The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

The Waziristan strike
Pakistan must wipe out terrorism

Pakistan’s fresh offensive against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in South Waziristan has come soon after the Taliban struck at security forces in Kohat (NWFP), Rawalpindi and Lahore, taking the lives of over 50 people last week. The Taliban obviously wanted to send across the message that the militant movement had the capacity to strike at will, anywhere in Pakistan and Islamabad should not try to touch it after the recent Swat operation by the military. But the Pakistan Army has gone ahead with its operations. Over 28000 troops have been deployed to take on some 10,000 Taliban fighters, some of whom are believed to be foreigners. How far the Pakistan Army goes to eliminate the menace remains to be seen.

The Pakistan Army’s half-hearted approach during the Swat operation did not demoralise the Taliban. Despite the death of Baitullah Mehsud, who led the Taliban in Pakistan, the militant movement has been showing signs of remaining as active as ever. Hakimullah Mehsud, who has taken over as the new chief of the TTP, has been flexing muscles with little fear of the army. His men have started a fund-raising drive at various places in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), which includes South Waziristan and six other tribal agencies. They are demanding cash from people to carry on their resistance, and this is besides what they already extort from businessmen and others. The Taliban, it seems, are preparing to keep the Pakistan military engaged in a long battle. Despite Islamabad’s claim that madarsas no longer have Taliban supporters, there are reports of young men moving out of the madarsas to join the Taliban insurgents to fight against the Pakistan Army.

The Pakistan authorities need to do more to destroy the support bases of the Taliban. Deploying a few thousand soldiers to eliminate a well-entrenched enemy is not enough. A well-coordinated drive against all kinds of militants, including those working against India like the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed, is needed to immobilise the monster of terrorism which has emerged as a major threat to Pakistan itself. This requires not only the dismantling of their training camps and communication networks but also a thorough overhaul of Pakistan’s policy against the jihadis. An approach that favours one set of militants and disfavours another cannot bring out the desired results.

When saviours die
Nation is ill-prepared to fight fires

Avoidable deaths during every Diwali are a grim reminder of how poorly prepared the country is to fight fires, accidental or otherwise. This year, too, has been no exception with 32 people, including shoppers and workers of a firecracker factory, killed in a fire in Tamil Nadu and six firemen asphyxiated in a Mumbai suburb. Initial reports suggest that the firemen got into a lift to reach the 14th floor of the building when the lift stalled. The unfortunate men trapped in the lift died after inhaling the toxic fumes. While an inquiry alone will establish if the lift stalled due to a mechanical fault or because electric supply to the lift was switched off by the people who were not aware that the lift was being used, the tragic accident has once again highlighted how shabbily the firemen are treated even in Mumbai, where barely a year ago they had so heroically fought the blaze set off by terrorists at the Taj Hotel and the Oberoi.

Yet, the firemen at Thane on Sunday morning did not have some of the basic equipment and the residents lent torches. The firemen trapped in the lift did not have even mobile phones and their absence was detected only after the blaze had been put out. Nor did the firemen have breathing apparatus, which would have helped them cope with the toxic fumes. It is callous, if not criminal, to expose firemen to death without adequate protective gear.

As a nation, we need to put our act together to fight fires. A much more concerted effort is required for fire prevention and creating public awareness. At the same time, service conditions of firemen need to be improved radically. In view of the occupational hazards which require them to routinely put their lives at stake and be available round the clock, they need to be given higher allowances and an adequate insurance cover.

Thought for the Day

Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety. — William Shakespeare

ARTICLE

Fighting the Maoists
Centre picks up the challenge
by S. Nihal Singh

Two facts stand out as the Central Government wrestles with the problem of the growing Maoist menace: the beginning of a coherent strategy and the willingness of the authorities, with a competent Home Minister at the helm, to beef up an antiquated, creaking system to undertake meaningful action.

Two high-level arrests of Maoist leaders are one indication of a new resolve as is the new approach to disabusing the urban intellectual of the romantic connotations of rebellion by demonstrating the murders the Maoists have committed and their systematic destruction of infrastructure, the sinew of modern life. Mr P. Chidambaram, in any case, is quite clear about what needs to be done.

There can be no quarrel with social activists and human rights groups diagnosing the problem as one linked to widespread poverty and deprivation in large parts of the country, particularly in backward and tribal areas. Governance does not often reach down to the needy and such symbols of authority that do exist often tend to be venal and cynical.

In her intra-party struggle for power, Indira Gandhi had set the trend by demanding a committed bureaucracy, symbolised by the unfortunate Emergency period. The civil service system, basically inherited from the British, was professedly non-political, but once the bureaucracy became involved in political power games, with promotions dependent upon loyalty to politicians rather than merit, the rot set in.

Combined with this erosion of principles of good governance, the police force was subverted by politicians demanding partisan conduct. The weak and opportunists among the police force were willing to play the game, with disastrous results for the morale of the force and its relationship with the citizen. Recently, Mr Chidambaram equated politicians at the state level manipulating police officers with political football. Mass transfers seem to be the rule with a new chief minister taking office, disregarding the basic rules of governance. This leads to demoralisation in the police force and a colossal waste of public money in cash-starved states.

The vaunted steel frame of India no longer does justice to its original reputation although the number of police and other Central civil servants performing their tasks with distinction, despite the odds, is remarkable. But as a rule, the authorities must work with the somewhat demoralised and depleted ranks of civil and police officers. The first task, which the Home Minister seems to be undertaking, is to infuse new confidence in the police force, in addition to getting them the modern weapons they need to fight the Maoists increasingly arming themselves with more sophisticated arms.

The chicken and egg argument on whether development should go hand in hand with fighting the Maoist forces continues to dominate urban discourse. But Mr Chidambaram seems to have resolved the dilemma for himself and his forces. His premise is that there can be no development of any kind, whatever the origin of deprivation that made people hospitable to Maoists in the first place, unless the territory that has been unlawfully seized from the state in what is billed as a revolution to overthrow authority by force is taken back. In other words, any development, whether in building roads or digging wells, can come only after defeating the Maoists in an area.

The Prime Minister has wisely decided not to use the armed forces for fighting Maoists. Already, the forces are called to the aid of civil authorities far too often, impairing their preparedness for the country’s defence and affecting their morale. Rather, fighting insurgency, however vicious, must be the task of well-equipped police and paramilitary forces.

The 2002 tragedy in Gujarat was an extreme example of the failure of the police to perform its essential tasks without being suborned by the political authorities. Mr Chidambaram’s writ does not often run in the states, but to the extent he can infuse discipline and loyalty in the central paramilitary forces, particularly trained commandos, he would have won half the battle.

No minister, however competent, can change the habits and customs of people overnight. Sloppiness and lack of discipline are among our national failings. They are inevitably reflected in the work of the police force, as in other areas. Only the armed forces have the training regimen to put men and women through the paces and instil precision and discipline in their tasks.

Next only to training and equipping forces is the urgency of coordination among the states. Successes in the anti-Maoist campaigns have come when states’ forces have worked in tandem. Andhra is a good example of the training and coordination of anti-Maoist outfits to good effect. For the daring of the Maoist outfits is not to be sneezed at. The spectacular attempt on Mr Chandrababu Naidu’s life during his tenure as chief minister is but one example of Maoist planning.

There is the controversial question of civilian militia, particularly the Salwa Julum, being armed to fight the Maoists. The Supreme Court has given a clear verdict and it is self-defeating to enlist unorganised civilians in undertaking what amounts to revenge killings to get even with Maoists. To begin with, the concept is open to political abuse and can lead to bloodletting and settling of personal scores, as is evident in such states as Jharkhand. As a rule, proportional force to subdue incipient revolutions must be applied by the legitimate authority.

Mr Chidambaram has his work cut out to battle the Maoists in the coin of force they understand and respect. The entire second five-year term of the United Progressive Alliance government would be insufficient to complete the task. Rather, he can only initiate the processes that would lead to a long-term coherent plan to undertake meaningful development after restoring territory to authority by posting competent and dedicated civilian officers. Such officers do exist. The remedy is to give them leeway to undertake imaginative programmes to help the poor and the needy. What the people really need is good governance. They immediately recognise it when they see it.

MIDDLE

The colourful species
by Sarvjit Singh

At the outset my apologies to those who may choose to identify themselves with some of the characters in the fiction that follows, but I can no longer bear the weight of thought that my system is pregnant with and is kicking hard to be delivered.

Lunch time being the best to socialise if you want to keep the evenings to yourself, I find myself sharing a meal with one friend or the other at least once a fortnight in one of the various restaurants of Chandigarh that are different apparently, but alike basically.

One cannot help but notice the flocks of women perched in any of these restaurants in any season. Irrespective of the age and shape one can see them wrapped in attires imagined and unimagined, the ingenious cuts trying desperately to make the bulges look aesthetic. With the facial lines, shallow or deep, filled with thick foundation, the darkest to the lightest shades of lipsticks painted with great precision, designer bags held out prominently as they step out of the cars, with one hand on the carefully chosen goggles and eye on the designer watches; one can often see them rushing in, lest they are late for the important ‘meetings’.

The agenda of the meetings that every other visitor to the restaurant, willing or not, is made privy to, lest two such meetings proceed in parallel, making it impossible to decipher anything in that case, invariably has the new gym or the new suit-sari store or a jewellery shop on it. The chatter on the agenda items is punctuated by tornadoes of laughter that rattle the entire place periodically.

As the meetings warm up, one can see the talk of diet and weight control go haywire. One can sometimes spot one going almost breathless with the mammoth effort of chewing large quantities of food, followed by even strenuous act of lifting the entire body weight from the chair and then making a round of the buffet table.

Eventually, as the ‘great sporting event’ draws to a close, one can sense calm descending as a result of exhaustion, as they puff the sweat oozing out of the foundations with tissue paper and reward themselves with ice cream or gulab jamun with rabri or both before waddling like penguins to the doors of the cars held open by the chauffeurs.

Every time, I witness this phenomenon, I am compelled to think why they are so anxious to eat when they have already built enough reserves to last a famine of an year at least and marvel at their profound foresight and planning. Then remembering the maxim that everything on this earth has a purpose, I ponder how would, the restaurants of Chandigarh survive without the patronage of this ‘Colourful Species’.

OPED

Afghan women dread the return of Taliban regime and repression
by Wazhma Frogh

As an Afghan woman who for many years lived a life deprived of the most basic human rights, I find unbearable the thought of what will happen to the women of my country if it once again falls under the control of the insurgents and militants who now threaten it.

In 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, the liberation of Afghan women was one of the most important justifications for military intervention. Has the world now changed its mind about Afghan women? Is it ready to let them once again be killed and tortured by militants? Does the world no longer believe in the principles it supported in 2001?

Handing over Afghanistan to those who intend to keep the country centuries behind most of the world — to men who do not view women as human beings — would not only call into doubt the global commitment to human rights, it would also raise questions about the commitment of Western democracies to such rights and to democratic values.

Bearing in mind how fragile the Afghan government is at this moment, it will not take long for the country’s women to come under attack again. The consequences will be worse this time because no matter how limited our success, we have at least managed to act in the forefront of public life in Afghanistan. We have had a taste of what it’s like to have rights.

And it is not us alone. On my way to Kabul’s international airport recently, I noticed a crowd of taxi drivers sitting under a tree at the airport taxi stand. They were mourning the deaths of Italian troops and Afghans in the suicide attack on Sept. 17 near Kabul. As I talked with them, I realized that they were not only saddened by the deaths but frightened by what they might mean.

“Today, after eight years, if the foreign troops leave ... we will go back to the same Afghanistan that seemed like a funeral every day,” one of the drivers said. “This time, the loss will be huge, because during the past eight years we have made significant progress in becoming part of the rest of the world, so much so that our enemies despise us for it.”

There has been progress in Afghanistan, as many such people will tell you. But can it be maintained if Washington and its allies shift their focus solely to dismantling al-Qaida while regarding the Taliban as a lesser threat? The answer to that question will be a life-or-death matter for many thousands of women in my country, and men as well.

The fact that it is even being considered makes me wonder: Have people forgotten that it was the Taliban that put the lives of millions of Afghans at risk for the sole purpose of protecting Osama bin Laden — thus making it clear that their loyalty was to him alone? What is to stop this from happening again under Taliban rule?

Afghans understand the need for international assistance, both for the country’s development and for the strengthening of its military. This is especially evident now that the insurgency and the violence are less their own creation than an unwanted gift from the other side of the border with Pakistan.

We see some of NATO’s allies rapidly losing interest in Afghanistan, even though they admit that if the country is left to the insurgents, the consequence will be many more incidents like the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

They are being persuaded by a propaganda war on the part of insurgents who seem to have convinced much of the world that they are winning the war. But in fact the enemy will win only if the international community allows itself to be influenced by this propaganda campaign.

The question to keep in mind for all parties involved is, what motivated them to come to Afghanistan in the first place? The answer: global security and the protection of human rights in Afghanistan. Are these two purposes no longer valid?

Afghans do not want to rely forever on such help. They want to take ownership of the war against terrorism and insurgents. History has proved that we have always fought in defense of our sovereignty, and that is why patriotism is central to this war.

With good training and adequate weaponry, the Afghan army can win the trust of villagers, who will support it in protecting villages from suicide attackers and insurgents. To achieve this goal, the international community should work with the Afghan government as an ally and avoid creating a parallel government competing with that Afghan government.

It would be helpful to hold an international conference in Afghanistan to allow the government and parliament to come up with common solutions for all parties to adhere to. Such international engagement inside Afghanistan would give a sense of ownership to Afghans, offering a change from the international conferences of the past, where Afghans rarely found an opportunity to express their opinions and offer solutions.

At this time of violence and anxiety, it is important for the international community and the United States to reaffirm their commitment to Afghanistan rather than questioning whether it is worth defending an entire people against those who would install another brutally repressive regime under which women cannot be educated or seek to improve their lot, where “justice” is meted out in mass public executions, where repression is the rule — and where new terrorist plots will inevitably be hatched to attack the United States and its allies.

The people of Afghanistan, and most fervently its women, desire a long-term and consistent relationship with the United States and European democracies. We do not want to become another Vietnam. We want to be an example of the success of global commitment to making the world a better and safer place for everyone, from New York to London to Helmand.

The writer, a graduate student at Warwick University in Britain, is the recipient of the US State Department’s 2009 International Women of Courage Award for Afghanistan

— By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post

Why votes vanish
by Lalit Mohan

This time the authorities in Gurgaon made a serious attempt to set right the anomalies in the voters’ list, but were let down again by the system. The saving grace was the helpdesk they set up, which made it easier to trace the vote – if it still existed.

There were complaints galore in the last Lok Sabha polls about names missing in the electoral roll. On a personal note, I voted, but my wife, who had been doing it all these years, could not because her name disappeared from the roll. We have been living at the same address for 19 years, have contiguous voter card numbers. Our names were verified again when a re-check was done during a survey earlier this year. My son’s name appeared twice in the list. My daughter, whose name was missing the last time, learnt that it had magically reappeared without any effort on her part. On the flip side, I know of people who have passed away, or shifted residence, but were, despite ‘door-to-door verification’, still listed as voters.

After the Lok Sabha election a special effort was made to get at least the missing names back on the list. I live in a colony of 373 houses on Mehrauli Road, Gurgaon. About 130 new voters’ cards were issued. And all of them arrived with addresses on one ‘Champa Road’ which is about three km away. The name of our colony was omitted altogether. This happened to residents in several other group housing condominiums in the town. It seems that in each such case, after the names had been entered, to save time and effort, a common location was entered through one simple all-encompassing command.

As proof of identity these cards were useless, but the election office said that they could still be used to vote and to facilitate this they set up a special voting centre in our colony.

On the Vidhan Sabha election day we found that, as assured, my wife’s name was in the list, even if the address was incorrect, but this time mine was missing! It was only after contacting the help desk that I learnt that most of the original voters’ names had been transported en bloc to another block quite distant from our booth.

Something is very wrong with the system. Watching this happen over the years one gets some idea of why this happens. In the area where I live in Gurgaon, one housing condominium, and parts of a ‘plotted’ colony and a village comprise a common list and vote at the same centre. Each locality has its unique numbering scheme for houses. But when all addresses are entered together into a computer in their alpha-numeric sequence, they get totally jumbled. And when this mess is translated from English characters, which are normally used to list houses, to Hindi, the confusion gets confounded further.

The enumerators all too often fail to exercise due diligence while entering house addresses. They abbreviate them without following any consistent rule. Even a simple error can, in the computer’s almighty churn, transpose any house to another part of the constituency. This is why, even if the name is listed, it takes an effort to find it.

The problem gets compounded when the election office updates the original data. Checking staff are sent from house to house for verification. They are given an already messed up list as the basic data. If an inspector goes strictly by this, he would start with one house, but find that the next one listed is streets away. Not many can resist the temptation to randomly remove or retain the names printed in the given roll. If one raises an objection later, the reply given is invariably: “Our staff went to your house, but found nobody there.” Then why should a name appear twice? But it is their word against yours. Or, you could be told, “You should have come here and checked the list in good time,” which is ridiculous because if you have not moved house, there is no reason why you should.

It is possible that the problem is more serious in towns like Gurgaon where demographics are changing rapidly and constant revision is required. To get it right, this exercise has to commence from scratch. Start with the addresses first. List the houses and colonies or roads in some recognizable order. This should be the base. Then fill in the names and other details. Checking will then become easier and the voters’ cards will give the full and correct identity.

And it will facilitate locality or ward-wise break up of the roll, which is how the list of local bodies’ voters is drawn up. At present there are two separate lists for their and the legislatures’ elections. The qualifications of the electors are the same in both cases. With the improved format one list will serve the purpose of two. The cost and the time saved in preparing and revising rolls will be an added bonus.

Delhi Durbar
Nobel for Obama good news for India?

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lost no time in sending a congratulatory letter to President Barack Obama after he was named as the Nobel Peace Prize winner. The next day, Manmohan Singh even called up the US leader to congratulate him.

However, Indian officials have a different take on Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Their apprehension is that since Obama has won the prize for his efforts aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons, he would start exerting pressure on India to sign the NPT, which New Delhi considers discriminatory.

The fear is that Obama may start working on India as early as next month when Manmohan Singh visits Washington as the first state guest of his administration. Just last month, Obama had convened a special meeting of the UN Security Council on non-proliferation which was clearly seen as an attempt to bring countries like India under the NPT regime.

Obama’s gestures such as celebrating Diwali in the White House have certainly increased his fan following in India but his non-proliferation agenda may well turn out to be a sticking point for the two countries in the coming days.

If gold glitters, silver too shines

The effect of global recession wore off the Indian market this Diwali as was visible from the brisk business that traders did during the days preceding the most important Indian festival.

Among the precious metals, even though gold saw a decline in sales mainly due to the high price it has been trading at, it was silver, the cheaper between the two, which saw high demand.

A visit to some of the big jewellers on the ‘Dhanteras’ day revealed that by the late afternoon they had run out of silver coins and were only offering gold coins.

South Block wakes up to China threat

Just a month ago correspondents covering the ministries of Defence and Home were blamed for fanning “anti-China” feelings with their reports on Chinese intrusions into Ladakh and also China’s military exercise involving the movement of some 50,000 troops.

A noted columnist even called these media reports as “war mongering”. Last week when China protested against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, an official grudgingly admitted “had it not been for the media, certain things may have never been highlighted in India”.

China’s recent aggressive posturing, particularly on Arunachal Pradesh, is being seen in the South Block as a move aimed at hard bargaining in border talks with India. Much will depend upon a possible meeting between Prime Minister Singh and his Chinese counterpart in Thailand later this week on the fringes of the ASEAN submit.

Contributed by Ashok Tuteja, Girja Kaura and Ajay Banerjee

Corrections and clarifications

n In the report “PU scientists ready for ‘Big Bang’ experiment” (Page 3, October 19) a lot of information on the sites from which some of the information was sourced has got incorporated inadvertently.

n The word “drought” has been mis-spelt as “draught” in the headline “Draught damages 75 pc maize, paddy” (Page 6, October 17) and also in the body text.

n In the intro of the report “Rights body pulls up SSP,” (Page 4, October 17) the word ‘of’ has been wrongly used in sentence ‘….alleged attempt to murder of local Akali leader Yadvinder Singh Buttar’.

n In the intro of report “BJP govts responsible for Naxalism” (Page 2, October 16) the expression ‘…. by doing less development’ is faulty. It should have been …… by neglecting development.

Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them.

This column appears twice a week — every Tuesday and Friday. We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error.

Readers in such cases can write to
Mr Kamlendra Kanwar, Senior Associate Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the word “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is kanwar@tribunemail.com.

H.K. Dua
Editor-in-Chief