The Chinese are not unaware of the events that are taking place in the region or the world as a whole. They are steadily molding their foreign polic0y to suit the requirement of the time. This may have a pronounced impact on the global peace in coming years.In 2009, China carried out high-level contacts to promote the further development of military relations.Central Military Commission vice chairman of the Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Xu Caihou, CMC member and State Councilor and Defense Minister Liang visited Russia, the United States, Japan, Australia and more than 20 countries.Chinese Ministry of National Defense and the United States, Germany, Vietnam held national defense meetings with more than 10 defense and security setups. The aim was to , enhance China's military strategy and foreign military mutual trust, consolidate the political foundation of bilateral military relations and enrich the profile of military diplomacy.
China participated in joint training exercises with foreign countries. War games were organized throughout the year. China and Mongolia carried out joint training of peacekeeping forces, China and Gabon embarlked up on a military "peace angel" medical aid mission. Chinese and the Russian troops carried out “Peace Shield "joint convoy training exercise. China and the Romanian Army" conducted “Friendship Operation “that was a Joint mountain training in terms of the military related areas for the first time.
60th anniversary of the founding of the new capital was celebrated as the National Day military parade. Troops from army, navy and air force also participated. A large number of foreign diplomats wee also invited. Representatives of 34 countries attended the National Day parade. Navy and air force in international forums, marine parade, air show and other activities were displayed to present the Chinese army as a symbol of peace, openness, cooperation and good image.
The Naval escort made positive progress in 2009. it actively promoted the Gulf of Aden army in international waters off Somalia for escort and cooperation missions. In addition to the formation of foreign naval escort, frequent meetings were held with naval commanders, the joint convoy was arranged, joint exercises were conducted, and tasks like legal assistance in the coastal sea area of various countries was performed. The logistics support co-operation was also raised in AdenBay area. International conferences of coordination were held in Bijing which won the support of majority of the countries who welcomed it..
The work of foreign military news release system was improved. 8-year Chinese Defense Ministry news conferences were organized to arrange an interview with nine units of international media, Defense Department spokesman issued a formal statement and the Department of Defense Website launched a trial operation.
The Chinese have been able to achive a positive image of their national defense and armed forces. They were able to put forward their stated position on foreign policy that responded appropriately to international concerns. That shows an opening of Chinese army with more active rols in future based on their transparent sincerity, confidence and global peace, as they have claimed so far.
I have slowly but surely, beginning to understand more and more, that if I want to change the world, both large and small, I must always start with myself. The best way to change the world is to understand that you can not change it, because the only thing you can change is yourself, and when you change yourself so you change the world.
Should we have peace on earth, and I mean peace in a very wide sense, so I have to start with myself. You can not have a peace deep inside another person unless you have made peace with him. You must shroud violence with peace because if it is left like that, it will spread, no matter how much you want to spread love. You have to love people in case you want to spread love. However you cannot love peole if you do not love yourself. Loving yourself is prerequisite to love love others. I think that we should treat our fellow humans as we treat ourselves.
Talesättet said: "One should love his neighbor as he would love himself." But if you do not love youself then this saying becomes meaningless. You may then hit him and may not even realize his body language pleading for peace.
To me, love is the most important thing. The love that is all encompassing and is inclusive of all the relationships, like friends, family and even the strangers. The love should not be for the sake of words only, but it should be symbolized in attitudes and actions. And more importantly, love is not reflected in ‘doing’ something but it is manifested in ‘being’ something. That is the point to be remembered.
Mahatma Gandhi, a great leader of India requires no introduction. A simple soul with modest dress and posture, a man of the soil, is to be remembered by all for his marvelous contributions for the protection of human rights, civil liberties and global peace. One may differ with his political ideas, but no one has ever raised a finger on him as far as his patriotism and efforts to achieve peace are concerned. He was a symbol of peace and an example to be followed. His golden principles and sayings are still contemplative and worth considering. His teachings clearly lay down the foundations up on which the society should be build. These cover all the aspects of the society; political, economic and the religious.
The crux of the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi is that if a person is void of spiritual value, he or she is of no use to the society or to the world even if that person reaches the zenith of material successes and gains. Man is a beautiful combination of matter and spirit and unless both the facets are not satisfied the aim of life is not achieved. Mahatma Gandhi was of the view that peace starts from within the person. Once a person finds peace within, the achievement of outer / global peace becomes very easy.
Mahatma Gandhi always denounced violence. He always fought with his enemies with the weapon of peace and non-violence. He achieved tremendous successes with bare hands which many of his adversaries could not achieve with arms and wealth. However when we look at the present profile of India, we find it at a total divergence from what their great leader preached. The religious, racial and linguistic extremism is on the increase, the violation of human rights is a matter of routine and the political spectrum is dotted with nepotism, corruption and ambiguity. No minority may be Muslims, Christians or Sikhs are not safe. People like Bal Thackeray and organizations like RSS are all out to victimize / harass the religious minorities. The desecration of Babri Mosque, the massacre of Muslim minority in Gujarat, the denial of the right of self determination to the people of Kashmir and their brutal suppression and burning of the Christians along with their churches are some of the black spots on the democratic and secular posture of India. Had Mahatma Gandhi been alive today, he would certainly have condemned his fellow countrymen for open violations of his axioms. The enlightened people of India would be better placed if they convince their government to shun all those policies that are in contravention to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, particularly the ones that deal with the rights of minorities, so that the passionate image of their great leader is not tarnished and the achievement of global peace is made easy.
Last month I happened to visit my ancestral village. The rural communities still live away from the noise and vehemence of the urban life. I was having a stroll on the out skirts of the village. It was around 11 PM at night. The moon was in second quarter and the environment was calm and queit. Only the sporadic sound of some animal and the beetles could be heard. I saw a gathering of about 30 to 40 people sitting in an open place. One of them was singing a famous folk song and the other was playing on a double pipe called ‘jori’ (pair) in local language. The song was about a traditional romantic story of the Punjab (Pakistan) that took place about 200 years ago. The melody was so charming that the whole gathering was sitting spell-bound. I left the stroll and joined the audience.
The lyrics and melodies were steadily traveling on air. The moonlit night was presenting a beautiful scene that was having a soothing effect on the nerves. Everybody including myself felt as part of that era in which the romantic episode took place. It is a well known fact that the village life encompasses a large number of feuds and quarrels among the inhabitants. Most of the conflicts are related with land or are the family disputes. The villagers spend a large chunk of their income on fighting and prosecuting the opponents in the courts of law. The villagers pay frequent visits to the police stations and the courts which is part of the rural culture. However on that night while sitting at a place and listening to the music made them forget all their disputes and they were behaving like one family. A question arose in my mind that if the music and melody can have such a pleasant effect on this community, why this experience can’t be utilized for promoting peace on bigger / global level.
A large number of saints in south Asia made use of the music while propagating religious teachings. They knew that the music has a very comforting effect on the mind and produces a tranquilizing consequence. In Hindu religion and culture music plays an important part and is extensively applied for inspiring the soul Fine music elevates the soul and can take the man away from worries and frustration. This is the stepping stone towards attaining internal peace. In Urdu language there is a proverb that means that ‘the music is the food for soul’. Let’s utilize good music to inspire our souls and make the ground suitable for promoting global peace.
The recognition of human rights in the history of mankind is not a new phenomenon. It was discussed in the religious scriptures, the royal decrees of kings and it was mentioned in the teachings of the saints. Many philosophers, poets and writers have also written on human rights in their own way. However it was after the World War II that the people realized its importance and gave it an institutional shape through the United Nations Organization. The UNO was established on the ashes of a large portion of the destroyed humanity. So in a bid to avoid wars in future and to make this world more secure, the human rights were listed in the charter of the UNO.
The safeguarding of human rights was termed as a guarantee of peace. It was to be the starting point of social justice. But what has happened on ground? The powerful elite have been usurping the rights of the weak segments of society. The first casualty after the violation of human rights is always the peace. The military dictators have suppressed their citizens and have curbed the civil liberties, the bigger nations have occupied the lands of their weak neighbors, the strong economies of the world have prevailed over the weak countries with fewer resources and the super / regional powers have established their hegemony over the small states as a part of neo-colonization scheme. The result was obvious, wars and conflicts everywhere. Had there been no violations of human rights, the world would have been more secure and peaceful
Itis matter of concern that when the people are exploited, when their freedom of expression is gagged, when they are denied their right of self-determination, and when they are made homeless, jobless, and at times landless within their own country, where the peace would come from? Usurping the basic human rights breeds frustration in the people who can then react in many ways. The underground organizations and the fifth columnists are invariably the outcome of violation of human rights. Even the present day phenomenon of terrorism has got its routes in the violation of human rights. Once these frustrated groups of people resort to violence against the established authorities of their countries, they are labeled as the rebels, the enemy agents, the terrorists and what not. Obviously the enemies of the state then find an opportunity to patronize these groups with weapons and funds and use them to fulfill their own agenda. Then the authorities get together and think over how to eliminate these rouge elements and how to establish peace. But unfortunately no one comes out with simplest of the solutions; return the usurped basic human rights back to the people. Once they do it, the results will be surprising. The outcome will be peace, that too without firing a bullet and without spending a single dollar.
Today our world is full of crisis and conflicts. The violence has spread to all the nooks and corners of the globe. People dying of hunger and starvation in countries like Ethiopia, Somalia and Western Sahara, the tribes annihilating their rivals in a bid to achieve ethnic cleansing in places like Congo and Rwanda, innocent Palestinian men, women and children being butchered in Gaza and West Bank by Israeli jets and tanks, the marriage and funeral gatherings being targeted by NATO aircraft with sophisticated weapons mistaking them as Taliban, and then the matter being brushed aside terming it as collateral damage and the bodies of Pakistani and Iraqi citizens being blown to pieces by the suicide bombers every now and then.
As the electronic media has grown in size and sophistication and is quite free now, almost all the violence and conflicts are shown to the public instantly on occurrence. At times even the live footage is shown which is disgusting and awesome to observe. The research conducted by the psychologists reveal that a constant display of such images creates negative impact on the mental health of the viewers. These images create depression, anxiety and at times insomnia in the persons. This has a more pronounced effect on the youth and small children.
As far as youth is concerned they are already under tremendous mental and emotional pressures due the problems of modern living. The people, particularly the youth in third world countries, are already facing acute problems of joblessness, price-hike, corruption, insecurity, absence of rule of law and violence. Once they frequently see these nasty images, it only adds to their frustration. A frustrated youth of course cannot contribute positively towards the well being of society. Smaller children are more prone to the ill effects. They even do not understand what all is this. Once they grow up in such an environment, they may develop a psyche that accepts all this violence as a norm and routine matter. This will definitely be a dangerous situation for our future generations.
We have to live in this modern age that has given us marvelous facilities but at the same time we have to protect ourselves from its adverse effects. Then what should we do? Do we impose curbs and limitations on our free media? Should we switch off our TV sets? No, the free media is the essence of democracy. It plays pivotal role in creating awareness among the masses regarding what all is happening around us. As a matter of fact all the present rhetoric against war and in favor of peace is just because of free and independent media. Switching off of TV is neither possible nor advisable. The only conceivable remedy is to keep your young children away from the access of violent images. More over the parents and the teachers must try to ward off the ill effects of these images through motivation and effective teachings. The well qualified psychologists and educationists must be consulted on this issue so that they are able to see the light of peace at the end of the tunnel.
The turn of 21st century was a bad omen for the inhabitants of this planet. People had hardly recovered from the shocks of two world wars and then the spine-chilling era of cold war, when the world was plunged into another quagmire-the war against terror..
At this point of time most of the world population is living under the thick shadow of fear. The Americans have a fear that the terrorist groups are planning another deadly attack on their cities which may come down upon them any time. The whole world has become unsafe for the American citizens who get travel instructions from their diplomatic missions very frequently. The European nations have been made to believe that they are not the ‘spared ones’ and are doomed to destruction along with the USA. The Israelis are afraid of a rocket or suicide bomb attack that may take away their life any moment. The Palestinians living in Gaza and elsewhere have a fear that if they do not die of starvation due to blockage, the Israeli jets will appear any time to smash them. The people of south Asia are afraid that a suicide bomber may appear from nowhere and kill them, in the markets, offices, schools/colleges or even in mosques / worship places.
Why are we so fearful? What are we up to? Are the security measures taken not enough? I think that is not the case. The American forces along with NATO troops are fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan for the last eight years. Despite having state-of-the art weaponry and total support of the world community, the American generals and admirals are now admitting their failure. American troops have pulled out of Iraq and a surge in the terrorist attacks has been noticed there since then. What will happen in Afghanistan once the American and NATO forces pull out from there, is any body’s guess. Indian are keeping half of their Army in Kashmir to subdue the local population and still they are afraid of more Mumbai-style attacks. Pakistan Army is heavily committed in fighting the terrorists all along Pak-Afghan border. Despite many laurels and achievements to their credit, the end to this war is not yet in sight.
The common sense demands that if one prescription has not been successful to cure the ills, better change the prescription. It is rubbish to keep beating about the bush while the outcome is total dismay. Even the military strategists advocate never reinforcing the failed plan, rather embarking up on a new one. One can only hope that the wisdom prevails and overall policy is modified by those who matter, so that the shadow of fear disappears and peace returns to this war-torn planet.
