Bush market

At a dinner during my recent visit to Lahore, I expressed my surprise at seeing the finest Italian pasta and imported breads on the table. M...

At a dinner during my recent visit to Lahore, I expressed my surprise at seeing the finest Italian pasta and imported breads on the table. My hosts duly informed me that the ingredients were sourced from what has come to be known as the 8216;Bush market8217;, located in Peshawar. Apparently, thousands of US soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan are entitled to receive high-quality food and clothes from the US. Shipments from the US land at Karachi port and reach Peshawar, from where it is the duty of Pakistani customs and authorities to ensure their safe passage to the US troops in Afghanistan. But only half of the shipments end up reaching the soldiers and the rest are duly pilfered and find their way to Peshawar8217;s aptly named 8216;Bush market8217;. I hope the Pakistani government is aware of this and takes steps to address the pilferage.

The border with Afghanistan has always been a problem area for the Pakistan government. Peshawar was earlier known as a haven for gun buyers where arms and ammunitions meant for Taliban fighters were sold as openly as groceries in today8217;s Bush market. The Pakistani President has to pay extra attention to this region in his fight against the fundamentalist and terrorist forces. After years of being supportive to Musharraf, Maulana Fazlu Rehman has now turned hostile to him. The development will no doubt give impetus to fundamentalists in the region, a situation that Al-Qaeda will be keen to exploit.

Musharraf has already taken some steps in winning over support from the Pakistani society. His amending of Pakistan8217;s regressive law on rape has not gone down well with the fundamentalists. Under the earlier law, the onus of proving the rape was on the complainant, failing which she would be subjected to a four-year jail term. The new amendment takes the line of similar laws in progressive societies and forces the accused perpetrator of a rape to plead his innocence.

A divided party

Despite being in Opposition for close to three years now, the internal squabbles of BJP have shown no signs of abating; they are, in fact, on the rise. Rajnath Singh had got some relief after his nomination as BJP president for three years as his fate had hung in balance during his first year as ad-hoc party president. As he now begins to assert himself, a powerful camp within the party is not willing to accept him as their boss. This section has been retaliating against him from day one. It was only with the blessings of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and RSS that he got an extension for his term. It is also the first time that Vajpayee and RSS were in agreement over an issue.

Meanwhile, L.K. Advani8217;s so-called statement about the BJP8217;s prime ministerial candidate has created a flutter in the party and the controversy has been fuelled by a section of media which reported that Vajpayee in Lucknow had proposed Advani8217;s name as the BJP8217;s candidate for the top job. People close to Vajpayee were quick to clarify that it was a simple case of misrepresentation. On his way to a dinner, a journalist had stopped Vajpayee and asked if Advani were to stake his claim for the post, would the former support the latter, Vajpayee had casually nodded. Vajpayee had certainly not proposed Advani8217;s name at the party meeting.

Now Rajnath Singh has said that a law will be brought in to build the temple in Ayodhya. His statement is yet to be endorsed by the top leadership of the party. For the moment, the BJP8217;s old guard does not want to highlight or accentuate the issue in any manner.

The brutal state

The Nithari killings in Noida may be among the most heinous and gruesome acts this country has ever seen. It is absolutely bewildering that a senior UP minister and the CM8217;s brother Shivpal Yadav has the temerity to call it a small and routine incident. Yadav has gone a step further and credited the UP police for unearthing and solving the case when a panel appointed by his own government had clearly held that there were police lapses in probing cases of missing children without which the killings could have been stopped much earlier and many lives would have been saved.

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The Mulayam Singh Yadav government is busy touting its achievements ahead of the forthcoming elections and has no time to look at the abject lawlessness in the state. Rampant corruption and casteism have completely corroded the law and order machinery. Kidnappings and murders have become routine in recent months.

The writer is a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha