It is heartening to note Prime

Minister Narendra Modi has

been stressing the need for

the development of women.

I hope he would be serious

about it and his ‘Beti

Bachao-Beti Padhao’ scheme would

really address gender imbalance

and discrimination against the girl

child .

In India’s post-Independence

landscape Father of the Nation

Mahatma Gandhi preached the

development of women would be a

sure key to that of the whole

country. The Constitution of India

guarantees equality under Article

14. It states “the State shall not

deny to any person equality before

law or equal protection of the laws

within the territory of India.”

Article 15(1) states, “the State

shall not discriminate against any

citizen on grounds only of religion,

race, caste, sex, place of birth or any

of them.” Article 15(3) leaves scope

for affirmative action for women:

“nothing in this Article shall prevent

the State from making any special

provision for women and children.”

New Delhi has also long ratified

the Convention on the Elimination

of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW). The

Committee on the Elimination of All

Forms of Discrimination Against

Women has asked state parties to

the CEDAW to ensure that laws

against family violence and abuse,

rape, sexual assault and other

gender-based violence give

adequate protection to all women,

and respect their integrity and

dignity. This convention says

gender-based violence is a form of

discrimination. When such acts are

committed by non-state actors, the

state bears responsibility. Its

officials can be held criminally liable

if they knew or had reasonable

grounds to believe that that such

acts are being committed by non-

state actors and they failed to

exercise due diligence to prevent,

investigate and prosecute them.

However, the gulf in gender

justice in India is still grim The

successive governments, led by the

Congress or the Bharatiya Janata

Party or others at the Centre and in

the States have done little to bridge

it . India today fares very poorly

on gender equality. It is ranked 132

out of 187 countries in the Gender

Inequality Index of the UN

Development Programme.

Cases of rape and other forms of

sexual violence against women are

still common throughout India.

(https://www.amnesty.org.in/our-

wo r k / s t op - v i o l en ce - aga i n s t -

women/show). The Amnesty

International India’s surveys finds

an estimated 30.53% of women

who experience sexual violence

actually tell someone about the

incident, but only 1% out of these

end up reporting to the police. They

do not report due to concerns of

security, social stigma and

discrimination. There are many

barriers for women to report crimes

safely and with dignity. All such

barriers to safe and dignified

reporting of sexual violence must

be removed.

According to the National Crime

Records Bureau (NCRB), the

numbers of reported crimes against

women have been rising since 2009.

A total of 244,270 incidents of

crimes against women, including

nearly 25,000 cases of rape, were

reported in 2012. It was an increase

of 6.4% over 2011. There has been

widespread under-reporting due to

issues of security, social stigma and

fear of reprisals.

In 2013 the Centre established

a three member committee,

headed by former Chief Justice of

India J.S. Verma, on Amendments to

Criminal Law to review the laws

around violence against women .

The panel made valuable

recommendations on the subject ,

But only some of those

recommendations have been

enshrined in law under the 2013

Criminal Law Amendments Act. .

Women reluctant to report abuses

The Constitution of India guarantees equality to women . New Delhi has also

ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW). However, the gulf in gender justice in India has

been grim. The successive governments at the Centre and in the States have

done little to bridge it, laments Jagdish N Singh

August 2015 Power Politics 33

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Father of Nation

Mahatma Gandhi

(for 11 power plants) and an open-

cast coal mine (for fuel). But the

tribals have remained deprived of

electricity. Tribals do have their

own ministry, formed in 1991, and

the Forest Act of 2006. But neither

has afforded them any protection

when their lands are purchased .

Pertinently , the government

must address discrimination, if

any, against Dalits, Muslims, single

women, unmarried couples, the

Power Politics August 201534

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Lack of functional autonomy The other day our former

National Security Advisor M K

Narayanan wrote in The Hindu

(Muscle-flexing that may backfire,

June 22, 2015) , “ June 4 was a ‘Black

Day’ for the Indian Army, when

possibly, it suffered its highest-ever

casualties in peace time “in

Manipur, “in a well-planned and

executed move by elements of the

recently formed United National

Liberation Front of WESEA (Western

South East Asia).” Narayanan

attributed it to “the massive failure”

of intelligence, military as well as

civilian . He said that the decision of

the NSCN(K) to unilaterally abrogate

its ceasefire with the Indian

government and the formation of a

coalition of several Northeastern

militant outfits, including groups like

the National Socialist Council of

Nagaland (NSCN-K), the Paresh

Baruah faction of the United

Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA),

the National Democratic Front of

Bodoland NDFB(S), and several

outfits such as the KCP, the KYKL

and the PULF— each of these outfits

with “ an outreach…. to Pakistan

and China “ --- should have alerted

the agencies that “ something was

brewing.”

I wonder if the Narayan thesis is

not utterly superficial. It seems to

lack a deeper analysis of the entire

scenario. My sense is our military

intelligence is professionally

competent but operationally

structurally too handicapped to act

in time . If the military had a

Former National Security Advisor

M K Narayanan

British commentator

Mark Tully

Tribals being exploitedAnother very important section

of our population, the

development of which ought to be

on the top of the agenda of the

government, is the tribals in the

country. They are still in a state of

absolute backwardness. Not only

that. Little has been done to

protect their interests .

According to a study by famous

British commentator on Indian

affairs, Mark Tully, as much as 90

per cent of the country’s coal is

situated in tribal areas. The

successive governments have

consistently failed to resettle

satisfactorily those who have been

dispossessed of their land and

livelihood in these areas .

In case of resettlement there is

always much stress on monetary

compensation. Money is not the

answer unless the tribals are

helped to invest it profitably. In

Singrauli, on the borders of

Madhya Pradesh and Uttar

Pradesh, tribals have been

displaced from their forest homes

to make way for an artificial lake

disabled, gays and trans-genders.

Certain ultra-reactionary forces in

urban India have invented a new

mechanism of discrimination

against them. According to a study,

India is almost unique amongst

liberal democracies in lacking a

comprehensive, multi-ground,

anti-discrimination statute.

In other jurisdictions, such

statutes typically prohibit

discrimination on morally

extraneous grounds like race,

caste, tribe, sex, disability, sexual

orientation, religion, pregnancy,

marital status, and gender

orientation. They prohibit direct

discrimination , like a sign saying';

No Muslims, '; and also indirect

discrimination, like a sign saying';

vegetarians only'; which may

disproportionately affect some

groups like Muslims, Christians or

Dalits through cultural food

preferences. Indirect

discrimination is relatively easier

to justify than direct

discrimination.

Defending composite tradition Bangladesh Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina is determined to

preserve and promote her land’s

original liberal composite tradition.

Addressing a rally last year, Hasina

warned the radical Islamists

against harming the minorities .

She said , "People of all religious

faiths would continue to enjoy

equal rights in Bangladesh... I want

to warn you not to break the peace

of the people, otherwise you have

to pay for it…. The culprits involved

in killing people and destroying

their homes and business

establishments will be tracked

down wherever they take shelter."

Knowledgeable sources say the

situation in Bangladesh ,however,

is still far from satisfactory. Violent

Islamists have been targeting

secular writers and journalists in

the country. Poet Shamsur

Rahman was targeted in 1999 .

Novelist Taslima Nasreen, has

been hounded out of the country.

Humayun Azad was attacked for

his satirical novel ‘Pak Saar Jamin’

in 2004. Blogger Rajib Haider was

hacked to death in front of his

house in 2013 . Asif Mohiuddin was

stabbed in 2013 .Professor Shafiul

Islam of Rajshahi University was

hacked to death in November 2014

for banning students from wearing

the full-face veil in his class room

and examination hall. Radical

Islamist organizations, like the

Harakat ul Jihadi Islami (HuJi) and

the Ansarullah Bangla Team, have

been behind the recent hacking of

some bloggers in the country .

The government has not taken

appropriate action in the matter. It

has banned Jamaatul Mujahideen

Bangladesh (JMB), Jagrata Muslim

Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and

Hizbut Tahir but has been inactive

against vigilante groups such as

the ABT.

Indo-Bangla cooperation must

grow further . New Delhi must back

Dacca fully in neutralizing the

Islamist forces in Bangladesh . It is

very much in the interest of New

Delhi . The Islamist forces in the

region are said to be linked with

terror groups , including al Qaeda

and the Islamic State, with a goal of

establishing a Greater Bangladesh

merging Bangladesh with India’s

West Bengal.

August 2015 Power Politics 35

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genuine autonomy in India , many

of the problems we have had would

not be there. The successive

dispensations in New Delhi have

cared a fig to remedy this malady.

Because of the lack of autonomy to

the armed forces, sometimes some

highly political-minded elements

come to head their units and they

take decisions detrimental to

national security. This could be

seen in the way the entire military

intelligence structure in the north-

east is said to have been broken up

in the recent years .

Asked to comment on the

Naryanan thesis, our former Vice

Chief of the Army Staff Lt General

Vijay Oberoi said, “ The job of

intelligence analysts is to warn, to

give 'actionable intelligence' in

advance and in time, so that the

forces can act on them. Our

intelligence analysts and so called

experts have always woken up after

the event and then they

pontificate!!”

Oberoi said , “ The fiasco in

question was at two levels. First,

during the prolonged discussions

with the erstwhile Naga hostiles, the

negotiators (all babus who have no

ground experience) decided that

talks with the Muivah group would

be good enough and the Khaplang

faction was ignored. The different

factions of Nagas are vying for

power with each other. Instead of

carrying only one faction, the

negotiators could have roped in

Khaplang too.”

Second , the Army unit was

obviously slack. It was at the fag

end of its field tenure and due to go

to a peace station. This is the most

vulnerable time. All army teachings

emphasise the need to be even

more vigilant at this time. The army

detachment was doing a crucial duty

- that of road clearance. Such

important tasks cannot be carried

out sitting in vehicles. The troops

have to be on the ground, astride

the road they are tasked to clear and

clear a couple of hundred metres on

both sides of the road. This was not

done and hence the unit in question

gave a ready -made , easy target to

the hostiles.”

Bangladesh Premier

Sheikh Hasina

Former Vice Chief of the Army

Staff Lt General Vijay Oberoi

Tehran-Taliban nexusWhen it comes to fighting

Islamist terror, New Delhi has as

much to fear Khomeinist Tehran

as Wahhabi Riyadh and allies .

According to a recent Wall Street

Journal report, Tehran today

backs Taliban with cash and arms

. It has quietly boosted its ties

with the Sunni militant group and

is now recruiting and training its

fighters. A Taliban commander in

central Afghanistan gets $580-a-

month salary from his Iranian

sponsors.

Reports are that Tehran has

sent several thousands ( 7,000 ---

15,000 ) fighters – Iranians, Iraqis,

and Afghanis – to Syria to prop up

the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Iran is offering thousands of

dollars to Shia mercenaries from

Afghanistan and Pakistan to join

the fight to keep President Assad

in power. The Iran-backed Syrian

regime has been assisting the

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria by

conducting air strikes against

anti-Assad rebels battling the

ISIS. Tehran needs the threat of

ISIS and Sunni jihadist groups to

stay in Syria and Iraq in order to

become further entrenched in

Damascus and Baghdad.

The reports say Iran has been

coordinating with al-Qaeda in the

Gulf region since 2007.

Coordination between Iran and

the global terrorist organization

has taken place through Saudi

citizen Saleh Al-Qarawi.

Given New Delhi’s experience

with Taliban and al Qaeda , it

needs to remain cautious and

boost its own self-defence

capabilities further . Both Tehran

and Riyadh have been indulging in

anti-humanity programmes,

including terror activities. This

has to be checkmated so as to

defend the space for the values of

human rights, pluralism and

democracy in India and the

world .

Women’s rights uncared in WestAre we living in a democratic

world today ? Still far from it .

Humanity is in peril in most parts

of the world . Volumes have been

written about the predicament of

women, minorities and non-

conformist individuals in the world

in general and the Middle East in

particular. Ironically, the rights

scenario is not optimistic even in

the West which is never weary of

preaching its high – sounding

gospels on the subject.

According to a study, specific

abuses faced by females such as

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

and child marriages take place in

the United States, Britain and

Canada too. As many as 1,500

forced marriages occur in the

United States annually . Today

150,000-200,000 American girls are

at risk for FGM. Western

governments are doing little to

protect such citizens in their

territories .

Toronto-based author and rights

activist Raheel Raza, the first ever

Muslim woman in Canada to lead

mixed gender prayer , says FGM

does not appear in the Quran. The

United Kingdom’s Bangladeshi

Muslims exhibit a “higher

prevalence” of marrying girls under

the age of 10. Honour killings in

North America have been a Muslim

experience. These murders form

along with forced marriages and

FGM a comprehensive “control

situation” and “systematic breaking

down of someone’s will.”

Raza adds one should not accord

“much precedence to hadith and

sharia.” Much of Islamic

orthodoxy is “man-made created

stuff for the benefit of the men.”

Abuses like FGM are “tribal

practices that existed long before

Islam.” For spiritual guidance on

abuses of women one should “ go

back to the word of God, ” Islam’s

source; it is not in the source.”

She asserts that female Quran

interpreters like her find no support

for wife-beating in the Quran (4:34).

Such interpretations come from the

“mindset of the male elite who have

been translating the Quran.”

Referencing the Quran’s oft-

(mis)quoted verse 5:32 (“whoever

saves one—it is as if he had saved

mankind entirely”), she says, “I take

the higher law.”

Power Politics August201536

REALPOLITIK

Iran’s Spiritual Leader

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Canada-based Muslim author

Raheel Raza