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Incursion Reports ‘Hyped:IS INDIA SCARED OF CHINA?, by Prakash Nanda,23 September 2009 |
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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)
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Delimitation Exercise:WILL IT TAKE PLACE IN J&K?, by Sant Kumar Sharma,22 September 2009 |
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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)
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Employment Guarantee:NREGA RUNS INTO TROUBLE, by Insaf, 24 September 2009 |
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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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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)
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Gilgit-Baltistan Occupation:PAKISTAN’S NEW CHALLENGE TO INDIA, by Prof. Bhim Singh,24 September 2 |
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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)
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Of Celebrity Letters:HISTORY GOES FOR A FORTUNE, by Suraj Saraf,22 September 2009 |
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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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