India News and Features Alliance (INFA) - Vigil Against Jehadis:WESTERN BORDER ON HIGH ALERT, by Insaf,8 November 2007

Bad news continues to plague Kashmir. If Pakistan’s proxy war in the strife-torn State is ghastly, the declaration of emergency and the ongoing Musharraf-militant tussle for power has led New Delhi to step up vigil in Kashmir to stall the jehadis from sneaking in. Significantly, the entire Western border has also been put on a high alert and additional troops deployed in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The Defence establishment is working on two scenarios. One, that President Musharraf may play both ends against the middle by balancing his crackdown on fundamentalists by increasing support to the anti-India lobby. Two, the jehadis, after falling out of favour with Musharraf, may try to infiltrate into India across the border. Either way, this has added to New Delhi’s Kashmir woes.

Meanwhile, New Delhi has chosen to be realistic in its response to proclamation of Emergency by President Musharraf and imposition of de facto martial law. As a top official source put it candidly: “India is OK with the General so long as he keeps a check on the jehadis.” In effect, it will have no problem living with a General-led Pakistan so long as the authorities there crackdown not only against the militants within Pakistan but also the anti-India groups. The General is known to be targeting Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi and the Taliban. India wants him also to go for Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Both organizations are known to have close links with Al-Qaida and Taliban. However, they also focus their activities against India.

The BJP couldn’t get a better Diwali gift as it is all set to form its first Government in South India. Political activity is in full gear following Union Cabinet’s decision to revoke President’s rule in Karnataka on Thursday last. Even the former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy’s brother and former JD Minister Revanna and three others withdrawing support has not been able to dampen the high spirits of BJP and JD(S) MLAs. No matter that a weirdly unpredictable sulking Deve Gowda is unhappy with the Centre’s decision and has summoned Kumaraswamy. All eyes are now on the Speaker. What will his verdict be on November 17^th on Deve Gowda’s petition seeking the dismal of Kumarswamy and 38 MLAs for disobeying the party’s whip and forming the Govt with the BJP. That is a million dollar question.

Maharashtra’s Vidarbha is once more making news for all the wrong reasons. Farmers’ suicides continue to wreak havoc in the region’s impoverished and crisis-ridden agriculture. Fourteen more deaths have been appended to the ever-growing list of farmers who have committed suicides because of their inability to repay their mounting debts. Since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Vidarbha in July last year, over 1,689 farmers have ended their lives, including 992 this year. President Pratibha Patil expressed concern over the spate of suicides during her visit to her home town in Amravati last month. She also suggested several measures to alleviate their plight. None has so far made any impact on the State Government even as Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh loudly proclaims completion of three “successful” years. * * * *

The States have much to be pleased about. This follows the Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan’s announcement that as many as 7,000 subordinate courts would be set up in the country. Reportedly, this proposal, favourrd by the Centre, would help reduce the increasing backlog of cases. Speaking at the inauguration at the Kerala High Court Day in Kochi, the Chief Justice disclosed that the accumulation of the cases all over the country till date was 2.56 crore. Thanks to the dearth of courts and not because of delay in the adjudication of cases. The Chief Justice also suggested the need for all judges, including those from the Supreme Court and High Courts to be trained at the National or State Judicial Academy. Clearly, this spells good news for the long list of litigations awaiting justice for years and years, even decades in some cases.

Trust the UP Chief Minister, Mayawati to make sure that her party symbol --- Elephant -- leaves its jumbo imprint on the State for all times. By conceptualising Project Elephant to counter the much-hailed Project Tiger, she is all set to establish an Elephant Reserve in the State, which has a fairly large elephant population with the tuskers numbering 254. Already, 744 square kilometers area in the “Elephant Corridor” of Saharanpur and Bijnore districts of western UP is to be notified as the Elephant Reserve area. The Reserve plans to focus on protecting the habitat of the tuskers through a close watch, ensuring their mobility and damage control related to man-animal conflict. If nobody else cheers for Mayawati, at least animal activist Maneka Gandhi will hoot for her!
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Demand for the proclamation of President’s rule in Jharkhand is mounting. The Saffron Sangh and the CPI(M) want the “much-maligned” Central rule imposed on the State without further delay. Thanks to the escalating incidents of violence and the rapidly deteriorating law and order situation. Significantly, the Congress, which supports the Koda Government from outside, too is unhappy with the Chief Minister’s inability to curb Maoists and criminal activities. Last month alone, the Maoists killed over 19 villagers in Chilkaridih district, in one of the worst massacres in the State. Leading to a situation where business and commercial enterprises are finding it difficult to survive. If this continues, Jharkhand may well-replace notorious Bihar as the crime capital of India.

Congress old warhorse and Kerala NCP chieftan Karunakaran continues to make his erstwhile parent party, the Congress, wary. The Congress State leadership is busy pulling in all directions and is yet to get its act together on whether or not to allow the leader back in the Party. The KPCC is split is down the middle with one faction led by the Opposition leader Ooman Chandy and its President Ramesh Chennithala opposing the nonagenarian leader’s return. On the other, the Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s confidants are busy holding talks with Karunakaran for his return. Recall, during the State elections, the K-factor played spoilsport for the Congress. Crafty Karunakaran has clearly set the cat among the Congress pigeons.

Not only the Congress but its arch rival BJP too is bitten by the jealousy bug. In bibulous Rajasthan, dissidence between the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has embraced a new level of intoxication. The Chief Minister’s camp appears to have dragged Jaswant Singh into an unprecedented legal battle. The Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Court in Jodhpur last Tuesday ordered the State police to register a case against Singh for allegedly serving milk laced with opium at his lunch last week attended among others by nine rebels, including three Cabinet ministers, two MPs, two MLAs and a former BJP State President. While Singh’s family denies the charge, the BJP is embarrassed with this opium controversy between what is right and lawful and what is traditional.--- INFA