LETTERS

Sri Lanka

The disruption of the peace process in Sri Lanka is disturbing ("A crisis in Sri Lanka", December 5). The ultimate loser will be the common man. Political leaders should rise above their narrow interests and prejudices in the larger interest of the country. Sincere attempts must be initiated to restore peace. The sooner, the better.

Awadhesh Kumar
Delhi

The coverage of the Sri Lankan crisis was superb. The new proposals put forward by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are as good as the powers of an independent Tamil Eelam. The LTTE has been internationally declared as a terrorist organisation and India is a classic victim of separatist terrorism. Still many politicians and mediamen are favourably inclined towards the LTTE. If an independent Eelam is established, it would be used as a military base by big powers to dictate terms to India. An independent Eelam will be a threat to India's sovereignty and independence.

R.B. Nair
Koovappadi, Kerala.

The best solution for the Sri Lankan problem is decentralisation. There is no reason why this cannot be done. If that final goal is clearly defined, current suspicions will dissipate.

A. Rajagopalan
Received on e-mail.

Press freedom

This refers to the article, "An assault on press freedom" (December 5). The decision of the Tamil Nadu Assembly against the journalists is outrageous. The Tamil Nadu Government underestimated public opinion that was overwhelmingly in favour of the journalists. Surely, this will backfire at the right time. It is true that the people have a short memory, but Jayalalithaa is doing every bit to keep things alive, which will boomerang on her. The Supreme Court's relief has given a new breath to the right to freedom of expression. The mature leadership of The Hindu group was evident during the entire drama.

Hari
Virudhunagar

The Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker's order to arrest the publisher and senior journalists of The Hindu and Murasoli was not only an assault on press freedom but also on the freedom of thought and expression. Why The Hindu? So that it will be a lesson for all others. But the extent of popular support for The Hindu was astounding. It also served the purpose of creating awareness of the issues involved. The Supreme Court rendered justice by staying the Speaker's orders. But the fight is not over. It has to be carried on till the powers of the legislatures are codified.

A. Jacob Sahayam
Thiruvananthapuram

The verdict of the Supreme Court is a victory for democracy and press freedom. It is the duty of The Hindu to continue the policy and style it has followed for the last 125 years. People who believe in democracy and secularism will always be behind The Hindu.

P. Sreedharan
Kannur, Kerala

The Hindu deserves praise for standing up to the threat from the Speaker's order. The incident focussed people's attention on two vital things: the limit of legislative powers and the extent of people's right to know.

Privilege powers are intended for the smooth functioning of the legislatures and not for intimidating people whom legislators represent.

The press is an instrument of democratic control. Without press freedom all other freedoms will be at peril.

S. Raghunatha Prabhu
Alappuzha, Kerala

The solidarity shown by people of all walks of life to The Hindu was unprecedented ("United in struggle", December 5). It has clearly brought out the alertness of our people to protect the freedom of speech and expression as enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution. It was a befitting reply to modern rulers with a medieval mindset.

C. Rajesh
Vadodara, Gujarat

Safdar Hashmi

Though belated, the judgment in the Safdar Hashmi murder case will instil a new confidence in the minds of democratic-minded social workers ("Delayed justice", December 5). The intellectual background of Safdar did not stop him from physically and mentally associating with poor labourers. The message from the judgment is that criminalisation of politics is not acceptable.

Viji Ganesh
Madurai

Defence and democracy

This refers to an informative `Letter from America' by Vijay Prashad enlightening us on what the `weapons of mass destruction' actually mean. ("Where Defence dwarfs democracy", December 5). A global perpetrator of terrorism armed with the deadliest weapons - nuclear, biological or otherwise - worth $396.1 billion is on the lookout for WMD elsewhere to establish `peace' worldwide and free the earth of `evil forces'. It has completed the `process of democratisation' in Afghanistan and Iraq and is ready with a fresh list of nations to be democratised urgently. One should pay heed to the wise counsel of Eisenhower ("the potential for disastrous rise of misplaced power (that of military-industrial complex) exists and will persist"). George Bush is certainly not the one going by the crimes and untold miseries inflicted on the poor, innocent masses. No one can stop him from `democratising the world' and `heralding the peace world over'.

If death merchants of the U.S. can gleefully proclaim that they are not only America's the largest economy but its busiest and most successful' and if 5.1 million Americans are employed in the arms industry, it is their problem. They have already made the earth the most unsafe place for the U.S. citizen to live in. Brave Iraqis fighting with their life and blood to free their nation from the really evil forces need to be saluted.

Satya Veer Singh
Bhopal

ICHR

This is with reference to the article "Row over a choice" (December 5). It was a one-sided version over the appointment of a Member-Secretary with additional charge in the Indian Council of Historical Research. The correspondent could have contacted me and taken my viewpoint also. I would particularly like to bring to your notice the statements made by M.G.S. Narayanan as quoted by the correspondent. "If only the Ministry had consulted the Chairman before suggesting the name of Prof. Kapil Kumar as Member-Secretary, I could have informed that he was unfit for the high office because his conduct in Council meetings was, to say the least, undesirable. From the beginning, he went on making wild and baseless allegations against the Member-Secretary and the Chairman, shouting and snoring alternatively in the Council meetings, and trying to obstruct the smooth functioning of the Council... . It would appear (I hope this is not true) that he has been chosen to fight the Chairman and disrupt office work by his misconduct and thus bring discredit to the Council. Such an attempt to interfere with the autonomy of the Council is regretted." The correspondent says: "Narayanan wrote to the Ministry to cancel Kapil Kumar's nomination in order to enable the smooth functioning of the ICHR."

Did the correspondent ask Prof. Narayanan to specify what wild and baseless allegations were made by me against the former Member-Secretary and the Chairman or what I did to obstruct the smooth functioning of the Council? I would like to put on record that at no point of time in the Council meetings have I made any wild or baseless allegations against the former Member-Secretary or the Chairman, leave alone misbehaving in the Council meetings. On the contrary, I demanded the resignation of former Member-Secretary in the Council meeting when the press reported that he had himself nominated the experts for providing JRF to his own wife and was also a member of the RPC which gave the JRF. I was myself a member of that RPC and the press reports were a revelation. I maintain my stand that it was not only unethical but against all administrative norms for the Member Secretary to indulge in such illegal activities. In fact, I thank the press for reporting such corruption in the ICHR.

Further, I am on record as saying in the Council meeting that so long as we are members of the Council of the ICHR we should not take any projects or travel grants from the Council. This too was turned down in the Council whereas I maintain that no Council member should seek such benefits from the ICHR so long as they are on the Council. The ICHR is meant to cater to all specialisations and branches of history but even a cursory look at the records will show that it is only archaeology that has been promoted out of the way during the last two years. If a Section Officer (Accounts), after retirement from ASI, gets a project worth Rs.20 lakhs, one has to academically oppose in the Council the award of project to a totally non-qualified person. One has to also seek a report as a Council Member on the audit paras and so on, and also ask why the Archaeological society headed by Prof. Swaraj Prakash Gupta has received grants to the tune of Rs.1,43,00,000 under different garbs. A Council Member has a full right to give a note of dissent. This is being termed by the Chairman as "wild allegations and misbehaviour in the Council meetings". In fact, my extremely vocal stand on promoting young historians and giving more grants to youngsters in the Council meetings has been disliked by a coterie of retired persons who are not even members of the Council but have been doing back seat driving through the Chairman.

Prof. Kapil Kumar
Director,
School of Social Sciences
Indira Gandhi National Open
University
& Member-Secretary, ICHR

Muslims in the armed forces

This refers to the review of Omar Khalidi's Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India by A.G. Noorani (October 24). The book does not present the facts, at least about the Indian armed forces as they stand to date since Independence and Partition.

In the Indian Army, there are certain regiments with a fixed composition like the Sikh, Kumaon, Dogra and Jat regiments. For the rest of the Army, as per government policy, all citizens irrespective of caste, creed or religion are eligible for enrolment. Recruitment to the Army is made from among recruitable male population of each State as determined in the Census.

At the time of Partition, the Muslim regiments which went to Pakistan were those comprising people belonging to areas that fell within the new nation's territory. The departure of this large chunk drastically reduced the percentage of Muslims in the Indian Army. Officers and Junior Commissioned Officers were given a choice and a large number of them who served in regiments with troops belonging to divided India opted to stay here. Officers like Brigadier M. Usman and Major Anwar Karim were persistently invited by Pakistan with assurances of high ranks and posts but they preferred to stay back.

There are many regiments, which, within their class compositions, have a quota for Muslims. These are the Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry, with 50 per cent Kashmiri Muslims; Rajputana Rifles; Rajput Regiment; Grenadiers; Brigade of Guards; Parachute Regiment; Madras Regiment; 16th Cavalry; 18th Cavalry; 71 and 73 Armoured Regiments; and the Corps of Artillery and Engineers. All other corps and units of the Indian Army, which have an intake on a zonal basis, have Muslims serving in them. In all these regiments, right from the first India-Pakistan war of 1947-48, Muslim troops fought valiantly, much to the disappointment or displeasure of the Pakistan Army.

If, at any point of time, a recruiting office states that there are no vacancies for Muslims, it only means that the vacancies have already been filled for that period. In the category of fighting soldiers, no Muslim vacancy has ever gone unfilled. In fact, the only vacancies left unfilled by Muslims are in the `tradesmen' category, which includes cooks, waiters, carpenters, equipment and boot repairers, barbers and `safai'(cleaners) - the last two being the least.

A few names may help in refreshing public memory: Maj. Gen. Eibrahim Habibullah (16th Cavalry) and Lt. Gen. Sami Khan (Madras Regiment), both Commandants of the National Defence Academy, are still fondly remembered by cadets of their times. Lt. Gen. Jameel Mahmood was GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, when he died with his wife in a helicopter crash. His brother-in-law, Lt. Gen. M.A. Zaki, served as Security Adviser to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, while his son is a Colonel commanding 16th Cavalry now. Mahmood's younger brother retired as a Major General, while Zaki's younger brother is a serving Brigadier. Maj. Gen. Afsir Karim (retd), brother of Anwar Karim, is a well-known military scholar, who commanded 11 Infantry Division, headquartered in Ahmedabad. This post is at present held by Maj. Gen. Z.U. Shah, brother of actor Naseeruddin Shah. Their cousin is Colonel M.A. Shah of 73rd Armoured Regiment. A former Indian Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal Idrees Hasan Latif, became Governor of Maharashtra. The list is very long.

The Indian Army with a reputation for being impartial during communal riots enjoys the confidence of Muslims, as was evident in Gujarat and Meerut. It is in the best interests of India that the armed forces are not politicised.

Lt. Col. Anil Bhat (retd)
New Delhi

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