Raashid Wali Janjua

“Each year he grows more restless, the salt flows through his veins/ But the depths are for the young, not the old with many pains.” – Soul of a Submariner by John Chaffey,The above couplet sums up the self-immolating temerity of those silent prowlers who risk death and discomfort by moving intrepidly across the ocean currents in the stygian gloom of sea depths. Life under the sea is not for the fainthearted; it takes a special breed to come up to the verity of John Chaffey’s poetic tribute to the submariners. Life in a submarine is tough and risky. It conjures a scene from Titanic when the band plays, “Nearer my God to Thee” before sinking – a far cry indeed from the happy utopia depicted in a famous song sung by the Beatles, ‘Yellow submarine’.

For a country like Pakistan – which is faced with the threat of a much larger and aggressive Indian navy – submarines are the ultimate levellers. The fear of submarines can induce circumspection and a little humility in Indian military planners that set great store through a blue water navy bristling with arms to browbeat smaller regional navies in a quest for the dominance of the Indian Ocean.

The Tench-class fast-attack diesel electric submarine called Ghazi by the Pakistan Navy was leased to Pakistan in 1963 and was the only submarine that was held by any navy during the 1965 war. The result of Ghazi’s aggressive deployment was the bottling up of the Indian fleet that did not dare to sail out of its harbour, deciding to sit out the war due to fear. S N Kohli, the Indian deputy naval chief, writes in ‘We Dared’ about the infuriation and shame of the Indian sailors who felt belittled by the timidity of their high command.

The memory of such pusillanimity rankled with the Indian military planners who set about raising the stock of their navy during the inter-war years. The upshot of the 1965 humiliation was the comprehensive modernisation and development of the Indian navy that effectively tripled its size by 1971. The Indian naval build-up in the shape of four submarines and eight OSAs, a class missile boats, was not matched by Pakistan where a phasing out plan of the WWII vintage surface fleet was under progress.

The 1971 war that was mostly fought in the eastern half of the country saw a daring action by the Pakistan Navy that was outmatched on the surface by the Indian Navy. In order to keep the Indian fleet confined to its coast, the Pakistan Navy deployed three submarines on nodal points along the Indian Western coast.

The Daphne-class submarine Hangor prowled the sea along the coast opposite Bombay. It came across a mouth-watering opportunity to sink the Indian fleet, which was moving out of Bombay on the night between December 3/4. But it restrained itself due to the rules of engagement given by the Pakistan Naval Headquarters to not attack any warship unless it attacked first. However, in subsequent duels, when permission was granted, Hangor sunk an Indian anti-submarine frigate INS Khukri off the coast of Kathiawar on December 9. Hangor defied Indian attempts to destroy it through 150 depth charges and remained instrumental in bottling up the Indian fleet.

The Pakistan Navy – in order to hunt Vikrant and also relieve pressure on depleted naval resources in the eastern theatre – decided to send the only submarine with pluck and range to accomplish the arduous mission: the redoubtable veteran of 1965, ie the Ghazi.

In the eastern theatre, the Indians had a decisive superiority with a Task Force comprising aircraft-carrier Vikrant, two frigates, a destroyer, a submarine and a few patrol vessels. Pakistan just had four gunboats and few small riverine crafts. Some war historians also report that Indians had hidden the INS Vikrant, their much-vaunted aircraft carrier, in the backwaters of the Andaman Sea as they feared Pakistani submarines.

PNS Ghazi, under the command of Commander Zafar, embarked upon its daring and hazardous 2,000 miles trek from Karachi to the eastern theatre on November 14, 1971. It bypassed Vishakapatnam, the Indian Navy’s eastern base on the scent of the Vikrant like a bloodhound. As Vikrant had moved far ahead to hide in the Andaman Sea, the submarine couldn’t locate its intended prey. It turned back and came towards the Vishakapatnam Port for the second part of its mission to lay mines in the narrow approach to the harbour. The intention was to bottle up Indian heavy naval concentration in its strategic eastern port base. The submarine successfully laid mines during the day in a linear fashion.

When the Ghazi returned during the night to complete its remaining task, most probably due to the obstreperous post-monsoon heavy tides. As the musical whir of the diesel engines and the sweet purr of electronic gadgets created an auditory sensation akin to a lullaby, the intrepid crew of the Ghazi prepared to lay the second string of mines.

The dangerously aggressive gambit tempted fate as the submarine accidentally struck one of its earlier laid mines. A deafening crescendo of sound heralded the martyrdom of brave souls as the Ghazi went up in a blaze of glory, striking terror in the hearts of Indian sailors at Vishakapatnam. It was a classic act of self-immolation by a daring crew that had defied Indian surveillance and sea hazards on one of the most hazardous and daring war patrols in naval history.

The Ghazi saga reminds us what a single daring submarine can achieve – a fact we can ignore at our own peril while according due diligence to our naval development.

Farooq Alay

It is preposterous to believe that after abrogating Article 370 and 35A in Kashmir, Muslim, Christian and Dalit genocide in India, NRC and CAA and controversial triple talaq reforms, now BJP is destroying farmers of India. According to Farms Act 2020, farmers can sell their produce to whoever they want, whenever they want. How can a small farmer store his produce for months on end? He will not have access to storage facilities.

Despite depending on agrarian development and farm heartlands, the situation of farmers both in Pakistan and India is not good. Recently, agitating farmers mainly from Punjab were maltreated by the provincial administration. However, by and large the Pakistani farmers are enjoying no mentionable hurdles towards growing crops, income on the produce and taxes thereof. But the condition of farmers in the neighboring country, India, is highly miserable, which seems the part of BJP’s anti-farmer agenda.

The farmers in India are facing frequent droughts, that too in the debt-driven lands. They think that the fascist government of Modi is taking India towards capitalism, by making the farmers slaves of the capitalists. This is the reason that their protests and agitations have spread all over India after the tabling of two controversial bills, which if passed may prove to be a death warrant for farmers. Indian media calls Maharashtra as a farmers’ suicide belt while Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa have been totally devastated. “Even after 73 years of independence our farmer who is toiling to feed our nation, he himself is hungry, deprived and distressed. Unseasonal rains, droughts, and floods, still ails Indian agriculture. The farmer has reached the brink of despair, and what they are experiencing is something which is beyond an agrarian crisis”.

The fact is the agriculture sector in India contributes nearly 15 percent of its $2.9 trillion economy, but it employs about half of the country’s 1.3 billion people only. On September 27, 2020, the Indian president, Ramnath Kovind gave his assessment on three noxious agriculture acts: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. Farmers are mainly concerned that this will eventually lead to the end of wholesale markets and assured prices, leaving them with no back-up option. That is, if they are not satisfied with the price offered by a private buyer, they cannot return to the mandi or use it as a bargaining chip during negotiations.

As a result, it is very likely that the produce will be sold at a rate which is unsustainable for the farmer. The Acts further state that farmers can come into an agreement with private companies. The Acts further state that farmers can come into an agreement with private companies. Such deals are financially attractive but because there are so many terms and conditions attached, it is difficult for a farmer to cope with them. They become the slave of the company. The agriculture sector contributes nearly 15 percent of India’s $2.9 trillion economy but employs about half of the country’s 1.3 billion people is being ignore by Modi. Rather BJP hoodlums are calling them Khalistan proxies.

The man called Narendra Modi who had won the elections on a promise of doubling farm income has left farmers at the mercy of big corporations as he is making them the slaves of the capitalists. It is widely believed and the farmers fear that the three deadly farmer acts will only push the farmers from one set of middlemen to another set of middlemen. It is not a solution for agriculture as promised. Therefore, the Farm Act 2020 is a death warrant for small and marginalized farmers, which is aimed at destroying them by handing over agriculture and market to the big corporates.

The new a controversial Farm Acts are unlikely to be a panacea for Indian farmers’ plights. The ruling BJP’s goal, in essence, is therefore to allow greater play of market forces in agriculture. Modi’s government has designed Farm Acts 2020 not for the farmers but for the investors. It has obviously not done enough to ensure that farmers’ interests are not sacrificed. Farmers actually need protection of their interests in the form of regulations. Rather BJP goons are calling them protesters for Khalistan.

The farmers’ agitation over the new Farm Acts is yet another conflict and protest against unilateral law of the Modi’s government. This time the farmers from Punjab and Haryana states are joining the protests and are heading towards Delhi. If this proves to be a success, Modi government will obviously be in deep waters. These protests have called the attention of world leaders, who are strongly criticizing India, though the Indian foreign ministry took notice of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments calling it “unwarranted, especially when pertaining to internal affairs of a democratic country”.

The Modi government dismisses the agitating farmers’ fears saying these are misplaced. His government blames the opposition parties for spreading false rumours regarding the fate of farmers under the new laws. “The new agriculture laws have been brought in for benefit of the farmers. We will see and experience benefits of these new laws in the coming days”, said Modi as his home affairs minister offered to allow the farmers’ entry into the capital city as long as they restrict their agitation to a designated spot. The farmers’ response was: “thanks, but no thanks”.

According to a New York Times report, but the scene at Delhi’s borders, where tens of thousands of farmers and their supporters have been demonstrating at several road junctions, resembled the citizenship protests in spirit: the combative anti-Modi speeches, the growing crowds and the countless volunteers passing out food to keep things going. BBC observes that the farmers’ cause, however, continues to gain support, though the authorities invited them for talks – one round of talks with government ministers on Tuesday failed and a second round was scheduled for Thursday. The farmers have now set up massive camps at several locations and they say they will stay as long as it takes for the authorities to agree to repeal the “black laws”.

(The writer is freelance columnist)