Snags in FDI policy
FOREIGN capital inflow will not turn into a flood just because the government intensely yearns for it. It will if the policy is right, the environment congenial and the economy promises healthy growth.

Avoidable bus mishap
IT has now become a standard procedure for a state government to announce payment of a small amount of money to the families of those killed in a bus accident as compensation [for what?] and a reduced sum to the injured passengers.

Pak search for system of govt
THE tragedy with Pakistan is that even after 52 years of its arrival on the world stage as a nation-state it does not know what kind of a system is suitable to govern it.

NOW “THIRD WAY” IDEOLOGY
New brand name for progressive politics
by Batuk Vora
CONSERVATIVE wings of the parties of social democracy in Europe and the liberal wing of democrats in America now claim leadership with a new paradigm — the current buzzword for which is the “third way”.

Gurdwara Bill: a rejoinder
by Harbans Singh
THE article by Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, published in The Tribune of October 7, dealing with the Sikh Gurdwaras Bill, 1999, is based on incorrect statements of facts and uncalled for inferences, to cause confusion and misunderstanding among the Sikh public.

Mood ugly as Nigeria’s mullahs lay down laws
By Chris McGreal in Gusau, Zamfara
THE Fulani herdsman must have imagined he had one last chance before the full force of sharia descended. But he had misjudged the mood in the dusty northern city of Gusau. As he tried to steal from a house, he was grabbed by a mob and his right hand was lopped off. The instant justice came just days before tomorrow’s declaration of sharia in Zamfara, the first of Nigeria’s 36 states to introduce Islamic law.

Ireland bans film by Oscar-nominated director
By Fiachra Gibbons in London
“THE Idiots,” the controversial new film by Oscar-nominated Director Lars Von Trier, has been banned in Ireland. The censor, Sheamus Smith, ruled that the story of a group of rich Copenhagen kids who pretend to be mentally handicapped in order to scare potential buyers away from the house they are squatting in, was “likely to deprave or corrupt” viewers.

75 Years Ago

October 27, 1924
Registration of money-lenders
MR MAQBOOL MAHMOOD, member of the Punjab Legislature Council, intends to introduce a private Bill at the ensuing session of that Council for the compulsory registration of money-lenders in the Province.

Snags in FDI policy

FOREIGN capital inflow will not turn into a flood just because the government intensely yearns for it. It will if the policy is right, the environment congenial and the economy promises healthy growth. It is this combination that has helped China attract about $50 billion every year. Equally, it is the absence of these factors that explains why India receives just about $3.5 billion a year. (The total in all countries, including the developed ones, is a mammoth $650 billion or thereabouts.) Surprisingly, this simple fact has not registered in the mind of politicians, bureaucrats and even captains of industry. Delhi is content to fix a target of $ 10 billion and lend to this objective the considerable weight of the President and the Union Ministers of Finance and Industry. Whatever favourable impact this may have has been quickly dissipated by the controversy over foreign investors who are already partners in a joint venture setting up a fully owned subsidiary. The reason behind this objection is understandable. The various chambers of commerce and industry fear that the foreign partner will offer the Indian unit stiff competition once his product is established with the help of local expertise and sales network. But the way the opposition was expressed was depressing. Why not quietly lobby with the government to introduce a ban as part of the ongoing liberalisation process to bring about the same effect?

As for making foreign direct investment (FDI) in India irresistible, the government has not done much. The laws continue to be both cumbersome and time-consuming. The FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board), contrary to its advertised function, often shoos away investors. Anyway it was set up when the ruling mantra was self-sufficiency and hence there was need to carefully vet all proposals for new industries. The problem is that the board is caught in a time wrap, subjecting applications to a set quaint regulations. There has been much talk of single window clearance within a stipulated time, but only talk. Some brave men have even talked of scrapping the FIPB by allowing unhindered entry to new industries with a few sensitive sectors forming a negative list. This is an excellent idea and deserves immediate implementation. But it will only be the first step to realise the target of $ 10 billion. The infrastructure is a shambles and deters many from setting up an industry here. Outsiders are baffled as much by a forest of laws as by lack of transparency in the working of government departments. There is also a degree of hostility which manifests in an unhelpful attitude.

The most important attraction for a foreign investor is a well-educated and skilled workforce. Low wages do not compensate this. This is India’s biggest failure, and not the protective labour laws. Both Indian and foreign experts have repeatedly stressed the need to tone up education facilities and set up a machinery for regular skill upgradation. Once this is in place, this country will be able to goad investors to bring in latest technology which will spur general modernisation. The government believes that FDI of about $ 10 billion is essential to help the economy grow by 7 per cent to 8 per cent. While this is true, what India should also aim is to use FDI as a trigger for allround industrial regeneration.

Avoidable bus mishap

IT has now become a standard procedure for a state government to announce payment of a small amount of money to the families of those killed in a bus accident as compensation [for what?] and a reduced sum to the injured passengers [are they penalised for not having got killed in the mishap?]. To muffle public criticism of the poor upkeep of buses or the recklessness of drivers the state government concerned orders an enquiry into the mishap. This is exactly what the Punjab Road Transport Department official did on learning about the death of 28 passengers of the Ludhiana-bound PEPSU Road Transport Corporation Bus near Hoshiarpur on Monday. The bus went out of control and fell into a 40 feet deep gorge near Mangowal village. About 50 passengers are reported to have been injured in the accident. Will the officials concerned care to explain the purpose of a judicial enquiry by the SDM of Hoshiarpur? What lessons, if any are ever learned from enquiry reports of similar road mishaps involving either PEPSU or Punjab State Road Transport Corporation buses? It has been established beyond an iota of doubt that poor maintenance of buses is primarily responsible for most accidents. Drunken driving is a contributory factor. Although truck drivers are notorious for reckless driving, most bus drivers are the ones who behave like they are possessed by the devil on state and national highways. In the case of the Hoshiarpur accident survivors have stated that the driver yelled out a warning that he had lost control before the bus fell into the gorge. The bus went out of control while negotiating a blind turn and according to eyewitnesses the driver had not slowed down to cut the risk of a mishap.

The ill-fated bus was also carrying passengers far in excess of the prescribed limit. Carrying surplus passengers on roofs of buses is evidently standard practise in Punjab and the neighbouring states [although it is against the law]. In the present instance the conductor was on the roof of the bus punching tickets when the driver lost control. Those who are familiar with the unmangaeable crowd which collects at the "dera" of Baba Barbhag Singh near Una, from the conductor picked up passengers, would understand much better than most others the reason for the accident which claimed 28 lives. Most of the visitors to the "dera" come in search of miracle cures for a variety of mental disorders. Knowing the kind of crowd the "dera" attracts, specially on specified days, the transport authorities should as part of standard procedure make adequate arrangements for coping with the abnormal rush of the miracle-cure-seekers. The relevant laws governing the maintenance of buses and scheduling of services too need to be revised. A random survey would show that most buses currently in operation are not road-worthy and should have been discarded years ago and that conductors and drivers have to do long hours because of staff shortage. A criminal case can be made out against those who make over-worked drivers do over-time. Should not someone in authority be made to pay for allowing ill-maintained buses, which are potential killers, on the road? A heavy penalty should also be imposed on the conductors, drivers and surplus passengers of over-crowded buses. Drivers who cannot give up the urge of break speed records should be thrown out of service, because they not only endanger the safety of the passengers they are carrying but of other road-users.

Pak search for system of govt

THE tragedy with Pakistan is that even after 52 years of its arrival on the world stage as a nation-state it does not know what kind of a system is suitable to govern it. This is the inference that can be drawn from Chief Executive Gen Parvez Musharraf's hint that he may try to experiment with the system that Kemal Ataturk introduced in Turky in 1923,and Jamaat Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed's declaration that Pakistan needs a system which has nothing to do with secularism. The ruling General and the religious party leader (the army strong man's admirer till the day he disclosed his preferred political philosophy in a media interview) do not seem to be in favour of the Western concept of democracy. Today the two leaders represent two different interest groups, though they were in the same camp — promoting terrorism in the name of religion — till the ouster of the Nawaz Sharif regime. Now when the situation has changed General Musharraf is distancing himself from the forces of fundamentalism and looking for a system which is modern and secular in character and can help perpetuate his rule. Perhaps he thinks that Kemalism---the name given to the Turkish military leader's political idea---can provide the best remedy for the ills afflicting Pakistan. It can also be used as a powerful weapon to keep his detractors of all varieties at bay. He must be aware of it that like those representing religious fundamentalism, his admirers in various political groups may start showing their fangs once the general public, at present happy at the turn of events, begins reflecting its disenchantment with the direct rule of the military as it happened in the past — during the days of Gen Ayub Khan, Gen Yahya Khan and Gen Zia-ul-Haq. If Kemalism shows positive results---and General Musharraf perhaps feels it will---the hue and cry of his opponents will become meaningless. Going by the logic that people in general regard "roti, kapra aur makan" as their first preference under all circumstances, the General is right in his calculations. But the past experience within Pakistan does not support this approach. Moreover, how long will Pakistan go on experimenting with new ideas of governance?

Turkey's problems were different when Kemal Ataturk came on the scene. Pakistanis, as one can see from their immediate neighbourhood, are sick of endemic corruption and the rulers' indifference to the woes of the common man. They want a system which does not only promote the interests of the well-off or the feudal lords, as has been the case so far. If they have expressed their joy at the overthrow of a democratically elected government, it is not because they prefer the Generals to run the government. They do not hate the Western concept of democracy as such. They hate their politicians, who will have to learn to govern like democrats, concentrating their energies on solving the common people's problems. The Pakistanis do not have to go to Turkey to learn lessons in this regard. For them India provides the best example. If democracy can flourish in India with most of the problems which Pakistan faces today, why can it not be turned into a success on the other side of the divide? Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto tried to emulate India when he began a campaign against the feudal system in Pakistan but he was prevented from going further in his efforts by an overambitious General. The Bhutto experiment can be revived to end the present uncertainty. However, those engaged in the search for a system of government will realise the significance of the suggestion only if they shed their bias against anything Indian.

NOW “THIRD WAY” IDEOLOGY
New brand name for progressive politics
by Batuk Vora

CONSERVATIVE wings of the parties of social democracy in Europe and the liberal wing of democrats in America now claim leadership with a new paradigm — the current buzzword for which is the “third way”. The political success of Mr Bill Clinton and, more recently, Mr Tony Blair, is said to provide powerful evidence that this third way is in sync with economic and social realities as they see it.

A1 From, who leads the conservative Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) of the US Democratic Party and who is the third way’s most prominent American salesperson, describes it as “the worldwide brand name for progressive politics for the information age. In America, the local brand is New Democrat; in Britain, it is New Labour”. Hyperbole notwithstanding, the notion of the third way promises social democrats instant liberation from the political baggage of the past (welfare credo) and, therefore, electoral success in the future. The very ambiguity of the phrase gives politicians and ambitious policy advisers the advantage of flexibility.

A question that haunts all those genuinely concerned leftists is this: Is this the right way or merely a deftly crafted slogan designed to make the capitulation to a conservative agenda intellectually and morally respectable?

The champions of the third way insist that it is a new synthesis lying somewhere beyond, left and right. “Our agenda,” says Mr Bill Clinton “is not liberal or conservative. It is both, and it is different.” According to Mr Tony Blair, the third way is “not simply a compromise between left and right.” Our approach is neither laissez-faire nor one of state interference.

Mr Clinton and Mr Blair are two of the most articulate politicians of the age, and they are surrounded by clever speechwriters and advisers. Yet their definitions of the third way leave the observer without a clue as to what it means. At a recent public meeting on the third way in New York, Mr Clinton held that its purpose was to be “modern and progressive” and to “avoid false choices.” Mr Blair added that it was “an alliance between progress and justice”, and that it “seeks to take the essential values of the centre and the centre-left and applies them to a world of fundamental social and economic change”. Mrs Hillary Clinton made the pragmatic observation that “we have to take the world as we find it and do what we can to improve upon it”.

To evaluate the third way requires a look at its real-world performance thus far. In Mr Bill Clinton’s six-year presidency, people had a real-world performance to help them make some judgements. What follows is an analysis of three of the primary claims made for the third way. First, it provides a distinct analysis of the declining political fortunes of the democratic left. Second, it is an effective formula for rebuilding social democratic political parties. Third, it is a credible new strategy for addressing the issues of the post-Cold War age.

The New Democrats, who came largely from the southern conservative faction of the Democratic Party, argued that the party was dominated by extreme left-wing “liberal fundamentalists who were out of touch with ordinary Americans”. The liberal fundamentalists were defined as a coalition of minority groups, labour unions, feminists, and white elites who were “unsympathetic” to middle-class interests and values. To win elections, insisted the New Democrats, the party had to give greater priority to conservative social issues and less to questions of economic security.

With the exception of George McGovern’s anti-war candidacy in 1972, all the Democratic presidential campaigns of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were run on centrist platforms. The New Democrats ignored this centrist history, and instead borrowed from the Republicans’ caricatures of the Democratic Party.

In January, 1996, Mr Bill Clinton had declared that “the era of big government was over”. Yet in the following November he won his election largely by attacking the Republicans for wanting to dismantle medicare, federal aid to education, federal protection of the environment, and for opposing a raise in the minimum wage. His one concession to the right that year was signing a draconian welfare-reform Bill, suggesting that the era of big government was over only for the poor. Thus, big government programmes trumped both Ms Monica Lewinsky and the tax cuts promised by the Republicans.

The problem is while the Americans are used to performing with the flimsiest of social safety nets, the Europeans have grown accustomed to the providential hand of the government. In the EU, for example, an average of 26.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) is spent on social services like unemployment and pension benefits. In the USA, the figure is 15.4 per cent. The main pillars of the welfare system — state-sponsored health care and education, strict job-security regulations, generous unemployment and pension benefits — were established in the 1950s and 1960s, when most parts of Europe enjoyed high rates of economic growth and low unemployment. Today, while the same basic needs remain, the opposite socio-economic conditions prevail in many states; growth — though picking up — is still fragile and average EU unemployment levels have been steadily ratcheting higher over the past two decades.

The social institutions that support the democratic left in America have also been weakened after six years of the third way. Despite his pledge to America’s trade unions during the 1992 campaign, Mr Clinton failed to deliver the votes for a desperately needed reform of labour law, which makes the USA the most difficult place to organise workers in the advanced world.

As a result, the unionised share of the labour force has continued to decline to 14.1 per cent in 1997. And the growth of public sector unionism, which had cushioned the decline of union coverage in the private sector, has now stalled.

There has also been a general weakening of the power of progressive non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The erosion of the environmentalist, consumer, and community-organising movements has been in part a result of domestic budget cutting and lowered expectations on the left, and in part a result of the expansion of conservative NGOs supported by corporations and right-wing political groups. As the institutions of the democratic left have weakened, those of the right have grown stronger, shifting the centre of politics further rightward.

Another favourite claim of the third way’s merchandisers is that they represent a new paradigm for the new global economy. As with many of their social reforms, their new economic paradigm is not in fact new; it is an articulation of the agenda of the multinational corporate community. It is no accident that the financial support for New Democrat organisations has come largely from business, particularly the financial sector.

The assertion of the New Democrats is that the world’s economic problems stem from too much government interference in the market economy, which if left alone is self-regulating and stable. They claim that capitalism is bringing us a new and prosperous world economy. To assure that this prosperity continues, capital and labour markets should be further deregulated and freed from artificial constraints, such as those imposed by labour unions and environmental regulations that are largely obsolete.

The new global economy, which the third way aggressively promotes, undercuts third way premises every day. As a result of financial deregulation, the mobility of private capital has now outstripped the capacity of governments and international agencies to keep markets safe from self-destruction and their people free from suffering the brutal consequences. The response has been a rising hostility to globalisation from unemployed rioters in Jakarta to striking auto-workers in Flint, Michigan, to angry unpaid miners and teachers in Moscow. Today the third way’s attacks on big-government “interference” in the marketplace are being mocked by growing demands by multinational businesses from Tokyo to New York that the big governments should save them from the consequences of the market. It is significant that Mr Clinton, after urging Americans to embrace the unfettered global marketplace for six years, is suddenly calling for global “New Deal” solutions to brace up sinking financial markets.

(The writer is based in Washington).

Gurdwara Bill: a rejoinder
by Harbans Singh

THE article by Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, published in The Tribune of October 7, dealing with the Sikh Gurdwaras Bill, 1999, is based on incorrect statements of facts and uncalled for inferences, to cause confusion and misunderstanding among the Sikh public. It is, therefore, necessary to put the matter in proper prospective.

The write-up opens with the statement that “The Sikh Gurdwara Bill,1999, prepared suo motu by Chief Justice (retd) Harbans Singh, is nothing but a replay of his earlier 1986 Draft, with marginal changes, which further make it all the more retrogressive”.

This is palpably wrong. The 1999 Bill was not prepared suo motu by me nor did I ever submit any earlier Draft Bill of 1986 and the question of any “replay” of it did not arise. The correct facts in brief are as follows:

An advisory committee, under my chairmanship, was appointed by the Punjab government during Mr Parkash Singh Badal’s Chief Ministership in 1977 to prepare a draft of the All-India Sikh Gurdwara Bill. The draft Bill, prepared by this committee, after visiting various states, to get the first hand views of the Sikhs there and after its consideration by the SGPC, was sent in 1979 by the Punjab government to the central government for introducing the same in Parliament. This draft Bill could not be taken up by the central government due to the fall of the Janata regime. After the Rajiv-Longowal Accord, the matter was taken up again and a copy of the 1979 draft Bill was sent to all the state governments, including Punjab, for their comment.

The 1979 draft Bill was reviewed by a committee with Dr Ahluwalia as its Convener, which prepared a modified draft (referred to as the Ahluwalia Bill) but before it could be sent to the central government, the Barnala government was dissolved and the draft Bill remained in cold storage.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Law prepared a draft Bill (1986) taking into account the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, and the Sikh Gurdwara Bill, 1979, “prepared under the auspices of the Punjab government” headed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal.

A copy of this Bill was sent by the Home Ministry to me as Chief Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections, in December, 1997, for my comments. Discussions on the subject matter were held with various Sikh organisations, including a sub-committee of the SGPC chaired by Mr Bhaur, then its Acting President, and some Sikh members of Parliament called by Mr Surjit Singh Barnala, then a Cabinet minister, and later also with Bibi Jagir Kaur, new President of the SGPC.

Based on this “Government draft Bill, 1986”, — with minor modifications deemed necessary in view of the discussions aforementioned, the draft 1999 Bill was prepared and sent to the Home Ministry on August 14.

Thus the 1999 draft Bill was neither a suo motu product of this writer’s efforts nor a replay of his non-existing 1986 draft. It is the aforesaid misstatements that apparently caused considerable confusion in the minds of the readers of The Tribune and those who attended the seminar on October 9.

(II) Another gross misstatement by the learned writer is in the last portion of his write-up, which runs as follows:

“The declaration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib as a ‘juristic person’ in the proposed Act (means Bill) (clause 14), under scrutiny, betrays Justice Harbans Singh’s ignorance of the status of the holy Sikh scripture as the ‘eternal Guru’, now proposed to be brought down to the level of a ‘juristic person’ like an ordinary corporate firm or company — and envisages Sri Guru Granth Sahib as a ‘property-holder’. The declaration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib as a ‘juristic person’ for legal matters relating to property is most repugnant. On this ground alone the Bill deserves to be discarded in toto”.

While accepting being an “ignorant person”, I cannot understand how this great writer has forgotten that the aforesaid provision was introduced by him, as Clause 14 in his own draft Bill.

All that the draftsman has done is to reproduce Clause 14 of Mr Ahluwalia’s Bill, as Clause 14 of the 1999 Bill, however, with a proviso that “Notwithstanding its juristic position, Sri Guru Granth Sahib shall not, by that name, sue or be sued”, thus removing the “sting” in the clause for which he is condemning me.

III. Apart from all this, the writer has drawn some inferences, altogether unwarranted by facts. For example:

(a) “Democratic principle of direct election of the members of Central Board by the Sikhs has been abandoned in the proposed Bill”. The 1999 Bill, based as it is on the government Bill of 1986, provides as follows:

(i) Each state or group of states to have a separate gurdwara management board known as State/Regional Board to manage all historical gurdwaras within their respective jurisdiction.

(ii) Non-historical gurdwaras, however, to be registered with the respective boards, giving the origin of the gurdwara, its objectives, the method of its management and its property. The boards will not interfere in the management of these gurdwaras and will only exercise supervision that the basic Sikh maryada, namely “where there is “Parkash” of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, there is no worship of any person or object”, is adhered to; the management runs smoothly and accounts are maintained.

The boards other than those of Punjab and Delhi will be elected by an “electoral college” system in which all the registered gurdwaras would send their representatives, who in turn will elect members of the board concerned. Members of the Punjab and Delhi boards will continue to be elected as at present. The boards so elected will nominate out of their elected members the number of nominees of the respective boards, detailed in the First Schedule of the 1999 Bill, to the central apex body mentioned as the Central Board.

Therefore, no democratic principle has been given a go-by in the election of the Central Board. Rather all boards will get connected with the mainstream of the Sikh Panth by their participation in the apex body.

(b) “Compulsory registration of non-historical gurdwaras would open the “floodgates of the government’s interference in the religious affairs of the Sikhs”.

This inference obviously is uncalled for. The registration of these gurdwaras is to be done by the officer appointed for this purpose by state boards, which will exercise only supervision over them as mentioned above. How and where does any government interference come in? The information given at the time of registration ensures that it does not become private property at a future date nor the endowment property is sold or otherwise frittered away, of which several instances had come to the notice of the Advisory Committee.

(c) The 1999 Bill is “violative of the Sikh traditions and will disintegrate the Sikh religious affairs and polity and will weaken the present SGPC, depriving it of its jurisdiction over the three Takhts and setting up nine other parallel religious boards”.

So far as the present SGPC (mentioned as the Punjab Board or Punjab Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in the draft Bill, 1999) is concerned, its constitution and jurisdiction over the entire Punjab area before its re-organisation have been maintained. The only change made is that the five Takhts and Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, being the basic and central centres of Sikh religion have been put under the Central Board — an all-India body — to which members are to be nominated by the Punjab Board to the extent of its two-third strength and the remaining boards together will have one-third members, as per the First Schedule of the 1999 draft.

However, as against the federal conception on which the draft Bill, 1999, is based, the Ahluwalia Bill envisages a centralised structure with the direction and supervision of the Central Board over all the State Boards in India. This is altogether impracticable and no state would like any overlordship from outside. Various kinds of control of the Central Board over the State Boards, as propounded in the Ahluwalia Bill, will not be acceptable to the proposed State Boards.

(d) That “One-third members of the Sikhs living outside Punjab will have considerations which may not be in tune with the concerns and considerations of the members from Punjab, and will lead to polarisation and pulls and counter-pulls”.

This again is misplaced. With the Central Board, having a two-thirds membership from the Punjab Board, no decision can be taken which run counter to the legitimate rights or requirements of the Punjab Board, while the presence of one-third members from outside Punjab will prevent the taking of any decision which is against the interests of the Sikh Panth. This is the only way a federal system, on which the Bill is based, can work.

(e) That the 1999 draft Bill confers vast powers on the central government to administer various provisions of the draft Bill.

This is again a misleading inference. Constant efforts have been made in the 1999 Bill to eliminate the powers of the central government except where constitutionally required.

In fact, the powers accorded to the central government under Clause 169 of Mr Ahluwalia’s draft have been given to the Central Board, in certain matters, by authorising it to make regulations under Clauses 152-153 of the 1999 Bill.

(The writer, a former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, is the Chief Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections).

Mood ugly as Nigeria’s mullahs lay down laws
By Chris McGreal in Gusau, Zamfara

THE Fulani herdsman must have imagined he had one last chance before the full force of sharia descended. But he had misjudged the mood in the dusty northern city of Gusau. As he tried to steal from a house, he was grabbed by a mob and his right hand was lopped off.

The instant justice came just days before tomorrow’s declaration of sharia in Zamfara, the first of Nigeria’s 36 states to introduce Islamic law.

“We are following the Saudi Arabian role model,” said Ahmed Sani, governor of the overwhelmingly Muslim state. “Go to Saudi Arabia. People just leave their houses open when they go to pray. They do not live in fear of robbers. It will be very, very good for people. We will have a society devoid of problems.

“But sharia is not limited to the laws,” he added. “It is a comprehensive way of life; what you do from the moment you wake up. When you go to the toilet you walk in with your left leg first and leave with your right leg first. That is sharia.’’

Zamfara is among Nigeria’s smallest and newest states, just three years old with a population of 2m in a country of 100m. But critics say the state could become a dangerous catalyst in a country riven by religious suspicion and subject to periodic bloodletting between Muslims and Christians. Nigerians are about evenly divided between the two religions, but Islam dominates the north.

Saudi Arabia and Sudan have sent delegations to support Mr Sani, who has grown a beard in preparation for sharia. He gave Zamfara’s bars until the end of last week to dispose of their alcohol. The local military base, staffed with soldiers from other parts of the country, is claiming to be federal territory and refusing to close its bar.

Gusau’s prostitutes have been fleeing to nearby Kano and Kaduna since Mr Sani had a word with them. “I called them in for a meeting,” he said. “I told them: ‘You have to reform. You have to marry or stay with your family and get a trade.’ I told them I was going to help them but they had to stop.”

Most women in Zamfara cover their heads and arms as a matter of course but it will become a legal requirement for Muslims. There will be restrictions on men and women mixing at social gatherings. The state government plans separate public transport and health centres. Schools are being segregated.

But at the heart of the change are the 42 sharia courts under construction. Prospective judges have been sent to Saudi Arabia for training. Beheadings and amputations will become the standard punishment for adultery and some cases of theft.

“There hasn’t been a single armed robbery since we made this announcement,’’ Mr Sani said. “In an Islamic legal system corruption will be wiped out 100% because of the punishment. People who are stealing government funds will pay the price.

“If you are a civil servant, we’ll monitor your progress. If there is anything that you buy that is beyond your resources, people will talk to you about it.’’

The state government is backing away from an earlier pledge to limit the number of Christian churches in Zamfara by closing some in areas where there are “too many”. That has not quelled criticism from Christian leaders.

The Anglican church has warned that sharia in Zamfara is the first step towards turning the whole country into an orthodox Islamic state. The Pentecostal church has taken adverts in the papers denouncing “Sharia on the attack”.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Okogie, has said Islamic law threatens to dismember Nigeria.

“If it is not halted now it would have a multiplier effect, particularly in the northern states of the country, and engineer far-reaching consequences,’’ he said.

Zamfara’s governor has promised that the new laws will not be applied to Christians, who will be allowed to have their cases heard in civil courts. But Archbishop Okogie’s claim that the state is setting a precedent is being proved true.

A large pro-sharia rally was held at the weekend in Katsina, a centre of Islamic learning where the state government has appointed a technical committee to ponder the implications of introducing religious law. And the issue is being debated among legislators in Kano and Kebbi.

But other state governors have warned against sharia, saying it could further divide a fractious country and threaten Nigeria’s newly reinstated democracy.

Sharia already exists to some extent across much of northern Nigeria. Muslims have been free to take family and civil cases to Islamic courts. But all parties had to agree, and the courts did not touch criminal cases.

Religious passions run deep. Earlier this year a mob in Kano beheaded a man whose illiterate wife used a leaflet of Koranic verse as toilet paper for her young child. In July nearly 200 people were killed at opposite ends of the country during ethnic riots with religious overtones.

The Nigerian Bar Association has joined the call for the federal government to block the introduction of sharia, saying it is unconstitutional. Mr Sani argues that such fears are irrelevant.

“We are aware of the constitutional provisions that prohibit a religious state,’’ he said.

“But the Nigerian constitution guarantees freedom of religion and, for a Muslim, if you are guaranteed your religious freedom you must have sharia.’’

Ireland bans film by Oscar-nominated director
By Fiachra Gibbons in London

“THE Idiots,” the controversial new film by Oscar-nominated Director Lars Von Trier, has been banned in Ireland.

The censor, Sheamus Smith, ruled that the story of a group of rich Copenhagen kids who pretend to be mentally handicapped in order to scare potential buyers away from the house they are squatting in, was “likely to deprave or corrupt” viewers.

The Idiots includes a fumbled orgy scene. Some critics and disabled groups found the subject matter tasteless although others saw it as a satire on middle class mores.

Von Trier, the maker of Breaking The Waves and the highly praised TV series The Kingdom, is apparently bemused by the ban. He released a slightly tongue-in-cheek “black spot” version of the film in Europe, in which the offending bodily parts were hidden by a black spot which roved across the screen.

Despite his love of jokey references and mock dramatic pronouncements, Von Trier is regarded as one of the best young European directors.

The Idiots was passed uncut by the British board for film classification as an 18 certificate, one of several controversial films passed recently under the liberal stewardship of Andreas Whittam Smith.

The film has already been shown in at least one small art house cinema in Ireland but did not get a general release. The ruling by the Irish censor effectively bans the video.

Geraldine Jeffers, of Irish distributors Metro Tartan, said they were angered by the move. “Obviously we thought that since the unexpurgated version passed uncut in Britain it would probably do the same in Ireland.” She said they were considering an appeal.

— The Guardian, London

75 YEARS AGO

October 27, 1924
Registration of money-lenders

MR MAQBOOL MAHMOOD, member of the Punjab Legislature Council, intends to introduce a private Bill at the ensuing session of that Council for the compulsory registration of money-lenders in the Province.

Copies of the draft Bill are being circulated among members.

It contains two principal clauses, one requiring all money leaders to register their names and the other requiring them to keep accounts in a prescribed manner. In the statement of objects and reasons, the author of the Bill explains that a Bill of this kind is particularly required in the Punjab, where, he says, the majority of the agriculturists are under the clutches of the money-lenders.

The object of the Bill is to secure due publicity to money-lending transactions and their uniform regularity.

According to the Bill, if a money-lender does not register his name or keep accounts in the manner prescribed, no civil court will entertain his suits relating to loans. These drastic provisions are said to be of benefit to the agriculturists of the Punjab, whose poverty and indebtedness we deeply deplore.