1. I
t 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-
work/stop-violence-against-
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
REALPOLITIK
Father of Nation
Mahatma Gandhi

2. (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
REALPOLITIK
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 exploited
Another 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.

3. 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
REALPOLITIK
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

4. Tehran-Taliban nexus
When 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 West
Are 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