Plight of Afghan people must not be forgotten
BMJ 2001; 323 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7315.755/b (Published 29 September 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;323:755All rapid responses
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Editor,
A poverty stricken people need food, shelter and clothing to survive the coming winter and if Mr Bush and Mr Blair provide these to the people in southern Afghanistan on the Pakistan border, instead of bombs, they will demonstrate to the world, Muslim and Non-Muslim, their belief in the Christian values they both espouse – and what is more, they will be half way to winning the respect of their adversaries.
However, if in return for this act of Christian charity they expect to ensnare Osarma bin Laden they have misjudged the ethic of his hosts – the Pushtoons. These proud and honourable people would rather starve and see their children starve than commit, what to them would be, an act of treachery.
Let bin Laden present his case as a free man, as a Resistance Fighter if you wish, not as a captive of the West. He has denied involvement in the disaster of the 11th September and the presumption of innocence must not be abrogated.
The days when a gunboat through the Suez could settle the argument have gone forever. Regrettably it took the lives of thousands of innocents to drive home that message. The world must listen when some of its people are hurting if further disasters are to be avoided.
So will History record the names of two of the worlds leading statesmen of the 21st century and their magnanimous gesture or ………?
Michael Innis
Competing interests: No competing interests
ON September 25th a group of Dublin based doctors and nurses met at a
large anti-war meeting in Dublin's city centre,addressed by Dennis
Halliday and John De Courcey Ireland ( the founder of CND).
We have
since formed the group Doctors And Nurses Against The War, which is
rapidly growing in Ireland, and we are actively recruiting doctors,
nurses, and any paramedical worker who wish to unite in our condemnation
of violence both in New York and Washinton, and in Afghanistan. ON
Saturday Septemnber 29th we took part in an anti-war demonstration of 2000
people in Dublin, which coincided in solidarity with the Washington Peace
demonstration, and other anti-war demonstrations all over Europe. As
medical practitioners we draw attention to the urgent humanitarian and
public health crisis in Afghanistan, which has been drawn to our attention
by the recent bombing of New York and Washington. We utterly reject any
further violence or military intervention in the Afghanistan region which
will undoubtedly escalate the humanitarian crisis in the region. We call
upon the Taoiseach in Ireland to consider the humanitarian crisis in
Afghanistan, and reject any attempt by the Irish government to offer to
refuel war planes, and to offer any airspace or airport space to military
equipment containing bombs, troops or any equipment other than food and
medical supplies.
food not bombs - justice not war.
We hope that doctors and nurses in the UK who want to link up with medical
workers within the anti-war movement will contact us and take an active
part, along with the many many thousands in the UK, United States and
Europe, in protesting against this war.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Global Good Government
Like all doctors, I too regret the suffering of the people of
Afghanistan. But I find the idea of 'Doctors against War' rather quaint.
We need to look at the role of governments in inflicting suffering on
their peoples. Zaire, Somalia, Ethiopia ; the list is a long one indeed.
Rather like the NHS, what the world needs is an effective means of
implementing good governance. Not talking about it, but actually weeding
bad government out.
We need first to define good governance. This is easier than defining
terrorism because the Human Rights agenda of the United Nations is an
excellent starting point. We then need to measure governments policies and
actions against the agreed definition and ACT when governance is perceived
by the UN to be either tyrannical or woefully incompetent.
Of course, the actions to be taken will be difficult, delicate and often
painful.
It is surely best to care for the poor people of Afghanistan (to name but
one country) by ensuring good governance. The concept of 'non-interference
in a country's internal affairs' should be scrapped and the UN (suitably
reformed) should judge every government periodically.
These are difficult issues to grapple with, but if we truly care about the
sufferings of whole populations we must begin to globalise good
governance.
Competing interests: No competing interests