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To oppose each and every move of the US only makes India irrelevant

Right now, the world is in the midst of an ongoing war. Aircraft from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are bombarding positions in Serbia. The attempt is to force the Yugoslav-Serbian leadership in general and Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic in particular to agree to an agreement between Kosovo and Yugoslavia (which today comprises only Serbia and Montenegro).

Now the slight problem here is that the Serbians consider Kosovo an "integral part of Serbia" while the Kosovars, who are ethnically Albanian, want to secede and become part of Albania or independent. To crush the pro-independence movement, Serbia launched attacks on the rebels and worse, on the local population. It is also refused any third party mediation in the dispute.

Milosevic is determined to crush the Kosovo rebels, and if in the process a few thousand innocent Kosovar are killed, well that is just too bad. Even if those killed are men, women and children with no links to the rebels. Perhaps the Serbians believe that the fewer the Kosovars, the better!

Russia, India and China have all backed Yugoslavia against what it termed western aggression. For the Russians, supporting the Serbians is a matter of history and ethnicity, since both belong to the Slav race. Moscow is also upset at what it sees as nothing but brazen power display by the world's only superpower, the United States. India and China are similarly upset, and also worried. What if tomorrow the US decides to help a region within these countries become independent?

The threat is all too real given the many peoples in these huge countries that are keen to break away and would welcome some foreign assistance. For India, the fear lies in Kashmir and the North-East, for China, with Tibet, Taiwan and Xinjiang. Others may be lurking.

Yugoslavia, proclaimed the mandarins who decide Indian foreign policy is an independent country. Any attack on its territory is illegal as per international law and as per the United Nations charter. But is India's stand justified? Frankly, the answer is complicated and not easy, and whatever I say below subject to debate.

While there is no denying the fact that on the one hand the US and its Western allies, namely Britain, France, Germany and Italy, are behaving nothing short of bullies, at least on one count the West is right. And that is the issue of human rights. The way Serbian troops have massacred hundreds of innocent Kosovars is a blood-curdling tale. To make matters worse is the entire history concerning the breakup of Yugoslavia. Serbians have through the 1990s been involved in cruel battles and ethnic cleansing massacres with the Slovenians, Croats and the Bosnia-Herzegovinans (the last was the worst).

It is really difficult to sympathise with such a blood-sucking country now that their innocent people are being pounded. Of course, this is not to advocate an eye for an eye but with Serbia simply unwilling to stop its ethnic cleansing, the alternatives are limited.

In today's world, human rights are an important factor. Turning entire populations into refugees is something that not many will, and should, tolerate. Taking the lives of innocent people, torturing and raping them cannot be condoned simply because every country is sovereign. And if there is one country that should realise this, it is India. Because just over 28 years ago, Indian soldiers marched into another country to save its citizens from being massacred. And to prevent those citizens from coming to India as refugees..

The reference is to Bangladesh, then called East Pakistan. If one looks at the issue in pure legal terms, then what was happening within East Pakistan was really an internal matter between its people and different leaders. But the day refugees cross over in millions (it is estimated that in the March to November 1971 period, there were 10 million refugees), it ceases to be a purely internal matter. The day any set of people consider another set of people fair game for slaughter and torture, then every conscientious citizen today has a right to be outraged and concerned. India rightly interfered then. Today, Yugoslavia is no exception.

Unfortunately, India never spoke up earlier against the Serbian leadership. With a relationship dating back to the 1950s, when Marshall Tito and Jawaharlal Nehru (along with Nasser of Egypt) began the Non-Aligned Movement, India has always been soft towards Belgrade. And muddle-headed ever since Yugoslavia began to break up. The ineffectiveness of NAM was clearly proven when after the end of the Cold War, it has simply not been able to find a role for itself, even where its founder-members were concerned.

To be charitable towards the Indian foreign office, there must no doubt be dismay at the brazen display of American/Western European imperial power. This was shown earlier in Iraq, bombed for not clear reason. And now the US, taking its role as Global Cop rather seriously, is now bombing Yugoslavia. No one can be too happy at this display of naked power and aggression.

Yet, to oppose for the sake of opposing each and every move of the US simply because it is (or appears) imperialistic only makes India irrelevant. India knows the pain of refugees and the stubbornness of leaders unwilling to change policies to stop creating refugees. Also, the world has today changed like never before. Media coverage of refugees and of the people's struggles against unwanted rulers is highlighted across the globe pricking human feelings, and these cannot be brushed aside on the old plea of national sovereignty.

Yugoslavia or any other country anywhere else cannot mistreat a sections of its citizens and seek to escape retaliation simply on the grounds of sovereignty.

No doubt Indians must feel worried about what will happen to the separatist movements within its borders. Yes, there is a cause for concern. And a lesson. Which is, the only effective antidote to separatism is to ensure that such movements never reach a stage of armed rebellion and the beginning of refugees and thereby becomes an international issue.

India also has a great advantage: democracy. It must ensure that through democracy, the respect for human rights and law, and economic development, the marginalised and the minorities never feel the need to pick up a gun and demand a separate state.

Amberish K Diwanji