Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Pakistan's problems lie
in its very creation

By N.B. Menon

Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, on the eve of independence of his country, talked about the "unfinished business" of partition. He, probably meant annexation the Muslim majority state of the Indian Union - Jammu and Kashmir. . ......more

Female child killing

By Roma Singh

A private nursing home in Punjab - a state with a relatively high per capita income but low sex ratio - has been found to be conducting illegal sex-selection tests, aborting the female foetuses, and then disposing them of in wells situated on its premises, to destroy evidence. Such reports confirm our worst fears: that long years of pious instruction has had no impact. . .......more

Log on to Samba district

By G N Singh

Everyone in Samba was waiting eagerly to hear about granting district status to Samba. In persuance to the Council Decision dated 06, July 2006, the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced the creation of Samba district while addressing a huge public rally at Samba on July, 12 2006. The people praised the bold initiative and political . ... ....more

EDITORIAL

Delayed justice

It will never be too late to address the critical question of clearing backlog of cases in courts. For the growing population of legal fraternity in the State it is important to know the dimensions of challenge on hand. More than 2.52 crore matters (the precise figure is 18158630 criminal and 6943587 civil) are pending before district and subordinate judiciary across the country. These statistics compiled by the Union Government are not the latest. The information from most of the states is available till 2005. The actual state of affairs may thus be worse than it seems. In fact, the figures about our State are even older by one more year. The pendency position in Jammu and Kashmir was 131944 up to December 31, 2004 (48132 civil plus 83812 criminal) at the lower rungs. However, the relevant information about the State High Court is comparatively new. As many as 41973 cases were pending at this level before the beginning of 2006. There was an accumulation of 39529 civil and 2444 criminal disputes. At the national level the High courts have to clear 3629787 issues of which 2947128 are civil. Various panels have dealt with the causes of delay in settling contentious affairs. Way back in 1958 the Law Commission of India had discussed the subject in its 14th report on reform of judicial administration. Again in 1979 it had taken up the theme in its 79th report "on delays and arrears in High Courts and other appellate courts." In between in 1972 the Union Government had taken up the "report of High Court Arrears Committee". It had followed it up with findings of the Malimath Committee in 1990. The factors that have been identified for the malady are many and varied. These include population and litigation explosion, granting of unnecessary adjournments, lack of priority of disposal of old cases, additional burden on account of election petitions, accumulation of first appeals, continuance of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction in some of the High Courts, inadequacy of judges strength, delays in filling up vacancies in the High Court, inadequacy of staff attached to the High Courts, inordinate concentration of work in the hands of some members of the Bar, lack of punctuality of judges, long arguments and prolix judgments, lawyers not appearing in courts due to strikes among other reasons, plurality of appeals and hearing by division bench, indiscriminate use of writ jurisdiction and public interest litigation, Constitution Benches and their frequent changes, indiscriminate closure of courts and appointment of sitting judges as commissions of inquiry.

Indeed, the steps have been taken over the years to solve the problem. These comprise timely filling up judges' vacancies and enhancing their strength. On the other hand, the concept of Lok Adalats has been encouraged besides alternative resolution strategies like negotiation, mediation and arbitration. Special, family and labour courts too have been set up. Additionally there are 1562 fast track courts the term of which has been extended by five years beyond March 31, 2005.

Nothing that is necessary should be left undone to provide speedy justice. It was more than a century ago that British Prime Minister and statesman William E. Gladstone had rightly remarked: "Justice delayed is justice denied." Why should his words continue to ring in our ears even today?

Change their life

Few will agree with United States President George W. Bush's haughty intervention in Iraq. But only the cynic will disapprove of his definition of terrorism. He has made an apt comment: "The object of terrorism is to try to force us to change our way of life, is to force us to retreat, is to force us to be what we're not. And that's -- they're going to fail. They're simply going to fail. I want to assure my fellow Americans that our determination -- I say 'our', I'm talking about Republicans and Democrats here in Washington -- has never been stronger to succeed in bringing terrorists to justice, protecting our homeland. Because what we do today will affect our children and grandchildren. This is our calling. This is the time for us to act in a bold way, and we are doing just that." Every right-thinking person will nod his or her head in approval. For, there is hardly anyone who is not feeling the thorn in one's side. We have been at the receiving end of the terrorist machine for rather too long. It is all right for us to laud the fighting spirit Mumbai has again shown in the wake of recent serial blasts. But the grim reality is that life does undergo transformation in the case of those whose relatives are blown up in explosions. All of a sudden they develop vacuum in their personal lives that they least expect and deserve. The loss of public property puts additional burden on the State exchequer. The entire police and official apparatus come under pressure. Normal activity thus is turned upside down. A look on the home turf will provide a confirmation. Terrorism has driven out an almost entire community from the Kashmir region. It has eliminated two landmarks among many other emblems and structures in the Summer Capital that symbolised ethos and infectious enthusiasm of the State. One was Mahatma Gandhi's historic statement in which he had saluted Kashmir for its adherence to secularism in the midst of communal turmoil of 1947. He had described it as "a ray of hope". For decades his observation inscribed outside a college inspired generations of people. It became one of the earliest victims of terrorism in early 1990s thrown out along with the board on which it was written. "Welcome to the happy Valley" was the other inscription at the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) that was the first contact between the captivating Valley and tourists who came by buses. It has also disappeared. Actually the entire TRC building has been gutted. In addition the terrorists have liquidated several distinguished sons of the soil just because they possessed liberal outlook. How can then life be the same? To some extent it is true in the case of this region as well. A late-night unhindered walk in its fabled all-season cool breeze is now nearly a thing of the past.

Indeed, the old days will come back much like in the adjoining Punjab. For that it is necessary that we faithfully stick to our routine. Every reverse should strengthen our resolve to overcome terrorism. We must prevail upon the militants to mend their ways. By all possible means we must change their life before they try to change ours.

Pakistan's problems lie in its very creation

By N.B. Menon

Since its very birth, Pakistan is faced with innumerable crises. However, the crisis in Pakistan is not of the kind ordinarily encountered in most countries. It is a crisis of identity. After 59-years of existence, it is as yet to settle down as a nation. As Alfred Ziring aptly puts it, "a country in the process of formation.. (And one of the few nations - states deprived of a fictitious air of inevitability: it does not have the appearance of a country that was meant to be."

The problems Pakistan presently faces, as those it faced in the past, are its own creation. Their roots are in the ideology and the circumstances in which Pakistan was created. The movement for Pakistan rested on the sub-continental Muslims adversary perceptions of the Hindus and the Indian National Congress. The main elements of this perception were a desire to regain the status and glory which the Muslims had as rulers and the belief that the British, with the active help of the Hindus, were denying the Muslims a fair share of the values the state was allocating. It was during this period that Muslims acquired the feeling of being a community surrounded by hostile and unfriendly elements, acting wilfully to push Muslims down and humiliate them. As a result, the sub-continental Muslims turned for self-respect and validation to the Muslim world, identifying with the Ummah more self-consciously than ever before, including the period in which India had Muslim rule.

At the time the Muslims in India did this, the entity they were seeking to relate themselves to, viz., the Islamic community, was conspicuous by its absence. The last institutional expression of Islamic oneness, the Ottoman Empire, had collapsed with the Treaty of Severes signed in 1920 by the Western Allies.

The response of the Muslims in India to this development was symptomatic of things to come. They reacted with anger to the Treaty of Severes and launched the famous Khilafat Movement with support from Gandhi and the Congress. The Muslims got involved with the movement in large numbers and got emotionally charged though the tangible cause they thought they were fighting for and trying to support had "suddenly evaporated."

The sub-continental Muslim mind appears to have a predilection in unreal goals and ethereal visions. Because of such a psychic make-up they have rarely had a sense of success and satisfaction even when they have had achievements to their credit. This is precisely what happened after Pakistan was established. Instead of a feeling of satisfaction, security and self-confidence for having gained a separate homeland, a fresh feeling of inadequacy and grievance followed the creation of Pakistan. The new country was seen as a moth-eaten state lacking conditions of viability and survival as a dynamic and respectable political entity.

Attempts to find an alternative strategy to realize its foreign policy objectives were noticeable towards the end of President Avub's 10-year rule. Pakistan had started resiling from its apparent commitment to the idea of containing communism by normalizing its relations first with China and then with the USSR without formally leaving the military pacts it had joined in 1954 and 1955. Under General Yahva Khan there were signs of Pakistan drawing closer to the US once again, but the Americans failed, once again, to help it out in the 1971 war with India.

It was Mr. Bhutto who was responsible in president Ayub's times for the changes that took place in Pakistani foreign policy. Quite expectedly Mr. Bhutto brought about further changes in Pakistan's foreign policy after General Yahya Khan handed over power to him. The decisive Indian victory in 1971 forced a degree of realism on Pakistani leaders and people. As Ziring points out, Pakistan's warrior image was tarnished and the pride that Pakistanis had so enthusiastically nurtured seemed to evaporate."

In the years after Mr. Bhutto, one can see the continuance of the orientations he gave to Pakistan's foreign policy. It will be a mistake to see a departure from such orientations in Pakistan's turning once again to the US for economic and military help. It would be equally wrong to view this attempt as a prelude to another adventure in the subcontinent with India as its target as in the past.

The only alternative to its West Asian role is rapprochement with India and willingness to work with the latter in protecting and promoting the economic and security interests of the sub-continent. On purely objective grounds of geography, shared culture, history and the needs of the economy, there can be no other option which is more rational and immediately available than close ties with India. Public opinion in Pakistan strongly favours friendship and closer ties with India. But this is not the option which, the present regime will exercise.

Today Pakistan can count China, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states and, of course, the US among its friends. It can even expect that the Russia will not harm its interests, as indeed the Russians keep assuring time and again.

Therefore, India remains the only external threat to Pakistan, not because India is taking an aggressive and threatening posture towards Pakistan, but because the present regime in Pakistan needs an external enemy to help it survive.

Two, while Pakistan starting war or using the F-16s or missiles to bomb our nuclear installations are things which may be ruled out.

As to the questions whether Pakistan is sincere in its offer of the 'confidence-building-measures', the answer is both yes and no. yes, in the sense if India enters the negotiations desiring nothing more than a limited agreement and, perhaps, reduction of force levels on the Indo-Pak border, then Pakistan will be happy to sign such an agreement. Should India, on the other hand, insist on a more comprehensive and all-embracing treaty providing for cultural, commercial and trade ties and for putting an end to the lingering question of Kashmir as well, then, I suspect, Pakistan will not sign the agreement. It is quite likely, though, that it would prefer the negotiations to continue, so as to gain the time it needs to shape up for the role it seeks to play in West Asia.

Two inferences follow: (a) Pakistan should not be allowed to drag on the negotiations, for then it will succeed in realizing its foreign policy objectives, without our also doing, and (b) Pakistan should be persuaded to go in for a comprehensive package so as to ensure more than just the absence of war between the two countries. In other words, we should seek an agreement with Pakistan that not only proscribes war but also makes genuine friendship and close cooperation between our two countries possible. INAV

Female child killing

By Roma Singh

The sex ratio in India has remained almost static in 20-years: it was 934 females for every 1,000 males in 1981, 927 in 1991 and 933 in 2001. China's sex ratio is on the decline: 922 in 1980, 901 in 1990 and 862 in 2000. China's recent attempts to restore gender balances are spurred more by enlightened economic self-interest than altruism. In the next 10-years, more than 25 million men in China will be unable to find a female partner for themselves, and the situation in India could be no different. China's decade-long one-child policy - which sanctioned punitive economic action against detractors and excluded the 'extra' baby from official records - has resulted in more male births.

In the objective terrain of the Indian landscape, what remains is the stoic face of the Indian women's tragedy, the invisible face of the unborn girl child who has been identified and eliminated by virtue of the "progress of science and technology" and the still unfinished, almost sculpted faces of girls who have been just born and who are already condemned to die a quick, methodical death.

The documentary produced by Giselle Porteiner and reported by Emily Buchanan, covers the entire Indian canvas, from Punjab to Tamil Nadu, from the neo-rich Ludhiana-based Punjabi businessman's quest for a son to a Rajasthani woman from a warrior caste, who was lucky to survive because the day she was born, her father got shot. She survived because killing her then had become logically impossible - because even a brutal tradition becomes vulnerable in times of accidental sentimentality.

And the fact is that soon after, her just born younger sister became yet another victim of female infanticide, a system of elimination which was outlawed more than 100-years ago, but which is still so rampant all over, and mostly in active, commercial collusion with the a section of the bureaucracy, politicians, police, private hospitals and doctors.

Let her die is significant because it documents the linkages between consumerism, modern technology and science with the fate of Indian womanhood. The fundamentalism of female foeticide and infanticide are also reflective of the incredible differences in values, perceptions, memories and hopes between the rural and urban landscape in India.

The village reflects both feudal male patriarchies, as much as stark poverty. "We don't even have rice to eat, how can we feed the girl:" She can't go around naked, the boys can wear a loin cloth and carry on"; "It is better to go through the pain for a moment than the suffering of a lifetime," these are the usual rationalisations of a mother, and also the father. But what is inherited as social history is the sense of despair and condemnation.

The girl is an economic burden; but she is also an emotional linkage; a mother carries her in her own body, she feels her inside, and she goes through the incredible mystery and pain of conception and creation. It is the cosmic cycle of birth and death which makes the murders of just born children in villages an aberration. Deep inside, every mother knows, that it is poverty which has killed the child, and not she alone. Deep inside, she herself is a criminal.

And it is not easy to eliminate the memory of the cold, reparative socially sanctioned ritual; stuffing the child's mouth with husked rice to choke her, or using her own hands, using sandbags or poisonous juice from plants, suffocating her or making her drink a double dose of opium. In every such mechanical act of murder the Indian mother hides the vicious tragedy of poverty. That is why, maybe, neither law nor morality can save the girl child. What can only save her is social transformation which turns the village economy upside down and with it the history of poverty and death.

In contrast, it is by now clear that the "facility" of ultra sound sex discrimination technology of unborn babies has become highly popular, especially all over northern India. This is precisely because affluent families and the neo-rich urban gentry had found the easy way out to detect the gender of the unborn child, and in case of it being a female, deciding at once to kill it through abortion.

Similarly, when a rich businessman, still unhappy with his three beautiful daughters, finally gets a son, he says proudly and right in front of his daughters: "I am happy. Pehle to mein single tha. ab lagta hai double ho gaya (First I was single, now I feel double).

This double speak has become a pragmatic logic of discrimination in affluent sections of the new society, despite a certain kind of basic education and exposure to global changes in attitude patterns. They are increasingly using sex-determination tests to abort a daughter, which for many mothers, in turn, is becoming a biological aberration, leading to multiple gynaecological complications. Says Dr Umesh Pant of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, who has been fighting against the commercialisation of sex determination tests: "Abortion is okay if the parents don't want another child. But selective killing of female foetuses is absolutely wrong. This type of population control is like what Hitler did with Jews".

No civilisation can go on killing their daughters endlessly, there has to be a balance in male-female ratio. Killing girls will only create a starkly unequal, barren, ugly and lopsided society; a society which in its essence knows that this is criminal and a blot on their conscience. That this is against the law of nature and the perverse use of science is against science. Those girls have as much right to life as boys.

This urban trend is now penetrating the rural psyche also. It is a strange contradiction and the film shows it clearly; between speeding advertisements of MRF tyres and the slow fear of the future, villagers are only able to register the aberrations of modernity. A consumer society, as the film shows, lives on the insatiable multiplication of desires; polyster is replacing cotton and the television set the one band transistor. And the only possible way to get all this is through dowry. Tradition's grotesque values become an economic amendment to mindless consumerism.

This is the streak of similarity between sections of the rural and urban society: A woman becomes a negative economic investment; her social role as an economic commodity becomes unproductive; her identity as a person is subject to the continuous supply of gifts and goodies inside the father-in-law's house. That is why marriages have become the single most important institution for the trafficking of vast amounts of unaccounted capital; that is why ultra sound ads proclaim from public squares: pay Rs 5000 today, save Rs 50,000 tomorrow. And that is why one married woman in the Capital is killed every day, most often by a matchstick lighted by her own husband. Either way, in life or in death, the female identity is condemned.

Maybe dusky Maheshwari of Salem can. She resisted her husband. She is shunned by neighbours and her community. Her struggle is like an epic. But she has given birth to twins. Both lovely and innocent daughters. And in their eyes, she finds the twinkle which also means hope and love. And the entire history of womanhood. And she will simply not let them die. INAV

Log on to Samba district

By G N Singh

Everyone in Samba was waiting eagerly to hear about granting district status to Samba.

In persuance to the Council Decision dated 06, July 2006, the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced the creation of Samba district while addressing a huge public rally at Samba on July, 12 2006. The people praised the bold initiative and political will for taking this historical decision.

On account of tremendous changes in the composition of population and growth of new probabilities and aspirations there is the need to evolve a new and progressive concept of administration. To meet the aspiration of the people for efficient and effective administration, it is essential to re-organise and reorient the age old system.

The Govt; order No. 2352 GD of 1981 dated 21.11.1981 set up a high level commission known as "Wazir Commission" which was headed by Justice J. N. Wazir, G. M. Khan Retd Financial Commissioner and G. M. Mir Retd. Divisional Commissioner and G. M. Thakur as Secretary. The Commission made recommendations in its report in Dec. 1983 for carving out new Districts and other administrative units with the concept of micro-planning at grass roots and administration at the door steps of the people.

The newly created district Samba is currently a part of Jammu District and would continue to be a part of Jammu Division. The town of Samba is equidistant from the present three District Headquarters of Jammu, Kathua and Udhampur. It is situated on the National Highway 1-A at a distance of 40 Kms from Jammu, 45 Km from Kathua and 60 kms from Udhampur. Samba Tehsil having an area of 797.7 Sqm. Kms and comprises of 333 villages which constitute 43 Patwar Circles. Almost three fourth of it is composed of arid and rugged hill sides with average rainfall and meagre forests.

Samba has the distinction of having a Sub-Judge, a Munsiff's Court (which came into existence in 1971 Bik) and Addl. Munsiff's Court. These can be converted to Session Court with a marginal adjustment.

Samba has also the distinction of being the only Tehsil which possesses the Zila Sainik Welfare Board Class 'A' which is usually located at District Headquarters.

Similarly Sub-Distt. Hospital Samba offers facilities of Medical treatment to a vast area of population including Mansar and Ghagwal blocks through a full fledged District Hospital with Blood Bank and Trauma facilities can be made Operational with minor adjustments.

The literacy rate of Samba is 73.23. Education being the priority of the people of the area. There are a number of schools/academies with grade of Primary, Middle, High, Hr. Secondary (10+2) Degree Colleges, Technical and Professional Educational Institution both in Govt and Private Sector which provide quality and quantity education. In addition to these, there is Kendriya Vidyalaya and Novadaya Vidayalaya as well.

Samba area has also potential of developing into religious tourist Centre. The shrine of Lord Shiva at Purmandal, Utterbehni and Maheswar are sacred pilgrimages. The Chhambalial (Ramgarh Sector of Indo Pak Border) is equally sacred. Sidh Goria Nath Ji (Swankha), Chichi-Mata Samba and like wise many other religious places add to its religious sanctity, glory and importance.

Now the pertinent question arises regarding the site/location and infrastructure for the Distt. Office Complex - I put-forth the following suggestions:-

Some proposals are also given as under:-

1. Vidjaypur be made a Tehsil as recommended by Wazir Commission vide resume of recommendation No. 2.18.

2. The Kochak Committee and Wazir Commission has recommended Tehsil status to Majalata Niabet. Now the Govt. has accorded the creation of Majalta Tehsil may also be made a part of Samba District.

3. Ghagwal Block of Tehsil Hiranagar also be included in Samba District.

4. Rural areas falling under Kehli Mandi, Chak Manga Rakwal, Dansal Mandi, Arazi Samba and other Mandi at be included in the Town areas so as to make Samba viable town unit.