The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

A whiff of fresh air
SAD broadened its appeal this time

The recent assembly elections in Punjab reflected an interesting and progressive trend. The Shiromani Akali Dal, which has always been an avowedly Sikh party with a strong Panthic agenda, broke with past tradition and put up several non-Sikh candidates. As many as 10 Hindu candidates got elected to the Assembly on Akali tickets. As if to reciprocate, the BJP, despite being an avowedly Hindu party, put up some Sikh candidates, two of whom were elected. The secularisation of the Punjab polity as borne out by these facts is a healthy development and fits in well with a State where communal harmony was maintained even at the height of the days of terror despite the purported efforts by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence to drive a wedge between the Hindus and Sikhs. That the Akalis did not rake up Panthic issues in the course of the campaign was also a positive signal that the division of the polity along communal lines was being eschewed. In a country where it is commonplace for political parties to communally polarise prospective voters, it is heartening to see such an example of communal harmony.

Clearly, the precursor to this was the example that Ms Mayawati had set in U.P. in the 2007 elections when her Dalit-monopolised Bahujan Samaj Party wooed Brahmins and successfully weaned them away from the Congress and the BJP on a substantial scale. But the equation soured after many non-Dalits deserted her party and Mayawati sidelined party general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, a Brahmin who was a close aide in the initial years of her rule. In the recent assembly elections she reached out to the Brahmins again, supporting reservations for the poor and unemployed among upper castes. She also tried hard to play to the Brahmin antipathy towards Thakurs by fuelling fears that both the Congress and the BJP were Thakur-dominated parties. But evidently, this did not win her substantial Brahmin votes this time around.

Much of the mischief in creating bad blood between communities is ascribable to political parties. It is to be hoped that relations between the two communities in Punjab would endure and Punjab will remain a beacon of hope for the rest of the country in this respect.

Post-PC world
Tablets get more powerful

As our world got weary of being modern and got the post-modern tag, no wonder an icon of the modern world, the personal computer, or the abbreviated PC, was also threatened. Steve Jobs was one of the people who did the most to put computers on tables of users in the late 1980s. He is also credited for taking computing to the next level, giving the world the iPad which has transformed the way in which computing devices are used.

It was Jobs who trumpeted the post-PC era when he introduced the new device in 2000. Tablet computers existed before iPad and there are many alternatives today, but the vast majority of tablet users prefer iPads. They use it as a consumption device to read, see and hear various kinds of multimedia presentations, to read e-books; to play games and also answer their e-mail, even as they keep in touch with their friends through Facebook. They have fitness applications to track what they eat and the calories they burn, if any, while exercising their fingers as they busily tap away on their tablets. Talking of exercise, the computer-user could well become a couch potato with the tablet.

Computers have become ubiquitous. They are immensely useful tools that allow billions of human beings all over the world to perform useful tasks. They are also entertainment devices, educational aids, information-gathering portals and what not. Tablets are evolving their own eco sphere. They have a distinctive syntax and are far more interactive than PCs, thus opening the way for multimedia to really enhance the experience of information processing. They are replacing manuals, providing refresher courses to professionals like doctors and engineers. Every day new uses are being found for these devices which are getting better displays and becoming more powerful. As we look at the post-PC world, we also must salute the PC, which occupies pride of place in many Indian homes, and is in the process of being re-invented to retain its relevance.

Thought for the Day

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. — Ayn Rand

ARTICLE

Israel’s talk of war on Iran
Wisdom lies in not playing with fire
by K. P. Fabian

It was Charles Caleb Colton, an eccentric English cleric, who pointed out that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is all set to imitate Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein. The latter invaded and occupied Kuwait in August 1990 with consequences, unintended and horrible, in equal measure.

Israel has been beating the war drums louder and louder. Netanyahu on his recent visit to Washington categorically stated that “Israel wants to be master of its own destiny…and must have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any threat.” Addressing 13,000 delegates to the politically powerful AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) Netanyahu proclaimed to thunderous applause that with him as Prime Minister Israel shall not live “in the shadow of annihilation”.

Is Israel living in the shadow of annihilation? Israel is militarily stronger than its neighbors put together as wars have shown more than once. Israel made two crude atomic bombs in 1967 in Dimona. The nuclear plant was started in 1964. Israel feared a preemptive strike from Egypt as the bombs were being made. There was no strike. In 1969 Prime Minister Golda Meir and President Nixon agreed to keep mum about Israel’s bombs. That policy is known as nuclear opacity, “amimut” in Hebrew. US think tanks seldom talk about Israel’s bombs.

All the 13 wars and conflicts since Israel’s founding through a United Nations Resolution have been won by Israel. In the 1967 Six-Day War, 100,000 Israeli troops were pitted against 240,000 Arab troops. Israel won and increased the territory under its control three times. There is no state neighboring Israel that is foolish enough to start a war with it. Missile attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah are a different matter and, in any case, neither can threaten Israel.

Should Iran make atomic bombs and if Iran-Israel relations deteriorate there will be a serious threat to Israel, or so it appears. However, reflection will show that there is no real threat. Iran knows that any attack on Israel, nuclear or conventional, will provoke retaliation by Israel and the US of a nature that would reduce it to smithereens. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that Iran would threaten Israel with an atomic bomb.

Israel’s threat to bomb Iran is far from rhetorical. A number of Iranian scientists have been killed in terrorist attacks. Iran believes correctly that Israel is behind the attacks. A cyber attack slowed down Iran’s uranium enrichment programme. Uze Dayan, Israel’s National Security Adviser, stated recently, “The pistol is not only loaded, but the safety catch has been released.” In other words, an Israeli strike is imminent. Or, at least that is what Israel wants the rest of the world, including Iran, to believe.

The BBC and the CNN have started working hard to project the impression that a war is imminent. CNN has carried reports of Iran’s plans or intentions to send suicide speedboats to harm oil tankers, place smart mines (supplied by Russia and China) along the shipping lanes, and even to damage Saudi Arabia’s desalination plants that provide 60 per cent of its drinking water. The CNN report that this writer heard twice to make out its veracity could be pure speculation.

Incidentally, the CNN clip on the Internet is sponsored by J P Morgan, a global leader in oil trade. Oil traders have an understandable interest in raising oil prices. Oil is not a commodity the price of which is decided by supply and demand alone. Speculation and manipulation play a big role in determining prices.

The BBC has even told us about the three routes the Israeli Air Force might choose from: a northern one, over-flying Turkey and Syria; another over Jordan and Iraq; and the last, over Saudi airspace. We are also told that the “main weapon in Israel's arsenal is the US-supplied GBU-28. This is a 5,000 lb (2,268kg) laser-guided weapon with a special penetrating warhead.”

It is quite likely that Israel is playing a game: Threaten Iran and the US with an imminent attack on Iran; the US will be compelled to tighten diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran; the regime in Teheran might fall, Iran will get destabilised; it might even act foolishly by attacking Israel or the shipping, in which case retaliation from the US will be swift and severe.

If Israel is playing such a game, it is playing with fire. Some Israeli pundits have argued that Israel could repeat its 1981 bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor in Osirak. The argument is wrong. Iran can retaliate and cause huge damage to Israel.

The role of the US is pathetic. The body language of Netanyahu while in the US on his recent visit was aggressive. Obama made the cardinal mistake of taking on Israel in his first term. No US president who wants a second term should take on Israel. The US is tightening sanctions mainly to dissuade Israel from resorting to military action. But the US should know that Iranians are a proud people and that the increasing pressure will be increasingly counter-productive.

One might have hoped that the European Union will see reason and talk reason to Israel and the US. Alas, the Europeans are singularly unable or unwilling to play a leading role. They prefer to follow.

India has started, rather slowly, to refine its policy. India should privately point out to Israel that it is playing with fire. India should speak to the US less defensively. Despite the arrest of journalist Kazmi for the Delhi blast, it is too soon to say whether he or Iran had anything to do with the blast.

Will Netanyahu emulate Saddam Hussein? This writer doubts it, for two reasons. One, a poll conducted by the University of Maryland has concluded that only 19 per cent of Israelis support a military strike without US support. Two, the Israeli military is not capable of striking without US support.

However, those who play with fire might get burned and their neighbours are in danger. Therefore, an Israeli attack cannot be ruled out. The lesson: Stop playing with fire right now.

K. P. Fabian, a former ambassador, is the author of “Diplomacy: Indian Style”.

MIDDLE

Abiding love for the native place
by N.S. Tasneem

The days of Partition are revived when someone returns to the native place on the either side of the border. Some years ago an Urdu poetess from Lahore visited Ludhiana for taking part in a literary seminar held in Punjabi Bhawan. At tea-break she confided that she had come primarily to see the place in Field Ganj where her maternal grandparents lived at the time of Partition. She recalled that as a small girl she would accompany her Nani for buying knick-knack in Meena Bazaar.

Recently Dr Abdaal Bela, Director-General, Pakistan Assembly of Letters, Islamabad, visited the city where his grandparents resided before migrating to Pakistan. He told us that his mother hailed from Chaura Bazaar but he was born nine years after the formation of Pakistan. His family, including parents and grandparents, were so emotionally attached to the city that they could not get over their love for it. His grandfather, several years after Partition, asked the bus conductor to give him a ticket for Lodehana.

Dr Abdaal Bela had come to receive Sahir Award at the annual function, Jashan-e-Sahir, organised by Adeeb International, Ludhiana. He has written a voluminous novel in Urdu entitled, Darwaza Khulta Hai, comprising 1800 pages and having 290 characters. It captures the socio-cultural paradigms of the period when India had an integral political identity. To start with, the locale of the novel is Ludhiana and the main characters originate from this city. Later the narrative shifts to other cities and numerous characters are introduced in it, as the plot thickens. Of course, it can be said, “the more the merrier”.

In my opinion Partition of the country could take place even without shedding blood that led to the migration of the people. Mostly the innocent people suffered while the mischief-mongers had the field day. I am reminded of my own suffering during those days of riots, loot and arson. Once it so happened that some miscreants from the adjoining area landed unnoticed on the roofs of our houses at sunset. The people of our street were taken aback at such a turn of events. In no time the trouble-seekers started throwing burning objects to the other side of our street where Muslims resided. All hell was let loose, resulting in the hasty retreat of the persons with nefarious designs.

Thereafter silence prevailed all around. It turned out to be a lull before the storm. In about half an hour, some Gorkha soldiers entered our street and started knocking at the doors of our houses. They searched the houses and forced the male inhabitants, numbering 25, to come out. They were then led to the bazaar where a magistrate, with two policemen in toe, was in command of the operation.

Later we were transported to the city kotwali where we spent the night in a dark and dingy room, infested with bugs. In the morning we found ourselves huddled together in a miserable state of mind. The day was spent in the fond hope of getting release orders as we were totally innocent. But we were told in the evening that we would have to spend one month in the prison.

At nightfall we were shifted in police vans from Amritsar to Lahore Central Jail. That night we spent in the open, outside the full barracks, as we were to be provided chholdaris (small tents) the following day. In that jail I spent a month, from May 22 to June 21, 1947, in that sultry weather.

At times I had the consolation that the moon that lingered above the lofty wall of the prison would also be visible to the members of my family. I yearned for going back to the place to which I belonged. I was an 18-year-old college student at that time but I have not forgotten that traumatic experience after six decades and a half.

That is the reason why I empathise with the people who had to migrate during those days of political upheaval, but they are still nostalgic about their native places.

OPED LAW

Justice barred
R.D. Sharma

With the backlog of pending cases in courts across the country touching 3.5 crore, the falling confidence among litigants often leads to victims looking for street justice. The entire judicial system from the law to judges’ selection needs revamp

Our judiciary creaking under the seemingly impossible load of cases awaiting disposal needs urgent attention if we have to avoid collapse of the system, which could put in jeopardy the whole state of orderly society.

Law courts no longer inspire public confidence, as litigants only get increasingly distant dates for their next hearings each time they approach them. The proverb “justice delayed is justice denied” too seems inadequate to describe the prevailing circumstances. Judgments come after endless wait, which ensures there is rarely any sense of satisfaction or justice. As pending cases pile up, the judicial system is not in a position to meet the challenge of arrears that have swamped courts from top to bottom.

According to the latest statistics available from the Supreme Court's report on vacancies and pending cases, the apex court has now run up a backlog of 56,383 cases — the highest figure in a decade. The situation is similar in the country's 21 high courts, where 42,17,903 cases are awaiting disposal. In lower judiciary, which constitutes the base of the entire judicial pyramid, the total number of such cases stood at 2,79,53,070 at the end of March 2011. And these figures do not include the cases pending in various tribunals and other quasi-judicial bodies. If those were also added to the grand total, the arrears in lower courts would well cross the figure of 3 crore, which is alarming, to say the least.

The Supreme Court had only 26 judges in October last year, against a sanctioned strength of 31. — A Tribune photo

The right to fair and speedy trial holds little promise for the aggrieved who knock at the door of courts as a last resort for justice or relief. Invoking the law seems to mean only wasted years, heavy financial burden, besides emotional and physical trauma. Prolonged delays also mean high rate of acquittal in criminal cases — it is as high as 93.02 per cent in India. Unable to get justice from courts, victims often take the law into their own hands to settle scores with culprits. This only multiplies the problem of law and order, and in turn the load on courts. It has also encouraged kangaroo courts in the form of khap panchayats or lynch mobs in many parts of the country, which mete out rough-and-ready justice on the spot. The painfully slow justice delivery system also leads to corruption and lack of investment in vital economic spheres owing to uncertain contract enforcement, higher transaction costs and general inflationary bias, which the finance minister has also acknowledged.

TOO FEW JUDGES

Among other issues, inadequate judge strength at all levels is the main factor behind the delay and the resultant backlog. In proportion to its population, India has the lowest number of judges among the major democracies of the world. There are 13.05 judges per 1 million people, as against Australia's 58 per million, Canada's 75, the UK 100, and the USA 130 per million. In 2002, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to raise the judge-population ratio to 50 per million in a phased manner, as recommended by the Law Commission in its 120th report. The suggestion has had little effect.

Even the existing judge strength is reduced further when judicial vacancies are not filled promptly. For instance, the Supreme Court had only 26 judges in October last year, including the Chief Justice of India, against the sanctioned strength of 31. The vacancy level in the 21 high courts of the country, if put together, is 32 per cent, with 291 posts of judge — against the sanctioned strength of 895 — lying vacant for a long time.

In subordinate courts, where we have the maximum backlog of cases, there are 3,170 posts vacant. The sanctioned strength of district judges has gone up to 17,151, according to the Supreme Court's report on vacancies and pending cases. Filling these vacancies will have a direct impact on India's governance indicators, improving investor sentiment and advancing economic growth.

If we look into the World Bank Institute's Governance Matters set of indicators specifically for rule of law, India had a percentile rank of 54.5 in 2010 (coming down from 60.3 in 2000), which compares ill to 97.2 for the Netherlands, 91.5 for the US, and 81 for South Korea. Other World Bank documents, quoting market analysts, say that it is not unusual for the first hearing in Indian courts to take six years, and the final decision up to 20 years.

SPEED UP SELECTION

The power of appointment to top judicial posts is vested in a collegium of senior judges, with the executive virtually playing second fiddle. Apart from being opaque, the system has simply failed to deliver. It is not uncommon for higher courts to remain without their full strength for months, or even more. The selection process, therefore, ought to be speeded up. Whenever a vacancy is expected to arise, steps should be initiated well in advance and the process of appointment completed beforehand. In the case of resignation or death, the selection process should come into play without delay to ensure that the Benches work with full strength. And, if the wholesome principle of merit, enunciated by the Law Commission, is accepted in principle, there is no reason why there should be any delay in determining appointments or filling vacancies.

Also, unless the judiciary is given full financial autonomy, the problem of pendency of cases or non-appointment of judges will persist. Funds are required for creating new posts of judge, increasing the number of courts and providing infrastructure. The judiciary has to petition the Law Ministry each time it needs finances, which are forever hard to come by. Less than 0.3 per cent of the Gross National Product (GNP) — or 0.78 per cent of the total revenue — is spent on the judiciary in India. This, when more than half of the amount is being generated by the judiciary itself through court fees and fines. In the UK, USA and Japan, the expenses on judiciary are between 12 and 15 per cent of the total expenditure.

Together with adequate manpower, it is imperative to simplify and reform the current procedural laws which provide ample scope to obstruct and stultify the legal process. Though of colonial antiquity and Kafkaesque obscurity and cumbersomeness, these laws have somehow survived despite their comicality in today's eco-friendly and “paperwork unfriendly” times, a sure way to delay disposal of cases. In addition, there are myriad laws and other specious requirements, which have no relevance today, yet are frequently invoked. These must be repealed to expedite the judicial process. “Court procedure is not to be a tyrant but a servant, not an obstruction but an aid to justice, a lubricant and not a resistant in the administration of justice,” the Supreme Court has observed. After all, procedures are meant to help the law, not defeat it.

UNSCRUPULOUS LITIGATION

Impelled by the motivation of pecuniary gains, lawyers often indulge in unethical practices of stalling court proceedings deliberately. At every stage, a number of interlocutory applications are filed and adjournments on flimsy grounds sought to defeat the purpose of speedy dispensation of justice. Such is the situation that even expansion of the judicial machinery will not achieve much until rules about stay orders and adjournments are also changed to prevent lawyers from prolonging litigation. In addition, punitive fines should be imposed on unscrupulous litigants found to be abusing the process of law to discourage unnecessary or frivolous litigation and to make the judiciary self-supporting.

Instead of arguing their cases endlessly, it would be better for lawyers to present their submissions in writing to the judge so that cases could be decided on merit on the basis of documents and written submissions filed by both the parties before the judge, without the fanfare of formal court sessions and personal attendance of petitioners, respondents and lawyers. Direct written representation by the parties, rather than oral arguments spoken in the din and bustle of crowded courtrooms, would also lower the risk of miscarriage of justice. This practice, followed in the US Supreme Court (where oral arguments serve as additions to the obligatory written brief), can be easily adopted in Indian courts. Constitutional and corporate matters have little scope for courtroom histrionics.

Judges also ought to exercise restraint against the temptation of writing lengthy judgments running into several hundred pages, incorporating their social, political, economic and philosophical beliefs. The judge's time is most precious and is paid for from the taxpayers' money, and should not be wasted in expounding one's personal ideologies. Justice, equity and fair play demand that judges are more crisp and precise while writing their judgments rather than rely on lengthy quotes and superfluous observations. They should deliver judgments as early as possible, instead of keeping them reserved for long durations.

AIM FOR CONCILIATION

The legal strategy for modern India should aim at conciliation and not confrontation, in keeping with our tradition of tolerance and mutual accommodation. The focus should be on “conciliatory legal realism”. A judge should not merely sit like an umpire, but participate in the efforts to iron out differences and encourage the parties to arrive at a settlement. This would help reduce the backlog of cases, avoid the multi-tier process and also lead to reconciliation of legal disputes without causing much enmity and bitterness.

However, any attempt at judicial reform, including raising the number and strength of courts, improving the selection process of judges or setting up evening and fast-track courts throughout the country to dispose of cases quickly will fail unless high courts succeed in establishing that they are reliable and just, and instil such confidence in litigants that they forgo the last resort of the apex court, except in rare cases. At the same time, if the trial courts at the grassroots level are also properly strengthened and made effective instruments of justice in the real sense, the cycle of appeal and counter-appeal could be broken and delay reduced. The litigation backlog would then melt like an iceberg in a tropical sea.

The writer is a legal consultant, and advocate at the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court