After its independence from Pakistan in a 1971 war, the influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, spurred periodic public uprisings, ensuing in Assam Accord in 1985. If the new Bill fails to dispel fears among Assamese, it will reopen old wounds
The Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 despite protest by the Opposition. Why this Bill has drawn so much controversy and opposition both from political parties and civil society groups within and outside North-East? The proposed Bill if passed in the Rajya Sabha will introduce an amendment in the original Citizenship Act of 1955. Once it becomes an act, it will make current illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh belonging to the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities eligible for Indian citizenship after six years of residency instead of 11 years as stipulated mentioned in the Citizenship Act of 1955. This was done by the NDA Government after considering a 400-page Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report that thoroughly studied the concerns of the locals after touring the entire State of Assam. However, the Government clarified that it will ensure protection of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord which categorically demands the constitutional safeguards of the Assamese people. The JPC report states that the State and the Central Government should formulate rules and regulations under Clause 6A of the Assam Accord to ensure that the very ethnic identity of the indigenous people is not threatened at any cost. The Opposition, including the Congress, highlighted that the NDA Government is trying to dilute Clause 5 of the Assam Accord which sets the cut-off date as March 24, 1971 to detect and deport foreigners. In the new Bill, the Government proposed the cut-off date as December 31, 1971 which will not be applicable to Bengali Hindu foreigners only. Further, it also says that considering these communities as persecuted ones, they will all be eligible for citizenship whoever has entered India till December 2014. This has actually opened a hornets’ nest across Assam and the North-East region. That’s why the call for total revision and recall of the Bill was echoed with much unhappiness as of date.
When the times and events demand, political leadership, irrespective of their different ideological shades, must see to it that the indigenous people do not have to lose their identity in Assam. Today, what Assam has witnessed is exemplified in the writings of Myron Weiner (1983), who said: “Among the most precarious political systems in the world are those that seek to hold together a society containing at least two ethnic groups, one of which has a bare or near majority…Some form of power sharing is usually necessary or at least an arrangement under which one group wields political power, but provides some degree of economic security to others.”
But such arrangements are temporary as it is affected by demographic changes both due to immigration and emigration, further accentuated by gradual population growth among different groups of people. This has eventually disrupted the political system of Assam leading to large-scale political violence and public unrest.
Instead of demonstrating grandiloquence, the leadership of the State BJP-led Government Sarbananda Sonowal should have convinced and conveyed the disastrous impact of such a legislation way ahead both to the Central leadership of the party and the Government. Schooled at the centre of regional politics and student activism, especially in the historic six-year long Assam Movement, Sonowal should have been well aware about the ethnocentric sentiment of the locals.
Now, as the Asom Gana Parisad (AGP) has moved out of the coalition in Assam, it does not help the BJP espouse the cause of regionalism intertwined with its pan-nationalist image. At last voters in Assam will have no “right choice” left. The AGP, the regional flag-bearer of Assam, is indirectly making difficult the BJP’s task to reach out to the indigenous communities. The outgoing AGP Ministers in the Sonowal Government came out in public saying that they will not continue as Ministers at the cost of the interests of the indigenous people of the State. Indeed, what the AGP leaders have done rightly serves the party’s future. Else, the party would have seriously damaged its electoral prospects and relevance in State politics that is deeply enmeshed with ethnic, cultural and linguistic identity.
What the Speaker of the Assam Assembly, Hitendranath Goswami, said after the Lok Sabha passed the controversial Bill highlights the tension in the State, “As a citizen, my conscience cannot support any Act which is unacceptable to the indigenous people of Assam and detrimental to the unity and fraternity of the people of Assam.” He reiterated that views of the “people” should be respected. Meanwhile, former MLA and AICC Secretary Rana Goswami has lambasted the Speaker by stating that he has failed to take side of the public and not taking any concrete steps to express his opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
These events bring another pertinent question to the people: Will there be a danger for the survival of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a pet project of the BJP to muster support from like-minded political parties and groups to annihilate the Congress in the North-East? It seems, the NEDA will have to rethink its strategy to keep its continued alliance with the BJP. It is very clear that the regional parties across the North-East will really find it difficult to support the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, though it directly affects Assam only.
At a time, when the AGP has withdrawn support to the Sonowal Government, the National People’s Party (NPP) Government, another constituent of the NEDA, led by Conrad Sangma in Meghalaya, has voiced his discontent over the Citizenship Bill. Even the NPP was the first party to raise the banner of protest against the Bill last year by passing a Cabinet decision. Sangma said it was one of the most aggressive manners in which their decision was conveyed to the Centre. What is shocking is that the lone BJP MLA in the Sangma Government, AL Hek, has stood united in its opposition to the Citizenship Bill. Equally concerned, he stated that he remains committed to protecting the interest of the indigenous people of the region. Apart from Meghalaya and Assam, rest of the States of the North-East such as Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura too are affected by Bangladeshi migrants over the years. Politically, this move by the Centre to bring an amendment to the Citizenship Bill might be a smart move so as to create a “new vote bank” around the persecuted minorities, particularly the “Hindu Bengalis” coming from Bangladesh.
But, it does not augur well for North-East. Assam has been peaceful for over a decade, at least from terrorist-infested violence. But this Bill has once again given opportunity to numerous organisations such as the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and North East Students Organisation (NESO) to mobilise people. Though Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is repeatedly assuring the country that Assam will not have to take the sole burden of the migrants, it is difficult to stop the inflow as once migrants settle at one place, it becomes next to impossible to move them out to other places.
One may recall that the people of the North-East, particularly the Assamese, are chauvinistic, parochial or xenophobic. The incessant influx of migrants from then East Pakistan, and now Bangladesh, since India’s Independence has seriously altered the demographic profile of all the North-East States. This has largely affected the population pattern of Assam. What Weiner echoed in the hey days of the Assam Movement in 1983 still holds true for the locals: “Large scale migration of illegal migrants from Bangladesh into the North-Eastern Indian State of Assam has disrupted a fragile political framework. The Assamese middle classes feared the loss of political control when the Central Government ordered elections after there was a marked increase in the number of migrants on the electoral rolls, while Assamese and tribal cultivators reacted against land encroachments.”
This had led to the birth of the Assam Movement which raised an alarm against the Bangladeshi migrants across the State. This was a defining moment for the Assamese people as the leadership of the movement called for an all-out protest to expel the foreigners from Assam. More significant aspect was that it was considered as one of the largest student-led Movement of the world. And this evoked much interest and attention from all quarters starting from the Central Government, media, and public. Indeed, this was one of the factors that had changed Assam’s perspective on Centre-State relations in subsequent years. Academic dialogues and deliberations that shaped various narratives in the post-Assam Movement years marked the emergence of such concepts like stepmotherly treatment, centre-periphery and India acting against itself in regard to the State. For late Indira Gandhi-led Government at the Centre, the Assam Movement was simply a “deterioration of law and order problem”, but for Assamese people, it was a question of life and death. Assam saw violence for years. After the assassination of Indira, when Rajiv Gandhi took over, he signed the historic Assam Accord with the AASU leadership on August 15, 1985, which has the very sensitive clauses 5 and 6. And this Clause 6 has envisaged that appropriate constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.
This Citizenship Bill has created chaos across Assam and North-East. Let’s wait and watch how the NDA Governments, particularly the Sonowal Government, pull through this crisis. It’s a testing time for both these Governments and for the indigenous peoples of Assam.
(The writer is an expert on international affairs, and an independent researcher on contemporary issues)
Writer: Makhan Saikia
Courtesy: The Pioneer
A senior member of a major Pakistani political party, Syed Ali Raza Abidi, was assassinated by unidentified people (Na maloom afraad) who fired at his car outside his Karachi residence on December 25. Apart from being a successful restaurateur, he was a former Member of the National Assembly (MNA), and an ex-leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which later broke into MQM-Pakistan.
In the 1980s, the MQM emerged as the political representative of the Mohajirs, those who migrated from India to Pakistan during Partition. As a Left-leaning party, it later dropped the word Mohajir from its name and changed it to Muttahida, to appeal to a wider base. But the party has constantly been in the crosshairs of Sindhi, Pashtun and Baloch populations as also the politicians in Karachi and Hyderabad — all of which are electoral catchment areas.
In 2017, Abidi had opposed the short-lived alliance between MQM-Pakistan and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) — both being splinter groups of the MQM. Moreover, removing the word MQM itself (embodying its history and legacy) had been a bone of contention among many loyal followers of the movement. (The ‘Pakistan murdabad’ slogan was taken as seditious by the Pakistani establishment and pressure ensued on all to distance themselves from MQM leader Altaf Hussain, who got banned from all media. Journalists, too, couldn’t use his name in their reportage.)
Abidi contested the general election this year from Karachi but suffered defeat at the hands of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf president and now Prime Minister, Imran Khan. In September, he resigned from MQM-Pakistan citing “personal reasons.” The Dawn reported that according to the Senior Superintendent Police, South Pir, Muhammad Shah, Abidi’s guard was not trained for the job entrusted to him.
“It’s hard to tell what the motive behind the attack is,” the SSP said. Further, “Whether it is a personal, political or religious issue, it is being investigated from all angles”, he said.
The MQM Coordination Committee (MQM-London) led by its convener Nadeem Ehsan and deputy convener, Qasim Ali Raza, saw red in this attack and called Abidi’s assassination a deep conspiracy by Pakistan’s military establishment to accelerate the genocidal crackdown in Karachi against the Mohajir/MQM movement. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Information Minister, Fawwad Chaudhry, blamed Altaf Hussain to be behind the murder of Abidi. Wherever MQM is used without any qualifier, it means MQM-London, the Altaf loyalists’ group.
Nadeem Ehsan added that this was not just sheer speculation but the plot of the military establishment had already been exposed. On the one hand, the military establishment is intimidating many high-profile political and non-political personalities, on the other, they have been removing security cover for those under serious threats. Slain Abidi was one such fateful. In a statement, the MQM Coordination Committee said that though the slain Abidi had parted ways with the movement, he was very vocal and never hesitated in expressing his views while making statements. He feared none. Hence, the military establishment couldn’t bear him. His murder is a deep conspiracy and tragedy.
Suspicions of MQM-London might not be without any reason. To explain it, I would digress from the topic and delve into the background of the issue.
Since 1986, nearly 20,000 MQM workers have been arrested. In the 1990s, the brutal ‘Operation Clean-up’ was launched by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with an objective to “cleanse” Karachi city of “anti-social” elements. It circled around the controversy regarding Jinnahpur plan; MQM was accused of being anti-Pakistan and blamed for planning of a separate state, Jinnahpur.
Later, former President Pervez Musharraf normalised relations with the MQM. Crackdown against MQM began again in September 2013, as a part of the “minus three” formula (that has now been successfully implemented with all three — Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Altaf Hussain — effectively sidelined from politics by Pakistan/the military establishment).
The successful implementation of the ‘minus three’ formula by the military establishment, coupled with a weaker Awami National Party (ANP) in Karachi paved the way for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) win in Karachi, including Imran Khan’s own seat. Following 2013, onwards crackdown had more than 130 enforced disappearances and 76 extra-judicial killings.
However, such efforts still could not crush MQM or Altaf Hussain, who remained beyond reach in London. The MQM workers were given a choice during this phase of the crackdown — to either go with the PSP or MQM — Pakistan or any other party. They were asked to distance themselves from Altaf. But this idea could not materialise. From time-to-time the shadow of Altaf propped up in the silhouette of his supporters, much to the chagrin of the establishment.
On December 9, which is observed as the Martyrs’ Day in remembrance of those who lost their lives in such a gory operation by Pakistan’s military establishment, a huge crowd turned out at Altaf’s call and pro-Altaf slogans were chanted. The crowd, that included women, were tear-gassed. They were, however, stopped from paying obeisance. All routes leading to the Jinnah Ground were blocked. Not a single individual was spared — thousands of Mohajir men, women and children were illegally arrested, tear-gassed, tortured and abducted.
The resident editor of The Nation in Karachi, Mansoor Khan, was also mistakenly arrested for he was passing by that area. Such was the indiscriminate nature of the arrests. Given the fact that many Mohajirs are staring at eviction from Government quarters in colonies, a huge crowd turned out in favour of Altaf. Citing a bad law and order situation, the establishment can use it as a ruse to bring in more forces into Karachi for a crackdown on them. Now, Karachi already has paramilitary rangers with a negligible number of Mohajirs in it, along with a horrible human rights’ record. It was probably this that Ehsan Nadeem hinted at. Only an impartial probe will make it clear so as to what actually transpired.
(The writer is an jndependent journalist working on cyber security and the geopolitics of India’s neighbourhood)
Writer: Aveek Sen
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Scuba-diving Santa brings holiday cheer to everyone
It’s a busy time for Santa Claus, but he’s making time to feed some fish in San Francisco. The California Academy of Sciences launched its holiday festivities Thursday by having a scuba diver dressed as St. Nick submerge into a coral reef exhibit while dozens of children watched from behind the glass. The “Scuba Santa” show runs through Christmas Day. It takes place during the morning feed at the Philippine Coral Reef tank at the San Francisco museum. Volunteer diver George Bell donned his Santa suit, from hat to coal black boots, and scuba gear for a recent feed and fielded visitors’ questions from inside the tank. The Philippine Coral Reef tank has thousands of reef fish representing about 100 species. People can watch Santa’s appearance online by webcam.
‘High-tech’ robot on TV was man in suit
Russian media say a contraption presented by Russian state television as a high-tech robot was in fact a man in a commercially available robot costume. The footage was shot at a high-tech show in the city of Yaroslavl that opened Tuesday, featuring “Boris the Robot.” Forum organizers used Boris to enliven the event, having him dance to a pop song.
But a crew for Russian state television apparently thought Boris was real, and used footage of him dancing and speaking as an example of Russian technological prowess. Online TJournal noted the lack of sensors, human-like movements and other discrepancies, and revealed that Boris was in fact a human clad in a costume sold under the name Alyosha by the Russian company Show Robots. (AP)
Worth the sting: Cuba’s scorpion pain remedy
Once a month for the last decade, Pepe Casanas, a 78-year-old Cuban farmer, has hunted down a scorpion to sting himself with, vowing that the venom wards off his rheumatism pains. His natural remedy is no longer seen as very unusual here.
Researchers in Cuba have found that the venom of the blue scorpion, whose scientific name is Rhopalurus junceus, endemic to the Caribbean island, appears to have anti-inflammatory and pain relief properties, and may be able to delay tumor growth in some cancer patients. While some oncologists abroad say more research is needed to be able to properly back up such a claim, Cuban pharmaceutical firm Labiofam has been using scorpion venom since 2011 to manufacture the homeopathic medicine Vidatox. The remedy has proven popular. Labiofam Business Director Carlos Alberto Delgado told Reuters sales were climbing 10 percent annually. Vidatox already sells in around 15 countries worldwide and is currently in talks with China to sell the remedy there. In Cuba, where tens of thousands of patients have been treated with Vidatox, each vial costs under a dollar. On the black market abroad it can cost hundred times that — retailers on Amazon.com are seen selling them for up to $140.
“I put the scorpion where I feel pain,” Casanas said while demonstrating his homemade pain relief with a scorpion that he found under a pile of debris on the patch of land he cultivates in Cuba’s western province of Pinar del Rio. After squeezing it long enough, it stung him and he winced. “It hurts for a while, but then it calms and goes and I don’t have any more pain,” he said. Casanas, a leathery-skinned former tobacco farmer who now primarily grows beans for his own consumption, said he sometimes keeps a scorpion under his straw hat like a lucky charm. It likes the shade and humidity, he says, so just curls up and sleeps.
(Reuters)
restaurant offering $500 gold brownie
A Los Angeles restaurant is taking dessert to new heights of decadence with a $500 brownie covered in 24-karat edible gold. Chef Jason Harley, owner of Baby J’s Burgers, said the opulent brownie is served in a humidor with a Monte Cristo cigar on the side.The brownie is coated in 24-karat gold and features glaze made with Johnnie Walker Blue Label scotch whisky. Harley previously made headlines in 2016 when his doughnut shop, Birdies, came out with a $100 doughnut similarly coated in edible gold.
(UPI)
Grinch on video driving through xmas display
An apparent Grinch was spotted on surveillance video plowing through a Christmas display outside a suburban Indianapolis home and tips are being sought to find the man. WRTV broadcast the video recorded Sunday night by a neighbor’s camera in Greenwood.
The video starts with a man getting out of a black SUV and then walking up to take a closer look at the front yard where Casie Arnold says her family had a 3.7-meter-tall inflatable snowman. The man gets back into the vehicle, backs up and drives through the family’s yard and over the decoration.
Arnold says they heard a pop while watching a Christmas movie. Tire tracks were in the yard. Arnold says she wonders if the driver was possibly a Grinch who doesn’t like Christmas.
Writer: Agencies
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Vladimir Putin is an archetypal political strongman who has always bent Russia to his will and wants the world to give in to it as well. Russian interference in the democratic process in the United States has plagued Donald Trump throughout his presidency and Russia has been alleged to have interfered in other elections such as the one in the United Kingdom that decided on Brexit as well as others. Russia’s military intervention in Syria has propped up the Bashar-al-Assad regime and cost countless lives and while the Western world shuns Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin-Salman, Putin considers him a friend. But strongmen have a soft underbelly of popular culture in their own nations that allows disparate voices. Singers, artists and even movie stars speak out using their celebrity status when others are cowed down, and in Russia those singers apparently challenging Putin are rappers. Like the artist Husky, who has been singing about the trouble that the man on the street faces, the high cost of living, rampant crime and political cronyism. So unsurprisingly, President Putin wants rap music to be ‘state guided’ that is, rappers can only perform at state-sanctioned events and avoid topics that might rile up the masses against their political overlords. This is a surprising turn of events even for Putin, who had invited a rap artist to perform at his inauguration. But while he projects strength abroad, he is worried about the influence of rappers among young Russians. Russia’s economy has been suffering thanks to decades-long Western sanctions that have slowed foreign investment into the country and the resultant inflations as well as persistent allegations of crony capitalism have done little to change perceptions despite his overwhelming win in the elections. But then again, Russian democracy is nowhere close to meeting the standards of the Western or even the Indian variety. That Putin allowed one of his daughters, Katerina Tikhonova, to appear on national television, almost certainly with his explicit approval, have some Kremlin observers suspecting that he is grooming her as his potential political heir. Was that the final trigger for the stronger rap lyrics amounting to protest and might explain the current crackdown? Possibly.
Of course, cracking down on popular culture of any sort is a reaction of almost every strongman. This has been a precedent since time immemorial. There was a similar crackdown in India during the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi. Before that, British colonialists cracked down on literature, pamphlets and plays. Writers and actors endured incarceration just as much as political leaders; they were just as important to the freedom struggle as politicians. By trying to bend rap music to his will, Putin might just drive it underground and while that might stifle Russian rap in the short-term, it will come back to bite him or his successor in the long-term
Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer
The world is warming up and its climate is going totally out of whack. Extreme weather phenomena such as the Kerala floods earlier this year are wreaking havoc across the world, putting people in harm’s way and could even signal the end of days as many religious holy books predict. And here is the funny thing — we have known about humanity’s impact on the planet for decades now, we have physically seen the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers and huge chunks of ice the size of a small Indian state break away from the Antarctic ice shelf. Yet when it comes to doing something about them, the solutions we know about appear impossible to implement. So every few years global leaders and scientists sit down at a place to thrash out the details on how to redress the crisis.
But much like a heroin addict who finds it impossible to go cold turkey when the time comes to make tough choices, there is much hand-wringing. Here is a truism, humanity is addicted to carbon and those of us who can afford it love the good life. The use of air-conditioning, for example, the very nature of which increases the local temperature even more, cannot be begrudged by anyone who has seen a Delhi summer. Yet, as more and more Indians can afford cooling, the irony is that they are participating in the warming of the planet. Therein lies the rub. How do you and how can you deny the new middle-class in India their aspirations? Whether it is an energy-inefficient car compared to a motorcycle or new consumer durables such as a washing machine, do we say that this is not for you or do we embrace low-cost manufacturing and agree that everyone should have a level of equal access to modern conveniences?
So at Katowice, the hand-wringing continued. We know that we are in the midst of a crisis but the crisis hasn’t hit as yet, or rather it has in fits and starts. Sea level rises have not displaced millions till date but can politicians increase the taxes on petrol beyond a point even if they realise the carbon implications of burning more petrol and diesel? Can any politician or bureaucrat tell people that they should be judicious when they use their air-conditioning? We tried that in India and elite liberals saw that as government ‘interference.’ After all the rich, whether they are nations or rich citizens, do not want to pay the price of changing their habits. They would want air-conditioning and car ownership restricted but not for themselves. So the result at Katowice, where after 13 days of talking the only conclusion was that we should try and prevent global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5C by 2030, was far from ideal. By that time it may be too late to drive more change. The global impact of a warmer world will be felt by all of us, rich and poor alike although the latter will be harder hit. It is contingent upon politicians to understand that they need to educate their people about the impact of climate change. We might feel the impact of climate change in a sputtering manner right now but by 2030 it might be too late.
Writer: The pioneer
Source: The pioneer
Sri Lanka’s much disputed Prime Minister and strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ill-advised move to manipulate the nation’s executive with impunity and suit his partisan and political ambition has clearly backfired and cost the nation a stasis it could hardly afford. With a crucial budget held up and countries wondering which government to deal with — the ousted one of UNP’s Ranil Wickremesinghe or the coalition sanctioned by President Mathiripala Sirisena with Rajapaksa as imposed Prime Minister — the island nation was on the precipice. Thankfully the Supreme Court ordered the reinstatement of status quo ante after Rajapaksa repeatedly failed to prove a majority in the Parliament, which President Sirisena dissolved to hold snap polls. The court sternly reminded that a nation cannot be held hostage to a person’s whim and muscle and that neither elections nor the dissolution of Parliament can be forced upon a system that already had a working majority and ability to last out a full term. The court underlined that the Constitution could not clearly be interpreted in personalised ways. Yes, Rajapaksa was clawing his way back to relevance after he was trounced by his one-time protege and then rebel Sirisena. But as Sirisena and Wickremesinghe had difficulty negotiating with each other along the way, Rajapaksa swiftly played on the heft of restoring Sinhalese identity, floated his new outfit and topped the verdict in the local elections. At this point, he clearly overreached himself, cornering President Sirisena in his impatience, forcing him to pull out of the coalition Unity government, coopt his party and name him Prime Minister. Now that Wickremesinghe has legitimacy and sympathy for being turfed out abruptly, Rajapaksa is left with ghosts of his past out to devour him — allegations of autocracy, corruption, nepotism, China tilts and, of course, war crimes while eliminating the Tamil movement from the face of the island. If indeed he had waited out for Wickremesinghe to fail at the hustings, he could have attempted a return to Lanka’s narrative and wiped off his past. Now, all anybody will remember is his avarice. Constitutionally, he could not have become the President, having served two terms, but he could have attempted a comeback as a prime ministerial hopeful though people anticipated he would move amendments to arrogate more powers to himself. Sirisena, seen as an acceptable moderate when he took over the reins, has had a greater loss of face. His UPFA was in a minority in the coalition (even with Rajapaksa’s faction) and yet he ventured to sack Wickremesinghe, whose UNP has the bigger mandate.
India can now breathe a tad easy as it was uncomfortable with Rajapaksa though the latter had engaged with the Modi government in Delhi very recently. As President, he had parcelled the nation’s ports and infrastructure to the Chinese. Wickremesinghe has been more favourable for us. His ouster, in fact, was a result of Sirisena’s disagreement with him over the development of a container terminal in Colombo and his pro-India tilt. Therefore, India has to tip-toe cautiously around the prevalent anti-mainland narrative and develop a strategic depth at a time when the hawks have been compromised.
Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer
Not too long after the attack on the Chinese Consulate, Geng Shuang, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, claimed that Beijing would not hesitate in pursuing CPEC project and ‘Pakistan will ensure safety’.
The November 23 attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi by Baloch separatists has brought to the global limelight the Baloch movement against the persecution by federal Pakistani authorities who have been depriving the region of its share of the province’s wealth and natural resources. Taking responsibility for the assault, the Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed it will continue fighting against the “Chinese occupation” spread through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The group had, on August 15, warned Chinese authorities against “exploitation of Balochistan’s mineral wealth and occupation of Baloch territory.” However, what surprises the global media is the intensity of the attack. Before this, Baloch separatists have been fighting a low-level insurgency in Pakistan for years.
The Baloch movement has a long history. After the Zia-ul-Haq regime when Pakistan moved to the democratic process, Baloch political dissidents tried to swim along the national political stream for almost fifteen years, albeit abortively. Now the Baloch people, particularly the new generation, are disenchanted with the false promise and betrayal by the federal authorities. As a result of increasing discontent, the idea of a free Balochistan has come out from its hibernation. This time, the demand for the Baloch nation has intensified.
On their part, the Pakistan Army and its intelligence agencies have strengthened its crackdown on Baloch separatists. Seen in this perspective is the claim of the Pakistani authorities that the disappeared Baloch are responsible for the attack on the Chinese Consulate. The counter-attack is two-pronged: The involuntarily disappeared Baloch who are either not found or their tortured bodies recovered from untrodden path have been declared convicts, and second, the accusation has shown the world the terror face of the separatists.
Since the start of the Baloch movement, the Pakistan authorities tried to nip the problem in the bud by kidnapping and killing Baloch separatists, who were declared missing of their own volition. The fact is that most of the missing persons are found dead and their mutilated bodies were recovered from across the region. Since 2006, the Pakistan Army and other law enforcement agencies in nexus with Islamic religious terrorist groups have ensured disappearance of thousands of Baloch political activists, social activists, students, journalists, lawyers, engineers, doctor and teachers. Mama Qadeer Baloch, the vice-president of The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), a Balochistan-based human rights organisation which has been pursuing the case of the missing Baloch since 2009, claims that more than 40,000 Balochs have gone missing, thanks to Pakistani law enforcement agencies. Over 10,000 have been “killed” and their bullet-ridden mutilated bodies dumped in disserted areas.
Mama Qadeer led a 3,000-km long historical march from Quetta to Islamabad via Karachi in the memory of the disappeared Baloch in 2013. However, the Pakistan Government remained nonchalant. Recently Akhter Mengal, the president of Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal), claimed that from July 25 to October 30 this year, 235 Baloch people went missing, and mutilated bodies of 45 people were recovered. This has happened after the Imran Khan-led PTI came to power at the Centre.
Accordingly the Bi-annual report 2018: The state of Balochistan’s Human Rights by Baloch Human Rights Organisation, 485 cases of enforced disappearances and 144 cases of extra-judicial killings were reported between January 2018 and June 2018. Similarly Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s “THE BALOCH WHO IS NOT MISSING & OTHERS WHO ARE” report, published in 2013, came with a similar story: “The exact number of the involuntary disappearance of people is difficult to ascertain as many such cases are not reported to any Government and non-Government organisations. Some of the victim families do not have access to channel their protests, while others keep quiet out of the fear that publically airing their grievances could make the return of the missing persons difficult or impossible.”
In this regard Tullios Scovazzi and Gabriel Citroni remark that enforced disappearance is one of the most serious human rights violations. The right to safety, the right to protection under the law, the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of one’s liberty, and the right to be subjected to torture and to other cruel inhuman degrading treatments have taken a hit.
Further, Articles 1, 2 of the UN International Convention for The Protection of the All Persons from Enforced Disappearance respectively state, “No one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance and no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance; and enforced disappearance is considered to be arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the state or by persons and groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support and acquiescence of the state.”
Article 4 says, “Each state shall take necessary measures to ensure that enforced disappearance constitutes an offence under its criminal law.” Similarly Pakistan’s Constitution of 1973 Article 10(2) states, “Every person who is arrested and detained in the custody shall be produced before a magistrate within twenty-four hours, and shall not be denied the right to consult or be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.”
However, the Pakistan military has been carrying out operations across Balochistan in order to crush the separatist organisations. Baloch political parties, Baloch National Movement (BNM) and Baloch Republican Party, have continuously blamed Pakistan forces for their involvement in human rights violations, such as enforced disappearances, burning of Baloch houses, looting livestock, and forcing them to flee their homes and live as internally displaced persons in Sindh and other parts of Balochistan. These political parties accuse the Pakistan Army of evicting hundreds from their houses in Baloch villages in order to bring its “exploitative” $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in the area.
Mohammad Hanif, renowned journalist of BBC Service and author of “Red Bird”, says it is painful that even journalists are grilled when they enter the territory of Balochistan; they are treated as aliens in their own country.
As growing fiscal crisis has put Pakistan in a fix on how it will repay Chinese loans granted as part of Beijing’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative, Beijing is feeling emboldened to exert more pressure on Pakistan to pave path for its partner to exploit natural resources in Balochistan.
Soon after the attack on the Chinese Consulate, its Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang claimed that Beijing would not hesitate in pursuing CPEC project and “Pakistan will ensure safety”. The hint is clear: Pakistan must ensure the Bloch people keep on disappearing.
(The writer is a Baloch national movement activist)
Writer: Asgar Ali
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The ‘Food for Thought Fest’ is a unique initiative that basically focuses on the history of South Asia, it’s common heritage, and the different influences. The fest has set a benchmark as a forum for conversations, cuisines and the exchange of ideas and philosophies.
Organised by the South Asian Association for Gastronomy (SAAG), the forth edition of this extravaganza recently concluded at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia and saw participation from countries like India, Indonesia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The Ambassador for the Republic of Indonesia to India, His Excellency Sidharto R Suryodipuro, said “We are really happy to host the Food for Thought Fest at the Embassy. This fest is a good way to promote both Indonesian culture and tourism. Inviting countries from Asia here at the fest is the best way to bring in more harmony via food.”
At this year’s edition, the ‘Thought Fest’ saw discussions between experts around culture, health and cuisine, and the ‘Food Fest’ offered cookery workshops with celebrity chefs from the participating countries and Indian television celebrities like Puja Talwar, Advaita Kala and Imam Siddique. Food stalls by some of the most superlative restaurants from the South Asia region like the Soda Bottle Opernerwala, Atara Catering, Chaat Chowk and Orza sprawled the landscape. Other attractions included a ‘Bazaar Section’ and a ‘Fun Fest’ which saw performances by music bands like the Delhi Indie Project and the Rocknama.
The founder and director of SAAG and Food for Thought Fest, Maneesh Baheti, said, “We are very honoured to be given the opportunity of kick-starting the 70 year celebrations of India-Indonesia friendship with this fest. The confidence bestowed on us by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism, the attendance of a 16 member troupe for cultural performances and the Masterchef from West Sumatra, gives us tremendous encouragement.
Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer
The syncretic Usman that is traditionally practised in Bangladesh is being undermined. This is because the country is embarking on a mosque-building project that is inspired by Saudi Arabia.
Bangladesh, in an ironical move, is seeking the cooperation of Saudi Arabia to popularise ‘model Islam’ amongst her population. The project will crystallise in the form of 560 ‘model mosques’ across the country built with Saudi funds. Paradoxically, in 1971, Saudi Arabia along with other Arab nations, had strongly opposed the independence of Bangladesh. Her war of liberation, actuated by Bangla nationalism, was perceived as anti-thetical to Islam. Even secular Turkey and progressive Egypt had chosen to side with Pakistan.
Tajuddin Ahmad (1925-1975), the Prime Minister of the wartime provisional Government of Bangladesh based in Mujibnagar (district Meherpur), had a tough time convincing the Arab nations that the Pakistani armed forces were not fighting a battle of Islamic righteousness in Bangladesh. They were rather indulging in “well-documented crimes of arson, loot, rape and murder.” Ahmad had to remind the Arabs how they had once to fight for their own independence from the Turkish Ottoman Empire albeit Turks were also fellow Muslims.
The professed aim of the ‘model mosque’ project is to salvage Islam from the hands of radicals and militants. Prime Minister Hasina feels that Islam, a religion of peace, has been usurped by these extreme elements. But how to be sure that the religion is in its pristine and peaceful state in Saudi Arabia? After all, 15 of the 19 citizens involved in the hijacking of airplanes used in 9/11 attacks were citizens of the kingdom.
Being starry-eyed about the project, Hasina has put Bangladeshi Taka 8,722 crore from the public exchequer into the initiative, not having received Saudi funds as yet. But what model of Islam is expected from Saudi Arabia? The desert kingdom is infamous for exporting Wahabism, a rigid and intolerant variant of Islam, worldwide. In September 2015 it had offered Germany to build 200 mosques — roughly one for each of the 100 refugees fleeing Syria.
Susane Schröter, Director, Frankfurt Research Centre for Global Islam, estimates that Riyadh has invested at least 76 billion Euros ($86 billion) in the last 50 years of oil boom to promote Wahabism across the globe. So, Sheikh Hasina should not complain if she finds Bangladesh drifting towards gender segregation, Sharia penal code and prohibition on the public practice of other religions and traditions.
Saudi Arabia could not be the model for Bangladesh, not merely because the former is a retrograde dynastic monarchy. The identity of the desert kingdom is defined merely through its religion. Islam historically originated in the territory of Saudi Arabia (formerly called Hejaz), thus the kingdom is to Islam what a shadow is to an object placed in the sun. But the same is not true of Bangladesh, which is placed in a different geographical, environmental and cultural zone. To make Bangladeshis ‘more Muslim’ is surely to foment internal trouble.
If, today, to believe Sheikh Hasina, Islam has gone into radical hands, the reason is not because any Government of Bangladesh deliberately promoted radical Islam. The reason is that every Government of Bangladesh has tried to infuse more and more Islam into Bangladeshi society. As a result, Bangladesh, by negating its foundational principles, is en route to becoming a mirror image of Pakistan.
Ironically, the initiative was started by Bangabandhu Mujibar Rehman, the absentee founder of Bangladesh (he was a prisoner in Mianwali Jail in Pakistan through the months of the Liberation War). Rahman as the first President (later Prime Minister) of Bangladesh prohibited horse racing, gambling and sale of liquor in Bangladesh in deference to Islamic traditions. Thus, activities that were permitted in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan became haram in secular Bangladesh.
The Pakistani Army, during the Liberation War, heavily damaged the ancient Ramna Kalibari, an iconic Dhaka structure; it also slaughtered most of its residents including the priest. It was expected that sovereign Bangladesh would prioritise rebuilding the temple as a symbol of its heritage and communal harmony. But to everybody’s surprise, Mujibur Rahman got the damaged temple disestablished brick-by-brick in 1972.
The huge cleared up space (along with the dismantled Race Course) was converted into a park viz Suhrawardy Uddyan named after Huseyn Shahid Suhrawardy, the architect of the Great Calcutta Killings (1946) who happened to be the mentor of Rahman during his early years in the Muslim League.
What is distinctive about Bangladesh is its language, Bengali. It was consistently seen with suspicion by the Pakistan authorities. They saw it as an impediment to true Islam. The people of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) rebuffed attempts by Karachi to impose Urdu. The language agitation of February 21, 1952, that led to seven deaths in police firing, left an enduring legacy for Bangladesh.
The UNESCO has honoured the date by recognising February 21 as ‘International Mother Language Day’. The Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 — as against popular misconception in India —was not prompted by the language issue. Yet the demolition of the Shaheed Minar (estd 1963) dedicated to the language martyrs of 1952 by the Pakistan Army during 1971 war created widespread hurt among Bengalis. It was rebuilt after the war and subsequently expanded it in 1983. It has attained the status of a pilgrimage centre in Bangladesh.
So, why has the Bengali language been exalted to a cult status in Bangladesh? This is because they would be bereft of their cultural moorings to their soil without it. Their religion, Islam, connects them with Arabia, in a psychological sense but it also alienates them from their ancestry, history, culture and environment. Hasina should introspect. Why is only an emphasis on Islam needed for course correction in an already Muslim majority state? Successive Governments have promoted only Islam in Bangladesh, whether out of piety or political expediency, but the result is the deracination of a large section of the population dependent on Islamic curriculum.
Until 1970, says Abul Barkat in his signal book, Political Economy of Madrasa Education in Bangladesh, there were 2,721 madrasas. But by 2008, their number had increased to 14,152. The net effect is that Bangladesh’s foundational legacy is under threat. The ‘model mosques’ project will only contribute to the deracination process.
(The writer is an independent researcher based in New Delhi. The views expressed herein are his personal)
Writer: Priyadarshini Dutta
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Twelve-year-old Gitanjali Rao, an Indian-American scientist, talks about her inspiration and creation with this writer.
She is all of 12 and is known globally as girl wonder for receiving the 2017 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge. What catapulted Gitanjali Rao to the high table was her invention, Tethys, a low-cost technology for testing lead in water.
What inspired her to make it? “I was originally inspired by the Flint Water Crisis which I had been introduced through a STEM lab and by watching news. After I learned about Flint, a town in the US, I continued to research and follow it for the next couple of years. When I saw my parents testing for lead in our water, I immediately realised that using test strip would take quite a few tries to get accurate results and I really wanted to do something to change this not only for my parents but for the residents of Flint and places like Flint around the world,” she said.
The Indian American girl has created a sensor-based device that is faster than current technologies available in the market and is cheaper.
“After my testing and developing a method for gathering data for analytics, I intend to partner with the US Environmental Protection Agency to crowd source water quality data. The idea is to not only test local water sources but try to use the data from various sources to produce a heat map that shows the contamination levels in a region in a single view. It can also help in developing in prediction models of the spread in future. Parallelly, I intend to create about 30-50 reproducible prototypes which can be used for field-testing starting with Flint,” Rao said.
For developing the project, she worked with a mentor, Dr. Shafer, who helped her with her experimentation plans and made sure she wasn’t immediately rushing to the next steps. “On the first Skype call, I was a bit nervous to talk to someone so knowledgeable who was an accomplished scientist, but as soon as I started talking to her, she made me very comfortable. I learnt to be diligent and persistent from her. She listened carefully when I narrated my failures to her and provided me with alternate paths to keep moving ahead. She taught me to reach out and ask for help,” said the pre-teen. She added that she earlier hesitated in asking questions but having met Dr. Shafer she’s learnt to reach out to college professors and high school teachers for either space to perform her tests or ask questions related to her research.
She looks up to her parents, who have encouraged her to pursue her ideas with abandon and provide the necessary resources to make them a reality but on the scientific front she looks up to not younger and newer scientists but Marie Curie. “She didn’t just discover two new elements, but also performed life-threatening tests and put others before herself. That is what a true role model means to me,” said she.
Her age is no benchmark to judge her intelligence as concerns like the wage gap among men and women already weigh heavily on her mind. For this too, the young problem solver has a solution. “I wrote a sample bill for the Colorado legislature, proposing that the wage gender gap be closed by giving women the opportunity to stand up and discuss their wages without repercussions from an employer. It is important to say what you believe. If your male co-worker, who is doing the same job as you, for the same amount of time, is getting a higher salary, then speaking up and talking about it is important. We normally don’t do that or aren’t allowed by company policies. I believe that women shouldn’t be prevented to talk to their employer about their salary and share it openly with coworkers. This can help us close the wage gap once and for all,” said Rao.
She has a wise head resting on her small shoulders as she understands the immediacy of the environmental disaster facing us. She has a message for young girls where she says, “I would like to let them know that each one of us can observe around us and understand the social or environmental problems — and find a way to solve them. Do not be afraid to try as failure is part of the learning process. Solving problems does not always have to be about science. If you are worried about marine pollution, create posters to bring awareness and share it. If you think your community needs more recycling bins, approach lawmakers or other influential people by writing or meeting them. There are many ways to solve problems, and technology is just one aspect,” she said.
Writer: Asmita Sarkar
Courtesy: The Pioneer
American Presidency might still be a tough task for President Trump’s rivals despite the good showing of the Democrats in the midterm polls
Elections in the United States are a spectacle par excellence. This is equally true for both the anointed Presidency and the Congressional elections. Awareness and deliberations about the US Foreign Policy across the larger international system are everyone’s pet peeve but the scenario in the domestic politics remains a realm which has been investigated to a lesser extent elsewhere. Also, it is a theoretical principle in the discipline of international relations that there lies a continuum between the domesticity of a nation and its larger footprint in the international ecosystem. It is in this twilight zone where the electoral narrative holds sway.
Typically, 218 seats are required for a majority in the US House of Representatives, which has Paul Ryan as the Republican leader and Nancy Pelosi standing forth as the leader of the Democrats in the House.
The related aspersion is that the verdict of the midterm elections has played a substantial role in the firming up of a substratum for the future of President Donald Trump in his next tenure if that transpires at the second-term electoral hustings. In the recently concluded elections, 55 Congressmen didn’t seek re-elections; it makes the midterm outing as significant and decisive in the making of a political consensus for the crucial future and the American Dream.
Several outcomes of the elections are of significance: The Republican and Democratic control the Intelligence, Investigative and Foreign Affairs come through as a key and crucially contextual realm of these midterm elections, but the results have denied them this privilege. The Supreme Court vacancies are up for the grab as the elections have weakened the prerogative of President Trump, especially in the light of the Kavanaugh candidature for the Supreme Court. The Obamacare repeal was defeated by one vote in 2017 and the Bill could get finally erased. In the light of the refugees and undocumented aliens marching on to the US-Mexican border, immigration and President Trump’s eviction oriented policies have come up for scanner with the southern and immigrant oriented populations, all across the United States being real testing grounds for the immigration theme of the Republicans which further found them divided under the White House’s decisions in the context.
It has been witnessed that the House of Representatives has been won over by the Democrats and the Republican Party has retained its majority in the Senate. Still, a great iota of unpredictability was associated with some of the races as the “tug of war” was a very narrow one in them. In the midterm polls of 1994, 2006 and 2010, the parties of the Presidents with dwindling approval ratings lost out but does that hold up as a role model trend, after the Trump inaugural, has been tested as a hypothesis at the November 2018 hustings. The Washington Post and Schar College pointed towards advantage Democrats, where the quotient is bigger for pshephological error as most of the races were very closely fought. It is definitely an acid test for the “Trump surprises” wherein the decision-making and the influence-potential of White House might be up for the asking which gets weakened as Democrats have performed.
Also, on the other hand, going by Democratic candidates such as O’Rourke, apart from the Democratic strongholds, the youngsters, Texans and the Hispanic voters have replicated their inclinations and choices elsewhere also to give Democrats a win in the overall picture, which is far from being picture perfect. The final results point towards better days for the dandy Democrats. Also, now after the midterm polls, Democrats hold 47 seats and the Trump’s gladiators are on the 51 mark in the US Senate. In the House of Representatives, the number 36 is the trick wherein Democrats have improved their tally by 36 votes with their tally reaching the healthy figure of 231. The Republicans have gone down by 36 seats wherein their strength has come down to a measly 198. The Guardian has called it a blue wave. What needs to be relooked by President Trump that though the nation’s economy is roaring and unemployment figures are under control, but still the “America First” Brigade has not done well in the House of Representatives. That demands a re-look by the Republican Party and the issue of environment also has impacted results.
As results have come out, the all important State of Arizona has gone the Democrat way with the leading critique of President Trump, Krysten Sinema, pipping Republican Senator Jeff Flake to the post. The British national daily has called the midterm polls as not a Democrat “Blue wave”, but an affront to the Republican vanguard which resulted in flipping seven stately Governorships. It was only after the Richard Nixon’s Presidency and the Watergate scandal in 1974 that Democrats have performed in such a positive manner in the midterm Congressionals.
The elections in a blitzkrieg manner have obfuscated the Trump Presidency as he will have to combat the Democrats mortally and the Democrats will be numerically emboldened to persist with their investigations on the Trump Administration after the elections. Still, as the Senate majority still rests with President Trump, his Supreme Court, Cabinet and other representatives will continue to sail through for another two years. What surprises is that the Arizona winner compared the immigrant rage to the Iraq war outrage, and her outrage was combated by the Republican candidate on the context of the Democrat candidate opposing the creation of new Air Force bases and weakening the national security objective of Washington exemplified by President Trump.
Still, the core constituency of the Republicans is only rattled and the battle for the next Presidency might still be a tough task for President Trump’s rivals after the good showing of the Democrats in the midterm elections. Some analysts, after the elections, are pointing towards a sub-urban revolt which might have pivoted the Democrats in the midterms.
(The writer teaches International Relations at Indian Institute of Public Administration, Delhi
Writer: Manan Dwivedi
Courtesy: The Pioneer
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