If rules subvert justice, they need to be set aside (Sunday Guardian)

ROOTS OF POWER MADHAV NALAPAT www.sunday-guardian.com/profile/madhav-nalapat

The accused in the 16 December gang rape in New Delhi. ne of the many lessons taught to the nation by Mahatma Gandhi was that outcomes do not matter, procedures do. To paraphrase his words on means and ends, "means are after all, everything". Repeat, everything. Even if the ends are not served by means seen by votaries of the Mahatma as being the proper ones to be used, it does not matter. The use of specific means is much more important than any outcome or lack thereof. India has been blessed with the British colonial administrative and legal system, both of which continue seven decades after flagposts in government compounds replaced the Union Jack with the Tricolour. So long as the British were in charge, the system chugged along at a reasonable clip, because of the spirit of improvisation of the colonial authority. They were happy to keep to the rules, so long as their broader purposes were served by doing so. However, in case robotic adherence to procedure resulted in a weakening of the colonial authority, rules were either ignored or changed, much as they are in India once a sufficient bribe has been paid. The 16 December 2012 rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi failed to shake the Delhi Police from their smug lethargy, an ennui that was favourably remarked on by the Union Home Secretary himself, who regarded the national capital being one of the least safe locations in the country for non-VVIPs as proving the superlative performance of the Commissioner of Police, Delhi. It cannot have been easy to have discovered such a forgiving mindset among the army of babus milling around various offices in the national capital, and Dr Manmohan Singh, who holds charge of Personnel, must be given credit for his choice of the top bureaucrat in the Home Ministry, an individual who seems blind to ground reality, but who clearly has uses other than running his department efficiently and with accountability enforced. The Union Home Secretary is, doubtless, a votary of the Mahatma's doctrine that process is what counts and not outcome. That procedure trumps performances. { Despite their own desire that the name of their courageous daughter be made public, some obscure corner of the law has been seized upon by rule-toting functionaries to prevent the mass media from revealing her name. Only such a view would have led to decisions such as the use of provisions of the Juvenile Acts to "protect the identity" of the helpless youth who bludgeoned a young woman to death after violating her in the most inhuman way. The laws of India may allow this creature of the dark to escape any but the most nominal of punishments for his appalling actions, but society has a right to know his name, so that those in his vicinity may be warned the next time he entices a young woman into a vehicle with intent to slake his desire for blood. Preventing society from knowing who he is, is in effect facilitating a repeat offence. Assuming, of course, that the 16 December incident was his first rape and murder. Given the calculated way in which he — literally — impaled his prey, it is very possible that there have been other victims in the past, who have been denied justice because of the quality of policing in non-VVIP Delhi. Rules and procedures, as indeed the force and majesty of the law, are intended to ensure Justice, with a capital "J". Should such constructs do the opposite, and allow deadly criminals to escape back into society almost without punishment, they would be subverting the very purpose of law, which is justice. Despite their own desire that the name of their courageous daughter be made public, some obscure corner of the law has been seized upon by rule-toting functionaries to prevent even the mass media from revealing her name. It is as though a woman from the lower economic depths of society does not even have the right to a name, all she deserves is the facelessness of anonymity. And now, the depredator who violated her and tarnished the global image of an entire nation is going to escape the full force of the law, because of a piece of paper that is likely to be fraudulent. If rules subvert justice, they need to be set aside. The sixth perpetrator should have his identity removed, and share the fate of the other five. Of course, after the decades that will elapse before a "fast track" legal process can deliver justice. http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/if-rules-subvert-justice-they-need-to-be-set-aside

Younger RSS leaders nixed Gadkari return (Sunday Guardian)

MADHAV NALAPAT  New Delhi | 26th Jan 2013

Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari | AFP trio of young RSS leaders, D. Hosabele, Manmohan Vaidya and Krishna Gopal finally succeeded on 22 January in convincing RSS Sarsanghchalak (Supremo) Mohan Bhagwat to abandon Nitin Gadkari in favour of Rajnath Singh. This is contrary to media reports that claim that Rajnath Singh's ascension to the post of BJP president was the "victory of the Delhi Group" — L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. Key sources within the Sangh Parivar said that the three, "joined by other younger leaders, such as Organiser editor R. Balashankar and RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav, had for months privately opposed the re-nomination of Gadkari" but had been forced to hold their peace "because of the continuing backing of Mohanji" for the portly BJP leader from the RSS headquarters town of Nagpur. However, "the income-tax raids on associates of the Purti Group finally convinced Bhagwat that re-nominating Gadkari would amount to suicide for the BJP in the 2014 national polls." These sources say that by raiding Gadkari's business associates "before and not after the 23 January re-nomination" of the then BJP president Gadkari, "the UPA has done the BJP a favour, as post-nomination raids would have been far more embarrassing." These sources were not optimistic about the chances of senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha defeating Nitin Gadkari, had there been a contest. "What surprised the RSS leadership was Advani's stubborn refusal to accept a second term for Gadkari, despite being informed" of Mohan Bhagwat's support for such a move. The long-time second-in-command of the BJP "warned the RSS that he would publicly condemn the giving of a second term to Gadkari, should this happen". They see Yashwant Sinha's apparent bid to contest as being motivated by Advani's unyielding opposition to a second term for Gadkari. "Advaniji wants to end his career with BJP coming back to power in 2014, and he regarded this to be impossible if Gadkari remained party president," a BJP leader claimed. However, "had the RSS continued to back Gadkari, it would have been impossible for Sinha to have defeated him", given the deep roots that the Nagpur-based organisation has within the BJP. The source gave credit to Advani "for putting his entire career on the line" over the Gadkari issue. RSS sources claim that Madan Das Devi and Suresh Soni favour the individual whose persona and profile most closely matches that of ailing BJP patriarch Atal Behari Vajpayee, which is Arun Jaitley. However, the Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition is opposed by most of the RSS hierarchy for his perceived softness towards its Hindutva agenda. A BJP source revealed that Jaitley wanted Venkaiah Naidu to succeed Gadkari, once it became clear that the RSS had changed its mind on Gadkari. However, "Sushmaji ruled out Venkaiah as the replacement". Other names such as that of Ravi Shankar Prasad and even Uma Bharati were ruled out by the RSS, leaving only Rajnath Singh standing. "Although he dislikes him, Advaniji accepted Rajnath in the interests of saying goodbye to Gadkari," a senior BJP leader claimed, adding that "in his previous stint as BJP president, Rajnath sought to mend fences with the Delhi Group, and will likely do so this time around as well." A BJP leader claimed that "only age prevents Advaniji from being the PM candidate of the BJP, and thereby he leaves the field open to Arun Jaitley, who has the same moderate image and coalition skills as Vajpayeeji". However, Nagpur is unlikely to agree. From the start, the RSS opposed moves during 21-22 January designed to crown Arun Jaitley as the new BJP president, thereby rendering that suggestion a non-starter. In contrast, Sushma Swaraj has earned considerable goodwill within the RSS "for persuading Advani to accept Rajnath" as BJP president. RSS sources are appreciative of Mohan Bhagwat respecting the strong consensus against Gadkari, despite his own preference for the sitting BJP president, for whom the party had amended its Constitution so as to clear the way for a second term. They say that the "younger group" in the RSS favours a policy which focuses on corruption, including within the BJP, and that Rajnath Singh "will be on notice to perform and to avoid scandal". Clearly, Nagpur believes that it is still very much in the game, rather than been pushed to the sidelines by the Gadkari fiasco.

http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/younger-rss-leaders-nixed-gadkari-return

The global caste system endures (PO)

M D Nalapat

Friday, January 25, 2013 - Despite a millenia of rule by outside forces, beginning with the Mughals and ending with the British, the caste system has continued to endure in India, even though there is no genetic foundation to the division of the population into separate caste compartments. Over the millenia, there has been so much intermingling of diverse populations that a fusion has taken place which has the potential to create a genetic pool far more versatile than if there were not such mixing. Ultimately, efforts at separating people on a “vertical” basis, with some seen as “higher” than others, will fail. Far better to accept that society is best analysed in “horizontal” terms, where people are different but essentially equal. Unfortunately, the system of caste exists throughout the globe, where often a group of people see themselves as above the rest, and sometimes resort to the use of force to ensure that this is indeed the reality. In many countries, those following a specific faith or coming from a particular region get preference over the rest, whereas justice mandates that all should be given the same chance at success. Indeed, the more liberal the society, the greater the probability that it will outshine more conservative locations in intellectual advancement and material progress

The “caste system”, in the sense of a defined and mutually exclusive hierarchy, does not relate just to individuals. Globally, there is a caste system as well, where a group of powers consider themselves to have the right to enjoy privileges denied to the rest. Within the United Nations, for example, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council dominate internal processes and procedures. Because three of the five belong to NATO, that organisation has secured a commanding position even in segments of UN operations where it is least fitted to interfere in, such as peacekeeping. NATO’s record (although largely unrecorded) of inflicting civilian casualties through acts of war such as bombings and sanctions makes the organisation one of the most significant human rights violaters on the globe. Of course, because it in effect controls theinternational “human rights” mechanisms, the alliance has ensured zero accountability to itself of actions which has led to the loss of life or to human suffering on a significant scale. Rules are meant for others, and are not to be applied to those making them

There is, transparently, a global caste system that hews to the “vertical” logic of caste, and this is the same grouping which dominates the United Nations. Rather than see itself in a more universal and multi-civilisational way, the US has allowed itself to become the spearpoint of the drive by NATO member-states to continue to have a privileged existence within the internationalcommunity. Even in the 21st century, when it is clear that the world of 1945 has vanished into the dust of history, the institutions set up after the 1939-45 global war continue to be controlled by the powers which took control of the UN then, the US, the UK, France, Russia and China. The latter two have fallen behind, getting active only on occasion. Russia because of its weak economy and diminishing technological edge, and China because it clearly does not belong to the same “civilisational zone” as do France, the US and the UK. Of the three, France has been the beneficiary of Winston Churchill’s love of the country, in view of the fact that the contribution of Paris to the defeat of the Axis powers was minimal, far below that of India, which sent more than two million of its sons to fight in Europe and Africa on behalf of the Allies, and which became a major source of materiel for prosecuting the war. Of course, as India is seen as low down in the global caste ladder, this contribution has been ignored. Amusingly, in the celebrations in France which commemorated the Allied victory over the Axis, it wad as though Charles de Gaulle and his “radio warriors” were responsible for the recapture of France, rather than Allied armies assisted by Moscow’s comprehensive victory over Berlin.

Indeed, the defeat of German troops by soldiers in the Red Army once again illustrated the fact that human society is “horizontal” ie separate but equal. The German forces believed in the myths they were fed by Hitler, that they were intrinsically superior to Russians. It was a mindset which led to appalling cruelty during the 1939-45 war, this time on countries in Europe rather than in other parts of the world, as had been the case during previous centuries. However, from the winter of 1941 and the throwing back of German forces from the gates of Moscow, it became clear that the Russians were, if anything, even better soldiers than the Germans. Much later, in Vietnam, the forces mobilised by Nguyen Ai Quoc, otherwise known as Ho Chi Minh, would demonstrate their resilience when confronted with the US military, which threw more bombloads on that small country than had been tossed into the Axis powers during the 1939-45 war. And yet, despite this and other examples of the way in which human beings achieve superhuman feats if given the right leadership, some powers still seek to continue the system of privilege embodied in the global caste system, where NATO member-states are on top and others lower down.

Because politicians in India have usually focused their attention on making money for themselves and their friends, decision-making has been left to the bureaucracy, which is usually hesitant in challenging the global caste system. Repeatedly, India has denied itself the benefits of technological up gradation made possible by vibrant sectors of scientific achievement. An example is the ASAT system, or the capability of shooting down satellites in space. This capability was demonstrated by China in 2005 and the scientific community in India wanted an ASAT test to be done by India, which would destroy a satellite in space. Because of fear of the reaction that such a bold move would generate within the NATO member-states, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defense Minister A K Antony have been reluctant to order an ASAT test, preferring instead to rely oncomputer simulations, even though these are usually of limited value in perfecting a system. Not just in this, but in many other ways as well, successive governments in India have by their (lack of) action shown their obedience to an international caste hierarchy which puts India on a far lower level than some other states with far lower potential. The global caste system endures, but only because of the reluctance of its victims - India, Brazil, Indonesia (to name a few) to challenge it.

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=193104

The prophet of enlightened liberalism (Organiser)

MD Nalapat, 19 January 2013 edition

SWAMI Vivekananda made an extraordinary impression across the world, and this would not have been possible but for the way in which he was assisted by women and men from different countries and of varied faiths. In the US,in particular, several idealistic ladies ensured that the Swami was provided with both the repose as well as the logistics to enable him to spread his message of Enlightened Liberalism. 

Very few of such assistants adopted the faith into which Swami Vivekananda was born into,almost all remained true to the faiths of their ancestors. And this did not matter in the least to Swami Vivekananda,who was clear in standing by Sanatan Dharma,the central tenet of which is that there may be multiple paths,but the objective of Faith was the same. To bring a human being closer to that supreme Divine Force expressed so eloquently in the Gayatri Mantra,as well as in the Bible and the Quran. Since the rapid metastisis of Wahabbism across the globe that began in the 1980s, psuedo-theologians have souht to differentiate people adopting different faiths from each other. There is,for example,a considerable body of opinion which separates “the faiths of the Book” with the rest.Thus,while Christianity and Islam are classified as “religions of the Book”, faiths such as Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism are not.

All the great faiths of humankind - Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, to name a few - have as their central tenet the invisible presence of the Supreme Being,the Almighty. In the case of Hinduism,this single force has been separated into different “component divinities”,such as Saraswati for learning or Lakshmi for wealth. 

Rather than spending time on the surface of faith,Vivekananda entered its core,and discovered that as he progressed deeper and deeper in his intellectual quest,the different faiths got subsumed into a common insight related to the universality and omniscience of the Divine. As he said at Chicago in 1893,”We accept all religions as true”,adding that “As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies,various though they appear,crooked or straight,all lead to Thee (the Supreme Being”. 

We are all children of the Almighty,no matter that we be called Hindus or Muslims or Christians,being born from the same immutable anfd unconquerable force which created all.

Given the incontestable fact of this common origin,it is clear that those seeking to divide humanity on the basis of superficial attributes of faith are guilty of disobedience to the unifying tendency of the Supreme Being,and that in an afterlife,they will - to their surprise and sorrow - find themselves not within the gates of Paradise but inside the eternal prison of Hell. As Vivekananda pointed out in that same Chicago speech,”Sectarianism,bigotry,and its horrible descendant fanaticism have long possessed this beautiful earth”. He hoped that “this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism,of all persecutions”. Would that the world had listened to the words of the Swami.Had it done so,the horros of slavery,of colonialism and the two World Wars of the first half of the last century could have been avoided 

Swami Vivekananda saw,in the words of Albert Schweitzer in Lambarene Lepers Colony,that “all men are brothers”. He was eloquent multiple times about the baleful effects of the caste system as it was practiced in his time,calling Kerala for example “a madhouse” of caste. Indeed there are different strengths and chemistries within human beings,but these come not from nature but from nurture,not from birth but by breeding. 

To Swami Vivekananda,the ideal society was one where every participant reached the exalted state of the Brahmana.In his own words,”from caste,we reach to the point where there is no caste”.In other words,a return to basics, to the society which saw what in Swami Vivekananda’s time a “backward” caste write the immortal epic of Valmiki Ramayana, and where a Yadava,Lord Krishna,became the foremost exponent of Dharma and an example to all.

This writer is firm in the belief that Rama and Sita, Lakshmana and Krishna,are not “myths” as the colonial masters of India classified them to be,but actually “walked the earth in flesh and blood” (in Einstein’s words on Mahatma Gandhi). The Greeks are proud of Homer’s epics and of Alexander,as the Italians are of Julius Caeser. Why then are the epics of the past in India not part of the curricula in schools across the country? The Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita belong to the whole of India,to all the people of this wondrous country,and not just to those of a single faith,the way they became relegated during the time of the British and its replacement with Nehruism after 1947.

However,if this essentially Indian character of epics and the heroes celebrated in them is to be accepted,there is a need for those who claim to be the Swami’s followers to understand that it goes against the core of belief in the principles enunciated by him to divide the country into Hindu,Muslim,Sikh or Christian. 

Each of us shares her or his origin in the paternity of a common Supreme Being,just as each of us shares the literary and historical treasures of the past. It is a measure of how little basic change there has been that to this day,the bulk of textbooks in school and college follow the currcula created by colonial rulers to 

(a) deny the people of Indsia the pride natural in people belonging to one of the oldest continuing civilisations in the world and 

(b) ensure that society remain fractured and dysfunctional rather than united in national spirit and resurgence. It is a grotesque travesty of his teachings that Vivekananda is being characterised by some as “Hindu” rather than “Indian” (or, more accurately,as a World Citizen) and therefore his words are ignored as “coming from an alien faith”. Swami Vivekanda’s teachings are of relevance to those going to mosques,churches or temples,as even a cursory understanding of his thoughts would prove
Illiberalism is in the air.

Those claiming to be wise ask the women of India to either hide themselves at home (the way they do in Taliban-controlled territories) or to wear dresses which conceal all except a bit of their physical selves. In a democracy,women have the right to wear what they please,and to get the protection of the state while exercising this discretion. 

Swami Vivekanada would be distressed to find that many parts of India still manifest vigorous attributes of caste,community and region,so strong that it divides the people. Women in particular are the targets of the clones of the Taliban who daily lecture them on dress and deportment. Swami Vivekananda celebrated lands were the women were free and independent,and by implication came down hard on locations which sought to curtain their energies and their freedoms. The Swami was caustic about the numerous ways in which society got divided,seeing with his sagacious mind the reality of the unity of humankind. A liberal India is the best testament to Swami Vivekananda. 150 years later,the fact that this goal is still distant is testimony to the failure of our society to follow the teachings of this grat sage.

http://organiser.org//Encyc/2013/1/19/The-prophet-of-enlightened-liberalism.aspx?NB=&lang=3&m1=&m2=&p1=&p2=&p3=&p4=

The world can do without EU’s policy mistakes (Sunday Guardian)

ROOTS OF POWER MADHAV NALAPAT www.sunday-guardian.com/profile/madhav-nalapat

Damaged cars at the site where two explosions rocked the University of Aleppo in Syria on Tuesday. At least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded. REUTERS hese days, the unravelling of the Eurozone is showing up the quality of decision-making by the bureaucracies proliferating in Europe. Rather than serve as an exemplar of liberalism and freedom, the EU has made itself a closed shop, as unwelcoming, for example, to those from Asia as it is insistent that Asia should open its doors to Europe without restraint. Incidents such as a Roma girl drowning in plain sight of hundreds of holidaymakers at an Italian beach, who either laughed at the girl's fate or ignored the sight of a human life getting snuffed out in plain view of hundreds, any one of whom could have entered into the waves to save her. Policies such as seeking to block production of cheap generic drugs in India, although these are the only hope of life for tens of millions of the critically ill across the globe. A visa regime and local costs which together make a European destination a suitable conference venue only for the very rich elsewhere. It is paradoxical that Germany, for example, is among the EU member-states most insistent on shutting out people and products from duskier parts of the world, but which now depends on precisely those locations to sell its manufactures to. Companies in the GCC, East Asia or in India that have experimented with expat managers from within the EU very quickly realise that these birds of passage strive to maximise purchases from the grouping rather than from locations that offer a far better cost-benefit calculus. Even in India, we have seen the way in which the Tatas and the Mittals rushed to purchase steel companies in Europe that have bled them of cash ever since. They can have the solace of knowing that they are in the company of several hundreds — if not thousands — of investors from the GCC and East Asia, all of whom have lost huge amounts of money in Europe, when they would have been better advised to direct their investments towards South America, Africa and of course Asia. { Given that most Syrians, all of whom know what Libya has become, support Bashar Assad over the chaos they believe will follow him, it is likely that the destruction of Syria will continue, because the coalition wants to see this Alawite dynasty destroyed. However, despite the way in which it continues to be indulged, forgiven and coddled by the rest of the world, the EU has been making policy mistakes that are grave enough to severely damage their security. An example is the intervention in Libya, where Nicolas Sarkozy was swiftly joined by David Cameron and Hillary Clinton in their crusade to fulfil the anti-Gaddafi ambitions of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Reducing Libya to a chaotic jumble of principalities, each in effect run by a local warlord, has released vast stores of weaponry to be used by extremist groups in the region. Although docile media claims that it is "Gaddafi men" who are behind the acceleration in the Mali jihad, the reality is that most of the advanced weapons being used by the fighters there are from stocks handed over to those battling Gaddafi loyalists in 2011. The secret services of several regional allies of the EU and the US are honeycombed with sympathisers of extremism, and these have proved dexterous in ensuring that weapons, cash and training given by NATO to fight Gaddafi mostly ended up in the hands of those whose view of the West is similar to that of Ayman Al Zawahiri. Except to NATO planners, it was clear that the promiscuous way in which weapons and cash were handed out in Libya would soon create a security nightmare for the region. It has. And now Syria. Once again, faceless individuals promoted by a clutch of regional secret services are being given the means needed to blast and bomb their way to success. Given that most Syrians, all of whom know what Libya has become, support Bashar Assad over the chaos they believe will follow him, it is likely that the destruction of Syria will continue, because of a coalition determined to see this Alawite dynasty destroyed. "Victory" in Libya has within a year spawned Mali and Algeria. A similar "success" in Libya is likely to be soon followed by uncontrollable violence within that oasis of tranquillity, the GCC. http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/the-world-can-do-without-eus-policy-mistakes

Army Anger forced PM to harden his stance (Sunday Guardian)

MADHAV NALAPAT  NEW DELHI | 19th Jan 2013

Given the anger within the military at the perceived soft line of Manmohan Singh towards Pakistan, senior officials say that it is unlikely that the PM will "operationalise his agenda of offering major concessions to Pakistan in order to seek to change th nger within the military, specifically the Army, forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to replace his conciliatory line on Pakistan with a more hard-line stance, warning Islamabad that the recent beheading of an Army jawan has made "business as usual" impossible. According to a high-level source within the government, "The PM was directly told by Army chief General Bikram Singh that the mood of his men was ugly, and that they needed to know that the government felt the same way." Intelligence reports say, that comment about the PM in military messes across the country "now verges on the scatological", and that "the overwhelming perception of the men in uniform is that the PM would make any compromise" to secure peace with Pakistan. Other soundings reveal that "there has been considerable forward movement on plans to demilitarise (i.e. withdraw) from Siachen, and to accept the Pakistani contention that the international boundary in Sir Creek ought to be on the Indian side", rather than in the middle of the waterway. Although the present Army chief faced a whispering campaign at the time of his elevation, with unnamed sources claiming that the spouses of his two children "had Pakistani roots and connections", a senior official clarified that this report was investigated thoroughly, "and the General was given a clean chit". He said that the Intelligence Bureau had cleared General Singh well before his elevation as Chief of Army Staff (COAS), "after meticulously sifting through the available evidence". What is clear is that the COAS has from the start adopted a hard-line stand on both AFPSA and Siachen, underlining the military view that retaining both "was vital to the national interest and to India's security", in the words of a senior officer. The visit by Gen Bikram Singh to the villages of the martyrs has gone down well with the troops, as have his forthright comments on the need for a "robust response" to Pakistani incursions. Army sources are angry at the rumours — "deliberately spread by those seeking to get Pakistan off the hook by equating India with its neighbour" — about Indian troops too engaging in acts such as mutilation of bodies. These sources say that "to the Indian jawans, a dead soldier from the other side is no longer an enemy, but someone in uniform who needs to be respected". They point out that even during Kargil, "the bodies of dead Pakistani soldiers were treated with respect and buried in accordance with religious rites". This is "despite the savage mutilation of Lt Saurabh Kalia by Pakistan forces". Incidentally, even during the 1971 Bangladesh War, a Major Paul was subjected to the same barbaric treatment by the Pakistani troops. Army sources were amused at Pervez Musharraf's comment that "why would Pakistan forces return (mutilated) bodies" if they had committed such acts, pointing out that returning such bodies "has been a standard part of the psywar arsenal of Pakistan forces against India". Given the anger within the military at the perceived soft line of Manmohan Singh towards Pakistan, senior officials say that it is unlikely that the PM will "operationalise his agenda of offering major concessions to Pakistan in order to seek to change the hearts and minds of the establishment there". The military has anyway been dismissive of such measures, pointing out that the Pakistan Army remains immune to any gesture of peace with India short of a handover of Kashmir. Officials say that the PM "has quietly been placing officials friendly to his views in key slots", such as at External Affairs, Home and Defence, "but that the public mood now makes such Gujral-style diplomacy unlikely, if not impossible". By its wanton act of beheading a soldier, the Pakistan Army may have lost its best chance of getting India out of Siachen. http://www.sunday-guardian.com/investigation/army-anger-forced-pm-to-harden-his-stance