The Jinn is out of Aladdin’s Lamp, and refuses to go back in. This is the truth about the Taliban, its creation and the far-fetched problems it is creating. President Zardari himself has said that Taliban is the creation of Pakistan (ISI) and USA (CIA).
During the period of the Presidentships of George W. Bush and General Musharraf, there had been half-hearted attempts to contain the Taliban; and now it has attained such colossal proportion that it has become very difficult to contain or crush it, though President Obama has warned about the gravity of the situation. The picture has been well depicted by Leonard Spector in his article ‘Pakistan, Taliban and the global security’( The Statesman13 May) and by Salman Haider ‘Crack the whip’(The Statesman 14 May). There is some resentment among sections of the Pakistan’s people, mainly because of the sufferings of the civilians, and also because of religious sympathy towards the Taliban.
The thrust against the Taliban has been intensified, but a new potential danger has raised its head. When Pakistan first exploded its nuclear bombs in 1995, there were widespread apprehensions that this was the beginning of the ‘Islamic Bomb’. However, this was dismissed as a joke, as they thought that the USA was in full knowledge and control of nuclear technological developments in Pakistan, - though the truth is that China had a big part to play in this.
Be that as it may, later developments with Dr. A. Q. Khan exporting the nuclear weapon technology to Islamic countries like Libya, Iran etc. the picture was totally altered and the fear of an Islamic bomb became very real, notwithstanding verbal assurances from the USA. USA, the originator of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty could not do anything about it, and A Q Khan went unpunished.
Now, on the one hand the nuclear technology in the hands of Iran is becoming a problem for the USA, and on the other, the possible seizure of Pakistan’s nuclear armaments and technology by the Taliban and other extremist groups is threatening world peace. Whereas the USA failed to nip the first sign of Islamic bomb in the bud, the gangrene quickly spread, and is now out of control.
The solution is the complete nuclear disarmament of Pakistan and removal of all nuclear installations and facilities from there, for the sake of world peace. But will the USA be up to it? It may not be out of place to mention that through the Indo-US Nuclear Deal the USA has already stopped India’s weapon-grade nuclear research quite effectively, placing India’s nuclear research under the vigilant gaze of the IAEA. So, Pakistan will have no ‘nuclear’ danger from India.
Sunday 17 May 2009
Saturday 16 May 2009
Dr. Binayak Sen
16 May 2009
To The Editor,
The Statesman, Kolkata 700001
Sir,
Apropos of the last two years’ detention without trial of Binayak Sen, physician and philanthropist, you have offered two rhetoric questions in your excellent Leader ‘Two years in jail’(14 May):’ Are we indifferent?’, ‘Do we lack conscience ?’. The inbuilt emphatic answer is of course a positive ‘yes’. As a nation, we have no humanitarian concern as the American people have. There is no public outcry against such gross injustice as there is in America. Yes, India as a whole has no conscience. India consists of people who care about raise in pay and position, about profit in business and about winning elections. They have no time to protest against injustice; - injustice on an innocent non-political activist, committed by the rulers who are themselves criminals.
A comparison with detentions of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi by the military Junta and a large number of muslims at Guantanamo Bay by George Bush naturally comes to mind, though the scales are different. There being no democracy in Myanmar, such travesty of justice is only to be expected there. In USA we found both the American public and the judiciary up in arms against the all-powerful President in continuously voicing their protest. And Mr. Obama was elected riding on the wave of these protests. ‘Can something like this happen in India?’ an American friend asked me. ‘NO’ I said. Because, I argued in my mind, Indians are basically mean and self-centred; and so we get a government that we deserve, not someone like Mr. Obama.
How can the mindset of the people be changed? Obviously by proper education. And that again is not possible under the present circumstances. Look at the way the working of the National Knowledge Commission has been sabotaged and disrupted. Let me just quote without comment from the Editorial ‘Knowledge unlocked’ (12 May) “The National Knowledge Commission need not have spent nearly four years to discover that new ideas, transparency and accountability are and will continue to be resisted by those in government ~ politicians and civil servants alike”.
To The Editor,
The Statesman, Kolkata 700001
Sir,
Apropos of the last two years’ detention without trial of Binayak Sen, physician and philanthropist, you have offered two rhetoric questions in your excellent Leader ‘Two years in jail’(14 May):’ Are we indifferent?’, ‘Do we lack conscience ?’. The inbuilt emphatic answer is of course a positive ‘yes’. As a nation, we have no humanitarian concern as the American people have. There is no public outcry against such gross injustice as there is in America. Yes, India as a whole has no conscience. India consists of people who care about raise in pay and position, about profit in business and about winning elections. They have no time to protest against injustice; - injustice on an innocent non-political activist, committed by the rulers who are themselves criminals.
A comparison with detentions of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi by the military Junta and a large number of muslims at Guantanamo Bay by George Bush naturally comes to mind, though the scales are different. There being no democracy in Myanmar, such travesty of justice is only to be expected there. In USA we found both the American public and the judiciary up in arms against the all-powerful President in continuously voicing their protest. And Mr. Obama was elected riding on the wave of these protests. ‘Can something like this happen in India?’ an American friend asked me. ‘NO’ I said. Because, I argued in my mind, Indians are basically mean and self-centred; and so we get a government that we deserve, not someone like Mr. Obama.
How can the mindset of the people be changed? Obviously by proper education. And that again is not possible under the present circumstances. Look at the way the working of the National Knowledge Commission has been sabotaged and disrupted. Let me just quote without comment from the Editorial ‘Knowledge unlocked’ (12 May) “The National Knowledge Commission need not have spent nearly four years to discover that new ideas, transparency and accountability are and will continue to be resisted by those in government ~ politicians and civil servants alike”.
Wednesday 25 February 2009
The Slumdog hypocrisy
I am intrigued by the euphoria in Congress on the success of the film “Slumdog Millionaire” (“Congress tries to bask in Slumdog glory” The Statesman: 4 February,2009).
According to the Congress party, the success of the film in winning Oscars is a sequel to the government’s ‘governance accomplishments’. I wonder whether the vast slum at Dharabi in Mumbai suburbs is considered an ‘accomplishment’ or a shame to any national government.
Congress wants to showpiece the vast slum area with its filth, muck and widespread deprivations, exploitation and ruthless trampling of human rights as an example of “achieving India”, so much so that the President and the Prime Minister came out in hailing the film.
I am glad the film exposes the hypocrisy of the Indian politicians in all its aspects and shows their 'achievements'. But these politicians, ruthless exploiters as they are, will take advantage of everything, from success to failures and convert them to their vote-bank. They are out and out exploiters too, like the ones shown in the picture.
According to the Congress party, the success of the film in winning Oscars is a sequel to the government’s ‘governance accomplishments’. I wonder whether the vast slum at Dharabi in Mumbai suburbs is considered an ‘accomplishment’ or a shame to any national government.
Congress wants to showpiece the vast slum area with its filth, muck and widespread deprivations, exploitation and ruthless trampling of human rights as an example of “achieving India”, so much so that the President and the Prime Minister came out in hailing the film.
I am glad the film exposes the hypocrisy of the Indian politicians in all its aspects and shows their 'achievements'. But these politicians, ruthless exploiters as they are, will take advantage of everything, from success to failures and convert them to their vote-bank. They are out and out exploiters too, like the ones shown in the picture.
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