Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Return of anger

People often wonder why the Sikh community continues to be angry with the Congress party. This question hit the headlines once again when a Sikh journalist, Jarnail Singh, hurled his shoe at the Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, during a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. Perhaps, if one looks at the sequence of events for the past 25 years, the answer to the question is obvious.
In our context, the anger of any and every community which feels wronged is justified – it is the Sikhs on 1984 anti-Sikh violence, the Muslims on Godhra in Gujarat and so on. The anger is against the system – or a lack of system – of the Rule of Law not being followed for years. If you don’t follow the Rule of Law, the anger – justified or not - will manifest in various ways – as has been happening in our country and globally. It is in this context that the Sikh anger against the Congress should be seen. This is irrespective of the incident involving the shoe being hurled – an issue on which as a journalist I have different and strong views.
The community is angry because of the way the Congress has conducted itself. In the case of Jagdish Tytler, the party has not only given him a ticket all these years because of the “winnability” factor but also given him ministerial berths. Since this happened when he was facing inquiries, this obviously gives the impression to the community that he is being protected by the party. The timing of the CBI clean chit is also very odd – why could the CBI not give its report a few months ago or a few months hence? This gives the impression to an aggrieved community that the party is deliberately rubbing salt on their wounds. I would say that since the Election Commission has been pulling up various state government, ministers and officers, it should even look at the prosecution powers of agencies like the CBI and the state vigilance commissions in the run up to the polls. It is another matter that in this case the whole game plan – if there was one - appears to have boomeranged.
I am not sure if the BJP can claim much credit either on the issue of violence against Sikhs in 1984. The party did initiate some fresh inquiries but in concrete terms ended up doing little to take the guilty to task when in power. Mind you, the incident is 25 years old. Isn’t it a shame on the Rule of Law that we claim to profess and practice? BJP also has much to explain on Godhra violence in 2002.
On Tuesday evening, I was invited to a panel discussion on CNN IBN, where Sagarika Ghosh, who was anchoring the programme, asked me how felt on the shoe throwing incident. “Do you see yourself as a Sikh first or as a Journalist first,” she asked? I told her that I saw no contradiction in being a Sikh and a Journalist at the same time. While giving my view on the anger of Sikhs against the Congress, I told her that I strongly disapproved of the shoe throwing incident. Undoubtedly, journalists are mirror images of the society to which they belong and in which they live and on which they report, but they have a medium to express themselves. They can’t and should not take advantage of the ring side view of the events – howsoever, painful the events are. If they do that they would lose the special privileges they enjoy in the performance of their job. Besides, they lose credibility.
While there is onus on the journalistic community to ensure that its brethren conduct themselves professionally, the governments are bound by the Constitution to ensure a Rule of Law, which is unsparing, transparent and time bound. Tuesday’s incident reflected a failure of both.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Use, Not Abuse Special Powers

Though the Army authorities would oppose any move to revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Disturbed Areas Act in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, they are themselves to blame for the present impasse. The Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has been under pressure to revoke the special powers and legal immunity provided to the security forces, especially after the death of two youths in Sopore in February, 2009. Besides various political parties like the PDP and CPM, human rights organizations too have been demanding scrapping of the special powers. State Government’s recommendation notwithstanding, the final decision on whether to continue with the Act or to scrap it remains with the Union Government.
AFSPA was imposed way back in July, 1990 during Governor Jagmohan’s rule and though it was intended to remain in force for a short duration, it has remained in force ever since, with successive state governments continuing with it – apparently due to continuing terrorism. Besides Army officials, most security analysts are of the view that Special Powers and immunity against prosecution has helped the security forces to contain terrorism in the Valley.
As some one who has followed Kashmir developments closely for the past few years, I agree that Army can’t fight the scourge of terrorism with its hands tied behind its back. The security forces have been faced with this low intensity conflict for nearly two decades now. Whatever the causes of terrorism in the Valley, since the movement has sustained because of the support from across the border, the Army needs extraordinary powers to quell it.
But in the process what the Army authorities have ignored is the fact that the Special Powers Act provides them immunity for only bonafide operational acts. Some borderline cases could also come within the realm of being called bonafide. But security forces have been taking protection of the Act to gloss over even actions of its officers and jawans which were anything but bonafide. The infamous Pathribal case is one such example. CBI investigations brought out that five Army officers were among those involved in the killing of five innocent Kashmiris in a fake encounter to falsely claim that the militants responsible for the Chittisingh Pora incident of March 20, 2000 had been eliminated.
In case the Army insists on immunity under the Special Powers Act, its top brass should come down severely on its personnel found guilty of such acts. And to come clean in public eyes, this system should be absolutely transparent. The public in J&K, whose cooperation the Army seeks, have a right to know the action the Army authorities have taken against the guilty of Pathribal - and now Sopore? In no case should Special Powers Act be used to protect rogue officers. If you do so, demands for scrapping the Act would only increase in the coming days.