Border vigil
BY asking the chief electoral officers of different States to keep a strict vigil over enrolment of new voters in the areas near international borders, the Election Commission has responded effectively to the apprehensions repeatedly voiced by the media in this regard.

Israel ousts a hawk
ISRAEL has voted for itself a new Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and nobody is clear about what he stands for. It has thrown out Mr Benjamin Netanyahu who represented some dark forces in the country which is going through a prolonged and confused transition period.

Path-breaking judgement
THE State and its organs would henceforth have to pay damages for causing the death of or injury to a private citizen through acts of wilful negligence.

POLITICS & BUSINESS
by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
CLEARLY, the time has come to dispense once and for all with the fiction that elections are won by a candidate’s shining virtue or the sponsoring party’s philosophical proclamations.

Belgrade bombing: the likely repercussions
by V. Gangadhar
APOLOGIES do not come easy to super powers. They would rather brazen out their mistakes than admit them and come out with apologies. But, then, bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was a major mistake and President Bill Clinton had to go down on his knees and issue a public apology to the Chinese government.

Why this indifference to PoWs in Pak jails?
by Maj Gen Himmat Singh Gill
QUITE recently, around about the time Prime Minister Vajpayee was basking in the middle of his bus diplomacy to Lahore, and organisation called the Missing Defence Personnel Relatives Association announced a list of 54 Indian armed forces prisoners of war, believed to be in custody in Pakistan, and this report was carried by at least two national English dailies of the country.

The rising tide of drug abuse
By P.D. Sharma
WHILE the problem of drug abuse has assumed alarming proportions the world over our country is getting high on the drug abuse chart.

Dilli meri Dilli
by K. K. Khullar
IF Rip Van Winkle had gone to sleep in 1948 in Delhi and woke after 50 years he would not be able to recognise his own city with its heritage of 72 indigenous kings, 33 imported Viceroys and 10 socialist Indian Prime Ministers.

75 Years Ago

Muslim first, Indian afterwards
I WOULD like to say that at the Lucknow meeting, when reluctantly answering the Arya Samajist gentlemen who had distributed printed copies of his question containing the allegation to which I had referred, I had taken the opportunity to explain at the same time that when I refused to say to some people that I am an Indian first and a Musalman afterwards,

Border vigil

BY asking the chief electoral officers of different States to keep a strict vigil over enrolment of new voters in the areas near international borders, the Election Commission has responded effectively to the apprehensions repeatedly voiced by the media in this regard. The sinister design has been unfolding for quite some time and has now acquired such dimensions that any further delay will be detrimental to the security of the country. The whole demographic profile of many States has changed because of the influx of people from bordering countries. Entry into the voters’ list is the most cherished dream of these migrants because once they are in possession of a copy of this coveted document, it is well nigh impossible to send them back. Quite a few of these people come here because of economic reasons. But of late, the enemies of the nation have been misusing the vastness of the border and the relative laxity in vigil to further their own designs. Foreign nationals affect the country in two ways. One is of course the problem of spying by these people. Pakistan’s ISI has been playing a coordinating role in northeastern States like West Bengal and Assam to bring the fundamentalist groups together. Of late, Afghan mercenaries and followers of Osama bin Laden have also been playing a more and more active role. The Union Home Ministry is aware of the fact that these groups have been recruiting youths from both India and Bangladesh and also pumping in huge funds to help their followers and infiltrators to buy land in India along the international border. In the garb of building religious places and school, an attempt is being made to indoctrinate youth and also train them in handling explosives. Money has been coming clandestinely from West Asian countries. Even where the infiltrators are not sold out to foreign agencies, they manage to debilitate India in another way. The indigenous people are not able to elect the right representatives, thanks to the en masse voting by the people from outside on the bidding of their leaders who treat them as helpless “vote farms”. At a time when the country has been witnessing fractured mandate time and again, each seat counts and a wrongly elected representative can mar the future of the entire country. Hence the urgency of the Election Commission missive.

The most unfortunate part is that some politicians of the country are providing a helping hand to these mischief-makers. Some of them may not be even aware of the extent of the conspiracy. But the worst culprits are those who are in the know of things and yet acquiesce in these just because it helps them fulfil their narrow ambitions. Such shortsightedness is nothing less than criminal. But just as some people continue to darken the future of the entire country by selling narcotics and other such items, there are others who would let infiltrators in for just a bit of grease on their palms without any qualm. There is need for tackling these people with clinical ruthlessness. The government and the Election Commission have to join hands in this cleansing operation.

Israel ousts a hawk

ISRAEL has voted for itself a new Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and nobody is clear about what he stands for. It has thrown out Mr Benjamin Netanyahu who represented some dark forces in the country which is going through a prolonged and confused transition period. One issue that dominates the thinking of all Israelis is the land dispute with the Palestinians but it did not figure in the rancorous campaign, even marginally. What was in relentless focus was the personality of Mr Netanyahu, his flip-flop policies, his ruthless selfishness, and the way he isolated the country in the region and in the world at large within three years. Once he became the campaign theme, he stood condemned, and his former and present friends ensured his defeat. Other contenders for the post of Prime Minister withdrew from the arena, shifting sizeable chunks of vote to the ultimate winner. In this respect the election acquired the dimension of a referendum. Israeli Arabs, secular Jews, migrants from other Arab countries and the Russian origin people voted for Mr Barak. Until now immigrants from other Arab countries, an underclass collectively called Sephardim, and the Russian Jews rallied behind the extreme rightwing coalition, the Likud party of Mr Netanyahu, and their desertion set the fuse for his stunning defeat. This process was hastened by the resignation first of Mr David Levy and then of Mr Yitzhak Mordechai after a bitter quarrel with the former Prime Minister.

People outside Israel read a non-existing meaning in the electoral outcome. Since Mr Netanyahu was an avowed opponent of the Oslo Accords, his ouster will open the door for final peace with the Palestinians, they feel. It may not and for several reasons. Not all those who voted for Mr Barak are for instant peace with the PLO and anyway the Peace Now movement is an elitist ideal and not a popular concern. More Jewish settlements are coming up on the West Bank and there is a powerful lobby inside Israel to back them. Mr Barak is a former chief of the armed forces and how he develops his political personality is entirely dependent on the type of advisers he surrounds himself with. All elite institutions like the army top brass, the higher judiciary, top layers of the bureaucracy and the police are comfortable with the victor and these people by nature do not like radical shifts in national policies. But the man to watch is Mr Shimon Peres, a former Prime Minister and number two in the emerging set-up. He is a peacenik, a joint author of the Oslo Accords and a sober and senior Labour Party leader. Mr Netanyahu, on the other hand, is a diabolical version of such hawks as Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir. One welcome offshoot of the poll results. The baneful influence of the small group of Jewish fundamentalists, who with their quaint 18th century Polish dress want to control social life in the country, has been partially rolled back. This is the first time religious fundamentalists have tasted defeat anywhere in West Asia.

Path-breaking judgement

THE State and its organs would henceforth have to pay damages for causing the death of or injury to a private citizen through acts of wilful negligence. This is the sum and substance of a recent ruling of the Supreme Court in a 35-year-old case against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The case for damages arose out of the death of a scooter rider caused by a branch of a dead neem tree which fell on him. The claim for damages was filed by Ramesh Chander who was riding pillion with his brother Suresh Chander, the victim of the freak accident. Both the trial court and the Delhi High Court held that the tree in question was a dead one and it was the duty of the horticulture department of the MCD to make the road safe for use by having it removed. The apex court ruled that the High Court was right in “holding the MCD negligent in performing its duty under common law and therefore liable in damages to the family of the victim”. It rejected the plea that the accident, which caused the death of Suresh Chander, was an act of God because the fact that the neem tree in question was dead, and that the department concerned was aware of it, stood proved. The deceased, 35 years ago, was survived by his widow, three minor sons and daughter and his mother, and all six had claimed Rs 3 lakh in damages from the MCD.

It is upto public spirited individuals and NGOs to take advantage of the Supreme Court ruling and help countless victims of the State’s acts of negligence across the country to file claims for damages. Unmarked speed-breakers and road-blocks are responsible for a large number of fatal road accidents. But the authorities concerned get away with culpable homicide because of lack of awareness among the citizens about their rights and the duties of the State. Recently in Ludhiana a woman fell into an open manhole and her body was recovered several days after the accident. Yes, the theft of manhole covers is a problem. However, the family of the victim should not be refused an adequate amount as compensation for the failure of the police in the matter of nabbing the thieves and the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation in providing theft-proof manhole covers. If every wing of the State were to do its duty efficiently, instead of passing the buck, there is bound to be a sharp drop in cases of death and disability among private citizens. However, in the absence of someone like the legendary Ralph Nader, who single handed made public and private enterprises adopt zero-danger norms in the USA, the landmark Supreme Court ruling may, like so many other people-friendly pronouncements, in due course get buried under the dust of collective ignorance and indifference.

POLITICS & BUSINESS
Question of poll financing
by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray

CLEARLY, the time has come to dispense once and for all with the fiction that elections are won by a candidate’s shining virtue or the sponsoring party’s philosophical proclamations. Mr Rahul Bajaj’s plainspeaking on the question of industrial financing of the democratic process is encouraging in this context though it may not go far enough in recognising the reality on the ground to make the coming election for the 13th Lok Sabha an exercise in hard-headed pragmatism instead of escapist optimism.

In assessing the cost of elections and how to finance them, we can never afford to lose sight of two truths. First, as the Confederation of Indian Industry’s new Chairman knows all too well, political funding is not charity. It is investment, Industrialists cannot, therefore, afford to adopt a high and mighty attitude towards even the most venal politician . It follows that such financing — and this is the second point — is a highly competitive business. Contributions to a general fund that is evenly distributed to all worthy applicants would defeat the very purpose of business donations. The donors want to promote specific people and policies; they expect a return on their money. That makes gentlemanly anonymity counter- productive.

Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee told one of the early joint parliamentary committees on election reform that every legislator in our country starts his career with a lie since he files a false election return. Psychologists would suggest that after that initial plunge, it is easy enough to sink deeper and deeper into the mire of lies and deceit, kickbacks and bribery, from selling telephone connections and cylinder gas quotas to making crores of rupees from fodder or arms commissions. Public life might not be cleansed altogether if that initial lie were to be made unnecessary, but it would certainly become much cleaner. But who is to bell the cat? Mr Vajpayee might have added that all opposition parties, including his Bharatiya Janata Party, promise to overhaul the system but quietly shelve the commitment once they assume office.

Of course, the malpractice is not confined to India. Japan is ruled, they say, by an iron triangle of politicians, civil servants and industrialists. Though the state foots a large part of the election bill in Germany, a prominent ruling party politician had to resign a couple of years ago because of unaccounted election funds. One reason for South Korea’s crash was fiscal over-extension in favour of the chaebols (as business combines are called which fund the ruling party in return for huge loans at nominal interest from state financial institutions. A contributory reason for Mr Tony Blair’s determination to abolish Britain’s ancient House of Lords with its nominal powers is that the continuous elevation of businessmen (even some with a shady reputation) who generously enlarged the party exchequer has cheapened the peerage.

Mr Bajaj’s honesty in claiming that industry cannot afford elections every year must be admired. But I am not quite clear whether in proposing that the “state should fund general elections once in five years”, he means that there should be no elections in between — a utopian dream surely? — or that other means should be found for financing mid-term exercises. State-financing on the German pattern has been discussed here for at least 20 years without anything being done about it. Returning to Mr Bajaj’s point about what industry can afford, the sad truth is that the unaffordable becomes affordable if return increases — that means that businessmen who are forced to pay more than they want to will then squeeze their political proteges even more tightly to extract dividends. The implicit message is that elections, too are governed by what Mr Ronald Reagan famously called the magic of the marketplace.

Moral posturing is possible only when economic logic permits it. Thus, Jawaharlal Nehru refused to accept J.R.D. Tata’s money on the grounds that the same business house could not finance both the Congress and the Swatantra Party. No party chief today would take such a stand: Nehru’s Congress could for it enjoyed a monopoly of power. From Tata’s point of view, it was rewarding to be on good terms with both Nehru and C.R. Rajagopalachari. While he was keen to promote a political vehicle to represent the private sector and pro-West politics (in the hope that even if it did not win power at the Centre it might do so in some states, and could also act as a brake on Nehruvian socialism), Tata was also astute enough to recognise the Congress’s then seemingly indestructible power base.

The Birlas were no less pragmatic. Their hospitality to Mahatma Gandhi in pre-Independence India was not entirely selfless. The industrial peace that prevailed generally in the Hindustan Motors factory, with its monopoly of car production, spoke of a good understanding with the old CPI. It was also not able that the Birlas led the pack of businessmen to flock to Kerala after E.M.S. Namboodiripad was re-elected Chief Minister. He who pays the piper calls the tune, and our businessmen and industrialists are no exception to that expectation. There is the well-known report about the legislative restriction on the import of some kind of synthetic material being relaxed for just long enough to let a ship with cargo for a noted textile magnate’s mills come in and be offloaded. Such indulgence is shown only to those who buy friends at court.

I doubt if such linkages can ever be wished away. They also exist in societies that pride themselves on being squeaky clean. Nowhere in the world are industrialists and businessmen cut from a superior cloth than are politicians; the nexus between them is rooted in solid mutual self-interest. Our politicians would be lost without anyone to whom to sell their favours. Similarly, businessmen would be severely handicapped if they could not engage the cooperation of politicians.

However, it should not be impossible to impose discipline, regulation and some form of mechanism that ensures that it is not a winner-takes-all situation. Because someone with political clout is granted a licence should not mean that someone without it is deprived. Money and muscle power should not be the only qualifications a candidate needs. One obvious reform would be to do away with the business restrictions that still exist, for the number of regulations only multiplies the number of loopholes that have to be greased. Another is to raise the ceiling on electoral spending while ensuring proper audit. Between them, these two changes would take care of the beginning and end of an unholy nexus. Partial state funding, on the basis of a formula such as the one employed in the USA and Australia, would also reduce the scope for commercial intervention.

Ultimately, electoral malpractice will be removed not by homilies but when bribery and corruption have ceased to be productive. That demands higher emoluments all round as a first condition. All roads lead in fact to the Rome of India’s long-delayed economic revolution. E.M. Forster thought it “unsound” that Indians think that artistic, social and even economic problems are subsidiary to political solutions. The distortion of democracy is further proof that while the economy can flourish without politics, politics cannot survive meaningfully without a vigorous economy.

Belgrade bombing: the likely repercussions
by V. Gangadhar

APOLOGIES do not come easy to super powers. They would rather brazen out their mistakes than admit them and come out with apologies. But, then, bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was a major mistake and President Bill Clinton had to go down on his knees and issue a public apology to the Chinese government.

It must have been a traumatic moment for the American President. But the issue could not be evaded. The “accidental” bombing of the Chinese embassy, which caused widespread destruction and resulted in the death of three innocent employees, could not have been defended. The USA and the UK, which controlled the bombing raids over Yugoslavia, were acutely embarrassed.

The big bullies tend to get away with murder, particularly if their opponents are weak and not very popular among their neighbours. Qaddafi and Saddam Hussein are two typical examples. Time and again Iraq has been bombed for its alleged failure in cooperating with UN officials. The bombs have killed many innocent civilians and damaged public buildings, but since Iraq is not a powerful nation, unable to retaliate effectively, the attackers simply ignore the civilian damage.

But China was different. And bombing Chinese property which had played no role in the Kosovan crisis was a typical case of international banditry. The USA says that the missile attacks were not deliberate. That may well be the case, but when a series of civilian targets were hit in the bombing raids, the credibility of such statements can be questioned. Over the past few weeks, quite a few civilian targets, including private homes, public transport, schools and hospitals, suffered bomb raids. Yet the USA went on claiming that it was targeting only “military areas”. There seems to be something seriously wrong in this approach.

The USA has the most advanced and sophisticated war machine. We had read chilling accounts of all types of sophisticated missiles and bombs which could be aimed with pin-point precision on chosen targets. But the bombing tragedies of Belgrade made one question the legitimacy of such claims. Suppose an arms depot was located adjacent to a hospital. Is it possible for the bombs to fall only on the depot without touching the hospital? Time and again, in Yugoslavia, bombs and missiles have gone awry, and the military authorities can only come out with excuses.

The damage to civilian life and property also made it clear that the NATO intelligence was not as effective as it was made out to be. It was the Intelligence Wing which chose targets to be bombed. The notorious Central Intelligence Agency, now freed from Cold War spying activities, was actively concerned with these military operations. The CIA had been responsible for several goof-ups. It had no clue to the recent atomic explosions in the subcontinent, and was caught napping when India and Pakistan exploded their nuclear weapons. According to available reports, it was the CIA which had the leading role in identifying and selecting military targets for bombing raids. Washington officials admitted that the three satellite-guided bombs, dropped from a B-2 Stealth bomber, that hit the Chinese embassy were supplied with wrong and outdated logistical data by the CIA.

When the original target, ostensibly the Yugoslav Federal Directorate Supply and Procurement, was initially checked against electronic mapping data in American and NATO computers, to protect civilian casualties, no “red flags” were raised because the CIA and other database military intelligence agencies had the wrong address of the Chinese embassy. It had located the mission elsewhere! The agencies were following details given in maps, which were outdated and supplied by the Pentagon.

Now that the US President has come out with a public apology, will the Chinese be satisfied? This is hard to say. The protest demonstrations all over China were fully backed by the authorities. There is genuine anger in China against the USA particularly at the NATO announcement about the continuation of the bombing raids. Since Russia has been reduced to a weakling, the Chinese would like to assume world leadership against the domination of the USA and its gung-ho military strategy for all international problems. Even the allies of the USA feel that Washington had gone too far in its role of a world policeman.

The bombing raids may have their impact on the international economic scene. Japan will now certainly receive support from China in mobilising international opinion to block the US-supported candidate’s efforts to become the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). While remaining cool to US trade overtures, China may turn more towards Russia, particularly on the Kosovo issue. The USA will soon learn the bitter lessons of having bombed the Chinese embassy. An apology is not going to soothe China.

Dilli meri Dilli
by K. K. Khullar

IF Rip Van Winkle had gone to sleep in 1948 in Delhi and woke after 50 years he would not be able to recognise his own city with its heritage of 72 indigenous kings, 33 imported Viceroys and 10 socialist Indian Prime Ministers. An elderly citizen told me the other day that the number of cars that passed through Daryaganj in 1948 in a whole day could be counted on fingertips. Traffic was so slow that one could come out of the moving tram, buy a betel leaf and re-tram in perfect safety. Today in Daryaganj there is perpetual traffic jam excepting, I believe, some hours after midnight.

The city claims an antiquity as dim and distant as a dream. New things kept coming in Old Delhi even before New Delhi came up. Incidentally, New Delhi is the ninth city, the other eight starting from the Sultanate period are Naya Sher, Siri, Tughlakabad, Jahan Panah, Ferozabad, Din Panah, Shahjehabad and Raisina. As per a Delhi legend, the 10th Delhi would be located in Badli with an extension at Wazirabad. The oldest medieval monument is situated just across the road where I live in Vasant Kunj, which hides in its bosom salt, snakes and “surangs”. Close to this tomb called Shahbaz Garhi there is the lovely Rangpuri hill where a “Meena Bazar” used to be held several centuries ago. Today on this Vasant Kunj — Mahipalpur Road the traffic is so fast that an old man had to hire a taxi to cross the road.

Scanning the sheets of history we find that while Old Delhi emerges as a clean page in the grey notebook, New Delhi is like a black cat keeping out from a heap of freshly fluffed up cotton. The English rulers have left remarkable photographs of the old city, including a photograph of Mirza Ghalib, its proud resident in the 19th century. When the photographer asked the poet to squeeze up he did not oblige on the ground that the residents of Ballimaran would not recognise him. “Recognition” was the sine qua non of its citizenry. Today nothing old is recognisable.

Delhi has expanded beyond its capacity. Distance no longer lends enchantment to the view of Delhi. “Delhi is distant” is no longer a proverb. It is a myth. Delhi is only distant from itself.

There are four other Delhis as well. Each Delhi has its distinct flavour, its own character; Rural Delhi, Chirag Delhi, Cantonment Delhi and Refugee Delhi. The temper and the temperament of each Delhi is different from the other. Besides, there is the Diplomatic Delhi where we have foreign embassies and State Bhavans. You can discover and re-discover the body of Delhi but, in order to discover its soul you will have to gaze at its 1376 monuments, the highest number in any single city in the world, more than what you can see in Samarkand and much more than what you can see in Rome.

The city has died many times according to the legends and seven times according to history. Each time it dies it is re-born because of its inner resilience. The river has sunk deep into the memories of the people like Hoogly in Calcutta and Thames in London. The Delhiwalla still talks of the canal which once passed through the Chandni Chowk, the water flowing through Tees Hazari, the 30,000 trees which Mohammad Shah Rangeela had planted to make the city green. Today Tees Hazari is a nightmare.

The spell of the old city is reflected in its literature. When the Nizam of Hyderabad offered a job to Zauq, the 19th century Urdu poet, he declined on the ground that there was no Yamuna in Hyderabad. In the words of Mir Taqi Mir: “The Streets of Delhi are not mere lanes and bylanes, they are the sheets of the painter’s album”. When the East India Company wanted to shift the last Mughal Emperor to Monghyer in Bihar he begged the Company Bahadur to desist from the proposal because he would not die at any other place where there is no Red Fort.

The Emperor also protested against the construction of a railway station in the heart of the city. “Railway in those days was known as “Cheelgarhi” (Flying Car). “If you must have a flying car here, please see that the railway station is situated at least six to seven miles from Kashmiri Gate. Its smoke will hurt the eyes, there will be miscarriage of pregnant women by its thunder, the cows will be frightened and the civil population disturbed, it was said.

Today the cows have marvellously adjusted to the railways and the civil population is disturbed when the trains are late. There are cases of childbirth during the train journeys. Bahadur Shah died in exile at Rangoon. He wanted to be buried at Mehrauli, which is today no less polluted than the railway station or the ISBT. The city has claimed 38 years of my life, half of which have been spent in waiting for Godot and the other half for socialism. Both are de-railed.

Why this indifference to PoWs
in Pak jails?
by Maj Gen Himmat Singh Gill

QUITE recently, around about the time Prime Minister Vajpayee was basking in the middle of his bus diplomacy to Lahore, and organisation called the Missing Defence Personnel Relatives Association (MDPRA) announced a list of 54 Indian armed forces prisoners of war, believed to be in custody in Pakistan, and this report was carried by at least two national English dailies of the country. In fact, according to a report in a section of the press on April 14, Mr I.K. Gujral the then Minister of External Affairs had accepted this figure in the Lok Sabha on September 4, 1996.

Today’s column is devoted to the sad story of the brave soldiers, airmen and sailors taken prisoner in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, now languishing in Pakistani jails, and the sheer ingratitude and indifference of an Indian nation that does not care to remember who its real heroes and saviours are. As a former soldier with 35 long years in uniform, it is my duty and an honour, to be able to speak up for my colleagues not in chains in jails all over Pakistan, and arouse the conscious of my fellow-brethren in India to cry out aloud for justice, honour and freedom for their soldiery — a worthy and noble cause — they have not espoused very effectively so far.

The 40 officers (Majors, Captains and Lieutenants, plus Squadron Leaders, and Flight-Lieutenants and one Naval Lieut-Commander), two Subedars and 12 non-commissioned officers and sepoys, all listed unambiguously with their ranks in the report, deserve the nation’s gratitude for fighting it out for their motherland on one border or the other. The high ratio of officers taken prisoner speaks for the bravery of our leaders, who give off their best for their country, leading from the front and without fear. But what has the nation done for them?

The very least that government should have done the very next day this report had appeared in the press, was to have confirmed or denied this fact in public interest. For the sake of their fathers, brothers and sisters, wives or other family members here, it is absolutely imperative that they very clearly know once and for all whether their near and dear ones are at least alive and somewhere in Pakistan.

Even assuming that this had been done by government with the affected kin at the time of the occurrence in 1971, once such a far-reaching and crucial report affecting the morale of hundreds and thousands has been printed, it was the sacred duty of the Public Relations Department or whoever in the Ministry of Defence to come out with the official and consolidated version of the whereabouts and condition of not only those named, but any other categories who might still be untraced.

In war, one is either, missing in action (MIA), declared killed provided eyewitnesses certify to this fact, or taken a PoW. After each action after taking into account those “left out of battle”, and the killed, all that remains are those who are present alive with the unit or are missing or believed to have been taken prisoner. Often, those in the missing category may have died (but are not certified as such), or have been taken prisoner by the other side.

After 28 years the official lists of all categories of our soldiers which has been affected in all the wars we have fought with Pakistan (and the one with China), must be made public, so that every citizen and every non-gazetted organisation anywhere can assist, monitor and expedite in the speedy repatriation of their kinsmen back home.

The conclusion of a speedy financial transaction to the next of kin of those missing in action for prolonged periods, and those not declared dead, would also be facilitated in this manner. In USA even after over two decades of the end of the Vietnam war millions are being spent on tracing the whereabouts of even a single American prisoner who has not been accounted for. Or in locating the final resting places of their soldiers, in a land far off from their shores.

That such an exercise cannot be productive without the cooperation of Pakistan, is of course, a well-known fact. However, the point that must be made here is, that had our government then, (when it had over 93,000 Pakistani prisoners in its custody in India), given serious thought to the repatriation of these 54 PoWs held by Pakistan, and if so, then why was their release not affected there and then, before we had sent back all those in our custody? Mutual exchange of prisoners on a reciprocal basis always speeds up the repatriation process.

The other questions the nation must ask its leaders and administrators is — why has it taken so long to get out 54 Indians back home? Was it not for Mr Vajpayee and Mr Parkash Singh Badal, the CM of the frontline state, who had both journeyed to Lahore, to have raised this question with the Pakistani Premier, Mr Nawaz Sharif, for an on-the-spot resolution and speedy transfer?

Are there any in this category, or what Pakistan might be calling spies, whose repatriation might pose problems? Incidentally, as per the Geneva Convention and the International Law Commission, which formulated the Nuremberg Principles in 1950, soldiers in uniform in war are not to be treated as spies, and are to be treated with respect, dignity and care. Have our prisoners been assured of this basic code of conduct? Have any of them been arbitrarily put on trial, with no defence, or has someone been tortured in custody? Have any of our men gone insane as a result of their long incarceration, and how many are fit to travel?

The international humanitarian law guarantees the protection of the defenceless, and India is committed to the United Nations convention against torture. Has the government received any reports to the contrary in the handling of, and the treatment meted out to our prisoners in Pakistan, and has it taken up this issue (of the human rights) with the International Human Rights Commission? How many times has the International Red Cross visited these unfortunate men? These are some of the issues that should be exercising every Indian’s mind, as they enjoy the fruits of freedom, which these unlucky 54 are being denied.

To my mind we should have got these prisoners back long long ago, had we spared a thought for them and their families, and taken time off from our frequent political wranglings and race for power and the chair. Out there in the darkened cells of the Pakistani jails, these 54 wait, hoping to return home one day. The government must tell the nation what they propose to do about their early return, and what discussions have taken place between them and Pakistan on this score, and what commitment the latter has given, at least on humanitarian grounds.

And in the meanwhile, will a grateful nation award a special dispensation on the half century of its inception, for a pension or family pension, which ever is applicable for all these PoWs, and those still missing or presumed dead, with retrospective effect from the date of the battle in which the affected acknowledge and honour, their bravest of the brave. The cost involved will be a pittance. Even if it were a gigantic amount, it must be remembered that the high morale of the armed forces and the defence of a country can never come cheap.

The rising tide of drug abuse
By P.D. Sharma

WHILE the problem of drug abuse has assumed alarming proportions the world over our country is getting high on the drug abuse chart. Following the opening up of the economy the country has become more vulnerable to drug trafficking. Militant activity and insurgency in some border states have given a push to this trade. Global illegal drug trade is worth $ 400 billion a year according to a UN report with colossal profits and accounts for three-quarters of all the laundered money.

According to the international Narcotics Control Board (INCB) heroin users in Asia account for one-third of the global drug user’s population. At least 3.3 to 4 per cent of the world population is prone to using illicit drugs. Consumption of heroin in Asia amounts to roughly 40 per cent of the total quantity of heroin produced every year. This combined with opium use makes Asia the world’s largest market for opiates. According to the Narcotics Control Bureau India is placed between the major opium growing countries in the East and the West. Some places are convenient corridors for drug trafficking. It is estimated that nearly 140 million people use cannabis in the world while 8 million are heroin addicts and another 13 million use cocain. About 30 million people consume amphetamine-type stimulants.

India is turning out to be the main supplier in South Asia of chemicals used for processing narcotic drugs. According to the INCB India is the largest regional manufacturer and exporter of ‘precursors’ or chemicals which have legitimate industrial use but are also essential for drug production. So, the country faces a lurking danger that these substances may find their way into illicit production of drugs and psychotropic substances. Over 2000 kg of ephedrine was seized in Myanmar in 1997 and its origin was India. In 1998 seizures of 350 kg and 250 kg in India on the Myanmar border confirmed the earlier source.

The United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) views that smuggling of acetic anhydride; used for processing cocaine; heroin and LSD; from India to Myanmar appeared to have been checked but its diversion to Pakistan continues. It is suspected that of the 45,000 MTs of the chemical annually produced in India, increasing proportion finds its way across the border. Controlling the diversion of precursors is difficult as only a negligible quantity is needed for large-scale production of drugs.

The drug trafficking business is very lucrative. In order to manufacture 13 million dosage units of LSD traffickers need only one kg of Iysergic Acid. A certain precursor legitimately available in India for Rs 100 a litre commands a price of Rs 500 per litre as soon as it is illegally diverted to traffickers. The price shoots up to Rs 5,000 per litre as the chemical crosses the border. More and more youth, particularly from the rural area of Punjab and Haryana, are becoming drug addicts. While arbitrary imposition and lifting of prohibition of alcohol sends the media and politicians alike into self congratulatory trips hardly any voice is heard on drug abuse. Many drug addicts remain outside the official statistics. One incidence is enough to feel the pulse. In an industrial accident at Ludhiana a few labourers were admitted to hospital. Some died on the spot. The owner was made to compensate through his nose. The doctors found that no medicine worked on the patients. Later it was found that they were chronic drug addicts. The cause of the accident might also be drug addiction.

Regulatory Control on drugs is weak due to lenient view on the consumption of cannabis — marijuana or charas. In 1959 the sale of cannabis were not only legal but regulated by the government through excise vends. In 1965, after the ratification of single Geneva Convention (1961) the Government of India formally closed its legal sale. Under the Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 the use of cannabis became illegal.

A debate is going on as to the effects of cannabis. Some argue that it is the poor man’s intoxicant and by prohibiting it we are forcing him to shift to alcohol. Addiction to alcohol is the result of ban on cannabis. Seven states of USA have voted in favour of cannabi use. Canada too has legalised it. Clinical trials are on in Britain. Noted experts have opined that there was no evidence to suggest that marijuana is the ‘gateway’ to other more dangerous recreational drugs. They opine that if any drugs are ‘gateways’ they are alcohol and tobacco.

Among the many bad side-effects of drugs, driving under their influence is proving worrysome. In Britain it has been found that a quarter of the drivers killed in accidents had traces of drugs in their bodies; four times the proportion 10 years ago. In the USA special drug courts have been constituted for de-addiction.

A multi pronged attack is required to check the rising tide of drug abuse. Pharmaceutical companies may be given more incentive for R&D to develop cheap anti-addiction medicines; intensive lecturing in education institutions and strict law enforcement may be helpful.

75 YEARS AGO

Muslim first, Indian afterwards

I would like to say that at the Lucknow meeting, when reluctantly answering the Arya Samajist gentlemen who had distributed printed copies of his question containing the allegation to which I had referred, I had taken the opportunity to explain at the same time that when I refused to say to some people that I am an Indian first and a Musalman afterwards, I only meant that I would obey the commandments of God in reference to the behests of any mortal; and that I would follow the Prophet, on whom be peace and God’s benedictions, both in precept and example in preference to any other mortal and that I placed God and his Prophet above all others, including King and Country.

It certainly did not mean that I would deprive a non-Muslim of his rights because he was not a Muslim and rob a non-Muslim Peter to pay a Muslim Paul. I wanted every Hindu also to be a Hindu first and an Indian afterwards in the same sense and I believed that Mahatma Gandhi was trusted by us for that very reason and he would not sacrifice his religion for the sake of any political opportunism.

I then quoted the colloquy that had once taken place in motor car between the Mahatma and another Hindu gentleman of which I had the privilege of being a listener. That gentleman had said that he would sacrifice his wealth and his life, even his faith, for the sake of his country; but Mahatma Gandhi said that he did not think it right.

MOHAMED ALI
Lahore