My views on Libya, India and the permanent SC seat

On Wednesday, the British government 'de-recognized' the Gaddafi government and decided that it was in the interest of democracy to recognize the Libyan rebels as the only legal representative of the Libyan people. Immediately after that, the British Police entered the Libyan embassy in London and forced the remaining Libyan diplomats out of UK.

France has already been parachuting modern weaponry, arms and ammunition to the Libyan rebel strongholds and both France and the United States have recognized the rebels as the legal Libyan representative power.

While I am not a fan of Gaddafi or his regime in any way or form but I am equally disappointed in NATO's tactics and the double standards being played by the western powers in the Arab world. Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein had been two sore patches in the otherwise near-sweeping 'western conquest' of the Arab world and its oil. Only now, when a group of disenchanted Libyans, trained and provided for by western mercenaries, decided that they no longer wanted Gaddafi or his sons as the rulers of the country and struck a rebellious note, that the western powers decided that it was their best chance to hit the wizened Arab hard, making sure he does not get up from this blow.

I have been studying the Libyan conflict for some time and from the conflicting accounts of the conflict that I have read so far, by bombing Gaddafi's house and other civilian areas in the Libyan capital and surrounding areas, the western powers have already breached the limits placed by the UN mandate (if we call it a mandate). It is funny how the west twists everything in the way it wants to see it. If Gaddafi funds rebels then he is a terrorist but if NATO does it, then it is in the name of humanity and peoples' power. Breaking into the Libyan Embassy and recognizing a group of rag-tag rebels as a legitimate government instead of the one already in place? Oh Please! This is the height of western high-handed, moralist attitude.

This unilateral decision of NATO countries to recognize the Libyan rebels and aiding them to overthrow the legitimate government, has set some very dangerous precedents. From what I can see, if only India hadn't been a big PITA with its huge, unmanaged population, nearly depleted natural resources and above all, virtually no oil, these countries would not hesitate the slightest bit to arm the Naxalites, Nagas and Kashmiris 'in the interest of freedom and democracy', in an attempt to break apart this country, even bombing New Delhi under a supposed 'United Nations' mandate to overthrow the 'imperialist', 'oppressive' and 'autocratic' Indian government, paying no heed to the fact that the Indian government has been democratically elected by the people of this country.

The silence of the Indian government on this issue is all the more perplexing. One one hand, the Indian government is literally 'begging' before the world powers to be recognized as a permanent member of the UN security council and on

the other hand, I see no statements from the Prime Minister, either praising or denouncing the NATO attacks on Libya. Is this how the world would like a permanent member of the security council to behave? If India does not wish to take initiative in the matters of world order and desperately wants to stay clinging to the failed Nehruvian ideology of 'Panchsheel', then what's the rush to get into the dirty game of world politics by entering the security council? It is funny how, when a ship carrying Indian sailors is rescued from pirates, Pakistan steals the limelight and the Indian Navy merely tags along with a bruised ego, complaining how the rash-driving Pakistanis slapped them on the bum.

A young and gorgeous Pakistani foreign minister visits New Delhi and the first meeting on her agenda is not with her Indian counterpart, but with the Kashmiri separatists. Instead of packing off the lovely Ms Rabbani back to Islamabad for this diplomatic transgression, the Indian foreign minister merely makes a weak protest. Is this country spineless or what? Our government can't handle our own internal issues and wants a place in the world pecking order. I find no reason for India to be included in the UN security council. The security council is for decision makers, not back-bench doodlers. The time has not come for India to be playing a role on the world stage, at least not till it learns to exert its power at least in the immediate neighborhood - South Asia ( interestingly renamed thus by the western world from the 'Indian Subcontinent' on protests registered by Pakistan)