Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Escorting trouble Advani style

The BJP supremo distances himself from Kandahar fiasco but questions remain unanswered

Did the Home Minister of India know that his colleague, the Foreign Minister, was politely escorting terrorists in the aftermath of the Kandahar hijack drama to Kabul; a tale so tragic and humiliating that India will forever find it difficult to live it down? The then Home Minister and currently BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, L.K. Advani, has suggested in his book `My country, My life’, that he was not in the know when then Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, escorted Maulana Masood Azhar and two other terrorist killers to safety in Kabul.

While Advani’s standing as a one of the few genuine practioners of realpolitic has been re-enhanced with this book - which is different from mere journalistic writing - his position on Kandhar is bound to put the BJP in the dock. Is this a case of too little too late? Does Advani, himself one of the great political spin doctors of modern India, think it is time for course correction to a sordid chapter of the country where he was ultimately responsible for law and order?

Close Advani sympathiser and columnist Swapan Dasgupta, makes this point: “Advani has taken an important step in distancing himself from the shameful capitulation in Kandahar. That, unfortunately, isn't enough. It is necessary for him to take advantage of the renewed interest in the subject to propose a policy that will make it impossible for another Kandahar to recur. In short, the BJP as a whole must admit that it erred in 1999 and assure the nation that no Government in future will repeat that mistake.“


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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