A festering wound in Pakistan

"The conspiracy of silence over Balochistan is finally breaking but the alienation of the province runs too deep for any easy solutions."

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : A festering wound in Pakistan:  Intelligence agencies have viewed the Balochistan with suspicion from the very beginning for their reluctance to join Pakistan. This resulted in four earlier rounds of insurgency but none of them lasted this long. And those resistance movements were not for independence but rights, quite unlike this time. Demand for secession is a bitter pill to swallow for any country, more so for a nation that has been seeking strategic depth in Afghanistan at phenomenal costs to itself to counter the Indian behemoth.

As always, “foreign hands” are being accused of destabilising Balochistan with the aim to Balkanise Pakistan. Rhetoric of ‘foreign hands' has allowed for further militarization of Balochistan and given the military a licence to seal the province and make it a no-go zone where it can abduct, torture, kill and display bodies with impunity, extract Balochistan's resources under the barrel of a gun, use Balochistan territory to conduct nuclear tests. However, the military in Balochistan has not been able to control the spirit of the Baloch people.

Government must link rivers without any delay

The editorial urges the government to take affirmative action based on the Supreme Court decision to interlink rivers.

http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/editorials/government-must-link-rivers-without-any-delay/367607.html

When right to private defence is wrong

"A police claim of self-defence to justify encounter killings must be held to higher standards of proof as the force is armed and trained for combat."

The “encounter” deaths of five persons suspected of having carried out two bank robberies in Chennai has once again focused attention on the practice of extrajudicial killings in Tamil Nadu. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : When right to private defence is wrong

In all cases of encounter deaths, the practice is to claim that the killings were done in self-defence. The right of private defence is available to all, and no distinction is made between the police and layman.

Family members of the deceased or human rights activists who wish to reopen suspected cases of false encounter find it an uphill task to get even a death certificate or post-mortem report and are thwarted at every stage, often facing threats to their life.

Though National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a series of guidelines in 2003, the commission now seems to be condoning such violence.

Awaiting its spring

"Staggeringly corrupt and repressed, Saudi Arabia is ripe for revolution. But reformers are hesitant."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Awaiting its spring: Most of the factors that led to the Arab uprisings are present in Arabia. The Saudi regime holds tens of thousands of political prisoners, most without charge. The scale of corruption is staggering. The expansion in communication tools has deprived the regime of the secrecy and deception on which its legitimacy relied.

Despite the widespread conviction that a change of regime is necessary, reformers remain hesitant about declaring their views, let alone taking action. The level of distrust between activists is so significant, making any collective act of protest difficult.

This does not mean change is impossible. The balance of factors in Arabia is clearly tipping in the direction of change.

Numbers in search of a narrative

"Using voter turnout to predict the outcome of an election is fraught with risks."

Increased voter participation can have many causes. And the voting pattern is as varied as the causes. Unless there is one pre-dominant (and, therefore, easily identifiable) factor in an election, there is no way to analyse how an increased voting percentage will affect the outcome. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Numbers in search of a narrative If the factors are varied, then one factor could counteract another, making any prediction hazardous.

There is no simple co-relation between voter turnout and election outcomes. Without going into the specifics of which section in which area voted in increased numbers, it is pointless to talk about how turnout will impact on the result. The turnout is dependent on voter interest, and this, in many cases, is not any one thing.

No one grand theory will hold; no one methodology is adequate.

Let truth prevail

"The choice of a basement to house the backup power generators that should kick in during an emergency is absurd. If the 9-magnitude earthquake of March 11, 2011 knocked off power supply from the grid, the tsunami that soon followed killed the backup power to the units. "

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Let truth prevail: Japan's regulations are flawed, outdated and below global standards.

Considering the recent admissions by the regulator and the track record of the operator, should the world rely on them to know the truth? Only a thorough investigation by truly impartial and independent scientists can provide the answers. That can happen only if the Fukushima plant is nationalised.

Time to introspect, not celebrate

"For a nation with an enviable record of eight Olympic gold medals, the very fact that it had to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics points to the gross mismanagement of Hockey."

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Time to introspect, not celebrate: Sadly, there is still no end in sight with the two factions - Indian Hockey Federation and Hockey India, fighting to gain control. The International Hockey Federation's efforts to settle the issue have also failed.

The qualitative improvement effected by the new Australian coach, Michael Nobbs, with the full backing of the Sports Ministry, shows that a recovery path can be charted out provided the faction-ridden administration stays focussed on consolidating what little has been gained out of the Olympic qualifier. Such an opportunity may not arise again.