Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

By. Jagmohan Mathur
Prime Minister Vajpayee's fourday visit to Iran has succeeded in not only revitalising the age old ties deep-rooted in history of the two civilisations but also in forging joint strategic relationship ........more

What is a Digital Signature?

By G.V. Joshi
Today, books can be ordered, hotel rooms reserved, shares bought and sold all through e-mail facility available on Internet. However, there is a question in the......more

Stand-off between
Israel and Syria

By Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri
Patrik Seale, President Hafez el-Assad's official biographer, predicted in December 1999 that Syria and Israel would conclude a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of 2000. The veteran British West Asia watcher.....more

EDITORIAL

DECENCY BURIED

The Union Minister of State for Social Justice, Ms Maneka Gandhi, has some noble ideas and is widely known for her ''commitment'' to safeguarding animal rights. Alas, in the process, she has demonstrated the ''animal'' instinct in her, as she dashed off strongly-worded message to the US Ambassador's wife, Ms Jacqueline Lundquist, directing her to return her shahtoosh shawl to the vendor from whom she acquired it. ''Courtesy costs nothing'', Ms Maneka know it well. But as the champion of animal rights she chose not be courteous and decent while handling the US Ambassador's wife. The notice to Ms Jacqueline, if at all it was necessary, should have been initiated by the Ministry of External Affairs. It is apparent that the wife of the American diplomat had purchased the shawl for her personal use and she wore it at Jaipur during the New Year celebrations. The trade in Shahtoosh shawl, which, according to Ms Maneka, has come down in the past two years because of strict law enforcement, is now kept alive by the diplomatic community and the local elite who alone can afford these and have the means to take them out of India for sale. Made from the soft undercoat of the Tibetan antelope 'chiru', a shawl weighing about 650 gm can cost anything upward of Rs 25,000. Information about availability of these shawls for a price is passed on by word of mouth. Ms Maneka rules that wives of foreign diplomats, having bought Shahtoosh shawls, take these abroad for sale there, making huge profits in the process. Ms Maneka has let it be known that the network is so strong and the secrecy level so high that it becomes difficult to penetrate the network. And when caught, most claim that they were not aware that trade in these shawls is illegal. Ms Maneka's pointed question: If you did not know that the trade is illegal, why maintain the secrecy? After the US Ambassador's wife returned the shawl to the External Affairs Ministry, an accusing finger was pointed at Ms Maneka too with allegations that she also possessed a shahtoosh shawl, gifted to her by her mother-in-law, Mrs Indira Gandhi, during her wedding. Ms Maneka has clamed that she surrendered her shawl some two years ago, but doubts are being raised if this indeed was the case. Be that as it may, Ms Maneka seems determined to enforce measures against the manufacture and sale of shahtoosh shawls. But she cannot do much unless the trade is banned in Jammu and Kashmir. She has had a couple of sessions with the J&K Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who knows that for each shawl, five Tibetan antelopes will continue to be killed. But in view of the peculiar conditions in his homeland, can Dr Farooq oblige Ms Maneka? Some Kashmiri traders, who are not for a ban on manufacturing shahtoosh shawls, have been found quite critical of Ms Maneka, who, they say, feels no shame about her role as 'crown princess'' of the Emergency and cheerfully aligns with the men and women her husband locked up. She brags about her role in making our environment better while instructing officials to erect a wall at public expense near her Maharani Bagh residence, in New Delhi, that blocks traffic and inconvenience thousands. Kashmiri weavers claim that the shahtoosh campaign has been initiated by the Chinese to increase the market for their silk-pashmina at the expense of the much finer shahtoosh. Tibetan antelope, Chinese say, is in danger of extinction. Our laws accept the Chinese version. Not the Kashmiri version that shahtoosh comes from Himalayan goats. While weaving of new shahtoosh shawls requires to be discouraged, nothing will be gained by Ms Maneka by persecuting those who purchased them even before environmentalists themselves recognised that they were made from China wool.

GSLV LAUNCH

April 18, 2001 will have to be remembered----indeed, it will have to be recorded in golden letters---- as the epoch-making date. Yes, the clear skies on this hot and humid summer day on Sriharikota range provided the setting for a near-perfect take-off for the 49-metre, 401- tonne GSLV (Geo-sychronous Satellite Launch Vehicle). When the GSLV, with its 1,540 payload GSAT-I ''obeyed'' instructions to inject the satellite in a GTD, east of Indonesia, it elevated India to a select club of nations capable of handling cryogenic stages and launching heavier satellites. The Rs 1,400-crore project, which includes financial provisions for two more flights, is expected to enable India olace its INSAT class of satellites in orbit. In the next few weeks, the performance of the major new elements of the GSLV----the cryogenic stage, the liquid strap-on stages, the larger heat shield and the vented interstage---will come under close scrutiny. The cryogenic upper stage forms the critical technology. Also watched closely will be the performance propulsion systems, making up as much as 80 per cent of the launch vehicle's weight. Because of their sheer size, the systems exert a huge influence on the vehicle's design. According to Dr K Kasturirangan, chairman of the ISRO, the three-stage, ''complex'' GSLV, which ''encourages our capacity in launch vehicles'', took 10 years to build. The project faced quite a few hurdles ranging from US technology sanctions and cost overruns to Russian ambivalence over the supply of cryogenic engine technology. Taking advantage of the experimental nature of the flight and its payload, the GSAT-I, built at the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, also tries out a new indigenously developed technologies, for the first time. The satellite will be used to demonstrate added capabilities in digital audio broadcast, internet services, compressed digital TV experiments and developmental communication. Once the performance of these systems are validated on the flight, they will be used in the ISRO operational satellites, the one-tonne Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites and the two-tonne multi-purpose Indian National Satellites (INSAT) series. Telemetry confirmation has been received from Blak station (Indonesia) that the spacecraft's health is normal and all systems are functioning well.

Forging Strategic ties with Iran

By. Jagmohan Mathur

Prime Minister Vajpayee's fourday visit to Iran has succeeded in not only revitalising the age old ties deep-rooted in history of the two civilisations but also in forging joint strategic relationship to combat international terrorism and religious fundamentalism. Atal Behari Vajpayee and Iran's reformist and liberal President Khatami have declared that both the countries will closely work to contain Taliban-type fundamentalism threatening to destablise west, as well Central Asia region. Both the leaders have also clarified that their special relationship was not aimed at any third country . Iran has welcomed India's peace initiative in Kashmir.

The turning point in bilateral relationship came in 1993 when Prime Minister P. V. Narsimha Rao visited Tehran when Rafsanjani was President. It was first top level visit from India after 1979 Islamic Revolution. During the visit Iranian leadership accepted Indian view point that kashmir was an internal affair of India. Later in 1995, President Rafsanjani came to India and declared that no outside power should interfere in Kashmir. He was impressed with the secularism, being practised in India. These visit resulted in increased bilateral cooperation in various fields like science, technology, education training and most importantly in oil and natural gas sector. The Joint Commission was also reactivated and study groups were formed.

The basic ground work for recent visit of Vajpayee was prepared by External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, who visited Tehran in May last year. Jaswant Singh this time directly flew to Tehran after his first meeting in Washington with new Bush Administration to Join Vajpayee's delegation. He described 'Tehran Declaration' as a path-breaking step. This was the most important document signed on the very first day of Vajpayee's arrival in Tehran after a forty-minute one-to-one talk with President Khatami. The Declaration denounced international terrorism in all its forms. Going a step further the two leaders castigated those nations which aid, abet and directly support international terrorism. This amounted to indirect criticism of Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism in Kashmir. The document demanded stronger international legal regime and endorsed the Comprehensive Convention of Terrorism' currently being debated at the United Nations Both the sides called for checking illegal narcotics flow.

Another issue which both leaders easily converged on was the current situation in Afghanistan and danger from Taliban fundamentalism, resulting in civil strife and common people's suffering. Tehran Declaration called for a broadbased government in Afghanistan. Khatami believed that the problem of Afghanistan should be solved in two stages. First the belligerent groups should be asked to declare a ceasefire through assistance of international community. Later they should be brought to a negotiable treaty. Khatami felt that bilateral relations with India will be useful in solving the Afghanistan problem. Vajpayee remarked that India would like to see an independent and non-aligned Afghanistan which will live in peace and which could be developed with international support.

He said India sympathises with Afghani people but the present regime is responsible for all that what is happening. Khatami's view was that what goes on in Afghanistan had unfortunately led to international terrorism, narcotic drug trafficking and also rebellion and violence. Khatami deeply regretted that such crimes in Afghanistan were going on in name of Islam. He said that destruction of Buddha statues was an anti-cultural and anti-human act. Vajpayee referred to the destruction of Lord Buddha's statues in his masterly worded speech at Iranian Parliament -- Majlis -- on second day of his visit. He said that it was tragic that an attempt was being made in Afghanistan to obliterate its past through the destruction of its historic art which is the heritage of all mankind. Those who are guilty of these act, are not of this age, they have lost reason and logic.

Underscoring secular traditions of India before law makers of Iran, Vajpayee said India is the land of many faiths. Our belief in secular values is rooted in a tradition which fundamentally respects man's spiritual quest. There may be some occasional aberrations but neither the State nor civil society would even weaken its bond with secular ideals, which are inherent in our civilisation and cultural inheritance. He said we do not consider any religion as foreign. Vajpayee told Iranian Parliamentarians that for a thousand years Islam has been part and parcel of our national and social life.

During his talks with Vajpayee, Khatami appreciated India's secular traditions and praised Vajpayee for maintaining communal harmony in the country. This was an achievement in an Islamic country as generally speaking BJP -led government is known as Hindu nationalist government. Inclusion of Omar Abdullah, Minister of State for Commerce , in Indian delegation also proved India's secular credentials.

Another dimension of Indo-Iran bilateral relations in its economic content. On the very first day of visit, besides Tehran Declaration, five other aggrements were signed. These included an agreement to enhance trade and economic cooperation. Yet another agreement provides for Customs framework to promote smooth trade flow between two countries. To give substance to economic cooperation, Vajpayee offered a credit line of $ 200 million to support Indian participation in economic development plan of Iran. Vajpayee, in his address to Tehran Chambers of Commerce, hoped that bilateral trade would double in one year and treble in three years.

During his talks with Iranian leadership, Vajpayee offered India's assistance in training of personnel and building infrastructure in information technology. Iran's rich oil and natural gas resources provide vast opportunity for enhancing cooperation in energy sector as India's demand is growing day by day. Iran can ensure enduring supply. But the question of laying a pipe-line through land route via Pakistan. India is not aggreable due to security reason mainly because of strained relation with Pakistan. India prefers sea route. Now all options will be explored to ensure cost effective transportation of Iran's abundant natural gas to India.

During his visit, the Prime Minister also had an important meeting with Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Khamenei who in words of Prime Minister provided wise counsel and encouragement for promotion of bilateral ties' at the last leg of his tour.

Vajpayee landed is Shiraz the cultural capital of Iran. Himself a poet, Vajpayee become sentimental when he visited the mausoleums of legendary poets Hafez and Saadi, Ravindranath Tagore also visited this city of great Farsi poets, in 1932.

Prime Minister Vajpayee's visit to Iran has opened a new chapter in the relations of two great countries and will help provide stability in a volatile region.
PTI Feature

What is a Digital Signature?

By G.V. Joshi

Today, books can be ordered, hotel rooms reserved, shares bought and sold all through e-mail facility available on Internet. However, there is a question in the mind of many Internet users. Is an order placed through e-mail legally binding?

In the 'real' world, for example, it is still the practice to place a purchase order in writing or sign a contract while buying an apartment. In case of legal dispute, the signature provides proof that two parties had committed themselves to carrying out business transaction.

By contrast, agreements concluded by e-mail are worthless. As of today, there is no mechanism, to check that a certain order is placed by only a certain person and on other. Total security from buyer to seller on the Internet is still lacking in India.

Trust and confidence in transactions over the Internet can only be brought about by cryptographic encryptions, E-security holds the key to e-commerce. This is one reason why e-commerce had not taken off in a big way. This is now due to change with the introduction of the digital signature (DS).

There is a lot of confusion in the minds of Internet user about DSA DS is neither a sleek card on which the scanned image of a signature in the form of a tamper proof hologram. A digital signature is a long code, which can be read only by a computer. The code is a string of specific number allotted to an individual. It is a mix of numeric digits and alphabets.

No one need commit to memory the long code number. It is also not possible to remember the code number as it contains any things from a few characters to up to 400 characters. However, this number can definitely be stored on a smart card and then passed on or accessed through a personal computer.

Usually the digital signature can be stored the same way information is stored on the magnetic tape of a credit cared or an automatic teller machine (ATM) card.

Every digital signature would have a public and private key. It is similar to a latch-lock that we use in our homes. While anyone can lock the door without having the key, only the person, having the key can open it.

Likewise, every message is encrypted or coded in secret from with the help of the public key, which is available to all, but the message can be decrypted or decoded and read only by the receiver with his won private key.

How, does this concept work to pass confidential messages? Are business transactions entered into on the Internet safe and secure under this system?

While the private key is known only to, the owner of the digital signature, the public key is known to all who want to do business with him . Message passed on the Internet are to be encrypted and again decrypted with the use of these key, in order to maintain the confidentiality and the authenticity of the message, which is sent from a specific sender to a specific receiver.

A system for subscription to digital signature is being worked out by Dr. K.N. Gupta. The controller of certifying authorities (CCA) in the ministry of information technology.

According to Dr. Gupta, business transactions using digital signatures are safe at least for the next five years. However, considering the rate at which technology is developing the signatures cannot be considered foolproof for all time.

However, the data for legally accepting digital signatures and public key infrastructure (PKI) has not been fixed yet, Dr. Gupta, expects that the digital signatures and PKI may become, acceptable by June or July this year. The acceptance of digital signatures will be a big boost to e-commerce activity.

The certifying authority is in the process of making these keys. Many government departments like the telephone authorities and post & telegraphs are approaching the CCA to appoint certifying authority. A decision will be taken soon.

According to Dr. Gupta , India is poised to take a big leap forward in the e-commerce field. As of today, there are four million Internet users in India and the number is expected to go up to 40 million users by 2008. Indian businessmen are definitely moving towards a world of paperless transactions.

Encryption is process of converting message, information, or data into a form not understood by anyone expect the intended recipient. Decryption is the reverse process. Encrypted data must be deciphered, or decrypted, before it can be read by the recipient.

Transformation of an intelligible message into an encrypted message typically requires the use of a set of procedures and a key. In the transformation process, the procedure is applied to the message.

The reverse operation i.e., decryption - by which the authorized receiver recovers the concealed information from the encrypted message - is also performed in a similar manner.

A highly sophisticated and widely used encryption system is the Data Encryption Standard (DES), which was developed during the mid 1970s in the United States. The DES system involves 16 round of substitutions and transpositions for numbers and alphabets.

The DES is readily implemented using large-scale integrated and very large -scale intergrated chips used in computers. These miniature electronic devices are able to encrypt and decrypt a wide variety of data at rates ranging from tens of bits per second to tens of millions of bits per second.

Encryption and decryption are performed with a single key in DES system, so that both the sender and receiver use the same key.

However, DES has been associated with what is commonly referred to as the key-distribution problem. Specifically, the key has to be sent to all authorized users before any message can be exchanged. This results in a time delay and raises the possibility of the key's falling into unauthorized hands.

Tow key system circumvents this key distribution problem. A user of two key system can make one key used for encryption public, while keeping the key for decryption secret or private. Even if an unauthorized party were to duplicate the public key, it would both effect message security, since only the legitimate user with the private key could decode text.

Unlike one-key systems, like DES, which have been employed for hundreds of years for sending secret message by the kings, two-key systems are a relatively recent development, having received serious consideration since about the mid-1970s.

At present, the only viable form of two-key system is the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) system. It is named for the three computer scientists who invented it in 1978: Ronald L.Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman.

The digital signature is created when a person carrying out e-business is given a personal and confidential signature key key (or private key) by the competent authority of the government. He can then link any document sent through e-mail to this private key.

The receiver can then check this signature with a so-called public key. This authentication process enables him to determine that both the sender- and document are genuine.

However, the signature procedure will have to pass rigorous testing before it is made available to the public.
PTI Feature

Stand-off between Israel and Syria

By Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri

Patrik Seale, President Hafez el-Assad's official biographer, predicted in December 1999 that Syria and Israel would conclude a comprehensive peace agreement by the end of 2000. The veteran British West Asia watcher spoke with such self-confidence and ''insight'' on this issue that nobody could dismiss this as just another ''journalistic intutition''. In fact, since Ehud Barak was elected to power in July 1999, Seale played a key role as the most trusted counsel to a Syrian emissary shuttling between the chronically hostile capitals of Damascus and Jerusalem.

If Seale interviewed the Israeli Prime Minister, he was believed to have done so as a sounding board for Assad. If he published secret documents purporting to show that previous Israeli leaders promised to withdraw from all of the Golan Heights, he did so because Syria wanted the letters leaked. If he was optimistic about the outcome of the talks between Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister, Farouk-a- Shara, which began in Washington on December 17, 1999, so in all probability was Assad.

Interviewed on the eve of the resumed negotiations- the first between political leaders in the bitter, 51-year old hostilities, and the first at any level for almost four years- Seale suggested that Damascus would be least flexible on the territorial question. Assad wanted Israel to pull back to the line of 4 June 1967, the day before the war in which Israel conquered the Golan. And despite strong Israeli protestations to the contrary, he was convinced that the plateau was promised to him in its entirety.

Israel took as its benchmark the international border, drawn between the British and French territories of Palestine and Syria in 1923. The difference between the was geographically minuscule, but politically enormous. During and after 1948 war, which consolidated Israel's independence, Syria edged 10 metres forward across the 1023 line to the north-eastern bank of the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main fresh water reservoir.

Assad wanted to return to the shore. Barak wanted to keep the lake exclusively in Israeli hands-- and he knew that a retreat to the 1967 line would make it infinitely harder for him to sell a Golan evacuation to Israeli voters in a promised referendum.

The nearest to flexibility hinted by Seale lay in the fact that there was no map of the 1967 line. It had yet to be drawn. He believed that Assad would be more forthcoming in meeting Israel's security needs, an indispensable condition for any withdrawal. There too, however, he argued that the Syrians would resit any Israeli presence, in their own or anyone else's early-warning ground stations on the heights.

That was a sticking point with Assad. The Israeli look-out on Mount Hermon is still hated by all Syrians. There is a bang on top of the mountain, looking right down on the Damascus plain, listening to every telephone conversation in Damascus. They know who is sleeping with whom. That had to go. But the Syrians are saying you can have a perfectly adequate early-warning with satellites, with aerial reconnaissance, with side-looking radar, with an international force positioned between the two parties.''

In the previous negotiations, during the premiership of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, Seale said, Assad believed Israel had agreed to withdraw to the 1967 line and to the terms of a non-binding, American-brokered paper setting out the ''aims and principles''. But Assad was bitterly disappointed when Binyamin Netaniyahu came to power in 1996 and repudiated both. His initial hops, when Barak announced that he would be following the footsteps of Rabin, were also dashed when the new Israeli withdrawal, saying they were pulling out and forget about the Golan. So each side was threatening the other.

It was in this tense, situation that the breakthrough came when, in a very stateman- like fashion, Barak proposed to Syria that both countries should leave discussion about South Lebanon, at least for the time being. That was a very important signal to the Syrians. To them it was a clear indication from Barak that it was time for the two countries to stop threatening each other and to reach a meaningful deal. That was indeed an absolutely crucial moment. In a London-based Arabic newspaper, Seale claimed to confirm that Rabin and Peres had indeed committed Israel to full withdrawal from the Golan. And finally, President Bill Clinton's intensive, personal telephone diplomacy. Now that the two sides were coming together, how did Seale rate the chances of success?

''I think they are very good,'' he answered. First of all, these are very high-level political contacts. Barak told me that he wanted to deal at the summit. He did'nt particularly wanted intermediaries. He didn't particularly like the American peace team.

Assad too distinguished between the political decisions and the technical stuff which underlings can do. So he's ready now for the political decisions, and I think the very fact that Barak is going himself to Washington shows that this is a big political event, that he is conducting it, and that he is committing his credibility to it.'' And how long did he expect the negotiations to take?'' ''I'd say we're looking towards the end of 2000 for a comprehensive deal between Israel and Syria.''

Could the Syrians swallow full diplomatic relations, with borders open to tourism and trade? ''Of course,'' Seale said, ''They've been ready for this for years. But if you ask whether it will be a cold peace or a warm peace, that's where the link with Palestinian track will become evident. If the Palestinians are not given a fair deal-- for instance, it West Bank settlement continues, if confiscation of land continues, if the refugee problem is not tackled in a realistic way-- the it's hard to imagine Israeli tourists being welcome in Damascus. If, on the other hand, there's progress on the Palestinian problem, and that looks remote, there will always be some reasonable doubt about the success of the talks between Israel and Syria.''

When there are so many ''ifs'' to be fulfilled, it is difficult to see how Seale could foresee an early rapprochement between the two countries whose enmity has its roots deep in the history of the region. In fact, after the death of Assad last year when his son, Bashar Hfiz al-Assad took over as the President of Syria, there was evidently an escalation of tension between the two countries so much so that of late there has been much talk in Israel and the US of an impending crisis, even war, between the two countries. Labour Party Knesset members alege that the government's policies have led the intelligence services to change their assessment of Syria's intentions and they now see a threat of war with Syria as a growing possibility. Though Likud members retort that Syria's warlike behaviour has been evident for a long time, a recent report in ''Jane's Weekly'' says Syria's force capability ''goes far beyond a defensive posture and points out that Syria is believed to have Scud missile sites in underground bunkers which would be within easy striking range of Israeli troops on the golan Heights.

Around the same time, another sister publication, ''Jane's Sentinel'' says Syria has the most advanced chemical weapons programme in the Arab world, including missiles capable of delivering chemical warheads to any part of Israel and one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the Third World..

Syria also runs its own chemical wapons plant and is investing heavily in producing new weapons. These reports along with reports of irregular troops movements along the Syrian-Israeli border and arming of Hizbullah in Lebanon with longer-range Katyusha rockets together with provocative statements both by Syrian and Israeli leaders have not only contributed to the tension but has also rendered the possibility of an early rapproachment between the two countries as far cry.
PTI Feature