Opinion A shameful impasse
Commenting on the logjam in Parliament that has now led to the adjournment of the two Houses sine die.
A shameful impasse
Commenting on the logjam in Parliament that has now led to the adjournment of the two Houses sine die,Rashtriya Sahara,in an editorial entitled Who is responsible for the adjournment (December 12) writes: Neither did the government convince the opposition that those guilty in the 2G spectrum scam could be put in the dock without a JPC,nor have the opposition parties successfully explained to the country why the culprits cannot be unmasked without constituting a JPC. The paper further writes: The country will have to be told why the most important pillar of democracy was kept paralysed for the sake of only this one problem,or merely for the issue of corruption. There are many other organisations also for inquiring into cases of corruption. But what the Parliament does cannot be done by any other organisation or committee.
The paper also laments that nobody (neither the government nor the opposition) feels sorry that valuable time of Parliaments winter session was lost in the tussle as to who should inquire into the 2G spectrum scam and who should not. How regrettable!
Delhi-based Hamara Samaj on December 15 criticises both the Congress and the BJP for the battle of egos. The paper writes that while probing corruption charges in very necessary,the functioning of Parliament is a greater need. The paper writes that the attitude of the MPs is regrettable and they will have to pay for it.
Purposeful leaks
The WikiLeaks saga has sparked great debate and conspiracy theories. Discussing the revelation that the US government spied on UN secrets,Jamaat-e-Islamis biweekly Daawat on December 10 hints at President Obama himself being responsible for such an endeavour. It is being said that even though instructions for this exercise had been given by the Secretary of State,such a big step cannot be taken without the approval of the president. The paper further writes: If someone thinks that this is a matter merely confined to spying,it is would be a great error of judgment. As a country with veto power in the Security Council of the United Nations,it is obvious that it would try to influence its programme and policy… The silence of the world is surprising.
Many papers have perceived the WikiLeaks revelations as a conspiracy to blackmail the Islamic world. In a signed article,Masoom Moradabadi,the editor of Delhi-based daily Jadeed Khabar,has expressed agreement with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejads view that these reports have been issued for achieving the USs political objectives. He writes: The documents revealed by WikiLeaks were,in fact,in the possession of the United States,and their revelation gives the indication of some very big conspiracy… It seems that by putting these secrets on public auction (sar-e-aam neelaam karke) it wants to blackmail the Arab countries and the Islamic world. Similar sentiments have been expressed by many other papers.
Daawat (December 7) talks of the possibility of the WikiLeaks revelations having been stage-managed by the US government itself. It writes: In all seriousness,nothing can be said with finality now about the reality of WikiLeaks. The predominant perception is that like other international dramas,this tamasha too has been at the instance of Washington itself… The doubts can be removed only when this website may reveal US documents on 9/11 saying how the CIA prepared this plan with the help of Mossad,how fake terrorists were created and what was the objective of this
operation.
Hyderabad-based daily,Rahnuma-e-Deccan,in its editorial (December 5) questions the reality of WikiLeaks: Who are these people,and what they want? What are the forces behind them? They are continuously challenging America… and America,in spite of its varied resources,is apparently unsuccessful in stopping them. Is this a drama or something else? There is need for understanding its reality.
Whats Urdu for yojana?
According to a report in Delhi-based daily Hamara Samaj (December 14),positions of joint director (Urdu),senior and junior translators and typists have been lying vacant in the expenditure section of the finance ministry since September 2008. The reason: no Urdu-literate candidates could be found for these positions. This information was provided to Ahmad Saeed Malihabadi,Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal,by the prime ministers office in reply to a question in Parliament. Interestingly,when Malihabadi asked where the vacancies were advertised,during a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee for minority affairs,he was gobsmacked. The empty positions were advertised only in Yojana,a publication of the Planning Commission.
Compiled by Seema Chishti
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