Pliant legal eagles - Pakistan Can Move On, At Least A Little

Sayeed Hasan Khan and Kurt Jacobsen
The Statesman, 30 November

In the late 19th century a satirical American newspaper character named “Mr Dooley,” a fictional Chicago bartender, commented in common man’s terms on the burning questions of the day, including a shrewd observation that “the Supreme Court follows the election returns.” The lofty judges, despite their show of impartiality and objectivity, are usually influenced by shifts of power and public opinion. This was not necessarily a bad thing, just a fact of political life. Putting an ear to the ground arguably is even a democratic act. Tempering cold formal legality with a sensible bow to widespread political sentiment is sometimes a wise course, particularly if it serves the long term interests of the citizenry. The law is mostly a work in progress.

Supreme Courts lately have not exhibited much in the way of impressive intellect, political sensitivity or moral fibre. Or so it seems. Need we remind anyone that the endlessly disastrous presidency of George W Bush first lurched forward in 2000 when the US Supreme Court arbitrarily prevented a recount in Florida that would have made the recent Nobel laureate Al Gore President instead? Five ultra-conservative justices plainly voted their partisan interest over the letter of the law. The irony is that Bush blithely proceeded to disregard all court rulings that threatened to interfere in any way with his administration’s wild whims abroad or at home.

Stunning pettiness

In India, too a few years ago, Supreme Court justices declared activist Arundhati Roy in criminal contempt for criticising their decision in the Narmada dam dispute. The justices claimed that she brought the court as an institution into disrepute ~ as if anyone could surpass the damage they inflicted upon themselves by their stunning display of pettiness. They came awfully close to the stance that L’etat, c’est moi. This is what comes of insulating upper crust justices from the everyday knockabout lives of the majority. Keeping elites apart from the wider experience of the populace does not seem to breed sound decisions or, for that matter, good mental health.

The Pakistan Supreme Court, for all its adulatory press lately, is no exception. Througout the year, it has been portrayed abroad as stalwart saviors of the nation. Hardly. Through egotistical dithering, mixed with pointless personal vindictiveness, the justices stoked the very troubles they are celebrated for solving. The justices grandly acted as though they, not the nation, were all that mattered in implementing a delicate bargain to restore some semblance of democracy. All they needed to do to avoid imposition of the 3 November emergency’ and all the ensuing mayhem, was to play along with the negotiated arrangement ~ a quick validation of Musharraf as President for the next five years, then a general election in January, and the shedding of Musharraf’s odious epaulettes afterward. If ever there was a moment for prudent realism this was it. They preferred posturing instead.

It is not as if the justices were renowned for their personal probity and courageous devotion to the law. Even former Chief Justice Iftikhar Hussein Chaudhry, whose dismissal in March kicked off the crisis, was eager to collect personal perks. Indeed Pakistan’s judiciary, up and down the ladder, scarcely is seen by citizens as a reliable dispenser of justice. Most moneyed people who approach the courts have memorized the informal price lists for a favourable decision through an appropriate lawyer. Why were they so suddenly and stupidly unyielding? Perhaps the storyline in the foreign press of noble justices facing down a wicked dictator made the impressionable judges giddy. Perhaps a sudden bestowal of saintliness is too much for anyone.

Then again, perhaps the situation was too simple for convoluted legalistic mentalities to grasp. Recall that Bhutto, Musharraf and several small opposition parties worked out a deal for transition to democracy, with the US acting as mediator. All Musharraf needed was assurance of his Presidency. Instead, the court dangerously dithered, leaving Musharraf who was clearly looking for a safe exit, with the unpleasant prospect of being stripped bare before a legion of enemies. Could anyone be so dumb as to ignore what was at stake? The judges evidently calculated that even though they risked sabotaging the transition deal, that they still would be hailed as heroes worthy of bird-stained statues in public parks. The formula ~ General bad, lawyers good ~ was a rare moment where lawyers find themselves in good odour anywhere. Such moments don’t last.

If things are working out in the end, with Musharraf doffing the uniform before instead of after the elections (who cares so long as he does it?), it is no thanks to the preening legal eagles. So President Musharraf repopulated the Supreme Court, is releasing the detainees, and got his way ~ with the nervous blessing of the US. Did anyone really imagine a better practical solution was in the offing? Pakistan can move on, at least a little. So what next ?

In the four provinces caretaker governments are in place which effectively are the nominees of Musharraf or of collaborating political parties, which include the Muslim League (Q) and MQM, a regional party in Sind representing the partition wave of migrants from India, and some smaller parties. The Peoples Party is strong in southern Punjab while Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League (N) dominates Lahore.

Imran Khan will most likely end up in bed with Nawaz Sharif and secure a seat with his backing. In Sindh the majority of seats will be grabbed by the PPP while urban constituencies will go to MQM, with the PML (Q) coming in third.

The wild card factor is Benazir Bhutto. Her duplicitous behaviour from the start of her negotiations with Musharraf has done damage to her party and benefited Nawaz Sharif. If there were a third side of her mouth she’d be speaking out of it. Benazir spouts populist slogans asking Musharaf to depart and swivels in a trice to issue statements supportive of a cozy partnership.

What matters most to the US is insurgency on the borders. The stormy North West Frontier Province is governed since 2002 by a fundamentalist coalition and is facing the insurgency as well. The JUI, led by Maulvi Fazalurahman, was the major coalition partner. The Baluchistan government too is run by the PML (Q) in partnership with Fazalurahman’s party. The mullahs will make electoral inroads in Baluchistan and the Frontier. An agreement the government made a year ago with local armed groups in Waziristan collapsed after the Lal Masjid stirred retaliatory assaults on soldiers there.

Civil war

No future government can survive if the civil war continues. So a political dialogue with the Taliban insurgency, no matter how repulsive to US eyes, is on the cards and Fazalurahman is the only leader who can initiate a credible dialogue. He was the leader of the opposition in the last parliament and Musharraf could not have kept any lid on violence without his support. Bhutto and Sharif reluctantly allow that they need Musharraf to placate the Americans. In this acknowledgement they show precious little trust in the Pakistani people.

No leader is willing to harness the resulting resentment and apply it for ameliorative change in policies. The tragic farce is that no one represents the poor who are two-thirds of the nation. Some will resort to religious militancy until, like many US evangelicals today, they realize they are being used by cynical elites, and also learn that sharia cannot solve economic needs.

Meanwhile, the spectacle of American advisors coming to Pakistan to promote democracy that they are busy undermining in their own country is beyond burlesque. But that is 'high politics' for you.

The authors are freelance journalists and researchers. Their book No Clean Hands was published recently

The ugly truth - A State Being Driven Towards Social Strife

Ravindra Kumar
The Statesman, 23 November

The Government of West Bengal and its Chief Minister can perhaps be excused for failing to anticipate that a protest organized by an occasionally strident but generally benign Muslim organization could turn violent, especially when the ostensible grouse was the continued presence of an author from across the border.

The Government of West Bengal cannot be excused for ignoring words of caution sounded by several persons, some of them of the highest eminence, including the Governor of West Bengal and a retired judge of the Supreme Court who until the other day was the repository of Marxist wisdom and the best known practitioner of judicial circumlocution. There were others, too, such as this writer, of far lesser consequence but no less earnest in the belief that the state was being driven towards social strife.

Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee ignored everyone who tried to show him the error of his ways; failed to assess why Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi felt a sense of “cold horror”. His colleague in the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the party’s state secretary, Mr Biman Bose, did worse by heaping scorn on those who offered constructive, but unpalatable advice.
Disastrous politics

Early last month, this writer had warned of the consequences of the Government’s disastrous policies: “But does Mr Bhattacharjee realize what he is doing? To the cause of administration? To the cause of stable, strife-free civil society? Indeed to the cause of his political party? To understand this, it is necessary to evaluate what this government has accomplished in the months since Mr Bhattacharjee’s party was returned to power in 2006... It has managed to alienate Muslims by a show of brute force in stifling opposition to plans for a chemical hub in Muslim-dominated Nandigram. It would require an incredibly naïve administrator to assume there would be no consequences of such actions in a state where one of four citizens is a Muslim. This, too, is a festering wound, for while plans for a chemical hub in Nandigram may have been shelved the trauma of having lived in fear will not dissipate in a hurry.”

In March, I had asked, “Who would have thought that the CPI(M) would face so much opposition to its programmes from its own allies, to the extent that some of them would even think about calibrating their support? Or that significant numbers of the state’s Muslims, hitherto considered a safe vote bank, would actually resist a Marxist administration in the manner that they have?”

That article eight months ago added: “Worse, his administration has been hopelessly ham-handed, even dishonest in dealing with crises. The rape and killing of a girl in Singur was brushed under the carpet; the suicide of a farmer was described as the outcome of family squabbles; the first wave in killings in Nandigram were attributed to Muslim fundamentalists, and the police action this week is sought to be justified as a necessary consequence of the administration imposing its will on the people. In the midst of all this, there has not been one gesture of humility, not one show of spontaneous humanitarian concern for those who died, not one piece of evidence to suggest that Mr Bhattacharjee is capable of owning up to a mistake.”

It is inarguably in the poorest taste to repeat oneself, or to suggest in the midst of tragedy that I told you so. The protest on Wednesday may well have been aimed at Taslima Nasreen but it was staged ~ or from a Marxist perspective, hijacked ~ by people seething over the violence in Nandigram and the conduct of Mr Bhattacharjee’s administration in the days following the death of Rizwanur Rehman. More than anything else, it was the reaction of people who felt they had been taken for granted, for far too long.

In the Rizwan case and with Nandigram, the High Court had to intervene, and on both occasions, the Left Front was seen as accepting judicial pronouncements less than gracefully. Indeed, some leaders had the gall to suggest that the court’s orders ~ on petitions from ordinary, affected people ~ were an interference with the powers of the executive! In the face of such monumental arrogance, how could Mr Bhattacharjee, Mr Bose and Mr Benoy Konar not have expected people to erupt some day? It was bound to happen, and it did.

The CPI-M prides itself on its meetings and its conclaves. Do the party’s leaders now realize that these meetings are now little more than platforms for powerful leaders to mouth pre-settled positions, and are not the interactive sessions they would have us believe they are? If these meetings, in the party’s headquarters in New Delhi and in Alimuddin Street, were truly interactive sessions someone would have told Mr Bhattacharjee he was playing with fire. The party general secretary would have had him on the mat, and given him the dressing down he so clearly deserves.

Instead a handful of leaders, representing a confluence of vested interests, kept getting into huddles and kept saying the same or similar things ~ the Maoists are responsible, the reactionary Right is responsible, the Governor should join the Trinamul Congress, the media ought to have been shut down and the judiciary is crossing all bounds.

Maoists? In Communist-ruled West Bengal, thirty years after the silent revolution of the proletariat? If indeed there are Maoists advocating armed struggle in this egalitarian paradise of Mr Jyoti Basu and Mr Bhattacharjee, Marxism must have failed. Yet, it requires an especially compromised intellect to blame the Maoists over and over again for every failure of administration.

But perhaps the greatest tragedy for West Bengal is that the ruling party in the state is an intrinsic part of the coalition ruling at the Centre. Dependent on the Left's support, the Centre has failed to play the role it is expected to when the administration in the state has blundered. Such a role need not necessarily involve the invocation of Articles 355 or 356, but could even be a reprimand ~ gentle or severe as the circumstances may warrant ~ from the Prime Minister or Home Minister.

Problem to crisis

Instead, we have had at various times, and as the state regressed from problem to crisis, the Prime Minister first praising the Chief Minister and then, in the face of overwhelming evidence of incompetence, only mildly rebuking him. We have had the Home Minister waffle on in the Lok Sabha and the Information and Broadcasting minister indulge in the most palpable kind of fence-sitting. In the matter of West Bengal, Dr Manmohan Singh has shown himself to be a weakling, indeed an embarrassment, although it must be said in fairness to him that he has yet to receive his cue from Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

For whatever reason, the state government did react to the problems in central Kolkata on Wednesday. It called the Army out, and this is not the time to ponder if such alacrity was prompted by the desire to distance its police from any possible action against Muslims, or whether the reaction was excessive. The important thing is that violence has not spread. However, the Army will return to its barracks, and West Bengal will have to confront once again the ugly scar the Marxist administration has left on the psyche of its people. That is the ugly truth we have to live with.

The writer is Editor, The Statesman.

Himachal’s third force

Vepa Rao
The Statesman, 1 December

The Bahujan Samaj Party could not have timed its major foray into Himachal politics better. It has put both the big parties ~ the Congress and BJP ~ on their guard and has injected into them a dose of insecurity. Discuss the forthcoming, second phase of Assembly election with any one, it ends on a sardonic note: “Let’s see what the BSP will do to the voting patterns. Except the die-hard workers in both the camps who “publicly” dismiss its impact, the general feeling is, “kuch bhi ho sakta hai (anything can happen)”. Such is the magic of Ms Mayawati's well-orchestrated “social engineering” that it is catching the ordinary people’s imagination.

It is also catching in its sprawled out net many disgruntled but experienced leaders (from the bigger parties) who have to either bow to party impositions or face political wilderness. Its role as a sanctuary for “rebels” from the Congress and BJP ~ especially those denied party tickets ~ is becoming more defined by the day.

Many from both the big parties camping in Delhi for tickets were in regular touch with the BSP so that they could switch over and fight the elections under its banner, instead of sitting out in the cold for another five years. The concept of “social engineering” with its exalted “inclusive” philosophy can provide just the right face-saving umbrella to come under.

It’s the power struggle within the Congress and the BJP that has weakened the two big parties and provided the ideal breeding conditions for the “third force” in Himachal Pradesh. The regular mud-slinging matches between the warring factions are the stuff of gossip everywhere, thereby lowering the two big parties’ image and their stalwarts' stature in the public eye. Both the big parties have ruled at different times, causing disillusionment among the people, as also the inevitable “anti-incumbency” factor. Bad experiences of some people during not only the present regime but also all the previous tenures of the BJP could be a force to reckon with. Memories of good deeds die quickly; but bad memories fester and infect the public faster.

Congress spokesmen claim that the BSP will cut into only the BJP votebanks; while its counterparts in the BJP have been returning the “compliment”! They also hope that this effort to set up “the third front” will fail ~ just like the two other attempts in the past by disgruntled Congress leaders, who eventually returned to the Congress fold.
Many sceptics quote figures from the last Assembly election (in 2003). The BSP had put up only 23 candidates (in a total of 68 constituencies) ~ they all lost, polling a total of only 21,469 votes. The BSP’s choice of the former Congress leader Major Vijay Singh Mankotia ~ the Rajput hailing from Kangra ~ as its chief in Himachal Pradesh may not inspire confidence among the Dalit voters.

The Schedule Caste population in District Kangra (with the largest number of Assembly seats) alone is about 22 per cent, while the OBCs account for 30 per cent. There are also doubts about how well and how long Ms Mayawati and Major Mankotia could work together ~ their political cultures and styles of functioning are so different. The fact remains that the BSP has not done much work at the grass-roots level in the state and has woken up to the coming election a bit late.

But at the same time, the main leaders in the Congress and the BJP are also unable to ignore the BSP’s threat to their parties’ supremacy in Himachal politics. That they issue statements underplaying the BSP’s importance regularly amounts to their admission of the new player’s potential to upset their applecarts in many constituencies ~ especially where victories hang by thin margins.

Of course, no one would think of the BSP forming the government, or even winning many seats. Political stalwarts in the state were amused when Ms Mayawati anointed Major Mankotia as Himachal's “next chief minister”, while launching her party’s electoral bid at an impressive public rally at Dharamshala in July.

Even she, a shrewd politician, would not be nursing illusions of capturing the state so soon. But power-sharing could be possible, just the way the former Union minister Mr Sukh Ram’s Himachal Vikas Congress helped the BJP to form the government with a wafer-thin majority in 1998. Even such a small gain could be one more step in the big elephant’s march towards Delhi.

This much-bandied prospect of Ms Mayawati becoming the Prime Minister sooner or later has also become another attraction. “Who knows” and “why not” are typical responses we hear often. The fiery Dalit lady who rose from a humble background to vanquish political giants and is now seen to be uniting all castes (unlike other parties that have been playing divisive politics) has somewhere touched a chord in many people’s hearts.

Ms Mayawati’s charisma among women voters cannot be underestimated ~ especially because in male-monopolised Himachal politics, both the Congress and the BJP have been treating women as mere appendages. Besides, who wouldn’t hitch his or her wagon to a fast rising national star like Ms Mayawati!

It is also believed that the BSP is ready to unload cash in plenty for the election campaign. Some say it would be more than about Rs 50 crore ~ a whopping amount in a small, cash-starved state this. The party has ferried around Major Mankotia and company in a hired chopper during the recent polls in the tribal areas. Whispers were doing the rounds that large envelopes containing currency notes and advertisement material were handed to journalists at Ms Mayawati’s Press conference in Dharamshala in July. In this state where honesty and simplicity still prevail, such bits of gossip make people sit up. To be fair, they may even be wild allegations. But during election time, such widespread perceptions in the public may count.

Data suggests that on an average only Rs 3 lakh was spent officially by 80 per cent of the winning candidates in Himachal’s last Assembly election in 2003 ~ against the Rs 7 lakh limit fixed by the Election Commission. And, the value system here, too, is no longer insulated ~ there must be many worthies who will go after the scent of big money. There are all the signs that money will wield more influence in the coming elections than before.

Himachal is on the threshold of an industrial boom. Mushrooming industries with money-bags in regions like Baddi and Barotiwala are waiting to fish in troubled waters. The BSP’s think-tank and its experienced managers are probably better equipped to handle such “opportunities” as local, self-conscious leaders. Add to it, the prospects of what people refer to as “UP-style politics” (aggressive, no-holds-barred efforts) entering the state!

The BSP’s role in the coming polls should be understood against this wider, emerging canvas of life in the state ~ not merely in terms of a few seats it may win or its inroads into other parties’ votebanks. Its potential to modify the composition of, and attitudes in, the other two big parties is considerable.

It can change Himachal’s political culture and chemistry in the long run. Provided of course, it works for long-term gains in the state, instead of lapsing into silence after the polls.

(The author is The Statesman’s Shimla-based correspondent.)

More than the govt lobby

Vepa Rao
The Statesman, 28 November

An objective assessment of governing agencies, other political institutions and individuals is difficult in a vast, complex democracy like ours. Opinion polls and other “studies” have been found to be either inadequate or motivated. Ours is a society where facts are marshalled to support or contradict opinions ~ instead of allowing facts to precede conclusions. The ordinary, apolitical voter stands amidst the simmering confusion bred by brazen, conflicting political campaigns and exercises his “right” in the darkness of bias. He has no access to truth. No wonder, Satyameva jayate had to be "stated" as a part of our national credo, instead of its being part of life.

Himachal Pradesh’s voter, too, is in the grip of such no-holds-barred propaganda from all parties involved in the power war. Allegations, counter-allegations, unsubstantiated charges and claims fly around. Nobody knows the truth. Even the Press with its limited agenda and resources, has to go more by what the politicians “say” than what they “do”. But in recent times, voters across the state seem to be developing a subjective, individualistic approach compounded by its sheer size into an “objective” assessment of sorts. With education and modernity creeping in, the herd-mentality of voting en masse at the behest of group leaders is diminishing. Caste and regional affinities and family ties continue to matter, even dominate rural voting patterns ~but they can no longer be taken for granted. Instead, “visible” development (like roads, health and educational facilities, employment generating projects) that affects their lives “directly” counts more than the state’s "overall development" which cannot be verified or vouched for to be in the people’s best interests.
The average voter does not have the acumen and resources for large-sized evaluations. He is sceptical when you talk of ideologies, GNP, nuclear policies, such concepts as socialism and secularism, except when translated into visible activities affecting his life “directly”. These voters have extended this element of “directness”. It appears, the voter is influenced by how his own “personal” life (and that of family members and friends) has been affected by a party in governance. Has an unemployed member been given a job? Were you given a “good” posting in service? Were you transferred to a place far from home? Did your representation for the wife’s transfer closer to home succeed, though the MLA or the minister had promised to help? Did the authorities concerned or the leaders of a party help you when you had a problem? How was their behaviour with you? Who graced your home at your daughter's wedding or bereavement in your family?

Such factors may look trivial ~ but put together, they acquire a momentum. Besides, life is hard in the hills where “little matters” do affect daily existence. Ask the hill-folk who have to carry patients on their shoulders for miles on the rugged mountain tracks to reach a road-head and then travel long distances towards a hospital. Ram Sethu and Rahul Gandhi are not the issues here; road connectivity and health care are.

The candidates as “individuals” in constituencies are coming under scrutiny (of “individual” voters) rather than their party promises and manifestos. Politicians accept in private that their speeches about values, traditions and culture are received with increasing boredom and may even boomerang. The electronic media, too, has been bringing about silent transformation in attitudes in Himachal Pradesh. Comparisons with life-styles and facilities in the more affluent sections in big cities have a quiet but incisive effect on the people. The status of “contentment”, once considered a virtue and a philosophy here, is slowly making way for ambition, consumerism and a desire for modern facilities, gadgets, technologies and showy lifestyles.

Why should a person be content with a two-wheeler, when many neighbours own cars? Why should a wife sit down to wash clothes on the floor when washing machines can do the job? Why should a young man be content with a Rs-5,000 salary within the state, when his friends are earning more and have bigger prospects? Economic prosperity tops a family’s agenda. The rapid growth of industries in Baddi-Barotiwala region, hydel-power projects and other plants across the state are giving a fillip to people’s ambitions. Till recently, moving out of the state in search of employment was considered avoidable, and government service was the favoured option. Politicians here are yet to change the strategy that once leaned heavily on pleasing the all-powerful lobbies of government employees. While a bulk of the voting in the state may follow traditional patterns for the time being, the volume of these voters in transition has been increasing rapidly.

The Assembly election on 19 December should also be utilised for understanding the social transition in Himachal Pradesh.

(The author is The Statesman’s Shimla-based correspondent.)

Rajapaksa entrapped - Military Prepares To Liquidate LTTE

Sam Rajappa
The Statesman, 1 December

The Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, finds himself entrapped. As he completed two years in office on 19 November, the first and foremost of his achievements was the heightened alienation of Tamil citizens from the Sri Lankan state. His hawkish brothers and the increasingly confident defence forces on one side and the Sinhala chauvinist, Janatha Vimukthi Perumana, with whose support he won the presidential race and the JHU of the Buddhist monks on the other are egging him on to go for the decapitation of the LTTE supreme, Velupillai Pirapaharan.

The assassination of Suppiah Paramu Tamilchelvan, leader of the political wing of the LTTE and its chief peace negotiator, has given a new-found confidence to the Sri Lankan armed forces that it could execute Pirapaharan also in a similar air raid using general purpose bomb called Mark 84 supplied by the USA. The pressure bomb, filled with high explosives capable of penetrating 11 ft. of concrete, caused lethal fragmentation to a radius of 400 metres and killed Tamilchelvan who was sleeping in the lower compartment of a two-layered well camouflaged and fortified concrete bunker at Thiruvaiyaaru, about three km from Kilinochchi town. Seven of his companions sleeping in the upper layer of the bunker were also killed. Kilinochchi is where the LTTE has its political headquarters, Peace Secretariat and Strategic Communications unit.

The message

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, brother of the President who is the Defence Secretary, gloating over the decapitation of Tamilchelven facilitated by precise intelligence and aerial surveillance, said: “This is to convey a message that we know where the LTTE leaders are. We know the location of all the leaders. When the time comes, we’ll take them one by one.”

Expressing grief over the death of Tamilchelvean who had began his career as one of the bodyguards of Pirapaharan, the LTTE supremo said in a statement: “Sinhala nation did not open its heart and send a peace message. On the contrary, it is sending war-vultures that are dropping giant bombs. It has cruelly killed our peace dove.” Third in the LTTE hierarchy after Pirapaharan and Poddu Amman, its intelligence wing chief, Tamilchelvan, who joined the organisation in Chennai in 1984 at the age of 17 in the wake of the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom in Sri Lanka sponsored by the United National Party government of JR Jayawardene, passed out of the fourth batch of young recruits trained by India. He was the only LTTE leader not involved in any major act of terrorism either on Indian territory or in Sri Lanka though he did take part in the fight against the IPKF.

India’s silence at his killing and criticism of the Tamil Nadu chief minister and leader of the DMK, M Karunanidhi, for composing an elegy to mourn his loss, have created an impression in Colombo that New Delhi is not averse to the elimination of the LTTE.

In his vision for Sri Lanka outlined in Mahinda Chintana, Rajapaksa envisions changing the country into a modern state while “fostering the national heritage and culture with peaceful cooperation among the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and others, instilling economic growth and prosperity and maintaining friendly relationship with all nations.” His actions during the two years of his presidency reveal that he has not been able to even make a beginning in fulfilling his vision. The initiative during the last two years have passed on to the powerful Defence Secretary and the armed forces. But he has succeeded in making himself the undisputed leader and saviour of the Sinhala community. While the alienation of Tamils from the ruling Sinhalas goes back to the 1950s, the alienation of the Muslim community from the ruling class can be attributed as one of Rajapaksa’s achievements. By pulling the wool over the eyes of President Bush and singing paeans of praise of the “global war on terrorism”, he managed to suppress the ethnic struggle of the Tamils for their legitimate place in Sri Lanka’s political firmament. But for the liberal supply of arms and ammunition by the USA, Sri Lanka would not be able to escalate its war effort.

The armed forces have found a champion in Rajapaksa who will hear no evil, see no evil or speak ill of them no matter what atrocities they commit.

When the armed forces on 23 October stripped the bodies of LTTE commandos, including women, killed in the devastating attack on the Anuradhapura air base, and paraded their mutilated naked corpses placed on trailers normally used to collect garbage for the Sinhala residents to see, in clear violation of Geneva convention, the first reaction of the government was to deny it. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara’s response, as quoted by Reuter, was: “We are professional soldiers. We do not want to do things like that.” Then who did it?
Rajapaksa’s decision to allow the armed forces to carry out systematic military operations without revoking the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement entered into with the LTTE by the previous UNP government of Ranil Wickremasinghe has made the roles of Norway who facilitated the peace process and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission irrelevant. Though Rajapaksa claims to be a friend of Tamils and gives instances of his close family members marrying into Tamil families in Sri Lanka, in the short span of two years of his stewardship, the Sinhala-Tamil relationship has touched the nadir.

Right from the time he issued his election manifesto, it was clear that his overwhelming ambition was to consolidate the Sinhala vote bank and emerge as the sole leader and protector of the major community. In this, he has succeeded admirably. A Sinhala chauvinist party like the JVP which won 37 seats in the 2004 parliamentary election, and the JHU of the Buddhist monks have been rendered almost irrelevant. Even the main opposition party, the UNP, seems to have lost its appeal as the party’s MPs have been defecting to Rajapaksa’s SLFP in droves.

Worst record

In the process of consolidating his hold over the majority community, Rajapaksa has given a free rein to the armed forces which has brutalised civil society. Sri Lanka today holds the worst record in human rights violation which the armed forces consider a necessary evil in the so-called global war on terrorism. Newspapers and media persons not toeing the government line are dealt with summarily by unidentified goons travelling in vans with no number plates. Air Marshal Roshan Goonatilleka, Commander of the SLAF, had said in an interview that it was not difficult to get at Pirapaharan as he was confined to a very limited area of land in Wanni. Asserting the days of the LTTE leader was numbered, he said: “I do not think it is difficult for us to get at him. Somehow we will find him soon.” Commending the fullest support of the President to the military operations, he said; “It is very easy to work with him because we are free to make our own decisions without any problem.”

Even if the armed forces succeed in wiping out the LTTE, the ethnic problem will remain unresolved unless a political formula could be found to satisfy the aspirations of the Tamil people of the Northern and the Eastern Provinces. The LTTE thrives on Tamil discontent. A genuine power-sharing based on a negotiated settlement with the Tamils is the only way out for Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa seems to have missed the boat. If he reactivates the All Party Representative Committee from its deep slumber to produce a peace document satisfying the Tamils, the armed forces will not let him proceed with it. Sri Lanka is in real danger of a military takeover.

(The author, a veteran journalist who retired from The Statesman, is based in Chennai.)

10 hurt as groups clash over Posco

The Statesman, 26 November

JAGATSINGHPUR Nov. 25- Anti and pro-Posco groups clashed at Noliasahi today injuring at least 10 persons. The violent clash is said to be a sequel to the abduction of seven persons recently during which a local priest was assaulted by anti-Posco activists.The attack on the priest, on 22 November, when he had accompanied the seven officials of a dredging company to perform puja had enraged Nuagaon villagers. This led to today's violence.The anti-Posco group had decided to hold a meeting at Balithutha today and were mobilising support when angry villagers of Nuagaon pelted stones.

Both sides fought a pitched battle chasing and pelting stones at each other. At least 10 persons were injured.

Anti Posco leader Mr Nimai Sahoo said four persons were injured including Duryadhan Nayak, Narsingh Mallick, Prafulla Biswal and Champabati Nayak while the pro-Posco group said six from their side were hurt.

Two persons Narsingh Mallick and Prafulla Biswal have been shifted to SCB medical college and hospital, Cuttack for treatment.

IIC of Kujang police station Mr Anil Mishra said no FIR has been lodged in police station as yet.In fact the police failed to enter the village as anti Posco activists blocked the road at Balitutha bridge.

It may be noted here that Kujang police had registered a case against anti-Posco group and their leader Mr Abhaya Sahoo in connection with the 22 November incident.

Oris-saga

Statesman News Service , 3 December

Dam by AP to submerge 5,000 acres

BHUBANESWAR, Dec. 2: The high dam which is under construction by the Andhra Pradesh government on the Janjabati river would submerge at least 5,000 acres of land of 12 villages in Bandhugaon block on completion. Ironically, the Orissa government is silent on such a grave issue, despite innumerable intimations, alleged the Chasi Mulia Adibasi Sangha, a forum of tribal and other landless peasants, working in Koraput and Rayagada districts. All the construction work is going on in the name of the so-called green revolution, but it will have serious consequences on the existence and livelihood of thousands of tribals, the Sangha added.

Small check dams on the Janjabati, Champabati and other tributaries will serve the purpose, it was further clarified.

It also demanded the recovery of land belonging to the tribals, distribution of cultivable forest land and sloping portions of the lower part of mountains, proper irrigation facilities etc.

In a press conference, the Sangha brought forth the nexus among the landlords, the local police and the revenue officials to highlight their plights during their decade-long struggle for livelihood. One such burning example is the arrest of Nachika Linga, a Naib sarpanch of Podarpadar gram panchayat of Naranpatana and three others. A votary of land rights movement of the tribals, Linga after bringing a no-confidence motion against the sarpanch, who also happens to be a landlord, he along with three other members of the Sangha, Wadeka Syam, Huluka Tilusu and Wadeka Seneya were implicated in a conspiracy case under sections 121 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1932.

After languishing in jail for over one and a half years and tortured, the four were acquitted on 14 November. They forced the illiterate tribals for ‘distress sale’ of paddy and other agri-products.

Describing landlessness as their main problem, the organisation alleged that the well-off landlords forcibly occupy their rightful lands and even community lands like burial grounds.

There is a gross violation of the prohibitory regulation namely 2/56, which aims to prevent alienation of land of tribals by non-tribals, they charged and added that the commercial forest and lemon-grass culture will have serious environmental hazards.

Illicit liquor is the prime weapon in the hands of the people, who try to make us intoxicated in order to snatch the land. Bauxite extraction from Malis would also cause harm to the environment and the eco-system.


Farmers’ rally for water


SAMBALPUR, Dec. 2: Playing the pro-farmer card to the hilt, the Congress leaders vowed to review all MoUs signed by the Naveen Patnaik government which go against the interest of agriculture. Hirakud was constructed for flood control, irrigation and power generation. Farmers will have the first right over its waters and not industries. Addressing an impressive gathering of farmers here today, the Union minister and AICC in charge of Orissa, Mr Ajay Maken, Mr Chenna Reddy, Central minister, Mr CS Sahu, the former CM, Mr JB Patnaik, the OPPC chief, Mr Jayadev Jena and others accused Mr Naveen Patnaik of safeguarding interest of MNCs at the expense of farmers.

The much hyped farmers' rally was aimed at encashing upon an agitation by the local peasants against the use of Hirakud waters by industrial houses. The lathicharge by police on farmers on 6 November provided the chance to the Opposition. The Congress mobilised people from several districts of western Orissa for today's rally. It was meant to be a show of strength, where people were to be told that it was only for farmers’ cause that the Opposition had stalled the house demanding a debate and a vote.

Hirakud dam was the first mega project of independent India and the brain child of Jawaharlal Nehru, who wanted the state to be agriculturally rich. Hence, the farmers of the state have the first right over water of the dam. But Mr Naveen Patnaik, who hardly knows anything about Orissa, is making pacts with industrialists. Congress will remain with the farmers and fight for their cause. “I have come from Delhi with this message from Mrs Sonia Gandhi and the Congress to the people and farmers of Orissa,” Mr Maken said.

The former chief minister of Orissa, Mr JB Patnaik, warned industrialists not to sign illegal MoUs. ‘If Congress will come to power, it will review all the MoUs and cancel those that go against the interest of the state and its people. Our government will create extra irrigation facilities for 30 lakh acres of land in Orissa. At the same time arrangements will be made in such a manner that flood and drought would be just matters of the past,” Mr Patnaik said. Earlier during the day, Mr Ajay Maken came down heavily on Mr Naveen Patnaik and the BJD-BJP coalition in the state. “Inefficiency apart, the debt restructuring and other electricity dues related issues of IMFA is another classic example of Naveen Patnaik’s so called clean image,” Mr Maken alleged. He noted that inflow of water to Hirakud has reduced at an alarming rate. While the inflow was 39.3 million acre feet in 1957, it has reached 24 million acre feet now.

The storage capacity of Hirakud is decreasing every year due to siltation. When people are dying for lack of food and children are suffering from malnutrition, the Orissa government is unable to distribute 13. 61 lakh ton of rice given by the Central government, he said. The party endorsed its commitment to the demands of the people of western and southern Orissa for permanent Benches of high court.


Protest by PPSS

JAGATSINGHPUR, Dec. 2: The Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti leader, Mr Abhaya Sahoo, today issued warnings of a retaliatory armed struggle in the proposed Posco area to defend the land rights of the inhabitants.

Talking to reporters of the electronic media, Mr Sahoo said that over two years, villagers were protesting against the project in a peaceful and democratic manner, but over the past few days armed anti-socials had unleashed violent attacks on PPSS activists. Mr Sahoo justified his call for an armed struggle.

Posco should not be set up on proposed site:Left party leaders

Statesman News Service

BHUBANESWAR, Dec. 2: Instead of recreating a situation akin to Nandigram, the chief minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, should follow the example of his West Bengal counterpart and declare, that in view of the opposition by the locals, the Posco steel plant would not be set up at the disputed site.

The irony is that observations to this effect were made by the Left party leaders–CPI, FB, SUCI, CPI (ML) and the CPM. A team of Left party leaders visited the troubled Dhinkia area of Jagatsinghpur district yesterday, to support the anti-Posco movement spearheaded by the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti.

They warned the government of serious consequences, if it tries to force its way and crush the people’s movement by deploying hired goons and the police. Addressing a press conference here today, the Left party leaders condemned the recent spate of violence at Balitutha and the use of force. The chief minister declared that he wants peaceful industrialisation and that his government will not resort to force, but since 22 November, a heinous design of deploying hired goons has taken place.

In the garb of pro-Posco activists, these goons have assaulted people, hurled bombs and set fire to tents pitched by the PPSS at Balitutha, alleged the Left leaders.

The game plan is to stop peaceful demonstration on Balitutha bridge with the help of goons and then deploy police all over the place. They pointed out that for over 64 days, the PPSS had been staging a blockade on the bridge without indulging in violence of any kind, but they had been attacked.

Now the administration has virtually surrounded Dhinkia village. We were also initially refused entry to the area by the local police yesterday, said Mr Dibakar Nayak, state head of the CPI. Mr Santosh Mitra of FB, Mr Kitish Biswal of CPI, Mr Subash Singh of CPM, Mr Narayan Reddy, CPI MLA, and other SUCI leaders also voiced the same views.

The united Left demanded a probe into human rights violation which had taken place in the area and also into the more than Rs 100 crore already spent by Posco.

Who has benefited from the money?, has it been given to create a private army of goons? or did it go to the pockets of certain local ruling party leaders? were some of the questions asked by these leaders.

They pointed out that the chief minister had committed that project work would start on 1 April, 2008.

He is trying to meet the deadline by using age-old British tactics of dividing the locals, making them fight against each other.

It is a well established fact for over the past two years, that the locals are opposed to the project.

They refuse to part with rich agriculture lands. For two years, the villagers have refused to allow Posco and the government officials to enter the area. So the government should declare that the project would not be set up at the proposed site, they Left front leaders said.

However, reports from the troubled zone, said that after the Left party leaders visited Dhinkia yesterday, the pro-POSCO factions had started holding counter meetings at Nuagaon, Gadakujang and Govindapur villages.

The police have deployed two platoons at Trilochanpur and has virtually surrounded Dhinkia, which happens to be the stronghold of PPSS. They have also erected a barricade at an entry point to Dhinikia to beef up security.

Assam’s grapes of wrath

RAJESH DEV
The Statesman, 3 December

The face of the vulnerable, guiltless Adivasi gaped at the press cameras to clumsily convey his innocence. He began to recount how the picketers were left to fend for themselves by the leaders who brought them to the “Capital” to assert their genuine demands for inclusion as a Scheduled Tribe.

The most mortifying and infuriating was the flagrant violation of the dignity and modesty of women during this nauseating frenzy that the region, and most possibly also the nation, watched on the streets of Guwahati. The dehumanising actions allowed to run riot on the occasion stood as testimony to our increasingly cannibalised selves.

An otherwise peaceful afternoon was defiled when members of the dominant groups giggled and conveyed jubilation at the naked reality of our society where stripped women run for shelter while the marginalised and the reviled go on destroying “symbols” they associate with domination and control. The irony of the situation was made conspicuous when an inadequate police force became totally incompetent.

The cascading effect of that 24 November afternoon will slowly unfold in a predictive fashion in different parts of Assam. The fragile inter-ethnic cohesion of this pluralistic society will be under increasing strain and the beginning of the blame game of who “started it” will not only politicise the event to the advantage of entrepreneurs, but will also result in a dialogic cul-de-sac that inhibits the possibilities of any reconciliation.

The edging of a peaceful picketing into this riotous event symbolises a number of issues that we have deferred resolving for a long time. The brutality with which the picketers were mauled by residents possibly reflects deep-seated resentment against the state and its methods of inclusion. The demand of the Adivasis for ST status was an instant alibi for contest. Yet the viciousness of the retaliation also revealed the perceived sense of superiority that dominant groups bring to bear over minorities in ethnically hierarchical societies. This subliminal aversion stimulated the need to “teach them a lesson” for making political claims to indigenousness in social settings that does not recognise such claims. The consequence is riotous social rage.

Though the Guwahati incidents have their subtle differences with similar other claims in different parts of India, they are not unique, as claims originating in the region are often designated. They express the same need for “recognition” to entrench cultural and political self-preservation that would also moderate the perceived backwardness of a group. Such claims are inevitably amenable to rancorous contest by those who perceptively sense a reduction in the share of their pie.

Yet the events at Guwahati nevertheless again oblige us to more substantive reflection about the processes and mechanisms of our current paradigms of the democratic inclusion of marginalised groups. A politics of social engineering that emphasises the need for “quotas” as an indication of empowerment is only deferring the concerns for social, political and economic equity of marginalised groups.
This adjournment though well serves the purposes of political mobilisation that generate instant electoral advantages for parties, like in the approaching panchayat elections in Assam. It, however, does not ensure empowerment of “scheduled” groups. Numerous instances throughout the country indicate that inclusion in “scheduled” lists is not the most effective method for ensuring social justice and equity. In all these cases, an a priori preference based on “scheduled” status has not proven to be the best method for maximising the power and resources available to a group.

The muted discontent of “rising frustrations” that sees a magic potion in the inclusion of a community in the list of favoured groups continues to fracture not only the region but the entire country. The riotous demands of the Gujjars in Rajasthan, the Paharis in Kashmir, the Koyas and Lingadarikoyas in Andhra Pradesh, the Kuravars in Tamil Nadu, the Adivasis, Tiwas and a host of others in Assam for inclusion in the category of the Scheduled Tribes reflect the new form of “mutinies” that challenge the Indian state and its pluralistic intentions.
These “million mutinies” by marginalised groups who perceive a deep sense of alienation and deprivation will only add to the crises that a gravely immobilised state has to confront in the coming years.

A state that has been indolent, inconsiderate and politically manipulative in executing its responsibilities towards its marginalised people will no longer have the wherewithal to fulfill those tasks. Yet the burgeoning aspirations of these people will continue to seek resolutions in the initiatives and intervention by the state, one of which is being “recognised” as Scheduled Tribes/ Castes. The incendiary mix of democracy with social fractures that magnify when the state adopts inexplicable justifications for recognising a group as “tribe/caste” will only add to future crises. Unless we change the discourse, demands for empowerment will continue to be merely manipulated as political totems rather than ensuring social justice.

(The author is a lecturer in political science at Women’s College, Shillong, the executive secretary of the Advanced Research Group for Understanding Eastern India and can be contacted at rajesh@argueindia.org.)

Meghalaya mortgaged to coal lobby

Patricia Mukhim
The Statesman, 3 December

In 2005, the Meghalaya Adventurers Association headed by national award winner Brian Kharpran filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court challenging the rampant mining of coal and limestone around what is reputed to be one of Asia’s longest cave system. On hearing the case, the apex court directed the Meghalaya government to come up with a policy on mining. This task has proven to be the biggest challenge to the government as mining in Meghalaya is a licentious, laissez faire exercise.

Meghalaya has some of the most extraordinary cave systems which attract speleologists from across the world. Kharpran, himself an avid caver, has mapped several of these, making it easier for adventurers to explore them with lesser casualties. Kharpran is part of several international organisations that look at caves not merely as protected spaces but as crucial repositories of a unique biodiversity.

When the apex court gave its directive, JD Rymbai was chief minister. At that time the then chief secretary constituted a committee comprising officials, coalmine owners and members of the MAA, to work out a fair policy. But Rymbai lost his chair to DD Lapang and the committee was short-circuited. It might sound weird but the portfolio of mining and geology went to none other than an MLA representing the coal belt, who is himself a coal trader. This man had made his millions from coal and contested the elections merely to have a taste of power. He ensured that the committee was buried alive and replaced the bureaucrat who showed enthusiasm to draft the mining policy with one who is known for his acute craftiness to keep politicians happy.

Now, two years down the line Meghalaya is yet to have a mining policy, even as reckless exploitation of coal and limestone has destroyed the entire eco-system of those areas where the minerals occur. Water bodies have been systematically poisoned. Forests are denuded without any qualms despite the existence of a top heavy state forest department and also the presence of the ministry of environment and forests in Shillong. Unregulated quarrying continues anywhere and everywhere, often devastating catchment areas which used to be sources of fresh water. Coal is mined unscientifically through the rat hole method, making it not just a wasteful venture but also very dangerous for miners.

In the absence of a mining policy, abandoned mines have not been reclaimed. They are a holocaust waiting to happen. Should an earthquake hit this place the destruction would be enormous, also because Meghalaya is located in a very vulnerable seismic zone. Lumshnong in the Jaintia Hills is rich in coal and limestone, but the area also houses the amazing Krem Kotsati cave whose entrance is already blocked by debris accruing from limestone and coalmining activities. Exploiting limestone requires blasting. This is extremely dangerous for the caverns as they could be destroyed forever.

Blind followers of the cult of exploitation, such as the coal and limestone lobby, consider caving a voyeuristic hobby of the affluent town-dwellers. Little do they bother to educate themselves that life is not for one generation and one species only. Other creatures have as much right as the greedy coalmine owner to live in an environmentally sustainable atmosphere.

Besides, caves are more than grottos. They house a rich bio-diversity which influences climate to a large extent. Living in the underground world of caves is an astonishing array of creatures. Although all live underground, their ecosystem is linked to the surface above and any changes that humans make here can affect their subterranean habitat, natural heritage and biodiversity. Cave creatures play an essential role in underground ecosystems by decomposing organic matter and recycling nutrients through the food web. Many of them are very rare, and include ancient, primitive forms no longer found on the surface. They provide important information for studies of evolution and ecology. It is crucial therefore to maintain the natural surface vegetation for the survival of cave ecosystems.

Meghalaya is perhaps the only mineral rich State without a mining policy. Coalmine-owners will do their best to thwart the policy because they prefer to operate in opacity. Since this powerful coal lobby financed the installation of the present government, naturally it has to protect their interests. So if the government which is elected to represent public interest is controlled by the coal lobby, then are we not all mortgaged and enslaved? Why talk of multinational funding agencies as sharks that threaten our economic and political freedom? In Meghalaya we have already sold our collective freedom to the coal mafia.

Since the eco-system in mining areas is completely defiled, drinking water is dwindling. What is available is water coated with sulphuric acid. The affluent coal dealers have already shifted base to Shillong, turning their backs on the ecological destruction they have caused. But the disempowered, with no voice to defend their rights, have to live and die in that ravaged environment.

Elections are just round the corner and this time more rich coal traders are in the fray It makes you wonder if one day the entire legislative assembly will be converted into a coal lobby’s stock market.

As a community, the tribals pride themselves on being the upholders of a noble philosophy that reveres mother earth. Today that philosophy stands on its head. Money has replaced all the noble ideals and the cultural capital bequeathed by our ancestors. Culture is not about things external. It represents the more durable intrinsic values. Culture encompasses the traditional value systems that have stood the test of time. When a society loses its cultural values it is reduced to an empty crust which will disintegrate rapidly. Today money is the destroyer of everything we hold dear to our hearts. If the environment dies, we die with it. What is the use of money then?

(The author is a Shillong-based columnist and activist, and can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com.)