FIRST things first. Let me celebrate the unrelentingly secular core of the Indian media, led by the younger journalists like Nalin Mehta and Shai Venkatraman of Star News and, of course, the more seasoned campaigners like Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt and many, many journalists of Hindi and vernacular newspapers, whose courageous and timely reporting of the riots in Gujarat actually, truly helped save hundreds of lives.

This when the Indian state was calmly briefing the unusually attentive parliament on the bold steps by the finance minister to mend the country’s economy, even while massacres were under way in Gujarat at full throttle. Budgets are meant to be discarded by the opposition when it chooses and used to bring down governments, not to distract parliament from urgent fire-fighting when the country is aflame.

President Pervez Musharraf must note that Star News has been banned in Gujarat and is being intimidated by powerful political lobbies over predictable allegations of spreading canards. That’s exactly what he did too. Is it one rare issue on which India and Pakistan agree, since you both can’t be right? Or is that possible, and I am wrong? Try and lift the ban on Indian TV channels, if you haven’t already done that, and see for yourself the functioning of India’s news media in its hour of need. Don’t be too offended if you find some journalists or politician making communal noises. The overwhelming majority, as proved by the coverage of Gujarat, is secular and seems to believe in fair reporting, and also, I believe, in India-Pakistan amity.

The next thing we have to do in this hour of raging madness is to plaster the Indian police and officials, which we shall do in a moment, with the incontrovertible observations of people who, let’s say, would count for their credibility. These are the commissions of inquiry that probed some major anti-minority riots in India. Hear them out for yourselves and decide if the charges by Star News and others regarding possible police and state connivance in the pogroms in Gujarat are rooted in history or not.

In a report on anti-minority bias in the Indian police, Communalism Combat, a leading rights group based in Mumbai, has come up with the following vignettes from history. Sample them:

“The response of police to appeals from desperate victims, particularly Muslims, was cynical and utterly indifferent. On occasions, the response was that they were unable to leave the appointed post; on others, the attitude was that one Muslim killed was one Muslim less...Police officers and men, particularly at the junior level, appeared to have an in-built bias against the Muslims which was evident in their treatment of the suspected Muslims and Muslim victims of riots.

“The treatment given was harsh and brutal and, on occasions, bordering on the inhuman...The bias of policemen was seen in the active connivance of police constables with the rioting Hindu mobs, on occasions, with their adopting the role of passive on-lookers on occasions, and, finally, their lack of enthusiasm in registering offences against Hindus even when the accused was clearly identified and post-haste classifying the cases in ‘A’ (True but not detected) summary”. — Report of the Justice B. N. Srikrishna Commission on the Mumbai riots of 1992-1993.

“This commission of inquiry has cited more than half a dozen instances where Muslim religious places adjoining police lines or police stations were attacked or damaged. The argument advanced by the police officers that because they were busy quelling riots at various other places, these police stations were shorn of adequate strength and hence these attacks on religious places could not be punished, did not impress the Commission. It has made this observation because not a single case of damage to a Hindu place of worship near a police station was reported to the Commission.” — Report of the Justice Jagmohan Reddy Commission on the Ahmedabad riots of 1969

“The working of the Special Investigation Squad is a study in communal discrimination. The officers of the squad systematically set about implicating as many Muslims and exculpating as many Hindus as possible irrespective of whether they were innocent or guilty. Cases of many Hindus belonging to the Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Utsav Mandal (an extension of the local branch of the Jana Sangh) were wrongly classified as ‘A’ category and investigations closed and no proper investigation was undertaken into several complaints of murders of Muslims and arson of their property.

“No investigation was conducted into the composition and activities of Hindu communal and allegedly communal organizations operating in Bhiwandi but only in respect of Muslim communal and allegedly communal organizations. Deputy superintendent of police S.P. Saraf held private conferences and discussions with several leaders of Hindu organizations including many who were implicated by Muslims in offences of arson and murder.”— Report of the Justice D.P. Madon Commission on the Bhiwandi, Jalgaon and Mahad of 1970

“The evidence of the deputy SP says that while on patrol duty he had to curb many among his rank and file who could not restrain themselves when they met Muslims on the road. Similar evidence was given by the sub-collector and other witnesses who have testified saying that while chasing away some Muslims many policemen yelled at them to go to Pakistan. At Mattambaram one or two of them got into the mosque and besides beating Usmankutty Haji, a very respectable person, broke the tube-light and chandeliers in the mosque. There is nothing to show that there was any justification for this action...

“So far as the minorities are concerned, it is the feeling among them that they are not getting justice, that they are discriminated against in the matter of appointments in the Public Services, that they do not get equal protection of the law and that their religion is in danger, that prompts them to rally around religious organizations of their own. It is of the greatest importance that appropriate steps are taken by the government to remove the cause for such feelings in the minorities. There is much truth in saying that if you want peace you must work justice.” — Report of the Justice Joseph Vithyathil Commission on the Tellicherry riots, 1971

“The riots occurred broadly on account of the total passivity, callousness and indifference of the police in the matter of controlling the situation and protecting the people of the Sikh community. ... Several instances have come to be narrated where police personnel were found marching behind or mingled in the crowd. Since they did not make any attempt to stop the mob from indulging in criminal acts, an inference has been drawn that they were part of the mob and had the common intention and purpose. ... The Commission was shocked to find that there were incidents where the police wanted clear and definite allegations against the anti-social elements in different localities to be dropped out while recording FIRs.” — Report of the J. Ranganath Misra Commission on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.

Finally, another very serious matter: the collusion between Hindu and Muslim extremists that has been an under-reported feature of communalism in India. Two days into the riots in Gujarat, an American diplomat wanted to know my take on the orgy of bloodletting in the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. I said we urgently needed someone like Pakistan’s Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider to fix the festering problem of India. My diplomat friend said I was dreaming. I said indeed I was.

Lest there be any doubt, I had said what I said to the diplomat with the courage of my conviction such as it is. Moinuddin Haider has put the Jamaat-i-Islami and other assorted fundamentalist groups behind the bars in Pakistan. They are all roaming free in India with state connivance. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, which was created in 1925 to target Indian Muslims, is the best ally of Jamaat-i-Islami. After 50 years of high- yield collusion in independent India between the rabid RSS and the mediaeval Muslmim fundamentalists, a kind of unity in obscurantism has been forged, made stronger when Indira Gandhi, in a bad miscalculation which she would always regret, put them both in the same jail during the 1975-77 emergency rule. Contrary to the common belief, see how similar the Hindu-Muslim obscurantists both think alike.

Said RSS boss Guru Golawalkar in his widely-quoted book We, Our Nation Defined, published in 1930: “Muslims are born in this land, no doubt... but are they true to its salt? No! Together with the change in their faith, gone is the spirit of love and devotion for the nation. Muslims may stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment, not even citizens rights.”

What did Maulana Maudoodi of the Jamaat-i-Islami have to say on the subject? “I want the establishment of God’s kingdom in Pakistan. If India becomes a Hindu Rashtra and Muslims are treated as second-class citizens, there is nothing wrong. Muslims of India should accept the status of second class citizens.”

The equation suits the Indian state, like any other state an opportunist, calculating entity. Every time there is a riot the so-called Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid jumps into the headlines, threatening to go on fast, or to lead an agitation to meet the prime minister, all in the defence of Indian Muslims. Incidentally, he is the same Shahi Imam who, by raising the demand to retain mediaeval divorce laws among Indian Muslims, gave a handy issue to Hindu communalism to use it as a counterpoint to their temple agenda. People like the Shahi Imam, close allies of the perpetually communal state apparatus, gain from incidents like the Gujarat riots. They are as culpable as the Hindu rightwing in keeping the embers of fanaticism glowing.

BALOCHISTAN is known for tribal conflicts and clashes, some of which are arranged but others are real and engineered by vested interests. Some tribal elders use these conflicts for advancing their petty personal interests. There are many clan conflicts, mainly within the tribes. Important ones are from the Bugti and Achakzai clans that have left many dead and homeless.

However, it was a dream that Balochistan with its diverse tribal and ethnic backgrounds will ever have a disciplined and efficient police force capable of handling complicated issues of law and order, maintenance of public peace, ensure supremacy of law and regaining the trust and confidence of the people in a broader sense.

The Balochistan police had earlier drawn its main strength of force from Punjab since the One Unit days. The recruitment areas remained confined to Northern Punjab, mainly to the Potohar region, from where the police force was recruited. It followed the pattern of the Sindh police, to say the least.

With the passage of time, the provincial government did encourage the local people to join the disciplined forces, from the army to the police, besides the Levies. The encouragement was in form of incentives and motivation and, finally, it paid dividends to society in general.

Last week the governor inspected the passing-out parade of Police Training School, Quetta. Some 877 constables took part in the parade, 703 being police constables, 51 from the Lower Course, 47 from Intermediate Course and 76 from Levies, popularly known as rural police.

For the first time, the police department did the large-scale recruitment on merit. Of the 7,000 candidates who appeared, only 800 were selected. A DIG, assisted by two SPs, did the recruitment, granting no relaxation to anyone. It was for the first time that there was no compromise on merit while making recruitments. The team visited all the districts and held interviews and tests.

The passing-out parade itself was a proof of the quality of training imparted to the recruits and the level of their understanding about their future challenges. The recruits performed A-Class drill matching the standards of the army, PT show, karate, commando action by different groups and units of the police force.

The display pertained to frustrating a ‘kidnapping for ransom’ drama, hostage-taking and releasing the captive by ‘killing the culprits’, scaling walls of six feet and nine feet height without any help, ‘knocking down enemy in surprise attack.’ ‘night shooting’, ‘firing while blind-folded’, sharp shooters hitting precise targets, frustrating ambush on a police vehicle, VVIP protection skills and other demonstrations.

All the demonstrations were highly impressive and liked by the people in general. The officers themselves demonstrated the skill of backfire, hitting the precise targets in an impressive manner.

The drill did send a clear message that Balochistan is capable of handling the intricate problem of law and order by its own force if given proper training by qualified instructors. The provincial government has recently allocated Rs247 million for raising a new force, presumably for providing security cover to foreign investors in the energy sector.

According to some details available, the government will recruit 2,500 people for the new force and give training to provide the specialized service of security cover to vital oil and gas installation and, thereby, frustrate all attempts to sabotage the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas in the province.

The Bijarani tribal elders held their meeting in Kohlu and offered to provide the necessary manpower for recruitment. However, the son of the late guerilla commander Sher Mohammad Marri, known as General Sheroff during the 1962 upsurge, did oppose the move. He gave no reason for his opposition to raising the new force.

People have, however, suggested that instead of raising a new police force the existing one should be strengthened by raising its number and training it to deal with the problem. If police force is strengthened, it can relieve the civil armed forces from their secondary duty of checking smuggling. The civil armed forces are criticized for their unfair handling of the problem. “Everyone is treated as a smuggler or a bad character at the checkposts by the CAF personnel,” a former MNA told Dawn.

IS ANYBODY listening? This is an urgent inquiry, addressed to Naimatullah Khan, the Honourable Nazim of this Islamic Republic’s largest city, Karachi. Can you, Sir, hear the crying of the child that drowned in an open gutter manhole on Friday morning? I can. Indeed the shrieking keeps echoing in my ear all the time. How long I shall go on hearing that agonized innocent sobbing, I cannot tell.

It keeps me worrying about other children in the city. There is not a locality that does not have some gaping gutter manholes. You may recall many such incidents in the past. Infant Moin, a mere 18-month old, was not the first child to drown in an open manhole. Alas, there is little to sustain the wish that little Moin be the last of our children to be washed away for ever in a gutter.

Do you, Sir, hear the moans of Baby Moin’s distraught mother? I can. Can you see the tears in her forlorn eyes? I can. My ears are no stranger to this kind of wailing of mothers. I have heard the moan of many mothers bereaved in circumstances more or less similar. Can you imagine the crestfallen face of Baby Moin’s taxi-driver father? I can. He suffers in silence as fathers are wont to. As he waits at the red signals, his thoughts rush back to the smiling innocent face that made his homecoming such a joy.

Think, Sir, of the uncontainable sorrow of little Moin’s boyish brother Waseem. Imagine the storm raging inside his innocent heart. How would the elder brother ever forget that little Moin slipped out of his hands to disappear for ever in an open gutter manhole? How is Waseem to console his aching heart? He has lost a play-mate, a darling of a doll. Moin’s half-spoken words ring in Waseem’s ear. Can you hear this, respected City Nazim?

No doubt, all of us come from him and shall go to him. Even so life, His gift, is worth saving — all life. Life of human beings, beasts, vegetation. Loss of life is understandable. Not the destruction of life. Moin did not die. His life was destroyed. It could be saved if the danger was taken care of and removed. Since the removable danger was not removed, those whose duty it was to remove it, must take some blame, some responsibility. This question is important, if an earnest effort is to be made to prevent a replay of this ghastly saga.

As our elected City Government’s head you have been in office for some not inconsiderable time. About time, now your elected government took a measure of the countless things in this city’s life that need urgent attention and action. The most intolerably hideous menace to clean living is the absence of sanitation. There is hardly a gutter in this city of 14 million people that is not in appalling disrepair. There is hardly a street in which the underground gutters are not gushing like an endless line of fountains of sullage and stink. The citizens of Karachi have yet to hear you speak a word, if only to suggest this appalling state of affairs is noted. Have you, Sir, ever spoken in public about the gushing gutters? Many months ago, Governor Soomro happened to be in some spot like the Data Nagri where little Moin departed from this world via and open manhole. He spoke about this problem. Then, he forgot all about it. Admittedly it is not the pleasantest of things in Karachi’s life to remember.

An elected Nazim is in a qualitatively different slot. Unlike the governor, the Nazim is answerable to the citizens. Among them the parents and the brother of the little Moin of Data Nagri. It will be noted that Data Nagri’s open gutter manhole is not that shanty town’s exclusive privilege. Every locality has its share of this menace to life. There are so many and multiplying simply because nobody has ever thought of doing something about them.

Why children in poorer habitations are more likely to be swallowed up by open manholes is not difficult to see. Because there are no safe playing places for them. Why poorer children are more ominously exposed to these dangers is because they live in small homes. They have only their streets for playing spaces. We hear so much of talk, all of it so far inane, about parks for this city, squatting uncomfortably on the edges of the Thar desert. It is already more than a decade that the city has been hearing of a central park where old Sabzi Mandi was.

Moin’s death should make you, our Honourable City Nazim, to think afresh on the idea of clean, open spaces in this sprawling city. In this respect, a higher priority ought to go to the poorer localities. It would be easier to do this because projects to provide small open spaces in these neglected townships would be easier to develop, easier to manage, at affordable expense.

Millions in this city would look forward to an acknowledgment of this lamentation from you, our elected Honourable City Nazim.