EDITORIAL
Many
tasks ahead
The new Government
that takes office today would have to grapple
with much. From terrorism to economy there are
areas that would need not a simple attention but
wholesale crusade on the part of the Government.
Many of the problems may not be solved as easily
as the people have been given to understand.
While the larger issues would need greater time
and study, there are some points that the new
dispensation can, rather must see to immediately.
Indeed, the problems that the State is faced with
are so huge that one could call these minor
points, but they are more material in easing the
day-to-day life of the people. The new
Government, being a change coming after the
monopoly of National Conference for more than
quarter century, is uniquely placed to infuse
fresh commitments into the Government and
administration. Besides in the wake of the change
of guards it is meet to expect that there would
be a major overhaul in the administration.
That probably is
the most opportune time for the new
administrators to set the priorities in the way
so as to give the people and their problems a
primacy over everything else. Many of the
hardships of the people arise from mere
indifference or inaction on the part of the
Government. They would cease if the Government
can send clear signals to the machinery to be
responsiveness and to act with sensitivity. It is
said that there are thick ‘dossiers’
with almost all the hitherto opposition leaders
about the instances of corruption and
insensitivity. While the new Ministers would
certainly take those ‘dossiers’ out for
ticking and marking, they would do well to give
vindictiveness a by. Here is an opportunity to
reward honesty and probity and give clear
indications that malfeasance here would not be
tolerated. The new order can degenerate if the
new masters set to find themselves new
‘servants’ in the official lesions or
may flower into a fine example of transparency,
and accountability if they choose to stick to
principles in their practices. Too often, the
people have seen promising pledges drown in the
mire of manipulations and ministrations as the
new cronies and chums come to take the place of
other cronies and chums. And then it is back to
the bad old routine.
Few people who
come unto the goodies and offices desire to break
the set routines and get over the established
tradition; fewer still are able to break them and
set new traditions in their place. Yet the
people-the poor, believing people-always expect
that the new brooms would clean the place. It
would be one test for this new dispensation in
the State, whether it charts out a new course for
itself or falls into the old rut. It would be a
measure of their sincerity as well as ability. It
would not take much to install the principles and
probity. With very little effort the whole
machine of governance can be made responsive,
prompt and true. In that the Government would
have taken care of a number of problems pestering
the people. But it would take a lot of sincerity
and a basic honesty of thought and deed. The
belief of the people that this Government has
that basic requisite is a valuable asset with it.
So is the fund of good-will the new Government
enjoys. It can consolidate that or lose as it
chooses to.
Tip
of the berg
The nabbing of a
theatre assistant in the Medical College
and a telephone mechanic, the other day are just
the proverbial tip of the berg of corruption that
smoothers this State and its people under it.
That it took the principal of Medical College and
the CBI to nab these petty operatives is somehow
not an assurance but an indication of how deep
the rot is. For one, neither of the petty
official would have dared to even think of the
crimes they have been booked for on their own.
They are mere end points of much larger and more
pervasive rings, rather hierarchies of
corruption. That is borne out by the fact that
whole galaxies of professors of the Medical
College are said to have gone to plead the case
of the theater assistant. They should have been
calling for stringent action and unveiling the
whole ring. Instead they used the argument of
‘wider involvement’ to press for 'a
chance' for the lowly official. Why? Because
there is wider involvement and most if not all of
the practisers of the noble profession may be
found deep in the ignoble deed the official was
caught for, if not actual instigators of it all.
The officials of
the telecom department were apparently more
circumspect. That could be because there is no
pleading with CBI. But CBI is not to nab the
lowly phone mechanics. Obviously the higher
authorities are turning a blind eye to the doings
of their minions. But again, would the
corruption, at the lower level be that rampant
without the connivance of the higher authorities.
That brings up the second point. The practices,
in either department are not something new. They
have been going on for almost ages. There is
hardly a telephone-holder in the city as has not
paid the commission for installation of the
connection. They pay those commissions every time
the connection develops a fault. It, in fact, is
a regular part of the installation and running of
the telephone, like the telephone bill. If the
department and the authorities are, indeed,
unaware of it all that is proof not of their
honesty but shocking incompetence. Else, they
take their cuts and sit back to watch their
subordinates fleecing the people. Just as the
noble doctors maneuver poor patients into private
nursing homes to be operated upon there with
instruments of the Government hospital in the
time for which they are paid by the Government.
All that does not justify the offenders who have
been nabbed. They are guilty and must be
punished. But there are more, guiltier than them,
who need to be caught and caged, too.
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A
reasonable Mufti-Sonia pact
Men, Matters & Memories
By M L
Kotru
Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed may not be everybody's
idea of a good cup of tea but the truth
is that at the end of the fractured
verdict rendered by the people of Jammu
& Kashmir he is undoubtedly the only
acceptable cup on offer. He may seem to
lack the aggressive flamboyance of a
Farooq Abdullah or the freshly acquired
sophistication of a Ghulam Nabi Azad but
Mufti Sayeed, for all that, is a true son
of the soil, the
peasant-turned-lawyer-turned- politician
who in recent years wholly identified
himself with the agonies and the
aspirations of the people of Jammu &
Kashmir. His rise from the political
grassroots has been marked by many ups
and downs but rarely have the downs been
allowed to break his spirit or his
commitment to the causes held dear by
him. In recent years, climaxing a career
that has seen him heading the State unit
of a national party, serving as a
minister in Jammu and Kashmir and in the
Rajiv and V P Singh Governments. Mufti
has devoted all his time and energy to
undoing terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir.
His concern for the suffering imposed on
the people caught in the cross fire
between the terrorists and security
forces has found strident expression
within and without the State, with his
untiring daughter Mehbooba always by his
side. Indeed, Mehbooba it is who has
given substance to Mufti's message of
peace, one moment commiserating with
those who had lost a loved one, the next
applying balm, as it were, to those
broken in body and spirit by depredations
of the terrorists and security forces
alike. And Mehbooba was the star
campaigner for her farther's People's
Democratic Party when the State went to
the polls. The father daughter duo often
shared the stage but it was Mehbooba who
won the hearts of the ordinary people,
sharing their aches, and heartburns.
Mehbooba logged mile upon mile,
travelling the length and the breadth of
the State, offering hope were apparently
there was none. If only for the efforts
of the father-daughter two some, it is
only fair that the valley returned most
of the PDP candidates. If, Farooq's
designated heir, Omar saw his head
rolling in the family backyard of
Ganderbal who cares. Certainly not the
Muftis nor the people at large in the
Valley. This, when Abdullah's National
Conference did manage to return with 28
seats to the State Assembly.
In the end
again it was only fair that Sonia Gandhi,
the Congress President, should, in a rare
exhibition of statesmanship, ask her man
Ghulam Nabi Azad, in the midst of
rejoicing over the prospect of his being
made the Chief Minister of the State, to
give rein to his ambitions. Sonia who, in
an earlier round of post-election talks
with Mufti, had sounded non-committal,
happily for all, changed her mind and the
next round of talks saw her aggreeing to
Mufti heading the PDP-Congress coalition
in the State. Mufti would head the State
Government for the first three years of
the assembly's six year term making way
for the Congress for the rest of the
term; and the common minimum programme
further revealed Sonia's intention to let
larger interests of the State and its
people take precedence over her party's
immediate political compulsions, even
risking discontent among some within her
flock. Sonia admitted that the decision
was not easy for the party to arrive at,
given the serious reservations some of
her senior colleagues had over
surrendering the Chief Ministership to
Mufti.
In sum the
Mufti-Sonia agreement and the common
minimum pro- gramme sound eminently
reasonable and fair. It is now for the
two to ensure that the arrangement is
made to work and succour offered to the
long suffering people of Jammu and
Kashmir.
After the
Mufti-led Government is sworn-in on
Saturday it shouldn't take it long to
realise that its task is clear-cut; in
the immediate context it consists in
coming up with confidence building
initiatives aimed at the alienated
sections, still outside the democratic
system as was evidenced by the low voter
turn out in some parts of the valley. It
is absolutely imperative for the new
experiment to be as inclusive as
possible. PDP has much support in the
valley and the Congress likewise has
shown its capacity to dislodge the
Bharatiya Janata Party and its parivar
allies in Jammu. Yet, there are many
others who even as they may have
supported the PDP or the Congress or put
up independent ''proxy'' candidates, have
been unwilling to participate in the
elections. There are others like the
Ladakhi separatists who bagged two
uncontested seats in Leh and have stayed
out of the process of reconciliation.
It's of the utmost importance that such
elements are also drawn into the
democratic process.
I am not
suggesting not by a long shot-that
National Conference has to be excluded.
On the contrary it must continue to be
engaged as a force in the process to
restore democratic functioning in the
State. Of course, it remains to be seen
whether Farooq and his son will be able
to get over their pique and engage
themselves in reviving their own party
and the democratic process. It must be
recognised that there is growing
sentiment in the rest of the nation that
partisan and sectarian agendas cannot be
allowed to dictate policies towards or
within the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mufti Sayeed, fortunately, has already
indicated his willingness to involve all
sections of opinion in the State in any
future discourse. He has stressed that
his approach will be conciliatory, not
confrontational. The advantage with such
an approach is that it opens up the
political space enabling people to become
a bulwark against terrorism.
The common
minimum pro- gramme adopted by the PDP
and the Congress happily starts with the
premise- and I quote in full that the
''goal of the coalition Government is to
heal the physical, psychological and
emotional wounds inflicted by 14 years of
militancy, to restore rule of law, to
complete the revival of the political
process, which was begun by the recently
concluded elections, and to request the
Government of India to initiate and hold
sincerely and seriously, wide-ranging
consultations and dialogue without
conditions, with the members of the
legislature and other segments of public
opinion in all the three regions of the
State, to evolve a broad-based consensus
on restoration of peace with honour in
the State''. The CMP further commits the
Government to ensure the safety of life
and property and restoration of dignity
and honour of the people of the State,
''The coalition Government will take all
possible steps within its power to
protect the people in Jammu and Kashmir
from violence and militancy whether
originating from within or from outside
the State, and to encourage those young
men from the State who have resorted to
militancy to return their families and
the mainstream with the belief that they
will receive security and justice
according to law.'' The CMP at the same
time assures the Central Government that
the State will fully cooperate with it in
combating cross-border militancy
originating the from Pakistan.
The CMP by
itself is a comprehensive charter which
has in it elements that should satisfy
all segments of opinion in the State.
Indeed, some part of it would meet with
instant approval of separatist outfits
like those headed by Shabir Shah and even
the Hurriyat Conference. I am not so sure
about the ''lip service'' paid by the CMP
to the concerns of the four lakh Kashmiri
Pandits forced out of the Valley in the
early 90s. The CMP say it will seek the
cooperation of all elements in the
society to create an atmosphere conducive
to their safe return. I may sound biased
but there appears to be little chance of
that happening in the foreseeable future.
The
mention of ''Ehtisab'' (accountability)
in the document however gives me goose
pimples. I hope it is not the kind of
''ehtisab'' Gen Musharraf instituted in
Pakistan when he staged his coup there.
If the idea is to rid the system of
corruption and nepotism by all means go
ahead with it. But if it is to carry out
personal vendettas one hopes there is no
room for ''ehtisab'' of that kind. My
worry is that given the record of the
Farooq Government the PDP-Congress
coalition will have time for nothing else
other than probing one or the other scam
fathered by the outgoing regime.
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A
national concern, not issue!....
Yours Randomly
By Dr.
R. L. Bhat
Ba
qadre paimaniyai takhayul saroor har dil
mein hai khudi ka
Agar na
ho yeh fireeb-I-paiham dam nikal jayey
aadmi ka
(Every
heart, in measures of its head, is
charmed with its being/
But for
this even illusion, there may be no
living)
‘Delusions
of grandeur’ may be a neurotic
problem, but it is also the stuff and
substance of which men, identities,
peoples even nations build their notions.
Perchance, to live them out too. But when
the notions get out of hand and
proportion, they create a chaos that
engulfs, the being and the beholder, the
nations and the neighbors. Thus the
notion of British superiority and
greatness threw four continents out of
gear, caused infinite misery, to people
there and gave its nationals unfounded
high claims that they are still unable to
shake off. And, the travesty does not
stop there. It flows its abnormal course,
makes the same Britain an uncomfortable
partner in its European continent and a
lap dog of the American policy in the
world. All to feed an image that is not
only untrue but an illusion the great
people of the island nation could do
without. Probably, Britain is an example
of delusions too much overworked. At
other places and for other peoples,
lesser delusions have created fracas,
breaks and divisions with attendant
attritions.
Whole
nations have been broken, and peoples
given mind-boggling images that can sit
comfortably neither with themselves nor
with others. They have ended up
undermining a healthy approach to life
and things, bred hate and intolerance and
thrown whole peoples into throes of
suicidal strife with neighbors and
sometimes with saner elements among the
people themselves. Kashmir stands out as
an example here. The Valley and its fair
sons and daughters have some claim to
distinction for sure. They have
definitely excelled in arts literature,
philosophy even the way of life. Or,
rather excelled aeons ago, with some
minor claims in the contemporary times.
May be here is a people, a cut above, but
that ,vould not call for whole edifices
of exclusivity and distinctiveness to be
raised to imaginary skies. Yet these
notions have formed a back-drop for ideas
of greatness that at the very least are
feeding more intolerance than
understanding. And are certainly
thwarting a straighter approach to the
problems, aspirations and hopes.
Contemporary
Kashmir is living a life that is much
large than the reality would vouch it.
The sixteen thousand square kilometer
tract has the whole subcontinent in
throes, with two nations almost ready to
annihilate each other over it. How so
comforting that may be to the self-images
and ideas in the Valley, they have given
Kashmir as well as the subcontinent an
unreal kink. Thus Kashmir is definitely a
national concern, but that is how any
other part would be cared for. While
three wars have already been fought over
it, the nation is ready to fight any
number of more wars if anybody threatens
to take it out of the union. But then
that is how it would react and rally if
any other bit or part of the nation comes
under attack. Any other part would become
equally important if a similar
circumstance visited that part. It is the
national concern showing. There is no
exclusivity, no distinction there. It is
like the little toe becoming very
important for the body with a festering
sore underneath. It does not make it the
body, but it draws the whole body to it.
Probably,
that was what the new Chief Minister
‘meant when he said that Kashmir was
a national issue. For it is not something
on which the nation of India hinges, or
whose resolution is crucial to the life
of this nation. India is too great an
idea to be tied around any single point,
part or notion. And this idea is
definitely not born of yesterday, or put
together for a transient end but it is a
reality that has been living on its own
force for ages and would live on. That
India includes everything from Kashmir to
Kerala; it indeed is because of these
identities and bits and pieces, from the
east, west, north and south, from past,
present and promises of future. It is
because of these, and yet transcends all
these. It does not rest on the quirky
peg, stuck in this State or that part.
Yet there are notions, elsewhere too that
Kashmir is something very vital India. It
is. Like the eastern-most line in Mizoram
or the southern-most tip across the
Andaman it is very material to the nation
of India being a part, how so remote, how
so far flung. This India is not something
exterior to those parts of peoples but
the very blood of their being. There,
more than India having a stake in them,
they have a stake in the Indian
image, ethos and idea.
Just as
Kashmir has a stake in India to
prove that it is indeed the great promise
that it stands for. Its being with India
proves that it is true to itself. India
does not need to prove anything in
Kashmir, or UP for that matter. It is
these parts, which have to prove the
Indian promise in themselves. That
promise does not reside in Delhi, it
emanates from Kashmir, from Bengal and
from all other parts. But the confused
notions of delusion have put unnatural
implications in straight meaning. Thus
people have been told that Kashmir is a
test for Indian secularism, when it is
just the reverse. Kashmir has to prove
its secularism in India not seek proof
from it. If the people there believe in
democracy and freedom, they have to show
it, prove it by their example and
percept. That is they have to live those
ideals out, put them into practice, if
the tradition of that part is indeed
imbued with all these ideals. The
greatness of Kashmir, as the greatness of
the other parts of this nation, is in
their own promises and practices. That is
their grandeur. None may turn it into
overpowering delusions.
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Sonia,
too, uses ‘Kashmiriat’ term
MEN AND MATTERS
By B L
Kak
Jammu is
no longer a sleepy town. It is now an
important centre, not only for scribes
but also for security and political
strategists. The 12-year-long militancy,
coupled with unending attempts by
Pakistan to make inroads into larger
pockets of the region, did turn a new
leaf, prompting even the international
community, particularly the United
States, to consider Jammu a zone of
importance.
History
books are replete with many instances in
support of the description of Jammu as
‘Land of Dogras’. These very
books have, in recent times, undergone a
change here and a change there, because
of highly significant variations in the
human population, community-wise. Muslims
inhabiting all the districts in the
region have, one can say without any fear
of contradiction, emerged as the most
important component of Jammu’s
polity.
But it is
Kashmiri Muslim, or his
‘Kashmiriat’, which is,
politically, administratively , socially
and strategically, far more important
than the other ethnic groups in the
State’s three regions, Kashmir,
Jammu and Ladakh. If there was any doubt
about it, it was set at rest by the
country’s oldest political
organisation, namely,Congress by
accepting—in fact, by
encouraging—the candidature of a
‘pure’ Kashmiri like Mufti
Mohammed Sayeed to be the Chief Minister,
even when the J&K unit of the party
could have provided a man from Jammu
itself for the ‘hot seat’.
The
‘pure’ Kashmiri factor apart,
it was also the anti-National Conference
sentiment which influenced the
leaderships of the two parties—the
Congress and the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) of Mufti Sayeed—to join
hands, in a bid to provide a
‘stable’ coalition Government
in the troubled State. In that the credit
was given to the Congress supremo, Ms
Sonia Gandhi, who was also found to have
been influenced by the much-touted
expression—’Kashmiriat’
and urgency to preserve it.
The
phenomenon of ‘Kashmiriat’ is
somewhat elusive. Unlike the Telugu,
Tamil and Kannada ‘pride’,
which is easy to understand if not to
fully appreciate because of the sectarian
chauvinism it evokes now and then,
‘Kashmiriat’ lends itself to
many interpretations depending upon the
source which interprets its.
The
Kashmiri himself will interpret it
according to the time and place and the
mood. Throughout history,
‘Kashmiriat’ has been a
dominant factor in the Kashmiri thought
and its processes. Time was when it
symbolised only the indomitable spirit of
independence and the fierce commitment to
secularism.
The times,
as we know,have changed and much blood
has flown down the Jhelum. The Muslim and
the Pandit have drifted apart and the
brotherhood has broken. Today
‘Kashmiriat’ is many things to
many people. And instrument of political
blackmail? An excuse for alienation? A
symbol of militant Islam? The basis for
people-security forces confrontation? An
ethereal legend confined to the Valley?
An alibi advanced by the Muslims of the
Valley to cut themselves adrift from the
Hindus of Jammu and the Buddhists of
Ladakh? A phenomenon exploited by
Pakistan? You can make a choice to fit in
with any theory.
Inscrutable
as is the mind of the average Kashmiri,
it will be imprudent to speculate on his
reaction to the incoming Government.The
Kashmiri mind has always remained
inscrutable and unfathomable, and will
remain so. Whether it is a Muslim or a
Kashmiri Pandit, unless one has even a
remote comprehension of this elusive
Kashmiri mind, you will never really know
whether the Kashmiri says what he means
or means what he says.
It was
only Indira Gandhi, not even Jawaharlal
Nehru (himself a Kashmiri) who seemed to
understand the Kashmiri mind and it was
this which made her bring out Sheikh
Mohammed Abdullah from his 22-year-long
political wilderness and turn him into a
hero.
For the
present, the only reality is that the
National Conference is out of the frame.
Between 1975, when Indira Gandhi
installed Sheikh Abdullah in power.
Before his death in September 1982, the
Sheikh, the founder of the Abdullah
dynasty, strode across the Valley and the
plains like a colossus and was accepted
voice of Kashmir and the symbol of
‘Kashmiriat’.
In a
sense, the Sheikh’s death helped
consolidate rather than fritter the
dynasty. Dr Farooq Abdullah was a natural
successor. Just as the Sheikh anointed Dr
Farooq his heir on August 21, 1981, Dr
Farooq anointed his son, Omar Abdullah,
as his NC successor a few months ago. The
Sheikh had told Dr Farooq that he was
placing "a crown of thorns’ on
his head. Dr Farooq told his son that it
was time he stepped into his shoes as
Chief Minister since he was moving to
another pasture. To whom will Omar
Abdullah pass on the mantle when his time
comes?
The story
of a dynasty has to find an important
place in the history of Kashmir. The
dynasty is on the decline, if not in its
death throes. It has suffered the most
humbling experience of being rejected by
the populace in what will certainly be
seen as the fairest of polls held in
Kashmir in the last five decades.
The
Abdullah dynasty which held Kashmiris in
sway for so many years, is down, with the
;last scion, Omar Abdullah, himself being
defeated at the polls. The National
Conference which symbolises the dynasty
of Sheikh Abdullah, is certainly down but
it may be premature at this stage to say
whether it is also out.
These are
days when many Kashmiris themselves will
be wondering whether the National
Conference will fade away into oblivion
in the coming months by getting
marginalised in the sweep of
history-making events still to unfold in
the immediate future or whether,
Phoenix-like, it was rise again from the
ashes.
Two other
political figures, who will also find due
space in the political history, are Mr
Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ms Mehbooba Mufti.
While the Pradesh Congress Committee
(PCC) led by Mr Azad surprised even
itself by winning 5 seats in the Kashmir
Valley, its success in Jammu was on the
cards. It won 15 seats, replacing the BJP
as the party of Hindu preference. Mr Azad
had not contested even a panchayat
election in his home State. Now, this
‘rootless wonder’ was hailed
for victory of sorts.
True,
Mufti Sayeed is a well-know political
personality from the Valley. But it was
his daughter, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, who
performed the real wonder, particularly
in south Kashmir. And after the
impressive showing by the PDP, Ms
Mehbooba was nicknamed ‘AK-47 of
Kashmir’.
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Bush
softens stand on Iraq
By Narendra N. Sinha
Relentless
American efforts to oust Iraq's Saddam Hussein
from power continue to face roadblocks. The
exercise to draft a resolution acceptable to all
or majority of the members of the UN Security
Council has prolonged the suspense over Saddam's
fate. Both France and Russia along with other
permanent members of the Security Council have
rejected even the revised US-British draft.
In a bid to
overcome serious objections in the Council, which
basically relate to the Americans seeking
explicit authorisation on the use of force
against Iraq, the US formally circulated the new
draft at a meeting of the permanent members and
ambassadors this week. But even this has not
found ready acceptance. They object to use of
words warning Iraq of 'serious consequences' and
taking note that it is in ''material breach' of
the UN resolutions. Other members, particularly
France and Russia, see these phrases as semantic
loopholes, which the Americans could use for
non-diplomatic action against Iraq, if is
obstructed the work of UN weapons inspectors.
In a condescending
manner, US President George W Bush has assured he
will give diplomacy another try. ''We don't
believe he's going to change. However, if he were
to meet all conditions of the United Nations...
that in itself would signal that the regime (of
Saddam Hussein) has changed''. That's a very
conciliatory gesture and a slight shift from the
hardline he took earlier. In the present phase of
the anti-Iraq move, President Bush has been
insisting on his one-point agenda of repalcing
Saddam with a moderate leadership which will give
up all programmes of developing weapons of mass
destruction.
In swift
diplomatic moves coinciding with the release of
the revised draft resolution, US sent the Under
Secretary of State, Mr John Bolton, to Moscow.
Though apparently his visit was aimed at
preparing a dialogue between Presidents Bush and
Putin in Mexico where they both were expected to
arrive for the Asia-Pacific Economic Council
summit, he tried to persuade the Russian Foreign
Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, to examine favourably
the new US draft on Iraq.
As for Putin's
visit to Mexico, it is already ruled out in view
of the Chechen rebels taking a 1,000 people
hostage in a Moscow theatre, Russian sources do
not indicate any change of mind in regard to the
modified version of the US draft resolution.
''Such wording can be used as justification for
beginning military action'', the official RIA
Novosti news agency said referring to the
expression ''serious consequences''-- a stern
warning to Baghdad, if it fails to comply with
the proposed resolution. If adopted by the
Security Council, it would obviously open the
gates for automatic and unilateral military
action against Iraq.
France too is
totally against any use of force against Iraq,
hence its preference for two separate
resolutions, one of them, actually the second
one, sanctioning use of force only after weapons
inspectors report to the UN Security Council
failure of their mission on account of Baghdad's
non-cooperation. The first resolution should only
authorise a fresh UN inspection to proceed to
Iraq and stop short of any threats or automatic
use of force in case of non-compliance, insists
France.
The United States
seems to have come round to incorporating the two
phases in a single resolution. It has also
dropped a demand for military units to accompany
weapons inspectors, besides abandoning the
earlier suggestion that the Permanent Five could
send their own experts for inspection of
suspected Iraqi sites and facilities for weapons
of mass destruction.
These are positive
developments, which may ultimately serve the US
objective of eliminating the ''axis of evil'', as
Bush refers to North Korea and Iraq. He now draws
a distinction between the two countries. ''What
makes him (Saddam Hussein) even more unique is
the fact that he has actually gassed his own
people,'' Bush remarked recently. (CNF)
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