[sacw] sacw dispatch #2 (14 Oct.99)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #2
14 October 1999
___________________________
Contains:
#1. [Pak] Labour Party Pakistan asks army to go back
#2. Shabir Shah Booked Under False Charges (Urgent Action request)
#3. BJP member moves resolution for annexation of [Pakistani part of Kashmir=
]
#4. [BJP-Shiv Sena Govt funded] Film on Hindu nationalist Savarkar
#5. Not at home in Bangladesh& spurned by Pakistan
#6. Arundhati Roy to Speak in U.S. on Narmada Struggle, Oct. 28-Nov.4
___________________________
#1.
[14 October 1999]

Labour Party Pakistan asks army to go back,
Demands workers interim government

Lahore, PRESS RELEASE

The Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) while strongly opposing the army coup
has demanded of the army to go back to the barracks. LPP has further
demanded to set up a workers interim government to hold fresh
elections for a new legislative assembly.

An emergency meeting of the LPP national Executive Committee held at
Lahore took stock of latest political situation and its impacts on
working class. The Executive Committee issued the following statement
after the meeting.

The army coup mirrors the deep-rooted economic crisis that has exposed
the internal contradictions and infighting of the Pakistan ruling
class. Through General Pervaiz Mussaraf retirement, Nawaz Sharif, ex
Prime Minister, wanted to strengthen his dictatorial power while army
through its coup has proved itself as the ruler of the country. Nawaz
attempt at garbing power was deplorable while army coup is even more
deplorable rather unacceptable. We strongly condemn the army coup.

The new government set up even if it is a civil set up, will be
nothing but a puppet in the army hands. The military may also tend to
continue but it depends on deal with IMF and World Bank. The coup was
against the planning of US imperialism but US and army will
compromise.

The new government will use accountability as a pretext to continue
but its accountability will be nothing but eyewash. The new government
will not be able to recover loans from defaulters. On the other hand,
masses will be faxed even more in a futile bid to overcome economic
crisis.

The lack of protest against the coup proves the utter impopularity of
the Nawaz regime. The Nawaz government was unpopular because of its
economic policies and the new set up will get unpopular like the
previous Nawaz government, as the new government will have to carry
out the same economic policies.

The army coup will sharpen the national question in all the three
smaller provinces. If army resort to dictatorial steps, it will
further aggravate the situation in small provinces.

Masses might feel a relief in army coup but soon they will be
disillusioned. The trade union movement, working class as a whole,
peasants, free press and political parties will suffer at the lost of
democratic rights.

The class struggle will suffer most of all. Now the working class will
have to fight back for democratic rights, in addition to their genuine
rights and demands.

The LPP demands

1- army should return to barracks immediately
2- An interim workers peasant's government is set up to hold the
ruling class accountable. 3- This workers peasant interim government
should hold elections for a new legislative assembly 4- Democratic
rights be restored forthwith 5- No ban should be imposed on meetings,
demos, and processions under section 144.

LPP vows to mobilize the working class and peasants to press for these
demands. It will launch a campaign for the restoration of democratic
rights and it will not accept any attempt by the military to impose
martial law.
___________________________
#2.

Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party
Head Office: 150 Rawalpora Colony, Sanatnagar
Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir
phone/fax: 00 91 194 432825
email: jkdfp_internet@y...
Thursday, October 14, 1999

***URGENT ACTION REQUESTED***

Shabir Shah Booked Under False Charges
Detention and Solitary Confinement Continues

Srinagar - In keeping with its agenda to imprison and
silence Kashmir's leadership, the Government of India
implicated Shabir Shah in a false case today.

Shabir Shah, president of the pro-independence Jammu
Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, has been targetted
severely by the government since August in an attempt
to disrupt his public activities and programmes.

After being repeatedly arrested and re-arrested
through the month of August, Shabir Shah has been
under solitary confinment in various detention
centers, including Batote, Chani, Udhampur, Ramnagar,
and Ramban since September 2. All along he has been
kept incommunicado from his family, his party, and the
general public. Throughout this detention no case nor
charges were registered against Mr. Shah. This is
nothing new to Shah, who has spent more than 22 years
in Indian jails as a consequence of his role in the
non-violent struggle for Kashmiri freedom. Most
analysts felt that Shah would be released after the
election farce finished.

But in a shocking move, the Government of India has
implicated Shabir Shah in a false case and has booked
him under sections 7/25 Indian Arms Act for smuggling
weapons. What's even more ludicrous is that the
specific case involves a police claim of Shah's
involvement in the smuggling of arms in a truck which
flipped over on the Srinagar-Jammu highway on
September 30, revealing a massive cache of arms. How
the government can charge Shabir Shah, who is known
for his unequivocal advocacy and adherence to a
democratic non-violent independence struggle, for such
blatantly false charges is ridiculous because the
alleged incident occurred on September 30 - while Mr.
Shah was already being held in detention since
September 2.

In light of the threats given by Farooq Abdullah to
throw Kashmiri leaders in the jails for years at a
time, it is clear that this false case against Shabir
Shah is part of the very same conspiracy. In
particular, the government of India is attempting to
brand Kashmir's non-violent, pro-democracy,
independence leaders as "terrorists" and "criminals".
It shows that the government is threatened by the
success of people like Shabir Shah to keep the
movement on a clear path and in a nonviolent way of
struggling. This type of false case is the second
such move by the Government of India, which also
falsely charged JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik and
associate Javed Mir with involvement in a rocket
attack at the Civil Secretariat building in Srinagar.
As these two are also advocates of independence and
have tread on the path of nonviolence for some years
now, it would seem that these false cases are meant to
justify a lengthy detention.

The JKDFP requests all supporters of the Kashmir
cause, which is a struggle for human freedom and human
justice, on the international level to please write
letters and send messages to the government of India,
the UN, countries like the USA and UK, and the
international human rights community objecting to the
detention of ALL Kashmiri political prisoners and
objecting to the use of false cases as a means of
justifying their detention and also other methods like
solitary confinement and keeping them incommunicado.

When addressing Shabir Shah's specific case, keep in
mind: 1) Shabir Shah is a long-time advocate of a
non-violent independence struggle, 2) Shah was in
solitary confinement in the Chani interogation center
during the alleged weapons smuggling act, and thus the
Indian government is fooling no one by charging Shah
under the Indian Arms Act. Please demand his, and all
Kashmiri political prisoners' earliest release.

Below we have provided a list of some key people to
send letters to along with their contact information:

1. Dr. K. R. Narayanan,
The Honorable President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi
India
=46ax +91 (011) 3014570, +91 (011) 3017290
Email: pressecy@a...

2. Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah
address: Civil Secretariat, Srinagar, J&K (must write
"India" for letter to reach)
Email: cmjk@j...

3. Chief [...Secretary] Ashok Jaitely
Civil Secretariat, Srinagar, J&K (must write "India"
for letter to reach)
Email: cs-jk@j...

4. Ambassador Naresh Chandra
Indian Embassy
Washington, DC
=46ax 202 483 3972
Email: amb-washington@i...

5. U. S. Secretary of State Dr. Madeleine Korbel
Albright
U.S. Department of State
2201 "C" St. NW, Washington, DC 20520, USA
Tel: (202) 647-4000; Fax: 1-202 657-1533
Email: secretary@s...
presssecy@a...

___________________________
#3.

BJP member moves resolution for annexation of PoK [or Azad Kashmir in Pakist=
an]

by Surinder Singh Oberoi, India Abroad News Service

Srinagar, Oct 13- A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator today moved a
resolution in the Jammu and Kashmir the state Assembly, calling for the
"liberation" of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), or "Azad Kashmir" as
Pakistan calls it, and its annexation with the Indian Union.

The resolution, moved by Ashok Kumar Khajuria, was discussed by the
Assembly in detail, though Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was away in New
Delhi.

Kumar blasted the previous governments and the ruling National Conference
"for not initiating moves towards liberating PoK since independence from
Britain in 1947." He urged the house to adopt the resolution so that the
federal government could be asked to take action.

An independent candidate, Mohammad Sultan Panditpuri of Langate, opposed
the resolution saying that this would create more differences between
India and Pakistan. He called for negotiations between the two countries to
resolve all outstanding issues.

A ruling party legislator, Mubarak Gul, supported the Chief Minister's
suggestion for converting the 740-km Line of Control in Kashmir into a
permanent border between India and Pakistan.
___________________________
#4.
=46ilm on Hindu nationalist Savarkar ready after nine years

by R. Ragini, India Abroad News Service

Mumbai, Oct 2 - After nine years, eight directors and 10 scriptwriters, an
ambitious film on 1930s Hindu nationalist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, better
known as 'Veer Savarkar' among his supporters, will finally open in
theatres in India this month.

The film 'Swatantarveer Savarkar' has been made under the aegis of the
Savarkar Darshan Pratishthan, an establishment propagating Savarkar's
philosophy. It has been scripted and directed by Ved Rahi and highlights
Savarkar as a political leader, revolutionary, poet and Hindu nationalist.

It is fastidious Pratishthan president Sudhir Phadke's "interference" in
the project that has been cited as the main reason for the inordinate delay
in the film's completion. Successive directors and script-writers failed to
please Phadke, a noted singer-composer, who reportedly discarded bigwigs in
the Indian world of cinema like the late Basu Bhattacharya and Hrishikesh
Mukherjee, among others, and also rejected the works of noted Hindi and
Marathi script-writers charging that "none of the script-writers have
understood Savarkar".

An assistant director who was associated with the film in its early stages
said, "Phadke is obsessed with detail. He insisted that Veer Savarkar's
confinement in the Andaman islands be canned in the very cell where he had
been kept and it was tough convincing him of the difficulty of shooting in
the small place."

"He also wanted the actors screen-tested for the central character's role
to wear Savarkar's original coat, even when none of them fitted into it,"
continued the assistant director, who didn't want to be identified. "His
argument that he had spent time at Savarkar's feet and thus knew him at
close quarters could be useful to the director. However, he forgets that it
is the director who has the final say."

Director Ved Rahi, who himself left the film project three times before
being recalled by Phadke, said their differences were mainly because
"Phadke would want a certain way of presentation, which I did not agree
with. Finally it was done the way I wanted."

Despite their differences on the presentation and the technical aspects of
the film, he said he respected Phadke's "dedication" to the work. "He has
not lost heart even though the film has taken 10 long years since he first
conceived the idea," Rahi observed.

Born in 1883 to a landowning family in a village in Maharashtra, Savarkar
studied law in London and from 1906 and 1910 was involved in organising
armed resistance to British rule in India. He was sentenced to 50 years'
imprisonment in 1910.

As a Hindu militant nationalist, Savarkar was also the first Indian
proponent for a programme of weaponisation. He was one of the accused in
the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 and was later acquitted. The
film does not show the Gandhi assassination or the trial.

Thirty-year-old Shailendra Gaur, a young stage actor from Delhi, plays
Savarkar. Phadke's eye for detail is obvious when Gaur admits that he spent
four years studying the role of Savarkar. "This is the most challenging
role that I have played so far and I hope I have done justice to it. I play
Savarkar in all the stages of his life from his youth to his old age," the
actor said.

Gandhi is played by Surendra Rajan, a painter and photographer. Both Gaur
and Rajan, resemble the protagonists even in real life.

Of all the discussions Gandhi had with Savarkar, the film only shows their
10-minute meeting when Savarkar was confined in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra in
1927. The discussion centred on caste issues where Gandhi was shown
upholding casteism while Savarkar is portrayed as strongly opposed to it,
and therefore superior to the Gandhi.

According to trade observers, the film, shown at a private screening, is
historically factual, but shows Mahatma Gandhi in an unflattering light. It
is said that Gandhi had remarked that Savarkar was "a peculiar mix of a
poet, dramatist and a thinker with a scientific attitude while at the same
time believing in violence, revenge and a Hindu state."

The film shows how Savarkar leads the lower castes into a temple in
Ratnagiri amidst opposition from orthodox sections. It also shows the hard
labour he suffered in prison in Andaman islands and how he organised the
prisoners to resist. According to his supporters, Savarkar has not been
adequately recognised as a freedom fighter.

The honorary joint production executive of the film, Prabhakar Mone,
announced to the media recently that, "the film has collected Rs. 25
million from numerous individuals in India, while $200,000 have been raised
by the India Heritage Foundation based in London and New York."

The government of Maharashtra reportedly contributed Rs 5. million. Phadke
had also toured many countries to appeal to Indians settled abroad to
donate generously for the film.
________________________
#5.
Times of India
Thursday 14 October 1999

Not at home in Bangladesh and spurned by Pakistan

DHAKA: Anger and despair run deep among tens of thousands of ``Bihari''
Muslims trapped for decades in Bangladesh refugee camps who wonder if they
will forever remain stateless. They are held in contempt by most
Bangladeshis and are spurned by the nation they consider themselves part
of, Pakistan.

The Biharis travelled to former East Pakistan from Bihar, India, after
Partition in 1947, and have been stateless since East Pakistan became
independent Bangladesh following a nine-month war in 1971. The
Urdu-speaking Biharis, who call themselves stranded Pakistanis, have waited
ever since to be able to move to Pakistan but Islamabad has been slow to
meet their aspirations.

``The Pakistani authorities made a string of promises to take us back, but
that all turned into a hoax,'' said Ezaj Ahmed, leader of about half of the
400,000 Biharis living in 66 squalid camps in Dhaka and elsewhere in
Bengali-speaking Bangladesh.

``We have been living in misery and inhuman conditions over the last 28
years. Our hopes for repatriation to Pakistan have suffered badly,'' Ezaj
said. About 250,000 Biharis, who migrated to East Pakistan after 1947, are
left stateless in what is one of the world's poorest countries.

They fought with the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's Independence War
and opted to remain Pakistanis, spurning an offer by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
to accept Bangladeshi nationality and permanent residence.

But a number would now be prepared to make their lives in mainly Muslim
Bangladesh, even though they are detested by many Bangladeshis for their
wartime affiliations. ``Most of us are now interested in staying here with
Bangladeshi nationality. Our children have been born in Bangladesh and have
adapted to local culture,'' said Ezaj, 65. ``Pakistan, which had been our
cherished home, has become a foreign land to our sons and daughters,'' he
said.

It's a tough choice. Besides being largely ostracised, many Biharis live
in cramped huts with poor sanitation, and say they have no regular supply
of food, or access to education and medical treatment. ``I cannot send my
children to school, cannot marry them outside my clan and cannot find a
good job,'' said a woman in Dhaka'S mohammadpur refugee camp.

Pakistan does not offer help to the Biharis and the Bangladesh government
gives them little more than three kgs of wheat per head each month. ``We
live a desperate life.'' said Mohammad Obaidullah, 80.

``I am now trying to convey my wish (to remain in Bangladesh) to Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina,'' Ezaj said. ``I have met home minister Mohammad
Nasim and requested him to give us immigration forms. I believe the
majority of the stranded Pakistanis will opt to stay back in this
country.''

The minister says: ``We would check out legal and other provisions if a
request is formally made.'' The Biharis saw a ray of hope in 1992 when
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in his previous term in office, started a
process of repatriation.

A group of 325 Biharis were flown to Pakistan before the process stopped
after Ms Benazir Bhutto replaced Sharif. Although the now ousted Sharif
returned to power in 1997, there was no further visible progress on
repatriation, but foreign ministry officials say Dhaka and Islamabad are in
contact on the issue. Government officials said a large number of Biharis,
particularly the young generation, are now in favour of staying in
Bangladesh. (Reuters)
_____________________
#6.
Author Arundhati Roy to Speak in U.S. on Narmada Struggle, Oct. 28-Nov.4

--------------------
"For over half a century we've believed that Big Dams
would deliver the people of India from hunger and poverty.
The opposite has happened." - author Arundhati Roy
--------------------

International Rivers Network invites you to hear Arundhati Roy, Booker
Prize winner and author of "The God of Small Things," speak out about the
struggle to protect India's Narmada River.

DAMS AND THE COST OF LIVING, A LECTURE BY ARUNDHATI ROY

Scheduled Talks:

Thursday Oct. 28, 7:30 pm
University of San Francisco
Gershwin Theater
San Francisco

Friday Oct. 29, 7:30 pm
UC Berkeley
Wheeler Auditorium
Berkeley

Monday, November 1, 7 pm
Booksigning at Barnes and Noble
Union Square
New York City

Tuesday, November 2, 6:30-8:30 pm
South Asia Journalists Association
New School
New York City

Wednesday, November 3, 4-9 pm
Forum with Cultural Survival
Harvard University
Cambridge

*see below for information on how to get tickets

Arundhati Roy will speak about her new book "The Cost of Living," which
includes the essay "The Greater Common Good," a vigorous attack on the
rationale and reality of the dams being built in the Narmada Valley.

HOW TO GET TICKETS
The Gershwin Theater appearance in San Francisco on October 28 is free,
seating is on a first come basis. Sponsored by the Louise Davies Lecture
Series.

The Wheeler Auditorium event at UC Berkeley on October 29 is $15, or $10
with student ID. Tickets for Wheeler available through CalPerformances
510-642-9988, or one
hour before the event (subject to availability).

=46or more information on the Arundhati Roy events in the Bay Area, please
contact Annie Ducmanis of IRN at (510) 848-1155, annie@i..., or visit
our website at www.irn.org.

=46or information about IRN's reception for Ms. Roy at UC Berkeley's Graduat=
e
School of Journalism prior to her talk at Wheeler Hall, please contact Mary
Houghteling at 510.848.1155 or at mhoughteling@i...

Ms. Roy's Berkeley appearances are co-sponsored by: UC Berkeley's Graduate
School of Journalism, South and Southeast Asian Studies Department, Center
for South Asia Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies; and The Wallace
Stegner Environmental Center at the San Francisco Main Public Library.

=46or more information on the Cambridge event, please contact
617-441-5400, csinc@c... or www.cs.org.

=46or info on the South Asia Journalists Assocation event in New York, pleas=
e
contact 212-854-5979, saja@c... or www.saja.org.

=46OR MORE INFORMATION
=46or information on the Narmada struggle, go to www.narmada.org or email
swong@i...

To read Arundhati Roy's essay "The Greater Common Good," go to
http://www.narmada.org/gcg/gcg.html.

_________________________________________

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch is an informal, independent &
non-profit citizens wire service run by South Asia Citizens Web
(http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex) since1996.