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EDITORIAL It has been the consistent misfortune of Jammu & Kashmir and its hapless people that till date no firm Kashmir policy is in place. It has all along been experimental approach, each successive experiment proving to be costlier than the preceding one. In the process the citizens have indeed become guinea pigs knowing not the end results and thus their fate hangs in the air. The list of experiments is quite mind-boggling and awe-inspiring. Be it the incarnation Bakshi and his subsequent dumping, be it the Shamusuddin rise and fall, be it the honeymoon with Sadiq, be it the Mir Qasim surrendering the throne to Sheikh Sahib under Indira- Sheikh accord, be it the Farooq-Shah power swap or the ..more Yet another salvo has been fired by seasoned and one of the most respected Congress leader VN Gadgil against leadership of Sonia Gandhi. This comes close on the heels of Jairam Ramesh and Vasant Sathe's pot-shots in the print media. Gadgil however does it on TV Channel only to be reproduced widely by the mass media.......more |
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Drug trafficking and terrorist
trail Foreign mercenaries Conservation of water By Raj Nath Raina (Magami) |
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EDITORIAL It has been the consistent misfortune of Jammu & Kashmir and its hapless people that till date no firm Kashmir policy is in place. It has all along been experimental approach, each successive experiment proving to be costlier than the preceding one. In the process the citizens have indeed become guinea pigs knowing not the end results and thus their fate hangs in the air. The list of experiments is quite mind-boggling and awe-inspiring. Be it the incarnation Bakshi and his subsequent dumping, be it the Shamusuddin rise and fall, be it the honeymoon with Sadiq, be it the Mir Qasim surrendering the throne to Sheikh Sahib under Indira- Sheikh accord, be it the Farooq-Shah power swap or the Rajiv-Farooq accord. Be it as it may what is right now going on. To be precise J&K has never been treated as a national issue although entire political clan is unanimous that what happens to Kashmir has direct impact everywhere in India, that Kashmir is the crown of India, that Kashmir is an irrevocable part of India as per unanimous resolution of Parliament, that without Kashmir India is incomplete. So on and so forth. One really does not know whether era of experiments has ended and yielded place for firm policy. As things stand, Prime Minister Vajpayee is endeavouring hard to put the act of NDA government together vis-a-vis Kashmir policy. While doing so, he has intensively interacted with all those concerned with Kashmir or hailing from that State. The list includes many prominent Congress leaders like Dr Karan Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, ML Fotedar, Pranab Mukerjee, Arjun Singh, Madhav Rao Scindia Manmohan Singh, Karunakaran, Ahmed Patel and of course the most knowledgeable Mohd Shafi Qureshi. This interaction indicates that Prime Minister wants to evolve maximum consensus as regards tackling the most delicate issue of dialogue with leaders of opposition in J&K State (call it Hurriyat or anything). There is also contact with former Home Minister Mufti Mohd Syed who has been ardent supporter of initiating dialogue with those branded as 'untouchable'. He also has the bitter experience of being deprived of the Kashmir Affairs portfolio which was handed over to George Fernandes when V P Singh was the Prime Minister in 1989-90. This transfer too did not click and V P Singh transferred Kashmir affairs to PMO's office. Now history stands repeated. When Advani took over as Home Minister he got the Kashmir Affairs transferred to Home Ministry. It now transpires that Prime Minister Vajpayee would directly handle the highly sensitive and much hyped dialogue with Kashmiri opposition leaders. He has asked other ministers not to meddle with PMO's office on this count because the issue is delicate and still in its infancy. True, neither there are easy solutions nor ready made answers. Equally true that some beginning has to be made somewhere to bring the alienated opposition in the mainstream like it happened after dialogue with Phizo of Nagaland and Lal Denga of Mizoram. These 'secessionists' were successfully tamed. It is equally true that importance being given to Hurriyat is out of proportion for all that they have done to the detriment of the people of Kashmir. Their role becomes all the more suspect because they take orders direct from Pakistan. At least, they have been taking till recently. They continue to insist full involvement of Pakistan in the proposed dialogue. They refuse to talk within the constitutional framework and want the dialogue to be unconditional. Despite all such anti-national acts, Delhi is prone to involve everyone in resolving Kashmir imbroglio. In other words, approach is broadbased to take with its ambit all pros and cons hoping that these efforts would result in ushering peace in the strife torn State. One also has to take cognisance of National Conference government which rules the State with mandate of two-third majority. One really does not know whether the proposed dialogue interferes with democratic tenets. It is certain that reincarnation of Sheikh Sahib in 1975 was precisely attributed to Soviet Union's pressure. There is no denying the fact that this time around initiation of dialogue with Hurriyat and other leaders of opposition in Kashmir is under pressure of America because entire process of their release and talk of talks commenced after Clintons visit. Hurriyat has been deriving inspiration and support not only from Pakistan but America too has provided it platform here and there. Under the circumstances one cannot possibly ignore the duly elected State Government despite its many short-comings and pricks at the Centre. In this scheme Farooq is one person who has been using choices invectives against Pakistan. He also does not hide his anguish over the sordid role of Hurriyat to bring Kashmir to present sorry pass. It is quite another thing that his team-mates remain ever lukewarm once it comes to attacking Pakistan or the militants. Another aspect manifests abundantly with George having been assigned the pivotal role in establishing contacts with the Hurriyat leaders, albeit with PM's blessings. It may not have been liked by LK Advani and Farooq is equally unhappy. But then all that happens in J&K has international ramifications and Prime Minister has to broadbase the perspective to usher in peace by involving those who are instrumental in ruining it. He is a seasoned politician and in the chain of continuous experiments should be lent full support to conduct another experiment. It is not easy but then in the absence of any concrete policy one has to derive the best in a given situation which is full of contradictions and abounds in ifs and buts galore. As on now only one thing is certain and that is Vajpayee has started treating Kashmir as a 'national issue' as manifested by broadbasing all contours. Yet another salvo has been fired by seasoned and one of the most respected Congress leader VN Gadgil against leadership of Sonia Gandhi. This comes close on the heels of Jairam Ramesh and Vasant Sathe's pot-shots in the print media. Gadgil however does it on TV Channel only to be reproduced widely by the mass media. If Jairam Ramesh dared initiate the debate by attacking Sonia and Vasant Sathe did not hide his discomfiture about her leadership of the oldest party, VN Gadgil has done a shade better by declaring that decision of the Congressmen to seek Sonia's entry into politics was at best reflective of sycophancy rather than leadership qualities of Sonia. He is frank enough to blame himself also for the faux pas as he too thought then that she was crowed puller and could translate the same into votes at the husting. The Congressmen including himself did it with a selfish motive to see the party capture Delhi throne again as they were bereft of ideas asto who else could fit the bill. The 10- Janpath syndrome gripped them all and it is he and others of his ilk who virtually forced her to assume helmsmanship of the party. He now frankly admits that it was wrong on their part to expect a person to perform beyond his/her capacity as such course was bound to fail. This inter-alia means that she cannot lead the party nor keep the motley group together. Gadgil discloses that during CWC meeting he disagreed with the perception that if Congress could win back Muslim voters, it could be catapulted to power once again. He says that he disagreed and put forth the viewpoint that while playing the minority card, Congress incurs the wrath of Hindus who constitute 82% of the population. So Congress with all its secular themes must tame this constituency rather than go for overdose of minoritism. This doesn't mean playing Hindu card but reflects factual position. One hopes that such self-introspection would lead the party to revert to inner party democracy and the most eligible and experienced, would steer the party to restore its pristine glory. |
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Drug
trafficking and terrorist trail The unfathomable depth of Pakistan’s involvement in the lucrative network of global drug trafficking can be gauged from a recent press report that heroin weighing 2.5 kilograms was found hidden in one of the panels of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft scheduled to bring back the nation’s Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf from Tripoli where he had gone to meet the Libyan leader colonel Gaddafi towards the end of April,2000. In a somewhat similar case, a commissioned officer ands one of the crew members of Pakistan Air Force transport aircraft which had flown into the US in 1997 for collection of military spares was arrested by the authorities there on charges of drug smuggling. While the Inter services Intelligence (ISI) is neck deep in the drug trade, it has blessings of other official agencies as well. The illegal and clandestine business pumps more than $2 billion into Pakistan’s sinking economy. Hence it is not surprising at all that State Bank of Pakistan in the preceding year bought over $1 billion from narcotics dealers amply proving the allegation that the government was openly using drug money to finance its operations. As the tax collections have nose dived amid the prevailing chaos , the present military regime has no alternative but to covertly bank upon the lucrative international heroin trade. The Paris based Geopolitical Drug Watch was not off the mark when it labelled Pakistan as s ‘narco state’, a nation in which drug barons allegedly collaborate closely with politicians, senior bureaucrats and armed forces officers. This year’s severe draught conditions in the poppy growing belt on either side of the Durrand Line delineating Pak-Afghanistan border, may adversely affect the opium crop in this tribal region consequently resulting into a welcome drop in heroin production, bringing a bit of relief to narcotics control agencies. Surveys put the current annual opium production at 1600 tonnes showing a steep increase in the past few years. Now Pakistan largely controls distribution and sale of heroin which is openly processed in factories located in its North West Frontier Province (NWFP) mostly run by drug barons from the Pakistani Khattak and Afridi tribes which have close ethnic links with the poppy growers in the Taliban controlled Afghanistan across the borders. Incidentally, there is a disgraceful Indian connection too-Acetic anhydride, used in the transformation of morphine base into heroin, is often smuggled from India to Pakistan, where demand is obviously strong and the profits are enormous. The flow of narcotics drugs stems from the main supply points in NWFP and Afghanistan to the storehouses in Peshawar, Rawalpindi , Lahore, Karachi and other trading centres for sale not only to estimated 4 million indigenous drug addicts but more importantly to an efficiently organised illegal export netwoork to the countries of the Middle East, Europe and the western hemisphere. Likewise, every year, tens of tons of opium and heroin from Pakistan and Afghanistan are smuggled into Central Asia, and then to Russia and Europe. The money laundered through the illicit drug trade is funnelled into the unaccounted secret funds meant for arms procurement and support for terrorist groups not only in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India but to far away places such as Chechnya and Kosovo. While the Samjhauta Express running between Lahore and Delhi is a very convenient conduit for despatching concealed narcotic consignments, these are now regularly being routed together with arms, ammunition and RDX through the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly the areas of Ranbirsingh Pura, Samba, and Akhnoor This is amply proved by the fact that the Indian security forces and the customs officials have from time to time been making alarmingly large seizures of heroin and arms from this sector especially after construction of security fence on Rajasthan and Punjab borders has made it difficult for smugglers to send the illicit merchandise through these states. The Pakistani drug lords also make use of scheduled commercial flight to Nepal and Bangladesh to land heroin and hashish in these countries from where the stuff is sent to the Indian market through land routes. Another important hub for drug smuggling to India is from port of Karachi, via the swampy Kutch coast in Gujarat state. There seem to be strange teaming up among various terrorist groups such as Liberation Tigers of Tamil-Eelam (LTTE), Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) and the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) who work under the aegis of Pakistan’s intelligence service in the well knit narcotics network. Arms have been seized from the same persons who are used as drug carriers on behalf of traffickers operating from Pakistani Punjab. It is indeed a peculiar coincidence of geography that India is flanked by world’s two leading producers and exporters of heroin — Pakistan to the north-west, and Myanmar to the north-east. In both cases, drug dealing has confirmed links not only with the decade old proxy war being waged by Pakistanis in the name of so called azadi in Jammu and Kashmir but also in the north-eastern provinces where insurgency is being fuelled by various groups with rearward bases in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan. Militancy in the region is closely linked to the resurgence in heroin trafficking activities and is co-ordinated and financed with the help of drug money laundered by Islamabad’s secret services. Terrorism indeed has become synonymous with drug trafficking and is lately playing an ever important geopolitical role. The drugs must not be seen in isolation. The slush funds raised therefrom are extensively used to buy an array of arms and ammunition, sophisticated communication equipment apart from meeting training and hiring expenses of thousands of fundamentalist foreign mercenaries. The ISI is financing the proxy war in J&K by brazenly sending mercenaries and weapons worth hundreds of crore of Rupees. Since the bond between the narcotics trade and militancy has been established beyond doubt, the message to law enforcement agencies is loud and clear - an effective control on the drug trafficking activities will starve the Pakistan backed terrorist groups and their political front organisations of the easily available slush money. Thus their capacity to create chaos and untold miseries to the society through acts of killings and sabotage will be minimised to a great deal. Renewed attention is therefore needed to strengthen agencies engaged in the narcotics control. The counter measures should include reorganising the intelligence gathering apparatus. Moreover, the drug trafficking tide can not be effectively stemmed without international teamwork and collaboration with the United Nations agencies. Here it may not be out of place to mention that President Clinton has requested the Congress for 3.5 million dollars for narcotics control and law enforcement in Pakistan in his fiscal 2001 budget. Since the United States with a considerable experience and resources in dealing with illicit drug cartels world wide, has reportedly opened an FBI office in New Delhi, it will be worthwhile to seek the required assistance to combat the deep rooted scourge. |
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Conservation of water Water is the prime necessity of life. If a layman is put a question that how water is useful for a man, he too will count on fingers the manifold uses of water. Infact, without water, the life on earth is not possible. Be it domestic consumption, or residential use, without water we cannot run the side of these two requirements. Even for our body systems, we require water for all metabolic activities. The primitive civilizations also started in the areas, where water was available. During the last two decades, the requirement of water has tremendously increased due to rise in population resulting in water crisis throughout the globe. The main cause of it is the global warming. More of the ice in the polar regions has melted, most of glaciers are receding, with the result it is felt that perennial rivers will by and by carry less water to the plains. Even water for our crop requirements will not be sufficient if the crisis at the present rate continues. With water crisis assuming high proportions abnormal climatic changes will also occur accompanied by appearance of diseases by which, life of common man will become miserable. It has been reported by a number of earth scientists all over the world. Recently Gujarat faced scarcity of water due to excessive heat before the onset of summer season. The people in Saurashtra risked their lives by moving inside the deep wells by means of rope to get drinkable water. In the light of this the scenario all over the globe has changed. All nations have started compaigns for conservation of water, as this is the prime need of the hour to do so. Unless we make the judicious use of water, the crisis about the water is not going to end. A lot of progress has recently been made on the conservation of water in many places in India and outside. Delhi is at the mercy of its riparian neighbours for water. Experts now say, water harvesting might be a step in the right direction towards achieving self sufficiency in this precious resource. Every summer discussions in Delhi revolve around one word - water or rather the lack of it. Citizens almost unfailingly, lash out at the incompetence of the Government to provide clean potable water. The Government religiously promises the sky, while charges and counter charges are traded; concrete steps are put to the back burner. Now experts are proposing sustainable systems like rainwater harvesting to mitigate this problem. In Delhi, there is utmost need of harvesting water. First surface water in the capital suffers in terms of quality and quantity. This has increased gressure on groundwater resources leading to a marked decline in the groundwater table in different parts of Delhi. The average decline of water table during the last decade was about 0.4 m per year. The problems do not end here. The groundwater is brackish and a river Yamuna, a major source of fresh water to Delhi contains pesticides and chemicals like aldrin, dieldrin, heptochlor, BHC and endosulphan. Some of these are organo-chlorines, which are known to cause cancer. These are present at levels that far exceed permissible limits. Thus with no solution in sight for the augmentation of raw water supplies by conventional means, the only option is to capture, rainwater where it falls. This also makes ecological, financial and political sense while promoting community and household based water harvesting systems. To understand the efficacy of such an initiative, it is important to look into the experiences of Chennai, where water harvesting has proved to be effective. In a state of Chennai, the Rotary Club revived temple tanks to solve water scarcity in the city. There have been efforts in Delhi to harvest rainwater. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) conducted pilot projects at the Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU), the Indian Institute of Technology and in residential areas of Malviya Nagar. Check dams and roof top water harvesting structures were installed at JNU. CSE has done lot of efforts in respect of harvesting rainwater from the estate roof tops of Rashtrapati Bhavan and stored that in underground tanks. The excess water will be used to recharge dug and bore wells and thus part of needs of water will be met this way depending on Municipal water supply and also this would be a successful method of improving estates ground water quality which has traces of fluorides present. Similarly CSE harvested water on its Tuglukabad office premises about 2800 litres and finally stored in their tank. Again Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) working at the grassroot level have shown that community participation can simplify matters and shift the burden of responsibility from the shoulders of the Government. The scenario of water harvesting on similar lines has been improved upon in USA, Mexico, Germany, Israel, Singapore etc. All the methods of checking these waters from contamination are also in progress. In Singapore,. The Public Unitilities Board provides reliable potable water at economical rates to needy people. Consumers are advised to check the leaks in the pipes and checking of meters from time to time. The state of Arizona is moving towards a unique ground water banking system. Entities that recharge ground water receive credit for the amount recharged, which they can sell to groundwater users. The Ground Water Management Act (GMA) has established a goal of zero groundwater mining by the year (2025) This is one of the positive steps to control water crisis. Groundwater users are penalized for withdrawing the precious resource without recharging it. In Mexico surface water sources fail to meet the demands of Industries. To maintain adequate water supplies, industries have constructed wastewater treatment plants. These plants treat industrial water which is further distributed to industries. From wastewater plants, a substantial quantity is treated for potable use throughout the city. In Germany very good methods of conservation of water are put to use. Firstly rainwater harvesting is recognised as advanced ecologically and permanently safe operating system. There are professional associations developed in different places in Germany for water recycling and rainwater catchment systems. The quality of rainwater is governed by regulations which also protect from possible contamination by industrial installations. Further to this efficient ceramic toilet systems of flushing faces are developed and put to use for minimising wastage of water. Similarly Israel has developed better water demand management system in respect of water conservation. In having a glimpse of water conservations systems carried all over the globe, in India too such systems have been made operative from time to time. In Jammu and adjoining parts, with the rise in the urbanization, the scarcity of water is greatly felt. It is high time, as such, to conserve water as far as we can. New areas around Jammu are coming up, water demand consequently is rising. PHE is doing a lot in arranging new connections inthe newly built housing colonies, but PHE and Municipality alone cannot help in the conservation of water or sustainable use of water, but all the citizens should lend a hand in this effort. In many areas, the tanks water getting full, overflow of water takes place. So much of water this way gets waste. On the contrary, so many newly developed areas starve for water for days together. Jammuites have to create within themselves the young active volunteers, who would make hectic efforts to check waste of water wherever they fined overflow of tanks talking place. They will make such owners to use valve systems at the entrance points to check overflow. These volunteers are also required to make a judicious approach in undertaking campaigns to create awareness among users on the importance of water harvesting. The Government can promote some of the possible technologies in Jammu area through policy incentives similar to those in the foreign countries, which can be worked out at a less cost. |
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By Raj Nath Raina (Magami) Mother India has given birth to heroes whenever it felt, that she needed them; whenever its independence, integrity and honour was in danger. They (heroes) in turn have sacrificed their lives for their mother land without any hesitation. During independence many sons laid their lives, but Rajguru, Sardar Bhagat Singh and Sukh Dev have their own history and place in this struggle. The three heroes were the leaders of Hindustan Republican Army which was formed in 1928. Chandra Shekhar Azad was also the hero of the same Army. Sardar Bhagat Singh was a real socialist of high character. He alongwith his comrades, Rajguru, Sukhdev, B K Dutt and others had started emphasising the need to organise peasents and workers to bring about a socialist revolution in the country. The activities of the socialist revolutionaries in that period made people aware of self sacrifice and courage which was a requirement in the struggle for independence. The selflessness of Sardar Bhagat Singh can be understood by going through some facts of his life. He refused to marry because he knew the ultimate end of his life although it had been arranged by his mother. He was offered highest benefits but he rejected because of his unlimited love for his motherland. He swore to revenge on spot when Sheri Punjab Lala Lajpat Rai was beaten to death by British Police Officer Saunders. During their trial these revolutionaries displayed so much courage that they became legendary figures throughout the country. Sardar Bhagat Jee was admired throughout the country because of his love and equal treatment towards his other comrades. The courage of Bhagat Singh Jee was unlimited and all the ruling class at that time was afraid of him. He alongwith B K Dutt threw two bombs in the assembly hall not to kill any one but to lodge a strong protest against the repressive laws of British Government and arrest of 31 labour leaders of that time. Both of them did not try to escape but stood there raising slogans. "INQUILAB ZINDABAD." This slogan is raised even today in every revolutionary movement of India. After the arrest both the heroes were sentenced. Bhagat Singh to death along with other revolutionaries. Some were sentenced to life time imprisonment. The date of execution was fixed 24th March 1931. The news of the death sentence of Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev spread like a wild fire through out the country particularly in Punjab and the people of Punjab particularly patriots decided to attack the jail and get free the heroes. The news came to British rulers as a bullet and they decided to execute the three patriots on 23rd of March 1931 which was illegal even according to the then laws also. After the coward rulers executed the three heroes, their sacred bodies were desecrated. It is said that their sacred bodies were put into Jute bags and then cut into pieces and then put to fire on the bank of river in Punjab. The news of execution was a rude shock to all the patriots of the country. Strong protests were held but the things had gone worse already. The sacrifice of the heroes shocked so many patriots. The selfless heroes did never mind for their lives. They loved mother land most of all. Bhagat Singh was born in a patriotic family of highest degree. His uncle even went to England to take a revenge from Gen. Dyr who was responsible for the massacre of Jallian Wala Bagh. After the completion of his task he returned to India safe and sound. Bhagat Singh's mother who was later honoured as "Punjab Mata" by Punjab Government was a courageous lady. It was she who told Bhagat Singh, "Beta Desh Ke Liye Ek Baar Marna So Janmoon Ke Saman Hai" When he was sentenced to death by the British Government. The sacrifices of heroes have unfortunately been forgotten by the people particularly the ruling class. The level of National spirit has come down among the people of India. Every one is thinking of his own. Of course, it rises on certain occasions but unfortunately, such occasions just like war etc. are over this spirit also recedes. It is very unfortunate that the ruling class has forgotten the real heroes of Independence. Except naming some roads or streets in their name, nothing has been done in their memory. I would suggest that the photograph of Sardar Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, Sukhdev should be printed on currency notes, just it has been done in case of Mahatma Gandhi. The birth places of heroes shall be turned into historical places. Moreover, it will remain in the mind of the public that today the country stands independence due to the sacrifices of the heroes. |
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