Anti-war MPs in Labour resent gag order

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, OCT. 22. The row in the Labour Party over the continued bombing in Afghanistan has escalated with the anti-war MPs refusing to tone down their criticism despite a gag order which one MP called a ``McCarthyite witchhunt''. They have protested at being treated like ``circus dogs'' with the party whips trying to put them on leash in a bid to prevent them from publicly airing their views on the military action.

The row comes amid report that the British Government is on the verge of committing its ground troops in Afghanistan. One MP, Mr. Paul Marsden, has embarrassed the leadership by briefing a tabloid on his conversation with the party chief whip, Ms. Hilary Armstrong, during which she sharply told him to fall in line with the government policy. ``I want a guarantee that you will not speak to the media unless you speak to me first,'' she reportedly told him and when he insisted that he had a right to air his views, she retorted: ``It was people like you who appeased Hitler in 1938.''

The Sunday Telegraph quoted Ms. Armstrong as saying that Mr. Marsden had ``got problems'' but he would ``sort them out eventually''. He is among the most outspoken critics of the Blair Government's all-out support for the war in Afghanistan and is backed by two senior MPs, Mr. Tam Dalyell and Mr. George Galloway besides a host of younger backbenchers. Already known as ``rebels'' on the issue, they are reported to be busy mobilising support for a pressure group called ``Labour Against the Bombing'' and, according to The Guardian, they hope to attract upto 30 MPs in addition to the moral support of non-Labour critics of the war. They plan to step up their demand for a pause in the bombing so that sufficient food and other relief material can be reached to the people before the onset of winter.

Last week, they joined an American anti-war campaigner, Mr. David Pickering's petition to Downing Street opposing the ``instruments of war'' to deal with the crisis following the September 11 outrage. Mr. Pickering's website is said to have received messages of support from over 50,000 Britons. As reports point to a worsening humanitarian situation, pressure for a halt in hostilities is mounting and, according to a report in The Observer, the United Nations is ``set'' to issue an appeal for a ceasefire to facilitate relief work. It quoted a U.N. source as saying that unless the bombing stopped there would be a ``huge number of deaths'' due to starvation and malnutrition.

The reported U.N. move, dismissed in some circles as speculation, follows appeal by several international aid agencies in the region for a pause in air strikes. They have criticised Britain's Secretary for International Development, Ms. Clare Short, for claiming that the bombing was not coming in the way of providing relief - a line strongly articulated by the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, who told Parliament that it was the Taliban who were proving to be a hurdle.

The British aid agency, Christian Aid, has term Ms. Short's statement ``misleading'' alleging that the Government's ``spin doctors'' were showing ``callous disregard'' for people's suffering. Observers pointed out that while the Government was right in accusing the Taliban of creating problems it was also true that because of the relentless bombing it was not possible to get food to the people. A spokesman of the World Food Programme, Mr. Michael Huggins, has said that food distribution has been severely disrupted as truck drivers refuse to go into areas where bombs are falling.

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Section  : International
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