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    2008-06-29 13:40:21

  • Amarnath row splits the Valley

    BY YUSUF JAMEELSrinagarIt was people's power, a series of mass street demonstrations and shutdowns in the Kashmir Valley that occurred the whole week but the outburst over the diversion of about 40 hectares of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board SASB to raise pre-fabricated infrastructure, including lavatories for the benefit of pilgrims at a base camp, was not fully non-violent or non-partisan.Police firings resorted to quell irate mobs claimed three human lives. Also, nearly 300 people, including about four dozen policemen, were injured in streets battles. Public frenzy left scores of official and private cars and other property and even a recently laid garden defaced.The gravity of the situation could be gauged by the fact that it was only for the second time in Kashmir's post-1947 history that its Grand Mufti chose to join, though reluctantly, the protests by leading a huge procession along the streets of Srinagar. He had earlier drawn himself in a similar flare-up set off by the theft of holy relic from the Hazratbal shrine towards the end of 1963. Also, local watchers say that such pervasive unrest and total involvement of people in it had been seen earlier only during the agitation launched by the Kashmiris to seek the return of the stolen holy relic believed to be a hair from Prophet Mohammed's beard and in 1990 when the Kashmiri youth turned to the gun to fight for azadi.But the difference between what occurred nearly four-and-a-half decades ago and the turbulence being witnessed today is that Kashmiri pandits and non-local Hindus, besides the members of other communities, had fully aligned themselves with Muslims during the holy relic agitation but today they are sitting on the other side of the fence rather candidly oppose the agitation seeking cancellation of the land allotment. In fact, various Kashmiri brahmin outfits have openly condemned the Valley-based political parties and separatists for "politicising a purely religious issue which has hurt sentiments of billions of Hindus in the country, particularly Kashmiri pandits, aborigines of the Valley."The VHP, BJP and other like-minded groups took a crack at Kashmir-centric politicians by organising counter-protests in Hindu-majority areas of Jammu.Kashmiri separatists, on the other hand, claimed their agitation was intifada and insisted it was neither against Hindus nor their pilgrimage to Amarnath but a manifestation of the resentment against Indian rule. Intifada is an Arabic word for shaking off, though it is generally translated into English as rebellion. "Our intifada is not against the Amarnath yatra but it is the urge of the people of Kashmir to put an end to Indian occupation. This intifada is the people's movement for survival, freedom, justice and permanent peace," said Islamic Students' League leader Shakeel Ahmed Bakshi.Traditionally, Kashmiri Muslims have remained associated with the pilgrimage from the beginning. As was admitted by newly-appointed governor N.N. Vohra, the pilgrimage has been a unique example of Kashmir's pluralistic ethos for centuries and, in fact, it was a Muslim shepherd Bota Malik who discovered the cave shrine. What then went wrong that local Muslims have turned against the land allotmentDuring the heyday of insurgency, Islamic militant outfit Harkat-ul-Ansar imposed a ban on the pilgrimage. It wanted to protest what they believed was the repression which the local population would be subject to in the name of providing foolproof security cover to the Hindu pilgrims. They also felt exasperated over authorities disallowing Muslims to take out processions to celebrate Prophet Mohammed's birthday or commemorate his grandson Imam Hussein's martyrdom. The authorities rejected the logic behind the militants' diktat.The kind of security effort put in, however, could not prevent bloodshed during the pilgrimage. In 1999, more than 30 pilgrims and their local Muslim hosts died when an alleged suicide squad targeted the tent city in Pahalgam and in the subsequent overreaction by the Indian police. There were several more bloody incidents to follow claiming many more lives. Hostile weather too would play havoc with lives and property occasionally. More than 300 pilgrims, local Muslim labourers and ponywallas perished when caught in snowstorms in 1996.While keeping in view the recommendations of the Nitesh Sengupta Committee set up in the aftermath of the 1996 tragedy, each day only 3,500 devotees were to be allowed to have darshan glimpse of the shivling. Each state had a fixed quota but many of these would exhaust their limit days ahead of the closing date for the registration. Given the religious sensitivities involved, any tough measure to implement the government regulations could have created a law and order problem. Particularly, once the pilgrims entered the predominantly Muslim Valley, it became a ticklish issue to deal with for obvious political reasons.The pilgrimage to Amarnath, which was once done as a purely religious service, soon had political connotations attached to it. With Islamic militants choosing to impose ban on the pilgrimage, Hindu outfits took it as a challenge and encouraged more and more people to undertake the journey "to give them a befitting reply". Subsequent terror incidents failed to deter them. With the number of the devotees increasing manifold, it was generally believed the Amarnath pilgrimage has become an honour expedition for many of those who join the pilgrimage, if not all of them.Also, the pilgrimage has been dogged by a row over its duration. A few years ago, the SASB, headed by then governor, Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha retd, planned an extension from one month to 90 days, the demand supported by various Hindu organisations in and outside Kashmir. But the Mufti Muhammad Sayeed-led coalition government opposed it on the plea that it did not have the resources to cope with the added time. A compromise was reached to extend to 45 days to take in the auspicious full moon in August but later the SASB not only stretched it to two months unilaterally, but also made it open to any number of visitors on a daily basis. Also, groups of Hindu activists would relocate to the cave shrine without police protection in defiance of the government.Prior to the SASB's formation in 2000, it were the J&K government that would be wholly responsible for making extensive arrangements every year for the successful completion of the pilgrimage, registering each one of the pilgrims and pony owners and dandiwalas who carry old and inform devout in wooden palanquin, providing camps en route, and foodgrains, cooking gas and other essentials. But with the outbreak of insurgency in Kashmir in 1989-90, the most intricate task before the organisers has been to ensure a safe, comfortable and speedy progress of the pilgrimage. The security has, in fact, turned out to be the most vital aspect of the pilgrimage. But with the takeover by Gen. Sinha as the ex-officio head of the SASB, the controversies surrounding the pilgrimage snowballed into a major disputation with each player trying to knock the other out. The then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed saw in it a deliberate attempt to run him down and was at one stage under pressure from some of his comrades to quit the job.His aides accused Lt. Gen. Sinha of creating a "parallel power centre" by frequently visiting district headquarters and summoning officers. The governor had at several occasions favoured the Army to head the Unified Headquarters instead of the chief minister.His coalition partners from the Congress accused him of being "vindictive" and openly feared for life after their taking a tough stand against the chief minister. Thus some ugly pages of history began to turn over. Raj Bhavan was openly accused of "settling political scores by using religion as a tool". The People's Democratic Party described the "belligerence of hardline Hindu forces" as an attempt to bully the majority community in the state. The controversies assumed proportions of polarising the people of the state's two main regions - Jammu and the Valley - on religious lines.However, government sources blamed a top aide of the governor and a senior IAS officer of the J&K cadre for playing up the controversy - allegedly their own creation - resulting in Lt. Gen. Sinha and Mufti Sayeed locking horns over the issue. Sources point out that Mr Arun Kumar, principal secretary to the governor and SASB chief executive officer, announced extension of the annual yatra by one month, forcing the Mufti to announce that there would be no extension in the pilgrimage period due to security reasons as "40 per cent of the forces deployed in the Valley to tackle militancy is diverted to sanitise the two routes to the Amarnath cave".The government also cited the tragic incident in the mid-90s when hundreds of pilgrims caught in heavy snowfall perished en route to the cave. The high-altitude trek experiences snowfall even at the height of summer endangering the lives of the pilgrims, it added.The refusal by the chief minister to approve the board decision sparked off protests by Hindu organisations that rallied round Lt. Gen. Sinha. The governor sent a strong missive to the CM, asking him not to meddle in the affairs of the SASB. Selective portions of the letter were allegedly leaked to the press and stories "planted" in some regional newspapers seeking to present the CM as a "villain of the Hindu cause".The CM saw in this an attempt to "destabilise" the government "which had put its foot down by refusing any political role to the governor". Some ruling PDP leaders had openly accused him of trying to "reduce the democratically elected government to a naught". The governor appealed to the Hindu activists who had risen against the government's decision not to extend the yatra duration to remain calm.Mr Kumar strongly denied he had been responsible for the mess-up. But it was he who chose to claim that the land allotted to the SASB in Sindh range "has been transferred on a permanent basis" in contrast to the state government's position and made certain "objectionable" remarks. While the PDP, which had been a party to the government's decision to divert 33.88 hectares of forest land to the SASB, seized the opportunity apparently to consolidate its vote bank which it desperately needs besides settling old scores with the outgoing governor, the separatists chose to present it before the people as part of "Indian design to change the demography of Kashmir", besides pleading that the influx of pilgrims is damaging the already fragile ecology of the Valley. As the average Kashmiri who has not reconciled to the existing political arrangement, readily bought the theory, CM Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Congress, equally anxious to improve its tally in the coming Assembly polls, were virtually caught between the devil and deep sea.The Centre could not touch the previous governor as he was at loggerheads with the then CM on an issue having tremendous appeal among its bête noire in the Opposition, mainly the BJP. Also, some of the Congress leaders and ministers from the state rallied behind Lt. Gen. Sinha, leaving virtually no room for the Centre to fish in troubled waters. The governor played his cards well till the issue took a hideous turn earlier this month. Lt. Gen. Sinha has returned to New Delhi, leaving behind a critical problem for his successor, Mr Vohra, who is the new ex-officio head of the SASB. Political gurus have cautioned that given the sensitivity of the problem, if the issue is not resolved soon, it may have serious political repercussions for the state. 
    2008-06-29 09:00:00

  • Year In and Year Out...

    For six years - even before broadband's surge - online viewing of FRONTLINE's "The Merchants of Cool," has ranked at the top for our online audience. Watch it here, explore its related stories.
    2008-06-28 18:29:45

  • Exodus of Aussies, Kiwis to affect IPL

    Cricket | R. MohanIn May, IPL teams may hardly resemble those that played in the last two weeks of April. The exodus of the Australians, West Indians and New Zealanders, to do national duty in the Cari-bbean and in England, would mean that the team composition would change dramatically. Considering the impact the Australians have made in the opening phase with three of four centuries coming from them, the very nature of a team's cricket could change too.The latecomers and the reinforcements have arrived, some may even have sneaked in much to the consternation of franchises, which are questioning the norms for foreign player signings outside the auction. Frankly speaking, the flavour of the first IPL has been mostly of the imported variety despite so many success stories of local players who on occasion have outperformed themselves.Chennai Super Kings who have established themselves at the top of the table with four wins in as many outings may have to change their whole batting order as well as their approach because they are losing three key men to the exodus - Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey and Jaocb Oram. Other teams are also similarly affected with Kolkata Knight Riders certain to feel the pinch as McCullum was providing them with so much thrust.The question is bound to come up about how open should the competition be. Should the IPL throw open its doors and raise the cap on foreign players from the existing four It can be argued that if the English Premier League format is to be followed, it should then be an open house with teams free to choose how much of their playing XI they would wish to be filled by imported stars.If market forces are allowed their freedom, which will probably happen after the first season when transfers become possible, it is on the cards that some IPL teams will aspire to be the Arsenal FC of the IPL. The London club that boasts of 13 League titles and 10 FA Cups now has far more French-speaking players than English footballers. If the existing cap of four players is raised because of pressure from teams, the composition of IPL teams could change drastically once again.It would be nice if the IPL teams were to follow the examples of the other giants of EPL, like Manchester United and Chelsea who believe in keeping their backbone English. There is a certain pride in them when an English footballer like Paul Scholes scores the goal as he did to take ManU to the final of the Champions League.When it comes to a one-club star like Scholes, who having been with United for 14 years has risen through the Old Trafford ranks, the English tend to go gaga.There is, however, no denying the pride in seeing home grown talent reach the pinnacle even in a club with an international outlook like ManU, one of the leading brands in pro sport franchises.The Delhi Daredevils, with a batting star cast that is virtually all Indian will probably argue that national is the way to go. That might, however, be a minority view. IPL cricket is bound to face the dilemma over the cap on foreign players soon as franchises try to go for the best combinations possible.The effect of having the big hitters who belt the new ball from the top order is already evident, with openers McCullum, Hayden and Gilchrist making three spectacular centuries. The other century came from the uberbat Symonds.It must have been galling for youth like Abhishek Nayar and Palani Amarnath to have to go out and play in front of huge crowds, with millions more watching on television. Many young Indians have begun to shed their stage fright and are standing up to be counted.Still, when it comes to providing momentum at the top of the innings, only the world's best, which of course includes Dhoni and Sehwag, have done it so far. The clamour will be for more ammunition from abroad. One of the founding principles of the IPL was to promote Indian talent.This is where the issue will get ticklish because franchises that have put up considerable sums will demand greater flexibility. They do pay huge amounts for foreign players to sit on the benches because only four are allowed.Curiously, Chennai dropped Muralitaharan to play Morkel against Bangalore, which was a poor tactical decision considering how Murali is a spinner for all conditions and pitches.In any case, the cap of four will certainly prove irksome and the arguments will break out. It would be interesting to see what shape the administrators give the league in the future when the debate over foreigners opens up. 
    2008-06-28 11:47:40

  • A novel plot

    Nawaid AnjumDateline: August 17, 1988. A C-130 Hercules carrying Pakistan’s military dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq, crashes. Twenty years after that mysterious crash, Pakistan-born and London-based journalist and playwright Mohammed Hanif reimagines the "conspiracies and coincidences" that sprang up on Zia’s death in his brilliant debut, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, published by Random House.A powerful story of love, betrayal, tyranny and revenge, the novel spins a dark, humorous tale out of one of the subcontinent’s most enduring mysteries which has been critically acclaimed for having shades of Sara Suleri Meatless Days, Joseph Heller Catch 22 and Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse Five. After Pakistan Air Force pilot Ali Shigri’s father, one of Zia’s colonels, commits suicide under suspicious circumstances, Shigri sets out to avenge his father’s death.While the novel is ostensibly bold in its narration ISI is referred to by a character as "Inter Bloody Services Bloody Intelligence", Hanif is far from agreeing that it will "unruffle feathers" in Pakistan. "It is a little love and adventure story with some jokes in it and I think it will be read in that spirit," says Hanif, who heads the BBC Urdu Service.As for the conspiracy theories shrouding General Zia’s death, the author says he "loves" all those theories. "I took some, added some of my own and wrote this book. And after I had finished, this 80-year-old American dude who was the US ambassador in India at the time, came up with a completely new theory. He says the Israelis did it and the state department declared him an almost-loony for bringing up the subject. I think it must be true. And I am hoping another one, an even better one will come along soon," says Hanif, who holds that while Pakistan may still be struggling with Zia’s ghost, August 17 is not a big day on anyone’s calendar.Hanif, who graduated from the Pakistan Air Force Academy, knew the setting of his novel only too well. "It’s personal in the sense that I came of age in that period. But I must say I probably learnt more about the Air Force watching Top Gun than I did being in the Air Force. So, I would say that fiction doesn’t always need to get fixated on personal. There is always other fiction to get inspiration from," he says.Having moved to London a decade back, Hanif last visited the country of his birth in April this year. "I was in Karachi when suddenly riots erupted in downtown Karachi. I felt immediately at home. The only new thing is that when robbers stop you at gunpoint in Karachi they ask for your cellphone. But then we didn’t have cellphones when I moved to London," says Hanif in a lighter vein.In the last few years, there have been some nice novels from Pakistani authors settled abroad Kamila Shamsie, Nadeem Aslam, Moni Mohsin et al. Have they helped in building Pakistan’s literary character as nations are defined by their narrations Hanif holds that Pakistanis like a good story, just like anyone else. "And probably more so because there are not enough good stories about them. There are one hundred and sixty million Pakistanis and very few writers. All the writers you mention come from very different backgrounds and write about diverse subjects. There are obviously many more who write in Urdu, Sindhi and Punjabi as well who have a wider readership. But I am not sure Pakistan has a literary character as such. TV character, may be, or pop music character, but sadly no literary character as such," he explains.As for Mohsin Hamid, whose The Reluctant Fundamentalist was shortlisted for the 2007 Booker Prize, Hanif says, "It’s a very striking book. And the only debate that I have heard about this book is that whether it’s better than Moth Smoke, which again was a very striking book. So, Mohsin is competing against himself. His books have always started conversations, debates. And there are not very many books anywhere which can accomplish that."What does Hanif think of the baggage of identities in a world that has shrunk to become a global village "I think of it as just that: baggage. Whenever my baggage is opened at customs, they usually find laundry, unread books and Indian DVDs," says Hanif, who has written plays for the stage and screen, including a critically acclaimed BBC drama and the feature film The Long Night, an urban "dystopia of drugs, sex and dislocation" produced and directed by Hasan Zaidi. Hanif holds that a bi-cultural experience is not of any great importance for a writer as people become bi-cultural for "mundane" reasons like jobs and children’s education."I have read very fine writers who died in the very house they were born in. I think Nayyar Masud, who is probably the finest post-Partition Urdu writer, was born in Lucknow and still lives there. And if you read his short stories, you’ll never mention the word bi-cultural. He can create these incredible worlds for you. And I think that’s what writers do, conjure up worlds," says Hanif. 
    2008-06-28 11:50:00

  • PM doing everything in nation's interest: Pranab

    Amritsar PTI: Rejecting the CPIM charge that Manmohan Singh was to be solely blamed for the political crisis over the Indo-US nuclear deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said whatever the Prime Minister is doing is in ... in The Hindu: Top Stories
    2008-06-28 11:28:37

  • Running away from problem will not bring credit: Moily

    New Delhi PTI: With the PDP withdrawing support from the Jammu and Kashmir government, the Congress on Saturday sought to counsel its erstwhile ally that running away from a problem will not bring credit to any political party. "Running away ... in The Hindu: Top Stories
    2008-06-28 11:33:37

  • Arun Kumar removed as SASB CEO

    Srinagar PTI: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday removed Arun Kumar as the Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board after an inquiry found him guilty of misconduct during a press conference last week. Kumar, who was ... in The Hindu: Top Stories
    2008-06-28 11:31:37

  • Video: AP Top Stories

    Here's the latest news for Saturday, June 28th: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama hold 'unity' rally; Myspace.com linked to Vermont girl's disappearance; Ringleader sentenced in body parts scam; Big Brown ready to race again.
    2008-06-28 03:23:49

  • House Divided

    Olga TellisThe famous Japanese millionaire Akira Mori once said, "A boat can’t have two captains." Or as the oft-quoted Chinese proverb says, "You can’t have two tigers on the same mountain." So there’s little wonder that business families are involved in high-voltage warfare that inevitably ends in the division of their empires. Rahul Bajaj also seems to think of the inevitability of splits as he told the 57th AGM of Bajaj Auto in 2002, that only a handful of the top 50 family-run business houses remain united in the fourth generation. And, he added, all of them are doing well.So, all this business about blood being thicker than water is just a clinical observation and the splits and multi-generational splits, as business historian Gita Piramal calls them, have put paid to this blood is thicker than water chant to underline the unbreakable quality of family ties.At the moment, one of the most traumatic decisions that the richest Indian Lakshmi Mittal’s Arcelor Mitttal has to make is to take over the company in which his brother Pramod of Global Steel and Ispat Industries has a huge stake, Kremikovtsi Steel, the sick but largest steel plant in Bulgaria. Mr Lakshmi Mittal had split the Mittal Group that consisted of his father and two brothers Pramod and Vinod, though they are still on friendly terms personally. Mr Pramod had tried to compete with his elder brother by taking over sick steel mills in the erstwhile Soviet Union. It will be a bitter pill for Mr Pramod to swallow and it promises to be gory, according to reports.Family splits are stories that novels and serials like Dynasty are made of, with a lot of intrigue, rancour, court battles, competing wives, vaulting ambitions, courtiers, etc. It seems odd that Indian writers and novelists have not turned some of the high-profile splits in family businesses into steamy novels or serials. One can think of only novelist Shobhaa De doing a great job on say the Ambani empire split. But splitting has been the name of the game from the 1980s and even before when the Birla empire split. After G.D. Birla, the patriarch of the Birla empire died, his sons split the empire and K.K. Birla further split his group between his three daughters. M.P. Birla had no children and after his death his wife Priyamwada looked after the group. She left everything to her trusted lieutenant R.S. Lodha and soon the various factions of the Birla clan were at his throat for control of the Rs 5,000 crore group. The story is still unfinished.In the earlier days, they split and admitted that they did it as families did not get on. But today splits are glorified as unlocking value for the shareholders even though it is the promoters who make money hand-over-cuff while shareholders get a few crumbs. The promoters still hold the bulk of the shares either in their own names or those of shadowy associates as in the case of the Ambani brothers.Dr Piramal feels that splits are good as they re-energise a group. She wonders whether the Aditya Birla group, the Ajay Piramal group, the Ambani group or even the Rama Goenka group would have expanded as they have done had the split not occurred. When Rama and his brother G.P. Goenka split, the Rama group saw an explosion of growth through a number of acquisitions from Ceat to Dunlop. The split between cousins at the Great Eastern Shipping will also see Great Offshore which was spun out of the parent company grow out independently.Dr Piramal says the split within the Ambani group was waiting to happen. Dhirubhai had trained both his sons to be aggressive and then put them in the same box. There was bound to be an explosion. Splits happen for many reasons and it is a lot to do with parenting, she says. Sometimes a parent favours one child over the other instead of treating both equally or sometimes they train them equally for succession planning as Dhirubhai Ambani did.The Bajaj group split is very much connected with the first thesis, where the patriarch of the group and chairman of Bajaj Auto, Rahul Bajaj, was ostensibly more indulgent towards his family over the families of his younger brothers. This, at least, was the perception of his nephew Khushagra who was said to have persuaded his father Shishir to split from the family. Following the split, Mr Khushagra’s sugar unit, Bajaj Hindusthan, is thriving as it had not when it was part of the Bajaj group.Commenting on the split, Rahul said: "There is nothing wrong if one of the brothers wants to leave, four are still together."However, splits have seen the downfall of many groups, mostly in textiles and jute.They include the Mafatlals where squabbling uncles and nephews split the group, the Garwares, Khilachands, Khataus, Gujarmal Modis and Thackerseys. 
    2008-06-28 00:25:45
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