The Hindu : National : We needed a magnanimous approach, says Ramdas

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Thursday, Aug 05, 2004

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We needed a magnanimous approach, says Ramdas

By Kalpana Sharma

L Ramdas

MUMBAI, AUG. 4. For a soldier trained for war to be recognised for his work for peace is unusual in any country. But for an Indian soldier and a Pakistani journalist to be selected for an international peace award is unprecedented.

India's former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral L. Ramdas and the Pakistani journalist and human rights activist, I.A. Rehman, have been jointly selected for this year's Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding. The recognition comes as a consequence of the work done by both in "reaching across a hostile border to nurture a citizen-based consensus for peace between Pakistan and India."

Unofficial peace efforts

Speaking to The Hindu on the phone from Hyderabad, Admiral Ramdas said that although he became actively involved in the unofficial peace efforts between India and Pakistan through the Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) only after he had completed his tenure in the navy, he had thought about these issues even while he was in service. "I felt we needed a magnanimous approach," he said. "Militarily nothing will get solved" between India and Pakistan, he added. As Chief of the Naval Staff from December 1, 1990 to September 30, 1993, he had advocated ship visits between the two countries as also with China. Today, he admits that those suggestions in the early 1990s might have been ahead of their time. The political leadership, he says, was unable to absorb such ideas.

After he retired from service in 1993, Admiral Ramdas was approached by Nirmal Mukherjee, a former Cabinet Secretary, to become part of the people to people peace efforts between India and Pakistan. At a convention in New Delhi in March 1994, the PIPFPD was born. While Admiral Ramdas was president of the forum from 1996 to 2003, his counterpart in Pakistan was his co-awardee, I.A. Rehman. Currently, he is president emeritus of the forum while the former West Bengal Finance Minister, Ashok Mitra, is the president.

`A lonely journey'

Has he had any support from his colleagues in the armed forces for his pro-peace position? "Most of the journey has been a lonely one," admits Admiral Ramdas. "The military mind takes that much longer to accept some of the issues that I'm concerned about."

Admiral Ramdas has been an outspoken critic of India's nuclear programme and was one of the initiators of an appeal for peace issued by over 40 ex-military men in May 1998, after India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests. He is a prominent member of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace and is also on the International Advisory Board of the Hague Appeal for Peace.

While in service, Admiral Ramdas says he insisted on the strictest of punishment to members of the armed forces who committed a civilian crime. "It is utter nonsense to say that holding someone from the armed forces accountable for such crimes will undermine their confidence." On the contrary, he says making someone an example for having committed such a crime will ensure that such crimes do not recur.

The awards ceremony will be held in Manila on August 31. Accompanying Admiral Ramdas will be his wife Lalita Ramdas, who has been equally active in the peace efforts between India and Pakistan. Mrs. Ramdas has a history of activism on women's issues and for human rights. Admiral Ramdas recalls than even when he was in service, she continued her work as an activist.

For instance, she was involved in providing relief to victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and also deposed before the Misra Commission investigating these riots. But, he says, "I always told her to follow her conscience and was confident that even if there was fallout, things would take care of themselves."

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