Violations of the Laws of War

The war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government is no longer a war against an insurgency movement.It has developed into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.Large number of civilians getting killed and wounded can not be acceptable to any civilised society. As a dispassionate observer, I am pained to see the plight of the innocent civilians,especially children,old people,and women caught in the cross fire between the warring factions.It is all the more distressing to note that democracy is in peril in Sri Lanka and voice of the press and media are stifled .Despite all this,what little information that comes out is really disturbing. The so called 'Welfare villages' where the fleeing civilians are accomodated does not seem to have any facilities.Looking at the pictures and video shown on TV/internet,one has no other go,but to believe that the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE are unleashing crimes against innocent civilians in the name of their 'war on terror ' and 'liberation struggle'.
Already the international press has described it as the worst humanatarian crisis in recent times.In fact the UN warned the world a month before that this war could end up as a genocide.Thousands have been killed and many more crippled for life.What is more deplorable is that Sri Lankan government has managed to stall public scrutiny to the happenings in the island nation,by brute force.The people in the ' welfare villages' do not get adequate medical attention and food.There is a lack of shelter and sanitation also.This is indeed a colossal calamity.Forget about an early resolution of the ethnic strife.Bu the innocent civilians can be saved only if the Lankan army and LTTE STOP their opeartions and ensure safety of their fellow citizens.It is really unfortunate that both LTTE and the army shoot at civilians when they try to leave the safe zone.It is a pity that both the LTTE and Lankan army violate the laws of war with impunity.It is reported that the LTTE is using civilians as a shield and the Lankan army does not discriminate bombarding between military targets and civilians.Also the Lankan army keep the displaced persons in camps with high restrictions on movements.Human rights workers are denied access to camps and intimidated by the Lankan army.International humanatarian agencies must be allowed to offer neutral assistance to those in need. Athorities should permit legitimate NGO activities at the welfare villages. All activities at the civilian camps should be transparent to the international media.

I am not not going in to the merits of the insurgent struggle or the alleged racial discrimination by the majority Sinhalese government that sparked off the current struggle decades ago.A leader of the stature of Gandhi is the need of the hour for the strife torn Lanka.Some one who commands respect from both Sihalese and Tamils alike.For peace in Sri Lanka,an immediate requirement is cessation of the war.Thereafter LTTE should disarm and agree for a federal solution with sufficient devolution of powers and return to electoral democracy.The sinhalese majority should ensure equal opportunities to all races in education and employment.After all the sinhalese constitute more than 80% of the Lankan population.The minority Tamil population in no way can threaten their psition.Once the war is over,the SL government should come forward to rehabilitate the millions of displaced Tamil population.The world would like to see the beautiful emerald island return back to its glorious past with lasting peace among their major ethnic races. Until early 70s all communities have co existed peacefully in Lanka.There should be commitment and political will among the Sihalese political leadership to accede to the just demands of the Tamils.May peace and harmony return to Sri Lanka .

Shoe Throwing

The latest shoe throwing was on Bollywood star Jeetendra when he was campaigning for the congress candidate Amrish Patel.Of late, shoe throwing on politicians have become a global trend, ever since a pair of shoes were thrown at Bush in the middle of a press conference last December by the Iraqi TV journalist Zaidi as "a farewell kiss from Iraqi people to the dog" .Bush joked "if you want details, the shoe size is 10".In January agitators at Bosnia, vented their anger against politicians by doing a shoe throwing protest.The organisers provided shoes for the protestors. Some of them brought their own old torn foot wear also. Soon after, in February footwear was thrown at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo at the Cambridge university by protestors. Virtual shoe throwing games at Bush became popular in internet, last December. One has to throw shoes at Bush's face with in 30 seconds in the virtual shoe throwing game.This was copied by a Bosnian website which invited internet surfers to throw virtual shoes at the serbian Prime Minister Dodik.Those days eggs and rotten tomatoes were used to humiliate politicians.Even recently eggs and rotten tomatoes were thrown at Subramaniam Swamy by protesting advocates at the Chennai High Court.It seems footwear is the new weapon in the protestors armoury. Throwing footwear as a protest was started years ago in Tamilnadu.EVR Periyar was a proclaimed atheist.Enraged by his anti God statements a sandal was thrown at him by protestors and went in to hiding. At that time Periyar was travelling in a Rickshaw.He stopped the Rickshaw,stood on it and loudly made anti God pronouncements, looking atthe direction from where the sandal came.Promptly another sandal was thrown at him from the hide out.He then said."Any way this is a new sandal.What either of us can do with one sandal?!!" and continued his journey with a pair of new sandals. Periyar was known for his thrifty practices. Needless to say he was happy to carry a new pair of sandals with him.With election campaign reaching a feverish pitch, in India also,shoe throwing incidents are the order of the day. Protesting against CBI gving a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler,a sikh journalist threw shoes on Home minister Chidambaram,while he was addressing a press conference this month.After the incident, Chidambaram jokingly said "his questions were on target,but not his shoes". Shoes were thrown at Congress candidate Naveen Jindal at Kurukshetra.All the flying missiles have failed to hit the target so far.I think the protestors should practice shoe throwing in a throwing range to hit the target.The politicians are however unruffled and in fact they have quickly perfected the art of ducking a flying object with the skills of a batsman facing a bouncer in the 22 yards strip.Jokes apart,this should not be encouraged and all those who indulge in shoe throwing should be punished severly.The punishment should deter others from repeating this.All right minded people should condemn this trend.India is a democratic country with great freedom for expression and speech.The media and press of india are mightier and potent than a pair of shoes.This fact must be borne in mind by all those who indulge in such undesirable activities.

Monarchy,democracy and dynasty

In a monarchy the authority is inherited from the monarch. On the other hand dynasty has a sequence of powerful leaders from the same family.India is one of worlds largest democratic country,where we give prominence to dynasty and elect parlimentarians and leaders from the same family.It is a nice blend of democracy and dynasty almost bordering on monarchy. Look at the Indian political scenario. Most politicians hand over their constituency so keenly nurtured by them to their kith and kin as though they hand over their estates to the next generation. For example the Nehrus are in the business for the fourth generation.What do you call this?. Rae Bareli and Amethi belong to the Nehrus.Unfortunatley this happens in many fields now a days. Film industry is another place where the kapoor clan ruled once and now most heros and heroines have brought in their sons and daughters. Language is no barrier for art. Hence one can notice this in Hindi,Tamil and Telugu film industry. Next to the Nehru family,down south the DMK has most number of dynastic politicians. Starting from Mr.Karunanidhi, one can can see a host of his family members in active politics. Maran,Stalin,Azhagiri,Kanimozhi,Kayalvizhi,Dayanithi etc.They are all the DMK patriarchs nephews,sons,daughters,grand daughters,grandsons,grand nephews.The list of politicians who have brought in their kith and kin by virtue of their position in party has become a national phenomenon in almost all parties barring the communists and the BJP to some extent.The NTR descendants have their say in Andhra politics.In Karnataka Deve Gowda has inducted his two sons Kumarswamy and Revanna in to politics.In Kerala, Karunakaran has brought in his son Muralieetharan and daughter Padmaja in to politics.Father and son are in different parties now.The list does not end here.The scindia family has five members in active politics.Charan singh's legacy was inherited by Ajit Singh, Biju patnaiks legacy by Naveen Patnaik,Devilal's by Chautala and the Abdullas from Kashmir are in politics for the third generation.Ramdoss has groomed his son Anbumani to hold fort at a future date.Shiva sena's Bal Thackeray has initiated his son and nephew in to politics.The inimitable Lalu yadav was unique by bringing in his wife Rabri Devi.Sharad Pawar has brought in his daughter Supriya Sule.There are a host of other lesser known dynastic politicians in many political parties in India.One can see this phenomenon in almost all the South Asian countries.Bhutto and his descendants in Pakistan,Mujibur and his family members in Bangladesh,Bandaranaike and his family members in Sri Lanka.Even in US the Kennedys and the Bush family members were in active politics.In India dynastic politics was opened up by the Congress.The bachelor politicians of India,Atalji and Kamaraj have refrained from doing this.These people contest elections and get elected.But in the frst place,how democratic it is to promote ones son,daughter or brother's candidature in the party?Or is it a mutually beneficial arrangement by the powers that matters in each political party?The assets declared by many candidates show,many of them are crorepathis.Also if one compares the assets of a candidate between the last two elections,there is an apparent growth.Could it be one of the reasons for politicians trying to promote their kith and kin in politics?Has politics become a means for livelihood for these people?Do we have a paucity of young leaders?A debutant from a dynastic lineage can even become a central or state minister without any toil.Does it augur well for the Indian polity?