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Musharraf is lucky Charity begins at home |
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Protecting environment
Power of nationalism
Taming of the Nizam
FLASHBACK ‘03 — Scams Defence notes
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Musharraf is lucky PAKISTAN President Pervez Musharraf has had a providential escape in the second attempt on his life in 10 days. His security had been heightened to an unprecedented level after the previous attack. By still daring to launch a suicidal attempt, the bombers have shown how determined they are in their bloody mission. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. As such it is only a matter of conjecture as to who was behind it. The General had incurred the wrath of the militant groups within as well as outside Pakistan after he chose to join the US in the war on terrorism since Nine eleven. A few weeks ago, a tape claimed to have been released by the Al-Qaeda had urged the "faithful" to target the General for his "collaboration". Another conjecture is that it could be some individual or organisation opposed to peace parleys with India. What is certain is that Pakistan is earning the wages of allowing the export of terrorism, which has now turned its guns inwards. India had been warning it that terrorists were no one's friends. As the Pakistan Information Minister, Sheikh Rashid, has admitted, it is a serious security lapse. It was Christmas Day and there was a worldwide alert. The sense of disquiet in the country is palpable. If this is what can happen to the military ruler, there is a bigger question mark on the safety of other leaders in Pakistan. Apparently, there are chinks in the security armour which need to be taken care of immediately. This apprehension is further enhanced by the fact that the country is to host the
SAARC summit less than 10 days later. That will be a logistic nightmare for Pakistan’s security agencies, considering the fact that among those scheduled to attend it is the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee and leaders of five others countries of the region. They have all been keen on giving a boost to cooperation among Saarc nations. The best cause for the Saarc countries is to fight the menace of terrorism together. |
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Charity begins at home IT is the season of good cheer and treats for all. Those who are feeling left out should try their luck in politics. As lawmakers they can give themselves lavish treats that ordinary mortals dare not even dream about. All this is possible in 15 minutes flat. This is the time the present lot of Lok Sabha MPs took to give themselves a hefty hike in perks just before Christmas. The continuing erosion of their standing in the public eye did not stop them from closing ranks. The Tribune recently reported the case of a serviceman who was denied the benefit of pension. He did not have a legal claim because he retired six months before completing 15 years of service. He must have felt cheated when the two Houses accepted a recommendation that allows rounding off the period of more than nine months of membership of Parliament to one year for determining the amount of additional pension payable to former MPs. Pension will now be given to all former MPs. The plight of people in service facing a similar problem did not stop the MPs from becoming their own Santa. Most lawmakers do not bother about criticism by the media. They would not have noticed a tongue-in-cheek report by an overseas newspaper that took special note of the amazing act of generosity of the lawmakers who allowed the spouse or any dependent a monthly pension of Rs 1,500 for a period of five years in the event of the MP's death "in office". According to a Canadian newspaper "when lawmakers use their legislative powers to vote taxpayers money for their own use, it is corruption". But who cares? In the 15 minutes of mutual "Santa Clausing" even the Finance Minister forgot about the pledge to curb government spending for controlling fiscal deficit. |
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Protecting
environment THE Supreme Court’s directive to all states to include environment as a compulsory subject in schools from the next academic session is welcome. Unfortunately, things have come to such a pass that even for sensitising students on an issue like environment, the Supreme Court had to intervene. Despite some successes, most state governments do not seem to be bothered about environment. Even strictures of the Supreme Court to some states on this issue did not meet with success mainly because of the lack of the political will and the lackadaisical attitude of those in authority. In October last, the apex court had imposed a penalty of Rs 15,000 each on 10 states for their failure to file affidavits on its earlier directive on the issue. It also issued contempt of court notices to Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu governments asking their respective Chief Secretaries to show cause why they should not be proceeded against for disobedience of its orders. The Supreme Court’s active role on an issue like environment deserves to be appreciated. At the same time, there is a need for the state governments to take the initiative on their own keeping in view the larger interests of society. Inclusion of environment as a subject in the course syllabi of schools and colleges up to the Intermediate level will help but up to a point. In addition to teaching, students should be closely involved in actually protecting the environment. Students who plant trees are likely to protect them and monitor their growth. Institutions like the World Bank, the UNESCO and some NGOs
are spreading environmental education in the country through
programmes like the National Environment Awareness Campaign and the
National Green Core. The UNESCO has gone a step further in selecting
India to coordinate its Asia project for integration of environment
component in technical and vocational education schools across five
countries. While all this is welcome, the main focus should not be
lost sight of — sensitising the students on both the hazards of
environmental pollution and the benefits of a cleaner environment. |
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The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. — Helen Keller |
Power of nationalism IF Jesus Christ was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, it is no surprise that $25 million secured Saddam Hussein. The wonder is that it took impoverished and long-suffering Iraqis who are being killed like flies eight months to lead the Americans to the fallen dictator whom many may have good reason to curse. Like many global issues, this, too, presents India with a dilemma. Should this country support what is right or what is in its interest? The two are not necessarily the same. American triumphalism in West Asia might serve New Delhi’s strategic and security aims, but that does not alter the fact that Saddam’s capture and imprisonment are blatantly illegal. That view comes from Richard Perle, chairman of the Defence Policy Board of the United States of America and prominent among the neo-conservatives behind George W. Bush’s aggressive policy. Perle told Londoners during the Bush visit that the invasion of Iraq was legally wrong but, in his view, morally right. “I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing,” he said. Bush’s defence is that the war, which he lauds as “noble and necessary”, was sanctioned by the United Nations resolutions setting a timetable for Saddam to disclose his weapons of mass destruction. Not so, said Perle. According to him, “international law … would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone.” An illegal invasion makes the occupation doubly so, especially since it is clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Iraqis will not quietly buckle under just because Saddam has been captured. Though Bush, Tony Blair and the rest warn of continuing violence against the occupiers, they are unable to bring themselves to admit why. The power of Asian nationalism is anathema to westerners. It exists independently of the elite leadership in Iraq, which has known many rulers since 1921. That was when an exiled foreigner, Hejazi Faisal, was foisted on Iraq as king. As Winston Churchill revealingly declared, Faisal was “the best and cheapest solution” to Britain’s problems in a politically turbulent land that it had seized from the disintegrating Ottoman empire as much because of its potential oil wealth as to secure the route to India. The Iraqis rose against Faisal no less than 130 times until he died in 1933. Eventually, nationalism brought his dynasty to a bloody end 25 years later. No conqueror should ignore that rejection of foreign imposition as history grimly repeats itself. There could be many reasons why the Americans didn’t get their man before. The delay could be a measure of the fear that Saddam evoked even in defeat. It could provide a clue to Iraqi hatred of America and all its works. It could — perish the thought — also indicate loyalty to a leader whose bombast guaranteed Iraq an independent niche in West Asian politics. Western commentators have touched on all these possibilities, and Bush and Blair are at pains to proclaim that there is no need any longer for fear. Saddam is not coming back, they reiterate, this is the end of the road. True enough, but only in the limited sense that this particular dictator and his Baath party and Republican Guard will not be restored. But it is naďve to imagine that Iraq will be secured through a public relations blitz against Saddam’s image. A dishevelled and disoriented man who looks like a cross between an Old Testament prophet and the convict Jean Valjean in the film of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables may not inspire devotion as a heroic symbol of resistance. The shambling vagrant-like figure we saw being humiliatingly examined on television is certainly no Bonnie Prince Charlie to rouse the tribes to battle. But even without this calculated American propaganda, Saddam in the flesh had ceased to be important. In the spirit, he is already moving into the world of myth and legend and is to be feared even more. Endless theories about the prisoner’s identity, about whether he really was skulking in a dirty hole, and about how and when he was caught nourish popular fantasy. Endless arguments about how he should be dealt with keep political controversy alive. Bush may want Saddam executed but sharper minds know that his death will give Iraqis a hero against which the puppet governing council that the US has set up cannot possibly contend. No leader is more than an instrument of national destiny. If one instrument is destroyed, nationalism hones another. In any case, leadership of the resistance does not appear to have been Saddam’s role since Baghdad fell on April 9. The absence of any communications equipment in his lair, even of a mobile telephone, suggests he was isolated from the violence that continues to erupt. Like the Palestinian Intifada, the bombings and shootings have a life of their own. What helps the resistance — or anarchy — is the American decision to dismantle Iraq’s army, police and administration. Such institutions provide the foundations and superstructure of stability. Without this resilience, India’s transition in 1947 would have been far more chaotic. But the Americans chose to destroy everything and everyone that had served the previous regime; they packed every administrative level with nominees. The only qualification of these ministers, governors, mayors and civic and security officials is that they are turncoats. Recalling the 1958 purge when Britain’s monarchical nominee was overthrown, this is inviting a bloodbath on a massive scale the moment America’s protection is withdrawn. Iraqis give short shrift to collaborators. In refusing to acknowledge the power of the nationalism that inspires resistance, the US is encouraged by experience in eastern Asia. Japan accepted an American presence after Hiroshima and Nagasaki with equanimity. Filipinos identify socially and culturally with the two colonial powers (Spain and the US) that ruled them. South Koreans do not object to 40,000 US troops. Even Vietnam, which fought such a bitter war against the US, is eager for closer cooperative ties. Far from repeating the wartime slogan, “Yankee go home but take me with you”, they are happy nowadays to let Yankees stay in their midst. This pragmatism expresses what Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew calls Confucian values, though Filipinos are, of course, Catholic. But cultural uniformity ends at Myanmar’s western borders. A far more volatile Asia stretches from Bangladesh to the Mediterranean coast. This Asia is quick to revolt against any insult, real or perceived, to its national pride. The British, who joked that the sun never set on their empire because God would not trust it in the dark, understood imperial hazards. The US still believes that lavish aid and technical expertise wins all hearts and minds, forgetting that Marshall Plan generosity failed to do so even in Western Europe. It puts down Iraqi truculence to foreign incitement. Again, this may be true but is not the whole truth. Osama bin Laden had no toehold in Iraq until the Americans intervened. If Al Qaeda has since been able to establish operational bases there and to recruit volunteers who are ready to sacrifice their lives and hold the occupying forces to perpetual ransom, it is because Iraqis themselves are deeply disaffected. Experts reckon that between 15 and 30 insurgent groups have no links, financial or strategic, with Saddam. They were — and are — fighting for self-determination, national honour and traditional institutions, not to restore a tyrant. The conqueror will not admit this because it would mean acknowledging the illegitimacy of his authority. Unrest will continue until he does so and leaves Iraq to the Iraqis. The thorny question of how to deal with the captive only compounds the problem Americans, guardians of a new world order have created through wanton disregard of international law and the civilised norms governing relations among states. The boost this might give to Bush’s re-election prospects can only prolong the danger to world peace. |
Taming of the Nizam IT was the last week of December in 1948 and there was a flurry of activity in Hyderabad as the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, had planned a visit to the newly incorporated princely state in the Indian Union, on Christmas Day. Also, the proposed visit of the then Deputy Prime Minister of India, Sardar Patel, had been fixed for December 31. The pertinent question of protocol arose as to whether the Nizam would receive the Prime Minister at the Begumpet airport at Hyderabad or not. The procedure and practice followed in Hyderabad State in British times was that the Nizam would only receive the British Governor General and the Viceroy of India and all others had to seek audience with His Highness. Since the Prime Minister was not the Head of State in India the past practice suggested that the Nizam would not be present at the airport to receive the Prime Minister. Nehru gracefully and magnanimously agreed that the Nizam would not be present to receive him and that he himself would call on the Nizam first. When informed by the then Home Secretary of India, Sir H.V.R. Iyengar, ICS, that Nehru was not received by the Nizam of Hyderabad, Patel told him that in whichever princely state the Prime Minister and he went they were always received by the King of the State concerned and no exception would be made in the case of Hyderabad. The Nizam would have to come to receive him at the airport even though he did not receive Nehru on Christmas. The visit on the morning of December 31 went on smoothly and the Nizam received Patel at the airport. When the arrogant Nizam pointed out to Patel that he did not receive the Prime Minister and rather Panditji called on him, the great Sardar retorted: “Nizam Sahib, I always tell people that indiscipline and corruption are like a malignant disease and if not controlled in time they keep on spreading very fast, thereby spoiling and destroying the whole system and nation”. The sagacious, wise and prophetic words of Sardar left the Nizam stunned. Patel was perhaps also hinting at the jewellery (valued at Rs 200 crore in 1948) which the Nizam was dexterously refusing to hand over to the Government of
India.
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FLASHBACK ‘03 —
Scams
THE ugly spectacle of lies and videotapes was witnessed once again in 2003, bringing to the fore the degeneration of Indian politics. By its sheer size, magnitude and nature, the story of scams this year went beyond the confines of capital markets and entered the daily lexicon of the common man’s life in more ways than one. Ms Mayawati, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, eventually had to lay down office in the wake of the Taj controversy. “Oh! Taj” was the regretful refrain amidst the rumbling sounds of heavy earth-moving vehicles on the banks of the Yamuna even as the lady in power maintained her innocence in the “shameful” violation of environment laws. The run-up to the Assembly elections went much beyond the usual rhetoric and forayed into the dark world of sting operations and elaborately orchestrated taped exposes. Money was thrown around in the glittering ambience of a five-star hotel in the Capital as former Union Minister Dilip Singh Judeo was allegedly seen on the tape accepting currency notes and reportedly swearing by God: “Money is not God, but by God, it is no less than God”. Little did the moustached leader from Chhattisgarh realise that he might have been a character of a script of an unfolding saga. Act II of the plot was enacted a few weeks later. Smarting under a defeat in the Assembly poll, the then Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi was trapped while negotiating a monetary deal in an alleged attempt to engineer a defection of the newly elected BJP legislators. Both the Jogi and Judeo episodes exposed the brazenness of moneypower that has crept into the country’s body polity. Surprisingly enough, unlike the scams of earlier years, these two episodes raised more of public cynicism and less of despair. Both Jogi and Judeo claimed innocence by taking recourse to the beaten path of political vendetta. The screaming headlines in newspapers and the shocking footage on television channels notwithstanding, the common man surprisingly did not appear remorseful from the goings-on. Apart from the odd discussions in roadside dhabas and talking heads in news channels, the issues did not give rise to an air of despair. Rather there was increasing cynicism and social observers attribute this phenomenon to collective acceptance of the sorry state of affairs. There also appears to be a growing realisation, particularly among the youth, that politicians are not role models worth emulating. And the scenes of jubiliation of Judeo celebrating with his party colleagues in the aftermath of the BJP’s victory in Chhattisgarh did not do the image of the average politician any good. Within the political class, however, the incidents have sent shocking waves. So much so that directives have been issued by parties to be extremely cautious about the surroundings and stay clear of possible sting operations in the run-up to the general election next year. The fake stamp paper case, potentially the mother of all scams in the country, was reflective of the brittleness of the financial and administrative machinery. Officially, the racket involves money to the tune of Rs 33,000 crore. However, it may be multiples of the official sum. Abdul Karim Telgi, the countryside peanut vendor, and his partners in crime amassed a staggering amount parked in more than 60 bank accounts and 16 real estate properties. While Telgi’s story may well be termed as a distorted version of “Mungerilal” — the fictional rural simpleton who dreamt big — his partners in crime are those who are generally considered as honourable public figures. Senior police officers and politicians spread their connections across the length and breadth of the country to mastermind and execute such a crime. Only a few heads have rolled so far, even as more and more skeletons tumble out of the closet. The CAT paper leak scam is yet another example of crooks, crime and corruption. Emerging from a non-descript village of interior Bihar, Dr Ranjit “Don” masterminded and implemented a mechanism of leaking out question papers of not only IIMs, but also of medical colleges, bank and other competitive examinations. Ranjit may be another “Mungerilal” who dreamt of money but chose the wrong path of acquiring it. And his success in circumventing the administration to exchange question papers for lakhs of rupees shows that the quality of our graduates may soon start eroding, if something was not done quickly. These damning revelations were punctuated with other incidents, including reports of alleged pesticides in colas and the sad murder of an IIT engineer, Satyendra Dubey, who had dared to expose the corrupt in the PM’s Golden Quadrilateral highway project. |
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Defence notes ALTHOUGH India has been pressuring Bhutan to carry out operations against the North-East insurgent groups based in its jungles for a long time, senior defence officials point out two reasons for the launch of the action against them now. First, after Bangladesh, Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had managed to infiltrate groups based in Bhutan. After having made successful inroads into the North-East insurgent groups based in Bangladesh, where the ISI is also providing them with arms training and financial support, intelligence inputs suggested that the Pakistani operatives had also sneaked into the Bhutan side. With India’s strategic interests in danger in Bhutan, pressure was further mounted on the close Indian ally to ensure that the ISI operatives were thrown out from its territory even if it meant launching all-out operations against ULFA, KLF and NDFB hideouts. Secondly, India was also said to be upset over the backlash against the Hindi-speaking population in Assam recently. All the killings were apparently carried out by ULFA cadres, who after the incidents, crossed into Bhutan jungles for a safe haven. India apparently also wanted to take action against these militants who had killed a number of innocent people caught unawares in the backlash. More on Bhutan While the Monarchy in Bhutan was earlier in the week denying reports about their Crown Prince getting hurt in the operations launched against the North-East insurgents, a more important fact about Prince Jigyel Wangchuck is that he quit life as an Oxford student to stand shoulder to shoulder with his father, the king, to flush out the militants. The 19-year-old was a fresher at St Peter’s College with history and politics as his subjects but volunteered to join the militia to fight the militants. Not only his leaving Oxford alerted the international media to the severity of the situation in Bhutan but it reflected the commitment of the monarchy towards the nation and its people. Before leaving Oxford in an interview with OxStu, the prince had said: “Regardless of who I am, I have taken an oath of allegiance. Though I was happy here in this amazing city, I know I have done the right thing”.
UN peacekeepers The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is likely to organise a trip for a large contingent of journalists to show first-hand the Indian committment to the United Nations peacekeeping operations in other countries. Till now it had always been small groups of three or four journalists who were hand-picked to accompany officials or even the minister going abroad. But this time with the initiative taken by the Directorate of Public Relations, MoD, a large contingent is likely to be flown in January to Lebanon, Congo and Eritria for the journalists to be part of the peacekeepers and their operations. So after being put off once due to these logistical problems, the trip is now likely to take place in January. The journalists would be flown by the special IL-76 aircraft of the Indian Air Force and would be staying in tents along with soldiers. On the whole, it will be a unique experience.
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Where science speaks of improvement, Christianity speaks of renovation; where science speaks of development, Christianity speaks of sanctification; where science speaks of progress, Christianity speaks of perfection. — J.P. Thompson The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease. — Baha’u’llah The holy congregation is a meeting where nothing but the name of One alone is recited. — Guru Nanak God cannot be realised if there is the slightest attachment to the things of the world. — Sri Ramakrishna |
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