US court's landmark verdict on Guantanamo Bay prisoners' rights

The US Supreme Court's verdict on the rights of prisoners illegally held in the Guantanamo Bay military prison on the shore of Cuba, has again strengthened the faith of citizens in the institution of judiciary not just in America but across the world.

Undaunted by the 'War on Terror' hysteria, the judges upheld the highest standards of justice when they held that the detainees held in this jail have the right to challenge their imprisonment before a judge in civilian courts in the United States. The ruling is considered a major setback for the George Bush administration.

"The laws and constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times", said Justice Anthony M Kennedy, in the 5-4 ruling that showed a divide among the judges over treatment to the prisoners.

In the judgment Kennedy further wrote that, "To hold that the political branches may switch the constitution on or off at will would lead to a regime in which they, not this court, say what the law is." With this historic ruling which gives prisoners the right to habeas corpus and thus allowing them to challenge their detention in court, the Guantanamo Bay prison now faces closure.

Across the world, the treatment of prisoners by the US military in Guantanamo Bay has come for sharp criticism. The unlawful jail has been termed a legal blackhole. For almost six years the foreign suspects have been lodged in this detention camp.

Of the 600 detainees who were lodged in this jail at one point of time, not more than two dozen, were linked to Al Qaeda, said a New York Times report, which exposed the hollowness of the Bush administration's claims. Many prisoners including children lodged in the jail were released without framing charges.

Now there could be a flood of petitions from the 270-odd prisoners who are lodged at Camp Delta. And with the prisoners in the jail enjoying the same rights as any other American citizen, the government no longer has a reason to keep these prisoners at the Naval Base.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain has criticised the judgment and right-wing politicians & columnists are finding faults with the verdict but this is one of the such path-breaking rulings that will make American citizens proud in years to come.

Can a country claim to be torch-bearer of freedom and liberty when it completely disregards the rights of a suspect for fair trial? Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have come down heavily on USA for refusing to apply the Geneva convention to suspects.

The UN Panel had sharply criticised US for the indefinite detention and violation of UN convention against Torture. The European Parliament had voted for closure of this camp. Now the Supreme Court decision makes it further difficult for the government to run this jail. This is the third successive rebuke to Bush administration from the courts on the same issue.

[Photo: Justice Anthony M Kennedy]

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How Hindustan Times (HT) lost it to Times of India (TOI) in terms of strategy and planning

Just a couple of years back Hindustan Times was the sole English newspaper in Jaipur, as Times of India had shut its shop in the City then. It was time, HT could have strengthened its edition and capitalised on TOI's exit but it chose to follow its competitor and shut the edition.

But after HT left the market, TOI again returned to Jaipur and launched a full-fledged edition. Soon DNA also followed suit. Now this important City in North India has two newspapers increasing their position with every passing day.

And HT that should have been the market leader had it stayed, is simply non-existent and nowhere in the race. Even if Jaipur was not bringing much revenue to HT's coffers, at least the organisation had a paper in Rajasthan, an entire state of nearly 50 million people. But they chose otherwise.

That's the story of HT. It's strategy has been perplexing in the last decade or so. Except the launch of Mumbai edition, it seems to have played in the hands of TOI and keeps playing second fiddle to the Times. It was in the early 90s that Times had suddenly started growing fast and gave HT management sleepless nights.

However, HT opened new editions and stabilised over the years. But the last couple of years it appears to be digging its own grave. Patna, one of the strongest editions of the paper, is in a bad state as the entire editing desk, left the paper due to poor salaries.

Surprisingly, Times that had given management greater authority in the past, has lately strengthened its editorial once again but HT is losing out on both counts. Editorial staff is deserting due to poor salaries and management is unable to take corrective steps.

The Kolkata edition is a failure. In Lucknow, it's not doing good at all. Bhopal and Ranchi are doing well though. Even the staff in Chandigarh where it is the market leader, is complaining. Earlier, HT shut Raipur and Nagpur editions. And now Times that reached there later, is well established in Nagpur.

Its strategy always remains behind Times. For example when TOI left Jaipur, HT management thought that Times is smarter and if they have left the place it means that there is no market for an English paper in the town, and it also closed its office a bit later. But Times had other plans.

HT seems losing because it has been following TOI and believes that the latter is the true market leader. TOI keeps growing because of HT's failure and lack of any other national paper.

In fact, HT's management has proved a big failure and it has suffered losses repeatedly but fails to learn. With DNA starting its editions from more Cities, it seems that TOI will get a competitor that is strong not just editorially but also in terms of marketing strategy.

Photos: Shobhana Bhartia [HT] (on top) and Samir Jain (TOI)

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