P A G E
Thursday, October 21, 1999
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E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Thursday, October 21, 1999 |
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Diesel
dissonance in open
HARYANA’S
TROUBLED VARSITIES |
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Let
the Army remain apolitical
Rattled
by a tail
October 21, 1924 |
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Diesel dissonance in open POLITICAL parties find it convenient, and perhaps compulsory, to play on both sides of any controversy. The Congress in Haryana opposes the diesel price increase while the Delhi unit stiffly defends the steep hike in bus fare occasioned mostly by this. The BJP does one better; the government it leads at the Centre announces a savage 35 per cent increase in the price of diesel (with cooking gas and kerosene next in the list) while the Delhi unit is threatening a strike demanding a roll back of bus fare hike. This is just a diverting sideshow but the real threat to the rhythm of daily life and the economy comes from an indefinite nationwide strike called by road transport operators. The talks between them and the Central Government have failed on the first day and not unexpectedly. They want an immediate withdrawal of the price increase, saying that their long-term contract with business and industry has no provision for upward revision of the freight rate. That means they cannot pass on the burden to the clients and they cannot absorb it either. The government is firm on retaining the increase; the financial crunch dictates it. It is then a perfect script for a confrontation which will ultimately affect the common man, with the government being a spectator. All that the Surface Transport Ministry has done is to sponsor a study by a little known organisation to weaken the operators union and malign a section of them. The members of the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), the study says, have a stranglehold over the business of moving goods but own only three lakh trucks and engage brokers to hire 25 lakh vehicles with small owners. They have already increased the freight rate by about 30 per cent, promising the brokers an increase of 20 per cent and the real owners, in turn, about 15 per cent. For instance, a heavy duty truck which consumes about 600 litres of diesel for a round trip between Delhi and Mumbai, will cost the owner an extra Rs 2240 while the operators have put up the freight rate by about Rs 4600. There is a sting in the tail of the report. It finds little or no sympathy among the large section of truck owners for both the AIMTC and the strike call. Strike calls by this
body had always evoked total response, not necessarily
out of conviction or a sense of solidarity. A few sturdy
men on key roads can block movement of vehicles and
anyone defying the call can be instantly dealt with. The
last strike, to demand the withdrawal of entry tax, led
to a few vehicles being damaged or set on fire and for
nearly three weeks road transport remained paralysed. It
is only normal to expect a repetition. The consequences
of a prolonged strike will lead to a sharp rise in the
prices several articles, induced by a general shortage.
When the strike ends the prices will stay at the higher
level, to absorb the impact of increased freight rate.
The first sight of panic will be in long queues in petrol
pumps since road transport carries the bulk of petroleum
products. The economy, which is showing clear signs a
recovery, will bear the brunt of the strike. That will be
the time when captains of business and their contact men
will mount pressure on the government to seek an end to
the strike. A roll back is out of the question; why not
initiate measures to legalise a review of the contracts
between the transport operators and their big-time
clients? That is a lesser evil. |
Sonia’s limited options HAD Mrs Sonia Gandhi not been from the unofficial number one “political dynasty” of India, she may have met the same fate which befell Mr P. V. Narasimha Rao and Mr Sitaram Kesri after the 1996 and 1998 Lok Sabha elections. Congress leaders are themselves primarily responsible for creating a situation in which they have no option but to lean on her for political survival. The Congress President may not have led the party to a glorious victory in the mid-term poll; but she knows that most Congressmen dare not raise the banner of revolt against her as they had done in the case of her predecessors in 1996 and 1998. That is why she has taken the moral responsibility for the humiliating performance of the Congress across the country. Since she is still the tallest leader of the shrinking Congress the parliamentary party, made up of newly elected Lok Sabha members and those already in the Rajya Sabha, had no problem in offering her the post she held even when she was not a member of either House. There was some motivated kite flying about Mrs Sonia Gandhi nominating someone else for the post of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. That rumour too is now dead. It is indeed true that she may find the assignment more challenging than making public speeches from written text. Had she followed the drummed-up “popular demand” for offering the post to a more experienced member it would have sent two negative signals. One, that she is not sure of her ability to lead the party in the Lok Sabha. Two, her stepping down may have caused avoidable friction in the Congress on the issue of who other than Mrs Sonia Gandhi was capable of being Leader of the Opposition - a position held by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee with great distinction. In other words, to keep
the decimated Congress flock together she had no choice
but to accept the challenge of leading the Opposition in
the Lok Sabha. It is a crucial decision for another
reason. Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ms Mayawati would have
to talk directly to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and not through
intermediaries, for drawing a common approach on key
issues for keeping the ruling combine on its toes. In a
day of fast moving developments Mrs Gandhi also ended the
political suspense about offering the Amethi Lok Sabha
seat to Ms Priyanka Vadra and retaining Bellary. The
decision to retain Amethi and not Bellary makes political
sense in the context of the performance of the Congress
in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Had she resigned from
Amethi there was little she could have done to fulfil the
promises she had made to the electorate in a state under
BJP rule. She needs to reassure not only the voters of
Amethi but also of the rest of the state that the
Congress is ready to fill the political vacuum likely to
be caused by the faction war within the UP unit of the
BJP over the role of Chief Minister Kalyan Singh during
the Lok Sabha elections. On the other hand, the Congress
has done surprisingly well in Karnataka giving Mrs Sonia
Gandhi the option to give up the Bellary seat. Chief
Minister S. M. Krishna can always be expected to put in
place a special “Bellary package” before the
code of conduct becomes operational after the
announcement of the date for holding byelections. |
Ignoring the hapless THOSE who shed copious tears in public for the destitute in Jammu and Kashmir should find a perspective and a basis for the formulation of a concrete and workable plan now. A Save the Children Fund (SCF) report published the other day begins with a remark which, in fact, should have summed up the shocking findings: The Kashmiri society is yet to develop individual-centric or institution-oriented support for its destitute. The present set-up lacks transparency. It looks at the problems of the forlorn as a "routine affair—far from fulfilling their needs". This is an indictment which the governments in the state and at the Centre must accept with a sense of shame and then with a positive remedial attitude. For the habitually lethargic, the dawn only breaks when they choose to open their eyes! Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) too should share the blame. One of the reasons for the limited success of the counter-militancy activities is the frustration resulting from the lack of support to the widows, old parents and children of the victims of terrorism. The gun surely deters; but social groups and governmental agencies can positively sustain. The SCF report, along with other documents, reveals eye-opening facts. The manifestation of Pakistan-exported Kalashinov culture can be traced back to the early nineties. But the era of discontent began with the police firing at protesters in the state capital's old city in 1989. People were aggressively demanding a lasting solution to the problem of anti-development and erratic power supply. There were many deaths. A routine relief and rehabilitation scheme was started by the government. It collapsed with the end of the Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference regime just in 1990. In that very year, a destitute support group known as Hilal-e-Ahmar, popularly known as the public Red Cross, was founded by some front-ranking JKLF leaders! Hilal provided succour to the victims for full one year. It got massive donations from the region and earned sympathy for the hotheads. Widows were remarried,
orphans were sent to school and families of the victims
got financial assistance. The conspicuously effective
management of the main cemetery of Idgah became a symbol
for the angry people's respect for the militants —
active as well as potential. Hilal gave way to the Public
Relief Trust which contributed to the making of the
22-party separatist Hurriyat Conference. The militants
had no time for thinking of relief. Meanwhile, the Rajiv
Gandhi Foundation was inspired to render assistance. It
spent more than Rs 3 million through Human Effort for
Love and Peace (HELP) on welfare schemes. Many widows and
orphans saw a ray of hope. But now destitution and
distress have increased. The spirit of dedication and
funds have diminished. That old Muslim Welfare Society is
still doing yeoman service. But "regular help"
for, say, 60 orphans and 150 widows does not mean much.
And how much productive has the large amount,
thoughtfully diverted by Rajya Sabha member and
journalist Kuldip Nayar from his constituency development
fund, been made? Where is that corpus money —Rs 20
crore—promised by the Central and State governments?
Bureaucratic bungling and sloth have deprived countless
children of the light of education. The widows and the
aged parents of the vast number of the slain have no
support. Dr Farooq Abdullah lives in luxury in his
fortresses. His son has joined the Union Cabinet. Their
supporters blame everything on the ISI. Now the
diversionary point is Kargil. But Kashmir is calling for
rehabilitation. What is left must be preserved. What has
been damaged must be rebuilt. These "whats"
mainly consist of hapless lives waiting for assistance.
Dr Farooq Abdullah can spare a constructive thought after
his relaxed evenings. |
HARYANA’S TROUBLED VARSITIES TO begin with, Haryana universities were named after their places of location, as is the practice in most of the western countries. Then started the practice of naming them after important individuals. Rohtak University was named after Maharishi Dayanand, the Agriculture University at Hisar after Chaudhry Charan Singh and Kurukshetra University after B.N. Chakarvarty, one time Governor of Haryana. Change in the first two cases was symbolic in its value and did not evoke any public protest. But the change in the last case was substantive, keeping in view the great historic and religious importance of the town of Kurukshetra. As could be expected, the change failed to get public approval. Dr V.N. Datta, an eminent historian, barely escaped being sent to prison during the Emergency for opposing the government move. Subsequently, the move was dropped under public pressure. The fourth university of purely technical nature at Hisar came into being much later and was named after the guru of the sect to which the then Chief Minister of the state happened to belong. The present Chief Minister of Haryana declared at a rally of the Akali Dal in Ludhiana on the tercentenary of the Khalsa to rename Kurukshetra University after Guru Gobind Singh. This announcement, probably made on the spur of the moment, generated a lot of resentment all over the state and evoked fierce protest at Kurukshetra and in the adjoining area. The prominent citizens of Kurukshetra and some dons of the university launched a movement under the auspices of an Action Committee to foil the government move. The agitation was temporarily suspended in view of the impending Lok Sabha elections at the intervention of a prominent public figure. The government has not moved further in this direction to necessitate any public response and the matter rests here. The spontaneous and sharp public response in this connection needs to be understood in its proper perspective. Common historic memories play an important role in the formation of nationality and go a long way in shaping regional or national identity. Kurukshetra is one such highly important historical outpost and a common historic memory marker in the country in general and in the state of Haryana in particular. Besides being the site of the fabled battle of Mahabharata and espousal of a profound philosophical system through Gita, it is one of the most hallowed and sacred places in the country. The solar eclipse here attracts the largest congregation in the country after “mahakumbh” in Hardwar or Prayag. An important public institution like a university set up at this place cannot logically have any other name except that of Kurukshetra. There is need to strengthen the identity of such a spot and the government move to dilute it is a retrograde step. The issue acquires added importance in view of the ambivalent, inchoate and highly weak sense of regional identity in the state of Haryana. Unfortunately, the caste in its ugliest manifestation is still the primary entity in this state to define people’s attitude on important issues concerning the health of the Haryana society. The caste as a liberative and regenerative force to give expression to the aspirations of the oppressed sections in the Hindu Varna system is yet to acquire a concrete shape in Haryana. In such a situation the caste groups are mere vote banks to be manipulated by different caste leaders. Probably, the cavalier mode of making such an important announcement as changing the name of a university associated with a hoary place like Kurukshetra can be understood in terms of targeting a particular vote bank. The probability of annoying another voting group could not be envisaged, otherwise the announcement could have been avoided as the issue was not of momentous importance. The cavalier attitude noted in case of the announcement in question has gone a long way in distorting the content of Haryana universities as centres of higher learning and research. It would be unfair to lay the whole blame at the door of political bosses alone. The informed citizens and the academic community too cannot be absolved of the blame. They are the mute spectators to the process of corroding the academic content of the state universities. The political bosses and the bureaucrats are the wreckers of the system and the citizens and the dons the accomplices. A close look at any of the universities in the state would prove this. Often such persons are appointed Vice-Chancellors of Haryana universities who have dubious academic worth or no worth whatsoever. Then, a junior IAS officer is appointed as a Registrar in a university to act as a commissar of the government of the day. As a Big Brother, he constantly breathes down the neck of the Vice-Chancellor to keep him on the tenterhook in order to make him toe the government line. The autonomy of a university is a myth in Haryana. The attitudes and whims of the official nominees condition the proceedings in the decision-making bodies of a university like the Executive Council. The amendment made in the University Act in 1994 has given such powers to the government as to stall any decision taken by a university. No financial matter can be taken up in the absence of the government nominees. The government often issues fiats to impose ban on recruitment in the universities in the name of economy while no such measures are taken in the government departments. The concept of a university as a dissenting academy and a centre of higher learning to promote debate and research is alien to the Haryana state structure. By upgrading a village school a politician may get some more votes but by building a university he gets nothing except possible headache in the form of dissent. A university is taken at best as a spot to keep the troublesome youth busy for a few years or at worst, an indispensable nuisance, a necessary evil of the larger system on which the state politician has no control. All this has made a Haryana university a third rate government department. Since a Haryana university is no better than a wing of the faceless bureaucratic establishment of the state, the political bosses use it as a centre to breed a culture of patronage. This in turn spawns a tribe of academic lackeys in the campus whose primary concern is to cultivate political connections. This makes a campus a breeding ground for mediocrities that rule the roost. And a mediocrity sets its own norms. A handful of those who somehow manage to escape the crippling logic of this process are left to their own devices to survive. Those who succeed in extending their area of work beyond the narrow confines of the campus manage to do some useful work while the remaining in this small group end up as academic morons. Caste is an important instrument of mediation and social mobility in Haryana society. This, by the nature of its logic, has extended its tentacles to the universities in the state. The caste composition of the coterie around a Vice-Chancellor is determined by his caste as such. The caste is the levelling factor and acts as a magnet for the dons to gravitate around the centre of authority, irrespective of their ideological predilections, spurious or genuine. Caste feuding is the major mode of survival and advancement in this environment. Sycophancy is another mode. A handful of those who do not fit into these two modes are left to fend for themselves without any support system. Meaningful teaching and research are unthinkable in such a milieu. The impressive buildings are the only tangible testimony as a mark of a successful campus and there is a constant endeavour to make addition to the structure of concrete and cement. A close look at Kurukshetra University, which was the centre of controversy recently on the issue of renaming, would bear this out. More than hundred teaching posts, including those of professors and readers, are lying vacant in Kurukshetra University. Part-time lecturers are appointed on the total salary of Rs 4,000 per month. No serious scholar is prepared to work on this pittance. The system of part-time teachers for postgraduate teaching and research is scandalous, to say the least. Research is not on the agenda of the university. There is no proper infrastructure in the form of well-equipped laboratories, libraries etc. for research. The number of research scholars has considerably declined during the last few years. For instance, there are only two scholars in the physics department working on a regular basis. The situation in other departments is not different. The university library is in a bad shape. Whenever there is an economy drive, the axe falls on the library budget. The state funding of the library has virtually dried up and the UGC is the only source of grants. The number of journals and periodicals has declined by 50 per cent or more. For instance, library subscribes to only one foreign journal of physics now while the number of such journals earlier was more than a dozen. A discount of 25 per cent for Indian books and 20 per cent for foreign books is insisted upon. No reputed publishing house or bookseller is prepared to give this much of discount. As a consequence, the library is stuffed with substandard books. No wonder, such library is a poor tool for meaningful teaching and research. Resource crunch is the standard argument for stultifying the infrastructure essential for teaching and research. But this paucity is not visible in case of building activity in the university. A Chief Minister did not happen to like the main university gate on his visit. This gate has been functional since the inception of the university. But it was dismantled to suit the fancy of the political boss and a majestic edifice erected in its place, which is estimated to have cost several million rupees. There is already a shopping complex on the campus but recently about 40 more shops have been constructed. A fraction of the amount spent on this bizarre building spree would have made the library and labs more purposeful. What is true of Kurukshetra University is substantially true of other universities in Haryana as well. The situation may be slightly better in the two technical universities at Hisar but it is not qualitatively different. The plight of the university at Rohtak is decidedly worse. The non-academic leadership of a university, the lack of democratic movement in the campus, the indifference of the public at large and the philistinic attitude of the state apparatus towards a university are the major causes of the malaise. The system invests the political bosses with the power to select persons to run the universities. It would be of a great help if they could exercise a little caution about the academic accomplishments and calibre of a person while making their choice. The teaching fraternity often clamours for more autonomy for the university but autonomy in the absence of a democratic ethos on the campus tends to degenerate into autocracy of an individual — a Vice-Chancellor in this case. There are teachers’ associations in the university but they are generally active on the issue of pay scales and similar things. There is need to go beyond economic demands, legitimate as they are in their own right, and raise issues about the academic content in the campus by way of strengthening democratic movement. Otherwise, the idea of a genuine autonomy of a university is a cry in the wilderness. There is a greater need of public awareness of what is happening inside the universities. The prominent citizens of Kurukshetra legitimately protested renaming of the university but they have been mute spectators to what has been happening on the campus right under their nose. The present Haryana
government should pay more attention to improve the
quality of academic life in the state universities rather
than getting into unnecessary controversy of renaming a
university. It has been highly unfortunate to drag the
name of a great soul like Guru Gobind Singh into this
unseemly controversy. He commands universal respect
cutting across religious divide and he should have been
spared of this embarrassment. The name of such a great
person should be invoked to connect people and not to
estrange them, to promote harmony and not to sow discord.
So many other ways and means are available to honour the
legendary guru in Haryana. |
Remembering police martyrs FORTYFIVE years ago, on October 21, 10 gallant personnel of the CRPF, laid down their lives in the inhospitable region of Ladakh while defending Indian territory from Chinese intruders. The police forces in India observe this day as Police Commemoration Day, not only to pay homage to these 10 but also to remember and revere thousands of policemen who gave their today for the better tomorrow of the people. Policemen make the supreme sacrifice while defending the country from external threats, fighting internal threats of disintegration from secessionists, insurgents, terrorists, and extremist political elements, “while fighting communal, casteist and divisive elements; and while safeguarding the people from the depredations of the ISI- sponsored criminals and other lumpen elements. The much-maligned police forces have always lived up to their motto — “Duty unto death”. Statistics of the deaths of policemen while on duty in India are staggering and bone-chilling. Nowhere in the world are so many policemen required to make the supreme sacrifice for their countrymen. Compared to 2 per annum in the UK and 80 in the USA, the death toll in India comes to over 600 every year. Over 40 per cent of these personnel were under the age of 36, and 10 per cent were under 25. Thus, these personnel were snatched away by death while they were in the prime of their life. The total fatalities of police forces in India are more than the total fatalities suffered by our defence forces in the four wars against Pakistan, the Kargil operations and the IPKF action. Added to this dismal picture, anti-national and anti-social elements are now targeting police families for attack. Can Indian democracy afford to remain complacent in the face of these stark facts? Should we not make an effort to halt this trend? People may say that risk to life is an occupational hazard for a policeman and is to be expected. Yes. But if it is possible, we should take all steps to reduce these deaths. To reverse this trend, we should train and equip our policemen to meet the threats from urban and rural extremists, who are waging guerrilla warfare against the State. The police should also be trained in handling and dealing effectively with landmines, improvised explosive devices and the like, which are being increasingly used by extremist elements. There should be a clear demarcation between the “civil police” and an “armed police”. The unarmed civil police should not be used in meeting threats to internal security. Legal norms for police operations are to be reviewed. There should be clarity about the legal norms applicable to peaceful citizens and to those who question the very basis of the existence of this democracy and threaten the same with violence. Let not the benefits of rule of law be available to lawless elements. An eminent American jurist once said that the Bill of Rights is not a suicide pact entered into by the USA with its enemies for its own destruction. Let us substitute the words “Fundamental rights” and “India”, for the “Bill of Rights” and “USA” to reflect the situation in our country today. We are keen on providing the “Rights” to wrong ones, who have no regard to our democratic or constitutional principles. The police is doing a very difficult job and it deserves the support of the people. Unfortunately, “police bashing” has become a fashionable hobby for intellectuals and the media. Let us not denigrate all policemen for the fault of a few black sheep among them. While the police leadership should take positive steps to isolate and expel these black sheep from the force, the public can accelerate this cleaning process by demanding police reforms to usher in lawful and ethical policing in the country. To give the police its due, it is time the “police flag” is also unfurled at the Amar Jawan Jyoti National Memorial at India Gate along with those of the three Services. October 21 should be observed as Police Day throughout the country, and political leaders and eminent citizens should participate in it. Peace and tranquillity in society are essential for the nation to progress. The police is ensuring these. The basic right of a citizen in a liberal democracy is to elect his representative in a free and fair election without fear or coercion. The police, by assisting in the peaceful and successful completion of the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, has truly contributed to the growth of democratic traditions in the country. Let us pay homage to the police martyrs and salute them. (The author is a
former Director-General of the CRPF and the NSG). |
Rattled
by a tail THERE is a cliche in Tamil that says, “Pampenral padayum nadumgum.” (Say “snake” and even a regiment gets the jitters). So, I am not blaming my neighbour Guptaji and his family for dashing out of the store-room after spotting a wiggling tail under a large steel box that holds 100 kg of desi wheat. I am watering the plants and the lawn that stand in front of my house when I hear the shrieks of the Gupta family. I drop the hose, and hurry to Guptaji’s house. He is speechless. His wife, tall and thin, almost reed-like, is shivering with fright, bending into the shape of a question mark. It is their son Atul who seems to have the words to tell me what has upset the family. “There is a snake, in the store,” he tells me. “Are you sure it is a snake?” “Papa saw it, uncle. So did amma,” he clears my doubts. “Let us chase it out,” I tell. “Who will do that?” Guptaji finally finds his voice. “You and I,” I suggest. “And get bitten by the snake,” his face turns ashy pale. “But not all snakes are poisonous. I spent my childhood in central Travancore, now part of Kerala. We lived in a spacious bungalow set in an acre of land. Snakes were common sight there in those days. And we were never afraid of snakes. Why? Usually, they go away on their own. They shy away from humans,” I try to revive his spirit. But Guptaji is not convinced. I decide to check the store. Atul agrees to come with me, but his mother won’t let him. She turns to her man and scowls, “Are you a man? Or ....” She doesn’t say what she thinks of him. That is not necessary. He gets the cue. He agrees to come with me. I take a stick with me. Guptaji picks up a torch. We walk into the store-room. I repeatedly hit the box with the stick. I make all sorts of rattles. Nothing happens. I push the stick in the little space between the floor and the bottom of the box and move it around. Suddenly, something darts out. It makes its exit as fast as it can. It has a long tail. “There goes your snake,” I turn to Guptaji. “I thought it was a
snake. I mistook the tail of the chameleon for that of a
snake,” Guptaji is not pleased at having made a
mountain of a molehill. Better say, “A snake of a
chameleon.” |
Let the Army remain
apolitical IT is a generally well-accepted fact that if India has survived the tribulations of the first half-century of its existence as an independent country, a large measure of the credit goes to the armed forces, particularly the Indian Army. Despite unstable borders, inherent fissiparous tendencies, secessionist insurgencies, ethnic tensions, religious fundamentalism, communal riots, several revolts by provincial constabularies, frequent law and order situations beyond the control of civil authorities and, lately, the scourge of terrorism, the Army has succeeded in keeping the nation united. While almost all other institutions in the country have inexorably fallen prey to corruption and nepotism and have degenerated to abysmal levels due to shameless political interference and profiteering the armed forces have by the large retained their pristine purity and today stand as a bulwark against the break-up of India. The armed forces have achieved their present high status in society by remaining scrupulously apolitical and confining themselves to enhancing their professional competence and preparedness for their primary role. The much written about politician-bureaucrat-police-criminal nexus has to a large extent been counterbalanced by the intrinsic strength of the armed forces. Otherwise, by now India may well have been on the way to becoming a banana republic presided over by political satraps and their armed mafias. If there is one certain way of ensuring that this country goes down the road to disintegration, it is to politicise the armed forces. While the Kargil conflict was on, the whole nation stood together behind the armed forces. The print, TV and radio media were extremely supportive of the Army at a time of national danger. However, like the old ditty goes, “It is obvious that the present vilification campaign against the Army by certain sections of the print medium is politically motivated. The issue is not whether the motives are justifiable or questionable. The issue is the enormous harm that is being caused to the warp and woof of the Army’s moral fibre and the blatant undermining of a venerable institution that has stood the nation in good stead. The patent unfairness of targeting the Army establishment, that has no lobbies to counter the pernicious propaganda, is even more deplorable. The exploitation of a misguided officer’s perceived grievances by politicians for the sake of their own nefarious designs is not only gross interference in the internal affairs of the Army, it is also bad politics. For responsible newspapers and magazines to succumb to the temptation and take up cudgels on behalf of political parties against the Army, is even more reprehensible. The Army has a well-established system for the redressal of grievances, including the right to address a statutory complaint to the Government of India. It would have been more prudent for concerned political parties and the media to let the flow of natural justice take its course, rather than jump into the fray and attempt to influence events. Within the Army, the COAS is an institution. On all crucial issues, he relies on the collective wisdom of the Vice Chief of the Army Staff, the Army Commanders (General Officers Commanding-in-Chief various Army commands) and his Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) before taking a decision. In keeping with the customs and traditions of the Army and the need for firm and resolute action on the battlefield, a decision once made is never questioned. This is the foundation on which the edifice of the Army’s famous discipline is based. If the Indian Army has performed its tasks with the singularity of purpose and the professional competence that it has it is mainly due to the fact that the Army has implicit faith in the wisdom and impartiality of its top hierarchy, expressed through the leadership and directions of the chief. The dragging of the office of the COAS into unseemly media controversies is likely to undermine the status and authority of the institution of the COAS in the eyes of the rank and file of the Army. Through frivolous opinion pieces and scandalous reporting, incalculable harm and long-term damage is being unwittingly caused to the Army, a national institution that is the last bastion against anarchy. The nation’s enemies could not have hoped for better. There is no doubt whatsoever that in this age of glasnost the Army also needs to gradually become more transparent. However, scrutiny over the Army’s functioning needs to be exercised by the political masters, that is by the Cabinet and Parliament and not by fifth columnists in the Fourth Estate on behalf of their political patrons. — ADNI (The author is a
Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and
Analyses, New Delhi. These are his personal views.) |
Eight rapes in Pakistan every day VIOLENCE against women has escalated to the level of a national crisis in Pakistan, according to Human Rights Watch, an international monitoring organisation. The organisation, in a 100-page report titled “Crime or Custom? Violence Against Women in Pakistan”, says at least eight women are raped every 24 hours country-wide and estimates that the number of women who experience domestic violence ranges from 70 to 95 per cent. The report documents several incidents of abuse of women and evaluates Pakistan’s official response to violence against women, NNI news agency reports. Samya Burney, a researcher for the women’s rights division, has authored the report. The researcher finds that despite the alarmingly high incidence of rape and domestic violence, the government appears to be uninterested in limiting impunity for these acts. “Perhaps more disturbing than the prevalence of violence against women is the absolute impunity with which these crimes are committed”, the researcher says. The report says the government’s own Commission of Inquiry for Women has reported that domestic violence is the most pervasive violation of human rights, but senior government officials ignore the Commission’s findings and recommendations. Statistical evidence notwithstanding, the state officials the Human Rights Watch spoke to invariably denied the existence and severity of the problem of violence against women, the researcher notes. “The dismissive official attitudes toward violence against women reflects institutionalised gender bias that pervades the state machinery, including the law enforcement apparatus”, the researcher says. The report says domestic violence victims have virtually no access to judicial protection and redress, adding that actors at all levels of the criminal justice system simply do not consider domestic violence a matter for the criminal courts. Domestic violence is routinely dismissed by law enforcement authorities as a private dispute and women who attempt to register a police complaint of spousal or familial physical abuse are invariably turned away, the report adds. “Official resistance to recognise domestic violence as a crime deters women from reaching out for safety and justice”, the researcher says. She notes that women who report rape or sexual assault by strangers fare marginally better than victims of domestic violence and they might succeed in registering a complaint if they are persistent and determined. The researcher says women alleging rape are often disbelieved and treated with disrespect and harassed by officials at all levels, which reflects institutionalised gender bias that pervades the criminal justice system of Pakistan. According to the report, rape victims have to contend with abusive police, forensic doctors who focus on their virginity status instead of their injuries, untrained prosecutors, sceptical judges and a discriminatory and deficient legal framework. “Only the most resilient and resourceful complainants can manoeuvre such hostile terrain, and those who do seldom see their attackers punished”, Burney says. The researcher comments that the deplorable level of medico-legal services in the country is itself a sign of the government’s lack of will to tackle the problem of violence against women. Medical evidence plays a unique and critical role in the prosecution of sexual crimes. Particularly in light of the requirements of Pakistani rape law, a well-functioning medico-legal system is a practical prerequisite for the successful prosecution of rape and sexual assault, Burney says. Human Rights Watch has called on the government to explicitly criminalise all forms of domestic and familial violence against women to establish clear guidelines for police intervention and protection in such cases. The international monitoring organisation has also urged the government to repeal the Offence of Zina Ordinance which, it says, allows marital rape, does not establish the crime of statutory rape and which in some cases does not permit testimony of the female victim. It also asks the government to ensure that law enforcement personnel are trained to eliminate gender bias against women in their responses to cases of violence against women. — India
Abroad News Service |
October
21, 1924 IT IS no matter for surprise that the King’s speech proroguing Parliament makes no reference to India. For reasons of which every one in India is painfully aware, India has not yet been able to make any British party treat her demand for Home Rule with the seriousness with which it undoubtedly and intrinsically deserves to be treated, and a casual reference in a Premier’s speech or a sort of non-committal reply to questions in Parliament raised by a Conservative and die-hard Peer is all that she can expect. The fact ought to be an
eye-opener to those among us who imagine that they have
already succeeded in creating a situation of great
embarrassment to the British Government. |
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