Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 30 July 2018 | Page 9

EXERCISE YOUR VOTING RITES
T
HE BJP’s formidable
campaign machinery is
well known, but the party’s
Chhattisgarh wing is said to
be reposing its faith in ano­
ther pillar. A pillar painted
in vermilion and bedecked
in necklaces of odd metal
objects, including a bronze
idol. A puja was allegedly
performed to ensure that the
party would secure a fourth
consecutive term in power in
the state assembly elections
scheduled for the end of the
year. All eyes were on the
priest, one Ramlal Kashyap,
who is also a regional BJP
leader and reportedly a regu­
lar visitor to the assembly.
THE GROUNDED PROFESSOR
N
EPAL may be a monarchy no longer, but
democracy has not wiped out royal fick­
leness. ­Nepal Sanskrit University’s vice chan­
cellor, Kul Prasad Koirala, was to fly to Canada
as leader of a delegation to the World Sanskrit
Conference. But at the airport, police told him
that prime minister K.P. Oli wanted to see him,
and took him to the PM’s residence. He waited
before being told that Oli would see him the
next day. Koir­ala claims this was a ploy to make
him miss his flight, and the event has drawn
rancour, while the home minister avers that
Koirala had not been authorised to travel.
DECLARATION OF ASSETS
G
LASNOST in Paki­
stan seems to entail
dusting off a hidden wife
and presenting her to the
public. As the general elec­
tions approach (peruse
our cover story for more),
many politicians—top
leaders included—are tak­
ing transparency to a new
level in their nomination
papers by revealing second
marriages hitherto kept
under wraps. The (now)
proud husbands include
former Punjab chief min­
ister Shehbaz Sharif and
his son Hamza Shehbaz,
former opposition leader
in the National Assembly
Syed Khurshid Shah and
former railway minister
Khawaja Saad Rafique.
The latter was among the
first to disclose the infor­
mation after being put in
a ‘tough spot’ during the
election’ scrutiny process.
Duterte Deterrence
S
RI Lanka has decided to tackle a growing drugs menace
by awarding the death penalty to traffickers, somewhat
emulating Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
The government’s decision to bring back capital punishment
has raised eyebrows in some quarters. But by and large, it
has been welcomed by Sri Lankans, as drug-related crimes
and murders had been on the rise over the past months.
“Sri Lanka seems to be a very unsafe country at present
given that killings are taking place rampantly,” says a rep­ort
in Daily Mirror, a Sri Lankan daily, referring to a spate of
drug-related killings in the country.
According to the report, President Maithripala Sirisena has
instructed prisons reforms minister Thalatha Athukorale to
prepare a draft bill to implement the death penalty.
The decision already has the cabinet’s support, and
according to other reports it has also been approved by the
Buddhist priests of the highly
influential Maha Sangha.
Executing
The drugs trade in Sri Lanka has
drug dealers
a long history, but no previous
may flout
government took any signifi­
Buddhist
cant steps to combat it. “We
ideals, but
have from time to time heard
of powerful ministers having a
“right-thinking
hand in this illegal trade. Given
people” are
this past, it’s commendable that
losing their
this unity government has been
patience,
bold to slap drug dealers with the
according to
death p
­ enalty in the near future,”
Daily Mirror.
observes the Mirror.
It points out that drugs, the
underworld and contract killings are interwoven. The minis­
terial hands in this equation made eradicating this culture
impossible. But now, there is a growing opinion on the island
that the death penalty should also be awarded to rapists and
those who indulge in domestic violence that result in deaths.
Clearly exasperated with the rising number of killings, the
paper editorialises that, “Sri Lanka harps on being a Buddhist
country. But all these unsavoury incidents make the outside
world think whether the island’s citizens have understood
the fundamentals of Buddhism..” It also raised concerns
about whether all the high priests of the Buddhist clergy
would approve the government’s decision.
The Mirror declares that while the Buddhist clergy in Sri
Lanka have a huge say in implementing such a law, which in
a way goes against the Buddha’s teachings and the practice
of ahimsa, the patience of “right-thinking people of this
country” is running thin.
The newspaper goes on to remind us that many people,
concerned about their children’s safety in the wake of the
killings, are likely to say yes to the death penalty.
30 July 2018 OUTLOOK 9