Education:
Academic, secular and professional
By Dr R.
R. Dubey
Even when
there is seemingly global scenario of
development in all the spheres, education
has become more a hard task for learning
and lesser an active exercise for
sharpening one's mental traits,
inculcating moral values and increasing
professional competence. Today, the main
objective or education has become merely
collection of degrees/diplomas in
abundance signifying one's achievement by
attaining more marks, adopting fair of
unfair means in the examination,
investing little hard working, spending
much over tuitions and aspiring maximum
out of it. With the advent of time,
stress is being laid over heavy school
bag by the teachers, tuitions by the
parents and over-night study with short
notes by the students. Thus, there is a
reflex action shifting the focus of
teachers, parents and students over
gaining knowledge through shortcut
approach, instead of developing one's
creativeness, comprehension and critical
appraisal. This, obviously, hampers the
inner potentialities of the children
which never can be geared up without the
sincere efforts of the teachers even when
Sarv Shiksha has given an opportunity to
recruit meritorious teachers in the rural
locality in order to strengthen the
village school for teaching various
subjects to different classes adopting
pedagogy skills based on use of local
illustrative aids, self preparation in
advance & active participation of the
children for teaching. As such, the
mental horizon of the child is choaked
due to confusion, chaos and
misapprehension resulting extreme load
over the child and acute disinterest
towards studies. This hazard has led the
child astray to rely over ready made
material further flopping his mental
exercise and subsequently degrading him
from man to machine that too when machine
has highly been mechanized and upgraded
as a man (Robot). Education Minister,
Harash Dev Singh while addressing the
Seminar in Harvard University has rightly
averred that true education is a panacea
for all the ills in the world. It should
made the learner mentally strong enough
to learn desirable things and unlearn the
evils.
Revision
of curriculum with revital measures
Sincerely
speaking, education in our country still
lags behind in many aspects. There is
lack of religious and moral education in
the schools. Text Books do not cover
women Empowerment, ecological imbalance,
pollution control, general awareness and
values etc. Present academics are so
misconceived that these do not inculcate
among the children a sense of general
awareness which is an indispensable agent
for the global change. Even after
completion of education, one can hardly
differentiate between right or wrong,
fair or foul, legal or illegal. He has no
thought to sacrifice has motive for the
welfare of the society. Therefore the
concepts like nationality loyalty, duty,
cooperativeness, tolerance, moral ethics
and democracy needs to be inculcated. Our
beloved President of India Dr A.P. J
Abdul Kalam while addressing the nation
on the eve of Independence Day 2004
reproduced to bring revolutionary changes
in the system of education in order to
make it employment generated.
Bases
of professional education:
As per
National Educational Policy 1986,
provision has been made for separate
Vocational Schools but these are only for
students who cannot pull on with the
general education after matriculation
examination and are allowed to seek
admission in vocational or technical
schools. This has also been generally
found that there is too much stagnation
on the part of the students who stay at
home after passing +2 examination or even
after doing BA, B.Sc, M.Sc laying stress
on the choice of profession for which
they are made tempted by the parents even
when they are not fit for it. There are
few students who do not opt relevant
subjects during study in +2 classes.
Subsequently, they lag behind in their
life adjustment. After completion of
studies, there are no suitable checks and
balances to ensure proper distribution of
employment in the public or private
enterprise in ascending or descending
order with regard to one's
merit/intelligence. Thus, all the
unemployed youth in thousands run after
the employment to get jobs even when
there are only limited vacancies. Thus
after selection of a few qualified
persons, all others are rejected and are
thrown out of the society to curse their
fate. Majority of educated youth thus
waste their money, time, energy on one
side and behave like psychic, bored,
indisciplined and unlawful on the other
side. By and large, parents are the best
counselors for their wards. Therefore,
each one is to act as the true friend,
philosopher and guide for them. Since
they are only versed with the
significance of a few professions, every
one likes to make his wards as a Doctor
or Engineer irrespect of creativeness and
intelligence of their wards for any other
profession. There is drastic need to
bring awareness among the parents about
significance and need of other
professions also in relation to the
present mechanized/scientific age which
only can be possible through introduction
of post literacy programme in the
society. The parents must register
themselves in the nearby Post Literacy
Programme Centre being run by the Zila
Saksharta Samiti and generate interest to
study the text book which contains are
chapters pertaining to various issues of
the day. This will help them to learn not
insist over their children to take up
subjects against their wishes which they
cannot pull on having lesser
interest/talent in them. This will also
help the parents to believe in the talent
of their wards and realize that the
children must be assessed through an
aptitude test with a view to measure
their capacity, attitude, interest etc.
enabling them to study the essentialities
of a particular profession in which the
child has got his taste and has qualified
himself. Therefore, it is, suggested that
study of one additional subject namely
"Bases of Professional
Education" may be made compulsory at
+2 stage in each of the higher secondary
school besides, studying other four
subjects. This will corporate the whole
system of education into one unit and
prepare a right citizen at right place
for right profession. Following options
are being recommended for the fifth
namely "bases of professional
education" in +2 stage:-
*Medical
Education, *Engineering Education,
*Administrative Education, *Teaching
Education, *Banking Education, *Military
Education, *Tourism Education,
*Dairy/Animal Husbandry Education,
*Forestry/Agriculture Education,
*Music/Painting/Art Education,
*Textile/Industry Education, *Business
Managements Education,
*Electronic/Instrumental Education,
*Transport/Traffic Education,
*Par-medical Education, *Food
Processing/Nutrition Education, *Fashion
and Designing Education, *Management
Education, *Office Management Education,
*Bio-Technology, *Environmental Science
Education, *Information Technology,
*Leather Factorizing, *Geological/Mining
Education, *Physical Education,
*Journalism and Editing Education etc.
Out of the
above options, any one option will be
granted on the basis of qualifying
aptitude test to be conducted by State
Board of School Education/State Institute
of Education, Jammu. This test may be
multi-dimensional of its nature after its
standardization from NCERT New Delhi
based on different spectrum of knowledge
to identify the prospective professional
traits of a student. Every student will
be eligible to appear in any two streams
only once that too during vacations soon
after completion of Matric. Merit list
will be prepared on the basis of
achievement in this test for granting
option of the motivational subject for a
profession. The test needs to be
administered during vacation so that the
students may be in a position to get
admission in 11th class with three
academic subjects, besides, Computer
application and Bases of Professional
Education which will be taught with a
practical wherever necessary. The
Academic subjects in 11th and 12th
classes may include English and Computer
as the main subjects with two
inter-linked additional subjects besides
a compulsory motivational subject for a
particular profession for which the
student qualifies the aptitude test.
"Bases
of Professional Education" will
definitely create in the students
motivation, interest, comprehension and
competitive spirit for the precise
profession with a deliberate focus over
only one nucleus profession besides,
studying computer application as a
compulsory subject.
Study of
"Bases of Profession Education"
will enable every student to screen
himself to be fit for the best one
professional according to his aptitude,
attitude and interest being eligible to a
particular profession for which he will
have to study for two years. After
assessment by the BOSE, he will be able
to find a place in ascending or
descending form to be recruited in the
hierarchy position of that profession.
This will save his unnecessarily
expenditure over hankering after several
jobs without any certainty. This new
scheme of befitting a right citizen at
right place will help the educated youth
to get jobs in schools for teaching
"Bases of Professional
Education" under different streams.
On the other side, the posterity will be
properly nourished and designed for the
right profession. The society of educated
youth will also get a spontaneous lead to
enter different professions according to
their mental caliber and capability.
Thus, I
too second the statement of Minister of
J&K for Finance, Planning & Law
which was once quoted during Annual
Alumni meet that the capabilities of the
students have remained unexplored, as
such, environment needs to be created
from the school level to bring out the
best in every student. Certainly, he has
felt need to introduce modern &
scientific courses which would sharpen
the research skills of the students
encouraging them to take up new academic
challenges and good jobs. By and large,
the introduction of Bases of professional
education and computer application as
additional options will groom our young
generation to enter into a particular
profession as per one's capability. The
students selected for this scheme may be
facilitated with the provision of
studying simplified curricula in other
four subjects indicating these as Text
books under series "A" where in
the contents of each discipline will be
signified in very magnificent &
simple form. This alternative education
with professional base will definitely
help to reduce the frustration, tension,
anxiety, suicidal attempt and militant
behaviour among the millions of educated
unemployment youth. However, this will
not close down the BOSE, scheme of
adopting various courses for +2 classes.
Those students who intend to continue
their academics as per BOSE regulations
(studying of 5 subjects) may be allowed
to do so except study of bases of
professional education which will be only
a prerogative of those who qualify the
aptitude test as per their merit and
standard.
Teaching
Strategy:
The
subject "Bases of Professional
Education" will be taught,
supervised and managed not only by the
Govt institutions but also by the private
enterprise through local schools
imparting teaching for an hour daily by
the institutes having their own
infrastructure and pedagogy skills &
expertise professionals who will be
responsible and answerable not only to
the Govt. Schools but also to the parents
directly. The reasonable tuition fee may
be charged from the students in two
installments in a year, one at the time
of admission in the schools and the other
at the eve of annual examination. Half of
the fee will go to the care taker
institutions for their fullest
arrangement of teaching by sponsoring
various facilities. Rest of the fee will
be utilized by the Govt. Schools for
starting some of the new streams.
Regarding subsidized system, 50 percent
of tuitions fee may be exempted in favour
of SC/ST/Economically downtrodden
students. However, private sector would
continue to be paid the subsidy out of
the collection by the Govt. as per
guidelines. The private institution will
be free to employ part time teachers on
consolidated salary as per rules and
regulations to be
framed by
the Govt. The Govt. employees in service
will not be allowed to accept deputation
allowances. Where necessary, however, in
case of deficient staff in the private
sector, the services of the experts
working in the Govt. Deptt. can be
borrowed by the local private schools
through proper channel on meagre
honorarium which may not exceed to the
half of the remuneration to be paid to
any such expert employed by the private
institute under such arrangement.
Permission of teaching option namely
"Bases of Professional
Education" will be ordinarily
accorded in favour of only those Private
Higher Secondary Schools which are
recognized by the Govt. and affiliated
with BOSE only.
The
author is Joint Director (S.E.).
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Quality
teachers make quality schools
By
Manjula Raman
Teachers
are the heart and soul of an educational
institution. The key characteristics o a
high quality teacher are commitment, love
of children, mastery of subject didactics
and multiple module of teaching, the
ability to collaborate with other
teachers and a capacity for reflection.
The school
level characteristics supportive of high
quality teachers are consensus on vision
and values, an organization for teaching
and learning, coherent management
arrangements, leadership both formal and
informal, staff development focused on
the workplace and effective relationships
with community and policy makers.
The
concern for quality teacher emerges out
of challenges and demands that have
appeared in schools and classrooms to
manage diverse socio-economic, linguistic
and ethnic student population who have
little or no patience with the old
methodologies and teachers concerns.
These new challenges and demands require
new capacities and knowledge on the part
of teachers. The teachers must be able to
accommodate continuing changes. Schools
will need to clearly define specific
objective and set out for schooling in
relation to achieving these objectives.
Thus new teacher policies will need to be
explicitly integrated into strategies for
the improvement of schooling. There is
need for greater involvement of teachers
in decision making and accountability for
results (not only academic but affective
and social skills) greater flexibility
for teachers to organize teaching and
learning in school (e.g team teaching)
use of volunteer parents and promotion of
active learning strategies in the
classroom. The establishing or
reinforcing of different career structure
in teaching like advanced skills
teachers, mid career recruitment into
teaching, part time teaching, new
criteria for selection, school based pre
service training, teacher initiated or
teacher organized in-service programme
could all help achieve quality teaching
faculty.
Commitment
is the driving force of quality teachers.
He constantly strives to help students
learn and improve their performance and
increase their self confidence. It is
commitment that drives these teachers to
keep searching for more effective methods
supported by an imaginative and flexible
infrastructures at the school level.
These teachers' commitments transcend
their own classrooms and draws them into
collaborative efforts with other teachers
and wider professional community.
Feeling of
affection and reciprocity between
teachers and pupils creates a positive
attitude towards learning. Good teachers
try to communicate warmth even if pupils
do not reciprocate. Quality teachers show
extreme patience, preservation, support
pupils self esteem and have a remarkable
sense of humour.
Not mere
knowledge of the curriculum content but
the skills to convey the information and
concepts, distinguishes a good teacher
from everyone else. A quality teachers
not only has at her command an array of
tactics for teaching particular concepts
skills and informations, she also has
developed a theoretical and practical
understanding of different pedagogical
philosophies or models. She also
integrates general skills such as
critical thinking or expository writing
into her subject didactics. Quality
teachers engage themselves in
collaborative tasks such as
peer-tutoring, exchanging ideas, sharing
reflections and form 'learning support
groups'.
Good
teachers should develop their own
philosophies rather than just follow
ready-made procedures handed down to
them. Thus a quality teachers is a
reflective practitioner. Good teacher
always seem to be dissatisfied and are
always on the look out for new ideas.
They are open to change and have the
capacity for improving. They have the
ability to adopt to the pupils, to the
system, to the world outside and to their
superiors. Quality schools exhibit high
levels of quality teaching. This is
characterized by a healthy school
climate, clear vision and shared value
base. Obviously vision does not just
happen. It develops in a dynamic way,
often as a result of conflict and
negotiation, definitely not given by the
Government or the Principal but evolves
over time. Vision in this ideal is not
exclusive and does not deny the personal
values of individual teachers, rather it
provides a guiding framework for the
school ethos. In quality schools the
teaching and learning is driven by values
rather than by bureaucrative expediency.
A supportive culture for teacher quality
thrives on a strong vision of student
progress, powerful vision of conception
of teaching, extensive teacher
collaboration support by an education as
leader rather than just an administrative
Head. The culture of the schools is that
most powerful influence on teacher
quality yet the most difficult to affect!
(The
author is Principal Army School
Kaluchak).
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Remembering
S Radhakrishnan as Academician
By Kunj Behari Raina
The world in
general and India in particular celebrates today
the 116th birthday of the great son of India Dr
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second President of
India.
Nowadays things
have been institutionalised, spirit is dead and
only the ritual remains. And that becomes the
cause of troubles and tribulations. As an
academician, Dr S Radhakrishnan has had
deservedly a truly bejewelled career. He served
his apprenticeship in Madras and Mysore, drinking
deep of Western philosophy even as he toiled hard
under the guidance of greatest Sanskrit scholars,
a tribe not yet, happily extinct in some parts of
our great country. From Mysore he went to
Calcutta to hold what was then the most highly
prized University assignment in his subject, the
King George. V Chair of Mental and Moral
Philosophy. There he took the place of India's
greatest modern encyclopaedist, Brajendra Nath
Seal--a fact which needs to be remembered, for Dr
S Radhakrishnan was then less than thirty years
old, a new comer in the realms of Indian
scholarship. It was no surprise, however, for
Ashutosh Mookerjee, maker of Calcutta University,
as a teaching and research centre, knew where and
how to pick his men and his two greatest 'finds'
then criticised by many of his colleagues, were
Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, the illustrious
physicist whom he plucked away from lucrative
Government service in the department of Finance
and Sarvepalli Dr S Radhakrishnan whose sparkling
scholarship made an immediate impression and
presaged the profound achievement that was later
to be his. Dr S Radhakrishnan's faultless English
eloquence charmed his pupils and opened before
them fresh vistas of thought. And for more than
twenty years this close link with Calcutta
University remained and this was the most
productive period of his intellectual life when
the two tomes of his on Indian Philosophy gave
him, still a young scholar, real and lasting
world academic stature.
Well before he was
forty, Dr S Radhakrishnan was lecturing on
invitation at American Universities and also at
Oxford. And from Calcutta he went to his own
native region to be the real builder of the newly
setup Andhra University, staffing it with people
of his choice from different parts of the
country. For some eventful years he was
Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University,
leaving on that illustrious an impress that is
cherished all the more because it was rare and
precious. The British Government gave him a
knighthood as it had done to Tagore and to Raman.
The world reputation that had gathered round his
name paid remarkably dividends when willingly he
served as Free India's ambassador to the Soviet
Union.
Dr S
Radhakrishnan's incumbency in Moscow was indeed
memorable. He was recognised at once as coil
minted differently from the usual run of
politicians and diplomats. His wisdom and grace
seemed to remove the pall of mutually watchful
suspicion that had fallen then on State relations
between India and Soviet Union. Where our
ambassador was cold-shouldered earlier, Dr S
Radhakrishnan was received cordially more than
once by Stalin himself. And the way the
philosopher from India behaved with a very
dissimilar man who had been one of the most
formidable leaders in history and was the most
discussed personality of his time was itself a
revelation. Dr S Radhakrishnan spoke with Stalin
on a level of easy equality that no politician in
his place could imagine possible. It is on record
that as he left Stalin he wished him well and
tapped him on his shoulder a gesture as man to
man which the all powerful Stalin had not perhaps
experienced for a long stretch of years a gesture
which the reports state brought tears almost to
the eyes of that reputed man of steel.
It was no surprise
that when a couple of years later, Dr S
Radhakrishnan gave his Hibbert lectures in London
and Bertrand Russell told him as one eminent
expositor of philosophy to another that he had
never heard philosophy better expounded than by
Dr S Radhakrishnan. What a great tribute !
Addressing teachers Dr S Radhakrishnan once said
that ''Teachers can be compared to the reservoirs
of water and the process of education through
which we impart education to the students is the
pipes and the students the taps. If the water in
the reservoir is filthy, dirty and impure, how
can water in the tap be pure''. And if students
go awry in India or else where in the world, it
does mean that they had never met with a teacher
who could instil into them in needs of
discipline, decency and decorum. What a beautiful
idea? Therefore, the teachers who are celebrating
the birthday of greater teacher as Teachers Day
should take a cue from out of his life and ideas
and put those very ideas into their lives and
also in those of the students so that they become
better citizens of the world and thereby earn
respect and reverence in the world. And that
would be the greatest tribute to the great son of
India.
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Pipeline
across Pakistan
By Vinod Vedi & M
Rama Rao
The concept of a
pipeline to bring Iranian gas to Indian factories
across Pakistani territory was conceived during
the worst days of Indo-Pak relations. Now, there
is thaw in the air; but the project remains
bedevilled, ironically, by Islamabad's strategic
weapon - the terrorist.
It is agreed by
both India and Iran (and Pakistan has been
dangling this as a bait) that the cost of an
overland pipeline would be a fraction of one that
could be laid about 200 km from the shore of
Pakistan outside its exclusive zone (EEZ) to
avoid interference with the supply of gas.
With the price of
crude oil threatening to cross 50 dollar a
barrel, gas has become a very viable option for
use as industrial feedstock particularly for the
production of fertilizers which would have a
multiplier effect in agriculture as well. And
Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar's proposal
to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to open a
"conversation without commitment"
directly with Pakistan can be a confidence
building measure in an area of obvious mutual
benefit and to lower the appetite for crude over
a twenty year timeframe.
In fact, India is
not looking at only the Iranian gas but is also
exploring the possibility of acquiring it from
immediate neighbour Bangladesh and from Myanmar
(formerly Burma).
For Pakistan, the
prize is the fees it will charge as "transit
cess" to allow the $3.5 billion 2700-km
pipeline to traverse its territory. It expects to
rake in nearly $ 600 million annually. However,
with very little movement in the list of items
which could induce confidence between the two
countries, President-General Pervez Musharraf's
insistence on a time bound solution to the
Kashmir issue failing which it would be
"back to square one" is being seen as a
thinly veiled threat to unleash once again the
jehadis across the Line of Control in Jammu and
Kashmir. In fact, sources within Pakistan Army's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) have briefed
Pakistani journalists about the likely
recrudescence of "struggle for Kashmiri
self-determination" and a new flag-bearer
has already been named.
That Pakistani
gambit could prove to be counter-productive
because there is growing abhorrence around the
world over cross border terrorism emanating from
Pakistani soil. US deputy secretary of state
Richard Armitage has made it plain to Pakistan
that it must keep its promise to cease and desist
in promoting cross border jihad and, more
recently, has said that Pakistan is still
continuing to send terrorists into J and K,
assurances to the contrary notwithstanding.
But the threat to
the security of the proposed Iran-India pipeline
is more palpable from local tribals who are, on
the one hand, trying to secure a higher royalty
for the gas Pakistan is extracting from the Sui
gas fields in Balochistan and utilizing to pamper
the province of Punjab, home to most of the
officer cadres of the Pakistan armed forces.
Over the past year
or so, locals have been regularly blasting the
above ground Sui gas pipelines within Balochistan
and the Pakistan armed forces have been unable to
stop it. More and more military expeditions have
been launched against the tribals of the area in
the hope of subduing them and preventing them
from disrupting gas supplies to the Pakistani
heartland.
It is this, more
than anything else, that has made India cautious
about the project in spite of multilateral
assurances from Iran and Pakistan that the latter
will not at any time cut off supplies to India.
In Indian eyes it is beyond Pakistan's capability
to give such an assurance. That is why it has
secured an agreement with Iran that it would pay
for only that gas which it receives on the
Pak-India border.
Pakistan's veiled
threats (to India) and its inability to control
the depredations of the Baloch tribals who are
fighting for a fair deal for the natural
resources of their ancestral land can still
derail the whole project and force India and Iran
to look to a third option of transporting the gas
from an Iran port to an Indian one in ships in
the form of liquified natural gas (LNG).
Largely because
Pakistan had dragged its feet in according India
"most favoured nation (MNF) status"
under the WTO India has been forging economic
times with her neighbours either through
bilateral deals or through multilateral ones like
BIMSTEC encompassing Bangladesh, India, Myanmar,
Sri Lanka and Thailand in an economic cooperation
arrangement that leaves Pakistan out.
Pakistan's most
recent attempt to bring SAARC to discuss
bilateral problems has also not helped its case
in trying to secure concessions in Jammu and
Kashmir under the gun of terror even while
dangling the carrot of the trans-subcontinent
pipeline across its territory.
With Bangladesh,
the problem is peculiar. While Begum Khaleda Zia
government is eager to sell gas to India, the
friendly Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina
(daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman,
the founding father of Bangladesh) has opposed it
on perceptively valid reasons: That the
indigenous gas should be used to promote
indigenous industry and exports should only be
resorted to if proven gas reserves are enough to
meet local demands for the next 50 years.
They don't and by
refusing exports to India the Awami League
appears to undermine foreign direct investment in
the exploration and exploitation of new gas
reserves and infrastructure in Bangladesh. Dacca
has also vetoed Indian suggestions that it allow
a pipeline to traverse its territory to bring
Myanmar gas to West Bengal. Yet there are
encouraging signs in the negotiations with Tatas
to set up steel, gas-based power generators, and
gas-based fertilizers in a two billion dollar
investment in the country.
According to
British news and analysis service Oxford
Analytica, Tatas, India's second-largest
conglomerate, will use Bangladesh's natural gas
to set up a 1,000 MW power station, a fertiliser
plant and a gas-fired steel finishing factory.
Tata is seeking a 20-year.
Dhaka has already
agreed in principle to the terms of the deal - a
20 year guaranteed supply of gas at a price tied
to an acceptable formula.
Tata Group
Chairman Ratan Tata is unwilling to divulge the
financial aspects of the contract, but adds that
the details would emerge after his visit to Dhaka
next month (September). According to Oxford
Analytica, hitherto most multi-nationals offered
to invest in Bangladesh's gas sector but made the
exploration conditional on gas export to India.
And the demand has been a source of controversy
for successive governments. In that sense, the
Tata's proposal has less roadblocks to cross in
emerging as the single largest foreign investor
in that country.
As correctly noted
by the British analysts, Tata's proposal may
offer a new way forward for regional economic
integration and, in particular, it could provide
key benefits to the Bangladeshi economy in terms
of providing jobs and servicing consumer needs.
This would be in
keeping with the concept of inter-dependence
among the countries of the region as envisaged
under the South Asian Free Trade Association
(SAFTA).
As already pointed
out, Bangladesh's refusal to supply gas to India
is clearly based on the perception that current
reserves will not last more than 20 years and in
the volatile petroleum market, gas in the ground
would appear to Bangladeshis to make eminent
economic sense. Its refusal to allow a pipeline
from Myanmar to India till recently has much to
do with domestic politics.
This is in sharp
contrast to what Pakistan is trying to do. It
needs the revenues that an Iran-India pipeline
would bring it but it cannot bring itself to
jettison the policy of using terrorists to secure
its strategic objectives particularly in Jammu
and Kashmir.
Because it is the
"core issue" for Pakistan, it created
nuclear weapons capability through clandestine
means in the hope that it would deter India from
using its conventional military strength to stop
a Pakistan-inspired "aazadi" movement
in J and K. Now, its intellectual class is
beginning to wonder whether the threat of use of
nuclear weapons in conjunction with cross border
terrorism has not proved to be efficacious in
achieving its objectives in J and K.
On the contrary,
this combination could also prove to be
counter-productive vis-à-vis the Iran-India
pipeline because any disruption of supplies could
invite reprisals similar to the single-mindedness
of Kargil -the tit-for-tat disruption of Indus
waters to Pakistan, according to one Indian
analyst.
It is a prospect
so horrendous for Pakistan that it should, under
circumstances where confidence building and
movement towards rapprochement with India would
require it to eschew terrorism as an instrument
of State policy and take drastic steps to prevent
local and foreign terrorists from jeopardizing
its economic and Kashmir policies.
But the scenario
in Balochistan as it stands today is one of
anarchy as the local people are increasingly
becoming emboldened to strike at national assets
like the Sui gas fields to highlight their demand
for equitable distribution of the national
wealth. One strike by a disgruntled local against
the projected Iran-India pipeline could set in
motion retaliatory actions by both India and Iran
that would render infructuous the long-standing
Kashmir policy of army regulars disguised as
tribals being engaged in a "struggle for
self-determination" by the "people of
Kashmir".
If
President-General Pervez Musharraf is to retain
his options in Kashmir, he will have to negate
the possibility that local disgruntlement can
upset his dream of making a pile in royalties
from the Iran-India pipeline because even such a
peaceful act by India and Iran of using the third
option of ships to transport LNG could put paid
to Pakistan's bankrupt policy of maintaining
terrorists as a force-in-waiting for action in
Kashmir.
Musharraf has to
shed terrorism completely to be able to fully
utilize the dividends that peace can bring him.
(Syndicate Features)
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