It is shocking indeed!

Amin Ahmed Chowdhury Frankly speaking, I am shocked and horrified to learn that the great Libyan people have disgraced the lifeless body of their own deposed leader who served them for 42 years. How could he rule Libya for long 42 years? Why did so many soldiers fight for him? Why did they sacrifice their lives? Brave people are always honourable and respected persons. Col Gaddafi probably ruled Libya with an iron hand as most of the Arab leaders do. As far as Muammar Gaddafi was concerned, he carried out a lot of pro-people welfare projects. He was a nationalist and a courageous leader of his country. He used to admire the Egyptian leader, late Gamal Abdul Naser. Following Naser's example, he tried his best to unite the Arab world. He did not quite succeed on this score. After this, he started concentrating on the African continent. He was courageous enough to ensure that the powerful vested interests did not get entry to the resources of Libya. And that what was his main fault. The same power bloc nourished Saddam Hussain so that through him Kuwait and other Arab countries could be kept under their thumbs. Initially, they kept Saddam busy in Iraq-Iran war. Following that, they encouraged Saddam to invade Kuwait and then, in the name of reconstruction, millions of dollar were drained out from Kuwait. Only after that, they set the goal of ousting Saddam Hussain from power on the basis of false allegations that he was trying to build nuclear bombs. But in reality, he was introducing modern education system in his country. Even then on a flimsy ground and false propaganda, they attacked Iraq and dislodged Saddam. He was a tyrant, no doubt. But his countrymen should have decided his fate. What business a third country has got to butt in. Foreign troops invading the country and destroying the sovereignty of Iraq can never be condoned. The prisoners of Iraq were treated like animals. Those who did all these, were worse than Saddam. After the capture of Iraq, they admitted it was not true that Saddam was making any nuclear bomb. Yet nobody dared to punish them. The same is the case with Libya. The 'operation' in Libya is essentially purported to capturing its oil fields like those of Iraq. In the same way, the same international vested interests maligned him and carried out his character assassination. Nonetheless, they would never succeed in their attempts to gain access to the Libyan resources. Nobody should be humiliated. I would like to make this appeal personally to the great people of Libya. Let not the body of Gaddafi, be in any way, dishonoured. He was a former Head of the State. If his body is humiliated, Libyans will, in reality, be humiliating themselves. In spite of his rude and crude ways of handling the situation, nobody doubted that he was a nationalist, and his pan-Arabism kept the west at bay. The west has long been master-minding the operation to plunder the wealth of the Third World countries, particularly the Arab world. The vested interests must not be allowed to interfere in the affairs of Libya and they must not be at liberty to disgrace the former Libyan leader, however bad he might have been. Libyans themselves should deal with their leader. What business NATO has got to get itself involved in the day-to-day affairs of the country. The whole of the Arab world will soon lose its sovereignty in the name of 'good governance,' 'open market,' 'globalisation': All these are ploys to plunder the wealth of unprotected countries in a refined way. All of us must remain alert and vigilant. To protect their independence, Arab countries must establish good governance-accountable governments, without being told what to do by the outsiders. Political infrastructure and democratic institutions must be built, cultivated and nourished. It looks like the 'usurper' kings and queens or Sheikdoms will take the Arab world to its final destruction. Until people are educated and made to realise their future, there is hardly any hope for the Arab world to ride the tide of western dominance, despite being fabulously rich. But unfortunately, their wealth is their enemy as they are yet to make themselves educated enough to handle their own national affairs all by themselves. At the same time, they must remain united which they are yet to achieve. With the patronage of the vested interest groups, the Arab world is accustomed to easy earnings. The Libyans are no exceptions. Easy earning is a cancer and the only way to get rid of the cancer is to chop it off. The writer, a retired army general, is Bir Bikram (BB). He may be reached at email: sejdach@gmail.com