THE OMINOUS MURDER OF IMRAN FAROOQ IN UK
B.RAMAN
This may please be read in continuation of the following articles of mine:
(a). Article of February 7,2010, titled “Karachi & Af-Pak Policy Options” at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers37/paper3653.html
(b). Article of August 5,2010, titled “ Murder of Shia Mohajir Leader Sparks Fresh Carnage in Karachi” at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers40%5Cpaper3965.html
2. According to the “Dawn” of Karachi, (September 17,2010), Dr Imran Farooq, a founding leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the organisation’s first Secretary-General, was assassinated in London on the evening of September 16. According to some sources, he was attacked by some unidentified men with daggers near his London residence and died of multiple wounds, but according to another source, a lone assailant had been lying in wait inside the apartment block where Dr Farooq lived on the first floor. He was attacked with a knife when he was climbing the stairs. He died on the spot. The murder coincided with the 57th birthday celebrations of Dr.Altaf Hussain, the head of the MQM, who lives in exile in London since 1992.
3. After Altaf fled to the UK from Karachi in 1992 to escape arrest on a charge of having an army officer kidnapped and tortured, Dr.Imran Farooq went underground and was clandestinely running the party on behalf of Altaf from different hide-outs in Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh. After some years, with the police hot on his trail, he too fled to London where he surfaced in 1999. He was reportedly given political asylum by the British authorities.
4. Dr. Imran Farooq was considered close to the late Zia-ul-Haq. At the instance of Zia, he founded the All-Pakistan Mohajir Students’ Organisation (APMSO) to counter the activities of the Sindhi and Pashtun nationalists and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of Benazir Bhutto. It played an active role in the Mohajir-Pashtun communal clashes in Karachi during the Zia regime.
5. The APMSO was converted into the MQM under the leadership of Altaf, after Altaf returned to Karachi from the US where he was working. Altaf and Imran were very close to each other. Imran was considered the alter ego of Altaf. He kept the party intact and active after Altaf fled to the UK. He was an iconic figure to the Mohajir youth.
6. After he sought political asylum in the UK, he and Altaf worked closely together to co-ordinate the activities of the MQM in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur to which its following was confined. They had its name changed as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in order to attract to its fold members of all ethnic communities instead of keeping it confined as a purely Mohajir (refugee from India) party. It made some headway in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), including Gilgit-Baltistan, but not in other provinces.
7. Its activities earned for it the enmity of the Sindhis and the Pashtuns. Differences also developed in the MQM between Mohajirs (MQM), who had migrated from Uttar Pradesh in India, and Mohajirs, who had migrated from Bihar. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) managed to persuade some Mohajirs from Bihar to leave the MQM and form a new organization called the MQM (Haquiqi) meaning the real MQM. The MQM (H) was armed by the ISI and there were frequent bloody clashes between the MQM and the MQM (H).
8. The MQM has been involved in frequent clashes with the Pashtuns of the secular Awami National Party (ANP) and with the Mohajirs in the MQM (H).Karachi has more Pashtuns than even Peshawar. The Pashtuns of Karachi dominate the transport business and are prosperous. The frequent Drone strikes by the US in the Pashtun belt and the military operations of the Pakistan Army against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have seen the influx of some Pashtun members of the TTP into Karachi to take shelter there. The MQM has been alleging that there has been a steady Talibanisation of the Pashtun community in Karachi and has been indulging in targeted attacks on the Pashtuns. However, independent sources say that the secular ANP still commands the support of the majority of the Pashtun community in Karachi.
9. Another bitter adversary of the MQM is the anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ). The Mohajirs are largely followers of the more tolerant Barelvi sect and strongly oppose the Wahabi/Deobandi group which supports the LEJ. At the time of the independence of Pakistan in 1947, a large number of well-to-do Shias from Lucknow and Hyderabad in India migrated to Karachi. They have prospered as doctors, lawyers and academics. Many of them support the MQM and hence are the targets of the LEJ.
10. Recently, there have been reports that differences had developed between Altaf and Imran Farooq, who found himself increasingly marginalized in the Party.
11. The murder of Imran Farooq has not been categorized by the London Police as an act of terrorism so far. It has to be treated for the time being as an act of murder due to political or ethnic or sectarian reasons. The fact that he was stabbed to death and not killed with a gun or an explosive device could indicate the possibility that another Mohajir might have been the assassin. Mohajirs in Karachi often prefer the use of knives for killing. If the involvement of a fellow-Mohajir is ruled out, the other suspects could be the LEJ and the TTP in that order. If it turns out that the LEJ or the TTP or both acting in tandem killed him, that should be a matter of serious concern to the British intelligence. That would show that the LEJ and the TTP have set up sleeper cells in the UK. (17-9-10)
( 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 )
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
KASHMIR: AN OPEN LETTER TO RAHUL GANDHI
B.RAMAN
Dear Shri Rahul Gandhi,
The All-Party Conference (APC), convened by Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, at New Delhi on September 15,2010, to discuss measures to end the current violence in Jammu & Kashmir ended with a single agreement to send an all-party delegation headed by Shri P.Chidambaram, the Home Minister, to the State for an on-the-spot study of the situation. After it returns and submits its report, another All-Party Conference is proposed to be held to discuss its recommendations.
2. This decision reminds one of a similar initiative taken by Shri V.P.Singh, the then Prime Minister, in 1990. Instead of cooling the tempers, Shri V.P.Singh's initiative exacerbated them. Instead of facilitating a political consensus on how to deal with the situation, Rajiv Gandhi, the then Leader of the Opposition and his aides, could not resist the temptation to use the opportunity to undermine the credibility of the V.P Singh Government in the eyes of the people. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was then supporting the V.P.Singh Government.
3. In 1989-90, the Congress (I), headed by Rajiv Gandhi, played the role of a spoiler. The BJP, now advised by L.K.Advani, is trying to play a similar role of spoiler in order to embarrass the Government of Dr.Manmohan Singh and draw political mileage out of the current crisis in J&K. During the election campaign of last year, the BJP, then headed by Advani, who was projecting himself as made-to-be Prime Minister, sought to project Dr.Manmohan Singh as a weak and soft Prime Minister. This projection failed to make an impact on the voters. Its bid to return to power fell flat.
4. The BJP is now trying to project Dr.Manmohan Singh's Kashmir-related policies as weak and soft and to blame him and the Government of J&K for the fresh wave of trouble in that State. It has also been projecting itself as an uncritical supporter of the Army and other security forces for the way they are dealing with a thankless situation and confronting head-on the proxy war being waged by Pakistan through its surrogates in J&K.
5. The BJP is calculating that by exploiting a highly emotional issue such as J&K, it could retrieve the electoral ground lost by it in last year's election. No one can question the patriotism and nationalism of the BJP. They are of high order as they have always been. But, patriotism and nationalism are not the sole driving forces of its actions and statements. Partisan political calculations are another factor just as they were in the case of the Congress (I) when V.P.Singh was the PM.
6.The no-holds-barred partisan political battle waged by the Congress (I) in 1989 -90 benefited the separatists and terrorists by showing that the Indian political class cannot unite even in the case of a major crisis. A similar battle being waged by the BJP now could have a similar result.
7.In the face of the relentless campaign of the BJP seeking to blame what it looks upon as the soft policies of the Manmohan Singh Government for the deterioration in the situation in J&K, the Congress (I) and the Government find themselves in a dilemma. There is a realization in the Congress (I)----as there is in the parties to the left of the political spectrum--- that there has been a qualitative change in the situation in J&K with mass defiance of the law and order machinery replacing terrorism as a weapon of struggle against the State. This mass defiance might not have grown to the extent it has since June if the Government of India had promptly acted on complaints of a false encounter involving the Army and regarding the initial incidents of use of force by the Police and other para-military forces against protesters breaking the law.
8.A complacent feeling in Srinagar and New Delhi that the mass protests and defiance, which started in June, would be short-lived and would fizzle out as past street protests had contributed to a lack of vigorous corrective action to moderate the use of force against the street breakers of law. The situation did not call for vigorous counter-terrorism techniques and patriotic rhetoric accompanied by demonisation campaigns against Pakistan and its surrogates in the State. It called for carefully moderated crowd control techniques and a new articulation of Government policies reflecting some empathy towards the angry youth and concerns over the perceived excessive lethality of the force being used against the young street protesters. Our appeals for calm and restraint should have been addressed more to the youth than to the conventional separatist leaders.
9. At the All-Party Conference, one could sense that while the BJP continues to be impervious to the new ground signals coming from the streets of Kashmir, the Congress (I) and the left parties have started realising that the situation in J&K since June is qualitatively different and requires a qualitatively different approach marked by reasonable firmness and not ruthlessness in action against the law-breakers and a new kind of language that would keep the fresh wave of people’s alienation contained and eventually reversed. The refreshingly different interventions of Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress (I), and the leaders of the left stood in sharp contrast to the Hyde Park oratory of BJP leaders and spokesmen that one had been seeing on the TV news channels every day.
10. The comments that have come from you after the All-Party Conference calling for time and support to Shri Omar Abdullah, the battling Chief Minister of the State, show a welcome realization that it will be unwise to undermine his position whatever be his sins of omission and commission. The Prime Minister, who is constantly under attack by the Hyde park orators of the BJP, cannot be expected to show any initiative which could provide oxygen to the BJP’s ill-advised campaign against him at this critical time.
11.It is important that simultaneously with the all-party exercise initiated by the Prime Minister, the youth wing of the Congress (I) under your leadership initiates a non-governmental back-channel of communications with the angry Kashmiri youth. The first step in that exercise should be an all-party youth conference on Kashmir with two items on the agenda---- the human rights situation in the state and how to mitigate the anger of the youth. Kashmiri members of the youth wings of the political parties should play an active role in this matter.
12. The situation as it has developed in J&K is an emotional challenge to the youth of the country. All of us---whether politicians or professional bureaucrats--- who made our names in dealing ruthlessly with terrorism and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, have intellectual and professional deficiencies in understanding the current situation. It is time for the youth of the country to take the lead in thinking of meaningful gestures and non-provocative actions on the ground that could help in containing the anger in J&K before it consumes all of us ---young or old. ( 17-9-10)
( 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 )
Dear Shri Rahul Gandhi,
The All-Party Conference (APC), convened by Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, at New Delhi on September 15,2010, to discuss measures to end the current violence in Jammu & Kashmir ended with a single agreement to send an all-party delegation headed by Shri P.Chidambaram, the Home Minister, to the State for an on-the-spot study of the situation. After it returns and submits its report, another All-Party Conference is proposed to be held to discuss its recommendations.
2. This decision reminds one of a similar initiative taken by Shri V.P.Singh, the then Prime Minister, in 1990. Instead of cooling the tempers, Shri V.P.Singh's initiative exacerbated them. Instead of facilitating a political consensus on how to deal with the situation, Rajiv Gandhi, the then Leader of the Opposition and his aides, could not resist the temptation to use the opportunity to undermine the credibility of the V.P Singh Government in the eyes of the people. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was then supporting the V.P.Singh Government.
3. In 1989-90, the Congress (I), headed by Rajiv Gandhi, played the role of a spoiler. The BJP, now advised by L.K.Advani, is trying to play a similar role of spoiler in order to embarrass the Government of Dr.Manmohan Singh and draw political mileage out of the current crisis in J&K. During the election campaign of last year, the BJP, then headed by Advani, who was projecting himself as made-to-be Prime Minister, sought to project Dr.Manmohan Singh as a weak and soft Prime Minister. This projection failed to make an impact on the voters. Its bid to return to power fell flat.
4. The BJP is now trying to project Dr.Manmohan Singh's Kashmir-related policies as weak and soft and to blame him and the Government of J&K for the fresh wave of trouble in that State. It has also been projecting itself as an uncritical supporter of the Army and other security forces for the way they are dealing with a thankless situation and confronting head-on the proxy war being waged by Pakistan through its surrogates in J&K.
5. The BJP is calculating that by exploiting a highly emotional issue such as J&K, it could retrieve the electoral ground lost by it in last year's election. No one can question the patriotism and nationalism of the BJP. They are of high order as they have always been. But, patriotism and nationalism are not the sole driving forces of its actions and statements. Partisan political calculations are another factor just as they were in the case of the Congress (I) when V.P.Singh was the PM.
6.The no-holds-barred partisan political battle waged by the Congress (I) in 1989 -90 benefited the separatists and terrorists by showing that the Indian political class cannot unite even in the case of a major crisis. A similar battle being waged by the BJP now could have a similar result.
7.In the face of the relentless campaign of the BJP seeking to blame what it looks upon as the soft policies of the Manmohan Singh Government for the deterioration in the situation in J&K, the Congress (I) and the Government find themselves in a dilemma. There is a realization in the Congress (I)----as there is in the parties to the left of the political spectrum--- that there has been a qualitative change in the situation in J&K with mass defiance of the law and order machinery replacing terrorism as a weapon of struggle against the State. This mass defiance might not have grown to the extent it has since June if the Government of India had promptly acted on complaints of a false encounter involving the Army and regarding the initial incidents of use of force by the Police and other para-military forces against protesters breaking the law.
8.A complacent feeling in Srinagar and New Delhi that the mass protests and defiance, which started in June, would be short-lived and would fizzle out as past street protests had contributed to a lack of vigorous corrective action to moderate the use of force against the street breakers of law. The situation did not call for vigorous counter-terrorism techniques and patriotic rhetoric accompanied by demonisation campaigns against Pakistan and its surrogates in the State. It called for carefully moderated crowd control techniques and a new articulation of Government policies reflecting some empathy towards the angry youth and concerns over the perceived excessive lethality of the force being used against the young street protesters. Our appeals for calm and restraint should have been addressed more to the youth than to the conventional separatist leaders.
9. At the All-Party Conference, one could sense that while the BJP continues to be impervious to the new ground signals coming from the streets of Kashmir, the Congress (I) and the left parties have started realising that the situation in J&K since June is qualitatively different and requires a qualitatively different approach marked by reasonable firmness and not ruthlessness in action against the law-breakers and a new kind of language that would keep the fresh wave of people’s alienation contained and eventually reversed. The refreshingly different interventions of Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress (I), and the leaders of the left stood in sharp contrast to the Hyde Park oratory of BJP leaders and spokesmen that one had been seeing on the TV news channels every day.
10. The comments that have come from you after the All-Party Conference calling for time and support to Shri Omar Abdullah, the battling Chief Minister of the State, show a welcome realization that it will be unwise to undermine his position whatever be his sins of omission and commission. The Prime Minister, who is constantly under attack by the Hyde park orators of the BJP, cannot be expected to show any initiative which could provide oxygen to the BJP’s ill-advised campaign against him at this critical time.
11.It is important that simultaneously with the all-party exercise initiated by the Prime Minister, the youth wing of the Congress (I) under your leadership initiates a non-governmental back-channel of communications with the angry Kashmiri youth. The first step in that exercise should be an all-party youth conference on Kashmir with two items on the agenda---- the human rights situation in the state and how to mitigate the anger of the youth. Kashmiri members of the youth wings of the political parties should play an active role in this matter.
12. The situation as it has developed in J&K is an emotional challenge to the youth of the country. All of us---whether politicians or professional bureaucrats--- who made our names in dealing ruthlessly with terrorism and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, have intellectual and professional deficiencies in understanding the current situation. It is time for the youth of the country to take the lead in thinking of meaningful gestures and non-provocative actions on the ground that could help in containing the anger in J&K before it consumes all of us ---young or old. ( 17-9-10)
( 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, September 15, 2010
SINGAPORE PROMOTES CHINESE NOMINEE AS PANCHEN LAMA
SINGAPORE PROMOTES CHINESE NOMINEE AS PANCHEN LAMA
B.RAMAN
Mr.George Yeo, Singapore's Foreign Minister, has hurt the feelings of large sections of the Tibetal Buddhists in China and abroad, including India, by providing legitimacy to the action of the Chinese Communist Party in arresting in 1995 His Holiness the Panchen Lama chosen by the Tibetans in accordance with their tradition and imposing on them an individual chosen by the Chinese Communist Party as the 11th Panchen Lama.
2. The nominee of the Chinese Communist Party has not been accepted by the Tibetan people and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Chinese have till now refused to release the Panchen Lama chosen by the Tibetans and allow him to perform his functions as a religious leader. Confronted with a situation where the Tibetans and other Buddhists of the world are not prepared to recognise the legitimacy of the Panchen Lama imposed on the Tibetan people by the Chinese Communist Party,the Chinese Government has mounted an exercise since the beginning of this year to build up the image of their nominee in the Tibetan-inhabited areas of China. In this connection reference is invited to my article of June 17,2010, titled "Bringing up their Panchen Lama" at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers39%5Cpaper3864.html
3.The Chinese have further extended this exercise now in order to build up his image abroad. As part of this exercise, the Chinese authorities arranged a meeting between their nominee and Mr.George Yeo at Beijing on September 14, 2010, during a visit by the Singapore Foreign Minister to China. It has been reported that the Chinese Party-nominated Panchen Lama accepted an invitation extended by Mr.George Yeo to visit Singapore. Even though this has been projected as part of an exercise to promote contacts between Buddhists in the two countries, its political significance in providing legitimacy to the actions of the Chinese Communist Party in interfering in the religious affairs of the Tibetan Buddhists and tampering with their traditions cannot be missed.
4. The Chinese have made it clear on many occasions that when His Holiness the Dalai Lama dies, his successor will be chosen by the Communist Party and Government as they did in the case of their nominee as the Panchen Lama. The action of the Singapore Foreign Minister in providing legitimacy to Chinese actions in denying freedom of religion to the Tibetan people could be a prelude to his providing legitimacy to the Chinese Party imposing on the Tibetans a Dalai Lama in Chinese Communist Party colours.
5. It is understood that Mr.George Yeo, who paid a controversial visit to Tibet in August last year, has been taking close interest in the project of the Government of India for the revival of the Nalanda University. His action in providing legitimacy to actions of the Chinese Party, which were an affront to the Tibetans and other Buddhists, has to be strongly deplored. In view of this, there is a need to re-examine his continued association with the Nalanda revival project. (16-9-10)
( 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 )
B.RAMAN
Mr.George Yeo, Singapore's Foreign Minister, has hurt the feelings of large sections of the Tibetal Buddhists in China and abroad, including India, by providing legitimacy to the action of the Chinese Communist Party in arresting in 1995 His Holiness the Panchen Lama chosen by the Tibetans in accordance with their tradition and imposing on them an individual chosen by the Chinese Communist Party as the 11th Panchen Lama.
2. The nominee of the Chinese Communist Party has not been accepted by the Tibetan people and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Chinese have till now refused to release the Panchen Lama chosen by the Tibetans and allow him to perform his functions as a religious leader. Confronted with a situation where the Tibetans and other Buddhists of the world are not prepared to recognise the legitimacy of the Panchen Lama imposed on the Tibetan people by the Chinese Communist Party,the Chinese Government has mounted an exercise since the beginning of this year to build up the image of their nominee in the Tibetan-inhabited areas of China. In this connection reference is invited to my article of June 17,2010, titled "Bringing up their Panchen Lama" at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers39%5Cpaper3864.html
3.The Chinese have further extended this exercise now in order to build up his image abroad. As part of this exercise, the Chinese authorities arranged a meeting between their nominee and Mr.George Yeo at Beijing on September 14, 2010, during a visit by the Singapore Foreign Minister to China. It has been reported that the Chinese Party-nominated Panchen Lama accepted an invitation extended by Mr.George Yeo to visit Singapore. Even though this has been projected as part of an exercise to promote contacts between Buddhists in the two countries, its political significance in providing legitimacy to the actions of the Chinese Communist Party in interfering in the religious affairs of the Tibetan Buddhists and tampering with their traditions cannot be missed.
4. The Chinese have made it clear on many occasions that when His Holiness the Dalai Lama dies, his successor will be chosen by the Communist Party and Government as they did in the case of their nominee as the Panchen Lama. The action of the Singapore Foreign Minister in providing legitimacy to Chinese actions in denying freedom of religion to the Tibetan people could be a prelude to his providing legitimacy to the Chinese Party imposing on the Tibetans a Dalai Lama in Chinese Communist Party colours.
5. It is understood that Mr.George Yeo, who paid a controversial visit to Tibet in August last year, has been taking close interest in the project of the Government of India for the revival of the Nalanda University. His action in providing legitimacy to actions of the Chinese Party, which were an affront to the Tibetans and other Buddhists, has to be strongly deplored. In view of this, there is a need to re-examine his continued association with the Nalanda revival project. (16-9-10)
( 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 )
EAST CHINA SEA:SINO-JAPANESE WAR OF NERVES
B.RAMAN
The Chinese leadership is increasingly concerned over the firm line till now taken by the Japanese leadership over the incident involving a Chinese fishing trawler and a Japanese Coast Guard vessel in what Japan considers its territorial waters adjoining the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
2.Japan, which considers the islands its territory, is in administrative control of the disputed small group of islands and reefs. China calls the group the Diaoyu Islands and claims that the group historically belonged to China from the days of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The question of sovereighty over the group of islands has assumed importance due to a belief that the area is rich in oil and gas. China has been saying that Japan should concede Chinese sovereignty over the group. In return, China would agree to a joint development of the natural resources of the area by the two countries.
3.In the face of the Japanese insistence over its sovereignty, an incident involving a Chinese fishing trawler and a Japanese Coast Guard vessel in the area on September 7,2010, has to a led of war of nerves between the two countries initiated by Beijing. The Japanese Coast Guard vessel, which questioned the intrusion of the trawler into what Japan regards as its territorial waters, was involved in a collision with the trawler. The Chinese project the incident as an accidental collision. The Japanese seem to suspect that the captain of the trawler, acting on instructions from the People's Liberation Army (Navy), deliberately rammed the trawler against the Coast Guard vessel.
4. Initially, the Japanese detained the trawler and its crew, including the Captain, for investigation. They have since released the trawler and the crew except the Captain. The Captain is in the custody of the Japanese Police and is to be produced before a court on September 19. Beijing through diplomatic channels and through the Government-controlled media has mounted a war of nerves against Japan in order to intimidate Tokyo into releasing the Captain without prosecuting him. The Japanese Ambassador in Beijing was called to the Chinese Foreign Ministry five times since the incident took place to be warned of the consequences should the Captain not be released without prosecution.
5. The Japanese determination till now----apparently with quiet American backing---not to release the Captain has put Beijing in a dilemma. If it did not have its way in this war of nerves and force Tokyo to concede its demand, it could be seen as a humiliation. This could be politically embarrassing to President Hu Jintao. If the Chinese forced a naval confrontation with the Japanese Navy, this could strengthen growing fears in the Asian region that China has started using its military muscle to enforce its territorial claims. Today, the confrontation is with Japan in the East China Sea. Tomorrow, it could be with Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea. The day after,in Arunchal Pradesh with India over the Chinese claims to Indian territory in that area.
6. At the same time, there is a fear in China of the implications of a likely use of China's naval force against Japan. It could strengthen anti-Chinese feelings in Japan and damage the considerable economic relations with Japan, without which the Chinese economic miracle would not have been possible.
7. After having stepped up diplomatic pressure against Japan---in vain so far---- the Chinese are trying to mobilise public pressure.Calls are going out through the Internet to Chinese netizens to demonstrate in Beijing against Japan on September 18 if the Japanese do not release the Captain by then and to boycott Japanese goods. Patriotism is a double-edged weapon. If it fails to intimidate Japan, it could acquire an anti-Japanese momentum of its own the consequences of which could be unpredictable.
8. These fears are reflected in the calls being made to Beijing by some of its analysts not to over-react by losing patience. Patriotism against Japan, yes, but with prudence so that the political leadership does not end up by dropping the stone of patriotism on its own feet instead of on the feet of Japan. This advice is reflected in an editorial on the subject carried by the party-controlled "Global Times" on September 16. The editorial is annexed. (16-9-10)
( 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
China should not be easily irritated
( "Global Times" editorial of September 16, 2010)
The latest incident near the Diaoyu Islands has sparkled anti-Japanese sentiments among Chinese citizens.
After Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan won a party vote to stay in power, his ambassador to China, Uichiro Niwa, arrived at the Chinese foreign ministry later on Tuesday, asking China to take proper measures to prevent a worsening of the conflict between the two countries.
The Chinese government would never deliberately stir up domestic nationalism, because this will ultimately undermine China's own social order and national prospects.
However, along with the emergence of a diversified society, ordinary Chinese now have more courage to express themselves. Media, especially the Internet, has become the main outlet that conveys grass-roots opinions on international issues.
What the Chinese government needs to do is to facilitate orderly and effective delivery of ordinary people's voices to the outside world, whereas making sure that overly impulsive voices and actions will not bring about internal friction.
When it comes to national sovereignty and dignity, ordinary Chinese do have the right to express all kinds of notions, including radical ones.
A China without voices calling for a fight with Japan and boycotts against Japanese goods is not a real China with 1.3 billion people. But on the other hand, China has to ensure the rational transmission of various grass-roots voices. Violence that took place during the 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations should not be repeated.
China is often depicted as an "irritated" country in overseas media reports. China should stay cool-headed, because radical flames can burn down sober actions. Those who provoke China are often powerful and sophisticated diplomatic veterans. What they revere is actually cool-headed wisdom as well as the deliberation of countermeasures.
The mainstream notion of external affairs is healthy in China. The minority who try to kidnap patriotism and undermine social order will always exist.
How to restrain such "patriotic thieves" and facilitate the normal expression of social thoughts is also a part of China's political enlightenment.
Bringing home the boat captain that is being illegally detained by Japanese authorities poses a challenge to both the Chinese government and ordinary people. It's necessary to let Japan feel the threat from grass-roots Chinese against its interests.
Some grass-roots organizations should help common people express and act in a proper way. Only then will Japan show honest reverence toward grass-roots Chinese.
The Chinese leadership is increasingly concerned over the firm line till now taken by the Japanese leadership over the incident involving a Chinese fishing trawler and a Japanese Coast Guard vessel in what Japan considers its territorial waters adjoining the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
2.Japan, which considers the islands its territory, is in administrative control of the disputed small group of islands and reefs. China calls the group the Diaoyu Islands and claims that the group historically belonged to China from the days of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The question of sovereighty over the group of islands has assumed importance due to a belief that the area is rich in oil and gas. China has been saying that Japan should concede Chinese sovereignty over the group. In return, China would agree to a joint development of the natural resources of the area by the two countries.
3.In the face of the Japanese insistence over its sovereignty, an incident involving a Chinese fishing trawler and a Japanese Coast Guard vessel in the area on September 7,2010, has to a led of war of nerves between the two countries initiated by Beijing. The Japanese Coast Guard vessel, which questioned the intrusion of the trawler into what Japan regards as its territorial waters, was involved in a collision with the trawler. The Chinese project the incident as an accidental collision. The Japanese seem to suspect that the captain of the trawler, acting on instructions from the People's Liberation Army (Navy), deliberately rammed the trawler against the Coast Guard vessel.
4. Initially, the Japanese detained the trawler and its crew, including the Captain, for investigation. They have since released the trawler and the crew except the Captain. The Captain is in the custody of the Japanese Police and is to be produced before a court on September 19. Beijing through diplomatic channels and through the Government-controlled media has mounted a war of nerves against Japan in order to intimidate Tokyo into releasing the Captain without prosecuting him. The Japanese Ambassador in Beijing was called to the Chinese Foreign Ministry five times since the incident took place to be warned of the consequences should the Captain not be released without prosecution.
5. The Japanese determination till now----apparently with quiet American backing---not to release the Captain has put Beijing in a dilemma. If it did not have its way in this war of nerves and force Tokyo to concede its demand, it could be seen as a humiliation. This could be politically embarrassing to President Hu Jintao. If the Chinese forced a naval confrontation with the Japanese Navy, this could strengthen growing fears in the Asian region that China has started using its military muscle to enforce its territorial claims. Today, the confrontation is with Japan in the East China Sea. Tomorrow, it could be with Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea. The day after,in Arunchal Pradesh with India over the Chinese claims to Indian territory in that area.
6. At the same time, there is a fear in China of the implications of a likely use of China's naval force against Japan. It could strengthen anti-Chinese feelings in Japan and damage the considerable economic relations with Japan, without which the Chinese economic miracle would not have been possible.
7. After having stepped up diplomatic pressure against Japan---in vain so far---- the Chinese are trying to mobilise public pressure.Calls are going out through the Internet to Chinese netizens to demonstrate in Beijing against Japan on September 18 if the Japanese do not release the Captain by then and to boycott Japanese goods. Patriotism is a double-edged weapon. If it fails to intimidate Japan, it could acquire an anti-Japanese momentum of its own the consequences of which could be unpredictable.
8. These fears are reflected in the calls being made to Beijing by some of its analysts not to over-react by losing patience. Patriotism against Japan, yes, but with prudence so that the political leadership does not end up by dropping the stone of patriotism on its own feet instead of on the feet of Japan. This advice is reflected in an editorial on the subject carried by the party-controlled "Global Times" on September 16. The editorial is annexed. (16-9-10)
( 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
China should not be easily irritated
( "Global Times" editorial of September 16, 2010)
The latest incident near the Diaoyu Islands has sparkled anti-Japanese sentiments among Chinese citizens.
After Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan won a party vote to stay in power, his ambassador to China, Uichiro Niwa, arrived at the Chinese foreign ministry later on Tuesday, asking China to take proper measures to prevent a worsening of the conflict between the two countries.
The Chinese government would never deliberately stir up domestic nationalism, because this will ultimately undermine China's own social order and national prospects.
However, along with the emergence of a diversified society, ordinary Chinese now have more courage to express themselves. Media, especially the Internet, has become the main outlet that conveys grass-roots opinions on international issues.
What the Chinese government needs to do is to facilitate orderly and effective delivery of ordinary people's voices to the outside world, whereas making sure that overly impulsive voices and actions will not bring about internal friction.
When it comes to national sovereignty and dignity, ordinary Chinese do have the right to express all kinds of notions, including radical ones.
A China without voices calling for a fight with Japan and boycotts against Japanese goods is not a real China with 1.3 billion people. But on the other hand, China has to ensure the rational transmission of various grass-roots voices. Violence that took place during the 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations should not be repeated.
China is often depicted as an "irritated" country in overseas media reports. China should stay cool-headed, because radical flames can burn down sober actions. Those who provoke China are often powerful and sophisticated diplomatic veterans. What they revere is actually cool-headed wisdom as well as the deliberation of countermeasures.
The mainstream notion of external affairs is healthy in China. The minority who try to kidnap patriotism and undermine social order will always exist.
How to restrain such "patriotic thieves" and facilitate the normal expression of social thoughts is also a part of China's political enlightenment.
Bringing home the boat captain that is being illegally detained by Japanese authorities poses a challenge to both the Chinese government and ordinary people. It's necessary to let Japan feel the threat from grass-roots Chinese against its interests.
Some grass-roots organizations should help common people express and act in a proper way. Only then will Japan show honest reverence toward grass-roots Chinese.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
SELIG HARRISON'S WAKE-UP CALL: MY COMMENTS
B.RAMAN
On August 27,2010,the “New York Times” carried an article by Selig Harrison, former correspondent of the ”Washington Post” in New Delhi who now works in a Washington-based think tank, stating inter alia as follows: “While the world focuses on the flood-ravaged Indus River valley, a quiet geopolitical crisis is unfolding in the Himalayan borderlands of northern Pakistan, where Islamabad is handing over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the northwest corner of disputed Kashmir to China. The entire Pakistan-occupied western portion of Kashmir stretching from Gilgit in the north to Azad (Free) Kashmir in the south is closed to the world, in contrast to the media access that India permits in the eastern part, where it is combating a Pakistan-backed insurgency. But reports from a variety of foreign intelligence sources, Pakistani journalists and Pakistani human rights workers reveal two important new developments in Gilgit-Baltistan: a simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/op...20china&st=cse)
2.Selig’s wake-up call should not have been a surprise to intelligence sources and policy-makers in India and the US. They were aware of the high level of involvement of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China and its nuclear establishment in the construction and maintenance of high-altitude roads in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).The PLA was interested in infrastructure development and maintenance in GB because of its strategic importance for possible use by the PLA in the event of another military conflict with India. China’s nuclear establishment was interested because it wanted to use the PLA-constructed Karakoram Highway (KKH) as an overland route for the movement of missiles and spare parts to Pakistan.
3. The first wake-up call that China had been using the KKH for moving missile supplies to Pakistan was sounded by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the US, which managed to take satellite photographs of such movement. On August 6 and 7,2001, the “Washington Times” gave the following details:
* The China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corporation sent a dozen shipments of missile components to Pakistan since November,2000, and a US spy satellite detected the latest shipment as it arrived by truck at the mountainous Chinese-Pakistani border May 1,2001. The company supplied components for Pakistan's Shaheen-1 and Shaheen-2 missile programmes. The consignments were sent by ship and truck.
* The missile components are being used for production of the Shaheen-1, which has an estimated range of 465 miles, and the development of the Shaheen-2, which US intelligence agencies think will have a range of up to 1,240 miles.
4.Following the disclosure by the “Washington Times, Gen.Pervez Musharraf visited Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including GB, for four days from August 27,2001. In an article of September 3,2001, titled MUSHARRAF'S VISIT TO POK & N.A. at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers4%5Cpaper307.html, I wrote as follows: “The US media reports that its intelligence agencies had detected the transport of 12 consignments of Chinese missile components by sea and land since China pledged to stop such supplies in November last. The consignments sent by trucks came via the Karakoram Highway through Xinjiang and the N.A. (Northern Areas). To avoid detection of transport by sea by US satellites or by the CIA's port-based sources, China and Pakistan had decided to move future consignments by road, which, they felt, would not be vulnerable to detection by the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA) of the US. Pakistan has also sought Chinese assistance for the movements of future consignments of missiles and components from North Korea by road through the same route. The military junta had taken considerable precautions to prevent detection of the truck movements by not associating any of the officials of the NA Administration, particularly the Shias, with the arrangements for the movement. In view of this, both Islamabad and Beijing were surprised and embarrassed by the US media reports that US intelligence had detected the truck movements. Pakistani officials claim that even if US satellites had detected the trucks, they could not have known that the consignments contained missile components. They, therefore, reportedly feel that there must have been leakage to the CIA from one of the Pakistani officials associated with the movement. Moreover, following past US detection of the storage of the earlier missiles/components in Sargoda, the military junta had drawn up alternate plans for storage in Gilgit in the hope that there would be less possibility of detection there by the CIA. Before Musharraf's arrival in the POK, Lt.Gen. Jamshed Gulzar, Corps Commander, 10 Corps based in Rawalpindi, had visited the N.A. to enquire into the leakage jointly with the Force Commander, NA, Lt-Gen Muhammad Safdar. Measures for tightening up security in N.A. was one of the subjects which figured during the discussions of Musharraf in Gilgit in which apart from senior military officers, Abbas Sarfaraz, Musharraf's Minister for Kashmir and NA Affairs, who is also the Chief Executive of the NA, also participated. “ In this connection, reference is also invited to my article of August 7,2001, titled GILGIT & BALTISTAN, CHINA & NORTH KOREA at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers3%5Cpaper289.html
5. When the KKH was constructed by Chinese engineers in the 1970s, China had no private construction company. All construction companies were State-owned. Only the Engineering units of the PLA had engineers with experience of construction at high altitudes. Right from the beginning, PLA engineers had been involved in the construction, maintenance and upgradation of the KKH. As a result, there had always been a sizable presence of engineers of the PLA in GB. This number has gone up since the beginning of this year following severe damages to the KKH by two natural disasters in January and August. Regular units of the PLA have always been deployed in the GB to provide security to the Chinese engineers and humanitarian workers. It has been difficult to estimate the total number of Chinese engineers, humanitarian workers and security personnel in GB. This number will go up further when China starts the construction of a railway line through GB.
6.While information has been coming from time to time about the role of PLA engineers in infrastructure development in GB, similar details are not available about the role of engineers of the North Korean Army. Nationalist sources from the area, who have been fighting against the Pakistan Army, have been saying that North Korean military engineers have good expertise in high-altitude tunnel construction and have been helping the Pakistan Army in the construction of roads which would facilitate all-weather road movements to the Chitral area. According to them, for part of the year, the Chitral area is cut off from the rest of Pakistan by landslides. The only way of reaching Chitral is via Afghanistan. Other sources say that the engineers involved in this are from South and not North Korea. It has not been possible to verify this.
7. Thus even before Selig sounded his wake-up call, considerable details were available for over a decade on the presence and activities of the PLA and possibly North Korean military engineers in GB. Considerable details came from GB when the Government of Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee was in power from 1998 to 2004. It was during that period that the PLA presence in GB increased. His Government failed to highlight this threat to our own population and to the international community. It is not known whether we have factored this into our plans for the protection of the Ladakh-Kargil sector. Infrastructure development in our territory in the areas bordering GB has remained neglected. It is time we sit up and pay more attention to this. If we do so, Selig’s wake-up call would have served a useful purpose. Chinese and North Korean activities in GB should also figure prominently in the talks during the visit of President Barack Obama to India in November. (15-9-10)
( 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 )
On August 27,2010,the “New York Times” carried an article by Selig Harrison, former correspondent of the ”Washington Post” in New Delhi who now works in a Washington-based think tank, stating inter alia as follows: “While the world focuses on the flood-ravaged Indus River valley, a quiet geopolitical crisis is unfolding in the Himalayan borderlands of northern Pakistan, where Islamabad is handing over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the northwest corner of disputed Kashmir to China. The entire Pakistan-occupied western portion of Kashmir stretching from Gilgit in the north to Azad (Free) Kashmir in the south is closed to the world, in contrast to the media access that India permits in the eastern part, where it is combating a Pakistan-backed insurgency. But reports from a variety of foreign intelligence sources, Pakistani journalists and Pakistani human rights workers reveal two important new developments in Gilgit-Baltistan: a simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/op...20china&st=cse)
2.Selig’s wake-up call should not have been a surprise to intelligence sources and policy-makers in India and the US. They were aware of the high level of involvement of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China and its nuclear establishment in the construction and maintenance of high-altitude roads in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).The PLA was interested in infrastructure development and maintenance in GB because of its strategic importance for possible use by the PLA in the event of another military conflict with India. China’s nuclear establishment was interested because it wanted to use the PLA-constructed Karakoram Highway (KKH) as an overland route for the movement of missiles and spare parts to Pakistan.
3. The first wake-up call that China had been using the KKH for moving missile supplies to Pakistan was sounded by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the US, which managed to take satellite photographs of such movement. On August 6 and 7,2001, the “Washington Times” gave the following details:
* The China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corporation sent a dozen shipments of missile components to Pakistan since November,2000, and a US spy satellite detected the latest shipment as it arrived by truck at the mountainous Chinese-Pakistani border May 1,2001. The company supplied components for Pakistan's Shaheen-1 and Shaheen-2 missile programmes. The consignments were sent by ship and truck.
* The missile components are being used for production of the Shaheen-1, which has an estimated range of 465 miles, and the development of the Shaheen-2, which US intelligence agencies think will have a range of up to 1,240 miles.
4.Following the disclosure by the “Washington Times, Gen.Pervez Musharraf visited Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including GB, for four days from August 27,2001. In an article of September 3,2001, titled MUSHARRAF'S VISIT TO POK & N.A. at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers4%5Cpaper307.html, I wrote as follows: “The US media reports that its intelligence agencies had detected the transport of 12 consignments of Chinese missile components by sea and land since China pledged to stop such supplies in November last. The consignments sent by trucks came via the Karakoram Highway through Xinjiang and the N.A. (Northern Areas). To avoid detection of transport by sea by US satellites or by the CIA's port-based sources, China and Pakistan had decided to move future consignments by road, which, they felt, would not be vulnerable to detection by the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA) of the US. Pakistan has also sought Chinese assistance for the movements of future consignments of missiles and components from North Korea by road through the same route. The military junta had taken considerable precautions to prevent detection of the truck movements by not associating any of the officials of the NA Administration, particularly the Shias, with the arrangements for the movement. In view of this, both Islamabad and Beijing were surprised and embarrassed by the US media reports that US intelligence had detected the truck movements. Pakistani officials claim that even if US satellites had detected the trucks, they could not have known that the consignments contained missile components. They, therefore, reportedly feel that there must have been leakage to the CIA from one of the Pakistani officials associated with the movement. Moreover, following past US detection of the storage of the earlier missiles/components in Sargoda, the military junta had drawn up alternate plans for storage in Gilgit in the hope that there would be less possibility of detection there by the CIA. Before Musharraf's arrival in the POK, Lt.Gen. Jamshed Gulzar, Corps Commander, 10 Corps based in Rawalpindi, had visited the N.A. to enquire into the leakage jointly with the Force Commander, NA, Lt-Gen Muhammad Safdar. Measures for tightening up security in N.A. was one of the subjects which figured during the discussions of Musharraf in Gilgit in which apart from senior military officers, Abbas Sarfaraz, Musharraf's Minister for Kashmir and NA Affairs, who is also the Chief Executive of the NA, also participated. “ In this connection, reference is also invited to my article of August 7,2001, titled GILGIT & BALTISTAN, CHINA & NORTH KOREA at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers3%5Cpaper289.html
5. When the KKH was constructed by Chinese engineers in the 1970s, China had no private construction company. All construction companies were State-owned. Only the Engineering units of the PLA had engineers with experience of construction at high altitudes. Right from the beginning, PLA engineers had been involved in the construction, maintenance and upgradation of the KKH. As a result, there had always been a sizable presence of engineers of the PLA in GB. This number has gone up since the beginning of this year following severe damages to the KKH by two natural disasters in January and August. Regular units of the PLA have always been deployed in the GB to provide security to the Chinese engineers and humanitarian workers. It has been difficult to estimate the total number of Chinese engineers, humanitarian workers and security personnel in GB. This number will go up further when China starts the construction of a railway line through GB.
6.While information has been coming from time to time about the role of PLA engineers in infrastructure development in GB, similar details are not available about the role of engineers of the North Korean Army. Nationalist sources from the area, who have been fighting against the Pakistan Army, have been saying that North Korean military engineers have good expertise in high-altitude tunnel construction and have been helping the Pakistan Army in the construction of roads which would facilitate all-weather road movements to the Chitral area. According to them, for part of the year, the Chitral area is cut off from the rest of Pakistan by landslides. The only way of reaching Chitral is via Afghanistan. Other sources say that the engineers involved in this are from South and not North Korea. It has not been possible to verify this.
7. Thus even before Selig sounded his wake-up call, considerable details were available for over a decade on the presence and activities of the PLA and possibly North Korean military engineers in GB. Considerable details came from GB when the Government of Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee was in power from 1998 to 2004. It was during that period that the PLA presence in GB increased. His Government failed to highlight this threat to our own population and to the international community. It is not known whether we have factored this into our plans for the protection of the Ladakh-Kargil sector. Infrastructure development in our territory in the areas bordering GB has remained neglected. It is time we sit up and pay more attention to this. If we do so, Selig’s wake-up call would have served a useful purpose. Chinese and North Korean activities in GB should also figure prominently in the talks during the visit of President Barack Obama to India in November. (15-9-10)
( 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 )
Monday, September 13, 2010
HOLY KORAN:IRAN SPREADING ANTI-US RUMOURS
B.RAMAN
It has been reported that the anti-US and anti-Christian violence in Jammu and Kashmir on September 13,2010, was triggered off by rumours disseminated by an unlisted and unregistered TV channel of Iran alleging an incident of insult to the Holy Koran in the US.
2. The Srinagar correspondent of "The Hindu " (September 14) of Chennai has reported as follows: " The Government (of J & K) has banned airing of Teheran-based "Press TV".... Chief Secretary S.S. Kapur said it was surprising that only in "Press TV" an unknown individual was shown, without verification or any authenticity descecrating the Koran. It seemed to be a deliberate act and a conspiracy to instigate innocent sentiments of the people. Mr.Kapur said he verified with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry the authenticity of "Press TV". He was informed that this channel was not at all listed among the registered channels being telecast in India. The District Magistrate of Srinagar was asked to issue orders for an immediate ban on the unauthorised channel....No other reliable channel of the world or of India had telecast such condemnable images of descecration.Even if such an act had occurred at any individual level, it was an act that was strongly condemnable. Provoking the sentiments of innocent people by deliberate telecast of such images was also against ethics. Describing the report of the channel as totally against public interest, the Chief Secretary said this unauthorised and unregistered channel ("Press TV" ) was banned in all other districts of the State too."
3.The Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union should act against Iran and the "Press TV" for allegedly provoking anti-US and anti-Christian violence by telecasting such provocative images. ( 14-9-10)
( 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 )
It has been reported that the anti-US and anti-Christian violence in Jammu and Kashmir on September 13,2010, was triggered off by rumours disseminated by an unlisted and unregistered TV channel of Iran alleging an incident of insult to the Holy Koran in the US.
2. The Srinagar correspondent of "The Hindu " (September 14) of Chennai has reported as follows: " The Government (of J & K) has banned airing of Teheran-based "Press TV".... Chief Secretary S.S. Kapur said it was surprising that only in "Press TV" an unknown individual was shown, without verification or any authenticity descecrating the Koran. It seemed to be a deliberate act and a conspiracy to instigate innocent sentiments of the people. Mr.Kapur said he verified with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry the authenticity of "Press TV". He was informed that this channel was not at all listed among the registered channels being telecast in India. The District Magistrate of Srinagar was asked to issue orders for an immediate ban on the unauthorised channel....No other reliable channel of the world or of India had telecast such condemnable images of descecration.Even if such an act had occurred at any individual level, it was an act that was strongly condemnable. Provoking the sentiments of innocent people by deliberate telecast of such images was also against ethics. Describing the report of the channel as totally against public interest, the Chief Secretary said this unauthorised and unregistered channel ("Press TV" ) was banned in all other districts of the State too."
3.The Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union should act against Iran and the "Press TV" for allegedly provoking anti-US and anti-Christian violence by telecasting such provocative images. ( 14-9-10)
( 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 )
JAMMU & KASHMIR: ACT FAST, ACT DECISIVELY
B.RAMAN
The situation in Jammu & Kashmir is going from bad to worse. The widespread acts of violence on the Eid day and the outburst on September 13,2010, in the wake of baseless rumours of insult to the Holy Koran in the US make one apprehend that we may reach a point of no return if we do not address the anger of large sections of the youth.Fifteen people, including a member of the security forces, were killed in different incidents on September 13----the largest number in a single day since the present trouble broke out over three months ago.
2. The anger is a reality. It will be totally unwise to close our eyes and ears to it. It will be suicidal to think that but for instigation by Pakistan the anger might not have acquired such dimensions. The origin of the anger and its gradual escalation were due to mishandling of the situation by the State Government and by the confused response of the Government of India to the situation as it has developed. Pakistan and the jhadi organisations based there are now exploiting the anger caused by perceptions of our insensitivity to violations of human rights by the security forces. Deaths of some Kashmiris in an alleged false incident involving the security forces and the total inaction of the Government in the face of repeated demands for enquiries into the deaths of young Kashmiris due to use of force by the security forces against stone-throwing mobs have led to a resurgence of the alienation of growing sections of the youth.
3.The incidents of September 13 show two strands of anger. The first is against the Governments of J&K and India due to the perceived violations of the human rights of the Kashmiris. The second , which made its first appearance in the incidents of September 13, is directed against the US because of a threat, which had emanated from a pastor with insignificant following to burn the Holy Koran on the anniversary of 9/11. He gave up his threat under political and public pressure in the US, but not before he had provided fresh oxygen to the jihadi elements in the Islamic world.
4.To what extent the anger of the Kashmiris against the US was spontaneous and to what extent it was insitigated by Al Qaeda and pro-Al Qaeda elements based in the Af-Pak region? It is difficult to answer this question, but one has to note with some concern that the anger against the US seen in the streets of Srinagar on September 13 was part of the pattern one had been seeing in the last few days in the Af-Pak region ever since the pastor issued his threat. We had seen similar anger against the US in the streets of Srinagar when US troops invaded Iraq in 2003. That too was part of an orchestrated pattern seen in different cities of Pakistan. But the anger subsided after a few days. Will it subside similarly now? One has to keep one's fingers crossed. It is important to note and deny promptly and effectively all rumours being disseminated from the Af-Pak region by Al Qaeda, the Talibans and their affiliates regarding insults to Islam.
5. One should remember there was an escalation in violence in J&K in the days and weeks before the visit of President Bill Clinton to India in April 2000. We should expect a similar escalation in the period before the forthcoming visit of President Barack Obama to India in November.There is a strong possibility that the kind of violence that one has been seeing since the Eid day, which is different from the kind of violence that one had been seeing before Eid would be sought to be kept up till the visit of Mr.Obama. The violence before Eid was largely spontaneous. The violence since Eid is increasingly orchestrated and inspired from outside---- inspired not only by the State of Pakistan, but also by all the jihadi organisations based there.
6.If we had promptly acted against the initial incidents and against those members of the security forces against whom allegations of staging a false encounter had been made, the situation might not have deteriorated to the extent it has. There are now vicious winds of anger and hatred blowing across Kashmir, helped by our failure to understand that we are now facing a different kind of situation in J&K and by our reluctance to act against the members of the security forces against whom allegations of human rights violations were made.
7. The situation has so badly slipped out of control that one does not know how to retrieve it. Retrieve one must for restoring normalcy in J&K.Even now, the Governments of J&K and India give the impression of a total lack of lucidity in analysing and assessing the situation. The Kashmiris are not agitating for jobs. They are not agitating against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. They are not agitating against the Army. They are not agitating against our counter-terrorism machinery, which had effectively countered Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the State. They are agitating against the State's law and order machinery for alleged disproportionate use of force against stone-throwing mobs. They are agitating against the Government of India for not intervening to protect the human rights and the self-dignity of the Kashmiri Muslims.
8.The first response of the Government of India should have been to ensure respect for the human rights of the Kashmiris. Even now, despite the deterioration in the situation which has made the increasing resort to law and order methods unavoidable, our priority should be to visibly stop violations of human rights. The National Human Rights Commission should be asked to look urgently into the various complaints that have been made and convince the Kashmiris of our seriousness in guaranteeing respect for their human rights and self-dignity.
9. If we don't do this and keep thinking that we can restore normalcy by creating jobs and by making statements of our willingness for a dialogue, we are in for a nasty surprise in J&K. The credibility of the Government of India in J&K is very low. It is seen as a Government which only acts under pressure. It is seen as a Government which is totally confused.
10. It has to show it means business----business in restoring law and order; business in respecting the human rights and self-dignity of the Kashmiris and business in preventing Pakistan and its jihadi organisations from exploiting the situation. ( 14-9-10 )
( 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 situation in Jammu & Kashmir is going from bad to worse. The widespread acts of violence on the Eid day and the outburst on September 13,2010, in the wake of baseless rumours of insult to the Holy Koran in the US make one apprehend that we may reach a point of no return if we do not address the anger of large sections of the youth.Fifteen people, including a member of the security forces, were killed in different incidents on September 13----the largest number in a single day since the present trouble broke out over three months ago.
2. The anger is a reality. It will be totally unwise to close our eyes and ears to it. It will be suicidal to think that but for instigation by Pakistan the anger might not have acquired such dimensions. The origin of the anger and its gradual escalation were due to mishandling of the situation by the State Government and by the confused response of the Government of India to the situation as it has developed. Pakistan and the jhadi organisations based there are now exploiting the anger caused by perceptions of our insensitivity to violations of human rights by the security forces. Deaths of some Kashmiris in an alleged false incident involving the security forces and the total inaction of the Government in the face of repeated demands for enquiries into the deaths of young Kashmiris due to use of force by the security forces against stone-throwing mobs have led to a resurgence of the alienation of growing sections of the youth.
3.The incidents of September 13 show two strands of anger. The first is against the Governments of J&K and India due to the perceived violations of the human rights of the Kashmiris. The second , which made its first appearance in the incidents of September 13, is directed against the US because of a threat, which had emanated from a pastor with insignificant following to burn the Holy Koran on the anniversary of 9/11. He gave up his threat under political and public pressure in the US, but not before he had provided fresh oxygen to the jihadi elements in the Islamic world.
4.To what extent the anger of the Kashmiris against the US was spontaneous and to what extent it was insitigated by Al Qaeda and pro-Al Qaeda elements based in the Af-Pak region? It is difficult to answer this question, but one has to note with some concern that the anger against the US seen in the streets of Srinagar on September 13 was part of the pattern one had been seeing in the last few days in the Af-Pak region ever since the pastor issued his threat. We had seen similar anger against the US in the streets of Srinagar when US troops invaded Iraq in 2003. That too was part of an orchestrated pattern seen in different cities of Pakistan. But the anger subsided after a few days. Will it subside similarly now? One has to keep one's fingers crossed. It is important to note and deny promptly and effectively all rumours being disseminated from the Af-Pak region by Al Qaeda, the Talibans and their affiliates regarding insults to Islam.
5. One should remember there was an escalation in violence in J&K in the days and weeks before the visit of President Bill Clinton to India in April 2000. We should expect a similar escalation in the period before the forthcoming visit of President Barack Obama to India in November.There is a strong possibility that the kind of violence that one has been seeing since the Eid day, which is different from the kind of violence that one had been seeing before Eid would be sought to be kept up till the visit of Mr.Obama. The violence before Eid was largely spontaneous. The violence since Eid is increasingly orchestrated and inspired from outside---- inspired not only by the State of Pakistan, but also by all the jihadi organisations based there.
6.If we had promptly acted against the initial incidents and against those members of the security forces against whom allegations of staging a false encounter had been made, the situation might not have deteriorated to the extent it has. There are now vicious winds of anger and hatred blowing across Kashmir, helped by our failure to understand that we are now facing a different kind of situation in J&K and by our reluctance to act against the members of the security forces against whom allegations of human rights violations were made.
7. The situation has so badly slipped out of control that one does not know how to retrieve it. Retrieve one must for restoring normalcy in J&K.Even now, the Governments of J&K and India give the impression of a total lack of lucidity in analysing and assessing the situation. The Kashmiris are not agitating for jobs. They are not agitating against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. They are not agitating against the Army. They are not agitating against our counter-terrorism machinery, which had effectively countered Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the State. They are agitating against the State's law and order machinery for alleged disproportionate use of force against stone-throwing mobs. They are agitating against the Government of India for not intervening to protect the human rights and the self-dignity of the Kashmiri Muslims.
8.The first response of the Government of India should have been to ensure respect for the human rights of the Kashmiris. Even now, despite the deterioration in the situation which has made the increasing resort to law and order methods unavoidable, our priority should be to visibly stop violations of human rights. The National Human Rights Commission should be asked to look urgently into the various complaints that have been made and convince the Kashmiris of our seriousness in guaranteeing respect for their human rights and self-dignity.
9. If we don't do this and keep thinking that we can restore normalcy by creating jobs and by making statements of our willingness for a dialogue, we are in for a nasty surprise in J&K. The credibility of the Government of India in J&K is very low. It is seen as a Government which only acts under pressure. It is seen as a Government which is totally confused.
10. It has to show it means business----business in restoring law and order; business in respecting the human rights and self-dignity of the Kashmiris and business in preventing Pakistan and its jihadi organisations from exploiting the situation. ( 14-9-10 )
( 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 )
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)