Ishtiaq Ahmed

CONSPIRACY theories and their authors become a cause for concern when they begin to hallucinate and can no longer distinguish between their own flights of imagination and the world around them. When they hijack a whole nation or community into another world, then they ought to be held accountable.

These are very troubled times. Such times are a bonanza for conspiracy theorists because they know how best to simplify extremely complex situations while simultaneously grossly exaggerating the evil ingenuity of the plotters, and thus create thorough confusion. If such confusion can generate panic, then the conspiracy theorist has earned his living through real hard work. The art then is to top it off with an ending that results in the defeat of the evildoers. Such stuff is the bread and butter of writers of mystery stories and thrillers. Their works help shed everyday boredom, even if only for the moment.

Conspiracy theories and their authors become a cause for concern when they begin to hallucinate and can no longer distinguish between their own flights of imagination and the world around them. If such delirious moments only carry them into a world of make-believe, then the harm is limited. However, when they hijack a whole nation or community into another world, then they ought to be held accountable. When such characters appear in popular talk shows or, much worse, begin exploiting TV channels to present programmes full of war games and prophecies against a demonised group of plotters threatening the existence of a nation — nay, a universal community such as that of the Muslims — then I believe such persons should be held accountable for taking people on a ride with their yarns.

By now the readers must have guessed that I have no other person in mind other than Mr Zaid Hamid. Initially I was reluctant to comment on the farce he pedals in his talks and his TV programmes. The reason is that one can end up giving more importance to individuals than is due. On the other hand, the danger is that the angst and fears that run deep in Pakistani society will push our society even deeper into a pathological state of mind or national outlook. The daily bomb blasts by remote control or by suicide bombers, the galloping rate of unemployment and politicians who specialise in making a mockery of democracy and responsible governments have taken a huge toll on the spirits of the Pakistani people. Last year when I visited Lahore I took a long walk beginning from Anarkali up to Lohari Gate and then eastwards till I came to Mochi Gate. Then I walked down to Gawalmandi, from there I went down Nisbet Road till I came to Lakshmi Chowk. I can tell you that for the first time in my life I felt that Lahore was in mourning. People could not take any longer all the betrayal of hopes for a Pakistan without want and hunger.

Mr Zaid Hamid’s grand conspiracy has a happy ending, however. The Muslim world and the Islamic Ummah in general and Pakistan in particular are the victims of a Zionist-Brahminical-CIA-Mossad-RAW-MI5-MI6, and all the rest, plot, according to this celebrated defence and security analyst. Our only true friend is China. The latter of course is still wedded to Marxism-Leninism and thus to atheism, but that does not matter. Just as there are good and bad Taliban, there can be good and bad atheists. Is that not logical? Once upon a time, I remember, the Chinese with their special eye shape and high cheekbones, we were told, were the people that Islam would fight, also accordingly to some prophecies. That was of course when Pakistan and China had not become friends, whose friendship was later described as higher than the Himalayas. So, there is a season for prophecies — some come in while others go out.

Mr Zaid Hamid tells us not to worry. Pakistan is a nuclear power and the defeat of Hind (India) has been prophesied 1,400 years ago. It will not only be the end of India but Israel and the US and all other evil powers, including Russia. Pakistan and China and some true Muslims will triumph in the final father of all battles — the mother of all battles is dead since a long time, I believe. Hopefully then we will convert all the Chinese, otherwise what is the point?

What will happen to all the nuclear weapons that the enemies of Islam possess? Their total is in the thousands! Well, they will become un-useable or explode in their own countries so the Islamic forces will not be responsible for the genocide of billions of members of the human race. In any case, such details, which disturb the elegance of a simple but sensational conspiracy theory, have to be ignored. The green flag will fly atop the Delhi Fort as it should have had we not created Pakistan and denied ourselves that opportunity 63 years earlier.

Is there any chance that such prophecy may not hold or rather that no such prophecy has existed in the past and it has been manufactured by Mr Zaid Hamid to support his grand theory, which has already declared a Muslim victory? I think such questions should suffice to explain to interested readers to distinguish between conspiracies and conspiracy theories.

Attributing so much power to the Zionists or Mossad also makes no sense. The way Mossad has messed up its crime in Dubai when a hit squad was sent to assassinate a Hamas leader only shows that such an agency cannot sometimes manage even simple operations. RAW is even less likely to pull off an attack on Pakistan with impunity. Recently the Taliban killed a number of CIA operatives in Afghanistan. If Mossad-Raw-CIA were to join ranks, would they perform better or is it likely that in the absence of a common chain of command they can mess up things even more? I do not know. But I do know that neither Mr Zaid Hamid nor his theory allow for an error, and in any case whatever initial advantage these evil agencies and powers may have, our victory is a foregone conclusion. That is exactly a conspiracy theory.

Another thing to keep in mind is the following: conspiracies by their very nature are secretive and oftentimes catch their targets off-guard. ‘Et tu, Bruté?’ (Even you, Brutus?), exclaimed Julius Caesar, as his best friend joined other plotters and stabbed him to death. Of course his (Julius Caesar’s) wife, Calpurnia, had been seeing such a nightmare many times, Shakespeare informed his readers. So, maybe one can see visions about such happenings. In any case, conspiracy theories that have already exposed the culprits and punished them and defeated them are just flights of the imagination, or, could be deep dives into a bottomless void inside the belly of the earth.

[Ishtiaq Ahmed is a Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) and the South Asian Studies Programme at the National University of Singapore. He is also a Professor of Political Science at Stockholm University. He has published extensively on South Asian politics. At ISAS, he is currently working on a book, Is Pakistan a Garrison State? He can be reached at isasia@nus.edu.sg]
[Courtesy http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\02\23\story]

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Euro not for Europe's poor

David Cronin

FOR 329 million, people shopping with the euro is a part of everyday life. Since its notes and coins were introduced on New Year's Day 2002, this single currency has made it possible to travel across a 16-country zone stretching from Cyprus to Ireland without having to change the money in one's pocket or handbag.

Yet while it may sound like a dream for holiday-makers, the economic crisis in Greece has illustrated that there is a flipside to Europe's experiment in monetary union. In order to guarantee the 'stability' of the currency, participating governments have signed up to rules stipulating that their budget deficits should be no more than 3 percent of their gross domestic product.

After Greece admitted its deficit stood at 12.7 percent, it has undertaken to slash it to 2.8 percent by 2012; the measures envisaged to achieve this drastic reduction include cutbacks in public sector pay and spending on education and an increase in the retirement age.

The irony of how these measures will hurt Greeks on low-income far more than the politicians and business elite widely blamed for causing the crisis has not been lost on some commentators. Costas Douzinas, a law professor at Birkbeck College in London, says that the euro-zone's economic affairs are being run "according to a kind of witchdoctor theory."

"It is not Greece that is suffering but the Greek working people, the people who are always at the bottom of the pile," he told IPS. "If you want to have a reduction of the deficit, the first thing to do should not be to hit the most vulnerable parts of society, the low-paid civil servants and the working class. You should hit big capital, the people who profited out of the extreme neo- liberal organisation of the markets."

The idea of building a single currency was originally hatched by just five companies involved in selling cars (Fiat), oil (Total), chemicals (Solvay), electronic goods (Philips) and pharmaceuticals (Rhône-Poulenc). In 1987 they formed the Association for the Monetary Union of Europe (AMUE), which argued that the patchwork of different currencies then in use in Europe prevented it from competing with Japan or the U.S.

Upon its inception, the grouping decided to exclude trade unions and other public interest advocates from its membership. Etienne Davignon, the AMUE president, argued that the single currency could "only be effective if it was proposed by the people who were in favour without the necessity to compromise between themselves."

David Boyle from the New Economics Institute, a Massachusetts-based body that challenges conventional thinking on financial management, said that while there is a need for "big reference currencies", it is wrong to believe that the euro and its common interest rates can bring equal benefits to all areas where it is used. "Interest rates don't suit every country in the EU at the same time," he said. "How can they? In times of hardship, a single currency will benefit those at the heart of Europe - maybe Paris and Frankfurt - but it will damage the outlying areas. Single currencies are blunt instruments and will tend to increase poverty around the edges."

Unlike the dollar or the yen, the euro has been introduced in a situation where its participating countries apply considerably different policies on other key economic questions. Efforts by France, for example, to introduce common rules on taxation have been resisted by other euro-zone members such as Ireland, which has been fearful that higher corporate taxes would act as a disincentive to foreign investment.

Roland Kulke, a researcher with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, a left-wing German think-tank, said the economic crisis in Greece has highlighted the intrinsic design flaws in the euro. "You can't have a common currency without at least a certain kind of coordination on budgetary and financial policies."

The euro, coupled with the absence of any increase in real wage levels over a two-decade period, has enabled Germany to become a top exporter, Kulke added. More peripheral countries such as Greece, on the other hand, have been unable to devalue their currencies to sell goods abroad at a competitive price.

One of the murkier aspects of the Greek crisis is that opaque transactions by Wall Street firms appear to have contributed significantly to it. Goldman Sachs and other top investment banks are known to have sent high-level delegations to Athens in the recent past, fuelling allegations that they were betting against the euro and helping to falsify the real economic picture in the country by using complex financial instruments to conceal the true nature of the Greek debt.

Susan George, a leading member in the French anti-poverty group ATTAC, called on the European Central Bank (ECB) and other euro-zone institutions to consider a tax on transactions of a high-risk nature. "An international currency tax would help stop speculation against the euro," she said. "But unfortunately I don't think the ECB is going to move on this." [Courtesy IPS]

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Resistance to Shiv Sena growing in Mumbai

Gurpreet Singh

IF the response to Bollywood’s latest film - My name is Khan is any indication, resistance against the Shiv Sena is consistently growing in the financial capital of India. Bal Thackrey’s Shiv Sena that virtually ran a parallel administration in Mumbai for years had an egg on its face when thousands of people showed up at the selected cinema halls showing Karan Johar’s film starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol despite threats from the Shiv Sena, which had asked the theatres not to run the film.

The Shiv Sena was infuriated at Khan for suggesting that the Pakistani cricket team be allowed to play in Mumbai. The Shiv Sena had warned that it won’t let the Pakistanis play cricket in Mumbai in protest against the 26/11 attacks. It is a separate matter that the Shiv Sena did not react when Amitabh Bachan, the towering Bollywood star recited a poem at a cultural program that was organized to promote Indo Pak friendship. After all, Bachan is one of the prominent admirers of Thackrey. The city of Mumbai was attacked by the terrorists who came from Pakistan on November 26, 2008. The patriotic Shiv Sena members were not seen anywhere fighting against the invaders when Mumbai was under siege.

While Khan refused to apologize, Johar gave in to the pressure of the Maharashtra Navnirman Shiv Sena (MNS), the breakaway faction of the Shiv Sena last year, when he was asked to say sorry for using word Bombay for Mumbai. Both the Sena’s are touchy about the name of the city, which has been officially changed from the British Bombay to Maharashtrian Mumbai. Both the groups have already lost friends from among their Hindu nationalist allies like, the BJP and the RSS for opposing the migration of their Hindu compatriots from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Mumbai in the name of Maratha Pride. These groups were together when the Shiv Sena targeted Muslims during the 1993 riots.

The infighting between the Shiv Sena and the MNS has also weakened the force that was allowed to grow by the secular Congress party to divide the workforce that was aligned with the communists in Mumbai. It is not surprising therefore that why the Congress led coalition government in New Delhi has failed to outlaw such rogue groups. Both the Shiv Sena and the MNS, which have opened too many fronts, have been isolated by the civil society with the support of a silent majority against the politics of hate.

This year when I visited Mumbai, I was surprised to note that the Bombay Stock Exchange has not changed its name. The foreign journalists, who were visiting India to attend the Parvasi Bhartiya Divas, were taken to the Stock Exchange on the last day of the tour. On being asked why it has not changed its name and how the locals are taking it, the Head of the Corporate Affairs of the Bombay Stock Exchange, Kalyan S. Bose replied without hesitation, ``It is not an issue with us. It has been known as Bombay Stock Exchange since it was established and will be known as it is’’. He also pointed out that Bombay High Court has not changed its name either.

My memories from the first visit to the city way back in 1997 remind me of the pamphlets that were circulated to educate the people about the agenda of the Shiv Sena, which was known as a very frightening force outside Maharashtra . I also had a chance to see a raunchy Marathi play with double meaning dialogues. Amazingly, the Marathi women also accompanied their husbands at the theatre in a city where the Shiv Sena members intimidate boys and girls dating on the Valentine Day. The moral policing of the Shiv Sena seemed challenged in such a liberal environment.

In a nutshell the resistance against this group has always been there, but it needs to be recognized and translated into some action rather than acknowledging the strength of the groups that are threat to the unity and integrity of India.

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IveChildren Stories: Aarti’s Obituary

Pearl Jasra

HOW do you say goodbye to a nine year girl who died in your lap?

Aarti, had two brothers and a sister and was born in a very poor family. All four have been coming to me for the last 3 years. She had such a neat, well formed hand-writing, quiet nature and lovely smile. And she never got tired of work that was given to her.

Well I came to know about her very enlarged spleen with haemoglobin count of 3 (only) just a month ago. I knew there was something the matter with her but her parents kept telling me that she eats lot of mitti so I kept giving tonics and worm-pills. On 22nd march her spleen ruptured while I was bringing her from Ranbaxy lab. Just a week earlier, at midnight I had to rush her for blood transfusion. I recall her last conversations here for you all, to have a peep into her mind. She knew that she was going:

‘didi mera dhidh , meri pith mull de, mainu paani piya de ‘ (didi rub my tummy and my back, give me water).

On reaching home amongst wailing women she smiled and said,”tussi ronday kyon ho “(why you all are weeping)?

She then wriggled her feeble hand out of my palm and pointed towards a shelf and said, ‘ baabay di o raakh mere muh ch paa diyo’. (put that holy-dust in my mouth). …AND SHE WENT AWAY…..

Yesterday I held a memorial service for Aarti with my 121 (one less) poor children.

I asked them to narrate/recall and say ‘things’ about her:

“ik din mere kol pencil nahi si te aarti ne apni navi pencil de ditti, vaapis vi nahi litti”
(once I came without pencil, Aarti gave me a new pencil and didn’t want it back”.

“ ik din saare ravinder naal katti pai gaye si te Aarti ne kiha saare us naal abba kar lao “.( one day all students decided not to speak with ravinder and Aarti said let us all make peace with him).

“jadon o bimar pai gayi si te roz saag mangdi si, te saag khandi si
(when she fell ill she would always ask for ‘saag to eat).

And I ask myself how do you say goodbye to a nine year girl who died in your lap?

(I wish to thank Dr. surgeon Gurjeet ji, Dr. Naresh Grover, Dr.Shravan Mehra, spl thanks to Sahil Adlakha for providing blood at the dead of night. To dear Shailja n Ramita from RTI …. And YOU Ronny Bhaiyya (Dr.) who always were there with me till the end).

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