The Long Arm Of Pakistan

Terrorists in Afghanistan are backed by Islamabad

Haroun Mir

Kabul: The latest terrorist attack on a prison in Kandahar was not the work of the
Taliban alone. In fact, all significant terrorist attacks during the last several months
in Afghanistan have the imprint of Al-Qaida both in the planning and execution.
Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai’s harsh reaction against Pakistan, by threatening
to send Afghan troops into Pakistani soil to fight Al-Qaida and the Taliban in their
safe houses, shows the frustration of the Afghan leadership against Pakistan’s latest
peace agreements with the Taliban. The US military in Afghanistan is convinced of
Pakistan’s duplicity and cannot ignore the threat coming from a reinvigorated Al-
Qaida in Pakistan.
The series of well-organised terrorist attacks in Afghanistan since January of this
year, such as the attack on Serena Hotel, an assassination attempt against Karzai
and the latest attack on a prison in Kandahar, show that either the Taliban has
improved its powers to strike or Al-Qaida has regained its lost influence in
Afghanistan. The 2007 United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report on
suicide attacks in Afghanistan indicated that Taliban suicide bombers are often inept.
In many instances they have killed only themselves and not their intended targets.
Also, most of them are uneducated and come from the poorest segments of the
population. It seems highly unlikely that they could have improved in the short
period of less than a year.
In addition, in all of the latest terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, the Afghan police
seem to have assisted the terrorists. The infiltration of Afghan security forces is out
of reach and beyond the capability of the Taliban. Only Al-Qaida has the capacity to
recruit security officials and organise highly sophisticated attacks in the heart of well-
protected cities such as Kabul and Kandahar.
Since political turmoil started in Pakistan at least over a year ago, all military
pressure has shifted away from the tribal area in Pakistan, where Al-Qaida and the
Taliban have established their safe houses and training camps. The recent peace
agreement between the newly-elected civilian government of Pakistan and the
Taliban has given the latter an implicit approval to intensify their attacks inside
Afghanistan. Indeed, Al-Qaida has benefited from the chaos in Pakistan and has had
ample time to regroup and step up its terrorist attacks.
The Afghanistan president is disappointed by continuous deception from the
Pakistani
authorities. His recent threat to send Afghan troops into Pakistani soil and fight
terrorists over there is symbolic of his personal frustration. He was under
tremendous pressure during the Paris conference held on June 12 for lack of
improvements in Afghanistan. Indeed, increasing insurgency activities and growing
terrorist attacks have blocked the development process in the entire southern region
of the country.
This time, Karzai’s frustration is also shared by the United States military in
Afghanistan. The latest US attack in Pakistani territory, which killed 11 Pakistani
soldiers, is a warning signal to the Pakistani military. Indeed, the US authorities have
for a long time trusted Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf as a key ally in the war
against Al-Qaida and the Taliban. It took Washington a long time to eventually
become disillusioned with him. However, the civilian government of Pakistan is
unable to impose its will on the powerful Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) branch of
the military. Since the early 1990s, successive prime ministers of Pakistan have had
no other choice but to comply with the ISI’s policy in Afghanistan.
There is a consensus among western intelligence services that Al-Qaida and the
Taliban leadership live in safe houses inside Pakistan. President Bush, during his
speech in New York after the September 11, 2001 attacks, promised that he would
“smoke out” the terrorists from their caves. However, nearly seven years later the Al-
Qaida and Taliban leadership are still at large in Pakistan.
Lately, the current US administration has come under heavy criticism for going
overboard to appease Pakistan. In an election year it is critical for the outgoing
administration to show some success in the war against terror, and the best
achievement would be to capture or kill a top leader of Al-Qaida or the Taliban.
Pakistani authorities take seriously the military threat coming from Afghanistan,
even though an ill-equipped Afghan army of only 70,000 soldiers is not a match
against a strong Pakistani military of 6,00,000 soldiers. However, the Afghan army,
backed by American special forces and the US air force, would be better equipped to
fight Al-Qaida and the Taliban in the tribal areas bordering Pakistan than in Afghan
villages and towns. Ultimately, Pakistan might face an existential challenge if the US
is forced to intervene in Pakistani territory in the name of the “war on terror”.
The writer was a special assistant to Afghanistan’s former defence
minister Ahmad Shah Massoud.
SUBVERSE

Carting the wrong ideas

Chitra Padmanabhan

A day after the Union government announced the latest hike in fuel prices, India’s
political class went into a satiric protest mode. Left-ruled Kerala witnessed ‘mounting
dissent’: the CPM youth wing rallied around a bullock cart carrying a low-on-energy
two-wheeler in Thiruvananthapuram. Would life be pushed back into the bullock-cart
age?
In BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, the chief minister’s cabinet wobbled to work on
bicycles in Bhopal. Their message: hail superpower India from the poor man’s
vehicle.
Across the ideological spectrum, the two-wheeler symbolised a desirable future of
progress fuelled by speed, the cart-cycle combine a ‘past’ of unproductive
backwardness characterised by slowness. Irony rode the day but only to highlight the
political parties’ disconnect with ground realities.
For, the ‘humble’ bullock carts — about 14 million-strong — and animal-drawn
vehicles account for twothirds of India’s rural transport across shorter distances
involving smaller loads. Animal energy helps plough two-thirds of the cultivated area.
So says a report by the Planning Commission’s Working Group on Animal Husbandry
and Dairying for the 11th Five-year Plan constituted in 2006.
It is a delicate ecology of land, human and animal. Of the 800 million tonnes of
dung produced annually, 500 million tonnes are used as organic manure, the rest as
cooking fuel by the poor. The report’s clincher: annually, the contribution of draught
animal power to agricultural production is about Rs 10,000 crore. Besides, animal
energy saves about six million tonnes of petroleum!
Surely, a case of the poor contributing to growth directly “instead of getting benefit
from growth generated elsewhere”. Marginal farmers and landless labourers own the
bulk of livestock. The resources are more evenly distributed, with significant
participation by women.
In 2003-04, the livestock sector contributed 27 per cent of agricultural GDP,
without substantial investment. What if there was a more efficient use of the animal
energy system which links humans and nature into a composite whole?
But used to shoring up the economy in unsung ways and derided by a population
that has ‘travelled from the bullock-cart economy to the IT age’, that day, creature
and cart uncomplainingly carried the angst of a party empathetic to the new ‘masses’
— the aspirational classes wanting to ride growth into a sunset made more glorious
by pollution. Echoing this feat of linear ideation was the tableaux on bicycle wheels
mounted in Bhopal.
Imagine, a chief minister minus his power-transport of cars, lights and sirens,
having to travel to work like many among the 43 per cent of ordinary Indians owning
bicycles. As a bicyclist, CM saheb would never get pushed off the road and, more
importantly, off the minds of planners intent on fast expressways of growth. It’s
simple, if you can’t keep pace you drop out — in national interest.
And all those western nations that have gorged on the fruits of progress and now
nudge us towards an environmentfriendly life can go take a bicycle ride. What the
protests displayed was lazy thinking in ‘either/or’ terms; the inability to see a
problem as an opportunity to reenvision development as inclusive growth. No wonder
a dead two-wheeler is superior to a bullock cart or bicycle, signifying aspects of
growth perceived as the only mantra for a double-digit economic sprint.
It’s a pervasive mindset. Most media reports flayed Delhi’s Bus Rapid Transit
System. How many bothered about the views of bus commuters? Buses in the capital
use 5 per cent road space to meet 60 per cent daily travel needs. Personal vehicles
‘driving growth’ use 75 per cent road space to meet 20 per cent commuting demand.
Guess whose views count? Our frames of reference have shifted and we haven’t even
noticed. The correct media frame today is the stylish curve of a car window. It’s a
sign of progress. Why wonder at a bullock cart turned into a bier for a dead two-
wheeler by political parties with their collective finger on the nation’s pulse?
The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist.
Q& A

‘We aim to link 300 Indian schools with UK

schools’
The India-UK round table established in April 2000 is probably one of the more productive track II efforts between the UK and
India. Sandra Dawson, deputy vicechancellor of Cambridge University and one of the members of the round table, speaks to
Indrani Bagchi:

How has the India-UK round table evolved?

The discussions remain outside the normal bilateral talks. The round table includes
people from academics, media, business and various other walks of life. Our
discussions focus on education, cultural exchanges, health issues, the context of
world politics, climate change, etc. The discussions are always free-flowing though
our attempt is to make recommendations for the two governments to pursue, though
they are strictly not under any obligation to do so.
What have been your recent recommendations?
The UKIERI (UK-India Education Research Initiative) was born out of our
recommendations. It’s now an established initiative and we’re very pleased at the
direction it is taking. The main aspects of the initiative involve higher education and
research, schools and professional and technical skills. This is what we had
recommended — a partnership in skill development, including training teachers and
widening the reach of English language learning. By 2011, the initiative aims to link
300 Indian schools (government funded and private) with 300 UK schools.The round
table has also been pushing the idea of mutual recognition of qualifications.
In the field of education, we are also emphasising innovation and the role
universities can play in fostering innovation. Cambridge University has a strong
tradition in this field and there are similar initiatives both in Bangalore and
Hyderabad. We have established the Cambridge-India partnership where we are
looking to working together on research in biological sciences and nanotechnology,
where we’ve tied up with the National Centre for Biological Sciences and IIT Mumbai
respectively.
What other sectors do you focus on?
Well, health and climate change are becoming big concerns. No matter how large
your GDP is,there’s never any money for the health sector — in any country. We’re
trying to increase our attention to public health issues, because here we find a large
degree of commonality between the UK and India,even though we have different
histories.
Demography too is a growing area of focus. India is a remarkably young country
while the UK is an ageing one. We are tackling issues of dealing with longevity,
caring for the old and we find that we can have a useful partnership with India in this
regard.
Indian students complain that cost of education is higher in the UK as
compared to the US.
Yes, we’re trying to turn that around. The first batch of Manmohan Singh scholars
will be headed to the UK this year and we’re increasing the number of scholarships to
Indian students.
A Climate of Change

India unveils an action plan to meet the climate challenge

The long awaited Climate Action Plan (CAP), released on Monday by the prime
minister, lists eight missions that focus on energy efficiency, development of cleaner
and renewable energy options, scientific and technological solutions and funding for
all of these. Making no commitment to cut India’s carbon emissions, the prime
minister’s council for climate change makes a case for the right of emerging
economies to economic development and growth to alleviate poverty without having
to worry about the volume of emissions. India’s stand on emissions, as Manmohan
Singh has reiterated in global forums, is that with a low per capita carbon emission
figure of 1.02 metric tons, the immediate task before the government is to take care
of economic development. Richer, more polluting countries — the US has a per capita
emissions figure of 20.1, the EU 9.40 and Japan 9.87 — ought to implement the
Kyoto Protocol’s emissions reductions targets before expecting developing countries
to make parallel commitments. However, doing nothing about reining in emissions is
also not a good idea, since total volume does matter. In order to address demand
management to some extent, India should take steps on its own to reduce its carbon
footprint.
The argument for sustainable development rather than immediate emissions
cutbacks sounds reasonable as long as efforts are made to adopt clean technologies
and to invest in less polluting alternatives. Which is what the CAP seeks to address.
Central to India’s strategy to meet the climate change challenge is a plan to develop
our solar power capacity, an idea that has been languishing for want of initiative and
technology. With active international dialogue under the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change with scientists, governments and civil society groups, there is
much scope to make headway in this direction.
China, too, when it unveiled its climate plan a year ago, said that it would not do
anything that would be at the expense of economic development. Both China and
India should promise to do what they can to make development sustainable and less
polluting. They are in a position to thrash out a fair deal on technology transfer and
funding at the forthcoming G8 summit in Japan, where Singh is expected to present
India’s case.
India’s CAP envisages an increase of at least 1,000 mw of solar power generation
capacity within the next decade. With help from venture capitalists and solar cell
technology imports, this is a great opportunity for the private sector to replicate the
Pune-based wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon’s successful experience in boosting
wind power generation. The CAP’s push for solar energy generation is in keeping with
expert opinion that with such an abundantly available, non-polluting resource, India
should make hay while the sun shines.

Gates to Charity

Microsoft chief dedicates himself to full-time philanthropy

Bill Gates, the man a lot of people loved to hate — and often with good reason — is
once reported to have said that the question of who uses what operating system
becomes a non-issue when compared to the amount of suffering in the world. That
coming from a person who boasted when he started Microsoft that he wanted to get
a computer running his software in every home, and succeeded in having over 90
per cent of the computing world using Windows, might seem a bit hypocritical.
Especially because, in the process, he not only became the richest man on earth but
also faced several antitrust violations for unfair business practices and had to pay out
$497 million in fines to the European Union.
But to Gates’s credit it must be said that his switchover to fulltime philanthropy via
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which, according to the Economist, is the
largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world, is neither an
overnight decision nor a flash in the pan. His disengagement with Microsoft has been
effected with measured pace. First he stepped down as CEO of the company in 2000,
then announced six years later his intention to retire altogether in two more years
and, last week, finally departed from the company’s payroll — remaining only as a
non-executive chairman.
The man who almost single-handedly carved computing into our consciousness and
who Time magazine named one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th
century, is now going to immerse himself in unfettered humanitarian work. The
foundation has set ambitious goals like sparking a revolution in African agriculture
and eradicating malaria. He feels there will be far more time now to go to places
where such diseases are rampant, to meet with research scientists working on their
vaccines and reach out to rich government and pharmaceutical partners or anybody
who cares. Plus, he’s giving away all his money in one of the largest acts of charity in
world history.
Will Gates’s sometimes shady business exploits be subsumed in history by his new
preoccupation as a super philanthropist? The same fine line applied to the Ford and
Rockefeller foundations, which arose from the success of the automobile and oil
industries. Their legacy, however, lies in what they ultimately achieved. Perhaps
Gates’s might also.

CONTRA BAND

How Old Is Old?

Janardhan Roye

There’s no stopping good old music, they thought. Until the electricity supply went
kaput and bailed them out. It happened one night when a retro session was in full
swing. An eclectic middle-aged bunch of golden-oldies aficionados congregated at a
flat and soon yesterday’s nostalgia-generating melodies hit the airwaves: Green Door
to Besame Mucho to Sugar, Sugar. That was fine for almost everyone. The ‘seniors’ in
the apartment complex — retired defence personnel, public officials, schoolteachers
and such — reached out to the relaxed, easy feel of the old hits. The younger
residents, like IT professionals, were equally inclined to lend their ears. And so on
Saturday evenings windows were flung open to let in Julie London or Nat King Cole
or the balladic Beatles, so good was the music. Things got out of hand though when
a teenage guitarist was allowed to bring friends and play a few interludes of ‘old
music’ on their nifty little system. A big mistake. Sauce for the old goose isn’t always
sauce for the GenNext gander. For soon, the building complex started to reverberate
with amplified heavy metal. Trouble multiplied when Jagger’s Satisfaction exploded
into Metallica’s audio signals. Its raw energy and raucous chords sent cold shivers up
the neighbourhood, got street dogs howling and catapulted roosting crows noisily up
into confused dark flight.
Outside, the Nepali watchman clung to his Gita. Some residents plugged their ears
with cotton wool or pulled pillows on their heads while a quick-acting middle-aged
lady raced to the police line only to find that a top cop was part of the music
ensemble. One neighbour swore she saw her septuagenarian spouse knock back two
stiff ones and dive under the cot with a razai — not just for the duration of the ear-
splitting Creeping Death but for a good part of the night! Finally, it was unscheduled
load-shedding that brought matters to a grinding halt, and some order was restored.
Downstairs that night, the collegian music-makers hauled their gear and themselves
into their vehicles. Even as the residents, and the old Gurkha tried to calm their
nerves and get some shut-eye, the young guitarist wondered, “Dude, i just don’t get
it. People just don’t seem to have respect for old music anymore!”

THE SPEAKING TREE

Travel Light To Enjoy The Journey Of Life

Tia Paranjape

I often wonder: Is it possible to love without attachment? We do have so much love

to give, but is it the right kind of love? We tend to feel a kind of ownership over all
that we love though we don’t own anything or anyone.
It is easier to utter the words ‘I love you’ than to actually mean it. Love is
perceived in many different ways. My mother would say: “Love, but never be
possessive of what you love. Once you are possessive, you might claim ‘this is mine’
when in actuality nothing or no one is yours.”
We are all here on a spiritual journey. Along the way we find several co-travellers
who become part of our lives but they too have their own destination. There is a
hierarchy of love. Right on top are parents, spouse, children, siblings, other family
and friends. Love stops here and further down the ladder it becomes ‘like’. Sri Sathya
Sai Baba says love all as if your own. He talks of universal love. This is not easy to
follow but maybe we could try. For starters, we could do little things that make
people smile. A kind word or tone would not take away from you but give a lot to the
other person.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba says: “If you want peace and if you want happiness you must
live in love. Only through love will you find inner peace. Only through love will you
find true happiness. Love flourishes through giving and forgiving. Develop your love!
Immerse yourself in love!
“...Love is the basis of everything. It is the single most important quality that has
to be developed. All your thoughts must become immersed in this quality of love...
then truth will naturally establish itself in your heart.”
People who serve are Godlike; their service should be appreciated, whether they
belong to your peer group or not. We need to learn to love without attachment. We
love those who we feel are ours. What about the rest? Why is an amazing emotion
like love saved only for those few people who we perceive as ours? For instance, how
might one learn to love the person who has wronged us? I guess i would say OK,
don’t love, but at least try not to hate. That is an improvement.
Again, received wisdom from my mother says things can never bring you
happiness. Once you’ve bought something, its value diminishes. At first i used to
think that was not true, but in time i learnt that it is one of the few truths in life. I
constantly try and make an effort to not get attached to ‘things’ now because at the
end of the day they are things. This doesn’t mean don’t shop, don’t want... it means
realise that actual happiness cannot be attained from anything external.
Enjoy all the things you have and be grateful for it, as that too is the grace of God
but do not expect it to give you anything. I find my peace every evening as i sit by
myself and watch the sun set. That is when i feel real joy. The sun sets with such
ease and that is how we should be.
I would get attached to songs and smells! Some smells can take you back in time
and songs too can transport you to old memories. It is nice to remember but if we
dwell on the past we are missing out on the present; we tend to miss out on new
smells and songs as we’re so preoccupied with the old. We have to let go, because
holding on to something does not give us ownership rights. So much baggage! To
enjoy the journey, travel light. In other words, practise loving detachment.