| April 23, 2002 | Tuesday | Safar 9, 1423 |
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A miscarriage of justice
Tendulkar on Don’s trail
THE Security Council resolution calling for the dispatch of a fact-finding UN team to the devastated Jenin refugee camp reflects growing international revulsion over the brutal tactics employed by Israel in its current blitz on the Palestinians. The team will probe allegations of a massacre in Jenin and wanton violations of human rights and laws of war by Israeli troops earlier this month. True to form, the US made every effort to block the passage of the original proposal, which called for a formal UN investigation into the massacre. It finally withdrew the threat of using its veto when the original hard-hitting draft was considerably watered down. This is the fourth time this month that the US has agreed to support UN resolutions critical of Israel only after they have been toned down. It would have been extremely embarrassing for the US to have bowed to its protege’s wishes by using its veto at a time when the international community is so outraged by death and destruction in Jenin. All last week, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against Israel’s brutal tactics, not only in Arab capitals but also in Washington itself. The protesters were expressing their disgust at Israel’s genocidal policies against the Palestinians and condemning US collusion in these criminal acts.
The images from Jenin being beamed out by international television networks and the eyewitness accounts from the camp are truly shocking. The entire settlement has been reduced to a rubble by the rampaging Israeli troops. All that is left of thousands of homes are piles of stones, twisted metal, and desolate ruins from which survivors try to retrieve some vestiges of their former lives. The Palestinians claim that hundreds of people, men women and children, were buried alive under the rubble of their homes when Israeli tanks and bulldozers struck without so much as a warning. There are also appalling tales of illegal executions and torture by Israeli forces. So callous were their tormentors that the dead and injured remained scattered across the unfortunate town, with access to ambulances, humanitarian aid and earth-moving machinery systematically blocked by the Israelis. Jenin today is a wasteland where the stench of death hangs overwhelmingly in the air.
While the Palestinians claim that more than 500 persons were killed during the onslaught, the Israelis seek to whitewash their crimes by claiming that the figure is less than 40. It is allegations such as these that the UN team will investigate and which are already being confirmed by the trickle of newsmen and aid workers who have managed to reach the scene of this terrible crime. What happened in Jenin has all the hallmarks of a war crime. It also bears the signature of Ariel Sharon, author of the Sabra and Chatila massacres and a man obsessed with crushing the Palestinians regardless of the human cost. The UN fact-finding mission has a moral responsibility to sift through the evidence at Jenin and fix responsibility for the crimes committed there. Those who perpetrate atrocities on such a scale cannot be allowed to get away scot- free. Jenin was meant to send a dire warning to the Palestinians to renounce their struggle against Israeli occupation. Instead, it is likely to go down in the history of the Palestinian struggle as a symbol of courage in the face of unspeakable oppression.
THE gender bias inherent in the Hudood Ordinances of 1979 becomes patently clear each time a woman is convicted under these controversial laws whose very Islamic credentials remain suspect. A legacy of General Zia’s rule, the Hudood Ordinances are bad in law and lack the wisdom one expects in a law concerning sexual offences. The latest conviction of a married woman, Zafran Bibi of Kohat, is yet another example of the obvious miscarriage of justice built into the laws imposed on the nation without consensus among the intelligentsia or the ulema. The court sentenced the woman to death by stoning in a Zina case under a law that gave credence to the counter-allegation of adultery brought against her by her father-in-law, as opposed to her own complaint that her brother-in-law had raped and impregnated her. DNA tests could have revealed the truth of the woman’s claim but the judge did not deem them necessary. Human rights groups and women’s organizations have now appealed for a retrial.
Up to 70 per cent of the total women prisoners in Pakistan are booked under the Hudood Ordinances, while their male counterparts are acquitted for a lack of parity between the evidence of a male and a female. In cases of adultery, the law requires two female witnesses to counter the evidence of a male witness. As a result, nearly all men accused of rape walk free and the woman is convicted because an unproved rape is presumed to be an admission of adultery. The law makes no distinction as to whether a sexual act is committed wilfully or forcibly. Zafran Bibi is one such victim of alleged rape, and of the law under which she has been tried. The government, as it tries to improve the status of women by giving them greater representation in the political institutions under the devolution plan, must also scrap all such laws that victimize women in the name of religion and custom. Unless that is done the Pakistani woman will continue to be a second-rate citizen against whom both her male counterpart and the state militate.
WHEN Sachin Tendulkar smashed his 29th century against the West Indies at Port of Spain he equalled Sir Don Bradman’s record. This bare report only conveys the statistical aspect of the matter, leaving out the fact that the Indian batsman took 93 matches to achieve the feat whereas the Australian icon and cricket legend raced up to this landmark after a mere 52 matches. Sunil Gavaskar, another wonderful willow-wielder who also achieved this distinction years ago, was modest and realistic enough to admit this difference while acknowledging the greetings gracefully. He then went on to set another milestone by scoring 34 centuries, a record which is still standing. No doubt his age and vastly increased cricketing activity provided Tendulkar with greater scope to dominate the field. His innate talent coupled with no end of opportunities, if un-interrupted by physical fitness problems, could lead him to write a new chapter in the history of the game.
Ever since Bradman paid him a great compliment, he has gone ahead to justify it innings after innings. Tendulkar’s rival Brian Lara, another player with at least two unsurpassed records, lacks consistency, though his brilliance and penchant for big scores knowns no bounds. Viv Richards and Garfield Sobers, in their own way, also reminded cricket fans of Don Bradman. But in fairness and with due apologies to all of them, the Don’s superiority remained untouched. In his hands the bat defied the dictum that cricket is a game of chance. The way he commanded every situation and stroke — by which standard he rated his performances — drove the commentators to the extent of suggesting a change of gear and rules. A person whose gluttonous appetite for runs, scored with amazing speed and clinical efficiency, helped immortalize him in the realm of cricket — he remains an incomparable phenomenon.