By Anand Sinha
Edited by Michelle Cherian, Associate Editor, The Indian Economist
In the ongoing struggle between the eastern Ukrainian rebels and the Ukrainian military for the supremacy of the region, a civilian aircraft of the Malaysian airlines was shot down by a missile. The blame game is on and both the parties have accused each other for the disaster. The aircraft had been mistaken as a military aircraft and was shot down, which left around 300 people dead. The West and Ukraine have accused Russia of providing the rebels with lethal weapons, the kind of which were used to attack the aircraft.
As if this was not enough, the Ukrainian rebels tempered with the evidence on the crash site and stacked the dead bodies in a refrigerated train. The inhuman treatment meted out to the dead bodies and tempering with the evidence shows how utterly callous the party can be in pursuit of its political and military agenda, with no regard for the lives of people entirely unconcerned with the conflict. By not allowing international forensic teams to approach the area for a long time, the rebels and Russia have further implied their involvement in the mass murder, intentional or otherwise.
The violent conflict in Israel and Gaza has witnessed several small periods of truce at the call of the Red Cross and the international community. While it can never compensate for the loss of life, these short periods of truce have been beneficial for the people of the suffering community. On the other hand, the rebels of eastern Ukraine did not respect international calls for a short period of truce to let an international forensic team investigate the crash site. They tempered with whatever was left of the plane and which could be used as a concrete piece of evidence by the forensic team. It is needless to say that the rebels had full backing of the Kremlin in whatever they did and were directed by the Russian side for action. It becomes nearly impossible for us to understand why the rebels in east Ukraine and Russia chose to do it since the West had failed in forcing Russia and Ukraine to bring about a peaceful resolution of the crisis and all such pressures were ineffectual. Hence, why Russia is so keen to show off its supremacy in the area and has let the rebels under its influence temper the evidence and the dead bodies, is hard to understand.
On Monday this week, the rebels finally let the forensic team from the Netherlands approach the crash site. What is to come out of the investigation cannot be known for now. But what was the use of letting the investigation delay if they had to make way for it eventually? Whether the rebels are found to be the guilty of the attack or not, that is another matter. But whatever they did was useless, rather stupid. The West had to accuse Russia of supporting the rebels in the attack in any case. International sanctions in economy and energy were to come Russias way in any case. Finally, Russia had to deal with it in any case. So what was the stupid need to show off its supremacy in the region, which is already acknowledged?
Currently based in Delhi, Anand is an English literature student at the Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, University of Delhi. After working as a content writer and editor for an online firm for a few months, he interned at Youth Ki Awaaz. Sinha defines his political stand as centre-left. His interests include literature, cinema, music, philosophy and world politics.