EDITORIAL
Churning process
Will the India-Pakistan
peace process be gravely jeopardised because of recent
developments? Or, will it become stronger once the dust
settles down? There are people who feel that New Delhi
should not have gone to the extent it has done. They
believe that the postponement of foreign secretary-level
talks followed by a series of similar developments can
spoil the show. Indeed, there is an element of suspense.
All of a sudden the future appears to be shrouded in
mystery. The third year of mutual bonhomie and goodwill
launched between the two neighbouring countries in
January of 2004 has turned out to be somewhat unlucky.
There is no doubt about this. However, those who look
askance at New Delhi's reaction have exposed themselves
to the charge of taking a lop-sided view. They can't ---
it is amazing that they don't even strive to --- explain
what India ought to do in the face of unending terrorism
on its soil. Should it allow itself to bleed for good?
Their stance is bereft of any argumentative approach.
They come out clearly only on one point. They want that
India should not snap its handshake with Pakistan
whenever its vital installations and ordinary citizens
are attacked. It is possible that in their hearts they
think that terrorists should be bypassed in search of
wider objective of normalcy and tranquility in the
sub-continent. Perhaps they are not averse to taking a
tough stance against them. But they don't speak up
plainly in this behalf. Their definite approach reflects
itself only to the extent of keeping ties with Pakistan
in tact. Once they talk candidly of the terror apparatus
they can't be unaware that they will end up finding its
source across the Line of Control as well as beyond it.
It is plausible that they are conscious of the malady
afflicting Pakistan. On their own they may have concluded
that the Pervez Musharraf Government is helpless in the
face of extremism and, hence, it should be given a
reasonable chance to prove its sincerity. Let us assume
that all these are well-intentioned sentiments. Do these
mirror the grim ground reality that exists? This is the
question that they need to answer.
We agree that the
terrorism per se can't bedevil the relations between
nations. Actually it can be effectively curbed if all put
their might together. It poses a serious threat only when
one country deliberately feeds and patrionises it against
the other. Unfortunately the Musharraf Government is
doing precisely that vis-à-vis this country. In fact its
stance along the LoC and the International Border with
India is quite different from that in the Afghanistan
sector. Infiltrators remain pouring in although
cease-fire is being strictly observed. On the other hand,
it is stated to be at its best behaviour on the
Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier under the watchful eyes of
the United States. As is only too well known the
Americans are robustly pursing their declared mission
against Osama bin Laden and his notorious Al Qaeda
network. Wary of the US's ruthlessness the Musharraf
administration can ill afford to let any Al Qaeda
activist walk down the streets of its country. In sharp
contrast all those who have trained their guns against
India can be easily spotted in Muzaffarabad and even
Islamabad. They move around freely. If their one militant
organisation is banned under global pressure they are not
taken into custody. Instead, they are permitted
unhindered movement by flaunting a new label. How can one
say that there is no method in this madness? This is a
wicked game and is too obvious. At another level there
have been a number of credible exposures about how
influential people in Pakistan have mercilessly used the
Kashmiri youth in particular as a fodder in their horror
machines.
Therefore, those who
advise New Delhi to behave will do better to reconsider
their own strategy. They will find it more rewarding if
they exert half as much pressure on the Musharraf
Government to discipline armed militants working under
its nose evidently with its connivance. Certainly they
will get an overwhelming support from the people in both
the countries in this regard. It is not an ordinary
achievement that citizens in India and Pakistan have
rediscovered their shared past and are enjoying it
thoroughly. Remarkably this has happened simply in a
brief interval of trust and harmony placed at their
disposal. Nevertheless it ought to be understood that the
inhabitants of this country especially are bewildered at
times when they discover that Pakistan's official
machinery facilitates the entry of guns in the midst of
overwhelming popular friendliness. This is a highly
unsettling occurrence. It is absolutely essential to stop
this undesirable inflow. Islamabad can do it by switching
off its fountains of murder and mayhem. There is a hope
only if that happens. This will hold the key to the new
and better paradigm of mutual assistance leading to
genuine ever-lasting peace in the sub-continent. The
present phase will then appear to be a churning process.
Not acceptable
It is disturbing that two
cases of impersonation in professional entrance
examinations have come to light in the State in the past
few days. Three persons from Bihar, including a woman,
have been caught pretending to be real candidates at
their centres in colleges in the two Capital cities. All
of them have been taken into custody. Last year too a boy
from outside the State --- he also happened to be from
Bihar --- was caught red-handed at the Ranbir Higher
Secondary School in Jammu for making a false appearance
on behalf of a local entrant. If the disclosure that this
is a regular scam going on for the last five or six years
is true it is a sad commendatory on our system. This
raises doubts that many deserving students may have been
deprived of a genuine chance in a world which is even
otherwise of unequal opportunities. It is only to be
expected that if there is any evidence in this behalf it
is carried to its logical conclusion. The latest murky
incidents are in tune with similar shady happenings in
the recent years on both sides of the Pir Panjal.
Question-papers have not only been stolen but also leaked
according to a plan to benefit a select few belonging to
influential sections. Mark-sheets have been tempered
with. Now one is told that it is more a routine than an
occasional occurrence to see impersonators playing havoc
with education. Clearly this is an unacceptable state of
affairs and must end forthwith.
Cry for
evidence only a cover up
By Sarla
Handoo
So, for now, the
Indo- Pak peace process remains
impacted, whatever the Pakistan
Government or for that matter the
US may say. Mumbai blasts have
taken its toll in physical terms
by killing 200 persons and
maiming about 800. It has also
affected the relationship between
India and Pakistan, even though
it may be a temporary phase. The
Foreign Secretary level talks
have been postponed and many
other CBM’s are in peril.
Even the sporting events have not
been spared. The Indo-Pak Peace
Cup Snooker Championships slated
for September in Delhi and the
Indo-Pak Kabaddi series this week
in Jalandhar have also been
postponed.
The fall out was
natural in the wake of ghastly
tragedy that struck Mumbai on
7/11. Pakistan, on its part, has
been denying that it has a hand
in the blasts. This, after its
Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri
linked the blasts with resolution
of disputes between the two
countries! Even though he did not
name Kashmir, the reference was
clear. His was in fact a warning
that unless Kashmir issue is
resolved such incidents would
continue. That President
Musharraf came out in open
condemnation of the blasts could
be part of the strategy to speak
in different voices to serve
different objectives.
The US is still not
convinced about Pakistan’s
involvement in the blasts.
Assistant Secretary of State
Richard Boucher in an interaction
with foreign journalists in
Washington said "I know
there is speculation. That
happens in these cases. But I
think we need to be led by the
evidence before we start trying
to draw conclusions".
The US ambassador in
Delhi David Mulford too spoke of
a linkage between the Mumbai
blasts and the resolution of
Kashmir dispute though he
qualified it by saying that
"it is too early to be
precise."
The G-8 Summit in
St. Petersburg condemned
terrorism, as usual, but did not
name Pakistan, even obliquely.
The disappointment among Indian
circles therefore is quite
natural. No body has ever
refrained from using strongest
possible words against terrorism.
Even those guilty of indulging in
it say so for the record.
Indian Government is
certain about Pakistani hand and
says it will come out with
evidence at an appropriate time
as it has done in the past. True,
nothing can be done until
concrete evidence comes up. But
what about the prima facie
evidence. Can the world sit
silent watching things helplessly
till then?
The two
‘Fidayeen’ reportedly
arrested by police have confessed
to the crime. They are said to be
part of the suicide squad and
have given significant details of
not only the Mumbai blasts but
also the larger anti-India terror
campaign that Pakistan’s ISI
has entrusted to Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Calls have been traced from
Mumbai to Pakistan and Bangladesh
on the fateful day saying
"Mubarkan...Mubarkan"
(Congratulations on
accomplishment of the task.)
An outfit called
Lashkar-e-Qahar has claimed the
responsibility for the blasts.
Security agencies say it is a LeT
front. They are convinced that
the attacks have a clear imprint
of Lashkar-e- Toiba and the
Pakistan intelligence agency ISI.
Pakistan may have
the advantage of taking cover
under the ‘evidence’
argument as most of the accused
are holed up in Pakistan only.
But then how did it respond to
the evidence produced by India
earlier in the 1993 Mumbai
blasts? To this day Islamabad is
denying the presence of the
underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim in
Pakistan, against whom even the
Interpol has issued red corner
notice giving his Pakistan
addresses.
A new element that
has come to notice is the
reactivation of the ‘sleeper
cells’ in India by Pakistan
to create a smoke screen for
itself. They have often been
natives of India but moved to
Pakistan and other countries and
have been co-opted for
ideological or ethnic reasons.
Quite a few Indians have been
found involved in various cases
working for Pakistani terrorists.
This is alarming since India has
so far been claiming proudly that
not a single India Muslim is
involved in terrorist acts
against the country.
Pakistan’s
offer to cooperate in the
investigations of Mumbai blasts
is thus only a diplomatic cover
to propagate its non -involvement
in the blasts. Let the world not
be taken for a ride once again by
these tactics.
The world is sick of
Pakistan’s ‘root
cause’ theory by linking
settlement of disputes to
terrorism and thereby justifying
killing of innocent people. Its
patience is wearing thin. But
will it move forward sufficiently
to stop this blackmailing. No
cause howsoever important can
justify killing of innocent
people.
Judging by
Pakistan’s game plan there
could be more such attacks in
store. India has to meet the
challenge with fortitude and
patience. The vision demonstrated
by Mumbai during 1993 riots in
which 257 persons were killed and
a thousand maimed, during 2003
bomb blasts killing 58 people and
now this time has to be emulated
by people in rest of the country
to thwart the terrorist designs.
But that does not mean mere
sermons will do. Action on right
lines is the need of the hour.
(Syndicate Features)
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Creating
more jobs for the
unemployed
By
Sisir Basu
A
matter of serious concern
is the long-term trend
regarding the link
between the growth rate
of the economy and the
growth of employment.
According to the Economic
Survey 2006-2007, the
total employment in the
economy grew at 0.98 per
cent per annum over
2005-2006-a sharp decline
from 2.04 per cent per
annum over 2000-2004.
This was largely due to
negative growth in
employment in
agriculture, mining and
power sectors.
In
fact, in manufacturing,
the growth of employment
was 2.05 per cent in
2004-2005-a small drop
from 2.24 per cent in
2003-2004. The fastest
growth in employment
(between 5 per cent and 7
per cent annum) was in
construction, trade,
transportation, storage
and communications, and
financial services. All
these signify the
structural changes that
are taking place in the
economy.
Within
the organized sector
employment (which
constitutes about 7 per
cent of total
employment), public
sector employment fell by
0.03 per cent per annum
in 2000-2005 (as against
the annual growth rate of
1.52 per cent in
2000-2004) whereas
employment in the private
sector grew by 1.87 per
annum per year in
2000-2003 (as against
0.45 per cent in
2000-2001). Future growth
in organized sector
employment would
primarily depend on
employment growth in the
private sector. Given
that
"downsizing" is
the buzzword everywhere,
are we heading for
"jobless
growth"? Where will
the future generations
find employment? It is
always risky to predict
the technology and the
businesses of the future.
Direct
employment in a
state-of-the-art
industrial plant would be
much less than in an
older plant producing the
same amount of output of
say, steel. But that is
not the full picture.
More machines will
require more people to
service and repair. The
use of computers in a
steel plant, for example,
gives rise to many other
firms which supply the
machines, software,
printers, spare-parts,
paper, ribbons and
cartridges and so on and
creates jobs outside the
steel industry, often in
the services sector. The
scope for computerization
is still enormous in
India, for example, in
post-offices, stores,
schools, colleges,
hospitals, doctor's
chambers, municipal
offices, land
registration, and so on,
which can absorb a great
number of people,
directly and indirectly.
Within
the industrial sector,
food processing is an
area which has a great
potential for employment
generation, particularly
low-skill rural
employment. Even a
stagnant volume of
agricultural output can
generate value-added
employment through more
processing activities.
Diversification of
agriculture from
foodgrains to other
products such as fruits,
vegetables, flowers,
cashews and spices which
command better prices and
whose export potential is
high can bring about
year-round employment and
greater rural prosperity.
This, in turn, would
create greater demand for
simple industrial
consumer goods and
employment in those
industries.
It
is, nonetheless, true
that the scope for
additional employment
generation in the
manufacturing sector as a
whole would be limited,
unless we are able to
corner a higher share of
world market in simple
labour-intensive consumer
goods such as textiles,
toys, shoes, watches,
pens, low-end telephone
equipment and electronic
gadgets. This is where
China has succeeded while
we miserably lag behind.
The biggest potential for
employment lies in the
services sector,
including
self-employment. Today,
nearly 50 per cent of GDP
comes from the services
sector.
Construction
and housing holds
enormous promise for
employment generation.
The government will have
to devote a highest
fraction of expenditure
on infrastructure
development and
maintenance - on roads,
irrigation, schools,
hospitals, pots, power
plants, land development
and building of new
townships. The repeal of
archaic urban land laws
and simplification of
procedures should also
bring in private land
developers. A vigorous
housing sector creates
job opportunities for
construction-related
workers of various skill
categories as also for
maintenance people -
designers, draftsmen,
masons, plumbers,
electricians, furniture
makers, interior
decorators and even
security guards, in
addition to creating
demand for insurance
against fire, theft and
natural calamities.
The
use of various electrical
and electronic equipments
at home and offices is
bound to go up with
growing affluence and
advent of new
technologies. This would
continue to open up job
opportunities for people
with skills to repair
TVs, refrigerators, music
systems, personal
computer,
air-conditioners, office
equipments, and of course
two-wheelers and cars.
India
offers great scope for
tourism related
activities. Moreover, it
is highly
labour-intensive. India
has the unique advantage
of having the highest
mountain ranges,
thousands of miles of sea
beaches, deserts, rich
heritage and enormous
cultural diversity. But
for various reasons - our
slow transportation
systems, poor
connectivity, the absence
of moderately priced
quality hotels for mass
travellers and criminal
activities in places of
tourist interest - we
have not been able to
realize the potential.
A
wide variety of people
can be absorbed in more
retail sales outlets,
supermarket chains and
restaurants,
entertainment centres
(video-game parlours,
amusement parks), media
and communication
channels (both printed
and electronic),
education and training
institutes. Low-income
people may not buy from
upmarket department
stores and restaurants
but they get jobs as
salespersons, deliverymen
and cooks. In the western
countries, stores such as
Walmart and fast-food
chains such as McDonalds
employ a great number of
new entrants to the job
market. With rising
incomes, even if
unequally distributed,
the demand for eating
out, leisure activities
and one-stop departmental
stores will go up,
creating more employment
opportunities for
ordinary people. As the
era of lifetime job
security is coming to an
end, the need for
acquiring new skills and
updating them with
changing, market demand
will increase. This would
sustain a crop of
training institutes to
cater to this revolving
demand.
The
demand for health and
nursing care will be on a
rising curve along with
the steady rise in life
expectancy. The ageing
population, together with
the breaking up of the
joint-family system,
would need more old-age
homes, geriatric
hospital, emergency
services and paramedics.
These should provide more
jobs for nurses,
attendants and staff to
run them. Given the much
lower cost of nursing
care in India, another
promising area of
business and job creation
is setting up
international standard
old-age homes for the
foreigners, preferably in
some of the scenic
tourist sports.
A
lot of emphasis is often
placed on the IT-enabled
services (such as call
centres or data-entry
jobs) being shifted to
low wage countries such
as India. A recent
article in The New York
Times (July 22) reports
that the traffic
violation tickets in New
York City are being
electronically
transmitted to far-away
Ghana for data entry. The
report also says that
this job at one time was
being done in India and
Mexico. This shows that
these are extremely
"footloose"
industries which can be
very easily shifted from
one country to the other.
It is true that the
potentials would not be
automatically translated
into reality. The Central
and State governments
will have to provide the
infrastructure, a clear
policy frame, a
responsive and
facilitating
administration and a
proper incentive
structure to attract
domestic and foreign
private investment in
these promising areas of
job creation. INAV
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Proxy war shows
no signs of abatement
By I
Ramamohan Rao
On July 26, the nation will
pay its homage to martyrs of the Indian
Armed Forces who made the supreme
sacrifice during the Kargil operations
seven years ago. Will the nation observe
it as the final Vijay Diwas ? Unlikely.
India has had to fight wars
with Pakistan at periodic intervals, ever
since Kashmir acceded to India on October
27, 1947. On December 31, 1948, there was
a cease-fire, and one hoped that Pakistan
would withdraw its troops from the State
which would help find a final resolution
to the Kashmir issue. But it did not.
In 1965, when the country
was led by Lal Bahadur Shastri,
physically diminutive as compared to
Field Marshal Ayub Khan, Pakistan felt
that it could annex Kashmir -even parts
of India. But it had surprises in store.
The 22-day war saw India in possession of
large areas of Pakistan, and the Indian
Army at the doorsteps of Lahore. For many
days, as public relations officer of the
army for the Lahore sector, I saw Indians
looking nostalgically at Lahore and
waving at many friends across the
Icchogil Canal. In Jammu and Kashmir, the
Indian Army had captured the Haji Pir
Pass.
Hoping for permanent peace,
India agreed to withdraw from the
captured territories following the
agreement reached at Tashkent. Lal
Bahadur Shastri was a worried man after
he signed the Tashkent Agreement where
the Russian Premier Kosygyn acted as the
mediator. India gave up the territories,
and also lost its Prime Minister
following a heart attack. Recently, when
I visited Tashkent as part of the
delegation with Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, I saw the bust erected there in
memory of the Indian Prime Minister.
The next India-Pakistan War
took place in 1971. General Yahya Khan
decided not to honour the results of the
general elections, which would have made
Sheikh Mujibur Rehman the Prime Minister
of that country. East Pakistan rose in
revolt, and in the crackdown, over 10
million people sought refuge in India.
The 12-day war saw the surrender of
93,000 Pakistani troops in the east, and
the independence of the eastern wing of
that country - which became present day
Bangladesh. As spokesman for the Indian
Army, I felt proud to be an Indian then.
India, in its search for peace, decided
to return the 93,000 prisoners of war,
and in Jammu and Kashmir settle for the
Line of Control.
The LoC was based on the
actual ground positions held by the
Indian and Pakistan armies at the end of
the war. The Shimla Agreement concluded
between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and
President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was
expected to see India and Pakistan living
as friendly neighbours. India had
virtually agreed to give up its claim to
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as also to
Northern Territories, consisting of
Gilgit and Baltistan. Indira Gandhi hoped
to have peace in the sub-continent, build
a united India that would be closely
knit, with a strong centre. The Allahabad
High Court judgment, which annulled
Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok
Sabha, changed the course of events.
President Zia-ul-Haq became
an American ally in the fight against the
Soviets, who had occupied Afghanistan in
1979. The 'Jehad' waged by the Western
powers to evict the Soviets, with the
help of Pakistan, gave birth to a
Frankenstein, which is still haunting the
whole region. Pakistan was defeated in
three successive wars with India, and it
decided to use the new weapon of proxy
war against India. Seeds were sown both
in Jammu and Kashmir and in the Punjab.
The seeds of a proxy war took root early
in the Punjab where the soil was fertile.
In Jammu and Kashmir, where Sheikh
Abdullah was in control of the State
Government, the proxy war effort could
not make much progress. The death of
Sheikh Abdullah made the State
vulnerable. The situation changed with
the death of Sheikh Abdullah.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the
seeds of 'jehad', sown in the early
eighties started bearing fruit towards
the end of the decade. During the State
Assembly elections held in 1987, there
were efforts at rigging in some
constituencies in the Kashmir Valley.
Those defeated in the State Assembly
elections promoted the proxy-war. As
Principal Information Officer, I was
following the political developments in
the State, but had little role in
disseminating information about the work
of the State Government. Newspaper
editors from the State used to come to
Delhi and narrate their difficulties.
A secessionist organization
in Jammu and Kashmir became active in
1988. The Srinagar unit of the Jammu and
Kashmir Liberation Front was established
in February 1988 by Ishaq Majid Wani,
Yasin Malik, Hamid Sheikh and Javed Mir.
After the 1987 elections, the JKLF
started sending its members to across the
border to PoK, where they used to receive
basic weapons training and returned with
an AK 47, a bagful of grenades and some
money. The malpractices in the 1987
elections helped generate the momentum
required for young people to go across
the border. Srinagar saw acts of
terrorism in July 1988. The Central
Telegraph Office in the State capital was
attacked on July 31, 1988.
Among the many militant
groups that came into being during this
period was the Al Qaida. It was created
in Afghanistan in 1988 by Osama bin Laden
and Abdullah Azzam. After the withdrawal
of the Soviets from Afghanistan in 1989,
the Al Qaida started looking for
objectives and targets. According to the
Institute of Defence Studies and
Analysis, Osama bin Laden decided to
support militancy in Kashmir in l989 and
extended support to many organizations in
the State. Prominent among them have been
the Hizbul Mujahideen, the
Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The State Administration broke down in
Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. With the
breakdown of law and order, the
representatives of the national press,
the Press Trust of India, the United News
of India and units of Radio Kashmir and
Doordarshan in Srinagar left the Kashmir
Valley and started functioning either
from Jammu or from New Delhi. I was given
the task, as Principal Information
Officer, to brief the national and
international media from Delhi. After my
superannuation, I was advisor to the
State Government with headquarters in
Delhi, functioning as spokesman for the
State Government. The Security Forces
took almost four years to restore law and
order. The State went to polls in 1996,
and Dr Farooq Abdullah became the Chief
Minister again. The proxy-war had failed.
Pakistan then attempted
another war - at Kargil -in 1999. As was
the usual practice, the Indian Army
vacated the posts at the heights of
Kargil. The Pakistan Army occupied the
posts in winter, and also amassed troops
in the area. With the melting of the
snow, it started shelling the
Srinagar-Leh Highway which is the
lifeline for troops in Ladakh. Initially,
it was stated that Kashmiri militants had
occupied the heights. One could see Syed
Salahuddin, head of the Jehadi Council,
proclaiming over Pakistan television that
they had occupied the heights. All these
happened soon after the historic bus
journey of Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee to Lahore in February 1999. It
did not take long for the world to know
that it was not the Jehadis, but troops
of the Northern Light Infantry of
Pakistan which had occupied the heights.
The gallantry of the officers and
soldiers helped beat back the Pakistan
Army. There is a debate going on in
Pakistan still, that Kargil - an
adventure promoted by General Musharraf
as Chief of Army Staff - exposed the
Pakistan Army's duplicity. Today, General
Musharraf has become an ally of United
States in the war against terror in
Afghanistan. The new status that Pakistan
has acquired has given it the courage to
promote a terrorist attack on the Jammu
and Kashmir Assembly, the Akshardham
Temple, and the Indian Parliament. The
confidence-building measures and efforts
to promote better relations are no
guarantee that the terrorist activities
will abate. India has to learn to
strengthen its secular ethos and come
down heavily on terrorist organizations
in its midst. We have to pay a heavy
price, but there is no alternative. The
Srinagar grenade attacks and the Mumbai
serial bomb blasts will continue to haunt
us for a long time. The proxy war shows
no signs of abatement. (ADNI)
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