India: Mass opposition to US war

by Harkishan Singh Surjeet*

With the launching of a war against Afghanistan by the US and his master's 
voice, the UK, the world has come to a crossroads. Ostensibly, the US has 
launched this war in the name of a fight against "global terrorism" ... but 
very few people around the world are prepared to buy this argument.

How the US itself propped up terrorist groups in different parts of the 
world, how it masterminded the assassination of a number of political 
figures and how it intervened in a number of countries even where it had no 
legitimate reason to be — are still fresh in the public memory. Not 
surprisingly, to the world at large, the US claim about fighting terrorism 
is little more than hypocritical.

While it has already started a war against Afghanistan, it is also planning 
to have a regime of its choice in the country in case the Taliban are 
finished.

The US is planning to have some sort of a puppet coalition government in 
Kabul, headed by 86-year-old Zahir Shah, the former king who was overthrown 
in 1973.

This is in accordance with the US design of global hegemony. A puppet 
government in Kabul will not only allow the US to have a military base in 
the centre of the Old World, but also enable it to exploit the oil and gas 
reserves of some former Soviet republics in Central Asia. This US design is 
an open secret and the world community knows it well.

Role of Pakistan

As soon as the US declared its intention to organise a "war against global 
terrorism" both India under Vajpayee and Pakistan under Musharraf started 
vying with each other in offering help for the US war.

Pakistan, even though it has itself been harbouring, training and arming 
terrorist outfits on its soil, became a champion of anti-terrorism 
overnight.

The US and the UK have promised substantial financial aid to Pakistan in 
return for its help in the war. The US has already lifted the sanctions 
that it imposed on Pakistan in the wake of the Chaghai nuclear explosions 
in May 1998.

To prove his loyalty to the US, Musharraf replaced the ISI chief with a 
more pliable man and put several clerics under house arrest. It is with 
imperialist assistance that Musharraf hopes to restore the health of the 
country's battered economy.

Yet, it may not be a smooth ride for Musharraf. For, like his military and 
civilian predecessors, he too has been propping up terrorist groups in the 
name of jehad and now suddenly these groups find that their patron has 
become a turncoat.

The ongoing protest actions in Pakistan are, naturally, as much anti-
Musharraf as they are anti-US, and Musharraf has survived so far, only with 
the help of the military. But, for how long? This is still an imponderable.

If the US has opted to prefer Pakistan over India to get logistic support 
in this war, it is first because of the geographical factor, as Pakistan is 
adjacent to Afghanistan.

The US-UK war planes cannot but use Pakistani air space for bombing 
Afghanistan, as Iran is not going to provide them any air passage.

Secondly, Pakistan has long been a trusted ally of the US imperialists in 
the region. Pakistan was a member of the now-defunct CENTO, and the US is 
not going to desert Pakistan even while trying to have India on its side as 
well.

Abject manoeuvres

This is precisely what the Indian Government of Vajpayee has been unable to 
understand so far. Spurred by a blind hatred for Pakistan, the BJP 
Government has always been trying to have the US at its back, in its fight 
against Pakistan.

It is precisely this thinking that led the Vajpayee Government to make a 
blanket offer of help to the US in a "war against terrorism". To the BJP, 
terrorism is synonymous with Islamic (!) terrorism.

This blindness of the Indian Government made it a butt of ridicule all 
over. It first wanted the US to use our [India's] military bases for its 
war against Afghanistan. But when that offer was not accepted, the Vajpayee 
Government stooped still lower and prayed to the US: Please, allow us to 
provide you refuelling facilities at least!

This is the lowest depth for a person or a government to fall who has lost 
his/its self-respect. It is not just a pro-US tilt on the part of the BJP 
Government; it is out and out capitulation before the world gendarme.

Not long ago, India played a laudable role in fighting the Apartheid regime 
in South Africa and for the liberation of Namibia. It also supported the 
Polisario Front's struggle in Western Sahara and that of the Palestinians 
for a homeland.

But the BJP Government has totally gone back on this consensual foreign 
policy, even to the extent of collaborating with Israel.

The Vajpayee Government is under the illusion that the US will help it get 
rid of terrorism in Kashmir. Of course, in order to humour New Delhi, Colin 
Powell did announce that the US will fight "global" terrorism. But then he 
also added that terrorism in Kashmir was not on the immediate US agenda.

Moreover, even after the dastardly attack on the Jammu and Kashmir assembly 
building, the US did not take any action to ban the terrorist outfits like 
Jaish-e-Muhammad or Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.

Bush did promise, in his telephonic talk with Vajpayee, that he would ban 
these outfits. But this promise too is nothing more than the repeated US 
promises of declaring Pakistan a terrorist country. In short, it is the BJP 
Government itself that is allowing the US to take it for a ride.

The BJP moves pose the danger of US interference in Kashmir. Ever since the 
US emerged as a superpower, it has been eyeing Kashmir and has the 
intention of having it ceded from India.

A puppet government in an "independent" Kashmir will go a long way to serve 
the US geo-political strategy.

Kashmir too is located in the centre of the Old World and, if stationed 
here, US missiles can easily target Russia, China, India, Afghanistan, 
Central Asian republics and so on.

Hence it is futile for both India and Pakistan to expect that the US will 
help either of them regarding Kashmir. Kashmir has already been 
internationalised to the detriment of our national interest and this is a 
big disservice the so-called nationalist party, the BJP, has rendered to 
the nation.

But the people are not silent. Indians have always been in favour of world 
peace and against wars, for national liberation struggles and against 
imperialism, and that tradition is still alive and strong.

That is why public opinion is gradually building up against not only the 
present US-UK war but also against the BJP Government's capitulation to the 
US.

The Left parties have called for protest actions all over the country on 
October 12 and expectations are that other political parties, mass 
organisations, citizens groups and even many NGOs will join these actions.

* * *

Abridged.

Footnote: A 100,000 demonstration against the war took place in the West 
Bengal city of Koltara (Calcutta) on October 12.

*Harkishan Singh Surjeet is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of 
India (Marxist).