Arun
Shourie on Policy
|
Things work at two levels in
India, that of paper and that of fact. On paper, for instance, we
have section 167 of the Indian Penal Code under which a public
servant is to be hauled up for preparing a false document... more |
|
Within five days of Kamla being
purchased and brought to Delhi three of us filed a writ in the
Supreme Court informing the Hon'ble Court what we had learnt about
the trade in women in the Morena and Dholpur regions and praying for
relief of several kinds... more |
|
A case in which the English
version of a major book by a renowned Muslim scholar, the fourth
Rector of one of the greatest centers of Islamic learning in India,
listing some of the mosques, including the Babri Masjid, which were
built on the sites and foundations of temples, using their stones
and structures, is found to have the tell-tale passages censored
out... more
|
|
"The Congress is like Ravana," The
Hindustan Times of 2 September, 1999, reported Dr. Murli Manohar
Joshi saying, "and they have unleashed Sonia, the Surpnakha
(Ravana's sister who was humiliated by Lakshman) on the country."
That in a box-item at the very top of page 1, under the heading,
"Below the belt." The source? The Asian Age, reported The Hindustan
Times... more |
|
The Premise of democratic
governance is that the people will decide. But what will be the
character of the decisions they will take when instead of being
informed, inspired, when necessary enraged to act on issues, they
are distracted and merely entertained?.... more |
|
At first, the demand-cum-assurance
was, "If you can bring any proof showing a temple had been
demolished to construct the mosque, we will ourselves demolish the
mosque". A host of documents -- reports of the Archaeological Survey
of India going back to 1891, Gazetteers going back to 1854. Survey
reports going back to 1838 were produced which stated unambiguously
that a Ram temple had been demolished to construct the mosque"...
more |
|
May I begin with a few passages
from my book 'A Secular Agenda'? It was sent to the press in late
September and comes out later this week. A chapter, "No time to
relent", which concludes the section on Kashmir notes... more |
|
But have we no rights to proclaim
our faith, to preach Gospel? You are the editor of such a large
news-paper. You express your views on issues. Do we not have the
same right? It was Bishop George Anathil, of Indore, the Chairman of
the Commission for Proclamation of the Catholic Bishops Conference
of India... more |
|
Dainik Jagran is today among the
largest newspapers in our country. Amar Ujala is also a substantial
paper. Addressing a public meeting on October 12, UP chief minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav denounced the two papers, "Halla Bol", he
exhorted his followers, "Commence the storming". Why read them, he
told them, you don't have to even see them. No one present had any
doubt what they meant: Don't let them be seen, that is what it
meant... more |
|
'Muslims all over the world
including those of India were hopefully looking up to Pakistan for
help and guidance... The Pakistani debacle of 1971 had caused
immense grief to Indian Muslims.' The speaker? Maulana Abul Hassan
ALi Nadvi, otherwise known as Ali Mian, whom the press always refers
to as the widely respected scholar and moderate Muslim leader...
more |
|
But in looking at the ritual, at
the idol, at the concept, why not start with the opposite
assumption? Why start by assuming that they are empty, that they are
the remnants of superstition? They had occurred to, they had been
devised by seers, by persons of great insight... more |
|
'It is a miracle... can be likened
to the building of the Gothic cathedrals of Europe... There is no
doubt that London has acquired a significant new building of
traditional Indian beauty and interest... We can be grateful that
this has happened in a part of London that needed transforming'...
more |
|
The super-speciality hospital
which Satya Sai Baba has set up in Putaparti, the water schemes
which have been inaugurated in Anantpur district to mark his 70th
birthday will, of course, make the difference between life and death
to vast numbers. The other point about projects undertaken at the
direction of these teachers is their managerial excellence. The
projects are invariably completed on schedule: it took just three
years from the permission being granted for the temple in London to
its being opened for worship..... more |
|
In holding that not all references
to religion in election speeches necessarily amount to corrupt
electoral practices; that it is the soliciting of votes on the
ground of the religion of the candidate or that of his opponent
which is a corrupt electoral practice; that statements made by
others do not have the same effect as those made by a candidate
himself -- in all this, as we saw, the Supreme Court has merely
reiterated what the the law itself says and what the Supreme Court
has itself held on previous occasions. What then accounted for the
fury of the secularists ?... more |
|
The so-called secular parties --
that is, all fifteen of them, including the Muslim League -- are
continuing to insist that they shall vote out the BJP Government on
the 31st. Assume that they do, and assume that a Government headed
by Deve Gowda assumes office... The situation now is different, they
say; for one thing there are those experiences to warn the secular
parties and leaders, they say; moreover, this time the leaders of
"the forces of social change" are very conscious of the historic
responsibility that rests on their shoulders, they say.... more |
|
Some months ago an official of the
United States state department met me through a common scholar
friend... Last week the same scholar friend sent me an account which
that officer had written and circulated about the way India, in
particular Hindus, are again being portrayed in the USA. The note
deserves to be read in full, so what follows is the verbatim text of
his note... more |
|
All sorts of lessons are being
propounded from the events of fifty years ago. But, as usual,
political correctness is keeping commentators from facing up to the
fundamental lesson. The fundamental premises on which the country
was partitioned were that (i) religion defines nationhood; (ii)
though they do not have a common language, though they are separated
by a thousand miles, the Muslims of East and West India are a nation
because of their common adherence to Islam; (iii) moreover, Muslims
are a separate nation from the rest who inhabit the sub-continent;
(iv) they can never get justice in a united India for they will be
swamped by the Hindu majority; (v) once they are given a country of
their own, prosperity, justice, fraternity and all else will flow
automatically; (vi) as Islam is a religion of tolerance, brotherhood
and equality, as it places human dignity above all, people of all
beliefs, creeds, races, languages will enjoy equal rights, and live
in liberty and fraternity.... more |
|
Will a government which hasn't
been there all along, finally go? Will its departure lead to
elections or will it be replaced by a new government which will be
there no more than the one which was never there and has at last
gone? In a word, the first feature of what was happening was that
everything could happen... more |
|
In the beginning was a foreigner.
He founded the Congress. Then, no one did anything till the
Nehru-Nehru (Father and Son) Family stepped forth. They firmly
stamped the history of India with the twin features that
characterise it in the first half of the 20th century: everything
they did was a sacrifice, no one else made any sacrifices.... more |
|
"But What was the immediate
threat?," ask the pundits. "Why now?," they demand. I K Gujral adds
the considerable weight of having been Prime Minister to the
argument: as one who had access to secret information as Prime
Minister, he tells Parliament, I say that when I left office there
was no threat that warranted the explosions... more |
|
Remember that incident in April
1996, about the ring magnets? "Baseless", the Chinese thundered.
When they could not deny the sale any longer, they acknowledged the
shipment but insisted that the ring magnets were for hold your
breath - windshield wipers for cars... more |
|
We are so dazzled by reports of
the strides China has made in enlarging its economy that we do not
notice that one of the principal uses to which it is putting its new
wealth is to multiply its military strength. Pick up any book or
analysis about security developments in the Pacific region or in
Asia, and the facts it sets out about China are bound to startle...
more |
|
"Rational vs. National," screams
the headline of the new pall-bearer of secularism, the magazine
Outlook. "Tampering with history," proclaims the old pall- bearer,
The Hindu. Having been educated by The Hindu that the "nodal
ministry" for the matter is the Ministry of Human Resource
Development, I ring up the Secretary of that Ministry. Has the
Memorandum of Association of the ICHR been changed?, I ask. No, he
says. It has not been changed, he says... more |
|
Answer by the Ministry for Human
Resources Development to Unstarred Question number 3466 in the Rajya
Sabha : "Professor Bipin Chandra was sanctioned a sum of Rs.
75,000/- during 1987-88 for the assignment entitled 'A History of
Indian National Congress'. A sum of Rs. 57,500/- has been released
to him till 23.6.1989. The remaining balance of Rs. 17,500/- is yet
to be released because a formal manuscript in this regard is yet to
be received... more |
|
Worse, even after a decade of
killing by Pakistan armed terrorists, voices are still raised that
hide Pakistan deeds under dust: An ex-editor is forever narrating
the sweet words he exchanged on his most recent trip to Pakistan,
how person like him had built a small lobby in Pakistan for peace
with India; another editor proclaims that Nawaz Sharif should be
given the Nobel Prize for Peace, so hard is he trying for peace in
the face of such enormous difficulties... And they have an audience!
for we just do not face the fact that Pakistan is working to a
clear, indeed, to a singular aim - and that is to break India...
more |
|
"Death is just an insignificant
word for them," begins the report in The News of 28 November, 1997
on the annual gathering of the Mujahidin-e-Taiba. "Killing those who
do not share their set of Islamic values is the only reality. The
congregation was flooded with thousands of people with these
beliefs..." ... more |
|
As we have seen, the explicit part
of the Circular issued by the West Bengal Government in 1989 in
effect was that there must be no negative reference to Islamic rule
in India. Although these were the very things which contemporary
Islamic writers celebrated, there must be absolutely no reference to
the destruction of the temples by Muslim rulers, to the forcible
conversion of Hindus, to the numerous other restrictions which were
placed on the Hindu population... more |
|
Writes Tasneem Ahmad, "I express
my profound sense of gratitude, very personal regards and respects
to Professor Irfan Habib, who encouraged and guided me at every
stage of the work. In spite of his very pressing engagements and
pre-occupation, he ungrudgingly spared his valuable time to examine
with care every intricate problem, arising out [sic.] during the
course of work." When the entire manuscript has been lifted word for
word from the work of Dr. Parmatma Saran... more |
|
The pattern of these textbooks
thus is set in stone : concoct a picture of pre-Islamic society of
Indian history as a period riddled by discord, tensions, inequity
and oppression -- evidence or no evidence; on the other side,
concoct a picture of the Islamic period as one in which a "composite
culture" flowered, one in which, in spite of the errors of few who
acted out of normal, non-religious motives, there was peace and
harmony -- evidence or no evidence... more |
|
"I shall travel back with him,"
says Nawaz Sharif one day on taking the bus to Delhi with the Indian
Prime Minister. "We will solve half the problems on the way back."
Four days have not passed, and Pakistan observes
"Solidarity-with-Kashmir Day." All the usual venom is spewed forth
again. What is one to make of these signals... more |
|
"You have said that this is a
historic visit, that this is a defining moment in the history of
South Asia, but what is the substance in these declarations?," asked
the correspondent at the joint press conference of the Indian and
Pakistani Prime Ministers in Lahore -- the usual European or
American correspondent, with the usual condescension and derision...
more |
|
"Why do you keep doing this?", I
keep asking. Another press conference has been held, another
statement reprimanding Government has been issued, another "massive
demonstration" protesting against the Government's "failure to
extricate India from the clutches of the WTO" has been announced.
The difference is that in the public eye the organizations for which
they speak, issue statements, announce morchas and the rest, are
part of the same parivar as the Government... more |
|
Throughout last week one thing
seemed completely uncertain: whether the Government at the Centre
would survive. Throughout last week one thing seemed just as
certain: that in Bihar, Laloo Yadav's Government would return. I
think it inadvisable to peg the dismissal of a Government on a
single massacre: when things have reached the condition they have in
Bihar, in many other parts of the country, a few score can be killed
at any time, anywhere. The test ought to be the general condition...
more |
|
The Church had but to get
established and it became obsessed with numbers -- with the number
of souls it had, to use the term so favoured by churchmen,
"harvested" for Jesus. Numbers remain its singular obsession today.
The impulse is not just its own history in this regard. The impulse
is not just its character -- it is, after all, primarily an
organization, and therefore like all organizations it is obsessed
with its market-share... more |
|
"The mandate is for a coalition
government", the pundits declared in 1996. "Coalition governments
have worked for decades in Europe. Why will they not work in
India?", they demanded. The obvious answer was that Indian
politicians are not European politicians. That at every turn the
outcome will be in the hands of persons who have no scruple, no
ideology, no idea, no shame. But this was rejected as carping, as
specious pleading on behalf of communal and fascist forces. Several
coalitions later, how does that rationalisation of 1996 look? So,
the first lesson is for analysts: Do not contrive
rationalisations... more |
|
Even so deplorable and
uncalled-for a crisis has yielded some good. At long last, the
real Sonia Gandhi has stepped forth: and shown that she is just
another politician, that the image which had been so assiduously
projected -- the shy, reticent lady, concerned only with the
security of her children, a lady who hates politics, who shuns power
-- was just nail-polish. Her ambition, her readiness to use all
means for acquiring office, her willingness to twist and turn -- "A
minority government of the Congress, take it or leave it" one day,
the magnanimous openness to a coalition the next, and the Papal,
"No, we are not ready to pardon," the third -- were all put on
display... more |
|
Hostilities have but to commence
and a rash of strategists erupts: indeed, it seems that everyone,
except the ones actually running it, knows how to run the war. Just
as suddenly, intelligence agencies start planting stories: every
agency, it seems, knew what was going to happen, every agency sent
warnings, but every other agency scuppered its reports; every paper,
every commentator suddenly seems to know what which top-secret
agency has told Government... more |
|
To attribute the occupation by
Pakistanis of such extended stretches in Kargil to "an intelligence
failure" is too facile. It is an evasion -- an evasion of the basic
cause, an evasion of responsibility... more |
|
"India has massacred 60,000
Kashmiris, but the people of Kashmir will never rest till they have
won freedom;" "India has deployed 700,000 soldiers in the Valley,
and yet the Kashmiri mujahidin are inflicting heavy losses on them
every day;" -- such "facts" are repeated ad nauseum in
Pakistani papers. We tend to dismiss such assertions as the usual
lies. Public Opinion Trends, are so inured to these concoctions that
they excise them from their reports! In fact, the concoctions
deserve attention... more |
|
India's size has become "an
unmanageable liability," writes an analyst in Pakistan's Frontier
Post of June 9. "As a result, nearly one-third of its 25 states are
at war, where military troops are routinely called out to keep
peace." The cause for this is largely "India's exclusionary
political, religious and social order that is heavily biased against
non-Hindu minorities," he says. This from an analyst whose own
country is being torn apart by killings of Shias by Sunnis, of
Sindhis and Mohajirs by Punjabis, by tensions between Baluchis,
Pakhtuns and Punjabis... more |
|
"The secret of success is
sincerity," reads The Cynic's Lexicon, "Once you can fake that,
you've got it made." How hard Sonia Gandhi is trying to reach
success by that route. A flood in Assam? Visit the area. Have
yourself photographed. Pronounce: Government's relief measures are
wholly inadequate. An earthquake in Kumaon? Visit the area. Have
yourself photographed. Pronounce: Government's relief measures are
wholly inadequate. Cyclone somewhere? Visit the area. Have yourself
photographed. Pronounce: Government's relief measures are wholly
inadequate. Fighting in Kargil? Visit hospitals at a safe distance.
Have yourself photographed with injured soldiers. Pronounce... more |
|
The war in Kargil has ignited an
intense reaction across the country. War does. War that results from
aggression by the other does even more. This time round two factors
have caused the reaction to be even more intense. There is the
element of betrayal: India had extended the hand of trust and
friendship; Pakistan, it now turns out, merely pretended to
reciprocate. And then there is the effect of television. This is the
first war which has been brought into our living rooms: we see the
extreme conditions in which our soldiers are defending our country,
we see the majesty and beauty of our sacred mountains which the
enemy has violated, we see the bodies arrive, we see and hear the
valour of the bereaved parents and wives... more |
|
Aap log jis jazbe aur walwalese
Jihad karten hain, vo Bharati kutton, muaf kijiye, faujiyon ko apni
bandookein uthane ka mauka bhi nahin milta''- the passion and
fervour with which you wage Jihad does not leave the opportunity for
these Bharati dogs, pardon us, these Bharati militarymen to even
pick up their rifles. ''Agar aap isi tareh Bharati faujiyon ko makhi
macchar ki tareh jahanum ki vaadiyon mein dhakelte rahe, to ankareeb
Bharat ka koi bhi kutta muazarat fauji Kashmir ka rukh nahin
karega''- if you continue to push them into hell in this way, like
flies and mosquitoes, no Indian dog, begging you pardon, no Indian
militaryman will dare look towards Kashmir... Serious analysis in Khabarein, a leading paper of Lahore,
of 10 July, 1999... more |
|
"A thousand Pakistani militants
have entered the Baramula and Poonch sectors of Kashmir" -- that was
the lead story on the 9 p. m. news bulletin of a leading TV channel
on 27 July. I was properly alarmed. And so I was even more surprised
when the next morning not one paper carried anything about fresh
infiltration. But it might have been a scoop of the TV channel, I
thought. And was therefore triply surprised to see that the TV
channel itself had no follow-up on the story the next day. The story
vanished as swiftly as the terrorists... more |
|
The day I entered Indiraji's
household I became an Indian, the rest is just technical -- that is
Sonia Gandhi's latest explanation for not having acquired Indian
citizenship till fourteen years after her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi.
Sonia married Rajiv on 25 February, 1968. Under section 5(c) of the
Indian Citizenship Act she became eligible to register herself as a
citizen of India on 25 February, 1973. She chose to continue as a
citizen of Italy. She applied for Indian citizenship only ten years
later, on 7 April, 1983... more |
|
"Congress insists PM ignored I-B
reports on Kargil," ran the six column heading of The Indian Express
on 16 September. Other papers too gave much prominence to the
allegation. This time the Congress spokesman had used as his peg a
front-page story in The Tribune of that morning about a "strategy
backgrounder" which the paper said the Army had prepared and
circulated... more |
|
"Not one paisa has been taken from
the Trust," declared the Congress spokesman with a show of righteous
indignation. He was declaiming on the Indira Gandhi National Centre
for the Arts. But the charge had been altogether different -- that
the Trust had been a Government-trust, that it had received Rs. 134
crores of Government money and 23 acres of invaluable land, that it
had been converted into a private Trust by fraud, that the
conversion had been sanctified by collusion between a trustee and
the President of the Trust, Sonia Gandhi. Not one of these facts had
been disputed by the Congress... more |
|
As Mr I K Gujral proceeded with
his "Gujral Doctrine," a friend in RAW said, "He will rue it by
September." As we returned from Lahore, he said, "When Pakistan goes
so far out to seem friendly, it is planning something big." As Nawaz
Sharif kept bringing one institution after another under his heel --
he enacted a version of our anti-defection law which made
legislators his bonded men: they stand disqualified the moment they
defy the party whip on any matter; he had the President resign; he
removed the Chief Justice; he did away with the Council for Defence
and National Security thereby curtailing the Army's role; he put a
pious cipher into the presidency -- my friend said, "He will go on
rushing forward till he bangs his head into a brick wall. It is his
nature... more |
|
That an area as large as Bihar
should sink into quicksand is alarming enough by itself. But one of
our problems is that collapse in Bihar no longer shakes us: "O, that
is Bihar," we shrug... more |
|
"The secret of success is
sincerity," reads The Cynic's Lexicon, "Once you can fake that,
you've got it made." How hard Sonia Gandhi is trying to reach
success by that route. A flood in Assam? Visit the area. Have
yourself photographed. Pronounce: Government's relief measures are
wholly inadequate. An earthquake in Kumaon? Visit the area. Have
yourself photographed. Pronounce: Government's relief measures are
wholly inadequate. Cyclone somewhere? Visit the area. Have yourself
photographed. Pronounce: Government's relief measures are wholly
inadequate. Fighting in Kargil? Visit hospitals at a safe distance.
Have yourself photographed with injured soldiers. Pronounce... more |
|
The provisions of TADA were much
more stringent than those of the new Ordinance. The
constitutionality of those provisions, of TADA itself had been
challenged in the courts. The Supreme Court specifically upheld
TADA, and declared its provisions -the much more stringent
provisions - to be in accord with the Constitution. While I happen
to be in Government, my assessment for Parliament is the opposite
one to that of the critics: the Ordinance bends too far back to
accommodate human rightists, and that includes some impractical
judgments too - like that of the Supreme Court in D. K. Basu v.
State of West Bengal... more |
|
From our experience over the last
20 years the following emerge as self-evident axioms. The technology
of inflicting large-scale violence is becoming easier to obtain, and
- per quotient of lethality - less and less expensive. This in turn
yields three lemmas. The target country has to be equipped to
counter the entire spectrum of violence: to take the current
examples from the United States-from aircraft being used as missiles
to anthrax; It is almost impossible in an open society to block a
determined lot from acquiring the technology they want by blocking
the technology itself-the only practical way is to be a leap ahead
of the technology the terrorist acquires... more |
|
'A State that's patronising
terrorists should wake up to the consequences; in any case its
immediate neighbours must'. Corresponding to the four ''don'ts'' are
six ''do's'': Believe what the ideologues and organisations of the
terrorists say. The one thing for which ideologues and organisations
can be credited is that they are absolutely explicit about their
aims and objectives. The fault - the fatal fault - is that of
liberal societies: to this day they continue to shut their eyes to
what these organisations proclaim to be their aim: domination,
conquest, conversion of the ''land of war'' into the ''land of
peace,'' that is the land which is at peace because it is under
their heel - exactly as they had shut their eyes to Hitler in the
1930s and to Stalin later. Read their press, reflect over their
books and pamphlets, and act in time - that is, before they have
wreaked the havoc they proclaim they will... more |
|
"The mandate (which the Act
imposes upon the Central Government),'' the Supreme Court said in
its 1994 judgement on the Ayodhya case, ''is that in managing the
property so vested in the Central Government, the Central Government
or the authorised person shall ensure maintenance of the status quo
(and here the Court quoted merely reproduced - for the second time
within ten lines - the words in the Act itself) in the area on which
the structure (including the premises of the inner and outer
courtyards of such structure), commonly known as the Ram Janma
Bhumi-Babri Masjid, stood.'... more |
|
What is the VHP? Whom does it
represent? What is its locus standi?, the Supreme Court asked the
other day - and it seemed to have done so in a tone that triggered
much delight among secularists. The Bench did not ask, as the
Constitution Bench had not asked, ''Who is Mohammed Aslam, alias
'Bhure'? Whom does he represent? What is his locus standi?'' It did
not ask, ''What is the Babri Masjid Action Committee? Whom does it
represent? What is its locus standi?'' It did not ask, ''What is the
'All India Muslim Law Board'? Whom does it represent? What is its
locus standi?'' How is it that doubt assailed it only in regard to
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad? ... more |
|
In the sense American intellectual
activity has been built on foundations. Agar aap koi bhi ek
American scholar ko dekhen, he is one of the great psychologists
today. They work the most on the physiology of the mind on
consciousness. If you read any book of his, in its first five pages
aap yeh dekhiye ki woh kin-kin ko acknowledge karte hain. The
unknown foundations and it has been one of the great omissions of
the Indian tax system that we have not allowed, not made it
profitable for business houses and other people to set up
foundations for intellectual activity. I also feel in the sense that
we underestimate, what Ramswarup Ji used to call, the seed value of
ideas... more |
|
You couldn't have asked me to
deliver this lecture because of my experience in Disinvestment! And
I have no access to classified information on security affairs.
Therefore, for myself alone, and based solely on my own study-much
of it of the writings of experts like you! And I do hope that what I
say will not now trigger some more ''Diary Items''-that it is
because the Defence Minister is speaking on Disinvestment that the
Disinvestment Minister has chosen to speak on Defence... more |
|
Every country works solely for its
own interests. There's little use in invoking justice, morality or
law: indeed, doing so can be counter-productive-by sticking to
ideals, so to say, we cleared the way for China in Myanmar. If I
could I would burn into the consciousness of every policy-maker in
India the conversations between Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, Chou
En-lai, Huang Hua. Every country works solely for its own interests
as perceived by it at that time: this may not accord with our
interests, or with our perception of what is in the interest of even
that country itself. for eg: US aid to Pakistan in the wake of
9/11... more |
|
"Now, Sir," the member said, "we
have inherited a tradition. People always keep saying to me : 'Oh,
you are the maker of the Constitution. 'My answer is I was a hack.
What I was asked to do, I did much against my will." He ridiculed
the "notions of democracy" the country had acquired because of its
hatred of the British, like the notion that to leave any
discretionary powers with the Governor is undemocratic. "We have
inherited the idea that the Governor must have no power at all, that
he must be a rubber-stamp," the member explained. "If a minister,
however scoundrelly he may be, if he puts up a proposal before the
Governor, he has to ditto it. That is the kind of conception about
democracy which we have developed in this country," he continued.
The member? B.R. Ambedkar, of course. The occasion ? The debate in
the Council of States, as the Rajya Sabha was then known, on 2
September, 1953, regarding the Bill for establishing the state of
Andhra... more |
|
"Give me some time and we will get
over all these troubles" that was the prime minister speaking during
the Charar-e-Sharief debate in the Rajya Sabha. But had he not had
time since February when the mercenaries were spotted in the town?
Indeed, having put the country through abject humiliation at
Hazratbal in October 1993, had he not had a year and a half's time
to prepare for the next siege? And in the Hazratbal case also, the
first report about terrorists moving to usurp the place was given to
the government in July... more |
|
"This is an old charge which keeps
surfacing now and then," wrote one of those "eminent historians", K.
N. Panikkar, in an vituperative response to an article of mine - -
the charge that close to two crores had been spent on the "Towards
Freedom" project of the Indian Council of Historical Project, and
little had been achieved. "About a year back the historians had then
clarified through a public statement, that they have not drawn any
money from the ICHR and that they worked for five years purely in an
honorary capacity. When he gets the information, I would
normally expect Shourie to tender a public apology. But given the
intellectual honesty and cultural level reflected in his article, I
do not think it would be forthcoming. The alternative of suing for
defamation the likes of Shourie is below one's dignity. But I do
expect at least the ministry to make a public statement. Strong
stuff, and definitive, one would think. It turns out that on 17
July, 1998, in answer to a question tabled in the Rajya Sabha, the
Ministry stated that only one part of the project has been completed
and published since the original volume of Dr. P. N. Chopra. This is
the volume -- in three parts -- by Dr. Partha Sarthi Gupta covering
1943-44. In answer to another question, the Ministry has reported
that "After publication of the Volume he was paid an honorarium of
Rs. 25,000/- in September, 1997." ... more |
|
The US campaign of bombing
erstwhile Taliban positions in Afghanistan had not been on for 10
days, and our experts began pronouncing it a failure: "Osama bin
Laden is still at large, the Taliban have just dispersed into the
hills, the Northern Alliance is stuck where it was, Bush's Grand
Alliance is coming apart... The winter is about to set in," they
said. "The Afghan is a hardy fighter, they said. He will just tie an
onion and a roti (bread), fling his blanket over his shoulder, and
disappear into the nearest mountain; and these American GIs - they
cannot fight without their Coca Colas, their hot meals... Just look
at them on TV - they are loaded with so much equipment, they have
difficulty just walking. These jokers are going to fight the
Taliban? Secure on the mountaintop, the Taliban Jehadi will pick
them one by one as they try to clamber up the mountain. Remember
Kargil? These slopes in the Afghan mountains are even steeper than
the ones our soldiers had to scale."... more |
|
"Dear Arun", writes Mr. Som
Benegal, the sharpest of pins to many a baloon, "Why do you always
equate the Urdu press with Muslims? I write a 600 word editorial
every single day in TEJ which is in Urdu - and which is neither
Muslim, nor communal in any way. (I hope I am not pseudo-secular!)
There are other Urdu papers which are not Muslim; indeed some are
very, very anti-Muslim. May be sometimes you should also read some
voices of 'sanity' (or pseudo- sanity!)"... more |
|
The problem that illicit small
arms and light weapons constitute is well known. During the past
decade. these weapons have been the weapons of choice in 46 out of
49 major conflicts. They have claimed on an average, 300,000 lives.
90 percent of those killed have been civilians, and 80 percent of
the killed have been women and children... more | |
|