1. Libya - Revolution and Aftermath
LIBYA - REVOLUTION AND AFTERMATH
NY Times Article January 27' 2012
Libya, an oil-rich nation in North Africa, spent more than 40 years under the erratic
leadership of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi before a revolt pushed him from power in August
2011 after a six-month struggle. On Oct. 20, Colonel Qaddafi was killed as fighters battling
the vestiges of his fallen regime finally wrested control of his hometown of Surt.
The country was formally declared liberated three days later, setting in motion the process of
creating a new constitution and an elected government.
By early November, many of the local militia leaders who helped topple Colonel Qaddafi
abandoned a pledge to give up their weapons. They said that they intended to preserve their
autonomy and influence political decisions as ―guardians of the revolution.‖
The issue of the militias is one of the most urgent facing Libya‘s new provisional
government, the Transitional National Council.
Noting reports of sporadic clashes between militias as well as vigilante revenge killings,
many civilian leaders, along with some fighters, say the militias‘ shift from merely dragging
their feet about surrendering weapons to actively asserting a continuing political role poses a
stark challenge to the council‘s fragile authority.
The council has pledged in a ―constitutional declaration‖ that within eight months after the
selection of a new government, it will hold elections for a national assembly, which will
oversee the writing of a constitution. Members voted to name as prime ministerAbdel Rahim
el-Keeb, an electronics engineer and Qaddafi critic, who spent most of his career abroad.
Plans for a Constitutional Assembly
In early January 2012, the interim government posted on its Web site a draft law laying out
procedures for electing a planned constitutional assembly, taking a first step toward the
establishment of a new government.
The law would bar former officials of the Qaddafi government from serving on the panel. But
it would not remove them from the current interim administration or from future government

2. jobs. The presence of former Qaddafi government personnel is a common complaint with the
transitional administration.
The law would allocate 20 of the 200 seats in the assembly to women. The assembly is
expected to be chosen by June 2012 and empowered to form a government while it writes a
new constitution.
Accusations of Torture in Libyan Jails
Torture and death in detention have become widespread problemsin postwar Libya. In late
January 2012 international humanitarian groups said a troubling indication that some
Qaddafi-era abuses continue under the fractured rule of the country‘s interim government and
regionally organized militias.
A majority of victims were Libyans believed to have remained loyal to the government of
Colonel Qaddafi during the nine-month conflict that led to his ouster, but some were sub-
Saharan Africans. Africans from outside Libya were often accused of being Qaddafi
mercenaries during the revolution.
Amnesty International said in a statement that ―several‖ people had been tortured to death in
detention ―by officially recognized military and security entities,‖ as well as by ―a multitude
of armed militias.‖
The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, told the Security
Council that she was concerned about torture and other ills in Libya‘s freelance prisons.
Ms. Pillay urged the transitional government to put all prisons under the control of the
judicial authorities and that detainees be given a fair trial or released.
Overview
In February 2011, the unrest sweeping through much of the Arab world had erupted in
several Libyan cities. Though it began with a relatively organized core of anti-government
opponents in Benghazi, its spread to the capital of Tripoli was swift and spontaneous. Colonel
Qaddafi lashed out with extreme violence. Soon, though, an inchoate opposition managed to
cobble together the semblance of a transitional government, field a makeshift rebel army and
portray itself to the West and Libyans as an alternative to Colonel Qaddafi‘s corrupt and
repressive rule.
Momentum shifted quickly, however, and the rebels faced the possibility of being outgunned
and outnumbered in what increasingly looked like a mismatched civil war. Then as Colonel
Qaddafi‘s troops advanced to within 100 miles of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in the west,
the United Nations Security Council voted to authorize military action, a risky foreign
intervention aimed at averting a bloody rout of the rebels by loyalist forces. On March 19,
American and European forces began a broad campaign of strikes against Colonel Qaddafi
and his government, unleashing warplanes and missiles in a military intervention on a scale
not seen in the Arab world since the Iraq war.
Prior to the bombing campaign, the Obama administrationintensely debated whether to open
the mission with a new kind of warfare: a cyberoffensive to disrupt and even disable the

3. Qaddafi government‘s air-defense system, which threatened allied warplanes. But
administration officials and some military officers balked, fearing that it might set a
precedent for other nations, in particular Russia or China, to carry out such offensives of their
own. They were also unable to resolve whether the president had the power to proceed with
such an attack without informing Congress. In the end, American officials rejected
cyberwarfare and used conventional aircraft, cruise missiles and drones.
By late May, the weeks of NATO bombing seemed to put the momentum back on the side of
the rebels, who broke a bloody siege of the western city of Misurata. By August, they were
making territorial gains in the country‘s east and west. Colonel Qaddafi rejected calls to leave
power in spite of defections by subordinates, increased economic and political isolation and
NATO air assaults. The rebels themselves suffered from internal dissension and lack of
training.
Six months of inconclusive fighting gave way within a matter of days to an assault on
Tripoli that unfolded at a breakneck pace. By the night of Aug. 21, rebels surged into the city,
meeting only sporadic resistance and setting off raucous street celebrations. Expectations
grew that Colonel Qaddafi‘s hold on power was crumbling as rebels overran his heavily
fortified compound on Aug. 23 and finally established control after days of bloody urban
street fighting. The rebels struggled in the days that followed to restore order and services to
Tripoli, while the fighting to subdue the last of the Qaddafi stronghold proceeded slowly.
Rifts between tribes and the growing influence of Islamists in Libyaraised hard questions
about the ultimate character of the government and society that will rise in place of Qaddafi‘s
autocracy. The Transitional National Council, which has promised to assemble a new
cabinet, has thus far been unable to overcome regional disputes over the composition of the
group or to persuade the militias that seized Tripoli to give up their arms.
Background
Colonel Qaddafi took power in a bloodless coup in September 1969 and ruled with an iron
fist, seeking to spread Libya‘s influence in Africa. He built his rule on a cult of personality
and a network of family and tribal alliances supported by largess from Libya‘s oil revenues.
The United States withdrew its ambassador from Libya in 1972 after Colonel Qaddafi
renounced agreements with the West and repeatedly inveighed against the United States in
speeches and public statements.
After a mob sacked and burned the American Embassy in 1979, the United States cut off
relations. The relationship continued to spiral downward and, in 1986, the Reagan
administration accused Libya of ordering the bombing of a German discothèque that killed
three people, including two American servicemen. In response, the United States bombed
targets in Tripoli and Benghazi.
The most notorious of Libya‘s actions was the bombing in 1988 of Pan Am Flight 103 over
Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. Libya later accepted responsibility, turned over
suspects and paid families of victims more than $2 billion.
After a surprise decision to renounce terrorism in 2003, Colonel Qaddafi re-established
diplomatic and economic ties throughout Europe. He had also changed with regard to Israel.

4. The man who once called for pushing the '‗Zionists‘' into the sea advocated the forming of
one nation where Jews and Palestinians would live together in peace.
Rather than trying to destabilize his Arab neighbors, he founded a pan-African confederation
modeled along the lines of the European Union. On Feb. 2, 2009, Colonel Qaddafi was
named chairman of the African Union. His election, however, caused some unease among
some of the group‘s 53-member nations as well as among diplomats and analysts. The
colonel, who had ruled Libya with an iron hand, was a stark change from the succession of
recent leaders from democratic countries like Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria.
The most significant changes had been the overtures Colonel Qaddafi made toward the
United States. He was among the first Arab leaders to denounce the Sept. 11 attacks, and he
lent tacit approval to the American-led invasion of Afghanistan. To the astonishment of other
Arab leaders, he reportedly shared his intelligence files on Al Qaeda with the United States to
aid in the hunt for its international operatives. He also cooperated with the United States and
Europe on other terrorism issues, as well as on nuclear weapons and immigration.
In August 2009, Colonel Qaddafi embarrassed the British government and drew criticism
from President Obama with his triumphant reaction to the release from prison on
compassionate grounds of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the
bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Mr. Megrahi was given a hero‘s welcome when he arrived in
Libya, and Colonel Qaddafi thanked British and Scottish officials for releasing Mr. Megrahi
at a time when both governments were trying to distance themselves from the action.
Colonel Qaddafi‘s son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, who was educated in Britain, for years
served as a bridge between the Libya power centers and the West.
Prior to the 2011 unrest, the only hint of potential change in Libya came from Seif
Qaddafi, who spoke of dismantling a legacy of Socialism and authoritarianism introduced by
his father 40 years ago. Seif Qaddafi proposed far-reaching ideas: tax-free investment zones,
a tax haven for foreigners, the abolition of visa requirements and the development of luxury
hotels. He liked to boast that his country could be ―the Dubai of North Africa,‖ pointing to
Libya‘s proximity to Europe (the flight from London to Tripoli is under three hours), its
abundant energy reserves and 1,200 miles of mostly unspoiled Mediterranean coastline.
But the reality of daily life in Tripoli remained far removed from those lofty notions. The
streets were strewn with garbage; there were gaping holes in the sidewalks, and tourist-
friendly hotels and restaurants were few and far between. And while a number of seaside
hotels were being built, the city largely ignored its most spectacular asset, the Mediterranean.
Unemployment is estimated as high as 30 percent and much of the potential work force is
insufficiently trained.
Uprising in Libya
In February 2011, protests broke out in several parts of Libya on a so-called Day of Rage to
challenge Colonel Qaddafi‘s iron rule. Thousands turned out in Benghazi, Tripoli and three
other locations, according to Human Rights Watch. The state media, though, showed Libyans
waving green flags and shouting in support of Colonel Qaddafi.

5. Trying to demonstrate that he was still in control, Colonel Qaddafi appeared on television on
Feb. 22, 2011, speaking from his residence on the grounds of an army barracks in Tripoli that
still showed scars from when the United States bombed it in 1986.
Colonel Qaddafi, who took power in a military coup, had always kept the Libyan military too
weak and divided to rebel against him. About half of Libya‘s relatively small 50,000-member
army was made up of poorly trained and unreliable conscripts, according to the Center for
Strategic and International Studies. Many of its battalions were organized along tribal lines,
ensuring their loyalty to their own clan rather than to top military commanders — a pattern
evident in the defection of portions of the army to help protesters take the eastern city of
Benghazi.
Distrustful of his own generals, Colonel Qaddafi built up an elaborate paramilitary force —
accompanied by special segments of the regular army that reported primarily to his family. It
was designed to check the army and to subdue his own population. At the top of that structure
was his roughly 3,000-member revolutionary guard corps, which guarded him personally.
But perhaps the most significant force that Colonel Qaddafi deployed against the insurrection
was a group of about 2,500 ruthless mercenaries from countries like Chad, Sudan and Niger
that he called his Islamic Pan African Brigade.
Air power proved to be Colonel Qaddafi‘s biggest advantage, and rebels were unable to use
bases and planes they captured in the east. Planes and helicopters gave the Qaddafi forces an
additional advantage in moving ammunition and supplies, a crucial factor given the length of
the Libyan coast between the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and Tripoli.
As Colonel Qaddafi‘s forces tried to retake a series of strategic oil towns on the east coast of
the country, which fell early in the rebellion to antigovernment rebels, the West continued to
debate what actions to take.
Western Involvement
After days of often acrimonious debate played out against a desperate clock, the Security
Council authorized member nations to take ―all necessary measures‖ to protect civilians,
diplomatic code words calling for military action. Benghazi erupted in celebration at news of
the resolution‘s passage.
A military campaign against Colonel Qaddafi, under British and French leadership, was
launched less than 48 hours later. American forces mounted a campaign to knock out Libya‘s
air defense systems, firing volley after volley of Tomahawk missiles from nearby ships
against missile, radar and communications centers. Within a week allied air strikes had
averted a rout by Colonel Qaddafi of Benghazi and established a no-fly zone over Libya.
The campaign, however, was dogged by friction over who should command the operation,
with the United States eventually handing off its lead role to NATO, and by uncertainty over
its ultimate goal. Western leaders acknowledged that there was no endgame beyond the
immediate United Nations authorization to protect Libyan civilians, and it was uncertain
whether even military strikes would force Colonel Qaddafi from power.

6. In a nationally televised speech March 28, President Obamadefended the American-led
military assault, emphasizing that it would be limited and insisting that America had the
responsibility and the international backing to stop what he characterized as a looming
genocide. At the same time, he said, directing American troops to forcibly remove Colonel
Qaddafi from power would be a step too far, and would ―splinter‖ the international coalition
that had moved against the Libyan government.
The Endgame
Six months of inconclusive fighting gave way within a matter of days to an assault on
Tripoli that unfolded at a breakneck pace. By the night of Aug. 21, rebels surged into the city,
meeting only sporadic resistance and setting off raucous street celebrations. Expectations
grew that Colonel Qaddafi‘s hold on power was crumbling as rebels overran his heavily
fortified compound on Aug. 23 and finally established control after days of bloody urban
street fighting.
While they struggled to restore order and services to Tripoli, rebels made further military
gains, surrounding Colonel Qadaffi‘s hometown of Surt, regarded as a last bastion of support
for the dictator.
The report of Colonel Qaddafi‘s death by the highest ranking military officer in Libya‘s
interim government on Oct. 20 appeared to put an end to the fierce manhunt for the former
leader who remained on the lam in Libya for weeks after the fall of his government.
Libya‘s interim leaders had said they believed that some Qaddafi family members —
possibly including Colonel Qaddafi and several of his sons — were hiding in the coastal town
of Surt or in Bani Walid, another loyalist bastion that the anti-Qaddafi forces captured.
As rumor of his death spread in Tripoli, car horns blared as many celebrated in the streets.
Colonel Qaddafi’s Death
Colonel Qaddafi‘s final moments were as violent as the uprising that overthrew him.
In a cellphone video that went viral on the Internet, the deposed Libyan leader was seen
splayed on the hood of a truck and then stumbling amid a frenzied crowd, seemingly begging
for mercy. He is next seen on the ground, with fighters grabbing his hair. Blood pours down
his head, drenching his brown khakis, as the crowd shouts, ―God is great!‖
Colonel Qaddafi‘s body was shown in later photographs, with bullet holes apparently fired
into his head at what forensic experts said was close range, raising the possibility that he was
executed by anti-Qaddafi fighters.
The official version of events offered by Libya‘s new leaders — that Colonel Qaddafi was
killed in a cross-fire — did not appear to be supported by the photographs and videos that
streamed over the Internet all day long, raising questions about the government‘s control of
the militias in a country that has been divided into competing regions and factions.
Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the head of the Transitional National Council,announced the creation of
a formal committee of inquiry to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of

7. Colonel Qaddafi while in the custody of his captors, but days later, no one from Libya‘s new
government was investigating evidence of one of the worst massacres of the eight-month
conflict, in Surt.
Oil Production Restored
By mid-November, oil production was quickly being restored in Zawiyah and around the
country, in large part because both the Qaddafi regime and the former rebels, now the interim
leaders of Libya, took pains to avoid crippling the country‘s most important industry during
the civil war.
The bullet holes in the oil tanks were patched, the damaged backup generator was being
repaired, and most important, the pipeline that feeds the giant oil refinery was reopened.
Libya‘s oil production remains at about 40 percent of the level that it was before the
revolution began. But none of the country‘s 40 critical oil and gas fields were seriously
damaged in the war, according to Libyan officials and international oil experts. Now, most of
the important oil ports and refineries, idled by international sanctions and months of fighting,
are ramping back up.
Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi Captured
On Nov. 19, Libyan militia fighters captured Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the last fugitive son
and onetime heir apparent of Colonel Qaddafi, in Zintan, a western mountain town, setting
off nationwide celebrations but also exposing a potential power struggle over his handling.
On Nov. 22, bowing to pressure from the local militia holding Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi as a
prisoner, Prime Minister Abdel Rahim el-Keeb appointed the militia‘s commander to be the
new defense minister.
The appointment came as the prime minister named a new cabinet after weeks of bargaining
among the competing cities, tribes and militias that formed the loose coalition that overthrew
the Qaddafi government but now are struggling to share power.
The new cabinet will govern until an election for a new national assembly scheduled for mid-
2012.
padm shree 2012
Padma Shri Awards 2012
Shri Vanraj Bhatia (Art – Music Maharashtra)

8. Shri Zia Fariduddin Dagar (Art – Music – vocal Maharashtra)
Smt. Nameirakpam Ibemni Devi (Art – Music- Khongjom Parba Manipur)
Shri Ramachandra Subraya Hegde Chittani (Art – Yakshagana dance drama Karnataka)
Shri Moti Lal Kemmu (Art – Playwright Jammu and Kashmir)
Shri Shahid Parvez Khan (Art – Instrumental Music-Sitar Maharashtra)
Shri Mohan Lal Kumhar (Art – Terracotta Rajasthan)
Shri Sakar Khan Manganiar( Art – Rajasthani Folk Music Rajasthan)
Smt. Joy Michael (Art – Theatre Delhi)
Dr. Minati Mishra (Art – Indian Classical Dance-Odissi. Orissa)
Shri Natesan Muthuswamy (Art – Theatre. Tamil Nadu)
Smt. R. Nagarathnamma (Art – Theatre Karnataka)
Smt. Yamunabai Waikar (Art – Indian Folk Music-Lavani.
Maharashtra)

9. ShriSatish Alekar (Art – Playwright
Maharashtra)
PanditGopal Prasad Dubey (Art – Chhau dance and choreography Jharkhand)
Shri Ramakant Gundecha (Art – Indian Classical Music- Vocal Madhya Pradesh)
Shri Umakant Gundecha( Art – Indian Classical Music- Vocal Madhya Pradesh)
Shri Anup Jalota (Art-Indian Classical Music- Vocal Maharashtra)
Shri Soman Nair Priyadarsan (Art – Cinema- Direction Kerala)
Shri Sunil Janah (Art-Photography Assam)
Ms. Laila Tyebji (Art-Handicrafts Delhi)
Shri Vijay Sharma (Art-Painting Himachal Pradesh)
Smt. Shamshad Begum (Social Work Chattisgarh)
Smt. Reeta Devi (Social Work Delhi)
Dr. P.K. Gopal (Social Work Tamil Nadu)

10. Smt. Phoolbasan Bai Yadav (Social Work Chattisgarh)
Dr. G. Muniratnam Social Work Andhra Pradesh)
Shri Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya (Social Work Maharashtra)
Dr. Uma Tuli (Social Work Delhi)
Shri Sat Paul Varma (Social Work Jammu and Kashmi)r
Smt.Binny Yanga (Social Work Arunachal Pradesh)
Shri Yezdi Hirji Malegam (Public Affairs Maharashtra)
Shri Pravin H. Parekh (Pubic Affairs Delhi)
Dr. V. Adimurthy (Science and Engineering Kerala)
Dr. Krishna Lal Chadha (Science and Engineering – Agriculture Delhi)
Prof. Virander Singh Chauhan Science and Engineering Delhi)
Prof. Rameshwar Nath Koul Bamezai (Science and Engineering Jammu and Kashmir)

11. Dr. Vijaypal Singh
(Science and Engineering –( Agricultural Research
Uttar Pradesh)
Dr. Lokesh Kumar Singhal (Science and Engineering Punjab)
Dr. Yagnaswami Sundara Rajan (Science and Engineering Karnataka)
Prof. Jagadish Shukla (Science and Engineering USA)
Ms. Priya Paul (Trade and Industry Delhi)
Shri Shoji Shiba (Trade and Industry Japan)
Shri Gopinath Pillai (Trade and Industry Singapore)
Shri Arun Hastimal Firodia (Trade and Industry Maharashtra)
Dr. Swati A. Piramal (Trade and Industry Maharashtra)
Prof. Mahdi Hasan (Medicine-Anatomy Uttar Pradesh)

12. Dr. Viswanathan Mohan (Medicine – Diabetology Tamil Nadu)
Dr. J. Hareendran Nair (Medicine – Ayurveda Kerala)
Dr. Vallalarpuram Sennimalai Natarajan (Medicine – Geriatrics Tamil Nadu)
Dr. Jitendra Kumar Singh (Medicine – Oncology Bihar)
Dr. Shrinivas S. Vaishya
(Medicine-Healthcare Daman and Diu)
Dr. Nitya Anand (Medicine – Drugs Research Uttar Pradesh)
Late Dr. Jugal Kishore (Medicine – Homoeopathy Delhi)
Dr. Mukesh Batra (Medicine-Homeopathy Maharashtra)
Dr. Eberhard Fischer (Literature and Education Switzerland)
Shri Kedar Gurung (Literature and Education Sikkim)
Shri Surjit Singh Patar (Literature and Education – Poetry Punjab)
Shri Vijay Dutt Shridhar (Literature and Education – Journalism Madhya Pradesh)

13. Shri Irwin Allan Sealy (Literature and Education Uttarakhand)
Ms. Geeta Dharmarajan (Literature and Education Delhi)
Prof. Sachchidanand Sahai (Literature and Education Haryana)
Smt. Pepita Seth (Literature and Education Kerala)
Dr. Ralte L. Thanmawia (Literature and Education Mizoram)
Shri Ajeet Bajaj (Sports – Skiing Delhi)
Smt. Jhulan Goswami (Sports – Women‘s Cricket West Bengal)
Shri Zafar Iqbal (Sports-Hockey Uttar Pradesh)
Shri Devendra Jhajrija (Sports – Athletics- Paralympics Rajasthan)
Shri Limba Ram (Sports – Archery Rajasthan)
Shri Syed Mohammed Arif( Sports – Badminton Andhra Pradesh)
Prof. Ravi Chaturvedi (Sports- Commentary Delhi)

14. Shri Prabhakar Vaidya (Sports-Physical Education Maharashtra)
Shri T. Venkatapathi Reddiar (Others-Horticulture Puducherry)
Dr. K. (Kota) Ullas Karanth Others-Wildlife Conservation and Environment
Protection Karnataka)
Shri K Paddayya (Others-Archaeology Maharashtra)
Shri Swapan Guha (Others-Ceramics Rajasthan)