The Hindu : New Delhi News : `Double standards' in global politics decried

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 04, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Double standards' in global politics decried

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 3. Describing India as a country of peace and non-violence and calling for abhorring all kinds of violence and terrorism, former Chief Justice of India, A.M. Ahmadi, cautioned that big countries should not go to war on "frivolous'' reasons. "As in the case of Iraq, no weapons of mass destruction were found. Other countries have been possessing such weapons but no action has been taken. Why are there such double standards in international politics," queried Justice Ahmadi during a seminar on "Peace and Security of Central Asia'' organised by Unity International Foundation in the Capital on Friday.

Stressing the geo-political significance of Central Asia, which according to her attracted worldwide attention in the mid-1990s, JNU Professor Nirmala Joshi said that it was the enormous wealth of raw materials that had attracted major western powers, especially the USA to the region.

"This led to the beginning of the competition for control of Central Asia. The US game plan was to reduce the centuries old Russian sway on Central Asia. The real challenge for the Central Asian states is to not allow themselves to become tools in the hands of outside powers and at the same time ensure that assistance and co-operation from the developed countries continues,'' said Prof. Joshi.

Speaking at the seminar, Hamdard University's Arshi Khan observed that the peace process in the Central Asian region had been crippled because of authoritarian attitude of a few Western Countries and their aggressive police of engagement.

"The American and British policy of occupation and construction of their military bases in and around Central Asia has become the main problem for creating instability, insecurity and violence in the region,'' he said.

According to Dr. Khan, the US and its allies are "afraid of seeing real democracy in Central Asia because they know that democratic consensus of the people and these countries will certainly veto American designs''.

Former Governor, A.R. Kidwai, and convenor of the Global Peace Movement, R.C. Choudhury, also spoke at the seminar.

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