Why India Qualifies
to be Declared a Rogue State
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.
According to very credible numbers published by human-rights groups
and the Punjab judiciary, the government of India has murdered
more than 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, in excess of 200,000 Christians
in Nagaland since 1947, almost 75,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988,
and tens of thousands of Assamese, Tamils, Manipuris, Dalits,
and others. In 1994, the US State Department reported that the
Indian government paid out over 41,000 cash bounties to police
officers for killing members of the Sikh minority.
In
the same year, the Indian newspaper Hitavada reported
that the Indian government paid the late governor of Punjab, Surendra
Nath, the equivalent of $1.5 billion to stir up terrorist activity
in Punjab and in Kashmir. Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram,
Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra are some of the places, other than
Jammu and Kashmir, where the mother of democracies is busy slaughtering
its own children in absolute disregard for basic human values.
The
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads a 23-party coalition,
is a branch of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), an organization
founded in 1925 in support of the Fascists. The governing ideology
of the BJP and all the branches of the RSS is Hindutva i.e. the
subjugation of society, politics, and culture to Hinduism. Last
year, a cabinet member said that everyone living in India must
either be a Hindu or be subservient to Hinduism. And in New York
in 2000, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said, "I will
always be a Swayamsewak."
This
is the ideology behind the attacks on Christians, Sikhs, Muslims,
and other minorities. The target of choice these days seems to
be Muslims and Christians. Human-rights organizations report that
more than 200,000 Christians in Nagaland have been killed by the
Indian government since partition. These attacks continue a pattern
of oppression of Christians that has been going on heavily since
Christmas 1998. Since then, members of the RSS have murdered priests,
raped nuns, burned churches, and committed other atrocities with
impunity.
The
RSS published a booklet last year detailing how to file false
criminal cases against Christians and other religious minorities.
The RSS objects to the presence of missionaries in India. The
missionaries are having a good deal of success in converting members
of the lower castes, especially Dalits, also known as "Untouchables".
This removes the lower-caste people from the stratification of
the caste system, which is essential to the Hindu religion and
social structure.
During
President Clinton's visit to India in March 2000 the Indian secret
agencies massacred 35 Sikh villagers in Kashmir and then blamed
the Kashmiri freedom fighters for this barbaric act. Movement
Against State Repression (MASR) co-sponsored with the Punjab Human
Rights Organization an investigation of the March 2000 massacre
of 35 Sikhs in Chithisinghpora. It concluded that Indian forces
carried out the massacre. A separate investigation conducted by
the International Human Rights Organization came to the same conclusion.
Is
the aforementioned not sufficient proof that India discards basic
human values, maltreats her own people and fritters away her national
resources for the gain of the ruling BJP?
Rogue states are 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
The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction--nuclear, chemical
and biological--and the means for their delivery at ever longer
ranges has emerged as a central policy objective for the Indian
policymakers and planners. India is now a confirmed possessor
of all three WMDs. India has one of the more self-sufficient missile
programs in the developing world and is expected to become self-sufficient
in all areas of production by the beginning of 21st century. It
has the capability to design and build a missile with little foreign
assistance.
The
Rumsfeld Commission Report on Ballistic Missile Threat to USA
reported in as far back as 1998; “India is developing a
number of ballistic missiles from short range to those with ICBM-class
capabilities, along with a submarine-launched ballistic missile
(SLBM) and a short range, surface ship-launched system. India
has the infrastructure to develop and produce these missiles.
It is aggressively seeking technology from other states, particularly
Russia. While it develops its long range ballistic missiles, India's
space-launch vehicles provide an option for an interim ICBM capability.
India has detonated several nuclear devices and it is clear that
it is developing warheads for its missile systems. India has biological
and chemical weapons programs.
Since
the Pakistani nuclear tests, India has announced its intention
to increase its spending on missiles and nuclear weapons. India's
program to develop ballistic missiles began in 1983 and grew out
of its space-launch program, which was based on Scout rocket technology
acquired from the United States. India currently has developed
and deployed the Prithvi short range ballistic missile (SRBM),
and is developing longer range, liquid- and solid-fueled missiles.
They
include the Prithvi II SRBM, the Agni, Agni-Plus and Agni-B IRBMs,
a sea-launched ballistic missile and an SLBM, the Sagarika. India
detonated a nuclear device in 1974, conducted a test series in
May 1998, and it is clear that it is developing warheads for its
missile systems. Indian leaders recently declared that India has
developed nuclear weapons for deployment on the Prithvi SRBM and
the Agni Plus MRBM. India has acquired and continues to seek Russian,
US, and Western European technology for its missile programs.
Technology and expertise acquired from other states, particularly
from Russia, are helping India to accelerate the development and
increase the sophistication of its missile systems.
For
example, Russian assistance is critical to the development of
the Indian SLBM and its related submarine. But India is rapidly
enhancing its own missile science and technology base as well.
Many Indian nationals are educated and work in the US, Europe,
and other advanced nations; some of the knowledge thereby acquired
returns to the Indian missile program. While India continues to
benefit from foreign technology and expertise, its programs and
industrial base are now sufficiently advanced that supplier control
regimes can affect only the rate of acceleration in India's programs.
India is in a position to supply material and technical assistance
to others.”
With
India’s Defense Minister, George Fernandes, openly threatening
Pakistan and China with India’s WMDs, the situation is a
harbinger of ominous proportions. For a peace loving democracy,
India seems to be rather well-armed with WMDs. A more damning
testimony of India’s determination to acquire weapons of
mass destruction (WMDs), along with other advanced military technology,
to be used as threats or offensively to achieve her aggressive
designs is hard to be found.
Rogue
States hate the United States and everything which it stands for
India has a long record of Anti-Americanism. On May 18, 1999,
The Indian Express reported that Mr. Fernandes, the Defense
Minister, organized and led a meeting with the Ambassadors from
China, Cuba, Russia, Yugoslavia, Libya, and Iraq to discuss setting
up a security alliance "to stop the United States."
India
votes against the United States at the United Nations more often
than any country except Cuba. It had a long term friendship with
the former Soviet Union and supported its invasion of Afghanistan,
an invasion fought bitterly by United States and its allies to
the finish. India remained aligned to the then USSR all this while.
India always had, and continues to have, very close relations
with Iraq. What else can be called “hating the United States
and everything for which it stands for?”
In the one-eyed war on terrorism the west, led by US, has broken
all norms of ignoring realities for short term conveniences. From
the velvet sheaths of its skilled diplomacy, India has been dealing
body blows to the world democracy in the garb of the biggest democracy
on planet earth.
India
is a country which, despite its claim to be democratic, is killing
Christians, Sikhs, Muslims and other minorities. India has been
using terrorism against her own minorities for many years now
and also exporting terrorism to her neighbors.
Despite
intense efforts of the Indian government’s to deceive and
mislead, these facts are now increasingly being investigated and
commented upon by independent Western journalists, observers and
NGOs working for human rights and other humanitarian concerns.
Even
if all other clauses of the US definition of a rogue state are
ignored, just one clause is enough for the mother of all democracies
to qualify as one. A State that fails to protect the lives of
its citizens, and rather conspires in their annihilation, is the
exact opposite of being an instrument of rightful authority. It
is indeed an agent of unashamed criminality. Such a state eminently
qualifies to be called a Rogue State. It’s time the powers
that be took notice. It’s also time that the true democratic
world body asked India that belated, but ultimate, question --
Et Tu India?”
The
writer is a freelance contributor, based in UAE
