Day of reckoning

President's friend lands in Adiala Jail; SC gives 24 hours to govt to obey verdict on NRO; Swiss accounts echo in SC hearing

By Sohail Khan




ISLAMABAD: It was indeed a day of reckoning for many of the mightiest of the land. The first victim of an enraged Supreme Court, angry because its NRO judgment was not being implemented, went to jail on Tuesday and a 24-hour ultimatum was given to others to implement the court verdict, including writing the letter for the reopening the Swiss cases against President Zardari.

A six-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry directed Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Naveed Ahsen to implement the court's verdict on the NRO by tomorrow (Wednesday) after a close friend of President Asif Ali Zardari, FIA officer Ahmed Riaz Sheikh was ordered to be sent to Adiala jail.




Other members of the bench included Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Ch Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Tariq Pervez, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday.




Ahmad Riaz Shaikh was sent to jail and the court directed the chairman NAB to seize the assets of Shaikh and submit a report before the registrar of the apex court within three days. Soon after the court's order, the police took Ahmed Riaz Sheikh into its custody and shifted him to Adiala jail.




The Swiss cases and repatriation of $60 million in President Zardari's Swiss accounts reverberated repeatedly in the Supreme Court as the judges heard the chairman NAB and other officials.




Appearing on notice Chairman NAB Naveed Ahsen submitted his written statement however, the court expressed dissatisfaction over it, ruling that no progress has been made so far by NAB in the implementation of its order.




"Your report is not satisfactory Mr chairman and you will have to assure implementation of our verdict of December 16, 2009 in letter and spirit", Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said while addressing the NAB chairman.




Secretary Law Justice (retd) Muhammad Aqil Mirza also assured the court to implement the court's order of December 16, 2009 by tomorrow, including taking action against former attorney general Malik Muhammad Qayyum for writing to the Swiss authorities in connection with the cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, removal of the prosecutor general NAB as well as taking measures for establishing extra accountability courts in the country.




The court enquired of the secretary law as to why he had failed so far to take action in this regard despite the announcement of the court verdict. The secretary law, however, assured the court to implement the court's verdict by tomorrow (Wednesday).




The court while hearing a revived corruption reference against FIA's Additional Director General (Economic Crimes Wing) Ahmed Riaz Sheikh restored his punishment of five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs20 million.




The court ordered the arrest after he appeared before the court and withdrew his appeal which he had filed in the apex court against his conviction, maintained by the Lahore High Court (LHC), originally awarded by the NAB court




Ahmed Riaz Sheikh was convicted and awarded 14-year rigorous incarceration along with imposition of a Rs20-million fine and confiscation of property by an accountability court on corruption charges in 2001.




He was dismissed from service in 2002. Later, he was reinstated under the NRO in 2008 by extending benefit of doubt. Before his conviction he was serving as deputy director. Moreover, he was also promoted to the position of FIA's additional director general even after the NRO was declared null and void.




The court also expressed dissatisfaction over the replies submitted by the secretary interior, the additional secretary interior, the director general FIA, the secretary Establishment Division, the joint secretary Establishment Division and NAB's acting chairman as well as chairman NAB in connection with the implementation of court's verdict of December 16, 2009.




The court the other had issued show-cause notices to heads of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the interior ministry, and officials of the Establishment Division for failing to implement its decision of December 16, 2009 on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).




Chairman and Acting Chairman NAB Naveed Ahsen, Irfan Nadeem, Additional Secretary Interior Raja Ahsan, Secretary Establishment Ismael Qurashi submitted their written replies but the court expressed dissatisfaction over it and will give its ruling in this regard today (Wednesday).

US-Pakistan strategic dialogue: A perspective

By Bassam Javed




The present times are watching the intense international spotlight on our region evident through various seminars, conferences and inter actions between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Afghanistan. To highlight a few, a trilateral and regional summit was held in Istanbul, the SCO meeting in Moscow and most importantly, the London Conference on Afghanistan that adopted the theme of reconciliation with the Taliban besides the latest meeting of Afghan Taliban faction of Gulbadin Hekmatyar with Afghan government officials in Kabul.




The greatest turn around in the London Conference that came to fore was the overwhelming acceptance of Pakistan's indispensability if peace were to be brought to Afghanistan. Besides, a series of seminars on various aspects affecting the stability in Afghanistan is being regularly held at various Centers of Excellence in Europe and the United States are supporting the talks process with the Taliban to stabilize Afghanistan and enable US and allies to exit with heads high.




Accordingly, the Afghan government is making hectic efforts to engage various other Taliban factions also in a reconciliation bid to bring the dissidents in political mainstream of Afghan politics. The other developments include the swift capture of Marjah by the US and Nato forces and the US efforts to rebuild Helmand and install Afghan governance with placement of government servants from Kabul to take over the administration initially at Marjah and then slowly moving out to rest of the province. For those Afghans who would opt to serve there will be paid up to $300 per month as an incentive.




The awaited launch of major operation to overcome the main base of Taliban in the south at Kandahar and its spill-over not only for the US and Nato forces but also for Pakistan would also be closely watched.




The year 2010 had brought a major policy shift in the US administration as regards to the acceptance of volatile situation created by India's intransigence towards friendly relationship with Pakistan and its campaign to destabilize the latter through the use of paid violence and death using Afghanistan as a base. Though at the persuasion of the United States, India did stage foreign secretary's level talks in New Delhi but without any significant impact on the stalemate that has been a frequent phenomenon between the two nuclear states. So panicky was India observed over the strategic dialogue between Pakistan and the United States through its print and electronic media that pathetically raised an unbelievable hullabaloo over the dialogue as if the world was nearing its end.




A flurry of hi-fi visits by the US administration officials to Pakistan prior the dialogue indicated the acceptance of the United States and the international community of Pakistan's centrality to Afghan conflict which incidentally Pakistan had already been airing since ages.




Robert Gates visit took place from 21 to 22 January 2010 after having visited India where he gave a bizarre statement to appease Indians on future terrorism acts in India. The same was given a strong rebuttal when Pakistan said that the country itself faced Mumbai like attacks almost every day and in no position to comment on any or no future attacks either in India or elsewhere as Pakistan was not involved in such attacks and it cannot speak on behalf of non state actors of any country. Then we saw General James Jones, the US National Security Advisor visiting Pakistan on 11 February to be followed by Richard Holbrooke's visit on 18th of the same month. He while being in Pakistan acknowledged that Pakistan had legitimate interests in Afghanistan when Pakistan had underscored its principal position of sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity of Afghanistan as well as non-intervention and non -interference.




The fact that the latest strategic talks between the two countries will provide the trust deficit relationship some respite and may act as harbinger for cementing the relationship that is free of strains, is yet to be determined. The forthcoming attitude of the US administration to help resurrect Pakistan's ailing economy, its dire need for energy, water that is essentially its share being stolen by the Indians and the basic but essential military needs to enable Pakistan take on the Taliban with impunity, reflects the change in American perceptions towards Pakistan. The most important change that has been observed is their attitude towards Pakistan's nuclear programme. The foreign minister of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi, appeared to be more than satisfied when he told Reuters that the meetings with the US officials on nuclear cooperation, non-proliferation and nuclear export controls had gone well. It is difficult for the United States to openly declare their willingness to enter into a dialogue for provision of nuclear technology primarily because of its fears that it would up-set India. There still prevails weariness amongst the Pakistanis that this is not a short change in the US policy six months before the Congress elections and Obama's surge policy review, the strategic dialogue is not reflective of a tactical gimmickry.




The joint communiquÈ at the end of the strategic dialogue with United States has given hopes for relatively greener pastures in the future bilateral relationship. The formation of Policy Steering Group established to intensify the interaction on sectoral dialogue on economy, trade, energy, defence and security is a good omen. The US promises to upgrade its energy generation sector through various means, including nuclear at some future point of time, would certainly bring the US administration closer to the Pakistanis' hearts and minds. Thinking of the track record of nuclear safeties, Pakistan has proved its expertise being second to none.




Meanwhile, Indians continue to speculate that the US and Pakistan might have reached a secret understanding out of the dialogue on the provision of nuclear technology to Pakistan and minimizing the Indian role in Afghanistan. Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian Foreign Secretary accordingly has advised his government to remain vigilant over the overt declaration of the US that it is not interested in signing a nuclear deal with Pakistan at this point of time.




India is also skeptical of any secret understanding on Afghanistan between the United States and Pakistan that would marginalize its presence in Afghanistan. In a related development Indian political party BJP has asked the US if it was a party to the anti-India terror activities allegedly emanating from Pakistan after US Secretary's remarks that". Pakistan struggles are my struggles". Interestingly, India appears to have lost its sleep over the prospects of Pakistan becoming the sole caretaker for Afghanistan's stability. Pakistan's foreign ministry has rejected the jittery Indian reaction over the strategic dialogue so conspicuous in all the facets of Indian hierarchy.




Nevertheless, it is an established fact that both America and Pakistan need each other. How the process agreed upon in Washington would churn out, it is difficult to predict. The turf henceforth will surely be tough for confronting the upcoming challenges that the age old marred relationship would abundantly. It will be challenging for the United States to don its image of a fair weather and a usurper whose traditional walk-a-ways from scenarios involving the state of Pakistan left the latter tottering each time resurrect its institutions, governance, economy and security.




The other aspect is that how far and fast America would go to follow the words with deeds for helping Pakistan rebuild its economy, energy, infrastructure and security. It will be equally challenging for Pakistan as it has to continue to fight the extremists and terrorists with associated heavy costs, work towards softening the anti-Americanism so abundantly found in the middle-class and down below and resist efforts to disburse Kerry-Lugar aid through NGOs by surgical cleansing of its related institutions to win trust of aid providers.




This recently concluded dialogue has given hopes and offered a potential opportunity to both the countries to cease the moment and change things around in the context of long term US-Pakistan relationship.

Pakistan, US agree to channelise FoDP aid through 'Assignment Account'

ISLAMABAD: In a major development, Pakistan and USA have agreed to channelise over $800 million project financing committed at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) through official 'Assignment Account', enabling Islamabad to get the whole picture about pouring millions of dollars into the country, which will be utilised through local as well as international NGOs.




Pakistan's representatives from Economic Affairs Division (EAD), the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan and visiting USAID high-ups held crucial talks here on Tuesday during which it was decided that the flow of US money would be channelised through the Assignment Account, which will be opened at the National Bank of Pakistan with the consent of the central bank.




After putting the money into the Assignment Account by Washington authorities, it will be diverted into accounts of projects being executed into the domain of certain ministries/ divisions or departments with full knowledge of Islamabad's authorities.




Although, the high-powered delegation of USAID was completely convinced of using the Assignment Account for upcoming disbursements, the authorities concerned at Washington would ultimately grant the final approval to this mechanism. Concerns were expressed by Islamabad that the major flaw of project financing was that the authorities had no clue where the money is going to be spent.




Although, the Obama administration is unwilling to disburse its major chunk of upcoming assistance in the shape of budgetary support but it was an achievement that Washington agreed to put in place by opening the Assignment Account in order to keep the official circles on updated about disbursements of US money flowing into the country.




"Today, we presented an extensive briefing about the procedures required for operating through assignment account and the visiting three-member delegation of USAID have agreed to disburse the amount by keeping official channels update on day to day developments," a senior official of the Economic Affairs Division said on Tuesday.




He said that the US authorities got briefing to equip themselves about the procedures of assignment account, as they would track down the money for ensuring transparency of the disbursed amount.




He said that that USA had committed to disburse $1 billion during Tokyo's conference of FoDP in the current fiscal year. The official working paper, prepared by the EAD, showed that the US announced the whole $1 billion assistance in shape of grants. Out of total $1 billion, there was $174 million in shape of budgetary support, which had already been received by Islamabad. The remaining amount of $826 million would be disbursed in shape of project financing.




According to the latest estimates of EAD, the USA would disburse two instalments worth $260 million and $195 million respectively within the remaining few months before end of the ongoing fiscal year. It was not yet known that whether the USA would disburse the remaining amount of $400 million within this financial year or it would be disbursed by the next financial year 2010-11.

Hyderabad riots: Blame game begins in Congress

IANS

Hyderabad: In a major embarrassment for the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh, a section of its leaders from Telangana have openly charged their own party colleagues from two other regions of being involved in the communal riots in Hyderabad.




Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Yashki Goud has said that the riots were a conspiracy by leaders from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions as those opposing the demand for statehood to Telangana had been warning Muslims that communal tensions would rise in the separate state.




"It is a conspiracy similar to the one against Chenna Reddy's government to remove him from power," said Yashki referring to the 1990 communal riots of Hyderabad. Rivals of former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, both within the Congress and in the opposition, had alleged that he was behind the riots to dislodge Reddy from power.




Senior Congress legislator Shankar Rao has also alleged that those opposing Chief Minister Rosaiah were behind the riots to defame him and his government.




Their allegations evoked sharp reaction from Congress legislators belonging to Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, who demanded disciplinary action against them.




Congress sources said party's state unit president D. Srinivas spoke to Yashki, Rao and another MP V. Hanumantha Rao warning them against making any allegations over riots.




Sporadic incidents in curfew-bound areas of Hyderabad




In the state assembly on Tuesday, Rosaiah had to face embarrassing moments when Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu referred to the statements made by these Congress leaders and demanded a thorough probe and stern action against those involved.




"We are not saying anything but your own party leaders have made certain statements. A thorough probe should be ordered to find out if your own party people are involved or there are other unidentified elements behind the riots," the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president said amid protests by treasury benches.




Earlier, Rosaiah, in his statement, appealed to people to maintain peace and urged all political parties to rise above political differences to cooperate in restoring normalcy in the state.




Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator Ahmed Pasha Khadri on Tuesday said his party has already given to the government the names of individuals and the party involved in the violence and demanded action against the guilty.

ISI: Essential for National Interest

By Sajjad Shaukat

To defend the country and protect the people from external and internal threat is the primary aim of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) at this critical juncture, while Pakistan has been facing multiple subversive acts being conducted by the foreign enemies.

No doubt, every country has a superior intelligence agency to protect the national interest of the state. American CIA, Russian KJB, British MI-6 etc. might be cited as an instance. Just like other spy agencies, ISI keeps a vigilant eye on the borders, assesses the nefarious designs of the enemies and counters anti-Pakistan schemes.

Despite its limited resources, ISI has proved the most effective intelligence agency in safeguarding the national interests of Pakistan. It is owing to its accurate information and excellent performance that this agency has irked the eyes of India, Israel and the US which leave no stone unturned in raising false allegations against it as part of their unfinished agenda against Pakistan. While tarnishing the image of ISI, secret agencies of these countries, RAW, Mossad and CIA have been acting upon their anti-Pakistan plan.

It is mentionable that without showing any solid evidence, since November 26, 2008, while manipulating the Mumbai tragedy and concealing Hindu terrorists behind it, India has been blaming Pakistan's banned Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jamaatud Dawa for alleged links with the ISI.

While a few days after the Mumbai carnage, the then Indian Minority Affairs Minister Abdul Rahman Antulay who changed his statement afterwards due to an unending pressure of Hindu fundamentalist parties, BJP, Shiv Sena and RSS, had stated in the Lok Sabha that the killing of Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare in Mumbai during terror attacks was a conspiracy-indicating, "he was shot due to his leading role in the investigation against Hindus regarding the 2006 Malegaon bombings".

However, instead of showing any proof, Indian leadership and media had coined a number of fictitious stories about the arrested gunman, Ajmal Kasab to prove the involvement of Pakistan and the ISI which is the first defence line of our country in thwarting the conspiracy of external enemies.

Nevertheless, blame game against ISI is not confined to India, on December 15, 2008, US Senator John Kerry remarked that ISI must be brought under control. Before him, US Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher had said that ISI needed to be reformed. Nevertheless, intermittently, US high officials and media have been accusing Pakistan's army and our superior spy agency of cross-border terrorism in Afghanistan and the Indian-held Kashmir.

For example, in July and August, 2008, The New York Times claimed presumed ties between Pakistan's ISI and the Taliban of Afghanistan, alleging this agency for the bombing of Indian embassy in Kabul. In that context, Indian National Security Advisor M.K Narayanan had pointed out; "The ISI needs to be destroyed." These false accusations still keep ongoing in one or the other form.

Question arises as to why US-led India and some countries have been targeting our superior spy agency? We cannot see their vile propaganda against ISI in isolation as there are a number of nefarious designs which are part of the international plot against Pakistan which is the only Islamic country, possessing nuclear weapons. ISI is also being defamed because it not only counters the threat of foreign intelligence agencies against the integrity of Pakistan but also protects the nuclear weapons and atomic installations of our country. America, India and Israel are exaggerating that safety of the atomic weapons is doubtful as these can go in the hands of Al Qaeda operatives who are likely to use them inside the US and Europe. The purpose behind is to convince Washington to continue air strikes on Pakistan's tribal areas, and to expand the same to the settled areas of FATA including Balochistan. Without any doubt, sporadic attacks by American drones are the worse example of cross-border terrorism.

Being essential for our national interest as the first pillar of our country, ISI has become target of the external intrigue.

As a matter of fact, US, India, Afghanistan and Israel have intensified their collective covert strategic game by exploiting Pakistan's present multiple crises which they have themselves created through their secret agencies. While acting upon anti-Pakistan conspiracy, they, sometimes, take new turns in their continued campaign in tarnishing the image of our Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. Rather, they have badly failed in crushing the stiff resistance of Afghan Taliban and Kashmiris who have been fighting against the occupying forces. In this respect, senseless accusations against ISI are essential for these countries to divert the attention of their publics from their frustrated misadventure in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Particularly, it has become fashion in India to blame ISI for every mishap to conceal RAW-backed Hindu terrorism. In the past, concrete evidence has surprised the international community about Hindu terrorism. On April 6, 2008 in the secret office of Bajrang Dal extremists in Nanded, a bomb exploded. The investigation proved that the militants of Bajrang Dal were engaged in bomb-making. In that context, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested a serving Lt. Col. Srikant Purohit and other army officials, having close ties with prominent politicians of BJP, VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal. Inquiry revealed that these army officers helped train the Hindu terrorists, supplying them military-grade explosive RDX, used in the Malegaon bombings and various terrorist attacks in the Indian cities. ATS also indicated that Lt. Col. Purohit was involved in bombing of Samjhota express, which burnt alive 68 Pakistanis.

Before these proofs, Indian leaders were accusing Pakistan's ISI in connection with the bombings of the Indian cities and Samjhota express.

Besides, under the cover of blame game against ISI, New Delhi also wants to distract the attention of the west from her own atrocities, being perpetrated on the innocent Kashmiris in the occupied Kashmir. Since 1989, Indian military troops have massacred more than 200000 innocent people through barbaric methods of ethnic cleansing. Notably, in the last two years, more than 3000 unmarked graves of the unidentified bodies of the Muslims were uncovered in the Indian-held Kashmir. Sources suggest that these graves include bodies of extrajudicial executions committed by the Indian military and RAW.

It is well-established fact that CIA-led RAW and Mossad have been creating unrest in our country on massive scale. Penetration of foreign agents along with sophisticated weaponry and explosives in various cities of Pakistan has become a routine matter, while suicide attacks and targeted killings have become every day occurrence. In this context, Afghanistan where India already set up terrorist training camps has also started building new cantonment areas. Besides, causing lawlessness in our country, another aim behind is also to get a strategic depth to encircle Pakistan with the tactical support of the US.

As regards Indo-Israeli nexus against Pakistan, during Mumbai devastation, attack on the Jewish Center (Nariman House) surprised the Indians as they never knew about it and clandestine presence of Israeli commandos there.

The misdeeds of anti-ISI agencies are known to every one. In that respect, Ramzi Yousaf who was well-aware of the activities of the American and Israeli secret agencies had stated in the US court in 1997, "You are butchers, liars, and hypocrites. You keep on talking about terrorism to the media, but behind closed doors you support terrorism".

On August 8, 2007, Major Tanvir Hussain Syed (R), the former Parliamentary Secretary for Defence accused American CIA of killing Chinese nationals in Pakistan to harm the cordial relations between Islamabad and Beijing.

On a number of occasions, ISI has castigated various plots against our country. In this connection, in the Zia regime, New Delhi had made a secret plan to suddenly attack Pakistan through operation, Brosstac. And it also prepared a joint plan with the help of Israel to destroy Kahuta nuclear plant through a surgical strike. Nevertheless, all these external schemes were failed due to the pre-information of ISI. Some other deeds like thwarting subversive acts, capturing foreign spies, renowned terrorists, fake currency notes etc. inside Pakistan might also be cited as an example.

While, at present, our country is facing multi-faceted threats, no doubt, ISI is essential for our national interest.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Child labour in Gujarat's cottonseed farms

Labour contractors and large landowners continue to employ children, often exposing them to vulnerable situations. Extreme poverty in Rajasthan's tribal districts fuels the practice.

Pradeep Baisakh

In 2006 July a group of 19 adolescent boys and girls from Kherwada block of Udaipur district were hired through a middleman to work in a cottonseed farm in Mehsana district of Gujarat. There, according to the older girls in the group, the owner of the farm and his partners sexually harassed three of them. When the girls resisted, some of the group members including one girl were severally beaten and thrown out of the field. With no money in their pockets, the group had to walk back for three days and two nights to reach home.

Approximately one lakh children from the tribal-dominated southern districts of Rajasthan are trafficked to northern Gujarat to work in cottonseed fields every year. For many years now, there have been reports of sexual harassment, physical and mental torture, long hours and harsh conditions of work, low wages, as well as unsafe and unhygienic living conditions on these farms. Every year there have been cases of deaths of children; in 2009 there were as many as 11 such reports. Some of these are from snake bites and exposure to pesticides; but more gruesome than these are the rape-and-murder reports.

High incidence of child labour

India is the biggest cotton producing country in the world. Three states - Gujarat, Maharastra and Andhra Pradesh - contribute three-fourths of the total cotton production in the country. Gujarat is also among the leading cottonseed producing states in the country. Since much of the work in cottonseed farms is carried out manually, a large workforce is engaged in the work, primarily cross-pollination of seeds. It is estimated that about 2.5 lakh labourers are employed in about 25,000 acres of farm under cottonseed production in the state.

In 2007, Dakshin Rajasthan Mazdoor Union (DRMU) conducted a study in cottonseed farms in Gujarat, and found that about one-third of the total workforce is below 14 years of age, and another 42 per cent in the age group of 15-18. A little less than half of these children, in both age groups, are girls. Children are also employed in other work in the cotton production chain i.e. in cotton farms and in ginning factories. As a result of mounting pressure from rights activists, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have both accepted that children are employed in their farms, and promised steps to correct this. The Gujarat government, however, has yet to even accept the fact.

Recruitment by middlemen

Cottonseed farming is carried out in the northern districts of Gujarat - Sabarkantha, Banaskantha, Mehasan and Gandhinagar - by a small number of farmers with very large land-holdings. Labourers in these farms are employed through a system of middlemen, who operate as labour contractors. A two-tier contractor system prevails; the bigger contractors are direct agents of the farmers. The smaller contractors, on the other hand, are members of the same community as the labourers.

About 80 per cent of the labourers are tribals, mostly Bhils, Grasias and others from Dungerpur, Udaipur, Banswara and elsewhere in southern Rajasthan, while a small portion are from Gujarat itself.

These small contractors bring the children and adult labourers of their community to work in the farms. Both sets of contractors get their commissions for supplying labourers. Payment is made in advance to the middlemen, who then give it in turn to the labourers (or to the parents of the children, in the case of child labourers). This system has ensured the sustenance of the labour supply. By taking the advance money, the labourer makes an unwritten 'commitment of bondage' to stay in the field throughout the season.

Cross pollination generally takes place between July and October every year. The children are loaded in vehicles and transported from Rajasthan to Gujarat at night to evade the eyes of the law. At the workplace, the child has to work for about 10-12 hours a day. All children stay in the farm under open tents or make-shift houses, where they are susceptible to snake bites and other such risks. Generally both boys and girls stay in common accommodations. Due to this unsafe living condition, the adolescent girls have been subject to sexual harassment.

In two-thirds of the cases, the child is sent to work by parents against his/her will. The children therefore miss their homes and their education. The children are usually given roughly two-thirds of the daily minimum wage; they get about daily wages of 70-75 rupees against the statutory minimum wages of 100 rupees for eight hours of work. Several laws like the Inter State Migrant Workmen Act, Minimum Wages Act and Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, Bonded labour (Abolition) Act etc. are violated routinely.

Forced migration

The tribal areas of Rajasthan are highly backward districts; the hilly terrain in these areas makes cultivation very difficult. Continuous drought also makes agriculture an unreliable and unsustainable occupation. Sudhir Katyal of DRMU says, "migration is a major means to livelihood for people here, who go to other states to work in cottonseed farming, cotton ginning industries and brick kilns. About two-thirds of their income comes from the work done outside."

During my interaction with the villagers of Paldeval Panchayat in Dungarpur district, the villagers could not answer why they send their children to cottonseed fields in stead of the adults going to work, though they admitted that it's not a good practice. The poverty of people forces them to fall into the shrewd design developed over a period of time to attract and employ children in these farms.

At the workplace, the adolescent boys and girls can freely associate with each other; middlemen rely on this to entice the children to come to farms through 'peer group mobilisation'. In some cases the children leave their homes and come to work in farms even without the knowledge of the parents. Children are preferred over the adults in cottonseed farms for two reasons. The primary reason is that children are manipulable and can be made to work for lesser wages; also, some employers claim "the height of the cottonseed plants makes it easier for the children to do the pollination rather than the adults."

DRMU's intervention

The intervention by DRMU began in 2006. The local middlemen, who hail from the community, were unionised and helped to bargain with the big contractors and landowners to stop child labour and raise wages. The transportation of children was highlighted in the media, and also found good support form the local administration, and the National Committee on Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). They took the help of the police to start check gates on the routes used by the contractors to take the children to Gujarati farms, and succeeded in preventing some children form being taken out.

But gradually the union faced a backlash from the mighty landowning Seths of Gujarat, and by all those who stand to benefit from the child trafficking. There were instances of murderous attacks on the promoters of the union, like Madan Vaishnav. The small contractors also gradually withdrew their cooperation from the union due to pressure from the big contractors and the Seths. Some parents also began opposing the union, as its position and activism hampered their income from child labour. Poverty in the area is high. In Dungerpur district, the hundred days of work under NREGA is not sufficient for the people to stop sending their children to work.

A joint study conducted by OECD Watch, the India Committee on Netherlands and others in 2007 suggests more than 4 lakh children are made to work in India in hybrid cottonseed production. The child labour in these farms first came to light towards the end of last century. (Above: Ramila 14, Hanju 14 and Deepak, 13 from Dungarpur district worked in Cottonseed farms in Gujarat.)

Sudhir Katyal of the Union says "Unionising the small contractors was an anti-strategy. Initially that was the feasible strategy as one cannot unionise the children. Now we have to organise the parents and inculcate in them the concepts of child rights." Now the grassroots activists like Karolal from Dungarpur and others like him organise meetings in the villages and convince parents not to send their children for work.

MNC seed companies

With the introduction of BT hybrid seed in 2002 the cotton yields rose, and more farmers turned to cotton farming. The production, procurement and distribution of the cottonseed is closely controlled by a handful of private companies by a system of company-appointed organisers and agents, who distribute the parent seed to the farmers for production of cottonseed. The farmers have to sign contracts with the seed companies to return all their produce to them in lieu of getting the parent seed at a pre-decided price. This monopoly of the seed companies increased the demand for cheap labour, and correspondingly, the incidence of child labour also rose.

In recent years, research studies on child labour in the region have brought the spotlight on seed companies, in particular the multinational Monsanto and its Indian partners, in the production of cottonseed. Mansanto, in its human rights policy, mentions that it would not tolerate any form of exploitative child labour in line with standards of ILO conventions. Activists allege that although the company has acknowledged the presence of child labour in the cottonseed farms (particularly in Andhra Pradesh), it has done a precious little to address the situation. Other seed companies like Mahyco and Nuziveedu also face similar accusations of ignoring child labour on their farms.

What can be done?

A multi-pronged approach may be needed for addressing the issue. The role of the seed companies and their impact on child labour should be probed, and necessary regulations adopted. The wider issue of seed policy also needs to be looked into. Intervention by both the Central and State governments is needed to address the economic conditions in the tribal belt of Rajasthan, including by increasing the entitlements under NREGA and bringing all families in these backward districts under the coverage of the Targeted Public Distribution System.

Other steps are also needed: strengthening the implementation of the child nutrition schemes like ICDS; making enough arrangements for the education of the children under the recently enacted Right to Education legislation; and stricter implementation of the child labour prohibition law.

Air India Losses Plane Mess

A PARLIAMENTARY PANEL SAYS THE MERGER OF AIR INDIA WITH INDIAN AIRLINES IS A DISASTER. BUT MINISTER PRAFUL PATEL IS DEFIANT AND WANTS TO SINK MORE MONEY INTO IT, REPORTS SHANTANU GUHA RAY

THREE YEARS ago, on March 19, 2007, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel announced his mega plan of being a game changer in the Indian skies by merging the state-owned Indian Airlines (then a profitable venture) and the perennially lossmaking Air India.

Mayday Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is not keen on bailing out the national carrier

The idea, based on a recommendation to the Centre by consulting firm Accenture, was to create a monolith and spread its dragnet under the cloak of the ubiquitous Maharajah, the mascot of a hospitable Indian king, across the nation and the world. But last week - ironically on the same date - a parliamentary panel declared the merger a big failure, saying it had only messed the state carriers. It added that it would be difficult to sustain the controlling company NACIL (National Aviation Company of India Limited).

NACIL's balance sheet makes for disturbing reading. Losses for Air India stood at a whopping Rs 7,200 crore in 2009-10, more than double the Rs 2,226 crore for 2007-08. The Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) of Parliament, which prepared the study, is understandably worried. COPU has already called the amalgamation "ill-conceived, whimsical and a marriage of two incompatible individuals" and wondered whether Patel and his ministry ever had a blueprint for the future. Worse, it has called for an inquiry into the mess.

'We cannot separate the two airlines again,' says Patel, but admits losses will continue for at least five years

Consider this. A study by the Civil Aviation Ministry showed entitlement for traffic rights last year increasing by over 400,000 seats per week for all airlines operating out of India. But the foreign carriers and domestic airlines are utilising it 25 per cent better than Air India. Traffic rights are bilateral facilities offered by the host country to all domestic and international airlines.

Patel, who told Parliament three weeks ago that losses would definitely continue for at least another five years, is still defiant and says the merger was a well-conceived plan. "We cannot separate the two airlines again," he told TEHELKA in what appeared to be a counter to the COPU note that asked the government to separate the domestic and international airlines under a single holding company. In short, NACIL can continue but not as a merged entity.

Patel has many explanations for the mess. One of the biggest reasons is that he had to fund a 2005 commitment for a 111-aircraft order worth $15 billion placed with Boeing and Airbus. This came on the back of global recession, high prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), increased competition because of India's open sky policy and declining passenger revenue (from Rs 10,242 crore in 2006- 07 to Rs 9,954 crore in 2007-08). Low freight revenue (from Rs 747.63 crore to Rs 672.65 crore during this period) and increased staff costs (from Rs 2,730 crore to Rs 3,824 crore) further compounded matters. On top of this, aircraft utilisation is at a low of nine hours per day while the benchmark is 16 hours. Domestic passengers are not favouring the airline either. In February 2010, Air India carried 6.63 lakh domestic passengers, much less than Kingfisher Airlines at 8.77 lakh and Jet Airways at 7.26 lakh. It accounted for 17.2 per cent of market share and a passenger load of 72 per cent, the lowest among all major carriers.

One of NACIL's new directors, Amit Mitra, also the Secretary-General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), says drastic workforce restructuring is required. "The cost overhead is high and needs to change. But if there is an issue of workforce restructuring and it becomes a politically sensitive issue, one can look at enlarging the customer base," Mitra told TEHELKA.

IN A TAILSPIN


Pre and Post-Merger Profit and Loss of the Airlines





Illustration: VIKRAM NONGMAITHEM

But sources within the ministry say this is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, many top officials agree in clear-cut terms with the note COPU sent to Parliament. They say the merger process was to be completed by mid-2009 but till date, NACIL is just half way through. The synergy has worked well in the integration of network, cross-utilisation of aircraft fleet, leveraging scale for joint procurement like insurance and fuel, and the opportunity to join the global leading airline network Star Alliance, which offers customers worldwide reach and a smooth travel experience. But the merger has not worked in areas like manpower, properties and facilities integration, cross-utilisation of resources, IT augmentation and launching new subsidiaries such as maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) and ground handling. "The have-nots have totally outweighed some of the benefits the merger achieved," says India's top aviation expert, Kapil Kaul.

The Union Cabinet is also worried, wondering if a strategic sell-off of assets is the best way to solve the crisis. The bulk of Air India's woes stem from its 30 lossmaking international routes where it loses Rs 3,000 crore a year, the biggest chunk from the daily non-stop Delhi/Mumbai- New York Boeing flights that accounts for Rs 750 crore a year. A Group of Ministers (GoM) set up to look into the crisis has recommended immediate shutting down of the routes, even if it means the airline losing its much-vaunted national carrier tag. It is reliably learnt that GoM chairman Pranab Mukherjee has told Patel that he needs to decide if Air India wishes to fly abroad or at home. Mukherjee, in his capacity as Union Finance Minister, is also not too keen on strategic divestment which Patel sees as a long-term viable option for the carrier since the gap that has to be made good is far too large. Mukherjee has made it clear that the government cannot continuously pump money into NACIL and has said the Cabinet will decide on formulating a plan to resurrect Air India - including any move to slash the wages of an estimated 31,000 employees. That Mukherjee is not keen on a bailout is evident from the fact that the government has not agreed to Patel's request to convert Air India's high-cost debt into a lowcost one. And then there is the loss of over $700 million because of Boeing's failure to deliver 27 B787 aircraft which forced Air India to cancel the order.

A worried Union Cabinet wonders if a strategic sell-off of Air India assets is the best way to solve the crisis

YET, SOME of the funds - despite Mukherjee's apparent discomfort - are headed Air India's way. It has already got Rs 400 crore as a first tranche towards equity infusion as against its demand for Rs 5,000 crore. Sources told TEHELKA that Air India and Air India Charter also aim to raise a combined Rs 798 crore ($175 million) through their maiden bond issues to buy planes from Boeing. The governmentbacked bonds will be used to buy seven Boeing 777 planes and three Boeing 737-800 planes for Air India's international operations. Tapping the corporate bond market may help Air India to widen its investor portfolio and cut costs in a market bereft of investor confidence. There are other moves to cut costs. Air India will be relocating some of its pilots away from Delhi to southern cities for Southeast Asia and West Asia routes to curb wasteful expenditure like flying allowances for NACIL pilots which are Rs 2,000 per hour higher than international norms.

But that, unfortunately, is still not enough for Patel and his team.

WRITER'S EMAIL:


shantanu@tehelka.com

Attention Deficit Democracy

By Ralph Nader


Nader.org

A society not alert to signs of its own decay, because its ideology is a continuing myth of progress, separates itself from reality and envelops illusion.

One yardstick by which to measure the decay in our country's political, economic, and cultural life, is the answer to this question: Do the forces of power, which have demonstrably failed, become stronger after their widely perceived damage is common knowledge?

Economic decay is all around. Poverty, unemployment, foreclosures, job export, consumer debt, pension attrition, and crumbling infrastructure are well documented. The self-destruction of the Wall Street financial giants, with their looting and draining of trillions of other people's money, have been headlines for two years. During and after their gigantic taxpayer bailouts from Washington, DC, the banks, et al, are still the most powerful force in determining the nature of proposed corrective legislation.

"The banks own this place," says Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), evoking the opinion of many members of a supine Congress ready to pass weak consumer and investor protection legislation while leaving dominant fewer and larger banks.

Who hasn't felt the ripoffs and one-sided fine print of the credit card industry? A reform bill finally has passed after years of delay, again weak and incomplete. Shameless over their gouges, the companies have their attorneys already at work to design around the law's modest strictures.

The drug and health insurance industry, swarming with thousands of lobbyists, got pretty much what they wanted in the new health law. Insurers got millions of new customers subsidized by hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars with very little regulation. The drug companies got their dream-no reimportation of cheaper identical drugs, no authority for Uncle Sam to bargain for discount prices, and a very profitable extension of monopoly patent protection for biologic drugs against cheaper, generic drug competition.

For all their gouges, for all their exclusions, their denial of claims and restrictions of benefits, for all their horrendous price increases, the two industries have come out stronger than ever politically and economically. Small wonder their stocks are rising even in a recession.

The junk food processing industry-on the defensive lately due to some excellent documentaries and exposes-are still the most influential of powers on Capitol Hill when it becomes to delaying for years a decent food safety bill, using tax dollars to pump fat, sugar and salt into the stomachs of our children, and fighting adequate inspections. Over seven thousand lives are lost due to contaminated food yearly in the US and many millions of illnesses.

The oil, gas, coal and nuclear power companies are fleecing consumers and taxpayers, depleting and imperiling the environment, yet they continue to block rational energy legislation in Congress to replace carbon and uranium with energy efficiency technology and renewables.

Still, even now after years of cost over-runs and lack of permanent storage for radioactive wastes, the nuclear industry has President Obama, and George W. Bush before him, pushing for many tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer loan guarantees for new nukes. Wall Street won't finance such a risky technology without you, the taxpayers, guaranteeing against any accident or default.

Both Democrats and Republicans are passing on these outrageous financial and safety risks to taxpayers.

Congress, which receives the brunt of this corporate lobbying-the carrot of money and the stick of financing incumbent challengers-is more of an obstacle to change than ever. In the past after major failures of industry and commerce, there was a higher likelihood of Congressional action. Recall, the Wall Street and banking collapse in the early 1930s. Congress and Franklin Delano Roosevelt produced legislation that saved the banks, peoples' savings and regulated the stock markets.

From the time of my book, Unsafe at Any Speed's publication in late November 1965, it took just nine months to federally regulate the powerful auto industry for safety and fuel efficiency.

Contrast the two-year delay after the Bear Stearns collapse and still no reform legislation, and what is pending is weak.

Yet the entrenched members of Congress, responsible for this astonishing gridlock, are almost impossible to dislodge even though polls have Congress at its lowest repute ever. It is a place where the majority is terrified of the corporations and the minority can block even the most anemic legislative efforts with archaic rules, especially in the Senate.

Culturally, the canaries in the coal mine are the children. Childhood has been commercialized by the giant marketers reaching them hour by hour with junk food, violent programming, video games and bad medicine. The result-record obesity, child diabetes and other ailments.

While the companies undermine parental authority, they laugh all the way to the bank, using our public airwaves, among other media, for their lucre. They can be called electronic child molesters.

We published a book in 1996 called Children First!: A Parent's Guide to Fighting Corporate Predators in the Media. This book is an understatement of the problem compared to the worsening of child manipulation today.

In a 24/7 entertained society frenetic with sound bites, Blackberries, iPods, text messages and emails, there is a deep need for reflection and introspection. We have to discuss face to face in living rooms, school auditoriums, village squares and town meetings what is happening to us and our diminishing democratic processes by the pressures and controls of the insatiable corporate state.

And what needs to be done from the home to the public arenas and marketplaces with old and new superior models, new accountabilities and new thinking.

For our history has shown that whenever the people get more engaged and more serious, they live better on all fronts.

Tehran snubs Delhi: Indian FM, PM trips canceled

Rupee News

Indo-Iranian relations have hit a new nadir with visits by the FM, and even the PM being canceled due to the snub from the Iranians. The relations have plummeted since Delhi stabbed Iran at the IAEA (India votes against Iran at IAEA) and then launched an Iran specific satellite for Israel.

The geopolitical situation in the Greater Middle has changed. All the countries of the region are tired of Bharati (aka Indian) machinations and like all her neighbors are weary of Bharati hegemony.

Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan have already made decision on the dispensation in Kabul. That agreement was signed between the three countries in Teheran. That agreement was then taken to all the immediate neighbors of Afghanistan and it was endorsed in Istanbul (sans India). Those two agreements were instrumental in getting 62 countries to consecrate the Pakistani point of view of talking to the Taliban and putting in place a broad based Pakhtun government in Kabul which would not be inimical to Islamabad.

Delhi is trying to scratch a hole into that wall of resistance-and not getting a toe hold. Bharati politicians have gone far and wide to try to get somewhere to get a sympathetic ear. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even went to the Saudis and came back empty handed. They invited President Gul of Turkey, but he frankly told them that they Turkey could not displease the Pakistanis. A discussion was attempted with Iran, but the current news emanating from Delhi seem to indicate that the Iranians are in no mood to talk to the Bharatis.

NEW DELHI: India's attempts to step up engagement with Iran on crucial regional issues, including Afghanistan, appear to have suffered a setback, with foreign minister S M Krishna calling off his visit to Tehran at the last moment amid signs of indifference on the part of the hosts.

Krishna decided not to go after the Iranians abruptly changed dates twice. It is not known if the visit will take place in the near future.

Sources revealed that Krishna reacted to Iran's wriggling out of the dates it had intimated to India for the second time by saying prior commitments prevented him from making the visit.

India refrained from taking issue with Iran, but sources said that Tehran's fickleness over the dates could result from a possible reluctance on Iran's part after India took a stand favouring International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolutions against it for pressing ahead with its nuclear programme.

Bharat is facing failure on multiple fronts. It expulsion from Afghanistan can be gauged by the opinion columns of the pundits in Delhi and by the discussion about the withdrawal dates. It discussions with Kabul are on hold after Delhi's blunder in supporting Mr. Karzai's rival Mr. Abdullah. Delhi's relationship with Washington is once again held hostage to parity with Islamabad. The Bharati relationship with Lanka was destroyed after it was caught supporting the rival presidential candidate and its proxy the LTTE was decimated on the Buddhist island paradise. All these are now being bundled as "malaise" by experienced Bharati diplomats like Ambassador Bhadrakumar.

The fiasco with Tehran is not an isolated item, it is emblematic of the bad policies of the past decades when Bharat parked the Tricolor on the wrong side of history. Bharat supported the USSRs invasion and did not work for the liberation of Afghanistan. In fact it opposed it. Bharat worked with the Soviet puppets like Mr. Najibullha who was found hanging for a lamp-post right after the last tank of the USSR left. Many predicts that the same end awaits Bharat's partners in Kabul-the minority Northern Alliance.

Manmohan's Iran visit also on hold

External affairs minister S M Krishna, an official revealed, had last month agreed to visit Tehran after receiving an invitation from his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki. In the invitation, Mottaki said he wanted Krishna to take part in Navroze celebrations. March 28 and 29 were the dates communicated for the visit.

Tehran later asked that the dates be changed to March 30 and 31. Krishna accepted and agreed to travel on the revised dates suggested by Tehran, only to find the Iranians seeking to change the dates for again, this time to March 27 and 28.

This time the foreign ministry conveyed Krishna's inability to make it on the new dates. Sources said that by the time this second change was communicated to the ministry of external affairs (MEA) by the Iranian embassy in Delhi, Krishna's visit to Singapore had already been announced. Iranian embassy officials told the MEA that they wanted the dates changed again because of Navroze celebrations on March 27 and 28.

The message from Tehran is clear. It canceled a $6 billion LNG contract right after Delhi stabbed Tehran at the IAEA. Iran has steadfastly refused to honor Bharat's request to resurrect the LNG deal. The main impediment to Iran-Delhi relations is Bharats deep and profound partnership with Israel. Bharat cannot break the alliance with Israel-therefore it cannot stop the withering away of its friends in Tehran, Kabul and the Arab and Muslim world. This is a fundamental structural problem for Delhi's diplomats. Their enigma is to build a relationship with Israel and its enemies. A tough chore. Tehran has sworn to wipe of Israel from the face of the earth. Israel wants to bomb Iran. Delhi's relationship with Tel Aviv is seen with suspicion in Tehran and Riyadh.

The Pakistani factor also complicates matters for Delhi. In the 80s there was competition between Iran and Pakistan. Both the Iranians and Pakistanis seem to have learned from their experience. The tripartite agreement, consensus in Istanbul and London display optics that seem to signify congruence between the Pakistani and Iranian point of views on Afghanistan and other matters.

But many are inclined to view Tehran's change of dates against the background of strained ties resulting from India's votes in favour the IAEA's censure of Iran for its nuclear programme. When India again voted in favour of the IAEA resolution last year, Mottaki had made his displeasure known to Krishna.

PM Manmohan Singh's visit to Tehran has also not materialised, even though the two sides have had it on the agenda for more than a year. India has been hoping to forge a strong alliance with Iran over the Taliban issue, as Tehran has maintained it does not believe there is any "good" Taliban, and that Taliban groups should not be allowed any role in the Kabul government in the event of a reconciliation.

However, the one important difference between the positions of the two countries is that, unlike India, Iran wants NATO troops to withdraw immediately from Afghanistan. Snubbed S M Krishna drops Iran visit, Sachin Parashar, TNN, Mar 30, 2010, 03.52am IST

Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the same page on Afghanistan as evidenced in the tripartite agreement in Tehran, regional conference in Istanbul (which did not invite India) and the international conference in London (where India was given a 2nd row seat and ignored). China is now investing $2.2 to extend the Iran-Pakistan pipeline to China. Turkey is investing a multi-billion Dollar railway line from Islamabad to Istanbul via Tehran. A rial and road line is also being built to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan linking Pakistan to the birthplace of Babur.

There was no Mandir in Ayodhya before 19th century: Prof Harbans Mukhiya

By TCN News

Rampur: "As a historian I want to say that there was no Mandir in Ayodhya at all. Before 19th century there was not even imagination about the Mandir there but only after that it was propagated. No historian has written that Mughal emperors used the means of conversion for extension of their government. It is totally baseless that they brought down thousands of Mandirs and forced people to accept Islam" said famous historian and former professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Harbans Mukhiya.

He was delivering his extension lecture today on 'Reasons behind spread of Islam in India' at Raza Library in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh.

"Those who said that Mughal rulers demolished three thousand or sixty thousand Mandirs have no proofs. In fact, Some Mandirs were demolished but the reasons were different and not to impose Islam on people. If Mughal emperors demolished Mandirs and forced people to accept Islam then why there were only 15% Muslims in India despite they ruled the country for over eight centuries while their number increased during the period of British rule?" he asked.

"Bihar, UP, Delhi and East Punjab were ruled by Mughal for long time even though in these areas population of Muslims could not go beyond 18%. It probes that people were not compelled to convert to Islam during Mughal period" he continued.

He further said that Islam spread in India because of several reasons with the passage of time. "Islamic teachings of brotherhood, communal harmony, tolerance and kindness are some factors that attract people to embarrass Islam and Sofiyas' behavior and teachings also worked in this regard. If Muslim used swords to spread Islam then history never missed to mention that but history of Mughal period is silent on this issue" he added.

In his presidential speech Syed Shahid Mahdi appreciated Professor Harbans to express the truth in the light of history. He said that a true historian can only speak reality as Professor Harbans Mukhiya did.

Speaking on the occasion, Professor Shah Abdussalam of Raza Library said that Islam spread because of its teachings that impressed people who were living under exploitation and cruelty.

Air Force works to instill 'warrior culture' in drone crews

New training aims to get personnel to feel they are constantly in combat, even if they are operating the Predators and Reapers flying over Afghanistan from the Nevada desert.

A Reaper drone comes in for a touch and go landing during a training program at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, to prepare more pilots for an expanded use of drones in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times / June 14, 2009)

By Julian E. Barnes

Reporting from Washington - As part of an effort to extend the military's "warrior culture" to unmanned planes, the Air Force is overhauling how it trains the crews that operate its rapidly growing fleet of Predators, Reapers and other remotely piloted aircraft.




The changes in training will affect hundreds of personnel who fly the unmanned aircraft remotely over war zones from distant bases and control their powerful cameras and targeting systems.




The effort is part of a move by the Air Force to put as much emphasis on drones as it does on traditional fighters and bombers, officials said.




It also underscores the continuing expansion of the role of unmanned aircraft in the hunt for militants in Afghanistan and the increasing importance of the airmen who operate them.




Each of the MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers is operated by two crew members. One is an Air Force pilot, who flies the craft. The second is a "sensor operator" who controls the plane's camera and its targeting laser, used to guide missiles and bombs.




When the Air Force first began flying armed Predators over Afghanistan, image analysts were in the second seat; they are extensively trained on how to interpret spy satellite pictures.




But after years of flying missions in Afghanistan, senior Air Force officers concluded they had the wrong people in that job. Instead, officials want the second crew member to focus less on interpreting imagery and more on helping fly the plane and strike targets.




"We are rewriting the Air Force's DNA," said Chief Master Sgt. Victor Allen, who is the career field manager for enlisted aviators.




The first group of recruits to receive the revamped training finished this month.




The new training is a mix of the technical -- details about the radar, camera and laser systems -- and what Allen calls "infusing the Air Force warrior culture" into the job.




"They need to understand the battle space. They need to understand working with a crew," Allen said. "This is absolutely flying a vehicle, and we want someone dedicated to this duty."




The Air Force in recent years has drastically expanded its investment in unmanned planes. Officials want a fleet of more than 200 unmanned planes, enough to have 65 in the air at one time. To reach that level, under Air Force plane-to-crew ratios, officials said they need about 1,400 pilots and 1,100 sensor operators. The Air Force now has only 317 airmen in the sensor operator field and must train hundreds more.




For recruits, the unique challenge of the unmanned planes is keeping focused on the idea that they are in a war zone, even if they are physically half a world away, flying the planes from a base in the Nevada desert.




"You do not want to feel you are not in the actual fight," said Airman Paul South, 20, of East Smithfield, Pa., a member of the first class of new sensor trainees. "You are in the fight, and you need to realize what is on the line every time you are doing your job."




Before now, sensor operators trained for nine months to learn to interpret video and spy satellite pictures. But experience has shown they do not have time to analyze imagery while the plane is in flight.




The new recruits must train to be part of an air crew, then take a sensor operator course, followed by training in fundamentals of remotely piloted aircraft.




"They are taking us basically from scratch and reshaping us," said Airman Joshua Davidson, 22, of Spokane, Wash., another one of the first recruits.




The Air Force is not eliminating the work of intelligence analysts. New technology being deployed this year will vastly increase the number of video feeds and the demand for imagery analysis. But those experts will be working at other stations, not as part of the team flying the aircraft.




The new career field is appealing to new enlistees who want to feel they are performing a crucial role in current U.S. military operations.




"If you turn on the news any day," South said, "you see something about another airstrike."




julian.barnes@latimes.com

17 Indians get death penalty in United Arab Emirates

Deutsche Presse-Agentur

New Delhi - A court in the United Arab Emirates has sentenced 17 Indian nationals to death for killing a Pakistani man in an attack last year, news reports said Tuesday.

The murder took place in Sharjah, an emirate north of Dubai, in January 2009 following a dispute over an illegal liquor business, the Times of India reported.

A shariah court, which applies Islamic law, sentenced the 17 men to death after evidence, including DNA tests, showed they had stabbed the victim to death, the report said.

The convicted men are aged between 17 and 30 years.

It was the highest number of death sentences handed down at one time in the Emirates, the PTI news agency reported.

The court said that the violence was a result of the turf war between groups selling illegal alcohol in and around labour camps in Sharjah.

Sharjah has the toughest restrictions on the sale of alcohol of all the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, India was seeking consular access to the sentenced men.

'The government will offer all legal help to the men and I have asked our consul general in Dubai to follow up the case personally and file for an appeal at the earliest by engaging a lawyer,' Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi told the Times of India.

'India plans 52 projects to control Pakistan's water'

BUREWALA - Chairman Indus Water Treaty Council Hafiz Zahoor-ul-Hassan Dahr has said that previous 131 rounds of talks between Pakistan and India under Indus Water Treaty bore no fruits and the latest dialogue would meet the same result.

He also warned that Pakistan could become another Somalia and Ethiopia.

Talking to 'The Nation' on Monday, Zahoor pointed to various projects launched by India to divert the water flow of three rivers entering Pakistan from Occupied Kashmir and said these projects were aimed at controlling the water of Chenab, Jhelum and Indus rivers, which were illegal and a clear violation of Indus Water Treaty. He said India was constructing 52 illegal dams, including five large ones, of which as many as 32 small dams had already been completed while 12 others would be finalised in 2014.

Zahoor said New Delhi was also constructing Kargil Dam, the second largest in the world, on Indus, adding that that India was getting support from a consortium of nine non-Muslim countries, four multi-national companies, an international donor agency and three intelligence agencies to accomplish 17 mega water projects for controlling Pakistan's water. He said India had seized 70 per cent water of Chenab and Jhelum rivers as a result of which over 0.9 million acres of land, being irrigated through Marala Headworks, was now presenting the view of Thar and Cholistan deserts.

Dahr said the Baglihar Dam was causing an annual loss of Rs140 billion to Pakistan and feared that India would soon stop entire water flow of Chenab and Jhelum rivers, turning 18 districts of Punjab and six districts of Sindh into a desert. He also accused Israel and the US for backing India, which resulted in bulldozing the Indus Water Treaty and lamented the fact that the international community was silent over the issue.

He urged the government to take the issue seriously to Indian water aggression. "If the rulers fail to adopt immediate measures, India will turn us into Somalia and Ethiopia," he feared.

According to him, the anti-Pakistan forces have united and evolved a plan to turn the country into a desert and the irrigation system is being given to a Swedish company on contract to forward the vested interests of India. He said India was spending billions of dollars on this project with the financial support of Israel. He said it was very much clear that the Indian and Israeli lobbies were working on long-term projects to harm Pakistan.

Appeasing India likely to be US miscalculation

THE DAWN

The usual tirade of Anti-Pakistan venom continues to flow from the sensational Indian media. The latest rhetoric is based upon its chagrin at Washington for not succumbing to Delhi's blackmail and not accepting its pontificating on Afghanistan.

Dialogue with Pakistan 'very successful, much broader': US

WASHINGTON: The US had a 'successful' strategic dialogue with Pakistan this week, which characterised a "much different, broader relationship based on mutual interest and respect," the US State Department said on Friday. "We have gone beyond the security lens that had been and remains a key component, but not just now the only lens through which you can evaluate the US-Pakistani relationship," State for Public Affairs Assistant Secretary PJ Crowley said. He was speaking a day after the US, led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Pakistan, led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, concluded two days of extensive discussions on advancing partnership between the two countries. The civilian component of the strategy is geared towards identifying ways to meet the needs working with Pakistan. app

A plethora of articles are being published in the jingoistic Bharati (aka Indian) media. There is an article in the Hindustan Times

Feeling the jilt like a thud, the latest rhetoric comes from The Economic Times (of India) which tries to tell Washington that its entire geo-political prognosis, its strategic interests, and its foreign traditional policy is wrong and has been wrong.

Lamenting the fact that Bharat's blackmail in Afghanistan is has not worked, the pundits in Delhi have unleashed its Anti-American brigade. Delhi tried to use the Russia card by inviting Prime Minister Putin to Delhi-ostensibly to give him a line that the visit would help consolidate Rusia's attempt on the $10 billion MCRC tender bid.

There is little penchant for Delhi's whining in international capital. The planet has listened to Delhi for a decade and does not find its world view particularly appealing. It is more like a "little boy crying wolf"-the world does not believe Delhi anymore.

NEW DELHI: As part of the appeasement policy towards Pakistan, the Obama administration, which hopes for action against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, has pledged millions in aid, held out the promise of a civilian nuclear deal, promised to facilitate the transfer of military hardware and assured Pakistan that it is on par with India. There is no doubt that appeasing Pakistan for results in Afghanistan is the top foreign policy priority of US President Barack Obama, who finds little domestic acceptability for a continued US presence in Afghanistan. In a recent Congressional testimony, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the US has made a "strategic priority" to strengthen its partnership with Pakistan and further noted that the efforts towards Pakistan were important to US success in Afghanistan.

The UK, the EU, Turkey, the Arab world, China, and the Islamic block do not buy the Bharati (aka Indian) point of view. The consensus developed at the tripartite conference on Afghanistan between Tehran, Islamabad and Kabul was echoed in Istanbul, then endorsed in Istanbul by all the neighbors, and finally adopted by 62 countries in London. Delhi was ignored in Delhi for a reason. Its view of war and peace was rejected by President Obama, and the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It was also repudiated in Moscow, Beijing, Riyadh, Istanbul-and last but not the least in Kabul

But many experts see this as a miscalculation on Washington's part. "The American will is waning and obviously they are looking for a way to secure an exit (from Afghanistan) and the only way they think they can do that - which is a complete miscalculation - is by somehow trying to win Pakistan over by concession - aid and weapons. It will only be like the past," said counter-terrorism expert Ajai Sahni.

Pakistan, till now, has shown little commitment towards taking action against the terror infrastructure on its soil. Even the fact that terror groups are now inflicting casualties on its own soil has not stopped Islamabad from persisting in its use of terror as a state policy. New Delhi has constantly pointed out to Washington that action against one small part of the terror infrastructure will yield little results as the groups are all interlinked while even the limited action is viewed with extreme skepticism.

The conspiracy theory behind the arrest of Taliban have been rejected by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Admiral Mullen, General Patreaeus, and all Americans of stature have totally repudiated the Kabul story, yet the Economist repeats nonsense as if it was fact.

But it is not just India that is questioning Pakistan's motivation. Kai Eide, till recently the UN's Special Representative to Afghanistan criticised Pakistan for its recent arrest of prominent Taliban leaders especially Taliban No 2 Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar and said that channels of communication that had been opened with the Taliban had been shut down by Pakistan.

Questioning the motivation, Mr Eide said, "The effect of (the arrests), in total, certainly was negative on our possibilities to continue the political process that we saw so necessary at that particular juncture." "The Pakistanis did not play the role they should have played…. they must have known who they were, what kind of role they were playing, and you see the result today" the former UN envoy said in an interview to the BBC. Even before Mr Eide's remarks, a top aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the Associated Press that Baradar's arrest by Pakistan had come after he had agreed to take part in 'peace jirga' to be hosted by Mr Karzai next month. Experts see the Pakistani action against the Taliban as an attempt to ensure a central role in the reconciliation process and to checkmate India in Afghanistan. Pakistan watchers also believe that Pakistan knows it has leverage with the US and others only because of the terror infrastructure and that it would unwilling to let go of this leverage that easily.

Delhi cannot fathom the new realities in Kabul. It fails to comprehend that the Obama Administration is sane and does not support the plan to build Bharat as a bulwark against China. It now sees its short-cut to success exploding in its face and cannot fathom the simple fact that the US acts in its own interest and American foreign policy cannot be held hostage to Delhi's aspirations for world hegemony and superpower status.

For India, the Pakistani attempt to play a greater role in Afghanistan remains worrisome and carries the potential for further instability in the region. The Kabul attacks against Indian nationals - the third attack against India in Afghanistan - showed that India has become a target of Pakistan exported terror in Afghanistan also. But Washington in keeping with its efforts to stay on the right side of Pakistan refused to acknowledge that the attack was targeted at Indians. US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke - whose unpopularity with New Delhi is soaring right now and would not be welcome any time soon here - initially said that the Kabul attack was not targeted against Indians.

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke knows the score and spoke his mind. He has not been declared persona non grata in Delhi. In effect Delhi has cut off ties with Washington's representative to the region. Then Delhi complains that its opinions are not being entertained. The world has listened to Delhi's carping-but it not ready to accept everything that Delhi says as the verbatim truth.

He later retracted but the damage had been done.

Another cause of concern is the Obama administration's eagerness to supply military hardware and weaponry to Pakistan. New Delhi intends to remind Washington yet again about Islamabad's habit of diverting military equipment for increasing military capabilities against India and will also take up the matter of the US plan to supply F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan. US media report that the Obama administration also had agreed to expedite the delivery of F-16 fighter jets, naval frigates and helicopter gunships, as well as new remotely piloted aircraft for surveillance missions.

For Delhi, the inconceivable has happened. After a couple of decades Pakistan has once again asked for and gotten parity with India. Pakistan's Nuclear status, and its seminal role in bringing peace to Kabul are responsible for Islamabad's recognition. Pakistan's Parity with India: Old ghosts haunt Delhi

But it is clear that the US for now wants to give parity to US-India and US-Pakistan ties. A top Obama administration official maintained that India and Pakistan are facing the common threat of terrorism in the region.

"It (terrorism) is a shared threat for Pakistan, it's a shared threat for India, it's a shared threat for others. I just would caution that we should not see this in zero-sum terms," assistant secretary of state for public affairs, PJ Crowley, was quoted as saying. He maintained that the US is building "a deeper relationship" with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. "This is good for the United States, it's good for these countries individually, and it's also good for the region as a whole."

Obama Team Is Divided on Anti-Terror Tactics

WASHINGTON - Senior lawyers in the Obama administration are deeply divided over some of the counterterrorism powers they inherited from former President George W. Bush, according to interviews and a review of legal briefs.

In defending Guantánamo, the Bush administration said the president could imprison people without trial as wartime detainees.

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

The rift has been most pronounced between top lawyers in the State Department and the Pentagon, though it has also involved conflicts among career Justice Department lawyers and political appointees throughout the national security agencies.




The discussions, which shaped classified court briefs filed this month, have centered on how broadly to define the types of terrorism suspects who may be detained without trials as wartime prisoners. The outcome of the yearlong debate could reverberate through national security policies, ranging from the number of people the United States ultimately detains to decisions about who may be lawfully selected for killing using drones.




"Beyond the technical legal issues, this debate is about the fundamental question of whom we are at war with," said Noah Feldman, a Harvard law professor who specializes in war-power issues. "The two problems most plaguing Obama in the war on terrorism are trials for terrorists and taking the fight beyond Afghanistan to places like Pakistan and Yemen. This issue of whom we are at war with defines both of them."




In the years after the 9/11 attacks, Mr. Bush claimed virtually unlimited power as commander in chief to detain those he deemed a threat - a view so boundless that his Justice Department once told a court that it was within the president's lawful discretion to imprison as an enemy combatant even a "little old lady in Switzerland" who had unwittingly donated to Al Qaeda.




But President Obama and his team, which criticized such claims as an overreach, have sought to demonstrate that the executive branch can wage war while also respecting limits imposed on presidential power by what they see as the rule of law.




In March 2009, the Obama legal team adopted a new position about who was detainable in the war on terrorism - one that showed greater deference to the international laws of war, including the Geneva Conventions, than Mr. Bush had. But what has not been known is that while the administration has stuck to that broad principle, it has been arguing over how to apply the body of law, which was developed for conventional armies, to a war against a terrorist organization.




An examination of that conflict offers rich insight into how the team of former law professors and campaign lawyers, nearly all veterans of the Clinton administration, is shaping important policies under Mr. Obama.




In February 2009, just weeks after the inauguration, John D. Bates, a federal judge overseeing several cases involving detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, asked a provocative question: Did the new administration want to modify Mr. Bush's position that the president could wield sweeping powers to imprison people without trial as wartime detainees?




Career Justice Department lawyers handling Guantánamo lawsuits feared that rolling back the Bush position might make it harder to win. And the new acting head of the department's Office of Legal Counsel - David Barron, a Harvard law professor and co-author of a lengthy law review critique of Bush administration claims that the commander in chief can override statutes - worried that Judge Bates had given them too little time to devise the answer.




But the White House counsel, Greg Craig, a campaign adviser to Mr. Obama who had been a foreign policy official in the Clinton administration, saw this as an important opportunity to demonstrate a break with Mr. Bush. And at a White House meeting, Mr. Obama weighed in, declaring that he did not want to invoke unrestrained commander-in-chief powers in detention matters.




With the president's directions in hand, Mr. Obama's Justice Department came back on March 13, 2009, with a more modest position than Mr. Bush had advanced. It told Judge Bates that the president could detain without trial only people who were part of Al Qaeda or its affiliates, or their "substantial" supporters. The department rooted that power in the authorization granted by Congress to use military force against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks. And it acknowledged that the scope and limits of that power were defined by the laws of war, as translated to a conflict against terrorists.




But behind closed doors, the debate flared again that summer, when the Obama administration confronted the case of Belkacem Bensayah, an Algerian man who had been arrested in Bosnia - far from the active combat zone - and was being held without trial by the United States at Guantánamo. Mr. Bensayah was accused of facilitating the travel of people who wanted to go to Afghanistan to join Al Qaeda. A judge found that such "direct support" was enough to hold him as a wartime prisoner, and the Justice Department asked an appeals court to uphold that ruling.




The arguments over the case forced onto the table discussion of lingering discontent at the State Department over one aspect of the Obama position on detention. There was broad agreement that the law of armed conflict allowed the United States to detain as wartime prisoners anyone who was actually a part of Al Qaeda, as well as nonmembers who took positions alongside the enemy force and helped it. But some criticized the notion that the United States could also consider mere supporters, arrested far away, to be just as detainable without trial as enemy fighters.




That view was amplified after Harold Koh, a former human-rights official and Yale Law School dean who had been a leading critic of the Bush administration's detainee policies, became the State Department's top lawyer in late June. Mr. Koh produced a lengthy, secret memo contending that there was no support in the laws of war for the United States' position in the Bensayah case.




Mr. Koh found himself in immediate conflict with the Pentagon's top lawyer, Jeh C. Johnson, a former Air Force general counsel and trial lawyer who had been an adviser to Mr. Obama during the presidential campaign. Mr. Johnson produced his own secret memorandum arguing for a more flexible interpretation of who could be detained under the laws of war - now or in the future.




In September 2009, national-security officials from across the government packed into the Office of Legal Counsel's conference room on the fifth floor of the Justice Department, lining the walls, to watch Mr. Koh and Mr. Johnson debate around a long table. It was up to Mr. Barron, who sat at the head of the table, to decide who was right.




But he did not. Instead, days later, he circulated a preliminary draft memorandum stating that while the Office of Legal Counsel had found no precedents justifying the detention of mere supporters of Al Qaeda who were picked up far away from enemy forces, it was not prepared to state any definitive conclusion.




So with no consensus, the legal team decided on a tactical approach. For as long as possible they would try to avoid that hard question. They changed the subject by instead asking courts to agree that people like Mr. Bensayah, looked at from another angle, had performed functions that made them effectively part of the terrorist organization - and so were clearly detainable.




The appeals court has not yet ruled on Mr. Bensayah's case. But the hours and effort that high-level officials expended on wrestling over adjustments to the reasoning in his case - only to reach the same outcome, that he was detainable without trial - dovetailed with a pattern identified by critics as varied as civil libertarians and former Bush lawyers.




"I think the change in tone has been important and has helped internationally," said John B. Bellinger III, a top Bush era National Security Council and State Department lawyer. "But the change in law has been largely cosmetic. And of course there has been no change in outcome."




But at a recent American Bar Association event, Mr. Koh argued that the administration's changes - including requiring strict adherence to anti-torture rules and ensuring that all detainees are being held pursuant to recognizable legal authorities - have been meaningful. The United States, he said, can now defend its national-security policies as fully compliant with domestic and international law under "common and universal standards, not double standards."




"We are not saying that we don't have to fight battles," he said. "We're just saying that we should fight those battles within the framework of law."




Last week, in another speech, Mr. Koh also for the first time outlined portions of the administration's legal rationale for targeted killings using drone strikes, which some scholars have criticized. His remarks, however, focused on issues like whether it was lawful to single out specific enemy figures for killing - not defining the limits of who may be deemed an enemy.




But Mr. Feldman, the Harvard professor, said the detention debate also had "serious consequences" for the targeted killings policy because, "If we're at war with you, then we can detain you - but we can also try to kill you."




That said, he cautioned, additional factors complicate the analysis of selecting lawful targets. Among them, it is not clear whether Mr. Obama is more willing in classified settings to assert that, as commander in chief, he can use drone strikes to defend the country against perceived threats that cannot be linked to the Congressionally authorized war against Al Qaeda.




And even in detention matters, Bush-era theories have remained attractive to some. This January, two appeals court judges appointed by Mr. Bush - Janice Rogers Brown and Brett M. Kavanaugh, both of whom had been singled out by Democrats after their nominations as too ideological - reopened the debate by unexpectedly declaring, in another Guantánamo case, that the laws of armed conflict did not limit the president's war powers.




In the Justice Department, career litigators who defend against Guantánamo lawsuits wanted to embrace that reasoning, arguing it would help them win. Judges have sided with detainees seeking release in some 34 of 46 cases to date - though the decisions largely turned on skepticism about specific evidence, not the general legal theory about who was detainable.




But political appointees - including Mr. Barron, Mr. Koh and even Mr. Johnson - criticized the reasoning of the appeals court ruling as vulnerable to reversal and argued that the administration should not abandon its respect for the laws of war.




In classified briefs filed in several detainee cases this month, officials said, the Justice Department adopted an ambivalent stance. It cited the ruling as a precedent while also reasserting its own contradictory argument that the laws of war matter. The debate would go on.




"We'll see how the cases develop," Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in an interview in February, in the midst of that latest round. But, he added, "I don't think we are going to deviate from our argument."

Pakistan in ‘civil nuclear deal’ with China

Two plants with a capacity of 640 megawatts to be set up in Chashma


China to provide 82% of total $1.912bn financing




By Sajid Chaudhry




ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has entered a civil nuclear deal with China for the establishment of two nuclear power projects of 640 megawatts in Chashma, Daily Times has learnt.




The breakthrough deal - under which Pakistan would be provided a loan, technology and installation facilities - was finalised ahead of the latest round of the Pak-US strategic dialogue, as the federal cabinet granted financial approval at a meeting on March 24.




Sources privy to the deal said the federal cabinet had approved an inter-government framework agreement on the financing of 'Chashma Nuclear Power Project 3' and 'Chashma Nuclear Power Project 4' with China.




The sources said under the agreement, China would provide 82 percent of the total $1.912 billion financing to Pakistan as a 20-year soft loan, with an eight-year grace period.




In a bid to guarantee financing for the two plants, the inter-government framework agreement requires both countries to enter three loan agreements. Under the first loan agreement, Pakistan would be provided $104 million with an annual interest rate of 1 percent, management fee of 0.2 percent and a commitment fee of 0.2 percent. Under the second preferential buyer credit agreement, Pakistan would get $1 billion with an annual interest rate of 2 percent, a management fee of 0.2 percent and a commitment fee of 0.2 percent - while the third buyers credit agreement would provide Pakistan $474 million with an annual interest rate of 6 percent, a management fee of 0.75 percent, a commitment fee of 0.5 percent and an insurance rate of 7 percent.




However, according to the inter-government framework agreement, the annual composite interest rate would not exceed three percent in any case.




The sources said that frequent visits by President Asif Ali Zardar and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani helped secure the deal. They said the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had already approved the two projects.




The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission would be the executing agency for the establishment of the two plants - which would be completed in eight years.




The sources said each 320-megawatt unit would contain a nuclear steam supply system, a turbine-generator set and the associated auxiliary equipment and installations.