Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Guru Gobind Singh

Badshah Darvesh
Guru Gobind Singh

By Kartar Singh Rishi
Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism was born in 1469, when the world was..more

Is Farooq Abdullah irreplaceable ?

By Fazal Mehmood
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Min-ister Farooq Abdullah recently threatened to resign if the Centre failed ...more

Governance and bureaucrats at cross purposes

By Joginder Singh IPS (Retd.)
The undoing of many things in our country is the lack of ideo-logical cohesiveness....more

EDITORIAL

PM'S GESTURE

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee has once again intervened to give extra weightage to Jammu & Kashmir State in terms of financial support. This stands manifested by subsequent meeting of high level state team with Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. He has declared that J&K will be treated as a 'Special State' amongst the special category states. It may be mentioned that special category states enjoy central funds on the basis of 90% grant and only 10% loan while other states get funds as 70% loan and only 30% grant. This in itself is a recognition of the state not only being strategically important but also the one that has been let down badly by successive central governments right from the dawn of independence. Never before the problem has been addressed so sincerely so that state could become viable entity. To that extent there might have been vested interests both in the state as also central ruling echelons not to allow state to be on its own in terms of industrialisation, communication, road/rail networks, tapping of hydel potential and/or other steps that are crucial to lead any state towards self-sufficiency. Frankly speaking, none of the states in India are on their own. It is the magnitude of dependence on centre that however varies. Incidentally, J&K economic health is in bad shape due to several crucial factors.

First is the central indifference which denied the state any central project or helped the state to tap its vast hydel power potential. Instead, centre signed an unequal Indus Water Treaty that has materially affected the state in all other sectors. The state has never been compensated for loss and surrender of its waters of river Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. Second aspect relates to the states own incompetent leadership which spent most of their time in self-aggrandisement leading to mass corruption rather than utilise the central funds for the projects for which these were allocated under successive five year plans. It is recorded that plan funds have been diverted by all the successive governments in the state for non-plan expenditure. This is the largest factor that has contributed to alienation of the people from the mainstream. The third reason is the regime of false promises that are not redeemed thereby retarding smooth flow of funds year after year. With repeated change of guard in Delhi, the state has somehow become the willy-nilly victim of such promises that remain on paper only. The fourth factor is of course bad management of scarce resources about which repeated mention has been made in these columns. Present financial crunch would not have been so acute had tax realisation and revenue collections been made promptly and scrupulously. Today, no less than Rs 600 crore are outstanding on sales tax recoveries alone. It is indeed a big fraud in that traders have realised this tax from the purchasers but not deposited in state coffers under rules. One really wonders why so much magnanimity and benevolence is being shown to such defaulters who have deliberately robbed the state of massive amounts year after year. Same is true of power and other tariffs where large outstandings are a rule rather than exception. It would be bad to specifically mention any region for such default. Suffice to say that the government continues to be very soft on defaulters of all hues either for political expediency or because the major defaulters enjoy too much political clout with the ruling clan. If only revenue collections would have flown smoothly into state coffers and recoveries made putting aside extraneous considerations, financial health of the state would not have detriorated so badly.

Keeping in mind all the above factors, Finance Minister has advised the state to go in for major financial restructuring and reforms programme as the special assistance cannot be extended indefinitely. It is precisely because of this that the state has been asked to prepare MoU which essentially involves a definite commitment that the funds thus made available would be utilised for the project/purpose for which these are given. Once it is done, cash flow would start in direct proportion to development activities so that the plan is fully protected. In addition, state has also asked to provide it funds to meet the deficit on revenue account taking within its ambit the payment of dearness allowance to its employees for which indefinite strike is on. There are definite signs that after the crucial meeting with the Prime Minister slated for today with state high-powered team there is the hope of adequate flow of funds from the centre to extract the state from the quagmire of bankruptcy and put it back on the rails economically. This time it is not empty promise but genuine concern for the genuine demands of the state the credit for which naturally goes to Prime Minister. But for his intervention and directions, the state functionaries could not carry conviction either with the Planning Commission or with the Finance Minister.

TERRORIST STATE

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee has asked the big nations genuinely concerned with Pan-Islamic terrorism to declare Pakistan as the terrorist sponsor nation. There is enough of evidence available with American administration to prove that Pakistan is the mother of global terrorism breast-feeding it without any let-up. In retrospect it may be mentioned that former President George Bush has put Pakistan on the Watch-list for being declared as terrorist sponsor nation. His successor Bill Clinton however reversed the decision and let Pakistan off the hook. In a way America did support guerrilla war in Afghanistan against Soviet troops present in that country that in turn produced what are now called as Talibans. America also asked Pakistan to outlaw Harkat-ul-Ansar and stop its operations from Pak soil. Instead of doing that, Pak facilitated change of nomenclature from Harkat-ul-Ansar to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. No wonder these are the American shoulder-fired Stinger Missiles that are still in their possession and its latest display was on the turmac at Kandahar airport around hijacked aircraft. At least 180 Stinger missiles have remained unaccounted for out of the total of about 900 supplied by America via Pakistan with bases at Peshawar and other places put at the disposal of America. Incidentally, it was this Stinger Missile that shot down IAF Chopper in Kargil killing four crew members of the targetted helicopter. Unfortunately American concerns as regards tackling global terrorism are confined where American interests are affected. That is why USA seeks the head of Osama Bin Laden and not those in Pakistan or sustained by Pakistan for various terrorist acts worldwide, notably in Jammu & Kashmir. America has also refused to support Russia in its effor to eliminate the bandits from Chechenya which have mercenaries from Pakistan and some other countries. It is in this context that American Congressional leader Gary Ackerman's missive to the state department is to be read. He says that America must review the terrorist role being played by Pakistan by sustaining many terrorist outfits in the country. He has pointedly mentioned infiltration of such Pak sponsored terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir. The point to be noted relates to his assessment that Kashmir is not the core issue. The Pak agenda is dismemberment of India through spread of terrorism. He also confirms hand of Pakistan military junta in the Indian Airline hijack. All this and much more calls for global action which besides other steps include declaring Pakistan as a terrorist sponsor nation.

Badshah Darvesh Guru Gobind Singh

By Kartar Singh Rishi

Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism was born in 1469, when the world was plunged into the darkness, ignorance, feudal tyranny, oppression & superstition. He showed light and wisdom to the world by preaching righteousness & by visiting various places throughout the world. He had Bhakti cult as his motto, but was stunned to be a witness of naked tyranny and violence unleashed by Mughal King Babar who attacked India at the time Guru Ji was compelled to donounce the highhandedness of Babar and uttered some significant shaloks, which indicated that He (Guru Ji) too was aggrieved by the way invaders of India had violated the human rights.

"Jan Sakta Sakta Ko Mare,

Tan Man Ros Na Hoi"

"meaning that if a powerful attacks/kills equally powerful, I had no grudge," but the way the innocents were killed mercilessely He had reservations. The tyranny was so much pronounced that even children shirked taking their food.

"Babar wani phir gayi, koir na roti khaye"

under this back-drop, the ten Gurus of Sikhs, all contemporaries to successive Mughal Kings, had to face the challenge of the autocratic rule of Mughal Emperors. Guru Angad Dev Ji succeeded to Guru Nanak Ji and then came Guru Amar Dass Ji, Guru Ram Dass Ji & the Guru Arjan Dev Ji, who was the fifth Sikh Guru. It was to the credit of Guru Arjan Dev Ji that Adi Guru Granth Sahib Ji was compiled, in which the bulk of hymns were contributed by He himself. Besides being a great scholar & a holy poet he had invented Gurmukhi Script. The sacrifice of this great Guru is well known to the world. Based on these happenings the 6th Guru Hargobind Sahib had to wear two swords (Miri & Piri) that is bhakti and shakti and fought many successful wars with the enemy.

The tenure of Guru Har Rai Ji & Guru Har Krishan Ji, was also eventful & contributory to overall developments of tyranny-free samaj and teaching love and affection to all, was their theme.

The ninth Guru Geg Bahadur Ji, however believed in total mediation and showed the way of tolerance. But to his surprise this was misunderstood by the mighty Mughal Emperor who tightened its noose on the hapless society, compelling them to embrace Islam. To save the people from cruel onslaught a bold request for personal sacrifice was made to the ninth Guru by His own son Guru Gobind Singh Ji to prevent the oppression, against the humanity & that specially unleashed against the Kashmiri Pandits by the Mughal Subedars in Kashmir.

All the foregoings made a tough and hardened saint sepoy (Badshah Darvesh) to come in the scene of the beleagured Indian society.

"Tav parkash hamara bheyo

Patna shehar vikhe bhav leyo"

Guru Gobind Singh Ji was born at Patna Sahib on Dec 22, 1666 to the ninth Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Ji. There were great expectations in the world about the great Guru and subsequent happenings fully endorsed that He came much above these aspirations. His early life was spent at Patna Sahib, where he got not only well versed in Gurmukhi & Gurbani but also in horse riding, swimming and mockfighting. He accomplished all these skills in the tender age of five years.

It was here itself that Peer Bhikhan Shah had placed two cops before Guru Ji, representing Hindu & Muslim religions to test Him. The Peer was shocked and pleased when Guru Ji at the same time touched both the cups indicating that He kept no difference between various religions. The miracle of the world is that Guru Ji was enthroned as Guru in 1675 at the tender age of nine years when his father Guru Teg Bahadur Ji gave supreme sacrifice of his life at Delhi to alleviate the sufferings of tyranny - stricken humanity.

On the martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji a heavy responsibility fell on tender shoulders of 10th Guru (Guru Gobind Singh Ji).

Subsequent events proved that Guru Gobind Singh Ji conducted his affairs in such a way that it was proved that no religious leader on earth could do what He did to save Bharat Varsh.

Some of the famous wars Guru Ji fought against tyranny & won were war of Bhangani in 1689, the war of Nadam in 1690 AD and the war of Hussaini in the year 1695. In all these wars Guru Ji showed exemplary bravely and defeated his opponents comfortably although the enemy's forces were much larger in number and superior in armoury. The unique feat of Guru Ji was to create fearless and highly brave people. He arranged for a big congregation on 13th April 1699 at Anandpur Sahib and challenged the audience to come forward to give supreme sacrifice of their lives, by offering their heads. None but five beloveds came forward who were baptised, that is they part-took "Amrit" by Guru Ji and named as "Panj Pyaras". The special feature of this exercise was that all those inducted as Panj Pyaras were men of low casts/downtrodden society. Thus the Khalsa Panth was established, setting an example of fearlessness, love discipline, brave fight against tyrants and simple and dignified living, which was the need of that hour. The events subsequently proved that but for such a fighting force, the original Indian society would have perished by the onslaught of various invaders/usurpers.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji was a total picture of sacrifice, "Desh and Dharam Rakshak" and is known as "Sarbans Dani", since He caused sacrifice of His father 9th Guru. All his four sons namely Baba Ajeet Singh, Jhujher Singh Baba Zorawar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh and all his family for the sake of "Hind".

"Pita Warya, te lall chare ware, Hind teri Shaan Badle."

This is the tribute generally paid to the great Guru for saving the humanity of Hindustan.

It is not that Guru Ji had something against any religion. His life shows that he had love for all religions, but he hated tyranny, highhandedness and unfairness. The example of two Muslims Gani Khan & Nabi Khan who saved him by describing Him as "Uch Da Peer" when Mughal Army had encircled Him, amply shows that but for his compassion and affection for that religion, his could not have been possible.

The pressure of Mughal King Aurangzeb mounted on Guru Ji on the behest of pahari princess at Anandpur Sahib in 1704 and after a giving heroic fight, He abandoned Anandpur Sahib in the same year on Dec 20.

The subsequent event in the war of Chamkour the Guru Ji taught a lesson to the mighty forces of King Aurangzeb and when reduced to meagre strength, he decided to fight to the finish, but being a true democrat had to bow before the "Hukam Nama" of five Sikhs representing "Panj Pyaras" to leave Garhi Chamkour Sahib.

The literacy persuits of Guru Ji & His complete mastery on literature including Persian is evident from his various literacy works and Dassam Granth written by Him shows that besides being great warrior He was a perfect writer also.

This great Guru left this world in 1708 at the age of 42 years leaving a great mark for centuries to come.

Is Farooq Abdullah irreplaceable ?

By Fazal Mehmood

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Min-ister Farooq Abdullah recently threatened to resign if the Centre failed to meet a set of financial demands made by him. One of the major demands he made was the waiver of the Rs. 1250 crore owed by the state to the centre. The other demands related to fresh and enhanced allocations to meet the state's "peculiar" demands. Peculiar is obviously intended to mean the 10-year-old insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir which has undoubtedly led to considerable financial and other forms of instability.

There is nothing peculiar, though, about the Chief Minister of a "bankrupt" state making such a demand. Today, only a handful of the states constituting the Union are solvent. The others have, without exception, managed to empty their treasuries. Some chose to go bankrupt by offering subsidies of mind-boggling proportions, like free electricity and highly subsidised fertiliser. Some other states chose to take to unorthodox methods like eating up crores worth fodder meant for cattle or allocating Rs. 100 or 50 crore for building up a memorial park here and there. Yet others, including Farooq Abdullah, chose to buy fancy jet aircraft to ferry political bosses across their states and elsewhere.

What makes Farooq Abdullah out from most other chief ministers is that he is the only one who has threatened to resign if his state's old debts are not written off and fresh grants not made available. There may be some merit in his asking for a waiver of the money owed by the state on account of counter-insurgency measures taken by it, over and above the expenditure incurred by New Delhi on maintaining a large armed presence in the state. Inder Kumar Gujral, during his short-lived prime ministership, wrote off a similar figure debt owed by Punjab, citing terrorism as the reason. Why should not the Vajpayee Government do it for him?

After all, he is Farooq Abdullah, the son of Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, the architect of the state's accession to the Union. He is the most popular Kashmiri leader. Look at the way the National Conference made a clean sweep of the Lok Sabha seats in the Valley, Ladakh included. Does it matter that just 11 per cent of the voters turned up at the polling booths in the Srinagar constituency which, incidentally, was won by his son, Umar?

The hardnosed might accuse Farooq Abdullah of playing politics of blackmail. And they may even be right. For, given the nature of politics as it is practised in Jammu and Kashmir, we all must plead guilty to having contributed to the growth of virtual one-party rule in the state. Call it short-sightedness or political expediency _ in the case of the Congress it could be attributed to Sheikh Abdullah's close association with the party from years before the dawn of freedom _ but whoever has ruled in New Delhi, has somehow always banked heavily on the National Conference. No other party has been allowed to grow in the Valley.

The Congress did maintain a presence in the Valley even when Sheikh Abdullah was around, but the ground for the most part was left free to the NC. But for the brief interregnum which marked the fall of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad's government, when the Democratic National Conference led by G. M. Sadiq was in office, the NC has ruled the roost for the better part of the past half century.

Even when its popularity was at the lowest ebb, New Delhi was only too willing to continue to put all its eggs in the NC basket. As a consequence, the State Assembly elections were rarely held on a level-playing field. There always was an official "tilt" towards the NC, leaving the latter to do the rest, which it did admirably. That is until 1987 when it outdid itself by staging a farce of an election in tandem with the Congress party. That was the beginning of overt pro-Pakistani activity, marked initially by a series of bomb explosions in Srinagar; terrorist activity surfaced formally in the next few months and acquired its present form towards end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990.

One can also not help recalling how Farooq Abdullah actually made an exit from the state's political scene in 1990, making the appointment of Jagmohan as Governor by the V. P. Singh government a pretext. Terrorism was at its peak at the time and Jagmohan, for whom it was to be his second stint as the Governor, was trying to find his feet. Farooq the chief minister chose that particular moment to resign. Not content with that, he accused the Governor of launching a campaign of genocide against Kashmiri people. There may be two views about Jagmohan's role in 1990 but he certainly was not guilty of genocide.

Farooq's mood swings can be staggering which the Kashmiris initially attributed to his youthfulness and often overlooked simply because he was Sheikh Abdullah's son. In 1986, when he was sworn in as chief minister a second time by Jagmohan he said: "Governor saheb, we need you very badly. It is indeed amazing that such remarkable work could be done by you in a short time (President's rule) through an imbecile and faction-ridden bureaucracy. If today three ballot boxes are kept, one for the National Conference, one for the Congress and one for you, your ballot box would be full while the other two ballot boxes would be empty. Please do not hesitate to pull my ears if I go wrong." Jagmohan must have been flattered by that one but certainly not by what Farooq had to say of him three years latter.

In fairness to Farooq, he is a big, bluff, blunt fellow who often gets carried away by his rhetoric. His other problem, a proneness to sycophancy, is not unique to him. He can be impetuous which, however, does explain his putting his foot into his mouth more often than not. His threat to resign over the issue of the financial crisis faced by his state is again, very typical of the man. In the absence of an opposition in the state, he thinks he is not answerable to anyone or, that he is irreplaceable.

The rise of a credible political alternative to him within the state would do him and the country a lot of good. Unfortunately, like the Congress, particularly of the Rajiv era, the BJP too has decided to treat him with kid gloves. He needs to be told a few home truths about his administration: absence of development work in the valley for another; total lack of communication with the people.

He has been unable to bring any kind of transparency to his Government's functioning. He is surrounded by a coterie which also rules in his behalf during his long and frequent absences from the state. All he is asking for now, apart from the waiver of Rs. 1250 crore debt, is Rs. 2500 crore as immediate help and Rs. 500 crore as reimbursement of security related expenses. One is not sure when exactly the annual Plan allocation of about Rs. 1000 crore is due. All this together should make for a tidy packet. INAV

Be ready with new solutions for tomorrow

By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Applying outworn tactics to present evils and then expecting that in consequence all the good things of life will automatically fall into our laps is no better than struggling senselessly to open new locks with old keys.

Have you ever watched Person A struggle to open a lock, passing through every emotional stage from mild impatience to blazing anger, then finally throwing away the key and picking up a large stone to smash the lock? At that moment, Person B arrives and says, ''Try my key. That's a new lock, you know. Your old key won't fit''. Person A is by this time so over-wrought that he cannot bring himself to do anything but stand back and watch Person B insert the key in the lock. It opens, of course, in an instant.

Person A is like all those people who do not care to keep pace with the fast-changing world of the present day. They find themselves in altered situations, but persist in applying outdated farmulae to them and never fail to become bewildered and irate when their old keys refuse to budge the new locks. They then proceed to waste their time and energy in venting their anger on these changed sets of circumstances which are not obligingly going to change back just to please them.

They even allow their anger to reach such a patch of intensity that they are prepared to smash whatever it is that no longer responds to their old keys. It is unfortunate that there is seldom ''Person B'' standing by who will produce just the right key at the right moment.

People normally have to find such keys for themselves. But then it is not everyone who can find them, for their acquisition requires such strenuous effort as few are willing to undertake. And before embarking on such a course, people have first of all to recognize this as a prerequisite of modern living. But what do we see all around us? Rabble-rousers on platforms making fiery speeches demanding reservations and exclusive treatment, with mountains of printed matter everywhere to echo their words.

They continue to inveigh against social prejudice and discriminatory practices, resorting to public demonstrations to reinforce their viewpoint. But applying outworn tactics to present evils and then expecting that in consequence all the good things of life will automatically fall into the laps is little better than struggling senselessly to open new locks with old keys. What they should be devoting their energies to is serious efforts at all levels to bring about social uplift, an improvement in creativity and the setting of examples in individual diligence.

I recently had a talk with a hakim, an expert in the Unani system of medicine, during which we discussed the respective merits of the Unani and allopathic systems. The hakim pointed out that the fundamental difference between the two was that whereas the allopathic system concerns itself with removing only the symptoms of a complaint, the Unani system attacks the root cause.

To illustrate his point, he cited the allopathic doctor who gives aspirin, or some other such pain-killer, for a headache. This provides only temporary relief, for it does not remove the source of the pain. The Unani physician, on the other hand, would first look into the cause of the headache perhaps some disorder in the digestive system- then he would set about treating that, and not just the headache.

He would never aim at giving just temporary relief. The hakim was, therefore, severely critical of the allopathic method, while he described the Unani system as both reasonable and natural, having as its objective a permanent cure.

Later, in the discussion,the subject of Al-Risala came up. The hakim said that he could not agree that its message was truly constructive. He argued that it needed to provide instant solutions to the critical problems besetting Muslims today. ''But'', he said, ''you do no have any quick solutions for these problems.

''All you offer your readers is a philosophy, or a code of conduct-patience, avoidance of confrontation, unilateral withdrawal of complaints. Under the present conditions, it is not an all-embracing philosophy which they need, but solutions for individual problems''.

I said to the Hakim: ''As far as individual maladies are concerned, the science you have learned as a healer tells you that the cause must be removed, if the treatment is to be beneficial. You could call this a philosophy too. And it is one which you would certainly not give up in favour of a patchwork treamtent of symptoms.

''When it comes to social maladies, however, you pronounce yourself in favour of the piecemeal removal of symptoms, leaving the cause untouched. If you were to would see that it is just as essential to remove the cause in the former as it is in the latter. The symptoms of social malaise will disappear only when we have a philosophy which tackles the root cause.''- CNF