 |
|
Avoidable deaths SAARC on the move |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Generation leap
Strategic gap with China
The worse half
Taliban in India Now the Turks don’t even want to join Europe Delhi Durbar
|
Avoidable deaths NOW that the unthinkable has happened at the Naina Devi shrine, there would, perhaps, also be a grim afterthought that this, too, was a tragedy waiting to happen. A place where lakhs of people congregate has to have adequate crowd management mechanism in place. That was hardly the case with the Himachal Pradesh shrine. The result? More than 145 people paid with their lives for this inadequacy. And when the tragedy struck, there was no method to provide timely medical aid to the victims either. Nobody will ever come to know how many lives could have been saved if such facilities existed. But one thing which is well known is that if at all any lessons are learnt from this horrendous incident, these would soon be forgotten and things would be back to “normal” soon enough. This is not the first time that there has been such a stampede at Naina Devi. But the expressions of disgust never got translated into worthwhile improvement. What is all the more shocking is that the management of the shrine is looked after by a trust. Should not it be doing more to equitably spend the money that is donated aplenty at the shrine which is one of the most popular in North India? Unless the causes of the tragedy are pinpointed, and those who showed dereliction of duty are punished, the expression of sorrow will be meaningless. Himachal Pradesh has many other shrines, where things are no better. What stood out during the chaos was the immense service done by some Good Samaritans. If some individuals took it upon themselves to ferry the dead and the injured to hospitals, several gurdwaras, temples and organisations worked day and night to provide food and other necessities to the shell-shocked people. Such selfless display of humanity is what helps one tide over such crises. If only the government could match the gesture by providing basic infrastructure at least! Also, in place should be a crisis management system whereby rumours are nipped in the bud and there is minimum damage if at all the situation goes out of control. Management of crowds is a prerequisite for averting such tragedies.
|
|
SAARC on the move THE two-day Colombo summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was held in an atmosphere vitiated by terrorists. As expected, the recent terrorist attacks at the Indian Embassy in Kabul and the incidents of bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Jaipur did overshadow the annual gathering. In a declaration, the summit called for the “strongest possible cooperation” to meet this “serious threat”. Terrorism remains the “single biggest threat to our stability”, as emphasised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. There is need for the SAARC members to launch a joint drive to tame the monster to prevent it from destabilising the entire region. The summit adopted the Convention for Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters which can help in identifying and punishing those involved in terrorist violence. Pakistan obviously has to contribute more than any other SAARC country to the fight against terrorism as most of the dreaded outfits involved in such crime have been operating from territories under Islamabad’s control. Fist of all, Pakistan has to rein in its intelligence agency, the ISI, which found veiled reference in the speech delivered by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai for sponsoring terrorism. Any collective effort for economic advancement of the South Asian region can bear fruit only when the terrorist problem is handled successfully. It has strained the India-Pakistan peace process. The South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) will not be easy to get implemented in such an atmosphere. SAARC leaders will have to launch a concerted drive to eliminate terrorism so that they can fully concentrate on development projects. There is no dearth of natural resources and talent in the region to transform South Asia into a powerful engine for global economic growth. Besides SAFTA, the move towards a South Asian Economic Union and a Customs Union can provide the required momentum for regional cooperation for collective good. No problem is insurmountable, as the experience of the European Union shows. All the difficulties can be overcome provided the SAARC countries are determined to move ahead.
|
|
Generation leap HIGH-SPEED mobile connectivity will soon be a reality. This follows the recent decision of the Ministry of Communications to allow mobile operators to get wireless spectrum for 3G services. It is widely recognised that 3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services, while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency. Customers can access several more kinds of multimedia services than are available at present, and at a much faster speed since these networks can support data transfer speeds of up to 3 mbps. When this is compared with the 144 kbps available on an average 2G connection, the quantum jump in the performance is obvious. The government has allowed the state-owned PSUs — MTNL and BSNL — to get a headstart by allocating them the spectrum first. This move is understandable. However, its policy of stipulating that private CDMA operators with the highest number of subscribers in a region can seek one slot in the highly sought after 800 Mhz frequency band will be seen as benefiting only the big players. Also, the barriers against foreign players have rubbed the industry the wrong way and it has raised certain reservations about the spectrum bidding process. There is no doubt that these issues will be sorted out soon and the Indian consumer can look forward to being a part of the next generation of mobile communication. When mobile phones were first introduced, there was much scepticism about the use of these gadgets. Today, they have become ubiquitous and have been found not only useful but even empowering its users. 3G is the next step forward and past experience has shown that the consumer is quick to adopt new technologies for tangible gains. The government and the industry need to work together to make 3G as much of a success as 2G mobile phones have been. The future is likely to be dominated by mobile services, and 3G is expected to play a major role by squeezing out three times the capacity from the existing spectrum and enabling new data-rich services for the general public.
|
|
A man is known by the company he organises. — Ambrose Bierce
|
Strategic gap with China
How is it that India finds itself caught on the back foot over the Chinese nuclear submarine base at the Hainan island in the South China Sea? The government had known all about it since 2004. The Indian Navy as well as RAW knew what exactly the Chinese were up to on this island. The Ministry of Defence had even obtained satellite photographs of the island. National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan and his apparatus were fully briefed about these developments. Then why is this sudden alarm and hysteria? Subsequent satellite images as obtained by nuclear weapons watchdog Federation of American Scientists (FAS) showed a sea entrance to an underground facility with a Jin class submarine moored at the base, suggesting thereby China’s plans to deploy its JL-2 ballistic missiles (type 094 class nuclear submarine) at the Sanya base. It is about 1200 nautical miles from the strategic Malacca Strait, an access route to the Indian Ocean, and 2000 nautical miles from the Andaman Islands. The Bay of Bengal as also the upper Indian Ocean are considered by the Indian establishment as its own area of influence and responsibility. Apparently, the realisation at this belated stage that the Chinese had taken a big lead over India in naval capabilities set the alarm ringing. Was it not realised earlier when the Sanya nuclear submarine base was first discovered almost four years ago? Everyone who mattered knew that China would shortly have three or four nuclear submarines capable of carrying up to 12 JL-2 ballistic missiles of the 7200-km range. In contrast, India is still struggling with the development of its indigenous nuclear submarine. However, the Chinese are bound to take some time before being able to operationalise the deployment of these missiles in a manner that would make worthwhile strategic difference. Hopefully, India is spurred in the meantime to speed up its own indigenous nuclear submarine project that has been languishing for a decade at least. Why only a crisis situation does make India react to its vulnerabilities? We either lack foresight or are temperamentally lackadaisical in attitude. The added factor in this entire scenario is the newly acquired power projection capabilities of the Chinese, and not necessarily the missiles. China already has enough nuclear missiles that cover not only the entire Indian subcontinent but also almost the entire world. China is known to have targeted India all along from the north. It has been confirmed yet again by international watch group satellite pictures. The Chinese are currently upgrading these missiles from liquid to solid fuel in view of India’s solid fuel Agni III that was successfully test-fired recently. Many new launch pads have also been added in the last few years. It may, however, be mentioned that these are multi-purpose launch sites that also cater to the US and Russian counter-force targeting. The vast road and rail communication and other infrastructure network developed by the Chinese along the Indo-Tibetan border is another example of the government letting the crisis situation develop before taking requisite measures. Defence Minister A. K. Antony’s observations in this regard during his recent visit to the forward areas in the eastern sector created ripples all over. The fact is that these developments were fully in the knowledge of the government and its security agencies, but none was able to impress the government as regards the security implications of the Chinese strategy of accessing India’s borders. In keeping with our typical lackadaisical attitude and also, perhaps, the defeatist mindset vis-à-vis the Chinese, we failed to comprehend and offset this strategic disadvantage in time. And yet the Defence Minister during his recent visit there surprised the nation by saying that he was shocked to find the extent of communication network developed by the Chinese along India’s northern borders and our total neglect in contrast. He should have surely known about it since his ministry and the Army were aware of it. The good thing that happened is that the government has at last sanctioned money for expeditious development of roads along the Indo-Tibetan border, particularly in and around Arunachal Pradesh. Our inability to build the armed forces strong fast enough so as to be able to stand up firmly to multiple threats that our country faces is our biggest handicap. For this the armed forces have to pay the price when the balloon goes up. Despite China having a decade’s lead over India, we are doing precious little to catch up with it. On the contrary, we are content to maintain the status quo and let the strategic gap increase further. While our modernisation seeped in bureaucratic muddle remains a snail-paced process, the Chinese have been able to build their air force and navy sufficiently to project power well beyond their shores. Unfortunately, power politics is a game our politico-bureaucratic combine does not understand properly. Apart from Su-30 MKIs and yet-to-be-built Scorpene submarines and Agni missiles, at best an inter-range ballistic missile (IRBM), we have precious little to boast of. If India has to avoid surprises in the future and reduce the current strategic gap, it must act fast by shaking the entire establishment. China has been focusing on a sea-based doctrine since the mid-nineties. It has been developing air bases on distant islands, some of them wrested forcibly from others like Vietnam, with a strategic aim of projecting power and expanding its sphere of influence thousands of kilometres away from homeland. China’s defence budget this year touched $197 bn as compared to $26 bn for the Indian armed forces. With this paltry sum, we can just about sustain at the present level, leave apart any modernisation. China’s power and reach thus continues to expand, eroding our strategic autonomy and diplomatic manoeuvring in the process. Somehow, we lack vision. We also do not comprehend the gravity of the situation fast enough to act in time. Kargil is one recent example of this Indian trait. We only react when the situation assumes dangerous proportions. The Chinese, on the other hand, are far-sighted. They think ahead by decades and work assiduously to achieve the goals, removing the impediments ruthlessly. That is how China set its national goals right at the outset. It envisioned dominating the world as a global power in not too distant a future. It avoided meticulously getting embroiled in local or border conflicts with its neighbours that could result in retarding its overall progress. However, seeing in India a distant challenge, it followed an entirely different policy of engaging it in conciliatory talks but keeping the pot boiling. The only way to tackle the Chinese threat is to take a holistic view and respond resolutely on a long-term basis. A response on a piecemeal basis will not do. We should know by now that China respects power and has contempt for the weak. India must understand the Chinese mind and stop placating it in the name of political correctness. This approach has led to the widening of the strategic
gap.
|
The worse half
My better half has never had it so good. Like other males of the species, I too have capitulated in the face of a barrage of the wife’s demands. Gone are the days when one used to read newspapers at leisure in the mornings and managed to watch television in an undisturbed fashion late in the evening, followed by a spell on the internet. One never had to lift so much as a finger to do anything else, except for attending to phone calls of all sorts. But these were part of the game, one thought, and even occupational hazards. No such luck now, I’m afraid. The other half has wisened up, realised that her husband is no-good at home, and so what if he’s not-bad at his office. He better not laze around whenever he’s around, she’s decided. The result being that nowadays one has to forsake most of the delicacies that the newspapers dish out, every morning. They have been replaced by yoga and a walk. The idiot box has been substituted by reading and writing, and the internet by another walk, late at night! What then has brought about this downslide in one’s fortunes? Actually, the dominant half has figured out that her husband needs to be healthy and also needs to stop wasting time in life. Not that one gave in without a struggle. Attempts were made to persuade and cajole the lady and even to argue one’s case passionately, but to no avail. In case of a breach of rules, one is greeted alternately by moodiness and glares, and one has to fall in line. There isn’t really much else one can do in such circumstances. The good-looking half is notably pleased at this turn of events, more with herself, one suspects, than with her hubby. She goes about her business with the air of one who has vanquished the unconquerable. In fact sometimes one feels the need to share one’s sorry state with fellow members of the aggrieved-husbands-club. Just who is on that list is not easily made out, however. Appearances can be extremely deceptive. Meanwhile, the ladies of the town are thinking of installing my wife as the new president of the reformist-wives-club. All I knows is that there is no escape from my healthy-goody-goody routine. The smug half is in total control of the situation. Having given up one’s favourite pastimes, and having adopted a new lifestyle, one can only look forward to more fresh air, more of the written word and more of that familiar feeling of inevitability. Indeed for the worse half, things have seldom been much
worse.
|
Taliban in India The
recent surge in Islamic terrorism activities in India, with major serial bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, has put the spotlight on a relatively new player in this country – the Taliban. The long shadow behind it is of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which has stepped up organizing spying and terrorism across India. Once again, the Taliban-ISI nexus was exposed some days ago by the CIA which accused Pakistan’s foreign spying agency of organizing a deadly attack on the Indian diplomatic mission in Kabul. This did not surprise the Indian intelligence community as they are aware that the US issued the ‘first warning’ to Pakistan on May 14, 1999, not to support the Taliban. Even after the Taliban’s exit from Kabul, following the US forces’ ‘intervention’, the Taliban continues to be a deadly force in the region. Pakistan has its own Taliban. Now, the ISI is pushing the organisation to establish ‘India Taliban’ chapter – to intensify its ‘proxy war’ to grab Kashmir and scare the whole country. The ISI and Pakistan army are hell bent to take revenge since East Pakistan became an independent nation, Bangladesh. For the Bangalore and Ahmedabad bomb blasts, a little-known organisation ‘Indian Mujaheedin’ took the responsibility. Indian intelligence agencies believe that it inserted ‘Indian’ in its name to camouflage its foreign roots. Actually, they suspect the face of the Taliban-ISI behind the mask of ‘Indian Mujaheedin.’ Knowing the Taliban’s vast influence in Afghan, Pakistani and Kashmiri terrorist groups, the ISI now wants to use the organisation ‘for firing terrorism in India.’ For the ISI, the Taliban has no role in intelligence gathering in India. A top IB officer said, “we are absolutely clear about the agenda of the ISI using the Taliban for terrorism activities in India. By keeping the Taliban in the front, the ISI wants to stay clear of the controversy. But, at the same time, it has another agenda – to create a major rift between New Delhi and Islamabad, where, much against its wishes, a civilian government is once again in power. Simultaneously, it is also probing how much Indian leadership can be pushed.’’ The ISI fully understands the value of the Taliban. All major terrorist organisations operating against India have close links with the Taliban – JeM, HUJI, HUM, HM. The Taliban has narco money, weapons and formidable influence within the ISI and Pakistan army, and is capable of organizing large bands of highly trained and motivated followers in a short time. During the Taliban regime in Kabul, the ISI was the ‘recruiting agency’ for its ‘soldiers.’ It sent about 80,000 students from ‘Deobandi’ madarsas in Pakistan. The Taliban have an ideological base which is an extreme form of Deobandism, a branch of Sunni Hanafi Islam, which originated from a small town, Deoband, near Saharanpur (UP). Deoband is a major Islamic education centre, and it has attracted students from Afghanistan since late 1880s. The Taliban literally means ‘students of Islam.’ They comprise only of Sunni sect. Basically, they are the second-generation of Afghan Mujaheddin. Few in India are aware that the Taliban – the most dreaded name in the world of Islamic terrorism today – has two faces. People here know only about the one that creates fear. The other little-known face has made it a major player in the new ‘great game’ of oil in Central Asia. Since its birth in Kandhar in 1994 to fight the Soviet Union backed regime in Kabul, and its romance with America (read CIA), the heart of actual regional stand-off is the battle for the vast oil and gas riches of land-locked Central Asia, which are said to be the last untapped energy reserves of the world. The Taliban, says an expert, has become a major player in the new ‘great game’ – reminding one of the late 19th century British and Russian confrontation in the region, leading to the competition between western oil companies, manipulation from Pakistan (read ISI), Saudi Arabia, Iran and covert operations by the CIA. Everyone wants a big chunk of the ‘oil and gas pie’. The Taliban has tried at gun-point to be the ‘sole distributor’ of this oil and gas-pie. The organisation is now attempting to regain the old glory by ‘eliminating America’ from Kabul to control the oil and gas riches – and to achieve this it is stepping up terrorism. Its cadre is drawn from the majority Pasthun ethnic group which accounts for 40% of Afghanistan population. Now, they try to control and influence Islamic terrorist organizations across Afghanistan borders, mainly in Pakistan, India, China and the Central Asian countries. It is no longer that Taliban, who had become the part of the US-backed, anti-Soviet shock troops. After the entry of Russian army in Afghanistan, the jihad got a new thrust, with America, Pakistan, China and Arab States poured in money and arms supplies to the Mujaheeddin. Out of this, emerged Taliban. Russia, India, Iran and the Central Asian Republics supported anti-Taliban forces with money and weapons. Al-Qaida-Taliban nexus has set a new agenda for Islamic radicalism in the entire region, shocking not only Afghanistan, but also its major logistic backer Pakistan, and Iran, India, Turkey, Russia, China and four of the five Central Asian Republics – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Now, Pakistan has its own ‘Taliban’ which enjoys a huge backing of sympathisers in the army, ISI, political parties, transport and narcotics mafia, madarsas and jihad groups, whose cadres take training in the Taliban run camps. India is now on the Taliban’s radar mainly at the instigation of the ISI, which wants to keep the fire of ‘jihad’ in Kashmir burning. But Islamabad, of late, rather being the master of the Taliban, is becoming its victim too. (To be concluded)
|
|
Now the Turks don’t even want to join Europe JUST BACK from Dalyan in Turkey, a place of such natural beauty and human kindness you almost cry with relief and released joy. A lush river full of fat turtles and thin, dancing water snakes runs through the smallish town (only a hamlet when we last stopped over 15 years ago), making its way to the Aegean/Mediterranean seas, warm and playful. Although tourism is changing the nature of Dalyan, nobody hassles you and you don’t begrudge the inhabitants the economic surge delivered by delighted visitors. Our compatriots behaved with such courtesy, it made us proud to be British. Most were non-Metropolitan, involved in building, making and selling awnings and blinds, engineering, farming and so on. A few were in public service. Several came back every year because, they said, the people were even warmer than the summer sun. No moody novelists or sulky media types were spotted. At a local fish restaurant sat a tipsy, buxom northern English blonde in a red polka-dotted dress. Oh, she loved this place, she said, most of all the Turkish Tommy Cooper in the cafe, who told bad jokes in his fez. This goodwill only helped to emphasize the criminal failures of the EU political classes, who have betrayed their own post-war ideals. Western Europe promised to confront its heart of darkness after the war and Holocaust. Zero tolerance against anti-Semitism was the ransom that had to be paid and was, rightly and properly. But other racisms have been allowed to grow and ancient enmities reawakened. Fresh hate victims have been found to fill the continentis gaping pits. Black migrants are treated like vermin, including in those EU countries known for easy charm; Muslims have had to accept institutionalised prejudice and Turkey has been treated as an abject and alien supplicant who must be kept that way. An essentialist, Christian definition of Europe has been settled upon, arguably one of the most self destructive of EU ideologies. Sarkozy says: ‘Europe must give itself borders beginning with Turkey which has no place in the EU.’ Merkel and others in the enlarged club are even more phobic and Britain’s honourable opposition to such a view has no effect. Patiently waiting to be admitted since 1987, the Turks are no longer asking. Never have I met so many young graduates and older secularists so violently opposed to joining the Union. They believe a new power bloc of India and some of the more enlightened Muslim states offers them better prospects. In 2002, 70 per cent wanted to go in; in 2006 the figure had gone down to 35 per cent. Today I would guess enthusiasm has dropped to single figures. The Turkish journalist Farina Ahaeuser astutely observes that by keeping Turkey on the edge (and on edge) relations with Europe ‘have certainly hit rock bottom.’ This is appalling news for both sides. The EU has admirably democratised nations previously under authoritarianism. Turkeyis ruling Islamicist AKP party has shown better governance because it wanted to impress Europe. The death penalty was abolished, human and minority rights were finally getting somewhere and the PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed to abolish the abominable Article 301 that makes it unlawful to ‘insult the Turkish nation’. He has reneged on this commitment. The latest, failed attempt by the Turkish Constitutional court to undemocratically close down the AKP is another sign that the country is abandoning EU principles of politics and justice. Islamicisation is creeping in. Almost all the wives of government ministers are hijabed and ipiousi homemakers. It frightens modern Turkish women who have had equal rights for longer than we have in the UK. I used to love meeting these sisters who were as deeply religious as I am but also strong secularists. These days they are depressed and angry. Europe had the chance to end the ideological chasm between hardline Islam and the west by embracing its Christian and Muslim heritages, to heal the world. It has chosen instead to be injudicious, obtuse and bigoted. Even George Bush understands how dumb this is. At a bar in Dalyan, the owner, a handsome man with green eyes said some mosque elders would soon close up and come over for a glass of rose wine: ‘Our God is inside. We are not crazy like those Saudis. We are both west and east. But these people in Brussels don’t understand us and I am afraid they will push us away too far and then who knows what will happen? Only Allah knows.’ By arrangement with
The Independent
|
|
Delhi Durbar The Lok Sabha secretariat, currently assisting a special panel investigating the “cash-for-votes” episode witnessed in Parliament recently, has suddenly decided to opt for greater transparency. The second sitting of the seven-member panel set up by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to enquire into the BJP MPs’ allegations of bribery was held this week. In its zeal to appear above board, the Lok Sabha secretariat took the unprecedented step of issuing formal invitations in advance to all television channels and print journalists for coverage of the event. The invitation read: “It is requested that the above meeting may kindly be covered by your media organisation.” In the past, when parliamentary committees were set up to look into the Bofors and Harshad Mehta cases, panel members would individually brief mediapersons discreetly but no official invitation was sent out by the secretariat for the coverage of the committee’s proceedings. Interestingly, committee chairman, senior Congress MP Kishore Chandra Deo, was surprised to learn about this invitation. He was, however, very firm that the the panel’s proceedings would be held in camera and shall remain confidential till the committee submits its report. No justice On the verge of winding up after completing the task assigned to it by the social justice ministry, the National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes finds that it is not so easy to shut shop, after all. The reason is that the commission is yet to clear outstanding dues that stand at a whopping Rs 29 lakh! A major part of the unpaid bill is for the rent of the office premises in the up-market August Kranti Bhavan while the rest is for office expenses. In fact, the commission is still struggling to clear a bill of Rs 28,000, which was spent on printing three copies of the report it was mandated to prepare in the first place. Requests for finances have been moved. The social justice ministry will hopefully do justice in the matter. Membership drive The Congress recently sanctioned a special budget for the newly-appointed state convenors of its Panchayati Raj Sangathan for their membership drive. A sum of Rs one lakh was allocated for the larger states while the share of medium and smaller states was fixed at Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively. But instead of getting any appreciation for this move, AICC office bearers were taken aback at the barrage of criticism they had to face from some of the convenors who were especially summoned to Delhi last week to collect their cheques. The sangathan heads of smaller states were apparently upset at the discrimination being shown to them.The convenor for Lakshwadeep, for instance, complained that it had cost him nearly Rs 25,000 just to travel to Delhi. A petition was made to AICC treasurer Motilal Vora for a special travel allowance but it was promptly turned
down. Contributed by Faraz Ahmad, Aditi Tandon and Vibha Sharma
|
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
