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Incursion Reports ‘Hyped:IS INDIA SCARED OF CHINA?, by Prakash Nanda,23 September 2009 Print E-mail

Open Forum

New Delhi, 23 September 2009

Incursion Reports ‘Hyped’

IS INDIA SCARED OF CHINA?

By Prakash Nanda

A recent report in a national daily saying that the Government was planning action against two journalists for what it claimed was wrong reportage about Chinese firing across the border, is truly disturbing. More importantly, it raises important questions, which need to be answered by the Government. 

Over the past week, there have been a series of reports in the media about the increased military activity on the Chinese side of the border and frequent incursions into Indian territory. Some TV channels have given graphic accounts, by quoting locals in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, of such intrusions. One such report was last month-- that the Chinese troops entered nearly 1.5 km into our territory near Mount Gya, which is recognised as the international border by both nations, and painted the word 'China' in Cantonese on boulders and rocks with a red spray paint. Before this, Chinese helicopters had violated the airspace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Chumar region in June and also heli-dropped some expired food.

However, Government efforts are on a war-footing to play down such media reports, most of which have originated from military sources. Indeed, there is a pattern. Both the civilian officials and political executives at the Centre have either denied these or sought to influence the military officials to retract their remarks and in certain cases even cancel their scheduled plans for corrective actions against Chinese intrusions.

The following paragraphs will make this pattern clear:

·         Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has reportedly informed the Centre about possible incursions by the Chinese in his State. Quoting reports from locals in Rimkhim in Chamoli district, he said the Chinese had entered the State on September 5 and left behind biscuit packet wrappers and cigarettes. He claims to have informed both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Home Ministry and suggested setting up of a State-governed contingent for the Himalayan region on the pattern of the newly-formed coastal security force for coastal States. 

·         On August 31, while taking over as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor, told reporters: “There have been several violations and one incursion by a Chinese helicopter in past few months. It could have happened due to a navigational error but that does not justify it. It was taken up at the border personnel meet”.  

·         In fact, Gen. Kapoor had planned to visit the borders in the Leh region on September 10 and 11, but “next morning he was advised to cancel his tour, lest the military situation assumes serious proportions”, said press reports.

·         The then Navy Chief and Chairman of the Chiefs of staff Committee Suresh Mehta had too highlighted threats from China. On August 10, he said, “It is quite evident that coping with China will certainly be one of our primary challenges in the years ahead. Our trust deficit with China can never be liquidated unless our boundary problems are resolved”. And on August 17, while delivering a lecture on 'National Security Challenges: An Overview' he said, "China is in the process of consolidating its comprehensive national power and creating formidable military capabilities. Once that is done, China is likely to be more assertive on its claims, especially in the immediate neighbourhood”.

·         Apparently, on September 17, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan had convened a meeting of the China Study Group, consisting of top officials, including Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries of Defence, Home and Foreign Ministries, top officers of the Armed Forces and the Intelligence Bureau. The nation has not been told about the meeting’s outcome.

·         A day later, September 18, while addressing the Conference of Director Generals of Police in Delhi, the PM cited a “good discussion” between Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan and NSA chief to play down these reports. “There is no reason for concern, the issue was being hyped in the media”, he said, lamenting that “the Government information system could be at fault for failing to convey that there was nothing wrong on the Chinese border, thus leading to the media hype”. He also said that the lacunae (information system) would soon be corrected.

This is precisely what happened the next day. On September 19, a Saturday and a Government holiday, a series of statements downplaying the Chinese threats emanated at special press interactions by top officials including Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, Narayanan and Gen. Kapoor:

·         In sharp contrast to what he had said on August 31, Gen. Kapoor told reporters at Chennai: “There has not been any more incursion or transgressions. As compared to last year, they are almost at the same level. So there is no cause for worry or concern. I request the media to refrain and not overplay". He also added: "The Prime Minister has made a statement yesterday that there has not been any more incursions or transgressions as compared to last year. They are almost at the same level." 

·         On her part, Nirupama Rao told reporters there has been “no significant increase in intrusions across all sections of the LAC,' when asked if the External Affairs Ministry was trying to downplay the reported incursions. “That's because there is no mutually agreed or delineated border. This is not a new phenomenon. It has been going on for years,” she added. 'Contrary to the popular perception, the situation along the border has remained peaceful for decades…the leadership of the two countries are in constant touch….there has been a hype and a certain intensification of volume about the manner in which it has been reported.'

·         The same day, Narayanan cautioned that media "hype" could lead to "unwarranted incident or accident" that could create problems with the neighbour. He acknowledged that incursions were taking place but said there was "hardly any increase" and the situation was not "alarming". The NSA disagreed that China was trying to put pressure saying "India of 2009 is not (India) of 1962.”  In an interview to Karan Thapar on his 'Devil's Advocate' programme, aired on September 20, he said: “In terms of number of incursions, there has been hardly any increase. Occasionally inroads are a little deeper than what it might have been in the past. I don't think so that there is anything alarming about it. I think we have a good understanding about the whole issue,"

Surprisingly, all the remarks, be it from the Army Chief or the Foreign Secretary or the NSA, did not refute the fact that incursions were taking place. They all concentrated on the number, saying it was not alarming. But here three questions arise.

One, if the incursions are taking place because of the lack of clarity on the exact LAC in the border, what precisely has emerged out of the 13 rounds of border talks between two countries so far?

Second, why is it that we see reports of only Chinese incursions in the unspecified border? Why is it that one hardly comes across any Chinese complaints of Indian troops crossing over to their controlled territory?

Third, why is it that the number of intrusions is increasing with each passing year? If Brahma Chellaney, Professor at the Centre for Policy Research, is to be believed, Chinese cross-border forays nearly doubled from 140 in 2006 to 270 in 2008 and have kept that level in 2009 (with three months to go). What is of further concern is that earlier the incursions were taking pace in the northern (Leh) and eastern (Arunachal Pradesh) sectors of the India-China border. Now these have been noticed in the otherwise peaceful central sector (Himachal, Uttarakhand and Sikkim).

Will the Manmohan Singh Government care to answer the questions? ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

Delimitation Exercise:WILL IT TAKE PLACE IN J&K?, by Sant Kumar Sharma,22 September 2009 Print E-mail

Events & Issues

New Delhi, 22 September 2009

Delimitation Exercise

WILL IT TAKE PLACE IN J&K?

By Sant Kumar Sharma

The word delimitation evokes sharp emotional reactions in Jammu and Kashmir. The polity is divided amid the midriff and the general impression is that the people of Jammu region want it to happen, whereas the people of Kashmir don’t. The former believe they can gain from it and the latter fears that if it happens they would be the losers. Some Jammu-based parties, particularly Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), are in the forefront raising the demand for delimitation, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joining the bandwagon, though belatedly.

The State’s SP chief Sheikh Abdul Rehman, a former MP, was the first political leader to raise this demand. Hailing from Bhaderwah in Doda district, Rehman had contended in his public speeches that the present boundaries of the Legislative Assembly as also the Lok Sabha constituencies were unfair and biased in favour of the Kashmir region.

Seeking rationalization and reorganization of constituencies through delimitation, he had filed a writ petition in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking delimitation of the Assembly constituencies, way back in 2007. Rehman demanded that the territorial boundaries of be rationalized through de novo delimitation as had happened across the country.

Two more writ petitions were filed later before the same court and they were all clubbed together. The Chief Justice of J&K High Court, Barin Ghosh, and Justice Mansoor Mir, heard the petitions, as they were declared to be Public Interest Litigation (PIL). The Bar Association of Jammu (BAJ) and the Bar Association of Kashmir also joined the litigation as interveners. They adopted diametrically opposite stances in the court, with former supporting the demand for delimitation and the latter opposing it with equal vehemence.

At one point, the Bar Association of Kashmir had even argued inter alia that there could be no delimitation in J&K as the territory was ``disputed,” awaiting a final settlement. The learned judges had refused to enlarge the scope of the petitions in this context and heard both the sides.

Incidentally, in the 87-member Assembly, the balance of power is firmly in favour of the Kashmir Valley as it gets to elect 46 MLAs, whereas the Jammu region has 37. Four MLAs are elected from the Ladakh region. The fear of the Kashmiris obviously is that delimitation would theoretically change that and make the equation between the regions more evenly balanced.

Regrettably, it is unfair to put the people of one region against the other in this manner. The fact is that common people do not understand the grave political points, such as delimitation, a fairly complicated redrawing of boundaries of electoral constituencies. They usually are led to adopt positions, for or against, on such vital issues by the politicians. 

So far, the politicians of both the Kashmir valley and Jammu have been garnering support, tentatively, by adopting for and against positions. It however, is a pity that they have not taken the trouble to explain, in the smallest detail, the proposals in connection with the process of delimitation. Worse, they are asking the masses to harden their stance without explaining things.

The issue was taken up a couple of times in the recent Assembly session held in Srinagar and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, had dismissed the demand abruptly. The danger inherent in adopting this course of action is that if the leaders harden their respective stances, reconciliation on the issue through a dialogue would become very difficult, if not impossible altogether. 

It is pertinent to recall the terrible price the J&K has had to pay due to the Amarnath land row in 2008. This happened because the issue assumed the proportions of an inter-regional dispute, to begin with, and then became a deeply divisive communal conflagration. Its wounds are still raw and any issue that has similar disruptive potential needs to be tackled carefully and with due diligence.

Earlier, in 2004, the Women’s Disqualification Bill passed by the State Assembly on March 5, had too pitted the two regions against one another. The Bill sought to deprive the women of the State citizenship if they married outsiders (citizens of other States), as unlike the rest of India, not all citizens can be the citizens of J&K.

With the introduction of the Bill, the State literally got divided into two opposite camps with protests breaking out on the streets in Jammu against it instantaneously.  Even more important is the fact that it threatened the political stability in the State as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its coalition partner, the Congress, had adopted contradictory positions. The Bill had posed the first real threat to Mufti Mohammed Sayeed government. And had it been passed the Government would have surely fallen.

Interestingly, the National Conference had supported the Bill, asking its members to vote, along with PDP members. There was a vested interest: to bring down the Mufti government by splitting the Congress and the PDP alliance. Indeed, the NC had succeeded in driving a wedge between the two partners. Soon after, the State Congress leadership distrusted the PDP and the favour was returned, ultimately leading to a break-up of the alliance. The party which gained in the struggle of one upmanship was eventually the NC, as it replaced the PDP as the Congress’s alliance partner after the Assembly elections last year.

The PDP is, however, now preparing the ground for administering the same medicine to the NC as it plans to pilot a Bill on the same issue. It has already sought the NC’s support for getting it passed.  

The JKNPP chief, Professor Bhim Singh, has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court now as the J&K High Court had earlier dismissed petitions seeking fresh delimitation. The Advocate General of Jammu & Kashmir, M I Qadri, has said that the Government will defend its stance, in the Supreme Court. The issue is being seen by many as a divisive issue, having the potential of spreading the poison of acrimony and bitterness between the Kashmir valley and Jammu, if not handled properly.

At the same time, while the authorities would need to tread carefully it is important to remember that while the delimitation exercise has been undertaken in 513 Lok Sabha constituencies across the nation four times since 1947, J&K’s six parliamentary constituencies remain untouched. ---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

Employment Guarantee:NREGA RUNS INTO TROUBLE, by Insaf, 24 September 2009 Print E-mail

Round The States

New Delhi, 24 September 2009

Employment Guarantee

NREGA RUNS INTO TROUBLE

By Insaf

The Centre has yet another bone to pick with the States. Last week it was unhappy over the failure of the State Governments to do enough to beef up internal security. This week it is the failure of most State Governments to efficiently implement the UPA Government’s flagship programme: National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme NREGS. Alarming reports continue to pour into New Delhi of prolonged delays in NREGA wage payments from all over the country. Shockingly, delay of several months has become a norm in entire districts and States. Worse, in many places the labourers have even lost hope of being paid at all, reducing them to the level of slave labour. Under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, workers must be paid within 15 days. Failing that, they are entitled to compensation under the Payment of Wages Act --- upto Rs. 3,000 per aggrieved worker. Except in some isolated cases, no such compensation has been paid. Delays in wage payments are reportedly said to be partly responsible for hunger deaths in some drought-affected States.

The States have, no doubt, argued that the main reason for the delays is the inability of the banks and post offices to handle mass payments of NREGA wages. But that is only a part of the truth, according to dedicated experts. The current jam is said to be the Centre’s own doing, its hasty, top-down switch to bank payments imposed about a year ago. But the bigger problem is the attitude of the State employees towards implementing NREGA. With bank payments making it much harder to embezzle NREGA funds, explained an expert, the whole programme is now seen by these Government functionaries as a headache: the work load remains the same and even grow but the inducements --- the money they made on the sidelines --- have disappeared. All in all, the delays in NREGA wage payments are not just operational. (Not a little havoc is caused, for instance, by the tyrannical behavior of the engineering staff in-charge of measurements of work executed). The hurdles reflect a deliberate attack on the scheme. Time for both the Centre and the States to sit up and act.

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States Slow On Minority Plans

Incredibly enough, a majority of States have paid little heed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s high-priority Rs 2500 crore scheme for the minorities. Statistics reveal that the scheme envisaging multi-sectoral development programmes in minority-concentrated districts in 20 States hasn’t taken off in 16. This, when the State only has to recommend specific development projects for the districts identified and get requisite funds. Of these, while Delhi, J&K, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim have not even submitted plans, Manipur (six districts), Bihar (seven districts) and Rajasthan (six districts) are terribly slow in utilising the funds sanctioned. Orissa and Maharashtra are yet to seek funds, whereas Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Karnataka, which have got the money, are yet to initiate the programmes. However, there is some consolation for the Minorities Ministry-- the scheme is progressing satisfactorily in Haryana, West Bengal’s 10 of 12 districts, Uttar Pradesh’s 12 of 21 districts and Assam’s 11 of 13 districts. 

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Gujarat Response To Terrorism

Gujarat’s Narendra Modi has smartly reacted to the Centre’s criticism of the States for not doing enough to tackle the country’s internal security. It is all set to be one-up on the other States by constituting 111 anti-terror Quick Response Teams (QRTs), all armed with hi-tech weapons and armored vehicles, and is awaiting the Centre’s approval. The QRTs, which will comprise highly-trained men from the Anti-Terrorist Assault Squads (ATAS) are to be located near ‘sensitive locations and likely terrorist targets’ across the State. The Special Operation Group of the State’s Anti-Terrorist Squad will oversee the teams’ coordination and functioning.  Each QRT will comprise six commandos who will be equipped with modern weaponry, including submachine guns, semi-automatic pistols and assault rifles, and will be on call 24 hours. Tactical features such as full coverage body armour, gas masks, fire retardant gear, gloves etc too will be provided. The State hopes to get the teams in place by end of this financial year and give its people a “modern age” police teams.

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Surprise Setback For Nitish

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has yet to recover from a rude shock he received last week. In the byelections to 18 Assembly seats held in the State, his Janata Dal (U) won only four seats and another two by partner BJP. It lost seven seats. Arch rivals—RJD’s Lalu Prasad and LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan’s alliance made a surprise comeback after their poor performance in the Lok Sabha poll. The alliance won eight seats-- RJD five and LJP three. The Congress, which went alone, too did well with two seats, and according to Nitish was a reason for his setback as “it splintered the votes.” However, party leaders feel there was upper caste anger against Nitish’s thrust on backwards and dalits and corruption besides infighting. A jubilant RJD chief said “Lalu cannot be written off”, Paswan warned: “We have won the semifinal and will win the final too.” Meanwhile, like Bihar, Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit too faces a setback after its clean sweep in the Lok Sabha poll. The Congress failed to win either of the two seats in the bypoll. The BJP and the RJD won one each.  

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Kerala Tops Passport List

Kerala has earned one more first, among others. It issues the largest number of passports not only in the South but the entire country. Last year, 6, 69777 passports were issued from four of its Regional Passport Offices-- an increase of 20 per cent from 2005. The reason could be obvious, Kerala has the highest number of people going to the Gulf for jobs. Interestingly, the other southern States follow suit. Tamil Nadu issued over 5 lakh new passports, Andhra Pradesh 4,50454, and Karnataka 2,63109. As against this, the issuance is very low, in fact much below the 1 lakh mark in States such as Orissa (43,590), Madhya Pradesh (60,734), Uttaranchal (10,470), Himachal (22,927) and Jharkhand (33,346). The State which has now joined the big league is Uttar Pradesh. Over four lakh passports were issued there in 2008, behind Maharashtra which crossed the 5 lakh mark for the first time.   

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Mayawati Hits back

Notwithstanding the apology she tendered to the Supreme Court for not adhering to its order on the construction of memorial sites, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is her fiery self again. Last week, Behenjii gave a stern warning to rivals, Congress and the Samajwadi Party saying that any move to harm these memorials, would lead to such “a serious grave law and order problem that President’s rule will have to be imposed in the country.” While the two parties may choose to ignore it as political rhetoric, the Centre can ill afford to do so. The Union Home Ministry must make a note of it.---INFA

 
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Gilgit-Baltistan Occupation:PAKISTAN’S NEW CHALLENGE TO INDIA, by Prof. Bhim Singh,24 September 2 Print E-mail

Round The World

New Delhi, 24 September 2009

Gilgit-Baltistan Occupation

PAKISTAN’S NEW CHALLENGE TO INDIA

By Prof. Bhim Singh

(Chairman, J&K National Panthers Party)


The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, on September 4 last, threw a bombshell in the name of ‘empowerment’ and ‘self rule’ governance order for ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’ region which Pakistan identified since its occupation as ‘Northern Areas’. With the aid and abetment of the Pakistani army, the Gilgit Muslim Scouts abducted Kashmir Governor, Brig. Ghansara Singh on November 16, 1947 from Astore. Indian army could not rescue the Governor and Pakistan Army took over Gilgit. Since then this region has been under the illegal occupation of Pakistan’s military. Pakistan’s interest in the region is obvious as the geo-strategic importance of the territory has never been in doubt. To the north-east lies China, further north is Kazakhstan, to the north-west there is Afghanistan. The controversial Karakoram Highway runs through the region and the Siachen Glacier commands a strategic portion of it. There lies Anglo-American interest too.

Benazir Bhutto as Pakistan’s Prime Minister granted in 1994 a ‘Reform Package’ for the Gilgit region by introducing a so-called ‘24 Member Council’ for the occupied areas without granting any civil, political or economic rights. The Council worked directly under the command of the Pakistani army. The ‘Reform Package’ was described by the then Prime Minister of POK, Sardar Qayyum Khan as a joke.

He stated: “This has caused serious concern in our minds... I would urge Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to clarify that this decision in no way affects, or is prejudicial to, the UNCIP Resolutions on Kashmir.”  Fifteen years later, another Government of Pakistan led by the same party, PPP, has repeated the same bluff of 1994. Now ‘Self Rule’.

The present move reveals Pakistan’s dangerous conspiracy to annexe strategic areas of Gilgit-Baltistan comprising 32,500 sq. miles of the territory of the erstwhile Dogra state of Jammu and Kashmir as its fifth province. Nearly 5,000 sq. miles of this area were ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963 under the so-called Karachi Agreement signed by Chou-en-Lai and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as the Foreign Ministers of China and Pakistan respectively.

China has since built Karakoram Highway (KKH) which bridges China with Europe via Peshawar (Pakistan). China has also built 16 Air-strips on KKH, mostly used for military purpose. Pakistan has taken up a new project to build 6 Mega Dams in Gilgit-Baltistan with the technical and financial assistance of China. Both these decisions; ceding J&K territory to China and building 6 Mega Dams in the occupied territory of J&K seriously
violate the UNCIP resolution of August 13, 1948 on which Pakistan has been harping for 62 years. Besides, the presence of 5,000 well-equipped Chinese troops as disguised labourers and engineers and the construction of 16 Air-strips on the Highway for Jet Fighters may jeopardize the peace process between India and Pakistan. It may also effect peace prospects in Afghanistan and endanger India’s security. The Anglo-American Bloc has been showing special interest in the region because of China’s presence.

The ‘Self Rule Package’ is an improved form of the 1974 Interim Constitution of the so-called ‘Azad Kashmir’. It appears that Pakistan has decided to establish its locus standi both in POK and the Gilgit region by legitimizing its status from an ‘occupier’ or ‘encroacher’ to a ‘possessor’. This is to counter India’s claim to liberate the entire occupied territory from Pakistan, as declared by its Parliament in a resolution adopted in 1994 during P.V. Narasimha Rao’s Prime Ministership. The ‘Self Rule’ Package provides two Houses of the Legislature --- a Legislative Assembly and a Legislative Council. The Council shall enjoy the legislative powers over all the sixty and odd subjects identified with municipal powers. The Assembly has no legislative competence. The decisions of the Council are not subject to the authority of the Assembly. Interestingly, the Council shall have 15 Members and shall be presided over by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The Governor of Gilgit-Baltistan is a sitting Minister in the Federal Government who shall also be the Vice Chairman of the Council. Shockingly, the Prime Minister of Pakistan is also the Chairman of the Legislative Council of the so-called ‘Azad Kashmir’. Half of the members in the Council shall be nominated by the Prime Minister of Pakistan from amongst the citizens of Pakistan. Similar is the case with the Council of Azad Kashmir. There is a sharp contradiction between Interim Constitution of the ‘Azad Kashmir’, 1974 and Self-Rule Package of ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’ 2009. The so-called ‘Azad Kashmir’ is headed by a President who is elected by the Assembly Members and the Prime Minister heads the Government. Both have to be ‘State Subjects’. Pakistan has carefully rather intriguingly changed nomenclatures of these two heads in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The Governor, a sitting Federal Minister of Pakistan (of course, a citizen of Pakistan) shall be appointed by the President of Pakistan and the Chief Minister (not Prime Minister) shall be from amongst the members of the Legislative Assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan. This is a clear manifestation of the future game plan of Pakistan to annex Gilgit-Baltistan as its fifth province. Moreover, the judicial system makes a mockery of the present Self Rule ordinance. There shall be some so-called judicial officers. Without a High Court, there shall be a Chief Judge with five judges of the so-called Appellate Court. Judges, including Members of Legislative Assembly and the Council shall have to take an oath of allegiance to be loyal to Pakistan and follow the Holy Quran. A candidate for the Assembly need not be a state subject in Gilgit.

In fact, the concept of state subject has been done away since 1947. Qualification of a candidate for the Assembly in POK is that he should be a ‘state subject’ within the scope of the law which was promulgated by Maharaja Hari Singh through a Royal decree in 1927. This continues to be a strict law in J&K and in POK as well. This rule has not been followed in Gilgit package, enabling Pakistani citizens to settle in Gilgit. Naturally so, because one-third of the total population in Gilgit-Baltistan has migrated from Punjab and Balochistan in the past six decades of Pakistani military rule.  

The ‘Self Rule’ ordinance does not mention whether a candidate for the Assembly or Council should be a Muslim. This is understandable as there are no non-Muslims in the region. Not a single non-Muslim survived in the region in 1947. They were killed or converted.

The Instrument of Accession that Maharaja Hari Singh signed while acceding to the Dominion of India in 1947 transferred subjects  including Defence, Foreign Affairs, Communication and Currency to the  Dominion of India. In subtle contrast, the Gilgit ‘Self Rule’ Package expressly provides that jurisdiction over Defence, Foreign Affairs, internal security and matters connected with these subjects shall exclusively be enjoyed by Pakistan. This amounts in international law as a stark invasion and violation of the UNCIP resolution.

The package provides for the constitution of a two member Commission to settle boundary-disputes between Pakistan and Gilgit. Both members shall be appointed by the Governor as employees of Pakistan. Vast lands in the region have been illegally encroached by the Pakistan army and the settlers. The Commission may well be used as an instrument to regularize the illegal encroachments, instead.

The Gilgit-ites fear that political stooges shall be recruited to the so-called Assembly and Council who would then be used as a rubber stamp in its so-called election scheduled for November 12 to serve Pak interest.

Not just that. Pakistan has also managed to serve the rebels in POK with a warning that they may also be framed under a similar ‘Package’. Pakistan clearly intends to reconsolidate its full political supremacy over the occupied territory. The Interim Constitution, 1974 of ‘Azad Kashmir’, may well fall as the next causality. They may have to live with a similar doze which Pakistan has granted to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan as Pakistan’s sixth province.

The package deserves serious introspection by New Delhi’s South and North Block dealing with J&K. Pakistan has admitted publicly before the international community and the United Nations that it no longer cares for the dictates or sermons incorporated in the resolutions of the Security Council proposing plebiscite in J&K after withdrawal of Pakistan armies and civilian settlers from the occupied territory. Pakistan has made it clear. ‘No to withdrawal’ and ‘no to UN resolutions’. Fresh Sino-Pak strategy to grab Gilgit-Baltistan may not be quite pleasant for the Anglo-American Bloc. The US interest in the region remains one of establishing bases of the Pentagon for keeping a watch on the expansionist designs of Communist China. British interest in the region is its ‘earth wealth’ which it discovered during its lease period from the Dogra Maharaja in 1935. To cope with the fast changing scenario of POK and Gilgit is a real challenge for the leadership of India and a question mark on the peace prospects in South Asia. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Of Celebrity Letters:HISTORY GOES FOR A FORTUNE, by Suraj Saraf,22 September 2009 Print E-mail

Sunday Reading

New Delhi, 22 September 2009

Of Celebrity Letters

HISTORY GOES FOR A FORTUNE

By Suraj Saraf

Last year after much ado the Central Government succeeded in acquiring a Gandhian manuscript from the world famous art auctioneers Christie’s for 15,000 pounds plus 3,000 pounds as premium.

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) President, Dr. Karan Singh, had held it as a great honour for India and presented the yellowed parchment to the Navajivan Trust, which holds the copyright of all written works of the Mahatma. Written in January 1948, just 19 days before his assassination, it was one of the last articles penned by Mahatma Gandhi for his magazine Harijan and dealt with the dwindling circulation of the Urdu edition of the magazine.

Interestingly, it had been put up for sale by a Switzerland-based collector. The draft was brought to the notice of the Prime Minister’s Office, which collaborated with several other agencies, namely the Ministry of Culture, ICCR, Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian High Commission in London to convince the bidding organization to exempt the article from being publicly auctioned. The Government managed to obtain it at the negotiated cost without entering into the bidding fray, as Christie’s had withdrawn the offer a day before the date of the official auction.

On the other side of the Globe, in England a note by the Queen Mother fetched 16,000 pounds at an auction while eight letters written by the Late Princess Diana sold for 20,000 pounds. There are many other instances when notes by celebrities had sold for astronomical sums. For instance, a letter by the renowned scientists Einstein had fetched over $ 400,000 and one by the renowned Dutch impressionist artist Van Gogh had sold for $ 500,000.  Most of all, a letter by Abraham Lincoln sold for $ 3.4 million, said to be the highest price for an American manuscript. So on and so forth.

One sometimes wonders why some people pay so exorbitantly for a letter, note, manuscript et al. Is it the intrinsic importance of the writing? Or is it the high status of the celebrity behind it? Or is it some sentimental expression of the buyer that he/ she pay through their nose for it? Or is there some historical importance of the letter? Or is it the feeling of honour or pride in possessing the letter? Or is some dealer of manuscripts who sees an opportunity to make some easy money?

Indeed, there can be any one or more of these reasons behind the high prices being attached to the letter. For instance, there was a letter written by the most brilliant brain of the 20th Century – Albert Einstein, as said above, auctioned for $ 404,000.  The letter was written in 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, in which he had described the Bible as “pretty childish” and scorned at the notion that the Jews could be a “chosen people”. The letter had sold for 15 times the pre-sale estimate. The unidentified buyer was described by the Managing Director of the Auction as having “a passion for theoretical physics and all that it entails.” Among the unsuccessful bidders was the Oxford Evolutionary biologist Richard Dakins, an outspoken atheist.

Several other manuscripts by Einstein had sold for sky high prices. The $404,000 Einstein letter to Gutkind was only a little less than $442,000 paid for the entire collection of 55 love letters between Einstein and his first wife Mileva Maric, at an auction. Interestingly, at that very auction, a paper by Einstein and his best friend Michale Lesso, attempting a calculation that would later be a pivotal piece of his crowning achievement, the “General Theory of Relativity”, went under the hammer for $398,500.  

Apparently, it came as no surprise to a historian at the California Institute of Technology and head of the Einstein papers project, Diana Kormos Buchwald, that the Gutkind letter fetched such a high price. Likewise, Gerald Holton, a historian of science at Harvard and a longtime Einstein expert said the scientist’s marketability had been improved by the last few years of hoopla about the 10th year of Relativity, which included his selection as Time Magazine’s “Man of the Century” in 2000, and several new publications. Einstein, as pointed out by him in his autobiographical notes, lost his religion at the age of 12, concluding that it was all a lie, and he never looked back.

As for US President, Abraham Lincoln, his letter had sold for $ 3.4 million only a few months ago by the famous art auctioneers Sotheby’s. It was bought by an American collector bidding over the telephone. The record breaking manuscript was “arguably Lincoln’s most personal and powerful statement on God, slavery and emancipation”.

The letter was the highlight of a sale of some 100-odd manuscripts written by other American historical figures. These included documents written by George Washington, a Lincoln autograph penned on the day of his famous Getty-burg address and one from the sixth US President John Quiney Adams, foretelling the Civil War. The letter dated April, 1764, is a response to some 195 boys and girls who put their name on to a document entitled “Children’s petition to the President asking him to free all the little slave children in this country.”

“Please tell these little people,” Lincoln wrote, “I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy, and that while I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, he will to do it.”

A 12-page letter penned by the anguished Dutch Impressionist artist Vincent Van Gough was purchased by someone for $ 500,000 just before it was to go for public sale. The letter was to an art critic written only months before Van Gogh committed suicide. The buyer had get it as Valentine Day present to his wife, who in her college days had been a student of art history whose first love was Van Gogh!

At the end, there is no always good reason for the buyers to own these letters, manuscripts et all. And, the saga of letters by star personalities fetching fortune to their owners shall go on.  ---INFA

 
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance-

 

 

 

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