EDITORIAL : THE HINDU, INDIA

Pawar strikes a blow

The relationship between the Congress and its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has reached a new low with Sharad Pawar threatening to quit the UPA government and provide only “outside support” if his party’s demands are not met. The NCP is part of the coalition government in Maharashtra and the threat, if effected, could have serious implications in the State. In a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the NCP has complained about policy issues and the fact that it is kept out of decision making. It has accused the Congress of one party rule and not functioning like a coalition. Mr. Pawar seems to have been goaded into action by the impending Cabinet reshuffle, the organisational changes in the Congress, where Rahul Gandhi is slated to play a more powerful role, and by the possibility of his one- time protégé Sushilkumar Shinde getting a key position. There are issues over decision-making within the United Progressive Alliance, and in Maharashtra there is antipathy to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s functioning. In a bid to restore the tattered image of the State government, the Maharashtra CM has been scrupulous, much to the dismay of the builder and contractor lobby. The rumbling about lack of decision-making in the government is largely coming from this section. Mr. Chavan has also done his bit to antagonise his coalition ally by putting the NCP-controlled Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank under administrators and insisting on a white paper from the NCP-headed irrigation department, among other things.

Today, the Congress and the NCP look more like sparring partners, not allies, and it is no wonder that they decided to go it alone in the Maharashtra local bodies’ polls. The NCP came up trumps, outsmarting the Congress in some municipal corporations by tying up with right-wing parties. There is speculation that the party will junk the Congress and go with new allies in 2014, but that remains to be seen. Mr. Pawar enjoys a good rapport with Ms Gandhi and the Prime Minister. It is unlikely that they will react unreasonably to his demands — assuming, of course, that his demands are reasonable. But the Congress also has to keep in mind that the NCP is not its only coalition partner and that the UPA has within its fold larger and trickier allies. The quality of the Congress’s mercy may be tempered by these considerations. Mr. Pawar, a man with prime ministerial ambitions, may be miffed at not getting his due in the Union government and the lack of discussion in key areas like agriculture, food security, irrigation and exports. But he is also adept at negotiating a good bargain. The Congress which is fighting its allies on all fronts, can no longer afford to take the NCP’s demands lightly.

Syrians betrayed

The killing of 200 people in the village of Tremseh has confirmed the depth of the Syrian crisis and the dangers it poses for the region; it has also exposed major problems for international institutions. In Tremseh, one of the bloodiest episodes since the uprising started in 2011 occurred on July 12 when, according to United Nations observers, heavily armed government forces targeted rebels and defectors. A week later, a suicide bomber killed defence minister Daoud Rajha, his deputy Assef Shawkat, who was also President Bashar al-Assad’s brother-in-law, and former defence minister Hassan Turkomani; a fourth victim, national security chief Hisham Ikhtiar, died later from his injuries. That the attack took place at the National Security Bureau in Damascus is a huge blow to the Ba’ath regime. Fighting continues in Damascus, and thousands of civilians have already tried to take shelter in a Palestinian refugee camp at Yarmouk, a southern district of the city. In a further key development, Russia and China have for the third time vetoed a Syria-related U.N. Security Council resolution, with Russia rejecting sanctions and military intervention; Moscow also accuses the western powers of blackmailing it with threats to block the renewal of the U.N. Supervision Mission unless it collaborates over Syria.

The violence there, which has claimed 17,000 lives so far, is itself terrible, but the inability of the international community to reach any kind of agreement means the crisis will almost certainly escalate even further. That Mr. Assad is in deepening trouble is not in doubt. Senior-level defections from his regime are becoming more frequent, and the rebels now hold five border crossings, four to Iraq and one to Turkey. Nevertheless the prospects for post-Assad stability do not look bright. The United States, in the person of its U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, says it will work outside the Security Council to put pressure on the regime; this is ominously reminiscent of the prelude to the illegal Iraq invasion in 2003. Second, there is increasing evidence of tension among the rebels resulting from the increasing involvement of extreme Islamists sponsored by West Asian Sunni-majority states, which have also provided sophisticated weapons of western manufacture. None of the external players is showing any motivation beyond self-interest. If Russia and China are concerned about the fate of the Assad regime, the U.S. and its allies are not willing to draft a balanced resolution that pushes regime opponents towards talks. Unless the big powers give up their games, Syrian civilians will continue dying by the thousand.