10 DECCAN HERALD

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Comment
FROM TRAGEDY TO FARCE
ESTABLISHED 1948

SNAPSHOT

Unfinished job

Lawless rulers
The BJP and the Congress have been happy to obfuscate their culpability and use one pogrom virtually to justify the other.
By B G Verghese

Pune sessions court has convicted Mirza Himayat Inayat Baig on charges of murder and conspiracy in carrying out a bombing in the Germany Bakery in Pune in 2010. The blast ripped through the crowded bakery and killed 17 people, including five foreigners and injured over 60 others. Baig, who provided logistical support for the terror attack, is the only accused to be arrested so far. Six other accused are absconding. The blast at the German Bakery was the first major one after the terror attacks of November 2008 in Mumbai. Following the 26/11 attacks, tough measures were reportedly taken but the German Bakery blasts laid bare the fact that Indian intelligence and investigative agencies were yet to get their act together. Following the blasts, there were allegations of several Muslim youth being rounded up as suspects and harassed. But the police have failed to get hold of other prime suspects like Yasin Bhatkal, Mohsin Choudhary, Riaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal and Fayyaz Kazgi. At the end of it all, the police had little substantial to show having arrested only one of the accused Baig. Unlike the police, the court seems to have done a reasonably good job in the German Bakery case. Compared to most other terrorist attack cases ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| in India, the delivery of justice in this instance has been comparably quick. The first conviction has come a little over three years after the blast took place. In most other terror attacks in the country, it has taken many years for the trial to be set in motion and many more years if not decades before the convicted Police have begin serving their sentences. Baig failed to nab will be handed out his punishment in a few days. While he is likely to other prime go to the higher courts to appeal accused. against his conviction and sentence and that process can be expected ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| to be a long drawn one, we can draw some satisfaction from the fact that the delivery of justice by the lower courts has been quick. However, Baigs conviction will not provide a sense of closure. After all, the other accused are still at large. So long as they are not nabbed and put under trial, the public, especially those who lost their kin in the attack will not be able to treat the attack as a closed chapter in their lives in order to begin the process of healing.

Fatal games

he Mamata-CPM civil war fought on the streets of Delhi and Kolkata is a new low in politics. Mamata was callous and utterly boorish in her attitude towards the avoidable death of a young leftist protestor in a melee mishandled by the Kolkata police. This brought SFI activists in Delhi on to the streets to protest against the Bengal chief minister who was in the capital to meet the Planning Commission.The Delhi police advised Mamata to avoid the main gate of Yojana Bhavan and use the VIP entrance. She refused; she not only drove up to the main gate but with foolish bravado dismounted to make her entry on foot. She was jostled but her finance minister Amit Mitra who was behind was pushed and pummelled. The SFI activists certainly misbehaved but Mamata deliberately courted trouble and cannot escape culpability for the unfortunate event. Montek Alhuwalia and the PM both apologised for what happened. But the Trinamool reaction was to call its goons on to the streets in Kolkata to assault Leftist leaders and property. This was followed the next day with a mindless invasion and vandalisation of a prized Presidency University laboratory, a criminal act that Trinamool leaders typically defended. The Bengal governor condemned the attack on the CM and her FM in Delhi but went on to castigate the CPM politburo for what he said was a premeditated assault. The CPM understandably found the governors statement excessive, leading the latter to go further and issue a statement through Raj Bhavan that his conclusions about the CPMs conduct were based on a deep study of Marx and Mao. Serious issues of law and order and gross political impropriety have been reduced to a farce. The governor then went on to apologise to the students and faculty of Presidency University for his failure to protect them as chancellor and governor. How should he have gone about doing

that? The governor, howsoever wellintentioned, should tread carefully in not setting what could become a dangerous precedent. Another dangerous precedent is being set by the Akalis and human rights activists in rejecting the Supreme Courts order that delay in deciding a mercy petition cannot by itself be cause to commute a death sentence to life imprisonment as in the case of Khalistani terrorist, Devinder Singh Bhullar. The magnitude of the crime and its impact on society cannot be disregarded. Bhullar was found guilty of killing nine persons in a bomb attack in Delhi in 1993. His clemency petition, after final disposal of his review petition at the

highest judicial level, was rejected by the president in 2011. And to argue that Bhullar cannot be hanged on what is termed a dubious self-confession after judicial review is to say that the courts cannot and must never decide. Crude blackmail The Akalis now plan to appeal to the president (again) claiming that hurt public sentiment will not tolerate such injustice. This is crude blackmail with the political threat of murder and communal mayhem on the streets as earlier threatened in the case of the Babar Khalsa terrorist, Rajaona, Afzal Guru, and others. Gratuitous allegations of discrimination against minorities are also alleged in these cases in a bid to divide communities. Such repeated grandstanding to defeat due process and democratic governance is gathering currency and such tamasha needs

to be put down with a firm hand. To add to the on-going buffoonery we have justice Markandey Katju, the maverick chairperson of the Press Council, off on another trip to cloud-cuckoo land in rejecting the Supreme Courts order and proclaiming his intention of appealing to the President to overturn it. The issue of delay is again highlighted in the rejection by a Delhi sessions court of the CBIs clean chit to Jagdish Tytler, the Congress leader, in the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom. It has ordered reinvestigation of the case after examining hitherto missing witnesses. The procedure is proper but the process, especially the tortoise-like speed of commissions of inquiry, cries out for reform. The axiom justice delayed is justice denied lies buried and courts and commissions are quick to grant postponements and prolong proceedings interminably in the most unconscionable manner. Justice Liberhan holds the record for taking 17 years to produce his report on the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Justice Nanavati was asked to head the tenth commission of inquiry appointed to look into the 1984 riots and reported five years later, but not before taking up chairmanship of the 2002 inquiry into the Gujarat killings. This he has yet to report after umpteen extensions. This resume only exemplifies the political reluctance to proceed expeditiously and bring speedy closure to the victims of horrendous riots and pogroms. The BJP and Congress have been happy to prolong proceedings to obfuscate their culpability and use one pogrom virtually to justify the other in a 1984 vs 1992/93-cum-2002 communal orgy. The Congress thwarted the Marwah commission, the first of the 1984 inquiries, as soon as it was known that the Delhi police and its masters were going to be indicted. Likewise, Narendra Modi and the BJP have supported every dodge to delay or deny justice in Gujarat. The cover up goes on. Prime minister Manmohan Singh apologised to the nation on behalf of the Congress government for what happened in 1984. Sharad Pawar has now apologised to Maharashtra for the arrogant and contemptible remarks of his nephew and deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar about drought in the state. These apologies are hardly sufficient. The BJP has been more honest in strutting around apologising to none.

Tourists wear royal robes while posing in front of a statue of King Sejong in Seoul, South Korea on Monday. AP

IN PERSPECTIVE

Danger to revered shrine in Damascus

The worlds oldest continuous urban habitation has been in the eye of the storm for quite some time.
By Saeed Naqvi

he bellicose warnings the North Korean government is issuing on a daily basis cannot be dismissed any longer as hollow rhetoric of an insecure regime. Pyongyang has been matching its threats against South Korea with action. And tempers and frustrations are increasing every minute. It will take just one spark to set off a military conflagration in East Asia as countries in the region put their armed forces on high alert. It is not about military muscle flexing any longer. The possibility of a real war that could involve nuclear exchange looms large. And should such a war occur it is unlikely to remain restricted to the Koreas. Pyongyang has repeatedly warned the US of nuclear strikes, prompting Washington to put its missile interception devices on high alert. It is believed that North Koreas nuclear and missile technology is at best crude. There are doubts whether it can launch a nuclear weapon or if its missiles will be able to reach the US mainland or even Hawaii. Yet there can be no room for complacency. The possibility of rhetoric escalating into war and even a nuclear exchange cannot be ruled out. North Koreas current belliger||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ence, which began with it calling off the 1953 armistice with South Korea, hasnt come out of the blue. It is an angry riposte to the UN Security Council tightening sanctions against Pyongyang recently. It is a response too to the US and South Korea engaging in war games off the Korean peninsula. Instead of There is a taking steps to defuse the crisis and real danger of cool tempers the US show of military muscle, while aimed at reasnuclear suring Seoul that it will stand by it exchange. in the event of a crisis, has sent a message to Pyongyang that Wash||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ington has the military capacity to bomb North Korea back to the stone age. North Koreas nuclear sabre-rattling is causing much unease across the world. A possible nuclear exchange, even a limited one is in nobodys interest. Does North Koreas new young leader understand the seriousness of the current crisis? A nuclear exchange has implications not just for the region but the world. China, which has more leverage over the North Korean government than any other country, needs to take a more pro-active role in defusing the escalating crisis, as should Russia and the United Nations. There is still room for dialogue and mediation.

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Lost and found

The thought of trekking the four floors of the building gives me a shudder.
By Sreedevi Rao

arly morning after waking up, I am involuntarily move in to the kitchen as if I am under a charm. I robotically open the fridge and take out the milk packets, my eyes still drowsy. I grope for my favourite sharp steel scissors trying to get the feel of it on the top of the shelf. When there is no trace of it, I push my hand to a little right and left thinking probably the scissors got displaced due to some reason. But the scissors still evade me. I hunt for it under the cooking gas, and in all possible drawers. No, the instrument is missing. I make do with a pencil cutter, which, I luckily discover under the paper spread. I get myself the much needed shot of coffee. Next it is my bath-towel which goes missing, but I grab whichever is available and manage the crisis. Later I go about that days kitchen work. Having

packed everybodys lunch, I finally give myself a face-lift and then off I am to my college after bidding good-bye to everyone. After reaching my destination the thought of trekking the four floors of the building gives me a shudder (you guessed it right! For some reason the building does not have a lift). I enter in to my bosss cabin huffing and puffing for breath like an asthma patient. As I wish him a good morning, I again helplessly fumble about in my bag for the much needed pen. I have to document my presence by signing the register apart from the biometric attendance (the machine always thanks me for punching it). Searching all the ten pockets of my bag draws a blank. My ever kindhearted boss helps me with only a mild dose of sarcasm. Subsequently for the whole day, whenever I need the pen for signing the assignments given to students, scribbling on the diary, etc I stretch my hand and helplessly look in to the eyes of the students and they ease their beloved teacher out of the situation. Back home I put on the mask of a

Hitler and summon my children for explanation. Both of them stand like culprits with their heads hanging down and hands folded at the back. When asked about the scissors, my son gives a is that all look and then from the carton box kept in the corner emerges a small carry bag which contains his craft items. Then with a victorious look he hands me over the scissors with an explanation that he did not simply take; it was with purpose of craft making. Later its my daughter who defends her action, saying that her expert pen ran out of ink and hence, as a last minute savior she took my pen from my bag (of course without my permission) for completing her notes. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more my things which disappear and make me search for them high and low. Children were taught the rhyme Oh Where, Oh Where has my little dog gone. in kindergarten. This was my favourite rhyme at that time because we had a dog then. Little did I know that I would be singing this much loved nursery rhyme always-in the remix form!

illions of Muslims will, in the next few days, observe the birth and death anniversaries of Fatima Zehra, Prophet Mohammads daughter. But during this period, the world famous shrine of her daughter, Saiyada Zainab, outside Damascus, holy to millions around the world, will be in grave danger. That remarkable chronicler of Londons Independent, Robert Fisk, ascribes the danger to Salafist mortar fire. The news some days ago was alarming but the shrine had not been destroyed, as extremist propaganda claimed. Let Fisk speak: Mortars crack and rumble around us but save for a few marble squares, the place (shrine) stands untouched. Theres a T-72 tank down the road and a clutch of government soldiers outside. But that is the picture today. Whats to come is still unsure. The mischief that is afoot in Damascus is part of the sequence which caused the destruction of the Bamyan Buddhas and the shrines of Timbuktu. But there is a major difference: Bamyan and Timbuktu were swift acts of vandalism. Damascus, the worlds oldest continuous urban habitation, has been in the eye of the storm for quite some time. And all of this, even as the Security Council peers over the rampage for nearly two years? Would the worlds leaders have been as insensitive if, say, Santiago de Compostela in Spain were under siege? Global outrage Indeed, when an Australian fanatic set fire to the Al Aqsa mosque in the 60s, the Jerusalem municipality organised visits by foreign journalists to demonstrate how Israel had protected the mosque. And they had. When Michaelangelos masterpiece at St Peters, the Pieta, was desecrated, the outrage was global, cutting across religions. How deafening by comparison this silence on the desecration of Prophet Mohammads granddaughter! Should the silence in a large section of the Muslim world surprise us? A frightful reality should not be allowed to be obscured: the perpetrators of the desecration in Damascus claim to be Muslims manufactured specially for the houris of paradise. Remember the folk who threatened Lahore with thunder and brimstone just in case the city celebrated Basant with colour and kite flying? The tradition was declared as un-Islamic by exactly the variety active in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Mali.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New vaccines a symbol of hope for millions

Sir, This is with reference to the call of WHO for vaccines against killer diseases. Vaccination has saved millions of lives from the days of Edward Jenner. Polio is a recent example of the ongoing effort to wipe out the disease. Once the vaccinations were started, the disease has dropped to a few thousands in recent times. Vaccines have also become safer and improved over time. New vaccines are a symbol of hope for millions of youngsters who face threat of succumbing to diseases. People who decline vaccination for themselves or their children put the public at risk by encouraging the resurgence of nearly eradicated diseases. In the light of growing global antibiotic resistance, vaccines directed against common bacterial killers assume a vital lifeline for us all. Along with vaccination, it is important to improve sanitation and access to quality drinking water to reduce the disease burden and improve the quality of life.
H N RAMAKRISHNA Bangalore

A poet friend of mine derives comfort from the fact that this lot will never inspire literature, only ghastly terror films. While Zainabs defining role, along with her elder brother Imam Hussain, in the battle of Karbala, in 680 AD, on the banks of the Euphrates in Iraq, has inspired some of the greatest poetry in Urdu literature. Since Karbala happened barely 48 years after the Prophets death, it lent itself not as a mythical, but a live, historic battle between good and evil. It opened up for scrutiny the inherent conflict between ideals and Empire. Josh Malihabadi, an iconoclast and agnostic, succinctly summed up the meaning of Karbala: Koi keh de ye hukumat ke nigehbanon se Karbala ek abadi jung hai sultanon se. (Warn the self appointed keepers of peoples interests Karbala symbolizes an eternal war against feudalism and injustice.) Much the finest poetry on Karbala is in the form of epics called Marsias which dwell on Hussain, Zainab and their entourage. Men were martyred but the women, like Zainab were, shackled and paraded through the long journey to the Omayyad court in Damascus. The journey provided Zainab with an opportunity to bring into play her charisma and eloquence. Karbala, which might have remained a story buried on an obscure Iraqi river bank, became a turning point in Islamic history because of Zainabs exceptional oratory. This gave her the additional title of being the worlds first woman war chronicler. The manner, in which the battle of Karbala is observed as Moharram every year, bears some resemblance to the way in which Serbs preserve the memory of the battle of Kosovo, 1389. In both instances, apparent defeat is celebrated as transcendental or a higher victory. Hussains martyrdom at the hands of the Omayyad armies, cleansed the faith of the deviations which had crept in within four decades of the message. Serbs celebrate the battle of Kosovo because, even though they apparently lost, they nevertheless waged such fierce battle that they blocked Turkish armies from advancing into Europe. This was their victory. Today, even though Kosovo is an independent Muslim country, the Serbian monument of Kosovo and some of the most exquisite monasteries like Decan, are totally secure, protected by the Kosovars along with European military help. Should Decan even be scratched, the reverberations, not only in Serbia but the entire Eastern Orthodox Church will be techtonic. Why then this helplessness in the ranks of those whose adoration for the valiant Saiyada Zainab is so real? Another point: she brought her brothers martyrdom to light. But the attack on her shrine is blocked even on websites in most Arab countries. Such tragic irony.

OUR PAGES
3,000 songs in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi, he has truly imbued melody and emotions in all his songs. Once PBS wrote an English song Man to Moon; Moon to God when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969.The copy of the song was sent to Armstrong, who sent a letter of appreciation to him. May his soul rest in peace.
BEORN KIRUBA Bangalore

OF HISTORY
ment of the border issue can start. New Delhi has in its latest note to Peking, suggested that once China accepts the Colombo proposals i toto, officials of the two countries could meet and later visit the different areas on the border, it is learned.

False promises
Sir, The election fever has begun and all political parties have woken up again to fool the common public. All political parties are releasing their respective manifestos and everyone knows that the same manifestos and promises will be completely forgotten the moment they come to power. But among all the political parties, the Congress has made the most unrealistic promises. CM aspirant Siddaramaiah has promised that Bangalore will be made Singapore and would like to take it from where the former CM S M Krishna had left. This must be cruelest joke and the most unrealistic promise for the people of Bangalore. My humble request is to provide water, electricity,

SPEAK OUT We wont compromise on principles for the sake of power.

Nitish Kumar Bihar Chief Minister

pothole-free roads and a garbage-free city. That is more than enough for Bangaloreans. Even if we give 100 more chances to any political party, Bangalore can never become Singapore. Also please make honest and realistic promises to people.
B UMESH CHANDRA Via e-mail

50 years ago: April 16, 1963

India writes to China again

New Delhi, April 15.

Rest in peace
Sir, The passing away of legendary singer P B Srinivos leaves a void in the Indian music industry. Fondly known as PBS, he was indeed a great playback singer as his initial say. He is undeniably one of the best singers with resplendent talent and a humble personality. Singing over

The Government of India has asked China again to accept the Colombo proposals without reservation so that negotiations for an overall settle-

25 years ago: April 16, 1988

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Sharavathi project likely to get $ 260 m WB loan

By Our Staff Reporter Bangalore, April 15.

I don't compromise my principles for Chris Christie politics.

The World Bank is likely to grant a loan of $ 260 million

for the Sharavathi Tail Race Project, the State Government announced here today. It said that with this, the total World Bank loans for the power sector in the State would go up to $ 589 million.