Crime and Punishment - Army Style

Recently Lt Gen Sahni, a three star general, was dismissed from the army and awarded a prison sentence for corruption in his dealings. In this context I read an insightful article by former vice chief of army staff Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi highlighting the promptness with which army deals with crime in its ranks.  I am reproducing Gen Oberoi's article here for your reading. Readers comments are welcome.

  

Crime and Punishment

By Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi (Retd.)

 [LEARN FROM THE ARMY. Justice is prompt in the Indian Army; there is no shielding of a person on account of his rank or stature. It's time babus and politicians were put through similar scrutiny]

When Lt Gen Sahni, a three star general, is dismissed and awarded a prison sentence, one can conclude that the army does not baulk in punishing its defaulting personnel, irrespective of their seniority. It also calls for introspection by the society on larger issues.

Justifying Corruption as Coalition 'Dharma'

I am one of the millions of Indians highly disappointed with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's television interaction with a clutch of handpicked high profile journalists beamed live on the TV on February 16, 2011.

At the end of the long rambling interaction, I was dismayed when the Prime Minister spoke of coalition 'dharma' and the compromises one has to make. Dharma is a sacred word for many and what the coalition in New Delhi in an increasing number of cases is total 'adharma.' And the Prime Minsiter doing a bad job of whitewashing it all and putting the blame on Raja is adharma of the worst sorts. The Prime Minister as Captain of the team shares a greater responsibility because he never set benchmarks of conduct for members of his cabinet and failed to monitor their performance when media produced strong evidence of their misconduct.

He never answered Rajdeep Sardesai's question why he accepted Raja in the cabinet for a second time when Congress came out strong in the last general election. If the Congress Party expected the Prime Minister to shore out the Party of the quagmire of its own and its Prime Minister's making, it miserably failed. 

As one who teaches business communication in management schools I had always found the Prime Minister as one of the poorest communicators among his peers. I wish our politicians and nethas undergo formal training in public speaking (even some of the best of them are rabble rousers) and voice training. I don't know whether Tony Blair, General Musharraf or Mrs Margaret Thatcher had such training; but they had the gift of making their arguments 'convincing' at least for the moment. I do not remember any of our prime ministers in the recent past could carry the country with their speeches, except Atal Bihari Vajapayee who was comfortable and eloquent in Hindi in an intellectual way. Perhaps this is one reason why Dr Manmohan Singh avoids televised interviews; he can be utterly unconvincing while speaking in public. Thank god at least he knows it. Congress Party would do well not to put him on TV if they want somebody to carry the day.   

I am reproducing here my friend B Raman's open letter to the Prime Minister carried in his blog of February 16. It eloquently analyses how the Prime Minister performed in his interview. I share his feelings.

http://ramanstrategicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-fall-was-there-my-countrymen.html

WHAT A FALL WAS THERE, MY COUNTRYMEN

B.RAMAN

Dear Mr.Prime Minister,

Like millions of ordinary Indians, I too watched from the beginning till the end your televised interaction with selected journalists from the electronic media on February 16,2011.

You had never spoken to us, the ordinary people of India, on the various scams which have rocked the country one after another since August last year. Our only source of information has been the media.

As the citizens of this country who put your party in power, we had a right to expect that you will talk to us and explain to us what is the truth and how you intend arresting and reversing the rot that has set in and the continuing decline in the credibility and image of India as a result of the stories of these scams .

These stories---whether correct wholly or only partly--- have brought out one thing loud and clear--- the ineptitude and incompetence of your Government, the poor supervision which seems to prevail in many Ministries and offices, including the Prime Minister's Office, and the insensitivity of many senior members of your Cabinet to public concerns over these alleged scams.

Corruption is nothing new, but the magnitude of it as seen since you came to power has been highly disturbing . What is new is the ineptitude, the incompetence and the lack of supervision which seem to prevail since you came to power--- the like of which one had not seen under any other Prime Minister of India since we became independent in 1947.

You try to blame your difficulties and embarrassments on your having to run a coalition. You are not the first Prime Minister having to run the country at the head of a coalition. V.P.Singh, Chandrasekhar, Deve Gowda, Inder Gujral and Atal Behari Vajpayee headed coalitions too. Despite this, they gave us a government which worked as a team and which did not pull in different directions. I can't recall any instance under the previous coalitions where a Minister repeatedly circumvented the instructions of the Prime Minister, without fearing the consequences of his action.

All the previous Prime Ministers, who headed coalition Cabinets, made it clear to their political associates who the boss was and who would take important decisions. They never tolerated anyone who sought to circumvent their instructions. They never let their political allies dictate terms to them.

This is the first time we are seeing a Prime Minister, who tries to earn not the confidence of the people by projecting himself as a strong leader who will not tolerate any nonsense from his coalition partners, but the pity of the people by projecting himself as a helpless leader, who has nothing but to do what his coalition partners ask him to do.

We watched in utter amazement for one hour on February 16 not the rallying cry of a leader, who has realised the magnitude of the rot and who is determined to set it right whatever be the consequences to his position as the Prime Minister, but an exercise in self-pity of a leader who is at the mercy of his coalition partners and does not have the courage to call them to order.

This was the first time we had an opportunity of listening to you on the State of the country in the light of these scams. We were looking forward not to excuses and pretexts to explain away the sins of commission and omission of your government, but to a bold re-assertion of your leadership as the Prime Minister of this great country, who has the courage to face the people of this country in their eyes and reassure them: Thus far and no further.

I have no doubt in my mind that many right-thinking people of India, like me, must have felt ashamed and enraged as they saw the Prime Minister of this country giving out one excuse after another for not being able to govern effectively and for not being able to prevent blatantly wrong decisions and corruption.

You let us down badly, Mr.Prime Minister. You let us down badly.

Warm regards,

Yours sincerely,

B.Raman, Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi

Guarding India's Seafront

Is it time to pat ourselves on the back? Can India be sure of preventing another terror attack?

By Col R Hariharan
 
Indian security agencies’ successful handling of a series of events involving lucrative terrorist targets in the last quarter of 2010 showed they are succeeding in setting right their woeful performance during the infamous 26/11 Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) attack in Mumbai two years back. The tasks faced by the security agencies would have daunted security agencies of even big powers.

The blue ribbon event was the high profile visit of U.S. President Barak Obama, World’s Number one terrorist target. This was followed by the XIX Commonwealth Games, in which 83 countries took part. The quarter also included two other potentially explosive anniversaries - the 26/11 attack and the demolition of Babri masjid by Hindu zealots. There were also two other adds-on to the security nightmare – the long awaited judgement in the Babri Masjid ownership case and the visit of French President Sarkozy of the French burqa ban fame. But all the events passed off peacefully. Glitches if any were minor.  

Of course, the security agencies were kept on tenterhooks by reports of Pakistan-based Jihadi groups preparing to strike at some of the prominent targets in India. However, terrorists were kept at bay apparently due to the alertness of security elements in place. A number of arrests of suspected terrorists were also made.

No doubt success in this crucial period is a direct outcome of the efforts of the Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram to tone up the internal security set up. His multi-pronged approach and broad-based strategies to improve the command and control of security response systems on a networked basis is slowly coming into place. So the coherence in action has become visible. However, the task of providing muscle and teeth to state and central police and paramilitary forces is not complete. So the much needed progress has not yet reached the ground floor.

 

There is no dearth of money for the action plan. The Centre’s allocation for internal security is now poised to go up to Rs 40,852 crore this year, if we go by the first budget supplementary. This represents nearly a fifty per cent increase over last year’s allocation of Rs.25, 923 Crore in 2008-09.

The expenditure is mainly due to the two schemes for modernisation of state police and central paramilitary forces (CPMF). Both the schemes have been extended to 2010-11. The force levels of the three CPMF (BSF, CRPF and SSB) are being increased by 109 additional battalions. The hardware and software to connect the security control centres in state capitals with State Special Branches are in place. And connectivity is expected to be completed by end December 2010. 

 

One Central Academy for Police Training (CAPT) at Bhopal, two Central Detective Training Schools (CDTS) at Lucknow and Ahmedabad and 20 Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorist (CIAT) Schools are also being set up. After a review, the sanctioned strength of the IPS to the state cadre has been increased by 717 to 4730.

Is it time to pat ourselves on the back? Can India be sure to prevent another terrorist attack on the scale of 26/11?

It is difficult to confidently answer these questions with surety if we consider our inability to execute time-bound projects. In this respect, the Union Home Ministry’s record is slightly better; at the state-level leadership has not shown the urgency required to revamp their set up to handle terrorist threat.

This is not mere lethargy. States had always resisted carrying out police reforms. Despite judicial direction, politicians do not want to lose their control over law enforcement machinery. Even after the 26/11 disaster, this mind set does not appear to have changed.

Nothing illustrates this better than the attitude of states to change existing systems. Local media in Maharashtra says the state home ministry has not shown a keen interest in providing training to the lowest rank post of police constables. The Special Forces raised with a lot fanfare still carry old weapons and do not have enough body armour. There are huge deficiencies in police strength in many states. Efforts to fill up these vacancies are tardy.

However, the biggest chink in national security is in coastal security. No doubt it is a complex issue mired in round-robin power games played by diverse ministries. Apart from state governments, at the Centre also it involves coordinating the functioning of many agencies and ministries including defence, ports and shipping, fisheries, agriculture, off shore drilling, maritime trade, environmental protection and international relations. So it is not surprising the Union Home Ministry took two years to embark upon forming a multi-dimensional command structure. Four Joint Operation Centres have been set up under the respective naval commanders in chief. A Sagar Prahari Bal under the Navy has been set up to patrol shallow waters of the coast. A thousand sailors equipped with 80 fast interceptor boats are being trained in phases. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for coastal security have been finalized in respect of all coastal states and union territories.

The Centre is optimistic that the first phase of the Coastal Security Scheme will be implemented nationwide by March 2011. Its expectations of states and union territories are that states would establish  73 coastal police stations, provided with  adequate manpower apart from 204 boats and 153 vehicles, and 312 two wheelers. 

In the second phase, the Coastal Security Scheme is even more ambitious with an outlay of Rs.1579.91 crore. It hopes to provide states/UTs more 131 more coastal police stations and boats and infrastructure required to make them operational. The Scheme is also to provide support for equipment, computer systems, vehicles, two-wheelers etc. A uniform system for registration of all boats is being introduced. Action is also being taken for issuing ID cards to all fishermen. There is increased emphasis on technology usage; installation of transponders on vessels to ensure identification and tracking is also being initiated. Radar chains are also being strengthened. 

So where is the problem? It lies in our national inability in executing plans on paper in time. Barring Gujarat, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, other coastal states have made little progress in implementing coastal security projects. Setting up coastal police stations envisaged even in the first phase of the plan is lagging behind. Their infrastructure is not in place. So it is doubtful whether the Coastal Security Scheme would be fully implemented fully even by end 2012.

According to defence analyst Major General Ashok Mehta, “while the Indian navy, the nodal agency for coastal security, has issued elaborate papers on plugging gaps at sea through maritime domain awareness, little has been done in augmenting capabilities of the Coast Guard.”  Only two aircraft or helicopter has been added to the fleet of 48 since 2008 for watching India’s 7,600km coastline.

At the heart of the problem is incompetent political leadership; after all what happened to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh after he messed up the handling of 26/11 terror attack? He was pushed out to a plum post in the Central cabinet as minister for heavy industries. With this law of diminishing return in operation any improvement to national security will come, if and only, when political leadership becomes accountable and demands accountability from the bureaucracy. Otherwise the nation is likely to limp along from year to year explaining why we failed rather than talk of our successes.

Courtesy: GFiles,Vol 4 Issue 11 -  February 2011

URL  http://gfilesindia.com/

Sri Lanka Perspectives – January 2011

By Col R Hariharan 

Politics

Sri Lanka political scene is getting hot as new members are being elected for 330 local bodies throughout the country on March 17, 2011. In these elections, 12.7 million voters would be electing 3,931 members to four Municipal Councils, 39 Urban Councils and 258 Pradeshiya Sabhas.

These elections in the Northern Province have become a prestigious one for President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its Tamil partner Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) had not fared well in winning voter confidence in the presidential and parliamentary polls and local body elections for Jaffna and Vavuniya. 

Rajapaksa would like to use the local elections to establish the UPFA footprint in the North to legitimise his claim of being the leader of people from all communities. With the work on restoration of infrastructure and rehabilitation of internally displaced population going at a slow pace in the war torn north, the morale of a northern Tamils is low. Another irritant for the Tamils is the visible presence of the army everywhere; the army has been acting as an overlord of the civil administration. To top it all, law and order in Jaffna has deterriorated fast with murders and other criminal acts showing a sharp increase. So as of now UPFA and EPDP’s chances of asserting their presence in these elections in the North appear low.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the former political proxy of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), contesting now as the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) – the Tamil name of the erstwhile Federal Party – is expected to capture majority of the seats in the elections in this district. They had fared well in the Jaffna local poll and parliamentary elections. The United National Party (UNP) which had some roots in the past in the North hopes to do better. The President would like to strike a deal with ITAK to prevent it from becoming a loose cannon in the power play in the North. So far the ITAK had been elusive. It is using this opportunity to leverage with the President for finalising the much delayed devolution package for Tamil minority. As of now, there is no sign of any quick progress in this regard.

In the East, the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) led by the President’s former ally Pillaiyan has decided to contest on its own symbol. As the three communities – Muslims, Tamils and Sinhalas – are almost in equal numbers, the election results are a wide open question, though UPFA is expected to do better.

The whole local election scene became a comedy of errors as nearly 20 percent of the nominations were rejected on technical grounds and trivial errors by returning officers. Both the UPFA and the main opposition party United National Party (UNP) were mortified to find a large number of their nominations rejected in many parts of the country. This was particularly damaging for the UPFA as its nominations to 35 local councils in 12 districts were rejected. The rejection in 16 local bodies in the Jaffna district including three Urban Councils (Velvettiturai, Point Pedro and Chavakachcheri) and 13 Pradeshiya Sabhas will perhaps become the biggest spoil sport for the UPFA’s efforts to show flag in the North.

Tamil Diaspora

To gain maximum mileage out of the publicity generated by the disastrous visit of President Rajapaks to the Oxford Union last month, pro-separatist segments of Sri Lanka Tamil Diaspora appear to be getting their anti-Rajapaksa act together. Though they are rive with internal differences, they appear to be united in bringing down President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s reputation using his problems in handling the strong adverse international allegations about Sri Lanka army’s war crimes and human rights violations.

The latest salvo was fired when three plaintiffs filed a law suit in a US District court in Washington seeking $ 30 million to compensate relatives of victims of killed in three incidents during the war by Sri Lanka army. The case was filed under the U.S. Torture Victim Protection Act 1991 which provides for victims to seek compensation from individuals in foreign states who commit acts of torture. The President’s spokesman dismissed the case as a publicity stunt by “mercenaries” of the LTTE. 

The Tamils Against Genocide, a Diaspora Tamil organisation, expressed disappointment that the U.S, had not taken action on this issue when President Rajapaksa made a quiet visit to the U.S. said to be for medical check up during the month. The Amnesty International also expressed similar sentiments.

The Eelam sympathisers were shocked when Swiss police arrested ten former LTTE representatives in the country on January 11, 2011. According to knowledgeable Diaspora columnist DBS Jeyaraj, those arrested included the present head of the LTTE in Switzerland Vijaratnam Sivanesan alias Ragu alias Ragupathy, his predecessor Chelliah Kularajasekeram alias Kulam and the influential Swiss Tiger finance chief Chelliah Jeyapalan alias Abdullah. They are facing charges of money laundering and belonging to a criminal organisation. Switzerland is the home of about 32, 000 Sri Lanka Tamils; and the country had been an important source of  LTTE funding.  

India-Sri Lanka relations

The usually cordial relations between India and Sri Lanka came under severe pressure when two Tamil Nadu fishermen were killed within a span of ten days during the month allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy. Though Sri Lanka vehemently denied the involvement of its navy in the incidents and attributed them to ‘miscreants’ there was widespread anger in Tamil Nadu. In a slightly disturbing aftermath, some fringe elements of pro-LTTE parties in Tamil Nadu raided the Mahabodhi Society in Chennai and attacked a Bhikku and damaged some of the property at the Buddhist temple. This was the first time such an attack on Sinhalas has taken place in Tamil Nadu during the last two decades.

Reflecting the political sensitivities in Tamil Nadu, Government of India has reacted very strongly to the killing of fishermen. Terming the incidents as "very serious" and "unacceptable", India has said that such incidents had "no justification" and called on Sri Lankan authorities to "desist" from the use of force. India lodged a strong protest with Colombo.

In the latest incident one fisherman was killed and two others injured while fishing off Kodiakarai coast on January 22. The man, who had put out to sea with two others from Pushpavanam coastal hamlet, died after Sri Lankan Naval personnel allegedly tied a rope around his neck and pushed him into the water. Earlier, in another incident on January 12, an Indian fisherman was killed in Palk Straits when Sri Lankan Navy allegedly opened fire at three fishermen, who put out to sea from Jagadapattinnam near Pudukottai.

As stated in the Sri Lanka Perspectives December 2010, such incidents gain greater significance as the Congress-DMK is alliance passing through a critical phase due to the 2G scam, and as the Tamil Nadu state elections are nearing. So New Delhi’s strong reaction is not surprising. In a follow up, India’s foreign secretary Ms Nirupama Rao is slated to proceed to Colombo to discuss the issue when she calls upon President Rajapaksa and meets other leaders.

In October 2008, India and Sri Lanka had reached an understanding on “practical arrangements to deal with bona fide Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line.” After that, killing of Indian fishermen, particularly those crossing Sri Lanka maritime boundary had decreased rapidly. In view of this, the latest killings particularly the one said to be on the Indian side of the boundary, need to be investigated fully. The possible involvement of elements opposed to the growth of cordial relations between the two countries in triggering such incidents should not be ruled out.    

Written on January 31, 2011

Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends, February 2011, www.security-risks.com