INDIA-PAKISTAN DIALOGUE

India-Pakistan dialogue must continue http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/indiapakistan-dialogue-must-continue/article4291266.ece … via @the_hindu

TRANS-LOC INCIDENTS IN J & K : AN ASSESSMENT

B.RAMAN

 

There have been two very serious  incidents across the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

·      PAKISTANI STATEMENT: One Pakistani soldier was killed on January 6,2013, in an alleged Indian raid on a Pakistani Army post. On January 7, the Pakistani Foreign Office in Islamabad protested over the incident to the Indian Deputy High Commissioner. According to the Indian version of this incident, on January 6,Pakistani troops fired mortar shells at Indian Army posts in the Uri sector to help insurgents infiltrate into India. The Indian Army had retaliated.

·      INDIAN STATEMENT: Two Indian soldiers were killed and two others injured on the morning of January 8, when Pakistani army troops entered Indian territory near Mendhar, about 220 KMs north of Jammu, and attacked an Indian post. The body of one of the Indian soldiers was found decapitated and the severed head was missing. The Pakistani Army has denied the allegations and described them as Indian propaganda to divert attention from the incident of Jan.6.

2.There was a similar incident of decapitation when Gen.Pervez Musharraf was the Chief of the Army Staf (COAS) under then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999.Ilyas Kashmiri,a former member of the Special Services Group (SSG) of the Pakistan Army, and his men entered Indian territory, killed an Indian soldier, decapitated him and carried his head as a trophy to Pakistan. He allegedly presented the head to Musharraf who congratulated him and his men and rewarded them. The incident was reported in sections of the Pakistan-Occupied  Kashmir media.

3.Musharraf’s action in receiving Ilyas Kashmiri and rewarding him indicated the Pakistan Army’s complicity in the incident. The Indian Army reportedly  believes strongly that there was Pakistan Army’s complicity in the latest incident too.

4.The two incidents indicate the continuing fragile and sensitive nature of the trans-LOC ground realities. The incidents appear to have been handled till now at the Army-Army level through the existing hotline between the Directors-General of Military Operations of the two countries.

5.The serious nature of the latest incidents underline the need for a political hotline between the Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan to supplement the existing hotline between the DGMOs to ensure prompt political handling of such trans-LOC incidents amenable to escalation detrimental to peace in the area. ( 9-1-13)

( 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  . Twitter: @SORBONNE75  )

CHINESE ARMOURED REGIMENT EXERCISES IN XINJIANG AREA

B.RAMAN

Citing chinamil.com, the “People’s Daily” of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has reported as follows on January 8,2013:

 

“Recently, an armored regiment under the Xinjiang Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) organized dozens of armored vehicles to conduct drill on snow-capped plateau, in a bid to temper troops' combat capability under extreme cold condition. (chinamil.com.cn/Liu Yong)”

2. The report also carried two photographs of the exercise by the PLA Armoured Regiment. No other details are available. The report does not give the exact location of the exercise area.

3. The exercise raises the following questions of significance:

·      Was the exercise connected with the internal security situation in the Xinjiang province which has been facing an anti-Beijing revolt by sections of the Uighurs, some of them allegedly belonging to the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan which has bases in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (FATA)?

·      Was the exercise also connected with the recently-reported deployment of some Chinese security guards in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistan to provide security to Chinese construction teams working on various projects in the GB area, including the upgradation of the Karakoram Highway?

·      Were the exercises carried out in co-ordination with Pakistan?

4.These are questions which need probing by the Indian intelligence. (8-1-13)

( 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 Chennai Studies.E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com .Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

PAKISTAN'S NEW MILITARY DOCTRINE

B.RAMAN

 

Media reports emanating from Pakistan’s civilian Government as well as  from the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Army speak of an on-going review of Pakistan’s military doctrine in order to give priority to the creation of a sub-conventional warfare capability to fight domestically against non-State actors posing a threat to Pakistan’s internal security.

2.While these non-State actors have not been specifically named, it is apparent they have in mind the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) and the Baloch nationalist elements  which are waging a struggle for Baloch independence.

3.The Pakistan Army has not been able to prevail over any of these organisations. The TTP has maintained a capability for fighting against the Pakistani security forces in the tribal  as well as non-tribal areas and there have been indications of its extending  its activities to Karachi, thereby adding to the instability there.

4.The LEJ continues to indulge in large-scale massacre of Shias all over Pakistan---- and particularly in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, the Kurram Agency and Karachi. The freedom struggle of the Baloch nationalists continues to gather momentum.

5.In the past, Pakistan’s military doctrine had three components:

·      A Chinese-aided nuclear-cum-missile capability against India.

·      A US-cum-Chinese aided conventional capability against India.

·      A covert action capability for keeping India bleeding and ultimately annexing Jammu & Kashmir. This covert action capability was acquired from the CIA in the 1980s for use against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. It is now being used against India and the Hamid Karzai Government of Afghanistan

6.The Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto Government had succeeded in crushing the Baloch nationalists and the anti-Shia elements spearheaded by the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, which later metamorphosed into the LEJ, were actually created by the Zia-ul-Haq regime to counter the Iranian influence.

7. The revival of the Baloch freedom struggle after the massacre of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and many of his followers by the Pervez Musharraf regime and the birth of the Mehsud-dominated TTP to seek vengeance against the Pakistan Army after the bloody Army action in the Lal Masjid of Islamabad have confronted the Pakistan Army and its Inter-Services Intelligence with serious threats to its internal security to counter which it does not have the required sub-conventional warfare capability.

8.It is now proposed to pay greater attention to the creation of this capability. This should not be misread into thinking that the Pakistan Army’s traditional mindset of hostility to India is under reexamination or that it may re-examine its continued use of its covert action capability against India through organisations loyal to the ISI such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LET) and against the Government of Hamid  Karzai through organisations such as the AfghanTaliban or the Haqqani Network

9.The Pakistan Army is not about to give up its use of jihadi terrorism  as a strategic weapon against India and its further strengthening of its nuclear and missile capability against India with Chinese assistance. We must avoid any naïve assessment of the reports from Pakistan on this subject. ( 6-1-13)

 

( 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  .Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

SEQUEL TO GANG-RAPE IN DELHI:: TWO POINTS NEEDING QUICK ACTION

B.RAMAN

 

Two points need quick action in the wake of the gang-rape in New Delhi on December 16,2012.

2. The first is the removal of the Commissioner of Police of Delhi and his replacement by a competent officer from outside the Delhi cadre of the Indian Police Service.

3. Shri Neeraj Kumar, the present Commissioner of Police, has shown neither leadership nor signs of concern and shame over the failure of his force to protect women from crime and respond energetically to follow-up action after the rape of Braveheart. Moreover, under his command and control, the police force failed to show sensitivity and sophistication in dealing with thousands of young people who spontaneously protested against the rape.

4.In his various interactions with the public and the media after the gang-rape, one did not notice the remotest sign of contrition in him.One has been shocked and filled with indignation over the allegations that the Delhi Police led by him has been trying to harass a TV channel for telecasting an interview with the friend of Braveheart.

5.If he continues as the Commissioner of Police, one can neither expect a thorough enquiry into the deficiencies of the police in connection with the gang-rape nor vigorous action to improve the future capability of the Police to protect women against crime. An officer, who is so smug and satisfied about his performance and that of his force,cannot be expected to act vigorously.

6.It is, therefore, important that he should be replaced immediately by a competent officer from outside the Delhi IPS cadre, who can be entrusted with the responsibility for revamping the police force and improving its interactions with the public and the media.

7. The second point requiring urgent action is the examination of existing laws relating to the involvement of juveniles in crimes against women, particularly rape. Laws relating to juveniles give them the benefit of lenient treatment under the presumption that as juveniles they might not have been able to understand the gravity and consequences of their participation in crime.

8. One can understand such leniency in the case of juveniles involved in crimes like pocket-picking, theft, robbery, letting themselves be used for murder etc,  but the benefit should not be extended to juveniles participating in the sadistic rape of a woman.

9. One of the accused in the gang-rape case is a juvenile, who allegedly raped the Braveheart twice and then caused severe injuries to her intestines through a metal rod. How can he be described as incapable of understanding the gravity and consequences of his action?

10. Rapes should be exempted from the leniency provisions for juvenile criminals. They should be treated with the same severity as adults.

11. Law does not permit retrospective enactments to enhance punishment. The juvenile  involved in the gang-rape cannot normally be covered under any new laws.

12.Public opinion will find it difficult to accept that he should be treated leniently under the existing laws despite his acts of unheard of bestiality against Braveheart. Justice to her demands that he should be treated  on par with the other accused.

13. How to do so? This question must be referred as a specific term of reference to one of the commissions set up by the Government to go into the gang-rape---- possibly to the Justice Verma Commission. ( 5-1-13)

( 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  .Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

TIANANMEN SQUARE & VIJAY CHOWK STUDENT PROTESTS

To

The Editor,

“Global Times”

Beijing.

 

Sir,

I read with interest a commentary by Lin Xu, in your edition of December 30,2012, making some negative remarks about the state of India as a liberal democracy in the wake of the widespread public protests, particularly by the students of Delhi against the gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in a private bus on the night of December 16,2012.

2. There has been considerable public outrage all over India, particularly in Delhi, over this incident which illustrates the increase in crime against women, the inability and incompetence of the police in dealing with it effectively and the insensitivity of the political leadership in responding to the outrage.

3.One saw a similar student upsurge in the Tiananmen Square of Beijing in June 1989 caused by allegations of widespread political corruption and lack of democratic rights. The response of the authorities of democratic India and the one-party Chinese dictatorship to the two student protests differed qualitatively.

4. The Delhi police imposed curbs on student protests in certain areas sensitive from the VIP security point of view such as the Vijay Chowk and used force mainly in the form of tear-smoke and long bamboo sticks called lathis to prevent protests in these areas. Outside these areas, the students were free to demonstrate wherever they wanted. Both Indian and foreign media freely covered the protests in the restricted as well as non-restricted areas. The Army was not used. No martial law was proclaimed. There was only one death in the confrontation between the police and the students---that of a policeman.

5. As against this, to deal with the student upsurge in Beijing, the Army was called and a Martial Law was proclaimed. The Army used tanks to disperse the students. Till today, neither the Chinese people nor foreign media have an authentic account of the number of students killed by the tanks and other units of the Chinese army.

6.The Government of China banned any reference to the Tiananmen Square upsurge by the media or social media networks. The Chinese authorities projected it as a non-event to which there should be no reference in any discussion or articles.

7.That is the difference between democratic India and authoritarian China. In India, 65 years after our independence, we still have many serious deficiencies---political, administrative, economic and social. We are concerned over them, but we do not push them under the carpet. We freely admit them, criticize our leaders and officials for them, project them in our media and protest in public over them without any fear that we may find ourselves in jail for doing so. Can anyone in authoritarian China do so? The day you allow your people the right to do so, you will have the moral right to criticize India, but not now.

8. Permit me to cite another example of the qualitative difference between  democratic India and authoritarian China. Last year, the “ Washington Post” published a highly negative article on Dr.Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, sent by its correspondent in New Delhi. There was considerable anger in Indian official circles over the article, but the correspondent did not have to suffer any negative consequences for writing that article. The Indian media and opposition political parties, which have been unhappy over the functioning of Dr.Manmohan Singh, freely disseminated the article. The Government did not try to prevent them from doing so.

9. During the same period, the “New York Times” carried an investigative report on the wealth of some family members of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. There has been an unadmitted ban on the dissemination of this article inside China. The Chinese Government has not extended the visa of the NY Times correspondent who sent this report, thereby forcing him to leave China.

10.There has been increasing pressure from the Internet generation in China for greater political reforms with an end of the single-party dictatorship and the introduction of a multi-party democracy. The Tahrir Square uprising in Egypt has added to Chinese fears that the younger generation in China has not forgotten and forgiven  the Tiananmen Square massacre and wants genuine democracy and political reforms, the key demands of the 1989 generation.

11.Your paper, which is the voice of the Communist Party of China, has, therefore, been trying to project the student outrage in Delhi as indicating the dangers of the imperfections of Indian-style democracy and social deficiencies. Your tactics is unlikely to succeed.

12. It is India’s free and open despite imperfect society and style of democracy that will ultimately succeed. ( 2-1-13)

 

Yours sincerely,

B.Raman

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  .Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

 

TWEETS FOR 2013---TAKE THEM OR LEAVE THEM

B.RAMAN

1.Tweet to spread and acquire knowledge and not to impress.

2.Don’t brag. Noone looks or sounds cheaper than a braggart.

3.Keep moving forward despite the tragedy of our Braveheart daughter. Don’t wallow in guilt complex.

4.Keep thinking how we could have handled it differently and what to do to prevent other similar tragedies.

5. Avoid grandstanding.

6.Have the courage to admit your faults at least to yourself, if not to others.

7.There are three kinds of human beings--- those who have the magnanimity to admit their faults to others as well as to themselves; those who have the courage to admit their faults to themselves, but not to others; and those who are not prepared to admit them either to others or to themselves. They are at the bottom of the scale of evolution of personality.

8. You are old? So what? Your ability to contribute to an improvement of your society depends not on your age, but on your mindset.

9. The greatest tribute that one should try to earn from others is---there was never anything mean about him or her. ( 31-12-12)