HVK Archives: Indian caravan gets a tastes of Gaddafi enigma
Indian caravan gets a tastes of Gaddafi enigma - The Indian Express
Raman Kirpal
()
19 August 1997
Title: Indian caravan gets a tastes of Gaddafi enigma
Author: Raman Kirpal
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 19, 1997
It appeared that we were set to break the mystery of the most enigmatic of
world leaders - Col Moammar Gaddafi. But after spending five days in his
fiefdom, the mystique of the Libyan President had only deepened.
I, as part of a 21-member delegation led by a little-known India-based NGO,
Organisation for Promotion of Love among Indians (OPLAIN), flew to Tripoli
on August 5 to present an International peace award to Gaddafi for his
unstinted support to India on the CTBT issue.
En route Paris-Tunis-Djerba, we were finally taken to Tripoli by road (580
km from Djerba) on August 8. For five days, we held our breath to have a
glance of him. But he was no where in sight. And, the OPLAIN organisers
had told me that I would get an exclusive interview with Gaddafi who is
visible to the public only on September 1, Libya's Independence Day.
Of course, Gaddafi, a figure larger than life here, was writ large
everywhere. The roads, hotels, Government offices and the supposedly
non-governmental offices - all were adorned by his photographs. The
official TV channel had nothing but Qaddaffi, sometimes he himself giving
sermons in Arabic or anti-US propaganda and patriotic songs in Arabic
featuring him.
Although they hate the US officially, US products and even TV channels are
available. Officially, the Libyans banks offer only 30 dinar for $ 100.
But in Libyan markets, you get 330-350 dinar for $ 100.
The delegation represented by OPLAIN's president Syed Qaisser Mehmood also
included former MP Inderjit and representatives from Indian newspapers. The
caravan was taken to the Government-owned Mahari hotel in Tripoli. The
surveillance began as soon as we entered our room: Libyan officials put
CCTV cameras on the floors where the delegation members were made to stay.
One baggage scanning machine was put at the ground floor on the pretext of
security reasons.
When are we going to meet Col Gaddafi? "You are not supposed to ask this.
You will be told one hour before the D Day," was the reply from the OPLAIN
organisers and the Libyan officials, who too were put up in the same hotel
for round-the-clock surveillance. They also took away our passports on the
pretext that they were to be deposited with the hotel. The Indian Embassy
officials here had no inkling about us.
On the first and the most sacrosanct trip, we were taken to the ruins of
Gaddafi's Palace. US fighter planes had attacked this palace in September
1986. "Our brother leader Gaddafi escaped unhurt, but his five-year-old
daughter was killed in the attack" explained a protocol man. "I think he
was inside the palace and he ran out soon after the attack", he added after
two minutes.
But did the bomb fall on the palace? There was no hole near the palace or
on the palace roof. Only the plaster had peeled off. The two-storeyed
building was still standing erect. The Libyan officials accompanying us
were at pains to explain that the budding was so strong that it was able to
take the impact of the bomb. Their last desperate explanation: "The target
anyway was Gaddafi's palace."
The holy visit was over and then we were on our way to the Mahari hotel.
In the next three days, leaders after leaders, including their Minister of
State for External Affairs, were introduced to us but Gaddafi never happened.
We were getting anxious, "When are we meeting Gaddafi?" "Perhaps this
evening, you will know only one hour before the meeting," we were told.
On the third day of our visit, August 11, even before we could realise the
mess we were in, we were directed to extend our stay for seven more days
with a message from Gaddafi, saying that he desired that the delegation
members should visit his country "by its length and breadth."
"Our Indian ambassadors have not had one-to-one meet with Gaddafi in the
past three years, so how can you meet him?" said a senior Indian Embassy
official, who was deeply intrigued by the hush-hush manner in which the
OPLAIN delegation was flown in.
Some of us decided to leave. The immediate response from the Libyans,
particularly Alfarzani, a Libyan Embassy official in Delhi who had
accompanied us from Delhi to Libya, was a stem "no".
We said we would approach the Indian embassy. The warning signal perhaps
worked out, as they turned softer.
It chaos and confusion till Inderjit took the imitative. He took passports
of five of us and requested the Indian Embassy to use its good offices to
get Tunisia's transit visa within a day. And on August 13, we proceeded in
a Libyan Government car to Djerba, from where we took a plane to Tunis and
then a connecting flight to Paris,
The bottomline remains that the Libyan Government sponsored this trip,
spending Rs 81,000 for each person in the delegation. The Indian Embassy
was kept in the dark.
the OPLAIN organisers said in Tripoli that President and the Prime Minister
of India are their, patrons. Whose and what this trip was for anyway?
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