B.RAMAN
The anti-corruption movement launched from New Delhi by a hotch-potch of elements and groups under the leadership of Anna Hazare, a social activist of unquestioned integrity and unimpeacheable credentials, has to be taken seriously by the Government of Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh.
2. Any attempt to have it discredited or to underestimate the genuine anger of growing sections of the public against widespread corruption at various levels of the political leadership and bureaucracy would be short-sighted and could lead to poltical instability and a disturbance of law and order. We might be faced with a Jasmine Revolution type situation with the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi from where the movement has been launched becoming India's Tahrir Square.
3. Not all those supporting the movement have noble objectives. The movement has been triggered by a mix of motives ---some noble and laudable marked by a desire to rid the country of corruption, some politically opportunistic and some politically partisan marked by a desire to take advantage of the immense popularity of Anna Hazare to have the Government further discredited and ride to power.
4. Despite the undoubted presence of opportunistic and partisan elements in the ranks and the leadership of the movement, one cannot deny that within two days of starting, the movement is threatening to spread far and wide across the country and has started attracting the support of growing sections of the youth, which had till now shown little interest in the campaign against corruption. This is due to a feeling of disgust over this cancer and the evident half-heartedness of the Government and the political class as a whole in dealing with this cancer.
5.Increasing numbers of non-governmental citizens, many of them the youth, have started feeling "Enough---Thus Far and No Further" and giving unmistakable signs of a growing conviction that unless they take matters in their own hands and come out in the streets, things are not going to change and that it would be futile to expect the political class to take effective action against corruption.
6. There are two aspects to the scenario confronting the country in the light of the demands being made by Anna Hazare and his supporters for the immediate creation of an institution called Lok Pal with wide powers and with the association of eminent persons of the society to take notice of corruption at all levels---including the Prime Minister---- and initiate action against it.
7. The first aspect is the feasibility of the creation of the institution in the form and in the manner demanded by them. This demand has been there since 1969 and no Government has so far taken it seriously. Misgivings that an institution of the type demanded by them could encourage frivolous complaints of corruption and frivolus actions paralysing the process of governance are not far-fetched. In the light of these misgivings, it was incumbent on the Government and the political class as a whole to come out with an alternative approach which could effectively reduce corruption without weakening the governmental machinery.
8. The failure of successive Governments to come out with such an alternative solution has given rise to widespread anger that the Government and the political class are not serious about addressing this cancerous problem. This anger is the second aspect of the scenario.
9. The Government and the political class do not seem to realise that any further procrastination in dealing with this cancer and attempts to ignore the demands and expectations of the people could damage the very roots of democracy in the country, thereby damaging one of the major assets this country has had since its independence.
10. It is important for the Government to address immediately the demand for a Lok Pal by coming out with alternative solutions which would be acceptable to the people behind the movement and to take note of the growing public anger over the issue of corruption in general and take action to address the causes of that anger. (6-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India,New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
LIBYA: CLIMAX OR ANTI-CLIMAX?
B.RAMAN
( To be read in continuation of the following articles of mine:
(a).March 22 LIBYA: Increasing Confusion http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers44%5Cpaper4392.html
(b).March 20,2011 Libya: Obama's Iraq http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers44%5Cpaper4388.html
(c).March 19,2011 LIBYA: Options for India & Russia http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers44%5Cpaper4387.html
(d).February 28,2011,Gaddafi’s Continuing Defiance http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers44%5Cpaper4355.html )
The Western campaign ---- by exploiting the fig leaf cover of the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 for protecting civilians in Libya--- to work for a regime change in Libya has come face to face with three disturbing ground realities within a fortnight of the launching of the military campaign:
• Ground Reality No.1: The campaign has been exploited by Gaddafi to skillfully transform what was a civil war between his supporters and opponents into a war of national resistance against foreign invaders from the West, who are projected as the modern day crusaders. He has been able to successfully appeal to the sense of patriotism of the soldiers of his Army and para-military units. The results: His soldiers are fighting with greater skill and greater competence than those of the rebel armies. The initial gains made by the rebels under the air and missile cover provided by the US and other NATO countries have been reversed in many places. Desertions from the Libyan security forces, which were threatening to gather momentum before the Western military campaign, have practically stopped.
• Ground Reality No 2: US military commanders have started developing a feeling of disquiet that they have rushed to the help of a rebel army about which they know so little. The disquiet has been caused by a gnawing realization that some of the rebels had fought with Al Qaeda in Iraq and are Iraq returnees. There was never much love lost between Gaddafi and Osama bin Laden. They strongly disliked each other. Gaddafi saw to it that Al Qaeda did not develop roots in Libya. He prevented those Libyans who had gone to Iraq from coming back to Libya. The suspicion that some of these Libyans of Iraqi vintage have now come back to Libya and have joined the anti-Gaddafi groups has created fears that the Libyan misadventure might provide fresh oxygen to Al Qaeda. The good rebels vs the bad rebels syndrome has started haunting NATO military commanders.
• Ground Reality No 3: An unanticipated outcome has been the feeling in Iran and North Korea that Gaddafi was unwise in surrendering his nuclear option under Western pressure. While Iran has not publicly expressed this feeling, North Korea has not concealed it. It is being pointed out that if Gaddafi had retained Libya’s nuclear option, the West would not have dared to intervene. Gaddafi’s experience is being cited as an argument to justify North Korea’s resisting the US pressure to give up its nuclear option. The impact on the USA’s non-proliferation campaign is going to be negative. After what happened in Libya, Iran and North Korea would be even more determined than in the past to resist US pressure on this issue.
2. There are signs of a re-think in the West on the advisability of carrying on the campaign in its present form. The US has reportedly stopped firing Cruise and other missiles against Libyan Govt. positions. Air strikes have been reduced in intensity. So too, the anti-Gaddafi rhetoric. The US seems to be looking for a face-saving solution. Will Gaddafi provide a face-saving formula? Like Saddam Hussain, he is a defiant fighter who is prepared to fight till the bitter end if that becomes necessary. Unlike Saddam, he is amenable to compromise solutions which would safeguard his position, protect Libyan national interests and prevent an irreparable breach with the West. One saw these qualities in the way he handled the nuclear issue.
3. Is the Libyan imbroglio moving towards an interesting climax or anti-climax? ( 5-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and , presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
( To be read in continuation of the following articles of mine:
(a).March 22 LIBYA: Increasing Confusion http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers44%5Cpaper4392.html
(b).March 20,2011 Libya: Obama's Iraq http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers44%5Cpaper4388.html
(c).March 19,2011 LIBYA: Options for India & Russia http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers44%5Cpaper4387.html
(d).February 28,2011,Gaddafi’s Continuing Defiance http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers44%5Cpaper4355.html )
The Western campaign ---- by exploiting the fig leaf cover of the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 for protecting civilians in Libya--- to work for a regime change in Libya has come face to face with three disturbing ground realities within a fortnight of the launching of the military campaign:
• Ground Reality No.1: The campaign has been exploited by Gaddafi to skillfully transform what was a civil war between his supporters and opponents into a war of national resistance against foreign invaders from the West, who are projected as the modern day crusaders. He has been able to successfully appeal to the sense of patriotism of the soldiers of his Army and para-military units. The results: His soldiers are fighting with greater skill and greater competence than those of the rebel armies. The initial gains made by the rebels under the air and missile cover provided by the US and other NATO countries have been reversed in many places. Desertions from the Libyan security forces, which were threatening to gather momentum before the Western military campaign, have practically stopped.
• Ground Reality No 2: US military commanders have started developing a feeling of disquiet that they have rushed to the help of a rebel army about which they know so little. The disquiet has been caused by a gnawing realization that some of the rebels had fought with Al Qaeda in Iraq and are Iraq returnees. There was never much love lost between Gaddafi and Osama bin Laden. They strongly disliked each other. Gaddafi saw to it that Al Qaeda did not develop roots in Libya. He prevented those Libyans who had gone to Iraq from coming back to Libya. The suspicion that some of these Libyans of Iraqi vintage have now come back to Libya and have joined the anti-Gaddafi groups has created fears that the Libyan misadventure might provide fresh oxygen to Al Qaeda. The good rebels vs the bad rebels syndrome has started haunting NATO military commanders.
• Ground Reality No 3: An unanticipated outcome has been the feeling in Iran and North Korea that Gaddafi was unwise in surrendering his nuclear option under Western pressure. While Iran has not publicly expressed this feeling, North Korea has not concealed it. It is being pointed out that if Gaddafi had retained Libya’s nuclear option, the West would not have dared to intervene. Gaddafi’s experience is being cited as an argument to justify North Korea’s resisting the US pressure to give up its nuclear option. The impact on the USA’s non-proliferation campaign is going to be negative. After what happened in Libya, Iran and North Korea would be even more determined than in the past to resist US pressure on this issue.
2. There are signs of a re-think in the West on the advisability of carrying on the campaign in its present form. The US has reportedly stopped firing Cruise and other missiles against Libyan Govt. positions. Air strikes have been reduced in intensity. So too, the anti-Gaddafi rhetoric. The US seems to be looking for a face-saving solution. Will Gaddafi provide a face-saving formula? Like Saddam Hussain, he is a defiant fighter who is prepared to fight till the bitter end if that becomes necessary. Unlike Saddam, he is amenable to compromise solutions which would safeguard his position, protect Libyan national interests and prevent an irreparable breach with the West. One saw these qualities in the way he handled the nuclear issue.
3. Is the Libyan imbroglio moving towards an interesting climax or anti-climax? ( 5-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and , presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Sunday, April 3, 2011
INDIA-PAKISTAN: CRICKET DIVIDES
B.RAMAN
The feel good atmosphere generated by the "wide-ranging conversations" between Prime Ministers Dr.Manmohan Singh and Mr.Yousef Raza Gilani at Mohali on the margins of the India-Pakistan World Cup Cricket semi-final on March 30 should not be allowed to be dissipated over the subsequent expression of hard feelings in Pakistan over what they consider as the obnoxious treatment amounting to mental torture meted out to the Pakistani team by large sections of the Indian media in the run up to the semi-final in an allegedly orchestrated attempt to break the morale of the Pakistani team.
2. The feelings of hurt in this regard are reflected in an article titled "On the debris of defeat" written by well-known columnist Syed Talat Hussain in the April 4 issue of the "Dawn" of Karachi. I am annexing the entire text of the article for easy reference. The "Dawn" had also carried on April 1 an interview with Shahid Afridi, the Pakistani captain, which was quite negative vis-a-vis India and the Indian people as compared with his positive comments at Mohali, which were praised by many, including myself. The interview is available at
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/01/afridi-back-home.html . Afridi's negative comments in his latest interview would not invalidate our praise of him after the Mohali match.
3.In some of the interviews given by him to sections of the Pakistani media before Mohali, the feelings of hurt nursed by him and his team over the negative projection of the team's professional integrity and morality by sections of the Indian media were evident, but he had kept his feelings apparently under control and did not allow them to affect his interactions with our media at Mohali.
4.Hardly a few hours after the team returned to Pakistan, these feelings of hurt are coming out from columnists as well as the players. We can't just dismiss them as "sour grapes". Nor should we counter them by pointing out that sections of the Pakistani media were as nasty as sections of our own media.
5.I notice that the feelings of hurt in Pakistan are not only over the negative coverage by sections of the Indian media, but also over the way (according to them) India has sought to isolate and humiliate Pakistan in the field of international cricket. The following is a typical comment which I took from the "Readers' Comments" in the "Dawn" : "He (Afridi) is very right…look at Indian behaviour to Pakistanis in IPL. In champions league all countries teams are invited other than Pakistan. ICC management has been occupied by Indians mostly, and they are isolating Pakistan from International Cricket. We all know here in Pakistan. But we dont care, as our team is top team of cricket and can beat any team in world on the day."
6.More than any other comment, those of Afridi have received considerable attention in the Indian world of Twitters. Last night, I saw a mini-Tsunami of Tweets on Afridi's latest interview. Why this sudden metamorphosis in him? Is the real Afridi the one we are seeing now in Karachi and not the one we saw at Mohali? Is he recanting under pressure from the extremists? What would be the implications of this pressure on the exercise for a "re-engagement" and "re-connecting" set in motion at Mohali by the two Prime Ministers? These are some of the questions being furiously tweeted around.
7.I also noticed the following two comments by Susan Koshy from India in the "Dawn":
"It is very very very sad to (see) this video. First of all the interviewer is very aggressive and full of assumptions and asking leading questions based on her assumptions. Yes, it is true that the media in India are very jingoistic, loud and opinionated. But I have seen that on Pakistan TV too on my visits to Pakistan. There are also some parts of India that are more reasonable in their views. But I didnt think that the spirit of the game in Mohali was aggressive at all – in fact that is what Afridi said too immediately after the match. We enjoyed having Pakistani people, cricketers with us for the game. That was how we experienced the game. So it is really very very very sad to hear this interview. I wonder if this interviewer has ever been to India? Doesn’t seem like it from her horrible tone and arrogance."
"I hope the aggressive interviewer (almost doctored interview) reads the lovely article written by Maheen Sadiq on To Afridi with Love. That was the spirit of the match as we experienced it and not the really sad comments made in this video. I have visited Pakistan and experienced an obsessive media there too. I do get very angry media in India but I experienced something similar there too."
8.We must take note of the feelings of hurt and bitterness coming out of Pakistan. But we should not allow these to create self-doubts in our mind about the wisdom of the exercise set in motion at Mohali. Even if Afridi's negative comments are not under pressure that should not be allowed to vitiate the Mohali spirit
9.Meaningful and tension and bitterness free re-engagement between the two countries is not for tomorrow. It is going to be a long drawn-out process with ups and downs and zigs and zags. We should persist with this exercise for as long as we can without allowing the extremists to derail it.
10.Having said that, I will be dishonest if I do not say one thing in conclusion; I do hope Mr.Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari will be able to resist any presuure from the extremists to abandon this exercise. Reading between the lines of the "Dawn" article, I get a disturbing feeling that Mr.Gilani was probably under pressure from the extremists not to honour the Pakistani team for having let down Pakistan.
11. I keep my fingers crossed.(4-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and,presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE ( Article carried by "Dawn" on April 4)
On the debris of defeat
By Syed Talat Hussain
THE ICC World Cup semi-final in Mohali offers us two important insights. The first is a wide-spectrum sample of public opinion trends in India about Pakistan. The second relates to our national attitude of complacency in the aftermath of defeat.
The run-up to the match showed the reality of the much-hyped Indian desire for peace with Pakistan. Here was a great opportunity for the Indian media to win the hearts and minds of friends from Pakistan by showing grace and courtesy. But what was served was nothing less than national-level sledging, lasting for days.
The host nation took special care of the Pakistani squad. Large sections of the media tore into the Pakistani team and its captain as if this was an invading army from another world. In the name of debate, targeted frenzy was worked up against the green-shirts.
Matters became particularly uncivilised as the semi-final approached. The campaign was nothing short of a psychological warfare zeroing in on Pakistan. With the use of selective data and controversial instances, derision was freely heaped on the team. Kapil Dev talked about ‘how little Pakistanis have to cheer about’. Ravi Shastri, who loses his reason when the Indian team gets even a slight drubbing, compared the visitors with a rickety rickshaw, while the Indian squad, in his opinion, was a BMW.
On local channels the attack was particularly poisonous. In several shows, where Indian film stars and music divas rooted for their team before large audiences, ridiculing Pakistan was the norm.
We know media nationalism can hijack objectivity. It can lead to distortions. It can generate propaganda. This happens in Pakistan all the time. In that context, some of the content that was broadcast or written by the Indians about Pakistan could perhaps pass off as tolerable. But the scope of this campaign, which continued well after the match, was too large and the focus too specific to be ignored as a momentary loss of balance caused by the raging passion to win against arch rivals.
More worryingly, even some among the seemingly most liberal segments of society, who generally scoff at anti-Pakistan hysteria in their own country, had nothing but barely hidden contempt when it came to discussing issues related to their neighbour. No other country, or team, was subjected to this torment — a point made by Shahid Afridi, the Pakistani captain, before the match.
It was almost as if the Mohali match had given the whole of India a season ticket to trash Pakistan. Cricket appeared to be an instrument to unleash collective contempt. This Mohali experience contrasts sharply with the popular narrative about the growing peace constituency in India that wants to treat Pakistan with respect and believes in the principle of parity of nations. At a critical time when convincing messages of brotherhood could have been packaged with courtesy and sent across the borders to Pakistan with love, the mail received from India contained little other than hate.
The second insight that the Mohali event offers is just as important as it calls for a serious revision of the way we have chosen to respond to our defeat. A fake legend of heroism is being pushed out of our pathetic performance. The central message of this campaign is that we should ‘ask no question, hear no criticism, and make no complaint’ against our team because ‘we love them’.
The mantra that is spamming inboxes is primarily led by commercial organisations that have big contracts with some of the players. After the match these organisations have a problem: the poster-boys who rope in customers have suddenly developed feet of clay. This is disastrous for marketing. Continued hero worship is therefore vital for the image of the brands the cricketers represent. And this can only happen if the nation is told that somehow the mess in Mohali is marvellous for Pakistan’s cricket.
But apart from this there is a disturbing national tendency to sweep failures under the carpet. So when Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif — in whose province thousands of doctors have been on strike for weeks demanding higher wages — offered cash to the players he was as much playing politics as he was endorsing this sorry trend.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani too wanted to fete the team for having reached the semi-final. Suddenly failure to make it to the finals has become a point of great pride, a matter of honour rather than cause for reflection and course correction.
But this is not surprising. We have consistently rewarded incompetence. We have a culture of complacency that simply lowers the bar of achievement instead of raising the game to the level where the best compete and win.
It is this criminal compromise with slackness and rank stupidity that has produced fake degree holders who flaunt their credentials with impunity and a band of corrupt-to-the-bone individuals who hold high offices. Mohali offers us a dozen points to ponder, about cricket, about the odds we face and the character we exhibit under pressure. But we will only face more Mohalis in every field of life if we, as a nation, stay proud as a peacock and prance around the debris of our defeat. We will be fooling no one except ourselves.
The feel good atmosphere generated by the "wide-ranging conversations" between Prime Ministers Dr.Manmohan Singh and Mr.Yousef Raza Gilani at Mohali on the margins of the India-Pakistan World Cup Cricket semi-final on March 30 should not be allowed to be dissipated over the subsequent expression of hard feelings in Pakistan over what they consider as the obnoxious treatment amounting to mental torture meted out to the Pakistani team by large sections of the Indian media in the run up to the semi-final in an allegedly orchestrated attempt to break the morale of the Pakistani team.
2. The feelings of hurt in this regard are reflected in an article titled "On the debris of defeat" written by well-known columnist Syed Talat Hussain in the April 4 issue of the "Dawn" of Karachi. I am annexing the entire text of the article for easy reference. The "Dawn" had also carried on April 1 an interview with Shahid Afridi, the Pakistani captain, which was quite negative vis-a-vis India and the Indian people as compared with his positive comments at Mohali, which were praised by many, including myself. The interview is available at
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/01/afridi-back-home.html . Afridi's negative comments in his latest interview would not invalidate our praise of him after the Mohali match.
3.In some of the interviews given by him to sections of the Pakistani media before Mohali, the feelings of hurt nursed by him and his team over the negative projection of the team's professional integrity and morality by sections of the Indian media were evident, but he had kept his feelings apparently under control and did not allow them to affect his interactions with our media at Mohali.
4.Hardly a few hours after the team returned to Pakistan, these feelings of hurt are coming out from columnists as well as the players. We can't just dismiss them as "sour grapes". Nor should we counter them by pointing out that sections of the Pakistani media were as nasty as sections of our own media.
5.I notice that the feelings of hurt in Pakistan are not only over the negative coverage by sections of the Indian media, but also over the way (according to them) India has sought to isolate and humiliate Pakistan in the field of international cricket. The following is a typical comment which I took from the "Readers' Comments" in the "Dawn" : "He (Afridi) is very right…look at Indian behaviour to Pakistanis in IPL. In champions league all countries teams are invited other than Pakistan. ICC management has been occupied by Indians mostly, and they are isolating Pakistan from International Cricket. We all know here in Pakistan. But we dont care, as our team is top team of cricket and can beat any team in world on the day."
6.More than any other comment, those of Afridi have received considerable attention in the Indian world of Twitters. Last night, I saw a mini-Tsunami of Tweets on Afridi's latest interview. Why this sudden metamorphosis in him? Is the real Afridi the one we are seeing now in Karachi and not the one we saw at Mohali? Is he recanting under pressure from the extremists? What would be the implications of this pressure on the exercise for a "re-engagement" and "re-connecting" set in motion at Mohali by the two Prime Ministers? These are some of the questions being furiously tweeted around.
7.I also noticed the following two comments by Susan Koshy from India in the "Dawn":
"It is very very very sad to (see) this video. First of all the interviewer is very aggressive and full of assumptions and asking leading questions based on her assumptions. Yes, it is true that the media in India are very jingoistic, loud and opinionated. But I have seen that on Pakistan TV too on my visits to Pakistan. There are also some parts of India that are more reasonable in their views. But I didnt think that the spirit of the game in Mohali was aggressive at all – in fact that is what Afridi said too immediately after the match. We enjoyed having Pakistani people, cricketers with us for the game. That was how we experienced the game. So it is really very very very sad to hear this interview. I wonder if this interviewer has ever been to India? Doesn’t seem like it from her horrible tone and arrogance."
"I hope the aggressive interviewer (almost doctored interview) reads the lovely article written by Maheen Sadiq on To Afridi with Love. That was the spirit of the match as we experienced it and not the really sad comments made in this video. I have visited Pakistan and experienced an obsessive media there too. I do get very angry media in India but I experienced something similar there too."
8.We must take note of the feelings of hurt and bitterness coming out of Pakistan. But we should not allow these to create self-doubts in our mind about the wisdom of the exercise set in motion at Mohali. Even if Afridi's negative comments are not under pressure that should not be allowed to vitiate the Mohali spirit
9.Meaningful and tension and bitterness free re-engagement between the two countries is not for tomorrow. It is going to be a long drawn-out process with ups and downs and zigs and zags. We should persist with this exercise for as long as we can without allowing the extremists to derail it.
10.Having said that, I will be dishonest if I do not say one thing in conclusion; I do hope Mr.Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari will be able to resist any presuure from the extremists to abandon this exercise. Reading between the lines of the "Dawn" article, I get a disturbing feeling that Mr.Gilani was probably under pressure from the extremists not to honour the Pakistani team for having let down Pakistan.
11. I keep my fingers crossed.(4-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and,presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE ( Article carried by "Dawn" on April 4)
On the debris of defeat
By Syed Talat Hussain
THE ICC World Cup semi-final in Mohali offers us two important insights. The first is a wide-spectrum sample of public opinion trends in India about Pakistan. The second relates to our national attitude of complacency in the aftermath of defeat.
The run-up to the match showed the reality of the much-hyped Indian desire for peace with Pakistan. Here was a great opportunity for the Indian media to win the hearts and minds of friends from Pakistan by showing grace and courtesy. But what was served was nothing less than national-level sledging, lasting for days.
The host nation took special care of the Pakistani squad. Large sections of the media tore into the Pakistani team and its captain as if this was an invading army from another world. In the name of debate, targeted frenzy was worked up against the green-shirts.
Matters became particularly uncivilised as the semi-final approached. The campaign was nothing short of a psychological warfare zeroing in on Pakistan. With the use of selective data and controversial instances, derision was freely heaped on the team. Kapil Dev talked about ‘how little Pakistanis have to cheer about’. Ravi Shastri, who loses his reason when the Indian team gets even a slight drubbing, compared the visitors with a rickety rickshaw, while the Indian squad, in his opinion, was a BMW.
On local channels the attack was particularly poisonous. In several shows, where Indian film stars and music divas rooted for their team before large audiences, ridiculing Pakistan was the norm.
We know media nationalism can hijack objectivity. It can lead to distortions. It can generate propaganda. This happens in Pakistan all the time. In that context, some of the content that was broadcast or written by the Indians about Pakistan could perhaps pass off as tolerable. But the scope of this campaign, which continued well after the match, was too large and the focus too specific to be ignored as a momentary loss of balance caused by the raging passion to win against arch rivals.
More worryingly, even some among the seemingly most liberal segments of society, who generally scoff at anti-Pakistan hysteria in their own country, had nothing but barely hidden contempt when it came to discussing issues related to their neighbour. No other country, or team, was subjected to this torment — a point made by Shahid Afridi, the Pakistani captain, before the match.
It was almost as if the Mohali match had given the whole of India a season ticket to trash Pakistan. Cricket appeared to be an instrument to unleash collective contempt. This Mohali experience contrasts sharply with the popular narrative about the growing peace constituency in India that wants to treat Pakistan with respect and believes in the principle of parity of nations. At a critical time when convincing messages of brotherhood could have been packaged with courtesy and sent across the borders to Pakistan with love, the mail received from India contained little other than hate.
The second insight that the Mohali event offers is just as important as it calls for a serious revision of the way we have chosen to respond to our defeat. A fake legend of heroism is being pushed out of our pathetic performance. The central message of this campaign is that we should ‘ask no question, hear no criticism, and make no complaint’ against our team because ‘we love them’.
The mantra that is spamming inboxes is primarily led by commercial organisations that have big contracts with some of the players. After the match these organisations have a problem: the poster-boys who rope in customers have suddenly developed feet of clay. This is disastrous for marketing. Continued hero worship is therefore vital for the image of the brands the cricketers represent. And this can only happen if the nation is told that somehow the mess in Mohali is marvellous for Pakistan’s cricket.
But apart from this there is a disturbing national tendency to sweep failures under the carpet. So when Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif — in whose province thousands of doctors have been on strike for weeks demanding higher wages — offered cash to the players he was as much playing politics as he was endorsing this sorry trend.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani too wanted to fete the team for having reached the semi-final. Suddenly failure to make it to the finals has become a point of great pride, a matter of honour rather than cause for reflection and course correction.
But this is not surprising. We have consistently rewarded incompetence. We have a culture of complacency that simply lowers the bar of achievement instead of raising the game to the level where the best compete and win.
It is this criminal compromise with slackness and rank stupidity that has produced fake degree holders who flaunt their credentials with impunity and a band of corrupt-to-the-bone individuals who hold high offices. Mohali offers us a dozen points to ponder, about cricket, about the odds we face and the character we exhibit under pressure. But we will only face more Mohalis in every field of life if we, as a nation, stay proud as a peacock and prance around the debris of our defeat. We will be fooling no one except ourselves.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
INTELLIGENCE & POLICE: KUDOS & CAUTION---THE OCTOPUS OF JIHADI EXTREMISM ALIVE & KICKING
B.RAMAN
The intelligence agencies and Police of India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka deserve to be complimented for the effective and co-ordinated manner in which they managed to maintain security and thwart planned acts of terrorism during the nearly two-month period during which matches of the World Cup cricket tournament were being held in these countries. The terrorists based in the Af-Pak region were not without plans to disrupt the matches through terrorist strikes, but their plans were detected and neutralised in time by prompt intelligence and effective physical security. The role played by the intelligence agencies of the US and other countries in collecting whatever preventive intelligence they can and sharing it with the intelligence agencies of the three countries needs to be acknowledged and applauded.
2. The terrorists and other extremists were thwarted in carrying out their plans, but their capabilities and determination to spread death and destruction remain intact.The octopus of jihadi extremism and terrorism is not dead. It is alive and kicking and has started moving again. This should be evident from the assassinations of Salman Taseer, the Governor of Pakistani Punjab, and Shabaz Bhatti, Pakistani Minister for Minority Affairs, and the two unsuccessful attempts to kill Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the Amir of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam Pakistan, Taseer and Bhatti were killed brutally because of their opposition to the blasphemy laws. Fazlur Rahman was believed to have been targeted for suggesting a re-look at the most obnoxious provisions of the obnoxious law.
3. The octopus has started moving in Afghanistan too. This became evident from the brutal murder of eight employees of a UN agency on April 1 by a violent mob protesting against a recent incident in the US in which a pastor allegedly burnt a copy of the Holy Koran. This has been followed by violent incidents in Kandahar over the same issue on April 2.
4. The feel-good atmosphere in India-Pakistan relations generated by the "conversations" of Prime Ministers Dr.Manmohan Singh and Mr.Yousef Raza Gilani at Mohali on March 30 should not blind us to the movements of the jihadi octopus. The anti-India and anti-Hindu poison being propagated by the jihadi organisations shows no signs of slackening. Their anti-India infrastructure is intact. The octopuses of terrorism have many hiding places in Pakistan from which they can strike at India. They are bound to strike at India sooner or later to convince their followers that the anti-India jihad has to be continued until final victory---- let Mohali be damned.
5. The post-World Cup euphoria is natural among the general populace, but it should not lead to a slackening of vigilance by the intelligence and security agencies, including the police. In fact, there is a need for even greater vigilance today than ever before.
6. How to keep the carefully-calibrated re-engagement process initiated by our Prime Minister moving forward without slackening our vigliance and determination to fight the jihadi terrorists operating from Pakistani territory? That is a question to be constantly addressed by the political leadership and the security bureaucracy.
7. The proposed re-engagement is with the State and the secular civil society of Pakistan, but not with its jihadi civil society. Our policy of eternal vigilance and confrontation against the jihadi octopuses has to continue unrelentingly till we win the final victory. ( 3-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
The intelligence agencies and Police of India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka deserve to be complimented for the effective and co-ordinated manner in which they managed to maintain security and thwart planned acts of terrorism during the nearly two-month period during which matches of the World Cup cricket tournament were being held in these countries. The terrorists based in the Af-Pak region were not without plans to disrupt the matches through terrorist strikes, but their plans were detected and neutralised in time by prompt intelligence and effective physical security. The role played by the intelligence agencies of the US and other countries in collecting whatever preventive intelligence they can and sharing it with the intelligence agencies of the three countries needs to be acknowledged and applauded.
2. The terrorists and other extremists were thwarted in carrying out their plans, but their capabilities and determination to spread death and destruction remain intact.The octopus of jihadi extremism and terrorism is not dead. It is alive and kicking and has started moving again. This should be evident from the assassinations of Salman Taseer, the Governor of Pakistani Punjab, and Shabaz Bhatti, Pakistani Minister for Minority Affairs, and the two unsuccessful attempts to kill Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the Amir of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam Pakistan, Taseer and Bhatti were killed brutally because of their opposition to the blasphemy laws. Fazlur Rahman was believed to have been targeted for suggesting a re-look at the most obnoxious provisions of the obnoxious law.
3. The octopus has started moving in Afghanistan too. This became evident from the brutal murder of eight employees of a UN agency on April 1 by a violent mob protesting against a recent incident in the US in which a pastor allegedly burnt a copy of the Holy Koran. This has been followed by violent incidents in Kandahar over the same issue on April 2.
4. The feel-good atmosphere in India-Pakistan relations generated by the "conversations" of Prime Ministers Dr.Manmohan Singh and Mr.Yousef Raza Gilani at Mohali on March 30 should not blind us to the movements of the jihadi octopus. The anti-India and anti-Hindu poison being propagated by the jihadi organisations shows no signs of slackening. Their anti-India infrastructure is intact. The octopuses of terrorism have many hiding places in Pakistan from which they can strike at India. They are bound to strike at India sooner or later to convince their followers that the anti-India jihad has to be continued until final victory---- let Mohali be damned.
5. The post-World Cup euphoria is natural among the general populace, but it should not lead to a slackening of vigilance by the intelligence and security agencies, including the police. In fact, there is a need for even greater vigilance today than ever before.
6. How to keep the carefully-calibrated re-engagement process initiated by our Prime Minister moving forward without slackening our vigliance and determination to fight the jihadi terrorists operating from Pakistani territory? That is a question to be constantly addressed by the political leadership and the security bureaucracy.
7. The proposed re-engagement is with the State and the secular civil society of Pakistan, but not with its jihadi civil society. Our policy of eternal vigilance and confrontation against the jihadi octopuses has to continue unrelentingly till we win the final victory. ( 3-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
WE ARE ALL TEAM INDIA TODAY
B.RAMAN
Team India!
Can you hear me cry?
I have been crying since I saw our captain Dhoni score the winning six last night.
I have been crying even more since I saw Harbhajan and other members of the team crying after the victory.
Till the moment of victory, they were men of steel, men of determination.
Once the moment of victory came, they became like you and me and like millions of others in the country.
They cried, they wept, they sobbed like children.
How many of us saw Harbhajan being interviewed by a journalist who asked him how it felt like in the moments of victory.
"Great", he said, "but it is not just our victory. It is the victory of all those people in the stands. It is the victory of all the people across India. It is India's victory."
Team India!
Could you sense my feelings of jealousy, my feelings of envy in the morning as I saw all of you lined up and singing the National Anthem.
Millions of people across India shed tears of pride and wished enviously they were there with you singing the National Anthem and playing for India instead of sitting before their TV sets and computers.
Team India!
You made us all Team India---- whatever be our religion, our language, our age.
You were the privileged eleven, but you made us part of you.
Team India did not have just 11 players. It had over a billion. You made us all play with you. You made us all achieve greatness. You made us all climb to victory with you in the lead.
Team India!
You made India shine last night. Like it has never shone before. You made us all shine in every nook and corner of India. You gave us moments of glory, moments of pride.
The glory and pride were yours, but you shared them with us----so readily, so generously, so humbly.
Team Sri Lanka!
How you fought! Every inch of the way, every ball!
Your country must be proud of you. So are we. After all, you are our cousins of history. Our own flesh and blood.
Team Pakistan!
You too. Our cousins of history, our flesh and blood.
You might have lost a hard- fought match. But, you and Team India jointly won the battle for the hearts of millions of people in the sub-continent.
Afridi became a household name in India---a name every Indian, young or old, knows and loves. He is our Afridi. Not just yours.
What mixed feelings at the end of the semi-final! Could you sense them?
Feelings of joy that we won it. And feelings of sadness that we had to win it against a brave team like yours.
Team India, Team Pakistan.
There is spring in the air across our two countries. You together brought that spring. I hope like millions of others we have the wisdom and foresight to preserve it.
Team India! Team Sri Lanka, Team Pakistan!
May God continue to be with us as He was throughout the series and make us better human beings by being better sportsmen. (3-4-11)
Team India!
Can you hear me cry?
I have been crying since I saw our captain Dhoni score the winning six last night.
I have been crying even more since I saw Harbhajan and other members of the team crying after the victory.
Till the moment of victory, they were men of steel, men of determination.
Once the moment of victory came, they became like you and me and like millions of others in the country.
They cried, they wept, they sobbed like children.
How many of us saw Harbhajan being interviewed by a journalist who asked him how it felt like in the moments of victory.
"Great", he said, "but it is not just our victory. It is the victory of all those people in the stands. It is the victory of all the people across India. It is India's victory."
Team India!
Could you sense my feelings of jealousy, my feelings of envy in the morning as I saw all of you lined up and singing the National Anthem.
Millions of people across India shed tears of pride and wished enviously they were there with you singing the National Anthem and playing for India instead of sitting before their TV sets and computers.
Team India!
You made us all Team India---- whatever be our religion, our language, our age.
You were the privileged eleven, but you made us part of you.
Team India did not have just 11 players. It had over a billion. You made us all play with you. You made us all achieve greatness. You made us all climb to victory with you in the lead.
Team India!
You made India shine last night. Like it has never shone before. You made us all shine in every nook and corner of India. You gave us moments of glory, moments of pride.
The glory and pride were yours, but you shared them with us----so readily, so generously, so humbly.
Team Sri Lanka!
How you fought! Every inch of the way, every ball!
Your country must be proud of you. So are we. After all, you are our cousins of history. Our own flesh and blood.
Team Pakistan!
You too. Our cousins of history, our flesh and blood.
You might have lost a hard- fought match. But, you and Team India jointly won the battle for the hearts of millions of people in the sub-continent.
Afridi became a household name in India---a name every Indian, young or old, knows and loves. He is our Afridi. Not just yours.
What mixed feelings at the end of the semi-final! Could you sense them?
Feelings of joy that we won it. And feelings of sadness that we had to win it against a brave team like yours.
Team India, Team Pakistan.
There is spring in the air across our two countries. You together brought that spring. I hope like millions of others we have the wisdom and foresight to preserve it.
Team India! Team Sri Lanka, Team Pakistan!
May God continue to be with us as He was throughout the series and make us better human beings by being better sportsmen. (3-4-11)
BACK TO LIFE
It was a depressing day for me yesterday.Thought of stopping reading and writing, closing my blog and deactivating my Twitter account once again and withdrawing into a shell. Fortunately, didn't do any of those stupid things. Am better today. My zest for life which was missing yesterday is back.B.Raman 2-4-11
SAMJAUTA BLAST PROBE: MESSIER & MESSIER
B.RAMAN
( To be read in coninuation of my article of January 8,2011, titled "The Samjauta Express Explosion: The Follow-Up" at
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers43%5Cpaper4265.html )
The investigation into the February 18,2007, explosions on board the Samjauta Express to Pakistan that killed 68 persons 43 of them Pakistanis returning home after visiting India is becoming messier and messier, thereby further discrediting Indian investigating agencies.
2. Initial investigation pointed the needle of suspicion to Jihadi terrorists belonging to Pakistani organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET). A finding by the US Department of Treasury, which is responsible for stopping flow of funds to terrorists, also blamed the LET and Al Qaeda.
3. Subsequently, Indian investigation agencies claimed that further investigation made by them showed that the act of terrorism on board the train was actually the work of some Hindu extremists, who had association with some Hindutva organisations in the past.They went to town with a confession reportedly made before a magistrate by Swami Assemanand with alleged past links to some Hindutva elements. In his confessional statement, which mysteriously found its way into the hands of a journalist of the "Tehelka" magazine, he had confessed his role not only in the incident on board the train, but also in the terrorist attacks against members of the Muslim community at Ajmer Sharif,Malegaon and the Mecca mosque at Hyderabad.
4. While his confessional statement, which was prematurely leaked through the "Tehelka, was under verification, he is reported to have retracted it. In its issue of March 31,2011,the "Times of India" has reported as follows: "In a major twist, Swami Assemanand has turned hostile and has accused investigative agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), of pressurising him to make confessions".
5. The TOI has quoted him as having told an Ajmer court on March 29,2011, as follows: " I have been pressurised mentally and physically by the investigating agencies to confess that I was behind these blasts." He is also reported to have told the court that he was threatened and pressurised to become a Government witness in this case.
6.The retraction of his confession came a day before the meeting between Prime Ministers Dr.Manmohan Singh and Mr.Yousef Raza Gilani at Mohali during the India-Pakistan World Cup cricket semi-final. It coincided with the meeting of the Home/Interior Secretaries of the Governments of India and Pakistan held on March 28 and 29. The Indian delegation to the talks was reported to have shared with the Pakistani delegation some details of the confessional statement on March 29. The same issue of the TOI has reported as follows quoting an unidentified member of the Indian delegation to the talks: " Pakistan was given this information with the promise that the updated information will be shared with it once the NIA, which is probing the case since July last year, filed its charge-sheet in the court."
7. Assemanand's denial of the confession does not absolve him of responsibility for his involvement in the train blast. He can even now be successfully prosecuted provided other suspects who were arrested during the investigation---either on the basis of his confession or through other independent evidence--- stick to their respective statements and testify against him in the court. If they do not do so, the entire case regarding the involvement of some members of the Hindu community in the train blast could fail.
8. The leakage of the details of the confessional statement to the media before the statement had been verified in all material particulars was apparently an attempt by the Government to use its investigation agencies to score political gains against the Hindutva organisations. This partisan political game seems to have boomeranged as a result of the retraction of the confession.
9. Whether jihadi terrorists or some Hindu elements were involved, the forensic evidence collected such as the nature of the improvised explosive devices would be the same. On the basis of the same forensic evidence, jihadi terrorists were initially blamed. Then after the confessional statement, some Hindus were blamed. Now with the confessional statement most probably losing its value because of the retraction, who are the real perpetrators of the crime?
10. The investigating agencies could find themselves in a very embarrassing situation in answering this question. This is what happens when investigating agencies deviate from the path of professionalism and let themselves be used in partisan political games. (2-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
( To be read in coninuation of my article of January 8,2011, titled "The Samjauta Express Explosion: The Follow-Up" at
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers43%5Cpaper4265.html )
The investigation into the February 18,2007, explosions on board the Samjauta Express to Pakistan that killed 68 persons 43 of them Pakistanis returning home after visiting India is becoming messier and messier, thereby further discrediting Indian investigating agencies.
2. Initial investigation pointed the needle of suspicion to Jihadi terrorists belonging to Pakistani organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET). A finding by the US Department of Treasury, which is responsible for stopping flow of funds to terrorists, also blamed the LET and Al Qaeda.
3. Subsequently, Indian investigation agencies claimed that further investigation made by them showed that the act of terrorism on board the train was actually the work of some Hindu extremists, who had association with some Hindutva organisations in the past.They went to town with a confession reportedly made before a magistrate by Swami Assemanand with alleged past links to some Hindutva elements. In his confessional statement, which mysteriously found its way into the hands of a journalist of the "Tehelka" magazine, he had confessed his role not only in the incident on board the train, but also in the terrorist attacks against members of the Muslim community at Ajmer Sharif,Malegaon and the Mecca mosque at Hyderabad.
4. While his confessional statement, which was prematurely leaked through the "Tehelka, was under verification, he is reported to have retracted it. In its issue of March 31,2011,the "Times of India" has reported as follows: "In a major twist, Swami Assemanand has turned hostile and has accused investigative agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), of pressurising him to make confessions".
5. The TOI has quoted him as having told an Ajmer court on March 29,2011, as follows: " I have been pressurised mentally and physically by the investigating agencies to confess that I was behind these blasts." He is also reported to have told the court that he was threatened and pressurised to become a Government witness in this case.
6.The retraction of his confession came a day before the meeting between Prime Ministers Dr.Manmohan Singh and Mr.Yousef Raza Gilani at Mohali during the India-Pakistan World Cup cricket semi-final. It coincided with the meeting of the Home/Interior Secretaries of the Governments of India and Pakistan held on March 28 and 29. The Indian delegation to the talks was reported to have shared with the Pakistani delegation some details of the confessional statement on March 29. The same issue of the TOI has reported as follows quoting an unidentified member of the Indian delegation to the talks: " Pakistan was given this information with the promise that the updated information will be shared with it once the NIA, which is probing the case since July last year, filed its charge-sheet in the court."
7. Assemanand's denial of the confession does not absolve him of responsibility for his involvement in the train blast. He can even now be successfully prosecuted provided other suspects who were arrested during the investigation---either on the basis of his confession or through other independent evidence--- stick to their respective statements and testify against him in the court. If they do not do so, the entire case regarding the involvement of some members of the Hindu community in the train blast could fail.
8. The leakage of the details of the confessional statement to the media before the statement had been verified in all material particulars was apparently an attempt by the Government to use its investigation agencies to score political gains against the Hindutva organisations. This partisan political game seems to have boomeranged as a result of the retraction of the confession.
9. Whether jihadi terrorists or some Hindu elements were involved, the forensic evidence collected such as the nature of the improvised explosive devices would be the same. On the basis of the same forensic evidence, jihadi terrorists were initially blamed. Then after the confessional statement, some Hindus were blamed. Now with the confessional statement most probably losing its value because of the retraction, who are the real perpetrators of the crime?
10. The investigating agencies could find themselves in a very embarrassing situation in answering this question. This is what happens when investigating agencies deviate from the path of professionalism and let themselves be used in partisan political games. (2-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
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