Issue 58 Vol III, February 29, 2008

C O M M E N T

West Tears Apart Yugoslavia, Is India Next?
Dr Sawraj Singh

THE unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo completes the process of tearing apart Yugoslavia, started by the West. Instead of Yugoslavia, we now have six small countries. Kosovo, with a population of about 2 million, will be a tiny country with Pristina as 'its' capital. It will be the 193rd country.

Why does the West want to break up the bigger countries into smaller countries? It is easier to swallow smaller pieces. When we eat bread, we have to break it into smaller pieces. The Punjabi word “Sansarikaran” (Globalization) describes this phenomenon very well. Sansar means the world, but it also means a crocodile. Therefore, the present globalization wants to swallow the smaller countries as a crocodile does.

I went to Europe for the first time in 1972. People told me then that Yugoslavia was the most prosperous country in Eastern Europe. Yugoslavians had complete freedom there to travel to other countries. People from other countries could also freely travel to Yugoslavia. Yugoslavian socialism was called "Pink Socialism'.

Yugoslavia's famous leader Marshal Tito, along with the Indian Prime Minister Nehru, founded the non-aligned movement. This movement became a big force and played a very important role in world affairs. The two leaders became very famous. However, when the West started tearing apart Yugoslavia, India chose to remain silent. India's stand on the Soviet Union was equally opportunistic. The Soviet Union helped India so much, but when the West defeated the Soviet Union, India quickly embraced America, the winner of the Cold War.

Not only the political leadership, but the Indian media also generally ignored the fact that the declaration of independence by Kosovo was a unilateral action and was against the mandate of the United Nations. However, Russia and China reacted very strongly, warning America that this action violates international law and endangers the stability of the world. Even European countries such as Spain, Greece, Cyprus, and Romania dissented.

India must understand that an opportunistic policy will endanger its own existence. The Western countries are playing the role of the mythological character "Bhasmasur", whoever will embrace them will be burnt down. India should have no illusions that just like the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, the West wants to tear down India. No matter what they say, India is next on their list of the countries to be torn apart. The only way India can beat the Western designs is to join an alliance with Russia and China. India has to join the effort of balancing the unopposed power of the Western countries and restore the balance of power in the world. This will promote peace, prosperity and harmony in the whole world.

[Sawraj Singh M.D. F.I.C.S.Chairman, Washington State Network for Human Rights]

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IFS officer in human trafficking racket?
Punjabi singers among others chargesheeted

AN Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and a Punjabi singer are among five persons who have been chargesheeted by the CBI for their alleged involvement in trafficking nine persons to Berlin three years ago.

The investigating agency, while filing the chargesheet in a court here, said: “In 2005, Rakesh Kumar, a former director-general of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), facilitated empanelling of a bogus cultural group - Mehak Punjab Di - and illegally trafficked nine individuals to Berlin misusing his official position.”

The CBI accused Kumar, who had also served as special secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, of “human trafficking for a monetary consideration” in a conspiracy involving Punjabi singer Balwinder Bawa and others.

“He directed to send a team of 15 members, comprising inexperienced and untrained Punjabi folk dancers, to Germany on government sponsorship before his transfer from ICCR,” the CBI claimed.

Invoking penal provisions of the cheating, forgery and others of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the agency said out of the troupe, nine members had defected after their performance at the Indian Embassy in Berlin in September 2005 as part of the conspiracy.

Besides Kumar, the agency also accused Shiv Kumar Sharma, the then Punjab Agricultural University employee, Harghulab Singh, a farmer, Balwinder Bawa, a Punjabi singer, and Gurbhej Singh, constable of Punjab Armed Police, of various offences in the case registered with it on November 22, 2005.

A bogus cultural group, Mehak Punjab Di, was formed in 2005 after Harghulab contacted Sharma for sending his son Randeep abroad, it said. Acting on behalf of Kumar, Sharma asked Harghulab to collect Rs 7.5 lakh from each member of the group, who wanted to stay back in Germany following their performance.

He also collected Rs 1 lakh from each member for allegedly paying Kumar, who allegedly facilitated empanelment of the troupe with the ICCR.

Kumar, on his part, allegedly prevailed upon embassy officials at Berlin for allowing the troupe to perform on the night of September 14, 2005.

Harghulab and his son broke away from the group on the same night while the other seven slipped away the next day, the CBI alleged, adding that Sharma did not report the matter to the embassy there.

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Punjab Shocking State of Education
Over one lakh kids not enrolled in schools

Punjab government should stop fooling around education with Adarsh schools and the all the boast indulged by the mighty and the powerful. It has a pitiable record and cannot dream of being 100 per cent literate, at least for another two decades.

Right now as more than one lakh students are not getting even the elementary education. This shocking revelation has an official stamp.  A recent survey conducted by the state units of the Sarv Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) found large number of children devoid of elementary education. It found out this January that 1, 00,457 children in the state are not even enrolled for elementary education. It has been pointed out that a large number of students enrolled in schools under the special drive had quit midway. It discovered that 30,012 students in the age group of six to eight and at least 70,445 students in the age group of eight to 14 were also not attending school.

Going by the age considerations it was matter of concern for all about the state of education of the children in the age of eight to 14 years because, minus elementary education, these students would not fit into normal schools. A large number might end up as daily laboureres. In fact, one could find these wayside dhbasa and in the home of newly rich middle class, cleaning utensils, sweeping floors and washing clothes.

District Ferozepur tops the charts of the children deprived of elementary education, with 12,680 children followed by Amritsar with 8,583. Ludhiana is third with 8,234 children out of school, of which 3,558 are in the age group of six to eight while 4,676 are in the age group of 8 to 14.

 Some officials feared that the ratio will rise as the government has discontinued the Education Guarantee Scheme EGS. The EGS was playing a positive roll in spreading education on the primary level.

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Total U.S. Deaths in Iraq Close to 4,000

THE number of fatalities among the United States occupation forces in Iraq has reached 3,950 with the confirmation on Wednesday of the death of a soldier as a result of an explosion, according to Pentagon statisticians.

The soldier died yesterday when an explosive device placed on a highway, west of Baghdad, exploded as the vehicle in which he was traveling passed, the U.S. command announced in a dispatch which included no further details.

Attacks against U.S. troops in the Iraqi capital have increased over the last few weeks.

The principal cause of death among the occupation forces entrenched in the Arab country since March of 2003 is the detonation of explosive devices. Since the beginning of the year, soldiers have been attacked with these kinds of bombs approximately every three days, according to the military command. During the same period there has been an increase in the number of attacks on Iraqi security forces.

Yesterday resistance fighters killed two policemen in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi police sources reported. This city is the site of a huge operation ordered by Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki against presumed members of the insurgency.

Another roadside bomb exploded as a police caravan passed, which was taking a dozen suspected members of the Mahdi Army, an armed group loyal to the Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al Sader, to prison.

The event occurred in the area of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad and left four dead and nine injured, the police added.

The attack was carried with the intention of liberating the detainees, who had been captured last month and accused of attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to a police general, Ghassan Mohammed Ali.

TROOPS ARE TIRED AND WORN THIN

In Washington, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, described the armed forces as tired and worn thin, and expressed his concern that large numbers of soldiers do not have the opportunity to return home in the short term.

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