Double-danger thesis
EXTERNAL Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was forthright in presenting India's case before the United Nations General Assembly for global support for combating cross-border terrorism funded and encouraged by Pakistan.

ICICI’s historic entry
IT is a dream debut by ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) in New York Stock Exchange. And the hard-nosed moneymen of America loved the new entrant and smothered it with six times more subscription ($1.6 billion) than what was on offer, $275 million in shares.

KASHMIRIS' DISINTEREST IN MILITANCY
Measures to end the menace
by A.N. Dar
THE militants in Kashmir have served notice that they will not let life go on normally. You cannot count them out. It is a misnomer to call them Kashmiri militants. They are mostly from Pakistan and Afghanistan and, according to some, from as far away as Sudan.

The voice of history
by Mulk Raj Anand
IN mature democracies before any election to legislatures there is generally a poster war. Some loud talk in meetings. Insinuations and references to sexual aberrations of rival candidates are avoided.

Can slavery perpetrators talk of human rights?
By M.S.N. Menon
A SPECTRE is haunting our earth — the spectre of revenge. Time has not requited it, nor has it suffered from amnesia. Like a hovering spirit, it makes its presence felt. The last slave ship left the African coast in 1807. Nearly two centuries have passed. And yet the soul of Africa remains restive; it is not pacified. Africa cries for revenge and reparation.

The happening bond
by K. Rajbir Deswal
ANTONY, the love-lorn and almost moon-struck warrior, deserts his army in dejection. On a small boat, he manages to reach the ship, carrying on board his lady-love Cleopatra, the legendary queen of Egypt and the most beautiful woman of her times.

75 Years Ago

September 24, 1924
Congress Presidentship
MAHATMA Gandhi’s declaration in the latest issue of Young India, that he will accept the Presidentship of the ensuing Congress if his acceptance of it will serve the nation in any way, partially settles this important question. There is no Provincial Congress Committee which will recommend any other name for final adoption while there is any chance of having the Mahatma as President.

Double-danger thesis

EXTERNAL Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was forthright in presenting India's case before the United Nations General Assembly for global support for combating cross-border terrorism funded and encouraged by Pakistan. He was heard with rapt attention when he said that "terrorism is a menace to which open societies are vulnerable; it becomes particularly difficult for democracies when terrorists are armed, financed and backed by governments or their agencies, and benefit from state power". The global community is aware that by encouraging infiltration in Kargil Pakistan betrayed India's trust in bilateral negotiations for the settlement of disputes. The Kargil episode caused serious damage to the Lahore process and violated the spirit of the Simla Agreement. The External Affairs Minister did well to scotch the story spread by Pakistan that India was not interested in resuming bilateral talks. He informed the General Assembly that India was prepared to revive the process without any preconditions. However, the biggest gain for India was the broad understanding it forged with Russia for evolving a collective strategy for fighting terrorism. Mr Jaswant Singh was successful in convincing Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov of the importance of a collective global strategy for eliminating the threat to civil societies from well-armed and trained terrorist groups. The understanding between India and Russia is significant in the context of the threat of "jehad" [holy war] from Osama bin Laden against non-Muslim societies. During the ongoing annual UN General Assembly session Mr Jaswant Singh also had a useful exchange of views on the issue of global terrorism. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook was among those in favour of joint international action against terrorist organisations including the Taliban.

Two points which cropped up during the General Assembly session also deserve serious attention. One was raised by US President Bill Clinton during his seventh address to the General Assembly. He mentioned three issues which would receive the special attention of his country. The first two issues pertained to his Administration's commitment to wage an "unrelenting battle against (global) poverty" and to promote the development of vaccines against diseases common in poor countries. But what he said thereafter gave a disturbing twist to the position UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had outlined for promoting world peace. Mr Annan was obviously egged on by his friends in the Clinton Administration for propounding the outlandish thesis on global harmony. He stopped short of announcing the creation of a "world government" for removing the infirmities manifest in the system which recognised the sovereignty of nation-states. The Secretary-General sought powers for the UN to "walk into" any country without due formality for settling global disputes and ending human misery. Mr Clinton endorsed Mr Annan's warning that countries cannot assume that their national sovereignty will protect them from international intervention for stopping flagrant violations of human rights. But the US President went a step further by enunciating the dangerous doctrine of "blocs' right to intervene in regions of conflict" without UN sanction. He cited the NATO action in Kosovo, the Nigeria-led intervention in Sierra Leone and the Australia-led UN peacekeeping initiative in East Timor to justify his demand for the "right to intervene without authorisation". In effect, if the US-UN thesis for promoting "world peace" is accepted, the Third World would have to learn to live with danger to its existence from the terrorists and those armed with "the right to intervene".

ICICI’s historic entry

IT is a dream debut by ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) in New York Stock Exchange. And the hard-nosed moneymen of America loved the new entrant and smothered it with six times more subscription ($1.6 billion) than what was on offer, $275 million in shares. It is the first Indian company to trade in the NSE and the second Asian financial institution after the Bank of Tokyo. It has set more records. The first trade in the shares was at $ 11 as against the offered price of $ 9.80, which itself represents a healthy premium of 6.5 per cent over the average price of five shares in the Bombay Stock Exchange. Both the premium and the higher initial price are rare for the share of a bank; only recently a leading Korean bank had to offer a hefty discount of 25 per cent of the domestic price to push its global depository receipts (GDR, a form of shares). ICICI compressed the usual three phases of share-offering into just one phase and has miraculously succeeded. Normally a company wanting to raise funds from a stock exchange first gets it listed, then inserts advertisements and conducts Press conferences (derisively dubbed “road shows”) and finally seeks offers from potential investors to arrive at an acceptable price (technically the book-building process). ICICI got the shares listed, hosted the traditional breakfast on Wednesday, and its chief executive climbed the first floor to jointly ring the bell to signal the start of traditing (a practice dating back to the opening of the NSE about 200 years ago) and waited to watch the scramble for the new paper.

ICICI is a giant financial institution doing business in providing capital to industry, credit rating and security dealing and offering car and home loans. Last year its profits rose by 7 per cent and reserves for writing off bad debts also rose — by more than 60 per cent. This is not a good advertisement but investors — quality ones, ICICI says — came forward to take part in the initial public offering enthused by its transparent accounting procedure. Unlike many other banks, it follows the global system of accounting and that is why the provision for bad debt rose last year. The overwhelming response in the NSE comes in the wake of an equally warm reception in the domestic market where its issue was recently oversubscribed by 1.75 times. It wants to be a global player and it has got a good start. More than that, the demand for the ICICI shares is also a reflection of the growing interest and confidence in Indian economy. Financial institutions are basically different from manufacturing units in the sense that their health is inextricably linked with the health of the economy and not with the demand for this or that item. Satyam, the Hyderabad-based information technology firm, will hopefully be the next to trade in the NSE. Globalisation is having its ripple effect.

KASHMIRIS' DISINTEREST IN MILITANCY
Measures to end the menace
by A.N. Dar

THE militants in Kashmir have served notice that they will not let life go on normally. You cannot count them out. It is a misnomer to call them Kashmiri militants. They are mostly from Pakistan and Afghanistan and, according to some, from as far away as Sudan. Their equipment is what the Americans supplied to Pakistan to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. The funds they get are from countries like Saudi Arabia, even from those whom it has thrown out, like Osama bin Laden. Because they have all this, they have the capacity not only to cause great harm but sometimes bring life to a standstill, as they in a way did when hardly anyone turned up to cast his vote in the Srinagar constituency and there was violence of a gruesome sort when electioneering was on in Baramulla and Anantnag.

This has raised the question whether militancy can ever disappear from Kashmir. They have declined in power and number among the Kashmiri people. If the militants were not there, Kashmir would have been a land of peace. For 10 years Kashmiris went through killings, arson, kidnapping, rape and the torture of having unwanted strangers parking themselves at their homes and also having to fight off security forces with and without reason. In the unspeakable fundamentalist violence, most Kashmiri Pandits were either killed or had to run away. Thousands of houses were burnt down. Economic activity came to a standstill. The Kashmiris got nothing out of it except death, joblessness and young people giving up schooling.

The Kashmiris have by and large turned away from militancy. Their political inclinations are a separate question but they certainly do not want to go on with the killing and arson that militancy brought about. They want to fulfil whatever political ambitions they have but without militancy of which they are tired.

Yet, Pakistan does not want to end militancy. It has a big stake in continuing it. Having lost the Kargil war, Pakistan finds militancy much more useful. You cannot have wars every other day, but militancy can go on and on. It is not so costly, particularly when it is waged in another’s territory. Pakistan has only to supply men and guns and send them across. In the early phases men from Kashmir used to go across the Line of Control, get trained and equipped in the occupied Kashmir and Pakistan and come over to fight in Kashmir. This aspect of militancy is now much reduced. Pakistan now sends across Pakistanis and Afghans because few Kashmiris opt for it unless they are pushed across the Line of Control by false promises and kidnapping.

Even the foreign militants do not have the old sway. They collect in areas where they can come in and stay till they can find hideouts. They infiltrate through passes and forests. The Indian security forces have not been able to stop them from coming in. This is a hard fact. Many may get killed when they try to come in but a large number manage to streak in. Most experts say that the terrain is such that it is not possible to stop militants from coming in.

Often they are either provided shelter willingly by the local population which also lets them hide their arms or they force themselves into private houses. Since they are usually in groups of three or four and are armed, the families are not able to shut their doors to them and have to give them food. In a large number of cases the militants, sex-starved, away from their families and without the discipline of superiors, have helped themselves to molesting and kidnapping women. This is one of the reasons the militants, local and foreign, are greatly disliked and are not welcome in homes. But the militants force themselves in.

They make themselves comfortable till they go about on their errands of killing and advancing towards villages and towns. They are aware that the Indian security forces are on the look out for them. They are as well equipped as the Indian security forces. They know that if they are found out, they will be pursued. Often there are casualties on both sides.

Some of these militants have been given specific tasks, like in some cases to kill if there are any minority community members in an area or politicians who favour India or those whom they suspect of being the informers of Indian security forces. Wherever the security forces and the local population have been living normally, the militants create a scare by a sudden flare-up. Often they manage to escape. Maybe, they are found some time later and engaged in battle.

In some tasks they are very specific. They are helped by their local intelligence sources — like blow up the car of a certain politician or an official or get into a camp. Suddenness and surprise are their forte.

We must understand that foreign militants will continue to create damage until they are prevented from coming in. This can be done by making it difficult for them to come in. Getting across the Line of Control must be made an expensive enterprise for them. The alternative is if an agreement is reached with Pakistan not to send in militants. But this is not possible at the present level of relations between the two countries. Pakistan obviously wants to continue sending in militants. So India must plan its measures while knowing that militants will continue to come in.

The foreign militants will find it difficult to operate if they do not get any hiding places. Religious links help. Pakistan’s fundamentalist appeal is to draw more adherents to its activities. What also helps is the militants’ ability to force themselves in. A family cannot raise its voice when a group of militants comes in. The family knows that if it creates noise and becomes unpleasant, there might be a blow-up in which it may also perish.

What can help is the greater spread of the security forces. At the same time we must also realise that it is not possible to have the security forces everywhere. The terrain is very difficult and suited to help the militants in escaping attention. The security forces are mostly marching along the terrain. This is not an easy task. More often the militants are hiding away from the security forces except when they launch an attack. In the last few weeks they preferred to attack passing people in cars and jeeps and buses. They tried to enter security forces’ camps. These can be penetrated particularly by those who come on a suicide mission.

The conclusion is that unless the ISI stops sending them in or India succeeds in stopping them from coming in Kashmir will have to live with considerable militant activity. Killings will continue. This is an unpleasant conclusion I reached after a recent visit to Kashmir. The difference from the past is that Kashmiris are trying to move away from militancy, but Pakistan wants to reinforce it.

The voice of history
by Mulk Raj Anand

IN mature democracies before any election to legislatures there is generally a poster war. Some loud talk in meetings. Insinuations and references to sexual aberrations of rival candidates are avoided.

In our young democracy, there is a woman candidate for the highest office, as was the case when Indira Gandhi stood for election after the Emergency. Morarji Desai was known to have said: “I won’t be ruled by a woman — certainly not by a widow!”

Indira Gandhi did not answer the challenge. But went on campaigning with the slogan of “Gharibi Hatao” and won the election. In spite of the fact that many of her own followers and friends had objected to her declaration of the Emergency earlier.

In the present election the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi, widow of her elder son, Rajiv Gandhi, has been leading the Congress party. Her appeal has been, mainly, as the widow of martyr Rajiv Gandhi and daughter-in-law of vocal mother-in-law Indira Gandhi, from whom she learnt to bear criticism, as also her mother-in-law’s way of going to the masses.

As people responded to Indira Gandhi, when she went to countryside and large masses came to hear her, so Sonia Gandhi was greeted by lakhs of people to whom she spoke in Hindi, learnt laboriously, but well enough to communicate her message to large crowds.

It is possible that peasants and workers and lower middle sections of people came to see her rather than to hear her, because the spectacle of a white woman, daughter-in-law of the Nehru family, seemed strange but welcome.

Sonia Gandhi used to go round with her husband to villages, but she was modest and seldom spoke. But in the current election she seems to have shed her reserve and spoken eloquently enough to be applauded by large gatherings.

I recall the voices of one lakh people, who had gathered to listen to Mrs Annie Besant in 1925, when she came to visit Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. I knew that Mrs Besant had been in the group of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo Ghosh as a radical spokesperson, urging the Imperial power for home rule for India in the Commonwealth.

She was loved and adored by the masses and the intelligentsia and no one ever referred to her being a British.

In fact, Congressmen at the end of the 19th century knew that the Indian National Congress had been initiated by a retired British civil servant, Allen Octavio Hume, on the advice of Governor-General Lord Minto towards the last quarter of the 19th century. And Octavio Hume was the first President-Secretary of the Indian National Congress.

Later there were some retired British civil servants who furthered the cause of India as a potential member of the British Commonwealth.

Ramsey Macdonald, one of the founders of the British Labour Party, wrote a book about India, urging the grant of “Home Rule”. And when the latter became Prime Minister, he was responsible for calling the two round-table conferences, in which the first elected legislatures at the Centre and in the provinces were accepted as the initial step towards the introduction of a full self-government in India.

Of course, the round-table conference proposed a special representation for the Scheduled Castes. And Mahatma Gandhi fasted in Pune against this divisive recommendation.

Anyhow, as a member of the Indian League in London, working part time with Krishna Menon, I came in touch with several British members of British Parliament, like Sir Stafford Cripps, Ellen Wilkinson, B.N. Pritt, Anuerin Bevan and his wife. Leonard Matters; also with Edward Thompson, Harold Lasky, Lord Listowel, who were friends of India, committed to Indian freedom as part of the Commonwealth. Some were for complete Independence.

Jawaharlal Nehru, educated in Great Britain, a socialist, was listened to by the British intelligentsia.

Shapurji Saklatwala was heard by hundred thousand people or more in Hyde Park. And Krishna Menon attracted large audiences.

As students in a British university we saw that our Indian meetings were attended by many sympathetic British students.

In fact, Jawaharlal Nehru attracted larger gatherings when he came to the UK than Winston Churchill.

In Mahatma Gandhi’s Ashram had come Miss Slada, daughter of a British Admiral. And Rev. Varrier El Win gave his life-long devotion to the uplift of tribal folk.

So when I saw Sonia Gandhi going with Rajiv Gandhi to mass meetings and to Indian villages I did not think of her as an alien, because, I presumed, that, after her marriage to an Indian, she automatically became part of an Indian family. And I knew that she had also formally taken Indian citizenship.

So when the eloquent Mr Fernandes began to call Sonia Gandhi an “alien”, and used vulgar words about her, it seemed to me that he was being offensive, specially when he said that Sonia Gandhi’s only contribution has been “to produce two children”. Insinuations of this kind seem to be unworthy of our culture.

Of course, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, leader of the BJP, advised his allies to restrain from personal attacks on Sonia Gandhi. But he had no control on his allies like Mr Fernandes and Bal Thackeray.

Of course, Mr Fernandes has been more eloquent than any other politician. His provocation of China and Pakistan seemed to have embarrassed Chinese and Pakistanis leaderships.

Some of us have been struck by the resilience with which Sonia Gandhi faced abuse and calumny, with calm. And she never descended to the levels of diatribe like Mr Fernandes and the Shiv Sena and some members of the RSS and Hindutva.

I feel that a democratic election in the land of Gandhi, who deplored actions of young terrorists and conducted his campaigns for freedom with the utmost restraint, politicians like Mr Fernandes seem to be loud-mouthed democrats, unworthy of the trust reposed by people in them.

Whichever party wins, the election has to face the main problems of bread and water of a billion people.

Those politicians who are in the fray, from aspiration to power, will have to answer the Indian population with deeds rather than words.

“Gharibi Hatao” of Indira Gandhi still remains the main problem before the government of any party, or parties, that may come to power.

And, from this point of view, policies of an economist — Dr Manmohan Singh — seem to suggest that, if his party wins, its Finance Minister’s policies, already known to the world at large, may help to solve some of the problems facing India.

Although the leadership of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee has not followed “Hindutva” assertions and he has not talked of building the temple in Ayodhya. It is unlikely that Hindutva fundamentalists will give up their hidden agenda, if and when their liberal leaders come to power.

But basic problems facing the country are unsolvable, unless Panchayat Raj of Gandhiji, which was revived by Rajiv Gandhi, becomes shared policy, as it has been carried out in West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka.

It is likely that the party — which begins to face problems of mass poverty, emancipation of women and acceptance of their representations in legislatures, against current economic policies which are based on spend money on making bombs — may be able to promote social democracy in our country.

No power-hungry politician, who does not face our real problems, is likely to succeed, as they say, “If they only seek power and prestige for themselves”.

The happening bond
by K. Rajbir Deswal

ANTONY, the love-lorn and almost moon-struck warrior, deserts his army in dejection. On a small boat, he manages to reach the ship, carrying on board his lady-love Cleopatra, the legendary queen of Egypt and the most beautiful woman of her times.

Cleopatra’s honour does not permit her to entertain her lover fallen, in grace and esteem, for which he had been known. Why should Antony bring shame to the class of soldiers who are recognised for their valour and virtues? This question being uppermost in her mind, Cleopatra chastises Antony from the prow of the ship: “What has happened to you?” “You have happened to me! You, you, you...!” replies Antony.

A thousand words may not be able to convey Mark Antony’s infatuation, love and longing and obsession for Cleopatra as was done by a single sentence “You have happened to me”. This was a scene from an English movie, “Cleopatra.”

How human beings, and why only they, even animals — and may be all living beings — become habitual of each other is not at all surprising. To generalise the feelings, the psychologists term it as “conditioning” since their scope and subjects include all kinds of behavioural nuances and attributes.

You return from work. Even without a knock at the door, you find someone waiting eagerly for you. She holds in her hands belongings you are carrying. Makes you comfortable on a bed, couch or chair. Helps you remove your tie and even unlaces your shoes. She then offers you a cup of tea. And your fatigue is gone. If she weren’t there one day, what do you think might have happened to you. It is SHE who would have happened to you.

In a different situation, when your children grow up and are ready to fly from the nest to join their boarding or to take up job etc, you experience a great amount of uneasiness and a kind vacuum created in your life.

Alright, they troubled you for innumerable things. Still right that you were many times fed up. But the space they spare in the home when they leave does not allow you entry in it without making you nostalgically realise that “Really, your children had happened to you!”

There may be a thousand ways to express habits, dependence, complementing, supplementing, need, fellow-feeling, loving, longing, seeking, yet to experience a “made for each other” situation it transcends all behavioural reaction in humans, animals and all living beings.

And may be it is only a human perception. Yet the mountains should miss the rivers. The rivers the oceans. The oceans the bright shining stars. The stars the earth. And so on. Even if it be a human perception, is it not a fact that these things exist and “happen to each other”.

Micky, a white-pomeranian pet in our house, some years back was no less than a family member. For about five years, from his birth till his death, he shared many things in our household. His playful pranks, his becoming serious all of a sudden, his recognition of each member in the house being commensurate to his own understanding and general reckoning, his moods and his moodiness, his pains and sufferings on being attacked by a stranger or being unwell, had made him earn our family name. We called him at times, Micky Deswal something our neighbours did not like at all and made fun at our cost.

One morning, Micky became very dull all of a sudden. He did not respond in the manner he used to, everyday, when he picked up the newspaper and brought it to me, well tucked in his jaws with the perfection of a cat carrying her young ones by the neck. He became duller by the evening. We called in the vet. A couple of more days passed and he declared it might be rabies.

We removed Micky to a small corner in the verandah. All these years every nook and corner of our house was more known to Micky than us. But he was now (perhaps!) shown his place by us, the Deswals.

Micky died. As per the vet’s advice we buried him deep at a remote place. We came back home. The screeching sound of the main gate did not disturb “anybody” in the house. “Nobody” came out with welcome gestures like wagging his tail. “None” seemed to be sniffing around and sitting under the very chair you had yourself occupied.

I was quite sad and sullen. Wife and children understood my agony and anguish and did not ask me what had happened to me. Or else, I would have replied: “Micky has happened to me!”

Can slavery perpetrators talk of human rights?
By M.S.N. Menon

A SPECTRE is haunting our earth — the spectre of revenge. Time has not requited it, nor has it suffered from amnesia. Like a hovering spirit, it makes its presence felt.

The last slave ship left the African coast in 1807. Nearly two centuries have passed. And yet the soul of Africa remains restive; it is not pacified. Africa cries for revenge and reparation.

There are other spectres. Two centuries ago, opium was forced on the Chinese. Britain wanted the gold and silver of China. In return, it gave AIDS to China — or something not very different from it. This led to “opium” wars. The Chinese have neither forgotten nor forgiven it.

And the Jews? They, too, have not forgotten the Holocaust or their long humiliation in history.

The world is full of memories of injustices — of unjust wars, colonial plunders and imperial conquests. Racial atrocities — it is a never-ending affront. How can the Red Indians ever forget the genocide of their race and the destruction of the Aztec, Inca and Maya civilisations?

Writes an authority on the Mayas: “The great men of Athens would not have felt out of place in a gathering of Maya priests and rulers”. How can the original inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand forget the decimation of their people? The Koreans and Chinese hate the Japanese. And the Vietnamese retain the macabre memory of the horrendous war thrust on them by America. Every nation, which was colonised, has a bitter memory to tell. And Pol Pot — who created this monster?

Resentment is building up like a volcano: it is bound to erupt in some form. Terrorism is an offshoot of this pent-up and feeling of revenge.

At Elmina Castle in Ghana, a plaque on the wall reads: “In everlasting memory of the anguish of our ancestors. May those who died rest in peace. May those who return find their roots. May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice”. Pious wish, you might say!

Such slave forts are to be found all along the western coast of Africa, where the slaves were kept in dark dungeons before they were shipped out to the plantations. They remind us of man’s inhumanity. They remind us of the time when white men hunted for black men in African jungles. And the Christian church did not consider the African as a human being. Even the reformation made no difference. Inequality, Martin Luther said, is a natural order.

This is no reflection on Christianity. It reflects, above all, the low morality of the Europeans, who today sit in judgement over the human rights concerns of other peoples. As if we have forgotten their past!

The Portuguese and Spanish were the worst in their morals. On this, this is what the British statesman, Palmerston, had to say: “The plain truth is that the Portuguese are of all European nations the lowest in the moral scale”. Surprisingly, the Jesuit Order, which poses itself today as the most enlightened, was one of the worst offenders!

A new African organisation, the African World Reparation Commission, representing all Africans, recently signed a declaration at Accra, capital of Ghana, asking for reparations for the enslavement of Africans. It was addressed to West European nations and the Americans, as well as to their institutions.

Who are the main culprits? Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the USA.

The commission has asked for a reparation of $ 777 trillion (US) to be paid in five years. And it wants all international debt of African nations to be cancelled and transport arranged for those who want to go back to Africa.

Albert Schweitzer, an eminent Church leader, would have approved the demand. “We and our civilisation are burdened with a great debt... . Anything we give them (Africans) is not benevolence, but atonement”, he had said.

It was in 1481 that the first Portuguese fort on the slave coast of Africa was set up. England entered the slave trade in 1562. And, as I said, the last ship sailed out in 1807, though illegal trade went on for another half a century. Thus, for over three centuries this great tragedy of a people continued unabated. The Christian church was a party to it: it never protested. And, Islam never said anything against it. Slave trade was common in West Asia and North Africa. But there were protests from individuals. According to Sir Reginald Coupland: “It is difficult not to regard this treatment of Africa by Christian Europe... as the greatest crime in history”.

England was the worst offender. But it was also the first to initiate the ban. Lord Palmerston said in 1844: “If all the crimes committed from Creation down to the present day were added together, they would not exceed, I am sure, the guilt of the diabolical slave trade.

The fortune of Bristol, an English city, was built on slave trade. A round trip was highly profitable. Ships carried textiles, hardware, alcohol and firearms to be sold to Africa; they picked up slaves from the west coast for the colonies; and on their return voyage carried cotton, sugar, tobacco and rum for Europe. In 1783 a trip made a profit of £ 9635. Later, it rose to £ 60,000.

Slave trade was considered legitimate. The black man was not considered a human being. If it was right to sell cotton, why not black ivory? — so went the argument.

About 17 per cent of the slaves died during the voyage, 33 per cent died in the plantations during “seasoning” and each slave lived no more than 10-15 years!

A male slave fetched $ 325 in the USA in 1840 and $ 500 in 1860. He fetched more when the trade was banned. But along the African coasts, slaves were available for less than £ 2 per man. The profit was high.

Nudity was the rule in the ships. The slaves ate from a common bucket. When the “Esperanza” was captured in 1843, it was found to have a crew of 10 and a “cargo” of 250 slaves, put in a hold 32 inches high. Sharks infested the slave route, scavenging for carcasses. In 1827 Commodore Bullen informs the British Admiralty that in a ship captured by him, there were 525 slaves “crowded together in a solid mass of filth and corruption”. Most of them suffered from dysentery and blindness. Starvation, disease and asphyxiation — these took the lives of many. Sixty-seven were already dead. Those who became blind were thrown to the sharks. And what awaited the cargo at the end of the journey was worse than death. Many of them were yoked to ploughs because horses were not easy to get!

America made a thriving business in slave trade, for it had almost a monopoly on ship building.

Although slave trade was banned in the early part of the 19th century, it continued. Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment had no significant effect on it. Lincoln had to fight a war to stop it in America. That crimes against humanity will haunt them — this thought never occurred to them.

This is not the first time a reparation claim has been submitted. It was made in 1993 by Nigeria. At that time Lord Anthony Gifford of the British House of Lords argued that Africa had a legal claim. The enslavement of Africans was a crime against humanity, he argued. International law recognised the need for reparation. “The mass kidnap and enslavement of Africans was the most wicked criminal enterprise ever recorded in human history”, he had said. “It cannot go unpunished. Reparation — this is the least the West can do”.

This is the message to the West. On Europe’s mission in the world Herzen had said: “We are not the doctors, we are the disease”. Please do not infect us with more diseases. and do not think that we have forgotten your history.

75 YEARS AGO

September 24, 1924
Congress Presidentship

MAHATMA Gandhi’s declaration in the latest issue of Young India, that he will accept the Presidentship of the ensuing Congress if his acceptance of it will serve the nation in any way, partially settles this important question. There is no Provincial Congress Committee which will recommend any other name for final adoption while there is any chance of having the Mahatma as President.

The uncertainty of the past attitude of some of these committees was due wholly to the fact that it was considered doubtful whether the Mahatma would accept the office, a doubt to which the Mahatma himself had contributed by a somewhat premature statement.

Now the Mahatma himself has set this doubt at rest. The country will, with one voice, call the Mahatma to the supreme office which it is in its power to confer on any man. It will do so more readily in view of the fact that the Mahatma, as befits and has always befitted his pre-eminent position in the public life of his country, now stands outside the arena of strife and controversy.

With the impassioned plea of unity in his mouth, he is easily the fittest man in the country to lead its deliberations in this supreme crisis in its affairs. We have no doubt the unanimous election of the Mahatma to the highest office will mark a new epoch in the nation’s history and in the history of the Congress and that resuming its interrupted career, it will now go forward from strength to strength and with the utmost expeditiousness till it has reached its destined goal of the fullness of political liberty.