120 IAF pilots have perished in crashes

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On August 8, while the nation's political top brass and citizens in general were involved in an animated debate on the future of Commonwealth Games 2010, far away from the national capital in India's boondocks, a young pilot was on a routine sortie on his MiG-21 fighter jet. The exercise was designed to make him battle ready. But minutes after take-off, the Indian Air Force (IAF) jet, also known as Bahadur (Brave), met with an accident. The pilot lost control and the aircraft crashed on a paddy field, some 25 km from the town of Tezpur in Assam.

Had this accident taken place in any western country, it would have been a poignant Page One story. But in India, the Tezpur report was buried in the inner pages of the national dailies. The pilot was lucky to survive the accident. But there are many who have perished in such accidents. The September 2009 MiG-21 crash in Punjab's Muktsar district claimed pilot Lt. Manu Akhori who was unable to eject on time. The list of such accidents is getting longer with each passing day.

Some 39 fighter aircraft and choppers of the IAF and the Navy have crashed in the past three years. This comes up to almost a crash a month. The IAF lost 13 qualified pilots in air crashes from 2007 to 2010. Defence minister A. K. Antony told Parliament recently, 'Thirty-nine aircraft including MiG series, Sukhoi aircraft and helicopters have been lost in air crashes during the last three financial years from 2007-08 to August 11 this year.'

Over the past decade, some 290 non-combat accidents have taken place in which 120 rookie and trained pilots of the IAF have died. Most of the casualties have been involved with the Soviet MiG-21 series. That doesn't mean that the highly-rated Jaguars and Sukhoi aircraft are safe. They too have their own victims. The monetary loss from these accidents has been well over Rs 12 billion (US$258 million). Besides, it creates a number problem for the IAF as these expensive aircraft are not available off the shelf.

Antony said that of the fighters that went down, 13 were of the aging MiG-21 series, six of MiG-27 series and two aircraft of the MiG-29 series. The latest Sukhoi 30-MKI was also lost. Moreover, Mi-8 choppers and two of the Mi-17 series choppers have also crashed. The list includes one Jaguar, one Kiran and one MiG-23.

Each IAF aircraft accident is investigated through a court of inquiry and remedial measures are taken to check their recurrence, claimed Antony. Above all, assistance is taken from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), both indigenous and foreign, to overcome the technical defects of the aircraft.

This is not for the first time that such assurances have been delivered. Following frequent crashes in 2003, the then defence minister George Fernandes had held a meeting at the air headquarters in New Delhi and said the government would 'get to the root of the problem'. But even after seven years, the problem continues to persist and these accidents continue to claim lives of young pilots. The Indian public and the families who lost their loved ones in the accidents know nothing about these accidents. Most of the time the defence officials are tight-lipped over this issue in the name of "classified security information". It would be erroneous to say that the government has done nothing. Over the year, numerous meetings have been held and committees formed to looked into the causes of the crashes. Besides, some recommendations have also been made. The most famous of these was the Committee of Fighter Aircraft Accidents in 1997. Former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who was then scientific adviser to the defence minister, headed it.

The committee recommended modernisation of test equipment and better information networking between the ministry and the labs. Besides, it also wanted transfer of design information on critical fighter jet parts. Even after 13 years of the recommendations, the debate rages about how to minimise the number of IAF crashes.

Each new accident brings back attention on the IAF that is under intense pressure to address these accidents. It is faced with uncomfortable questions: Why are these crashes not stopping? What steps has the IAF taken to combat such catastrophes? Why are officers' lives being risked? Is the government serious about the lives of pilots? Till now, the IAF and the government have taken the stand that these accidents are results of human error, technical defects and bird hits. The La Fontaine Committee, that was set up for an in-depth study into the accident pattern and the entire training process, found out a significant correlation between training and accidents. Air Chief Marshal Dennis La Fontaine had found maintenance failure, bird hits and pilot error to be the main causes for these crashes.

Air Marshal A.K. Singh, who retired as Commander in-Chief of the Western Air Command and was also DG, Inspection and Safety, told TSI there was a great difference between military aviation and civil aviation and that things needed to be seen in the right perspective. He said: 'We don't fly to travel and since the aircraft is a highly complex machine, everything cannot be just controlled. Of course the ideal would be no crashes but that can never happen.'

The aging MiG series that constitute the bulk of India's combat fleet have, of course, suffered the most. Out of the 793 single-engined MiG-21s inducted into IAF since 1963, over 330 have been lost in accidents. The problem has been compounded by shoddy maintenance, poor quality control of spares and inadequate training. As for the possible steps to bring the accidents down, Air Chief Marshal S. P. Tyagi calls it a continuous process. He said: 'It requires continuous and focused work for it involves not just keeping the air space clear of birds or maintenance of the aircraft. But it needs an investment into the machine and the man, for the machine needs to be state-of-the-art and the man flying it should be in a high motivation. Hence, it is a continuous process.' However, the families whose children have been killed in these accidents, are worried and want the IAF and the government to act on this issue soon. Of late. the IAF has acquired Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs) and flight simulators that will help lower the MiG-21 accident rate. In 1985 the La Fontaine committee recommended the acquisition of AJT to help reduce pilot error. It was decided in 1986 that 66 AJTs will be bought but it was only incorporated in February 2008 that is after 22 years. Had it come on time, it would have saved many lives and around 200 aircraft that got lost in accidents. Now AJT will help make the transition from subsonic to supersonic smooth. Also, pilots will acquire all the requisite skill and training for safety purpose. Now, pilots graduate straight to supersonic fighter jets from subsonic Kiran trainers.

A senior IAF officer, on the condition of anonymity, said the rate of accident has come down not because of the changes made in the system but for modernisation and changes in certain tactics. Earlier, pilots used to fly at low levels, giving them minimum time to bail out in case of any untoward incident. However, now they have been instructed to go for high-level flying to avoid accidents. Besides, IAF is also planning to end its dependence on the MiG series and other old fighter jets because there has been a realisation that they are outdated and are no longer fit for active training and combat purposes.

These accidents have taken a terrible toll on India's air superiority. Now Pakistan has caught up with India. Currently India is operating with just 31 squadrons. It will achieve its required and sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons by 2020. Till then, the IAF has to bank on its given strength. The loss of a fighter jet means a huge setback for the country and a loss of face for the IAF that is on the threshold of modernisation and expansion.

The IAF should provide better treatment to the families of the fallen pilots. Former British Prime Minister Gorden Brown apologised to the families of the soldiers who died in Afghanistan. A similar step from the government and the IAF will give some solace to the bereaved.

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Adivasi Wwomen, once safe in Left-ruled Bengal, are now sitting ducks for marauding mobs

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It isn't honour killing in the sense that one would associate with the Khap panchayats of northern India. Nonetheless, it is certainly about killing the honour of poor Adivasi girls who dare to fall in love with boys from other communities. These girls from Bengal have, in recent months, faced the ignominy of being paraded naked through the lanes of their villages. At least four such cases have been flashed by daily newspapers within a few days of this month. These incidents occurred a few months back.

Villagers were aware of the crimes but nobody reported the cases to the police or the civil administration. Even the heads of the village panchayats opted for inaction. One of these Adivasi girls is now living in police custody. The panchayat pradhans, who are responsible for reporting such cases to the police, chose not to do so for reasons best known to them. And now, after being questioned by a visiting team of the West Bengal Women's Commission, they are seeking refuge behind lame excuses. The role of the police is also under the scanner.

The first case, which shocked civil society, happened a few months back. A young girl, aged 17 according to police, was subjected to inhuman torture and molestation. As her life was under threat, she was forced to do the bidding of the marauding mob.

Over a thousand Adivasi youths stripped her at Bartala village and paraded her naked through a stretch of about 8 km. Throughout, the mob kept molesting girl. By the end of the ordeal, her body was badly bruised, police sources confirmed. 'Some of the youths even bit her,' a member of the Women's Commission said. It was only three months later that the police came to know of this atrocity. Some journalists who stumbled upon MMS clips of the incident lodged a complaint. Some local youths who were part of the mob, recorded the harried girl on their mobile phones and mailed these clips to their friends. A journalist, who doesn't want to be named, brought that clip to the police. Only then did the police swing into action. They rescued the girl and brought her to a government-run home at the sub-division headquarters. Later, six persons were arrested.

According to the district administration, the tribal girl was targeted because she was in love with a Muslim boy, the manager of a local stone quarry. The girl, Anita Hansda (name changed), was a labourer in the same quarry. The villagers, who kept mum before the Women's Commission members, say the girl and the boy, Chandan Ali, were warned several times. But they paid no heed.

While the Women's Commission delegation was at Rampurhat, two more women from Nimpahadi village of Mohammadbazar block came to complain about torture and molestation. According to the chairperson of the Women's Commission, one was a divorcee, the other unmarried. 'They went to work in a quarry on June 23. When they were on their way back, two young male co-workers from another community offered them a lift on their bikes and dropped them near a jungle of the village.' The women complained, 'Villagers kept us captive at the anganwadi centre for the night. The next day, they forced us to walk naked through the village.' According to the district superintendent of police, Humayun Kabir, 'The police registered an FIR on June 28 against nine persons. They surrendered at the district court in Siuri and are now on bail.' Another similar crime, which was committed a few months earlier, was also reported from Mohammadbazar block. Interestingly, the panchayat pradhans of all the villages belong to the CPM. The pradhan of Bartala village, Mangal Baskey, told the Women's Commission, 'I was not at home on the day the minor girl was assaulted. I came to know later. But the situation was not conducive to lodging a complaint with the police.'

With regard to the case in Nimpahadi, Sachin Dhyangar, CPM district committee member from Mohammadbazar, said, 'The police were informed about these two women's confinement on June 23 night itself on the party's behalf. But they did nothing.' Mohammadbazar MLA Dhiren Bagdi (CPM) said, 'The lackadaisical police investigation helped the accused in Nimpahadi get bail.'

Panchami and Mohammadbazar are known for their stone quarries. Most of these are on illegally grabbed tribal land. Pollution levels are high here. Many lost their lives in quarry blasts triggered with substandard dynamites and explosives.

Adivasis of the area, under the leadership of Adivasi Gaonta, revolted in May and boycotted the quarries. Attacks by the quarry owners followed. The tribals hit back. In these violent incidents, five people lost their lives. Evenntually, even the state government had to accept that most of the quarries here were illegal.

A few weeks back, a delegation of the Gaonta met the state chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, at Writers' Building. The CM then visited the area. Yet, the quarries could not be reopened due to lack of licenses and legal documents. And this impasse has a connection with the attacks on tribal women.

Gaonta sources, as well as a section of CPM followers, allege that the attacks on Adivasi girls have been instigated by quarry owners to create fear and confusion in the minds of the tribals.

A Gaonta leader explained, 'Though nobody is allowed to buy Adivasi land, quarry owners have had their eyes on these tracts for about a decade. They would initially employ Adivasi girls, mostly minors, and taking advantage of their poverty, sexually abuse them. Later, the managers and suppliers of the quarries, mostly Muslims, developed relationships with the girls and married them.'

In several cases, these girls were made to undergo a surgery to prevent motherhood. After marriage, they inherited a part of the tribal land and then forced to sell or lease it out. Says CPM activist Mangal Kisku: 'Adivasis are a close-knit community. Since our Charka revolt (the move to prevent the functioning of the quarries) the people's resolve not to part with any more Adivasi land has been strengthened. And therein lies the catch. The stooges of the quarry owners would once get away with unjust means, but not anymore. It isn't possible to browbeat the tribals anymore.'

According to Gaonta leader Rabin Soren, the Adivasis are now on their toes and always ready to rush wherever a tribal girl is subjected to molestation. "But we were prevented by the local political leadership and administration from doing so," he says.

Women's Commission member Sarbani Bhattacharjee asks: Why did the police keep mum for so long? If the panchayat pradhan can be show caused for dereliction of duty, why shouldn't the officers-in-charge of the police station face similar action?' The role of local CPM leaders is certainly suspect. Why didn't they bring the heinous incidents to the CM's notice when he visited the area? No excuse can exonerate them.

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The flip side of the India growth story

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A once well-off family of farmers that owned 200 bighas of land on Delhi's outskirts today relies on a rickety rickshaw for daily bread and deliverance.

The 55-year-old ferries people up and down the five-km stretch between Anand Vihar, east Delhi and Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad for a living. This has been his lot in life for several decades. But before a state-mandated acquisition of land for industrial development robbed them of their resources, the Raghavs were well-to-do wheat farmers. Today, the area where their ancestral 200-bigha farmland once stood has turned into a site of frenzied urban expansion. This part of Ghaziabad is flanked by the residential colonies of Vasundhara and Vaishali on one side and the Sahibabad Industrial Area Site 4 on the other.

The area is dotted with cavernous shopping malls that deliver retail nirvana to a population flush with cash. It also has numerous residential skyscrapers occupied by representatives of a burgeoning, upwardly mobile middle class, swanky business parks that house the nation's top companies, luxury hotels and an array of thriving industrial units.

That's one part of the India growth story that we always hear ' and applaud. Jagdish's story is the flip side. It is a story of loss, deprivation and despair. He is a flesh-and-blood throwback to the fictional Shambhu, the small farmer that Balraj Sahni played in Bimal Roy's 1953 classic, Do Bigha Zameen.

Nearly six decades on, two bighas have given way to 200, and the rural moneylender of yore has been replaced by a complex network of urban exploiters. But like Shambhu, who migrated to the big city to earn the money he needed to reclaim his land from a merciless zamindar, Jagdish has been reduced to pulling a rickshaw in an uncaring urban jungle. He toils day in and day out in and around the very area where his family was once counted among the wealthiest peasants.

Jagdish can barely conceal his anger and frustration as news filters in about the agitation by farmers in Aligarh and elsewhere against the acquisition of land for the under-construction Yamuna Expressway. They are demanding the same quantum of compensation that was paid to farmers in Noida and Greater Noida. 'If only my forefathers had launched a similar agitation, I probably wouldn't have been a rickshaw-puller,' he says.

He has a piece of advice for the Aligarh farmers, who, he believes, will also end up as rickshaw-pullers or daily wage workers one day. 'The compensation that they receive today will be gone in 10 to 20 years. They, too, will face a plight similar to ours. My son and I pull hired rickshaws. We don't have the means to buy our own rickshaws,' he says. 'Who gave the government the right to snatch our land and hand it over to builders and the wealthy? I often feel like setting these factories on fire',' Jagdish's voice trails off even as his hands begin to tremble. He is seething with rage, but he is, quite palpably, completely helpless.

As flashy SUVs, sedans and hatchbacks zip in and out of the group housing societies and shopping malls of Ghaziabad, the manually pulled rickshaws are forever weaving their way around and through the chaotic traffic. Life hangs by a string here.

It is a tough calling, but those of Jagdish's ilk have no choice. Rickshaw-pullers in this part of the National Capital Region (NCR) are predominantly farmers who have lost their agricultural land to the urban and industrial development wave. Some are from nearby villages, others from neighboring states.

Shopping malls dominate the Ghaziabad-Sahibabad skyline. Galaxy is one of the many that have come up here in the past few years. It is behind Galaxy Mall that Jagdish lives in his ancestral home in Karkar model village. Galaxy is an imposing new structure. Jagdish's 60-yard dwelling is a cramped and crumbling semblance of a home. As a teenager, Jagdish lived in a house that had verandahs running all around it. The residence was almost as big as Galaxy Mall. In a span of 35 years, it has shrunk into a little cubbyhole that forms part of a squalid shantytown.

Around 35 years ago, the state government, citing 'public interest', notified and acquired the land that the Raghav family owned. The Uttar Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation carved several plots out of the land and allotted them to industrialists. Jagdish says, 'The land is worth millions of rupees today. It was snatched from us. We got peanuts by way of compensation.'

He shows us a glass factory. It stands on his land. The factory supplies bottles to wine and beer manufacturers. 'I did get a job in this factory after much effort, but lost it within a month. I have been a rickshaw-puller since,' Jagdish reveals.

He continues: 'In the 1980s, we were paid one rupee ten paise per sq meter for our land. Today one sq meter costs lakhs of rupees. Had the government left some of the land for us, our children would have owned factories here.'

Jagdish has three unemployed sons. The eldest, 35-year-old Raju, is married and pulls a rickshaw to run his family. His other two sons, Dilip and Pradeep, cannot even think of marriage. They are unemployed and their future seems bleak. So they do not want to add to the burden of the poverty-stricken family.

Jagdish, however, managed to marry off his three daughters. 'I borrowed for their weddings. I have a debt of over Rs 1lakh. Every month I pay Rs 4000 as interest on the loan,' he says.

Says Dilip: 'The factory owners do not even let us venture near ancestral land. Getting a job is one of these units is out of the question.' The youngest of the male siblings, Pradeep, explains why the locals are shunned by the factory owners. 'They feel that we could spell trouble if we unite and oppose the exploitation we are subjected to. So they prefer people from other states. Outsiders are more amenable to control and accept any salary and terms that are offered to them.' Jagdish's wife, Rajeshwari, was employed in a garment factory. Five years ago, the unit relocated from Sahibabad to Gurgaon. Rajeshwari hasn't found another job. In the 1970s, the UP government, in furtherance of the Nehruvian model of industrial development, sought to create a climate for rapid growth in this area. On the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, as elsewhere in the country, farmers were sacrificed at the altar of economic progress. Between 1969 and 1978, the state government took 1495 acres from six villages for Sahibabad Industrial Area Site 4.

Large tracts of agricultural land were acquired in Karkar model village as well. Initially, land acquisition was necessitated by the need to set up new industrial units. In the 1990s, post-economic liberalisation, all the remaining farm areas were mopped up for the construction of residential blocks.

Chailu Singh Raghav, 80, still remembers the day when bulldozers rumbled into his village and crushed the wheat crop. The illiterate villagers could not quite comprehend what was happening. They were too shell-shocked to react.

Chailu Singh says, 'The government acquired around 160 bigha. We haven't received any compensation till date. In 1979 the government gave us an interim grant of Rs 1100 per bigha. Now that amount is being passed off as our compensation. We have been cheated. So we are fighting a legal battle ever since.'

Many erstwhile farmers of Karkar model village are in the same soup. This village of 10,000 people is now just another urban slum. About 50,000 migrant workers reside here in small rooms rented out by farmers who need to supplement their income.

The locals here are mostly Thakurs who once lorded over acres of land. Many of them are today daily wage workers. Some have opened small groceries, vegetable kiosks and sweetmeat shops.

Others like 62-year-old Gyan Chand Raghav have become carpenters. He once had 12 acres of land. He says, 'The government betrayed us. They never gave us our compensation. By the time we realised what the intentions of the government were, it was too late.'

In 1992, Gyan Chand reveals, the local people launched a movement and staged a dharna at the district magistrate's office. They sought justice. What they got was imprisonment.'

The youth constitute half of Karkar's population. Most of the 5,000 young people here are unemployed and work as daily wagers. There is strong discontent among this generation of deprived farmers. That is why the villagers did not celebrate Independence Day this year.

Sushil Raghav, a young journalist who spearheads the ongoing fight for justice for the Karkar farmers, says: 'What freedom? Our land was taken away. There are no employment opportunities here. The government treats us like slaves.'

Two and a half years ago, a Land Reforms Council was constituted under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look into the grievances of farmers around the country. The council has not met even once to date. Social activist Medha Patkar, says: "Land acquisition laws are in need of sweeping changes. We have submitted a draft to Mrs Gandhi and she has forwarded it to the Union Cabinet." Moreover, the parliamentary standing committee of the Union rural development ministry has recommended the introduction of a new Act to replace the one formulated by the British. But there has been no significant forward movement in this regard.

No wonder resentment runs deep among the youth of Karkar. 'We gave our land. In return we were neither given any alternative plot nor a job,' says Sushil. The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 clearly provides that if land is taken from a farmer for setting up a factory, at least one member of the affected family will be absorbed by the new industrial establishment. 'This law,' says Sushil, "also provides for rehabilitation of the farmers. But that provision has remained on paper. We don't have jobs, no compensation and no hope of rehabilitation.'

Youngsters of Karkar not only want government jobs but also ten per cent of the land they surrendered. Their land was acquired ostensibly to bolster industrial growth and, by extension, employment opportunities. But the only people who have benefitted are big-time builders and wealthy entrepreneurs. The rapid mushrooming of factories has led to environmental degradation. Locals allege that many residents have died of cancer in the area in recent years.

Sushil says: "Our land was acquired for industries. But now officials and industrialists are changing the land use and constructing malls, multiplexes and five-star hotels. On my plot, a five-star hotel and shopping complex have been constructed. When I registered my objection, the administration told me if the purpose of acquiring the land was not served, I would get my plot back at the price at which it was originally acquired.'

If land acquired for industries is used for the construction of a commercial property, it is mandatory to change the land use. It is a long-drawn process. An advertisement has to be published in a daily asking the public whether they have any objections regarding the matter.

Sushil says, 'Usually there are no advertisements. When I filed an RTI plea, I received no reply for 11 months. But it probably alerted the administration. Some advertisements regarding land use were inserted in English newspapers. Farmers here cannot read English.

The villagers have lodged a protest against this ruse.'

Karkar is only one of thousands of Indian villages that have been left behind, if not completely crushed, by the wheels of industrial development. As India shines bright, the world of these hapless farmers plunges deeper and deeper into darkness. Jagdish Raghav and his rickety rickshaw can only go round in circles. There does not seem to be a way out of this morass.

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As America shapes its Iranian discourse on the flawed logic of Arab's Persian mistrust, Tehran has the last laugh on the Arab streets

Peter the Great, the Tsar of Russia, used to take on Sweden quite frequently, during the days of latter's dominion in Scandinavia, and used to get thrashed every now and then. During one of those hundreds of defeats, he is purported to have said to his gloomy general: 'Be not concerned! Eventually the Swedes are going to teach us how to fight.' And that is what happened. Peter managed to stop the Swedes' Eastward march by learning the tricks of the trade from the Swedes themselves.

The 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll by Zogby International and Maryland University says the same about Iran. After being whacked by the US all these years in propaganda warfare, the Iranians seem to have learnt the tricks and have successfully applied them on the US itself.

This magazine for quite a long time has maintained that the policy debates and discourses about Iran in the US are warped by a number of 'myths' and 'misinformation'. This misinformation mainly concerns the functioning of the regime, its domestic and foreign policies, its outreach and its power'both hard and soft. Among these scores of misinformation, the most significant one that has been driving the Tehran discourse in Washington is through strenuous diplomatic exploit, the US can isolate the Islamic Republic of Iran, both regionally and globally. And how do Americans believe that they can achieve this? The entire gameplan to isolate Iran in the Gulf is based on a proposition that since Iran has a deep-rooted Persian identity and that it adheres to Shiite Islam unlike many of the countries in the region, it will always be viewed with mistrust, if not outright resentment, by West Asia's mostly Sunni Arab populace. The poll suggests that these assumptions are just that - assumptions. Not only is this unchallenged but is, in fact, diametrically opposite to what Arab street thinks.

The Iranian discourse was propelled by the proposition that this supposed mistrust and antagonism against Iran in the region can be played up to convince Arabs that a nuclear-armed Iran is more dangerous than the obviously nuclear-armed Israel.

'The suggestion that the US has a staid and tactically dynamic alternative to isolate Iran in its region is, evidently, not new ' it is mirrored in efforts by the Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama administrations to build a regional federation to 'contain' Iran, encompassing 'moderate' Sunni Arab nations along with Israel. But this conception has gained a larger toehold of late, beside claims of 'rumblings' that fresh sanctions have started to kindle domestic political strain on the Iranian regime,' says Jim Lobe, a Washington-based Iran analyst. 'But these efforts are yet to see the light of day primarily because they are based on deeply flawed assumptions.'

Shibley Telhami released the results of his 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll, conducted annually with Zogby International. One must also keep in mind that Telhami holds the Anwar Sadat Chair at the University of Maryland and is a non-resident fellow at the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. So it is very clear that he can be anything but a 'pro-Iranian' voice. The results can barely be reassuring for those who would like to deem that the Islamic Republic is becoming alienated from its regional neighbours and that Arabs are all set to be on their feet alongside Israelis to shore up military exploits by Israel or the US against Iranian nuclear mark.

Among the respondents, a bulk ' 57 per cent ' thinks that Iran's nuclear programme is intended at developing nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, an even larger preponderance of these exclusively Arab respondents ' 77 per cent ' perceives that Iran has the right to follow its nuclear programme; only 20 per cent consent that Iran should be stressed by the global community to discontinue the programme. The figure for the support is up from 53 per cent in 2009.

Ironically, in Egypt and Morocco, two of the Arab countries whom the West perceives as strongly anti-Iran, vast majorities among those who deem that Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at achieving nuclear weapons capability ' 81 per cent and 84 per cent respectively consider that Iran is within its sovereign right to do so. Even in Wahabi Saudi Arabia, around half of the population wants Iran to develop such weapons and consider that act rightful.

However, the most extraordinary conclusion in this year's poll is that 57 per cent of the respondents consider that Iran's attainment of nuclear weapons would be a positive and constructive outcome for the region, whilst merely 21 per cent deem this to be a negative outcome.

This strengthens this magazine's estimation that however much a few Sunni Arab privileged ' and they are not many frankly ' might wish to witness Iran being 'cut down to size', there is extremely diminutive popular support for conflict with the Iranian regime on the Arab alleys.

It appears Washington has been building its perceptions about things based on the views of Arab diplomats and so-called experts who have been widely out-of-sync with opinion on the streets. Leave alone buying their argument on Iran.

Asked to rank the two nations that pose the principal threat to the Arab world, 88 per cent of the voters named Israel and 77 per cent named the US ' the top two scorers on this query, by orders of enormity over any other nation on the globe. Contrary to that, merely 10 per cent Arabs think Iran to be a bigger threat than both these countries. And just to put it in perspective, these polls were not conducted in Syria, Iraq, Qatar and among Gazans and other Palestinians living under Israeli occupation'the groups who are supposed to be pro-Iranian and staunchly anti-American.

And if that was not enough, when asked to name the world leader that they approve of the most, 12 per cent of the Arab respondents named Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It makes him the third most admired leader in the Arab world'after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. 'Arab perceptions of the US are shaped principally through the prism of the Arab-Israeli question. And Arab perceptions of Iran are truly the function of perceptions of the US and projection for harmony in the Middle East,' says Hillary Mann Leveret, an ex-US official and an Iran watcher based in Washington DC, while talking to TSI.

It reflects that Arabs have shifted from their wait-and-see approach toward the incumbent president and the support for Iran is being perceived as a manifestation of that resentment and frustration.

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