Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

By Colonel Anil Bhat

The last week of September 2006, saw Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, strutting about in the US, basking in the glare of an almost adulatory media, bragging about the claims in his magnum opus, ‘In The Line of Fire’. For an about 60-year-old country, such a book by Musharraf can possibly not have much of truth in it. The book launched within just a couple of days of the. ...more

India in Afghanistan

By Vishal Chandra

Towards inclusive
globalisation

Dr. Manmohan Singh

A very significant feature of the global economy is the integration of the emerging economies in world markets. In fact, the weight of global economic activity is gradually shifting to these emerging economies. They now account for more than two-fifths of world exports compared. ......more

EDITORIAL

Investigating crime

Two court judgements delivered in different parts of the country on the same day have brought into sharp focus the role of crime investigating officers. One relates to the rape and murder of a Delhi University law student Priyadarshini Mattoo by the son of an Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer. The other concerns the terrorist attack on the Raghunath Temple in this city. If one looks back one will find that if the Priyadarshini case has taken more than a decade to be resolved it is because of shoddy work done by the police in the beginning. In fact, it was nearly a closed chapter in 1999 when a sessions judge had acquitted the accused with a strange ruling. The judge had observed that he knew that the accused was guilty but he was letting him free because of lack of evidence. There was a sustained public outcry and media campaign against this manner of exoneration. Protests became strident because the release coincided with an almost similar denouement to the Jessica Lal murder trial in which the son of an influential politician was involved. It forced the police and the Central Bureau of Investigation to tone up their response machinery. The Delhi Police in particular had drawn fire for not doing enough because the alleged criminal happened to be a close relative of one of its own ilk. A Division Bench of Delhi High Court consisting of Justice R.S. Sodhi and Justice P.K. Bhasin has awarded death sentence to the rapist and murderer observing: "We are of the opinion that for a crime of this sort, which has been committed with pre-meditation and in a brutal manner, the convict deserves no other sentence but death." Apparently the CBI is feeling relieved. Its reaction speaks for itself: "We in CBI believe that this judgement shall set a benchmark for the trial courts and also make the investigating agencies introspect on their functioning and for bringing about overall improvement." For its part it has announced that it will "try now to complete the investigation within one year." It is a coincidence that the date --- October 30 --- on which the Delhi High Court gave its ruling Jammu's Principal Sessions Judge Subhash Chander Gupta also made critical observations about the role of investigating officers.

Discharging six persons detained for having conspired in the Raghunath Temple attack Mr Gupta has taken investigating and supervisory officers to task. He has observed that the police report seems to have been "prepared in air not based on any slightest supporting evidence and speaks about the cold manner in which the investigation has been conducted by the investigating officer with having slightest regard to the liberty of the persons." He has criticised the casual approach adopted by the police: "Not only the IO but the authorities who passed the challan, as the then SSP Jammu seems to have acted as a rubber stamp without caring and bothering to go through the statement of any of the witnesses cited in the list of witnesses in the challan." He has pointed out several holes in the police theory.

The only lessons for the police can be to get its act together. A former IPS officer has rightly remarked: "The failure to investigate cases is not because of law and order problems but because the officers are apathetic towards this responsibility. Except in cases that attract media attention and where senior officers take interest most other cases are barely investigated." It will do the investigating officers a lot of good if they listen to the sound advice of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP): "avoid being abrupt and rushed; remain calm, objective and professional." This piece of counsel has been primarily meant to deal with communal tensions. As we see it this indeed is relevant in all situations.

Have no mercy

American satirist Mark Twain had never visited Kishtwar but one of his sayings readily comes to mind because of a bizarre happening in the picturesque town of Doda district. He had said: "Truth is stranger than fiction but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't." Clearly the three police men who find themselves in serious trouble for having invented a story had not read it. They concocted a tale to show themselves victims of a militant attack little realising that sooner than later they would be caught. It was way back in August that the trio had reported the encounter outside a place of worship. According to them they had lost one of their rifles during the assault. Senior officials, however, were unconvinced. They did not find circumstantial evidence strong enough to corroborate the narrative. They persisted with an inquiry. Finally they are face to face with the truth that has prevailed. It has turned out that the uniformed men had faked the battle with the militants to camouflage the "loss" of a rifle by one of them. The maverick threesome finds itself in prison. As a logical corollary they have also been suspended from service. The answer to the million-dollar question is yet awaited: did the weapon go missing or was it sold for a price? For the present the concerned police men are mainly facing the charges of indiscipline, negligence and misleading the higher-ups. It is precisely because of such episodes that the security forces tend to get a bad name. Like bad fishes spoiling a pond a few unscrupulous personnel pollute the entire environment. They give credence to all sorts of unsavoury accounts about harassment of innocent citizens and the police-militant nexus. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, that they are given exemplary punishment. There can't be any mercy for the men who turn criminals instead of feeling honour bound to meet the demands of their chosen profession. An example must be made of them for the sake of those also who carry out their assigned tasks in a responsible manner and at a considerable risk to their lives in remote hilly areas especially.

It needs to be asserted, however, that unpleasant happenings like this can't be twisted to point an accusing finger in the direction of the police and other services as a whole. Doing so will be grossly unfair. We can't overlook supreme sacrifices of an overwhelming number of them in the discharge of their duties. The men at the helm in each force should be vigilant enough to weed out black sheep in their midst. Viewed from this angle one should express satisfaction over the work done by the Doda police brass in this case.

In the line of (his own) fire

By Colonel Anil Bhat

For an about 60-year-old country, such a book by Musharraf can possibly not have much of truth in it. The book launched within just a couple of days of the famous ‘Handshake in Havana’, between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Musharraf, at the former's behest, despite the Pakistani establishments continued export of terrorism all over India, can only damage this fresh effort.

The first major lie is about the 1999 Kargil war, which Musharraf claims in this book as Pakistan's victory on the ground and also what is supposed to have internationalised the Kashmir issue. The Kargil story rewritten by Musharraf, like many other claims in the book, is quite a mix of amnesia and imagination, which even Pakistan Army (PA) brass, media and intelligentsia have trashed. The most pathetic lie in the book is about fatal casualties of Pakistan Army's Northern Light Infantry (NLI), raised especially for the Kargil misadventure.

Indian Army will not forget the burial which Pak army gave to many NLI troops killed in action, whose bodies were not even being acknowledged, leave alone collected by the authorities desperately trying to project the Kargil war as a jihadi enterprise.

These battalions of NLI were raised speedily in 1998, specifically for the grand strategy aimed at occupying Kargil and cutting off the vital highway from Srinagar to Leh. The area-wise composition of NLI is 55 per cent from Gilgit, 35 per cent from Baltistan and the remainder from Gircha, Chilas and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). The ethnic composition is 49 per cent Shias, 18 per cent Sunnis, 23 per cent Ismailees and 10 per cent Noor Bakshis. An article by M Ilyas Khan in the July 2000 issue of the Herald (Pakistan) provides some chilling insights into the fate of the Shia troops of the NLI, who were inducted into Kargil heights towards the end of 1998. Ilyas wrote that the landscape of Gilgit and Skardu is now dotted with small tombs of the Shia soldiers.

He counted over 500 of them in the Baltistan region itself. Ilyas had met a number of the families of the Shia soldiers who were killed in this conflict, whose accounts were heart rending. Zarwar Khan, cousin of Havaldar Major Lalik Jan, who was posthumously awarded the Nishan-e-Haidar (the highest gallantry award of Pakistan), told Ilyas that NLI troops who came home on leave in February 1999, had said that they were already deep inside Indian territory. People were greatly worried.

Gafoor Khan, a resident of village Hamaids, told Ilyas that on 08 June 1999 they got the body of his brother, Sepoy Shakoor Jan of 12 NLI. He left behind his wife and three daughters. What shocked people was the furtive way in which these bodies were brought by soldiers in civil clothes in the dead of night almost as if they were bodies of criminals.

The dead NLI soldiers were also brought in civil clothes. There were no military funerals, no honours, no last post and no civic receptions. Soldiers came at night, dumped the bodies and went back before day break. The dead Shia soldiers had been disowned. One of the first dead bodies to come in this way was that of Lance Naik Muzaffar Khan Zahid of 5 NLI. Thereafter in June itself, over 105 bodies were brought in along the jeep track that leads upto Yasin, Punial and Ghizer valleys in the Central Northern Areas. Shias of the region remain traumatised by this callous betrayal.

Why had their nation disonwed their dead. Some of the dead bodies were in track suits, some in the same civilian clothes in which they had left home. The people expected military honours, hoisting of the national flag, even a simple gun salute. But their war dead were treated almost like war criminals by their own Army. From those NLI soldiers who came back alive, the Shias of the Northern Areas heard horror stories of starvation and shortage of ammunition that these forlorn warriros had faced in those icy heights. At one post there were only 5 kilogams of sugar left. Muzaffaruddin Begana wailed ‘‘When my poor son's dead body was brought home, I found the sugar still sticking to his lips.

It was a heartrending and pathetic story of abandonment, and betrayal of those sent across the Line of Control to fight in the world's toughest battlefield. Almost the entire 6th battalion and a large part of 12th battalion of NLI were wiped out.

The higher command's promise to establish supply lines turned out to be an empty one. After the war, during a Regimental Durbar (a formal address to all ranks of a unit) at Skardu, irate Shia NLI soldiers kicked up a huge row which left the Major General addressing the durbar, dumbfounded. He had to just hang his head down for there was nothing he could say to defend the conduct of the higher command. Even the media was fed lies. ‘‘When I heard that the Mujahids were fighting in Kargil, I was shocked beyond belief. We all knew that our children recruited into NLI were dying there but the laurels went to Quazi Hussain Ahmad’’, said Hussein Shah, one of the locals.

It was only after international media exposure about the second-class status accorded to NLI, that it was made part of PA and some gallantry awards were finally sanctioned. After all this the tinpot dictator has the gall to state that the total fatal casualties of the Kargil War were not even three hundred. General (retd) V P Malik, who was the Army Chief during this war and author of ‘From Surprise to Victory’, had said that at least between 250 and 270 NLI dead were given decent burials in Indian territory, after PA's refusal to acknowledge or accept them. He also mentioned about Pakistani General Afzal Beg stating that 45 officers and 732 ranks had died in this war, whereas according to former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, the tally of fatal caualties is 4000.

Even if 4000 is an exaggeration the very fact that two NLI battalions were wiped out, as Illyas wrote, it means 1400 to 2000 troops. One of the claims that Musharraf is trying to project Pakistan Army's misadventure in Kargil as a victory too is an absolute lie.

But then, Pakistan's versions or interpretations of three conventional wars with India (1947-48, 1965 and 1971) have been lies, as has been the propoganda of Indians, particularly Hindus, in that country have been.

Musharraf will be well advised to concentrate all efforts on dousing the fires of discontent and resentment that have been raging in at least in three parts of an already truncated Pakistan-i.e, Northern Areas, Waziristan and Balochistan- more than ever before. - PTI Feature

India in Afghanistan

By Vishal Chandra

The challenges and constraints to India's post-9/11 Afghan policy have been immense. In fact, India has come a long way since the closure of its embassy in Kabul in 1996, merely 12 hours before the Taliban forces entered Kabul. However, after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001, India was among the first countries to open its embassy in Kabul soon after the Taliban retreat from the capital city in November 2001, followed by the opening of its consulates in Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, Kandahar and Jalalabad. Since then, despite growing threats to its interests in Afghanistan (there are nearly 3,000 Indians currently engaged in Afghan reconstruction), India has decided to stay the course.

The landmark August 2005 visit of the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Kabul has been regarded as a stepping stone in the post-9/11 Indo-Afghan ties. It is apparent that India is seeking a greater engagement in Afghanistan. However, in light of the worsening security situation in Afghanistan, it is important to understand the constraints in India's policy before looking at the options available.

It may be said that apart from the political uncertainty in Afghanistan and India's own resource-limitations, the Indo-Afghan relationship is mainly constrained by geography and the Pakistan factor, both inextricably linked together. The fact that India does not have borders contiguous with Afghanistan puts India into a dependence mode. Pakistan's refusal to provide overland transit facilities for Indian goods bound for Afghanistan and further to Iran and the Central Asian markets has led to India taking a longer and circuitous sea route via Iran.

Ironically, Pakistan allows Afghanistan to transport its goods bound for India. Pakistan's intransigence continues to subvert the idea of regional economic cooperation, including President Karzai's proposed ‘‘tri-polar structure of cooperation’’ between the three countries. The traditional chasm between India and Pakistan continues to impinge on Indo-Afghans ties and the vast economic prospects that the Subcontinent holds.

Pakistan is as much a geographical reality between the two countries as India and Afghanistan are for Pakistan. Pakistan, which has always sought to exercise a strong influence on Afghan politics, has been wary of India's forays into the post-Taliban Afghanistan. Pakistan's worry also arises from the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan and the tribal agencies in Waziristan region.

Islamabad has often accused India of fomenting trouble in the two regions through its consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad.

One can fathom Pakistan's abhorrence to any role for India in Afghanistan from President Pervez Musharraf's September 19, 2001 speech where he had firmly asked India to ‘lay off’’ from Afghanistan. Pakistan has since persistently refused to grant overland transit facilities to India until the resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

Options before India

In the emerging scenario, the biggest challenge before India is to sustain the growing momentum of its relationship with Afghanistan. As new threats emerge to destabilise Afghanistan's nascent political process, India certainly needs to take a long-term view of its Afghan policy.

* India needs to further engage the major ethnic groups of Afghanistan at a much broader level. It would be in the long-term interest of India to evenly develop its relations with both the majority and the minority ethnic groups of Afghanistan.

It is important to have varying approaches as relations with various Afghan groups have its own dynamics. Any over-identification with a particular Afghan group is not a feasible idea in a country as multi-ethnic and as factionalised as Afghanistan.

* India should also avoid over-identifying itself with the policies and the approaches of the US in Afghanistan. An independent Indian approach towards Afghanistan holds a better chance for India to broaden its constituency within Afghanistan. A greater exchange between the Indian and the Afghan parlaimentarians can be a way of reaching out to the various Afghan political groups with differing ideolgies, including the former Taliban members in the Afghan Parliament.

* In the above context, India may review its policy towards Taliban as well. With the US-backed Government in Kabul still trying to wean away the middle and lower ranking Taliban cadre, the idea of India completely denouncing the Taliban does not hold much ground. Taliban as an organisation, as a movement, might have acquired a dynamics of its own. Taliban may be enjoying the patronage of Pakistan, but that is no affirmation of Taliban being under the absolute control of Pakistan.

* In fact, it may be argued that whether Pakistan will ever be able to have a strategic depth within Afghanistan or not, the Taliban have certainly secured a strategic depth within Pakistan. The possible pulls and pressures between Taliban assuming a more autonomous character and Pakistan trying to keep them under its control is worth enquiring.

* In view of India's growing stakes in Afghanistan and regions beyond, India needs to have a better understanding of the historical, political, ethnic, tribal and religious dynamics of Afghanistan. Both bilateral and multilateral approaches should be adopted to further expand India's reconstruction assistance to all parts of Afghanistan. This will go a long way in bringing India in touch with the diverse people of Afghanistan. However, the security of the Indians working in Afghanistan has to be integral to such a policy.

* As Indo-Pak relationship impinges on the relations and the interests of all the three countries- India, Pakistan and Afghanistan--and the regions beyond, India and Afghanistan should channelise their bilateral strength to push for a cogent regional economic cooperation wherein all the three countries could realise their true economic potential. To promote a strong sense of economic cooperation in the region, the interests of the respective countries will have to be recognised at the same time.

Until such time, India will have to plough through an ever complex and uncertain Afghan politics, often enmeshed with the interests of extra-regional powers and regional actors, and also its own complications with Pakistan, to pursue its wider strategic interests. - CNF

Towards inclusive globalisation

Dr. Manmohan Singh

In many parts of the developing world, especially India and China, per capita incomes are doubling or are expected to double over every decade. This will lift millions of people out of poverty. This pace of change is unprecedented, far exceeding what was witnessed during the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Freer trade and financial flows in the world as a whole are helping to contain inflation, keep interest rates low, and sustain higher levels of investment.

In India, the economic reforms, initiated in the early 1990s, have made its economy more competitive. Indian business is responding to new market opportunities. India’s growth is underpinned by a vibrant and growing entrepreneurial class. Indian youth is keen to get into technical and scientific institutions – helping India gain salience as a knowledge based economy. The country is now on a growth path of 7 to 9 per cent per annum, while maintaining reasonable price stability. The proportion of people living below the poverty line is declining.

Real Concerns

These achievements of the era of globalization should not blind the people to the new anxieties that globalization has brought in its wake. The reach of globalization is yet to touch many parts of the world. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the process has not removed personal and regional income disparities. In many developing countries, growth is by-passing the rural areas. Also, in the face of stagnation in their real pay, the working classes in industrialized countries are becoming fearful of the opening of markets. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening. This, coupled with the inability of the public sector to provide adequate and quality services in health and education, and cater to the needs of the poor, is causing resentment and alienation. This is nurturing divisive forces and putting pressure on the practice of democracy.

These are real and palpable concerns and they cannot be ignored. These vital concerns have to be addressed by making globalisation an inclusive process. All need to work for inclusive globalisation. This calls for a new global vision.

Gains from Globalisation

That vision must ensure that the gains from globalization are more widely shared. It is a matter of deep concern that the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations has reached an impasse. If trade is to be an instrument of combating poverty and spreading manufacturing capacities more evenly in the world, it is then vital that barriers to the export of agricultural goods from developing countries be eliminated.

Nearly 2/3rd of the population of developing countries live in rural areas. In the developed countries this falls to less than ten per cent. They should not allow short-term national interests to prevail at the cost of promoting freer trade and combating poverty. The prosperity of so many cannot be sacrificed for protecting the interests of so few. The price of myopia is heavy on the exchequers of the developed world. The issue also has profound moral dimensions.

To convince people in poor countries about the benefits of globalization, a more enlightened view must be taken in liberalizing trade in services and labour intensive manufactures, in which developing countries are competitive Trade is to be seen not only as a means to prosperity, but also as peace building. Collectively all need to devise an enlightened approach to negotiations over the reduction of harmful gas emissions, intellectual property rights in the production of life saving drugs, transfer of technologies that help to combat poverty and such issues.

Prosperity is not divisible. Neither is global peace possible without the eradication of poverty. As Jawaharlal Nehru said in his address to the Canadian Parliament in 1949:

"There can be no security or real peace if vast numbers of people in various parts of the world live in poverty and misery. Nor can there be a balanced economy for the world as a whole if the underdeveloped parts continue to upset that balance and drag down even the more prosperous nations."

Spectre of Terrorism

The best efforts to eradicate poverty will be defeated if societies and nations are threatened by the spectre of terrorism and extremism.

Open societies like India and Britain are more vulnerable to this threat. The very openness of these societies makes them more vulnerable. Yet they must fight terrorism without losing the openness or the rule of law that guarantees the freedom of the individual. Terrorism can be defeated only by combating fundamentalism and promoting respect for diversity. Britain, the land of John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell, the cradle of common law, liberty and democracy, has a unique role to play in fighting fundamentalism. India too has its own pluralistic traditions and openness to other cultures.

The legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru ordains that we remain committed to combating fundamentalism. We do not believe in a "clash of civilizations". What we believe in is enrichment of the human condition through cultural inclusiveness and a "confluence of civilizations".

Global Governance

Democracies must stand together in making governance across the world more democratic. As a democracy India aspires to a world in which global institutions are more democratic and more representative of all the peoples of the world. The governance processes of global institutions of today – be they Bretton Woods institutions or the UN Security Council - reflect the realities of the world as it was more than half a century ago. A more inclusive global process that carries the population of the world with it calls for a reform of these institutions, in which the developing world will have a greater voice. Not to do otherwise is to risk alienation and to render ineffectual the global system.