India must take the lead in the UN to combat terrorism

I write this piece for my fellow citizens, but also to remind the triumvirate of our Home Minister, External Affairs Minister and the Defence Minister, to perform their duty to the world and the Indian nation in particular, and marshal all their strength for combating the monster or terrorism that threatens to devour the world.

Recent terrorist events around India and pre-empted attacks in India clearly establish that the IS is as much a threat to our country and its peace loving population, as it is in the Middle East. I wonder whether people are aware of why the second ‘IS’ in the name of the murderous organisation, ISIS was dropped? Because it is no longer the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but is directed towards every country of the world, including India. 

India, as an aspiring world power, must take the lead in exterminating this menace promptly and seriously, for the peace and security of our secular nation, and get into action in the United Nations, Security Council and the General Assembly.

2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. In 2006, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (Resolution 60/288) by consensus to enhance national, regional and international efforts to counter terrorism, through a common strategic and operational approach to fight terrorism, and to combat it individually and collectively, mainly through strengthening state capacity to counter terrorist threats and better coordinating United Nations system’s counter-terrorism activities.

The Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy is composed of 4 pillars - Addressing the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism; measures to prevent and combat terrorism; measures to build states’ capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and to strengthen the role of the United Nations system in that regard; and measures to ensure respect for human rights for all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis for the fight against terrorism. The General Assembly reviews the Strategy every two years, and at its 5th review held on July 1, 2016, a detailed strategy based on the above principles was unanimously adopted. See https://www.un.org/counterterrorism/ctitf/en/un-global-counter-terrorism-strategy

The General Assembly resolution makes it clear that the primary responsibility for implementation of the Strategy rests with Member States, and gives the United Nations system the pivotal role for promoting coordination and coherence in the implementation of the Strategy at the national, regional and global levels and in providing assistance to Member States where requested.

The world has witnessed repeatedly in recent years, the rise of new types of terrorist threats to international peace and security. The most significant challenge is the spread of violent extremist ideologies and the emergence of terrorist groups fuelled by them. Violent extremism is a diverse phenomenon, without an internationally agreed definition. Nevertheless, in recent years, terrorist groups such as the IS, Al-Qaida and Boko Haram have clearly defined the content, intent and operation of terrorism and violent extremism. These groups unite in a single ideological source but transcend national boundaries in their murderous operations. In recent years, terrorist and violent extremist groups have inflicted immense damage. The statistics are frightening: thousands of civilians killed and wounded in terrorist-related incidents in the past decade and millions of men, women and children displaced or forced to flee their homes. Women and children, in particular, suffer, given that many have been sexually abused and enslaved. Even UN field missions and country teams in Africa, Asia and the Middle East have been attacked. This new phenomena of an undefined state of war, which eludes the existing Geneva Conventions on War, calls for an urgent need for increased international cooperation to prevent, counter and combat them.

In 2006, terrorist groups had a certain freedom of movement from their bases in ungoverned spaces. Al-Qaida sought to be a vanguard, preparing the conditions for a takeover of the State in some Muslim majority countries. Its success was limited and resulted in many deaths, almost invariably of fellow Muslims. However, Al-Qaida set the stage for the emergence of a more ruthless and determined form of terrorism. Al-Qaida in Iraq became Islamic State of Iraq in 2006 and then ISIL in 2013 before finally calling itself simply Islamic State and declaring the re‑establishment of the Caliphate in 2014.

ISIL and Al-Qaida remain indistinguishable in terms of their vision and ultimate objectives, but they differ in terms of tactics. From its beginnings, Al‑Qaida has believed that it should work patiently, while ISIL believes that it has to force the pace. ISIL still controls a sizeable area of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic and has expanded its reach through affiliates in Libya, Yemen and West Africa, while claiming “provinces” in other countries. One of the affiliates of ISIL, Boko Haram, has been particularly notorious and lethal. ISIL has also inspired, encouraged or directed attacks in faraway countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, France, Indonesia, Pakistan, Somalia, Turkey and the United States of America. In addition, it has attracted recruits from more than 80 countries, posing a potential threat to security when those fighters return home. Spurred to compete, Al-Qaida and its affiliates have established control of territory, most notably in Somalia, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen, and continue to mount attacks in Europe and North, West and East Africa, as well as in Asia.

Terrorist tactics have also evolved. Suicide bombings have become more common, but so have mass-casualty and complex attacks mounted by a group of attackers working together in one or multiple locations and expecting to die. Another worrying trend has been the growing tolerance of terrorism by States, especially when terrorists attack rivals. Terrorism remains a common threat and a shared concern, regardless of its immediate target.

The role of the media and the use of social media by terrorist and violent extremist groups have gained a new quality and thus constitute an increasingly important dimension to address. Even foiled plots attract media attention, serving the perpetrators’ purpose of spreading fear and prompting a reaction. Most new recruits are now from 17 to 27 years of age, with differing levels of education and social and economic backgrounds. This has made the task of understanding and countering the appeal of terrorism all the more difficult, and the international community has found it hard to respond effectively.

That these developments have occurred, and even increased, as the world has poured more resources into countering terrorism raises serious and critical questions:

(a) Have Member States sufficiently implemented the relevant counter-terrorism legal instruments and norms not only to counter terrorism but also to address the conditions that give rise to it?

(b) Has the United Nations system been successful in providing the requested assistance to Member States in preventing violent extremism and countering terrorism?

(c) Above all, are the tools and resources at the disposal of the international community for prevention sufficient to meet and overcome the challenges posed by terrorism and violent extremism?

The adoption of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy has seen unprecedented international consensus on the need for joint action against terrorism. One of its great achievements has been to maintain the agreement that all Member States are affected and thus have an interest in contributing.

India should take the lead and mount continuous pressure upon the United Nations that the intentions of the UN are urgently actionated and effective international mechanisms set up to make a visible dent in countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism, not just in words, but in decisive action. 

Before I close, I wonder how many people know that Al Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State was arrested by the US forces in early 2004, and then released in December, because he was appraised by the U.S as a ‘low-level’ threat to public security?

Whither Islam?

I wonder how future historians would describe the advent of the 21st century - The Age of Terrorism? The revival of religious wars? Or to use Huntington’s famous heading, ‘The Clash of Civilizations?’ Or all three?

Today, the two dominant revealed religions of the world are at cross roads, the older Christianity in great fatigue, silencing itself in its historic, cultural homelands, and the later Islam in complete disarray, in a self-destruct mode. Politically, it has been captured by a self proclaimed Caliphate, which is in barbaric battle with the rest of the world. The Middle East, once one of the most prosperous parts of the world is in the throes of devastation and destruction. Its people are fleeing by the millions to safer lands, the closest being the European countries. This exodus, the largest in modern history is something that appears to defy a solution.

Saudi Arabia continues to be the patron of Wahabi Islam, which is known to continuously export money and finance terrorist activity in various parts of the world. The greatest challenge before the civilized nations today is how it can protect itself from the fanatical barbarians of the new terrorist face of Islam, now scattered and organized all over the world, who want to impose a complete negation of all the democratic values, constitutionalism, and secularism, for which the West fought for centuries through the blood of countless unknown lives.

Internet and social media are presumed to be the main vehicle for indoctrination, radicalization and organization of terrorism, another bite-back of scientific advancement. Cyberspace overcomes time and space and unites terrorism across the world. How will the civilized world counter this challenge?

The western world is showing a great deal of patience in the face of horrific terrorist attacks against it, starting from the 11 September Twin Tower attacks, the Paris attacks of November 2015, and the Belgian attacks of March 2016. Europe is under siege – by the continuous threat of terrorist attacks from within, and by the refugee invasion from outside. However, to the great credit of the people of Europe, in keeping with their secular ideology, they continue to wisely differentiate between true Islam and Islamic terrorism. But how long will this patience last? The day their patience runs out, the world will witness the most brutal Armageddon, fought on religion, a return to the dark ages. No part of the world will remain untouched; terrorist outfits are said to have spread out globally.

All civilized nations must immediately come together and work out a common strategy about how to counter this very dangerous monster. As far as the UN is concerned, I believe that it has still not been able to get a consensus regarding an internationally-agreed definition of the word ‘terrorism’.

I have written before and I wish to repeat that every scripture has two parts — the first, temporary, situated and relevant in the place and context of its origin, and the other eternal, immortal and universally applicable to humanity. A religion evolves in time when its topical, contextual content is interpreted as such, and relegated into the background. A religion evolves when its eternal, immortal and universal truths are reiterated and propagated in coexistence with contemporary times and with the rest of humanity.

I have written before and I wish to repeat that I am a great admirer of the Prophet of Islam, because he is the one Prophet who clearly told his followers, "When you walk in search of knowledge, you walk in the path of God; the ink of the scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr." As long as his followers adhered to this teaching of their Prophet, they were masters of the civilized world. When they forsook his teachings, burnt all books and read only the Quran, and that too not in its entirety, they became slaves of those whom they had educated.

This great picture of Islam of Prophet Mohammed has been more or less distorted, if not completely obliterated. The suicidal ISIS is a faithful reproduction not of Islam but the Wahhabi cult which is only an insult to the Islam of Prophet Mohammad whom I revere even though I a non-Muslim. I think most Indian Muslims realize this distortion. I am proud to call myself a secular Indian Hindu. Secularism, I have often explained is the subordination of ignorance to education and of religion to science. No prophet of any religion had even imagined of man landing on the moon, or the nuclear bomb, a capsule capable of destroying humanity, and modern medicine and surgery to heal humans from disease and death.

The cause of Islam’s tragedy was Mohammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab, born in 1703 in Saudi Arabia, the founder of a sect called ‘Wahhabis’. He pretended to revive the Islam of Prophet but did exactly the contrary.

He picked on a stray line in the Holy Book and convinced himself that it has decreed death and annihilation to all Mushrikhun, i.e. polytheists. His definition of polytheists, however, was different from that of the rest of the Islamic world and has proved a big curse to humanity. By his definition , Christians, Jews, Shiites, Hindus and many others are polytheists, who have forfeited their right to live. He was the first to legitimize Jihad, even against fellow Muslims. His doctrine was worse than the act of burning the Holy Koran which advised – fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but do not commit aggression ( Koran 2:190-92)- and proclaimed that the ink of the scholar is more valuable than the blood of the martyr. In the spring of 1802, 12,000 of his followers invaded the southern part of Ottoman Iraq. They entered Karbala, massacred some 4,000 Shiites and ransacked holy Shiite shrines, including the tomb of Hussein, the martyred grandson of the Prophet himself. They looted the city and carried off its wealth on the backs of 4000 camels.

In the early 20th century a similar militia movement was initiated in Saudi Arabia, called ‘Ikhwan’ The Saudi Royal family saw great guardians in these toxic movements and the notorious Bin Laden was the evil product of these two. The movement called Muslim Brotherhood also joined in this unholy war on the decencies of the Holy Prophet of Islam. India has not escaped the evil attention of this motley crowd of fanatics. Can the civilized world conquer terrorism is a worrisome question and the answer is not easily found.

Muslims must recall the Islam of pristine grandeur because its current Wahhabi version is only leading to the destruction of Islam, through the self proclaimed IS Caliphate, and its savagery, hatred and terrorism against everyone except themselves.

Leading religious muslim leaders, intellectuals and thinkers across the world must create a movement for Islam’s Renaissance, before it is destroyed by the ISIS Caliphate.

The Government’s two year bash

The BJP and the Government have been busy celebrating its two years in office. In celebration thereof,

1. We have had the highest rate of food inflation over the last two years, and prices of the common man’s daily modest diet - essential commodities like rice, pulses and vegetables have skyrocketed. The unacceptable price rise does not seem to follow any rational pattern and can fluctuate between 10-50% in a span of a week. Inexplicable, but thanks to digital India, hoarders and middlemen have found the perfect way of building up a national grid for ensuring high prices across the country regardless of rains or drought, or whether the produce is local or transported. The Government has not responded in any effective way to protect the common man from the crushing food prices, though it could give strict advisories to the States to regulate prices through the Essential Commodities Act. The poor man’s diet and health are deteriorating, and no amount of Make in India or Skill India will improve them. In fact, the Government has found a perfect alibi for inaction on such matters; it believes that through its convenient mantra of 'cooperative federalism', this is the problem of the States. Minimum government, it may well be, but maximum governance, not at all.

2. The Finance Minister has done everything possible to damage the Modi Government. He started with alienating the armed forces, the guardians of our nation, by breaking all the promises made by the BJP and Modi about the OROP. He then has tried to alienate the salaried class, who have been Modi’s greatest supporters, by announcing in his Budget speech that the Provident Fund money accruing to them after retirement should be double taxed. This created a huge protest, and finally the Finance Minister had to withdraw his senseless move. But his motive would appear crystal clear, even to a simpleton.

3. There is enough talk that the Finance Minister and his buddies, cutting across party lines ensured that the BJP lost in the Delhi and Bihar State elections, both of which were well within their reach, had they showed better political acumen, and a will to win. And he was in charge of both of them. There is also talk that they were waiting for a hopeful loss in Assam, which would have paved the way for a revolt against Modi. But noticeably, for whatever reason, the Finance Minister was rather absent during the Assam election, and the BJP won. So, the revolt will have to be re-strategized. Delhi has for centuries been known for intrigue, betrayal and regicide. The atmospherics remain the same - the perceived number two always vying for the throne.

4. The complete lack of political will to repatriate black money lying in off shore accounts is even today the Achilles Heel of the BJP Government. Modi had promised it to the people of India in several of his election speeches, and the BJP had promised it in their Election Manifesto. If there is one single issue about which Modi has to hear jibes almost on at daily basis, it is this. He has never responded or explained to the people why he has broken his promise, not even when his trusted lieutenant Amit Shah frivolously told the people of India during the Delhi election, that the promise was just an ‘election jumla’. I can understand that wealthy and privileged people across party lines and across all professions, the opinion leaders, so to speak, must be heaving a sigh of relief about this betrayal to the people of India. They are safe, and perhaps, this may be the reason why the outrage has not spilt over. There is a lurking suspicion that Amit Shah was piously advised to make this statement by those who had already started plotting against Modi to defame him. And Modi has assisted the conspirators admirably by remaining mum on the issue and not rebutting a word of it. The Money Minister of the Modi Government, despite his inane and irrelevant statements about the issue now and then, has tried to make sure that repatriation of black money will never happen. Instead of flooding the country with the retrieved black money, he is flooding the judiciary with his cronies, a fact for which there is conclusive evidence.

5. Well, in these two years, the Government has done everything possible to disprove itself and shake its own credibility. Basking in its minimum government mantra, it has reduced itself into a government of great event management, conferences and slogans about India’s growth, concentrating mostly on the digital and electronic sector, infrastructure and industry, insurance and smart cities, whatever that means. Well, all that is very good and may it succeed. But, I’m sure that the ever vigilant and hands-on digital Finance Minister knows that servers in his banks are down for more than half the time, causing great hardship and inconvenience to the common people. And that the Jan Dhan accounts of the poor are already being rented without their knowledge for secreting black money. Surely, that was not his intent.

6. The government does not seem to realize that human resource development is as important for a nation's progress as infrastructure development. The Western capitalistic model cannot be replicated in toto in a country where at least 40% of the population still have abysmal human development indicators, be it in terms of education, health, nutrition, housing, or social and political awareness, particularly the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. The Directive Principles of State Policy of our Constitution make it incumbent upon Government to continue taking initiatives for their progress. Instead, we see a growing tendency of the Government to wash its hands off these very basic duties, and outsource as much as possible to external agencies, without commitment or accountability, or to the State Governments, in the fond belief that economic growth will somehow filter down to them and alleviate them from their misery. Well, it just might, but we would have wasted at least another two generations by then, for which the guilt would lie upon the Government that washed its hands off.

In these two years, the Government, still without any Vision Statement, has become a Government of Events, Outsourcing and Digitalizing. And the rest is left to the States.



In my next piece, I will give you an account of how faithfully the BJP is implementing its Election Manifesto.

A still born Anti Corruption Bureau in Karnataka

After my blog about the newly created Anti Corruption Bureau, (ACB) set up by the Karnataka Government, I tried to get the English version of the GO under which the ACB was set up from the Internet, but I just couldn’t find it. But what was worse was that even the Kannada version, which I had earlier retrieved and somehow got translated, had disappeared! The only conclusion one can draw is rather unsavoury – that the Karnataka Government is making it very difficult for the general public to access this GO. 

Be that as it may, after issue of the GO dated 14-3-16, Bangalore Advocates Shri S Nataraj Sharma and Shri NP Amrutesh on 2-4-16 went in search of the new ACB Office that was supposed to be located in Khanija Bhavan, and office building close to the Race Course, to file a complaint. As per newspaper reports, the two advocates searched the Khanija Bhavan but were not able to find any such office functioning in the building. They reportedly persisted with their search, travelling to the office of the Director General of Police and to the Malleshwaram Police Station. They were finally able to locate a Deputy Superintendant of Police, who was kind enough to receive their complaint and is reported to have stated that they had 15 days time to hold a preliminary enquiry on the complaint. Under which law and section this 15 days is specified, we have no clue.

This was the first complaint received by the ACB after its creation, and lo and behold, it was against the Chief Minister of Karnataka, about his acquisition of an expensive Hublot watch under mysterious circumstances, an issue that had become a huge controversy, rocking the last legislature session, particularly, since the Chief Minister was not able to give any convincing explanation as to how he came to acquire the expensive watch that he was exhibiting on his wrist. This was a humorist’s delight – and cynically, a befitting inaugural for Karnataka’s ACB. But what was more disturbing is that even after 19 days of the ACB’s creation, the designated office empowered to receive corruption complaints at Khanija Bhavan was still non-functional. 

Immediately after the GO of 14-3-16 creating the ACB was issued, the police officers working in the Lokayukta were asked not to receive any further complaints against corruption, and to stop further investigation of pending corruption cases with them. They were also asked to hand over all such cases to the ACB, which did not even have a functional office to begin with, not even on 2-4-16.

The Government clearly appears to have acted with a sense of panic and undue haste regarding transfer of the pending corruption cases to the ACB, not even waiting until a functional alternative was put in place. Anyhow, for the moment, everyone is waiting with bated breath, to see how the new ACB will handle its inaugural complaint against the Chief Minister of Karnataka, and demonstrate to the people its fairness and credibility in investigation. As on date there is no information of what has become of the complaint. This is Karnataka’s biggest joke of the year.

Meanwhile, a PIL has been filed by Advocate Shri Chidananda Urs before the High Court of Karnataka, stating that the new ACB has not yet become fully operational and at the same time the powers of the ADGP Lokayukta have been withdrawn, which has created a stalemate and vacuum in the existence of an Investigation Agency related to corruption cases. 

In the criminal justice system, there cannot be any stalemate or vacuum due to non existence of an investigation agency. This is something that has never happened in India before.

On 7-4-16, the High Court of Karnataka reportedly ordered that cases under investigation and pending sanction from government, before the police wing of the Lokayukta should not be transferred to the ACB. At the next date of hearing on 12-4-16, strangely enough, the Government of Karnataka asked for further adjournment of the case. At that hearing, the President of the Advocates Association of Bangalore informed the Court that they too have filed a PIL in the Karnataka High Court in the same connection.

Meanwhile filing complaints against the Chief Minister at the ACB was catching on. Another one was filed against him by an RTI activist alleging nepotism and corruption in favouring his son Dr Yathindra in a tender and to set up a diagnostic laboratory on Victoria Hospital premises, another issue that has been raging in the news. This was in clear violation of the Code of Conduct according to which 'chief minister/ministers shall ensure that the members of his/their family do not start, or participate in business concerns, engage in supplying goods or services to that government (excepting in the usual course of trade or business and at standard or market rates) or dependent primarily on grant of licences, permits, quotas leases etc, from the government.' Once again, it is reported that there was no police staff at the Khanija Bhavan office to receive the complaint addressed to the ADGP of ACB, and it had to be submitted to an employee at the reception at Khanija Bhavan!​

So the stalemate continues and the corrupt are having a field day. Strange that none of the mainstream national media have focused on this unprecedented subversion of existing anti corruption systems in Karnataka by a mere Government Order, with no effective alternatives in place.

My questions to the Finance Minister of India

A Requiem for the Karnataka Lokayukta, continued……

There appears to something terribly wrong with the governance of our unfortunate nation, that we cannot even ensure that our Lokayuktas are made of sterling stuff, without a single particle of any base metal. What I write today makes me ashamed of myself.

I wish to take my readers back to my piece, ‘A Requiem for the Karnataka Lokayukta’, that I placed in my blogspot on December 7. I am happy that soon after publication of the article, Shri Bhaskar Rao resigned from the post of Lokayukta on December 9, 2015 and further that the SIT constituted to investigate into this matter requested the Karnataka Government to issue a sanction order to prosecute him, something still pending with the Karnataka Government. Recent events in the Congress ruled State of Karnataka have completed the Lokayukta’s funeral rites.

After the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984 came into force, the anti–corruption work in Karnataka was being done by the Police Wing which formed a part of the organization. The Lokayukta organization had under it an Administrative Wing, an Enquiry Wing, a Technical Wing and the Police Wing.

The Police Wing carried out enquiries entrusted to it by the Lokayukta, or Upalokayukta, and also implemented the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 through their units located throughout the State, which had been declared as Police Stations. In this arrangement, the officers working in the police wing were treated as staff of the Lokayukta and enjoyed certain protection for enabling them to act without fear in the discharge of their functions as per Section 15(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act. This protection deterred the Government of the day from interfering or pressurizing the police wing of the Lokayukta in the course of investigation. The only weapon that the Government possessed was to withhold sanction to prosecute the accused government servant, which was used abundantly.

Suddenly on 14-3-2006, Shri Siddaramiah’s Congress Government issued a Government Order, that brings the entire anti corruption work under the sole control of the Chief Minister. As per Para 4 of the GO, orders declaring the police wing of the Lokayukta in Karnataka as police stations will be withdrawn, and a separate Anti Corruption Bureau, (ACB) will be established, and officers of this new Bureau will be declared as Police Stations. As per Para 5 of this GO, the ACB cannot investigate any matter concerning a public servant without the approval of the appointing authority, who is clearly the Chief Minister. More importantly, as per Para 6 of the GO, all cases pending investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and pending prosecution under the present police wing of the Lokayukta will be transferred to the newly created Bureau. As on date, there are several important cases pending investigation and prosecution in the police wing against important politicians, bureaucrats and police officers. They must be heaving a sigh of relief.

A reading of the Preamble of the GO indicates that the Government of Karnataka has relied heavily on a report of the DG & IGP Karnataka dated 3-2-16, which the Finance Department has agreed to on 4-3-16, after which it has issued the GO on 14-3-2016. Such rare urgency and efficiency is not often seen on public issues of greater importance requiring immediate attention and solution.

The DG & IGP’s Report of 3-2-16 appears to state that it was inspired by a Supreme Court decision of 1998 (C Rangaswamiah vs Karnataka Lokayukta (1998) 6 SCC 66), 18 years ago. This seems to have engaged his urgent priority, notwithstanding incomplete investigations and prosecution of important cases, such as, the Cricket Stadium bomb blast case, or the Kalburgi murder case that even today remain unsolved. The Preamble suggests that the DG & IGP’s report has stated that there is no system of supervision of the investigations of the cases under the PC Act in the Lokayukta. Nothing could be more incorrect. Lokayukta investigations are done by an Inspector, Dy SP, sometimes by the SP, and all such investigations are supervised by the DIG, IGP, and Additional DGP, whose officers have been declared as Police Stations.

While pretending to strengthen anti-corruption work under the PC Act 1988 as claimed in the Preamble, a closer scrutiny of the GO reveals the exact opposite. As per Para 2 of the GO, the Anti Corruption Bureau headed by the ADGP and his subordinates will work under the control of a Secretary level officer of the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), and will report to the Chief Secretary, who in turn will report to the Chief Minister. By this, it is virtually the Chief Minister of Karnataka who will control all anti corruption operations in Karnataka.

Para 11 of the GO gives no clue of how complaints of corruption against the DG & IGP, or the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries of the Finance Department and DPA will be dealt with. These are all members of the Vigilance Advisory Board. And most importantly, the GO does not stipulate how complaints of corruption against the Chief Minister and other Ministers of the Karnataka Government will be dealt with, since the powers to investigate complaints under the PC Act have all been removed from the police wing of the Lokayukta by this GO. 

There is no mention in the GO whether this new arrangement regarding the staff of the Lokayukta, which includes the police wing, was discussed with the Upalokayukta, (Karnataka still has no Lokayukta) as is mandatory under Section 15 (2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1986. 

It is not difficult to see what lies beneath this GO. Creation of this ACB gives a direct handle to the CM, the ultimate authority of the ACB, which he can use to protect himself against corruption allegations, against dissidents within his own party, against difficult opposition members who can cause him problems, and against honest bureaucrats and police officers who choose to do their duty against political pressure. It is not difficult to get vexatious corruption complaints filed against them with the ACB, directly under his control, and get cases registered against them. That will take care of them for the immediate future.

The Chief Minister of Karnataka has indeed armed himself with a double-edged deadly weapon – to destroy opposition and to protect corruption in a gross misuse of executive power.

My thesis is in complete conformity with the views of prestigious and fearless sections of the press and other media. My thoughts are also echoed by my old friend Santosh Hegde whom I greatly respect.

Let us see how this pernicious, devious move by Siddaramiah is countered politically or by vigilant civil society organizations.

The Great Indian Budget Tamasha – Nothing much about nothing much

Let’s admit it – we love hype. Unless there is hype in the TV news, we find it boring. And our TV channels judge themselves by the amount of hype and hysteria they create. The presentation of the Union Budget every year is a mandatory and routine exercise of every democratic, elected government, sanctioning expenditures and revenues for various activities of the Centre and States for the financial year. In India, we have made it something akin to a carnival. Speculation and debates precede the budget presentation, about authentic GDP growth, deficit financing, inflation rates, FDI, foreign exchange reserves, etc. Big business houses and their lobbyists position themselves visibly or invisibly in Lutyen’s Delhi , either trying to lobby for taxation and exemption proposals in their interest, or using their more surreptitious resources with politicians and bureaucrats to get inside information regarding taxation proposals.

Well, coming back to the Budget, and particularly about the Finance Minister’s Budget speech, it really appears to be nothing much about nothing much. Nothing innovative, the usual tweaking of taxes, this way or that, and recycling of old schemes into new avataras with a few extra flourishes. 

First of all, I hope that the Government will fulfill its promises made to the Defence Forces regarding OROP. I have written extensively about the subject in my blog of March 3, 2016. To give the 75% of what was promised and hold back on 25% which directly and adversely affects the lowest but most critical segments of the defence forces shows complete insensitivity and national imprudence. I hope pensions for the retired soldiers or their widows will be in accordance with the promises made to them. I’m sure the Government realizes that India cannot afford to have disgruntled defence forces, particularly in the present geo-political scenario.

The Budget also suggests that it is relying more on extra-programmatic interventions to secure the welfare of the most distressed sections off our people. Take for example the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yogana, which seeks to provide relief to distressed farmers not through government initiatives, but through Insurance Companies. Or the Health Insurance Scheme, that is supposed to pay for hospitalization expenditure of the poor. The hidden message in these programmes is that the governmental machinery that was created to provide these services is incapable of doing so and has irretrievably broken down, beyond repair. I congratulate the government for having made this admission.

Regarding the Agenda to Transform India, I am happy that the Finance Minister has placed Agriculture and Famers’ Welfare at the top of the agenda. I look forward to seeing how he proposes to give them ‘income security’ and double their incomes by 2022! Irrigation and fertilizers is what we have been speaking about since the First Five Year Plan, and though at a very difficult time, we succeeded in a Green Revolution, we are now faced with its unintended consequences of poor soil health and depleted, contaminated water resources.

I wish the Finance Minister had also given us a White Paper about the real agricultural situation and projections in India. The issues I would consider important as India progresses are - What is the agricultural demand to provide food security in India for the next 20 years at least for its growing population? What special measures in agriculture does he propose for the chronic drought prone and arid zones of India, like Bundelkhand, that tragically remain the same year after year, even though scientific agricultural practices can redeem the lives of the farmers, as has been proven in Israel? What is the projected acreage available for food production, after factoring in the insatiable demand for land for housing, urbanization and industrialization, that is already happening as our society is demographically transforming from the agricultural to the industrial and service mode. I’m sure experts are aware that India is not following the sequential pattern as most industrial societies did, but is entrapped in several time warps, where the service sector has overtaken the industrial sector in the GDP, thanks to the IT revolution and liberalization. What is the projected irrigation cover, what will be the food deficit, and how do we plan to cope with it, as more and more agricultural land becomes non-agricultural land? Year after year, we see agricultural land and production declining, without much improvement in per acre productivity. What is the projected pattern and numbers of rural urban migration, and how will urban India cope with it? Why has the State agricultural cooperative credit structure broken down, that farmers have to turn to commercial banks for agricultural loans, the default of which is driving them to suicide? Does the Finance Minister know that one of the weakest and understaffed Departments at the Block and village level is the Agriculture Department? How does he propose to overcome these constraints? Until these vital issues are understood and addressed through a well thought out strategy and interventions, ad hoc Government’s schemes will only become another bunch of symptomatic measures, draining money out of government coffers, with little transformational or permanent impact. While Rural India will benefit from a Digital Literacy Mission, if it means digital capacity building and not computer marketing, what it urgently needs is a National Agriculture Mission. 

The most disappointing portion of the speech is about the Social Sector. The Budget speech provides no hint as to how it will improve the quality and productivity of our vast human resources, considered to be our greatest strength in this century – the demographic dividend. His statements regarding education and skills are standard, something being repeated from the 1970s. But there is not a word about malnutrition that still continues to afflict at least 50% of the population, despite his 2014 Budget announcement of a National Nutrition Mission. Per capita calorie, protein and micronutrient intake among our children, adolescents, and adults of the poorer sections continues to be far below recommended standards; undernutrition and stunting is rampant, reducing children’s capacity to study, adults’ capacity to work and earn and contribute to the GDP. This, in my view is more important than a Digital Literacy Mission. 

The Finance Minister’s insensitive proposal to tax EPF withdrawals above 40% has thankfully been withdrawn after the wide public protest. But what prompted him include it in the first place?

But his greatest duplicity has been regarding the repatriation of black money stashed away in off shore banks. This is what he says in Para 61 of his speech:

“Our Government is fully committed to remove black money from the economy. Having given one opportunity for evaded income to be declared once, we would then like to focus all our resources for bringing people with black money to books.” (Note the word ‘books’ and not ‘book’)

He consciously reiterates his Party President’s disgraceful charge against Prime Minister Modi of having deceived the people of India by his promise of sharing with every poor family fifteen lacs ( Rs. 15,00,000). It is primarily all about the three cheats in the BJP and a large number in the earlier regime with former Finance Minister Chidambaram heading them all. More about him and Jaitley in my next piece. 

Rahul's Fair and Lovely borrowing from my 2011 Article

My article, ‘Black money amnesty scheme is a scam to cover up another scam’, in Sunday Guardian, written way back in 2011, starts like this,

“So we are at it again, desperately trying to change the colour of money from black to white, with the same Fair and Lovely amnesty recipe. I learn from press reports that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is "seriously considering" recommending to the government a scheme on the lines of the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) announced in 1996 to bring back black money stashed in tax havens abroad for productive use in India. Black money amnesty scheme is a scam to cover up another scam”

Link to my article : http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/black-money-amnesty-scheme-is-a-scam-to-cover-up-another-scam

Rahul is really exceptional. He quotes words written by me describing the corruption of some Congress Leaders and in particular Chidambaram regarding black money, and uses them against Chidambaram’s present counterpart, in the Present Modi Government who is his greatest benefactor. I am not averse to your attack on the present Finance Minister but he is only a friendly collaborator with your Chidambaram. 

My Congratulations to Rahul that he reads my writings. Be free to quote but do sometimes indicate the source. Avoid charges of plagiarism. 

OROP- The Great Betrayal

I think it’s time now that we term OROP – One Rank, One Pension, as APAB – A Promise and Betrayal.

Betrayal seems to have become a habit with the present regime. The Prime Minister betrayed the people of India in his promise for repatriating the nation's money illegally stashed away in off shore banks and now he has betrayed our great and loyal armed forces in his promise regarding judicious implementation of One Rank One Pension.

I am a much saddened man today, and I cannot understand why our great leader, who was beloved of the masses, beloved of the defence community of India, has decided to betray them so cruelly.

I recall that after Narendra Modi’s nomination as Prime Minister on September 11, 2013, at his first election rally in Riwari in Haryana on September 15, he assured the defence forces of his support to implement One Rank One Pension. This promise was continuously repeated at several other election rallies across the country. In fact it was the repetition of this promise, and the trust that the defence community placed in Modi, that compelled the then Finance Minister Chidambaram to include the OROP in his February 2014 budget, and make a token allocation of Rs 500 crores for it. Of course, they did nothing about it.

Resting on their hopes, the ex servicemen community contributed very significantly to the BJP victory especially in North India, where most of them reside – Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Delhi, and of course UP, which has the largest number of ex-servicemen in the country.

Even over the last one month, the nation has witnessed the daily mortal risk faced by members of our defence forces, and the sacrifice demanded from them for defending our country. So that we can then sit back in our comfortable chairs and pass judgement about what went wrong or right. Just in the last one month, we have seen tragic loss of life of our brave soldiers in Pathankot, in Siachin, and at the J&K Line of Actual Control, something that has become a recurring event.

And we acknowledge and reward the sacrifice of our brave and patriotic soldiers by betraying the promises that were made to them by our political leaders.

Details of the OROP had been well defined in the Koshiyari Committee Report, 2012, which had been placed before Parliament and been unanimously approved. The NDA Government confirmed this definition in Parliament in 2014. Jaitley’s Budget of June 2014, continued with its assurance of implementing the OROP. Jaitley was then both Finance and Defence Minister, and the defence community was full of hope and expectation, thinking they would more speedily get their dues through a single window clearance.

But after the Budget announcement, a period of complete inertia set in, until Parrikar was appointed Defence Minister on November 9, 2014. The new Defence Minister held consultations with representatives of the defence organizations, and there was great satisfaction when in February 2015, he came out with a Draft Government Notification that satisfied the legitimate demands of the defence services. They eagerly awaited the implementation announcement in Jaitley’s next Budget of 2015. 

But a shock was in store for them. The Budget of 2015 contained not a word about OROP or its implementation. There was disbelief and consternation among the ex-servicemen, and a sense of betrayal. And that is when the sad spectacle of the agitation by our brave and patriotic ex-servicemen started, which continues even today. Experts on statecraft, starting from Kautilya, Machiavelli to the present day state unequivocally that if a country’s army is turning on to an agitation mode, then something is dangerously wrong with the country’s body politic. 

Parrikar sent his proposal to Jaitley’s Finance Ministry in February 2015, which hibernated, with the usual excuse that modalities are being worked out. Somewhere during this time, it is reported that the Prime Minister’s Office stepped in, and in September 2015, the hapless Parrikar read out an inconsequential statement (least expected from him, with all his experience and meticulousness) with a howler about VRS – the Voluntary Retirement Scheme – which is not even applicable to the armed forces! These were totally in variance with his own proposals of February 2015, and were made reportedly at the behest of the PMO.

Then started the ex-servicemen’s agitation and hunger strike in full force. And their ultimate humiliation and insult by the Delhi Police manhandling them and physically removing them from Jantar Mantar. I wonder if the Prime Minister is aware of the extremely negative impact this has had on the morale of serving soldiers, and that all news about the on-going agitation has been ordered to be blacked out in the Media, with not even paid advertisements being accepted by mainstream newspapers. This must have been the work of someone who manages these things. It is not difficult to find out who actually handled this shut out of news which must be known to the people. 

In November 2015, the Government issued a notification regarding OROP, that was totally at variance with the definition of OROP, as approved by Parliament, or the pledge made by Modi during his election rallies.

Many injustices are evident in the notification –

1. Fixing the base year as 2013 as against 2014, (which swallows up their salary increment for one year), in violation of what had been accepted in Parliament in 2013 and 2014;

2. Averaging the pension for the rank between the maximum and minimum salary drawn in that rank, a purely subjective exercise, as against the definition accepted in Parliament that it must be determined as the same pension for the same rank for the same length of service;

3. Equalizing of pension every 5 years instead of it being done every year. This results in one rank - 5 pensions! 

I’m sure the Defence Ministry, Finance Ministry and the PMO are aware that the fighting armed soldiers retire after 15-18 years of grueling service in the most inhospitable borders of our country, as against the non fighting soldiers who serve for longer tenures in more hospitable and more comfortable working conditions.

It is these fighting armed soldiers with shorter serving tenures and their widows who will be hit hardest, and most unjustly so, if the present formula of equalizing pension every 5 years instead of each year is implemented.

4. Finally, a one man Commission to sort out the anomalies of the package, without representatives from organizations of the armed forces, is not exactly a confidence inspiring measure. Would it not have been more convincing if the Commission was more like the Pay Commission and included the armed forces representatives as well?

I don’t know whether the Prime Minister is aware that our armed forces, patriotic and disciplined as they are, are getting bitter and disillusioned. The present Finance Minister lost to Amarinder Singh in the Amritsar Constituency by 94,000 votes. I am informed that the strength of ex-servicemen in that constituency is about 55,000, and with families, the figure would be the same that Jaitley lost by. Is that the reason for his grouse against the ex-servicemen, as is speculated?

Be that as it may, can anyone explain what the grouse of the Prime Minister against the ex-servicemen is?

I am not writing this piece without disclosing that by letters reproduced under I have communicated to the Hon’ble Prime minister my deep concern about this matter but obviously he is in no mood to respond at all.

Dear Prime Minister, 

I do not enter into any correspondence with you for reasons which you know or can easily be given. But I with this in public interest and of course it involves some advice to you which you may not relish but my duty to the nation leaves me no option. 

I was shocked day before that somebody whom you know was conveying to the nation his complaint against the three Army men who are in the forefront of the OROP agitation for compelling you to carry out your promise to the Army guys and their widows.

Your post election excuse for non performance of it is plainly not sufficient if not so ridiculous that it is already exposing you to public contempt.

I know that you think that you are infallible and all knowing. It is in my humble opinion an insane illusion.

During his television talks he shamelessly boasted that he would see three guys in jail. I wonder if you know that he had earlier moved the police with the same false complaint and the police rejected it. He has now been persuaded by some whom you know that the police will change their mind.

Dear Prime Minister please listens to what sensible citizens believe. They are convinced that the police is under corrupt pressure from your government. I am warning you that in every election you will encounter precisely public reaction of which you got a clear glimpse in Bihar. 

This is an appeal from a humble citizen who was once your friend.

With utmost pain.

Sincerely Yours

Ram Jethmalani 

Mr. Prime Minister, you cannot be that naive, that you are not able to see the designs of your trusted advisers plotting against you, who have brought you ignominy in Delhi and Bihar and now have succeeded in alienating you from the armed forces, who had placed implicit trust in you. 

Take charge, eliminate your hidden enemies to whom you are giving a free hand, perform your dharma, and redeem your promise to the armed forces and ex-servicemen of our country.

You can still do it. Otherwise, you are plotting your own downfall. 

The Economist: Terrorism in the Subcontinent, Who is responsible?

"I congratulate the Economist for stating the truth about terrorism in India and Pakistan with such clarity in its article , 'Terrorism in Pakistan, Shady war, shadow peace,' dated January 23, 2016. I want many more people in our country to read this, and therefore I am putting it in my blog. My apologies to the Economist, for not taking their prior permission."

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21688923-another-attack-brings-out-pakistans-conspiracy-theorists-shady-war-shadow-peace

Farewell Rohith, bright star

He was brilliant, brave and an achiever. A first generation degree holder from the humblest of households – from a section that has borne the cross of thousands of years of social oppression, injustice and prejudice.

He was sensitive and generous, as his heart rending last letter to the world indicates, a young man in a hurry to succeed in his mission, and fight the injustices in our society toward the Dalits.

He wanted to be a great writer like Carl Sagan, and surely would have been, if his life had not been snuffed out at 26 years.

His last letter contains his life’s snapshot – ‘My birth is my fatal accident’, he says, ‘I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past.’

One can only visualize what traumas would have haunted his past, of how the past would have been, for this exceptionally intelligent and sensitive child - barred from entry into various homes and places of worship, barred from touching food and water in certain households, his exceptional intelligence being ignored or put down by the upper castes. How dare you be so intelligent, they would have said. An intelligent, sensitive child could only turn lonely.

His alienated childhood and loneliness never left him. He remembers it even in his last thoughts, before departing from this world.

But he pursued his dreams, and then bit by bit, disillusionment seems to have set in – with the ways of the world, with people around him, with his ideas. And his resentment that ‘The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of star dust. In every field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living. ’

If only he had some support, someone by his side, when he was fighting his last lonely battle of disillusionment and depression – someone who could have restored his confidence in himself to fight the system of injustice that he encountered everywhere, in the campus or with the administration. Someone who could have told him that he was in for a long haul in his mission. No injustice anywhere in the world has been removed without a long and bitter fight, sometimes bloody. Take the case of the French or Russian Revolutions centuries ago.

Social oppression that has taken deep roots in Indian society for the last two thousand years at least, will not be wiped out from society through constitutionalism or by law in seventy years. I wish Rohith had geared himself for a long fight and had not given up.

Alas, as expected, the tragic incident became a political bonanza for some - VIP visits vulgarly and inhumanly cashing on political capital with an eye on future elections, the usual accusations and counter accusations, and Minister Smriti Irani and the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao allegedly making erroneous statements.

Even in death, he had been reduced to what he loathed - 'to his immediate identity, ....To a vote. To a number. To a thing.'

As a member of a privileged section of society, I cannot escape from being part of the historical and collective system that have perpetuated the social inequities that have socially and psychologically imprisoned large sections of our people over centuries, propagating their inferiority, and preventing them from achieving their complete potential. 

Farewell, bright star. You are now with the stars that you loved so much. 

I do not by this exonerate myself from the charge of being morally responsible for the tragic history of the Dalits in India over long centuries of condemning them to a humiliating existence on this sorry planet of ours. I humbly plead guilty to the charge and reluctantly ask for forgiveness of the Dalits who are rightly embittered and angry by the behavior of high caste citizens who harm , maybe unwillingly sometimes , contributed to the self immollition of the young scholar Rohith Chakrathirtha Vemula .

I am a product of Sindhi society which before the tragic partition of India had developed a synthesis of religion , scoffed at caste distinctions preached the genuine equality of all and developed contempt for the unworthy claimants of congenital superiority over their fellow citizens. I grew to be a great admirer of Dr. Ambedkar and fully sympathized with his preference for Budhisim over the caste ridden Hindus. 

I was a great supporter of the Mandal Commission and almost fought a lone battle against the most well known and flourishing lawyers of India before our Supreme Court. I succeeded against odds; thanks to the government of Bihar that briefed me to fight this great legal battle for the Dalits of India. No political party has the courage to challenge the Judgment though it was only a majority judgment. The compliments I won from the court and the appreciation of the backward class and their leaders was my remuneration.

The latest issue of the ‘ Outlook’ contains many tributes to the life and philosophy of the young scholar Rohith Vemula who ended his brilliant life in a manner which makes all decent Indians hang low their heads in shame and remorse. The best one is by a young female scholar Amrita Howlader . I hope everyone will read it. This will tell you that Rohith did not die in vain; his cause and life mission will get support from million more and compel the Indian nation to end this sordid and blackest spot on our face. 

Rohith let your comrades carry your memory and take your mission forward. 

It will take many more years to get the social justice that India owes you.

Ashok Kumar Aggarwal, IRS Officer finally gets justice from Delhi High Court

Hon'ble High court of Delhi in its judgment has quashed CBI cases against Ashok Aggarwal, IRS officer and held that investigation conducted by CBI in these cases smacks of intentional mischief to misdirect the investigation as well as withhold material evidence which would exonerate Aggarwal and it is a case of 'Suggestion falsi', 'Suppressio veri' and hence, malafide. Hon'ble Justice Siddhartha Mridul in his judgment further held that It does not seem to be merely a case of faulty investigation of CBI but it seemingly an investigation coloured with motivation or an attempt to ensure that certain persons can go Scot free. It is pertinent to state that Aggarwal, as Deputy Director of Enforcement was investigation cases for FERA violations and hawala transactions against highly influential persons. Hon'ble court further held that Aggarwal has endured suffering, humiliation and considerable trauma and a sense of dubiety has persisted qua him since long. Justice has finally prevailed upon the officer who fought for 18 long years for his false implication.

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Indian Journalism at it's Worst

The Ram Jethmalani interview: Jaitley ‘controls the media’ and Modi ‘made a fool of me’

http://scroll.in/article/778979/the-ram-jethmalani-interview-jaitley-controls-the-media-and-modi-made-a-fool-of-me

The Government cannot gag Kirti Azad because it is embarrassed by what he confided to the nation

Aristotle proclaimed proudly that man is a political animal. Were he witness today, as we in India, to the behaviour of one of the most powerful political animals of our country, he would undoubtedly have done further analysis regarding different categories of political animals, and the most bestial in the herd.

People of this country must realize that we are not merely a democracy, but a democratic republic. The difference between the two is profound and crucial, which many informed citizens, or even the intelligentsia may not be aware of.

In a democracy, a majority of the elected representatives are the custodians of human freedom and all political power. In a republic, it is the ‘people’ who are sovereign. They are free to speak up, and even if they are wrong, they can be corrected by wiser citizens, and the will of the majority will prevail. Even a Parliament, almost wholly controlled by one political party, cannot suppress free speech. Yes, free speech can be subjected to some restrictions, but they have to be extremely reasonable.

Unreasonable restrictions can be struck down as unconstitutional, and become unenforceable and void. It is a primary constitutional requirement that restriction on free speech should be for promotion of carefully formulated objectives, expressly sanctioned by the constitution. In addition, they must be reasonable, and are liable to be struck down, if the courts find them excessive in their reach.

No political party can suppress free speech of its members merely on the ground that it is ‘embarrassed’ by what is openly spoken and declared. Yes, it has a right to protest against a corrupt minister, or even a minister reasonably suspected of being corrupt, or a minister having corrupt antecedents. Democracy must not tolerate powerful ministers who are reasonably suspected to bear a questionable character. Only those persons about whose moral character and integrity the people are completely certain, must be put in responsible positions of power

Our Finance Minister proved long ago that he did not bear this impeccable moral stature. What Kirti Azad is stating vocally today is what he has been repeating during the last 10 years. No denial, much less a reasoned refutation, has been attempted by the gentleman, who now belatedly protests his innocence.

The recent statement of the Prime Minister is certainly not a certificate of good character for the Finance Minister; it is only a hope that he will survive as LK Advani once did. Many saw a sting in the tail in Modi’s ambiguous statement involving LK Advani. But, Modi was not prepared to assert that everything alleged by Azad is false, or even just wrong. The hint to the Minister is to resign as Advani did want to when I initially refused to appear for him.

I may not be in Modi’s ‘who is who’ list, but that does not mean I do not know what is what. I have seen Arun Jaitley’s whole career based on backbiting, secret scheming and dirty conspiratorial fabrications, against those whom he sees as obstacles to his political ambitions. Friends without mind, who do not mind following his diktat are available aplenty.

Well, all political animals play the same game of political cards, and of course, the most coveted card is the joker. And that is what the Finance Minister is looking more and more like, as each day passes. When the time comes for his future journey, he will have a terrific advantage. He will only have to go downhill. This wont take much time - fortunate for him in a way.

The earlier definition of an honest politician was one who when bought remained bought. Unfortunately, some today do not even have this basic qualification. They can be bought often. And the world is not round anymore. It has turned immensely crooked.

I have over the last decade closely watched and written extensively about India’s fraudulent ratification of the UN Convention against Corruption in 2011, a good 7 years after we signed it; our complete indifference and lack of political will to obtain the list of Indian black money holders from Germany, even after Germany offered to provide the information. That was the Sonia - Manmohan-Chidambaram Government.

Even after the Supreme Court ordered that the correspondence with Germany on this matter be released to me, all I got after a delay of 3 years, were unrelated 17 letters dealing with DTAT, with names and addresses of correspondents blacked out by indelible black ink. This was the Modi- Jaitley Government

Clearly, the present Finance Minister is in conspiracy with the previous one. He has made no effort to approach the German Government, as was confirmed to me when I visited Germany last year.

The blacked out letters, after some scrutiny, indicate that two officials are involved in this corrupt operation. Anita Kapoor, former Chairman CBDT, is said to have landed a cushy job in the same Finance Ministry after retirement; KV Chowdhery, also former Chairman, CBDT, after a criticial visit to Paris, was appointed CVC by a fraud on the Constitution and the Court. This will soon be reported to it. The continuity in the Finance Ministry after Chidambaram remains, thanks to Jaitley. I do not have to prove this obvious fraud.

The whole nation has heard Amit Shah, and his famous ‘election jumla’ statement regarding repatriation of black money. Modi has not repudiated it. I had to buy space in the Indian Express in April 2015 to inform the people of these criminal conspiracies.

How this crooked political mafia could swing the suspension of Kirti Azad, who is speaking the truth, is yet another shocker. They appear to have forgotten their humiliating defeat in Bihar all too soon.

But the question on everyone’s mind is – did Kirti Azad’s suspension have approval from the man above? I hope his words will be free from any ambiguity.

Pakistan and Us

The Modi Government has never shown any consistency in dealing with Pakistan about the Kashmir problem which Pakistan obstinately claims as the unfinished agenda of India’s partition. Our leaders, the old discarded ones and the ones installed in office last year are equally incompetent in handling it. They neither understand the strength of India’s case nor are they able to silence Pakistan’s persistent propaganda painting India as an unlawful occupant of the state which Pakistan owns. This piece is intended to put an end to Pakistan’s false and wholly unbelievable claim for all time and to educate those whose job it is to expose. Pakistan’s mendacity and the hollowness of its propaganda. 

We must go back to the late forties to understand the Muslim League behaviour when the nation was facing the prospect of Partition of the country. One of the subjects discussed was the fate of ‘Paramountcy’ enjoyed by the British Crown in all the princely states of India numbering hundreds. The Muslim League had its eyes on Hyderabad ruled by the Nizam who enjoyed full nominal sovereignty but controlled by the Paramountcy of the British Crown. Hyderabad was a Hindu majority state but ruled by a Muslim King or Prince and supported by his small army and of course the Razakars. The Indian National Congress committed to democracy of the British model wanted Paramountcy to vest in the people of the State. The Muslim League rejected this and won. Paramountcy was to devolve on the ruling prince or King. Pakistan’s plan was to secure Kashimr by force and Hyderabad by the Nizams Paramountcy. A fully armed section of the Pak army disguised as tribal’s invaded the state and almost – reached the outskirts of Srinagar the capital. In this emergency the ruling King acceded to the Union of India. Both under the Constitution as well as International Law the whole of Jammu and Kashmir became fully a legitimate part of sovereign India. The Indian forces succeeded in driving back the attacking tribals and they would have been thrown out of every inch of the state territory but the foolish Nehru accepted an armistice and a part of the state territory remained out of Indian control only de facto but not de jure. Make no mistake: by law domestic and international the title of India to the entire territory of the state of J&K (including what we call Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, POK) is unchallengeable in law.

​Yes the United Nations did call for a plebiscite in the state but on condition that every tribal who participated in the illegitimate invasion of the state or who had just entered the state from outside was to quit, a condition never complied with by Pakistan. 

Today it is Pakistan who under the Law of Nations is in unlawful occupant of a part of J&K and is under a legal duty to quit. Due to the long lapse of time the United Nations will not enforce a plebiscite the condition precedent to which was that the plebiscite will be a peaceful democratic operation under the de Jure and de facto rule of India with the Indian Flag being the only flag flying. India today is under no obligation to hold the plebiscite and Pakistan is legally bound to vacate the POK, every square inch of it. If Pakistan is agreeable India should be prepared to have the legal contention decided by the International Court of Justice once for all. India will doubtless win.

​Now we turn to some matter of even greater relevance and conclusive effect. In 1965 Pakistan again resorted to an illegalwar to conquer the Indian part of the state by armed force. Pakistan miserably failed in this war of pure aggression and it has justly earned the contempt of civilized nations of the world. It ended by the Tashkent Declaration under the influence of the friendly Russians and the benign Saintly Prime Minister of India the late Lal Bahadur Shastri. Pakistan must be eternally grateful to the great and forgiving Indian. Its essence is in two promises:

(i) Neither Party shall change the present status quo by force or violence or war;

(ii) Neither will carry on any propaganda for changing it.

​Pakistan should be grateful for Indian magnanimity. Virtually India has made a moral promise not to claim any part of POK. But this assumes that Pakistan will never make any claim even to one inch of Indian Kashmir. If Pakistan repudiates by word or deed any part of the Tashkent Declaration, Indian claim to POK will remain fully alive and enforceable before any International Tribunal. 

​The full text of this document dated January 10, 1966 is appended hereto.( http://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/5993/Tashkent+Declaration )

​Now we got to another important event in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir was not framed by the Constituent Assembly which framed and promulgated the Constitution of India. The state of J&K acceded to the Union of India by an Instrument of Accession, Clause 8 of which provides: 

​“Nothing in this Instrument effects the continuance of my sovereignty in and over the State, or save as provided by or under this Instrument, the exercise of any power, authority and right now enjoyed by me as Ruler of this State or the validity of any law at present in force in this State.” 

Article 2 of the Constitution of India reads as under:

“Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.” 

​Article 370 of the Constitution of India was a temporary provision but became a permanent feature by reason of the Constitution of J&K framed by its own Constituent Assembly and not by the Indian Parliament.

​The J&K Constituent Assembly worked from November 1951 to November 1956 and the Constitution came into force on 28.11.1957. It expressly adopted some provisions of the Constitution of India which by Article 147 are not amendable.

​In my opinion the Government of India has no power to change or amend the Constitution of the State. India cannot by any power lawfully vested in it can alter the boundaries or the Constitution of the State. India is in no position to accede to any Pakistan demands. India is not in unlawful occupation of any part of the state; even the POK is in law territory India can claim it for itself .

The Preamble of the free Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir states:

‘We, the people of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, having solemnly resolved, in pursuance of the accession of this State to India which took place on the twenty-sixth day of October, 1947, to further define the existing relationship of the State with the Union of India as an integral part thereof, and to secure ourselves:- 

Justice, social, economic and political;

Liberty, of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

Equality of status and of opportunity, and to promote among us all; 

Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation;

In our Constituent Assembly this seventeenth day of November, 1956 we do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this constitution.’

​The State of J&K is primarily governed by its own Constitution, unlike any other State in India, and Kashmir has voluntarily become part of a free, progressive, secular republic. That is azaadi, the highest political freedom a citizen can hope for. People who are blessed with genuine democracy, with constitutionally protected rights and duties of individuals, and an independent judiciary to enforce them, have attained true azaadi. Any violent action to secure more of it, or of a different kind or content, is a crime of terrorism and treason or both. 

​In 1971 Pakistan lost a very important part of what was collectively the whole of Pakistan. There could not be a stronger bond than simultaneous birth of both the western and eastern parts of Pakistan a unified state based on the bond of religious affinity. This entity broke up in hatred, violence and war. Bangladesh is now an independent friendly neighbour of India and our relations are Cordial in the real sense. Is it not such a different entity now with the eastern part wholly gone from Pakistan. The glue of the religious bond has not protected Pakistan’s territorial unity and constitutional oneness. By what rational argument is Pakistan now having some claim to J&K?

​The State of Kashmir is not only the valley but Jammu and Ladhak too. The religious equation is entirely different in their vast areas. What then is the moral and political strength of Pakistan’s demand for more Muslim Majority territory when Islamabad could not hold on to Dacca. The history beliefs and religious practices of Sunni Pakistan have no resemblance to the Islam of the Kashmir valley. Even Sindhi Muslims have a strong movement for secession from Pakistan; many of them according to the will and testament of their deceased leader the late G.M Syed are keen to join secular India. Pakistan cannot just ignore the annual meetings that take place in Europe and U.S.A wanting secession from Pakistan. 

​Lastly, the moderate element in J&K has taken a rational and practical decision. It is no use some Pakistan leaders constantly describing their Kashmir struggle as the unfinished business of partition. This just makes no sense. It must be recognised that even in 1947 the Muslim majority states were not as a whole allowed to secede from India and join Pakistan. The provinces of Punjab, Bengal and Assam had to be sub-divided. It is more than clear that the inhabitants of Ladhak, a region which is almost two-thirds the area of the whole state, the inhabitants of Jammu and the inhabitants of Baltistan want passionately to remain united with India. They are completely opposed to joining Pakistan and have no desire for independence. The real dispute ultimately boils down to the Kashmir Valley, an area approximately 84 miles in length and much less miles in width, as against Ladakh, which alone is about 33,500 square miles. Although it sounds like a petty dispute on the face of it, the overtones and emotions are so strong that the Kashmir valley has been the cause of three wars between Pakistan and India during the last 50 years; strains of violence that explode every now and then, recurring cross border terrorism, and incalculable human and economic loss. 

​My work in the Kashimr Committee of which I am a founder member entered into a dialogue with important Hurriyat leaders. After prolonged meetings and discussions we reached an agreement with five salient features which need to be repeated. These have been published in my writings and books many years ago. These features are five:

1) Terrorism and violence are taboo.

2) A lasting and honourable peaceful resolution must and can be found. 

3) The resolution must be acceptable to all political elements and regions of the state.

4) Extremist positions held by all for the previous five decades have to be and will be abandoned.

5) Kashmiri Pandits will be rehabilitated with honour and rights of equality.

​A careful understanding of the five points of the agreement show that abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India on the one hand and secession on the other were consciously and finally abandoned. The polestar of the peace process would thereafter be the legitimate interests and rational expectations of all elements and regions in the composite state.

​This agreement brought joy to every Indian and to most Kashmiris. The moderate section of the Hurriyat had repudiated the extremists and, at the same time, carried on talking to the Kashmir Committee with the full concurrence of the Pakistan authorities. It is tragic that the usual wooden-headedness of the Government of India blocked a formal solution. At the International Kashmir Peace Conference held in Washington, my friend Ashraf Jehangir Kazi, the distinguished ambassador of Pakistan to the United States argued that the Kashmir Committee had initiated a process of acceptable change. If anyone refuses to accept this, it would only show that he is an enemy of peace, regardless of his pretended postures and rhetorical assertions. Since then, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has held elections, which , unlike the earlier ones, were acclaimed by the entire International community as free and fair following which a democratically elected government has functioned in the state, doubtless causing frustration to the sympathisers of Pakistan, overt and covert. An all party parliamentary delegation toured the state and revived the dialogue in 2010. 

The problem has now been solved more than four times. Pakistan has no claim to any part of the state. It will even lose POK in a legal battle in an international forum. Let us all forget any serious changes in the state and whatever is good for the inhabitants of the state in both parts of it must be done in peaceful consultation and cooperation.