Anger in chamber
ANOTHER session of the Lok Sabha and it is certain to witness another bout of bad manners, bedlam and shouting. Since it is the budget session, the longest, the agony will also be prolonged.

Disgraceful
WHAT was earned in terms of goodwill during the two-Test cricket series between India and Pakistan was squandered foolishly by the Calcutta crowd on the last day of the inaugural Asian Test Cricket Championship.

BUILDING A TOLERANT SOCIETY
A non-existent bogey
by M.G. Devasahayam
THE other day in Delhi, I was sharing my concern at the ongoing Hindu-Christian hatred campaign with a senior journalist and editor of one of India’s leading newspapers. He was cryptic in his remark when he said, “There is something artificial about the whole thing”.

For religious harmony
by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
THE need for religious harmony as an inherent quality of social life has acquired an urgency in view of the recent incidents targeting Christians. This being currently one of the most important topics under discussion, I shall attempt to present here, in brief, the Islamic viewpoint.

Special courts: Pakistan shows the way
by Anupam Gupta
JUDICIAL review in South Asia has finally established its democratic credentials for all to see and hear. Burying for ever the infamous “doctrine of necessity” so often employed in the past to lend the colour of legality to military dictators, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has quashed military courts as unconstitutional.

Change in plan of PM’s Lahore journey
by Humra Quraishi
I SUPPOSE it is just a bit of coincidence that as Habib Tanvir’s play ‘Jinne Lahore nahiye dikhya uno janmiyo nahin’ was being staged by Sir Syed Foundation at the LTG auditorium on February 19 evening, the Prime Minister’s men were just about then on their way to Amritsar, towards the hyped Lahore journey.

75 Years Ago

Mob attacks Magistrate
A SHOCKING outrage is reported from Bhir. On the last day of the holy festival, the mob entered the house of the District Magistrate, Mr Muhammad Asghar, and demanded a young boy who was missing and was believed by them to be in the Magistrate’s possession.

Anger in chamber

ANOTHER session of the Lok Sabha and it is certain to witness another bout of bad manners, bedlam and shouting. Since it is the budget session, the longest, the agony will also be prolonged. All the old pretexts for noisy protests are very much there, plus a new one in the provocative form of President’s rule in Bihar. Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and his MPs as the losers and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and his MPs as the supporters can be expected to mount an unprecedented show of rage. They gave an inkling of their mood at the session-eve convention against communalism. They have added the Congress to their old list of adversaries and that spells more trouble. If they feel abandoned by all barring the now-smiling, now-frowning Left, their frustration will only intensify their anger. It is all wearying. This is a crucial session. First there is the budget and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha faces a major challenge to raise funds to meet the increasing expenditure. Some of his revenue raising measures are bound to be controversial. Any creative interaction inside the law-making forum would require calm homework, and the prevailing mood is anything but conducive. The nation is being denied the benefit of collective problem-solving.

Then there are the two Bills which should definitely be passed. The one on patents should become law by April if the country is to meet its commitment to the World Trade Organisation. The Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill carries no such deadline, but will send out a signal about the government’s attitude to economic reforms. Then there is the Companies Bill, the hottest one on reservation of seats for women in legislature and at least 50 more. The first charge on an MP’s time is to debate and approve or disapprove of Bills. The American system calls on the law-makers to “advise and consent”. The Lok Sabha seems to have forgotten this tradition if its proceedings are any indication. It is a long time since the House heard informed arguments presented with punch and received in silence. There was a time when an afternoon spent in the visitors gallery was education in itself. These days it is just an opportunity for the MPs to appear on the television screen and to prove their physical stamina and lung power.

As an unintended curtain raiser to the winter session, there was the convention against communalism. The organisers went to great lengths to show that it was a non-political party affair and everyone attended in his individual capacity. So be it. But everyone also looked for political pointers. Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav is in, analysts feel, rather back in the Left’s favour. It is true that there can be no credible anti-communal forces front in Bihar without him and his party. This is so despite the corruption cases against him. (The speakers present there strongly reminded the audience of the erstwhile United Front.) But right now the Bihar leader is more exercised over the dismissal of his party government than combating religious fanatics and it showed in his speech. Two, the convention promised to launch a movement against rising fanaticism and that is what needs to be done. But holding a headline-grabbing meeting is not the full answer. For that, party men have to fan out into other cities, towns and villages. They would find receptive ears if the shock expressed across the country over the attacks on Christians culminating in the murder of the Australian missionary Staines and his two sons is any indication.

Disgraceful

WHAT was earned in terms of goodwill during the two-Test cricket series between India and Pakistan was squandered foolishly by the Calcutta crowd on the last day of the inaugural Asian Test Cricket Championship. With defeat staring India in the face, a section of the crowd went berserk and disrupted play on the final morning. To say that the Calcuttans’ passionate involvement with the game of cricket makes them commit excesses when India is losing will not do. The people of Chennai do not take their cricket less seriously. They were stunned into silence on the fourth day of the first Test of the Friendship Series when a resilient Pakistan turned possible defeat into victory. But they did not go wild to express their sense of frustration over the Indian batsmen’s lack of application with victory just 13 runs away. In fact, the conduct of the Chennai crowd deserves to be written in letters of gold. It not only applauded the Pakistanis for their stupendous performance but also gave them a standing ovation when they came out for a victory lap. If Chennai took the spirit of sportsmanship to glorious heights, Calcutta once again showed that it does not deserve the status of the sport capital of the country. The seeds of Saturday’s unpardonable incident of crowd misbehaviour were sown on Friday when Sachin Tendulkar was run out in the most extraordinary circumstances. In the first innings he was bowled first ball by, perhaps, the best delivery from the fearsome Shoaib Akhtar. In the second innings India’s hope of victory rested on his usually reliable shoulders.

Tendulkar was beginning to look dangerous but an unintentional mix-up — not uncommon in the game of cricket — with Shoaib Akhtar found him short of the crease when Nadeem Khan’s direct hit broke the stumps. His freak dismissal resulted in the first round of crowd disturbance. It was, perhaps, understandable but not excusable. Yes, the Pakistan captain had the option to withdraw the appeal against Tendulkar. However, it must be understood that cricket as it is played today is no longer a gentleman’s game. If it was so, Saurav Ganguly might have taken India to victory in the Chennai Test had Moin Khan’s appeal for “caught behind” off a bump ball not been upheld by the umpire. It is not that only Pakistan benefited from some amazing umpiring errors. But Tendulkar was not a victim of bad umpiring as he was technically run out in the second innings of the first Asian Championship Test. In any case, what happened on Saturday was not the first instance of crowd violence at Eden Gardens. All it did was to explode the myth that the Calcutta crowd is knowledgeable and that it enjoys a good contest. The bitter truth is that Calcutta is no different from Lahore or Karachi where people go on the rampage and cricketers have to go into hiding to avoid being lynched by angry mobs if they lose a game to India. Disgraceful is not an adequate expression to describe the conduct of the Calcutta crowd.

BUILDING A TOLERANT SOCIETY
A non-existent bogey
by M.G. Devasahayam

THE other day in Delhi, I was sharing my concern at the ongoing Hindu-Christian hatred campaign with a senior journalist and editor of one of India’s leading newspapers. He was cryptic in his remark when he said, “There is something artificial about the whole thing”. This statement seems to be very true if one looks at the organised and methodical manner in which the whole campaign has been planned, orchestrated and articulated. This is also evident from the spate of falsehood, misinformation and slander emanating from the proponents of this campaign of religious hatred.

There are some irrefutable truths about Christianity in India. First and foremost is that Christianity did not come to India as a “religion of colonisers” as is being widely propagated. This religion did not accompany the Portuguese, French, or English armies when they came to this country in the 16th and 17th centuries to conquer and colonise. Instead, Christianity in India is as old as Christ Himself and the lonely person who came to our shores “to spread Christ’s Gospel” was St Thomas, one of His 12 direct disciples. He landed on the Kerala coast near Cochin soon after the crucifixion of Christ in 33 AD (nearly 2000 years ago), roamed around the western coast of India “spreading the word of God” for a few years before being stoned to death at Madras on the eastern coast. It was St Thomas who sowed the seeds of Christianity in India and that was several centuries before this religion even entered most European countries that are today 100 per cent Christian! Much later, but well before the “conquerors” arrived, St Francis Xavier — a Prince who gave up his crown to follow Christ — came to this land, preached the Gospel and died as a stowaway on a ship to Penang. Through a miracle his mortal remains came back to India (Goa) and stayed for centuries without decomposition. The seeds sown by St Thomas sprouted during St Xavier’s sojourn in India.

By the time the “colonisers” came, Christianity was no longer an alien religion, but was being practised by a thin spread of people mostly on the coastal belt. It is true that some “evangelists” did accompany the alien colonisers, but there were neither organised nor coercive efforts towards mass conversion. Missionaries were content with opening educational institutions, hospitals and charitable organisations and spreading the message of Christ through their spirit of service. A small segment of the population which came in touch with these missionaries or benefited from their services opted to convert themselves from Hinduism to Christianity. Those who converted belonged to all castes and communities — forward, backward and the untouchables. The larger numbers were from the untouchable and oppressed castes, for the simple reason that they were more deeply touched by the selfless service of the missionaries. Besides, these “lesser children of God” found dignity and self-respect as Christians, something denied to them in the traditional caste system. The near total absence of “coercive conversion” is evident from the fact that when the British left after nearly two and a half centuries of unquestioned hegemony, hardly 1.25 per cent of the country’s population was Christian, despite Christianity being present in India for nearly 19 centuries!

Five decades after India became independent, the situation has not changed much, and barely 2 per cent of the population today is Christian. Socio-economic factors rather than any coercion or compulsion have largely influenced conversions in post-Independence India. In any case, neither the Christian laity nor clergy enjoy any political power or economic affluence to be in a position to coerce or compel people to convert. At best they may be offering education to children, medical help to the sick and sometimes food to the hungry. By no stretch of the imagination can these basic necessities given to those in need be termed as “allurements” for conversion. And those who convert because of these small things are not genuine since they will get reconverted if someone offers them a slightly better “allurement”.

Having said this, it must be admitted that of late Christianity is losing its moorings and is drifting away from the path of Christ. Whereas the Catholic Church has become too bureaucratic and hierarchical, Protestants have gone to the other extreme of permissiveness and proliferation. All and sundry are floating cults and sects with the sole purpose of using “Christ as commerce” and making a quick buck. This trend is universal, and India is no exception. Some of these cults and sects indulge in competitive evangelism”, making all kinds of tall claims and promises in the name of Christ trying to lure gullible people to their fold. These self-appointed “miracle makers” and “faith healers” in their over-excitement do indulge in activities and use language that may be offensive, giving an erroneous impression of “coercive and aggressive proselytising”. But these worthies constitute only a microscopic minority, do not represent the Christian community at large and can be easily dealt with.

However, the tragedy is that the “lunatic fringe” in the majority community is so consumed with hatred that they refuse to differentiate the chaff from the grain. And for the ever-lurking vested interests it is good business to inflame and sustain religious hatred and communal tension. This is what is precisely happening in the tribal belt of the country. Otherwise, how could one explain the spate of killings, terror and burning of Churches in a short span of time that too confined largely to the tribal areas? The answer is not far to seek. It should be remembered that while the tribals may be poor, the tribal areas are rich in forests, forest produce and minerals. Under the tribal laws, trees in the forests and the forest produce belong to the tribals. While they need government permission to cut trees, other forest produce are theirs to enjoy without restraint. Had the tribals been educated and empowered to understand their rights and enforce them effectively, poverty and illiteracy could have been considerably mitigated in these backward areas by now. But this was not to be, and corrupt minions of the government in cohort with traders and forest contractors (mahajans) ensured that education and empowerment schemes did not really reach the tribals. The objective was to take advantage of the illiteracy and vulnerability of the tribal population and ruthlessly exploit their precious and valuable resources. This has been going on for decades.

Had the missionaries and the voluntary workers who went to the tribal areas ganged up with the “mahajans” and helped them in exploiting the tribals, it is doubtful whether this controversy on conversions would have arisen at all. But these followers of Christ chose a different path — that of education and empowerment of tribals by opening schools and health centres to tender to the unlettered and the sick. It was a matter of time when the tribals realised their exploitation and started resisting it. In anger against the exploitative system and to register their protest, some tribals did get converted to Christianity. The empire of the “mahajans” comprising of powerful political and vested interests was being shaken, and would fall if the tribals continued to get educated and empowered. And so the bogey of “foreign missionaries” and “forced conversions” was whipped up primarily to create an atmosphere of hatred and tension so that the voluntary workers would run away in terror, leaving the field open for the “mahajans”. The “lunatic fringe” and their political patrons came in handy for the “mahajans” in implementing their well-planned and well-orchestrated campaign of Hindu-Christian hatred.

But, fortunately for this great nation of ours, these nefarious efforts will not succeed since the “mahajans” and their rabid agents constitute only a minuscule minority of the Hindu community. Unless actively patronised by governments and political parties, the “lunatic fringe” will die a natural death. What is really disturbing in today’s context is the gesture of support and solidarity the government belonging to the BJP is extending to the rabid communalists who are bent on supplementing a Hindu-Muslim hatred with a Hindu-Christian divide. But this too shall fail, given the ocean of goodwill, affection and trust that exists between the vast majority of Hindus and Christians.

For religious harmony
by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

THE need for religious harmony as an inherent quality of social life has acquired an urgency in view of the recent incidents targeting Christians. This being currently one of the most important topics under discussion, I shall attempt to present here, in brief, the Islamic viewpoint.

Let us begin with a verse of the Qur’an which reads:

“He that chooses a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him, and in the world to come he will be one of the lost.” (3:85)

In the opinion of certain interpreters this verse implies that salvation according to Islam is destined exclusively for Muslims. Islam thus appears to uphold the superiority of its followers in comparison to the rest of mankind. But this is an out-of-context interpretation and it is certainly not correct.

Let us take another verse of the Qur’an which serves as an explanation of the above-quoted verse. It states that:

“Believers, Jews, Christians and Sabeans (natives of the ancient kingdom of Saba or Sheba) — whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right — shall be rewarded by their Lord; they have nothing to fear or to regret.” (2:62).

This verse rules out the concept of superiority for any given group. The content of this verse makes it very clear that salvation, by Islamic standards, depends upon the individual’s own actions, and that it is not the prerogative of any group. No man or woman can earn his or her salvation by the mere fact of associating with a particular group. Salvation will be achievable only by a person who truly believes in God and the world hereafter, and who has given genuine proof in this life of having lived a life of right action.

Another important aspect of Islam is that it does not advocate belief in the manyness of reality; on the contrary, it stresses reality’s oneness. That is, according to Islam, reality is one, not many. That is why, in describing monotheism, the Qur’an states:

“Such is God, your rightful Lord. That which is not true must needs be false. How then can you turn away from Him? (10:32)

This verse makes it clear that monotheism (i.e., one Lord being the Creator, Sustainer and object of worship) is the only truth. All other paths lead one away from, rather than towards the truth. The fact that certain religious thinkers believe in the manyness of reality is of no concern to Islam. With oneness as its ideal, it cannot accept manyness even as a hypothesis.

Both points — (a) the oneness of absolute reality, and (b) salvation as the prerogative of the true believer in this oneness — form a major part of Islamic ideal. Just being born into a certain group or community, or associating oneself with others of similar persuasions, does not entitle one to salvation, be one a Muslim or a non-Muslim. Now let us deal with the fact that in practice, different kinds of religious groups do exist. Then, given the various kinds of differences separating them, let us consider how to bring about harmony.

One solution commonly advocated is to spread the conviction that all religions are essentially one: that they are simply diverse paths leading to a common destination. Islam, however, does not accept this view and, in any case, experience has shown that repeated attempts to bring about harmony on this basis have been a failure. Emperor Akbar attempted to achieve harmony by state enforcement of his newly formed religion, “Din-e-Ilahi”. Dr Bhagwan Das spent the best part of his life producing a one-thousand page book titled “Essential Unity of All Religions” and Mahatma Gandhi attempted to spread this ideal at the national level by a countrywide movement whose slogan was “Ram Rahim ek hai”, meaning Ram and Rahim were one and the same. But events have shown us that all failed in their attempts to achieve the goal of religious harmony.

Islam’s approach to the entire problem is much more realistic in that it accepts ideological differences. Once having accepted these differences, it then advocates the policy of tolerance and respect for one another in everyday dealings. This is on a parallel with the principle expressed in the English saying, “Let’s agree to disagree”.

In this connection, one of the commands of the Qur’an is that in principle “there shall be no compulsion in religion” (2:256). At another place it declares that “you have your religion and I have mine” (109:6). It was as a result of this commandment that when Prophet Muhammad migrated to Medina, he issued a declaration reaffirming his acceptance of the religion of Muslims for the Muslims and the religion of Jews for the Jews. In order to perpetuate the atmosphere of mutual harmony, the Qur’an commands the Muslims in their dealings with unbelievers not to revile (the idols) which they invoke besides Allah, “lest their ignorance they should spitefully revile Allah.”

This principle formulated by Islam is best described not as religious harmony, but as harmony among religious people. This is a principle whose utility is a matter of historical record. It is evident that in the past as well as in the present wherever religious harmony has existed, it has been based on unity despite differences, rather than on unity without differences. It is not based on agreeing to agree, but on agreeing to disagree.

One extremely revolutionary example of this principle is to be found in the life of Prophet Muhammad. It concerns the conference of three religions which was held in the Prophet’s own mosque in Medina. This conference is described by Muhammad Husain Haykal in his book, “The Life of Muhammad.” “The three scriptural religions thus confronted one another in Medina. The delegations entered with the Prophet into public debate and these were soon joined by the Jews, thus resulting in a tripartite dialogue between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This was a truly great congress which the city of Yathrib had witnessed. In it, the three religions, which today dominate the world and determine its destiny, had met, and they did so for the greatest idea and the noblest purpose.”

Although Islam believes in the oneness of reality, it lays equal stress on the practice of tolerance in everyday dealings, even if it means going to the extent of permitting non-Muslims to visit an Islamic place of worship for religious discussion and, if it is time for their prayers, letting them feel free to perform their worship according to their own ways in the mosque itself.

Tolerance has been the rule throughout the history of Islam. It has, in fact, been one of the main underlying causes of its successful dissemination. Here I quote from Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Islam achieved astonishing success in its first phase. Within a century after the Prophet’s death in AD 632 (the early generations of Muslims) it had brought a large part of the globe — from Spain across central Asia to India — under a new Arab Muslim empire.” And this is the part which I wish particularly to stress: “Despite these astonishing achievements, other religious groups enjoyed full religious autonomy.” (Volume 9, page 912).

Now the complicating factor is that when any religion, having reached this stage of antiquity, secures a sacred place in the hearts of its believers, it becomes impossible to bring about any change in it. Efforts to bring about a change can produce a new religion, but they can never succeed in changing the old religion. There are many examples of such failures in the past.

In view of this historical reality, it is clear that the suggestions made by Islam as to how to produce harmony among the different religions is the only viable solution. Any alternative suggestion, however attractive it might appear, would be either impracticable or counter-productive. Once while discussing this point with me, a religious scholar said, “we have been attempting to bring about inter-religious harmony for the last one hundred years, but the results have been quite dismal. It would seem that here are insurmountable obstacles in the way.”

I replied that the goal we want to attain is certainly a proper one; it is simply that the strategy we employ is impracticable. Religious harmony is without doubt a desirable objective. But it cannot be achieved by attempting to alter people’s beliefs — a policy advocated by more than one scholar in this field. The only way to tackle the problem is to encourage people to show respect for others’ beliefs and to be humanitarian at all times in their dealings with the adherence of other religions. It is vital to realise that inculcating this attitude without in anyway tampering with long-cherished credos is possible. It should never be conceded that the goal of religious harmony is unattainable simply because people’s beliefs differ from each other. It is certainly a possibility provided that it is seen as a matter of practical strategy, and not as a pretext for making ideological changes.

“Practical strategy” is something which people regularly resort to in matters of their daily existence. As such, it is a known and acceptable method of solving the problem. Since no new ground has to be broken, either for the religious scholar or for the common man, it should be a very simple matter for people to extend their everyday activity, within their own sphere of existence, to include an honest and sincere effort towards a national or rather global religious harmony. It is simply a question of having the will and the foresight to do so.

Special courts: Pakistan shows the way

by Anupam Gupta

JUDICIAL review in South Asia has finally established its democratic credentials for all to see and hear. Burying for ever the infamous “doctrine of necessity” so often employed in the past to lend the colour of legality to military dictators, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has quashed military courts as unconstitutional.

Few judiciaries in the world have faced more traumatic challenges and acted more fatefully in recent times, with lessons more pregnant with import for their brethren the world over. Carried to incredible excess, judicial activism in Pakistan almost destroyed the nation’s fledgling democracy a little more than a year ago. In a remarkably fast and reassuring reversal of roles, the same judiciary prevented Pakistan last week from creeping back to martial law.

The creation of military courts by the Nawaz Sharif government, ruled the Supreme Court in one voice on February 17, is “unconstitutional, without lawful authority and of no legal effect.” All cases pending before the military courts, even those wherein convictions had already been pronounced and sentences awarded (though not executed), would stand transferred to the special civilian courts established under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997.

The aid and assistance of the armed forces can well be invoked, explained the court, under Sections 4 and 5 of the ATA for dealing with terrorist-related cases. The armed forces can also be pressed into service under Article 245 of the Constitution “at all stages” — for carrying out house-searches, for investigation, collection of evidence and prosecution, as well as for providing security to the presiding officer, advocates and witnesses.

Article 245 of the Pak Constitution of 1973, presently in force, empowers the Federal Government to call in the armed forces to defend Pakistan against external aggression or threat of war or to “act in aid of civil power” subject to law.

The armed forces can be pressed into service “at all stages (ruled the court, saving democracy for Pakistan).... minus the process of judicial adjudication as to the guilt and quantum of sentence”.

The military can supplement (and perhaps even supplant) the police, the court meant to say, but it can never, never supplant the courts themselves. Adjudication, the determination of guilt or innocence, is a judicial, a civilian-judicial, function and must always remain so.

And not only that. The judicial function of trial and adjudication must not only be discharged by civilian judges but discharged by them under the guidance and control of the established superior judiciary of the land, the High Courts and the Supreme Court. In a development unparalleled in Pak judicial history and bound to influence the special courts debate across the border in India as well, the Supreme Court of Pakistan proceeded to lay down guidelines for the functioning of the special courts under the ATA and to empower itself and the High Courts to oversee their implementation.

The Chief Justice of the High Court concerned, ruled the nine-member Bench last week, shall nominate one or more Judges of the High Court for monitoring and ensuring that all cases and appeals (under the ATA) are disposed of in terms of the guidelines. The Chief Justice of Pakistan may also nominate one or more Judges to the same end. Two Supreme Court judges — Justice Nasir Aslam Zahir and Justice Munawar Ahmad Mirza — already stand nominated.

Back home, whether special courts can be set up and their judges appointed by the government except in consultation with the High Court is a key question involved in Ms Jayalalitha’s case due to be heard by the Supreme Court today.

While the three special judges presently trying her corruption cases in Chennai had been appointed by the state government on April 30,1997, after consulting the High Court, the BJP government at the Centre had done nothing of the kind before issuing its February 5 notification transferring all the 46 cases against her to other judges.

Whichever way the Supreme Court of India decides, the verdict of its Pakistan counterpart goes even further. Refusing to recognise men in uniform disguised as judges, it has at the same time prescribed judicial invigilation at the highest level for even civilian special courts as a condition of their continued existence. Or, viewing it from a slightly different angle, has thereby assimilated or incorporated the regime of special courts into the regular judicial hierarchy.

Or taken the sting out of the “special”, in other words, without losing sight of the imperative of speedy trial and disposal of cases for which special courts are constituted.

Back to India yet again, I am reminded of a leading special courts case — the Supreme Court’s advisory opinion upholding the Special Courts Bill of 1978 meant to try the late Indira Gandhi and other leaders for their sins of omission and commission during the Emergency. And of the lone dissent on a powerful seven-member Bench of Justice P.N. Shinghal.

The object of the Bill, he held, would have been served by the creation of additional criminal courts, coupled with such procedural changes as may be considered necessary to eliminate avoidable delay at the trial. But it is “beyond any doubt or controversy that the Constitution does not permit the establishment of a criminal court.... which is not subordinate to the High Court.”

Twenty-one years later, the spirit of that dissent has informed the Pakistan Supreme Court.

Change in plan of PM’s Lahore journey

by Humra Quraishi

I SUPPOSE it is just a bit of coincidence that as Habib Tanvir’s play ‘Jinne Lahore nahiye dikhya uno janmiyo nahin’ was being staged by Sir Syed Foundation at the LTG auditorium on February 19 evening, the Prime Minister’s men were just about then on their way to Amritsar, towards the hyped Lahore journey. But rumblings seem to have stated even before it moves into the first gear. Not only by the RSS factions but even by some of those who were instrumental in getting this bus rolling. This morning when I spoke to Delhi’s Transport Minister Parvez Hashmi he sounded upset by this whole exercise “the impression I was given earlier was that the Prime Minister would travel on this bus with the passengers but now all that doesn’t exist. He along with some VIPs goes on this bus from Amritsar to Wagah. This I feel is against the initial plan and that’s exactly why I am not going on this trip, for the whole idea was centred around the PM travelling to Lahore with the rest of the commuters.”

And I am not writing the names of those who’s who especially chosen on this ride for till the time of my filing this column there is a lot of confusion even in this. Earlier the names of Javed Akhtar, Lata Mangeshkar, Satish Gujral, Dilip Kumar were more or less final but now reliable sources insist that Dilip Kumar’s going is out of the question for he still hasn’t recovered from the bypass surgery he underwent in January and even Lata Mangeshkar and Akhtar have backed out on health grounds.

Why this shift?

And there comes in news that the entire office of the Disabilities Chief Commissioner has been ordered to shift from New Delhi to Nagpur. Earlier Maneka Gandhi choice for the shift of the headquarters of this particular office was one of the north-eastern states but now with Nagpur being made the final choice eyebrows are definitely being raised. Why Nagpur? Difficult to find an answer to this choice — Nagpur is not even a state capital, unless, of course, it being the RSS capital, play a role ... Then unlike the north-eastern states Nagpur is not cut off from mainstream development so why this special focus. Also Nagpur citizens have no history of disabilities. And though the DCC officials are tightlipped about this shift but resentment is running high and many of the junior staff plan to go on a mass leave. The senior officials point out that this move from the capital is against logic. “After all the DCC’s post was especially created to coordinate and supervise the work being done by the disabilities commissioner in each state of the country. Nagpur has no infrastructuring network fit for the DCC to function”.

In fact it is said that the DCC’s work had just began. Till date a great majority of this states have yet to appoint officers as disabilities commissioners in accordance to the requirements of this Act. Persons with disabilities (equal opportunities, protection of rights, full participation) Act 1995. As of now only the state of Gujarat and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar islands have full time disabilities commissioners. States like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have officers holding this charge as dual charge and some states like Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, have yet to appoint disabilities commissioners even on a dual charge basis. I wonder who takes care of their 5 to 7% disable population?

Go-man-go is being hailed

The just appointed Chief Minister of Orissa Giridhar Gomango is definitely different. I’ve met him on several occasions and I still remember the very first time I’d met him was when he was looking after the coal ministry and had got several artists from the remote tribal villages of Orissa to perform here in the Capital. So engrossed did he get in the dance and music that he not only started dancing and playing some tribal musical instruments but got talking in the most unaffected way. He told me “Often people get amused by this name — ‘Go-man-go’ they say. I am changing it to Gomango now....” . And though he has been winning elections right from the seventies this go-man-go has not once shifted to a ministerial bungalow. He and his wife and children staying put in the two-room suite of Vithal Bhai Patel House. And even now though he is in the Capital but is again not occupying the Chief Minister’s suite at Orissa Bhavan, but staying in those two rooms of Vithal Bhai Patel House.

Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat

News is that the Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat case may once again come into focus as the Admiral is coming to New Delhi this coming week and holding an especially arranged Press conference on February 24. And apparently this time he’d do all the talking and not his lawyer spouse Niloufer.

Unique invitation card

Around the time of Valentine’s Day the wedding season seems to be at the peak. And from all the invites one has received one stands out — the wedding invitation of Congresswoman Meira Kumar’s son Anshul Avijit. On a woven grass platter stood out a banana leaf and atop it a coconut, a freshly cut yellow flower and the actual invitation on a handmade scroll. For minutes I just kept admiring this ethnic form and the pains taken in assembling it. And though the coconut will be eaten by evening itself but I have placed the platter together with the leaf and the flower and scroll high up on the drawing shelf. For such traditional forms of invitations ought to be brought into focus and vogue — for our culture is such that even invites are not supposed to be casual affairs, rather worked painstakingly upon.

75 YEARS AGO

Mob attacks Magistrate
A Hyderabad sensation

A SHOCKING outrage is reported from Bhir. On the last day of the holy festival, the mob entered the house of the District Magistrate, Mr Muhammad Asghar, and demanded a young boy who was missing and was believed by them to be in the Magistrate’s possession.

The Magistrate assured them that he knew nothing about the boy; but the mob severely belaboured him and he had to be removed to the hospital.

Mr Manzur Hussain Nadvi, an assistant engineer, who came to the Magistrate’s assistance, was also assaulted.

The Nizam’s government have deputed the Director-General of Police and other police officers to report on the situation.