The Egyptian Crisis , July 16-31,2013 , Just In Print, Page 21

The Egyptian Crisis  ( INTERNATIONAL )

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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had handed over power to the military, ousted by a historic 18-day wave of anti-government demonstrations. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians took part in the protests aimed at forcing the longtime leader out of office.

The unprecedented protests on the streets of Cairo caught the world's attention. Demonstrators were gathered peacefully in Central Cairo Jan 25, 2011 to demand an end to Mubarak's nearly 30 years in power and protest economic woes in the North African nation. The protests came days after Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced into exile by demonstrations in his home country.

In Egypt, discontent with life in the autocratic, police state has simmered under the surface for years. But there has also been growing discontent over economic woes, poverty, unemployment, corruption and police abuses.

The U.S.-educated engineer Mohammed Morsi became Egypt's first democratically elected president in June 2012. But he ran into trouble almost immediately afterward. His opponents accuse him of authoritarianism and demand that he step down.

Morsi's supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood have rallied strongly behind Morsi, and have clashed in the streets with his opponents. The military says it is giving Morsi until Wednesday to compromise with protesters. It was unclear what the president's next step would be.

United under the name Tamarod — Arabic for rebellion — the protesters began their campaign two months ago as a signature petition to demand Morsi's ouster. The group, which said it gathered 22 million signatures, rallied in Cairo and across the country last Sunday, the first anniversary of Morsi's ascension to the presidency.

Protesters are calling for new presidential elections. The New York Times says the five friends who began the signature campaign all "worked in opposition news media, but have distanced themselves from political parties. They were all Muslims and personally devout, but deeply distrustful of the political Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood."

The military's warning to Morsi thrust the armed forces back into the center of Egyptian politics. The military effectively ran Egypt for 16 months after Mubarak's ouster, but retreated after Morsi was elected. The military says it is not looking to take power. And it is "still licking its wounds from the year and a half in which the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces directed Egypt's transition to democracy.

The White House says publicly that it's committed to democracy in Egypt, and has urged Morsi to ensure "that the voices of all Egyptians are heard and represented by their government." The Obama administration is urging Morsi to call early elections, and is warning the military against staging a coup. The U.S. realeased more than $1 billion in military aid to the country that is dependent on the Egyptian government meeting certain democracy standards.

The army has been accused of a military coup after its deadline for a resolution to the country's political crisis elapsed with rival protesters out in force on the streets of Cairo.

Egypt's leading Muslim and Christian clerics and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei are set to jointly announce details of a political road map for a short transitional period followed by presidential and parliamentary elections.

More than two years after Egyptians overthrew an authoritarian, military-backed leader and later installed their first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, the country is facing the possibility of more forcible change — from the military. It is a dangerous moment with no guarantee that another transition will be any more successful than the last.

The military played a role in Egyptian politics for decades but withdrew 10 months ago under pressure from Mr. Morsi. Although many opposition groups applauded the military’s willingness to again intervene in politics now, that would be a major setback for Egyptian democracy. It would effectively give the military an opening to reinsert itself whenever there is a political crisis — and it is certain there will be more if Egypt wants to be on the road to real democracy. 

The ultimatum seemed to leave Mr. Morsi with few options: cut short his presidency and hold early elections; share power with a political opponent in the role of prime minister or — the worst outcome — fight for power in the streets. For the sake of all Egyptians, the government and the opposition need to finally work together.

Opposition groups, meanwhile, have proved hugely successful at harnessing discontent and bringing people into the streets but not at articulating a coherent message, winning elections and projecting themselves as an effective alternative political force. There is no excuse for the violence on both sides, including the killing of seven people and the ransacking of offices of the Muslim Brotherhood. No one wins if Egypt remains an economic basket case at war with itself.

Egyptians are especially irate over the miserable economic situation, as the prices of bread, gasoline and natural gas continue to rise, despite generous subsidies. The Egyptian pound is in freefall. And there are frequent power outages, because the government lacks the money to import electricity.

Although the official unemployment rate is only 12 percent, says economic expert Hagras, the figure is relatively insignificant, because most Egyptians already worked in the shadow economy. Almost one in two Egyptians lives below the poverty line of $2 (€1.54) a day. The population is growing, and so is the number of high-school graduates, but most lack jobs or prospects. To create sufficient numbers of jobs, the economy would have to grow by at least 8 percent a year -- compared to the most recent growth figure of only 2 percent.

The tourism sector, the country's most important source of income, is in especially bad shape. Some 14.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2010.

Exploding government debt is one of Morsi's biggest problems. The president has been negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for months over a multibillion-dollar loan agreement. In return, however, the IMF is demanding measures to clean up the government's finances, which would include cutting subsidies for fuel.

This would affect the poor most of all. Morsi has been reluctant to take such harsh steps, fearing the loss of his social base. But the longer he delays reform, the more difficult it becomes.

Thanks to generous loans, especially from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Morsi is able to come up for air periodically. The Sunni sister states have approved several billion euros in loans in the last few months. This enables Morsi to focus on other things, such finding new allies, now that more and more citizens are turning their backs on him.

On June 15, Morsi attended a large rally in a Cairo stadium that was broadcast on Egyptian television. Speaking to 20,000 supporters, the president announced that Cairo was severing diplomatic ties with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Perhaps because Damascus is an ally of Iran, it didn't seem to trouble the president that the imams who spoke after him began fanatically agitating against Iranians and other Shiites, deriding them as "unclean" and as "infidels."

Eight days later, one of these "infidels," a Shiite cleric, entered the majority-Sunni village of Abu Musallam, near Cairo, where he and a group of fellow Shiites planned to celebrate an Islamic holiday. When the men and the teenagers of Abu Musallam found out, they formed a mob.They attacked the houses of Shiites with rocks and Molotov cocktails, dragged their screaming victims into the street and stabbed them with knives and swords. "Kill them!" the tormentors shouted. By the time it was over, four Shiites had lost their lives and dozens of men lay bleeding in the dust. A few police officers looked on but did not intervene. They only removed the bodies.

On June 15, Morsi embraces a man named Assem Abdel-Magid, a leader of the group Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya. Abdel-Magid was partly responsible for the 1997 massacre of tourists in Luxor, where 62 people died. He was also one of the backers of the murder of former President Anwar al-Sadat in 1981. Egypt's current president has made the terrorist group socially acceptable. Three weeks ago, he appointed a member of Gama'a al-Islamiyya to be governor of Luxor. However, the man resigned when local citizens protested.

Abdel-Magid is an important ally of the president. Morsi has even tolerated a death threat Abdel-Magid made on TV against German-Egyptian writer Abdel-Samad, because he had supposedly insulted Islam.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called upon the Egyptian government to distance itself from the death threat, but Morsi remains stubbornly silent.

"Its close relationship with a former terrorist shows how morally bankrupt the Egyptian regime is," says Abdel-Samad, who now lives under police protection in Germany.

Obama is wary of seeming to force America’s will on the Arab world’s most populous country. That careful neutrality comes with real risk, however. In country that remembers American tolerance of Mubarak’s repressive regime all too well, Obama is accused of turning a blind eye to Morsi’s power grabs and insularity. 

In fact, many protesters—a broad term, given their varying social, political and economic agendas—were already wary of Obama, who only pushed Mubarak towards the exit after several days of massive protests and his regime’s thuggish response. In some quarters the wariness turned to outright hostility after the U.S. ambassador in Cairo, Anne Patterson, warned last month speech against more mass demonstrations.

The anger towards Patterson raises an issue of particular concern for the White House: the security of the U.S. embassy in Cairo, which was threatened by an angry mob on the same day last year as the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya. On Sunday, White House national security council aide Ben Rhodes said that “additional security measures” are being taken at U.S. facilities in Egypt.

Patterson may have been impolitic, but her words accurately reflect the view of an administration keen to see Egypt—whose crippled economy has only survived months of haggling with the IMF over a $4.8 billion loan thanks to massive subsidies from oil-rich Qatar—find a measure of economic and political stability. Washington may not have been overjoyed to see Morsi, a leader of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, emerge from Egypt’s June 2012 elections. But Morsi’s willingness to maintain Egypt’s peace deal with Israel, and his relative friendliness towards the U.S., have appeased Washington.

That raises the possibility of the military ruling the country again, as it did after Mubarak’s departure—a period that left no one happy. Even the military is disinclined to assume a political role and Obama, mindful of America’s reputation not only in Egypt but throughout the Arab world, isn’t eager to been seen supporting what many are describing as a possible military coup.

A return to military rule would violate the democratic “process” that Obama calls paramount. How to respond would be just the latest in a series of unpleasant dillemas the Arab Spring has handed him since it began thirty months ago.

The coup in Egypt is unfortunate and dangerous for any democracy. According to some sources this is the second Arab Stream and people have won through army as Morsi is communal and fundamentalist. But the people have forgotten that that he was an elected leader. Army in a democracy must be under its civil master. Ninty percent of people were against emergency in India. But none of the opponents were in favor of Indian Army’s intervention. Morsi may be unpopular,but he was a symbol of democracy.

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra,

Sambalpur , Odisha

Snowden isolates America

http://newindianexpress.com/opinion/Snowden-isolates-America/2013/07/01/article1660828.ece

By Upendra Nath Sharma

01st July 2013 07:11 AM

Edward Snowden’s escapade after blowing the whistle on omnibus surveillance operation PRISM launched by the security agencies of the United States has evoked a rather curious ding-bat meme from a section of US intelligentsia that empathises with his cause. Some have complained that Snowden did not do what might a brave patriot have done by staying in the US to face the legal music as did Daniel Ellsberg, after leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Tim Weiner, a former national security reporter for the New York Times, for instance, said that Snowden should have the courage to come home, to fight in court, under the law and asked quite a few questions. “Why contemplate asylum in Ecuador, a country with one of the worst records on free speech and free press in the Western Hemisphere? Why does he act like a spy on the run from a country he betrayed?”

It would seem that for these observers, Snowden’s exposure is understandable and forgivable only as ungovernable moral outrage and not as a calculated effort to document for the US public the almost unimaginable reach of the US surveillance apparatus. They would prefer it if Snowden, in addition to difficulties he has already experienced, returned to the US to offer himself as a human sacrifice in an attempt to demonstrate the worthiness of himself and his cause to his most determined critics.

They, however, forget that Ellsberg, a member of the national security establishment, had initially declined to identify himself as the source of the leak. Instead, he went into hiding for 13 days after the New York Times broke the Pentagon Papers story in order to evade “the largest FBI manhunt since the Lindbergh kidnapping”, avoid questioning, achieve the maximum publicity for his disclosures, and circulate the papers to as many media outlets as possible.

In fact, Ellsberg himself seems to endorse Snowden’s action. He told a TV show: “I think very realistically, that if he wanted to be able to tell the public what he had done and why he had done it and what his motives were and what the patterns of criminality were in the material that he was releasing, it had to be outside the United States. Otherwise he would be in perhaps the same cell that Bradley Manning was, and that’s a military cell.”

The US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) permits military custody indefinitely of an American citizen who is a civilian. Had he stayed, Snowden could very well have found himself at Quantico, naked perhaps like Bradley was for a while, and be really incommunicado, as Bradley has been for three years with the single exception of being allowed to make a statement when he pled guilty to 10 charges.

The truth is that just as he was about to confront Chinese president Xi Jinping with awkward questions after months of painstaking preparation of the Chinese cyber-espionage dossier, US president Barrack Obama received a rude jolt when Snowden blew the whistle. And his administration has been less than sure-footed in its response to the Snowden shock.

The US administration could have shrugged off the Snowden revelations or handled them as an element in the US domestic debate over intensive/extensive NSA surveillance. Former lawyer turned Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, through whom Snowden organised his exposure of US surveillance, has said that in his dealings with Snowden the 30-year-old systems administrator was adamant that he and his newspaper go through the document and only publish what served the public’s right to know. “Snowden himself was vehement from the start that we do engage in that journalistic process and we not gratuitously publish things,” Greenwald said. “I do know he was vehement about that. He was not trying to harm the US government; he was trying to shine light on it.”

After Greenwald broke the news of Snowden’s flight to Hong Kong, Washington could have rushed someone there, offering him a chance to testify before Congress and a fair trial. If the US establishment was ready to have an honest discussion about its powers, Snowden might have wound up not in Moscow, but back in Washington.

Instead of treating Snowden as a public spirited whistleblower who may have gone a bit too far, the US administration went on an overdrive to project him as a traitor. National Security Agency director General Keith Alexander told a congressional committee to assert that Snowden had done “irreversible and significant damage” to the United States. US representative Peter King called Snowden a defector and said it was time to get tough with China and Russia. Former vice-president Dick Cheney called him a traitor who might have been working for China.

Voices like those of Greenwald tried to cut through the chaff being thrown around by the government and its supporters to distract attention from the content of Snowden’s leaks. They asserted that Snowden is essentially a whistleblower carefully revealing embarrassing secrets — but not vital operational details — in order to force a public debate on surveillance practices that the US government is desperate to keep private. But the US establishment haughtily ignored this sane counsel.

Not unexpectedly, the US bullying tactics met a stonewall of indifference and hostility from the rest of the world, which not only ignored US cries for help but questioned the US government’s claim of grievance over the cyber-violation of the sovereignty of other countries.

This is a clear indication that the world is now less willing to be dictated by US prescriptions of right and wrong. Russia and China have openly rejected the US appeals for help and Ecuador has ramped up its defiance by waiving preferential trade rights with Washington to indicate that it retains its right to give asylum to Snowden. Even the friendly countries are looking suspiciously at the United States. For that the fact that Edward Snowden has been declared a fugitive by the US law is not an international problem. It is America’s problem.

The writer is a former professor of sociology, IIT-Kanpur.

Email: upendrasarojsharma@yahoo.com

Why Odisha Undeveloped ? ( States) Just In Print , July 1- 15 , 2013

It is ironic that the question "why is Odisha one of the poorest and why is is backward" has become perennial. Someone in his comments has mentioned about Justice Khanna Enquiry Commission. Justice Khanna Enquiry Report dates back to the year 1967. Even at that time, Orissa was the poorest and evoked wonders as to why nature's blessed land lags behind others. In this context, Justice Khanna observed:"Despite its rich history and despite its natural reources, Orissa is one of the poorest States in the Country. The State has sometimes been

described as a hapless Cinderella of modern India.

We need a corruption free and dedicated political class and bureaucracy - one that prides itself on having the opportunity to develop the State rather than on the number of peons/drivers and support staff. The politicians and bureaucrats need to be well aware of the socio-economic environment of the State and be sensitive to the needs of all classes of people, whether rich or poor - whether educated or illiterate - whether farmers or industrialist. Human will, vision and pro-activeness can do wonders - especially with the resources that we have. The only thing however is that development must be well thought off - we need not blindly follow what others have done. Different symptoms call for different treatment.

With the total of 18 districts of Odisha included in the list of 150 extremely poor districts of the country, the state tops the set of data compiled by the Planning Commission on the instructions of the Supreme Court. The Apex Court has directed the Planning Commission to prepare the list of extremely poor districts in the country to provide them the required additional foodgrains.

Orissa holds the first position with 18 districts of the state featuring in the list, followed by 15 districts each of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. 14 districts of Jharkhand too have been included in the list.

The state has failed to develop the agriculture sector, although it offers employment to 60% of the workforce, in a similar manner like other Indian states such as Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. This despite of the state's economy being mainly dependent on agriculture to push growth.

Considered as the ninth largest state in the country with nearly 156 lakh hectares of farm land, it has the land area under cultivation sat about 62 lakh hectares. Analysts have said that merely 34% of the agriculture land is irrigated which is a major reason for low productivity. Hence, the state government needs to take more steps for developing proactive policies to bring improvement in the conditions of farmers.

The Government of India’s National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) in a report has released the well-being index of India. The same tell about the quality of life in India. This report has mentioned that six districts of Odisha being in the list of worst twenty districts of India. Rayagada district ranks the worst in India followed by Kandhamal, Nuapada, Bolangir, Koraput and Bargarh, all in Western and Southern part of the state, are ranked at 4,9,10 & 19 from the bottom respectively.

It has been many years since the Government. of India has been pumping thousands of Crores as special budget for the welfare of these districts of Western and Southern Odisha through scheme like KBK. Then how is it that after so many years of huge money inflow into these districts there is no change in statistics? Who is accountable for this mishap? Is the Chief functionary of the state not responsible for this?”

Odisha, one of the poorest of states in the Indian union, is inhabited by more than 24% of tribal population concentrated mostly in North-Western, Western and Southern part of the state. Due to the negligence of all successive state governments, the development of these three patches are far behind the Coastal Odisha tract by any parameter even though these regions are full of minerals and natural resources.

In two occasions, during 1936 and 1948, these tribal dominated Western and Southern regions amalgamated into then Odisha division (precisely the present Coastal Orissa) from erstwhile Central and Madras presidency of British ruled India respectively to form Odisha state in the line of linguistic similarities. But, reality is, till now the native people residing in these regions don’t know how to speak the state official language Odiya, which is practiced in Coastal Orissa districts in particular. Vast region of Western Orissa communicate in variants of Sambalpuri language (also termed as Kosli by some) and with numerous tribal languages practiced by the indigenous tribal population. This leads to poor enrolment in school which encourages Odiya as the medium of education and thus a high school dropout rate is seen in these regions. Students are forced to learn Odiya language in school which is different than what they practice in day to day life.

The differentiation between the then Odisha Division (Coastal Odisha) and the newly added Western and Southern regions is well maintained by all successive state Governments, while allocating funds and in developmental works.

All the development work is happening at the coastal region and Bhubaneswar area, the state capital.

Inhabited by app.50% of the state population (17,899,735 as per 2001 Census) and spread in 28.73% of total land of the state (44,355.4 Sq Km), this Coastal Odisha tract is given utmost priority by all the successive state governments and have been enjoying all sorts of developmental works in the name of Odisha. Where as a vast land with more than 71.27% of the total land area of Odisha state (109,992 Sq Km), and with a population of little above half of the state population is depriving basic needs.

In recent development except for the Central University, all the educational and research institutes of national repute, such as Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), etc awarded by Central Government for the entire state are located in and around Bhubaneswar. This has brought a distinction for Bhubaneswar as the only city in India to have an IIT, AIIMS and NISER at one location. 

Central Government has also proposed to establish a National Innovative University (World Class), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), ESI Medical College and Hospital, Railway Medical College in Bhubaneswar, and another IIIT in Berhampur in Coastal Orissa, neglecting the rest state.

 If you consider the allotment of health facilities in the state the picture of disparities done towards the rest of the tribal regions of the state gets crystal clear. There is just one state run Medical College, viz, VSS Medical College & Hospital, Burla in Sambalpur for the entire Western Orissa, there are state run SCB Medical college in twin cities of Bhubaneswar - Cuttack , MKCG Medical College in Berhampur, a city just 179 Km from Bhubaneswar by Road and 165 Km by train.

Mahandi Coal Field Ltd. (MCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd, a Central Government entity which has operation in Western as well as Central Odisha, is too establishing a Medical College Hospital in Talcher Town, 150 Km from state Capital Bhubaneswar, with state government’s active persuasion. The defense dept has proposed to set up a medical college in Baleswar, another town in Coastal Odisha with a distance of 198 Km by Road from Bhubaneswar.

State government has recently proposed to upgrade Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar to a Medical College with a hoping budget of 32.5 Crores. It is also been proposed to set up Government. Medical College & Hospital in Baleswar where as the state government is trying to establish 3 Private Medical Colleges in backward tribal dominated Western Orissa in PPP mode since last 15 years through Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) with a financial grant of 5 Crores each. There is no progress seen in establishing these Medical colleges in these backward regions of Odisha.

So, a question instantly arises in mind, “Why private Medical College & Hospital for poor tribal region of Western Odisha, who can’t afford a full meal a day and central and state funded Government. Medical Colleges & Hospitals for Coastal Odisha?” Is this not pure discrimination? 

 It is to be noted  that Balangir, Kalahandi, in this back ward Western Odisha, many times have created news in national media for starvation deaths. Low-income people in these backward districts can hardly afford the cost of good health care even for their children who suffer from early death, under nutrition and anemia. As against the State figure of 65 infant deaths per 1000 life births, district like Kalahandi in the Western Orissa had 119 infant deaths.

Prevalence of undernourishment among children is also high in these tribal dominating districts. The health situation is really gloomy if we look at maternal death rates. Women in these households work hard at home, in the fields, bear children and do not get the medical attention while giving birth to children.

Occurrence of malaria remains a threat to the people in the tribal areas. As many as 158 blocks in tribal districts, which contribute 70 per cent of the malarial cases, suffer the worst. Sometimes outbreak of mysterious diseases in these regions takes a heavy toll of life. Poverty and deprivation leave very little money with people to spend on the treatment of diseases and illness.

The state government is earning maximum revenue from these under developed tribal belts through mining and industries. When the industries are exploiting and polluting the region, are opening health care units and educational facilities in Coastal Odisha with state government’s active persuasion. The recent Vedanta group promoted World Class University in Puri- Konark Road with a budget of 15,000 Cr and in an area of 6,000 Acre sets the perfect example. Vedanta Industries Ltd has established two Aluminum plants in Western Orissa, the refinery unit and captive power plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi District and smelter plant with captive power plant at Jharsuguda, where as it is opening its 100 bed capacity burn and trauma care unit in Bhubaneswar, which is at a distance of 400 Km from Jharsuguda and more than 450 Km from Lanjigarh.

Hundreds of crores rupees received from central government in the name of KBK has become a source of exploitation for the state government. The head quarter of the KBK scheme is at the state capital Bhubaneswar, far away from the problems people are facing in their everyday life. This century of exploitation by all successive state government since the formation of the state in 1936, towards these tribal pockets has forced them to shout for a separate state of Kosal comprising 11 districts and a sub-division of Western Odisha. Also, the Maoist guerillas are spreading in rest tribal districts in rapid speed taking advantage of this. These entire exploitation stories remind the colonial era and raise some fundamental questions about democratic rights in India. 

The ruling BJD government arranged a ‘Swabhiman Samabesh’ at New Delhi on 12^th , June, 2013. Party managers left no stone unturned to make the rally a success in support of their demand for special category state (SCS) for Odisha. It may be noted that the demand for special category status to Odisha is not new, the party made it a prestige issue after the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar was awarded Rs 12,000 crore under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme for the 12th Plan period, much higher than Rs 1,250 crore allocated to Odisha. The party is trying to showcase the sharp difference in fund allocation as political discrimination.

Naveen Patnaik is not doing the homework. The people Odisha heavily relied on hischarisma and hoped he will do some miracleStill he is going to the center for begging . We are unable to spend sanctioned amount for the KBK and returning the unused money to the center then what will we do if we get more money and facilities from the center when we are unable to take the benefit.

Now a days more and more states want a special status for them so that they could get central funds as grants. The states do not just want to raise resources for the purpose. Besides, such states are being ruled by regional parties whose leaders have very high ambitions, some of them wanting to become PM even. The kind of rallies being organised these days in Delhi by leaders of regional parties are just an attempt to put pressure on the Central government which is already starved of funds. The Food Security Bill which has high stakes for the ruling Congress party would further strain the finances of the central government. Where would then money come from to meet the demands of states like Bihar and Odisha?

Odisha has a lot of mineral resources. But it does not give it any benefit except for royalties, which is meagre compared to the revenue from these minerals. There is a freight equalization policy, which essentially eleminates any locational advantage for making the plants closer to source of raw material. If it is allowed the explore it's natural resources, it will be the richest state in India. Odisha has not seen any central govt. investment to speak about in last 50 years . Having said that there is no point begging, Polical class is neckdeep in corruption. The additional funds won't necesarily mean betterment of Orissa. No state need any assistance, India should move to a more federal system where states are given some financial autonomy. At present, it is all controlled by the central govt and they are distributing the funds on political considerations, not economic.

The whole Special Category Status is a political humbug. The higher echelons of both the parties  of the state and Centre will  sit together over a cup of coffee and the papers will be on the table.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,

Sambalpur,Odisha

No More Privacy in US ( Foreign Policy ) Just In Print , July 1- 15, 2013

The  NSA  ( US National security agency ) was created along with the CIA and the FBI, they've been spying big time,it's just now we're realizing it. Nothing new. Facebook became the first to release aggregate numbers of requests, saying in a blog post that it received between 9,000 and 10,000 US requests for user data in the second half of 2012, covering 18,000 to 19,000 of its users' accounts. Facebook has more than 1.1 billion users worldwide.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) is secretively collecting personal phone and internet data of millions of people in the US and around the globe to prevent terror attacks on American interests worldwide and inside the homeland.

Americans love their privacy and do not lightly tolerate it being violated. This is a long-running tradition that dates back to the country's founding. The Founding Fathers did their best to protect it, and put provisions in the Constitution to make sure the government respected it. This is changing, though. Technology is advancing, and with it comes newer and better ways to watch people which were impossible only a few decades ago. The ability curious observers have to spy on unsuspecting people is as astonishing as it is   frightening. 

The order to do so should have directly come from the White House; in fact from the Oval office. Since the agency is doing it in the name of national security, not too many Americans except media are protesting the surveillance. In its defense, the White House maintains that it took the permission of national security court and did not overstep the authority of the US Congress.

Privacy issues have become very controversial since the War on Terror began. This is a serious problem which seems to be ignored by most politicians. The federal government is  seeking information  from organizations that collect personal information.

If the phones and internet data of some of the American residents and citizens have been followed up by national security agency (NSA), even then Mr. Obama has not done any thing illegal - leave alone him violating Constitution. If it turns out that there was something fishy about the whole operation by either the Federal Supreme Court or the US Congress or both by applying the laws to maximum precision and the White House admits its fault, even then Mr. Obama cannot face any retaliatory action from the US Senate.

He took the permission of a special national security court and did not overstep the authority of the US Congress, if media reports are to be believed. Once these two things are taken care of then it comes within his formal and legal executive authority to order the surveillance, should the national security situation warrants it. He did not do anything to face impeachment proceedings as it is the US Congress which should have allowed formation of NSA with such wide ranging powers—which can be abused in extreme conditions—and also the formation of the special national security court. All should hope that Mr. Obama ordered the wiretapping and phishing in good faith and in national interest without any prejudice and bias.

Washington is facing growing international pressure to explain the previously undisclosed surveillance programme identified in the documents leaked by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden as ‘Prism’.

U.S. intelligence officials said that National Security Agency surveillance programs have disrupted "dozens" of terrorist plots in the U.S. and more than 20 countries around the world.

A string of media reports describing secret US surveillance programs underscore the degree to which laws originally designed to track phone records relating to criminal investigations have been expanded to authorize the collection of vast quantities of new forms of data that intrude much more deeply into the private lives of both citizens and non-citizens.

Recent revelations about the scope of US , national security surveillance highlight how dramatic increases in private digital communications and government computing power are fueling surveillance practices that impinge on privacy in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. There is an urgent need for the US Congress to reevaluate and rewrite surveillance laws in light of those technological developments and put in place better safeguards against security agency overreach.

The US government may have a legitimate interest in engaging in certain types of targeted surveillance for specific periods of time. However, the secrecy of these programs prevents an assessment of whether these measures have proper oversight and whether they unnecessarily impinge on the rights to freedom of expression, association, and privacy.

One thing is certain that the White House has trespassed some of the diplomatic niceties and procedures. The better thing for the US is to properly check immigration from all sides and all regions and as a repeat for emphasis it should make a proper immigration and exit policy. Once the US Congress makes a balanced and proper immigration and exit policy, it should use its executive powers to maximum to influence the other Western and European Parliaments to follow the suit. The spreading of the wealth by sharing and proliferating is mandatory for the stability of the whole globe. The US should remain the leader in innovations and in wealth generation; by expanding its influence worldwide and that comes more with symbiosis with equals and quasi-equals. Predation is good for making humans, superhuman, more egoist and multi-functional and not to offend allies and friends.

In Australia, the conservative opposition said it was "very troubled" by America's so-called PRISM programme, which newspaper reports say is a top-secret authorisation for the US National Security Agency (NSA) to extract personal data from the computers of major Internet firms.

Australia's influential Greens party called on the government to clarify whether Canberra's own intelligence agencies had access to the NSA-gathered data, which according to Britain's Guardian newspaper included search history, emails, file transfers and live chats.

"We'll examine carefully any implications in what has emerged for the security and privacy of Australians," Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr said in a television interview, when asked whether Canberra had cooperated with Washington's secret initiative.

Both countries are members of the so-called 'five eyes' collective of major Western powers collecting and sharing signals intelligence, set up in the post-war 1940s.

Australia's spy and law-enforcement agencies want telecoms firms and Internet service providers to continuously collect and store personal data to boost anti-terrorism and crime-fighting capabilities - a controversial initiative that one government source said would be even more difficult to push through now, after news of the secret U.S. surveillance of Internet firms.

The Prism program is potentially a lot more nefarious. The US intelligence community has access to just about everything that you do, say, or post on Facebook, Google (Gmail, Search, YouTube), Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft (Hotmail, Skype), and Apple. As far as we can tell, there’s no separation between domestic and international citizens, nor innocents or people suspected of wrongdoing: Prism, in a word, appears to give the US government completely unfettered, warrant-free access to almost all of your online activity and communications.

It’s not that simple, though: The intelligence community would undoubtedly claim that there would be more terrorism without these Big Brother-like measures – a claim that’s awfully hard to refute, when all of the data is top secret. 

For the time being, if you’re worried about Uncle Sam reading your messages and looking at your photos, your best bet is to stop using big, US-based Internet services such as Google and Facebook.


The upshot of these reflections is that the relation between surveillance and moral edification is complicated. In some contexts, surveillance helps keep us on track and thereby reinforces good habits that become second nature. In other contexts, it can hinder moral development by steering us away from or obscuring the saintly ideal of genuinely disinterested action. And that ideal is worth keeping alive.

Some will object that the saintly ideal is utopian. And it is. But utopian ideals are valuable. It’s true that they do not help us deal with specific, concrete, short-term problems, such as how to keep drunk drivers off the road, or how to ensure that people pay their taxes. Rather, like a distant star, they provide a fixed point that we can use to navigate by. Ideals help us to take stock every so often of where we are, of where we’re going, and of whether we really want to head further in that direction.

Ultimately, the ideal society is one in which, if taxes are necessary, everyone pays them as freely and cheerfully as they pay their dues to some club of which they are devoted members – where citizen and state can trust each other perfectly. We know our present society is a long way from such ideals, yet we should be wary of practices that take us ever further from them. One of the goals of moral education is to cultivate a conscience – the little voice inside telling us that we should do what is right because it is right. As surveillance becomes increasingly ubiquitous, however, the chances are reduced that conscience will ever be anything more than the little voice inside telling us that someone, somewhere, may be watching.

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra,

Sambalpur, Odisha

NAXALISM- A INTERNAL THREAT ( JUST IN PRINT ) June , 16 - 30- 2013

NAXALISM- AINTERNAL THREAT

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In the coming years, Naxalism will become the most important internal security threat to India. Poverty and lack of education were the traditional causes of this extremism but the recent attacks in Chatisgarh with the butchering of at least 27 people. Tragic killings raise many a question. In a dastardly attack, the Naxals massacred leading congress leaders from the tribal state, one of the most Naxal-affected states in India. Those killed in the attack include state congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, and Mahendra Karma, former MP and a popular tribal leader. Nand Kumar’s son, Dinesh Patel too lost his life in the tragic attack. The barbaric strike by around 250 Naxals in the forests of Jagdalpur also claimed life of Uday Kumar Mudaliar, a former MLA. This is perhaps the  biggest attack in the sprawling central Indian state since April 6, 2010, when about 75 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a state police personnel were killed in Mukrana forests of Dantewada district by suspected rebels.

  It   highlights ideological commitment as an equally important cause. In Naxalism, there is also a sense of deprivation and injustice. There is also a sense that the lowest sections of society are not empowered and need to agitate for their rights. There is a great need to improve the standards of governance in Naxal-affected tribal areas. Terrorism associated with Islamic fundamentalism is growing; hence the government has to become more vigilant. At the same time, the right to freedom of speech and expression should not be misused.


The recent year’s Naxal incidents have shown a different face of Naxlism, which is far away from its initial targets. They are not only limited to attacks and explosions but also actively involved in economic exploitation, paving way for the rich businessman and industrialist to exploit the land, people and their resources as much as they want.

In the seventies, when Bengal was going through a period of insurgency - the movement that came to be known as Naxalism, the intellectual fuel for this came from the unemployed students of Bengal’s many universities. Why one may ask, did this group of educated young men and women choose this route of violence and  in the process create a movement that has now become part of Bengal modern folk lore after the Bengal famine and the partition stories.

It is obvious that the economic development of India is inextricably connected with the upliftment of the tribals and intensive exploitation of the forest resources. Apart from the fact that forests provide the main source for food, shelter and to some extent clothing, the tribal communities have had a symbolic relationship with the forest. The customs of the tribal life, including religions and social functions and folklore have been shaped and formed by forests. During times of distress and scarcity, tribals mainly rely on the forest produce for their sustenance, and in normal times their food comprises tuber, roots, fruits and leaves collected from the forest. Thus, tribal life is intimately connected, in one way or another with the forests, from their birth till death. Apart from land, forests have been the other major resource base for the tribals. They have lived in perfect harmony with forests for generations and their culture has revolved around this life style. As of now, they cultivate forest land and collect minor forest produce to eke out their livelihood, because they are the original inhabitants of the forest areas. The privileges enjoyed by the tribals are regulated by the forest policies of the state. But unfortunately, this policy was not operated in a manner, which can convince the tribals that reservation of forests was in the interest of tribals themselves. The over jealous attitude of some of the forest staff made them look upon the tribals as ‘unwarranted intruders’, opposed to forest protections and conservations. On the other hand, the tribals, who consider themselves to be the owners of all the forests, have come to feel that they have been deprived of their own habitat.

Ultimately, deforestation has brought about radical change in the social, economic and cultural life of the people in general and particularly, forced the tribals to lead a life of poverty and misery. Large scale compensatory afforestation plantation, soil conservation, efficient joint forest management by the locals and the department officials and other appropriate measures are required to be taken priority basis, besides awakening environment consciousness in public minds to solve the situation from worsening further.

An integrated and holistic approach to the development of Scheduled Tribes must be evolved, if we are to come to grips, comprehensively with the problem. Shortcomings and confusions in the forest policies and acts need to be thoroughly analysed and proper alterations and amendments brought about, taking into account the suggestions and consultations of the Scheduled Tribes. Motivated and dedicated officials and functionaries are in great need to carry forward measures, required for the development of Scheduled Tribe. Committed voluntary organisations, who earnestly carry forward the government’s message of rapid development of the Scheduled Tribes, should also be given due acknowledgement.

Naxal’s ideology of fighting oppression and exploitation to create classless society may be right in their perspective. They are claming to represent most oppressed people who have been untouched by India’s development and bypassed by electoral process. Most of them are Dalit, Adivasi, poorest of the poor who work as landless labourers often below the India’s minimum mandated wages. They believe that Indians are still to acquire freedom from hunger and deprivation.

Killing of landlords, upper class people, police officials, security forces and politicians will never help them to achieve their aim. Although to make a balanced society, government can’t make everyone Bill Gates, but surely they must be provided the basic facility of Roti, Kapda and Makan. Although Government is executing many plans for socially deprived people but somehow there are still not getting any benefit and they are showing their frustration by boycotting the election and forcing the people to boycott.

The recent plan by central government to counter operation in all these states will only moisten the filthy dustbin. The demand of time is that they must be listened to. They must be given the equal status. They must be rehabilitated rather than killed. We may kill current 20,000 insurgents but again after 15-20 years another 20,000 will be ready with more enthusiasm to take revenge. We must understand they are not educated people, they are just finding their way of survival. If this problem will not be taken seriously there are more chances of taking advantage of this situation by foreign hand and that time it will be more dangerous for our nation than external aggression.


I ponder that the balance will never tilt one way or the other. Is economic prosperity more important or preserving your language or culture or tribal identity is? Chambers of commerce and upwardly mobile professionals make take out their calculators and compute business and economic losses but for others, ethnic, tribal or religious pride takes precedence over every thing else, even if it looks foolish. Meanwhile, while governments struggle over the issue of whether to preserve national boundaries or respect ethnic or linguistic or caste ones, thousands of lives and years will be wasted.

Everyone knows unless masses are educated they won’t be able to avail fruits of any reservation . More over given the dwindling number of govt jobs this reservation can't make any difference.

Best thing in this scenario to do would have been to start targeted all expenses paid schools like Navodaya just for BPL people. But Paaswan's and Laloo's of the world don't want rich and poor phraseology enter dalit or PBC politics. While we al know there are privileged few even in dalit community who corner all the benefits of reservation or any such token effort and the penury continues.


The government has enough on its hand, these political parties only add to its woos by highlighting problems. The government has to tackle terrorism, Naxalism, inflation, financial crisis. The end sufferer in all agitations and riots is the common man. Have you ever seen a political party leader being killed in an agitation? It is clear that these parties have only been cheating people and continue to do so still.

All political leaders show the common man a dream - that of living in a world of peace and bliss. But it is this common man who is being denied this happiness. It is day to day struggle for him for survival. The dreams of happiness remain just that – dreams. The government polices and plans are for common good but they fail to reach the common man because the leaders who control these policies fail to deliver. This is because we have chosen wrong leaders. The educated are not casting their valuable vote. To overcome these problems politics should reach the hands of ’Young guns of India” where the fate of India should be changed. It would give a solution.

These Naxal groups can help instill confidence and optimism and actually do some constructive work instead they are busy with bloodshed.

Gone were the days  when naxalism or “ultras” phenomenon emerged as a major internal security threat making its presence felt in the public arena. The naxalites not only extended their area of influence beyond the Red Corridor but also shook the centres of power with their changing tactics. Things have gone to such an extent that our Prime minister openly acknowledged naxalism as a major threat the country is facing in the present times.

According to Govt. estimates rebels have made their presence felt in more than 223 districts of India’s 600 odd districts across 20 states. Following the open conflicts in West Bengal district of Lalgarh, the Central Govt. banned the naxal front organization CPI(Maoist) on June 23, 2009. State specific resistance has already been in force in the form of Salwa Judum(Chattisgarh),Grey Hounds(Andhra Pradesh) and COBRA(Orissa).

Many leaders like Kobad Gandhi, Chattradhar Mahato, Chandrabhushan Yadav etc. were arrested. The government has also initiated publicity campaigns in order to garner support from the general public in their efforts to crack down on the naxals. The pictures of Francis Induwar, the special branch Inspector beheaded by naxals had been widely used by the government to show the ultras in poor light, who otherwise enjoy the moral support of Indian intelligentsia and human rights groups. Allegations of naxal connection with terror out fits like Al-Queda were also made. Occasional voices were also heard about the Chinese support to the naxal movement in India.

On the other side the naxals continued to expand their influence by making use of the backwardness and exploitation in tribal regions. The number of attacks with police and paramilitary forces increased and more stories soaked in blood came out. It is estimated that about 2600 people were killed in naxal attacks during the past three years, the majority of which were policemen.

Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa were the worst affected. Election processes was disturbed at many places across the country. Efforts were made to hijack trains, demanding the release of the captured naxal leader. When the point of conflict shifted from Singur to Lalgarh in West Bengal, the ultras’ influence receded in Andhra under Y.S Rajashekhara Reddy. With the death of YSR and renewed demands for Telengana state it is feared that naxals are going to regain their influence in this part of India.

In many places, rebels came out as self styled protectors of peasants. In West Midnapore district of West Bengal, the incident of Maoist leader Kishenji announcing the farmers who suffered loses in agriculture not to pay back their loans is a pointer to this. The rebel leader also said that the co-operative banks and money lenders will not be allowed to charge more than 2% interest on loans. The message is clear that the ultras are ultimately in the war for a self styled system of governance in their influential areas. The old tactics of rebels staying away from public attention also seems to be changing. The naxals are increasingly turning towards the media in their efforts to get more public sympathy. The capture and release of police officer Atindranath Dutta in West Bengal reminds of Al-Queda form of media attention grabbing by the rebels. 

There are number of questions that strike one's mind and need to be analyzed to deal with the Maoist attacks. Why did our political system fail to reach out to the local people of the affected areas? Why did we fail to develop democratic leadership from these areas? Why did political and civil administrations fail to serve socio- economic causes of the people? Why did intelligence agencies fail to sense the activities of Maoists? How were the Maoists able to establish “international links” to fight the Indian state? Why have the Centre and state governments, till today, failed to evolve joint “comprehensive strategy” to fight the Maoists? The list of questions only gets longer.

The ideology of Naxals is anti-democratic and against our constitution. The problem till date has not found favour for serious discussion, primarily because it has never been treated as an issue which deserved national attention and was treated as a socio-economic problem or at best a law and order problem of the concerned state  government.

Even though the Naxalite movement is an internal security concern, it can have serious consequences for the defense of the country and needs to be dealt with urgently.

However, the best course to tackle the situation is to invite the Maoists for a dialogue across the table. There is a need to adopt a give and take policy. The Naxalites should also come forward and discuss their demands across the table to sort out the issue once for all to save the innocent people. “Give and Take” strategy will only do the miracles to control the Naxalite movement. The central and state governments must evolve joint, comprehensive strategy to fight the Maoists by showing a sense of utmost urgency.

One positive outcome of the naxal threat is the more media coverage on the dispossessed and deprived tribal population of our country. When a decade ends and another year passes by with much blood shed, nothing much positive can be expected from the Indian Government in matters of reconciliation and peace.

A year that marks the end of one of the world’s deadliest rebel forces, LTTE might have encouraged our government for a military solution for the menace. But the solution for this internal disease, as we all know, lies in development and not in an elimination process brokered by the power centres.

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra,

Sambalpur, Odisha

A nation in uncertainty ( JUST IN PRINT ) June, 16-30 - 2013

A nation in uncertainty

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During my visit to Delhi ( in april 2011 )the best place to look for ‘affordable’ continental food are the small restaurants in Paharganj. I happen to visit Paharganj  and went out to have lunch with a friend at one such restaurant. The place was not very crowded but what struck me was the fact that in the 20 odd people sitting there we were the only Desis and rest ‘white’ Videshi. In minutes I saw a few more blonde heads trickle in and a dreadlocked head move out of the door. While I was talking with my friend arguing about what to order the waiter kept on hanging around our table to get our order, the food on other tables was conspicuous by its absence.

The fact that the waiter (a 15-16 yr old lad) never bothered to ask the man with white skin about his order, while he kept on hounding us for full 20 minutes that we took for ordering the pre-ordained Lasagne opened my eyes to a bitter reality. I saw a society that still believes that they are the “White Man’s Burden”. If one starts introspecting after 60 years of independence the failure to exorcise the colonial ghost and an inherent inferiority complex when compared to ‘them’ has been the biggest failure of India as a society. The silver lining in this otherwise gloomy cloud of hopelessness have been individuals who have shone through their abilities and intellect and have shown them what we are all about.

Not counting the Nehru’s, Patel’s and the man called Gandhi, there was one man called V K Krishna Menon. After being appointed India’s first high commissioner to the UK in 1947 he had a huge responsibility on his shoulders to represent our nation in the country which had ruled us for almost two centuries. He performed his duty with utmost dignity and established himself as a distinguished ambassador. He never cared about the overtly patronising nature of the British society in general towards India and on occasion he let them know that they are dealing with one of the finest brains in the Indian politics.

One such incident is of a lady from British aristocracy who asked the London School of Economics educated Menon, how he can speak such articulately in English. Menon retorted, “Ma’am I happen to have studied this language, which you merely have picked!” Also on 23rd January 1957 Krishna Menon, then the head of Indian delegation to the UN, delivered an unprecedented 8-hour speech defending India’s stand on Kashmir and vociferously criticizing the United States. To date, Krishna Menon’s speech is the longest ever delivered in the United Nations Security Council.

Cricket despite being a relic of the British era had become a religion of sorts in post-independent India. In 1951 when India defeated their past masters at their own game in Madras (now Chennai) by an innings and 8 runs, the skipper Vijay Hazare was put on a heavenly pedestal. But still it was a team comprising of gentlemen who just played the game and when confronted by barrage of expletives (and bouncers) from their English counter-parts they preferred to sway away from the line. In 1971 Pakistan wasn’t the only nation cowering from the onslaught launched by India. We beat them in their own backyard for the first time and the reason we were able to do that was the team’s self belief and its ability to stand up to their erstwhile colonial masters as equals. The white cricketer was shown his place by players like Dilip Sardesai, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and later Sachin Tendulkar amongst others. But nobody did it as emphatically as Saurav Ganguly. After rubbing (snooty??) stalwart of the game Steve Waugh the wrong way during the home series in 2001 (which by the way India won!), Ganguly went to England and did a ‘semi-nude victory jig’ in the hallowed Lord’s balcony.

It made Ganguly an icon for this star-starved nation for next few years and ensured that this incident will be firmly etched on the memory of anyone who saw ‘Dada’ swirling his t-shirt and telling the Englishmen what exactly to do next! It also became the face of the new aggressive India that was dynamic and wasn’t ready to be cowed down by the colour of the skin of his opposing number. From that day onwards we have finally learnt to play our game differently and have ceased to be the docile ‘good boys’ of the game. But have the people, who deify these very players, being able to make that attitude shift that apparently the Indian cricketer has made? The simple answer of this difficult question is no.

We still feel blessed if a European tourist enquires about the way to the lavatory from us while the African students are called names while they travel using the public transport. It’s as if that we have accepted the supremacy of the white skinned and the English speaking over us. By imposing a cultural hegemony of sorts on us through language and various other Medias, the ‘West’ has been successful in its endeavour to turn us into a nation of ‘Brown Sahebs’. As the father of Western Education in India Thomas Babington Macaulay visualised we are turning into a nation of “…Indian in blood and colour, but English (read Western) in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect.”

Language is the most important vehicle to assert identity and by loosing it or corrupting it we are loosing ourselves. Studying English language isn’t bad but learning it at the cost of your own mother tongue leaves a kind of void in one’s personality and similarly appreciating western culture is fine till the time you are at least aware of your own roots. When the later condition is not fulfilled then we get a generation of disjointed individuals floating in nothingness in a dazed condition searching for their own space, their own identity.

Our trepidation for the white skin manifests from this colonised mind which forces us to automatically cow down in front of an otherwise a normal white person. We are looking for fair skinned people even amongst our own community, so you see those horribly absurd and rather bemusing matrimonial adverts looking for a ‘fair groom’. It throws the conventional ‘tall, DARK, handsome’ norm for a man’s attractiveness out of the window. The only party not complaining here are the ‘fairness cream’ manufacturers who have sold more millions of tonnes of cream, both to men & women.

We need to realise that it is crippling us intellectually, morally, emotionally and spiritually. Embracing the so-called modern world at the cost of loosing one’s identity, culture and sense of individuality may not be such a sensible thing to do. The process of decolonising the Indian mind might take some time but we can make a start by putting a stop on giving out those absurd matrimonial adverts and trying to judge an individual on parameters other than his skin colour.

BY - SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,

Sambalpur,Odisha

MOB - 09937965779,08280062457

Difficult Phase for Parvez Musharraf , JUSTINPRINT, JUNE 1-15-2013 ( INTERNATIONAL )

Difficult Phase for Parvez Musharraf  www.justinprint.in

A lot is happening in the life of Pervez Musharraf – the former Pakistan army chief boldly sauntered into Pakistan sometime back purportedly to save the troubled nation from chaos. The general, however, is facing a tough time saving himself from chaos, when, denied bail by a Pakistan High court, he fled from the court premises, only to be arrested later at his residence.

Musharraf declared "emergency rule" in 2007 when he was quickly losing popularity in Pakistan fashioning himself as an authoritative ruler over Pakistan. He resigned from office in 2008 to avoid the risk of being impeached. Since then he was in a self-imposed exile outside of Pakistan until this year when he returned to the country.

By 2008, Musharraf had been defeated in the elections he was forced to hold. He hastily left the country for a posh London exile . But last month, he finally made good on his promise to return home. It was a characteristically bold move for the ex-commando. Musharraf had already been warned that he could face a trial for alleged misdeeds in office. He may not have been warned that ordinary citizens were liable to greet his return with a disdainful shrug. On landing in Karachi, the former president was welcomed by a noticeably small crowd—a significant embarassment in a country where pols dispense money to assemble friendly throngs. 

Musharraf’s humiliating month is heartening for democracy advocates, who are glad to see a former strongman face justice (even when the charges are partially motivated by personal vendettas). But there is a larger irony, one befitting the latest chapter in the biography of a military man better known for tactical successes than strategic triumphs: The two sectors of Pakistani society most energetically tormenting Musharraf—the media and the judiciary—are ones that he strengthened during his near-decade in power. And the pillar of society that created him—the military—is standing idly by.

In the early months of 1999, Pakistani soldiers, along with indigenous Kashmiri fighters, crossed the Line of Control that separates the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir, focusing on a district called Kargil. It was a daring maneuver. Musharraf, the lead instigator, initially looked clever, garnering accolades and support from the nationalist media. But strategic thinking was never Musharraf’s forte: India responded, and quickly recaptured the ground it had lost; Pakistan was forced into the humiliating retreat that would likely have appeared predictable to anyone who bothered to think through the long-term consequences of the assault. The discord that the disaster brought about in Pakistani politics did, however, allow Musharraf to orchestrate a coup several months later against the civilian government. 

This is very wrong to label some executives’ decisions as unconstitutional by any future government in any country. This is particularly true of Pakistan where even today the democracy is in a nascent stage. The judiciary is no holy cow in Pakistan and it still has to learn its ways. What Mr. Musharraf did was not his personal decisions. They were the collective decisions of the then government of Pakistan and many were outside the domain of military establishment there. It is outlandish to blame Mr. Musharraf for all the ills of his time and thereafter. Mr. Musharraf’s rule was not that bad, neither the present coalition government’s rule is that good. This is bad to have strange memories and inconsistent behavior.

The fact is that national politics in Pakistan may move towards the less-than-majority bipartisanism. Such a transition may be temporary and fragile but such would affect Pakistan positively. This is not to suggest that there would not be proliferation of political identities in Pakistan or that extremism would not rise, but politics in Pakistan is more likely to be more centralized and more bipolar after the return, disqualification and arrest of Mr. Musharraf. This is how Pakistan works and probably the whole of the South Asia too. But once his job is finished, Mr. Musharraf should be either pardoned honorably or he should be allowed to go on to exile again. Just like Hosni Mubarak it is foolish to take revenge from former President of Pakistan for reasons those that were not necessarily personality-based. One only hopes that the US has some stakes in the whole episode and that the good sense would prevail in the end.

Today, neither the military nor its sometime American sponsor are inclined to do much for Musharraf. Washington may have once seen him as a bendable strongman, but there is no interest in backing an unpopular former general. The military itself, although antsy about the possible symbolism of a former military leader in prison, has little love for its former chief. Anti-Americanism is much stronger in the country today than it was in Musharraf's era, and thus his closeness to the United States is something the military would rather forget. 

Musharraf will likely be tried for various allege crimes including the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Balochi nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. Additionally, he is primarily being convicted for his dismissal of most of the Supreme Court after his second election in 2007 in order to instate judges that would verify his victory in the contested election.

His case represents an interesting aspect of Pakistani politics and the maturation of the political system. The fact that he felt comfortable about coming back to Pakistan with a pre-arrest bail and there was no overt military support for his return, speaks volumes. The fear was that the military might think that a case against him would draw the current leadership of the army into the courtroom drama. But the army did not provide special security or issue any major supporting statement on his return. And the Islamabad High Court held its hand on using the case to bring the army into discussion, for now.

Could Pakistan survive another high-profile assassination or assassination attempt in a season when many candidates, especially in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, have been killed by the TTP? Conspiracy theorists contend that a high-profile killing might provide an excuse for the postponement of elections and an extension of the caretaker regime, allowing it to effect changes in the economic and perhaps political system for the better. But the less than agile handling of so many issues, may not contribute to raising confidence in the caretakers.

The former army chief returned in March after nearly four years of self-imposed exile to contest a May 11 general election, but election officers disqualified him because of court cases pending against him.

In what newspapers described as a veiled reference to Musharraf’s legal troubles, Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani said: “In my opinion, it is not merely retribution, but awareness and participation of the masses that can truly end this game of hide and seek between democracy and dictatorship.”

Kayani, arguably the most powerful figure in Pakistan, was delivering a Martyrs’ Day speech at army headquarters. Newspapers carried his comments on front pages.

The military has ruled Pakistan for than half of its 66-year-history, through coups or from behind the scenes. It sets security and foreign policy, even when civilian governments are in power.

Current commanders have meddled less in politics, letting civilian governments take the heat for policy failures.

But Kayani has had an uneasy relationship with civilian leaders, as well as an increasingly interventionist Supreme Court, which has questioned the military’s human rights record.

The chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, was embroiled in a confrontation with Musharraf, who removed him from office in 2007 after he opposed plans to extend the general’s stay in power. Chaudhry was later reinstated.

Musharraf’s has been embroiled in legal issues since his return.

He became the first former army chief to be arrested in Pakistan when police took him into custody at their headquarters last Friday, breaking an unwritten rule that the top ranks of the military are untouchable, even after they have retired.

Thousands of people in Gahkuch took the streets to protest against the arrest of former President and Pakistan’s flamboyant Military General Pervez Musharraf. Protesters chanted slogans in favor of Musharraf and lamented what they call Judicial Activism in Pakistan.

Protesters formed a large rally that marched through Gahkuch Bazar. Hundreds of retired military men and a large number of civilians demanded government to drop the charges against the former president and to immediately release the man of ‘Pakistan First’

The protest rally later converted into an assemblage addressed by many local notables and APML supporters. Speakers numerated Musharraf’s developmental projects in the region. They said that the Karakuram University, mobile service, increased developmental funds, several administrative measures, and loan write-offs are services for which Musharraf will be remembered in the region for a long time.

They said that the lone man without democratic roots has done far more than what the so-called democratic parties claim that they can do.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, has criticised nearly the entire range of policies pursued by the previous government led by Gen (retd) Musharraf. The United States is already in the process of adjusting to the big change in Islamabad, praising Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf for his efforts in the war on terror but welcoming the new army chief and democracy. India is less sure whether the process of normalisation started by Gen Musharraf will continue.

The fact is that decisions under a democratic dispensation are always difficult to take and democracies tend to be unwieldy even on issues of great importance. The manner in which the internal political struggle unfolded in India on the US-India civilian nuclear deal is a case in point. Equally, however, democratic governments, after trying long and hard to win adherents, can also go out on a limb and take risks — that is exactly what the UPA government in India did and carried the day. Foreign policy contours do not change overnight; they are guided by a country’s core interests based on a number of determinants. What is different about democratic debate in theory is that it provides various forums for a debate on actual decisions. It is time consuming but allows crucial input at multiple levels. The debate also brings with it the vital element of buy-in for a policy. In other words, the policy is rooted in the public as far as this can be achieved and is desirable.

There is also consolation that the PPP and the PMLN have pledged to “normalise” with India and Afghanistan. But the Zardari government has gone further than General (retd) Musharraf was prepared to go with India in opening up trade. This is a good development and constitutes a needed break with the old Pakistani approach that was based on Kashmir first and then everything else. General Musharraf’s out-of-the-box thinking effectively put paid to the UN Resolutions much like Nawaz Sharif did in the Lahore Summit in 1999 and Mr Zardari must move in the same direction in conformity with the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. This is in keeping with the spirit of the dialogue framework with India, especially the back channel that General (retd) Musharraf opened with Dr Manmohan Singh. Both Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif have also announced that they would like to see an easing of visa restrictions with India. Good. It seems that the pressures of governance have induced a generous dose of pragmatism in their thinking to keep the foreign policy directed in favour of the national economy.

Musharraf may be prosecuted for high treason under the command responsibility doctrine. In international criminal law, the command responsibility doctrine has been employed to hold civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for crimes committed by their subordinates. This concept can be transferred to domestic jurisprudence to hold the top leader responsible for high treason committed with the connivance of subordinates. Under command responsibility, the top leader cannot lawfully demand that all subordinates who agreed to obey him in the commission of high treason be also prosecuted. The top commander is responsible for high treason even if the generals under his command endorse the decision to suspend the constitution and proclaim unlawful emergency.

Musharraf's argument that he cannot be singled out for the crime of high treason is without legal merit. Even in ordinary violations of law, such as speeding on a highway, a violator cannot successfully argue that a patrol officer must either issue traffic tickets to all who are speeding or to none. This legal logic will increase violations of speed limit because rarely does the highway patrol have the resources to stop every person engaged in speeding. Of course, the selective enforcement of law, including traffic regulations, on the sole basis of race, religion, or any other arbitrary classification will be offensive to the notions of fairness, equal protection, and justice. The selective justice argument, however, loses in almost every other context.

Most important, the argument of selective justice is particularly unavailable in high crimes, including genocide, torture, enforced disappearances, and high treason. Every person who commits high crime is personally liable and cannot invoke the notion of selective justice. Throughout the world, high treason is such a serious crime that states that have otherwise abolished death penalty retain capital punishment for high treason. When the top military general, donning his military uniform, undermines a democratic constitutional order and detains judges of the nation's highest court, he cannot invoke selective justice to avoid punishment for high treason. A military usurper deserves no mercy or forgiveness for non-enforcement of the law of high treason invites future subversions of the democratic constitution.

Given the legal challenges, lack of support and Taliban threats, many experts have been left scratching their heads as to why Musharraf returned to Pakistan. Some have speculated he misjudged the level of public backing he would get, while others suggested he was simply homesick.

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra,

Sambalpur,Odisha