Friday, April 11, 2008

Abandoned to their fate

The Guardian, April 9. 2008

Victims of the Bhopal disaster are still campaiging for justice. Their suffering is emblematic of the struggle faced by huge numbers of Indians

bhopal.jpg

Wahid Khan, 72, blinded by the gas which spread over Bhopal from a pesticide plant owned by an Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation on December 2 1984. Photo: Corbis

At the end of January I was dining with an old friend, now one of India's top policemen. Intelligence, counter-terrorism, external threats, internal security, he'd done it all. He knew of my work with the Bhopal gas survivors, whom I'd accused successive Indian governments of betraying.

"Betrayal? Isn't that rather a strong word?"

"Well, what would you call selling out the Bhopalis for a pittance? Canning all medical studies into the effects of the gas? Letting Union Carbide leave Bhopal without cleaning its factory? Turning a blind eye while toxic waste leaks and poisons the local water supply? Ignoring a supreme court of India order to provide clean water? Beating up women and children who dared to ask why nothing had been done? Doing business with Dow Chemical while its wholly-owned subsidiary Carbide refuses to appear in court to face criminal charges? Conspiring to get Dow off the Bhopal hook in return for $1bn? All this while people are still sick, while hundreds of children are being born deformed? What part of this cannot be called betrayal?"

Continued . . .

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