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August 15th, 2004
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Canada
Experts in Canada Assess wars in Kashmir, Iraq, Sri Lanka & Canada's military industry by Javed Zaheer TORONTO: While the world is bleeding and both the earth and sky have turned blood red, we are lost in our own worlds and dreams. We pose as angels but in reality protect only our vested interests and care nothing about what is happening around us. The beast in us is dominating our lives. Let us defeat it. In one way or the other, we are not only promoting death and destruction but fully enjoying it. Is this not a fact? On July 16, I was invited to an Evening With Pervez Hoodbhoy, who is a peace-loving scientist from Pakistan. The other speakers were Tarek Fatah, Paul A. Hamel, John Argue and Dr Khalid Sohail. A wonderful documentary film Crossing The Lines: Kashmir, Pakistan, India was shown. It was produced by Pervez Hoodbhoy and Zia Mian for the Eqbal Ahmad Foundation, 2004. The film was selected as an example to highlight the topic of the evening War as an institution. The event was simply memorable, highly informative and very interesting. It was organized by Science for Peace and by Family Of The Heart (FOTH) at the Innis Town Hall at Innis College, University of Toronto. The attendance was very good. The selected gathering comprised prominent personalities and people from all walks of life. Dr Khalid Sohail, himself a leading intellectual, psychiatrist and a polished moderator, conducted the proceedings, as usual, superbly. Every second was fully enjoyed. Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy is a Professor of Physics at the Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, where he has taught for over 30 years. He holds a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the recipient of several wards including Abdus Salam Prize for Mathematics, the Baker Award for Electronics and the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science. He is a visiting professor at MIT and often lectures at US and European universities. On Kashmir Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy said, "The purpose of the documentary is to remind the world about a forgotten war---Kashmir---and to find an alternative solution. Kashmir, even after four wars between India and Pakistan, is a burning issue and a boiling point. It could ignite a nuclear war, if still neglected. The consequences would be horrible and lead to massive destruction and loss of human lives." "Already the casualties are very high, if multiplied over the years. The world must take serious notice of this volcano, which is ready to explode any moment. It would be a catastrophe and could spell disaster," he stated. He said: "The Kashmir issue is entirely different from the Palestine problem. Here we are confronted with a mess. The parameters for a solution are inadequate. We must let things cool down. We don’t have a solution right now under the present framework." Pervez said, "There are many obstacles to the solution like the military involvement, Indian nationalism and religious extremism, both fanning hatred and anger, and Kashmiris themselves who are not united on the fate of the Valley and are split in groups with their own demands." He said, "Through the documentary an attempt has been made to show Indian occupation and brutalities, which have created death and destruction situation. Enough was shown to establish a sense of what was happening." "The cost of Kashmir to both India and Pakistan is enormously stressful and costly. The whole society has been militarized and charged. People of both sides and religions are blood thirsty and ready to finish each other even on a very small pretext. The situation is extremely grave. Kashmir is a source of water and this issue alone could trigger a nuclear war." He said, "Fortunately things are going well now and we have started moving in the right direction. We must seriously realize that Kashmir is an unfinished business of partition and until it is solved there will neither be peace nor progress in the region in the real sense. If rules were followed, Kashmir would have belonged to Pakistan. But, again, we must focus on a solution acceptable to all sides." He stated, "There is a feeling of Kashmiri unity, which is the Kashmiri identity. This came to light when Kashmiris were interviewed in the Valley. People are fed up with the prevailing situation. They want peace and freedom." Pervez said, "We must focus on ways to cool the issue and create an environment of peace and harmony. We need to create base camps. The first has been created by cease-fire on the LOC. We must allow free movement of Kashmiris in the Valley, promote trade, communication and transport. Every mean and way must be explored and implemented practically through which people could be brought closer. This will help create confidence and proper understanding and remove hatred and suspicion." He said: "It seems that the Line Of Control (LOC) has to be the international border but we must try to create an environment and such a condition that the LOC becomes irrelevant. We can cool things by this way. We should encourage the ongoing process of establishing peace in the region. It is very difficult but would produce positive results. The stupid hostilities would cease someday." He stated: "There is an enormous amount of goodwill in both the countries. Only the propaganda needs to be toned down. It is the worst enemy of peace. When the Indians went to watch the cricket matches in Pakistan they were warmly greeted and greatly respected. This proved that people are prepared to live and work together." Pervez said: "Let natural feelings prevail so that societies could grow. The army exploited the Kashmir issue very much and increased tremendously its budget and strength. It is also an obstacle in solution of the issue. When I met President Gen Pervez Musharraf for over three hours, which was remarkable, I told him clearly to stop the Jihad in Kashmir because it is hurting Pakistan more. We should only provide moral and political support. Military support must stop and never encouraged." He said: "Since 1987 things have dramatically changed. Now, with the rapidly changing situation, it looks that things are beyond the army control as well. The operation in Wana and cease-fire in Kashmir are examples. This is an indicator that a lot of changes are in store and bound to happen." Touching the topic War as an Institution, he said: "We cannot completely end conflicts because they differ entirely in nature but we must try to control and avoid them. We must look at particular causes when discussing war as an institution, like the example of Kashmir." Pervez said: "Science has no morality so we must create moral science. We have to deal with multiple levels. Through the documentary level, I tried to create social consciousness. Through this I hope to attract the world’s attention so that they can help restore sanity and establish peace in the region." Startling Disclosures about Canada's Military Might Dr Paul A Hamel also spoke at the event. He is an Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. He is a research scholar and an active member of Science for Peace, which is a charitable Canadian-based organization which brings together professors as well as students who are concerned about peace, justice and making an environmentally sustainable future. Science for Peace has NGO status at the United Nations. He said: "The conduct of modern warfare is clearly a technological issue. I would like to develop the notion that promotion and execution of violence or war is, in fact, embedded in the very structure of our society. This structure has the quality of negating democracy in the country. Furthermore, this structure is designed so that promotion of war and waging of war around the world provides direct benefit to every single person in this country." Paul Hamel presented startling disclosures about Canada’s military ties with US and its role in the war against Iraq. He talked about how people generally think that Canada did not join the coalition of the willing. But Canadian military personnel were in fact with US forces in Iraq, were involved in the planning of the war at McDil Air Force Base in Florida, provided military transport planes for use by the US, coordinated air battles in aircraft known as AWACS and had three Canadian warships in the Gulf region as part of a battle fleet that was launching attacks against the people of Iraq. The Canadian enterprises were the largest foreign suppliers of military equipment to the US for its war against the Iraqi people. Canada is listed 46th largest military contractor for the US through entities including General Dynamics Canada, Lockheed Martin Canada, CAE Electronics, Bombardier and General Motors which are top of a very large list of military contractors which develop and supply vast array of weapons and weapons of components to the Canadian military establishments and, in a massive way, to the US military. These contracts are channeled through Canadian Commercial Corporation. Their 60 per cent contracts happen to be military contracts. The high risk research and development side of some of these war industries are further financed through a Canadian Federal program called Technology Partnerships Canada, which had the previous unfortunate name of the Defence Industry Productivity Program. This latter program has, among its interesting features, the interesting quality of having the Canadian population take the risk for research and development activities while directing the profits to the private corporations, a phenomenon known as Socialism for the Rich. The Canadian Pension Plan, which is the principal old age pension for most Canadians, has a huge fund of $683 million dollars (CA) invested in 120 foreign military industries---88 percent of those specifically in the US including Raytheon, Lockheed Martin (the largest military contractor in the world), Boeing and General Dynamics. When one also considers military investments in Canadian military corporations, this amounts to 2.5 billion dollars in these war-making companies. Indeed, of the top 20 military contractors in the world, Pension Plan invests in 15 of them. In spite of the illusion that we are somehow a peace-keeping nation, we have a long term stake in the profitable business of war. Paul Hamel said: "The official illusion exists that we were somehow uninvolved in this illegal assault on Iraq when in fact we played a fundamental role in its planning and execution. This has the effect of negating any democracy that might exist in this country." He said: "Specifically, despite the objection of the majority of people in this country to the illegal war on Iraq, we structured our society such that any democratic decision to act peacefully is completely overridden by public institutions which continue to fund and support and through corporate enterprises that make massive profits in the preparation and waging of war." Paul said: "Thus, every time there is a war, we have structured this country so that we all benefit. Indeed, we live with the fundamental contradiction that we have constructed a system in which "security" in our old age depends on us waging more and more wars on a planet packed with weapons sufficient to annihilate all of us at any time." Muslims in Canada Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and who keeps challenging the traditional, conservative and fundamentalist Muslims with his TV program Muslim Chronicle, that airs on CTS TV in Canada also participated. Fatah said: "We must think as to how we can fight the economy of war. Corporate interests have overcome national interests. If there are no wars the arms manufacturers would be in deep crisis. War is the game of corporations and our destruction. Think seriously about it." Amnesty International on Sri Lanka John Argue, Sri Lanka Coordinator of Amnesty International, highlighted the happenings in Sri Lanka and said: "The Tamils feel that their rights are being snatched and, therefore, they are demanding a separate state. The Sinhalese fear that the 65 million Tamils of India and the three million Tamils in Sri Lanka are planning to dominate them." He said: "After 20 years of fighting, the society has become militarized in Sri Lanka. Even children are being used as soldiers. Both sides should recognize the rights of the people. Amnesty is doing its best to help the people." He stated: "There is truce now but the threat of war is very much there. The most affected are women of both sides. They feel neglected and are the worst sufferers. They want peace at any cost. So Amnesty is now focusing on protection of women and their rights. It has launched an international campaign with the aim of how women can be recognized in the new society." Science for Peace & Family of the Heart Dr Khalid Sohail, founder of Family of the Heart (FOTH), presented a wonderful introduction of the speakers and subject of the evening. He spoke about Pervez Hoodbhoy’s book `Islam and Science’ and said: "This book is a great contribution to understand the dynamics and psyche of Muslim culture and traditions." He said: "To appreciate Hoodbhoy’s contributions we need to put them in a historical, social and political context. In this book he has not only offered a historical analysis but also opened a contemporary debate between: i) The traditionalists and modernists. He said: "I found Pervez Hoodbhoy’s personality as impressive as his philosophy. He is always open for a dialogue because he knows that democracy is based on dialogue. He is actively involved in promoting education and supporting human rights movement inside and outside Pakistan." He stated: "Hoodbhoy was inspired by Eqbal Ahmed, a well-respected scholar. He has been critical of all kinds of oppressions, violence and war. His role has taken a new turn after the September 11, 2001, tragedy. He is one of the voices of reason from Pakistan. He is one of those who stayed in Pakistan and faced all kinds of hardships and offered sacrifices." Khalid said: "Hoodbhoy has been speaking openly and honestly not only against American Imperialism but also against the unjust role of army in Pakistan. He is aware that the war we are all fighting in the 21st century is being fought at many levels. That is why he has been a torchbearer at many fronts. He has been trying to open channels of communication between different opposing fractions locally, nationally and internationally." A lively questions & answers session followed the speeches and presentation. About the Author(s): See under Our Contributors to find out about the Author(s) of this article. |
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