12-26 Jamadi Al-Awwal 1432 Hijri

[Note:  Using  editorials  as  an  indicator,  this  series  presents  views,  understanding  and attitude of  the  Urdu  periodicals  in  India  towards  various  developments  concerning  the Middle  East. The  selection  of  an  item  does  not  mean  the  endorsement  or  concurrence concur with their accuracy or views. Editor, MEI@ND]

France and Britain violated human rights by giving orders to the NATO to intensify its operation against the Libyan government to protect the Libyan people, but the international human rights organisations did not react. Under the guise of the UNSC Resolution the western forces have bombarded Libya but could not achieve much success. Despite continuing bombardment by the NATO forces, the Libyan army has pushed the rebels to retreat. The international powers should understand that the NATO operations are also killing the Libyan citizens. The NATO has failed to achieve its goals despite aerial attacks. Former Foreign Minister in Qaddafi’s government Musa Qusa has taken refuge abroad and is concerned about the internal security conditions in Libya. None of the parties seems serious about preventing Libya from falling into a civil war. Recently Qaddafi’s daughter Aisha Qaddafi, while speaking to their supporters focussed on unity, which showed that the Libyan ruler is not going to accept defeat. In such a scenario the US and its allies can think about transition of power without inflicting civilian casualty. While it is being contemplated the NATO operation are killing only civilians. If this bloodbath is not stopped then the West would be responsible for turning Libya into another Somalia. France is trying to inflict as much damage on Libya as possible so as to loot its resources like war booty. Rebels are being helped in the oil rich areas of Libya; however, the Libyan government forces have surrounded many rebel towns and have intensified the struggle. The combined forces of the US, France, Britain and the NATO have inflicted such a huge blow on the people of Libya, which by any definition comes under human rights violations. They are saying that their operation is for better future of the people of Libya and are blaming Qaddafi of killing his own people. The stand taken by the Arab League is also completely surprising. The people of Libya are suffering and are being killed by both the sides and nobody has tried to come to the rescue of these people under siege. The combined forces may be saying that they are helping the people of Libya, but the people of Libya are breathing under bombs and rockets launched on one side by the NATO and on the other side by the government forces. Hundreds of people are dying every day. Most of the important towns in Libya are under siege. The NATO is killing civilians under the cover of the UNSC Resolution 1973. The resolution says that people of Libya have to be protected but the situation in Libya is completely the opposite. The European Union that promised to resolve the problem is not doing anything. The international group may not be able to solve the problem without the Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. The Arab world also needs to be taken into confidence. The world powers should try and establish peace in Libya, which is a daunting task. If the US, Britain, France and the NATO fail to protect the people of Libya then they should be made responsible for the killing of thousands of civilians in Libya. The West has played a very dubious role in the Arab world since 2003, in the name of protecting human rights violation in these countries. Libya can test their resolve to forcibly change the regimes in these countries. They may have succeeded in Tunisia and Egypt through popular movements, but Libya is proving to be a difficult task for them. If the West thinks that they can incite people and rebellion and then implement their designs in these countries, then it can prove to be a dangerous game for them in the long run.

Source

Translated and Compiled by Md. Muddassir Quamar

Md. Muddassir Quamar is a Doctoral Candidate at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Email

As part of the policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spellings and date format to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND. Editor, MEI@ND P R Kumaraswamy