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EDITORIAL It is ironical that the black-out exercise conducted by Civil Defence department for only 15 minutes turned out to be a nightmare for the hapless Jammuites. One really does not know whether it was the exercise or the storm that plunged Jammu in total darkness throughut the night. One thing however is certain. It exposes fragility of the PDD to withstand even minor acceleration in wind speed. Surely it was not a cyclone nor that heavy storm to bring the unwieldy system to a grinding halt leading to many heart-burns amongst the citizens who were left high and dry to spend ......more Some tall claims are being made by political bandmasters with vast experience in politicking in the wretched State. They are holding the olive branch to the hapless people of the State to wait for two years for riddance from present 'chaos'. Two years because present life of the assembly is just a shade more than two years. It would have been hardly a year had State ...more |
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SPOTLIGHT Drug abuse cannot be prevented only through legislation By Jyotshna Pandit Do they understand what arrogance of power is? By O P Modi Indo-China relations:
Syrupy sentiments |
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EDITORIAL It is ironical that the black-out exercise conducted by Civil Defence department for only 15 minutes turned out to be a nightmare for the hapless Jammuites. One really does not know whether it was the exercise or the storm that plunged Jammu in total darkness throughut the night. One thing however is certain. It exposes fragility of the PDD to withstand even minor acceleration in wind speed. Surely it was not a cyclone nor that heavy storm to bring the unwieldy system to a grinding halt leading to many heart-burns amongst the citizens who were left high and dry to spend the gory night in not only darkness but also they had to sweat it out. Worst part of the episode relates to the fact that none in authority was able to inform asto what has happened and when the power would be restored. It seems even their wireless communication obliged the deafening cries of the thunder clouds sans floods. As one understands all grids are connected with wireless sets to know the latest. But then the million dollar question is if at all the sets were serviceable and/or personnel handling them were present. This is height of unaccountability for as essential a service as power supply. It seems crisis management is not at all on the agenda of the powers that be. In this context one does appreciate Power Grid Corporation for restoring supply to the Valley after the terrorists damaged transmission towers with speed and total dedication. Here it seems to be anybody's business and nobody's business as well. The only silver lining is that terrorists could not put their act together for taking full advantage of blacked-out Jammu. Another nasty aspect relates to the fact that even special lines failed. This puts a big question mark on the efficacy of entire system that fails exactly at a time when needed most. None bothers asto the direct impact on water supply to the city of over a million which is materially affected as none of the pumping stations could work. The people were seen running from pillar to post in search of glassful of water. The school children found the tanks empty. Many local newspapers could not come out. Hospital services were adversely affected. In fact, every activity came to a grinding halt. Although offices opened at 8-30 AM on Wednesday, the babus were in no mood to work in the absence of fans and coolers and rightly so. Many had to go without bath or even without cleaning the face. That is the impact of failure of power for such a long duration. True, there was gradual restoration of power locality-wise yesterday and curtailed water supply in the afternoon. But that does not absolve the powers that be of apathetic attitude and bad planning that blacks out Jammu by the day as much as during the night. Short-cuts only aggravate the problems since they offer no respite from perennial sickness with which PDD suffers. Even employees unions have referred to the imperative need of total reorganisation of the department for better delivery. They have pointed out the lacunae from which PDD suffers. One cannot disbelieve the employees because they are in the field and also in direct contact with the people. To that extent their viewpoint does have credibility and logic. It is not that all that they say is right or wrong. Far from it. The point to be stressed is that present system suffers from gross infirmities. It stands manifested from the ever deteriorating power supply-year after year, month after month and day after day. A system that compounds and aggravates the woes of the people needs drastic surgery. Unfortunately, priorities are different even at the political level. It is apt to remind asto what Chief Minister openly declared ''Electricity or no electricity, all of you have to pay for it''. This mindset has to be changed. The sooner it happens the better for the ruling clan. Civil Defence exercise is fine and people have responded by accepting the 15 minute black out but when Jammu is blacked out totally for full night and persists recklessly on the following morning it is unpardonable. PDD must put its act together even as ruling clan should re-arrange its priorities to make them people-friendly. Some tall claims are being made by political bandmasters with vast experience in politicking in the wretched State. They are holding the olive branch to the hapless people of the State to wait for two years for riddance from present 'chaos'. Two years because present life of the assembly is just a shade more than two years. It would have been hardly a year had State constitution been in total harmony with the Indian Constitution. The latter provides life span of five years to go to the people again in all the State assemblies and for Lok Sabha. But in Jammu & Kashmir it happens to be six years. One need not go in to pros and cons of why it is so and when other articles and laws were applied, some 300 to the State, life of assembly was left intact at six years. That is entirely a different subject. Right now the fact is next assembly elections are due in September 2003 and the process for elections would commence exactly two years from now. It thus follows that old players in the State politics make head-on start trying to vie with one another and in the process outsmart he incumbents in the power apparatus. They have chosen this two-year business because right now stock and credibility of the ruling clan is at its lowest. The only plus point is that it is democratically elected Government mandated by the people with two third majority to rule the State for full six years. Those in the waiting appear to be in hurry to go for projections that have little or no hypothesis. First, New PCC (I) Chief has declared that Congress is going to occupy the seat of power in two years time. The fact is that Congress never had any base in Valley. What it had was wholesale conversion of National Conference that was rechristened as Congress during the Sadiq-Qasim stint. The Congress performed the vanishing act when Sheikh Abdullah surprised them with ordering mid-term poll and in the process NC got restored to its pristine glory. In Jammu also Congress which was the dominant party is reduced to a trickle with only 8 seats in the last assembly elections. Mohd Shaffi Qureshi knows it all by heart. Above all he knows that his party is in total disarray both at the central and state level with reports of another imminent split. Under the circumstances one can only wish well to the new PCC(I) Chief who will have to do the calculations afresh. Second onslaught and almost identical perceptions emanate from the former Home Minister Mufti Mohd Syed and his outfit Peoples Democratic Party. Left to himself he wants to rid the people of this State straightway from the present misrule by seeking dismissal of the Farooq Government. On second thoughts however he promises 'riddance' in two years and in doing so seeks peoples cooperation and support. There are relentless tirades against the incumbents holding them responsible for present woes of the State and its people. Howsoever off the mark and preposterous, they have indeed put the Government on notice to perform and deliver fast. At least from this point of view emergence of such challenges from the old stalwarts with long political innings in this State is welcome. |
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SPOTLIGHT India has called for "decisive" steps by the British Government to prevent the Islamic fundamentalists in Britain from extending support to the militants and foreign mercenaries in Kashmir. A clear, categorical message, in this regard, has been conveyed by the Minister for External Affairs, Mr Jaswant Singh, to the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook. Apparently, Mr Jaswant Singh’s message has been the outcome of a sensational report from London. The report let it be known that Islamic fundamentalists in Britain are receiving training in the use of firearms and explosives at a secret terror training camp in the United States. And if the report is any guide, these fundamentalists-their exact number is not known-are to join militants in places like Kashmir. The report, in fact, insisted that dozens of fanatics have already accepted offers for training sessions so that they can join Islamic groups in Kashmir, Chechnya and Afghanistan. Various intelligence and diplomatic sources have reported what has been termed as a "shift" in the policy of fundamentalists. Islamic volunteers, according to reports available with the Government of India, are being drilled by former military personnel with live ammunition. These volunteers, reports said, were also given crash courses in sniper shooting and hostage taking. The courses, according to these reports, take place on a 1,000-acre estate in the United States. The courses are run by Sakina Security Services, which takes it name from the Islamic word for tranquility. India’s Foreign Office is said to have also got into touch with the US State Department in this connection. The need for getting into touch with Washington has been occasioned by the reports making a pointed reference to the use of the 1,000-acre estate in the US for crash courses in sniper shooting and hostage taking. Significantly, Internet site of the Sakina Security Services makes no secret of its support to Muslim extremists. The company’s operational supremo, British-born Mohammed Jameel, intelligence specialists have found, has "strong links" with other leading fundamentalists like Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad and Sheikh Abu Hamza. The Government of India has also been informed that one advertisement for the course, which recently appeared on the Internet, said: "Due to the arms laws of the UK, all serious firearms training must be done overseas. The course emphasis is on practical live-fire training. You will fire between 2,000 and 3,000 rounds of mixed calibre ammunition". Meanwhile, India’s former Army Chief, Gen. KV Krishna Rao, has pointed out that the range of India’s missiles is not adequate to repulse the enemy threat. Gen. Rao, who is based in Hyderabad, has underscored the urgent and growing need for increasing the delivery ranger of ballistic missiles in view of serious threats from across the border. Emphasising the need for the country to develop high-speed long-range ballistic missiles within a reasonable time-frame, Gen. Krishna Rao has regretted the delay in staking claim to join the nuclear club. He told a function in Hyderabad that India should have opted for Pokhran-II 30 years ago. However, due to lack of courage and will-power of powers-that-be, the nuclear testing had been delayed, he said. "It’s no time to believe in the policy of Panchsheel. Our neighbours had betrayed us by ignoring Panchsheel", he said and added: "While Pakistan is attempting to build a hydrogen bomb, China has achieved second strike capability. It has become unwise and imprudent to talk about Panchsheel". Gen. Krishna Rao, who also served in Jammu and Kashmir as Governor twice before settling down in Hyderabad, stated that parts of Indian territory, which were under the possession of Pakistan and China, "have to be retrieved or else the resolution passed in Parliament to that effect would remain only on paper". |
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Do they understand what arrogance of power is? By O P Modi In an interview published in Times of India Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) charged India with suffering from "arrogance of power" while dealing with the Kashmir issue. He also accused India with expansionist attitude and using imperialist tactics. It is pertinent to mention some examples of "arrogance of power", "expansionist attitude" and "imperialist tactics", which in the recent past, some countries have employed, so that Syed Geelani and others who think like him, could see what the real meaning of these terms is and whether they are justified in applying them to India. Some Examples * China has been systematically settling Han Chinese in its north western province Xianjiang to reduce the population of Turkish speaking Muslim Uigurs. The population of Han Chinese there has increased from 15 percent to 38 percent since 1950. Recently China executed a separatist woman activist in Xianjiang province after a summery trial. Tiananmen square massacre of students, protesting against the Communist rulers, with tanks and machine guns, is still not forgotten by the world community. * The Chinese invasion of Tibet and subsequent settlement of millions of Chinese in Tibet thereby turning the Tibetans into a minority in their own country, is another example of arrogance of power. Dalai Lama has described it as "cultural genocide". * United States of America attacked the hide out of Osma Bin Laden in Afghanistan with cruise missiles. These missiles overflew Pakistan and one fell in its territory causing damage to a village. It was a balatant violation of Pakistan airspace. USA did not care even to apologize to Pakistan for flouting the international norm of respecting the airspace of a country. * US attacked Sudan with cruise missiles without any warning and destroyed one of its chemical factory on the pretext that the factory was producing chemical war weapons. * Without any sanction from the United Nations the NATO forces led by USA ruthlessly bombed Yugoslavia and its province Kosova, rendering a million Albanians refugees and destroying hundreds of buildings, bridges hospitals and schools in Belgrade and elsewhere in that country. * In order to crush the secessionist forces in its province Chechinya, Russia attacked the Chechian capital Grozny with its full military might using its Air Force too. Almost entire population of Grozny had to flee the capital, in midwinter, on account of heavy fighting between the Russian Forces and the rebels. Despite strong protests from America and other Western Powers Russians did not relent in their operation against the separatist. * A large part of Jammu & Kashmir State occupied by Pakistan in Ladakh, was bartered away to China, Gilgit, Hunza and Chitral have been turned into a colony naming it Northern Areas of Pakistan. Despite the ruling of PoK Supreme Court to restore these areas to PoK no action has been taken by Pak Government. These are only a few examples of ruthless, arrogant, expansionist and impearialist exercise of power by some countries. What India has done * India permits virulent secessionist propaganda on its soil by the so called "dissidents", (a term coined for the Hurriyat Conference by Indian Home Minister L K Advani). It allows such elements to open their office in its capital. They are free to hold press conferences, grant interviews to the media and spew venom, against this country, with impunity. They freely meet Pakistani High Commission officials in New Delhi. Under the Indian Constitution freedom of press and platform is guaranteed to them also. * India accepted the accession of Jammu & Kashmir in 1947, not only when the ruler of this state Maharaja Hari Singh made a written request under the Independence Act but also when Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, the most popular leader of the people of Kashmir made an appeal to save the Valley from marauding hordes of Tribes who had been lot loose by the Pakistani authorities and who were knocking at the very doors of Srinagar. * India has sacrificed more than 40 thousand Jawans and officers defending the honour and property of people of Jammu & Kashmir since 1947. The Indian Army has upheld the best traditions of respect for lives and honour of the civilians eversince. Over 400 security personnel have been punished by the authorities for flouting the norms of human rights. The forces have earned praise not only from the local population but also from all over the world for exercising restraint. In spite of worst provocations India has not violated the Line of Actual Control. * India has provided billions of rupees to the State authorities for constructing roads, bridges, industries, and power projects etc. Millions of rupees have been spent by the country for supplying subsidized rations to its poor citizens in J&K. Dialogue Is New Delhi's offer for talks to the APHC and other groups for bringing backpeace in the State a sign of arrogance of power? Time has come when the Hurriyat leaders should realise that the choice for them is between seeking to turn Kashmir into another Afghanistan or restoring it to its pristine glory of the "Heaven on earth". By taking to the authorities in New Delhi and taking a bold stand against the cross border terrorism they can help to bring back peace and normalcy in the State. It would be so because even their silence over the daily killings by the militants has been providing grist to Pakistani propaganda mill and encouragement to the anti-peace elements. |
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Indo-China relations:
Syrupy sentiments At the hub of the power disequilibrium in Asia is an increasingly powerful and assertive China that successfully keeps India boxed in on the subcontinent and compels New Delhi to pay obeisance to it. Since the time China began pouring extraordinary venom on India after the Shakti tests, a stream of senior Indian officials the Foreign and Commerce Ministers included have paid their respects in Beijing, with President K. R. Narayanan now getting ready to go there. But no Chinese Cabinet-rank official has deigned to come to New Delhi. A feckless Indian foreign policy is demonstrating that China is indeed the Middle Kingdom. E. M. Forster in A Passage to India had regretted the fact that Indians do not know how to compartmentalise life. United States President Bill Clinton's visit taught Indian diplomacy a crucial lesson: It does not help to frontload bilateral relations with differences; that, areas of divergences can be worked upon better once you get talking non matters of convergent interests. The success of this formula is writ large in the statements that have emanated from both Washington and New Delhi since March 25. India and US have since made more than apparent their intent to compartmentalise bilateral ties _ that is, strengthen areas of technological and economic cooperation even as a meeting ground is sought on contentious issues like the CTBT or the NPT. Not in a hurry to unlearn this lesson in compartmentalisation that has greatly enhanced its image in the global arena, India is now attempting to engage a country with which it shares a historical legacy of mistrust: China. President K. R. Narayanan's forthcoming China visit on May 28, going beyond mere ceremony, is an extension of a diplomatic initiative launched since External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh's Beijing rip last June to rectify three decades of mutual suspicion. Opinion, however, ranges from blind cynicism to naive optimism on how India will fare with China. Indeed, unlike with the US, which was motivated by Cold War politics to isolate India in the region, with China India shares a history of direct military confrontation and a vexed border dispute. To that extent, it was far easier for India to begin on a clean slate with the US now that the Cold War is over and goe-political considerations have altered dramatically. After all, US primarily used Pakistan as a frontline state to halt Soviet expansionism in Afghanistan; using it to counter India was only a secondary goal that faded away as Pakistan's strategic and economic importance dissipated in comparison to India's. However, with China, India cannot erase the traumatic memories of a militarycconfrontation as also a festering border dispute. These factors make the way ahead a thorny one. Today, however, both sides are convinced that it ill-serves their interests to resist normalisation of relations for any length of time. Admittedly, with China, the Indian leadership will have to plough a lonely furrow, both domestically and internationally. In the average Indian consciousness China is frozen in Jawaharlal Nehru's "Hindi-Chini bhai bhai" slogan and the 1962 Chinese aggression. With Pakistan, for instance, there is a strong body of public opinion in India that guides diplomatic initiatives. As a people, Indians know as little about China as the Chinese do about India. People-to-people contacts have been established to rectify this in the 50th year of establishment of India-China diplomatic relations but the distance the average Indian must travel to reach out to his little-known eastern neighbour is massive. Also, it is widely believed that the generation traumatised by 1962 is in opinion-influencing positions in South Block today, making it that much more difficult for India to embrace China unsuspectingly. At the global level, India must chart an independent course with China. Unlike India-Pakistan relations that invite comments from leading world powers from time to time, the international community has studiously avoided India-China relations. Clearly, with both India and China emerging as major players, even the world's sole superpower has desisted from suggesting a political road map for the two neighbours. In such a scenario, both India and China will have to gauge the road ahead on the basis of areas that suit their mutual interests, wherein a proactive diplomatic initiative appears the best bet for the two sides. Indeed, Chinese policy vis-a-vis India inspires little confidence. Analysts here cannot be blamed for asking why, if China is committed to stronger ties with India, is it supplying military aircraft, tanks and other hardware to Pakistan and Bangladesh? Why does China continue to transfer nuclear technology to Pakistan for making weapons and missiles evidently India-specific? Why does it insist on supporting the Pakistan-proposed South Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone and on Nepal becoming a "zone of peace" between India and China? Why has Beijing not seriously attempted to solve the Tibetan problem by granting it autonomy, a reluctance that has driven 150,000 refugees and the Dalai Lama to India since 1959? Why has China not recognised Sikkim's merger with India? Why does it continue to claim Arunachal Pradesh? In the 1950s, at the height of cordial relations, why did it did not recognise Kashmir's legal accession to India? China has indeed done precious little to ease India's concerns with regard to these issues. However, amidst continuing suspicion, both countries now realise the urgent need to iron out differences and formulate a tractable path in the future. Grounds of suspicion however are many and complex. A genuine concern India has vis-a-vis China is national security. China is slated to grow militarily and strategically stronger both in the Asia-Pacific region as also in the international arena. While there is evidence to suggest that neither India nor China want a militarily adversarial relationship, it is acknowledged that China will not rest content with being a mere "stable democracy" or a "factor of peace and stability" in the region. India, therefore, must lose no time in setting up a credible nuclear deterrent capability in view of the fact that China is indeed an aspiring superpower that could even use military power to establish itself as one. Celebration of 50-year of diplomatic ties, therefore, must not go unaccompanied by a purposeful commitment by India to ensure its national security, howsoever remote the possibility may be of China becoming a military threat. It is no secret that China has positioned nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles in Tibet that point directly at India. It has ongoing military cooperation with Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, providing them weapons, technology and economic aid, which in effect militarily surrounds India from all sides. Also, India is uncomfortable with the Pakistan-China military nexus that is operating well beyond the desired or necessary level. That China continues to aid Pakistan despite the latter's strategically inconsequential position in the region suggests that it is doing so only to keep India militarily engaged on its Western frontier. Such a situation is hardly something India is expected to take a benign view of. Another vexed question is the India-China border dispute. Admittedly, the two sides have undertaken confidence-building measures; recently, a Joint Working Group was held in New Delhi to move towards a resolution. However, China continues to occupy Aksai Chin in complete defiance of maps that show this region as part of Jammu and Kashmir. Despite protracted negotiations, attempts at normalisation of relations, official-level talks, visits at the highest levels, and the signing of major agreements on confidence-building measures (CBMs), an Indian-China border settlement remains elusive. The agreement reached first in 1988 and then in 1993 delineate the Line of Actual Control (LAC) towards a final boundary settlement is yet to be implemented. Clearly, despite a major shift in global strategic perception and domestic conviction to normalise relations, the dispute lies unattended. However, it is now time to smoothen the rough edges of history, especially since the two sides are rather keen to repair the damage caused in the past 50-year of their seesawing diplomatic relations. To erase that long legacy of mistrust, both India and China must learn to live on terms of peaceful coexistence: Equality in the region, a mutually acceptable territorial settlement, respect for each other's security concerns, and enhanced economic, political and security cooperation. The US presidential visit in March has taught India to talk from a position of strength; that is a position India must not vacate in its negotiations with a country it is destined by history and geography to coexist with. INAV |
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