What In The Name Of Aid…

medium120411041* On Jan 26, 2001, an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 hit Bhuj in Gujarat. Nearly 14,000 people were killed.* On Dec 26, 2004, Indonesia’s Aceh experienced an earthquake of magnitude 9.2. A massive tsunami followed. Even Sri Lanka, nearly 1,800km away, was devastated. More than 30,000 people were killed there.* On March 28, 2025, an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck Myanmar. The death toll has crossed 3,700 with more than 5,000 people missing.There are more commonalities between the three disasters: civil wars, and rulers who were — and are — anathema to most western nations ruled by liberals, or social and/or conservative democrats. There’s also competition and opportunism between such nations, who consider themselves the inventors and upholders of democracy.As always, they demand unfettered access to every inch of the disaster-hit country. Denial invites fierce criticism. This eagerness to hit ‘ground zero’ stems not from humanitarianism or Messianic philanthropy but, as one western left-wing group has aptly dubbed it — from ‘disaster capitalism’ — and political meddling.When the Bhuj earthquake hit, BJP was in office both at the Centre under Vajpayee and in Gujarat under Keshubhai Patel. India’s earlier refusal, under Congress govts, to sign anti-nuke treaties and the nuclear test in 1998 had already attracted global wrath. This ‘rogue nation’ had dared to dream with the big boys. Western journalists based in India — never mind the neutrality they like to claim — launched a concerted campaign against BJP.Immediately after the quake, western rescue teams arrived in Mumbai. But bureaucratic waffling by both state and central govts delayed clearances for their equipment. Admittedly, it was a self-goal by India.Criticism in the western media reached a crescendo, even implying deliberate delay, only because very young cadres of RSS had already swung into action at the epicentre. Even as tremors continued, this writer witnessed and reported on how the cadres swiftly removed body after body, catching barely any sleep, burying or cremating, as per the religion of each dead person.There may be much to criticise in both RSS and BJP. But given the urgency of the immediate task on hand, the condemnation of the report by some European “intellectuals” at the time, merely because it painted RSS in a positive light, smacked of intolerance for India’s ground reality.If it isn’t ‘democracy’ that the West wants to ‘rescue’, there are civil wars it wants to end. Ending bloodshed is good, but that zeal almost always plays out in regions with enormous racial, religious and linguistic complexities, far too alien to the West. And the zeal is fired even further, if such countries also happen to be rich in oil reserves, gems, or minerals containing rare earths.In Indonesia, the twin disasters saw a peace agreement with rebels in Aceh. But in Sri Lanka, there was a fragile ceasefire between separatist terror group LTTE and Colombo, when the tsunami devastated the coasts of both warring sides. Norway and EU (home to influential Tamil diaspora voters, many of whom funded LTTE) strode into the photo-op with renewed vigour and mounted pressure on then president Chandrika Kumaratunga.Despite a withdrawal of support of the Marxist-Leninist JVP of current president Anura Dissanayake in protest, Kumaratunga signed an agreement to share tsunami aid with, and allow distribution by, the Tigers. Courts struck down the agreement. But in any case, LTTE had long begun preparation for a return to war. Now, the unhindered flow of tsunami aid directly to the Tamil Tigers from various Tamil ‘relief organisations’ in the West, only helped LTTE weaponise even more rapidly and — return to war.India and other ‘first responders’ have reacted rapidly to Myanmar’s call for help. They have also refrained from commenting on the country’s ongoing civil war. But even before the 72-hour rescue deadline was up and undoubtedly egged on by their govts, western media concerns, who were denied entry into Myanmar, launched a chorus of accusations and demands.They have quoted vague ‘rebel sources’ to ‘confirm’ air strikes by the army, some hours after the earthquake (though air strikes are planned in advance, quakes don’t announce their arrival and the junta later announced a ceasefire). They demand that foreign journalists — and western aid — be allowed directly and unhindered into rebel-held territories. We saw how that played out in Sri Lanka.The absurd belief that only (Asian) govts or military rulers — and not underground rebels — will misuse aid, still prevails. Finally, they demand that “democracy” be restored immediately.Will Myanmar’s military junta oblige? Will it take liability if anything happens to such intrepid reporters, some of whom have already sneaked in and filmed without permission?Or, will Naypyidaw stick to a ceasefire but — channel foreign aid through its own distributors and in full view of UN and other monitors? Whatever it decides, there are big players watching. Myanmar is in the spotlight, and it’s not going to shift in a hurry.The writer is a senior foreign correspondent based in New Delhi