Oh, Kolkata

It is almost impossible to associate recent scenes in the streets with Kolkota, a city known for its culture, intellectual ethos, and spirit of tolerance.

It is almost impossible to associate recent scenes in the streets with Kolkota, a city known for its culture, intellectual ethos, and spirit of tolerance. Much has been written about Nandigram and the blame game is in full swing. Indisputably, there is prima facie evidence of excesses by CPM cadres. In that case, one would have expected a liberal, sensitive chief minister like Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to acknowledge the lapses and reiterate his government’s resolve to remedy the situation in a spirit of constructive dialogue rather than ‘paying back his opponents in their coin’. Regrettably, any criticism of the West Bengal government’s handling of the Nandigram imbroglio is regarded as hostile and biased. And none is spared, including Governor Gopal Gandhi, a person with impeccable credentials, the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, former Chief Justice of India Rajendra Babu, and the Calcutta High Court.

When the Supreme Court transferred the riot cases from Gujarat to Maharashtra and issued other directions to ensure that there was effective prosecution of the guilty, there was no cry of judicial hyper-activism and the judiciary was rightly commended by CPM leaders. Its present tirade against the Calcutta High Court on the ground of judicial over-reach is utterly unjustified.

The minority religious element injected into the situation by some persons and parties is condemnable. The demand that Taslima Nasreen be deported is outrageous. That issue has nothing to do with Nandigram and the West Bengal government should not have agreed to Taslima’s removal to Rajasthan. Surely it could have given her full protection. An aftermath of these regrettable events could be a vibrant play on the lines of the Greek tragedians called ‘Oh! my beloved Kolkata!’

Tragedy in Pakistan

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General Musharraf has slightly relented under pressure of international opinion. Several political opponents, including Imran Khan and the indomitable human rights activist Asma Jehangir, have been released. Restrictions on the media have been somewhat relaxed. But there is no let-up in his war against the judiciary. Deposed Chief Justice Ifthikar Chaudhry is still under house arrest. The other Supreme Court judges who refused to take the judicial oath under the new dispensation are still out in the cold. The hand-picked Supreme Court judges have delivered judgments favourable to the general but they utterly lack credibility. It takes time to build up institutions. In the past, the Pakistan Supreme Court had delivered courageous judgments invalidating dissolution of the national and provincial assemblies. I had occasion to cite those judgments before the Supreme Court in the landmark Bommai case and our Supreme Court has approvingly referred to them. The general has dealt a fatal blow to the judiciary, the enormity of which has not yet been fully realised. That is the real tragedy of Pakistan.

Thereby wags a tale

Humans are wont to believe that they are superior to denizens of the animal kingdom because of their faculty of reasoning and their ability for speech and expression. Recent events cast serious doubt on these insular claims. It is reported that rampaging monkeys in Assam, apart from invading homes, stealing food and soft drinks from refrigerators, are snatching mobile phones to which they have taken a fancy. Apparently freedom of expression is precious also to simians.

It is believed that dogs are endowed with intelligence. Hence, several sniffer dogs are used by the police because of their uncanny power to catch a culprit by tracking him down by following the trail of scent left by him at the place of crime. The police bank on these dogs for the correctness of identification. Can courts rely on the evidence provided by sniffer dogs? Judicial opinion is divided. It is argued that a sniffer dog’s ability to catch a culprit could be taken as one piece of circumstantial evidence. The issue is pending adjudication by the Supreme Court. It is reported that stray dogs have a marked preference for chasing legislators, cutting across party lines, during their morning walks in the VIP complex in Guwahati. That indeed is canine intelligence and thereby wags a tale.