Gaddafi's Death- My Afterthoughts

Tyrants always face terrible and cruel end!

This is what we have learnt from history.

Ivan The Terrible, Ghengis Khan,  Hitler, Mussolini, Idi Amin (lucky to escape and die a natural death!), Pol Pot, Sadam Hussain and now, Muammar Gaddafi!

People who staunchly oppose communist regime could possibly add Stalin, Fidel Castro and Kim Il Sung!

There are a few who are still surviving and likely to follow the history or escape with some luck-Hosni Mubarak, Bashar Al Saad, Abdallah Saleh and who knows, more!

Yesterday evening, I was home, as usual on a Thursday evening! I don’t go out to be a part of the midnight revelers of Dubai, crowding the streets late in wee hours! I prefer to stay home, wash my clothes, iron them, cook some food for myself, watch a movie and go to bed early!

I was watching the India-England One Day Cricket Match till 9:00 p.m.! Just when it finished, I switched to a news channel in Malayalam, my native language. And there, I saw the breaking news that Muammar Gaddafi has been killed! I watched it for a few minutes on the same channel. Since the information as not too detailed, being an Indian language channel, I switched to SKY News, to see how it was announced internationally and find more details.

An interview was going on and the pictures of Gaddafi’s last moments, shot on mobile cameras were being shown with the confirmation by the presenter that Gaddafi is in fact, dead. A political analyst was beside the presenter, who was lamenting the fact that it was too sad Gaddafi was not captured alive and thus, he could not be brought to justice to book him for the Lockerbie Plane Crash!

The pictures and description of his death were gruesome. I left it there last night.

This evening, when I watched TV again, I could see more pictures and videos of the last moments of Gaddafi and its aftermath. I felt totally disgusted!

Is this the way humans treat a fellow human being, however bad, cruel and nasty he was?
Are we returning to the era of Roman Colloseums where poor slaves were let out against hungry lions to fight for their lives while thousand cheered the animals to attack the men trying to defend their lives?

Doesn’t every human being in this world have the right to a fair trial?

Muammar Gaddafi was caught from a sewer and dragged out to the street. He was kicked, bashed on his face and legs with guns, spit at and dragged on the streets behind a pick-up, if I can recall from the videos. I can understand the feelings of Libyans to this point. They had the right to retribution against a tyrant!

But, when a human being begs for his life to be spared, if the same crowd (mob!) shoots him point blank and simultaneously records the events on their mobile phones and then drags the dead body around the streets in a victory march, then I am sorry to say that they are not worthy of being called liberators! It is pure animal instinct and mob psychology!

Can we trust this group of people who couldn’t give justice to a man who was begging for his life with his last words, “don’t shoot me!” to do justice to the nation? Can you believe that they and their leaders can reform the country?

As I write these lines, Gaddafi’s dead body is lying in a freezer in a fish market somewhere in Libya- (I don’t remember the city!) It has been over 24 hours since he is dead. Despite the initial promise made by the liberation army chief of Libyan movement, people are still visiting the freezer and taking the dead body’s photograph on their mobiles to keep as personal souvenirs!

I am not a believer in religion. Yet, as a man who respects the rights of anyone who believes in his faith, I feel that every man has the right to be buried honorably as per his belief. Muammar Gaddafi was a Muslim. As promised by the Chief of Libyan Revolution, Gaddafi deserves a burial befitting a Muslim and it was promised yesterday, right after his death was officially announced. Yet, 24 hours later, Gaddafi’s dead body, half naked, is lying in a fish market cold storage freezer, ready to be photographed as a souvenir!

Liberations are meant to upturn tyranny and bring in social justice in a country. What happened in Egypt was different. But, what happened just now in Libya is the worst example of public movement against a dictator. I fear that this could set a bad example for the liberation movements in Syria and Yemen and lead to more anarchy than what was prevailing before in these countries.

I come from India, a country that prides to be the world’s greatest democracy (by sheer number of electorate!). Even in our democracy, the family regime is so strong, justified in “democratic” terms! Nehru family has been ruling India over the past 65 years, except for the short regime of Janata Party in 1977 and later by BJP in 1998 with many short-lived romances between various parties. From Motilal Nehru, it has been passed down to Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi (of Italian Origin) and the latest in the fourth generation- Rahul Gandhi! Since Rahul is still unmarried, the next leadership is likely to shift to Priyanka Vadhera’s children- Raihan and Miraya! Despite the vast member base and cadre they have, Congress Party can’t think “beyond the box!”

Don’t take me wrong here-It is the same with other parties too! In West Bengal, for 35 years, the Communist Marxist Party could find no leader other than Jyothi Basu! Only when health reasons limited him from leading the state the party was forced to find an alternative candidate in Buddhadev Bhattacharya, who had a short-lived stint! Take every party in India and it is the same- it is either a long stint of the prevailing leader or his/her sons and relatives who come straight into the front line without having to work through the ranks.

The above statements were made to let you know of my observations that creating successors, once you are established, is the natural instinct of any leader. They want their position and legacy covered till they die and beyond, whether in position or not. This is what has been happening with Mubarak, Fidel Castro, Kim Il Sung, George H. W.Bush, Bashar Al Saad, Abdallah Saleh or Gaddafi.

Lord Acton (1834-1902), British historian, originally wrote and since has been quoted in history many a times by many:

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad man."

If people can realize when great men turn to bad men, then they can stop tyranny! But, as always has been in history, people are always late to realize and react. And when they do react, it is often uglier than the experience they have gone through and then, the results of their revolt lead to more turmoil than what they have experienced in the past!

Bottom line- every man has the right to live, whether good or bad. Unless they are declared as “Wanted Dead Only!” across the world unanimously,  they deserve a fair trial. If you kill a man like a rabid dog on a street, you are no better than him!