Why India Qualifies to be Declared a Rogue State
http://www.satribune.com/archives/feb03_09_03/opinion_rogue.htm
Anwaar Hussain
THE US policy makers define a "Rogue State” as one which supports terrorism and threatens its neighbors; displays no regard for international law and callously violates international treaties; discards basic human values; maltreats its own people and fritters away national resources for the personal gain of its rulers; is determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), along with other advanced military technology, to be used as threats or offensive designs of its regimes; and hates the United States and everything which it stands for.
This last definition has been apparently put there by the US policy makers in case all else fails to stick. In plain English, as Robert S. Litwak suggests, it means a rogue state is whoever the United States says it is. Litwak speaks from experience. He served on the White House’s National Security Council staff during President Clinton’s first term, as director for non-proliferation and export controls.
Moreover, the meaning of the term “terrorism” has been left to the imagination of all those who want to use it for their own purposes as long as their interpretation does not cross paths with US interests. Despite the apparent ambiguities and dichotomy in the US definition of such a state, for some time now India has been doing everything within its means to get Pakistan declared a rogue state.
Interestingly, when the above definition is applied to this mother of all democracies herself, some awfully remarkable results get thrown up. Let us see how India matches up:
Rogue States support terrorism and threaten their neighbors
All India’s neighbors are ill-at-ease with her. India has a running dispute with each and every one of her neighbors. Be it Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or the smaller neighbors. In Pakistan’s case her interventionism has gone to the extreme of mid-wifing the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. It is a documented fact that India has been sponsoring cross-border terrorism in the Pakistani province of Sindh. India’s implicit support for terrorist activity is consistent with its internal behavior. It has a record of repression of minorities that undermines its proclamation of democratic values.
Apart from India’s State terrorism against Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, and all the other minority groups, it is funding terrorism in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Bhutan. Among insurgencies funded and supported by India, Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka and Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh are well known. India created and supported the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an organization the US government has called a “terrorist” organization. According to Internet journalist Justin Raimondo, the Indian Defense Minister, George Fernandes, raised money and arms for the LTTE. India is also guilty of intervention in the tiny Maldives Islands in broad daylight.
At the same time India has helped the Nepalese state in carrying out a genocidal war against Nepalese people who do not see eye to eye with the Nepalese government on various issues. With the help of Indian advisors the Nepalese state has carried out mass massacres, gang- rapes and inhuman torture on an expanding scale.
On an average more than a dozen people are killed there every day. In the period of last one year, more than 3,500 Nepalese have been killed. In its effort to centralize, concentrate and monopolize state power, the Nepalese monarchy, with the full backing of the so called biggest democracy in the world, has marginalized the parliament and all other institutions and agencies of the state. Nepal has suspended all fundamental human and democratic rights, while killing and arresting progressive journalists and activists. India has collaborated in these fascist genocidal policies by capturing oppositional journalists and deporting them to Nepal. People who came to India seeking medical treatment have been abducted and delivered to the torture chambers of the Nepalese state.
In short, India not only uses terrorism internally but also threatens her neighbors with the export of her experience in the usage of state terrorism.
Rogue States display no regard for international law and callously violate international treaties
The Amnesty International (AI) has repeatedly warned India that it’s anti-terrorism legislation of “Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act” (TADA) and “Prevention of Terrorism Act” (POTA) endanger human rights as these neither provide sufficient safeguards to prevent violations nor are compatible with international treaties. The right to life is laid down in major international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which India has ratified and in the Indian Constitution.
Article 6(1) of the ICCPR says: “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.” POTA and TADA not only violate rights guaranteed both by the Indian Constitution and international human rights treaties - most prominently the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which India ratified in 1979 - but have verifiably been grossly abused.
A report issued last year by the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) showed that India admitted to holding 52,268 political prisoners. Amnesty International reports that tens of thousands of other minorities are also being held as political prisoners. These prisoners continue to be held under the infamous law (TADA), which expired in 1995. It empowered the government to hold people virtually indefinitely for any offense or for no offense at all.
According to many reports, some of these political prisoners have been in custody for almost two decades. Amnesty International has been reporting for years now that tens of thousands of minorities are being held as political prisoners. More than 40 Members of the US Congress have written to President Bush asking him to work for freedom for these political prisoners. These draconian laws are in contravention of all Canons of Justice. The continued use of these black laws adequately demonstrates that India displays no regard for international law and callously violates international treaties to which she is a party.
Rogue States discard basic human values, maltreat their own people and fritter away their national resources for the personal gain of the rulers
The Indian ruling class is whipping up big-nation bigotry, in total disregard of basic human values, to aggressively push their diehard counter-revolutionary agenda. This has been accompanied by anti-Pakistani war hysteria and unleashing fascist Hindu prejudice. These once hollow slogans have now taken an extreme and dangerous turn. The ruling B.J.P. and their fascist thugs are following the strategy to letter and spirit.
The policy of targeting minorities in general, and Muslims in particular has become routine and institutionalized within the state. The recent state sponsored anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat unleashed by the BJP rulers in the state are a case in point. More than 2500 Muslim men, women and children have been massacred for short term gains in national politics. In spite of these confirmed reports, which lay bare the culpability of ruling party men as well as civil and police functionaries in the ghastly killings of innocent men, women, and children of the Muslim community, the Narendra Modi Government not only continues to be in place, but is, ironically, even being acclaimed by the Centre for its handling of the situation. A worse example of using state resources and patronage for the gain of the rulers cannot be found.
