Posts from — December 2003

However loud Chhagan Bhujbal, the ex-deputy-chief minister of Maharashtra, shouts claiming his resignation to be a consequence of the satire on a television channel, nobody is going to be fooled by the claims that the resignation was in no way connected to Bhujbal’s involvement in the Telgi scam!!

Discovery Channel has an interactive feature on Tokyo’s super-ambitious Sky City. It is the most massive building ever envisaged, with 14 steel, glass and concrete ‘plateaus’ stacked on top of each other. The structure would rise a mile into the sky and house some 35,000 people.

Other unbelievable features of the Sky City include schools, offices, shops, green parks on each plateau, a monorail that would ferry 100,000 people through the massive structure during rush hour, possibly a small airport alongwith heliports, super express elevators that go up 3,300 feet in just over 2 minutes and even an Olympic-sized sports and entertainment stadium suspended between the three towers of the structure!!

The only hitch that the engineers from Japan, Taiwan and Canada are facing are the ways to protect this gargantuan structure from earthquakes, typhoons, raging infernos, etc.

Pakistan president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf is upto his usual antics once again. After a brief hiatus in which the limelight was hogged by his puppet PM Jamali, Musharraf is back on the centrestage, shooting off his mouth in a BBC radio broadcast titled Aapki Baat BBC Ke Saath.

He says that he’s ready to pull back troops from PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) if India pulls back its troops from Jammu and Kashmir.

“India has seven lakh soldiers in Kashmir, whereas Pakistan has only fifty thousand. If Indian government is ready to remove their forces, we will remove ours tomorrow.”

Quite up-to-date on numbers, aren’t we, Mushy?! But you fail to understand that the Simla Agreement of 1972, that you so willingly ignore and flout states categorically that

In order to initiate the process of the establishment of durable peace, both the governments agree that:

(i) Indian and Pakistani forces shall be withdrawn to their side of the international border.
…

As far as India is concerned, the Simla Agreement will always be the basis of relations between India and Pakistan (unless of course a path-breaking agreement is formulated and agreed upon by both the parties in question). So it is pointless to ask India to withdraw troops from Jammu and Kashmir, because they are on our side of the internationational border. The Pakistani troops in PoK, however, are behind the LoC but are still on our side of the international border and therefore in violation of the agreement. So there is no way that India should agree to this proposal.

Musharraf then said that he would consider nominating Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for Pakistan’s highest civilian honour, the Nishaan-e-Pakistan (which had been once earlier conferred on the former Indian PM Morarji Desai). This, on its own, is a commendable gesture. But Musharraf queered his own pitch by saying…

“If there is an achievement, which is significant from Pakistan’s point of view, we would like to honour anyone,”
[emphasis mine]

Certainly, Vajpayee does not need a carrot like the Nishaan-e-Pakistan to intensify his efforts for the resolution of issues between India and Pakistan. His work in this area over the last 5 years has been largely one-sided and has resulted in him being made to look foolish after the Lahore and Agra summits. That merits an award. Linking an award is like dangling a carrot before Vajpayee. And Vajpayee would be the last person to desire such a carrot.

When asked if he would like to meet Vajpayee during the SAARC summit, Musharraf answered,

“Yes, if he wants to meet me, I will meet him.”

“I am saying he should not get an impression, that since I have been saying this time and again, I am desperate to meet him. Let me tell you, I am living here and sitting comfortably there is no problem. I would meet him only if he wants.”

Which basically begs the question, why should Vajpayee meet Musharraf at all?!! If Zafrullah Khan Jamali is the Pakistani Prime Minister and the head of the government, he is the one who should be meeting Vajpayee in Islamabad. Not Musharraf!! Or else, Mushy should drop all pretense about having a civilian government since the whole world knows that Jamali is a puppet who heads a civilian government cobbled together for him by the intelligence services!! His words on the matter leave nothing much for imagination…

Asked whether the Pakistani National Assembly or President was the final authority on Kashmir, Musharraf said “Whatever be the decision on Kashmir, it would be of the Assembly, but the President can contribute.”

The word “contribute” being used here very very euphemistically!! ;-)

Then the Musharraf show takes on a comical turn as he spouts such inane and confused gems as…

“Remember it is the beginning of an end.” …

“I am confident that if we have the sincerity, then we can move forward leaving all this behind.” …

Beginning of the end?? What is he talking about? And does he want to imply that the peace process has been stalled because he’s been insincere up until now??!

And then, Musharraf responds to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s charge that Taliban Chief Mullah Mohammad Omar was seen in Pakistan. He describes the charges as “extremely annoying” and says…

“No country can claim to have done more against terrorism than Pakistan. We have nabbed and killed 600 terrorists.

“No one should talk in this way, let us all worry about our own countries,” Musharraf said.

*At this point Sameer had to be carried away after he fell off the chair, laughing hard!!*

Today is 1^st December, World AIDS Day. No other disease in the history of mankind has represented a bigger medical and social challenge than AIDS. And compounding the problem are the frightfully low levels of awareness amongst the masses, especially among the various high-risk groups. If you add govenrmental apathy to that, you can imagine why it is being predicted that by 2005 India will have more AIDS cases than those in the entire continent of Africa. Frightening!!

Looking at figures, according to NACO by the end of October this year, there have been 56151 reported cases of AIDS in India. Exactly one year back, NACO reported 41606 cases. So over the last year, there has been a 35% increase in the number of AIDS cases in India. And these are just the reported cases. Like an iceberg, a huge number of cases still lie hidden under the surface.

The Indian government has been sluggish with its response to tackle the AIDS crisis. However, on the eve of the World AIDS Day, health minister Sushma Swaraj announced that it will supply free drugs to those affected by AIDS. In addition to this, she also indicated that a new law is likely, that would make discrimination against HIV positive people and the refusal by hospitals to treat them an offence.

Btw, if you have a website or a blog, you might want to participate in the Link and Think project.

The premiere of the most awaited movie of the year, The Return of The King, takes place in Wellington, New Zealand today. The premiere would be preceeded by a parade by the cast and crew of the epic trilogy directed by the diminutive Peter Jackson.

Fans crowded the venue of the parade, twenty four hours before it was due to even start. They were rewarded for their patience when at midnight, stars from the film went around, chatting with them and signing autographs.

New Zealand Herald has a running commentary of the parade, updated every few minutes with tidbits about the stars and their soundbites.

Webcams placed strategically along the route of the parade are webcasting the event live.

The LoTR fever is at its height!! And I can’t wait for the film to be released for the public.