New
strategy for J&K
By
Sreedhar
Before
analysing Pakistani Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz's visit to New Delhi on
November 23 and 24, three factors need to
be noted. Events of the past few years in
Jammu & Kashmir indicate that from
Pakistani perspective, the issue is not
moving anywhere. From the Indian
perspective, there are three elements
which are acting as deterrents to the
return of normalcy and the development of
the State. First is Pakistan. In spite of
three wars with India, Islamabad failed
in its quest for occupying J&K by
force. Having failed in military
solution, it started, what western
strategic community call, low intensity
conflict and proxy war in 1988
culminating in Kargil war of 1999. It too
failed to produce the desired results
Islamabad wanted. In the post 9/11 it was
forced to come to the conference table
with India, to resolve the differences.
In the process, Islamabad also realized
that the international community is no
longer viewing sympathetically to its
claims on J&K; and its 'moral,
political and diplomatic support' to
terrorist activities in and around
J&K, is not looked upon favourably.
Further, India emerging as one of the
lead players in the new global economic
order, positioned Islamabad at a
disadvantageous position.
Second is
the Hurriyat conference. Over the years
it emerged a sa front organization of
Pakistan in Srinagar, repreenting only a
microscopic portion of J&K
population. Their silence to the
atrocities being committed by terrorists
made them of questionable bonafides. From
the abduction of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's
daughter in end 1980's to the ethnic
cleansing of the valley by driving out
pundits to terrorist planned attack on
the eve of Dr Man Mohan Singh's visit on
17/18 November 2004 placed them as people
who have scant regard to composite
Kashmiri culture, which is secular and
plural. Their credibility further
worsened with divisions in the Hurriyat
over the strategy to deal with the issues
involved. In the process, they emerged as
a stubling block to the entire strategy
of development of the region. Hurriyat's
total silence since the organizations'
formation on the Pakistani occupied Areas
of J&K like Gilgit and Baltistan and
ceding territory to China by Pakistan in
1963 questioned their loyalties. As a
Kashmiri pointed out, Hurriyat is a group
of people thriving on the miseries of
Kashmiri people. Their leadership
consists of people who thrived on
converting Kashmiri sufferings into an
industry and became rags- to-riches
stories.
Lastly, it
is not clear to any on regarding the
credentials of the terrorists who parade
themselves as Jehadis and Mujahideens
(holy warriros) and who have been
creating a mayhem in J&K over the
years. In the initial years, the euphoria
among the local population on the Jehadis
has also disappeared now as they emerged
as mercenaries ready to go and fight
anywhere if they are paid properly.
Personal profiles of some of the Jehadi
leaders show that many of them are
anti-social elements in Pakistan. In
substance, they all add up as a group of
people, operating from Pakistan and
Pakistan occupied Kashmir, committing
every cocneivable violation of human
rights in J&K and creating hurdles
for the economic development of the
region.
In these
circumstances the problems in J&K has
to be dealt with at two levels. At one
level, Pakistan has to be dealt with
separately from the remaining two groups.
Islamabad's mindset has to be changed to
show that redrawing of the map of the
region is not a feasible proposition in
any given circumstances and rest of all
the issues can be resolved peacefully
through bilateral negotiations. This
would mean, Pakistan has to reconcile to
the fact that its claims on J&K are
not correct. India understands that a
57-year-old mindset of Pakistan's Punjab,
the only province laying claims on
J&K, cannot undergo swift change
overnight. In addition, Pakistan managed
to sustain its claims on J&K by
managing to make itself relevant to extra
regional powers like the US in 1950s and
1960s as a part of cold war politics, to
China in 1970s as a part of Beijing's
quest for containing India, in 1980s
again to the US during Soviet occupation
of Afghanistan and now to the US war on
terrorism. In retrospect, it appears that
Pakistan raises its antenna on its
perceived territorial disputes with India
only whenever there is an external
support to it. Even in the current
situation, Islamabad, which was docile
from 2001 to 2003 suddenly, started
making noises after the US agreed to
supply Pakistan with US $ 1.2 billion
military aid. Now Pakistan even threatens
it would revive the issue of plebiscite.
Apparently India's assessment of the
situation is that Pakistan cannot go back
to Jehadi culture once again; and even of
Islamabad wants, its donors will not
allow Jehadi policy to continue.
Regarding
Hurriyat, it lost its clout even in
Valley after the 2003 provincial
elections in the State. Their periodic
hartal calls at best gets response in few
mohallas of Srinagar. As a western
diplomat who met them observed, Hurriyat
has not changed with times. From
plebiscite and independence in 1980s and
1990s, now the leaders of Hurriyat harp
on human rights by security forces when
the terrorists are committing more
heinous crimes. The Hurriyat song of
going to Pakistan to consult leaders
across the boundary and the eagerness of
its leaders to meet Pakistani leaders
visiting Delhi and conducting parleyes
with them has not endeared them to either
Kashmiri peope or people in authority in
Delhi and Srinagar. ''Hurriyat wants to
sell J&K to Pakistan or make it a
surrogate state of Islamabad', quipped a
Kashmiri. In these circumstances,
Government of India thought to dispensing
with the special status given to Hurriyat
by the NDA Government.
Over the
years the Jehadis emerged as an
impediment to peace and development in
J&K. They emerged as a group of
terrorists to work as a pressure point of
Pakistan vis-a-vis India. However, in the
post 9/11 global War on terrorism their
relevance has come down considerably.
With Pakistan getting on the defensive
for aiding and abetting Jehadis, things
are fast changing.
In this
emerging new geopolitical scenario, Dr
Man Mohan Singh's strategy is quite
simple. He changed the priorities in
J&K. During the last three decades,
J&K emerged as one of the provinces
with low poverty line. If it has to
emerge on par with state like Punjab and
Haryana, the people have to cooperate
with his plans and shun groups like
Hurriyat and Jehadis from disturbing the
development process. He subtly but firmly
told Pakistan that it could deal with it
on J&K issue quite effectively. His
statements in Srinagar on November 16
that any territorial claims on Pakistan
will be addressed to only within the
framework of existing boundaries.
Even
though Hurriyat and its mentors in
Pakistan are trying to give a moderate
face to it, Dr Man Mohan Singh made no
attempts to reach them in his two-day
sojourn to Srinagar. In fact Hurriyat'
urgency to meet Pakistani Prime Minister
during his visit to New Delhi on November
23, has showed to every one where their
interests are. If we go by the media
reports, even Pakistan started dealing
with them as one more group to deal with
and not sole representative of J&K
people. The Hurriyat and Pakistan
protege, Jehadis too fal in the same
category as a divided lot without any
focus on J&K.
In this
new scenario, Pakistan's hurry to clinch
the issue in its favour at any cost is
understandable. Their impatience is
evident from the ideas that they are
putting forward to resolve the J&K
issue. In the process, they are
sensitising their people that the J&K
issue is a lost cause like that of
Taliban in Afganistan. Shaukat Aziz is
trying to do that exactly. In a way it is
a good thing.-- CNF
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Mughal-e-Azam
versus the ‘Rest’
TALES OF TRAVESTY
By Dr.
Jitendra Singh
Dilip
Kumar's feather strokes across the cupid
bow mouth and lightly shut eyes of
Madhubala create an erotic fission that
no amount of uninhibited leg-shaking,
grion-jerking or coitus - simulation of
today's remixed "Kanta
Laga....." can match. That was the
closest that the hero got to his beloved
in the movie and yet the moist passion
oozing from Dilip's yearning eyes had
inspired surmises that during the decade
- long making of Mughal-e-Azam in the
1950s, a real life relationship had
gradually evolved between Dilip Kumar and
Madhubala which incidentally remained as
unfulfilled as the one between Prince
Salim and Anarkali, the characters played
by the two of them.
The rest
is history. Madhubala's father refused
his daughter the permission to act in
B.R. Chopra's "Naya Daur" which
involved outdoor travelling-cum-shooting
with Dilip Kumar and instead went to the
court over certain contractual issues
where Dilip Kumar as a witness publicly
professed "I love this woman and
would continue to do so as long as I
live". Meanwhile, the movie
Mughal-e-Azam went on to become a hit
with Prithviraj appearing more like
Emperor Akbar than what the real life
Akbar would have actually looked. The
majestic gait and reverberating voice of
Emperor Akbar, nay Emperor Prithviraj,
continued to haunt for long after the
lights had come on.
The
biggest purpose that the recently
released colour remake of Mughal-e-Azam
has served is not only to offer K. Asif's
magnum opus in colour and sound befitting
its grandeur but to remind the
film-makers as well as film-goers of 21st
century India that it is still possible
to produce successful, popular and
commercially viable cinema without
necessarily resorting to nouseating sex
or obnoxious violence. This is evident
enough from the box-office response
received by coloured version of
Mughal-e-Azam released over 40 years
after the release of original version and
the manner in which even the young new
generation, often described today as the
J. Lo generation, has responded to the
movie with teary eyes and lumps in
throats as the Salim-Anarkali saga goes
down over-ruled by the supreme decree of
Akbar the Great.
A good
story-line enriched by imaginative
direction, matching screen-play, crisp
editing, diligent acting performance and
melodious music is the key to any
successful movie. It may or may not be
supplemented with a saucing of avoidable
sex and violence. This is the message
from Mughal-e-Azam of 2004. Creativity,
originality and professionalism have been
the secret of many an all -time box
office hits which were at the same time
great pieces of art as well. If, for
example, Dev Anand's "Guide",
Guru Dutt's "Sahib Bibi Aur
Ghulam" and Satyajit Ray's
"Pather Panchali" proved this
point decades ago, in recent years there
have been striking instances of films
like Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Hum
Dil De Chuke Sanam" and Yash
Chopra's "Lamhe" which fall in
the same category. There is also little
rationale in the opinion expressed in
certain quarters that movies devoid of an
over-dose of nudity donot do good
business as is evident from the examples
cited above.
Finally, a
film...... good or bad....... is a clear
reflection of the good or bad of the
prevailing social milieu. The common man
must contend with the movies which are by
and large only as good or as bad as the
society in which he lives. Umapathy
must contend with the creativity which
cannot but help simulating what poet
Sahir Ludhianvi wrote in his famous lines
for Guru Dutt's "Pyaasa" —
"----- Denge Wohi Jo Paaenge Is
Jahan Se Hum!"
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Kashmir-to-Kerala
suspicious money transfers
By B L Kak
Suspicious
transfers of large sums of money are no longer
confined to, and operational in, the region of
Jammu and Kashmir alone. Law enforcement agencies
of the Central Government as well as in several
States have discovered--indeed, established
beyond doubt--clandestine financial inflows and
outflows elsewhere as well, mainly through
infamous hawala channels. It is virtually
Kashmir- to-Kerala phenomenon.
At a time when
open and secret funding of terrorism has acquired
serious proportions, a higher degree of
monitoring financial inflows and outflows has
become more important than before. However, as
the ambience in India, particularly in the
troubled spots of the north-eastern region and
Jammu and Kashmir, is corroded by political and
civil service corruption, the task of carrying
out effective and hassle-free monitoring of the
flow of money into the hands of undesirables.
Some dreaded
Islamist terrorist outfits, particularly Al
Qaeda, continue to sharpen their knives against
the United States and its allies. But these
outfits have also much interest in South Asia,
particularly India and Pakistan. These two
countries are not exactly equipped to meet the
challenge from those who are determed to finance
terrorism. But New Delhi and Islamabad do not
have identical mechanism to deal with the serious
menace of suspicious transfers of large sums of
money in the two countries.
Several Muslim
countries, beyond the borders of India and
Pakistan, cannot escape criticism of being
involved in the money-laundering operations. In
plain language, these operations have been too
evident to be missed in Saudi Arabia and Gulf
countries. It is not without reason that Saudi
Arabia is the one nation that has received minute
attention from those tracking terrorist finances.
Gone are the days when Riyadh frequently indulged
in protestations. Riyadh's tone and tenor
underwent a seachange after terrorist assaults
between May 12, 2003 and April 21, 2004.
The Saudis were
left with no option but to enact laws aimed at
curbing money-laundering. The Saudi authorities
also devised regulations which would tighten
supervision over charities and the formal and
informal financial sector. This, however, has not
stopped the flow of huge sums of money into
Pakistan for the 'promotion of Islamic activity'.
Do madrassas in Pakistan come within the ambit of
this activity? What is of interest is the 'fact'
that a large number of these madrassas have
received Saudi funding to the tune of several
million dollars. This funding has nursed the
spread of jihadi culture in Pakistan.
In India, the
scenario is not encouraging at all. Foreign-aided
Islamist fundamentalists and rebels have several
places, apart from Jammu and Kashmir, as their
targets. Hardly had the Government of India under
the Prime Ministership of Manmohan Singh started
designing a strategy, a mechanism which could
help stop illegal transfers of huge sums of money
in J&K and the north-eastern region when the
spotlights were on the unseen money-movers in
Kerala. Mind-boggling account, indeed: Nearly Rs
708 crores received by underground money transfer
system in Kerala in the 2000-2002 period.
New Delhi has,
without any fanfare, rushed a team of experts to
Kerala to examine the situation arising from the
pieces of the hawala jigsaw slowly falling into
place. Enforcement, police and intelligence
agencies are reported to have identified 37
persons involved in the underground
funds-transfer network originating in Dubai, with
a non-resident Indian (NRI) businessman in the
kingpin role of a gold-hawala dealer. This
businessman reportedly used to collect
remittances from Gulf-based Malayalees and ensure
their delivery to their kith and kin in Kerala
within hours.
The Union
Government has received official inputs from
Thiruvanthapuram, pointing out that key players
in the network included many from Kerala and
Mumbai, their relatives, employees or associates.
The funds must have come to Mumbai initially as
gold bars sent through couriers, using the
liberalised laws allowing every air passenger who
has stayed in a foreign country for six months to
being in I0 kg of gold. The pattern unearthed so
far fits the classic hawala mould.
Hawala is a system
to transfer money from one part of the world to
another through informal networks, independent of
normal banking channels. Hawala system is illegal
in India. On the other hand, it is more or less
legal in many parts of the world, including West
Asia. It has already been established beyond
doubt that Dubai is the main source of gold and
hawala fund flow into India.
Why are migrant
workers from Kerala, especially those in the Gulf
countries, fond of hawala system? They prefer to
use this system as it offers better exchange
rates and a faster and more reliable method of
sending money home than the legal means of
transferring money through banks and other
financial institutions. Media reports insist that
the system is built into the culture of certain
Muslim-dominated north Kerala districts, where
traditionally men seek employment in the Gulf and
a sizeable number of uneducated women and the
aged are left behind.
According to one
estimate, the foreign funds coming into Kerala,
Kashmir and several parts of north-eastern region
of the country in the name of religious activity
or charity, which is eligible for tax exemption,
is also a possible hawala channel. The other end
of the hawala network that operates in these
States, as in other parts of India, is almost
always in the UAE (United Arab Emirates),
particularly Dubai.
A World Bank
conference on migrant remittances in London last
year was informed that a crucial institution
through which these hawala transactions are
organised is the UAE Exchange Centre in Dubai.
Dubai is one of the main centres where streams of
hawala transactions coming from various places
are also consolidated and cleared.
No wonder the UAE
Exchange Centre (Dubai) has already become a
confluence of funds from the international hawala
stream and the mainline banks. It is a place
where various streams of hawala money could be
consolidated into huge chunks of funds and
swapped on a global scale.
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Indo-Pak
peace moves
By V Mohan Narayan
It is no secret.
Both India and Pakistan acknowledge that their
relations are accident prone. At all times, the
political leadership in the two countries have to
take into account domestic compulsions which have
often taken precedence over other considerations
and efforts to take bilateral ties to new
heights.
It was no
different this time in the run-up to the visit of
Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the last
week of November.
Floating a trial
balloon, President Pervez Musharraf suggested
that India and Pakistan identify some zones in
Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control,
delimilitarise them and either grant independence
or put these regions under join control or UN
mandate.
The initial Indian
reaction was that this can be looked into if a
formal proposal comes from Islamabad. But the
far-reaching ramifications if such a step is ever
contemplated soon sunk in.
Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh utilise his maiden visit to Jammu
and Kashmir to put it across firmly that there
was no question of re-drawing the international
borders or a further division of the country
based on religion.
The message to
Musharraf was loud and clear-Jammu and Kashmir
cannot be bifurcated on any pretext and that the
State will remain an integral part of India.
The Pakistan
President responded by voicing his
disappointment. He felt that signals from New
Delhi were not encouraging and that there was
need for it to show more flexibility if the
relations were to move forward.
The fusillade of
words cast a shadow over Aziz's visit and raised
apprehensions of the two sides sliding back to
hardline positions on Kashmir. The question being
asked then was whether there would be a fallout
on the ongoing composite dialogue process.
In one way, this
worked to the advantage of both sides. There were
no heightened expectations or media hype of any
possible breakthrough.
Aziz, the first
Pakistani Prime Minister to visit India in 13
years, the last one being that the Nawaz Sharif
in 1991 when he came for the funeral of Rajiv
Gandhi, arrived to a warm welcome.
Setting a positive
tone for his meeting with Aziz, Singh sent a
bouquet and followed it up with a telephone call
to the Pakistan Premier, conveying his greetings
to Musharraf.
It was from one
economist to another. Singh told Aziz that the
world has lived through times where what was
simply unacceptable in international relations
has become a norm.
Who could say some
20 years ago that the Berlin Wall would be a
thing of the past, the Prime Minister remarked.
And implicit in this was why can't India and
Pakistan break our from the shackles of the past.
So much can be done that will be mutually
beneficial if only the two get together.
Singh did not
mince words. His hope was that the two countries
can set in motion a similar process in this
subcontinent. The Prime Minister assured Aziz
that he would earnestly and sincerely work to
that end.
Sharing the mood
of optimism, Aziz candidly stated that having
Singh at the helm of affairs is a source of
strength to all. He also conveyed Musharraf's
warm regards to Singh. Singh and Musharraf had
met for the first time in New York in September
on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly
session and struck a good chemistry.
Nagging
differences on Kashmir issue persisted during the
talks. The Pakistani side adopted a twin-pronged
stragety. One, that without progress on this
issue, it will be difficult to move ahead on
other subjects and second, they were willing to
discuss out of the box approaches to find a
lasting solution to the 57-year old problem.
The Indian side
pushed for a more pragmatic approach of building
on the peace constituency, encouraging more
people to people contacts and steps to build
trust and confidence instead of rushing into
taking hasting decisions.
As per of this,
India is focussing more on stepping up
people-to-people contacts. Hurdles in the way of
starting the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service
are in the process of being overcome and may be
operationalised in the first half of next year.
The
Khokrapar-Munnabao rail link, which was stopped
in 1965 in the wake of the Indo-Pak war, is also
expected to be restored on October two next year.
New Delhi has also
advocated that the Sino-India model be adopted by
India and Pakistan to develop their relations.
India and China have not permitted the vexed
boundary problem to come in the way of improving
bilateral ties. Sino-India trade is expected to
touch 12 billion dollars by this year end, a
reminder that New Delhi and Islamabad could also
embark on this mutually beneficial path.
Keen to push the
process forward, India has taken a number of
unilateral steps including relaxing visa measures
for Pakistani journalists, senior citizens,
doctors, academicians and professors and those
coming to attend conferences in India.
On the
humanitarian front too, India has taken the
initiative by releasing several Pakistani
fishermen and civilian prisoners.
With religious
shrines attracting devotees from both countries,
the two sides have agreed on exchange of pilgrim
groups. This includes visits by Indian pilgrims
on the occasion of martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev,
Barsi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and birth
anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
Special bus
services are also expected to be run between
Amritsar and religious places in and around
Lahore, such as Nankana Sahib.
Significantly,
ceasefire along the international boundary, LoC
and the Actual Ground Position line in J&K
has successfully held since its implementation on
November 25 last years.
Both sides are
also working out modalities for reopening of
their consulates in Karachi and Mumbai which were
shut down in the wake of heightened tensions
between the two countries.
India is also
sponsoring the travel, stay and medical treatment
of 20 Pakistani children. An equal number of
children have already been treated, some with
heart diseases, evoking widespread appreciation
from Pakistan.
In December, the
two sides have lined up several meetings to
discuss a host of issues. This covers discussions
at the experts level on conventional confidence
building measures.
Though New Delhi
has expressed its desire to engage Pakistan in a
sustained and comprehensive dialogue and not be
deflected by transient developments and
contradictory pronouncements from across the
border, there is realisation that complex issues
like Kashmir have to be dealt with Patience.
There is a new
mood in both countries to bolster ties. But this
has to be reinformed by realism and not
heightened expectations or quick-fix solutions.
PTI Feature
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Travails
of a woman
By Kusum Kesar
The Indian woman
at present is bearing the wrath of double
standards of our 'traditional' and 'modern'
society. She is expected to carry on
traditionalism but is criticized and labelled for
being modern, too open minded when goes out of
her home to work.
The beliefs &
attitudes are being modified to bring awakening
into her right to equality and freedom. On the
other hand, certain social norms and practice are
regarded absolutely essential though totally
hollow. As the texture of life style is
undergoing total transformation, she needs to
bring a stability to the family economy by
working and earning, is an admired 'daughter' and
'Bahu' but a thing to criticize if goes right or
left slightly where family tradition matters.
Inspite of many rights given in books and through
serials, in media, she is empty handed a source
of discussion, in search of her individuality,
badly merged into family expectations and
workload on both the fronts. Her personality is
wanted to be dual in a fraction of second like a
switch to be on & off.
She is 'one' to
all, she is 'all in one' that is not possible for
her though she has still very strong shoulders. A
negligible number of families still exist that
agree and accommodate to her responsibilities.
But overall, an average Indian female is rather
in a misery due to this so called modernity. As
follies committed by her due to lack of time or
stress strain reasons, are considered to be her
personal property, but achievements made are
distributed by whole of the family and society
like a 'Birthday Cake.'
Unending duties
towards family and society, whether working or
non-working, she has to carry out solely, in
nuclear or joint families, but for a 'sigh of
relief' or a refreshing break she still has to
look towards the permission given to her under
the "Code of individual family conduct law
and prestige" where is her freedom of mind.
On one hand,
awakened woman is eager to fulfill her dream
projects so she has a great value and love for
her job, if working where she has to be open to a
change by being aggressive for keeping her
diginity and respect. She has to go to the work
place by driving a scooty, Car or through public
conveyance, making her ways herself keeping her
at par with males. But what usually happens
entering home & outside. As the law of
equality has not gone inside the people mind, she
has to face amazing stares, comments and becoming
a source of discussion by so called male
dominated society, that cannot be changed by any
law.
At home, she helps
her old-age parents or in-laws but is not allowed
to be responsive to their tantrums and satires.
Only one way is left for her if she wants peace
and sustainability, and that is to bow her head,
touch their feet, to make them feel, in high
spirits, reminding her to forget her own self
esteem, ambition and has to believe
"Chankaya's verses" of keeping her
under dominance.
Factual position
is that she is progressive mind at times &
traditional daughter in-law eating food after
everyone else takes. This tussle of modernity and
tradition is showing its result in the shape of
'singles' increasing. In metros many career
oriented women prefer to remain spinsters.
Marriages are breaking, children are suffering
from family feuds and worst of all Indian values
and faith in the institution of marriage is
fading, giving rise to many psychological
problems.
Bookish remedial
measures are already there in shape of special
protection Act Sec. 498-A of IPC, and many
provisions like woman welfare cells, empowered
legal rights are there but still a large number
of women are unable to come out of the clutches
of the slavery.
Reasons and
remedies are very simple but time taking.
#Women must have
knowledge and literacy of a kind that opens up
their minds, bringing confidence and self trust.
#Belief in their
own chastity and a vow to be a self defender
without being offensive to any one. She does not
need an escort to get anywhere.
#To come out of
this double pressure first of all she has to
understand herself modernity, society and law.
#Being modern does
not mean to leave Indian values. Progress of mind
is an addition that makes her a perfect woman.
#Society can be
changed in one go even if we enact more &
more protection laws. So she herself has to
choose a middle with digestible to all genuine
critics and to others she can show 'dont' bother'
attitude.
The solution is
with them and legal protection will give a
coverage to it, helping her to really empowered.
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