CNS

Relevance of Bhagat Singh cannot be ignored by modern India

Relevance of Bhagat Singh cannot be ignored by modern India

The Kalam Vichar Manch ( thinkers’ association) recently organized a thought provoking seminar to commemorate the death anniversary of freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh, who was ‘hanged to death’ on 23 March 1931.

On this occasion, noted historian Dr. Irfan Habib spoke on the relevance of Bhagat Singh in the present times. It was a real treat to hear the renowned professor dwell on the various facets of the personality of the great revolutionary, in his characteristic style.

Bhagat Singh is indeed a unique character of Indian history. his life is what legends are made of. Several films have been made on him and his photo is still garlanded by various political parties (though sadly for their own dubious interests).

Although termed as a terrorist by the then British Empire, Bhagat Singh rightly wanted to be called a revolutionary and a soldier in the war against imperialism. He believed that his retaliation against oppression could not be termed as anarchy. His ideas reflect his deep understanding of the Indian milieu and his thought provoking writings make him a class apart from his contemporaries. Though he died at the young age of 24 years, he had a clear vision of an India which was not only politically free, but also free from poverty and social injustices. In one of his speeches, less than 2 months before his death, he stressed the need for a Socialist Revolution, through a political revolution. Else, he said that it did not matter whether Purushottam Das Thakur ( a wealthy industrialist of his times ) ruled India or the Britishers. So for any movement to succeed, it was (and still is) imperative that the masses be involved in it.

Dr. Habib lauded the scientific temperament of Bhagat Singh, which is very relevant in today’s scenario. More than any other nationalist of his times, Bhagat Singh stressed the importance of being rational. He believed in ideological firmness and said, ‘Religion has no connection with the National Movement.’ Bold sentiments indeed, but very true. It is distressing to see that today Nationalism is being touted in the garb of religion and caste. This has resulted in fragmentation of society and in communal riots. Instead of insisting on religious instructions to our children, it would be better if we instruct them in the values of love and peaceful co existence.

Bhagat Singh also believed in a ‘realistic socialism’. He dreamt of social equality and prosperity. His vision of a Communist Society was very similar to that of Marx and Lenin--- a society where there were equal opportunities for all and a just distribution wealth according to one’s capabilities, and where even the lowliest could live comfortably. His brand of socialism was not a utopia, but a reality which could be brought about with non violent and peaceful methods. He knew that in this quest for socialism, one would have to make compromises at times, without losing sight of the main aim. In any such compromise, both parties gain some and lose some. But the onward, non violent march towards socialism should continue. Nothing worth while can be achieved by being a hardliner.

During his trial in the court, Bhagat Singh said that India ’s struggle for freedom cannot be carried out in isolation. It will have to be linked and influenced by other international movements and happenings. This concept of International Solidarity is very important today, when we talk of the world as a global village. Yet our leaders are sadly lacking in ideological condemnation of anti people regimes. We tend to be guided more by economic self gains rather than by valued principles.

It is time we paid just more than lip service to the dreams of Bhagat Singh. There relevance in modern day India cannot be ignored.

Shobha Shukla

The author writes extensively in English and Hindi media. She serves as Editor of Citizen News Service (CNS).

Involving TB patients in TB programmes will help in Turkey

Involving TB patients in TB programmes will help in Turkey

Involving the TB patients in TB control programmes - particularly those who have successfully completed the TB treatment - might help in Turkey, says Professor (Dr) Nazmi Zengin from Toplum Sagligi Arastirma ve Gelistirme Merkezi (Centre for Research and Promotion of Health) in Konya, Turkey (www.toplumsagligi.org). Dr Nazmi is representing a civil society organization in Turkey, which is a member of the Stop TB Partnership, and attending the 3rd Stop TB Partners' Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Turkey was very successful in TB control in 1970s, says Dr Nazmi. By mid 1970s, there was a prevailing sense in government that Turkey has almost eradicated TB (less than 1% incidence) and TB seized to be counted a problem in the country, says Dr Nazmi.

In 1970s, internal migration in Turkey was also alarmingly high with many people from East Turkey moving towards West Turkey which was a more industrialized and rich part. Those who migrated, were hoping to find jobs but the quality of their life and living conditions upped their vulnerability to infectious diseases, particularly TB. TB is indeed a disease of the poor and those who became unemployed in west Turkey were further at risk of TB.

This situation was aggravated by the transformation in health systems where TB dispensaries or clinics were being closed down because government was not allocating enough money to TB. Rather the Turkish government's emphasis was to promote community medicine, and encourage family practitioners instead of TB physicians. Dr Nazmi feels this is where Turkey began to lose the war against TB - and now nearly 3000 deaths are attributed to TB in Turkey every year, an alarming numbers of which occur due to multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB).

The health system transformation is not good every time, believes Dr Nazmi. He says that the TB treatment literacy is alarmingly low, and many TB patients who begin the treatment, stop going to the TB clinic for medicines once they start feeling better. This is one area where people who have successfully completed TB treatment, can help in raising treatment literacy and provide support to those who are tested positive for TB, or begin the treatment. These are key reasons why anti-TB drug resistance is increasing in Turkey.

Unless the programme performance of DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment shortcourse) is improved and the reasons due to which people develop resistance to first line anti-TB drugs are duly addressed, the anti-TB drug resistance will continue increasing.

The number of drug-susceptibility laboratories (DST) is also not adequate. Most laboratories only test the anti-TB drug resistance for 4 first-line drugs. To test the anti-TB drug resistance for 10 classes of anti-TB drugs, the patients need to go to the university hospitals, the cost of which is often prohibitive and beyond the reach of the patients.

TB-HIV co-infection is not yet an alarming issue in Turkey.

"DOTS is a good tool but we can't apply it strictly" says Dr Nazmi. There is a need to do a lot more to reach out to those people who are not able to seek TB care services from DOTS programme. "But government doesn’t hear the voices of the civil society, rather keep on saying that TB control in Turkey is very successful" says Dr Nazmi. Involving TB patients in TB control programmes and listening to these voices with dignity in Turkey, will help, believes Dr Nazmi.

The high-level ministerial meeting on multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) is about to open in Beijing, China (1-3 April 2009). Let us hope that the Ministers are listening to the concerns raised above.

- Bobby Ramakant

Water Water Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink

World Water Day special
- 22 March 2009 -

Water Water Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink

Water constitutes about three fourths of the earth’s surface, but only less than one percent of it can be used by its inhabitants. Most of it is salt water oceans (about 97%) and 2% of it is contained in glaciers. With every country seeking to satisfy its ever increasing water needs from shrinking and limited water resources, there could be a future of conflict. As the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon remarked recently that water scarcity is the potential fuel for wars and conflict. But cooperation, not conflict should guide us in our quest for a solution to this crisis.

In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated March 22, as the World Water Day (WWD) to draw international attention to the critical lack of clean, safe drinking water worldwide. The theme for this year’s WWD is ‘Shared Water—Shared Opportunity’, with the focus on transboundary water management and sharing. There are about 263 transboundary lakes and river basins, which include territories of 145 countries and cover nearly half of the earth’s land surface.

Despite an apparent abundance of clean water in most of the developed nations, more than 1 billion people around the world lack clean safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation services. One third of the earth’s population lives in ‘water stressed’ countries. The crisis is worst in sub Saharan Africa and South Asia .

Lack of clean drinking water and basic sanitation is a big obstacle to progress and development. The worst sufferers are women and children who have to trudge long distances to retrieve meager amounts of water for domestic use. This prevents them from pursuing an education and earning more or doing any thing more productive. The quest for water can drive one mad..

India faces a rapidly worsening water crisis in urban and rural areas. A soaring population, a speedy sprawl of cities, a vast and thirsty farm belt and indiscriminate use of water has left water, in our country, too scarce in some places, contaminated in others and in useless surfeit for others who are flooded every year. . The result is there for all of us to see and ponder. More than 700 million Indians do not have adequate sanitation, let alone safe drinking water. According to a UN report, about 2.1 million children die every year, largely for lack of clean water.

Changing life styles and dietary habits, private control over water resources and climate changes (resulting in floods and droughts) are all worsening the water crisis and wreaking an economic and ecological havoc on our blue planet. Poor countries, like India , are at a greater risk as water scarcity threatens the health and livelihood of their populace.

Ground water depletion is a major environmental concern in our country and calls for an immediate and effective agenda in ground water management. Coca cola bottling plants are contributing largely to this in regions where they are situated. Over use of pesticides/chemicals has added to ground water pollution in rural areas. People in some regions of India are compelled to drink water polluted with an excess of fluoride leading to dental fluorosis and arthritis. Water borne diseases are still a bane of our society.

To get a bucket of drinking water is a struggle for many rural women. The cost of fetching water in India is almost equivalent to 150 million women days each year, which amounts to 10 billion rupees. In Rajasthan, the desert state of India , a rural woman walks, on an average, 14,000 km. a year just to fetch water. Their urban sisters are slightly better off, standing in long queues for hours together, to collect water from public taps or lorries. There is a grim rural saying in one water starved region of India which translates into—‘Let the husband die, but the earthen pot of water should not be broken.’

Even in metropolitan cities like Delhi , Chennai, Bangalore , Hyderabad , intense water rationing takes place and the residents are relying more and more on private water tankers to meet their daily requirement of this very precious commodity.

It is ironic that even as India is touted as a global power to reckon with, the Indian government has failed to deliver the most basic of all needs to its citizens. In fact water should not be a demand or a need, but a basic human right, just like clean breathing air. Yet, it has become a commercial product, like oil, thanks to a lack of political will and citizens’ apathy.

The need of the hour is rain water harvesting, judicious use of water for domestic use and, above all, the political will to tackle the problem.. I remember that in my childhood, the domestic taps rarely went dry and none of us ever used private water purifying systems at home. Now the scenario is reversed. The taps seem to be there just for decorative purposes, unless there is a booster pump (which is usually connected to the main supply and still works at specific hours). The water thus obtained is not fit for human consumption till it is boiled, filtered or chemically purified. So basically the supply of clean, potable water is a business which is in private hands. This will have to go. . Public- private partnership will have to be replaced by public- public (government) partnerships. In Thailand , I was appalled to see the concept of just buying bottled water for drinking purposes. In India , too, the trend is catching on, but most of the urban households still resort to purifying water obtained from taps/ private tankers.

Of course, we are as much to blame as the government. Our daily domestic requirement of this scarce commodity has increased by leaps and bounds over the years. Clothes/dish washer machines, flush toilet systems, shower baths, water hose watering of house plants and car washes are just some of the areas which use water insensitively. In the city of Delhi alone 4.5 crore litres of potable water is used every day to wash its 30 lakh odd cars. The city also boasts of 300,000 private tube wells.

What can we do at our level to reduce this global water crisis? Well for starts, let us solemnly resolve not to waste water and, if possible, limit its use. Children, as well as adults will have to realize the impact of water shortage. Only if we would:

1. Not use the toilet as an ash tray or a waste basket to flush avoidable trash. Every time we use the flush, we actually use about 12 litres of water.

2. Turn off the tap while brushing our teeth in the morning and at night. This will save about 20 litres of water everyday.

3. Fix up leaking taps as one drip per seconds amounts to wasting 30 litres of water per day.

4. Wash our cars and bikes with a bucket of water and sponge, instead of a hose which wastes around 15 litres of water per minute if left running.

5. Use the shower in the bathroom judiciously. A 4 minute shower uses more than 60 litres of water.

6. Use clothes/dish washer for full loads for optimum utilization.

All this will go a long way in contributing our mite towards solving this global problem. And we really do not have to go out of our way to do any of these things.

Let the governments and international bodies seek solutions at a more global platform. As for us, just let us, be a bit more sensitive and sensible, so that water does not blush and turn into wine.

Shobha Shukla

The author writes extensively in English and Hindi media. She serves as Editor of Citizen News Service (CNS).

Published in

Is it ethical to provide TB treatment without quality counselling?

Is it ethical to provide TB treatment without quality counselling?

How ethical is it to providing treatment for anti-TB drug resistance without quality counseling? The treatment literacy, infection control, toxicity and side-effects related to the treatment, adherence and a range of other issues need to be addressed in counseling sessions, believes the activist from the West Bengal Network of people living with HIV (BNP+) in India. This indeed provides a food for thought for delegates of the 3rd Stop TB Partners Forum (Brazil: 23-25 March 2009) and the high-level ministerial meeting on drug-resistant TB (Beijing, China: 1-3 April 2009).

For instance, a member of BNP+ (name withheld) was diagnosed of TB in 2004, but due to anti-TB drug-stock out for a week at the DOTS centre, he was asked to buy medicines from the pharmacy, which were beyond his economic means. Due to treatment interruptions possibly, only later he found out in a hospital where he was admitted for AIDS-related care, that he is suspected to having developed resistance to anti-TB drugs. The drug susceptibility tests later confirmed that he had multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) now.

He could have, possibly, successfully completed the treatment for drug-susceptible TB through DOTS - only if quality counseling and regular supply of drugs among other issues were addressed. He didn’t intend to develop drug resistance to anti-TB drugs, then why is that the blame, often comes to people with TB, for not 'complying' to DOTS and fueling drug-resistant TB? Let us not forget that the other stakeholders in TB care including the clinicians are equal partners.

He legitimately needed information on TB treatment adherence, related side-effects, drug toxicity and other related issues. Being living with HIV, he had relatively much more AIDS-related treatment literacy and awareness about his rights and responsibilities than he had on TB-related care.

He later ended up buying drugs for MDR-TB treatment for 2 years (2005-2007), at a cost of Rs 3,600 (USD 72) per month. Along with his MDR-TB drugs, anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and other drugs for AIDS related opportunistic infections, he was taking 53 drugs daily - for 2 years. The side-effects were too strong and really hard for him to bear - and it was only due to strong determination to complete his treatment, he continued. He felt extremely irritated, reactive, had lower abdominal pain, developed ulcers in oral cavity, and then had eye-sight related problems after 12-14 months of MDR-TB treatment.

It was not the treating physician who provided him much-needed counseling but his private doctor who helped him understand the disease, the treatment and related issues. No one explained him about infection control measures.

Also the high-levels of HIV-related stigma rampant in TB related care settings, is alarming. Before he got diagnosed for TB, the moment the DOTS staff came to know about his HIV status, he got referred to another hospital. Mostly the reasons given were 'no instruments' to conduct biopsy. Only when he didn't reveal his HIV status, his biopsy could be performed and he tested positive for TB.

The real issues that are threatening to reverse the relative gains India has made on TB control are best-known to the affected communities who had to deal with these issues on daily basis. Time is running out before TB programme managers shift gears from clinical approaches to community-centric approaches to TB care and control.

Unless the healthcare workers and people with TB/ drug-resistant TB or TB-HIV co-infection interact as equal partners of TB care and control, how else are we going to improve the responses to TB and HIV?

The AIDS and TB pandemics have alarmingly joined forces long ago, particularly in high-HIV settings. But those working to address TB and HIV, are yet to work much more closely together on the frontlines than they are doing presently.

The initial steps have been taken in Delhi for example, where healthcare workers and community representatives are coming together to forge a Community Care Club, so as to strengthen healthcare in general, particularly for people with TB in the region. This initiative is being led by the members of Delhi Mahila Samiti (DMS), a women's forum of Delhi Network of people living with HIV (DNP+) and World Care Council (WCC).

The people from affected communities have a critical role to play as equal partners. The need to raise awareness about the rights and responsibilities of people with TB (or drug resistant TB) or TB-HIV co-infection, and opportunities for them to contribute in strengthening TB and AIDS-related care services is compelling. The members of the affected communities need to be respected with dignity as equal partners in TB care and control. Quality counseling is certainly just one of the many areas where they can potentially play a vital role with dignity.

The Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (PCTC, The Charter) has been identified in the global Stop TB Strategy as a tool to achieve the International Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ISTC). Many country programmes also recognize the Charter, including the revised national TB control programme (RNTCP) of India, which enlists the Charter as part of the national TB control strategy.

However, clearly lot more needs to be done to achieve the goal of people with TB, particularly those who are at a higher risk of contracting active TB or drug-resistant TB, like people living with HIV, to embrace the Charter and advocate for raising standards of TB care in their communities.

- Bobby Ramakant

Privatising water is denying people a human right: UN President

Privatising water is denying people a human right: UN President

Questions raised on the legitmacy of the corporate-controlled World Water Forum

The President of the United Nations General Assembly has told delegates at the 5th World Water Forum (WWF) in Istanbul, Turkey, that, "those who are committed to the privatization of water, making it a commodity like oil, are denying people a human right as basic as the air we breathe."

In a speech delivered by his senior advisor on water Maude Barlow, UN president Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann said, "We must work quickly to guarantee that access to drinking water constitutes a fundamental right of all peoples..."

"Water belongs to the people, to the ecosystem and the species and it belongs to the future" had said Maude Barlow earlier this week in Istanbul.

Ms Barlow, who is also the national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, delivered the president's message to the People's Water Forum, a counter-forum being held by hundreds of civil society members from nearly 70 countries whose voices have not been at the WWF. The speech was later released to the World Water Forum, which is being attended by 20,000 delegates from 150 countries.

The UN president also questioned the legitimacy of the forum itself. His speech stated, "The forum's orientation is profoundly influenced by private water companies. This is evident by the fact that both the president of the World Water Council and the alternate president are deeply involved with provision of private, for-profit, water services."

He added that future forums should, "conduct their deliberations under the auspices of the United Nations."

D'Escoto Brockmann also criticized the World Water Forum's draft Ministerial Declaration, which sees water as a "human need" rather than a human right. He said, "As it stands, this important statement undermines the efforts of those who are struggling for access to clean water and sanitation."

"Global water justice movement advocates welcome this being the last World Water Forum in its present format," adds Barlow. "There is an urgent need for an accountable and legitimate global water forum to be held regularly to address the grave threats facing our blue planet."

Earlier last week, a group of 118 organizations from 33 countries had signed and issued a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that calls on him to withdraw his support for the 'CEO Water Mandate', a corporate driven water initiative under the 'UN Global Compact' that facilitates corporate control of water resources. Representatives of the letter's signatories had delivered a copy of the letter to the Deputy Director of the UN Global Compact, Gavin Power at the 5th World Water Forum.

The CEO Water Mandate's leading endorsers currently include water bottlers Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Pepsi, as well as Suez, one of the world's largest privatizers of water services and systems.

"All of these corporations have a vested interest in controlling water resources and profiting from water scarcity, so there is a great danger in leaving international water policy in such hands," said Richard Girard, researcher for the Polaris Institute.

"Those who are dealing with corporate control of water's manifold downsides – water takings, water shut-offs, price hikes, short cuts on water treatment – are people deeply affected by the water crisis and corporations' actions," said Mark Hays from Corporate Accountability International. "Yet these same people, who are going thirsty, don't have a true voice at these meetings – their voices need to be heard, and they should be in the drivers' seat."

The Global Water justice Movement activists are calling on the United Nations to take the lead in creating transparent, democratic space to decide international water policy. But to date, the UN continues to be in a contradictory position by, on the one hand, raising awareness about the world water crisis and calling for needed change, and on the other housing the CEO Water Mandate. Groups like the Polaris Institute and Corporate Accountability International are challenging the CEO Mandate because it allows corporations to undermine democratic control of water under the aegis of the United Nations.

- Citizen News Service (CNS)

Delhi's new initiative to improve healthcare in the community

Delhi's new initiative to improve healthcare in the community

Less than a week before the 3rd Stop TB Partners' Forum is about to begin in Brazil, a unique partnership is being forged in a community of India's capital to improve TB responses.

The residents of south Delhi and healthcare providers in this area are holding an ongoing dialogue to identify key challenges that people face in accessing the health services, and to come up with effective solutions that can potentially improve the quality of care for all residents.

The new Community Care Club in the Lado Sarai area of South Delhi (India), is working to improve the health of people in the diverse district by bringing together consumers and care-providers in a dynamic 'partnership in health'. Led by local former TB patients and people living with HIV, this is an initiative to empower not only themselves, but also to empower and mobilize a broad base of the community including the private and public sectors.

Residents and workers are now organizing to collectively address their problems, improve access and raise the standards of care in the neighborhood - to exercise their rights and take responsibilities for a healthier community.

The first series of public meetings of the Community Care Club will be held on the coming World Health Day (7 April 2009) in different 'high-volume' public spaces. At the same time, a team of people living with the diseases will be conducting a 'streetwise' survey to further ascertain what the community considers a priority for action. It is being organized by the Delhi Mahila Samiti - the Women's Forum of Delhi Network of People Living with HIV (DNP+), and the World Care Council.

The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) of the Government of India, now includes the Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (PCTC, The Charter). The Charter is also a part of the global Stop TB Strategy, and lays out the rights and responsibilities of people with TB, and how the Charter is a tool to effectively achieve the implementation of the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC).

However, implementing the Charter on the frontlines of TB care, raising awareness about rights and responsibilities, and using it as an empowering tool for people with TB and their community in order to improve the quality of care services, is certainly a daunting task.

Just last year, at a South East Asia regional meeting on TB in New Delhi, the National TB Programme Manager of India (RNTCP) was questioned by the people from affected communities on why the Charter is not a part of the RNTCP - the next day the Charter went up on the website of RNTCP. A major step forward for people with TB, and their communities.

People committed to improving TB care and related services are organizing themselves to mobilize communities to genuinely partner with the healthcare providers, to implement the Charter effectively and advocate for scaling up the quality of TB and TB-HIV care. This initiative is powered by two principles of greater involvement of people living with HIV (GIPA) and the greater involvement of people with TB (GIPT).

A new day dawns for the community on World Health Day in India's Capital.

- Bobby Ramakant

Thailand strengthening alliances in South East Asia for tobacco control

Thailand strengthening alliances in South East Asia for tobacco control
Jittima Jantanamalaka

Thailand had relatively strong tobacco control policies for years but for effective implementation, it was vital to seek cooperation and strengthen tobacco control initiatives in other countries in the South-East Asia (SEA).

“After working with Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) foundation in Thailand for 15 years, we believed that Thailand had quite strong policy on tobacco control and we should support and strengthen the cooperation between countries in South East Asia to achieve the goal together so we had set up South-East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA). By this way SEATCA acts as supportive base for government and non- government tobacco control workers and other health advocates in the SEA region, through regional forum, SEATCA fellowship programmes and cooperate with researcher from several universities” said Bungon Ritthiphakdee, Director of South East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

Bungon further explained about how Thailand is expanding its role in forging alliances in other ASEAN countries to fight against tobacco.

“The cooperation between ASEAN countries on tobacco control helps us to see the whole picture, we can also share resources, skills, best practice, and the compare programmes between different countries” said Bungon.

“The main campaigns that SEATCA is working on at the moment are pushing forward until all ASEAN countries have pictorial warning labels on the tobacco products and also increase taxes on tobacco products. Raising taxes on tobacco helps to reduce tobacco consumption but right now only Thailand and Singapore have high taxes. We also would like to campaign for more smoke-free cities in SEA region. Many countries like Philippines, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam and many countries already have smoke-free cities, and in Thailand, we have Mukdaharn and there is some smoke-free movement building up in Sukhothai as well” further added Bungon.

The biggest challenge in SEATCA’s work is the interference of tobacco industry in implementation of tobacco control policies in different nations in the SEA region.

“Fortunately we are now having the guidelines of World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) Article 5.3 on protection of public health policies from tobacco industry interference, which asked the government of each party to have clear policy of not allowing the tobacco’s industry’s interference” said Bungon.

The guidelines of Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC were adopted at the third conference of parties (COP 3) in Durban, South Africa (November 2008).

In response to a question on how effectively can the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 be enforced in SEA countries, Bungon responded: “there is no punishment even for the government which is not following FCTC but the biggest damage that will come to such countries will be the damage of their own nation, when their people, their youth and new generations will increasingly turn to tobacco use, and these nations will lose money in treating diseases attributed to tobacco use.”

At the recently concluded 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH), Thailand has been credited as one of the countries that have achieved significant success in tobacco control in Asia. The increase in tobacco taxes, the new smoke-free law that came into effect in 2008 banning smoking in public places including bars, restaurants and workplaces, and effective pictorial health warnings on tobacco products, are some of the measures that Thailand gets global recognition for. The first Bloomberg Award for Tobacco Control on effectively implementing pictorial health warning labeling on tobacco products was also conferred upon Dr Prakit Vathisathokit, Executive Secretary of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Thailand.

The Asia and the Pacific accounts for 57% of the global cigarette consumption by region in 2007. According to World Health Organization’s MPOWER report 2008, in the 20th century, the tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people worldwide. During the 21st century, it could kill 1 billion.

SEATCA’s work is certainly critical in protecting Asians from diseases, disabilities and deaths attributed to tobacco use.

Jittima Jantanamalaka, Citizen News Service (CNS)

(The author is the Director of Jay Inspire Co. Ltd)

International tobacco control award for Dr Mira Aghi

International tobacco control award for Dr Mira Aghi

Noted tobacco control advocate and a United Nations consultant Dr Mira Aghi was conferred upon the International award in recognition of her lifetime contribution to advancing tobacco control initiatives for women.

The International Network of Women Against Tobacco (INWAT) presented its Tribute for Outstanding Service to Women award to Dr Mira Aghi (65 years) at the recently concluded 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) in Mumbai, India.

Dr Mira Aghi (65 years) is a behavioural scientist and an inspiration for many activists and crusaders working against tobacco. She has been involved with the Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control (AFTC) since its inception. Dr Aghi has been working with the anti-tobacco movement since 30 years. She has not only made an outstanding contribution, but has also created benchmarks in women’s leadership against tobacco.

Encouraging women leadership among health workers at the grassroots will motivate others to be a part of it, said Dr Aghi. She proposes a formal training to engage women health workers at all levels.

“Women leadership can be developed by educating about the ill-effects about the tobacco in a skilled manner that will motivate them to work against tobacco. However, it is the supportive environment that will finally lead to the eradication of tobacco epidemic” said Dr Aghi.

"A woman will continue to stay vulnerable till she takes it upon herself to change the situation. Society feels at ease to maintain the status quo. Young girls are beginning to feel that society is hard to change so they are changing themselves. We have to ask ourselves what would be better. Should we bend or stand erect?" says the tireless crusader Dr Aghi.

Dr Aghi, who has been a United Nations consultant on HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and adolescent issues, holds a PhD from the Loyola University, Chicago in US. “I am very concerned about today’s generation which tends to get influenced by tobacco advertising tactics and considers that tobacco is a fashion statement. This issue needs to be addressed uniformly” she said.

Busy with anti-tobacco movement, her first brush with the issue happened 30 years ago when she happened to work with an educational film production. “I wasn’t much aware about the happenings on the issue and other global movements taking place until I worked and researched on it for the film.”

“The research results moved me deeply and I passionately felt like saving people from the tobacco addiction. I therefore stayed put and took a full-time plunge into this social cause” said Dr Aghi, in a daily newsletter of the 14th WCTOH. In the late eighties, Dr Aghi led a campaign against an Indian tobacco company, which had plans to promote a women’s cigarette, said a 14th WCTOH newsletter.

Over the past years, there is a growing consensus to integrate tobacco control with existing development initiatives at all levels - however Dr Mira Aghi had sensed the cross-cutting issues of tobacco control with gender-based inequalities and how the power imbalance a woman faces in her life at all stages, exacerbates her vulnerability to substance abuse. The foresight and vision of Dr Aghi deserves a special mention and INWAT's International Award is a well-commanded tribute to her ongoing and sustained contribution to public health over decades.

- Citizen News Service (CNS)

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Pakistan Christian Post, Karachi, Pakistan
Citizen News Service (CNS)
Two Circles
Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal
Bihar and Jharkhand News Service (BJNS)
Hindi Citizen News Service (CNS)

The Taliban is not only Pakistan's problem

The Taliban is not only Pakistan's problem
Dr Sandeep Pandey
Published in Rediff News

It was a refreshing but frightening trip to Pakistan. It was heartening to note the optimism among people and politicians but disturbing to note the underlying fear of the worst. There is unmistaken concern about a creeping Talibanisation in Pakistan among its civil society and the political parties. People are unsure about which way the deal with the Taliban in Malakand and Swat will go.

I accompanied a 13-member delegation recently, before the attack on Sri Lankan players in Lahore, to Pakistan with veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, who is immensely popular in Pakistan too. We got an opportunity to meet the political leaders of all major parties, business people, students, press and civil society. Although this was my sixth trip to Pakistan in as many years, it was a revelation to me that all major political parties there actually desire peace and friendship with India. It remains an enigma to me that two societies which feel emotionally so close to each other and are culturally entwined have managed to sustain animosity for 60 long years. And no sign of truce is in sight.

The people and politicians of Pakistan are seriously worried about the threat of Taliban taking over. People don't know whether human rights will remain preserved and the politicians don't know whether democracy, once again, will be eclipsed in Pakistan. The governments of the North West Frontier Province and Pakistan seem to have capitulated to the fundamentalists. The governments simply don't know how to tame the monster which it once helped create at the behest of the US. It is an irony that a sovereign state like Pakistan continues to be bombarded by US to target the militants and the government of Pakistan is a mute spectator.

The foreign minister of Pakistan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, was pleading with the US authorities to hand over the control of unmanned aircrafts called 'drones to Pakistan instead of these attacks being engineered from the US. The dependence of Pakistan on the US government and its aid has eroded the economy and legitimacy of government in Pakistan. In spite of everybody in Pakistan realising that its association with US has created problems for itself, they find themselves in a bind. There doesn't seem to be a way out. It is also in the army's interest, which tends to dominate the civilian elected government, that the association with US continues so that it can continue to play this dominating role. The army projects itself as the sole counterbalancing force to the jehadis and hence will continue to play a role larger than that of the government so long as the threat of Taliban and Al Qaeda is looming large.

It is a known fact that militants have gained an upper hand during the military regime. Nawaz Sharif doesn't seem to remember any 'suicide bombers' during his time as prime minister. He is sceptical of the deal with the Taliban. He blames military directly for weakening democracy in Pakistan. He said that problem of terrorism originating from Pakistan doesn't affect India alone, it affects Pakistan much more.

In a meeting held in Benazir Bhutto's house with Asif Ali Zardari's sister Faryal Talpur, she mentioned that about 6000 people in Pakistan have died at the hands of jehadis. She said India was applying pressure on Pakistan to take action against the terrorists. But probably Pakistan needed India's help to put its house in order. Asfayandar Wali Khan, the grandson of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, and leader of the Awami National Party -- the party in power in the NWFP, articulated this sentiment as for India to feel safe a strong stable central government was required in Pakistan.

With military and intelligence soft towards the jehadis, if not completely hand in gloves with them, it will have to be the civilian elected government supported by the judiciary which will have to assert its supremacy over any other body -- state or non-state -- if normalcy is to be restored in Pakistan. This implies the democracy must take roots and flower to full bloom. It has been Pakistan's misfortune that democracy was strangulated time and again.

In this light the latest moves by President Asif Ali Zardari to finish off his political rival, Nawaz Sharif, easily the most popular mass leader in Pakistan today after Benazir Bhutto's assassination, are unfortunate. For democracy to remain firmly rooted the ruling party as well as the opposition must be strong. A healthy respect for other parties is must if democracy is to unfold in Pakistan in the interest of its people. Sharif's demand to reinstate the judges dismissed by former President Pervez Musharraf and to make the judiciary independent are politically very prudent demands. Zardari has reasons to fear an independent judiciary. He has made an amendment in the Constitution to remove the requirement of being a graduate to be made the President of Pakistan. This will be challenged as soon as judiciary is no longer under his control. But he must realise that if Pakistan's long term interest is his objective, then he may have to make some sacrifices to ensure that military never returns to centre-stage in Pakistani politics. The army has already issued him initial warnings.

It was heartening to hear Khurshid Kasuri, the foreign minister of Pakistan during Musharraf's regime, reveal that a solution to the Kashmir problem has probably been arrived at. No wonder, the recent elections in J&K passed off so peacefully and with a huge turnout by Indian standards. If it was not for the pro-democracy movement started by lawyers in Pakistan and then the elections there and now the impending elections in India, Manmohan Singh [Images] was due to visit Pakistan to announce this to the world. If a solution to Kashmir imbroglio is found to the satisfaction of the Indians, Pakistanis and most importantly the Kashmiris, it'll pave the way for a more permanent peaceful relationship between the India and Pakistan.

Indian will have to work with the elected government of Pakistan to deal with the advancing menace of Taliban. As one TV anchor pointed out while we were in a talk show in Islamabad, all attacks on India in its long history have taken place from its north-western border. Hence we must not take the threat of Taliban lightly or consider it only as Pakistan's problem.

Dr Sandeep Pandey

(The author is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) for emergent leadership, heads the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and did his PhD from University of California, Berkeley in control theory which is applicable in missile technology. He taught at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur before devoting his life to strengthening people's movements in early 1990s. He can be contacted at: ashaashram@yahoo.com, www.ashaparivar.org)

Published in Rediff News
Courtesy: Telhelka.com

Corporate Water Forum Spurs Mass Protest

Corporate Water Forum Spurs Mass Protest

Coalition urges UN to stop providing cover for life-threatening privatization of water

ISTANBUL, TURKEY – As the 5th World Water Forum (WWF) begins in Istanbul, activists, social movements and non-governmental organizations from Turkey and around the world are holding counter events and actions that directly challenge the legitimacy of the Forum itself.

As part of these actions, a group of 118 organizations from 33 countries has signed and issued a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that calls on him to withdraw his support for the CEO Water Mandate, a corporate driven water initiative under the UN Global Compact that facilitates corporate control of water resources. Representatives of the letter’s signatories will deliver a copy of the letter to and share their concerns with the participants of a CEO Water Mandate meeting in Istanbul at the World Water Forum on the evening of March 16th, 2009, at 6 p.m. in Hasköy H

all, in the VIP Block, on the 1st Floor of the Sütlüce Congress and Cultural Center.

“Those who are dealing with corporate control of water’s manifold downsides – water takings, water shut-offs, price hikes, short cuts on water treatment – are people deeply affected by the water crisis and corporations’ actions,” said Mark Hays, organizer for Corporate Accountability International. “Yet these same people, who are going thirsty, don’t have a true voice at these meetings – their voices need to be heard, and they should be in the drivers’ seat.”

The letter was delivered to the Secretary General last Thursday, and outlines the group’s concerns about the transparency and legitimacy of the CEO Water Mandate.

Water justice activists are calling on the United Nations to take the lead in creating transparent, democratic space to decide international water policy. But to date, the UN continues to be in a contradictory position by, on the one hand, raising awareness about the world water crisis and calling for needed change, and on the other housing the CEO Water Mandate. Groups like the Polaris Institute and Corporate Accountability International are challenging the CEO Mandate because it allows corporations to undermine democratic control of water under the aegis of the United Nations.

The Mandate’s leading endorsers currently include water bottlers Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Pepsi, as well as Suez, one of the world’s largest privatizers of water services and systems.

“All of these corporations have a vested interest in controlling water resources and profiting from water scarcity, so there is a great danger in leaving international water policy in such hands,” said Richard Girard, researcher for the Polaris Institute.

“While the corporate endorsers of the Mandate will be discussing this week how corporations can ‘be part of the solution’ to the water crisis by exerting more influence over global water policy, people around the world are saying loud and clear that corporations that profit from people’s access to water should not be in driver’s seat when it comes to decisions about who gets water and who doesn’t,” said Bobby Ramakant, letter signatory from India.

- Citizen News Service (CNS)

Lower-cost female condom gets FDA approval

Lower-cost female condom gets FDA approval

Earlier this week, the Female Health Company (FHC) announced approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the company's Female Condom (FC2), a woman-initiated barrier method that helps to protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV/AIDS, and unintended pregnancy.

FHC's lower-cost second generation female condom will now be sold at 30 per cent less than the earlier version of female condom.

FHC's first-generation Female Condom (FC1) originally received FDA approval for distribution in the United States in 1993. FC1 is also included in the World Health Organization's (WHO) essential products list for distribution by United Nations (UN) agencies. Since its approval, 165 million FC1 female condoms have been distributed in 142 countries.

With microbicides still in different stages of the research pipeline, the female condom is currently the only method available to prevent HIV infection and unintended pregnancy that is designed for women's initiation. FDA approval of the FC2 is significant since the new product will sell for about 30% less than its predecessor, the FC1. Female condoms have been relatively expensive in many parts of the world, due to a constellation of factors including manufacturing costs, bulk purchasing, and government and donor investment. Reduction in manufacturing costs, therefore, is one of many important avenues for making the new female condom more affordable and accessible to women and men in the US and internationally.

FHC has succeeded in reducing FC2's cost through the introduction of a new material and a different manufacturing process. FC1 is made from polyurethane and involves a labor-intensive manufacturing process, while FC2, which looks very similar to FC1, is made from a proprietary nitrile polymer that allows it to be manufactured using a highly automated process. Studies have shown that FC2 performs in a comparable manner to FC1.

Data on FC2 have been reviewed and approved by other regulatory agencies, including the European Union, WHO, and agencies in India and Brazil. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO), based on its own review of the scientific data, agreed that FC2 performs in the same manner as FC1 and cleared FC2 for purchase by UN agencies. Since then, over 23 million FC2 Female Condoms have been distributed in 77 countries. FDA approval of FC2 will allow USAID to procure the second-generation female condom at a lower unit cost for US-funded prevention programs around the world.

"We join women around the world in applauding the FDA's swift action to approve the FC2 female condom," stated Serra Sippel, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, in a press statement. "The HIV pandemic among women requires increased investment in woman-centered prevention options, and FC2 approval is an important step forward in putting the power of prevention in women's hands."

Advocates are now calling on the US government to react quickly to ensure rapid expansion of female condom distribution and programming, and have support from US law. In the reauthorization legislation for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2008, Congress explicitly mentioned female and male condoms, emphasizing the importance of increasing availability and access to these commodities and ensuring consistent and correct use as essential for HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.

"We praise Congress for including specific references to female condoms, as both male and female condoms are safe and effective HIV prevention tools that are available to women and men today. We now look to the next leader of the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator to ensure that female condoms are truly available, accessible and well-programmed for women and men worldwide," said Serra Sippel in the press statement.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to phase out procurement of the FC1 upon FDA approval of the FC2, according to Saving Lives Now, a report by the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE). This means that potentially more female condoms can be procured, distributed and programmed overseas due to lower costs.

Despite their many benefits, female condoms account for only 0.2% of the world's total condom supply and make up only 1.6% of US international condom shipments. It is unclear how long it will take before the FC2 is distributed through US-funded HIV prevention programs overseas.

- Citizen News Service - CNS

The Istanbul Water Tribunal

The Istanbul Water Tribunal

Istanbul Water Tribunal was convened on 11 and 12 March 2009 where five cases related to bodies of water and hydrological systems were heard - and the Tribunal's verdict announced on 14 March 2009, a couple of days before the 5th World Water Forum is scheduled to open in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Water Tribunal is an international, independent and autonomous body for environmental justice, created for the purpose of helping resolve conflicts related to bodies of water and hydrological systems. It is based on coexistence principles, respect for human dignity, solidarity between peoples, sanctity of all life forms, and environmental responsibility.

The Tribunal seeks to bring back consciousness to people so they can form opinions on the handling and protection of water, as well as fomenting a vigilant attitude on the projects that can affect these valuable systems.

The Tribunal (created in 1998), held a meeting for the first time in San Jose, Costa Rica, in 2000, to analyze eleven cases of threats to the hydrics systems in Central America.

A second Central American hearing was conducted, also in the city of San Jose, from March 15 to 19, 2004, with the purpose of settling nine causes on the infringement to the hydrological systems and the environmental rights of the communities in the region.

As a result of those experiences, the Tribunal met again, from March 13 to 20, 2006, in Mexico City, to settle 13 causes on infringement to the hydrological systems and environmental rights in Latin American countries, affected by far-reaching hydroelectric projects, like the La Parota, in Mexico; by cases of industrial and mining contamination; and by privatization of the water, as happened in Bolivia, amongst several other cases.

In the following hearing, in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in October 2007, the Tribunal reaffirmed its international vocation, with the judging of seven cases, from Mexico and South America, to diverse cases of contamination by open-cast mining operations in Central America.

The last hearing was conducted in 2008, in the city of Antigua, Guatemala. This hearing had the particular task to analyze cases of abuse to the hydrics systems in indigenous territories, and counted on the participation of representatives from some of the main indigenous communities of Guatemala.

Istanbul Water Tribunal was held with the support of the Heinrrich Böell Foundation. The Water Tribunal analyzed five different cases related to bodies of water and hydrological systems. Three cases were from Turkey, one case from Mexico and Brazil each:

- The Yusufeli Dam Project, in the Çoruh river, the Turkish region of the Black Sea
- The Ilisu Dam Project, in the Dicle river (Tigris), in the provinces of Mardin and Şırnak
- The dams in the valley of Munzur, the province of Tunceli, on the Euphrates river
- The construction of mega dams on the Madeira river, in the state of Rondônia, Brazil; and
- The social and environmental impacts of water projects in Mexico.

Although it is certain that the verdicts and resolutions of the tribunal are not obligatory for compliance by the authorities of any one country, still these statements and the censorship from the international community impel a moral sentence, encouraging the search for alternatives in the solution of hydrological conflicts.

Bobby Ramakant - Citizen News Service (CNS)

Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control: WHO report 2009

Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control: WHO report 2009

The tobacco industry has historically employed a multitude of tactics to shape and influence tobacco control policy, says a recently released report (Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control, 2009) of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The tobacco industry has used its economic power, lobbying and marketing machinery, and manipulation of the media to discredit scientific research and influence governments in order to propagate the sale and distribution of its deadly product, it says further.

According to this report, furthermore, the tobacco industry continues to inject large philanthropic contributions into social programs worldwide to create a positive public image under the guise of corporate social responsibility. This document describes the spectrum of tobacco industry practices that interfere with tobacco control. As an outcome of the first meeting of tobacco industry monitoring experts convened by WHO in October 2007, this report exposes these practices and provides the Contracting Parties to the global tobacco treaty - formally known as WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - and other WHO Member States the background and contextual information that may assist in implementing the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 guidelines against tobacco industry interference with tobacco control.

On 22 November 2008, 160 countries had adopted strong guidelines of WHO FCTC Article 5.3 to block tobacco industry interference in global health policies and the implementation of the global tobacco treaty. Since it took effect in 2005, implementation of the FCTC, has been systematically obstructed by Big Tobacco. The abuses of corporations like Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco have ranged from attempting to write tobacco control laws, blocking the passage of smokefree legislation, and using so-called "corporate social responsibility" to circumvent ad bans. Tobacco industry interference has been the number one obstacle to the treaty's implementation, and ratifying countries now see protections against this interference as the backbone of the treaty.

The new guidelines are designed to give teeth to Article 5.3 of the treaty which states, "in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law."

The guidelines include the following recommendations, rooted in the principle that the tobacco industry has a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict with public health:
- governments should reject partnerships with the tobacco industry;
- conflicts of interest such as the "revolving door" between the tobacco industry and public health offices, government investments in the tobacco industry and tobacco industry representation on tobacco control bodies should be avoided;
- government interaction with the tobacco industry should be strictly limited and transparent;
- the tobacco industry should be required to be transparent about its activities, a measure which will help to counter interference by Big Tobacco's front groups and allied organizations.

Effective tobacco control is, almost by definition, antithetical to the economic interests of the tobacco industry, associated industries, and entities or persons working to further the tobacco industry's agenda, says the preface of this report.

Those interests depend largely on the prosperity of the tobacco industry and its means for ensuring its real or perceived commercial well-being. The primary goal of tobacco control is to prevent tobacco-caused disease and death. In the hierarchy of objectives for reaching this goal, preventing the uptake of tobacco use and assisting tobacco users in ceasing use of all forms of tobacco rank highest. Similarly, efforts designed to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke are most effective when smoking is prohibited in public areas, further reads the preface of this report.

This triumvirate of objectives—preventing uptake, maximizing cessation and prohibiting smoking in public places—stands in direct opposition to the commercial objectives of the tobacco industry, says the report.

Although the industry sometimes makes expedient public statements to the contrary, it routinely seeks to maximize uptake of tobacco use, do all that is possible to ensure that tobacco users continue to be consumers and prevent the erosion of smoking opportunities by restrictions known to reduce smoking frequency and promote cessation.

Thus, when tobacco control succeeds, the tobacco industry fails. People employed by the tobacco industry have fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders or government owners to take all legal steps possible to maximize profits. It is therefore entirely predictable that the tobacco industry does what it can to ensure that effective tobacco control policies fail.

To download this WHO report, click here or go to: http://www.who.int/tobacco/resources/publications/tob_ind_int_cover_150/en/index.html

[Citizen News Service - CNS]

We Shall Overcome the menace of tobacco

We Shall Overcome the menace of tobacco

The recently concluded 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH), renewed the pledge to battle the scourge of tobacco, till we can boast of a smoke free environment and a healthy society. The conference provided a global platform for sharing of ideas and real life experiences and dissemination of information from across 130 countries of the world for improved tobacco control measures. It was attended by a galaxy of luminaries consisting of proactive government agencies, health experts, scientists, educators and anti tobacco advocates working towards a ‘tobacco free society’.

In the words of 2009 Luther Terry Awardee Dr Srinath Reddy, tobacco was brought to India, 400 years ago by the Portuguese, through its west coast, and this conference, hosted in Mumbai, has sounded the clarion call for its exit through the same point.

Tobacco control is a development issue, and not merely a health issue. The tobacco menace is inextricably linked with other ills plaguing the world society today. In times of a global food crisis, (when the UN Secretary General has called for doubling the food production), can we allow to waste 5.3 million hectares of land for cultivation of a poison called tobacco? In times of severe environmental degradation, does it make any sense to fill the already polluted air with carcinogenic cigarette smoke? In times of an economic meltdown (and even otherwise), can governments afford to increase their economic burden on their national health care systems due to tobacco related diseases and deaths? Hence the anti tobacco movement has to work hand in hand with other global movements for the betterment of civil society.

Smokers may insensitively plead for protecting their right to have a particular life style. But they cannot have the freedom to endanger the health and life of innocents through second hand smoke and they do not have the right to force their families to economic deprivation.

The conference taught us lessons in working towards a tobacco free future by making sincere efforts to -- put a curb on illicit tobacco trade; raise taxes on tobacco products; strictly enforce pictorial warnings; ban all tobacco/cigarette advertising; decline sponsorships from tobacco companies for any youth/ sports/ social responsibility activities; and to create public-private partnerships for effective anti tobacco campaigns.

Each one of us needs to step in, to stub it out, before it is too late. The fearless fighters of tobacco can do it, and will do it, to mark the triumph of the human spirit against all odds.

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service (CNS)

(The author is the Editor of Citizen News Service (CNS) and also teaches physics at Loreto Convent. Email: shobha@citizen-news.org, website: www.citizen-news.org)

Talking peace in times of trouble

Talking peace in times of trouble
Dr Sandeep Pandey
(published in The Tehelka)
----------------------------

Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey writes an exclusive column for Tehelka on his recent visit to Pakistan

It was a refreshing but frightening trip to Pakistan. It was heartening to note the optimism among people and politicians but disturbing to note the underlying fear of the worst. There is unmistaken concern about a creeping talibanisation in Pakistan among its civil society and the political parties. People are unsure about which way the deal with the Taliban in Malakand and Swat will go.

I accompanied a 13 member delegation recently, before the attack on Sri Lankan players in Lahore, to Pakistan with veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, who is immensely popular in Pakistan too. We got an opportunity to meet the political leaders of all major parties, businesspeople, students, press and civil society. Although this was my sixth trip to Pakistan in as many years, it was a revelation to me that all major political parties there actually desire peace and friendship with India. It remains an enigma to me that two societies which feel emotionally so close to each other and are culturally entwined have managed to sustain animosity for 60 long years. And no sign of truce is in sight.

The people and politicians of Pakistan are seriously worried about the threat of Taliban taking over. People don’t know whether human rights will remain preserved and the politicians don’t know whether democracy, once again, will be eclipsed in Pakistan. The governments of NWFP and Pakistan seem to have capitulated to the fundamentalists. The governments simply don’t know how to tame the monster which it once helped create at the behest of the US. It is an irony that a sovereign state like Pakistan continues to be bombarded by US to target the militants and the government of Pakistan is a mute spectator. The foreign minister of Pakistan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, was pleading with the US authorities to hand over the control of unmanned aircrafts called ‘drones’ to Pakistan instead of these attacks being engineered from the US. The dependence of Pakistan on the US government and its aid has eroded the economy and legitimacy of government in Pakistan. In spite of everybody in Pakistan realizing that its association with US has created problems for itself, they find themselves in a bind. There doesn’t seem to be a way out. It is also in the army’s interest, which tends to dominate the civilian elected government, that the association with US continues so that it can continue to play this dominating role. Army projects itself as the sole counterbalancing force to the jehadis and hence will continue to play a role larger than that of the government so long as the threat of Taliban and Al-Qaeda is looming large.

It is a known fact that militants have gained an upper hand during the military regime. Nawaz Sharif doesn’t seem to remember any ‘suicide bombers’ during his time as Prime Minister. He is skeptical of the deal with the Taliban. He blames military directly for weakening democracy in Pakistan. He said that problem of terrorism originating from Pakistan doesn’t affect India alone, it affects Pakistan much more. In a meeting held in Benazir Bhutto’s house with Asif Ali Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur, she mentioned that about 6000 people in Pakistan have died at the hands of jehadis. She said India was applying pressure on Pakistan to take action against the terrorists. But probably Pakistan needed India’s help to put its house in order. Asfayandar Wali Khan, the grandson of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, and leader of Awami National Party – the Party in power in NWFP, articulated this sentiment as for India to feel safe a strong stable central government was required in Pakistan.

With military and intelligence soft towards the jehadis, if not completely hand in gloves with them, it will have to be the civilian elected government supported by the judiciary which will have to assert its supremacy over any other body – state or non-state – if normalcy is to be restored in Pakistan. This implies the democracy must take roots and flower to full bloom. It has been Pakistan’s misfortune that democracy was strangulated time and again.

In this light the latest moves by Asif Ali Zardari to finish off his political rival, Nawaz Sharif, easily the most popular mass leader in Pakistan today after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, are unfortunate. For democracy to remain firmly rooted the ruling party as well as the opposition must be strong. A healthy respect for other parties is must if democracy is to unfold in Pakistan in the interest of its people. Nawaz Sharif’s demand to reinstate the judges dismissed by Pervez Musharraf and to make the judiciary independent are politically very prudent demands. Zardari has reasons to fear an independent judiciary. He has made an amendment in the Constitution to remove the requirement of being a graduate to be made the President of Pakistan. This will be challenged as soon as judiciary is no longer under his control. But he must realize that if Pakistan’s long term interest is his objective, then he may have to make some sacrifices to ensure that military never returns to centre-stage in Pakistani politics. The Army has already issued him initial warnings.

It was heartening to hear Kasuri, the foreign minister of Pakistan during Musharraf’s regime, reveal that a solution to the Kashmir problem has probably been arrived at. No wonder, the recent elections in J&K passed off so peacefully and with a huge turnout by Indian standards. If it was not for the pro-democracy movement started by lawyers in Pakistan and then the elections there and now the impending elections in India, Manmohan Singh was due to visit Pakistan to announce this to the world. If a solution to Kashmir imbroglio is found to the satisfaction of the Indians, Pakistanis and most importantly the Kashmiris, it’ll pave the way for a more permanent peaceful relationship between the India and Pakistan.

Indian will have to work with the elected government of Pakistan to deal with the advancing menace of Taliban. As one TV anchor pointed out while we were in a talk show in Islamabad, all attacks on India in its long history have taken place from its north-western border. Hence we must not take the threat of Taliban lightly or consider it only as Pakistan’s problem.

Dr Sandeep Pandey