By TCN News,
New Delhi: Condemnation of western military operation in Libya is widening here in India as parties and groups from both sides of political and intellectual divide are coming up to voice against the air strikes by NATO forces launched on Sunday apparently to oust Libyan ruler Col Gaddafi.
The CPI(ML) today strongly condemned the air strikes on Libya by NATO allies France, Britain and the US. “Once again after Iraq, this is an act of aggression by the US and its allies on an oil-rich country in the Arab-African region, being conducted in the name of ushering in democracy and toppling a dictatorship. While the UN Security Council Resolution on Libya called for “protection of civilians” and not for regime change, it is clear that the resolution is serving as a pretext for military aggression by imperialist forces,” CPI(ML) Central Committee secretary Kavita Krishnan said.
A bomb from an allied aircraft exploded along the highway near Benghazi during an airstrike on Sunday [Photo Courtesy: New York Times]
The Left group alleged the military campaign of NATO is to reassert an imperialist foothold in the region when popular uprising is taking place there in support of democracy.
“The uprisings in a series of Arab countries have unseated a large number of dictators backed by the US and have thus created uncertainty for continued US hegemony in the region. The uprising in Libya too reflected the aspirations of Libyan people for democracy, and the brutal suppression of this uprising by Muammar Gaddafi and massacre of civilians is highly condemnable. But military aggression by the Western countries is not inspired by concern for democracy (the same countries have supported suppression of popular uprisings in Bahrain, for instance). Rather, through military intervention in Libya, these countries are seeking to reassert an imperialist foothold in the region and rollback the impact of the wave of democratic uprisings that have thrown off the yoke of decades-old, US-backed despotic regimes,” the Left group official said.
Meanwhile, Popular Front of India (PFI) has also condemned the air strikes by coalition forces led by USA and other western countries on Libya, saying the military attack is “an attack on the sovereignty of that country.”
“The mass uprisings were aimed to free Libya from the iron fist rule of Colonel Gaddafi by bringing in political reforms. The manner in which Gaddafi tried to suppress the uprising should be condemned and opposed but this can never be taken as an excuse to permit US and its allies to carry out strikes on Libya,” PFI chairman E. M. Abdul Rahiman said.
US have a very ugly past of forceful intervention in the internal affairs of many countries. These interventions are always projected as a mean of protecting the local people, but the real objective of such attacks are only to impose US supremacy on those countries and control its resources as seen in Afghanistan and Iraq. The air strikes on Libya have also been as setback to the popular uprising against Gaddafi as it transformed Libya into a warzone, the PFI leader said.
He demanded the U N to immediately stop the US led air strikes on Libya, and urged India to play active role to resolve the crisis.
“The UN should play a more positive role to resolve the internal issue of Libya by initiating peace talk between various groups fighting in Libya. India has strong diplomatic ties with Libya and it is welcomed that we have not supported the deployment of foreign forces in the U N Security Council. In such turbulent situations India should not be a mere spectator but try to intervene in the Libyan crisis through diplomatic channels. He urged the Government of India to initiate positive steps to intervene in the issue and play a mediating role between the fighting groups in Libya to bring the much needed peace.”