BOOK REVIEW

Mother, Where's My Country? Looking for Light in the Darkness of Manipur by Anubha Bhosle; 2016; New Delhi: Speaking Tiger; pp. 250; Price: Rs 499.

Of late two very consequential developments captured the headlines of newspapers with one thing in common—the State of Manipur. In a recent judgment on a plea by hundreds of families in the North-Eastern State of Manipur for a probe by a Special Investigation Team into 1528 cases of alleged fake encounters involving the Army and the police, the Supreme Court questioned the immunity enjoyed by the security personnel under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 (AFSPA) against criminal action for acts committed in disturbed areas. The Supreme Court said, it does not matter whether the victim was a common person or a militant or a terrorist, nor does it matter whether the aggressor was a common person or the state. The law is the same for both and is equally applicable to both. This is the requirement of a democracy and the requirement of preservation of the rule of law and the preservation of individual liberties. The Supreme Court further said that indefinite deployment of armed forces in the name of restoring normalcy under the AFSPA would mock at our democratic process, apart from symbolising a failure of the civil administration and the armed forces. It is high time that concerted and sincere efforts are continuously made by the four stakeholders— civil society in Manipur, the insurgents, the State of Manipur and the Government of India —to find a lasting and peaceful solution to the festering problem, with a little consideration from all quarters. It is never too late to bring peace and harmony in society.

Exactly a month after this judment, Irom Chanu Sharmila, known as the ‘Iron Lady of Manipur', ended her epic fast since 2000 against the AFSPA on August 9 and was also granted bail in an attempt-to-suicide case. As Irom Sharmila left the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Imphal where she was force-fed through the nose for 16 years, she had also announced her decision to contest the Manipur Assembly polls as an independent candidate. This marked a historic transformation of Irom Shamila from an icon of protest in the conflict-ridden State into a political leader.

The book under review is a poignant story of Manipur written by journalist Anubha Bhosle who has won prestigious recognition for her work like the Fullbright, Humphrey Fellowship 2015, Chameli Devi Award, 2014, Ramnath Goenka Award, 2012 and Jefferson Fellowship, 2008.

The book draws from two hundred inter-views, documents, reports and court testimony to highlight the plight of a society devastated by violence of a faction-ridden insurgency, armed forces and the police. But at the same time it is a story of Irom Sharmila who was fighting a lonely battle in Manipur till very recently through her fast against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) (the book was published prior to Irom Sharmila ending her fast). It is also a stirring tale of rape and torture survivors, soldiers, leaders on both sides, common masses, children dealing with terror, political indifference, curfews and economic blockades.

Anubha Bhosle went undercover to meet Irom Sharmila. Since then Anubha visited Manipur often to interrogate life in the conflict zone where ‘there is neither war nor peace' but people die along with a long history of anguish and grit at the same time.

The book is divided into 15 chapters dealing with heart-wrenching tales apart from an Introduction and an Epilogue. The work is based on the author's reflections and notes from her reports and field work. She tries to explore the notion that exists among people regarding the AFSPA and the role of a faction-ridden insurgency, life that runs parallel to and in the shadow of blockades, political apathy and education in the shadow of guns.

The author recognised that not everything originated from the AFSPA. The Manipur State has seen many insurgencies. She argues that there have been failures, abuse and neglect. She interviews both soldiers and rebels to under-stand the nature of security and need for special powers. The actual violence may not be of a high degree but severe resentment and mistrust existed. She writes: ‘not all revolutionary causes have turned out to be just, no matter how legitimate the beginnings may have been. Not all peacekeeping has led to truce.' (pp. xi)

The first chapter begins with the chilling tale of ghastly and terrible acts of violence against women. She further highlights that many under-ground groups exist in Manipur. They are insurgent groups fighting the state, targeting civilian citizens with guns and demand notes. Rebels are fighting with the Army, empowered with the AFSPA which gives the armed forces power to arrest and shoot a citizen on mere suspicion and to search a property without a warrant. The armed forces are protected from trial and punishment without the sanction of the Central Government. Especially in the 1980s and 1990s the Army and police operations, ambushes, rebels asking for shelter, security forces' search-and-combing operations were common. She remarks: ‘violence was generally expected here and accepted as almost inevitable.' (p. 5)

The book deals with across-the-state stories of soldiers, women and common people. She has also dealt with issues of governance in Manipur. An example is that of electricity which is a luxury in the State as Manipur barely has four hours of electricity a day.

She provides a detailed list of underground groups operating in the State with indistinct motives. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, fortytwo underground groups which function in the State, including banned, active and partially dormant insurgent groups, were identified. Some groups are also part of peace-keeping talks with the Government of India. She further highlights how a large part of Manipur territory is run by insurgent groups with an elaborate network of cadres, recruits and informers running a parallel economy based on extortion.

This reality is narrated by the author in an easy-to-comprehend lucid language in a story- telling way. Another bone-chilling story is that of a mother who lost her two young sons in one go providing graphic details of her plight and brutality. The book highlights many lives cut short by insurgency or counter-insurgency operations by the armed forces.

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A major part of the book is devoted to Irom Sharmila, her life, routine, force-feeding which she has accepted as being given. The chapter, ‘An Alien in the Capital', is devoted to Irom Sharmila's admittance in a Delhi hospital in November 2006. The government has used force-feeding as a viable medical procedure to sidestep her protest and determination.

Chapter five titled, ‘The Blood of your Sons is Splattered in your Fields Today', begins with a background to Irom Chanu Sharmila's fasting. She began fasting in November 2000 after the Malom attack. Obviously at that time people did not expect it to last for so many years which highlight the resolve of her epic protest. At that time she was one of the youngest members of the Human Rights Alert team.

In Chapter six, ‘Circle of Solitude', the author also draws Sharmila's similarity with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as the author quotes from Suu Kyi's address of 2012 at Teen Murti highlighting the life of house arrest and solitude: ‘...to mull over the meaning of a word, to build a whole philosophy on the interpretation of a poem, these are past-times in which prisoners, particularly prisoners of conscience, engage not just to fill empty hours but from a need to understand better, and not perhaps to justify, the actions and decisions that have led them away from the normal society of other human beings.' (p. 86) At the same time the author highlights Irom's solitude where the world has left her alone with fewer people turning up. She might be keen to reconnect with others but the world has left her alone.

The Indian state was engaged in suppressing the insurgency with either the Army fighting the various rebel groups or attempting to enter into negotiations or agreements with them. Initially peace-making was in the Army's sole control. Later on it became a tripartite exercise among the Centre, State and the insurgents. But peace-keeping is largely a bureaucratic exercise.

A whole chapter is devoted to ‘Escape to Delhi' where the author narrates how Sharmila, a Gandhian follower on fast for so many years, a prisoner on charges of attempted suicide, escaped to Delhi in 2006 much to the embarrassment of the Central and State governments and how she was confined to a Delhi hospital ward.

‘Everything here is a Roll of Dice' is a narrative of how things are not what they seem from outside. For example, Anubha stressed how blockades in Manipur are not actually related to revolution, resistance or ideology but are ways of blackmail.

The writer also discusses extra-judicial killings. The Justice Hegde Commission submitted its report to the Supreme Court on March 30, 2013. All six cases that the Commission investigated were declared fake encounters. The author provides the inside story of Manipur and gives a deep insight into the life of the insurgency-ridden State. The book ends with an epilogue highlighting how the status quo has been maintained in Manipur and the Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission's recommen-dation that the Act be repealed has been rejected with Irom Sharmila continuing her fast.

Today Irom Sharmila may have ended her 16-year-old fast but she is determined to play a crucial role in the State's politics as she plans to continue her fight against the AFSPA, while pursuing more interaction with the people of Manipur. It is time we take a leaf out of the Supreme Court judgement and all the stake-holders' work for amity and progress in the State. The book is a heart-rending tale written in a journalistic style. It would be of interest to scholars, students and any person keen to know more about life in Manipur.

Dr Bharti Chhibber is an Assistant Professor, University of Delhi. She can contacted at e-mail:

bharti.chhibber@gmail.com

by Deepti Priya Mehrotra

The Manipuri people's struggle against the AFSPA holds that this counter-insurgency law has created more unrest in the State than it has curbed. The anti-AFSPA movement is raising issues of justice, accountability, and fundamental rights to life and liberty, all critical to the future —and indeed present functioning—of Indian democracy.

Irom Sharmila is the visible face of the anti-AFSPA movement: her sixteen-year long fast helped create worldwide public awareness. She has decided it is time to experiment with a new strategy: contesting elections, winning power and instituting good governance. This will be no easy path, yet well worth a try.

Soon after she broke her epic fast, on August 9, 2016, expressions of solidarity for Irom's cause started pouring in: from the National Association of People's Movements (NAPM), Naga People's Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), women's groups, human rights and civil society groups in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata... and more.

During this time of intense churning, I spent a few days with her in the hospital room in Imphal, where Sharmila was surrounded by caring friends, activists and ordinary locals, all relieved she is giving up her fast. Reactions to her decision to contest elections were more mixed.

Meira Paibis—elderly-women activists who have opposed the AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958) over the decades—visited Sharmila on August 11, 2016, reaffirmed respect and affection for her, while expressing allegiance to a politics of constructive protest, rather than the electoral path. Meira Paibis patrol the streets in town and villages, alert to any disappearance or violence; they formed Sharmila Kunba Lup in 2008, held solidarity fasts, sit-ins and mass rallies; they had organised the powerful nude protest of 2004, demanding an end to sexual crimes by securitymen, under cover of the AFSPA. That diverse strategies are being deployed towards the same goal is one of the tremendous strengths of the people's movement against the AFSPA in Manipur. Apart from non-violent protests, such as Meira Paibis' and Irom Sharmila's, legal strategies are also being employed.

Public Interest Litigation on ‘Fake Encounters'

Exploring the legal route to justice, two organisations—Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA)—filed a writ petition in 2012 in the Supreme Court of India, seeking justice for 1528 cases of extra-judicial killings by security forces and the State Police during 1979-2012.

The Hegde Commission, appointed by the Supreme Court, probed a sample of six of the cases (the first six) and stated in its Report (2013) that not a single encounter was genuine; none of the killings was in self-defence; and not a single victim had a terrorist background or even a criminal record. Among the victims were 12-year-old Md. Azad Khan, a student of Class VII of Phoubakchao High School, allegedly dragged out of his house on 8.1.2009 by about 30 security personnel, beaten up, kicked and shot dead; and 20-year-old Khumbongmayum Orsonjit, an oil refiller in Tata Indicom, shot while he was out on work, with ten bullet wounds on his body. The Hegde Commission noted: “Though the Act gives sweeping power to the security forces..., it does not provide any protection to citizens against possible misuse of these extraordinary powers. Nor is there any monitoring system to review the use/abuse/misuse of these powers....”

It categorically stated that “legal bounds are being transgressed in counter-insurgency operations in the State of Manipur....”

The Hegde Commission appreciated that the “civil society in the State not only has a palpable presence but has raised the level of social consciousness well above the average in the country....” This is quite a remarkable obser-vation and, I think, well-founded.

Interim Judgment by the Supreme Court

On July 8, 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that all the 1528 cases of alleged ‘fake encounters' in Manipur are to be thoroughly probed. In its judgment the court noted: “It does not matter whether the victim was a common person or a militant or a terrorist, nor does it matter whether the aggressor was a common person or the state. The law is the same for both and is equally applicable to both.... This is the requirement of a democracy and the requirement of preservation of the rule of law....”

The Apex Court pointed out that if security forces have been deployed for an indeterminate period of time, as in Manipur, clearly there has been a systemic failure in governance.

An “internal disturbance”, as declared in Manipur (since 1958 in parts of the State; in 1980 throughout the State), is not equivalent to or akin to a war-like situation. To quell internal disturbance, use of excessive force or retaliatory force by the Manipur Police or the armed forces of the Union is not permissible; an allegation of excessive force resulting in the death of any person must be thoroughly inquired into; and proceedings can be instituted in a criminal court.

This interim judgment has far-reaching implications for human rights in Manipur, and wherever security forces are deployed in counter-insurgency operations, such as the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir.

Following the judgment, civil society organi-sations are working across all nine districts of Manipur to gather necessary evidence from victims' families, neighbours, security forces and State Police. A team of lawyers and students of the Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) has voluntarily joined to help systematically document the cases, for presentation to the Supreme Court. Anubhav Tiwari, Research Associate, JGLS, notes: “At present, cases are completely opaque. Not only AFSPA but also UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) and the Army Act are being used to perpetuate a culture of impunity.”

People's Aspirations for Peace

Leika Yumnam, an indigenous rights activist in Manipur, strongly feels: “We need to focus on how to give the anti-AFSPA movement a boost.”

Journalist A. Mobi, addressing a consultation on the AFSPA (14.8.2016) organised by the Youth Forum for Protection of Human Rights (YFPHR) and North East Dialogue Forum (NEDF), urged fresh thinking and new strategies for increasingly effective struggle against the AFSPA.

Anti-AFSPA is the one cause that unites people across Manipur—and Nagaland too. On August 11, 2016, the Naga Students' Federation (NSF), Naga Mothers' Association (NMA), NPMHR and Naga Hoho held anti-AFSPA rallies at Kohima and Dimapur (both in Nagaland), Chandel, Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong (all in Manipur).

K. Temjen Jamir, editor of a Dimapur-based newspaper, stated: “No civilian can feel secure so long as the Act remains.... We'd like to tell the Government of India that we live in peace and we'd like to continue living in peace.”

Deepti Priya Mehrotra is a political scientist and author of Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur (2009, updated and revised edition 2015)

IMPRESSIONS

When Anna Hazare disowned Arvind Kejriwal, it was clear that all was not well with the Aam Aadmi Party experiment. When Kejriwal summarily dismissed his original team-mates, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, the AAP's intentions and directions came under a big cloud. Then Kejriwal's chosen faithfuls began showing signs of absurdity: Minister Somnath Bharti raided and roundly attacked African women resident in Delhi; publicity-hungry court poet Kumar Biswas exposed his parochial pettiness by attacking Imam Husain, some Hindu deities and “Kali peeli” Kerala nurses at one go.

Generally speaking, the public was inclined to set aside such lapses as the stupidities of immature men who had suddenly tasted power. People wanted the AAP to grow into an alternative to the established, deeply corrupted, caste- and religion-driven parties that had come to monopolise power. Even when the Central Government took on the AAP Government in Delhi as enemy number one, sympathy went in favour of the David being harassed by the Goliath. Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung contributed immensely to that sympathy quotient by being more loyal than the king to the BJP Government.

In the early days when the Delhi Ministers were arrested by the Central Government's agencies, it was seen as vengefulness by an intolerant BJP that could not stomach an Opposition party ruling Delhi. A mature leadership could have turned this in the AAP's favour. Instead, its leaders began to appear in scandals.

Kumar Biswas himself was the first to have that distinction. A campaign volunteer accused him of molesting her and making “sexually coloured” remarks, and a Metropolitan Magistrate ordered an FIR against him. This time a Minister, Sandeep Kumar, was arrested following a woman's complaint that he had raped her. Kejriwal had no alternative but to sack him. But the matter went on to become a real mess. Sandeep Kumar said his private secretary had blackmailed him (the PS was arrested); the AAP's ranking leader, Ashutosh, not only backed Kumar by saying that his was a case of consensual sex but compared it with Jawaharlal Nehru's “reported affairs with many female colleagues” which did not spoil his political career. The Sunday Standard reported that Kumar had sent his pregnant wife to the US so that his child would be born a US citizen; a BJP leader said the police investigation would reveal “more dark secrets” of the AAP.

All hopes of a Kejriwal-led AAP becoming a national political force have now come to an end. As Hazare lamented, the AAP has lost its moral credibility. He spoke for all when he said: “I was hoping that Arvind would set a different example for politics in India and give a different direction to the nation.” That simply is not in Kejriwal. One of the most popular AAP figures, Raghav Chadda, had said: “The idea of clean politics, affordable politics, volunteerism—all these are AAP's basic ideals.” Whatever happened to those ideals?

Raghav Chadda is the face of idealist Indians who joined the AAP with the best of intentions. As the party's spokesman, his sincerity matched his ability and, not surprisingly, he gathered what must be the largest fan-base among television figures. How can he now defend his morally weakened party? How can Meera Sanyal, who gave up her CEO post in the Royal Bank of Scotland to serve the country through what she thought was the only acceptable party, carry on with the party now? How can V. Balakrishnan, an Infosys leader who left his high position to join the AAP, get along with a tainted party?

Two years ago, one of only four AAP candidates to win the Lok Sabha elections, comedian Bhagwant Mann, was categorical when he said: “The future belongs to BJP and AAP. Congress will be in coma for at least 10-15 years.” He might still say that because he is a comedian by profession. For more serious people, it will be difficult to imagine the AAP getting anywhere as it is presently constituted. People talk of the party splitting, of new leaders rising.

All are agreed that India needs to break out of the prevailing stranglehold of manipulative politics. Clearly Kejriwal is not up to it. His judgment of people is flawed. He is autocratic and surrounds himself with dubious friends. His chapter is as good as over.

Who will write a new chapter? And when? No one seems to have an answer. Meanwhile, it has been announced that Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan are teaming up for a new movie called The Thugs of Hindostan. Hm...who could that be about?

While dealing about the Naga problem, I wrote in a previous article that one of the most important political parties of the Nagas, the NSCN (IM), is a fascist party by nature. I failed in my efforts as an anthropologist to define the reasons for such a state. The Nagas by themselves are a peaceful society and even during the head-hunting days the raids were negotiated and pre-announced. I have myself received utmost love, care and supreme hospitality even in villages where I was a complete stranger, something absolutely unimaginable in mainland India. I must have also been unjust to my Naga students whose affections have drowned me in bliss, imposing my ethnocentric biases. I might impress them by my knowledge of the area but could not fully fathom their life in totality. I could sense some sort of unhappiness in them which they did not dare express.

I trace the roots of the Nagas' sense of intense insecurity vis-a-vis the Indian nation-state. The parliamentary democratic order itself is one of the prime factors for the present imbroglio and also the historical heritage of the entry of state power which is equally responsible, if not several times more.

First of all, the Naga identity-formation itself owes to British colonisation. The term Naga was popularised by the British. Secondly, it is wrong to presume, as is often articulated, that the British did not intervene in the internal administration of Naga villages. After external military conquests, the British forcefully recruited the Naga men in the Royal Army to fight in Europe during the First World War. It is these soldiers who played a major role in forming the Naga Club in 1918 along with other service-holders under the patronage of British administrators. The Naga soldiers realised that the world was not that small as they imagined and they got the flavour of nation-states and even got to know about the other regions that form the parts of present India and maybe the adjoining lands as well.

The sense of hatred against the Indians developed ever since the Nagas were conquered by the British. The Royal Army may have been led by a few White officers but the guns were shot by overwhelming numbers of brown foot-soldiers—Hindu, Muslim and even Meiteis and Nepalese. Their woes were compounded by the brown traders who fleeced them in the bordering markets of the plains. They could also understand the derogatory remarks passed on them by the Assamese as Kukurkhua or dog-eaters. The other physical posturing and insulting demeanour towards them also did not go unnoticed. These are some of the dominating factors which encouraged them to invite the Christian missionaries to their domains. Godhuli, a person of Assamese origin, was the first missionary to enter into a Naga village after being invited by some AO Nagas visiting Jorhat. Prof Willamson Sangma, a famous Garo scholar, too had commented that it was the natives (Garos) who had invited the missionaries to their villages instead of the other way round. This view contradicts the general allegations made by mainland Indians.

I have written in many of my earlier articles that Christianity had a tremendous positive impact on the hill tribes of North-East India and one of them had been referred to by M.M. Thomas, the erstwhile Governor of Nagaland, in one of his public speeches. A Christian nun of Mao origin, Lotsuro too had referred in her book Naga Christianity, which I reviewed, that the missionaries did not provide any material incentive to convert the tribes and that their actions by and large had not led to any significant economic change that may catch the eye, and jhum cultivation continues to be the predominant mode of livelihood. I had also praised the missionaries as, like many others, they brought in the modern Western education system and introduced the sense of hygiene and Western health care practices. But as of now, I realise a different interpretation of all these phenomena. The much-praised Western education demolished the traditional system of Naga education—dealing with the nature and humanely relations, based on the principles of receiving and reciprocating, inculcating respect towards all—man and man and man and nature; a cosmocentric orientation, institutionalised with utter discipline in the morungs or youth dormitories.

The modern education has rendered the youth useless in their own domains and the so-called educated boys and girls do not return to their villages and even prefer serving as bartenders, mall girls and waitresses at distant cities under alien conditions earning insignificant emolu-ments risking their lives. My own Ph.D student, Zingran Kengoo, a Tangkhul Naga hailing from Ukhrul, Manipur, was found murdered in his own flat located in some sort of a slum close to a posh colony of South Delhi. He found no regular job and was struggling for survival as a free-lance researcher. He could not have a family of his own and was a confirmed bachelor. Back in the villages you only find dumb boys running errands for the elderly bullying Village Council members. Else you get to see several school dropouts often attracted to the jungle life of the militants, risking their lives for a couple of thousand bucks. This maleficence ultimately ends up with engaging strangers migrating mainly from Bihar, UP, Nepal, Cachar and even Bangladesh to work on the agricultural fields, farmyards, dairies or even menial work. The Naga pride prohibits them to work as scavengers, porters or rickshaw-pullers. The Inner Line Permit is hardly effective in checking the illegal immigrants and reportedly many of the Naga contractors themselves are complicit in such crimes. It was found that between 1991 and 2001 Nagaland witnessed the highest decennial population growth among all the States of India. The Western education introduced by the British, to think back, perhaps was more with the intention of coopting the peoples into the colonial dispensation rather than simple benevolence. The missionaries unintentionally fell into this sinister trap and became an instrument of cooption into the colonial state. They even at times received grants from the colonial government.

The missionaries are also credited with popularising Western medicinal practice among the Nagas as in other places of the North-East. They opened many clinics and hospitals in different parts of the region. They also taught the people to have proper sanitary practice and imbibed a sense of hygiene. But again reminiscing I realise in reality this alien system undermined the indigenous traditional know-ledge base and made the natives feel ill at ease when the government PHCs malfunctioned and this compelled them to travel to distant places even for minor illnesses and cough off much of their life savings. Their knowledge-base about local herbs and shrubs got gradually obliterated. It is on record that even about ten years back Nagaland registered the lowest death rate and highest longevity rate in the country. I have come across several men of around 100 years old sturdily moving around joking with small children or even cleaning the church premises on social work days. The available flora and fauna in the adjoining forests were the source of their life potions and elixirs. Today the multi-national companies are minting profit in tons by making the people drug-dependent. These agencies are also notorious for experimenting freely on the innocent people.

The Church too blundered by spreading the message that alcohol intake was an anti-Christian act (ignoring the fact that the best Scotch is produced in Scotland, a hardcore Christian land, and that the best Champaign is produced in France) and banned production and intake of rice beer. Rice beer provided the best nutrition after a day's hard labour in the jhum. Today the people have been turned into criminals for procuring liquor under cover due to the government policy of prohibition and the high cost of drinks, unaffordable to the youth, has turned them into substance abuse and the spread of deadly HIV Aids. No wonder, realising their folly the Church in Mizoram adopted a far more flexible attitude and the State Government has recently withdrawn the Prohibition Act.

The Church has also strengthened patriarchy by not providing any important position to the women in the Church management. The record of the Roman Catholic Church is even worse where the priests maintain celibacy and the parish Fathers are assisted by male Catechists. The Protestant Churches have at least the Church Community comprising female members as well. Also the girls are nowadays able to avail school education like the boys, and in fact it is on record that more numbers of women are presently availing higher education than men and many of them are not tying the knot till the middle ages.

The Church has not done the mistake of eradicating the clans attached to the concept of totems and associated taboos. Clan exogamy is maintained very strictly in spite of conversion to Christianity. Gennas are very common in the Naga villages and it becomes virtually impossible to intrude into them during the period without getting badly bashed up. The Church has also not prevented the people from celebrating the cultural festivals associated with the agricultural seasons. In fact, for the Nagas dwelling outside in different parts of the world the rituals are observed with even more gusto. The Naga Students Federation in Delhi is found to be extremely immersed in such celebrations and collect large donations to enjoy these with tremendous fun fare and frolic. The Feast of Merit, once discarded, is being revived again.

The submission of a memorandum to the Simon Commission in 1929 for assisting the right of keeping away from independent India, unknowingly proved disastrous for the Nagas. As a response to this memorandum the Naga Hills District was declared as an Excluded Area in 1935. This Act resulted in isolation of the Nagas from the other tribes of the region who continued to be members of the Provincial Council. Even as of now the Nagas continue to be a detached lot. The NSCN (IM) could make alliance only with a few militant groups in the region, that too, tentatively. They entered into a bitter battle for long with the Kukis inhabiting Manipur. The Nagaland Assembly has not a single member in the Opposition. Most interestingly, the Tangkhul Nagas inhabiting the Ukhrul district of Manipur did not sign the memorandum submitted to the Simon Commission. This is surprising since the NSCN (IM) is now the leading voice of the Naga movement.

The author belongs to the faculty of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

by Mark Weisbrot

The following article appeared before Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's final impeachment and removal from power. This write-up gives a fairly detailed analysis of the crisis in Brazil today.

On April 17, the Brazilian Lower House of Congress voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, who was elected in 2010 and re-elected at the end of 2014. It was a garish spectacle, with one Right-wing deputy dedicating his vote to the Colonel who headed a torture unit during the dictatorship. One of its torture victims was the President herself.

The deputy's dedication was a grim reminder that Brazil has emerged from dictatorship just 30 years ago, and that its democracy is perhaps less developed than many people assume. More reminders would soon spring forth like mush-rooms in a rain-soaked field. Leaked telephone transcripts revealed that leaders of the impeachment effort were trying to remove President Rousseff in order to stop the investigation into their own corruption. This led to the resignation of three Ministers in the new Cabinet appointed by the interim President, Michel Temer; but 15 of the original 23 Ministers he appointed were reportedly under investigation, as well as the majority of the Congress itself.

Then on June 2, Temer himself was convicted of campaign finance violations and banned from seeking office for eight years. New scandals involving interim and pro-impeachment officials emerged nearly every week.

Although there is corruption within all the parties, including Dilma's Workers' Party (PT), the deep irony is that the corrupt officials trying to topple her presidency have not presented any charges or evidence of corrupt practices on her part. Rather she is being impeached for an accounting practice that other Presidents, and many Governors, have used. And on July 14, the federal prosecutor assigned to the case concluded that it was not even a crime.

But the prosecutor's conclusion appears to have been ignored, and a final vote by the Senate on Dilma's presidency is expected within the coming days. No wonder many Brazilians consider the whole process a coup d'état— and not just against a President but against democracy itself. There have been continuing protests since the impeachment, with some spilling over into the Rio Olympics.

One of the first acts of the interim government was to appoint a Cabinet of all rich White males, in a country where the majority are women and more than half identify as Black or mixed race. Then, they abolished the Ministry of Women, Racial Equality, and Human Rights.

Dilma would probably never have been vulnerable to this attack if not for the economy being immersed in its worst recession in more than 25 years. The PT was first elected in 2002, with President Lula da Silva, and from 2003 to 2013 poverty was reduced by 55 per cent, and extreme poverty by 65 per cent. Growth in income per person was three times the size as during the previous government, the real (inflation-adjusted) minimum wage doubled, and income inequality was reduced. Unemploy-ment hit record lows.

But toward the end of 2010, Dilma's government began a series of measures that slowed the economy, just as the global economy was running into headwinds. Budget tightening, sharp cuts in public investment, and increases in interest rates over the next few years would eventually push the economy into recession by the beginning of 2015. Under pressure from big banks and most of the media (which have long been staunch opponents of the PT), she adopted further austerity measures after her re-election in October 2015. The recession deepened.

Dilma has offered a constitutional way out of the political crisis: a plebiscite on whether to hold early presidential elections. If six of the Senators who voted last week to move forward with her trial were to agree, and vote against convicting Dilma for something that was not a crime, this could be arranged. This is what needs to happen.

Then Dilma should get to work in reviving the economy. The austerity was a mistake. For a country like Brazil, the binding constraint on any stimulus programme is the balance of payments: they must have enough foreign exchange reserves to be able to pay for rising imports as the economy returns to growth. But Brazil has about $ 370 billion in international reserves, which is much more than enough.

The crowning irony is that the interim government intends to double down on austerity and cuts in social spending and public investment. The rationale, as usual, is that this will inspire investor confidence, despite its negative impact on economic growth. We have seen this movie a lot in recent years: for example, in the eurozone since 2010.

And we have seen much worse in Brazil before the first Workers' Party President, Lula da Silva, took office in 2003. In the 22 years prior (1980—2002), income per person barely grew, at just 4.3 per cent over the whole period. It was an unprecedented economic failure, especially as compared to the prior 20 years (1960—1980), which had cumulative growth of more than 120 per cent. If Dilma is ousted and the new, unelected government commits itself to the failed economic strategy of the “lost decades”, it could be a long time before the majority of Brazilians recover the living standards that they reached a couple of years ago.

(Courtesy: The Hill)

Mark Weisbrot is the Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. and President of Just Foreign Policy. He is also the author of the new book Failed: What the “Experts” Got Wrong About the Global Economy (Oxford University Press, 2015). The CEPR is an independent, nonpartisan think-tank that was established to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. The CEPR's Advisory Board includes Nobel Laureate economists Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz; Janet Gornick, Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and Director of the Luxembourg Income Study; and Richard Freeman, Professor of Economics at Harvard University.

To you the universe

Was a constellation of stars

Towards which you took a leap,

Only some of the stars

Were shrouded in a darkness, so deep.

You went close, you felt deeply,

And in your manner so intense,

Arose the speech of ants,

Within a sentence;

The sound of snails speaking,

The torment of a hungry child, weeping.

You discarded the middle-class morality of the Bengali bhadralok

For the mud huts of the Sabar tribes of Purulia,

And from them arose the words of Dopdi,

Defying the cop who raped her,

‘Can you look into my eyes

And see the undefiled, unvanquished dignity of my tribe?'

For the tribals you were a tireless scribe

Raising their issues in the Supreme Court

As to why Chotti Munda had slit the darogah's throat.

He had gone to plant three papaya seedlings

On his own land,

When he saw another man's hut on what was once his own fields.

You extended our depth of field,

Moving our inner compass

Urging the rich, powerful and pompous,

To see, that we were intent on occupying

Every stream, river and forest.

That belonged to the tribes,

And was now being parcelled to the

New India Company.

Sagari Chhabra

TRIBUTE

by Nirupam Hazra

I met Mahasweta Devi when I was a student at Visva Bharati. It was my first interaction with her. In an informal gathering at a tribal village near Santiniketan, she was talking to a young tribal girl. She was so engrossed in conversation that she was quite oblivious of the the people around her. When the conversation ended she turned back, smiled at me and asked in Bengali: ‘bhalo aacho?' (literal English equivalent will be ‘are you doing well?') I was surprised by the vibe of familiarity with which she greeted me. She did not know me, nor did I meet her before, yet I was no stranger to her. This was one of the most enduring images of Mahasweta Devi that I have. Later, I heard her speaking at many cultural events and literary gatherings. But this particular incident, in retrospect, has been the most significant to me. It helped me, to a great extent, to understand both her art and her activism.

Her recent demise made me look back to her works and to my first interaction with her. Mahasweta Devi was always known as an author-activist; even most of the obituaries celebrated her literary contribution and social activism as two parallel journeys. Undoubtedly she was one of the shrillest voices that tirelessly spoke in the interest of the oppressed and the dispossessed. At the same time, she was one of the most eminent literary figures of our time. But the hyphenated epithet like author-activist creates a disjunction in our understanding of Mahasweta Devi. The author and the activist were not only intertwined, rather they together formed a singular self. Throughout her life, she wrote about what she fought and her fight was the source of her literary inspiration.

The insidious march of civilisation that divides humanity into narrow and selective nomenclature of class, caste, colour and gender to perpetuate the unending ritual of otherisation was a subject of her perennial contempt. She questioned, criticised and challenged every mantle of exclusion and exploitation both in her authorship and in her activism. Hence, it is virtually impossible to differentiate the one from the other.

Interpretation of Dream

One may wonder what it was that motivated her to take such a journey of life that she had. The answer is: dream. Dream was the force that inspired her to do what she had been doing. Dream was so dear to her that she always believed that the right to dream should be the first fundamental right. It was no literary hyperbole or spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; when she spoke of dream she actually referred to the reality teeming with innumerable instances of inequality and injustice. The oppressed and powerless keep their dreams locked up in a box, lest they come out, but sometimes they come out breaking the jail like the Naxalites, she explained. Her dream was not her individual dream; it was a shared dream, the dream of a just and egalitarian society, a society where the underprivileged can also dare to dream. But her dream rarely matched the reality. This mismatch had been more obvious to her, she could easily identify those contradictions between the dream and the reality; she could readily diagnose the dystopic elements of a diseased unjust society.

The dream-metaphor of Mahasweta Devi is not merely an abstract literary exuberance. In the realm of reality, it takes a more concrete shape. What Mahasweta Devi referred to as dream, Amartya Sen would define as capability or expansion of freedom. When a large section of the society is denied the right to dream, they are also deprived of development. In Indian society, if one comes from a tribal community or belongs to a so-called lower caste, she is not allowed to dream like others, her rights are susceptible to the generosity of those sitting above in the social pyramid. So, the capability to pursue the ‘meaningful doings and beings' is essentially linked with one's ability to dream, one's audacity to challenge the status quo with all its exploitative and exclusionary paraphernalia.

Her World and Our Worlds

Her writing, like her life, traversed through many worlds. Sometimes these worlds were irreconcilably ignorant of each other's existence and sometimes they were contemptuously close to each other. Brati's irreverence for the class-conscious bourgeois life-style in Mother of 1084 to Dopdi's act of defiance against the repressive state and its misogynist mode of subjugation in Draupadi tell the story of the ‘other' worlds and ‘other' people. They are ‘other' because of their class, gender, skin colour, language and ideology. They are ‘other' also because they would not always accept the complacency of compliance, hegemony of hierarchy. Mahasewta Devi observed and explored both the worlds—‘the world of order' and ‘the world of other' —with deep interest. The world of order is run by dominance and deception. In this world, a bereaved mother is not allowed to grieve, a ‘prestigious' father disowns his son because his death was not respectable and a dead son is bereft of an identity, his dead body is reduced to a number—‘1084'. It is a world where a deep decadence is veiled with external extravagance and semblance of order, where male infidelity is considered to be the insignia of manhood, but resistance against injustice is treated as a supreme act of defiance and it is also the world where democracy is preserved using the most brutal and undemocratic forces.

But there is another world beyond the world of order inhabited by ‘others'. In this world of others, life is free of its civilising artefacts and language is free of exclusionary vocabulary. It is a world where people are more willing to be united by a cause, rather than by pretentious class-consciousness. The existence of this other world is felt only when the order is disturbed, the impositions are defied or simply when the dwellers of this world start to dream. When a tribal girl starts to dream, she would not allow her forest to be encroached, when a Dalit boy starts to dream he would not accept the traditional caste hierarchy and when a woman starts to dream she would not acquiesce to patriarchal persecutions. Mahasweta Devi explored both the worlds with equal ease and insight. She knew about the dreams of the world of others and she also knew the diseases of the world of order. For her the world should be the place where everybody has the right to dream—there was no difference between a tribal girl and a university-educated student. Similarly there was no difference between Mahasweta Devi, the author, and Mahashewata Devi, the activist. In her world every stranger was greeted with earnest familiarity.

The author is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Work, Bankura University, West Bengal. He can be contacted at e-mail: hazra.nirupam[at]gmail.com

TRIBUTE

by Chandrasekhar Bhattacharjee

It was a scorching summer noon of mid-April, 2010. Mahasweta Devi landed at Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi, from Delhi after receiving the Manavata Bikash Award, conferred by the IIPM. She was trying to find a statue of Birsa within the airport, but in vein.

A wellbuilt middle-aged person (Mahasweta called him 'Lalji') received her at the airport. As the car comes out of the airport, a huge statue of Birsa at Birsa Munda Chowk greets her. The octogenarian author of Birsa Munda's story in Áranyer Adhikar points out to her companions: “See, Birsa is still chained, even if India has won freedom. We have failed to unshackle heroes like Birsa. No statue at the airport is named after him. A larger-than-life statue means your gratitude is zero, showingoff is a thousand times.”

Her destination is Ulihatu under Erki tehsil of Khunti district, where the legendary icon of tribal uprising, Birsa Munda, was born and lived. Ulihatu still reels under severe poverty and underdevelopment. If another Birsa were here, another uprising could have been possible. Mahasweta Devi formed a trust and decided to adopt Ulihatu. For that, she has already awarded the larger chunk of the IIPM's Rs 5 lakh award money, even before she received it. The money helped the Birsa kin to set up an oil extraction unit. It will use the local mahua, kusum and other seeds.

These oils are edible and as cost of production will be low and raw materials hugely available, people may add value to their lives. She has never dreamt once that the State Government of Jharkhand (earlier part of Bihar) had done nothing for either the village or even for Birsa's family. The kin of Birsa and the villagers turned their ancestral home into ‘Bhagawan Birsa Mandir' where a small blackstone statue is erected. That's all. No trace of any government activity at Ulihatu on the hillock. The author of Hajar ChurashirMaa (her novel, often branded as the same Mother of 1084) told this scribe: “I wrote the book on Birsa in my early literary life but this is my first ever visit to his village.” Often she used to advise young writers to have direct experience and extensive study on any subject he or she chose to write on. When she was reminded of this, she quipped: “I studied Birsa from several books and historical studies so much, that I visited his house and the village in my dream. Today is the day to fulfil that dream.”

That was Mahasweta Devi, often called as Mahasweta-di by the city intellectuals and ‘Maa' by the adivasis. She was the last Ashramik of Santiniketan who had the rare privilege of being nurtured directly by Gurudev Tagore. ”He gave me a book to read as I told him I couldn't understand what he writes by going though his books bought by my father (Manish Ghatak),” she told this scribe in another interview on Tagore. She was a writer of a different genre, perhaps inspired by Tagore's life and work. Her mould as an author developed from her association with the IPTA through her husband, eminent theatre personality Bijan Bhattacharya, and uncle Rittwik Ghatak. Her pen was razor-sharp but her language and her selection of theme were the subaltern's.

Tagore was all praise for tribals and initiated Basantotsav following their rituals of SSalsai, the tribal new year festival on Basant Purnima. Mahasweta portrayed the spirit of the tribals throughout her life with pen. She authored Birsa Munda, Basai Tudu, Etoa Munda, Draupodi or Dopadi Mejhen as legendary characters. Long after she authored Draupadi in 1978, Sabitri Heisnam of Manipur Kalaskhetra, staged a part of it where Dopdi Mejhen expresses her wrath against patriarchy, challenging: “Kapa aar ki habe? Kapo aar? Lengta korte paris, kapor porabi kem on kore? Marad tu? ... heth a keo purush lai je laj karbo. kapor more porate dibo na. ar ki korbi? (What to do with saree? Saree? You can denude me but how can dress me? Are you a man?... No man is nearby to feel ashamed. I will not allow you to dress me up. What can you do?)” Later Dopdi came into real life by the aggrieved nude mothers of Manipur in front of Imphal's Kangla Fort after the rape and brutal killing of Thangjam Manorama.

In fact, her Draupadi was the first voice of Dalit women against social oppression. Like a Jahuree, she always looked into the society to pick up and promote jewels. Manoranjan Byapari is one of such writers, already awarded by the Bangla Academy of West Bengal and several other organisations and academies. Manoranjan, a Dalit, who never stepped into any school for education but committed almost all types of crimes, turned into an acclaimed author by her motherly affection and inspi-ration. Manoranjan can be called today's Balmiki. But whenever the issue of Marxism or communism was under discussion, she used to say: “Ï have never read a book on Marxism or communism, but read it from the lives of the downtrodden Dalits and adivasis, who practise communism.”

She was more an activistwriter than the middle class intellectual writers. She initiated and led several movements against the govern-ments of the day—be it after Chuni Kotal's suicide, murder of a tribal youth (Basai Tudu in her story), Save Khowai (of Santiniketan) Movement, Amlasol starvation death, police action against farmers of Singur and Nandi-gram, Lalgarh, etc., and seeking justice for Rizwanur Rehman's mother, defending Taslima Nasreen's right to live in Kolkata and writing freely, supporting Birbhum adivasi Gaonta's struggle against illegal stone-mining and quarries and what not. She also stood by the demand of renaming the Silchar railway station as the Vasa Shaheed Smarak Station and shot a letter to the then Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee.

A fearless and indefatigable champion of human rights, Mahasweta Devi could not reconcile herself to the murder of Kisanji, in what she termed as ‘fake encounter', and called Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a ‘fascist', despite being her admirer.

Her demise is a loss not merely to the literary world, but an irreparable loss to the the human rights activists, leave alone the Adivasis and Dalits. Everyone of Adivasi samaj, who are against ‘Dikus (non-Adivasis)' acclaimed her as their ‘Mother'. One by one, she formed the Kheriya Shabar Kalyan Samiti, then the Lodha Kalyan Samiti. And since then she had initiated or got involved with the day-to-day activities of the Bandhua Mukti Morcha of Swami Agnivesh, Kiriburu Adivasi Mahila Samaj, Majhgeria Adivasi Gaonta, Munda Samaj, Saowar Jamla, Sahis Jati Kalyan Samiti, Adivasi Harijan Kalyan Samiti and several others. The greater part of her writing table used to be occupied by files of these organisations as she had to write tens of letters for them daily.

Her several wishes are still to be fulfilled, several demands remain unfulfilled. The Bhasa Shahid Smarak Station movement is still going on. Political prisoners like Chhatradhar Mahato, Sukhshanti Baske are behind bars in West Bengal. The government has done nothing to protect the Khowai river in Santiniketan. The people responsible for Chuni Kotal's death are still unpunished. Rizwanur's mother is yet to get insaaf or justice though the persons responsible for his death joined Mamata Banerjee's party.

Mahasweta was the first to stand by the people of Singur with Medha Patlkar. They are yet to get back their land. No enquiry was done on Kisanji's murder, despite her strong demand. Her ‘Dopdis' have made West Bengal the State with the highest number of crimes against women. Her last wish was to be cremated under MahuaShalSegun trees of Rajnoagaon of Purulia. It is from here that she became the Mother of all Adivasis. But, the West Bengal Chief Minister's determination to give her a State funeral deprived the nonagenarian of her last wish being fulfilled. The adivasis of Rajnoagaon decided to perform her last kriya by planting a Maha Segun tree, her love, on the eleventh day of her death to pay their last respects to their ‘Mother'.

The author, a senior journalist, is the Assistant Editor of the Bengali weekly periodical, Janaswartha Barta.

MUSINGS

Perhaps, for the first time in the recent history of Kashmir, curfew was imposed in the Kashmir Valley on Id. To compound the situation, connectivity snapped, if it was not hugely disrupted. The masses in the Valley cannot get over the latest round of trauma. Openly voicing their disgust, ‘Never before this sort of clampdown. Sitting caged on Id morning. No namaaz at the Jami Masjid nor at the Hazratbal or any of the big mosques of the city...you can't imagine how upsetting it gets for us, for our children. Surviving in this depressing mahaul, with killings continuing...'

Yes, it was traumatic for the Kashmiris to be sitting under the ongoing curfew even on Id day; most not even in a position to convey Id greetings as mobile and internet services were snapped. No sawaal of visiting friends' or relatives' homes or even the graveyards. Caged they'd sat yet another day of the ongoing curfew. What next? Nobody seems to know what lies ahead as autumn nears, bringing along with it not the usual long list of winter woes but also an added dimension—in these last several weeks of the ongoing curfew the average Kashmiri family has consumed rice and dried vegetables stored in home kitchens. What happens as winter sets in? What would happen on the bleak financial front? Not to overlook the fact that in the last two months business and tourism have been reduced to almost nil.

Grim Situation In Haryana's Mewat

And getting across to Haryana's Mewat region— a Muslim populated region, which has remained backward because of political reasons. In those earlier decades Meos of Mewat were one of the first to have revolted against the British and so the then Raj rulers revenged, kept the region cut- off from any development plans. No improvement in their condition even after the Partition—this, when Meos did not cross over to Pakistan and had opted to stay back in their home country. And no improvement in their condition all through these years; on the contrary, worsening with the Right-wing's agenda to keep Muslims well-under deprivation levels.

I have travelled to the Mewat region several times—in fact, it's barely 35 to 40 kilometres from the Capital city—and each time I have returned devastated. Its eighteenth century survival for the majority of Muslims of that belt. Grim reports on the health and socio-economic conditions, yet no apparent plans to reach out. On the contrary, police brutalities have been unleashed on them. Cops arresting-cum-detaining them on every possible pretext. The latest, of course, is on the beef pretext.

Young Meo teenagers who have set-up roadside eateries along the highway, selling home made biryani, are not just harassed but detained and arrested by cops, on mere suspicion of selling beef biryani!

The scare of the State machinery has reached alarming levels. Pushed to the wall (jail walls!) Meos of Mewat are in a state of dilemma as daily survival gets extremely difficult. for them.

COMMUNICATION

Whether in the context of the Cauvery river or the Narmada river or other rivers, so much time and effort has been spent on the sharing of the river waters. Isn't it time now to devote more time and effort to the sharing of responsibility for protecting the rivers?

Look at how many details were worked out for sharing the waters of the Narmada river. The only concern missing in the entire elaborate exercise appears to be the protection of the river. The tragic consequences are there for all to see.

A mother has several children to all of whom she will like to give whatever she can give. But the children may get so greedy about their individual share that in the endless squabbling over it they may even forget to take care of their mother. This is what appears to be happening in the context of our rivers, and the various river water disputes are only one manifestation of this.

After all the recent tensions in the context of the Cauvery river, can we therefore make a new beginning? Instead of a Commission for Water Sharing, let the four involved States along with a representative of the Union Government this time get together to form a Commission for the Protection of the River. The aim of this Commission will be that the four States with the help of the Union Government will do all they can to protect the river and to plan all water use in accordance with the norms of sustainability and the protection of the river system.

Bharat Dogra

C-27, Raksha Kunj,

Paschim Vihar,

New Delhi-110063

Ph.: 25255303

The horrors of partition came to my mind when I saw television beaming pictures of rioting and killing in Bengaluru. It was the same way I felt when partition took place and we, the people living in the newly-constituted state of Pakistan, had to leave our home and hearth to migrate to India.

I never imagined that a cosmopolitan city like Bengaluru could be the scene of linguistic chauvinism, which would go to the extent of killing Tamils by Kannadas. Leading IT firms preferred to open their offices because they considered the city liberal and peaceful. If someone had asked me at that time that such a scene could be repeated at a place like Bengaluru, I would have said: No and never.

Yet this has happened because the people known to be liberal were swept off their feet over appeals in the name of parochialism. Fortunately, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's determination not to allow similar incidents happening in the State prevented any reprisals. She rightly deserves the kudos for handling the problem before it could assume a proportion leading to indiscriminate violence.

There is a long-standing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on sharing of the Cauvery waters. This is not the first time that Karnataka has refused to abide by the Supreme Court verdict on the amount of water to be released to Tamil Nadu. Earlier, whenever such a situation had arisen, the people of both States had been at each other's throat. So, what is happening in Bengaluru today is a mere repetition.

But what is the way out? Nobody can challenge the Supreme Court's decision, but the problem can be solved by sitting across the table and arrive at a solution, particularly when people's emotions are involved. Since the river water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is a sensitive issue, I recall former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's idea of evolving a consensus to handle the issue.

Knowledgeable circles have been warning the nation against the dangerous consequences of letting the river waters dispute linger on. Karnataka's unilateral decision to abrogate all the inter-State river water agreements has created a situation, the like of which the nation has not experienced. And to cap it all, all Chief Ministers of the States have been indulging in a slanging match, which does not go well with the idea of a federal structure which the Indian Constitution demands.

Needless to say, it is difficult to find a consensus on the sharing of river waters than on any other subject. The protracted war of nerves between the two States on the sharing of Cauvery waters is a case in point. Consensus can be evolved only when political parties rise above their parochial interests to use their vision to make water into a factor that unites our country. They need to have the necessary will to achieve this noble goal. It is not impossible to find a formula protecting the interests of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

I had always thought our real problem was population. I did mention this to an American Nobel Prize winner who contradicted me and said: “Your problem is going to be water.” We were discussing the ordeals that India would face in the years to come. Our views did not tally even after a long discussion. What happened at Latur in Maharashtra some time ago has renewed the American's warning to me. He had also given me an optimistic side: There is an ocean of water under the Yamuna-Gangetic plane waiting to be tapped. I wonder if this is true. Had it been so, the government would have done a scientific study by this time to estimate the collected water. I have not heard of any such plan so far.

India has seven major rivers—the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus, Narmada, Krishna, Goda-vari and Cauvery—and numerous tributaries. New Delhi has set up the Central Water and Power Commission to have a systematic plan to harness not only water but also generate power. This has worked to a large extent but in certain parts of India the fallout has been a series of disputes which even after decades remain unsolved. Nearer home, Haryana, then part of Punjab, has refused to release water to Rajasthan and Delhi. This goes contrary to the stand New Delhi had taken when the Indus Water Treaty was signed. At that time we argued that we wanted more water because we had to irrigate Rajasthan, which has a large part of desert.

Unfortunately, several incongruities are responsible for inter-State water disputes. Even after 70 years of independence, the disputes are far from settled. When the Congress ruled both at the Centre and in the States, the problems never assumed an ugly shape. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which then only commanded a few Lok Sabha members, did not count much. It is a different scenario today. Now that it has a majority in Parliament, the party sees to it that the States run by it get the maximum benefit, rules or no rules.

However, the situation is different in the South. Both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are ruled by parties other than the BJP. New Delhi should have stepped in long ago. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who claims to have united different parts of the country into one unit, looks distant from the problem that Karnataka and Tamil Nadu face. His statements have been general. What is needed is tackling of the country's problem arising out of language, border or water.

Hindus and Muslims, who were living together for hundreds of years, became strangers soon after partition and had no compunction even in raping women. They were facing on a large scale the situation which Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are encountering on a small scale today. Sometimes I shudder that the disputes among the States may take the shape of some kind of partition. When friends and neighbours could suddenly become strangers because they pursued a different religion, what the Kannadas did on the streets of Bengaluru could well be a page from the history of partition.

The author is a veteran journalist renowned not only in this country but also in our neighbouring states of Pakistan and Bangladesh where his columns are widely read. His website is www.kuldipnayar.com

From N.C.'s Writings

In the brochures and posters of Indian tourism, Kashmir still figures with its enchanting attractions. In reality, however, the picturesque Valley of Kashmir is becoming out of bounds for the peace-loving citizens of this country.

In a sense, Kashmir today represents the gravest challenge to Indian democracy—perhaps much more than what happened at Ayodhya on December 6 and all that followed. If the bomb blast in Bombay on March 12 and the blow-up of the bomb storage in Calcutta that came in its wake, announced the arrival of the mafia to disrupt our democracy, don't the bloody clashes in the Kashmir Valley presage the departure of its most significant part from our Republic?

The crisis in Kashmir has been worsening year after year. Without going into the protracted history of neglect, high-handedness, corruption and systematic subversion of the democratic order which the Centre has perpetrated in that State for forty years now, one may take the unseating of a duly elected government in 1984—planned and carried out with cold-blooded precision by people some of whom today claim to be specialists in the subject—as the last milepost along the dismal trail of progressive alienation of the people of the Valley from the rest of this country.

This 1984 coup by which Farooq Abdullah's duly elected government was overthrown by the minions from the Delhi Durbar blatantly arranging defection of MLAs with a Governor specially sent out for the operation, shattered the confidence of the common people in the Valley in the Centre's commitment to democratic functioning in Kashmir. And it was during the rickety administration of the Centrally-propped-up regime of Ghulam Shah that the first outbreak of communal violence took place in the Valley.

While this monstrosity of a Ministry could not hold out for long and the Governor's Raj resumed in this sensitive frontier State, a patch-up between Farooq's National Conference and the Congress brought into office a coalition Ministry which could neither forge a unified front nor win the confidence of the people. Inevitably the militant groups gained in influence and the first serious threat of secession could be discerned. The illumination on the Pakistan Day (August 14) and black-out on the Indian Independence Day (August 15) in 1989 should have opened the eyes of the political leaders, but the Kashmir crisis was hardly examined in detail by either the Congress or the Janata Dal governments. By the time of the Republic Day on January 26, 1990, the crisis had reached the boiling point, and the only thing that could be achieved was the hoisting of the tricolour. Meanwhile, no elected government could be restored as the State Assembly itself had been dissolved, and since then the Governor's Rule has continued uninterrupted requiring enabling constitutional amendments being periodically passed by Parliament. In other words, it has turned out to be an open confrontation between New Delhi and the people in the Valley, with the militants assuming their leadership.

The last three years has been one of unrelieved unwisdom in the Centre's dealing with Kashmir. Even when the Pandit families began to leave their native place in the Valley, there was no waking-up on the part of the Centre—neither at the government level, nor at the political party level. The accretion of strength of the militants was ascribed to the Pakistan Government's generous backing of them, and at one stage, the Central leaders accused Pakistan of waging a proxy war against India in Kashmir. But what steps were taken by the government and the political parties to retrieve the fast-dwindling faith of the people of the Valley in the Indian leadership?

The only tangible evidence of New Delhi's concern and interest in Kashmir was the despatch of forces, more and more in greater numbers. The para-military forces, as they are called, are for all practical purposes engaged in waging a virtual war in the Valley. For sometime, the public in this country was made to believe by the government that all the strident outcry by the human-rights activists was inspired by interested circles in the West which back Pakistan and run down India. But when many of the atrocities began to be exposed in the Indian media by a whole body of intrepid Indian journalists, that official alibi could hardly hold water. Isolated cases of exaggerated reporting were highlighted by official circles to desperately cover up the shocking state of affairs in the Valley.

Today, the government seems to be living in a pathetic world of unreality insofar as Kashmir is concerned. At the beginning of this year, it was given out that the government would be coming out with a new set of proposals for Kashmir. In fact, the Prime Minister had earlier hinted on a “package” for Kashmir. It was given out that Farooq Abdullah was being brought back as this might help to win over at least a sizeable section of the public which alone could be turned into a foothold for resuming the political process.

Farooq Abdullah himself stated on March 15 that there was “definite rethinking in Delhi for a solution to the Kashmir problem”. It was largely at his suggestion that the Governor was changed and General Krishna Rao was brought back to hold the post from which he had stepped down in 1990. Farooq might have been useful in establishing contact with the militants, as he is known to have had personal rapport with some of the JKLF leaders abroad. But New Delhi did not wake up and Farooq Abdullah got fed up and just within a month of his optimistic statement, he withdrew from the scene bitterly attacking the Central Government for being “unable to understand the gravity of the situation”; and “even if they do, they are clearly incapable of taking any firm decision”. It is worth noting that statement by Farooq Abdullah came three days after the Union Home Minister's assurance to the press in Chandigarh on April 15 that the government was in the process of framing “a definite policy” on Kashmir.

Farooq Abdullah might have slunk away to hibernate abroad, but what is the record of the government since then? The security force bosses in Srinagar have been claiming that their relentless operation had crippled the militant outfit and soon there would be a turn for the better in the situation. The crackdowns are being conducted with a degree of ruthlessness never resorted to before the Indian forces, not even in Nagaland. Young and old, men and women—nobody is spared as Indian reporters have reported in recent weeks in our media. The criminal record of the para-military forces in Sopore in January would have inflamed the wrath of any people anywhere in the world. And in the very week of the Home Minister's statement promising a “definite policy” in Kashmir, in that very week the security forces indulged in another round of beastly incendiarism destroying a good part of the historic Lai Chowk in Srinagar.

This had its inevitable repercussion within the administration itself. The State police force revolted when one policeman was killed in custodial death by the Centre's paramilitary forces on April 22. The police took out a protest march to make a representation to the UN office in Srinagar, and the next day the revolt of the policemen was joined by their Kashmiri officers. Could there be a more glaring proof of complete alienation of the people from the Central authority—alienation assuming the character of active antagonism?

We, all of us, have to hang down our heads in shame for all the follies and crimes that are taking place in Kashmir today. Not only the government but, it is amazing, the leaders of different parties in Parliament have not cared to demand even a full-scale discussion on the grave situation in Kashmir. What do we gain by pleading with the USA to declare Pakistan a terrorist state when we ourselves have forfeited the trust of the people of the Kashmir Valley who on the very morrow of independence had fought with bare arms to push back the armed marauders from Pakistan?

India's democracy can never sustain itself by stamping the jackboot on the people in any part of this far-flung republic of ours. Kashmir summons us to heed the voice of our conscience.

[Mainstream, May 1, 1993]

by Mustafa Khan

The Kashmir problem cannot be addressed unless you address Pakistan, says Dr Madhav Godbole.1 The Kashmir problem is a quandary but new grounds seem to be broken. Sitaram Yechury, who called on Geelani but could not meet him, said that Pakistan should be included in any dialogue on Kashmir. It went unnoticed by the BJP and even the Congress. Geelani called Pakistan a friend and well-wisher. Either the public opinion is not educated enough to know the delicate situation or the kind of nationalism, that verges on chauvinism and vigilantism victimising the minority Muslims, has taken deep roots and reconstructing society, that includes Kashmiris, is dismissed out of hand. It is all on account of the forbidden word: Pakistan.

However, there is a new territory far from India whom India befriended and sympathised with but forgot: Palestine. Since Advani/Vajpayee welcomed into India in the disguise of a Hindu Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Dayan in the late 1990s, there is a chemistry of change that has increasingly coloured perception and policy. The fall-out was the 1994 declaration that Kashmir is an integral part of India and those on the cusp of gaining power would offer the sky to Kashmirs but not aazadi. This comes to mind on the 67th day of continued protest— on the day of Idul Azha. The Israelis would occasionally lift embargo on food meant for the Gaza strip or elsewhere but the “Indian” Kashmir Valley intifada is deterministically more horrifying what with pellet guns spewing horrible wounds and death and shutting down sale of animals for the festival and not allowing food otherwise into the ten districts under the harshest curfew. Even the biscuits which some Samaritans managed to smuggle in could hardly reach or be enough to a couple of neighborhoods.

The Palestinian intifada had begun in 1987 against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land seized in war. The West Bank and Gaza were fully covered by the Western media even at the worst of times. But the intifada in the Valley is without even that. Chief Minister Narendra Modi had warned the media in 2002 to cover the Gujarat pogroms at the risk of their life. He went further and ominously and insidiously reminded them the fate of Daniel Pearl. Today it is grimmer and the situation bleaker.

Now, if you look at the photo sent by S. Irfan to the PTI and which is also shown on rediff.com, you would know that the protester is not dressed like Palestinians. He is just like any mainland Indian in his dress and boots. Any Indian, whether Hindu or Muslim, looks like him. He has nothing to share with any pathan suit-wearing Pakistani. His dress is the specialty of a festival like Eid or Diwali. But the quaint is in the right arm that is lowered after releasing the stone hurled at the security forces confronting them. In a mechanical reaction the left arm is fully stretched back. The time of action and reaction was enough to take him on the crossed hair and pull the trigger. He is not even hooded or masked. On the day of the special morning prayer he has jettisoned the usual cover on his face because he has taken the risk to endanger his life but not to fail to register his protest and anger. What with morning prayer and all there was no time to go to prayer and also subsequently prepare for any camou-flage. So the protest has come from within the hearts and minds of the protestors and was not funded by anyone and was spontaneous as transfer of money or food is beyond even the remotest thought. There was no transfer of animals or money for the whole period of protest since July 8 to September 13. Even net or phone connection was off. How Irfan shot and sent the photo is also difficult to guess. So grounded in the locale is the protest.

Similarly contextualised is the figure of the native Mohammad Imran Parry riddled with pellets: The victims of oppression and suppression or terrorism cannot choose their attackers. In Kashmir's case it is the opposite. The victims choose to confront the security forces knowing fully well that they would be the easy target. They confront the police and Army from a close distance. You can choose your friends, though. India chose Israel, and now the US. These could not have the option like the Syrian child from Aleppo.

PM Narsimha Rao had craftily chosen Moshe Dayan and had also chosen to go silent on the Babri demolition and further chosen to ignore Rajesh Pilot who came nearest to the hearts and minds of many Kashmiris. He had seen red in the Assistant Secretary of the US State Department Robin Raphael's questioning the finality of J&K's accession to India coinciding with PM Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan's remark that Kashmir was an “unfinished business of partition”. It was this Machiavellian move of Rao that was the undoing of the earliest solution we could have had. Rao struck again. He used his Home Minister, S.B. Chavan, to undermine Rajesh Pilot by dampening his enthusiasm and slowing down the progress he was making before putting an end to it. Much later Pilot died in a plane crash in 2000. The Prime Minister did not want any solution and offering the sky was a smoke-screen.

If Rao was so secretive and hence sinister in his design, Modi, who took the rein of the government on May 16, 2014, was overtly against Muslims and made no bones of what was up in his sleeves. He was a pracharak or guide of the RSS and would be just that even if the heavens fell down. He disregarded the unsolicited advice of Muftil Mohammad Sayeed on November 24, 2014 to hold a dialogue which is the only way to solve the Kashmir problem and end hostility with Pakistan. He was prepared for neither of them because of his ideology. What followed Sayeed's utterance was, in his own words, a ‘waste of time'. In his standard RSS tactics he enacted the inanity of the charade of wasting time: prevarication. Being not a statesman like Vajpayee, but a demagogue, Modi exacerbated the matter by becoming more voluble and uttering too much on terrorism forgetting that 2002 too was terror and blaming Pakistan for bombarding Balo-chistan, Baltistan, Gigit and also part of Kashmir in Pakistan's control. In contrast Vajpayee chose his words trying and succeeding in his utterances turning brevity into wit: “A stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan is in India's interest. Let no one in Pakistan be in doubt. India sincerely wishes Pakistan well.”“Pakistan was unfortunate but the wound has healed. One can choose one's friends, but neighbours are permanent.” The difference between the pracharak and the orator is clear. The latter could jettison the ideology for realpolitik, the former could not. A highly practical solution was at hand much earlier. “There was nobody in Delhi more sympathetic to Kashmiris or to their cause, in the Government of India, than Rajesh Pilot.”2

Vajpayee had asked Modi to do his rajdharm, the duty of a ruler. Modi had replied pat tongue in cheek that he was just doing that. Today he would say the same. It has roots in mythology. Lord Krishna had asked Arjuna to do his duty and in war kill the enemy even if they were part of the overall familial society. So the 2002 pogroms were just that. This time around the victims are the same and more would fall victims of the pellet guns. Only the provenance has changed from Gujarat to Kashmir.

In contrast stand the restructuring of the society and community, the two circles, which are essential for democracy and amity as well as integrity of the country. However, when Modi speaks of Mother India he excludes Muslims who love their biological mothers and still love the country of their birth. The RSS ideology is committed to nation-building: one language, one religion and one region. This could hardly be the society for a democratic and secular India.

As Maulana Azad made it clear, there are two circles, one of the community to which you belong and the larger circle concentric—to it is the Indian nation or society. The extremists among the BJP and Shiv Sena's ruling alliance do not view Indian Muslims as part of India as a matter of realistically speaking. They target them occasionally and one such occasion was in the midst of the Kashmir turmoil on July 24, 2016 when Uddhav Thackeray, like his father Bal Thackeray, advocated “Hindu nation” to fight terror. He was speaking in Kashmir's context and said: “There is no other option but to declare the country a Hindu nation. There is enough of secularism.”3 This is not the way to reconstruct society or community. Nor will the Kashmir problem be solved by means of law and order operation.

1. http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/in-kashmir-were-in-a-tunnel-with-no-light-at-the-end/20160908.htm? pos=3&src=NL20160911&trackid=7MGeiBNRi Og Hpji U22XIw0UhYgsPCBFedrAsNDfdS8Q=&isnlp =0&isnlsp=0

2. AS Dulat. Kashmir, the Vajpayee Years, India: Harper Collins, 2015. pp. 18, 179-180.

3. The Asian Age, July 25, 2016.

The way to you-know-where, they say, is paved with good intentions. After the results of the last Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were in hand, it seemed a logical assumption to the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed that joining with the BJP would yield a secular bond between the two major parts of the State and that aligning with the Narendra Modi-led Central Government could produce bold initiatives vis-a-vis the contention with Pakistan. Modi, it could be argued, is more an RSS Prime Minister than Atal Behari Vajpayee and given his clear majority in Parliament, he could sell solutions to Hindu India not conceivable earlier.

There were those who pointed out that the result of such a line of thinking might turn out to be the opposite of what Mufti had envisaged. Alas, that prophecy seems to have come true.

The PDP's ally, far from showing any interest in implementing the political understanding inscribed in the agenda of the alliance, seemed to set about pushing the good old RSS agenda—exclusive Pandit colonies, Sainik settlements, a burgeoning hum about the full integration of Kashmir via the abrogation of Article 370 etc. This push came to be seen popularly as the concerted encroachment of a Hinduised state. With nothing concrete in hand on other fronts—the return of power plants, funds for flood relief, plans for employment generation—the killing of Burhan Wani brought this concatenation of circumstances to a flashpoint. The pellet gun helped to turn what might have been regarded as a liberal opinion into a determined political unity with the forces that came to the fore in fighting off what came to be seen as a suppression of local sentiments and aspirations.

Currently, the prospects—the belated all-party delegation's visit notwithstanding—in the Valley seem to hold little hope of a turn-around even in the short term. As to the long-term, one recalls what Farooq Abdullah had said to the powers that were in 2000, after the State Assembly had passed the autonomy resolution and sent it to the Central Government for adoption—that were the moment to be lost, a time would come when the Centre might offer autonomy and be rejected by J&K. Alarmingly, one fears, that moment might well be at hand now. It seems clear that forces inimical to the accession of Kashmir are encouraged to think that the present juncture may yield a fruit well beyond autonomy.

Such forces, of course, need to answer whether they truly believe that relentless stone-pelting, hartals alternating with curfews, will, as a practice in itself, lead to a break from the Union. Or whether such an intifada-like procedure will in time draw enough armed support from across the Line of Control to bring the Indian state to its knees. Or whether the continued suffering inflicted on young Kashmiris will lead to a surge of opinion in the rest of India that will make them back an insurrection for a secession of the Valley. After all, any leadership that finds the kind of allegiance that seems now in evidence in the Valley must have a clearer vision and blueprint than what it now seems to possess. Just as the Indian state must answer for how long and how far it can retain its credibility if no political breakthroughs are either attempted or achieved.

If we look back to the sort of secular-democratic and humanist faith that was voiced by the legendary Sheikh Abdullah in his speech to the State's Constituent Assembly on November 5, 1951, the Indian state seems to have assiduously destroyed what could have been an exemplary story of successful democracy for the world. After over 70 years of bumbling and betrayal, there seems little prospect that it will now shame itself into acknowledging that history and return to the promise of the covenant of 1952. But if not, what else may it do?

(Courtesy: The Indian Express)

The author, who taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is now retired, is a prominent writer and poet. A well-known commentator on politics, culture and society, he wrote the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. His latest book, The Underside of Things—India and the World: A Citizen's Miscellany, 2006-2011, came out in August 2012.

by L.K. Sharma

Pakistan and India are engaged in a war of words at the highest level. Unusually provo-cative statements have been made by the two Prime Ministers. The area of contest and conflict has been widened. The TV channels in the two countries beat the war drums every night.

Pakistan queered the pitch when it saw India failing to deal with the Kashmiris protesting against the killing of a terrorist. Pakistan's Prime Minister dedicated his nation's Independence Day to Kashmir's freedom from India! Provoked, India stooped to Pakistan's level, engaging in a tit-for-tat game.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi could hardly allow himself to be seen as a wimp. He made references to the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, to some other Pakistani territories and to the human rights violations in Balochistan.

A dignified silence was not an option for the Indian Prime Minister. Not when a wave of hyper-nationalism has been set off by his party and its extended political family. By referring to Balochistan, Prime Minister Modi signalled: You question India's territorial integrity, I will question Pakistan's. You interfere in our internal affairs, we will interfere in yours.

Modi's fans were elated. They saw it as a befitting reply to Pakistan! The ruling BJP saw aggressive patriotism fetching it more votes in the coming State-level elections. The jingoistic utterances by the ruling party leaders and the TV channels energise the BJP's support-base but these make the restoration of normalcy in the troubled Kashmir quite difficult.

Pakistan feels encouraged to provoke New Delhi because of its close ties with China and its successful use of Islamic terrorism against India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It sees an opportunity in the upsurge of the sectarian sentiments in India. Will Pakistan be deterred from organising more terror strikes in Kashmir as a result of the Indian Prime Minister opening the Balochitsan front? It remains to be seen.

For different reasons, India's new approach also touches India's ties with China, Iran and Afghanistan. China has stakes in Balochistan because of the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Iran and Afghanistan have problems with the vision of a Great Balochistan.

The world always made a distinction between India and Pakistan, even though because of the Cold War, India's moral standing or its democratic credentials did not earn India any bonus. India's new pragmatic foreign policy practitioners may argue that morality does not pay. In one more sphere, India now mirrors Pakistan.

The Modi Government's capacity to make peace overtures to Pakistan as also its ability to deal with the separatists in Kashmir are at a low point. Both have been constricted by the outbreak of hyper-nationalism in India. Domestic politics should not influence the conduct of foreign policy but it does.

There is a concerted campaign to fuel jingoism in India as a winning political strategy. The vigilante groups intimidate the “anti-national elements”. Those discussing Rabindranath Tagore's criticism of nationalism are called unpatriotic intellectuals.

Displaying aggressive patriotism has become fashionable. Those who consider it disgusting hesitate to express their views lest they get attacked on the road or in the social media. Some vigilante groups have ruled what is nationalism and track those not following their diktat. A visiting foreign correspondent would get the impression that two rival tribes inhabit India, the nationalists and the anti-nationals.

Some political outfits in India, flaunting aggressive patriotism, have been opposing visits by the Pakistani musicians, singers and film actors. India's public diplomacy campaign is not helped when its Defence Minister calls Pakistan “hell”.

When a former woman MP on her return from Pakistan says Pakistan is no hell, a “patriotic” person files a sedition case against her! The ideological followers of the Indian Prime Minister routinely ask his critics to migrate to Pakistan. Vigilante groups intimidate the “anti-nationals” with impunity.

Taking a cue from the Prime Minister, Indian TV channels suddenly discovered the Pakistani territory called Balochistan. They began showing Al-Jazeera's archival footage of the Pakistani forces committing atrocities against the civilians there. One TV channel blatantly boasts of its “patriotic coverage” and attacks the rivals for the lack of it. Every channel carries interviews with the exiled Baloch separatist leaders who express their gratitude to Modi.

Some critics call Modi's Pakistan policy inconsistent. This was the same Modi who had invited the Pakistani Prime Minister to his inauguration. He let a Pakistani team visit the sensitive Pathankot air base that was attacked by Pakistani terrorists. Also, in a surprise move, Modi joined the Pakistani Prime Minister at his home in celebrating a family function.

After this fruitless endeavour to be seen in South Asia as an emerging statesman, Modi returned to his default position. As the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he had won a State election by deriding “Mia Musharraf” of Pakistan. He had relentlessly attacked the weak-kneed Manmohan Singh Government.

India's “muscular” response may or may not restrain the official Pakistan; it will adversely affect the way Pakistanis see India. That the goodwill they harbour towards Indians does not influence Pakistan's official policy is another matter. The state has always used Islamic terrorism to harm India by a thousand cuts and yet wars and war-mongering by Pakistan failed to vitiate the people-to-people relations.

Every Pakistani visiting India and every Indian visiting Pakistan would testify to a reservoir of mutual goodwill. Despite Pakistani military dictators orienting their nation towards the Islam of the Arabic nations, the people of Pakistan continue to cherish their South Asian ethos. India must not lose an advantage in the battle for the hearts and minds of the people of a neighbouring country.

The Pakistani rulers through their history text-books have tried for years to alienate the young from India and fuel anti-India sentiments. This process will now be helped by the aggressive rhetoric coming from India's political leaders.

New Delhi's new approach has already led to some consequences. The Balochi dissidents living in Pakistan face increased violence from the Pakistani forces. Pakistan says that Modi's statement proved that India was creating trouble in Balochistan.

How will the Indian Prime Minister follow up the Balochistan issue? Opposing the separatists in Kashmir and supporting them in Balochistan will be a complex exercise.

Modi has raised the expectations of the Baloch freedom-fighters. The Baloch exiles, who thank Modi from Europe and America, have come to expect more than just statements. Their gratitude will last as long as the war of words between India and Pakistan continues. The Baloch freedom-fighters have for decades seen the powerful nations using or misusing the issue of “human rights violations”.

If the Indo-Pak equation happens to improve, where will it leave Balochistan? How will the Baloch leaders, persecuted by Pakistan, feel if Modi were to stop making statements on their plight? Some of them may then be reminded of the phrase “thrown to the wolves”.

Modi's activism will partly depend on the signals from the US that has always overlooked the human rights violations in Balochistan and the killing of eminent Opposition leaders in Pakistan. Is America, in its own national interests, ready to make a departure in this regard? China's role in Pakistan and specifically in Balochistan is another factor being examined by the foreign policy experts.

Normally, such a significant, though symbolic, change in India's stance would have sparked a vigorous debate. In the current atmosphere, an Indian diplomat is unlikely to give a frank opinion in official meetings. This makes any rational discussion difficult.

Some commentators did refer to India giving up its high moral ground etc. but the weak notes of dissent were drowned in the loud applauding noise emanating from the TV studios. The Opposition leaders do not wish to be called “pro-Pakistan”. In the present political scenario, public perception is influenced by fiction.

India has had a distinctive conflict-resolution policy. It ignored some provocations by Pakistan and carried on the path of development. Consequently, India emerged as a growing economic power. Now there is rethinking on that Pakistan policy as the past leaders have to be discredited.

The current wave of hyper-nationalism has made a meaningful diplomatic engagement with Pakistan difficult. However, given the erratic nature of the Indo-Pak relations, usually such spells do not last. At times, some wise counsel prevails in New Delhi and Islamabad. At times, a third powerful country forces the two sides to break the impasse. Pakistan may find it necessary to follow up its hostile rhetoric with friendly messages!

Modi will then have to find a face-saving formula because he leads a democracy. Pakistan can take a U-turn without any risk. The Modi fans will have to justify the Prime Minister's visit to Pakistan for a South Asian summit, if that takes place. They will have to justify if New Delhi invites the Pakistani Prime Minister to watch a cricket match in India!

The Modi Government's inconsistent Pakistan policy makes the dangerous rhetoric less credible. Had it not been so, foreign TV reporters would have rushed to this region once described as the most dangerous in the world. This has not happened because these two nuclear-armed nations are still not considered quite mad.

In the crucial coming weeks, one would know whether a meaningful Indo-Pak dialogue will be resumed or new fronts of contest will be opened. Will war-mongering be followed by friendly gestures and invitations for talks? Perhaps the charade will go on because the alternative is too horrendous for the world. It looks like a flash-point but then it may not be one!

The world as well as Modi's critics and fans at home will watch the impact of his audacious move to give a new twist to India's Pakistan policy. If a nation abandons a foreign policy tempered with ethics, it must have the capacity to succeed in the world of realpolitik. The euphoric reaction being worked up in India to Modi's muscular approach will last as long as the new policy shows some success.

(Courtesy: Open Democracy)

The author is a senior journalist and writer who worked in India and abroad (notably Britain) in several major newspapers. Now retired, he is a free- lancer.

by V. Bijukumar

Politics in Arunachal Pradesh assumed a new turn in the context of the mass migration of Congress MLAs, including its Chief Minister Prema Khandu, to the People's Party of Arunachal (PPA), a regional outfit set up with the support of the BJP. When 43 Congress MLAs joined the regional party, the Congress strength in the Assembly was reduced to one as the former Chief Minister, Nabam Tuki, remained the lone Congress MLA. In the 60-member State Assembly, whose current strength is 57, the status of two MLAs, Wanglam Sawin and Gabriel D. Wangsu, is pending with the Speaker on the issue of disqualification. With the death of Kalikho Pul, the former Chief Minister, the emergence of the PPA as the single largest party is a political victory for the BJP.

The current course of events in Arunachal can be viewed as a logical continuation of the political developments taking place in the border State since the end of the previous year. For quite some time, dissident activities both in the Congress party and government had been growing and the Central leadership of the party adopted a lukewarm attitude towards it leading to further aggravation of this situation. In December 2014 Nabam Tuki dropped Kalikho Pul, the Health and Family Welfare Minister, in a Cabinet reshuffle. Amid mounting anti-party activities in the State, that posed a challenge to the government, the Congress expelled Pul alleging anti-party activities in April 2015.

In the beginning of the year, the BJP orchestrated defection in the ruling Congress party that saw political instability in the State culminating in the resignation of the Nabam Tuki Government and the House was kept under suspended animation. Subsequently, President's Rule was imposed under Article 356 on the recommendation of the Union Cabinet citing constitutional failure in the State. On February 19, 2016 the dissident Congress leader, Kalikho Pul, finally overthrew the Tuki Government with the outside support of the BJP. Although the Congress had the support of 47 MLAs in the 60-member House, 21 of them supported the rebel leader, Pul, who later formed the People's Party of Arunachal (PPA). By encouraging defection, overthrowing the incumbent government and installing a new government led by the rebel Congress leader with its outside support, the BJP scored over the Congress in the border State.

However, in a major setback to the BJP and the Central Government, the Supreme Court on July 13 ordered restoration of the Congress Government under Nabam Tuki, saying the “clock should be turned back”. It quashed the decision of the Governor, Rajkhowa, in February this year as a violation of the Constitution. The Supreme Court order had made the Congress jubilant and it termed the verdict as the victory of democracy in the State and a setback for the BJP's effort to dislodge the Congress regimes in India. However, the Governor set July 16 as the deadline for proving majority in the Assembly though Tuki sought at least ten days' time for proving the government's majority. Though Chief Minister Tuki was confident of winning the trust vote by appealing to the dissident party MLAs to support his government in the confidence motion, the Central leadership smelled the upcoming dangers to the party in the State under the leadership of Tuki. On the eve of the trust vote in the floor of the House, the Congress party decided to change its Chief Minister taking into account the mood of the dissident MLAs. The replacement of Tuki by the young Prema Khandu, the son of former Chief Minister Dorgee Khandu, not only saved the Congress Government which had to face the crucial trust vote but also put hurdles to the anticipated BJP-orchestrated defection and resolved the political instability for the time being. The change of guard in the Congress Legislature Party in Arunachal Pradesh temporarily solved the political crisis brewing in the aftermath of the reinstatement of the former Chief Minister, Nabam Tuki. It was viewed that the truce in the Congress in Arunachal Pradesh would be a personal setback for Amit Shah, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Kiren Rijiju and their strategy towards the Congress regimes in the region. The reinstatement of the Congress Government with the change of guard in Arunachal Pradesh, it was thought, would check the BJP's attempt to dislodge Congress regimes both in Manipur and Meghalaya for the time being. However, after a gap of two months the State witnessed yet another political drama by the Congress MLAs merging with the PPA, thereby not only posing a challenge to the Central leadership of the Congress party but also providing a morale booster to the BJP.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP has a history of orchestrating defections in the Congress party, bringing down Congress regimes, supporting rebel leaders to form governments with its outside support, and also merging splintered political factions with the BJP. Perhaps, the party's first ever attempt to destablise Congress governments in the North-Eastern States goes back to 2003 with the Arunachal Pradesh experiment. In July 2003, during the Vajpayee-led National Demo-cratic Alliance (NDA) Government, the dissident Congress leader, Gegong Apang, toppled the Mukut Mithi-led Congress Government with 34 Congress MLAs and became the Chief Minister of the State under the newly floated United Democratic Front (UDF), which later merged with the BJP. However, in 2004, when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government came to power at the Centre, Apang rejoined the Congress party and contested the next election under the Congress symbol.

After this failed experiment, the BJP built up its strong base in Arunachal Pradesh, and over the years its vote-share has increased by making inroads into the electoral base of the Congress. In the 2004 general election, the party could win both the seats in the State with a vote-share of 53.85 per cent. Although in the subsequent general election in 2009, the party lost both the seats to the Congress and its vote-share was reduced to 37.17 per cent, in the 2014 general election it wrested one seat from the ruling Congress with a vote-share of 46.62 per cent. In a major jolt to the ruling Congress in the State, Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and the BJP's prominent face in the North-East, wrested the Arunachal West constituency from the Congress This spectacular victory in one of the two seats in the State gave added advantage to the NDA in the region. In the State Assembly elections held along with the general election 2014, the BJP won 11 seats with a vote-share of 30.97 per cent in the 60-member Assembly against its performance in 2009 when it could secure only three seats. The Congress won 42 seats with a vote-share of 49.9 per cent and the People's Party of Arunachal won five seats and independents two.

The BJP's current effort to install the PPA-led government with its outside support has to be seen in the larger context of its politics in the region. Though the BJP's attempt to dislodge the State Congress Government began soon after the general election in 2014, this got further accelerated in the aftermath of the Assam Assembly elections in which the BJP formed its first ever government in North-East India. For instance, the recently floated North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), under the convenor-ship of Himanta Biswa Sarma, was trying to dislodge the Congress Government in the State by encouraging defections by alluring the MLAs with positions and money to achieve Amit Shah's goal of a ‘Congress-free' North-East. It needs to be underlined that in States like Manipur and Meghalaya the BJP, under the NEDA, is in a mood to dislodge the Congress governments by encouraging defections.

The political developments in Arunachal Pradesh have a bearing on other Congress-ruled States in North-East India. Political pundits opine that after the enthusiasm generated in the BJP by its emphatic victory in Assam and the reinstate-ment of a government with its outside support in Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP's next target is Manipur. It has to be mentioned that hoping to secure political power in the 2017 Assembly elections in Manipur, the BJP is alluring a section of Congress legislators and preparing a roadmap to topple the Congress Government in Manipur, led by Okram Ibobi Singh, that enjoys the support of 47 members in the 60-member Manipur Assembly. In the two Assembly constituencies where by-elections were held in November 2015, the BJP candidates defeated the ruling Congress candidates and thereby opened its account for the first time in the State. In the Thangmeiband Assembly constituency Khumukham Joy Kishan Singh and in the Thongju constituency Bishwajit Singh of the BJP defeated the Congress candidates adding another feather in the former's cap in the State. In the civic elections too, the BJP emerged as a potent force in the State. In the January 2016 municipal and nagar panchayat elections, the BJP won 62 seats in the 278-member municipal council. In the elections held on June 2, 2016 to the 27-member Imphal Municipal Corporation, the BJP emerged as the second largest party winning 10 seats after the Congress which could secure only 12 seats. The emerging trends show that the BJP is emerging as an alternative to the Congress both in the rural and urban areas keeping its goal of capturing political power in the State in the February 2017 Assembly election.

The political developments in Arunachal Pradesh may evoke an impact on the politics of Meghalaya too. It has to be noted that the BJP is desperately looking for overthrowing the Congress-led Mukul Sangma Government. As a prelude to make the State free from the Congress, the BJP is showing much interest in the internal squabbles in the State Congress led by former Chief Minister D.D. Lapang. There are reports that in the Garo region, the National People's Party of late Purno Sangma is alluring the Congress MLAs to dislodge the Mukul Sangma Government.

The author is an Associate Professor, Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawa-harlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

EDITORIAL

Fiftyone years ago, in September 1965, Pakistan had gone to war with India with the purpose of annexing the Kashmir Valley by force. This happened barely sixteen months after the demise of our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who not only defended the unity and integrity of this nation, including Kashmir, with rare foresight but also worked indefatigably to reinforce the democratic principles which constituted the bedrock of our independence and Constitution. In the Annual Number of Mainstream (which came out on September 11, 1965) it was clearly spelt out in an editorial (entitled “What We Defend in Kashmir”) that the “entire people of this country realise fully the truth of Shrimati Indira Gandhi's declaration that what is at stake in Kashmir is not only our territorial integrity but the very basis of our life as a nation, namely, secularism”.

The editorial was significant for other reasons as well. While war was raging it declared, on behalf of Mainstream, something which is highy relevant in today's context when passions are being roused by influential segments of the media, notably the electronic media, to proclaim our neighbouring country and its people as our enemies. It underlined that “we as a people have to bear in mind constantly that the people of Pakistan are our brethren, that we cannot hold them responsible for the misdeeds of their rulers who are resorting to aggression frequently only to divert the attention of the people from the misery and privation they have suffered for years. As our Prime Minister put it, we wish the people of Pakistan well.”

And then it concluded: “In the final reckoning, these two neighbours, India and Pakistan, shall have to live side by side as brothers in peace and friendship. As we defend our sacred land with all our might, we must not let iron enter into the soul of this great nation.”

After fiftyone years these words assume excep-tional importance today when the two neighbouring states are preparing to once again resume hostilities on a large scale that may or may not culminate into a full-fledged war with all its horrendous implications, given the nuclearisation of South Asia. Whatever the eventual outcome, the current sabre-rattling in India, the world's largest democracy owing allegiance to the immortal teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence, is a matter of serious concern and considerable alarm that must be openly voiced regardless of the consequences.

Lest some sections of our media, acting as the standard-bearers of jingoism, brand us as traitors and fifth-columnists, let it be made abundantly clear that there is no question of justifying whatever the non-state actors, belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad and armed to the teeth by the deep state of Pakistan, did when they attacked the Indian Army base in Uri near the LoC in the Kashmir Valley killing as many as 18 Army personnel. This was indeed a cowardly operation as it was carried out in the wee hours of September 18 when there was a change of guards and took our soldiers unawares. Of course there was a failure of intelligence on the Indian side. At the same time the Pakistani non-state actors were helped by the locals who have obviously got alienated from India due to the misgovernance of the Indian authorities on several fronts, something that must be conceded without equivocation.

The measures adopted by the Indian Government to meet the situation in the aftermath of the Uri attack leave much to be desired. As a matter of fact it must be admitted in all candour that our handling of the mass agitation in the Kashmir Valley after the death of the charismatic Hizbul leader Burhan Wani on July 8 was most unfortunate and only accentuated the public alienation from the Indian state. [The Pakistan PM's description of Burhan Wani, in his speech at the UN General Assembly, as the symbol of the latest Kashmiri intifada has been roundly condemned in India as the glorification of a terrorist but then the popularity of Wani in the Valley, especially among the youth, is a fact beyond dispute.] In this the lion's share of the blame must go to the Union Government headed by PM Narendra Modi though the State Government led by Mehbooba Mufti cannot also escape responsibility.

The Uri attack should have, in other circumstances, led to the activation of the hotline between the two PMs as had happened in the past, especially when I.K. Gujral was the head of our government for a brief period. But that was not to be as under the present dispensation that hotline no longer exists. And simultaneously PM Modi has painted himself into a corner thereby strengthening the hands of the military in Pakistan while weakening the authority of the duly elected civilian leadership represented by PM Nawaz Sharif. Now there is every possibility of Nawaz being dislodged from power with another takeover of the government by the Pakistani military.

If that happens, then who is to blame?

The answer, as we all know in Dylan Thomas' famous words, is blowin' in the wind!

Nevertheless, what needs to be emphasised once more without any trace of ambiguity is the last sentence of the editorial in the Mainstream Annual of 1965: “As we defend our sacred land with all our might, we must not let iron enter into the soul of this great nation.”

This warning carries far more weight today than when it was first conveyed fiftyone years ago for reasons which are so transparent that they don't require elucidation. This only helps to provide a measure of the regression the country has experienced in these fiftyone years.

September 22 S.C.

COMMUNICATION

Imagine a farmer family leading a secure life based on its fertile fields suddenly becoming not just landless but also homeless in the span of a few hours. This has been the tragic and traumatic experience of thousands of rural families not only this year but also in most recent years. Whether it is the Malda and Murshidabad areas of Bengal or Gazipur and Bahraich districts of Uttar Pradesh or other remote areas of Bihar and Assam, the problem of river erosion has been snatching away the farmland and homes of many rural people year after year.

While some hamlets of Gazipur, like Semra and Shivrai, suffered heavy losses in 2012-13, others have been badly eroded this year. Proud farmers were forced after the loss of their land and houses to live like refugees under the open sky for some time. Later some sought refuge on embankments and some in other places. The absence of proper policies for relief and rehabilitation has led to the denial of alternative land to these uprooted people.

According to Premnath Gupta, a represen-tative of Gaon Bachao Andolan which has been struggling for the erosion-affected people in Gazipur, despite many protests and petitions the demands for rehabilitation have not been accepted yet. He says that several villages of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, which had played a prominent role in the freedom movement, are now on the verge of being wiped out or destroyed to a large extent by river erosion.

Urgent action to help people affected by river erosion in the form of immediate relief as well as proper policies for rehabilitation is badly needed.

Bharat Dogra
C-27, Raksha Kunj, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi-110063

by Fayezah Iqbal

In the once serene and bewitchingly beautiful Kashmir Valley, unrest and wild turbulence has spelt unimaginable horror in the lives of the people. A colossal deal of irreversible damage and destruction to the lives, property and people's faith in democracy and government has been unleashed ever since the imposition of AFSPA in 1990, implemented to combat insurgency in the region primarily.

For that matter AFSPA has only added fuel to fire in all the regions where it had been implemented to contain separatist tendencies and threat, given the indemnity which safely masks the deluge of atrocities committed by the armed forces on the innocent civillian people as aptly quoted by Human Rights Watch:‘AFSPA has become a tool of oppression, state abuse and discrimination.' Even UNHCR raised concern over it in 1991 and in 2012 the UN urged India to repeal this draconian law.

Coming back to our blood-stained Valley, ever since the killing of Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016, 86 deaths have been reported following the 85th day of shutdown of colleges, universities and offices in the throes of the Army and civilian conflict. The infamous pellet guns, used recklessly to disperse the unarmed crowd, is outrageously ridiculous. It is leaving behind a trail of young disabled and scarred generation.

Now the question that needs to be answered at this juncture is whether all of this will result in any solution. The answer is an unambiguous NO. It's NO when both the State and Central governments have been inept to even barely ensure the people's security, dignity, livelihood and inclusion in the mainstream. It's NO when one after another innocents are being muted aggresively with pellet firing and rapes and unaccounted killing. It's NO when none of the perpetrators are prosecuted, but are instead awarded court martial to mock the entire gravity of the situation. It's NO when similar crowd and mob fury in other parts of the country are dissipated by innocuous tear gas, water spray and pepper spray. Not when such intermittent upheavels cripple education, trade and governance for months on. Not when these inconsolable and aggrieved souls of Kashmir are forcibly quietened by unbridled violence. And not obviously when they see their children going blind, limp and shot down by the AFSPA forces.

This is only heightening the distrust of the already alienated Kashmiris. And thus giving way to the violent outlets of the burgeoning forces of youth like the Hizbul Mujahideen who vow thereafter to avenge the insurmounatable suffering by taking up arms to counter the Army and government which they view as their united foe.

And we as a nation are not only losing numerous lives, resources, wealth and peace but also allegiance of our own countrymen. It's due time that a humane and apolitical vision is taken on the Kashmir issue. Firstly, the conundrum of what the masses in Kasmir actually want should be studied with a just perspective.

Kashmiris, first and foremost, want peace from the violence, arms and killings. They want liberation from the abnormal civilian life that they have been living amidst the millitary and separatist uprisings on one hand, and, Pakistan's assertion over the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Kashmir on the other hand, which it claims as Azad Kashmir. They want liberty from the unending saga of crackdowns, intensified surveillance, censored internet and mobile services, intrusion in their private lives, and a slew of dissapeared lives, half-widows and fake encounters.

This accounts for the unceasing unrest and inquietude in the Valley.

If one takes a cursory glance over the other AFSPA-reigned and insurgency-afflicted areas in other parts of the country, then it would be astonishing to assess that Kashmir is by far the most adversely affected area among them in terms of education, infrastructure, political representation and mainstreaming of youths. The North-East States like Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland have their own gory tales of suppression which they faced in their longstanding strife between the Indian Army and separatist forces. But they have fared well educationally and economically after the government gave them their space to live their ethnicity and individuality by safeguarding their interests constitutionally by Schedule V and VI.

Thus it becomes imperative for the government to instil similar security and confidence in Kashmir in order to first pacify the unrest.

In the light of the recent Uri attack, one can dissect prudently through the entire incident where the simmering discontent and agitation in Kashmir has been exploited to India's disadvantage by the terrorists to further aggravate the fragile condition on the Pak-Kashmir border. Thus it is expedient that the groundwork of analysing the real issues and woes of the people is dealt with in a compassionate and gentle way.

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The present uproar and such imminent outbreaks can be deintensified and dismantled only by immediate halting of the ongoing firing on civilians, fostering a one-on-one level approach, allaying the fears of the people by communicating directly to them through various government bodies, ensuring unobstructed functioning of educational institutes, livelihood and official work.

Besides this, proactive measures should be taken to engage the youth from Kashmir in various academic activities in premier schools and colleges of the country, sufficient exposure should be given to them about the life, politics, government nation and the world and thus acquainting them to a more healthy and normal state of affairs in and around the country. Giving employment opportunities will turn the tide in both Kashmir and the government's favour and dissuade them from extremist steps.

Lastly, by discarding the old sceptical and isolationist view of seeing them as an internal ‘threat to the country' and treating them at par with other citizens as valuable assets, the intrinsic healing process of their unattended wounds will be generated drawing them closer to India and identifying them as Indians.

Thus necessary pathos, political will, and homely warmth are the only ingredients to alleviate the trauma and turmoil plaguing Kashmir since decades of exclusionary violent politics. It's time that they are embraced and integrated seamlessly with fellow countrymen as our long-forsaken brethren.

Fayezah Iqbal did her Masters in Spanish from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Writing being her passion, she has been writing for various blogs since the last three years. She can be contacted at e-mail: fayezah.iqbal[at]gmail.com

by Ashfaq Maqsood Ali

Immanuel Kant, the eighteenth century philosopher and an idealist, while arguing that only pure reason can lead to truth, excluded almost everything derivable from sensation and experience. For him, things do not present themselves to the mind, through senses, as they really are. Thus, relying on sensory experience alone people only know things as they seem to be — never as they actually are. Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein in their book, Plato and a Platypus, provided a description of Kant's position, analogically, in the form of a classic joke. They rightly described that the joke sounds deliciously goofy on the surface, but speaks of the very fundamental issue, that is, the question of what sort of information about the world we can depend on. Morty comes home to find his wife and his best friend (Lou) naked together in bed. Just as Morty is about to open his mouth, Lou jumps out of the bed and says, “Before you say anything, old pal, what are you going to believe, me or your eyes?” (Plato and a Platypus, 2007, pp. 2-3)

Such a gag confused with philosophy has been described by Cathcart and Klein as philogagging. For them, this issue raises the question: what sort of data is certain and why? Is one way of gathering facts about the world (say senses) more dependable than other (say faith)? Confusions related with data sources and data accuracy create difficulties to research on the issues significant for the contemporary world. These confusions potentially lead to varied interpretations—interpretations suitable to the interests of an interpreter. Thus, semantics and semiotics turn to be tools for promoting the interests of the concerned. People are being pushed to believe in manipulated realities that are constructs of interpretations. Thus, the world has been made tactically dependent on interpretations that are varied in letter and spirit, and potentially divide the world opinion, thinking and behaviour.

The science of interpretations is known as hermeneutics. Domination of a particular interpretation over a particular individual or group is rooted in Gadamer's principle of historically effected consciousness, that is, understanding; it is situated in history and influenced by history. A particular individual or group, simultaneously, understands a particular interpretation in relation to the history they have lived. Hence, as Martin Heidegger puts it, understanding becomes a structure of being-in-the-world. It was here that Paul Ricoeur advocated for ‘distanciation' that expects a reader to stand separate from or be objective in relation to a text or an interpretation. However, is there any scope to remain objective regarding a text that changes its meaning in different contexts? As Jacqueous Derrida's aphorism ‘iterability alters' suggests, the insertion of texts into new contexts continually produces new meanings. Such a theoretical framework of hermeneutics and deconstruction certifies the possibility to change even interpre-tations with every changing context.

International politics in the twentyfirst century has witnessed a serious challenge in the form of interpretations designed to dilute the truth. It becomes hard to believe in one interpretation regarding a particular fact. For instance, it was evident that before 9/11, many attacks were attributed to the Al-Qaeda that were carried out against the United States' official establish-ments around the world. Attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in 1998 substantiate the argument. However, when the United States with its potential hard-power turned 9/11 into her advantage in the post-event scenario, a political rhetoric came into existence raising doubts regarding the real mastermind behind these attacks. The drama continued even at the time of Operation Abbottabad in which the US claimed the death of Osama bin Laden. From many quarters, there emerged doubts regarding Osama's dead body claimed by the US authorities to have been flown to the super-carrier Carl Vinson and buried in the Arabian Sea.

Similarly, after the launch of the US' Operation Global War against Terrorism, a theory of good and bad militants emerged. This idea was basically rooted in the continuous attacks since 2003 to assassinate General Pervez Musharraf, the then President of Pakistan. However, this theory gained momentum in 2010 when the US provided support to distinguish good from bad Taliban on advocacy of the then Afghan President, Hamid Karzai. Even though Pakistan somehow realised the problem with this distinction after the Peshawar school attack in December 2014, and subsequently withdrew the support for such an idea. However, there is still a controversy among Pak policy-makers to treat all terrorist groups on the same lines. Eventually, this idea of good and bad boys appeared in the Middle-East. For instance, instead of targeting specific groups in Syria, Russia took a position different from that of the US while carrying out indiscriminate attacks on all terrorist establishments with this advocacy that there was no such a distinction of ‘good and bad' amongst terrorists. Similarly, the creation of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or D'aiesh and its attacks mostly in Europe fall under the same domain of interpretations and philogagging.

The attacks carried out against India, for instance, the 2001 Parliamant attack, 2008 Mumbai attack and even Pathankot attack in January 2016 have been interpretatively overburdened under many constructs. It is quite obvious that these interpretations were mainly produced and reproduced in India and Pakistan. Leaving aside the varied perceptions of the common masses of these two countries, officially there were two divergent views and data regarding these attacks. Now, when Kashmir was boiling on one side and 71st General Assembly was scheduled simultaneously on the other side, the recent Uri attack on an Army establishment in Jammu and Kashmir has highlighted the same discourse. India is engaged in providing evidences against Pakistan and there are simultaneous interpretations from Pakistan constructing the Uri attack as India's strategic move to promote her interests while defaming Pakistan. It puts human consciousness into a dilemma that whether they should believe their sensory experiences or rely on their faith in a particular nation. It is here that patriotism and loyalty in modern democracies secure grounds for producing a particular type of thinking, opinion and behaviour.

Even in relation to the deteriorating situation of Pakistan, there are constructs that groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which are carrying out deadly attacks in Pak cities and public places, are the creation of Indian intelligence agencies. The dificulty again lies with the data to rely on. Empirical evidences gained through sense experiences support the idea that Pakistan is responsible for all its troubles as the country provided space and nurtured these terrorist organisations in Madrassas therein. However, there is an equal consideration, particularly among Pak citizens, for having faith in the Pak Government's assertion that all these issues antithetical to the interests of Pakistan are manufactured by India.

After the Uri attack, India claimed of a surgical strike across the Line of Control as reported on September 29, 2016. The media and analysts from both India and Pakistan have started interpreting the claim in varied directions.

However, it is subtle to look over such a claim within the context. India has remained a victim of terrorist organisations operative in Pakistan. Now, the global and regional contexts are supporting India's stand. Besides being a supporter of the international war against terrorism, India has won the recognition for not supporting the idea of good and bad terrorists. Failure of the US in containing the Taliban, and the resurgence of the Taliban as attributed to the Af-Pak region has put the country into a strategic leverage. Indo-Pak rivalry and Pakistan's alleged double stand on terrorism has paved the way for New Delhi's strategy to deal with regional and global terrorism. Streng-thening relations with and gaining strategic support from two Muslim nation-states of South Asia, namely, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, is of utmost significance, as both these countries have been victims of the extremist ideologies and strategies worked out in Pakistan.

Hence, India has the responsibility to engage global powers and pursuade the regional countries for eliminating terrorist networks operative within the region. Surgical strikes in foreign countries constitute one of the ways to achieve this object. Such moves can be interpreted as a breach of sovereignty of the target-countries. However, focusing on the objectives over interpretations is now being applied as a systematic doctrine in foreign policies. For instance, Operation Abbotabad and the drone strikes of the US in Pakistani territory have resulted in achieving what was otherwise impossible. India, with the support of world powers, may apply such strategic doctrines to overcome the Pakistan factor in her war against terrorism. Nevertheless, the science of interpretations will continuously act as a tool of defaming the country for her moves. Hence, it will be interesting to see India's foreign policy striving for objectives and dealing with such interpretations simultaneously.

Taking all these facts into consideration, it can be argued that international politics is functioning under the shadow of interpretations that have divided human consciousness and distanced human beings from the truth. Such dilemmas, rhetorics and things passionately interpretated and constructed are adding to the million gags. These diverse interpretations are basically structured data aimed at projection of the world according to the psycho-social history of the targeted audience. The remedy, as provided by Paul Ricoeur, is the fundamental distanciation of the reader from her/his self. However, political institutions, including those of modern democracies, never allow this idea of distanciation to prevail. Thus, the role of the state in manufacturing histories first affect the individuals/groups of a particular nation or area at the psychological level while socialising them with certain constructs. Then, the social set-up predominated by political discourses nurture these individuals/groups accordingly. This process made people to sense the essence of manufactured reality instead of the genuine truth. For instance, the consciousness of the people of India and Pakistan is rooted in history. Now, they sense everything with their precon-ceived notions against each other.

To overcome the problem of manifactured realities projected over the truth, the world civil society in general, and the common masses of India and Pakistan in particular, should take recourse from Immanuel Kants idealism. Challenging the primacy of sensory experiences, Kant maintained the existence of a universal moral law rooted in pure reason that, according to him, everyone ought to obey. This pure reason is the source of moral experience of every human being that brings them into direct contact with the reality. Overemphasis on the interpretations produced and reproduced for serving particular interests will further divide the world opinion, thinking and behaviour. Religious extremism has and will continue to act as a means for diverging human conscious-ness and concern. Instead of extremism as a product of diverse interpretations, there is focus on morality in all religions that constitute the basic essence to prioritise humanity. It is this principle of morality that will help in overcoming the challenge of constructs created by diverse interpretations.

Moral philosophy has the potential to enrich hermeneutics as a method of interpretations and research that may lead towards genuine reality. Morality even advocates for treating all religions subservient to humanity. Thus, the whole global community will be beneficial in overcoming the challenges posed by orthodox religious doctrines. Having belief on his morally experienced individual and law of progress, Immanuel Kant even dreamt of perpetual peace all over the world. The tolerant philosophy of Hinduism and the rich tradition of Islamic Sufi saints are based on morality that, if experienced, will bridge the gaps of social, psychological and even political aspects between the two nuclear powers of South Asia.

The author did his Ph.D from the Centre of Central Asian Studies, University of Kashmir. He is now a Lecturer in the Government College for Women, Srinagar. He can be contacted at e-mail: amali039[at]gmail.com