… what ever that is supposed to mean, is gaining popularity world wide. In amchi Mumbai, the standard response to any calamity is ‘we need to deport all those Bihari’s and Bhaiyas from here. When crime goes up – the response is the same … get rid of the Northerners‘.

When terrorism strikes – the response is automatic – those damn Muslim Terrorists, they must all be sent off to Pakistan – little forgetting that 15 years ago it was Sikh Terrorists, and Tamil Terrorists. And till date it is also Telegu terrorists (just because we call them Naxalites doesn’t mean that they are less Telegu), and Assamese terrorists and Naga terrorsists and Gujarati Terrorists (what happened in Gujarat – post Godhra – was just as much terrorism as the mumbai bomb blasts, and just because they are Hindu doesn’t make them any less terrorists) . Infact every state & ethnic group has thrown up its set of terrorists at different points of time in our short history as a Nation State.

Getting rid of them is obviously a good idea – afterall, we all want to live in a peaceful world. But, how do we get rid of them. One option is ‘shoot to kill’ but that is slightly dangerous given that you may end up shooting a Brazillian thinking that he is from the sub continent. or in our case shoot a white tourist thinking he is a fair Arab terrorist. Shoot the wrong person and you are in trouble. After all, in today’s day and age all nations are friends and how much ever you may find it irritating, as a government you have to take up the cause of one of your citizens shot dead by colour blind cops from another country, whose Pavlovian response to anyone different is to shoot them. ! Deporting them is obviously the other option. But, first you have to find them, then identify them accurately, and then deport them. You will be in deep trouble if you catch hold of a potential source of FDI and deport them by mistake.

But, who is them. And, who all do we deport, and where do we deport them to? Doesn’t nationality override ethnicity and religiousity. If it doesn’t, why do we call ourselves a Nation state?

I guess that these weren’t some of the questions considered by the UK home minister Charles Clarke- before he published his list of who can be deported. The UN has already called the expulsions illegal. So here we have one of the Defenders of Democracy acting as a rogue state – by committing illegal acts.

In an article in the Media Monitors Network, Yamin Zakaria comments on the new expulsion policy of the British Government:

“…deport the Muslims from UK, and in return Christian Anglo-Saxons should be expelled from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, America, Caribbean, South Africa, Zimbabwe .etc where they have not integrated, they have refused to learn the language despite living there for years, refused to accept the desirability of the indigenous peoples culture and practises, and have instead used violence and extremism, preached hate for their neighbour, totally destroyed “their way of life,” and abused their hosts’ hospitality.”

There is a lot of Yamin Zakaria’s work i don’t agree with – esepcially his position vis-a-vis women and equaility in the eyes of religion. And his seeming ability to defend terrorism. He is about as nice and enchanting as Pravin Togadia. But, if Togadia wrote something that was as witty and true as this, i would probably quote him too 🙂

I find it so hypocritical when the the Americans or the Australians talk about ‘foreigners’. With the Americans and the Australians – how can they even talk about ‘foreigners’ given that they committed genocide on indigenous people and took over their lands. Who isn’t a foreigner in those lands except for the indegenous people.

With the British, it is a different situation. Forget for a moment about colonisation – because to bring that up would take this post into another dimension. Just look at their approach regarding terrorism. Many moons ago, when i was living in London – someone came up to me in college and asked me to contribute money to kill an Indian soldier in jaffna. I was offended and complained. I was told that it is freedom of speech. If freedom of speech incites murder in someone else’s land it is ok. But, if the same freedom of speech incites murder in your own land it is obviously terrorism. I remember as a school student reading about the kidnapping and murder of Indian Diplomat Ravindra Mahtre in Birmingham by the JKLF. The British Government made noises about terrorism. But, JKLF practised its ideology in London without any issues. I remember Khalistani’s calling for war on India being allowed to spread their hate and send monies to India to unleash terror.

Today, when the groups that have been practising terror outside Great Britain are turning their attention inwards – it hurts. They talk about deportation. And where will they deport them – After nurturing their hate and allowing it to grow for so long, they will deport those who murder, and those who incite to murder back to us. And then impose sanctions on us – if our countries don’t allow them to practise hate.

It is a funny old world!