South Asia Citizens Wire

SACW | Jan 30-31 , 2009 / Sri Lanka Alarm / Pak-India: Peace Now / Submission re Hindutva to US body

South Asia Citizens Wire | January 30-31, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2603 - Year 11 running

From: www.sacw.net

[1] Sri Lanka:

(i) Civil Society Organisations Deeply Concerned At The Situation In Vanni

(ii) Himal Southasian Special Issue on Sri Lanka - February 2009

(iii) Sri Lanka: Govt Ignores Supreme Court (IPS)

[2] Pakistan - India: A peace delegation from India needs to visit Pakistan now (Najam Sethi)

+ Sir Creek dispute affecting fishermen

+ Attacks Stir Another India-Pakistan Border Dispute (Krishna Pokharel)

[3] USA - India: Recommendations to US Congressional Task Force on International Religious Freedom

following a briefing on ’The Threat Religious Extremism Poses to Democracy and Security in India: Focus on Orissa’ (Angana Chatterji)

[4] India: Protest Against Attack on Film Crew by Hindutva goons in Bombay

[5] India: Madrasas - Degrees of Populism (Arshad Alam)

[6] India: Israel-based Hindutva govt-in-exile, support from Thai contacts (Indian Express)

+ VHP activists bash up Christian missionaries in Allahabad (Rediff, January 19, 2009)

+ MNS salute to Hitler, apes Nazi-style greeting

[7] Announcements: Amn Tehreek Peace Rally (Lahore, 31 January 2009)

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[1] Sri Lanka:

(i) sacw.net, 29 January 2009

http://www.sacw.net/article559.html

CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS DEEPLY CONCERNED AT THE SITUATION IN VANNI

As civil society organizations that have consistently highlighted the intensifying humanitarian crisis in the north of Sri Lanka and that are deeply concerned about the immense civilian suffering, we once again appeal to the Government of Sri Lanka, the LTTE and the international community to take immediate steps to respond effectively to the unfolding catastrophe.

There are very few independent reports regarding the situation, due to the denial of access to media and humanitarian agencies to the conflict zones. The few reports that have reached the outside world since Monday January 26, 2009, point to the gravity of the situation.

An Urgent Appeal has been issued in the name of the Regional Director of Health Services in Mullaitivu, the area most recently captured by the Sri Lankan security forces, calling for the most basic of medical supplies to be sent to the region immediately. The report highlights the killing of around 300 IDPs within the last few days, injuries to many more and that others are not accounted for. Basic emergency medical care for the injured is not available due to the lack of essential drugs and services in Mullaitivu and surrounding areas where the fighting is heaviest. Heavy fighting and travel restrictions imposed by the fighting forces prevent the health authorities from transferring the injured to hospitals outside the conflict zones.

The humanitarian crisis in northern Sri Lanka has been highlighted by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Sir John Holmes, as well as by UN agencies in Sri Lanka, by the Jaffna Bishop Saundranayagam and by the ICRC.

All have raised concerns regarding the critical situation confronting the over 300,000 displaced persons presently trapped within the Vanni. The ICRC in a press release on January 27 quoted Jacques de Maio, ICRC head of operations for South Asia in Geneva "People are being caught in the crossfire, hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling and several aid workers have been injured while evacuating the wounded. " The few thousand civilians who have managed to flee the Vanni are detained in camps in Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna under the guard of the security forces, reportedly for screening to ensure that LTTE cadre do not infiltrate the south of the country. There are restrictions on the freedom of movement of those within these camps, and very limited access to extended family members and humanitarian workers, thus seriously compromising the ‘civilian’ aspect of these camps.

Recently there have also been individual reports of acts of violence and human rights abuse from within some of these camps. The continuing denial of access to the camps has been reinforced by their demarcation as high security zones, making any independent confirmation of this information impossible. The high level of impunity and lack of credible and independent investigations into incidents of abduction, disappearance and extra-judicial killings in Vavuniya and Mannar over the past months deter any witnesses to such human rights abuses from coming forward to report or seek redress.

As the fighting intensifies over the coming days, and the civilians get trapped into smaller spaces, we are gravely concerned that the casualties will mount and that the overall humanitarian situation will deteriorate even further. Hence we urge immediate action.

We call upon the Government:

* To permit an international mission of mercy immediate access to the Vanni in order to enable an accurate assessment of the humanitarian and protection needs of the people of the Vanni.

* To ensure urgent delivery of food and medicine to the Mullaitivu area and allow for the passage of medical convoys

To ensure that the security forces respect areas which are demarcated as safe zones

We call upon the LTTE:

* To allow civilians freedom of movement and respect their right to move out of the conflict zones

* To ensure its cadres respect areas which are demarcated as safe zones

* To allow the passage of medical convoys

* We call on the international community:

* To extend its cooperation to the Government of Sri Lanka in protecting civilians by preparing an international mission of mercy with immediate effect

* To unreservedly impress upon the LTTE to permit civilians trapped within the conflict zone to leave the area

Dated: January 29 2009

Signed by a group of civil society organisations including:

Centre for Policy Alternatives

Citizen Committee for Displaced People

Home for Human Rights

INFORM Human Rights Documentation

Mothers and Daughters of Lanka

Rights Now Collective for Democracy

Women & Media Collective

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HIMAL SOUTHASIAN SPECIAL ISSUE ON SRI LANKA - FEBRUARY 2009

- ‘A people on the run’ by Rajan Hoole

- ‘After the Tigers’ by Ahilan Kadirgamar

- ‘A political, constitutional settlement’ – An interview with Jayampathy Wickramaratne by Ahilan Kadirgamar

- ‘Winning the war at a price’ by Jehan Perera

- ‘The next phase’ by Dayan Jayatilleka

- ‘Brotherly dictatorship’ by Anonymous

- ‘The Tamil responsibility’ by Skanda

- ‘Big Brother’s conundrum’ by Satya Sivraman

http://www.himalmag.com/pg=tbl_content

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Inter Press Service

SRI LANKA: GOVT IGNORES SUPREME COURT

By IPS Correspondents

COLOMBO, Jan 29 (IPS) - Far from heeding charges of human rights abuses and stifling dissent, the government has, this week, added blatant disregard for judicial fiat to its list of sins.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) terminated proceedings in a controversial oil hedging case, saying the government was no longer implementing court orders on the issue.

Sources said the court of Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva backed off from taking on the executive after a series of high-profile judgments it passed against President Mahinda Rajapakse’s administration were simply ignored.

Peace activist and columnist Jehan Perera says that the latest act showed that effectively the country’s Constitution had broken down. He said there is no constitutional crisis developing only because no one dares take on the government."

Another political analyst, who declined to be named, told IPS that the checks and balances in the Sri Lankan system have become dysfunctional. ’’This effectively is a form of dictatorship. The executive (President) is not listening even to the SC,’’ she said.

The case in question relate to petitions filed by three Sri Lankan citizens, complaining that oil hedging agreements entered into between the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Standard Chartered Bank, CitiBank, Deutsche Bank and two local banks were one sided and heavily in favour of the banks.

As a result the CPC now owes these banks more than 800 million US dollars in hedging payments.

In November, the SC had stayed payments by the CPC to the banks and had also suspended the CPC chairman pending the completion of the case.

Subsequently, the Court had also ordered the government to reduce petrol prices to Rs 100 (0.8 US dollar) per litre from Rs 122 (1.07 dollars) a litre after the petitioners complained that the CPC had not reduced prices despite world crude prices falling.

However, the government did not fully implement the order, reducing the price by just two rupees to Rs 120 rupees (1.05 dollars), a move which ultimately led to the Court terminating proceedings in the case.

Analysts say that the latest twist in the drama between the judiciary and the government has caused further deterioration in the law and order situation in Sri Lanka where abduction and killing of political opponents and journalists have become commonplace.

Two weeks ago Lasatha Wickrematunga, a prominent English language newspaper editor, was slain by an unidentified group. Earlier this week, Upali Tennekoon, editor of a Sinhala language national weekly, was stabbed and injured by unidentified men near his home.

At least 14 journalists and media workers have been killed and many more abducted or arrested since 2006 in Sri Lanka, drawing concern and condemnation from local and international rights groups.

There is a general feeling in the country that the government is using the war between teh Sri Lankan army and Tamil rebels in the north of the island country as an excuse to beat down criticism on any issue, including the handling of the economic crisis.

Last week, a corporate leader who suggested at a public seminar that the government should devalue the local currency to revive exports was reprimanded by an influential government politician who implied that the former was being ‘unpatriotic’.

Rajapakse has ordered the Sri Lankan army to wrest Tamil dominated areas in the north and east of the country from the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after unilaterally withdrawing from a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire which held the peace for five years from February 2002.

On Sunday the government announced the capture of Mullaitivu, the last town held by the LTTE, which then retreated into the surrounding jungles taking with them a population of around 250,000 Tamils.

Last week, six former U.S. ambassadors to Sri Lanka jointly wrote an open letter to Rajapakse expressing concern over the events unfolding in the country, particularly the attacks on journalists.

Expressing their personal views, the six ambassadors - Marion Creekmore, Teresita Schaffer, Peter Burleigh, Shaun Donnelly, Ashley Wills, and Jeffrey Lunstead - said they were upset by the developments in Sri Lanka.

‘’We fear that, even as Sri Lanka is enjoying military progress against the LTTE, the foundations of democracy in the country are under assault,’’ they said in the letter."

"Some have suggested that these events have been carried out not by elements of the government, but by other forces hoping to embarrass the government. We do not find such arguments credible,’’ the former ambassadors said.

Rohan Edrisinha, director at the Centre for Policy Alternatives and the country’s best-known constitutional expert, says Tuesday’s ruling by the SC creates a major problem by ‘’continuing to ignore the law and do what it feels is expedient,’’ he told IPS.

Edrisinha identified the root of the problem as the failure to set up set up a bipartisan constitutional council as agreed by Parliament in 2005. The council was to have been entrusted with the task of making key appointments in the judiciary and the police - now the sole prerogative of the President.

(END/2009)

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[2] PAKISTAN - INDIA:

Mail Today

January 30, 2009

INDIA MUST SEND ACROSS A PEACE GROUP

by Najam Sethi

A PEACE delegation comprising human and women’s rights activists, media peaceniks and party political representatives from Pakistan recently visited New Delhi. They went with a threefold objective: to “ condole” the Mumbai attacks and express solidarity with Indians in their hour of grief, to explain how and why Pakistan too is a victim of the same sort of terrorism that is threatening to afflict India, and to try and put the peace process and people- to- people channel back on track.

In view of the adverse travel advisories put out by both countries and the war paint put on by both media, the delegation risked being branded “ unpatriotic” in Pakistan. But the two leaders of the delegation, Asma Jehangir, chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and Imtiaz Alam, Secretary- General of the South Asia Free Media Association, are known as fearless crusaders in the region for doggedly promoting the cause of peace between India and Pakistan. Given the goodwill they personally enjoy in India, they threw caution to the wind at home and embarked on their journey across the border with great expectations.

In the event, however, even they were surprised by the consistently frosty, sometimes hostile, reception that they received at private, official and media forums in Delhi. It seemed as if all of India, public and private, had consciously united to send out one harsh message to Pakistan: that India is deeply wounded and will not take another such attack lying down. This is perfectly understandable.

THE terrorist attack was on the Taj Mahal Hotel, the pride and symbol of resurgent modern India; it humiliated India’s “ powerful” security establishment by exposing its gaping weaknesses; and the terrorists targeted innocent civilians rather than any specific military or intelligence organ of the state or government, thereby signaling their intent to wage war on India, Indians, and indeed the very idea of secular India.

Therefore credit must be given to the Indian establishment for showing great restraint and maturity, unlike the reckless way in which America reacted after 9/ 11.

The post- Mumbai composite view in India has three salient elements. First, they say that elements of the Pakistani state were allegedly complicit in the planning, organisation and implementation of the attack, evidence of which is proffered in the recorded chatter of the terrorists with their Pakistani handlers which suggest that this message was deliberately meant to be given. The implication of this, as India’s foreign minister has expressly stated, is that non- state actors and state actors in Pakistan were jointly responsible. Second, they believe that the government of President Asif Zardari is innocent but weak and Pakistan’s military establishment is guilty and strong. The implication of this is that there is no point in India talking to a weak civilian government or strong military establishment — because both are part of the problem — about redressing terrorism and advancing the peace agenda. Third, they insist that Pakistan should not mistake India’s overt outrage and anger as merely election- related histrionics and that it will be business as usual after the elections are over in April. On the contrary, they claim there is a consensus in India’s state and society that India must align with the international community and fashion a united strategic resolve to compel Pakistan’s state and society to dismantle its terrorist infrastructure on pain of international encirclement, blockade and sanctions.

Unfortunately, however, India and Indians seemed blind to an equally harsh reality about their own state and themselves — that terrorism is not just Pakistan’s problem but increasingly India’s too. This is not because the origins of such terrorism lie exclusively in political distortions within Pakistan but also because India has had a role in creating conditions conducive to its growth by refusing to resolve the regional conflicts that spawn it. Indeed, the truth is that the whole business of armed non- state actors in Pakistan, and the rise of Military Inc in Pakistan, who are together the bane of democratic Pakistan and India, is directly linked to the unresolved Kashmir conflict.

Equally, it is profoundly unrealistic for India’s government to claim that because the Zardari government in Pakistan is weak, there is no one to talk to in Pakistan about how to get the peace process back on track. New Delhi had five years of unfruitful dialogue with a strong military- led government from 2003- 08 that was ready to think outside- the- box and make unbelievable concessions, especially on Kashmir, but was constantly thwarted by the statusquo and lumbering Indian bureaucracy.

INDIANS worry and warn about a second terrorist attack on their soil.

But just as it is inevitable in one way or another in the future, so too is India’s likely response. “ Surgical strikes” and “ limited war” may be “ honourable” self- satisfying responses, but they are not realistic options between nuclear armed states. Nor should India think of responding by manufacturing its own version of state- non- state actors to foment trouble in Pakistan. It will only hurtle the two peoples and states into confrontation, make India’s problem more intractable and hurt it disproportionately because it has more economic and political sheen to lose than Pakistan. Equally, if all other options are on the table for India in alliance with the international community, including punitive sanctions, blockades and Pakistan’s total isolation, it should be clear that such an occurrence will have disastrous consequences for Pakistan’s tanking economy and its equally fragile national unity. Fortunately, the view in responsible quarters in India is that even this response, all options short of war, is undesirable because it will plunge Pakistan into headlong failure. The hawks, on the other hand, argue that at least India will have ensured that Military Inc. will have only the ruins of Pakistan to preside over if they continue to muddy the waters. Thus the debate continues.

A peace delegation from India needs to visit Pakistan now, not to explain why India is angry — that message lies in the domain of the Pakistani delegation that has just returned from Delhi — but to understand why the cause of its established democratic state and civil society is the same as that of Pakistan’s fledgling counterparts.

The writer is the editor of The Friday Times

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The News

29 January 2009

SIR CREEK DISPUTE AFFECTING FISHERMEN

Thursday, January 29, 2009

By our correspondent

Karachi

Despite the passage of 62 years to partition, Pakistan and India have failed to resolve the dispute over Sir Creek, said Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) Chairperson, Mohammed Ali Shah.

He was addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, along with the relatives of fishermen detained in Indian jails. Tracing the history of arresting of fishermen from the open sea by border security forces of both the sides, Shah pointed out that it started after the 1965 war between the two countries and has been going on ever since. Hundreds of fishermen of varying ages are in jails and face torture.

In Pakistan, he added, Thatta district coastal communities are the main victims of this cruel situation. Whenever tension escalates between the two sides, it is the poor fishermen who suffer its wrath and their families back home face unending economic and psychological distress, after the arrest of their bread earners. Shah also accused the Pakistani border security forces personnel of intimidating the local fishermen, depriving them of their catch, fishing tools and valuables under the seawater.

He further said that fishermen travel long distance out to the open sea because increasing marine pollution and over fishing has destroyed fish stocks near the seashore. There sole purpose, he added, is to catch fish and are not involved in any unlawful activities for which they are being given such a cruel punishment.

The PFF has announced to launch a movement against these atrocities to force the government to ensure protection of the poor and marginalised community, as they are under threats from different sides. The tension and insecurity while searching for livelihood in the open sea, he added, was making the situation even worse. He stressed that the government should take some initiatives to get Pakistani fishermen released from Indian jails.

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Wall Street Journal

January 13, 2009

ATTACKS STIR ANOTHER INDIA-PAKISTAN BORDER DISPUTE

By Krishna Pokharel

NEW DELHI -- In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, India has canceled talks aimed at solving a long-running border dispute with Pakistan -- not in Kashmir, but in the teeming fishing waters of Sir Creek, which divides the two South Asian nations in the Arabian Sea.

The narrow, 60-mile-long estuary has been a bone of contention between the two nations for decades. But the dispute has been given new urgency -- and stoked new controversy -- because it featured in the buildup to the Mumbai terrorist attacks that left 171 people dead in late November. It was in the Sir Creek area where the 10 hijackers who set sail from Karachi, Pakistan, hijacked an Indian fishing boat that provided them with the cover to reach Mumbai undetected.

Even before the Mumbai attacks, there were concerns that the area could prove to be a staging post for terrorists.

[sir creek on india and pakistan border]

On Oct. 21, a group of 26 Indian parliamentarians presented a report to the Indian government warning that an unspecified "rogue action" could emanate from the disputed western Indian border at Sir Creek.

About a month later on Nov. 22, the Kuber, an Indian fishing boat that had ventured into Pakistani waters west of the mouth of Sir Creek, was hijacked by the Mumbai attackers, according to an Indian coast guard officer in Gujarat, the western Indian state where most of the Indian fishing fleet in the area sails from.

India claims the border between the two countries lies in the middle of the navigable channel of Sir Creek, about seven to eight nautical miles at its widest point, before it opens to the sea. Pakistan says the border is on the eastern bank of the creek and thus claims the whole creek. The dispute isn't just an academic exercise because wherever the line is drawn extends out into the Arabian Sea and could affect sovereignty over hundreds of square miles of prime fishing ground and potential oil-and-gas exploration.

Since the two nations can't agree on where the border runs, enforcing each country's territorial waters has been a murky process. Indian fishing boats regularly criss-cross the area and venture far into the area Pakistan considers its own.

In the wake of the Mumbai attacks, India accused the terrorists of coming from Pakistan, and rhetoric between the two countries has become increasingly heated. Last week, Pakistan's prime minister ousted its national security adviser after he confirmed the Pakistani identity of the terrorist arrested during the Mumbai attack in an interview with a news channel.

Pakistan's civilian government has said it favors talks with India and has offered help with the investigation, but its own prevarication over the identity of the terrorists has raised questions about its credibility.

Talks designed to resolve the Sir Creek border dispute have been iced just as a May 13 deadline approaches. "There is no point in talking about other issues now," a senior official at India's Ministry for External Affairs said. The official said the onus was now on Pakistan to create a "proper environment" for talks by acting on India's demands to act against the planners of Mumbai attacks. Talks have been taking place off and on since 1989.

A spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry didn't respond to repeated phone calls and an email asking for comments for this article.

Yet an official in Pakistan's foreign ministry said the resolution of the dispute was still elusive due what he termed the "inconsistency of India's claims." He declined to elaborate.

The two sides had been making headway in the recent talks to resolve the dispute ahead of the May deadline set by the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea, experts say.

"It's the matter of one or two more meetings" before an agreement would have been reached, says Ravi Vohra, a retired Indian rear admiral and director of the nongovernmental National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi. "But now both countries have more important issues politically," he said.

If the stalled talks don't resume by the deadline, the U.N. has the power to declare Sir Creek international waters or put the process into third-party mediation. While Pakistan has been open to that option in the past, India has said the dispute has to be solved bilaterally, experts say.

Because of the controversy, the two sides regularly apprehend fishermen they view as wandering into their waters. Since 1978, India has exchanged 949 Pakistani fishermen it arrested for 2,304 Indian fishermen arrested by Pakistan, according to the Indian Coast Guard. The fishermen's trade unions in both countries say there are still 357 Indian fishermen in Pakistani prisons and 48 Pakistani fishermen in Indian prisons.

The Sir Creek dispute had long been overshadowed by the dispute between the two countries over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. But in the summer of 1965, frequent skirmishes near Sir Creek between the armed forces of the countries developed into a full-fledged war in Kashmir, the second of the three India-Pakistan wars.

In 1999, an Indian air force plane shot down a Pakistani naval surveillance plane flying over the disputed Sir Creek area. The incident sparked fears of a war at sea, a dangerous prospect that experts say would affect maritime trade throughout the Arabian Sea.

Write to Krishna Pokharel at krishna.pokharel@wsj.com

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[3] USA - India:

sacw.net, 27 January 2009

http://www.sacw.net/article549.html

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE CONGRESSIONAL TASK FORCE ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

FOLLOWING A BRIEFING ON ’THE THREAT RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM POSES TO DEMOCRACY AND SECURITY IN INDIA: FOCUS ON ORISSA’

To: The Congressional Task Force on International Religious Freedom

From: Dr. Angana Chatterji

Associate Professor, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

California Institute of Integral Studies

1453 Mission Street, San Francisco, California 94103

achatterji@ciis.edu; 415.575.6119 (office); 415.640.4013 (mobile)

December 30, 2008

Re.: Recommendations for action, as requested, following a briefing held on December 10, 2008, on ’The Threat Religious Extremism Poses to Democracy and Security in India: Focus on Orissa’, at 2168 Rayburn in Washington D.C.

I thank the Congressional Task Force on International Religious Freedom for honoring me with an invitation to testify at the hearing. I submit the following recommendations for consideration related to United States policy in its continued association with India, in ensuring mutual respect for, and commitment to, freedom of religion, a secular state, and the attendant human rights and civil liberties of disenfranchised, including minority, groups and peoples.

The following submission is mindful of the political/policy borders and boundaries that mediate issues of national sovereignty. The implicit assumption is that actions to uphold human rights, civil liberties, and democratic governance by the United States Government contributes significantly to international discourse in ways that are beneficial globally as well as to United States domestic policy and practice. The following submission is an appeal for ethical negotiation between India and the United States as the most powerful (United States) and populous (India) democracies seek to fulfill their commitment to human rights and its attendant freedoms. In so doing, various constituencies in both nations remain hopeful that any opportunity for association between these states will assist in enabling mutual adherence to responsible and democratic governance.

The following is in addition to the dossier of my research that I submitted at the hearing.

Note:

I am a Citizen of India and a Permanent Resident of the United States. My observations are based on research on religious freedom and minority rights conducted by me in Orissa. I have undertaken 16 trips to the state since June 2002, and undertaken work in 66 villages, 11 towns, and 4 cities across 17 districts in Orissa. In 2005-2006, I co-convened the Indian People’s Tribunal on Communalism in Orissa through the Indian People’s Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights with Advocate Mihir Desai, with a panel led by Former Chief Justice K.K. Usha of the Kerala High Court.

Religious violence and the religionization of social life by Hindu nationalist organizations have continued to endanger life and livelihood for minorities in India, as witnessed in Gujarat (2002), Jammu-Kashmir (2008), Orissa (2007-2008), Karnataka (2008), Assam (2008), and elsewhere. The violence against Christian minority communities in Orissa in August-October 2008 was not unexpected. In Orissa, since the mid-1990s, a formidable mobilization has been established by Hindu nationalist groups, including in Kandhamal district. These groups have acted with egregious impunity with adverse impact on society, economy, culture, religion, polity, and security in the state. The Sangh Parivar ’family’ of Hindutva, Hindu supremacist, organizations has a visible presence in twenty-five of thirty districts in Orissa. The Sangh Parivar has amassed between 35 and 40 major organizations with numerous branches (including paramilitary hate camps) in 25 districts in Orissa, with a massive base of a few million operating at every level of society, ranging from, and connecting, villages to cities, in their campaign to ’convert’ Orissa for the ’Hindu nation’.

Following the recommendations for action listed below please find a note on actions proposed by concerned citizens in India, and a brief note on the context of Hindu nationalism in Orissa today.

Recommendations for action in the United States:

Various diasporic charitable organizations affiliated with Hindu nationalist ideologies operate in the United States. This has been well documented with details submitted by me in the dossier. These organizations routinely maintain links with Hindu nationalist leaders and organizations in India, including in Orissa. As well, these diasporic organizations seek to influence public discourse and policy in the United States that relates to India. They also fundraise to export capital and resources to counterpart/affiliate organizations in India, including in Orissa, that assist in various ways in promulgating Hindu nationalist ideology. It is imperative that charities involved in work that promulgates and maintains an infrastructure of hate and violence against minorities be so designated. A list of such charities must be responsibly developed in consultation with academics, researchers, and independent bodies with relevant expertise on the subject. Following such identification, investigations must be undertaken by relevant authorities into the actions of these organizations operating with charitable status. Note: The categorization of organizations that promulgate divisiveness, hate, and violence must occur with the utmost care and in a transparent manner, so as to not infringe on the freedoms, rights, and entitlements of organizations that legitimately undertake charitable work, or ensue the demonization of vulnerable groups and marginal, even unorthodox, perspectives. The objective is not to further involve the state in public life, but to note that the state is already involved in the ability of these organizations to function. Hindu nationalism operates as a transnational movement and the reach of its affiliated ’charitable’ organizations in the United States continues internationally through groups they fund and support in India. Halting their interventions requires new ways of thinking about domestic and foreign policy and necessitates coordination between the United States and India as a tenet of bilateral cooperation.

Toward the above and further:

1. Undertake a systematic, routine, and detailed investigation into the actions of diasporic Hindu nationalist groups to identify and investigate their status, actions, finances, and the actions and affiliations of their membership in the United States, as well as their affiliates and cadre. These groups must be investigated and monitored, and, as appropriate, requisite action must be taken and sanctions must be imposed on their activities.

2. Many of these organizations, registered as charitable entities in the United States, routinely allocate sizeable amounts of money under ’program services’, disproportionately directed to Hindu nationalist and affiliated groups in India. The effects of this have been documented in the organized violence against Muslims, aided by officials of the state government at the highest level, in Gujarat in 2002.

3. Certain diasporic organizations affiliated with Hindu nationalism, such as the India Development Relief Fund (IDRF, Tax identification number 52-1555563) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHP-A, Tax identification number 51-0156325), Sewa International (Tax identification number 20-0638718), and Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA (Tax identification number 77-0554248) are registered as charity organizations in the United States. As their work appears to be political in nature, they should be audited and recognized as political organizations. A serious concern is whether the activities of these fall within the objectives of their tax-exempt status; whether in fact these organizations should have been registered as 501(c)3 groups given the nature of their activities, whether the monies collected are indeed used for the purposes for which they were collected, and whether illegal and political activities are being carried out in the name of social work. Given these concerns, the charitable status, and the rights and privileges thereof, enjoyed by these groups should be reviewed, and, where appropriate, revoked. Further, their activities should be monitored to determine their role in fomenting hate and undermining the human rights of various individuals and groups in India. Note: The VHP failed to gain recognition at the United Nations as a ’cultural organization’ in 1999 because of its philosophical underpinnings, even as the VHP-A continues to function as an independent charity, registered in the United States since the 1970s.

4. The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh-USA (Tax identification number 52-1647017, an ideological affiliate of the militant Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in India) and VHP-Overseas (Tax identification number 04-3576058) are registered as 501(c)3 groups and operate as cultural organizations, seeking to mainstream and lobby Hindu nationalist concerns in the United States. The impact of their activities in promulgating hate and perpetrating ’terror’ and communal violence in India must be investigated.

5. Monitor visa issuance to, and the travel of, Hindu nationalist leaders and activists charged with involvement in criminal acts. A case in point is Mr. Narendra Modi, the incumbent Chief Minister of Gujarat, who has been implicated in the violence orchestrated against Muslims in 2002, and whose visa was revoked by the United States in 2005, following advocacy on part of civil society groups and academics in the United States and support from Congressional members.

6. Ensure that appointees to federal and state positions, or those that serve in an advisory capacity, or as experts to state officials are scrutinized for affiliations or linkages they may hold within Hindu nationalist groups. These affiliations, where they exist, should not be treated as benign, and a reasoned investigation must be undertaken to determine whether the prospective appointee or advisor is able to fulfill requisite service obligations with ideological and practical distance from Hindu nationalist agendas. A case in point is Ms. Sonal Shah, who was appointed to President-elect Barack Obama’s 15-member Transition Team in November 2008. While her list of accomplishments and expertise run high, she has worked as a National Coordinator for the VHP-A and served on its Governing Council, and her organization, Indify, affiliated with Ekal Vidyalaya of India, and supported the ideological and political premises of Hindu nationalism, and their action programs.

7. Ensure that international human rights and independent monitoring groups are invited to India on a regular basis to monitor the status of religious freedom and human rights of minority communities and allied faith and secular peoples and groups. The ability of international human rights and independent monitoring groups to work in alliance with local civil society institutions is crucial to interrupting the isolation disenfranchised/minority groups experience and producing accountability.

8. Ensure that the constitutionality and transparent implementation of security laws of India, as they pertain to religious groups and religious freedoms, are able to be rigorously monitored by international human rights and independent monitoring groups in alliance with local civil society institutions. These laws have been, without due cause, disproportionately and variously used by law enforcement agencies in India against minority communities and those dissenting unethical practices of the state, and their rights have not been duly protected.

9. All bilateral projects must be assessed for their human rights implications, and cost-benefit analyses undertaken to determine/ensure that these projects are in fact positioned to make contributions that are empowering for disenfranchised groups, including minorities, so as to enable the restructuring of inequitable and institutionalized relations of power that lead to majoritarianism and communal violence.

Actions applicable to Orissa and at the national level in India:

Reciprocally, it is important to note certain actions that have been proposed by concerned citizens in India that the Government of India and Government of Orissa must undertake toward effective intervention into the organization and growth of Hindu nationalism. Toward this:

1. In India, the Central Bureau of Investigation must be required to expeditiously investigate the activities of the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Orissa, and apply, wherever necessary, relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Section 2G of the Act, ’unlawful association’ denotes: (1) ’that which has for its object any unlawful activity, or which encourages or aids persons to undertake any unlawful activity, or through which the members undertake such activity’; or (2) ’which has for its object any activity which is punishable under Section 153A or Section 153B of the Indian Penal Code 1860 ([Central Act] 45 of 1860) or which encourages or aids persons to undertake any such activity; or of which the members undertake any such activity’.

2. A review panel must be appointed by the Government of Orissa, in consultation with the National Human Rights Commission, the National Minorities Commission, and other relevant independent bodies, such as the People’s Union for Democratic Rights and People’s Union for Civil Liberties, to identify and investigate the status, actions, finances, and membership of Hindu nationalist groups and their affiliates and cadre, and the actions of their membership. These groups must be investigated and monitored, and, as appropriate, requisite action must be taken and sanctions must be imposed on their activities, and reparations must be made retroactively to the affected communities and individuals. The Government of Orissa must act to stop instances of communalization from escalating into violent episodes.

3. Hindu nationalist leaders, activists, and organizations in Orissa charged with involvement in criminal acts and involvement in actions that have led, or may lead, to communal violence must be investigated and prosecuted.

4. Certain organizations, such as the VHP and Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, are registered as cultural and charitable organizations. As their work appears to be political in nature, they should be audited and recognized as political organizations. A serious concern is whether the activities of Hindu nationalist charitable organizations fall within the objectives of the social trust/public charitable trust and whether in fact these organizations should have been registered as social trusts given the nature of their activities; whether the monies collected are indeed used for the purposes for which they were collected and whether illegal and political activities are being carried out in the name of social work. Given these concerns, the charitable status, and the rights and privileges thereof, enjoyed by these groups must be reviewed and necessary action taken.

5. The Government of Orissa and the Central Government must make concerted efforts to identify, investigate, and eradicate paramilitary hate camps being operated in Orissa by the Hindu nationalist groups that instruct cadre in arms training and militancy with the express purpose of threatening and destroying disenfranchised and minority populations through social and economic boycotts, sporadic and organized intimidation, arson, rape, murder, and other forms of social, gendered, sexualized, economic, and physical violence.

6. Various police and court investigations related to crimes against minorities have not been undertaken in Orissa. On various occasions, the police have refused to file First Information Reports (FIR). Police desks should be set up for registering minority grievances and filing FIRs, and the Government of Orissa must appoint a team of Special Public Prosecutors to conduct proceedings as necessary. Toward this, independent monitoring bodies must be supported and protected.

7. The Government of India and the Government of Orissa must take adequate and expeditious steps to ensure that those who convert voluntarily to Christianity, Islam, or any other faith are allowed to practice their religion. Failing to do so is in serious violation of Articles 25-28 of the Constitution of India, which define the Fundamental Rights of every citizen of India, and those that the Government of India and the Government of Orissa are obligated to uphold. Toward this, independent monitoring bodies must be supported and protected.

8. Hindu nationalist organizations are forcibly converting Christians and other non-Hindus in Orissa to Hinduism. Sangh Parivar activists claim India to be a Hindu nation and all Adivasis (tribals, indigenous peoples) and Dalits (erstwhile ’untouchable’ groups) to be ’originally’ Hindus, even as Adivasis and Dalits often do not self-identify as such. Drawing on such rationales, Hindu nationalist organizations justify coercion in ’bringing back’ Adivasis or Dalits to Hinduism. Urgent steps should be taken to stop the Hinduization of these communities by means of coercion or duress. The police and courts must act immediately and authoritatively to stop Hindu nationalists from enacting forcible conversions or ’reconversions’, and the police must be required to submit regular and public reports documenting their work in this matter.

9. The disparagement, demonization, and vilification of any religion should be statutorily prohibited and held punishable under the Indian Penal Code.

10. The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967, must be reviewed and repealed.

11. The Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960, must be reviewed and repealed.

12. The Government of Orissa must establish and activate the State Minorities Commission.

13. The BJD-BJP coalition government in Orissa must honor the Constitutional mandate requiring the separation of religion from state.

14. Police, judicial, and governmental reform, including diversity training, must be addressed by relevant state institutions, and action taken against officers of the law and political servants who abuse their position of public trust by using their power to influence and support Hindu nationalist organizations and sustain a climate of communalism in Orissa.

15. The Government of Orissa must adopt an integrated and sustainable approach to community development, and take concrete efforts to stop further ghettoization of minority communities. The Government of Orissa must promote non-segregated localities, housing complexes, housing societies, clubs, educational, and recreational institutions, and that the Government of Orissa must publicly support social interactions, including voluntary inter-caste, inter-faith, and inter-class unions, marriages, and partnerships.

16. The Government of India must issue a White Paper on bomb blasts and terror attacks in India and constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee that investigates such incidents.

17. The law should be amended to obviate the requirement of prior sanction of the state before prosecuting anyone for hate speech.

18. The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005, introduced in the Parliament of India in December 2005 and approved by the Union Cabinet in March 2007, must be passed, and with the requisite clauses to ensure state accountability. The bill, advocated by citizen motivated efforts for the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity, in its official formulation as introduced by the Congress government, remained deficient in defining procedures for state and public accountability. As presently drafted, the law will become applicable only selectively. An amendment should do away with the law being made applicable only selectively, at places and times as convenient to the state. In addition, there exist no dedicated provisions for reparation and rehabilitation of victims/survivors. The bill fails to address issues of negligence displayed by state authorities in preventing and controlling communal violence, and in disbursing timely and just compensation and psychosocial rehabilitation, as well as establishing parameters for witness protection and for soliciting and recording victim testimonies. It fails to chart measures to bring justice and accountability with regard to gender and sex-based crimes in the event of communal violence (which is not effectively addressed by the Indian Penal Code or separate legislation), and in imposing checks and balances on the state and its police and security forces, whose inertia and majoritarianist complicity in communal collisions have been consistent.

19. On 29 November 1949, India became a signatory to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, approved by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 260 A (III) of 9 December 1948. On 27 August 1959, India ratified the Genocide Convention. However, India is yet to fulfill its obligatory commitment to enact legislation to implement the convention, which it must be compelled to undertake.

Context of Hindu nationalism in Orissa:

Conscription into Hindu activism is coordinated through political reform, propaganda/thought control, cultural and religious interventions, developmental/social service and charitable work, sectarian health care, unionization, and revisionist education. Hindu nationalists have inaugurated various trusts and branches of national and international institutions in Orissa to aid fundraising, including, reportedly, the Friends of Tribal Society, Samarpan Charitable Trust, Sookruti, Yasodha Sadan, Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti, and Odisha International Centre. It is noteworthy that since March 2000, the state government has comprised of a coalition of the Biju Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party (the parliamentary wing of Hindu nationalism).

The Sangh Parivar has built a cadre comprised of Hindus, men and women, in targeting Christians, Muslims, Adivasis and Dalits, and other disenfranchised, progressive, and secular groups in Orissa. Orissa has a population of 36.8 million (Census 2001). Of this, 761,985 - 2.1 percent - are Muslims. Orissa Christians number 897,861 - just 2.4 percent of the state’s population per the census of 2001 (in 1991, it was 2.1 percent, and in 1981, 1.7 percent). There are 6.08 million Dalits in Orissa, 16.5 percent of the population. Adivasis are 8.14 million in number, 22.1 percent of the population, the largest among all states in India.

The Sangh Parivar’s agenda is enabled by the staggering inequities present in the state, where severe social and institutionalized forms of caste, class, and gendered oppressions are rampant, facilitative of regularized violence, including sexualized violence. Unemployment is on the rise in Orissa and abysmal daily wages prevail; 47.2 percent of the total population lives in poverty while 48 percent of the rural population is poor (87 percent of the state’s population lives in villages currently and per the 2001 census, there are 51,352 villages in Orissa). Among the Adivasi population, 63.6 percent are poor while 40.5 percent of Dalits live in poverty. Among the Muslim population, 70 percent are poor in Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Puri districts, where they are concentrated.

During the 2008 violence in Orissa, various militant Hindu nationalist organizations acted with impunity. The violence was led by the following groups — the Bajrang Dal, VHP, and RSS. Following the riots and extended violence against Christian communities in Kandhamal district of Orissa in August-October 2008, the Government of Orissa and police, military, paramilitary forces deployed in the state failed to respond effectively, efficiently, or appropriately. This posed a serious threat to democratic governance in the state and the ability of government to ensure the security and sanctity of peoples and groups made vulnerable through majoritarian communalism as perpetrated by Hindu nationalist organizations in the state. The Central Government in New Delhi as well failed to respond in a timely and effective manner and with due concern.

It is only after the violence drew significant national and international attention, and began to generate other and political consequences, that both state and central governments responded to stop the violations against Christian minority groups in Orissa. The outrage and response of the state failed to match the proportion and extent of violence perpetrated by Hindu nationalist organizations. As of 25 December 2008, rehabilitation measures and provisions ensuring the security of vulnerable groups in rural areas and towns in Kandhamal district remained vastly inadequate.

The matters and circumstances that led to the Kandhamal violence of 2007 and 2008 in Orissa continue to pose a threat to the sanctity and security of human rights in the state, particularly of religious and ethnic minorities such as Christians and Muslims, disenfranchised Adivasi, Dalit, and caste groups, and other vulnerable groups such as women, and secular organizations and active individuals across the state. Failure to take preventative and effective action continues to jeopardize the rule of law, the right to life and livelihood, freedom of religion, of speech, movement, assembly, inquiry, and the right to information in Orissa. As I write this, the situation in Orissa remains beleaguered and volatile, de facto in a state of emergency.

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[4] INDIA: PROTEST AGAINST ATTACK ON FILM CREW BY HINDUTVA GOONS!

[message from filmmaker Rakesh Sharma]

Please help by registering your strongest protest to the Police Commissioner as instead of taking any action against the mob attacking the crew at midnight (asking for Richa to be bodysearched, tearing Rvviu’s clothes, snatching the camera, taking the ffotage away), the police seemed to pander to them, and have confiscated our footage illegally!

January 29, 2009 Fax CP 22621835

Hasan Ghafoor, IPS

The Commissioner of Police, Mumbai

Sub: Harassment of documentary film crew and illegal confiscation of footage

Dear Sir,

We are working with Rakesh Sharma (98203 43103), well-known independent documentary film-maker. Today, we were filming for his latest film which deals with the human tragedy of terror and hate attacks, among other things documenting the diversity of responses from the civil society in the last few weeks. These have included memorial and felicitation functions, interviews with victims, patients and their families, peace marches, workshops and several other miscellaneous events. Today evening, as part of our ongoing filming, we were shooting at the Sadhu Sammelan on peace and terror at their public meeting at Somaiya grounds on Sion-Chunnabhatti road.

We took the required permissions from the organizers and were escorted by them into the press enclosure to enable us to film the speakers. After the meeting, as is our usual practice, we were taking audience reactions. While filming with an audience member from Simla, we were suddenly surrounded by a mob of approx 100-150 people, who identified themselves as members of Bajrang Dal and the Dharma Raksha Manch, raising objections to the interview. Though we tried to reason with them, the mob grew increasingly hostile and manhandled the cameraman Rrivu Laha and snatched the camera. They intimidated Ms Richa Hushing and demanded that she be body searched by one of the Durga Vahini members. The local event co-ordinator of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad who identified himself as being in-charge of security, intervened to stop further manhandling and demanded that the footage recently shot by the crew, be immediately erased in their presence. The tape itself was physically snatched by the mob from the cameraman.

At this time, the police wireless van attached to the Wadala Truck Terminus Police Station, reached the spot and intervened. They escorted us to their van and PI Chavan questioned us and offered to register a formal complaint. In the meanwhile, the other policemen went into the mob and brought a man named Wankhede with the tape that had been snatched by the mob. While the police were questioning him, two people arrived – one of them a delegate who had earlier addressed the meeting and the other, a local politician contacted by Wankhede. They then insisted that the crew be allowed to leave only after the tape had been formally confiscated by the police.

As we had just been subjected to mob violence, harassment, intimidation and were under duress, we agreed to comply with the demands of the mob and left the scene as we had a continuing fear of our safety. We are writing this complaint immediately on our arrival in our office.

We request you to treat this letter as a formal complaint and take appropriate action. Further, our footage containing not just the said interview but also much of our filming throughout the evening has not yet been restored to us. We urge that our tape be handed over to us urgently. We have spoken to SI Chavan telephonically at 1.30 am and informed him that this formal complaint is being lodged and have ascertained that the said tape remains in his personal possession.

Yours sincerely,

Richa Hushing Rrivu Laha, Jogesh Malakar

independent fim-maker (9969879319) cinematographer (9372446397) AD (65882504)

CC:

SI, Wadala Truck Terminus Police Station

DCP of the zone

Indian Documentary Producers’ Association

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[5] India's Screwed Up Secularism

outlookindia.om

Web | January 29, 2009

MADRASAS: DEGREES OF POPULISM

Without spending a penny, the government wants to show the Muslims that it is doing something for them -- its move to legally recognise madrasa degrees is a regressive and measure that was tried, with disastrous results, in Pakistan by the Zia ul Haq regime

by Arshad Alam

One of the key recommendations of the Sachar Committee report was to open quality schools in areas of Muslim concentration. Stating that only about three percent Muslims access madrasa education and that by and large Muslims prefer to enrol their wards in government schools, the recommendation, if made into a policy, would have gone a long way in correcting the abysmal state of education among the Muslims. Rather than doing this, the present government is content to dole out sops, primarily aimed at the madrasas. The recent government announcement of making madrasa degrees at par with a college or university degree is one such example.

There is a lot to be said about this exercise in electoral populism. But first, the economics of it which seems to be fairly clear. The move is targeted at 7000 madrasas controlled by various madrasa boards in India which enrol around 3.5 lakh students. Without spending a penny, the government wants to show the Muslims that it is doing something for them. Providing quality education for the Muslims would have cost the government much more which it clearly does not want to do. The whole exercise of making madrasa degrees equivalent to a regular degree is thus an exercise in vacuous symbolism and will not lead to any substantive benefits to madrasa students.

It is important to understand that there are roughly two kinds of madrasas in India. Some madrasas are affiliated to madrasa boards in various states and apart from teaching Islam, they also teach subjects such as sciences and social sciences. On the other hand, the vast majority of madrasas are independent of these various madrasa boards. They have their own system of examination and they teach their students nothing except Islam. These independent madrasas have successfully resisted attempts from various quarters, including the state, to change their curriculum. Now, the government measure of equivalence of madrasa certificates will only apply to madrasas controlled by the various boards which form only a small part of the madrasa network in India. What is the government doing about the students enrolled in independent madrasas?

There are other problems which should have been thought about before making a policy announcement. Where will the madrasa students gain admission? Madrasa certificates are already recognized for admission in the undergraduate programs of universities such as Jamia, Aligarh and JNU. The latest government move is thus not a novel instrument of policy but merely an extension of something which is already in practice. That apart, most of the madrasa graduates get admission in Urdu, Persian and Arabic departments of these universities. The equivalence criteria will do nothing to change such a state of affairs. If anything else, this academic ghettoisation of Muslim students will only increase in the near future. Without effective curricular reforms, madrasa students would not be admitted in the science or social science departments. As stated earlier, madrasa controlled by the boards do teach modern subjects, but not in English. A madrasa student, entering a university, without even a working knowledge of English, is bound to be involved in a frustrating struggle to cope up with his more fortunate peers.

This frustration can have various political implications. It is important to understand that only few madrasa graduates access regular higher education. Part of the reason is their self-elimination through strategic thinking which tells them that it is futile to think about entering the domain of regular colleges or universities. They have their own religious economy which somehow is able to sustain them. The equivalence criterion gives them false hopes without substantially enhancing their educational capabilities.They would come to institutions of higher learning only to be disappointed with their inability to crack the code of modern pedagogy. The universities and colleges in turn will label them as 'failures'. Cumulatively this will lead to new kinds of frustrations which could be channelised for a political mobilisation of a not so benign nature. It is important to recall here that a similar exercise was done in Pakistan by the Zia ul Haq regime. While the move allowed madrasa graduates to apply for jobs, the market rejected them as they did not have the requisite educational capital. The fallout of such a policy is there for all to see: Madrasa graduates form an important part of the landscape of terrorism in that country.

There are some pre-requisites for the policy of equivalence to succeed. First of all there has to be an all India madrasa Board. All madrasas, including the independent ones, have to be compulsorily part of this board. This Board should adopt a common curriculum for all madrasas, which would include modern subjects and English. Sufficient numbers of trained teachers for this purpose should be provided for the Board. But for all this to happen, one needs to have a genuine political will. It is true that the government did initiate a measure to form an all India Madrasa Board. But sensing opposition from the Ulama, the plan was shelved in no time. It requires no deep thinking that the Ulama would always oppose such a move by the government: After all why would they surrender their autonomy, more importantly, their financial autonomy? The state, however, needs to look beyond the sectarian interests of the Ulama and focus on the interests of poor and destitute students of the madrasa, even if that means bypassing the madrasa system altogether. The Ulama have been playing with the future of madrasa students for a long time. One can only hope that the state does not do so.

Arshad Alam teaches at the Center for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia Milia Islamia

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[6] INDIA: IN TIMES OF HINDUTVA

Indian Express,

January 20, 2009

PUROHIT PLANNED ISRAEL-BASED HINDU GOVT-IN-EXILE, SUPPORT FROM THAI CONTACTS: ATS CHARGESHEET TODAY

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chargesheet in the Malegaon blast case claims that as per statements from the accused the town was singled out for the blast as "it was the ideal place where the Muslim community crowd was the maximum" and that prime accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit had told fellow conspirators it was time to set up a parallel, Hindu government-in-exile which could operate out of Israel and ensure a completely sashastra (armed) India. Purohit, according to the chargesheet, promised "all logistic help" with finances from several quarters and support from some of his contacts in Thailand. The ATS chargesheet, which includes two important confession statements, statements of witnesses under Section 164, laptop records, telephonic records, detailed SMSes and financial transactions across states, will be filed tomorrow in the designated MCOCA court chaired by sessions judge Y D Shinde.

The ATS will tell the court how a group called Abhinav Bharat became a "front organisation" for a conspiracy which led to an explosion at 9.26 pm on September 29, 2008 at Bhikku Chowk, Malegaon. While all eleven accused have been charged with conspiracy, logistics and execution of the blast, the key roles, according to the ATS, were those of Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Sudhakar Dardwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey. This will be the first case where a probe has been able to reach the conspirators - unlike other cases where only those who planted bombs have been arrested. In this case, the alleged bomb planters - Sameer Dange, Ramji Kalsangra - and Pravin Patil, another on the wanted list, remain at large. Patil also used the cover name of Mutalik and is a close aide of Purohit.

While the forensic finding of the chassis and engine number of the motorcycle used in the blast - it was a Gujarat registration number GJ-05-1920, owned by Pragya Singh Thakur - led the ATS to Gujarat, it was the statements of witnesses and the forensic report that helped the ATS build a strong case. The ATS chargesheet has relied heavily on the statement of Sudhakar Chaturvedi (37), the last to be arrested, who said Purohit had called him on September 17, asking him to give the keys of his house in Deolali to a person named Pawar. According to the ATS, Pawar handed the keys to Ramji Kalsangra who along with some others used the house to assemble the bomb that was eventually used in Malegaon. The ATS team took a picture of Ramji to the locality where Chaturvedi stayed. Two witnesses identified him and confirmed that Ramji did come to the house. A search of the house revealed remains of items used in making the bomb - this was verified by a forensic team. Evidences include recordings from the laptop of Sudhakar Dardwivedi which also has footage of various meetings.

Of the arrested, it is Rakesh Dataram Dhavde's involvement in the conspiracy that led the ATS to slap MCOCA charges against all ten accused. Pragya Singh's telephonic conversations recorded with accused Shyam Sahu immediately after the blasts will be included in the chargesheet. According to the ATS, the Abhinav Bharat, a group founded on June 12, 2006 in Raigad where Shivaji was coronated, initially had retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay in the role of working president. Later, under the control of Purohit, it became the "front for an agenda of creating a Hindu Rajya". While the "anger and the determination" to create a parallel government which "gives power to Hindus" can be seen in the records of the many meetings that transpired between the accused, the ATS says that it was at a meeting in Bhopal where the conspiracy for Malegaon was hatched.

Purohit was said to have convinced the group that the time had come for a parallel government - and he detailed the idea of a bomb blast.The group, according to many statements of the accused, was told about possible safe houses in Israel from where the conspirators could operate once their ideology took root and their numbers increased. According to the ATS, Pragya Singh promised "two of her men" from Gujarat. Upadhyay and Pune-based Ajay Rahirkar played key roles in logistics, conspiracy meetings and finances while Sudhakar and Sameer Kulkarni, the ATS says, were active foot soldiers of Abhinav Bharat who were paid a monthly sum of Rs 5,000 and were called 'Chanakyas'.

o o o

VHP activists bash up Christian missionaries in Allahabad (Rediff, January 19, 2009)

http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/jan/19vhp-activists-bash-up-christian-missionaries-in-allahabad.htm

MNS salute to Hitler, apes Nazi-style greeting (Indian Express, Jan 24, 2009)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story_print.php?storyid=414639

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[7] Announcements:

(i) PEACE RALLY IN LAHORE

Friends, comrades

If you are scared for the life and security of your family and friends, act now. If you are concerned about the security situation in the country, do something. If you hope for peace and prosperity in the country and world at large, you will have to take action. There is no other option!

All of us are affected by violence and terror. No one can escape the misery and horror unleashed by suicide bombings. Just because acts of violence and aggression are on the rise, does not mean we can become de-sensitized to their consequences. In fact, this is all the more reason to intensify our efforts to curb it, and reform the society we live in.

If you remain silent in the hope that you will not come under attack, or keep quiet because it was not you who was affected, you are wrong. You are terribly mistaken to think you will survive war unscathed. For this is war. We are under attack from different fronts.

We are fearful, yes, but not powerless. We are tired, but not defeated. We are struggling, but have not lost, not yet. Friends, this is about our lives, our very survival. War does not benefit anyone. We all lose in the end. Act while you can, before it is too late.

JOIN THE AMN TEHREEK PEACE RALLY ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 31 at REAGEL CHOWK THE MALL LAHORE 3.00 PM

On the spectrum of needs and wants, peace is an absolute necessity. Join the rally because it is your way of showing the government, the international community, and most importantly fellow Pakistanis that you care about your life and theirs. Come because you choose life over death! Come because you choose peace, not war!

Institute for peace and Secular studies

91-G johar Town Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

Ph 042-5219862/ 042-5219863

mobile 0321-844-5072,0300-844-5072

www.peaceandsecularstudies.org

"you must be the change you want to see in the world" Gandhi

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

S o u t h A s i a C i t i z e n s W i r e

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on

matters of peace and democratisation in South

Asia. An offshoot of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not

necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

SACW | Jan 28-29, 2009 / Sri Lanka Crisis / Mangalore's Taliban; Sulwa Judam in Orissa

South Asia Citizens Wire | January 28-29, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2602 - Year 11 running

From: www.sacw.net

[1] Sri Lanka: Major humanitarian crisis unfolding (ICRC News Release)

+ 'How can people say this is peace?' (Stephanie Nolen)

[2] South Asia: Shouldn't we pause to think? (M.B. Naqvi)

[3] Pakistan: possible ban on Indian cable TV channels and on films ? (Editorial, The News)

[4] India - Karnataka: Hindutva's Thugs Running Amuck -- Editorials, Statements and Reports

(i) Ram Sene attack is form of terror (Editorial, The Asian Age)

(ii) Pub Brawl (Editorial, The Telegraph)

(iii) Barbarians At Large (Editorial, Times of India)

(iv) Mangalore's Taliban: India outraged (Prerna Thakurdesai)

(v) What Is Sri Ram Sena? (NDTV)

(vi) Sene’s shame old story (expressbuzz.com)

(vii) Sri Ram Sena should be strongly disciplined; its origins thoroughly investigated (Press Statement, SAHMAT)

(viii) Mangalore Attack: Take Firm Action (Press Statement by Communist Party of India (Marxist))

(ix) Women drinking is as old as the hills in Karnataka (Sowmya Aji)

(x) Outrage in Mangalore (Editorial, The Tribune)

(xi) It’s goondaism, not Hinduism, say experts (Vikas Pathak)

(xii) Man who fought vigilantes in Karnataka receives threat to life

[5] India: Concern at Orissa Govt Setting up a ’Sulwa Judam’ Type Militia

[6] Conference Declaration - 7th World Atheist Conference, Vijaywada

[7] Announcements:

(i) Film Screening: No Man’s Land / Everybody’s Land (Karachi, 30 January - 1st February 2009)

(ii) Sahmat - Image Music Text (New Delhi, 31 January 2009)

(iii) Seminar: Contesting Media Realities: Unpacking the Real (Bombay, 29-30 January 2009)

(iv) Workshop Rethinking Culture & Development: Feminist Crossings - Call For Applications (May 2009

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[1] Sri Lanka:

ICRC News release 09/22

27-01-2009

SRI LANKA: MAJOR HUMANITARIAN CRISIS UNFOLDING

Colombo / Geneva (ICRC) – Hundreds of people have been killed and scores of wounded are overwhelming understaffed and ill-equipped medical facilities in Sri Lanka's northern Vanni region, following intensified fighting between the Sri Lanka Security Forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"People are being caught in the crossfire, hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling and several aid workers have been injured while evacuating the wounded. The violence is preventing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from operating in the region," said Jacques de Maio, ICRC head of operations for South Asia in Geneva.

The terrified population is in need of protection, medical care and basic assistance, according to the ICRC.

An estimated 250,000 people are trapped in a 250 square-kilometre area which has come under intense fighting. They have no safe area to take shelter and are unable to flee.

"When the dust settles, we may see countless victims and a terrible humanitarian situation, unless civilians are protected and international humanitarian law is respected in all circumstances," said Mr de Maio. "It's high time to take decisive action and stop further bloodshed because time is running out."

The ICRC urgently appeals to both sides to allow and facilitate the safe and voluntary movement of civilians out of the combat zone.

The ICRC is determined to stay as long as possible in the Vanni, but the parties must respect its presence and its work. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to enter the Vanni and aid workers and their premises must be protected from shelling and looting, as required by international humanitarian law.

Both sides are strongly urged to spare the lives of those not, or no longer, taking direct part in the fighting. Hundreds of patients need emergency treatment and evacuation to Vavuniya Hospital in the government-controlled area.

The ICRC, which is the only international aid agency to have remained permanently in the Vanni over the past four months with the agreement of both sides, continues to work alongside the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society helping those in need.

For further information, please contact:

Carla Haddad Mardini, ICRC Geneva, tel +41 22 730 24 05 or +41 79 217 32 26

Sarasi Wijeratne, ICRC Colombo, tel +94 11 250 33 46 or +94 773 1588 44

o o o

The Globe and Mail

January 27, 2009

'HOW CAN PEOPLE SAY THIS IS PEACE?'

Eastern Sri Lanka chafes under the oppressive rule of a government that says it is committed to democracy

by Stephanie Nolen

Trincomalee, Sri Lanka — In the local office of Sri Lanka's national Human Rights Commission here in this eastern seaside town, they have statistics: Ninety-eight people were abducted in this area last year, snatched off the streets by the infamous white vans with no licence plates that are used by government security agencies. Eighty-five other Tamils simply disappeared. At the commission they have case files and police reports.

But none of the staff will talk about them. "We are helpless," one staff member said apologetically, ushering a visiting journalist out of the office. "We would like to help the people but we have to be afraid for our lives, too."

And who do they fear at this government office?

The government.

Eastern Sri Lanka offers insight into what the north of the country - the area that until weeks ago was held by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - will soon look like. The Tigers have lost all but a tiny portion of their territory to a punishing air and ground assault by government forces, launched by a president determined to end the country's 25-year-old civil war to win elections in April. He promises peace and development for the civilians of the north, where long-time oppression of the minority Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated government helped to create a powerful secessionist movement.

Until 2006, this swath of the east was also held by the LTTE. But infighting within the Tigers, which Canada and many other nations list as a terrorist organization, led to a split and the rebels of the east soon allied themselves with the government.

Today the government holds up Eastern Province as a model of its magnanimity, pointing out that elections were held there shortly after its military control was established, and that a Tamil party headed by ex-rebels won the region.

"The President has shown his commitment to honourable peace in Eastern Province; those people were given the chance to elect their own people. They know they are being represented, not neglected," said Lakshman Hulugalle, spokesman for the Ministry of Defence.

But international observers said the poll was marred by rigging, violence and intimidation, and the provincial government is dominated by ex-fighters from the breakaway Tamil faction who have little support from the population, which resented the rebels' often oppressive rule. Indeed the Chief Minister of the province is Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan, better known by his nom de guerre Pillayan, which he acquired when he joined the Tigers as a 14-year-old fighter. Today he is ostensibly the most powerful man in the province, a claim he rejects with a small, tight smile.

"The government is eliminating terrorism, offering a political solution, and that is how I have been elected Chief Minister," he began in a recent interview in his office, then added, "I have become a chief minister but I have not received powers from Colombo. For the past six months Colombo says, 'This is not the right time to devolve powers.' They say they will give them in time."

Most local and international observers - even Mr. Hulugalle of the Defence Ministry - predict that when the LTTE loses control of all its territory in the north it will launch an underground, Iraq-style insurgency. The Tigers have since the first days of their fight used suicide attacks on civilians, including those at prayer in places of worship, as one of their standard tactics.

"The LTTE will go to the jungle as resistance, and even if there are a few hundred of them, the government has to maintain a military presence in the north; their residual force will require suspicion of all Tamils," said Jehan Perera, head of the National Peace Council. "The situation is likely to be the same or much worse than in the east - the soldiers, the questioning of people, the difficulty of getting private business to invest there."

And the peace of the victors will be a cold one for the Tamils, he predicted. "They say they will be doing infrastructure, building roads and that kind of thing, but it will all be done by the central government, and this conflict grew in the first place from the view the central government is Sinhalese and doesn't take their interest into account," he said.

Thus the streets of Trincomalee, banded every 150 metres or so with checkpoints where Tamils are grilled about who they are and where they are going and whether they can prove they do not support the LTTE, offer a grim vision of what the north will soon be like.

"What democracy do we have today?" asked the president of a respected local development organization, too afraid to be quoted by name. "We cannot meet, we cannot talk, even if someone sees us now, the security will come and ask what we are discussing. Every time you leave your house it's like you are going to court to face charges."

Sure, he said, the government has built a few roads (using Sinhalese-owned contractors and only Sinhalese labourers), and yes, he got to vote, for the first time in decades. But that is cold comfort, he said. "You can put a parrot in a nice cage and feed it nice food like apples but it's still a caged bird."

Pillayan, the Chief Minister, knows people are frustrated, and said that the situation will change. "The central government gave assurance that the 13th amendment [to the constitution, which promises power-sharing with the Tamils and other minorities] and even more will be there," he said. "We still have hope."

Yet as frightening as the disappearances, and perhaps more likely to cause further conflict over time, is the government's unabashed campaign of "Sinhalization." Historic sites commemorating ancient Tamil kingdoms have, in the months since the government took control of the area, suddenly become memorials to Sinhalese kingdoms. Some Tamils stopped at checkpoints can no longer give the names of their home villages, because those places have new Sinhala names, local and international human-rights monitors say.

The government recently announced that the fishermen of Trincomalee were back to catching their prefighting hauls of fish, but neglected to mention that it continues to deny all but a handful of Tamil fishermen the right to put to sea (citing the security risk that they might ferry supplies to the Tigers) and has instead brought in Sinhalese fishermen from the south, to whom it affords much more freedom.

"All the land seized as a 'high security zone' in the 2006 fighting is still in the hands of the military, and you have tens of thousands of people stuck in resettlement camps where they aren't allowed to fish and don't have land to farm and have a miserable existence," said one United Nations employee who was not authorized to discuss the situation on the record.

UN agencies, which are feeding civilians on both sides of the conflict and supporting a host of development projects across the country, as well as other aid agencies, are routinely denounced in the state-controlled Sri Lankan media as overt partisans and backers of the LTTE, a fact that both hinders their work and has the effect of blunting their criticism.

There is an additional layer of tension in the east because the LTTE is still present here, albeit underground - a situation that will be doubly true in the north. The rebels continue to pressure the Tamil population to provide funding and other support for the nationalist cause, and attempt to enforce vote boycotts and other obstacles to peaceful political participation.

In the anxious offices of the Human Rights Commission, investigators are regularly reminded by their government masters that official policy is: All is well in the east. And they despair. "How can people live like this?" a staff member asked. "How can people say this is peace?"

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[2] South Asia:

The Daily Star

January 29, 2009

SHOULDN'T WE PAUSE TO THINK?

by M.B. Naqvi

South Asians remain divided in multiple ways. Each member of the Saarc has internal divisions. India has internal insurgencies going on, and India and Pakistan are immersed in communal hatred.

Pakistan is threatened by an intolerant and violent Islam that may be its nemesis. Ethnic nationalisms are also permanent divisions. Islamic extremism is a threat that Bangladesh also faces.

Afghanistan is under foreign occupation, and a war is going on in the name of the same new Islam represented by al-Qaeda. Sri Lanka is torn by a war that is internal and near formal.

The most hopeful and peaceful country is Bangladesh, though it faces a threat from the new Islam and a fractured polity. But it might just escape the mayhems in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

India and Pakistan have had their politics deformed that began with the British colonial masters specifying religion as the main distinguishing feature. Once communal rivalry started, it grew into a monster that divided the British Indian Empire and has kept the two states on an inimical course, until the Muslims demanded a separate state.

The policies of the two states remain frozen into a hideous shape of trying to down each other. Pakistan fought three wars with India until Pakistan itself was partitioned: having promoted hatred against the "other."

Despite the riots on the horizon, Indo-Bangladesh relations remain peaceful. Will the Indians recruit at least Bangladesh as their cooperative partner for a joint endeavour in the economic sphere?

Pakistan-India relations remain dangerously fraught. Both wish to rush at each other's throats and the rest of the world rushes in to mediate. Superficially, the leaderships of both sides appear to be mature to the demands of statecraft and diplomacy. But what have they achieved by this seeming maturity?

Pakistan signed the Shimla Agreement in 1972 (with India) after losing the third war. But the man who had signed it was frightened by his rightwing parties and did not implement all the obligations of the agreement, particularly with regard to Kashmir. Instead of talking, Indian and Pakistani leaderships started building up even bigger military machines.

Pakistan caught up with India's nuclear power status, and both have been engaged in building up conventional and nuclear forces. There was no effort to normalise relations. They later agreed on an eight subject Composite Dialogue.

These talks lasted for some time and more or less broke down in the competitive testing of nuclear weapons. India made one more effort to talk peace with Pakistan in February 1999. But it was quickly replied to by Kargil's semi-war, leading back to square one.

Musharraf tried to start talks at Agra and drew a blank. The attacks on Delhi Red Fort and the Indian Parliament brought the countries to the verge of another war. India acted as if it would invade Pakistan. Pakistan repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons. The Anglo-American powers got busy in managing the near-combatants into staying in the trenches rather than making actual peace.

The cost of such mediation is high, and Islamabad and Delhi looked like playing into the hands of supposedly more mature and more peaceable powers, although the US's record of military aggressions speaks volumes. Diplomats of the two countries were manipulated by Anglo-American powers and have been separately recruited as their junior partners. The hard fact of both being junior partners of the US and the rest of the Nato powers cannot be ignored.

Political leaderships of South Asian states should care more for their own people rather than for their hate-based ambitions of defeating their opponents. Saarc was a worthy Bangladeshi initiative and it was hoped that South Asians would work for economic integration of their region.

The west Europeans decided that they did not want more war glories! They would rather go for plain non-military benefits of economic nature.

The newly independent South Asians couldn't resist the temptation of giving priority to their hate-based actions. Which is why South Asia is where it is: each state well below the standards of living it could have attained if it had given priority to economic development. Each state is not at peace, except probably only Bangladesh in part and Maldives. It looks as if South Asians will remain set on their present courses.

After the Mumbai attacks, the reactions of India's rightwing parties and media show that this sort of thing is likely to erupt every now and then vis-à-vis Pakistan. Resumption of serious dialogue is unlikely soon, despite its aim for normalising relations.

Each Saarc state needs to reorient itself to mainly achieving economic development. These states should democratise their purpose also; it is not enough to have formal democracy alone. The militaries must become one of the secondary necessities of any state. Democracy must become the means as well as the end. Will they do that?

M.B. Naqvi is a leading Pakistani columnist.

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[3] Pakistan:

The News

January 29, 2009

Editorial

BOLLYWOOD BAN?

The Senate Committee on Information, during its discussions, suggested the possibility of a ban on Indian cable TV channels and on films. Members of the committee, during a debate that focused on the situation after the Mumbai attacks, pointed out that Pakistani television plays, magazines and books had been banned in India.

As the old adage goes, two wrongs do not make a right. Rather than focusing on a 'tit-for-tat' answer to measures adopted by the Indians, Pakistan must show itself to possess greater acumen and maturity. By doing so it would most effectively gain the edge over India and gain diplomatic advantage. There is another reason for this. Cinema owners in Pakistan have expressed concern over the possibility of a ban on Bollywood films. The decision to allow selected Indian films to play at movie theatres has been a key factor in halting their decline. It is also a fact that these films will help promote the competition that the local film industry needs to move out of its present state of stagnation. A ban on Indian films or TV channels will, therefore, do more harm than good. In an age when information flows more freely than ever, it is pointless to impose bans of this kind. By refusing to do so Pakistan would play a positive part in moving towards a more normal relationship with India, demonstrating that, unlike New Delhi, it has no desire to add to the exiting tensions but is instead determined to end them.

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[4] INDIA - KARNATAKA: HINDUTVA'S THUGS RUNNING AMUCK

Editorials, Statements and Reports compiled by sacw.net

http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/01/karnataka-hindutvas-thugs-running-amuck.html

(i) Ram Sene attack is form of terror (Editorial, The Asian Age)

(ii) Pub Brawl (Editorial, The Telegraph)

(iii) Barbarians At Large (Editorial, Times of India)

(iv) Mangalore's Taliban: India outraged (Prerna Thakurdesai)

(v) What Is Sri Ram Sena? (NDTV)

(vi) Sene’s shame old story (expressbuzz.com)

(vii) Sri Ram Sena should be strongly disciplined; its origins thoroughly investigated (Press Statement, SAHMAT)

(viii) Mangalore Attack: Take Firm Action (Press Statement by Communist Party of India (Marxist))

(ix) Women drinking is as old as the hills in Karnataka (Sowmya Aji)

(x) Outrage in Mangalore (Editorial, The Tribune)

(xi) It’s goondaism, not Hinduism, say experts (Vikas Pathak)

(xii) Man who fought vigilantes in Karnataka receives threat to life

-

(i)

The Asian Age

28 January 2009

Editorial

RAM SENE ATTACK IS FORM OF TERROR

Jan. 28:The Sri Ram Sene, which shamefully assaulted women in a Mangalore pub last Saturday, has relied on an inglorious tradition to justify its degrading action, executed in the name of defending "Indian norms". The perpetration of cruelty and violence, especially against women, in the name of religious or moral sanction, or taking the plea of defending the putative values of a society, or nation, or a particular tradition, has been with us for hundreds of years. In our own times, the Taliban began shooting women at point blank range or beheading them in public for not taking seriously the mores sought to be enforced by them. This, incidentally, was among the social causes that led to revulsion against the extremists in Afghanistan prior to the US invasion. In Kashmir, from time to time, terrorist elements have used violence against women in particular to enforce their diktat on a generally unwilling society. Not so long ago, Hindu society in Rajasthan and other places found the recrudescence of the hateful sati system, which had to be put down through the use of administrative force. More often than not, attacks on women are conducted by well-organised groups that enjoy political patronage of influential groups, and often administrative patronage as well. It will indeed be a surprise if the Ram Sene is found to be a body without powerful patrons who will spring to its defence.

It is interesting that the Bajrang Dal has reportedly sought to take the credit for the physical attack on young women in Mangalore away from the Ram Sene. The Bajrang Dal is an integral part of the Hindu far right, many of whose affiliates have gone on the rampage from time to time in different parts of the country. Such outfits keep their cadres mobilised by attacking artists and the arts in various forms, assaulting the integrity of women, and spreading poison against minority groups. Invariably, the justification is an assumed moral outrage at deviations from the religious or cultural sensibilities the political parties or ideological formations backing these outfits happen to espouse. There is little that distinguishes the self-proclaimed "guardians" of our tradition from the guns-and-bombs category commonly described as terrorists. Both use violence to intimidate ordinary people in order to spread fear and achieve political ends. Both consciously subvert processes as by law established. The only way to beat them back is to meet them frontally. If the state retreats, they are emboldened. If powerful elements of the state deviously support them while pretending to do otherwise, extremists eventually overtake those elements and seek direct power for themselves. This is what the Taliban are doing now in Pakistan, for instance. In recent history, the inspiration of the Hindu far right comes from the gory episodes of Gujarat, circa 2002, and the wilful and organised demolition of the Babri mosque, circa 1992. The administration must meet the challenge posed by the likes of the Ram Sene forcefully and skilfully. If it is serious, the goons will take flight. It will also help if the Sangh Parivar leaders publicly dissociate themselves from the self-appointed guardians of our values and our culture.

o o o

The Telegraph

January 28 , 2009

Editorial

PUB BRAWL

When a bunch of Hindu rightwing thugs stormed a pub in Karnataka and beat up the women in it, their ostensible reason had something to do with “Indian norms”. It is not quite clear whether these norms were being violated by the women drinking alcohol in public or being affirmed by their being beaten up by the men. Perhaps a bit of both. But the violence of the assault on the women and on the men who tried to come to their rescue, together with the verbal abuse hurled at the women, was evidence of the passion with which these norms could be upheld. More than 25 members of the Sri Ram Sena have now been arrested in Karnataka, but the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have distanced itself from the Sri Ram Sena’s zeal, claiming that the outfit was not a member of the sangh parivar. Mangalore’s cosmopolitanism, its religious mix and its urban culture were all against the grain of the conservatism of a BJP-ruled state. In a big city like Mumbai, the bigotry of the Hindu Right, though often in evidence, gets diluted by the magnitude and variety of its citizenry. But it would be easier to bully a smaller city like Mangalore. And everything would depend on what sort of an attitude the state government adopts with regard to such incidents, and the extent to which the state’s law and order machinery can deal with such lawlessness without bowing to partisan pressures.

As with the Shiv Sena’s agitations in Maharashtra almost every year on Valentine’s Day, what such collective eruptions attest to is a violently irrational element at the heart of certain invented traditions that are nevertheless perfectly capable of organizing themselves institutionally. Outfits like the Sri Ram Sena are driven by passions that find their focus on such preoccupations as female virtue or appropriate forms of publicly expressed patriotism, all formulated in terms of a certain idea of India. Women sitting in a pub drinking alcohol violates this idea in a way that civilized, rational and modern minds will find difficult to fathom. Yet, the power of hordes is just as difficult to ignore, and benighted enthusiasms are very often collectively held. The freedom to have fun in a secure, yet liberated, public arena is a fundamental right for women and men in any modern democracy. The State as well as civil society will have to persist in protecting these rights.

o o o

Times of India

28 January 2009

Editorial

BARBARIANS AT LARGE

It only keeps getting worse. Intolerance is a stain that is spreading deep and fast in our country. Violent attacks by hoodlums inspired by

extreme ideologies - be it regional chauvinism, religious bigotry or a warped sense of Indian tradition and ethos - are becoming an alarmingly frequent feature of our times. The incident last weekend in Mangalore, in which women were physically assaulted by a bunch of goons bearing allegiance to the Sri Ram Sene - a fringe right-wing outfit - simply because they chose to visit a pub is further evidence of this phenomenon.

Like those associated with other extremist right-wing groups, members of the Sri Ram Sene are self-appointed custodians of ‘Indian culture’. Just what is this monolithic culture that these people refer to and use as an excuse to further their exclusionary political agenda? Is beating up women also part of this culture? Our culture and traditions are neither static nor singular. Through the centuries, they have been shaped and reshaped by historic events and interactions with other cultures. Today, there could be more than a billion ways of being Indian.

It's worrying that small groups of people can hold the public to ransom and assault our collective liberties with such apparent ease. More troubling is the fact that our state and central governments seem ill-equipped and unwilling to crack down swiftly on such groups. Be it against Raj Thackeray in Mumbai or similar troublemakers elsewhere, administrations move too slowly and feebly, undermining citizens' faith in their ability to secure law and order. Those responsible for attacks on churches and prayer halls last year in Mangalore have not all been brought to book yet.

This time, a couple of dozen men involved in the pub attacks have been taken into custody but all attackers have not yet been arrested. State home minister V S Acharya has not helped matters by saying that pub owners must "augment security to prevent this kind of incident in future". What is the minister suggesting? That we privatise the enforcement of law and order? Isn’t it the government’s job to ensure public security?

The state government's condemnation of the incident and stated resolve to suitably punish the guilty are welcome. But that is not enough. Unless it fairly pursues the matter, and is seen to be serious about keeping its word, the government in Karnataka runs the risk of being accused of looking the other way as the state, known for its tolerant spirit, slides down a path of intolerance.

o o o

ndtv.com

MANGALORE'S TALIBAN: INDIA OUTRAGED

by Prerna Thakurdesai

Tuesday, January 27, 2009, (Mumbai)

The attack by activists of a fringe group called the Shri Ram Sena, attacking women at a pub in Mangalore, has brought back memories of similar acts of moral policing across the country.

It's an incident that's bringing back bitter memories of attacks by other fringe groups across the country where state governments watched rather than crackdown.

A case in point is the Shiv Sena's various attempts to stop those celebrating Valentine's Day.

Another instance, is Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which attacked north Indians to promote its sons of the soil issue.

In August 2008, on the outskirts of Bangalore, the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike had attacked a rave party.

Again in October 2005, the Pattali Makkal Kakchi had attacked actress Khushboo over her comments on pre-marital sex.

"Besides condemning these Talibanese, we should ask the question why the government is doing nothing about it. It almost seems like they are a part of it," said writer and lyricist, Javed Akhtar.

The outrage against the Mangalore incident was evident on the streets, specially among women, the primary targets of the attack.

"They don't want us to live in peace. It's not like we don't know how to regulate ourselves," said one woman.

There were similar reactions on the web from bloggers and Youtube users.

"We are celebrating Republic Day today and this video shows exactly how Republic we are," said a web user.

o o o

ndtv.com

WHAT IS SRI RAM SENA?

NDTV Correspondent

Monday, January 26, 2009, (Mangalore)

A handful of men from a group thought of deciding how others should behave in Mangalore. The group is called Sri Ram Sena. Here's the history of the group and the man who founded it.

There was nationwide outrage, as the images of the Mangalore pub incident scarred the collective psyche of a nation that's celebrating Republic Day.

Pramod Muthalik is the man who laid the foundation of the right-wing Hindu group called the Sri Ram Sena.

"Whoever has done this has done a good job. Girls going to pubs is not acceptable. So, whatever the Sena members did was right. You are highlighting this small incident to malign the BJP government in the state," said Pramod.

Pramod Muthalik, a full-time RSS man earlier, was the Karnataka coordinator of the Bajrang Dal four years ago. Soon he was expelled from the Bajrang Dal after which he joined the Shiv Sena and later he formed his own group.

This isn't the first time the Sri Ram Sena has indulged in moral policing.

In August, 2008, it vandalised an exhibition of M F Husain's paintings in Delhi.

Interestingly, the group also finds mention in the Malegaon blast chargesheet filed by the Maharashtra Police. In the transcript of a conversation, the prime accused Colonel Purohit is quoted saying, "The Shri Ram Sena is doing very good work. Purohit calls the leader of the group as Muthalik.

In an interview given to a website, Muthalik staunchly defended Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, another key accused in the Malegaon blast case, saying she is innocent.

And now he's dismissing the Mangalore pub attack as a small incident.

o o o

expressbuzz.com

SENE’S SHAME OLD STORY

BRUTE FORCE: A group of Sri Ram Sene activists attacked women at the Amnesia pub in Mangalore on Saturday, triggering an uproar

Express News Service

First Published : 27 Jan 2009 07:24:15 AM IST

MANGALORE: As the nation watched in horror the shameful act of women being chased out of a pub in Mangalore and being assaulted, the pressure on the Karnataka government was clearly showing.

On the one hand, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said that nobody would be allowed to take the law into their hands, on the other, Home Minister V S Acharya appeared to be in denial mode.

Speaking to reporters in Udupi, Acharya said it was an attempt by former CM M Veerappa Moily to malign the government, adding that extortionists were behind the attacks and the Sangh Pariwar had nothing to do with it. This was despite the fact that Sri Ram Sene national president, Pramod Mutalik, owned responsibility for the attack on women at Amnesia pub in Mangalore’s Balmatta and promised similar action in the future. Speaking to Express from his hideout, Mutalik said, “Sri Ram Sene will not sit silently, watching the attack on Hindu culture.

Sene will not apologise for what has happened in Mangalore.” While admitting to the fact that Sene men chased the girls out of the pub, Mutalik justified the act and said, “We got information that they were all drug addicts… The Sene men made them run but we never tried to molest the girls.”

Media to blame, say SP, DGP That the police had been caught on the wrong foot was also evident from the notice the Mangalore Superintendent of Police, N Satheesh Kumar, served on mediapersons who were present at Amnesia pub when the attack was carried out on Saturday. He wanted to know from the mediapersons why they did not inform the police when they had information about the action.

DG&IGP R Srikumar took the same line and said media was hand-in-glove with the attackers.

In New Delhi, Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Choudhary called it the Talibanisation of India. “I am absolutely horrified at the insensitivity on the eve of Republic Day. I will seek an explanation from the state government as well as the self-styled Sri Ram Sena,” she said.

25 arrested Eight more persons were arrested on Monday for the attack in Mangalore, bringing up the total to 25. The 17 accused arrested earlier were produced in court on Sunday and remanded in judicial custody for 15 days. IGP (Western Range) A M Prasad told Express that the arrested persons would be booked under the Goonda Act, if they are found to be repeat offenders.

The police is also examining the possibility of charging them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, he said.

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http://www.sacw.net/article548.html

SAHMAT

8 Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi Marg

New Delhi 110 001

Telephones: 23711276/ 23351424

email: sahmat@vsnl.com

27.1.2009

PRESS STATEMENT

We join all right-thinking people in condemning the criminal assault on a group of women at a Mangalore pub by hooligans operating under the banner of the Sri Ram Sene. We remind the public that this group (whose name has been spelt as it is in phonetic loyalty to the Kannada language) is the same as the Sri Ram Sena, which carried out an attack on an exhibition mounted by Sahmat in August last year, celebrating M.F. Husain’s contributions to Indian art.

We take note of the hurried and deeply embarrassed statements by the leaders of the Hindutva cultural fraternity, dissociating themselves from the Mangalore atrocity. Yet we denounce their concurrent assumption of the power to legislate on what social practices are true and what are not, in their relationship with Indian culture.These are not decisions to be made by a sectarian political leadership.

The Sri Ram Sena was little heard of or known, till it attacked the exhibition that Sahmat mounted in August to protest the exclusion of M.F. Husain’s work from a major display and sale of Indian art that was mounted at that time.

Sahmat sounded the alarm then about this debutant group, a spawn of the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, both credentialed members of the Hindutva family. And Sahmat has continued to warn about the dangers posed by the new organisation within the Hindutva fold, which has been showing the kind of destructive energy that belies its fledgling, newborn, character.

Clearly, the Sri Ram Sena has emerged out of the campaign of hatred and intolerance that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates within the broader Hindutva parivar launched many years back. The BJP leadership has issued some hasty and embarrassed statements distancing itself from the atrocities in Mangalore. But these have little credibility, since the BJP continues to take political capital out of the legacy of its baleful campaign of moral majoritarianism.

We call for the immediate arrest and prosecution of all those who have participated in this atrocity in Mangalore, or contributed to it in any fashion. The prosecution should be purposive and should address all individuals who bear constructive responsibility for creating the climate of intolerance that made this criminal assault possible.

We urge the investigating agencies to pay attention to the growing evidence that this is about more than an art exhibition or about an incident in Mangalore that may seem trivial in relation to the scale of atrocities perpetrated in the last two decades by the agents of majority communalism.It has been credibly reported that the elements who directed the Mangalore attacks were in intimate contact with individuals currently being prosecuted for their culpability in the Malegaon bomb blasts of September 29 last year.

The individual identified as the leader of the assault on Sahmat’s exhibition last August, was also the principal agent of a severe transgression of the basic ethos of academic life, when he spat at a college lecturer who had been invited to a discussion on the scourge of terrorism at Delhi University in November. Again, the Sri Ram Sena drew its moral and ideological sustenance from the Hindutva parivar, since the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a recognised affiliate of the family, had prepared the ground for this act of barbarity, by pronouncing an anathema on the college lecturer invited to speak about his first-hand experiences as a victim of so-called “terrorism” investigations.

The Mangalore incident shows that terrorism has several manifestations and multiple protagonists. We appeal to the public to break out of the template on terrorism that has been moulded by the Hindutva parivar and to recognise that all offences against civilised norms of conduct and the rule of law, contribute to the triumph of terrorism.

The police and investigating agencies, we urge, should not fail this test of standing up for the rule of law. Regrettably, their conduct over the last many years gives us little confidence that they will.

Finally, we would like to appeal to the media to evolve a set of norms on the coverage of such acts of criminality. We do not go along with the stricture handed down by Karnataka’s Director-General of Police, that the media should have informed the authorities of this criminal gang’s intent once it got advance notice. This is an issue that each media professional should resolve in accordance with his or her own sense of civic responsibility and his or her own ethical commitment.

We do believe however, that the media should evolve a credible set of norms on the coverage of criminal acts that it has advance notice of. Clearly, the Mangalore hoodlums staged their criminal act in the belief that they would, through the breathless reporting of India’s booming and thoroughly irresponsible electronic media, enjoy a few minutes of nationwide fame.

If the media were to deny moral vigilantes the coverage that they so desperately seek, it would deny them the oxygen of publicity that they flourish on. Media professionals need, in this context, to clearly lay down the norm that they will not succumb to competitive pressures and provide any variety of coverage to the perpetrators of criminal actions, even when these are dressed up in moral and political terms.

Ashok

for SAHMAT

o o o

January 27, 2009

PRESS STATEMENT

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

Mangalore Attack: Take Firm Action

After the brazen and criminal attack on young women by the Shri Ram Sene in Mangalore, the BJP state government has not acted firmly in taking action against this Hindu extremist outfit.

It may be recalled that this extremist group was responsible for a series of attacks on churches in Mangalore and targeting Christians in other places. The failure to take firm action in these instances and the efforts to soft-pedal their activities by the Home Minister then have emboldened the group.

The Polit Bureau demands that all the leaders of the Sene be arrested and immediate steps taken to proscribe the organisation’s activities.

o o o

Mail Today

28 January 2009

WOMEN DRINKING IS AS OLD AS THE HILLS IN KARNATAKA

by Sowmya Aji in Bangalore

THE attack on girls in a Mangalore pub in the name of “ Hindu ethos” has led to a public outrage in Karnataka.

Litterateur and critic K. Marulasiddappa opined that Hindu culture was being used as a mask by goons to indulge in anti- social activities. “ Ours is a very healthy tradition, all these narrow minded ideas have actually come to them from Christian influence. How can you complain about halfnaked women when our temples in Belur and Halebidu have sculptures of half- naked women? That is our tradition.

And what is the Shiva linga , that we worship? Why are we being prudish?” he said.

Unless Hindu ethos are narrowly defined as the Brahminical practice of abstinence, the Kannada Hindu tradition doesn’t bar women from drinking in public and this spirit of gender equality is celebrated in many works of literature.

Sure, the girls of Mangalore belong to the category of the upwardly mobile urban women, who earn and hold their own. And among the urban women in this happening coastal town, drinking in public is nothing new.

Upper middle class women have been drinking in public for at least 25 years, much before the Sri Rama Sene or its goons who vandalised the pub were even born.

Then, the lower classes whom the vandals probably claim to represent, always enjoyed their drinks without any gender biases. Folklorist Kodihalli Ramaiah contends that the attack by the Sri Rama Sene goes against the essential multiculturalism that is said to constitute the Hindu way of life.

“ In all our folk rituals in Karnataka, be it the Dalits or backward classes, drinking, whether it is men or women, is a very essential part. Far from being banned, drinking is actually mandatory,” he said.

Ramaiah pointed out that there are also great scenes of women getting drunk in venerated Kannada writer Kuvempu’s novels set in coastal Karnataka. “ It is true that women do not really come out in the open spaces and drink, but it is certainly a part of Hindu culture. What we do not understand about the Sri Rama Sene contention is, what kind of Hinduism are they talking about? There are several layers in the Hindu community, so this attack on women drinking in public is actually an attack on Hindu culture itself,” he maintained.

The state has very strong traditions of women drinking in other contexts also. “ Women are given brandy to drink to ward off the jinni ( spirit) right after childbirth. It is to warm them up and is a socially accepted norm,” said Dr Vivek Benegal, additional professor of psychiatry at the Deaddiction Centre in Nimhans.

Particularly during festivals of individual gods, that vary from community to community and region to region, women drink publicly and participate on par with the men.

The Kamana Habba, similar to the North Indian Holi, is one such festival where women drink in public and participate in the celebrations. This stretches across all the socioeconomically backward sections of the society.

Benegal, who collaborated with the India segment of the WHO’s study on gender, alcohol and culture international study ( GENACIS), said that the drinking of alcohol in women had gone up from approximately 1 per cent in 2003 to over 5 per cent in 2007. The study had Karnataka as the India hub.

“ Women seem to be drinking when spouses or male family members are also drinking.

They start off because of some social practice like the childbirth tradition,” he explained.

The study has also identified the new trend among urban women, not just in Bangalore but in places like Mangalore, Shimoga and other tier II and III cities, of social or connubial drinking. “ There is a lot of social drinking that happens.

These people are not drinking to get drunk,” Benegal added.

o o o

The Tribune

June 29, 2009

Editorial

OUTRAGE IN MANGALORE

The BJP govt falters again

The manner in which some activists of the Hindu hardliner group called the Sri Rama Sena barged into a pub in Mangalore on Saturday and thrashed revellers, including girls, is highly reprehensible. The self-appointed moral police chased many girls in the pub, mercilessly beaten and molested them. Strangely, the activists have justified their criminal action, claiming that they have received “complaints” from the people that the pub users had been “violating traditional Indian norms”. Clearly, the Sena activists have no right to interfere with the freedom and independence of young boys and girls. The BJP government headed by Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa has responded to the outrage belatedly. About 27 activists were arrested after two days of the incident. Worse, Ram Sena chief Pramod Muthallik has been arrested not for the pub attack but for a different offence — creating communal disharmony in Davanagere on January 11!

How will these hooligans be punished if the government tries to protect them? The law and order in Karnataka has been vitiated ever since the BJP came to power. The saffron outfits appear to have no fear of the law. The government’s delayed response to the Mangalore outrage is a shocking repeat of its earlier inaction when the Hindutva extremists torched Karnataka’s churches and prayer halls a few months ago. Such incidents have been occurring with sickening regularity. Recently, the activists of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike stormed a private party on Bangalore’s outskirts. Earlier, Karnataka Yuva Vedike activists went on the rampage at a leading hotel’s pub in Bangalore.

Unfortunately, though pseudo-vigilante outfits are proliferating and acting with impunity in the BJP-ruled state, the government has been found reluctant to tackle them. The BJP can restore law and order only if it gets rid of the lumpen elements in the party and checks its outfits from taking the law into their own hands. It needs no new laws to deal with hooligans. The existing laws are enough to deal with them. What is needed is the will to crackdown on some of the Parivar’s elements who are out to disturb peace in the country on one pretext or another. The rule of law in Karnataka is under serious threat and the BJP government would do well to remember that it cannot afford to be seen on the side of the hoodlums even if they are motivated by the ideology of its liking.

o o o

The Hindustan Times

IT’S GOONDAISM, NOT HINDUISM, SAY EXPERTS

Vikas Pathak, Hindustan Times

New Delhi, January 29, 2009

In Brindavan, there is a park where Lord Krishna is believed to come every night to perform Raas Lila. “Nobody stays back at Nidhi Van at night as it is said that anyone who does so, goes mad. People say Krishna’s flute and the sound of the Gopis’ anklets are heard there,” said Uma Shankar Mishra, a local resident.

Popular Hinduism does not consider the “erotic” as polluting: the god who gave the message of the Gita is also revered as a lover-god. But this pluralistic tradition is under threat from fringe right wing groups such as the Sri Ram Sene, which attacked women at a pub in Mangalore on the absurd ground that this was against “our culture”.

“The Sri Ram Sene has nothing to do with Hinduism. They are goondas posing a law and order problem,” said Hinduism scholar Jyotirmaya Sharma.

Historian Ramchandra Guha said these attackers have nothing to do with Indian culture or Hinduism. “We have a vast reservoir of young men in India who haven't had quality education and can be mobilised in any sectarian way — Sri Ram Sena, MNS or even Maoism,” he told HT.

Both ‘ascetic’ and ‘erotic’ ideals are part of Hinduism. Hindu beliefs exist in multiples. Rather than “right” and "wrong" ways, there are various alternative paths in Hinduism.

If there is a celibate Hanuman, there is the lover-god, Krishna. On 12th century poet Jaydev’s celebration of Krishna as a lover-god in Gita Govind, historian A.L. Basham wrote, “Its inspiration to the Western mind seems erotic rather than religious.”

The Hindu Right, however, wants asceticism to be hailed and eroticism banished. This is an imitation of the 19th century Victorian repression of anything amorous and is thus colonial in inspiration. Ironically, this imitation of Victorian values is being paraded as “pure” Indian culture.

Popular images of Ram show him as a smiling god. However, the Sangh Parivar depicts him as a warrior, seeking to reduce a benevolent god to a warrior. In the process, they have damaged the idea of Ram – which inspired many including Mahatma Gandhi. “Neither Valmiki nor Tulsidas ever saw Ram as a violent god. Valmiki depicted him as a pretty boy,” Sharma pointed out.

o o o

MAN WHO FOUGHT VIGILANTES IN KARNATAKA RECEIVES THREAT TO LIFE

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/29/stories/2009012956141000.htm

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[5] Concern at Orissa Govt Setting up a ’Sulwa Judam’ Type Militia

http://www.sacw.net/article550.html

TEXT OF LETTER TO CHIEF MINISTER OF ORISSA ON PLANS OF RECRUITING TRIBAL YOUTH AS SPECIAL POLICE OFFICERS

January 23, 2009

Chief Minister Navin Patnaik

Government of Orissa

Naveen Nivas,

Aerodrome Road,

Bhubaneswar,

Orissa 751001

Via facsimile: +91 674 2535100

Re: Special Police Officers

Dear Chief Minister:

Human Rights Watch is an international nongovernmental organization that monitors human rights abuses by governments and non-state armed groups in more than 80 countries around the world. I write to express deep concern regarding the Orissa Home Department’s plan to recruit an estimated 2,000 tribal youth as special police officers (SPOs) to counter Naxalite violence in the region. In particular, we are concerned about the use of SPOs for paramilitary purposes, and the possibility that children under the age of 18 may be recruited in violation of the Home Department’s stated age limits.

India’s Police Act, 1861, empowers local magistrates to temporarily appoint civilians as SPOs to perform the roles of “ordinary officers of police.” Such appointments are meant as a stop-gap measure where the police force is otherwise believed to be insufficient. However, the language of the statute does not envision the deployment of SPOs in roles comparable to those played by paramilitary police such as the Central Reserve Police Force and the Indian Reserve Battalions. Section 17 of the Act states that magistrates may appoint SPOs “for such time and within such limits as he shall deem necessary” when “it shall appear that any unlawful assembly, or riot or disturbance of the peace and taken place, or may be reasonably apprehended, and that the police-force ordinarily employed for preserving the peace is not sufficient.”

Home Department officials have been quoted by the press as saying that SPOs in Orissa will be “doing the same things that the SPOs in Chhattisgarh are doing.” An investigation conducted by Human Rights Watch in Chhattisgarh in 2007 and 2008 found that SPOs were routinely deployed alongside paramilitary police on anti-Naxalite combing operations. In fact, police officials in Chhattisgarh admitted that SPOs have been responsible for numerous human rights violations and disciplinary action had to be taken against them. Recently, an inquiry had been ordered into the killing of 17 alleged Naxailites in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district. Human rights activists said that the encounter was faked and it was villagers that were killed. Several SPOs were involved in this operation.

SPOs received training that was far inferior to that given to civil police. Many SPOs in Chhattisgarh have been killed or injured in armed exchanges with Naxalites and in Naxalite detonations of landmines and improvised explosive devises (IEDs). We also found that SPOs were often targeted for Naxalite reprisals. (The full findings of Human Rights Watch’s report can be found in “Being Neutral is our Biggest Crime: Government, Vigilante, and Naxalite Abuses in India’s Chhattisgarh State,” online at http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/07/14/being-neutral-our-biggest-crime...)

While the Orissa state government has an obligation to provide for the security of the population against human rights abuses by Naxalites, measures to maintain law and order must be in accordance with both national and international law. However, Indian human rights lawyers who have studied the conflict in Chhattisgarh contend that “the Indian Police Act does not envisage en masse recruitment of SPOs,” and that the deployment of SPOs against Naxalites is a “blatant abuse” of the Police Act. We therefore urge the Orissa government to ensure that SPOs are not deployed in paramilitary operations against Naxalites.

We are also concerned about the possible recruitment of children as SPOs. Our investigation in Chhattisgarh found that police often recruited SPOs with little regard for minimum age standards, and that many children, including some as young as 14, were recruited and used for dangerous armed operations. In some cases, child Naxalites who surrendered to government forces were also used as SPOs, even though still under age 18. Such practices place children at grave risk, and violate India’s obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which sets 18 as the minimum age for any direct participation in hostilities. India became a party to the Optional Protocol in 2005.

We urge the Orissa Home Department to ensure that its age guidelines (stipulating that SPOs should be between the ages of 18-25 and have completed eighth standard) are strictly enforced. To avoid underage recruitment, the Home Department should insist on proper age documentation for all SPO applicants, and reject any applicants who cannot produce documents proving that they are at least 18 years of age.

While the Naxalites present a real security threat to the people of Orissa, the Orissa government should ensure that its response to this threat does not give rise to additional human rights violations.

Thank you for considering our recommendations. We would appreciate learning about any steps that you take in this regard.

Sincerely yours,

Brad Adams

Executive Director

Asia Division

Human Rights Watch

Cc: P. Chidambaram, Home Minister, Government of India, North Block, New Delhi 110001; National Human Rights Commission, Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi 110001

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[6] http://www.sacw.net/article557.html

7TH WORLD ATHEIST CONFERENCE 2009

CONFERENCE DECLARATION

We, the Atheists, Humanists, Rationalists and Freethinkers from around the world, gathering in Vijayawada, for the 7th World Atheist Conference, January 5-7, 2009, are concerned about the growing fundamentalism, religious obscurantism, marginalization of communities and the negative impact of human activity on the environment and development, and collectively raise our voice for addressing them.

The participants declare that:

1. We affirm atheism and humanism as an alternative life stance (a way of life). There is no doubt that our values come from atheism and humanism.

2. We recognize that critical thinking, scientific temper and free inquiry are essential for thought and development in the society.

3. We uphold gender equality, an aspect still denied by several religions and the rights of children and minorities.

4. We demand that legislations be based on common concerns, rather than religious beliefs, and we demand the separation of religion from politics, the state, the law and education.

5. We stand for a secular state.

6. We want miracle claims to be challenged and investigated as they militate against the modern scientific temper and knowledge.

7. We recognize the importance of promoting secular values, so as to enhance tolerance, peace and harmony in society.

8. We are concerned by the prospects for world environment and climate change and demand special attention to address them.

9. We deplore violence in the name of god or religion.

10. We are committed to promote democracy and human development.

Vijayawada, India, 7 January 2009

Wide media coverage:

The World Atheist Conference received wide attention in the electronic and print media. The All India Radio, Vijayawada broadcasted a curtain raiser on the progress of atheism world wide and on the significance of the Worldwide. Dr. Vijayam, convener of the World Atheist Conferencde was interviewed for 20 minutes in the prime time. All India Radio also broadcast a radio review of the three day proceedings of the Conference which was presented by Mrs. Nau Gora, Secretary Arthik Samatama Mandal. The print media covered daily about the proceedings. In addition to the Telugu press, the Hindu, the largest circulated English daily in South India, not only highlighted the proceedings, but also a half a page report “Taking home a slice of Vijayawada”, stating that “besides emerging richer by experience gained in brainstorming sessions of the World Atheist Conference in the city, the offshore humanist delegates will carry home the essence of Vijayawada”.

_____

[7] ANNOUNCEMENTS:

(i)

No Man’s Land / Everybody’s Land – Glaring in Defiance is a series of screenings that leads us to different corners of histories, creating a space to consider the lines we live by. No Man’s Land borrows from Saadat Hasan Manto’s stories - the choice to refuse a given logic, a given order of the sensical and the non-sensical. This series of interwoven films creates an unwieldy narrative over the three days, it does not follow a nostalgic path nor seek a representation of historical events, instead, No Man’s Land offers a cinematic exploration of partitions, borders and walls.

The screenings offer a dialogue between films from different geographical and time contexts - South Asia, the Middle East and Europe. This dialogue is not just to accentuate known historical and political relations between those places but perhaps to find unforeseen ones.

A complete screening schedule is attached. For more information, please visit http://www.t2f.biz/no-mans-land

Images: Seaview, D: Paul Rowley, Ireland 2008

Dates: Friday 30th Jan, Saturday 31st Jan, Sunday 1st Feb 2009

Venue: The Second Floor (T2F)

6-C, Prime Point Building, Phase 7, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA, Karachi

- - -

(ii)

SAHMAT

8 Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi Marg

New Delhi 110 001

Telephones: 23711276/ 23351424

email: sahmat@vsnl.com

29.1.2009

IMAGE MUSIC TEXT

MF HUSAIN ART GALLERY

JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA, NEW DELHI

Sufi Bhakti Music

by Madangopal Singh

& Rekha Raj

Saturday, 31st January 2009

4.30 p.m.

MF Husain Gallery

Presented in association with the Outreach Program of Jamia Millia Islamia

- - -

(iii)

FRAMES OF REFERENCE

Contesting Media Realities: Unpacking the Real

National Seminar

January 29 – 30, 2009

Centre for Media and Cultural Studies

Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Distinctions between the real and the imagined are often understood in black and white. This seminar seeks to unsettle such simplistic binaries. It will critically examine the media's representations of 'reality' and raise questions about its frames of reference. Does the media, fictional or non-fictional, propagate certain ideas about truth, the real and the world? The seminar will unpack representations of reality in news, documentary and fiction films.

29th January, 2009

10:00 A.M. - Inaugural Address by Ms. Sushma Singh, Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India

10:15 A.M. - Prof. S. Parasuraman, Director, TISS

10:30 A.M. - Keynote Address by Prof. Aijaz Ahmed

11:30 A.M. - Tea Break

11:45 A.M. - Panel Discussion on "Contested Media Realities : Unpacking the Real" – The mediated news.

Panelists : Padmashree Sucheta Dalal, Dr. Prof. B. P. Sanjay, Mr. Sashi Kumar, Ms. Meena Menon, Ms. Jyoti Puniani, Ms. Pratima Joshi, Ms. Radhika Bordia

01:15 P.M. - Lunch

02:15 P.M. - Screening of Documentary of XXWhy, directed by B. Manjula

Discussants : Mr. Sree Nandu, Ms. Kalki and Dr. Shoba Ghosh

04:00 P.M. - Tea Break

04:15 P.M. - CMCS Students' Presentation

06:30

P.M. onwards - Hindi Play "Girija Ke Sapne" directed by Mr. M.

S. Satyu, produced by Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA)

10:00 A.M. - Panel Discussion on "Contested Media Realities: Unpacking the Real" – The mediated cinema.

Panelists : Prof. Moinak Biswas, Mr. Om Puri, Ms. Revathy, Mr. Anurag Kashyap, Mr. Sriram Raghavan

11:30 A.M. - Tea Break

11:45 A.M. - Panel Discussion on "Contested Media Realities: Unpacking the Real" - The mediated documentary.

Panelists : Prof. Shiv Vishwanath, Mr. Amar Kanwar, Mr. Stalin K. and Mr. Ajay T.G.

1:15 P.M. - Lunch Break

2:15 P.M. - Paper Presentation by Students

4:00 P..M. - Vote of Thanks

Photo Exhibition by the Thane Press Club on 26/11

- - -

(iv) WORKSHOP ON RETHINKING CULTURE & DEVELOPMENT: FEMINIST CROSSINGS CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The 10 day residential workshop is organised by the School of Women's Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, with the financial support from Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai in May 2009, West Bengal.

Concept:

Women's Studies, as a distinctive field of study, is relatively new in the history of higher education in India. Women's Studies is often understood as an instrument for women's development as well as a necessary input to deepen the knowledge base of various other disciplines. Feminist contestations within the field of development have come a long way from building a case of 'inclusive' growth that prevents the marginalization of women to a questioning of the predominant notion of 'development' itself. The body of feminist critique continues to travel new terrains and posit new challenges. However, limitations of a neo-liberal vision of society often put at the centre the atomistic, unconnected, self maximizing individual – a conception that largely inhibits the space of development evaluation and intervention. More importantly, there is a strong undercurrent of economic determinism within the development discourse. The terms 'Feminist', 'Feminism' were rarely used in earlier discussions on Women's Studies in India. These terms were deemed as western concepts neither explaining nor relating to Indian culture. Since women are considered to be the 'repositories of traditional Indian culture' the onus of 'maintaining its purity' fell on women.

Since 1990s a new economic policy has led to Globalisation or a form of liberalisation which has had an enormous impact on the society, especially women. On the one hand, globalisation has produced images of integration with the global consumer market; and, on the other hand, it seemed to have had a destabilizing effect by attempting to exert control over cultural identities, which are perceived to be under 'western' threat. New questions are being raised as to what is global and what is local. Women are becoming, once again, the ground on which questions of modernity and tradition are being framed. The 'Indian woman' remains the embodiment of boundaries between licit and illicit forms of sexuality, as well as the guardian of the nation's morality. Sexuality is said to bear a reciprocal relation with development. Lack of development is believed to spawn a culture of sexual immaturity, exploitation and aggression. In other words, the 'underdeveloped' is said to be 'oversexed' and the rhetoric of development gets played out on in the context of woman's sexuality. The poor prostitute has to be rehabilitated, the suffering mother has to be educated to make her own decisions about contraceptives, raped woman has to be empowered to accept her sexual 'fate'. Development, through education, economic rehabilitation, psychological upliftment, are all considered to be tools that can deliver women from exploitation. What remains unspoken is the fact that while commodification and exploitation can be addressed through the political economy of development, sexual objectification is something that operates at the level of meaning and culture and cannot be addressed through the rhetoric of development alone.

How much can be explained through culture and how much through development seem to be one of the questions that continue to bedevil Women's Studies.

In this era of 'globalisation', when reproduction and exchange involves not only the material but also the ideological, the discourses on culture and development have to establish a dialogue with multiple discourses outside its traditional ambit. This perhaps is the only way one can understand and grapple with a complex, multilayered process. Only then, can an alternative feminist vision emerge. This workshop will address the ways in which gender offers ways of interlinking Cultural Studies and Development Studies for a better understanding of the present and future of Indian women.

We invite proposals on topics related to

* women and culture in the era of globalisation

* the new challenges for women in dealing with sexuality

* face to face with development issues in women's studies

* reading culture and development as opposed to / complementary to each other

* understanding/ making a difference : women in culture and women's culture

Please note that the workshop will be fully residential. Travel to and from the workshop venue and accommodation and board for the period of the workshop will be covered.

Apply with:

* Research proposal (1000 words approx.)

* CV (mentioning involvement with women's studies cells/ centres, etc).

* Experience of teaching or research in Women's Studies should be highlighted.

Deadline for sending applications: 8 February 2009

Send applications to: Jayeeta Bagchi Coordinator, SRTT-SWSJU Project School of Women's Studies UG Arts Building Jadavpur University Kolkata -700032 FAX: 33 2414 6531 Mail to: swsju@rediffmail.com / abbasannoy@yahoo.co.uk / gariagirl@gmail.com

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

S o u t h A s i a C i t i z e n s W i r e

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on

matters of peace and democratisation in South

Asia. An offshoot of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not

necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

SACW | Jan 26-27 , 2009 / Pakistan's Schoolgirls / Sri Lanka Trapped Civilians / Dalits in Hindutva

South Asia Citizens Wire | January 26-27, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2601 - Year 11 running

From: www.sacw.net

[1] A War on Pakistan's Schoolgirls (Yasmeen Hassan)

[2] Sri Lanka: Trapped Civilians In End Game of War (Jehan Perera)

[3] Bangladesh:

- Laws of Discrimination (Hana Shams Ahmed)

- Still Waiting For Justice (Asma Kibria)

[4] India's Internal War(s) on Terror: The ongoing collateral damage - selected reports & analysis

- Probe all HR abuse cases in Jammu nand Kashmir (Kashmir Times)

- Kashmiri‘ terrorist’ acquitted by court (Kumar Vikram)

- Batla House flak for cops (Mail Today)

- Azamgarh to charter train for Delhi rally (Piyush Srivastava)

- Binayak Sen in jail for 19 months: a 3 part article (Vinay Sitapati)

- The NHRC on Salwa Judum: A Most Friendly Inquiry (K Balagopal)

[5] Pakistan - India: Peace activists are great folks, so why are we still in trouble? (Jawed Naqvi)

[6] India: The Ideological and institutional Incorporation of Dalits Into Hindutva maelstorm ( Subhash Gatade)

[7] India: Hindutva's Morality police in Karnataka

- Girls, interrupted (Editorial , The Indian Express)

- ‘We were molested in the name of God ’ (Sudipto Mondal)

[8] Culture: Opium and Empire - Amitav Ghosh in conversation with Kwame Anthony Appiah

[9] Announcements:

(i) T2F's Science Ka Adda as we explore the Big Bang Machine (Karachi, 29 January 2009)

(ii) Insaaniyat Public Discussion: “Terrorism and Democracy: resisting the cultural and legal backlash” (Bombay, 30 January 2009)

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[1]

Washington Post

January 26, 2009; Page A11

A WAR ON PAKISTAN'S SCHOOLGIRLS

by Yasmeen Hassan

I have such fond childhood memories of summer holidays in the Swat Valley in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, a place well known among Pakistanis for its breathtaking views, cool summer climate and lush fruit orchards. But today the Swat Valley is experiencing heartbreaking pressures, as the Taliban strike with disconcerting regularity and, among other atrocities, impose a ban on the education of girls.

Even before this ban was put in place on Jan. 15, more than 100 schools for girls in Swat, as well as more than 150 such schools in the greater Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), had been shut down, many after being bombed or torched, leaving approximately 100,000 girls out of school. Radio announcements warned girls that they could be attacked with acid if they dared to attend school, and teachers have been threatened and killed. Last Monday, five more Swat Valley schools were bombed.

The attacks and threats have not been confined to schoolgirls. Women and girls have been ordered to wear full veils. Directives have been issued requiring that women be accompanied by male family members in public places and forbidding women from carrying compulsory government identification cards displaying their photographs. About a dozen women have been shot for "immoral activities," including Bakht Zeba, a 45-year-old social worker committed to advancing girls' education. The area seems to be in competition with Afghanistan over which will establish the worst record on women's rights.

The Pakistani and Afghan governments have responded similarly to the Taliban's penchant for terrorizing the population. A few months ago, Afghanistan sought to enter into negotiations with the Taliban, a precondition of which would be the imposition of sharia (Islamic law). While those talks have not yet gone forward, Pakistan seems to be on the brink of accepting enforcement of sharia in the FATA territories. Reports indicate that more than 70 Taliban courts already operate in the Swat Valley, a first step toward implementation of the Taliban's interpretation of sharia. That the government is open to negotiating on this issue shows that it has no regard for what such a move would mean for Pakistani women.

The lives of Afghan women and girls remain precarious. Schoolgirls continue to be attacked. Women in public office are threatened or killed. Malalai Joya, a female political leader who has been wrongly suspended from parliament, has been forced into hiding because of threats against her. Only a few months ago, Malalai Kakar, Afghanistan's most senior female police officer, was shot dead. Pakistan must not become another Afghanistan.

The unfolding disaster in Pakistan demands an immediate response both from the Pakistani government and the international community. Pakistan must accept its responsibility to take urgent action to protect the rights of women and to curb the Talibanization of the country. Any intervention must be based on upholding Pakistan's commitments under its own constitution and under international human rights instruments that it has ratified. The various branches of government -- the legislature, executive and judiciary -- must work in concert to address this situation in a comprehensive manner.

Last week, the Pakistani government announced that it will reopen the schools in the northern areas in March, after their winter recess, but in view of the loss of huge areas to the effective control of the Taliban, it is clear that will be difficult. On Jan. 20 -- Inauguration Day in the United States -- Parliament voted unanimously to condemn and reject the Jan. 15 Taliban school closings. Now the government should immediately announce its commitment to implementing a plan to ensure that all girls have access to education, as well as to safeguard them not only in school but also outside of school.

President Obama has put Pakistan at the forefront of the war on terrorism. The 2008 Biden-Lugar bill in the Senate calling for a tripling of nonmilitary aid to Pakistan, to $1.5 billion annually for five years, is expected to be revived this year as the Kerry-Lugar bill and has the support of the Obama administration. To avoid the mistakes of the Bush administration, not only should there be greater accountability for how these funds are used, but the money should be conditioned on the Pakistani government taking active steps to curb the Talibanization of the country and, in particular, to uphold and protect the rights of girls and women. The consequences of inaction or inadequate action could be devastating.

Yasmeen Hassan is a Pakistani lawyer and the deputy director of programs at Equality Now, an international women's rights organization based in New York.

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[2] Sri Lanka:

Daily Mirror

January 27, 2009

TRAPPED CIVILIANS IN END GAME OF WAR

by Jehan Perera

The fate of several hundreds of thousands of people trapped in remaining areas of LTTE control in the Mullaitivu district hangs in the balance. There is dispute about the numbers displaced. Government spokespersons claim that the figure is not much more than 100,000. The estimates of humanitarian organizations are much higher, going up to 400,000. The people who are trapped include the original population of Mullaitivu together with most of those displaced in the earlier rounds of fighting from other places in the north. This latter group fled from those battle grounds to preserve their lives.

At present this civilian population is confined to a shrinking area to which the LTTE has retreated, estimated by the military to be about 300 square kilometers. These unfortunate people are described as trapped for two reasons. One is that the heavy fihting between the government forces and LTTE is taking its toll on them. The Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundaranayagam, has recently made two urgent appeals to the government.

In the first appeal Bishop Savundaranayagam referred to the collateral damage caused to the civilians by aerial and artillery bombardments. He wrote that “artillery shells fell among the huts of the displaced people and men, women and children have died and many more are mortally injured. Moreover the artillery shells have fallen in the safety zone of Valipunam Temporary Government Hospital. Last one week alone 88 persons have died and more than 200 persons are injured. The President said that he would protect the civilians.”

In his second appeal the Bishop has asked for an extension of the Safety Zone proposed by the government. He wrote, “We thank you sincerely for declaring a part of the west of Mulaithivu as Safety Zone. The area indicated is small and uninhabitable considering the large number of people who are congregating in this area... Therefore I am pleading with your Excellency to consider declaring the Western portion of Mulaithivu also a Safety Zone for the sake of the innocent civilians.” He has added that “We are also urgently requesting the Tamil Tigers not to station themselves among the people in the safety zone and fire their artillery- shells and rockets at the Army. This will only increase more and more the death of civilians thus endangering the safety of the people.”

Inhumane choices

The dilemma for the government is how to safeguard civilians while also minimizing casualties among its own troops who are engaging in intense battle with the LTTE. As an organization that is essentially guerilla in nature, the LTTE requires the presence of civilians from whom to draw sustenance as well as hide amongst. This is the second reason why the civilians are considered to be trapped. The LTTE is not permitting the civilians in their areas of control to move out and seek refuge in places under government control which are no longer battle zones. The LTTE has come in for strong criticism even from the UN for not permitting its local staff to leave those areas with their families in accordance with international law.

In times of war governments are presented with difficult choices to make due to the inhumane and all or nothing nature of war. For the past several weeks the attention of the international media was on the fighting in the Gaza Strip between the Israeli defence forces and Hamas. Hamas fought the Israeli defence forces from within the civilian population. This made it extremely costly for Israel to exploit its vastly superior advantage in terms of conventional military hardware and obtain international support. In the short space of two months, over 1000 civilians, including many women and children, were killed at the hands of the Israeli forces.

When governments take decisions to inflict harm on civilian populations, they may do so for reasons they can justify, especially to hasten the end of war and to save the lives of their own soldiers. In 1945, the United States used atomic bombs against Japan for these reasons. But the verdict of history is invariably harsh on those who cause such harm to civilian populations. Until the end of time, the US will be condemned for utilizing the terrible weapon it had developed that blighted the lives of innocent men, women and children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Israel was compelled to declare a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza on account of international pressure and the difficulties it faced in eliminating Hamas fighters in the midst of the civilian population.

Humanitarian option

The Sri Lankan government is entitled to its military campaign aimed at totally defeating the LTTE and ending the separatist war. But the government needs to be mindful also of the fate of the trapped civilians in Mullaitivu. Not only is the international reputation of the government at stake, so is reconciliation in a post-war Sri Lanka. Much more than the governments of the United States and Israel, the Sri Lankan government needs to be mindful of the fate of the people in Mullaitivu as they are its own citizens.

So far the government has declared areas in the north to be safety zones and has issued public calls for the people to move into those areas. But these calls have had only a limited effectiveness due to the LTTE’s refusal to let them leave. By compelling the civilians to remain, the LTTE is ensuring a human shield for itself and a pool for recruitment. Relatively few civilians have been able or willing to leave in defiance of the LTTE and in the midst of major military operations. Therefore the government needs to consider the option of a humanitarian truce for a limited period to permit the evacuation of the trapped civilians.

In the game of chess, there is a possibility of the game ending in a stalemate in which neither side wins. This situation of stalemate can occur even if one side has the preponderance of pieces remaining on the board. It appears that in Gaza, the Israeli government was forced into a situation of stalemate despite its vastly superior fighting machine. On the other hand in World War 2, the US forced Japan into surrendering by resorting to the nuclear option and carnage on the civilian population. The negotiation of the evacuation of civilians through a humanitarian truce, if possible, would certainly be the better way for Sri Lanka.

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[3] Bangladesh:

(i)

Star Magazine

24 January 2009

LAWS OF DISCRIMINATION

Simi Banu's suicide seven years ago and the eventual unearthing of the events leading to the fateful day was an awakening. There are still laws in our country that are discriminatory towards women but most importantly, despite the existence of some positive laws, this and other cases show that the state machinery needed to provide redress to women victims at grass roots level is still very frail.

by Hana Shams Ahmed

A recent report by IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) highlighted an issue that has been neglected by the media for some time now -- acid attacks and the failure of the authorities to control it at the source. Although the number of cases of acid attacks have gone down considerably (According to ASF, there were 192 reported cases of acid violence in 2007, down from 221 in 2006. In 2001 there were 349 cases and in 234 cases in 2000), the core problem is far from over.

Although a mother gives birth, she is never the legal guardian of her child.

The report revealed that the sale of acid (sulphuric and nitric acid) is going on completely unchecked despite the government acts against its sale, and a mechanism to keep it in check. In 2002, the parliament enacted two laws against acid violence: Under the Acid Control Act of 2002, the unlicensed production, import, transport, storage, sale, and use of acid can result in a prison term of 3-10 years. Those who possess chemicals and equipment for the unlicensed production of acid can get the same prison term. Jewellers use acid widely to melt gold and other metals, and unfortunately there is no effective monitoring to control the use and sale of this acid. The caretaker government's mobile court drive in 2007 and early 2008 came to an early demise, and after that there have been no follow-ups.

That has always been a problem with laws, especially laws regarding women, enacted at a policy level but which do not get implemented because of a weakly functioning mechanism. In a recent incident, a woman who had gone to report a case of rape against her, and the duty officer asked her to describe exactly how the rape took place. The police are so insensitive about what a victim of rape or any other gender crime goes through, that the victim often prefers to drop charges.

Last month was the seventh death anniversary of Simi Banu. Her death, which was recorded as a case of suicide, but in reality was result of systematic harassment by local hoodlums, disregard by self-righteous neighbours and ultimately failure of an unconcerned law-enforcing agency, is a reminder for a change in state machinery related to crimes against women.

“There are many laws to protect women but these laws are not enforced properly,” says Salma Khan, the President of Women For Women, “unfortunately the grievance reprisal machinery is too weak and sometimes inaccessible. It's very important for the police to be sensitised on such matters.”

There are many laws that are still discriminatory towards women. The citizenship laws do not allow a Bangladeshi woman to pass on her citizenship to a foreign husband, but if a man marries a woman his wife automatically becomes a Bangladeshi citizen. There is also discrimination in the Muslim Family Law and Hindu Law. Under Muslim Law, “the wife (or wives taken together) get one-eighth if there is a child, and one fourth if there be no child from the estate of her husband, though the husband gets exactly double. Mother gets from the estate of her sons one-sixth when there is child of her son or when there are two or more brothers or sisters or one brother and one sister of her son, and one third when there is no child and not more than one brother or sister of her son. On the other hand, the father gets from the estate of his son one-sixth if there be child of his son and in the absence of any child of his son, he gets the entire residue after satisfying other sharers claim, and so on and so forth” ('Law for Muslim Women in Bangladesh', Sultana Kamal).

Muslim Law still allows polygamy “with the previous permission in writing” from his first wife and a wife can only file for divorce from her husband if her husband gives her the permission to do so in a marriage certificate. A man, however, can divorce his wife whenever he wants. Under Muslim Law a man is always the legal guardian of a child and the mother only has temporary custody of the child up to a certain age depending on the sex of the child. But she is not the natural guardian either of the person or property of the child; the father, or if he is dead his executor, is the legal guardian.

A Hindu woman is the most vulnerable. The rights and obligations of Hindus are determined by the principles of Hindu law. “Although in India the laws have been reformed,” says Khan, “because the government of our country is very sensitive about how to deal with Hindu groups our laws have remained the same.”

A Hindu woman in Bangladesh does not have the right to divorce.

According to Khan many people who consider themselves to be leaders of their communities resist changes in their laws. “The present government is in a position to amend these laws,” she says, “most governments have been neglectful or scared to touch issues around minority communities. In India Hindus enjoy almost complete equality between men and woman, legally and a Hindu woman can divorce her husband and they inherit the same amount of property as a man.” In Bangladesh no Hindu woman can ask for a divorce.

For the first time in our country we have a woman as a Home Minister and as a Foreign Minister. It is a great initiative of the government to assign leadership positions to deserving women. Now is the best time for the government to reform discriminatory laws against women, and amend the state mechanism of redress towards women victims.

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(ii)

The Daily Star

27 January 2009

STILL WAITING FOR JUSTICE

by Asma Kibria

IT has been four long years since my husband Shah A. M. S. Kibria, M.P., was assassinated in a grenade attack at a political meeting in his Habiganj constituency. It is difficult for me to express the overwhelming sense of loss and grief I have felt every moment since that terrible event of January 27, 2005. The worst part has been a sense of helplessness as his murder has not even been properly investigated and that the real culprits may get away without punishment.

We will never get back the person we have lost but, perhaps as his family, we might at least obtain a sense of closure once his killers are identified and punished under the laws of this country. So many other families who have been the victims of murder have also been waiting, sometimes for decades, for justice. It is important for all the citizens of this country that such crimes should not go unpunished. Where murderers operate with impunity not only is the rule of law undermined, the integrity of the entire democratic framework of governance is imperiled.

The problem goes back to the Liberation War of 1971, and the subsequent failure to investigate and punish numerous crimes perpetrated by the Pakistan army and its collaborators. This was followed by the killing of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, together with much of his family -- even his six-year old son was not spared by the murderers -- and soon after, that the jail killing of the four national leaders.

All these terrible crimes remain a blot on the national psyche, given the failure to complete the legal process, creating a sense of impunity among those forces using murder as an accepted means of dealing with political opponents. After the 2001 elections, victims' families watched in horror as the killers of their loved ones took office under the flag of the Republic.

The general elections of December 2008 may well be regarded as a decisive turning point in the history of our nation. The electorate, bolstered by a new generation with a strong commitment to the ideals of the Liberation War -- unencumbered by the narrow communal hatreds of an earlier age -- completely repudiated the politics of murder, corruption and intimidation of the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition. In constituency after constituency, the BNP-Jamaat leaders were swept aside by members of the Awami League-led coalition, which achieved a landslide victory, winning three-quarters of contested seats.

The assumption of office on January 10, by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina -- daughter of the Father of the Nation -- brought a sense of relief and renewed optimism to the people. There is a pervasive sense that the dark age of mismanagement and misrule has at last come to an end.

This victory has also rekindled the hope for justice among the families of the victims of political murders. Perhaps few other leaders will understand and empathise with our anguish as the prime minister herself, who lost so many members of her family on that terrible day in August 1975, and who herself was the intended target of an assassination attempt in August 2004. We are hopeful that she would give high priority to finally dealing with these crimes.

Since my husband's assassination, our family has carried out a peaceful campaign of protest demanding the proper investigation and justice for all such political murders. Our campaign met with a gratifying degree of public support and participation, and we were able to generate considerable interest both in Bangladesh and among our friends overseas in my husband's case. Our campaign continued during the darkest days of BNP-Jamaat misrule, ceasing only during the period of the caretaker government when we did not receive permission for even our peaceful demonstrations.

Shah Kibria returned to Bangladesh in 1992 and joined the Awami League (AL), first as a member of the Advisory Council, later as political advisor to Sheikh Hasina (then Leader of the Opposition) and then, in 1996, as Co-Chairman of the AL Election Monitoring Committee. During the 1996-2001 Awami League government headed by Sheikh Hasina, he served as finance minister with considerable distinction. While he was finance minister the country achieved strong economic growth with low inflation, despite the catastrophic floods of 1998.

Before he returned to Bangladesh my husband had a distinguished career as a diplomat (he was secretary, foreign affairs in 1972 under Bangabandhu) and a United Nations official (he was executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok from 1981 to 1992, holding the rank of under-secretary general). Over the years he had developed an international network of friends and admirers, many of whom have continued to support us in our quest for justice. Throughout the period after his death, agencies such as the International Parliamentary Union have closely monitored the murder trial and investigation.

During the BNP-Jamaat government period, my husband's murder investigation was carefully limited to avoid implicating the real masterminds behind his assassination. A number of mid-level BNP leaders of Habiganj were identified and arrested as the persons who actually carried out the attack, but the investigators carefully avoided two key questions; 1) who actually ordered the killing and, 2) what was the source of the grenades used in the attack.

There was an attempt to rush the case through the courts on the basis of the incomplete investigation, which our lawyers successfully resisted. The important thing is to ensure that a complete investigation is undertaken before the case finally comes to trail, and we faced a situation where the investigation was seriously flawed. Key witnesses and members of the administration who were likely to know about the events of that day were not questioned, despite repeated demands through the courts.

A team of investigators from the FBI arrived soon after the assassination but soon left, reportedly due to the lack of cooperation by the government investigating team. Toward the end of their tenure, the BNP-Jamaat government sought to turn the investigation toward the outlawed terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jihad (sometimes referred to as Huji). However, in statements to the press the arrested members of this group admitted to involvement in various attacks but always denied knowing anything about the Kibria assassination.

Initially the investigation during the 2007-2008 caretaker government followed a similar pattern to that during the BNP-Jamaat regime (at first the same investigators were retained), except that they sought to place the entire responsibility for the killing on the Harkat-ul-Jihad, despite the fact that no direct motive could be established. It was argued that the Harakat-ul-Jihad did actually carry out the killing, but there was no attempt to identify those who actually ordered it.

With the new Awami League government, we are hoping that a proper investigation can finally be undertaken. There should now be no problem in requesting FBI assistance for the investigation. This will be particularly important as the FBI will be able to make an assessment of the available forensic evidence (the forensic capabilities of the Bangladesh police are very limited) and indicate whether evidence available at the time of their 2005 visit is still intact. There are fears that the investigators appointed by the BNP-Jamaat government have systematically destroyed what evidence was then available.

If there has been a cover-up and attempt to protect the real killers, we would hope that the current government would have the resolve to unearth the perpetrators and ensure that they are punished. The criminal coterie behind the killings during the BNP-Jamaat regime left behind many supporters in the police and civil administration. It is vital for the survival of our democracy and the establishment of the rule of law that that the killers and those that aided and abetted them are identified and removed from positions of trust. Our family and all other victims' families are now hoping that with the new overnment we will get justice at last.

Asma Kibria is the wife of late S.A.M.S. Kibria.

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[4] INDIA'S INTERNAL WAR(S) ON TERROR: THE ONGOING COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Kashmir Times

23 January 2009

Editorial

PROBE ALL HR ABUSE CASES

Need to set up high-power commission

The 19th anniversary of the Gowkadal massacre in Srinagar not only comes as a sad reminder of the untold atrocities committed by the security forces in Kashmir, resorting to grave human rights abuses during the past nearly two decades but also underlines the need to probe all such cases and bring the guilty to book. The first massacre of innocent people in Kashmir was witnessed on January 21, 1990 when the trigger-happy CRPF men fired indiscriminately on peaceful demonstrators killing more than fifty persons. Since then several such massacres have taken place in different parts of the State. But unfortunately there has been no credible probe into such human rights abuses and the killers in most cases have gone scot free. Such grave human rights abuses have been committed in different parts of the State since 1990 with the beginning of the armed struggle for azadi. Thousands have been arrested and were made to languish in jails for years together and some of those detained have yet to be set free. There have been several cases of mass rapes, killings in custody, torture during detentions at the interrogation centres, deaths of people in unprovoked firing, disappearance of a thousands of youth whisked away by the security forces and other incidents of human rights abuses. The wounds caused by them have yet to be healed and the memory of such atrocities cannot fade out from the people’s memory. The worst part of it is that most of these cases have neither been probed in an independent and impartial manner nor those guilty brought to book. Though the PDP-Congress coalition, which came to power after 2002 elections had promised to pursue a policy of healing touch, committing itself to put an end to the human rights abuses it failed to order probe into all cases of human rights abuses or even to strengthen the agency for checking such abuses. A few initial half-hearted measures did create some hopes of justice but these were not pursued to their logical end.

Omar Abdullah, who now heads the NC-Congress coalition, had made a categorical commitment on the eve of 2008 elections for the State assembly that if his party came to power its first task would be to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to probe into all cases of human rights abuses and injustices and to pursue a process of reconciliation at various levels. But within days of his assuming office as the chief minister Omar has expressed his helplessness in setting up such an institution. Asked by the mediapersons recently as to when such a Commission would be set up, the chief minister said that it was not possible to do so without the support of the governments of India and Pakistan. Clearly he has backed out from his commitment in this regard. Even if it is not possible for the chief minister to go for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the pattern of South Africa it is within his competence to atleast set up a high power commission to probe into all cases of human rights abuses in a credible and transparent manner to identify the culprits and bring them to book. All the cases of human rights abuses should be reopened and investigated afresh by the Commission. The chief minister is also expected to take steps for strengthening the State’s Human Rights Commission which should have the jurisdiction even over the Indian armed forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir. It is also important to take necessary measures to scrap all draconian laws including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Public Safety Act to create a climate of confidence for initiating a process of dialogue for resolving the basic Kashmir issue. Similarly a large number of people, who are still languishing in jails including those arrested during the recent poll boycott campaign should be set free and all cases against the political leaders and activists involved in the struggle for azadi should be withdrawn. These steps are necessary for any meaningful process of reconciliation.

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Mail Today

January 22, 2009

KASHMIRI‘ TERRORIST’ ACQUITTED BY COURT

By Kumar Vikram in New Delhi

Judge raises doubts on Delhi Police’s Special Cell

RAISING serious doubts on the functioning of Delhi Police’s Special Cell team, a city court acquitted a Kashmiri “ terrorist” on Thursday.

Ayaz Ahmad Shah alias Iqbal — allegedly member of Kashmiri terrorist outfit Hizb- e- Islami — was arrested by a team of Delhi Police Special Cell policemen headed by slain inspector Mohan Chand Sharma in early 2004.

Questioning the police investigation, additional sessions judge R. K. Jain in his verdict said: “ It appears officials of the Special Cell were not vigilant enough in procuring the required sanction and treated the present case as an ordinary case under Arms Act that has resulted in lapses.

The benefit of all these lapses has to be given to the accused.” Iqbal was nabbed at Shastri Park area near Welcome Metro Station on January 22, 2004, allegedly with a bag containing explosives and Rs 3 lakh in cash. He was charged with bringing the explosives and hawala money to wage war against the state.

However, all claims of the police fell flat with loopholes in the prosecution and insufficient statements made during the trial. Special Cell team member ASI Rishi Pal told the court he wasn’t sure about the place Iqbal was arrested from.

Another team member, SI Jai Kishan, admitted no metro employee accompanied the police team during the raid.

Similarly, another team member, SI Umesh Barthwal, failed to recall during cross- examination how long the raid proceedings continued.

Taking into account the statements of the team members, the court observed, “ Except socalled disclosure statement of the accused, there is nothing on record even to indicate that the accused was member of any terrorist outfit.” Pointing at the failure of the prosecution, the court added, “ The prosecution has also failed to prove that accused had entered into any criminal conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India or in pursuance of that conspiracy, had collected the explosive substance.”

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Mail Today

January 22, 2009

BATLA HOUSE FLAK FOR COPS

THE DELHI High Court on Thursday sought an explanation from Delhi Police for not initiating a magisterial inquiry into the Jamia Nagar encounter, despite National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC) guidelines to do so.

“ NHRC has been asking from the day one for compliance with the guidelines ( for magisterial inquiry). Tell us what has been decided by the Lt Governor ( L- G) on the issue,” a bench comprising Chief Justice A. P. Shah and Justice Sanjeev Khanna said, directing the police to file an affidavit.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by an NGO, Act Now for Harmony and Democracy, seeking a judicial inquiry into the encounter on September 19 in which two suspected terrorists, allegedly involved in the Delhi serial blasts, and inspector M. C. Sharma were killed.

Advocate Mukta Gupta, appearing for the police, said it has sought the L- G’s permission for an inquiry.

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Mail Today

24 January 2009

AZAMGARH TO CHARTER TRAIN FOR DELHI RALLY

By Piyush Srivastava in Lucknow

Community seethes over honour to cop killed in Batla House encounter

The UPA government’s delay in setting up a judicial probe into the Batla House encounter has prompted the people of Azamgarh to organise a protest rally in the Capital on January 29.

The community leaders plan to book a special train to bring protesters to the Capital.

Two of the youngsters killed in the controversial encounter, Atif Amin and Mohammad Sajid, were from the eastern UP district. Another youth arrested from the shootout site, Mohammad Saif, was also from Azamgarh. They were allegedly involved in several bomb blasts in the country.

The community leaders, who met here on Friday, are peeved at the announcement of Ashok Chakra for Delhi Police officer, M. C. Sharma, who had died during the encounter on September 19 last year. The congregation condemned the government for its “ double- standards”. The people of Azamgarh believe it shows the dichotomy in the UPA — on one hand it is toying with the idea of setting up a judicial probe and on the other it is honouring a police officer involved in the encounter even before reaching a conclusion.

“ Although it hurts to hear that Sharma will receive the highest peacetime gallantry award, the fact remains that our focus is on quashing the charges of terrorist activities levelled against the people of Azamgarh,” said Amir Rasadi, convener of the Ulema Council.

“ Now that they have taken a decision on Sharma, we believe either they will a take decision for us soon or we will force them to do so. Our protest at Jantar Mantar is just a fresh beginning to achieve our goal,” Rasadi added.

Union HRD minister Arjun Singh had said recently he was in favour of a judicial inquiry and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was of the same opinion.

for Delhi rally So far, 22 coaches in several trains have been booked to ferry people from Azamgarh to New Delhi on January 28 and for their return the next day.

“ Since it is a self- motivated decision of every person of the district to register his protest in New Delhi, the leaders of the community have decided to plan it in an organised way.

There is every possibility that a special train would be flagged off from Azamgarh railway station at 12 noon on January 28.

However, a large number of people have already booked seats for themselves in various trains.

We hope at least three lakh people will assemble at Jantar Mantar,” claimed Shahid Badra Falahi, former president of the Students Islamic Movement of India ( SIMI).

Falahi was arrested in 2001, soon after a ban was imposed against the SIMI. He was released later. He is currently pursuing a case in the Supreme Court to get the ban lifted.

“ The latest announcement of the Centre to honour Sharma has pumped in a new zeal among the people of the district to demand a judicial probe into the Batla House encounter. Till Thursday evening, more than 1.40 lakh people had confirmed their participation in the rally at Jantar Mantar. This happened after the announcement of Sharma’s name for the award,” said Tariq Shafiq, a member of the Peace Committee constituted in Sanjarpur village, from where most of the Batla House “ victims” hailed.

“ We are closely watching the political mood of the UPA and believe that we can’t shift our focus from the safety of the youth of Azamgarh to other issues. We are focussed and will keep protesting till the Centre bows before our demand,” Shafiq added.

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BINAYAK SEN: 19 MONTHS IN PRISON ON FABRICATED CHARGES

by Vinay Sitapati

http://www.freebinayaksen.org/?p=229

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The Economic and Political Weekly

THE NHRC ON SALWA JUDUM: A MOST FRIENDLY INQUIRY

by K Balagopal

The Supreme Court, which is hearing writ petitions on the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh asked the National Human Rights Commission to constitute a fact finding committee that would prepare a report on allegations “relating to violation of human rights by the Naxalites and Salwa Judum”. The report, prepared by a group set up by the police wing of the NHRC makes no pretence of neutrality or objectivity. It reads like a partisan statement, whose tone and tenor is to protect the Salwa Judum and its image from being tarnished by allegations of crime. View Full Article

http://www.epw.in/uploads/articles/12988.pdf

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[5] Pakistan - India

Dawn 26 January 2009

PEACE ACTIVISTS ARE GREAT FOLKS, SO WHY ARE WE STILL IN TROUBLE?

by Jawed Naqvi

A GROUP of battle-scarred peace activists from Pakistan was in Delhi last week. They included fighters for human rights, champions of free media, politicians who take on military dictators and freethinkers who work for democracy at home and peace in the neighbourhood. The unflappable and courageous Musarrat Hilali, vice-chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in the NWFP, who has lost friends and associates battling the Taliban’s stranglehold in her homeland, particularly struck me as one who needed to be heard and seen in India.

It is tempting to compare her with Sharmila Irom of Manipur. Her fast unto death now on for over six years against the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act in her state will inspire future generation of rights workers across India. Or Musarrat’s challenges could be even as threatening as Geetaben’s, the brave Hindu woman who was stripped and lynched in the streets of Gujarat by members of her own faith, because she was married to a Muslim, or Teesta Setalvad who fights religious bigotry in Gujarat and in the den of Shiv Sena in Mumbai.

Musarrat shared her experiences of a region where only the other day the bullet-ridden body of Shabana, the renowned dancer, was thrown in the centre of Mingora’s Green Square with two messages to the locals in the Swat Valley’s largest town: “un-Islamic vices” will no longer be tolerated, and the Taliban is now effectively in control.

Shabana’s body was found slumped on the ground, strewn with bank notes, CDs of her dance performances and pictures from her photo album. In case someone missed the point the Taliban commander Maulana Shah Dauran broadcast a warning on one of its FM radio stations in the valley that his men had killed her and if any other girls were found performing in the city’s Banr Bazaar they would be killed “one by one”.

The fact that Musarrat was largely ignored by Indian TV and newspapers during her two or three days in Delhi speaks more for the self-absorbed Indian media and its blinkered views about Pakistan, than about the insights she could have shared about an inaccessible region that has become a fountainhead of zealotry, a painful bout of which India experienced recently in Mumbai. Asma Jehangir, Salima Hashmi, I.A. Rehman were the other main interlocutors in the 24-member delegation that came here as South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR).

The group mostly included individuals who work in different fields in Pakistan under extremely adverse conditions, who have faced authoritarian governments and religious fanatics alike, and if I am not wrong most of them have been to jail at some point in their endless battles with state and non-state actors who cross their path. They are a truly laudable lot and there’s no one I can think of in India among the so-called civil society folks, who match their gutsy resolve to fight for democracy and liberal ideals as they do in Pakistan.

It was heartbreaking that with so much to offer in the cause of our shared fight against religious terrorism, the group was not given the audience they deserved. I am inclined to believe that it had to do with the mythology the Indian media nurtures about its notions of Pakistanis. Indian channels are happy to show repeated looped shots of a mullah on a Pakistani channel ranting that India be destroyed, if necessary with nuclear weapons. The mullah-stereotype fits snugly with the image needed to whip up hysteria with Indian audiences whenever it is needed, as we saw happening when Mumbai was attacked. Voices of sanity of the kind that SAHR or ANHAD or SANGAT, the groups that hosted the visit, bring to an India-Pakistan discourse are sought to be drowned chiefly because they question the stereotype.

Part of the blame for the low exposure the visitors received – and blame should be apportioned to avoid future hiccups must go to the habit of sectarianism that contuse to stalk the left and liberal groups in India. That alone may have prevented several major groups in Delhi from actively participating in the peace mission. I asked the Pakistanis if they faced a problem like it in their country. “Thank God, in Pakistan the mullahs are victims of their own sectarianism,” was the cheerful reply. Thank God for small mercies, indeed. I am sure, therefore, that if the net were cast wide enough and everyone who had a track record in speaking up for peace, democracy and fundamental rights was posted an invite, it would have made a big difference to the ambience, if not necessarily the outcome of the visit. The only group that brought 15,000 people on the streets of Delhi to condemn the war drums after Mumbai, and which, true to form, was ignored by the Indian TV channels, was the Communist Party of India (ML). They appeared to be shunned, though not by design surely, from the discussions that were organised with the Pakistani peace mission. It’s unforgivable.

At another level, there is a mismatch between the spaces that civil society groups have forged for themselves in Pakistan and their Indian groups who are getting increasingly marginalised from the mainstream struggles. The Pakistanis have thrown out a military dictator, restored the dignity of their judiciary and generally created a consensus for democracy to strike roots in an otherwise difficult terrain in their country. They are standing tall even in the unequal battle against religious fundamentalism. Indians were way ahead of their Pakistani counterparts in having a better-choreographed struggle, like the one they displayed in the overthrow of the emergency regime.

Moreover, they always have the inherent advantage of getting even with the government, or even the system, thanks to a degree of stable democracy that exists, although democracy by ballot alone can be harnessed to nefarious objectives as we see happening in Gujarat. At any rate, there is a greater need for Indian left and liberal groups to come together to fight for their spaces before it is too late. Their Pakistani counterparts and those from other surrounding countries equally engaged in struggles against religious tyranny and economic emancipation can thus join a more robust struggle in India.

Asma Jehangir led the group from Pakistan. It made all the right observations, though the logic of peace quite evidently failed to pierce the armour of jingoism. They indicated this to be the case. Some of the groups the peace mission met were “negative and untrusting”, some called for “surgical strikes”, but “the overwhelming voices we have heard have expressed a strong need for peace and understanding, despite the sorrow and anguish they continue to have regarding the Mumbai attacks”, an end of visit statement said. This brings me to an observation once made by Arundhati Roy, another person who was not invited to last week’s discussions, that civil society groups or and NGOs are not an effective substitute for a political movement. In the absence of a vibrant political campaign, well-meaning visits like SAHR’s would amount to no more than Band-Aid to help heal a hemorrhage. The answer perhaps does not lie in engaging rightwing hawks, as key members of the delegation tried to do, but in fortifying the shrinking liberal political space, and expanding it. That’s a lot tougher than finding grudging space on TV channels or newspapers.

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[6] India: Shrinking Secular Space

sacw.net, 27 January 2009

THE IDEOLOGICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL INCORPORATION OF DALITS INTO HINDUTVA MAELSTORM

by Subhash Gatade

There are many lower orders in the Hindu society whose economic, political and social needs are the same as those of majority of Muslims and they would be far more ready to make a common cause with the Muslims for achieving common ends than they would with the high caste hindus who have denied and deprived them of ordinary human rights for centuries.

— Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar - Writings and Speeches Vol 8., P. 359

(“[U]ntouchability, is a kind of disease of the Hindus..it is a mental twist.. I do not know how my friend is going to untwist the twist which the Hindus have got for thousands of years unless they are all sent to some kind of hospital.’

— Dr B.R.Ambedkar , 1954 , Quoted in Bhagwan Das, 95 :53).

INTRODUCTION

Dalits, or ex ’untouchables’, comprising one-sixth of India’s population, a majority of whom still live at the bottom of the social hierarchy called caste system live a precarious existence. The plight of this section - which is routinely discriminated against and subjected to overt-covert violence of many forms - has of late been much discussed in the international fora as well.

There is no denying the fact that despite half-a-century of constitutional measures - which has helped a minority among it benefit from the affirmative action programmes and has helped emergence of a more vocal and assertive section among it - the system of exclusion in the form of untouchability continues in myriad ways and forms. Dalits till date are denied entry into temples or served tea in different glasses in hotels and restaurants or are not allowed to draw water from government wells which are situated in dominant caste areas or dalit women are driven to prostitution thru’ religious customs like Devadasi or are forced to do menial and polluting jobs like scavenging. And it is a sign of the longevity of this system that despite many a superficial changes due to the compulsions of modernity it has maintained the core of purity and pollution intact. Of late one is witness to the growing awareness about the plight of this section of society. Individual researchers, political-social formations as well as national-international institutions have come forward to document the present lifeworlds of the dalits in all its dimensions and present action plans to ameliorate their situation. The latest report submitted by the United Nations ’Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ’ presented in its seventieth session ( 19 February - 9 th March 2007) could be considered a classic case which has tremendous import for the policymakers as well as activists.

The following writeup does not intend to summarise what is being said in all the earlier reports nor does it want to reemphasise the ’hidden apartheid’ practised by the rest of the civil society towards the dalits, which has yet to make a radical rupture with the ideology of purity and pollution even in the wee hours of 21 st century.

One could say that one wants to take a dispassionate look at an emergent phenomenon in the lifeworlds of the dalits themselves. And it pertains to what is popularly understood as growing fascination of a section of the dalits towards Hindutva.

The genocide in Gujarat (2002) led by the organisations affiliated to the Sangh Parivar - which officially saw deaths of more than a thousand innocent people - has made us aware of this ’detour’ in the trajectory of the dalit movement. Close watchers of the dalit scenario who have seen militancy of this section on various issues of social concern ( may it be the street battles in Bombay between activists of the Dalit Panthers and the Shiv Sena in early 70s or their long drawn struggle to rename a university to commemorate Ambedkar’s contribution in the field of education) and their inbuilt hatred for the project for Brahminical fascism presented as Hindutva are baffled by the newfound bonhomie between forces of Hindutva and a section of Ambedkar’s own followers.

It is no less significant that this phenomenon of inversion of dalit consciousness and communalisation of the movement has occured / is occuring in the backdrop of the greater dalit assertion which had made its presence felt in the 90s - a phenomenon which has helped unleash the process of deepening and widening of democracy. It cannot be denied that wherever radical or democratic forces are strong, or dalits are a dominant partner in the political arithmetic, one finds that a large section of the dalit masses have aligned themselves with them and are engaged in struggles of dignity and livelihood and political power and seem to be aware of the designs of the Hindutva brigade. It has also been well documented that while a section of the thinking dalits has shown affinity towards the Hindutva project or preferred to side with the marauders of the Hindutva brigade during the genocide, a significant section among them decided to side with the minorities despite heavy odds and helped save them from the impending attacks. 1

[. . .]

FULL TEXT AT:

http://www.sacw.net/article544.html

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[7] India: Hindutva's Morality police in Karnataka

The Indian Express

January 27, 2009

Editorial

GIRLS, INTERRUPTED

Whether it takes place in Afghan wastelands, in Mangalore or in Margaret Atwood’s dystopian republic of Gilead, one thing is obvious: every form of religious coercion involves the regulation and control of female behaviour. In a disgraceful incident, around 20 members of the Sri Rama Sena, a stray sprout of the Bajrang Dal, barged into a pub called Amnesia in Mangalore and roughed up the young women drinking there — “in the interests of society”. “There are some activities going on here that spoil Hindu tradition. We’ve just shown our frustration at that assault on Indian tradition. We don’t like such indecent behaviour and tried to stop it,” said a spokesman.

At one level, these actions are sanctioned, and further encourage a latent puritanism, the kind that is deeply threatened by modernity and dark subversions like women enjoying alcohol. They also rouse a visceral disgust among normal freethinking citizens, and it is vital that events like this should emphatically demonstrate whose side the state is on. Some politicians have called it an intolerable “Talibanisation of India”, while others have been reluctant to even label the group “Hindu”. But whatever the credentials and motives of the organisation, they are undeniably part of the same phalanx of intolerance — one that plays politics with faith and culture, and instrumentalises beliefs for their own malign ends.

Any act of intimidation (even one as lowdown as a large group of men brutalising a few girls) ensures that these groups get on the national radar. As Raj Thackeray’s tactics in Mumbai have proven, swinging out wildly with your fists and picking on the most vulnerable is the unofficial route to political prominence.

Incidents of barbarity and violence have been steadily rising in Karnataka and elsewhere over the past few years. They range from raids on rave parties to churches being attacked and despoiled by these self-appointed keepers of the Hindu flame. This time, Karnataka appears to have taken this incident seriously, giving the police full authority to clamp down on the perpetrators. But unless we take every opportunity to bludgeon home the point that these tactics will not be tolerated, these incidents will continue to mar India. It is a clash between civilisation and bigotry, and the stakes run deep.

o o o

The Hindu

27 January 2009

‘WE WERE MOLESTED IN THE NAME OF GOD ’

by Sudipto Mondal

MANGALORE: “The entire scene has been playing out in my mind over and over again,” said a woman who was in ‘Amnesia,’ the pub that was attacked by a mob of Sri Ram Sene members on Saturday. She was sitting at the reception counter when the mob entered the compound and was witness to the incident from beginning to end.

She said that before barging into the pub, the mob went into a huddle and prayed silently. They then began raising slogans ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai,’ ‘Jai Sri Ram,’ ‘Bajrang Dal ki Jai’ and ‘Sri Ram Sene ki Jai.’

“We have been molested and humiliated in the name of God and country by people who obviously have no regard for either of the two,” she told The Hindu on Monday.

Around 4 p.m. on January 24, a group of over 40 people, wearing saffron headbands and scarves, came in through the main gate and approached the bouncer of the pub. “They asked to be let in so that they could get everybody out of the joint,” she said. Even as the bouncers negotiated with them at the entrance, the pub’s staff quickly closed the doors, and locked the woman and the bouncers outside.

Hearing the noise, a curious kitchen staffer opened the rear door to see what was happening. The mob seized this opportunity and barged in through the kitchen. The victim too followed the mob indoors through the back door. “Once inside, they went straight for the women guests. They rounded them up at the centre of the dance floor and then started beating them mercilessly,” she said. After the initial beating, some of the assailants began to single out some of them and molested them.

“One of them stripped a girl and groped her. She was also badly beaten up. We are still trying to trace her,” she said. According to her, several girls were targeted similarly. “They were laughing when they were doing all this. It was just fun for them,” she said. The attackers then targeted the men who dared come to the rescue of the girls. The narrator herself was slapped a few times.

What tormented her was the reaction of certain sections of the media. “They arrived on the scene even before the attackers did,” she said, and added, “there was no nude dancing or prostitution going on there as reported.”

She and a few other victims are now trying to form a support group of those who were attacked in the incident. “Some of the women are in shock because of the humiliation they had to face on television,” she said. “We are trying to get professional counsellors for the victims and for their families.”

Asserting her right to frequent the pub, she said, “We will also soon launch a protest on the streets to voice our opposition. We want to tell the world that we will not tolerate the growth of a Taliban-style group in this city.”

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[8] CULTURE

Opium and Empire

Historical Novelist Amitav Ghosh in conversation with Kwame Anthony Appiah on Ghosh’s new novel, Sea of Poppies

NEW YORK, December 15, 2008 - Great Britain's 19th-century opium trade, and its wide-ranging impact, became a central topic of conversation between novelist Amitav Ghosh and Princeton philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah when the two sat down together at Asia Society to discuss Ghosh’s new novel, Sea of Poppies. Short-listed for the Booker Prize, and the first volume of a projected trilogy, the novel is a sweeping historical epic following the voyage of the Ibis, a ship transporting Indian coolies, criminals, and opium to Mauritius in 1838.

Video (1 hr., 23 min.)

http://media.asiasociety.org/video/081215_amitav_ghosh_complete.flv

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[9] Announcements:

(i)

Join us at T2F's Science Ka Adda as we explore the Big Bang Machine

Date: 29th January 2009 | Time: 7:00 pm

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is the world's largest, most expensive science experiment, running through a 26-kilometer underground tunnel below pastures near Geneva, Switzerland. The experiment will collide two beams of protons - miniscule sub-atomic particles that are key building blocks of every atom - with the hope of creating never-before-seen particles that will give us a better understanding the fundamentals of matter, and how the universe worked in the first split second after the Big Bang.

Some say the experiment could destroy the planet, by creating tiny black holes that would swallow the planet from the inside out. But Mason Inman will explain why you shouldn't worry - and along the way, explain how it was built over the last 10 years, how smashing together particles allows physicists to understand the forces of nature and the universe's history, and what they hope to discover in these experiments.

No prior understanding of physics needed.

Mason Inman is a science journalist from the U.S., now based in Karachi. After getting his Bachelor's in physics, he went to journalism school, then later worked in the press office at CERN while the LHC was under construction. He writes regularly on physics, climate change, and more, for National Geographic News, New Scientist, Science, Nature, and other publications.

Date: Thursday, 29th January 2009

Time: 7:00 pm

Minimum Donation: Rs. 100

Venue: The Second Floor (T2F)

6-C, Prime Point Building, Phase 7, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA, Karachi

538-9273 | 0300-823-0276 | info@t2f.biz

Map: http://www.t2f.biz/location

Seats are limited and will be available on a 'first come, first served' basis. No reservations.

Other Events at T2F This Week

The Poet & The Pragmatist: A Conversation about Iqbal and Jinnah

Tuesday 27th January 2009 | 7:00 pm

Details: Hosted by Pakistan Citizen's Resolution - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110560885229

No Man's Land / Everybody's Land - Glaring in Defiance: 3 Days of Film Screenings Exploring Partitions

Friday 30th January - Sunday 1st February 2009

Details and Full Screening Schedule: http://www.t2f.biz/no-mans-land/

- - -

(ii)

INSAANIYAT INVITES YOU TO

“Terrorism and Democracy: resisting the cultural and legal backlash”

talks by

Vrinda Grover & Saeed Mirza

Lawyer and Human Rights Activist Writer and Film Director

Tough laws do not enhance peoples’ security, they only strengthen authoritarian tendencies in the State. The aftermath of the November terror strikes has seen a rapid recourse to draconian legislation based on a principle (Presumption of guilt at the threshold) which is contrary to international law. We are also seeing a concerted drive to impose a de facto ban on performers, literature, music, etc. from Pakistan. What can we do to resist such bigotry and cultural fascism?

Venue: Conference Room, The Press Club, Mumbai

Time and date : 6.00 – 8.00 p.m. Friday 30th January 2009

The meeting will be chaired by Mihir Desai

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

S o u t h A s i a C i t i z e n s W i r e

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on

matters of peace and democratisation in South

Asia. An offshoot of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not

necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

SACW | Jan 23-25, 2009 / Sri Lanka, Israel, India, Pakistan: The Cost of War

South Asia Citizens Wire | January 23-25, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2600 - Year 11 running

From: www.sacw.net

[1] Sri Lanka: Telling the truth about war (Savitri Hensman)

[2] Israel / Palestine / India: What about “Never again”? (Priyamvada Gopal)

[3] Pakistan - India: Peace activists initiatives

a) Month Long Joint Signature Campaign by Citizens of India and Pakistan Against Terrorism, War Posturing : reports

b) Pakistani Citizens Peace Caravan in Delhi: Media Reports

[4] India: India-Pakistan: Cost of war (Farrukh Saleem)

[5] US - India: India's Stealth Lobbying Against Holbrooke's Brief

[6] India's Milesovic and the BJP leadership crisis (Praful Bidwai)

[7] 10 Questions for Vinay Lal - Indian community in the U.S. and geopolitical events in South Asia (Ajay Singh)

[8] India- Karnataka: Messenger Shot, Bajrang Style (Sanjana)

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[1] Sri Lanka:

The Guardian,

19 January 2009

TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT WAR

Ethnic nationalism has a quasi-religious appeal, and in times of conflict the state may be treated as a god

by Savitri Hensman

Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.

So wrote Lasantha Wickramatunga, in a chillingly powerful editorial published after his death. The editor of the Sunday Leader, a vigorous critic of the Sri Lankan government, was gunned down in broad daylight in the capital, Colombo, on 8 January.

At times of war, journalists can come under enormous pressure not to report inconvenient truths. This comes in part from governments intent on appearing in a favourable light. For example, the Sri Lankan authorities have been keen to publicise the successes of their military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who have been battling for a separate state. They have been less willing for the cost of the conflict, and the plight of ordinary Tamils, to be exposed. Neither side has given priority to the safety and welfare of civilians, or seriously sought a political solution based on strengthening equality and regional democracy.

This is far removed from the image portrayed by state propaganda of heroic and victorious soldiers under a wise and virtuous government. The Israeli government, likewise, has been putting much effort into its media strategy, with considerable success, though a few journalists such as Uri Avnery continue to portray a different picture even within Israel. He has been harassed and physically attacked for his views.

But it is not only governments which press journalists to distort their coverage. Ethnic nationalism has a quasi-religious appeal to much of the public, and in times of conflict the state may be treated as a god, with government leaders its high priests. Critics are widely regarded as traitors, and treated as if they were blasphemers.

"Traitors like you, like your boss, play into the hands of terrorists," reads one response to a news report about an opposition MP who had dared to question the conduct of the war. According to an article published on LankaWeb in early January, "When the whole world has engaged in the 'war on terror', Sri Lankan brave armed forces have claimed the first great victory for the records [sic]. Within few weeks or couple of months Sri Lanka shall be cleaned from the menace of terrorism as the terrorists will be eliminated and the start of eliminating of other political traitors shall begin. Thank you Mr President Mahinda Rajapaksha, secretary of defence, commanders of the armed forces, police, all other security forces, institutions and all servicemen and women! May you all be protected and guided by the noble triple gem and all good guardian deities!"

Though God or the Buddha may be invoked by such "patriots", these would seem to serve as little more than mascots: it is the nation which must be worshipped and its leaders (or those who claim to defend its interests) obeyed. In the course of this, the usual ethical rules can be ignored.

Such an approach not only fuels violence but is also profoundly morally corrupting, undermining what is best in society, and undermining apparent victory.

As Uri Avnery warned, "War – every war – is the realm of lies ... The trouble is that propaganda is most convincing for the propagandist himself. And after you convince yourself that a lie is the truth and falsification reality, you can no longer make rational decisions."

"The free media serve as a mirror in which the public can see itself sans mascara and styling gel," wrote Lasantha Wickramatunga.

From us you learn the state of your nation, and especially its management by the people you elected to give your children a better future. Sometimes the image you see in that mirror is not a pleasant one. But while you may grumble in the privacy of your armchair, the journalists who hold the mirror up to you do so publicly and at great risk to themselves.

I hope my assassination will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration for those who survive to step up their efforts. Indeed, I hope that it will help galvanise forces that will usher in a new era of human liberty in our beloved motherland. I also hope it will open the eyes of your president to the fact that however many are slaughtered in the name of patriotism, the human spirit will endure and flourish.

Painful truths must be faced if people are to be free to thrive.

____

[2] Israel / Palestine / India:

Magazine / The Hindu

January 25, 2009

Faultline Between Borders

WHAT ABOUT “NEVER AGAIN”?

by Priyamvada Gopal

Israel’s ‘security’ agenda has seen the country come close to a tragic re-enactment of the policies of ethnic hatred and extermination that accounted for the suffering of its own people.

Several anguished Israeli voices have spoken up against the carnage being undertaken in their name.

Douse the fire: Will the ceasefire hold?

Some years back, a good-natured piece on SatireWire announced the birth of a new race, a Hindu-Jewish attempt to form ‘a super-religion to fight off the common Islamic enemy.’ Alas for the Hinjews, ‘no matter how many times they are reincarnated, can never please their mothers’!

Humour can can cut to the truth and, indeed, the ‘textbook alliance’ parodied here is one that has been advocated perfectly seriously and on precisely such questionable ideological terms. SatireWire’s pastiche of a cow wearing a yarmulke was scarcely more surreal than that picture of Ariel Sharon, general-turned-politician held to account by an Israeli commission for two infamous massacres, laying flowers on Gandhi’s samadhi. In 1992, an apparently ‘pragmatic’ security agenda prompted BJP-ruled India to restore full diplomatic relations with Israel (accompanied by vast arms purchases) after nearly 50 years of a principled stand against Israel’s expansionist occupation of Palestinian territories. We now hear distinctly spurious talk of special ‘cultural affinities’ between Judaism and Hinduism. Surely Judaism can hardly have less affinity with Islam, a religion with which it shares Semitic origins and languages, scriptural insights, prophets, dietary taboos and ritual practices?

Leaders like Gandhi and Nehru recognized Israel but also believed that an India emerging from under the colonial yoke could scarcely endorse the forced occupation of other lands and the exodus of thousands of its inhabitants to make way for European settlers. The 1948 formation of Israel on the British Mandate of Palestine was itself brokered by an Empire which had developed a habit of offering other people’s lands, including parts of East Africa, for the establishment of a Jewish homeland (which would conveniently excise Europe of her centuries-old Jewish presence).

To understand Palestinian sentiments, it is worth imagining what might have happened had India, also a British imperial possession, been offered to and accepted by Zionist leaders. What might our feelings be, not only if North India had been handed over for establishing the nation of Israel, but also, if after those borders had been drawn, the new entity proceeded, say, to take over parts of Gujarat and Bengal, as Israel did with the Golan Heights, Gaza and the West Bank in 1967? Would we, who still nurse the terrible wounds of our own Partition, be sanguine in the face of the loss of homes, livelihoods, farms, and orchards as we wandered for lifetimes as exiles in neighbouring countries or raised entire generations in refugee camps?

Rethink endorsements

To ask this is not for one moment to forget the terrors inflicted on the Jews of Europe, the horrific suffering that necessitated their own flight, their incalculable loss of homes and families. But having looked on as Israel pulverised Gaza into near nothingness, also killing hundreds of young children, we as a nation must rethink our now uncritical endorsement of Israel’s ‘security’ agenda. In the hands of an unscrupulous leadership, Israel has come close to a tragic re-enactment of the very policies of ethnic hatred and extermination that underlay the suffering of its own people. Even steadfastly neutral organisations like the Red Cross have now criticised Israel’s wilful violations of international law in the bloody collective punishment inflicted on civilians and aid organisations. By tacitly sanctioning a vengeance described by one appalled Israeli commentator as ‘an eye for an eyelash’, we are supporting an ethno-religious nationalism which, far from having ‘affinities’ with India, has nothing in common with our own proudly plural foundations. Israel is a state which officially elevates a single religion; India is not and we should resist every force that bends us in that direction, not least because we have seen the effects of that narrowness at our doorstep.

The unpalatable truth is that our new-found national friendship with Israel has not been based on solidarity with the historical suffering of Jews or on a real dialogue with Israeli people. We have come to it via the seductive allure of ‘War on Terror’ discourse which lumps all resistance to the practices of the U.S. and its Israeli satellite state (a status India should not covet) under the undifferentiated category of ‘terrorism’. While Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israeli civilian areas are reprehensible, their impact is fairly contained and is certainly not comparable to the indiscriminate brutalities of, say, al-Qaeda.

Where al-Qaeda’s leadership appropriates and perverts the rhetoric of liberation, Hamas’ credibility among Palestinians derives from its participation in a very real struggle against occupation in the face of near international isolation. Troubling though its Islamism might be, that too has to be understood in the context of an occupation that has been conducted in insistently ethnocratic terms touting the supremacy of the Jewish state.

This exemplifies the self-fulfilling prophecies of civilisational clash at the heart of the U.S.’s highly selective counter-terrorist rhetoric which not only fosters such damaging Islamism but guarantees that this narrow ideology finds support among ordinary people who otherwise have little to gain from it. At the end of the day, Palestine is not a Muslim issue — though often deemed so by both supporters and detractors — but a simple question of the right of a people to freedom from occupation.

While both countries are undermined by hawkish nationalists and religious zealots, Israel and India fortunately share powerful and humane dissident traditions. Several anguished Israeli voices have spoken up against the carnage being undertaken in their name. Like Hindus who refuse to concede Hinduism to the travesties of Hindutva, these Jews point out how Talmudic tenets of ‘truth, justice and peace’ have been debased by Israel’s leadership. Given their vastly lucrative trade ties, it is morally incumbent on India to use its leverage to bring Israel back from the war of extermination it is waging. The great number of decent people in both nations — and in ravaged Palestine — must now make common cause against hatred and violence. It is time to reaffirm and extend to all peoples, the world’s powerful post-Holocaust vow. ‘Never Again’ must not die, dishonoured, in Gaza.

The writer teaches in the Faculty of English at the University of Cambridge.

_____

[3] PAKISTAN - INDIA:

[Kudos to Peace activists for two recent efforts. First a (month long) joint Pakistan and India signature campaign aimed at a direct citizen involvement at a popular level launched on 9 January 2009 ; followed by second effort which took the form of a 3 day 'Peace Caravan' from Pakistan to India. see reports below]

A) JOINT SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN BY CITIZENS OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN AGAINST TERROR AND WAR

http://www.indopakcampaignagainstwarnterror.org

Joint Signature Campaign by Citizens of India and Pakistan against terrorism, war posturing and to promote cooperation and peace between India and Pakistan was launched on 9th January 2009 simultaneously from 22 cities in India and 17 cities in Pakistan.

Public Meetings and signatures on large banners are being organised on 22nd January 2009 in over 50 cities and towns of India and 20 cities and towns of Pakistan as part of the ongoing Joint Signature Campaign and in solidarity with a delegation of 20 peace activists from Pakistan that is visiting Delhi from 21-24 January 2009 to promote peace and goodwill between the two countries. The Joint Signature Campaign will conclude on 8th February 2009.

Large number of news papers in India and Pakistan and media in different countries like US, UK, Mexico, Middle East, Ghana, Thailand, South Korea, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and others covered the Launch.

Sign the Petition online at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/indopak/petition.html

More info from indopak.jointcampaign@gmail.com

o o o

[SELECTED MEDIA REPORTS ON JOINT SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN]

http://www.sacw.net/article476.html

The News International

January 18, 2009

[Karachi] City Council to also join in

By our correspondent

Karachi

War is not the solution of any problem and for durable peace one has to ultimately sit on the negotiating table, City Naib Nazim, Nasreen Jalil, said on Saturday.

She said that Pakistan was against terrorism in any form and Pakistani and Indian leaders should do their best to restore peace in the region. She said the members of the City Council Karachi were also ready to play their role in this regard.

She made these observations while talking to a delegation led by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) director Karamat Ali who called on her on Saturday.

PILER members Sharafat Ali and Zulfiqar Shah were also present. The PILER delegation apprised the Naib city Nazim about the signature campaign their organisation has launched to restore peace in the subcontinent. The delegation told her that the signature campaign commenced on January 9 simultaneously in different cities of Pakistan and India and would continue till February 8. They said that the aim of the signature campaign was to combat terrorism and discourage war and encourage peace. After the conclusion of the signature campaign, the documents would be presented to the prime ministers of Pakistan and India. Jalil also signed the document and assured that members of the Council would also sign it.

Talking to PILER delegation, Jalil said that Pakistan was facing many dangers and therefore it was necessary that all political parties and leaders set aside their differences and give priority to the security of Pakistan and consolidate stability in the country because at the moment Pakistan could not afford internal differences. She said that war was not in the interest of either country and all disputes should be resolved through negotiations.

o o o

Mail Today

January 10, 2009

Citizens launch campaign against ‘ war’

By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi

PEACE activists of India and Pakistan gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Friday to launch a joint signature campaign against the 26/ 11 terror attack. The signature campaign would continue until February 8 across both countries.

The activists demanded that the governments practise zero tolerance for religious extremism and terrorism in the interest of both nations. The speakers included Swami Agnivesh, chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission Kamal Faruqui, noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Pakistani trade unionist Karamat Ali, Mazhar Hussain, Kamla Bhasin, Alka Punj, Mala Bhandari and several other activists.

Welcoming Pakistan’s acceptance of the nationality of Mumbai gunman Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman aka Qasab, Faruqui said the country needed to shed its ostrich- like approach and fight terrorism, which was posing a major threat to it.

However, war is no solution, and the coming together of so many people of the two countries simultaneously vindicates the fact that citizens do not want war, he added.

Child rights activist Swami Agnivesh said the initiative was to showcase how many people on both sides wanted the crisis to be resolved peacefully — against the war rhetoric that has been building up since the Mumbai attack.

Ali said even though theoretical joint mechanisms existed between the two countries, implementation mechanisms were yet to be put in place. “ The common people on the two sides still have bread and butter issues to think of. If the sound of the war drums was real, common people like us would also have said the same,” Ali said.

The signature campaign was launched simultaneously in 21 Indian and 17 Pakistani cities. Besides Delhi, these cities include Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata and Chennai in India, and Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi in Pakistan.

The citizens joining the campaign demanded setting up of a joint action and investigative agency for cooperation on the issue of terrorism and strict adherence to the conventions and resolutions of the UN and SAARC on terrorism. The campaign will culminate with the signatures being submitted to the governments of both countries.

Mail Today

9 January 2009

DESPITE WAR HYSTERIA SOME CAMPAIGNERS HOPE FOR PEACE

By Swati Sharma in New Delhi

THE WAR hysteria on both sides of the subcontinental divide may be showing no signs of abatement, but some campaigners are working overtime to make the voice of the peace heard above the din. The Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy will launch a signature campaign on Friday for people who strongly oppose the idea of the two nations going to war but are serious about wiping out the menace of terrorism from the subcontinent.

And Karamat Ali, who is leading this campaign from Pakistan and is in New Delhi to drum up support, says the beginning must be made by Islamabad owning up to the fact that the perpetrators of 26/11 were from that country.

“There are vested interests in both countries who want the neighbours to be at war and don’t want the devil of terrorism to die,” said Ali, Pakistan’s leading trade unionist who is married to an Indian general’s daughter. “Among the dialogue wars and diplomatic offensives, no one has time to hear what common people want. People, both Indians and Pakistanis, want peace.”

Ali made a strong plea for a no-war pact between the two countries. “India and Pakistan should act as responsible members of SAARC. They should stop bickering and help each other in this moment of crisis,” he said.

A couple of months ago, Ali’s words would have found support. But post-26/11, the scene has changed dramatically. With evidence mounting against Pakistan’s role in the terror attack, and Islamabad remaining in denial mode, India can’t afford to appear friendly.

Responding to this argument, Ali said, “If the evidence proves the militants were from Pakistan, our government should own up to it and show its seriousness in the fight against terrorism.”

Ali, a founder-member of the Pakistan Peace Coalition, said Pakistanis also wanted that “the perpetrators of this heinous crime should be brought to book”. He said Islamabad was presenting a negative image of itself by calling these people non-state actors. “If we let the hardearned trust die so easily, it would mean victory for the jihadis. And we can’t let that happen,” he said.

The Pakistan-India Forum is working overtime to get people in 15 Indian and 20 Pakistani cities to sign an online petition, available at www.petitiononline. com/indopak/petition.ht ml. The petition, which urges the two governments to have zero tolerance for religious extremism, will be handed over to the presidents of India and Pakistan simultaneously on February 8.

o o o o o

B) MEDIA REPORTS ON THE THREE DAY PAKISTANI CITIZENS PEACE CARAVAN TO DELHI

Mail Today

January 24, 2009

‘ Renew peace process between India and Pak’

by Neha Tara Mehta in New Delhi

PAKISTANI civil society members concluded their three- day peace mission to India on Friday and issued a statement calling for renewal of the peace process under the aegis of South Asians for Human Rights.

“ Building peace is far more difficult than going to war,” said Asma Jahangir, the chairperson of Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission.

Exhorting the Pakistan government to extend all cooperation to India in the Mumbai attack investigation, Imtiaz Alam, executive director of the South Asian Free Media Association, said: “ Many ears in India are receiving our voice as the voice of their own hearts.” The delegation, which comprised 24 prominent civil society members from Pakistan, arrived in India on January 21, crossing the Wagah border on foot.

“ The main purpose of our visit was to tell the Indian establishment that the war hype will only strengthen the military and militants in Pakistan,” said Dr A. H. Nayyar, research fellow at Islamabad’s Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

“ We faced very harsh comments and angry, sometimes brutal, questions on our visit.

But we also noticed a readiness to listen to us and to take the dialogue process forward, which had been continuing till the day of the Mumbai attack,” said Nayyar.

Speaking about the visit of retired Pakistani soldiers to Mumbai as part of the India- Pakistan soldiers’ peace initiative in April 2008 — just months before 26/ 11 attack — Pakistani peace activist Brig ( retd) Rao Abid said: “ There is an urgent need for retired army officers of both countries to renew their contacts and work towards the common objective of civility, peace and mutual trust.” He added, “ India and Pakistan have to decide whether they wish to live as civilised neighbours or continue with their jingoism.”

Daily Times

January 23, 2009

Indian media plays mischief with Pak peace delegation

NEW DELHI: The Press Trust of India (PTI) – the official news agency of the Indian government – deliberately concocted a statement and put it on the wires, attributing it to a ‘Pakistani Peace Delegation’ visiting India these days, following a closed door conference between peace activists of both countries. “The statement attributed to a member of our delegation that the Pakistan Army had close links with the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba is mischievous, false and out of context,” said Imtiaz Alam, secretary general of SAFMA – who is accompanied by Asma Jahangir, chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in a 21-member delegation. “The conference was out of bounds for the media and PTI made up the story without even talking to any person in the delegation,” said Alam. “We condemn this malicious effort by the official organ of the Indian state to create misunderstandings and undermine the peace mission,” said an angry Jugnu Mohsin, managing editor of Friday Times, “we deny the remark completely”. The hostility of the Indian media was marked throughout the stay of the peace delegation even though Indian peace activists went out of their way to show solidarity to their friends from across the border, said the delegates. After a meeting with the Indian peace activists, Asma called for joint Indo-Pak efforts to counter terrorism. She commended the Indian government for acting with restraint, and said Pakistani political parties wanted peace with India. IK Gujral, former Indian prime minister, said the peace process should not be allowed to derail. staff report

Mail Today

January 23, 2009

Pak team in India with peace message

By Neha Tara Mehta in New Delhi

ATTEMPTING to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of 26/ 11, a visiting Pakistani delegation mixed soaring rhetoric with a generous dose of Faiz’s poetry at a public meeting organised by South Asians for Human Rights.

“ I have been asked whether our visit will make any difference. I am confident it will. When I had come to India many years ago, I was slapped by an Army captain. Now, I am served biscuits by the Colonel at the border. That’s how things have changed,” said Asma Jahangir, chair of the Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission, at the public meeting held in the Constitution Club.

“ We hear from the Indian media that there will be surgical strikes in Pakistan if a Mumbai (- like attack) happens again.

Pakistan is being destroyed by the Taliban.

Please tell your government not to become one with the Taliban and destroy Pakistan,” said Haji Muhammad Adeel, senator of the Awami National Party.

Slain Pakistan People’s Party ( PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto’s aide, Choudhry Manzoor Ahmed, said, “ The PPP lost our leader to terrorism. How can we support it in any way? We have come here to hear your voice. We need people’s forums between the two countries and speak in one voice at a time like this.” In the spirit of the occasion, Pakistani women’s rights activist Samina Bano Rahman gifted three cartons of sweaters knitted by poor Pakistani women for children in India to Abha Bhaiya of Jagori Grameen, an NGO. The dominant sentiment of the meeting was — it is possible to mend fences, despite Mumbai.

“ There’s a globalisation of terror and we need to fight it together. Unfortunately, there will be many Mumbais, many suicide bombings.

We need to be forewarned and fore- armed to deal with them,” said Said Imtiaz Alam, executive director of the South Asian Free Media Association.

“ After 26/ 11, advisories are being issued to Indians not to go to Pakistan. We assure you that you will get the same love and respect you always got in Pakistan.

We will take the bullets on ourselves, but not let them fall on you,” he added.

Former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral remembered his days in Pakistan, where he was born and thanked the Pakistanis for “ coming and sharing our grief with us”. Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt made a strong pitch for marginalising anti- Pakistan voices in India. “ When we don’t feed and clothe our children, are we going to rob morsels from our kids and buy bombs and attack our neighbour?”

THE HINDU January 23, 2009

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/23/stories/2009012350110100.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/23/images/2009012350110101.jpg

The Hindu 23 January 2009

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/23/stories/2009012360861200.htm

Activists launch India-Pakistan peace offensive

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: As the governments of India and Pakistan split hairs over Islamabad’s slackness in taking action against terror groups, it is civil society that ends up as the worst casualty. This was the refrain at the end of a daylong peace initiative set off in the capital on Thursday by people from both sides.

The “Aman Karwan,” meaning a caravan of peace that includes senators, civil rights activists and journalists from Pakistan, has reached India with a message of fostering peace and forging friendly ties.

“When India threatens us with surgical strikes where should we go and complain, who should we threaten? We are as much victims of terror, we have Taliban bombers razing schools to the ground, stopping our girls from going to school, we have children dying too,” said Haji Muhammed Adeel, Senator of the Awami National Party.

He said blaming Pakistan for terror attacks was easy, but the country had its own share of terror, which was not indigenous. “We have people from Sudan, Chechnya; we have Afghans, Uzbeks and Arabs, there maybe Indians and Bangladeshis too.”

Organised by South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) and the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA), the initiative, spread over two days, is aimed at bringing about a thaw in the strained relations between the neighbours. Delegates said the recent “upheaval” in bilateral relations called for increased involvement of civil society.

Earlier in the day, the Pakistani delegation took part in a closed-door, round-table discussion with a cross-section of Indian opinion makers including the former Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal; the former High Commissioner to Pakistan, G. Parthasarathy; and eminent journalist Kuldip Nayyar.

“Stop buying arms”

“If terrorism has no religion, it certainly has no country. If India has its share of mercenaries, Pakistan has its own insurgents. We need to stop purchasing arms, we need to stress friendly ties,” said social activist Swami Agnivesh at the public session.

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt also referred to the need for taking peace-building measures away from the confines of the bureaucracy and politics into the sphere of arts, culture and journalism.

The former member of the National Assembly and Pakistan People’s Party working committee member, Choudhry Manzoor Ahmed, echoed his views and said there was need to create pressure groups on both sides to ensure an end to the scourge of terrorism.

The former member of the Provincial Assembly and member of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Ali Haroon Shah, drew attention to the setbacks Pakistan’s development and progress faced because of the continued terror attacks. “Pakistan is a victim of suicide bombings, children are dying and people are suffering but as long as this malaise continues in Pakistan, India too will suffer.”

Making a passing reference to India’s stern messages to Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, Asma Jehangir, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, cautioned that war was not an option to end violence. She recalled the rejection faced by the people who spoke of peace between the two nations in the past. “I was slapped by a Captain in the army, I was abused for trying to bring a change in our relations, but today the same people are optimistic that there will be peace in the region.”

The former Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, appreciated the efforts made by the peace activists and said India rejoiced when Pakistan recently went to the polls and elected its government.

The 20 delegates from Pakistan earlier met Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan and apprised him of their mission, which, they asserted, was not punctuated by “briefs from anybody.”

The peace activists unequivocally criticised the Mumbai attacks and urged Indians to reciprocate their feelings. They pointed out that a peace accord between India and Pakistan was a critical means of securing peace and stability in South Asia.

o o o

newstrackindia.com

Pakistan peace mission to India emphasizes on unity against terrorism

New Delhi, Fri, 23 Jan 2009 ANI

New Delhi, Jan.23 (ANI): The peace mission from Pakistan led by Asma Jahangir, chairperson of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (PHRC) has emphasized on unity against the worldwide menace of terrorism.

Jahangir said both India and Pakistan are facing the same problem of terrorism and a war between the countries is not a solution to it.

"You and me both share the same thing; limited or unlimited, war or attacks are not the answer. We also agree that we have to live together. We are mindful of this fact that we can give you no assurances on behalf of our government neither would we want to," She said.

All the members of the peace delegation, which arrived here on Thursday (January 23), condemned unequivocally and unreservedly, the November 26 terrorist attack on Mumbai as the most heinous crime against innocent people.

Veteran Congress leader Karan Singh also met the delegates of the peace mission here.

He said the people of India want that the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attack are actually brought to book.

"They haven't done anything terribly dramatic so far except that they have arrested apparently quite a large number of people. They have banned some organisations but whether they have taken action against any specific person, I am not personally aware. One hopes that they will because it is only when the perpetrators of that crime are actually brought to book, are brought to trial, then there will be some feeling in India that justice is being done," Singh said.

The delegates of the mission will stay in India till January 24.

This is the first Peace Mission with political representatives of Pakistan visiting India after the November 26 Mumbai attacks last year.(ANI)

--

thaindian.com

We seek renewal of the peace process: Pakistani delegation

January 23rd, 2009 - 9:15 pm ICT by IANS

Barack ObamaNew Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS) Three days after they arrived in India with the message of peace, a Pakistani delegation led by noted human rights activist Asma Jahangir Friday said it’s time civil society here too asked questions about the slow progress of the peace talks between the two nations.While admitting that the Pakistan government has an obligation to play a key role not to derail the peace process between the two countries, which took a backseat after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, Jugnu Mohsin, journalist and a member of the delegation, said that it’s not enough to simply point fingers.

“We understand the Indian people’s emotion after what happened in Mumbai. But we have not been unaffected by it as well. It’s the same monster terrorizing both the nations. And the solution can be arrived at only by cooperation,” he said.

“I, therefore, urge the civil society and each one of you here to ask questions about the slow progress of the peace talks. Why is that during the eight years of Musharraf regime, and he was supposed to be India’s blue-eyed boy, not a single agreement was signed between the two countries?” Mohsin said at a press meet in the capital Friday.

While he said the delegation members do not represent the Pakistani government, they met various political leaders like Karan Singh, chairperson of the foreign affairs department of the Congress party, A.B.Bardhan, secretary general of the Communist Party of India, Mulayam Singh Yadav, president of the Samajwadi Party, and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.

And although the response from the political quarters here was “lukewarm”, the delegation said it is more important to ensure that the talks don’t stop.

“What we are calling for here today is a renewal of the peace process. War is never a solution because that will impact both the nations severely,” Asma Jahangir said.

“All that we can say is that we, as civil society, are going on pressurising our government to cooperate for fair investigation into the Mumbai attack. We do think that the government should have admitted that the lone surviving terrorist captured after 26/11 was a Pakistani national,” she added.

To US President Barack Obama’s remarks that Pakistan and Afghanistan are the epicentres of terrorism, Imtiaz Alam, another member of the delegation, said: “We have every interest in removing terror from our country. For this, we call upon cooperation from all the South Asian countries”.

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The News International

January 22, 2009

Peace mission to interact with Indian civil society

By Our Correspondent

LAHORE

A 24-MEMBER delegation of Pakistanis, under the banner of the South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) and the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma), crossed the Wagah border in a bid to defuse tension between India and Pakistan on Wednesday.

The delegates will interact with the civil society, the media and political leaders of India to stress the need for keeping the peace process going, fighting terrorism at all levels jointly and avoiding war in the best interests of the peoples of the sub-continent. The peace mission will explore the possibilities of reciprocation with the civil society of India.

According to a press release issued by Safma, the peace mission condemned the Mumbai attacks terming them heinous crimes against innocent people.

“We share the grief of the families of victims and the people of India whose friendship we cherish.

Unfortunately, this outrage has brought India and Pakistan to a dangerous crossroads and we hope we will not be diverted from the path of peace.

The two countries must not allow the terrorists to hijack the peace agenda and they must resume the composite dialogue process, and the sooner the better. War or even a state of suspended hostility between India and Pakistan will blight the whole region’s future,” the statement said.

The statement added India must eschew anger and engage in negotiations with Pakistan on the basis of verified facts of the Mumbai attacks. Whoever, planned the Mumbai carnage wanted to cause a conflict between both the neighbouring countries and prevent the Pakistan from securing peace in its north western region. “We appreciate the role of the international community in helping to defuse tension. It is important that both India and Pakistan accept a South Asian cooperative methodology to resolve inter-state disputes.

We must insist on evolving a SAARC mechanism for solving our common problems,” the statement said.

The Mumbai attacks should not threaten Indo-Pak relations rather they should compel South Asia nations to seek solutions to problems that were bound to become more trans-border, the statement said, adding that terrorism had engulfed Afghanistan, spread to Pakistan and its traces were visible in India too.

Instead of accusing each other of terrorism, the SAARC states must get together and discuss it as a common problem to form a strategy to fight against it.

To tackle terrorism, the method building high walls on borders and blocking communication to make the calamity stay on the other side of the border had not worked, the statement said, adding that SAARC countries should open up their borders to trade routes and transport networks allowing free movement of people, goods and information.

The statement said change in South Asia could not come through war and it must come through cooperation at bilateral and regional levels and SAARC must evolve regional mechanisms and institutions to collectively fight terrorism, cross-border crimes, smuggling, narcotics’ trade and evolve a judicial forum to prosecute terrorists and criminals.

The people must unite against terrorism and war and persuade their governments to forge unity against the common enemy

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Pakistani peace mission in India BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7845435.stm

Inter Press Service

PAKISTAN/INDIA: Women Beat Unorthodox Paths to Peace

By Beena Sarwar

KARACHI, Jan 24 (IPS) - As high-profile delegations from Pakistan visit India after the launch of a month-long cross-border signature campaign to press for resumption of dialogue between the two countries and call for peace, IPS interviewed three Pakistani women who are pushing this agenda in their own unorthodox ways.

Taranum Ilahi, a yoga teacher and Reiki master is asking Reiki colleagues and students to "send Reiki to help heal Pakistan and bring about peace with India," as she puts it. "I ask them to visualise people happy and smiling, with green fields around them, stretching out to shake hands across the border with Indians".

Reiki, a spiritual healing practice developed in Japan, 1922, is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flowing through people causes us to be alive. Although Reiki is most often administered using the palms to transfer healing energy, it can also be sent ‘long distance,’ says Ilahi.

She estimates that there are thousands of Reiki masters in Pakistan. Although Reiki is most often used as complementary and alternative medicine for all kinds of physical and mental ailments, "it can also be used to send positive energy to the world at large".

"Every night I send Reiki to Pakistanis, to Indians, and to the planet in general," she told IPS. "It’s great that the peace delegation is visiting India. We must all do what we can".

Relations between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed, have been tense since the November 26-29 terror attack in Mumbai which left 180 people dead.

India’s has blamed the attack on the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and demanded that its leaders be brought to Indian justice.

The Indian demand and Pakistan’s refusal to comply have been grist for the media in both countries to hype up hostility to a point where there has been talk of ‘surgical strikes’ on LeT camps by India and warnings of retaliation by Pakistan.

Many people cautioned Sheema Kermani, the well-known dancer and activist who runs the Tehrik-e-Niswan (Women’s Movement) theatre group against going to India to participate in the National School of Drama (NSD) festival, the Bharat Rang Mahotsav, earlier this month.

"At times like these it is all the more important to make the effort and go there, to show that artists and people like us bring goodwill and have the courage to fight these bad feelings," said Kermani.

She took a 17-member group to the festival, making the arduous 18-hour train journey to Lahore in near freezing night-time temperatures, crossing the Wagah border on foot and then taking a bus to New Delhi. Still, "it was a wonderful experience, we got a standing ovation, and so many people thanked us for coming".

Tehrik-e-Niswan performed the powerful ‘Jinnay Lahore Nahin Vekhiya’ (One who has Not Seen Lahore) on Jan. 11 in New Delhi. Written by the Indian playwright Asghar Wajahat, the play was made famous by iconic Indian theatre director Habib Tanvir when he first directed it in 1989.

The play is based in an old house in Lahore allotted to Muslim migrants from India after Independence and Partition in 1947. After the actual house-owner, an old Hindu woman, emerges and refuses to leave, the initially antagonistic family develops a relationship with her. Tension mounts when local goons try to whip up sentiment against the woman on the basis of her religion.

Tehrik first staged the play in November 2007 in Pakistan where audiences appreciated its relevance in terms of how certain sections of society continue to misuse religion for political purposes, giving rise to an increasing culture of intolerance.

The NSD had invited noted theatre director and actor Salman Shahid from Lahore with two plays, but his group was unable to make the trip "due to logistical and organisational problems rather than Indo-Pak tensions," NSD director Anuradha Kapoor told journalists.

Another woman-headed group from Lahore, Ajoka Theatre, run by the feisty Madeeha Gauhar, filled the gap with "Hotel Mohenjodaro", based on a prescient 1967 short story by the gifted Pakistani short story writer, the late Ghulam Abbas.

Abbas’ futuristic four-decade old story (written before the U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon) opens with a celebration at the fictional Hotel Mohenjodaro as Pakistan becomes the first country to send a man to the moon. Mullahs (Muslim priests) condemn the astronaut as a heretic and whip up a frenzy that topples the government.

They take over power and ban music, art, English, and modern inventions, destroy universities, schools and libraries and impose gender segregation. When their infighting leads to anarchy, a neighboring country invades. Years later, a tour guide points to the spot in a desert "where, before the enemy struck, stood the hotel Mohenjodaro with its 71 storeys."

Pakistani audiences who saw Ajoka’s adaptation of the story last year were struck by its relevance to the current situation, first with the Taliban in Afghanistan and now with such elements overrunning Pakistan’s northern areas and mirroring what the fictional mullahs of Abbas’ short story did in terms of brutalising society.

Reactionary elements here regularly accuse Kermani and Gauhar along with other theatre activists, of being ‘anti-national’ and ‘anti-religion’. In India too, their groups performed under threat from extremist elements there.

Kapoor told journalists that the NSD had received threats for including the Pakistani plays in its repertoire. Both groups decided to take the risk, performing under tight security "reminiscent of a visit by a head of state", as one journalist put it. "...Yet not a complaint could be heard" (‘Harmonies of dissonance at Bharat Rang Mahotsav’, Anjana Rajan, The Hindu, Jan. 16).

"I told her (Kapoor) that we receive many threats here in Pakistan too. We face them, and we are ready to face such threats in India. We cannot be deterred by them," said Gauhar.

"Not going would amount to giving in to the pressure by extremists on both sides," Kermani told IPS. "When there is a fight in the family, you stop talking to each other but then you come back and talk."

"India’s cricket tour of Pakistan may be off, but the presence of the two groups affirms that cultural dialogue has survived despite the current diplomatic freeze," wrote another reporter (‘Across the Border, Dipanita Nath, The Indian Express, Jan. 11).

However, the city government in Lucknow, where the Tehrik play was to be performed as part of the festival repertoire, said it could not guarantee security to the group. "Local elections are coming up, and they were jittery," shrugged Kermani, taking the cancellation in her stride. "But the Delhi experience was so wonderful that it’s okay we could not go to Lucknow."

In Lahore, another committed woman peace-maker is attempting to do her bit to counter hostilities between the South Asian neighbours.

Two days after the Mumbai attacks, Syeda Diep, who heads the Institute for Peace and Secular studies (www.peaceandsecularstudies.org) was among the 25-30 people who gathered in front of the Lahore Press Club to express solidarity with Mumbai.

"We held another slightly larger protest a few days later," says Diep, "and then a third which was better attended with maybe a hundred people."

The group held a meeting on Jan. 2, attended by a cross-section of society - teachers, journalists, activists, students and others - aimed at launching "a bigger front along the lines of the big anti-war groups elsewhere," said Diep. "Yes, they weren’t able to stop war, but they did raise a voice and make an impact on society, and today Obama is President."

The resulting Aman Tehreek (Peace Movement) describes itself as a broad-based citizens' alliance working for the restoration of peace and security in our troubled region. Their first event will be a peace rally on Jan. 31 in Lahore, Diep told IPS over the phone as she headed for an organisational meeting for the rally.

Already an Aman Karwan (Peace Caravan), consisting of leading politicians, civil rights activists and journalists from Pakistan, is in India shoring up ties between the two countries.

Meeting over Thursday and Friday members of the 20-member delegation emphasised that Pakistan was as much a victim of terrorism as India. ‘’We are seeing the Taliban demolishing schools and preventing our girls from going to school. Who do we turn to?’’ said Haji Muhammed Adeel, a leader of the Awami National Party.

Asma Jehangir, chairperson of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, spoke of the difficulties faced by people trying to build peace. ‘’I have been slapped by an army officer and abused for trying to bring about peace between the two nations,’’ she told Ranjit Devraj, IPS correspondent in New Delhi.

Organised by South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) and the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA), members of the Peace Caravan hope to soothe relations between the neighbours, strained by the Mumbai attacks through increased civil society engagement.

"The peace delegations to India are very positive steps," Diep said. "But we want people from India to come to Pakistan too, and join us to condemn the media for its very negative role in fanning hostilities,’’ she said.

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[4] Pakistan India:

The News, January 25, 2009

COST OF WAR

by Dr Farrukh Saleem

We are 6.7 billion. Of the 6.7 billion, 1.2 billion are extremely poor (at or below $1 a day). Of the 1.2 billion extremely poor citizens of the world, some 550 million live in India and Pakistan combined. Wow; India and Pakistan are home to half of the world's population that lives at or below $1 a day. The single largest chunk of extremely poor human beings lives in India --some 500 million. Should India and Pakistan be fighting each other or fighting poverty together?

Pakistan's newly elected civil administration, on a marathon begging expedition, begged Saudi Arabia, urged China and pleaded with the Sheikhdoms for a billion dollar donation. We begged, urged and pleaded but to no avail. If it wasn't for General David Petraeus, the 10th Commander of the U.S. Central Command, we couldn't have qualified for an IMF handout. On November 24, IMF Executive Board approved the release of $3.1 billion. Then came 26/11. Do you know the cost of a 100-hour war with India? Answer: Some $3 billion to $5 billion.

India and Pakistan have been fighting the Siachen War--the highest battlefield on the face of the planet--for the past 25 years. Pakistan has some 3,000 troops and around 150 manned posts. The War has already consumed 1,025 Indian and 1,344 Pakistani lives--and that too mostly from frost bites and avalanches (very few casualties from enemy fire). Pakistan and India each spend an estimated $200 million to $300 million per year on Siachen. How much have India and Pakistan spent on the Siachen War so far? Answer: An estimated $10 billion. What was Pakistan's budgetary allocation for education? Answer: $300 million.

Look at all the money gone down the drain during the Kargil War: A strike fighter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) takes off from Awantipur AFS and returns after dropping its bomb-load. The cost of the return trip: $1.1 million. And, there were a total of 350 air-sorties for an accumulated expenditure of $416 million. The cost of the army operation was estimated at an additional $2 billion.

Imagine; 44 percent of India 's population lives at or below $1 a day. What is India's defence expenditure? Answer: $25 billion a year. At the same time, 31 percent of Pakistan's population lives at or below $1 a day and Pakistan spends a colossal $4 billion every year in buying and maintaining killing machines. Should India and Pakistan be fighting each other or fighting poverty together? At least 77 million Pakistanis are food insecure. And, Pak Army buys a roti for Rs10 and then spends an additional Rs75 in transporting that roti to feed soldiers fighting in Siachen.

Imagine India's annual trade deficit is a mind-boggling $100 billion. To be certain, India is heavily dependent on foreign investment in order to bridge its trade deficit but General Deepak Kapoor, India's 23rd Chief of Army Staff, continues to fuel war hysteria. In Pakistan, the de jure Chief Justice is campaigning for reinstatement while Pakistan insists that the suspects of the Mumbai tragedy will be tried in Pakistani courts.

On 13 December 2001, five terrorists managed to enter the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha and undertook indiscriminate shooting, killing five policemen, a security guard and a gardener. India ordered Operation Parakram, mobilizing and deploying troops along the international border as well as the Line of Control. Pakistan followed suit. Cost incurred by India: Rs65 billion (deployment and withdrawal). Cost incurred by Pakistan: $1.4 billion (deployment and withdrawal).

How long well India and Pakistan continue to beg, borrow and steal to fight each other? Guns or butter? Schools or bullets? Tanks or hospitals? Gunpowder or milkpowder?

The writer is the executive director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).

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[5] INDIA - US:

INDIA'S STEALTH LOBBYING AGAINST HOLBROOKE'S BRIEF

Fri, 01/23/2009 - 7:12pm

Foreign Policy

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/01/23/india_s_stealth_lobbying_against_holbrooke

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[6] INDIA:

The News

January 24, 2009

MODI’S LIES AND THE BJP LEADERSHIP CRISIS

by Praful Bidwai

It’s nauseating that some of India’s topmost businessmen have stooped to orchestrating a campaign to make Gujarat’s Narendra Milosevic Modi India’s Prime Minister. Barely two months ago, businessmen had made Modi their poster-boy at the opening of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit. They included the Ambani brothers, Adi and Jamshyd Godrej, and many others.

At the Summit’s conclusion last fortnight, Ratan Tata led corporate honchos in lavishing praise upon Modi: “Under Mr Modi’s leadership, Gujarat is head and shoulders above any [other] state.” A state normally takes 90 to 180 days to clear a new plant but, gushed Tata, the Nano car project got its “approval in just two days.’’

One might wonder about the rationality of this speed which isn’t enough even to evaluate a project’s fiscal, land-use or environmental implications. However, that didn’t prevent Tata from famously hugging Modi, or Anil Ambani and Sunil Mittal from declaring him India’s future Prime Minister who would run the nation like a corporate CEO.

The sell-Modi campaign has nothing to do with Gujarat’s development record, but is explained by three factors. Indian businessmen, faced with a domestic and global economic slowdown, feel insecure, and crave for order, authoritarianism, protection via blatantly partisan bailouts and brazenly pro-business policies of the Modi variety. Second, they are lured by the Modi-Tata Nano model of government-business collusion. That model means subsidies on a Rs 2,000-crore investment totalling Rs 30,000 crores over 20 years, including a Rs 9,750-crore loan at 0.1% interest, exemption from 15% VAT, stamp-duty waiver and subsidised land. The subsidies work out to an astounding 60% of the car’s promised price of Rs 100,000! This is not capitalism, but predatory risk-averse feudal jagirdari. Third, there has been a massive degeneration in Indian business culture since neoliberal policies were launched in 1991. Pampered businessmen exploit their political connections to profiteer and loot the exchequer criminally, as Satyam and other recent scams illustrate.

In candid self-reflection, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, says that liberalisation hasn’t produced “a new type” of entrepreneur with “good corporate governance and honesty…Actually, the reverse is true… increased opportunities and … political influence … on the creation of wealth [have] created more greed and far too many corporates [who cheat]. This is the ugly side of liberalisation”, attributable to weak enforcement of “deliberately ambiguous” regulation. India’s greedy, profit-obsessed Big Business is now whitewashing the butchery of 2000 Muslims over which Modi presided in 2002 and is sanctifying his communal authoritarianism and contempt for the rule of law.

What of Modi’s claims about Gujarat’s stellar development? Gujarat attracts investment not because of its dynamic policies but a historical accident--business invested there early on and it has a fairly developed infrastructure. But now, it lags behind Orissa and Andhra in investment.

Contrary to Modi’s claim that 61% of investment promises were implemented between 2003 and 2007, Gujarat’s Industries Commissioner has revealed that only 21% were so translated. Gujarat’s industries aren’t doing well. Diamond workers are committing suicide and their children are dropping out of school. In the past year, over 60,000 small and medium enterprises have shut down. Gujarat has higher per capita debt than UP or Bihar. Agrarian distress has driven hundreds of farmers to suicide. In social sector spending as a proportion of public expenditure, Gujarat ranks a lowly 19 among India’s 21 major states.

As its official Human Development Report (2004) points out, “Gujarat has reached only 48 percent of the goals set for human development”. Its human development ranks have fallen in recent years. Although it’s Number 4 among all states in per capita income, it has fallen to Number 6 in education, Number 9 in health, and Number 12 in participation.

According to the National Family Health Survey, child malnutrition incidence in Gujarat is 47%, higher than the national average. Its proportion of stunted children under 3 years is 42%. An alarming 80% of Gujarati children between 6 and 35 months are anaemic. Gujarat has seen a steady decline in learning indicators. Only 59.6% of its rural children (Class 3-5) can read Class 1-level text (all-India average, 66.6). Only 43.1% could do subtraction (national average, 54.9). Gujarat similarly lags behind in the percentage of children who can recognise numbers, tell the time or do currency tasks. Gujarat is frighteningly patriarchal. Its female-male sex-ratio is an abysmal 487:1000 in the 0-4 age-group and 571 in the 5-9 group (national averages, 515 and 632). Gujarat’s health indices are barely higher than Orissa’s, HDR co-author Darshini Mahadevia told me.

According to environmentalist Rohit Prajapati and economist Trupti Shah, some 5 million livelihoods have been lost in Gujarat owing to water-related, mining and industrial projects--a very high 10% of the population. Gujarat has India’s highest number of pollution “hot spots”. Groundwater is contaminated in 74 out of its 184 tehsils with salinity, chlorides, heavy metals, and persistent organic pollutants. The industries that have flourished the most in Gujarat are all highly hazardous: poisonous chemicals--Vapi is the world’s fourth most toxic hub--, textile dyeing, shipbreaking, and diamond polishing. In Gujarat, labour rights are virtually nonexistent. On minimum wages, it ranks eighth among Indian states.

This, then, is the story of Modi’s “dynamic leadership”. Big Business’s clamour to make him the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial nominee badly rattled LK Advani. Modi had to clarify that Advani would be the candidate. But the controversy has strengthened Modi’s claim to be Advani’s political successor--the undisputed Number Two in the BJP.

Modi’s clarification hasn’t fully settled the BJP’s leadership issue. Former Vice President of India Bhairon Singh Shekhawat says he wants to contest the next Lok Sabha election--in violation of the convention that constitutional office-holders shouldn’t return to competitive politics. Shekhawat has let it be known that being 5 years older than Advani, he considers himself his senior.

Even if Shekhawat stands down, the disquiet his move has generated is bound to further affect the BJP’s morale. As will the resignation of Kalyan Singh, which deprives the party of its pre-eminent OBC leader in the Hindi heartland. This is liable to hit BJP in the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh in which Singh’s Lodh caste matters.

The BJP was extremely upbeat politically a year ago, but finds itself on the defensive after the Assembly election defeats in Rajasthan and Delhi. The National Democratic Alliance, which once boasted of 24 member-parties, is now down to just 7 members, 3 of them small. The BJP’s most important ally, the Janata Dal (United), has distanced itself from it on issues of communalism, the Hindutva terror network centred on Pragya Singh and Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, and the new National Investigation Agency Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act. The BJP’s crisis of strategy is compounded by the fact that the RSS has tightened its grip on its organisation just when the party thinks it must give the appearance of moderation and inclusiveness, rather than Hindutva extremism. This is the right moment for the secular parties to take on the BJP--if only they could muster the will and the strategy.

The writer, a former newspaper editor, is a researcher and peace and human-rights activist based in Delhi. Email: prafulbidwai1@yahoo.co.in

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[7] INDIA / US

22 January 2009

10 QUESTIONS FOR VINAY LAL

Going by the title of a witty and insightful book by Vinay Lal, associate professor of history, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and U.S. Surgeon General-designate Sanjay Gupta are among "The Other Indians," distinct in many ways not just from native Americans but also from India's 1 billion people. Lal's book was recently published by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press and HarperCollins (India). Here, he discusses the Indian community in the U.S. and geopolitical events in South Asia.

UCLA Today

By Ajay Singh

How do you think Barack Obama's presidency will shape U.S. relations with India?

There is a feeling among Indian elites that the Obama presidency may not be as much in India's interest as the Bush presidency. Even though there are people who are delighted over the prospect that Obama would get tougher on Pakistan, they nonetheless fear that any escalation in Pakistan and Afghanistan would have repercussions on India. Obama's promise to keep more jobs in America has also unsettled outsourcing businesses in India.

The Other Indians

What were the recent attacks in Mumbai about?

Mumbai 2008 clearly had geopolitical ramifications. It wasn't just about the injustices against Muslims in India, but also about the global status of the 'war on terror,' disputes within Islam and the ascendency of terrorism movements. Pakistan's drumbeat is that the rest of the world is hounding us and we need to put all our options on the table. It has said it's willing to engage in conflict, if necessary, with India.

India's options?

It can attack terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. But these are likely to be have been emptied out by then. Anything India does, by the way, is in consultation with the U.S. Thankfully, India does not have the prerogative of shock and awe.

But it aspires to become a superpower.

India's a long distance from being a superpower. A very clear sign of that is the fact that it must consult the U.S. before launching a military strike against Pakistan. There's a lot of talk, some of which the rest of the world has accepted, about 'India shining'. But it's also in serious distress: 80 percent of its population lives on an absolute pittance – roughly a dollar a day.

Is India's superpower potential largely a media myth?

That's part of it, but the desire to become a superpower is also part of the aspirations of the middle class. It sees the kind of status that people of Indian origin enjoy in the U.S. and Britain, and that creates an aspiration to see India on a standing that they think an ancient civilization deserves.

China has made a very conscious decision to pursue superpower status. Does India know what it wants to be?

There's always been an ambivalence in India. Part of it has to do with the legacy of Indian traditions, which, however materialistic, have also urged people to think about the fact that the ultimate human condition is not about material progress but about the dignity of human life and sound human relationships. I think China has had to barter its soul to achieve what it wants to achieve. In India, there is still some degree of resistance.

Indians in the U.S. are not particularly known for assimilating. Are there demerits to this?

I'm not in favor of assimilation, by which I mean not that a group should make an effort to stand out and play identity politics, but that there should be no moral onus on any ethnic group to assimilate with the dominant mainstream.

How do the 'other Indians' you write about differ from their subcontinental brethren?

For one thing, you find larger support for Hindu nationalism in the U.S. than you do in India. In contrast, one of the most phenomenal stories of Indian politics is the rise of the lower classes through very unlikely electoral alliances between upper-caste and lower-caste parties. The majority of Indians in India are politically active. Among Indians here, there is relatively little political involvement. Maybe the Obama presidency will change that, or has already changed that, given how various ethnic groups and the young voted in the recent election.

Do you think the worst consequences of Hindu nationalism are over, given that Hindu nationalists have failed to capture outright power in India?

A lot will depend on how things will play out in South Asia over the next two or three years. Obama has pledged to escalate the war in Afghanistan. I think that's a complete folly. Afghanistan has been a quagmire for every foreign contingent that has gone there in the last 200 years. You also have to consider Pakistan. In the recent attacks in Mumbai, there is evidence of Pakistan's complicity. When things of this kind happen, Hindu nationalists play upon it. Of course, they are projecting, as Bush did in the U.S., that any assault on India has to be met with force.

Do you think the old cliché about South Asia being a potential nuclear flashpoint has become more alarming than ever?

A famous political scientist, Selig Harrison, wrote a book nearly 50 years ago, titled "India: The Most Dangerous Decades." What dangerous decades was he talking about? The next 10 years, 20 years, 30 years? There's also the cliché that India is going to fall apart. The British advanced it for a long time. Much of this talk isn't persuasive. On the other hand, you can't minimize the fact that South Asia has two nuclear-armed states and the arsenals could fall into the wrong hands. There are people who are willing to barter nuclear arms, crazy enough to take the risks.

UCLA International Institute

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[8] India - Karnataka:

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 3, Dated Jan 24, 2009

MESSENGER SHOT, BAJRANG STYLE

The arrest of an editor in Karnataka highlights the problems of the media, reports SANJANA

ON JANUARY 6, 2009 in a scene straight out of a 1970s Bollywood movie, six police vans chased down the car in which the chairman and director of Chitra Publications, BV Seetaram, and his wife were travelling in Udupi district, Karnataka. Seetaram stepped out to face a posse of 25 policemen seeking to arrest him in a two-year-old defamation suit against him. It is ironic that the policemen had forgotten to bring along the arrest warrant.

Chitra Publications publishes three newspapers, including the controversial Kannada news daily, Karavali Ale. A popular read in the coastal districts of Karnataka, the newspaper claims 40,000 subscribers and over two lakh readers.

Shocking treatment The police arrested Seetaram as they would a hardened criminal

A day after his arrest, Seetaram was produced before the court of the Judicial Magistrate (First Class) in Udupi — handcuffed to an iron chain and escorted by several policemen wielding automatic rifles. Citing a serious threat to his life from the police and the state government, he refused to apply for bail but changed his mind after being moved to Mysore.

Seetaram’s arrest follows nearly two months of sustained attacks against his newspaper clearly aimed at disrupting Karavali Ale’s circulation. On November 17, the newspaper’s printing press in Mangalore was attacked and a constable on duty sustained injuries. Weeks later, distribution vans were intercepted and over 5,000 copies of the paper burnt. Hawkers and shops selling or stocking it were ransacked. Though complaints were filed and cases registered, no arrests have been forthcoming — something that hardly surprises the editor.

Seetaram has consistently held Bajrang Dal activists responsible for the attacks — he says they are incensed by his open criticism of their role in the attacks on churches in and around Mangalore in 2008. Seetaram’s accusation of the Bajrang Dal has hardly been refuted. The Bajrang Dal’s Dakshina Kannada district convenor, Vinay Shetty, while talking to TEHELKA, indicated support for the attacks against Karavali Ale. “If people are angry, they will react. He (Seetaram) attacks Hindu, Christian and Muslim religious leaders; people from the community will come forward to defend their leaders.” Days after a series of articles in his newspaper accusing the Sangh Parivar of playing a fascist role in the coastal region, Seetaram was arrested in a defamation suit filed against him in July 2007.

Bhoja Shetty, a resident of Udupi, filed the defamation charge against Seetaram alleging that the editor had blackmailed Shetty for a sum of Rs 1 lakh. Shetty states that when he refused to give in, the editor portrayed him as a rapist in his newspaper even though the charges were unsubstantiated.

IN YET another incident in 2007, cases were filed against Seetaram after he carried a series of provocative articles against Jainism and the Jain community. Seetaram had questioned the decision of a popular Jain saint to participate in public processions in the nude. He had argued that religious sanction had to make way for the demands of public morality, especially since there was a law

against nudity in India. The language and the tenor of the articles had led to his arrest following cases filed from an irate Jain community. “On several occasions, we ourselves don’t agree with the way our articles are presented. There is unstated yet clear pressure to meet a mark that has been set. Crime sells. Sensationalism sells,” says a local Karavali Ale reporter on condition of anonymity.

Questions about Seetaram’s brand of journalism notwithstanding, the sequence of events and his handcuffing have sparked outrage amongst journalists and editors across Karnataka and elsewhere. Protests and statements of condemnation against the highhandedness of the police, the political manoeuvring behind the timing of the arrest and the attacks against Karavali Ale continue to pour in.

The International Federation of Journalists, the Editors’ Guild of India, the Delhi Union of Journalists and several journalists’ representation bodies within Karnataka have called the incident a clear threat to the democratic right to a free press. The Editors’ Guild of India has called for the repeal of criminal defamation provisions in the Indian Penal Code saying these provisions force editors to make long journeys to courts in small towns and have become instruments of harassment misused by influential persons.

The BJP Government and the police have, however, denied the claim that Seetaram has been targeted for his anti-communal stance. In statements issued soon as condemnations of the arrest began pouring in, both the Inspector General of Police (Western Range) AM Prasad (Udupi and Mangalore fall under his command) as well as VS Acharya, the Home Minister, denied unfair treatment. Delays in acting on Seetaram’s complaints of attacks against his publication are attributed baldly to “time required to complete due processes of investigation.”

These denials aside, there are other instances which suggest that the BJP Government and the police are unfairly supporting proponents of the Hindutva ideology. No action has been taken in two separate complaints lodged in Mangalore against a Kannada daily, Vijaya Karnataka. The complaints were filed by PB D’Sa, president of the Dakshina Kannada Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties and James Louis of the Bharathiya Crista Seva Sanghatane against a rightwing Kannada author, SL Byrappa, Vijaya Karnataka columnist Pratap Simha, and the editors and publishers of Vijaya Karnataka. Both D’Sa and Louis alleged that the articles were highly provocative and defended the attacks on the Christian community.

In the communalised atmosphere that has descended on Mangalore and the coastal districts, the fact that Seetaram was arrested and sternly treated while no action has been taken against the right-wing press is significant. Media responsibility and freedom of the press appear to be separated in Karnataka.

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S o u t h A s i a C i t i z e n s W i r e

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on

matters of peace and democratisation in South

Asia. An offshoot of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not

necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

SACW | Jan 18-22 , 2009 / Fascist Takeover Swat / Voices for Peace / Hindutva group planned takeover

South Asia Citizens Wire | January 18-22, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2599 - Year 11 running

From: www.sacw.net

[1] Pakistan: The looming shadow of fascists

- Pakistan: For Whom Will ’Gul Nargis’ Bloom This Spring in The Swat Valley (Shaheen Sardar Ali)

- Petition to: Stop the Carnage in Swat and FATA / Stop the Taliban from Ending Girls Education (Child Rights Movement)

- Petition Against continuing violence in Swat and Taliban’s closure of girls’ schools (Aryana Institute for Regional Research & Advocacy)

[2] Pakistan in Peril (William Dalrymple) + Podcast

[3] Sri Lanka: SOS - Agonising Cry of the People of Wanni

[4] India - Pakistan: Go Tell The Hawks To Make Love Not Make War Noise !!

- Despite War Hysteria Some Campaigners Hope For Peace (Swati Sharma)

- Citizens launch campaign against ‘ war’

- ’Good Cop, Bad Cop’ Approach to Pakistan (Praful Bidwai)

- If winter comes, can spring be far behind? Ask the peace caravan (Jawed Naqvi)

- Pakistan ‘peace’ team coming today

[5] India: RAND study of the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008

[6] India - Bangladesh: Ministerial Visage - dont blow the chance to rebuild a relationship with Bangladesh (Ashok Mitra)

[7] India's 'Om Made' Taliban:

‘Hindutva terrorists’ wanted a Taliban- like overrun by 2024 (Krishna Kumar)

About the Malegaon 11 and the charges against them

How Hindutva Terrorists Operate in Karnataka (Subhash Gatade)

The decadal growth of the Sangh Parivar in Orissa

Hindutva operation in the US objects to Michael Wood's 2007 documentary 'The Story of India'

[8] Indian Business Elites Have No Qualms Sucking Up To Hindutva's Hero

- At the margins of competence (Shiv Visvanathan)

- Invoking India’s Fuhrer - Industrialists call for Modi to be the Prime Minister (Ram Puniyani)

[9] Announcements:

(i) Stop the Bloodshed: An Exhibition of Gaza Protest Posters (Karachi, 21 January 2009 onwards)

(ii) National Convention on Communal Harmony (Ayodhya, 30-31 January 2009)

(iii) A Future For Ahimsa - A Panel Discussion & Music Recital (New Delhi, 30 January 2009)

(iv) Peace Rally (Lahore, January 31, 2009)

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[1] [PAKISTAN: THE LOOMING SHADOW OF FASCISTS

Democrats, liberals, secularists from the world over should stand up in solidarity for the people of Swat Valley, facing a near total takeover by the Taliban; Now adjacent valley of Peshawar of NWFP where the voice of Frontier Gandhi 'Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan' once echoed is also under grave threat. Hundreds of schools have been blown up and education of girls is banned, thousands have been displaced. Slaughter in the name of religion has already taken a huge toll in the region. More mayhem will follow and spread, unless the world supports every one in Pakistan who is actively opposing the steady advance of forces of barbarism. The schools need rebuilding, the refugees need assistance. The local secular democrats need protection, the school teachers, the local govt officials need support. Progressive and liberal voices across Pakistan are speaking up, they need all the support and solidarity to build a mass movement (similar to the powerful upsurge of opinion that mobilised for democratic rights in the very recent past) to discredit and criminalise the fascists forces undermining the region. Progressive, secular voices must strengthen links across borders across South Asia against fundamentalist forces in the region, we cant fight these battles alone. --sacw ]

o o o

sacw.net, 17 January 2009

http://www.sacw.net/article512.html

PAKISTAN: FOR WHOM WILL ’GUL NARGIS’ BLOOM THIS SPRING IN THE SWAT VALLEY

by Shaheen Sardar Ali

Dedicated to the Girls of Swat who may never go to school again! from their sister who was fortunate enough to be educated

Excerpts:

Today, the 15th January 2009 civilisation, democracy, human rights, rule of law, equality, justice and equity stand defeated. Today, the Government and people of Pakistan have succumbed to a disparate group of faceless, semi-invisible individuals hiding behind an opaque mask of religion and declared all girls’ education as outside the pale of Islam. ’Iqra’[Read], a mandatory injunction in the Qur’an for every Muslim male and female, has been reduced to a meaningless word trampled under the feet of worldly gods speaking in God’s name. The great and glorious of the state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, in a state of complete denial whine and whimper as the state recedes under their very eyes…………….. For today, the parallel ’taliban’ the only government with any writ in Swat has declared all girls’ schools closed forever.

But who cares for the Swat Pukhtuns from the back of beyond. Let them shut down girls’ schools and chop up heads, hang them from poles and tree tops. After all, Islamabad is thriving, we have a democratically elected President, Prime Minister and Parliament. Swat and FATA are very far away and only become significant when foreign masters are in town and demand action. After agonising, weeping, brooding and making angry conversations with whoever cared to listen, I decided to share these thoughts with anyone who may wish to read and capture the tormented soul of a Swati woman sitting continents away from her beloved homeland. Is the pain greater when one is far away from home and loved ones. Does everyone living in the ’diaspora’ experience a sinking feeling at the sound of a ringing telephone in the early hours of the morning, fearing some horrible news awaiting at the other end of the telephone. Does everyone sit glued to the television set in the anxious hope of more news of Swat, FATA and the country.

[ . . . ]

At about this time of year, in a few weeks perhaps, when the sun starts shining with a bit more courage and looks down on this icy cold valley, the gulai-nargis [narcissus] and ghaantol [wild tulips] will take heart and peep out of the muddy soil on the slopes of the adjoining mountains. Scores of women will be awaiting these first signs of the turning weather in the hope that they can go saaba-picking [edible green clover leaves, chives and a host of other saag type vegetation which is the staple food of most of the population]. Travellers along the road from Mingora towards Peshawar will find the familiar sight of young boys and girls holding up bouquets of narcissus and wild tulips for sale.

That is how I remember life growing up as a young girl in the Swat valley. My husband went to a co-education school in the town and his female classmates are grandmothers now. Sixty years ago in Swat, girls and boys went to primary school together; secondary and higher secondary schools for girls were full to the brim from where hundreds of young women ventured forth to the colleges and university if Peshawar and beyond. My induction as the first woman cabinet minister in the NWFP government in 1999 was widely hailed and men and women alike shared in what they saw as a collective pride and recognition of one of their own.

So when, why and how did the present nightmare unfold for us unfortunate Swatis. When did this serene, hospitable valley get chosen as the venue of game playing individuals and groups, local, national, regional and international. What was/is the game plan, input and output and what is the desired result that perpetrators of the scheme aspire to achieve. Why choose Swat as opposed to adjoining territories with less accessibility to the outside world and governmental infrastructure. How true is it that so-called militant religious extremists are entirely responsible for all the horror, terror, death and destruction of Swat and Swatis and so-called ’progressive’ democratically elected government is innocent and beyond reproach. How true is it seeds of the present situation were sown by institutions responsible for upholding and protecting the national interest in 1994 when Sufi Mohammad took Swat and the entire governmental machinery hostage. The ’black turbans’, as they were called simply emerged as if from nowhere and before anyone could take a deep breath, had spread themselves across the valley. The government of the time gave them some crumbs in the form of the Nizam-i-adl regulation 1994, re-named judges and courts by using the names Qazi, Ilaqa Qazi etc., and assigned supposedly Shari’a literate muavin or advisers to assist the Qazi in administration of justice to make sure it was Shari’a compliant. People of the Malakand division as it was then called, had a choice to use the ’Islamic law’ or the ’regular’ law of the country. It is no secret that apart from a few women daring to challenge their male relatives to obtain their inheritance by using Islamic law, all and sundry stuck to the civil and criminal law of the country.

Some time later, dissatisfied noises started being heard regarding unsatisfactory nifaz/promulgation of Sharia, but it actually turned out that some of the muavineen, or ’Shari’a conversant advisers, were angling for a raise in their salaries. This demand was of course met, as that was the easy way out and then forgot all about the underlying million dollar question: Was/Is there a popular demand for Shari’a promulgation in the region; how is this to be gauged; what is the problem with existing offerings and what/who is the underlying, simmering problem and issue’/s.

Why is it that this demand emanates not from more urbanised centres of Swat including Mingora, Saidu etc., but from outlying, rural areas where class divisions are more pronounced and landed class unpopular among the general population. Surely, if the demand was the result of delays in court and administration of justice generally, ought the people from the urban centres not likely to be the ones more affected thus proponents of the demand for Shari’a……………..

Leaving the above critical question on the back burner to simmer and exacerbate, we now come to another governance and neglect issue in Swat. This is the issue of ’custom-chor’ vehicles that have flooded the market. Cars, jeeps etc are available for unbelievable paltry sums creating avenues for all sorts of activities outside the perview of the law. Why was this not dealt with and nipped in the bud asap when the problem was first spotted. Receding and abdicating state control and remit are terms that come readily to mind. The question I pose here is: Was the state apparatus unaware of this and the wider, serious implications for government and governance not to mention the lost revenue and financial fallout. Is it rocket science to decipher the fact that when you give an inch, a yard is what is generally being conceded. The signal given to those who may have had intentions of violent adventures in the area would be quite clear: go ahead and do what you want; there is very little to stop you.

Deep in the forests of Swat, it was being reported that when government officials went on inspection tours of the area, they were stopped at the foot of the mountains where the thick pine forests started. The local population also reported periodic ’earthquake- like’ happenings as if a bomb has gone off; they were spotting unfamiliar people on the roads, were generally confused but as unsuspecting people focussing on earning two square meals for their families, never thought more of it. Neither did they know who to say all this strange goings on to; who would listen to poor villagers in the first place…. Hospital staff in the several hospitals and health facilities recollect numerous men and women patients who ’did not look like us’, spoke a very strong sounding language, the men had ’long hair and sort of chinky eyes’, etc etc., These sightings started about two summers ago but no governmental, agency picked this up, or did they….

Is it possible that the few thousands of militants are so superior in arms and training that the 7th largest army in the world is unable to out manoeuvre them. Are the government structures and institutions so weak that access lines to arms and ammunition cannot be cut off. But the critical questions of all, that Swatis are asking themselves and the world: Who are these ’people’ who have captured their land, terrorised them to death, why and for what end and purpose. As citizens of this country, Swatis demand answers to these questions and for the government to take responsibility for leaving them without security, succour and sustenance.

FULL TEXT AT:

http://www.sacw.net/Wmov/Shaheen.pdf

o o o

PETITION TO: STOP THE CARNAGE IN SWAT AND FATA / STOP THE TALIBAN FROM ENDING GIRLS EDUCATION

Child Rights Movement

http://www.sacw.net/article513.html

PETITION AGAINST CONTINUING VIOLENCE IN SWAT AND TALIBAN’S CLOSURE OF GIRLS’ SCHOOLS

by Aryana Institute for Regional Research & Advocacy

http://www.sacw.net/article525.html

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[2] Pakistan:

New York Review of Books

Volume 56, Number 2 · February 12, 2009

PAKISTAN IN PERIL

by William Dalrymple

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22274

New York Review of Books Podcast

January 19, 2009

William Dalrymple speaks with Sasha Weiss about the spread of radical Islam in Central and South Asia since September 11, 2001, and its implications for Pakistan's future

http://media.nybooks.com/011909-dalrymple.mp3

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[3]

SRI LANKA: SOS - AGONISING CRY OF THE PEOPLE OF WANNI

A letter from a group of concerned persons to the United Nations Secretary General

http://www.sacw.net/article518.html

____

[4]

Mail Today

January 9, 2009

DESPITE WAR HYSTERIA SOME CAMPAIGNERS HOPE FOR PEACE

By Swati Sharma in New Delhi

THE WAR hysteria on both sides of the subcontinental divide may be showing no signs of abatement, but some campaigners are working overtime to make the voice of the peace heard above the din. The Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy will launch a signature campaign on Friday for people who strongly oppose the idea of the two nations going to war but are serious about wiping out the menace of terrorism from the subcontinent.

And Karamat Ali, who is leading this campaign from Pakistan and is in New Delhi to drum up support, says the beginning must be made by Islamabad owning up to the fact that the perpetrators of 26/11 were from that country.

“There are vested interests in both countries who want the neighbours to be at war and don’t want the devil of terrorism to die,” said Ali, Pakistan’s leading trade unionist who is married to an Indian general’s daughter. “Among the dialogue wars and diplomatic offensives, no one has time to hear what common people want. People, both Indians and Pakistanis, want peace.”

Ali made a strong plea for a no-war pact between the two countries. “India and Pakistan should act as responsible members of SAARC. They should stop bickering and help each other in this moment of crisis,” he said.

A couple of months ago, Ali’s words would have found support. But post-26/11, the scene has changed dramatically. With evidence mounting against Pakistan’s role in the terror attack, and Islamabad remaining in denial mode, India can’t afford to appear friendly.

Responding to this argument, Ali said, “If the evidence proves the militants were from Pakistan, our government should own up to it and show its seriousness in the fight against terrorism.”

Ali, a founder-member of the Pakistan Peace Coalition, said Pakistanis also wanted that “the perpetrators of this heinous crime should be brought to book”. He said Islamabad was presenting a negative image of itself by calling these people non-state actors. “If we let the hardearned trust die so easily, it would mean victory for the jihadis. And we can’t let that happen,” he said.

The Pakistan-India Forum is working overtime to get people in 15 Indian and 20 Pakistani cities to sign an online petition, available at www.petitiononline. com/indopak/petition.ht ml. The petition, which urges the two governments to have zero tolerance for religious extremism, will be handed over to the presidents of India and Pakistan simultaneously on February 8

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Mail Today

January 10, 2009

CITIZENS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN AGAINST ‘ WAR’

By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi

PEACE activists of India and Pakistan gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Friday to launch a joint signature campaign against the 26/ 11 terror attack. The signature campaign would continue until February 8 across both countries.

The activists demanded that the governments practise zero tolerance for religious extremism and terrorism in the interest of both nations. The speakers included Swami Agnivesh, chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission Kamal Faruqui, noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Pakistani trade unionist Karamat Ali, Mazhar Hussain, Kamla Bhasin, Alka Punj, Mala Bhandari and several other activists.

Welcoming Pakistan’s acceptance of the nationality of Mumbai gunman Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman aka Qasab, Faruqui said the country needed to shed its ostrich- like approach and fight terrorism, which was posing a major threat to it.

However, war is no solution, and the coming together of so many people of the two countries simultaneously vindicates the fact that citizens do not want war, he added.

Child rights activist Swami Agnivesh said the initiative was to showcase how many people on both sides wanted the crisis to be resolved peacefully — against the war rhetoric that has been building up since the Mumbai attack.

Ali said even though theoretical joint mechanisms existed between the two countries, implementation mechanisms were yet to be put in place. “ The common people on the two sides still have bread and butter issues to think of. If the sound of the war drums was real, common people like us would also have said the same,” Ali said.

The signature campaign was launched simultaneously in 21 Indian and 17 Pakistani cities. Besides Delhi, these cities include Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata and Chennai in India, and Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi in Pakistan.

The citizens joining the campaign demanded setting up of a joint action and investigative agency for cooperation on the issue of terrorism and strict adherence to the conventions and resolutions of the UN and SAARC on terrorism. The campaign will culminate with the signatures being submitted to the governments of both countries.

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Inter Press Service

’GOOD COP, BAD COP’ APPROACH TO PAKISTAN

by Praful Bidwai

New Delhi, Jan 16 (IPS) - Exasperated by what it regards as "a continuing pattern of evasiveness and denial in Pakistan’s response to the terrorist attack on Mumbai", India seems to be fashioning a two-pronged approach towards Islamabad to get it to act firmly against terrorist networks based on its soil.

If one element in this approach is to downgrade relations with Pakistan and remind it that the military option is not entirely off the table, the second element is to cajole Pakistan to proceed legally against jehadi extremist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba (renamed Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and yet again, Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Qibla Awal).

Different officials of the Indian government have recently made varying statements suggesting the existence of such a dual strategy, or ’the good cop, bad cop’ approach.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has by and large adopted a soft stance, while other officials have spoken as if they preferred a strategy to ratchet up pressure on Pakistan in a calibrated way.

Thus, following the second approach, India’s newly appointed Home Minister P. Chidambaram told ’The (London) Times’ that India could consider ending people-to-people and trade relations with Islamabad.

Chidambaram said: "There are many, many links between India and Pakistan, and if Pakistan does not cooperate and does not help to bring the perpetrators [of the terrorist attacks] to heel, those ties will become weaker and weaker and one day snap."

On Thursday, in another instance of this graded approach, India’s army chief Deepak Kapoor told the media that New Delhi is keeping all its options open, but the military option would be "the last resort". He said: "There is no need for war hysteria" and emphasised that "waging war is a political decision".

More ominously, Kapoor hinted at the possibility of covert action in Afghanistan and said increasing India’s strategic presence in Afghanistan is "one of the factors" to be considered in exerting pressure on Pakistan. But he made it clear that the decision would be a political one.

Kapoor said: "Changing our strategic policy towards Kabul in terms of raising military stakes is one of the factors that is to be determined politically."

Just a week earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had accused Pakistan of using "terrorism as an instrument of state policy".

Yet another indication of this gradual hardening of India’s stance came in the cancellation of a meeting with Pakistan to discuss a maritime border dispute at Sir Creek, a narrow 100 kilometre-long estuary which divides the two countries on the Arabian Sea.

It was from the Sir Creek area that the 10 men who conducted the Mumbai attacks of Nov. 26-29 hijacked a fishing boat to reach their destination.

The Creek has long been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan, who disagree on the location of the maritime border, and have debated it since 1999. Officials of the two countries recently conducted a survey of the estuary.

The dispute is considered extremely close to resolution. "We have made considerable progress and hopefully, a solution should emerge in a couple of meetings," says an Indian official who declined to be identified.

"But the Mumbai attacks and Pakistan’s refusal to take action on the basis of the detailed dossier on Mumbai recently given to it by India have complicated matters,’’ the official added.

Pressure on New Delhi to adopt a tough stance vis-à-vis Pakistan comes especially from the media, from retired diplomats and military and intelligence officials. This is apart from ultra-nationalist, opposition political parties.

Immediately after the Mumbai attacks, several television channels launched a campaign in favour of punishing Pakistan. This has, however, become less hysterical recent days.

But 10 former ambassadors, last week, urged the government to downgrade diplomatic ties with Pakistan.

In a joint statement, the ambassadors, including four former foreign secretaries, called upon the government to suspend bilateral negotiations and the peace process, discontinue state-assisted cultural, sporting and other exchanges, review existing bilateral treaties and agreements and take specific economic measures against Pakistan.

They also want New Delhi to restrict procurement from countries or companies supplying defence material to Pakistan.

However, their appeal, and their view that that the attacks were carried out "with the knowledge and support of sections of the Pakistan military and the ISI" (Inter-Services Intelligence agency), are at variance with the Foreign Ministry’s position against suspending trade, transport and cultural relations with Pakistan.

A senior Ministry official has said that the demand for terminating diplomatic and people-to-people links would "actually play into the hands of the Pakistani military establishment", which would like to stoke tensions and generate a state of siege in the neighbouring country.

India’s foreign ministry has reacted in a relatively cool and sober fashion to statements emanating from Pakistan to the effect that the Mumbai dossier contains "information", but not "evidence".

In a significant move, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told a television channel on Friday that India would be satisfied if those involved in planning and executing the Mumbai attacks are tried in Pakistani courts, provided they are "tried fairly".

An identical view was stated two days earlier in New Delhi by visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

This marks a departure from India’s earlier demand that Pakistan must hand over to it some 40 terrorists and fugitives from Indian law. India has made this demand repeatedly since the Parliament House attack of December 2001, allegedly conducted by a Pakistan-based group.

India has not officially withdrawn that demand. "But there seems to be a tacit acknowledgement that it is not very practical to expect Pakistan to surrender its nationals for trial in India," says Achin Vanaik, a professor of international relations and global politics at the University of Delhi.

"This recognition is welcome, but Pakistan must do more on its own to crack down on jehadi groups,’’ Vanaik added.

Many Pakistan-based analysts believe that Islamabad, in particular its weak civilian government, cannot afford to be seen to be caving in to Indian pressure.

For instance, former general Talat Masood has repeatedly said on Indian television channels that there is likely to be a divergence between officials pronouncements and actions, but that he expected some action on the ground.

As if on cue, on Thursday, Pakistan’s prime ministerial advisor on interior affairs, Rehman Malik, announced the detention of 71 members of outlawed militant groups such as the JuD and the LeT and such of their top ranking leaders as Hafiz Mohammed Saeed [founder of both groups], Mufti Abdur Rehman and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

Malik, in a televised press conference, said five "training camps" of the JuD had been shut down and its websites banned. A special investigation team headed by a top official of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will now examine "without any prejudice" all aspects of the Mumbai attacks and the information provided by India, he said.

"India’s best bet lies in patient diplomacy at the bilateral and multilateral levels to secure a firm commitment and action from Pakistan to put down jehadi groups,’’ argues Vanaik.

‘’All talk of covert operations in Afghanistan is a major distraction from this,’’ Vanaik said. ’’It can only stoke suspicion and hostility in Pakistan and strengthen the hardliners, besides creating new intractable rivalries in Afghanistan’s already troubled situation."

Vanaik believes that it is unwise for India to place too much reliance on the United States, given President-elect Barrack Obama’s intention to intensify the Afghanistan war. This, he said, calls for cooperation from the Pakistan Army and ’’limits the amount of pressure the U.S. can mount on Pakistan’’.

Another of New Delhi’s priorities has been to persuade Washington to abandon its plans to appoint a special envoy to South Asia, who will help mediate Kashmir as well as other outstanding regional issues. Recent indications suggest that the Indian government has had a measure of success in this.

Meanwhile, civil society groups in both India and Pakistan are stepping up their efforts to maintain people-to-people contacts and ask their governments to abjure the military option and jointly fight religious extremism and terrorism.

A 20-member delegation of Pakistani civil society activists is planning to visit New Delhi between Jan. 21 and 23. It will be hosted by a number of Indian peace groups and activists and will interact with senior political leaders, key policymakers, the academic community and the media.

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Dawn

January 19, 2009

IF WINTER COMES, CAN SPRING BE FAR BEHIND? ASK THE PEACE CARAVAN

by Jawed Naqvi

It’s curious that while millions of Indians have to produce a dozen proofs to get a passport or a driving licence, and brace the ordeal of getting elusive police certificates, gazetted officers’ signatures and the neighbourhood politician’s goodwill, Pakistanis who are caught on the wrong side of law in India are readily identified by the wrapper of the chewing gum found in their pockets, or a matchbox made in Karachi, or a cigarette packet from Lahore.

There is of course the ubiquitous SIM card and occasionally a telephone diary found conveniently in his shirt pockets if the Pakistani happens to be declared a terrorist who was shot dead in an encounter. The media gave up the practice of using alleged, suspected and so on long ago, which helps widen the eligibility gap between Indians and Pakistanis for official recognition and identification. I believe Indian passport seekers must demand parity with their Pakistani counterparts to ease the peculiar identity crisis they otherwise face.

Some 20 odd Pakistani peace activists are due in New Delhi this week, which is just as good an occasion as any to ask these and other similar questions, not only of the Indian establishment but with focus on matching absurdities in their own patch. There was a slight improvement in the ‘identity crisis’ between the two countries last week. The lone survivor from the gang of terrorists that attacked Mumbai was finally acknowledged by Pakistan to be one of its citizens, though not before Islamabad fired its national security adviser, (who incidentally had gained considerable credibility with India), for saying precisely what his government admitted weeks later. But the problems of identity between the two are not waning anytime soon. There is still a question mark, to quote one example, about the identity of an Indian who was, or perhaps still is, languishing on the death row as a convicted terrorist in a Pakistani jail. The Indian media says he is innocent and calls him by a different name to the one the judge used to condemn him.

Of course the caravan of peace from Pakistan, which consists of leading activists like I.A. Rehman, Salima Hashmi and Asma Jehangir will have a wider canvass of issues to address than to pose commonly unasked questions. True to form, they will yet again explore the truth, if there was any, in the claim of former Indian foreign minister Jaswant who famously said after the collapse of the Agra summit in July 2001, that though the caravan of peace had ‘stalled’, it had ‘not overturned’. The fact is that the current foreign minister (from the avowedly more agreeable political party) has all but declared the entire dialogue process with Pakistan a virtual failure. The sweeping assessment could make it that much more difficult for the peaceniks to quote Shelley’s usually encouraging lines If winter comes, can spring be far behind?

As questions go, there are several more that could or should be raised if there will be time during the packed visit to accommodate them. These pertain to the strange demeanour of both sides in the present crisis. Questions should also be asked on points of fact that are obfuscated in the din of the standoff. A simple question that could be asked relates to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s description of Mumbai, during a visit to the city last week, where he glorified it as a symbol of pluralism and secularism, in fact the very heart of Indian nationhood. The fact is that there are very few places left in India that can be described thus, and Mumbai unfortunately may not be among them. Yes, Mumbai has some of the greatest exponents of all the qualities the prime minister admired. But they are having a hard time. The Shiv Sena rules the city.

Ask the people from Bihar or the migrants from Uttar Pradesh about pluralism of Mumbai. Yes Mumbai was a secular place. It was and perhaps still is in some pockets. But ask the Pakistani actor who was thrown out of a film studio the other day for belonging to his country if Mumbai is the symbol of India. And why don’t they hold cricket matches against Pakistan there? And what did we hear Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar say only the other day — about being denied a house because of their religion, a religion whose priests disown the two for being apostates. That’s some quandary the couple is in. This is more or less true of Karachi and its dangerously volatile ethnic fault lines. These are the building blocks of terrorism, not symbols of vibrant democracy by any stretch of imagination.

Unless we recognise our weaknesses, we cannot be strong. It is tempting to believe that British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has now got a better idea of the distance that exists between the promise of India’s democracy and its actual spread among the people. Very few Indian MPs have slept in a village cot in a Dalit household as Miliband did in Rahul Gandhi’s rural constituency during his recent visit to India. There will be cynics who see the experience as a gimmick. Similar questions were raised when I saw Princess Diana holding the stump of a leper’s hand oozing with puss when she visited Nepal three or four years before her death. But how many of these cynics will sleep in a Dalit’s home or hold an oozing stump? Anyway, just as important as his visit to Amethi were Miliband’s ideas on Kashmir and a new definition for the so-called war on terror. Peace activists can’t solve the problem of Kashmir or change the direction of the war on terror. But they can ask good, hard-hitting questions. And Miliband raised some of these.

In a sense some of Miliband’s ideas that riled Indians were in fact an implicit yet stinging critique of the fawning, even obsequious relationship that the current Indian government has had with President George W. Bush. Naturally, the Indian foreign office ticked off Miliband as intrusive. One unnamed official told The Hindu: “He’s a young man and I guess this is the way he thinks diplomacy is conducted…In both his meetings, his posture and style of talking were a little too aggressive. The (prime minister) and (the foreign minister) are much older and this is not what they are used to.”

One of the ironies that peace activists between India and Pakistan represent as well as face is that they are entirely beholden to the host country for their grudgingly granted visas. This is something that should bother everyone who needs to visit the other side to make their case or meet old comrades. The state of play as it exists inhibits a free dialogue. (And everyone is not Miliband to say it as it is) Poor Sheema Kirmani came to New Delhi with an excellent play, one which she has staged here several times in different parts of the country. It questions the communal division of India. However, this time she was prevented from going to Lucknow as someone in authority warned the group that they either posed or faced a law and order issue. We know that Sheema wants to come back to India with other plays and ballets. So she kept her disappointment to herself instead of venting it to the media. A meeting of senior editors from India was to take place in Pakistan to discuss the recent upsurge in bad journalism on both sides. That meeting has been scrapped, I understand, because visas were not granted.

And, by the way, the Mumbai attacks seem to have produced another gem of an irony. No, not all Indians face problems getting passports issued. The raging story doing the rounds, though it has been shunned by the otherwise alert electronic media, is that a fisherwoman who saw the six (or was it all 10) men, landing from their boats at the Gateway of India in Mumbai, was whisked away to America for several days grilling. Another key material witness, the nanny of a Jewish infant whose parents were murdered by the terrorists, was flown off to Israel even before the siege of Mumbai was over. The Mumbai police have not come up with a cogent explanation. What’s going on? Of course, these are not the kind of issues that serious peace activists usually bother to get involved with. Fortunately, the questions are not going to go away simply because they may remain unasked. Never mind if it’s winter. We’ll wait for spring.

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The Hindu

January 21, 2009

PAKISTAN ‘PEACE’ TEAM COMING TODAY

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/21/stories/2009012160581300.htm

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[5] A view from RAND Corporation

THE LESSONS OF MUMBAI

Angel Rabasa, Robert D. Blackwill, Peter Chalk, Kim Cragin, C. Christine Fair, Brian A. Jackson, Brian Michael Jenkins, Seth G. Jones, Nathaniel Shestak, Ashley J. Tellis

This study of the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008 is part of the RAND Corporation

http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/2009/RAND_OP249.pdf

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[6]

The Telegraph January 19, 2009

MINISTERIAL VISAGE

- India has a chance to rebuild its relationship with Bangladesh

by Ashok Mitra

The country has a new minister for home affairs, one shoved off the ministry of finance. The earlier home minister had a reputation for passivity. The fresh incumbent has evidently taken upon himself the task of removing traces of the infamy his predecessor was the cause of. The ardour of activism can, however, sometimes have disastrous consequences.

The ministry of home affairs is charged with the responsibility of ensuring the country’s internal security. Such security, the new minister has concluded, is impeded by the inflow, from across Bangladesh, of agents of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and of other saboteurs. The minister has seemingly no doubts regarding how to take care of the problem. Too many visas, he has growled, are being issued to Bangladeshi citizens. He wants to do something about it. Slash the quota of visas for Bangladeshis, and, hey presto, a dramatic improvement is sure to take place in our internal security.

Do our cabinet ministers operate on their own, or do they occasionally talk to one another on matters, which involve concurrent jurisdiction? For instance, did the home minister bother to discuss with the minister of external affairs before he unburdened himself of the issue of visas for Bangladeshis? Consider the awkwardness of the situation. After a long, long while, Bangladesh has a government whose architects have been, of all political formations in that country, the most favourably disposed towards India. Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the presiding deity of the Awami League, is Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s daughter. The league as well as she personally have had friendly relations, at both official and non-official levels, with Indian personalities. In fact, during the campaign for the just concluded elections in Bangladesh, one main charge hurled against Wajed by her opponents was that she was India’s stooge. Her installation in the prime ministerial office in the neighbouring country is certainly a great slice of luck coming India’s way.

This development should be — and still could be — the forerunner of happier possibilities. What is called for from the Indian end at this juncture is cool watchfulness and sobriety. India’s intelligence agencies may have their worries about the nature of infiltration — either actual or prospective — from across Bangladesh. Instead of airing them openly and on a high pitch, wisdom demands that these concerns be tucked in for the present and confidential talks arranged between representatives of the two countries. Other options would always be available in case these meetings prove infructuous from New Delhi’s point of view.

Patience is not the strong point of our minister for home affairs though. He has, on the contrary, chosen the path of bluster and name-calling. In case he is not exactly speaking out of turn and has the prime minister’s backing, raising a few further questions becomes unavoidable. Now that the nuclear deal with the United States of America is a reality, is it New Delhi’s view that India is the cock of the road in south Asia and has therefore the prerogative to treat all its neighbours as dirt?

Or is it henceforth New Delhi’s established policy not to give any quarter to any country, which has a population with a Muslim majority? Nothing could be more disastrous in the long run than this genre of sectarianism. Given the state of our uneasy relationship with Pakistan, the uncertainties in Nepal and pervasive speculation over the implications of China’s resolve to be the most powerful nation in the world next to the US, would it not on the other hand be prudent to exercise some restraint while dealing with other strategically placed nations such as Bangladesh? The opportunity to rebuild the relationship with Bangladesh would never be greater than what it is today. And that opportunity might not be long-lasting. For despite the Awami League’s entering office after winning a convincing majority in democratic elections, the shadow of the military would not be quite dispelled from the Bangladesh sky. Those in charge of the armed forces there have for the present bestowed their favours on the Awami League. But the circumstances could change fast. If the provocative remarks of our home minister lead to an outburst of anti-India hysteria in Bangladesh and embarrass Wajed and her regime no end, the ISI would have the last laugh.

The home minister’s nervousness over the large number of visas issued to Bangladeshi citizens, in fact, betrays his ignorance of some of the ground realities. Yes, quite a few Bangladeshis have tended to visit India in recent years. More than 90 per cent of them come on short visits, mostly to West Bengal. These visitors could well include an infinitesimally small number of espionage masters. The bulk of them are, however, householders visiting relatives in India, students, university and college teachers, singers, film personalities, poets, writers and suchlike. Why deny it, the bond of language and culture persists between the middle classes in West Bengal and the neighbouring country in the east. This may not be to everybody’s liking, but to try to thwart the tide of natural urges would be altogether foolhardy. What is much more relevant, close cultural relations between the peoples of Bangladesh and West Bengal make a positive contribution to the cause of Indo-Bangladesh amity, and is therefore an effective instrument for combating the machinations of species such as the ISI.

Another matter is worth a mention too. Not as famous or as strategic as the Silk Route from China to Europe, there was, at least, for 3,000 years, a long winding Cattle Route in existence, starting in Baluchistan, travelling all the way across the northern terrains of India, and finally terminating in Bengal. Cattle of the finest stock bought in Quetta would be disposed of in Sindh; cattle, a shade of a lesser quality, but still of excellent breed, bought in Sindh would be sold off in Punjab, the local stock in Punjab would be brought for sale to Rajasthan, from Rajasthan the route would proceed to locations like Indore and Gwalior, and then turn north into Bulandshahr and Oudh. Selling and buying cattle would proceed uninterrupted at each centre, the quality of the cattle steadily deteriorating until the route reached the Bihar-Bengal border. By then the cattle offered for disposal had gone down precipitously in quality, but the rickety lot would still have some demand in Bengal, either for purposes of agriculture or for meat, and would fetch a respectable price. Bengal, however, would pay for the cattle not by offering a ricketier breed — none was available — but by barter, exchanging foodgrains, textiles and locally produced pots and pans against the cattle that were bought.

The Cattle Route was rudely disturbed by the partition of the country in 1947. And yet, the upheaval in political geography did not quite finish it off. Rickety cattle continue to be smuggled across from West Bengal into Bangladesh in exchange for grains, utensils and textiles. This often takes the shape of small-scale, informal activity, otherwise known as smuggling. However determined the Border Security Force might be, to crush this relic of a great historical route is not that feasible a proposition. Visa or no visa, people will travel between Bangladesh and West Bengal, as much for reasons of culture as for the sake of livelihood.

The home minister of the country has recently acquired the habit of shooting from the mouth. That can cause the country a great deal of trouble. The nuclear agreement notwithstanding, the US administration, it is now more than obvious, would not play favourites between India and Pakistan. We therefore badly need friends in the region to buttress our security. A minister who creates obstacles in the search for such friends is a bit of a menace.

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[7] India in times of Hindutva:

‘HINDUTVA TERRORISTS’ WANTED A TALIBAN- LIKE OVERRUN BY 2024

by Krishna Kumar

http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/01/malegaon-terror-suspects-intended.html

ABOUT THE MALEGAON 11 AND THE CHARGES AGAINST THEM

http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/01/about-malegaon-11-and-charges-against.html

HOW HINDUTVA TERRORISTS OPERATE IN KARNATAKA

by subhash gatade

http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-hindutva-terrorists-operate-in.html

THE DECADAL GROWTH OF THE SANGH PARIVAR IN ORISSA

http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/01/decadal-growth-of-sangh-parivar-in.html

HINDUTVA OPERATION IN THE US OBJECTS TO MICHAEL WOOD'S 2007 DOCUMENTARY 'THE STORY OF INDIA'

http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/01/hindu-american-foundation-objections-on.html

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[8] Indian Business Elites Have No Qualms Sucking Up To Hindutva's Hero

The Times of India 18 Jan 2009

AT THE MARGINS OF COMPETENCE

by Shiv Visvanathan

When leadership becomes purely an act of brand-building, it confronts its own dangers. Substance and style often get separated; image drifts

apart from truth and what begins as a grand inauguration can end in an embarrassing silence.

The career of Narendra Modi is a case study that'll intrigue many. He's a politician seeking to redefine himself and Gujarat. He's doing this not in terms of a holistic vision, but a fragmentary one. He has the industrialists on his side because he simplifies rules and regulations for them. He has the religious sects with him because he speaks the hybrid language of history and modernity. He claims the new by antagonizing the old, creating a middle class urban base that dreams of change, tired of the old grammar of party politics and caste equations. No leader is more contemptuous of his own party than Modi.

He has contempt for process, but in an India in a hurry, this can be seen as decisive; even competent, because of his dismissal of the normative and the institutional. The power of Modi lies in his moral luck.

The Nanavati panel produced a report that vouches for his Teflon properties. The SIT is not designed to probe the higher echelons. Modi is a populist leader with a readymade crowd feeding on his narcissism. He's user-friendly to sectional interests that invest in him. There is no commitment to values here; only price and costs. So long as Modi serves the corporations, the middle class and the sects, he'll survive.

What defines him is speed: He is in a hurry, so he is intolerant. He hates any form of opposition and his ruthlessness stems from there. Often in India, we confuse the arbitrary and the ruthless with the decisive. Ratan Tata forgot the Tata tradition to opt for Modi's modernity, and created a favourable social contract between two outstanding modernisers. Gujarat is probably the only state where the SEZ and the privatised ports have legitimacy. In the short run, Modi is king. Long live the king of the short run. What of the long run?

As John Maynard Keynes said, we'll all be dead, but memory lives, and the future will ask questions which may not be popular today. Is Gujarat India's China, seeking to substitute Chinese ruthlessness for Indian deliberative democracy? What of justice for marginals and minorities and for all the opposition that paid the price for dissent? Dissent is a precious way of life. If Gujarat were measured in terms of a dissenters' index, it would rank abysmally low. If competence were evaluated in terms of diversity, well-being and value maintenance, we've already lost the battle.

Modi's Gujarat is a future urban nightmare. On ecology, health and welfare, Modi shows little competence. Privatising health is no way to well-being. Creating education as a business is no guarantee of quality. As a master of methodology, Modi is all technique and speed, without vision.

For Modi to be PM, he has to move from presentation to representation. He needs to add plurality, diversity and sustainability to his limited glossary of modernity. Tolerance is the Indian way, and efficiency without tolerance will never work at the national level. Maybe that is the difference between a statesman and a politician. This is the deficit between Vajpayee and Modi, and not all the gadgets, perfumes and projects can sweeten his little hands.

To be fair, Modi has galvanised Gujarat. But the etymology of the word galvanic goes back to Italian scientist Galvani, who administered shocks to frogs. No one recorded their cries of pain. All history did was to celebrate electricity.

Modi has created an electric excitement. But the cries of pain can be heard when the current is off. When that happens, the neon halo of competence may be read for what it actually is - an illusion.

(The writer is a social scientist)

o o o

see also:

INVOKING INDIA’S FUHRER

Industrialists call for Modi to be the Prime Minister

by Ram Puniyani

http://www.sacw.net/article515.html

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[8] ANNOUNCEMENTS:

(i) STOP THE BLOODSHED: AN EXHIBITION OF GAZA PROTEST POSTERS

Opening Date: 21st January 2009 | Time: 6:00 pm

When T2F started, we wrote a blog post about "Design Anarchy" - a plea to graphic designers to use their talent for social commentary. Read the post here: http://www.t2f.biz/design-anarchy/

We hoped it was only a matter of time before someone would step up and and demand a platform ...

A few days ago, Shajee, a design student, wrote:

> "The situation in Gaza bothered me and I started thinking about what I could do. I started putting up pictures on Facebook, hoping to provoke people into reacting. I soon realized it wasn't enough and that something more public needed to be done. I remembered our campaign against the university fee hike and decided to use the medium of graphic design to condemn the offensive in Gaza. I talked to a couple of colleagues, and soon, over a dozen people came on board, including teachers and alumni. We were wondering if we could put up an exhibition of protest posters at T2F. We'd like to open on 21st January because it will be the first Bush-Free day in 8 years!"

Obviously the answer was a resounding YES.

Please join us at T2F for an exhibition of posters by graphic designers expressing their outrage against the violence in Gaza.

Opening Date: Wednesday, 21st January 2009

Time: 6:00 pm

Venue: The Second Floor (T2F)

6-C, Prime Point Building, Phase 7, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA, Karachi

538-9273 | 0300-823-0276 | info@t2f.biz

Map: http://www.t2f.biz/location

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(ii) National Convention on Communal Harmony

30th and 31st January, 2009

Kabir Math, Jiyanpur, Ayodhya, District Faizabad, U.P.

http://communalism.blogspot.com/2009/01/convention-on-communal-harmony-ayodhya.html

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(iii)

The World Ahimsa Day Initiative

The India International Centre

Invite you to

A Panel Discussion & Music Recital

30th January 2009 : 3.30 - 6.45 PM

IIC, 40 Max Mueller Marg

New Delhi - 110003

Reflections on

A FUTURE FOR AHIMSA

Speakers 3.30 - 5.30 PM

Nandita Das, actress, film-maker ('Firaaq', 2008)

Krishna Kumar, educationist, writer, director NCERT

Dilip Simeon, historian, writer, peace activist

Chair, moderator

Father George Gispert-Sauch

Question & Answer Session 5.30-6.00 PM

Music Recital 6.00 - 6.45 PM

Sawani Mudgal sings Nirgun Bhajans:

Kabir, Nanak, Bulleh Shah &

Narsi Mehta's "Vaishnava Jana"

Courtesy SEHER, Delhi

Search at : http://maps.google.com/

- - -

(iv)

Peace Rally

3pm - Saturday, January 31, 2009

Regal Chowk, Mall Road, Lahore

Organized By Amn Tehreek

Please mobilize within your community, convince your family, friends, colleagues to participate. Bring your voice through placards and

banners to promote peace

To volunteer in mobilizing & organizing the rally, please contact

Phone: 0313.435.3611

Email instituteforpeace@gmail.com

www.peaceandsecularstudies.org

-raheem

member coordination committee Amn Tehreek

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S o u t h A s i a C i t i z e n s W i r e

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on

matters of peace and democratisation in South

Asia. An offshoot of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

SACW | Jan 14-17 , 2009 / War Mongering and Democratic Space - From South Asia To Gaza

South Asia Citizens Wire | January 14-17, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2598 - Year 11 running

From: www.sacw.net

[1] ICRC fear for Sri Lanka civilians (BBC)

[2] Bangladesh: Pirojpur district made off limits to women by a self-styled 'pir'; Administration finally acts (The Daily Star)

[3] Sri Lanka: Defend Media Freedom, Defend Democracy (Law & Society Trust)

[4] India and Pakistan: Democratic forces must speak out loudly against war mongering

[5] India: Freedom of Expression Shrinks - Outrageous Bar by State and Non State Actors on Pakistani (and Israeli) Artists

- Frightened by the mirror (Jawed Naqvi)

- E-mail from Lucknow: Pakistani and Israeli artists cant perform

- Outrage over Pak artist's removal by MNS (Tejas Mehta, Paresh Mishra)

[6] South Asian Voices on War on Gaza: Save Israel From Israel / Will there be a Secular Palestine Now ?

- Is solidarity with the Gazans same as solidarity with Hamas? (Mukul Kesavan)

- Holocaust in Gaza? (Rohini Hensman)

- Israel’s devastating attack on Gaza (Kamal Mitra Chenoy)

- Gaza and India: A view from Pakistan (Faheem Hussain)

[7] India - Chattissgarh: The continued incarceration of Dr Binayak Sen is a blot on democracy

- No bailouts? ( Editorial, The Indian Express)

[8] India - Gujarat: Hindutva Propaganda and Big Business

(i) Call for Cellular Silence Day - Petition Against India Inc. Supporting Narendra Modi

(ii) Gujarat’s Development Masks Other Realities (Rohit Prajapati, Trupti Shah)

[9] Manufacturing compulsions of national security (Ashok Mitra)

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[1]

BBC News

16 January 2009

ICRC FEAR FOR SRI LANKA CIVILIANS

Camp for displaced people in Sri Lanka

The ICRC says there should be an escape route for civilians

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says that intense fighting in northern Sri Lanka has caused a "massive displacement" of civilians.

It says thousands of people trapped inside rebel-held territory have had to flee several times in recent months.

An ICRC official, Paul Castella, told the BBC that fighting had stopped relief supplies being delivered to rebel-held areas for nearly a week.

He said that there were serious concerns about a lack of food.

A Sri Lankan military spokesman insisted a supply convoy had been sent to the rebel-held territory and that there were adequate stocks of food.

'Repeated displacements'

The ICRC said it was "extremely concerned" no safe escape route had been agreed.

"This has put at risk the lives of patients who cannot receive suitable treatment on the spot and therefore need to be transferred to Vavuniya hospital, in government-controlled territory," the ICRC said in a statement.

Sri Lankan soldiers

The military say that civilians are safer in areas held by them

It said that civilians who had already been forced to move numerous times were increasingly seeking the safety of government-controlled areas.

On Wednesday, the defence ministry said that a total of 1,707 people had crossed over to government-held areas in the first two weeks of January and were given emergency relief supplies.

"Repeated displacements, often involving the loss of their personal belongings, have taken a toll," said Mr Castella.

The ICRC says that thousands of displaced civilians are now concentrated in an area so small that there are "serious concerns for their physical safety and living conditions, in particular in terms of hygiene".

The organisation is one of the few international relief agencies allowed to operate in rebel-held areas.

The government said this week it was fully prepared to handle "the mass exodus of civilians" the fighting with the rebels might cause.

A massive offensive by Sri Lankan troops in recent weeks has left Tamil Tiger rebels surrounded in their last remaining stronghold - the north-eastern coastal town of Mullaitivu.

The Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.

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[2]

The Daily Star

January 14, 2009

Editorial

SIMPLY UNHEARD OF!

Inaction of the administration puzzling

As reported in this newspaper yesterday a public road in Mathbaria of Pirojpur district has been made off limits to women by a self-styled 'pir' of the area. And this has been so, as we understand from the report, for quite sometime. It should put all right thinking person to shame to see such a state of affairs prevail in this age.

What is very disconcerting is that the administration has taken no action against an act that is patently illegal, directed exclusively against women, and which has created tremendous inconvenience to the women of the locality, including the fact that they cannot use the services of the post office that happens to be located on that particular road. To cap it all, the so-called pir has had the temerity to put up a signboard displaying the so-called prohibition order, and personally patrol the area with stick to chase away women who venture on the road. The lone man's audacity, apparently, have escaped the notice of the administration.

This is a rabid form of exploitation of religion that must be deterred before it becomes tendentious. Reportedly, sometime back during the erstwhile 4-part alliance regime, a clique had wanted to prevent the use of the road by the womenfolk but had failed in the face of local resistance thus the entry of the fake 'pir'. And the reason for such a 'directive' there happens to be a mosque at the end of the road and as such, according to the bogus 'pir', it is forbidden for women to use the road. The action is dangerous for many reasons but more because there cannot be a more blatantly anti-religious statement than the explanation given. When women are allowed to attend congregation prayers in mosque how can anybody prevent them from using a road on which a mosque is situated? The masjid committee is against the so-called pir's prohibition and that should suffice.

We are baffled at the inaction of the administration. We cannot believe that they are ignorant of the matter either. It is an act that is not only illegal, it also goes against the teachings of Islam.

o o o

The Daily Star

January 14, 2009

Pirojpur Road Graffiti on woman ban erased

http://www.thedailystar.net/photo/2009/01/14/2009-01-14__f05.jpg

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[3] Sri Lanka

12th January 2009

DEFEND MEDIA FREEDOM, DEFEND DEMOCRACY

The Law & Society Trust (LST) shares the public outrage and revulsion over the assassination of Mr Lasantha Wickramatunga, Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Leader newspaper, on Thursday 8 January 2009, only metres away from the security cordon surrounding the Ratmalana Air Force Base.

The Sunday Leader newspaper has been a vigorous critic of the present and previous governments and has exposed corruption and abuse of office at the highest levels of State.

This cowardly murder of a leading media commentator follows the destruction of the main control room of Sri Lanka’s largest private television and radio organisation, Maharaja Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), on 6 January 2009, through armed assault and arson.

Law enforcement agencies must carry out their mandatory duty in identifying the perpetrators of this and similar crimes such as the torching of the Sunday Leader press in 2007, abduction and brutal assault of Keith Noyahr in 2008, and the murder and harassment of media workers.

We call upon our fellow citizens to rise to protect the lives of journalists, lawyers, politicians, and human rights defenders on whom the gun could next turn, and to resist through peaceful protest and public action, the dismantling of democracy in Sri Lanka.

Law & Society Trust (LST)

3, Kynsey Terrace

Colombo 08

Sri Lanka

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[4]

Kashmir Times, 17 January 2009

Editorial

LET’S SAY NO TO WAR

Democratic forces in India and Pakistan must speak out loudly against war mongering

Noted civil rights and peace activist Justice Rajinder Sachar has rightly took exception to the ill-conceived statement of the Army Chief General Deepak Kapur, that "military action against Pakistan was open", describing it as "dangerous". The former chief justice of Delhi rightly pointed out that the Army chief had "crossed the parameters of his duties and has no right to discuss military options." In a democratic system it is the prerogative of the political executive to decide about options and policy matters. The role of other agencies of the state like the bureaucracy and military is only to implement these policies. In no case they are supposed to publicly speak on policy matters. It is unfortunate that for the past some time senior bureaucrats and Army generals have been constantly speaking on policy matters, particularly in respect of India-Pakistan relationship or terrorism. Such statements by them are indeed alarming enough to be ignored. While the impropriety of such statements by the Army chief and senior bureaucrats is beyond doubt what is equally a matter of concern is the provocative statements being made by the politicians in power and war cries being raised by the hawks and other political vested interests and faithfully echoed by the large section of the media both in India and Pakistan. While anger over the Mumbai terror attacks is understandable it needs to be realized that war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours is no answer to it. The democratic forces in the two countries must refuse to be consumed by jingoism and sabre-rattling, fear and war-mongering unleashed by the horrific Mumbai terror attacks. While the frightening war cries need to be silenced it is also important to ensure that the democratic rights of the people are not further curbed in the name of fighting terrorism. That is the agenda of the terrorists and there is no reason why the saner elements in the two countries and political establishments fall into their trap.

It’s time for the democratic forces both in India and Pakistan to assert against the frightening war cries being raised by the nuclear armed political establishments and parroted by a large section of the media in the two countries. An appeal "for solidarity for sanity in our neighbourhood" signed by the concerned citizens in the two countries has rightly called for unity of the democratic forces across the borders, shrugging off their defensive silence to raise their strong collective voice against war mongering. The consequences of such war rhetoric are deepening fear and insecurity all around. In such a climate the people’s democratic rights become a casualty. The draconian Unlawaful Activities Prevention Act, amended recently and the establishment of the National Investigation Agency, which usurps the rights of the states, are the cases in point. Such draconian laws, as our experience in Jammu and Kashmir and North East shows, are always abused and misused to curb the democratic rights of the people. Terrorism and political violence flow from injustice and denial of democratic rights to the people. The menace can be eliminated not by further curbing these rights and letting loose a reign of terror, fear and intimidation. For fighting the monster of terrorism it is imperative to push forward the peace process between India and Pakistan, instead of abandoning it and strengthen the people-to-people contacts between the two countries. Unfortunately, instead of abolishing the restrictive and cumbersome visa regime for facilitating free movement of the people across the borders further curbs have been placed to restrict such contacts. Instead of talking at each other through the hawkish section of the media the two countries must talk to each other through diplomatic channels both for fighting terrorism and pushing forward the peace process. The dialogue process must continue as the issues that divide the region and have all the potentials of fueling conflict can only be resolved through such a process. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have suffered most due to the prolonged conflict between India and Pakistan and they shudder over the prospects of another war between the two nuclear powers. Let’s say no to war, politics of hate and exclusion which breed political violence. Let peace be given a chance.

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[5] Freedom of Expression Shrinks in India: Shameful Coming Together of State and Non State War Mongers to Bar Performances by Pakistani Artists

Madeeha Gauhar and Sheema Kermani barred them from staging their plays in India

http://www.sacw.net/article501.html

FRIGHTENED BY THE MIRROR

by Jawed Naqvi, 15 January 2009

BEFORE unidentified functionaries of the state barred them from staging their plays in India this week, Madeeha Gauhar and Sheema Kermani were facing the wrath of cultural vigilantes in their respective backyards in Pakistan.

Their torment was not unusual. Three Booker Prize winners from India — Aravind Adiga, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai — have found themselves in a similar quandary with their own zealots, including those claiming literary pretence. Is it because writers and activists hold a mirror to realities we refuse to acknowledge?

As an Indian reviewer observed recently, the bitter, unrelenting criticism towards Adiga’s The White Tiger in his country after the Booker triumph had a familiar ring to it. Earlier, Roy’s book, The God of Small Things, met with an equally hostile reception from the Indian literary establishment as well as the political class she targeted in her book.

“And the murmurs about betrayal began as soon as Kiran Desai beat her formidable peers in the shortlist to grab the big one with The Inheritance of Loss, just a couple of years ago,” wrote Vijay Nair in The Hindu. An admixture of professional peevishness and cultural narrow-mindedness can be disastrously potent. It matters little to the vigilantes that in little over a decade, three Indians have prevailed over the Booker competition.

How did Adiga rub his critics the wrong way? The White Tiger deals with India’s class and caste divide. It draws its protagonist from an impoverished family of rickshaw pullers who were in the business of making sweetmeats before fate intervened. How this change in family fortunes happened is explained thus to the reader:

“See, this country, in its days of greatness, when it was the richest nation on earth, was like a zoo. A clean, well-kept, orderly zoo. Everyone in his place, everyone happy. Goldsmiths here. Cowherds here. Landlords there. The man called a Halwai made sweets. The man called a cowherd tended cows. The untouchable cleaned faeces … To sum up — in the old days there were one thousand castes and destinies in India. These days, there are just two castes: Men with Big Bellies, and Men with Small Bellies. And only two destinies: eat or get eaten up.”

Indian audiences have welcomed Sheema Kermani in the past. One of her plays — Those Who Have Not Seen Lahore Have Not Lived — received a standing ovation even this week when she was allowed to stage it at Delhi’s National School of Drama albeit amid heavy police protection. Then someone told her she couldn’t take the troupe to Lucknow. It would be a security hazard. The warning had no basis.

The play was written by Indian playwright and leftwing activist Asghar Wajahat and staged countless times across India by Habib Tanvir. If anything the play is a sharp critique of the absurdity of the communal partition of India. There would be fewer surprises were it banned in Pakistan because it implicitly questions the validity of the religious fault lines that eventually justified the quest for Pakistan. But then the play was not allowed to be staged in Lucknow, and that is the point to ponder. There is something about Sheema Kermani’s theatre that appears to threaten the establishments in India and Pakistan alike.

India’s cultural czars have eagerly encouraged the stereotype about the hold religious groups have on life across the border. Madeeha Gauhar has defied the easy perception and her plays had been well received in India. She is credited with fighting the pro-Taliban establishment as recently as during the Musharraf regime. Her controversial play Burqavaganza riled rightwing Muslim politicians who brought a censure motion against it in the National Assembly.

Burqavaganza was a satirical play, which used the veil as a metaphor for double standards and cover-ups in society. The play showed all characters (men and women) wearing burqas, including politicians, terrorist leaders and policemen. Issues addressed included gender discrimination, religious extremism, terrorism, love marriage and media programmes promoting intolerance. It had been made very clear in the brochure of the play and before and after the play that the theme of the play was not critical of any one’s religious beliefs or dress preference, but about hypocrisy and double standards and the feudal mindset. The audience in Pakistan loved the play and it got very good press reviews. The play had been staged in collaboration with the Lahore Arts Council. It was again staged at the Panjpani Indo-Pak Theatre Festival at Arts Council in Lahore.

There was a time when cultural exiles from Pakistan would find sanctuary in India. Pakistan’s progressive poet Fahmida Riaz lived in Delhi for months to escape Gen Ziaul Haq’s stifling religious rule. Journalist Salamat Ali had found refuge in Delhi at about the same time. Madeeha Gauhar was as good a candidate as any to be applauded in India for her fight against religious bigotry. Therefore it didn’t make any sense to know that she was told by the National School of Drama not to come to Delhi.

Gauhar had sought to expose how Gen Musharraf despite his religiously moderate profile was weak-kneed and apologetic before her pro-Taliban critics. In her petition against the harassment by the mullahs, Gauhar had slammed the regime for its inaction over the Jamia Hafsa stand-off, “Islami Jamiat attacks in Punjab University and moral policing in the NWFP” that had not only damaged the government’s credibility and ability to establish its writ, but had emboldened the fanatics to spread their tentacles. “The government has totally failed to punish those who are challenging its writ and intimidating students and artists. It has also miserably failed to protect those are being intimidated and attacked by the pro-Taliban elements,” she wrote.

Today the boot is on the other foot. Indian vigilantes could make the Taliban look like school kids. “American pop icon Paris Hilton corrupts Indian minds,” wrote the Wall Street Journal quoting unnamed mandarins of Indian culture. So they had barred television channels in India from airing Ms Hilton’s new music video, Stars Are Blind. It was yet another example of the censorship fever sweeping the country.

But why has a supposedly moderate government in Delhi agreed to give rightwing vigilantes the authority to decide what was culturally acceptable or what wasn’t? Does Madeeha Gauhar’s critique of her government — that it was weak-kneed and vulnerable before religious bigots — apply equally to the Indian establishment? Or could it be that independent writers and cultural activists on both sides of the border pose an equal threat to their establishments and also the one on the other side of the border, simply because they mirror an unpleasant reality for both.

o o o

E-MAIL FROM LUCKNOW: PAKISTANI AND ISRAELI ARTISTS NOT ALLOWED TO PERFORM

Dear All,

Regret to inform you that Local administration has not granted permission to perform Pakistani and Israeli artists to perform at the Bharat Rung Mahutsav taking place at Lucknow because of the protest of an local Sectarian outfit "Sunni Majlis-e-Amal". Its delegation has met with local authorities and impressed upon administration that because of 26/11 terrorist attack on Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists and the atrocities of Israeli govt on Palistinians we shall not allow their Artist to share our stage.

We strongly condemn this kind of irresponsible and immature attitude of fundamentalist people. These Artists are not the representatives of Pakistani Govt. They are the messengers of peace and communal harmony.They have always raised their voices against their respective governments and terrorists outfits of their own country.Even in any kind of worst political situation we shall not break the people to people diplomacy and communication. If we do allow this, it means that we are widening the gap of hatred and misunderstanding among the common people and strengthening the hands of Fundamentalists and Terrorists. I request all sensible people to come forward and raise their demand to local authorities to grant permission.

Thanks and regards

Irfan Ahmad

V.P.Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace & Democracy (U..P.Chapter.

V.P.PUCL (U.P.)

Ex. Hon'y Secretary AMU Old boys Asoociation,Lko

Coordinator Asha Parivar & NAPM

o o o

ndtv.com

OUTRAGE OVER PAK ARTIST'S REMOVAL BY MNS

by Tejas Mehta, Paresh Mishra

January 16, 2009, (Mumbai)

In Mumbai there is outrage after a Pakistani stand up comedian Shakeel Siddiqui was forcibly removed from a TV set by members of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

The act by Raj Thackeray's men has received a divided response from Mumbai's artistic community.

Some like flute maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia have strongly condemned the action.

"I will really respect and appreciate their coming in my country. They would be my guests. Just because a few people decide to spread terror does not make a terrorist out of all Pakistanis," said Pandit Chaurasia.

But many others, especially from the film and TV industry, supported the move in the wake of the recent terror strikes, even though they didn't agree with the methods.

"It's not the fault of the Pakistani artists. But there is bound to be anger. These people should be respectfully sent back," said Khayyam, musician.

"I had mentioned it before that these artists should not play with fire. We Indians are a little outraged. Let things come back to normal," said Pandit Jasraj, musician.

Shakeel Siddiqui was shooting for a show for a television channel when MNS activists demanded he leave the country.

As per sources, no complaint has been filed with the police but the comedian immediately returned to Pakistan.

The television channel spoke out in support of the decision to hire the actor.

"Shakeel was in India on an official visa. We can't hold every Pakistani responsible for the attack. Unless the government decides to severe all ties with Pakistan, why should anyone else decide what should be done?" said channel sources.

Sportspersons and musicians from across the border have in the past been targeted by the Shiv Sena. Now the MNS has taken over.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Home Minister Jayant Patil has virtually justified the act. He said that anger against Pakistani artists reflected public sentiment after 26/11 and would die down in time. When asked if the state would act against the MNS, he said he still had to examine the issue.

o o o

BBC News - 16 January 2009

Artists targeted over Mumbai row

By Zubair Ahmed

BBC News, Mumbai

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7834016.stm

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[6] SOUTH ASIA VOICES FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE TO PALESTINE/ISRAEL

http://www.sacw.net/article499.html

PRINCIPLE OF EXCLUSION - Is solidarity with the Gazans same as solidarity with Hamas?

by Mukul Kesavan (The Telegraph, January 15, 2009)

As Israel’s monstrous destruction of Gaza grinds on, Hamas becomes, by bloody default, the face of Palestinian resistance. Mahmoud Abbas, nominally the president of the Palestinian Authority, and the party he leads, Fatah, have begun to seem, fairly or otherwise, creatures of Israel and the West. At the very moment that Fatah, whose headquarters were bombed into rubble by Israel in the time of Yasser Arafat, is being hailed by Israel and America as the legitimate representative of all Palestinians and their only bridge to a Palestinian state, Hamas has become, in the eyes of most Palestinians and Arabs, the emblem of that aspiration.

At a time like this we need to ask if solidarity with Gazans in particular and Palestinians in general is the same thing as solidarity with Hamas and its objectives, and the answer to that must be, no, it isn’t the same thing. It is a tragedy (and the prime movers in this tragedy are the United States of America and Israel) that the remarkable, secular struggle for a genuinely independent Palestine has come to a pass where a sectarian, Islamist party is seen as the last best hope of a beleaguered people.

Hamas was founded just over twenty years ago as the Palestinian chapter of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, an Arab version of India’s Jamiat-e-Islami. Its extraordinary success in supplanting Fatah can be measured by the fact that in less than twenty years of its founding, Hamas swept the parliamentary elections held in January 2006, winning a clear majority of seats. Fatah’s rout (it won less than a third of the total number of parliamentary places) was partly on account of its well-deserved reputation for corruption, but mainly because the long promised two-state solution, put forward by the US and that slippery creature, the international community, began to seem like a cruel mirage. Since Fatah had signed on to the two-state idea and had got nothing in exchange (except for the bantustan sponsored by President Clinton and accelerated Jewish settlement on the West Bank), it began to be seen as both corrupt and co-opted by the enemy. After Yasser Arafat’s death, American and Israeli patronage of the more pliant (or less intransigent) Abu Mazen confirmed this impression.

Hamas moved quickly to fill this vacant nationalist space. Its maximalist vision (Hamas doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist and sees as its object an Islamic Palestinian state encompassing all of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank), the goodwill it has earned by its charitable work and its reputation for armed jihad resonated with a Palestinian population brutalized by the Israeli occupation and desperate for inspirational leadership.

Hamas’s legitimacy and its heroic credentials were confirmed when the Western powers, acting in concert with Israel, refused to recognize the results of the 2006 elections because the party they preferred, Fatah, hadn’t won. Denied a power-sharing arrangement in the West Bank, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by violently ousting Fatah members from administrative and security positions. In retaliation, Israel blockaded Gaza, the European Union and the US imposed sanctions on Hamas, and the ‘international community’ acquiesced in the punishment of a population guilty only of voting in a free and fair election.

Hamas began rocketing southern Israel partly to show it couldn’t be cowed, but mainly to protest the economic strangulation of Gaza. Israel’s policy of collective punishment was explicit: an Israeli general described one particular blockade as a way of “putting Gazans on a diet”.

So it isn’t difficult to understand why Hamas has come to symbolize the resistance to the occupation to Palestinians and to people the world over who feel a sense of solidarity with Palestinians. But though Hamas speaks for Palestinians at this moment in the present, it cannot, indeed must not, embody their future. Whether you support a two-state solution or the more utopian vision of a single state for Jews and Arabs alike, Hamas’s version of Palestine is likely to be antithetical to it and to any just or workable resolution of the Palestinian question.

Israel’s propagandists point to the anti-Jewish feeling that disfigures Hamas’s documents; they cite the influence of discredited conspiracy theories like the Protocols of Zion; they invoke Iran’s aid to Hamas and its potential nuclear threat to Israel’s existence. Jeffrey Goldberg, once an Israeli army officer, now an American journalist, tells of the time when a Hamas leader, Nizar Rayyan, confirmed to him that he believed a passage of scripture suggested that God had turned disobedient Jews into apes and pigs; in this way do Hamas’s enemies seek to shape world opinion by invoking the spectre of anti-semitism and the Holocaust. It’s hard to judge without a working knowledge of Arabic how accurate these citations in English are and it’s increasingly hard to take Western reportage on any aspect of the Palestinian question seriously.

But Hamas doesn’t have to be anti-semitic for sensible Indians to oppose its vision for the future, even as they acknowledge its current service to the Palestinian cause. It is enough for us to know that Hamas is at once a nationalist party and a fundamentalist Muslim organization that envisions the Palestinian nation as an Islamic state. Its leaders claim that Muslims, Jews and Christians can co-exist under ‘the wing of an Islamic state’, but surely the point is, why would any Palestinian Christian struggle to build an Islamic state, leave alone live in it. Nationalism and self-determination aren’t in themselves laudable things. Palestinian suffering can’t be the only raison d’être for a Palestinian state — that state must contain within itself a pluralist commitment to equality, to equal co-existence. Why would someone like Edward Said give his life to intellectually opposing a majoritarian Jewish state if its successor was to be a majoritarian Muslim nation? Why would the Palestinian struggle have a claim on our solidarity, if it’s only goal was to create yet another denominational state?

A radical friend of mine objected to my characterization of Hamas as a fundamentalist and sectarian party. Think of its extraordinary record of public service, he said, the schools it runs, the hospitals and orphanges that it has built, the commitment it has shown to constructively improving the lot of the Palestinian people. I had to point out to him that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh could claim credit for exactly the same achievements. And since he wouldn’t want Indian Muslims, Christians and Sikhs to live in an India defined by Hindutva, we should be wary of a party like Hamas that would have Christians, Jews and Muslims live in a state defined by political Islam. Paradoxically, then, even as we empathize with the sufferings of Palestinians in Gaza and admire the fortitude of their leaders in their rearguard action against the Israeli assault, we should hope that when Palestine comes into being, it will leave behind it the narrow, sectarian nationalism of Hamas.

o o o

http://www.sacw.net/article498.html

HOLOCAUST IN GAZA?

by Rohini Hensman, sacw.net, 14 January 2009

In February 2008, Israel’s Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai warned that if Hamas continued firing rockets, they would bring upon themselves a ’bigger shoah,’ the word used by Israelis to refer to the Nazi genocide or holocaust. This statement came in the wake of attacks on Gaza which left 32 Palestinians dead, including eight children, the youngest a six-month-old baby. These regular attacks, combined with a blockade which deprived Palestinians in Gaza of food, fuel, potable water, medicines and educational materials, was the slow-motion shoah which had been taking place up to December 27. The full-scale bombing which began on that date is surely the ’bigger shoah’ promised by Vilnai, and, according to Israeli reports, it was being planned as long back as February (1).

There were demonstrations against the Israeli bombing by outraged protestors throughout the world as the Palestinian death toll climbed to more than 300 in three days, but Palestinians in Gaza felt that the international community were acting as mere spectators to the massacre. They were right. Protest demonstrations are not enough to stop a holocaust. Even less effective are sanctimonious statements by the UN and EU equating one Israeli life to more than a hundred Palestinian lives, which make the outright support for the massacre by George W. Bush almost attractive in its honesty. So what can we do?

Debunking Myths

The first necessity is to debunk myths that have successfully been used to vitiate all previous actions against Israel. Firstly, the myth that the founding of the Zionist state has anything to do with the Nazi genocide. In fact, the project was conceived decades before the Nazi holocaust, and was a straightforward colonial agenda in which European settlers would evict indigenous Third World people from their land and take it over. Gandhi saw this very clearly, which is why he refused to give the Zionists his support when they approached him, despite his sympathy for persecuted Jews (2).

The second myth is that criticism of or opposition to the Zionist state of Israel constitutes anti-Semitism, and is an attack on all Jews. This is not true; indeed, Jews are among the most trenchant critics not only of Israeli atrocities, but also of the whole idea of a Zionist state. The notion that Judaism and Zionism are one and the same is shared by anti-Semites and Zionists; the former assume that all Jews are responsible for the crimes of the Zionists, while the latter assume that all condemnation of Zionist crimes constitutes an attack on Jews. These assumptions, equally reprehensible, are simply two sides of the same coin.

The third myth is that there was ever a possibility of a two-state solution. There were two models of settler-colonialism debated by the Zionists. One model, supported by very few, was the South African one, where the indigenous Palestinians, though evicted from their land and herded into Bantustans, would be allowed to remain in the country. The majority view was that the indigenous population should be eliminated, like the indigenous peoples of North America and Australia. To this end, massacres were carried out to terrorise the population into leaving, a process then known as ’transfer of population’ and now as ’ethnic cleansing’, and ever since the Nuremburg trials considered to be a crime against humanity (3). Both sides saw Israel as swallowing up the whole of Palestine, and one look at a map of Palestine/Israel today shows that this has now been achieved, with the Apartheid wall carving up the West Bank into ghettos, while the very fact that Israel could blockade the Gaza strip so effectively shows that it, too, is nothing more than a ghetto.

If Israel controls the non-contiguous borders, the coastal waters, the ground water and air space of the proposed ’Palestinian state’, if the people of Gaza can be starved and bombed simply because they exercised their franchise to elect a government which the Israeli state did not approve of, there could be no clearer proof that Palestinian self-determination is not an option so long as the Zionist regime remains. The struggle, therefore, is not for a separate Palestinian state but, as in Apartheid South Africa, for one democratic state with equal rights for all in the whole of historical Palestine. This would solve the problem of the second-class status of Palestinian citizens of Israel, the need for self-determination for Palestinians in the territories occupied in 1967, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees, all without driving Israeli Jews out of the country. It is the only possible solution (4).

The fourth myth is that Israel attacks Palestinians in self-defence. Take the most recent massacre, for example: it is claimed by Israel, and repeated by other politicians and the media, that it was Hamas which broke the ceasefire. Yet a careful scrutiny of ceasefire violations shows that once Hamas defeated Fatah and took control of the Gaza strip, violations from its side dropped almost to zero, until Israel broke the ceasefire by an air attack and ground invasion on November 4. Furthermore, throughout the ceasefire Israel implemented a siege and naval blockade of Gaza, defined as acts of war in international law. So it was Israel which broke the ceasefire in an act of aggression, and the legally elected Hamas government of Palestine which was acting in self-defence (5). This means that in international law, the murder of each one of the over 550 Palestinians killed in the most recent massacre, whether the vast majority of civilians or the small minority of guerrilla fighters, is a crime equivalent to the crime of killing one Israeli civilian.

Indeed, even before the December onslaught, it was clear that what Israel was doing in Gaza amounted to genocide according to the Genocide Convention (1948), reiterated in the Rome Charter of the International Criminal Court (2002), which includes: ’(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’ (6). The launching of rockets into Israel by Hamas was, like the Warsaw ghetto uprising of 1943, a response to impending extermination: a desperate bid for survival. The Zionists’ hostility to anyone standing up for the rights of Palestinians led them in 1948 to murder Count Folke Bernadotte, who had negotiated the release of tens of thousands of prisoners from German concentration camps and was subsequently appointed UN Security Council mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict. More recently, their shameful abuse of Richard Falk, UNHRC Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine (himself an American Jew), who in December 2008 was denied entry, ill-treated and deported, suggests that only pragmatic considerations prevented them from assassinating him too (7).

What Needs to be Done?

According to twenty-one human rights activists (including Jews) from South Africa visiting the West Bank in July 2008, the situation in Palestine/Israel was ’worse, worse, worse than everything we endured. The level of the apartheid, the racism and the brutality, are worse than the worst period of apartheid;’ ’What we went through was terrible, terrible, terrible – and yet there is no comparison. Here it is more terrible’ (8). An international response at least as strong as the response to Apartheid South Africa therefore seems to be appropriate, and this is constituted by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel called for by Palestinian civil society groups on 9 July 2005, to be continued until the apartheid regime is replaced by a democratic one. This includes cultural, academic and sports boycotts, and a consumer boycott of Israeli goods (barcode starting with 729), as well as a boycott of companies investing in, sourcing from, or otherwise supporting Israel, and pressure on them to change their policies. It would also include pressure on governments to break off diplomatic, economic and military ties with Israel, pointing out that these constitute complicity with Israel’s crimes (9).

There should be extra pressure on openly collaborationist regimes, like those of Mahmoud Abbas, Hosni Mubarak, and the Arab allies of Israel, which ought to be made to feel that their people will reject them unless they cease their complicity in Israeli crimes. Enormous pressure would also have to be brought to bear on the US, which assists Israel with billions of dollars annually as well as other forms of support. Given the indications that no change in US policy towards Palestine and Israel is planned by Barack Obama’s administration, the pressure should begin immediately, before his inauguration. And pressure from within the US should be augmented by international pressure.

The US economy is in deep crisis, with more than $ 10 trillion of national debt, and the only reason it can keep bankrolling Israel is that the US dollar is treated as world currency and oil sales are denominated in it, so the US has been getting more or less unlimited credit from the rest of the world. Russia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries must be pressurised into supporting the rights of Palestinians by immediately denominating their oil sales in euro, in preparation for moving to roubles in the case of Russia, and a common Gulf currency in the case of the GCC countries. Countries like China and Japan, with their massive US dollar reserves, should make the extension of further credit conditional on the US ceasing to fund Israel as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and countries with smaller dollar reserves should shift their reserves to other currencies. Such a move is required not only by ethical considerations, but also by pragmatic ones: if the credit extended is used to rebuild the US economy, there is a chance that it might be returned, whereas if it is used to fund aggression against Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, it will never be returned. In this campaign, very little individual action is possible, and success would depend on putting collective pressure on governments to boycott the US dollar until the US ceases to engage in and support imperialist aggression. With very few exceptions, governments of the world are complicit in the atrocities being committed in Gaza, just as they were in the crushing of the Warsaw ghetto uprising (10), and strong public pressure would be needed to expose, condemn and end their complicity.

The myths enumerated above need to challenged in every forum, along with the more diffuse racism that constitutes their premise. We may disagree with the politics of Hamas, just as we may disagree with the politics of the British Labour Party, but it does not follow that we should condone the slaughter of all leaders and members of Hamas, their families, government employees, and random members of the Palestinian population which elected them to power, any more than we would condone the slaughter of all leaders and members of the Labour Party, their families, government employees, and random members of the British population which elected them to power. The fact that the US and EU cannot see this equivalence demonstrates that they are dominated by the same racism which allowed slavery to flourish and the indigenous peoples of North America and Australia to be exterminated. Where Black people are killing Black people, as in Rwanda, or White people are killing White people, as in Bosnia, there is a chance that the UN may take action, however weak and belated. But where White people are killing Third World peoples, as in Palestine, there is no hope that it will take any action unless citizens of the world put massive pressure on their governments to support a solution which can bring justice and peace to Palestine/Israel. It is good that there have been worldwide protests against the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza, but a ceasefire would be no better than putting a sticking plaster over a festering wound, which will only erupt again sooner or later. The wound cannot heal until the infection has been eliminated by replacing the Apartheid state with a democratic one, and long-term, concerted action is required to achieve that goal.

Notes

(1) ’Israeli minister warns of Palestinian ’holocaust’, Guardian, 29 February 2008, www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/29/israelandthepalestinians1

(2) A.K.Ramakrishnan, ’Mahatma Gandhi Rejected Zionism,’ The Wisdom Fund, 15 August 2001, www.twf.org/News/Y2001/0815-GandhiZionism.html

(3) The debates as well as the methods by which the ethnic cleansing of Palestine was achieved are meticulously recorded in Ilan Pappe’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 2007

(4) See the One Democratic State Group website at www.odsg.org/

(5) ’On Sderot and Ashkelon,’ Jews sans Frontiers, 30 December 2008, http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2008/12/on-sderot-and-ashkelon.html

(6) For this argument see Ilan Pappe, ’Genocide in Gaza, Ethnic Cleansing In the West Bank, 28 January 2008, http://www.countercurrents.org/pappe280108.htm

(7) Stephen Lendman, ’Obama v. Richard Falk on Israel and Occupied Palestine,’ Countercurrents, 24 December 2008, http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman241208.htm

(8) Gideon Levy, ’Twilight Zone / "Worse than Apartheid",’ Haaretz, 12 July 2008, www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1000976.html

(9) For details of the BDS campaign, see Global BDS Movement – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for Palestine, http://www.bdsmovement.net/ The website of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) also has suggestions for action, including signing a petition in support of UN General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, who has spoken out to condemn Israeli apartheid and called for boycott, divestment and sanctions www.ijsn.net/ Information about companies linked to Israel can also be found in the Boycott Apartheid Israel leaflet published by the Friends of Al Aqsa at http://www.aqsa.org.uk/Portals/0/Leaflets/LF_24_Boycott.pdf

(10) See Joseph Massad, ’The Gaza Ghetto Uprising,’ The Electronic Intifada, 4 January 2009, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10110.shtml

Sections

o o o

ISRAEL’S DEVASTATING ATTACK ON GAZA

What India and the International Community Should Do ?

by Kamal Mitra Chenoy, (sacw.net, 16 January 2009)

http://www.sacw.net/article508.html

GAZA AND INDIA: A VIEW FROM PAKISTAN

by Faheem Hussain, (sacw.net, 11 January 2009)

http://www.sacw.net/article489.html

_____

[7] India - Chattissgarh: Shrinking Democratic Space

Dr Binayak Sen Now in Prison for 19 Months

http://www.freebinayaksen.org

o o o

Editorial, The Indian Express, January 15, 2009

NO BAILOUTS?

Even in the best of times, law enforcement and human rights are in tension with each other. Keeping the peace means arming the enforcers, arms they might misuse. Which is why a robust civil society and dogged monitoring are always needed to keep an eye on power. These are not the best of times. Terrorism from without and Naxalism from within pose a serious challenge to the Indian state and to its capacity to ensure security to its citizens. The horror of Mumbai only highlighted the need for a tough response. The state seems to have got that message, giving law enforcers additional tools. The recently passed anti-terror laws, the National Investigation Agency and better equipment are only some of the new tools law enforcers have been given to keep the peace. But a tough Terror regime must always be seen as a work in progress, and the tension between law enforcement and civil liberties should be tracked relentlessly. Look at the extraordinary measures available to the government: 180-day detention, targeting “sympathisers”, and shifting the evidentiary burden all risk violating the rights of detainees. These troubled times call for a tough law enforcement regime, but such tough laws also call for closer monitoring and stricter supervision to prevent misuse.

That possibility of misuse has come real in the case of Binayak Sen. And his case raises questions that must not be silenced. Arrested for supporting Naxalites on evidence that is fast unravelling, Binayak Sen has been in jail for 19 months without bail. Even indisputable criminals arrested on harder evidence get bail more quickly. The law that Sen has been arrested under significantly expands the definition of a “sympathiser”, casting a net wide enough to ensnare even traders who unwittingly sold cloth to Naxalites. Police officials say such a law is necessary, given that Naxalites hide under forest cover, and require supporters in urban areas to provide them with food, medical and legal aid.

Though still sub judice, the many troubling aspects of the case indicate the possibility of miscarriage of justice on a colossal scale. Given the enormity of the Naxal threat, it is inevitable — perhaps necessary — that the state responds in earnest. But the travails of Binayak Sen carry a message: when the the law is made tighter, there must be attendant thought to the possibility of misuse. Tough times need, not just tough responses, but tough monitoring as well.

_____

[8] INDIA - GUJARAT: Hindutva and Big Business

(i)

India: Call for Cellular Silence Day on 61st death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

Petition Against India Inc. Supporting Narendra Modi

Dear Friend

The collective amnesia of the captains of Indian industry, Messrs.Tata, Mittal and Ambani embracing Narendra Modi and endorsing his candidature as future PM of India, disturbed me immensely.

This petition is my humble effort to engage the conscience of corporate India and make it known to them that the Indian citizen is not to be trifled with.Just as we can vote for or against the poitician, we can pinch the corporate bottom-line in order to engage their attention to mend their ways.

It is not an easy task for us to keep our cell phones and Blackberries switched off for an entire day on January 30th,- the 61st anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

However, it ought to be sufficient to get the message across to corporate India that we will not tolerate the endorsement of fascists as future Prime Ministers.

May I request you visit the link below to sign and thereafter circulate the petition below, if you feel as strongly about this matter

sincerely

Ranjan Kamath

The petition title is: Cellular Silence Day 30th January 2009. The petition URL is: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/30JAN09/petition.html

The petition is directed to: India Inc.

The start date is: ..January 15th, 2009

The end date is: ..January 30th, 2009

The petition statement says:

Dear Messrs, Ratan Tata, Sunil Mittal and Anil Ambani

I am one of a billion Indian citizens.

I am somewhere in the middle of that pyramid that you wish to give voice - from bottom to top - through wealth creation.

I am proud of the brands you represent that have made India proud.

I am one of the burgeoning Indian middle-class that share your aspirations of mutating India from indolent elephant to thundering tiger.

It ends there...

I have hitherto been accused of being indifferent and apathetic, simply because I am overawed and felt overwhelmed in a system replete with Goliaths.

But when I saw you embrace the fascist mastermind of state sponsored genocide as a future Prime Minister and endorse the Modi-fication of India, it was disappointingly apparent that the brands that aspire to make India rich shall continue to languish in ethical poverty.

While I am filled with revulsion at your endorsement of Narendra Modi, I must respect your right to do so as a fellow citizen.

In writing this petition I am a mere David amongst the mightiest corporate Goliaths but I feel empowered to address your collective amnesia - through recollection of the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 - by the true Goliath among Gujaratis in particular and Indians in general - Mohandas Gandhi.

All those who sign this petition will switch off their Tata Indicomm, Airtel and Reliance cellular phone and broadband connections from midnight on January 30th 2009.

It is eminently possible that I might be the one voice in a billion who will observe the 61st death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on as Cellular Silence Day.

Then again, there might be close to a billion who could join me on January 30th, 2009 expressing their solidarity and silently insisting that the captains of India Inc adopt an ethical, compassionate path to wealth creation rather than the single-minded pursuit of the bottom-line.

We shall know that by the end of 30th January, 2009

o o o

(ii)

http://www.sacw.net/article496.html

GUJARAT’S DEVELOPMENT MASKS OTHER REALITIES

by Rohit Prajapati, Trupti Shah (sacw.net, 13 January 2009)

PRESS RELEASE

DATE; 13TH JANUARY 2009

· The success story of the two digit growth has masked the several digit realities of loss of livelihood, land acquisition, displacement and permanent loss of natural resources which are treated as free goods in this process.

· The investment figure without the displacement and depletion of natural resources figure and the employment figure without loss of livelihood does not make sense. – Rohit Prajapati and Dr. Trupti Shah

· No wise person would talk about the income without talking the cost of acquiring that income or wealth.

In the midst of the euphoria created by the investment flooding in to Gujarat and lakhs of new jobs likely to be created we would like to draw the attention of the 5.5 crore of Gujaratis that this is only one side of the story.

The success story of the two digit growth has masked the several digit realities of loss of livelihood, land acquisition, displacement and permanent loss of natural resources, which are treated as free goods in this process. The investment figure without the displacement and depletion of natural resources figure and the employment figure without loss of livelihood does not make sense. No wise person would talk about the income without talking the cost of acquiring that income or wealth.

It is a shocking fact that we have never tried to arrive at even a realistic estimate of these figures but the magnitude of the loss can be guessed from some of the facts emerging from various important research works. This is just a tip of iceberg.

Development-Induced Displacement in Gujarat 1947-2004 report prepared by Dr. Lancy Lobo and Shashikant Kumar of Centre for Culture and Development clearly indicates that there are 4,00,000 households displaced and affected in Gujarat during 57 years of Independence, amounting to 5% of the total population of Gujarat from developmental projects such as water resource related, transport and communications, industries, mines, defence, sanctuaries, human resource related, government offices, tourism and so on. This report further indicates that a total of 33,00,000 hectares of land has been acquired during 1947-2004 as computed from 80,000 Gazette notifications of the government of Gujarat and from Land Acquisition Departments from 25 Collectorates through RTI Act. This figure does not include the land acquired and people affected by the most controversial project Sardar Sarovar Dam [Narmada]. The acquisition of land was not based on the market value of the land but by bypassing all the rules of market mechanism.

This figure of displaced also does not include the people who were dependent on land for their livelihood but were not the owner of the land. Thus real figure of loss of livelihood may even cross the figure of 50,00,000. We hope that this figure is not negligible for the Government of Gujarat.

2007 and now in 2009 vibrant Gujarat summit is talking about huge investment but is silent on the issue of land acquisition and loss of livelihood because of the land “acquisition”.

We would like to inform 5.5 Crore Gujaratis that because of haphazard industrialisation, Gujarat has a number of industrial pollution Hot-Spots, where pollution levels are critical in surface water, groundwater and air. Ankleshwar, Vapi, Nandesari and Vatva are some such Hot-Spots.

However, no zoning atlas is available for heavily industrialised districts in the Golden Corridor, where, in addition to existing industries, the Government has planned a number of Mega chemicals Industrial Estates.

In Gujarat, groundwater is the major source of drinking water in several talukas including those with a high concentration of industries. This groundwater has been contaminated in some areas of about 74 talukas out of 184 talukas. Some of them are in the Golden Corridor - areas along the Kharicut Canal near Ahmedabad, areas around Ankleshwar Industrial Estate, some areas along ECP, and the areas surrounding Vapi which are among the critical polluted areas. The types of groundwater pollutants are TDS, hardness, salinity, chloride, COD, color, heavy metals, and POPs.

Current knowledge of the Gujarat Government on surface and groundwater contamination is very limited. Isolated reports exist of groundwater contamination in industrial areas. Comprehensive studies to identify the contamination of entire aquifers are absent.

Rohit Prajapati

[ROHIT PRAJAPATI]

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST

Trupti Shah

[Dr. TRUPTI SHAH]

ECONOMIST

_____

[9]

http://www.sacw.net/article511.html

MANUFACTURING COMPULSIONS OF NATIONAL SECURITY

- Why has the Centre set up a National Investigation Agency?

by Ashok Mitra

Whom are the authorities hoping to fool?

Ten young men, armed to the hilt with artillery and explosives that are products of the state-of-the-art terror technology, quietly land in Mumbai, saunter into three or four locations of high visibility and hold the city to ransom for three ghastly nights and days. They make a merry bonfire of this country’s security. They must have planned the operation meticulously over weeks and months on end. The nation they targeted knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about it. The agencies and institutions responsible for this sorry state of affairs are not difficult to list. These are, seriatim: (a) the office of the national security adviser; (b) the Research and Analysis Wing, the country’s outfit for external espionage, with its agents all over the world including, under clandestine designations, in our high commission in Islamabad; (c) the Indian navy, coming under the umbrella of the ministry of defence; (d) the country’s air force, again an integral part of the ministry of defence; (e) the national coastal guard, once again a wing of our armed services, and, finally, (f) the Port Authority of India that presides over the Mumbai Port Trust and is very much under the jurisdiction of the Centre.

The Mumbai shame could take place because of the failure, both individual as well as collective, of these agencies to do their duty by the nation. If a people’s tribunal were to sit in judgment, the chances are it could not reach but one conclusion — the head of each of these agencies ought to roll, their incompetence does not justify their further continuance in office, and democracy without accountability is a big zero.

While nothing has happened at the Central level except token sacrifice of a convenient scapegoat — the gentleman of supposedly sartorial elegance who was in charge of the ministry of home affairs — a different kind of game is on. Till today, no charges have been posted in any quarters that any part of the responsibility for the Mumbai catastrophe is to be laid at the door of any agency of any of the state governments. All that the state government of Maharashtra has been charged with is alleged failure to inform the public regarding the magnitude of the disaster. And yet, in an extraordinary display of effrontery, the authorities in New Delhi have rushed to use the pretext of the Mumbai horror to set up a National Investigation Agency. The agency has been given staggeringly sweeping powers, overriding the constitutional provision that jurisdiction over law and order belongs to the state government.

The Centre could accomplish this bit of derring-do because of the frenzy let loose by the happenings of November 26-28 last. That frenzy, why not say it, is largely a manufactured product. Those who have appropriated most of the milk and honey from India’s inequitous economic system suddenly feel menaced. Unlike the series of explosions occurring in different parts of the country in the recent past and affecting only humdrum ordinary people, it is the super-rich who were principally targeted in Mumbai. The resulting sense of insecurity is reflected, verbatim, in the media, owned by and large by the super- rich. The media have gone about as if they have proprietorial rights over the nation’s mind. Taking advantage of the situation, a government, which has failed to secure the nation and stands thoroughly exposed, has the gall to vest itself with further powers as reward for its incompetence. Not that protests have not been aired against this vulgar act of opportunism. Such protests are, however, muted — and for understandable reasons. Were dissent to rise to a higher pitch, the dissenters might well be accused of lack of patriotism.

No reason, however, exists to be less than blunt. Little people are in charge, people who lack the faculty to think through. They are evidently unable to appreciate the implications of what they have embarked upon. The way things have been allowed to develop, the situation is now ideally suited to those who would like nothing better than see the democratic functioning of the Indian polity stilled for ever. The electronic media have, in fact, already gone on record: they do not want politicians, they want only the commandos. A former national security adviser, a career democrat, has quickly added his input: multi-party politics is dangerous for national security, it encourages divisiveness amongst the people. Armed with such species of wisdom, New Delhi could feel tempted to avail itself of the new pieces of legislation, including the one establishing the NIA, to indulge in a danse macabre, curbing, in the process, both the ambit of state governments and the prerogative of ordinary citizens to think on their own.

Is it not all a great confidence trick? No question, the activism displayed in the establishment of the NIA has a direct link with the strategic alliance sealed with the United States of America. The American lobby in India has been campaigning long for such an alliance, and for setting up here a federal investigative agency in the mirror image of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI has actually been trying for the past two decades to open outposts in India so as to cope better with both the immediate peril of ‘Islamic terror’ and the impending peril of the US losing its global hegemony to China. Once a Central investigative agency comes to have a corpus in India and closely collaborates with the FBI, the latter would be saved the trouble of dealing with intelligence outfits at different layers of administration, including the states. The FBI’s wishes have now been fulfilled. Perhaps for reasons of bashfulness, the new outfit will be known as the National Investigation Agency and not the Federal Investigative Agency — but that is a small matter.

Given the present mood of the nation’s rulers, funds can be expected to be voted generously for the new agency, with little parliamentary control over how these funds are spent. At the same time, as the global economy sinks deeper into recession, here too, the pace of economic activities will slow down, leading to a considerable shrinkage in public revenue. The state of the budget will however have no impact on the allocations for the nation’s security, which will bulge and bulge. Since taxing the rich is an unthinkable proposition, the authorities will therefore either raise the burden of taxation on the nation’s poor or cut back spending on anti-poverty measures, or do both, to meet the compulsions of national security.

The consequences are predictable. With issues of food security and employment-creation pushed to the background, mass discontent will intensify, eventuating in occasional bloody confrontations between the protesters and State power. Inevitably, a new genre of terror will emerge. Thanks to the electronic media, even those denied the minimum opportunities of life and living are growing aware of the quality of indolent existence indulged in by the nation’s rich and super-rich.

The underprivileged and the dispossessed, determination writ large on their faces, will like nothing better than to proximate to the living standards of the fortunate ones in society. They will not worry over the means they deploy to reach their objective. They will steal, snatch, maim and kill. That is to say, they will not flinch from taking recourse to terror. The outcome will be a kind of wish fulfilment for the NIA; it will be able to justify its existence. And since it will have a veto over points of view expressed either by any state government or by conscientious dissenters, all worthwhile checks and balances on unbridled exercise of power will wither away.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

S o u t h A s i a C i t i z e n s W i r e

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on

matters of peace and democratisation in South

Asia. An offshoot of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not

necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

SACW | Jan 9-13, 2009 / Sri Lanka: Dog's of War / Pak-India: Peace Activists Signature campaign

South Asia Citizens Wire | January 9-13, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2597 - Year 11 running

From: www.sacw.net

[1] Sri Lanka: Dog's of War

(i) 'And Then They Came For Me' - The last editorial by Lasantha Wickrematunge

(ii) Sri Lankan Tigers Facing Extinction? (J. Sri Raman)

(iii) Book Review: The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka, Terrorism ethnicity, political economy (H.L.D. Mahindapala)

[2] India/Pakistan: Lowering Temperatures (Praful Bidwai)

+ Pakistan’s Ajoka theatre told not to come to India (Nirupama Subramanian)

[3] Bangladesh: A Second Chance For Lady Luck (Taslima Nasreen)

[4] Peace Activists Launch of Joint Signature campaign in different cities of Pakistan and India (Press releases)

[5] Zionism, exterminism, and the Times of India: Letter to the Editor (Dilip Simeon)

[6] Publication Announcement: 'Beyond Counter-insurgency - Breaking the Impasse in Northeast India' Edited by Sanjib Baruah

______

[1] Sri Lanka: Dog's of War:

(i) http://www.sacw.net/article491.html

[In the death of the Sunday Leader editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge , Sri Lanka lost a very courageous and visionary journalist who strived to expose corruption, human rights abuses and supported the rights of minorities in the face of great personal danger.

He had obviously anticipated his own demise and the manner of it as is evident from his last editorial published in Sunday Leader.]

Sunday Leader

Editorial

AND THEN THEY CAME FOR ME

No other profession calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and, in Sri Lanka , journalism. In the course of the past few years, the independent media have increasingly come under attack. Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.

I have been in the business of journalism a good long time. Indeed, 2009 will be The Sunday Leader's 15th year. Many things have changed in Sri Lanka during that time, and it does not need me to tell you that the greater part of that change has been for the worse. We find ourselves in the midst of a civil war ruthlessly prosecuted by protagonists whose bloodlust knows no bounds. Terror, whether perpetrated by terrorists or the state, has become the order of the day. Indeed, murder has become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty. Today it is the journalists, tomorrow it will be the judges. For neither group have the risks ever been higher or the stakes lower.

Why then do we do it? I often wonder that. After all, I too am a husband, and the father of three wonderful children. I too have responsibilities and obligations that transcend my profession, be it the law or journalism. Is it worth the risk? Many people tell me it is not. Friends tell me to revert to the bar, and goodness knows it offers a better and safer livelihood. Others, including political leaders on both sides, have at various times sought to induce me to take to politics, going so far as to offer me ministries of my choice. Diplomats, recognising the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka , have offered me safe passage and the right of residence in their countries. Whatever else I may have been stuck for, I have not been stuck for choice.

But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.

The Sunday Leader has been a controversial newspaper because we say it like we see it: whether it be a spade, a thief or a murderer, we call it by that name. We do not hide behind euphemism. The investigative articles we print are supported by documentary evidence thanks to the public-spiritedness of citizens who at great risk to themselves pass on this material to us. We have exposed scandal after scandal, and never once in these 15 years has anyone proved us wrong or successfully prosecuted us.

The free media serve as a mirror in which the public can see itself sans mascara and styling gel. From us you learn the state of your nation, and especially its management by the people you elected to give your children a better future. Sometimes the image you see in that mirror is not a pleasant one. But while you may grumble in the privacy of your armchair, the journalists who hold the mirror up to you do so publicly and at great risk to themselves. That is our calling, and we do not shirk it.

Every newspaper has its angle, and we do not hide the fact that we have ours. Our commitment is to see Sri Lanka as a transparent, secular, liberal democracy. Think about those words, for they each has profound meaning. Transparent because government must be openly accountable to the people and never abuse their trust. Secular because in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society such as ours, secularism offers the only common ground by which we might all be united. Liberal because we recognise that all human beings are created different, and we need to accept others for what they are and not what we would like them to be. And democratic.. . well, if you need me to explain why that is important, you'd best stop buying this paper.

The Sunday Leader has never sought safety by unquestioningly articulating the majority view. Let's face it that is the way to sell newspapers. On the contrary, as our opinion pieces over the years amply demonstrate, we often voice ideas that many people find distasteful. For example, we have consistently espoused the view that while separatist terrorism must be eradicated, it is more important to address the root causes of terrorism, and urged government to view Sri Lanka's ethnic strife in the context of history and not through the telescope of terrorism. We have also agitated against state terrorism in the so-called war against terror, and made no secret of our horror that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens. For these views we have been labelled traitors, and if this be treachery, we wear that label proudly.

Many people suspect that The Sunday Leader has a political agenda: it does not. If we appear more critical of the government than of the opposition it is only because we believe that - pray excuse cricketing argot - there is no point in bowling to the fielding side. Remember that for the few years of our existence in which the UNP was in office, we proved to be the biggest thorn in its flesh, exposing excess and corruption wherever it occurred. Indeed, the steady stream of embarrassing expose’s we published may well have served to precipitate the downfall of that government.

Neither should our distaste for the war be interpreted to mean that we support the Tigers. The LTTE are among the most ruthless and bloodthirsty organisations ever to have infested the planet. There is no gainsaying that it must be eradicated. But to do so by violating the rights of Tamil citizens, bombing and shooting them mercilessly, is not only wrong but shames the Sinhalese, whose claim to be custodians of the dhamma is forever called into question by this savagery, much of which is unknown to the public because of censorship.

What is more, a military occupation of the country's north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering "development" and "reconstruction" on them in the post-war era. The wounds of war will scar them forever, and you will also have an even more bitter and hateful Diaspora to contend with. A problem amenable to a political solution will thus become a festering wound that will yield strife for all eternity. If I seem angry and frustrated, it is only because most of my countrymen - and all of the government - cannot see this writing so plainly on the wall.

It is well known that I was on two occasions brutally assaulted, while on another my house was sprayed with machine-gun fire. Despite the government's sanctimonious assurances, there was never a serious police inquiry into the perpetrators of these attacks, and the attackers were never apprehended. In all these cases, I have reason to believe the attacks were inspired by the government. When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me.

The irony in this is that, unknown to most of the public, Mahinda and I have been friends for more than a quarter century. Indeed, I suspect that I am one of the few people remaining who routinely addresses him by his first name and uses the familiar Sinhala address oya when talking to him. Although I do not attend the meetings he periodically holds for newspaper editors, hardly a month passes when we do not meet, privately or with a few close friends present, late at night at President's House. There we swap yarns, discuss politics and joke about the good old days. A few remarks to him would therefore be in order here.

Mahinda, when you finally fought your way to the SLFP presidential nomination in 2005, nowhere were you welcomed more warmly than in this column. Indeed, we broke with a decade of tradition by referring to you throughout by your first name. So well known were your commitments to human rights and liberal values that we ushered you in like a breath of fresh air. Then, through an act of folly, you got yourself involved in the Helping Hambantota scandal. It was after a lot of soul-searching that we broke the story, at the same time urging you to return the money. By the time you did so several weeks later, a great blow had been struck to your reputation. It is one you are still trying to live down.

You have told me yourself that you were not greedy for the presidency. You did not have to hanker after it: it fell into your lap. You have told me that your sons are your greatest joy, and that you love spending time with them, leaving your brothers to operate the machinery of state. Now, it is clear to all who will see that that machinery has operated so well that my sons and daughter do not themselves have a father.

In the wake of my death I know you will make all the usual sanctimonious noises and call upon the police to hold a swift and thorough inquiry. But like all the inquiries you have ordered in the past, nothing will come of this one, too. For truth be told, we both know who will be behind my death, but dare not call his name. Not just my life, but yours too, depends on it.

Sadly, for all the dreams you had for our country in your younger days, in just three years you have reduced it to rubble. In the name of patriotism you have trampled on human rights, nurtured unbridled corruption and squandered public money like no other President before you. Indeed, your conduct has been like a small child suddenly let loose in a toyshop. That analogy is perhaps inapt because no child could have caused so much blood to be spilled on this land as you have, or trampled on the rights of its citizens as you do. Although you are now so drunk with power that you cannot see it, you will come to regret your sons having so rich an inheritance of blood. It can only bring tragedy. As for me, it is with a clear conscience that I go to meet my Maker. I wish, when your time finally comes, you could do the same. I wish.

As for me, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I walked tall and bowed to no man. And I have not travelled this journey alone. Fellow journalists in other branches of the media walked with me: most of them are now dead, imprisoned without trial or exiled in far-off lands. Others walk in the shadow of death that your Presidency has cast on the freedoms for which you once fought so hard. You will never be allowed to forget that my death took place under your watch. As anguished as I know you will be, I also know that you will have no choice but to protect my killers: you will see to it that the guilty one is never convicted. You have no choice. I feel sorry for you, and Shiranthi will have a long time to spend on her knees when next she goes for Confession for it is not just her owns sins which she must confess, but those of her extended family that keeps you in office.

As for the readers of The Sunday Leader, what can I say but Thank You for supporting our mission. We have espoused unpopular causes, stood up for those too feeble to stand up for themselves, locked horns with the high and mighty so swollen with power that they have forgotten their roots, exposed corruption and the waste of your hard-earned tax rupees, and made sure that whatever the propaganda of the day, you were allowed to hear a contrary view. For this I - and my family - have now paid the price that I have long known I will one day have to pay. I am - and have always been - ready for that. I have done nothing to prevent this outcome: no security, no precautions. I want my murderer to know that I am not a coward like he is, hiding behind human shields while condemning thousands of innocents to death. What am I among so many? It has long been written that my life would be taken, and by whom. All that remains to be written is when.

That The Sunday Leader will continue fighting the good fight, too, is written. For I did not fight this fight alone. Many more of us have to be - and will be - killed before The Leader is laid to rest. I hope my assassination will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration for those who survive to step up their efforts. Indeed, I hope that it will help galvanise forces that will usher in a new era of human liberty in our beloved motherland. I also hope it will open the eyes of your President to the fact that however many are slaughtered in the name of patriotism, the human spirit will endure and flourish. Not all the Rajapakses combined can kill that.

People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it is a matter of time before I am bumped off. Of course I know that: it is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot, whether they be ethnic minorities, the disadvantaged or the persecuted. An example that has inspired me throughout my career in journalism has been that of the German theologian, Martin Niemller. In his youth he was an anti-Semite and an admirer of Hitler. As Nazism took hold in Germany , however, he saw Nazism for what it was: it was not just the Jews Hitler sought to extirpate, it was just about anyone with an alternate point of view. Niemller spoke out, and for his trouble was incarcerated in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945, and very nearly executed. While incarcerated, Niemller wrote a poem that, from the first time I read it in my teenage years, stuck hauntingly in my mind:

First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

If you remember nothing else, remember this: The Leader is there for you, be you Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, low-caste, homosexual, dissident or disabled. Its staff will fight on, unbowed and unafraid, with the courage to which you have become accustomed. Do not take that commitment for granted. Let there be no doubt that whatever sacrifices we journalists make, they are not made for our own glory or enrichment: they are made for you. Whether you deserve their sacrifice is another matter.

As for me, God knows I tried.

o o o

(ii)

Truthout.org

09 January 2009

SRI LANKAN TIGERS FACING EXTINCTION?

by J. Sri Raman

"The Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka are facing extinction. Like the great beasts they named themselves after, they were fighting tooth and claw this week against the ... soldiers sent to disarm them, but it was a losing fight. They were outnumbered, outgunned, running out of supplies and, with the [soldiers] blocking every exit, had no place to retreat to. Guerrillas are no match for orthodox battalions in a pitched battle, the sort that was taking place in the Tigers stronghold ..."

This sounds like an excerpt from one of the many reports in the newspapers of Sri Lanka and India over the past few days. But it is not.

"... From a tactical point of view, Prabhakaran's actions were baffling. The peace plan had promised the Tamils local rule in the regions where they predominate. The rebel leader had extracted a further concession that would have allowed his group to control the interim administration. Why had he sacrificed such tangible political gains and provoked a military confrontation that could only lead to his destruction?"

This, too, could pass for a very recent comment on the hubris and nemesis of the supremo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Wrong, again, if you thought so.

The first was part of a report captioned "Requiem for the Tigers" in the London-based Economist of October 17, 1987. The second was part of an analysis in Time Magazine of October 26, 1987.

Both journals were covering the war that had broken out between the LTTE and an Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF). And both were writing off the LTTE and its leader, who had already become a living legend to many and a loathed monster to many others.

Similar reports can be gleaned from publications of about a decade later. The LTTE and Prabhakaran again seemed to face formidable odds in 1996 as Sri Lankan armed forces captured significant swathes of Tiger territory. The fortunes of the civil war were again seen as foreshadowing an end of the road for the rebels and their redoubtable chief.

The point is that requiems have been sung for the Tigers repeatedly before and they have proven more than a bit premature. Experience should exhort many in the region against rejoicing too soon over the reported imminence of the rebels' fall along with their larger-than-life leader.

The conclusion may not appear unwarranted if one goes by the logic of conventional warfare alone. The LTTE has lost much of the northern part of Sri Lanka earlier under its control and the town of Killinochi that once harbored its headquarters. It has been driven into Mullaitivu, a narrow, heavily forested strip of 40 square kilometers.

The Tigers, however, have engaged in conventional warfare only for a short, recent phase of their 32-year-long armed struggle. They have relied on guerrilla tactics and spectacular terror strikes for decades, including suicide attacks, in which they are considered pioneers of sorts, before building up an army along with a rudimentary navy and air force.

Some experts argue that the LTTE cannot easily return to its older fighting ways. Even Prabhakaran is quoted as conceding "new weaponry from India, Pakistan, China and elsewhere" has given Colombo a temporary advantage. Web sites and other mouthpieces of the Tigers, however, make it quite clear that the rebels are working for a regrouping and the return to methods of resistance that made them a menace in the first place. The recent reverses, in fact, have already led to at least two suicide missions in the vicinity of Colombo.

Frenetic speculation rages about the fate of Prabhakaran himself. Colombo claims that its forces will try to capture him alive. India's ruling Congress party takes the claim so seriously as to demand his extradition in that event, since he is wanted in the case of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, of which the LTTE has been convicted in Indian courts.

Despite this, some expect an endangered Prabhakaran to escape to India. At least one security analyst thinks he may disappear into a South Indian forest controlled by ultra-leftists, whom the Tigers had assisted in the past. Some others see him seeking refuge in a Western state, probably Norway, which had played the broker between Colombo and the LTTE.

Still others wager that he will stay put in Sri Lanka, as he has all through these years, without encountering any serious bodily harm. His admirers swear that he would sooner bite the cyanide pill he carries like other LTTE combatants than be captured alive.

Whatever his fate, the difference it would make is an indisputable fact. The end of the Che Guevera of the Eelam, idolized as the champion of ethnic rights by large sections of Tamils in Sri Lanka and India's State of Tamilnadu, as well as the worldwide Tamil diaspora, can deal a heavy blow to the movement by demoralizing it.

The end of Prabhakaran, however, may not necessarily mean the Tiger's extinction. We have no word on a second-line leadership in the LTTE. It is hard to trust the testimony of former Tigers, who are now among its implacable foes, to the effect that the hordes of Prabhakaran will not survive their hero.

All this may sound like a tribute to the Tigers. It is not meant to be one. It may be too early to sing their requiem, but Prabhakaran and the LTTE do not exactly deserve a panegyric, certainly not from a peace activist.

We have talked in these columns before of the neglected cause of peace amidst the clash of ethnic nationalities. Speaking of a "silenced constituency" of the island-state on December 4, 2006, we pointed to a section of the people who do not figure in the flood of war stories: "Sri Lankans who prefer and pride themselves on a composite Sri Lankan identity." This constituency has continued to face "cruelly formidable odds, especially in the Sinhala-majority south of Sri Lanka from anti-minority forces."

The situation has always been similar, though not identical to, that of far-right creation in India, with reference to Hindu-Muslim relations. It is hard to plead for inter-religious harmony here without the holy right calling one a "traitor" and a friend of "terrorism," particularly after the Mumbai outrage, For years, in Sri Lanka, the far right has violently frustrated even attempts at antiwar rallies on the ground that these were designed to demoralize the armed forces.

It is the anti-minority far right that, in the final analysis, has made the Tigers and Prabhakaran the force they are.

The short-term illusion, which stories of a round-the-corner end for Eelam extremism encourage, is evident. Less obvious, perhaps, is the larger illusion that the premature celebrations promote.

The illusion finds one of its many illustrations in the editorial of Sri Lankan daily The Island of January 3, 2008. "The capture of Kilinochchi," said the editorial, "is not a blow to the LTTE alone. It has sent a strong message to others of its ilk all over the world that the civilized world is capable of eliminating the scourge of terrorism."

It is not only a small island-state in South Asia that nurses the dangerously misleading delusion that terrorism can be defeated and ended by the might of the state alone.

--

Also see

Sri Lankan President Makes Conspiracy Claims

Friday 09 January 2009

by Iqbal Athas, CNN

http://www.truthout.org/010909B#1

(iii)

Daily Mirror

January 10, 2009

THE SEPARATIST CONFLICT IN SRI LANKA, TERRORISM ETHNICITY, POLITICAL ECONOMY

The indispensable book for our confused times

by H.L.D. Mahindapala

Prof. Asoka Bandarage’s latest book, The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka, Terrorism ethnicity, political economy, is a new academic evaluation of the diverse and salient issues that had bedevilled the Sri Lankan conflict. It challenges the orthodox views and presents new insights that had missed the attention of the “ethnic entrepreneurs” who filled the public space with the monotonous drum beat of blaming only one side – the majority Sinhala-Buddhists.

In any intellectual/academic enterprise, it is unrealistic and illogical to conclude that the complex forces, interacting and influencing each other, can be reduced to the sound of a clap with one hand. Yet a whole school of “ethnic entrepreneurs”, mostly from America, led by Prof. S.J. Tambiah of Harvard University, thrived by “manufacturing consensus” (Noam Chomsky) on this mono-causal thesis of blaming only the Sinhala-Buddhists. Rushing in from various angles, the Sri Lankans in American academia ran down this mono-causal narrow seam as if they were a herd chivvied by a “Rhinocerian” goad (Eugene Ionesco). Prof. Bandarage’s new study, on the contrary, explores the multi-factorial forces intertwining into the entangled and matted mess of the Sri Lankan conflict. It goes beyond the limited confines of the prevailing academic orthodoxy which has been dominated by some of the leading “ethnic entrepreneurs”.

In the absence of formidable and competitive perspectives penetrating the unfolding events, this orthodox view gained the upper hand. The “American school” was aided and abetted by the Sri Lankan academics – particularly those from the Colombo University – who gathered their forces to buttress and propagate this mono-causal view. There are nearly 4,000 academics in the 14 universities and only the voices of those linked to this American network of academics (who were also allied to cash-flushed NGOs funding their “research”) were heard in local and international fora.

Proponents of this orthodox view also gained ascendancy because the opposite points of view were silenced by the overwhelming power of resources thrown by the privatized research centres that were popping up inside the walls of proliferating NGOs. They constructed the political vocabulary and the theoretical framework. They handpicked the narrow field of ground-work that confirmed their political biases. And they craftily selected the evidence to fit into the politicized re-writing of history. Points of view that did not fit into their political agenda were dismissed as “unscientific” “chauvinism” and “racism”. Exclusion rather than inclusion was the norm in their intellectual exercises.

It is, therefore, pleasantly surprising to find a fresh academic voice challenging this mono-causal view. Prof. Asoka Bandarage’s latest book, The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka, Terrorism ethnicity, political economy, comes into this enclosed space like a breath of fresh air, easing the suffocation inside the closed ideological box. The book gains an added significance and value when it is read in the context of the “ethnic entrepreneurs” who hid behind the ubiquitous “cadjan curtains” of Jaffna. It opens up vistas that were never considered valid for analyzing the Sri Lankan conflict. In this respect her book not only breaks new ground but also presents a panoramic view of the conflict. Her decision to break away from the pack and go off the beaten track is a daring move that is rare in Sri Lankan studies.

Before going any further into the book, it is necessary to emphasize that her study reaches a new scholarly peak from which it is possible to look down on the prevailing mono-causal ideology that distorted the realities of the Sri Lankan conflict. The recurring question that runs through the mind when reading her book is: why did academia and think-tanks exploring the Sri Lankan conflict accept this narrow, mono-causal view when all the available evidence and reasoning ran against it? Conventional wisdom has categorized the Sri Lankan conflict as a product of culturally based violence where the majority Sinhala-Buddhists not only discriminated against the minority Tamils but also refused to accommodate their “grievances” which incrementally led to the exacerbation of inter-ethnic relations until the northern Tamils were forced to pass the Vadukoddai Resolution in May 1976 declaring war on the majority Sinhalese.

Incidentally, this was also the view that was held by a segment of the Sinhala intelligentsia, coming initially from the left-wing, based on misplaced ideological sympathies and from the right-wing of late based on opportunistic politics to grab the Tamil vote. It became fashionable among those at these two ends of the political spectrum to view the conflict in simplistic terms of a clash of ethnic identities.

Though this view has been contested it has not gained acceptance at the same level as theory of the culture-driven violence of the Sinhala-Buddhists against the Tamils. The opposition to this thesis has come out sporadically, in an ad hoc fashion, without collating the anti-thesis into a solid, cohesive argument.

Finger-pointing at the Sinhala Buddhists was a subtle means of providing ideological incentives and justifications for Tamil violence. The distorted presentation of a mono-causal theory was the primary source that justified Jaffna Tamil violence endorsed in the Vadukoddai Resolution of 1976. In fact, the mono-causal theory was a carbon copy of the Vadukoddai Resolution. Every theorist who argued for separatism in one form or other – from Eelam to confederalism to federalism to power-sharing – hardly ever deviated from the concocted geography and the manufactured history laid down in the Vaddukoddai Resolution. It was the bedrock on which Tamil separatism was based.

The main theses of the Vadukoddai Resolution, demanding a separate state and urging violence in pursuance of this political goal were given respectability and legitimacy by the “ethnic entrepreneurs” in privatized research centres run by foreign-funded NGOs. The new ideological foot soldiers that fanned out globally to fire the ammunition manufactured by NGOs and partisan academics were content to wage their ideological war wearing these tinted monocles. Denigrating the Sinhala-Buddhist was a part of their strategy to promote the image of the northern Jaffna Tamils as the pristine, innocent and the vulnerable underdog that faced the brunt of Sinhala-Buddhist discrimination and violence in the post-independence phase.

As the northern violence gathered momentum a whole new industry developed inside academia and NGO think-tanks to rationalize the separatist political agenda prescribed in the Vadukoddai Resolution. The only difference was in the sophistication of the arguments presented by partisan academics in support of the main political agenda, outlined rather crudely, in the Resolution. In every other respect they ran on parallel lines. Norman Uphoff of Cornell University, a political scientist “who did many years of extensive field research in conflict areas in Lanka,” confirms this when he says: “Sinhalese politicians were blinded by their own ethnic prejudices and perceptions, themselves seeing the conflict much as LTTE has defined it, as an ethnic struggle rather than a blatant attempt by a minority to seize political power and territory.”

The major thrust of the academic enterprise was to force the public to see the “conflict much as the LTTE has defined it.” As Uphoff has pointed out, it is the LTTE that defined the political agenda after it took over from the old guard that steered peninsular politics in feudal, colonial times and pre-1976 period. But the LTTErs were essentially the children of the Vadukoddai Resolution. They were merely the young agents recruited ideologically by the elders of Jaffna to implement the Vadukoddai Resolution which was drafted, endorsed and politically packaged for the specific objective of unleashing political violence.

She points out that the separatist agenda was drawn not only on “erroneous premises” but also on falsified historical statements. She states: “The Vadukoddai Resolution was taken almost verbatim from the erroneous Cleghorn Minute….”(p.71) She also cites K. M. de Silva, Sri Lanka’s foremost historian, as the authority that had investigated and debunked the Cleghorn Minute. Hugh Cleghorn was the first Colonial Secretary under Gov. North and he left the country in disgrace after it was found that some of the pearls that were in his custody had gone missing. It is not his questionable character that is at stake. It is his ill-informed knowledge of history that casts doubt on the validity of his minute. In the same minute he states that the Sinhalese came from Siam. K. M. de Silva shreds Cleghorn’s minute to strips in his monograph, “Separatist Ideology in Sri Lanka: A historical appraisal”. K.M. de Silva’s monograph is a critical study that explodes the foundations of the “traditional homelands” myths on which the Vaddukoddai Resolution was based.

____

[2]

Inter Press Service

January 10, 2009

INDIA/PAKISTAN: LOWERING TEMPERATURES

by Praful Bidwai

NEW DELHI, Jan 10 (IPS) - Six weeks after the Mumbai terrorist attacks precipitated a grave new crisis in their mutual relations, the danger of a military conflict breaking out between India and Pakistan has receded.

The two "distant neighbours" seem to be heading towards less hostile diplomatic exchanges, but are still wary of being seen to be weak and yielding to pressure.

Meanwhile, civil society organisations in both countries have raised their voices in favour of renouncing military options to deal with the crisis, and asked the two governments to "redouble their efforts" to devise an "effective strategy" against terrorism and religious militancy and "quickly compose their differences over ways of dealing with terrorism".

A significant change has come about since the Indian government presented a detailed dossier to Pakistan's ambassador in New Delhi on Jan. 6, containing evidence that the attacks were planned and executed by the Pakistan-based extremist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, itself related to the Jamaat-ud-Dawa organisation banned recently by Pakistan following the United Nations Security Council resolution.

A day later, the Pakistan government officially admitted for the first time that the sole surviving assailant, Amir Ajmal Kasab, who has been in the custody of the Mumbai police, is a Pakistani national.

In the process, however, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani for confirming Kasab's identity to the media without his authorisation.

Until now, the Pakistan government had maintained, in the face of media reports identifying Kasab and his father and verifying their address in a village in the Pakistani Punjab, that there was no proof that Kasab is a Pakistani.

"Now that the government has confirmed Kasab's identity as a Pakistani, it is incumbent upon it to investigate how LeT came to play the role that it did, probe into its various official and sub-state connections and swiftly bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice," says Karamat Ali, a Karachi-based social activist and a founder-member of the Pakistan Peace Coalition, an umbrella group set up in 1999.

"Indeed, the government must go further and crack down on all jehadi groups with violent and fundamentalist agendas and smash the infrastructure that supports them. These groups have become a menace not just to distant and neighbouring countries, but to Pakistan itself,’’ Ali said.

‘’It is unfortunate that Durrani was sacked at this particular point of time because of internal differences between President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani. But that shouldn't prevent the government from acting seriously against the terrorist groups,’’ Ali added.

If Pakistan takes some real action, which goes beyond the token house arrests made after JuD was banned, then India is likely to be persuaded to take a more cooperative approach towards Islamabad and work out the steps through which the two governments could work together against extremist groups.

India and Pakistan set up a Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism in March 2007, and this has met a number of times. But no meeting was convened after the attacks in November.

The two countries are also members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which adopted a comprehensive convention against terrorism in 1987, and also fall and followed it up with an additional protocol. This makes it mandatory for the regional governments to share information and investigate and act against terrorist crimes jointly.

SAARC includes India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The absence of cooperation between India and Pakistan after Mumbai is explained by a lack of mutual trust. India claims to have clinching evidence of LeT's involvement in the attacks and suspects that the group was backed covertly by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency or by the army.

The evidence collected by India in the dossier includes transcripts of telephone conversations purportedly between the assailants and their handlers in Pakistan during the period Nov. 20 - 29, GPS (global positioning system) and satellite telephone signatures; transcripts of conversations between the attackers and their handlers; photographs of arms with Pakistani markings; use of virtual telephone numbers generated over the Internet; and the associated money trails.

On the other hand, Pakistan has been in denial but only of the role played by LeT and other Pakistan-based groups, but also of its own state's responsibility for the security of its neighbourhood.

"Mercifully, India and Pakistan have given a break to the sabre-rattling in which they engaged just after the Mumbai attacks," says Kamal Mitra Chenoy, a professor at the School of International Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University here. "This is welcome because any military conflict between the two countries is liable to escalate into a Nuclear Armageddon."

But, adds Chenoy: "Neither government has so far fashioned a coherent non-military alternative approach to the crisis. Pakistan is yet to move away decisively from denial and stonewalling to cooperation. And India has been giving out contradictory signals."

Thus, a day after India presented the Mumbai dossier to Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accused Pakistan of using "terrorism as an instrument of state policy". He charged it with "whipping up war hysteria" and blamed its "fragile" government, including the civilian government, for the neighbourhood's "uncertain security environment": the "more fragile a government, the more it act[s] in an irresponsible fashion".

Says political scientist Achin Vanaik: "This runs counter to the logic and rationale of the India-Pakistan peace process launched in 2004. It sits ill with India's considered view that Pakistan's civilian government is friendly towards India and keen to act against terrorists, and must be supported."

Singh cited no evidence to prove the Pakistan government's involvement in the attacks. His charges were based on a general assessment, surmise or inference, similar to that drawn by Home Minister P Chidambaram -- namely, "in a crime of this size and scale, I will presume that it was state-assisted until the contrary is proved. I will draw an adverse inference..."

Adds Vanaik: "Such inference fits past patterns of 'plausible deniability' in which the ISI diabolically instigated terrorist violence. It may well apply to Mumbai, although other persuasive hypotheses suggest the ISI may only have given logistical support. However, the assessment must be specifically proved in Mumbai's case. ‘’

If India's objective, as Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon put it, is to get Pakistan to further investigate LeT's role in the operation, then it is counterproductive to accuse Pakistan in ways which embarrass even the civilian government. If the goal is to discredit Pakistan, then it is pointless to share the dossier with it.

However, the Indian government seems to be relying primarily on the United States to exert pressure on Pakistan to act on India's Mumbai dossier. According to the outgoing U.S. ambassador to India, David Mulford, this dossier was prepared with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which is examining the deaths of six U.S. citizens in the Mumbai attack.

"When Americans are killed anywhere, we pursue those people and that is what we are up to in Pakistan. We will press ahead and we will do it non-stop, as long as it takes," Mulford said, at a luncheon on Friday organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries.

‘’The U.S. has been pressing for deeper understanding in Pakistan of the roots of the problem of terrorism, Mulford said. "Like India, we have a common agenda... we want to see Pakistan succeed, not fail, not become a serious problem, not become a failed state.

The FBI was reportedly allowed to interrogate Kasab over a number of sessions and has corroborated the intercepts by Indian agencies with its own records. The Indian government expects Washington, and in particular the FBI, to mount pressure on Pakistan to act.

"This may not be a wise strategy," argues Vanaik. "The U.S. has its own agendas in South Asia. Imbalance and myopia are integral to U.S. policy towards the region. And there is a huge risk in greater U.S. involvement here. President-elect Barrack Obama plans to intensify the Afghanistan war. This will increase U.S. dependence on the Pakistan army, and downgrade India's anti-terrorist concerns."

o o o

The Hindu

12 January 2009

PAKISTAN’S AJOKA THEATRE TOLD NOT TO COME TO INDIA

by Nirupama Subramanian

National School of Drama festival had received threats

Ajoka’s play is about the havoc extremism wreaks on society

Its director said she had appealed to the NSD not to cancel the show

ISLAMABAD: On both sides of the border, eminent personalities are making fervent appeals on the importance of keeping up intellectual, cultural and people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan in these troubled times, but the idea is under assault.

After a successful outing of its ‘Bullah’ at the Thrissur International Drama Festival last month, the Lahore-based Ajoka theatre was all set to return to India this week for the National School of Drama festival with another of its popular plays, only to be asked by the organisers not to come.

Madeeha Gauhar, director of Ajoka, said she received a call from NSD director Anuradha Kapoor, on Sunday afternoon asking her to cancel the group’s trip to New Delhi as the festival had received threats against putting up Pakistani plays.

“Ready to face”

“I told her that we receive many threats here in Pakistan too. We face them, and we are ready to face such threats in India. We cannot be deterred by them,” said Ms. Gauhar.

Another group from Pakistan already in New Delhi was scheduled to perform on Sunday. The NSD administration is said to have received threats on Sunday morning against going ahead with the show.

Extraordinary security measures were reported to have been taken against possible attempts at disruption.

Ironically enough, the play Ajoka was taking to New Delhi, titled ‘Hotel Mohenjo Daro,’ is about the havoc extremism wreaks on society.

The context is Pakistan – the play, written by Ghulam Abbas in the 1960s about an imaginary scenario in his country in the 21st century, is chillingly prophetic – but the message is universal.

Ms. Gauhar said she had appealed to the NSD not to cancel their show, scheduled on January 16.

“To do that would be to give them what they [extremists] want. This is what those behind the Mumbai attacks wanted,” she said, “to derail the whole peace process and all the good things that were happening between the two countries.”

Incredible response

But, said Ms. Gauhar, the “links do not evaporate, just like that.”

She spoke about being the first cultural group to venture into India after the Mumbai attacks for the drama festival in Kerala last month and described the response to their play about the 18th century Sufi poet Bulleh Shah as “incredible.”

Protesters from the Bharatiya Janata Party arrived at the venue on the morning the play was to be staged demanding from her that Pakistan must hand over those behind the Mumbai attacks.

But the protest leader returned to watch the play in the evening, Ms. Gauhar said, calling it the “magic of Bullah.”

Meanwhile, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the South Asian Free Media Association have made a joint appeal asking the two countries “not to allow the terrorists to hijack the peace agenda” and “to go back to the Composite Dialogue process,” which has provided the framework for the peace process since 2004.

Peace conference

HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir and SAFMA secretary-general Imtiaz Alam were in Amritsar on Sunday for a peace conference, where they also stressed the need for a joint India-Pakistan investigation into Mumbai and “a judicious prosecution” of the culprits.

“After passing through a denial mode, Pakistan has accepted the truth that those who attacked Mumbai were from Pakistan.”

“Following this admission, which should have come earlier, India must eschew its anger and get Pakistan to engage in negotiations on the basis of what has been revealed about Pakistanis’ involvement in the Mumbai attack,” they said in a joint statement.

They called upon Pakistan to “do the needful” since terrorism was the common enemy of both the countries and urged India and the media in both countries to show restraint.

“If there is cooperation and mutual understanding, the onus would be on Pakistan side to clean up its act; and if there is a threat of war from India then [Pakistan] would be under pressure [not to],” they said.

______

[3]

Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 2, Dated Jan 17, 2009

A SECOND CHANCE FOR LADY LUCK

The exiled author hopes that this time, Sheikh Hasina would form the bulwark against Islamic extremism

by Taslima Nasreen

Sweet Victory PM Sheikh Hasina waves after her win

Photo: Reuters

WE ARE passing through such a mess that barring hope there is little that the people in Bangladesh can do, actually. I mean it. Fundamentalism is rearing its ugly head in India and I often wonder when it will actually spread its tentacles across the subcontinent. I feel sad because the dream with which Bangladesh was born is almost dead. Islamic fundamentalism that was in the backyards of millions of homes is now a reality in our living rooms. It has almost made me believe that we are a nation of no hope. And then, almost like the proverbial phoenix, Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League — a party that once was a beacon of hope for many, after the liberation war — rose with a stupendous majority. For millions of Bangladeshis, it was like finding a ship when your raft is sinking in the swirling waters of the river Padma.

Bangladesh wants to live like its trailblazer days. There are millions of commoners like me who are living with hope, and nothing but hope. There are, of course, fears. I will not deny that because in the past, the Awami League had forged alliances with fundamentalist organisations and gone back on its promises to book those who nearly destroyed the nation.

But my belief is that from dust rises hope. See the way Sheikh Hasina won her battle? It was made possible with the help of those very men and women who fought with their backs virtually to the wall. Support was forthcoming because the majority in Bangladesh felt the Awami League was a lesser evil. I think the party also won because the nation was tired of relentless crimes perpetuated by the insane — there is no other way to describe them. They had almost pushed the nation to the brink of anarchy. In Hasina’s win, I also see the glimmer of a dream that the nation saw many, many moons ago, in a December that created Bangladesh. Hopefully, this victory will recreate that hope once again.

I am hopeful because I can only hope. The absence of progressive forces has always been a bane for my nation. As a result of such vacuum, many actually started believing that the Awami League was the only party that could deliver justice in Bangladesh. But then, in 1996, the party came to power yet did little to further the agenda of progress.

Consider this. In 2006, when Islamic fundamentalists virtually took charge of the country and the lives of its millions, many felt only Sheikh Hasina had the power to change the ballgame and counter divisive forces. I, for one, kept my fingers crossed because of what she did in the past: that she would give complete powers to the Maulvis to issue fatwas, grant university status to all madrasas, push the blasphemy law and actually work towards making Bangladesh an Islamic nation. I was aghast at the way she joined hands with such fundamentalist forces. Was she buying time? Was she buying peace for herself? I do not know that. But I could feel— sitting miles away from home — the pains of those trying to fight such divisive forces.

And it was depressing for me because I, and likeminded people in Bangladesh, always felt that the Awami League was the party of progress. And we sunk further into depression when we saw our single ray of hope, fading in the darkness of Islamic fundamentalism. Hasina maintained little distance from all those who harboured hatred against the handful of secular forces in Bangladesh. At times, I would tell my friends that Jamat-e-Islami need not come to power in our country and that the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) and the Awami League are perfectly placed to fulfill the Jamat dream.

Did Hasina actually raise her voice against such fundamentalist forces? The answer is a big no. She did not, for reasons known best to her. The nation — as a result of such stoic silence — went further into the back alleys of hope and we felt our country was a helpless state. No one — you must believe me when I write this — actually paused to think what religious fanaticism could do to destroy a nation. Politicians would enjoy their seats of power. But the ones who actually get into trouble — when the nation is mired in such religious fundamentalism — are women. Religious ignorance is the worst enemy of women: child marriage, multiple marriages for men and biased behaviour towards women (stoning a woman to death because of her alleged illicit behaviour). The list is endless.

ONCE HASINA, I must confess, was a part of this mayhem in Bangladesh. I do not know what prompted her to do such covert handholding. Maybe she had reasons to do it – to paint the larger canvas. Hence, I had reasons to be worried. I actually wondered whether Hasina would go back to her old ways. Thankfully, I have been proved wrong. I see a ray of hope in the way she has formed her cabinet. She has shunned the fundamentalists and picked up women in the crucial ministries of home, external affairs, agriculture, human resources and labour. This is her journey of hope, of a dream for a sane, progressive Bangladesh.

But then, this is her most crucial hour. She is in the hot seat of hope and fire. She has to deliver, quash the fanatical forces, rise above the ordinary, and help the nation get rid of its image of a poverty-stricken, backward thinking nation. If she can deliver the lethal blow, she will also help the secular forces to rise, rise and rise in Bangladesh. This will be the biggest signal a nation — that once almost sank in anarchy because of a bunch of religious bigots — would give to antisecular forces. It would be a strong message that would permeate all levels and travel across the sub-continent and perhaps, reach those corners of the world where similar fundamentalist forces reside.

Bangladesh, actually, would set an example for the rest of the world. I am hoping against hope that those numerous madarsas spewing venom would down their shutters and close their minds of hatred.

I am wondering whether all this will happen. I cannot dismiss this party; I am pinning my last hopes of a secular government on the Awami League. Will it act like the forces that banned my Amar Meyebela (My Childhood) and prevented me from returning home to meet my ailing mother and father? Will it all change? Will they allow me to return home? I doubt that.

Eventually, like earlier times, Hasina might still try to please the divisive forces to stay in power. After all, she has to retain her power, right? If that happens, hope will die a million deaths in my homeland. Freedom will be at a premium, and progress will actually take a flight out of the nation.

will wait and watch, thousands of miles away from my home, my land, my country.

Translated from Bangla by Shantanu Guha Ray

______

[4] PEACE ACTIVISTS LAUNCH OF JOINT SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN IN DIFFERENT CITIES OF PAKISTAN AND INDIA (PRESS RELEASES)

Dear All,

The information regarding the Joint Signature campaign in different cities of Sindh along side other Cities of Pakistan and India.

In Karachi the launch was announced by Senior Activist B.M Kutti, veteran intellectual M.B Naqvi, former Governor of Sindh Barrister Kamal Azfar, HRCP Secretary General Syed Iqbal Haider, Women Rights Activist Saleha Athar, Senior Journalist Abdul Hameed Chhapra, Paksiatn Peace Coalition members Anushe Alam, Sharafat Ali, Adam Malik, Awami Party Leader Mirza Maqsood, Pakistan Fisher Folk Secretary Saeed Baloch and others in a Press conference

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=156386

In Hyderabad the launch was announced by prominent activists including Punhal Sario president Sindh Hari Porhyat Council, Awami Party Pakistan leaders Comrade Ramzan Memon, Dost Muhammad Channa, senior activists Hussain Bux Thebo, Zain Daudpoto, Zahid Messo and others in a press conference at office of Indus Development Organization, Hyderabad.

In Shahdadkot the the launch was announced by Pakistan Peace Coalition members Murad Pandrani, Rubina Chandio, Parveen Magsi and others.

http://regionaltimes.com/10jan2009/jpg/5.jpg

Signatire camapign also launched in Umerkot, Johi, Khairpur, Ghotki and other towns of Sindh.

Further it is stated that to support the campaign and get signature Pakistan Peace Coalition Commitee headed by Anushe Alam will visit schools, colleges and universities of Karachi to inform students and teachers about the campaign and will get signatures from students and teachers.

Sindh Hari Porhyat Council president Punhal Sario and Awami Party Leader Comrade Ramzan Memon will visit different towns and villages of Sindh and will participate corner meetings, demonstrations, public walks, dialogues and discussion forums in support of the campaign as well as to get signatures from common citizens. Their visit will start from January 12 to February 10 to different towns and villages of Sindh.

Regards

Adam Malik

Pakistan Peace Coalition

o o o

Joint Signature Campaign by Citizens of India and Pakistan Launched

Swami Agnivesh of Arya Samaj and Mr Karamat Ali of Pakistan Peace Coalition launched an Indo-Pak Joint Signature Campaign by Citizens of India and Pakistan in Delhi today at 3 pm against terrorism and war posturing and to promote cooperation and peace between the two neighboring countries. The Campaign will be carried out from 9th January 2009 to 8th February 2009.

In Hyderabad, the Joint Signature Campaign has been launched at the same time by Admiral L.Ramdas and Dr P.M.Bhargava at Lumbini Park.

Across India, the Campaign has been launched today at 3 pm IST in the following cities: Amritsar, Belgaum, Bikaner, Chandigarh, Kurnool, Dehradun, Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kolkotta, Lucknow, Madurai, Mumbai, Panjim, Pune, Raipur, Saharanpur, Warangal, and and Wardha. Simultaneously, the Campaign has been launched across Pakistan at 2.30 pm PST in the following cities: Faisalabad, Hyderabad- Sindh, Hub, Islamabad, Karachi, Khairpur, Khuzdar, Larhana, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta, Sadikabad, Sakrand, Shadad Kot, Shikarpur, Sukkur

Many eminent personalities and peace activists were involved in the Launch Programs in different cities and towns of both the countries, including Admiral L. Ramdas, Kuldip Nayar, Kamla Bhasin, P.M. Bhargava, Swami Agnivesh and other from India and Brig (Retd) Rao Abid Hamid, B.M.Kutty, Dr. A. H. Nayyar I.A.Rehman, Karamat Ali, M.B. Naqvi , Muhammad Tahseen Syed Iqbal Haider, Senator Dr. Abdul Malik and others from Pakistan.

The Signature Campaign will be carried out in both the countries for one month till 8th February 2009 and the signatures collected will be submitted to the Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan with copies to important political functionaries and media houses of both countries.

The objective of this Campaign is to facilitate assertion by the people of both the countries in favor of resolving the present crises through dialogue, cooperation and appropriate actions by both the governments to address terrorism and all other outstanding issues. The collective will of the people could certainly compel the establishments to adopt peaceful and appropriate processes to address all the issues and bring back normalcy.

You can view the petition on the Website: http://www.indopakcampaignagainstwarnterror.org

For online signatures, please visit: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/indopak/petition.html

Mazher Hussain,

Executive Director, COVA

Mobile: 9849178111

For Indo-Pak Joint Signature Campaign

o o o

From: Amit Chakraborty

Sent: Friday, January 9, 2009 11:18:06 PM

Subject: [PIPFPD] Press Report on Joint Signature Campaign launched in Kolkata

Press Note

Launch of Joint Signature Campaign by Citizens of India and Pakistan

Civil society organisations and concerned citizens of India and Pakistan have come together to launch an Indo-Pak Joint Signature Campaign against terrorism and war posturing and to promote cooperation and peace between the two neighboring countries From 9th January 2009 to 8th February 2009

The Joint Signature Campaign was launched in over 50 cities and towns of India and over 25 cities and towns of Pakistan on 9th January 2009 from 3.pm IST in India and 2.30 pm PST in Pakistan to maintain simultaneity of the launch time in both the countries.

Here in Kolkata it was launched by Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy, West Bengal Chapter at Muslim Institute. Many eminent personalities and peace activists were involved in the Launch Program. In the day as many as 150 signatories signed the petition in Muslim Institute and from its vicinity. The campaign will continue in days to come within next 30days in various public places and street corners.

The Signature Campaign will be carried out in both the countries for one month till 8th February 2009 and the signatures collected will be submitted to the Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan with copies to important political functionaries and media houses of both countries.

The objective of this Campaign is to facilitate assertion by the people of both the countries in favour of resolving the present crises through dialogue, cooperation and appropriate actions by both the governments to address terrorism and all other outstanding issues. The collective will of the people could certainly compel the establishments to adopt peaceful and appropriate processes to address all the issues and bring back normalcy.

The contents of the Petition for the Joint Signature Campaign are as follows:

We the Citizens of Pakistan and India demand that:

· The Government of Pakistan and the Government of India should practice zero tolerance for religious extremism and terrorism in the interest of the very sustenance and prosperity of both the countries..

· Recognising that the problem of terrorism in both the countries are qualitatively different, we urge both the governments to take all appropriate initiates to contain and root out the activities of all fanatic and terrorist groups and catch and punish perpetrators of any acts of terror in their respective countries to make the subcontinent safe and secure for all.

· Both the governments should immediately set up a Joint Action and Investigative Agency for total cooperation and mutual assistance to address and overcome the problem of terrorism effectively and without any further delay.

· War can never be a solution but the beginning of insurmountable problems for both the countries. Hence both the governments should desist from war posturing and immediately engage in meaningful and effective dialogue and actions to address the issue of terrorism and to resolve all other outstanding problems.

· Both the Governments should follow in letter and spirit all the Conventions and Resolutions of UN and SAARC against terrorism and for cooperation to secure an atmosphere of mutual trust and holistic cooperation that alone could ensure security of all citizens and prosperity of the entire region.

· We appeal to the media of both India and Pakistan to play a constructive role in this hour of crisis to propagate and strengthen positive attitudes for the resolution of all the outstanding problems and discourage escalation of conflict and adventurism that could jeopardize peace and prosperity of both the countries.

Website: http://www.indopakcampaignagainstwarnterror.org

For online signatures Please Visits: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/indopak/petition.html

Dated: 9th January 2009

(Amit Chakraborty)

Secretary,

Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy

West Bengal Chapter.

______

[5] ZIONISM, EXTERMINISM, AND THE TIMES OF INDIA - A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

http://www.sacw.net/article485.html

The Editor, The Times of India

Sir,

On January 8, 2009, you published the result of a poll in answer to your question "Should India follow Israel's lead in its own war against terror?" The answer, predictably, was 84% in favour. I submit that this was a disingeneous way of conducting Israeli propaganda, a means of misleading the public and a violation of journalistic norms of fairness. Your newspaper prides itself on educating your readership. You have the right to publicise your views on current affairs, but do you not recognise that that there may be views at variance with your own? And that they need an airing in a responsible newspaper? Are you not aware that the Israel-Palestine conflict has aspects to it that may not be wished away by catch-phrases such as "war against terror"?

Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were not anti-Israel, but had a deep sympathy with the Palestinian refugees struggle for a homeland. Indian policy towards the Middle East was informed by knowledge of the gross injustice manifested in the evacuation of seven lakh Christian and Muslim Arabs from their homes and villages in Palestine in 1948, an evacuation enforced by massacres. Since then there have been five major wars, and several well-documented atrocities against Palestinian refugees - I need only refer to the Sabra and Chatila massacres of September 1982, where between 2000 to 3000 Palestinian refugees were killed by a pro-Israeli militia. Ariel Sharon, the Israeli defence minister was found responsible for this and had to resign. Had Europeans been the targets of such an atrocity would the 'civilised' West permitted the man responsible to ascend to the position of Prime MInister?

Yes, Hamas has an extremist ideology. So does Israel, which has illegally occupied and settled the West Bank with over 2 lakh Jewish settlers, and subjected the Palestinian population to racist discrimination. There is ample material to bear this out, some of it written by democratic-minded Jews, including Israeli citizens. Israel is the only country in the world that believes in expanding its own recognised frontiers by sheer force, and with utter contempt for UN resoutions. It is Israel that breached the current truce, in order to launch its latest massacre. It is the Palestinian refugees who are the victims of terror.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is a dangerous flashpoint and needs serious discussion. But the editors of the Times of India refuse to allow it. By implicitly aligning Indian public opinion with the latest Israeli outrage you are reneging on your responsibility as an organ of public information. You are also endangering the norms of Indian democracy by suggesting that India emulate Israel in its brutal and racist attitude towards innocent civilians. Please avoid such facile and tendentious 'polls' as the one reported on January 8, and allow a real debate on this burning issue.

yours,

Dilip Simeon

New Delhi

______

[8] Publication Announcement:

BEYOND COUNTER-INSURGENCY

BREAKING THE IMPASSE IN NORTHEAST INDIA

Edited by

Sanjib Baruah

About the Book

Northeast India has endured decades of conflicts that have kept much of the region militarized, subject to restrictions on civil rights, and economically underdeveloped. In this volume, contributors from diverse fields ranging from the social sciences, philosophy, and cultural studies, to journalism and the civil services reflect on new ways of approaching and resolving these conflicts.

Dissatisfaction with conditions on the ground and with standard policy prescriptions is the common thread that runs through the book. The

essays provide analyses of the conflicts at three levels: structural determinants like poverty and underdevelopment; the nature and politics of the postcolonial state; and the agency of multiple actors with diverse motives. The authors argue that neither a development nor a military fix can achieve peace in the region. Only concerted efforts to establish the rule of law, a system of accountability, and faith in the institutions of government can break the cycle of violence.

Contributors

* Sanjib Baruah * Subir Bhaumik * Samir Kumar Das * Nandana Dutta * M. Sajjad Hassan * Rakhee Kalita * Bodhisattva Kar * Dolly Kikon * Makiko Kimura * Bethany Lacina * Bhagat Oinam * Pradip Phanjoubam * H. Kham Khan Suan * Betsy Taylor * Ananya Vajpeyi

9780195698763 2009 Hardback

About the Editor

Sanjib Baruah is Professor of Political Studies at Bard College, New York, and Honorary Professor at Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.

Readership

Conveying a sense of Northeast India's rich and vibrant public discourse, this book will be useful to all those interested in armed conflicts, the state of Indian democracy, civil liberties, and Northeast India.

'Sanjib Baruah has compiled an exceptionally diverse anthology. Including voices from social science, history, literature, cultural studies, and government, it reveals the region?s vibrant public discourse and provides an antidote to security-centric proclamations. Beyond Counter-insurgency is a model of creatively engaged and academically astute public intellectual work.'

DAVID LUDDEN

Professor of History, New York University

'Baruah and his contributors paint a rich, vital picture of the spatial disorder that has unfolded within Northeast India's multiple 'inner lines'. This complex and unvarnished story is told without romanticism or cynicism. Between the apparent impossibility of peace through reconciliation and victory through repression or terror, the book envisions the possibility of an open, more inclusive future.'

SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN

Strategic Affairs Editor, The Hindu

'This rich volume opens up a crucial space for re-imagining this highly complex yet remarkably poorly understood region. Shunning facile remedies, its proposals for a better future include redistributing key resources, restoring public trust in the rule of law, and harnessing the region's exceptional ecological diversity.'

WILLEM VAN SCHENDEL

Professor of Modern Asian History, University of Amsterdam

**

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

* INDIA: YMCA Library Building, 1st Floor, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110001; Tel: 011 43600300; Fax: 011 23360897

* UK & EUROPE: Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP; Tel: 44 1865

556767; Fax: 44 1865 556646

* USA: 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016; Tel: 212 726 6000; Fax:

212 726 6440

Note: The specifications in this flyer including without limitation

price, territorial restrictions, and terms are subject to alteration

without notice.www.oup.co.in

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

S o u t h A s i a C i t i z e n s W i r e

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on matters of peace and democratisation in South Asia. An offshoot of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

From Swat – with no love

by Zubair Torwali

(Published earlier in: The News, January 08, 2009

The main town of Swat, Mingora, has now virtually fallen to the militants. The police are escorted by army officials and come out from their ‘hide-outs’ only for a couple of hours. One of the busiest squares, Grain chowk, was renamed by the shopkeepers as ‘Khooni chowk’ because when they come to their shops in the morning on each day they find four or five dead bodies hung over the poles or the trees. They see dead bodies scattered along the foot path in the morning. The bodies are usually headless. The practice goes thus with an average of four deaths daily in the square. Similarly on each morning there are found bodies with their throats slit in Qambar, Kabal, Matta, Khawza Khela and Charbagh. This practice has been going on for weeks; and unfortunately does not seem to stop.

Jan 15 is the deadline set by the militants to close all schools, especially those of girls. As the deadline approaches people are getting more and more terrified. The government’s writ is all but absent. Nazims have been killed, women are not allowed to visit bazaars (which are deserted), NGOs have stopped working and children play a ‘Fauji Taliban’ game. The people live a miserable life in the cold. Most bridges have been damaged and beyond the main town phones have been dead for months. Most people live in darkness at night because the fighting has badly affected the power infrastructure as well.

Curfew is imposed constraining the people inside for days on end. And security forces personnel sometimes fire indiscriminately. The residents can do nothing – they cannot protest against the high-handedness of the military or stand up to the militants. The Taliban gain from strength to strength, partly aided by the use of FM radio. Various checkposts set up by the security forces seem to be no little use. Scores of militants entered Kalam last week in spite of six checkposts set up from from Bagh Dahri to Bahrain. It is quite clear that for now the victors in the war are the Taliban – and the losers the people of Swat.

But who cares about that in the rest of the country. The government seems too busy dealing with the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage. That said, the predicament of the people of Swat is worse than even of the people of Gaza. In Gaza the enemy is well known but in Swat the people know not who the enemy is and whom to hold responsible.

The civil society of any country is regarded as a great force to mobilize the general public against the violation of civil rights and liberty. It is considered as a bulwark against the violation of human rights. It is deemed as the upholder of people’s rights where the state fails to deliver. Its mettle was tested in the lawyers’ movement but we in Swat wonder why it is silent now? We hear no voice raise against the atrocities committed in Swat. No civil society organization has its voice against the plight of the women and children in Swat. We have not seen a single demonstration in the big cities against the monster of militancy in Swat, or in FATA for that matter. The media also seems apathetic about the plight. The print media does well to some extent but their scope is limited.

The people of Swat ask you to come out on their behalf and mobilize the general public against the war tearing the valley. We implore you to come out of your drawing rooms and stage protests so that the government does something about our plight.

The writer is a social activist who lives in Swat. Email: angeltorwali(AT)gmail.com

War, Democratic Rights and Peace Processes

 

SACW | Jan 1-8, 2009 / Campaign by Indian - Pakistani Citizens Against Terror, War Posturing

South Asia Citizens Wire | January 1-8, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2596 - Year 11 running

[1] Sri Lanka: Attack on broadcaster needs independent inquiry (CPJ)

+ "Spirited Tigers defeated" by Sri Lanka (Shanie)

[2] Living Traditions Exhibit Explores Art in War-torn Afghanistan (Aryn Baker)

[3] Joint Signature Campaign by Citizens of India and Pakistan Against Terrorism, War Posturing

[4] Statement by Pakistani human rights activists, feminists, labour leaders on the between India and Pakistan.

[5] Independent Appeal - Sex workers dicing with death in Bangladesh

[6] South Asia: Courting the Devil (Harsh Mander)

[7] India - Interview: 'Don't allow fanatics to rule' Taslima Nasreen

[9] India - Freedom of Expression:

- Mumbai bookstore pulls Pak writers off its shelves (Anahita Mukherji)

- Letter to the Editor (Ram Puniyani)

- Banning Pakistani writers is hypocrisy (Neel Mukherjee)

[10] Pakistani theatre group plays a peace tune (Avneep Dhingra)

[11] India - Jammu and Kashmir?: BJP's Electoral Victory - Appearance and reality (Rekha Chowdhary)

[12] International: Bombing of Gaza: statement by Communist Party of India (Marxist)

[13] Announcements:

(i) “The world after 9/11: Exploring alternatives to the ‘War on Terror’” a talk by Mahmood Mamdani, (Bombay, 8 January 2009

(ii) Panel discussion on 'The Terrorist and the Citizen: How Television Transforms Political Life' (New Delhi, 10 January 2009)

(iii) Play Sheema Kermani, (Lucknow, 14 January 2008)

_____

[1] Sri Lanka

(i)

Committee to Protect Journalists

330 7th Avenue, 11th Floor

New York, NY 10001

ATTACK ON BROADCASTER NEEDS INDEPENDENT INQUIRY

New York, January 6, 2009--Following today's early morning assault by about 15 masked gunmen on Maharaja TV's (MTV) studios outside the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, the Committee to Protect Journalists called for an independent, nonpartisan parliamentary board of inquiry to investigate.

Attackers shot at and destroyed broadcast equipment, held staff at gunpoint, and attempted to burn down the station's facilities, according to local and international news reports. Three TV channels and four radio stations of MTV's parent company, MBC, were off the air for several hours. MTV's Web site is still unable to transmit due to the attack. On Sunday, the station was hit with a gasoline bomb, but there was little damage.

In a statement today, Mass Media and Information Minister Anura Yapa condemned the attack and President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered a full investigation.

"Even with its condemnations, the government can longer be trusted to act with impartiality when it comes to those who want to silence Sri Lanka's media," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator. "Far too often the government or its unofficial allies have been prime suspects behind attacks on journalists and media organizations, and this latest outrage must be fully and clearly explained in an impartial and transparent parliamentary investigation."

In recent days, government-controlled media had accused the station of "unpatriotic" coverage concerning the military's reported advances against the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north of the country. The LTTE's de facto capital of Kilinochchi fell last Friday. Government troops have been reported to be advancing on the strategic Elephant Pass that links the mainland to the Jaffna peninsula, the LTTE's stronghold.

Government run-media had specifically criticized MTV for giving too much coverage to a suicide bombing in Colombo on Friday, undermining a victory speech by Rajapaksa after government troops took Kilinochchi, local and international media reported.

o o o

(ii)

The Island 3 January 2009

SPIRITED TIGERS DEFEATED BY SRI LANKA

by Shanie

The headline in a website this week read "Sri Lanka defeat spirited Tigers". The reference was of course to the victory that the Sri Lanka cricket team secured over Bangladesh in the First Test concluded on Wednesday. Bangladesh is the minnow among the test-playing nations and Sri Lanka were expected to have an easy win. Early on the fourth day, it appeared so when Bangladesh, chasing 521 to win in the fourth innings, were reduced to 180 for 5. But the Bangladeshi skipper Mahamed Ashraful and his tail-enders had other ideas. Two century partnerships for the sixth and seventh wickets took them to 403 for 6. The minnows had not only taken the match well into the final day but were in a position to pull off a sensational and record-breaking win. In the end, the Bangla (Bengal) ‘Tigers’, despite a spirited performance, succumbed to a better-equipped opposition,

We do not know if the web editor coined the headline with tongue in cheek but it is possible that the headline could apply at some future date to the ongoing conflict in the Vanni. The predicted easy victory for the security forces is not happening so easily and the war, like the test match, is dragging on and being pushed to the wire. In the cricket match, it was one tragic mistake by a tail-ender, who dragged a ball well outside his off stump to his wicket, which both deprived him of a well deserved century and also triggered the quick collapse of the last four wickets. Can that happen to the Sri Lankan Tigers? Only time will tell.

For the present, we can only watch with a mixture of admiration and dismay. Admiration is for the performance of the Bangladeshis at cricket and dismay is at the mounting loss of young lives in the conflict at home. The sacrifice of these young men and women who are being killed or maimed could have been avoided or at least minimized to a great extent if only President Rajapaksa and the LTTE kept to their promises to the people whom they claim to represent. The LTTE has repeatedly failed to seize opportunities to secure an honourable peace by spurning attempts, particularly by the Government of Chandriika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge, that sought to provide a constitutional framework to address minority grievances. President Rajapaksa promises justice to the minorities but has only rhetoric to offer. He has had and continues to have opportunities to offer a political solution to minority grievances but continues to spurn every such opportunity.

His twisted logic that this will be done once the war is over rings hollow. If, as his Government often says, the war is against the LTTE and not the Tamils, why does the war against the LTTE prevent the offer of a political package to the Tamils and Muslims? Indeed, if the government were sincere about offering a political solution, the war itself would have been rendered unnecessary. The LTTE would have been marginalised among Tamil opinion makers had the LTTE opposed such a solution worked out by consensus among the non-LTTE and non-Sinhala chauvinist political parties and civil society/religious groups.

Losing the larger picture

But sadly, President Rajapaksa has opted not to take that line. He seems unwilling or incapable of looking at the larger picture. Instead, he is going along with, or at least turning a Nelsonian eye to the lawless and reactionary actions of the obscurantist and fascist forces that are part of his Government.

In the North, Anandasangaree is quite right with his complaint that an armed group, seemingly enjoying the support of the security forces, is engaging in abductions, extortions and extra-judicial killings, replicating the actions of the LTTE in earlier years. The armed groups of today are totally insensitive to the feelings of civilians. Locals agree with Anandasangaree and say that people could be increasingly turning to the LTTE for protection from this armed fascist group. Civilians are being robbed in their homes by armed gangs in the night during curfew hours. It is possible that in addition to this armed group, lawless elements are also taking advantage of the breakdown in the rule of law. But, since the robberies are taking place during curfew hours, the armed gangs obviously are confident of immunity.

If President Rajapaksa is sincere about restoring democracy in the North, he should not be replacing one set of armed fascists by another. ‘The future minds of Jaffna’ deserve better than that. But first, genuine democracy must be restored in the rest of the country. Journalists should be free from intimidation, assault and arbitrary arrests. Lawyers should be free to practise their profession without death threats and without having their photograph and name ominously displayed on the web.

The Rajapaksa Government must learn lessons from a disastrous policy in the East that has brought about a multiplicity of armed groups and brought back a strong LTTE presence. Bishop Kingsley Swampillai, Bishop of Batticaloa and Trincomalee, was expressing the concerns of many locals when he complained of continuing abductions, violence and killings. It is a self-defeating policy to promote one armed group of fascists against another. And it is pity that continuing calls for a respect for the rule of law are being ignored. Sooner or later, such a policy will come to haunt the government.

[. . .].

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[2] Afghanistan:

New York Times, page A1 of the New York edition. January 2, 2009

FOR AFGHANS, A PRICE FOR EVERYTHING, AND ANYTHING FOR A PRICE

by Dexter Filkins

Kabul, Afghanistan — When it comes to governing this violent, fractious land, everything, it seems, has its price.

[Photo] Danfung Dennis for The New York Times

[Caption] A man pulls a cart loaded with fire wood past a mansion owned by high-ranking government officials in the Sherpur neighborhood of Kabul.

[Photo] Danfung Dennis for The New York Times

[Caption] The mansions of Afghan officials in the Sherpur neighborhood of Kabul are a curiosity not only for their size, but also because government salaries are not very big.

Want to be a provincial police chief? It will cost you $100,000.

Want to drive a convoy of trucks loaded with fuel across the country? Be prepared to pay $6,000 per truck, so the police will not tip off the Taliban.

Need to settle a lawsuit over the ownership of your house? About $25,000, depending on the judge.

“It is very shameful, but probably I will pay the bribe,” Mohammed Naim, a young English teacher, said as he stood in front of the Secondary Courthouse in Kabul. His brother had been arrested a week before, and the police were demanding $4,000 for his release. “Everything is possible in this country now. Everything.”

Kept afloat by billions of dollars in American and other foreign aid, the government of Afghanistan is shot through with corruption and graft. From the lowliest traffic policeman to the family of President Hamid Karzai himself, the state built on the ruins of the Taliban government seven years ago now often seems to exist for little more than the enrichment of those who run it.

A raft of investigations has concluded that people at the highest levels of the Karzai administration, including President Karzai’s own brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, are cooperating in the country’s opium trade, now the world’s largest. In the streets and government offices, hardly a public transaction seems to unfold here that does not carry with it the requirement of a bribe, a gift, or, in case you are a beggar, “harchee” — whatever you have in your pocket.

The corruption, publicly acknowledged by President Karzai, is contributing to the collapse of public confidence in his government and to the resurgence of the Taliban, whose fighters have moved to the outskirts of Kabul, the capital.

“All the politicians in this country have acquired everything — money, lots of money,” President Karzai said in a speech at a rural development conference here in November. “God knows, it is beyond the limit. The banks of the world are full of the money of our statesmen.”

The decay of the Afghan government presents President-elect Barack Obama with perhaps his most underappreciated challenge as he tries to reverse the course of the war here. Mr. Obama may be required to save the Afghan government not only from the Taliban insurgency — committing thousands of additional American soldiers to do so — but also from itself.

“This government has lost the capacity to govern because a shadow government has taken over,” said Ashraf Ghani, a former Afghan finance minister. He quit that job in 2004, he said, because the state had been taken over by drug traffickers. “The narco-mafia state is now completely consolidated,” he said.

On the streets here, tales of corruption are as easy to find as kebab stands. Everything seems to be for sale: public offices, access to government services, even a person’s freedom. The examples mentioned above — $25,000 to settle a lawsuit, $6,000 to bribe the police, $100,000 to secure a job as a provincial police chief — were offered by people who experienced them directly or witnessed the transaction.

People pay bribes for large things, and for small things, too: to get electricity for their homes, to get out of jail, even to enter the airport.

Governments in developing countries are often riddled with corruption. But Afghans say the corruption they see now has no precedent, in either its brazenness or in its scale. Transparency International, a German organization that gauges honesty in government, ranked Afghanistan 117 out of 180 countries in 2005. This year, it fell to 176.

“Every man in the government is his own king,” said Abdul Ghafar, a truck driver. Mr. Ghafar said he routinely paid bribes to the police who threatened to hinder his passage through Kabul, sometimes several in a day.

Nowhere is the scent of corruption so strong as in the Kabul neighborhood of Sherpur. Before 2001, it was a vacant patch of hillside that overlooked the stately neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan. Today it is the wealthiest enclave in the country, with gaudy, grandiose mansions that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Afghans refer to them as “poppy houses.” Sherpur itself is often jokingly referred to as “Char-pur,” which literally means “City of Loot.”

Yet what is perhaps most remarkable about Sherpur is that many of the homeowners are government officials, whose annual salaries would not otherwise enable them to live here for more than a few days.

One of the mansions — three stories, several bedrooms, sweeping balconies — is owned by Abdul Jabbar Sabit, a former attorney general who made a name for himself by declaring a “jihad” against corruption.

[Photo] Danfung Dennis for The New York Times

[Caption] Farooq Farani has been trying to resolve a property dispute. An Afghan judge wants $25,000, but Mr. Farani has refused.

After he was fired earlier this year by President Karzai, a video began circulating around town showing Mr. Sabit dancing giddily around a room and slurring his words, apparently drunk. Mr. Sabit now lives in Canada, but his house is available to rent for $5,000 a month.

An even grander mansion — ornate faux Greek columns, a towering fountain — is owned by Kabul’s police chief, Mohammed Ayob Salangi. It can be had for $11,000 a month. Mr. Salangi’s salary is unknown; that of Mr. Karzai, the president, is about $600 a month.

Mr. Ghani, the former finance minister, said the plots of land on which the mansions of Sherpur stand were doled out early in the Karzai administration for prices that were a tiny fraction of what they were worth. (Mr. Ghani said he was offered a plot, too, and refused to accept it.)

“The money for these houses was illegal, I think,” said Mohammed Yosin Usmani, director general of a newly created anticorruption unit.

Often, the corruption here is blatant. On any morning, you can stand on the steps of the Secondary Courthouse in downtown Kabul and listen to the Afghans as they step outside.

One of them was Farooq Farani, who has been coming to the court for seven years, trying to resolve a property dispute. His predicament is a common one here: He fled the country in 1990, as the civil war began, and returned after the fall of the Taliban, only to find a stranger occupying his home.

Yet seven years later, the title to Mr. Farani’s house is still up for grabs. Mr. Farani said he had refused to pay the bribes demanded by the judge in the case, who in turn had refused to settle his case.

“You are approached indirectly, by intermediaries — this is how it works,” said Mr. Farani, who spent his exile in Wiesbaden, Germany. “My house is worth about $50,000, and I’ve been told that I can have the title if I pay $25,000 — half the value of the home.”

Tales like Mr. Farani’s abound here, so much so that it makes one wonder if an honest man can ever make a difference.

Amin Farhang, the minister of commerce, was voted out of Mr. Karzai’s cabinet by Parliament earlier last month for failing to bring down the price of oil in Afghanistan as the price declined in international markets. In a long talk in the sitting room of his home, Mr. Farhang recounted a two-year struggle to fire the man in charge of giving out licenses for new businesses.

The man, Mr. Farhang said, would grant a license only in exchange for a hefty bribe. But Mr. Farhang found that he was unable to fire the man, who, he said, simply bribed other members of the government to reinstate him.

“In a job like this, a man can make 10 or 12 times his salary,” Mr. Farhang said. “People do anything to hang on to them.”

Many Afghans, including Mr. Ghani, the former finance minister, place responsibility for the collapse of the state on Mr. Karzai, who, they say, has failed repeatedly to confront the powerful figures who are behind much of the corruption. In his stint as finance minister, Mr. Ghani said, two moments crystallized his disgust and finally prompted him to quit.

The first, Mr. Ghani said, was his attempt to impose order on Kabul’s chaotic system of private property rights. The Afghan government had accumulated vast amounts of land during the period of Communist rule in the 1970s and 1980s. And since 2001, the government has given much of it away — often, Mr. Ghani said, to shady developers at extremely low prices.

Much of that land has been sold and developed, rendering much of Kabul’s property in the hands of unknown owners. Many of the developers who were given free land, Mr. Ghani said, were also involved in drug trafficking.

When he proposed drawing up a set of regulations to govern private property, Mr. Ghani said, he was told by President Karzai to stop.

“ ‘Just back off,” he told me,’ ” Mr. Ghani said. “He said that politically it wasn’t feasible.”

A similar effort to impose regulations at the Ministry of Aviation, which Mr. Ghani described as rife with corruption, was met with a similar response by President Karzai, he said.

“Morally the question was, am I becoming the fig leaf to legitimate a system that was deeply corrupt? Or was I there to serve the people?” Mr. Ghani said. “I resigned.”

Mr. Ghani, who then became chancellor of Kabul University, is today contemplating a run for the presidency.

Asked about Mr. Ghani’s account on Thursday, Humayun Hamidzada, a spokesman for Mr. Karzai, said he could not immediately comment.

The corruption may be endemic here, but if there is any hope in the future, it would seem to lie in the revulsion of average Afghans like Mr. Farani, who, after seven years, is still refusing to pay.

“I won’t do it,” Mr. Farani said outside the courthouse. “It’s a matter of principle. Never.”

“But,” he said, “I don’t have my house, either, and I don’t know that I ever will.”

Abdul Waheed Wafa and Sangar Rahimi contributed reporting.

_____

[3] India - Pakistan:

JOINT SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN BY CITIZENS OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN

AGAINST TERRORISM, WAR POSTURING AND TO PROMOTE COOPERATION AND PEACE

From 9th January 2009 to 8th February 2009

Seeking Signatures from People and Endorsements from Organisations

(To be submitted to the Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan

With Copies to important political functionaries and media houses of both countries.)

Come! Sign and endorse the Petition on line by clicking: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/indopak/petition.html

And take signatures from people in your area of operation by downloading the attached Petition Form.

Let People Express!

Time Peace Loving People Decide the Agenda!! And the Course of Our Countries!!!

Dear Fellow Citizens of India and Pakistan,

After 55 years of tense relations, just five years of sustained peace process between India and Pakistan was producing good results for all. Unfortunately, the terror attack in Mumbai suddenly changed the entire scenario and the tensions between India and Pakistan have once again reached dangerous levels that are detrimental to the interests of both the countries.

It is clear that a dependence on the political- bureaucratic- military establishments in both the countries may not lead to reduction in tensions but on the contrary, this nexus could possibly land us in a war. Role of the media of both the countries in the ongoing crisis is also not very heartening.

In such a situation, assertion by the people and civil society groups of both the countries in favour of resolving the present crises through dialogue, cooperation and appropriate actions by both the governments to address terrorism and all other outstanding issues could influence the processes that are set in motion. The collective will of the people could certainly compel the establishments to adopt peaceful and appropriate processes to address all the issues and bring back normalcy.

Joint Signature Campaign from 9th January 2009 to 8th February 2009

To facilitate such assertion by the people of both Pakistan and India, a number of civil society organisations of Pakistan and India have come together to launch a Joint Signature Campaign in both the countries. All civil society organisations and concerned citizens of both the countries are invited to endorse and be partners in this Joint Signature Campaign and facilitate this Campaign in their areas of operation by reaching out to the people to collect their signatures in large numbers. All endorsing organisations will be listed alphabetically- country wise.

The Joint Signature Campaign will be launched in different cities and towns of Pakistan and India on 9th January 2009 from 3 pm (IST). in India and 2.30 pm (PST) in Pakistan to ensure simultaneity.

The Campaign would be carried out for one month and will conclude on Sunday, 8th February 2009. Copies of signatures collected in both the countries will be compiled to be submitted to the Prime Minister of India, The President of Pakistan and other important political functionaries of both the countries and members of the Media before 20th February 2009.

The Petition prepared for the Joint Signature Campaign is attached. We appeal to organisations in both India and Pakistan to become partners in taking forward this Joint Signature Campaign.

What Can Be Done:

Petition Form for the Signature Campaign is attached. Civil society organisations and concerned citizens of India and Pakistan can print copies of the Petition Form to take signatures from people and post the completed forms by 10th February 2009 to the Indo-Pak Joint Signature Campaign Secretariats set up in both India and Pakistan at the following addresses

For Pakistan:

Indo-Pak Joint Signature Campaign Secretariat

C/o PILER Centre, ST.001, Sector X ,

Sub-Sector V Gulshan-e-Maymar,

Karachi 75340- Pakistan

Ph:. 00-92-21-6351145 – 7

Fax: 00-92-21-6350354

For India:

Indo-Pak Joint Signature Campaign Secretariat

C/o COVA, 20-4-10, Charminar

Hyderabad, A.P. India, 500002

Ph: 0091-40-24572984

Fax: 0091-40-24574527

All organisations endorsing the Campaign and accepting to take up the Joint Signature Campaign in their areas of operation will be listed in alphabetical order as Partner Organisations in all communications and also on the Campaign Website. All collaborating organisations are requested to send their names, city/town, country and other contact details for inclusion as Partner Organisations.

Online Signatures:

Online endorsement of the Campaign is also possible at Petitionsonline.com through the link:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/indopak/petition.html

Email and Website:

The email ID for the Campaign is: indopak.jointcampaign@gmail.com

Website: http://www.indopakcampaignagainstwarnterror.org

Come! Let us join hands across borders to usher in peace and prosperity for both our countries!!

In solidarity

Pakistan- India Joint Signature Campaign

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[4]

PAKISTANI HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, TEACHERS, LABOUR LEADERS AND JOURNALISTS HAVE ISSUED A STATEMENT ON THE CURRENT STAND-OFF BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN.

(Among the signatories are Asma Jahangir, I.A Rehman, Mubashir Hassan, Ahmed Rashid, Salima Hashmi and Iqbal Haider.)

Islamabad January 4, 2008

The statement is as follows:

“We condemn the recent terrorist attack on Mumbai and extend our heartfelt condolence and sympathy to the victim families. Likewise, we condole and sympathize with the victims of terrorism in Delhi , Kabul , Swat, other parts of NWFP and FATA. Pakistan's civil society is alarmed at the loss of life, denial of education to girls and large-scale displacement of civilians in FATA and Swat. The influence of militant groups is rapidly growing in all parts of the country without any effective challenge by the government. Regrettably, there appears to be a total absence of a cohesive policy by the government of Pakistan to protect its own citizens or any strategy to challenge militant outfits that operate with impunity within and outside the country.

“We regret that the media in both India and Pakistan failed to present the Mumbai outrage in a proper context and, instead, used the event to fuel hostility between the two countries. It aided warmongers on both sides to whip up a war hysteria. Quite ironically, terrorism, which should have brought India and Pakistan together to defend peace and people's security, pushed them to the brink of a mutually destructive war. Confrontation between these two closest neighbours has never had such a puerile basis.

“Mercifully, the tension between India and Pakistan seems to have abated somewhat and this is some relief. But the danger of an armed conflict persists and we call upon both the governments not to take peace for granted. Better understanding and constructive action rather than confrontation between states will discourage militant groups that are growing in strength in both countries. The government of Pakistan must no longer stay in a state of self-denial. It must not miss the opportunity of devising an effective strategy to overcome the menace of terrorism that is posing a greater threat to this country than any other nation. India too must bear in mind that militant groups and extremists thrive in a state of conflict and polarization. Both governments must sincerely redouble their efforts at addressing the rise of militant groups in the region. They need to quickly compose their differences over ways of dealing with terrorism. This could be done through the composite dialogue that must resume forthwith because neither country can bear the cost of keeping defence forces on alert and suspension of normal peacetime duties.

“We should also like to caution the government of Pakistan against lapsing into its traditional complacency with the disappearance of the war clouds. Blinking at the existence of terrorist outfits within the country, some open and others disguised, will amount to self-annihilation and greater isolation from the comity of nations. The state's commitment to root out terrorist groups must be total. It must ensure, as far as possible, that Pakistan is not even accused of allowing cross-border terrorism by any group, alien or indigenous. But everything must be done within the canons of law and justice. Killing of innocents and extra-legal excesses will not end terrorism. They will only fuel it.

“Islamabad must also repudiate the suggestion that its firmness in the ongoing standoff with India has contributed to national cohesion, revived the Kashmir issue, and enriched the national coffers. Nobody can forget the cost paid by the country for unity behind Yahya Khan in his war on fellow Pakistanis, for the financial windfall during Zia's agency for the Afghan war, and for the 'revival' of the Kashmir issue through adventurism is Kargil. The hazards of living in a make-believe environment are all too clear.

“Success neither in the fight against terrorism nor in defending the nation's integrity can be guaranteed by arms alone. The way to end the abuse of belief for politics or for terrorism, there being little difference between the two, is going to be long and hard. The task cannot be accomplished without the whole-hearted support of a fully informed and wide-awake society. The returns on investment in people's food security, education, shelter, health cover and creation of adequately rewarding employment for both men and women will be infinitely higher than on resources expended on guns and explosives. This can be best achieved through regional cooperation and trade liberalisation.

“It is these pre-requisites to national unity, solidarity, and survival that we urge the state to address and the people shall not fail it. Pakistan can beat off all challenges but only through people's fully mobilized power."

____

[5]

INDEPENDENT APPEAL: SEX WORKERS DICING WITH DEATH IN BANGLADESH

Charities must overcome the disapproval of a conservative society to teach prostitutes about safe sex

By Andrew Buncombe

The Independent, 30 December 2008

Ajij works as a male prostitute in Bogra, Bangladesh

Ajij lives a double life – half in public, half in the shadows. During the day he works as a helper in a restaurant kitchen. In the evening, the slightly-built 25-year-old has sex with men for money in one of Bogra's many cheap hotels.

His customers are students, rickshaw drivers, police and soldiers – everyday people. Away from prying eyes, they pay anywhere between 10p and a pound, depending on what they want from the young man. Afterwards they quietly leave and return to their other lives.

"At the weekend I have a long line of police and soldiers," says Ajij, who says he has up to 25 clients a week. "Some are married, some are unmarried. We don't question them."

Bangladesh's male prostitutes operate on the edge of this conservative Muslim society. Commonplace but little discussed, they are vulnerable to harassment, extortion and violence. They are vulnerable, too, to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.

Ajij's double life could hardly be more complete. Having started selling sex when he was just 10 years old, he married at the age of 18 under pressure from his family. His wife and five-year-old daughter live in a village outside the city, unaware of his real existence. Meanwhile, he lives and works in Bogra, where he also has a male partner. That relationship, he stresses, is about love, not money.

"When I got married there was a lot of social pressure. I did not know I was homosexual until after I got married," he says. "In Bangladesh, the life of a homosexual is very secret ... There is restriction from society but the [male sex trade] is growing."

The potential dangers from this secretive trade are obvious. But educating sex workers about safe sex and the use of condoms is not as straightforward as it perhaps should be. NGOs and charities working in the field are constantly having to fight disapproval from certain sectors of Bangladeshi society, notably religious conservatives. What a charity might consider health awareness and education can be just as easily be seen by critics as promotion of an irreligious lifestyle.

There have been instances where outreach workers have been harassed by local police and government officials. Sometimes maintaining a low profile is the most effective option. Sometimes, however, the staff battle to persuade their critics of the value of what they are doing.

"I think it is still secret. We are working with an area of the community that is very vulnerable," says Muradujjaman, the health manager of a drop-in centre in Bogra run by the charity Light House. "It's very challenging work to try to reduce their risk level. Sometimes the people we are working with are not very educated."

Light House, a Bangladeshi-based partner of Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) – one of the charities for which money is being raised by The Independent Christmas Appeal – has for the past 10 years been running health education programmes for both male and female sex workers in Bogra. Around 500 men are on its books.

Kathy Peach is one of the British VSO volunteers who have worked with Light House. Before volunteering she had worked in advertising and with the Department for International Development. Once in Bangladesh she brought her professional skills to bear on the sex workers' problems – and those of Light House's outreach workers who were also afraid.

"It's a tough, often thankless job with huge stigma attached to it," she says of the work done by the outreach staff on the streets of Bogra. "I was impressed by the resilience, courage and dedication of all the outreach workers I met." But the workers were regularly being attacked by members of the local law enforcement agencies – or else subjected to extortion. "The result was that many outreach workers were scared to do their jobs and it was becoming harder to get condoms ... to the sex workers who had gone into hiding."

Using her advocacy skills she devised a strategy through which the workers were able to build bridges with the community. She arranged meetings with the police and army in which the Light House staff were able to convince them of the vital need of the organisation's work. Since then the harassment has fallen off significantly.

All the same, 22-year-old Ekalas still keeps a low profile. This shy young man works at a tailor's shop, but as evening descends on this dusty city of a million people, men will come to the shop in search of more than needlework. "Most of my clients I know," says Ekalas. "If it is someone new they will come to the shop and ask for me by name, so I know."

Having started in the sex trade when he was 17, Ekalas estimates he has around seven or eight customers a week. He says he earns up to £3 a time. He has four brothers and five sisters and he says none of them know that he works as a male prostitute. Since coming to the regular sessions organised by Light House, he says he has been persuaded of the importance of condoms and tries to demand that his clients use them.

"There are huge numbers of male sex workers in Bogra. They range in age from 13 to 67," says Ekalas. But it is dangerous work. The young men say that after sex, customers often refuse to pay the agreed price. And there is always the hovering threat of violence; on one occasion Ajij went with a customer to a construction site where he discovered there was a group of men waiting for them. He was forced to jump from the third floor of a partly constructed house in order to escape being gang-raped.

As for the future, Ekalas says he would like to get out of prostitution. But, as he explains, the key factor is economics. His boss at the shop pays him only a quarter of what their customers pay for the shirts that Ekalas makes. Sex is a much more lucrative option. At least with the help of Light House he is a little safer in that perilous profession, and considerably less likely to assist with the spread of the Aids epidemic. It is progress, of a kind.

____

[6] South Asia:

Hindustan Times

December 30, 2008

COURTING THE DEVIL

by Harsh Mander

As the flames of war are being fanned in both India and Pakistan, fortunately there are sane voices of restraint against the futility of sacrificing precious young lives in both countries. Also, since military pressure on terrorists operating along the border with Afghanistan would ease as troops engage the Indian armed forces, nothing will be gained in the battle against international terror. There could be heavy civilian casualties, although there is no conflict between the people of the two lands. In times of global economic crisis, the economies on both sides of the border will flounder, inflaming prices, and extinguishing food and jobs.

But this orchestra of war and hate has muffled an important debate which concerns the major defence of the Pakistani establishment, as voiced by President Zardari, to the effect that the State has no responsibility — legal, moral or practical — for the violence perpetrated by what he describes as ‘non-State actors’. This means that even if non-State individuals and organisations based in Pakistan plan and execute acts of terror, within its borders or outside, the Pakistan government cannot be held responsible. Arguments like these have enabled these organisations to operate with impunity, given the assurance that they will go unpunished for their transgressions. The issue gets murkier when allegedly non-State organisations implement the illegal, unconstitutional and violent political agendas of the State. Blurring the already thin lines between the State and non-State are elements within the state which openly or tacitly support these organisations — whether logistically, morally or politically.

States must accept responsibility for the crimes of hate and violence perpetrated by non-State organisations. In a salutary ruling following the 2002 Gujarat carnage, the National Human Rights Commission Chairperson Justice Verma had held that States were vicariously but directly responsible for crimes that organisations outside the State commit, if the state does not do enough to rein in, control and punish them. In practice, however, most communal riots tend to be more in the nature of pogroms, where non-State organisations commit hate crimes with impunity, given a sympathetic political command, police, magistracy and judiciary, which often shares their ideology of hate.

States often use non-State actors as their front-line forces, without spilling the more costly blood of their men in uniform. Examples in India are militant renegades, such as the surrendered militants in Kashmir, the ikwanis; or in insurgent north-eastern regions, like the surrendered ULFA. Armed by the State, answerable to no law or code, they loot and kill civilian populations in conflict zones without fear of punishment. Vigilante armies like the Salwa Judum have been set up by the state in Chhattisgarh to provide dispensable foot soldiers in the battle against Maoist insurgency.

But those who play with fire will one day burn in it, like the Taliban has turned against Pakistan in alliance with extremist religious fringe groups which have miniscule support, but are holding the country to ransom. But this is not a time for war, because a war will only strengthen and embolden the forces of hate and terror and engender enormous human suffering. Instead, it is a time to tell our governments unambiguously that they can no longer protect and foster those who live by the gun, by hate and terror. It is a time to refuse to accept the thin and dishonest defence of government helplessness before the crimes of non-State actors. .

Harsh Mander is the convenor of Aman Biradari.

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[7] India:

India Today

DON'T ALLOW FANATICS TO RULE: TASLIMA

Abhijit Dasgupta

Kolkata, January 2, 2009

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen

Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen pines for Kolkata, her adopted home. Ever since she was forced to leave the city after protests by fundamentalists, she has lived a desolate life in New York. Nasreen tells India Today's Abhijit Dasgupta that she now finds it difficult to concentrate on writing and yearns to return to the city she needs so sorely for inspiration. Excerpts from the interview:

Q: Why are you perpetually harping on the fact that you are homeless in the world? You seem to be moving around the globe and there would have been many people back in our country who would revel in such a situation.

Taslima: It is not my choice to become a nomad. Neither is it my choice to be homeless. I badly need a home.

Q. We know that and we are in full sympathy and support. What is it that you are working on now?

Taslima: It is very difficult to concentrate on my writings...When I have no place to live, and I am not allowed to live where I like to live.

Q. We understand the pain. But tell me what are you writing now?

Taslima: I am finishing a novel.

Q. What is it on?

Taslima: It's about Kolkata...

Q. When is that coming out?

Taslima: I am not sure. It is hard to get publishers. I am blacklisted and banned in both the Bengals. No Bengali newspaper publishes my articles…hardly any publisher dare to publish my books.

When the fanatics are against me, I get support from people, but when governments are against me, I lose almost all the support. People are scared of supporting me. Publishers are afraid to publish my books. I saw exactly the same thing happen in Bangladesh.

Q. Why should everybody be scared of publishing Taslima Nasreen?

Taslima: They should not, but they are. They think publishing my books or supporting me would show that they are against the government.

Q. But is the government that powerful?

Taslima: Government is always powerful. If the government supported me, I could easily live in Kolkata, the city I love the most, the city I need to be inspired.

Q. Why didn't you get the support of the people? Are they impotent?

Taslima: I don’t think they are impotent. I don’t like this word. I think civil society should not shut its mouth. They should protest against any kind of injustice. Most of the people have become immune to injustice. That is very alarming.

Q. And what about Bengal...don’t you think the situation here is alarming for the arts?

Taslima: As long as you compromise, it is fine. But for a writer like me, who is fighting for equality and justice, who has dedicated her life for secularism and for women's rights is not fine.

Q. Why don’t you compromise with the CPM?

Taslima: I have done nothing against the CPM. Actually, I always supported them.

Q. Then why did they throw you out?

Taslima: I don’t think my ideology and theirs are different. I had been living in Kolkata for years and suddenly the fanatics came out on the streets and demanded my deportation. I thought the government would protect me.

Q. You share the same ideology and they give you the boot. "Sounds strange. I am okay with you but when it comes to vote banks, I will ignore you"—sort of strange policy.

Taslima: But unfortunately, I am getting punished for no fault of mine. I am being punished for the crimes Islamic fundamentalists committed against me. I do not believe in religion, superstition, or any kind of dogmas. I believe in humanism, I don’t believe in consumerism or capitalism. I believe in equality and justice for all people. Don't you think communists have the same beliefs?

Q. If they did, then why did they surrender?

Taslima: I was thrown out of my own country 14 years ago. West Bengal was my home.... and still it remains a shock that I have been thrown out and will never be allowed to go there. Only they know why they surrendered, if they surrendered. But I don’t think the fanatics will love them (the Communists) for too long.

No political party, for the sake of the country, should surrender to the fanatics. But unfortunately you do not see this picture. The great politicians never give up their ideology for votes.

Q. How would you describe the CPM in one word?

Taslima: I can’t describe the CPM in one word. The CPM banned my book. But still even in my worst nightmares, I can never think that CPM would throw me out of Kolkata, my only refuge.

Q. Do you think the CPM exchanged you for votes? It was a deal?

Taslima: I don’t think they have earned a single vote by throwing me out. I am not subject worth that much...99% Muslims do not know about me. It's just handful of fanatics who use me for their political gain.

The politicians in many countries bow their heads in front of fanatics. It happens in the subcontinent. Instead of taking action against the fanatics who issue fatwas against me, the governments of both Bengals took action against me.

In India, it is heartbreaking when you take a decision to make an exiled writer homeless once again. I hope they will allow me in Kolkata again. I am not powerful, I am not a politician. If they do not open the door, if they do not show their sympathy and support, how can I go back home?

Q. Have you written to Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi? He is a non-partisan man.

Taslima: He was very sympathetic to me. I always got his support.

Q. Any more support?

Taslima: Recently Manmohan Singh wrote a very good letter to someone. He wrote: '"India's glorious traditions of welcoming people irrespective of caste and creed, community and religion will continue, whatever be the odds. The atmosphere of hate being perpetuated by a small segment within the country will not prevent us from persisting with this tradition. We recognize Taslima Nasreen's right to remain in a country of her choice, viz., India in this case. She shall also have the option to choose whichever city or state she chooses".

Q. But why isn't the PM intervening? He compares you with The Dalai Lama in his letter and then forgets all about it. That is not the way a PM should react...

Taslima: Maybe somebody else is taking all the decisions regarding me. I do not have the foggiest idea as to how a government works.

Q. Did you contact anybody in the government?

Taslima: I wrote to the chief minister and foreign minister.

Q. Both are Bengalis...

Taslima: As a Bengali, I would like to trust Bengalis. If they are a bit considerate, I think the problems would be solved.

Q. Is the prime minister serious about your return?

Taslima: I believe one day I will be able to go back to Kolkata and live there. The door of Bangladesh is closed for me. I can't imagine the doors of India are permanently closed. I don’t know politics. I am against fundamentalism but then so are many others. But I am a soft target because I just a mere writer, I am not influential, I do not have any organisation and above all, I am woman.

Q. But you are influential. You are Taslima Nasreen...

Taslima: I have some innocent readers who love me, that’s all. They are not united. You know something. You can fight fundamentalists but you can't cross swords with the government. And so I could not live where I want to live. Bengal is my place…Bengal is my home.

Q. What are you doing in New York?

Taslima: I am homeless everywhere...I move around and depend of friends to allow me to stay with them. I do not want to live in a Western country. It's an impossible situation. Emotionally and economically, it is very difficult.

Q. When did you last come to India?

Taslima: In August. I was only allowed to stay in Delhi. I could not go to my apartment in Kolkata. I wrote letters to both Buddhadeb babu and Pranab babu, I begged, pleaded and cried for getting the permission to be allowed to go back to Kolkata to survive as a writer. But it did not work. I did not get the permission. I had to quit my Kolkata home.

I have had to remove all my furniture from Kolkata and they are now lying in a sealed warehouse in Delhi. I asked Pranab babu whether I could visit Kolkata for just two days. It was refused.

Q. Why don't you suck up to the CPIM if you are so desperate to live in Kolkata? Just some mere kowtowing?

Taslima: The cruelty that I have seen...this is not the real India. I cannot act. I am not an actor, I am a writer. All I have is honesty. Why should I sacrifice that?

Q. What sort of cruelty have you seen?

Taslima: I sometimes wonder whether all that is happening around me is true...I am too stunned to react. .

Q. Any friends in the CPM?

Taslima: There were many people in CPM who support me...LF Chairman Biman Bose once told me so many stories of his adventures. He invited me to visit his Vidyasagar Girls School.

Q. But what do these people have against you? I just do not understand...

Taslima: I don’t know. If they still believe in communism, I don’t think they have any reason to go against me. One day they will realise their folly. But that might happen after I die.

Q. Did you approach Sonia Gandhi?

Taslima: I did.

Q. Can I ask you a personal question?

Taslima: Shoot.

Q. Are you in love now? Any chances of marriage? Don't you want to become a mother?

Taslima: It would have been nice if I were in love. The answers of your three questions are, NO, NO and NO.

Q. Have you cut down on your smoking? The last time I met you years ago, you were smoking like a chimney...

Taslima: I stopped smoking in 2003.

Q. What about your cat? You miss her, don't you?

Taslima: When I had to leave Kolkata, my friends in Kolkata took care of her. I miss my Minu so much. But what can I do? There is nobody in India who could take care of her. She was sent to Dhaka with my brother. She is a great football player. She does not play anymore. She hardly eats. She is from Kolkata. She misses her wonderful life in Kolkata, she misses being with me.

Q. What are your plans?

Taslima: I have no future, everything is uncertain.

Q. If you were in Bangladesh now, who would you have voted for?

Taslima: I wouldn’t have voted for anyone.

_____

[8] India - Freedom of Expression:

The Times of India

4 Jan 2009

MUMBAI BOOKSTORE PULLS PAK WRITERS OFF ITS SHELVES

by Anahita Mukherji, TNN

MUMBAI: 'The reluctant fundamentalist' could just as well be a description of the Oxford Bookstore in Mumbai's Churchgate area as the title of

last year's Booker-nominated novel by Pakistan-born author Mohsin Hamid.

The store has taken books by Pakistani authors off its shelves following "friendly advice" from police. The store was asked to take precautions in the light of Raj Thackeray's "ban" on Pakistani artists.

Store manager Girish Thakur said, "Ten days ago, a policeman from the Marine Drive police station dropped in at our store and told us to be careful. He advised us to remove books and CDs related to Pakistan, as we may be targeted after the recent terror strikes in Mumbai. He reminded us of Raj Thackeray's ban on Pakistani artists".

Thakur says he is opposed to banning books, whatever the reason. "People who love books should be allowed the freedom to read literature from across the world so that they get different perspectives on an issue," he said. He added that the books would be back on the shelves once he was assured he could.

But it's not just the police who advised the store against selling books by Pakistani authors. A store employee, who belongs to Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), also urged Thakur not to display Pakistani books. When contacted by TOI, the employee said: "After the recent attack on Mumbai, why should we have any Pakistani material in our bookstore?"

o o o

(4 January 2008]

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Madam/Sir

The fatwa by Nav Nirman Sena's (MNS) boss Raj Thackeray to 'ban' the Music CDs and books by Pakistani Musicians/writers is akin to terrorizing the society yet again. MNS which has gained notoriety for its attacks on North Indians was totally quiet when Mumbai faced the terrible attack. Since the phenomenon of terrorism has been due to formation of Al Qaeda by US, with the goal of controlling the oil wells in the region, the same US has also used Pakistan as its base to do serious damage to the World as a whole and India in particular by planting this cancer of terrorism. Today we are witnessing the left-over of the same phenomenon. As a matter of fact it is time that India-Pakistan come together to solve this problem. Within Pakistan itself Pakistan army is playing hawk and any military confrontation in the region will be counterproductive to both the countries. It is imperative that India as a bigger power sets the tone for peace and interaction with Pakistani Government and civic society to have a peaceful South Asia. It will be shortsighted to spread Hate against our neighbor. Our firm and reasoned stand can bring in Pakistani democratic Government and civic society to have joint efforts to root out the evil of terrorism, the evil which has also demonized Islam and Muslims. MNS politics is not only short sighted it will harm the interests of our nation.

Ram Puniyani

Secretary, All India Secular Forum

1102/5 MHADA Rambaug Powa Mumbai

www.pluralindia.com

o o o

The Guardian

7 January 2009

BANNING PAKISTANI WRITERS IS HYPOCRISY

As a response to the Mumbai terror attacks, this smacks of hysteria and has disturbing ramifications in the longer term

by Neel Mukherjee

If fresh evidence were needed that books and writers are one of the greatest threats to bigotry, especially during times that are malleable enough to be twisted to serve their agenda of hysteria and fear, Mumbai provides an eloquently senseless example. Hard on the heels of the terror attacks in the city and the resultant "ban" declared on Pakistani artists and their works by Raj Thackeray, leader of the rightwing Hindu party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), the Oxford bookstore in Churchgate in Mumbai has been asked to remove all books written by Pakistani authors from its shelves on the "friendly advice" of the police.

Is it possible to determine the "friendliness" of the advice? In the store manager's words, "A policeman from the Marine Drive police station dropped in at our store and told us to be careful about a possible attack. He advised us to remove books and CDs related to Pakistan, as we may be targeted after the recent terror strikes. He reminded us of Thackeray's ban." How diligent of the Mumbai police to be so proactive in protecting from possible vigilante attacks: the policeman in question denied having advised the bookstore against stocking Pakistani literature. He had dropped in to "check that everything was all right".

One wonders if this dutiful "dropping in" has anything to do with the MNS employee at the same store who warned his manager not to display Pakistani books. In righteous anger, the staff member explained to the Times of India, "After the recent attack on Mumbai, why should we have any Pakistani material in our bookstore?" Unlike the collusive and internalised censorship that saw french fries renamed "freedom" fries after 9/11, this is a more straightforward case of petty terrorising by apparatchiks. Let us not forget that these are the very people who attack Clinton Cards outlets just before Valentine's Day every year for selling corrupting tokens of foreign cultures. The mirage of purity remains, as ever, the holy grail of the right.

But there are more disturbing ramifications to be reckoned with before we dismiss this as cultural illiteracy, anti-democratic intolerance of all kinds of pluralities, or rightwing "patriotism" (that massive holdall, which accommodates some of the greatest criminalities in history). It is all those things, but also something more. Like those who had never read a single word written by Salman Rushdie but bayed for his blood on the publication of The Satanic Verses and after his knighthood, these censors are terrorists in the purest sense of the term: playing at the politics of fear by manufacturing a terrifying Other to intimidate and to disseminate lies. By what crazy logic would one seek to have, say, Philip Roth or Joan Didion removed from bookstores if one finds the existence of Guantánamo Bay intolerable? And what do the MNS suggest we do with one of the greatest Urdu writers of the last century, Saadat Hasan Manto, who was born in undivided India in 1912 and only spent the last seven years of his life, from 1948-55, in the new country of Pakistan? Is he "Pakistani material"?

The Pakistani writers the MNS want to banish from bookshops would have been the first not only to condemn but also to understand, expose and analyse the intractable history of such acts. Now, more than ever, we should be rushing out and dedicating entire shelves and tables in bookstores to Pakistani writers. A culture that bans books, especially on the grounds of such dangerous nationalism, is a culture on the brink of self-destruction.

_____

[10]

Mail Today

27 December 2008

PAK THEATRE GROUP PLAYS A PEACE TUNE

By Avneep Dhingra in New Delhi

AS TENSION mounts between India and Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks, a theatre group from across the border took the stage in Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU) to spread the message of peace.

Ajoka Theatre from Lahore is the first Pakistani theatre group to visit India in 20 years. The irony of the group’s visit in these tense times was not lost on the crowd that applauded their performance with gusto.

“ For years, artists have been trying their bit to promote peace and harmony between the two nations. It is our small attempt to help diffuse the tension. Peace activists and artists like us have worked very hard to build this peace process,” said Madeeha Gauhar, artistic director of the theatre group.

The 23- member group performed its popular play “ Bullah” at a festival hosted by the Students’ Federation of India ( SFI) and the All India Students’ Federation on Tuesday.

Ajoka also performed Sufi qawwali on the JNU campus, which attracted a lot of crowd.

“ It’s a great feeling to have artists from our neighbouring country perform here. Not only do we get a chance to interact, but it is also a peace making process,” said Abdul, a senior SFI member.

The performance by the group was well appreciated.

“ The show was splendid. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Our politicians should learn something from them and should understand a war- like situation is not the solution to terror,” said Devdeep Choudhury, a student of international relations.

“ We are here to bring the message of the great Sufi poet, Bulleh Shah, that is extremely relevant in today’s turbulent times,” said Gauhar, a famous theatre artist from Lahore. The famous Sufi poet professed “ humanism, peace, love, tolerance and looking beyond religious divides”. She said many people were apprehensive about the visit but she decided to go ahead.

“ When the Indo- Pak cricket tour was cancelled, there was disappointment in our country.

People questioned us why we were going and said we would not be welcomed there,” Gauhar said.

“ People came out to condemn those terror strikes. There were marches and human chains in Karachi and Lahore,” the actor said. The group will perform at several other places in India.

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[11] India Administered Kashmir

Indian Express, Jan 02, 200

APPEARANCE AND REALITY

by Rekha Chowdhary

How does one interpret the massive victory of the BJP in the assembly elections of Jammu and Kashmir? Is it simply the communal polarisation of the Jammu region — a direct impact of the religious mobilisation during Amarnath land agitation? Certainly the BJP’s gain, from one seat in 2002 to eleven now — all in the Hindu-dominated belt of the region — has a reflection of the agitation, and yet the verdict is not as straight as it seems to be.

To begin with, the Hindu belt has not exclusively gone to the BJP; there are many significant exceptions where the party has lost. Of these, the most interesting is the case of Bishnah where it had fielded the widow of Kuldeep Verma, whose suicide during the agitation had generated an intense response in Jammu. It was this constituency which Gujarat CM Narender Modi had chosen to campaign for. This epicentre of the agitation could not be returned to the BJP. There were many other constituencies that had witnessed a strong emotional response during the agitation — such as, Kathua, Samba, Vijaypur and Akhnoor — that remained constantly in the news during the agitation, but did not return the BJP. Another constituency where the BJP faced a setback was Gandhi Nagar, the urban heartland of Jammu where Nirmal Singh, the erstwhile party president, was contesting. Nowshera, Billawar, Ramnagar, Udhampur, Chenani, Chhamb were the other constituencies which saw the mobilisation during the agitation but remained out of the BJP fold.

Interestingly, some of these seats have gone not only to the Congress and the local Panthers Party, but also to the National Conference — a party against which negative campaigns were launched in these areas, and the statement made by Omar Abdullah in Parliament was used to whip up frenzy against the Kashmiri leadership. That the impact of such campaigning had not gone deep could be seen soon after the election process began — the flags of the NC were all over the place.

Like the earlier times, one can see a plural political response in the Jammu region. The seats have been divided between the Congress, the NC, the BJP and the Panthers Party. It is difficult to see the communal polarisation, since the Muslim belt of the region has given as much of a plural response as the Hindu belt has. While in the two districts of Poonch and Rajouri the seats have been divided between the NC, the Congress and the PDP, in the Doda belt — comprising the three districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban — it is the Congress which has registered its dominance, winning five of the six seats. The entry of the PDP is seen by many as an indication of the communalisation of the Muslim belt. Yet one cannot see Muslims in Rajouri and Poonch voting as a bloc for any party, divided as they are between the two identities — Gujjars and Paharis. Doda, meanwhile, is a story of development — it was the most backward and unattended area of the region, which was paid attention to by the Congress government, specifically by Ghulam Nabi Azad, who himself represented one of the constituencies within this belt.

If the BJP has succeeded in Jammu, it is not because of its communal agenda; it is because of many other factors, anti-incumbency working against the Congress being the most important one. The Congress faced problems also due to internal dissensions, wrong candidate choices, rebels and the lack of credible faces. Where it could field a credible candidate, as in Gandhi Nagar, it could win despite the BJP wave. It is a similar story of credible candidates in Kathua where an independent could win despite the constituency being a BJP stronghold.

On the whole, one can say that it was the vacuum of the regional politics that has helped the BJP. Jammu does not have a regional party parallel to the NC. (The Panthers Party is the only regional party of Jammu and it has succeeded in maintaining its position by retaining three of the four seats it had won in 2002.) Hence, the politics based upon the regional aspirations is appropriated by the BJP. The Amarnath agitation in many ways succeeded in Jammu because, apart from the Hindu sentiments, it could mobilise the dormant but persistent feeling in Jammu that this region is politically subordinated to Kashmir and is taken for granted when it comes to political negotiations with the Centre. It is therefore the regional rather than the communal response that has resulted in the BJP’s unprecedented victory.

The writer teaches political science at Jammu University

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[12] International: The Bombing of Gaza

January 5, 2009

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) denounces the invasion of Gaza by the Israeli armed forces. After a week of barbaric air raids, the Israeli armed forces have now launched the ground offensive which has sharply increased civilian casualties. More than 500 people have died in this State-sponsored terrorism.

The Polit Bureau condemns the stand taken by the United States of America in the UN Security Council which prevented a statement calling for an end to the hostilities.

The CPI(M) demands that the Manmohan Singh government immediately take diplomatic steps alongwith countries like South Africa and Brazil to see that Israel immediately halts its aggression. The Polit Bureau calls upon all its Party units and other progressive forces to organise protest demonstrations against this brutal aggression by Israel and demand that the UPA government halt its military and security collaboration with Israel.

_____

[13] Announcements:

(i) Insaaniyat And The Press Club of Mumbai

Invite You To

“The world after 9/11: Exploring alternatives to the ‘War on Terror’”

a talk by

Mahmood Mamdani,

Professor of Governance, Columbia University (New York)

And Author of the book Good Muslim, Bad Muslim

The aftermath of the November terror attacks is almost as depressing as the attacks themselves and can have consequences that are fatal for our democracy. The most obvious is the crisis of liberalism; any space that is identifiably liberal evaporates and the general climate descends into rank authoritarianism. Another is the erosion of our civil liberties. The argument for this is that America’s “war on terror” has been successful in stopping further attacks. The talk on Thursday and the discussion that follows will explore some of these themes.

Venue: Conference Room, The Press Club, Mumbai

Time and date : 6.00 p.m. Thursday 8th January 2009

- - -

(ii)

The Sociology Unit at the Institute of Economic Growth, and the India International Centre invite you to a panel discussion on 'The

Terrorist and the Citizen: How Television Transforms Political Life'.

4 pm on Saturday, Jan 10, 2009

Lecture Room, India International Centre Annexe

Participants:

*Chair: Arindam Sengupta, Executive Editor, *Times of India*

*Jawed Naqvi*, Delhi correspondent, *The Dawn*, Karachi

*Ashutosh*, Managing Editor, IBN 7

*Harinder Baweja*, Editor-Investigations, *Tehelka*

*Dipankar Gupta*, Professor of Sociology, Jawaharlal Nehru University

- - -

(iii)

From: Sheema Kermani,

It would be a pleasure to meet all of you once again. Do inform friends and comrades to come and see the play on Jan 14 at 4.30 pm at the Bharat Rang Mahutsav taking place in Lucknow - it is an anti-fundamentalism play which I would like people to watch, about a family that migrates from Lucknow to Lahore. I think you would like it. There is the character of Nasir Kazmi a poet who had migrated from Ambala and his poetry is sung live throughout the play.

Regards

Sheema Kermani

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S o u t h A s i a C i t i z e n s W i r e

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on

matters of peace and democratisation in South

Asia. An offshoot of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not

necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.