“Learn Arabic fast and start reading Quran.” Dr Mundol Abdulla got this advice from, perhaps, the most unlikely person - Libyan autocratic leader Muammar-al-Gaddafi, about 38 years ago.
It was Abdulla’s first meeting with Colonel Gaddafi, around two months after taking charge as the physician of a medical clinic at Abuhadhi, around 15 kilometres south of Sirte in Libya, the hometown of Gaddafi.
‘Diabolic’ is the term Dr Abdulla would like to use to better describe the Libyan dictator. “Ironically, this scare-monger was also extremely security conscious. I was told that he never slept on the same bed twice. He constantly changed his tour plans. First he would announce six venues and the luxury buses, in fact moving palaces, would ply to those venues. But, Gaddafi would appear at an entirely different spot,” says the 70-year-old physician from Kozhikode, who was one among the 17 doctors deputed to Libya in 1973.
Abdulla recalls that there had been several attempts to assassinate Gaddafi even then and that made him increasingly security conscious. “Then, Cubans were in charge of his security. He used to drive a Fiat car. Sometimes, he walked freely in his hometown beside the agriculture fields. Once rebels shot down his plane while he was returning to Tripoli from Moscow. But, he made a miraculous escape. After this, he became increasingly security conscious and I lost touch with him,” he said.
The medical clinic at Abuhadhi where Abdulla worked was part of a mega agriculture project. “It was a U-shaped building. Gaddafi used to visit the site once in every month. His office and the clinic were at the far ends of the building.� One day, his cousin Hasan Ishkaal, came to me and asked to meet the Colonel. Gaddafi was in a military attire. He shook hands with me, offered a black tea and asked if I had learnt Arabic and advised me to learn Arabic fast and read Quran regularly,” said Abdulla, leaning on the bamboo chair taking long puffs of his favourite ‘Sadhu’ beedi at his residence in Kinasseri here.
Abdulla, who is penning a book - ‘Gaddafiyude Maruvasham’ (the other-side of Gaddafi), says that he was hardly aware of Gaddafi’s terror regime then.
“Once I became close with the people, a few of them described the other side of their ruler. Everybody was afraid and nobody dared to utter a word against him. And none among the Gaddafi tribe spoke against him,” he said.
Colonel Gaddafi hated democracy and was against election. He even brought torture experts from Egypt, said Abdulla.
“The accused were shot down, sometimes by Gaddafi himself at once without trial. The deadbodies were kept hanging at public places for seven days. Even university students were hung inside the campus. His cousin Ishakaal himself was a victim of the gruesome torture. His feet were as thick as wooden plank as he was put to stand on red-hot iron plank.”
Before returning to Kerala in 1980, Abdulla and his wife Dr Vilasini had several meetings with the Libyan leader, who once asked about how he could help the Muslims in India.
“By that time, there had evolved a number of sarcastic jokes related to his cruel regime. Here is one: a recently bought television was returned by a Libyan saying that it did not work. The operator said it was working fine. But, the customer complained that there was a mechanical error that every channel shows the image of Gaddafi all the time. In fact, the Libyans hardly enjoyed freedom or the privileges of democracy,” Abdulla said.
And what about the present war in Libya? “Gaddafi would neither be captured nor hurt.� It would not be a repeat of Saddam Hussain. The present war is part of the United States’ game plan to ensure unhindered flow of Libyan sweet oil.
America needs Libya’s fuel as it contains minimum amount of sulphur. Even if Gaddafi dies, they will make him a hero as they want another Gaddafi to emerge in the Arab countries that serve American purpose,” adds Abdulla, who also served in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
However, he is unhappy over India’s stand on the issue. “It was inappropriate that the Centre sent a state minister to an international conference to decide the fate of Libya. Post-Gaddafi Libya is going to be a goldmine. And India has got enough capacity to export manpower, both skilled and unskilled, with professional help. S M Krishna made a mistake by not attending the meeting,” he added.
Sep 08, 2011
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