Need to Review the Constitution

RNP Singh
Senior Fellow, VIF

After over sixty years of Parliamentary democracy in India, people have started losing faith in it as it has become synonymous with elections only. The victim of democracy is the politics. If in India, people are asked to vote for an institution that has maintained some level of integrity – they would vote for the Supreme Court, Election Commission or to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Their last preference would be either Parliament or State Assemblies. In the parliamentary democracy till the leaders become responsible, conscious of their duties and responsive to the public opinion, democracy itself will not be stable. If they start ignoring the will of the people, the government will become dictatorial. In India, politicians are looked upon with disdain. There is reason for this. Politicians whom people elect with much fanfare tend to become the arbiters and abusers of power.

The realization of social and economic justice, as promised by the Constitution still remains a dream, and the system of administration has reduced and limited the sovereignty of the people to a mere right to exercise their franchise at elections. Gloomy, harsh, unimaginative and indifferent administration has affected the poor to their core. Corruption, inefficiency and insensitivity, particularly in the distribution of goods have given rise to extra-legal systems. The people in India today stand more divided amongst themselves than at the time of the country’s independence. Common national purpose is seldom seen pursued by the national political parties and noble purposes of public life have degenerated into opportunistic and self seeking politics of competitive personal gains.

Corruption, it seems, has been legalized, particularly in political life. Electoral reforms and reforming of the political parties and their internal democracy are essential parts of reform.The politician- bureaucrat nexus have eroded administrative credibility. Unprincipled, opportunistic political re-alignments and defections and re-defections minimize the scope of the stability of the governments. The instability of the governments gave rise to maladministration which has paralyzed the creative energies of the people. The opportunistic and self seeking politics and politicians and an increasing scenario of politician, criminal and the bureaucratic nexus has resulted into enormous corruption in electoral, political and bureaucratic spheres. There is pervasive degeneration of values.

In view of the prevailing atmosphere, the foremost requirement is the restoration of confidence in the institutions of democracy. This needs strong and enlightened leadership to address the emergent problems of divergent nature dealing with the aspirations of the people and requirements of the country. Besides the politicians, bureaucrats and criminals, the voters are also responsible, to some extent, for the prevailing situation because they do not discharge their civic duty honestly. The alarming increase of violence and money influence in the electoral process is a matter of grave concern which threatens the very survival of the democratic system. Besides the frustration from political and administrative side, there has been a picture of near collapse of the judicial trial system. The delays and mounting costs of the cases have kept the general people away from justice, thereby causing frustration and blocking of their aspirations. The percentage of cases that go through the whole processes in courts is quite large which urgently need exploration of some other means.

There has been increasing disillusionment about the fairness of electoral process. Corruption and criminalization has over-shadowed its processes. The enormity of the costs of elections has kept the suitable persons away from this exercise and has led to the degradation of political processes to detriment of common good. Political parties collect enormous funds from criminals and capitalists for meeting electoral expenditure, thereby causing pervasive degeneration of standards in public life. This is also reflected in the quality of governments and of the governing process.

The above mentioned systematic and constitutional failures were foreseen by some members of the Constituent Assembly and they had raised their doubts in the discussion of the Constituent Assembly. Damodar Swaroop Seth, a member of the CA had raised similar views in the discussion held on 5th November 1948. He had said “this Constitution as a whole, instead of being evolved from our life and reared from the bottom upwards is being imported from outside and built from above downwards. A Constitution which is not based on units and in the making of which they have no voice, in which there is not even a mention of thousands and lakhs of villages of India and in framing which they have had no hand, well you can give such a Constitution to the Country but I very much doubt whether you would be able to keep it long”.

Participating in the debate on the same day (5^th November, 1948) HV Kamath had said “Now, what is state for? The utility of state has to be judged from its effect on the common man’s welfare. The ultimate conflict that has to be resolved is this: Whether the individual is for the state or the state is for the individual”.

Carrying forward the debate Naziruddin Ahmad (West Bengal) had commented “Coming to the Directive Principles of the State policy, articles 28 to 48, I think that these are pious expressions. They have no binding force. These cannot be enforced in a court of law and really, as the Honourable the Law Minister himself candidly admitted they are pious superfluities. That is the criticism.”

Even after over sixty years of independence the country is still reeling under the heat of minority and reservation. While participating in debate in Constituent Assembly Krishna Chandra Sharma (United Province: General) had said” I do not think our minorities are minorities in the real sense of the of term or classes or groups accepted by the League of Nations. We all lived in this Country for centuries, for thousands of years. We have imbibed a common culture, a common way of living, common way of thinking. Thus, I do not understand the meaning of giving these special privileges in chapter XIV. It creates statutory minorities and to say that the thing will last for ten years only is to forget the lesson of the past……But the result was the partition of the Country”. He suggested” if there are any safeguards or any encouragement necessary for the backward classes or certain other classes, there might be other means namely, giving scholarship to deserving students, giving other financial help, opening institutions and other facilities which are necessary for their amelioration and lifting up; but to perpetuate division in body politic, to perpetuate division in the nation, would be detrimental to the healthy growth of the nation and would do an incalculable harm to us and our prosperity”.

During six decades the country has grown from 10 states to 28 states with seven Union Territories. The population has grown from 36 crores to 1.2 billion; it has become sixth largest economy in the world; the literacy rate has grown; and the country is today a nuclear power. Inspite of this progress, country's track record to fight against poverty, illiteracy and corruption are shockingly by below the poverty line. The largest democracy in the world has moved in the direction of instability and crisis of governability. The gradual decline in value system, erosion in political order and a deepening of social and economic crisis have brought the Indian political system to cross roads. Now the time is ripe for the people and its leaders to take a decision about the future course of action.

It is no denying a fact that despite all those shortcomings, the people of India have reposed their faith in the democratic process, they maintained the democratic system. But democracy gets strong roots where its plantation proceeds from social to economic and then to political. In India, instead of social democracy taking strong roots ahead, the economic and political democracy arrived earlier. As long as equality and social justice are not visibly present, only voting rights can not bring about change in the profile of a society which was under alien control for centuries.

Today, in the 21^st Century can we say that the real power to govern this country is vested in its people? Often question arises that does the Constitution in true terms express the will of the people or it has just become a tool in the hands of some hungry politicians? Are the people of India in real terms assured of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity? Is the common man receiving justice? Does equality really prevail? Has the Constitution not failed to translate noble principles into practical instruments? Its glaring inadequacy is seen in the dispensation of justice, protection of basic liberties enforcement of bureaucratic accountability and appointments of constitutional functionaries.

The nature of the Constitution of India is not Indian. The Constitutions of USA and Britain has been copied. Some articles have been borrowed from the Constitutions of Ireland, Australia and Canada besides being dependent upon the Government of India Act 1935. Thus, the very nature of the Indian Constitution is a slavish imitation of the Constitution of these Countries. Due to the mismatch in the nature of the Constitution, it has been amended more than 110 times during last sixty years. On the other hand when we see the Constitution of United States which was presented on 17^th September 1787 with only eleven articles has so far, been amended only twenty seven times. This comparison speaks volume of the mismatch of the Constitution with the Indian condition.

The need for Constitutional review has been a topic widely debated across the Country. The founding fathers of the Indian Constitution who granted more rights to the people without balancing them with their duties, perhaps did not foresee the emergence of present political environment, wherein the political players of the various segments in the country are more interested in fulfilling their individual aspirations than the aspirations of the people. The debate to review the Constitution started right from the first decade of the enforcement Constitution and within two years of its coming into force, it was required to be amended vide first amendment Bill 1951.

During the period from 1950 to 1967, the Parliament and most of the state assemblies were under the rule of the Congress Party. But after 1967 non-congress coalitions took over the reign of power in several northern states. During this period several issues pertaining to union-state relations cropped up. In the period following fourth General Election there was wide spread concern over the phenomenon of unprincipled defections. The problem came up for discussion in the Lok Sabha on 8 December in 1967. The Parliament adopted a resolution which said” The House is of opinion that a high level committee consisting of representatives of political parties and Constitutional experts be setup immediately by Government to consider the problem of legislators changing their allegiance from one party to another and their frequent crossing of the floor in all its aspects, and make recommendations in this regard”. Following Parliament resolution, Y B Chavan (Home Minister) committee was formed which addressed variety of issues including the problem of defections.

Subsequently the Congress president D. K Barooah appointed a committee on 26 Feb 1976 to study the question of amendment of the Constitution. The 12 member committee headed by Sardar Swarn Singh submitted its report to the Congress President in April 1976. The committee in its recommendation touched upon wide range of issues including the Preamble, Directive Principles, Power of Parliament to amend Constitution, Election matters, disqualification of membership of House or State legislature etc.

On 27- October 1976 the 42^nd Amendment Bill was presented in the Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi in her speech said that the purpose of the Bill was “To remedy the anomalies that have long been noticed and to overcome obstacles put up by economic and political vested interest”. She said “the Bill was responsive to the aspirations of the people and reflects the realities of the present time and the future”. The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with 4 against it and 366 in favour and in Rajya Sabha passed by 190 Votes in its favour and none against it. The amendment led to imposition of Emergency in the country which is a dark period of the Indian democracy.

After change of the Government in 1977, the then Prime Minster Morarji Desai appointed a committee of the Members of Parliament and subsequently set up a sub-committee of the cabinet mainly to correct imbalance in the Constitution caused by some provisions of the 42^nd amendment. In 1983, a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of justice R S Sarkaria with fairly wide ranging terms of reference.

The NDA in its National Agenda for Governance issued as its Election Manifesto had pledged to appoint a commission to review the Constitution. The pledge was affirmed in the President’s address to the Parliament on 22 February 2000. Accordingly on 23^rd February 2000 the President of India appointed II- member Commission headed by Justice M N Venkatachaliah, Former Chief Justice of India. The Commission was named as “The National Commission to review the working of the Constitution“. The terms of reference of the Commission stated - The commission shall examine, in the light of the experiences of the past 50 years, as to how best the Constitution can respond to the changing needs of efficient, smooth and effective system of governance and socio- economic development of modern India within the framework of Parliamentary democracy and to recommend changes, if any, that are required in the provisions of the Constitution without interfering with its basic structure or features.” The Drafting and Editorial Committee of the commission submitted the complete Draft Report to the chairperson on 15 February, 2002. It is not known as to what action was taken thereafter.

During last two decades there have been persistent demands from the civil society, some NGOs, academics, Constitutional scholars and others to have a comprehensive review of the Constitution. Several books and large number of articles and research papers are published, and numbers of seminars have been organized on this topic. There is a general feeling that a review of the Constitution will have a positive impact on the system which will neutralize the hurdles in governance. A Constitution is meant to facilitate the working of the government and administration and also to guide other structures of the country. The static form of the Constitution will not be able to meet the challenges of the situations and requirement of the changing world.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru while speaking on the Draft Constitution on November 8, 1948 said “The Constitution is after all some kind of legal body given to the ways of Government and the life of the people. A Constitution if it is out of touch with the people’s life, aims and aspirations becomes rather empty, if it falls behind those aims, it drags the people down. It should be something ahead to keep people’s eyes and minds made up to a certain high mark... Remember this that while we want this Constitution to be as solid and as permanent a structure as we can make it... there should be certain flexibility. If you make anything rigid and permanent you stop a nation’s growth, the growth of a living, vital, organic people”. Pandit Nehru reiterated this view over and over again on different occasions.

It is now high time that instead of amending one clause or the other of the Constitution, we must gather courage to review the suitability of this Constitution to the people, culture and civilisation of this country. It must be emphasised that a Constitution of the country has to be deeply rooted to the cultural and civilisational ethos of the country.

Chinese Chequers

Vice Admiral (retd) Barry Barathan
Distinguished Fellow, VIF

“ Shi lang, the latest addition to the PLA Navy has triggered speculation, concern, and some anxiety about what next by China as America the lone super power and the supposed to be guardian of the Free World seems to crawl into a fetal position into an embryo of self inflicted economic woes. History teaches those who want to learn and hence it may be worth our while to seek to look at China first and then its Navy next”

Historical Realities

China is an ancient civilization with a history of an occupation by Japan and, also subjugation by the English. China is also fairly insular despite various dynastic divisions and sectarian influences. Its memory is long and never fleeting. Sun Tzu’s has been the guiding light of the Chinese leadership.

“Be extremely subtle to the point of being formless. Be extremely mysterious to the point of being soundless. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate” -Sun Tzu

English Penetration of China

The first opium war of 1839 saw the subjugation of China in being forced to award concessions to Great Britain. Hong Kong was ceded, with ports of Shanghai and Ghuangzou opened up to trade. The second Opium war in 1858 also resulted in Chinese defeat. More ports were opened up along with rights for foreigners to travel into interior China. To date the Chinese remember this with a quiet but intense outrage.

Japanese Occupation

The rape of Nanking, Japanese occupation of China in early 20th century during the Second World War, was perhaps the darkest period in East Asian history. The Chinese claim to have lost around 25 million people in this conflict. It is replete with stories of unimaginable atrocities by the occupying Japanese military. China is still quietly licking its wounds.

Communist China –Emerging Definiteness

October 1949 is the watershed for the Chinese with the advent of Communism. Whatever happened or did not happen, an emerging definiteness became the start point of Chinese rise in the 20th century. In six decades the Middle kingdom has arrived on the International arena. Its leadership is consistent with a constancy of purpose. Mostly phlegmatic in style, the Chinese polity has osmotic ally optimized its position in the World’s stage. The World may not like its posturing or its new wealth but can no longer discount its positioning! Therein remains the denouement of the red dragon.

The Middle Kingdom Response

When the communists took power, the official name for China has been “ZHONGHNA RENMIN GONGHEGUO” (Middle Glorious People’s Republican Country or in English; the People’s Republic of China). It believes itself and in its destiny with a resolve never to allow history to repeat the aberration of occupation in its land that was after all between “Heaven and Earth”

The World did not take any serious notice; The West flush with success in World War II was pre occupied with the Soviet and Warsaw pact. Post collapse of the Soviet Union, the war on terrorism kept it on its toes. The East on an economic high, though conscious of China, was confident that the West would guard its backwaters. It also believed that a backward China would not pose any immediate threat. The South led by India and Nehru felt that Panchsheel was the answer to Asia. The sixties changed all that with the PRC carving out an independent path for itself away from the Soviet style of communism and economic strategy. The brief Indo-China 1962 conflict changed the statics of South Asia. India and Russia on one side with China Pakistan aligned against them. The admittance of China in the UN Security Council, its military nuclear stature, growing global economic clout and de-recognition of Taiwan were all part of a well directed, and orchestrated Chinese strategy. China for now, seems well suited to its oligarchic leadership style of combining, osmosis of patient effort and optimizing opportunity across the span of International Relationships. Its maritime strategy is embedded within this approach. It believes its sovereign security lies in the Oceans of the World.

Even a cursory analysis of the Middle kingdom’s performance today highlights continuity and constancy in:

A National Commitment to Stability

Its commitment to internal stability even by use of force, wherever and whenever necessary, is remarkable. China’s leadership places the highest priority on stability post the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution of the 1970’s. It internally uses an iron hand with an iron gauntlet.

Sustained Strategy

China has framed its macro objectives in the context of five-year plans, with clearly defined targets and policy initiatives designed to achieve targets with a high degree of accountability. It is unique, that Communist China follows liberal economic policies with flexibility. The recently enacted 12th Five-Year Plan that has shifted from the highly successful producer model of the past 30 years to a flourishing consumer society is an illustrious example.

Aligned Policies

Despite vastness of geography and immensity, all its policies are aligned with its strategy of sustaining itself in the long term

Liberal Economics

In six decades, it has displayed a strong economic dynamism with sound regulation and market reforms. Willingness to learn from within and outside is a key characteristic of its regimes openness to change.

Domestic Thrift

A domestic saving rate in excess of 50% has shielded China from external shocks. It has swelled the foreign-exchange reserves that has served China well and aided economic development. The Country now stands ready to absorb some of that surplus saving to focus on internal demand.

Domestic Servicing and Consumption

Robust plans are afoot to increase both service and consumption percentages of China with a salutary impact on its overall GDP. Rural to urban migration is also on the increase with a positive impact on accelerated infrastructural growth.

Education

China is well on its way to a, knowledge- and industry based economy. English, mathematics, sciences, computer learning and history are part of Chinese schools and colleges. Literacy rates are growing rapidly. Chinese universities now graduate more than 1.5 million engineers and scientists annually. The country regularly sends its PLA officer in the guise of students to America, the West, Europe and Russia. Interestingly, more PLA officers know Hindi than what India realizes.

Foreign Direct Investment

PRC attracts FDI. In 2010 the foreign direct investment in China was estimated to be around 106 billion US dollars and rising. In stark comparison India’s FDI is about 4.5 billion dollars. This Huge FDI is the catalyst to its accelerated growth.

Innovation and Cloning

China innovates and clones unmindful of IPR violations. China is fourth and rising in terms of international patent applications. Its research-and-development share of GDP is projected to be 2.5 % by 2015, twice of what was in 2002. It is focusing on innovation-based “strategic emerging industries” – energy conservation, new-generation information technology, biotechnology, high-end equipment manufacturing, renewable energy, alternative materials, and autos running on alternative fuels. Its consciousness resource management strategy is equally sound as evident in its R&D investment.

An Evolving Military Strategy

“China is a riddle, wrapped in an enigma and encircled, (as the Internet gurus inform us) by The Great Firewall of China” Joel Bowman

This is integral in China’s mind set and its continuum of comprehensive National Power. It encompasses a maritime vision in both the short and long term. The Chinese understanding of short, being around 30/40 years and long about 100 years. Embedded in this is a resolve never to be occupied as happened twice in their long history. Its increasing Global reach is complimentary to this idea.

It is subtly adopting a strategy of influence and hold through, arms transfer, military assistance, and aid in direct defiance of American Global interests. It knows that its trade surplus with the latter provides it a position of strength and power to play then game and guard its interests.

A grand master in International relationships the red dragon skillfully uses its ancient cultural instinct, its potent economic strength, it’s rising military potential, nuclear weapons capability to let the World know that the China can no longer be taken lightly less alone ignored.

(Next article in series on China’s maritime strategy)

The Lessons Of State Elections, 2012

Dr. M.N. Buch

Visiting Fellow, VIF

The Election Commission has successfully conducted general elections to State Assemblies in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. The results were declared on 6^th March, 2012. The Commission is to be complimented on ensuring that even in insurgency hit Manipur the elections were held under tight security in which voters felt safe to cast their votes and there was an excellent turnout of voters. Even in Uttar Pradesh, where it was feared that the elections would be violent, the Election Commission very competently saw to it that peace was maintained and the elections were free and fair. It had been alleged that S.Y. Qureshi, the Chief Election Commissioner, would be biased towards the Congress, but he deserves unstinting praise for the completely bias free election conducted under his directions. The results of the elections are proof of his fairness and impariality because in three States out of five, including in Uttar Pradesh, which is the most populous State, the Congress did very badly indeed. We should be proud of this officer and the Commission headed by him.

There are lessons to be learnt from this election and the first and most important is that the 2012 elections are witness to the decline of the two major parties which can be considered national. The Congress has a presence in every State, has always been considered a middle of the road party and is the party which has been in power longest at the national level. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh the party has been virtually wiped out, which does not speak highly of its prospects in the coming elections in 2014. Similarly BJP, which has an imposing presence in many States, has fared badly except in Goa. If the second national level party, BJP, is also not to be a serious contender in the 2014 elections, we are bound to have a situation in which there is a splintered parliament and no party would have the strength to lead a stable coalition in which junior partners in the coalition cannot call the tune. A weak coalition means that policies which are in the national interest, though not necessarily in the interest of a component party, cannot be framed or implemented and the government, therefore, would never rise above a lame duck position.

In the case of BJP the party faces a major dilemma. It has a cadre, largely of the RSS, which means that it has a grass-root presence. At the same time its secular credentials are in doubt and there is a popular perception that the party has a somewhat narrow Hindutva agenda, which makes it unacceptable to large sections of people, especially in Southern and Eastern India. If the party wants to come to power at the Centre it was to widen its base in order to increase its acceptability. In order to widen the base the party must abandon a narrow Hindutva programme, but here it runs the danger of losing the RSS cadre. The party, therefore, will have to build a cadre separate from RSS in order to retain a grass-root presence, while moving its own agenda towards a more secular, centrist stance. It remains to be seen whether the party has the courage to take these hard decisions.

When one reads the manifesto of BJP no clear picture emerges about the party’s vision of the India of the future, nor does it place before the people the party’s stand on overall development and sectoral development. In broad terms the party is not clear whether it wants a socialist economy, a mixed economy or an economy in which the private sector has the major role and the public sector is peripheral. There is no specific statement on infrastructure development and role of the State in this behalf, nor is there a clear statement about the education policy for the future and how the State will ensure that high quality education is available to every child in India. There is no policy about health care; the party does not state what the agriculturist can expect of it in the coming years, not the industrialist, the businessman or the worker. Margaret Thatcher, on becoming the Prime Minister of Britain, stated that she would dismantle socialism and then steadfastly in the next eleven years she went about achieving her objective. What course has BJP set itself? Only if BJP comes out with a picture of what people can expect from a BJP government in terms of development in its widest context, will people have a fair chance of deciding whether BJP has a programme which would be of benefit to India and, therefore, they can vote it to power.

The problem with the Congress is not one of acceptability but is the more existentialist question of whether there is such a thing as the Congress party. One senior Congress leader told me that anyone who thinks that there is a Congress party is a fool and that it is the private fiefdom of the Nehru-Gandhi family, to which all Congressmen owe their existence and to whom they have to swear loyalty. This became amply clear in the recent Uttar Pradesh elections. The Congress put all its eggs in the Gandhi family basket. Rahul Gandhi was the star performer who, under suitable tutelage, ran the election campaign in the field, with his sister putting in a star guest appearance and his ailing mother providing support from the sidelines.

What did Rahul Gandhi offer? A circus that might have had some relevance about forty years ago but which is totally obsolete in the India of today. Therefore, the star performer spent time in a Dalit household in which he kept a two-day stubble on his chin. He went on stage, made meaningless speeches, resorted to dramatics and publicly tore a manifesto of the Samajwadi Party which paper, however, was not the manifesto but just a miscellaneous bunch of papers of no consequence. He went to constituencies that had a sizable Muslim presence and there he sported a beard so that in looks he could appear to be Muslim. The Muslims were promised reservation in jobs, an enquiry into the Batala House encounter and many empty promises to protect the Muslims. The agenda was obviously communal because nothing positive was mentioned about Muslim education, emancipation of Muslim women, a development agenda based on job creation rather than just reservations, economic uplift and improvement of the Muslim social structure. What Rahul Gandhi offered would probably have worked four decades ago when the Muslims voted en masse. It did not work in 2012. Personal security, notwithstanding aberrations, including Bombay in 1993 and Gujarat in 2002, is now taken as a right by Muslims. The Muslims are aware of their backwardness, but they have done introspection and are prepared to accept that it is their low level of education which is a major factor in keeping them backward. The average Muslim wants access to education, vocational training for children which can make them employable, creation of job opportunities through economic development and equal opportunities in employment coupled with affirmative action. Reservation is the least of the Muslim priorities. On none of these issues did Rahul Gandhi or the Congress make any significant contribution, which has caused the Muslims to turn away from the Congress.

The communal card no longer holds validity in today’s India. Nitish Kumar realised this and his entire election campaign was based on a development agenda. That is why his BJP partners were able to get Muslim votes in Bihar. In Gujarat Narendra Modi never speaks of the Muslims and 2002 notwithstanding, the development momentum which has been unleashed in Gujarat has also improved economic opportunities for the Muslims, benefitted them in improving their economic status and, therefore, has brought about a better law and order environment in the State. Therefore, in local body elections a number of Muslim candidates preferred the BJP and were successful in the elections. This point is made not as an apology for Narendra Modi, but rather as a pointer to what the Muslim needs. No Indian Muslim wants separation from India nor would he like to migrate to Pakistan. Every Indian Muslim accepts India as his own country. This has buried the ghost of 1947 and political parties should not try to revive it. The Muslim wants education for his children, safety for himself, honour and dignity for his women folk and job opportunities and a business environment in which the Muslim can prosper. The party which gives him this, which is exactly what every other community wants, will win the next election. Rahul Gandhi’s 2012 agenda promises none of these and does not bode well for the party.

The Congress, like BJP, has not placed before the people any worthwhile agenda of governance which could enable the people to decide whether the Congress is the right party to be voted to power. At least Indira Gandhi gave such slogans as “gareebi hataao”. Sonia Gandhi’s Congress does not even give this sort of a slogan. How can a party which has no worthwhile economic agenda to offer, but is dependent almost entirely on caste and an effort to woo voters on account of religion call itself a national party and hope that the people of twenty-first century India will vote it to power?

The entire planning process set in motion by Jawaharlal Nehru with the first Five-Year Plan was as much an economic statement as a political one. The Plan, with its priorities, was and is a government document, but because it is approved by a government whose composition has to be political, it is also a statement of the ruling party’s ideology and programmes. That was perhaps true for the five initial Plans. Thereafter the planning process has become bureaucratic rather than reflective of the wider thinking of government and the means of converting this thinking into a concrete plan of action. Unless the Congress Party once again begins to take the people of India into confidence about where they want lead India to, the party can neither aspire for national power, nor deserve it.

The growth of regional parties is a repeat of what happened after the emergency and the defeat of Indira Gandhi in 1977. In the last two decades of the twentieth century one saw signs of reemergence of national parties, including the Left Front. 2012 has reversed this trend and the regional parties are becoming powerful. As I have already stated, this is not a promising sign.

The government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the two governments presided over by Dr. Manmohan Singh have had to face the same dilemma, generally speaking from the same opposition parties, which were or are in coalition with the party in power, that is, the most outrageous demands from coalition partners and the continuous threat of withdrawal of support, which would cause the government to collapse. In turn this has led to the dominant partners of the coalition continually striving to retain power and, for that purpose, to make totally unacceptable concessions to the alliance partners.

Let us take the current scenario. The scheme of the Constitution is federal, with strong centripetal forces. The Constitution gives the States certain independent powers and also prescribes the relationship between the state governments and the federal government. As per List 1 and 2 of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the exclusive powers of the Union and the States are prescribed. If federalism demands that the Central Government should not dabble in state affairs, it also demands that the States should not intrude into areas where the Central Government has the constitutional authority. For example, foreign relations and international treaties are exclusively within the domain of the Centre as per Entries 10 and 14 of List 1 of the Seventh Schedule. Similarly, as per Item 221 List 1 of the Seventh Schedule Railways are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Centre. No State Government has the right to interfere in these matters or to force the Central Government to adopt a particular policy dictated by the State. The Prime Minister wanted to make certain concessions to Bangladesh, of which a treaty on the sharing of the waters of Teesta River was one of the components. It is legitimate for the Chief Minister of West Bengal to put forward the case of the State regarding the consequences of the Teesta water treaty, but it is neither legitimate for her to block the treaty or for the Prime Minister to surrender to the demands of a Chief Minister. A treaty with a neighbouring country which benefits both is more important than the rights of a riparian State in India. Unfortunately the equation within Parliament which has made Mamata Banerjee’s party a key factor in supporting government seems to have outweighed the considerations of an amicable relationship with Bangladesh. The Central Government should have consulted the West Bengal Government, but for the West Bengal Government to have blocked an international treaty which had larger ramification than those within West Bengal alone is itself a breach of the federal principle. This has been possible only because the electorate has given to India a hung parliament in which compromise has replaced principled policy as a means of government.

The latest fiasco over the railway budget explains the danger of the growth of regionalism at the cost of national parties. The railway budget is required to be drawn up by the Union Minister of Railways who, together with his cabinet colleague, is responsible to the House of the People under Article 75(3) of the Constitution. He is not responsible to the chief of the political party to which he belongs and which is a coalition partner. For Mamata to insist that the Railway Minister should resign or be dismissed because of the provisions of the railway budget, of which she did not approve, is a clear violation of federal principle because here it is the Prime Minister and Parliament to whom the Minister is accountable, not Mamata Banerjee. Similarly, for a coalition partner to demand that a particular portfolio should be in the exclusive domain of that party goes against every principle of democratic government. This all the more dangerous because one hears bazaar gossip that the price that the Samajwadi Pary is demanding for its support of the Central Government is that the Defence Ministry be given to Mulayam Singh Yadav. At a time when the Defence Ministry is engaged in the most delicate negotiations for acquisition of weapons and weapon system worth lakh of crores of rupees the Minister should not be changed, especially because Mr. A.K. Anthony has a reputation for total personal integrity. If to save its own skin the Congress party succumbs to these demands, then the party has no right to rule this country. That is one of the major lessons which have emerged from the state elections of 2012.

First and foremost the Prime Minister should have the courage to tell his coalition partners that not only they, but all parties and all State Governments would be consulted in matters of national interest but also that the ultimate decision would be that of Central Government and that would be binding. He must make it clear to the coalition partners that once a decision is taken by the cabinet it applies to everyone, even to those cabinet ministers who come from allied parties and not from the Congress Party. He must also make it clear that beyond a point the coalition partners will not be allowed to dictate terms and if this causes the government to fall fresh elections would be held. Whatever is in the national interest should be done, including a massive effort by the two major parties to ensure that in the next elections the importance of the regional parties is reduced and the major parties get a clear run to bring proper government to India. 

Diplomatic Dilemma: India and UNHRC Resolution against Sri Lanka

Dr. N. Manoharan

Senior Fellow, VIF

The ghosts of war continue to haunt Sri Lanka in one form or the other. Now it has come as US-sponsored resolution at the 19^th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The resolution is also backed by France and Norway that once acted as ‘facilitators’ in the peace process between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE. Moved on 06 March 2012, the resolution placed three requests for Sri Lanka:

1. To “implement the constructive recommendations made in the report of the Lessons Learnt Reconciliation Commission” (LLRC) and to “initiate credible and independent actions to ensure justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans.”
2. To “present a comprehensive action plan as expeditiously as possible detailing the steps the Government has taken and will take to implement the LLRC recommendations and also to address alleged violations of international law.”
3. To “accept, advice and technical assistance from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant special procedures mandate holders on implementing the above-mentioned steps, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to present a report on the provision of such assistance to the Human Rights Council at its 22nd session”

There are two aspects to the entire debate: one is fixing accountability for excesses committed by the Sri Lankan forces during ‘Eelam War IV’; and the other is the way forward in the form of post-war reconciliation in the island.

Colombo is uncomfortable with both. The Sri Lankan government argues that the problems should be dealt with internally and any solution has to be “home grown”. It cites steps taken so far in this regard. On accountability the Army has appointed a Court of Inquiry as an initial fact-finding mission. For reconciliation the President-appointed LLRC has already submitted its report late last year and the government is in the process of implementing its recommendations. To Colombo, any UN action “would only lead to derailing the ongoing reconciliation process that has been put in place by the government.” Some in the regime go to the extent of arguing that “If we submit to this resolution, Tiger terrorists will raise their head again.”

But the underlying point made by the sponsors of the resolution is that the objective behind the move at UNHRC is not to condemn Sri Lanka but to “sow the seeds of lasting peace.” It is pointed out that the “real reconciliation must be based on accountability, not impunity.” The Court of Inquiry appointed by the Army is considered “too late and too little”. Since it is not independent, its findings may not be impartial. The LLRC contained both positive and negative aspects. On positives, it talked about the need for demilitarisation, investigation of disappearances, apart from acknowledging existence of ethnic grievances; surprisingly, it supported devolution of powers to minorities, although did not spell them out. At the same time, it did not fix accountability for human rights abuses during Eelam War IV. For the collateral damage, the report reasoned it out as a result of LTTE action and military reaction. Most importantly, the LLRC did not give any action plan on the way forward either on reconciliation or devolution. It is only after the introduction of resolution in Geneva on 27 February that talks of roadmap have commenced. Sri Lanka seems to be bit more sensitive to external pressures than to the internal ones.

Given these factors, India’s role is important. In a similar situation in May 2009, India, along with China, Pakistan, and Russia, bailed Sri Lanka out from a Western-sponsored resolution at UNHRC. But what should India do now? Should it support the resolution as demanded by all parliamentarians from Tamil Nadu, or should it oppose the resolution keeping in mind the interest of bilateral ties with Sri Lanka? India’s dilemma is evident when the External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said, “Certainly we will take into account the overall relationship between India and Sri Lanka and the sentiments that are prevalent in our country.” However, in a letter to the present and ex-chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, from where pressure on the Center is increasing to act on the issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sounded less dilemmatic: “We are engaged with all parties in an effort to achieve an outcome that is forward-looking and that ensures that rather than deepening confrontation and mistrust between the concerned parties, a way forward is found on issues related to accountability and reconciliation,"

This is the key. Neither ‘for’ nor ‘against’ the resolution is an ideal way out for the problem. New Delhi has to think out of the box at this juncture. Two options can be explored. One is to act as a ‘mediator’ between the sponsors and the state concerned – Sri Lanka – to rework on the Resolution and make it as a consensus document. For this, two aspects of the resolution – accountability and reconciliation – have to be dissected. The accountability component can be taken-off from the resolution completely and can be addressed separately. Colombo should be persuaded to clear the air on excesses committed by its forces. It could be through a non-partial investigation involving combination of local and international experts. Sri Lankans have to be involved in the exercise to gain acceptability in the country; outsiders have to be included for credibility at the international level.

On reconciliation, Colombo should be made to realise that military defeat of the LTTE was not the end in itself; only a political settlement that addresses grievances of minority communities can lead to lasting peace in the island. Unfortunately, this seems to be not on the priority list of Rajapaksa regime. In a recent interview, President Mahinda Rajapaksa outlined his thoughts on political settlement succinctly when he said, “We are keen on a sustainable political settlement. But it must have wide acceptance, especially in the context of the post-conflict situation.” When this pronouncement is taken seriously, writing on the wall is clear. At the maximum, what is on cards is some arrangement revolving around the existing 13^th amendment. Through 13^th Amendment, the island was divided into various provinces and granted some powers under Provincial List. However, the Provincial Councils always lacked sufficient powers – especially land, police and finance – to run their affairs in an efficient manner. In addition, Colombo wields immense powers of overruling any of Provincial decisions. Instead of strengthening the Provinces, the present government is planning to dilute the present arrangement further. Unless there is genuine power sharing, the Provincial Council arrangement will be mere eyewash. The best option is to go beyond 13^th amendment framework as always insisted by India.

While this will take time to work out, Colombo should meanwhile seriously implement recommendations of the LLRC. There is nothing wrong in presenting an action plan on this to the UNHRC. In that case, the US should be persuaded to take this action plan as the final resolution and passed as a consensual document. The West also should understand Colombo’s constraints and compulsions.

In case Sri Lanka refuses to make international commitment on reconciliation; in case Washington insists on going ahead with the present resolution without any amendments, the second best option for India is to abstain from voting. It would convey a clear-cut message to Colombo: “Our friendship is very important, but that thrives on making commitments and, most importantly, seriously implementing them.” And, to the West, the signal would be “your resolutions will remain mere paper tigers as long as they are away from the reality.”

Balochistan on The Boil, Pakistan in Denial

Sushant Sareen

Senior Fellow, VIF

The insurgency mounted by Baloch freedom fighters has been variously described as ‘Pakistan’s Other War’, ‘The Silent War’, ‘The Dirty War’ etc. by the international media. One of the main reasons why this ‘war’ has until now not made the front pages of newspapers is the conspiracy of silence hatched, dictated and enforced by the ‘deep state’ which had muzzled Pakistan’s ‘independent’ media from any detailed reportage about the turmoil in Pakistan’s largest and poorest province – Balochistan. Let alone foreign journalists, even Pakistani media personnel are not allowed free access to most parts of Balochistan which have become virtual ‘no-go’ areas. Local journalists are intimidated – around half a dozen have been killed and many more have gone into exile – and forbidden from any bold reporting. Big media houses follow an undeclared policy of not covering the inconvenient reality of Balochistan in any great detail. But even the sketchy reports of incidents of violence and unrest – targeted killings, ambushes of security personnel, ‘missing persons’ and the discovery of their mutilated bodies, the daily humiliated visited on the ordinary Baloch who is insulted by being forced to shout slogans in favour of Pakistan, the fleeting references to the ban imposed by Baloch freedom fighters on raising the Pakistani flag or singing the Pakistani national anthem anywhere in the province etc. – are enough to inform about the great tumult that is building up in the province.

It took a maverick US Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, to bring Balochistan on to the centre-stage of Pakistan's political discourse. The Congressional hearing organised by Rohrabacher, followed by the resolution moved by him in the US Congress calling for the right to self-determination in Balochistan shook and shocked the Pakistani establishment – military, media, politicians and judiciary, all together – out of their callous reverie about Balochistan. Suddenly, Balochistan became the flavour of the season and saturation coverage was given to the dismal state of affairs in the province. Parallels were drawn with the follies committed by the Pakistani state in the erstwhile East Pakistan, doomsday scenarios were floated, conspiracy theories were conjured up and verbal self-flagellation about the sins of omission and commission committed by the Pakistani state, particularly the security establishment (Army, FC, intelligence agencies and their jihadist proxies) became the order of the day for over two weeks.

Then, just as suddenly as Balochistan erupted on air waves and newsprint as a panic word, it disappeared. This was partly the result of the cracking of the whip by the ‘deep state’ and a muzzle order issued by the media regulator, and partly it was the result of a realisation that the heavens were still some distance away from falling down and all was still not lost in the province. Notwithstanding the degree of equanimity that has come into the public discourse on Balochistan, it is quite clear that Pakistan is at its wits end on how to address the sweeping anti-Pakistan and pro-independence sentiment in Balochistan. Other than resorting to Gestapo-like tactics to bludgeon the freedom seeking Baloch into submission, the Pakistani establishment is pretty clueless on what it can do to woo the Baloch and end their alienation and disaffection with Pakistan. Until now, Pakistan has been following a 3 C’s policy: (1)coercion (illegal confinement and targeted killings by death squads run by the Pakistani intelligence agencies and paramilitary forces like the Frontier Corps), (2)corruption (buying off support of the local politicians and every Pakistani party recruiting their own set of Quislings, collaborators and what Baloch freedom fighters call ‘Sarkari’ Baloch like the Lt. Gen. (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch, Chief Minister Aslam Raisani, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri etc.), and (3) cajoling and cooption (grandiose gestures like the Aaghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan package of economic initiatives and political reforms, cosmetic gestures like making the port city Gwadar second capital, increasing recruitment of Baloch into army and paramilitary forces, some development work, and tons of propaganda) – to woo the Baloch or at least sow divisions in their ranks. But there is little by way of success that this policy has achieved.

Another tack adopted by the Pakistani establishment was to use the ‘embedded’ media to churn out a counter narrative which was a combination of an Ostrich-like approach to the problem and a deliberate attempt to play down the severity of the issue. According to this narrative, the problem in Balochistan was only of three out of around seventy odd Sardars – Bugti, Mengal and Marri – and was limited to around four to five districts, including Dera Bugti, Kohlu, Khuzdar and Turbat. But the incongruity of this narrative is borne out by the sheer mismatch between the scale of the insurgency and panic in Islamabad. After all, if the problem in Balochistan was so small, then why was so much newsprint and airtime expended on discussing the problem? Perhaps the answer to this lies in what Sardar Akhtar Mengal called a panic created by the fact that the ‘overlord’ (read US) had suddenly taken notice of the rampant and brazen violation of human rights in Balochistan by the ‘underling’ (read Pakistani establishment)! The Pakistani spin about the fringe nature of insurgency has also been blunted by the gauntlet thrown by the leaders of the Baloch freedom movement who have challenged Pakistan to test the popularity of the demand for independence by holding a referendum under international supervision to ascertain whether the Baloch wanted to stay in Pakistan or wanted their freedom.

A clumsy effort was also made to sow ethnic and linguistic divisions by pitting the Baloch against the Pashtuns and the Balochi speaking against the Brahvi speaking people, but it did not receive much traction because the protagonists of Baloch independence have made it very clear that they hold no claim over Pashtun lands – North Balochistan – and are not demanding independence for Balochistan province but for only the Baloch areas of the province along with Baloch areas of Punjab and Sindh. The Pakistani ‘deep state’ and its clients in the media and political establishment also tried to discredit the Baloch freedom movement by coming up with conspiracy theories and launching a propaganda campaign about how an international conspiracy masterminded by the perfidious Americans and fully supported by the Israelis and Indians was being hatched to dismember Pakistan.

Far from being fazed by this canard, leaders of the Baloch freedom movement openly welcomed any assistance that would come their way regardless of where it came from. One of the icons of the Baloch freedom movement, Brahmdagh Bugti, even said that they would accept the assistance from Satan himself to rid themselves of the yoke of Pakistan. Indeed, many of the Baloch activists are hoping that the propaganda about foreign assistance becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, something that cannot be ruled out if the Pakistani paranoia gets a life of its own and ultimately forces the international community to intervene to prevent the atrocities being committed against the Baloch. In a sense, the seriousness of the situation in Balochistan can be gauged by the fact that until now there has been practically no assistance given by any foreign power to the Baloch, something that the Pakistan military and intelligence establishment know very well. What is scaring them is how much the situation can actually deteriorate if some foreign power did start providing 'diplomatic, political and moral support'.

The attempt to push things under the carpet, deflect attention from the real issue, and downplay the unrest and alienation in Balochistan doesn’t mean that things are looking up for Pakistan and that they are not as bad as was being projected. In fact, the situation is probably a lot worse and could deteriorate further, both because the Baloch freedom fighters are already feeling enthused by their cause coming on to the radar screen of the international community and also because the Pakistani crackdown is likely to get a lot more brutal, albeit after a bit of a lull to let things cool down. In the meantime, the Pakistani political establishment has pretended to reach out to the disgruntled Baloch leaders by announcing a withdrawal of cases against them and declaring an intention to hold a sincere and serious dialogue with the Baloch leadership to address their grievances. But instead of placating the Baloch, the withdrawal of cases has been greeted with derision. As for a dialogue, the Baloch leaders have declared that they will be willing to talk to the Pakistani establishment only if the talks are centred on discussing Balochistan’s independence.

The Baloch leaders – both pro-independence and pro-federation – have also rejected the All Parties Conference proposed by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. While the Baloch have labelled the APC as a pointless exercise, even mainstream political parties in Pakistan, in particular the main opposition party PMLN, have dismissed the APC proposal. In fact, the PMLN has attached almost impossible to meet pre-conditions – arresting and trying the murderers of Nawab Akbar Bugti (read former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf), recovering and releasing all ‘missing persons’ (believed to have been picked up by the security agencies), and brining to justice all officials involved in extra-judicial killings. Actually, the PMLN is more interested in grinding its own political axe rather than seriously address the Balochistan issue. Given such an attitude and approach, it is no surprise that the APC is a stillborn proposal in which no one is interested, certainly not the ruling PPP which is chary of doing anything that ruffles the feathers of the military establishment.

Time however could be running out for the Pakistani state in Balochistan. Things have reached such a pass that pro-federation politicians who act as toadies of the government are finding it difficult to defend, much less justify, the actions of the Pakistani state. In any case, the traditional political elite has been steadily losing ground to a new crop of middle-class youth leaders who cutting across tribal lines are forging a potent national movement. None other than the doyen of Baloch nationalists, Sardar Attaullah Mengal, admitted this to PMLN chief Nawaz Sharif. According to Mengal, things were no longer in the control of the old leadership as a new generation of leaders were now calling the shots. The man who is believed to have become the icon of the Baloch freedom fighters is the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) chief, Dr Allah Nazar. Others like the Balochistan Republican Party (BRP) chief, Nawabzada Brahmdagh Bugti (grandson of the slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti), Hyrbyair Marri (son of Nawab Khair Bux Marri), and Balochistan National Party (BNP) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal (son of Sardar Attaullah Mengal) are also in the vanguard of the nationalist movement. But while Dr Allah Nazar is fighting against Pakistan from inside Balochistan, the other pro-independence leaders are in exile and hence their effectiveness is somewhat reduced.

At the political level, moves are afoot to bring all the pro-independence elements together and forge a united national movement. The first step in this direction has been taken with efforts underway agree on a ‘Freedom Charter’ which will serve as the vision statement of a future Balochistan state. But a lot will depend on how much support the international community gives to the Baloch. It is entirely possible that with tectonic changes taking place in the region, especially in relation to Afghanistan and Iran, the international community might discover that an independent Baloch state could well be the strategic answer to all their problems. But it is equally possible that a tired and defeated international community might recede into a shell to lick its wounds and leave the Baloch to their own devices. In case of the former, chances of an independent Balochistan which also acts as a bulwark against Islamic fanaticism and terrorism will be very bright. But in the latter case, with no help coming for the Baloch, chances are that the Baloch independence movement being smothered yet again.

An Insider’s Perspective

Kanwal Sibal
Member Advisory Board, VIF

Riaz Mohammed Khan’s book “Afghanistan and Pakistan” adds to the already numerous books available on the shelves on the linked Afghanistan-Pakistan situation. The Taliban-takeover of Afghanistan, the 9/11 terror attack that provoked US military intervention leading to Taliban’s ouster from power, US failure to consoildate its success because of the distraction of the Iraq war, the resurgence of the Taliban and Pakistan’s collusion in this, have all been analysed by diverse authors from different perspectives. So when a new book appears it has to offer more than a pastiche of facts, views and analyses that the reader is already familiar with.

The author, who was Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary from 2005 to 2008, offers an insider’s perspective on the subject. His book is not a work of scholarship based on “rigorous or extensive” research, as the author avows in the introduction. He offers, as he says, a “broad-brush treatment of events”, weaving “personal experiences, perspectives, and evaluation into the larger narrative”, derived from his various assignments in the Pakistani Foreign Office.

A former Pakistani diplomat who has officially handled Afghanistan related issues, analysed them on file and in internal discussions, and contributed in some measure to policy making, can be expected to adhere largely to the standard Pakistani view that we know. While this undercurrent in not absent from the book, the sobriety with which the author expounds his views and the penetrating reflections he makes on many aspects of Pakistani thinking and policies is striking.

The first part of the book covers the post-Soviet withdrawal phase of the Afghanistan conflict from 1989 to 1995, the advent of the Taliban from 1996 to 2001, the developments in Afghanistan post-9/11, with the interests and concerns of the external powers examined in a separate chapter. The second part deals with the Pakistan context of the Afghan situation, with focus on the grave challenge of religious militancy and extremism that the country faces. The intellectual crisis and weak governance in Pakistan is examined with great acuity in chapter 6 of the book. The book ends with the author’s “Conclusions” that pinpoint the mistakes made and opportunities missed by western powers in dealing with the developments in Afghanistan at critical moments. This section assesses the exit strategy, the prospects of stabilizing Aghanistan, the reconciliation and reconstruction agenda and the challenge of rebuilding of the Afghan National Army. The December 10 review of the US counter-insurgency strategy is examined, recommendations are made for an Afghnistan-Pakistan modus vivendi, the conundrum of US-Pakistan relations is looked at, with a glance at the expectations of Pakistan whose dearth of political and intellectual leadership is highlighted.

The author does not believe that Pakistan bears the major responsibility for the mess in Afghanistan, though he does expose the disruptive aspects of its policies and actions. The Pakistan Army and the ISI, he acknowledges, have supported the Afghan insurgents at the highest levels, and at the middle levels have admired their piety and intransigence. He rejects, however, the idea that the ISI created the Taliban, arguing that they were a phenomenon waiting to happen after 10 years of Soviet occupation and 5 years of internecine conflict, with President Zia’s islamization policies, the mushrooming of madrassahs and muslim charities from the Gulf under the influence of Wahhabi and Deobandi ideology acting as catalysts. He concedes that in the 1990s the Pakistanis did believe that the Taliban offered the best hope for stabilization as they drew strength from ethnic Pashtuns straddling the border, and that once settled in power they would become more moderate. Hence, Pakistan favoured engaging the Taliban before and after 9/11, but the international community isolated them in the 1990s because of their human rights record, treatment of women, the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania embassies and the Al Qaida connection, pushing the Taliban therefore towards greater dependence on foreign elements.

After 9/11 Pakistan’s earlier policy of supporting the Taliban was of course in shambles, with the Northern Alliance in Kabul and Al Qaida and Taliban elements moving into FATA. President Musharraf pressed the US not to allow a government in Kabul unfriendly to Pakistan and pleaded for the inclusion of some moderate Taliban elements in it, but the Bonn Agreement excluded the Taliban and all hardline Mujaheddin groups, which, for the author, was a mistake.

The author argues that Pakistan is not responsible for the post 9/11 resurgence of the Taliban. They had been routed but not destroyed. Later developments, according to the author, including America’s war on Iraq which strengthened the Al Qaida and deflected US attention away from Afghanistan, lack of economic support for Afghanistan after Bonn and the meagre results of the Tokyo Donors Conference that only helped to foster the opium economy, the ineffectiveness of aid programmes, poor governance, the absence of government at local levels, the neglect of agriculture as a result, the non-Pashtun character of the Afghan National Army, the perception that the Taliban were fighting for Pashtun rights, the overweening US and UN presence that hurt President Karzai’s image and no accretion to his authority after the 2004 Presidential election, all contributed to the steady resurgence of the Taliban.

Afghanistan holds Pakistan responsible for this development as the insurgents operate from Pakistani territory. Pakistan, however, believes it is a victim of the unsettled situation in Afghanistan. The author refutes the widely made charge that because Pakistan views the Taliban as a long term asset for recovering political influence in Kabul, it is reluctant to act against the group. Pakistan, in his view, can be blamed for half-hearted cooperation but not such calculation. He sees the conflict as fundamentally an Afghan issue. However, with US counter-insurgency efforts failing to produce wanted results, Pakistan has come under greater pressure, with the drone attacks exacerbating US-Pakistan tensions. Lack of trust now marks the military relations between the two countries, with a growing disconnect between the US and Pakistan perceptions and approaches at the operational level.

The author makes the familiar argument that Pakistan does not target the Afghan Taliban as they do not fight Pakistani troops or carry on acts of violence within the country, that Pakistan’s primary concern is the Pakistani Taliban and that apart from Pakistani empathy with the Taliban, Pakistan has limited capacity to interdict and control them. According to him, Pakistan has been soft on the Haqqanis and Mullah Nazir with a view to squeezing Baitullah Masud. However, even as suicide bombings in Pakistan are rising, the US asks Pakistan to do more. The author denies any double dealing by Pakistan; even pro-US elements in Pakistan, according to him, are disappointed that the US does not see the complexity of the problem facing Pakistan. The general feeling in Pakistan is that the war on terror is not that of Pakistan and that Pakistan is being used as hired help. The author tries to persuade but fails to convince.

Looking ahead at prospects of stability in Afghanistan, the author sees the US military presence in Afghanistan a problem as well as a solution. The Afghan population is tired of violence and conflict. If the US forces begin withdrawing and other improvements on the ground occur, the rationale for fighting would weaken. Hearts and minds cannot be won by intensification of military efforts. But then, until the Afghan National Security Forces(ANSF) are built, the militancy cannot be pacified.

The chapter on the role of external powers provides some useful insights into the thinking of China and Iran as shared with the Pakistanis. The author sees the rivalry between India, Iran and Pakistan as a source of problems. While recognizing that Pakistan and Afghanistan cannot be detached because of intense informal linkages between the two countries, he sees Pakistan’s posture of treating Aghanistan as its backyard as being deeply offensive to the Afghans. He is scornful of the concept of strategic depth that has animated the thinking of the Pakistani military towards Afghanistan and finds Pakistani pleas for a friendly government in Kabul politically unwarranted as Afghanistan has never posed a conventional military threat to Pakistan.

Backing the Taliban is no longer a viable option for Pakistan today, he says, as that would give the Pakistani Taliban more strength. The author realistically notes that the Taliban had earlier risen to power in Afghanistan because of unique developments, but today opposition to them is strong, Afghanistan is not the war torn country of the mid-1990s and the non-Pashtuns are not willing to accept Taliban rule. Pakistan can at best exert local influence in a fragmented Afghanistan.

It is difficult to believe that, as the author claims, Pakistan will not pursue factional politics in Afghanistan to balance Indian influence. General Musharraf, who no doubt reflects sentiments prevailing in the Pakistani military, still proclaims at all forums that India is in close alliance with the erstwhile Northern Alliance groups and that the Afghan intelligence cooperates with R&AW in Pakistani frontier areas and Balochistan. The author is even less persuasive when he argues that in Pakistan’s soft environment(!) contacts between the Afghan Taliban and retired military officials do exist but the latter are not acting in accordance with official policy. According to him, a stable Afghanistan would require a balance between different groups and not domination by any particular one.

India’s interest in Afghanistan is not presented by the author with the usual Pakistani distortions. He sees India maintaining good relations with the Northern Alliance and building goodwill among the Pashtuns. He believes, rightly, that some understanding between India and Pakistan could have a positive impact on Afghanistan, recalling that in 2006 India had approached Pakistan to help Afghanistan settle down but Pakistan took it as a bid to raise the transit issue and did not respond.

For Iran the Taliban are, the author recognizes, a challenge because of their salafist ideology The Iranians recall the killing of their personnel by Pakistani anti-shia elements amongst the Taliban. Iran has concern about US support for Iranian dissident groups. They haven’t made Pak-US military co-operation an issue in Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations. The author considers the Iranian policy pragmatic and circumspect.

The author is critical of Saudi Arabia’s role in financing madrassahs in Pakistan and Afghanistan with salafist ideology and making no effort to reverse this policy. The Russians cannot overlook the fact that the Taliban were the only government to recognize Chechenya. The author has detected no concern in Russia about US bases in Afghanistan. China has expressed no adverse reaction to US military intervention in Afghanistan either. However, beyond curbing terrorism and religious extremism, China would not want a consolidation of US presence in Afghanistan. China has shown no anxiety in bilateral discussions with Pakistan about Nato presence in Afghanistan or its use of Pakistani faciities. In the author’s view tension between US and Pakistan is a liability for China, but he does not explain why.

The chapter on Pakistan in the book is possibly the most revealing as the author is clinical in dissecting Pakistan’s shortcomings and failings. An Indian observer making similar assessment of the state of affairs in Pakistan would have been accused of a deep anti Pakistan bias. The author confirms all the negative Indian perceptions of Pakistan. For him, the challenge in Pakistan is a combination of religious motivation, madrassah education, Afghanistan and Kashmir related rhetoric and official patronage for religious militancy. The Pakistani sunni groups have participated in Taliban campaigns. The LeT has been involved in the Kashmir insurgency, but while the group has avoided violence in Pakistan it has fostered an environment of intolerance in Pakistan.

In the 90s sectarian violence was seen as a bane, but jihadi groups despite their sectarian affiliations were cossetted by the military, while the Nawaz Sharif government, whose supporters in the business community who believe in Islamization, saw jihadi groups with equanimity. Benazir Bhutto did not take on the religious constituency, Musharraf was cautious not to touch the army’s sensitivities on Kashmir and ruffle orthodoxy.

There is ambiguity in Pakistan towards the threat of religious extremism, he notes. A lot of ground has been ceded to conservative islamic thinking and to religious parties. Musharraf’s concept of enlightened moderation was simplistic. He failed to achieve madrassah and mosque reforms and the banning militant sectarian groups. The attempt to revise the blasphemy laws created some anxiety amongst the ranks, which points to the spread of extremist thinking in the lower echelons of the military.

Pakistan shows a strong trans-national impulse rooted in the Ummah, with jihadi groups showing no respect for national boundaries, including in Afghanistan says the author. The Tableeghi Jamat has created a dense religious emvironment. The influence of the jamaat e islami, religious vigilantism, politicisation of education has stifled culture. Zia ul Haque policy of islamisation and the Saudi inspired salafist thinking has taken root.

The author is candid about the backing the jihadi groups have received from the Pakistani military with a view to compelling india to negotiate on Kashmir. The Pakistani military has believed that the liberation struggle in Kashmir could be successfully supported. The ISI was deeply involved with Kashmir groups. Pakistan is in permanent confrontation with India. Mistrust of india, he says ominously, is part of Pakistan army’s institutional culture which can be softened but not changed.

The ideas of security, religiosity and patriotism suit the military. There is aggressive patriotism at retired mid level military and civilian official level. Jihad, piety and faith is the motto of army, The ranks of the armed forces are not immune to extremism. Hawkish views on security and foreign relations assosciated with ISI are quite common in the Foreign offfice and the civilan establishment because of many bouts of military rule in Pakistan.

The author confirms the many syndromes his country suffers from. Pakistan has a beseiged mentality, with conspiracy theories rampant. It externalizes blame, blaming India and the US for supporting the Taliban, even Mahsud, as well as suicide bombings. Pakistan resorts to denial with facility, saying the Kashmir struggle is indigenous, denying the presence of Mullah Omar or the Al Qaida in Pakistan. There is a streak of anti- modernity in popular thinking, an antipathy towards secularism, modernization and liberalism, a tendency to condone the Al Qaida and Taliban’s excesses as a consequence of the US presence in Afghanistan.

The author’s conclusions cover the past and the future. Many of his recommendations for the future are eminently sensible, even if his analysis of the past can be questioned in parts.

PM Manmohan Singh’s Forthcoming Visit to Nepal: The Nepalese Context

Hari Bansh Jha

Background

As per the media report, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to make official visit to Nepal towards the last week of this month in March, 2012. Expectations are that this high level visit to Nepal by the Indian leader might add a new mile stone in relations between the two countries. It might also open different vistas of economic cooperation between world’s two closest neighbours.

But at the same time it cannot be forgotten that the visit at the highest level by the Indian leader to Nepal is taking place amidst situation in which Nepal is constrained by logjam caused due to the failure of the Constituent Assembly in making constitution despite a series of extensions. Nepal is also plagued by weak government, political instability, law and order problem, industrial chaos and growing influence of foreign forces in the country. Some of these challenges are also due to the lack of high-level visit by the Indian Prime Minister to Nepal. At this juncture, Manmohan Singh's visit to India could prove epoch-making if it is properly twined to the advantage of the two countries given the fact that the interest of one country is not much different to the interest of the other.

Unique Relation

No two countries of the world are bound as much by cultural, religious, geo-economic, political and strategic ties as Nepal and India. Therefore, people in India regard the Nepalese as closest to them and such is the attitude of people of Nepal towards the Indian people. Such people-to-people relations are unique, which is also made possible through the open border system for the people of one country to the other. Thousands of Nepalese and Indians marry each other. Millions of Nepalese benefit from employment opportunities across the border in India and similarly even many Indians also work in Nepal. Each day, the Nepalese go for shopping in India and the Indians come to Nepal. This uniqueness in relations between the two countries has really made the Nepal-India border borderless.

It is this unique relation between Nepal and India that paved the way to the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Security interests of the two countries were locked through this Treaty. Each country made a commitment on taking joint initiative in case there was external threat to any of them. Perhaps, this bond of common security made the Nepalese Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala publicly announce in 1950s that the defence of India was the defence of Nepal. Equally, true is the fact that the defence of Nepal is the defence of India.

Equally remarkable are the views expressed by the Nepalese Prime Minister K.I. Singh on Nepal-India relations. A foreign journalist asked him, “Why is it that the Nepalese value India so high when the Western countries and multilateral institutions pour so much money in Nepal in the form of foreign aid?” In his reply, Singh put counter question, “Why was it that Sita, the daughter of Nepal, had none else than Ram, son of India, to marry her? Why was it that there was no figure other than Sita whom Ram could have chosen for marriage?”

No house of the Nepalese is made pure until it is sprinkled with gangajal i.e. the holy water of the river, Ganga flowing through the Indian territory. No ritual is possible from birth to the death without gangajal. Even the ashes of dead bodies have to be immersed into the Ganga river. Souls of the ancestors do not find peace until certain rituals are performed in Gaya. People in Nepal have as much faith in Kashi, Ayodhya, Mathura, Vrindavan, Balaju or Rameshwar in India as the people in India revere Janakpur (the birthplace of Sita), Pashupatinath and Muktinath in Nepal.

Long Gap in Visit by Indian Prime Minister

Yet it was a pity that there was a long gap in high-level visit of Indian Prime Minister to Nepal. For nearly 15 years, no Indian Prime Minister visited Nepal. I.K. Gujral was the last Prime Minister of India to visit Nepal. Of course, Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Nepal in January 2002, but the purpose of his visit to Nepal at that time was merely to participate in 11^th SAARC summit.

Turbulence in Nepal

Coincidently, the last 15 years has been the most turbulent period in Nepal’s history. More than 16,000 people were killed during the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) lead People’s war between 1996 and 2006. There was colossal loss of property and widespread destruction of government schools, offices, roads and other infrastructural facilities in the country during that time.

Following the historical Peace Accord between the government and the Maoists in 2006, the 239-year old monarchical institution collapsed in 2008. But even after six years of signing of the Peace Accord, the Maoist combatants are only partially laid off under the voluntary retirement scheme. The law and order situation in the country is still in fragile state. Armed groups have proliferated, particularly in the Terai region of Nepal. Most of the industries are closed on account of growing labour militancy, political instability, strikes, bandh, inadequate supply of power and raw materials. Forced donations and abductions have plagued the entire society. Because of the lack of employment opportunities at home, the number of youth fleeing the country for overseas employment (countries other than India) amounted to 600 per day until 2010, which more than doubled to 1,500 in 2011-12.

Nepal’s Challenges

The greatest challenge that Nepal is facing today is the failure of the Constituent Assembly to draft the constitution. As it is well known, the elections for 601-member Constituent Assembly were held in 2008 to adopt a Constitution within two years. Yet the there is no substantial progress in Constitution-making despite the fact that the tenure of the Constituent Assembly was extended several times in last two years. If the Constituent Assembly is not able to finalise a Constitution by May 27, 2012 when perhaps its final tenure expires, it would be a great set back to political stability in Nepal.

According to World Development Report 2012, Nepal’s per capita income is as low as $490. Even in Nepal's neighborhood, the per capita income in India is $1,340 – almost three times more than what Nepal does have. In 2010, Bangladesh’s per capita income was $640, Pakistan’s per capita income was $1,050 and Sri Lanka’s per capita income was $2,290.¹

Nepal recorded economic growth rate of 2.7 per cent in 2009-10; whereas during that period India’s rate of economic growth was 8.3 per cent and China’s rate of economic growth was 9.9 per cent.

Though many of the schools, colleges and universities have been opened in Nepal, the quality of the academic institutions is often questioned. They do not meet the expectations of the students. So there is a tendency on the part of many of the students to pursue education in countries outside Nepal. However, certain country/countries admit Nepalese students not for imparting quality education but for other political interests.

Issues of Concern between Nepal and India

Even after more than one-and-half decade of the signing of 6000 MW Mahakali Treaty between Nepal and India in 1996, it has not been implemented. So much so that even the hydropower projects with Indian investments, including the GMR Group working on 900 MW Upper Karnali and Upper Marshyangdi have been targeted despite the fact that the nation is facing acute load shedding of 14 hours a day and Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) was duly signed between Nepal and India on October 21, 2011. At the moment, Nepal produces power to the extent of 692 MW in the summer season against the demand for 860 MW. In the winter, the country produces only 393 MW of power when the demand is 588 MW. ²

Unfortunately, some other joint venture projects between Nepal and India, including Dabur Nepal and Surya Nepal have also been targeted. Therefore, for last several years no new joint venture project has come from India to Nepal. Even those joint ventures which are in operation in Nepal increasingly feel insecure.

The shortage of Indian currency (IC) has seriously affected trade and increased hardships to the common people, travelers and consumers all along the Nepalese-Indian border. In 2008-09, Nepal sold $1.5 million to buy IC amounting to Rs. 73.4 billion. ³ Furthermore, Nepal Rastra Bank sold $2.7 million in 2010-11 to buy IC worth Rs. 123.8 billion. In view of the shortage of IC, the Nepalese bankers have asked Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal, to allow them to purchase IC either directly from the market in Nepal or from across the border in India. The IC is in short supply in Nepal partly due to the trade deficit with India and partly for its demand to finance illegal imports mainly in the form of gold. Nepal Rastra Bank directive allows banks to exchange IC up to IRs. 25,000 in a day or up to IRs. 200,000 in a month. But this directive hardly addresses the requirements of the situation.⁴

Nepal’s trade deficit with India doubled from Rs. 121 billion in 2008-09 to Rs. 218 billion in 2010-11. The country imports goods worth Rs. 261 billion from India against its exports of Rs. 43 billion to that country.

Of particular concern are the growing cases of duplication of popular Indian trademarks by some unscrupulous elements in Nepal. This has not only harmed Indian interest but also the interests of Nepalese consumers. The Nepalese consumers have had to compromise with the quality of such products, which is detrimental to their health. Cases of duplication of popular trademarks of India by the local Nepalese companies are found in all such areas as the soap, detergent, shampoo, adhesive, T.V. sets, hair oil, cosmetics, powder, stationery, toilet paper, furniture, textile and garment, footwear, vegetable ghee, oil, razor, incense, medicines, toothbrush, battery, fan, electric bulb, pressure cooker, tobacco, chocolate, saving cream, alcohol, Gutkha, spices, Pan Masala, biscuits, rice, atta, etc. Such activities also create negative environment for investment in Nepal.

Quite often, the cases of smuggling of fake Indian Currency Notes through the Nepalese territory to India are published in the media, which by all accounts is counter-productive and against the interests of both the countries. There are reports that about Rs. 20 crore worth of fake Indian currency is smuggled through the Nepalese territory to India each year.⁵

Development of Nepal-India border region has been neglected all through the history, though it is of crucial interest to the growth of the two countries. Because of the British legacy to keep this region underdeveloped, very little could be done by the Indian government even in the post- Independence period for the growth of the region. In Nepal, too, the rulers have been reluctant in developing the peripheral border region for their own vested interests.

Under the pretext of launching development work, there are NGOs, INGOs and foreign missionaries that have been luring mostly the weaker sections of the population in Nepal for religious conversion. If they are not tamed, it is likely that more than half of Nepal’s total population would be converted into an alien faith in next 20 years. Such activities could have far reaching implications on Nepal-India relations in the long-term perspective.

Besides, certain groups of people in Nepal suffer from the notion of ‘small country’ syndrome vis-à-vis India. They do not want to have any positive deal with India – be it in water resources or other sectors. These are the people who target infrastructural facilities, including hydro-power projects in Nepal, even at the cost of plunging the country in the dark. The government has no control over elements who want to make the country hostage to perpetual poverty. On top of all this, law and order situation in the country is still deplorable. Even on the Indian part, many of the bureaucrats dealing with Nepal suffer from ‘big country syndrome’ mentality. They take it for granted that Nepal should do all at their command. In fact, both the ‘small syndrome’ and ‘big syndrome’ mentality among certain elite groups in Nepal and India are detrimental to initiating new era of economic cooperation between the two countries.

What is that India should do?

India could establish a few Delhi Public Schools in Nepal. Besides, academic institutions like that of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Management could be established in Nepal. Even India could establish medical colleges of same standard as the one established by this country at Dharan. Besides, India might think of opening standard journalism courses as there is no any such institution throughout the Terai region of Nepal. With the opening of such world class academic institutions, much of the resources that are spent on the education of the students in third countries will be saved.

Since India has made outstanding performance in Information Technology (IT) sector, it could establish its unit/units in Nepal. In 1996-97, India exported software to the tune of $1 billion, which increased spectacularly to $23.4 billion in 2005-6⁶ and $63 billion as of March 31, 2008.⁷

Prospects are also quite high for the development of Export Processing Zones along the Terai region of Nepal to take the advantage of proximity factor with India. Such zones, if established along the dry port region and having backing of all the infrastructural facilities as road, rail and air connectivity, apart from the availability of electricity, raw materials and cheap labour, could accelerate the pace of industrialization and generate huge employment opportunities in the country. Prospects are high for the growth of such industries in Nepal as pharmaceuticals, water resource based ventures like water supply and sanitation, fruit and vegetable processing, textiles, carpet, garment and local handicrafts.

In order to help Nepal reduce its trade deficit with India, there could be provision of free trade with common tariff with India. With this development, many of the Indian industries would make further investment in Nepal. Goods thus produced in Nepal could be exported to India. Besides, the consumers in Nepal would be getting products at the same price as it is available to the Indian consumers.

Nepal’s rate of economic growth largely depends on the growth of infrastructural facilities. India, therefore, should speed up the construction of its projects in Nepal, which include Postal/Hulaqi highway, Broad Gauge Railway line connecting Jaynagar (India) to Bardibas (Nepal) via Janakpur and Mechi-Mahakali railway line, and Kamala diversion project. India could also speed up construction of link roads connecting the Terai region of Nepal with India along such points as Janakpur-Pipraun-Darbhanga, Japakpur-Bhitamore-Sitamadhi and Birgunj-Raxaul-Motihari. Besides, Indian government could complete the work of Brihattar Janakpur Parikrama Sadak (Larger Janakpur Circumbulation Road) that covers part of Nepalese territory and part of Indian territory. India could also think of developing such religious cum historical regions of Nepalese Terai as Birat, Baraha, Salhesh, Simraungadh and Lumbini and try to link them with the other religious spots in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for the growth of religious tourism in both parts of Nepal and India.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could talk to the Nepalese authorities for setting up a high level umbrella organization of the two countries “Nepal-India Border Authority” with a view to addressing such problems as flood, drought, crimes, counterfeit currency, smuggling and other such activities along the border region. There should also be increased cooperation between the security agencies of the two countries to address some of these problems.

Both Nepal and India should see to it that political instability and weak socio-economic structure in Nepal should not give room to certain external power/powers to have free play in the country. Such foreign powers in their game plan have been trying to erode, if not eliminate, the age-old special relations existing between Nepal and India.

A Way Forward

Under the existing situation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh needs to use his influence in establishing academic institutions of excellence at all the levels from school, college to the university levels. Bottlenecks in implementation of hydro-power projects, including the Pancheshwor project and Upper Karnali need to be removed. Free trade area with provision of common tariff regime is established to address the problem of growing trade deficit between the two countries. Work in the Indian aided projects in roads, rail and other sector needs to be speeded up. Focus should be on the development of Nepal-India border region by establishing high level body such as “Nepal-India Border Authority.” Of course, the road map for Nepal-India cooperation for their mutual benefit does not appear to be that smooth. Yet given the statesmanship that Manmohan Singh has in diplomatic relations should be fully utilized to bring the war-torn and underdeveloped Nepal on the forefront of South Asian countries through cooperation at all the levels. Peace and prosperity of Nepal is in the best interest of India and therefore India should extend all possible support to Nepal even if certain cost is involved in it.

Reference

1. The World Bank. 2012. World Development Report 2012. Washington, DC., pp. 392-93.
2. Editorial, “Lacking steam,” The Himalayan Times, February 25, 2012.
3. The Himalayan Times, September 22, 2011.
4. My Republica, March 1, 2011.
5. Lalita Panicker, “It’s time to see red” in the Hindustan Times, 2 May 2011.
6. Jagdish N. Bhagwati and Charles W. Calomiris (Ed.). 2008. "Introduction" in Sustaining India's Growth Miracle. New Delhi: Stanza, p. 4.
7. Prem Shankar Jha. 2010. India and China: The Battle between Soft and Hard Power. New Delhi: Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., pp. 31-32.

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Published Date : 15^th March, 2012