The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Trouble in the Valley
Tactful handling is the need of the hour

Violence that broke out in several towns of Jammu and Kashmir after the death of a teenager hit by a teargas shell in Srinagar on January 31 refuses to abate. There have been clashes between the police and the protesters in Srinagar, Sopore, Baramulla, Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian ever since. It is an acid test for the Omar Abdullah government to douse the fire with tact and effectively. That the protests are being fanned by elements in Pakistan is not in doubt. Also, there are separatists within the state who are hell bent on taking advantage of the volatile situation. Still, it is the duty of the government to cool down frayed tempers with extreme sensitivity. The problem in Kashmir is that every instance of police “excesses” is blown out of proportions, while the provocation caused by mischievous rampaging mobs is not taken into account.

What must not be forgotten is that a large number of policemen and personnel of paramilitary forces have also been injured in the violent attacks by stone-pelting youth. Yet, it is of utmost importance that the security personnel exercise maximum restraint while controlling such protesters. For instance, 14-year-old Wamiq Farooq Wani would not have died in Srinagar the previous Sunday if a police officer had taken care not to throw the teargas shell directly on a group of youngsters who were pelting stones on a police party. That incident triggered violent reaction at a large number of places. The police suspended the ASI for negligence but the damage was done.

Elements across the border can be depended on to foment trouble. In fact, there are reasons to apprehend that with the melting of snow, there would be an attempt to push in more militants. But at least politicians should refrain from scoring brownie points by instigating the public. Parents too should not allow their children to fall a prey to anti-social elements. Peace is not something which only the government requires. It is equally necessary for the common man wanting to earn his daily bread in the Valley.

Exercises off the Andamans
India working to guard its maritime interests

The five-day 13-nation naval exercise off the Andaman archipelago kicked off by India on Friday is an important initiative and an index of India’s growing self-confidence. The move is a subtle signal that the time for China wanting to exercise controlling vital sea-lanes unchallenged is over. Considering that at least three of the participating nations in the naval exercises —Vietnam, Malaysia and the Phillipines — have maritime disputes with China, Beijing is viewing India’s role as the coordinator of the naval exercise with suspicion. The recent US portrayal of India as a possible “net provider of security in the Indian Ocean” has increased Chinese apprehensions. In that context, India’s clarification that it has no intention to play ‘headmaster’ of the Indian Ocean is timely and well-meant.

The Chinese, on their part, have been playing for stakes for long, selling military hardware at ‘friendly’ prices to Indian Ocean littorals, helping develop maritime infrastructure in Pakistan (Gwadar), Sri Lanka (Hambantota), and Bangladesh (Chittagong), and setting up road/energy pipeline networks and electronic surveillance installations in Myanmar (Burma). Naval diplomacy involving maritime multilateralism with Indian Ocean littorals has also been part of China’s strategy. But unaccustomed as they are to India exercising influence among littoral states, the Chinese are taking time to adjust to the new geopolitical realities.

Apart from tackling China, there indeed are many motivations for the 13-nation exercises. India cannot overlook the fact that the terrorists who wrought havoc in Mumbai on 26/11 of 2008 came via the sea route. Piracy on the high seas has also become an issue of concern which affects Indian vessels. India’s naval chief, Admiral Nirmal Verma, has described the exercises as a way to improve disaster management and not an attempt to form a security bloc. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, India’s navy played an international role, deploying its ships to help devastated Sri Lanka and Indonesia in what analysts said was a bid to project itself as a regional power with offshore military strength. Clearly, India’s new-found status as a regional maritime power is being increasingly respected. There should be no back-pedalling on the course that India has taken.

Thought for the Day

I don’t consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin. — Leonard Cohen

ARTICLE

Peace process with Islamabad
It’s better to involve Pakistan Army
by K. Subrahmanyam

NO sensible Indian will oppose the peace process with Pakistan and reduction in the risks of conflict between the two neighbours. The four wars, all of which were started on the initiative of Pakistan, prove the futility of war as a way to change the status quo. The restoration of territory occupied in wars and rapid withdrawal of the Indian forces from Bangladesh territory after the war clearly demonstrate that India has no territorial claims on Pakistan. Given the military, economic and demographic equation between the two countries, there is no possibility of Pakistan succeeding in changing the status quo by force. Therefore, peaceful collaboration or at least peaceful coexistence between the two neighbours is good for both of them.

The peaceful collaboration will give Pakistan great benefits by throwing open the vast and rapidly growing Indian market.

If they do not want to cooperate economically with India at least peaceful coexistence will enable them to pay more attention to their own development. Therefore, India does not need any incentive to engage Pakistan in a peace process. What stands in the way?

The answer, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has repeatedly articulated, is the Pakistan Army’s belief that the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy in an asymmetric war will enable them to bleed India through a thousand cuts and fragment this country. So long as they entertain this ambition, there can be no real peace between the two countries but only armed truce, as at present. The problem is not only that the Pakistani civil society lives in a state of denial of this well-established Pakistan Army strategy but also tries to sell to the world the myth that Pakistan is not in a position to control the jihadi terrorist organisations and they themselves are their victims. They point out the valiant fight of the Pakistan Army against the Pakistani Taliban and bemoan that their sacrifices have not been adequately appreciated.

US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee giving the Annual Threat Assessment, on February 3, 2010, “Pakistan’s conviction that militant groups are strategically useful to counter India are not only hampering the fight against terrorism but also helping Al-Qaeda sustain its safe haven ….Islamabad’s strategic approach risks helping Al-Qaeda sustain its safe haven because some groups supported by Pakistan provide assistance to Al-Qaeda…. Islamabad’s conviction that militant groups are an important part of its strategic arsenal to counter India’s military and economic advantages will continue to limit Pakistan’s incentive to pursue an across-the-board effort against extremism.”

Thus, “despite robust Pakistani military operations against extremists that directly challenge Pakistani government authority, the Afghan Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Pakistani militant groups continue to use Pakistan as a safe haven for organising, training and planning attacks against the United States and our allies in Afghanistan, India and Europe.…Islamabad has demonstrated determination and persistence in combating militants it perceives dangerous to Pakistan’s interests, particularly those involved in attacks in the settled areas, including the FATA-based Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda and other associated operatives in the settled areas.…However, it still judges it does not need to confront groups that do not threaten it directly and maintains historical support to the Taliban,” Blair said providing the assessment reflecting the views of 16 intelligence agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“Pakistan has not consistently pursued militant actors focused on Afghanistan, although Pakistani operations against the TTP and similar groups have sometimes temporarily disrupted Al-Qaeda,” he said. “Simultaneously, Islamabad has maintained relationships with other Taliban-associated groups that support and conduct operations against US and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) forces in Afghanistan….It has continued to provide support to its militant proxies, such as the Haqqani Taliban, the Gul Bahadur group, and the Commander Nazir group…. The Al-Qaeda, Afghan Taliban and Pakistani militant safe haven in Quetta will continue to enable the Afghan insurgents and Al-Qaeda to plan operations, direct propaganda, recruiting and training activities, and fundraising activities with relative impunity.

“This is the situation the Pakistani civil society continues to deny. It is quite possible that some of the terrorist groups patronised today by the Pakistan Army may turn against the Pakistani civil population tomorrow as the Pakistani Taliban has done. But who is to be blamed for that except the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

It is widely believed in Pakistan that Benazir Bhutto was murdered on the orders of Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, since killed in a US drone strike. The Pakistani Taliban was earlier nurtured by the Pakistan Army and the ISI. The elected PPP government moved the UN Security Council to appoint an investigating panel to probe the circumstances of Benazir’s assassination since the PPP government did not have any credibility in the investigations carried out by the previous regime under General Musharraf. The Security Council appointed a three-member panel, headed by Chilean ambassador to the UN Heraldo Munoz, Indonesian ex-attorney-general Marzuki Darusman and Peter Fitzgerald, a former Irish police official.

After the panel’s arrival in Pakistan it has been informed that it cannot have access to Army and ISI officials.The Pakistani civilian government, which moved the Security Council to appoint the investigation panel is powerless to get its Army and intelligence officials, former patrons of Baitullah Mehsud and his Pakistani Taliban, to give evidence before the UN panel. The Army, presumably because of its past links with Baitullah Mehsud and the Pakistani Taliban at the time of Benazir assassination, has overruled the government.

The US DNI has clearly laid out the relationship between the Pakistan Army and the ISI and the various terrorist groups, nailing the lies of Pakistani civilian leaders. He has also highlighted that terrorist groups are treated as part of Pakistani arsenal against India. Secondly, the total imbecility of the Pakistani civilian government in their being humiliatingly overruled by their Army in respect of evidence to be given before the UN panel shows that the civilian leaders are functioning only as a façade.

In these circumstances, any peace process with Pakistan, if it is to be meaningful, has to be conducted with the Army and not with these ineffective civilians. That was why the dialogue with General Musharraf was meaningful. It is quite clear that the Pakistan Army is not likely to give up the terrorist arsenal in its inventory. Since the same terrorists have also been targeting the US, let us give a chance to Washington to deal with Pakistan on the issue while being ready to thwart terroristic attacks on India, and if it succeeds to call Pakistan to account. Holding talks with a President or a Prime Minister who cannot produce witnesses before a tribunal, they ask the UN to set up will not behove the dignity of the Indian Prime Minister.

MIDDLE

Compulsory transfers, travels and tourism
by Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Even regular travellers on planned package luxury cruises or budget trips cannot claim to have seen the myriad representation of the country life in its true colours. It will not be an overstatement to say that the personnel and families of the military or the para military forces best enjoy the privilege of watching the country from the closest quarters.

I was born in a military hospital in Ranchi and I began my education at Parbhat Tara School, in Muzaffarpur, in Bihar during a subsequent transfer of my father. I also owe my name to the city.

I was originally named Harmit Satjit Pal Singh incorporating names of my family members: Har (Harbhajan), Mit (Malkiat), Sat (Satwant), Jit (Harjit) and Pal (Kulwinder Pal) during an earlier late evening family gathering, at my village in Hoshiarpur district.

A local friend of my father took me to the school. When I told my name to the teacher, he laughed and said: “Is this a name or a story?” He rechristened me with a local name which does not figure on the list of my community.

I remember having crossed a part of the Brahmaputra on the back of an elephant when my father was posted at Tezpur in Assam. Any tourists’ dream sightings of Kaziranga wild life sanctuary and the ‘Bada Paani’, a little short of Shillong, came up as en route sightings rather than paid trips.

During my father’s posting in the outskirts of Imphal in Manipur, during 1970s, I was often used as an interlocutor, for talks between the locals and patrolling police units. Our gang included children of dad’s colleagues: Pillai from Kerela, Shukla from Rajasthan, Manjit Singh from Punjab, Jha from Bihar and Upadhayay from Uttar Pradesh.

The camp was a classic example of unity in diversity. Hindi was the common language for the group glued together from sunrise till our parents tucked us in our beds at night.

The moving sea of population in the Indian railways is a befitting example of the real face of the country. The word conjures up images of jostling to our berths in the second class bogies, unscheduled train halting by pulling emergency chain and sharing food and games with co-passengers, from different parts of the country.

Let me also clarify that the travel jaunts for the guards of the country are not free. Not all posting with rare sights are family stations. Thousands are posted in jungles, deserts and at heights where they cannot take their families along. It can sometimes be a couple of years before they go back to their homes.

Not questioning the grandeur of the listed tourist places, at all, I will only like to say these soldiers are routine witness to the unmatched and indescribable sights on train to Dimapur in Nagaland, the mountains along the entire strip of the Himalayas from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, the countryside in Manipur and the jungles in the North East, to name only a few.n

OPED

Tasks ahead for Bangladesh
Lessons to learn for Sheikh Hasina
by Kuldip Nayar

The killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman, founder of Bangladesh, were hanged a few days back when this writer happened to be in Dhaka. Such happenings are painful to recall because they reopen the wounds and leave people hurt and helpless. Mujib and his family, including children, were shot dead some 35 years ago. Sheikh Hasina, who became Bangladesh Prime Minister later, and her sister escaped death because they were out of the country.

My immediate reaction was why it had taken three and a half decades to bring the culprits to book. And why six of the assailants were still at large? The fact is that no action was taken by Gen Zia-ur-Rehman or Gen H.M. Ershad or Begum Khalida Zia to pursue the massacre. They had been in power for 30 years. It was Hasina who, after she came to power, retrieved the case from the dust of deliberate delay and official connivance.

It is difficult to believe that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, headed by Begum Khalida Zia, did not pursue the case intentionally because the killers were from among the anti-liberation forces, those who were on the side of Pakistan when Bangladesh was fighting its war for independence. However, during the talks with me at Dhaka a few days ago, Khalida mentioned the word “liberation” as if she stood against the collaborators and was critical of their role in the history of Bangladesh. Yet the fact remains that the case picked up speed during Hasina’s Prime Ministership and lost the pace when Khalida came to power.

This takes me to the division in the Bangladesh society. There are two groups: the liberators who are overwhelmingly in a majority and the anti-liberation group, which is in a minority. Even after 40 years of independence, the shadow of Pakistan is there. The anti-liberation forces are reportedly aligned with it. Indeed, this is hurting the nation’s solidarity and future.

In fact, some people told me-among them are liberal lawyers-that the rapprochement between India and Pakistan would take place only when relations between Dhaka and New Delhi become firm. One of them remarked that New Delhi should realise the way to Islamabad went through Dhaka. They welcomed the idea of a common market in South Asia because in this concept they saw proximity with Pakistan. My guess is that the pro-Pakistan elements in Bangladesh are limited. The general impression is that the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami are close to Pakistan and their anti-India stance in Dhaka is because of Islamabad’s distance from New Delhi.

Nonetheless, Mujib was such a tall person that the carping of the collaborators could not diminish his stature. Still the notable thing was that he did not consider the pro-Pakistan elements as the collaborators and treated them as a misguided lot, who would come to realise their mistakes one day. When I drew his attention to their defiance during one of my interviews after the liberation of Bangladesh, the Sheikh dismissed the criticism with the remark: “They are my children.”

People’s jubilation in Bangladesh over the hanging of his killers is understandable. Messages like “Jai Bangla” were exchanged on mobile phones. A large number of people assembled at Dhan Mandi after hearing the news of the killers’ execution. This is a simple, austere house where Mujib preferred to live to the sprawling mansion that was meant to be his official residence. It is not known how the trend of simplicity set by Mujib lost the way in Bangladesh and found comfort in luxury and showiness.

It is still unexplainable how and why Dhaka came to possess the three tanks which formed the core of the coup which the army carried out to oust Mujib. The tanks were reportedly a gift from Egypt. This was contrary to New Delhi’s wishes. D.P. Dhar, India’s senior minister, who was the political face of the liberation, had sent specific instructions from New Delhi to Dhaka not to ever acquire the tanks. He feared that if ever a coup took place in Bangladesh, the tanks would play a decisive role. And that is what happened. Mujib not only ignored Dhar’s warning but also rejected the information by the Indian intelligence services that he could be targeted in August. Mujib was assassinated on August 15.

On Hasina’s shoulders has the responsibility fallen to take the country forward and to fulfil the dreams of Mujib. The way in which people more or less fused into one nation the day Mujib’s killers were executed gives one hope that Bangladesh, despite the hard circumstances in which it is placed, will be able to meet the challenges it faces.

For that Hasina has to rise above personal dislikes which can be seen creeping in her decisions at times. For example, her order to Khalida to vacate the house she had occupied for the last 38 years did not behove the Prime Minister. Hasina has to learn to be generous like her father. He was the leader of all Bangladeshis. She has to act in a manner whereby she is seen rising above her party’s interests. She has had a bitter experience when she was in the wilderness. But she cannot settle scores after occupying the Prime Minister’s position.

I was at Islamabad one day before Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged. For Mujib, the executors were a surprise. But Bhutto knew who had conspired to hang him. Yet he did not believe that the rope would be put around his neck one day. Yahya Bakhtiar, his lawyer, asked me to find out during an interview with Gen Zia-ul Haq, then heading Pakistan, whether Bhutto was being hanged. The following day when I met Zia, my effort was to ferret out the information about Bhutto’s fate, without letting Zia suspect me. It was obvious from the short talk with him on the subject that Bhutto’s fate was sealed.

When Zia was asked whether there was pressure on him by America or Saudi Arabia and whether he would commute the death sentence to life imprisonment, he said there was no pressure on him from abroad, either from the US, Saudi Arabia or any other world power, but did not reply whether he was converting death sentence to life imprisonment. I thought this was a broad hint. Bhutto was executed two days later.

Agriculture must get higher allocation
by K.S. Chawla

Dr Gurdev Singh Khush

Dr Gurdev Singh Khush, a world-renowned rice breeder and geneticist, has led the rice development programme at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, for more than 35 years and developed over 320 varieties of rice, sown in 60 per cent of the world rice land.

An alumnus of Punjab Agricultural University, Dr Khush has received a number of international prizes for his outstanding contribution to the development of rice varieties. The prizes include the Japan Prize, considered a Nobel prize in science, and the World Food Prize for rice breeding work. The latest recognition to him has come from the Academy of Science, Malaysia, which gave him the Mahathir Science Award, launched in 2004 in honour of Dr Mahathir, former Prime Minister of Malaysia. The award was given last year in September and carries RM100,000, a gold medal and a certificate.

Dr Khush, now working as Adjunct Professor at the University of California, USA, has come on a tour of PAU and also will participate in the Science Congress to be held in Chandigarh.

During a question-answer session with The Tribune, Dr Khush expressed his concern over the rise in the prices of foodgrains in India and the growing population in the world. He, however, rules out the possibility of food riots in India as has happened in African countries.

Question: Is there any possibility of food riots in India as witnessed in African countries due to the foodgrains shortage and the price rise?

Dr. Khush: In India, there is no possibility of food riots as this country has sufficient stocks of foodgrains notwithstanding the fact that stocks are depleting. Also we have very good research system as compared with African countries. We have good infrastructure and a well-organised research system which can look after our requirements. The African countries do not have such a system. The African countries are importing a lot of foodgrains and spend $2 billion on rice import every year.

Q: But despite food reserves, there has been a steep rise in the prices of foodgrains, including sugar, wheat and other eatables?

A: I do not understand why sugar prices are going up in India. The government policies may be responsible. I have been often told by the farmers that they do not get the payment for sugarcane for six months to one year and as a result, the area under sugarcane has started falling.

Q: What are the major causes for a fall in the food production in the world?

A: By and large, food production has been rising. It rose at the rate of 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent per year in the 1970s and the 1980s. The population was increasing at the rate of 2 per cent and this was a positive point. In the 1990s, the rate of production was 1.7 per cent and the population rose by 1.5 per cent per year.

Similarly, in this century, food production is now rising at the rate of 1 per cent and the population is increasing at the rate pf 1.2 per cent. To make up the deficit, most of the countries are withdrawing from food reserves. The world food reserves have fallen from 120 million tonnes to 80 million tonnes.

In India, too, food production has not increased and this is the reason why prices are going up in this country. This year, there was a serious drought, and global warming also affected it. Because of the late rains farmers could not plant rice.

Q: What should the Indian Government do and particularly when the Union Budget is going to be presented by the end of the month?

A: The Union Government must increase the budget allocation for agriculture in order to give impetus to agricultural research. In the US, President Obama has raised the budgetary allocation for science and technology

Q: What role can agricultural universities play in crisis moment?

A: Agricultural universities in India are the fountainhead of knowledge. The Green Revolution, which had a major impact on food security, came about due to the agricultural universities.

The government must continue to extend maximum financial support to the agricultural universities. The Punjab Government should not starve Punjab Agricultural University of funds and should be generous to extend maximum financial aid. The farmers of Punjab should not oppose any cess, as PAU has made a substantial contribution to raising food production and the living of the farmers.

Q: There is a lot of opposition to the introduction of Bt Brinjal and there is controversy over the introduction of Bt technology?

A: Bt technology does not cause any harm. It helps in reducing the cost of production and the use of insecticides and pesticides. This does not cause any harm to the environment. Rather it cleans the environment. Bt. Brinjal is not at all harmful and it can help in increasing production. It will not contain a high percentage of residues of insecticides, harmful for health.

Chatterati
Maya’s squad for statues
by Devi Cherian

Mayawati's latest move of adopting a bill, OHMSS, could even stand for "On Her Majesty's Statue Service!" Maya has set up a special task force (STF) of 1,000 policemen to guard the 10 memorials in UP featuring her statues along with those of Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram. The Supreme Court, through a stern directive, put a stay on the installation of such memorials where crores of rupees of public money were being spent. The state government did not immediately explain how the elite force would function. Huge funds have already been spent. The Lucknow statues and memorials alone cost Rs 2,600 crore annually for their maintenance.

So, it is certain for Maya that rival parties, particularly members of the Samajwadi Party, will try to damage these structures. Hence the squad. But will it protect them from all those harbouring nefarious designs. Will a land-based force foil pigeons which relieve themselves on statues in even the most developed nations? Even London's Trafalgar Square has to be scrubbed to remove traces of bird
droppings.

If Lucknow's pigeons are as poorly toilet-trained as their London counterparts, the only way to maintain the pristine purity of the Mayawati memorials would be to have a mini air force of pilots in planes to chase away approaching birds. And then competitions could be held to decide which is the cleanest memorial and the officer in charge could be fast-tracked for promotion!

Awards or patronage?

Choosing personalities for conferring the Bharat Ratna and Padma awards is done by a high-level committee. The citizens of India are not very sure that the committee goes through every person's name carefully to ensure that those who get the awards deserve the honour because of their exceptional and distinguished services to the nation. These awardees are a pride to the nation.

This year there is a lot of hue and cry from all quarters on whether Chatwal, the hotelier from New York, was eligible for the award he got. There were many cases pending against him with the CBI for which he was given a clean chit. But does that make him eligible for the award? Was his lobbying, if true, for the nuclear deal in the US enough to wash off the cases against him in India?

There is a mechanism for choosing the awardees, but people who have been its part have disclosed how the rules are observed in breach. If this is how the mechanism works, then why persist with a system that reminds us of the colonial era when awards and titles were conferred merely as a form of patronage and favour, now especially to 'A' political party in power?

Governments should now correct the system and not use the Padma awards as a system of patronage and repayment of favours. These awards should not be used for political purposes. It turns particularly shady when you are giving it to business people or spiritual leaders who should know better than take awards.

The criteria should not be merely excellence, but "excellence plus," a lifetime achievement. No guidelines seems to have been followed in general as the awards committee is not given reports of tax or criminal records of the prospective awardees.

If the Prime Minister is so bent on changing the system, then this should be high on his priority list. We really don't want tax evaders being awarded and make us feel that once again honesty, hard work and dedication can be bypassed.