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

India has been strengthening relations with Vietnam for some time, with delegates and politicians from both the countries visiting each other.

In the 46th year of diplomatic relations, India and Vietnam have witnessed several high level visits and exchange of delegations. The forthcoming visit by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, will be the third such bilateral visit this year, which was earlier preceded by the visit of the late President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Tran Dai Quang in March 2018 and the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visit earlier in January 2018. Several ministerial level delegations and inking of defence agreements between the two countries have also happened this year. It is hoped that the President’s visit will consolidate the already existing political trust and cement strong defence and security cooperation between the two countries.

Some of the potential areas of cooperation in the non-traditional security areas include information technology, artificial intelligence, cyber security, solar alliances, traditional medicine, agricultural innovation, disaster management and climate change. As an emerging market and supplier in the regional value chain, Vietnam together with India could play a significant role in the global value chain. Capacity building and entrepreneurship development under development cooperation initiatives are already making progress and leaving their imprints.

Ram Nath Kovind is also expected to visit the ancient relics of Cham civilisation in My Son, which stand a time-tested testimony to our civilisational inheritance. The historical and cultural linkages between the two civilisations abound our mythologies and ancient literature. It is believed that Hinduism and Buddhism became the mainstream religion of the Chams living in the central and southern part of Vietnam. The architectural style of My Son relics, which is today a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the ancient archaeological remains scattered in the coastal areas of Vietnam from Da Nang to Binh Thuan, speak about these historical legacies.

Over the years, Vietnam has emerged as a significant player in India’s foreign policy projection — a partner in sub-regional, regional, and multilateral fora. It is an integral member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and plays an important role in India’s Act East policy. India is one of the three countries with whom Vietnam shares Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, together with China and Russia.

The elevation of the strategic partnership between the two countries to that of comprehensive strategic partnership is a clear indication of goodwill, trust and importance the two countries place on their relationship. It is also an acknowledgment of the existing strong bilateral defence and security ties and our mutual desire to contribute to regional peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity. Moving beyond the ideological linkages, both countries have endeavoured to revamp their relations in the changing geo-politics of the Indo-Pacific.

From strategic partnership in 2007 to a comprehensive partnership in 2016, the two countries have built up synergies for deeper cooperation between them. These have been envisaged in a multi-faceted and a multi-sectoral cooperation on a wide range of issues covering political, defence and security relations; trade and commerce; energy cooperation; science and technology; capacity building; connectivity links; health, education, culture, tourism and people to people exchange; and cooperation in international, regional and sub-regional forums.

Vietnam’s geographical location in Asia Pacific has added to its geo-political importance for the regional players like China, India, Australia and Japan and also for the external powers like the United States and its re-balancing strategy in the Asia-Pacific. In the changing architecture of the world politics from trans-Atlantic to the Asia-Pacific, Vietnam emerges as a significant actor shaping the ‘great game’ politics in the region.

Given the evolving regional architecture in the Indo-Pacific, role of Vietnam in the emerging quadrilateral partnership in the region becomes significant. As Vietnam faces mounting pressure from China amidst its growing assertiveness in the disputed waters of its East Sea, it is looking to multiple partners in Asia and beyond. Vietnam has reached out to the United States and stepped up security cooperation with Japan, Australia long with India and a number of its Southeast Asian neighbours.

Amidst Vietnam’s quest for multiple partners in Asia and beyond, India has been of very special strategic interest to Vietnam. Over the years, New Delhi has gradually expanded its defence and naval cooperation with Vietnam and assisted in its efforts in modernising the military force. India’s outreach to Vietnam has been a clear indication of its open challenge to China in its backyard. It is believed that Vietnam’s growing engagement with India will also lead to a stable balance of power and as a security provider in the region.

Fearing the growing aggression of China, Vietnam has welcomed and embraced India in this particular stance. The high-level comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Vietnam is equally important as it shares the anxieties and act as deterrence against the increasing Chinese presence in the region.

According to security experts, since China continues to increase its influence, defence and maritime cooperation and procurements from countries like India, the United States and Japan enable Vietnam to uphold its position.

Internal synergies between India and Vietnam have also played a significant role in bringing the two countries on the same page building upon mutual trust and cooperation over the years.

Vietnam as an emerging middle power and India as a net security provider in the region has the convergence which makes them an ideal partner for all seasons at the sub-regional, regional and multilateral forums.

Given the cultural-religious linkages, based on their closer association with the historical kingdoms and the impact of Buddhist philosophy to the anti-imperialist struggle during the colonial rule and foreign intervention during the Second World War and thereafter, both the countries have developed closer ties and a shared destiny based on a shared world view.

In the context of the geo-strategic paradigm and the forces shaping the internal dynamics of Vietnam, its foreign policy orientations vis-à-vis the great powers in the region and its engagement with India is a critical area of concern.

(The writer is a Fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and Assistant Professor at University of Delhi)

Writer: Sonu Trivedi

Courtesy: The Pioneer

In promotion of Buddhism, China is keen to become the world leader. However, this will never happen due to the gap between the Marxist theory and repression on the ground

China is a country full of dichotomies. Take Buddhism. On one side, China promotes Buddhism; on the other hand, Beijing severely represses the Buddha dharma. On October 28, the World Buddhist Forum opened with fanfare at Putian, in Fujian Province. According to the official release, it was attended by a record number of over 1,000 Buddhist monks, scholars and representatives from 55 countries. Zong Xing, Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China (BAC) and Xiao Hong, a deputy secretary of the China Religious Culture Communication Association (CRCCA), the joint hosts, gave a press conference.

Xiao announced that the forum wanted “to carry forward the positive Buddhist cultural spirit, promote exchanges between Buddhism and other religions and make contributions to building a community with a shared future for humanity.” That sounds good. One of the themes of the meet was “Buddhism and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)”, a project dear to President Xi Jinping. A couple of weeks earlier, the Global Times had reported that a two-day symposium in Qinghai Province discussed the way Buddhism could better serve the BRI and resist separatism.

The website tibet.cn noted: “Guided by the core socialist values, the symposium aims to encourage Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to the socialist society and teach the religion to serve the construction of the BRI.” Was the Fujian Forum a great success? It does not appear so reading the rare comments which appeared in the Chinese Press. One of the problems was that Master Xuecheng, the BCA president and Abbot of Longquan Temple in Beijing, had to resign in a hurry in August.

The 52-year-old was accused to have coerced nuns into having sex, overseen illegal construction work and embezzled funds. The claims were made in a 95-page document published on July 31; it immediately went viral on Chinese social media, bringing support to China’s #MeToo movement. It is not that Xuecheng was not well-connected with the Communist Party; he was a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), but in the present days, even tigers fall (President Xi had warned the ‘tigers’ and the ‘flies’ that he would not accept corruption).

One of the BCA’s Vice Presidents was Gyaltsen Norbu, the Chinese-selected Panchen Lama. He made a timid appearance on the first day. He spoke on, “to live together in harmony through the Middle Path”, a purely religious topic; Norbu emphasised a common future for humanity and the fact that the creation of a ‘common-destiny community’ is more and more accepted the world over. He mentioned the Buddhist precepts of living in symbiosis, equality, tolerance, compassion and harmony: “We are one family living in the same house,” he said. There was no word of praise for Xi.

His presence was hardly reported by the Chinese media, probably because he did not eulogise Xi Jinping and he ‘forgot’ about the BRI in his speech. The only big shot was You Quan, director of the United Front Work Department, which looks after religious affairs for the Party’s Central Committee. He hoped that “Buddhist communities would look deeper into Buddhism values and contribute wisdom to promoting the well-being of humanity and safeguarding world peace.”

Here comes the dichotomy. While Beijing promotes Buddhism’s humanitarian precepts, it takes repressive measures against Buddhist practitioners. For the third consecutive year, the authorities banned a major Tibetan prayer festival in Larung Gar, the largest Buddhist institute in Tibet, situated in Serthar County in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. The monastery had a population of 30,000 Buddhist nuns and monks before it was partially destroyed by the ‘authorities’ last year.

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), a Chinese official announced that the Dechen Shingdrup festival would be banned this year. He cited Chinese ‘religious affairs management laws’. Further, outsiders should not be invited to Larung Gar. A source told RFA’s Tibetan Service: “The notice advised village leaders and Chinese Communist Party committee members to inform the public that they would not be allowed to enter the village for any religious events. …In past years, when it was allowed, the festival lasted for a whole week.” Human Rights Watch  published a new report on the ‘Four Standards Policy’ recently introduced in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). The ‘standards’ are competence in Buddhist studies, political reliability, moral integrity capable of impressing the public and willingness to play an active role at critical moments. In other words, be good Communist Buddhists.

Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, commented: “Chinese authorities have always placed heavy constraints on religious freedom, especially in Tibetan and other minority regions, compelling Tibetan monks and nuns to be propagandists for the Communist Party takes Government intrusion in religion to abhorrent new levels.”

The new policy is a continuation of the 2005 Regulations on Religious Affairs but with more oppressive clauses. On October 25, the Global Times said that the TAR Government was encouraging Tibetan monks and nuns “to learn about the laws, a move experts hailed as using education to raise local people’s legal awareness.”

Tibet’s Department of Justice announced that “professional working teams organised by the regional department of justice taught the monks about legislation and law enforcement in the region. …Teams are composed of prestigious monks, legal professionals and officials that were dispatched to temples.” Xiong Kunxin, a professor at Tibet University in Lhasa, summarised the issue: Legal education on law enforcement was weak in Tibet “because some Buddhist practitioners consider themselves as people beyond judicial reach.”

Already in August, when Wang Yang, the CPPCC Chairman and a member of the Politburo’s Standing Committee, visited the Sera monastery near Lhasa, he mentioned the new theme of Xi Jinping’s religious campaign, “Sinicisation of the religions in China.” Wang said that more efforts should be made to integrate Tibetan Buddhism into China’s socialist society; he asked the monks “to firmly uphold the leadership of the CPC, inherit and promote patriotism and be courageous to battle all separatist elements, in order to further protect the national reunification, ethnic unity and social stability.”

Though China is keen to become the world leader in promotion of Buddhism, it will never happen because of the gap between the Marxist theory and the repression on the ground, which are incompatible.

(The writer is an expert on India-China relations and an author)

Writer: Claude Arpi

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Just as she has responded to Pak allegations on human rights violations in Kashmir, India must raise the issue of human rights violations of the Baloch minority in Pakistan.

On October 12, 2018, the 73rd UN General Assembly (UNGA) elected 18 new Council members that will serve for a period of three years, starting January 1, 2019. India got re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which comprises of 47 elected member states. India had previously been in the UNHRC during 2011-2014 and 2014-2017. India’s last tenure ended on December 31, 2017, and in accordance with the rules, it wasn’t eligible for immediate re-election since it had already served two consecutive terms.

India got elected getting 188 votes in the Asia-Pacific category, bagging the highest number of votes among all the 18 countries in the five regional categories. The 193-member UNGA held elections for new members to the UNHRC and 18 new members were elected by an absolute majority through a secret ballot. Countries need a minimum of 97 votes to get elected to the Council.

Bangladesh, Philippines, Bahrain and Fiji were also elected to the UNHRC in the Asia Pacific category. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, told PTI that India’s win with the highest number of votes “reflects India’s standing in the international comity”.

The Baloch leadership congratulated India on its re-election to the UNHRC and hoped that India would speak about the human rights violations by Pakistan on the Baloch minority. The oppressed Baloch have been looking towards India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2016 Independence day speech, where he drew attention to the grave human rights violations by Pakistan in Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK), which is the Indian territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, occupied by Pakistan since 1947 and Balochistan. India has, however, not raised the plight of the Baloch independently at the UNHRC, the way the Palestine issue was raised in the Muslim world.

Till now, India has only responded to Pakistani claims of Indian human rights violations in Kashmir under the right of reply at UNHRC, by mentioning that the Pakistani claims on Kashmir are baseless. This has been seen in the famous issue of the photo of a Palestinian girl being passed as a Kashmiri at UN by Pakistan’s representative. India had in its right to reply arguments added that Pakistan should enforce disappearances and targeting of political dissidents in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is probably time that human rights violations on the Baloch minority, caught between Pakistan and China, are raised independently and prominently by India.

Given that Indian media is free, the Government cannot ask it to cover Baloch human rights issue the way All India Radio or Doordarshan do. However, at times, the Foreign Ministry could in its weekly briefings react to urgent developments. One such example was two months after the speech by Prime Minister Modi. There were weeks-long intense military operations against civilians — houses of the whole village were burnt down in ‘collective punishment’ — the way the British used to in the Pashtun areas under its occupation. At that point, certain Baloch leaders and activists expressed sadness at Indian media not responding to their pleas to cover the news of the ongoing brutal repression.

Baloch leader Mehran Marri said: “We hope it (India) will speak out against the atrocities being carried out by the Pakistan military to carry out ethnic cleansing of us from our land and hand over our resources to China as Beijing builds its noose around Islamabad to control the country as its de facto ruler. The Baloch would like New Delhi to play its historic role in the region the way it did when China invaded Tibet and when Pakistan carried out a genocide in Bangladesh.”

Nabi Bakhsh Baloch, leader of the Baloch National Movement in North America, said, “India must support Baloch national struggle and as a neighbour we have lot of expectations from the Indian Government to support our national struggle. We, the Baloch, are struggling against terrorism and for our own land.”

Hafeez Hassanabadi, senior leader of the Hyrbyair Marri-led Free Balochistan Movement (FBM), who also served as Pakistan’s Minister of State for Defence in the 1950s, said, “For the last 15 years in an unending and relentless military operation (since Musharraf killed Nawab Akbar Bugti, former Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan), thousands of people have been victims of enforced disappearances, numerous villages have been burned down and numerous people have been ‘killed and dumped’ on the roads, in open fields and in deserted, desolate areas. The Baloch look towards India as a regional power, who would use its mandate at the UNHRC to highlight the realities of brutal human rights violations of the Baloch population by Pakistan.”

Noted Baloch Human Rights Lawyer Kachkol Ali, who has been a speaker, former Minister and Opposition leader in Balochistan provincial Assembly of Pakistan also averred, “While it is the obligation of the UN and civilised countries to initiate appropriate action in a country where the following unimaginable atrocities — namely crimes against humanity, genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes — are being committed, it is regrettable that the aforesaid element of international crimes are being severely committed by Pakistani security forces and the international community and the UN are silent.”

To me, the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is not being complied with given the atrocities against the innocent Baloch population by the security forces in Pakistan. Their miserable behaviour is questionable in light of R2P as well as international humanitarian law which dictate that it is the responsibility of the civilised world to intervene in an altruistic manner without any consideration to end impunity against any nation. Pakistan has been committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, crime against humanity and war crime but the world is silent and they are vicariously guilty of self-seeking apathy and of culpability by their silence. To quote Bernard Shaw: “The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: That’s the essence of inhumanity.” (The Devil’s Disciple, Act 11)

In the same vein of Kenyan judge said, “If leaders of a state, who normally have the duty to uphold the rule of law and to respect human rights, engage in a policy of violent attacks against a civilian population, it is the community of states which must intervene and prevent, control and repress this threat to the peace, security and well-being of the world.”

The aforesaid observations hold good for Balochistan, especially Gwadar, where security forces of Pakistan with support from China are slaughtering Baloch indigenous people and their homes and cottages are being mercilessly incinerated in the vicinity of the CPEC project.

They have been unjustifiably and forcibly deported and transferred from their villages and towns. These atrocities of Pakistan and China constitute the elements of the atrocities of genocide and crime against humanity according to the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court.

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The Afghanistan Elections actually taking place and the fact that a large number of women formed a queue for parliamentary elections represents a win-win of democracy.

It is easy to run down the elections to Afghanistan’s 250-member Wolesi Jirga, the lower House of its bicameral National Assembly, on October 20 and 21. There were technical and administrative glitches. Many polling centres opened late on October 20. Consequently, the Independent Election Commission, holding the elections, declared that these would remain open until 8 p.m. against the original deadline of 4 p.m. Those that did not open until 1 p.m. would remain open on October 21 as well. Besides, while the deployment of over 70,000 security personnel ensured that security was, on the whole, reasonably good in Kabul and the cities, violent attacks by the Taliban either disrupted or prevented polling in outlying districts like Roghistan and Imam Saheb in Badakhshan and Kunduz Provinces respectively. Trouble has also been reported from districts in the Maidan Wardak, Logar, Paktia and Taghar Provinces.

It remains to be seen how the elections in Kandahar Province, postponed to October 27, are held. No date has been announced for elections in Ghazni Province which have also been postponed. As officially indicated, it will not be held this year. Article 104 of Afghanistan’s electoral law lays down, “When security situations, natural disasters and other similar conditions” make “the principle of general and fair representation” impossible to uphold “and undermine the credibility of the electoral process,” the latter should be postponed from the specified date for a period of up to four months. It adds, “The postponement or suspension is proposed by the IEC and approved by a committee, which should comprise head and members of the National Security Council, speakers of the two Houses of the Parliament, Chief Justice, and chair of the Independent Commission of Oversight of Implementation of the Constitution of Afghanistan.” It further states, “If the situation mentioned above which led to postponement or suspension of the elections does not improve within the period of four months, the committee may extend the postponement or suspension of elections for a period of another four months.”

The fact, however, is that elections have been held in 32 of Afghanistan’s 34 Provinces and four million out of the 8.8 million registered voters have voted. Despite the killing of 10 candidates in the violence preceding the elections, the rest of the 2,500 candidates, including 400 women, remained in the field. And all this despite the fact that, stating that the elections were a project of the invading Americans, the Taliban had declared that resisting these was a religious duty. Announcing that they would do everything possible to prevent the elections, they had asked candidates to withdraw and had warned people against venturing out on the polling day as they would then risk being killed or hurt. Not only that, their violent attacks had killed hundreds in the weeks prior to the elections.

Significantly, the postponement of the elections in both Kandahar and Ghazni Provinces were due to violence unleashed by the Taliban. The latter has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Kandahar on October 18, that killed General Abdul Raziq, the police chief of Kandahar and one of Afghanistan’s most powerful and important security officials, the provincial Governor, Zalmay Wesa, and intelligence chief, Abdul Mohmin and two policemen. The Taliban further claimed that the targets of the attack — shooting by one of Raziq’s own elite guards — were General Raziq as well as NATO-led Resolute Support Mission Commander General Austin Scott Miller.

The elections in Ghazni have been postponed because of two reasons. The first is a volatile security situation. The Taliban occupied the provincial capital of Ghazni on August 10 and were ousted, after fierce fighting, on August 15-16 by teams of United States Special Forces operating with Afghan commandos, and military and police personnel, and with air support. They, however, have continued to be strongly entrenched in the countryside which has, according to the authorities, remained too disturbed to hold elections.

The other factor behind the decision to postpone the elections was a dispute over ethnic representation among Hazaras, Pashtuns, Tajiks and Sayyeds. The Pashtuns, particularly, demanded the division of the Province into smaller units to ensure balanced ethnic representation. On June 25, 2018, the IEC decided to split the Province into three separate electoral constituencies for the parliamentary elections. Tensions, however, continue as the feeling persists among sections that the splitting has not been fair to all the ethnic groups.

The attacks in these two Provinces are a part of the roll of violence unleashed by the Taliban over the years from their sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal territories. The situation had been made worse by competitive violence by the Islamic State which sought to establish a base in the country. The combination of the two largely accounted for the surge of insurgent/terrorist attacks in the country during February-March this year. The Islamic State’s challenge seems to have receded, but Pakistan-backed Taliban violence has continued to escalate, United States’ President Donald Trump’s repeated warnings to Islamabad notwithstanding.

In this context, the targeting of General Miller in the Kandahar attack was significant. Metaphorically, it would have been tantamount to slapping President Trump on the face had it succeeded. Indeed, the very fact that it was not only undertaken but announced was clearly meant to deliver to him and the US the message that the Taliban thought nothing of trying to administer humiliating blows to their respective faces in public. Since the Taliban could not have done this without at least Pakistan’s approval — if not at its behest — the entire attack reflected the Imran Khan Government’s message to Washington, DC, that it would teach the Trump Administration a lesson for effecting the aid cuts it had imposed on Islamabad for not doing enough to combat the terrorist groups operating from its soil.

It remains to be seen how the Trump Administration sorts this out or if it can at all do so. Meanwhile, the escalating level of violence, which prevented the elections to the Wolesi Jirga, due in 2015, from being held till now, continues. The very fact that voting has taken place, many of the candidates have been young men and women, and a large number of women queued up to vote, is significant. It clearly shows that Afghans want democracy and not the retrograde, medieval theocracy of Pakistan-backed Taliban that would reduce women to, at best, domestic slavery.

(The writer is Consultant Editor, The Pioneer, and an author)

Writer: Hiranmay Karlekar

Courtesy: The Pioneer