HVK Archives: So tell me, is this journalism? Part 2 of 2
So tell me, is this journalism? Part 2 of 2 - The Hindustan Times
M V Kamath
()
July 19, 1998
Title: So tell me, is this journalism? Part 2 of 2
Author: M V Kamath
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: July 19, 1998
For fifty years the United States and its 'running dogs' -- the
phrase originally used by China in describing Britain and others
-- hounded India on the Kashmir question. The United States,
Britain, France and 'Nationalist' China -- used every opportunity
to hurt, harass and humiliate India on this issue. The United
States, especially did everything possible to help Pakistan,
militarily and propaganda-wise, its quarrel with India over
Kashmir.
Western news agencies like Reuters, Agence France Press,
Associate Press and United Press were co-opted to blackmail India
and paint it in lurid terms. Every important Western newspaper
was a willing tool in the grand design to give India a bad name.
Half-truth were willingly propagated. India, it was said, was not
willing to hold a referendum in Jammu & Kashmir as promised;
every effort was made to suppress the fact that the referendum
was contingent on Pakistan vacating its aggression. Not only did
the United States and Britain indulge in anti-Indian propaganda,
Pakistan was lavishly helped with arms, equipment and training,
by these two powers, knowing fully well that those arms would
only be used against India.
India put up with all this patiently. Now, the United States has
a new 'ally' in China. We do not know whether China has now
become the 'running dog' of the United States or vice versa, but
these two powers have ganged up to flog India. Gratuitously, the
Unites States has allotted a role to China in South Asian
affairs. Both the United States and China have to be told to mind
their business. And India is not their business. India does not
want China's interference in out subcontinental affairs. It must
be made equally clear to the United Nations, that it, too, has no
role to play in regard to Kashmir.
This is because the United Nations is not an independent body. It
is the Hand maiden of Western powers, notably the United States.
It has to independent existence. It cannot function on its own.
It still listen to the US States Department even when the United
States owes a couple of billion to the world body by way of dues.
Any other member of the United Nations would have been
disqualified for not paying its annual dues. The United States
goes scot free. There is one rule for the white supremacist
nations and another for the rest of the world. This should not be
taken lying down.
Delhi therefore did the right thing the declining to receive a
three-member United Nations team, consisting of Alvaro De'Soto,
Assistance Secretary General, Rolf Knutsson, Directore in the
Executive Office of the Secretary General and Horst Heitman of
the Department of Political Affairs. Their excuse is that they
have a letter to deliver to the Prime Minister. That letter could
have been handed over the India's Permanent Representative at the
United Nations for forwarding to India. What the UN was planning,
no doubt at the instigation of the United States, to do was to be
seen an having a role to play on the Kashmir issue.
India has burnt its hands. In his naivette or innocence,
Jawaharlal Nehru made the biggest mistake of his career in taking
the Kashmir case to the Security Council, believing that India
has a good case and he would get justice. He did not reckon with
the international thugs who form the Permanent Members of the
Security Council. Now that we have burnt out hands, we should
keep the Security Council and the United Nations out of our
quarrel. When the United States has a problem with any country,
it does not bring it to the Security Council or even the United
Nations. It takes the law into its own hands.
When it cannot do that it uses its money power and other sources
of influence to twist them arms of member countries to vote a
told by it, as in the case of Iraq. The United Nations plainly is
a subsidiary of the United States. India should steer clear of
it. Whatever agreement is arrived at it must be in free and frank
discussions between India and Pakistan without the presence of
third party. Pakistan, obviously, would like to involve its
backers, the United States and China, in any talks. Both these
countries are suspect.
After having supported Pakistan for half a century they cannot be
expected to change their stripes over-night. India does not need
their good officers; they can't be good. They are fundamentally
evil. Every party in India is agreed that under no circumstances
can India cede Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to Islamabad. That part
legally belongs to India. Former Indian Prime Minister P V
Narasimha Rao said it all when he told Parliament that the only
unfinished part of national business is to incorporate Pakistan-
occupied territory back into India. India must stick to this
stand, come what may. India must also make it clear to the United
States and China to stay away from our affairs.
What they can do and should do, is to persuade Pakistan to give
up its illegal claims on Kashmir, Kashmir is not the core issue.
The real issue is the fully debunked Two-Nation Theory which fell
into pieces following the break up of Pakistan and the birth of
Bangladesh. Pakistan has no leg to stand on. It knows that if it
fails to capture Jammu & Kashmir by hook or by crook, its very
existence becomes debatable. Pakistan is alive today because of
the artificially sustained Kashmir issue. If that issue is not
resolved in Pakistan's favour, the state will collapse like a
pack of cards because of its own internal contradictions. It is
not out of love for Kashmir that the United States and China want
to help Pakistan. It is not out of love for Pakistan either. What
the United States and China do not want to see is the rise of a
powerful India in the Asian subcontinent.
To that end they will do anything possible to strengthen
Pakistan. India should remember this at al times and refuse to
give way to despair. If the United States and China can look
beyond their own interests, they should tell Islamabad to forget
Kashmir once and for all and concentrate on economic development.
And Islamabad must accept the fact that its future lies not with
China or the United States but with India. No matter how hard it
may try, Islamabad cannot ignore geographic and cultural
realities. Pakistan's fate is irretrievably linked with that of
India. Together India and Pakistan can become an unchallengeable
force.
Pakistani leaders must think over this and come to terms with
Delhi. The United States and China are false friends, with their
own axes to grind. They are upto no good. By pitching them
against India, Pakistan will gain nothing. And by trying to twist
India's arms the United States and China will only expose
themselves as hypocritic and greedy nations, out to benefit from
the quarrel between two neighbours, a quarrel they themselves
have sustained over the years, illegally, irrationally and
immorally. They need to be told off in no uncertain terms.
They are rogue countries and we have had enough of them. Our
dealings will have to be with Pakistan and Pakistan alone. To
them we should have only one request: stay way.
(The author is a former editor of The Illustrated Weekly of
India.)
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