The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Barbaric tactics
Stop such inhuman practices

The discovery of a bomb embedded inside the body of a slain CRPF jawan in Jharkhand is shocking. The fight against Maoist guerrillas has seen its highs and lows, but this is a particularly inhuman tactic that has been employed by the guerrillas. It is now believed that while the 1.5 kg-bomb stitched inside the abdomen of 29-year-old constable Babulal Patel did not explode, another such bomb placed inside the body of another constable did so, inflicting casualties. In Jharkhand, the Maoists and the jawans of the CRPF as well as the specialised anti-Naxal forces have been engaged in an unrelenting war. The latest encounter resulted in the death of 14 persons, including nine CRPF personnel, one person of the Jharkhand Jaguars and other bystanders. The casualties in the Maoist ranks are unknown. Indeed, the Maoists have shown a cavalier attitude towards both democratic means as well as common norms of decency. They have, however, done that at the cost of their credibility.

A few years ago Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had identified the Maoists as the most serious threat faced by the nation. Unfortunately, his government has not been able to do much to counter it. The need for better training of the security forces is still there, as is the need to gather more actionable intelligence. Coordination between various agencies engaged in the anti-Naxal operations is still lacking, and as a result, not much progress has been made.

Since the Maoists are too well entrenched in the areas that they dominate, it is obvious that merely treating this as a law-and-order problem is not the answer. However, no obvious political solution presents itself. In the day-to-day battle that the security forces face while they engage with the Maoists, they need to be better trained and thus be fully equipped to tackle the threats that come their way while executing their duties. As for the Maoists, they only need to look at the history of conflict to realise that such inhuman tactics as putting bombs in bodies always boomerang. What they have done is morally wrong and condemnable.

All in the name of God
The horror inflicted by caged minds

We are living in times when we are stopped from questioning anything that begins with that dreaded word ‘R’. Any intelligent questioning about religion runs the risk of being ostracised, or is branded as blasphemy. The thinking sections of society are silenced; artists, writers, thinkers — no one dares to present logic before the power of faith expressed through fatwas and forced exiles. This is a clever device to keep the evolution of human mind caged in a static time-frame. But creation of these caged minds can also demonstrate such intensity of violence that it may unsettle the very basis of humanity. In a heady mix created by modern education, fanaticism and alienation, a mother beats up her son in London with such violence for his tardiness in memorising the Quran that he dies without even raising his voice in protest.

What caged the educated mind of the 33-year-old mother who is a first class graduate in mathematics? What made her regard an invisible, incomprehensible God more important than her own son in flesh and blood, are complex questions. The judiciary has done its work by sending the woman to 17 years in jail, leaving behind many unanswered questions. One, why would an educated woman push her son to be a Hafiz to such an extent that it caused his death? While her intensity and frequency of violence increased, why was it not checked by the child’s father, teachers and friends?

Is it because the child was an Asian? Alienation is the destiny of modern times. Strangely enough, modern minds armoured with tools of education try to seek solace in the relics of the past, in religions that were meant for the specific needs of time and space. The religious hysteria on a mass scale is creating abnormalities which enjoy social and ‘divine’ sanction. Society must create its own checks and balances, or it runs the risk of, in the words of R D Laing, outrageous violence perpetrated by human beings on human beings.

Thought for the Day

A tree is an incomprehensible mystery. — Jim Woodring

ARTICLE

The civil war in Syria
Regional dimensions of the crisis
by S Nihal Singh

Has the prevailing civil war in Syria reached a dead end? Mr Lakhdar Brahimi, United Nations and Arab League envoy, believes that Syrian President Bashar Assad has lost an opportunity in the kind of speech he gave recently in a rare address. In his view, if Syrians and the world do not seize the "little window of opportunity", "there would be no Syria".

The problem is that at the international end, the UN Security Council is deadlocked, with Russia and China exercising their vetoes. On the other hand, the US and Western powers are insisting on a regime change. Despite earlier pointers that President Assad might be eased out, he shows no sign of leaving; rather, he has reiterated that he will live and die in Syria, suggesting for good measure that he would run in the 2014 presidential election. The United Nations estimates that 60,000 people have died in the civil war thus far.

Mr Brahimi has not quite given up yet and is again seeking the route of the trilateral format in discussions with senior American and Russian officials, what he described in a BBC interview as the "outer ring" of the international community. President Assad harps on a transition, with Mr Brahimi left asking, "What does it mean?", because he keeps talking about fighting "murderous criminals".

Even as the next steps in Syria in terms of ending the civil war are debated, the contours of the crisis are clear. The United States is loath to intervene militarily in yet another Muslim country in the region if it can possibly help it. And over the last two years of turmoil the picture on the opposition side has got murkier by the insertion of jihadi elements in the ranks. This immediately imposes limits on the kind of weapons it or its Gulf allies would supply opposition groups.

Turkey's demand for a no-fly zone in Syria and seizing a small portion of Syrian territory to house refugees was vetoed by the US because it would be a slippery slope leading to intervention. Thus far, the Assad regime has supremacy in the skies, which it is using to brutal effect to subdue the opposition. But the West is refusing to arm the opposition, which includes jihadis, with effective anti-aircraft weapons. Opposition victories are thus often negated by air attacks.

The key factor, of course, remains the Assad presidency, with the opposition, apart from the West, unwilling to talk while he remains in office. An idea floated in the past is that Syria switch to a strong Parliament with an elected prime minister to sidestep the presidency, but it has not found favour with the regime. Russia is viscerally opposed to the concept of regime change in international diplomacy, keeping the Libyan example very much in mind.

At the regional level, the principal actors are taking different sides, with Qatar and Saudi Arabia the most active in arming and funding rebels while Iran fully supports and helps the Syrian regime, and, thanks to the American invasion of Iraq, the Shia-majority regime now in power is also a supporter of the Alawite rulers of Damascus, if somewhat muted in their public declarations. Turkey, on the other hand, is seeking its own regional ambitions as it tends to fly the Sunni flag.

It is no surprise, therefore, that Mr Brahimi is turning to the US and Russia to coax them into a compromise. The one possible solution is an agreement of the main powers which could lead to the Security Council fulfilling its intended role to impose the process of a solution to bring the daily carnage to a halt. In Mr Brahimi's view, the government will not win while the opposition may win in the long term, "but what will be left?"

At the heart of the problem is that President Assad belongs to the minority Alawites, a Shia sect, comprising roughly 10 per cent of the population. His closest advisers and key military commanders belong to his clan. Short of an exile, President Assad and his close associates believe they either must fight to the end or carve out some coastal areas to seek out an armed haven for themselves. The end, when it comes, thus promises to be very bloody.

Mr Brahimi's predecessor, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, gave up his mediation after reaching a dead end. The veteran Algerian diplomat now bears the heavy burden of bringing the bloody civil war to at least a temporary halt as he shuttles between regional and world capitals before landing up in New York to report to the members of the Security Council. His attempts at trying to convince President Assad to make a first move to the opposition have failed.

Will Mr Brahimi find more receptive ears in Geneva as he seeks to convince key American and Russian officials to find a compromise to end the bloodshed? Russia has moved somewhat from its total support of President Assad although the American formula of regime change remains an anathema. But opposition to him has found supporters in an arc of regional powers, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to name a few. In a sense, the Syrian crisis has accentuated the Shia-Sunni fault lines in the region, which promises to have major consequences in the future.

To this conflict has been added a new fear, that of the reputed stockpile of chemical weapons in Syrian hands. There was a flurry of activity recently over reports of the vulnerability of the weapons falling into wrong hands, but the US, Israel and the Gulf monarchies seem to have sorted out that problem for the present after a flurry. Many in the region are, of course, concerned over the crisis spilling over into the neighbourhood.

One illustration of the regional dimensions of the civil war is the continuing exodus of Syrian refugees flooding neighbouring countries, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon in particular. Their numbers are close to 500,000 imposing a heavy burden on the host countries, apart from the refugees themselves facing privation in extreme weather conditions living as they do in tent cities. Peace cannot come sooner for these people — and the region and the world.

MIDDLE

The gift warp
by Rajbir Deswal

If you think that the gifts are made without giving them a thought, you may be wrong. The reason is that it’s not only a gift wrap but also a kind of warp, where the knitty-gritty of a gratis give and take is woven, much like a cobweb and a maze, when you will not be able to figure out what was at the back of the mind of the person making the gift, and also the one gifted.

Sometimes the gift recipient one is more amused than amazed on receiving a gift that one wishes should not have been made at all for ones own justifiable reasons. Yes, I am talking about gifting a comb to a person who has lost his crowning glory. Or gifting a T-shirt to someone in the cold month of January. Or being at its worse, gifting pairs of jeans to flood-hit women of Kala Handi who know only a saree to wrap around.

There are superior quality gifts and inferior quality gifts which may suit the person gifting, and which may not suit the person receiving the gift, or vice versa. Handed-downs being gifted with a tag-line — ‘Since I am not using them, you can take them’ — is the most embarrassing thing. The ill-fitting or unsuitable gifts keep circulating till they find a willing owner, who is himself gifted with the temperament of submissiveness besides being needy.

I remember an instance when an officer after his visit to Kerala brought with him certain packets of dried-n-fried banana flakes. He gifted four packets to another office colleague, This colleague, being my colleague, too gifted two to me. And I committed the biggest and silliest blunder in gifting back the gifted pack to the same officer who had returned from the God’s Own Country. The embarrassment had to follow, naturally.

While gifting, necessary care should be taken if the gift-article would fit the size of the person getting it. Also there are stereo-typed gifts in certain articles like books, cricket bats, badminton racquets, photo-frames, clothes, perfumes, etc. Those with an itching to scribble usually get pen sets as gifts and yours truly too, having some pretensions of being some sort of a writer, has a petty good collection of these pens which have gone dried, lying in my choking pack of collections.

It’s a great feeling to convey directly or indirectly a gift that you would like to receive from an expected gift-maker. Your maverickish nastiness of communicating would tell the person that when he should come with the packets of gifts, he should press the bell with his elbow. And then if the gifter asks ‘Why?’ ‘Well both your hands should be full of gifts to be made to me that is why!’ you chuckle. Now if you have decided to gift me a pen, please think again. A pen drive will do.

Tailpiece: There are some smart people who for a wedding could gift an empty envelope thinking, “Who the hell is going to believe I did not put money in it on purpose. It would for sure be taken as a miss.”

Oped Diaspora

LONDON LATITUDE
Chinese catching up with Punjabis
By Shyam Bhatia

India and China have been rivals for hundreds of years. These are Asia's two biggest countries and boast of the world's two oldest civilizations that have affected communities all across the globe.

Which civilization is more significant has been and will remain a matter of debate for many years to come.

In modern day terms India is better than China could ever hope to be in sports like hockey and cricket and our IT skills are second to none. True Beijing hosted a successful Olympics, far more successful than the pathetic show put on for the Asian Games in Delhi.

But, then again, our English language skills are far superior to those of the Chinese. Tens of millions of Indians are more adept at speaking and writing the English language - surely the world's first global language - whereas the Chinese are still struggling with coming to terms with words like 'flied lice' (fried rice), because of the difficulties of differentiating between the letters 'r' and 'l'.

Indians are also justly proud of their democratic system, infinitely more humane than the communist party dictatorship that rules across the border.

One by-product of this Chinese dictatorship is the way prisoners executed for capital crimes have their organs removed. China claims it has stopped this practice, but others beg to differ. On any given day, according to some experts, little white vans are scouring execution sites across China from where livers, kidneys, hearts and other useful organs are removed from the bodies of executed prisoners. Some of these are then made available for export.

One less controversial area where Indians used to be at the top of the tree and where the Chinese are fast catching up is whisky drinking.

Many homes in the Punjab in particular nurture at least one bottle of Scotch - Johnnie Walker Black Label is a particular favourite - and Scotch is expected to flow like a river at the best of parties.

But this particular area of Indian dominance is now under threat as never before from more cultured and sophisticated Chinese. Never mind the Indian homes that stock Black Label, Blue Label or even more exalted Malt whiskies.

Beijing now hosts a massive Johnnie Walker clubhouse run by the alcoholic beverages company, Diageo, where the most exotic and expensive whiskies are made available to China's super rich. A single bottle of personalised Johnnie Walker can cost as much as £80,000, or three quarters of a crore and this Johnnie Walker House also hosts members-only whisky vaults and numerous private dining rooms.

"When we first started, it was about teaching people the art of whisky", the head of Diageo in Asia, Gilbert Gostine, was recently quoted as saying about the first Johnnie Walker House in Shanghai. "But then we realized it was a good platform for bespoke and limited editions, and we moved to becoming more of a retail centre". How much longer, then, before the company shifts its attention to the other economic powerhouse in Asia, namely India, and when can we expect to see whisky houses spring up in cities like Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar?

Victim of a lifestyle

Most NRIs are respectable, hard working and law abiding residents of the UK and for all those reasons well liked by the majority host community. They are certainly better liked than such rival immigrant communities as , say, the Poles (heavy drinkers), or the Albanians (allegedly prone to violence).

Parminder Janagle

So those NRIs who behave out of character immediately draw attention upon themselves. Such has been the case with a Punjabi NRI landlord once hailed as a role model for other aspiring businessmen in the UK, who is now facing a jail sentence for running a brothel.

Last year the police raided one of the 12 properties in and around Birmingham owned by Parminder Janagle where they discovered two couples engaged in sex acts.

At a subsequent court hearing Prosecutor Shahzad Imam told the judge, "They found cash and books including details of clients and payments. There were also sex aids and condoms.

"On a computer they found details on the web advertising the flat as a brothel." The police also found a laptop linked to two websites advertising sex services.

Another discovery was a diary with times of appointments and details of how much services would cost. Janagle has now pleaded guilty to managing a brothel contrary to the Sexual Offence Act of 1956.

Only a year ago 44-year-old Janagle, who is married with two children, was short-listed as the national Landlord of the Year. He was praised for buying a struggling portfolio of a dozen buy-to-let properties that he tried to turn around in 2009.

But after some initial success, he succumbed to recession as cheaper unsold homes came on to the rental market. Before long he was facing annual losses of £40,000 (Rs 35 lakh) and the total value of the properties he had bought dropped to less than the cost of the loans used to buy them.

During the court hearing Janagle said said he accepted full responsibility for his actions, explaining that he had been trapped into a lifestyle by an individual involved in the sex industry who affected his "emotions and intelligence." He added, "I was very vulnerable. I had just separated from an 18-year marriage, was declared bankrupt in the same year and lost my business.

I feel I have made a major error in judgment." Janagle is the second Punjabi NRI in the UK to face a prison sentence this month. The other is 17 year old gang member Gurjyot Singh, who has been convicted of stabbing an English university student trying to protect his girlfriend from being beaten up.

Singh stabbed 19-year-old Edward Vos five times while other gang members tried to batter his girlfriend and fellow university student Sarah. Lawyers acting for Singh, who liked posing on the internet with a sword, a waist knife and a shoe knife, said what had happened was a "moment of madness".

Private navy for Indian Ocean

Memories of the East India Company have been invoked by a group of British businessmen who are setting up the first private navy in nearly 200 years to patrol the Indian Ocean. The company behind the project is called Typhon and its aim is to deploy a 10,000-tonne mother ship, as well as high speed armoured patrol boats to protect oil tankers, bulk carriers and even private yachts that sail along the East African coast.

These are the sorts of ships that have been vulnerable in the past to Somali pirates terrorising parts of the Indian Ocean. Sometimes armed with little more than US$ 50 rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), they have proved capable of crippling massive, unarmed oil tankers and even taking hostages by kidnapping individual sailors.

The problem was recently summarised by General Sir David Richards, Chief of the British Defence Staff, who was quoted as saying, "You get to this ridiculous situation where in Operation Atalanta off the Somali coast, we have £1 billion destroyers trying to sort out pirates in a little dhow that can't be good."

The problem for the British and other Western navies is that they do not have enough vessels to patrol a huge 2.5 million square mile expanse of ocean.

Typhon chief executive Anthony Sharp was quoted by The Sunday Times as saying, "They can't do the job because they haven't got the budget and deploying a billion pound warship against six guys with $500 of kit is not a very good use of the asset." Typhon is headed by English businessman Simon Murray. The other directors include Admiral Henry Ulrich, former commander of US Naval Forces Europe, General Sir Jack Deverell, former commander in chief, Allied Forces, Northern Europe, and Lord Dannatt, former chief of the British general staff.

Although Typhon's aims are entirely laudable comparisons will inevitably be made with the private navy that once patrolled the ocean on behalf of the East India Company. Back in 1612 the East India Company established a small navy near Surat - named the Honourable East India Company's Marine - to protect merchant shipping off the coast of Cambay and also to help map the coastlines of India, Persia and Arabia. This navy expanded into a more formidable force that fought the China War of 1840 and provided the necessary back-up for the East India Company to expand its rule across the whole of India.

A doctor goes on an unusual eating mission

The hottest curry in the world has found a customer who has eaten what it had to offer and lives to tell the tale.

The curry named 'Vidhura The Widower" is a trademark dish of the Bindi restaurant, Grantham, in the comparatively remote English county of Lincolnshire, where some 300 brave souls tried without success to finish eating it.

Those who previously tried and failed could only manage a few mouthfuls before giving up. Many were left crying, shaking and vomiting. The restaurant says it even had to summon an ambulance for one customer.

Cooked with 20 Naga Infinity chillies, and further boosted with additional spicy curry paste made from a secret recipe, this particular curry was seen as a challenge by a 55-year-old English doctor and radiologist who was determined to give it a go. Pictures of a grinning Dr Ian Rothwell were splashed across media outlets as he started on his eating mission.

Rothwell from the nearby town of Sudbrooke refused to be put off by reports that restaurant chefs have to wear goggles and a protective mask while doing their cooking. So it was no surprise when he subsequently confessed to suffering hallucinations while eating his meal.

In fact the overall impact was so powerful that he had to suspend his eating for 10 minutes and take a walk before returning to his table.

Sympathetic restaurant staff offered him a glass of milk to help his digestion, saying he preferred his curry with the more traditional glass of beer.

Rothwell was told about the curry challenge by his daughter Alice and her boyfriend, who explained how they could only manage half a teaspoon before giving up. As she told the local media, "He seemed to manage without any problems, but we were all clutching our stomachs after just half a teaspoon, it blew my head off."

Before the restaurant agreed to serve him, Dr Rothwell had to sign a health disclaimer.

Restaurant owner Muhammad Karim praised Dr Rothwell, calling him a "legend" and telling the Grantham Journal, "He did it nice and easy to be honest. He just came in and ate it, quite calm and collected...although he did start to hallucinate a bit! I think his wife panicked a bit but hallucinations are quite common with this dish. Most people can only manage two or three mouthfuls and that's it."

On his part, Dr Rothwell said that meeting the challenge of the curry was harder than his earlier experience of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

"I like hot curries and have at least one a week, but this was off the scale," he said. "It took me about an hour to eat it and I had to stop half way through and go out for a walk and some fresh air", he said in a media interview.

"My wife and the owner were quite worried and said I was hallucinating, but I managed to go back inside and finish the curry."