North By North-East: Sanjoy Hazarika: Arafat goes, history changes: Need for reality checks.

(From The Statesman (India))

The passing of Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, a legendary fighter for a people whose lands were usurped by a colonial dispensation, a man praised as a saviour by his followers and denounced as a terrorist by Israel, is a moment in time which must force all groups and leaders concerned about the rights of "suppressed" people to look at what is possible.

The life and legacy of Arafat is also for other militant leaders to pause, reflect and recognise the realities that they must deal with if they are to accommodate various points of view to resolve old grievances and problems.

Of course, India is not Israel and our approach to resolving conflicts and militancies, especially in recent years, has been to move away from armed solutions (it has taken so long for such a …