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NEW DELHI: India deployed tens of thousands of security forces on
the eve of the 60th anniversary of independence after new threats by
al-Qaeda and separatist rebels, officials said Tuesday.
In the federal capital New Delhi, some 70,000
policemen and paramilitary troops were being posted at government
buildings, diplomatic enclaves and main intersections.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was to kick off
the celebrations Wednesday from the city’s 16th-century Mughal Red
Fort which had already been sealed off to the public.
“Our defense response is the same, whether the
threat originates from the al-Qaeda or the Lashkar-e-Taiba [Kashmiri
separatist group],” the capital’s police security chief Samsher
Deol told AFP.
But intelligence officials said al-Qaeda’s
threat last week to target India had prompted stepped-up security
for Independence Day.
“There is nothing specific about the al-Qaeda
threat but we are not leaving anything to chance,” added Deol, who
is in charge of antiterrorism operations in the city of 14 million
people.
The threat came in a video on August 5 in which
a wanted American member of al-Qaeda warned US diplomatic missions
and other interests were “legitimate targets.”
An unnamed narrator also warned that “the
targeting of Tel Aviv, Moscow and Delhi” is also “our legitimate
right.” India was accused of “killing more than 100,000 Muslims
in Kashmir with US blessing.”
Meanwhile, the feeling among middle-class and
richer Indians is that their nation is “60 and going strong!” as
the Indian Express headlined a few days ago.
Said the Express: “When Jawaharlal Nehru spoke
about the endeavor of a free India, he said, it is ‘To bring
freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and
workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and
disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive
nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions
which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and
woman.’”
Foreign observers see that India is certainly on
the right track. On the economic, political, judicial and diplomatic
fronts, India has done so well that Nehru’s 1947 dream is slowly
but surely coming true.
The rich countries of the West and Japan see
India as second only to China in global economic growth—with India
being ahead of China in being a democracy and it having governments
and police and military services less guilty than China of human
rights violations.
Says the Indian Express: “The India of today
has the right mix of philosophy, viewpoint and practical will to get
to the top. Where India was once fighting as a Third-World country,
it’s now a superpower in waiting. The world is now waking up to
the powers of India.
“With the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal coming
through, the United States of America now looks at India as an
important ally. The United Kingdom’s view is no different.
Russia and India have always been friends. As for China and Japan,
the Asian countries are realizing the importance of being India’s
neighbor.
“On the International front, the future of
India is bright and shining. Despite, various wars with Pakistan and
China, the nations are now making an effort at solving all
troublesome issues.
“However, on the domestic level, several
issues still haunt India. There are still many people living below
the poverty line, many who are still illiterate, who do not have
basic amenities in life and many who are still dying of starvation.
“Where India’s economy is growing at a rapid
pace, farmers’ suicides are still a problem plaguing India. Where
Indians form a major chunk of students in universities abroad, the
issue of reservation is still haunting our education system.”
Unlike its neighbor and sort of “twin”
Pakistan, India has a judicial system which is not facing challenges
from the political powers.
As in the Philippines, a country that is smaller
but like India steeped in Westernization and democratic traditions,
corruption is still rampant in India. It hinders faster growth
and faster liberation of scores of millions from poverty.
--AFP and Manila Times staff
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