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Earlier I had blogged immediately after the Goa elections and had opined that the wafer thin majority may not last long, well, one and a half month seems to be the norm in a state that has seen close to a dozen ministry changes in less than that many years. What price democracy?
Pak Army advises Mush to quit Friday, July 27, 2007 10:37 [IST]
Islamabad: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been advised by his top military commanders to quit in the wake of the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, a daily reported today. During his six-day long discussions with his top military aides in Rawalpindi after the reinstatement of the Chief Justice by the Supreme Court, Musharraf was advised to seek an "honourable exit".
The above news item caught my eye and concern. With its fight between progressive Muslim groups and fanatical Mullahs and terrorist groups who stay in Pakistan as their home, the lack of any visible and credible democratic leadership in Pakistan needs to worry many in India also.
Musharraf has to perhaps take the same exit as his military predecessors, that is the law of military rule, but, are we going to witness another medieval minded army man who will yet again succumb to the easy temptation of anti-Indian sloganeering to further his rule? The restoration of the Chief Justice was a message that the legal mechanism is certainly willing to flex its muscle even against a military ruler. But is this indicative of a larger political mood? If democracy is restored whom does Pakistan have to show case, the corrupt Nawaz Sherief and the equally corrupt Benazir both cooling their heels in exile.
Permitting the current development perhaps is a willing gamble on the part of Musharraf to exhibit his tolerant nature to the western powers on whose support the government of Pakistan largely relies upon. Primary to the changes in Pakistan will be to understand what are the designs on Pakistan for the existing and emerging super-powers, USA and China respectively. The US government is used to treating Pakistan as almost its own territory, they have reserved the right to strike any 'terrorist' location within Pakistan, at the same time also asking Pakistan government to ensure no support is given to the terrorist groups (“Al Qaeda remains a potent force inside Pakistan, as is the Taliban,” said Mr Burns, the State Department's point man for Pakistan and India. “And we want to see Pakistan use all tools at its disposal to choke the flow of funds to terrorist groups.”). If the US has decided to choke the fund flow, then that would be the biggest choke of all.
A stable government in Pakistan I believe is for the benefit of India. It is time that the stupid rate race of missile development, which is nothing more than crude jingoism, is stopped by both the countries and an environment is created where other issues can be resolved. The overthrow of Musharraf is only of academic interest, but, more important for us in India is who will be the new power, the military again, some conservative with a soft corner for the fanatical mullahs or someone who can set the democratic process in better condition. Keep your fingers crossed and watch the developments in Pakistan for the next few months, there is certainly a change in the offing.
Last year, on the World AIDS Day (must be a sick institution that requests the world to celebrate a day for illnesses), I had blogged here (http://tamil-nadu.blogspot.com/2006/12/world-aids-day-tamilnadu-and-aids.html) on the way the entire debate is being kidnapped. I had long suspected that the alarm of AIDS in this country is exaggerated. With the numbers not being clear to all those who were involved, no clarity in the methods of measurement and certainly no idea among the grassroot level workers (from the NGO world) who have become victims of the international aid agencies' money for AIDS awareness.
Now it turns out that my suspicion is correct in this issue. The news item today provides some insights (http://justsamachar.com/popular/meet-the-man-behind-indias-true-aids-figures) - "New Delhi, July 12: It became official last week that India’s AIDS scare was exaggerated far above the actual infection number of 2.47 million."
But, this was not the case six months ago, the director of the National AIDS control organization concurred with the UN organization despite her own organization’s estimates being otherwise (http://specials.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/01sld1.htm)
"India's National AIDS Control Organisation estimates that 124,995 Indians have AIDS. But UNAIDS puts the figure much higher -- it says 5,700,000 Indians have AIDS. Speaking at an Asia Society discussion on AIDS in India in March, Sujata Rao, director general, National AIDS Control Organisation, appeared to concur with the UNAIDS estimate. "We lost 500,000 people to AIDS last year," she said. "There are 5.2 million HIV infected people in India."
I had written at that time that AIDS must be strange case where the total number of victimized is dictated from the top, coming from an UN agency, that is from the very top. It is as though our own common sense and understanding of the issue doesn’t matter. It is not as though the exaggeration is by a small number, this is a hundred percent exaggeration!
We need to understand who benefits from such exaggeration.
Why are the International agencies hell bent on telling us we are more ill than we actually are.
Is there a nexus between those who promote these numbers and those who benefit from the treatment to this illness? (refer to my blog on this earlier this year)
Why are government policies being formulated based on such exaggerations?
How can one rely upon any government data for any illnesses and accept its prescription, particularly as some of these are being made mandatory in recent times (like the compulsory AIDS screening for all pregnant women)?
We have a history of such blind acceptance of our own illnesses. Many years back, the earlier President of USA, Clinton made the exaggerated claim that a million children were going blind in India every year due to Vitamin A deficiency. He was of course doing the sales man job for the supposedly Vitamin-A enriched, genetically modified rice. No government agency or individual thought of placing the record straight leave alone challenging the American President. We as a nation are suckers for anyone telling us we are ill, we are weak, we are lowly worms. What is it that makes us accept such these numbers without challenging them? And why are our government agencies in a hurry to concur with international agencies at the cost of their own common sense and better understanding?
