EVENTS AND ISSUES
New Delhi, 21 July 2005
Among Gobal Issues…
Terror
Hijacks G8 Summit
By Dr. Chintamani
Mahapatra
School of International Studies, JNU
Months of preparations went into holding the G8 Summit at St. Petersburg in Russia,
but it appeared that terrorism and violence hijacked this important gathering
of one of the most powerful groups of influential countries. The participants
were aghast by the horrendous terrorist strike in Mumbai that killed more than
two hundred innocent lives, injured more than five hundred and frightened
millions others who often travel by train to make both the ends meet.
The statement issued
by the G8 members and the observers condemned this ghastly act of timidity. It
said; "We are outraged by the barbaric terrorist acts, carried out on 11
July 2006 in Mumbai and other parts of India. We stand in solidarity with
the Government and the people of India
and express our deepest condolences
to the victims and their families….We are united with India in our
resolve to intensify efforts to fight terrorism which constitutes a threat to
each of our country, as well as to international peace and security."
Yet another incident that occupied the debate and
deliberations at the St. Petersburg Summit was the kidnapping of four Israeli
soldiers and Tel Aviv’s strong retribution against Hamas and Hezbollah leading
to massive bombardment of Lebanon.
Neither the G8 nor the international community has been able to take a definite
stand on the Middle East violence, as international terrorism is striking back
in Afghanistan, Iraq, India, Pakistan and in several other places as well. Israel, which
is often criticized for its heavy-handed approach in dealing with Palestinian issue, is undoubtedly facing enormous terrorist
challenges.
The international community is not united in its view on the
victory of Hamas in the Palestinian election recently. Yet another angle is the
alleged Iranian involvement in giving persistent help to Hamas and Hezbollah
and a suspicion that Tehran is raising the
temperature in the Middle East by enhanced
encouragement to militant elements to divert the attention on its nuclear
weapon ambitions.
The G8 resolution on this issue
is significantly balanced. It said: “The immediate crisis results from efforts
by extremist forces to destabilize the region and to frustrate the aspirations
of the Palestinian, Israeli and Lebanese people for democracy and peace.
In Gaza,
elements of Hamas launched rocket attacks against Israeli territory and
abducted an Israeli soldier.
In Lebanon, Hizbollah, in violation of the Blue Line,
attacked Israel from Lebanese territory and killed and captured Israeli
soldiers, reversing the positive trends that began with the Syrian withdrawal
in 2005, and undermining the democratically elected government of Prime
Minister Fuad Siniora. These extremist elements and those that support
them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East
into chaos and provoke a wider conflict. The extremists must immediately
halt their attacks.”
And then it went on to say that “it is also critical that Israel, while
exercising the right to defend itself, be mindful of the strategic and
humanitarian consequences of its actions. We call upon Israel to
exercise utmost restraint, seeking to avoid casualties among innocent civilians
and damage to civilian infrastructure and to refrain from acts that would
destabilize the Lebanese government.”
Nonetheless, the
G8 underscored the rise in the extremism and terrorism and were less critical of Israeli retribution. It was clearly
reflected in the order of its resolution, which called for: Return of the
Israeli soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon unharmed; an end to the shelling of
Israeli territory; an end to Israeli military operations and the early
withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza;
and release of the arrested Palestinian ministers and parliamentarians.
While nations continue to differ on the definition of
terrorism and the best means to tackle this menace, the G8 declared: “We, the
Leaders of the G8, meeting in St. Petersburg, categorically denounce terrorist
attacks worldwide and condemn in the strongest terms those who perpetrate these
atrocities and bring untold suffering and death to citizens. We express our deepest sympathy with all victims of these
attacks. If terrorism and violent extremism are permitted to exist
anywhere, they diminish our societies everywhere. Today we pledge that we
will not rest until the terrible blight of terrorism has been removed from our
daily lives.”
The G8, which recognizes the role of the UN in tackling the
terrorist menace the world over, reiterated its commitment to work closely with
the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and expressed its desire to expand cooperation between other
countries and the Counter-Terrorism Action Group (CTAG) it has created
The G8 Summit already had the issue
of energy security high on its agenda. Russia’s
self-perception as an energy superpower, its use of energy to pressurize its neighbours and the rising oil prices
would have dominated the debate and discussions.
But terrorist violence, sectarian conflict and Israel’s
war against Lebanon
in the heart of the world’s hydrocarbon resources altered the focus and
concerns were expressed over the
danger to the energy infrastructure.
The G8 thus recognized the urgency of enhancing “cooperation
with regard to counter terrorist and other criminal attacks on critical energy
infrastructure facilities” and announced “a plan of action to secure global
critical energy infrastructure, including defining and ranking vulnerabilities
of critical energy infrastructure sites, assessing emerging and potential risks of terrorist
attacks, and developing best practices for effective security across all energy sectors within our countries.”
Significantly, the issue
of nuclear terrorism was also seriously debated. In the past, scholars and
officials differed on this issue.
Some argued that nuclear weapons are too complicated and difficult for the
terrorist groups to manufacture. Others emphasized that terrorist groups may
not be able to build nuclear bombs, but they can certainly acquire one. The
Abdul Qadeer Khan-run nuclear black market certainly has frightened and woken
up the world leaders to nuclear terrorism.
In sharp contrast, India got kudos for its new
commitment to non-proliferation. The G8 statement on non-proliferation said:
“We look forward to reinforcing our partnership with India. We note the commitments India has made, and encourage India to take
further steps towards integration into the mainstream of strengthening the
non-proliferation regime, so as to facilitate a more forthcoming approach
towards nuclear cooperation to address
its energy requirements, in a manner that enhances and reinforces the global
non-proliferation regime.”
The G8 did carry out debate and discussion
on a host of global issues, but
terrorism and violence dominated the summit.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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