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Bloodbath in Moscow
Festival of literature
China’s power play
Romantic fibs
Force reduction in J&K will compromise gains AFSPA: Educate the public rather than amend the Act
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Burnt alive! Tuesday’s grisly incident in which Additional District Collector Yashwant Sonawane was doused with oil and burnt to death by a gang of kerosene and petrol pilferers at Panewadi, near Manmad in Nashik district of Maharashtra, proves two things. One, that the oil mafia is engaged in such a lucrative activity that it can even kill for it. Two, that the mafia cares little for the administration and can take on even such a senior district administration official.
If this can happen to an ADC, what protection does a common man have against the all-powerful gangsters? The shocking daylight murder makes one wonder whether the country has any rule of law at all. It is not as if oil pilferage is a new phenomenon. But the government has always conveniently looked the other way. Now that the brave officer has lost his life, all the talk about booking the culprits and trying them under the stringent Maharasthra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) seems to be an afterthought. With kerosene available at about Rs 12 a litre and petrol selling at upwards of Rs 58 per litre, the former is a favourite adulteration agent. What the racket does to the vehicles of unsuspecting buyers can well be imagined. With such a huge profit, the mafia buys the silence of officials of the government as well as the oil companies. Sonawane didn’t sell himself and paid the ultimate price. The terrifying “shut up or else …” message that has gone out is disconcerting. What is all the more galling is that this is not the first time that such an outrage has taken place. The oil mafia had killed IOC official S. Manjunath in Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh) when he had sealed two petrol pumps for selling adulterated petrol. Satyendra Kumar Dubey was murdered in Gaya (Bihar) after fighting corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral highway construction project. These brave men had to lay down their lives because the government was not solidly behind them. Sonawane’s sacrifice too will be in vain if the oil mafia is allowed to continue with its depredations. |
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Bloodbath in Moscow A car bomb explosion outside a cafe in Dagestan only served to underline the threat that terrorists pose to Russia, coming as it does, a few days after Monday’s terrorist bombing at Domodedovo airport in Moscow, in which 35 people were killed and around 200 injured.
While the failure of Russian security agencies is obvious, the root of the problem lies in the volatile nature of the North Caucasus region. Even after Moscow declared, in April 2009, that it had successfully contained the armed insurgency in the region, it continued to pose a significant challenge to Kremlin. The 10 years of Russian military action and harsh measures undertaken during that time left bitter memories, and are connected to the periodic eruptions of terrorist activity, like the March 2010 suicide bombings on Moscow’s subway system, in which 40 people were killed. At that time, the responsibility of the attack was claimed by a militant group which sought to establish a unified Islamic state in the region. The iron-fisted suppression of revolt left an unfortunate legacy of violent confrontations in which innocent ordinary citizens are inevitably the worst sufferers. While the Caucasians have a history of resisting Moscow’s dictates, much of the discontent in the region is linked to the failure of the local government to provide jobs and promote social welfare. These are basic requirements that should be met, and would go a long way in bringing in stability in the region. A multi-faceted approach, and not just hard-line military action, is needed to tackle the complex situation. On the other hand, Moscow should leave no stone unturned to ascertain the identity of the terrorist and his helpers and bring them to justice. Two significant elections are due in Russia, those for the Lower House by the end of the year and a presidential poll in March 2012. Heightened militant activity is expected during this time and thus, there is a need for tighter security, along with better intelligence. Moscow cannot afford to let its guard down.
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Festival of literature A whopping 50,000 bibliophiles, geeks and name droppers assembled at the Jaipur Literature Festival- 2011 from Jan 21 to 25. The first JLF had been attended by a mere 7500 book lovers. The success of this phenomenal event must not be counted in numerical terms alone; the 114 sessions dedicated to diverse literary genres and voices - from vedic to dalit, were read and heard in multiple languages and scripts, almost all the books penned by the authors who visited the festival were sold out in the first two days, and corporate honchos were seen sitting on the floor while some school kid occupied the front seat.
It was one of the most free-spirited and democratic events one has witnessed.Yet, nothing succeeds in India without leaving behind a little dust of controversy. The most potent among them- Indian writers are overshadowed by the foreign ones in their own land! Even though William Dalrymple, co-director, JLF, accused of promoting ‘reverse racialism’ continued harping over the fact that Namita Gokhale, co-director, JLF had been “ favouring Indian writing against triumph of the imperial English’, also reinforced by the fact that 12 of the 22 national languages were represented at the festival. Yet, few voices with obvious political overtones, continued to feed fodder to the language issue. And like any other populist overture, they received wild applause. If American and British literature’s living legends: Richard Ford and Martin Amis were given centre stage by the publishers sponsoring the show, maximum head counts were observed in sessions where the speakers were poets or writers writing in Hindi. The popularity of Hindi cannot be undermined. Albeit, unlike professionally managed global publishing industry in English, a majority of publishers in Hindi and regional languages fail to adopt transparent, professional practices to become a force to reckon with. They too produce stars, but their twinkle remains dim for lack of jingle of coins. Despite the fact that the copies printed in Hindi outnumber the English print many times over.
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Communism is the corruption of a dream of justice.— Adlai E. Stevenson
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China’s power play Reports in the state-run People’s Daily of China have confirmed that our neighbour has started damming the Yarlung-Tsangpo (Brahmaputra river) at Zangmu for a 510 MW hydro-electric project sited in the Gyaca county of Lhoka prefecture (Tibet). The project comprises a dam which is 116 m. high, 390 m.long across the river with a power plant having six generating units and will cost US$1.18 billion.
On India’s concerns, China has given the assurance that the project is not designed to divert the Brahmaputra waters and hence will not have any impact on the river flows in the downstream reaches. The major problems haunting China today are water and power shortages. China knows that if these two issues are not addressed adequately, the consequences would be grave and its ambition to become a super power would be in the doldrums. Hence, it has focussed its attention to exploit the huge potential available in the water-rich Tibet region to overcome the looming crisis. The Zangmu project is to be followed by five other new dams at Jiexu, Jiacha, Lengda, Zhongda and Langzhen to meet the energy needs. The uneven spatial distribution of water and land resources is the main reason for China to be concerned about water shortage, particularly in the northern and north-western provinces, for many decades. The humid South with 700 million people has one-third of the nation’s crop land and four-fifth of its water, while the arid north with 550 million people has two-third of the crop land and one-fifth of the water. During the seventies a Chinese General, Guo Kai, is reported to have even proposed to hammer the Himalayas with 200 nuclear warheads to blast a 2-km wide air tunnel to divert the Indian monsoon to meet the water needs. Subsequently, he had also speculated to use Tibet’s waters, particularly of the Brahmaputra, by diverting its waters at the ‘great bend’ of the river. The great western diversion proposed by Guo Kai involves the construction of a mega structure there and a tunnel through the Himalayas to divert the water and generate power, which could be used to pump water. The burgeoning population, increased industrial development, higher demand from agriculture and pollution in the rivers have further contributed to the water woes now, forcing the Chinese to plan for diverting water from the South to the North under the South-North Diversion Project through three links: the central, eastern and western routes. China has already started the construction of the central and eastern links. The western link is the modified version of Guo Kai’s dream project and is reported to be under study. According to experts of the China Society for Hydropower Engineering, only research has been carried out about the huge potential available at the ‘great bend’ and no plan has been prepared so far. However, Chinese official news agency, Xinhua, had in 2003 confirmed the plans for the Tsangpo Water Diversion Project with two components, viz, a power plant with an installed capacity of more than 40,000 MW in the Metok area to utilise the potential of the river falling through 3,000 m and diversion of water by pumping to the provinces of Xingjiang and Gansu. China has been discreet about the project, but according to recent reports, the construction of a117-km Metok highway with a tunnel to the Metok site linking the Indian border to National Highway 318 from Shanghai is in full swing to negotiate the difficult terrain of the Yarlung-Tsangpo gorge, presumably to facilitate the movement of materials and machinery for the project. Also, in the map of the Grid Corporation of China for 2020 the great bend area is shown as connected to the rest of the Chinese power supply, thereby indicating Chinese plans for the project in the area. Environmental activists, both in China and abroad, have warned against building such a huge project in a seismically active and ecologically fragile area, but the authorities are emphatic that Tibet’s resources have to be used for economic advantage. Similarly, many experts have raised doubts about the engineering possibility of constructing such a project, considering the topographical and geological conditions of the rugged, high-altitude area. But China has proved its capability to overcome such difficulties with the construction of the rail track to Tibet and the gigantic Water Diversion Project to transfer 1.8 billion water annually to the Dehuofang reservoir across the Hun river through a 85.3-km tunnel in the equally formidable mountain ranges of North-East China. China has every right to build dams in its part of the Brahmaputra and is not answerable to India since it is not bound by any treaty on water sharing with India. The joint declaration made in 2006 between the two enables only sharing hydrological data, which is not adequate to address our concerns. True, we have been assured that these dams are meant only for power generation, but the disturbing fact is that China maintains a strategic silence on its river diversion plans. For example, in the past they were denying any plan for the Zangmu project in spite of satellite images showing activities in the project area. Only now they have confirmed it. India has to be concerned about the Chinese projects because the reservoir operations could cause wide water-level fluctuations in the river downstream to upset the operations of the hydel schemes in Arunachal Pradesh. The experience of the co-basin states in the Mekong basin will be an eye-opener in this regard. The operations of the Chinese projects on the Mekong affected their agriculture, fisheries and tourism projects downstream and, when these governments protested, China denied the allegations. Also, if the Chinese divert lean-season flows outside the basin for their projects, the schemes in Arunachal Pradesh would have to be shut down for want of minimum river flows, and if they release heavy discharges into a flooded Brahmaputra downstream, vast areas would be submerged in Arunachal Pradesh as was experienced in the year 2000. Unfortunately, at present there is no international law for trans-boundary rivers to control such unilateral actions. India has also to remain prepared to face situations during possible conflicts since China always plans its infrastructure projects for dual use to meet the requirements of peace time and war as has been enunciated by Chairman Mao. The moot question, therefore, is: Are we to remain satisfied with China’s assurances, or are we to take action to face such eventualities? Experience has taught us to remain prepared to deal with such situations. Hence, instead of remaining complacent with the Chinese assurances, let us get ready with plans to address these issues. Indian experts had earlier identified and proposed a project with a large storage potential on the Siang (Brahmaputra) in Arunachal Pradesh which had adequate capacity to absorb the flood flows and also to even out water-level fluctuations caused by upstream projects. But the Indian government does not seem to be keen on this project, citing environmental objections. Considering the strategic importance of the project, let us be ready with the project by implementing it expeditiously instead of waiting for the catastrophe to occur. Happenings in the Mekong basin and even our experience with floods in the past have already warned us. India cannot afford to ignore the likely threats from the liquid bombs ticking away in Tibet, having enough potential to become weapons of mass
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Romantic fibs
One
notable aspect of the battle of the sexes is outsmarting each other through sweet-little-nothings which are, in fact, lies that drip with romantic sugar.Lies come thick and fast on the romantic pitch. Take the polite cultured lies with which the lover drenches his girl. Lovers use lies white, pink and other colours to create a rainbow. Helen Rowland was telling the truth when she said that fibbing is second nature of lovers. This is equally applicable to spouses in wedlock. It prevents them from making war, instead of love, and from making better halfs into bitter halfs! Mercifully, the bedroom is prevented from becoming a bedlam. During courtship days (and nights), the couples-to-be lie oftener than they will ever admit. The drops of honey they pour out for each other’s consumption are only romantic fibs. The lover coos: I will pluck stars from the sky for you whereas he cannot pluck a litchi from a tree in Pinjore Garden. Women may not make a clean breast of it but they are all willing to believe the most implausible lies if these are told in the name of love. They know that they are being taken for a ride but that does not spoil the romance one bit. Women being shrewd creatures of instinct, know that men do have a line that scores with them. They also know it because they hear many others speak of it. Yet, they trust and fall for it. I mean, in love. And this happens because they are essentially “physical” beings. As a woman too under-developed to be over-exposed put it: I prefer a white lie any time to a truth that sags my vanity. This means wise women see through men. The wiser ones, however, put a grain of sugar into everything they say to their men, and put a grain of salt into everything men say to them. They keep the relationship on an even keel. They fully realise that a man in the house is worth two in the
street. |
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Force reduction in J&K will compromise gains
The
Union Home Secretary recently spoke of reducing the strength of the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir by 25 per cent. The Chief of Army Staff, when asked to comment on this proposed reduction, said there was neither a need to carry out any troop reduction nor was it desirable to do so in view of the prevailing security situation in the state. Reduction in security forces' strength in J&K has serious implications. The requirement of troops to carry out assigned security tasks and responsibilities is the sole concern of force commanders and not of politicians and bureaucrats. Security forces commanders have to consider many factors and carry out a detailed study of the situation before taking a decision about the strength of troops needed to carry out the tasks. Decisions taken in a hurry and without detailed analysis cause negative influences. Keeping in view the prevailing situation in the state, it is difficult to carry out any reduction in the strength of security forces deployed there. Infiltration from across the border by terrorists is still occurring in Kashmir. Pakistan continues to train terrorists and send them into Kashmir where they continue to engage in subversive activities. It is almost impossible to travel in Kashmir without protection. Tax collection from innocent village residents, killing of innocent people, rape, planting bombs, random grenade attacks on security forces' posts, illegal trade in weapons and ammunition and forcible recruitment of Kashmiri youth into terrorist organisations are some of the activities which terrorist organisations continue to indulge in. No political leader, including the prime minister and the state's chief minister, dare address a public meeting without proper protection involving hundreds of troops. Our past experience has taught us valuable lessons that as and when such reductions in troop strength were carried out, terrorists operating in J&K took full advantage. It has also been our experience that whenever terrorists came under pressure and security forces gained an upper hand, efforts were made by the former through politicians, some of whom are reportedly their collaborators, to ask for reduction in troop strength, removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and also for a temporary cease fire. It has taken more than 20 years at a cost of nearly one lakh crore rupees and the lives of about 8,000 soldiers for the security forces to have established a reasonable security network in the Valley. It is because of this that against one infiltrator from across Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, the security forces are eliminating about two terrorists everyday. In other words, security forces are finishing more terrorists than the number infiltrating. Consequently, terrorists who had managed to mingle with the local population are being caught and eliminated. If this pressure on the terrorist is sustained, the day is not far when terrorist organisations will start requesting for peaceful negotiations. Reduction in the strength of troops will cause a negative impact on the security network resulting in loosening the grip on situation by the security forces and thereby giving an advantage to the terrorists. On three earlier occasions the government declared a ceasefire in J&K and effected some troop reduction. Thousands of terrorists took advantage and infiltrated into the Valley. The same had happened in Nagaland in 1997 when insurgents took advantage of a ceasefire to build up their demoralised organisations. In Assam, ULFA and BODO militant organisations too exploited the lull brought about by ceasefires. Similarly, we had the situation in Manipur under full control in 1998. The government then ordered a ceasefire and withdrawal of troops. As a result 30 terrorist and insurgent organisations are active in Manipur today. Reduction in security forces' strength from J&K at this juncture will not be in national interest. We should not jeopardise 20 years effort to suit the temporary interest of local political parties. The stage has now been set in the Valley to expose the terrorists collaborations, their background supporters and to apprehend those who are now lying low as sleeper agents. It is difficult to imagine on what basis the Union Home Secretary made his statement on troop reduction in J&K. Earlier efforts of similar nature yielded no results. Instead it helped anti-national organisations such as the Huriyat to build their strength. If the endeavour is to help the local government and the political party in power, we have to see if the local police and the administration can handle the situation if security forces are restricted to their barracks. After incurring considerable expenditure and bearing tremendous difficulties, the security forces were moved to J&K. It took them nearly two decades to get an upper hand on the situation in the state as well as along the Line of Control. If they are pulled out now, it would be premature and will nullify all their past efforts. Stability and area dominance will get compromised; knowledge gained on terrorists organisations, their bases and their modus operandi will get wasted; and if the situation deteriorates once again, the forces will have to be brought back at tremendous cost. Why is there this desire to reduce the strength of security forces when circumstances do not mandate it? Neither the security forces nor the nation want it. Security forces have been deployed there for a mission and unless that mission is achieved it will be a great folly to withdraw them in any measure. The state government and the police are unable to detect and apprehend hidden terrorists. There is neither the desire nor the effort on their part to get arrested terrorists, whose number runs in thousands, tried by the courts for crimes and murders committed by them. The actions of the state machinery gives the impression that they are with the terrorists rather than as part of the Indian state. Thousands of crore rupees have been given by the Centre for developmental works in J&K. In fact all national resources are theirs for asking. But no development work is possible unless internal peace is been established. For development to begin, a secure environment is essential. To maintain that security, adequate force levels are needed. The writer has commanded a division
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AFSPA: Educate the public rather than amend the Act The Ministry of Home Affairs has drafted amendments to the Armed Forces Special Power Act The Army and the Ministry of Defence have been opposing any such amendments. It is unfortunate that even the government has made no effort to educate the public about the true nature and necessity of retaining the AFSPA. Instead the Act has become a political football. AFSPA was invoked in Kashmir in July 1990 consequent to the total failure of the state administration and the police in controlling insurgency in the Valley. It was applied in Manipur in September 1980 when the situation had deteriorated to such an extent that it had become impossible to run the administration, maintain law and order and provide peace and tranquility to the public. To understand AFSPA, one needs to have an insight into the background. Law and order is the responsibility of the state government which it maintains through the state police and, if required, with the of the central police organisations. If they fail, the army is brought in. Even when the army is deoployed, the responsibility for coordination between security agencies remains with the civil administration. To assist the army, magistrates and police personnel are attached to it and the onus for any action taken for combating the situation remains that of the administration. In areas afflicted with insurgency and terrorism, as is evident in J&K, Manipur and Assam, conditions of maintaining law and order are grave. Terrorists are organised, equipped with sophisticated weapons and well trained. They operate from bases located in extremely difficult terrain like mountains, jungles and snow, where no police or magistrates are present. They also operate from urban areas where, by their militant action, ensure collapse of the civil administration. The police is neither equipped or trained to fight such situations. The army has no legal authority to operate on its own without the presence of a magistrate and police. The AFSPA was conceived to assist the army to operate in such an environment. AFSPA is made applicable by specific orders of the central government in extremely grave situations where the police has not been effective, where the civil administration has been paralysed and where there is serious danger to national security. There is yet another rider. The state government must notify the affected region as "disturbed". Without this, AFSPA cannot be made applicable. The state government, after notifying, refers the case to the central government, which, based on intelligence inputs available to them, assesses the situation in consultation with civilian and military authorities and takes a conscious decision whether to enforce the AFSPA. AFSPA confers four special powers upon the army. First, the army can use force, including opening fire, for maintaining public order in areas where assembly of five or more persons is prohibited. Second, it can arrest without warrant any person who committs or is about to commit a cognisable offence and hand him over to the police. Third, it can enter and search premises without a warrant. Fourth, it can destroy arms dumps or fortified positions from where armed attacks are made. The law also provides protection to armed forces personnel acting under the spirit of the AFSPA, in that no prosecution or legal proceedings can be instituted against them for anything done in exercise of AFSPA powers without prior sanction of the central government. Proposed amendments to the Act suggest that arrest warrants are secured in advance and grievance cells set up to address citizens' complaints against the armed forces. The Union Home Ministry has also proposed to abolish the powers that allow armed forces to open fire. Imagine what will happen if AFSPA is not imposed and the security forces receive a tip-off about the presence of terrorists in a village or insurgents committing crimes against law-abiding citizens. Although an army unit may be located close by and in a possibly favorable position to apprehend the terrorists, they would have to, by law, wait for the magistrate to arrive to issue a warrant. It would involve loss of time and the tactical advantages of conducting an immediate raid will be jeopordised. The army has a difficult and sensitive task to resolve situations created by bad governance on the part of politicians, bureaucrats and the police. The army must have strong legal protection for the dirty work it has to perform, lest a stage comes when soldiers start questioning the legality of orders to avoid subsequent harassment at the courts. There are about 450 current court cases against the army in the Northeast. An equal number, if not more, are also being contested in the courts of the J&K. If a soldier has a duty to safe guard his nation and he is ready to sacrifice his life for it, the nation owes him a responsibility to protect him for performing his duties in extremely difficult circumstances. — Lt Gen O.P. Kaushik
(retd)
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Corrections and clarifications l
In the headline “Take part in dialogue, Omar asks separatists” (Page 6, January 26) the word ‘asks’ was wrong. It should have been ‘tells’ instead. l
On page 11 of the issue of January 26 the spellings of the music maestro are ‘Rehman’ in the headline and ‘Rahman’ in the text. The correct spelling is ‘Rahman’. l
The headline “Geelani aide held in alleged hawala case” (Page 6, January 24) should instead have been ‘Geelani aide held for alleged hawala racket’. l
There is double attribution in the report “Governor’s action improper: Nariman” (Page 1, January 23) because the byline of the report is Fali S. Nariman. 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. Raj Chengappa
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