Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 7, 2009
http://www.dailypioneer.com/181225/Impotent-West-rages-at-Lanka.html
In the early-1990s when gunbattles between
terrorists and security forces were a commonplace occurrence in Jammu &
Kashmir, a British newspaper ran a bizarre story. If memory serves me right,
it was The Independent which, in a 'special' despatch, probably filed from
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, reported how Indian Army jawans would drape themselves
in white sheets and descend on remote villages after nightfall. Poor, terrified
Kashmiris, convinced that they were being attacked by 'ghosts', would either
die of shock or lose their mental equilibrium. I don't remember the exact
details, but I think there was some mention of the less fortunate being shot
dead in cold blood.
In those days the Anglo-American media merrily
concocted grim stories of human rights violations by the Indian state, many
of them fed by a certain Robin Raphel who had been appointed America's official
busybody for South Asia by President Bill Clinton. The terrorists, separatists
and assorted Islamists in the Valley hero-worshipped her while human rights
organisations tripped over each other to produce gory reports which Ms Raphel
would then cite to denigrate India. I recall receiving a glossy report published
by Amnesty International on 'extrajudicial killings' in the Kashmir Valley
by the Indian Army. The cover showed a distraught, dishevelled woman wailing
over a grave and the caption said, "A Kashmiri widow grieves for her
husband killed by the Indian Army" - or words to that effect. A friend
in London alerted me that it was a con job; friends in the Government helped
track down the origin of the cover photograph: It had been shot at the grave
of a peer in south India, a visit to which is believed to cure lunatics of
their lunacy. There was no e-mail those days, so a fax was sent to Amnesty
International seeking its comment. There was no response. The Pioneer ran
a story pointing out the inaccuracy and raising questions about the contents
between the misleading covers. It was subsequently picked up by other newspapers
and news services. Amnesty International put out a long statement, insisting
that the cover was 'only illustrative' and the contents of the report were
'correct'. But nobody, barring the Anglo-American media, bothered to take
note of it.
Years later there was the Chittisinghpora
massacre in Anantnag district of Jammu & Kashmir on March 20, 2000. Dressed
in Indian Army fatigues, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba terrorists killed 36 Sikhs. One
of the killers, Mohammad Suhail Malik of Sialkot in Pakistan, told Barry Bearak
of the New York Times that he was 'directed' by the LeT to carry out the massacre.
Suhail Malik is a nephew of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the chief terrorist of LeT
who now heads Jamaat-ud-Dawa'h and has just been rewarded by the Lahore High
Court for masterminding last November's fidayeen attack on Mumbai. The overwhelming
evidence about the LeT's involvement in the Chittisinghpora massacre was ignored
by the Anglo-American media which insisted the killings were the handiwork
of the Indian Army. This absurd claim was bolstered by fifth columnists amidst
us, including a travel writer fascinated by something as banal as 'butter
chicken' (I must shame-facedly admit that it was me who encouraged him to
become a writer and gave him his first byline in the Pioneer), who wrote long
essays and scathing articles denouncing India in the Anglo-American media
while exonerating the LeT and its patrons in Pakistan.
These stories come to mind as I read horrifying
accounts of how the Sri Lankan Army 'killed' 20,000 or more Tamil civilians
in the concluding days of the war it waged against the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam, one of the most dreaded terrorist organisations in the world
to which goes the credit of inventing the 'suicide belt' and popularising
the 'human bomb' as a weapon of mass terror. Had it not been for the LTTE
and its ruthless chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, jihad minus suicide bombers
would have been less blood-curdlingly spectacular. Ever since its formation
in 1976, the LTTE excelled in mindless slaughter and running a Pol Pot-like
regime with the help of sophisticated arms and limitless funds. Prabhakaran
ran every possible racket - from drug trafficking to human trafficking, from
extortion to appropriation - to fund his terrorist enterprise. He deployed
women to blow themselves up and kill high profile targets, including Rajiv
Gandhi; he forcibly inducted children into his army to be used as cannon fodder.
In the end, he got his just desserts. Tamils and Sinhalese are celebrating
their liberation from the fear of man-eating Tigers.
The Americans have got nowhere with their
three-trillion-dollar war on terror. The Sri Lankans have demonstrated that
all it takes is conviction and determination to destroy terror root and branch.
The mighty West looks impotent when compared to a tiny island nation which
has won a spectacular victory. Is this why the Anglo-American media has unleashed
a virulent campaign of calumny against Sri Lanka, accusing its Army of genocide?
The Times of London has published a story alleging at least 20,000 civilians
have been killed by the Sri Lankan Army. This is thrice the figure claimed
by busybodies of the UN. There is a clamour among 'liberal' democracies in
Europe that the Sri Lankan Government should be tried for 'war crimes'. The
US is strangely silent. Colombo says no more than 3,000 to 5,000 civilians,
who were used as a 'human shield' by Prabhakaran and his men, have been killed,
nearly all of them in LTTE fire. Collateral damage is inevitable in the war
on terror, or else Afghan civilians would not die during Nato operations and
Pakistanis would not be killed in American drone attacks.
Here are some facts which perhaps explain
the rush to shed tears for the LTTE and concoct outlandish stories about the
Sri Lankan Army blasting its way through with heavy mortar in a densely-populated
area. Over the decades Tamils from Sri Lanka with pronounced LTTE connections
have been provided with 'political asylum' in countries like Britain, Canada
and the US. The Tamil diaspora is now estimated to be 1.2 million strong.
The Tamils are financially well-off and have access to politicians whom they
fund. In the UK, Germany, Canada, the US and smaller European countries they
command a sizeable vote-share (300,000 voters in Canada can swing results
in several constituencies). With the LTTE gone, the rackets many of them ran
on behalf of Prabhakaran will now be adversely affected. Hence their raucous
protest and impressive rallies.
As for the sanctimonious Anglo-American media,
any story that paints the former colonies in the bleakest of colours is worth
publishing on the front page. The media-generated outrage would suggest that
only Whites have the right to wage war on terror. Racism doesn't exist only
in Australia.
- Blog on this issue at: kanchangupta.blogspot.com,
Contact Writer at: kanchangupta@rocketmail.com
