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Two more heads |
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Tackling terror
AIDS spectre
No politics, please
In the line of duty
'Nobody backs Taliban, but govt is useless'
Avoid delays in presentation of audit reports
Corrections and clarifications
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Two more heads
IT is in the fitness of things that heads began to roll in the wake of the terrorist attack on Mumbai, the worst the country has witnessed. In view of the monumental lapses of the internal security system that facilitated the arrival of the Pakistan-based terrorists by a boat at Colaba that wreaked havoc on the nation, dispensing with the services of Mr Shivraj Patil alone would have been inadequate. The Congress High Command’s decision to change Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is a step in the right direction. His deputy R.R. Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party saw the writing on the wall and has tendered his resignation, or he was told to do so. The two alliance partners have concluded that replacing their legislature party leaders was unavoidable given the need to face general elections next year. Both Mr Deshmukh and Mr Patil have a lot of explaining to do. The Deputy CM shocked the nation with his comment that the terrorist attack was a “small incident” for a big city like Mumbai. It was the most thoughtless, heartless statement a politician could have ever made after the tragedy in which about 200 lives were lost. By taking film director Ram Gopal Verma and his actor son Reitesh on a conducted tour when the Chief Minister visited the Taj soon after the terrorists were killed and the hostages released, he gave rise to rumours. Whatever be Mr Deshmukh’s explanation, his conduct was unbecoming of a Chief Minister. These incidents were sufficient to send them packing. Internal security is as much the responsibility of the Centre as it is of the state. In any case, the Congress-NCP government has not crowned itself with glory even in its day-to-day functioning. Mr Raj Thackeray and his supporters have been taking the law into their own hands in the name of ferreting out the poor North Indians from the city. He and the senior Thackeray openly challenge anybody they think is against them and the government is unable to do anything against them. There have been several incidents of violence in Mumbai begetting counter-violence in other parts of the country like Bihar and all this has been because of the incompetence of the government. Maharashtra needs leaders who can ensure security to the life and property of its citizens and not nincompoops like Mr Deshmukh and Mr
Patil.
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Tackling terror
Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh has rightly stressed the need for a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to tackle terror. This has become imperative following the growing number of terrorist attacks in the country, including the latest one in Mumbai. At an all-party meeting in New Delhi on Sunday, he also announced a slew of other measures, including the creation of four hubs of National Security Guards in major cities for prompt action. Though the Prime Minister had mooted FIA earlier, the government was finding it difficult to go ahead because of the resistance from some non-UPA ruled states. Even at Sunday’s meeting, the opinion was sharply divided. While the BJP and the AIADMK insisted on stringent laws like POTA to tackle terror, the Left parties opposed draconian measures but were open to suggestions for strengthening provisions in the existing laws to combat terror. The new Union Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, told them that the Centre was committed to strengthening the legal framework and streamlining the system. The government should not waste time any more and go ahead with its plans to tackle terror more effectively. The idea of a federal agency itself is not new. The K. Padmanabhaiah Committee on Police Reforms, the Justice V.S. Malimath Committee on Criminal Justice Reforms and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission have all called for a strong federal law and agency to tackle terror firmly. Moreover, FIA, unlike the CBI, will be in a better position to tackle terror effectively since it will have direct jurisdiction to investigate terror-related offences having national and international ramifications. Equally important is the Supreme Court ruling in December 2003, while upholding TADA and POTA, that since terrorism threatened India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, terrorism forms a part of the Union List’s “Defence of India” rather than the State List’s “Public Order”. While the setting up of FIA cannot be delayed, there is an urgent need for effective coordination between the Centre and the states to combat terror. On their part, the states need to streamline their intelligence machinery and their police units, most of which are badly managed, politicised, ill-trained and not fit enough to meet the present-day challenges. Police reforms, as directed by the Supreme Court, are as important as strengthening air and maritime security. The states should deploy the police judiciously and there is no need for wasting a chunk of it on those who think they are VIPs. The beat constable system, too, needs a revamp. |
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AIDS spectre
AS India went through another AIDS day on December 1, the situation was nowhere near hopeful. While there has been some successful in the campaign against the dreaded disease, especially in the South, much more needs to be done than is currently being attempted. It has become all the more imperative after the warning by the UN that it will spread like bushfire here. That is a chilling possibility indeed, considering that there is rampant use of intravenous drugs. While the government has managed to put curbs on the spread of HIV through commercial sex workers, but the expansion through gay sex and the use of intravenous injections continues. This is despite the fact that India has the world’s third highest caseload with over 2.5 million infections. Globally, as many as 33 million people are thought to be having HIV and every year, nearly three million more join the list. If the government’s effort is lacking in many ways, the society is also to be blamed. Due to the stigma attached to the virus, many people continue to keep it under wraps till it is too late. This social behaviour must be changed, keeping in view of the gravity of the threat, and religious and social leaders have to step in to remove the various prejudices. What is most worrying is the spread of AIDS among young people. They are the most vulnerable section and the Adolescent Education Programme that has now been launched should be implemented in such a way that it can steer clear of the parental objections on this sensitive topic. We can no longer afford to keep our heads buried in the sand. Everyone should be encouraged to discuss this matter freely, so that there is no “massacre of innocents,” as they say. In this regard, the red Ribbon Express, the awareness train that goes to various stations, is a commendable way to spread the message. But the drive against HIV/AIDs needs to be made more ambitious to be effective. |
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What music is more enchanting than the voices of young people, when you can’t hear what they say? — Logan Pearsall Smith
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No politics, please
Looking beyond the immense Mumbai tragedy, the country needs to take stock of its failings. While the Congress-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra were found wanting in coping with determined and co-ordinated militant attacks on Mumbai’s iconic targets, the inadequacies that led to so many deaths and so much destruction cut across party lines. Their roots lie in our lack of consistency and our notorious disregard for discipline. The symbol of the Congress-led government’s failure was the recent announcement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after four and a half years in office to form a time-barred committee to recommend the revamping of security agencies, Yet the country has witnessed a regular drumbeat of terrorist incidents spread around the country. Whether it is fighting Maoist outfits or homegrown or foreign jihadis; it has been clear for years that the training, equipment and coordination of our security agencies are woefully inadequate. What the Congress and sane non-partisan men and women must make clear is that the choice is not between incompetence on security issues and a hard-line regime oriented against Muslims or Christians. Rather, it is to gear up India’s security by enforcing strict anti-terrorism laws and giving the security agencies the wherewithal to fight 21st century terrorism while ensuring that the rights of none of its citizens are transgressed. We are in the season of state assembly elections and priming for the general election. It might be an effective catch phase for the Bharatiya Janata Party to suggest that it is the party that will protect the citizen. But harsh anti-terrorism laws alone cannot protect the citizens of a multi-religious and multi-ethnic country or a party that stands for Hindutva’s supremacy. We are a disorganised and rule-flouting people and discipline will not come to us overnight. But it is well to understand that the discipline of the style of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, with its emphasis on military drills and the supremacy of Hindutva, is not be conducive to strengthening the nation or encouraging unity. Rather, it would prove counter-productive. We have disciplined armed forces that have proved their mettle, despite the few bad apples that have recently come to light. But a nation cannot be drilled like the Army; as such experiments as Hitler’s have proved in history. We have, of course, the Indian variants in the form of the Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena and its offspring, but they cannot inspire confidence in conducting democratic politics. Rather, the need of the hour is to focus single-mindedly on reorienting our security and intelligence agencies to their tasks in the 21st century. One central elite counter-insurgency force is far from sufficient in fighting the spreading contagion of terrorism; every state needs its own force suitably equipped and trained. It stands to reason that if an anti-terrorist force is to perform its task adequately, it needs the most modern equipment and technology. For instance, sharpshooters could not use their firepower on occasion in the Mumbai standoff because they did not have the modern technological equipment that could distinguish civilians from terrorists. Traditionally, the government at the Centre has hidden behind the problem of getting state governments’ consent in establishing institutions for fighting terrorism because opposition-ruled states in particular zealously guard their autonomy. But there are ways to surmount this hurdle by teaming up with willing states in the first instance, until others see the virtue of a unified answer to terrorist acts. The lesson the United States learned from 9/11 was to combine all relevant agencies under one roof, in the shape of Homeland Security. And it must surely redound to the credit of the US that it has not so far witnessed a terrorist act since it put into effect new mechanisms to counter terror. At the same time, consistency is a virtue we must learn to acquire. How often have we seen the spectacle of extra security measures employed at key establishments only to see them wither away over time. Ensuring security for citizens and vital institutions cannot be episodic because the nature and sophistication of modern-day terrorism require foolproof counter-measures that are in place and working like clockwork all the time. Police forces at the state level are often poorly equipped and trained and this weakness at the base level of any security structure can prove fatal. One must commend the bravery of such police officers as Hemand Karkare, but better equipment and tactics could have prevented the loss of valuable lives. Indian security officials have spoken about the determined and well-trained terrorists who took Mumbai on. The country needs better-trained security and police forces that can give terrorists a fitting reply. It is a sign of the divisive and fractious times in which we live and the compulsions of the election season that after the briefest period of restraint, the Opposition and the government have been training guns at each other. This does not mean that there should not be a thorough enquiry into the authorities’ failures in stopping the most horrendous of terrorist attacks in India. But surely the value of any analysis would be lost if the objective is to gain party advantage, rather than the interest of the country. Advertisements placed by the BJP in newspapers sought to use the Mumbai attacks to win more votes in the assembly elections. The BJP probably believes that the winds are blowing in its favour in the assembly elections because the horrendous nature of the Mumbai attacks has wiped out its embarrassment in defending persons attached to the Sangh Parivar allegedly carrying out anti-Muslim terrorist attacks. It certainly fits the party’s campaign plank of the Congress-led government being soft on terror. While the electors will soon deliver their verdict on the parties they choose in the states and later at the Centre, the problem of fighting terrorism will not disappear. And that problem needs to be separated from the game of electoral politics. A solution can be found only on the basis of planning and equipping security forces to deal with a modern scourge gathering pace with
technology.
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In the line of duty
IT
was still dark out there; still very smoky. And my otherwise tranquil heart was pounding from the tension of a thousand tempests. “This is not happening to us,” I said to myself; “this can’t be true”. But a slew of sinister knocks kept shattering my faith every now and again. I recoiled in my bed - shaken and numbed, with nothing for company but countless flashes of death and destruction. They landed straight into my home from the scenes of terror. Away from my reach, Mumbai was simmering; so was I. And there it was - the ugly, gloating face of terror, all veiled in Versace and stuff. “The terrorist they took studied up to class IV, but speaks fluent English. He has great marine skills,” belted out one TV channel when another was busy counting left-over pigeons in the Taj Mahal hotel courtyard. “Even the pigeons are sad today, having lost too many of their flock,” said a special report, as another celebrated its brave newspersons, who risked their lives to bring to the nation unedited feed from terror targets. They even breached security cordons for the love of first visuals, never mind their desirability. As the visuals flowed — one after the other - vital strategies stood revealed to Mumbai’s hi-tech attackers, who took three top cops within minutes of storming their targets. Not that it changed anything for anybody. For each of the 62 hours of the tragic unfolding, everyone did his duty. Only some did theirs’ silently. And it was the second lot that the nation chose to cheer. Casual in an accomplishment that everyone saw as heroic, the National Security Guards again showed that there was nothing too big in the line of duty. For them, it was just another day at work, just another call for service to the nation. Disarmingly humble in triumph as well as loss, these men suddenly gave new meaning to life, new perspective to death. About life, they said: It’s reserved for the country; about death, they said: It’s an offering for the country. No wonder then that the commoners rejected politicians and lined up instead to salute these heroes, who insisted on not being called as such. Just then, the cameras also zoomed in, curious to figure out what these men look like, how they keep their chins up, what they think when confronting the jehadis determined to desecrate the nation’s very spirit. When the time comes to seek answers from these men, all they seem to remember is this: “Anything in the line of duty - any number of operations; any number of sacrifices…” And what of bravery - well, that’s there, like any other emotion one lives and loves. Whoever then said bravery was not skin-deep? Knowing now that it is, I see light at the end of the tunnel, and no smoke at all. Faraway from my reach, Mumbai is not seething anymore. It is already standing tall; so am I…
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'Nobody backs Taliban, but govt is useless'
THE collapse of Afghanistan is closer than the world believes. Kandahar is in Taliban hands – all but a square mile at the centre of the city – and the first Taliban checkpoints are scarcely 15 miles from Kabul. Hamid Karzai's deeply corrupted government is almost as powerless as the Iraqi cabinet in Baghdad's "Green Zone"; lorry drivers in the country now carry business permits issued by the Taliban which operate their own courts in remote areas of the country. The Red Cross has already warned that humanitarian operations are being drastically curtailed in ever larger areas of Afghanistan; more than 4,000 people, at least a third of them civilians, have been killed in the past 11 months, along with scores of Nato troops and about 30 aid workers. Both the Taliban and Mr Karzai's government are executing their prisoners in ever greater numbers. The Afghan authorities hanged five men this month for murder, kidnap or rape – one prisoner, a distant relative of Mr Karzai, predictably had his sentence commuted – and more than 100 others are now on Kabul's death row. This is not the democratic, peaceful, resurgent, "gender-sensitive" Afghanistan that the world promised to create after the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. Outside the capital and the far north of the country, almost every woman wears the all-enshrouding burkha, while fighters are now joining the Taliban's ranks from Kashmir, Uzbekistan, Chechnya and even Turkey. More than 300 Turkish fighters are now believed to be in Afghanistan, many of them holding European passports. "Nobody I know wants to see the Taliban back in power," a Kabul business executive says – anonymity is now as much demanded as it was before 2001 – "but people hate the government and the parliament which doesn't care about their security. The government is useless. With so many internally displaced refugees pouring into Kabul from the countryside, there's mass unemployment – but of course, there are no statistics. "The 'open market' led many of us into financial disaster. Afghanistan is just a battlefield of ideology, opium and political corruption. Now you've got all these commercial outfits receiving contracts from people like USAID. First they skim off 30 to 50 per cent for their own profits – then they contract out and sub-contract to other companies and there's only 10 per cent of the original amount left for the Afghans themselves." Afghans working for charitable organisations and for the UN are telling their employers that they are coming under increasing pressure to give information to the Taliban and provide them with safe houses. In the countryside, farmers live in fear of both sides in the war. A very senior NGO official in Kabul – again, anonymity was requested – says both the Taliban and the police regularly threaten villagers. "A Taliban group will arrive at a village headman's door at night – maybe 15 or 16 of them – and say they need food and shelter. And the headman tells the villagers to give them food and let them stay at the mosque. Then the police or army arrive in the day and accuse the villagers of colluding with the Taliban, detain innocent men and threaten to withhold humanitarian aid. Then there's the danger the village will be air-raided by the Americans." In the city of Ghazni, the Taliban ordered all mobile phones to be switched off from 5pm until 6am for fear that spies would use them to give away guerrilla locations. The mobile phone war may be one conflict the government is winning. With American help the Interior Ministry police can now track and triangulate calls. Once more, the Americans are talking about forming "tribal militias" to combat the Taliban, much as they did in Iraq and as the Pakistani authorities have tried to do on the North West Frontier. But the tribal lashkars of the Eighties were corrupted by the Russians and when the system was first tried out two years ago – it was called the Auxiliary Police Force – it was a fiasco. The newly-formed constabulary stopped showing up for work, stole weapons and turned themselves into private militias. Is it really the overriding ambition of Afghans to have "democracy"? Is a strong federal state possible in Afghanistan? Is the international community ready to take on the warlords and drug barons who are within Mr Karzai's own government? And – most important of all – is development really about "securing the country"? The tired old American adage that "where the Tarmac ends, the Taliban begins" is untrue. The Taliban are mounting checkpoints on those very same newly-built roads. Partition is the one option that no one will discuss – giving the southern part of Afghanistan to the Taliban and keeping the rest – but that will only open another crisis with Pakistan because the Pashtuns, who form most of the Taliban, would want all of what they regard as "Pashtunistan"; and that would have to include much of Pakistan's own tribal territories. It will also be a return to the "Great Game" and the redrawing of borders in south-west Asia, something which – history shows – has always been accompanied by great bloodshed.
— By arrangement with
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Avoid delays in presentation of audit reports AT the recent Accountants’ General Conference organised by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), which was inaugurated by the President, one of the issues for consideration was the time lag in the presentation of audit reports in the legislature. Twelve out of the 14 audit reports tabled in Parliament on October 23 and 24 carry the signature of CAG of March/April 2008. The long time lag of six months and more occurred because while the budget session of Parliament prematurely concluded in view of elections to the state assembly of Karnataka, the Lok Sabha met briefly for two days only in July for the specific purpose of consideration of vote of confidence and adjourned thereafter to meet only in October. But there have been other occasions when the audit reports have not been presented in time and remained unavailable to the legislators and the civil society for long periods. According to a February 2007 audit report of CAG, as of October 2006, 26 audit reports on Union Government autonomous bodies had not been presented to Parliament; seven of these reports had been sent to the government prior to 2005. Ironically, the February 2007 audit report itself was tabled in Parliament in May 2007 only. Such delays are inexplicable. The audit reports are prepared in a highly transparent manner and adequate opportunity is given to the government for stating and clarifying its position before an audit report is finalised. But after an audit report has been submitted, the government has only a minimal role. In fact even the President/Governor has not much to do except to cause the audit report to be laid before the legislature as mandated by the Constitution. Neither the Constitution nor the Audit Act, 1971, prescribes any specific timeline within which the audit reports should be tabled. While the Constitution is completely silent on the issue, the Audit Act merely says that the government concerned shall cause every such audit report to be laid before the legislature “as soon as possible”. Delays not merely postpone the follow-up action but may also lead to unhealthy speculation about the contents of the report. Besides, a culture of brazen non-accountability is insidiously encouraged if an audit report is held back from the legislature despite the legislature being in session. The speed of change, the accelerated pace of government spending, the developments in information technology, the need for ensuring most effective use of taxpayers’ money and civil society’s growing hunger for public accountability make it imperative that the audit reports are available in the public domain at the earliest. There are three crucial issues. First, whether the audit reports can be remitted to the legislature without the intermediacy of the Ministry of Finance thereby removing one layer and cutting down the consequential time lag. The Constitution does not prescribe that the audit reports shall be submitted to the President/Governor by the Government and that it cannot be so submitted direct by CAG. Further, since the Constitution prescribes that the President/Governor shall cause such reports to be laid before the appropriate legislature, the course of action to be taken by the President/Governor is laid down in the Constitution itself, thereby placing the matter beyond the advice of the Council of Ministers. This being the position, routing of the audit reports through the government is neither necessary nor does it serve any purpose. Second, whether the executive can delay the presentation of the audit reports to the legislature. This is directly relevant to the audit reports on government companies in respect of which the Audit Act, 1971, specifically mandates that every such audit report shall be caused to be laid before the legislature “as soon as possible”. In the case of the audit reports on the accounts of the Union and the states (Article 151 of the Constitution), their presentation to the legislature “as soon as possible” can be ensured by the message of the President/Governor. Third, whether the audit reports can be made public even when the legislature is not in session. This is a sensitive issue since it involves the question of the privileges of the legislature. But fortunately, a precedent is available that can be considered for adaptation as a practice. The issues need to be debated and discussed. The long-term prescription may be a definite timeline written down in the Constitution and/or the Audit Act for the purpose.
The writer is a former Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General of India. |
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Delhi Durbar
The audacious attack on Mumbai by terrorists had the entire nation glued to television sets for almost three days with news channels having a field day. However, what was sad that despite an advisory from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to show restraint in relaying the operations undertaken by the NSG and Army commandos, the news channels, which claim to be responsible, did not adhere to any official advice. In fact, in their game of one-upmanship, they let the terrorists know about the plans and the operations being undertaken. One Hindi news channel, while talking to one of the terrorists on the phone, went overboard acting as if it was mediating between the subversives and the government, asking him time and again what their demands were. Rather than avoiding the conversation with the terrorist, the TV anchor went on with quite atrocious questions.
Campaigning blues
The Shiromani Akali Dal leadership has certainly become richer in terms of exposure, post-Delhi election campaign. Canvassing in the Capital has not been a cakewalk for the Punjab Akali brigade, contesting for the first time in Delhi on its own party symbol. There were quite a few initial blues for Akali Dal bigwigs, who faced the crisis of identity in Delhi. There were times when the top leaders of Punjab went out to campaign for their candidates, but few in the electorate managed to identify them. In the end, however, the Akali leaders seemed quite satisfied that they at least got a chance to gain a "fresh exposure" among the Sikhs in Delhi.
Speech that
was not
Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan dropped like a hot potato the text of his planned speech at the Law Day function last week and chose to read out an entirely different text. The first text, which had been circulated to the media in advance, had its focus on corruption in the judiciary, while the delivered speech dealt with the fast improving disposal rate of pending cases. Apparently, what brought about the change was Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj's address, lauding the judiciary for its "divine function." The minister was critical of the disgruntled elements within the system for trying to sully its image, particularly overseas. Speaking extempore, Bhardwaj praised the judges sky high and made it clear that he would not go against their wishes, particularly the CJI, on important issues such as the procedure for their appointment.
Contributed by Girja S Kaura, Aditi Tandon, R Sedhuraman
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Corrections and clarifications n
In the article by Dr S.S.Johl on November 22, the figure of public debt of Punjab was inadvertently given as Rs 4800 crore. It should be read as Rs 48,000
crore. n The news-item "Russia, US for stepping up fight against piracy" appeared twice in some editions of The Tribune on November 24. n
The letter "Biased opinion" published on the editorial page on November 25 was written by Subhash Vats of Ambala cantonment. Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them. We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error. We will carry corrections and clarifications, wherever necessary, every Tuesday. Readers in such cases can write to Mr Amar Chandel, Deputy Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the word “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is amarchandel@tribunemail.com.
H.K. Dua,
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