Experts say India, Pak cannot bicker
QIANGDAO: The internal power dynamics of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will ensure that new members India and Pakistan aren’t allowed to bring their bilateral problems to the grouping and disrupt its functioning, leading Chinese experts said on Friday.
With two giants, China and Russia, at the helm, the eight-member SCO will not be become “dysfunctional” like the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), where India is by far the dominant partner, the experts said. “Saarc was not very successful because India was the dominant partner as the biggest power in the region. But India and Pakistan in SCO will be different. The power dynamics are different. India will not be the dominant partner and Pakistan will be in a more equal position,” said Lu Yang, a leading South Asian scholar at Tsinghua University.
The SCO charter encourages member states to settle disputes, said Zhang Henglong, vice-director of Shanghai-based Public Diplomacy Institute of the SCO.
“The SCO charter, signed on June 7, 2002, is the fundamental organisational principle of SCO. The charter states that there will be ‘mutual respect of sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity of states and inviolability of state borders, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, non-use of force or threat of its use in international relations, seeking no unilateral military superiority in adjacent areas’ and ‘peaceful settlement of disputes between the member States’,” Henglong said. “These principles can help resolve conflicts in the SCO framework.”
Due to the complexity of security relations between members after India and Pakistan joined SCO last year, it will take some time for the bloc to find an adapted format to promote security cooperation. But SCO provides chances for India and Pakistan to engage with each other. “It will be helpful and beneficial to improving mutual trust,” Lu said. NEW DELHI: Taking cognisance of the difficulties faced by visitors at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, and their alleged harassment by Sevaks there, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered setting up of a committee by the state government for the proper management of the pilgrim centre.
Temples are centres of religious, social and architectural importance, a bench of justices AK Goel and Ashok Bhushan said. It directed that important shrines such as Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir, Somnath temple in Gujarat, Golden Temple in Punjab, Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh and Dharamsthala temple in Karnataka should be studied and reforms be adopted for the managment of Jagannath Temple.
“There is no doubt that proper management of pilgrim centres is a matter of public interest,” a bench of justices AK Goel and Ashok Bhushan said, while taking note of the alleged mismanagement at the popular Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha.
The bench also passed a slew of directions to prevent such malpractices, ahead of next month’s Rath Yatra. The bench asked senior advocate Gopal Subramanium to be the amicus curiae and assist the court in the matter.
The order came on a PIL filed by Mrinalini Padhi, highlighting the difficulties faced by devotees at Jagannath Temple. Although the petition did not mention the incident related to the disappearance of keys of Ratna Bhadar where the valuables of the shrine are stored, the petitoner’s lawyer mentioned it orally before the court.
“It is of prime importance that all the visitors have hassle-free visits and the offerings made are utilised for righteous objects and not misappropriated in any manner by the staff/sevaks,” the judges said seeking a response from the Centre and state on the temple’s management committee.
“The issue of hygiene and encroachment also need to be considered. Exploitative practices have to be timely stopped,” directed the bench. It also asked the administrator to review the arrangement of CCTV cameras and said video footage should be viewed by an independent panel.