From assassination to help

[Guest guest]

>From assassination threat to help offer

Avirook Sen

(www.hindustantimes.com)

 

IN THE aftermath of the megaquake that hit Gujarat, sympathy and

supplies are flowing into India from every quarter -- some of them

unexpected. Lashkar-e-Tayyeba offered to send relief material to

earthquake-ravaged Gujarat on Wednesday. Lashkar's previous offer,

you might recall, was to assassinate Home Minister L.K. Advani on

Republic Day.

 

In a statement issued from Muzaffarbad, the capital of Pakistan

Occupied Kashmir, Lashkar leader Hafeez Mohammad Saeed, said: "We are

prepared to send relief goods for the victims of the earthquake." The

group is also willing to send its "trained cadres to assist in rescue

operations" in Gujarat.

 

This suggests the Lashkar training curriculum has more to it than

killing and arson (the reason why most of us wouldn't like to

see "trained" Lashkar cadres anywhere), but it's definitely not an

offer that India couldn't refuse.

 

Lashkar's magnanimity follows the blood donations by the Jammu and

Kashmir Liberation Front.

 

The umbrella separatist outfit has already sent 100 units of blood to

the victims of the quake. And on Thursday, a battery of senior

leaders of the pro-independence front, including Bashir Ahmad Butt,

Javaid Ahmad Mir and Mohammad Yasin Khan, were waiting for doctors to

extract their blood at JKLF chief Yasin Malik's residence in

Srinagar.

 

But no one is missing the opportunity to get a little mileage. JKLF

leaders claim that their blood donation camp is a success even among

commoners. "We are an oppressed people and understand pain," said

JLKF vice-chairman Mir.

 

In the United States, the Council of Khalistan president, Dr Gurmit

Singh Aulakh, was echoing Mir, just swapping Kashmir for Punjab. "We

call on India to take good care of the victims' families, and also to

compensate the families of victims of Indian genocide."

 

But unlike Lashkar, the Khalistani organisation didn't hazard any

guesses as to why the earthquake struck Gujarat. While

expressing "deep sorrow" over the disaster, Lashkar's Saeed

said: "Indian rulers should keep in mind (that) the recent havoc is

the punishment from Allah for their atrocities in Kashmir and other

states."

 

As if to make the point that India doesn't need to import a lunatic

fringe, a Karnataka minister, T. John, had offered the same line of

reasoning on Wednesday. John said that the earthquake was divine

retribution for the persecution of Christians in Gujarat. John's

sacking came as a surprise to a number of people, who felt that he

should, at least, have been institutionalised. (With inputs from

Srinagar)