, Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi — that they control. The government’s first priority has been the sanitization and security of Colombo which has been achieved. The Northern offensive involving three divisions appears to be moving simultaneously on two fronts. One is the clearance of the A 32 Coastal Highway from Mannar to Pooneryn as the alternate Main Supply Route (MSR) to Jaffna since the A 9 MSR runs through Tiger territory. This thrust will ensure that the LTTE’s 130 mm guns which shell Palaly airfield from Pooneryn are neutralised. The second front is directed at the heart of Wanni and has made at least three battalion-size incursions despite stiff resistance. Army Commander Gen Sarath Fonseka’s plan is to weaken and destroy the LTTE so that it becomes an unviable force. An all-out offensive on the North is fraught with danger for an already overextended Army. The All-Party Representative Committee (APRC), which is tasked with producing the political package, has gone into hibernation. It will be a miracle if it can deliver this year, a devolution framework with a Southern consensus as the UNP, the JVP and the TNA are outside the APRC. The notion of power sharing is kept alive to appease the international community. India is sticking to silent diplomacy: our position is well known; we do not favour a military solution and have told the government to move expeditiously towards a political package. Many Sri Lankan Tamils fear that the Rajapakse brothers who rule Sri Lanka are determined to wipe out the Tigers, systematically demerge the North-East and seriously dilute the political package. Ironically, the beleagured Tigers are their only hope now. Watch out for Prabhakaran’s November 27 Heroes’ Day
Speech.
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Racing for life ALL the world seemed to be there in the Delhi marathon in October. Some ran for money, some for a cause and some just for fun. I too, a long-time marathoner (in life), took part in this race. Two months before the event, I spread word among my fellow-marathoners O.P. Raju and Co to join hands (or feet). They agreed pronto. In order to put our best foot forward, we all started practising in right earnest. Some of us took leave from office. One week before zero hour, I went to collect the Bib Number, a must for taking part in the event. To my chagrin, I was told that my name had not been registered at all. The reason? I applied late. It was a first come, first served affair. However, I argued and threw my weight around. I was told to wait then by a gracious lady who was looking quite hassled by the long queue of prospective walkers, woggers, joggers, sprinters, marathoners and what have you. At the end of the day after a long wait, she called a colleague to help me out. That computer-savvy colleague checked the details and found that my name was there and so were other details but address was different and that was why my name had not been registered and in my place someone else had run away with the Bib No. I protested and somehow got the number at last. On the D-day, I made tracks for the place where marathon was to be run. I found a number of celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, et al. It was a different world. Many had come just for fun-nothing else. I saw a runner on skates, holding a long flute in his hands, skating away to glory. There was a girl running bare-foot. After having run for a while, I got tired and said “Hey Ram” a couple of times. As I kept saying it, a fellow-marathoner mouthed, “Aapki to lila hi nahin khatm ho rahi” (your ‘Ramlila’ is not ending). Some others just walked the distance provoking a traffic policeman to say, “Are you running or walking? If you can’t run, take a ‘gaadi’ and relax at home. Why make us block the traffic for you lazybones?” Irrespective of my failing energy, I ran as the game was worth the candle. There were many who were having the same “veni vidi vici” spirit. Those who could not make it resolved to do so next year for life itself is a
marathon.
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The losing battle
of a dictator At least I have the luxury of staying at home, though I cannot see anyone. But I can only watch, helpless, as this horror unfolds. The Musharraf government has declared martial law to settle scores with lawyers and judges. Hundreds of innocent Pakistanis have been rounded up. Human rights activists, including women and senior citizens, have been beaten by police. Judges have been arrested and lawyers battered in their offices and the streets. These citizens are our true assets: young, progressive and full of spirit. Many of them were trained to uphold the rule of law. They are being brutalized for seeking justice. Musharraf justified his draconian measures by saying he needed to be able to use all his might to fight the terrorists infecting our country. Yet the day after he declared an emergency, the Dawn newspaper reported that scores of terrorists were released by
the government. While tyranny was being unleashed on peaceful citizens, the notorious militant Fazalullah (also known as Maulana Radio) had seized the beautiful town of Madyan, according to the Daily Times, and hoisted his “Islamic” flag over buildings while the security forces surrendered. Musharraf has implied that militancy increased in Pakistan because of judicial interference in governance. But until this past March, the judiciary had yielded to all executive demands. Five years ago, the general dismissed the then-chief justice and his colleagues, charging that they were obstructing his process of democratization. What is democratic about a judiciary that’s
not independent? In recent days police have raided the home of the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association – his wife has gone into hiding – and the law chambers of two former presidents of the bar. Their clerks have been harassed. Military intelligence officers are interrogating leading attorneys. Meanwhile, unknown lawyers are being elevated to
the bench. Since Saturday, police officers have barged into my house twice after receiving (false) warnings that I had escaped. On seeing me, they sheepishly admitted they were misled. I have tried to make them understand the difference between people such as myself and terrorists. “If I did run away, how far would I go?” I asked them. “In any event, I am not likely to blow myself up around the corner.” One police officer said that he agreed but that his job was at greater risk if I got away than if a terrorist escaped the law. Terrorists, he pointed out, outnumber rights activists in our country. The officer argued that lawyers and judges hamper law enforcement. “How can we bring law and order if we cannot torture criminals? We must be given a free hand to deal with terrorists, and the chief justice has no business to ask us to produce them in courts. We are itching to lay our hands on all those judges who humiliated us for carrying out our duties,” he told me. When I asked how he knew who the terrorists were, he insisted that the intelligence was infallible. Yet he didn’t know I hadn’t escaped from my house. The international community is alarmed at Musharraf’s actions, but Pakistanis expected this. The Bush administration had built up the general as moderate and benign, but the true face of this regime has been exposed. A balanced picture of Pakistan had begun to emerge in recent weeks. Thousands turned out to greet Benazir Bhutto upon her return last month; Pakistanis were progressive-minded enough to elect a female political leader years ago. Hundreds of progressive-minded lawyers have rallied for democratic values. I welcome Bhutto’s call for the Pakistan People’s Party to join the
demonstrations. But Pakistan is threatened by Islamist militants, and our civil society suffers the worst of this creeping Talibanization. Woefully, the Musharraf regime is neither inclined to reverse this trend nor capable of doing so. No one has exact solutions, but there is virtual unanimity that Pakistan’s political leadership must take charge and that the military must cooperate with an elected civilian
government. Musharraf’s promises to hold elections by Feb. 15 or to resign from the army are a red herring. He has pledged before to give up his uniform and failed to follow through. Any election held under these circumstances will not be free and will only put the crisis on hold. Furthermore, militarization will kill the spirit of the progressive forces while boosting the terrorists’ morale. A transition to democracy is crucial, but unless freedom of the press and the judiciary’s independence are restored, any changes will remain toothless. It will be difficult to put Pakistan on the path to democracy, but we must begin now, before it is too late. The writer, a Pakistani lawyer under house arrest in Lahore, chairs the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan By arrangement with
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China
miscalculating on Taiwan Taiwan
is in a quandary. China is
watching like a hawk to prevent it from flapping its wings internationally by,
for instance, seeking membership of the United Nations. And the United States
is not helping as it doesn’t want to offend China. Washington is not keen on
Taiwan even holding a referendum to elicit the views of its people about UN
membership. China, on the other hand, is steadfast in regarding Taiwan as its territory. Therefore, any forward movement in Beijing-Taipei relationship has to be within this parameter. This was made clear by President Hu Jintao during the recently-concluded 17th Party Congress. He offered to hold peace talks with Taiwan but on the basis of one-China principle. This is old hat. And how did Taiwan’s political establishment react to it? The sharpest reaction to Hu’s offer came from President Chen Shui-bian. He told an interviewer, “Taiwan is an independent, sovereign country; Taiwan is not part of China, nor is Taiwan a local government of the People’s Republic of China.” Unlike Chen whose position about Taiwan’s independent status is blunt, Ma Ying-jeou, the presidential candidate of the opposition Nationalist Party (KMT), agrees in principle with the one-China principle but would like more leeway to interpret it differently, with some input about its future by the people of Taiwan. Frank Hsieh, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, is more circumspect. He is not against a peace agreement with China but not on Chinese terms. His circumspection reflects divisions in the ruling party with an eye to presidential election in March. It would appear that both Ma and Frank (in their different ways) want to maintain some creative ambiguity in any future talks with Beijing. But China is not for ambiguity. For the present, though, they are keen for Chen to go (now in his second and last term) who is hated with a passion in Beijing. In any case, Beijing seems to believe that time is on their side as far as Taiwan is concerned. And there are reasons for this, as they see it. First, Taiwan’s fractious politics gives them space to subvert its political processes to their advantage. They have been working hard on it by cultivating KMT leadership. Second, Taiwan’s businesses and its executives are lured by China’s large market. This is not only diverting capital and expertise to China but also creating a powerful constituency sympathetic to the China-connection. It is reported that Taiwanese investments on the mainland might be as high as $280 billion. Third, China is encouraged by its success in isolating Taiwan internationally. They increasingly believe that with China’s growing international clout, Taiwan would be even more isolated. And this should increase internal and external pressures on Taiwan for accommodation with the mainland. Fourth, with the United States over-stretched in the Middle East and its internal politics in an election mode, China has come to acquire important leverage over Washington in international politics. It has depended on Beijing to facilitate a deal with North Korea on its nuclear program (with question marks still about its future course), and is keen to enlist its help against Iran. In the circumstances, it is not keen on complicating its relations with Beijing on the Taiwan question. Hence, Taiwan is being pressured into not annoying or provoking China by promoting initiatives like a referendum on the UN membership. The US pressure on Taiwan would seem to reinforce China’s confidence that time is on their side. At the same time, China is not letting off its military threat to Taiwan by deploying an estimated 900 missiles targeting this island nation. Taiwan is in a sense beleaguered, though US commitment against a Chinese attack still holds. In the circumstances, no one can blame Taiwan if it is taking some measures to defend itself against China. According to some recent press reports, Taiwan is developing missiles to hit important industrial and military targets in China. It has already done a test run of such a cruise missile. Obviously, if it does develop and deploy such missiles, it will be a deterrent exercise to impress on China that there might be a cost for if it chose to attack Taiwan. The United States won’t be happy. But, at the same time, Washington is not happy with China either for deploying hundreds of missiles targeting Taiwan. Indeed, the US is worried about the expansion of China’s military power and the lack of transparency about it. The issue figured during Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates China-visit. Whatever happens, these reports of Taiwan’s counter measures have certainly rattled Beijing. A Chinese official spokesman warned “Taiwan authorities not to play with fire.” Because: “Whoever plays with fire will get burned.” The point, though, is that it is China which is playing with fire. They have deployed hundreds of missiles targeting Taiwan. They are threatening Taiwan with military invasion if it were to declare independence. They have passed domestic legislation to legitimize such military action on the ground that Taiwan is a part of China. And they are doing all this by disregarding the wishes of Taiwan’s 23-million people. Some Taiwanese opinion polls have suggested that 70 per cent of Taiwanese see themselves as Taiwanese and not Chinese, and 75 per cent think Taiwan is an independent and sovereign state. If that is the case, Beijing is up against grassroots opposition to any attempt by China to forcibly annex Taiwan. And if Taiwan is successfully able to create a strong deterrent military force (including deployment of missiles), China’s sense that time is on its side might turn out to be a gross miscalculation; especially when it has also to contend with the US commitment to help Taiwan defend itself if attacked by China.
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Delhi Durbar Every
time Congress scion Rahul Gandhi speaks, his comments invariably generate a controversy. This is exactly what happened after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting last week. Participating in his first meeting of the party’s highest decision-making body, young Gandhi suggested that the ten conditions laid down for becoming a party member be made more flexible. With most CWC members being extremely sercetive about the proceedings, Rahul Gandhi’s well-intentioned suggestion was promptly misinterpreted to mean that the newly-appointed AICC general secretary wanted a waiver on the no-drinking clause. The AICC’s media managers had a tough time the next day as journalists on the Congress beat kept up their persistent queries on when the party intended to open a bar
on its premises.
Party time for a beaming Advani The BJP had more than one reason to celebrate this Diwali. The saffron party made its debut in the South with its first government in Karnataka. This was followed by a grand celebration at former deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani’s residence for his 80th birthday. With the RSS having forgiven Advani for his controversial Jinnah remarks, his loyalists and detractors were all there to wish the BJP stalwart and partake of the mouth-watering chaat arranged on this special occasion. Former BJP ministers Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha were clearly the surprise guests at the party since their strong antipathy towards Advani is all too well-known. As for Advani, he could not stop beaming now that it has been finally accepted that he is to be the party’s Prime Ministererial
candidate.
Season of gifts for officers Diwali is not just a festival of lights but also an occasion to distribute gifts to friends, relatives and business contacts. The armed forces have, over the years, always been considered a holy cow and its officers have remained immune from all this business of gift distribution. However, the armed forces have not remained insulated from the changing pace of the economy. With defence procurement becoming a lucrative business, it is not surprising to find a “queue“ of defence dealers, both small and big, outside the houses of senior officers, specially those dealing with defence procurement. The officers, of course, were so busy collecting their gifts that they had little time to even
entertain their guests. Contributed by Prashant Sood, S. Satyanaryanan and Girja
Shankar Kaura
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LAHORE,
Pakistan – It was close to midnight last Saturday when General
Pervez Musharraf finally appeared on state-run television. That’s
when police vans surrounded my house. I was warned not to leave, and
hours later I learned I would be detained for 90 days.