Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Stop this war

In Jammu too

Voter's vote in India Shining
Men, Matters & Memories

By M L Kotru

Friendly mismatches all around!....
Yours Randomly,

By Dr. R. L. Bhat

Jihadist terrorism, Germany's heroism
Here and There

By B L Kak

Joschka Fisher, Foreign Minister of Germany, has made it clear that following September 11, 2001, neither the United States nor Europe and the Middle East........more

EDITORIAL

Stop this war

One more terrorist attack on an election meeting --- this time in Banihal on Wednesday --- only confirms that the evil is still stalking the State with its wicked objective. According to a report in this newspaper, the militants hurled a grenade when Health Minister Lal Singh, who is the Congress candidate from the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, was addressing a public rally. One person was killed and 22, including a deputy superintendent of police and three policemen, were injured in this attempt. It seems just a coincidence that the militants carried out their dastardly action on a day Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in Jammu in connection with his own election programme. Normally their manner of according reception to the Prime Minister has been much more venomous. Clearly they are solely motivated by their nefarious aim to cause disruption in the election process and given the indications that not many of them are now left in the arena after the observance of cease-fire along the Line of Control they find it more convenient to choose their targets in remote and far-flung areas. Bewitched by a death wish the terrorists can strike at any time but that is not the proof in the prevailing circumstances of their ability or capacity in this behalf, as it was at one stage, but of sheer desperation. Having lost ground to the popular desire for restoring peace and harmony they want to reestablish their presence. This is their second assault on the poll meetings in a week. On April 8, they had killed 11 persons and injured scores of others, including two ministers Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Ghulam Hassan Mir, in the border town of Uri in the Baramulla Parliamentary constituency.

There can’t be two opinions that the remnants of terrorism must be wiped out. The perpetrators of violence have no place in a civilised society. What is not acceptable, however, is that the political parties, more so those which are partners in power, should indulge in a verbal duel blaming each other. It is incomprehensible, for instance, that People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti should have raised a finger of suspicion in the direction of her political rivals for the Uri violence squarely absolving the militants of their involvement. It is even worse that some of her own party leaders should have directly accused the Congress of having a hand in the gory drama. Mr Taj Mohiuddin, senior Congress leader and a Cabinet minister himself who represents Uri in the State Assembly, has now tried to get even with the PDP. He has made the startling allegation that the number of innocent citizens killed in retaliatory firing by the security guards of Mr Muzaffar Hussain Baig has far exceeded those who had fallen victims to the militants. He has demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. Coming from one Cabinet minister against another it is indeed very shocking, to say the least. Everyone knows that the Congress and the PDP are engaged in a confrontation in Baramulla: this is the only Lok Sabha seat they are contesting against each other after having entered into an understanding over the other constituencies in the State. Even if one makes allowance for this fact one does not find it easy to believe that they can stoop so low in settling scores with each other. It is all the more disgusting if it is true that the genesis of trouble between Mr Mohiuddin and Mr Baig has a personal agenda as both of them want to control the district police and administration. Whatever that may be, it certainly defies logic that Mr Baig should have thrown tantrums and acted in a childish manner by neglecting security precautions and travelling back to Uri in his injured condition. What was he trying to prove after the terrorists had struck and disappeared? If National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah has opted to take sides in this ongoing tussle between the two coalition partners it is unmistakably for his own reasons. Who can deny him this vicarious pleasure?

The only silver lining in this inelegant war of words is that Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is conducting himself in a highly responsible manner. His public utterances despite high stakes involved in both Baramulla and Anantnag are in keeping with the dignity of his office. Without losing any time he should initiate steps to prevent at least his Cabinet colleagues from indulging in mudslinging against each other particularly in matters concerning security whatever the compulsions of coalition politics. The ministers should also realise the responsibilities of their official positions. Their verbal contest and itch for theatricals will leave only one winner: the terrorism.

In Jammu too

Whoever said that civilisation travels quickly with all its conse quences along roads certainly was a wise man. Faster modes of transport like railways and airplanes have only added to the relevance and significance of his saying. It should not, therefore, come as a big surprise that Jammu University has come into the vicious grip of the evil phenomenon of examination papers being stolen and the examination being cancelled as a result. It is for the first time in the brief history of the University that ten sets of question-papers of different subjects at B.Sc level have been found removed from a locked almirah in the Government Gandhi Memorial Science College. The University has postponed one examination and is in the process of setting new papers for other subjects in order to stick to the original schedule in their case. Last year there was leakage of the papers of MD and MS entrance tests leading to a vigilance inquiry that has recently come across an even bigger scandalous dimension that MBBS entrance papers had also been leaked at that time without being noticed by those in authority and were sold in markets for lakhs of rupees. There was indeed a talk at that time those who were among the toppers in this examination had a rather poor academic record and the accused in this matter are now stated to have pointed a finger in their direction as the beneficiaries. Lest there is any confusion it should be noted that a competitive authority conducts and controls entrance tests for professional institutions in the State and not the University. Countrywide one notices a sickening phenomenon of unscrupulous elements playing havoc with the entrance examinations in particular and academic life as a whole. There is hardly any institution they are not targetting.

One hopes that the police which are probing the theft from the Science College acts with dispatch and rips off the culprits. At this moment it can’t be said with confidence whether it is an isolated occurrence or the first vicious move by an organised mafia. Preliminary reports have many missing links. On its part, the University has done well to constitute a three-member committee to look into the matter and suggest corrective measures. More than anything else such incidents reflect on the credibility of an institution. Therefore, one is sure that no mercy will be shown at all if an internal hand is detected in this murky affair.

Voter's vote in India Shining
Men, Matters & Memories

By M L Kotru

In a couple of days after this appears in print, voters will cast votes for the first phase of polling in general election 2004. On what basis will they pick their candidates or parties? What is the basic issue of this election? No marked policy differences can be seen between the competing parties. For the most part the parties have launched the most vulgar and personalized attacks against the leader of their rival parties. Well, that could have been one issue to decide whom to vote for comparing the personal taints of the leadership of the rival parties. Alas, that too is now denied to the voter. The Election Commission will censor surrogate advertisements put out on TV to determine whether the advertisement is decent enough or not. Does this not impinge on the freedom of expression? If an advertisement is libelous both the advertiser and the TV channel can be taken to court. But since when have defamation cases ever been resolved in India Shining?Using common sense therefore the Election Commission took its decision.

The only issue in this election one can discern is for the voter to judge which party, leader or candidate can best serve the nation. That indeed is the basic issue that has emerged in this election campaign so far. Everybody is in this campaign to serve the nation. All the film stars have gravitated towards BJP or Congress because suddenly in India Shining they have developed the urge to serve the nation. A Mumbai daily unkindly reported that most of them were being paid money to campaign, but that unpleasant and rude report was quickly brushed under the carpet never to be mentioned again. Some of the film stars of course are actually contesting the polls themselves. Since they are first timers we cannot assess very effectively their capacity to serve the nation. But let us assess some of the veteran politicians as they go about their business of serving the nation.

Arif Mohammed Khan had afternoon tea with Sonia Gandhi. In the evening he joined the BJP. Being conscientious, he carefully weighed the prospects of better serving the nation through either party before making his choice. Arif believes that the solution does not lie in attacking individuals or parties. ''It lies in correcting trends in society''. And one trend is that the Congress has lost its secular credentials. Ergo, the BJP must be made secular. For that he will bridge the gap between communities by finding space in the BJP and creating ''good with the RSS''.

Narendra Modi therefore wanted Arif to contest from Gujarat. After the Gujarat riots Arif had campaigned for Congress in the assembly polls. This, then, would be the ideal starting point for Arif to interact with communities and explain to them they Congress ceased to be secular and BJP gave promise of becoming secu. Oddly enough, according to newspaper reports. Arif was reluctant to contest from Gujarat. But what better way to interact with people and serve the nation? Perhaps he will prefer to send riot victims in Gujarat SMS messages on his cell phone.

Arif is not alone in bearing the burden of travel across parties to serve the nation. There is Ram Jethmalani too. Ram is supporting Sonia. He has stopped putting ten questions every day. He will now give to her ten suggestions every day. Ram turned against the BJP because of the Tehelka scandal. Columnist Karan Thapar was bemused how Ram could do this after giving clean chits to George Fernandes and Jaya Jaitely and even drafting their affidavits. Poor Karan! Had he forgotten how Ram drafted the petition for the Jain Hawala case and later became defending lawyer for one of its accused, L K Advani? Advani of course was then cabinet minister who was joined by Ram himself who also became a cabinet minister. Subsequently Ram decided to serve the nation by becoming a common candidate of all parties against Prime Minister Vajpayee. Alas, most parties refused to support him. According to the latest reports Ram has decided anyway to serve the nation by contesting against the PM as an independent.

VC Shukla on the other hand decided that the best way of serving the nation would be join the BJP and help those whom he put in jail during the Emergency win the polls and rule the nation. The BJP also thought it would best serve the nation by taking into its fold a person they had castigated for long as one of the arch villains of the Emergency. What better way to serve the nation than by following a policy of forgive-and-forget?

One can go on and on. Jayalalitha, Karunanidhi. Sonia Gandhi, Vajpayee and Advani, indeed almost all the leaders in all the parties have decided to forgive and forget the past in order to best serve the nation. Of course it is rather difficult to assess who under these conditions will best serve the nation. The voter therefore faces a formidable task. Things were much simpler earlier.

For one thing India was not shining then. Not as brightly as the blinding ''shine'' the NDA, under Vajpayee has wrought. And the shine is not going to wear. Ram Mandir will ensure that. The high-tech blitzkrieg that accompanied the release of BJP-NDA agenda on April 8 remains unsurpassed, thanks to the BJP whizkids masterminding the campaign. As India continues to shine for the political class and the urban middle class will continue to be cheering along. The poor, the illiterate, the unemployed must continue to tend for themselves. Or, better still blame it all on their Karma. In any case they must prepare for the day of polling. The rise and shine man of the NDA will be on hand to offer inducements, spiritual and material.

In sum, unlike the past general elections, 2004 presents a much more complicated picture to the voter. He will really have to scratch his head to determine who best serves the nation. But he should keep scratching till he sees the light. It is bound to dawn on him ultimately. After all, he is voting in India Shining.

Friendly mismatches all around!....
Yours Randomly,

By Dr. R. L. Bhat

The matches with Pakistan have turned to be classical examples in friendliness. Not only are the players playing with much rare camaraderie, but they are also losing and wining matches in a most brotherly way. One that goes down in one fixture is sure to come on the top in the next and so on. Of course, the word fixture is used here in the best etymological sense and is not supposed to connote anything of the ungentlemanly manner in which the gentleman’s game has lately come to be played, though, that has not prevented the Pak press from raising feathers and heckles after each Indian win and Pak defeat. But as the prime minister said the other day, the Indo-Pak contest is being relayed in an array of balls-of smoothest, shiniest, roundest kind, nothing else. Though the fact that there is little beedh to look to the cricketers playing gentlemanly for a change does rankle in the true sportsmanly mind. It raises a lingering doubt, but doubt is nothing…, absolutely nothing true.

One wished one could say the same about the ‘friendly match’ between the congress and PDP in the Baramullah. Nor can one be equianimous about the doubts raised by the PDP president’s assertion that terrorists had ‘nothing to do’ with the attack on her Uri-rally. Even while the establishment-unofficial, not the official one-was debating the implications of her assertion, there came the attack on the congress rally at Kupwara. Then there was a strike on the Banihal-rally of congress on the very day prime minister vowed at Jammu that lasting peace with Pakistan was his longtime goal. In between, the heavy-weight congress leaders skipped two election-meetings at Sopore and Pattan. None knows if any triggers were left un-clicked because of that. at least it can be taken as proved that it was not congress attacking its partner in power, though the qualifier ‘friendly’ has long been abandoned from the ‘match’ in Baramullah as hard challenges are being thrown by the rival-partners at one another without as much as ‘with your leave’ appended. The thing becomes rather serious because the gauntlets are being thrown by a normally placid Muzzafar Beig at an alarmingly quick pace.

But then, did he not begin with a swearing on the holy book on the opening day itself? Since then many other things have come out. Omar Farooq has told of how his party had arranged a meeting with the Hizb leaders during its rule, implying that they had already done what PDP is now pressing the center to do. On the top of it he has accused PDP of getting those negotiating Hizb-leaders killed, while it keeps calling for talks with HM. For those who remember how Farooq Abdullah had cited the late-sixties’ burning down of Batamaloo as a warning to the budding terrorists in the late eighties telling them that government did many things that people never dreamt of, the under cuts and deals underneath become things that the analysts trying to understand the implication of Uri-rally would ponder over rather deeply. Here Mahbooba’s assertion that her Uri-rally was not the handiwork of terrorists-‘militants’, as she insists on calling them-shows that other matches are underway of which the ordinary mortals may know nothing of. Mahbooba, the senior ‘man’ in the government, coalition and the ruling party, would certainly know for certain what others can have no inkling of until she chooses to tell.

For the moment she is not-speaking out, that is. Not even of the match in her own constituency with friend-philosopher and guide too?-Tarigami. If you are thinking of invoking Shakespeare it could not be the unkindest cut of all. For, she herself is delivering choice kicks and cuts all over whether it be women’s bill or the Rawalpindi Road, Sheikh’s legacy or…the terrorist attack on her rallies. While the one on Uri has rattled the establishment in the valley she has rubbed the insinuation and/or assertion in, as she and her colleague-senior or junior, one simply does not know!- gone without security cover. Now, none would call that a friendly match of wit or wits. It has connotations and implications that must not be missed. If terrorist are so goodly people, why should the people and politicians be implicating them in heinous crimes. To be sure, every time there was a massacre in the valley in the past, there were many claiming that terrorist-sahibaan had no hand in it. While the truth about the massacre in PDP time, Nadimarg, is yet to come out, PDP leadership is known to have empathized with these protestations of innocence. So will somebody tell who is doing all bombing, bulleting and grenading of people, elections rallies and minorities…all?

By the by, that could mean a lot for the people of a state harassed beyond reprieve by security considerations. One has only to look at the overbearing police men hooting all traffic out of the way during every ‘movement’ of the chief minister. Now, if the PDP president and her ministers can move without security in the border areas of Kupwara and Baramullah, there would be no need for their CM to move in armed cavalcades in Jammu. The PDP president says that there is no threat to her from terrorists…err, militants, and then goes out security-less to prove it. The implication is that the terrorism is a mere ‘match’ going on between over-ground manipulators rather than the underground marauders. It also ‘proves’ that all is well with the state; that it is just that somebody somewhere is not letting the Pipa sing of peace, prosperity, etc. Or, are we playacting here too as we did on accountability and corruption, governance and… ah yes, touches to heal?

Jihadist terrorism, Germany's heroism
Here and There

By B L Kak

Joschka Fisher, Foreign Minister of Germany, has made it clear that following September 11, 2001, neither the United States nor Europe and the Middle East can tolerate the status quo in the Middle East any longer. And Fisher elaborates in a speech given at Munich Security Conference recently: ''For the Middle East is at the epicentre of the greatest threat to our regional and global security at the dawn of this century; destructive jihadist terrorism with its totalitarian ideology''.

A series of terrorist attacks in various areas of the world, including India, since the US was rattled on September 11, 2001, have confirmed German Foreign Minister's pronouncement: ''This brand of terrorism does not only pose a threat to the societies of the West, but also and above all to the Islamic and Arab world''. Joschka Fisher's prescription: ''We cannot counter the threat of this new totalitarianism by military means alone. Our response needs to be as all-encompassing as the threat. And this response cannot be issued by the West alone''.

Excerpts of Fisher's speech have been made available by the New Delhi-based German Embassy through its April issue of 'German News'. The jihadist terrorism is not strong enough to achieve its political aims--that is, the destabilisation of the Middle East--by a direct route. It is, therefore, attempting to embroil the West, and above all the United States, in a clash of civilisations--the West versus Islam- and to provoke it into overreacting or making the wrong decisions, thereby bringing about the destabilisation of the entire Middle East.

To this end, terrorism and asymmetric warfare, Fisher says, are pursued with two aims:firstly, to wear down the forces deployed in the region, not to mention the general public in the West and secondly to drag the region down into chaos. ''Precisely for these reasons we must consider every step in the fight against terrorism very carefully and we must develop a common strategy with which to prevail over the jihad terrorists'', is Fisher's recommendation.

Joschka Fisher's Germany is in Central Europe and is a democratic, parliamentary state with a federal constitution. This system is not tolerated by jihad terrorists anywhere in the world. Germany's heroism against Jihadist terrorism is illustrated by the presence of some 2,000 German soldiers in Afghanistan, of whom 1,800 are in Kabul and 200 in Germany's reconstruction team in Kunduz.

Fisher's note of caution: ''Our concerted efforts to foster peace and security are doomed to failure if we believe that only security issues matter. They certainly do, but security is a much broader concept in this fight against terrorism; social and cultural modernization issues, as well as democracy, the rule of law, women's rights and good governance, are of almost even greater importance''. The European Union will have 25 members on May 1 this year, with the accession of Estonia, Latvia,Lithunia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus.

This information has been furnished by German Ambassador Dr Wilhelm Schonfelder. But more important: European Union (EU) will then form a single market of 450 million consumers with a GNP of about 10 Trillion euro which is a quarter of the world's gross national product. German Ambassador has let it be known that even after May 1, 2004 the further development of the European project will be far from over. Negotiations on the next round of enlargement are already at an advanced stage. Romania and Bulgaria will be joining the EU, probably in January 2007.

Turkish membership aspirations have also seen, to quote German Ambassador, ''remarkable momentum in the last years''. By the end of the current year, the European Council will decide, based on a report by the European Commission, whether Turkey will have fulfilled the necessary criteria (especially those related to democratic principles and human rights) so that accession negotiations could start without delay. Will enlargement affect the relations between European Union and India?

Dr Wilhelm Schonfelder's answer: ''I think, these relations have developed very positively and will continue to do so. The last EU-India Summit on the 29th of November 2003 has further reinforced our partnership. I am particularly glad that India also welcomed the enlargement of the EU. We commonly affirmed that deepening and widening of the EU would further strengthen our relations''.

German Foreign Minister has convincing point to justify NATO's role in Afghanistan now-a-days: September 11, 2001 and Al Qaeda's homicidal terrorism are the reasons why NATO is today in Afghanistan to secure the reconstruction and stabilization of the country on the basis on the ISAF mandate issued by the UN. The German Minister and his Government will have to admit that there is today a sense of belonging in the jihadist movement, evil as it is.

Most jihadis will have you believe they defeated the Soviet Army alongside Osama bin Laden in the mountains of Afghanistan. But consider this: Most of the 19 jihadists on those terrible flights of September 11, 2001 were less than 15 years old when the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan ended. How should democracies respond? In the past, they have tended to react with heavy military offensives, only to find that this tends to incite more attacks and to stir public sympathy for the terrorists without hampering their networks.

In their frustration, some terrorised countries have then changed tacks, making concessions to political causes supported by terrorists. Yet this does not work either. One likely reason suicide terrorism has been rising so rapidly in recent years is that terrorist groups have learned that the strategy pays off. Suicide terrorists were thought to compel American and French military forces to abandon Lebanon in 1983, Israeli forces to leave most of Lebanon in 1985, Israeli forces to quit the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in 1994 and 1995, and the Turkish Government to grant measures of autonomy to the Kurds in the late Nineties.

In all but the case of Turkey, the terrorists' political cause made far greater political gains after they resorted to suicide operations. When one considers the strategic logic of suicide terrorism, it becomes clear that America's war on terrorism is heading in the wrong direction. The close association between foreign military occupation and the growth of suicide terrorist movements shows the folly of any strategy centring on conquering countries that sponsor terrorism or in trying to transform their political systems.

At most, occupying countries will disrupt terrorist operations in the short term. But over time it will simply increase the number of terrorists coming at America. Al Qaeda may have been the first and most destructive of the many groups consumed with hatred of the US, but it by no means has central control over the countless clusters of jihadists seeking to confront America around the globe.

One has to accept that war on terrorism won't be over with the capture or elimination of Osama bin Laden. His death will have little effect beyond establishing his immortality and spurning America's jihadist enemies to go to even greater lengths to harm the US or its friends.