The role U.S. plays in Afghanistan on anti-terrorism seems to have hit a roadblock due to a flaw in its policy. The result is the Taliban sway continues unabated.

Developments in Afghanistan over the last several days have brought to the fore the question whether the United States’ policy in Afghanistan has been a failure. One dimension of the developments is the surge in Taliban/Islamic States’ attacks which have been steadily escalating since the US-led NATO forces ended their combat mission in the country in December, 2014. Consider the recent incidents. The Taliban’s five-day siege of the important city of Ghazni, which eased on August 15, 2018, killed, according to a report in The New York Times by Fatima Faizi and Mujib Mashal, at least 165 soldiers and police officers and 40 civilians. According to another report, 194 Taliban fighters, including 12 key commanders, were also killed. Other reports stated that “hundreds” of Taliban fighters had been killed.

On August 15 again, Taliban fighters over-ran an Army post and a police checkpoint killing 45 soldiers and eight police officers in Baghlan Province, while an attack by an Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 48 students preparing for university examinations in a Shia neighbourhood of Kabul. Early on August 15 morning, a Taliban attack on a police checkpoint in the southern Zabul Province killed four police officers and wounded three while seven attackers were also reportedly killed. On August 13, Taliban fighters killed 21 and injured 33 soldiers — while the rest surrendered — in Faryab Province. Fifteen border guards were also killed.

The Afghan security forces, bedeviled by desertions and casualties, have been struggling to hold their own. According to the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a US watchdog body, casualties among Afghan security forces soared by 35 per cent in 2016, with 6,800 soldiers and police personnel killed. Civilians have suffered terribly. According to a report by the United Nations, nearly 1,700 of them were killed between January 1 and June 30, 2018 — a total higher than that in any corresponding period in the last 10 years.

Understandably then, people are asking whether the US policy has failed in Afghanistan. To start with, what were its goals? Announcing a new policy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, President Barack Obama had said, with reference to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, in Washington DC on March 27, 2009, that his message to the terrorists “who oppose us” was, “We will defeat you.”

That defeat has not happened and there has been a policy shift toward talks with the Taliban who, one has been told, included good and bad elements. As early as December 1, 2009, President Obama had stated in an Address to the Nation on “The Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” “We will support all efforts by the Afghan Government to open the door to those Taliban who abandon violence and respect the human rights of their fellow citizens.” There have been talks about talks on a number of occasions. Kabul’s repeated attempts to initiate peace talks, however, got nowhere. Americans have also been — and are still — trying. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, American diplomats met Taliban representatives in Doha in July to prepare the groundwork for peace talks. Nothing has materialised till the time of writing.

The US role in Afghanistan suffers from a fundamental flaw — it wants to win but is not prepared to do what it takes to achieve a victory. This is compounded by its frequent inability to read ground realities. The rapid Taliban collapse in the face of the post-9/11 invasion in October 2001 by forces assembled, guided and led by the US, convinced President George Bush’s Administration that the war in Afghanistan had been won. Hence its focus shifted to preparing for the invasion of Iraq. Even before it embarked on it in 2003, weapons and equipment critically needed in Afghanistan were removed for deployment in Iraq.

The Taliban, which had been reorganising and regaining their strength with Pakistan’s help, began to strike back. The year 2003 marked the beginning of the Taliban revival, which no subsequent increase in US troop-strength and war effort, could halt, particularly since Taliban forces, whenever hard pressed, withdrew to their sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Steadily gaining ground, the Afghan Taliban now controls about 40 per cent of the country’s rural areas while the Government in Kabul controls the cities which too, as underlined by the attack on Ghazni and other cities, including Kabul, are coming under pressure. It should then be hardly surprising if the Taliban feel they are winning and view US offers of talks as being tantamount to suing for peace. Nor should it be surprising if they feel that they will achieve peace on theirs terms if they continue with their offensive. Besides, they could hardly have stopped even if they had wanted to. Pakistan, which is using them to have a Government in Afghanistan subservient to it, will not accept any solution which does not hand over Afghanistan to the Taliban.

The new US Afghan policy, unveiled by President Trump in August, 2017, doubtless involves the deployment of more American troops and more air attacks. The US now has over 14,000 troops in Afghanistan against the attenuated figure of 8,400 earlier. The number of bombs and other munitions dropped by US aircraft increased steeply from 1,337 in 2016 to 4,361 in 2017. As a part of the air attacks, the US dropped a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, dubbed the “Mother of All Bombs”, on Islamic State hideouts in Achin district in eastern Nangarhar Province, killing, according to unverified figures, nearly 100 militants.

According to some, the escalation in Taliban attacks in the last few months is aimed at making the US abandon the new strategy by showing it to be counter-productive. Abandonment will not lead to talks as the earlier reduction in operations by US-led NATO forces did not. As said, Pakistan, unaffected by US aid cuts, will accept nothing short of the installation of the Taliban to power in Kabul. The US should be under no illusion about the consequences of this. President Obama said while announcing his new Af-Pak policy on March 27, 2009, “If the Afghan Government falls to the Taliban — or allows the Al Qaeda to go unchallenged — that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of us as they possibly can.” And, of course, it will mean return to the middle ages for Afghanistan and slavery for its women.

Writer: Hiranmay Karlekar

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Atal Bihari Vajpayee had a strategic vision for India, and it should be our polestar.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s appointment of Jaswant Singh as Foreign Minister and Brajesh Mishra as his National Security Advisor, were dead giveaways that despite the massive pressure on him by hard-line party stalwarts he, on matters relating to India’s foreign-security policies aka his strategic vision, would be his own man. He was always happy or at least patient enough to listen to those within and from other parties and ideological proclivities, of course. But as Pokhran II and the sanctions faced by India in its aftermath, the Lahore Bus Diplomacy outreach to Pakistan, his subsequent restrained aggression in the handling of the Kargil War and then following it up with hosting the Indo-Pak Agra Summit where the architect of the Kargil intrusions General Pervez Musharraf was his interlocutor exhibited, this was a statesman with a clear view of India’s emerging place in the global order after decades of so-called non-alignment against the backdrop of the Cold War. To be fair, it was Vajpayee’s dear friend PV Narasimha Rao who had already started the process of recalibrating New Delhi’s policies in the region and among the comity of nations by the early 1990s but he never had the charm, popularity and political capital Vajpayee had acquired when he finally ascended to the post of Prime Minister at the turn of the millennium. As part of his strategic vision, India’s soft power, which found expression not least in his own personality — poet, orator, bon vivant and gastronome — was also manifest in India’s civilizational ethos being an integral part of the projection of India. And had absolutely no issues in saying publicly that he would prefer to use the word Bharatiya rather than Hindutva to describe it, at least in part because the latter had more acceptability. But his was also a hard-nosed, realistic view of how the world viewed us — every Indian mission abroad was told to ensure primacy to commercial-economic affairs much to chagrin of some old-school wining-and-dining members of the diplomatic corps.

Vajpayee changed how the world viewed India by creating a sixth nuclear power in the world with Pokhran II; it was truly the great strategic leap in India’s post-colonial journey. That he had the nous to tell his Finance Minister to be prepared to deal with the blowback as vicious sanctions against Indian were put in place by Western powers and their allies but not to worry about his position because he would back him to the hilt even while he deployed Singh and Mishra to contain the diplomatic and security fallout showed his mastery of the nuts-and-bolts that go into bringing a strategic vision to fruition. Indeed, many believe that the ‘spontaneous decision’ to get on a bus to Lahore was at least in part an effort to send out the message to Pakistan, which had responded with its own nuclear tests, that for the time being both countries were in the same doghouse and would benefit from putting up a joint front. What he ensured, which the Pakistan deep state could not or would not for its country, however, was rapid economic growth for India leveraging the 1991 reforms, making the country attractive for foreign investment, a massive push in infrastructure development and divestment of loss-making PSUs. It meant India rode out the worst of the sanctions regime while adding lustre to its regional power status underlined by the statesmanship the world recognised in his hosting the Agra Summit despite Kargil.

That Vajpayee was loved across South Asia by populations for his personality was evident; and his projection of India as a benevolent, protector of smaller nations in the region while respecting them fed into the narrative he both believed in and knew was in India’s best interests. The SAARC summit he hosted in 2004 where Pakistan committed for the first time not to allow its soil for terrorism against India was another landmark. On China, too, the Vajpayee years kept the status quo on the border and attempted an engagement with Beijing given his understanding that India had a lot of catching up to do and there was no point — apart from rhetoric by his Defence Minister George Fernandes who had rightly called China India’s “Enemy Number One” in the run-up to Pokhran II albeit for domestic consumption — getting bogged down in a war of attrition with a powerful neighbour when we ourselves were not ready. India’s engagement with ASEAN too was speeded up by Vajpayee. That the BJP hard-liners’ two bugbears, Pakistan and China, were handled by Vajpayee in the manner he thought fit was the reason why his strategic vision, shorn of bombast and overreach but with the national interest at its core which also meant understanding our limitations and working to overcome them before adopting a confrontationist approach, is relevant even today.

Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer

Although India has celebrated 72nd year of Independence this week, a glimpse at the existing state of media regulation will disclose how Press freedom is reserved in large and small ways.

This week, India celebrated its 72nd anniversary of independence. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on the midnight of August 15, 1947, spoke words befitting the occasion when he said, “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” Pandit Nehru in his immortal words clearly recognised the intrinsic link between independence and freedom. This month, however, ironically threw in tragic juxtaposition the lack of freedom in independent India.

Since this week led up to the anniversary of India’s independence, I went back to examine the role of media during the freedom struggle. The British introduced some horribly restrictive laws, which limited the freedom of the Press, including the Vernacular Press Act, 1878, through which the British Government aimed to establish an iron-like grip over vernacular publications like Amrita Bazar Patrika, and required such publications to ensure that nothing was written against them. This was also the time when publications like Amrita Bazar Patrika were heroes. The Press was an amplifying voice of the rising whispers against an evil empire. The Press by reporting on horrifying incidents of misgovernance, like the treatment of indigo farmers and by disseminating the message of Mahatma Gandhi and co, helped provide the much-needed tailwind to the Indian freedom movement, leading up to our independence in 1947.

Fast forward to today, what used to be the primary medium to speak truth to power, has now been badgered by the present Government into something unrecognisable. While there is an environment of fear and trepidation in the country, which stems from the top, there are a few examples that are disconcerting. Of these, the resignation of Punya Prasun Bajpai from ABP News is fresh and possibly most troubling. Reasons for Bajpai’s resignation are frighteningly Orwellian. In a letter penned by him, he explained the events leading up to his resignation. As the host of Master Stroke, prime-time news telecast on ABP News, Bajpai hosted the news, exposing the heights that this Government has gone to from preventing the truth from coming out.

For example, the news coverage in Chhattisgarh, where Master Stroke reported that a woman farmer, during her video interaction with Prime Minister Modi, had been tutored to make false claims that her income had doubled. The report showed how, in fact, her condition had in reality become worse. Almost immediately, the BJP jumped to discredit the channel and Master Stroke. What was even more bizarre and terrifying was the disturbance in ABP’s satellite link, which conveniently started acting up during the exact time that Master Stroke was telecast and returned to normal after the show had finished. This ‘disturbance’ allegedly continued for days. Simultaneously, advertisers stopped their ads to ABP, allegedly due to pressure from outside entities. This was coupled with other restrictions on journalistic freedom, such as instructions to try to reduce references to Prime Minister Modi and limit his appearance on the news when discussing failings of the Government. This all-out offensive unfortunately but almost inevitably led to the resignation of Bajpai from ABP. When faced with the might of the entire Government for reporting on its failings, it seemed there was little else that he could do.

This, of course, is not the only example. In general, the current environment in India is one of hate and polarisation. Where intellectualism is treated with disdain and accountability as an attack. The Government in power has nurtured this environment and the message is clear: Go against the BJP Government and face the wrath of the powerful. The problem is that when you create such an environment, you open doors you cannot shut. Whether it’s the vile attacks by trolls on various prominent journalists or the attacks out in the open on Umair Khalid or the lynch mobs that act without reason or fear.

The problem is that the Prime Minister is at the centre of this approach towards the Press. Recently, I was a panelist on a news channel along with a spokesperson of the BJP and the questions were: Why Prime Minister Modi has not yet held a single Press conference in four years? For all the allegations that the BJP threw at Manmohan Singh for being a silent Prime Minister, Modiji and the BJP would do well to remember that the former Prime Minister did three Press conferences in New Delhi and always took questions from journalists on his trips abroad.

When faced with this question, the response by the BJP spokesperson was as per the script, breaking into a monologue about the greatness of the supreme leader, saying that “Modiji is loved by all”, “Modiji talks to everyone” etc. I feared that the spokesperson was just moments away from breaking into a Modi! Modi! Modi! chant. I don’t blame the BJP spokesperson though. What can you do when you don’t have an answer to this simple question? The fact is that Prime Minister Modi believes in one-sided conversations, whether it’s his monologues or Mann ki Baat, the conversation has to be filtered so that it doesn’t hurt the image of the Prime Minister. This because the BJP is aware that this carefully built image stands on a house of cards, one where a single unfiltered/unedited question to the Prime Minister is enough to make the entire house fall.

Inevitably, criticism of the Government regarding the state of the Press today is met with wilful ignorance. In the alternate universe that the BJP resides, everything seems hunky-dory. But it surely doesn’t feel that way, does it? And facts bare this disconnect. On the world Press freedom index, for example, India ranks lower than Haiti, Niger and Sierra Leone. If the state of the Press is so great, why doesn’t the ground reality reflect this sentiment and why then is the Government dead against news channels showing references to Prime Minister Modi when policies of the Government fail? This is especially strange because the face of the Prime Minister is on every scheme and he announces almost all major policies of the Government. It seems that India is stuck with a Prime Minister who ironically loves the limelight but shies away from criticism that comes with it.  It is tragic, then, when you look at the state of the country today and its similarities with Orwell’s seminal novel, 1984. In it, Orwell, describes how information management was the primary system of control employed by the authoritarian regime to keep its subjects subjugated. We must not forget that a free, independent Press is an antidote against such authoritarianism. Therefore, though India is celebrating its 72nd independence day, I am sad to say that it’s surely starting to feel a lot like 1984.

(The writer is Jharkhand PCC president, former MP and IPS officer. Views are personal)

Writer: Ajoy Kumar

Courtesy: The Pioneer

It is challenging to resolve the deep-rooted decadal habituation when it comes to gender inequality, especially in a society as conventional and deteriorating as ours. But we must keep trying to resolve the issue of gender inequality, say reporter Megha Jain & Aishwarya Nagpal.

The ever-changing space for urban anthropology entails mixed experiences of significant discrimination for the female strata in the ‘public’ sphere of political gatherings, religious performance and economic exchange. The study of gender disparity has captured a focal place in the debate of sociology in a new era. The gravity of the issue is so severe that it has reserved a place in the Indian Economic Survey (2017-18). Ironically, women’s mobility is still controlled and re-negotiated in many societies, except their confined roles to dispense domestic duties.

Traditional ideology behind the ‘protected environment’ actually intends to suppress their individual temperament. As per a recent World Bank report, India and China are the only two nations in the world where infant mortality rate for females is still higher than males even in the 21st century.

What is gender?

In sociological and feminist thought, gender indicates the cultural constitution — comprising notions, perceptions and premises — concerning femininity and masculinity and the ways in which these ideologies maintain gendered identities (Mishra, 2014).

The intensity and magnitude of ‘gender conflicts’ vary demographically across the globe. Unfortunately, supporting statistics confirm that Indian society has witnessed complete marginalisation of the female strata in all fields. This despite proven researches on their power and capacities in creating a prosperous future economy via Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and productivity push. Additionally, the gender gap in labour workforce has crucial macro-economic inferences as well.

Women in development — a critical analysis

: There is prodigious evidence that the effect of economic growth on gender inequality is inadequate and incoherent (Kabeer 2016, Duflo 2012). Even revised contemporary discussions about the new wealth of various nations contain the crucial role of women of Indian society. Besides, many researchers have established the demand-side barriers as to how this section is often loomed to gain from ‘economic development’ (equitable access to jobs, skills development, and fair earnings).

Though employment of women is seen as a vital aspect attached to their respective independence, there are missing links in connecting the nation’s growth with female labour force participation. As proposed by Sarker (2006), Women in Development (WID) approach — that emerged in the 1960s with an emphasis on the need to include them in the development mix — was able to harness their true potential in order to achieve equality for women in socio-economic and political platforms.

As per the World Bank report (2012), though global female labour participation rate has improved from 50.2 per cent in 1980 to 51.8 per cent in 2009 (resulting in narrowing gender differential from 32 per cent to 26 per cent), there still exists substantial under-utilisation and misallocation of women’s skills and talents.

Regrettably, supply-side constraints (particularly those associated with fertility, marriage, and child-rearing) dominate the fortitude of a female’s workforce involvement. Recent reports on economic well-being indicate direct linkage where the well-being of an economy could be a natural driver of female workforce participation.

U-shaped linkage

: A U-shaped hypothesis simply reveals the linkage between the economic growth and women labour force participation. It is proposed that women labour force participation rates first decline and then increase as the country fosters.

Women labour force input is a principal driver as well as a key outcome of economic growth and development. Therefore, participation rates necessarily reflect a country’s potential to advance more rapidly. As per the International Labour Organisation (ILO), India ranks 121 out of 131 nations in Female Labour Force Participation (FLFP), which is the worst in the world.

According to evidence from various studies, it was also established that increasing women workforce contribution causes income disparities to lower down. On the contrary, the composition of transfers from rural to urban areas primarily is male-dominated and thereby leaves lower women’s work involvement.

Global stance

: By international standards, women’s labour force participation in India remains low and it is much lower than that of men. The same has dropped from 33.8 per cent in 2000 to 26.8 per cent in 2015 while male labour force participation saw a jump from 66.2 per cent in 2000 to 73.2 per cent in 2015, thereby averaging to a substantial gender gap of around 46.4 per cent in 2015. This downward trend has been largely elucidated by increasing urbanisation and structural transformation: As households progressed from rural to urban areas, husbands moved out of the agricultural sector, ensuring a disengagement of females from the labour force (exhibiting women’s increased involvement in domestic duties).

The predominance of traditional views of women’s role within households further confines their prospects to participate in paid work and entrepreneurial activities. In addition, women are profoundly exemplified in the informal economy where their vulnerability to exploitation is usually high and they have the slightest formal protection. Further, evidence on broader inclusion of women into conventional finance is thwarting.

Move towards gender equality

: It implies that women and men are on equal footing in terms of core functioning (education, health, and nutrition) as well as for generation of livelihood. Greater gender equality can boost economic productivity and improve development outcomes for the next generation. This is rather an intrinsic than an instrumental goal, explicitly valued as an end in itself than being an instrument for achieving other goals. Current statistics on India’s Gender Inequality Index (given by World Economic Forum) show we are at the 131st spot, which is undoubtedly very low.

It would be anybody’s guess that India needs to make progress towards gender equity, towards attaining economic well-being. Gender disparities remain even as countries develop, which call for sustained and focussed public action. As gender equality evolves, development proceeds. The struggle for parity is far from over.

According to the OECD Employment Outlook 2017, though gender gaps in the labour market and educational attainment across emerging economies have shrunk, progress is still uneven with India being counted among the countries experiencing no change in the gender participation gap at a high level.

Way forward

: As per the recent World Bank report, the explosion of impressive attempts to increase women’s political participation, gender disparities have remained deep and persistent in India despite promising economic growth prospects. It compels synchronised social policies and long-term steps to challenge a socially-embedded problem like gender inequality.

Women work participation avenues to decent jobs are elementary and indispensable constituents of a sustainable development approach. Substantial research has revealed that capitalising women’s complete economic potential is critical for increased productivity and economic growth. In addition, mitigating gender barriers to decent work is essential to stimulate women’s economic empowerment. The current scenario calls for an immediate stringent policy involvement to take care of several aspects like awareness on female education and training programmes, simplifying the burden of household chores, greater well-being of women with private sector work opportunities in industries et al.

There has to be a provision for fair rule applicability, irrespective of the gender (like equal pay for equal work). A pivotal carrier of economic growth over the past century is the increased and extended role of women. Empowering half of the prospective workspace could have sizeable demographic paybacks beyond just endorsing gender equality. The process is not easy at all. It is difficult to undo the deep-rooted decadal conditioning, particularly in a society as conservative and regressive as ours.

But as indicated by Collins: “Women move, world improves.” Time to get moving.

(The writers are Senior Doctoral Scholars, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi)

Writer: Megha Jain/Aishwarya Nagpal

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Although the current situation of Pakistan will not let Imran Khan make any moves to improve relations with India, trade can be the ideal answer to make both contries settle and negotiate space.

After clearing all hiccups, it is finally confirmed that Imran Khan will be sworn in as the Prime Minister  of Pakistan, a nation of 207 million, with an economy inching towards financial disaster and perennial conflicts on its borders due to continued dependence on terrorism as an instrument of state policy. It will, however, be interesting to see as to why is he referred to as ‘Taliban Khan.’

His sympathies towards the Taliban have been evident on several occasions in his 21-year-old political career. In June 2002, he addressed a workers’ convention in Pakistan, stating that he was inspired by the Taliban system of justice and that he would establish a similar system in the country after assuming power. In 2012, after the Taliban shot 14-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai in the head, Khan refused to condemn them by name. Later, in 2013, he stirred up a controversy when he described a top Taliban leader, Waliur-Rehman, as “pro-peace”.  During a 2014 Pakistani Government effort, to build a national consensus on a statement declaring the Taliban an enemy of Pakistan and Islam, Khan called the group “our brothers” and “our people”. He is an advocate of state funding of madarsas run by the Taliban. He also supports the allowance of Taliban to open offices in the various cities in Pakistan. His photograph, dressed as a Mujahid and sitting with Taliban cadre, is popular among the youth of Pakistan.

In 2012, when Khan pulled out of the India Today conclave on account of it being attended by Salman Rushdie, he was severely criticised by the latter who compared him to Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. “Here he is trying to placate mullah and placate the Army while presenting himself as an acceptable face of Pakistan,” said Rushdie.

Imran Khan, of course, denied all allegations of being backed by the military. Yet, regardless of what he says, the Army’s influence in this year’s elections has been the main cause of his rise and fulfilment of his prime ministerial ambition. Gen Asif Ghafoor, the Army’s spokesperson tweeted: “You honour who you will and you humble who you will”, a verse from the Quran that is taken as confirmation of the military’s support for Khan. Thus, real power in deciding Pakistan’s relationships with India, Afghanistan and the US will continue to stay in the hands of the generals in Pakistan.

Imran Khan’s love for Islam and Sharia’h law is well documented in his memoir. In his memoir, Pakistan: A personal history, Khan wrote that the biggest damage done to the Indian subcontinent was the loss of self-esteem that resulted from colonisation. “The inferiority complex that is ingrained in a conquered nation results in its imitation of some of the worst aspects of the conquerors, while at the same time neglecting its own great traditions,” said Imran Khan. A free Pakistan, he believes, has to be rooted in the traditions of Islam.

Right at the beginning of his memoir, Khan made it clear what his idea of an ideal Pakistani state should look like and what it had become. “Far from being the Islamic welfare state that was envisaged, Pakistan is a country where politics is a game of loot and plunder and any challenger to the status quo — even with my kind of public profile and popularity — can be suddenly arrested and threatened with violence,” wrote Khan in his book.

In his victory speech, he began with a promise of converting Pakistan into an Islamic welfare state, though he fell short in elucidating from where he is going to garner funds for giving concrete shape to his ambition when an economic disaster is already glaring before the nation. Khan’s belief in the Sharia’h law to govern a state is noteworthy.  He quotes complete absence of petty crimes in tribal areas of Pakistan, where Sharia’h is in force, to support his assertion.

In order to garner majority in the National Assembly, he had to take support of dreaded Sunni militant outfits at the behest of the military. This will provide the radicals and extremists the power to reshape Pakistan’s political landscape. A new but dangerous trend in the political landscape of a country that is struggling to become a democracy. He certainly will be obliged to the military and militants who would prefer a radicalised theocratic Pakistan than a democratic Pakistan.

Khan has no administrative experience. As MNA, he hardly ever attended the National Assembly. He is known more for his rhetoric and ability to organise protests rather than administrative capabilities. He is more of a demagogue.

He will be ruled and guided by the powerful troika of military-mullah-militants. He is talking of taking two steps forward even if India takes one. Will the troika allow him to take even a half step towards India is a million dollar question.

The pity is that many pro-Pakistan apologists in our country are still hoping for better India-Pakistan relations. They are proposing a dialogue with Pakistan. This for me is mere votebank politics to address their core constituencies and furtherance of their appeasement policy rather than a serious discourse in national interest.

The recent infiltration attempts and spurt in terrorist activities as well as the deep state’s open support to the pro-Khalistan movement through helping the US-based Sikh separatist group ‘Sikh for Justice’  in organising Referendum 2020 in London should act as a grim reminder of Pakistan’s intent to these pro-Pakistan apologists.

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is actively using the services of dreaded global terrorist Hafiz Saeed as part of ‘Operation Express’ to once again set Punjab on fire by kindling the Khalistan movement. Social media and sleeper cells are being used extensively to provoke the youth of Punjab. Certain videos have been released with a view to create dissension among Sikh soldiers of Indian Army by asking them not to fight for India.

A hyped gathering of Sikhs from almost 20 countries world-wide, organised by ISI through its proxy SFJ at London’s Trafalgar square on August 12, to raise the demand for Khalistan and set the stage for Referendum 2020, however, was a failure.

ISI is also planning to spread the tentacle of jihadi terror to the eastern and North-Eastern States of India and Myanmar, using Bangladesh as the base and launch pad. According to inputs from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Bangladesh-based terror groups, like the Jamat-ul Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB) and Ansarul Bangla Team (ABT), are planning recruitments in eastern parts of India, setting up hideouts and procuring weapons for terrorist activities. These groups are also making efforts to coordinate with radical Islamic groups within India to garner support and widen their network. The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are also being recruited by the ISI for terrorist activities. Bengal and Assam are being used as testing ground since a lot of local youth in these States have already been radicalised.  It is a pincer attack on India as part of the grand design of global jihad, notorious prophecy of Ghazwa-e-Hind, with Pakistan’s ISI as the main coordinator.

As far as Kashmir is concerned, Imran Khan made his intent amply clear when he termed Kashmir as the core issue and blamed the Indian Army for human right excesses in Kashmir. He did not consider it appropriate to mention other outstanding disputes between the two nations. Obviously, the script of his victory speech had either been prepared or approved by the troika. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesman acknowledged the Army’s role when he said that there was nothing wrong  with the Pakistan Army “advising” the Government on foreign policy issues. It would be a miracle if Imran Khan went even a few inches beyond cosmetic “posturing” as far as Kashmir is concerned.

This is the true face of ‘Atankistan’ under the firm control of the mullah-military-militant troika. Prime Ministers may come and go, their tenure is not decided by any statute book but by the Army. But when you have a Prime Minister fully obliged to the troika, one can imagine the boost terrorism will get in Pakistan. What is then India’s option? The spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has made India’s expectation amply clear, “India desires a prosperous and progressive Pakistan at peace with its neighbours.” The key word is “prosperous Pakistan.”

A Pakistan struggling to pay debt with adverse balance of payments cannot become prosperous without reviewing its trade policy with its ‘economic giant’ neighbour India. But during his election campaign, Imran Khan had accused Nawaz Sharif “of selling out to India, compromising on Pakistan’s interests for sake of his own business interests, putting his commercial relationship with a few Indian businessmen above national interest.”

But the same Imran Khan in his victory speech said,“Our economic crisis is such that we want to have good relations with all our neighbours. I think it will be very good for all of us if we have good relations with India. We need to have trade ties, and the more we will trade, both countries will benefit.”

This statement is a tacit approval of the fact that Pakistan cannot revive its economy without mutual trade with India. Its over-dependence on China is already showing the disastrous effect it is going to have on its sovereignty. India should accept any initiative from Imran Khan’s Pakistan for better trade relations. Better trade relations with India would also help in indirectly softening the Army’s stance since a lot is at stake for the Army and its Generals as far as Pakistan’s failing economy is concerned.

(The author is a Jammu-based political commentator and strategic analyst. The views expressed are entirely personal.)

Writer: Anil Gupta

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Governments, corporates, and many users have been a victim to leaks and hacks in the last decade, but when it comes to Indian business executives, the confidence regarding safety of sensitive information remains intact.

Data leaks have plagued many companies, Indian and international, in the past couple of years. The biggest one ever recorded was in December 2016, when 3 billion Yahoo accounts’ data was breached. The massive data leaks make it obvious that ensuring safety of digital files is tricky but Indians seem a lot more confident than global peers about not compromising their employer’s data safety when travelling, according to a research by CWT, a global travel management company.

Almost 61 per cent of Indian business travellers feel assured about the sensitive data than 35 per cent of global peers. Travellers from the America are significantly more confident (46 per cent) than those in Asia Pacific (28 per cent), or Europe (27 per cent).

“These results show there is still a lot to do around educating travellers on how to look after their company’s data. For instance, connectivity in public spaces can put company data at risk,” said Andrew Jordan, CWT’s executive vice president and chief technology officer. “Awareness and training are key to protecting against any possible security breaches.”

The top worry for Indians is having their laptops or other mobile devices stolen or lost (29 per cent), followed by using public Wi-Fi (28 per cent) and accessing company emails (12 per cent). These concerns are justified since 46 per cent of business travellers globally – and 49 per cent of travelling executives from India – said they have been concerned about a security breach while online or trying to get online. And this was not the only issue: 44 per cent of Indians admitted to downloading an unknown file from an unrecognized sender vs. 37 per cent of travellers globally – and 49 per cent said they have opened a phishing email (vs. 37 per cent of travellers globally). Fortunately, most business travellers said they took prompt action when they became aware of a security or data breach. Around a third (35 per cent) of Indian respondents said they notified their company’s IT department or management upon identifying the breach vs. 34 per cent of travellers globally. A further 34 per cent of Indian business travellers said they immediately shut down their device as compared to 37 per cent of travellers globally. More than two-thirds, 70 per cent, of business travellers from India said they know how to report a phishing email appropriately – higher than the global average of 62 per cent.

“These percentages can surely improve dramatically with better training on data safety,” said Jordan.

While awareness is the key in countering data leaks interestingly, only 23 per cent of Indians and 17 per cent of business travellers globally said that they received frequent and formal communication and guidance about data and internet security from their company.

Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer

Unless we start doing more and talking less, India is on the path of being the smart guy who is a know-it-all, but accomplishes nothing.

The Prime Minister’s speech at the ramparts of the Red Fort is a celebration of Indian democracy and for the past 20 years Indian Prime Ministers have delivered all five speeches of their terms. But with India heading into a vital General Election in 2019, it is not clear who will be standing at the Red Fort and addressing all Indians on August 15, 2019. With several crucial States going to the polls for Assembly elections later this year itself, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will all but declare the games open for the hustings at the Red Fort. But before the elections we should wonder why the modern nation state of India, which will  celebrate the 71st year since its inception, is still considered one that promises so much but has delivered so little.

Debating is the national pastime of this country, followed closely by procrastination. We like to talk endlessly about the ills that affect India and what should be done about them. This happens in dhaba, coffee shops, permit rooms, homes, newspaper columns and television studios. However, even if we can offer practical solutions, our actions speak louder than words, and truth be told, we are not a nation of action, we are a nation of words. In this regard, we would all do well to appreciate an American President’s words, no not the current occupant of the Oval Office, but John Fitzgerald Kennedy who famously implored his countrymen and women not to expect from their nation but do for it instead. And they did. And as painful as it is to write, most Indians expect the state to do things for them, because they believe they deserve it.

There has been social injustice in India, and that is a fact. Whether we like it or not, or whether the privilege of our backgrounds have made us immune to the horrors of the caste system, colonial rule or the constant invasions. We have far too many Indians still living in abject poverty, millions of others with little hope of uplift. There is still endemic corruption and the feeling that people have to cheat their way to success. The safety of women cannot be guaranteed in many areas. And the fact is that law enforcement has in many regards failed across India.

But it is not all negative, we are one of the few nations to have a capable space organisation able to send missions to the moon and beyond. We are a nuclear power and while we are the world’s largest net importer of military hardware, in the past two decades we have taken massive strides in building and commissioning our own weapons. Indeed, huge advancements in agriculture, particularly in storage and transportation, have made India more-or-less  self-sufficient in food production.

But our core problems still remain, the much ballyhooed ‘middle class’ consumers of India remain a dream. India’s consuming classes are just a small sliver, a bare 2.5 per cent of its population if not less. Few other large nations have such a disparity of wealth and education between the top one per cent and the rest of the population. The constant small arms fire on Twitter conveniently glosses over the fact that it is a medium for the few. We have challenges that cannot be won by a war of words but by action. And that comes back to where we started.

We do not have a dearth of ideas and opinions to fix our problems. We have a problem of enforcement and cronyism. We have political parties desperate for power who would do anything to get on the saddle, but have a lack of ideas. We have a bureaucracy that has kept the nation running, but is ineffective and intellectually lazy, and we have a judiciary that works at the speed of molasses. But, all said and done, when India was formed as a nation state, many felt that the inherent flaws within it, the very fact that India was unique in the sense that it was an amalgam of so many disparate cultures, people and languages and its contradictions would tear the nation apart. It is the dharma of the nation, forged in a common identity that was kept us going and made us stronger; our strength is in our diversity. No other nation has managed to deal with these contradictions. Yugoslavia split up and China has steamrolled Han Chinese assimilation across the nation.

So as we head into yet another critical election season in India, a celebration of our democracy, we should look at politicians and political parties that offer us solutions and give us hope for a better tomorrow. It is beyond ridiculous that millions of Indians do not have an iota of hope even today because they lack access to clean water and electricity let alone modern healthcare. We need solutions, not talk and both sides of the political fight are responsible, constantly pointing fingers and apportioning blame. There are millions of young men and women without jobs, our civilian infrastructure is creaking, the rule of law is fraying and we are still a nation in the 21st century but one still dragging social issues from the 15th century along with us. We need answers, we need solutions and we need less politics.

It is unlikely that we will get those answers before March-April 2019, the elections will be fought on partisan lines and the volume leading up to the election will be tremendous. It will be too much to ask for a civil election, for pre-electoral debates where issues are discussed. Both sides, or the several sides in these elections, will flog the same dead horses over and over again and the manifestos will contain some pipe dreams that will never be fulfilled. Yes, there are some changes taking place and they will change India for the better. But we have to start talking less and doing more, otherwise India is like the smart guy in the room who is a know-it-all but does nothing. And that will condemn us to another seven decades of under-achievement.

Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer

The PTI, similar to PPP and MQM, used a conceivable image to, personally, reinforce their leader.

In 1991, I worked as a young reporter at an English weekly in Karachi. In those days, newspapers and magazines of the city would often receive photographs of former Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief that were to be published without any questions. The MQM had risen to power in Karachi in 1988, and by 1990, it had reached a peak in its electoral strength and political influence. I remember, the party would frequently send photographs. Most of them showed Altaf Hussain delivering fiery speeches at rallies, but there were others as well, such as one showing him cutting a huge cake with a sword in Hyderabad! For most editors in Karachi, not publishing the photographs was not an option. In late 1991, the weekly magazine I was a part of received a photograph of a flower. Inside the flower was what seemed to be Altaf’s image. My editor had no clue what to do with this photo. The photo had come with a note written by a local MQM leader, which claimed that Altaf’s image had been discovered inside a flower at a park in Karachi. The editor decided not to run the photo. But next day the photo appeared in a few Urdu newspapers. The editor received a phone call from a senior MQM leader. He knew that the weekly had decided not to use the picture in its next issue. He did not ask why. Instead, he told the editor that he expects to see the photo in the next week’s edition. He must have said this in an intimidating manner because the bizarre photo eventually appeared in the magazine.

Why would a powerful political party need to reinforce its leader’s image through a fantastical claim? Perhaps the party wanted its followers to believe that the leader’s greatness transcended mortal political qualities? Maybe the MQM knew what most of us didn’t. In 1992, the state launched a concentrated military operation against the party. An operation against a party whose leader’s image had miraculously appeared inside a flower. Months after ZA Bhutto’s PPP came to power in December 1971, my father was an assistant editor at the party’s official daily Musawaat. He once told me that in early 1972, the newspaper received a photograph which apparently showed a fiery image of a sword in the night sky of Lahore. The image was sent by a leader of the PPP with a note saying that the day Bhutto had taken oath as President, the sword had appeared over Lahore. Not-so-incidentally, the sword was PPP’s electoral symbol during the 1970 elections. Musawaat published the picture and the news item. In 1974, the progressive Urdu weekly Al-Fateh  — of which my father was one of the founders — received a similar image. This time, it was of a sword appearing over Karachi and that, too, at the conclusion of the famous International Islamic Conference that was chaired by Bhutto in Lahore. Even though Al-Fateh was a pro-PPP magazine, its founder-editors decided not to run the picture. Recently, social media was flooded with images of PTI chief Imran Khan’s picture projected on a tower in Saudi Arabia. Even though the image was fake, PTI’s official Twitter handle milked it, so much so that even some TV news channels ended up running the same image.

However, unlike the fantastical flower image used by the MQM and an ethereal one pushed by the PPP, the PTI used a more conceivable image. The mindset was the same though: Reinforcing a leader’s image with a larger-than-life claim. So, is this a tradition in our part of the world? There are very few examples other than the ones mentioned here where the qualities of political personalities are enhanced through some fantastical claims. Apart from some old books that made certain other-worldly claims attributed to a handful of 18th and 19th century Islamic scholars in South Asia, I could not find any prominent political examples in this context. However, it is clear that this tradition has a historical link with the phenomenon of deeply religious people ‘discovering’ miraculous signs. Over the centuries and even today, one comes across ‘news’ of people discovering blood pouring out from statues of Jesus in Catholic churches in South American countries, or tears trickling down from the eyes of Mary’s figurines in European villages. During my research, I found that in South Asia, sightings of Hindu deities consuming edible offerings left in Hindu places of worship by devotees appeared from the 19th century. This is also the period when Muslims in the region began to discover the name of the Almighty on fruit, vegetables and even goats!

In cognitive aspects of religious symbolism, Pascal Boyer suggests that, over the centuries, every time a population or a more religious segment of the population feels that the state of their faith is weakening, it tries to reinforce it among the people by proliferating miraculous claims. Interestingly, this phenomenon is not that ancient. Its frequency increased with rapid advancement of science and secular politics. The sudden appearance of Altaf Hussain inside a flower was born from the creeping fear in his party that the state was gearing up to neutralise it in Karachi. PPP’s sword in the sky was an attempt to give Bhutto’s otherwise ‘socialist’ regime divine approval. But Khan’s image photoshopped over a Saudi tower was a lot more ‘modern.’ It was done to exhibit how excited the world was about Pakistan’s new PM-in-waiting, even though he had emerged through a controversial election and with extremely fragile support in Parliament.

Writer: Nadeem Paracha

Courtesy: The Dawn

As BJP did after Pokhran II, Congress may be ceding more political ground by not standing up for the rights of the citizens of Assam.

The release of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, indicating that around four million of the State’s residents could be illegal migrants, has generated loud protests from the national leadership of the Congress, followed by some confused, calibrated responses from its leaders in Assam. Although the party knew that the final draft of the NRC would be out around this time, it appears to have gifted away the initial advantage to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by failing to acknowledge its past commitments to the detection and deportation of foreigners.

While the Congress’ seasonal fellow travellers — regional and caste-based parties far removed from the realities of Assam — can afford to raise their voice against the NRC in the hope of signaling solidarity with the Muslims in their areas of influence, India’s grand old party just cannot be whimsical about it because of its repeated commitment to detect and deport foreigners — a commitment that was first made by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1971 and firmly reiterated by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. Indira Gandhi initiated the dialogue with the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) and the negotiations eventually culminated in the Assam Accord in 1985.

Looking at the Congress’ flip-flop on this issue, one is reminded of the party’s angry protests over the nuclear tests conducted by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government in May, 1998 (Pokhran-II) and its subsequent volte-face. When it realised that the nuclear tests had given the BJP Government a major political boost, its leaders began sheepishly claiming that it was actually Indira Gandhi who had turned India into a nuclear state with Pokhran-I in May, 1974! But the realisation came a bit too late. The BJP had walked away with the prize!

Here again, the Congress’ ambivalence on the NRC issue is inexplicable. Apart from Indira Gandhi’s public declarations in this regard, the Assam Accord — signed on August 15, 1985 between the Union Government headed by Rajiv Gandhi and the AASU and the AAGSP — gave specific guarantees to the people of the State. The Accord said that in February 1980, AASU had conveyed to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi its “profound sense of apprehension regarding the continuing influx of foreign nationals into Assam” and also expressed its fear about the adverse effects this would have on the political, social, cultural and economic life of the State. Following this memorandum, “being fully alive to the genuine apprehensions of the people of Assam”, Indira Gandhi initiated the dialogue with AASU and AAGSP, leading to the Agreement of 1985.

The main points of agreement were: Foreigners who came to Assam on or after March 25,1971, shall continue to be detected, deleted and practical steps shall be taken to expel such foreigners; foreigners who came to Assam after January 1, 1966, and up to March 24, 1971, shall be detected in accordance with the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964; names of foreigners so detected will be deleted from the electoral rolls in force and on the expiry of 10 years following the date of detection, names of all such persons which were deleted from the electoral rolls shall be restored; all persons who were expelled earlier, but have since re-entered illegally into Assam, shall be expelled. The Rajiv Gandhi Government also gave firm assurances in this Accord to securing the border against future infiltration.

Although the Illegal Migrants (Determination) Tribunals Act (IMDT Act) was brought in with much fanfare, it failed to fulfill its purpose of detecting and deporting foreigners and as against millions of illegal migrants, just a few thousand were detected and fewer still were deported. The failure of the Act to detect and deport foreigners also resulted in some adverse observations by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in Sarbananda Sonowal Vs.Union of India & Anr. The petitioner is the Chief Minister of Assam today. The Court, in its judgement delivered on July 12, 2005, declared the IMDT Act ultra vires the Constitution.

It said the initial affidavit filed by the State Government showed that 85 per cent of the enquiries initiated were rejected and no reference was made to the tribunal. Similarly, the restrictions imposed on an applicant, a citizen of India doing a national duty of pointing out the presence of an illegal migrant in Assam, “does not carry any sense”.  The Court concluded thus: “A deep analysis of the IMDT Act and the rules made there under would reveal that they have been purposely so enacted or made so, so as to give shelter or protection to illegal immigrants who came to Assam from Bangladesh on or after March, 25, 1971 rather than to identify or deport them”.

Later the Court stepped in once again in Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha & Ors Vs. Union of India & Ors. In this case, the Court issued several directions and asked the Union Government to expedite the border fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border. The Court also declared the schedule to govern the work of updating of the NRC in Assam so that the entire updated NRC is published by the end of January 2016.

In other words, the preparation of the draft NRC has its origins in the firm commitments given by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to detect and deport foreigners from Assam and is subject to the directions given by the Supreme Court, which is closely monitoring this exercise. The Congress does not even acknowledge the fact that this issue is being closely monitored by the country’s apex court. It is trying to tell the people that the NRC is part of BJP’s divisive politics.  It is also trying to pretend it has nothing to do with this issue in the hope that this will help it retain its share holding in what is called the Muslim vote-bank.

Since millions of illegal migrants have entered the country and spread themselves out with the patronage of some political parties, leading to social tensions and security concerns, this is a major issue agitating the minds of genuine citizens. By not standing up for the rights of citizens, the Congress could well be ceding more political ground to the BJP like it did after Pokhran II, and that too in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha poll.

(The writer is Chairman, Prasar Bharati)

Writer: A Surya Prakash

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Similar to Uttarakhand and Bihar, Kerala is facing a crisis flood situation. It is time to find a permanent solution.

Citizens of Kerala have been mesmerised by the opening of all five sluice gates of the Cheruthoni Dam and the sight of the Idukki Reservoir draining out. This was the first time that all five gates of the reservoir have been opened since the dam was commissioned back in 1976. But the water level in the reservoir, which has come down now, was at unprecedented dangerous levels as rains in Kerala had not abated over the past week and thousands of gallons of water from the catchment area were still flowing into the reservoir. The resultant swelling of the Periyar river downstream is also having a massive impact on lives and on rituals, with authorities warning people against conducting the Vavu Bali ritual. Cochin Airport, the States major international gateway, has already been shut once and while operations have restarted, warnings remain in place. For a State that markets itself as ‘God’s Own Country’ in tourist campaigns, tourism has also been badly impacted with tourists having to be rescued from a resort.

However, the authorities at the State and Central levels, along with the Defence forces, have to be commended for their exemplary work in conducting rescue and rehabilitation efforts for the residents. But this is just the beginning. Several important rural roads and bridges, which are the lifeline of several communities, have been washed away. Several major roads and bridges will also need to have their structural integrity tested, and post-flood damage has to be avoided. Water and electricity supplies have been disrupted and thousands of families have had to leave their homes and move due to the floods. There will be considerable property damage with homes and vehicles flooded, and this can only be evaluated once the flood waters recede. It will further be imperative to prevent the rapid spread of disease after the flood waters have gone. Indeed, the potential of disease after the floods have gone can kill more people than the actual event itself.

All said and done, it is imperative that India, at both the Central and State levels, comes up with policies to combat the impact of extreme weather phenomena. This has to be discussed by India’s policy makers urgently. Given India’s vast land area and large coastline, India will suffer more than most from the effects of global warming-derived weather pattern changes. Extreme floods in Uttarakhand, Bihar and now Kerala are a warning. While the National Disaster Management Authority has done a stellar job so far, spot reactions are just that. But at the same time, India finds itself in a quandary. If it is to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, it will need to generate thermal power and industrialise, further polluting the environment, and with the Paris Climate Accord in tatters, thanks to US President Donald Trump, the path India must take has to be decided by its own people. And the forecasts are not not good for the time being. In the meantime, we pray for the people of Kerala and hope they can get their lives back to normal as soon as possible, and for now at least, regional water politics in southern India will not be an issue in the near future.

Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer

The never-ending Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case needs to get closure. It was expected to end up in Supreme Court.

Aarushi Talwar would have been a grown woman by now, possibly she might have even had children of her own by now. After all, it has been 10 years since she was found brutally murdered in her bedroom in Noida. The sheer incompetence of the Noida Police in investigating the case, the fact that they discovered the body of the murdered servant Hemraj on the terrace two days later, and the wanton destruction of evidence means that this case will always have more questions than answers and the truth may never come out.

And while Aarushi’s parents may or may not be guilty, rather the evidence, or lack thereof, may not be able to prove guilt or otherwise, the fact is that there were two murders that day. The death of Hemraj, his bloated, decomposing body found only two days later must also be investigated, his widow also needs answers as to why he died. That said, it is imperative on the Supreme Court to ensure that this case gets dealt with quickly. Not only has a decade passed since the events of May 16, 2008, it is important that a high-profile murder case gets decided quickly. It’s important that every case gets decided quickly. A recent judgement by the Rajasthan High Court cleared a women of a murder committed in 1981. Thirty-seven years later. If this is not an indictment of India’s judicial system, god knows what is.

The speed of justice in India is becoming comically slow, and this case and the labyrinthine investigative and judicial process involved, have only highlighted why India needs urgent police and judicial reform. Aarushi and Hemraj both deserve justice and unfortunately, the lack of evidence thanks to its destruction might mean that whoever committed the crimes will probably get away with murder. The Supreme Court should also take a stand and punish those who destroyed the evidence because a double-murder will likely go unsolved.

And it must be ensured that such reckless stupidity does not occur in the future. If India has to stand out as a society where the rule of law is supreme and a cursory visit on the streets of this nation is evidence that the rule of law is fraying, then justice has to be delivered. India’s police and judicial system have failed Aarushi and Hemraj so far and it is unlikely that the Supreme Court can change much, but at least they can quicken matters.

Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer