August 31, 1998

If America has a "right to self-defence" against terrorism, doesn't India too?

After his country's attack on terrorist bases in Sudan and Afghanistan, the American ambassador to the UN described these as flowing from the "right of states to self-defence". The action came soon after the bombing of two American embassies in Africa, apparently by Islamic militants. Washington's logic is clear: terrorism is an act of war and should be treated as such. Obviously, the US considers retaliation a virtue. It is a pity it does not confer the same status on consistency. After all, it was only three months ago that the US administration criticised Home Minister L.K. Advani for speaking of a "proactive" policy against terrorism in Kashmir and possible "hot pursuit" into Pakistani territory. At the time, an American spokesman warned India against "cross-border pursuit of militant forces" and "foolishly and dangerously increasing tensions with its neighbours". Like in so many other spheres of international relations, America believes in one set of rules for itself and another for the rest of the world.

The point here is not to build a case for a possible Indian attack on terrorists installations in Pakistan. Terrorism is a worldwide problem. To allow every aggrieved country to become a vigilante is to propound the diplomatic equivalent of the chaos theory. Instant justice may have been a way of life in the Wild West a century and a half ago; it certainly cannot be the cornerstone of a contemporary strategic doctrine. Even so, there are two weapons the US would do well to induct into its foreign policy arsenal: sensitivity and empathy. India's sense of outrage after innocent people are massacred in, say, Doda is not qualitatively inferior to any American grief following the recent bombings in Africa. A collective endeavour will have other benefits too. The global network of terrorist agencies cannot be thwarted by piecemeal action. India and the US can yet be partners in the greater battle against these merchants of death -- provided, of course, that one nation wakes up to another's realities.

Porn on the Phone
Why self-regulation must follow state regulation.

At one level, Communications Minister Sushma Swaraj's decision to block all calls from India to sexually explicit chat lines is unexceptionable. These phone services are the audio equivalent of hard pornography, which by its very definition is illegal. Aside from injuring sensibilities, such international call facilities have injured bank balances. Many unsuspecting people -- largely parents of adolescents -- have found themselves slapped with huge ISD bills. In fact, among the victims are some government departments whose employees have misused official telephones. In a cash-strapped age, permissiveness seems to be inversely proportionate to phone call charges. Nevertheless, beyond the sniggers and the satisfaction of checking the "cultural invasion", there is a larger crisis which confronts Indian society: how does it reconcile morality with technology?

By putting an end to the objectionable phone facilities, Swaraj may be missing the wood for the trees. It could be argued that clients of the phone-sex services will simply shift patronage to similar sites on the Internet. Satellite and cable television pose their own challenges. Should the Government aim to curb prurience on every front, it may find such moral policing prohibitive in terms of costs and impossible in terms of absolute enforcement. Ultimately, it boils down to mindsets -- not methods. The information revolution and ever-evolving communication technology have eroded the authority of the state. No longer can the Government play gatekeeper, allowing in some ideas and barring those deemed harmful. More than ever before, today's citizen is an autonomous being. In this situation, to continue to harp on the protective paternalism of the state is to bay at the moon. A more effective alternative suggests itself -- self-regulation by the individual.

Issue Contents | Write to us | Subscriptions | Syndication

© Living Media India Ltd