A court in the fledgling democracy in Iraq convicted and sentenced Saddam Hussein on November 5th to hang for crimes against humanity in the 1982 killings of 148 people in the city of Dujail following a 1982 assassination attempt on the former dictator. For the thousands of victims of Saddam's tyranny such a verdict was inconceivable only 3 years ago. But then again the American invasion of Iraq was inconceivable to Saddam Hussein. Saddam was an American ally in the Iran Iraq war of the 1980's. Despite the first Gulf war when the Americans pushed Saddam's invading army out of Kuwait, Saddam never imagined American troops marching to Baghdad. Then the attacks of 9-11 happened and the whole world changed. The unpopular American invasion of Iraq has failed to this point in bringing peace to Iraq and the Middle East but made possible the removal of a genocidal killer. What a divine twist? The ruthless dictator who never knew the word reconciliation while ruling Iraq after his death verdict has called upon Iraqis for reconciliation.
A few thousand miles further east is the emerging Asian economy of India. India is the latest ally of the Americans with countless US companies taking advantage of the cheap labor market in India and the US Senate days ago passing legislation to give India a special exemption to laws that otherwise block the transfer of nuclear technology to countries outside the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
A few days earlier on November 2nd the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation came to the final conclusion it did not have enough evidence to bring cases against two of the Prime suspects in the genocidal killing of thousands of Sikhs in November 1984. Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler are members of the ruling Congress party in India who oversaw the state orchestrated massacre of thousands of Sikh in New Delhi in the first few fateful days in November of 1984. Twenty-two years after the burning alive of thousands of Sikh men and gang rapes of Sikh women on the street of the Indian capital the Indian democracy has achieved what no democracy has accomplished in recent memory. The murder of thousands of innoncent citizens has not left enough trace to punish any of the guilty. While Saddam is talking reconciliation as he faces his graveyard the Indian government is mocking the Sikhs into reconciling with the absence of justice. The latest American ally knows well the US troops did not march into Baghdad to defend human rights but to defend American interests and the countless Indian terrorists who massacred thousands of innocent Sikhs live with Saddam's dictatorial arrogance.
For most people around the planet tyranny is something to read about in the news or in books. It is a devilish human drama that happens in distant lands. The Shiites and the Kurds of Iraq who have faced the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, the torture of his army men, the deadly burns of his mad chemical warfare program, the guilty verdict for the ex-dictator has been akin to divine justice. The words of George Bush and Tony Blair eulogizing the death verdict for Saddam as a triumph for the democracy in the Middle East might just be political rhetoric for western consumption but for the victims of Saddam's tyranny his death verdict has a personal connection. One less genocidal killer freely roams the streets of Baghdad.
Only if all genocidal killers met the same fate as Saddam. Countless roam freely the streets of India's capital protected by Indian democracy. They are political leaders, policeman, husbands, brothers and sons who went wild under state orders and protection following the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31st in 1984. As a young boy residing in Delhi I saw policeman under orders from local politicians guiding mobs to loot, rampage, pillage anything of and by the Sikhs. My family survived the pillaging mobs but thousands did not. Countless Sikh women were gang raped and thousands of Sikh men were burnt alive for three days and it all ended with the new Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi addressing the Indian nation, 'When a big tree falls the earth obviously shakes'.
These words could very well have been spoken by the Sunni Saddam Hussein while in power addressing the Iraqi people warning Shiites of dire consequences for fathoming assassination attempt on his life. After killing thousands of innocent Iraqis the dictator lost the race to justice. Now he faces the hangman's rope. On the 22nd anniversary of the 1984 genocide of the Sikhs, all the prime suspects cannot fathom justice ever catching up to them. The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation came to the mocking conclusion it did not have enough evidence against the two prime suspects. Only days before the decision, a Delhi policeman confessed in front of a judge towards destroying official complaints registered by a Sikh woman whose husband; teenage son and son-in-law were burnt alive.
Saddam Hussein had the protection of his dictatorship and dictatorships fall to the changing currents of time. The genocidal killers in India have the protection of a democracy and democracies are more resilient to change unless they make enemies of powers like the United States. If the latest nuclear deal between India and the United States is any evidence the Indian democracy will not be facing justice for its genocidal crimes for a long time to come.
Vishavjit Singh is a cartoonist and creator of Sikhtoons.com residing in White Plains, NY
