GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

Today, there are many kinds of wars being fought in the world– we see the rich fighting with the poor, the rich fighting with the rich, the poor fighting with poor; we see terrorism in its most horrifying forms, we see people dying of hunger, we see corruption and we see numerous of shades of injustice. Rarely do we see equality or peace around us.

At the very base of the naxal movement which is gaining greater ground by the day lies injustice, injustice that is driving the poor people living in rural areas to starvation, extreme poverty and oppression. The struggles that these people go through are unimaginable to us. These naxals or Maoists that we hear the government criticise all the time are actually people that have almost no money, no proper home and almost nothing to survive on. They are people who are fighting; fighting for the land that is rightfully theirs but was so easily snatched from them by the government. They’re fighting for they too have the right to live a life of dignity, not only the Ambani’s; they’re fighting against private companies that continue to exploit the poor endlessly, they're fighting for justice. They want the government for once, to give equality a chance and bring them out of their misery and oppression; and finally do something to bring back some balance to this tipsy turvy world with over 60% people living below the poverty line. The government, very typically didn’t give in to the protests of these tribals and extremely poor people; and so, they took their vengeance by resorting to extremely violent and horribly cruel means to overthrow our government. No, what the Maoists do isn’t right. Killing innocent people and kidnapping people isn’t right – it’s absolutely terrible and outrageous. You cannot blame the entire population including innocent children for the current situation and crisis that they’re going through. If the government only listens, wouldn’t it be easier? Wouldn’t it be beneficial, because they’re probably a huge number and fighting them would only aggravate the situation? Maybe, it’s more complicated than it seems and I don’t fully understand it. What is right and what is wrong? We’re supposed to be a democracy, where there is equality…but where is it? Where is the humanity in this situation?

I was recently reading about this law called the Armed Forces Special Powers Act which confers unrestricted powers to the armed forces to shoot, arrest and search people in so called "disturbed" areas. It’s absolutely appalling! There have been quite a few incidences of arbitrary detention, shooting, torture and even rape by these armed personnel! The law was apparently passed to prevent the north eastern states from seceding from the Indian Union, but it has only lead to the armed forces taking full advantage of their special power to the dismay of the common people. There have been a number of protests against this ridiculous act by the people of the north east. I don't understand how can killing be legal? How can you give these armed personnel full immunity and full freedom which will only urge them to be more brutal? But you can’t really blame the soldiers, can you? They’re doing their duty! How is the government being fair in this situation? How can they, without blinking an eye order their soldiers to kill people? What a quandary. Quite a few human rights organizations have criticised the Act, and very rightly so. It’s just not morally correct. In school, we had this poem in English class that nearly always brought me on the verge of tears. It was called “Survivors” by Siegfried Sassoon, who was an African ex-slave.

“Of course they’re ‘longing to go out again,

these boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk.”

These are a couple of lines from the poem in which he talks about how war cripples these soldiers, and leaves them physically and mentally broken and shattered to extents we cannot even comprehend. We always seem to think that these soldiers protecting us from all sorts of danger and terror are always raring to fight and make their country proud. Do we ever think about what they go through out there, the inhumane tasks that are left to them, the amount of people they have to kill during battles or how they watch their fellow combatants or friends die in front of their eyes? No, we don’t. So, it’s a misconception- everything we think about war being glorious and all that. It isn’t. It’s brutal. In the same way, how is it right to give the soldiers the right to kill? It’s not like they want to do it or enjoy it one bit. Why should violence be the answer to everything? Why should the government resort to violence without even thinking or giving other alternative solutions to a problem a thought? It’s just the easy way, isn’t it? So predictable, so obvious. Why give humanity a chance? Why think about the human lives that are being lost? Why think about the people who are suffering, the families being torn apart?

A few days ago, I was watching an interview with Imran Khan, the politician, in which he made the statement that killing Osama was wrong. He said Osama should’ve been tried in court by the USA, just like Kasab was in India. It really made me think…and I felt he was right. By killing him, they just did what he did all his life – murdered someone. The difference was that he murdered innocent people. Killing people, I feel just isn’t a right that we have, however heinous a crime anyone’s committed. Then, how is it done so easily?

The biggest question – should violence be used for reasons of justice? I’d say, like ‘the Beatles’ said in the 1960’s – “Give peace a chance”. We've never tried it, so we don’t know how different the outcomes in so many different situations could have been, if we just gave in to our conscience and tried solving problems without using violence; without taking the easy way out.