Signs of thawing

IT may not be correct to say that the Powell mission has been a resounding success — far from it. But even the most die-hard sceptics would concede that the American secretary of state left South Asia a safer place than when he had arrived. Clearly, Secretary Powell is not the only one in recent weeks to have tried his hand at calming subcontinental nerves. Others who have tried to lessen tension included Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji. Nevertheless, Powell had a better chance, because of India’s refusal to negotiate at a lesser level. Observers of the South Asian scene have not forgotten that when Washington sent out feelers that it was sending an “envoy” to South Asia, New Delhi was not too pleased. More so, because the envoy tipped for the mission was Richard Armitage or Richard Haas. India wanted a higher-ranking envoy to do the troubleshooting and was immensely pleased when Washington announced that the head of the state department was to undertake the peace mission. From the word “go”, thus, Secretary Powell had a chance.

True, one would be hard put to it to find a direct quote from what has been said or relayed to the rest of the world from Islamabad and New Delhi to justify one’s belief that the two nuclear rivals have moved away from the brink. Nevertheless, one cannot fail to notice the welcome absence of the bellicosity that has characterized Indo-Pakistan rhetoric since India started massing its troops on the border with Pakistan following the Dec 13 terrorist attack on its parliament building. This fall in the level of adrenalin is itself a Powell achievement. Who could have, for instance, expected Jaswant Singh to say that “the central thought” which his prime minister shared with Secretary Powell was “the urgent need to restore confidence in New Delhi’s relationship with Pakistan”? And he added more significantly, “Once confidence is restored between the two, everything will fall in place and will become so much easier to act upon.” To this bit of optimism Secretary Powell himself added by saying that the parties concerned were “on a path that could lead to the restoration of dialogue.” On his part, President Musharraf contributed to this hopeful prospect on Friday when he said that he hoped there would be no war.

It remains to be seen whether New Delhi would help in what the press has started calling “a three-stage” process for beginning a dialogue. Secretary Powell himself avoided referring to such a process. But the media has spoken of a three-stage process beginning with the toning down of the rhetoric, a re-examination of the “tit-for-tat sanctions” and then a military de-escalation. One big imponderable, though, is New Delhi’s fixation with the list of the 20 men it wants Pakistan to extradite. More ominous is its refusal to differentiate between acts of terrorism and the freedom struggle in Kashmir. In the meantime, the least New Delhi can do is to do nothing that would in any way jeopardize what Secretary Powell’s visit has achieved. For instance, it could rein in its hawks and prevent them from adding to tension and war hysteria.

Cruel and inhuman

SENIOR US officials may brush aside awkward questions about the treatment of Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners in their custody, but the rest of the world is increasingly expressing its outrage. The growing anger is focused on the plight of some 80 prisoners who were flown from Afghanistan to a remote Atlantic island under the most appalling circumstances. The prisoners were sedated, chained to their seats and some were even hooded during their long flight. The heads and beards of the prisoners were also forcibly shaved — in callous violation of their religious rights. If the flight to their isolated destination was not bad enough, the prisoners are now being kept in tiny cages with tin roofs, exposed to the elements from all sides. This cruel and dehumanizing treatment has been justified on the grounds that the prisoners are all extremely dangerous terrorists; in fact, the US has waived aside charges of collective punishment by arguing, unconvincingly, that each of the prisoners is being held on specific charges. It has also conveniently put the men beyond the reach of international law by stating that the prisoners are not prisoners but “unlawful combatants”.

This unilateral definition, as well as the decision to transport the prisoners to an island outside US territory, is clearly a blatant attempt to bypass the Geneva Conventions. In fact, the US is bound by law to hold an inquiry to determine their status, during which period they must be accorded all the privileges under the Conventions. Meanwhile, the European press has taken up the cause of the prisoners, and public opinion there is becoming increasingly hostile. Even the British, who have loyally defended the US on most issues during the Afghan war, are reluctant to defend Washington’s treatment of the prisoners. The growing concern about the welfare of the prisoners has prompted Britain into dispatching a team of officials to the remote camp to seek details about the three prisoners who claim to be British nationals. It is important for the world community to remind the US of one of the fundamentals of its own system of justice: that no one can be presumed guilty without being put through a proper trial. Surely, it is such a principle that separates a civilized society from a tyrannical one.

Police encounters again

IN what appears to be an upsurge in the frequency of police encounters in Punjab, 13 alleged outlaws have been killed in 10 separate encounters in the first nine days of this year. Police encounters and the fatalities associated with them are nothing new to the province. What is new is the alarming rise and the regularity with which these have become a norm rather than an exception over the past few years, as some trigger-happy policemen continue to play ‘cops and robbers’ on the crowded city streets and in the countryside. Human rights groups have termed most of these encounters fake, and an instrument of extra-judicial killing, often used with impunity by the police.

Taking note of the rise in such encounters, the government had ordered an inquiry into the matter two years ago. The findings of the probe reveal that the previous Punjab government systematically applied the tactic to control the law and order situation. Thus, to its dubious distinction were added a total of 1,027 police encounters between 1997-1999 in which 967 alleged outlaws, 168 policemen and 24 innocent citizens were killed. The statistics show a 300 per cent rise in police encounters over the previous years. Yet, surprisingly, no mentionable number of police officials who formed part of the ‘death squads’ that ‘staged’ the encounters, have been brought to book. It is perhaps a failure to take action against the involved police officials that has led to an upsurge in the so-called police encounters in the province. It is time the government brought to book all those police officials who have been alleged to have staged such encounters in the past. What is it if not criminal conduct, plain and simple, that a law enforcement agency should itself breach the very law it is supposed to enforce?