Posted on by leasorabjee

Death in the Clouds…

… 44 Indian Central Reserve Police Officers. 3 Pakistani civilians. 1 suicide bomber. Several heartbroken families. Is all this bloodshed a battle for peace, or a display of suppressed hatred? 

This year, the Security Council began with a “BANG!”. Anshul dropping his bottle on to the hard, wooden floor. This outward expression of excitement starkly contrasted by the dull and monotonous general speakers list that then followed. The topic of committee being the recent Pulwama attacks that took place in Kashmir.

On the 14th of February, 2019, a vehicle full of explosives entered the Jammu-Srinagar highway. It passed a bus full of CRPF officers, and exploded. The bus erupted, killing every single officer inside it. The bus behind it was also impacted. 39 officers from the first bus were killed, along with one from the second bus. In retaliation, India conducted air strikes on a large Jaish-E-Muhammad terrorist training camp. This is the jihadist terrorist organization that took responsibility for the attack, releasing a video of the suicide bomber as well. 

The delegate of The People’s Republic of China introduced the death toll in both Pakistan and India, emphasizing that innocents in Pakistan were killed. This included 3 innocent Pakistani citizens who were murdered by the Indian air force. The question then arose,  Is India facing absolutely no consequences for their air force, that murdered 3 civilians because they were “protecting” themselves?

This heated topic regarding the casualties on both sides , sparked debate with India, Pakistan and all their allies. The CRPF officers in India were murdered by a bomber that was located in Pakistan, but it was not affiliated with the Pakistani government. Whereas, the Indian Air Force violated Pakistan’s airspace and also killed 3 individuals. As a response to the three killings, The United Kingdom, China and the United States all switched from reprimanding Pakistan and wanting to impose sanctions on them to wanting to impose sanctions on India instead. In contrast to this, countries like Japan, Armenia and India itself all stated that the killings were a form of self defence. These countries responded to the previous allegations of India being a “Murderer” by stating that it was Pakistan that first killed 40 CPRF officers. Their point was then quickly refuted as it was not the Pakistani government who killed the 40 CPRF officers in the Pulwama attacks, but instead a radical terrorist group that happened to be from Pakistan. 

USA, the largest country present was represented by the smallest guy in the room. A “certain amount of gunfire” was reported at the Indo- Pak border in Kashmir. Non State Actors were eventually held responsible for the crossfire while the Pakistani Military has denied any part in the action. The militants were armed with modern, technologically advanced weapons which are known to be supplied by the USA. Sources are not sure whether the Government of Pakistan is involved in the potentially tragic cross- border fire or the supply of arms and ammunition. However, no casualties have been reported on either side of the border as of now. 

Although committee did not start with a bang, it certainly ended with one, the sound of the hollow gunshot that killed the India pilot, Abhinandan Vardhaman. The news released just before committee broke for lunch ,sparking uproar throughout the committee. Now we have to wait and see. How will the countries deal with this new update, how will people react and what steps will the countries take to avert full out war?

Posted on by leasorabjee

A Stance at a Glance

The Pulwama Crisis

India:

India has taken up a more aggressive stand on the issue. They are ready to take, “Any action necessary” and have stated that their top priority is to bring Abhinandan Vardhaman back to India. Ironically, they sent him to Pakistan in the first place…

Pakistan:

Pakistan has branded themselves as, “a peace loving nation” (clearly true) and want India to be reprimanded for their actions. They believe that they have been made a victim to India’s constant aggression and that this same unprovoked aggression should be controlled. 

The United States:

The United States want the Indian pilot, Abhinandan, to be returned back to Indian soil and would criticize Pakistan for violating The Geneva Convention and holding or torturing the militant. Rich coming from a country thats President has just labelled that very same convention as, “The problem”. 

The United Kingdom:

The United Kingdom has condemned the “senseless” Pulwama attack and is ready to implement tariffs on Pakistan if they don’t allow Abhinandan to leave. One could almost say that they want the pilot to be able to leave Pakistan just as much as they now want to leave the European Union. 

Russia:

Russia too, actively support India and believes the conflict boils down to merely a sovereignty matter. This being a result of the vast amount of knowledge they have about violating countries sovereignty, of course, the most recent learning experience being the violation of Ukranian sovereignty in 2018.

Bangladesh:

Bangladesh strongly support India due to strained relations with Pakistan and are willing to launch an attack if necessary. This, of course, requiring them to traverse the entirety of India in order to reach their fellow islamic foes.

The People’s Republic of China:

The People’s Republic of China stated that they are a pakistani ally and have requested both countries to de escalate tensions, just like they are doing with the current USA – China trade tensions.

Saudi Arabia:

Saudi Arabia has stated that they are ally of Pakistan and believe that India are in the wrong, having approximately the same amount of involvement in committee as they did in The Spanish Civil War.

UAE:

The United Arab Emirates have suggested a bilateral resolution between the two countries and believe the two should resolve the conflict by themselves, as this strategy has worked so well in previous years… They have sided with India, believing peace should be the outcome.

Armenia:

Armenia, being a distant country, has taken a seemingly distant stand on the topic, stating merely that they,”Would side with India if completely necessary”

Japan:

Japan has stated that they maintain good relationships with both countries but have chosen to side with India regarding this conflict. This statement was, of course, immaculately edited and scripted, only to be promptly read out off of a paper to the rest of the committee in a dull tone. 

Egypt:

Egypt merely stated that they do not wish to jeopardize their relations with India and have therefore chosen to remain neutral. This short statement being approximately the amount that the delegates of Egypt have spoken in the entirety of committee.

Iran:

Iran too has stated that they have fairly good ties with both countries but have reprimanded both countries for escalating tensions. They want India to stop being an “occupation force in Kashmir” and propose that Kashmir is allowed to take a referendum. Here’s to hoping we do not receive a Bregret 2.0….

Germany:

Germany has taken a fairly idealistic stand, wanting to resolve the dispute via diplomatic talks as well as wanting India and Pakistan to take into consideration the opinions and feelings of the Kashmiri people. This coming from the nation who committed one of the world’s worst atrocities and largest genocides known to man.

Afghanistan:

Although Afghanistan is an islamic country, due to strained relations between them and Pakistan, they choose to side with India. They have also sentimentally sent their condolences to the families of soldiers that have lost their lives. 

Posted on by leasorabjee

Poetry of the bored for the bored

Here lies the poetic masterpieces of a bored committee member who decided to dabble in a bit of poetry in order to entertain themselves and now hopefully to entertain you.

Roses are red, 

Violets are blue,

(anonymous) is very boring,

I want to go to the loo.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

How are people talking,

Someone help me, I want mentos too.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

(anonymous) why are you so far away?,

I am missing you.

~Anonymous

Posted on by leasorabjee

Sports and Disabilities

“Disability is merely a state of mind”. This quote is the driving force and motivator of millions of disabled athletes across the world. One such athlete is the Indian international para-athlete, Malathi Krishnamurthy Holla. Malathi was completely paralyzed at the age  of one due to Polio. Regular shock therapy treatment permitted her upper body to begin to function normally again, but her lower half remained paralysed and she was confined to a wheelchair. Although Malathi faced severe hardships early in her life, she decided to live her life in the best possible way and chose to excel at sports. As she herself stated, “I don’t think I am a disabled person. Of course, I am disabled physically. But that is just one part of my body. My self-confidence is not paralyzed”.

 As a result of her persistence, she excelled at various different sports and sporting competitions. She has participated in the Paralympic games on five different occasions and has also taken part in the Asian Games and World Masters Games amongst many others. She has won 389 gold medals, 27 silver medals and 5 bronze medals. In addition to this, she has been awarded both the Padma Shri award and the Arjuna award and has since been labelled a champion for the differently-abled.

Understandably though, there are limitations that prevent disabled people from actively and regularly participating in sports. Some of these restricting factors are funding, facilities and medical help. These barriers pose questions as to what extent it is viable for disabled people to participate in sport and physical exercise. This spurred Malathi Holla to establish the Mathru Foundation, a home for disabled children, in Bangalore. The foundation aims to educate physically disabled children and help families who are struggling with paying for medical procedures or basic education.

People all over the world have taken  active steps to attempt to provide opportunities for disabled people to play different sports. The most prestigious sporting event in the world, the Olympics, now has a sister competition, solely for disabled people: The Paralympics. The idea of sporting competitions for disabled people stemmed from the idea of Doctor Ludwig Guttman who first allowed disabled people to participate in sports. The first Paralympic games took place in 1960 in Rome, featuring 400 athletes from 23 different countries. Since the introduction of the Paralympic Games, people have recognised the requirement for disabled people to practice sport and this has led to the establishment of multiple other sporting competitions. The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, has since created the Invictus Games, a sporting event for wounded or sick individuals, while Asia as a continent has also promoted the need for such events and established the Asian Para Games in 2010.

The modification of sports in order to accommodate disabled people’s special needs is also an increasing trend. Modified sports are now a regular feature and have been termed adaptive sports by the community in general. One of the most frequent modifications to a sport is the addition and utilization of wheelchairs. Sports like wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis have become regular features in sporting competitions for disabled people all around the world. In fact, the sports that Malathi Holla took part in were also modified in the same way, via the addition of a wheelchair. As a testament to the resilience of the athlete, most of the medals that she won at international competitions were won on a rented wheelchair! To this day, she remains the fastest Indian athlete on wheelchair.  

Although there are many advantages to having sporting competitions and events for disabled people, there are certain limitations which arise from the same. Sporting events for handicapped people need to be closely monitored , given greater media coverage and enhanced medical assistance in case of a malfunction or accident. Along with this, the chances for something to go awry are greatly increased merely by the athlete’s physical condition. In addition to this, the cost of the event would also be significantly higher due to the need to purchase specialized equipment and the requirement for having the necessary medication and aid. The equipment and facilities too may be hard to acquire and not accessible in certain regions or places. As a result of these restrictions, sporting events for disabled people are not as regularly held as sporting events for non handicapped people. Although these limitations are present and could possibly restrict disbled athletes, I believe that as long as the athlete is willing to put in the required amount of effort to succeed, the limitations will seem insignificant. This is clearly shown in the example of Malathi Holla.

The community as a whole has taken great strides towards aiding disabled people via the introduction of various sporting events and modification of a number of different sports. Although there are restrictions, I believe that the benefits and advantages of disabled people being introduced to and being allowed to participate in sports and sporting events, greatly outweigh the disadvantages. Each individual should be granted the opportunity to excel in their chosen field, thus establishing the need for handicapped people to be permitted to participate in previously unimaginable things like physical excellence.