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Touchstones Ira Pande Give us back the Mandelas and Gandhis If the spirit of Gandhi has been kept alive in our times, it is by leaders such as Mandela, Suu Kyi and the Dalai Lama. ALL around us, an old world is dying even as a new one is struggling to be born. One day, some historian will be able to decode the exact import of what we are seeing and going through but for the moment, it is evident to all of us that in the last few decades we have seen more change than many see in a century.
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on record When Nawaz Sharif took over as Prime Minister, there was hope that India-Pakistan relations would improve. But in the months that followed the ties suddenly took a dip. Why do you think this has happened? IT is unfortunate to blame Pakistan, if you are referring to the LoC, where a few Indian soldiers were killed. Bad as it was, we all condemned it in no uncertain terms. We are committed to respecting the ceasefire agreement of 2003. The incident caused a lot of anxiety in India, and rightly so. But Nawaz Sharif offered to have it investigated by a third party acceptable to both India and Pakistan. We need to sift reality from fiction. This is a sincere offer, it speaks of Nawaz Sharif’s honesty of purpose and commitment — that we will not try to conceal things, not do anything to derail the fragile process of dialogue. The offer of investigation is still open.
I also conveyed the offer of Pakistan to the Indian Prime Minister that the two DGMOs should meet. Islamabad will be very happy to organise the meeting in Rawalpindi so that they can not only go over the incident but also take concrete steps to prevent such incidents in future. About the Mumbai attack, Pakistan has already appointed a judge and prosecutor, a commission has visited India and cross-examined the witnesses. This is a big step forward, and a process is in place. I assure you that it will be transparent and speedy — the point at issue — and we are not trying to waste time. This government has been elected by the people of Pakistan, who gave a historic mandate to Nawaz Sharif to build the economy of the country, and to build friendly relations with our neighbouring countries. And the Prime Minister, who is well known in India, has made it clear to all that he wants to have good relations with India. Given this context, India should react positively to facilitate the process. The presumption after the New York summit is that Pakistan is waiting for a new government in India before making any significant movement? I have no knowledge of any such stand. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have visited Delhi and called on Prime Minister Singh. This demonstrates the mindset of Islamabad; that we want to engage with this government in India and want to move forward. The elections are four to five months away, we should not lose time. It has taken several months to fix the DGMO talks. Are there any complications? Not from our side. In my meeting with Manmohan Singh I reiterated the offer for a meeting of the DGMOs. Then what is the way forward? I met Anand Sharma [Union Cabinet Minister in charge of Commerce and Industry] in Delhi. He said Pakistan should take certain steps on trade. I proposed to him that both commerce secretaries should meet and make final recommendations for both governments. Sharma said India would act positively and take two steps if Pakistan took one and if we announced our decision on ‘Most Favoured Nation’ status for India. But ‘MFN’ is being replaced by a new nomenclature by both countries; it is being termed as ‘non-discriminatory access’ or non-discriminatory trade agreement’. This has to be finalised by the commerce secretaries. I would speak to Nawaz Sharif and reply to Sharma in a week. Will the National Security Advisers [NSA] meet to discuss the issue of terror? Pakistan is a victim of the worst kind of terror. In the process we have lost 50,000 people, including army and police personnel, young boys and girls. What more reason do we need to be committed to fight terrorism of all shades? There is no way we can think of ever encouraging such elements. What will the NSA level talks achieve? Let us cooperate on fighting terror. It is a common cause. There are people losing their limbs, parents or life. Children are turning orphans. This is causing unimaginable tension in Pakistan. It is a question of life and death. It would be a positive contribution if there is cooperation between the two countries on terror. You rule the largest state of Punjab. There is a feeling that your government has supported Jamat-ud-Dawa and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed roams free in your state. This is totally wrong. You must have read the perception that is created by these terrorists. As far as Saeed is concerned, we have taken over his institutions under the instructions of the UN and the Government of Punjab is paying for their administrative expenses. We have removed Saeed’s administration. And we are running the institutions because they are educational and health centres. That’s all there is now to these institutions. What is the progress in terms of Hafiz Saeed’s arrest? We have arrested him twice or thrice. Each time he has been bailed out by the higher courts. And then we tried to retain him under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law, even this was challenged in court, and he was bailed out again. There is democracy in Pakistan and courts work independently, as in India. We have to respect court orders. What are the big challenges for the new government in running Pakistan? The biggest challenge is the energy sector, because of the huge deficiency in power generation. The demand is 5,000-6,000 MW higher than the available supply. When industry, agriculture, trade and commerce and health and education are deprived of power, what progress can the country make? The result is unemployment, poverty and low production in agriculture. All this leads to a perfect breeding ground for militants. Has there been any movement on getting power from India? I raised the matter at the meeting with the Ministry of Commerce in New Delhi. They said they were waiting for technical issues to be resolved from Pakistan’s side. We will take this up with the Pakistan government immediately. Do you have some collaboration with India regarding public transport? We saw the Metro operate in Delhi. It is a great system and the fare is also reasonable. We would like to gain from the Indian experience, and will soon visit Delhi in this connection. We built a world class Metro bus service in Lahore in 11 months, which is a record time. What is the sense of potential you get between the two Punjabs of Pakistan and India? It is huge. In my speech at the council meeting, I said the two states have a huge potential in manufacturing of goods, agriculture, skill development and research, improving yields of cotton and milk, and basmati production. The two Punjabs have similar conditions in terms of land and weather. We should cooperate and bury the tension of the past. We should move forward with a sense of positivity and create an environment that will not only enhance trade and commerce, but also facilitate other strategic issues. The prime concern is to improve Pakistan-India relations. You are here for three days. Could you share with the people of India what you have observed? I have seen and heard about a lot of developments in the Indian Punjab in respect of water, coal-based power plants, individual success stories, public sector, etc. As I felt at home among the people here, I believe people-to-people contact should be increased. What is your message for the people of India? We have fought wars, but gained nothing from them. Let us now have competition in economies, innovation, research and development, and trade. Let us shun destruction, illiteracy and hatred. That is my message for people on both sides. But how would you deal with contentious issues such as Kashmir? Kashmir, water, Siachen are not issues that can be brushed under the carpet. But we need to resolve these by sitting around a table. Conflict is not an option. "I have conveyed the offer of Pakistan to the Indian Prime Minister that the two DGMOs should meet. Islamabad will be very happy to organise the meeting in Rawalpindi so that they can not only go over the LoC incident but also take concrete steps to prevent such incidents in future." "The ‘Most Favoured Nation’ nomenclature is being replaced by a new phrase by both countries; it is being termed as ‘non-discriminatory access’ or non-discriminatory trade agreement’. This has to be finalised by the commerce secretaries."
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guest column
Defence Minister AK Antony recently rebuked the Indian Navy for the loss of the submarine, INS Sindhurakshak. I wonder if he even realised his faux pas. The Navy top brass had every reason to be riled when Antony proclaimed at the annual Commanders’ Conference that the Navy had frittered away national resources. Still recovering from the tragic loss of Sindhurakshak, the unjust remark of the Defence Minister has not gone down well with the Navy and the rank and file of the armed forces. With all on board killed in a flash and the submarine destroyed and sunk, it will be a long time before the technical Board of Inquiry is able to establish what happened to INS Sindhurakshak. When nothing is known, is it not strange that the Ministry of Defence has jumped to its own conclusions? To ‘clear the yardarm’ is an old Navy expression that is synonymous with washing one’s hands of a responsibility. It came into being in the days of sail when Britannia ruled the waves and Lordships of the Admiralty perched ashore found it expedient to pass the buck. It has a lot to do with the long standing need to integrate the armed forces into the Ministry of Defence. Obviously little has happened. And since the old order has not changed, it is still the old mindset of ‘we and they’. Calling itself the Integrated Headquarters of the MoD may sound impressive, but inducing systemic changes requires much more than a cosmetic change of nomenclature. What is really needed is a change of attitude, along with a deep understanding of military ethos. The fighting spirit of the armed forces rides on morale. And to weld together a professionally trained and highly motivated fighting force capable of defending the nation requires astute statesmanship. It is one thing to administer a civilian public sector undertaking such as the DRDO and quite another to handle the armed forces of the nation. The political leadership would do well to take a leaf out of the Kargil report. It carries a doctrinal message on how the armed forces should be motivated and galvanised into action when the chips are down. The need to induct the military into the national security loop was an important lesson from the Kargil conflict. It prompted the weekly meeting of the Prime Minister with the Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Prime Minister’s aim was simply to understand his armed forces since they are the primary instrument of state power. But it was too good to last and when the National Security Council came of age, the Prime Minister’s initiative fell by the wayside. It has never been easy to understand the operational environment of the Navy and the risks that go with it. And many are the accounts of the life and hazards aboard a submarine. But it was the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who placed it in perspective. Recording his experience under water, while embarked on the nuclear submarine INS Chakra in 1988, this is what he stated: “Thank God I was a pilot, not a submariner”. Submariners are required to operate in the domain of danger where fire and flooding remain their greatest and constant threat. Since the year 2000, there have been 27 major submarine incidents — 10 American, six Russian, five British, two Canadian, one Australian, one Chinese, one French and one Indian (Sindhurakshak). Moreover, being the most potent weapon of war, submarines are among the most complex war fighting machines ever developed. The experience of the Indian Navy goes back to the 1960s and having operated submarines in diverse combat conditions for more than half a century, the Navy is well geared to face the challenge that it offers. The Russian navy went through a traumatic period after its nuclear submarine Kursk was destroyed in an underwater explosion. But the Russians came through the crisis. And so will the Indian Navy come to grips with the loss of INS Sindhurakshak. Professional navies know how to ride the storm. It is the officials ashore who need to brace themselves for the challenge. The writer was the Navy Chief during the Kargil conflict. |
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Touchstones
ALL
around us, an old world is dying even as a new one is struggling to be born. One day, some historian will be able to decode the exact import of what we are seeing and going through but for the moment, it is evident to all of us that in the last few decades we have seen more change than many see in a century. We had all known for some time that Nelson Mandela was terminally ill and that he was being kept alive only because he was so well looked after. When he finally gave up the fight, it was as if he indicated to all of us that his life’s work was over and that a new world order must take over. In this sense, his death signified that the politics of grace under pressure and the preservation of human dignity even in the face of the most brutal repression of human rights was more important than anything else. If the spirit of Gandhi has been kept alive in our times, it is by leaders such as Mandela, Suu Kyi and the Dalai Lama. In our own land, we have all but given up offering passive resistance to repressive regimes. Violent and vicious demonstrations, abuse, corruption, horse-trading and a bid to cling to power at any cost is what has come to define Indian politics. The end justifies the means seems to be the mantra for political parties now. One hopes that the Delhi experience of the Aam Admi Party will herald a new way of conducting politics from now on and force all our political parties to introspect and change their ways. The politics of entitlement, of ‘lal-battis’ and cronyism has destroyed so much that its demise will harm no one but its beneficiaries. To turn now to more cheerful matters: Indian weddings. Newspapers had warned us in Delhi that 11.12.13 was going to be a killer. The reason? Hundreds had chosen this special date (the last one in the series this century) to be wed. Not just that, maternity homes were overbooked because numerology-mad parents wanted their babies to be born on that day, even if it meant opting for a C-section to make it happen! As if this was not crazy enough, I saw what must be a sight seldom seen before. With the lovely sunny weather in Delhi at present, it is a joy to go to its beautiful parks and walk around. We had gone a couple of days ago to Lodhi Gardens, when I was astounded to see a girl dressed in a flowing gown (yes, a gauzy concoction with frills and spangles) and her partner in a tuxedo (at two in the afternoon!) posing with flowers in the background and on a small bridge surrounded by a battery of photographers and spot boys. At first we thought it was a photo shoot for a magazine feature but were informed by an amused gardener that it was for a wedding album and a feature now quite popular with engaged couples. ‘Bahut aate hain yahan,’ he told us as he tended to his flowers. Cut now to the wedding itself: it is de rigeur to have at least three events and — depending on how deep your pockets are — these are held at posh hotels or at remote farmhouses. Ministers and MPs are reputed to loan their sprawling lawns to friends (often for a fee, I’m told), if you want the wedding parties to be held in the hallowed environs of Lutyens’ Delhi. As for the food! Name the cuisine and you shall have it: from humble ‘chaat’ to exotic French menus. I have deliberately omitted any mention of clothes and jewellery because assessing the cost of that now sounds like India’s GDP figures. Who says we are a poor nation? Flowers are flown in from Thailand, fruit from Australia and seafood from Japan, no doubt. How else can ill-gotten fortunes be otherwise spent? Yet, no one asks uncomfortable questions because everyone is guilty of some violation on this score. I hope the Delhi results will finally give a wake-up call to such offenders of public morality. A final word on political ‘goonda’ raj, UP-ishtyle. Two days ago, traffic on the busy expressway between Delhi and Noida was held up because a minor minister in the UP government was visiting Noida. His enthusiastic supporters came in their hundreds and blocked every lane on the toll bridge in their frenzy to escort this important man into their town. The traffic police and the traffic marshalls watched helplessly as they took over every inch of navigable road. Can you imagine how many people suffered as a result of this? Patients in ambulances, babies in cars, executives going to attend an important meeting — all of them were delayed by several hours. Call this freedom? Call this responsible behaviour? Give us back the Mandelas and Gandhis and their style of politics I implore all our wannabe politicians. Will we ever see their like again? More importantly, when will this lot of goons and rascals finally go?
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