Arab League’s cry of despair

ARAB LEAGUE Secretary-General Amr Mussa’s statement that the Arab states need a new “political and security order” seems to suggest growing disillusionment among the members with the efficacy of the grouping. Mussa specifically refers to the Arab League’s “failure” to deal with the Palestinian problem and the Iraqi crisis and says that the AL could “no longer go on in its current shape.” There is now talk of the Arab states setting up “a sub-group”, because the 22-member League is considered unwieldy for the purpose of evolving a common strategy to safeguard Arab interests. The Palestinian question has been there since the end of World War I when Britain began implementing the Balfour Declaration without any resistance from any quarter. However, even after the League came into existence in 1945, it has made no significant difference to the collective role or interests of the Arab nation. It has played no active part in organizing resistance to Israeli occupation and expansionism. The task was left to the Palestine Liberation Organization which focussed world attention on Israeli atrocities and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. It was the sacrifices of the Palestinian people, especially the intifada — Yasser Arafat’s “revolution of stones and sticks” — that paved the way for the Oslo peace process.

In the current war, the Arab League has played no role beyond giving verbal support to Iraq. In some cases, even this support has been half-hearted, so that some leading Arab governments have been cooperating with America and Britain in their attack on Iraq. The Arab masses have been watching this collaboration with anger and revulsion. This inconsequential role is what has reduced the Arab League to a glorified talk shop, where Arab rulers often wash their dirty linen in public — the clash between Libyan President Qaddafi and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the last League meeting was watched live on TV by millions of viewers. None of the Arab countries is a democracy. All Arab states are either ruled by dynastic potentates or by ruthless despots. In no Arab country have the people any say in the affairs of the state. Since the end of World War II, while many Afro-Asian countries have made economic and technological progress, the same cannot be said about the Arab world. The Arab states have failed to reorganize their societies. In spite of their oil wealth, there has been no worthwhile industrialization. Which means the Arab countries have not created the basic conditions for the growth of a vibrant and well-educated middle class — a sine qua non for political progress.

Arab governments may now form a sub-group, but it would be no different from the lame-duck Arab League. So long as the people of the Arab countries themselves remain in a state of stupor and do not have their basic rights, they would be in no position to guard the Arab nation’s interests. Most Arab governments dread their own people, fearing that if given proper education and political rights they may at some stage turn against them and their expedient policies. Mussa’s statement thus misses the point in the sense that it focuses on Arab governments rather than the wider realities of Arab societies.

Ayodhya ban stays

THE Indian supreme court’s ruling on Monday in favour of keeping the ban on all religious activities at the disputed site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya came as a snub to the Vajpayee government. The court upheld its earlier verdict imposing the ban after Hindu zealots threatened to start worshipping at the demolished mosque’s site preparatory to building a temple dedicated to Lord Ram. In an overtly partisan move supporting the Hindu extremists’ call for a Ram temple, the BJP government filed for a review of the court decision, arguing that the communal feelings then prevailing among the rival communities had subsided. The supreme court has rejected the government’s plea, stating that ‘nothing’ has changed. The matter now rests with the Allahabad High Court, where a case to decide the ownership of the disputed land on which the Babri Masjid once stood is still pending before it.

Earlier last month, the Allahabad High Court ordered excavations at the site to ascertain the truth behind the Hindu claims. The decision was welcomed by Muslims while Hindu extremists openly denounced it. It was then that the Vajpayee government threw its weight behind the Hindu extremist conglomerate, the Sangh Parivar, by moving the supreme court, seeking permission to perform puja at the disputed site. Clearly, Mr Vajpayee was ill-advised by the hawks within the party yet again, when he approved the government’s decision to move the supreme court. This was done to circumvent an earlier high court order and to pre-empt the imminent final decision by the Allahabad High Court, which would settle the dispute once and for all. Following the supreme court’s decision on Monday, it is now New Delhi’s responsibility to rein in the Hindu extremists, who have threatened to go ahead with building the Ram temple at Ayodhya. Over 2,000 lives were lost in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid by Hindu extremists in 1992. New Delhi must do all it can to avert a repeat of the 1992 carnage.

Essential drugs

THE scarcity of certain life-saving medicines in Lahore is very disquieting. Drugs for coronary ailments, asthma, migraine as well as thyroid and stomach disorders have been in short supply for quite some time, causing problems to patients in dire need of these. Profiteering as usual seems to be the main cause of the shortage, since the drugs are only available at a few retail outlets in the city. Distributors are reported to be delivering only limited quantities of these medicines to the retailers. Other reports say that they are supplying these drugs in bulk to wholesalers and retailers who sell them in the black market. Shedding light on the matter, the health ministry sources seem to go along this line. They have exonerated the pharmaceutical firms and laid the blame for the blackmarketing at the doorsteps of the distributors.

The distributors get almost no discount on life-saving drugs because of their low price and small profit margins. Smuggling of essential medicines to India is said to be a contributory factor. If the return from the sale of essential drugs is small, this is no fault of the consumer. The disappearance of life-saving drugs from the market only adds to the distress and suffering those critically in need of relief and cure. The authorities cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility of failure to ensure uninterrupted supply and availability of these medicines in the market at all times. They must check blackmarketing and other illicit practices which create difficulties for the patients badly in need of these drugs.