Editorial

The US, the UK and Israel seem hell bent upon attacking Iran and are ganging up forces against the Islamic republic that has unequivocally declared its intention of going ahead with uranium enrichment plan for peaceful purposes.


With WMD theory in Iraq having exposed the box of lies floated by the West, the vicious triumvirate is moving heavens to paint Iran’s programme in horrific colours. The propaganda conveniently obscures the fact that if indeed any country in the region possesses the WMD, it is the Zionist state of Israel which has kept its nuclear programme firmly under wraps and away from the international inspection. If any proof is needed, it lies with Israeli spy Mordechai Vanunu who has just made his exit from prison after serving 18-year sentence in prison for speaking out about the Israeli programme in public. He was tried and sentenced in 1986.


Washington’s penchant for jingoism in the Muslim Middle East gets fuelled by a highly monopolized media with dominating Israeli and Jewish interest. Three wars and massive human catastrophes in terms of human lives have not dimmed US belligerence a bit. The campaign completely obscures the fact that Iran was barred from accessing nuclear technology in 80s and 90s by US-UK gang. It put pressure on China and Russia against passing on nuclear technology to Tehran in violation of the NPT under which the transfer of the technology could have been transparent. Iran was entitled to it being a signatory of the NPT.


The US on its tether’s end in building a peaceful Iraq, is now pursuing its goal of leaving the Middle East in a bigger conflagration of Shia Iran vs. Sunni States. Its new initiative in arming Saudi Arabia is clearly aimed at raising a grand alliance of Israel and Arab states against a Shia Iran.


Strategy is to pave ground for seeking Arab acquiescence against Israel/US attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities. So now the strategy seems to have been shifted from imparting a new map to the Middle East to a map torn between Shia and Sunni. It is also an effort to shift focus from an increasingly jingoistic Israel to building up Iran as the regional bugbear.


Saudi Arabia must see through the game and refuse to accept cache of obsolete arms being foisted on it against its will. It should be reminded that Israel and US remain the major threat to Middle East nay World peace rather than Iran which has over the years vowed not to militarily confront Arab states, unless pummeled into the situation. Israel and US have definitive designs on dividing the Muslims into sectarian lines, securing the state of Israel in the heart of the Middle East and imposing it on the entire Middle East as the sole regional power. Shameful would be the day when both Sunnis and Shias would be disgracefully kowtowing the Israeli dictates.

Wheels of justice have moved in Maharashtra. But only half so. The perpetrators of Mumbai blasts are behind the bars. Some of them even await the noose. But the ones who organized the pogrom in Mumbai in 1992-93 still go Scot free, mocking at the course of justice which shows reverse progression. Even more shockingly, the official establishment is being threatened with dire consequences if action is initiated against those indicted in the Justice Srikrishna Commission Report.


Justice cannot afford to be one-sided. Reciprocity is inbuilt into the course of justice. It has to be even-handed, equal and non-partisan. It loses credibility if its course is muddied by discrimination, bias and prejudice against some or the other community or individuals. The course it has taken in Mumbai leaves much to be desired. Actor Sanjay Dutt has been sentenced to undergo six year of rigorous imprisonment, but Shiv Sena MP Sarpotdar is a free man. Few need to be told that he had been caught while transporting ammunition during the riots. The Srikrishna Commission Report had named the police officials who were either negligent of their duties or had actively colluded with the rioters. Not a single of them has been suspended or removed from their post during the last 10 years after the submission of the report. But a woman who unknowingly kept a bag of ammunition has been sentenced to undergo a six year jail sentence in the blast case. It is widely acknowledged that Mumbai would have been spared of the cataclysmic blasts, if the powers that be had suppressed with iron hand the riots triggered by the demolition of Babri Masjid.


It is also a travesty of justice that the men who were charged in the Babri demolition case, rose to become Union Home and HRD ministers during the NDA rule. It has already smudged the copybook of our democracy among the comity of nations. In order to free us of the blemishes of the past on this score, we need to earnestly try to restore the credibility of the course of justice. It is therefore imperative that those guilty of organizing the mayhem that led to the blasts are also brought to book. Let us be reminded that looking at consequences while ignoring the causes is fraught with grave risk of incurring infamy for the world’s largest democracy.