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Advani’s
prescription Sukh Ram
goes to jail |
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Anti-stalking
laws
Indo-Pak
deadlock broken
Love in
Metro!
Sad
Plight of children in Pak tribal areas Welcome
to the security state
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Sukh Ram goes to jail
One
more former Telecom Minister has been sent to Tihar jail after A. Raja. Had the case of 86-year-old Sukh Ram, who was convicted for misusing his position and giving undue favours to a Haryana company as a minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government in 1996, come up at another time, the court might have taken a lenient view because of his age and handed out a lighter punishment. But given the public outrage at the recent scandals, Special CBI Judge R.P. Pandey took a stand in keeping with the prevailing mood. Awarding a five-year sentence to Sukh Ram, he observed: “A corrupt public servant is a menace to society and brings society and his office into disrepute”. High-profile corruption cases following the unearthing of the 2-G scam have shaken public faith in the system and it is necessary to ensure that the guilty are brought to justice swiftly. Sukh Ram did not go to jail despite his conviction in two other cases in 2002 and 2009. He was granted bail soon after conviction. He fully exploited the loopholes in the judicial process to his advantage. Had he been allowed to enjoy his freedom, a wrong message would have gone that the rich and powerful are above the law. Had the octogenarian convict been put in jail in time, some of the subsequent scandals, perhaps, could have been averted. A stringent punishment does act as a deterrent, especially when awarded to a person holding a high position. It has taken 15 years for the legal system to send the accused to jail for five years for taking a Rs 3 lakh bribe. The case underlines the need for fast-tracking judicial reforms so that influential culprits do not get away with murder. The provision of bail even after conviction needs a re-look. Lawyers and policemen causing needless, long delays in the justice system should also be hauled up.
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Anti-stalking laws
Acid
attacks, eve teasing and stalking — crimes against women — show little signs of abating. It is, therefore, only in the fitness of things that Andhra Pradesh is planning to amend Section 509 of the IPC to make the life of stalkers difficult. That the state, which has the worst record of crimes against women, should come forward with more stringent anti-stalking laws is as it should be. So is the fact that the state government plans to treat abusive SMSes and gestures as serious offences. However, there is a need to make stalking itself a non-bailable offence, not just incidents of attack by stalkers on women. Until the tragic case of Priyadarshini Mattoo happened in Delhi, the country was unmindful of the fatal consequences of stalking. Though in the Mattoo case the guilty has been punished, few lessons seem to have been learnt. Even today stalking is clubbed with eve teasing. It is not being realised that stalking (“the wilful, malicious and repeated following or harassing of another person that threatens his or her safety”) is an obsessive behaviour. It can not only lead to loss of innocent lives, as in the case of Mattoo, but also has many other psychological ramifications. The trauma that victims face can turn them into emotional wrecks. Anti-stalking steps like the helpline as started by the Delhi Police have failed to be of any major help. In the absence of a clear law against stalkers, the police force needs to act firmly against such people. A compassionate attitude toward victims and constant monitoring of stalkers can play a major role in dealing with the menace. Though the figures of the National Crime Records Bureau have often suggested that Andhra Pradesh is most unsafe place for women, the truth is that Indian women are not safe in other parts of the country as well. Deterrent punishment for the offenders is an imperative across the length and breadth of the country. A country that records high stalking-related deaths, a stringent law as well as its proper implementation alone can provide relief to the victims and encourage more women to report the crime.
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The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will. — Vincent T. Lombardi
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Indo-Pak deadlock broken WE are back full circle to a proposal long familiar to the people in India and Pakistan: keep business separate from Kashmir. There was a time when Pakistan would refuse to have any trade with India until the Kashmir question was settled. New Delhi would say that it was not opposed to a solution of Kashmir, but the starting point should be business. The meeting between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Reza Gilani broke the deadlock and Pakistan did not underline Kashmir as the core problem. Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Kher said after returning from the Maldives that Pakistan would “bend backwards” to be friendly with India. This is a welcome development not only for the two countries but also for South Asia. Nothing in the region would move because the estrangement between India and Pakistan cast its shadow on any joint step forward. Islamabad should be complemented because it went away from its old beaten path. Whatever Pakistan’s compulsions — the army is on board — it is a bold step which can lead to the normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision not to link trade with punishment to the terrorists who are being tried in Pakistan for the attack on Mumbai three years ago is courageous at a time when his own stock is not high. The Indian media is mostly critical and the hawks are even abusive. But they represent a minority which sees everything in Pakistan in a negative way. They do not want Pakistan to fall apart but they continue talking about punishing Islamabad. Their outlook tallies with that of India’s main Opposition party, the BJP. And left to both, the criticism of any breakthrough with Pakistan will be considered anti-national. The Pakistan media may be a shade better. But it too does not rise from the parochial angle it has followed for decades. Nor are of any help the books still preaching that Hindus are enemies or incidents like the killing of four Hindu doctors in Sindh. Civil society there appears to have given up even the semblance of resistance. The murder of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer at the hands of fanatics has silenced even the boldest liberals, who are not realising that they are also a target. The bureaucracy and the intelligence agencies on both sides do not see the development in the Maldives as an opportunity to shed the baggage of history of last six decades and start from a clean slate. I concede that all will not change at one sweep. Relations between India and Pakistan have to be evolved and tended carefully. The two governments will have to scale the mountains before they hit a sunny valley. It requires patience and perseverance. India’s grievance of Pakistan not yet punishing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks is genuine. No explanation by Islamabad is convincing. Yet it has a point when it says that the evidence which India has provided is too weak to get a favourable verdict in the court. Now that Pakistan’s judicial committee is coming to India, it should be collecting as much evidence as it wants. The case must move forward. Once it happens, doubts on this end would be assuaged to a large extent. And Dr Manmohan Singh is quite right when he says that another Mumbai may lead to unforeseen consequences. New Delhi will expect that Islamabad does not allow cross-border terrorism from its soil. Yet I do not think that the case is the only hitch. Both countries do not have trust in each other and refuse to rely on the facts even when placed on the table. They are prey to a negative mindset and see to it that they stall the people’s desire to live as good neighbours. So long as terrorism is there, no argument against mistrust will work. A joint mechanism to eliminate terrorism was supposed to be set up a few months ago. But the proposal remains on paper. The mechanism when established should also visit the sites where terrorists are reportedly trained and armed. When it comes to trade, New Delhi will have to ensure that there is a level-playing field for Pakistan. The balance of trade will be one indication. If Pakistan’s exports are too small compared to Indian exports, doubts may surface about New Delhi’s bona fides. True, the list of items would be prepared. But India can ask Pakistan which goods it can conveniently export to India so that there is no room for grievance or discrimination. Maybe, some of the tariff concessions New Delhi has offered to Dhaka can be extended to Islamabad. India’s aim should be how to develop Pakistan economically so that it is not dependent on America or Saudi Arabia for assistance. This will ultimately stop foreign interference in the affairs concerning the region. Pakistan, on its part, should open the country to India’s investors. If they can buy large concerns in the UK or the US, they should be able to do so in Pakistan as well. There may be joint ventures between India and Pakistan. Economic ties in due course will become the sinews for friendship and then the gun will become superfluous. It is understandable that the Pakistan government is under great pressure not to keep Kashmir apart. But there is no doubt that trade between the two countries will generate so much goodwill that a solution of Kashmir may become easy. After all, the governments on both sides did arrive at some understanding on Kashmir. Once when Mr Nawaz Sharif was the Prime Minister in Pakistan, the coup by Gen Pervez Musharraf stalled the solution. The remark by the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was: “We were almost there.” The second time when General Musharraf brokered a solution and was on the verge of inviting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for signing the agreement on Kashmir, the lawyers’ agitation changed the scenario. I realise that it is difficult for both sides to rub off history. But there is no alternative to peace. They cannot change their geography and will have to accept each other as they are, not as they want them to be. If Germany and France could become friends after years of war, why can’t India and Pakistan? My advice to civil society in Pakistan is that it should speak out in public. At present its criticism is confined to drawing rooms and it remains pathetically quiet even when it sees the truth being attacked. I have not seen a single voice of concern for the judge who sentenced the killer of Salman Taseer. The judge had to disappear after doing his duty because he knew that neither civil society nor the government would come to his
rescue.
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Love in Metro! With
the detailed report for the ambitious Chandigarh Metro rail project almost ready to be submitted to the UT administration in December by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for a 33-km train route, those sharing platonic feelings are on cloud nine! In fact, ever since the idea of a Metro for Chandigarh was mooted I was in a state of ecstasy recalling the famous romantic number from yesteryears’ blockbuster, “Aradhana”, where the heart-throb of millions, Rajesh Khanna, woos Sharmila Tagore humming, “Mere sapno ki raani kab ayegi tu; Aayee rut mastani kab aayegi tu; Chali aa, tu chali aa.” Imagining myself to be the protagonist of the ever-haunting melody, the train has always been the most loved means of transport for me. In fact, the train sequence has always been a hit with Hollywood and Bollywood movies, be these “Spiderman” and its sequel, “Parineeta”. The classic “Sholay” began and ended with a train that brought Jai and Veeru and ended with Veeru going back with Basanti or Aradhana. The toy train ride from Kalka to Shimla criss-crossing through over 100 tunnels has been the darling of many couples on their honeymoon trips. My fondness for trains dates back to my visit to Singapore when I travelled by Metro and met my life partner who too had gone there with her college friends. As we hail from the same region, she from Muktsar and I from Abohar, the meeting appeared to be a design of the Almighty. The friendship grew and we ultimately tied the nuptial knot. It is not only me but my better half too is excited at the idea of a Metro in Chandigarh. Imagine a train passing through green meadows and close to tall trees on Madhya Marg and running up to Panchkula along the artificially created lake from the Ghaggar. It would indeed be most romantic to have a Metro in Chandigarh. The great bard John Donne in his “Sun Rising” even chided the sun for disturbing lovers, “Busy old fool, unruly Sun, /Why dost thou thus, / Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?” It would also provide much-needed solace and what Thomas Hardy calls “happiness [is] but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain”. The music that flows from moving trains is mesmerising unlike the blaring sounds of speeding vehicles on our roads. Chandigarh Metro will connect and decongest the tricity that witnesses massive traffic snarls during peak hours. The Metro, indeed, will provide other advantages as well — it has the potential to bridge the widening gulf between the burgeoning neo-rich class and the deprived ones as the no-frills luxury travel will be available to one and all. Long live the
Metro!
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Working for human rights, for women's rights in particular, is not easy anywhere in the tribal belt in Pakistan, but nowhere
is it harder than in conflict zones, such as South Waziristan. The agency is believed to have been freed of
militants' stranglehold and Wana traders are back at their posts, but the people still face many difficulties. These activists are the pride of Pakistan`s civil society organisations because many of them are working in an incredibly hostile environment and exposing themselves to the highest possible risks. Their concerns are numerous and diverse but one is struck by the fact that for most of them the biggest problem confronting their communities is the lack of adequate facilities for children`s education. No doubt armed conflict is going on in some areas and incidents of targeted killing and abduction for ransom are taking place all the time, but nothing causes greater anxiety than the state`s indifference to children`s educational needs. The problem is particularly acute in case of children belonging to displaced families. For instance, the number of children among the 12,000 or so displaced families, that have been living in camps or other places of shelter in Tank district for about three years, is said to be around 46,000. Absence of schooling arrangements for them is giving rise to serious issues. Many of these children are going to substandard seminaries and quite a few in the 12-16 years age group are being recruited by militant groups for combat duties, including training as suicide bombers. Likewise the families displaced as a result of raid and search operations in Bara and other parts of Khyber Agency are greatly worried about their children`s loss of education opportunities. An idea of the importance the people attach to this problem can be had from the success a group of Afridi activists has achieved by persuading a Peshawar businessman to donate more than a million rupees to provide for the education of children displaced during the Bara operation. And more funds have been promised.That the tribal community is more concerned about children`s education than the other consequences of conflict in their territories is indicative of their desire to change their life pattern that the country`s leaders and policymakers must seriously address. This widely demonstrated hunger for knowledge also explains why the retrogressive extremists consider schools, particularly those meant to serve girls, one of the first targets of their vandalism. A programme to establish and expand the network of schools across the tribal areas now offers the most effective means of people`s uplift. A beginning should be made by ending the non-educational use of schools and secure community support for repairing and rebuilding the educational centres that have been damaged during the long years of conflict. In addition to lack of medical care and employment opportunities, the activists from Fata as well as the so-called settled districts mention a variety of other public grievances. For example, the people of Buner are greatly concerned at a wave of killing of women for `honour`. In Bajaur, the members of peace committees are being targeted by militants who are said to have resurfaced. In Khyber Agency, incidents of kidnapping for ransom are on the rise. The communities affected by last year`s floods in Upper Dir, Charsadda and Swabi are yet to be properly rehabilitated. Many families have not received Watan Cards. The long delay in the release of the second instalment of the relief grant is a huge scandal. The work of rehabilitating the conflict-affected families in Swat is slow and stories of corruption are quite common. Perhaps the worst sufferers among the hordes of people uprooted from their homes as a result of conflict or the 2010 floods are the groups of Sindhi villagers who had travelled northwards to Swabi and a couple of other towns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in search of refuge and relief. Many of them have been reduced to begging in the streets. Their plight calls for immediate relief and the sooner their return to their home province can be arranged the better it would be. One wonders whether the Sindh government is aware of the suffering of these unfortunate people. Working for human rights, for women`s rights in particular, is not easy anywhere in the tribal belt but nowhere is it harder than in conflict zones, such as South Waziristan. The agency is believed to have been freed of militants` stranglehold and Wana traders are back at their posts but the people still face many difficulties. The main public grievances are related to lack of educational and health facilities. The use of schools for non-educational purposes is a sore point. Only a small proportion of the people that had been displaced during the conflict and taken refuge in D.I. Khan has returned to South Waziristan Agency. The ordinary people still have difficulties in securing identity cards. Conditions are bad for journalists throughout Fata, and the Tribal Union of Journalists has done much commendable work towards spreading awareness of the hazards that journalists working there face. In South Waziristan, they are under pressure from the administration and the militants both. Something urgently needs to be done to protect them and enable them to pursue their calling in peace. The authorities will certainly claim to know more about the trials and tribulations of the people in the troubled parts of Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa than anyone outside their fold. Still, it is time they listened to civil society activists before fixing their priorities and thus discovered the way to develop community-backed initiatives that have better chances of success than any schemes conceived by bureaucrats who have no idea as to what is happening to ordinary citizens or what is going on in their minds. By arrangement with Dawn, Islamabad
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Welcome to the security state IT'S odd how quickly two adversaries begin resembling each other after a period of conflict. Not physically, of course, but in terms of attitudes and values. In the name of national security, both limit personal freedom. If anybody complains, he is denounced as a traitor. Propaganda takes over the public discourse, and reasoned debate is replaced by shrill rhetoric. Both sides denounce and caricaturise the `other` in word and imagery. History is distorted, myths created and the most blatant lies told to demonise the enemy. If truth, as the saying goes, is the first casualty of war, then freedom to travel must be the second. Passports, the universal documents needed to move across borders, have a relatively recent history. Until less than a century ago, they consisted of letters, embossed with the issuing country`s emblems. These documents urged foreign officials to permit free and unimpeded passage to their bearers. In its original form, the `laissez-passer` was a request, and did not have any legal authority. Each was tailored to the needs and status of a particular traveller, and its acceptance depended on the power and prestige of the issuing state. The passport in its present shape did not exist until the League of Nations standardised it in 1920. The visa soon followed. As far as we Pakistanis are concerned, we could have done without this innovation. Some years ago, Karachi rickshaws bore the sign ` dalar ki talash` (in search of the dollar). I suppose its current version is ` visa ki talash `. As things continue on their downward trajectory in Pakistan, millions would prefer to be elsewhere. Millions have already voted with their feet and moved to where they thought the grass was greener. Many others wait and pray for the magical stamp on their passports that would allow them to reach the promised land. Hardier and more impatient emigrants have managed to enter developed countries illegally where they eke out a miserable existence. Of course, Pakistanis are not alone: millions from across the developing world (a politically correct term for dysfunctional nations that offer little to the poor) are trying to make a better life abroad. I once wrote that instead of dropping bombs on Iraqi soldiers in the first Gulf War, if the United States had dropped green cards, there would have been little need to kill anybody. Despite the widely reported anti-Americanism that prevails in much of the Muslim world, the reality is that many of us, given half a chance, would make a beeline for the US. Why else would some Pakistani officials retain their dual nationality despite the clear conflict of interests this status causes? They want an exit strategy, or would like to join their kids on retirement. Of course, even a visa is no guarantee of entry into another country. When I arrived at Boston`s Logan airport recently, I had expected some questioning by immigration officials. And sure enough, I was taken to another area, made to wait and finally grilled about the purpose of my visit, what my book was about, who my publisher was, what cities I was visiting and when I was leaving. It seems the American security databases grind just as slowly for everybody, especially if the applicant`s name has `Husain` in it. This raises an interesting question: would Barack Hussein Obama get a US visa today if he were to apply, say, from Kenya? Sadly, we`ll never know. In all fairness, I can understand why the US — and most western countries — are making it progressively more difficult for Muslims and non-Muslims from developing nations to enter. In Europe, there are between 17 and 20 million Muslims today where scarcely any lived there immediately after the Second World War. Given that most Muslim immigrants tend to live separate lives, retaining their own culture and seldom participating in mainstream activities, they are not very popular among host communities. Add to this the many terrorist plots that have been hatched among Muslim groups, and one can understand why travel restrictions are being toughened constantly. The problem is that visas are not required by Muslim nationals of western countries, and they constitute a far greater threat to security than do tourists, businessmen or students. But apart from security concerns, immigration has now become a huge political issue, especially with rising unemployment in much of the western world. With the world`s population now over seven billion, and with the resulting shortage of natural resources like water and land, coupled with collapsing law and order in many dysfunctional countries, the impulse to migrate will only grow. Rich countries will see no other choice but to raise the barriers ever higher. Years from now, when Osama bin Laden is a dim memory, the perceived need to hang on to what you have and keep the hungry hordes out will continue to drive the world apart. And hard-eyed, granite-jawed immigration officials at airports will go on manning the barriers. By arrangement with Dawn, Islamabad
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ALTHOUGH Peshawar seems to have regained something of its traditional social flavour and the bazaars are full of shoppers, the best treat it offers is the possibility of meeting community workers and human rights activists from different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially those belonging to the tribal areas.