Author: G Parthasarathy
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: January 22, 2009
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/151538/Crude-Miliband-snubs-India.html
Ever since Britain's young, inexperienced
and immature Foreign Secretary David Miliband was seen by millions of Indian
television -viewers patronisingly putting his arms around Minister for External
Affairs Pranab Mukherjee - a person many years his senior in age, wisdom and
experience - it was evident that his visit to India was heading to end in
disaster. Even before Mr Miliband was born, Britain's then Prime Minister
Harold Wilson learned the cost of offending India by indiscreet comments during
the 1965 India-Pakistan conflict. An enraged Indira Gandhi made it a point
to turn her back on Wilson and snub him at every international meet.
Things changed only when Edward Heath replaced
Wilson and ensured that he did not repeat his predecessor's indiscretions
during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war. One of Mr Miliband's Labour Party
predecessors, Mr Robin Cook, faced similar wrath by seeking to lecture India
on Jammu & Kashmir. Mr Cook's indiscretions resulted in Queen Elizabeth's
state visit to India in 1997 becoming an unmitigated disaster.
Since Mr Cook's indiscretions, Prime Ministers
Tony Blair and Harold Brown have conducted relations with India in an astute
manner, showing due understanding of Indian sensitivities. Indo-British relations
have flowered, symbolising a new era in Britain's relations with its erstwhile
'jewel in the crown'. Mr Miliband's brazenness and indiscretions lead one
to conclude that he perhaps mistakenly believes that "Britannia rules
the waves" and that the sun is yet to set on the British Empire. Worse,
Mr Miliband's impetuosity and arrogance are laced with a stark ignorance of
developments in the sub-continent, which was evident in the many statements
he brazenly made in India.
Rejecting India's call for extradition of
those involved in the Mumbai carnage, Mr Miliband said that the opposition
of Pakistan's judiciary to Gen Pervez Musharraf's excesses showed that the
judiciary in Pakistan is vibrant and free. Is this really true Mr Miliband?
Have you forgotten that ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and many of
his colleagues have not been reinstated and that Chief Justice Hamid Dogar,
who swore allegiance to Gen Musharraf's infamous 'Provisional Constitutional
Order' and others like him control the judiciary in Pakistan? Can Justice
Dogar, who faces serious charges of impropriety and remains in office thanks
to the support of those in power, really act independently of the Army, which
after all elevated him to the high office he holds?
Moreover, Mr Miliband, if Britain was prepared
to wait for two decades to secure extradition and trial in a Scottish Court
of Libyans involved in the Lockerbie bombing, why do you pontificate to India
when it demands that those responsible for the Mumbai carnage should face
trial in India? Have you forgotten that the US secured the extradition of
Mir Aimal Kansi, the Pakistani accused of killing CIA agents in 1993, and
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks, to face
trial in the US? And that Kansi has since been tried, found guilty and executed
in the US? Or do you believe that what is sauce for the Anglo-Saxon goose
is not sauce for the Indian gander?
Mr Miliband should have been honest enough
to acknowledge that the UK could not afford to have the ISI exposed because
it needs the ISI's assistance to keep tabs on British nationals of Pakistani
origin who develop jihadi tendencies after visiting Pakistan. But to have
the audacity to question the validity of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement
that it was just not possible for the attackers in the Mumbai carnage to have
acquired the weapons, ammunition, equipment and extent of training in maritime
and commando operations without any official agency in Pakistan being complicit,
reflects unpardonable arrogance.
Worse still, to link violence perpetrated
by groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba to the issue of Jammu & Kashmir as
Mr Miliband has done, betrays ignorance of what the organisation really stands
for. Does Mr Miliband not know that the LeT justifies the 9/11 attacks, proclaims
that the entire sub-continent has to be made an Islamic emirate, and that
it has carried out attacks all across India in the past? 10 Downing Street
should be told that Mr Miliband is not welcome in India. In any case, with
expectations of a Conservative Party victory in the next election in the UK,
Mr Miliband will, doubtless, be relegated to the dustbin of history.
While Mr Miliband's transgressions can be
dealt with, it is unfortunate that Mr Pranab Mukherjee muddied India's diplomatic
waters by indicating that India had effected a substantive shift in its policy
by agreeing to a 'fair trial' in Pakistan of the culprits involved in the
26/11 attack. His subsequent disclaimer has been brushed aside in Pakistan
as having been issued because of domestic political criticism. It is now for
the Prime Minister to clarify India's position on this crucial issue.
There should be no doubt that any investigative
and judicial process in Pakistan will be a farce in which the ISI's involvement
will be covered up. Even if persons like Zarar Shah in the LeT are brought
to trial, the judicial process will be prolonged, because as in the case of
Omar Syed Sheikh, convicted of murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl,
who still lives in comfort, LeT leaders have enough material to expose the
ISI's involvement in their activities.
India should not forget that the citizens
of 14 other countries, including the United States and Israel, also perished
in Mumbai. Mr Ed Royce, the ranking Republican Party member in the House Committee
on Terrorism and Non-proliferation, has demanded that Pakistan should hand
over the perpetrators of 26/11 for trial by "an international tribunal
where they can face justice for crimes against humanity". Given Pakistan's
insistence that it will not hand over the culprits to face trial in India,
the time has come to support suggestions made Mr Royce and urge both the Obama
Administration and the US Congress that that America should seek extradition
of the perpetrators to face trial in US courts, as one is sure that there
will be a cover-up in any investigative and judicial processes in Pakistan.
Israel and others should be co-opted to join this effort.
Acquiescing to a trial in Pakistan because
of the exertions of people like Mr Miliband will amount to a betrayal of the
families of those who perished in the Mumbai carnage. It will only set the
stage for more such terrorist attacks on our country.
