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NDTV
11-06-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
No, India Is Not Israel, And Pak Is Not Palestine
In the immediate aftermath of the April 2022 Pahalgam terror attack - where Indian civilians were targeted in a region long destabilised by cross-border militancy - an old but deeply flawed analogy began circulating with renewed vigour: that India is becoming Israel, with Pakistan being touted as the new 'Palestine'. This comparison, invoked by a range of commentators from populist influencers to academic quarters, attempts to overlay the Middle Eastern fault lines onto South Asia. However, while superficially tempting, this analogy is strategically misleading, historically untrue, and morally hazardous. At its core, the Israel-Palestine conflict is a struggle between a militarily dominant state and a stateless people living under occupation. It is defined by asymmetric power, a denial of sovereignty, and ongoing territorial annexation. India and Pakistan, by contrast, are both fully sovereign states that emerged from a negotiated partition of British India in 1947, each with their own internationally recognised borders and UN memberships. The bilateral conflict, especially over Kashmir, stems not from a denial of statehood but from unresolved territorial claims. Pakistan's continued insistence on linking Kashmir to Palestine flattens these distinctions and obfuscates the history of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism across Indian territory - from Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir to episodic destabilisation in India's Northeast. Equating Pakistani actions with Palestinian resistance also undermines the moral and strategic integrity of the Palestinian cause. It erases the fact that, unlike Palestinians under occupation, Pakistan has used its sovereign apparatus to sponsor and shelter groups involved in acts of terror. This deliberate state complicity - acknowledged even by global institutions - makes Pakistan an aggressor, not an aggrieved actor. Minorities, Democracy, and Statehood One of the more dangerous simplifications of the analogy lies in the misrepresentation of internal minority politics in both regions. It is true that India is facing criticism over recent communal tensions, polarised discourse, and policies perceived as marginalising Muslims. However, equating that with the condition of Palestinians under occupation ignores the difference between a flawed democracy and an apartheid state structure. In India, Muslims remain an electorally significant, constitutionally recognised group whose cultural, linguistic, and religious institutions are protected under law. Their political presence - though under strain - remains visible. From Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the country's first Education Minister, to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, one of India's most beloved Presidents, the leadership and legacy of Indian Muslims is historically well-anchored. In contemporary times, figures like Asaduddin Owaisi, a staunch government critic, and Salman Khurshid, a senior Congress leader with no constitutional post, were both part of an all-party delegation sent abroad to brief international counterparts in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. Their inclusion, despite being politically oppositional, signals a rare bipartisan consensus on matters of national security. Contrast this with Pakistan, where Ahmadiyyas are constitutionally barred from calling themselves Muslims, and Shias are frequently targeted in sectarian violence. The state's own structures are often complicit in marginalising non-Sunni groups, with blasphemy laws regularly weaponised against minorities. These are not merely social biases but systemic exclusions - legally and politically embedded. Meanwhile, in Palestine, the question is not one of minority rights within a sovereign state but of basic human existence under foreign occupation. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live without freedom of movement, due legal process, or political autonomy. Lumping these distinct contexts together does violence to the nuance required to address each problem on its own terms. Terrorism, Occupation, and Policy India's security doctrine has consistently emphasised that its conflict is not with the people of Pakistan but with its military-intelligence apparatus and its use of terrorism as statecraft. From the insurgency in Kashmir and the Khalistani separatist movement in Punjab to arms flowing into the Northeast in the 1980s and 1990s, India's internal challenges have often traced back to external sponsorship. These were not acts of a stateless community demanding dignity but the result of a neighbour using irregular war to destabilise a regional adversary. Israel, by contrast, has often responded to Palestinian armed resistance with disproportionate force - demolishing homes, bombing refugee camps, and applying collective punishment policies. These actions have generated global concern about human rights violations, and rightly so. However, attempts to map these punitive actions onto India's counter-terror operations obscure the scale, nature, and intent of both countries' military strategies. What makes the analogy particularly hollow is India's long-standing commitment to the Palestinian cause. Even under the Modi government, which has expanded strategic ties with Israel, India has repeatedly reaffirmed its support for a two-state solution and spoken against occupation at UN fora. Far from mimicking Israeli policy, India has walked a diplomatic tightrope - deepening bilateral defence relations with Israel while maintaining principled solidarity with Palestine. Conflating these divergent positions is not only analytically lazy but diplomatically counterproductive. It risks damaging India's credibility in the Global South, especially at a time when New Delhi seeks to position itself as a mediator and developmental partner in multilateral spaces. More importantly, it insults the Palestinian struggle by associating it with Pakistan's agenda of using terrorism and religious nationalism as tools of foreign policy. Reject Lazy Analogies Both the Israel-Palestine and India-Pakistan conflicts demand global attention. But attention should not mean abstraction. The occupation of Palestine is a human rights crisis rooted in land, displacement, and statelessness. The India-Pakistan dynamic, while also involving land and identity, is situated in a very different matrix: of two sovereign nations, one of which has routinely used terrorism to internationalise what is essentially a bilateral issue. Sympathy for the Palestinian cause should not be hijacked to justify flawed analogies that exonerate state complicity in South Asia. Nor should India's legitimate counterterrorism operations be lumped with settler-colonial violence. Doing so only weakens both struggles - reducing history, diplomacy, and suffering to hashtags. In times of polarisation, strategic clarity is not just a virtue, it is a necessity. India is not Israel. Pakistan is not Palestine. And equating them does justice to neither the complexity of history nor the urgency of peace. (Ashraf Nehal is an author, analyst and columnist, who writes on South Asian geopolitics, climate action and world affairs. He was a former PM Young Writing Fellow)
United News of India
29-05-2025
- General
- United News of India
Oil, diesel leakage: 146 personnel deployed shoreline cleanup, retrieval of containers
Kochi, May 29 (UNI) Citing oil and diesel leakage from containers, 146 personnel have been deployed for shoreline cleanup and container retrieval operations for the ongoing response to the capsizing of Liberian flagged container ship MSC ELSA 3, off the Kerala coast on May 25, 2025. "108 personnel have been deployed for shoreline cleanup and container retrieval operations. An additional 38 personnel have been mobilized for emergency response in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, and Kollam," Capt. Abul Kalam Azad, Nautical Advisor to the Government of India, has said. The 184-meter-long ship built in Germany in 1997 was carrying 640 containers, including 13 containing hazardous materials. Over 100 containers are reported to have been lost at sea, and several have washed ashore in Alappuzha, Kollam, Ernakulam, and Thiruvananthapuram. These efforts are being coordinated with the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) and District Collectors of the affected coastal areas. The vessel was carrying 367.1 tonnes of Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) and 84.44 tonnes of marine diesel fuel. The environmental threat posed by the incident is being actively mitigated. The Indian Coast Guard has deployed ships and aircraft for aerial surveillance. Dispersants are being applied under the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan. Capt Abul Kalam Azad outlined three top operational priorities: Oil recovery from the sunken vessel, Retrieval of drifting containers and Removal of beached containers. The oil recovery operation is currently underway, with the salvage team setting July 3, 2025, as the completion target. So far, 50 containers have been identified from seven different coastal locations. The priority is to recover all of them within the next 48 hours. Ajithkumar Sukumaran, Chief Surveyor to the Government of India, stated, 'The Ministry and DG Shipping are fully cognizant of the magnitude and complexity of the situation. All mechanisms are in place to address the issue and avert any further mishap.' Senthil Kumar, Principal Officer, Mercantile Marine Department, reassured the public, saying, 'While minor oil traces have been detected, there has been no major oil spill. All traces found along the coast are being cleaned up through coordinated efforts.' Within 6 hours of the incident, DG Shipping convened a coordination meeting to avert a potential environmental disaster. Prompt rescue efforts ensured the safety of all 24 crew members. To date, 8 inter-agency coordination meetings have been held, issuing clear directives to all stakeholders. An onsite team in Kochi continues to monitor and manage pollution risks. High-range drones and precision scanning equipment are in use to detect and contain oil traces. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) is working closely with DG Shipping, deploying trained volunteers for cleanup activities, said Shyam Jagannathan, IAS, Director General of Shipping and Additional Secretary to the Government of India; Officials reiterated that there is no large-scale oil spill and urged coastal residents not to panic. All visible traces are being addressed swiftly and scientifically. Local administrations are in constant touch with MMD and DG Shipping, and all container recovery and cleanup measures are under strict monitoring. UNI DS BM
The Hindu
28-05-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Technical failure in ballast water management could have led to sinking of ship, say officials
Preliminary findings of the probe into the sinking of container vessel MSC ELSA 3 off the Kerala coast with 640 containers on board point to technical failure in ballast water management, which in turn caused the ship to tilt over 20 degrees and sink, officials of the Shipping Ministry and the Mercantile Marine department (MMD) said here on Wednesday. The officials included Director General of Shipping Shyam Jagannathan; Nautical Advisor to the Government of India Capt. Abul Kalam Azad, Chief Surveyor of the Directorate General of Shipping Ajith Sukumaran, and Principal Officer of the MMD's Kochi office J. Senthil Kumar. Mr. Jagannathan said none of the 50 containers that were washed ashore along the 120-km coastline of Alappuzha, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram during the past few days had any hazardous cargo like calcium carbide. Most containers were empty, while the others had cotton bales and plastic pellets. The containers will be recovered in two days and disposed of. 'No sabotage' The prime focus now is on recovering oil and other pollutants from the vessel, followed by containers which are said to have cargo like ethylene polymers. The ship's owner firm MSC has roped in global firms with expertise in retrieving such cargo, while the Indian Coast Guard's specialised oil spill response team has been deployed to prevent damage to marine resources. There are internationally binding norms to settle insurance claims and compensate fishers from the Kerala coast for their loss of livelihood, he said and added that prima facie there was no reason to suspect sabotage. Terming the sinking incident as the largest along the Indian coast, Mr. Sukumaran said that preliminary inference pointed to mechanical failure in ballast water management, a safety precaution that is taken in all ships to overcome the effect of 'rolling and pitching' while on the sea, and the subsequent loss of power. This could have been caused by the malfunctioning of the ballast management valves. Old ships On several shipping firms deploying old vessels to Indian ports (the sunk ship was 28 years old), he said many stakeholders had expressed concern about the matter. Steps were under way to revise safety and other norms in this regard. The officials said that although the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) had not issued any age-related norms for ships, there were concerns about the operational efficiency of older vessels. Mr. Azad explained how a team of salvage specialists, naval architects, chemists, oil spill specialists, and divers was deployed to salvage the vessel and the containers, and to contain the effects of oil spillage and pollution. A total of four tugs have been mobilised as part of this. On the delay in officially declaring the contents of 13 containers having 'hazardous' cargo, he said the owner of the ship had said that they contained 'rubber chemicals' which were non-hazardous. While five of them were on the ship's deck, eight were secured within the vessel's 'cargo hold' area. According to the plan, oil spill in the vicinity of the sinking spot can be cleared by July 3. The ship was carrying 367 tonnes of very low sulfur fuel oil and 84 tonnes of marine diesel fuel.
