No end in sight to the dark night in the British Empire, where ‘the Sun never used to set’

- Anil Narendra

There was a time, when the British used to say arrogantly that the Sun never sets in the British Empire. It was so vast an Empire that a large portion of the World was under the domain of the British. With every manipulation, they tried to retain their Empire world over. But, situation has changed gradually. And now, it appears that the Sun is not rising in England. For the last 5-6 days, England is in the grip of worst ever violent riots England has seen in last 30 years. The British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday that the Police had admitted that their riot tactics were wrong. Addressing the House of Common in England, Cameron announced a relief package of 10 million pounds as compensation to the losses in a number of cities during these riots. The violence sparked after the death of Mark Duggan, a Black of African origin in police firing on last Aug 4 in Tottenham, has spread to Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham. People of England are considered to be gentlemen, but the Saturday riots have proved that they are also the biggest looters. More than 1,300 persons have been arrested in this connection and these also include persons, who are least expected to resort to loot and plunder. Probably not a single person of these, has a police record. The youngest of these is an eleven year old boy, where as Laura Johnson, daughter of a millionaire parents is also involved in these riots. A teacher has also been arrested. Those arrested also include a housewife. Most of them were produced before a court in London. It was expected that the court would release them, but it has not acquitted any one of them. The most startling name in these rioters is that of Laura Johnson, whose parents Lindsey and Robert Johnson live in a mansion in Orpington, which has all the amenities like swimming pool, tennis court etc. Laura got her education from St Olave Grammar School, Kent, one of the most expensive London schools. When she was arrested, her car was laden with looted goods, worth 5,000 pounds. These goods included a Toshiba TV, microwave oven and mobile phone. It appeared, as if gangsters were ruling over London and other cities. The Englishmen were also seen leading loot and plunder. These rioters and anti-social elements also targeted Asians. Three British citizen of Asian origin (all Muslims of Pak origin) were trying to protect people from their community, but a fast approaching ran over them. The dead have been identified as Shahzad, Harry Hussein and Musavvar Ali. Shahzad and Hussein are brothers. According to reports from Birmingham, these three persons had come out of the mosque and were on the street to protect their car washing company. A fast approaching car of rioters crushed all three of them. They were of 31, 30 and 20 years of age. A British Police official has said that incidents of riots and loot in Manchester were examples of pointless violence and foolish crimes and incidents on such a large scale have not happened during last thirty years. Violence of this magnitude has never been witnessed.
As riots spread all over England and British citizens of Asian origin were convinced that the Police failing in controlling the rioters, all the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi residents of London suburb of South Hall, known as little India, whether they were Hindu, Muslims or Sikhs, assembled and took the control of the situation. Armed with kirpans and hockey sticks they came out in the streets. The Black rioters tried to attack a jewelry shop in South Hall on Monday night. The shop belonged to a Punjabi family living in West Ealing. Immediately a message gone around the entire South Hall that Asian shops, particularly jewelry shops were likely to be targeted by the rioters and looters. Around 300 persons gathered on the streets and they took positions outside Shriguru Singh Sabha Gurudwara and a big mosque. British Prime Minister David Cameron has admitted that the Police failed to handle the riots properly. When the matter concerns Englishmen’s own home, they avoid firing. Readers may be surprised to learn that the Police was not allowed to fire in face of such terrible riots. At last, now they are talking of allowing the use of water cannons and rubber bullets. They are the same Britishers, who had sprayed bullets on peaceful Indians in Jalianwala Bagh. During India’s freedom movement, patriots were tortured by the Britishers, but there is restriction on firing in their own country. You will be surprised to learn that there are only 32,500 police personnel for London city and of these, only 2,740 are armed and rest are engaged in controlling these riots with the help of canes. Even the Armed Forces were not called in. When we see all this, we realize that we are better equipped and capable of dealing with riots and arsons.
The riots sparked in England have raised a number of questions and have made it clear that it is not a matter of law and order alone, but the policies of Tory-Liberal Democratic Alliance government and to some extent the latent sense of insecurity among Englishmen are responsible for such a situation. In fact, Britain, who had expanded its empire world over, is now sitting on a volcano. About five million people have not only migrated from different countries, but they have taken the citizenship of Britain and population of such people is around eight per cent of the total population of Britain. In comparison to the Englishmen, there is vast difference in the standard of living and their economic condition of people of Asian, African and Caribbean origin. The unemployment rate among the people of Black origin is three times to that of Englishmen’s. A large number of Asians and people of other origins have attained tremendous prosperity, but the common Englishman has not been able to accept easily the people of erstwhile British colonies. Death of a youth of African-Caribbean origin, Mark Duggan in police firing is stated to be the cause of these riots. In fact, this incident has ignited the spark, but its spread to cities like London, Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham within four days, indicates that smoldering fire within, has flared up. The areas, where these riots have spread, are thickly populated with people of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. Considering the violence unleashed by the rioters, it appears that elements, solely concerned with loot, have joined these rioters. Some enthusiasts have also joined hands with the rioters just for the kick of it, who in fact have no need to involve themselves in such acts. What was the need for Laura Johnson to resort to looting during the riots? In fact, Tory-Liberal Democratic government is also responsible for this explosive situation. The poor, unemployed citizens of Britain have to bear the brunt of the impact of the cuts imposed in budget and other expenditure by this government. This is a problem, which is a challenge for every civilized nation, particularly developing nations. It is more important to consider this as England is prominent among the democracies which are often cited world over for better reasons. India, too can learn something out of it. The widening gap between ‘have nots’ and ‘haves’ is neither good for the country nor for our democracy. Wealth is increasing, but the gap between poor and rich is not reducing. In any case, the biggest challenge before the Britain Prime Minister David Cameron is to control these riots at the earliest and the government should review its policies, which have led to these riots. If the Indian team, which is playing cricket during its England tour, follow suit and return home after canceling the tour, as was done by the England cricket team during Mumbai riots, then how will the Englishmen feel?