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| India-Pakistan |
| A revolving door for democrats, dictators and bankers |
| 2007-04-15 |
| By Jawed Naqvi WeÂ’ll come to Ashok Mitra's book in a moment in which he damns Manmohan Singh as an American plant. But let us first take a bird's eye view of South Asia's blossoming republics. How long ago was it when Indira Gandhi imposed her emergency rule in India? Her dictatorship lasted all of 18 months between 1975 and 1977, when she called elections and lost. The howls of protest against the brief authoritarian rule came mostly from the West, and they were deafening. This was strange from a world that was playing footsy with the notorious generals, Messrs Zia in Bangladesh and Pakistan, not to forget Junius Jayewardene in Sri Lanka.. Let's not forget also Mrs Gandhi's circumstances, particularly in the wake of the far more serious happenings that are under way vis a vis the judiciary, for example, in Pakistan today. Mrs Gandhi was a Soviet client, and her emergency was supported by allies like the pro-Moscow Communist Party of India. Bad enough. On the other hand, the groups ranged against her included the pro-American wing of the fractured Congress party and the religious revivalist Jana Sangh, a creature of the world's original anti-Soviet strategy in South Asia, a forerunner of today's BJP. Other opponents of Mrs Gandhi were led by pro-China communists. |
| Posted by:John Frum |