Israel vs Palestine: There will be blood

Disproportionate response has always been the cornerstone of Israeli policy towards Palestine and this time too it has been no different. The decision of the Jewish state to allow massive levels of settlements (considered illegal by friend and foe alike) on Palestinian land has only added fuel to the fire.

The knee-jerk reaction to Palestine gaining observer status at UN (just nine opposing votes shows where the world opinion stands), the hawks in Israeli government had to prove that any line other than the Israeli line will bring about only suffering for Palestinians and their cause.

The settlements will further corral Palestinians into a smaller piece of land, which is being continually encroached by Israel on every possible pretext, forcing into their lives an artificial scarcity for resources and related suffering.

The icing on the Israeli policy cake is further financial and material restrictions that will cripple Palestine administration. As hundreds of millions of dollars in legitimate taxes and aid is denied to the Palestine government, it is only natural that the current human catastrophe in the occupied territories will worsen. This will weaken the government’s ability to govern and, more importantly, rein in the activities of militant groups that target Israeli territory with crude rockets.

The recent cross-border military operations by Israel in Gaza clearly demonstrates that the Jewish state has no qualms in killing civilians, though its propaganda machinery goes to great lengths to say how it  ‘minimises collateral damage’.

In a report by an international news agency, a Gaza resident recalls how he got a warning call from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) at 3am that the building was about to be bombed in five minutes and the family had to evacuate immediately. He and his family were lucky enough to make it out alive before Israeli jets reduced the building to rubble — not everyone was that lucky.

Say an average family has five to seven members, including children and elderly, how many can get out of a multi-storey building if roused at the dead of the night and given a five-minute window? So even as its operations are guaranteed to massacre innocent civilians, Israelis can hide behind their lip-service to ‘adequate warning’ — and have their US-led backers endorsing the slaughter.

However, the Western champions of ‘peace and stability in the region’ have no difficulty in ignoring Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons and its continuing occupation of other countries’ territories — if only one were to forget that it is actually an occupied Palestine that is today’s Israel.

Israeli policies are also ensuring that the oppression and injustice faced by the Palestinians are increasing by the day, and in turn transforming into a rallying point for terrorist organisations. Recruitment videos of jihadi groups showing mothers wailing over bloodied, limp bodies of little children killed in Israeli raids have been quite effective in serving their purpose.

When the financial and military might of Israel and its half-a-dozen backers are able to subvert the functioning of an international body like the United Nations and reduce it to a scarecrow, it is only natural that any action that will hurt Israel and its citizens will find takers and supporters.

Palestinians are being killed slowly and painfully by Israel’s sheer brutality and equally effective stranglehold of blockades. The blood and tears of Palestinians will ensure that Israel will never sleep in peace till it mends its ways.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on December 5, 2012.)

What makes Zionist occupation of Palestine justifiable?

The self-proclaimed defenders of freedom and liberty in West are blind to the most modern example of colonialism, state-sponsored oppression and systematic ethnic cleansing — yes, even in the 21st Century.

Why aren't the Western democracies arming Palestinians to overthrow the Zionist occupiers? No Arab Spring for these people huh?

Just imagine Winston Churchill (or the new Labour PM) giving a similar presentation at an international conference in 1947.

The continuing occupation of Palestine by invaders from across the world shows what happens when religion, and not reason, decides policies.

Israel (actually its Zionist-occupied territory of Palestine) continues to occupy an entire country and vast swathes of territory of neighbours, has hundreds of nuclear weapons and has an 'impressive history of unilateral military aggression - and everyone is worried about Iranian nuclear weapons, of which there is no proof of!

This UN theatrics reminds me of the Weapons of Mass Destruction presentation before the US invasion of Iraq.

Since the God has already chosen his people [Hey, what are you doubting? The Good Book says so. After the burning bush spoke to Moses, millennia had to pass before God spoke to Bush (George W Bush)], I have only one thing to say to the suffering Palestinians...

May the Force be with you.

Exchequer needn’t foot bill for salvation

The ruling by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court that the Central government phase out the Haj subsidy (currently about Rs600 crore per annum) in 10 years has drawn bouquets and brickbats alike.
The Haj subsidy is being handed out since 1954 and around 1 lakh people avail it every year to travel to Mecca to fulfil the requirement laid out by Islam.
India is the only country to offer this subsidy.
The flights carrying the pilgrims to Jeddah are usually chartered ones because they return empty, and naturally the fare is two to three times higher than the usual flight charges in the same route.
The subsidy was introduced to allow the pilgrims some cushion in this regard. Some Islamic scholars are of the opinion that Sharia prohibits a pilgrim from availing aid in any form to travel to the Holy Land.
“A Haj is undertaken only if you have the money, are in good health, and have performed all your duties towards your family. Going on a Haj with money you borrowed from someone is absolutely prohibited,” says Shahi Imam of Delh’s Fatehpuri Masjid Mukarram Ahmed.
While some agree, others beg to differ. According to them, the withdrawal of the subsidy will take away from the poor faithful the only opportunity to undertake the pilgrimage.
The subsidies are not just confined to Haj alone, the Centre plays an active role in facilitating Amarnath and Kailas Manasarovar yatras. Hundreds of crores of rupees are spent indirectly in maintaining infrastructure and providing security to the pilgrims.
There are a few states that subsidise Christian pilgrimages to Israel and Palestine.
Subsidies for various communities and their religious activities are nothing more than a time-tested tactic of vote bank politics. The political leadership wants to be seen as the ‘providers’ who will cater to the spiritual and material interests of the masses.
When humanity was taking baby steps towards political organisations, the tribal chieftains and kings came up with their ‘divine origin’ theory where the ruler was the representative of god on earth and his authority was unquestionable.
Over the millennia, the spheres spiritual and temporal became separated (at least in the democracies) but the ability to swing public support through favouring religious affairs never lost its popularity among ruling classes.
The preamble of our Constitution clearly states the India is a secular state. The addition of ‘secularism was made 26 years after the Constitution came into effect, through the 42nd Amendment in 1976. The government must not favour or discriminate against any religion. So the government policy of subsidising religious activities is in contravention of the constitutional provisions.
Instead of following the pattern of separating religion and state, we have been following a policy of appeasement of communities. Governments of all hues have shied away from taking bold decisions on social reform for fear of backlash from one vote bank or the other.
The absence of a Uniform Civil Code allows each community to force their primitive justice system on their members.
Most of the times, it is the judiciary that has thrown the light of rational wisdom into the labyrinths where the stranglehold of religious leadership keep the faithful in medieval darkness.
Pressure from religious hawks kept the LGBT community under state-sponsored persecution under the draconian Section 377 of the IPC. Even under sharp criticism from courts, the government took several years to acknowledge that consensual sex between adults belonging to the same sex is not illegal.
The more the state dabbles in religious affairs, the more problems it will create. There will always be discontent and charges of bias.
We have plenty of material problems such as poverty, unemployment, social evils, illiteracy, inadequate housing and infrastructure, social justice and corruption that need all the attention and resources of the government.
Religion is each citizen’s personal matter and its pursuit should be left to them. It’s not fair to ask the people to foot bills of those in search of salvation.
(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on May 9, 2012)

Uncle Sam roars at terror, India purrs

The US announcement of $10 million bounty on Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafeez Sayeed has sent the entire Indian government, security and diplomatic circles into an applause overdrive. Little time was lost in appreciating the US gesture while reiterating New Delhi’s demand to Pakistan to bring the mastermind of 26/11 attacks to justice.
However, India’s reaction and subsequent rhetoric from various quarters resembles a kitten baring its claws in the shadow of a roaring lion and expecting to generate equal amount of awe.
Global diplomatic circles and definitely Pakistan are not fooled by the Indian sabre rattling. India has an abysmal record of following up its threats of punitive action and retaliation.
This was last evident when Pakistani terrorists attacked the Parliament in 2001. India mounted its biggest ever mobilisation, termed Operation Parakram, threatening to react with force if Pakistan did not rein in the terror operatives.
However, India chickened out in the face of Pakistani threat of first use of nuclear weapons. The massive operation which saw almost half-a-million troops and war equipment moved to forward offensive positions fizzled out — the balance sheet was thousands of crores wasted, several lives lost in accidents and loss of face in front of the international community.
More than a decade has passed and there has been no dearth of Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attacks on Indian soil. India has been liberally handing out warnings and threats at each occasion — hot pursuit a favourite phrase.
Even on this doctrine, the Indian establishment has not been able to speak in one voice. When a General talks about targeting militant camps across the border, the bureaucratic and political leadership openly declare their commitment to self-restraint.
The ultimate result of lack of political will to pursue the country’s national interests is that neither Pakistan nor the terrorists groups it nurtures take India seriously. And we have an inglorious legacy of letting every terrorist group to slaughter and walk away with impunity.
The chiefs of all Pakistan-based terrorist outfits have been travelling all over Middle East raising funds and the super-secretive RAW’s operatives have not even plucked a hair of any one of them.
Indian public could watch only with helplessness when Dawood Ibrahim and his confidants, who engineered the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, were seen LIVE on TV cheering during a Sharjah Cup match. This was at a time when Indian sleuths and international agencies such as the Interpol were following every procedure in the book to get him extradited (if they could locate him in the first place) for crimes committed in India.
No country allows terrorists to mess with it and walk away unscathed. After 9/11, the Americans launched a global war on terror and did not rest till Osama bin Laden was killed. The Russians, the French, the British and the Israelis go to any extent to seek and destroy the elements who threaten national security.
However, India is content with cumbersome procedures and strict adherence to international covenants, and that too in a complacent manner which would make the techniques of the 19th century Congress moderates look like militant nationalists.
After begging all over the world for information and extraditions, our result is always blank. India’s ‘most wanted’ criminals and terrorist operatives continue to ply their trade without any interruption. At times one can’t help but wonder if our government is waiting for god to punish them.
For all the touting of our military might and the elite special forces, we remain toothless by choice while the enemies of the country continue to bleed us through a thousand wounds.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on April 4, 2012)

Iran-Israel imbroglio in Indraprastha

With Iran being blamed for the simultaneous magnetic bomb attacks on Israel embassy personnel across different parts of the globe, India finds itself in a particularly difficult diplomatic fix where it has to make some hard choices.
India imports 12 per cent of its crude from Iran and has continued to do so despite immense pressure from the EU and US to stop it and choke Iran’s finances, which they say, is funding its covert nuclear weapon programme.
Iran has been a friend of India and has honoured its commitments on supply of oil and bilateral trade despite India voting against it in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meetings, siding with the US and its allies.
However, with more evidence emerging about the similarity in the modus operandi of the attackers in using ditto style that was used to assassinate key Iranian nuclear scientists and the coincidence with the anniversary of killing of Hezbollah leaders, India would find it difficult to believe the Persian republic’s story.
Since the end of the cold war, India has been slowly but steadily strengthening its ties with Israel. Counter-terrorism and defence are areas of shared interest for both countries, bordered by hostile neighbours and constant targets of terrorist attacks.
Co-operation in these fields has grown multi-fold in the last two decades. Today India is the largest customer of Israeli military hardware and sources a substantial chunk of its high-end weapon platforms from the Jewish state.
Israel has also emerged as India’s second largest military supplier after the Russian federation. Israel has gone out of its way to persuade the US to allow it to sell sophisticated weapons systems it developed with American collaboration.
The attack on Israeli diplomatic personnel on Indian soil has been a first and comes close to the two countries celebrating establishment of diplomatic ties in January 1992. The ease with which the attack was carried out in broad daylight very close to the prime minister’s official residence has also exposed an embarrassing hole in the radar of the dozen-odd security agencies tasked with keeping the Capital secure.
Tensions are high in West Asia. Israel is preparing for a unilateral pre-emptive air/missile strike on Iran, with or without the US support. A cornered Iran, feeling the economic crunch of harsher EU-US sanctions, is threatening to cut off oil supplies to Europe and close the Straits of Hormuz — a vital route for international oil trade.
The US has responded by sending its carrier group to international waters close to Iran and has vowed to defeat any attempt to block oil routes. Iran responded by testing additional land-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles and unveiling two indigenously built submarines.
The current dicey situation is also a wake-up call for Indian planners and the need to diversify from the country’s over dependence on import of oil and military hardware.
Another key area that needs addressing is intelligence gathering. Despite all the gung ho about overhaul of security apparatus after 26/11, several terrorist attacks have taken place in the country — the Delhi incident being the latest feather in the cap of intelligence failures. A conflict is looming and the ripples of the tensions have reached Indian shores.
It is time for India to man up and tell its squabbling West Asian friends to stop dirtying its backyard.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on February 15, 2012)