Desicritics Category: Politics: Peace

Book Review : Identity and Violence by Amartya Sen

Shantanu Dutta — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:04:51 EDT

Amartya Sen’s book, “Identity and Violence’ examines the unfortunate connection between violence and our tendency to identify with one key trait — our ethnicity, or religion, for example — to the exclusion of all others. Sen argues that we can combat this tendency by rejecting this narrowly defined, limited sense of identity, and embracing a broader, richer and more complex understanding of ourselves.

Speaking of his own identities, he says:

I can be, at the same time, an Asian, a British citizen, a Bengali with Bangladeshi ancestry, an American or British resident, an economist, a dabbler in philosophy, an author, a Sanskritist, a strong believer in secularism and democracy, a man, a feminist, a heterosexual, a defender of gay and lesbian rights, with a nonreligious lifestyle, from a Hindu background, a non-Brahmin...This is just a small sample of diverse categories to each of which I may simultaneously belong.

He bemoans our predisposition to separate human kind into many different boxes – he cites Samuel Huntington and his Clash of Civilizations stereo types. Huntington of course contrasts Western civilization with "Islamic civilization," "Hindu civilization," "Buddhist civilization," and so on. The supposed conflicts of religious differences are incorporated into a sharply fractured vision of hard-boiled divisiveness. In fact, of course, the people of the world can be pigeonholed according to many other subsets, each of which has some—often far-reaching— importance in our lives: nationalities, locations, classes, occupations, social status, languages, politics, and many others. While religious groupings have received much expression in recent years, they cannot be supposed to eliminate other characteristics. Amartya Sen contends that our society is driven as much by confusion as by hatred. Challenging the division of people by race, religion, and class, he presents an alternate understanding of a world that can be made to move toward peace as firmly as it has spiralled in recent years toward brutality and war.

Sen also notes the inclination to create a random -often historically inaccurate- identity of the self in order to distinguish it from the other. Here he criticizes the idea of the Western mind whereby certain ideas (e.g., democracy) are claimed to be the sole property of the Occident. Citing examples of Buddhist councils during the reign of Emperor Ashoka (3rd Century BC) and tracts on religious freedom during that of the Mughal Emperor Akbar (16th Century AD), Sen attempts to demonstrate how such an identity can be quickly disputed.

A lot of the book is preoccupied with the Muslim identity because much of the attention is directed towards the perception and understanding of this identity in the world. Moreover, much that is valuable in the Western civilisation is a legacy of Muslim as well of other, such as the ancient Hindu, civilisations. In other words, watertight compartments between civilisations are historically unsustainable. And, of course, people themselves are blends of several civilisations so that it is not correct to assume that there is such a thing as a uniform, homogenous, monolithic Muslim civilisation.

But is it really possible to fix the responsibility for all the violence that we witness today on the failure of people to recognize the various identities of others? Would that not be as naive an attitude to take towards the occurrence of violence as the perpetrators of aggression take towards identity? How are identities really shaped and very importantly how are they correlated to more concrete, real-life processes that go on in the world? Again, while it is true that everyone has multiple identities what compels one person to prioritize one of these many identities over all others? that is for us, the readers to figure.

A Genocide Sri Lanka is Proud to Talk About on Camera

Vijay Sappani — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:22:50 EST

This is a Shocking Video. The Sri Lankan defence minister who in the past has attacked media personal for writing against the government human rights violations, threatened to throw out diplomats, BBC, CNN for reporting the facts about the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka has now gone on camera to say that " attacking hospitals that are in rebel area are fine and they are legitimate targets even if they full of civilians"

Now how do you expect the Tamil civilians to cross over to the Government side when the racist Sinhalese openly vow to annihilate the Tamil race on camera. How do you expect the LTTE to lay down their arms and sit down for talks with the SriLankan government, when they say it is OK to target hospitals full of injured civilians from the government shelling.

It is these very same racists who called Allan Rock a 'white Tiger' because he exposed human rights violations by the government during his trip to that country when he was with UN.

A genocide SriLanka is proud to talk about on camera from Senthu on Vimeo.

India's Post-Independence Fight For Freedom

Aditi Nadkarni — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:55:37 EST

Let me cut right to the chase here. This is unacceptable. Let me say it again for emphasis. It is not just bothersome or even upsetting. It is unacceptable. In the 21st century, in a democratic, secular nation, what has been going on, festering like a recurrent lesion, sprouting in every part of India, is just, simply unacceptable and will not do.

In case you are wondering who it is that's going to stand up to it: we are. We will not allow our freedom to be violated and we will make sure we protect the independence we fought long and hard to get the first time around. We have come a long way. We have seen the change and been the change. So who better than our pioneering, hot-blooded breed to stand up to the revolting and shockingly regressive acts of a few who feel threatened by progress.

They are just acting out of fear. It is obvious, isn't it? They attack in packs, afraid to be the lone ones incriminated. They target women and assault safely from behind the vague curtains of culture. But we all know that it isn't their culture that is in grave danger. Their position, their power and the extent of their bullying is in great peril. The places where they once ruled the roost are now turning into big, bustling cities making them feel like small, insignificant fish in a big sea.

Institutions and companies have transported the educated, smart crowd into the vacuum in which these bullies once enjoyed unfettered omnipotence. Now, in place of the void, there is a young, vivacious bunch of professionals, men and women who work hard and party hard and do so shoulder to shoulder. These people are harder to manipulate. This crowd has not just taken over, they threaten to pull into their growing ilk, the younger ones too. Business are bending over backwards to accommodate the needs of this new species and everything that once belonged to the bullies is now up for grabs. So they are retaliating. They are like petulant little children who couldn't have all that they demanded, hated sharing and so now are acting up. Therefore it is up to us, the educated class to teach these spoiled little brats to grow up and stop reacting so bizarrely to change. We must do it in a manner that is as different from theirs as is humanly possible.

So now comes the big question: how do we do it? How do we make our presence known? The answer may seem too simplistic because it sits smack in front of our faces. Think about it: we travel through these cities like one stream of blood, flowing steadily, keeping the city alive, stuffed in trains, piled into buses, walking along the teeming streets. Even partying and a trip to the movie theater is all the more fun with a group. We work in teams and are all the more effective for that. We discuss films, fashion, clothes, the economy, the job market and even our health problems. Yet this fear of walking out on the streets of a free country seems like a personal problem, like we were alone in that walk, like when a bully arrived with his little gang and punched us in the face, we would be all by ourselves and the world around us would just suddenly go blind. What we forget is that in this lonely fear too, we are still together. In this anger against the unfairness of the situation, we are together. We can if we decided, be together in the one resolute determination of not letting a handful of insecure men undo all that we have put into making our cities. So the answer is simple. Whatever it is we do, we do it together.

We celebrated Valentine's Day battling fear and took the threats in our stride defanging the demons with the pink disarming humor of our proud underwear. With the International Women's Day approaching, it is time to get serious. In our busy, routine lives we have underestimated the power of silent, non-violent protests. All it takes is for people to stand at a side-walk with banners to get word around. Some major struggles were won with this strategy and somewhere along the line we just shrugged and rolled our eyes at the quiet potential of public demonstrations and satyagrahas. Maybe we started taking our precious freedom for granted and needed to be reminded that we simply cannot. We have to earn it and when someone tries to snatch it, we fight for it.

It is important, I feel, in today's world to use media smartly. Instead of constantly criticizing media's inadequacies, we could use it as a tool. Find a niche and throw yourself into the swift current of this ever growing medium. Find a female leader in your area who is looking to make an arrival on the political scene. Do a little research. If one political party is making your life difficult for wearing jeans and celebrating Valentine's Day and there damn well must be another party that will fight for your votes, or can be persuaded to do so.

Find a celebrity who is willing to make your cause their own or give your movement their support and voice. Find a television network, a newspaper or a magazine that will run your story and provide your opinions with a voice. Find an artist who will put your thoughts into a slogan or a creative, riveting poster. Write to your city officials, your ministers and drown their offices in letters of your indignant protest. Just remember that one or two voices are easy to be ignored. If you are fuming over a coffee mug at your kitchen table, take that rage to a medium that will express it in the most noticeable manner possible.

Haven't we whined about a dysfunctional system for too long? When has this "system" ever worked? Maybe we just don't realize that we are one of the appendages of this faulty system. If the system is not working, we, as a group could propel in into motion. What will it take for us to get off our bums and make a placard with a strong message on it? This is not a women's liberation movement at all. Genders cannot be fighting alone in a battle such as this one. It could be your sister wearing jeans, coming home from work. It could be your teenage daughter walking back from school or college, the neighborhood aunty who brought you food when you were sick, a dear friend or your colleague. Most importantly, it is them today and it could be you next.

Let us review what the odds are of your being targeted next. You have a very high chance of being next on the hit-list if you answer 'Yes' for any of the following questions. Are you considered an "outsider" in Bangalore or a non-Maharashtrian in Maharashtra? Do you party? Do you meet up with friends at pubs? Do you wear jeans or clothing that may not be considered "Indian"? Do you eat pizza or meat? Do you drink alcoholic beverages? Does your religious persuasion always match that of the political party currently raging a mini-war in the nation you know of as secular? Do you send children to convent or English medium schools? Do you have a spouse of a different religious persuasion than yours? Do you have friends of the opposite sex? Are you married to the girl you are driving home from work or who you happen to be having dinner with? Are you non-conversant in Marathi in Mumbai or in Kannada in Bangalore? Are you a blogger or a journalist who expresses their opinions about politics, culture, media and religion? In spite of your qualifications and the six figure salary, do you have no clout with the local law enforcement or political activists? Before you fall asleep at night you should take a moment to wonder which one of these labels will be tagged onto your identity and turned into a vice or a disqualification; which one of these labels will plant nagging fear into your routine as you go about working to make a living, partying to rid your stress and walking on the streets of a country whose freedom you celebrate once a year on a public holiday. India did fight a freedom struggle years ago and it is high time that yet another quest for independence begins.

As a civilized society, we must remember that curbed freedom is a disease, an epidemic that does not spare a gender or a certain religion. It has uprooted saplings of modern, free thinking from Afghanistan and left it barren under the regime of the Taliban school of thought. This disease feeds on your fear and on the social inertia that has settled over our generation. An active, proud and independent public cannot let this inertia set in. Let it be known that this disease feeds most of all on the little disabling voice in your head which tells you that this is not your struggle, that it isn't your battle to fight. Sadly, this malady spreads, swallowing in its wake our hard-earned progress, until the feeble voice in your head is one day replaced with the grim realization that your own struggle has arrived. The assailant and his prejudice have changed form and you are the next prey. And there is nobody left to fight for you or with you.

Dining with the Terrorists - Phil Rees in Sri Lanka

Vijay Sappani — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:44:38 EST

Award winning journalist Phil Rees is popularly known for his series called dining with the terrorists. Phil has made a recent video on the situation in Sri Lanka . The video is 10 minutes long and gives a good historical perspective of how consecutive Sinhalese governments have handled rebellion by the Sinhalese and Tamils. It has an interview with the current president Mahinda Rajapaksa now and in 1988 when he is clearly seen to be sympathetic to the Sinhalese JVP rebels fighting against the then Sri Lankan government. He is also clearly anti-India, when he hails India as his best friend today.

It also has an interview with Suresh Premachandran, a Tamil MP in Sri Lanka who gave up arms decades back to choose the democratic path. He is clearly frustrated with the process and wants to give it up, which is sad.

We want to convince the Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan government to get to the negotiation table and resolve their grievances without violence and more deaths in that island nation, but when we see people who gave up violence to choose the democratic path wanting to go back, it is very sad.

Canada can and should play a role in Sri Lanka in convincing both the warring groups to find a political solution outside the battle ground in the best interest of the civilians. Canada should appoint a special envoy and form a non partisan group of advisers on the Sri Lankan issue to work with UN, the Tokyo Co- chairs and India to bring a permanent peaceful resolution to the conflict.

BBB Inc. - With Bare Hands If Necessary

temporal — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:33:38 EST

Rehan Ansari's lament is passionately articulated. It exposes the growing sub-continental fault line. He writes about the subversive elements, the interest groups, the politicians, leaders and government honchos who may not be in collusion but who certainly appear to favour lack of detente:

Partition has resulted in nationalism, borders, and visa regimes that make sure that people know even less about each other. As a result, they are more likely to be taken for a ride by the agendas of lashkars , fascists, and the realpolitik of Islamabad and New Delhi. A United India – or even an India and Pakistan that were friendly states, much like contemporary France and Germany – would never have been vulnerable to an American agenda of jihad in Afghanistan and Pakistan against the Soviets. Better relations would also have negated this ‘problem’ of Kashmir.

On those (now increasingly rare) occasions, when individuals and groups from one country visit the other, they invariably follow up with glowing praises. They discover the commonness ignored by the government and media in their respective countries. They instinctively discover the common ground and find the warmth and friendliness in the other not revealed and expressed openly in their home country.

And this causes dismay and consternation in the groups and lobbies in both India and Pakistan who want the enmity, suspicion and hostility maintained. That such efforts are nudged and aided from other powers in the region and the world can be argued another time.

While the extremist fringes in India and Pakistan can be identified, there are many others that are harder to identify. But their maneuverings are easily discernible. It is good for business - their business. Hatred, intolerance and suspicion must be kept brewing. Peace and amity must be kept at bay.

BBB

These three have a common interest to ferment and instigate the chasm between India and Pakistan:

Big Business: They see profit big ticket defense expenditure. Peace is bad business. If only they realise that peace has its own dividends, and can add more to their bottom line than selling instruments of death and destruction.

Big Beards: The religious fringe do not want amity and friendship between people. Bad for their business - these Babas in green and saffron revel in hatred and enmity.

Bureaucratic Babus: The bureaucrats have lost their sheen and magic and are now in cahoots with big business and MNCs.

The irony is each one of these three think of the other two as their puppets.

Each time the two countries try to come close by, a force generated by the BBB Inc. pulls them away. The past sixty years are rife with such examples. Three generations have grown apart. The unstated goal of nourishing and maintaining a wall of suspicion, enmity and intolerance towards each other is growing taller, wider and deeper.

In India, amidst a plethora of cable TV channels available, there is no Pakistani channel available for subscribers. Likewise, in Pakistan there is a ban on Indian channels, naach-gaana channels are surreptitiously allowed though.

What is good for BBB Inc. is bad business for the majority of middle classes on both sides of the divide. And it is not only middle class that suffers as Rehan argues, but the common person is victimised too.

Barring past six decades, for centuries they drank the water from the same well, participated in each others religious and cultural celebrations, fought against the colonizers and invaders.

This wall is an artificial construct that needs to be brought down - with bare hands if necessary - one brick at a time.

Meeting The Congressman For The Sri Lanka LTTE Crisis

Kalugu — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:21:20 EST

Well finally I have met a US Congressman - I mean a personal meeting with a politician for the first time in my life.

Living in the relatively remote Midwest region of USA with a very small Indian community, the inaction of the Indian government over the human sufferings in Sri Lanka has been a factor of frustration for quite some time now, not just for me but for quite a few family friends here. Watching the human suffering and the brutality of the Sri Lankan forces for several weeks has finally thrust me to swing into action. Consultation with friends lead us to conclude that meeting the district Congressman and presenting the evidences for human rights violations would be the most logical step.

After launching a swift online signature campaign with area residents of Indian origin, we started working with the congressman's office to get an appointment. We were hoping to have a personal meeting at the Congressman's office so that we can show the videos and images that have bothered us much. However the scheduler/Office Manager of the Congressman informed me that the Congressman is busy until a month or so and asked if I would be interested in meeting him at an event in two days. I was aware that the US Senate foreign relations committee is planning to discuss the Sri Lanka crisis in a week and thought the timing would be perfect.

With a decent number of signatures by several area Indians (Not just Tamils, but the entire Indian community signed it displaying a sign of solidarity) and the disturbing videos and images burned to a CD, six of us were all set to meet the Congressman.

We were quite apprehensive about discussing the issue openly since the Tamil rebels are still proscribed in the USA. We all agreed that we will not make any references to the rebels in our discussion but focus on the excesses committed by the Sri Lankan forces.

The meeting was to take place at the Health Care field hearing scheduled at the downtown church. We arrived early and were waiting for the District Director & Staff Agent who was supposed to brief us about the standard procedures of meeting the Congressman and facilitate the meeting.

The Staff Agent arrived and was indeed very helpful and appreciated us for bringing the issue to the Congressman's attention. He also appreciated us for having run the signature campaign. After listening to the information we provided, the Staff Agent collected the file folder with the signed petition and the CD's and informed us that we will be able to meet the Congressman prior or after the event. He also advised us to forward the petition and evidences to other committee members, especially members on the foreign relations committee.

The Congressman arrived and was greeted by few public that were waiting to meet him just like us. The Congressman engaged in a long conversation with a lady who appeared to be in despair due to a loss of a family member. The Congressman was very polite and listened to her long story and hugged her to offer some solace. We knew then that we will have to sit through the meeting and will be able to meet the congressman only at the end of the event. Some of my friends decided to drive home and come back later, while three of us decided to stay.

We found the Health Care field hearing very informative. I was very impressed at the way the hearing was organized.

I started comparing the meeting with that of meetings involving Indians. Be it in India or the USA a meeting involving similar crowd would have been really noisy and full of confusion and chaos. I think we have to accept that confusion and chaos have become part of the Indian culture.

Americans sure have mastered the art of organizing events. Simple process's put in place by the organizers made the event progress in a smooth fashion. The Congressman was very polite and had a fair sense of humor and handled the questions well. A native Indian member who was full of humor asked the Congressman if he needed a job, referring to the acute shortage of doctors and paramedics in his clinic operating in the nearby Indian reservation. The Congressman also did not hesitate to ask for assistance from the folks in the crowd when he was not sure of some statistics.

Finally the meeting got over and we got the opportunity to talk to the Congressman. When I introduced myself and my friends, I mentioned that our roots are in India and we wanted to highlight the crisis in the South Asian nation of Sri Lanka. The congressman immediately said "I have a Tamil Tiger in my office". Looking at our blank reaction, he continued "That was a Joke...". He was making a reference to a Sri Lankan Tamil who works in his office. The Congressman seemed to be very knowledgeable about the happenings in Sri Lanka (obviously).

We informed about the evidences we have compiled and requested the Congressman to take up the issue appropriately and help bring justice to the people. The Congressman said before ending the conversation that he would like to one day visit Sri Lanka and have a vacation there.

That day may be too far away with the approach taken by most involved parties that have a stake in the region.

We all left home with a sense of relief that we have done the right thing. We do not know if the Congressman will be able to stop the terror faced by the people in the war zone, but we are happy based on what is mentioned in Bagavath Geethai - "Do your duty, Do not expect returns".

An Open Letter to President Obama on the Israel-Palestine Issue

Vinod Joseph — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:17:54 EST

Dear President Obama,

How do you do, Sir? Today is your 21st day in office and you must be busy with your bailout package for all those undeserving banks. However, I’m sure you have an eye on the Israeli election results. Exit polls have shown the ruling Kadima party in the first place and dramatic gains by Likud, its conservative rival, which is a close second. Avigdor Lieberman’s right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu is in third place and Labor, Israel's founding party and Kadima's current coalition partner is fourth.

Assuming Kadima comes to power and Tzipi Livni becomes Israel’s Prime Minister, you will be dealing with a hawkish bunch of people who have repeatedly failed to make the compromises that are necessary to bring peace in the middle-east. The worst aspect of this election is that Yisrael Beiteinu, much more rightwing than even Likud, is doing better than Labour.

Please don’t get me wrong Mr. President. I have always supported Israel’s right to exist. Israel was validly created by a UN resolution. Israel was meant to be predominantly Jewish and it is right in encouraging Jews to migrate to Israel. However, Israel wasn’t meant to be entirely Jewish. The UN resolution which created Israel did not allow it to carry out ethnic cleansing of Arabs. Israel’s treatment of its Arab minority has been shameful. Its treatment of Arabs in the occupied territories has been even worse. Further, building Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is something that can never be justified. Arabs in Israel are discriminated against and are second-class citizens in their own country. Israel’s economy is not in a good shape. To be very honest, Israel has survived till date mainly because of the unbelievable levels of US aid it has received over the years.

Though Israel has shed its socialist past and has many world class companies and entrepreneurs, Israel still relies on US aid to get by, mainly because of its very high defence budget. Mr. President, I’m all for ensuring that Israel continues to survive. However, Israel must be forced to make concessions to the Palestinians. Now that (relatively) secular Palestinian organisations like the Fatah are weak and unpopular among Palestinians, Israel will have to make its peace with Hamas and Hizbollah.

To begin with, Israel must allow the creation of a viable Palestinian state. No, I’m not talking of Jordan, though it may have more Palestinians than Jordanians. This Palestinian state should include not only the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but should also have its capital in East Jerusalem. All Jewish settlements must be withdrawn from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mr. President, if there is any force on earth which can force Israel to make this concession, it is the United States of America.

The US of A has many levers with which it can force Israel to change. Withholding of financial aid is definitely one option. Not sharing US military technology with Israel is another. Israel may become weak in the short run, as a result, but in the long run, it will be stronger. Mr. President, to Save Israel, it must be made weak

Yours sincerely,

A blogger from the World Wide Web

The World And President Obama: A Reason For The Romance

Aditi Nadkarni — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:56:28 EST

The world's romance with President Barack Hussein Obama continues. Is it his broad, uninhibited smile, people wonder, or the fact that he is making such glorious history with just his skin color and a middle name ? Or is it because he is coming in at a time when we all are so desperately thirsty for change. What is it about him that makes us cheer for him, root for him, hope to see him pull a nation out of crisis? The world is truly in love with Obama. Such true love, it is said, is found only when you've found yourself.

The world has come to an age, when a generation has been defined. We are a young world now that finds multiple modes of communication and jumps at the mere mention of a novel one being launched around the corner. We will not rest until the next great invention and we will not walk the trodden path, unless maybe we are multi-tasking and creating our own new funky stride. We are interesting people; we are the entrepreneur with political ambitions, the software geek who knows how to party, the news reporter who does stand-up comedy, the hacker who works with law enforcement, the actor who is also an ambassador, the teacher who pens poetry, the waitress who sang on American Idol, the struggling single mom who penned a best-seller, the teenager who does community service and the stripper who became a screenplay writer. We see in President Obama, the young man who chose after college to be a community organizer in South-side Chicago. We see a man who once did drugs and then conquered his demons like we want to conquer our own. We watched him turn a political campaign into a social networking experiment using the very tools that we type away on all day. His literary contributions, his use of the internet in a historic campaign, his sense of humor, his stress-relieving basket-ball game and his dancing skills not only charm us but are things we can finally relate to. His risks excite us and tell us that we too can make a leap of faith. We are a generation that has defined ourselves, set ourselves apart and see in this new dynamic President, a lot of ourselves and more importantly, a little of who we would all like to be. We have his crazy ambition, the "madness" and the "megalomania" that he once said one needs in order to want to be a leader of the free world. But we also strive to have his temperament, that cool equanimity with which he handled disagreements during the campaign. Let's face it, who wouldn't a nick-name as cool as "No Drama Obama".

Years ago, at a Presidential inaugural ball in America, I imagine, people must have been so official, so proper. They must have adhered to all forms of etiquette expected at such a formal event and coyly performed the waltz with their wives like a duty. They must have shook hands with the men and women gathered, saluted army officers. That ball might have been reserved for people of office, the important and the influential and not for a local community organizer or a student who won an essay contest. A black man might not have been allowed attendance at some of these balls. The new President and the celebration of his arrival changed all of this.

He began one ball by pointing out to the the cheering crowds how beautiful his wife looked. To the army men and women in Kabul, he asked if they were Cubs or White Socks fans, putting them at ease in the midst of their new commander-in-chief. He told the band to "hit it" and then added a little twist to his dance with the First Lady, rubbing noses with her as people pulled out their cell-phones to take pictures of them. "At last" Beyonce crooned, "my love has come along". The world agrees.

Israel's Gaza Offensive

Vinod Joseph — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 12:18:10 EST

I believe that the air attacks being carried out by Israel on various targets in the Gaza Strip and the incursion by the Israeli army into the Gaza Strip are justified. I also believe that these air attacks and land offensive will serve no purpose at all, other than help Ehud Barak and the Labour Party in the forthcoming Israeli elections.

Ever since the cease fire between Hamas and Israel came to an end on 19 December 2008, Israel has been targeted by Hamas which started to fire around 80 rockets per day into Israel. Most of the rockets did not cause much damage and so far, only a handful of Israelis have died as a result. However, the number of people killed in Gaza has exceeded five hundred. Clearly the Israeli response to the rocket attacks is not proportionate. Why then do I say that Israeli is justified in its actions?

Imagine for a moment that you own a fertile piece of land in a desolate part of the world. You land adjoins a barren piece of land. A tall barbed wire fence separates your land and the barren land. The people who own the barren land don’t like your presence in the neighbourhood. They have a nasty habit of throwing stones into your land, a few stones every day. Mostly they don’t do any damage, but once a month or so, a worker in your land gets hit by a stone. Once in a while, your neighbours cut through the barbed wire fence and creep into your land at night and uproot a few fruit trees before returning to their barren land, all this in order to make you abandon your fertile property. How should you respond? If your response has to be strictly proportionate, you can only throw stones into your neighbour’s barren land, something which will distress your neighbour a lot less than you are distressed by the stones thrown into your land. You can also creep into your neighbour’s land at night and uproot his fruit trees, except that your neighbour does not have any fruit trees! So, you post guards on the periphery of your land, mount powerful search lights at certain vantage points and instruct your guards to shoot dead anyone caught in the act of throwing stones into your land. Intruders who enter your fertile land are also to be locked up for a year before they are released. Once this new policy comes into effect, your guards do manage to kill a few stone throwers and catch a few intruders, but the stone throwing and intrusions don’t cease. This is mainly because there is a total difference in values between you and your neighbour and your neighbour is willing to sacrifice the lives of his people in order to cause trouble for you. He just does not want you in the neighbourhood, though you have every right to be there. Soon the number of fruit trees you lose to your neighbour’s men goes up. Your workers start to quit. You start making a loss. Unless you manage to stop the stone throwing and the uprooting of fruit trees, you will have to vacate the neighbourhood. What do you do then? There is no police force worth the name in your part of the world. You have no choice but to send a team of armed men into your neighbour’s land and capture or kill everyone who has thrown stones or intruded into your land and teach your neighbour such a lesson that he does not try to harm your property ever again.

Now imagine for a moment that you acquired your fertile piece of land after a prolonged litigation. You won the legal dispute and the loser was your neighbour who owns the adjacent barren piece of land. They are many in your town who say that the court ruling was unfair, though the bulk of the local residents support the judicial ruling and are happy for you to occupy your piece of land. Does this additional piece of information make you change your mind? Do you now think that the neighbour has the right to throw stones into your land or intrude into your land and uproot your fruit trees? The answer is a clear No. Instead, what your neighbour ought to do if unhappy with the court ruling is appeal to a higher court. If further appeal is not possible, your neighbour ought to get public opinion on his side and in the meantime, try and make his barren piece of land as fertile as possible.

Israel is in the position of the owner of the fertile land. Its neighbour is Hamas, an organisation whose charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic State. I have always believed that the creation of Israel through an UN resolution was absolutely fair. If you believe that the creation of Israel by the UN in 1948 was correct, it naturally follows that Israel has the right to defend its territory and pre-empt any possible attack that may pose an existential threat to Israel. I have many good friends who ardently believe that the creation of Israel was unfair. All those friends tell me that Israel’s Gaza offensive is totally unjustified.

It must be admitted, most of what followed after the fair and legal creation of Israel was neither fair nor legal. Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and its Arab minority has almost always been very, very unjust. In particular, I don’t think that Israel was justified in placing an economic blockade on the Gaza Strip in reaction to Hamas’s election victory. Though no one likes the idea of fundamentalists of the Hamas variety on their door step, Israel had no right to make life unbearable for the people in the Gaza Strip. Also, it must not be forgotten that Hamas is largely a creation of Israel. If Israel were not so desperate to undermine the secular Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Fatah, fundamentalist Hamas would not have come into existence.

The Gaza Strip is not a sovereign state, but Hamas runs it as if it is. As per the UN resolution which created Israel, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem ought to form an independent Palestinian state. However, East Jerusalem is illegally occupied by Israel and the West Bank is under the control of the Fatah. Hamas won the Palestinian Parliamentary Elections in January 2006 and came to power. After infighting broke out between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas was evicted from the West Bank in mid 2007. For good measure, the Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas declared Hamas to be an illegal force. I don’t think Mahmud Abbas was right in doing so and I do think that Hamas got a raw deal in being evicted from the West Bank, considering the fact that they won 74 seats to the ruling-Fatah's 45 in the Parliamentary elections in January 2006. Most probably Israel played a key behind-the-scenes role in all this.

However, despite all these drawbacks on the part of Israel, the random launching of rockets into Israel with the intention of killing civilians cannot be justified. Hamas’s attacks on Israel are not just a reaction to the economic blockade. Instead, it arises out of Hamas’s determination that Israel should not exist as a state. The range of Hamas’s rockets has been increasing in range and accuracy by the month and soon there may be a day when Hamas is able to target any part of Israel at its will. When faced with such a situation, Israel is perfectly entitled to defend itself against such attacks and do all that is necessary to prevent such attacks in future.

The forthcoming elections in Israel and the need for the ruling Labour Party to show itself to be as tough on Hamas as the Likud Party, has definitely influenced Israel’s decision to attack the Hamas in Gaza. Nevertheless, Israel’s right to defend itself is so fundamental that it is entitled to do so even on election’s eve.

All of what I have stated above begs the question whether India is entitled to respond against Pakistan in a similar fashion in response to the Mumbai attacks. The answer is yes, though, considering the fact that Pakistan is not the Gaza Strip and it possesses nuclear weapons, India would be foolhardy to do so.

Israeli air strikes have led to heavy civilian casualties. It is not easy to watch visuals of civilians, including young children being killed, and say with a straight face the Israel’s actions are justified. However, Israel’s actions are indeed justified. Hamas has intentionally mixed up its military infrastructure with civilian infrastructure in Gaza. Hamas seems to enjoy a high degree of civilian support in Gaza. If a near-sovereign state supported by its population launches attacks on another sovereign state using equipment and men who are mixed up with civilians, the ensuing retribution will cause civilian causalities. Hamas is as much to blame for the civilians killed in the air strikes as are the people of Gaza who voted for an organisation whole sole objective is to remove Israel from the face of this earth.

Will Israel succeed in its objective? In 2006, Israel launched an offensive against the Hezbollah in Lebanon and was fought to a standstill. Hezbollah’s survival made it a lot more popular and Israel’s aura of invincibility was badly dented. Hamas is no Hezbollah. It is not as tough or as capable as Hassan Nazarallah’s organisation. Also, unlike in 2006, this time Israel seems to be successfully avoiding battles in dense population centres where die-hard Hamas fighters could take a heavy toll of its fighters. If Israel’s only objective is to stop the rocket attacks altogether, it will not succeed. If its aim is to only make Hamas pay a price for the rocket attacks, it may succeed. However, Hamas will continue to exist as an organisation even after this offensive is over. It will also retain its ability to launch attacks on Israel, as before. Its popularity in Gaza Strip and the rest of the Arab world may even go up. In short, the Israeli offensive will most probably do nothing other than help the Labour Party and Ehud Barak win the next elections.

Awaking a Sleeping Man

BangaloreGuy — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:41:25 EST

<i>You can only awake a sleeping man, and not one who pretends to sleep.</i>

-Mahatma Gandhi

In a pointed response to how good this government, the Prime Minister and the new Home Minister are at securing us, is the information that the expanded NSG is to expand to 4 more (metro) cities Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai & Hyderabad. That the "metros" definition needs a big lookover aside, it underscores the fact that these bozos do not have their head over anything that relates to governance, or security.

When was the last time Kolkata even had a terrorist attack - yeah, that is the kind of question that keeps the mind ticking, doesnt it?(2003, American Embassy) How about Chennai. Umm, the closest, is attacks in 98 at Coimbatore and in Bangalore. But, in their infinite wisdom they've a hub in Chennai too.

Attacks on Chennai may impact the Indian economy - but its not on the World radar, neither does it face a threat perception of that level (or impact the economy on a big enough scale). Attacks on Kolkata will not hurt the economy either - the last time West Bengal had a decent chance of impacting the Indian economy positively was with the Nano project, but that wasnt based in Kolkata either! (and the techs there are about the same as most Tier2 Indian cities)

No NSG for Guwahati which faces attacks here, there everywhere. No NSG for Bangalore which gives on an average 25 billion US$ to the government buckets, and has faced 2 terror attacks in the space of a year. 300,000 tech workers reside in bangalore - most employed in hubs around Electronic City or Whitefield areas. But nope, Bangalore doesnt get a NSG hub. Nearest will be in Chennai (and given the chaos in travel to the BIAL airport, travelling by road's faster - but the NSG might get Volvos if, god forbid, they'd need to be deployed in Bangalore)

Listen to this damning piece of Information (from the ToI link):

As soon as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced setting up regional NSG hubs in the wake of Mumbai attacks, chief ministers of several states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Maharashtra had met home minister P Chidambaram and pitched for setting up such units in their states.

Do Chief Ministers need to meet the Centre, towel-in-hand for an NSG hub to be there? What is the rationale for setting up a NSG hub? Prestige status for that state?

Or what this news report quotes:

The tech city was the favourite for stationing the elite anti-terror commando force, but it has now given way to the neighbouring Hyderabad and Chennai.

Under fire after the Mumbai terror attacks, the Centre had stressed its intention of creating more NSG hubs, and Bangalore —high on the terror radar for years—was billed as one. However, when it was announced early this week, the garden city was missing from the list. Those that bagged the NSG centres, apart from the two southern cities, were Mumbai and Kolkata.

When Deccan Herald sought to find out the reason, Home Ministry sources indicated it was mainly to deal with lobbying. “Karnataka failed in it both politically and bureaucratically. On top of it, Karnataka is an Opposition-ruled state, while Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are not.

Is it little wonder that Pakistan repeatedly spouts its "Baseless" remarks, and runs hoops around our government, while asking for"evidence"?