July 2014 tragedies: A plane crash and deaths in Gaza

One hundred years back, on the morning of June 28, 1914, in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, a 19-year-old Bosnian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Franz Ferdinand was the future heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, which was the second-largest empire in Europe. Gavrilo Princip, didn't perhaps realise at the time that by firing those three fateful shots, he was starting a chain reaction that would lead to World War I.

The assassination sent shockwaves throughout Europe. Austro-Hungarian authority declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. Fearing reprisals from Russia, which was a strong ally of Serbia, Austria-Hungary sought to activate its alliance with Germany in an attempt to scare the Russians out of taking action.

Germany, in turn, sent Russia an ultimatum to stop mobilising, which Russia ignored. The two powers-Russia and Germany-declared war on each other on August 01, 1914. Powerful alliances had suddenly felt an urge to fight against injustice. Britain and France entered the conflict on the side of Russia. A simple incident thus sparked a World War that lasted four years and claimed the lives of millions.

After 100 years, an incident hundred times more brutal is not going to agitate the powerful countries to side with the oppressed, let alone wage a war in support of a victim or a weak ally, unless the incident directly affects their own interests.

Nobody anticipates an outbreak of a war that invites only destruction. Of course, probability of a mutually destructive World War these days is pretty dim when other more effective means such as regional wars and financial sanctions are available to punish a country which does not behave loyally towards the powerful.

About 300 innocent Palestinians have been killed by Israeli missiles in the last few weeks and then a ground invasion of Gaza by Israel started that will invariably cause deaths and injuries of hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians.

Within hours of the Gaza invasion a civilian Boeing 777 of Malaysian Airlines was downed allegedly by pro-Russian rebels killing 298 people.

In Syria, Bashar Assad celebrates his survival and defiance. On Wednesday, Assad took his oath of office for a third term as president despite the deaths of 160,000 Syrians due to his obstinacy.

The Muslims in Myanmar are systematically being annihilated.

Alas! The world is silent. Why? Because, none of these incidents scorches the soils of America or Russia or of any country that holds the veto power in the Security Council of the United Nations.

Even the Muslim Arab nations are mum at the plight of the Muslims in Palestine or the Muslims in Myanmar; those Arabians perhaps have no sympathy for the fellow Muslims in any corner of the world.

The pro-Russian rebels, who supposedly shot the plane, have nothing to fear as they know well that the United States would not go beyond some casual sanctions against a handful of Russian individuals or some oral threats to the troublemakers.

Countries in the present-day world who may hope for the use of American or Russian muscles overseas for the sake of justice or mitigating their sufferings are perhaps chasing a mirage in a world where the powerful leaders have developed an absolute antipathy towards the downtrodden and the oppressed.

Nearly 600 innocent lives-300 in Gaza and 300 in the Flight MH 17 of Malaysian Airlines-have been snuffed out. Men, women, children and infants who lost their lives had nothing to do with missiles thrown towards Israel or with the crisis in Ukraine. Who is there to answer the questions of the bereaved relatives of the dead? If the bereaved don't get the answers why should they restrain their surviving boys and girls from revolting or from taking arms in their hands?

However, our thoughts and prayers are with all the families who have lost their relatives in the plane crash. The country that lost the most people in the plane crash is the Netherlands. Besides 189 Dutch passengers, there were citizens of Malaysian, Australia, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada, USA and New Zealand who died in the fatal crash.

More tragic is the fact that on board Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 there were about 100 researchers and advocates who were travelling to an international conference on AIDS/HIV in Australia. These men and women, who had dedicated their own lives to saving the lives of others, were murdered. Their deaths should remind us and the posterity that there are people who care about humanity and dedicated their life to helping people that they have never met.

Evidence suggests that the Malaysian plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists inside of Ukraine. And it is also known that this is not the first time a plane has been shot down in eastern Ukraine. Recently, Russian-backed separatists shot down a Ukrainian transport plane and a Ukrainian helicopter, and they also claimed responsibility for shooting down a Ukrainian fighter jet.

And these separatists have received from Russia arms which include heavy weapons and certain types of anti-aircraft missiles that could reach up to 33,000 feet and shoot down the passenger jet. How can Russia avoid respon-sibility?

Our friendly country Malaysia is in real distress as their national airline has lost two planes carrying 537 people, in the space of only five months. The airline had already been reeling from the March disappearance of Flight 370, which vanished about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard. Taken together, this is the biggest casualty toll suffered by any airline over such a short time span. There may be a sharp drop in bookings for Malaysian Airlines due to these two mishaps. The airline's very survival may be in question if passengers start avoiding their flights for a long time. The fate of Malaysia's flagship carrier will hinge on how it weathers in the next few months and wins their customers' trust through their operational efficiency.

Let there be a fair investigation to find out who are responsible for this global tragedy of the plane crash in the sky. In order to facilitate such an investigation, Russia, pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine should declare an immediate cease-fire. All the concerned countries should make sure that evidences are not tempered by the culprits.

Let this tragedy at least prick the conscience of the concerned that it is time for peace and security to be restored in Ukraine. Let us also hope that innocent civilians are not killed by the latest Israeli ground invasion and the cease-fire between Israel and Palestine that was reached in November of 2012 returns soon.

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