Step aside, sub-prime mortgage crisis. Your time is up. Now that you have successfully managed to snatch the livelihood of quite a few hundreds the world throughout, your work is done. Ring out the old.
Ring in the new. Though not exactly the new. But enough to guarantee a place in the world’s Who’s Who list of ‘happening events’ – Myanmar and Pakistan
Myanmar is bound to sound like a cliché. But it shouldn’t and most definitely isn’t. What started simple enough has become more of a thorn in the side of most countries. A 500% hike in fuel prices drove the people of Myanmar ballistic. They had, quite frankly, had enough. They took to the streets to protest against this and also decided to throw in some elements of democracy. The army watched the whole thing unfold with detached amusement, of how easy it would be to surprise the uprising. But then it happened. Monks, highly revered in the mainly Buddhist nation, joined in the protested. Gave them their support. Gave the people a big boost. And this time, the military junta wasn’t smiling. They decided enough was enough. And began, to the horror of the whole world, a bloody crackdown. Support for the protestors started pouring in from the outside world. Imposition of sanctions briefly thought of. The world started screaming – Outrage of democracy, Outrage of human right. And then what was long feared happened. It became just another news article. Nothing more. Nations became reluctant to solve the issue. And add to that, indifference of the apparent superpowers China and India. The whole issue never caught fire. There were starts though – Ibrahim Gambhari’s visit, the Human Rights activist’s visit – but they were just that, just starts. And now, the smile is back on the junta’s face. After killing more than a "dozen" people and locking up hundreds.
Next stop – Pakistan. What started and should have settled as a simple power sharing deal between Benazir Bhutto and Gen. Pervez Musharraf quickly turned sour. Why? Because it was probably never the intention of Bhutto to share power, only petty politics. And what was the result? Musharraf, being Musharraf (apart from being the army chief) decided to show who was in-charge. He suspended the Constitution, imposed a state of emergency and is currently governing with martial law. And then, the problems for Musharraf started. The US held the threat of stoppage of much needed financial aid over Pakistan. The Commonwealth contemplated and contemplated and finally suspended Pakistan’s membership. People started screaming and shouting about how democracy had been lost in Pakistan. Of how Musharraf was being a feared dictator.
But they missed a point. At no point in time, did the countermeasures taken by Musharraf match the ruthlessness and cold-bloodedness of the Myanmar junta. And yet, the world is screaming its heart out more for the crisis in Pakistan, which would have been resolved in one way or the other, rather than that of the acute state of the people in Myanmar. True, both are ruled pretty much by military dictators. But isn’t there a blatant difference between the two? True, both are domestic issues and should be solved by the country concerned. Then why is external pressure on Pakistan infinitely greater than that on Myanmar?
It seems as if the world has suddenly lost its bearings. Become so confused that it is unable to see where the people are suffering more. Stupid isn’t it?
Probably, the best answer that could be given, which in no way is a diplomatic one, is that Pakistan is more important to the world. Why? Because of the support Pakistan provides for the war on terror that was launched by the US in God knows when era. Myanmar always isolated itself. So in this case, who gives a damn of its people? For all you know, the country could become non-existent and yet the world wouldn’t notice the difference, wouldn’t care to notice the difference. And yet there is talk of all human beings being equal. Of all human beings sharing the same fundamental rights. Yeah right!
