INSAF Bulletin [22]   February 1, 2004
	Postal Address: Box 272, Westmount Stn., QC, Canada H3Z 2T2 (Tel. 514 346-9477)
	(e-mail: insaf@insaf.net; View the old bulletins)

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                   Editor : Daya Varma (Montreal)   Produced by : South Asia center - CERAS
   Editorial Board: Vaqar Ahmed (Montreal), Dominic Vikram Babu (Montreal), Vinod Mubayi (New York)
   Advisory Board: Hari Sharma (Vancouver), Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad), Vithal Rajan (Hyderabad, India)

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Op-Eds

	The US may extend its occupation of Afghanistan to Pakistan
	Can Congress meet the BJP challenge? Part 2 - Daya Varma
	World Social Forum and Mumbai Resistance 2004 - Daya Varma
	Thoughts of a Secular Sufi (Eqbal Ahmad) - Noam Chomsky
	Reflection on by-gone days - Part 2 - Missing Sharmaji - Syed Mohammad Mehdi

	News Briefs
	Correction
	Gujarat High Court judgment in the Best Bakery case a farce
	Social activists Sarita and Mahesh murdered in Bihar
	India’s President oblivious to national needs in his Republic Day address
	Hindutva campaign against citizens of foreign origin
	Revolutionary on PWG's hit list
	JKLF leader appeals to Kashmiri Pundits
	Chetawani (warning) Rally in Jharkhand
	People revenge the mastermind of Bathe Massacre
	Honor killings blot the face of Pakistani society
	Nepal’s UML likely to support Maoist’s demand for a Constituent Assembly
	British judge Lord Hutton obscures the truth
	Iranian fundamentalists unwilling to public outcry for reform

Obituary

	Krishna Raj (1937-2004) - Editor of Economic and Political Weekly (EPW)

Op-Eds

The US may extend its occupation of Afghanistan to Pakistan

According to a January 28, 2004 Reuters report carried by Chicago Tribune based on military sources, the US plans a spring offensive in Pakistan to destroy Osama bin Laden's operations. Whether it will be with the agreement of the Pakistani government or not is not certain. So far both the Pakistani government and the Pentagon have denied that the US will operate directly in Pakistan. Given that Bush is no longer certain of winning a second term in November since the absence of weapons of mass destruction is largely recognized, it is very possible that he might venture to capture Osama bin Laden to boost his candidature. In any case, with or without Musharraf’s agreement, such an attack will not only be an invasion of another Third World country, it will destabilize Pakistan just as the US has done in Iraq. We should be vigilant and put up as strong a resistance as possible to any such design of the US.

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	Can Congress meet the BJP challenge? - Part 2
	Daya Varma

In the January issue of this Bulletin, I expressed my understanding of the factors in favour and against a Congress victory over BJP. I also said that a Party that can rule India should at the very least understand the unique complexity of India as it is or transform it into what it wants it to be. I then posed the question: “Does Sangh Parivar understand India? I might add: does the Sangh Parivar understand India better than Congress? The answer, sadly, is that it does, which is one of the reasons it has called Parliamentary elections several months ahead of its five-year term.

It is customary for progressive circles to project optimism, which sometimes requires obscuring reality. I, however, feel that if the Sangh Parivar is to be defeated, a realistic assessment must be made of its strength and weaknesses.

All political parties are expected to have a mission, lofty or lowly, and a worked out method to materialize the mission within a certain time-frame. The Communist Party of India and its offshoots have had a lofty mission and a method; however, they have been unable to strategize the mission and have never been sure of the method, which has resulted in their becoming a symbolic third force.

The Indian National Congress (Congress) too has had several missions since its very founding in 1885. The mission changed from one addressing the grievances of the Indian masses under the British Raj to attaining independence; this change, however, reflected continuity and was not a departure from the initial mission. Gandhi epitomized the unity between mission and method; he not only had the unique ability of mobilizing the masses but also of finding ways and means for their active participation, be it through Satyagraha, campaign to end the salt tax, boycott of foreign goods, adopting a simple style of living, Charkha or any other form of Swadeshism consistent with a demand for independence.

The mission of Congress from the midnight of August 14, 1947 when India had its tryst with destiny was in accordance with its earlier policies. It was to build a modern secular democratic self-reliant India as well as to play a leading role in building a third international force to meet challenges posed by the two opposing superpowers caught in the cold war. Thus both prior to and after independence Congress had lofty missions. However, while it had a method of involving masses during the struggle for independence, it embarked on the path of modernizing India solely through the government machinery and bureaucratic planning without arousing any mass enthusiasm. The Congress rapidly deteriorated as an organization for mobilizing masses and began, prematurely, to act like the political parties in the West where the system had already been in place for over a hundred years. In short, Congress first ignored the importance of method and soon after was devoid of a mission. Currently the Congress, like all other parties, is merely responding to the agenda set by Sangh Parivar. And like the other parties, Congress too displayed very little initiative to go on the offensive with a bold platform diametrically opposite to that of the Sangh Parivar.

The Sangh Parivar too had a mission from the day of its founding in 1926, almost at the same time as the Communist Party of India was founded. Its fundamental mission was to transform India into a unified Hindu Rashtra. When almost a year ago, the Deputy Prime Minister Advani proclaimed that India can never become a Hindu Rashtra, he was merely defining his personal vision of Hindu Rashtra and not negating it. He clarified his statement by saying that India will no more be a Hindu nation than Britain is a Christian country. Advani knows full well that India is a long way from establishing the rule of law that treats all citizens as equal members of a civil society, a situation which by and large exists in the West. So his version of India as a non-Hindu Rashtra will have space for many Gujarats with no one held responsible for pogroms against the non-Hindu masses.

The Sangh Parivar has stuck to this mission throughout these 78 years and seems to have all the patience to make the compromises necessary to accomplish this mission. It has paid more attention than did the Congress to somehow bring the North-East and Kashmir into the sphere of a Greater India. It found a way of Hinduvizing Adivasis and Dalits. Currently, it has evolved a flexible policy towards neighbouring countries, especially Pakistan, to emerge as the leader of South Asia under the aegis reminiscent of but distinct from Nehru’s vision of the non-aligned third world. Quite importantly it still continues to promote the notion of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) even though it knows quite well as do that partners of NDA that they are not essential in the BJP game.

The Sangh Parivar also has a worked-out elaborate method for fulfilling its mission. It started by developing cadre through Shakhas. Since then there has been an evolution in its methodology. Now the Sangh Parivar combines the old method of Shakhas with that long-practiced by the Communist Parties as well as Gandhi. From Communist party, it learned to have mass organizations (youth, women, indigenous people). Being what they are, the Saffronites devised new fronts (e.g., caste-affinity groupings like Bajrang Dal and VHP). In just about 40 years, the Sangh Parivar has built the largest trade unions. From Gandhi, it learned to get its members and supporters physically involved in implementing its policies and building cohesive groupings - through daily attendance at Shakhas, rotating Kathas in working class quarters, building temples or destroying mosques, killing and maiming Muslims and Christians and organizing one or the other festival including even those for non-resident Indians. It may well be that workers belonging to Communist Party or Congress Unions, vote for BJP; the reverse is rare.

Can Congress rejuvenate itself to match the Saffron hordes? Perhaps not. Certainly, not in time for the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Parties like Congress do not have a long-term strategy and vision any more. If it did, the least it could have done is to earnestly revive its strategy of democratic socialism, distance itself from US-Israeli axis, build an alliance with China, embark on arousing Indian masses on the grounds that fundamentalism in any form will destroy India and develop a policy of dealing with internal problems by means other than violent suppression.

India is still a very poor country. However, in the midst of the deprivation of the vast majority of the population there exists an apparent boom with a substantial well-to-do middle class with considerable political influence. It is the business-based elite and not the intellectuals who shape the culture of the Indian middle class; their newly discovered Hindu nationalism favours the BJP. Neither in India nor anywhere else, can one change the attitude of the petty middle class that is sold on the benefits of a free market economy and globalization. But their influence can be grossly minimized provided a climate of social justice and equitable distribution of wealth, both population- and region-wise is created. Maybe Congress can go back to Indira Gandhi’s “Gharibi hatao” (Eradicate Poverty) as a policy, which can win for it its traditional base.

The BJP’s policies regarding Gujarat, history and education have been correctly condemned by the enlightened intellectuals and the media. However, the major criticism is directed against its attack on secular institutions. This seems to be the only thing that the saner section of the Indian Diaspora does. But do the people of India relate to the ideals of secularism? Does secularism relate to their day-to-day needs and aspirations? Do we shower abuses on BJP merely as an expression of our conscience? Secularism is an ingredient and a precondition of social justice. Only an upheaval for social justice can defeat the Saffronites. Can Congress do it? If not, who can? I will express my thoughts on this aspect in Part 3 of this series.

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	World Social Forum and Mumbai Resistance 2004
	Commentary by Daya Varma

The fourth meeting of the World Social Forum (WSF) was held in Mumbai and concluded on January 19. It was attended by an estimated 100,000 people from different parts of the world. The Mumbai Resistance 2004 (MR2004), which is opposed to the reformist line of WSF, also met in Mumbai at the same time. Undoubtedly, this massive gathering and the debates on all topics of interest and relevance, cultural programs and mass meetings in WSF and MR2004 symbolize the discontent of the wider population with globalization which is inseparably linked with wars of aggression, mass poverty and marginalization of most of the third world countries. I did not go to Mumbai but read report after report from the organizers and commentators. It is heartening that the venue shifted from Porto Alegre, Brazil (venue of the first three WSFs) to Mumbai; it is disheartening that the fifth will be held again in Brazil and not South Africa or any other place. It is heartening that both WSF and MR2004 made a call for the broadest possible unity. However, if MR2004 could not work with WSF, one has to question its vision of unity. The massive cost of organizing the WSF and MR2004 was certainly not met by donations by the laboring masses (they could not have fitted well in the middle class or upper middle class milieu of either of the two gatherings). Ultimately the money for both came from the same sources, more openly in the case of WSF than in the case of MR2004. It was by and large raised by NGOs from government or semi-government sources. NGOs are not always a vehicle of change but none have put greater pressure on organs of globalization (WTO, WB, IMF etc) than NGOs and on the anti-people policies of the governments than NGOs. Yet there seems greater venom against NGOs than governments. One suddenly hears of “imperialist globalization” as distinct from “globalization” – perhaps soon we will hear of “exploitative capitalism” as distinct from “capitalism” to distinguish one self from reformists.

WSF and MR 2004 achieved a lot. Perhaps the speeches were more fiery in MR2004 than in WSF but they were speeches nonetheless. Speeches do not organize nor do they defeat US imperialism. It is redeeming that 100,000 people, mostly Indians, gathered in Mumbai- yet it is a pity that not even a fraction of that gathered when India was bleeding on the plains of Gujarat. The least either of the two forums could have done is to have at least one session in Ahmedabad – it is not too far from Mumbai. They could have done something to build confidence in the 150 million Muslims – who were hardly represented in either of the forums.

What seems to have worked so far is the stand taken by certain governments including India against the WTO. In this sense the meeting of the 4th Parliamentary Forum, which was comprised of parliamentarians and met during the WSF meeting in Mumbai as it had done in Porto Alegre in the past is of significance because the members can influence their respective governments; this Forum adopted a resolution on January 19 which essentially raised key demands made by the WSF and MR2004.

Perhaps national movements directed against the complicity of local governments can achieve much more than WSF or MR2004. International protests, especially against US wars of aggression do mean a lot. However, International organizations of struggle are amorphous slogans regardless of whether they are “for a different world” or a “socialist world” because you can only struggle from a base, a physical place.

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	Thoughts of a Secular Sufi (Eqbal Ahmad)
	Noam Chomsky

Inevitably, reading Eqbal Ahmad's words evokes the presence of the person - treasured friend, trusted comrade, counselor and teacher. The unforgettable voice, beautifully captured in these interviews, is rich with learning, understanding, and compassion. It is a voice of steely dedication, but free from dogmatism.

Though 'harshly secular', as he describes himself, Eqbal - like others who knew him, I cannot bring myself to refer to him more formally - is quick to praise elements of religious thought and practice that he found admirable: among them, the work of the great Islamic religious scholars of India who opposed partition and the idea of nationalism, which they regarded as an anti-Islamic ideology that 'proceeds to create boundaries where Islam is a faith without boundaries'. For Eqbal, 'the perils of nationalism' compare with the curse of religious fanaticism, taking on a still more virulent form when the pathologies merge in the post-colonial state - a configuration that is a harsh image of what came before, he argues.

The deep failure of the anti-imperialist movements, Eqbal continues, was to embrace the western ideology of nationalism, forgetting the warnings of those who were most revered: Rabindranath Tagore, for one. There is tragic irony in the fact that 'Tagore, an anti-nationalist, ended up providing the national anthem to two countries of South Asia', which have suffered bitterly for rejecting his lessons.

Eqbal sees comparable irony in the depiction of Muhammad Iqbal as the father of Pakistani nationalism, quoting his words that, 'In the whole world there is no country better than our India': the only national anthem he wrote 'that could have been adopted would have been India's'. Adapting Iqbal's image, Jinnah 'suggests a vision of Pakistan as having open borders with India, at peace with all its neighbors'.

The twin curse of nationalism and religious fanaticism has trapped the national movements in a deadly embrace, Eqbal warns, marching towards self-destruction under the leadership of 'mediaeval militaristic minds' that are 'no more modern than the Clintons and the Bushes'.

Eqbal quotes Franz Fanon, with whom he worked closely, on "The Pitfalls of National Consciousness". That is the title Fanon gave to his 'enlightening last thoughts', which Eqbal strongly endorses. Fanon 'saw with clarity the pitfalls of nationalism, the kind of structure it will produce, the dependencies that develop, the post-colonial state that will be nothing more than a new instrument of imperial domination', with 'the emergence of a Collaborative elite' who will be 'the golden boys of airlines, of the jets'.

Eqbal himself saw the post-colonial state as 'a bad version of the colonial one', with the same structure of 'a centralized power, a paternalistic bureaucracy, and an alliance of the military and landed notables'. The new elite are the inheritors of the old: the propertied classes, the intelligentsia, the bourgeoisie, 'as heartless in its lack of concern for the poor, in some ways even more so, as the colonial state'.

'They are building a system of apartheid in which the poor are separated from the rich and the rich are connected to the west, to the metropolis.' There is no 'recolonization' because there was no true decolonization. Production-consumption structures have barely changed, though the dependency relations have become more diversified. In the BBC documentary that Eqbal directed on South Asia as seen through his own eyes and experience, he includes a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, 'who was so prescient in catching the mood of disillusionment with the decolonized post-colonial states'.

There are few illustrations more painful than the Arab world, which the US government recognized 60 years ago to be 'a stupendous source of strategic power, and one of the greatest material prizes in world history'. But the extraordinary wealth, Eqbal observes, 'has been separated from their people', flowing to the west through the medium of a post-colonial elite that the British rulers, in their day in the sun, derided as an 'Arab facade' behind which the British would exert real power.

The postwar history of west Asia spells out these principles with grim exactitude. Unless they find a way to take their fate in their hands, the 200 million people who have been separated from their wealth face 'autogenocide' of unimaginable proportions when that wealth is exhausted, leaving no viable societies.

The picture extends to a good part of the world. In the internal record of US postwar planning, we read that Africa was offered to Europe to be 'exploited' for its own reconstruction. The former imperial powers have labored to ensure that the structures of power and exploitation remain largely in place, bequeathing a legacy of shame and horror.

In US domains, leading scholars recognize frankly that Washington's 'democracy enhancement' programmes were designed 'as a means of relieving pressure for more radical change, but inevitably sought only limited, top-down forms of democratic change that did not risk upsetting the traditional structures of power with which the United States has long been allied' (Thomas Carothers, surveying Reaganite policies in which he participated). The misery of the region reflects those imperial choices in close detail. There are distinctions. Among the most dramatic are two potentially rich regions, East Asia and Latin America. Scholarly studies reveal that patterns of consumption and elite 'status competition' are quite different: in Latin America, 'foreign-produced luxury goods for western-oriented elites contrasted with the home-grown status goods orientation of Asian societies serviced by larger and more decentralized skill craft sectors'; Asia concentrated on 'building up the physical and human capital base prior to turning to consumer durable production'.

In Latin America, where the rich are exempt from responsibility, the problem is not 'populism', a prominent Brazilian economist points out, but 'subjection of the state to the rich'. East Asia differs sharply. The difference of outcomes was enhanced during the past quarter-century of ‘globalization’.

Reviewing the decade of 'liberalization', the director of the Economic Commission for Latin America observes ruefully that Latin America is the region where the 'economic reforms have gone the farthest' and growth rates sharply declined, while the fastest growth was recorded in East Asia, which deviated most sharply from the western-dictated rules.

Eqbal's review of the contemporary world and its origins avoids no suffering or dangers, but is nevertheless suffused with his unshakeable optimism. Interlaced with his harsh critique of developments in Pakistan is his admiration for the achievements of the feminist movements and progressive NGOs, and of the press, 'probably the liveliest in the third world'.

The last years of his life were devoted to the founding of the Khaldunia university, which he hoped would 'produce a modern progressive secular educated class of people who know the traditions and take the best of it'.

They would, he hoped, join with activists working locally to construct 'alternatives that empower people and make alternative plans for economic growth', constructing a functioning democracy from below that will not simply caricature the word.

Eqbal describes with warmth and feeling the Sufi tradition that he remembers from his childhood in a village in Bihar, where Sufi worship united Hindus and Muslims. Simple and unpretentious, 'they preached by example', living 'by service and by setting an example of treating people equally without discrimination'. They appealed to the most oppressed, offering 'social mobility, as well as dignity and quality to the poor'.

I think Eqbal would not have been distressed to find himself remembered as a secular Sufi teacher and guide - by example in his life, by the power of his thought and words. (This article was provided by Vaqar Ahmed)

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	Reflection on by-gone days - Part 2 - Missing Sharmaji
	Syed Mohammad Mehdi (Compiled in year 2002)
	(Translated from Urdu by Muhammad Anwar Pasha and his two daughters Mariam and Zaibun)

(The second of a series of articles from Mr.Syed Mohammad Mehdi, a renowned Urdu playwright and political activist. The first “an encounter with the Mahatma appeared in the December 2003 issue of this Bulletin, which also gave a brief introduction of the author. The original article “Missing Sharmaji” is in Urdu; it has been translated by Anwar Pasha from his hospital bed in the intensive care unit of Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal. His two daughters Zaibun and Mariam who came to look after him assisted in the translation. - Ed.)

One Day, he vanished.

Friends in Delhi, Bombay and Lucknow had no clue as to his whereabouts. A missing person’s advertisement was composed and sent to various newspapers. It went something like this: His name is Prem Saroop. Better known as Sharmaji to all those who know him. Well built, tall, thin, about 60 years, two fingers on his right hand have nicotine stains, his face is lined with thin mustaches which seem to twitch when he smiles. He shoulders a bag which holds all sizes of toys, and bouquets of flowers big and small, half a bottle of rum, whiskey and a glass. He wears a homespun (khadi) kurta, pyjama, waist coat and a Kola Puri sandal on bare feet.

This description was never sent out to the newspapers. Friends feared that once Sharmaji read this description he would be so offended that he might never want to see them again. This incident took place twenty years ago. Friends and acquaintances, amongst many, are disheartened because they believed in what Sharmaji once said. His words have a certain history behind them.

News had spread in Delhi that Sharmaji had been hit by a car while crossing Alam Square. He was hospitalized because of injuries and a fractured foot. Some of us friends went to visit him. As he lay there with a plastered foot and a bandaged head he smiled as he saw us and mused “This is pure bourgeois propaganda that people like me can die”.

Then he picked up a cup and gulped down its contents. As it turned out there was rum in the cup. Rum in the hospital? No door was ever closed for Sharmaji.

I met him for the first time in 1941 in Kanpur where he had come to attend a provincial Student (Federation) conference. He was a student of Lucknow University and was an enthusiastic participant in the student movement (led by the Communist Party of India).

He had another companion named Winky. His actual name is Wicket Sawali. Wicket was a fiery character. During an anti-british protest rally Sharmaji and Winky performed such feats that won them quite a following in Lucknow university. The university was linked to the city by a bridge called “Monkey Bridge” over the Gomati river (so called because it was the meeting place of the monkeys of the area). After Winky took a fierce stand against the police on this very bridge, it was renamed “Winky bridge” in his honor.

When I went to Lucknow University in 1943 Sharmaji was still a student there and still as enthusiastic a speaker. Once at A.P. Sen Hall as he spoke against some of his political opponents there was a large commotion in the hall. This did not deter Sharmaji. He got onto a table and began orating (in support of the Communist Party’s line of United Front against fascism). Some students pulled the table from under him so he hung onto a ceiling fan and continued to speak.

He was very well versed in Hindustani and translated and wrote several literary articles. He wrote for newspapers for a while then moved to Bombay. There he got a job with the foreign cell of the Romanian embassy. He was also a representative at the Romanian kiosk in the National Industrial exhibition held at Delhi. It was a very cold December that year. Sharmaji worked late and came home late at night. To counter the cold he came across an antidote. Half or a quarter bottle of Rum or Whiskey. He apologetically excused himself by saying that tomorrow is a working day. “If I fall ill, it will be disastrous, so I must drink a little bit”. As the winter chills set in Sharmaji’s whiskey consumption also grew proportionately. After the exhibition ended, he decided to stay on in Delhi and worked in various foreign embassies.

At long last he found people at the Palestinian embassy who appreciated him and recognized his worth. He was very absorbed with his work but would spend his paycheck before the month was up so borrowing money became a necessity. His Palestinian employers understood his situation, his limitations and arranged things in such a way so as to fulfill Sharmaji’s heartfelt desires. He was given a small room and appropriated a certain quota of alcohol. For a few days Sharmaji felt his quota was more than sufficient but after a few weeks his need for alcohol far exceeded the quota.

Sharmaji never married but once when he was living in Bombay he fell in love with a woman who was one in a million. I have met many women in many different countries but never have I seen a woman so beautiful. Her personality was as charming as her face. When I think of her, I think of Akbar Allahabadi’s verse: Such graceful walk that stars stand still, Such defiant gestures, that governer shall bow (“Dilkashi chhal mein aisi ki sitare ruk jayain. Sarkashi naaz me aisi ki governer jhuk jauain”)

As it happened this woman was married to a very wealthy man who owned several mills. Amongst his many friends was an artist who was quite a work of art himself. The artist was also married. Both these gentlemen (with the consent of their spouses) swapped wives. This arrangement worked out well for a while till one day, when there was news that the artist had gone missing. It is possible he disappeared in search of greener pastures. His newly swapped wife was like Leila was without Majnoon “In the wilderness I call out Leila, Laila but my Laila lives in my heart”. “Laila Laila mai pukare ban mei, meri Laila basi merey man may.”

She found Sharmaji’s shoulder to cry on. Sometime she cried and Sharmaji consoled her, and at times they both cried together. In this game of crying and consolation Sharmaji continued to fall in love but never dared to express his feelings. Sharmaji believed in “pure” love and that is how his love for her remained.

It is said that if you search enough you can even find God. So one day the artist was found in some country in Africa and brought home by his wife. For a few days Sharmaji comforted himself but felt a void in his life which he filled up with rum, whiskey and cheap gin. It was only when Sharmaji moved to Delhi that he got some peace of mind. The artist disappeared again, however, much to the dismay of his lover. The lady next based herself in Delhi and began her search for her lover. Sharmaji’s shoulder was again in use but tears have a way of eventually drying up. They had reached a point when she would sit on a chair or a divan and Sharmaji would sit with a bottle on the floor. Overwhelmed by wine his heart would give in and he would put his head in the feet of his beloved and she in turn ran her fingers through his hair. Friends who had witnessed such scenes were convinced that at this point had he openly expressed his desire for her his wish would have been fulfilled. Sharmaji however, could not bring himself to utter a word. Soon after the lady in question had accepted the loss of her artist friend and was now on the look out for another companion which she soon found. It was not Sharmaji but his friend. Many a times so called friends used Sharmaji. Whenever well wishers tried to warn him of transgressions in the name of friendship he would quietly smile his peculiar smile.

Henceforth his life took a turn in a new direction. His Love for this one woman transformed his state of mind. He had reached such a state that he saw his beloved in every woman. He slung a bag on his shoulder and filled it with children’s toys and other things. He would buy leftover garlands, bouquets, flowers and arrive at the Russian information centre 5 or 10 minutes before closing time and sit at the reception. People would soon start emerging from their offices and Sharmaji would approach each woman with a garland, a toy or a bouquet. Perhaps if these were Russian women they would have gratefully accepted these gifts but these were Indian women. Every woman wanted to escape unnoticed through the door but in vain. Sharmaji tried every possible way to stop them by putting garlands around their necks or giving them toys for their children. The women protested and demanded that Sharmaji must be stopped. He embarrassed them, they said, by presenting them with flowers and whatnot out on the street.

What was there to be embarrassed about? These small gifts were, according to Sharmaji, an innocent token of his Love for womankind but these women felt insulted. Sharmaji was promptly banned from the office. He was devastated and showed his anger by standing on the sidewalk outside the embassy, before closing time, with a bottle. While occasionally drinking from his bottle he would curse anyone who he thought was responsible for keeping him out of the office.

One day he came to visit me and was surprisingly sober. I was perplexed and convinced something was very wrong. Sure enough Sharmaji started to cry as soon as he sat down. On inquiring he replied that his father had died. His father was either a teacher or headmaster of a school in Meerat. A rather old-fashioned, dependable sort of man who believed he was entirely responsible for the character building of his students. He inspired respect and fear in his students. But Sharmaji was the limit who even at his age was terrified of his father. He knew that his father was aware of his drinking excesses and so could never face him neither could he stop drinking. His brother had just informed Sharmaji of his father’s death. The problem was that he did not have money enough to buy the ticket to Meerat. His friends pooled in some money and advised him to stay for sometime in Meerat with his younger brother and his family. They felt that Sharmaji would drink less and regain his health and also spend time with his brother who loved and respected him. Sharmaji agreed. This was exactly what he was thinking. We all felt satisfied knowing that Sharmaji would be safe in Meerat and were hopeful that his father’s death would be a turning point in his life. Time passed and friends believed that Sharmaji stood firm on his decision and was living in Meerat.

One day Sharmaji came back. He had been drinking but in moderation. When we asked him how Meerat was, he became tearful. We thought we had reminded him of his fathers demise. After a while he mentioned “It is my misfortune to have missed my fathers’ last rites. I could not even reach Meerat”. We all must have had a look of speechless surprise and Inquiry in our eyes, for he recalled “that day I went to the train station and bought a ticket for Meerat. Since there were several hours left to the train’s departure I decided to buy one quarter of a bottle and drank it all. After which I went into the train and slept on the upper berth. When I got up and asked people whether we had reached Meerat they looked surprised. “What Meerat, they said, this train is heading towards Bombay”. So that is how Sharmaji ended up in Bombay. On the insistence of a few friends and in the hopes of meeting his beloved, he spent several weeks there.

All this chaos had no effect on his job. The people at the Palestinian embassy were dedicated to him. Sharmaji too had put in his heart and soul into his work. He had translated Palestinian poetry into Hindi and later had it printed. If you ever find this anthology I would recommend that you buy it. It is an excellent translation of a great poetry of protest and its intricacies and technicalities.

Then we lost Sharmaji.

At a gathering I met the head of the Palestinian embassy. When I asked him if he had any news about Sharmaji, he said I was about to ask you the same thing . We searched for him everywhere but to no avail. A man was even sent to Meerat but he was not there, neither was he seen in Bombay. Some friends think he might be sitting somewhere smoking up in a cave in the Himalayas. He could not have died because like Sharmaji said “It is pure bourgeois propaganda that people like me die”.

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News Briefs

Correction

The following statement in the news item "INSAF President denied Indian Visa" in the January issue of INSAF was misleading: "Visa was also denied to Sailani Sharma, who was also required to provide detailed travel information and to Makhdoom, born in Pakistan. Both Sailani Sharma and Makhdoom are members of the SANSAD board and are Canadian citizens." Professor Hari Sharma pointed out the error and wrote: "Sailani was not denied visa. Since her Canadian passport showed Singapore as the country of birth they asked her a variety of unpleasant questions, especially about her ancestry. She refused, but they gave her the visa anyway. In the case of Mr. Zahid Makhdoom, since his country of birth was Pakistan, he was asked to fill some additional forms, which he refused - calling it discriminatory. Later he was granted the visa after an intervention by the Indian High Commissioner in Ottawa. In my own case, some prominent personalities of India made a representation with responsible people in the Ministry of External Affairs. They were told that the instructions regarding my visa were issued not by MEA but by the Home Ministry, who apparently had dug out matters going back to the 70's and 80's."

Gujarat High Court judgment in the Best Bakery case a farce

In a press release dated January 15, 2004, the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) termed Gujarat High Court’s judgment on Best Bakery case a tragedy and farce. Kirit Bhatt, Dr. J. S. Bandukwala, Rohit Prajapati, Sohansingh Miglani, Trupti Shah, Chinu Srinivasan, Renu Khanna, Tapan Dasgupta, Deeptha Achar, Nandini Manjrekar and Johannes Manjrekar, all human rights activists, said that the High Court Judgment has negated the process of justice by ridiculing those seeking justice, a move that is perhaps unprecedented in the history of Independent India. The judgment clearly shows that justice cannot be delivered in Gujarat courts. At no stage did the verdict show any concern or regret, let alone compassion, for the heinous crime that was committed at Best Bakery. Neither was there any sympathy shown to the victims of this most brutal of all crimes.

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Social activists Sarita and Mahesh murdered in Bihar

On the eve of the 54th Republic of India (Jan 26), two young social activists Sarita and Mahesh paid their tribute to the nation with their blood on 24 January, 2004. They were working for the last three years in the villages of Gaya district of Bihar among the backward castes and Dalits who have been left to rot in the backyards of power by the parties who have ruled India all these years. They were doing what any welfare state should do – trying to provide safe water, wholesome food, irrigated land, smoothly run primary schools, and a clean and healthy community life. By doing all this they had obviously disturbed the power equation of the countryside having educated the villagers to the extent that they started to speak for themselves, take decisions for themselves, manage their own land and schools for their children, understand and articulate their rights which greatly upset the local mafia which is being patronized by the ruling party of Bihar – RJD. They asked Sarita and Mahesh to give up their work in that area. But they decided to stay on, pursue their work doggedly and the threat was made real by the bullets which cut short their fearless journey towards light.

In Bihar, the macabre nature of the rape of democracy leaves one speechless. Seven years ago, it was the killing of Chandrashekhar who was merely exercising his right to speech and had to pay for doing so with his life, when he was murdered in day light by the henchman of a don who continues to adorn our Parliament. In Bihar idealism is fatal, as was proved recently by the murder of Satyendra Dubey. Numerous killings, of not so prominent citizens of India, on the land of Bihar for trying to secure for themselves and their community the Rights which are theirs, guaranteed by our Constitution, have remained invisible. Does political correctness prevent us from pointing our fingers towards the Criminal in Chief who provides comic relief to our middle class and who, in actuality is a Killer Clown? It is time to speak for democracy in Bihar; it is the time to act for us, to choose between political correctness and a truthful politics for Democratic values. Time to protest against the killing and government apathy.

This heinous crime has met with local as well as national protests. CPI (ML) held a successful Bandh (general strike) in Gaya-Jehanabad districts on 27 January. A mass meeting sponsored by NAPM, Socialist Front, NCPRI, ANHAD, Lokayan, NCRF, NACODOR, Vasudhiava Kutumbakam, Jan Abhiyan, BGVS, VANI was held at the Gandhi Peace Foundation in Delhi. A public meeting was held on January 29 at the Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Patna, which was followed by a protest sit-in at the JP statue near Gandhi Maidan, Patna on January 30. A national protest march from Patna to Gaya is planned for February 12. (Source: Ashok Agrawaal, Delhi and ML Update)

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India’s President oblivious to national needs in his Republic Day address

Addressing the fifty-fourth anniversary of the republic day, the Indian President Dr. Kalam exhorted the children for a ‘silent revolution’ while remaining oblivious to dire poverty in the country. After 57 years of independence, there are still spates of starvation deaths, debt-ridden farmers are committing suicides in large numbers, two out of every ten Indians suffer from chronic and acute hunger, poverty is being regionalized in Bihar, UP and Orissa creating a new heterogeneity in the country, there is all-pervasive agrarian crisis and an attempt to privatize the food grain trade, a dramatic fall in organized employment and so on. None of these issues were of concern to the President.

Hindutva campaign against citizens of foreign origin

To ensure that Sonia Gandhi does not become the next Prime Minister of India, the BJP and its allies have stepped up demands to debar Indian citizens of foreign origin from occupying high offices. (ML Update)

Lorca's Grave : A tribute to one of Spain's greatest writers, the first victim of fascism. Let us not forget. India is birthing her own share of Lorcas, such as the scholars at the renowned Bhandarkar institute, ransacked to pieces a few weeks ago. Acclaimed actor, Tom alter, attacked for his play on Maulana Azad and the artists whose pictures and film directors whose reels continue to bear the brunt of India Shining. There are many Lorca graves strewn around us.            Intellectuals were considered dangerous by Franco's fascist Nationalists, and in the early morning of August 19, 1936, along with a schoolmaster and two bullfighters, Lorca was dragged into a field at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, shot, and thrown into an unmarked grave. He had only finished the first draft of The House of Bernard Alba two months earlier. (From a dispatch by Lehar Zaidi)

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Revolutionary on PWG's hit list

The people's war group has threatened to kill All India Agricultural Labour Associationl (AIALA) leader Kunti Devi of Bihar. Kunti Devi is the National Secretary of AIALA, District Committee member of CPI(ML), Convener of AIPWA of Jehanabad and an elected member of Jehanabad Zilla Parishad. PWG had issued this criminal threat openly in a press conference on 3rd December addressed by Murali, the secretary of central Jehanabad-Hilsa Joint area committee. He said that his organization would eliminate Kunti Devi soon. Two months before Com Manju, AIPWA-CPI(ML) leader in Jehanabad was murdered by Ranvir Sena goons at the behest of one RJD Minister Akhilesh Sharma. CPI(ML), AIALA, AIPWA have taken a strong exception to this threat of PWG , which is adopting the Ranvir Sena path. They will have to face massive wrath of the people if they persist with their threats. (Source ML Update, Jan 28,'04)

JKLF leader appeals to Kashmiri Pundits

According to a report by Kalpana Sharma in Hindu, Yasin Malik, Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) appealed to the Kashmiri Pundits to return to the Valley. He implored Kashmiri Muslims to play a constructive role so that the culture of Kashmir can be restored. Challenging Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Independence Day statement from the Red Fort in 2003 that the State Assembly elections in 2003 had proved that the majority of Kashmiris were happy to be with India, Malik said he had collected 800,000 signatures from people in just two districts in Kashmir demanding that Kashmiris participate in any talks on its future. In comparison, only 2,81,000 votes were cast for the ruling People's Democratic Party.

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Chetawani (warning) Rally in Jharkhand

Despite a shivering cold wave, thousands of men and women agricultural workers and poor peasants thronged the streets of Daltanganj in Palamau, Chattisgrah demanding an end to "Bhay-Bhookh-Bhrashtachar (intimidation, hunger and corruption) and “Police-raj" perpetuated by the BJP-Samata ruling combine. Demonstrators demanded the arrest of the minister Madhu Singh who was behind the killing of R. N. Singh, and withdrawal of false cases against his brother Dr. B. N. Singh and other CPI (ML) leaders. (ML Update Jan 15-21,'04)

People revenge the mastermind of Bathe Massacre

Sudarshan Sharma, one of the dreaded leaders of Ranvir Sena and the main perpetrator of the Bathe massacre, which occured in 1997 in Bathe village of Arwal where 58 poor dalits were butchered by the Ranvir Sena was punished by death by the people on January 11. Sudarshan Sharma was came out of jail on bail after four years and presided over a mass rally of Ranvir Sena in Aara on Nov 17 last year. (ML Update Jan 15-21, 2004)

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Honor killings blot the face of Pakistani society

Lahore : An honor killing is a murder of a woman accused of or actually involved with a man, or one whose behavior is perceived as immoral. This happens when one or more male relatives suspect or note that the woman is a blot on the face of the family for her perceived illegal sexual activity.

Many women are killed on assumed suspicions and are not given the chance to defend themselves. The allegation alone is seen to defile the family’s dignity and, therefore, is enough to justify an honor killing.

During year 2003 around 1,261 cases of honor killings were reported with 938 committed against women and 323 against males. According to a human rights report, published in March 1999, honor killings claimed the lives of about 888 women alone in Punjab alone. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 300 women were killed in Sindh in 1997. Shahnawaz Khan (Daily times, Jan 23,'04 - abridged)

Nepal’s UML likely to support Maoist’s demand for a Constituent Assembly

According to reports, Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist –UML) is likely to support the Maoists’s key demand for a Constituent Assembly for drafting a democratic constitution for Nepal.

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British judge Lord Hutton obscures the truth

Appointed by Tony Blair to investigate the “suicide” death of scientist Dr. Kelly, Judge Hutton castigated BBC and not the British government. The whole world knows that Blair not only “sexed up” intelligence reports to justify the invasion of Iraq, he lied loud and clear. After all judges are not superhuman and not free from partisan attitudes. In this case Lord Hutton has come close to judges in the Gujarat high court, which castigated the victims and not the perpetrators of the genocide. It is encouraging that 67% of the British people consider BBC report to be true and only 31% trust the government.

Iranian fundamentalists unwilling to public outcry for reform

The Guardian Council bestowed with arbitrary powers to intervene in every aspect of Iranian society disqualified 3,600 from a list of 8,200 candidates from contesting elections. Despite protests by the people and parliamentarians including President Mohammad Khatami, the Council has still retained two-thirds of the original 3,600 on the banned list.

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Obituary

	Krishna Raj (1937-2004)
	Editor of Economic and Political Weekly (EPW)

[Many people have expressed their sorrow at the death of Krishna Raj, Editor of Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) on January 16, 2004 in his sleep at age 67. INSAF joins them and produces the sentiments of some of its members.]

I was shocked to read of the untimely, sad and completely unexpected passing away of Krishna Raj, the editor of the Economic and Political Weekly for almost 35 years. For someone of his ability, knowledge, and insight, he was truly the most modest, courteous, and unassuming person I have ever met. I consider it a great privilege to have known him closely many years ago. I probably first met him at the residence of my late uncle, the economist Dr. R.K. Hazari, in late 1969 soon after I had come to Bombay and joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. EPW was then in a period of transition after the death of its founder Sachin Chaudhuri. Shortly after that Krishna Raj assumed editorial charge of the EPW. Soon after meeting him, for some reason partly connected with Krishna Raj’s courteous and welcoming personality and partly with the direction EPW was going in, I found myself going to the EPW office in the evening several times a week after finishing my work at TIFR. To many progressive people who happened to be in Bombay, permanently or temporarily, the EPW office offered a haven for intellectual discussion, argument, and exchange of opinion, facilitated by many cups of tea and the modest, gentle, but always incisive questioning from Krishna Raj. It always amazed me how the magazine would appear week after week on time, carrying some of the most incisive and important articles of the time on issues ranging from the mode of production in Indian agriculture to defining and estimating poverty in India. No doubt it was Krishna Raj’s genius to create order out of what seemed on surface to be chaos, provide a forum for all the important currents in socio-economic and political thought, and make EPW one of the premier intellectual journals of social, political and economic commentary, a position it occupies today. And do it seemingly effortlessly, his modest demeanor masking the many long hours and perseverance that lay behind the editorial enterprise.            He always had time for visitors. I left Bombay in late 1974 and only visited intermittently after that. I remember the last time I saw him in 1999. I dropped by Hitkari House almost unannounced after a gap of at least five or six years. We began talking and went on for over an hour as if it was still 1974. His warmth and courtesy were undiminished as was his interest in topics he could share with his guests. He will be sorely missed.  (Vinod Mubayi, New York)

Vinod captures our collective fond Bombay memories about Krishna Raj. His soft speech, which at least in his case was a sign of his immense generosity, especially towards young, and naďve people like me. Despite the huge piles of work on his desk, he never rushed us out of our "hangout". That is what I will always be remember.  (Waheed Mukaddam, Boston)

I did not know Krishna Raj personally, but this is a very sad day for me. My own belated political development in the 70's and 80's was very much influenced by EPW. It was, and still is, unique, certainly in India and in the English-speaking world, in combining the three aspects of its title - economic, political and weekly. Every week, one could read short editorial comments on the past week, business/economic statistics, longer articles on politics by people covering the entire gamut of the left, and scholarly articles covering all of humanities. Long before the Hindu became decent, long before Frontline and Outlook came on the scene, we had EPW.            This was Krishna Raj's singular accomplishment. Besides the breadth and quality of the magazine, Krishna Raj managed to avoid all the nasty sectarianism that plagued (and continues to plague) the Indian left - it seemed everyone got to have their say. And, most importantly, the magazine was economically viable, again thanks to Krishna Raj.  (Sekhar Ramakrishnan, New York)

To follow debates on issues of concern to the Indian people from a left national and international perspective was to follow EPW and in the process recognize the political wisdom and maturity of its editor, Krishna Raj. I was the editor of New India Bulletin, the organ of the Indian People’s Association in North America (IPANA) founded the same day as Indira Gandhi declared the state of Emergency in 1975. The publication of the Bulletin was possible only because it could heavily borrow from EPW. I think there was no one in the left movement in India, Asia and perhaps the world who had not heard of EPW as a unique magazine and each related this excellence to its editor Krishna Raj. Much later I met him in Bombay as a member of the Montreal-based South Asia Center (CERAS) to discuss what we can do for EPW. It was like meeting an old friend for the nth time. CERAS as an affiliate of Alternatives had raised some money for use by progressive Indian organizations and our desire to help EPW was the first priority. Krishna Raj declined monetary contributions to the journal but welcomed our desire to set up the EPW Website, which we did and which he recognized on the pages of EPW. During my meting with Krishna Raj, it was obvious that he had the utmost respect of his meager staff and I feel some one is there to take on EPW where Krishna Raj left it.  (Daya Varma, Montreal)

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